through the blood of his Son the Chapters also of Genealogies in Numbers and Chronicles are of good use for the understanding of the rest of the Scriptures though but a few understand the same Of the Grace He calls Salvation Grace and that most worthily as being freely both Elected Redeemed and Effectually called 1. This condemns 1. That Luciferian conceit of Merit or Worthiness in us poor miserable sinners 2. Them that challenge part in Christ and all that he did and yet shew no part of thankfulness and duty again but live as they list and will not onely not part with their lives but not with their lusts for his sake they are lyars and deceive their own souls 2. It should teach us to acknowledge the whole work of our Salvation to be of Grace and thereupon to walk the more thankfully and zealously yea often meditate of this Free-grace and Salvation whetting up our selves thereby That should come unto you Why were they not partakers of Salvation themselves Yes as we have heard but they never saw the time of Christs exhibiting in the flesh nor so clearly They received not the promises onely saw them afar off aâ—d were perswaded of them Verse 11. Searching what or what maner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signifie when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow SEarching what or what maner of time They took great pains to know Christ would gladly have learnd that he should have come in their days so they should have had a clearer Revelation yea seen him whom they so much longed for and loved Simeon waited for the Consolation of Israel as many Prophets and Kings desired to see and hear thereof and this was lawful unless God had enjoyned the contrary If then we know a thing to be good and profitable to be known we must refuse no pains in searching it out but Study Meditate Pray Confer Read c. We must call for Wisdom and cry for Understanding we must seek and search for her as for silver The Word is like a Noble man that one must make some suit and use some means to come unto with which being once acquainted wherein can it not pleasure us when we have sued to it by pains it will be beneficial unto us indeed whereas prophane Books easily enough attained unto usually work much mischief many of us read much of the Scriptures but take no notice whether we understand the same or not or take no pains to come to knowledge to be inquisitive of the meaning of this or that place of Scripture were profitable when Christians meet together whether Ministers or others or both As they desired to see Christs first so should we long for his second coming The Spirit of Christ which was in them See how they sought into this matter not of their own heads but by the guidance and direction of the Spirit and that 1. Because it was a matter so high and above their reach as in which they could know nothing without the help of the Spirit 2. To avoid curiosity searching no further then God should see good to reveal unto them This teacheth us that when we search into any point of Doctrine or to know any thing we must not go to work by our own head or wit for that were Pride and the way to Error but by the help of the Spirit and therefore no further then the Spirit shall guide us this we do if we keep our selves to the written Word of God for Gods Spirit teacheth us according to the Word and no otherwise This condemneth the frenzy conceits of the Anabaptists which boast of Revelations of the Spirit counting whatsoever comes in their head and they conceive though contrary to the Scriptures to be a Revelation which is wicked for the Word and Spirit cannot be divorced either the one contrary to the other We must hold us to the written word searching thereinto according to sobriety proceeding no further then it and there staying where it stayeth This is also contrary to the Papists that will have their humane Traditions and unwritten Verities whereby upon the point they overthrow the Scriptures Again in that the Spirit of Christ was in the Prophets when they prophesied see the authority of the Old Testament the Spirit of God is the Author of it therefore is it to be highly esteemed as the New and all questions are to stand and fall by the sentence thereof Read believe and obey it and be out of all doubt of it without ifs and ands As the Papists most wickedly would have the authority of the Scriptures to depend upon the testimony of the Church and because they say its Scripture therefore they believe it and otherwise would not they would give no more credit to Pauls Epistles then to Esops Fables if the Church did not give testimony thereof which is a blasphemous Opinion The Scripture is above the Church and that whereon it s grounded and hath no greater testimony then from it self we testifie that God is the true God from all Idols and Christ from all false Christs do they therefore depend upon our testimony and are we above them Though the Church discerneth the Word or Scriptures from false writings and therefore rejecteth a great many of Epistles and Gospels of Bartholomew Thomas Thaddeus as adulterous yet this proves not that they depend on the Churches testimony A Kings Letters come to a City the Officers thereof by the stile sign or some other thing whereunto they are accustomed accept of them yield to them and testifie that they are not false or counterfeit are they therefore above the King or his Letters Further here is a testimony of the Divinity of the third Person for the whole Scripture is given by inspiration from God and here it s said it was by the Spirit and who could foretel things so long before but God confer Acts 1. 16. with 4. 25. When it testified beforehand of the sufferings of Christ Namely That he was to suffer for us and so to enter into his glory This we finde in the Old Testament both plainly expressed and under types and figures as of Isaacs offering the Brazen Serpent the Paschal Lamb Jonas c. This serves to answer all prophane Infidels that scoff at Christians because they believe in a crucified God for so do they contemptuously speak of Christ. A. He suffered what was necessary for the Savior of the world to suffer and what the Scripture foretold he should suffer and though he suffered and was abased yet he overcame it and entred into glory Had not these things been foretold they might have been offended at his dejected estate for so were the Disciples notwithstanding but being foretold they are not yea if he had not suffered for us
peril of Damnation which is a fearful Abomination They have indeed need of unwritten Traditions to shore up a number of points of their Religion or else they would fal to the ground for all the written Word of God as having no authority from thence But what a Religion is that which must thus be maintained without the Testimony of the Scripture we must learn to detest all such Traditions else what a Flood-gate should we let open to let in all Errors and uncertainties without end Yea were this granted every dream of a Fryers brain and any old Custom would be imposed upon the people for a Law Cursed be they that adde to the All-sufficient Word of God God will adde to their plagues 3. The Text it self It s written where In Leviticus 11. 44. 19. 2. The Word is the Rule the written Word the Canonical Scripture that onely There are other Books called Apochrypha usually joyned with the Bible which are not Gods Word nor of equal authority of the same but are the writings of men of good men and have also good use some part for the helping out of the story of that dark time from Malachi to John the Baptist and other parts for instruction in good maners and to a godly life and are therefore to be read of us yet were not they written by any Prophet are not Originally in the Hebrew as all the Old Testament is but in the Greek neither were received of the Jews to whom were committed the Oracles of God for which they were not blamed of our Savior Christ as questionless they should have been if they had done amiss Further we finde no Testimony of our Savior Christ Evangelist or Apostle cited out of them They have also their weaknesses and imperfections and the best parts thereof savor of a man and have not the majesty and weight of Gods Word Therefore are they not sufficient whereon to ground any part of our Faith or to say This is true foâ—so it s written in such a book No but to read them and try them and where they consent with the Word then say its true not because it s so there but because the Scripture approves it where they jar from Scripture there are we to leave them we must walk in a middle path wisely and soberly as not to match them with the Word of God so not to reject them as some have done for that they observed others magnifie them too much hereby running into a contrary extremity As nothing makes a handmaid so much despised as when she is set in her Mistresses Chair so long as she stands as an handmaid all like her and say she becomes her place well So when the Apocrypha is equalled with the Scripture it is justly to be disliked when made to serve it of good use It is written But he tells not where because they were so well acquainted with the Scripture as they could straightway say Oh we know where it is It s written in such a Book such a Section This sheweth how cunning we should be in the Scriptures and every part thereof reading them diligently as by our selves so with our Families and great cause We have a corrupt heart within us therefore had need have the Word dwelling in us to subdue it We have plenty of duties therefore had need of plenty of knowledge in the Word we shall have plenty of strong and subtile temptations from the Devil and World and therefore had need to be ready herein to resist them Herein must we meditate day and night that we may observe and do and prosper that we may be as fruitful trees that we may become wise in all our ways yea wiser then our Enemies then our Ancients This is unto Gods Children a storehouse of all good things its Food to nourish us Armor to defend us a Light to guide us an Apothecaries shop containing all things for meat and medecine for the food and health of our Soul Purgations to purge out our sins Cordials to comfort us Preservatives against every poisonful temptation of Satan Herein is our Fathers Will wherein are our Legacies in every leaf and line some good 1. This condemns the Church of Rome that make it a deadly sin for the people to read any part of Scripture one of them saith He thought it was the device of the devil that the common people should read the Sriptures which might make all loath their Religion for is it any thing else but as thieves which blow out the candle that they may not be seen 2. This condemns those amongst our selves that say It was never merry world since every Plowman and Weaver could talk of the Scripture and that the world was far more quiet before these be noâ— led by the Spirit that Moses was who wisht That all the Lords people could prophesie and the Apostle Paul who often speaks of the encrease of knowledge 3. This condemns the woful carelesness of most people that regard not to read the Scriptures and therefore are exceedingly ignorant therein so that if a Minister quote a place he had need name both Chapter and Verse nay if it be amongst the books of the Old Testament yea some Epistles of the New they cannot tell whereabouts to finde them but are often fain to turn to the Table of the Book Rich men are so mad of the world that they can finde no leisure Mammon is so mighty with them as God and his Word have no time with them And might they not finde that in one leaf of the Bible whereof if they could make use it would profit them more then the whole world Some are all for the world out of one business into another others can finde leisure to play at Tables Cards Bowls c. or to stand in shops two or three hours spending the time in idle discourses and unprofitable frothy talk if not in hurtful slandering and backbiting their neighbors and reproaching the servants of God who yet can finde no time for the Word Others are very cunning in their Statute Books but not so in the Scriptures As for the poor because they be poor and not Book-learned they think it concerns not them or that God looks for any such thing at their hands and therefore are as ignorant as if they lived in Turky altogether without fruit as the fig-tree whereunto our Savior came foolish and carryed away with every temptation and all for that they meditate not in Gods statutes They live ignorantly and loosly and dye blockishly and miserably yea and they perish worthily for that being offered a guide to take them as it were by the hand and lead them through this wilderness this narrow unbeaten path from all by-ways and bring them to Heaven yet will not entertain the same If the King should send a Letter to any of his Subjects and they would not vouchsafe to open
