preciousnesse of the gift 3. the certaintie in receauing 4. and the neede of the receauer 1. The freenesse of the giuer For what is freer than gift And then a gift proceeding of loue Which loued me 2. For the preciousnes of the gift what can bee more precious than the Sonne of God the heire of al Hee gaue himselfe 3. The certainty of receauing is vttered in the specialitie of speaking for mee But O blessed Paul what meane these * Christ is not receaued in a general conceat but by a special applying enclosures Why Is Christ thy Christ Is hee thy Sauiour And is hee not rather the Sauiour of the world That which is thine is none of mine Is it not so In worldly thinges true the right and propriety is in the true owner onely and in him alone and in none other In spirituall rightes it is not so altogether Christ is the Christ of all in generall and in speciall too yet not a diuided Christ but whole and entire whosoeuer hee is In natural thinges see a resemblance hereof the Sunne in the aire is a generall light in the eye a speciall and the sound in the ayre a generall noyce yet seerely discerned in the eare so Christ is a general Sauiour of all that shall bee saued but specially is hee receaued discerned and applied by the eye of faieth which faieth commeth by hearing him generally deliuered but specially applied As take eate take drinke at the Lordes Supper feede on him by thy faieth And blessings so speciallie and certainely taken haue euer a quicker tast in the receauer and prouoke thereby the more thankefulnesse towarde the donor 4. The neede of the receauer appeareth in this * The price of the ransom doth proue the neede of the party and the hainousnes of his trespas who is to bee ransommed that if a lesse ransom would haue doone the deed so great a payment had not needed But somuch it cost to saue one Soule And whereas hee saith Christ gaue himselfe For me it is plaine in how harde a case hee was before that Christ must dy that wee may liue or else wee dy euen as the Ramme was Sacrificed that Isaake might bee saued Wherefore of his perfect mercy and for our pure neede Christ dyed for thee for me and for vs al. Why Christians die though Christ died for them It is but an easie demaunde and soone satisfied why I must dye though Christ died for mee Yet God doubtlesse requireth no double satisfaction hee desireth not to bee twise paied for one debt Notwithstanding nothing is more certaine than that death is the common and vneuitable Lodge and Receptacle of the liuing The Wiseman shall dye as wel as shal the Foole. Dauid when he had * Acts. 13.36 serued his time was reposed to his Fathers and the statute is generall and cannot not be dispensed with al must dye By sin * Rom. 5.12 came in death and as sinne is in al so must all dy If there had beene no sinne there shoulde haue beene no death nor dissolution no not of our mixt bodies no more than there shall be of the very same bodies after their restitution glorification By sinne death entered and must goe ouer all But the question is why wee dye whom Christ hath deliuered both from sinne the cause and from death the consequent of sinne As we are deliuered from sinne not that it bee not but that it sting not so are wee deliuered from death not that it come not but that it conquer not that it lead vs not in a triumph ô death where is thy sting The sting of death is sinne but sinne is doone away and therefore ô graue where is thy victory Death is no Death to a good Christian Thou takest holde of vs not because wee are stung to death but because of a natural necessity indeede inducted thorough sinne at first yet for that the guilt of sinne is taken away death is no right death nowe but a dissolution and a passage to a better life and a very instrument whereby mortality putteth on immortality and whereby we liue for euer And the assurance of our certaine departure hence is hence-foorth a noble monument of the weight of sinne to weane vs from sinning and to win vs to Christ in perpetual thankefulnes for that we are freed from the curse of the Lawe against sinne from the guilt of sinne in it selfe and from the danger of death for sinning and all this by his infinit desert in dying for vs that otherwise should haue died a death euerlasting This grace would not bee abrogated I abrogate not the grace of God this grace of his Gospell Steuen Gardiner Steuen Gardiner in King Edwards time whē he stood much but falsly vpon his innocency and would not yeelde that hee had offended yet at length being asked whether he would accept the Kings pardon or no nay saith he I am learned enough not to refuse the Kings pardon In like manner men may dally and play and vse figge leaues at pleasure truly the greatest wisedome in the end will be to renounce all and craue mercy and stand vpon pardon and to trust vnto Christ and onely in him Grace is reiected when works are annexed And for a good fare-well and end of this Chapter be it remembred and written in the hartes of humble men for euer that wee after the example of our Apostle we disanull not we reiect not we frustrate not we abrogate not we throwe not away the grace of God which necessarily ensueth by meashing or adnexing either the association of Ceremonies or the obseruation of the Lawe vnto his free and absolutely free Grace free in GOD though deserued by Christ our Iesus and onely Sauiour CHAP. III. 1 O FOOLISH Galathians who hath bewitched you that you should not obey the trueth to whome Iesus Christ before was described in your sight and among you crucified 2 This only would I learne of you Receaued ye the spirit by the workes of the Law or by hearing of faith 3 Are yee so foolish that after ye haue begun in the spirit ye would now end in the flesh 4 Haue yee suffered many things in vaine If yet in vaine 5 He therefore that ministreth to you the spirite and worketh miracles among you doth he it through the workes of the Law or by the hearing of faith O YEE foolish bewitched and disobedient or incredulous Galathians These are vehement speeches But this vehemency proceeded of great zeale and this zeale for them was grounded vppon many reasons 1. Christ was described before their face and crucified in their sight 2. They had receiued the spirit and the graces of the holie Ghost not by the deeds of the Law for they were Gentils but by the Ghospel preached vnto them And the Law in comparison is flesh and grosse the Ghospel is spirituall Should they beginne with the better and relaps to the worse Be
