A SERMON PREACHED AT PAVLS CROSSE THE 24. OF OCTOBER 1624. BY ROBERT BEDINGFIELD Master of Arts and Student of Christ-Church in Oxford AC OX OXFORD Printed by IOHN LICHFIELD and WILLIAM TVRNER for HENRY CRIPPS 1625. Academiae Cantabrigiensis Liber TO THE RIGHT VVORSHIPFVLL HIS VERY WORTHY VNCLE SIR THOMAS RICHARDSON Knight Serieant at the Law grace and peace be multiplied in CHRIST IESVS SIR LEt mee humblie beg of you that you would bee pleased to take this Sermon into the Sanctuary of your patronage your free and gracious promise to be the Patron of the Author hath imboldened him to intitle you so to his issue The violence of a wet season denied it some Auditors which it might haue had your incouraging command to haue a sight of it the forcible importunity of wel-wishing friends haue pressed it and giuen it readers which I intended it should not haue had I apologize not if it bee better to preach 't is good to print the vnderstanding is not informed nor the will moued alwaies by the Eare but sometimes by the Eye otherwise the suttle Romanists would vnclaspe the Bibles of the Laitie and not denie them to read the Scriptures I know your deuotions and your imploiment God and your Countrie permit you not in the tearme-time to read a long Epistle I conclude therefore with my prayers to almightie God that as he hath indowed you with his more eminent graces and richer gifts so he would put it into the heart of the King to reward them that your Honours may one day ballance your deserts that in the meane time your dwelling may remaine as now it is the oracle of the citie From my study in Christ-Church in Oxford Nouemb. 24. Your most humbly deuoted Seruant and Nephew ROBERT BEDINGFIELD ROMANS 6. VERSE 23. For the Wages of Sinne is Death but the Gift of God is Eternall life through Iesus Christ our Lord. MY Embassie Right Honourable and the rest Beloued I know not whether it bee fuller of horrour or delight whether it may more amaze or comfort you the first part like the seuere threats of the punishing Law searcheth the wound the latter like the soueraigne balme of the sauing Gospell worketh the cure 't is equally diuided the first woundeth not so deepe but the latter cureth as fast If the wound be vnto death the cure is vnto life If the wages of sinne be death the gift of God is eternall life through Iesus Christ our Lord. The Text naturally is thus put on sunder there is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and there is an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The wages of sinne is death there is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but the gift of God is eternall life through Iesus Christ our Lord there is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there is first malum culpae the offence giuen sinne secondly there is malum poenae the punishment inflicted Death thirdly there is the Iustice and proportion betweene the offence and the punishment it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the stipend the wages fourthly and lastly there is the certainty of the punishment to bee inflicted intimated in the verbe of the present tense it is death The wages of sinne is death In the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there is first life opposed vnto death in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 commended by his adiunct or duration it is eternall Secondly heere is the meanes of conferring of it on them that receiue it which is not by way of wages as death in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but freely and by gift thirdly heere is the doner hee that bestoweth it GOD. Lastly heere is the Mediator hee through whom and for whose sake it is giuen Iesus Christ our Lord. This is my modell these my parts briefly God hath this day set before you life and death good and euill now that you be not deceiued in your choice giue me leaue to lay them open vnto you first the euill malum delicti malum supplicij the euill of Sinne and the euill of death The wages of sinne is death Man in his Original Primitiue perfectioÌ„ being the Son of God by creation as he summed vp the world in an Epitome so was he a liuing Image of his fathers glory De eo quod de terius potiori insidiari soleat August lib. 2. de Gen. cap. 8. praeter Haereticâ—s â—uius sententiae fuit Lactantius lib. 2. Insâ—itut diuin whom he best copied out in his better part his soule not that it was ex traduce from God not that the Diuinity was rent in two or diuided so that that became part of the Diuine Essence as first Philo the Iew doted and after him the Maniches blasphemed there was no trans-fusion but a creation no identity but a conformity which was not in substance but in quality neither was the soule alone so glorious but the body also which was first made a house for the soule to inhabit and not a prison to suffer in a house indeede made of clay but made by the immediate touch of the God of Heauen a sublunary body yet not waited vpon by corruption a subiect where contrary qualities did reside and yet not a subiect ouer which they might triumph Lastly both soule and body were so vnited and married together that corruption being not able to possesse the parts nor to dissolue the vnion the whole man was immortall and that not by the dowry of grace but by the priuiledge of Nature not supernaturally as were the garments of the Israelites in the Wildernesse or as Austin coniectured concerning