and if hee that offendeth in any offendeth in al in what case are we al How can we be iustified by the Law These thinges touch vs neerely and concerne vs much What Vrim and Thummim may wee consult in this case Esa 46. Repaire wee to the Lord in the and six fourtith Chapter of Esay who resolueth vs on this wise Heare me yee stubburne harted that are farre from Iustice As if it were said if any of you presume in pride or precend in hypocrisie of much iustice you are ouer-bold you are deceaued and you cannot deceaue God It is a pride and a pretence of righteousnesse from whence in verie deede you are farre wide Heare mee harken not to your selues to your selfe-wit and ouer-weening I will bring neere my righteousnesse neither shall your iniquitie frustrate or make vaine my promises or sequester my purposed mercy from my elect amongst you and from my church vnto whom I wil shew mercy I wil giue my saluation in Sion and my glory in Israel Then I aske wil Israel be glorified wil Sion bee saued will man bee iustified will hypocrisie speake truely wil stubburne hearts bee mollified and frowarde mindes rectified Then harken what God saith Glory Saluation Righteousnesse and Iustification the acceptation of vs as iust yea of vs very impious and Atheists by nature is Gods only grace and free gift A vanting and a vilde spirite is onely in man who naturally hath but a sorry a naughty and a sleight conceat of the mercy of the father and of the infinit merit of Christ his sonne Come wee home to our Apostle Wee knowe that man is not iustified by the woorkes of the Lawe but by faith It is not an opinion Opinio est entis non entis Opinion is of thinges that may be so or may bee no. But wee know saieth Paul And whereas there are but two waies to bee quit either plea of our owne innocency or help and trust else-where to be iustified wee must leane either to the one or to the other either perfourning the Lawe which no man can or embracing Christ onely relying in him by faith by onely faith in Christ If it be quarreled why cannot man bee yet iustified by the Lawe what should bee the cause thereof It is * An ineuitable reason why Man cannot possiblie iustified by the Law aunswered by Paul flat al men are flesh But why cannot flesh Why Al flesh is fleshly al fleshe is grasse euen the very grace thereof And what is hey and stubble to saue a man * Esay 4.6 And the grace thereof is but as the flower Some flowres are green yellow red stammel purple or white c. These are but gay coulers and what are these before the face of the winde in the heate of the Sunne and in the sight of God Wherefore flesh and bloode may not cannot dare not should not prosume to appeare where it can stand in iudgement before the consistory of our God in the strength of it selfe and without our aduocate Nay the heauens are not cleare in his eies nor the very Angels and celestiall spirites much lesse man who dwelleth in an house of cley and in a body subiect to the soile of sinne who drinketh in iniquity as a drie ground doth a rainey water Wherefore by the * Workes are imperfect being as perfect as they may be they beno deserts but dueties Christ is our righteousnes at the right hand of his father woorkes of the Lawe perfourmed by man by his fleshly arme and strength wee euen the regenerate wee bee not we cannot bee iustified Saint Paul knoweth and acknowledgeth that by faith in Christ and that by Christ alone in whom wee beleeue we bee pronounced in him to bee that wee are not nor can bee of our selues nor in our selues So that heere is guilty and not guilty righteous and not righteous Not righteous but guilty by the Lawe by woorkes by nature and in our selues but in Christ who is made our wisedome righteousnes sanctification and redemption we haue al that wee haue and in him who hath payd all for vs wee haue al and enough And this knowledge brethren being thoroughly learned perfectly beleeued and fully setled in a sanctified soule most honoureth God and comforteth man aboue al thinges that can be named 17 If then while we seeke to be made righteous by christ we our selues are found sinners is Christ therefore the Minister of sinne God forbid 18 For if I builde againe the thinges that I haue destroied I make my selfe a trespasser 19 For I thorough the Lawe am dead to the Lawe that I might liue vnto God 20 I am crucified with Christ but I liue yet not I any more but Christ liueth in mee and in that that I nowe liue in the fleshe I liue by the faith in the sonne of God who hath loued mee and giuen himselfe for me 20 I doe not abrogate the grace of God for if righteousnesse come by the Lawe then Christ died without a cause Vpon the former matters premised Paul may seeme to argue thus if while wee seeking which was graunted on euery side to bee made righteous by Christ yet wee bee found notwithstanding sinners by relying to the Lawe which the false Apostles woulde haue annexed