an innocent person Yea the moe Dauids giftes and graces were and the more he was prospered of God and liked of the people all these was more wood to the fier and farther matter for his enuious imagination to fret it self vpon euen as in the fable of the snake comming into the smithes forge and finding a file there seing it had teeth thought nothing should haue teeth but it selfe and began to licke it and licked so long til she had licked off her tongue so Saul could neuer be quiet and Dauids good deeds successiuely following still one vpon another encreased Sauls greefe and out-rage continually so much the more as the fier burneth and in burning consumeth it selfe so was it with Saul and so is it with al enuious men One of the philosophers for a punishment could wish to the enuious person nothing but that hee might haue many eies and eares to see and heare the good haps and prosperity in other men For then is he lanced and cut and pearced with such euentes as it were with kniues and arrowes and sharp weapons on euery side where he discerneth any good Who euer he were that wrote those collations ad * Serm. 18. Aug. Tom. 10. fratres in Eremo among recital of sundry ensamples that Basil and Cyprian and others had touched before him as of Caius enuying the sacrifice of â—…el which was accepted Esaus enuying Iacob 〈…〉 when yet hee had sold it the Patriarkes enuying of Ioseph for their fathers liking and Sauls enuying of good Dauid c. Amongest other parables hee likeneth enuy to the worme in the greene gourde that shadowed the prophet to the worms in Manna that marred the Angels foode to the frogs in Aegypt in their fairest parlers Among the rest he compareth an enuious man to the Phoenix and they say there is but one bird of that kinde In deede it were to bee wished that there were neuer such a Phoenix at all as enuie is The story or the conceaued opinion of this bird is that she gathereth togither the driest and sweetest sticks of Synomom and the like and carieth them vp to some high mountaine and hote place neere the sunne and with flapping her winges vp and downe ouer the pile of stickes shee incenseth them and enflameth her self withal and both burn in one fier And this is right enuy which to burne another mans house setteth his owne house on fier and to put out both another mans eies wil be desirous at least to loose one of her owne yea and is content that her owne bowels may be eaten out to bring forth a viperous effect Paul teacheth vs a fairer way that we prouoke not one another but that we preuent one another in giuing honor and enuying no man and neuer contending but vppon necessary and butifull occasions crucifieng the fleshe which woulde otherwise rancle and fester and the affections of the fleshe which will boile and seeth and the lustes of the fleshe which against the true liberty of the spirit And thus if we liue in the spirit the life of the spirit is the death of the flesh and backwarde the life of the fleshe is the death of the spirite which maketh a man as colde as a stone and as stiffe as a dead man that wee cannot wagge much-lesse walcke in the waies of Godlinesse of righteousnesse and temperate behauiour in any good path But the Lorde loueth a bodie that is deade to sinne and hee altogether delighteth in the soule that liueth through his spirite For without his spirite wee cannot liue CHAP. VI. 1 BRETHREN if a man be sodenly taken in any offence yee which are spiritual restore such a one with the spirit of meekenesse considering thy selfe least thou also be tempted 2 Bear ye one an others burden so fulfill the Law of Christ 3 For if any man seem to himselfe that he is somewhat when he is nothing he deceiueth himselfe in his imagination 4 But let euery man proue his own work and then shal he haue reioycing in himselfe only and not in another 5 For euery man shal bear his own burden FOR a preseruatiue against the vices last spoken of viz. ambition strife enuy the best treacle is to take a quite contrary diet The ambitious the contentious the enuious maÌ„ wil keep a needelesse stur and trouble euery man without all cause But the contented Christian desireth to pacifie al things and to help euery where where help is wanting Sathan is a mighty enimy and man is weak and flesh is fraile and our waies are slippery Now if a man which is better than thy neighbours Ox or Asse whereof notwithstanding in cases thou standest charged if a man nay if any man thy like in nature and brother in Christ if any man for all may not onely of thy friends or thy kinne or some of thy family but if anie man be supprised by Sathan preuented by suttlety inueigled by sleights intised by sinners taken and vpon the suddain * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ouer-taken by infirmity what is to be doone He that is fallen may rise againe reach-forth thy hand and help him vp A member dislocated out of ioynt may bee set in againe restore such a member yea restore you such a man saith the Apostle that