most holy faith that so when our earthly house of this Tabernacle shall bee destroyed we may haue a building giuen of God a house not made with hands but eternall in the heavens This is that which is most piously feelingly taught in these few leaues so that you shall read nothing here but what I perswade my selfe you haue long practised in the constant course of your life It remaineth only that you accept of these labours tendred to you by him who wisheth you the long ioies of this world the eternal of that which is to come Oxon. from Corp. Christ. College this 13. of Ianuary 1613. THE FIRST SERMON EPIST. IVDE 17 But yee beloved remember the words which were spoken before of the Apostles of our Lord Iesus Christ 18 How that they told you that there should be mockers in the last time which should walke after their owne vngodly lusts 19 These are makers of sects fleshly having not the spirit 20 But yee beloued edifie your selues in your most holie faith praying in the holy Ghost 21 And keepe your selues in the loue of God looking for the mercy of our Lord Iesus Christ vnto eternall life THE occasion wherevpon together with the ende wherefore this Epistle was written is opned in the front entrie of the same There were then as there are now many evill and wickedly disposed persons not of the mysticall body yet within the visible bounds of the Church men which were of old ordained to cōdemnation vngodly men which turned the grace of our God into wantonnesse and denied the Lord Iesus For this cause the spirit of the Lord is in the hand of Iude the servant of Iesus and brother of Iames to exhort them that are called and sanctified of God the father that they would earnestly contend to maintaine the faith which was once delivered vnto the Saints Which faith because wee cannot maintaine except wee knowe perfectly first against whom secondly in what sort it must be maintained therefore in the former three verses of that parcell of Scripture which I haue read the enimies of the crosse of Christ are plainely described and in the later two they that loue the Lord Iesus haue a sweet lesson giuen them how to strengthen stablish themselues in the faith Let vs first therefore examin the description of these reprobates concerning faith and afterwards come to the words of the exhortation wherein Christians are taught how to rest their hearts on Gods eternall and everlasting truth The description of these godlesse persons is two fold Generall and Speciall The generall doth point them out and shew what manner of men they should be The particular pointeth at them and saith plainely these are they In the generall description we haue to consider of these things First when they were described they were told of before Secondly the men by whom they were described They were spoken of by the Apostles of our Lord Iesus Christ. Thirdly the daies when they should bee manifested vnto the world they told you they should bee in the last time Fourthly their disposition and whole demeanure mockers and walkers after their own vngodly lusts 2 In the third to the Philippians the Apostle describeth certaine They are men saith hee of whom I haue told you often and now with teares I tell you of them their God is their belly their glorying and reioycing is in their owne shame they mind earthly things These were enimies of the crosse of Christ enimies whom he saw his eies gusht out with teares to behold them But we are taught in this place how the Apostles spake also of enimies whom as yet they had not seen described a family of mē as yet vnheard of a generation reserved for the end of the world for the last time they had not onely declared what they heard and saw in the daies wherein they lived but they haue prophecid also of mē in time to come And you doe well saith S. Peter in that yee take heed to the words of prophecie so that yee first know this that no prophecie in the Scripture commeth of any mans owne resolution No prophecie in Scripture commeth of any mans owne resolution For all prophecy which is in Scripture came by the secret inspiration of God But there are prophecies which are no scripture yea there are prophecies against the Scripture my brethren beware of such prophecies and take heed you heed them not Remember the things that were spoken of before but spoken of before by the Apostles of our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ. Take heed to prophecies but to prophecies which are in scripture For both the manner and the matter of those prophecies doth shew plainely that they are of God 3 Touching the manner how men by the spirit of prophecie in holy Scripture haue spoken written of things to come wee must vnderstand that as the knowledge of that they spake so likewise the vtterance of that they knewe came not by these vsuall and ordinary meanes whereby we are brought to vnderstand the mysteries of our salvation and are wont to instruct others in the same For whatsoever wee know we haue it by the hands and ministrie of men which lead vs along like children from a letter to a syllable from a syllable to a word from a word to a line from a line to a sentence from a sentence to a side and so turne over But God himselfe was their instructour he himselfe taught thē partly by dreames and visions in the night partly by revelations in the daie taking them aside from amongst their brethrē and talking with them as a man would talke with his neighbour in the way Thus they became acquainted even with the secret and hidden counsels of God They saw things which themselues were not able to vtter they beheld that whereat men and Angels are astonished They vnderstood in the beginning what should come to passe in the last daies 4 God which lightned thus the eies of their vnderstanding giving them knowledge by vnvsuall and extraordinarie meanes did also miraculously himself frame and fashion their wordes and writings in so much that a greater difference there seemeth not to bee betweene the manner of their knowledge then there is between the manner of their speed ours When we haue conceiued a thing in our hearts and throughlie vnderstand it as wee thinke within our selues yet we can vtter it in such sort that our brethrē may receaue instruction or comfort at our mouths how great how long how earnest meditation are we forced to vse And after much travaile and much paines when we open our lips to speake of the wonderfull workes of God our tongues doe faulter within our mouthes yea many times wee disgrace the dreadfull mysteries of our faith and grieue the spirit of our hearers by words vnsavory and vnseemely speeches Shall a wise man fill his bellie with the easterne vind saith Eliphaz shall a wise man
