my saluation neither yet commeth my helpe from the hilles or of the hilles But from and of the liuing God that made both Heauen and earth ¶ Augustine in Opere imperfecto vpon Mathi. Capite 32. TEll me O thou foolysh priest is not the Gospell of Christ dayly preached to the people in the Churchches and is it not daily tought then if being tought them it doth not profitte them how can it saue them being hanged about their necks Father whether is the strenght and operation of the Gospell in the figures of letters or in the vnderstanding of the sences if it be in the figures then is it wel hanged about their neckes But if it be in vnderstanding then is it better to put it into thy harte then to hange it about thy necke other meaning to shew themselues more iust do hang the Gospell about the hems and skertes of their garment or at their heyre or lookes O detestable impietie vngodlines which will rather shew godlines in their garments outwardly then in the precious bodye of Christ For he that is not saued by eating and receauing his bodye wil be saued by the holines of the hemes of his garments despairing in the great mercies of his goodues doth put his trust in the coote or gowne of a Temperall or wordly man But what will they saye O dyd not Paule giue his handkercher and gerdell to heale the weake Yes certainly before the knowledge of god was knowne in man it was necessary reason that by the godlines of man Gods power might be knowne But now it is madnes sith that now we knowe the power of God what is it necessary that we should know it by the power of man another doth thus interpretate this place saying By the obseruations of times and dayes delatinge at large their wordes and earnestly teaching that by conuersasion of health and saluation of whom Christ spake in vaine they worshippe me teaching the precepts and doctrine of man for they magnifie the hemmes and seames of their clothes For when they prayse the superfluous obseruations of their owne righteousnes to be pleasing vnto God they do as it weare magnifie the seames of their clothes Exodus 20. THou shalt not make to thy selfe any grauen Image nor y likenes of any thing y is in heauen aboue nor in y earth beneth neither in the waters vnder the earth for I am the Lord thy God strong Ielous I am the Lord your God you shall not make to your selues any Idole or grauen Image neither shal you set a stone in your land to worshippe it You shall ouerthrow their Alters and breake downe their pillers cut downe their groues burne their grauen Images with fyer for thou art an holy people vâ—thy Lord thy God. Cursed be the man that maketh anâ— carued or molten Image an abhomination vnto the Lord the worke of the handâ— of the hole craftes man and putteth in 〈◊〉 secret place in like case these places which are too many to reherse 3. Para. 33. Psalm 105. Psalme 96. Esai 30. Deut. 6. Deut. 32. 1. Reg. 7. Mala. 3. ¶ Iohn Chrisostome vpon Math. Homelie 45. Cap. 23. HOw will you flye the iudgement 〈◊〉 Hell damnation By the building your graues or Sepulcres of the saintes or rather by purging your hartes from rancour and malise wyll God iudge as man iudgeth man iudgeth man by worke but God iudgeth the harte What righteousnes is this to honour the saintes and holy men and to contemne sanctitte and holines The first degree of godlines is first to loue godlines then the godly for the saints were not before sanctitie or holines but holines was before the saints Therfore wel do they honour y righteous or iust that doth tread vnderfoote or spurne at iustice or righteousnes how will you escape will the saintes whose graues and moniments you adthorne and decrée deliuer you the saintes cannot be frendes to them to whom the Lord is enemie for can the familie or houshold be inquiet if the Lord or master be against it Howe will you escape will paraduenture a bare or vnfrutefull name deliuer you because you do seme to be the people of God what doth it profite that harlot if she be called a chast woman and is not so shall it nothing auayle the sinner if he be called or name the seruaunt of God In the end how wil you auoyd or escape the punnishment of Hell fyer which do build Churches and yet do not followe the fayth of the eclesiasticall truth Which read the Scriptures and yet do not beleue them which name the Prophets and Apostelles and Martirs and yet do not imitate the Martirs nor follow their confession Neither haue you hard him that saith not euery one that sayth vnto me Lord Lord shall enter into the kyngdome of Heauen but he that doth the will of my father which is in Heauen For as all that do call on the Lord are not the Lordes so not all that name the Apostelles and Martirs are true worshippers of them but they do truly worshippe and honour them that imitate and follow their workes and fayth I am thy Lorde God and Sauiour worshippe none other God but me Do not turne vnto Idoles neyther make you fayned Gods for I am the Lord your God. Among the Gods there is none lyke vnto the Lord and there are no workes lyke vnto thy workes all nations that thou hast created shall come and worship before the Lorde