some men that is to say to his Mother and to Ioseph whom men tooke to be his Father to whom he was subject as it is written in the second chapter of Luke And for the forme of a servant he said My Father is superiour unto me And for the forme of God which he never left he said in the tenth chapter of Iohn I and my Father are one thing that is to say one substance In forme of God he was superiour to himselfe and in forme of man he was inferiour to himselfe And therefore not without a cause the Scripture saith both the Sonne equall to the Father and the Father superiour to the Sonne the one for the forme of God the other for the forme of man without confounding the one nature into the other both natures of God and man being in one person In the forme of man which he tooke for us hee was borne and he suffered and hee arose from death to life and ascended into heaven By the first two that is to say by his birth and his passion he shewed to us our estate By the two last that is to say his resurrection and his ascention he shewed to us an example of our reward The two first all that be borne doe feele and the two last we shall attaine if we doe beleeve in him And as the Apostle saith Christ thought it no robbery to be equall with God so Saint Iohn in the beginning of his Gospell saith That the word which is the Sonne was God And as Paul saith here That he did abase himselfe to take upon him the forme of a servant so Saint Iohn saith The word of God is made flesh that is to say Man and hath dwelt amongst us God and man in one person For as the number of persons is not increased when the soule is knit to the body to make thereby one man so is not in Christ the number of persons increased when man is knit to the word of God to make one Christ It followeth in the Text He was made in similitude of men that is to say he tooke all our nature upon him albeit he was without sinne and he left no carnall procreation by generation carnall Nor that onely was in him that appeared in outward visage his manhood but godhead also was in him For he was not onely man but in his person godhead was knit with manhood And therefore he saith here that he was like to men but more was in him then is in men For we be made of soule and body he had both soule and body and godhead and therefore he saith here in similitude of men As Saint Paul saith in the eighth chapter to the Romans God sent his Sonne into the world in similitude of sinfull flesh not because hee lacked flesh but because the flesh that he tooke lacked sinne and yet was it like to our flesh which is subject to sinne like by nature but not like by wickednesse It followeth in the Text That in shape he was found as a man that is to say where hee was without bodily shape he tooke upon him the for me and shape of a man abiding still God as he was before but in figure that is to say in flesh he was made a man and clad with manhood as with a cloathing not that his godhead was changed thereby into manhood as the members of a man be not changed by putting on of a new garment And he saith that he was found in shape as a man because hee seemed outwardly but one of the common sort of men and yet he was more then so For he was God therewith and yet was he a very man in nature not in phantasie and imagination Saint Paul also in the second chapter of the first Epistle to Timothy calleth him a man saying There is one Mediator of God and man A man Christ Iesu And as he is in the forme of God perfect God so is he in the forme of man a perfect man It followeth in the Text Christ hath humbled himselfe and became obedient unto death Here wee may learne humilitie as Christ doth teach us in the 11. of Matthew saying Learne of me for I am meeke and humble in heart He was made for thee a man without sinne And thou sinfull man why wilt thou not come to him that calleth thee and saith Come to me all ye that doe travell and be overcharged and I shall refresh you Thou proud sinfull man why art thou so proud Christ became obedient for thy sake to be incarnate and to take part of the mortality of man He was obedient so farre that hee suffered First to be tempted of the devill He was obedient to suffer the mocking of the people of Iewes He was obedient to suffer to be bound robbed and spitted at to be stricken and to be scourged And yet he was further obedient to dye for thee thou sinfull man It was a great humility at his birth to lye in the manger with beasts for lacke of a Cradle It was a more humility to live thirty three yeeres amongst sinners he being without spot of sinne The most abundand humility was that he suffered upon the Crosse betwixt two murtherers It was a hard suffering that he suffered for wicked men it was more hard that he suffered of wicked men And the most hardest of all was that hee suffered with wicked men the same death that wicked men murtherers doe suffer It followeth in the Text. That he suffered the death of the Crosse which death was worst of all other kindes of death For those that were put to that death were first nailed