he sheweth himselfe bent to mercie But if both he spare to strike and spende his holy labors by his Propheticall preachers in vaine to the people to whom he sendeth them then and there will he poure out his double plagues to their vtter confusion Let Jerusalem alone suffize to testifye the same And grant O Lord more grace to England that we in no sort receue this thy long suffering aboundant gracious light of thy blessed truth in vaine for thy sonnes sake For then assuredly as it now appeareth by thy handy work is become to be the best Receptacle for thy afflicted members So shall it then be sene an horrible Cage for euery foule byrde and fylthie gryppe and in stede of songes of mirth and ioy howling lamentation and mourning for her great desolation shall found her sorow to the heauens redoūd to the earth againe accompanied wyth thy most terrible plagues in vehement sort Oh the securitie of England Oh the manifest contempt of the English nation Oh the depe dissimulation that enuironeth so the borders of this land as no wher thence it were permitted to haue his passage Wel God sēdeth to thée yet once Zachary Iohn Bap. in plentiful sort to cry with exalted voice incessantly repēt for the day of the Lord is at hand And through the preaching of truth they open the way to saluation in Christ Happie be thou ye twise blessed oh miserable England canst thou in time lende thyne Eares and laye thy hearte to the touche of truethe in this the daye of thy moste louing visitation And thy day of appearing canst be readye to tourne to thy Lorde who shall purge thée lyke vnto moste pure Syluer But if the Lorde take from thée Oh Englande his Worde and Preaching then Desolation is imminent For when Preaching fayleth the people perishe and dye for want of their spiritual breade the force of their lyfe Where is the beautie of the former Hierusalem What is become of the Learned Chorinth the pryde of all Achaia And where is the former glory of that Christian Antioche Is not the east Churche wholy become an Apostata from God and them selues betrothed to the seruitude of sinne his huge enemies And what shal we say of that roging Rome which somtime was the deare church of God is she not now become the seate of Antechrist and the Sinagogue of Sathan Yes forsooth Whence flowed the Floudes of Godlinesse thence commeth the Waters of fylth in the streame of Idolatrie superstition adulterie homicide treason murder couetousnesse and sinnes agaynst nature and the holy Ghost There as in a mirrour we may sée the testimonie of Paule speaking of the Heathen Idolators to the Godly Romanes verifyed For when they professed themselues to be wise they became fooles turning the glory of the incorruptible God to the similitude of a corruptible man c. Wherefore God gaue them vp also to their hartes lustes vnto vnclearnesse to defyle their owne bodies betwéene themselues which tourned the trueth of God to a lye and worshipped and serued the Creature forsaking the Creator which is blessed for euer Amen For this cause sayth Paule God gaue thē vp vnto vile affections The spirit of god foreseeing the lyke Idolatry and sinne to followe in this satanicall Sea warned them by these former plagues to auoyde the seconde destruction set downe by Iohn the diuine in the Reuelation But sith this seate is set for Antechrist and that no man can safely vnder her harbor be sure from Gods wrath or can be permitted to nussle as the Sowe in the myery puddles of her broken Cesternes Let vs wyth on consent recoyle to the commaundement of the Spirite which soundeth the retire from Romish Babilon and her damnable desolation lest running in her chase we be ouertaken by the Lorde which persecuteth her wyth al arma of sundry and sodeyne Fyghtes to her most terrible ouerthrow And always haue before thine eyes that pyller of Salt which sometime was the holy Lots wife who for her great loue she bare to her line bloud which would not lende their eares to God receiued a monstrous shape and lost the beutie of her first Creation A notable example certaynely Vers 10 And to giue knowledge of saluation vnto his people by remission of their sinnes The office of Iohn and how he is to prepare the way of the Lorde is here by Zacharie set downe namely by the Preaching of repentance and driuing the Iews to the view of their sins wherby they might be the more apt to receiue Christ by fayth in him saluation for their sins true righteousnes eternall lyfe This preparation is so requisite as without the same neither shall the wounded man féele his griefe or the dreined conscience gaspe thirst after christes bloud the founteine of health to euery dry sinning soule pined sinner that hungreth his water of life Wherfore his inestimable merit hath not onely giuen a sauiour but hath sent a heauenly voyce to cry out to our deade deafe bodies the knowledge of life and way to saluation which commeth to vs by the forgeuenes of our sinnes at the hands of our good God most merciful father he hauing fully satisfyed his iustice in the person of our crucifyed Christ the chastisement of our peace Thrée especiall poyntes this verse containeth first by what means saluatiō is atteined euen by the forgeuenes of sins Secondly whose sinnes are forgeuen Onely the sinnes of Gods elect chosen people Thirdly the way by the which they atteine to so hie a price Euen by that they haue this saluation made so apparant to