their sinnes and wickednesse deserue that Gods word should be hid from them for the knowledge of God entereth not into a sinfull soule or who stubburnly refuse it and will not bee taught thereby or who are of such a faithlesse heart that will not beléeue it and yéeld themselues thereunto Such are not onely blinded through their owne naturall weaknesse but moreouer God for a punishment vnto them doth giue them vp to a contrary sence to beléeue lies vanities vntruthes and such deceits that in so doing they may procure vnto themselues damnation because they wold not receiue the loue of the truth that they might be saued Indéed some things there are in the scripture according Some matters hard as we reade in the Epistle of S. Pet. cap. 3. v. 16. that are hard to be vnderstood No doubt to make vs not to thinke lightly of them or that our wisedome is able to comprehend them without the helpe of the spirit of God and also to make vs humble in our owne conceit and diligently and earnestly to craue of God in our daily praiers that he would make vs partakers of the knowledge of his wil. Many things are hard to be vnderstood which they saith the Apostle that are vnlearned and vnstable wrest and peruert as they do also other scriptures vnto their owne destruction The faults being remoued wherewith vnskilfull readers are ouertaken there is no cause to say that the scriptures are hard The vnskilfull and the vnlearned reading the scriptures and giuing that interpretation that their owne sancie or want of wisedome doth affoord them they may soone wrest and peruert them and easily mistake For the wisedome of man is but foolishnesse in Gods matters But when we settle our selues to the reading How the scriptures are easie and how to reade them to profit by them of the scriptures we ought therewithall to frame our selues to praier that it would please God to lighten our vnderstanding that otherwise is altogither darke and foolish by nature to open our eyes which are shut vp in the compasse of our own ignorance And thus reading the scripture with praier for Gods assistance that it would please God to grant vs wisedom to vnderstand them and that we may not be ouerruled by our owne foolish fancies when we read them with an earnest desire to profit by them then shal the scriptures be easie to vs which before thought them to be too hard Again in reading of the scriptures we ought not to be ouer rash to giue our iudgement out of hand especially in waightie matters but to compare one sentence and place of scripture with an other and alwaies to haue an eye that they agrée to the articles of our beliefe And if we cannot so be satisfied but that still doubts do arise we ought to haue recourse to them that haue further knowledge If there be any strife about landes and possessions we craue the sentence of the Iudge if any disease be in the bodie straightway we sende for the Phisitian So if any doubt or controuersie doo arise in matters of religion the learned Minister is to aunswere and resolue them by the word of God and to shew them the true meaning thereof Many thinges are harde to them that are vnsiable and vnconstant such as are readie to bee carried away with euerie winde of vaine doctrine alwaies wauering sometimes in one minde and sometimes in an other to such it is no maruell if the scripture be hard and little for their profite The nature of man as it is giuen to heare newes so it is maruellously inclined to searche out all secretes yet none are more confounded in their owne wisedome and none more driuen to vncertainties then they bee But as for those matters whiche are for our saluation and for the instruction of our liues they are most easie to be read knowne and vnderstood euen of the meanest and simplest that search thereafter in all humblenesse of minde The second principall matter which I noted vnto In them ye thinke to haue eternall life you in this portion of scripture wherehence my text is taken is the effectuall reason to moue vs to performe the commandement of our Sauiour Christ Search the scriptures The commandement is great For in them ye thinke to haue eternall life And they are they that testifie of me Health is more to be desired then wealth and a man will giue all that he hath for his life yet the life here spoken off doth farre excéede this life as farre as the heauen doth the earth and the way to procure that life is more easie then to preserue this mortall and transitorie life No way so easie as to search and finde to read and to be comforted to vnderstand wherein true life consisteth and to enioy it And because we should not finde this easie way and to kéepe vs from all searching therefore the diuell caused the word to bee closed vp in an vnknowne tongue and in the meane time we were carried away with vanities and held in darknesse and ignorance lest when we should heare others or read Gods word our selues we might vnderstand and beléeue that so we might be saued He blinded the world and cast a mist of ignorance before their eyes and kept away the comfortable sunshine of the word hindred the message of glad tidings and carried away the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ in a cloude that it might not comfort our hearts consciences that we might not be partakers