upon the Crosse hands and feet drawne on length and stretched abroad hanged up in the ayre quicke naked and bleeding not because longer life should follow thereby but because the death it selfe was prolonged to make the paine the more lest the shortnesse therof should lesse have beene felt Hanging or drowning or striking off of the head be paines soone overpassing but the death of the Crosse long time doth indure In which they were wont to breake their legges to make them dye more painfully as we reade in the 19. chapter of Iohn This death of the Crosse was the worst death that the Iewes could imagine for him to dye but yet Christ did choose his death and intended to make it to be his signe and to make of it his badge that all men beleeving in him should in their foreheads make his signe of the Crosse as it was prophecied and figured before in the 9. chapter of Ezechiel and glory in the Crosse of Christ As Saint Paul in the last chapter to the Galathians saith God forbid that I should glory in any thing but in the Crosse of our Lord Iesus Christ by which the world is crucified to me and I to the world There was nothing before more intolerable to the flesh of man then death of the Crosse And there is now nothing more glorious set
fiftieth Psalme saying The sacrifice to God is a spirit troubled with sorrow and thou GOD wilt not despise a heart contrite and meekened Wee must bring forth fruits of our penance and repentance by the amendment of our sinfull lives as Saint Iohn Baptist said to the Iewes in the third of Matthew For God cannot be deluded with the faire words onely of a sinner saying I am a sinner and yet will not amend For God looketh whether those words come from the heart being contrite which if they did amendment of the evill life should insue and good workes should spring out where the evill did grow before which new spring of good workes is the fruit of penance We must also goe forward in the way of our Lord and not stand still for else wee cannot come to our journeys end David saith in the 118. Psalme The immaculate and unspotted men be blessed that doe goe forward in the way of our Lord. He that saith that he dwelleth in Christ must walke after Christ in his way which is his commandements as he himselfe did As Saint Iohn saith in the 2. chapter of his first Epistle and therefore wee may not stand still but goe on in doing good to our journeyes end as he did Saint Paul saith to the Galathians in the 6. chapter See that ye erre not God cannot be mocked such as a man doth sow such shall he reape he that soweth in the flesh shall reape thereof corruption and he that soweth of the spirit shall of the spirit reape life everlasting Let us not cease in good doing for wee shall reape it not failing when the time commeth Therefore whiles we have time let us doe good to all men and chiefely to the domestickes of our faith And as we should study to be rich in faith for Christ did choose such to bee of his flocke though they were poore in worldly goods As Saint Iames saith in the 2. chapter of his Epistle so must we study to be rich in good workes as Saint Paul saith in the 6. chapter of the first Epistle to Timothy where hee biddeth him teach the rich men of the world to be ready with their abundance of goods to helpe the poore and to make thereby a treasure in heaven and to study to be rich in good workes so for these two richesses the one the riches of faith the other the riches of good workes we should chiefly study Also Christ in the sixth of Matthew doth teach us three chiefe exercises which will conferre greatly to the amendement of our life that is to say fasting to tame thereby the inordinate lusts of the flesh Almesdeeds to refraine covetousnesse and to helpe to redeeme our sinnes therewith as Daniel saith in the fourth chapter And prayer to Almighty GOD thereby to abate our pride and outrequydance and arrogance that we not trusting of our selues but of his helpe may aske of him things necessary for us from time to time And that wee should oft pray Christ teacheth us by the parable of the Widow which by her importunitie and oft crying to the wicked Iudge that feared neither God nor man obtained at the last iustice of him as it is written in the â—8 chapter of Luke We reade also of Christ that hee sometime prayed all â—ight to God as it is written in the sixth chapter of Luke â—nd Saint Paul saith to the Colossians in the fourth chapâ—er give you to prayer being vigilant in it and to Timoâ—hy he writeth in the fifth chapter Shee that truely is a Widow let her give her selfe to prayer night and day And to the Thessalonians he writeth in the fift chapter of the first Epistle saying Pray without any day leaving off not that wee should doe nothing else but that wee should oft amongst other things that we doe pray to Almighty God laving him calling him to remembrance that hee may helpe us putting in all our deeds our confidence in him Which wee might easily doe briefely saying divers times on the day though it were but one Pater noster at one time so that Christ thereby should not bee farre from our remembrance nor wee should not by worldly pleasures or businesse stray abroad farre from him nor the devill should not so boldly approach us seeing us alwaies under the wing and protection of our heavenly Father And surely if wee could thus dispose our selves our affaires should prosper the more in this world and wee should also thereby please Almighty God and come to the glory everlasting Whereunto our Saviour Iesu Christ who hath redeemed us bring us all Quo vivit regnat cum deo patre in â—nitate sancti spiritus per omnia secula seculorum Amen FJNJS
