sanctifie it when they name it but it is not so For Moses did not speede the better for his calling on God or for his stretching out of his armes or for thy squeaking out on the name of the Lorde when he commaunded in his name that life should departe the Grashoppers runne away out of Aegypt but in acknowledging his might and his power and his greatnesse that was able to doe it and bring it to passe and by faith he did accomplish it So we thinke in this sole speach vttered halowed be thy name there is no commoditie commeth to vs But in remembring what we be and desiring by all meanes with our might with strength with our power to blesse it and set it forth in that is our obedience and prayer knowe Elyas called on the name of God and fire came downe from heauen and consumed the water the stickes and the sacrifice And Ieremy in the name of the Lorde foretolde their captiuitie into Babilon And Micheas in the name of God prophesied of the ouerthrowe of Ahad And yet by rehearsing the name of the Lorde did they not this but by faith thorowe the spirite In like maner we by asking or demaunding or â—rauing though it be in his name if it be not by faith it is nothing The reason hereof is vse his name and in â—â—are and in skill aâ—â— as he biddeth it helpeth thée Abuse his Godhead and turne it to thy pleasure and racke his libertie to thâ— commoditie and he consumeth thée Then in this place sanctified be thy name is nothing els mente then his glorie the knowledge of him the true vnderstaÌ„ding of his maiestie the debasing of our selues and the glorifying of the Lorde our god This was the onely cause that Moses and Aaron did not sée the lande of promise neitheir entered into Canaan For they did not sanctifie the Lorde at the waters of striefe That is magnifie and extol their God and that ought to haue glorified him who in that distresse wherein they were was able to haue helped theÌ„ if they had called on his name Hallowing that is making holy or holying and sanctifiying doth signifie any thing that is consecrated or giuen or seuered froÌ„ man vnto God and is only proper to the Lord to his seruice to the worship of his name I take this worde to proceede from the Hebrewes that in their spéech called it a gifte as it were presented to god It came of the ceremonie which was vsed in Israel who as any thing was holy and consecrated to the Lorde vsed to lay their handes thereon singnifying that that thing they gaue they willingly gaue it to the lord So Iacob blessing Ephraim and Manasses laide his handes vpon them and blessed them or put them a part from other vnto god In the same signification they laid their handes on their sacrifices as being holy to the Lorde and pastors and Deacons kept this order in the church and so did Paul and layed his handes vpon them deliuering them vp or putting them in minde of their duetie that ought to be holy and vpright before the Lorde In that sert we do make holy or sanctifie the name of the Lords our God in that it is onely he to whome we giue holinesse and sanctification and reuerence hemage a boue the rest and doe confesse none to be like him Here it commeth to passe that we call those which be the Lordes Saincts that is holy as comming from one that is holy which is the Lord god For an those that are begrymed and sweltered in claye or sayde to be claylike and of blacke blacke men so from him that is holiest are we holy Gualter out of Cratilas in Plato as I take it hath properly deriued this worde and calleth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not earthly of the priuatiue α and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is without the earth As then being worthy of the names of sainctes when we haue forsaken the enormities of the flesh of the earth which is of those that beinge heare are earthly But paraduenture ouer farre in this and easely knowen from whence I came euen from the earth that sauoureth so much of these grosse and crooked speaches yet as content w my portion I cannot be ashamed to power foorthe my harde and crabby talke seeing so greate strife in others to be nice and in their finesse and puritie of tongue could to this day in my iudgement vse none I aske at your handes this a lone to suffer me patiently to speake vnto rudelinges euen them of the countrye where nowe I am If not but you will snoffle at it and enuie my small skill truely I giue you warning to chaunge your mindes for euen you with all your eloquence shall neuer perswade me to giue ouer And as one vnaquainted with so dainty eares I returne againe to the earth from whence I went more exquisite more delicate and the gorgeous stuffe I leaue to you In this place by this worde sanctifying or halowed I vnderstande to estéeme or thinke as holy to honour and celebrate and to call on the name of one eternall God which is holye and in this sence God doth vse these words in Ezechiel I wil be magnified and I wil be satisfied I wil be knowen in the eyes of the nations and they shall knowe that I am the Lorde Ezech. 38.23 and Esaie shewed the same verie effectuall The Lorde hath opened or made his arme naked in the sight of the Gentiles and all the ends of the earth shal sée the saluation of our god Esay 52.10 For in that the name of God is holy and reuerent verie holinesse and sanctitie it selfe therfore are we commaunded to hallowe it But because he is not knowen of all and the mindes of men are cloyed and worne with superstition Idolatrie Blasphemie incantation execration periurie therefore is it that in prayer we praye that glorie may bee geuen vnto him homage ductie feare and reuerence that all may honour him praise him and laude him For this cause I haue set you downe a perfecte rule and square to directe our life and conuersation withall and to vnderstande howe God is knowen which is partely in our creation partely in our redemption partly in our iustification that the Lorde God may bee knowen vppon the earth his sonne Christ among men and the spirite that gouerneth directeth the heartes of all fleshe Theodoret in that place where he sheweth what God is maketh this sanctification or holines a name that doth appertain to the Trinitie for the none els by nature are Gods but they his opinion is that Lorde and God appertaine to the thrée seuerall persons but our Lorde God is to be honoured or sanctified so that in one God the Father the Sonne and the holie Ghost ar to be sanctified Eucherius vppon the Kinges sheweth the wisedome of the Lorde God which doth wonders and
the causes of the institution thereof bée opened The first cause for which the Sabboth was ordayned was Economicall or politicke it is expedient for the preseruation and safety of man that hee may rest his weary bones and eate the labour of his hands and the sweate of his browes with ioyfulnes To this alludeth the spirite of God in Exodus thou and thy Seruaunt and thy Mayde and Cattell and thy Straunger that is within thy Gates The cause is that in care ouerlabouring tediousnes of thy soule thou shouldest not repine agaynst the lord Of the rest much is written Exod. 13. Deut. 5. The second cause of Sabbothe is ecclesiasticall or for the Church because as there was assembling togeather of the Iewes wherin the Lord was reuerenced and his Sabboth halowed so especiallye for this that agréeinge in one wée might be mēbers and professors of one Christe which was the only end of the law For as they had the Tabernacle to come vnto so they had thrée seueral time◠appoynted to meete in their Passouer for their deliuery out of Aegipt their Penticost for the rememberaunce of the lawe giuen by Moses their feast of Tabernacles for that God kepte and deliuered their Fathers in the Wildernes the space of forty yeares So that as they did meete and had seueral places for their offeringes so ought wee to bee gathered togeather at Prayer The thirde cause of the institution of the Sabboth is the rest and quietnes therin prefigured when the Saincts of God shal be associated all of them and dwell with the Lorde of the Sabboth and the vse therof I referre you to the Prophets In wholme I finde no one so great complaynt of them in Israel as I doo for the contempt and breach of the holy day The blessinge in keeping it the dreadfull cursing in breaking it is set downe Esay 58.13 and 56.2 The curse to him that dispiseth his ordinance is shewed in Deut. but his displeasure and wrath is opened to vs in that the fellow that gathered stickes on the Sabboth was stoned and in them sufficiently declared whom God checked for that they gathered Manhu on the Saboth and when they went out found none if it bée a cause of force enough to kepe a man from Church to breake the Sabboth to iourney many miles to heare a Sermond when thy aboade weare more acceptable to thy God and thy diligence more commendable Then truely these men named béefore may pleade with the Lord as vniustly punished For the one had no ster to warme him with the other lackte meate to féede him with and thou wantest a Prophet goest a gadding and seekest a straunger and huntest after the worde to delight thée with Surely this was looked too in Israell and it was neuer permitted amonge the Gentilles and the contempte of the worde and of the Sabboth was neuer suffered amonge Infidelles it was greeuously punished in the primatiue Church and if Constantine Athamasius and Ierom liued they would haue rowsed them out and haue fetchte them wholme long ere this I trust I neede not question heare with any man as touching the day that is appointed for the Sabboth For dayes of them selues are indifferent Math. 22.5 Luke 13.15 Ioh. 5.10 Rom. 14.5 Gala. 4.10 And God could haue appointed euery day to worship him if so his Maiesty had thought good therof but hee appoynted onely one that giuinge our selues to labour wée might bee readyer at appoynted day to learne our duety For as in other Ceremonyes there is sumthing that can not bee chaunged and there is that may bee forborne and lefte out so also is it heare For in Circumsitiō and in Baptisme it is necessarely required that those which pertayne vnto the couenaunt and bee lately ioyned to the Church should haue some external signe to shew it but the manner therof is for a time as first the cutting of the foreskinne the alteration therof renewed againe in the sprinkling of water Therfore to shew there was no necessity therof there was a time wherin none was circumcised and afterward giuen to Abraham established it was left vndoon in the Wildernes the space of forty yeeres so then we bee not tyed therunto and the external rites In like māner the case is all one in vs the Ministers of the word namely the we haue prouided for vs to liue by But whither we take it as tithe or out of the Kings tresury it is indifferent And so is it in the Saboth euen the we keepe a day holy vnto the Lord but whyther it bee the first day or the second or the fourth that for ought that I can yet see I finde not Then this is taken in of the Church as beeing hir right and at hir appoyntment and shée hath instituted the Sunday for the Saboth to magnefie the name of the Lord withall as for other Festiuall dayes then when I haue occasion to speake the breach of these beeinge as great as the abuse of the other at more conuenient place must bee examined for now I am already admonished to make haste only let this bée sufficient for the vnderstanding of that which I considered in Prayer that on s parte therof was publique and the other priuate The manner of prayer howe it is to be vsed whether knéeling sitting standing or going there is small cause to reason of it For if it be priuate to thy selfe the Lord accepteth as well the goer as the runner and the stander as the knéeler if he come in spirite and trueth Albeit I do wishe a reuerend feare in euery one that commeth before the lord For if there be duetie and reuerence and care to be had among men and those that dwell in teats whose building is but for a season What manner of humilitie ought we to vse vnto the Lorde our God that gouerneth vs and the whole earth But in publique prayer it is my desire that all would be of one mind not reading when one is preaching or another talking while he is ministring or thou knéeling when he is sitting but that we be alike affectioned vnto the Lorde For as the Leuites when the Trumpe did sound at once did agree alike so would I at one time wee might accorde in voice in gesture in prayer in supplication in soule in heart vnto our god For lift thou vp thy hands or beate thou on thy brest or speake thou openly or sigh inwardly or else what euer thy custome be be it not Iewishe or Ethnicke like it is all one vnto the Lorde Onely in the Congregation where God wil be knowen among vs where we may be iudged to be as seruauntes vnto one Lorde let there be no discorde or disagréement in any thing For as is of the seruaunt to the master so is there of vs by duetie in vs to our God and if in the house they be at variance among them selues will their Lord