Enoch Elias Lib. 1. de peccat meritu remissione cap. 4. but per sequelaÌ„ naturae so that immortality was part of his Nature as well as his nature was euer immortall immortall not absolutely or essentially for so hee had been a God not by creation positiuely for so had he beene a spirit but negatiuely saith the Schoole and conditionally he had the priuiledge posse non mori although he had not the immunity non posse morï as there was a possibility of dying so it was without a necessity I follow not the Sententiaries which follow not their Master but are curiously inquisitiue to know what should become of man if hee had not fallen how he should haue preserued himselfe from Corruption whether by eating of the tree of life or by any other meanes we know no more then our Grandfather Lib. 2. distinct 23. and he saith Lombard Accepit scientiam praeceptum eorum quae facienda erant non accepit praescientiam eorum quae futura erant Wee know not what he should haue eaten to haue preserued his immortality we know what he did eate to lose it Adami homicida gula The eating of the forbidden fruit dismantled and stript our first Parents at once both of their roabes of Righteousnesse and Immortality that first sinne made a breach in the well-ordered Oeconomy
Kings with their damnable revolts so often apostated the whole land and made the Israelites turne Idolaters As all imitate their king so aggrauate his sinne so doe most copie out his Nobles augment their crimes My Lord must haue his followers aswell of his vice as of his person if he leaueth his King at the Chappell dore he turneth not back without his Attendants who if his Honour pleaseth to be Idolatrous wil wait vpon him euen vnto a Masse As the Nobles Peers be so borne so you honoured Lords who iudge the Land you graue Fathers the Elders of the City are so exalted so placed ut bona malaque vestra ad Rempublicam pertineant your vertues and your vices are subiected inhaerent in your persons but by these as the Heauens by their Influences you worke good and euill through the whole Land Better no Iudge in Israel then a corrupt one no Elder then a wicked one the first giueth but liberty the second addeth incouragement to sin you see to eminence of your persons doubleth your crimes and maketh your sinnes as scarlet as your habits I might inlarge my proofe and exhortation with an Apostrophe to the Clergy the liuing Oracles of God to whom ye must resort for counsell Hi si eloquuntur magna non vivunt if their liues cry not downe sin as loud as their tongues they may helpe to build the Arke and perish in the Floud if they that preach the way to Heauen tread the way to Hell Hell must be their portion the number of their followers shall add vnto their tortures From the Clergy I might descend vnto the Gentry from them to euery Oeconomicall Goueruour and Father of his family although I stay there yet let none the meanest here take heart to offend for the sin which the meannesse of his Person lessneth by denying him followers may be aggrauated by other circumstances of the place and manner which I will briefly glance ouer We ascribe no inherent holinesse to any place Bethel may become Bethauen the Temple of God the house of an Idol the seat of Peter the chaire of Antichrist neither doe I know whether the zeale of Christendome was right if they warred for Iewry as for the Holy land yet may we iustifie our consecrated Churches Chappels which being separated for an holy vse may not be profaned if the buyers and sellers will trade in the Temple our SAVIOVR prouideth a whip for them and I would to God the zeale of Authority in imitation of that of our God would whip out the buyers and sellers out of the Temple would whip them either out of the Iles or into the Quier Good God to see how the prophane walkers in the time of diuine seruice when the Quier are chaunting their sacred Anthems and Heauenly Halleluiahs are then polluting the stones with their durty feete when they should weare them with their supplicating knees there are at the same time some praying aboue some blaspheming below and that so loud that God heareth not the prayers for the blasphemy As the Vbi the place so the Quomodo the manner of doing it doth much difference a sinne Mens propositū saith the Law distinguunt maleficia whosoeuer calleth his brother foole is in danger of Hell fire Matth. 5.22 yet doth Paul call his brethren the Galatians fooles and sinneth not Gal. 3.1 He that killeth a man shall surely be put to death Leuit. 24.17 yet he that killeth a man ignorantly whō he hated not before shall flee vnto one of the Cities of refuge and liue Deut. 19.4 5. that which infirmity slippeth must not be censured as that which malice acteth that which is committed out of ignorance is not punished as that which is done out of presumption I am no aduocate for ignorance he who is ignorant let him be ignorant still he who affecteth ignorance let him perish in his ignorance In them that may know it is a sinne in them that may not know it is a punishment for sinne it is to none which ought to know and all ought a priuiledge to sinne yet if it be particularis and not Vniuersalis as the Philosopher facti and not iuris as the Lawyer inuincibilis and not vincibilis as the Master of the sentences it doth excuse à tanto although not à toto it lesneth the offence but taketh it not away it still remaineth a sinne and therefore liable to the punishment of sinne