is fallen out of the order and place he should haue kept himselfe in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mutual help If one walke alone and no man goe with him nor any man care for him and fall then is his fall the more dangerous Likewise the single thread is soone snapt a sunder but when men intertwist themselues in mutual loue to help one the other the double the triple-folde woorke is like to hold out In like manner if men could and would ioine in one to the behoofe of one another I see no reason why things may not bee wel restored and reformed without any great a-do The Spirit of Lenitie The maner of this restoring is not to play the rude Chirurgian but to do al that may be in the spirit of lenitie The good sheepehard laieth the straied sheepe that straid by simplicity on his own shoulders the tender mother carieth the sicke childe in her armes the mercifull Samaritan setteth the wounded man vppon his owne beast and himselfe goeth a foote Yet note there is a difference between simplicitie and wilfulnesse betweene fore and fore leaper and leaper plague and plague fault faults sinners and sinners But this is the property of a peruerse zeale and perfect hypocrisie to stand most vpon trifles mint and commin and vpon matters of lesse importance to stick at a straw stride ouer a block to swallow an Oxe and straine a Gnat to hallow with hue and cry after a mote as if the sheepheard shoulde still trouble the weake sheepe and let the scabbed ram walke at will and spread his venom throughout the whole flock No brethren If any man be howsoeuer preuented in a
and if hee that offendeth in any offendeth in al in what case are we al How can we be iustified by the Law These thinges touch vs neerely and concerne vs much What Vrim and Thummim may wee consult in this case Esa 46. Repaire wee to the Lord in the and six fourtith Chapter of Esay who resolueth vs on this wise Heare me yee stubburne harted that are farre from Iustice As if it were said if any of you presume in pride or precend in hypocrisie of much iustice you are ouer-bold you are deceaued and you cannot deceaue God It is a pride and a pretence of righteousnesse from whence in verie deede you are farre wide Heare mee harken not to your selues to your selfe-wit and ouer-weening I will bring neere my righteousnesse neither shall your iniquitie frustrate or make vaine my promises or sequester my purposed mercy from my elect amongst you and from my church vnto whom I wil shew mercy I wil giue my saluation in Sion and my glory in Israel Then I aske wil Israel be glorified wil Sion bee saued will man bee iustified will hypocrisie speake truely wil stubburne hearts bee mollified and frowarde mindes rectified Then harken what God saith Glory Saluation Righteousnesse and Iustification the acceptation of vs as iust yea of vs very impious and Atheists by nature is Gods only grace and free gift A vanting and a vilde spirite is onely in man who naturally hath but a sorry a naughty and a sleight conceat of the mercy of the father and of the infinit merit of Christ his sonne Come wee home to our Apostle Wee knowe that man is not iustified by the woorkes of the Lawe but by faith It is not an opinion Opinio est entis non entis Opinion is of thinges that may be so or may bee no. But wee know saieth Paul And whereas there are but two waies to bee quit either plea of our owne innocency or help and trust else-where to be iustified wee must leane either to the one or to the other either perfourning the Lawe which no man can or embracing Christ onely relying in him by faith by onely faith in Christ If it be quarreled why cannot man bee yet iustified by the Lawe what should bee the cause thereof It is * An ineuitable reason why Man cannot possiblie iustified by the Law aunswered by Paul flat al men are flesh But why cannot flesh Why Al flesh is fleshly al fleshe is grasse euen the very grace thereof And what is hey and stubble to saue a man * Esay 4.6 And the grace thereof is but as the flower Some flowres are green yellow red stammel purple or white c. These are but gay coulers and what are these before the face of the winde in the heate of the Sunne and in the sight of God Wherefore flesh and bloode may not cannot dare not should not prosume to appeare where it can stand in iudgement before the consistory of our God in the strength of it selfe and without our aduocate Nay the heauens are not cleare in his eies nor the very Angels and celestiall spirites much lesse man who dwelleth in an house of cley and in a body subiect to the soile of sinne who drinketh in iniquity as a drie ground doth a rainey water Wherefore by the * Workes are imperfect being as perfect as they may be they beno deserts but dueties Christ is our righteousnes at the right hand of his father woorkes of the Lawe perfourmed by man by his fleshly arme and strength wee euen the regenerate wee bee not we cannot bee iustified Saint Paul knoweth and acknowledgeth that by faith in Christ and that by Christ alone in whom wee beleeue we bee pronounced in him to bee that wee are not nor can bee of our selues nor in our selues So that heere is guilty and not guilty righteous and not righteous Not righteous but guilty by the Lawe by woorkes by nature and in our selues but in Christ who is made our wisedome righteousnes sanctification and redemption we haue al that wee haue and in him who hath payd all for vs wee haue al and enough And this knowledge brethren being thoroughly learned perfectly beleeued and fully setled in a sanctified soule most honoureth God and comforteth man aboue al thinges that can be named 17 If then while we seeke to be made righteous by christ we our selues are found sinners is Christ therefore the Minister of