they of Aegipt and of Athens with their Sisters Neither would their Tragedies bée stufte so full with incéstious mariages They had small cause to boaste so much of Hercules eyther hee that furious and franticke or els of Aetheus by an inchauntresse I know not how or by some one of their woonted lyes immagined of them to haue bin taken vp to Heauen This is the ignorance wherwith God often times blindeth the Infidels for his dispight and contempte of Relygion euen to giue them eyes that they should not sée and eares that they should not heare and hartes that they should not vnderstand and seeke after the Lorde as it is come to passe this day I know that Eusebius misliked the Aegiptians and thought them vnskilfull iudgers of the Eternall God that made the Sonne which is at the becke and cōmaundment of the Heighest to bee the Creator and Workemaister of other Creatures Had that Diocletianus any feare of God that would bée worshipped as a God and reuerenced among men that was him selfe a very man Epiphanes in Samos was accustomly honoured for so sayth Epiphanius Thermatis the daughter of Amenoph the Sonne of Pharooe I am assured agaynst the will of Moses was made a Goddesse for that shee brought vp Moses wittely it is sayd of Prudentius in his booke agaynst Simmachius Quicquid humus pelagus caelum mirabile gignunt Id duxere Deos. For the Phaenitians they knew not the Aegiptians nor the Aegiptians the Scithians nor the Scithians the Persians nor the Persians the Syrians Pelasgos Ile knew not them of Throitia nor they the Thebes nor they the Indians nor the Indians the Arabians neither yet knew they the Aepionians There were diuers in Siria and diuers in Sylicia and diuers in Cappadotia and the Cappadotians knew not the Gods of the Bethinians nor they the Romanes neither the Romanes the Armenians nor the Armenians vs nor wée them in Fraunce nor the French men the Bohemians nor the Bohemian the Irishe nation nor that brutishe people God So that the whole earth was deuided This same historicall this Ethnicke beleefe this heathenish knowledge had so ouerflowen the face of the earth that verie fewe there were that knewe the Lorde I make therefore this diuision only and this separation of vs from them that God onely in his eternall decrée hath segregated vs from the nations that wée should be a holie nation and a royall Priesthood Not giuing our selues ouer to the lustes of the fleshe and vanities of our mindes pleasures of this life wherein I knowe not what commoditie it is we get but to kéepe our selues from filthines vncleannes and to the seruing of the eternall God which is attained of vs by a more open declaration of his woorkes then to confesse a bare Lord or a bare god For wée consider where he is and it is aboue which is the father of light we knowe that he made all euen by his worde the eternall worde the sonne of God and that nowe he guideth and gouerneth all for he is the Lord of glorie and of powre all which Panisme and Gentilisme coulde neuer teache vs And of a certeintie it is and shal be to the ende of the worlde that he whome men doe thinke to cal vppon rightly then when they consider the Lorde in his workes and what he is they are verie farre from him And this superstition this ignorance I would it were not so common as it is among men the bare Christian profession will not serue vs vnto eternall life and belche out the name of God so often as thou wilte and power out the hidd treasuries of thy heart in knowing the Lorde yet if thy life and demeanor be not according it is but historical it is but Ethnick like Remember Lamech I woulde slaye a man in my might a yong man in my strength If Cain shal be auenged seuen folde then Lamech seuentie times seuen fold This mockerie of the iudgements of God because he stroke him not presently and for that he deferred his wrath in Cain how is it shewen in a bare knowledge of iustice in God It is the common custom of wicked men to confesse a kinde of anger and displeasure in God but they are not terrified or dismaide by his iudgements So did Abimelech and Picoll his captaine that coulde not denie but that God was with Abraham and prospered him in his doings and therefore made a couenant with the Patriarke that shoulde continue vnto him and his children for euer This Philistine knewe there was a trewe a iust God that Abraham worshipped but he his people would not follow him The like is in Laban the Aramite Iacobs kinsman that regarded that poore Iacob for feare onely and reported that the God of Iacob and his fathers had appeared to them by night And giuen him a warning for the life of Iacob and for his soules that were with him that he should not touch him but this Sirian he liued neuer the better or else serued the Lorde the more But in a bare and onely knowledge that there was the God of Iacob he is a condemnation to him selfe that was a moste vile idolater serued him not The like is in Saul at that time he went vnto the Pythonist made protestation there that the Lorde had forsaken him neither would he answere him by Vrim Thumim nor by Prophets yet neuer did he turne him aright either else forgat he his filthie wayes but procéeded to vexe the Lord to bring his displeasure vpon him This may be a note to knowe a right Israelite if he professe vprightly liue warily acknowledge God sincerely otherwise if thou vnfold thy hid cogitatiōs and denounce a bare spéech of the Lorde and that he is readie to punishe to strike that thou oughtest to call vppon him yet knowest not howe which waye this intelligēce of thine it is but heathenish thy faith it is but historical for the diuels they know ther is a god The second kinde of faith it is that which I call a dead faith for it bringeth foorth no fruit much like vnto a dead man yet we say he is man not that he is but for that he was a man. The image or picture of any mā it is called by the name of him that it was made for although it hath neither life neither breath as hath the man And so was the clubbe in the handes of Hercules in the temple of Rome so called frō the name of him that vsed it yet neuer stroke he therwith For if he could haue done it euen Anthonie Sylla in all their strength durst not haue looked on him who if he had liued would always haue hated them And so be the brazē bulles that Solomon made called by an vnproper name for they neuer roared and the golden calfe the was set vp at Dan by Ieroboam at Bethel another
breake the right course thou shouldest take in thy youth I giue thee a charge for the Sabboth daye and that thou seuer not thy selfe from the congregation neyther cut his Churche into peeces whereof thou art also one For I would that thou knew that the ende wherfore you are called into the Church of God is to vnderstand that your redemption is layd vp in Christe and your life perfited in his blood a token and signe wherof you receiued when as you promised vnto the Lord to bee holy and perfecte and vnspotted vnto him so that there is no time giuen you to contend for trifles neyther may you contend about Baptisme or doubt of the fauour of God or distrust the Lorde seeing hee is a God of rightuousnes And if our manner of order trouble thée or our custome hinder thee that wee vse at Baptisme I shewe thee that it is indifferente what matter is it if thou come vnto the Funt there receauest tokens of grace It is better more laudable then if thou diddest take it at a Bason or out of a Pot or powred out thorow any ther vessels for they all bee prophaned worse by wicked and prophane men that washe and handle them then is this vsed of Papistes in time of Popery For these are abused now the Funt hath bin clensed many a tyme since and is put vnto a good vse Thinke not mutch to forsake the Diuell for hee is a wicked Spirite and enemy to mankinde or to denounse his workes for they bee euill vngodly nor the Pomps and vanities of this world for they fade and vanishe togeather and if thou conceaue an euill opinion of the Minister yet doo not thou the duety of a Minister and let not the examples of other men mooue thée for it is vngodly and agaynst the word of the Lord But see that thou walke vprightly in sinscritee and integrytée of harte When thou commest to greater grothe and art able first to pray then aright nexte to God when thou art instructed in the manner and forme of prayer then vnderstandest that it is to bée doone in pure and perfecte fayth without swaruinge and art able to iudge a true Christian by the Badge and Colisen hee weareth Which is a good and vpright conuersation grounded vpon assured hope take no thought my Childe neyther thinke that thou arte farre from Christe and bee thou perswaded that hee knoweth thee For then I will bring thee to his Table and thou shalt eate and drinke with him and I will giue thee assurance of that fayth thou hast neyther shalte thou bée any more a straunger or foraner but a partaker of his body of his blood wherby thou art washed and clensed from sin on whom thou féedest spiritually in that liuely fayth which I haue taught But take you héede my litle ones that you doo not trouble your selues with vanityes for that you haue not learned of mee neyther vere your mindes with vntimely questions which bee not for your yeares leaue them to others I charge thee that thou make no difference of standinge if thou come thyther neyther yet necessity in kneeling to know God nor Religion insitting to serue the Lorde Presume not to bée a Iudger of thy Brother at his Table rake not vp olde offences remember not the iniquities doone in his youth thinke that God hath forgotten them and know they are wiped away by assured repentaunce in the blood of Christ The wicked man shall beare his owne sinne and the vngodly his owne transgressions therfore flye not from the Table of the Lorde for the iniquity of thy Brother My litle one learne in time and suffer not age to incrotch with stealinge steppes before thou know the Lorde For if I giue thee Breade and Wine as giuen vnto euery one priuately to put him in minde of the receipte therof If I bid thee take the Breade in a remembraunce of his body that was giuen for thee and the Wine in a remembraunce of his blood was shed for thée it is all one vnto vs as if Brother should drinke vnto Brother and the effecte therof alike If I shall vse a certaine and definite order in my prayer to the ende there may bée no confusion in the Church it is better my Sunne then if euery man pray seuerally and then there shal be small agréement or cōsent amonge vs But I see that euery one of you hath his appoynted manner and it is not good in the Church of God for there must bée as it weare one body ioyned together by one voice vttering all of vs as of one spéeche one prayer vnto our God As for the Garments that wée weare they detract nothing from the goodnes of the Lorde and make a conscience in thy life that God may prosper thy dayes and blesse thy youth and giue thee a perfecte knowledge in thy age and directe thée in a holy and pure conuersation in the sight of men Put not religion in trifles and if at the Table of the Lorde I stand North or South it is alike as if I turned Caste or West vnto the Lord For he is in all quarters of the earth As for the state wherin thou art doubt thou not therof let no man delude thée in any thing For thy Baptisme at what time soeuer it was whether in ignoraunce or in the brightnesse of the Gospell whether by a man or by a woman or by the good or by the euill or by the Christian or by the Panime though none of them all bée allowed of mée yet if it happen so God hée is not tyed to the good or to the bad to the water or to the signe but those whom hée accepteth will hée call into his Churche Put not the ground of thy fayth in any thinge that is vnseemely and thinke not those which bée thy suertyes shal answere for thee or for thy déeds For when they haue brought thee out of fier and water and set thée vpon thy feete and trayned thée vp in good nurture and tought thee the wayes of the Lord and thou of thy selfe come vnto full grothe my Childe thinke not thou art tyed vnto them or yet that their life is fastned vnto thine For thy sinne it is vpon thy owne heade and God will roote out the heary scalpe of such a one as transgresseth his Lawes doubt not of this whither thou oughtest to forsake the Diuell and all his woorkes or no but vnderstande at the beginning and know that God loueth righteousnes and hateth iniquity and thy conuersation let it not bée in the workes of the fleshe Murther adultery incest fornication thefte bribary extorcion vsury robbing thy neighboure nor in porloyning nor in deceyt nor in racking of the poore nor in grudging nor in enuy nor debate nor striuing nor in concupiscence nor in the wayes and swéetenesse of this life For these and sutch like bée the workes of the