of the blessed benefits of God toward vs in Christ Iesus As the forgiuenes of our sins the fauour of God a holy life a quiet conscience a stedfast hope of euerlasting life and of the ioyes that are to come We were hindred from this searching that we should not tread the right way to euerlasting life and saluation but that we should goe a by way to euerlasting death and condenmation In the latter times there shall be many false teachers so that if it were possible they should deceiue the verie elect And this deceit is no meane sleight but the indaungering of our soules that we shall neuer be partakers of euerlasting life And therefore we are willed to trie the spirits to trie such false teachers by the touchstone of Gods word and to examine their doctrine whether it be agréeable to the scripture Search the scriptures for in them ye shall haue life that is ye shall be assured that ye shall not be deceiued in the way of life Therefore the scripture may be compared vnto the starre that led the wise men vnto Christ so that when they came where he was it stood still Musicke doth not onely alaie raging and furious mindes but doth drawe them also to a further desire thereof so the word of God doth not only asswage and beate downe the euill inclinations of our hearts but also bréedeth in vs a minde to order our steppes aright to liue well to refraine from
neither did any heresie false doctrine false religion idolatrie superstition or vaine opinions blind his vnderstanding or trouble his minde Then was there no wicked lustes that did assault his will and desire or that did hinder him from the worship and seruice of God but hée was wholly framed and inclined to doo the will of God His eyes were not filled with lust his tongue was not giuen to euil slanderous and blasphemous spéeches his hands were frée from theft his féete were not swift to shead blood drunkennesse and gluttonie had not taken hold on him fornication and whoredome had not defiled him neither had any other sinne that may bee named power ouer him But whatsoeuer things were true whatsoeuer things were honest whatsoeuer things were iust whatsoeuer things were pure whatsoeuer things pertained to loue and charitie whatsoeuer things were of good report if there were any vertue or if there were any praise on these thinges his thoughts were setled to these thinges his minde was onely and wholly inclined And thus you see what is ment by holinesse and righteousnesse which is the chiefest part of the image of God and the especiall consideration thereof The next matter which is to be considered in the image of God is that our first parents had Fréewill to performe that which was good pleasant and acceptable in the sight of God But they had it in such sort that they might fall away frō it and when they were fallen away they could not come to it againe neither was it in their power to recouer it as also their posteritie could neuer attaine vnto it although they make great boast They giue forth spéeches of winde and great brags without truth Indéed it cannot be denied but that in the time of the innocencie of our first parentes they had Fréewill as we read Eccle. 15. 14. God made man from the beginning and left him in the hand of his counsel and gaue him his commandements and his precepts that if he would he might obserue the commaundements and testifie his good will He set water and fire before him to stretch out his hand vnto which he wold Before man was life and death good and euil choose him whether But alasie in stéed of good he did choose euil in stéed of a blessing a curse in stéed of life death By the gift of God it was in his power and Fréewill to obey the commandements of God that so after this life hee might bee partaker of the heauenly toyes Which gift for want of good héed taking he lost and that to the great misery ouerthrow of all mankind This gift and good quallitie did not long continue but by an vnhappie meanes he did commit euil and so to the end of his life continued inclining rather to euil thē doing good Once he had Fréewil and at the time of his creation when God powred his blessings on him in great measure but after that he fell away from God by disobeying his commandement neither he nor his posteritie had euer after any power to do good of themselues but rather the contrary And then was their Fréewill turned into a slauish will because it was wholly made subiect to the power of sinne through their owne desert and through their owne procurement and through the craftie working of the diuel and now all our mindes are set vpō nothing so much and delighteth in nothing more then in ill doing Much like a crooked trée which can neuer grow straight The first man had not this grace of God whereby he should neuer encline to euill but yet he had that grace whereby hee might alwayes haue bene preserued from euill if hée woulde haue continued therein but by his Fréewill he forséeke this grace And when he had thus wounded himselfe hée could not bee healed of himselfe and when hée had made himselfe sicke hée could not rise againe at his pleasure But for the better vnderstanding of this matter I will laie you downe foure degrées of Fréewill in man which may stand and bee approoued by the scriptures and written word of God