them by the ministery of Preaching that they apprehende by fayth Gods spirit opening the hart of the hearer Concerning the first whence new iustification is had is apparantly sene by our Prophet namely that their sinnes be forgiuen thē Neither is there in any one to purchase such remission for then should not our iustification stand in forgiuenes but in mans purchase so god in bestowing life should not giue vs his son but according our merit and his debt pay to vs christ our desert which were to vttermost pestilent blasphemy against God and his Gospell So God loued the world sayth Christ that he gaue his only begoten sonne c. But this verse teacheth vs that our saluatiō is had by the remission of sins seteth downe both the meane for vs to apprehende lyfe and the cause of lyfe also The meane or hande whereby we take holde of christ which is our lyfe is fayth norished and bred in our hartes by the worde preached which accepteth christ as of the Father he is giuen and by the scriptures he is discribed vnto vs The cause here expressed is gods loue who hath predestinate to lyfe all those whom he hath translated from the poynte of death to the kingdome of his deare sonne and from
them to saye forgeue O Lorde our sinnes Hath not the chiefe of them whose lyfe was angelical whose person to death was eftsoons assailed Paule I mean hath not he writtē doth not he therby yet speake that the merit of eternall life is Gods mercie not mans merit And yet speaking of the suffringes and bloud of martired saintes for the testimonie of God and his Gospel he acknowledgeth that the afflictions of them in this life are not worthy of the glory which shall be shewed to them in the triumphant kingdome of our heauenly father But their merit sayth hée is Gods loue who hath chosen them to bée his sonnes and hath sayth hée annexed them with Christ as heires of the inheritance Note well eternall life commeth not by the bloud and afflictions of martirs not by purchase of mens merits but by the inheritaunce geuen vs in Christ thorough Gods mercie Thus good reader thou séest that this popish post is rotten for age and want of heart what shal we saye of the third matter the Popes pardon Surely if neither his God the Masse nor his saintes bloud can helpe neither can his pardons any thing profite thée for they are all of one force haue all a like authoritie I néede not longer to stand in the confutation of such a wicked taile of the people that boasteth himselfe to bée the onely head of Gods church in earth controler in the heauens prince in Purgatorie and Master of Hell. Bée not offended that I call him that tayle of the people for the warrant is geuen me by the holy Ghost so to terme him The auncient and honorable man he is the head saith Esay and the Prophet that teacheth lies he is the tayle of the people The last of Popish merites are good workes which can not merit Gods mercie for either they precede or folow faith If they go before fayth they are sinne and therefore moue Gods furie rather then merite his mercie If they followe faith they then merite not that which of God is giuen before their birth but expresse by such fruite what well planted trée brought them forth But as no trée meriteth life by the Apple which hée beareth but fast setled in the ground liueth of the iuyce that commeth from the roote so the faythful merite not Gods fauour which is their life by their works the fruites of their fayth but setled and grafted into Christ their foundation they doe receiue their common life from the same roote by the sappe his spirite which from him is sent and geuen to euery of them sufficiently to life eternall What shall we then not worke God forbid Alwayes do and continue in that which is good but cause not a good thing commaunded of GOD to become a pestilent euill to thy conscience Liue and walke in good workes which God hath prepared for thée but let them bée done to the same end which GOD hath directed to them Namely that the outward déede in them may expresse thy inward fayth in Christ our Lord. And further that the Church of GOD may bée profited by them But chiefely that by the same many mouthes séeing thy faythfull actes may bée prepared and stirred vp to glorifie thy Father which is in heauen This is the voice of holy scripture declaring the end of good works to be as we haue said but that they merit not Paule playnely sheweth to the Romanes for and to al in the person of Abraham saying if Abraham were iustified by workes he hath wherein to reioyce but not with god For what saith the Scripture Abraham beleeued God and it was counted to him for righteousnes Now to him that worketh the wages is not counted by fauour but by debt hut to him that worketh not vz. to merit thereby but beleueth in him that iustifieth the wicked his faith is counted for righteousnes Thus then we sée that the fathers with vs haue not merited Christ our onely felicitie but Gods mercie and loue surmounting as I may reuerently say his iustice in iust wrath hath not of dutie but by loue geuen and not sold to vs that beleue in him his Sonne Christ that we should not perish but by him being deliuered from our enemies should haue euerlasting life and power in him to serue him in this time of our mortall flesh in all holines vertuous exercises before him al the dayes of our life Moreouer I note that our Lord God will not haue vs to dwell in vncertainties