goodnesse As pride is the beginning and originall of sinne Ecclesiasticus 10. 14. because iniquitie is nothing else but inequalitie and pride is most vniust attributing vnto it selfe too much vnto all other too little so contrariwise contented humblenesse is the Primer and as it were A. B. C. of our Christian Ethicks it is as Ambrose and Bernard write the mother vertue yea Custos sigilli magni the keeper of all Gods great seales graces without which his other gifts are rather curses then blessings to vs. It is an eminent grace for a man to speak with the tongues of Angels and so to transport other with the wind of words and flouds of eloquence whither he list and yet if learning be not seasoned with humilitie knowledge saith Paul puffeth vp and as Aristotle speaks it is armata iniustitia like a sword in a mad-mans hand Fasting that tames the bodie without humilitie makes proud the mind I fast twice in the weeke quoth the Pharisee Luke 18. 12. Almes are a sacrifice pleasing to God for he that giueth vnto the poore lendeth vnto the Lord yet if a Trumpet bee blowen and we giue meerly to be seen of men if we beare not our poore brethren in our bowels and bosome we shall haue no reward of our Father which is in Heauen Matth. 6. 1. And therefore Christ inculcates often this one lesson as well by patern as precept Learne of me for I am humble and meeke In the world ye shall haue affliction he that will follow me must of necessitie forsake himselfe and yet be of good cheere for there is no man that hath forsaken house or brethren or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my sake and the Gospels but he shall receiue an hundred fold now at this present houses and brethren and sisters and mothers and children and lands with persecutions and in the world to come eternall life I tell you that in the beginning which you shall find most true in the end Blessed are the poore in spirit For Blessed is the predicat of the proposition And there is a two-fold blessednesse Beatitudo viae and Beatitudo patriae blessednesse in this world and blessednesse in the next The poore in spirit haue the promises of both 1. Tim. 4. 8. The present happinesse is either outward and worldly or else inward and ghostly Outward as Psalme 132. 16. I will blesse her victuals with increase and I will satisfie her poore with bread And Psalme 144. 15. Happie are the people that be in such a case And Deut. 28. Blessed shalt thou be in the field and blessed in the citie blessed shall be the fruit of thy ground and the fruit of thy cattell the encrease of thy kine and the flocks of thy sheep These temporall and worldly blessings often accompany the meeke more then the proud because fortune as Charles the 5. told his sonne Is like a woman if shee be too much woed shee will be the farther off Howsoeuer it be godlinesse is great gaine and the poore in spirit want nothing as being content with any thing But the blessednesse promised by Christ here surpassing all worldly treasures and pleasures is inward and ghostly consisting in the riches of the mind and in a sweet contentation of the conscience which is a continuall feast and a daily Christmas whereby the poore in spirit are made lords and as it were tyrants ouer the whole world domineering ouer Iustices and laylour our Iudge and Iurie Treasons and murthers and felonies and other routs and riots inquired after at Sessions and Assises are bred of discontentment and pride But though all the Deuils in Hell and all their agents in earth and ayre combine themselues against one little one yet Qui vadit planè vadit sanè He that walkes vprightly walkes confidently The text will alway be found true They that put their trust in the Lord shall be euen as the mount Sion which may not be remoued but standeth fast for-euer But here we must obserue with incomparably learned Melancthon and other protestant diuines That in this and all other like places of holie Scripture where good works are commanded or commended in any that Christ is the sole cause of our happinesse Without me saith he you can doe nothing and without faith in him it is impossible to please God Heb. 11. 6. Our persons must be first reconciled vnto God hauing for Christs sake pardon of our sinnes and imputation of righteousnesse and then our workes shall be blessed and acceptable Psalme 32. 