preciousnesse of the gift 3. the certaintie in receauing 4. and the neede of the receauer 1. The freenesse of the giuer For what is freer than gift And then a gift proceeding of loue Which loued me 2. For the preciousnes of the gift what can bee more precious than the Sonne of God the heire of al Hee gaue himselfe 3. The certainty of receauing is vttered in the specialitie of speaking for mee But O blessed Paul what meane these * Christ is not receaued in a general conceat but by a special applying enclosures Why Is Christ thy Christ Is hee thy Sauiour And is hee not rather the Sauiour of the world That which is thine is none of mine Is it not so In worldly thinges true the right and propriety is in the true owner onely and in him alone and in none other In spirituall rightes it is not so altogether Christ is the Christ of all in generall and in speciall too yet not a diuided Christ but whole and entire whosoeuer hee is In natural thinges see a resemblance hereof the Sunne in the aire is a generall light in the eye a speciall and the sound in the ayre a generall noyce yet seerely discerned in the eare so Christ is a general Sauiour of all that shall bee saued but specially is hee receaued discerned and applied by the eye of faieth which faieth commeth by hearing him generally deliuered but specially applied As take eate take drinke at the Lordes Supper feede on him by thy faieth And blessings so speciallie and certainely taken haue euer a quicker tast in the receauer and prouoke thereby the more thankefulnesse towarde the donor 4. The neede of the receauer appeareth in this * The price of the ransom doth proue the neede of the party and the hainousnes of his trespas who is to bee ransommed that if a lesse ransom would haue doone the deed so great a payment had not needed But somuch it cost to saue one Soule And whereas hee saith Christ gaue himselfe For me it is plaine in how harde a case hee was before that Christ must dy that wee may liue or else wee dy euen as the Ramme was Sacrificed that Isaake might bee saued Wherefore of his perfect mercy and for our pure neede Christ dyed for thee for me and for vs al. Why Christians die though Christ died for them It is but an easie demaunde and soone satisfied why I must dye though Christ died for mee Yet God doubtlesse requireth no double satisfaction hee desireth not to bee twise paied for one debt Notwithstanding nothing is more certaine than that death is the common and vneuitable Lodge and Receptacle of the liuing The Wiseman shall dye as wel as shal the Foole. Dauid when he had * Acts. 13.36 serued his time was reposed to his Fathers and the statute is generall and cannot not be dispensed with al must dye By sin * Rom. 5.12 came in death and as sinne is in al so must all dy If there had beene no sinne there shoulde haue beene no death nor dissolution no not of our mixt bodies no more than there shall be of the very same bodies after their restitution glorification By sinne death entered and must goe ouer all But the question is why wee dye whom Christ hath deliuered both from sinne the cause and from death the consequent of sinne As we are deliuered from sinne not that it bee not but that it sting not so are wee deliuered from death not that it come not but that it conquer not that it lead vs not in a triumph ô death where is thy sting The sting of death is sinne but sinne is doone away and therefore ô graue where is thy victory Death is no Death to a good Christian Thou takest holde of vs not because wee are stung to death but because of a natural necessity indeede inducted thorough sinne at first yet for that the guilt of sinne is taken away death is no right death nowe but a dissolution and a passage to a better life and a very instrument whereby mortality putteth on immortality and whereby we liue for euer And the assurance of our certaine departure hence is hence-foorth a noble monument of the weight of sinne to weane vs from sinning and to win vs to Christ in perpetual thankefulnes for that we are freed from the curse of the Lawe against sinne from the guilt of sinne in it selfe and from the danger of death for sinning and all this by his infinit desert in dying for vs that otherwise should haue died a death euerlasting This grace would not bee abrogated I abrogate not the grace of God this grace of his Gospell Steuen Gardiner Steuen Gardiner in King Edwards time whē he stood much but falsly vpon his innocency and would not yeelde that hee had offended yet at length being asked whether he would accept the Kings pardon or no nay saith he I am learned enough not to refuse the Kings pardon In like manner men may dally and play and vse figge leaues at pleasure truly the greatest wisedome in the end will be to renounce all and craue mercy and stand vpon pardon and to trust vnto Christ and onely in him Grace is reiected when works are annexed And for a good fare-well and end of this Chapter be it remembred and written in the hartes of humble men for euer that wee after the example of our Apostle we disanull not we reiect not we frustrate not we abrogate not we throwe not away the grace of God which necessarily ensueth by meashing or adnexing either the association of Ceremonies or the obseruation of the Lawe vnto his free and absolutely free Grace free in GOD though deserued by Christ our Iesus and onely Sauiour CHAP. III. 1 O FOOLISH Galathians who hath bewitched you that you should not obey the trueth to whome Iesus Christ before was described in your sight and among you crucified 2 This only would I learne of you Receaued ye the spirit by the workes of the Law or by hearing of faith 3 Are yee so foolish that after ye haue begun in the spirit ye would now end in the flesh 4 Haue yee suffered many things in vaine If yet in vaine 5 He therefore that ministreth to you the spirite and worketh miracles among you doth he it through the workes of the Law or by the hearing of faith O YEE foolish bewitched and disobedient or incredulous Galathians These are vehement speeches But this vehemency proceeded of great zeale and this zeale for them was grounded vppon many reasons 1. Christ was described before their face and crucified in their sight 2. They had receiued the spirit and the graces of the holie Ghost not by the deeds of the Law for they were Gentils but by the Ghospel preached vnto them And the Law in comparison is flesh and grosse the Ghospel is spirituall Should they beginne with the better and relaps to the worse Be