how wonderfull I would faine learne the mysterie of the eternall generation of the sonne of God saith Hilary Whom shall I seeke shall I get me to the schooles of the Grecians why I haue read vbi sapiens vbi scriba vbi conquisitor huius seculi These wise men in the world must needs bee dumbe in this because they haue reiected the wisdome of God Shall I beseech the Scribes and Interpreters of the law to become my teachers how can they knowe this sith they are offended at the crosse of Christ It is death for me to be ignorant of the vnsearchable misterie of the sonne of God of which misterie notwit standing I should haue been ignorant but that a poore fisherman vnknowne vnlearned new come from his bote with his cloathes wringing wet hath opened his mouth and taught me In the beginning was the word and the word was with God the word was God These poore sillie creatures haue made vs rich in the knowledge of the mysteries of Christ. 7 Remember therefore that which is spoken of by the Apostles Whose words if the children of this world doe not regard is it any marvaile They are the Apostles of our Lord Iesus not of their Lord but of our It is true which one hath said in a certaine place Apostolicam fidem seculi homo non capit a maÌ„ sworne to the world is not capable of that faith which the Apostles doe teach What meane the children of this world then to tread in the courts of our God What should your bodies doe at Bethel whose hearts are at Bethaven The God of this world whom yee serue hath provided Apostles and teachers for you Chaldeans wisards Southsayers Astrologers and such like Heare them Tell not vs that yee will sacrifice to the Lord our God if wee will sacrifice to Ashteroth or Melcom that yee will read our Scriptures if wee will listen to your traditions that if yee may haue a Masse by permission wee shall haue a Communion with good leaue and liking that yee will admit the things that are spoken of by the Apostles of our Lord Iesus if your Lord and Master may haue his ordinances observed and his statutes kept Solomon tooke it as well he might for an evident proofe that she did not bear a motherly affection to her child which yeelded to haue it cut in diverse parts He cannot loue the Lord Iesus with his heart which lendeth one care to his Apostles and another care to false Apostles which can brooke to see a mingle mangle of religion and superstition Ministers and Massingpriests light darknesse truth and errour traditions and Scriptures No we haue no Lord but Iesus no doctrine but the Gospell no teachers but his Apostles Were it reason to require at the hands of an English subiect obedience to the lawes and edicts of the Spaniard I doe marvaile that any man bearing the name of a servant of the servants of Iesus Christ will goe about to drawe vs from our allegeance Wee are his sworne subiects it is not lawful for vs to heare the things that are not told vs by his Apostles They haue told vs that in the last daies there shall be mockers therefore wee beleeue it Credimus quia legimus we are so perswaded because we read it must be so If we did not read it we would not teach it Nam quae libro legis non continentur eanec nosse debemus saith Hilary those things that are not written in the booke of the law wee ought not so much as to be acquainted with them Remember the words which were spoken of before of the Apostles of our Lord Iesus Christ. 8 The third thing to be considered in the description of these men of whom wee speake is the time wherin they should be manifested to the world They tolde you there should bee mockers in the last time Noah at the commaundement of God built an Arke and there were in it beasts of all sorts cleane vncleane A husbandman planteth a vineyard looketh for grapes but when they come to the gathering behold togither with grapes there are found also wilde grapes A rich man prepareth a great supper and biddeth many but when hee sitteth him downe he findeth amongst his friends here and there a man whom he knoweth not This hath beene the state of the Church sitheÌ„ce the beginning God alwaies hath mingled his Saints with faithlesse and godlesse persons as it were the cleane with the vncleane grapes with sowre grapes his friends and children with aliens and strangers Mervaile not theÌ„ if in the last daies also yee see the men with whom you liue and walke arme in arme laugh at your religion and blaspheme that glorious name whereof you are called Thus it was in the daies of the patriarckes prophets and are we better then our fathers Albeit we suppose that the blessed Apostles in foreshewing what manner of men were set out for the last daies meant to note a calamity speciall and peculiar to the ages and generations which were to come As if he shoulde haue said As God hath appointed a time of seed for the sower and a time of harvest for him that reapeth as he hath giveÌ„ vnto every hearb every tree his own fruit and his own season not the season nor