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A19257 An exposition of the hymne commonly called Benedictus with an ample & comfortable application of the same, to our age and people. By A. Anderson preacher. Anderson, Anthony, d. 1593. 1574 (1574) STC 567; ESTC S100136 70,199 176

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our Father and that his Christ is by his goodnesse geuen to vs and by his spirite hath he grafted vs into his Christ as the braunches are into the true vine by whose sappe euen his sayd spirite wée haue not onely our Arra and earnest penie of his assured couenant But also are set so sure into eternall lyfe that it is impossible for sinne satan flesh or whatso euer to condemne vs For it is our Lorde which hath redéemed vs his people and we are by fayth grafted into him our Lorde So that to vs can come no condemnation nor any want of that which is good Therefore agayne wyth the whole Church of God we most ioyfully ought to say Blessed be the Lorde God c. For he hath visited and redeemed his people Finally note here that the Papistes in their Mattins vsing or rather into abuse bringing and chaunting this song did neuer a right as Zacharie the good Priest did therewith praise the Lord for they worshipped him with lippes alone without vnderstanding the causes why but he first waigheth the cause before hée poureth out by waight the Lordes praise His hart was wholy fraught with conceiued matter of ioy they voyd thereof laden with terrible doubtfulnesse dare not presume say they to bost of their deliuerance which popish vice as it is their deuotion in their life so it purchaseth for them after death the dregges of Gods angrie Cup as dreaming Dirgis and restlesse Masses to purchace requiem where none is to be had and a neuer ceasing paye till land and reuenewes wyll serue no more And yet if eftsones of them it be asked neuer can it by them be aunswered the soule the Lord visiting hath redéemed for then their poperie should decay But thankes be vnto God who by his vnfallible truth in his writtē word hath assured as many as beleue in him of eternall life yea and that presently after and from the moment of naturall death our Lord and redéemer so saying hee that beleeueth in me shall not die for euer c. but shall passe from death to life O ye Papistes learne to repent which God if it be his good wil graunt you for Christes sake and to perceiue with vs the causes why we blesse the Lord for he hath erected vp an horne of saluation in the house of his seruant Dauid for the Church of true Israell as this our good Priest and Prophet Zacharie speaketh on this wise saying Vers 2 And hath raysed vp the horne of saluation vnto vs in the house of his seruaunt Dauid Albeit sayth the Prophet that in the eyes of all men Israel was cast downe his strength worne out and his light extinct his hope gone and no glory left in the house of Dauid yet do I now sée thée O Lord mindfull of thy former promises For in that thou hast sent my sonne the Baptist thy messenger and enriched the wombe of the virgin with child thou hast assured vs of thy erected Christ in the Tabernacle of Dauid which is to vs a most mightie saluation by thy spirit in the mouth of the same Dauid promised saying There will I make the horne of Dauid to bud for I haue ordained a light for mine anoynted And the time now thou hast respected to the inestimable comfort of thy Church in which Herod and thy enemies haue perished in shew thy Dauids line and haue vsurped his throne As thou before time hast promised saying Jn that day will I rayse vp the Tabernacle of Dauid that is falne downe and close vp the breaches therof And J will rayse vp his ruines and J will build it as in the dayes of olde A horne he calleth Christ our Sauiour significantly thereby checking the pride of Sathan in his members that séeke to destroy the kingdome of Israell as also declaring that he shal be of strēgth to ouercome their strength yea and that his place and dignitie is no where els thē from the Lorde who doth anoynt this Christ aboue his fellow Priestes Princes with the Horne of his Euerlasting strength for his people Vnderstand therfore that this word Cornu a horne in scripture sometime signifieth kingdom and princely power as in Daniell and in Samuel Sometime it is taken for strength and great might as in Daniel againe and in the Psalmist All the hornes of the vngodly will J breake but the hornes of the iust saith he shal be exalted The sum of the Prophets wordes are as if he had sayd To vs depriued of strength hope and comfort by the mightie enemies of god in the world the Lord in despite of them that throw vs downe to the dust hath erected in the midst of them his promised Christ which is to vs that beleue in him a mightie king a strong saluation That and the only sauing health of God giuen to al nations that feare him and call vppon his name Yea and that in the