or contrarie his former deedes which must needs be if Righteousnes should come by the Law 19 Wherefore then serued the Law It was added because of transgressions till the seede came vnto the which the promise was made and it was ordained by Angels in the hand of a mediator 20 Now a mediator is not of one but God is one 1 When the Lawe entred and what that inferreth ferreth hath beene said Now see 2. why it entred and in whom it ended 2 It entred because of transgressions to teach vs our faultes and so to traine vs to Christ in whom it ended Yea when the Law was first made in great maiesty by the reason of the presence of angels and other circumstances of great reuerence euē then it was ordained in the The variety of expositions vpon this place is an endles laberinth I haue shortly paraphrased what I thinke hands and in strength of a mediatour to follow And a mediator is of things different in themselues and contrary Wherefore the Lawe and the promise are contrarie and not one though God in geuing his Lawe and in making the promise bee one Yet because the former reason might bee misconstred as if Paul saide that in al respectes they were contrarie he questioneth as followeth 21 Is the Lawe then against the promise of God God forbid for if there had beene a Lawe giuen which could haue giuen life surely righteousnes should haue beene by the Law 22 But the Scripture hath concluded al vnder sinne that the promise by the faith of Iesus Christ should be giuen to them that beleeue How the Law is contrary and not contrary to the promise These wordes Is the Lawe then contrary to the promise God forbid may seeme to reuoke what I said right now For I shewed that they were contrary and I say they are contrary But my brethren mistake me not but marke I pray you marke what I say and how I vouch all that I say out of our Apostle If there had beene a law which coulde haue giuen life then what needed Christ If the Scriptures had not concluded men vnder sin what had needed the promise So that the Law fulfilled if it could be by men is contrarie to the promised saluation by God But when we looke into the glasse of the Law shewing our transgressings into the Scriptures concluding al Rom. 3.9 euen A L without exception of any vnder sin the Lawe and Scriptures send vs schoole vs to Christ and so the Law being thus lawfully vsed is not contrary to the promise God forbid but a seruiceable helpe to driue vs to Christ in whom we finde that which the Law will neuer allow vs. If we seeke life in the Law it is a killing letter if saluation it worketh condemnation if righteousnesse it concludeth all vnder sinne if rest it is a temporall ordinance and endured but till the seed came in the seede was made the free promise and is obtained the perfect blessing by faith in Christ of al that beleeue The Law considered in it self what it worketh The Lawe cannot teach thus much but he that looketh into the law and seeth his sinnes will seeke for helpe I wis not in his deedes or in the Lawe Mat. 13. and when hee hath found it in the Gospel he will not leaue it for all the geld Iewels and treasures in the world 23 But before faith came we were kept vnder the Lawe as vnder a garison and shut vp vnto that faith which should afterward bee reuealed 24 Wherefore the Lawe was our schoolemaster to Christ that we might be made righteous by faith 25 But after that faith is come wee are no longer vnder a schoole-master The lawfull vse of the Law was some-way to some may be in cases to be by resemblance 1. A prison 2. A schoole-master 3. A tutor A prison for the guiltie a schoole-master for the vnskilful A tutor as it were to the ward and pupil For this third similitude wee will debate more in the beginning of the next Chapter The Law a prison 1 For the first similitude of the three no doubt they which were in prison and felt what it was to be in prison and what it was to be deliuered longed to be deliuered And when the deliuerance came which was Christ the keeper yeelded vp his keies the doore of the prison was opened and the prisoners set at that good liberty which wee call and is a Christian liberty no carnall security The Law a schoolemaster 2 The Law also was a schoole-master and that in two respects either because of their ceremonies or els for their morals The ceremonies kept the Iewes in on euery side and sequestred them from other people the decalog and morall Law followeth them hard and driueth them and vs all to confesse our weakenesse and so schooleth vs to craue aide of Christ because it was vtterly impossible to reach home and to attaine vnto the hauen of blessednesse by the Law and so the Lawe in this meaning becommeth deseruice-able to force vs to Christ and being nowe in Christ our dutifull obedience proceedeth of faith and trust in his mercy not vpon a performance of his Lawe which if we could and did performe Christ might be excluded For why came Christ but to free vs from the prison and to take vs out of the hand of our former schoolemaster These similitudes are pregnant and plaine to this sense and to this sense only Paul doth apply them 26 For ye are all the sonnes of God by faith in Christ Iesus 27 For yee that are baptized into Christ haue put on Christ 28 There is neither Iew nor Graecian there is neither bond nor free there is neither male nor female for ye are all one in Christ Iesus 29 And if yee bee Christs then are ye Abrahams seede and heires by promise And when we are once preferred vnto and receiued of Christ 1. We are the sonnes of God in Christ 2. Wee are baptized into Christ 3. Wee haue put on Christ Here is no mention of the Law here is no difference of peoples Iew or Graecian no distinction in condition bond or free no respect of sex male or female All are one in christ and if we be Christs it followeth by necessary sequele that we are Abrahams seede and heires of the promise without the Law now as well as hee was long before the Law was made O Christian man what art thou Know thy calling and consider the blessed state of Christian profession thou art the sonne of God but by what meanes Through faith In whome and by whose merit In Christ Christian Baptisme disproueth iustification by the Law As many things demonstrate this truth so in the Church doth baptizme being receaued of all sorts and sexes generally most euidently declare the same The bath of thy regeneratiō doth tel thee who art baptized into Christ that thou thereby hast an entrance into his