sinne God forbid 18 For if I builde againe the thinges that I haue destroied I make my selfe a trespasser 19 For I thorough the Lawe am dead to the Lawe that I might liue vnto God 20 I am crucified with Christ but I liue yet not I any more but Christ liueth in mee and in that that I nowe liue in the fleshe I liue by the faith in the sonne of God who hath loued mee and giuen himselfe for me 20 I doe not abrogate the grace of God for if righteousnesse come by the Lawe then Christ died without a cause Vpon the former matters premised Paul may seeme to argue thus if while wee seeking which was graunted on euery side to bee made righteous by Christ yet wee bee found notwithstanding sinners by relying to the Lawe which the false Apostles woulde haue annexed is Christ therefore become the Minister of sinne which must needes bee if he bee coupled with the Law Phy out vpon 〈◊〉 it were most absurd it cannot be and God forbid Christ and the Law cannot make one fabricke or building If any man should build vp the Iericho which hee had destroied and was accursed were hee not to bee accursed If Paul shoulde builde vp the Lawe which accurseth though it were with the coupling of Christ in the building yet should hee shewe himselfe to bee a transgressor in setting vp of the Lawe with Christ which two to stand together were vtterly impossible For to that end entered Christ that the Lawe might cease To that ende Paul exemplyfieng in himselfe voucheth he was dead to the Lawe and therefore had not to doe with the Lawe at all was crucified with Christ and fixed to Christ and vnto Christ alone Iustification by acceptation or imputation excludeth not a measure of inherent sanctification And dying to the curse of the Law shutteth not out good liuing according to the rule of the Law And yet least Paul being dead from the Lawe and crucified with Christ might seeme by this doctrine in himselfe to bee an ensample of dying vnto God and liuing to the world vers 20. hee saith But I liue and because no man should mistake him hee sheweth 1. in what measure of goodnes he liueth as he might in the flesh and 2. withall sheweth how it came to passe that in the flesh he might liue saying that he liueth by Christ and thorough faith in him In him who hath loued me and giuen himselfe for me Whereupon I note 1. the freenesse of the giuer 2. the
vehemency of the Apostles woordes thus varied Faith instifieth 1 The first speech is that the iust shal liue by faith This was prooued and sufficiently proued before by the example and faith of Abraham But abundant proofes for the foundation of christian faith are not superfluous and must not bee tedious to eares and minds erected and settled to heare and marke the euidences of their saluation The Prophet Abacuc saith Habak 2.4 that the iust shall liue by faith In the end of the first and in the beginning of the second chapter of his prophesie the Iewes appeere to haue bin in a pitiful case Their enimies were no small enimies The Chaldaeans were a terrible and a feareful people a bitter and a furious nation wel manned and horses as fierse as woolues swifter than the Leopards and of flight like the eagle hasting after her meate These Chaldeans molested the Iews on euery side spoiled them as the East-wind the fruit deuoured them as the great fish deuoureth the smal yea they caught the Iews as it were fish into their nets and * Prosperitie prouender in an excessiue measure marreth man beast they tooke them as fast as they could cast in and pul vp and thereby they grew fat and their portion was great and plenteous And thereupon they wared in loue of their own might and wanton again with their prosperous successe They Sacrificed to their nets they burnt incense to their yarn they were glad in hart stroked their own heads that could deuise and kissed their own handes that had compassed so great matters The Iewes in this hard case what should they doe Round about wheresoeuer they looked they saw present danger and no possible helpe or hope in man Notwithstanding God doth denounce that the pride of the presumptuous that trusted in themselues should come to nothing and the iust should liue by his faith and his people for all this because they trusted in God they were iust euen as the Caldeans were therefore vniust because they crusted in themselues and the Iewes as they were iust so should they liue in god in whom they trusted euen by their faith And therefore their iustification with God was their faith and trust in God and in God alone most then when all helpes els failed as appeareth in their greatest extremities Workes are imperfect Imperfect deedes were no deserts and could not helpe out of bodily calamities much-lesse in cases of saluation euerlasting and the iust man beleeueth not in himselfe much-lesse in his workes his faith goeth out of himselfe and resteth in God through Christ in whom amongst a million or a myriad of Caldeans in the midst of all fierse and false Catholiques our faith in Christ shall neuer faile We are iustified in Christ wee are saued by Christ we liue by Christ And thus is onely faith in him opposed set against all the meritricious or meritorious putatiue deserts of fraile and sinful flesh supposed to be answerable to the law which can neuer bee for if the Iewes could haue doone the Lawe they might haue claimed of God their deliuerance for their good workes For he that doth the things of the Law shal liue in them No they needed and so do all an other redeemer which must saue them all out of the hands of the Law and from our breaches thereof and the Caldeans rage is but a phillip or a flea-biting to the curse of the Lawe Christ redeemeth is the only comfort of a conscience that hath a sense of sin and any tast of true