most preeiselie and properly taken which his fault was reproued as appeareth in Austine Tom. 6. contra Epist Funda c. 5. 6. And which title because the Pope being also a Bishop doth claim he most resembleth Manicheus The abuse of things abolisheth not their good vsage But to the matter whether he vsed or abused this salutation it skilleth litle for our partes we are not disposed to mislike the innocent sheepes fel because the rauening woolfe hath sometime put it on wee are not so fonde as to refuse the Arke of God 1. Sam. 8 because the Philistines had once got it into their hands we cannot neither will wee God willing refuse the vsage of our godly greetings because your coyishnesse would bar vs thereof and appropriate good words at your fantastical pleasure As wel you may for ought I knowe interdict men of well dooing as of wishing wel vnto their neighbours and brethren And farther if you imagine as it may seeme you doe that there is some operatiue and working benediction in those wordes beside that the euent hath prooued the contrarie for what is now become of that graceles vnhappy Church of Galatia the verie words following confute that your folly most sufficiētly For Paul wisheth Grace and Peace not as enclosed in his wordes and interlaced in his lines or fixed to his letters but to bee giuen by God and by Christ which gaue himselfe c. In which fourth and fifth verses are to bee learned these three conuenient obseruations as they lie 1. The end why Christ gaue himselfe to deliuer vs out of this present world 2. The enducement thereunto according to his good wil. 3. Our duty therefore in giuing him glorie and deserued prayse for euer The end of our deliuerie by Christ 1 Deliuerie presupposeth captiuity and the greater the enemie the dearer the ransom and the ioifuller the deliuerance The enemie here named is the world the ransome Christ we are the deliuered The enimie mightie the ransom pretious and therefore our deliuery most ioyful But hee that is in hel thinketh many times there is no other heauen So faire a glose can the world set vpon the matter and so forcibly can it woork Gen. 29. In the booke of Genesis Laban made promise to Iacob that he should haue to wife for his faithfull seruice fair Rachel Iacob in hope thereof indureth al toile and pains But when the time of his couenant was expired Laban in the night substituteth Lea in steed of Rachel Euen so O guilful worlde how sweet how pleasant are thy promises but the things thou yeeldest in the end how bitter how ful of gall are they Thou promisest bewtiful Rachel but thou performest squinteyd Lea. He which seeth thy vanitie and discerneth thy wilinesse would hee be deceaued or ought he not of all thinges most to desire his deliueraunce from thy thral The world a transitorie and a wicked world Our Apostle describeth this world worthilie in two woords terming it the present wicked world The wickednesse of the world may seeme delight-some yet such delightes endure not long They are but a basket ful of sommer fruit a Ionas his gourd they spring in the night and fade the next day That which is past is as if it neuer were that which is to come is vtterly vncertain and that which is present is but a glimse for a moment a morning dew and gone againe Notwithstanding were the world only a fickle and a transitorie vncertainty the benefite of our deliuery were the lesse Glasse is a brickle metal and yet a cleane The world is not only vnstable and fading euen the verie fashion thereof but it is as Saint Iohn speaketh altogither set on wickednesse Our deliuerance from the world doth not driue men to shorten their time in the world and therefore Christ gaue himselfe for our sinnes that he might deliuer vs out of this present euill worlde I say not neither saieth Christ from not being at al in this world but from liuing after the fashion of the world For it is written Thou shalt not kil that is thou vpon a feare or fancy thou shalt not dispatch as not an other so not * Aug. de ciui Dei li. 2. cap. 20 thy selfe out of the woorld Thou shalt not dig thine owne graue and enter into it before thy time no Thou shalt not hang thine owne winding sheete before thine eies thou shalt not be cause or occasion of thine owne death Iob. When holy Iob cursed the daie of his birth it was but a pang of imperfection Act. 16.28 In the Actes when the prisoner woulde haue killed himselfe Paul crieth out that he should do himself no harm as if to kil were to hurt himselfe Then if to kill were to doe harme verily to liue cannot be harm And were it absolutely vnlawful to liue or laweful to liue or not to liue when mans lust were and with * 2 Machab. 