same linage and stocke which the mightie of the world are now in hand to destroy euen in the house of his seruant Dauid Since to vs this horne with his honour and strength is erected let vs consider something further of these the Prophets wordes And first note that in Christ alone which is borne of Dauids stocke the virgin Mary not in the popish wheaten and coniured counterfet Christ hath the heauenly father placed our sauing health and in no other wherefore in him alone must wée repose our trust as in whom the fulnes of the Godhead and his whole fauour dwelleth corporally and in whom alone he resteth with vs pleased whose name is the Lord our righteousnes Secondly he is of God set vp to be our saluation therefor may we not els where séeke for health of Man or Angell neither feare any other power for neither sinne Sathan world or Hell can take our sauing health from vs that rest in him nor separate from him his merites those which the father hath geuen to him Thirdly the same horne that to the wicked is terrible and vgly destroying their kingdomes and tiranny is to the faithfull the horne of their health in God from the sicknes of their sinne And also it is to them life into heauen from and against the death in hel As the same water which drowned the wicked of the world neither sparing Shippe Citie Towne or Castel at the same instant caried the Arke of the obedient Noah and his familie from destruction Yea and as naturall death it selfe is to the wicked the doore to eternall fire So is the same naturall death by this our strength Christ Iesus who hath ouercome death and her sting to vs that rightly beleue in him the passage to eternall ioye and blisse Let the Papists therefore tremble at the presence of this our strength for neither they or the gates of hell shall or can preuayle in battayle against vs because God
his throne of grace as deare children adopted in Christ to their best beloued father They loue to labour in godly workes as by his word they are commaunded They séeke to liue by faith in Christ as by the Scriptures they are taught They ioy to suffer and beare his crosse and aspiring by lowlinesse of mind they pray his aide and helpe there in with comfort continuing vnder the same They appoynt no time for their release but paciently abide his lotted leysure They looke not on the present troubles but weigh their sinnes his decréed purpose and place as opposite to their aspect the ioye that is set before them They runne with patience the race for them appointed and despising the present shame they still endure the crosse alwayes looking to Iesus christ the authour finisher of their life They blesse those that curse them they loue their enemies and do good to all but their chiefe delight is to ioyne with the houshold of faith They challenge to themselues by nature confusion for sinne and shame for their infirmities and to God the father in Christ our Lord by the instinct of his holy spirit they attribute all honour and glory and forgetting their workes past assay to go forwards to the price set before them expressing thēselues by their good workes to be the Lords building who hath made them an holy habitation and a royall priesthode In hym they offer vp themselues for a spirituall sacrifice dayly yéelding forth the fruites of holy lippes to his priest and willing obedience to his holy will. They by the spirite desire not to followe but defie and kill the lustes of the flesh They fight against Sathan and his impes continually They beare an vnfained hate to alsuperstitious vanities They contemne and despise the beggerly ordinances of the wicked world disdayning to become bondslaues to sinne any more They reioyce in their deliuerance walke in the way of the lord with a sincere hart single mind Though slide they may eftsones by frayltie yet neuer flatte fall they by falshode from the Lord their god Lo these are they of whom our Zacharie speaketh and the Angell poynteth Joseph vnto whē he affirmeth Iesus to saue his people from their sinnes And all if these haue so many fraylties be of such weaknes that they cannot as they would or do as they should perfectly walke before the Lord Yet shall they not feare for his Christ is theirs with him they haue in him iustificatiō sanctification redemption and perfect wisedome By whose vertues and merites they are euer presented before God as a iust and holy people peculiar to the lord To these can come no condemnation or any accusation shal be admitted against thē nor any gilt procure sentence to their losse For it is the Lord that doth iustifie them Finally no power shall or can conuenting conuince them For they haue in their hartes the word which is Gods power to saluation And God him selfe standeth on their side for their defence So that it is more possible for light to become darknes good euill and euill good which neuer shall come to passe then that the Lordes people