glory in the names of Christians we would be accounted Christs we take vpon vs the Title of Saints and yet we are not carefull to bring foorth the fruits of Christians and to lead a sanctified life All Trees in the beginning when the world was created were made fruitfull nothing was barren nothing fruitlesse If we be the Garden of God we must be rrees of righteousnesse k Psal 92 13. and beare much fruite euen in our old age Many that are barren in bearing good fruit are too fruitful in bringing forth the vnsauoury fruits of the flesh which the Apostle nameth Gal. 5. who may iustly feare the curse that God l Luke 13 7. laid vpon the Figtree and euery day look to be hewne downe and cast into the fire It is not enough for vs to bee fruitful but we must labour to be more fruitfull It is not enough to bee holy but we must be more holy It is not enough to be Saints but we must encrease in sanctification This the Prophet sheweth in the Psalme m Psal 92 12. The righteous shall flourish like a Palme tree and shall grow like a Cedar in Lebanon Such as be planted in the house of the Lord shall florish in the Courts of our God they shall stil bring forth fruit in their age they shall be fat and flourishing Where we see that Gods Children are neuer void of the fruits of faith but haue them in them to their endlesse comfort Other Trees oftentimes fall to degenerate and grow out of kinde and if they do holde out yet age maketh them decay and dye albeit you digge and dung and water them neuer so much it cannot keepe them from wasting and withering it is not so with the faithfull which are planted in his Church as it were in his Garden euen in their old age they bring forth abundance and store of fruit albeit they bee neuer sold yet they shall neuer be barren but yeeld a plentiful increase being continually watered by the working of the spirit To this purpose Christ speaketh in the Gospell m Iohn 15. 1 2 I am the true Vine and my Father is tâ—e Husbandman euery branch that beareth no fruite in me hee taketh away and euery one that beareth fruit he purgeth it that it may bring forth more fruite And in the Reuelation of Iohn he saith n Reuel 22 11 He that is vniust let him be vniust still and hee that is filthy let him be filthy still he that is righteous let him be righteous still and he that is holy let him be holy still On the other side there is no comfort to prophane persons that are irreligious that are meere naturall men that find no change in them that are not bettered by the meanes afforded vnto them from God that keepe the spots of the Leopard and the skin of the Blackamoore continually vpon them These walk in the flesh and sauor nothing but of the flesh and therefore of the flesh shall reape corruption This is that which the Author to the Hebrewes speaketh o Heb. 6 7 8. The earth which drinketh in the raine that commeth oft vpon it and bringeth forth hearbes meet for them by whom it is dressed receiueth blessing of God but that which beareth Thornes and Briars is reprooued and is neere vnto cursing whose end is to be burned Where hee compareth those that continue in faith and bring forth the fruits of faith to good ground that answereth the labour of the husbandman but such as forsake the faith and a good conscience he resembleth to euill ground these bring foorth nothing but the vnfruitfull works of darknesse as it were so many thornes Thistles and therefore are neer to cursing consuming So the Prophet Esay notably expresseth this p Esay 65 20. There shall be no more there a child of years nor an olde man that hath not filled his daies for he that shall be an hundred yeare old shall die as a young man but the sinner being an hundred yeares old shall be accursed The faithfull in Christs kingdom shal flourish through his gifts be blessed of God but such as are vnfruitfull are accursed albeit they seeme for a time fresh and flourishing yet they are no better in the sight of God then dead carkasses and stinking carrions So that we see there can be no comfort without sanctification Vse 4. Lastly as all they that are in Christ are Saints so it is our dutie to vse the fellowship and to delight in the Communion of Saints abhorring renouncing separating and with-drawing our selues from all vngodly and vnlawfull societies of men in the world The q Psal 16 3. 119 63. delight of the Prophet was in the Saints He professeth himselfe to be a companion of al them that feare the Lord and keep his precepts The coniunction communion of the faithful is threefold in piety in amity in glory In piety because the harts of the faithful are ioyned together in faith in the feare of God In amity because they loue togither as children of the same father knowing that heerby we shal be known to be the disciples of Christ if we loue one another In glory because they are heirs of the same kingdom where are many mansion places prepared for theÌ„ If we desire to be partakers with the children of God in eternall happines in the heauens as al men wil seeme desirous of blessednes we must be vnited to them in a godly life in Christian loue we are willing to hear of felicity but we care not for the practise of piety or for walking in charity Balaam that was hyred with the wages of iniquity to curse the people of God wheÌ„ he saw the goodly order among them cried out r Num. 23 10 Let my soule die the death of the righteous and let my last end be like his He desired to communicate with the godly in eternal life but he would not ioyn with them in a reformed life But it is necessarily required of vs to be linked to them in loue to be of one heart and to be ioyned with them in godlynesse to be of one faith if euer we look to enioy with them the same inheritance of immortality Such therefore as will neyther be friends and familiars with them but hate and abhor them worse then a Dog or a Serpent nor be Worshippers of God with them reforming their liues repenting from Dead-works but follow the lusts of the flesh with greedines and draw iniquity as with cartropes must know that they shut out themselus from the kingdom of heauen shal not ascend with them into the mountain of God Now as the faithful delight in those that are faithful and the godly in such as are godly so they account it a great griefe to be among the vngodlie where they shall see much iniquity and heare God dishonored feel themselues many waies indangered This made
horror of conscience vexation of spirit and confusion of face Woe then woe I say to all idle Ministers and sluggish people that when they are to bee gathered vnto their Fathers and ly vpon their death beds cannot remember what good they haue done but shall bee troubled and tormented with the consideration of this what good they might haue done that they might haue beene fruitfull trees but haue beene barren Good ground but haue beene euill These men haue nothing else to muse and meditate vpon but how they haue spent whol dayes and nights whole moneths and yeares in eating and drinking in feasting and company in pleasures and pastimes in surfetting and drunkennes and what comfort shall their poore distressed soule and languishing bodye feele in that day but crie out with a lamentable cry and a pittifull howling able to mooue the stones and to pierce the rockes that all is vanity and then condemne their folly that haue placed their happinesse in this vnhappinesse and the ioy of their spirit in this sorrow of their heart For if that be true which the Prophet saith o Psal 128 1 2 Prou. 10 4. Blessed is euerie one that feareth the Lord and walketh in his wayes when thou eatest the labours of thine hands thou shalt be blessed and it shall be well with thee It is no doubt as true that such as eate not the fruit of their labors but eate the fruite of their lazinesse and loytering are accurssed This is it which our Sauiour addeth p Luke 12 45 46. If that seruant say in his heart My Maister doth deferre his comming and shall begin to smite the Seruants and Maidens and to eate and drinke and to be drunken The Maister of that seruant will come on a day when he thinketh not and at an houre when he is not ware of and will cut him off and giue him his portion with the vnbeleeuers that Seruant that knew his Maisters will and prepared not himselfe neither did according to his will shall be beaten with many stripes Where he teacheth that as eternall life is the reward of diligence and discharge of our duty so is eternal destruction the wages of all idle bellies Such as do no good to others shall know at the last that they haue indeed done no good vnto themselues The more seruiceable wee haue beene to others the more profitable shall we be in the end to our selues and the comfort of all shall be felt in our hearts when wee shall say with the Apostle q 2 Tim. 4 7 8 I haue fought a good fight I haue finished my course I haue kept the Faith henceforth is laid vp for me the Crowne of righteousnesse which the Lord the righteous iudge shall giue me at that day and not to mee onely but vnto all them also that loue his appearing A notable example heereof wee haue in Obadiah who was Gouernor of Ahabs house when he saw himselfe in distresse of famine in fear least Eliah should depart he called to remembrance the fruits of his Faith the worship of God and the fauour shewed to his children and heerein hee was comforted When Iezebel r 1 Kin. 18 13 slew the Prophets of the Lord he hid an hundred men of the Lords Prophets by fifties in a Caue and fed them with bread and water Let vs therefore neuer bee without such arguments to comfort vs wee shall finde the benefit of them when we are in trouble and especially when we are going out of the world And that whatsoeuer good thing is in you through Christ Iesus may be knowne The Apostle in these wordes mentioneth this to be the cause why he would haue the guifts of God bestowed vpon Philemon to be communicated to others because by that meanes they might be made knowne to others and acknowledged by others and so spread abroad farre and neere Doctrine 3. The goodnesse of God toward our selues or other must be made knowne Wee learne from hence that it is the duty of euery one to manifest and shew forth yea to spread abroad and to speake of the guifts of God bestowed vpon themselues and others When God is good toward vs and distributeth his graces among vs we must be ready to confesse and acknowledge them when we feele them in our selues or see them in others This our Sauiour a Mat 5 16. teacheth Math. 5. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good workes and glorifie your Father which is in Heauen Thus the spirit of God in the Scriptures remembreth the righteousnesse of Noah the faith and obedience of Abraham the patience of Iob the chastity of Ioseph the meeknesse of Moses the single heart of Dauid the sincerity of Nathaniell the labours of Paule the repentance of Peter the restitution of Zacheus Christ Iesus publisheth the graces of God that shined in Iohn Baptist b Iohn 5 35. he saith he was a burning and shining Candle and that they would for a season haue reioyced in his light The Apostle declareth c 1 Tim 4 14. that the faith of the Romanes is published throughout the whole world The praise of Timothy was noysed and notifyed in the Church wherof Paule putteth him in mind to make his proceedings answearable to his beginnings and to the hope that was conceiued of him c 1 Tim 4 14. Despise not the guift that is in thee which was giuen thee by prohecie with the laying on of the handes of the company of the Eldership So likewise the fact of Mary annointing the body of Christ and working a good worke vpon him to bury him is commanded to be made knowne and not kept secret d Mat 26 13. Verily I say vnto you wheresoeuer this Gospell shall be preached throughout all the world there shall also this that she hath done be spoken off for a memoriall of her Thus the Apostle remembreth the e 1 Thes 1 3. effectuall faith and diligent loue and the patience of that hope in our Lord Iesus Christ which was in the Thessalonians So he recordeth and commendeth the liberallity that was in them of Macedonia toward the poore Saintes at Ierusalem that were in distresse All which Testimonies serue to teach vs that it is our duty to publish the guifes of God vpon vs or our bretheren not to hide them to spread them abroad not to smother them to make them knowne not to couer and conceale them to our selues Reason 1. And albeit these examples may be sufficient to moue vs to embrace this as a certain truth yet we haue sundry reasons yeelded in the Scriputre farther to confirme it vnto vs. First to the end that Gods graces being seene knowne he may be glorified and blessed for them who is the author and giuer of them It ought to be our chiefest desire and study that God may haue his praise and glory among vs. This is that reason which Christ our Sauiour
For if they ought to be vnto euery one of vs as the Mother brethren yea as the flesh members of Christ they ought not to be neglected or contemned but to be cherished Heereby g 1 Iohn 3 14. we shall know that we are translated from death to life if we loue the bretheren On the other side we ought to mourne and lament for such as remaine in ignorance of God lie vnder the dominion of sinne and continue in the prophanenesse and abominations of their youth It is noted by the Prophet h Psal 1â—9 136 Luk â—9 41. Phil 3 18. that his eyes gushed out with riuers of waters because they kept not the law of God Christ Iesus mourned for the hardnesse of heart that appeared in his hearnrs he wept for Ierusalem when he came neere vnto it Righteous Lot was vexed day by day when he beheld the vncleane conuersation of the sinfull Sodomites The Apostle told the Phillippians of vaine walkers and that with teares that they are the enemies of the Crosse of Christ We see by common and daily experience when any of our friendes and familiars are dead or lye at the point of death a naturall affection toward them causeth vs to weepe and lament for them and draweth oftentimes from vs abundance of teares how much more ought it to go neere vs and make vs sob and sigh from the very depth and bottom of our hearts to see our bretheren lie dead in sinne and as it were rotting in the Graue of their corruptions or else to walke in the paths of death that bring with it certaine destruction and eternall damnation If a man should come into a field where he should behold thousands slaine with the sword wallowing in their bloud and others hauing receiued their deaths wound to languish in paine and to striue and struggle for life who would not account it a lamentable shew and most pitifull sight But thus is it with vs and this is the condition of many thousands that glory that they abide in health and yet are most dangerously sicke and diseased that thinke they are aliue and yet behold they are a company of dead carcasses that boast they are farre from the Gates of death and yet alasse they lie gaping and gasping for breath which is ready to be gone If there be in vs any life of Gods spirit or any loue of Godlinesse it cannot but greeue our soules to behold the desolations that are in the earth i Reuel 3 2. 1 Tim 5 6. Mat 8 22. and the languishing of many ready to die nay which are already dead in sinne and stinke in the nostrils of God and man For as a man hauing escaped shipwracke and gotten into an Hauen and Harbour reioyseth in his owne safety and comforteth himselfe in his deliuerance but when he behouldeth the misery of his brother suffering shipwracke and cast away by the violence of the stormes and Tempestes that beat vpon his barke which drowne both it and him in the Seas he cannot but greatly be greeued and exceedingly perplexed So ought it to be with vs howsoeuer the escaping from the filthinesse of the world and the vniting of vs with Christ our head doth breed in vs matter of great ioy and may worthily cause vs to reioyce yet when we see the bondage of our bretheren vnder k 1 Pet 2 19. sinne and the ruines into which they are come it cannot but worke in vs great anguish of spirit If we perceiue them to wander out of the way and to go astray from the simplicity of the Gospell and from the fold of Christ and fellowship of the faithfull it is our part to turne them backe and to gather them home For how l Math 18 12. thinke yee If a man haue an hundred sheepe and one of them be gone astray doth he not leaue ninety and nine and goe into the Mountains and seeke that which is gone astray and if so be that he finde it verily I say vnto you he reioyseth more of that sheep then of the ninety and nine which went not astray so is it not the will of your father which is in Heauen that one of these little ones should perish This loue toward the lowest that are conuerted to the faith and coupled to Christ reproueth two sorts of men First such as are ashamed of the poore Saintes who being without the comfort of friendes but not without contempt of the world are not regarded or esteemed He that despiseth his poore brother redeemed with the bloud of Christ would also despise and despight Christ himselfe if he walked vpon the earth He that honoureth not a faithfull man of low degree doth dishonour the faith it selfe and reprocheth the Gospell that he professeth yea he despiseth the Church and shameth such as are members of it This the Apostle Iames teacheth m Iam 2 2. If there come into your company a man with a Gold Ring and in goodly apparell and there come in also apoore man in vile raiment and ye haue a respect to him that weareth the gay clothing and say vnto him Sit thou heere in a goodly place and say vnto the poore Stand thou there or sit heere vnder my Footstoole Are ye not partiall in your selues and become Iudges of euill thoughts The needy seruants of God and poore afflicted Saintes are ashamed and blamed of the world they are scorned and scoffed at by the vngodly shall we then that are of the same Religion profession and communion ioyne hand in hand with them and contemne the faithfull that deserue to be honoured thereby adding more sorrow to their affliction and doubling the misery that is vpon them For it must needes lie heauy vpon them and euen oppresse them with anguish to finde this measure at our handes of whom they looked for comfort and counsell This appeareth in the saying of the Prophet n Psal 55 12. Surely mine enemy did not defame me for I could haue borne it neither did mine aduersary exalt himselfe against me for I would haue hid me from him but it was thou O man euen my companion my guide and my familiar It is made a note and marke whereby we may try our selues whether we belong to the Church of God and shall be receiued into the Kingdome of glory o Psal 15 4. that a vile person is contemned in their eyes but they honour them that feare the Lord. But the practise of many men is directly contrary who as they are of this world they magnifie and make much of the vngodly but tread and trample vnder their feet the Children of God as if they were a thing of no value The Apostle blameth the Corinthians and noteth it as a blot and blemish in them p 1 Cor 11 22 that they put the poore to shame separating themselues from them and refusing to partake the supper of the Lord with them Secondly it reproueth such as contemne those
with the Kid the Lyon did eate Straw like the Bullocke Seeing then that the conuersion of a man worketh in him the loue of God and man seeing before true conuersion we hate others and other hate vs and lastly seeing after true conuersion we beginne to make conscience of hurting and harming others it followeth that such as by nature were as Beares and Buls as Aspes and Vipers as Wolues and Cockatrices as Lyons and Leopards that is fierce cruell couetous iniurious and vniust being conuerted to the Faith and gathered into the Church are made gentle milde and mercifull Vse 1. Now let vs come to the consideration of the Vses and to the application of the Doctrine to our selues First of all we see hereby that they are greatly deceiued that thinke true godlinesse to be vnprofitable and no gaine at al to returne and redowne to the practiser of it Great is the benefit of true Religion and much is the profit of our conuersion Without this a man is no better then a Beast nay worse then any Beast He liueth like a Swine hee dyeth like a Dogge he becommeth afterward a Deuill The holy man Iob describing the life and death of vngodly men saith of them q Iob. 21 14 15. They spend their daies in wealth and suddenly they go downe to the Graue They say also vnto God Depart from vs for we desire not the knowledge of thy waies Who is the Almighty that we should serue him And what profit should we haue if we should pray vnto him This is the voyce of Atheists that regard not God yea that thinke there is no God But true Religion bringeth with it the greatest profit and no gaine is comparable vnto it It maketh vs profitable to our selues and others the benefit that it bringeth to others is both to their Bodies and Soules Hence it is that the Wise man saith r Pro. 3 14 19 The Marchandize thereof is better then the Marchandize of Siluer and the gaine thereof is better then Gold it is more precious then Pearles and all things that thou canst desire are not to be compared to her Length of daies is in her right hand and in her left hand riches and glory her waies are waies of pleasure and all her pathes prosperity she is a Tree of Life to all that lay hold vpon her and blessed is he that retaineth her Howsoeuer therefore the World and the Children of this World doe repute and esteeme of godlinesse it is most certaine it is the greatest Iewell and offereth all other blessings with it Heereunto accordeth the saying of the Apostle Å¿ 1 Tim. 6 6. Godlinesse is great gaine if a man be content with that he hath And in another place t 1 Tim. 4 8. Bodily exercise profiteth little but godlinesse is profitable vnto all thinges which hath the promise of the life present and of that which is to come What can be more profitable then that which maketh a man happy and blessed who is by the fall of man and the corruption of his nature curssed and miserable And who is it that doth not desire blessednesse But godlinesse ioyned with true conuersion of a Sinner to God maketh his State and standing blessed The Psalmist witnesseth That he is u Psal 112 1. 119 1 2. 1 1 2. blessed that feareth the Lord and delighteth greatly in his Commaundements blessed are they that are vpright in their way and walke in the way of the Lord blessed are they that keepe his Testimonies and seeke him with their whole hearts blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsels of the wicked but delighteth in the law of the Lorde and exerciseth himselfe therein day and night What can be more profitable then to haue interest in Christ the treasure of al treasures and the Iewell of all Iewels to haue him our Mediator our Redeemer our Sauiour But when once we are truly conuerted wee haue gotten Christ he is become ours we haue him dwelling in vs him I say x Col. 1 18 19 and 2 9. Ephes 3 17. Iohn 17 3. in whom dwelleth the fulnesse of the Godhead bodily who is the head of the church whom to know is eternall life By him our bondage is turned into freedome our beggery into riches out thraldome into liberty our death into life Who is it then can be so simple or ignorant to affirme that profession to be without gaine and profit that bringeth Christ Iesus with it in whom all treasures are hid and had Or who can be so sottish or sencelesse to deny that when wee haue done all that we can our meanes are too slender our cost too smal our time too short and our labour too little in seeking to finde him and in digging and deluing after him For if we finde him we are sure to find al things and to want nothing that is good What thing can be more profitable then that which giueth a man iust Title to Gods blessings and a sanctified vse of his creatures The vngodly man that is not conuerted to God but peruerted in all his wayes hath no part or interest in the promises and mercies of God to warme himselfe with his wooll to feede himselfe with his meate y Psal 50 10. For all the Beasts of the Forrests are his and the beasts on a thousand Mountaines Such as are wicked persons are wrongfull Vsurpers and vniust intruders vppon the Lords goods and the portion that he hath prepared for his owne people nay they are shamefull Theeues and shamelesse Robbers that steal from the godly that which was created for them bestowed vpon them and sanctified vnto them Hence it is that the Apostle saith z Titus 1 15. Vnto the pure are all thinges pure but vnto them that are defiled and vnbeleeuing is nothing pure but euen their minds and consciences are defiled In Adam we haue lost the pure and free vse of the creatures of God in Christ Iesus the second Adam and a Heb. 1 2. heyre of al things we recouer our Title vnto them againe Now that which putteth vs in possession and bringeth the full fruition with freedome of conscience and comfort of heart of all these things must needs be holden most helpefull and profitable vnto vs in this life Last of all if wee consider the enduring and continuing of the gaine of godlinesse we shall finde the price of it to be aboue all other commodities the sweetnesse whereof may delight vs and the contentment thereof may satisfie vs and the certainty thereof may allure vs to the seeking and preferring of it before all other and to trauell and trafficke for it farre and neere What commodity canst thou name or remember that the richest Marchants bring from strange Countries which is not subiect to be lost by land and to perish by the Sea by stormes by robbers by rouers by tempestes and shipwracke so that when thou hast fetched it with the greatest