cause Pauls doing is a better president But such wisedome courage constancy are not euery where found and not alwaies there perfourmed where they are much expected and greatly required Of all things a busie waspe and a quarelling or stubborne curst nature is woorst But if the cause be Gods if thy calling and giftes be according there is no * Eccl. 4.28 relenting at al no starting backe no shutting neck out of the coller in such cases in cases whereunto a man is expresly duly enabled warranted commanded Zeale without discretion is naught discretiō without zeal is nothing worth Wherefore 1. zeal without wisedome is neuer good 2. And yet what is wisedome without zeal 3. But zeal and discretion seemely vnited in one as it was in our Apostle is as the throne of wise Solomon and as the strong * 1 King 10.20 Lions at the staies and ascending vp vnto his throne 6 By them which seemed to be somwhat I was not taught whatsoeuer they were in time past it maketh no matter to mee God accepteth no mans person the chiefe added nothing to me 7 But contrariwise when they sawe that the Gospel ouer the vncircumcision was committed vnto me as the Gospell ouer the Circumcision was vnto Peter 8 For he that was mightie by Peter in the Apostleship ouer the circumcision was also mightie by me toward the Gentiles 9 And when Iames and Cephas Iohn knewe of the grace that was giuen vnto mee which are counted to bee pillars they gaue to mee and to Barnabas the right handes of fellowship that we should preach vnto the Gentiles and they vnto circumcision 10 Warning only that we should remember the poore which also I was diligent to do Paul in his conference gaue no place to the chiefe and the chiefe brethren gaue nothing to Paul by waie of authorizing his person or adding to his doctrine 1. and hee sheweth why it should be so 2. and withall declareth the chiefe Apostles due consenting vnto him 3. and onely requesting him to haue a careful eye to the poore which Paul respected and did ful diligently The motiue of Antiquity Among the argumentes the false Apostles vsed against Paul a maine matter was made and drawen from Antiquity that the other Apostles were ancienter than Paul and therefore questionles to be preferred Truly personal preferment was not the mark Paul shot at For he could be euer and was often wel content in all things to giue and yeeld so far foorth as might stand with the glory of Christ But in this ceremonious quarel opposed against the trueth of Christ and Christian libertie as before hee defied an Angell if to that end he should come from heauen so now he declareth that the name of Antiquitie in the Apostles might not cary him away nor driue him aside They were his auncients What mattereth that to me saith he And indeede it skilleth litle There is no prescription against the Prince and why should there be any against the trueth be it later or sooner in whomesoeuer This or that time past or present or future and to come is not in the nature of trueth neither are matters of faith measured by yeares nor is any point of religion liable to be decided by continuance pretended Iob. 32. Elihu said well There is a spirit in man but the inspiration of the Almightie giueth vnderstanding As if he had said man is made not onlie of a body but of a bodie and a soule and that soule is a reasonable spirit and that spirite in processe of yeares and tract of time gathereth politique experience as it were a stone that hath been long pitcht in one place gathereth much mosse But all that experience is but mossy terrene and earthly true wisdome is from aboue from the Father of lights and God of knowledge reueiled in his Son which illuminateth euery man not onely comming into the worlde but either entering into or els continuing priuatly or publiquely in the house of his church And therfore Elihu reformeth his thoughts voucheth that he was mis-conceited when he thought that it was the length of daies should speake and that the multitude of yeares should teach wisedome But yet of old and stil many men embrace rather Elihu his first opinion concerning age and antiquity than his later iudgement afterwarde wel rectified and truly reformed So an old prophet soone deceaued the young Prophet whom neither the threats nor entreaty of * 1. King 12. a king could moue at al. So * Iosh 9. old shewes olde battles findes bread torne sackes tottered rags like rotten relickes with profered seruice seruus seruorum and pretence of comming from far deceaued Iosue because hee rather respected such trinkets and consulted not with the Lord. Our aduersaries knowe how humane affections leane this way and therefore they beare the poore people in hand that theirs is the old religion and ours is an yesterdaies bird but with the like trueth and with the same spirite the Iewes said our sauiours doctrine was new the Apostles preaching new wine and the false Apostles here obiect that Saint Paul was an vpstart and deuoid of Apostolick warrant Sooner or later called it skilleth not old or new if true it forceth little If the name of new were alwaies naught why would Christ cal his louely commandement * Iohan. 13.34 a new commanded If the name of old were alwaies good why did S. Paul cōmand aduise the Corinthians that the * 1 Cor. 5.7 old leuen the incestuous person be purged out If you wil recourse to the first heade of all in this question it were another matter For God is for euer and before Sathan and Sathans fal the Lawe was first giuen and then ensued the transgression first the husbandman sowed his ground and afterward the enimie came sowed tares And which is to be obserued there was no long time betweene For Sathan took the next oportunitie of ignorance and securitie euen the next night as it were when the ground was yet new turned and trimmed for seede the enemie sparst some of his tares in the fielde and Church of God And then while truth and error were yet but greene in the blade the difference was not so easily discerned * Mat. 13.25 til the growth was greater And as it is this in the cause of truth compared with error so is it in the professors and Doctors of trueth compared among themselues the first teacher is not alwaies best for then the vsher must needes bee better than the schoolemaister and the country schoolemaister than the vniuersitie Reader Peter and Andrewe Iames and Iohn and others were called before Paul Hee asketh what was that to him There was no difference or prestancy therin He had antiquity enough that had Christ for his author So that in all materiall respects if they were Apostles so was Paul Nay * 1 Cor. 15.10 2 Cor. 11.23 hee laboured more
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