is Christ therefore become the Minister of sinne which must needes bee if he bee coupled with the Law Phy out vpon 〈◊〉 it were most absurd it cannot be and God forbid Christ and the Law cannot make one fabricke or building If any man should build vp the Iericho which hee had destroied and was accursed were hee not to bee accursed If Paul shoulde builde vp the Lawe which accurseth though it were with the coupling of Christ in the building yet should hee shewe himselfe to bee a transgressor in setting vp of the Lawe with Christ which two to stand together were vtterly impossible For to that end entered Christ that the Lawe might cease To that ende Paul exemplyfieng in himselfe voucheth he was dead to the Lawe and therefore had not to doe with the Lawe at all was crucified with Christ and fixed to Christ and vnto Christ alone Iustification by acceptation or imputation excludeth not a measure of inherent sanctification And dying to the curse of the Law shutteth not out good liuing according to the rule of the Law And yet least Paul being dead from the Lawe and crucified with Christ might seeme by this doctrine in himselfe to bee an ensample of dying vnto God and liuing to the world vers 20. hee saith But I liue and because no man should mistake him hee sheweth 1. in what measure of goodnes he liueth as he might in the flesh and 2. withall sheweth how it came to passe that in the flesh he might liue saying that he liueth by Christ and thorough faith in him In him who hath loued me and giuen himselfe for me Whereupon I note 1. the freenesse of the giuer 2. the
all their former pains and his preaching should thus come iust to nothing and be in vaine he qualifieth discreetly and with a good affectionate correction that saying with this addition If yet in vain He seeth the worst which was very bad therefore reproueth them worthily notwithstanding declaring his intent harts desire hee hopeth the best and wisheth that his labour and their good beginnings might not be as water spilt to no purpose and to no profite but all in vaine When the patient is past hope the Physician wil neuer tarry but while hee applieth Physicke the sicke man may recouer The Galathians were farre gone euen like sicke-men when they katch after motes in the aire which is a very euil signe so they catching after ceremonies thinges which now were lesse worth than motes their case was hard Howbeit Paul in tender loue discreet zeal charitable hope leaueth them not in their extremities And desireth to ransom and redeeme if it were but a tip of an eare or a top of a toe out of the iawes of their cruel deceauers 2 The doctrine hee taught them is euident what it was by their default For if they defaulted by adiecting to the Gospel which could suffer no addition then the simplicity of the Gospel was the single truth which they disobeied ô ye foolish Galathians who hath bewitched you that you should not obey the truth Therefore he taught them the truth He taught them neither wine nor weomen I meane neither the fancies of mans braine nor the lusts of mans hart but the truth of God which was the verity of the Gospel which also was the truth in regarde of former figures and types Ioh. 1.17 The Lawe was giuen by Moses but grace and truth came by Iesus Christ Wherefore it was a vanity to preach other things and a vae and a vengeance hung ouer their heads that durst venter farder or would not go so far as not to betake them to their vnder-taken taske of preaching the Gospel To preach and speake is one thing and to preach the Gospel is another thing Except the Trumpet be blowen with the breath of the Lord it giueth an vncertaine sound or a false alarum The sum of the Gospel is Christ and him crucified Paul painted this doctrine among the Galathians and Christ was euen crucified by him among them Yet he was not one of them that put Christ to death neither died our Sauior in Galatia but in mount Caluery in Iury. Paul painted out Christ not with thâ—â—encil but 〈◊〉 is said Sed carmina maior imago So Pauls preaching Pauls writing was Pauls painting And he painted Christ among them yet was he no image-maker no Painter no Goold-smith to make Crucifixes no Carpenter to frame Roods this was a verbal Painting but yet a liuely description of Christ that according to our sauiours own prescript direction Go preach Not goe paint me out The contents of the Gospel summarily cited and speciallie reckoned vp As in one woorde summarily the argument of the Gospell is Christ so in some fewe woordes to saie a little more amply the Gospell containeth the glad yeare the acceptable time the ioyfull tidinges that is the birth the life the death of christ Iesus The mystery of his incarnation the innocency of his life the agony of his death The grace of his woordes the power of his woorking the merit of his crosse his mighty resurrection his glorious ascension his session at the right hand with