should not be accepted or if he did doubt whether he should or not this would take off all edge but when we are sure that 's a great encouragement For who would not be glad to do any thing wherewith God would be pleased Art thou afraid that he doth not accept thy Sacrifice as who hast prayed oft and long and art not heard Judge not according to that Thy Prayer sent up in truth was accepted at first though not granted by and by as not being then time The Lord stays till a fitter time Acceptable Not that God hath any need of them but it pleaseth him for our encouragement so to tell us for if we serve him never so diligently he is never the better but our selves are the better and our Neighbors by our good example So contrarily if we do never so ill he is not the worse as being most perfectly holy and good at first and so is and will be To God Here may seem a secret Antithesis between these words To God and these To Men For indeed Spiritual Sacrifices are nothing to Carnal men but such only as stand in outward Pomp Shew and Ceremony But it s the Spiritual service that pleaseth God He cares more for a broken heart and for the Sacrifice of praise Spiritually performed then for Thousands of Bulls or all the outside that so much pleaseth the eye He cares not for the Papists going on Pilgrimage numbers of Prayers Fasting days Pompous service and curious musick which doth more delight the ear then tend any way to edification And because we reject these they cry out upon us as having no Religion And are there not some among us with whom its a foul matter to neglect any outward Ceremony who yet do altogether neglect Spiritual services By Jesus Christ. Our Sacrifices are acceptable to God nor for own-worthiness or the worth of the service but for the sake and by the means of Christ Jesus He onely makes them acceptable to God 1. In taking away our sins by his Death 2. Covering us with his Obedience 3. Inabling us by his Spirit who can do no good of our selves to perform these services 4. Covering the wants thereof in his perfect Obedience and making Intercession for us and in this worthiness must we offer up our selves Prayers Thanks and Alms. 1. This condemneth them that do these Duties and yet are in their sins unpardoned not having Christs Righteousness made theirs and which do them not by the Spirit of God but by their own might Their services are abominable 2. Those that come in the worthiness of any Saint as the Papists which pray for this or that Saints sake do grievously sin Oh but say they he is indeed the Mediator of Redemption others may with him be Mediators of Intercession He is belike beholden to them that will leave him somewhat but there is no other Intercessor but the Redeemer he that 's the one is the other also Oh but they conclude all their Prayers per Jesum Christum Dominum nostrum A good mends when they have robb'd him by joyning others with him to conclude with his Name So those that come in their own worthiness not asking for Christs But we ought not to think of God but in Jesus Christ coming between Note further that Our works even the best can never attain to that perfection to be worthy of themselves as being still full of imperfection but by Jesus Christ to all that perform them in Faith and to their uttermost they are accepted as perfect 1. This serves as to humble us while we live under the daily sence of the imperfections of our services So to warn us to shrowd them and our selves under Christs perfection 2. To comfort them that in Faith strive and yet cannot perform them to their mindes They must not be dismaid but believe that for Christs sake they shall be accepted This is necessary to be known and believed because many a good soul when they have pray'd or done any service in the best maner they can are yet discouraged Why nothing pleaseth God but that which is perfect and I know will such a one say how imperfect my poor service is I cannot in any sort pray as I would I cannot continue a short Prayer without wandrings c. Well what thou dost do in truth and with all thy might and Christs perfect obedience shall make it up Though thy service be short yet it is large enough to cover all wer 't not for this we might be dismaid at our best duties But this is not for the wicked and unbelievers they think they will do as well as they can and there 's an end Christ shall do the rest But what right hast thou to Christ and what canst thou do as good as nothing Verse 6. Wherefore it is contained in the Scripture Behold I lay in Sion a chief corner stone elect precious and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded THe Apostle having already shewed both that Christ is the Foundation on which his Church is builded and that Believers are built up on him a Spiritual House c. he now confirmeth both out of the Scriptures and needful it was fully to prove them that so they might be strengthened to embrace Christ the Foundation of their happiness and against that common offence of the multitude which did not embrace but reject him Now that he had said he sheweth to be no new thing but such as was of old spoken of by God to his Prophets as the Scripture of the Old Testament beareth witness namely that of the Prophet Isaiah Chap. 28. 16. wherein is shewed of Christ that He is a chief corner stone and of Believers that they shall not be ashamed and therefore are accepted of God In that he alleageth the Scripture for his purpose Note we that That which must confirm and settle us in any Point of Doctrine is the Testimony of the Word of God If God speak to his in his Word we build that its true accordingly doing or leaving undone nothing else can satisfie not the minde of this or that man or many men or the practice of such and such no not of the best but we must build our Faith on Gods Word that cannot deceive us else shall we ever waver never be at a certainty Through men we may be driven hither and thither but if grounded on the Word of God nothing can remove us 1. This condemneth the Enthusiasts that boast of Revelations and so neglect the Word No Gods Spirit and his Word are joyned together and they that have at any time been most endued with the Spirit have at no time neglected the Scriptures but given themselves to the searching of the same Gods Spirit speaks no otherwise then according to the Word 2. Papists that thrust in Traditions and Humane Inventions as whereon people
great ones for gifts revolt and come to nothing They fell being ordained thereunto thou shalt stand though weak by vertue of Election This also comforts when we consider our own frailty Satans subtilty malice and diligence and his great conquests in the World though there be matter from hence to make us humble and fear and stand on our watch yet no cause of despair that we shall fall finally True if we were in Adams case and our Salvation were in our own hand to lose we might so fall but we are kept of God the Father he Elected us and committed us and gave us to the Son to be Redeemed and the Son having so done commits us back again to the Father to be kept by his power Therefore we are in a strong hand and none can pluck us out of it This heartens in the service of God to go on chearfully in duty 5. That a man may come to know and to be assured of his Election Hereof see Downhams Spiritual warfare page 186. where the point is handled This bewrays the wicked cruelty of the Papists who for their own gain keep back this comfort from the people making them believe it were presumption to be assured but they must be of good hope say they and for the effecting of it they must go on Pilgrimage to such and such Saints do such Works make Vows to build such a Monastrey repair such a Church and give thus much to the Priest for Trentals Masses and Dirges that if they come into Purgatory hereby they may be speedily holpen out O what thanks owe we to God that we are delivered from such Tormentors And if any of our Consciences be wounded we we are led to the Free-grace and all-sufficient Merits of Christ and so are bound up and soundly comforted finding that whereon firmly to rest whereas they leave any in as bad or worse case then they found them who having done as they were by them enjoyned are at as great uncertainty as they were before So that we under the Gospel save the extream toil of our Bodies the robbing of our Purses and that which is worst of all the discomfort of our Souls which they under Popery and Popish Teachers undergo and are faithfully dealt with by the mercy of God and Merits of Christ God hath not appointed his Servants to wrestle with Flesh World and Devil and all opposites and left them onely a blank and uncertain hope but an assurance of their Election past and Salvation to come which carries them through all and is the foundation of a good life The Notes of Election are 1. Faith 2. Sanctification 3. Obedience to the Word 4. Love to the Saints as may appear in these Scriptures following Acts 13. 48. Romans 8. 1. Psalm 15. 2. 2 Peter 1. 5. John 10. 27. with John 3. 14. Epistle the first These though some imagine they have but have not as one may dream of great Wealth yet waking is Poor yet as a Rich man may know he is Rich they that have them may and do certainly know they have them Every of which is required to Salvation 1. Seeing the Lord hath left this to be obtained by the Sons of men here on Earth how should this provoke every man with more carefulness then can be expressed to finde out this Pearl If we upon tryal of our selves can prove by these and the like infallible arguments that we have found it then may we rejoyce above all rejoycing yea more then if we were Crowned Kings to day for the priviledges of the Elect are most sweet and admirable 2. O be thankful to God highly stand and wonder at the greatness and freeness of this favor all thy days that he passing by so many thousands as good as thy self should yet choose thee 3. Yea Covenant to give thy Body Soul Life and all to glorifie him in a most zealous and faithful maner As a man choosing carefully an Arrow out of his Quiver looks it should go right and flie far over another O let us do so in the service of God and all good works O what shame is it that such persons as have this assurance should be dull and slow If upon tryal we cannot finde these notes of Election What then Why what hast thou upon tryal O saith some poor soul if there be no notes of Election but these I am in a woful case and yet I have been laboring hard about this matter to make my state good if it might be possible Well you say well that is a good sign Are you utterly lost in your selves Blessed are the poor in spirit Dost thou mourn under the heavy burthen of thy sins Blessed are they that mourn Hearing of Christ dost thou highly prize him earnestly long after him Blessed are they that do hunger and thirst after righteousness And dost thou desire to take up Christs yoke though yet thou findest little power Why these be good signs and marks of Election as well as the other every thing must have a beginning Never leave till thou come to such a pass that thou canst prove thine effectual calling and shew it by good fruits But if thou hast none of these at all no sight of misery no burthen of sin no purpose to come out thereof but hopest to do well though thou livest after thine old lusts O hang down thy head go mourning all the day as one that hath lost his only Son Thou hast no mark of Election but of the contrary we pity them that have Tokens of the Plague upon them but these are infinitely in a worse case these have Gods Tokens upon them even of Gods Enemies and Reprobates whether these have cause to be jolly or no judge you Q. Whether can we be certain of anothers Election or not A. Certainly we cannot by the same certainty that we may be of our own but probably we may and very strongly of some as we may be sure in every true visible Church there be some Elect also we may know particular persons as John the Elect Lady and Paul Clement with others But for certainty we cannot as we know our own by the witness of Gods Spirit to ours and by the assurance of Faith therefore they are proudly conceited that think they have so much discerning as if they be in a mans company a few hours they can judge whether he be the childe of God or not fie upon this arrogancy The Disciples could not do so by living with Judas a good while together but askt Is it I There have been some have gone so far and carried it so smoothly as for sundry years they have deceived many not onely of the people but of wise and faithful Ministersts God knoweth the heart certainly we may guess and the more godly wise any is the better he can discern but very probably and by the judgement of charity we may judge more