there is one God that it is the gift of the Lorde and that it commeth by hearing the worde and by preaching Thus when thou arte armed knowe that thy redemption is wrought thy full satisfaction is ended thou thy selfe art made a newe creature and taken into the sheepfolde of the Lorde and incourage thée the more in thy harde and wearisome iourney take with thee the commeditie and fruite whiche thou reapest and gather it vp as the clusters of grapes in the haruest or as the Oliue and the Sinamand in the Summer for the sweate of thy browes and the labour of thy handes and the ende of thy tranaile and of thy paine shall bee this Firste thy sinnes are forgiuen thée for hée that beleeueth shall not perish but haue euerlasting life Matthew 9.2 Luke 7.50 Actes 10.43 I suppose it to be spoken of Christe to this ende That man borne of a woman and hauing but a short time to liue being full of miserie might knowe him selfe to bée worse then the creatures that perish if he had not a meane and waye to saue him so that by faith wee are no more dead so the fleshe but quiekened to the Lorde Christ and thy sinnes be washed My â—â—rruption purified thy vncleannesse cleansed thy darknesse lightened thou thy selfe by fayth saued The second benefite that commeth to you my Children by this doctrine I haue taught you is that wee are the Children of god Iohn 1.12 Galat. 3.26 The greatest glory in this lyfe that the prowde and stately man doth thinke vpon is honor heare on earth and superiority with the highest and heire to him that is greatest and familiaritie with stately Lordes and Lorolike states but the Children of obedyence they leaue the transitorye worlde they mount vp into the Skye they pearce the Heauen and dwell with the Lorde of Lordes and bee heires and Sunnes vnto him The thirde commodity you shall finde hereby is this that Christe dwelleth in vs Eph. 3.12 and that you be made Temples of God habitations of the holy Ghost whom wee haue receyued from the Lorde Iohn 14.17 Rom. 5.5 and 8.9.2 Cor. 1.22 and 5.5 and 6.16 Galâ— 3.2 Ephe. 2.22 This also taketh away the righteousnes of such as walke not after the the spirite but after the flesh that quenche the graces giuen vnto them and blinded with the spirite of error remayne still in darkenes it iustefieth those that bée Goddes and it is our singular comforte that hee dwelleth and remayneth amonge vs so that all filthynes must bee layde aparte dressinge and trimminge our bodyes as fit places to receyue the holy Choste walking not in wantonnes and banquetting neither in ryot and gluttony after the manner of this world but frame fashion our earthly members the the man of God may appeare and the loue of the father which is spred abroad in our harts by the holy Ghost which is giuen vnto vs. The fourth and excellent dignity that you my litle ones and all other that profes vnfainedly shal receine is this You bée iustefied purefied regenerated and sanctefied and by fayth Actes 13.39 and 15.9 and 26.18 Rom. 3.24 and 4.5 and 5.1 and 9.30 and 10 10. Philip. 39. Colos 1 23. From him it commeth that you haue lyfe who when you weare culpaple béefore the Lorde wrought a meane to strike out the hande wrighting written in the Table of stone and hath opened vs a Doore to enter in at that weare depriued of the Glory of God hath ingrauen his commaundements in our hartes that more fréely by his grace wee might sée our redemption wrought in Christ Iesus by whom in fayth wee are adopted and Circumcised not in a Circumcision made with handes but in cuttinge away our carnall affections by the force of the spirite and as beeing enemyes wee were reconciled to God by the death of his Sunne so now beeinge reconciled wée shal be saued by his life For to such as walke in the steppes of our Father Abraham hath hee giuen eternall saluatioÌ„ according to promise that was not called by the will of man and the wil of fleshe but by the will of God So that blessed bee our Lorde Iesus Christ that setteth out his loue towarde vs and hath giuen vs the ernest of his Spirit and in a more heanenly washinge purified vs and that not by water but by the holy Ghoste is it that hee hath renewed vs And with a better blessinge then the which was of Moses that lasted for a season and is abolished newly sanctefied vs and by a fayth that maketh not ashamed strengthned vs that wee might come and dwell with Christe whose prayse is not of men but of God. The fifth and the last preâ—eminence that you my Children for the long frauaile and tediousnes wherin you haue wearied your selues shall purchase and get vnto you is that you shall obtayne life euerlasting Ioh. 3.15 and 5.24 and 6.40 and 11.25 and 20.29 Actes 16.3 Rom. 1.12 Iohn 5.13 This is the greatest and the worthyest crowne of glory that can bee giuen vnto man for that trouble which I know lyeth vpon you for the Gospell it is not to bee compared vnto the life to come and the persecution which befalleth to the godly and that sinne which now hath dominion ouer you that ruleth them which are not fully called in Christe wil be an occasion that hereafter your obedyence shall burst out into rightuousnes your righteousnes to perfectnes your perfectnes to holynesse your holynes to redynes your redynes to steadynes your steadynes vnto eternall life And the God of glory will directe you by his spirit the spirit shall leade you vnto Christ hee will make a consummation of your sorrowes and crowne you with his Glory and bring you to his HabitacioÌ„ where he hath dweit euer Whose ritches are vnsearcheable whose wisdome is without depth whose ioyes are not to bee opened of such as feare his name which hée hath prouided and layde vp and hidden in his secrete treasuries till his day of appearing which hee will bestow vpon the iust and vpon the Sainctes that call vpon him by true faith For of him and through him for him ar all thinges to whom bee Glorye for euer and auer Amen FINIS The second part of the Readings of John Keltridge NOw therfore hauinge instructed you how to enter vnto the Lorde and the Hedge beeing broken to come more readely vnto his dwellinge you may freely and with a good courage draw neare to his Temple and there in his sight with reuerence and feare powre out your prayers before him For this cause as a pawne and pledge of the care that I haue and as one in due time ordayned of the Lorde to set forth his worde I haue this day discharged my conscience beefore the Lord and his annoynted and beefore you all To you of the younger sorte I sende greetinge I wish knowledge and wisdome to the rest To the aged and gray headed Fathers health
thrones their dominions their Empires or sought their owne glorie made an entraunce ready gate to set vp and establish the sincerity puritie of religion Therefore Christe of him selfe testifieth I séeke not mine one name but my fathers that seÌ„t mée â–ª I haue glorified thee among men and I will glorifie thee againe For if he be our father where is our honor Will the childe acknowledge his parents the wild and sauage beast giue place to them that nourish her succeadeth the fire the heauens in his place and the fire the ayre and she ayre the water and the water the earth and the earth vs shall not we acknowledge and reuerence the Lorde of Hostes who dwelleth betwixt the Cherubynnes and ought to be worshipped of all nations vnder heauen Cyprian hath giuen as touching this firste point hallowed be thy name in mine opinion a verie good reason For saith he wée craue not that God should be sanctified in our prayers who is alwayes holye but that his name sanctified in vs wée might be made perfecte and holy in him Thus I also finde it in the booke of God in that place Be thou holie because I am holy Then our prayer is that being sanctified cleansed made perfect in the Lorde we may be holie and good perseuere therein For this cause Paulinus in the fifth age of the Churche when he liued called our Baptisteries places of restoring againe of man meaning thereby as I do gesse that we ought to rise froÌ„ sinne and liue to life mortifying and beating downe the lustes of the fleshe and as wee shoulde sanctifie the name of the Lorde so we ought in our conuersation and in our walking before him to bee againe sanctified that is walke as holy before him For as the water in the fifth of Iohn did neuer clense make perfect but when the Angell moued it No more is man renued and altered but when the Spirite sanctifieth him And as Sara was not by nature but by promise made a mother and bare a childe So are we holy not of our selues but of the Lorde Therefore we neede daily sanctifiyng and seeing that wee sinne and fall so often wee must rise and be reared vp in Christ in renouation and sanctification of the spirit For this is our sanctification in Paule that we be no fornicatours no worshipers of Idols no adulterers no light persons no folowers of wemen not théeues not deceiuers not haters not drunkardes and these sometime we were but we are washed but wee are iustified but wee are sanctified in the name of our Lorde Iesus Christe Master Gualter vppon this place hath an especiall note as touching this hallowed or sanctified be thy name neyther wil I blame him here in consideration the superstition of the world is so great who begyled in the vanitie of their thoughts are not able or else will not iudge aright of the will of the Lorde He findeth greate faulte for that men take an occasion from the name of God as though the bare rehersall thereof had vertue in it to doe wounders signes and miracles in the earth And of truth that wherewith M. Gualter found fault is so common in the worlde that as euery one is holyest and wil be counted godlyest so is hée in this life peruersist I wish that of Cyris were setled in the mindes of men that beefore they iudge of any thinge in the Booke of God they would consider thrée things the time the person and the matter that is handled which if they were duely wayed it would bee a cause good enough that men should not stray as they do in the iudging of the Scriptures For as out of this place is grounded this error that if wée recken vp the bare name of the Lord it is sufficient for vs if we say sanctified be his name it is enough vnto saluation therfore the commoÌ„ sorte of people repeate and vtter these wordes of Christe but they consider no more and so think that by saying of the same they haue discharged their duetie but this it is grosse and pernitious it sauoureth of the flesh alone that is sluggishe and heauie tired if it take any paines in searching out the wil of God For not euery one the saith Lord Lord shall enter into the kingdome of heauen but be that knoweth the will of my father doeth it This is the onely cause that the heretikes haue erred so grossely heretofore â— haue taken the bare wordes not the meaning of the spirit Therefore to take away all occasion of falshoâ— which is gathered froÌ„ the name of God I save this The name of God in Scriptures doth signify euery thing which is proper vnto him wherby his heaueÌ„ly diuine nature or his works glory appeareth As in Dauid thy name O Lord thy praise endureth for euer it extendeth and reacheth to the ends coastes of the world and againe praise him al you people blesse you the name of the Lorde Iunilius writting against heretickes reckeneth according to the Hebrewes computation eight especiall names giuen vnto God which bee these first God then Lorde also Lorde and God together or else almightie or sufficient or omnipotent or our piller and stay or God of hosts or a iudge and searcher The He rew I haue lefte out for I thinke it not coÌ„uenient the rehersall nowe these onely significations be they that are presented vnto vs and by these names is he called in the scriptures especially by Abraham when he apeared vnto him and then when he spake to Moses Exod. 3.6 Exod. 15. Psalme 86. And the Grecians call him a secret sercher or pearser of all thinges and a sister of our thoughts Wher vnto Peter Martyr Musculus haue in diuers places alluded and maister Gualter semeth to touch the verie same vpon the exposition of the name of god Here vnto I adioyn put those same glorious titles giueÌ„ vnto him by Moses when he desired he might see and looke vppon the Lord god Exod. 34. For then when he passed by in the cloude when Moses was put into a clifte of the rocke and God had put â—â—s hand before him and Moses sawe his backe parts alone he cried out lord God mercifull and liberall â—â—ntle and pitiful of infinite goodnesse and trueth keeping thy goodnesse for thousanâ—s forgiuing iniquitie and transgressioÌ„s and sinnes leauing not vngodlines vnpunished but visiting the sinnes of their fathers in 〈◊〉 sonnes and sonnes sonnes vppon such as feare not him and kéepe not his commaundements This other such like places of scripture do open and shew vnto vs the incomprehencible Godhead of the Lorde which onely is seene in his workes his creation and his creatures and by the same commaunded in this place to exalte magnifie and blesse his name The wicked take occasion as I shewed you before to call on his name verie often and thinke they doe