should not be deliuered from death or yet want the knowledge of their saluation Which knowledge teacheth them to féele in hart and find by truth that the same sauing health consisteth not in their remuneration but commeth of god for his Christs sake by full remission of and from all their sinnes The Lord graunt vs to labour so in his vineyarde which professe his name that we may be not called only but appeare in déede his chosen people Then shall we be sure of our deliuerance in Christ our Sauiour And thus much for these wordes his people in this present verse mentioned The third last branch of this verse is to consider by what meanes his people are brought to féel perceiue that their saluatiō doth consist in the remission geuen of god Namely by this that the same is made knowne to their consciences by the ministerie of the word preached vnto them For all if the price of Christes bloud bée they most soueraigne salue for mās sinne as by the which it is wholy washed away Yet onlesse the Church of God haue sence and perfect féeling hereof in her inward partes and depenesse of hart the same shall nothing profite her For the which cause Christ promiseth being once lift vp as the serpent in the wildernesse was to draw all men to looke and come to him by the instrument of fayth and to his heauenly father in that his most comfortable prayer a little before his death for the comfort of his elect he witnesseth that life eternall consisteth in the knowledge of God the father and Christ his Sonne Also reprouing the Iewes for their rebellion he chargeth their ignorance to bée the cause therof as also shewing his Disciples of their persecuted state perils to death affirmeth ignorance to be the forcing meane hereto This shal they do saith he because they neither know the father nor yet me Paule the Apostle testifieth this to be the meane to apprehend saluation euen to come to the knowledge of the truth Thereto he ioyneth it to the branch preceding saying God will haue all men to be saued and to come to the knowledge of the truth Lo a thing most incident to saluation is to haue knowledge of the truth To conclude who are they which are taught of god but his people And what are they taught of him but the truth of his word Which he writeth with his finger in their hartes as the scripture saith that they may be a knowing people and not ignorant as the Papistes teach but falsely the same to be the mother of deuotion But Christ sayth that ignorance is the mother of error which leadeth to damnation Behold now the scope of this Baptists office was to prepare the Iewish harts by the knowledge of their sinnes and repentance for the same to preuent Gods Iustice by fruitefull acceptation of the Gospell by Christ presently preached to haue him for there God and by him saluation and full deliuerance from their sinnes For the which cause the Angell also before to Zacharie adorned him with noble titles and not to him only doe they belong but to all the true preachers of God with him wherefore they are here of thée deare Reader the better to bée weighed as wordes that doe import the glory of his heauenly Embassage to thine earthly hart Hée is first sayd to bée full of the holy Ghost a thing most necessarie to bée in the true preacher of the word as without the same he can neither preach much lesse profite the people of the Lord. The Apostles from christ therfore receiued the fulnes of his spirit by portion to their aptnes power to execute their
is on our side and therfore we feare not what the Pope or any other Carnalite can doe against vs. Fourthly where and when is this horne erected Euen there then where and in what place the worlds force is to represse the same euen in the house of his seruant Dauid When did Israel féele most the presence of the horne Whē Pharao entred with greatest rage to destroy the Lordes heritage When did Daniel perceiue his might and where Euen when his friend the Kyng wanted strength to helpe him and in the place prouided for his destruction Where did Helias the good Prophet beholde this wonderfull horne erected But where idolatrie had preuayled ouer all and then also when not one séemed to stand with the lord And did not Israell now decay and the heathen enter into their possessions Was not Dauids house aboue al persecuted Then there did the Lord send his promised horne Christ our Lorde by whose sapience the wisedome of all flesh is proued foolishnesse and through whose strength the strong armed mā is spoyled of his treasure Be of good comfort O thou little flock afflicted for the Lord hath and wil haue his Christ to haue the victorie Yea death is the instrument of life and he maketh persecution to bee the séede time of his Gospel and the bloud of Martirs the budding time of the same Wherfore alwayes with this other such places of the holy Scripture take comfort thou that trustest in the Lord And let the experiment of