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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A12466	A map of Virginia VVith a description of the countrey, the commodities, people, government and religion. VVritten by Captaine Smith, sometimes governour of the countrey. Whereunto is annexed the proceedings of those colonies, since their first departure from England, with the discourses, orations, and relations of the salvages, and the accidents that befell them in all their iournies and discoveries. Taken faithfully as they were written out of the writings of Doctor Russell. Tho. Studley. Anas Todkill. Ieffra Abot. Richard Wiefin. Will. Phettiplace. Nathaniel Povvell. Richard Pots. And the relations of divers other diligent observers there present then, and now many of them in England. By VV.S.	Smith, John, 1580-1631.; Symonds, William, 1556-1616?; Abbay, Thomas.; Hole, William, d. 1624, engraver.	1612 (1612)	STC 22791; ESTC S121887	314,791	163

principall measure thereof is for all such as are called to this waighty charge of being Gods Messengers and Interpretors vnto the people For if no man can say that Iesus is the Lord but by the holy Ghost 1. Cor. 12. then who can preach worthily of Iesus and of the doctrine of saluation but by him And if this key of the Spirit be requisite for the opening of all points of doctrine then is it thrice necessary to reueale mysteries Beloued this point of doctrine concerning the Incarnation and Office of our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ is not onely a mystery but a mystery of mysteries that is a most deep and hidden mysterie which the Patriarches saw in a glasse and as it were in a darke speaking the Prophets searched after the very Angels desired to behold And therefore not onely we that take vpon vs to vnfold the same haue need to pray with the Prophet Dauid Lord open thou our lips that our mouthes may shew forth thy praise and speake worthily of this high mysterie but also you that are here present before God this day to heare words from my mouth ought to pray with all manner of prayer and with all instance that he that tooke away the scales from Pauls eyes and is called by Daniel The Reuealer of Secrets would so open the eyes of your vnderstanding that that which shall be deliuered vnto you may not be as a booke that is sealed or clozed fast but that you may know Christ and comprehend him for whose sake you are also comprehended of him This short Preface I thought good to make vnto you in respect of the excellency and diuinenes●e of the Argument or Theme vndertaken by me to stirre vp your godly deuotion that there may spring vp in you no root of profanenesse nor cold pang of wearinesse oppresse you to make the Word vnprofitable For if they escaped not that despised Moses his Law much lesse shall we escape if we despise the Gospell that is if wee shall not reuerently heare and religiously lay vp in our hearts this most gladsome tydings concerning Christ manifesting of himselfe in the flesh to communicate himselfe vnto vs and to draw vs vnto him But let vs come to the glad tidings it selfe Behold a Virgin shall conceiue c. Three notable things or rather wonderfull are contained in this short verse 1. A wonderfull Conception 2. A wonderfull Birth 3. A wonderfull Coniunction of the Diuine and humane nature in one person A Virgin shall conceiue This is the first of the wonders A Virgin shall beare a Sonne This is the second His name shall be called Immanuel that is G●d with vs because of the assuming of our nature vnto himselfe This is the third A Virgin shall conceiue This truth is contradicted by two sorts of men especially by the wrangling Iewe and by the doubtfull Infidell The one saith It was not so the Prophet did not meane that shee should be a Virgin that should be the mother of Immanuel The other saith It could not bee how can a Virgin conceiue c These be the obiections of the vnhappy miscreants the Iewes the Gentiles the Atheisticall scorners whom I will not answer diligently or at large lest I should seeme too much to honour them but I will confute them briefly that I may furnish you with some reasons against the day of battell against the time I say that your faith shall be shaken with such kind of persons To the Iewe therefore this I say That though we take no aduantage of the Etymon of the Word vsed by the Prophet and yet as the Learned know the Hebrew tongue doth excell all other tongues in fitting the nature of things with proper fit names yet forasmuch as the word signifieth one that is kept close and secret who else but a Virgin can be meant But to omit this aduantage and to omit also the authority of the seuenty Interpreters which were Iewes and so translated it before this matter was in controuersie