and shall glorifie thy name because thou art great and doinge great thinges and thou art the onely God and God alone Manoah sayd vnto the Angell of the Lord we will kepe thée still vntil we haue made ready a kydd and haue set it before thée And the Angell of the Lord sayd vnto Manoah though thou make me abyde I will not eate of thy bread and if thou wilt offer a burnt offering thou must offer it vnto the lord c. And I wyll speake my iudgementes with them c. Hast not thou sene what he hath done Cursed be the man that trusteth in man. He that loued vs and wasshed vs from our sinnes Their is but one God and one mediatour c. Though their be many Gods and many Lordes yet to vs is there but one God for the better vnderstanding of the case Read these places at large and you shall find the wordes most playne ¶ Iohn Chrisostomes Homelie of the profect of the Gospell Thom. 6. THe woman of Canaine came and praied vnto Christ for her daughter which then was possessed of a deuel crying after him with a loud and shryll voyce and sayd haue mercy vpon me Lord for my daughter is sore vered of a Dyuell Behold the strange Barberus woman and an outcast from the lawe of the Iewes what was she otherwise then a dogge such a one as was not worthy to
of disobedience Farther you must not thinke this to be sayd in a figure but that it was in déede a very trée of woodde at that this man was not giuen it for the woodde or for the frute that grue theron but for the matter that should followe if he dyd touch it ¶ Augusti againe Cap. 1. 3. THE sinner dyd couet and desire nothing elles but not to be vnder the rule and gouerment of God when he committed that which I would to God he had neuer committed he ought onely to haue had respect and to haue considered the precept and commaundement of his Lord and ruler which if he had onely considered what elles should haue bene considered but the will of God what elles should haue bene preferred before mans will but Gods will the Lord why he commauded it lyes in himselfe but the seruaunt should haue done that he was commaunded ¶ God created man to be vndestroyed yée after the image of his owne lykenes made he him neuerthelesse thorow enuie of the Deuell came death into the world and they that hold of his side do as he doth ¶ S. Augustine in his Enchiridion cap. 104. IT was requisit and necessary that man should at the first be so made and created that he might haue power either to do good or euel nether without reward fo◠well doing neither without ponishment for euell doing But afterward it shal be so that he shall not haue will to do euell neither therfore shall he want fréewill fo◠his fréewil shal be the more frée that it sha 〈…〉 not at all serue sinne but the order is not to be ouerpassed in which God woulde shew how good it was that man might sinne although it is better that he cannot sinne for the first immortalitie was that he might dye But the second shal be greater that he shall not dye ¶ Augusti Cap. 105. THe first state man lost by fréewill but the second state he getteth by grace if he had not sinned the first state he had of deserte albeit not without grace for sith that fréewill was so apt to sinne it was not sufficient to kepe righteousnes without the helpe of the grace of God for as to dye is in a mans owne power when he list as with too much eating or with not eating at all he may kyll himselfe if he will but cannot helpe himselfe againe without medicine so man in Paradise leauing righteousnes by his owne wyll was sufficient to kyll himselfe But to saue himselfe he was not sufficient without the great mercy and grace of God Thus farre as touching fréewill ¶ Of honoring of sayntes I Am the Lord and this is my name and my glory will I giue to none other neither myne honour to grauen Images Behold old things are come to passe and new things I do declare and or euer they come I tell you of them I am he before whom there was neuer any God and their shal be none after me I am euen I am the onely Lord and beside me ther is no Sauiour I am the first and the last and besides me there is no God who is lyke vnto me Come vnto me all you that labour and are heauie laden and I will refresh you Ascribe vnto the Lord worshippe and strenght geue vnto the Lord the honour due vnto his name worshippe the Lord with holy worshippe And they made a Caulfe in Oreb and honored a grauen Image and turned the glory of the liuing god into the similtitude and lykenes of a Caulfe that eateth heye they haue forgotten God that saued them Sée whether such things be done there whether the Gentiles themselues deale so falsly and vntruly with their Gods which yet are no Gods in déede But my people haue giuen ouer their hie glory for a thing that may not helpe them and much farther he sayth in that Chapiter Put away the strange Gods that are in among you and be cleane and change your garments for we will arise and goe vp to Bethel Heare O Israell the Lorde our God is Lord onely This is our God and there shall none other be compared vnto him it is he that hath found out all wisedome and hath giuen her vnto Iacob his seruaunt and to Israell