the last persecution in England assure thée that the power of this horne is eftsones encreased Where and when did this Christ shewe forth to our age his might But when the bloud of his saintes in our English bloudy Church became as riuers of water and in the time of their greatest pride and ripenes of their Butchers actes Then and there hath the Lord againe in this nation erected his Christ and Gospell and from the prison of the Tower hath to the Throne and diademe of this land raysed his more then halfe dead Elizabeth our godly and gracious Quéene vnder whom the ruines of the decayed walles of true Religion are greatly repayred once againe God make vs mindfull of his mercies thankfull for his benefites And giue her Maiestie such encrease of his zealous spirite that the remnant of the Hydra and seuen headed beast may be banished this nation that in her gracious raigne and by her godly hand with the state of her ecclesiastical and ciuil gouernment in God as Gods holy instruments Christ alone may be erected as he is set downe by the Psalmist to be our strength our light So shal her daies be many her throne established and her and our enemies vtterly ashamed And in the meane space graunt vs O Lord for Christes sake true and perfect obedience to her Maiestie with pacient abyding in humble peace till the time which thou hast set to frame her heroical heart further to those things which shall most sound forth thy glory her Maiesties honour and the profite of thy Church that so we may depend vppon Christ our horne of saluation God of strength The Prophet not contented to staye with this summary spéech dilateth the same more amplie sayth as followeth in the next verse Vers 3 As he spake by the mouth of his holy Prophets which haue ben since the world began Least the saluation by him now preached in Christ should séeme to the world a new noueltie fréeed from vtilitie and truth he voucheth the same to be long sith determined of God and the same open to all ages before by the holy Prophets in their times Euē from the voice omnipotent to Satan at the fal of Adam vntill the houre of this ioyful song so sending as to our certaine stay the written word of god As if he had sayd other sauing health to looke for at the handes of God then hée hath promised and to refuse the same by him set and geuen according to his promise is mere wickednes To geue credite to his word and to subscribe therto is true godlines Wherfore come hither ye sonnes of God this is the promised séed the little stone the virgins sonne Jesse his braunch the Messias and the anoynted Sauiour of the Lord promised by al the prophets since the beginning of the world This verse exhibiteth as by hand to our sences excellent matter First that to the whole world aswell before Christ as since and till the last day and houre of the same world there is no saluatiō to be looked for by that perishing world els where then in Dauids house in and by the horne Christ Iesus alone by God and not men erected vp in all sight in that house not set with or vnder other helpes but alone and aboue all other séeking their helpe at him Of saintes the virgin Mary is of most worthy fame yet is she farre of frō hauing power to helpe in earth the sonnes of men Therefore she in her life for a lesson till the end of death to all Dauids house in the Gospell being called vpon of the seruitors at the mariage sayth Whatsoeuer he biddeth you do speaking of her sonne Christ se that ye do it And when Elizabeth this holy priestes wife had saluted her she acknowledged Gods mercie to be the cause and sayd My soule doth magnifie the lord c. And my spirite eke reioyceth in God my Sonne which is my Sauiour for els had I wyth the rest of the sinfull world both soule and bodie perished into eternall fire had not this Christ by the spirite of God my Lord bene conceited and borne not of me alone but to and nor me also Secōdly he hath promised by al his Prophets to deliuer vs from error that this Christ is not to be found els where then in Dauids house by the which as all false Christes are descried so also the true Church is hereby approuedly knowne For as after the flesh Christ is of the line of Dauid so spiritually Dauids house signifieth his new Church and in the same wise Christ is by the Prophets called sundrie times Dauid aswell by Jeremie as Ezechiel where the church is prophesied to serue God and Dauid their king vz. christ the sonne of Dauid For Dauid was now long sith departed to the Lord and again sayth the Lord I will set vp a shepherd ouer them euen my seruaunt Dauid c. And my seruaunt Dauid that is Christ shal be the Prince among them I the lord haue spoken it Therefore good Reader of force it must be so The house wherin this Princely Dauid raigneth and this priestly Prophet teacheth is the church of true Israelites the vnfayned house of Jacob to the which and for the which the Angels discend and ascend dayly by the commaundement of our King to the ministring comfort of his