his said first confession as all the Apostles did and as all we that purpose to be saved must doe shall be saved and who so doth not agree with that confession shall be damned And where he is called by many antient and holy interpreters of the Scripture for his faith sometime the chiefe of the Apostles sometime the mouth of the Apostles sometime the Prince of the Apostles sometime the President of the holy Church all these honourable names be attribute by them unto him for his foresaid first confession wherein all our faith is contained And because hee was of all the Apostles most ardent in saith and feared not being in great tempest on the Sea upon Christs word to come out of the shippe and goe to him upon the water being in great rage which his deed declared his faith to be mervailously vehement in Christ The greatnesse and vehemency also of his faith was declared in the 2.3 and 4. chapters of the Acts when the Iewes in the beginning withstood the Apostles Preaching the Faith of Christ For then Peter as most ardent in faith of all the Apostles was ever most ready to defend the faith against the impugners of it speaking for them all unto the people in defence of it for the fervent love that he bore to Christ And as Peter was most ardent in faith in which he had of God a most singular gift so was Paul most fervent in zeale both to win the Iewes to Christ desiring the salvation of his country to win them to Christ and wishing himselfe in a manner to have beene separate from Christ so that they might have beene saved thereby as it is written in the 9. chapter to the Romans and also in zeale to winne all the Gentiles and other nations to Christ as he writeth in the second Epistle to the Corinthians in the 11 chapter saying who is weake and I am not weake with him who is offended and I am not offended with him where he speaketh also of the cure that he tooke for all Churches which his fervent zeale doth appeare in many places of all his Epistles And as Paul was fervent in zeale so was Iohn the Evangelist most excellent in innocency and in charity whereunto he chiefely exhorteth all men in his first Epistle And all other the Apostles had their speciall gifts diversly given unto them as the gifts of Almighty God be given diversly and not all to one man as it is written in the 12. chapter of the first Epistle to the Corinthians and as Christ is called by Saint Paul in the 15. chapter of the first Epistle to the Corinthians the first fruit of those that rose from death to life so is Peter called the first in faith for he was the first that with his mouth confessed it And Epenetus is likewise called by Saint Paul the first that beleeved in the Church of Asia in the 16. chapter to the Romans And the houshold of Stephen is the first that beleeved in Achaia in the last chapter of the first Epistle to the Corinthians And that Peter should not have a rule above all other the Apostles in all places Saint Paul plainely sheweth in the 2. chapter to the Galathians where he saith that as the Apostleship of the Circumcision that is to say of the Iewes was given by Christ to Peter to was the Apostleship of the Gentiles given to me among the Gentiles so that there they divided themselves asunder that Peter Iames and Iohn should goe preach the faith to the Iewes and Paul and Barnabas should goe preach to the Gentiles as they did Here it appeareth that Paul knew no primacie of Peter concerning people or places but among the Iewes For which cause Peter dissembled in Antioch to eate of the Gentiles meates when the Iewes came thither lest he should offend his flocke of the Iewes committed to him in which matter Paul defending the liberty of meats that he had preached to the Gentiles withstood him And Saint Ambrose expounding that place saith The primacie of the Iewes was given chiefely to Peter albeit Iames and Iohn were joyned with him as the primacie of Gentiles was given to Paul albeit Barnabas was joyned with him so that Peter had not a rule over all And also that Saint Peter himselfe knew no such primacie over all people and places given unto him it appeareth plainely in the 10. of the Acts where Saint Peter after the comming of the holy Ghost being at Ioppa and sent for by Cornelius to come to him then being in Cesarea durst not goe to him without a vision of a sheete letten downe from heaven containing all manner of Beasts Birds and Serpents whereof he was bidden