consolation 2 The redemption from this curse is Christ on his Crosse hanged on tree The Iew stumbleth at this faith and the Gentile scorneth this Doctrine but the godly saith in hart that which Ignatius vttered in wordes My loue is crucified The obiect of my faith the ground of my hope the marke the matter of my trust and confidence my delight my loue my life the cause of life euerlasting my ful redemption and perfect saluation my Iesus was Crucified and endured the curse for my sake This was no slender punishment nor small paine and were it the griefe but of a bodily torment it were grieuous but our redemption was not in respect of the paine of the body onely or of the sorrowes of the soule onely but in regarde of the sinnes of both and that not for one man but for the sinnes of the worlde The penitent sinner The better to conceiue the force of this deserued paine and the effect of sinne see it in a repentant sinner he standeth farre off he beateth on his thigh knocketh on his brest hangeth downe head watereth his eies with teares and wearieth his heart with sighes and findeth no rest in his soule for sorrow of sinnes neither should he euer finde rest at all were it not for this redemption which is in Christ The state of a forlorne cast-away For the reprobate who hath no part in this saluation howe many bees hath hee in his head how many pegs in his hart how many very helles in his soul how many trayterous thoughts that trouble him euerlastingly Euen such is the force of sinne where sinners are left to themselues But Christ our blessed Sauiour hath taken that vpon him that we could not beare and hath endured the curse of the Law not for the sinnes of one man or in one kinde but for the sinnes of all the worlde Sufficiently and for al the sinnes of al sortes in all his chosen Effectually to their ful and finall redemption If now there be any that can chalenge any part of this ransome let him commense his action against our Sauiour that hath taken and against Paul that hath prescribed giuen him the whole glory of mans redemption as who only sustained being not onely man but God and man the insupportable waight of sinne in satisfieng for sinne in pacifieng the Father in answering his iustice in enduring the curse and malediction of the Law From what things we are redeemed O my brethren let Papists ride vpon a reed or catch hold on a ragge of a tottered good woorke this and only this is our redemption which hath redeemed vs from the intolerable yoke the importable burden and the insufferable curse of the Lawe from that seruile feare and legall terror which the Lawe induceth wherein Austins short and sweet difference being well vnderstood betwixt the Law and the Gospell appeareth which he deliuered to be in two wordes FEARE and LOVE Wee loue good woorkes vnder the Gospell according to the rule of the Law but we fear not the curse of the Law wanting that perfection which in right it requireth for wee are redeemed and ransomed our debt is paid and our curse was abolished when our Sauiour was crucified Wee loue him and in loue we liue well but in case especially of life euerlasting wee leane to no other redemption than to his Crosse for so we liue as
family and canst not serue anie master but him And as when men enter into a Bathe they put off all their apparell before they enter so all else Law and nature workes of either and al must be put off that christ may be put on Reuel 12.1 Vestis virum indicat It thou bee a Christian thou art onely cladde with Christ The whole Church in the reuelation walketh and treadeth all mutable thinges vnder her feete and she is attired onely with the Sonne of righteousnesse with the cloth of his spinning and which was made of that wol that he the innocent and immaculate Lambe of God did beare The motiue of being of the religion they were baptised in Many among you say they wil be of the religion they were baptized in And so wee desire them to bee and not in part but euen altogether of the same religion they were baptized into For wil ye liue as yee beleeue But wil you beleeue as you were baptized We require no more The substance of Baptisme preserued in the mids of Popery By the speciall prouidence of God aminds the contentions not onely of old in the Church of Corinth the very forme of Baptizme was retained but also in later times of greatest corruption the substance of Baptizme was preserued I speake not of spetle in the childs mouth of salt in the water or oyle in his brest of the Priests breathings and such like impertinent superstitions But for the forme and substance of Baptisme it was preserued and therein yee were baptised into Christ and haue put on Christ if yee bee Christes And now deare brethren and Christians be of this religion on Gods name and in Gods behalfe I hartily pray you which if you wil be seriously and entirely and as you should the Dagon of al Popery wil fal and break to fitters before this Arke and then you shal be indeede as you are or would be in name true Christians right Catholiques the very seede of Abraham and heires of the promise made in that one seede by whom and in whom all happines doth come and consist And it woulde bee noted distinctly heere in the last verse of this chapter which was touched before that all who beleeue are called the seede and right posteritie of Abraham but yet that there was and is but one seed which is Christ by whom his whole seede and race els are blessed according to the faith How man is made blessed in the seede of man And albeit it seeme in the eie of a reasoning head a very harde and impossible thing that blessing should come at all by the seede of any man yet this is a case beyond the reach of reason and rules of nature By nature who can say