them to saye forgeue O Lorde our sinnes Hath not the chiefe of them whose lyfe was angelical whose person to death was eftsoons assailed Paule I mean hath not he writtē doth not he therby yet speake that the merit of eternall life is Gods mercie not mans merit And yet speaking of the suffringes and bloud of martired saintes for the testimonie of God and his Gospel he acknowledgeth that the afflictions of them in this life are not worthy of the glory which shall be shewed to them in the triumphant kingdome of our heauenly father But their merit sayth hée is Gods loue who hath chosen them to bée his sonnes and hath sayth hée annexed them with Christ as heires of the inheritance Note well eternall life commeth not by the bloud and afflictions of martirs not by purchase of mens merits but by the inheritaunce geuen vs in Christ thorough Gods mercie Thus good reader thou séest that this popish post is rotten for age and want of heart what shal we saye of the third matter the Popes pardon Surely if neither his God the Masse nor his saintes bloud can helpe neither can his pardons any thing profite thée for they are all of one force haue all a like authoritie I néede not longer to stand in the confutation of such a wicked taile of the people that boasteth himselfe to bée the onely head of Gods church in earth controler in the heauens prince in Purgatorie and Master of Hell. Bée not offended that I call him that tayle of the people for the warrant is geuen me by the holy Ghost so to terme him The auncient and honorable man he is the head saith Esay and the Prophet that teacheth lies he is the tayle of the people The last of Popish merites are good workes which can not merit Gods mercie for either they precede or folow faith If they go before fayth they are sinne and therefore moue Gods furie rather then merite his mercie If they followe faith they then merite not that which of God is giuen before their birth but expresse by such fruite what well planted trée brought them forth But as no trée meriteth life by the Apple which hée beareth but fast setled in the ground liueth of the iuyce that commeth from the roote so the faythful merite not Gods fauour which is their life by their works the fruites of their fayth but setled and grafted into Christ their foundation they doe receiue their common life from the same roote by the sappe his spirite which from him is sent and geuen to euery of them sufficiently to life eternall What shall we then not worke God forbid Alwayes do and continue in that which is good but cause not a good thing commaunded of GOD to become a pestilent euill to thy conscience Liue and walke in good workes which God hath prepared for thée but let them bée done to the same end which GOD hath directed to them Namely that the outward déede in them may expresse thy inward fayth in Christ our Lord. And further that the Church of GOD may bée profited by them But chiefely that by the same many mouthes séeing thy faythfull actes may bée prepared and stirred vp to glorifie thy Father which is in heauen This is the voice of holy scripture declaring the end of good works to be as we haue said but that they merit not Paule playnely sheweth to the Romanes for and to al in the person of Abraham saying if Abraham were iustified by workes he hath wherein to reioyce but not with god For what saith the Scripture Abraham beleeued God and it was counted to him for righteousnes Now to him that worketh the wages is not counted by fauour but by debt hut to him that worketh not vz. to merit thereby but beleueth in him that iustifieth the wicked his faith is counted for righteousnes Thus then we sée that the fathers with vs haue not merited Christ our onely felicitie but Gods mercie and loue surmounting as I may reuerently say his iustice in iust wrath hath not of dutie but by loue geuen and not sold to vs that beleue in him his Sonne Christ that we should not perish but by him being deliuered from our enemies should haue euerlasting life and power in him to serue him in this time of our mortall flesh in all holines vertuous exercises before him al the dayes of our life Moreouer I note that our Lord God will not haue vs to dwell in vncertainties for our saluation and therefore he sendeth vs to his written word where his promises couenant is by his owne spirit set downe to all flesh for the which cause Zacharie hath relation in this verse to the written promises and couenaunt And to the same sayth John also is the Gospell written to vs now that wee should by that written truth beléeue that Iesus is the Christ the sonne of God and that in beleuing we might haue life through his name As for the vnwritten verities of the Papistes as they are counterfet and forged of their owne brayne so can they bring no comfort to the conscience of the wounded man or satisfaction