14. Rasis to leaue the station wherein God hath placed vs there could haue beene no doubt Philip. 1.23 or no great doubt in Pauls choise to the Philippians where he casteth with himselfe whether it were better to choose life or rather death for the desire he had to be dissolued and to be with christ Yet in fine he resolueth for considerations that it were better the course of his race to be continued And then why chose he life if to liue were vtterly il and simply naught as some in their impatiencie imagine Ioh. 17.15 In Saint Iohn our Sauiour prayeth for his not that they be taken out of the world but that they may bee preserued from euil For the creatures in the woorld and the woorlde and our life therein though euil and tedious are not in fault The faultes of the woorld must bee shunned and from them wee are deliuered namely from the guilt of sinne thorough Christ 1 Ioh. 1. and by his spirite from the degrees of sinning wilfully lustfully or finally to death But which is my second note who is hee or what is it hath deliuered vs the grace of God through Iesus Christ And why The inducement why God vouchsaued our deliuerance The causes of gods doings must not be sought for else-where then in God himselfe His grace his fauour his mercy his fatherly goodnesse his pleasure purpose wil and good wil are the onely things specified in Scripture as agent causes of sending so great saluation to the sonnes of men Our Apostle Paul euerie where intentiuelie looking into the state of our redemption when he feeth the father satisfied the Son sacrificed man saued from sin and deliuered from the world he hath alwaies recourse onely to the goodnesse of God who is most free in willing inflexible in doing repentant in neither and in both without all compartner For who hath or can be his associate or Counseller Rom. 11.34 to induce him this way that is
preciousnesse of the gift 3. the certaintie in receauing 4. and the neede of the receauer 1. The freenesse of the giuer For what is freer than gift And then a gift proceeding of loue Which loued me 2. For the preciousnes of the gift what can bee more precious than the Sonne of God the heire of al Hee gaue himselfe 3. The certainty of receauing is vttered in the specialitie of speaking for mee But O blessed Paul what meane these * Christ is not receaued in a general conceat but by a special applying enclosures Why Is Christ thy Christ Is hee thy Sauiour And is hee not rather the Sauiour of the world That which is thine is none of mine Is it not so In worldly thinges true the right and propriety is in the true owner onely and in him alone and in none other In spirituall rightes it is not so altogether Christ is the Christ of all in generall and in speciall too yet not a diuided Christ but whole and entire whosoeuer hee is In natural thinges see a resemblance hereof the Sunne in the aire is a generall light in the eye a speciall and the sound in the ayre a generall noyce yet seerely discerned in the eare so Christ is a general Sauiour of all that shall bee saued but specially is hee receaued discerned and applied by the eye of faieth which faieth commeth by hearing him generally deliuered but specially applied As take eate take drinke at the Lordes Supper feede on him by thy faieth And blessings so speciallie and certainely taken haue euer a quicker tast in the receauer and prouoke thereby the more thankefulnesse towarde the donor 4. The neede of the receauer appeareth in this * The price of the ransom doth proue the neede of the party and the hainousnes of his trespas who is to bee ransommed that if a lesse ransom would haue doone the deed so great a payment had not needed But somuch it cost to saue one Soule And whereas hee saith Christ gaue himselfe For me it is plaine in how harde a case hee was before that Christ must dy that wee may liue or else wee dy euen as the Ramme was Sacrificed that Isaake might bee saued Wherefore of his perfect mercy and for our pure neede Christ dyed for thee for me and for vs al. Why Christians die though Christ died for them It is but an easie demaunde and soone satisfied why I must dye though Christ died for mee Yet God doubtlesse requireth no double satisfaction hee desireth not to bee twise paied for one debt Notwithstanding nothing is more certaine than that death is the common and vneuitable Lodge and Receptacle of the liuing The Wiseman shall dye as wel as shal the Foole. Dauid when he had * Acts. 13.36 serued his time was reposed to his Fathers and the statute is generall and cannot not be dispensed with al must dye By sin * Rom. 5.12 came in death and as sinne is in al so must all dy If there had beene no sinne there shoulde haue beene