his beloued afterward dyd he shew himselfe vpon earth dwell among men Because they haue turned the troth of God into a lye and haue worshipped and serued the creature rather then the Creator which is blessed for euer Amen Through him by him and in him are all thinges To him be honour and glory foreuer Amen ¶ Augusti lib. of true Religion Cap. the laste LEt vs not loue vissible sightes least flying from veritie and louinge shadowes we be cast into darkenes let vs not ground our Religion vpon our phantasies for better is a lyttle that is true then a great deale fained of our owne mind Let vs not haue Religion of worshipping of dead men for if they haue liued godly it is not to be thought that such do séeke honour But they wist that we should honour him by whose gyfte wée may be made partners of their euerlasting ioye Therfore they are to be worshipped for example sake and not to be prayed vnto for Religion For this is the working of our saluation that the power of God and his consubstantiall wisedome coeternall with the Father would voutsafe to take the nature of man by which he might teach vs that that is to be honored of man that is to be honored of all reasonable cretures and that we should beleue that the most excellent Angelles and ministringe spirites of God do wishe that with them we should worshippe and honour the lyving God by whose contemplation and sight they be blessed for we be not blessed by beholding and looking one the Angels but by the beholdinge of God for whose sake we do loue the Angelles therfore we do honour them in louing of them and not in seruing of them neither in building of Temples and Churchches to them for they would not haue themselues so to be honoured of vs for we our selues beinge good are the Temples of God therfore it is well written that the Angels them selues do forbid man to honour them But to honour and worshippe one onely God vnder whom both they and we remayne as fellowe seruauntes ¶ Hillarie vpon Math. canon 27. BEcause y fóolish Virgins their lamps being extincte and gone out coulde not go méete the Bridegrome they desired and prayed the wiser virgins to lend them oyle to whom they made answere that they could giue them none least paraduenture they should not haue sufficient for al wherof we be taught that other mens workes and merites cannot helpe vs for euery man must buy oyle for his owne Lampe ¶ Augustine vpon the 15. Psalme 50. verse The hill of god c. I Haue lyft vp mine eyes vnto the hilles from whence commeth
would which not to will came of his owne fréewill which then was so frée that it might chuse either good or euill Therfore these two sentences that differ betwene themselues must with a vigilant eye and diligently be considered Posse non mori et non posse mori two cannot dye and not two can dye too cannot sinne and not too can sinne â–ª too cannot leaue good and not too can leaue good The first man had potuit non peccare potuit non mori potuit non disserrere bonum that is to saye He might not haue sinned he might not haue died he might not haue least good But shall we saye non potuit peccare he could not sinne that had such a frée will or non potuit mori He could not dye To whom it was sayd it thou dost sinne thou shalt dye the death or not potuit bonum disserrere he coulde not forsake and leaue good sith that by sinne he left it and is therfore dead therfore the first libertie was posse non peccare too cannot sinne but the second is greater non posse peccare he cannot sinne the first immortalitie was posse non mori he might not haue died But the second shal be a great deale and much bigger he cannot dye the first power and strength to remayne in felicitie was Bonum posse non disserrere He might not haue lefte good for he might haue chosen but the second shal be Bonum non posse disserrere he can not leaue good ¶ Cap. 12. Now after that great libertie was vtterly lost for the desert of sinne our great infirmitie must be helped and restored by some more excellent gifts for it pleased god that he might extinguish put out the pride of mans presumption that is to say of man that no flesh should glory before him but of his owne deserts which he might haue had but now hath lost and by that he might haue had them â–ª but that he hath lost theÌ„ y is by his frewil wherfore now he remaynes onely to be deliuered by the grace of his Sauiour therfore let not the vniust glory or pride in themselues because they haue not wherof to be proud nether the iust ought to pride because they haue not their owne glorye but receaue it of an other to whom they saye thou art my worshippe and the lifter vp â—f my head Therfore the Lord would not haue his beloued to glory or triumphe in their owne strength but in him that doth not onely geue them such helpe as he gaue to the first man without they could not stand if they would But also worketh this will in them therfore both power will to remayne in euerlasting ioye is giuen them by the larges and frée gifte of Gods grace their will is so inflamed and setforward of God his spirite that therfore the can because they wyll and therfore the will because