The first degrée is that hée had Fréewill but chaungeably that is GOD left him in the hand of his owne counsell to stande or fall to continue or to go astray hée gaue him not withall full strength to abide and to hold out vnto the ende as he gaue vnto the heauenly Angels who by his grace continue in well doing And such was his weakenesse that he did not continue whereby we may vnderstand what is in man if he be left vnto himselfe and not vpholden by God his grace The second degrée of Fréewill is to bee considered after the fall of our first parents and that may truly be termed a slauish will being as I may say frée and most farre from doing well and most vnable thereunto Because now no flesh that is men and women that are begotten of flesh blood can of themselues do but the workes of the flesh that is all that euil naught is as euery one hauing iust triall of themselues knowe whether those things that they doo are perfectly agréeable to the commandements of God and so their owne conscience shall be their witnesse and thereby they shall accuse and iudge themselues that they are farre wide And although in the outward shewe of the worlde such workes which they do may seeme good and godly yet being examined by the lawe of God and by the straight rule thereof we must néeds confesse and acknowledge our works to be both naught and euill so farre foorth as they procéede from our selues and are not directed by God which direction of gods good grace holy spirit maketh an other difference Wherfore the third degrée of Fréewill is in them whome God hath called to a better course of life that is to holinesse and righteousnesse to vertue and goodnesse And yet this power of Fréewill to doo good is very weake and slender because they cannot stand endure and continue they cannot do that which is good without the especiall grace and gift of God Who also are readie to fall away from god into some gréeuous sinne or other euery houre As indéed such kinde of people the diuel doth greatly and mightily and most of all tempt and prouoke to sinne For for them which are his owne alreadie he takes no thought They who are thus altered and their mindes chaunged from following euill waies which come by the temptations of the diuel and the secret deceits of sinne that dwelleth within them and of the world which hath so many euill examples to allure them they should soone swarue and easily be ouercome vnlesse they were sustained and vpholden by the help assistance of God Which helpe which gift which grace and assistance we obtaine at the hands of God onely by praier and by a stedfast faith The last and the fourth degree of Fréewill is in the best sort of people and that after this life in
God for if righteousnesse be by the lawe then Christ died without a cause Rom. 10. 4. For Christ is the end of the lawe for righteousnesse vnto euery one that beléeueth And chapter 11. 5. 6. Euen so then at this present time is there a remnant through the election of grace And if it be of grace it is no more of workes or else were grace no more grace but if it be of workes it is no more grace or else were worke no more worke Ephe. 2. 4. 5. 8. 9. 10. But God which is rich in mercie through his great loue wherewith he loued vs euen when wee were dead by sinnes hath quickened vs togither in Christ by whose grace ye are saued For by grace are ye saued through faith and that not of your selues it is the gift of god Not of woorkes least any man should boast himselfe But that we should be carefull to shewe foorth good workes therefore hée speaketh in the next verse Verse 10. For we are his workemanship created in Christ Iesus vnto good workes which God hath ordained that we should walke in them 1. Tim. 1. 9. Who hath saued vs and called vs with an holy calling not according to our workes but according to his own purpose and grace which was giuen to vs through Christ Iesus before the world was 1. Pet. 2. 12. And haue your conuersation honest among the gentiles that they which speake euill of you as of euill doers may by your good workes which they shall sée glorifle god in the day of the visitation Perseuerance in faith is requisite vnto saluation Mat. 10. 22. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name But hee that endureth to to the ende shall be saued Mat. 24. 45. Blessed is that seruant whom his maister shall finde so doing Now we need not feare lest this doctrine make vs negligent or dissolute For this peace of conscience whereof we speake ought to be distinct and seperate from foolish securitie and he that is the sonne of God seeing he is moued and gouerned by the spirit of God wil neuer through the consideration of Gods benefit take occasion of negligence and dissolution Rom. 5. 1. 2. Then being iustified by faith we haue peace toward god through our Lord Iesus Christ By whom also we haue accesse through faith vnto this grace wherin we stand and reioyce vnder the hope of the glory of god Rom. 8. 12. 13. 14. 15. Therfore brethren we are debters not to the flesh to liue after the flesh For if ye liue after the flesh ye shall die but if ye mortifie the déeds of the body by the spirit ye shall liue For as many as are ledde by the spirit of God they are the sonnes of God Ephe. 1 4. Aâ— he hath chosen vs in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in loue 2. Tim. 1. 