breach of the word of God whether it be in Idolaâ—rie or murther or whoordom or incest or sorcerie or theft or in any other kind of vngodlines whatsoeuer For what a victorie glorie hath he gotten when the children of Abraham the heires of his couenant do stide so far from the trueth as that they be a gazing stocke and eyesore to all other This impure and wicked spirite the author of sedition and father of all vntrueth by cogitations by cuill thoughts by deuises by euil pretences by lustes by concupiscence first moueth them then by breath of the worde by malice by begiling by deceipt by intisement by incouraging to all cuill in the ende consumeth them And here créepeth in his last most deceiuable â—â—ite that incenseth and inflameth euen the brightest and the glorious starres with his rancor and pride And so puffeth them vp with vaine conceite by his weapons which he giueth them sectes scismes heresies fonde illusions they commonly drayle with them most good and exquisite pillers of the Church For my owne parte if euer sathan displayed his pagiaunt and set abrode his insignes among men I am perswaded he hath don it very cunningly in these dayes For the word of God is troden vnder foote vnrighteousnesse hath almost the vpper hande the alters of God are broken downe the temple is pestered with monie chaungers euery one hath his religion euery one his God botherhoode is forsaken loue is forgotten trueth and equitie are banished into farre countries and faine to begge their breade contention is growen vp diuitions enmitie are creapte into our heartes some delight in one man others in another man Paul and Apollos and Clephas are so much talkte of that Christ and religion is neuer a whit thoughte of this building vp of the Sinagouge of sathan and despising the worde doth make our prayer of small effect no though we crie out day and night before the Lorde Let thy kingdome come Yet till these and such like bee amended thinges that bee amisse it preuaileth not Can the Rushe growe without myre or the grasse growe without water will the trée beare fruite with out moisture or canne the spider make her house or weaue her web without labour No more can the deuill without beguiling vs nor his workemen without intising vs nor his builders without molesting vs bring any good successe or passage to his kingdome and this deuise of Sathan hath been put in practise of late and I can testifie it for that great zeale which I haue séene and the small knowledge whiche men haue their religion in matters of no value their ignoraunce in thinges of great weight can ought derogate so much from the kingdome of God and of Christ as this It is an old barre and a croked péece of yron he hath laide in our way the best Smith that I know this day is not able to bring it to any fashion And laboure asmuch as you can therein yet will it neuer be brought to good passe that any one shoulde seuer the congregation plucke the Lorde Christ in péeses deuide his church bring in brawls contentions strife debat grudging without greate perill and ioperdie to the nocke and houshoulde of God And euen nowe we beginne as they in Asia did to striue for the passeouer and the holy day yet in this enimitie debate if euerie man would examine his priuate conscience and his dealings wherin he is blinded the great shew and faire face for the Surplesse and the Cope to countenaunce them wil neuer make recompence for the oppression and guile the vse whereof somuch shameth them But if that complaint so common nowe among vs were trewe yet there is little consideration of the kingdome of God when the apparell attyre that is worne in the church shall driue thée from it And it is not a sufficient cause for any of you all to crie out reformation and reformation Church men and Church men the Pope and the Pope yet I say not truely there is good cause to do so for if maners in men could be reformable and they that be about the offeringes of the Lord were sound agréeable no man in tongue threatening out vengeaunce against the Pope were founde in heart to dissemble popishly the arke of God it néeded not be caried into so priuate corners as it is neither woulde a greate number runne rather vnto priuate houses to serue there then refuse to come vp to Bethell to offer with the congregation But I saye vnto all in the Lorde and as from the Lorde If God when wée haue plentie of the worde and eate in full aboundance of the fatnesse of the Oliue doth for this our sinne take breade and the worde from vs too wée haue in our transgressions worthely deserued it the dayes are nowe so miserable that euery man maketh conscience of nothing euery base citchinboy must nowe play the Leuite and yet vnworthy to enter into the porche of the Lorde The people is as the priest the priest must giue place to the people that man that commeth not to please them is thought vnworthy to speake among them The Lorde end the troubles of his sainctes and vnfolde these deuises of the diuill that all flesh may sée his dealings speake well of the name of the Lord for till these thinges be amended and our holowe hartes better setled and our braules and debats ended the kingdome of God cannot be builded But to vndersrande this more fully Let thy kingdome come We haue to consider that as god hath permitted in his eternall counsell and limitted vnto vs whome he hath chosen a verie ordinarie way to come vnto him as he hath kept a certeine portion to himselfe as he hath giuen them strength and might to resist the deuill so he hath from all beginning in his secrete determination giuen a part company vnto Sathanas vnto vs that be his he hath squared out a pathway and entrance to walke in euen thorough his sonne Christe in whome wee are reconciled in whose bloud we are washed in whome our glory appeareth our sanctification commeth his kingdome and dominion increaseth And this is our kingdome that God in his sonne Christ wrought and brought to passe before the foundation of the worlde that the heade of the serpent should be troden downe our deliueraunce bought that we might liue in obedience knowledge all our life of this kingdome ought these places to be vnderstoode opened before and prophesied of the kingdome of Christ and his regiment Psal 2. Psal. 47. Psal. 72. Esa. 9. Iere. 23. But most excellently and generally in the discourse of Daniel and his prophesie and it is alluded vnto by Paul. Colos 1. that chargeth vs to giue thankes to God the father which hath deliuered vs from the power of darkenesse and translated vs into the kingdome of his welbeloued sonne and this is it for which we pray Let
his wife And why Moses that spake vnto the Lorde face to face had not the power nor wisedome at that instant to sanctifie the Lorde at the waters of Merebath I could not a long time disgest that same of Saul that though he had grace most plentifull yet fell be from it Nor of Achitophell that was so often times in the tabernacle of the Lord and in the ende strangled him selfe so villenously with a halter Or why Iudas that was among the twelue and I doubt not but he did myracles preached to yet fell so strangely in the end And hardly was I satisūed when I found a doubt of a number in the booke of God whose dealinges were somtimes commended whose liues at length so altered whose endes were feared and despised of many The first sorte were good and are saide to haue pleased the Lorde God and I knowe and I am assured that they had the spirite of the Lorde aboundantly yet did they fall verie grossely The seconde forte that I reckoned vp had the Spirite of the Lorde for a season and it was taken away from them for it was abused by them and they had their portion whiche was condemnation The thirde sort that I finde are such as fell and did rise and yet in the ende howe they ended and dyed for that they are not condemned we haue lefte it to the Lorde Three sortes of men I synde and three sortes of workinge and thrée manners of operations by the Spirite The first from death vnto life and saued dayly by renouation The second from life vnto death that fell continually by reprobation The thirde betwixt them bothe that lined sinned and offended and were strengthened I doubt not but saued but by imputation by grace through Christe The Creature cannot bee as is the Creator neyther Adam as was God that made him But hee that hath the fulnesse of the Spirite of the holye Ghoste in ample and full measure dwelling in him remaining in deitie in godhead in diuinitie hath that which is proper to God and Christo Then neyther man neither creature neyther any thing on earth can haue this propertie to winde the Spirite as he listeth for it is proper onely to the Lorde Elias prayed for rayne God heard him When he fled from Iezabell he was nourished by the Angell of god Elias deuideth the waters and is taken vp into heauen in a flerie Charriot If hée prayed he had it not of himselfe he acknowleged the gift there of from God. If the Angell was sent from God he did not commaunde it nor trust in his owne might he confessed one that sent him He deuided the waters for the spirite of God did moue him yet stayed he his time for the spirite of God did leade him And he was taken vp not of himselfe but at the commaundement and will of God that called him Are they better then Elyas I neuer sawe it yet Are they stronger then Moses that made Aegypt to quake Then shewe me thy myracles and commaund the waters the Sea the ayre the heauens to obey thée Yet shalt thou be but a man and be ruled by the Lorde Are they more perfect and vpright then Samuel Hardly is it to be credited And yet worke what thou canst worke it is not of thy selfe The spirite it is not thine Thy déedes and dealings be not thine owne Thy cogitations and thoughts if they be good I say with Paul and with the prophets They be the giftes of God. Will the Sunne and the Moone rule the heauens or be they not ruled of the Lord Can the clouds scatter their droppes abroade Or the horie frostes lie on the grasse Or the caterpiller eate vp the hearbes Or drought consume them on the earth Or the pestilence ransake the kinges Pallaces Or death do his mesage in aresting thée If the Lore send them not No more canst thou doe any good if he guide thée not The gould is digged in the earth the cloddes be broken the drosse is purged the fine mettaile is laid vp for store And so is man by the Lorde altered renewed strengthened and clensed and kept against the day of righteousnesse Can the potte pleade with his maister Be it of brasse or clay of Copper or Siluer or of Gould Or the plante that is set in the earth be it peare or aple or what fruite else soeuer may it reason with him that graffed it for that it might haue ben made one of a better tast Why then shoulde we murmur at the Lorde that ruleth vs and giueth a boundaunce of his spirite and vprightnesse of life according to his will and secrete purpose Not as man thinketh at his owne pleasure to vse or abuse as him listeth It is very true that the holy ghost appeared visiblie by signes on the apostles like clouen tongues and is saide to come in fyre But it is no argument God sheweth his powre visiblie by his spirite Ergo God is in vs really in spirite For I knowe that the Apostles were not deisted in that place made so perfect that they could not sinne For Paul resisted Peter to his face in the Gallathians For that when he was in Antiochia before certeine came from Iames he eate with the Gentiles But when they were come he withdrewe him and seperated himselfe fearing them whiche were of the Circumcision In like manner Barnabas So that it is no argument They receiued the holy ghost Ergo they sinned not But euen God in his elect wil be glorified in that they falling downe rise againe so gloriously In déede the Persians doe reason here that therfore the fire is God because the holy ghost appeered as fire And these heritickes that they be as God because God is saide to dwell in them Truth it is that the spirite of God is the earnest of our inheritaunce and that we are the temples of the holy ghost yet but by a way of comparison For wee finde it in the lawe get you out from among them O my people And seperate your selues from them saith the Lorde And touch not him that is vncleane the one expresseth the other As the Temple is kepte and consecrated to god so ought our bodies and soules to be hallowed sanctified and kept cleane vnto the Lorde As touching the beasty and lasciuious life wherevnto they be giuen no heart can suffer it and my pen it shaketh to report it But if that be true that is in Paul. Let not sinne reigne in your mortall bodies to obey the lustes thereof If that be so in the Galathians Fornicatours idolaters adulterers wantones buggerers théeues dronkerds extortioners raylers shall nót inherite the kingdome of God If it be true to the Corinthians to avoide Fornication let euery man haue his wife let euery woman haue her owne husbande If vnto the Ephesians beware of fornication vncleanesse coueteousnesse let it not be