and therefore not excepted against for partiality Let vs consider the matter it selfe Doth not the Prophet in Gods name promise to shew them a signe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is a prodigious and strange thing surpassing the course of nature Quale autem signum erat adolescentulam non Virginem parere saith Origen against C●lsus What signe were that what wonder were that for a young woman that lyeth with a man to conceiue This were a wonder not to be wondred at Therefore either the Prophet Esay spake absurdly and called these things which were not such as though they were such which was farre from that wisdome and eloquence that was in him or an extraordinary Conception and which exceeded the bounds of nature and the experience of the world is here signified This is enough to beat downe the Iewes enough in this place for if I should stand to refute all their canils I should seeme to forg●t mine Auditory To the Infidels that cry out It is impossible that a Virgin should conceiue this I answere euen as Christ did in the like case That with men indeed it is impossible but with God all things are possible Whatsoeuer God will that hee doth both in heauen and earth or speake I this after the manner of the Scripture and saith not Nature the same Yes verily 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All things are easie to God c. for if any thing were too hard for God then he were not God but that which is too hard for him should be God rather since by reason hee that is strongest and aboue all hee onely deserueth the name of God It remaineth therefore that all things a●● subiect to God subiect to his pleasure subiect to his motion then Nature specially then he may alter it as it pleaseth him Indeed Beloued though he hath made a Law for all his creatures yet he hath not made a Law for himselfe he will be brought vnto subiection to none He is and will remaine Liberrimum agens a most free Agent Therefore let no man say no Infidell nor any whatsoeuer This is not wont to be done therefore it cannot be done I doe not see how it may be done therefore it is impossible for surely he speakes rather madly then foolishly that speaketh so since there be infinite examples and in all ages to the contrary Why naturally we know the Lord hath made the sands for bounds to the Sea and hath appointed the same to checke the billowes thereof c. and yet many aliue haue seene the same to range ouer its bankes and to carry away with it whole Townes and Shires c. So naturally man onely hath the gift of speech and not presently after his birth but he must stay a certaine time but yet when it pleaseth God to shew a miracle euen Asses haue spoken and Oxen at the Plowe and a child in his mothers belly I doe not tell you fables but stories So

vnto Dauid a righteous Branch and a King shall raigne and prosper and in his dayes Iudah shall be saued and Israel shall dwell safely and this is the name whereby they shall call him The Lord of righteousnesse This is he that was promised Iacob The Scepter shall not depart from Iudah vntill Shiloh come And to Abraham and Adam before that The seed of the woman shall breake the Serpents head In thy seed shall all generations of the earth be blessed And to Dauid and Symeon afterward All Nations shall blesse my Sonne and bee blessed in him Thou shall not see death vntill thou hast seene the Lord Christ. Briefly this is He that being appointed for the fall and vprising of Israel for the gathering of the Gentiles for the ioy of the whole earth was when the fulnesse of time came made of a woman borne vnder the Law that he might deliuer vs from the curse of the Law that so we might receiue the adoption of sonnes Will you vnderstand a little more of his nature Being in the forme of God and thinking it no robbery to be equall with God he tooke vpon him the shape of a seruant the substantiall forme not the accidentall there be his two natures Diuine humane Will you heare of his Person whether it be two or one because of his natures The Word became flesh and dwelt among vs Here begin againe his ●●o natures and we saw his glory as the glory of the only begotten Son of God Lo Son he calleth him not Sons for all that he was called Word flesh that is God and man Will you heare of his kindred of the time of his comming of his behauiour of his miracles of his Doctrine of his doings suffrings of the effects of his doings suffrings The time was prophesied of by the Prophets by the Euangelists he is set forth to haue beene of the Linage of Dauid in the Towne of Dauid vnder the gouernment of a stranger in great humility and meekenesse with powerfull Doctrine with great signes and wonders with great and wonderfull obedience euen vnto death Finally to haue triumphed ouer