this Ark perished The making of this in likelihood was a matter of great cost of great toil and without doubt he had many a mock for his labor when he went first about it and whilest he continued working at it yet went he on As that was for the body so are Faith and Repentance for the soul whosoever have these shall never perish but have everlasting life For these we must labor whatsoever pains they cost us yea and if it were to hinder our outward estate hereupon and expose our selves to mockings and revilings Whosoever misseth of these whatsoever else they have shall questionless perish the word tells it and we are to believe it 1. This rebukes the monstrous folly and madness of the world Gods Ministers his Noahs preach the flood and perswade every man to make ready his Ark but alas how few look after any such matter nay as in the old world they rather mock at those that do or that take pains to hear the Word which is the way to get Faith or that take pains to lead a godly life O these precise fellows they be so holy and these Scripture fellows they be so holy as they will be in heaven ere their bones be cold c. whereby it appears that as Lots sons in Law about the destruction of Sodom they believe no flood at all no judgement at all to come or else haply they think it an easie matter to make an Ark at any time either thinking that some easier and nearer may be found then by Faith and Repentance as those that hope to be saved by their good meaning good prayers civil life c. which will assuredly deceive them or that they are easie to be obtained Was Noah One hundred and twenty years in making an Ark to save him from drowning in the waters and can they at pleasure and on the sudden make an Ark to save them from Hell and to get into Heaven as most hope by Lord have mercy upon me to be saved But as no doubt many used sundry shifts to save themselves when the flood came and none prevailed but the Ark so shall it be with all such O what if the flood should now come as it may ere the morrow is your Ark ready or not If it be not defer the time no longer No man knows that he shall live One hundred and twenty days or a quarter so long yet though Noah knew he should live so many years he did not defer the time delay the making of the Ark It will not be done on the sudden and after this life there 's no making of any as there was no hewing of timber or stone in the Temple but all in Mount Lebanus Look to it therefore betimes regard neither the costs nor pains you may be put to It s no matter so you be saved 2. This may comfort them that have their Ark prepared though thousands and ten thousands perish yet they shall not do amiss but be preserved and saved as Noah then shall not we weigh what pains we have taken to make it to hear the Word to humble our selves to repent c. And have not others taken as much pains for transitory things that will vanish and never do them good and though you have been mockt yet will the time come when those mockers will change their note Again in that they saw and heard of this Ark a building which ought to have been a real Sermon to them yet were not moved their sin becoming hereby the greater 2. Note That when God addes to his Word Examples and to the Ministery real Sermons also these ought much to prevail which when they do not as well the sin as the judgements of the Delinquents become the more fearful for the more means men have if they profit not thereby the greater will be their judgement as our Savior said of Corazin and Bethsaida When God threatens to plague wicked men it should make them stand in awe but when they see the same it cannot but pierce more To this end though God hath left some part of Scripture in Precepts and Doctrines yet hath he left most in Story and Example accordingly the Prophets used both Therefore when God in his Word exhorts to diligence in laboring after Salvation and to lead an holy life this ought much to move but when men see Examples of such people before their eyes this ought to move the more This condemns the notorious obstinacy of our times that notwithstanding the Word God addes so many examples of his judgements on wicked men more by far then we could have lookt for in the days of the Gospel as untimely ends upon Drunkards and notorious prophane persons c. that would take no warning yea haply of a dozen of them which have been in a Town cut off by one judgement or other yet who fears nay do not others continue in the same state as some old Drunkards without amendment as other new ones grow up every day The like may be said of other sins Belshazzar profited not by the judgements of God on his Father as most do not by any judgement on others What answer have they to make and what judgement waiteth them that have had many examples and yet never the better so of notorious covetous gripers oppressors rakers how blockishly and fearfully they have dyed with the miserable end of their goods either wofully wasted by drunkards or dispersed to those that never sweat for them yea oftentimes to their very enemies who seeth not yet who are moved hereat let these look for greater judgements so when God raiseth up many godly Christians that earnestly labor after their salvation taking great pains to hear the Word and to live godly most receive no profit by these real examples and Sermons but some mock at them and think them more precise then needs as others are blockish and are no whit moved thereby They might think with themselves when they see some such take such pains that there is somewhat in it some ill to be avoided some good to be obtained some great matter that should move these people to take such pains surely might they say it s not for nothing they have business as well as we which they could tend if a greater thing were not in the way it s not for nothing that they thus weary themselves But most do not understand or consider thus much with themselves and yet God hath raised up such as lights to draw on others and they that be not won by the Word nor moved by the examples of the godly their answer will be fearful Little do these people think that those that have travelled by their doors wet and dry and come through their grounds to hear the Word shall one day be their Judges It had been happy for them if they had dwelt further off 3. In that this ark did betoken the judgement of
thy felf as lay hold on Christ for Salvation If any man speak c. Whoso is in the Ministery ought to Preach no gift makes a man a Minister allowed of God but the gift of preaching even to be able to open the Scriptures soundly and apply the same wisely to the peoples edifying How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard saith the Apostle and how shall they hear without a preacher and how shall they Preach except they be sent That is gifted and quallified by God for the place even being able to do that which is apt to convert souls which no gift else can do but that of preaching the Word The Scriptures read are but as a goodly Carpet folded up together but by preaching the beauty thereof appeareth This our Savior enjoyned his Disciples and the same did the Apostle Paul require of Timothy 1. This rebukes those which howsoever having an outward calling they stand in the room of Ministers and therefore their actions are not to be counted void or nullities run before they are sent are blinde watchmen Messengers without an errand dumb Dogs as Idols having mouthes but speak not c. 2. This rebukes a number of silly people which conceive it sufficient if their Minister be but a Reader We have a very honest man will such say true he cannot preach but he doth his good will and we can desire no more of a man and a very fellow-like man he is c. But if it happen they have a godly Preacher what is their note then we have a Minister I would we had never known him some say he is learned and he preacheth indeed but he is so troublesome he hath spoiled our Town quite we were all as quiet as could be till he came but now there is such finding of faults and bringing up new Orders as we cannot tell what to say a good many of the best of the Parish will do what they can to remove him c. Thus the world loves reading Ministers They say of Schollars they be the most conscionable They care not how little they have for their money but its true also of a number of silly miserable people They can have no more of a man then his good will they say But they would not say so of a Carpenter or any Workman or Servant they hire if they do not the business they are set about they would have others Let him speak as the Oracles of God That is both Preach the very Truth and Word of God and as its meet or as it becomes the Word to be handled Ministers must Preach the Word of God they must not deliver any thing to their people but that which they have received of God So did both the Prophets and Apostles they stand in Gods room and are to bring his Message neither must they deliver any word whereof they may not truly affirm Thus saith the Lord This is the Word of the Lord Nothing else feeds the soul other things are poyson or chaff yea we may answer for what we say before God upon our salvation or damnation 1. This reproves divers as namely such as by their erroneous Doctrine destroy souls they give in stead of an egge a scorpion and for food poyson Such as by telling strange and forged miracles of this and that Saint endeavor to uphold one lye of Popery or other Such as teach mens traditions or their own devices and opinions contrary to Gods Word Such as wrest the Word of God and discourage the hearts of the godly and strengthen the hands of the wicked making their Text speak what God never meant Such as Preach Gods Word but so mingled with mans inventions as they Preach not Gods Word but their own fancies Thus many stuff their Sermons with Authorities of men as of Heathen Poets Philosophers Historians and that in strange tongues which though turn'd into English yet what a loss of time what a breaking of the peoples attention must there needs be hereby what thrusting upon people mens authority use indeed may be made of those in private and humanity serves as well as an handmaid to Divinity but its Gods Word onely which can stablish the Conscience