Death which is the second part in my 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is a death vnto sinne as well as a death for sinne a death which putteth not Nature in her graue but Vice how shall we being dead to sinne liue therein Rom. 6.2 Death for sinne is either spirituall and of the soule naturall and of the body or eternall both of soule and body Anima est vita habet ipsa suam vitam as the soule is the life of the body so is God the life of the soule The iust doe liue by faith Romans chapter 1. verse 17. Euen by faith in the Sonne of God Galat. chap. 2. v. 20. Who quickneth them with his spirit Eph. 2.5 The body may liue and yet the soule may be dead by which the body liueth there are some long since buried which yet liue such are Abraham Isaac and Iacob for God which is their God is not the God of the dead but of the liuing so there bee now some liuing which haue bin long since dead A widow liuing in pleasure is dead while she liueth the 1 of Timoth. 5. and 6. You that liue in sinne are already in your graues I must therefore bespeake you as sometime Christ did Lazarus Lazare veni for as come you forth of your graues arise from death to life from sinne to newnesse of life but my words want efficacy and my speech hath no power to raise you Christ Iesus therefore speak that vnto your hearts which I doe vnto your eares De eo quod deterius potiori insidiari solcat Where it is in the Septuagint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philo the Iew would haue vs read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for saith he Cain had no sooner slaine his brother but he became dead himselfe and Abel being murthered was yet aliue if hee was not how did hee speake how did he speake aloude and cry for vengeance so hee wittily Let the dead bury the dead Matth. 8.22 let them which are spiritually dead bury them which are dead to nature and the solemnity of their funerals being ended let them prouide for their owne interrring which is at hand for mors operata erit mortem the death of the soule will cause the death of the body A death common vnto all it is all mens pilgrimage from the sepulcher to the sepulcher from the graue of the wombe to the graue of the earth all men shall once die for as much as all men haue sinned Heb. 9.27 The instinct of
make bad vse of the Law which is good so doe the righteous make good vse of death which is bad Ipsa poena vitiorum transit in arma virtutis fit iusti meritum etiam supplicium peccatoris This made the Primitiue Christians so ambitious of Martyrdome that they did pursue their persecution so couetous of ruine that not staying for the hand of the hangman they turned their owne executioners and left their liues now in the fire now in the water like the man his lunaticke sonne in the Gospell who being possessed with a Diuell fell sometimes into the fire and sometimes into the water Mat. 17.14 'T is one thing for death to come to vs 't is another thing for vs to goe to death the first may be martyrdome the second is murder We must goe with alacrity but we must stay vntil we are called death which is iust in the will is vniust in the hand we may not meet it although we may attend it insomuch that it is an argument of force enough to proue the Bookes of the Maccabees to be Apocryphall because they doe so much extoll Razis the Father of the Iewes for murthering himselfe 2 Maccab. 14 42. As the true Christian Martyrs be the best of Christians so be your Pagan Pseudo-Martyrs the worst of the Heathen other Idolaters doe but worship false gods these goe about to proue them true Epiph. lib. 2. Her 8. of these there were a number euen vnto a Sect. Litle better then these were the Pseudo-Catholicks if they suffred for their Haeresies but indeed they die malefactors more for sedition then Religion more for faction then for Faith they liue Papists but they are hanged Traitors although both Haeresie Treason might deserue death yet hath the mercy of our Princes inflicted it only vpon the latter God will reward both euery sin euen the least with death not with the first death only but with the second not with naturall death only of the body but with aeternall also both of body and soule for euermore Vita hîc aut amittitur aut tenetur Euery one that departeth this life is either sung into blisse by the Angels or hauled into torments by the diuels Cypr. de mort sect 2. The Fathers were vnacquainted with the new Orcography of the School-men whose searching invention hath founded as many Regions below the Earth as there are aboue in the Aire the first is their Limbus Patrum where they faigne the Fathers to haue suffred the temporary pain of losse before Christ's comming Tert. lib. 4. cont Maâ—cion an Haeresie borrowed from Marcion and grounded vpon this false reason that Heauen gates were shut vntill Christ's ascension which being disprooued by the theeue's entrance Bellarmine taketh the Keies and openeth them at his Passion and before they were not open but then was his Passion when he was slaine which was from the beginning of the world The second place is their Limbus Infantum where they lodge Infants dying before Baptisme where they torture them with eternall paine of losse 1 Cor. 17.12 A bloody conclusion of a mercilesse Religion which maketh not death as it is here a punishment for sin but sin it self 't is foolish to thinke that the seed of the faithfull who are holy from their birth should