eate and repute not those meats uncleane that God had purged Which vision opened unto him that he should not refuse the Gentiles whom the Iewes did abhorre as uncleane Now if he had knowne his commission to be over all hee should not have needed any such vision but he himselfe understood it not so large or above the other But he remembred well that Christ in the last chapter of Luke bade them beginne first at Ierusalem to preach to the Iewes as he did And after his returne to Ierusalem againe from Cesarea he made a great excuse to the Iewes of his flocke offended with his going thither written in the 11. chapter of the Acts so it appeareth that Peter himselfe doth agree with Saint Paul that his commission and authority was among the Iewes as Pauls was among the Gentiles And that all the Apostles had like dignity and authority it appeareth by Saint Paul in the 2. chapter to the Ephesians where he saith Now ye be not guests and strangers but ye be Citizens and domestickes of Almighty God builded upon the foundation of the Apostles and the Prophets Christ being the corner stone upon whom every edifice builded groweth to be a holy temple in our Lord. Here he saith that they be builded not upon the foundation of Peter onely but upon the foundation of the Apostles so that all they be in the foundation set upon Christ the very rocke whereupon the whole Church standeth So likewise in the 21. chapter of the Apocalyps it is written that the wall of heavenly Ierusalem the Citie of Almighty GOD which is the Church Christs Spouse hath 12. foundations and in them the names of the 12. Apostles written so that the name of Peter is not there written onely for the twelve Apostles through all the world as well as Peter preached Christ to be the Son of God who is the very rocke whereupon all our faith is founded Saint Cyprian also saith in his booke of the simplicitie of Prelates that all the Apostles had equall power and dignitie given to them by Christ And because all should preach one thing therefore the beginning thereof first began by one which was Peter who confessed for them all that Christ was the Sonne of God that liveth saying further that in
there is no mercy or pitty there is no knowledge of God left upon the earth Backbiting lying murther theft adultery hath overflowne the world Perjury raigneth every where and great pitty it is to see how the precious name of Almighty God is taken in vaine in all places No oath should be given but three things concurrent as Ieremy the Prophet in his 4. chapter teacheth us that is to say in Iudgement when a man is called thither to shew the truth And for iustice there to be ministred to put away wrong doing And for truth that falshood may take no place there Else no oath should be given by Gods law but we should affirme our saying by yea yea and deny by nay nay as Christ taught us in the 5. of Matthew But now every thing that we affirme or deny must have an oath coupled with it when men doe buy or sell any thing more oathes be oftentimes interchanged betwixt them then pence that the thing is sold for In communication and all pastimes as many oathes as words be used In playing at any games there the tearing of Gods name and particular mention of all the wounds and paines that Christ suffered for us be contumeliously in vaine brought forth If a muster should be taken of swearers I thinke that some crooked pieces should be found not able to take the Kings wages that would sweare as great oaths and as many of them as the best and most able man on the field They think that great oathes doe make them to be of more estimation and therfore they sweare at every word but surely they be foulely deceived for oathes be ordained where neede is that truth shall not perish and that they may finish debates among men as Paul saith in the sixth chapter to the Hebrewes But he that at every word sweareth declareth plainely that no credence is to be given to any his words and therefore he joyneth to every word an oath as a surety of the truth therof acknowledging the lacke of truth to be in his words As if a man would offer a great substantiall surety when he would borrow a penny of his neighbour he plainely should make his neighbour thereby to thinke that he were of no credence that would for so small a matter offer so great a surety where no need is so to doe I feare me the great role of twenty cubits in length and ten cubits in breadth which the Prophet Zacharie saw flying in the ayre in the 5. chapter which as the Angell shewed to him did containe the great malediction of God against theeves and against swearors that should be judged by it doth flye now over our heads I pray God we may avoid the danger of it and abstaine hereafter so to take the name of God in vaine as is now commonly used We doe professe the faith of Christ and doe speake of the Gospell with our mouths and have the Booke oft in our hands but we learne it not as we should doe for the Gospell is given to us to know God thereby and to be a rule to live by but we much doe talke