God worketh in them will. For if the Lord should leaue them to their owne will and libertie in the infirmitie â–ª of this lyfe wherin notwithstanding the must for the correction of their pride exercise vertue as in the helpe of God without which they could not stand they might haue remeaned if they would neither God neded not to worke in them wil but nowe amongst so many tentations their will by infirmitie must nedes fall and therfore now they cannot remayne because of infirmitie they cannot haue a will or els cannot so will as they ought Therfore the weakenes of mans will is prouided for and lead by the guidinge of Gods grace and therfore although it be weake and infirme yet it will not bewearied neither will by any aduersitie be ouerthrowne it is so brought to passe that the will of man being full of inbecilitie and weakenes Yet doth remaine in the lytle goodnes by the vertue and gifte of God wheras the will of the first man being strong and hole hauing also the benifite of fréewill could not remaine in one more large goodnes he suffered the strong man to do what him listed but the weake he hath helped that by his gifte the should both haue a wil for good and also remaine therin as sayth Christ â–ª I haue prayed for thée that thy fayth fayle not it is vnderstand to be sayd vnto him that is build vpon the rocke and the man of God hath not only found mercy that he might be faythfull but also that hsi fayth should be stedfast that he that doth reioyce should reioyce in the Lord. ¶ S â–ª Augustine in his Epistle to Paulinus LEt them not stumble at the stumbling block supersticiously or presuÌ„pteously defending mayntayning nature and fréewill as haue done the Philosophers and wisemen of this world which haue taught that of their owne will they could liue well and blessedly Let such take hede least by the wisedome of words or rather glosinge therof they make the crosse of Christ in vaine and this is to stumble at the stumbling blocke for sith that nature could not remayne and kepe her selfe in that integritie and perfect state wherin she was created neither without the grace of God could preserue that lyfe that was giuen her how now without the grace of God can she receaue it againe being once lost ¶ S. Augustine in the Epistle to vatal 107. IF we will truly defend fréewill let vs not put away that wherof it is made frée for he that putteth away grace wherby our fréewill is made frée to decline from euell and to do good such on will yet haue his fréewill still to remaine in bondage and not frée Therfore Saule sayd vnto Dauid blessed art thou my sonne Dauid in doing thou shalt do and in strength thou shalt haue strength Man being in honour and not hauing vnderstanding was compared to brute Beastes and is made like vnto them ¶ Augusti of Genesi lib. 8. Cap. 6. NEther he that made althings very good and precious in Paradise made any euell But the euill that happened vnto man was the transgression and breakinge of the precept commaundement it was therfore expedient and necessary that man being vnder God should haue some thing prohibited and forbidden him that by his obedience the Lord might be knowne honored and worshiped which vertue of the rest is the chefest so that the greatest vice that is in a resonable man is disobedience and to haue a will to vse his owne power and strength to his great destruction Therfore man should not haue knowne that he had a Lord ouer him a ruler or superiour if he had not bene commaunded somwhat therfore that trée was not euell but it was called the trée of knowledge of good and bad so that if after the restraynt man should eate therof in it should be the breaking of the commaundment that by th' experience of punnishment man might learne what difference was betwene the goodnes of obedience and the euell
is we that must be helped and reliued it is we that may be hurte or harmed of him and not he of vs. ¶ Clement in the same place Booke afore rehersed WE honour visible Images as wée should honour God himselfe which certaynely is false for if truly you wil honour the Image of God doinge well to man thou shalt honour his Image for in euere man is the Image of God but the similitude of god is not in euery man But it is onely in such as haue a lowely spirite and pure minde therfore if you wil honour the Image of God the truth is to do well and vnto man which is created and made to the Image and likenys of God to geue meate to the hungery drinke to the thirstie clothes to the naked harbour to the harbourles this is only that that is giuē vnto the Lord god Then what maner of honoring the Lord is this to runne to Images of stones and stockes and to vnprofitable and dead figures honoringe them and contemning man in whom the verie character Image of God apeareth in dede Yea rather be sure hereof that he that doth murther that doth committe Fornication or adulterie or doth any other thing to the hurte and harme of man In all such thing he doth dishonour the Image of God for it is great dishonour to God to haue man hurte or harmed Therfore vnderstand that this is the inwarde perswasion of the Serpent that doth