writeteth in the yeare of Christe 415. Or as Marianus reckoneth 414. In the time of Honorius and Theodotius that spreade abrode his heresies throughout all the East And hee with a greate number more infected the whole countrie And it is complained by Augustus that it blazed and bruted foorth throughout all Palestine And the same is author that it was knowen in Affrica and then carried to Constantinople into Italy into Scilitia into Fraunce into Englande as Prosper recordeth So that I wounder not at all if the reliques thereof remaine still For Melanchton though otherwise a good man and a verie notable member in the Churche of God of late yeares in Germanie was ouerthrowne in this And Erasmus that Semipelagian verie vnsteadie I must needes saye and one that durst not stande longe vnto the trueth stumbled in this As for Osorius his swéete woordes hath so rauished our young wittes that it is to be feared they taste a little of his rankenesse of spéeche Therefore to confounde him with others that Hyerarkye I referre you to that man of late memorie the light and glorie of Germanie Martine Luther that I knowe bothe can and will take my parte against them all For I stande not here by waye of confutation to set my selfe an aduersarie against all but to giue vnto you a notice of some for bothe I others may well touche it seeing it hath had so great defenders of late and so néere vs. Nowe then I speake not of the state of Adam and his sâ—yding from the Lorde what hee was in Paradice It is another question I talke of such as wée be now I touche not what wée are in ciuil matters or what our will is in common affaires eating and drinking in cloth in apparell in suche of that sorte These pertaine to the earth Wée dispute of that that leadeth vs to heauen Wee take not in hande what there is in that man that is regenerated by the spirite where there is a minde and a will to the Lorde by the Lorde But wée speake of him that is in sinne howe he commeth to god And I meddle not with destenie with prouidence with necessitie they are not depending hereon For there should then be no ende of our contreuersie Neither with the ministerie of the woorde and of the Sacramentes as meanes to bring vs Wée shoulde then bee too long Nor yet whether wée haue any light or not any force and might or no any wil any mouing any care any desire For it is easily knowen without God we haue nothing This is it which I touche briefely at this time and it is my question That in the conuersion of the wicked and vngodly man vnto the Lorde Whereby hée is throughly greeued for his sinne whereby hée séeth in a liuely faith the frée mercie of God and the benefite of his Mediatour whereby hee is instified before the Lorde whereby hee is renued whereby he is lightened whether or not there be a minde and readinesse in him whether his will his soule and his vnderstanding is raised or stirred vp of him selfe of his owne libertie at his pleasure for to knowe Séeke the Lorde and his Christe Or whether his whole conuersioÌ„ his alteration his regeneration is to be referred to the Spirite of the Lorde and the woorking of God and his minde moued and settled by the Holy Ghost or whether it commeth and proréede of him selfe This therefore to bee shorte it commeth and procéedeth all from God. For first I shewe that from the toppe of the heade to the soule of the foote wee are full of botches and blaines there is no whole parte within vs as the leprocie the bodie so doth Sathanas infecte the soule as the botches and byles the skinne and fleshe So the deuill the minde and heart of man For wee are vnder bondage seruitude and in the slauerie of this world Secondly the spirite of God onely doth drawe vs and doth renew vs doth make vs newe creatures The minde and heart of man is ruled and obayeth of our selues wee can doe nothing no not thinke a good thought this is more plainely seene by the forme of this prayer that I haue in hande For the caller is the Lorde it is done by his will to saue them that bée on earth to fulfill the petition that it may be with vs as it is in heauen The next cause hereof is Christe First for that he became man Nexte to saue men his bloud was shedde and hee died to get vs life Thirdly he rose from death and went vp to heauen that wee might haue our dwelling and mansion with him who is aboue To haue an assuraunce hereof we haue the spirite that continually worketh in the mindes of those that be his whome he hath seuered from the beginning of the world to dwel with him That he hath predistinated vnto life and made the heires of his glorie For whome hee hath elected those he calleth whome hee calleth those hee iustifieth whome hee iustifieth those hee glorifieth And where is nowe the will of man But to vnderstand more plainely the way and order of his elect whome he hath appointed in this life to dwell with him First I giue them this note that it is by regeneration of the spirit which they shall féele working in theÌ„ in that being ouerwhelmed in sinne and loden with iniquitie they shall haue tast of their owne transgressions and a hatred of themselus as touching the flesh And they doe rise out of darkenesse and the lustes of this life and reforme them as newe creatures vnto God and his Christ making shipwrecke of their bodies for the testimonie of his trueth And therefore conuertion or repentaunce is in the regenerate man in whome there is an alteration and chaunge from this wicked and vngodly life His soule it sorroweth for the sinne past Contrition and repentaunce is so setled within him that the feare of the iudgementes and wrath of GOD hangeth ouer him But hee knoweth that he is saued and kept from it in Christe For this cause we haue a lather to climbe withal into heaueÌ„ by steps degrées as it were to come to God. The first is our conuertion from sinne vnto holinesse and good conuersation The second is our quickning or our renewing according to the image of God that is in man The third is our gouernement or direction in the whole course of our whole life The fourth is the perfection of righteousnes according to the gifte of perseuerance continuing to th end of our race Truth it is that God hath left vs a meane in earth and a way to atteine to this and it is by hearing his word wherein the lawe and the gospell is verie plentifully set out vnto vs And therfore the counsailes of Christ may be sufficieÌ„t that vpon the excelleÌ„cie of his message sheweth our duetie For hee witnesseth that he spake not of
giuen to the Conney Or what yeres doth he permit to the wilde Colte Howe gardeth he the Lyon What harbour hath he giuen to the sauage beastes And to saye a trueth what ende hath hee allotted vnto man I saye all the woorkes of the Lorde are wonderfull But his secreat wisedome wherein he hath prouided and laide vp in his mercie for the sonnes of Adam great and most singular benefites They are not to be attained vnto For his doings are incomprehensible his iudgements are secreat His wayes vnknowen his counsell hidden his loue and his fauour farre outreaching vs that wee may well make our prayer vnto the Lorde to haue his will fulfilled his commaundements obeyed in earth because no man is able eyther by wishing eyther by desiring eyther yet by willing it to come to heauen Thus much for these two kindes of men the are in our dayes whereof I am sure there is a greate number For partly by their déedes for they be outragious partely by their courage they be so quarellous the common sort of men must needes knowe them But to that which followeth Thy will be done in earth as it is in heauen Cyprian géeueth a verie good reason hereof Voluntate Dei id est Dei protectione egeamus The will of God that is the ayde and helpe of God is that wée néede For without his will we haue nought And no man is of any force if he in his fauour and his mercie help them not for who hath resisted him and hath not dyed for it Then we haue to searche what it is that is the wil of the Lord to be done And this is said by the fathers the same I find in the Scriptures to be of two sortes First his will it is holy pure perfect eternall euerlasting from all beginning without power of man according to the which he ruleth all he gouerneth all he guideth and protecteth all wherein all things be as they are And he hath created fashioned all whatsoeuer that is on the earth from the foundation original of the same And this is alwayes fulfilled No man hindereth it no man stoppeth it For the Lorde hath his decrée aboue all the inhabitants of the earth of the Sea and they be obedient Of this is written in Esay I am God the Lorde which speake it my counsell is firme or indureth euer Whatsoeuer I will that I do Dauid also prophesied hereof For our God he is in heauen he hath done all things whatsoeuer pleaseth him For the counsell of the Lord remaineth for euer Againe in Esay If the Lord of hoasts decrée any thing who is the shall resist him But of this the eternall purpose of the Lord I speake not of for it conteineth the secret and hiddē mysterie ef our election of our predestination of his prouidence of his gouernement of his regiment in the earth And here we do as Iob did Wee lay our hands vppon our mouth wee staye the course of our lippes we falter in our spéech before the Lorde And therefore for that hee ruleth all let vs commit our selues into his hand that guydeth vs and not curiously serch that hath in his secret determination ruled the wayes the steppes and the hearts mindes of all fleshe We therefore handle this point reuerendly and stay on him that assuredly worketh for al those that be his Onely let man and the sonne of man giue him selfe into his handes leaue to serch out by any curious meane what it is he hath purposed The next and the moste perfect will of God is reuealed by the Gospell without which knowledge we are in death This he hath moste fully opened in Iesus Christ his sonne the redeemer onely sauiour of the worlde whome hee hath appointed the onely true right instructour of those that dwell in earth according to the Oracle receiued from heauen This is my beloued sonne heare him verie nighe to the saying that is in Iohn No man hath séene God at any time The sonne which is in the bosome of his father he hath reuealed him For he is the true interpreter of his father And therefore Christe of him selfe saith All that I haue had of my father I haue shewen vnto you Not that Christ was not knowen before for he is openly desiphered out in the Prophete But in especiall at his incarnation when hee tooke our flesh vpon him was made man it was fulfilled that euery one shall tell his neighbour from the greatest to the least euen babes little ones shoulde prophesie of the workes of the Lord tel abrode his name Therfore Peter the Prophets and men of God spoke by the Spirite suffered persecution death were serchers out of the mysteries of our redemption And this is the will of God spoken of in this prayer that we séeke not after any other knowledge but onely bent and giuen vnto his word we meditate to serue him day and night whereof this is the end that God woulde direct vs in his pathes and lead vs a right to follow his lawes That we may delight and be practised therein all our life Nowe to know this will of God the better this is the swéetnesse and perfect comfort that we get to vnderstand and learne 3. thinges giuen vnto vs by his wil. First it is the wil of God that we should be saued by his sonne Iesus Christe for in him we are chosen from all beginning to be heires of eternall life Of this our sauiour speaketh in Iohn This is the will of him that sent me that all which séeth the sonne and knoweth him and beléeueth in him should haue eternall life Then this is our peticion that aboue all it woulde please the Lorde to illuminate and lighten euery man with the trueth that his will by our incredulitie and others their continancie bee not hindered Here appeareth that whereof I made mention before namely that faith is the gift of God giuen vnto vs in his mercie by his grace not gotten of our selues of our might by our strength To fulfill that of Christ so often spoken in Iohn No man knoweth the sonne but the father and he to whome the father will shewe him And verefied yet againe no man commeth vnto me vnlesse that my father drawe him to me For all this hidden Secrete of the death of Christ of his bloude that was shed and giuen for man it is foolishnes vnto the fleshly man if he be not drawen and brought therevnto by god Then from aboue it is we are lightened that his will may bee done in vs that are wilfull Secondly it is the will of God that those whiche are redéemed in I. sus Christe and doe atteine him willingly by faith shewe them selues obedient and deutifull vnto the Lorde and walke in his commaundements he hath taught them Nature teacheth those be his to owe obeyzance and homage