well as the ceremonial and which are written TO DOE THEM and I take it DOING belongeth most properly to the Law moral which is of deedes Ye papistes would blind vs in the day of light and make vs beleeue Saint Paul speaketh of the ceremoniall Lawe which curseth and cannot bee borne and cannot iustifie But not of the Lawe morall not of the iustice of the Law which your Rabbi Vega and graund interpreter of your Tridentine conuent saith * Vega. de Iust lib. 14. c. 24. Paulus nunquam opponit Paul neuer opposed to the Law of faith If he neuer toldly before this is a master-ly and a ly with a witnesse Blessed are they that are vnder faith cursed are they that are vnder the Law If cursing and blessing be contrary then is the Law and faith contrary I say again this repugnancy is chiefly betwixt faith and the morall Law For therefore is the ceremonial Law in one respect contrary to faith because it bindeth man to the perfect obseruation of the morals vnder paine of a curse which is a dangerous Doctrine an absurde opinion and an impossible aduenture For Paul laieth it downe that no man is iustified by the Lawe c. Hee meaneth not onely the Iewes who somewhat or among the Iewes he meaneth not only the Priests and Leuits and the like who were most occupied in the ceremonies but NO MAN no not anie man where euer vnder the cope of heauen can bee iustified by the Law moral For he meaneth that which hee thinketh might extend to any which in his owne iudgement was not the ceremoniall but yet by name also afterward 4. Chap. the ceremoniall rite of circumcision is reiected euen therefore because it was a couenant and inducement and as I may so speak a brissel to drawe in the yoke of the morals in the causes of iustifying which Paul could not brooke So that this controuersie of iustification is no new question The false Apostles were predecessors to the Papists in the chiefest ground of their intolerable pride of woorkes Mary if mans workes were perfect then the case were altered And then man should not be man or the woorkes of man should be perfecter than man the worker and so God should accept the woorke before the workdoer But god respecteth first * Gen. 4.4 Abels person thē his work And if the person be imperfect the works cannot be perfect And therefore mans imperfit works cānot claim by the law which requireth perfection which is far frō man since his fall The Law requireth al or none in the question of iustifieng The Law is not contēt with a good entrance and a reasonable continuance but cursed is hee that continueth not without interruption in al that was written Pharao with much adoe granted leaue vnto Moses to goe aside a litle Sacrifice But Moses would not accept thereof because God had commaunded him otherwise And hee would not go but according to the forme prescribed with male and female with young and oulde with their children seruants with their cattle al euē with al or with none he would not he durst not leaue one houffe behind Exod. 10.26 Iam. 3.2 The distinction of venial sin is a vaine conceat Sēblably the Law will haue all or none Yet in many things wee offend al that not sleightly or venially after a Popish fancy for he that offendeth in one offēdeth in all in offending him that will haue all or none And the breach of all I trow is mortal sinne accusing and accursing all and how then call you these prety pety venial sins Or how can the Law accru as cause of iustifieng wherein should doth consist euerlasting blisse whereas it layeth an heauy curse vpon all that leane therunto Durgus fo 298. The Scottish Iesuit saith Moses Law extendeth not to the least pointes of the Lawe but note That where God commandeth a hide a heare or a houffe is not to be omitted Other of the papists fondly restraine the worde All to al that go to worke only with natural faculties and who exclude and shut out grace quite in offending or els in dooing the Lawe If this were the Galathians opinion let the Lawe also winne the goal and weare the garland Let Papistes be beeleeued and let Master Stapleton bee credited No. The false Apostles in wordes and in their doctrine euen as the Papists they taught the grace of God annexed the Gospell of Christ then callenged the name of Apostolicke teachers though they were false Apostles in so doing yea so far foorth that they were reputed men linckt in and ioyned with Peter who neuer was imagined to teach the Lawe vtterly secluding faith Wherefore that is but a friuolous conceit and therefore verily verily if wee stand to bee iustified by the Law in what state soeuer the nature of the Law accurseth therefore I pray you recognize your * De vniu Iust doct lib. 6. c. 13 interpretation Master Stapleton and I trust euen as the country fellow the more he told his geese the fewer hee found them so the oftner yee looke vpon your Imaginations the woorse ye will like it But Saint Paul leaueth not the Galathians thus If blessing if happinesse if iustification if saluation if life euerlasting for all these diuers wordes in sound are one and the same in sense and meaning if these come not from the Law whence come they then Paul sheweth 11 For the iust shall liue by faith 12 And the Law is not of faith but the man that shal doe those things shal liue in them 13 Christ hath redeemed vs from the curse of the Lawe being made a curse for vs. For it is written Cursed is euery one that hangeth on tree 14 That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Christ Iesus that wee might receaue the promise of the spirit through faith Diuerse words may inculcat one and the same thing after a various manner of speaking Whereas Iustification cōmeth 1. Not by the priuilege of Abrahams fleshe 2. Nor by dignity of workes because of the woorkers imperfection and the exact perfectnes required in the Lawe Paul directeth three distinct waies yet al of them meeting and agreeing in the end and indeede not the waies but the woordes are diuerse whereby our iustification is vttered to be attained We are not iustified by Lawe Whence then 1. First by faith 2. Thē by christ crucified 3. And lastly by the promise of the spirit and these three are but one Liuing redemption and blessing in sense is one So liuing by faith in Christ redemption purchased by Christ and the spirituall promise of Christ hath not a diuerse meaning whereby we liue and are saued For my faith is in christ the promise was of Christ and Christ is the perfection and performance thereof in the daies of his flesh and vpon his Crosse But consider we apart the variety and so the