Loue dwelleth in God and God in him he that loueth not his Brother abideth in death Whosoeuer hateth his Brother is a Man-slayer and ye know that no May-slayer hath eternall life abiding in him Whereby wee see that to such as are malicious there is no forgiuenesse as we haue noted before Vse 2 Secondly seeing such as offend vs must vpon their sound repentance be forgiuen we are taught heereby not to reproach and vpbraid men what they haue beene when they are renewed by amendment of life but consider their present condition what they are For when God hath put out of his remembrance their sinnes we must not set them vpon records when GOD hath discharged them of them we must not lay them to their charge when God hath cured and couered them we must not vncouer them and make them bleede afresh Let vs remember what wee our selues haue beene before we were in the State of grace euen as euill as others and had our delight in all sinne The Apostle saith Rom. 7 18. z Rom. 7 18. I know that in me that is in my Flesh dwelleth no good thing for to will is present with me but I find no meanes to performe that which is good Likewise hee forbiddeth and restraineth the Gentiles from insulting and triumphing ouer the Iewes that were through infidelitie for a season cut off a Rom. 11 18 19 20. Thou wilt say The Braunches are broken off that I might be grafted in Well through vnbeleefe they are broken off and thou standest by Faith boast not thy selfe against the Braunches be not high minded but feare It is a great reproach to vs to reproach such as haue fallen and are risen againe by true repentance to vpbraid such as haue sinned haue forsaken their sins It is a greater blemish to those that check them after they haue turned from them then to those that committed them For they haue washed away by their teares the filthinesse of them and blotted out the deformity that did cleaue vnto them True it is so long as we continue in sinne and follow the lustes of our owne hearts we must be content to be reprooued and shamed for them that so we may be brought to see them and be sorry for them Thus it is noted that Christ began to vpbraid the Citties b Math. 11 20 Wherein most of his great workes were done because they repented not So the Apostle feared c 2 Cor. 12 21 Least when hee came againe to the Corinthians his God should abase him among them so that he should bewaile many of them which had sinned already and yet repented not of the vncleanesse and Fornication and wantonnesse which they haue committed They then that repent nor are to bee disgraced but such as haue repented are to be loued and cherished It skilleth not what they haue beene for they are accepted according to the grace which they haue receiued which serueth as a singular comfort vnto them They that labour to disgrace those whom they should embrace do imitate the example and practise of the Deuill who tempteth those that hee seeth to haue renounced his seruice and departed from his Kingdome and telleth them what they haue done how loose they haue beene in their liues and into what horrible sinnes they haue fallen that thereby hee might bring them to dispaire and to let goe their strong confidence that they haue in the promises of the Gospell So it is with sundry of the Seruants and Children of the Deuill they taunt and reuile the faithfull for former faults which now they hate and abhorre But as they aunswere Sathan so they may all his Instruments that they should consider rather what they are then what they haue beene and behold their present condition not that which is past Let vs be like the good Angels who doe reioyce at the conuersion of Sinners but neuer cast them in the teeth with their offences that haue stumbled and are recouered Vse 3. Lastly let vs cut off all occasions of dissention quench the fire that is begun to be kindled A small spark if it be not quenched will break out into a great fire a little smoake nourished will turne into a flame So when causes of contention and diuision doe arise we must endeuour to stay them and appease them It is easily stopped in the beginning which afterward is hardlie or not at all resisted This wisedome we see in Abraham when strife arose betweene his Heard-men and the Heard-men of Lot he saide vnto him d Gene. 13 8 Let there bee no strife I pray thee betweene me and thee neyther betweene thy Heard-men and my Heard-men for we are Brethren They were not naturall Bretheren according to the flesh as discending of one Father but of a neere kindred according to the flesh and a neerer according to the Spirit he was Lots Vnckle and elder and in that respect his better he was richer wealthier he had more Seruants also to take his part to ioyne together and to ouer-maister him if he had listed yet he standeth not vpon one or vpon all these he looked not when Lot should stoop and bow vnto him but as in years wealth and authority so in godlinesse meeknes and moderation he went before him Let vs all consider this be prouoked by the example of Christ to be meeke and lowly e Math. 11 29. That we may finde rest vnto our soules The Lord Iesus hath taught vs to call vpon one Father shall we then disdaine our Brethren The Apostle teacheth f Col. 3 13. Ephe. 4 4. that we are one body if the members of the body should disagree and fall out would not the ruine and destruction of the whole body follow Againe we are all called to the same hope of eternall life there is one mark at the which we all shoot there is one end whereunto we bend being Children of the same Father and Heires of the same Grace and partakers of the same inheritance O that this Meditation were setled and grounded in our hearts to loue with brotherly kindnesse and to hate all mallice as a Serpent Let vs learne that we ought no more to bee deuided asunder then the kingdome of Heauen can be deuided and that whosoeuer renteth himselfe from his Brethren banisheth himselfe from the place of glory which we all looke for Christ Iesus cannot be deuided for as his Coate was g Iohn 19 23. without seame so his body must be without separtion There are not diuers Faiths diuers Baptismes diuers Suppers diuers Gods but one Lord Iesus one Baptisme one Faith one Lordes Supper one God and Father of all All these thinges Abraham no doubt did consider and beleeue and therefore said We are Brethren He doth not stand vpon his reputation and say Shall I stoope to him Shall I creepe and crouch to him Am not I better then hee Am not I wealthier then he Am not I elder then
conuerted by vs ought to be deare and feruent We learne from hence that the loue which Christians ought to beare to all the Saints especially to those whom they haue beene meanes to conuert ought to be entire deare hearty earnest most faithfull and most feruent It is our duty to loue all men more especiallie the Saints but most especially such as haue beene gained to the Faith by vs. The Lord himselfe testifieth his tender compassion toward his Children to prouoke them to follow his example The Prophets declare l Deut. 32 10. Zach. 2 8. That he which toucheth them toucheth the apple of his eye So Zachariah blessed the God of Israell m Luke 1 78. Who through his tender mercy gaue life to them that sate in darkenesse and in the shaddow of death and guided their feete into the way of peace This appeareth notably in Christ Iesus n Heb. 2 17. Who was made like vnto his Brethren that he might be mercifull he will not breake the bruised Reede nor quench the smoaking Flaxe o Iohn 15 12 13. and 13 34. These thinges saith he haue I spoken vnto you that my ioy might remaine in you this is my Commaundement that ye loue one another as I haue loued you greater loue then this hath no man when any man bestoweth his life for his friends This affection we finde in many places in the Apostle p Phil. 1 8 9. 1 Thess 3 7 8 God is my record how I long after you all from the very heart-roote in Iesus Christ we had consolation in you in al our affliction necessity through your Faith for now are we aliue if ye stand fast in the Lord. The Euangelist Luke describing the Church of God gathered together after the ascention of Christ saith q Act. 2 44 45 All that beleeued were in one place and had all thinges common and they sold their possessions and goods and parted them to all men as euery one had neede This is a precept giuen in the Law and no duty more often vrged and touched in the Gospell Moses saith r Leuit. 19 18 Math. 5 43. Rom. 13 9. Gal. 5 14. Thou shalt not auenge nor bee mindfull of wrong against the Children of thy people but shall loue thy Neighbour as thy selfe I am the Lord. The Apostle Paule among many precepts that he giueth this is one of the chiefe and principall Å¿ Rom. 12 9 10. and 13 8. Let loue bee without dissimulation abhorre that which is euill and cleane vnto that which is good be affectioned to loue one another with brotherlie loue All these testimonies of God the Father of Christ Iesus our Lord of the Apostle of other Christians and of the whole Church doe sufficiently teach vs that howsoeuer all the Saints of God are to be loued yet those especially that haue beene conuerted to vs. Reason 1. The reasons that may be rendred to vphold as firme pillers to strengthen this Doctrine are many and infallible For first there is great labour imployed long time spent many meanes vsed and continuall care bestowed to conuert a Soule to God It is no idle worke it is not brought to passe without much adoe A Woman hauing had an hard labour with her child doth loue it the more and will vse speech accordinglie saying This was a very deere Childe vnto me I must needes loue it yea her loue t Iohn 16 21. is so heartie and entire that shee forgetteth the paines and sorrow that shee hath sustained Beniamin among all the Sonnes of Iacob was most tenderly beloued in whose byrth the Mother dyed the fruite was saued but the Tree withered and fell downe he cost Iacob therefore dear euen his best beloued wife and indeed his onely lawfull wife whom Laban promised for whom he serued u Gen. 35 18. so that he called him Beniamin the sonne of his right hand If then that which is dearly bought be deepely beloued it is no maruell if it worke effectually in spirituall things where the greatest paines and labor is shewed We see this in the Galathians who had put the Apostle to much trouble and exceeding torment in their recouery to Christ x Gal. 4 11 19 are by him called his Little Children of whom he trauailed in birth againe vntill Christ were formed in them and he was in much feare and perplexity least hee had bestowed on them labour in vaine This appeareth in his behauiour toward the Israelites to whom pertaineth the adoption the glory and the Couenants y Ro. 9 1 2 3. I say the truth in Christ I lye not my Conscience bearing me witnesse in the Holyghost that I haue great heauinesse and continuall sorrow in mine heart for I would wish my selfe to bee separated from Christ for my Brethren that are my Kinsmen according to the flesh The like affection is bewrayed in Moses toward Gods people who had carried them in his bosome as a Nursse doth the sucking Childe when God was offended with them and threatned to consume them he cried vnto the Lord z Ex. 32 31 32 Oh this people haue sinned a great sinne and haue made them Gods of Golde therefore now if thou pardon their sinne thy mercy shall appeare but if thou wilte not I pray thee rase me out of thy Booke which thou hast written Thus he shewed the bowels of his loue toward that people with whom hee had taken so great paines for whom he had so often prayed and by whom he had been so oftentimes prouoked Reason 2. Secondly by testifying of our loue and shewing forth the fruites thereof we gather great assurance that we are of the company of the faithfull of the Communion of Saints and of the society of them that belong to the trueth when we loue vnfaignedly those that are of the truth The Apostle Iohn teacheth that our loue to the brethren is a fruite of true faith a 1 Iohn 3 14 19. Heereby we know that we are of the truth and shall before him assure our hearts And againe hee saith We know we are translated from death vnto life because wee loue the Brethren he that loueth not his Brother abideth in death Whereby hee sheweth that we are assured that we belong to God are his children by the fruites of loue which are certaine tokens of our election to eternall life Reason 3. Thirdly loue is the liuery of Christ and as it were the badge and cognizance whereby we are knowne to be his Disciples and to be taught and directed by his spirit This agreeth with the Doctrine of Christ b Ioh. 13 34 35. A newe Commandement giue I vnto you that yee loue one another as I haue loued you that ye also loue another by this shall all men knowe that ye are my Disciples if yee haue loue one to another Christ Iesus did instruct his Disciples especially in loue and did as it were graft it and engraue
Wee cannot aske in our owne name u Ferus in Ioh. 16. that is for our owne merits any thing we ask and obtaine in the name of Christ By his name we must vnderstand his incarnation his passion his death his deserts his intercession For as he that hath Christ hath eternall life because Christ is the way the trueth and the life so he that hath Christ obtaineth all things because he it is alone in whom the Father is well pleased It is therefore a lawfull and laudable custom of the true Church to conclude and shut vp their prayers in the name of Christ declaring thereby that their trust and confidence to be heard standeth not in themselues nor in any other then the Mediatour betweene God and them True it is the Church of Rome vseth this form and endeth in his name but this is no better then a meere mocking of Christ For albeit they adde in the closing vp of their prayers Through our Lord Iesus Christ yet the substance of them is full of Idolatry and the Saints are made Idols and Christ a Mediator to bring vs to them which is as foule a dishonour as if the eldest sonne who is heire of al should be vsed and employed to bring vs into the fauour of the seruant of the house So then we must holde it as a principle of our Faith to direct vs in our prayers that they be not made in the name of any creature but in the name and mediation of Christ alone And heereby is discouered a manifest fault and palpable error of ignorant people They powre out many Prayers and cry out oftentimes Lord helpe me Lorde haue mercie vpon me Thus doe these poore and simple blind soules rush vppon the Lord as it were into the Chamber of presence without a guide they know not the nature of God that he is as well a most fearefull iudge as a most mercifull father and they are ignoraunt of the Office of the Mediator in whose name they should present their prayers to him Hee that commeth in his owne name commeth in a wrong name and he that commeth without Christ departeth without fruite Hee sprinkleth our prayers with the sweete Odours of his merits and mediation without which our prayers and our persons are abhominable The fift thing required in Prayer The fift and last thing required in Prayer is that it must be made with assurance to be heard Prayer is to be made in faith whereby a man must haue confidence that he shall obtaine that which he hath asked This affiance being wanting maketh Prayer to bee no prayer Whosoeuer doubteth whether God will graunt his requests or not can neuer pray for any thing earnestly and effectually This our Sauiour teacheth Marke 11 24. Whatsoeuer ye desire when ye pray beleeue that ye shall haue it and it shall bee done vnto you None can haue this perswasion to be heard none can haue this affiance that God is both willing and able to helpe them but the faithfull who haue assurance that their sinnes are pardoned and their personnes reconciled vnto God in Christ Such as stand in doubt of this can neuer beleeue anie other promises reuealed in the word nor be sure that any of his prayers shall bee heard If any come and make any suite or supplication vnto vs whom wee know to doubt of our good will and meaning toward vs can wee regarde them or accept of them So they can by no meanes please God that while they are praying doubt of his good meaning or Almighty power and know not how he is affected and disposed toward them For this cause the Apostle Iames directing vs in the right course of prayer commandeth rhat it be made in faith without doubting Iames 1 6 7. Let him aske in Faith and wauer not for he that wauereth is like a waue of the Sea tossed of the wind and carried away neither let that man thinke that he shall receiue any thing of the Lord. It is a great corruption of the flesh and such as springeth from the bitter root of Infidelity to imagine that God doeth not or will not regarde our prayers according to that saying of the Prophet Psal 10 13. Wherefore doth the wicked contemne God He saith in his heart Thou wilt not regard Obiection But heere some may Obiect say How can we haue this assurance seeing many pray and yet receiue not they aske and obtaine not The Prophet Dauid complaineth y Psal 22 2. O my God I cry by day but thou hearest not and by night but haue no audience And in another place z 2 Sam. 12 14 He prayed for the life of his child with great earnestnesse of spirit with great humblenesse of mind with great anguish of hart and yet he obtained not the life of his sonne that he desired for the Child died Answere I answere to this many waies First God doth sometimes deferre to answere his seruants to make them cry more earnestly We are made of a dull Mettall we quickly wax weary in prayer we must haue some means to kindle our zeale Now it is a great error in the faithfull to thinke that GOD deceyueth vs because hee delayeth vs it is the purpose of God to try vs for the exercise of our faith and the encrease of our zeale Secondly men doe sometimes pray that are prophane and lye in some greeuous sinne that is vnrepented of which is as a thicke cloude standing betweene the Lord and vs and as it were stopping his eares that he cannot heare vs or as a barre that lyeth in our way that we cannot possibly come into the presence of God True Repentance wil scatter the Cloud and remoue the barre that is before vs but till sinne bee forsaken a Iohn 9 31. our Prayers cannot bee graunted Many complaine that they are not heard and murmure that they spend their wordes as in the Winde but they neuer consider what the cause is and where the fault lyeth and how it is to bee reformed Thirdly they pray to satisfie their lusts and do not aske such thinges as they ought to desire according as the Apostle Iames vpbraydeth the Iewes to whom he wrote b Iames 4 3. Ye aske and receiue not because ye ask amisse that ye might lay the same out on your pleasures It is not enough to craue good thinges but we must aske them to a good end If our purpose be euill our Prayers cannot be good our requests cannot be granted Fourthly we must pray for earthly things with condition so farre as they may serue to the glory of God and our owne good and therefore we must refer our selues wholy to his will and pleasure as we are taught in the Lords Prayer to say Thy will be done Spirituall Graces we may aske without exception but earthly benefits with limitation Lastly God heareth our prayers two wayes First when he granteth that thing which we aske Thus he heard