my hart is cleane much lesse the seede and that in such an effect as to clense others And yet by that one seede is ment the person of Christ and by Abrahams seede is generally ment the whole race of beleeuers yet with al the very matter of propagation is thereby inferred and therefore named Luck 1. And our Sauiour was the very seede of the woman the seed of Abrahā the frute of the virgins womb perfect man yet far from sin How may this be How What if I cā not tel how in reason a stone shoulde bee cut of the mountaine without handes howe the drie and deade stocke of Iessy should spring and fructifie how a virgine should conceaue and beare a child and yet remaine a virgine These are articles of faith and not of sense nor of reason Mans corruption is and was in his qualities and not in his substance This is sure the seede of man and man in his substance was not corrupted with Adams fall for then Christ taking the substance of our nature shoulde haue beene sinfull in nature but hee was like and of the same substance yet was there this difference onely of his being farre from sinne in the qualities of man in sinning and all this well was and might bee because hee was not simply man of the seede of man but God manifested in the flesh and Marie his Mother conceauing him she beeing ouer-shadowed by the holy Ghost The powerful vertue whereof doth sanctifie yea many a man in good part euen in this woorld And as after our dissolution from this world immediatly our soules and our bodies at the resurrection generally in the twinckling of an eye and moment of time shal bee purified before they enter that place whereinto Reuel 21.27 No impure thing can enter So great reason that the cause of our entrance into Heauen should bee as no doubt hee was deuoid of sinne a most blessed seede though a seede yet a seede blessing and imparting of his blessednesse whereby wee are heires and coheires with him and by him of euerlasting blisse And this is the mysterie of piety The incarnation of Christ a matter to bee beleeued and not to bee argued or talked of but with dewe aw and that out of the expresse Scriptures for our greater comfort and constancy in beleeuing * ⎠* CHAP. IIII. 1 THEN I say that the heire as long as he is a child differeth nothing from a seruant though hee be Lord of all 2 But is vnder tutors and gouernours vntill the time appointed of the Father 3 Euen so we when wee were children were in bondage vnder the rudimentes of the woorlde The Law resembleth the office of a tutor THE third Simile is of a tutorshippe which remaineth to be explicacated in the entry of this Chapter yet therefore the lesse to be debated because of our former examples tending to one the same end already handled If the father discease in the nonage of his child where wisedome is not and discretion wanteth to dispose and order his patrimony the Father by will appointeth tutors In common experience this is an ordinary course God for purposes best knowen to his eternall wisedome and finding defects in his people the Iews to bridle them from farther inconueniences he bounded them in with ordinances as it were tutored them by such orders as was best for them and for that time And as children are foolish to choose their owne tutors so the Iewes were to serue and to be ruled though being children yet as it were seruants vnder the rudimentes of his Law til the time of perfecter age Wherein appeareth 1. The defect in men vnder the Lawe who were as pupils and though they were heires yet in vsage were they dealt with as with Seruants and 2. The dignity ful age and perfection vnder the Gospel 4 But when the fulnes of time was come God sent forth his sonne made of a woman and made vnder the Law 5 That hee might redeeme them which were vnder the Law that we might receaue the adoption of Sonnes Curiosity in Gods actions is not good When the fulnes c. A foolish fly can no sooner see a light
moone a sabboth or a peece of an holy day Euery day is a feast to a Christian man euery day is Alleluia praise the Lorde and euery time is a rest and a saboth vnto God and therefore the Galathians in restraining mē to such strict obseruations did Iudaize therein and it was not conuenient The ciuil vse is stil expedient 2 The ciuill vse of the saboth was to prefixe a set rest to men euen to thy seruant yea for the very beast for God is a gracious God respecting the basest of his creatures And continuall toyle hath no continuance As the moth breedeth in the garment that is not worne so the garment is soone worne-out that is euer worne and where there is no change at al. Wherefore ceremonieus circumstances being taken away the ciuill vse of the saboth standeth in force and effect as before The ecclesiastical vse is continuall 3 The ecclesiastical vse of the saboth remaineth also much more with vs. For wee haue but changed the Iewes saboth which was Saturday into our Christian saboth which is the lorde day wherein the Lord rose from the death and which wee call Sunday retaining the name gentility was accustomed to at the first But that forceth not for christianity goeth not by names In truth our Sunday is our saboth and therein albeit a Christian life bee a continuall saboth and albeit the Iewish ceremonies be repealed and cancelled as appeire either by our altering the day notwithstanding because God is the author of order and because he should not bee serued vncertainly in our publicke seruice our saboth as a set time is wisely set downe and relligiously shoulde bee obserued We read of the Lacedemonians that by common exercise and continuall endeuour could dehaue and demeane themselues very warlickly in the camp but to vse the time of peace they had vtterly no skill as if their hands had bin made only to handle their weapons and themselues born to liue and dye in the leager semblably many if yet many can tell meetely well I dare not say well but some can tell right-well howe to trade in the working dayes but how the saboth and holy-day shoulde bee holily passed ouer al as poore soules scant the thowsanth man knoweth The couetous man hath euer a geob of woork to doe at Church time the wanton person chuseth that time for his sinnes when others are best occupied vaine men and idle fukes either house it in the Ale-house or houle it in the Alley passe the time at some inordinate and vnlawful disport or other while the calues of our lips are in sacrifieng while the incence of our praying is a burning while the minister standeth at the Lordes table Nehem. 