If we use them publiquely the same must be done sparingly to special purpose on some special occasions as when we have to do with Atheists c. and not to the common people 2. This may instruct people that they hear nothing at least receive nothing but the Word of God My sheep hear my voyce saith our Savior and a strangers voyce they will not hear Therefore they must be able to try what they hear we must not be like children carryed about with every wind of doctrine Solomon counts it the property of a fool to believe every thing if we should in stead of being fed we might be poysoned we must with the Bereans search whether the things we hear be so and so they were neither curious nor captious yet they would receive nothing but the truth A man may tell money after his own Father not because he thinks he would deceive him but because he may be deceived we take not upon us to have dominion over your Faith that you should believe whatsoever we say because we say it but if it be not according to Gods Word take it but upon exchange All that we hear and Ministers deliver must be according to the Scriptures which is the rule and touchstone and when people have knowledge and can try what we â—each we should be far from being angry and saying It was never merry world since every Taylor and Shoemaker could talk so much of the Scriptures and finde faults with mens preaching would we have the peoples eyes out True the Papists cannot abide it in the people but tell them They must believe as their Ministers believe c. This is as bad a sign in them as may be But alas we have cause to complain of peoples ignorance it were even just with God to let them fall into the hands of deceivers as having got no knowledge all this while Ministers must preach as it becomes the Word of God even with all reverence and authority with all courage and boldness yea so as that they declare by their lives that they believe it to be Gods Word even by being first in the practice thereof and obedience thereto 1. This serves to reprove divers as namely those that mingle tricks and conceits to tickle the ear and are all in their Inkhorn terms riming and running on the letter c. together with those that have itching ears and delight in such things It s a sign of a sickly ill disposed stomack to whom the wholesom food of the Word is not sweet except it have some such strumpetly sawces Those that through sear keep back Gods counsel not revealing his whole will those that live daily in
1. EVery natural man is like a beast 378 2. Every unregenerate man is out of his way 379 3. How they come to be misled 379 4. No natural man can of himself come home to God 380 5. The natural man is in continual danger ibid. 6. All believers are in a safe condition 381 7. The Ministers of the Word are Shepherds under Christ 382 CHAP. III. THe contents of this Chapter 385 Verse 1. 1. MArriage in Gods account an high and honorable state 385 2. Both husbands and wives must learn to know their duty ibid. 3. The duties of wives ibid. 4. Why the Apostle insisteth so largely about the same 386 5. Gods Ministers have been at all times liable to be slandered ibid. 6. The prevention of an Objection ibid. 7. Wives must be subject to their husbands ibid. 8. Wherein their subjection consisteth 387 9. Wives must be subject even unto bad husbands 388 10. Wives are not to marry irreligious husbands 389 11. Such as live in disobedience are unbelievers ibid. 12. Good examples excellent preparatives to conversion ibid. 13. Wives professing Religion must shew it by their behavior towards their husbands for their conversion ibid. Verse 2. 1. HOw bad husbands may be won 390 2. Chastity and reverence why required of wives ibid. 3. What chastity is and by whom it is to be observed 391 4. How wives ought to fear their husbands ibid. Verse 3 4. 1. A Preservative of subjection and chastity 392 2. What apparelling it is that the Apostle forbids ibid. 3. How far costly apparel is forbid and to whom and when 393 4. Rules about wearing of apparel ibid. 5. The matter and maner thereof considered 394 6. Reasons against access in apparel 395 7. Objections answered 397 8. An useful meditation upon the putting on and off of our apparel 398 9. A remedy for excess of apparel ibid. 10. Inward purity required ibid. 11. Our principal care should be to adorn the soul ibid. 12. The covetous and curious reproved 399 13. Grace is of an incomparable nature 400 14. A meek and quiet spirit the proper ornament of a good wife 401 15. The worth of grace ibid. 16. It s of great price in the sight of God ibid. Verse 5 6. 1. REasons of the forementioned Exhortation 401 2. The amplification of either reason ibid. 3. The examples of Gods servants are to be followed in all their vertues 402 4. Antiquity joyned with verity is to be esteemed ibid. 5. There have been always holy women as well as men 403 6. Why women are as forward as men ibid. 7. It s needful there should be good women 404 8. Holiness is that which commends one ibid. 9. Marriage no hinderance to holiness ibid. 10. Holiness cometh by faith in Christ 405 11. Holiness may be where there are weaknesses ibid. 12. Wives cannot perform their duty aright unless they be holy ibid. 13. Why more good men then women are mentioned in Scripture ibid. 14. Why wives must imitate Sarahs obedience and reverence 406 15. It s not enough to do duties unless done in a right maner ibid. Verse 7. 1. SUperiority exempts not from duty 407 2. Wherein the husbands duty consisteth ibid. 3. Husbands stand in no less need of instruction then wives ibid. 4. Husbands are to dwell with their wives ibid. 5. In what cases they may be absent 408 6. Husbands must be men of understanding 409 7. In what particulars the same will appear ibid. 8. What honor the husband is to give to his wife 410 9. The particulars implyed therein 410 10. The Reasons thereof 411 11. Sundry sorts of husbands reproved ibid. 12. Objections answered 412 13. Wives are the weaker vessels 14. Wives are no less heirs of the grace of life then their husbands 414 15. Husbands should pray with their wives ibid. 16. Whatsoever may interrupt our prayers is to be avoided 415 Verse 8 9. 1. THere must be between Christians unity in Religion ibid. 2. Who disagree from the truth in the foundation 416 3. Who holding the foundation do yet erre from the truth ibid. 4. Differences for matters of ceremony 417 5. The evils which ensue hereupon ibid. 6. Differences about private Opinions ibid. 7. There must be unity in our conversation ibid. 8. Christians must be of like affection each to other 418 9. That Christians may love one another what they are to do and what to avoid 420 10. What pity is and that we must pity our selves ibid. 11. We must pity the souls of others 421 The Reasons 422 12. Why we must pity the bodies of others 423 13. Means conducing hereunto 424 14. We must be pitiful to our beasts ibid. 15. What courtesie is and that Christians are to be courteous 425 And how it shews it self ibid. 16. Christians must not revenge themselves on their Enemies 426 17. Lawful revenge on our selves and others 427 18. Gods children must even outwardly differ from the wicked ibid. 19. We must requite evil with good ibid. 20. An Objection Answered ibid. 21. Another Objection Answered 428 22. Reasons why we are to requite evil with good ibid. 23. The effectually called are willing to do any thing for God 429 24. The excellency and worth of effectual calling ibid. 25. How to discern hereof ibid. 26. Why many Christians are unsetled herein ibid. 27. The word always perswades us to our good 430 28. Christians are a blessed people ibid. Verse 10 11. 1. VVHy we ought to be patient and requite evil with good 431 2. A peaceable and patient man shall live the longer and the quieter ibid. 3. Life and long blessings of God which his children may desire 432 4. Why the godly are at sometimes taken away by death ibid. 5. Long life proveth not a blessing to the wicked and yet might ibid. 6. In what respects it may be lawful to desire to live 433 7. Whence it is that most are desirous to live long 433 8. In what respects days may be said to be good here and in what evil 434 9. Mens days be usually evil ibid. 10. Mans life short ibid. 11. Good days are a blessing of God ibid. 12. The wicked may live long yet have not good days 435 13. Prosperity why denyed for the most part to Gods children ibid. 14. Whether we may pray for prosperity ibid. 15. Whether we may pray for afafliction 436 16. Whoso would be happy must refrain from evil speaking 437 17. Means whereby to bridle the tongue ibid. 18. Reasons inducing thereunto ibid. 19. We must abstain from the close and covert evils of the tongue 438 20. Guile to be avoided in Religion towards God ibid. 21. Guile to be avoided in carriage towards men 439 22. What the evil of sin is and that we must avoid it 440 23. The evil of sin worse then the evil of punishment ibid. 24. All sins are to be eschewed ibid. 25. They are to be eschewed at all times in all places with all the kindes thereof under
And We know whom we have believed and that he is able to keep that which we have committed to him whose love also is unchangeable Why we have known of great professors who have faln finally as Judas and many in our time Yea but not such as were taken into the Divine protection and keeping of God but hypocrites They went out from us saith Saint John but they were not of us Peter was kept by the power of God though shaken by temptation yet was he not overcome Judas was never but the childe of perdition and had common graces and was never justified nor sanctified Let us then look we be found and indeed be such as are taken into Gods keeping and then safe enough then may we triumph with the Apostle If God be on our side who can be against us And who shall seperate us from the love of Christ Shall tribulation or distress or persecution c. Nay in all these things we are more then conquâ—rers through him that loved us So must it needs be except we think the Lords arm to be shortened or his power weakned that he cannot help and that there should be any stronger then the Almighty Indeed if we be but Hypocrites and out of Gods keeping we may fall into any sin and miserably fall away for ever for what have we to stay us For as if God take not the care of a man all creatures are lyable to do him hurt as Cain said murmuringly Thou hast cast me from thy face and every one that findes me shall slay me Noting indeed truly that he lyeth open to a Thousand perils that is not kept by God so is it for spiritual dangers he that is not kept by God may fall into any sin irrecoverably and perish eternally This then confoundeth that hellish Doctrine of Rome that the elect and sanctified may finally fall from grace which is contrary to the whole Scripture Through Faith God keeps us but by no miracle or extraordinary way but by Faith not without us but by working and increasing the grace of Faith and true beleif in us some would understand it through hope because hereby we wait for Salvation and indeed there is great affinity between Faith and Hope so that in Scripture they are sometimes put one for another By Faith we believe the goodness of God towards us by Hope we wait till we finde and feel him so to us by Faith we believe eternal life by Hope we patiently wait for it And as there could be no Hope if there were not Faith before so Hope doth greatly help Faith it keeps it that it makes not too much haste nor break off in the mid way for God oftentimes after his promises deferreth to perform them so that the wicked also come to say Where is the promise of his coming yea ere he come he hides his face and seems as if he would not fulfil the same now therefore here doth Hope her Office and steps in and sustains Faith very well so that a Christian must necessarily have both to go along with him But I see no reason to alter the Apostles words but to take Faith properly for the grace of true