1. Blessed is the man whose vnrighteousnesse is forgiuen and whose sinne is couered Blessed that is iustified for iustification is blessednesse begun glorification blessednesse perfited It is a sweet saying of our Church Faith is the nest of good workes albeit our birdes be neuer so faire yet they will be lost except they be brought foorth in true beleefe The sparow hath found her an house and the swallow a nest where shee may lay her yong euen thine Altars O Lord Psalme 84. 3. Such as are true beleeuers hauing their vnrighteousnesse forgiuen and their sinne couered are blessed men and all their workes as being laied vpon Christs Altar are a sweet smelling sacrifice to God But saith Augustine Hereticks and Infidels in doing glorious acts and honorable deeds haue no where to lay their yong and therefore they must of necessitie come to nought as the fathers of our common Law speake Moritur actio cum persona their actions are damnable with their persons He which is poore in spirit is blessed he which is mercifull is blessed he which is a peace-maker is blessed But as our Diuines haue iudiciously noted against the Papists in all these Beatitudes a liuely Faith is presupposed according to that Apostolicall axiome Whatsoeuer is not of Faith is sinne The Saints of God are sealed inwardly with Faith as it is in our Epistle but outwardly with good works as in our Gospell To be poore in spirit to mourne to be mercifull are not causes but effects of our iustification as we commonly speake out of Bernard Via regni non causa regnaâ—…di For the followers of Christ are blessed not because they be poore in spirit but because theirs is the kingdome of Heauen That is the right exposition of the proposition Blessed are the poore in spirit Now the kingdome of Heauen in holie Scripture signifieth either the kingdome of grace which is heauen on earth or else the kingdome of glorie which is heauen in Heauen And both these belong vnto the poore in spirit Some construe this of the kingdome of grace because Christ saith expresly Luke 4. 18. The spirit of the Lord hath anoynted me that I should preach the Gospell vnto the poore he hath sent me that I should heal the broken hearted that I should preach deliuerance to the captiues and
recouering of sight to the blind that I should set at liberty them that are bruised And I am not come to call the righteous but the sinners to repentance And I giue thee thankes O Father Lord of Heauen and earth because thou hast hid these things from the wise and men of vnderstanding and hast opened them vnto babes The carnal wise Credentes oculo magis quâ—…m oraculo rely more vpon their fiue senses then the foure Euangelists and therfore because they can not find a reason of naturall things they make to themselues false gods and because they can not find a reason of supernaturall things they denie the true God The curious while they desire to know what they should not are not able to coÌ„ceiue what they should by dyuing too much into the subtleties of reason they forget often the principles of Religion As wholsome Lawes are lost many times in the cases of the law so Religion it selfe is lost among Sophisters in the questions of Religion It was the Serpent that first opened Adams eyes and enticed him to prie into the secrets of God Our care therefore said Luther must be to shut vp our eyes againe that we seeke not ambitiously to see more then almighty God would haue vs to know Christ would haue vs to bring Faith and humilitie to his schoole leauing our arguments at home Non vult nos esse curistas quaristas He resisteth the proud and giues grace to the humble The poore receiue the Gospell as it is in our text Theirs is the kingdome of Heauen But other expositors vnderstand this of that incorruptible crowne of glorie for as this world seemes to be made for the presumptuous and proud so that other only for the humble and meeke It is Theirs and that in present Is and it is a kingdome and that a kingdome of Heauen According to the tearmes of our common Law there be two sorts of Freeholds A Freehold in deed when a man hath entred into lands or tenements and is seised thereof actually and really A Freehold in law when a man hath right to lands or tenements but hath not yet made his actuall entrie Now the kingdome of Heauen is our Freehold in law though as yet while we liue we can not actually be seised thereof It is ours as being prepared for vs by God the Father It is ours as being purchased in our behalfe by God the Sonne It is ours as being assured to our spirit by God the holie Ghost Rom. 8. 