suam They will dislike either the person or the matter or the stile or the allegations or they know not what and care not what so it be somewhat The proofes vsed are too many the Reasons too large the Vses too vehement yea nothing can please them that please them-selues in their owne conceits If I should craue pardon for my slippes in this Exposition or for my boldnesse in this Dedication I should therein also open the mouths of many to tax me of vanity and reproue me of folly For when Albinus who wrote an History of the Roman Offices in the Greek tongue requested the Readers in the Praeface to beare with him if they found any imperfections and wants in his worke M. Cato the Censor answered when he read it e Plut. in the life of Cato Doubtlesse he had deserued pardon indeed if he had bin forced to write his Story but he is a Trifler that had rather aske pardon for his fault then to be without fault For men are wont f Macrob. Saturn lib. 1. in Praefat. to desire forgiuenesse either when they erre at vnwares or when they commit a fault by constraint compulsion from such as haue authority ouer them whom they cannot or dare not deny Such seuere and sharpe Iudges I am like to light vpon who will demand the question of me what I meane to plead for pardon For who compelled mee to make the fault for which I craue fauour And why I did not rather keepe my selfe from offending then desire the forgiuenesse of the offence Wherefore leauing these rash and rigorous Censors of other mens doings I come to declare the causes that haue induced me to offer the exposition of this Epistle vnto you and to passe it vnder your Worships name For to whom doth a Treatise of Godlinesse more fitly agree then to him that professeth Godlinesse and hath the power of it dwelling in his heart Or to whom should I commend the Patronage of the truth better then to him that is a fauorer and louer of the truth and of such as fauour and loue the trueth Besides as I haue heeretofore tasted of your kindnesse and bountifulnesse toward me which I euer esteemed as a debt lying vpon me so I haue beene desirous to leaue a perpetuall Testimony to others of a thankefull heart I am not able to recompence like for like but may rather say with the Apostle g Acts 3 6. Siluer and Gold haue I none but such as I haue I giue vnto you and so much the more I will alwaies be ready to follow the example of Paul who when he had receiued mercy at the hands of Onesiphorus he praied vnto God to render backe into his bosom the fruits of his loue bestowed vpon him h 2 Tim. 1 16 17 18. The Lord shew mercy vnto the house of Onesiphorus for he oft refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chaine but when he was at Rome he sought me out very diligently found me The Lord grant vnto him that he may find mercy with the Lord at that day c. So my ernest prayer to God euen the Father of all mercy and God of al consolation is euer shal be to shew mercy for your mercy loue for your loue to preserue you vnto his heauenly kingdom And I beseech you oftentimes to Meditate vpon the 71. Psalme which as it was composed by the Prophet in his latter time so he oftentimes craueth of God to be with him to keepe him safe now that his head was hoare and his haires gray i Psal 71 5 9 17 18. Thou art my hope O Lord God euen my trust from my youth cast me not off in the time of age forsake me not whē my strength faileth And afterward O God thou hast taught me from my youth euen vntill now therefore will I tell of thy wonderous workes yea euen vnto mine old age and gray head O God forsake me not vntill I haue declared thine arme vnto this generation and thy power to al them that shal come For a man may fall away from God as well through the doting of age as through the lustes of youth Be faithfull vnto the death you shal receiue the crown of life continue vnto the end so shall you be safe The Wise-man teacheth that the daies will come when we shall say wee haue no pleasure in them k Eccle. 12 3. when the keepers of the house shall tremble that is the hands which safegard the body from iniuries shall shake as in a palsie The strong men shall bow themselues that is the legges which are as a strong Staffe or as a firme Piller to sustaine and beare vp the weight of the body shall begin to faile and waxe feeble The Grinders shall cease that is the teeth appointed to chew the meate eyther waxe loose or else are lost They waxe darke that looke out of the windowes that is the eyes of the body which are as the Windowes of the house to giue light l Liuy lib. 5. in the Oration of Licinius Caluus Pliny lib. 7. cap. 50. shall decay and grow weaker and weaker that they cannot behold the brightnesse of the Sunne The doores shall be shut without by the base sound of the Grinders that is the Lippes which are as two Doores or Gates shall scarce bee able to open themselues being become stiffe He shall rise vp at the voyce of the Bird that is the least noyse shall be able to awake him he that while he was young slept soundly so that the sound of a Trumpet coulde hardly mooue him is now by the crowing of the Cocke or the chirping of a Bird raised and disquieted All the daughters of singing shall be abased that is the eares and other Instruments of Musicke shall be so weakned and dulled that they shall take no pleasure nor delight therein m 2 Sa. 19 36. as Barzillai confesseth vnto Dauid also They shall be affraid of the high thing that is when once they grow crooked with age euery plaine way will seeme rough and euery stone a Mountaine vnto them And the Almond tree shall flourish that is their head shall be renowned with the comely ornament of white haires as the beautifull Blossomes of an Almond Tree c. Thus doth the Wise-man describe the discommodities and difficulties of old age which approacheth vnto vs all and will in the end ouertake vs to the end we should learne to remember our Creator in the dayes of our youth The Lord God Almighty who is the ancient of daies deliuer you from euery euill worke and blesse you and yours more and more with al spirituall blessings in heauenly things that as you beare the Image of his Eternity so you may be partaker of eternall Glory Amen Yours to commaund WILLIAM ATTERSOLL To the Reader IT was well said a Plini secund Epist 6. lib. 1. that the first duty of a Writer is that
Deuill but he pointeth vs vnto the purpose of God and the end that hee respecteth in all our sufferings which is to proue his owne guifts and to make manifest the secrets of our hearts Reason 2. Secondly if we respect the good and profit that redowneth to others by our sufferings we should not be ashamed of the Crosse no nor to lay downe our liues for the Brethren For they serue for the confirmation of the Faith of others that they seeing their patience and constancy may be strengthened in the truth and imboldned to make confession thereof with cheerefulnesse Thus doth God deale contrary to the purpose of the Deuill and all deuillish men who labour by all meanes to weaken the faith of the Church by raising persecutions against the particular members thereof which God altereth and turneth to another end The Apostle speaking of his owne afflictions saith a Phil. 1 12 13 14. I would yee vnderstood Brethren that the thinges which haue come vnto me are turned rather to the furthering of the Gospell so that my bands in Christ are famous throughout al the Iudgement Hall and in all other places insomuch that many of the Brethren in the Lord are boldned through my bandes and dare more franckely speake the word Shall we be ashamed of those things which God hath sanctified to be meanes of strengthening our Brethren True it is if we should measure thinges by the corrupt iudgement of a naturall man it seemeth vnlikely and vnpossible that the sufferings of the godly should turne to the gaine and furtherance of the Gospell but God often worketh out his owne glory contrary to all humaine wisedome Who would imagine that out of death should spring life or that the bloud of the Martyâ—… should be the seede of the Church But thus it pleaseth him to manifest his owne honour and to shew that hee is infinite in wisedome Reason 3. Thirdly if we respect the persecuters of the faithfull they must be discerned thereby to bee wicked men and deadly enemies working out their owne destruction and sealing vp their owne reprobation For as the cause of the godly is made more famous and spread abroad farre and neere for which they suffer so such as persecute them shall come to confusion and doe bring vpon themselues swift damnation The Apostle speaking of the vnbeleeuing Iewes saith b 1 Thess 2 15 16. They killed the Lord and their own Prophets they persecuted the Apostles and forbad them to Preach vnto the Gentiles to fufill their sinnes alwaies for the wrath of God is come on them to the vtmost Seeing therefore God will haue the faith of such as suffer tryed the godly that beleeue confirmed and the persecuters discerned to bee most wicked men no man should be ashamed of the crosses and troubles that befall vnto him Vse 1. Now let vs see the Vses First this serueth to condemne sundry sorts of men that esteeme not aright of the sufferings of the faithfull nor iudge of them with righteous iudgement It reprooueth such as wonder at them lying in affliction as at c Psal 102 6. an Owle in the desart or a Pellicane in the Wildernesse so that they are as a Sparrow vpon the house top sitting alone It reprooueth such as thinke them the greatest Sinners and measure the condition by the chastisement that they suffer like the friends of Iob who iudged him to bee a deepe dissembler and an hollow hearted Hypocrite because he suffered such thinges How many are there that insult ouer the godly when they are humbled vnder the crosse and feele the hand of God vppon them How many are there that esteeme of them when they are in peace and prosperity but leaue them in time of trouble and forsake them in the day of their calamity as the Apostle 2 Tim. 4. complaineth of many men Lastly it reprooueth such as are discomforted in their profession and offended at the calamities that befall others for the faiths sake and faint for the Seruants of God On the other side let vs learne better things and not iudge rash iudgement against the righteous Let vs not thinke it strange to see the best men troubled and euilly dealt withall by euill and carnall Wretches of this World It was the lot of Christ our Sauiour d Esay 53 3. He was despised and reiected of Men he was a man full of sorrowes and not esteemed It was the lot of all the Prophets and Apostles and is the portion of all the Seruants of God in these daies and shall be to the end of the World It is in vaine for vs to thinke to be exempted out of the common condition of these men Let vs not be offended at their sufferings not shrinke backe for the troubles that doe befall them Let vs not thinke them the greatest Sinners for their greatest sufferings nor reproch them as wicked men for sustaining the reproches of wicked men All they that iudge thus are deceiued in their iudgement When the Disciples shewed Christ of the Galileans whose bloud Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices e Luk. 13 2. he answered said vnto them Suppose ye that these Galileans were greater sinners then all the other Galileans because they haue suffered such things I tell you nay but except ye amend your liues ye shall all likewise perish Or thinke you that those eighteene vpon whom the Tower in Siloam fell and slew them were sinners aboue all men that dwell in Ierusalem I tell you nay but except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish Lastly let vs be so farre from triumphing ouer them and trampling vpon them that endure affliction that rather in their sufferings wee should suffer with them in their weeping we should weep with them in their mournings we should mourne with them in their miseries we should pray for them that so we may shew our selues members of one and the same body with them according to the precept of the Apostle f Rom. 12 16. Heb. 13 3. Be of like affection one toward another reioyce with them that reioyce and weepe with them that weep remember them that are in bonds as though ye were bound with them and them that are in affliction as if ye were also afflicted with them And this is a notable Argument and testimony to our owne hearts that wee are liuely members of the body of Christ and serueth as a sweete comfort vnto vs that we are of the fellowship and Communion of Saints Vse 2. Secondly seeing the afflictions of the faithfull are not shamefull and ignominious vnto them we may conclude from hence that they are blessed that suffer aduersity for the Gospels sake For seeing Paule glorieth in this place of his persecutions accounteth it a praise to him to be a prisoner of Christ we must needs hold them happy and blessed that are in affliction for righteousnes sake whereby we are ioyned to the faithfull we are made like
of Iesus Christ The persecutions of all true Christians which are imprisoned for Christs sake are the persecutions and must bee esteemed as the persecutions of Christ himselfe This Apostle writing to the Philippians and mentioning his Chaines p Phil. 1 13. calleth them his Bands in Christ. And in the Epistle to the Colossians he saith q Col. 1 24. Now reioyce I in my sufferings for you and fulfill the rest of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his bodies sake which is the Church Heere hee calleth the afflictions which he in his body suffered the afflictions of Christ So he exhorteth Timothy not to be ashamed r 2 Tim. 1 8. of the testimony of our Lord nor of him being his Prisoner but to bee partaker of the afflictions of the Gospell according to the power of God All these testimonies doe teach vs that all such afflictions as are occasioned through the Gospell and brought vpon the godly for righteousnesse sake are not onely to bee called their afflictions but the afflictions of Christ Iesus for whose cause they come vpon them Reason 1. The reasons hereof are plaine and euident For first they are sustained for his names sake and therefore may fitly be called his If then we endure them for his cause and for the witnesse of the Gospell whereof hee is the matter and Author he is the occasion of their trouble and therefore they are to bee accounted his He must needes be a party with vs for whose cause and occasion we are troubled A man of any humanity and naturall affection will make himselfe a Companion in tribulation with him who is punished or troubled for his debt and offence When Abiathar came to Dauid and told him how that his Father and his Fathers house were slaine for succouring of Dauid ſ 1 Sam. 22 12 he presently tooke to himselfe saying I am the cause of the death of all the persons of thy Fathers House abide thou with me and feare not for he that seeketh my life shall seeke thy life also for with me thou shalt be in safegard The truth of this reason is set downe by the Prophet when he saith t Psal 44 22. Surely for thy sake are we slaine continually and are counted as Sheepe for the slaughter Hereunto the Apostle alludeth u Rom. 8 36. and concludeth the reason in the Epistle to the Romans Cha. 8. Who shall separate vs from the loue of Christ Shall tribulation or anguish or persecution or famine or nakednesse or perrill or sword As it it written For thy sake are we killed and are counted as Sheepe for the slaughter Seeing then afflictions are sustained for Christs cause whose shall they bee better accounted then his Reason 2. Secondly there is a neerer coniunction betweene Christ and his members so that we are made flesh of his flesh and bone of his bones If then we bee made one with Christ x Ephe. 5 30. euen members Of his body of his flesh and of his bones the afflictions that are ours must needes be made his the persecutions that are ours must needes be made his the persecutions that are ours are his persecutions our imprisonment is his imprisonment For they that are faithfull are the body of Christ and hee their head so that they with him make but one Christ Hence it is that the Church which is the company of true beleeuers y 1 Cor. 12 12 is called by the name of Christ If any member suffer the head suffereth with it as wel as the members there is such a sympathy feeling between thē so is it betweene Christ and his Church their greefe is his greefe their sorrow is his sorrow their trouble is his trouble This reason is included in the words of the Apostle writing to the Colossians when he saith I fulfill the rest of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body sake which is his Church Vse 1. Let vs come to consider the vses First see heere what Christ accounteth of the sufferings of his Seruants Hee accounteth whatsoeuer is doone to them that are faithfull a◅ done vnto himselfe whether it bee good or euill whether it be comfort and consolation or trouble and persecution True it is Christ Iesus is ascended into the heauens and sitteth at the right hand of his Father so that he can suffer no more he can dye no more yet now hee suffereth in his members that confesse his name and reioyceth in his members that praise his name when they are troubled hee is troubled and when they are comforted he is comforted And first touching afflictions all such as offer wrong and iniury to the Saintes doe offer wrong and iniury to Christ himselfe This appeareth in the words of Christ to Saul who had obtained letters from the High-Priests to put in prison those that called on his name saying to him z Acts 9 4. Saul Saul why persecutest thou me He might haue said why persecutest thou my Saints Why bringest thou them bound to Ierusalem But to enforce his reproofe he telleth him with whom he hath to deale and to whom the iniury and indignity is offered to wit to Christ A notable lesson for all persecuters to ponder vpon and carefully to remember Whensoeuer they take crafty and wicked counsell against the Children of God and they are plotting and contriuing any mischiefe against them when they whet their tongues or draw their Swordes or busie their heads or set a worke their hearts to ouerthrow and destroy them let them by and by consider that Christ calleth vnto them from Heauen with a reuenging voyce Why persecutest thou me If this voyce of Christ were alwaies sounding in their eares and entring into theyr hearts and piercing their consciences it would represse their rage and asswage their mallice intended against the people of God If any man among vs that liueth in the Church were asked the question whether he would persecute Christ in his person imprison him reuile him wrong him afflict him and put him to death if he liued vpon the face of the earth he would bee ready to aunswere God forbid and to defie him that should offer to charge him with it he would aunswere hee looketh for saluation from him and meaneth not to contriue the destruction of him yea he would be ready to say with Hazaell what Is thy Seruant a Dogge that I should doe this great thing 2. Kinges 8. 13. But let vs not deceiue in our selues in vaine wordes that cannot profite whatsoeuer is wrought against the Seruant redowneth to the reproach and contempt of the Maister and Christ will be reuenged of the afflictions layde vpon the least and poorest member that belongeth to his body as if they were infflicted vpon his owne person Hence it is that the Euangelist describing the forme and manner of his last iudgement when Christ shall breake the heauens and come to iudge the quicke and the dead
we iustifie them both these belong vnto God and therefore are not to be vsurped by any man We must iudge the best of them according to the rule of Charity l 1 Cor. 13 7. Which hopeth all thinges and beleeueth all thinges We know God reserued to himselfe m 1 King 19 18. 7000. in Israell in the daies of Ahab that neuer bowed the knee to Baall and he hath a few n Reuel 3 4. names yet in Sardis which haue not defiled their garments which shall walke with him in white for they are worthy We may say with the Apostle of them o Acts 17 30. The time of this ignorance God regardeth not but now he admonisheth all men euery where to repent We are not therefore to looke what they haue done but consider what by the word they should haue done and what by the same wee ought to doe And touching the thriuing and prospering of them that neglect this duty this is an Obiection fitter for Atheists then Christians to vse Christ hath taught vs that this is no rule to measure good or euill he sheweth p Math. 5 45. That the Father maketh his Sunne to shine and his raine to fall vpon the iust and vniust vpon the godly and the vngodly The Wiseman hath taught that by outward thinges we cannot q Eccle. 9 1 2 vnderstand whether we be loued or hated of God We see the wicked for the most part prosper more in the World in worldly things then the godly as we read Psal 73. 3 4 5. and Iob 21. 8. 9. Obiect 7. Lastly it is obiected that some which haue beene diligently and duely taught doe yet liue as leudly and prophanely as they that neuer knew any thing of God I answere it may be this is thy wrong and rash iudgement The world speaketh euill of those that will not follow them into all excesse of ryot But let vs grant it to be so yet heerein they play the wrangling Sophisters and Cauillers alleadging a false cause for a true For I am sure this course of learning is not the cause of the loosenesse of their liuing If grace had beene in their hearts it would bee a meanes to make them beleeue and liue better He that knoweth his Maisters will is more likely to performe it then he that knoweth it not nor careth for the knowing of it He that hath his eye-sight is more likely to walke without stumbling and falling then he that is blinde so he that is instructed in the waies of godlinesse hath better meanes to walke in the feare of God then hee that is ignorant and knoweth nothing True it is some that know their Maisters will doe it not some that haue their eyes open fall downe now and then yet none can be so voide of reason to conclude from hence that it is not necessary to know his will or to open our eyes Thus much for the remouing of the obiections and the scattering of those Mists and Clouds that stood before vs. Vse 1. Now let vs come to the Vses of this Doctrine First seeing it belongeth to the Maisters and Gouernours of Families to instruct them in godlinesse we gather that it is not enough for them to prouide for the bodies of such as are vnder them and belong vnto them in this life but they must care most especially for their soules and bodies in the life to come They then are greatly deceiued who when they haue giuen them meate and Money thinke themselues sufficiently discharged If we onely feede them and fill them to the full what doe we more to them then to our brute Beasts If we onely cloath them and pay them their wages r Math. 5 20. what doe wee more to them then the Turkes and Infidels that feare not God that know not God doe performe to their Children and Seruants If we thinke our selues discharged by prouiding for them and leauing vnto them a temporall patrimony and possession and neuer regard to make them heires and Inheritors of the Kingdome of Heauen what do we more then the Iewes or Gentiles that are ignorant of Christ and his Gospell What should it auaile vs or them to leaue them rich in the World and poore in God To lay vp for them treasures on earth and to neglect the treasures of Heauen which are the true and enduring substance True it is Fathers and Mothers are bound concerning this bodily life to make honest prouision for the sustenance of their Children and therefore all vnthrifty Dicers and Drunkards which wast and wash away their goods whose Children may well bee accounted fatherlesse and their Wiues as Widdowes haue no Å¿ 1 Tim. 5 8. spark or portion of naturall Fathers in them neuerthelesse they are charged not onelie to bring them vp in the World but to prepare them for the World to come It is a vaine and foolish imagination to dreame that wee haue done our part or discharged a Fathers and a Mothers duty when we haue nourished appartelled and brought vp our Children whereas wee haue a farre greater account to make before God for their soules They are also greatly deceiued who if they send them to the Church on the Sabbaoth day and bring them to the place of Gods worship they thinke they haue answered the charge required of them These men post ouer all their dutie to the Minister and lay the burthen to ease themselues vpon his shoulders They care not they spare not to lay load vpon anothers backe that they may not beare it or touch it with their little finger But God cannot thus be mocked or deluded or defrauded who commaunded that themselues should rehearse his Lawes and Commaundements to their Children and Housholds Indeed it is a commendable duty to see that they serue God and to accompany them vnto the house of God but this is onelie halfe if halfe our dutie or rather to do our dutie to halues we must both prouide that they may bee taught and also teach them our selues when the Minister hath planted wee must water when he hath preached wee must see how they profit and by all meanes assist him in the worke of the Lord. They are also greatly deceiued who take themselues to be discharged of their duty when they haue taught them to say the ten Commaundements the Lords Prayer and the Creede or the Articles of Faith because they say they haue done what they can and are able to performe no more If they can doe no more it is a shame for them that they will be Fathers before they can doe that which is the duty of fathers It is one thing to teach them to say them another to vnderstand them It is not enough for vs to helpe them to speake the wordes vnlesse wee labour to make them conceiue the meaning of the wordes The Commaundements of the Law and the petitions of the Lords Prayer stand not in the bare wordes but in the true meaning