to the thirstie soule that laboureth to séeke the water of life which God doth geue to those that hunger thirst after the same For nothing els worke they but draw to hell all such as trust and are led by them But he that thirsteth after the water of life els where then in the written sacred scriptures can it not be found Séeke this water in the Scripture therfore good Reader and the Lord will make heauenly riuers to flowe out of thée wherewith thou shalt satisfie thine owne conscience in the same Christ fully and be able also to bring many other to the same saluation which the knowledge of the Lord by his spirite in the scriptures hath wrought in thée Last of all in this verse let vs marke diligently that not otherwise thē in christ Iesus God the father maketh vs partakers of his holy couenant Or yet by any other meanes are we kept within the compasse therof then by the cause it selfe which is Christ the Lord the Alpha and Omega of the same So voucheth the Apostle saying in thy séede which is Christ shal al nations be blessed The obseruations of the sixt verse are also comfortable and profitable Comfortable when we perceiue that our sinnes deserue the breach of Gods loue and extreme iudgement yet God in his mercie doth promise sweare to kéepe his word giuen to the fathers and to deliuer vs from the sayd iudgment as the Prophet in the text sayth and the oth which hee swere c. The profite hereof ensueth in the doctrine following In no case may we gather because God is sayd here to sweare that his word without an oth is doubtefull for the Scriptures euery where approue them absolutely Amen
stones with Carbuncle lay thy foundations with Saphire I wil make thy windows of Emraudes thy gates shining stones all thy borders of pleasant stones and all thy Children shal be taught of God and much peace shal be vnto thy Children in righteousnesse shalt thou be established and be farre from oppression for thou shalt not feare it and from feare for it shall not come nie thée Beholde the Enemye shall gather himselfe but wythout me whosoeuer shall gather hymselfe in thée agaynst thée shall fall Beholde I haue made the Smyth that bloweth the Coales in the Fyre and him that bringeth forth an Instrument for his worke and I haue Created the Destroyer to destroy but all the Weapons that are made agaynst thée shall not prosper And euery Tongue that shall aryse vp against thée in Iudgement thou shalt Condemne Thys is the Lordes Heritage and their ryghteousnesse is of mée sayth the LORDE Thus farre the Prophete speaketh to teache thée good Reader great cause of comfort and courage agaynst dispayre though England which is Gods church haue now many enemies risen vp against her her religion yea though her owne skirtes doe carie suche as insult agaynst her she is Promised that theyr Weapons and the smith that framed them shal not prosper Their lybelling bookes which séeke to persecute her though they come from the house of counsell and séeme to procede from the seate of learnings iudgement yet shal this church of God be set a Iudge ouer their wearie trauels and toyling spite and shall condemne them Let that worthy Jewel of famous memory the holy confessor and Saint of and by Iesus Christ treasured vp in the Lapydarie of the heauens for the glory of our God let his excellent workes I say stand for an ample warrant hereto to this age to her posteritie for euer And let others whether at home or abroade looke for the same end of their molesting troubles which they cast into this our age and Church But thou wilt say why doth the Lord suffer so long our weake consciences to be troubled with these contending strifes What art thou O man that wilt dispute with God These troubles to vs yet in respect of the Schismes of old are but as an entring into the first moment of the day Waite thou the lords leysure and be still learne thy song framed by firme hope in truth which Micah hath taught the church of God alwayes in her trouble to sing thou shalt be relieued though thy enemies yet séeke to triumph ouer thée Reioyce not against me O my enemie saith the church there for though I fal I shal arise when I shal sit in darknes the Lord shall be a light vnto me I will beare the wrath of the Lord because I haue sinned against him vntil he plead my cause and execute iudgement for me then wil he bring me forth to the light I shal sée his righteousnes Then she that is my enemie shall looke vpon it shame shall couer her which said vnto me Where is the Lord thy God my eyes shall behold her now shal she be troden downe as the myre of the stréets c. Thus much forth of the prophet Micah where thou maist learn to accuse thy self for thy sinne as Dauid did séeing the people afflicted not with Achab to charge the Lord or his profession Prophets whē troubles plagues arise in the church but to turne thy eyes into thy owne conscience sée the booke of thy iniquities there