the fruit of another for no man looketh to gather figs in the winter because the Sommer is the season for them nor grapes of thistles because grapes are the fruite of the Vine so the same God hath appointed sundâ—ie for every generation of men other men for other times and for the last times the worst men as may appeare by their properties which is the fourth point to be considered of in this description 9 They told you that there should be Mockers He meaneth men that shall vse religion as a cloake to put off and on as the weather serveth such as shall with Herod heare the preaching of Iohn Baptist to day and to morrow condescende to haue him beheaded or with the other Herod say they will worship Christ when they purpose a massacre in their hearts kisse Christ with Iudas and betray Christ with Iudas These are mockers For as ishmael the sonne of Hagar laughed at Isaak which was heire of the promise so shall these men laugh at you as the maddest people vnder the sunne if yee be like Moses choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God then to enioy the pleasures of sin for a season And why God hath not given them eies to see nor harts to coÌ„ceiue that exceeding recompence of your rewarde The promises of salvatioÌ„ made to you are matters wherein they can take no pleasure even as Ishmael tooke no pleasure in that promise wherein God had said vnto Abraham In Isaac shall thy seed be called because the promise concerned not him but Isaac They are tearmed for their impiety towards God mockers and for the impurity of their life
vp that the bowels of the childe may be made the mothers graue that he hath caused no small number of our brethren to forsake their natiue country with all disloialty to cast off the yoke of their allegeance to our dread Soveraigne whom God in mercy hath set over them for whose sauegard if they caried not the hearts of Tygers in the bosomes of men they woulde thinke the dearest blood in their bodies wel spent But now saith Abiah to Ieroboam yee thinke yee be able to resist the kingdome of the Lorde which is in the hands of the sonnes of David Yee be a great multitude the golden calues are with you which Ieroboam made you for Gods haue yee not driven away the priests of the Lord the sonnes of Aaron and the Levites haue made you priests like the people of natioÌ„s whosoever commeth with a young bullocke and seaven rammes the same may bee a priest of them that are no Gods If I should follow the comparison here vncover the cup of those deadly and ougly abominations where with this Ieroboam of whom we speake hath made the earth so drunke that it hath reeled vnder vs I know your godly hearts would loath to see them For my own part I delight not to take in such filth I had rather take a garment vpon my shoulders and go with my face from them to cover them The Lord open their eies and cause them if it be possible at the length to see how they are wretched and miserable and poore and blinde and naked Put it O Lord in their hearts to seeke white raiment and to cover themselues that their filthy nakednes may no longer appeare For beloved in Christ we bow our knees lift vp our hands to heaven in our chambers secretly openly in our churches we pray hartily howrely even for them also though the Pope haue given out as a Iudge in a solemne declaratory sentence of excommunication against this land that our gracious Lady hath quite abolished praiers within her realme and his schollers whom he hath taken from the midst of vs haue in their published writings charged vs not only not to haue any holy assemblies vnto the Lorde for praier but to hold a common schoole of sinne flattery to hold sacrilege to be Gods service vnfaithfulnesse and breach of promise to God to giue it to a strumpet to be a vertue to abandon fasting to abhor confession to mislike with penance to like well of vsury to charge none with restitution to finde no good before God in single life nor in no well working that all men as they fal to vs are much woorsed and more then afore corrupted I do not adde one word or sillable vnto that which Mr Bristow a man both borne and sworne amongst vs hath taught his hand to deliver to the view of all I appeale to the coÌ„science of every soule that hath beene truely converted by vs whether his heart were never raised vp to God by our preaching whether the words of our exhortation never wrong any teare of a penitent heart from his eies whether his soule never reaped any ioy any comfort any consolation in Christ Iesus by our sacraments and praiers and Psalmes thansgivings whether he were never bettered but alwaies worsed by vs. Omerciful Godlif heaven and earth in this case do not witnesse with vs and against them let vs bee razed out from the land of the living let the earth on which we stand swallow vs quicke as it hath done Corah Dathan and Abiram But if we belong vnto the Lord our God and haue not forsaken him if our priests the sonnes of Aaron minister vnto the Lord and the Levites in their office if wee offer vnto the Lord every morning and every evening the burnt offrings sweet incense of praiers land thanks givings if the bread be set in order vpon the pure table the candlesticke of gold with the lamps thereof to burne every morning that is to say if amoÌ„gst vs Gods blessed sacraments be duly administred his holy word sincerely and daily preached if we keep the watch of the Lord our God and if yee haue forsaken him then doubt yee not this God is with vs as a captaine his priests with founding trumpets must cry alarme against you O yee children of Israel fight not against the Lord God of your fathers for yee shall not prosper The second Sermon EPIST. IVDE 17 But yee beloved remember the words which were spoken before of the Apostles of our Lord Iesus Christ. 