16. 17. We haue now right to this inheritance Habemus ius adrem as Melancthon acutely nondum in re Or as Augustine and other of the fathers vsually the kingdome of Heauen is ours alreadie Non in re sed in spe The Scripture saith as much in plaine tearmes We are saued by blessed hope which is immoueable without wauering Fides intâ—…etur verbum rei spes verò rem verbi Rom. 5. 2. Thorough our Lord Iesus Christ we haue accesse by Faith vnto this grace wherein we stand and reioice vnder the hope of the glorie of God And we may well vnder hope reioice seeing our reward when our fight is finished is no lesse then a kingdome The citizens of Tyrus are described by the Prophet Esay to haue been companions vnto Nobles and Princes but in that heauenly Hierusalem euery burgesse by his second birth is the brother of a king the sonne of a king and himselfe a king hauing in token hereof a triumphant palme in his hand and a golden crowne on his head And this kingdome is not a fading inheritance but a kingdome of Heauen an immortall and euerlasting life Men on earth haue Life but it is full of trouble and of small continuance not euerlasting The damned in Hell haue an eternall being but because they can not moue but are perpetually tyed vnto their torments it is not a Life but a death Only the rich in grace the poore in spirit shall haue when this world hath his end an euerlasting Life without end Tell O man what thou most earnestly desirest Is there any thing thou louest bettter then life Is there any life better then a blessed life Is there any blessed life without hope here and hold hereafter of euerlasting life Yet all these things and more then I can vtter or you conceiue are prepared and reserued for such as are poore in spirit for theirs is the kingdome of Heauen Preached at Maydston Assises Iuly 28. 1614. vpon the request of my much honoured and worthily beloued friend and kinsman Sir Anthonie Aucher Knight high Sherife of Kent Almightie God which hast knit together thy elect in one communion and fellowship in the mysticall bodie of thy Sonne Christ our Lord Graunt vs grace so to follow thine holie Saints in all vertuous and godly liuing that we may come to those vnspeakable Ioyes which thou hast prepared for them that vnfaynedly loue thee thorough Iesus Christ our Lord. Amen a Proaem com in Esa. epist. Paulin. tom 3. fol. 9. Non prophetiam videtur texere sed Euangelium b Cap. 7. 14. c Cap. 9. 6. d Cap. 53. vers 3. 4. 5. 6. e Cap. 53. vers 8 f Musculus Hyperius Caluin in loc g Luke 2. 25. h 2. Cor. 1. 3. i Tertullian cont Marcian lib. 4. cap. 33. Cyril cat 3. August de Io. Baptist ser. 1. k Psal. 74. 1. 10. l Caluin m Psalm 68. 11. n Musculus Caluin o Geneuaglosse p 1. Pet. 54. q Rom. 4. 18. r Hyperius Musculus s Ecclesiast 3. 1. t Esay 58. 1. u Esay 5. x Amos 6. 1. y Philip. 3. 19. z Ezech. 33. 11. a Luke 3. 9. b Ionas 3. c Psalm 42. 9. d Esay 61. e Caluin f Musculus g Hyperius Dan. Arcularius h Ecclesiastes 12. 11. i Ieremy 23. 29. k Hierom Vatablus Caluin l Psalm 32. 1. m Esay 57. 21. n Socrates o Cap. 4. vers 18. See Ribera in loc p Musculus q Vatablus Arcularius r Hierom Hyperius Castalion s Caluin t Musculus in loc Idem Caluin Iâ—…stit lib. 3 cap. 4 §. 33. u Esay 27. 8. x Psalm 103. 13 y Abacuc 3. 2. z Cap. 10. ver 24 a Caluin in Esai 27. 8. b 1. Cor. 10. 13. c Psalm 103. 14. d Matth. 3. 3. Mark 1. 3. Luk. 3. 4. Ioan. 1. 23. e Melanc in Ioan. 1. See D. Abbots sermon at the funerall of Thomas Earle of Dorset pag. 2. f Psalm 146. 2. g 1. Epist. 1. 24. h Caluin i Arcularius in loc k Matth. 6. 29. l Plin. nat hist. lib. 7. cap. 7. m Idem n Ibid. Matth. Paris in Ric. 1. o Sr. Ric. Barckley discourse of felicity lib. 5. pag. 450. p Philip. Com mi. hist. lib. 8. cap. 18. q Eox Mart. fol. 1731. r Walsingham in Hen. 5. pag. 444 Idem Paradinus in sym bol pag.