7. For God hath not giuen to vs the spirit of feare but of power and of loue and of a sound mind 1. Iohn 3. 20. 21. 24. If our heart condemne vs God is greater then our hearts and knoweth all things Beloued if our heart condemne vs not then haue wée boldnesse towards God For he that kéepeth his commandements dwelleth in him and he in him And hereby wée know that he abideth in vs euen by the spirit which hée hath giuen vs. This matter of Predestination is obscure aboue all others vnto the wit of man but opened and reuealed vnto vs by the word of God The Scripture therfore witnesseth that they that are predestinate vnto saluation are first called and that so effectually that they heare and beleeue and fructifie then also are they iustified and sanctified and in the life to come glorified Iohn 6. 44 45. No man can come vnto me except the father which hath sent me drawe him by the force of gods word and by the secret working of his spirit And I will raise him vp at the last day As it is written in the Prophets And they shall be taught of God Euery man therefore that hath heard and hath learned of the father commeth to me Acts. 2. 47. And the Lord added to the Church by the Apostles preaching from day to day such as should be saued Iohn 10. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. â—ée beléeue not for ye are not of my shéepe as I said vnto you My shéepe heare my voice and I knowe them and they followe me And I giue vnto them eternall life and they shall ueuer perish neither shall any plucke them out of my hand My father which gaue them me is greater then all and none is able to take them out of my fathers hand Acts. 13. 48. And when the Gentiles heard it they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord and as many as were ordained vnto eternall life beléeued And chap. 16. 14. And a certaine woman named Lidia a celler of purple of the city of the Thyatirians which worshipped God heard vs whose heart the Lord opened that she attended vnto the things that Paul spake Hebr. 3. 7. 8. Wherefore as the holy Ghost saith To day if ye shall heare his voice harden not your hearts as in the prouocation according to the day of temptation in the wildernesse And. chapt 42. For vnto vs was the Gospell preached as also vnto them but the word that they heard profited not them because it was not mixed with faith in those that heard it Consider by litle and litle and try diligenly if thou be iustified and sanctified in Christ through faith For these two be the effects or ftuites whereby the faith is knowne which is their cause 2. Cor. 13. 5. Proue your selues whether ye are in the faith examine your selues knowe ye not your owne selues except ye be reprobates Rom. 8. 30. Moreouer whom he predestinate them also he called and whom he called them also he iustified and whom he iustified them he also glorified As for this thou shalt partly knowe by the spirit of Adopion which crieth within thee Abba father Gal. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. That hée might redéeme them which were vnder the lawe that we might receiue the adoption of sonnes And because ye are sonnes God hath sent foorth the spirit of his sonne into your hearts which crieth Abba father Wherefore thou art no more a seruant but a sonne Nowe if thou be a sonne thou art also the heire of GOD through Christ Rom. 8. 15. For ye haue not receiued the spirit of bondage to feare againe but ye haue receiued the spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba father And partly by the vertue and effect of the same spirit which is wrought in thee Rom. 16. 17. The same spirit beareth witnesse with our spirit that we are the children of God If we be children we are also heires euen the heires of god and heires annexed with Christ 1. Iohn 3. 24. For he that kéepeth his commandements dwelleth in him and he
her painted feathers thinkes her selfe fairer then any beast and none so bewtifull as she but when shée turneth downe her eyes and looketh on her blacke and dirtie legges then shée lets fall her plume of feathers with the conceit whereof shée looked so aloft Many looke so high that they knowe not the ground they treade on and fouly would they take scorne if it should be tolde them that they were but dust and earth The Prophet Ieremy to pull downe the high stomackes of the people to whome he was sent doth not doubt to call them so repeating it often in their eares that they might remember it O earth earth heare the word of the Lord. Which thing that godly Abraham well remembring freely and of his owne accord confesseth when he made his request vnto God for Sodome Behold saith he now I haue begunne to speake vnto my Lorde I am but dust and ashes Fewe there be that thinke so and more fewe that will acknowledge it Hée that is of base degrée vaunts himselfe of nobilitie and they that come of noble blood lift vp themselues to the skies as if the staffe should boast it selfe that it were no wood They neuer looke downe to the earth from whence they came nor consider the graue wherunto they must go Dust and ashes earth and wormes meate To consider that we came of the dust is not only profitable to bring vs to humilitie and to knowe our selues