18 How that they tolde you that there should be mockers in the last time which should walk after their own vngodly lusts 19 These are makers of Sects fleshly having not the spirit 20 But yee beloved edifie your selues in your most holy faith praying in the holy Ghost 21 And keepe your selues in the loue of God looking for the mercie of our Lord Iesus Christ vnto eternall life HAving otherwhere spoken of the words of Saint Iude going next before concerning Mockers which should come in the last time backsliders which even then fell away from the faith of our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ I am now by the aide of almighty God and through the assistance of his good spirit to lay before you the words of exhortation which I haue read 2 Wherein first of all whosoever hath an eie to see let him open it and he shall wel perceiue how carefull the Lord is for his children how desirous to see them profit and growe vp to a manly stature in Christ how loath to haue them any way mislead either by examples of the wicked or by enticements of the world and by provocation of the flesh or by any other meanes forcible to deceaue them and likely to estrange their heartt from God For God is not at that point with vs that hee careth not whether wee sinke or swimme No he hath written our names in the palme of his hand in the signet vpon his finger are we graven in sentences not onely of mercy but of iudgement also we are remembred He never denouÌ„ceth iudgements againâ—t the wicked but hee maketh some Proviso for his children as it were for some certaine priviledged persons Touch not mine annointed doe my Prophets no harme hurt not the earth nor the sea nor the trees till wee haue sealed the servants of God in their foreheads Hee never speaketh of godlesse men but he adioineth words of comfort or admonition or exhortation whereby wee are moued to rest and settle our hearts on him In the second to Tim. the 3. Chap. Evil men saith the Apostle and deceiuers shall waxe worse and worse deceiuing and being deceiued But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned And in the first to Tim. the. 6. Chap. Some men lusting after money have erred from the faith pierced themselues through with many sorrowes But thou ô man of God fly these things and follow
TVVO SERMONS VPON PART OF S. JVDES EPISTLE BY RICHARD HOOKER sometimes Fellow of Corpus Christi College in Oxford AC OX Printed at Oxford by Ioseph Barnes Ann. Dom. 1614. TO THE WORSHIPFVLL Mr GEORGE SVMMASTER Principall of Broad-Gates Hall in Oxford HENRY IACKSON wisheth all happinesse SIR YOur kind acceptance of a former testification of that respect I owe you hath made mee venture to shewe the world these godly Sermons vnder your name In which as every point is worth observation so some especially are to bee noted The first that as the spirit of Prophecie is from God himselfe who doth inwardly heate and enlighten the hearts minds of his holy Pen-men which if some would diligently consider they would not puzzle themselues with the contentions of Scot Thomas Whether God only or his ministring spirits doe infuse into mens minds propheticall revelations per species intelligibiles so God framed their words also Whence the holy Father S. Augustine religiously obserueth that al those which vnderstand the sacred writers wil also perceaue that they ought not to vse other wordes then they did in expressing those heavenly mysteries which their hearts conceaved as the Blessed Virgin did our Saviour By the holy Ghost The greater is Castellio his offence who hath laboured to teach the Prophets to speake otherwise then they haue already Much like to that impious King of Spaine Alphonsus X who found fault with Gods workes Si inquit creationi affuissem mundum meliùs ordinassem if he had beene with God at the creation of the world the world had gone better then now it doth As this maÌ„ fouÌ„d fault with Gods works so did the other with Gods words But because we haue a most â—ure word of the Prophets to which we must take heed I wil let his words passe with the wind having elsewhere spokeÌ„ to you more largely of his errours whom notwithstanding for his other excellent parts I much respect You shall moreover from hence vnderstand how Christianitic consists not in formall and seeming puritie vnder which who knowes not notorious villanie to maske but in the heart root Whence the author truly teacheth that Mockers which vse religion as a cloake to put off and on as the weather serveth are worse then Pagans and Infidels Where I cannot omit to shew how iustly this kind of men hath beene reproved by that renowned Martyr of Iesus Christ B. Latimer both because it will bee apposite to this purpose and also free that Christian worthy from the slaunderous reproaches of him who was if ever any a Mocker of God Religion and all good men But first I must desire you and in you all Readers not to thinke lightly of that excellent man for vsing of this and the like wittie similitudes in his Sermons For whosoever will call to minde with what riff-raff Gods people were fedde in those daies when their Priests whose lips should haue preserued knowledge preached nothing else but dreames and false miracles of counterfeit saints enrolled in that sottish Legend coined amplified by a drowsie head betweene sleeping and waking He that will consider this and also how the people were delighted with such toies God sending them strong delusions that they should beleeue lies and how hard it would haue beene for any man wholly and vpon the suddaine to drawe their minds to another bent wil easily perceaue both how necessary it was to vse symbolicall discourse and how wisely and moderately it was applied by that religious Father to the end he might lead their vnderstanding so farre till it were so convinced informed and setled that it might forget the meanes