8.4 while Esdra is in the pulpit reading and expounding the Law of God Priuate praiers exclude not the church-seruice I knowe men may pray and read at home and at what howre they list among their priuate families But doe you or dare they contemne the Lords ordinance There is no ceremonious difference of daies true Yet principally certaine times are fixed to raise vp a mount as it were or to build vp a high tower whither mē may ascend and many eies togither may looke round about and take a full view of the goodnes and benefits of God laid foorth and displaid by the interpretation of the Scriptures You say yow read at home and pray at home If you did yet is not the congregation to be thus shunned say so who will whom I see not vsually at Church I dare say and do vouch that his so saying is an vntru saying If it be night it may be thou sleepest if woorking day it may bee thou art occupied if it be holy-day neuer tel me thou praiest duely at home that wilt not voutsafe to step out of doores to ioine in prayers with the assembly of Gods children and thy fellow brethren Parlor praying and secret preaching at times of publicke seruice And of al things that is a singuler pride nicenes that is grown in to turn the Church-seuice only into parlar prayeng and priuate preaching euen at those times when the congregation is gathered together in publique place If Elias were in flyght from the face of Iezabel if Ionas be cast into the Sea Ieremy into the miry dungeon or Daniel into the den in the time of persecution whether in caues marishes or in places whereuer there is no difference of places Vnder a Iuniper tree on the mountaine in the wildernesse out of the whalles belly in euerie place pure handes may be helde vp to that hand that giueth most richly and casteth no man in the teeth But still I speake of the Church-prayers of publique places in times of peace and of set times in publique places and that the Church-minister put in vse the practise of his Church vocation then and there especially when it is most seemely and where the woord it selfe would bee preached and the sacraments ministred That the husband man praise God in the field the girle at her needle the maid at her wheel the weauer at his loome euery artisan at his trade or that the father and master of his children and whole housholde reade a chapter distinctly sing psalms deuoutly pray togither hartily at home at entry of their labors and end of their daily worck is an exercise much wanting greatly esteemed of God and comfortable to the soule and by these good meanes the very working-daies after a sort are turned into a religious continual kind of Saboth vnto such But still I missike that sancifull demeanour in some in not keeping the publicke Saboth in publick fort The prayer of one godly man is forceable but virtus vnita fortior God who that heareth one wil heare many and the praiers of many ioyned in one make a more forcible entraunce to the throne of grace and there is singular comfort in this coniunction When we eate or when wee drinke to satisfie hunger and thirst it skilleth not but when similiars meete their meat and drink to them a great deale more good In the church meetings if men could tast spirituall ioy as well as they can corporal meats in sociable companies the comparison is vnequal I might enlarge and speake directly But I feare me I haue lost my way if not my labor and intent herein therefore to return For you my good breethren that seeme to keep and I hope obserue the saboth as you should you who ioin in praiers with vs who frequent our sermons partake gods sacraments who rest frō sinne vnto God the seuenth day make ye also the rest of the weeke suceable to this beginning For otherwise were it not more than a folly to rest one day in body from labor in soul from sin that the six daies folowing we might run to al excesse of riot weary our selues more thā before as it were resting our selues our horse a litle to
vs from heauen if they bee not seene vnto and therefore hee forewarneth and redoubleth his warning Careful forewarnings import an euident foresight of imminent danger Wherein in is exemplified 1. The diligence of the minister to foretell and foretell againe euer to crie and neuer cease and 2. The imminent daunger of sinning appeareth by the earnest warning For what shooter would cry aware aware when the arrow commeth nothing neere the standers by What workman vndersetteth the house that standeth sure What Physicion carefully cureth him that needeth no cure and is not sick Pauls double care doth euidently argue their manifold peril It were ouer-long vppon the onely naming of many seuerall faultes to enter long discourse in particular because there are sundry proper textes in Scripture more fit for such purposes Idolatrie Notwithstanding in a word to goe ouer euery thing the next work of the flesh is Idolatry wherof before Pag. 156. And therefore thereof I say no more but blessed be the Almighty God who hath remoued