Principalities and Powers and led Captiuity captiue to haue deliuered man who for feare of death was all his life time subiect to bondage to set at peace by the blood of the Crosse both things in heauen and things in earth In a word He dyed for our sinnes and rose againe for our Iustification This is the blessed Babe of whom my Text occasioneth me to speake the memory of whose Natiuity we celebrate this day But how doe we celebrate it We put on our best apparell that we doe and that wee may doe but doe we decke our selues inwardly with lowlinesse of minde with purity and integrity c. that wee should doe Wee draw neere vnto God with our lippes that we doe and that we may doe but doe we draw as neere with our hearts with hearty thankesgiuings for Gods mercies in his Sonne with hearty acknowledgement and repentance for our sinnes and wickednesses that we should doe Wee stand here before the Preacher as they that would be edified in their holy faith and to learne their duty that we doe many of 〈◊〉 and that wee ought to doe all but doe wee care to carry any thing away and to lay it vp in our hearts and to ponder it in our minds and to expresse it in our liues and conuersations that we should doe that is the thing that is necessary So we will fare well as many as are able and we will lade our tables with dishes and haue plenty of wine and strong drinkes c. but will we remember withall the affliction of Ioseph as it is in Amos will we send vnto them for whom nothing was prepared as it is in Ester that is will we helpe and releeue them that haue need of our comfort then we shall doe well Lastly we will laugh and be merry and reioyce and shout as in the dayes of Haruest as it is in Esay wee will call for the Violl and the Pipe the merry Harpe and the Lute as it is in the Psalme we will sit vp long haue many conferences with our neighbours and many songs and this we will doe and this we may doe But shall our songs be of the praises of the Lord and our talking of the most Highest Shall our watchi●g be vnto prayer not vnto vnthriftinesse our ioy in the holy Ghost not in worldly vanities our pastime a sober recreation not wanton daliance c Then we shall doe well then we shall please God then the Lord will say of vs as he did of Ierusalem Hephzi-bah that is My delight in her Indeed as the Apostle Saint Paul calleth vs away from the Iewish obseruation of the Passe-ouer to a Christian and spirituall keeping thereof not for a day or a yeere onely but thorowout our whole life saying Christ our Passe-ouer is sacrificed for vs therefore let vs keepe the Feast not in old leauen neither in the leauen of maliciousnesse and wickednesse but with the sweet bread of sincerity and truth So are we to be called vpon Beloued and waightily charged in Gods name and so I doe charge you that in this Feast you beware of all heathenish profanity and all carnall loosenesse and intemperancie and as they that looke for the comming of the Bride-groome and are carefull to shew forth the vertues of him that vouchsafed to be borne and to become man for their sakes see that we walke in newnesse of life The Gentiles indeed at this time of the yeere celebrated diuers feasts in honour of their Idols as Saturnalia Vacunalia c. wherein they allowed themselues and their seruants too in one of them all kinds of loosenesse and knauery But the Apostle doth declare and testifie vnto vs that wee henceforth should not walke as other Gentiles in vanities of their mind and being strangers from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them For the grace of God which bringeth saluation to all men hath appeared and commandeth that we should deny vngodlinesse and worldly lusts and to walke iustly and soberly and godly in this present world They that sleepe saith Saint Paul elsewhere sleepe in the night and they that are drunke are drunke in the night but now we are the children of the light and of the day and God hath not called vs to vncleannesse but vnto h●linesse Therefore it becommeth vs to cast away the workes of darkenesse and to put on the armour of light and as he that hath called vs is holy so we to be holy in all ma●ner of conuersation This know that meat and drinke apparell doth not commend vs to God much lesse doth sporting or reu●lling much lesse doth chambring or wantonnes gluttony or drunkennes strife or enuying or the like but if any will be in Christ he must be a newe creature and