of it which is very well done and yet we nothing regard to amend our lives thereby and to live as it biddeth us but we doe use the Gospell as if it were a Booke of Problemes to dispute upon and care not to amend our living as it teacheth us which shall be to our great punishment For a servant that knoweth his Lords pleasure and not fulfilling it is more grievously to be punished than he that knoweth it not as Christ saith in the 12. chapter of Luke We much extoll faith as it is much worthy but workes and deedes many men care not for saying God regardeth them nothing for faith alone justifieth us and not our workes Here first of all it is to be observed that no deed nor worke that is done by man without faith can ever helpe him to heaven for like as a man that runneth out of the race where the course is set though he runne never so fast winneth no game so a man that doth good deeds morall without faith deserveth of God no reward for without faith it is impossible to please God as Saint Paul saith the 11. chapter to the Hebrewes But if he doe good deeds with faith then they be acceptable to God and he will reward him for them And Saint Paul teacheth us alwaies to be occupied in doing of good workes for albeit no man may be justified by his workes alone yet after he hath faith he must joyne good workes with it if he have any time thereto or else his faith is unprofitable unto him for the faith that by grace doth justifie is the faith that worketh by charitie as Saint Paul saith to the Galathians in the 5. chapter and not an idle faith which Saint Iames in his Epistle calleth a dead faith Saint Paul saith also in the second chapter to the Romans that the hearers of the law be not justified before God but the doers of the law And Saint Iames in his Epistle in the first chapter doth liken him that heareth the word of God and doth not there after unto a man that looketh in a glasse and after hee hath so done layeth it downe and forgetteth that he looked in it and thinketh of other matters And where they say that faith alone justifieth that is untrue and against Saint Iames in the 2. chapter of his Epistle saying that a man is not justified by his faith alone Also to justification of a sinner repentance of his evill life past is necessarily first required and must needs be joyned with faith before he be justified for else if hee repent not he remaineth still in sinne and so he is not yet justified and all the preaching of Christ and his Apostles beginneth at repentance and penance so that faith without that cannot helpe Wherefore it is never true that faith alone justifieth for grace of God must goe before faith and on our behalfe repentance and charity must bee joyned with faith And as faith is the gift of God so is penance and so is charity so is hope but the grace of God who granteth all goeth before all Truth it is that our good deeds done before faith doe not justifie for lacke of faith but joyned unto faith they doe helpe for comming after faith they helpe to make us more justified as it is written in the 21. of the Apocalyps Let him that is right wise be yet more justified And that Almighty God requireth of us good workes it appeareth in the 21. chapter of Matthew and the 11. of Marke where Christ comming to a Figge tree full of leaves having no fruit which he sought in it by his curse did make it seere so if we being the tree bring not forth fruit of good workes having time thereto neither the root of faith nor the leaves of words can alone helpe us Another parable in the 13.
doe meane who doe exalt their seat above the starres of God and doe ascend above the clouds and will be like to Almighty God The starres of God be meant the Angels of heaven for as starres doe shew unto us in part the light of heaven so doe Angels sent unto men shew the heavenly light of the grace of God to those to whom they be sent And the clouds signified in the old Testament the Prophets and in the new doe signifie the Apostles and Preachers of the word of God For as the clouds doe conceive and gather in the skye moysture which they after poure downe upon the ground to make it thereby more fruitfull so the Prophets in the old Testament and the Apostles and Preachers in the new doe poure into our eares the moysture of their heavenly doctrine of the word of God to make therewith by grace our soules being seere and dry bring forth fruit of the spirit Thus doe all antient Expositours and among them Saint Augustine interpret to be meant in Scripture stars and clouds in the exposition of the 45. Psalme But Saint Iohn the Evangelist writeth in the 19. chapter of the Apocalyps and in the 22. also that when hee would have fallen down at the Angels foot that did shew him those visions there written to have adored him with godly worship the Angell said unto him See thou doe not so for I am the servant of God as thou art Give adoration and godly worship to God and not to me Here it-appeareth that the Bishops of Rome suffering all men prostrate before them to kisse their feet yea the same