al hil Altars idoll Priestes and such late Idolatry as was not heard of neither in Babylon nor in Aegypt it selfe Babylon thought that her Gods did eate but Popery thought and taught that God was eaten chewed with teeth swallowed with throte and I abhorre to vtter it conueied into the bellies of worse than men Of old Aegypt Israel learned to worshippe a calfe and when Moyses was but a smal while absent and though he left be hind him a sufficient curat yet the people would needs haue it so and they contributed their very eare-rings to make and they made an idoll But that Idol-calfe was not comparable to the Popish Idol-cake which they fall downe before and adore the woorkmanship of mans hands and say my Lord and my God to a peece of bread nay to round and white and they know not to what Witchcraft The next woorke of the flesh heere specified is witchcraft Which is a bad sory craft and a sinful occupation Yet whether any such thing be or no some haue conceaued some doubt But they who say that there be no witches consequently say also that there is no witching But if there be anie witchcraft there must needs be witches And if there could be no witching why doth our Apostle cal witchcraft a work and a thing of importance debarring vs from the inheritaunce of heauen As wel may they say that enuy enmity hatred adultery and murther c. are not at al as well as witchcraft For al these offences are iointly written in like letters and Paul saith that these are things manifest and as it were Printed in Capitall letters A wise Dscouerie of witchcraft To make it a little more manifest to weake eies that cannot discerne much in this case were not amisse but vnlearned prophane silly-folly fables shoote farre wide of such a mark Not to go beyond my text wichcraft is naught ergo it is witchcraft is forbidden ergo it is for if it were not at al why is it forbidden as being and being naught Sainct Paul Gal. 3.1 borrowing a similitude from a thing without controuersie knowen to be and that could naturally lend the speech which he ment to borow questioneth with these Galathians and asketh who had spiritually bewitched them and dealt with them so in spiritual matters to distort trouble * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 infect them as there was no question but witches deal by Gods secret sufferance in cases external of witching effections yet no farther than God permitteth and most times nothing so far as euery body vpon priuate fancy many times vainly imagineth Most of the vices which follow are hatred and debate emulations wrath contentions seditions heresies enuy murthers c. Where a man hateth it is an easie matter to fall at variaunce both in common weale matters and Church causes And where sinne entereth it forceth to goe on and neuer resteth in any meane degree The sanctified flesh doth not sanctifie but the polluted polluteth Hagg. 2.13 A litle wormwood maketh honny bitter twise so much honny cannot sweetē some litle iuyce of wormwood Sinnes growe apace and goe by heapes and thraues together the broad way hatred debate emulations wrath altogether c. Sinne groweth quicklie and goeth on forciblie In the booke of Iosue Iosh 7. Acam confessed that hee saw coueted tooke and buried in his tentes the Babylonish weede and the sickles of siluer From seeing the cursed thing he proceeded incontinently to coueting from coueting to conueying it to himselfe and hiding it in his tentes exprestie against the Lords commandement in so much that sin may say as Caesar said Veni vidi vici I come I see I conquere as you may see in euery particular sin In the turning of an hand I conquer where I come and I consume where I conquere and neuer rest but as the fier till I haue wasted all I hate and where I hate I striue and strife hatred emulation wrath contention sedition enuy proceede to open murdering of soules by heresies and of bodies by cruell handes euen like as they report of some kinde of horseleach that turneth into a serpent and that serpent becommeth a fiery Dragon But my brethren wil you hate must you be angry Beholde I shewe you matter to occupie these affections vpon Enter into thine own soul summon thine owne conscience controule thine owne doings and be angry with thine anger hate all hatred and if thou wilt murther murther thy sinnes and sit in iudgement against thy selfe abhor all impiety idolatry heresies schismes and sectes c. God hath spoken it Paul hath written it that flesh and blood the works of the flesh shall not inherit the kingdome of God It is an inheritaunce and therefore free and a kingdom not prepared by mans meriting but yet wilfull sinners shall not enter much lesse inherit this kingdome The vncleane body the polluted the vncharitable restles man the irefull sinner and contentious humor cannot inherit the rest of God his kingdome is but for fit subiects This inheritance is only prepared for dutiful heires for the generation of the chast for Godly mindes for peaceable children for haters of hatred and louers of peace Drunkennes Gluttonie The two last faults are drunkennes and gluttony the one maketh in the body a sinck the other a dung hill For deuoiding of them both hee sayd well who faide Nature is contented with litle and Grace with lesse The waterish marish and plashy groundes breedeth nothing but frogs and toades and such like vermine and the full bellie bringeth foorth onely a fumy smoky foggy sense The kingdome of God which is aboue sense and reason consisteth not either in the superstitious refusing or seruile abusing of meates or drinkes and lightly hee who farceth the body starueth the soule And this is a singular infirmity of sinful flesh that is either caught vp in a whirle-poole Touch not tast not or sunk in