and way by which it was led and thinke only of that it had acquired For in all such mysticall speeches who knows not that the end for which they are vsed is onely to bee thought vpon This then being first considered let vs heare the story as it is related by Mr Fox Mr Latimer saith he in his sermon gaue the people certaine cardes out of the fift sixt and seaventh Chap of S. Matthew For the chiefe Triumph in the cards he limited the Hart as the principal thing that they should serue God withall whereby he quite overthrew all hypocriticall and externall ceremonies not tending to the necessarie furtherance of Gods holy word Sacraments By this he exhorted all men to serue the Lord with inward heart and true affection not with outward ceremonies adding moreouer to the praise of that triuÌ„ph that though it were never so smal yet it would take vp the best coat card beside in the bunch yea though it were the king of Clubbes c. meaning thereby how the Lord would be worshipped and served in simplicitie of the heart and verity wherein consisteth true Christian religion c. Thus Mr. Fox By which it appeares that the holy mans intention was to lift vp the peoples hearts to God not that he made a sermon of playing at cards and taught them how to play at Triumph plaied himselfe at cards in the Pulpit as that base companion Parsons reports the matter in his wonted scurrilous vaine of rayling whence hee calleth it a Christmasse Sermon Now he that will thinke ill of such allusions may out of the abundance of his follie iest at Demosthenes for his story of the sheepe wolues dogs and at Menenius for his fiction of the Belly But hinc illae lacrymae The good Bishop meant that the Romish Religion came not from the heart but consisted in outward ceremonies which sorely greived Parsons who never had the least warmth or sparke of honesty Whether B. Latimer coÌ„pared the Bishops to the knaues of Clubs as the fellow interprets him I knowe not I am sure Parsons of all others deserved those colours and so I leaue him We see then what inward puritie is required of all Christians which if they haue then in prayer and all other Christian duties they shall lift vp pure hands as the Apostle speakes not as Baronius would haue it washed from sins with holy water but pure that is holy free from the pollution of sin as the greeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth signify You may also see here refuted those calumnies of the Papists that we abandon al religious rites godsy duties as also the confirmatioÌ„ of our doctrine touching certainty of faith so of salvation which is so strongly denied by some of that faction that they haue told the world S. Paule himselfe was vncertaine of his owne salvation What then shall we saie but pronounce a woe to the most strict observers of S. Francis rule and his canonicall discipline though they make him even equal with Christ the most meritorious Monke that ever was registered in their Calendar of Saints But wee for our comfort are otherwise taught out of the holy Sbripture and therefore exhorted to build our selues in our
dispute with words not comely or with talke that is not profitable Yet behold even they that are wisest amongst vs living cōpared with the Prophets seem no otherwise to talke of God then as if the children which are caried in armes should speake of the greatest matters of state They whose words doe most shew forth their wise and standing and whose lips doe vtter the purest knowledge so long as they vnderstand and speake as men are they not faine sundry waies to excuse themselues Sometimes acknowledging with the wise mā hardly can we discerne the things that are on earth and with great labour finde wee out the things that are before vs who can then seeke out the things that are in heauen Sometimes confessing with Iob the righteous intreating of things too wonderfull for vs we haue spokē we wist not what Sometimes ending their talke as doth the history of the Macchabees if we haue done wel aa the cause required it is that we desire if we haue spok̄ stenderly and havely we haue done that we could But God 〈…〉 saith Esay And we haue receiued saith the Apostle not the spirit of the world but the spirit which is of God that wee might know the things which are given to vs of God which things also we speake not in words which mans wisdome teacheth but which the holy Ghost doth teach This is that which the Prophets mean by those books writtē ful within without which books were so often delivered thē to eat not because God fed thē with inke paper but to teach vs that so oft as he employed them in this heavenly worke they neither spake nor wrote any word of their owne but vttered sillable by sillable as the spirit put it into their months no otherwise then the Harp or the Lute doth giue a sound according to the discretion of his hands that holdeth striketh it with skill The difference is only this An instrument whether it be a pipe or harpe maketh a distinction in the times and sounds which distinction is well perceived of the hearer the instrument it selfe vnderstanding not what is piped or harped The Prophets and holy men of God not so I opened my mouth saith Ezechiels and God reached me a scroule saying son of man cause thy belly to eat fill thy bowels with this I giue thee I eate it and it was sweet in my mouth as hony saith the Prophet Yea sweeter I am perswaded then either hony or the hony combe For herein they were not like Harps or Lutes but they felt they felt the power and strength of their owne words Whē they spake of our peace every corner of their hearts was filled with ioy Whē they prophecied of mournings lamentations and woes to fall vpan vs they wept in the bitternes and indignation of spirit the arme of the Lord being mighty and strong vpon them 5 On this manner were all the