The like may be said of many others in the Scriptures The like also of many of our English names They be not by and by crafty that be called Foxes nor mild that be called Doues nor sauage that be called Wild nor foolish that be called Geese nor vnthrifts that be called Carelesse There was a Carelesse that was so carefull of the Kingdome of God that he chose rather to be burnt at a stake then to make shipwracke of his faith And so there was a Goose Ioh Hus by name that made so so cleere and sweet confession of the Truth that neuer Swanne in the world made a sweeter On the contrary side there haue beene Constants that haue beene vnconstant and Hardings that haue beene timorous and Loues that haue beene vnlouing c. All which together doth more then proue that though Conueniunt rebus nomina saepe suis though mens names doe expresse their natures many times yet it is not so alwayes they are giuen being good rather of wish then of Prophesie and being bad rather vpon occasion then for cause and rather mockingly then truly Thus I grant it is with men and their names that they giue they be not certaine demonstrations no nor prob●ble arguments of the dispositions of any And why Because man hath no power of himselfe neither to foresee what shall betide his child neither for wealth or woe nor to instill vertue into him nor to reclaime him from vice But it is not so with God hee is of another insight in matters and of another ability The darknesse hideth not from him the darknesse is as cleere as the light Psalme 139. He declareth the last things from the beginning Esay 46. He saw Nathaniel vnder the Fig-tree Iohn 1. All things are naked and bare vnto him with whom wee haue to doe Hebr. 4. Thus neither place nor time nor couering excludeth Gods prouidence no more doth any thing exclude his power or hinder the executing of his purposes When Metellus a Tribune sought to crosse Cesar in a determination that he had Cesar looking sternely vpon him bade him be quiet if he loued his life and added these words that he could more easily put him to death then speake the word Now if this be the power of a fraile mortall Prince that he can most easily make good his word euen as easily doe as speake Then how can we without sacriledge without horrible sacriledge robbe God of this honour being true in his saying and true in his calling And so calling the Mediator Immanuel why should we doubt but that it is as good as if he had said The Sonne that the Virgin shall conceiue shall bee very Immanuel Verily though man giueth names but at aduenture as the blind man casteth his staffe yet Gods naming doth collate and bestow the gift or ability that is promised by the name as appeareth by the example of Abraham the father of the Faithfull who together with the name receiued the assurance of being the father of many Nations according to the signification of the said name As may appeare also and that especially by the name of our Sauiour in the Gospell who doth as truly saue the people from their sinnes as he hath the name of a Sauiour giuen vnto him Well hitherunto you haue learned two things The one why it is said She the mother shall giue the name namely because the blessed Babe was to haue none other parent vpon the earth and therefore by reason shee the fittest and onely fit to appoint the name The other point is this that it is nothing derogatory to the truth of Christs Deity that it is said in my Text Hee shall be called Immanuel and not said He shall be Immanuel since with God to call so or to cause to be so is all one and so is it to be such indeed or to be called such Let vs now come to the third and last place to the name it selfe Immanuel What it signifieth you haue heard me tell you more then once and you may read your selues Mat. 1. Therefore I stand not vpon that but this I will stand to and doe assure you that of all the names that are giuen to our Sauiour in the holy Scripture none doth so fully and plainely expresse both his natu●e and Office as doth this He is called I grant Shiloh the Branch and a Child and the Sonne of man but those shew onley his humanity So is he Iehovah the Word the Father of Eternity c. but these shew onely his Deity so is hee Iesus ●hrist and the Councellour and the Lambe of God and our Passeouer and Amen c. But these shew onely his Office or the end of his comming into the world But now Immanuel it doth shew and expresse neither Christs Deity onely nor his humanity onely nor yet his Office onely but together with his Deity his humanity and together with his humanity his Deity and together with both natures the identity of his person and together with the vnity of his Person and the diuersity of his Natures the whole summe and complement of his Offices In somuch that as Saint Paul saith The whole Lawe is comprehended in this one saying Loue thy neighbour as thy selfe So we may say The whole Gospell is comprehended in this one word Immanuel And to the end that you may be satisfied that I offer no violence to the Word nor seeke to draw from it that which is not in it doe but consider with me the very Etymon or deriuation of it