is perfited but without God in the World because without Christ by whom and by whom onely we know him Thus by their names we see their deedes as we see a face in a glasse Their wisedome was but the wisedome of the flesh and they did sinne in the best things that they best did For they had not faith and without it it is impossible to please God Hebr. 11.6 the Scripture saith so though the Church of Rome say otherwayes because they would establish if not the freedome of Mans will yet at the least the purenesse of their impure naturals thereby And therefore wee say with Saint Augustine that virtutes Gentium quâdam indole animi ita delectant vt eos in quibus fuerint vellemus praecipuè ab inferni cruciatibus liberari nisi aliter sensus humanus aliter Creatoris iustitia se haberet the vertues of the Gentiles for a certaine good intent they seeme to beare doe so delight vs that wee could wish them free from Hell torments but that there is one reason of mans thinking and another of the Diuine iustice For if the regenerate and beleeuers themselues while they are at home in the body are absent from the Lord 2 Corinth 5.6 how can they bee neere him that are not yet called and whose estate in respect of their sauage life is compared to a desert and the men in it to Dragons and Ostriches in the wildernesse Iob 30.29 And who are called in the Scripture not workers but seruants of vnrighteousnesse And not sicke but dead in sinnes and trespasses And not people of God but children of wrath And giuen vp not to the darkenesse but blindnesse of their vnderstandings To walke in all not wantonnesse onely but vncleanenesse not through infirmitie of nature but with greedinesse of will and affection Which being so and a greate deale worse then either the tongue of man can expresse or his heart conceiue my words nay my thoughts are swallowed vp with the due consideration of this first benefit being the new-birth of our Christianitie that wee are no more strangers and no more forrainers and yet what is this to that which now followeth that we should become Citizens with the Saints and of the household of God Though these two are coupled together with so necessary a chaine of coherence that he who leaues to be a stranger beginnes to be a Citizen and hee that is no more a forrainer is foorthwith one of the houshould of God yet as God when hee passed by and saw his Church in her infancy polluted in her owne blood thought it not enough to wash her with water and to annoint her with oyle spreading ouer her his skirts of loue to couer her filthines but cloathed her with Silkes and decked her with Iewels and other beautifull ornaments that shee might grow into a Kingdome Ezech. 16.8 9.12 13. So though it were much that God should take from vs the euils of our old estate yet he thought it not enough vnlesse hee gaue and adorned vs with the riches of our new calling and though it were an exceeding great benefit and more then wee could hope for to bee deliuered from being any longer strangers and forrainers yet hee that is rich in giuing would not here stay as if he had done enough vnlesse hee had also made vs Citizens with his owne houshold people and of his owne family and peculiar charge Where if the disproportion betweene God and man seeme so great as that it must needes seeme a hard matter for flesh and blood to conceiue how God should giue so vile a creature as man so worthy an estate as of being a Citizen with his Angels and houshold people let vs know that as Alexander told a priuate meane person to whom hee gaue a whole Citie that though it were beyond the proportion of his estate yet he should consider not what hee was to take but what became him to giue so this benefit which is great indeed is to be measured with the yard of the giuer and not by the basenesse of vs on whom it is bestowed and that here it was considered not what wee deserued to receiue but what stood with Gods good pleasure to giue without desert to vs that haue receiued so much the rather because he who is rich in mercy holds himselfe to be neither rich nor great except he make vs rich in receits and himselfe great by giuing to vs therefore he is said to make vs worthy of that estate to which he calleth vs. And yet further which maketh the benefit great in it selfe greater to vs we are not onely admitted into this Citie as free-Denisons but adopted into the family as Sonnes and of the houshold of God Neither are we sonnes onely by such adoption but heires yea fellow heires with Christ Besides in the manner of our adoption wee haue no small aduantage for whereas men doe rather finde them fit whom they adopt into their house then make them so to bee adopted in Christ is to bee made worthy in him of the inheritance to which we are called and with the gift of the sonne is ioyned the grace of new-birth So the Apostle Whom he foreknew them he