Let them know therefore that they must render a greater account then of teaching them to vtter and pronounce the wordes they must cause them to vnderstand them they must sow the Seedes of Christian Religion in their hearts they must instruct them with all diligence they must exhort them with all earnestnesse they must charge them to feare God and to walk in his waies that so their children may be made Gods Children and so giue them to him againe of whom and by whose blessing at the first they receiued them Vse 2. Secondly seeing all Housholders must teach their families it is their duty first of all to reforme themselues that so their people may be reformed They that are the chiefe in the Family must looke vnto themselues and goe in and out before them by good example that so they may the better looke vnto those that are vnder them It is a Testimony of our great loue toward them and an earnest desire to win them to the truth and to embrace true godlinesse when we seek to saue their soules He that loueth the soule t Plutar. in Alcibia loueth truely for the foule is the principall part of man They therefore that are carelesse in training vp their children in religion cannot assure themselues that they bear any true loue vnto them Let them shew neuer so much comfort compassion to their bodies yet all their mercies are cruell so long as they neglect the chiefest care that ought to be in them toward their soules We may iudge thē to be more inhumaine and vnnaturall euen more then sauage beasts who not onely by neglect of teaching their Children the feare of the Lord but by corrupt example of liuing do lead them into euill and so murther their soules For how many children in stead of good education and godly instruction do heare their Fathers delight in swearing doe see them deale deceitfully and vniustly and walke in euerie euill way If wee should beholde a man killing his owne children and laying violent hands vpon his owne flesh if wee should see him destroy his posterity and shed the innocent blood of those that came out of his owne loines who would not accuse and condemne him of vnnatural murther and barbarous cruelty But there are many many thousand Fathers in the world that are the Murtherers and Butchers yea the death and destruction of their owne Issue They gaue them life but they are the causes of their death They gaue them a temporall being but they bring them to eternall condemnation They should direct them in the right way to Heauen but they leade them into the pathes of sinne and so thrust them downe to Hell with their owne handes For so long as we teach them not to honour God but to dishonour him and regard not whether they know Christ Iesus or not but are patternes and presidents vnto them of all prophanenesse wee are guilty of their blood and are worse then those that take away their naturall life and shall one day holde vp our hand at the barre of Gods Iudgement to bee arraigned for it For they onelie kill the bodie and when they haue done can do no more but we cast away and spill the Soules of our Children which is the greatest rigour the vilest murther and the extreamest crueltie in the world If therefore we would be cleere and pure from the bloud of our children let vs traine them vp in godlinesse and take heed to our selues reforming our owne waies and endeuouring to bee examples vnto them in all holinesse and true righteousnesse This is it which Ioshua u Iosh 24 15. professeth in his exhortation that he maketh to the people that they would with full purpose of heart cleaue vnto the Lord. Ioshua 24. 15. If it seeme euill vnto you to serue the Lorde chuse you this day whom you will serue whether the Gods which your Fathers serued beyond the floud or the Gods of the Amorites in whose Land ye dwell but I and my house will serue the Lord. The like we see in the aunswere of Queene Ester to Mordecai when shee had exhorted to gather the Church together to Fasting and Prayer that God might be intreated to open a way for their deliuerance x Ester 4 16. she addeth I and my Maids will doe likewise A like practise we find in Dauid Psal 101. as he declareth that his eyes should bee vpon the faithfull of the Land that they may dwell with him and that such as are vpright should serue him so he professeth y Psa 101 2 3 He would walke in the vprightnesse of his heart in the middest of his house hee would set no wicked thing before his eies but hate the workes of them that fall away For well did Dauid know that if the Maister of the house were euill the Family ordinarily could not bee good and that the example of the highest it alleadged as a warrant to the lowest to follow It is great pitty that a Child should heare an euill word or see an euill deed they are so ready to imitate that which they heare and see Let vs therefore looke diligently to our selues what examples we lay before them Vse 3. Thirdly this doctrine directeth vs to haue in our priuate Familes the priuate exercises of Religion It is no small praise of the house of Philemon that he had so taught and instructed his Family that hee had the liuely Image and true representation of a Church in it discharging after a sort the duty of a Pastor within his owne walles So the Apostle Paule saluteth Aquila and Priscilla z Rom. 16 3 5 and 1 Cor. 16 19. and the Church that is in their house Euery Gouernour of an house and Maister of a Family must endeuour that his house-hold may deserue the Name of a Church He should be the speaker they the hearers he the Pastour they the flocke he the Minister they the people hee ready to instruct they ready to be instructed A priuate Family should be as a priuate schoole the Gouernour is the Maister of the Schoole euery one within his gouernment is a Scholler to learne of him This shall bee a singuler commendation vnto vs if we so order our seuerall charges and places of gouernment as that they may bee called rather Churches then priuate Families rather Schooles then Houses rather Temples of GOD then dwellings of men rather Tabernacles set vp to serue the Lord then buildings erected to serue our selues Now wee shall attaine to this praise and estimation among the faithfull if our houses doe resemble Churches by the practise of such exercises as are performed in it For the Maister is both a King and a Pastor within his owne house a King to rule and correct a Pastor to instruct and reprooue yea to remooue such as are obstinate and obdurate Let vs therefore all of vs set vp little Churches in our houses let vs vse in them prayer to God
Answer I answer It is a generall rule in all Arts and true in Diuinity That which is vnderstood is not wanting So then the holy Ghost the third person in Trinity is not omitted though not expressed for he must of necessity be vnderstood who proceedeth from them both namely from the Father and the Sonne Christ saith in his m Iohn 17. Prayer This is eternall life to know thee to be the onely true God and whom thou hast sent Iesus Christ yet the holy Ghost in this place is not excluded from both the persons but included and comprehended together with them for these three are one n Iohn 5. as the Apostle teacheth Thus much touching the order and meaning of the words Now let vs proceede to the obseruations out of the same and then come to the Doctrines Obseruations out of this ver The obseruations out of this verse containing the salutation are not many which we will point out First of all we see the matter of his Prayer what it is he asketh not the fauour of Men but of God he craueth not earthly and worldly peace but spirituall and heauenly True it is the fauour and good will of Men the outward peace and tranquilitie one with another are worthy and excellent guiftes but the free and fatherly fauour of God together with peace with GOD the Father beeing reconciled vnto vs in his deare Sonne are much to be preferred in our desires Heereby wee haue that peace o Phil. 4 7. of conscience which passeth all vnderstanding which teacheth vs to rest in God as in a most louing Father with all confidence and assurance Secondly as wee learne cheefelie to aske spirituall blessings so wee see what blessings among such as are spirituall are the principall and predominant to wit the fauour of God and peace of conscience He that is possessed of these two hath an hid Mine of Treasures with which all the Wealth and Riches of the World are not to bee compared vnto For these blessings are heauenly are spirituall are eternall whereas the substance of this World is Temporall is Transitorie is corruptible The Worlde it selfe must passe and vanish away and all these earthly things must decay and perish with it Thirdly the Apostle in some of his Epistles vseth three wordes p 1 Tim. 1 2. and 2 Tim 1 2. 2 Iohn 3. Grace Mercy and Peace heere hee contenteth himselfe with naming two Grace and Peace omitting and leauing out Mercy wherein there is no contrariety or diuersity for as much as Mercy is included vnder Peace For by Mercy is vnderstood our Iustification which consisteth partly in the forgiuenesse of our sinnes and partly in the imputation of Christs righteousnesse which do bring true peace with them Fourthly we see from whom hee asketh all these to wit first from God the Father to teach that he is the Authour of euery good giuing and perfect guift If then we stand in neede of them we must goe to him we must aske them of him we can receiue them of none but of him q Iam. 1 5 17 as the Apostle Iames teacheth Fiftly we see that to God the Father he ioyneth Iesus Christ for all blessings are bestowed vpon vs through Christ the Mediator of the New Testament God the Father is the Fountaine Christ is the Pipe or Cunduit by whom they are conueied vnto vs. He that hath not him hath not the Father Hee that is not in him remaineth in death Hence it is that the Euangelist saith r Iohn 3 36. He that beleeueth in the Sonne hath euerlasting life and hee that obeyeth not the Sonne shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him Sixtly obserue the Title giuen vnto him he is called the Lord of his Church it is a Kingdome whereof he is the Prince it is a Citty whereof he is the Gouernor it is an house whereof he is the Maister it is a body whereof he is the head So then all obedience is due to him and all men how great soeuer must acknowledge his Lordship ouer them Lastly in that he craueth grace and peace from Christ our Lord as well as from God the Father it confirmeth our Faith in a Fundamentall point of Christian Religion touching the Deity of Christ n Phil. 2 6. Who is GOD equall with the Father against the Arrians and other Heretiques that deny his Eternity For seeing hee giueth grace and peace as well as the Father we conclude him to be true God Co-eternall and Co-equall with the Father Grace c. This word in the Scripture hath two significations the ignorance whereof hath bred great errour and be one the occasion of stumbling in the Church of Rome First it signifieth Gods good will and fauour Secondlie some guift of God freely bestowed which is grace of his grace and so the o Rom. 5 15. Apostle doth distinguish the grace of God from the gift that is by grace In this place we must vnderstand not any particular gift of God infused into vs as faith hope loue and such like but the free fauour and loue of God whereby he accepteth of some in Christ for his owne Children for wee see heere it is discerned and distinguished from peace which is a guift of Grace and therefore cannot signifie the same thing This grace and good will of God is the Fountaine of all Gods blessings and the foundation of all mans happinesse All that we haue is of Grace it is the beginning of all good thinges in vs. Our p Rom. 11 5. 2 Tim. 1 9. Rom 3 24. Ezek. 36 27. Ephe. 2 10. Rom. 6 23. Election Redemption Vocation Iustification Sanctification Glorification is of grace onely we can ascribe nothing to our selues Now in this Diuine Salutation and Apostolicall Benediction mark that the Apostle beginneth with this grace Doct. 1. The free fauor of God is of vs chiefely to be desired From hence we learne that the fauour of God is to be sought for aboue all other thinges The free grace and vndeserued loue of God is the first and highest and onely cause of all blessings is aboue al things to be desired and intreated at the hands of God Consider the example of Dauid Psal 4. Many say q Psal 4 6. who will shew vs any good But Lord lift thou vp the light of thy countenance vpon me As if he should say let worldly men seek what they will and let them place their happinesse in riches pleasures and vanities but my desire is after thy loue and fauour aboue all Hence it is that he calleth and accounteth God his portion r Psal 16 5. 18 2. his lot his inheritance his rocke his refuge his shield and Castle of defence to shew that all his ioy was in Gods fauour all his comfort in Gods loue and that he preferred his grace before all thinges in the world besides This affection is also expressed in the
shall neuer be destitute but feele the fruit thereof to their endlesse comfort The Prophet saith i Psal 91 14. to this purpose Psal 91. Because he hath loued me therefore will I deliuer him I will exalt him because hee hath knowne my Name Lay now all these things together and consider that seeing we haue free accesse to the Throne of grace seeing wee haue Christ the greatest blessing of all giuen vnto vs seeing all Creatures are reconciled vnto vs and lastly we being loued do loue God againe and poure out streames issuing from his Fountaine and all this proceedeth from his grace wee conclude that such as are in Gods fauour haue his blessings following them Vse 1. Now let vs handle the vses First seeing the fauour of God is the Fountaine of all goodnesse and graces in vs we learne that no fauour is like to the fauour of God The grace and loue of Princes bringeth many priuiledges and preferments with it but can they assure vs of euery good thing Or doe they remaine and continue with vs for euer Nay they are most vnstable and vncertaine their honour is turned into dishonour and all their glory is changed into shame and confusion Haman was the happiest man in the kingdome in his owne eyes and in the eyes of many others one day hee was next vnto the King k Ester 5 12. and 7 9. the next day he was most wretched one day in fauor the next day out of fauour one day honored the next day hanged Nay thus it fareth falleth out oftentimes with the godly as wee see in Dauid who was greater in Sauls Court then he Who was more praised and preferred Was made the Sonne in Law of the King and the Captaine of the Hoast yet by and by hee was disgraced degraded and depraued by flatterers and false informers cast out of the fauour of the King and put in danger of his life It is not so with God it is not so with his fauour shewed toward the godly whom hee loueth once l Iohn 13 1. hee loueth euer he dooth not change he cannot lye he will not repent He is vnchangeable there is no shaddow of change with him his gifts are without repentance There is great comfort in such fauour seeke therefore for his fauour aboue the fauour of Princes and make much of it when we haue found it Great is the loue of Parents toward their Children but the loue of God surmounteth them all and that loue which can be in them Vse 2. Secondlie seeing such as are gratious with God are laden with many blessings we may see heereby the blessed estate of all that liue vnder the grace of God all thinges doe serue them that serue the Lorde and haue tasted how gratious the Lord our God is He is counted happy in the World that hath the fauour of Princes The Queen of Sheba pronounced m 1 Kin 10 8. the people and seruants of Salomon happy which did stand euer before him to hear his wisedom When Elisha demaunded of the Shunamite n 2 Kin 4 13. what hee should doe for her or whether there were any thing to be spoken for her to the King or to the Captaine of the hoast she answered I dwell among mine owne people She liued in peace and quietnesse she had no cause to make any complaint against any her Neighbours she was not driuen to make any suit to King or Captaine shee troubled not others and others troubled not her and this she accounted an happy life But the happy estate and blessed condition of the faithfull is a thousand times greater they are at peace with heauen and earth with Men Angels with themselues and with all others with life and death nothing shall be able to hurt them True it is they haue no promise to bee free from tentations and troubles Famine may come Persecution Pestilence nakednesse pouertie perill and tribulation may come and death shall come but we haue a gratious and sure promise that they shall not hurt vs or destroy vs or hinder our saluation they are all Enemies without Armour as Souldiers without a Sword as Serpents without a sting and as Aspes without venome This is it which the Prophet handleth at o Psal 91 1 3 5 6 7 10. large Psal 91. Who so dwelleth in the secret of the most High shall abide in the shaddow of the Almightie surely he will deliuer thee from the Snare of the Hunter and from the noysome Pestilence thou shalt not bee afraide of the feare of the night nor of the Arrow that flyeth by day nor of the Pestilence that walketh in the darknesse nor of the Plague that destroyeth at noone-day A thousand shall fall at thy side and ten thousand at thy right hand but it shall not come neere thee there shall none come vnto thee neyther shall any Plague come neere thy Tabernacle He meaneth not in these wordes that the godly shall bee free from troubles sicknesses al calamities but that God doth so care for them and watch ouer them that nothing shall be able to hurt and harme them but he will giue them a sanctified vse of the Crosse and make all thinges turne to their good and further their saluation This is it which the Apostle Paul offereth to our considerations p 1 Cor. 3 21 22 23. Let no man reioyce in men for all things are yours whether it be Paule or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death whether they bee thinges present or thinges to come euen all are yours and ye Christes and Christ Gods Great is the dignity and excellency of the godly that all things are made to serue to their vse and are appointed in the ordinance of God to serue for their profite according to that which he hath in another place q Rom. 8 28 We know that all thinges worke together for the best vnto them that loue God euen to them that are called of his purpose Where we see he teacheth that not onely thinges present are ours but thinges to come not onely life is ours but also death which is a gaine and aduantage to the godly and an entrance or doore that leadeth to euerlasting life What greater glory can befall vs or what greater happinesse can we desire then to haue all things ours Life is ours death is ours the world is ours the Crosse is ours the Crown is ours heauens is ours the Angels are ours Christ is ours God is ours all is ours and what is there that is not ours What a great honour is this Or who is it that can doubt of these thinges Or whom should not these priuiledges mooue The World is a place of our resting Life the time of our bettering Death is a change of our misery and an entrance into glorie things present are the beginning of our comfort things to come are the consummation of our comfort the Crosse is our
Children of God c Psal 123 3. Haue mercy vpon vs ô Lord haue mercy vpon vs for we haue suffered to much contempt This is the direction that the Apostle Iames giueth d Iames 5 5. If any of you want wisedome let him aske of God which giueth to all men liberally and reprocheth no man and it shall be giuen him This is that which the Apostle both teacheth and craueth The Grace of our Lord Iesus Christ the loue of God and the Communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all The like we see vsed by the Apostle Iohn Reuel 1. 4. All which testimonies serue directly to teach vs that what blessings soeuer we want we must beg them of God and of him onely Reason 1. Let vs see the Reasons to confirme vs in this truth First God is the fountaine of all good thinges and the Well-spring of all graces whatsoeuer Hee is a most bountifull and liberall Giuer none can helpe vs but he alone If hee shut his handes who can open them If hee stoppe his eares who can heare If hee turne awaie his eye from vs who can see our wantes If hee close vp his heart who can shew mercie Hence it is that the Apostle saith e Rom 11 36. For of him and through him and for him are all thinges to him bee glory for euer Amen And Iames in the first Chapter of his Epistle Iam. 1. 17. f Iames 1 17. Euery good giuing and euery perfect guift is from aboue and commeth downe from the Father of lights with whom is no variablenesse neither shaddow of turning Reason 2. Secondly the three persons in Trinity doe worke ioyntly together euen from the first beginning of our creation to the last finishing of our saluation It is said all things were made by the Sonne g Iohn 1 3. and that without him nothing was made that was made the Spirit also did sustaine and vphold that confused Lumpe which was the matter of the vniuersall so that they are said and set downe to be Creators as well as the Father In the worke of our saluation the Father willeth it and electeth vs the Sonne meriteth and deserueth it the Holy Ghost applyeth and appropriateth it This is it which Christ himselfe h Iohn 5 17. 16 13. saith Ioh. 5. My Father worketh hitherto and I worke And Chap. 16. When he commeth which is the Spirit of truth he will lead you into all truth So we might say the like touching the guifts of Sanctification and Iustification the Father forgiueth and washeth away sinne by the blood of Christ through the sprinkling of the Spirit he mortifieth sinne by the power of the death of Christ through the working of the Holy Ghost he raiseth vnto newnesse of life by the power of Christes Resurrection applyed by the Spirit hee iustifieth vs by the righteousnesse of Christ imputed and appropriated vnto vs by the Spirit Seeing therefore that God is a most munificent and liberall giuer rich vnto all and niggardly to none and seeing these three persons beeing one God doe worke ioyntly together in all things touching the creation of the World and the saluation of man and the redemption of our Soules it followeth whensoeuer we want any guifts needefull for Soule or body for this life or the life to come we must aske the supply of them at the handes of God onely the Father the Sonne and holy Ghost Vse 1. Now let vs handle the Vses breefely that arise from hence First we see that it is necessary for all that would pray aright and would obtaine that which they desire to be well instructed in the Vnity of the Godhead and the Trinity of the persons and to know the distinct properties of the persons without the vnderstanding whereof wee worship not the true God but an Idoll Our Sauiour in his conference with the Woman of Samaria chargeth the i Iohn 4 12. Samaritans to worship they know not what so doe many in our dayes both Heretiques and ignorant persons they call vppon God confusedlie but they haue no particular knowledge of God at all We must conceiue no otherwise of God in our minde then he hath expressed in his word The scripture teacheth to knowledge to beleeue to worship one God and him onely If we conceiue or imagine or receiue a multiplicity of Gods wee turne the truth of God into a lie and we erect vnto our selues so many Idols Againe the same Scripture setteth before vs three persons in that Godhead the Father which is the first person in the Trinity of himselfe the Son which is the second person begotten of the Father the holy Ghost which is the third person proceeding from the Father and the Sonne The Father is God the Sonne is God the holy Ghost is God and yet these three persons are not three Gods but one onely God And heere we haue in this place a notable Testimony of the God-head of the Sonne where the Apostle desireth and prayeth for grace and peace to be giuen to Philemon and his Wife to Archippus and the Church not onely from God the Father but from the Lord Iesus Christ This had bin monstrous horrible Idolatry and blasphemy Lastly if Christ had not bin in Nature Maiesty and glory equal with the Father hee of whom and from whom we craue spirituall and eternall gifts k Iohn 1 16. And of whose fulnesse we receiue and grace for grace must be confessed and beleeued to be God but such is Christ Iesus and therefore let this be an article of our Faith written in our hearts acknowledged with our mouth and confessed in the Church for euer that Christ is true God Vse 2. Secondly all good things are to be craued of God whether it be the supplying of his graces or the remoouing of our troubles we are taught to goe immediatly to God by Christ whensoeuer he blesseth vs and to returne vnto himselfe the praise of his owne worke This duty being required it serueth to meete with many corruptions that are too common in the world It conuinceth such Heathnish minded men as are of dead harts and haue no spark of the life of Gods Spirite in them that receiue and swallow vp daily diuers blessinges yet neuer looke to GOD that blesseth them but wee are like vnto the Swine that goe groueling to the ground like the Horse and Mule that haue no vnderstanding at all and so vse all the profites and pleasures of this life without any acknowledgement and consideration from whence they come and of whom they haue receiued them l Ezek. 32 6. or like vnto the Israelites when they had forsaken God They sate downe to eate and drinke and rose vp to play or as c Gen. 25 34. Esau He did eate and drinke he rose vp and went his way he filled his paunch and such was his prophanenesse that hee was touched with nothing These men doe daily deuour infinite