no death nor dissolution no not of our mixt bodies no more than there shall be of the very same bodies after their restitution glorification By sinne death entered and must goe ouer all But the question is why wee dye whom Christ hath deliuered both from sinne the cause and from death the consequent of sinne As we are deliuered from sinne not that it bee not but that it sting not so are wee deliuered from death not that it come not but that it conquer not that it lead vs not in a triumph ô death where is thy sting The sting of death is sinne but sinne is doone away and therefore ô graue where is thy victory Death is no Death to a good Christian Thou takest holde of vs not because wee are stung to death but because of a natural necessity indeede inducted thorough sinne at first yet for that the guilt of sinne is taken away death is no right death nowe but a dissolution and a passage to a better life and a very instrument whereby mortality putteth on immortality and whereby we liue for euer And the assurance of our certaine departure hence is hence-foorth a noble monument of the weight of sinne to weane vs from sinning and to win vs to Christ in perpetual thankefulnes for that we are freed from the curse of the Lawe against sinne from the guilt of sinne in it selfe and from the danger of death for sinning and all this by his infinit desert in dying for vs that otherwise should haue died a death euerlasting This grace would not bee abrogated I abrogate not the grace of God this grace of his Gospell Steuen Gardiner Steuen Gardiner in King Edwards time whē he stood much but falsly vpon his innocency and would not yeelde that hee had offended yet at length being asked whether he would accept the Kings pardon or no nay saith he I am learned enough not to refuse the Kings pardon In like manner men may dally and play and vse figge leaues at pleasure truly the greatest wisedome in the end will be to renounce all and craue mercy and stand vpon pardon and to trust vnto Christ and onely in him Grace is reiected when works are annexed And for a good fare-well and end of this Chapter be it remembred and written in the hartes of humble men for euer that wee after the example of our Apostle we disanull not we reiect not we frustrate not we abrogate not we throwe not away the grace of God which necessarily ensueth by meashing or adnexing either the association of Ceremonies or the obseruation of the Lawe vnto his free and absolutely free Grace free in GOD though deserued by Christ our Iesus and onely Sauiour CHAP. III. 1 O FOOLISH Galathians who hath bewitched you that you should not obey the trueth to whome Iesus Christ before was described in your sight and among you crucified 2 This only would I learne of you Receaued ye the spirit by the workes of the Law or by hearing of faith 3 Are yee so foolish that after ye haue begun in the spirit ye would now end in the flesh 4 Haue yee suffered many things in vaine If yet in vaine 5 He therefore that ministreth to you the spirite and worketh miracles among you doth he it through the workes of the Law or by the hearing of faith O YEE foolish bewitched and disobedient or incredulous Galathians These are vehement speeches But this vehemency proceeded of great zeale and this zeale for them was grounded vppon many reasons 1. Christ was described before their face and crucified in their sight 2. They had receiued the spirit and the graces of the holie Ghost not by the deeds of the Law for they were Gentils but by the Ghospel preached vnto them And the Law in comparison is flesh and grosse the Ghospel is spirituall Should they beginne with the better and relaps to the worse Be
all their former pains and his preaching should thus come iust to nothing and be in vaine he qualifieth discreetly and with a good affectionate correction that saying with this addition If yet in vain He seeth the worst which was very bad therefore reproueth them worthily notwithstanding declaring his intent harts desire hee hopeth the best and wisheth that his labour and their good beginnings might not be as water spilt to no purpose and to no profite but all in vaine When the patient is past hope the Physician wil neuer tarry but while hee applieth Physicke the sicke man may recouer The Galathians were farre gone euen like sicke-men when they katch after motes in the aire which is a very euil signe so they catching after ceremonies thinges which now were lesse worth than motes their case was hard Howbeit Paul in tender loue discreet zeal charitable hope leaueth them not in their extremities And desireth to ransom and redeeme if it were but a tip of an eare or a top of a toe out of the iawes