for our saluation and therefore he sendeth vs to his written word where his promises couenant is by his owne spirit set downe to all flesh for the which cause Zacharie hath relation in this verse to the written promises and couenaunt And to the same sayth John also is the Gospell written to vs now that wee should by that written truth beléeue that Iesus is the Christ the sonne of God and that in beleuing we might haue life through his name As for the vnwritten verities of the Papistes as they are counterfet and forged of their owne brayne so can they bring no comfort to the conscience of the wounded man or satisfaction to the thirstie soule that laboureth to séeke the water of life which God doth geue to those that hunger thirst after the same For nothing els worke they but draw to hell all such as trust and are led by them But he that thirsteth after the water of life els where then in the written sacred scriptures can it not be found Séeke this water in the Scripture therfore good Reader and the Lord will make heauenly riuers to flowe out of thée wherewith thou shalt satisfie thine owne conscience in the same Christ fully and be able also to bring many other to the same saluation which the knowledge of the Lord by his spirite in the scriptures hath wrought in thée Last of all in this verse let vs marke diligently that not otherwise thē in christ Iesus God the father maketh vs partakers of his holy couenant Or yet by any other meanes are we kept within the compasse therof then by the cause it selfe which is Christ the Lord the Alpha and Omega of the same So voucheth the Apostle saying in thy séede which is Christ shal al nations be blessed The obseruations of the sixt verse are also comfortable and profitable Comfortable when we perceiue that our sinnes deserue the breach of Gods loue and extreme iudgement yet God in his mercie doth promise sweare to kéepe his word giuen to the fathers and to deliuer vs from the sayd iudgment as the Prophet in the text sayth and the oth which hee swere c. The profite hereof ensueth in the doctrine following In no case may we gather because God is sayd here to sweare that his word without an oth is doubtefull for the Scriptures euery where approue them absolutely Amen
among the wicked of the earth hath taken them and according to his good will being before the foundation of the worlde was layde hath chosen them to be his people This is the minde of our Prophet saying To giue knowledge c. If we should aske of the Papistes whereby we apprehend Saluation they will say to vs partly by christ and partly by the worthinesse of mans workes Such blasphemies they bray out of their helly hartes But deare reader be not deceiued by their delusions lend thy selfe some leasure to take view for thy wealth of that which here is sayd Were it that saluation could be atteyned by the workes of the law as true it is the law of-God sayth he that doth fulfill the law shall lyue by the law yet are there two absolute reasones ouerthrowing all meritte in man what or whosoeuer by the Lawe The firste is the impossibilytie that is men to perfourme the law The other is the frayltie of man which fulfylling if he could yet can not alwayes stand frée from transgressing the Law of god And at what time he falleth his righteousnes tombleth downe with himselfe in to the dyche and so frustrate is his vaine trust before reposed in his owne holines For the first he that shall by the works of the Lawe become iust before God must in hearte be pure from Sinne for as out of a filthy puddle can naturally come no swéete water so out of a wicked hart can procéede no pure action nor is God pacified from wrath by any worke which procéedeth from a sinfull and a corrupted conscience Search seeke from east to west north south among the sonnes of men behold no where shalt thou find a man whose hart is pure from sinne Nay whose harte is not altogether a lump of that Massie poison so that if God should loke strayghtly vpon him his holinesse should not be able to abyde the tryall of the lord Finally the wisedome of the fleshe is death and is at set battle in enimytie wyth God for it is not subiect to the Spirite nor the Law of God neyther in deede can be So that I conclude with Paule that they which be in the flesh and that is euery Popishe iusticiarie cannot please god Wherfore since the founteine of mans harte is corrupt and poysoned what pleasant action can proceede from his conduites But ye will say the regenerate man meriteth Yet Paule sayth to the man regenerate what hast thou that thou hast not receiued I suppose Paule was regenerate when he wrot his Epistle to the Romanes and yet he of himselfe sayth that his hart is combred wyth the Canker of sinne So that he dare not boast of meritte but rather cryeth out for woe agaynst that guylt of his Regenerate fleshe saying I sée another Lawe in my members rebelling agaynst the Lawe of my mind and leading me Captiue into the Lawe of Sinne that is in my members Oh wretched man that I am who shall deliuer me from the bodye of this death I thanke God through Iesus Christ our Lorde His desert here he confesseth to be suche that were it not God through Christ our Lorde he caried nothing with him but a body he meaneth soule and body deseruing by meritte euerlasting death And of his impossibilitie to perfourme the act of Iustification by workes he in that place a little before