but also to put vs in minde of our latter ende that we may be the better prepared vnto God and learne to deny our selues and forsake the world Naked came I out of my mothers wombe and naked shall I returne to my first mould to the wombe of all things that is the earth Dust was my first creation and dust shall be my latter end and my dissolution And yet it is woorth the marking to sée howe GOD dooth set foorth his glorie héerein that that creature which hee made of dust and earth should haue continued for euer and neuer died if the same creature had continued in his obedience and truly performed that which hée moste easily had commaunded Although man was created of the dust in his first beginning yet God caused him to increase and multiply by naturall seed and by lawfull matrimony Wherein also Gods worke is daily wonderfull and miraculous For although the parentes doo their indeuoure yet it is God that frameth the childe in the wombe of the mother by his mightie power neither dooth that matter alwaies come to passe after a naturall sort For monsters oftentimes come from women not by the meanes of the parentes but God hath so ordeaned it that they should bee tokens of his iudgementes And that the childe in the wombe is the worke of God let vs search it out in his word The wise man vttereth it in this sort In my mothers wombe was I fashioned to be flesh in tenne moneths Wisedome 7. 2. I was brought togither into blood of the seede of man and by the pleasure that commeth with sleepe The pleasure that commeth with sléepe then séede the seede is turned into blood and after commeth flesh But wherehence are bones and sinewes the order the shape and the proportion of the bodie The Prophet Dauid Psal 139. 14. declareth it and saith I am woonderously made And speaketh of God his woorke thus Thou hast couered me in my mothers wombe my bones are not hid from thee though I was made in a secret place and fashioned beneath in the earth thine eyes did see me when I was without forme for in thy booke were all my members written which in contiuuance of time were fashioned when as there was none of them before After séede and blood and flesh and bones and sinewes and all things prepared and set in order then comes the soule but not from the soule of the parents for God giueth the soule by his secret power and vnsearchable working aske not how but content thy selfe and wonder Yet if thou desirest to haue this matter more plainly shewed thée turne to the tenth chapter of Iob and reade his words which are these directing his speech vnto God Hast thou not powred me out as milke and turned me to curddes like cheese thou hast cloathed mee with skinne and flesh and ioyned mee togither with bones and sinewes And thou hast giuen me life and grace that is reason and vnderstanding and many other gifts whereby man excelleth all earthly creatures Whē God had made man hee breathed into him the breath of life and he was a liuing soule Yet this is not sufficient to declare how man was created in the image of God and according to his likenesse Which image and likenesse is not so to be vnderstood that either in body or in soule we doo resemble God himselfe For God hath no such forme and substance neither doth he consist of flesh or blood or bone God is a spirit and altogither incomprehensible Neither let it any thing at all moue vs so to be perswaded because wée reade in the scripture The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it the eyes of the Lorde beholde all things his eares are open to the praiers of them that feare him he deliuered his people by a mightie hand and a stretched out arme he will make his enemies his footestoole Not that God hath either mouth or eyes or eares or hands or armes or féete but it is so set down in respect of our weaknesse who are not able to vnderstand heuenly matters but by earthly similitudes and by familiar examples and comparisons And because we are too earthly minded therfore by such spéeches we are lifted vp to the consideration of more excellent things In the shape and proportion of mans bodie he is more comely and beautifull then all the rest of gods creatures yea and God hath planted in his face and countenance a maiestie that all other creatures might feare him and reuerence him yet we must not thinke with our selues rudely and grosly that the image of God consisteth in y◠outward proportion lineaments and shape of the bodie although herein God hath graunted mankind a superioritie dignitie and worthinesse Because the bodies of all other creatures are framed as it were groueling on the ground but mankind is made vpright to beholde the heauens and those things that are aboue the heauens and that by a supernatural and extraordinary sight The image of God is not this outward shape and proportion but the inward and most vertuous qualities of the soule Wherefore it was no maruell that God said Let vs make man taking counsell of his wisdome and power Concerning all things else that he made he onely said Let it be so and they were so but hauing further care of mankind as of a matter more waightie he taketh more aduicement and mindeth to shewe a greater excellency in the creatiō of man and woman to whose soules he gaue so great gifts and graces Whereby the way let vs