of their cruel deceauers 2 The doctrine hee taught them is euident what it was by their default For if they defaulted by adiecting to the Gospel which could suffer no addition then the simplicity of the Gospel was the single truth which they disobeied ô ye foolish Galathians who hath bewitched you that you should not obey the truth Therefore he taught them the truth He taught them neither wine nor weomen I meane neither the fancies of mans braine nor the lusts of mans hart but the truth of God which was the verity of the Gospel which also was the truth in regarde of former figures and types Ioh. 1.17 The Lawe was giuen by Moses but grace and truth came by Iesus Christ Wherefore it was a vanity to preach other things and a vae and a vengeance hung ouer their heads that durst venter farder or would not go so far as not to betake them to their vnder-taken taske of preaching the Gospel To preach and speake is one thing and to preach the Gospel is another thing Except the Trumpet be blowen with the breath of the Lord it giueth an vncertaine sound or a false alarum The sum of the Gospel is Christ and him crucified Paul painted this doctrine among the Galathians and Christ was euen crucified by him among them Yet he was not one of them that put Christ to death neither died our Sauior in Galatia but in mount Caluery in Iury. Paul painted out Christ not with thâ—â—encil but 〈◊〉 is said Sed carmina maior imago So Pauls preaching Pauls writing was Pauls painting And he painted Christ among them yet was he no image-maker no Painter no Goold-smith to make Crucifixes no Carpenter to frame Roods this was a verbal Painting but yet a liuely description of Christ that according to our sauiours own prescript direction Go preach Not goe paint me out The contents of the Gospel summarily cited and speciallie reckoned vp As in one woorde summarily the argument of the Gospell is Christ so in some fewe woordes to saie a little more amply the Gospell containeth the glad yeare the acceptable time the ioyfull tidinges that is the birth the life the death of christ Iesus The mystery of his incarnation the innocency of his life the agony of his death The grace of his woordes the power of his woorking the merit of his crosse his mighty resurrection his glorious ascension his session at the right hand with the father The glory of Israel the ioy of the Gentiles the Sauiour of the woorld The promised seede the expectation of the faithful The anoynted of God to be the Prophet of truth the sacrifice for sinne and the king of his choosen 3. My third note If we looke to the Law we shal find the first draft of this painting to bee a grosse a fleshly a rawer kinde of knowledge fit for such a people til the fulnesse of time when nowe God would not distill by droppes as before but poure downe in plenteous sort his spirite vpon al fleshe 4. Wherein was and is my fourth note of the prerogatiue and dignity of the gospel But reuert wee to my second note whereon I rest for this present this gospel and those thinges in the Gospell and many moe of like nature and of like inestimable price were the matter of Pauls preaching and that as by one man came death and a passibility of and a pronenes to corruption in a guilt both of the first and second death so by one and therefore by nothing else came very life euen life euerlasting and not as our aduersaries say a new ability forsooth to liue so that wee our selues will purchase saluation by woorking and desertes of our owne Paul did not so teach Christ Num. 21. As the children of Israell iourneyed towarde the promised Land many of them waxed weary wayward and wanton and their soule lothed the bread of heauen as a wearish and a waterish foode without rellish they murmured against God and against Moises Wherefore the Lord sent fierie stinging Serpentes among them and had not Moises prayed and had not the Lord taken compassion on them by a brazen Serpent to bee erected whereon they shoulde looke that they might bee recured there was no remedy but death Appliably to speake for this story was but a figure of Christ The brazen serpent a tipe of Christ vpon his crosse In the wildernes of this world what Dragon more fierse than sinne What Serpent so fieris as Sathan Who so is strung hereby is enflamed to death in euerlasting flames Notwithstanding it hath pleased God to prescribe a perfect and a soueraigne help That Serpent was erected so was Christ exalted on the crosse hee was crucified on the tree And stil is as it were crucified before our eies by preaching him crucified and in the beholding thereof is health and saluation And wee may sate in faith that * Luk. 2.30 Simeon said when hee sawe our