predestinated to be made conformable to the image of his Sonne that he might be the first borne among many brethren Rom. 8.29 and therefore God did not onely make vs sonnes but make vs fit to be sonnes in an inheritance that fadeth not reserued in heauen for vs. Againe whereas adoption among men takes effect onely by succession and so as the adopted doth not succeede in the inheritance till he be dead that adopted him he that is adopted to this spirituall inheritance of Saints is presently possessed of it with him that gaue it To this may be added that notable saying of Saint Austin haereditas in quâ Christi cohaeredes sumus non minuitur multitudine filiorum nec sit angustior numerositale cohaeredum sed tanta est multis quanta paucis tanta singulis quanta omnibus that is the inheritour of Christ is neither diminished by the multitude of sonnes nor made narrower by the number of heires but it is as great to many as to few and as much to euery one as it is to all for since the Lord did enlarge the place of his tents and spread out the curtaines of his habitations the Churches in which he dwelleth with glory Esay 54.2 since he remoued the wall of partition and opened the doore of faith to the Gentiles there hath bin no respect either of Iew or Gentile bond or free male or female but of a new creature which as it cannot be without God the Father so neither can it stand without the Church the Mother more then he may haue Christ to be his head that is not a member of his body the Church And this carrieth such a necessity with it that as there was no safety without the Arke nor hope without the Couenant so
grose sinnes and so with greedinesse as wee doe nor drinke iniquitie as the most doe who drinke it as the beast doeth water Neither are wee to be wary or circumspect onely in the greater euils but in smaller offences also wee must stop their course when they are a beginning and roote them vp when they are young For little sparkes may proue great fires and small springs rise to great ponds The least infirmities wee haue doe bring as Saint Hierom noteth though not death yet sickenesse to the soule and though they doe not quench yet they make sad the Spirit of God And therefore as they that loue their bodily death doe not onely preuent death but the diseases that make way to it so they that care for the health of their soules will bee as diligent to preuent the disease as they would the death of it when they see it comming For if it bee true in the life of the body it is much more true in the life of the soule that vita non est viuere sed valere that is it is not life to liue but to bee in health and many liue by breathing that are dead in sinne If therefore we did as constantly beleeue that which wee cannot denie to be most true which is that our aduersary winnoweth vs as wheat and that we shall giue an account of euery not onely wicked but idle not onely deede but word Mat. 12.36 we would as Saint Ierom counselleth vs minima pro maximis cauere be as circumspect in small things as in great specially since the least sinne committed is made greater then wee can answer by the greatnesse of him against whom it is done This should make vs carefull to preuent not sinne onely but the occasions thereof that we be not ouer-taken ere we be aware and take the disease before we suspect it Animus vereri qui scit scit tuto vadere the minde that knoweth how to feare knoweth how to walke safely and without feare and it is care to be prouided against occasions that make vs secure As therefore it is written of the Africans because their Countrey is troubled much with Snakes that they tread lightly in euery place and if they chance to feele any cold thing doe more then halfe suspect it is a Snake and as they that ride with a charge in the night doe because of the darkenesse and their feare furthered by it take euery bush for a thiefe euen so wee who by reason of a greater charge goe in greater danger and are threatned with the bitings of sharper teeth then Snakes haue any should much more suspect vpon euery occasion thinking euery place we tread on to be a net to snare vs and euery thing we doe to be a bait to catch vs in euery grasse we should feare a snake and in euery bush a thiefe of our saluation as well against small as great sinnes we should come well appointed with the armour of light hauing about our loines the girdle of truth in our hands the shield of faith and sword of the spirit which is the word of God for the couer of our feet the preparation of the Gospell and the helmet of saluation on our head righteousnesse for our breast-plate and for all parts prayer which is the button or knot that holds all the peeces together that we loose nothing These we haue in the armory of Scripture by the key of Saint Paul in his Epistle to the Ephesians chapter 6. verses 14 15 16 17 18. If wee take these