vehemency of the Apostles woordes thus varied Faith instifieth 1 The first speech is that the iust shal liue by faith This was prooued and sufficiently proued before by the example and faith of Abraham But abundant proofes for the foundation of christian faith are not superfluous and must not bee tedious to eares and minds erected and settled to heare and marke the euidences of their saluation The Prophet Abacuc saith Habak 2.4 that the iust shall liue by faith In the end of the first and in the beginning of the second chapter of his prophesie the Iewes appeere to haue bin in a pitiful case Their enimies were no small enimies The Chaldaeans were a terrible and a feareful people a bitter and a furious nation wel manned and horses as fierse as woolues swifter than the Leopards and of flight like the eagle hasting after her meate These Chaldeans molested the Iews on euery side spoiled them as the East-wind the fruit deuoured them as the great fish deuoureth the smal yea they caught the Iews as it were fish into their nets and * Prosperitie prouender in an excessiue measure marreth man beast they tooke them as fast as they could cast in and pul vp and thereby they grew fat and their portion was great and plenteous And thereupon they wared in loue of their own might and wanton again with their prosperous successe They Sacrificed to their nets they burnt incense to their yarn they were glad in hart stroked their own heads that could deuise and kissed their own handes that had compassed so great matters The Iewes in this hard case what should they doe Round about wheresoeuer they looked they saw present danger and no possible helpe or hope in man Notwithstanding God doth denounce that the pride of the presumptuous that trusted in themselues should come to nothing and the iust should liue by his faith and his people for all this because they trusted in God they were iust euen as the Caldeans were therefore vniust because they crusted in themselues and the Iewes as they were iust so should they liue in god in whom they trusted euen by their faith And therefore their iustification with God was their faith and trust in God and in God alone most then when all helpes els failed as appeareth in their greatest extremities Workes are imperfect Imperfect deedes were no deserts and could not helpe out of bodily calamities much-lesse in cases of saluation euerlasting and the iust man beleeueth not in himselfe much-lesse in his workes his faith goeth out of himselfe and resteth in God through Christ in whom amongst a million or a myriad of Caldeans in the midst of all fierse and false Catholiques our faith in Christ shall neuer faile We are iustified in Christ wee are saued by Christ we liue by Christ And thus is onely faith in him opposed set against all the meritricious or meritorious putatiue deserts of fraile and sinful flesh supposed to be answerable to the law which can neuer bee for if the Iewes could haue doone the Lawe they might haue claimed of God their deliuerance for their good workes For he that doth the things of the Law shal liue in them No they needed and so do all an other redeemer which must saue them all out of the hands of the Law and from our breaches thereof and the Caldeans rage is but a phillip or a flea-biting to the curse of the Lawe Christ redeemeth is the only comfort of a conscience that hath a sense of sin and any tast of true consolation 2 The redemption from this curse is Christ on his Crosse hanged on tree The Iew stumbleth at this faith and the Gentile scorneth this Doctrine but the godly saith in hart that which Ignatius vttered in wordes My loue is crucified The obiect of my faith the ground of my hope the marke the matter of my trust and confidence my delight my loue my life the cause of life euerlasting my ful redemption and perfect saluation my Iesus was Crucified and endured the curse for my sake This was no slender punishment nor small paine and were it the griefe but of a bodily torment it were grieuous but our redemption was not in respect of the paine of the body onely or of the sorrowes of the soule onely but in regarde of the sinnes of both and that not for one man but for the sinnes of the worlde The penitent sinner The better to conceiue the force of this deserued paine and the effect of sinne see it in a repentant sinner he standeth farre off he beateth on his thigh knocketh on his brest hangeth downe head watereth his eies with teares and wearieth his heart with sighes and findeth no rest in his soule for sorrow of sinnes neither should he euer finde rest at all were it not for this redemption which is in Christ The state of a forlorne cast-away For the reprobate who hath no part in this saluation howe many bees hath hee in his head how many pegs in his hart how many very helles in his soul how many trayterous thoughts that trouble him euerlastingly Euen such is the force of sinne where sinners are left to themselues But Christ our blessed Sauiour hath taken that vpon him that we could not beare and hath endured the curse of the Law not for the sinnes of one man or in one kinde but for the sinnes of all the worlde Sufficiently and for al the sinnes of al sortes in all his chosen Effectually to their ful and finall redemption If now there be any that can chalenge any part of this ransome let him commense his action against our Sauiour that hath taken and against Paul that hath prescribed giuen him the whole glory of mans redemption as who only sustained being not onely man but God and man the insupportable waight of sinne in satisfieng for sinne in pacifieng the Father in answering his iustice in enduring the curse and malediction of the Law From what things we are redeemed O my brethren let Papists ride vpon a reed or catch hold on a ragge of a tottered good woorke this and only this is our redemption which hath redeemed vs from the intolerable yoke the importable burden and the insufferable curse of the Lawe from that seruile feare and legall terror which the Lawe induceth wherein Austins short and sweet difference being well vnderstood betwixt the Law and the Gospell appeareth which he deliuered to be in two wordes FEARE and LOVE Wee loue good woorkes vnder the Gospell according to the rule of the Law but we fear not the curse of the Law wanting that perfection which in right it requireth for wee are redeemed and ransomed our debt is paid and our curse was abolished when our Sauiour was crucified Wee loue him and in loue we liue well but in case especially of life euerlasting wee leane to no other redemption than to his Crosse for so we liue as