Sauiour in the flesh Mine eyes haue seene and doe see my saluation So effectually the preacher painteth foorth Christ in precious colours And when I heare what he preacheth by hearing commeth my faith and my faith is fixed in Christ who is onely and alone preached to be A IESVS to bee that Serpent and to bee A SAVIOVR This was the duetie which Paul discharged And euen as the * Mat. 2.9 Star that stoode right ouer the place where Christ was borne so Paul perpendicularly and directly standeth vpon Christ vpon his natiuity and vpon the rest of his life but the * The chiefest argument of al our sermons is Christ Iesus on his crosse death of the crosse was a chiefe action significantly shewing what we eternally deserued and should haue felt if hee had not died And therefore he painted that out most Gen. 30.37 And as Iacob when hee would haue the Ewes to yeene speckled Lambs stript
moone a sabboth or a peece of an holy day Euery day is a feast to a Christian man euery day is Alleluia praise the Lorde and euery time is a rest and a saboth vnto God and therefore the Galathians in restraining mē to such strict obseruations did Iudaize therein and it was not conuenient The ciuil vse is stil expedient 2 The ciuill vse of the saboth was to prefixe a set rest to men euen to thy seruant yea for the very beast for God is a gracious God respecting the basest of his creatures And continuall toyle hath no continuance As the moth breedeth in the garment that is not worne so the garment is soone worne-out that is euer worne and where there is no change at al. Wherefore ceremonieus circumstances being taken away the ciuill vse of the saboth standeth in force and effect as before The ecclesiastical vse is continuall 3 The ecclesiastical vse of the saboth remaineth also much more with vs. For wee haue but changed the Iewes saboth which was Saturday into our Christian saboth which is the lorde day wherein the Lord rose from the death and which wee call Sunday retaining the name gentility was accustomed to at the first But that forceth not for christianity goeth not by names In truth our Sunday is our saboth and therein albeit a Christian life bee a continuall saboth and albeit the Iewish ceremonies be repealed and cancelled as appeire either by our altering the day notwithstanding because God is the author of order and because he should not bee serued vncertainly in our publicke seruice our saboth as a set time is wisely set downe and relligiously shoulde bee obserued We read of the Lacedemonians that by common exercise and continuall endeuour could dehaue and demeane themselues very warlickly in the camp but to vse the time of peace they had vtterly no skill as if their hands had bin made only to handle their weapons and themselues born to liue and dye in the leager semblably many if yet many can tell meetely well I dare not say well but some can tell right-well howe to trade in the working dayes but how the saboth and holy-day shoulde bee holily passed ouer al as poore soules scant the thowsanth man knoweth The couetous man hath euer a geob of woork to doe at Church time the wanton person chuseth that time for his sinnes when others are best occupied vaine men and idle fukes either house it in the Ale-house or houle it in the Alley passe the time at some inordinate and vnlawful disport or other while the calues of our lips are in sacrifieng while the incence of our praying is a burning while the minister standeth at the Lordes table Nehem. 8.4 while Esdra is in the pulpit reading and expounding the Law of God Priuate praiers exclude not the church-seruice I knowe men may pray and read at home and at what howre they list among their priuate families But doe you or dare they contemne the Lords ordinance There is no ceremonious difference of daies true Yet principally certaine times are fixed to raise vp a mount as it were or to build vp a high tower whither mē may ascend and many eies togither may looke round about and take a full view of the goodnes and benefits of God laid foorth and displaid by the interpretation of the Scriptures You say yow read at home and pray at home If you did yet is not the congregation to be thus shunned say so who will whom I see not vsually at Church I dare say and do vouch that his so saying is an vntru saying If it be night it may be thou sleepest if woorking day it may bee thou art occupied if it be holy-day neuer tel me thou praiest duely at home that wilt not voutsafe to step out of doores to ioine in prayers with the assembly of Gods children and thy fellow brethren Parlor praying and secret preaching at times of publicke seruice And of al things that is a singuler pride