Doth it not signifie as you haue heard euen Grammatically God with vs Now in that this is deliuered but by one name what doth this but imply that he is but one person for if more persons had beene here meant more names would haue beene here giuen And in that he is called God what doth this proue lesse then his Deity And in that he is said to be with vs that is in our nature what doth it proue else but the truth of his humanity And lastly in that the whole name is giuen as a pledge of Gods fauour and reconcilement towards vs what other thing but the end of all his Offices of Kingdome of Priesthood of Prophesie is expressed and comprehended Now therefore Beloued consider with your selues whether this Word be worth your consideration and whether if we stand longer vpon it we shall either mis-spend the time or abuse your patience It is profitable certes nay necessary to saluation that you be rightly perswaded concerning the Nature and Office of our Sauiour Christ. For God hath giuen vs euerlasting life and this life is in his Sonne as Saint Iohn saith And this is eternall Life to know Thee the onely God and whom thou hast sent Iesus Christ as Christ himselfe saith And to know Christ and the vertue of his Resurrection and the fellowship of his afflictions c. The same Saint Paul preferreth before all aduantages whatsoeuer Phil. 3. And

vnto them we must not be euery one a wolfe to his neighbour according to the Prouerb Homo homini Lupus but euery one as it were a God vnto him Homo homini Deus forasmuch as God hath made all of one blood to dwell vpon the face of the earth And as the Prophet saith Haue we not all one Father hath not one God made vs why doe we transgresse euery one against his Brother c This much and a great deale more we are to learne hereby that the Son of God is our maker Now from his Diuine estate acts the Apostle riseth higher to his Diuine Nature and Person in these words Who being the brightnes of his glory and the expresse Image of his Person c. The Iesuits that write the life of their Founder Ignatius Loiola report that Christ forsooth appeared to him at the Eleuation as he was at Masse in a Church at Venice as I remember and there he discerned the Hypostaticall vnion of two natures in Christ and the reall distinction of the three Persons in the God-head Doe you beleeue them No● nor I thinke their owne disciples doe beleeue them more in this than they beleeue their Saint Thomas of Aquine telling them that the Crucifixe commended him in these words Bene scripsisti de me Thoma Thomas thou hast written well of me well for their kitchin but not well for their conscience for the edifying of it in holy faith in holy doctrine Miserable companions was it not enough for them to be grieuous to men but they must grieue our God also Esay 7.13 was it not enough for them to beguile the people with lying vanities but they must abuse them also with lying miracles or apparitions saying with the lying old Prophet 1 Kings 13. An Angell spake vnto me in the word of the Lord when there was no such matter and with the false Prophets Ieremy 23. I haue dreamed I haue dreamed But what saith the true Prophet in the same place The Prophet that hath a dreame let him tell a dreame let him deliuer it for a dreame and for no better and hee that hath my Word let him speake my Word faithfully what is the chaffe to the wheat saith the Lord God hath no need neither doth he like that one should make a lye for his sake Iob 13. Neither that his truth should abound to his glory by any mans lye Rom. 3. This one part of my Text doth more clearely open the truth and may more soundly settle our consciences than a thousand Legend-tales The Apostle saith that C●rist is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is the brightnes of his glory It is well translated as well as it might be in so few words but the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth somewhat more than brightnesse euen such a bright thing as hath a lustre cast vpon it from some other thing For as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth not signifie the act or quality of singing but a song the song it selfe and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth not signifie the act or quality of imagining but the thing that appeareth to the imagination ●pect●um visum so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the thing that hath brightnesse in it and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is that which receiueth his brightnesse from another So then now you see what a fit word the Apostle made choice of euen such an one as then which none could haue beene deuised by many yeeres study more pregnant to expresse the euerlasting generation of the Sonne of God For though Christ be the true