threw him into the water to drowne him and at all times sought to destroy him when he beheld with the eyes of a Father that his childe fomed at the mouth gnashed with his teeth pined away in his body and was bruised in his bones hee was tempted with vnbeleefe and this made him cry out with teares a Marke 9 24 Lord I beleeue helpe mine vnbeleefe This is it wherein the Lord forewarned and fore-armed Peter b Luke 22 32. Behold Satan hath desired you to winnow you as Wheat but I haue prayed for thee that thy faith faile not He prayed not that their Faith should not be tried but that it should not be destroyed forasmuch as they must on euery side be assayled But the Faith of many is such that they say they perfectly beleeue and they thanke God they neuer doubted in all their life This Fath is no Faith it is an idle conceite a vaine perswasion a foolish presumption Lastly the true Faith encreaseth by degrees it is like vnto a graine of mustard seede which at the first is the least of all seedes c Math. 13 31 which afterward groweth vnto a Tree that the Birdes of the Ayre come and builde their Nestes in it and therefore wee must d Rom. 1 17. proceede from Faith to Faith But many amongst vs that will needes be in the number of the faithfull neuer feele these Degrees of Faith they see not any encreasing or decreasing any shining or ecclipsing of their Faith Nay they neuer examine themselues whether they be in the Faith or not They neuer consider whether they go forwarde or backeward in the wayes of Godlinesse they can cast vp their accounts euerie Weeke with the worlde but they can suffer whole moneths and yeares to passe ouer their heades and neuer once offer to make leuell with the Lord. If wee will assure our owne hearts that wee haue this true and perfect Faith in Christ let vs obserue the manner and measure of it the steppes and degrees of it how we walke by it and labour by all holy meanes to encrease it in vs. Thus much touching the Obiect of Faith Now let vs consider the Obiect of Loue. Loue toward the Saints The meaning of these words is first to be obserued and then the Doctrines are to be gathred which the Spirit of God offereth in this place to our considerations By loue we are to vnderstand the fruits of loue mercy consolation compassion brotherly kindnes reliefe pity and whatsoeuer fruits of charity we see them want stand in need of It standeth in the affection of the mind in the words of the mouth and in the workes of the hand By Saints we do not vnderstand such as are deade and deceased but those that are liuing not such as are of the Church Triumphant but in the Church Militant not such as are crownd with glory in heauen but those that dwell vpon the earth not such as are inrolled in the Popes Register and stand in redde Letters in the Popish Kalender but the faithfull whose Names are Written in the Booke of life which are the true members of Iesus Christ Thus much touching the true Interpretation of the Wordes We see heere that Loue is described by the Obiect thereof to wit the Saintes For as Christ is not the Obiect of our Charity e Psal 16 2. for our wel-dooing extendeth not vnto him so the Saints are not the Obiect of our Faith but as Faith hath respect and relation to Christ so hath loue reference to the Saints Now we haue shewed already that Philemons loue is commended toward the Saints because he had a principall and speciall care of them True it is he neglected not others but he was most of all mindfull of the godly poore and distressed Brethren Doct. 8. The works of mercy are especially to bee shewed to the poore that are godly We learne heereby that the workes of mercy are especially to be shewed to the poore among vs that are faithfull which may bee accounted of the fellowship and Communion of the Saints Howsoeuer all such as are poore are in their pouertie to bee regarded inasmuch as Christ hath taught vs that the poore we shall haue alwayes with vs yet the Godly poore that haue piety ioyned with their pouertie are before others and aboue others to be respected and releeued In the performance of this duty we see the practise of the Prophet Dauid going before vs a psal 16 2 3. and leading vs the way O my soule thou hast said vnto the Lord thou art my Lord my well-dooing extendeth not to thee but to the Saintes that are in the earth and to the excellent all my delight is in them In like manner also our Sauiour Christ describing the manner of the last Iudgement when hee shall giue to euerie one according to his Workes b Math. 25 40 declareth that the fruites of mercie bestowed vpon the members of Christ beeing sicke imprisoned hungrie thirstie naked and in necessity are allowed as notable fruites of a iustifying Faith and of a true loue and accepted as done to Christ himself So the Euangelist Luke testifieth in the Acts that c Acts 4 32. the multitude of them that beleeued were of one heart and of one mind they had all thinges common no man accounted any thing he possessed his owne but to serue the necessary vse of the Saints The Apostle hauing prooued in the Epistle to the Romanes that we are iustified freely by the grace of God without the works of the Law wherby we are at peace with God commeth to set down the fruits of Faith Chap. 12. Reioycing in hope continuing in Prayer d Rom. 12 13 distributing vnto the necessities of the Saints giuing your selues to Hospitality Heereunto come diuers Lawes which God ordained among his people e Deut. 15 17 If one of thy Brethren with thee be poore within any of thy gates in thy Land which the Lord thy God giueth thee thou shalt not harden thine heart nor shut thine hand from thy poore brother but thou shalt open thine hand vnto him and shalt lend him sufficient for his need All these testimonies of Scripture doo proue that the poore which are godly are most of all to bee succoured and sustained as they that for the most part stand in greatest need to be helped Reason 1. The Reasons heereof are to be considered First it is a fruit of our election which we ought to assure to our selues more and more The Apostle Iohn testifieth this f 1 Iohn 3 14. We know that wee are translated from death to life because wee loue the Brethren he that loueth not his Brother abideth in death We ought daily to gather arguments to perswade our hearts of Gods loue towardes vs which we shall see by our loue toward our brethren The election of God is hidden in himselfe the cause of it is not in our selues but we
to the rule and line of the word If a man giue but a looke toward the Gospell and do not professe himselfe an open enemy vnto it if he shew the least entertainment to the truth and do not set himselfe against the professors of it though he be a common Gamester a rioteous liuer an vsurer an incrocher and oppressor he hath the name and title of a good Christian he hath the praise and commendation of a good professor What ioy therefore can the Children of God haue in such workes of darknesse and in such workers of iniquity We may wish with the Prophet b Ier 9 1. that our head were full of water and our eyes a Fountaine of teares to weepe day and night for the desolation and destruction that hangeth ouer their heads The Husbandman taketh no pleasure to see Tares and Darnel grow in his field in stead of good Corne. The Gardiner cannot without greefe behold weedes spring vp in his Garden in stead of wholesome Hearbes So when we see the Church of God to bring forth Chaffe instead of Wheat Beanes instead of Fruit vice in stead of vertue and sinne in stead of righteousnesse what greater greefe can arise in our heartes or what greater sorrow can be wrought in vs If we greeue through the wickednesse of our waies and prophanenesse of our liues the Children of God we likewise greeue the spirit of God and quench such good motions as are inspired into vs. Vse 3. Lastly it is our duty to seeke the good and prosperity of the Church by all good meanes and to draw them and moue them to embrace the waies of saluation This duty hath many branches growing from it For seeing Gods graces bestowed giue occasion of great ioy it ought to teach vs to exhort one an other to comfort them that are comfortlesse to reproue them that goe astray to pray for our bretheren to seeke to gaine and winne them to the faith and when they are gained and wonne to reioyce vnfainedly at their conuersion and if we see any hope of their repentance and turning to God to conuerse with them and not to be ashamed of their company Certainly he is not truely conuerted himselfe that doth not reioyce at the conuersion of others He neuer knew what true repentance meaneth that conceiueth no ioy at the repentance of others He is ignorant of the way of saluation that is not greatly delighted and comforted when others begin to be saued that we say of them as Christ doth of Zaccheus c Luk 19 9. This day is saluation come to this house forasmuch as he is also become the sonne of Abraham This doth directly reproue foure sortes of men The first reproofe First such as reioyce in those that will sinne with them and runne into all excesse of riot with them Great is the delight that sinners take in the society and company one of another They ioyne hand in hand together it is their solace and pastime to agree together as bretheren in euill it is as meat and drinke vnto them to follow after vngodlinesse Christ teacheth that the Angels in Heauen reioyce for one sinner that repenteth Our ioy ariseth vpon their repentance Their turning to God worketh our reioysing So long as men flatter themselues in their sinnes and proceed in their euill doing no matter of ioy is offered vnto vs. The second reproofe Secondly such as seeke to draw them to euill to vanity and to all vngodlinesse a common sicknesse that raigneth in our daies when men entise one another to euil These men beare the Image of the Deuil and are transformed into his likenesse For how can they gaine their bretheren to Godlinesse that are meanes to seduce them and so to bring them to all vngodlinesse Hence it is that Salomon councelleth vs d Prou 1 10. when sinners entise vs not to consent vnto them It is a greeuous sinne to be an entiser but it shall not excuse him that is entised Let vs therefore know that we must exhort one an other to piety not to impiety and further one another to saluation not to condemnation bring one another to heauen not to hell The thirde reproofe Thirdly it teprooueth those that enuy and murmure at the calling of our Brethren to Repentaunce and at their bringing into the Kingdome of Christ This corrupt affection was in Ioshua e Num. 11 29. who repined that the Elders had the guift of prophesie bestowed vpon them as well as Moses This was in f Ionas 4 1 2. Ionah when he had preached to the Niniuites and saw the great mercy of God in sparing of them and not destroying them according to hls preaching and their deseruinges was angry and it displeased him exceedingly He regarded his owne credit and estimation among men more then their conuersion and preseruation This was in the elder Brother of the riotous and prodigall Sonne g Luke 15 31 when he saw the ioy of his Father at the receiuing of his Childe and his readinesse to forgiue he was angry and would not go in But his Father perswadeth him that there is no cause why he should be grieued inasmuch as he is not himselfe hindered or indamaged by this receyuing of his Brother into fauour and reproueth him in that hauing no regard of his brother he is sorry for the common ioy conceiued of his returne That ioy did offend him whereof he should haue bin a Companion These two Reasons are to be noted and obserued to root vp all enuy and malice out of our hearts considering that we loose nothing whensoeuer God doth graciously receiue into fauour those which through sinne were falne from him that it is haughtinesse without godlinesse greefe without mercy and cruelty without compassion not to reioyce and be glad when we see any of our fellow seruants restored from death to life raised from sinne to righteousnesse and found who before were lost He then is vnrighteous and vngodly who enuyeth his brother receiued into fauour and he doth peruersely and maliciously which doth murmure at the mercy of God vpon our brethren The fourth reproofe Fourthly it condemneth such as faile in the former duty that neuer exhort their brethren to godlinesse neuer disswade them from sinne neuer comfort those that are in misery neuer praying for them that are in distresse neuer desire God to be good vnto them neuer reioyce with them when God hath shewed mercie We liue in these times when the hand of God is stretched out against many of our brethren they are restrained and shut vp by the contagion of plague pestilence This their woful condition doth cal vpon vs and crie vnto vs to be mindfull of them and to pray to God our common Father to haue pittie vpon them to call in his arrowes that he hath shot against them to remember his olde mercies that he was wont to shew to his inheritance The Prophet exhorteth and
of God wee send our selues we are not sent of him We are our owne Messengers to doe our owne Message not the Embassadours of the eternall God But when hee hath put his worde in our mouths wee must goe to those that he hath sent vs d Ier. 1 7 8. and whatsoeuer hee commaundeth vs that wee must speake So when God had stretched out his hand and touched the mouth of the Prophet Ieremy hee sayde Bee not affraide of their faces for I am with thee to deliuer thee sayth the Lord. Thus hee speaketh to Ezekiell e Exek 3 8 9. I haue made thy Face strong against their Faces and thy Fore-head harde against their Fore-heades I haue made thy Fore-head as the Adamant and harder then the Flint Feare them not therefore neither bee affrayde at their lookes for they are a Rebellious house Secondly it teacheth them not to loose their Authoritie and so to shame their Calling and their Mayster that hath put them in that Calling bringing them-selues and their Ministry vnder the subiection and slauerie of others The Apostle by all meanes seeketh to magnifye his Ministery and to beautifie his Calling Hence he saith f 1 Cor. 9 1. Am not I an Apostle am not I free This reprooueth those that serue the lustes and pleasure of others and dare doe nothing to displease such as are in high place Thus Aaron in the absence of Moses offended who was at the commaundement of the people g Exo. 32 1 4. when they saide vnto him Make vs Gods to go before vs he receiued their golden earings and fashioned it with the grauing toole and made of it a Molten Calfe The like we see in Vriah the Priest h 2 Kings 16 2 10. when Ahaz who did not vprightly in the sight of the Lorde but walked in the way of the Kings of Israell saw the Altar that was at Damascus he sent vnto him the paterne of the Altar and the fashion of it and all the Workemanship thereof and hee made an Altar in all points like to that which the King had sent from Damascus This departing from the Commaundement of God to please the humour or honour of mightie men must be farre from vs. We haue a plaine way set before vs wee ought to walke in it wee must not decline eyther to the right hand or to the left hand We must not make marchandise of the word of God but deale faithfully with God and his people The Prophet Micah complaineth of such Prophets in his time as flattered the people in their sinnes i Mich. 2 11. And Prophesied vnto them of Wine and of strong drink and in such Prophets the people delighted The Lord chargeth Ieremy k Ier. 1 17. to trusse vp his loynes to arise and to speake to the Children of Israell all that he commaunded him not to bee affraide of their faces least he destroy him before them Let vs beware of such smooth tongues that flatter with their lippes and bring vs in danger of destruction Salomon teacheth vs l Prou. 29 5. That a man which flattereth his Neighhour spreadeth a Net for his steppes declaring thereby that as a Birde which is taken in the Net is in daunger of death so they which beleeue flatterers fall into great perilles of Soule of Bodie of Goods of good name of life Thirdly it teacheth the Ministers to take heede they abuse not their Authority and turne it into tiranny but employ it vnto edification not to the destruction of the Church or any member thereof This the Apostle plainly teacheth concerning himselfe m 2 Cor. 10 8 Though I should boast somwhat more of our authority which the Lord hath giuen vs for edification and not for your destruction I should haue no shame And in another place n 2 Cor. 1 24 Wee haue not Dominion ouer your faith but we are helpers of your ioy for by Faith ye stand We must remember and consider that we are vnder Christ we are his Substitutes and Lieutenants He is the cheefe Shepheard of the Sheepe We must not beare our selues o 1 Pet. 5 3. as Lords ouer his heritage but as ensamples to the flocke Christ himselfe testifieth that he was among them as one that p Luke 22 27 Math. 20 28. serued For the sonne of man came not to bee serued but to serue and to giue his life for the ransome of many Let vs haue the same mind in vs that was in christ Iesus let vs behaue our selues as Stewards not as Lords as Officers not as Princes as Ministers not as Vsurpers as Stewards not as Maisters of the house Vse 3. Lastly it serueth for instruction of the people that they despise not the Ministry of the word but alway readie to heare it with reuerence For wheresoeuer there is authority in the speaker there should bee feare and reuerence in the hearer They are Embassadors sent not from Man but from God they speake not in their owne names but in the name of God they publish not their owne Dreames or deuises but the Doctrine of God and therefore ought reuerently and obediently to be regarded Thus the Prophet teacheth vs to reason q Mal. 2 7. The people must heare the Lawe at his Mouth for hee is the Messenger of the Lerd of Hoastes True it is they are men that bring it but they are Messengers sent of GOD they are subiect to the same passions that wee are but God hath put his word in their hearts and in their mouthes and therefore both they and it must bee receyued with all reuerence and entertayned with the inwarde obedience of the soule Hence it is that our Sauiour Christ sayth r Luke 10 16 Hee that heareth you heareth me and he that heareth you heareth him that sent mee The Prophet teacheth that their feete are beautifull that bring gladde tydings of peace and bring glad tydinges of good things They are saide to be worthy of double honor and to teach the way of saluation If a man had lost a precious Iewell and Rich Pearle which was all the riches and substance of his house and beeing in this case should meete with a man that can tell him who robbed him of it where it is and how hee may come to haue it againe how would hee respect him and reward him A godly Minister is such a one vnto thee Å¿ Perk. of the Ministr who when Adam had lost himselfe and all his posteritie and that peerlesse Iewell of righteousnesse the whole wealth of our soules can truely tell vs who did steale it away from vs and how it is to bee recouered againe The Deuill is the Theefe Christ doth restore it Faith applyeth Christ the Word of God worketh Faith the Minister preacheth the word whereby we beleeue How well doost thou account of that Physitian and how highly doest thou esteeme of him who when thy health is lost and sicknesse falne vpon thee