sheweth saying for I know that in me that is in my fleshe dwelleth no good thing for to will is present wyth me but I finde not meanes to perfourme that which is good for I doe not that good thing that I would but the euill that I would not that doe I. If in the best sort of men and most perfect Sinne hath such power how shall the Papistes the ofscourings of the Church boast of their worthinees Nay neyther we or our Fathers are able to fulfyll the law and therefore God sent his sonne in the similitude of sinful flesh and for sinne condemned sinne in the flesh that the righteousnesse of the lawe should be fulfilled in vs that is to say by christ imputed to vs which walke not after the flesh but after the spirit And that no man should bost of his workes being regenerate he more telleth vs that God the father which raised vp his son christ from death shall also quicken our mortal bodies not for any worthines in vs but because of his owne gift euē bicause his spirit dwelleth in vs Thus his diuine wisdome hath disposed the matter that both the action the cause of our true righteousnesse may not descende one steppe from the maiesty of his throne of grace Assure thy selfe therefore Christian reader that in man is no meritte vnlesse to death for Sinne which maketh al men culpable before god So it is his goodnesse to haue mercy vpon all Therfore if thou wilt atteyne to true righteousnesse it is by the lawe not of works but of fayth in Iesus Christ vnto all and vpon all that beleue For the redemption is not in man regenerate or carnall but in christ who hath reconciled vs to the father in his bloud declareth our righteousnesse to come by the forgiuenes of our sinnes so preaching cōfusion shame to vs the glory to him selfe And albeit that fayth which saueth is called a worke yet is not the worke comming from the poure of man for it is the worke of God and his onely gift by the which we obteine christ in whom we haue plentifull redemption from all our sins Now let vs speak of the second branch that is of mans impossibility to stand alwayes fulfilling the law The Scripture saith cursed is euery man that continueth not in al things which are written in the law to doe them And againe when a righteous man tourneth away from his righteousnes and committeth iniury he shal euen die for the same If once departure from well doing demerit death and the iust falleth seauen times and since there is no flesh that sinneth not nor any be he neuer so pefect that alwaies continueth in well doing I aske where shall we finde the meriting man or who shall dare to present him before the Lorde the reuenger of sin Or yet what is he that can deliuer himselfe from the danger of Gods Curse due to his transgressions Vaine therefore and diuelish is the confidence in such Popish doctrine and pernicious is the euill which this opinion bringeth to the soule and great is the iniurie by it committed against christ Iesus the price of thy forgiuenes The man meritor thrusteth Christ Crucifyed vnder his féet setteth himselfe vp in his stead for his owne sauiour by his workes But cast thy accompt by scripturs audite at the foot of the same thou shalt find this debt apparant to such wastfull spenders of their Lordes treasure that such as haue sought
righteousnes by the works of the law haue lost the same this remaineth recorded for the iust that all which sought it by faith not by works haue atteined to true righteousnes in déede What then doth it profit good men to worke good works The good wors of holy men profite 2. waies First weighing their valoure wyth our dutie they cast downe our Peacoks tayle and Egles hearte béeing so farre shorte of that they should they call mans crye to vouche his state vnprofytable to his Lorde And so wyth crauinge Pardon for his sinnes fogetting his fewe déedes now past he hasteneth wyth humblenes to the degrées of encrease to walke and please God as he ought towards the throne of grace where he séeth by fayth himselfe drawne vp wyth courage to rest in Christ for lyfe since his spirite liueth in him Secondly they worke a most assured corroboration in our hartes whylest we consider of whom we haue suche grace Euen that our hartes of Adamant are changed to fleshye not fleshly harts into the same Gods holy spirit is put powred by the power of which we are cause to walke in his lawes and kepe his statutes Al which though we do not or can in such sort as we should yet because his holy finger hath written his sacred lawe in our hartes and put the sinne into our inward parts is himselfe become by his couenant in christ our god and hath chosen vs for his holy people for this cause I say he accepteth vs as iust though we be all sinners and our works are acceptable in his sight and are not wythout their rewarde yet of his mercye deuoyd of our merit thus through our infirmitie worketh he his owne praise So ende we the firste parte of this verse To giue knowledge c. The second pointe is to note whose sinnes are forgiuen and so consequenly what kinde of persons atteine truely and in déede to this saluation by his Prophets preached and this I note of this word To his people For albeit that Christ is of the father giuen to the whole world to be vnto them their sauiour and that there is no age or people vnto whō the death of christ is not sufficient to their saluation and is therfore by himselfe and the worde vouched the sauiour of the