nicenes that is grown in to turn the Church-seuice only into parlar prayeng and priuate preaching euen at those times when the congregation is gathered together in publique place If Elias were in flyght from the face of Iezabel if Ionas be cast into the Sea Ieremy into the miry dungeon or Daniel into the den in the time of persecution whether in caues marishes or in places whereuer there is no difference of places Vnder a Iuniper tree on the mountaine in the wildernesse out of the whalles belly in euerie place pure handes may be helde vp to that hand that giueth most richly and casteth no man in the teeth But still I speake of the Church-prayers of publique places in times of peace and of set times in publique places and that the Church-minister put in vse the practise of his Church vocation then and there especially when it is most seemely and where the woord it selfe would bee preached and the sacraments ministred That the husband man praise God in the field the girle at her needle the maid at her wheel the weauer at his loome euery artisan at his trade or that the father and master of his children and whole housholde reade a chapter distinctly sing psalms deuoutly pray togither hartily at home at entry of their labors and end of their daily worck is an exercise much wanting greatly esteemed of God and comfortable to the soule and by these good meanes the very working-daies after a sort are turned into a religious continual kind of Saboth vnto such But still I missike that sancifull demeanour in some in not keeping the publicke Saboth in publick fort The prayer of one godly man is forceable but virtus vnita fortior God who that heareth one wil heare many and the praiers of many ioyned in one make a more forcible entraunce to the throne of grace and there is singular comfort in this coniunction When we eate or when wee drinke to satisfie hunger and thirst it skilleth not but when similiars meete their meat and drink to them a great deale more good In the church meetings if men could tast spirituall ioy as well as they can corporal meats in sociable companies the comparison is vnequal I might enlarge and speake directly But I feare me I haue lost my way if not my labor and intent herein therefore to return For you my good breethren that seeme to keep and I hope obserue the saboth as you should you who ioin in praiers with vs who frequent our sermons partake gods sacraments who rest frō sinne vnto God the seuenth day make ye also the rest of the weeke suceable to this beginning For otherwise were it not more than a folly to rest one day in body from labor in soul from sin that the six daies folowing we might run to al excesse of riot weary our selues more thā before as it were resting our selues our horse a litle to
an innocent person Yea the moe Dauids giftes and graces were and the more he was prospered of God and liked of the people all these was more wood to the fier and farther matter for his enuious imagination to fret it self vpon euen as in the fable of the snake comming into the smithes forge and finding a file there seing it had teeth thought nothing should haue teeth but it selfe and began to licke it and licked so long til she had licked off her tongue so Saul could neuer be quiet and Dauids good deeds successiuely following still one vpon another encreased Sauls greefe and out-rage continually so much the more as the fier burneth and in burning consumeth it selfe so was it with Saul and so is it with al enuious men One of the philosophers for a punishment could wish to the enuious person nothing but that hee might haue many eies and eares to see and heare the good haps and prosperity in other men For then is he lanced and cut and pearced with such euentes as it were with kniues and arrowes and sharp weapons on euery side where he discerneth any good Who euer he were that wrote those collations ad * Serm. 18. Aug. Tom. 10. fratres in Eremo among recital of sundry ensamples that Basil and Cyprian and others had touched before him as of Caius enuying the sacrifice of â—…el which was accepted Esaus enuying Iacob 〈…〉 when yet hee had sold it the Patriarkes enuying of Ioseph for their fathers liking and Sauls enuying of good Dauid c. Amongest other parables hee likeneth enuy to the worme in the greene gourde that shadowed the prophet to the worms in Manna that marred the Angels foode to the frogs in Aegypt in their fairest parlers Among the rest he compareth an enuious man to the Phoenix and they say there is but one bird of that kinde In deede it were to bee wished that there were neuer such a Phoenix at all as enuie is The story or the conceaued opinion of this bird is that she