Faith and believing though this is true that Hope helps well on but he speaks of Faith which includeth Hope as a necessary companion But how doth faith bring us to Salvation It is said by the Apostle Paul By grace ye are saved through Faith Now as it first apprehends Christ and Salvation so it holds this hold and continues our comfort and still carries us on in the service of God and an holy life This assurance of eternal life makes us contemn profits offered to pull us from a good conscience as Moses did Pharaohs Court and pleasures of Aegypt so to despise the Cross and overcome troubles that would draw us therefrom as the holy Martyrs did from time to time Also Faith apprehending the promise of God for our upholding to the end rests upon the goodness of God which is constant and his power which is infinite Therefore when any shall perswade us we shall never hold out we shall be forsaken Faith then puts up head and saith nay to it because God hath promised to keep us unto Salvation The wicked come and say where is now thy God by reason of troubles which befal the Godly so the Devil and their own unbelief assaults them now Faith helps and saith Why art thou cast down why art thou disquieted trust yet in God he is my present help and my God and Though I walk in the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no ill and the name of the Lord is a strong Tower the Righteous runneth to it and is safe This is the Victory that overcometh the world called therefore the shield By which we quench the fiery darts of the Devil For this purpose our Saviour when he prayed that Peter might hold out prayed that his Faith might not fail If that fail we are gone if it hold we shall be too hard for all the world so long as our Faith holds all the world with all the Engines it hath to destroy us can never overturn us Contrarily without Faith we can neither begin nor stand against any temptation or danger This teacheth men to labor for this true Faith without it they may fall to any thing as the second and third sort of ground mentioned by our Savior in the parable most people content themselves in being professors but labor not for this grace of Faith and therefore do they fall away and never come to Salvation It teacheth also the Godly still to say with the Apostle Lord increase our Faith using all other means to that purpose A little Faith will go but a little way the least if true shall get to Heaven but with much ado as a poor tattered Vessel may get to shoar especially if there come no storms but if there do it s in great danger and very hardly attains unto it but as a strong Vessel comes safely though it have strong tempests so a strong Faith though it be strongly assaulted and put to it as oft it is both in life and in the end of life yet it conquers We have had none but calm times hitherto but what we may have we know not whether common trials or particular ones accompanied with pain grief vexation c. Labor therefore for good store of Faith Unto Salvation kept not for a while but to the coming of Christ to the enjoying of Salvation and not as Moses who had only a sight of Canaan He keeps us by his power whereto Not that our finger shall not ake in this world but have all peace and prosperity and every bodies good will No but to Salvation in the end of our life for here we must suffer with him if hereafter
shall stand trembling and be cast into the lake which burneth with fire and brinstone yea though our Faith be tryed by afflictions and persecutions yet we should rejoyce for they will turn to our glory Our shame reproach infamy imprisonment and troubles will turn to our praise and honor and glory at that day when we are reviled by private persons when persecuted by publique Magistrates and false Witnesses coming against us yet we should not be troubled but rejoyce For great shall our reward be in heaven our poverty shall be recompenced with great riches our shame with honor and if we be rejected of men we shall be taken in of God Yet do not our afflictions or persecutions deserve any of this honor as the Papists would gather from hence and from 2 Thess. 1. 5 c. Alas no For the afflictions of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us God indeed will crown his own graces in us and hath promised to reward the sufferings of his servants with glory and so he is become our debtor not by taking any thing of us but by promising us all things We should therefore be comforted in all our sufferings and oppose unto the ignominy thereof the glory and honor we shall then have which is infinitely greater O who would not endure casting out by men being a token that we shall be honored of God and taken in at that day Indeed if there were no day of Judgement nor reward we might be sorry but seeing there is let us lift up our heads and wait for that day As the wicked shall have a second course to mar all their mirth so contrarily the godly to swallow up their sorrow At the appearing of Jesus Christ. Namely to Judgement True it is as we have heard our souls enter into glory at death but our perfect happiness is not till the end of all besides that which we have at death is not seen but to our selves whereas then it shall be manifest to all We must be content to wait for our full Redemption till then on that most solemn day shall we be honored by the Lord himself Then shall our Savior come to judge the quick and the dead and though he defer to gather his Elect and be gone into Heaven yet he will come and that in another fashion then he came first namely in wonderful majesty glory and power which cannot but be a terror to his enemies 1. This must needs comfort all that have and do still embrace Christ Jesus as their Savior and King for he shall be their Judge and therefore shall it go well with them 2. But wo to them that have despised him where shall they appear Not to appear is impossible for He numbreth the stars and calleth every one by their name he will not be bribed for he is more just and besides we have nothing to give To escape also is impossible for he filleth all places and whether can he go that hath this revenging Judge over his head Hell under his feet to swallow him on each side Angels and Devils to torment him within a tormented Conscience and without all the world on fire And to abide his wrath its intolerable for if when it s but a little kindled no man can stand then how when its all on fire to consume his enemies utterly Kiss therefore the Sun seek to be reconciled get him thy Savior and thy King get pardon of that which is past not adding more to the score against thy self One thing more The phrase here used seems to imply that The reward of Gods servants shall not be privy but seen and known yea and that of those that have most hated disgraced and persecuted them accounting them mad and esteeming basely of them even before them I say they shall be honored of God As it will be a torment to the wicked to see Christ whom they have pierced to be in such high dignity and power so will it increase their torment to see them whom they so basely esteemed of as not worthy to live to be received into honor and stand on Christs right hand and themselves of whom they were so well conceited cast out But its just with God that they which willingly and of purpose have vexed and disgraced his servants here on earth should against their wills see the glory that he hath prepared for them Verse 8. Whom having not seen ye love in whom though now ye see him not yet believing ye rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory HEre he proceeds to commend these believing Jews yet withal admonishing and exhorting them and that for the great measure of their faith and the fruits thereof love and joy which are described by that which might have hindred their faith namely that they never saw Christ and yet believed in him and rested on him for salvation and so loved him as they were well content to suffer for his Name yea and rejoyce with such a joy as for the excellency and greatness thereof could not be expressed In that he commends them it s to this end that he might encourage and provoke them to go on forward and increase more and more To this end doth the Lord commend the good Churches in the second and third of the Revelation and S. Paul in all his Epistles even that he might provoke them to go on in well doing And this must be the end of all good Ministers in the commendation of their people not of flattery that were abominable and being men-pleasers they could not be Christs servants nor out of a conceit that they have gone far enough and now may stand at a stay that were sensless for that we have is nothing to that we might have had or should have and want but to be a spur to provoke them to go on forward it being a shame for them not to satisfie the expectation of such as have a good opinion of them and so must the people take such at any time not being lifted up therewith but rather humbled thereby conceiving that the Minister rather sheweth what he would were in them or should be in them then what is indeed in them and that he would not have them stand at a stay but proceed and go on more and more Speak we particularly first of their faith though last set down as without which there can be no true love They never saw Christ yet they believed in him they saw the Scriptures speaking of him to come they heard of him also by faithful witnesses the Apostles had preached of his person birth life death resurrection and ascension and that he came to save them that were lost This they believed and so believed in him for salvation though they saw him not This shews the nature of true faith namely to believe things not onely that we see
of this we shall have occasion to speak in the end of the Verse We allow a man to kill a Worm or Flie at his pleasure Why may not the Lord do so by man who is much less to him then a Worm to a man God ordained to pass by some men but condemns none but for his willing sin 6. Again that we are the children of wrath wholly sold under sin slaves of Satan having no good thing but altogether filled with all evil have no right to a bit of bread that the childe in the cradle is the enemy of God and hath deserved Hell this mans proud nature cannot brook but it s too true the whose Scripture tells it and we shall finde it And we are worthy to be in this case that were so happy in our Creation and could not hold it and now we may willingly acknowledge we be thus vile which will be the better for us seeing all that is wanting in us is to be had in Christ We must swallow this pill that we may have such a piece of Sugar follow it 7. Again that we must renounce all our sins and be crucified to the World and take so strait a course this carnal people count bondage which is indeed true liberty and that which they are in as sweet as it is is most slavish bondage to Satan They think they may not so much as laugh and that this course tyes them so short that they may do nothing but it tyes us from nothing but evil and gives us liberty enough in that use of Gods benefits so it be without sin 8. Again that they that will be Religious and Christs Disciples must suffer persecution this they cannot away with even because they are wholly carnal and savor of the flesh and are so given to their ease profit pleasures and honors of the world If they knew what the end of suffering for well doing were they would not be so addicted to the world for our Savior himself affirmeth that such shall have a great reward in Heaven hereat Moses aymed when he entred into this course This must we undergo by troubles we must go to Heaven for they humble us make us pray more exercise our Faith and Patience weary us hence and make us shine brighter drive us to God and that end will be happy 9. Some again take occasion from the Scriptures to be licentious as from the falls of Gods servants and that promise in Ezekiel When the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness c. and the example of the Thief upon the Cross thereupon delaying their repentance and living in sin boldly through ignorance partly and prophaneness especially they abuse the Scriptures not a letter therein countenancing sin and wresting them to their own condemnation These Examples and Reasons among others are onely set down to comfort and uphold them that being oppressed with their sins are ready to sink under the burthen thereof If thou beest not in this case wo unto thee if thou thus medlest with the Scriptures Here I will adde also some of the scandals of the Papists against the Word for though they will lay it upon our interpreting and preaching the same yet seeing we know we preach it according to the true meaning thereof therefore they indeed blame the Scripture it self They cry out of our Doctrine that its a Doctrine of Liberty and that under the colour of Christian Liberty we establish carnal Liberty and let every man do what he list This is as if the most infamous Strumpet should charge a modest grave Matron with unchastity for to be sure theirs is a Doctrine of all ease and liberty to the flesh yea those very things wherein they seem most harsh feed the flesh and give liberty to sin It enjoyns outward duties which an Hypocrite may perform as well as the best It appoints bodily punishments and penances as satisfaction for sin and that by such and such works which an Hypocrite may do they merit Heaven and for their Service what can be said of it but that it pleaseth well the eye and the ear yet we cannot be rid of their fooleries But why and wherein is our Doctrine to be charged 1. Because we teach free Justification by Faith onely without works of our own But is this a foolish slander we establish works as well as they teach the necessity of them as inseperable companions and necessary fruits of Faith and that there is no Salvation without them onely their blasphemous assertion That we are justified by them we dare not affirm do not believe 2. That we take away Auricular Confession that notable mean to kill sin and to keep the people in awe and Fasting days and give liberty to all sorts to marry To answer them severally For Auricular Confession We know no such thing out of Scripture it s but a carnal device and it s so far from killing sin that it gives life to it for having once discharged themselves of all their sins into the Priests care and he enjoyned them what pennance he lists thereupon having received Absolution for them they are ready to sin afresh and so do As a drunken man goes out and vomits not that he may be sober but that he may go to drinking again even so do they in their confessing For fasting days and difference of meat for Conscience sake We know no such thing in the New Testament The Apostle calls them a Doctrine of Devils They fast indeed from the Butchers Shambles not the Apothecaries Shop For Marriage It s the Ordinance of God that he hath appointed for all that they may keep themselves undefiled members of Christs body and since God hath appointed to give the gift of continency but to few therefore he hath appointed the remedy to be enjoyed of all And for the Papists which do herein fight against God and against Nature yet they do most filthily defile all their places with most abominable Whoredoms Therefore they are wicked slanderers Our Religion is too strict for such Libertines as they be All theirs is meerly in shew and bodily exercises which the veriest Hypocrite may do not in mortifying the lusts of the heart They meddle not so far True it is we have too many licentious persons of our Religion but so doth not our Religion teach them which theirs doth And that Original sin is done away in Baptism that some sins be Venial that man hath some good in himself and that he can take away by penance the temporal punishment of sins and can merit c. It s impossible therefore for their Religion to humble a man aright and make him fit to receive Christ. At preaching the Word There be that either cast it off or at least hear negligently and for fashion without any serious care to be guided thereby 1. Some say they did well enough before there was such preaching and if there be such
acknowledge Christ Jesus and our Faith and Hope of Salvation in him as of whom the Prophets foretold and who did every way for time place maner c. fulfil their prophecies of him This we must believe with our hearts and confess with our mouthes in this Faith we must both live and dye The like might be instanced about Justification if by Papists we should be called to an account Thus Moses came often before Pharaoh to justifie his demand thus Elias did acknowledge and maintain the true God and his pure worship against Ahab and his false Prophets so Daniel and the three Children so the Apostles so the Apostle Paul so the Church of Pergamos so the holy Martyrs they could not be drawn from the truth either by promises threats or torments so in this Land in the days of Queen Mary Gods servants shewed good skill in the Word and made known their Christian courage Reasons hereof may be these 1. That it may appear God hath some that know and love and will defend his Truth as the Devil also the contrary 2. That we may declare we be not ashamed nor afraid of men to confess the cause of God 3. That we may confirm our own consciences and may also if possible win others to the truth as Paul had almost done Agrippa No doubt many standers by were won by Pauls defences and the Martyrs and not a few weak ones confirmed the rest being left without excuse 1. This condemneth that horrible wicked practice of the Church of Rome in keeping the people in miserable blindeness and holding it a deadly fin for them to read any part of Scripture in a tongue they understand or any book touching the true Faith and Religion nay read both Scriptures and Prayers to them in an unknown tongue and lock up all knowledge from them and means thereof like the Scribes and Pharisees that took away the Key of Knowledge How shall they then be ready to give an account of their Faith They must believe as the Church believes and that is all they can get onely they preach to them in their own language which yet is but lyes and errors for truth This is most gross robbery of the people Christ bid Search the Scriptures they charge the contrary and curse them that do It s cruel tyranny and murther of their souls they take away their weapons that they may make a prey of their souls as the Philistines did from the Israelites to keep them under Those are not of Moses his minde that wished That all Gods people might prophesie nor of St. Pauls That the Word of Christ might dwell in them richly in all wisdom c. None have need to be discouraged from seeking knowledge for most be too careless and lazy 2. This rebuketh the gross ignorance of most part of people that notwithstanding this light that we have and so many helps of preaching liberty of reading and so many Books of all kindes and of the grounds of our Religion yet know not what they hold nor what be the points of their Religion but as Market news they hear they must serve God and come to Church and must be saved by Jesus Christ but to prove that he is the true Christ or that they must be saved by him and by no other in whole nor in part or that the Scripture is the Word of God they are altogether ignorant and so might be carried away to any Religion This is an horrible sin especially considering the helps and liberty which we enjoy What notorious carelesness is this must we not buy the truth prize the truth know it hold it fast not part therewith Most have such skill in worldly businesses that they are altogether unskilful in the Word regard not the means of their Salvation This is condemnation that light is come into the world and men love darkness more then the light O how many perish for want of knowledge yet are there some which having knowledge but not the love of the truth nor Faith in God will flinch from it if ever they be tryed for there is no hold of him that loves not the truth though he have never so much knowledge as we may read of Dr. Pendleton and others in Queen Mary's time Such if they be in company of Papists of Cavillers or Railers they can stand or sit still and say nothing How would these confess the truth with peril of their lives when they be affriad of a great man c Let such know that Christ esteems them as his enemies For he that is not with him is against him they being ashamed of him in this world he will be no less ashamed of them on the last and great day 3. O then let all of us labor for knowledge and to be grounded in our Religion and to know the points of Catechism and be able to prove them by some place of Scripture so as we may be bold to believe them and stand to the defence of them To this end we must give ear to Catechizing read the grounds of Religion and study the Scriptures in humility and with Prayer having a care to know the will of God and to be guided by it and to stand in the defence of it to Gods glory against such as oppose it This is the glory of a man of a Christian to make confession of his Faith in Christ and stand to the defence of it this God may justly expect of us it hath been performed by them which had not the hundredth part of the means which we have O let us both love and live in the Truth sticking close thereto whatsoever it cost us And if at any time we shall hear it spoken against we must have the zeal of God in us to stand in the defence thereof Thus confessing Christ here among men he will confess us before his Father in Heaven and his holy Angels Of the hope that is in you Faith and hope must be rooted in our hearts ere we utter the same with our tongues In vain do we talk of things whereof we have not the inward feeling With meekness and fear Here 's the maner for good things must be done in a right maner we must temper our courage and zeal in setting out the truth with meekness and fear we must avoid pride and insolency by forgetting our places or those we have to speak to or breaking out into violent speeches mockings gibings or such like for so we may do much hurt and this is unbeseeming the Spirit of Gods Servants Besides the things we speak of being the matters of God our speech and behavior must be sutable thereunto This rebuketh the preposterous zeal of some which defending the truth and a good cause forget duty and respect to their Superiors and break out into violent and unseemly speeches and be at defiance by and by and straight condemn