Princes to whom they owe subjection doe climbe up above the Angels which refused such godly worship and adoration We doe reade in the Gospell of Luke in the 7. chapter that as Christ sate at dinner in the house of the Pharisee a sinfull woman of that Citie came into the house having a boxe of precious oyntment who kneeled downe and under the bourd with weeping teares washed his feet and dryed them with the hayre of her head and kissed his feet and annoynted them with her precious oyntment which adoration Christ being both God and man there did accept forgiving the sinfull woman her sinnes for her faith and her repentance Whereby he did shew his godhead to the Pharisee which tooke him but as a holy man onely God doth remit sinne We reade also in the 12. of the Gospell of Iohn that Mary the sister of Martha likewise did anoynt his feet and dry them with her hayre of her head Which godly honour Christ as God received But neither we can finde in Scripture that such godly honour of that sort hath beene done to man onely nor we reade not in any Histories that Christian Princes have admitted such adoration due onely unto God Christian Princes be content to see their Subjects kneele unto them and if they suffer their Subjects to kisse their hands when they put forth their hands to them it is the most worldly honour that they suffer to be done unto them But yet Christ offered his feet being bare to be washed with teares and kissed as appeareth by the Gospell of Luke for hee said to the Pharisee that bade him to dinner and wondered why he suffered the sinfull woman to approach so neer unto him that albeit he had made him a good dinner yet the sinfull woman had done more then he For he had not given him water to wash his feet but she since he entred into his house had not ceased to wash his feet with her teares And feet be washed to no man but when they be naked so that it appeareth that Christs feet then washed with teares and kissed were bare But the Bishop of Rome offereth his feet to be kissed shod with his shooes on for I my selfe being then present 34. yeeres agoe when Iulius then Bishop of Rome stood on his feete and one of his Chamberlaines held up his skirt because it stood not as he thought with his dignitie that he should doe it himselfe that his shooe might appeare whiles a Noble man of great age did prostrate himselfe upon the ground and kissed his shooe Which he stately suffered to be done as of duty where me thinke I saw Cornelius the Centurion Captaine of the Italians band spoken of in the tenth chapter of the Acts submitting himselfe to Peter much honouring him but I saw not Peter there to take him up and bid him rise saying I am a man as thou art as Saint Peter did say to Cornelius so that the Bishops of Rome admitting such adoration due unto God doe climbe above the heavenly clouds that is to say above the Apostles sent into the world by Christ to water the earthly and carnall hearts of men by their heavenly doctrine of the word of God And that by the word of God al men ought to obey the Potestates and Governours of the world as Emperours Kings and Princes of all sorts what name soever the said supreame powers doe use for the countries in which they be Saint Peter plainely doth teach us in the second chapter of his first Epistle saying Be ye subject to every humane creature for Gods sake whether it be King as chiefe head or Dukes or Governours as sent from God to the vengeance and punishment of evill doers and to the laud of good doers for so is the will of God so that Saint Peter himselfe in his Epistle commandeth all worldly Princes in their office to be obeyed as the Ministers of God by all christian men And according unto the same S. Paul in the 13. chapter to the Romans saith Every living man be subject to the high powers for the high powers be of God And whosoever resisteth the high powers resisteth the ordinance of God and purchaseth thereby to himselfe damnation for the high powers be the Ministers of God to succour and laud well-doers the ministers of God to punish evill-doers and the ministers of God to doe justice to all men for which cause they received tribute and lest men should forget their duty of obedience to their Princes it is there thrice repeated that they be the ministers of God whose place in their governance they doe represent so that unto them all men must obey Apostles Patriarchs Primates Arch-Bishops Bishops Priests and all of the Clergie and all Noble men of what degree soever they be being within their governance with all the people also And therefore the Bishop of Rome oweth likewise to his Soveraign and superiour like subjection by the word of God taught unto us by Peter and Paul as other Bishops doe owe to their Princes under whom they be And therefore Agatho the Bishop of Rome in whose time was the sixth Synode and counsell generall after his election sent to the Emperour then being at Constantinople to have his election allowed before he would be consecrate after the old custome at that time used And another