call Gods promises into question and with out-cries to confound the cry of the spirit But thou who art the Sonne of God in thy bozome in thy brest in thy heart thou hast thou bearest a spirit that defieth and crieth out vpon all doubtfulnes and Popish dispaire In the seuenth chapter of Toby Toby 5 when young Tobyas came to Ecbatane and after questioning Raguel had learned that he was old Tobyas his sonne Raguel leaped and kissed him and blessed him and saide vnto him Thou art the sonne of a good and honest man If Raguel did this in respect of Tobyas parentage why doe not our aduersaries as Raguel did and what shoulde Toby the Sonne doe in respect of himselfe that he was the Son of such a Toby Yea what what should he doe that feeleth in his faith and findeth in his soule that he is the Sonne not of a good and honest man but of the good and louing god Should he not ioie in hart or should he feare and tremble and doubt of his estate But in the former story Raguel was right sory and wept when hee was informed that olde Toby had lost his sight and was blind Euen so verily whose hart doth not bleed to see the blindnesse of our aduersaries that are not only depriued of the light of this comfort but desire also that no man els may see any more than they doe themselues Flesh is fraile Sathan is a tempter sinnes do terrifie vs the law accuseth accurseth popery telleth vs there is no certaine helpe nor hope in Christ except you merit by woorks and by what woorks Or els you fry in purgatory or purchase a pardon or kill a Queene or betray our country and this is the only compendious method to be assured of heauen beleeue them who list for faithfull subiects and the Sonnes of God cannot Yet is it more than strange that men can trust in villaines more than in God who neuer deceiued any that trusted in him Trust in God brethren * Iohan. 16.33 Confidite * Mat. 9.2 cōfide fili trust confidētly Build thine house vpon the rocke and dwell in safety and rest in peace He will not deceaue his seruants muchlesse his sonnes Thou art his sonne thou hast his spirit the ernest penny the pawne the pledge the inunction the cry of his spirit A man maie talke of honie that cannot tast the sweetenesse thereof I do not deny many as the Enthusiast the Family of loue and their like may iangle of the spirit who are not spirituall may talke of the booke of life whose names were neuer written in the check and register of Israel But these proud Cedars and great Oakes that seeme to stand but stand not indeede when they fal their fall wil bee great and the fiar durable that such fuell maketh But he that standeth in Christ shal stand for euer He that is engraffed into Christ shall growe florish and fructifie his leafe his life shal neuer fade He that is once Christs can neuer be but Christs A wind out of the wildernesse may ouer-throwe the house where Iobs children were banketing but Iobs hart was fixed sure * Iob. 18.15 Etiamsi occidat tamen sperabo If God should kill Iob yet would Iob liue in hope and trust in God no the gates of hell and power of sathan cannot preuaile against the children of God Of them whom the Father gaue to Christ he Ioh. 18.9 lost not any one Iudas the lost childe was among the rest but not of them and when he fell away he went into his owne place Wherefore all the time he seemed to be a disciple and a beleeuer it was but a seeming and putatiue supposal either in himselfe or vnto others It was but a shooting starre no firm light a false noyse no true cry of the holy ghost Because the fool thinketh himselfe wise and is not therefore doth not wisedome know that shee is wise But what then What concludeth the Papist out of this Some may seeme to stand to bee in Christ to be Gods Sonnes to haue his spirit and all in vaine True What then Ergo the cry of the spirit is vncertaine Ergo the being and continuing in Christ is not certaine Yea There is a difference betweene seeming to bee and being indeede There is great ods betwixt a flash of a fancie and a faithfull perswasion But how shall I know whether my conceit bee right whether my vnder standing bee a glimmering light or a true vnderstanding wheras a fancifull man may perswade himselfe as thoroughly as the faithfull As throughly Say not so Or if so what then If the mad man standing on the shore thinke all the vessels that come in and their lading to bee his be deceiued shall not cannot therefore the true owners discern their own and claime their right bicause the mad man is deceiued Bicause the sick persons mouth in his distemperature is out of tast cannot therfore a man in good helth relish his drink meat Ioh. 3. Qui credit habet vitam He that beleeueth hath life he hath it he doth not doubt whether he hath it or no. He hath life life euerlasting I graunt sometimes euen the best children of God are brought to narrow straites somewhat stoppeth their cares they cannot heare somwhat dulleth their harts they cannot vnderstand what the spirit crieth and sealeth vnto their harts at all times alike and yet they are their Lordes and they cannot perish and they must not dispaire Dauid Abeit a man according to Gods owne hart and therefore no doubt a man in whose hart the sport of God was in great measure yet such is the frailty of our nature euen holy Dauid and that after hee had endured many stormes vp-held with the promise that God woulde place him in the roome of his master yet at the last hee fainted and faied in his infirmity 1. Sam. 20. that there was but a step betweene him and death surely one day I shal fal into the hands of Saul And therefore he fled to Achis and flattered the very enimy of God Notwithstanding after all this reforming his frailty and comming to himselfe againe he found that God was faithful and that his promises were certaine and as constant as the sunne and vuremoueable as mount Sion and that euer God knoweth best how long it is best to detaine his owne vpon the tenters No doubt when like Dalila a deceatfull suggestion the subtill finde a melancholy humor infirme fleshe naturall imperfections or forceable considerations what euer haue done their woorst ioyntly all or seuerally any of them when they haue learned where lieth our strength when they haue battered our strongest holdes when they haue cut off Sampsons haire yet this haire will grow againe and his strength returne and that man or woman whom the Lorde so trieth is the pure and perfect gold and so in the end wil proue 1 Cor. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