in this world or else at the day of fearful account when they will be as glad to be rid of it again as ever Judas was of his thirty pieces he thought if he could get money he were made but when he had it he was never so ill in his life as then So was it with Achan Gehazi Ananias and Sapphira c. And for the time to come let 's beware lest any filthy lucre cleave to our fingers Note further That Lightly the Scripture speaks not of riches but with some checks If but two words one of them is to take off our mindes therefrom as uncertain riches deceiveable riches unrighteous Mammon It s hard for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven and here filthy lucre This is that we should not set our hearts too much on them whereunto we are very prone but taking heed of covetousness neither too greedily desire them nor be insatiable in our desires nor too sparing from our selves and families nor niggardly to good and holy duties nor having them to set too much by them or put our confidence in them or be too much cast down in the loss of them c. To this end 1. Consider That covetousness is idolatry and so a most hanious sin withdraws our heart from God is the root of all evil will make a man break any Covenant the bane of godliness a throne that choaks the seed of the Word 2. That our life stands not in them much less our happiness yea that they are changeable and which even Reprobates have in great abundance 3. Seek after the favor of God and assurance of Salvation and lay up a treasure in Heaven and this will stay your stomack for these things This hunger will starve the other hunger when we have assurance of Salvation it will stay us as a man that hath well broke his fast hath no great haste to his dinner Heaven will fill the heart the world cannot Obj. Why then are many Christians covetous Ans. It s not their goodness If they had more faith they would be less careful of the world but if these be so being assured of Heaven what would they be if they had no assurance thereof 4. We must follow our Calling diligently and cast our selves upon God believing his promise He will not fail us neither forsake us Obj. But the world is hard we must therefore follow it earnestly which if we should not do we should leave but little for our posterity Answ. If we have faith to depend upon God he will give us by our lawful and moderate seeking that blessing that shall be best and sufficient both for us and ours and shall continue longer with our Posterity then more gotten greedily Verse 3. Neither as being Lords over Gods heritage but being ensamples to the flock NOw followeth the third duty of the Minister namely to give good example of an holy life to his people where pride is forbidden they must not rigorously cruelly or over imperiously rule them speak we first of that which is prohibited then of that which is enjoyned That which is forbid Ministers is pride and lordly carriage of themselves whereunto a reason is annexed even because the people be Gods heritage and portion Neither as being Lords Here note 1. That Ministers must not exercise civil authority and temporal power over their people but use a spiritual rule over them by teaching them and denouncing the judgements of God against them that do evil and ruling them by the Word of God and by spiritual censures to correct the stubborn and disobedient Our Savior Christs our Masters kingdom was not of this world and so not ours He would not be a Judge or Divider between two at variance about their inheritance Magistrates must rule by the Sword and we by the Word they by the Temporal Sword we by the Spiritual we must teach the people exhort perswade and commend men to God and pray for them and if any be obstinate to admonish them more seriously and if they reform not to debar them from the Sacraments yea if they have committed any notorious sin and live without repentance to cast them out of the Church and deliver them up to Satan These be more weighty and fearful censures being rightly performed then any bodily punishment we must leave other things to the Magistrate whose power is of God to rule with the material Sword Thus did our Savior Christ onely once as he was the King of his Church and not as a Minister of the Gospel he whipt out the buyers and sellers out of the temple So the Apostles exercised no other but Spiritual authority except Peter by special and extraordinary direction on Ananias and Sapphira and Paul on Elimas the Sorcerer In those times God shewed extraordinary works and miracles for the confirmation of the Gospel which we need not now And this was not usual for then they could not have served Demetrius Tertullus with all their Enemies thus A Reason hereof may be this one calling is sufficient for one man As the Magistrate must not encroach upon the Ministers office as Uzza did either a private man to expound the Scripture and administer the Sacraments so must not Ministers on theirs The action of Phineas was extraordinary and so no fit president 1. This rebukes the notorious usurpation of the Pope of Rome who not onely challengeth to be the Head of the whole Church and to have Supremacy over the same but also Temporal Jurisdiction over Princes and Potentates to set up and cast down whom he pleaseth to set them together by the ears to impose Taxes on them to exempt their Subjects from their Allegiance c. But upon what ground doth he challenge this Supremacy from Peter whose Successor he alledgeth himself to be But he is quite fallen from the Faith and Doctrine of Peter and if he did succeed him aright yet could he have no such authority for Peter himself had no such thing neither do any places of Scripture used to this purpose prove any such thing much less had Peter and Civil Jurisdiction over Princes and People which the Pope also challengeth from him But of this heretofore onely let us know that our Christian King and all other Kings in their several Dominions are Supreme Governors and that the Pope hath no authority to meddle with them all that hold otherwise as all right Papists do are Traytors in heart at least and can be no good Subjects let 's pray that all other Kings may shake off his yoke both in Spiritual and Temporal things and stoop to Christs yoke And let us know that God hath given no Civil authority to Ministers to rule the people by what Princes in their savor may bestow upon them and what they may lawfully receive from them and enjoy and exercise I mean not now to discuss neither
uttered nor conceived what it is It s described according to our weak conceit by a feast a marriage feast of a Kings Son a City whose Walls and Streets are Gold and Gates Pearls c. It s a State free from all evil whereas here there 's nothing but crying and complaining one of his head lungs back c. another of his unruly children losses by sea by Bankrupts c. There all tears are wiped away there also there 's no want of any thing no need of any thing whether for body or soul but a perfect enjoying of all good for we shall enjoy God himself the fountain of all goodness we shall also enjoy the society and fellowship of the Lord Jesus who hath so loved us and who is the joy of our hearts So of the holy Ghost the Comforter so of the Angels of the Patriarks Prophets Apostles Martyrs of our godly Friends Children Ministers that begat us to God c. where we shall be so filled with all comfort as we shall joy continually for we shall sing night and day the place also adds unto our happiness Needs must Heaven be excellent as being prepared by God for himself to set forth his magnificence what it s within appears by its glorious outside and the glory thereof by the fairness of the world given to dogs and Gods Enemies this also is eternal The glory of this world as it s not worthy to be so called so it s inconstant and fickle see it in Nebuchadnezzar Belshazzar Herod one day yea one hour knows us often both happy as the world accounts and miserable but such is not the glory of Heaven it endures for ever This is here as elsewhere promised to faithful Ministers they shall enter into their Masters joy 1. This may exceedingly encourage Ministers to take all the pains that possibly they can in their calling we serve a good Master O how men strive for a corruptible Crown how much more should we for an incorruptible how careful should we be in Studying Preaching living well c 2. It may serve to uphold us in the midst and against all discouragements our office is not onely painful but oftentimes fruitless thankless and perilous A Minister shall have to do with such dull ones as he must teach them as a childe new weaned with line upon line precept upon precept others are so wretched as that by no means they will be reclaimed yea oftentimes they may receive unkindeness where they least expect it people count our labors nothing which yet we finde such as we are scarce able to undergo others grudge at our maintenance otherwhile we shall having delivered things never so carefully be taxed by some of ignorance by others of malice others will raise up lyes and slanders against us and so requite our pains others will persecute us as Demetrius and Alexander the Copper-Smith did the Apostles yea the more painful we are the harder we shall be dealt with Now against all those and the like hath not a Minister need to have something to comfort and hearten him This will do it fully the incorruptible Crown will pay for all we must look up to that Contrarily what will be the reward and end of all unfaithful Ministers that starve and mislead their Flock that live in jollity and at ease c Oh their reward will be with the unfaithful Servant to be taken and bound hand and foot and thrown into utter darkness Then shall they pay for all the wages taken without doing any work so for all their ease which will be turned into pain and wo They shall then give an account for all the souls that they have caused to perish Q. But when shall Gods Ministers have their Crown Answ. When Christ shall appear and come to Judgement O then if he never come we shall never have our Crown O doubt not once hereof He shall certainly come to Judgement It s an Article of our faith and which is often mentioned in Scripture See Matth. 25. 31. Acts 2. 11. 1 Thess. 4. 14. 2 Thess. 1. 10. Rev. 1. 7. Therefore let neither the good doubt hereof to become slack or faint nor the wicked to continue careless Obj. But when will it be It will be long first Answ. It cannot be long ere it be for we be in the latter end of the last times but if it were our life is not long and in the end thereof we shall have one half of our Crown and our bodies shall rest for the other until the day of Judgement therefore live by Faith and wait and be not short breathed If one part tarry a while it will be so wonderful when it comes as that it will abundantly pay for all 3. For People If they be good sheep brought from their wandring turn'd from goats to sheep and be ruled by the government of their godly Pastors they shall also have this incorruptible Crown of glory For the stubborn and disobedient that will retain their goatish qualities that wil not be brought home by any means that can be used their condition will be fearful but in death when their souls shall be carried into Hell and on the day of Judgement when they shall stand on the left hand they which here would not hear that voice that called them so often to him shall then be charged to depart from him As this day will be joyful to the godly so shal it be terrible to the wicked Verse 5. Likewise ye yonger submit your selves unto the elder yea all of you be subject one to another and be clothed with humility for God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble THe Apostle proceeds to the duty of another special sort of people namely the yonger ones shewing what duty they owed to their elders and then goes to Exhortations to sundry particular duties Likewise ye yonger submit your selves unto the elder Although I use to trouble you little with divers interpretations or mens judgements taking it that my duty is to shew you rather what God saith then what men say yet at this time it will not be amiss to propound fome Elders may be taken as in the preceding uses not for elders in years but by office and so by the yonger may be meant not the yong in years but inferior in place namely the people or if yong in years are to be understood then a part for the whole is meant All the people must submit themselves to their Ministers whereof a great part are yong ones and they commonly the most unruly and so the duty of people towards their Ministers is here taught as the word likewise seemeth to imply Or Elders may well be taken for Elders in age properly and so the yonger in like sort for the yong sort of people and so the duty of youth towards them that are aged be here taught as it may well be and the more likely