light that enlightneth euery one that commeth into the world yet as he i● the second Person in the Trinity h● hath this light of his Father and he is as God of God so light of light euen a light springing from the Father For this cause he is called by Saint Luke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Day-spring or Sunne-rising yea he is called so by Philo the Iew in his booke of the c●nfusion of tongues 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is The Father of the world Gr. the Father of things that be made his Sonne to spring forth or arise as the morning or Sunne doth a strange testimony of one that was borne Iew and dyed Iew. For though Hierome doth reckon him among Ecclesiasticke writers yet we doe not finde that he ioyned himselfe to the Church of God or turned Christian But the truth is that he liued in the time that the Apostles did and therefore might learne of them to write more piously as Theodoret I remember doth obserue that the Philosophers that wrote after the Gospell was promulgated did correct many of their errors and euery where inserted many Sentences sauoring of truth and godlinesse But to returne to Christ the true Light He sprang from the Father but not as our light doth from the Sunne in time but before all beginnings neither yet as a quality our light is a quality but as being a substance and the Authour of all substance being neither was he euer separated from the Father as the light of the Moone is separated at the least to our appearance from the Sunne in the night and the light of the Sunne from the Moone in the day but He is and was alwayes in the Father and the Father in him and both in the holy Ghost and the holy Ghost in both Vnum non vnus tres non tria that is One thing not one Person three in number not three in nature So saith Prosper Aquitanicus that worthy Scholler of that excellent Master Augustine Cum Pater in Ve●bo sit semper in Patre Verbum Sitque i●●m Verbi spiritus atque Patris Sic de persoxis tribus est tibi non dubitandumV num vt docta fides confiteare Deum that is For as much as the Father is alwayes in the Word and the Word in the Father and one and the same Spirit common both to the Word and to the Father thou must in such O learned faith he meaneth a man that hath a learned faith be farre from doubting of the three Persons that thou doe conf●sse one God So said Nazianzen before him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. I doe no sooner think vpon one but I am compassed about with the light of three I doe no sooner distinguish the three Persons but I am brought backe vnto one God-head So before them both Iustine Martyr or a learned ancient man bearing his n●me in the best times 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is The Sonne being a light shone forth out of light by way of generation The holy Ghost being also a light went forth out of light not by way of generation but of proceeding So Mathew of Vandome though he liued in a very corrupt age yet that you may acknowledge it to be true which the Apostles affirme Acts 14. Euen that that is verified of the later times

That we haue not here an abiding City but are to looke for another What account then shall we make of those things which we are not sure of while we liue here and we are sure to leaue when we depart hence A mans soule that is himselfe and that is true life not which lasteth for a day or two Who will make account of the life of a Summer Bird nay of a Summer flowre that is fresh to day and to morrow cut downe but that which abideth for euer Therefore giue me that Doctrine let me learne that which will saue my soule and that is the Gospell which we preach vnto you Socrates is thought to haue brought Philosophy downe from heauen because hee trained men to the study of vertue and to the reformation of their owne liues without embusying themselues so much to find out the naturall causes of things So Moses is commended to haue beene in speciall fauour with God for being trusted with the Law which is but a Schoole-master to Christ So Iohn Baptist is preferred to all the sonnes of men for pointing to our Sauiour more demonstratiuely then any other But now in the Gospell we may behold Christ with open face yea wee may taste Christ how good he is yea we may feele and feed vpon the vertue of his death the power of his resurrection the fellowship of his afflictions euen be changed into his Image nay be made partakers of his Diuine Nature 2. Pet. 1. And consequently be saued Therefore the Gospell that is the Doctrine of our Saluation by Christ should be our first study and our last our plaine-song and our discant it should be all in all vnto vs. If the vessell be saued though the wares be spoyled with the Sea-water or cast ouer ship-boord