the father The glory of Israel the ioy of the Gentiles the Sauiour of the woorld The promised seede the expectation of the faithful The anoynted of God to be the Prophet of truth the sacrifice for sinne and the king of his choosen 3. My third note If we looke to the Law we shal find the first draft of this painting to bee a grosse a fleshly a rawer kinde of knowledge fit for such a people til the fulnesse of time when nowe God would not distill by droppes as before but poure downe in plenteous sort his spirite vpon al fleshe 4. Wherein was and is my fourth note of the prerogatiue and dignity of the gospel But reuert wee to my second note whereon I rest for this present this gospel and those thinges in the Gospell and many moe of like nature and of like inestimable price were the matter of Pauls preaching and that as by one man came death and a passibility of and a pronenes to corruption in a guilt both of the first and second death so by one and therefore by nothing else came very life euen life euerlasting and not as our aduersaries say a new ability forsooth to liue so that wee our selues will purchase saluation by woorking and desertes of our owne Paul did not so teach Christ Num. 21. As the children of Israell iourneyed towarde the promised Land many of them waxed weary wayward and wanton and their soule lothed the bread of heauen as a wearish and a waterish foode without rellish they murmured against God and against Moises Wherefore the Lord sent fierie stinging Serpentes among them and had not Moises prayed and had not the Lord taken compassion on them by a brazen Serpent to bee erected whereon they shoulde looke that they might bee recured there was no remedy but death Appliably to speake for this story was but a figure of Christ The brazen serpent a tipe of Christ vpon his crosse In the wildernes of this world what Dragon more fierse than sinne What Serpent so fieris as Sathan Who so is strung hereby is enflamed to death in euerlasting flames Notwithstanding it hath pleased God to prescribe a perfect and a soueraigne help That Serpent was erected so was Christ exalted on the crosse hee was crucified on the tree And stil is as it were crucified before our eies by preaching him crucified and in the beholding thereof is health and saluation And wee may sate in faith that * Luk. 2.30 Simeon said when hee sawe our Sauiour in the flesh Mine eyes haue seene and doe see my saluation So effectually the preacher painteth foorth Christ in precious colours And when I heare what he preacheth by hearing commeth my faith and my faith is fixed in Christ who is onely and alone preached to be A IESVS to bee that Serpent and to bee A SAVIOVR This was the duetie which Paul discharged And euen as the * Mat. 2.9 Star that stoode right ouer the place where Christ was borne so Paul perpendicularly and directly standeth vpon Christ vpon his natiuity and vpon the rest of his life but the * The chiefest argument of al our sermons is Christ Iesus on his crosse death of the crosse was a chiefe action significantly shewing what we eternally deserued and should haue felt if hee had not died And therefore he painted that out most Gen. 30.37 And as Iacob when hee would haue the Ewes to yeene speckled Lambs stript
powerfull presence of the God of Iacob which turneth the rock into a water-poole and the flint into a fountain of water Semblably it was more than a woonder to see Paul thus altered thus relenting thus altogither changing his former life Men rather praise the means than the author of goodnesse But in such cases cōmonly there is no mean in humane iudgements For 1. either we enuy thereat through malice 2. Or we magnifie too much through folly rather men the receiuers than God the giuer we gaze on * Act. 3.12 Peter we sacrifice to * Act. 14.15 Paul we glorifie not God neither for Peter nor Paul When Paul that sought to roote out the faith and Christian profession now planteth the faith I esteeme him as a planter but hee * 1 Cor. 3.7 that watereth is nothing and he that planteth is nothing and nothing deserueth not any thing and therefore not ame praise in comparison of God that giueth the encrease and made Paul a planter and * Ephes 10.11 who woorketh all in al according to the counsel of his owne wil. In the receit of water I praise the spring for the ishue of the water and not the condit as if it sprang from the condit pipe In the sight of light the glasse is but a meane to lighten the house the cause of light is in the sunne But at this time I speak not of means or of ministerial instruments whereof there is a due * 1. Cor. 4.1 regarde but of the soueraigne cause of our stonie hearts now being mollified of our foorth in sinne sometime as it were a maine water course that way now quite chaunged another way I speake of Paul once a persecuter now made a preacher of the Gospell and when I speake hereof I speake of God and of his only