prophecies of holy scripture Which prophecies although they containe nothing which is not profitable for our instruction yet as one starre differeth from another in glory so every word of prophecy hath a treasure of matter in it but all matters are not of like importance as al treasures are not of equal price The chiefe principal matter of prophecie is the promise of righteousnesse peace holinesse glory victory immortality vnto every soule which beleeveth that Iesus is Christ of the Iew first and of the Gentile Nowe because the doctrine of salvation to bee looked for by faith in him who was in outward appearance as it had beene a man forsaken of God in him who was numbred Iudged and condemned with the wicked in him whom men did see buffited on the face scoft at by Souldiers scourged by tormentours hanged on the crosse pearced to the heart in him whom the eies of many witnesses did behold when the anguish of his soule enforced him to roare as if his hart had rent in sunder O my God my God why haste thou forsaken me I say because the doctrine of salvatiō by him is a thing improbable to a natural man that whether we preach it to the Gentile or to the Iew the one condemneth our faith as madnes the other as blasphemy therefore to establish and confirme the certainety of this saving trueth in the harts of men the Lord togither with their preachings whom hee sent immediately from himselfe to reveale these things vnto the world mingled prophecies of things both civill and Ecclesiasticall which were to come in everie age from time to time till the very last of the latter daies that by those things wherein we see daily their words fulfilled and done we might haue strong consolation in the hope of things which are not seene because they haue revealed as well the one as the other For when many things are spoken of before in scripture whereof we see first one thing accomplished and then another and so a third pereeiue wee not plainely that God doeth nothing else but lead vs along by the hand til he haue setled vs vpon the rocke of an assured hope that no one iote or title of his word shall passe till all be fulfilled It is not therefore saide in vaine that these godlesse wicked ones were spoken of before 6 But by whom By them whose words if men or Angels from heauen gainesaie they are accursed by them whom whosoever despiseth despiseth not them but me saith Christ. If any man therefore doth loue the Lord Iesus and woe worth him that loueth not the Lord Iesus hereby wee may know that hee loveth him indeed if hee despise not the things that are spoken of by his Apostles whom many haue despised even for the basenesse and simplenesse of their persons For it is the propertie of fleshly and carnall men to honour and dishonour credit and discredit the words and deeds of every man according to that he wanteth or hath without If a man with gorgeous apparell come amongst vs although he bee a theese or a murtherer for there are theeues and murtherers in gorgeous apparell be his heart whatsoever If his coat be of purple or velvet or tissue every one riseth vp and all the reverent solemnities wee can vse are too little But the man that serveth God is contemned and despised amongst vs for his povertie Herod speaketh in iudgement and the people cry out The voice of God and not of man Paul preacheth Christ they tearme him a trifler Harken beloued hath not God chosen the poore of this world that they should be rich in faith hath hee not chosen the refuse of the world to be heires of his kingdome which hee hath promised to them that loue him hath he not chosen the ofscowrings of men to be the lights of the world and the Apostles of Iesus Christ Men vnlearned yet how fully replenished with vnderstanding fewe in number yet how great in power contemptible in shew yet in spirit how strong
faith to the conservation of the soule For they that fall away from the grace of God and separate themselues vnto perdition they are fleshly and carnall they haue not Gods holy spirit But vnto you because yee are sonnes God hath sent forth the spirit of his sonne into your hearts to the end yee might knowe that Christ hath built you vpon a rocke vnmoueable that he hath registred your names in the booke of life that hee hath bound himselfe in a sure and everlasting covenant to be your God the God of your children after you that hee hath suffered as much groned as oft prayed as heartily for you as for Peter O father keepe them in thy name ô righteous father the world hath not knowne thee but I haue knowne thee and these haue knowne that thou hast sent me I haue declared thy name vnto them and will declare it that the loue wherewith thou hast loued me may be in them and I in them The Lord of his infinite mercy giue vs hearts plentifully fraught with the treasure of this blessed assurance of faith vnto the end 14 Here I must advertise all men that haue the testimonie of Gods holy feare within their breasts to consider how vnkindly and iniuriously our owne countrimen and brethren haue dealt with vs by the space of foure and twentie yeares from time to time as if we were the men of whom S. Iude here speaketh never ceasing to charge vs some with schisme some with heresie some with plaine and manifest apostasie as if we had cleane separated our selues from Christ vtterly forsaken God quite abiured heaven trampled all truth and all religion vnder our feet Against this third sort God himselfe shall pleade our cause in that day when they shall answer vs for these words not we them To others by whom we are accused for schisme and heresie wee haue often made our reasonable and in the sight of God I trust allowable answers For in the way which they call heresie wee worship the God of our fathers beleeuing all things which are written in the law the Prophets That which they call schisme