nakednesse to the worlde If the reprobate shall haue iudgement in this life and in the world to come to astonish thée if that Ananias and Saphira were guiltie of theft and Sacraledge then when thy commission is good and thy warraunt sufficient and thou hast to deale also with such men I will allowe it Notwithstandinge amonge other reasons that I now remēber laid vnto mée by poore lay men though I perceiue they had good instructers that taught them so counningly yet one among them all in a redde Cappe and a black coate did vere me perlously For my owne part I was amazed and it was straunge to sée a poore fellowe brought vp at plough and cart withered and weather beaten and be shacked in his aray yet to reason so profoundely dost not knowe saith the same poore man that Thelias thwackt the prists of Ball and sklewe them at a Ponde and they were the foes of God and why shall not wee kill those that be hiks enimies Mary masse I trowe the one Skamuel sklewe Ahag hee would haue saide Agag and with that was verie angrye and Spineas he ment Pineas or plainly Phinees did skil a whore as knaue and he iks praysed by god I was afrayd then and rid away as well as I coulde I thought it time yet by his leaue for I am out of his pawes and I haue leasure enough I will aunswere it nowe For it tendeth heather that Elias did kill the pristes of Baal at the brooke of Kison at such time as they had cryed out Baal Baal héere vs c. The ignoraunce of men may appeare therin and true it is an euil scholemaster may easely mar a fine scholer for though these men spake roughly and had grimme talke yet by their trauelling it appeared to me they had a willing minde to atteine sumething And as I haue hearde for that in those quarters there be many Papists I did in verie déede suspect much But I let them alone and God almightie turne them and if these my few lynes may euer happen to come to their fingers I knowe I shall smarte for it Howe euer it be and wheresoeuer nowe they bée I will speake this to them briefly God was then dishonoured the space of many yeares by Ahab his parmission in suffering these Chemerimes those bloudie sacrificers in his common welth And Iesabel that infamous strompette had nourished the Priests of Baal in her house Nowe God beeing sore displeased would haue the Idolaters punished according to his lawe If there be founde in any Cities man or woman whiche the Lorde thy God giueth thée that hath wrought wickednesse in his sight and hath gone and serued other Gods worshipped them The Sunne the Moone c. Carrye him to the gates of the Citie and stone him with stones till hee dye Then that which Elyas did he was commaunded by the Lorde As touching Phineas the sonne of Eleazar the sonne of Aaron the Priest that slewe Zambry Cosby it is sayd that hée turned away the anger of God from the children of Israel in the hee was zealous for the Lord of Hoastes sake the is he did it not but by the singuler spirit of God that stirred him And for his obeisance rewarded him For his commendation remayneth in Dauid Then if hée would not bée pettish I would say some thing to this poore Cuntry man the would learn when Idolatry is come to the ful brimme and Magistracie and authority is contempted as Moses was and when thou art commaunded to hang their heades vp in the Sunne that offend the Lorde when God saith vnto thée do this he raiseth thée vp once again I say it is an offence if thou obay not But al these extraordinary examples the wicked men doo peruerte to their condempnation For they take it as done of themselues in the flesh that was commaunded them in spirit frō the lord And wher they accomplished the commaundement of their God to abolish and roote out sin They doo it in reuengement to their owne condempnation As for Samuell that slew Hagag that Heathnish and Idolatrous Prince that Amalechite whom God hated and abhorred and now commaunded to bée slaine For that hée layd wait for them as in the way vp frō Aegypt It was lawfully done For Samuell was a Magistrate and ruler in Israell and hée iudged Israell fortye yeares And ruled them in vprightnes integritée all his life against whom at his death Israel was not able to say ought or to charge him with any thing Then being the Magistrate hée had Aucthority to vse the sword and execute iudgment Which if I thought you wold deny as the Anabaptistes doo I then would take it an other way in hand But wearied my selfe and hauing euen now tryed you I let them alone for this time when occasion serueth and leasure permitteth and God graunteth vnto mée fitte oportunity I will more largely handle it For this time I cease And this it is my doctrine that I teach if thou or any man else shall take vppon thee the seat of the Lorde enter into iudgement condemne thy brother laye in waite for him take vp the swoorde presume to smyte or else any other way indammage him Thou arte guiltie of his blood and the Lorde will require it at thy handes The laste thing which I note herein Forgiue vs our debtes as wee forgiue our debters Is the agreement and vnitie that the Lorde requireth in vs all that offereth vs as it were our saluation in his Christe and inrolleth vs againe to bee duetifull and obedient to others This I woulde it were if so it séemed good vnto his Maiestie more common then it is lesse debate more loue woulde growe among vs For this cause as beinge one that meaneth wel vnto the famili◠of the Lorde and woulde right gladly hazarde that little whiche I haue to ioyne you all in one Christe Take this from mee as a poore testimonie of the loue I beare you Euen a golden chaine precious Emerode that I willingly do giue to linke you and couple you togeether in one Lorde And I giue it in the name of Christe of his church that euen nowe in Englande suffereth shipwracke goeth to decaye and more and more yet like to perish if we stay not on this Anchor and take not holde in his Christe The Perle or Emerolde it is Loue. The Chayne or Iewell is Trueth For if you do remember I protractured out a man not so long since that to my thinking though he was comely ynough in height stature and proportion and able to serue in the house of God yet I lefte him verie naked and to couer his shame I haue giuen him apparell in this place And vppon his rayment hee may hang the two former Iewels Loue Trueth only Let his Robes and his ornaments be Discretion His Pompe and his brauerie Hospitalitie His glorying and beautifying
let it be Teaching His vesture and cloth Sagacitie prudente His gowne Long suffering His coate Faithfulnesse His doublet Assurance His shyrte Bountifulnesse His hose Pacience His féete shod with Peace His hose garters Temperance On his head for his Helmet Fortitude In his hands for his armour Hope And he that is apparelled thus I dare set him against all the temptations of Sathan and the world the fleshe and the diuell shall neuer moue him It is my humble sute vnto you all in the name of Christ that wee seeke to agree in one and euery man as much as in him lyeth endeuour him selfe to finde out this clothing Beléeue mee it is a garment without seame and wrinckle And it wil do you great honestie at the day of the Lorde It wil bee your commendation when he commeth in the Clowdes calleth you to his heauenly banquet that then you shall be founde so well appointed to enter with him into the Bridegromes chamber and sit at his table Do ye not knowe that hée which hath not on his wedding Coate shal be cast out with Hippocrits from that heauenlie Supper and haue his portion in the Lake that burneth with fier Verely it is his reward But the Children of the kingdom shall abide for euer with the Lorde And to this hée bring vs that hath in his moste precious bloud redéemed vs Iesus Christe the righteous To whome with the father and the holy Ghoste bee all honour and glorie bothe nowe and euer Amen And lead vs not into temptation But deliuer vs from euill I Haue shewed you before that this prayer had in it sixe peticions whereof there is nowe fiue gone There remaineth onely this last For God gaue vs in charge to giue our firste duetie vnto him and for that it was verie harde to accomplishe it without prayer Hée hath giuen as it were his consent to heare vs And nowe hée hath geeuen vnto vs a kynde of Brestplate to put on Namely To call vppon his name To require and praye of his sonne Christe that séeing wée be weake of our selues and frayle by nature hée woulde lay no more vppon vs then wée be able to beare For the diuell is readie at our elbowe to assault vs and hée fendeth foorthe his Harbingers right duely to entangle vs if so they may the better to seduce vs from the Lord And this the Lord God hath giuen to put vs in minde in what continuall dannger wée stande that if hée ayde vs not and protecte vs not and stretch not foorthe his arme to staye vs wee fall downe headlong into sinne This manner of spéeche vttered here by our Sauiour Christ semed to be vnto some a very heauy thing and not vnto the iustice of the Lord and apperteining to his maiestie To suffer any one to be led into temptatiō Which kind of exposition Traheron a Germaine seemeth to mislike in a litle treatise he writeth thereon And the like is in a number of Curious and vaine men that dare not and will not say Leade vs not into temptation But doe a forde vs thus much Permitte vs not to be led into temptation Both which interpretations I mislike vtterly and I say as the Gretians carie vs not or conduct vs not or trie vs not or lead vs not into temptations For the better exposition plaine vnderstanding of the weak I wil shew the significatiō of the word temptation Tempting is often times taken for trying or approuing or experiensing by one way or other for the bringing to passe of any thing to put in practice to knowe of what nature qualitie and substaunce the thing is of And this worde is vsed diuersly for God is said to be tempted of man and he also is stirred vp or prouoked or moued of the Lord and that is when his worde is not beléeued or the gospell hath not his successe which onely sheweth the Lorde to be holy to be good to be iust to be perfect to be omnipotent c. but desire some other way by outwarde erteriour showe as by workes or myracles to tempt the Lorde god And so did Israel when they had tasted of Manna frō heauen Can he giue vs also flesh to eate after this sort is Christ saide to haue béene tempted of Sathan He sate him vpon the toppe of the pinnacle and saide throwe thy selfe downe for it is written And againe make these stones bread for it is written But God tempteth and tryeth many sundrie wayes To begin with his owne whom he hath chosen in Christ frō all beeginning and prepared them as fit Temples of the holy ghoste from the foundation of the worlde Them hee tempteth and tryeth sundry wayes Namely to make his vertues which he hath wrought and ordeined them vnto to shewe them selues that were hidden before or to open their noughtie corrupte nature that after they may be more careful in their steppes and warie in their dooinge and more easely atteine to the déepe consideration and knowledge of his secrete purpose whiche worketh allway and seeketh diuers meanes to drawe them from their wicked life And the example of the first Adam was a liuely image of the Godly And he was a zelous man in whome God was much glorified among the Gentils The like in Iacob whome hee blessed aboue many kinreds and made him a Lorde ouer his chosen Also Daniel that magnified the Lorde in the kinges court and founde so great fauour in the sight of Darius among the Caldees and was tryed by the Lyons by the Image of Bel so glorified the lord In Susanna in Babilon as in Ageographa The seconde maner of temptation wherewith the Lord tryeth those the be his Was séene in Peter that at the call of the cocke was put in mind of the offence he had committed and there vpon wept bitterly And Paul though he was guiltie of the bloude of Stephen and layde his rayment at his féete yet at the voyce from heauen Saul Sual why persecutest thou me hee was againe called home He felt the benifite of his redemption in Christ and after that was diuersly tried in many temptations by the Lord by Sea by land in daunger of Perots in daunger of death hee was whipped he was stoned he suffered buffering the Vyper had aucthorite ouer him for a space and that Oratour Tertullus had some thing to say vnto him at the barre beefore Festus I thinke Barnabas found◠good tryal in this in the werisome viage which be had through Selentia and Cyprus and from Salamis and from Perga of Pamphilia and Antiochia and the rest Sithen there is diuers kinds of temptations one is that which is commonly called aduersitie against this we must not pray For it is true that is in Paul. Those which will liue Godly in Christ must suffer persecution Yet if we begin to faint wee may stirre vp our slouthfulnes imbicility by prayer to