Then to reuiue vs in al goodnes that we may be newe creatures in him The redemption is perfect and was paid by Christ in his owne person on the crosse and resteth vppon his proper discharge in whome wee haue redemption through his blood that is the remission of our sins Phil. 1.14 The life wee liue in Christ through the vertu of his passion and operation of his spirit whereby we are mortified to the world hath not these degrees of perfection because of the imperfection of the flesh wherein wee yet are detained the Law of our mindes beeing hindered by the frowardnesse of our members and fettering vs somewhat in the waies of our full deliuery but yet of our ful deliuery we neede not doubt For as the prisoner being acquit at the bar feeleth the comfort of his release and yet he must go backe to the prison and then in expedient order of time his bolts shall bee knockt off and hee perfectly released so wee albeit wee are pronounced quit by Christ and the enditement bee cancelled and the world and al be crucified and we in hart find the ioy thereof yet in processe of time the perfection of our ioy is finished and not by and by perfected And as they which are ransomed from the Turke though the price be all paide and they are sure it is so and in part their bandes are taken from them yet while they are in their iourney homeward in remembraunce of this old captiuity for a submission al along as they go through the territories of the Turk they are not without some kind of bonds or fetters euen so while wee yet remaine in the vale of sinne in the tabernacle of the body and till wee can quite get out of the Turkes dominions till this corruption shall put on incorruption in another woorlde this present woorld is an hinderance and an hampering and a fettering vnto vs but the nearer wee come to our owne countrey the more wee take our leaue of the world and in the end we relinquish all and enter the perfect perfection of all perfections in Iesu Christ Verse 16. As manie without distinction as walke and are directed according to this rule which is the Canon of the Gospell and the scepter of Christ Paul wisheth them mercy and peace or signifieth vnto them that they haue the promises of peace mercy because they they are the Israel of God for God is not the God of Israel according to the flesh as the false Apostles bear them in hand but according to the faith For circumcision auaileth nothing neither yet is vncircumcision any thing there is no difference in eyther But the new creature in Christ is the Israel that preuaileth with God Circumcision Circumcision was a couenant of righteousnes and a seale of faith and a bond to doe al that God should command his people to do so he that was circumcis◅ was expresly afterwarde bound to the Law which God commanded But as it was a couenant of righteousnesse and of faith so was their faith of a righteousnes in christ to come and therefore because Christ is come that fashion of the seale is dashed out and the forme of righteousnesse commeth by Christ that is to come and to that ende is come that hee might deliuer vs from the Law and be the accomplishment of al in himselfe euen to all that beleeue in him thorough out al the woorld But of this matter hath beene debated very often To draw to an end 17 From henceforth let no man put mee to busines for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Iesus There is no ende of wrangling if a man will follow them who make no conscience what they say or doe For the whole matter as of the pretences of Moses Law of Abrahams name of the people of Israel c. enough hath beene debated if any thing can bee enough and namely diuerse times of circumcision a marke which they laboured vnfruitfully now vnder the Gospell to set in the flesh wherein Paul opposeth the marks which were imprinted in himselfe which hee calleth significantly the marks of the Lord Iesus Whereof a word or two Neither prosperity nor aduersitie are the proper and necessarie markes to discerne the trueth by Since the first beginning when I consider generally the Church of God floting in the waters turmoiled in Aegypt wandering in the wildernes wasted with wars destroied with corporal plagues and led into sundry captiuities I began as Ruth after the haruest of Booz so I after the labors of many others wiser than my selfe to make these euentes as certaine markes to know the Church by In special when I looked vpon the murdering of Abel the sale of Ioseph the lake of Ieremy the den of Daniel the desert of Elias and the like Vnder the new testament when I beholde the pouerty of Bethlehem where our Sauiour was borne and therein the stable and manger wherein hee was laide and so his exile ensuing and likewise the race he ran hauing not any where to rest his head And since til our time for the first 300 yeares when I see the Church most afflicted with tyranny the next 300. most infested with heresies for 800. yeares following beseeged with apostacie and the last 100 and od yeares abounding with swarmes of inconueniences I began as afore so againe to make no reckoning of a florishing successe in the cause of truth and I reade it the better marke of the two to measure doctrine by the hard lotte of the true professor than by the faire prosperity of the world affourded Notwithstanding I would be loth to repute that as a speciall marke of the sheepe of Christ which may bee common to a company of Gotes and may be not incident to the Church of Christ at some better seasons Agar troubled Sara but yet Sara tombled Agar out of doores Ismael persecuted Isaack but the bond brat had no part in the inheritance And albeit there bee a farther learning in these ensamples of spiritual cōfort yet they were also literally true and for the time trouble was vpon the vngodly and the godly for a season was not to be discerned by the marke of aduersity The aduersitie may be the same but the cause being diuerse doth distinguish the aduersity and maketh it sometimes a tast of farder pumshment sometimes a monument of desert and a recalling from sinne sometime a triall of faith an exercise of patience an experience of hope a duety of all men to endure al in expectation of better thinges purchased by Christs suffering and laid vp in heauen whereinto a man must enter by many tribulations On the crosse there were three who suffered a damned theefe a saued soule and the Sauiour of vs al. The penalty of the crosse was one to them al. But yet there was an incomparable difference in their persons The vnquiet man maie purchase a great deale of trouble to no purpose but