written to confesse before god man that thy sinne is the cause of such trouble plague brought into the church people by Satan his malice the pollicie of these his wicked impes Last of all discourage not at the romish scoffes taunting reproches nor yet despaire in the bottome of her darke dungeons sharpe persecutions for the lord wil comfort thée in them if thou rest vpon his laysure remaine constant in the end deliuering thée wil stampe thy enemie into dirt make thée beautiful in the sight of al men that thou maist serue him thy god thus deliuered frō feare in new holines deuoid of hypocrisie in iustice righteous dealing to with al men in the place of thy abode traffike els where amōgst men in earth And euer respect thy deliuerāce frō sinne regard thy state so that Satan eftsones pul thée not to thy former sinne which cōpelleth his erst bondage for the end of such as so fal is worse then the beginning And thus much for the first part of this Hymne in which I haue bene more prolixe then first I purposed but I trust that the profite which may rise vppon the attentiue reading of the matter simply set downe wil coūteruaile the tedious sight of so much blotted paper sith my willing trauayles hath forced me to dwell in comfortable spéech with the lesse learned some thing the longer because they of themselues can not conceiue such profitable matter as this our text doth exhibite to the serching eye assuredly perswaded that the better so godly learned will vouchsafe soueraigne Censure to this my vnpolished pen. And wherein I erre from the truth if by the same I may heare louingly therof as I hope I haue geuen no poyson to the Church so I wil be glad to reforme that and those thinges which godly reasons with learned truth shall require at my hands The Lord graunt continuance of his gospell in this Nation preseruation to her Maiestie with encrease of Gods knowledge and zeale to his holy name and to vs and his whole Church from all heresies Scismes and ciuill dissentions if it stand with his good wil and pleasure once full deliuerance that we may serue the Lord our god in sinceritie of hart and integritie of life in his sight by his holy spirite all the dayes of our life to whom by and with Christ our Lord to that deitie in the trinal vnitie be al praise power glory for euer Amen Vers 9 And thou child shalt be called the Prophet of the most high for thou shalt goe before the face of the Lord to prepare his wayes As the sacred Priest before had declared Gods great benefites and faithfulnes in performing his louing promises to the redemption of his elect So now he returneth to this present action and vsing the person of an interpreter expoundeth the Oracle of God declaring his sonne this child to be the same preacher and Doctor which erst by the Prophet Malachy was promised to precede Christ By whose trauel in Doctrine the way should be prepared for the Lordes comming his and our Messias Which office this babe in his appoynted time executed right wel with sinceritie of hart ▪ sparing no person place time or people or omitted any occasiō when he might most aptly performe such his calling This Baptistes voyce was euer crying against the sinnes of all exhibiting the remedie
he sheweth himselfe bent to mercie But if both he spare to strike and spende his holy labors by his Propheticall preachers in vaine to the people to whom he sendeth them then and there will he poure out his double plagues to their vtter confusion Let Jerusalem alone suffize to testifye the same And grant O Lord more grace to England that we in no sort receue this thy long suffering aboundant gracious light of thy blessed truth in vaine for thy sonnes sake For then assuredly as it now appeareth by thy handy work is become to be the best Receptacle for thy afflicted members So shall it then be sene an horrible Cage for euery foule byrde and fylthie gryppe and in stede of songes of mirth and ioy howling lamentation and mourning for her great desolation shall found her sorow to the heauens redoūd to the earth againe accompanied wyth thy most terrible plagues in vehement sort Oh the securitie of England Oh the manifest contempt of the English nation Oh the depe dissimulation that enuironeth so the borders of this land as no wher thence it were permitted to haue his passage Wel God sēdeth to thée yet once Zachary Iohn Bap. in plentiful sort to cry with exalted voice incessantly repēt for the day of the Lord is at hand And through the preaching of truth they open the way to saluation in Christ Happie be thou ye twise blessed oh miserable England canst thou in time lende thyne Eares and laye thy hearte to the touche of truethe in this the daye of thy moste louing visitation And thy day of appearing canst be readye to tourne to thy Lorde who shall purge thée lyke vnto moste pure Syluer But if the Lorde take from thée Oh Englande his Worde and Preaching then Desolation