world yet are not al people by him saued nor any but suche as here be called his people Now haue we also to consider that neither all that call or chalenge to be his are so in déede For then should not the Infidell Saracene with the Turke onely be cōdēned because they refuse life which is only in christ Iesus to be foūd but also of that nomber which professe christ in shew and receiue the badge and seale of righteousnesse in Baptisme and in the dayes of their flesh inuocate christ as God and call the Father Lorde be furthermore accompted to be of the church and People of God of this multitude shall infinite walke the wandring path to eternall payne Not euery one that crieth Lord Lord shall enter into the kingdome of god c. These are for a time in but at no time are they of the church of god These eyther haue Satan to pull the séede out of their hartes least they should beleue and be saued or beleue with ioye for a season and in fierie triall vade and consume to dust and ashes and turne to their erst conceiued death But saluation standeth at the end of the race happie is he that endureth to the end for he shall be safe Or els do they with the fayth in Christ and gospel of the sonne of God intermedle the cares of this world pleasures of the flesh which do choke the growth of the séede that no Wheate can come to ripenes for the Lordes barne they begin in the spirite but they end in the flesh These albeit they are bidden ghestes yet shall they not once tast of the Bridegromes supper For they being called dayly and the Lord with open armes euer readie to embrace them refuse to come therefore shall desolation deuoure them neither shall Ierusalem saue them or the Sinagoge of Sathan the Church of Rome deliuer them from the wéeping state and wofull paynes prepared for all hypocrites Where in stéed of popish piping and carnall delights shal be mourning and howling in perpetual chaines nayled fast to damnation his gaol And that because they neither heard or sought the Lord with integritie of soule or worshipped him els then with their owne inuentions hauing their harts a long estranged from his delite And albeit they were nourished vp in the bosome of his beloued spouse yet they are to him as Mice in the housholders barne whose purpose is to féede them fat and fill their young of the corne but not at any time to haue the presence of the Masters face For whom also the husband prepareth engins destroyers them to consume though for a time he permit them to their deuised pleasures Such shal be the end of al Papists carnall protestants fained hypocrites which séeke thē selues altogether and not the lord at all As daily those persons passe their time in such wicked lustes But of farre other nature are the true people of god As the other in the day of trial cannot be knowne of him for he shall say depart frō me I know ye not ye workers of iniquitie so the lords people are knowne to him by their name they are borne againe of the spirit They are sanctified by the holy Ghost They are graffed into Christ their vine They are predestinate to life Chosen to bee the f sonnes of god Called to the knowledge of the word of saluation and taught of god The spirit of the sonne is by the loue of the most louing father powred into their harts which causeth thē to crie to him Abba father Their stonie hartes hée mollifieth and turneth into hartes of flesh and into them for their direction and life he putteth his spirit by whose power through the woord sowne and taught he teacheth them his Lawes and geueth them grace to walke in his statutes Thus wrought by GOD they bring forth holy fruites They onely heare his voyce All straunge sound and charminge incantation they vtterly auoyd charme they c neuer so wisely They hunger after the truth and thirst the Lordes righteousnes They claspe their harts by fayth in Christ that through him alone they may apprehend the louing countenance of the heauenly Fathers face They lay their sinnes vppon his crosse and craue by comfortable cries in earnest and ardent prayer to be clothed with his righteousnes They euer confesse their many sinnes and assure them selues by fayth of his saluation They driue away terror and rest in the harbour of a quiet conscience and in most humble wise approche
his throne of grace as deare children adopted in Christ to their best beloued father They loue to labour in godly workes as by his word they are commaunded They séeke to liue by faith in Christ as by the Scriptures they are taught They ioy to suffer and beare his crosse and aspiring by lowlinesse of mind they pray his aide and helpe there in with comfort continuing vnder the same They appoynt no time for their release but paciently abide his lotted leysure They looke not on the present troubles but weigh their sinnes his decréed purpose and place as opposite to their aspect the ioye that is set before them They runne with patience the race for them appointed and despising the present shame they still endure the crosse alwayes looking to Iesus christ the authour finisher of their life They blesse those that curse them they loue their enemies and do good to all but their chiefe delight is to ioyne with the houshold of faith They challenge to themselues by nature confusion for sinne and shame for their infirmities and to God the father in Christ our Lord by the instinct of his holy spirit they attribute all honour and