be depriued of inward grace because necessity denyeth them the vse of outward Sacraments when publick Baptisme may not be had priuate is sufficient if death preuent this votall will availe Sat est si adest mentalitèr cùm non potest haberi sacramentalitèr Thom. part 5. quest 68. art 2. it is enough if Christian Parents desire it if they cannot obtain it The force of truth made Mr Hooker of this opinion euen where he disputeth against Schismaticks for priuate Baptisme If there were not strength of proofe charity should make them rather partiall Ecclesiast polit lib. 5. sect 61. then cruell Iudges force them to conclude that many Infants of beleeuing parents as they suffer no paine of sense so doe they vndergoe no sense of paine The third place is their Purgatory that Apocryphall dreame that Roman mythology Dial. lib. 4. ca. 41 a place first offered to be built by Gregory six hundred yeares after Christ vpon the false disproued foundation of veniall sins but they pretend more antiquity Dionys Eccl. Hier. cap. 7. would proue it by this false illation because there was prayer for the dead whereas this prayer was not a supplicatioÌ„ but a thanksgiuing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or if they did petition 't was not for the soule 's safety but the bodies glory or if they supplicated for the soule for the remission of the sins of the soul 't was only for a publick iustification for a solemne acquittal and perfect consummation of blisse and this not because the euent was doubtfull but as Austin prayed for his Mother her entrance into Heauen although he beleeued she was entred before Lib. 9. Confess cap. 13. and endeth his Petition with Credo Domine iam feceris quod te rogo There is a fourth place which these men deserue to inhabit for inventing the other three which is Hell the place of the damned where they suffer death a second death a death after death a death and yet euerlasting The reprobate like the Salamander is stil scorched in the fire but neuer consumed the soule suffreth of the body but dieth not so is the body tormented by the fire but perisheth not Illic sapiens ignis membra urit reficit carpit nutrit like vnto the lightning which is the thunders fire it so toucheth the bodies Minutius in Dial. Octa. that it destroyeth them not and if the fuell remain the fire will still endure The flames of Aetna and Vesuvius still burne but neuer burne out Ita poenale illud incendium non damnis ardentium pascitur sed inexesâ corporum laceratione nutritur I dispute not whether this fire be materiall or metaphoricall whether it be spirituall or corporall certainly 't is furious and terrible I desire neither to vnderstand nor vndergoe it yet thus much is certain as it hath extremity of heat to tormeÌ„t so hath it no light to comfort it burneth but shineth not how painfull it is to sit how dismall to suffer in darknes There is no punishment but it is in Hell there is no sense-afflicting torture but it is there augmented and yet doth the paine of losse far surmount the pain of sense t is more affliction to be shut out of Heauen then to be imprisoned in Hell and banishment is worse then death and yet shall this also be inflicted on sin both these both without intermission to make Holy-daies in Hell were to poëtize with Prudentius both without end for that Traian was deliuered from Hell by the prayers of Pope Gregory I beleeue not although Damascen bringeth the East West to witnesse it Damas serm
wicked when it is lightest and it is their plague that they are not plagued Veniet ad faelices sua portio quisquis vidâ—tur dimissus Seneâ— dilatus est These happy worldlings must at last haue their iudgement and their iudgement will be their damnation Our sinnes are our debts vnto God and his iudgements are his debts to our sinnes where God oweth he can he will repay He is not like the Heathen's Iupiter that his Quiuer should be empty that want of thunder-bolts should dis-arme him The Lord of hostes cannot want Souldiers to fight his battels If men of Warre should be lacking he hath an army of Frogges and another of Lice to discomfite and deuoure both Pharaoh and Herod As the wicked doe multiply their transgressions so doth he cumulate his iudgements and washeth away a deluge of sinne with a deluge of water He who is omnipotent is no more powerfull then iust and 't is as certaine that he will as that he can reuenge sometimes his wrath is slow and not vpon the necke of the sinne Num. 25.8 as Phineas slew Zimri and Cosbi in the very act of incontinency yet it alwayes at last ouertaketh it and then as hee hath beene slow to wrath so will he be slow to lay downe his wrath when he hath leaden heeles then hee hath iron hands So that the sinner might wish that the blow came sooner so it came lighter God iudgeth not like man our Courts of Iustice doe censure onely knowne and open Malefactors The Iudge at the last day will punish the most close and secret offenders Heere the hired eloquence of the vnconscionable Aduocate or the false periury of the suborned witnesse sometimes casteth a mist before the eyes of the Iudge that he cannot see sometimes corruption hood-winkes him that he will not see The Iudge at the generall Assise shall be his owne euidence he shall be Iudge and Iury and Witnesses Ipse est qui videt vnde videt Hee â—hat made the eye shall not hee see and he that made â—he heart shall not hee vnderstand And as hee can both see and