peeces from thence arme with them vpon all occasions and vse them as we ought wee shall not runne into euill and when the enemy assaileth vs wee shall be ready both to giue him battaile and to send him backe And yet it will not be enough for our circumspect walking that we she all not onely sinne but occasions of sinne our selues except we so beare our selues in respect of others that we giue no occasion of iust offence to them by word or deede I say iust offence because many times an offence may be taken when it is not giuen So the aduersaries of the truth are offended at our doctrine which is true and at the fruits of it which are good like as the Iewes when Stephen did truely charge them to be men of vncircumcised hearts and eares such as euer resisted the holy Ghost as their fathers did were euen cut to the heart and gnashed at him with their teeth Acts 7.51 54. But how can we helpe it the offence is taken by them not giuen by vs. Now if the malice of the wicked be such that they will take offence at that which is well done how circumspect should we be and how circumspectly should we walke that by our euill deedes we giue them no iust occasion This occasion though it may be giuen diuers wayes either when we teach some false or vncertaine doctrine contrary to that which we haue receiued or when in things indifferent we abuse our Christian libertie eating with offence and wearing our apparell so as may iustly giue offence yet is it chiefely ment in this place as spoken of that offence that is giuen by our euill life for we ought to haue an honest testimony euen of them that are without and our light should so shine vnto others in our godly conuersation that they may see our good workes through it and by it or beholding it glorifie our father which is in heauen Mat. 5.16 we must not be an occasion that the name of God be blasphemed through vs Rom. 2.24 the rather because they that are without and also because they that are weake within haue their iudgement led by no other rule nor esteeme of the doctrine further or otherwise then they see it fruitfull in the followers therefore doth the Apostle exhort the Ephesians since they were called in hope to adorne the calling with their good liues and being renewed in the spirit of their minde to cast off the old man and to put on the new in holinesse Ephes 4.22 23 24. since they were lightned hee bids them to lay aside the workes of darkenesse and in an honest conuersation to doe the deeds that will not flye the light So he wrote to the Romans who also had bin called by God out of darkenesse into his marueilous light bidding them since that night was past to walke honestly as in the day Rom. 13.12 13. that is to doe the workes of the day of the Gospell not the vnfruitfull workes of the night of ignorance and of sinne The same Apostle writing to the Church at Corinth doeth in great zeale and with many reasons charge them to giue none offence either to the Iewes or to the Gentiles or to the Church of God 1 Cor. 10.32 but to edifie one another with their good example as well as doctrine ver 33. 1 Cor. 14.12 and in his former Epistle to the Thessalonians fift chapter and 22. verse for this cause hee
study of the former part and practise of the latter because the first is a demōstration of the grounds the second an exhortation to the fruits of Faith That which he spake truely of that one Epistle may be obserued in all the rest and generally in all his writing for he planteth by doctrine and watereth by exhortation in euery Epistle laying the foundation by teaching and building vpon it by exhortation to a holy life that the true Christian rooted in faith and strengthned through hope may by the sanctification of the spirit grow to a perfect man in Christ Herein the proportion he vseth is not alwayes alike nor the same as standing sometimes more vpon doctrine then exhortation namely in that large Epistle of his to the Romans sometimes more vpon exhortation then doctrine as in this to the Ephesians yet doth he apply both and vse either as one becommeth more needefull then another to profit with And surely if euer there were a time wherein there was more taught then followed more knowne then practised and therefore more neede of exhortation then doctrine it is ours and it is now for euen now and at this time we are a great number of vs better Schollers then men and vnder the full sailes of our science what doe we but make ship-wracke of all good conscience Therefore I haue not thought it amisse to intreat of that part of the Apostles exhortation wherein hee generally aduiseth the Ephesians and in them vs that seeing they were called from being strangers and forreiners to be Citizens with the Saints and of the houshold of God and seeing they were made of enemies sonnes and translated out of darknesse into so great light they would therefore as