wee knowe to bee our reasonable service vnto God and obedience to his voice which cryeth shrill in our eares Go out of Babylon my people that you be not partakers of her sinnes and that yee receaue not of her plagues And therefore when they rise vp against vs hauing no quarrell but this we need not to seeke any farther for our Apologie then the words of Abiah to Ieroboam his armie 2. Chr. 13. O Ieroboam and Israel heare you me ought you not to knowe that the Lord God of Israel hath giuen the kingdome over Israel to David for ever even to him to his sonnes by a covenant of salt that is to say an everlasting covenant Iesuits Papists heare yee me ought you not to knowe that the Father hath giuen al power vnto the some and hath made him the only head over his Church wherein he dwelleth as an husbādman in the midst of his vineyard manuring it with the sweat of his owne browes not letting it forth to others For as it is in the Canticle Solomon had a vineyard in Baalhamon he gaue the vineyard vnto keepers every one bringing for the fruit thereof a thousand peeces of silver but my vineyard which is mine is before me saith Christ. It is true this is meant of the mysticall head set over the body which is not seene butas he hath reserved the mysticall administratiō of the church invisible vnto himselfe so hee hath committed the mysticall government of cōgregations visible to the sonnes of David by the same couenant whose sonnes they are in the governing of the flock of Christ whōsoever the holy ghost hath set over thē to goe before them to leade them in their seuerall pastures one in this cōgregation another in that as it is written Take heede vnto your selues and to all the flocke whereof the holy ghost hath made you over seers to feed the church of God which hee hath purchased with his owne blood Neither will ever any Pope or Papist vnder the cope of heaven bee able to proue the Romish Bishops vsurped supremacy over all Churches by any one word of the covenant of salt which is the Scripture For the children in our streets doe now laugh them to scome when they force thou art Peter to this purpose The Pope hath no more reason to draw the charter of his vniversall authoritie from hence then the rethren had to gather by the wordes of Christ in the last of S. Iohn that the Disciple whome Iesus I ued should never die If I will that he tarry till I come what is that to thee saith Christ Straight waies a report was raysed amongst the brethren that this disciple should not die yet Iesus said not to him Hee shall not die but if I will that he tarry till I come what is that to thee Christ hath said in the 16 of S. Matthewes Gospell to Simon the sonne of Ionas I say to thee thou art Peter Hence an opinion is held in the world that the Pope is vniversall head of all Churches yet Iesus said not the Pope is vniversall head of all Churches but Tues Petrus Thou art Peter Howbeit as Ieroboam the sonne of Nebat the servant of Solomon rose vp and rebelled against his Lord and there were gathered vnto him vaine men and wicked which made themselues strong against Ieroboam the sonne of Solemon because Roboam was but a child and tender hearted and could not resist them so the sonne of perdition and man of sinne being not able to brooke the words of our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ which forbad his disciples to be leke princes of nations They beare rule and are called gracious it shall not bee so with you hath risen vp and rebelled against his Lord to strengthen his arme he hath crept into the houses almost of all the noblest families round about him and taken their children from the cradle to be his Cardinals he hath fawned vpon the kings and princes of the earth by spirituall coufenage hath made them sell their lawfull authoritie and iurisdiction for titles of Catholicus Christianissimus Defensor fidei and such like he hath proclaimed sale of pardons to inveigle the ignorant built seminaries to allure young men desirous of learning erected Stewes to gather the dissolute vnto him This is the rocke wherevpon his Church is built Hereby the man is growne huge and strong like the Cedars which are not shaken with the wind because Princes haue beene as children over tender hearted and could not resist Hereby it is come to passe as you see this day that the man of sinne doth warre against vs not by men of a language which we cannot vnderstande but he commeth as Ieroboam against Iuda bringeth the fruit of our owne bodies to eat vs
minister vnto Idoles applie this exhortation to theÌ„ whom god hath appointed to feede his chosen in Israell 32 If their be any feeling of Christ and drop of heavenly dewe any spark of Gods good spirit within you stirre it vp be careful to build and edifie first your selues then your flockes in this most holy faith 33 I say first your selues For he which wil set the hearts of other men on fire with the loue of Christ must himselfe burne with loue It is want of faith inour selues My Brethren which maketh vs retchlesse in building others We forsake the Lords inheritance and seed it not What is the reason of this Our own desires are setled where they should not be Wee our selues are like those women which haue a longing to eate coales and lime and filth we are fed some with honour some with ease some with wealth the Gospell waxeth loathsome vnpleasant in our tast how should we then haue a care to feed others with that which we cannot fancie our selues If faith wax cold and slender in the heart of the Prophet it will soone perish from the eares of the people The Prophet Amos speaketh of a famine saying I will send a famine in the land not a famine of bread nor a thirst of water but of hearing the word of the Lord. Men shall wander from sea to sea and from the north vnto the east shall they runne to and fro to