vnderstand what he will so will hee see and vnderstand what hee can There none may escape heere so few are censured that most are not quaestioned Ille crucem sceleris pretium tulit hic Diadema Heere you may see the petty thiefe whose accusation and that perchance false is but petty larciny with chaines of iron about his feete when the grand-thiefe the state-theife who by fore-stalling ingrossing or by worse means robs the common-wealth hath no chaines but of gold and them about his neck Such are your sacrilegious Lay-Patrons those spirituall robbers and our Iewish oppressing Vsurers The first back't by the authority of the Law begin now to confront the Pulpit to quaestion the zeale of the Priest denouncing Gods iudgements against them and to threaten punishment if they cannot inflict it so that 't is much safer to commit sinne then to reproue it Let them therefore enioy their conquest let them triumph that they may rob God freely At last their punishment will ouer-take them Quis enim laesos impune putabit Esse Deos The Vsurer hath no Law on his side yet doth he praetend some and where he findeth a tolleration there doth the couetous Peny-father conclude an allowance Turne to the Statutes made against this Citty-sinne and you shall finde it tolerated with an inhibition for the Acts which seeme to allow it doe some of them plainely praeface that Gods Law condemneth it And God will one day take an account of his Law and that with farre more terrour then he deliuered it At the deliuery hee did but shew how fearefull hee could be at the execution he will be as fearefull as he shewed to be when he shall be a Iudge he will inflict death which he did but threaten when he was a Law-giuer The day will come as certaine as it is vncertaine when it will come Behold the day commeth which shall burne like an Ouen and all that doe wickedly shall be as stubble and the day that commeth shall burne them vp saith the Lord of Hostes Then shall the malignant spirit which tempted to sinne be a tormenter for sinne Then shall the amazed reprobate stand betweene his sinnes accusinng him and God's Iustice terrifying him below him shall be his punishment aboue him his Iudge and he equally trembling at the horrour of the one and the wrath of the other within him his conscience without him the world shall be on fire Quid metuat qui ad ista non trepidat Who heareth this and yet dareth to sinne what pleasure of tentation can counteruaile this horrour of euent who now is not frighted who would not bee wonne from wickednesse who now is not drawne who could not be before allured vnto repentance let vs therefore accept no obiect but of sorrow let vs because we are fallen by nature hasten to arise by grace that we may turne the sentence from Goe yee cursed into Come yee blessed that death may be changed into life this euerlasting death into eternall life which is the first part in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To haue any conceit of life but good is now as well impious as Stoicall since eternall blisse is compared to it Yet doth this life of glory so farre surpasse the life of nature as the second death is worse then the first Hence it is that many who feare not death feare to die after death and they who are hungry to loose their liues are yet afraid not to find them being lost I should now from this mount as God did from mount Nebo vnto Moyses shew you the land of Canaan and discourse of though not expresse the ioyes of this eternall life Ioyes in number infinite yet are they summed vp in the Beatificall vision and you might see them all could you see God How often hath the deuotion of many not superstitious Pilgrims with wearied paces measured the way from euery climate to Ierusalem who haue recompensed their tedious trauels onely with the sight of the ground which our Sauiour trode and the visitation of the Sepulcher where hee lay how were the wise men rauished with contentment when the starre had brought them to see Christ but in his Cradle when he came to be of age and began to preach in the City Videres referta tecta ac laborantia when he tooke house there was such a crowd that the sicke of the palsie could not get in except the house had bin vnroofed when he iournied from Ierusalem migravit ciuitas the City was dislodged and ran out of the gates The Sicke and all Qui neglecto medentium imperio ad salutem sanitatemque prorepebant Plin. Paneg. So that the concourse of the people made a narrow way to Christ as well as to Heauen The presse was once so great that there was no ground left for Zacheus to stand on for he needed not
still throwing down this top of Babell and with a criticall precisenes giuing all vnto grace When wee were children of wrath Eph. 2.13 Enemies to God Rom. 5.10 reprobate to euery good worke the same Epist the 8.1 Then was our election of grace Rom. 11.5 our vocation was according to grace 2 Timoth. 1.9 Faith was giuen vs Philip. 