is length of daies and in his left hand riches and glory Both hands of the Lord were so with Iohn the Baptist as that it was no wonder if al men wondered at him The first part of Zacharies hymne concerning Christ and his kingdome is expounded in the Liturgie tit the Benedictus The latter touching Iohn the Baptist and his office Gosp. Sun 3. 4. in Aduent The Epistle ACTS 12. 1. At the same time Herod the King stretched forth his hands to vex certaine of the Congregation c. THis Chapter containeth a relation of Herods bloody life in Killing Iames the brother of Iohn with the sword Imprisoning Peter terrible death an Angel of the Lord smote him in the middest of his pride because he gaue not glory vnto God so that hee was eaten vp of wormes and gaue vp the ghost I am to treate of Saint Iames martyrdome vpon his proper holy day that which especially concernes our present festiuall is S. Peters imprisonment Wherein according to the record of S. Luke two things are more chiefly remarkable to wit his Durance by Herods cruelty in apprehending and taking him aggrauated by circumstances of the cause why for that it pleased the Iewes time when in the daies of sweet bread holding and keeping him fast 1. Hee put him in prison 2. He deliuered him to foure quaternions of souldiers to be kept 3. Hee caused him to bee bound with two chaines 4. He set keepers and a double watch ouer him Deliuerance by Gods mercy wherein also note the Motiues praier with out ceasing of the congregation Meane an Angell of the Lord. Manner a light shined c. Bâ—…cause he sâ—…w it pleased the Iewes Herod persecuted the Saints of God not out of any hatred to Christs gospell or any loue to Moses lâ—…w but only to serue his own turne namely to please the people So Pilat to content the Iewes as it is apparent in the gospels history quit 〈◊〉 a notable prisoner Math. 27. 16. a notorious murtherer Mark 15. 7. but scourged Iesus and deliuered him into their hands to be crucified albeit he did openly confesse that he was a iust man in whom he could finde no fault at all Iohn 19. 4. So Felix willing to get fauour of the Iewes left Paul bound Acts 24. 28. It is a base sinne in a subiect to be made his Princes instrument in any wicked designe as Ioab was king Dauids agent in murthering Vriah the Hittite and the nobles of Iezreel Ahabs and Iezebels instruments in killing Naboth for his Vineyard But it is a most vnworthy thing for a Prince to flatter and to follow his subiects in their giddie courses for ordinarily the people walke not in the best but in the beaten way non qua eundum est sed qua itur It is a good obseruation that popular and military dependence in noble men to make them great are like Iâ—…arus two wings which were ioyned on with waxe they will happily for a while mount them aloft and then faile them at the height It is therefore better to stand vpon two feet then to flye vpon two wings the two feet are the two kinds of Iustice Commutatiâ—…e and Distributiue for great men shall grow greater if they will aduance merit and relieue wrongs The scriptures are plentifull in this argument If sinners entise thee consent not thou shalt not follow a multitude to doe euill Blessed is the man that hath not walked in the counsell of the vngodly nor stood in the way of sinners c. If sayd Paul I should yet please men I were not the seruant of Christ and therefore let Princes and Prelats also take heed that they be not too popular in their courses alway remembring the words of Peter and Iohn Acts 4. 19. Whether it be right in the sight of God to harken vnto you more then vnto God iudge yee 2 From hence we may learne that the wicked accord in doing mischiefe though otherwise they be most opposite The Sadduces Herodians and Pharisâ—…es were Sectaries of diuerse and aduerse factions all differing one from another and yet all these ioyned together against Christ Math. 22. The Libertines and Cyreneans and Alexandrians and Câ—…licians and Asians disputed against S. Stephen Acts 6. The Macedonians Arrians and Eunomians had confused language like the Giants in old time who built the tower of Babel and yet in malice they were lincked against the true Catholicks Herod neither loued the Iewes nor the Iewes Herod yet both agree to vex the Church according to that in the second Psalme The kings of the earth stand vp and the rulers take counsell together against the Lord and against his anointed and therefore that Wisedome may be iustified of all her children let vs which are true Christians endeuour to keepe the vnity of the spirit in the bond of peace being of one heart and of one soule of one accord and of one iudgement that as there is a society of Iesuits a family of Anabaptists a brotherhood of Scismaticks euen so to confront all these let there be still a communion of Saints and a perpetuall holy league in truth against all such as trouble Gods Israel See Gospell Sun 18. 