seeke the word of the Lord and shall not find it Iudgement must beginne at the house of God saith Peter Yea I say at the sanctuarie of God this iudgemeÌ„t must begin This famine must begin at the hart of the Prophet He must haue darknes for a vision hee must stumble at noone daies as at the twi-light and then truth shall fall in middest of the streets then shall the people wander from sea to sea and from the North vnto the east shall they runne to and fro to seeke the word of the Lord. 34 In the second of Haggaie speake now saith God to his prophet Speake now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel Prince of Iudah to Iehoshua the son of Iehozadak the high priest to the residue of the people saying who is left among you that saw this house in hir first glory and how doe you see it now is not this house in your eies in comparison of it as nothing the prophet would haue all mens eies turned to the veiw of theÌ„selues every sort brought to the consideration of their present state This is no place to shew what dutie Zerubbabel or Iehoshua doth owe vnto God in this respect They haue I doubt not such as put them hereof in remembraÌ„ce I aske of you which are a part of the residue of Gods elect chosen people Who is their amongst you that hath takeÌ„ a survey of the house of God as it was in the daies of the blessed Apostles of Iesus Christ who is there amongst you that hath seen coÌ„sidred this holy temple in her first glory how do you see it now Is it not in comparison of the other almost as nothing wheÌ„ ye look vpoÌ„ theÌ„ that haue vndertakeÌ„ the charge of your soules know how far these are for the most part growne out of kind how few there be that tread the steps of their ancient predecessors yee are easily filled with indignation easily drawne vnto these coÌ„plaints wherein the difference of present froÌ„ former times is bewailed easily persuaded to think of theÌ„ that lived to enioy the daies which now are gon Surely they were happy in coÌ„parison of vs that haue succeeded them were not their Bishops meÌ„ vnreprovable wisâ— righteous holy teÌ„perat wel reported of even of those which were without were not their Pastours guids teachers able willing to exhort with wholsoÌ„e doctrine to improue which gainesaid the truth had they priests made of the refuse of the people were men like to the children which were in Niniveh vnable to discerne betweene the right hand the left presented to the charge of their congregation did their teachers leaue their flocks over which the holy Ghost had made them overseers Did their Prophets enter vpon holy things as spoils without a reverend calling were their leaders so vnkindly affected towards theÌ„ that they could find in their hearts of sel them as sheepe or oxen not caring how they made them away But beloued deceaue not your selues Doe the faults of your guids and pastours offeud you it is your fault if they bee thus faulty Nullus qui maluÌ„ rectoreÌ„ patitur euÌ„ accuset quia fuifuit meriti perversi pastoris subiacere ditioni saith S. Gregory whosoever thou art whom the incoÌ„venience of an evil governor doth presse accuse thy selfe not him His being such is thy deseruing O yee disobedient children turn again saith the Lord the wil I giue you pastours according to mine own hart which shall feed you with knowledge vnderstading So that the only way to repaire all ruines breaches offensiue decaies in others is to begin reformation at your selues Which that we may all sincerely seriously and speedily doe God the Father grant for his sonne our Saviour lesus sake vnto whom with the holy Ghost three persons one Eternall and everlasting Gon be Honour and Glory and Praise forever Amen FINIS a Lib 4 ca 6. de doct Chr. b Rob. Tolet. l. 4 cap 5. c 2 Pet. 1. d Pâ—aef in orat D. Rainold * Parsons in 3. Convers. e Malac. 2 7. f Canus locor lib. 11. c. 6 Vives lib. 2 de corrupt art Hard. lib 4. Detect g Pag. 1903. edit 1570. h In the third part of 3. conversions of England in the Examine of Foxes Sainte cap. 14. §. 53. 54 p. 215 * Sect 55 k Plut in Demosthen l Liv. dec 1. lib. 2. an V. C 60 m 1. Tim. 2. 8. n Annal to 1 Ann. 57. n. 109 110 .10 2. An. 132. num 5 o S. Paulus de sua salute incertê° Richeom Iesuit lib. 2. c. 12. Idololat Huguenot pa. 119. in marg edit lat Mogunt 1613. interpret Marcel Bompar Iesuitâ p Witnesse the verses of Horatius of Iesuite recited by Possevin Biblioth Select part 2. lib. 17. cap. 19. Exue Francis cum tunicâ laceroque cucullo Qui FraÌ„ciscê° eratiam tibi Christus erit FraÌ„câ—sci exuviis si qua licet indue Christum Iam Franciscus erit qu imodò Christus erat The like hath Bencius another Iesuite q 2. Cor. 5. 1. Of the spirit of prophecie receaued froÌ„ God himself Of the Prophers maÌ„ner of speech Iob. 15. 2. 3. Wisd. 9. 16. Esai 49. 2. Ezechiel 3. A naturall man perceaveth not heavenly things Iam. 2. Act. 12. Act 1â— We must not halt between 2. opinions Mockers in the last time Mockers Mockers worse then Pagans and Infidels Act. 2. Act 26. Rom. 10. Iudas vir sapiens certi iudicii Threefold 〈◊〉 1 Heresie â— Schisme 3. Apostasy infallible evidence in the faithfull that they are Gods childâ—â—Ì„ The Papists falsly accuse vs of Heresie and Apostasie Act. 25. Apoc. 18. Cant. 8 11. Act. 20. The Popes vsurped supremacie Consil. delector Cardin. Laurent Surius Commde reb gest à Pio 5 Franciâ—cus Sansovin de gubernat regnoruÌ„ Rerumpub lib 11 cap. de Iud Marescal Soldan 2. Chr. c. 13. Ver. 12. Gen 6 3 13 Gen 6 8 18 Gen 19. 12. Gen 19. 15. Ver. 16. Ver. 18. Eccles. 5. The sacrament of the L. Supper Lam. 2. v. 13. Ephes 1 Ioh 4 1. Ioh. 5. Mat 7. Rom. 11. 1. Joh â— No pleasing of God without faith Psal 69. Rom. 11. Psal 18. v. 14. Rom 11. 20. Ver. 22. Hos. 1. 9 not my people Ver 6. not obtaining mercy * Carelesse Amos 8. 11. Ver. 12. 1. Pet. 4. 17. ier 3. v 14. 15.