Citizens and sonnes or as sonnes and children of light take heede not onely though carefully to the doctrine which they had receiued but circumspectly to their wayes walking not onely directly therein in regard of themselues but wisely in respect of others and not as fooles in the vanitie of their opinions but as wise vnderstanding what the will of the Lord is not neglecting the grace then offered but redeeming the season or buying it backe againe like good chapmen of time Now in these words the Apostle requireth first diligence take heede then the ordering of our wayes by diligence how yee walke after all auoiding of offence in walking that yee walke circumspectly and circumspectly with discretion not as fooles but as wise and lastly that wee take all occasion to doe good not loosing but redeeming the opportunitie the reason is the dayes are euill or we liue in a bad age and with men of bad conditions so euill and nought that they haue euen tainted time it selfe and the very dayes in which wee liue To take heede and not to our walking is no diligence to walke and not circumspectly no discreet diligence to be circumspect and not wise is great follie to be discreet and wise in other things and not for time is vanitie and no godly discretion but so to take heede that we walke so to walke that we be circumspect that we be wise so to be wise that we redeeme the time or bin out for well doing that precious commoditie that others despise who therefore are no good husbands of time but spendthrifts of it is the way indeede to make the dayes that are euill to others good to vs. Take heede is as much as watch ouer your Christian state that you receiue not the grace of God in vaine of this duetie as there are many causes to moue vs to it so there are many occasions to withdraw vs for whether we looke into the world that was made to serue vs or into our selues who were made to serue the Lord whether we cast our eyes vpon things without vs or call to minde the things that are within vs what are they take them at their best but causes to moue vs to walke worthy of our vocation but take them in their corruption and what are they but occasions of euill what but snares in the world and the chaines of the Prince of darkenesse to hold vs in wickednesse And both these as they are of no small force the one to bring vs to our duties if well considered the other to lead vs away from them to all vanitie of minde error of life if not well watched and taken heede vnto so doe they exact at our hands no small labour and diligence duely and well to obserue both one and other for albeit godlinesse be of it selfe so great riches that it neede nothing but it selfe to commend it to vs and sinne be of it selfe so great not gaine but losse and loathsomenesse that it hath enough in it selfe to make it vile vnto vs yet that there may be nothing wanting to stirre vp our diligence by all meanes in this matter many things are spoken of the one to make vs to seeke it with more care and as much is noted of the indignitie of the other to make vs auoid it with more contempt for the first consideration if wee would enter into the soule of it acknowledging the great care that God hath of vs how can it but moue vs to double diligence and heede in the matter specially being thereby waged and with some hire to seeke that which is so worth the seeking for to speake nothing of our creation which was of nothing nor how he made all things subiect to vs that we for whom he made all things might be subiect to him alone when we were worse then nothing he redeemed vs and when we had lesse then nothing hee endued vs with the graces of his spirit that being dead to sinne we might liue vnto righteousnesse and being deliuered from the hands of our enemies we might serue him without feare all the dayes of our life in righteousnesse and true holinesse before him Luk. 1.74 75. Now that hee deliuered vs from so great a bondage as we were subiect vnto not onely generally by the fall of Adam but more particular by being cast out of the common wealth of Israel was such a benefit as deserueth whatsoeuer seruice we are any way able to performe vnto him but that he should redeeme vs with so great a price as the death of his first and onely sonne and call vs also to so high an estate to be Citizens with the Saints and heires with him of an inheritance immortall vndefiled that fadeth not reserued in heauen for vs this is a blessing that is many degrees greater then the seruice of our whole life can attaine vnto but beyond all this that hee should endue vs with those gifts and blessed graces that make vs to walke worthy of this vocation and able as it would seeme to pay him with his owne lent loue by making vs so rich in him what heart created can conceiue what this is and if it cannot be conceiued by vs how doth it concerne vs to take heede seeing these