work and therefore in only glorifieng God therein these churches did their duetie Tu vade fac similiter Go thy way whosoeuer thou bee learne this lesson this daie and in like cases doe the like If * Ioh. 8.50 Christ the naturall Sonne of God sought not his owne glorie but his fathers what must wee the adopted doe What is our duetie herein thinke ye And I pray you brethren most earnestly among many duties think wel on this Make not more of the lanthorne than of the light that shineth through the lanthorne CHAP. II. 1 THEN 14 yeares after I went vp againe to Ierusalem with Barnabas I tooke with me Titus also 2 I went vp by reuelation and declared vnto them that Gospel which I preach among the Gentiles but particularlie to them that were the chiefe least by any meanes I should run or had run in vaine 3 But neither yet Titus which was with me though he were a Graecian was compelled to be circumcised 4 To witte for the false brethren which were craftilie sent in and crept in priuilie to spie out our libertie which wee haue in Christ Iesus that they might bring vs into bondage 5 To whom wee gaue not place by subiection for an houre that the truth of the Gospel might continue with you IN these lines are sette forth 1. the circumstances of Pauls second viage to Ierusalem 2. his conference there 3. and howe stoutlie and wisely hee demeaned him-selfe vpon occasion offered by certaine false brethren 1 In the circumstances 1. he sheweth vpon what inducement he vndertooke the iourney viz. vpon no priuate fancy but by euident reuelation 2. Then hee went not secretly and by stelth but with Barnabas and hee tooke with him Titus also So went hee with good companie and as it were the curtaines of the * Exod. 26.5 tabernacle twisted and knit togither or * Ezech. 1.16 Ezechiels wheeles one in another I meane arme in arme in perfect amitie great frindship and mutual comfort and that vnder sufficient witnes Peters residēce in Rome 25. years impossible 3. Another circumstance is of the time then 14 years after which being wel loked into doth plainly argue the impossibility of Peters being or as they speake of Peters sitting forsooth so long at Rome quite contrarie to the nature of his apostolike office 25. years togither For without al controuersie contradiction Peter liued not aboue 40. years after our Sauiors passion if at the least he were 18. yeares at Ierusalem when Paul who doubtles was called * Acts. 9.3 after our Sauiours ascension came thither found him there how possibly could hee rest first at Antioch 7. yeares and then at Rome 25 For 18. 7. and 25 make more than 40. It cannot bee These were the circumstances 2 In Pauls conference 1. the matter he conferred of may bee considered 2. the persons with whom hee conferred and the ende of his conference 1. Touching the matter which he declared vnto them more in place conuenient Why I pray you was Paul in doubt of the goodnes of his cause of the certaintie of his doctrine of the assurednes of his doing that at the length hee bethought himselfe of this conference Did hee put his doctrine in * Rhem. Test Pag. 499. trial now and to the approbation of others as the Papists imagine The whole drift and tenor of his speach is to the contrarie He was called negatiuely not of men nor by men affirmatiuely by Christ and by Christ alone by an Heauenlie vision by a celestiall reuelation Three yeares were betweene his first calling and before his first iourneying to Ierusalem and fourteen before this his second iourney Shotte he al this while at random ventured hee without a warrant or knew he not what hee did delt he at aduentures No by no meanes no. This conference was no dubious or disputable communication too and fro pro and con houering vp and downe vncertainly * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he opened his doctrine he declared and shewed it to them how Christ was the accomplishment of the Law and abolishment of former ceremonies and that the partition wal was taken downe and that the Gentiles were to haue a common entrance with others into the knowledge of Christ This was the matter of his conference and communication 2. The persons with whom he conferred were the chiefe 1. If there were mo chiefe than one then was not one namely Peter not chiefe of al. 2. He conferred with the chiefe For why To conferre with the foote when a man may haue conference with the head were no wisdome 3. he conferred particularly or priuatly Wherein neither he disdained them nor they him though they there were the chiefe But for that * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he priuatlie and as it were a part did communicate his cause may be obserued a general caution that would bee seene vnto which is Priuate conference that to make a matter publickely controuersed and in common demurred when priuat notice can doe that is to be done and remedy the whole were great folly and litle