23. after Trinity Then were the dayes of sweet bread The feast of vnleauened bread was instituted by Moses according to Gods owne direction and afterward repeated by Duke Iosua and from his time celebrated by Gods people solemnely till this day This circumstance then aggrauates the bloody sinne of Herod who did not abstaine from his mischeuous enterprises on a feast so high and holy The Iewes obserued their Easter in abstayning from leauened bread the mystery whereof and morall as Paul teacheth is that we should purge the old leauen of sinne that corrupteth and sowreth all the sweetnes of our life before God and become a new lump voyd of the leauen of malitiousnes and wickednes but Herod here contrariwise sowred the whole dough with his leauen of mischiefe and malice Againe from hence we further obserue Herods hypocrisie who seemed to reuerence the feast in such sort that he would not slay Peter in the dayes of sweet bread and yet he caught him and put him in prison and deliuered him to foure quaternions of souldiers to be kept intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people so the chiefe priests who gaue Iudas Iscariot thirty peeces of siluer to betray Christ afterward sayd it was the price of blood and therefore not lawfull for vs to put them into the treasurie so the Pharisees strayned out a gnat and swallowed vp a camell so the popish Monks hold it an honester thing for a priest to be entangled with many concubines in secret then openly to be ioyned in mariage with one wife He put him in prison Foure things increase the miseries of a man in custodie the
mouth of his holy Prophets I haue beene sought of them that asked not I was found of them that sought me not he calleth vs before we call on him The 2. grace is sanctification and sanctified such as are called are by nature the children of wrath as well as other it is in vaine therefore to be called that is stirred and moued to receiue the faith vnlesse we be sanctified Iames 2. 14. What auaileth it my brethren though a man saith he hath faith when he hath no workes Herod seemed to be called and somewhat inwardly touched but he would not forsake his secret sinne of incest in keeping his brothers wife Simon Magus was baptized and so called but hee was not sanctified to leaue his gainefull sinne of couetousnes Iudas as being an Apostle was called and yet hee was a diuell and many deceiue themselues who thinke hearing of the word to be sufficient without doing Iames 1. 22. A sheepe resembleth a true Christian euery thing in a sheepe is good and vsefull his fleece is good his fell is good his flesh is good his entrals yea his excrements are good and so the sanctified Christian is a seruant vnto all the seruants of God euery good gift in him is profitable to some he lendeth his fleece cloathing the naked to some his bread in feeding the hungrie to some he lendeth his eyes and so becommeth a guide to the blinde to some he lendeth his strength and so becommeth feete to the lame to some he lendeth his vnderstanding and so becommeth an instructor of the simple he becommeth as Paul speakes all things vnto all men that hee may winne some vnto Chtist In this point of doctrine the Papists haue slandered vs exceedingly saying that our diuines in preaching of faith haue destroyed good workes whereas we professe that our calling is fruitles without holines of life See Epistle 2. Sun in Lent Preserued in Iesus Christ As it is in vaine to be called first vnlesse we be sanctified so likewise to be sanctified vnlesse we may be kept and preserued in Iesu Christ not to lose our sanctification Our life is a continuall warre-fare vpon earth and therefore though we be called outwardly and sanctified in some part inwardly yet the Dragon and his Angels fight against vs daily that we may fall from faith and hope receiued that wee may turne the grace of God into want onnesse like the dogge returned to his owne vomit and the sow that was washed to the wallowing in the mire and so end in the flesh howsoeuer we began in the spirit Demas fell away from the Gospell embracing the present world many are called but few chosen Mat. 20. 