is imminent For when Preaching fayleth the people perishe and dye for want of their spiritual breade the force of their lyfe Where is the beautie of the former Hierusalem What is become of the Learned Chorinth the pryde of all Achaia And where is the former glory of that Christian Antioche Is not the east Churche wholy become an Apostata from God and them selues betrothed to the seruitude of sinne his huge enemies And what shal we say of that roging Rome which somtime was the deare church of God is she not now become the seate of Antechrist and the Sinagogue of Sathan Yes forsooth Whence flowed the Floudes of Godlinesse thence commeth the Waters of fylth in the streame of Idolatrie superstition adulterie homicide treason murder couetousnesse and sinnes agaynst nature and the holy Ghost There as in a mirrour we may sée the testimonie of Paule speaking of the Heathen Idolators to the Godly Romanes verifyed For when they professed themselues to be wise they became fooles turning the glory of the incorruptible God to the similitude of a corruptible man c. Wherefore God gaue them vp also to their hartes lustes vnto vnclearnesse to defyle their owne bodies betwéene themselues which tourned the trueth of God to a lye and worshipped and serued the Creature forsaking the Creator which is blessed for euer Amen For this cause sayth Paule God gaue thē vp vnto vile affections The spirit of god foreseeing the lyke Idolatry and sinne to followe in this satanicall Sea warned them by these former plagues to auoyde the seconde destruction set downe by Iohn the diuine in the Reuelation But sith this seate is set for Antechrist and that no man can safely vnder her harbor be sure from Gods wrath or can be permitted to nussle as the Sowe in the myery puddles of her broken Cesternes Let vs wyth on consent recoyle to the commaundement of the Spirite which soundeth the retire from Romish Babilon and her damnable desolation lest running in her chase we be ouertaken by the Lorde which persecuteth her wyth al arma of sundry and sodeyne Fyghtes to her most terrible ouerthrow And always haue before thine eyes that pyller of Salt which sometime was the holy Lots wife who for her great loue she bare to her line bloud which would not lende their eares to God receiued a monstrous shape and lost the beutie of her first Creation A notable example certaynely Vers 10 And to giue knowledge of saluation vnto his people by remission of their sinnes The office of Iohn and how he is to prepare the way of the Lorde is here by Zacharie set downe namely by the Preaching of repentance and driuing the Iews to the view of their sins wherby they might be the more apt to receiue Christ by fayth in him saluation for their sins true righteousnes eternall lyfe This preparation is so requisite as without the same neither shall the wounded man féele his griefe or the dreined conscience gaspe thirst after christes bloud the founteine of health to euery dry sinning soule pined sinner that hungreth his water of life Wherfore his inestimable merit hath not onely giuen a sauiour but hath sent a heauenly voyce to cry out to our deade deafe bodies the knowledge of life and way to saluation which commeth to vs by the forgeuenes of our sinnes at the hands of our good God most merciful father he hauing fully satisfyed his iustice in the person of our crucifyed Christ the chastisement of our peace Thrée especiall poyntes this verse containeth first by what means saluatiō is atteined euen by the forgeuenes of sins Secondly whose sinnes are forgeuen Onely the sinnes of Gods elect chosen people Thirdly the way by the which they atteine to so hie a price Euen by that they haue this saluation made so apparant to them by the ministery of Preaching that they apprehende by fayth Gods spirit opening the hart of the hearer Concerning the first whence new iustification is had is apparantly sene by our Prophet namely that their sinnes be forgiuen thē Neither is there in any one to purchase such remission for then should not our iustification stand in forgiuenes but in mans purchase so god in bestowing life should not giue vs his son but according our merit and his debt pay to vs christ our desert which were to vttermost pestilent blasphemy against God and his Gospell So God loued the world sayth Christ that he gaue his only begoten sonne c. But this verse teacheth vs that our saluatiō is had by the remission of sins seteth downe both the meane for vs to apprehende lyfe and the cause of lyfe also The meane or hande whereby we take holde of christ which is our lyfe is fayth norished and bred in our hartes by the worde preached which accepteth christ as of the Father he is giuen and by the scriptures he is discribed vnto vs The cause here expressed is gods loue who hath predestinate to lyfe all those whom he hath translated from the poynte of death to the kingdome of his deare sonne and from