not as they conceive so bad as others though to neglect all duties in their families and towards their souls and to pass the Sabbath in worldly talk and to be little at the Sacrament or without any preparation be frequent with them 3. Hypocrites who though they resist him in some things yet in others yield which is enough to their destruction 4. Backsliders that resisted him a while and seemed to be wel minded to be sorry for time past were fully purposed to take a new course and seemed so to do for a time that yet afterward returned to their old vomit and yielded to his wil and temptations as they did before This resisting was nothing unless they had so continued to the end and until they had overcome for not they that make a flourish and strike a few blows and then flie or yield themselves to the Enemy shall be crowned O let all such repent of their baseness and yielding themselves into the Devils hands and to his temptations as also of their breach of promise in Baptism and for the time to come let them learn to know what is the will of God and which be Satans temptations and resist the same and that constantly and in all things so shall the second death have no power over them but they shall conquer here and be crowned eternally hereafter 2. This reproveth weak Christians yea sometimes even them who have well profited and yet will shew themselves weak in this that if the Devil have any temptations against them telling them they be hypocrites and that they shall not be pardoned their sins being so great and their hearts to sinful what do they but consent and say as he saith against themselves and so yield what a folly is this Is not the Devil adversary enough but that you must also be an enemy to your selves and do you know its the Devil who is a lyar and yet suffer your selves to be carried away by him and say as he saith a murtherer and yet yield to him fie upon it you ought to resist have recourse to your friends for aid even seek unto God by prayer search the promises laid down in the Word listen to good counsel c. yea when a man hath spent a good time in laboring to comfort them by the Word they yet are at the same stay and yield more to a temptation which is a lye then to all that can be said against it also many and most Christians alas how little do they resist how often do they yield If he tempt them to lay aside prayer for trifles or to keep them from the Word there being this or that to do how quickly do they yield Many also are so filly that they see not one of ten of Satans temptations and are so careless that they fear them not Thus sometimes they omit good duties sometimes marre a good duty in the doing are sometimes overcome in small things What if they be not great things The least sins be against God hurt our souls hinder our peace make our comfort the less If Satan come with some great thing we fear and look about us he would wound us at the heart but would we be willing to be hurt in the leg or arm we must not yield at any time in any thing how small soever but manfully and constantly stand in opposition Stedfast in the faith Faith is a principal piece of our Christian Armor Gods Armor is Spiritual not Carnal and though here one part be prescribed yet we must not content our selves therewith But put on the whole armor of God for so we shall overcome The Armor of Gods making shall prevail 1. If none can resist nor overcome but they that have these weapons What shall become of most who have not so much as one of them not Faith nor Hope nor Righteousness nor Truth c They must needs be a prey to the Devil as unarmed Creatures They have been told of this Enemy and that there was a compleat Armor of Proof which they might have if they would take pains they neglecting the same their condemnation will be of themselves 2. It rebukes Christians that put on their Armor to halves leaving off and neglecting this or that piece and so are often overcome we must get it all and buckle it well and close to us every morning yea never lay off any part of it we may do any thing in it work ride lie down sleep do any good c. More particularly faith is a principal piece of this Armor Above all put on the shield of faith that will quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one This is also the Victory that overcomes the world even our Faith This takes hold of the promises laid down in the Scriptures of Providence Provision Preservation Salvation and is found by experience to be a notable means to resist all temptations in any kinde as worldliness fearfulness c. They then that are void of faith cannot resist the Devil and how rare is true faith among men The world imagine that its easie to believe but Gods Servants finde the contrary Stedfast It s not a small or weak faith but a strong and stedfast faith that must resist and overcome the Devils Temptations especially great ones Such Christians then are to be blamed which content themselves almost with a shew of faith so that when they come to lie on their death beds after long profession their hope is so faint and their perswasion so weak as that it s to be wondred at who then might have been triumphing in assurance So in their lives their faith is so weak as that every temptation shakes them as the Disciples at a little Tempest O that Christians can hold the hope of their Salvation so slenderly and have such poor evidence when as they should be able to prove it by many infallible Arguments Obj. But the least measure of true faith will save Answ. True but poorly A weak tattered ship may come safe to Land but with how many dangers and fears whereas a strong and well rigg'd Ship comes with more assurance and content to the Passengers Knowing that the same affliction c. A Reason to perswade us to resist the Devil and not to be discouraged because it s not our case alone to be tempted and molested by Satan and his Instruments but of all the Servants of God every where Satan spiteth not some few though he doth them most which most oppose him but he hateth and seeketh to mischief all the Servants of God whatsoever As Pharaoh pursued not some few of the Israelites but all of them to fetch them back again so doth the Devil set himself against all the Israel of God There 's enmity between the seed of the Woman and the seed of the Serpent He set upon David resisted Jeshua c. tempteth all spares
94. 1. Rom. 12. 19. Use. Num. 26. 9 10. 1 King 2. 24. God is a righteous Iudge Acts 17. 31. Use. Iam. 5. 6 7. Prov. 22. 23. Christs passion set out by the ends thereof Heb. 1. 2 3. Deut. 21. 23. Gal. 3. 10. We must not be weary in meditating on Christs passion and hearing thereof 1 Pet. 1. 12. Phil. 8. 9. A brief of the sufferings of Christ set down at large by the Evangelists See Luke 12. 50. Iohn 13. 27. Use 1. Use 2. Ioh. 3. 16. Psal. 116. 12. Use 3. Iohn 5. Use 4. For whomsoever Christ dyed he dyed to kill sin in them 1 Cor. 1. 30. Tit. 2. 14. See 1 Cor. 6. 20. 2 Cor. 5. 15. Luke 1. 74. Eph. 5. 25. Use 1. See Rom. 3. 31. Tit. 2. 12. Eph. 2. 10. Use 2. Use 3. Acts 15. 9. 1 Iohn 3. 3. 1 Kings 2. 28 34. Use 4. Rom. 8. 1. Obj. R. Phil. 5. 25. The two parts of Repentance Christians must endeavor to mortifie their lusts Use 1. Use 2. Gal. 5. 24. As we must be dead unto sin so must we be alive unto God See Luk. 1. 75. Tit. 2. 12. Rom. 6. 18. Use. Luke 1. 75. Tit. 2. 14. All that Christ suffered was for our profit Christ dyed even for poor servants Sin is a disease Our bodies are subject to many sicknesses Christ is our Physician Sin hateful to God Use. How we may speed in our suits to Christ. Psal. 103. 3. Every natural man is like a beast Psa. 22. 12 13 16 20. Psal. 32. 9. Isa. 1. 3. Ier. 8. 7. Prov. 6. 6. Isa. 1. 2. Deut. 32. 1. Use. Isa. 11. 6. 7 c. Every unregenerate man is out of his way Isa. 53. 6. Rom. 3. 12. Psal. 58. 3. Reasons How they come to be misled Psal. 95. 11. â— Ier. 8. 6. Prov. 14. 12. Acts 2. 37 26 18. No natural man can of himself come home to God Iohn 6. 44. Use. The natural man is in continual danger Prov. 4. 19. Use. All Believers are in a safe condition Iohn 17. 11. See Psal. 43. 1. and 46. 4. Use 1. 2 Kings 6. 16. Use 2. The Ministers of the Word are Shepherds under Christ. Ezek. 32. 7. 34 8. Their duty See Act. 20. 28. Use 1. Use 2. The Contents of this Chapter Doctor Marriage in Gods account is an high and honorable state Heb. 13. 4. Use. Doctor Both husbands and wives must learn to know their duty The duties of wives Why the Apostle insisteth so largely about the duties of wives Obs. Gods Ministers have been at all times lyable to be slandered See 2 Cor. 6. Use. Prov. 18. 13. The prevention of an objection Doctr. Wives must be subject to their husbands 1 Cor. 11. 8 9. 1 Tim. 2. 13. 1 Tim. 2. 14. Eph. 5. 22 23. Col. 3. 18. Reasons Wherein their subjection consisteth Simil. Acts 5. 29. Use. Simile Simil. Prov. 12. 4. Prov. 19. 13. and 21. 9. Doctr. Wives must be subject even unto bad husbands See Mat. 5. 41. Simile Use 1. Use 2. Doctr. Wives are not to marry irreligious husbands See Gen. 6. 2 3 Ezra 9. 10. 2 Cor. 6. 14. 2 Chron. 19. 2 Neh. 13. 24. Use. Doctr. Such as live in disobedience are unbelievers Use. Doctr. Good examples are excellent preparatives to conversion Rom. 10. 17. Iob 33. 23. Simile See Deut. 4. 6. Mat. 5. 16. Iames 3. 13. 1 Pet. 2. 12. 1 Sam 24. 17. Doctr. Wives professing religion must shew it by their behavior towards their husbands for their conversion 1 Cor. 7. 16. Use 1. 1 Sam. 18. 7. Use 2. Heb. 11. 7. How bad husbands may be won Chastity and reverence why required of Wives 2 Tim. 3. 5. Use 1. Matth. 5. 14. Use 2. What Chastity is and by whom it is to be observed Use. Prov. 7. 25 27. How wives ought to fear their husbands Use. A preservative of subjection and chastity What apparelling it is that the Apostle forbids 2 Tim. 2 9. Quest. Ans. Gen. 24. 23 30 Exod. 3. 22. Psal. 45. 9. Mat. 6. 29. and 11. 8. How far costly apparel is forbid and to whom and when 1 Cor. 1. 25. Obj. Sol. Note Rules about wearing of apparel 1 Cor. 12. 24. Deut. 22. 5. 1 Tim. 2. 9. Phil. 4. 9. The matter thereof considered Luke 16. 19. Mat. 22. 11. The maner Zeph. 1. 8. Use. Isa. 2. 11 12. and 3. 24. Ezek. 16. 49. See Christ. Warfare part 2. c. 15. p. 375. Reasons against excess in apparel Gen. 2. 25. Simile Simil. Mat. 6. 32. Maa 7. 13. Simile Mat. 6. 28. Simile Simil. Use. Objectious answered The 1. Rom. 12. 17. Acts 24. 16. Matth. 5. 16. The 2. The 3. Exod. 23. 2. The 4. A useful meditation upon the putting on of our apparel and putting off the same A remedy for excess in apparel Inward purity required Our chief and principal care must be to clothe and adorn the soul. Reasons Rev. 3. 18. Use 1. The covetous reproved As also The curious Simil. Simil. Use 2. Grace is of an incorruptible nature Use. A meek and quiet Spirit the proper ornament of a good wife Iames 3. 17. Gal. 5. 23. Use. Iames 1. 26. Eccles 7. 9. 1 Pet. â— 4. The worth of grace It s of great price in the sight of God Reasons of the forementioned Exhortation The amplification of either reason The examples of Gods servants are to be followed in all their vertues See Luk. 7. 32 1 Cor 10. 6. Heb. 11. 4 5. and 12 1 c. Use. Heb. 11. 7. Mat. 2. 41. Antiquity joyned with verity is reverend and to be followed Use. 1 Pet. 1. 18. There have been always holy women in the world as well as men Reasons Why women are as forward as men Use 1. Use 2. It s needful there should be good women Holiness is that which commends one Prov. 31. 30. and 20. 15. Isa. 4. 3. Marriage no hinderance to godliness Heb. 13. 3. Use. Luke 4. 39. Holiness cometh by Faith in Christ. Holiness may be where there are weaknesses Use 1. Rev. 11. 2. Use 2. Wives cannot perform their duties aright unless they be holy Why more good men be mentioned in Scripture then good women Heb. 11. 32. Use. Simil. Gen 18. 6. Wives must imitate Sarahs obedience and reverence Reasons hereof Use. Neh. 7. 64. It s not enough to do duties but we must do them in a right maner Superiority exempts not from duty Col. 4. 1. Wherein the husbands duty consisteth Husbands stand in no less need of instructions then Wives Husbands are to dwell with their Wives In what caces they they may be absent Matth. 19. 6. Prov. 5. 18 19. Use 1. Matth. 19. 8. 1 Cor. 7. 5. Use 2. Use 3. Husbands must be men of understanding Mat. 6. 22. Psal. 133 2. See 1 Cor. 14. 35. In what particulars the same will appear Use 1. Use 2. Use 3. 1 Tim. 5. 8. What honor the husband is to give to his wife Acts 10. 26. Rev. 22. 9. Sundry