gathereth togither the driest and sweetest sticks of Synomom and the like and carieth them vp to some high mountaine and hote place neere the sunne and with flapping her winges vp and downe ouer the pile of stickes shee incenseth them and enflameth her self withal and both burn in one fier And this is right enuy which to burne another mans house setteth his owne house on fier and to put out both another mans eies wil be desirous at least to loose one of her owne yea and is content that her owne bowels may be eaten out to bring forth a viperous effect Paul teacheth vs a fairer way that we prouoke not one another but that we preuent one another in giuing honor and enuying no man and neuer contending but vppon necessary and butifull occasions crucifieng the fleshe which woulde otherwise rancle and fester and the affections of the fleshe which will boile and seeth and the lustes of the fleshe which against the true liberty of the spirit And thus if we liue in the spirit the life of the spirit is the death of the flesh and backwarde the life of the fleshe is the death of the spirite which maketh a man as colde as a stone and as stiffe as a dead man that wee cannot wagge much-lesse walcke in the waies of Godlinesse of righteousnesse and temperate behauiour in any good path But the Lorde loueth a bodie that is deade to sinne and hee altogether delighteth in the soule that liueth through his spirite For without his spirite wee cannot liue CHAP. VI. 1 BRETHREN if a man be sodenly taken in any offence yee which are spiritual restore such a one with the spirit of meekenesse considering thy selfe least thou also be tempted 2 Bear ye one an others burden so fulfill the Law of Christ 3 For if any man seem to himselfe that he is somewhat when he is nothing he deceiueth himselfe in his imagination 4 But let euery man proue his own work and then shal he haue reioycing in himselfe only and not in another 5 For euery man shal bear his own burden FOR a preseruatiue against the vices last spoken of viz. ambition strife enuy the best treacle is to take a quite contrary diet The ambitious the contentious the enuious maÌ„ wil keep a needelesse stur and trouble euery man without all cause But the contented Christian desireth to pacifie al things and to help euery where where help is wanting Sathan is a mighty enimy and man is weak and flesh is fraile and our waies are slippery Now if a man which is better than thy neighbours Ox or Asse whereof notwithstanding in cases thou standest charged if a man nay if any man thy like in nature and brother in Christ if any man for all may not onely of thy friends or thy kinne or some of thy family but if anie man be supprised by Sathan preuented by suttlety inueigled by sleights intised by sinners taken and vpon the suddain * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ouer-taken by infirmity what is to be doone He that is fallen may rise againe reach-forth thy hand and help him vp A member dislocated out of ioynt may bee set in againe restore such a member yea restore you such a man saith the Apostle that is fallen out of the order and place he should haue kept himselfe in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mutual help If one walke alone and no man goe with him nor any man care for him and fall then is his fall the more dangerous Likewise the single thread is soone snapt a sunder but when men intertwist themselues in mutual loue to help one the other the double the triple-folde woorke is like to hold out In like manner if men could and would ioine in one to the behoofe of one another I see no reason why things may not bee wel restored and reformed without any great a-do The Spirit of Lenitie The maner of this restoring is not to play the rude Chirurgian but to do al that may be in the spirit of lenitie The good sheepehard laieth the straied sheepe that straid by simplicity on his own shoulders the tender mother carieth the sicke childe in her armes the mercifull Samaritan setteth the wounded man vppon his owne beast and himselfe goeth a foote Yet note there is a difference between simplicitie and wilfulnesse betweene fore and fore leaper and leaper plague and plague fault faults sinners and sinners But this is the property of a peruerse zeale and perfect hypocrisie to stand most vpon trifles mint and commin and vpon matters of lesse importance to stick at a straw stride ouer a block to swallow an Oxe and straine a Gnat to hallow with hue and cry after a mote as if the sheepheard shoulde still trouble the weake sheepe and let the scabbed ram walke at will and spread his venom throughout the whole flock No brethren If any man be howsoeuer preuented in a