haue from the Spirit 12. The Dores to enter at the worde and the Gospel 13. The Barres to stay this hee that gaue this God the Father 14. The knitting of all this togeather is Loue. 15. The keeping it froÌ„ shaking brotherly agreement 16. The force and strength therof one minde and one Iudgement 17. The glory and beauty therof Immortality 18. The ende of this building the glory of God. 19. The price and rewarde Life Not that which is terrestriall endureth a small time but an other euen that which is aboue when wée shall dwell with god The onely price of sutch as loue and feare his name vnfeignedly To whom that bée of his true Church the Lorde God sende his blessing and peace for euer that quietnes may bée to them of Israel and life for euermore Amen FINIS A Sermon made before the reuerend father in God John Bishop of London by I. Keltridge Preacher at his Mannor at Fulham before them of the Clergie at the making of Ministers in the yeare of our Lorde God. 1577. and novve set out in Printe It is thus written in the firste Epistle of Paull vnto Timoth. Chap. 3. vers 1. 1. It is a true saying if a man desire the office of a Bishop hee desireth a good worke 2. A Bishoppe therfore must bee vnreprouable the husbaÌ„d of one wife watching sober modest harberous apte to teache 3. Not giuen to Wine no striker not giuen to filthy lucre but gentill no fighter not couetous c. THéese wordes contayne thus mutch the rule and gouernemente and state of the Church The office the duty the function of a Bishop The state is preserued the gouernemeÌ„t established the authoritie reuerenced the Church setled where Bishoppes bée chosen that are blamelesse The common welth is racked the state impoâ—erished wise and gray headed fathers despised the word of God banished where Bishops are chosen that are shamcles If the rulers bée wise and discréet â—â—en if the order and frame conningly and truly set vp if the guidance be sincerely and purely drawne 〈◊〉 as also squared by the rule set downe in the Booke of God Then Bishops liue happely The common wealth quietly the state flourisheth most gloriously At this present as one of the poorest and meanest Leuites among Israel yet ordayned I hope in good time to serue in the Tabernacle of the Lord elected and chosen to se the Curtaines of our God and the hangings of the habitation of the Lorde of Hoastes dewely to be spreade before his seate As one desirous to sée that no Aliaunt shall touche the Arke of God nor any one vnclensed to approche his sanctuary I am bolde to enter in to sée the surneture thereof the glorie the apparell the sumpteousnesse of his Throne and to sée and for to knowe whether we bee apparelled as Aaron or deckt as Leuits or in manners Israelites or among the Prophets the sonnes of Prophets that the voice of the Lorde may sounde among vs. Foure especially vvaightie great encombraunces able to beate and vvaye him to the grounde lye on the necke of a Bishop His Vocation by Calling His Deutie by Function His Dignitie by office His Aucthoritie by Rule All which haue seuerally foure most excellent and goodly giftes kept vp as in their treasurehouse to furnish and store good men withall His calling hath foure pillers to staye on for hee must bee Vnrebucable subiect to no reproche blamelesse Not wanton not lasciuious husbande of one wife Painefull yet gainfull to bring to God euen watchfull By temperancie not by glottonie ruling them but modest His function requireth 4. garments to cloath him vvith His Robes his Iewels DiscretioÌ„ Grauitie His statelynes and his Brauerie Hospitalitiâ— His honouring and apparelling Instructing His cloth and garment lyned with abstinencie that he be no dronkarde or gluttonous person His office hath adioyned foure Sergeants to vvaite on him He must be no incrocher vpon any no fighter No scraper in of his gold by filthy lucre Lowly courteous gentle vnto all men No brawler no striuer no quareler with any man His aucthoritie and his rule commeth in that maketh an ende of all strife the mistresse Gouernesse to keepe the rest in avve By instructing by ordering beeing able to teach his housholde Liuing discretely warily vprightly abhorring couetousnes That can keep in subiectioÌ„ his own family in feare in reuerence That hee bee not a young scholler puft vp with pride but that he haue a good report of all All vvhich as they be in number xxii So for the greatnes of the matter the statelinesse of that I take in hand the skill and furniture that is required in him I seeke for I am in greate doubt the time vvill not suffer me to ransacke so much as the third gifte that ought to be in vs Prophets that I may go so farre as the vvorde of God leadeth me let vs ioyne in heartie and faithfull prayers together vnto the Lorde For the vvhole Church of God As a member and portion thereof this Church of England and Irelande c. THis place where as he speaketh of a Bishoppe is is not to be vnderstood so as that only he speaketh to him in aucthoritie called by Luke a Senior or as in Tytus 1. For this cause haue I left thée in Creata to set in order the residue that were left Or as Acts. 20. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But as Caluine thinketh In the bishop so called of Paul is ment euery one seuerally ioyntly in his function to whom the charge of soules is committed Therfore Pomeranus offitia sunt non dignitates Musculus Instruere noÌ„ regere Teaching them not fléesing them Bullenger Vocati non intrusi Chrisostome Ordinandos ad bonuÌ„ non deuorandos ad commodum elected to serue them not chosen to eate them Ambrose non ambitione pecuniae desiderio For men that come hastely to serue god in the ministerie take it for welth sake to liue securely then that al may be comptable vnto the Lorde and surrender a reason of religion I take it generally of all that Bishoppes that is those to whom cure and charge of soules is committed ought to haue those good gifts set downe by Paul in his youngling Timotheus Not to make any strife or to debate the matter as some haue done or therefore the I may séeme to take away aucthoritie from the Senior or gouernement from the Elder or preheminence from superiour or rule from him that sitteth in seate to guide others But as Paul in this of Timoth. to the saincts of Christ which be at Philippos together with Bishops and Deacons euen so say I to all those which be here Bishoppes Deacons Elders Seniors Ministers Preshiters is this same giueÌ„ in charge for none shal be excused but as touching that common cry hussing so much in the eares of many about them that bearâ— the sway in the Church this I say briefly I can
parte of Naboth that fatte Chuffe Who hideth them that are in perrill from the face of Iesabell Who is not ready to sacrifise to Peor Who renueth the decayed Sanctuary Who ronneth not with Vzias to the Arke Who hath not forsaken the Lord and forgotten his holy Hill Who reareth not vp Alters vnto Iupiter and giueth not ritch burnt offeringes to the Planets as yet then I â—â—ow not or finde not that man that is blameleâ—◠〈◊〉 there any filled with wisdome as is the flood of Phison with his Buckettes or like Tigris when the new fruictes are growinge that bringeth in plenteous vnderstanding as Euphrates and filleth it vp as Iordayne in the Haruest that casteth out wisdome as floods or as the Waterbrooke of the Riuer or as Dorix when it is at the full or as the water Conduicte out of the Garden of pleasure That deceyueth not in his tongue that beguileth not his Neighbour that speaketh truth to all thensure I haue not or find not that man which is blamelesse Hath not wisdome cryed out doth not vnderstanding put forth hir voice standeth shée not in the heigh places in the stréetes and wayes doth shée not crie in the whole Cittie in the Gates and no man heareth hir Who regardeth the yellinge of the poore afflicted soule Who causeth the Hedge and Vineyard of the Lordo to bee repaired who hath brought Golde Incence Frankensence Mirrhe to him deserued it who layeth not his hands with the Souldiers to kepe Christe still in the Graue the hée rise not what cause haue I then to question any more with Paull I may not I ought not I dare not I should not for it is vndoubted and without question I know not I finde not that man which is blamelesse Then let vs seeke a litle farther happelye wee may finde some man by the way or some one thinge that may bée doone by man and that hée may clime vnto therfore wée come to the seconde parte of this seconde diuition of trueth not so harde as the other yet not so easelye as it is taken for and it is this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Husbande of one Wife This it was put in because of the vnbeléeuing Bretheren that had diuers wiues in the law it was permitted and before the law Sobolis procreandae causa that the worlde might bee increased to haue many wiues Abraham had diuers wiues Iacob diuers Dauid married Abigail yet had hee two beside naye and more too Elcana was indifferent well wiued but hee had brawles enough with them and it went hard with Iacob wheÌ„ hée was bought and solde in the féelds with his Sonnes Mandragoras So vnlouingly these louelesse toyes causeth broyles in braineles loue I finde not in the conrse of all the Prophets that anye one of them broake the rule of the Lorde in this and if Monuments were searched which haue you of all Dianaes Préestes of Apollos shauelinges of those Romishe Flamines that haue not run vpon the sword vpon death vpon fier then they would once violate breake their chastety Of those that bée this day at the Altar of the Lord that poore out his Incence and offer at his Table how many is there whom the Gospell cryeth out vpon and these dayes hath spewed forth from of the face of the earth as vnworthy to abide in the tentes of Iacob for this villany A forte there be euen in the house of God fitter to sporte it with the Timbrell and the Pipe then to take in their handes the Booke of the Lorde Helyas looked vp to the Heauens and saw a blacke Clowde wherby hee iudged that rayne was comming to helpe Israel with all Is there none here of all the Prophets that will looke vp to the HeaueÌ„s to bring tidings to this people Surely it may bée doone and safely For if euer vengaunce approched nere vs and tempests and stormes fell on vs these are the dayes wherin the ayre is blacke and glowmy and full of thicke clowdes readye to powre forth rayne and throwe downe Hailestones to consume vs for the aduowtery and incestiousnes of vs the Cleargie what a number haue béene depriued of late what a number are suspected now I it was a a sore lesson I it was a good lesson I but it was a harde lesson 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gratianus that vile and filthy wretch with others that rabble forbad Mariage The Gretian Church and the Latine suffered it a long time Silitius setled established it in Spayne Gregory in Silitia and it was assayed in Germany But Augustanus Maguntius and Hildebrand disanulde it These dayes are so miserable that Concubines bée but common ware and men of conscience yet in these Marchaundrise will strayne their conscience Polygamos Digamos Trigamos Centigamos if so you will they spare them not at all so it be doon in the Closet I am perswaded before the Lorde and that among vs who be of the housholde of faith that Solomon his so greate a number of Concubines the royaltie and statelinesse of his princes are scarce able to serue the gréedinesse of some our English wan tons that bee amonge vs the Lorde cut them off and giue Micheas a bolde spirite to tel them of it Let vs come to the third part and sée what it is that followeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Watching A great charge it is that is giuen to the minister of the worde of God who as one to tender the care of his launched patient ought to be readie at all assayes to winde and folde vp the rawenesse thereof And this was it Christ said to the twelue get you and preache you And the fiftie hee sent foorth healing and teaching in his name also Christe in Iohn you shall beare witnesse of me In that last prayer the charge hee gaue vnto them he lifted vp his voice and saide sanctefie them O father in the trueth thy worde is the trueth as thou didest sende me into the worlde so do I sende them into the worlde and againe to Peter féede my shéepe and againe a good shéepeherd giueth his life for the shéepe and they here his voice and they are led by him Esay the Prophet threatneth out vengeance against them that liue securely and carelesly in their charge Woe be vnto Syon Wo be vnto Ierusalem Wo be vnto Ephraim and Woe vnto Manasses Her Priestes bee blinde ignoraunt euery one of them the are domme dogges that cannot barke looking after vaine and wanton things And this vice it is two common the Lorde knoweth among vs that are become continuall sléepers and lye downe in our lassiuiousnesse and belshe out in our talke most infamous blasphemy against the Lorde I here the voyces of good and wise men tinkling in my eares of the dissolute ministers in the country and that be abrode But let good men blushe let them that shoulde sée be blinded the Lorde wil one day take away this Vayle and vncouer their faces to sée better I sée it and