yet we may arriue vnto the hauen and there be in safety So if the field bee gotten by vs as Alexander told Parmenio our baggage horses will be recouered againe with aduantage So if a tree be sound at the root there is hope that it will sprout forth notwithstanding it should be lopped and shred neuer so much but now if it be rotten at the root then fare it well In like maner if the soule be safe if it liue by faith in the Sonne of God if it fight the good fight of faith and winne the field all other losses are not to be reckoned of wee are more then gainers more then conquerours but if the soule perish and it will perish except it be fed with the Word of the Gospell and it will make shipwracke if Christ sit not at the Sterne and it will be ouercome in the day of battell if Christ be not his Captaine his Sauiour his deliuerer then all the world is gone with vs it had beene good for vs if we had neuer beene borne One thing is necessary saith our Sauiour Mary hath chosen the better part That is the thing that will sticke by vs euen the fauour of God apprehended by faith in the Gospell when all the world besides can doe vs no good What may I doe to be saued That was the thing that the Gaoler in the Acts was desirous to learne when he was affrighted with the earth-quake c. Send men to Simon Peter hee shall speake words vnto thee whereby both thou and all thy hous●hold shall be saued That is the true wisedome and knowledge that is the true blessing happinesse and without it nothing is worthy to be accounted of Therefore Beloued accept this the greatest fauour that God euer vouchsafed you that he hath reuealed his Sonne vnto you in the Gospell whereby you may learne to liue and beleeue in him and be saued by him euen saued perfectly not onely directed as the Pelagians taught not onely holpen as the Papists The Gospell is the power of God vnto Saluation and no lesse but now whom doth it saue or how doth it saue not by being tyed about the necke or carryed in the bosome for an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Sorcerers and silly superstitious people haue vsed the matter but being beleeued and embraced by faith If thou couldest beleeue all things are possible to the beleeuer saith Christ. The Word did not profit some because they did not mingle it with faith saith the Apostle Indeed the Gospell consisteth not in sound but in sense not in hearing but in beleeuing He that beleeueth in the Sonne hath euerlasting life he that obeyeth not the Sonne shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him Whereby we see that though faith be a free assent and perswasion assent to the truth of God perswasion of his goodnesse toward vs in his Sonne yet for all that we are not free nor at liberty whether wee will beleeue or no no for this is the worke of God which he especially requireth that we beleeue on him whom he hath sent except you beleeue surely you shall not be established and he that beleeueth not is condemned already because hee beleeueth not in the Name of the onely-begotten Sonne of God Therefore wee must not forget that the Apostle speaketh here expressely and precisely that the Gospell saueth such as beleeue them and none other For what if a man reuerence the vtter side of the Bible as if he were to handle a heauenly thing and care not for the contents thereof which fault Chrysostome noteth in some or doe put it to their head for the head-ake as Augustine witnesseth that some did in his time or doe make as much of it in outward semblance as the Iewes doe of the booke of the Law which they giue a good summe of money to be preferred to the handling of and doe bragge that they haue handled of the Tree of life for so they call it Gnets hachaijm What I say if we haue in singular esteeme the barke the rinde the sheath the superficies of the Gospell will that saue you No no as it maketh no matter how neere we come to God with our lippes if our hearts be farre off and as when the multitude thronged vpon our Sauiour yet one onely a woman that had faith touched him and as the most blessed Virgin her selfe was not so blessed for bearing Christ in her wombe as for beleeuing on him as Saint Augustin speaketh So if we meane to be saued by the Gospell we must bring faith to the hearing of it to the reading of it to the embracing of it to the digesting of it and without it we shall but deceiue our selues claspe the ayre in stead of a body feed vpon ashes in stead of bread imbrace a cloud in stead of Iuno as Ixion did Neither is Gods mercy in the Gospell the lesse free because it requireth the duty of faith to come now to the third point of my amplification for who will except against a mans charitablenesse because he saith to the poore man that craueth an almes Reach thy hand or hold open