1.29 and our iustification was gratis Rom. 3.24 Nemo quicquam agit ad seipsum generandum no man is his own father and begetteth himself 't is as good diuinity concerning mans regeneration and second birth as it is Philosophy concerning his first and as we are iustified freely by grace so by grace also shall we be freely glorified Heauen will not be taken by violence neither shall they who shall weare the Crown of blisse euer win it they shall neuer be saued who will be their own Sauiours we may inherit we cannot purchase this Kingdome by industry we cannot by birth we shall obtain it Iacob might haue lost the blessing had he not put on the garments of his brother Esau and so shall we to if we be not clothed with Christ's righteousnes with the righteousnes of our elder brother as with a garment If our good workes were perfect yet are they not our own if they were our own yet are they not perfect if they were both perfect and our own yet could they not merit still the reward is of mercy so saith the Law Exod. 20.6 so the Gospel Rom. 8.18 Our good workes are not our own and Nature's great secretary his position is only true of the workes of Nature Arist 5. lib. Ethic cap 3. Hominem esse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we worke not but God worketh in vs. Quoties enim bona agimus Deus in nobis atque nobiscum ut operemur operatur as it is in the 9 Canon of the 2 Councell of Arausica to which I add concilium Mileuitanū the 5 Canon because it hath the approbation of two Roman Popes Innocentius and Caelestinus Our works are not perfect the myrie channell muddeth the water which runneth through it the vnclean vessell maketh the wine vnsauory which is within it what God worketh in man is blemished by the pollution which is in man Tutissimum est fiduciam totam in solâ Dei misericordiâ benignitate reponere Bellarmine in his 5 book de Iustificatione 7 chap. 3 proposition how is it safest to put no confidence in merit and yet is it no danger to teach merit will they belieue that which they dare not hope Christ hath merited our saluation he hath not giuen vs power to merit it he hath satisfied and pay'd our debt he hath not giuen vs wherewith to pay or satisfie neither is our modesty humble enough if we confesse we haue receiued the power of meriting except we deny all power to merit The enemy of grace acknowledged that he had receiued his soule and the faculties of his soule his will and the ability of his will from God and yet was he still an enemy to grace So doe the Romanists still oppose Christ's merits although they deriue their power of meriting from his merits If I would confirme this doctrine with the strength of authority I could cite a cloud of witnesses nursed in their own Schoole Durand Pighius Eckius Gregorius Ariminensis all confessed by Bellarmine in his 5 book de Iustificatione 16 chap. to whom may be ioyned Marsilius Ferus Faber Stapulensis Stella all rightly quoted by our reuerend Bishop in the 2 book of his Protestants appeale 11 chap. besides the many blots which their frequent expurgations haue made in most of the auncient Liturgies and Fathers which are as good testimonies as these mens writings Nay 't is most true of Cardinall Bellarmine himselfe which Kemnitius obserueth of most of your Romish Doctors that in this argument as he is an hereticall disputing Iesuite so is hee a most Orthodoxe meditating Protestant Whose doctrine is not as the Papist maliciously imposeth the vice of the Libertine we teach indeed that the righteousnesse by which we are iustified is not inherent but imputatiue that it is not ours but Christs or if it be 't is made ours and not within vs that on our part faith onely is required and that also ' to be the gift of God Elegit eos quos voluit gratuita dei misericordia non quia fideles futuri erant sed vt essent ijsque gratiam dedit non quia fideles erant sed vt fierent Lombard in his first booke and his 41 distinction Yet doe we affirme that this faith which alone iustifieth is neuer alone Sola fides sed non fides sola as the Schoole critikiseth faith iustifieth without workes and yet is not the faith which iustifieth without workes Faith without workes is dead and faith which is dead cannot giue life eternall life It must be liuely and actiue operatiue and fruitfull wee deny it to be faith in the Puritan phrase that is a naked faith so that we require of our good workes although not a meritorious dignity to iustification yet a dutifull necessity to sanctification God begetteth not children to the Diuels image your carnall Gospellers bastard Christians and pseudo-professors are so farre from being the sonnes of God that they are not his seruants This is our doctrine this our practice for thankes be vnto God our Land is almost as rich in charity as in wealth superstition was neuer more bountifull then is Religion witnesse the Catalogue of our Founders and Benefactors with new additions now so enlarged that the Preacher is forced to be vnthankfull and cannot remember them Our Colledges newly built and now in building our Lectures daily multiplied our Libraries compleatly furnished our poore better prouided for by charity then by Statute and yet well by Statute were the Statutes well executed Our Hospitals lately Founded and yet not so lately but they begin already to be abused I am afraide some of them are so sicke that it were charity to visite them You who haue power and authority you whom God and our Benefactours haue made Visitors and Ouer-seers of their liberality let me beseech you in the bowels of Christ Iesus that you would not suffer that which bounty hath giuen to maintaine luxury or that which hath beene dedicated vnto God to be conferred vpon them who doing the deeds of darknesse and that in the light professe themselues to be the children of the Diuell so shall these houses of piety be as richly endowed with your care as with their Founders Revennues and you shall be as bountifull as their Benefactors without expence I haue now shewed you the way how eternall life is conferred vpon vs 't is freely and by gift 't is but Aske and haue and I make no quaestion but that ye are willing to petition for it that therefore ye may know to whom to direct your supplications I must shew you the Authour who is God Eternall life is the gift of God which is the third part of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of which is a syllable Life as death is naturall spirituall and eternall there is a life of