Sydon and Woe be vnto all the Isles that lacke wise men for their rulers and discréete personnes to teach them wisedome Well let this be my first poinct in this his seconde attyre to cloth the minister of the Lorde withall we wil procéede happily at length we shal finde that whiche may delight vs The next is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Suche a one as shall mainteine and kéepe straungers and not vnfitly For among Israel straungers were harboured because they themselues were straungers in Aegypt And we must remember to kéepe straungers in token that wee doe wander on earth and haue no abiding place and in remembraunce we be straungers vnto all the worlde for the word of the Lorde That heathnish writer yet the eloquent writer Marcus Tullius Saith properly in his Officijs Non dominus domo sed domus domino cohonestanda The house ought not to set out the maister but the goodnesse of the maister adorneth and beutifieth the statelynesse of the house Vlisses traueling verie farre gaue his commendation to Greece and all the countries there about that for courtesie and hospitalitie it might wel be compared vnto all Latium I knowe not what Vlisses would say if he were with vs but I am in doubt he might begge and sterue to before he gate ought I must of duetie counsell you with Paul to bee good vnto the poore for by receiuing straungers men haue receiued Angelles into their houses If Dauid may be beléeued the good mans childe hath seldome begged breade and the heart of the reighteous man is alwayes lyberal I must speak the trueth before the Lorde and before you all for we are driuen into a verie narowe straite the bely and the backe flaunteth it out in all sumpteousnesse your houses they haue nothing in them but bare walles they be so pinched with penurie those which are in the common welth in whose handes are many heapes of Gould are loth to distribute thrée peckes of meale to the poore and fatherlesse Nay I haue harde some speake it That if the vnsatiable gathering together of money if your racking of poore people if the greedinesse of scraping in of welth were left among you the spiritualtie wee which are of the common welth that haue nothing but by trauayle and sweate of our browes raked vp in many yeres would bestow more on the poore people then we do This is a pitifull crye it is ascended vp alreadie vnto the eares of the Lord the people they are readie to starue they houle in their miserie and crie out in the verie paine and smart of their soules vppon vs the ministers of the Lorde that harden other mens harts by our coueteousnesse Naball must néedes be harde and gréedie and no meruaile if Diues thinke much to giue vnto Lazarus that ritche men séeke for newe barnes to put in their stoore when they of Iuda and such as be in the house of God continually thirste to inritch them Well the Church of God perisheth in her miserie and panteth so sore that she is burst with crying because that this is not looked vnto In a cleere testimonie of my conscience I vtter the trueth vnto you for I haue seene it in some I knowe it in many it is common in all Hospitalitie here so much accompted of of Paul is termed husbandrie For if you saue much greedely that your childrē may spend it lasciuiously it is saide to be but good husbandrie I once was at Pauls Crosse when as a learned graue father preaching there among many other thinges spake much then of this vice He called to memorie at that time for the space of many yeares before that there had been no one Alderman in al London whose senne was remembred to haue vsed the honestly which the father in many yeares had seraped vp so couetously It was a sore and heauie saying for those wise and gray headed men that were then present And the saying of that wise Prophet moued the hartes of many that heard it There is at this daye nowe in London in moste florishinge state two sonnes of two Aldermen gouerninge by the wealth their fathers lefte them the happie and good state of that Citie But if that olde and grayheaded father were now aliue and speaking of the ministers of the worde of God shoulde turne his eyes to sée the iolitie wherin their children be that same discréete father for the two famous most worthy Shrifes that haue gouerned that honourable Cytie of London could not since that Englande was inhabited and knowen of men picke out so much as two sonnes of two Bishoppes to haue sat in the seate of their fathers I speake it as in such a time wherein the Lorde hath sent a rot among vs that wise men and most good and godly men shoulde haue so lewde and wicked children This is it I say The Lord wil haue their sonnes to spende it wantonly for that their fathers haue rackte it vp so vnkindly And if that money were bestowed on the poore which pine away for want of foode or some other way to the good and profite of the Church which lyeth smothered in their coffers and motheaten with rust the Lorde would not onely prosper them as good Phinees to haue the honour of the Priesthoode to remaine in their houses for euer But they shoulde be suer to haue one in the fauour and sight of God in a perpetuall generation The worlde is nowe so proude and the people therein so stately that if the sonne of a minister be not a gentleman the sonne of the minister shal bee but in accompt a begger There is some in Englande that haue good and large stipends for seruing the Lorde and they spende it as liberally on their Sonnes to make them Courtiers Well Aaron did not so either Eleazar so eyther els the Apostles and bretheren of the Lorde eyther els did Cephas or the residew so Pittye it is the Churche of God to sée how it serueth how the people die for foode the hedge of the Lorde how it is broken downe and they of the house do not so much as send their childrē out of their house to repayre it The Lorde moue his Prophetes to see vnto it And giue thē that earnest of his spirit the zeale of his glorye the feare of his name the reuerence of his Maiestye they ought to haue that his Gospell may bée farthered his Hierusalem builded his Citye finished his Church fetled that if it bee his will it may frō henceforth bee neuer more remoued we haue now run thorow the two first peeces of our last worke euen a litle liberty more and I doubt not but I shall dispatch the rest It foloweth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apte to teache there was required 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and now wée haue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the lord God hath alwaies had a care ouer his church he therfore hath cōtinually sent laborers into his harueste to helpe them forwarde therin
good Cence in the house of the God of Iacob I may well say that the Regions are ripe alreadie vnto Haruest but the workemen they are vnskilfull in their dooings for they cut downe they spoyle the branches of the good Vine they are not able to prune them in their season They haue so by the space of many yéeres ouershadowed the litle graftes and kepte vnder the simple soules by cloake of superstition That for lacke of the Sun the sinsceare and true meaninge of the worde that hath bin kepte from them by these rotten and shackering boughes they are euen now falne to the ground and wythered O Lorde howe many poore and sillye Creatures of God haue pyned away which neuer knew what Iesus Christe mente how many is there that if they had tasted of this Breade of lyfe wheron wee feed would most willingly haue nourished them selues therwith and for the want therof haue died in honger Wherfore and for which cause euen in the Lorde Christe and in his blood I speake thus mutch The Lord hath so blessed the sonnes of his Prophets and Gilgall is become so gloryous in the sight of God and Bethell and Ierico where our Nazaristes bee is now come vnto so full a groath as that since the Lord hath giuen his worde to man a more happye and flourishing estate was neuer séene among the sonnes of Prophettes It is our humble sutes that as GOD hath blessed them so Ely and Elyas woulde now bringe these younge Leuites into the Tabernacle of the Lorde to serue there The Lord God sende downe vpon you the full measure and aboundaunce of his spirite that those may bee chosen out as fitteste for Israell that are meetest to beare the Arke of the Lorde The Lorde sende vs his Prophettes of his grace and goodnesse that as hee hath giuen mercyfully vnto vs a long calme and quiet Sommer therin to make ripe and fully to strengthen our studyes such a time as heretofore wee neuer hadde so in the pleasure and greenenes of this same tyme wee suffer not the fruicte which is looked for at our handes to wyther away but that wee maye bringe it into the common Wealthe amonge others and profit them which haue eyther litle or small skill in the worde of God and that hope to bee only releeued by our dooings And that God that heatherto hath blessed them in that his fauour prosper vs and them in Iesus Christe And nowe euen last of all hauinge sayd what I doo thinke and vttered that I meane in a true testimony of my conscience I craue pardon at your handes my fellowe Bretheren and laborers in the Lord Take this my farewell and last spéeche among you Euen to you of Cambridge I also sometime of Cambridge doo speake To others men of learning and wisdome I a litle experienced in readinge and as one snatchinge heare and there that which hee coulde get at studye make my humble sute and ernest requeste with hartye good will vnto you all That the house of the Lorde wonderfullye decayed and broken downe in many places in England the wales therof so shaken that any rauening ramping beast may enter therein to deuoure vp the poore flocke of the Lorde scarce in sixtéen yeres one man found out to speake vnto thē sixteene times nay in twentie yeeres not two Sermondes in ten yeeres not one Preacher and since the blessed and happy day then which neuer came one more ioyfull in this Realme whē our most gratious Soueraigne toke first of all the Scepter and the Diademe vpon hir head and now hath kept the same frō the handes of forrein men I say from that day of ioy and mirth vntill this hower many Churches sundry congregations diuers Parishes in this Realme eyther are destitute altogeather or seldome in seuen yéeres or neuer in many Monethes or not at all since the preachinge of the Gospell haue had any one good Preacher to teache them Our Prophets they tary at holme and very lothe they bee to go abroade so many troubles and sundry miseries are insident vnto them in the common wealth And verely I can scarce blame them for if they doo they are fayne to goe into the feeldes to gather their owne meate if so they will as though there were now a dearth amōg them and then there daintiest feed it is but Pottage If which is worse they happen to gather some Coliquintida or of the wilde Vine they may sterue or els be poisoned there is neuer an Elyza to helpe thē or any one so rare it is like vnto that Sunamite commended of the Lorde that if a Prophet or man of God come by him wil call him or appoinct him a place or make him a chaumber or wall it about or set him a bedde there or a Table or a stoole or a Candelsticke to entertayne him and his seruaunt if hee turne thyther or come that way That I might haue good occasion to charge them to stay at holme and bee content with their small prouision for they shal be fed as hongerly when they come abroad as euer they were whē they kept their study And yet this is not my meaning for without doubt if we were as ready to serue the Lord as God would bée if wée walked vprightly to blesse vs though they woulde not or they could not or that the people were harde and stony vnto vs yet the Lord would prouide vs meate yea though it were from the mouth of the Kauens and wée should bée as well lyking with the pulse and the pottage wheron wee feede as any other though they were in the Kinges Court with all their dainties Wherfore let no man bee discourged we are but as our fathers were furthermore it is our portion in this life to bee in bondage in this world And if wee were not as now we are very secure the Lorde would deliuer vs It is a pittifull thinge and I can not but vtter it take it as you will wee disagrée among our selues and bee at discorde with in our owne house and there is harte burning euen amōg those that minister in the Ephod and serue at the Table of the Lorde The thing is to open the grudge is ouer well knowen as for the contention I would it were so great as that of the Prophets was that any iust quarrel might be pretended but in as much as neither the worke is falsified that appertaineth to the holy buildings nor the garments or the silke or the fine purple and wreathed worke cōtrary to the commaundemente of God but your disputation is about Snuffers Besoms and such base and homly stuffe which you thruste into the Tabernacle of our God lay vpon vs being things of no value therefore I am not purposed to defend thē at this time but to pray vnto the Lord to prepare our hartes aright that wee may vse them equall and as becommeth vs bothe of them Hauing for al that great and wayghty matters