an Arrian vnawares And therefore I maruel why Maister Harding should cal it an heretical conuenticle in a corner of the woorld And howebeit Arrianism were an heresie of heresies yet they indirectly confirmed it and being fraudulently circumuented when they sawe the error were verie sorit for their offence which they had committed in the simplicitie of their conceat of vnderstanding that it would be no great matter to relent in a * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 word and in fauour of a general peace If * Detect Pag. 250 b. force could excuse Liberius simplicitie in these deserueth softer words But both by Liberius his * Yet Platina reporteth that it was vpon respect of benefits and fauor forced subscription and by this generall councels misconstruing the capital heresie of Arrianisme was much confirmed And therefore we were best as Austine aduiseth to try our matters and causes at the touch-stone of the infallyble word of God and not at the erryng determynations of Popes or Byshops eyther sorted by them salues or seated together and that of late tymes not so much in a general as in a Gehennal councell of Pragmaticall Machiuels deuising howe they may cosen the woorld and exyle the true and ryght profession of perfit christianity wherefore they must bee withstood with courage and boldnes in the sight of all men as Paul resisted Peter From whom notwithstanding verilie as from one man and not as from a generall Councel of many the Pope maketh this his impossible and improbable claime of not erring but how erroniously we haue declared Hier. Ec. l. 6. c. 5 And Pigghius sayeth in the behalfe of the Pope that there is not a woord in the scriptures properly for general councels 15 Wee which are Iewes by nature not sinners of the Gentiles 16 Know that a man is not iustified by the works of the Law but by faith in Iesus Christ euen we haue beleeued in Iesus Christ that we might be iustified by the faith of Christ not by the works of the Law because by the works of the Law no flesh shal be iustified Paul hauing iustified and made good his authority by sundry proofes 1. By his immediate calling from God 2. By his dutifull diligence therein 3. By his equall conference with the cheefest pillars 4. And lastly by his iust reprouing Peter though he went not with aswift foote from the Gospel yet because he went not with a right foote in it and toward it now draweth happily by this and such like occasion to the chiefest matter and argument handled in this Epistle sheweth abundantly that no ceremonious rite no nor yet which God more respecteth can the works of men iustifie man And this he declareth by his own example by the example of others like himselfe We saith he whome he describeth 1. by their cōdicion 2. by their iudgemēt in christ 1 By condicion in a worde to say they were Iewes by nature Iewes that is so born so descended Phil. c. 3.5 And elswhere Paul saith of himselfe that he was a Iew an Hebrue of the tribe of Beniamin a zealous fellow once and a follower of the Law So were the Iews so was he not sinners of the Gentiles sinners both by nature that is by birth and by their bringing vp and so thought of by common reputation and called by our sauiour very * Matt. 15.26 Dogs Where by the way I marke two things 1. the great goodnes of God towarde the Iewes 2 and their infinit ingratitude towardes him So that what euer they were by their default yet by their condicion such they were so were esteemed of God euen as his peculiar people but with * Psal 147.20 other nations it was not so 2 The Apostles and Disciples ouer and besides their condicion very good in former time yet now altered to a better state were also of a right iudgment in christ they knew we know they knewe that the truckels swathing clothes of old ceremonies were for them but while they were childrē whom God so tendered kept for a time to that end that those ceremonies might be meanes the rather to lead them to Christ and not that they should be iustified in them or in any thing else that they did or could doe I cannot say as our Sauiour said to Nicodemus * Iohn 3.10 Are you Masters in Israel and know not these thinges I know you know them yet giue mee leaue a little that all may learne that which most of you know Neither is there any knoweledge in al the woorld like to this Wherefore the repetition thereof cannot be vngrateful An enquiry how man maie be Iustified before the iudgement seat of God A time shal come and a doome must be and a day is a ppointed when all flesh shall appeare and hold vp hand as it were answere guilty or not guilty before the tribunal seat of God that seeth the heart and searcheth the raines Heere in this plea of Iustice is required thou bee neither accessory nor principall to the least breach of the Law if thou wilt liue and be iustified and be quit thereby * Luk. 10.18 Hoc fac viues Doe this and liue Doe not this thou canst not liue Or doe what thou wilt if thou dost not this if thou dost not the Law only and wholy that it wil be thy vndoing thou canst not liue leaning to the Law and meaning to be iustified thereby Iob. 9.28 At the very remembrance hereof holy Iob wil feare his workes as nothing more and Dauid in remorse of his owne either secret sinnes or open faults and in consideration of the frailty of al flesh trembleth and saieth * Psa 130.3 If thou ô Lord marke what is done amisse who shal abide it Who shal stand in iudgement and sustaine thy wrath Whereupon I reason and make this reckoning If Iob the iust man feared if Dauid a man according to Gods owne hart trembled at this triall alas what shal others doe If the strong soldier feare and flye what shall become of the weake the same the blind What shal become of the vtterly impotent If the wind blowe away the solid wheat where shal the chaffe rest O Lord who is he or where is his dwelling that we may goe to him and common with him and heare a man that can saie and faie in truth my hart is cleane And if the heart be not cleane how vncleane are the hands If the spring be corrupt how polluted are the riuers Who in the woorld who one can answere one for a thousand And hee that aunswereth not all aunswereth not one In manie things saith Saint * Iam. 3.2 Iames we offend al. And in including all hee excludeth none and the Scripture hath expresly * Rom. 3.9 Galath 3.22 concluded all vnder sinne If then all be concluded vnder sinne if al offend and that in many thinges