nature which prompteth euery creature to seeke it 's owne preseruation should teach man not to make loue to death not to wooe his owne destruction although he transgresseth not the Law made against robbers who cutteth his owne purse yet he is guilty of murder who cutteth his owne throat and surely he loueth murder who will act it vpon himselfe and yet such are all sinners whose sinnes are the weapons with which they butcher themselues like Saul and his Armor-bearer they fall and die vpon their owne swords If any sonne of Hippocrates pronounceth it to be preiudiciall to their health the debauched Drunkard will abstaine from his cups and the luxurious Epicure will fast from his dainties how foolish are they who would shunne death and yet worke wickednesse which causeth death There is no other cause of death but sinne where there is no sinne there is no death no death of the body no death of Nature And yet he who had no sinne the Sonne of Righteousnesse had his setting as well as his rising and walked into the West Licet naturae dominus carnis tamen quam susceperat legem non recusauit so that life it selfe dyed yet not necessarily but voluntarily tradidit in mortem animam suam neither was his death penall but expiatory hee was not stung to death by sinne but he stung sinne to death by suffering death he made death to suffer and got the victory by yeelding O death where is thy sting 1 Cor. 15.55.56 O graue where is thy victory the sting of death is sinne and the strength of sinne is the Law but thankes be vnto God which hath giuen vs victory through our Lord Iesus Christ Christ so deliuered his from death as hee freed them from sinne which he suffered still to dwell in them although not to raigne ouer them The Canaanites remaine in the land to proue the Israelites sinne must inhabite in the regenerate to encrease and try their faith sift them you shall finde them so enlightned that they sit in darkenesse so purged that they must be cleansed their faith is mixed with infidelity their wisedome ioyned with folly and their glory eclipsed with shame to want sinne must be a Christians wish it cannot be his hope otherwise hee that must alwayes here be militant should sometime be triumphant We may be dead to sinne but sinne will not be altogether dead to vs we may cut it off but it will bud againe we may chase it away but it will returne we may quench it but it will flame againe it still approacheth it still entiseth and prouoketh vs it still striueth but it is to encrease our victory at last it must haue the fall and be triumphed ouer so may the tyrant weepe to see himselfe prostrate at the feete of them who were his Captiues Et ad eorum triumphum de quibus diù triumphaverat se veteranus hostis pervenisse deploret Sinne is not so in the Elect as it is in the reprobate these either by habit or resolution or discourse are incorporated into euill and sinne is naturalized in them the other may sometime be surprised by force of passion but their vnderstanding seldome giueth consent the first serue sinne the other giue it only house-roome or if they doe it any seruice 't is as the Israelites serued Pharaoh or as his Gally-slaues serue the Turke by compulsion Damnatum est peccatum si non extinctum Sinne hath lost it's dominion although it be not cast out so death is dis-armed although she be not remoued she hath lost her sting although she keepeth her essence nay she hath lost her essence the forme the life of death is lost and she is but equivocally what she was before As she hath lost her nature so hath she changed her name to die now is but to sleepe to rest or be at peace Death to the Elect is but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Nyssen stileth it it doth not so much punish as purge and expiate sinne 't is a Snake without her sting a gaole-deliuery an earnest-peny of the resurrection a bridge to passe from corruption to incorruption to be wished of all that wish to goe to Paradise not to be feared at all because it freeth vs from all that is to be feared A curious workeman seeing his Image of brasse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Epiph. in his 2 Booke Aduersus Haereses on which he hath bestowed his Art and industry to be spotted and defaced he putteth it againe into the fire and new casteth it which is not the losse but the perfection of the Image so God after hee had made man a most elegant fabricke seeing him polluted with sinne resolued him againe into dust that he might rise vnspotted When the vessell that the Potter made was marred he made of it another vessell Ier. 18.4 Cannot I doe with you as the Potter with his clay saith the Lord behold as the clay is in the Potters hand so are yee in my hand O ye house of Israel the same chapter and the sixt verse Non interit quisquis victurus moritur This death of Nature is rather a change then a death 't is not finall quem