like to the Priestes c Num. 7 9. 2 Sam. 6 3. who beeing commaunded to beare the Arke vppon their owne Shoulders did set it vpon a Cart and draw it with Oxen. So ought the Ministers to feede their Flockes themselues and not put them to bee fed of others Some d Damasus epist 4. compare such foolish and idle Pastours that put ouer their charges to others vnto Harlots which so soone as they haue brought forth their Children by and by commit them to be kept and nourished of others that they may sooner giue themselues to their lusts againe Others resemble them to a e Espenc lib. 3. digress ad 1. Timoth. man that doth marry a Wife and being himselfe vnapt for generation or vnwilling to giue due beneuolence is content she become fruitfull and made the Mother of many Children by another Father so is he accounted and presumed to be as vaine a man who being espoused and married to a Church as a man to his Wife doth vse the help of others in getting spirituall Children vnto God Christ Iesus is the Shepheard f 1 Pet. 5 4. the cheefe and great Shepheard of the Sheepe all other Pastours are but his Seruants and Substitutes and therefore themselues being his Deputies they cannot make a Deputy no more then one Seruant discharge himselfe by another So then we must know that they can no more be saide to preach the Word that preach by others then to be resident that are resident by others or to bee godly that lead a godly life by others and thus they may be saued by others and themselues goe to Hell But as euery man is bound to liue godly himselfe so is euery Pastour bound to preach in his owne person This appeareth vnder the comparisons and similitudes of Builders Captaines Ambassadours Stewards and Shepheards which wee spake of before When a man hath made choyce of a skilfull and cunning Builder to build his house the Worke-man hath not done his duty if he put it out to bee finished by another When a Prince hath made choyce of a Generall to lead his Army against the Enemy he may not send another in his roome and himselfe sit idle at home but his alleageance bindeth him to goe in his owne person The like we might say of the rest Thus we haue seene at large that the loue betweene the Pastour and people ouerthroweth the ordinary absence without iust and conscionable causes the one from the other so that if the Minister would assure his owne heart that he loueth the sheepe which he hath taken vpon him to teach he must shew it by feeding them with the wholesome and heauenly pastures of the word of God Secondly it reprooueth such as outwardly are in sheepes cloathing but inwardly are rauening Wolues vnto the Flocke not carefull Pastours not louing Parents but such as haue no prouision no store no food no Bread of Life to breake vnto them but seeke to starue and famish them through want of Milke and meat to put in their mouthes If they be resident and remaine with them and yet doe not instruct them and preach vnto them it is all one as if they were absent from them If there be meat and drinke in the house and none set vpon the Table or giuen to the Children they may dye and perish for hunger These idle Drones are no better then Murtherers and Man-slayers nay Soule-slayers which is the greatest and most bloody Murther For as the Steward that should feede the bodies of such as are in the Family and pineth them to death is a Murtherer and the Nurse that vndertaketh the nourishing of the Childe and yet eyther through daintinesse or idlenesse or wilfulnesse will not draw out the breast but suffereth the Child to languish and perish is a Murtherer of the Childe so such as are Stewards of Gods house and Nurses of Gods people yet feede not their Soules but starue them to death are Bloud-suckers and Murtherers in the highest degree They are worse then the Canibals that liue vpon bloud for these liue vpon the soules of men and carry them head-long to Hell The Lord complaineth in the Prophet g Hos 4 6. That the people perish through want of knowledge Such as are blindely led doe fall into the Ditch with their blind Leaders The bloud of such as perish in their ignorance through want of teaching h Ezek. 3 18. shall be required at the Watch-mans hand The Prophet Dauid hauing the Water of the well of Bethlehem that he longed and lusted to tast brought vnto him i 2 Sam. 23 17 yet would not drinke thereof when he had it but poured it for an offering vnto the Lord because it was the bloud of the men that went in ieopardy of their liues O that these men would consider of their sinne and had a feeling of their iniquity that they eate and drinke the bloud of Men and maintaine themselues by the destruction of their soules Suppose he lead an vnblameable life giue good example to others keepe hospitality fill their bellies make peace among his Neighbours be able priuately to exhort and comfort them and to performe other common workes of Charity yet he hath not discharged the duty of a Minister vnlesse he preach vnto them diligently and faithfully and diuide the word of truth aright Vse 3. Lastly seeing the Minister and people ought to be as Father and Sonne this sheweth the duty of the people that are vnder their Ministery that they regard their Ministers as their Parents honouring them yeelding them due recompence esteeming them as Fellow-workers with God to beget them to Christ to turne them to Saluation to nourish them vp and continue them in the estate of Christ Nay we should account of them if it be possible more then of naturall Parents Of our Parents wee haue receiued onely to be Of our Ministers we haue receiued to be well Of our Parents we haue taken our first birth of our Ministers we haue obtained our second birth Of our Parents we haue beene brought into the World by Generation of our Ministers we haue bin brought into the Church by Regeneration Our first begetting was to death our second or new birth is to Life and Saluation By the first birth wee are Heires of Wrath by the second we are made the Sonnes of God So then if it be better for vs to be borne againe of Water and the Holy Ghost k Iohn 1 13. which cannot proceede from the will of the flesh nor from the will of Man but of God we ought to esteeme of those that are Instruments of our Regeneration as dearelie and tenderly as if they were our Parents and to say with the Apostle l Rom. 10 15 How beautifull are the Feete of them which bring glad tydings of pcace and bring glad tydings of good thinges Hence it is that he speaketh to the Thessalonians m 1 Thes 5 12 We
danger of thy life it may be taken from thee and thou from it which maketh it to bee but a shadow of true gaine But the profit of godlinesse is of a contrary Nature if once we haue gotten this Pearle the Theefe cannot steale it the moth cannot corrupt it the Sea cannot drown it the rust cannot fret it the Land cannot loose it the length of time cannot consume it the greatnesse of danger cannot take it from vs the vnfaithfulnesse of seruaunts the subtlety of enemies the fraud of false Brethren the force of the mighty the violence of the Oppressor the partiality of the Iudge the wresting of the Lawe can neuer depriue vs or debarre vs of this benefite yea b Cicer. pro Archia poeta that which an Heathen man saide once of humaine learning may more truly and iustly be spoken of godlinesse which indeed is true learning the which whosoeuer wanteth what Ornaments of Nature and Art soeuer otherwise he hath is vtterly vnlearned nay a starke foole It will follow vs as a sweete guide abroad to solace vs it will stay with vs a pleasant companion to delight vs at home it will lye with vs as a bed-fellow in the night to teach vs whereon to meditate it will sit downe with vs as a guest at the Table to direct vs it wil bee with vs as a skilfull Physitian in sicknesse to comfort vs it will sticke and stand to vs in prosperity to humble vs it will cleaue fast to vs in aduersity and in the euil day to refresh vs it will waite vppon vs in death it will descend with vs into the graue it will ascend with vs into heauen and alwayes follow vs from place to place as the shadow doth the body This made the Apostle Iohn say Blessed are they that die in the Lord for they rest from their labours and their workes follow them Reuel 14 13. To conclude therefore so often as wee thinke of true Religion or remember the day of our conuersion we must think with our selues that we made the most blessed change that euer was made and hold this for a firme and sure principle that no gaine is like to this gaine no profit like to this profit Vse 2 Secondly seeing Christian Religion planted in the heart of a man maketh him good and helpfull to others who before was vniust and vnprofitable let euery one proue his effectuall calling and true conuersion by earnest seeking after the good of others and by a carefull abstaining from hurting troubling and wronging of others It is to be chosen as a better thing to suffer then to offer wrong to receiue then to requite to take then to giue Obadiah liuing in Ahabs Court is commended for the manifestation of his Faith by his Workes as the Tree that sheweth what it is by the fruites hee hid c 1 Kin. 18 13 the Prophets of God from the sword of the persecutor and fed them in the Caue in the time of famine The Prophet affirmeth and assureth that such shall dwell in the Tabernacle of the Lord and rest in his holy mountain as make much d Psal 15 4. of those that feare the Lord and honour them whome God hath honoured To this purpose the Apostle setteth this downe as a certain signe of our adoption that God accepteth vs as his sonnes and daughters to wit our loue to the Saints e 1 Ioh. 3 14 We know that we are translated from death to life because we loue the Brethren Euery one must be able to shew the soundnesse of his faith and the truth of his conuersion by the fruits of his calling f Math. 3 8. and by the workes of regeneration and amendment of life An iniurious man that loueth himselfe but not another that hath no care to doe good to his Brother but to himselfe onely is not yet truely conuerted to God nor deliuered from the bondage of sinne nor made a member of Christ nor engrafted into the true Church nor endued with the grace of sanctification he is yet in the flesh and not in the spirit he is yet in death not restored to life he is the bondslaue of Sathan not brought into the liberty of the sonnes of God For where there is no change in conuersation there can bee no assurance of true conuersion The meditation of this point must enter deeply into our harts teach vs to try our selus whether as yet we born again by water and the spirit or not Whosoeuer can say thus I haue beene in bondage to sin now I am set free I haue beene the prisoner of Satan now I am at liberty I haue liued vnprofitably to God vnprofitably to my selfe vnprofitably to others now I haue learned to lead my life to the honour of God to the benefite of my brethren and to the comfort of mine owne soule whosoeuer I say can say thus may be assured of his conuersion and turning vnto God and that God hath begun his good worke in him which hee will finish at the appearance of Iesus Christ Let vs all therefore know and consider that it is required of vs to repent of sinnes to turne to God to chaunge our hearts and to amend our liues that so we may bring forth the fruits of righteousnesse and expresse our obedience to the Gospell To be without the fruits of the Gospel is to denie the Gospell and to be without godlinesse of conuersation is to be without Christ and to bee without an heart inwardly sanctifyed and without a life outwardly regenerated is to be without faith It had beene better for vs that we had neuer had the Gospell offered vnto vs then to haue it to contemne it It had beene better we had alwayes remained in darknesse then to haue light come among vs and not to walke in the light It is a worthy exhortation that the Apostle maketh to the Thessalonians g 1 Thess 5 5 6 7 8. Yee are all the Children of light and the children of the day we are not of the night neither of darkenesse Therefore let vs not sleepe as others do but let vs watch and be sober for they that sleepe sleepe in the night and they that bee drunken are drunken in the night but let vs which are of the day be sober putting on the Brest-plate of faith and loue and of the hope of saluation for an Helmet It is not euery h Math. 7 21. one that saith Lord Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heauen but he that hath an earnest and carefull endeuour to do his will It is not enough for vs to bee called a Christian to beare the name of a Protestant to renounce the name of a Papist to make shew of the true Religion and to be an hearer of the word we haue learned better things and must giue an account of a farther dutie Obiection We will say peraduenture we hate and detest all the blinde and erroneous
that sought his life to take it away he spared him when he might haue slaine him and hee cut off onely a peece of his coate when he might as easily haue cut off his head which kindnesse of his heaped vp coales of fire vppon his head and so wrought with him k 1 Sa. 24 17 that hee called him Sonne and prayed God to recompence vnto him that goodnesse that he had shewed and ceased from persecuting of him at that time The like example wee haue in Elisha l 2 King 6 22 23. who woulde not suffer the Horsemen that were sent to take him to be smitten with the sword but commanded Bread and water to be set before them so they did eate and drinke they refreshed themselues and returned to their Maister Let vs follow these worthy presidents and account all men our neighbors let vs account our selues bound in dutie to help them and do vnto them as we would haue them deal toward vs. Thus we see what loue is we haue heard from whence it commeth wherein it consisteth and to whom it is to be shewed It commeth from God and is the worke of his spirit it consisteth in a fellow-feeling of their good and greefe of their prosperity and aduersity so that we shold reioyce with them and mourne with them according to the condition wherein they are it is to be shewed to all such as are of the same nature and are couered with the same flesh that is to all mankinde Secondly we are to consider the property of this Loue m The property of Loue. how it is to be performed For as we haue seene the parties who are to be loued euen al so we must marke the manner how they are to be loued that is feruently and earnestly This is taught by the Apostle Iohn n 1 Iohn 3 18 11 12. My little children let vs not loue in word neither in tongue onely but in deede and in truth This also he pointed out a little before This is the Message that yee heard from the beginning that wee should Loue one another not as Caine who was that wicked one and slew his Brother And the Apostle Paule saith o Rom. 12 9. Let Loue be without dissimulation Likewise in the Epistle to the Galathians p Galat. 4 18. It is a good thing to Loue earnestly alwayes in a good thing and not onely when I am present with you Our Loue therefore must not onely be true but feruent and that for these causes We haue the perfect example of Christ q Iohn 10 11 Who gaue his life for his Sheepe and suffered the shamefull death of the crosse to redeeme them Againe if occasion require it and our calling will beare it r 1 Iohn 3 16. we ought so to Loue them as wee shoulde giue our liues for the brethren which duty wee can neuer fulfill except our Loue bee feruent Lastly there are manie meanes to quench Loue as wronges iniuries vnkindnesse vnthankfulnesse hatred and emulation all these corrupt affections are as water to the fire Seeing then it is so quickely and by so many meanes cooled and quenched let vs kindle it and labour to continue it that it may alwayes burne and not decay This feruent Loue is a rare Iewell which seemeth almost gone out of the world Thirdly we must know the forme and manner how wee are to Loue our brethren to wit euen as our selues By this rule our practise must bee squared and by this rule shall our loue be iudged As we wish our own good hartily sincerely and vnfaignedly so ought we to desire the good of our neighbor It is the Law of Nature that teacheth vs to doe to others as wee would haue others do to vs. It is the Law of God that commandeth vs to Loue our neighbor as our selues Our Loue must be without hypocrisy and dissimulation from the very heart This hearty Loue is as it were the life and soule of the duty due to our brethren Let vs therefore loue them with a sincere affection and in vnfaigned simplicity This appeareth plainly in such as prayed for their persecutors and vtter enemies as Stephen when they stoned him kneeled downe and cried out with a lowd voyce Å¿ Acts 7 60. Lorde lay not this sinne to their charge And our Sauiour Christ when they crucified him said t Lu. 23 33 34 Father forgiue them for they know not what they do If we can practise and performe the like wish their good as our owne pray for them as for our selues and desire their forgiuenesse as we would be forgiuen of God then is this true loue to our true comfort found in vs. Vse 2 Secondly seeing this is the Loue that must bee found in vs towardes the Saints it serueth to meet with many enormities and to reproue manie sinnes that raigne in the world and are as the fore-runners of the full and finall ruine thereof Our loue to others is a cold loue frozen without heat dead without life barren without fruite such as our Sauior speaketh of in the gospell u Math. 24 12 Because iniquitie shall be encreased the Loue of many shall be cold But our Loue is hot toward our selues we haue abundance of selfeloue which ouerfloweth in vs and ouercommeth true loue This is the onely loue that remaineth in the worlde in these daies which is the corruption nay the bane and poyson of true loue This is it which the Apostle prophesied of long agoe x 2 Tim. 3 1 2 This know also that in the last dayes shall come perrillous times for men shall be louers of their owne selues without naturall affection no louers at all of them which are good Where we see that Paul prophesying of the last dayes daies of great perill and much impiety doth put selfe-loue in the first place as it were in the forefront and make it the fountaine from whence the traine floweth that followeth afterward For he which loueth himselfe will not regard what he doth to others and arrogateth all things to himselfe hee setteth vp himselfe as the onely man of account he magnifyeth himselfe hee contemneth all others Hence it is that he is couetous proud treacherous stubborne heady high minded and heapeth or hoordeth vp sinne vpon sinne till he fill vp the measure The worlde is pestered with these Monopolies which are all for themselues nothing for the common good of Church or Countrey We haue a common Prouerbe rife in their mouthes but more rife and ripe in the practise of the people Euery one for himself and God for vs all The first branch sheweth what is in vse but the second part must be changed for where euerie one is for himselfe there the Deuill is for all Wherefore the former is the Deuils Prouerbe and is no more to be vsed among Gods people The Christian Prouerbe must be Euery one for his Brother and God for vs all y 1 Cor. 13 5
did Paule him so Or doth hee thinke it enough to make him almost a Christian No halfe a Christian is no Christian and almost godly is not godly Therefore his desire was to take him by the hand or rather by the heart if he could haue sounded into the depth and bottome of it and to haue led him from Almost to Altogether Hence it is that when he seeth him comming toward Christ hee casteth out his Net to catch him if it were possible saying vnto him I would to God that not onelie thou but also all that heare mee to day were both almost and altogether such as I am except these bondes Thus he ceaseth not continually to call vppon the Churches to encrease more and more and to proceed from grace to grace Againe it belongeth to euery Maister of the Family to water that which himselfe or the Minister hath planted and to be alwayes weeding out the bitter roots that spring vp in his Garden If we haue brought any of his family to godlinesse and to embrace the Gospell let him make much of them let his countenance bee toward them let him fauour them aboue others and admonish them to frequent the exercises of Religion remembering that it is as great a Vertue to keepe as to get to preserue as to finde to holde fast as to take Moreouer as it is a generall dutie belonging to all of vs h Hebr. 3 7. and 10 24. to exhort one another while it is called to day and stirre vp one another to good things so if by our example of life or lighting of them a Candle to see their wayes they shall come to the acknowledgement of the truth we should loue them dearly and prouoke them to go farther forward in good works assuring them that such as continue to the end shall be saued This serueth seuerely to reproue those who hauing beene zealous in the faith and witnessed a good confession before many witnesses and beene a meanes to open the eyes of others to behold the glorious light of the Gospell that before wandered in darknesse are now gon back themselues or seeme to stand at a stay i Reuel 2 4. and haue left their first loue To whom I can say no more but wish them to turn backe to consider what they haue beene and to remember what they are knowing that it had beene better for them k 2 Pet. 2 21. neuer to haue knowne the way of righteousnesse then after they haue acknowledged it to turn away from the holy Commandement Let all such therefore call to minde the exhortation of Christ to the Angell of the Church of Ephesus l Reuel 2 5. Remember from whence thou art fallen and repent and do the first workes or else I will come against thee shortly and will remoue thy Candlestick out of his place except thou amend It is a great shame to shew the way to another and to go out of it himseife to teach another and not to teach himselfe to stir vp another to go forward and himselfe to go backward to kindle zeale in others and himselfe to grow cold lukewarme and therefore to giue occasion to others to think that their former profession was but an heate of youth seeing they decline in their olde age On the other side such as haue bin won to the Gospell by others ought entirely and feruently to loue such as haue conuerted them to shewe themselues euery way thankfull vnto them The Apostle beseecheth the Thessalonians m 1 Thess 5 12 13. To acknowledge them that labour among them and are ouer them in the Lord and admonish them that they haue them in singular loue for their workes sake Who is it if he were blinde and had his sight restored vnto him would not speake well of him by whom it was restored and acknowledge himselfe bound vnto him all the dayes of his life We are all naturally borne blind haue not one eye to see the sauing truth of godlinesse If then we attain the sight of our selues and to knowe our naturall blindnesse how ought wee to praise Gods mercy toward vs and to loue those by whom we haue the eyes of our minds enlightned He is a very vnkind and vnthankfull person who hauing lost his way in a great and terrible wildernesse where hee knoweth not which way to turne or returne not whether to goe to get out meeteth with a certaine guide that is able and ready to conduct him and to enstruct him in his way wil neuer so much as open his mouth to giue him thankes Or hauing beene cured and recouered from a daungerous and desperate disease that brought him to the doores of death will neuer acknowledge the benefit and good turn that he hath receiued So is it with those that haue wandered a long time in the vanities of this world and in the pleasures of the flesh as in a wildernesse it is the greatest ingratitude not to acknowledge those his best and surest friends that haue shewed them the strait gate and the narrow way that leadeth vnto life And if our soules haue bin saued from death to which we made hast and ranne with greedinesse if there bee any comfort of loue or fellowship of the spirit or any compassion and mercy in vs we ought to shew it to those that haue bin as spiritual and speciall Physitians vnto vs to deliuer vs from death and to restore vs to life Whom I haue sent againe Hitherto we haue spoken of the first reason that concerneth the person of Onesimus who was vnprofitable but now is becom very profitable The second sort of reasons are touching Paule himselfe and touch either the present action of his sending of him backe or the common friendship that a long time had bin betweene Paul and Philemon The first of these reasons is in this 12. verse which may be thus concluded If I haue sent Onesimus backe vnto thee then it is thy duty to receiue him But I haue sent him backe againe Therefore it is thy duty to receiue him If there had not bin great cause that Philemon shold receiue him the Apostle would neuer haue sent him especially seeing hee found his abode with him and his seruice done vnto him very profitable Now we are to mark in this place that Paul requireth not Philemon to make his seruant free and to discharge him of his bondage and albeit Paul had great need to haue vsed the ministration of Onesimus in the extreamity of his imprisonment yet beeing another mans seruant and not his owne belonging to his own Maister and not to him and knowing that he ought not to couet another mans seruant he would not detaine him but sent him backe to Philemon to whom hee did appertaine and from whom he departed This is consonant to the trueth and purity of the Gospell this the Maister might well require and this dutie the seruant was bounde to performe euen to returne and repaire againe