perswade you to be godly in honouring these vnsensible and dead stockes and not to be vngodly in contemning or neglecting our duetie to the sensible and resonable creature and very Image of God in dead man. When you shall passe ouer Iordayne and come into the land of Chanaan driue away all the inhabiters therof and breake their titels and throw downe their Images and leaye wast all their proud and mightie thinges Who dare then make a God or fasshion an Image that is profitable for nothinge behold all the fellowship of them must be brought to confusion and truely the workemasters of them are men they shall all be gathered together they shall stand tremble be confounded one with another c. Read the Chapiter and sée farther Vnhappye are they among the dead is their hope that call them Gods which are but the workes of mens handes Gold siluer and the thing that is found out by cunning the similitude of beasts or of any vayne stone that hath bene made by hand of old Read also the xv Chapiter where more at large you shall find this declared ¶ Augustin in his 10. Booke intituled De ciuitate Dei. VVOrthyly are such called blessed as are in Heauen in the presence of God his seate which by the participiation of their creatour are made to reioyce by his euerlastingnes and eternitie are made strong by his truth are made blessed and holy and because we here are mortall and miserable they do mercifully loue vs that we might be with them immortall and blessed But they would not that we should pray or sacrifice vnto them but only vnto him to whom both they and we do sacrifice and pray for we with them and they with vs together are one Citie vnto the Lord as it is sayd in the Psalme O thou Citie of the Lord glorious things are sayd of thée ¶ Augustine vpon Iohn Hart. 23. Chapiter Cap. 5. THis is Christian Religion that we should worshippe one only God and not many Gods because none can make the soule blessed but one only God by the participiation of God the soule is blessed and not by the gift of another holy or blessed spirite neither yet by the gift of an Angell is it sanctified for thou shalt not be made blessed of an Angell But of whom the Angell is blessed of him shalt thou receaue blessing Therfore who so shal honour or pray vnto sainctes either to be mediatours or spokesmen betwene God and vs either who so hopeth to haue their requestes fulfilled at their handes is farre disceyued and transgresseth the holy will and commaundement of his Lorde and maker ¶ Of repentaunce and confession in three sorts that is towards God Brotherly and Publike confession towards God. I Haue made my faulte knowne vnto thée and myne vnrighteousnes haue I not hidden I haue sayd I wyll confesse mine vnrighteousnes against my selfe vnto the Lord and thou hast remitted the vngodlines of my sinne I confesse mine owne iniquitie and my sinne is euer before me to thée onely haue I sinned and done euill in thy sight Confesse your selues vnto the Lorde because he is good and his mercy endureth for euer If we do confesse our sinnes God is faythfull and iust that he may remitte our faultes to purge vs from all iniquitie ¶ Brotherly confession IF thou offerest thine offeringe at the Alter and there remembrest that thy Brother hath ought against thée leaue there thine offereng before the Alter and go first to be reconsiled vnto thy Brother and then come and offer thine offering Confesse your sinnes and offences one to another and pray one for another Forgiue thy Brother that hurteth or offendeth thée then when thou prayest thy sinnes shal be forgiuen the one man reserueth wrath to another and seketh vengeance of God seing he hath not mercie one a man lyke vnto himselfe and yet asketh mercy for his owne sinnes ¶ Publike confession and Excomminication IF thy brother haue sinned against thée goe and correct him betwene him and thée if he heare thée then hast thou wone thy Brother but if he will not heare thée then take to thée one or two that in the mouth of two or thrée witnesses might stand all troth and veritie and if he harken not to them declare it to the Church if he giue no eare vnto the Church then accompt him as an ethnicke and hethen c. ¶ August to Seleucian epist. 105. REpentaunce is a dayly payne and punnishment of good and faythfull men by the which we do knocke our brest and saye forgiue vnto vs our debts c. And in these wordes humbling our soules dayly we do repent vs of our sinnes ¶ August in his third Sermond vpon the natiuitie of our Lord. NOthing maketh true repentaunce but the hatred of sinne and the loue of God when thou dost so repent that in thy minde thy sinne doth séeme bitter vnto the which before in thy lyfe dyd seme swete and pleasaunt vnto thée and when that which before dyd delight thy body doth now trouble and disquiet the same then dost thou fithe aright and saye onely to the Lord haue I sinned and done euill in thy fight c. ¶ Chrisostome vpon the Epistle to the Hebrues Honiely 31. Cap. 12. IT is a good thing that a man should confesse and acknowledge his faultes and continually to haue them in memory for there is no greater remedie for them then