16. It behoueth vs therefore continually to pray that Christ Iesus the great shepheard of our soules may hold vs in his hands from the griping pawes and grinding Iawes of the roaring Lyon who goeth about daily seeking whom he may deuoure And surely such as are giuen vnto Christ effectually called and truly sanctified shall bee preserued to the end Zerubbabel did both lay the foundation of the temple and finish it so God will establish and make perfect his worke begun in vs Psalm 68. 28. Hee that hath begun this worke of our saluation will also performe it Philip. 1. 6. I know Gods elect may for a time lose some good meanes and some great measure of grace too Dauid and Aaron and Peter and other haue fallen foully yea fully but none finally God is more watchfull in helping vs then Satan is or can bee wrathfull in hurting vs. He which is the father of mercies giueth vs preuenient grace subsequent grace cooperant grace grace before grace and grace after grace keeping vs by his power thorough faith and preseruing vs to his heauenly kingdome It is not of our selues that we perseuere thus vnto the end and in the end it is the power of God who giueth as our Apostle sheweth here grace first to be called secondly to be sanctified thirdly to be reserued or preserued in Iesu Christ. Mercy vnto you and peace and loue be multiplied Mercy from God the father in the forgiuenes of your sinnes Peace in Christ in feeling this forgiuenes Loue in the holy Ghost in being assured of Gods grace toward vs euery day more and more Mercie from God the father of Mercie Peace from God the sonne the Prince of peace Loue from God the holy Ghost the loue of the father and the sonne Mercy in pardoning your sinnes Peace in quieting your conscience Loue ioyning you to God and one to another or hee wiâ—…eth encrease of Gods mercy toward them and a multiplication of their peace and loue toward one another That their sinnes may be forgiuen he prayes for Gods mercy that they may forgiue other men their trespasses he prayes for peace that both these may be multiplied in them he prayes for loue First he begins with Gods mercy which is the fountaine of euery good and perfect gift if wee taste of his mercy we shall soone be filled with his other graces he that hath enough mercy can want nothing For as Samsons chiefe strength was in his haire so Gods chiefe vertue in his mercy Mercy good Lord is the total summe in the humble suite of a sinner O Lord haue mercy vpon vs miserable sinners is the first petition and the grace of our Lord Iesus Christ is the last in our Liturgie When I gaue all diligence Here S. Iude begins to prescribe his Salue which is an exhortation to contend earnestly for the faith and the causes mouing him to write this vnto the Saints are two 1. His duty when I gaue all diligence to write vnto you of the common saluation c. 2. Their danger because they nourished certaine seducers as serpents in their owne breasts whom hee describes by their sinne in generall verse 4. shewing their hypocriticall entring into the Church craftily crept in vngodly carriage being entred In their life turning the grace of God into wantonnesse In their doctrine denying God which is the only Lord and our Lord Iesus Christ. In particular from the 4. verse to the 17. Punishment of olde ordained to this condemnation and so S. Iude describes these wicked impostors and false brethren as Pope Celestine did his successor Bonifacius the 8. Ascendisti vt vulpes craftily crept in regnabis vt leo denying God and turning his grace into wantonnesse morieris vt canis of old ordained to this condemnation The Gospell IOHN 15. 17. This command I you that ye loue together c. CHrist in this Gospell is said to doe three things especially 1. He doth exhort his followers vnto mutuall loue 2. He comforts them against the worlds hatred 3. He promises to send vnto them the holy Ghost who being the comforter and the spirit of loue may both instruct them how to loue together and how to suffer affliction in the world Of