putas interitum secessus est neither is it totall 't is onely of the body death is dieted like the serpent and can eat nothing but dust nay 't is not so much the death of the body Plin. Ep. lib. 2. epist 1. as of the corruption of the body Et mortalitas magis finita est quam vita 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Isiod Peleus lib. 4. epist 52. Happy Martyrs how their torments pleased them how they kissed the fagot and hug'd the fire as though like Eliah they had gone to heauen in fiery chariots weigh their tortures and reade their constancy you would iudge them to haue beene spirits without flesh if they might seeme to be afflicted because they were heard to pray they must be iudged to haue beene merry in their affliction because they sung Psalmes Their note was the same although their pangs were differenced with the three children in the fiery furnace Hieron Qui inter frigidos flammarum globos hymnos edidêre pro fletibus They wept not out an Elegy as if they had beene preparing for their funerals but they sung and reioyced as if it had beene their birth day and it was their birth day to eternity Blessed Martyres for if they be blessed who die in the Lord blessed must they bee who die for the Lord. God saith to man If thou sinnest thou dyest Gen. 2 but he bespeaketh the Martyr if thou refusest to die August thou sinnest Quod tunc timendum fuerat vt non peccaretur nunc suscipiendum est ne peccetur Death which is the punishment of the Sinner suffer it for Gods sake 't is the glory of the regenerate Et cùm sit mors peccati retributio aliquando impetrat vt nihil retribuatur peccato As the wicked
Nature a life of Grace and a life of Glory and God who is the Prince and Lord of life Acts the 3 and 15. is doner of them all First of the naturall In him we liue and moue and haue our being Acts 17.28 Then of the spirituall Neuerthelesse I liue yet not I but Christ in me Gal. 2.20 And lastly of eternall life here in my Text. And God heere is no one person but the whole Trinity when the Creator conferreth a benefit vpon the creature then as the Father giueth so doth the Sonne as both so doth the Holy Ghost Opera Trinitatis ad extra sunt indivisa You haue the Authour of whom ye may with confidence beg it with certainty obtaine it for ye haue a powerfull Mediator Iesus Christ our Lord. But the gift of God is eternall life through Iesus Christ our Lord which is my last part of which in a briefe conclusion Christ is our Mediatour as he is God and man God incarnate the person by a different act and operation but in one and the same perfection proceeding from both his natures his humanity suffered his humanity satisfied but that his humanity could suffer could satisfie was from his Diuinity Had he bin onely man the Iewes had neither reuiled nor blasphemed when they scoffingly said He that saued others let him saue himselfe We are neither Manichees nor Arians we neither deny the humanity nor oppose the Diuinity we embrace that of Timothy Tim. 1. 2. and 5. There is one God and one Mediator between God and man the man Christ Iesus But we must haue S. Austins Commentary Sed neque per ipsum liberaremur vnū mediatorē Dei hominum hominē Iesum Christū nisi esset Deus In his Enchridion his 108. Chapter If Christ be Mediatour according to his God-head then can none be mediatour who is not God our Pseudo-Catholickes are not more Idolatricall in any point then this although they labour to distinguish themselues into the truth by saying they haue but one mediatour of redemption although they haue more of intercession one chiefe Aduocate although many secundary that their prayers are directed vnto God Tanquam per eum implendae to Saints onely tanquam per eos impetrandae Aquinas 2.2 the 83. quaestion and the 4. Article while they pretend they worship God in the Saints they worship the Saints as God Certainely their practice in this is worse then their doctrine and yet is their doctrine so bad that Bellarmine is ashamed of it and weakely excuseth it saying Their words are not their meaning De beatitudine sanctorum his 17 Chapter and his 1. proposition I will not offend your eares with their blasphemous phrases euery where inserted in their Missals and Liturgies Christus say they caput gratiae Maria collum and they ioyne her milke with his blood I haue troden the Vine-presse alone there was no man with me Esaw the 63.3 true no man but a woman there was the blessed Virgin so there sottish as well as blasphemous glosse 't is not hee but shee that shall breake the Serpents head Gen 3.16 not ipse but ipsa so 't is translated so allowed by the graue Fathers of Trent We are no more saued by Mary then we were condemned by Eue saluation is onely by Christ Per Iesum Christum Dominum nostrum though Iesus Christ our Lord as all our Collects runne and by him wee shall be saued hee hath a double right to this eternall life the first by heritage the other by conquest the first for himselfe the second for vs. Mercy hath giuen way to Iustice and Innocency hath suffered Iustice shall giue way to Mercy and the guilty shall be saued Let vs therefore begge with alacrity Quid non dabit petentibus qui seipsum dedit non petentibus Giue vs O God this eternall life euen for thy Sonnes sake our Mediatour and Aduocate Iesus Christ our Lord. Amen FINIS ERRATA Pag. 22. in marg r. part 3. p. 37. l. 25. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in marg r. lib. 3. cap. 5.