trauailing to the place of Gods worship n Psal 84 6 10 passed throgh many dangers endured much heat and suffered many wants in the wildernes for the pleasure that they took in his seruice The profit they reaped did swallow vp the tediousnes of the paines the loue to his court◠did mittigate the greatnes of the labor This made thē say A day in thy Courts is better then a thousand other where I had rather be a door-keeper in the house of my God then to dwel in the tabernacles of wickednes Where is this zeale to be found among vs Who sheweth this forwardnesse to Gods seruice Or whom can a man single out to say of him that no want or weather doeth hinder him from the exercises of godlinesse Wee are growne vnto that loathing of the heauenly Manna that albeit it fall in the middest of our Campe and round about our habitations yet wee will not steppe out of the doores to see it nor open our mouthes to taste it nor stretch out our handes to gather it either the blasts of winde do trouble vs or the feare of raine doth hinder vs or the heate of Summer doth burne vs or the colde of Winter doth pinch vs or a Lyon in the way doth stay vs and euery trifle stoppeth our iourney If our heart were in the house of God it would quickly moue our feet to carry vs thither But where the heart is not euery member is heauy and hardlie drawne to do their dutie The Deuils do the will of God by constraint and against their wils it must be otherwise with vs. Where the heart is there is our delight The Prophet describing the flourishing estate of the Church sayth o Psal 10 2 3 The Lord shall send the rod of thy power out of Sion bee thou Ruler in the middest of thine enemies thy people shall come willingly at the time of assembling thine Armie in holy beauty the youth of thy wombe shall bee as the Morning Dew Where he sheweth that the people of God were wont to come to the hearing of the word to the partaking of the Sacrifices to the receiuing of the Sacraments and to the exercises of Religion they assembled and gathered themselues together freely and of their owne accord to present themselues before the Lord. This duty is required of vs we must come willingly to Christ to heare him speake vnto vs. It is one vertue to come into the house of God but to come chearfully and comfortably as to a feast is a double vertue and that which giueth life vnto her comming If we come vnwillingly and be drawn to our duty on the Lords day either by shame of the world or by fear of law we come as dead men that are without working of the spirit or desire of profit or feeling of comfort or encrease of Faith or bettering of obedience If the danger of law did not more compel thē then the conscience of their duty or the loue of religion allure them many among vs would sildome or neuer keep the Lords Saboths nor attend vpon his ordinances they com to them as willingly as the Beare goeth to the stake as chearfully as the malefactor passeth to the place of execution Hence it is that some come to this place once a month others once a quarter others only vpon high daies solemne feasts more I think to shew themselus then to labor to saue their souls Such was the zeale of our brethren to the gospell in the daies of persecution that they went more willingly to the fire flame then these men in the dayes of peace com to the hearing of the word and to the house of prayer They were more chearful in suffring of death then these are in seeking the means of life Hence it is that some linger so long before they come are afraid they shall be there too soon Others when they are present giue litle attention not at al regard to profit themselues Others are ready to depart and be gone before the assembly is dismissed and think they haue learned enough These are they that think they are at liberty to do what they list to go and com when they list They make no conscience to begin end the exercises of religion together and so profit accordingly hauing litle more knoledge then brute beasts Vse 3 Thirdly this confuteth the common aduersary which ascribe al to the work done regard nothing at al either the mind of the doer or the maner of doing as their blind distinction de congruo condigno teacheth They hold that the bare presence at the sacrifice of the Masse without any good intention of the mind is meritorious in the sight of God This is their opus operatum the which is indeed the cutthroat of al true religion For admit once into the worship of God an outward resting in the worke done who wil regard the reformation of the hart But this fitteth wel enough the new Roman religion which consisteth wholy in externall obseruations in delighting the eye in pleasing the eare the other senses but requireth nothing aright which may not be performed of a Reprobat God is a spirit p Iohn 4 24. they that worship him must worship him in spirit truth so that whatsoeuer religion resteth teacheth men to rest in ceremonial and carnal obseruations is a false religion inuented by the deuil This also is the error of the ignorant people that wil not be accounted Papists yet are as ignoraunt as they in their practise and as superstitious in their deuotions and as corrupt in their opinions They neuer looke to their harts to purge them nor to their affections to order them aright when they come to the seruice of God If they can say oh we haue heard the worde we haue bin at the church we haue prayed to God they think al is well and that God can require no more at their hands They dreame the whole seruice of God to stand in outward things only as though they were the things wherein the Lord delighteth and not rather the truth and vprightnesse of the hart This is it for which the Prophet Esay reprooueth the people in his time and compareth them to the Princes of Sodom and to the people of Gomorra notwithstanding a zealous obseruation of the outwarde ordinances that they practised God commanded q Esay 1 11 12 13. What haue I to doe with the multitude of your Sacrifices I am full of your burnt offerings and the fat of Rams I desire not the blood of Bullockes Goats and Lambes when you come to appeare before mee who required this at your hands Bring no oblations in vain Incense is an abhomination vnto me I cannot suffer your New-Moones nor Saboths nor solemne assemblies I am weary to beare them because your works are euill But wash you make you clean take away the euill of your works from
were freed from righteousnesse What fruit had ye then in those things whereof yee are now ashamed For the end of those thinges is death but now being freed from sin and made Seruants vnto God ye haue your fruit in holinesse and the end euerlasting life Where he teacheth that such as continue in their sinnes are as dead trees or as rotten branches that bringeth forth no fruit but they that are made free from sinne are made the Seruants of righteousnesse The Tree that hath a long time brought forth no fruit when once it beginneth to bring forth good fruit cannot be called an euill tree The ground that beginneth to yeelde plentifull encrease cannot be called barren whatsoeuer it hath been in times past So is it with euery one of vs we are accounted Trees of righteousnesse and fruitfull ground so soone as we lay aside the vnsauory fruits of wickednesse Wherefore whensoeuer we heare the taunts and reproaches of vncharitable men cast out against vs for such sinnes as we haue long agoe left let vs not be greeued at them nor sorrowfull for them nor seeke reuenge against them but rather comfort our selues in this both that God hath giuen vs repentance to see and forsake our sinnes which before we made our chiefest pleasure and that he hath pardoned them in his Sonne and will neuer lay them to our charge so that he accounteth them as if they had neuer beene committed and accepteth of vs as if we neuer had offended him As for the vngodly that haue sinne raigning in them and neuer truely repented of heir sinne they may and ought to be charged with their sins and as we find them in the present time to be so we may iustly account of them so we may truelie call them and so we may censure them and pronounce of them For as it is lawfull to call a Spade a Spade so he that is knowne to liue still in Adultery may be named and noted to be an Adulterer and a filthy liuer He that maketh a continuall practise of drunkennesse and is resolued to remaine in it may be called a drunken beast a drunken sot a drunken companion and we need craue no pardon if we giue him that stile He that regardeth not the hearing of Gods word but liueth in open contempt of God and of his ordinances may be iustly branded with the reproach of his sinne and may be called the enemy of all righteousnesse and the Childe of the Deuill We know that Iudas through couetousnesse betrayed his Maister and when hee had done he dispared of pardon and hanged himselfe the reproach of this fact and offence remaineth to this day and shall neuer be blotted out but he is called Iudas the Traytor and Sonne of perdition Math. 10. 4. Actes 1. 16. 17. And thus the case standeth with all other vnrepentant Sinners that vse not the remedy appointed of God to bring them out of the state of damnation into the way of saluation Hereupon we see the Prophet Esay Chap. 1. calleth them z Esay 10 4 10. and 57 3. the Princes of Sodome and the people of Gomorah a sinfull Nation a people laden with iniquity a seed of the wicked corrupt children Witches Children the seed of the Adulterer and of the Whore Christ calleth the Pharisies a Math. 3 7. Iohn 8 44. a brood of Vipers blind Guids Hypocrites such as were of their Father the Deuill This appeareth in the Psalme where the Prophet speaking of such as hated to be reformed and cast the words of God behind them saith b Psal 50 18 19 20 21 22. When thou seest a Theefe thou runnest with him and thou art partaker with the Adulterer thou giuest thy mouth to euill and with thy tongue thou forgest deceit thou sittest and speakest against thy Brother and slanderest thy Mothers Son these things hast thou done and I held my tongue therefore thou thoughtest that I was like thee but I will reproue thee and set them in order before thee O consider this ye that forget God least I teare you in peeces and there be none that can deliuer you Where we see he layeth to their consciences their sinnes and applyeth vnto them the iudgements of God that did hang ouer them so that thereupon he calleth them to serious and earnest consideration of their former workes thereby to draw them to repentance Diuers sorts of men are reproued Heereby are reprooued diuers sortes of euill and corrupt minded men First such as aggrauate and augment the sinnes of the godly and make those that are no sinnes to be taken for sins and such as are lesser to seeme the greatest of all These are they that broach and belch out of their enuious hearts and filthy mouths and stinking breathes all the venome that lyeth hidden within them against the godlie when they can espy any of them who haue their weaknesse as other men and being left vnto themselues cannot but fall to be ouertaken with the frailty of the flesh Oh say they these are the holie men these are the holie Brethren these are the godly folke see see what they are none are worse people then they These men haue quicke eies to see their sins but they are blind and cannot see their repentance They know what they haue committed but they are ignorant and will not know that their sins are remitted and that whatsoeuer the Son of God remitteth ought not to be retained and remembred of the Sons of men It is no disgrace to a man to haue beene wicked and infamous for his offences if he be throughlie changed and altered for their reformation giueth them more grace and honour with God and all good men then their former life doth shame and discredit The Apostle saith c Act. 17 30 31. The time of this ignorance God regarded not but now he admonisheth all men euery where to repent because he hath appointed a day in which he would iudge the World Secondlie they are reprooued that lessen the sinnes of the impenitent and mollifie them with gentle Plaisters thereby hartning and hardning them in their sinnes thereby fawning vpon them and flattering them in their wickednesse They are men of the prophane World like themselues and therefore their sinnes shall bee no sinnes and their great sinnes are little motes that cannot be seene It hath alwaies bin a d Thucid. lib. 3. Plutarch in Solom Ouid. Nominibus mollire licet mala practise and ancient custome among euill Men to lessen odious vices to abate them with softer and milder tearmes and that fraude and fashion was neuer neuer more frequent then where the vice was most common Thus it is when Theeues are called Taking-men Couetous persons Thrifty-Liuers Thus Adultery is accounted but a tricke of youth fighting and quarrelling is named man-hood drunkennesse is reputed good fellowship and Drunkards the onely good fellowes Thus is sinne extenuated and diminished by those that know not the Nature of sinne and
them and cursse them and cannot behold them with a friendly looke and a louing countenance as if the fault were in the Clearkes Bayliffes and other publique Officers not in themselues and their owne vnfaithfulnesse which is all one as if a Male-factor should charge the Executioner who is the Minister of Iustice to be the cause of his death forgetting that his owne misdeedes and misdemeanors brought him vp vnto that place and punishment Vse 2. Secondly seeing it is needefull that to confirme our lawfull contractes there be Euidences to shew it is a good point of wisedome required of vs to vse the aduise of such as are learned in the law and are both men of knowledge and of conscience For heere if in any thing else we shall finde the common Prouerbe true That the best is best cheap Many there are that regard the Fee more then the Cause and speake for themselues rather then for the partie that hath chosen them Againe many suites arise through ignorance and vnskilfulnesse of the Law wherefore it is meete we should resort to a learned Counsell so that partly through the want of honesty and piety in some partly the want of skill and practise in others many poore Clients go to wracke We must all deale in the matter of our goods as wise Patients doe for the curing of their bodies and the recouery of their health They will not goe to euery Slubberer or Sorcerer to euery Leach or Mountebanke to take charge of their bodies to whom a man would be loath to commit his Beasts If any doubts arise auoyd all forgery and periury suborning of false Witnesses counterfeiting of Euidences and such like deceitfull practises as the God of this world hath taught the Children of darknesse and confusion Take that course which God alloweth and Iustice warranteth repaire to men of that profession giue him good instruction and follow thou his direction For this purpose I will craue leaue to set downe e Three rules belonging to Lawyers three rules that are required and are to be performed of men of Law the obseruation whereof shall giue peace and comfort of conscience with God and gaine them Crownes and credit among men First of all if they disdaine not to be aduised and taught by vs let the end of all their pleas and proceedings be the finding out of the ttuth Let this be the marke that they shoot at and the starre whereby they direct all their course which seasoneth all their pleadings as it were with Salt If they regard not the tryall of the truth nor which way the cause go so they may receiue their Fee they abuse the ballances of Iustice and turne equity into Iniquity God is truth and euery one that belongeth vnto him should labour to bring the truth to light It is a generall rule taught by the Apostle f 2 Cor. 13 8. We cannot doe any thing against the truth but for the truth Woe therefore vnto them that dig deepe to hide the truth and inuent shifts to bury it out of sight that it may not take place and do all things against the truth and nothing for it The second rule is that they doe not delay the causes of their Clients and protract the time in hope of farther gaine from Tearme to Tearme and from yeare to yeare As there may be too great hast so there may be too great delay and there are Rockes on eyther hand the safest course is to saile in the midst betweene them both for feare of shipwracke It is a dutie of the Surgeon not to linger the curing of his Patient and to torment him a whole yeare where he might restore him in a quarter Suites of Law are tedious and chargeable they are as the fits of a Feauer that vexe the body and trouble the minde It is an euill course to keepe sores alwaies raw and woundes greene in hope to get Mony So it is an vncharitable proceeding to retaine causes and to keepe them alwaies on foot except they may haue for expedition Lastly as the end of their pleading must bee truth and veritie and the course of it without delay so it is required of them when they know the cause to be euill and see the manifest signes of an ouerthrow that they doe not conceale it but discouer and open it vnto their Clients They are to forewarne them of the end that they doe not intangle themselues in vnnecessarie and vnlawfull suites It is deliuered as a dutie of the Physition and of the Minister when they come to a sicke man that lyeth on his death-bed and see manifest signes of death that they doe not hide it from him nor flatter him in his sicknesse saying I hope you shall doe well and recouer and be as merry among your Neighbours as euer you were but rather with wisdome warne him and with discretion certifie him of it to the end he may renounce all confidence in earthly thinges and put his whole affiance in God according to that sentence of the Apostle g 2 Cor. 1 9. We receiued the sentence of death in our selues because we should not trust in our selues but in God which raiseth the dead Thus ought it to be with the carefull and conscionable Lawyer when he seeth the cause of his Clyent desperate and languishing without hope of life he ought not to draw him on and moue him to proceede but perswade him to giue ouer and tell him the danger that will come vpon him It is too late to bid the Souldier beware when the victory is lost The wisest way is to preuent a mischiefe betimes before it be too late So then to trusse vp these thinges closely together and to couch them in a narrow roome if he shall vse his diligence that the truth may be discouered and right take place and make this the end of his pleading if he bend his wits to giue quicke dispatch to the causes he vndertaketh and not to prolong the time for his owne aduantage And last of all if he lay open the weaknesse of his Clyents cause vnto him and forewarne him of the issue thereof he shall doe the part of an honest man of a faithfull Christian of a learned Lawyer and of a discreet Counseller Vse 3 Thirdly from these assurances in writing to confirme our promises one to another we learn the cause why it pleased the Lord to vse so many waies and meanes with vs to giue vs his Word his Oath his promises his Miracles his Couenants and his Seales We learne wherefore all these do serue euen to strengthen our Faith in the good meaning of God toward vs. And as he thereby assureth his owne graces so he prouideth for our weakenesse If there were in vs that measure of Faith that ought to be the bare word of God might be all-sufficient to teach vs to acknowledge him to be the God of our saluation and to depend vpon him for our Redemption But seeing