glory and forgetting their workes past assay to go forwards to the price set before them expressing thēselues by their good workes to be the Lords building who hath made them an holy habitation and a royall priesthode In hym they offer vp themselues for a spirituall sacrifice dayly yéelding forth the fruites of holy lippes to his priest and willing obedience to his holy will. They by the spirite desire not to followe but defie and kill the lustes of the flesh They fight against Sathan and his impes continually They beare an vnfained hate to alsuperstitious vanities They contemne and despise the beggerly ordinances of the wicked world disdayning to become bondslaues to sinne any more They reioyce in their deliuerance walke in the way of the lord with a sincere hart single mind Though slide they may eftsones by frayltie yet neuer flatte fall they by falshode from the Lord their god Lo these are they of whom our Zacharie speaketh and the Angell poynteth Joseph vnto whē he affirmeth Iesus to saue his people from their sinnes And all if these haue so many fraylties be of such weaknes that they cannot as they would or do as they should perfectly walke before the Lord Yet shall they not feare for his Christ is theirs with him they haue in him iustificatiō sanctification redemption and perfect wisedome By whose vertues and merites they are euer presented before God as a iust and holy people peculiar to the lord To these can come no condemnation or any accusation shal be admitted against thē nor any gilt procure sentence to their losse For it is the Lord that doth iustifie them Finally no power shall or can conuenting conuince them For they haue in their hartes the word which is Gods power to saluation And God him selfe standeth on their side for their defence So that it is more possible for light to become darknes good euill and euill good which neuer shall come to passe then that the Lordes people should not be deliuered from death or yet want the knowledge of their saluation Which knowledge teacheth them to féele in hart and find by truth that the same sauing health consisteth not in their remuneration but commeth of god for his Christs sake by full remission of and from all their sinnes The Lord graunt vs to labour so in his vineyarde which professe his name that we may be not called only but appeare in déede his chosen people Then shall we be sure of our deliuerance in Christ our Sauiour And thus much for these wordes his people in this present verse mentioned The third last branch of this verse is to consider by what meanes his people are brought to féel perceiue that their saluatiō doth consist in the remission geuen of god Namely by this that the same is made knowne to their consciences by the ministerie of the word preached vnto them For all if the price of Christes bloud bée they most soueraigne salue for mās sinne as by the which it is wholy washed away Yet onlesse the Church of God haue sence and perfect féeling hereof in her inward partes and depenesse of hart the same shall nothing profite her For the which cause Christ promiseth being once lift vp as the serpent in the wildernesse was to draw all men to looke and come to him by the instrument of fayth and to his heauenly father in that his most comfortable prayer a little before his death for the comfort of his elect he witnesseth that life eternall consisteth in the knowledge of God the father and Christ his Sonne Also reprouing the Iewes for their rebellion he chargeth their ignorance to bée the cause therof as also shewing his Disciples of their persecuted state perils to death affirmeth ignorance to be the forcing meane hereto This shal they do saith he because they neither know the father nor yet me Paule the Apostle testifieth this to be the meane to apprehend saluation euen to come to the knowledge of the truth Thereto he ioyneth it to the branch preceding saying God will haue all men to be saued and to come to the knowledge of the truth Lo a thing most incident to saluation is to haue knowledge of the truth To conclude who are they which are taught of god but his people And what are they taught of him but the truth of his word Which he writeth with his finger in their hartes as the scripture saith that they may be a knowing people and not ignorant as the Papistes teach but falsely the same to be the mother of deuotion But Christ sayth that ignorance is the mother of error which leadeth to damnation Behold now the scope of this Baptists office was to prepare the Iewish harts by the knowledge of their sinnes and repentance for the same to preuent Gods Iustice by fruitefull acceptation of the Gospell by Christ presently preached to haue him for there God and by him saluation and full deliuerance from their sinnes For the which cause the Angell also before to Zacharie adorned him with noble titles and not to him only doe they belong but to all the true preachers of God with him wherefore they are here of thée deare Reader the better to bée weighed as wordes that doe import the glory of his heauenly Embassage to thine earthly hart Hée is first sayd to bée full of the holy Ghost a thing most necessarie to bée in the true preacher of the word as without the same he can neither preach much lesse profite the people of the Lord. The Apostles from christ therfore receiued the fulnes of his spirit by portion to their aptnes power to execute their