be not able to doe the like for vs. This is it which our Sauiour meaneth By lending and looking for nothing againe And thus much touching the naturall Interpretation of that place which these men abuse and peruert as they doe also other Scriptures But to leaue them and to returne to the former matter It is a pernicious kinde of Theft in former daies scarse heard off or at the least not so commonly practised that men regard not how great sums or what value of other mens good they get into their handes If a man bee holpen in his neede and he forget it if he doe not acknoâ—…ledge it if hee doe not pray to God to requite and recompence it when himselfe hath no meanes to doe it hee abuseth the liberalitie shewed toward him and is no better then a Theefe But to gather the wealth of others to our selues and to borrow Money or take vp Wares of credit as farre as they can be trusted of one an hundred pound of another fiftie of one more and of another lesse neuer purposing to repay but as soone as they haue laid held on it to breake vp is a more monstrous kind of robbery then the former For then a report is noysed abroad that they are Banckrupt and by and by an agreement must be sought with their Creditors to satisfie them forsooth with the third with the sixt with the tenth part they purposing afterward to liue vpon their stolne goods and the labours of other men whereby oftentimes it falleth out that many godly and honest dealing men are vtterly vndone and their poore Wiues and Children brought to great pouertie It is made a propertie of the wicked by the Prophet to make care to borrow but to take no care to restore Psal 73. m Psal 37 21. The wicked borroweth and payeth not againe but the righteous is merciful and giueth It testifies the wonderful care that was among the Seruants of God to make restitution in that when the Iron where-with one was felling of a Tree fell into the Water he cryed out and said n 2 King 6 5. Alasse Maister it was but borrowed Whereby it appeareth he was more troubled for the lacke and losse of it then if it had beene his owne It is likewise to be considered of vs which the Apostle Paule teacheth Rom. 13. o Rom. 13 7 8 Owe nothing to any Man but to loue one another for he that loueth another hath fulfilled the Law Wherefore it standeth vs vpon to restore the thinges we haue borrowed and to pay those to whom we are indebted albeit it be with the sale of the necessary thinges we haue The Widdow of the Sonnes of the Prophets at the commaundement of Elisha selleth the Oyle that God sent her to pay her Creditor as we see 2. King 4. for the Prophet said vnto her p 2 Kin. â— 4 7. Goe and sell the Oyle and pay them that thou art in debt vnto and liue thou and thy Children vpon the rest Where wee see God would not haue the Creditour defrauded but rather then the debt should be vnpaide the Lord himselfe would pay it and the Prophet did not giue her counsell to raile and rage against the Creditor to call him a Miser and couetous Cormorant or to liue in excesse and aboundance without care to satisfie that debt which might bee demaunded but charged her first of all to pay the whole and if any were left she and her Children should feede vpon the rest Obiection 1. But some man may say what if we be not able What if we haue nothing wherewith to pay What are wee then to doe or what course are we to take Answere I answere God accepteth of a ready and q 2 Cor. 8 12. willing minde where there is no farther strength or better abilitie Offer thy labour and seruice shew thy repentance and remorse of conscience testifie the truth of them by thy sorrow and teares and if euer God make thee able thou must doe it actually Obiection 2. It may be further obiected though a man bee able to restore how if in doing it he shall vtterly shame himselfe and his profession Answere If this of necessitie must follow make choyse of some faithfull Friende that may performe this duty for thee and conceale thy Name Secondly it is better to seek the praise of God then the praise of men Thirdly honour and praise and peace are promised to all that be truely conuerted and the reward of sinne not repented off is shame and reproach and contempt both Temporall Eternall according to the Testimony of the Apostle r Ro. 6 21 22. What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed For the end of those things is death but now being freed from sinne and made Seruants vnto God ye haue your fruit in holinesse and the end euerlasting life Obiection 3. But if it be farther asked How if the parties be dead or what if I know not the speciall persons whose goods I possesse Answere I answere restore them to their Heires if they haue none or thou know none yet keepe them not with thee they will kindle a fire in thy Family that shalt wast all thy wealth and store till nothing be left In this case make the poore their Heires deale as Zacheus Luke 19. Be mercifull toward them Obiection 4. Lastly the question may be demaunded whether the Sonne be bound to restore the goods which the Father hath gotten by oppression Answere I aunswere breefly whatsoeuer the Sonne knoweth to be euilly gotten cannot be iustly kept from the lawfull and iust owners thereof Ezek. 18 14 15. c. Prou. 28 8. If the Sonne follow the abhominations of his Father and walke in them or approoue of them he maketh himselfe guilty of the same offences also Vse 4 Lastly seeing it is our bounden dutie to forbeare and sometimes to forgiue such as are poore and not able to pay we may gather from hence for the strengthening and confirmation of our Faith that much more will God with patience forbeare and in mercy forgiue vs our debts and trespasses He teacheth vs to aske forgiuenesse at his hands Å¿ Math. 6 14. Being assured of it if we forgiue He chargeth vs to forgiue Not onely seauen times t Math. 18 22. but seauenty times seauen times He instructeth vs That if u Luke 17 4. our Brother sinne against vs seauenty times in a day and seauentie times in a day turne againe to vs saying It repenteth me we must forgiue him We haue not one drop of that infinite mercy that is in God whose compassion is higher then the Heauens and greater then the loue of Parents toward their Children He that commaundeth mercy to others will not be vnmercifull himselfe and he that forbids crueltie to others will remember to be mercifull himselfe It is the greatest dishonour done vnto God that can
to others but are incident to the Nature of Man and may come vpon our owne heads it would be an effectuall meanes to hold vs backe from iesting and scorning at others in as much as it bringeth the wrath of God vpon vs and our posterity Vse 2. Secondly seeing it is our duty to be glad thereat when any good things befall our Brethren it standeth vs vppon to search and enquire in loue after the condition of the Saintes in particular and of the Church in generall For how shall we reioyce and be glad at their good if we be not carefull to know in what state they are and how they fare This dutie wee may see practised in the holie Scriptures by Abraham Lot Nehemiah Dauid and diuers others who were both carefull to succour and releeue such as were in distresse and watchfull to informe themselues of the wantes and necessities of their Bretheren And thus wee may see how one Church prouideth for another as the Church of Antioch of Macedonia and of Corinth q 2 Cor. 8 9. for the poore afflicted Members of Christ that were at Ierusalem This reproueth such as albeit they see the troubles of the Church with their eies and heare the complaint of the poore with their eares yet shut their eyes and stop their eares and passe by them as the Priest and Leuite did when they saw him that fell vpon Theeues lie wounded and halfe dead These shal finde as little mercy at the hands of God as they shew to their afflicted and distressed brethren If then we would find mercie in time of need let vs shew mercy and comfort in the time of calamity when our Friends our Neighbors our Kindred are in trouble And albeit we neuer see our Bretheren lie in their affliction nor ouer-whelmed with sorrow that we should succor them yet are we not thereby iustified and discharged vnlesse wee also haue bin carefull to enquire of others how they do what they want and wherein they stand in neede of our helpe It is recorded of Abraham and Lot that while they offered their seruice to entertaine strangers r Ge. 18 19 Heb. 13 2 3. Nehemiah â— they receiued Angels into their houses at vnawares When Nehemiah met with some of his Brethren that came from Ierusalem he tarried not vntill they made relation of the estate of the Church to testifie his zeale to Gods worshippe his loue to the poore Saints his desire of the prosperity of the faithfull but hee preuented them and asked earnestly of their welfare Thus did Dauid remember the kindnesse betweene him and Ionathan and forgat not to shewe it to his posterity and to the house of Saule and albeit hee had dealt graciously and mercifully with many yet he called for more and left none of them vnregarded Let this affection rule in vs and draw out of vs this testimony of a louing heart Many there are that will seeme to bee friends of the Church and to regard the good thereof and when helpe is craued of them will not bee behind hand to deale liberally toward the releeuing therof This is a good beginning and a commendable vertue which is to be cherrished in them for there are hundreds and thousands that neuer come so farre nor proceede to this steppe but declare themselues either open enemies or sencelesse Newters that looke onely to them-selues but haue no feeling of the estate of others Neuerthelesse if God haue giuen vnto vs a bountifull hand wee must not rest there and stand at a stay wee must learne a farther lesson and ascend vp higher and shew more loue to the Church then to giue to them that aske and to succour such as we see in necessity for we must giue an account of a farther duty euen vse our tongues that God hath giuen vs to enforme our selues in the knowledge of their condition that we see not that are absent from vs that are vnknowne vnto vs. We see how desirous and greedy men are of newes and to enquire of Trauellers the estate of places and persons that they may seeme to bee ignoraunt of nothing and in this they are very Athenians Å¿ Acts 17 21. who gaue themselues to nothing else but eyther to tell or to heare some newes But this desire of nouelty argueth the vanitie of our minds or serueth to the delight of the outwarde man or at the farthest bringeth with it onely a momentary pleasure and slender profite If we would know such newes as may delight our selues and others and bring great pleasure and greater profit both to our selues and others let vs inquire how the poore people of God do let vs aske of their welfare let vs vse all meanes to know their estate this shall be well pleasing to God comfortable to our selues profitable to the Church and auayleable to stir vp others to follow our example Vse 3 Thirdly if it be required of vs to bee touched with a feeling of the good things that come to our Brethren then it followeth that wee ought much more to be moued to reioyce at our owne good He will neuer bee glad at the benefit that befalleth another that is no way affected at the good that befalleth him-selfe When wee haue the meanes of instruction offered vnto vs and wee beginne to bee conuerted vnto the faith there is matter of exceeding great ioy and gladnesse set before vs. It hath beene an old Å¿ Herod in Clio. custome for men to celebtate and solemnize their birth day the day wherein they were borne and brought forth into the world and we haue one example of it in the Gospell of Herod t Math. 14 6. Marke 6 21 who when his birth day was kept made a Banquet to his Princes and Captaines and chiefe estates of Galile If this were vsed among the Heathen to retaine in memory the rememberance of that time wherein it was saide A Man-child is borne into the world how much more ought we that are Christians to make the day of our new byrth a day of ioy and gladnesse a day of mirth and delight a day of feasting and reioysing in the Lord wherein we haue beene borne againe and made the Children of God For the first birth is vnto death the second is vnto life The first birth giueth vs a being the second giueth vs a good being in God the first birth is to condemnation the second birth is to saluation By the first birth we are made the vessels of wrath by the second wee are made the heyres of the heauenly kingdome The first birth u Ezek. 16. 1 2 is in vncleannesse the second birth is in righteousnesse and in true holinesse By the first birth we beare the Image of the first Adam by the second wee beare the Image of Christ the second Adam By the first birth we can do nothing but euill x Gen. 6 5. inasmuch as the immaginations of the thoughts of our heartes are onely
as seeke to be iustified by the Law are fallen from Grace Therefore the Apostle Paule saith Rom. 11. There is a remnant according to the election of Grace e Rom. 11 5 6 and if it be of Grace it is no more of workes or else were Grace no more Grace but if it be of workes it is no more Grace or else were worke no more worke This serueth to confute the Romish Doctrin giueth vs iust cause to come out from among them and to make a separation from them as being no true Church of God For in asmuch as they take away the foundation and cheefe pillers whereupon the house of God standeth they pull it downe and bring it to ruine We see how they exclude Grace and bring in Merrit They establish a two-fold kind of Merit and both of them as they vnderstand them plants of their owne setting but meere Strangers in the Garden of the Scriptures and therefore shall fall according to the Doctrine of Christ who saith f Math. 15 13 Euery Plant which mine heauenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted vp One sort is the g A two-folde merrit taught in the Church of Rome merrit of the person the other is the merrit of the worke The merrit of the person they make to be a dignity in the person wheredy hee is esteemed worthy of eternall life and this they say is found in Infants dying after Baptisme who though they want the merit of good workes yet they want not the merrit of their persons by which they receiue the Kingdome of heauen The merrit of the worke is a Dignity or excellency in the worke in it selfe whereby it is fitted and inabled to deserue life euerlasting Hence it is that they teach that the worke and the deed are meritorious two waies first by Couenant because God hath made a promise of reward vnto them Secondly by their owne Dignity because Christ hath merited that our workes should merrit A strange opinion and a strange language and manner of speaking neuer heard of in the Booke of God As for vs wee renounce all personall merrits that is all merrits within the person of any meere man also all merrits of workes done by any meere man whatsoeuer The true merrit whereby we looke for the fauour of God and life euerlasting is to be found in the person and workes of Christ alone who is the treasurie and store-house of all our merrits Obiection But heere some man might obiect and say The promise of reward is made to them that beleeue and worke therefore our workes doe merrit for merrit and reward be Relatiues Answere I answere there is a double reward one of Merrit the other of Mercy Euery good worke be it neuer so little done in Faith done to the glory of God done in that manner that he commaundeth shall bee rewarded but the reward is not giuen for the worthinesse of the worke but through the liberality of him that hath promised Hence it is that eternall life is called an Inheritance The obedient Childe hath promise from his Father to be his Heire and to inherit his Lands Goods and Possessions after his decease yet not for his obedience sake but because his Father loueth him and in kindnesse and compassion preferreth him before others Let it suffice vs to haue the Kingdome of Heauen as a free inheritance and not dreame as Hirelings that we shall haue it as an hire and Wages of our worke for then we shall be deceiued of our hope and expectation It is a vaine confidence to set vp such an high price of our workes as thereby to make them able to buy Heauen These men do know neither the weakenesse of their owne strength nor the vnworthinesse of their owne workes nor the wretchednesse of their owne persons nor the excellency of Gods Graces nor the praise of his glory whereof he is iealous which hee will not giue to any other They are like to Simon Magus h Actes 8 18. who offered to buy the guifts of God for his Money as a purchase or like to the i Math. 6 7. Heathen that looke to be heard for their much babling sake or like to Seruants that doe all for their hire So these Merit-mongers will haue no Heauen except they may haue it as their hire and as a penny-worth for their penny they will not be indebted vnto God nor beholding vnto him for it As for vs we value not our good workes at so high a rate we know their imperfections we craue eternall life as a Sons portion and an inheritance freely promised vnto vs and freely bestowed vpon vs. Indeede it is the will and pleasure of God that wee should labour and bring forth good workes to expresse our thankfulnesse to him that hath adopted vs for his Children and after our labour receiue the inheritance yet we cannot deserue it by our obedience and we haue a better claime vnto it by being Sonnes then working as Seruants We confesse that the reward shall be giuen of bounty not of necessity by guift not by debt by promise not by desert by Gods acceptation not through our perfection As for the Papists that glory in their owne workes let them take heede they do not deceiue themselues and whilst they rob God of his honour let them beware they doe not robbe themselues and depriue themselues of the honour promised to the Saintes and whilst they challenge and lay claime to euerlasting life as to the Wages of Seruants let them in time looke to themselues least they be denyed the Inheritance that belongeth vnto Sonnes Vse 3. Lastly seeing all Gods guifts come from him to vs of Grace and Mercy It is our dutie aboue all things to desire Mercy and to craue the free guiftes of God The Children of God whensoeuer they presented themselues into his presence they haue stripped themselues of all thinges they haue renounced all priuiledges of the flesh they haue acknowledged their owne vnworthinesse and haue craued nothing but his fauour and to bee satisfied with his Image This we see in the Prophet Dauid Psal 6. k Psal 6 3. 6. 63 3 4 5. My Soule is sore troubled but Lord how long wilt thou delay Returne ô Lorde deliuer my Soule saue me for thy mercies sake He desireth nothing but of Mercy hee pleadeth nothing but fauour hee standeth not vppon his owne righteousnesse he willeth not God to respect him according to his owne worthynesse Againe Psal 63. Thy louing kindnesse is better then life therefore my lippes shall praise thee thus will I magnifie thee all my life and lift vp mine hands in thine Name my Soule shall be satisfied as with Marrow and fatnesse and my mouth shall praise thee with ioyfull lippes Where hee preferreth the goodnesse of God before all things in Heauen and Earth whiles he aduanceth it aboue life signifying thereby that his life could not bee pleasant vnto him and that he would
the little light of Grace and spark of Faith that was in them did so shine and breake out into such a flame that they were not ashamed to professe themselues to be his Disciples when the rest forsooke him they begged his body of Pilate they wrapped it in linnen cloaths with Myrrhe and Alloes and sweet Odours and bestowed the honour of buriall vpon him Thus it falleth out oftentimes that they which are first are last and the last are first We know not what stormes and Tempestes hang ouer our owne heades and what perillous times may come vppon vs we know not what weaknesse wee shall shew in them howe great the Rebellion of the Flesh will be and what comfort wee shall want our selues The Prophet pronounceth him l Psal 41 1. Blessed that iudgeth Wisely of the poore and promiseth that the Lord shall deliuer him in the time of trouble If wee haue any feeling of this happinesse or haue anie Faith in our hearts touching this promise let vs make it manifest by seeking the good of our weake Bretheren It is an hiddeous and horrible cruelty and out-rage by our want of mercy and of feeling their infirmities to hinder the saluation of any one for whom Christ died Hence it is that the Apostle saith Rom. 15 2 3. Let euerie man please his Neighbour in that which is good to edification for Christ also would not please himselfe but as it is Written The rebukes of them that rebuked thee fell on me It cost a great price to Redeeme a soule and to bring it from Death to Life from Hell to Heauen and therefore we must vse all meanes wherewith the Lorde shall enable vs to comfort such as are Comfortlesse by the Comfort where-with wee our selues are comforted of God There is no Man but desireth to finde Peace and Comfort in him-selfe What is this life of ours without it If a man should liue many thousand yeares vpon the face of the earth and haue experience of nothing but sorrow anguish misery and vexation of Spirit so that hee could feele no quietnesse no rest no consolation no tranquility in these daies of his Pilgrimage would he not desire to be out of such a life and preferre death before it Do we then wish for peace And would we finde comfort The greatest comfort in the World that can come vnto vs and refresh and cheere vppe our Soules is to winne and saue Soules Blessed are we if we haue beene Instruments to gaine but one Soule vnto God It is the greatest gaine it is the best Traffique it is the sweetest Marchandize It shall be said vnto vs in the last day Thou good and faithfull Seruant well done thou hast beene faithfull ouer little I will make thee Ruler ouer much enter into thy Maisters ioy Let vs set this before our eyes and consider before hand the price of the reward when the time of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. Vse 3. Lastly seeing God hath such a care of them that are weake that he would not haue them cut off but cared for of all men this ought to serue as a notable encouragement vnto them to labor to grow in Grace and to encrease more and more that they may proceede from strength to strength and so come to a perfect man in Christ Iesus True it is there are degrees of Faith all haue not one measure of Grace and yet the least measure if it be but as a graine of Mustard-seede is of power to saue our Soules If there be wrought in vs by the sanctifying Spirit of God the beginnings and seeds of Faith to wit an humbling of our selues vnder the burthen of our sinnes an acknowledgement and feeling that we stand in neede of Christ an hungring and longing desire to be made partaker of Christ and all his merrits and a flying to the Throne of Grace from the sentence of the Law troubling the conscience trembling vnder the same if these preparations as it it were ploughings vp of the furrowes of our hearts be found in vs God will not cast vs away but make this weake measure of Grace to be effectuall to saluation This is a sweete comfort to all saint hearts that are euery foot like to sinke downe and as it were to giue vp the Ghost This ought to be a forcible meanes to work thankfulnesse in them when in the examination of their hearts they shall finde the least measure of Grace setled in them and know their mercifull Father willing to acknowledge it to accept it and to reward it Not that we should flatter our selues in our wantes or content our selues in our weakenesse to stand alwaies at one stay but heereby to be brought forward in well-doing and to runne the race with all cheerefulnesse that is set before vs. This a notable signe of a true and sincere hart when we feele our strength to come euery day vnto vs and an accesse to be added to our former course For if we desire to be better and better and deale as men that runne in a race who stand not still in the mid-way but presse with might and maine to the marke this is an infallible note of a sincere heart This is it which the Apostle testifieth Phil. 3 14 15. Bretheren I count not my selfe that I haue attained to it but one thing I doe I forget that which is behinde and endeuour my selfe vnto that which is before And follow hard toward the marke for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Iesus It is the goodnesse of God to accept the small measure of Faith that we bring vnto him This graunteth not liberty vnto vs to doe nothing to stirre neither hand nor foote or to content our selues that we go not backward For we must all know and vnderstand that the beginnings of grace are deceitfull and counterfeit vnlesse there be a growth and encrease The kingdome of Heauen is like to q Math. 13 31 33. a graine of Mustard seed which at the first is so small and little that it is scarse discerned but after that it is cast into the ground of a prepared and purified heart it rooteth deeply it groweth speedily it spreadeth exceedingly It is like vnto Leauen which a woman taketh and hideth in three peckes of Meale till all be Leauened The Maister deliuering his Talents vnto his seruants that he had called saith vnto them Occupy vntill I come he doth not bid them hide them in the earth Luke 19 13. Hereunto commeth the exhortation that Paule giueth vnto Timothy who had greatly profited in godlinesse and was brought vp in the vnderstanding of the holy Scriptures from a childe Chapter 1. r 2 Tim. 2 6. I put thee in remembrance that thou stirre vp the gift of God which is thee by the putting on of mine handes The word is a borrowed speach from the fire which must bee euermore kindled and kept with a new supply from going out