preuail by his equal ominnipotent power with the father and likewise was it requisite he should bee man that beeing like to his brethren in al respectes sinne excepted hee might haue a full experience of all the infirmities wherewith man is beset Neyther did Christ what hee did and endured onely in that proportion as hee is the head and the Church his body the head with the body mystically but truely so called but also in the dayes of his flesh he and only he satisfied the Law and that by his personal and proper satisfaction and sacrifice wee are redeemed from the Law ransomed from the curse Into this his office vnder heauen nothing must intrude The Pelagian the Iewe the Papist will finde it a matter of greater charge and cost than our impure nature or the impossible Law or our imperfect works can defray and perfourme All abilities congruities dignities cōdignities wel-willing or our best woorking can neuer make vs Sonnes and when we are Sonnes we are thereby heires not of a first supposed iustification alone but heires of al that foloweth after euen of saluation in heauen The fraction of two iustifications is a fond diuisiō a false that frappet or fraction of two iustifications and of double inheritaunces is but a puppet of Papistes deuising as if Christes office should haue bin to deliuer vs first that wee might be redeemers of our selues afterward No no. For we men bring neuer a farding to the paiment neither of our first as they call it nor as we speak to our full and finall redemption and namely to our saluation to life euerlasting which is Rom. 6.23 the gift of God S. Paul could haue made the diuision if it had bin a right diuision partly to God partly to mā if Christ could haue parted stakes in a matter of such importance that brought him being very God from the top of heauen and the bozom of his father that he might be the only giuer and we but the receauers of our redemption from the Lawe and adoption to be Sonnes 6 And because yee are Sonnes God hath sent the spirit of his sonne into your harts which crieth Abba Father 7 Wherefore thou art no more a seruaunt but a sonne nowe if a sonne then also the heire of God through Iesus Christ The working of the trinitie in the saluation of man and in the assurance thereof In the woork of our happy redemption see the gracious goodnes of the holy Trinity by al means woorking a cleare vnderstanding in vs that we may know and acknowledge both what wee are and by whom The father sendeth the spirit euen the spirit of his sonne into our hartes Wherein we see and obserue the euident * distinction of the persons and therein the Scriptures are plaine that the persons are three distinctly 1. The Father 2. The Sonne 3. The Holy Ghost 1. The Father who gaue his Sonne sent his spirit 2. The Sonne who gaue himselfe And 3. whose the spirit is euen the spirite proceeding from the Father and the Sonne and these three are one In sense I can distinguish many things that in nature differ not for example The yee the snow and the water and yet all these three are of one substance and of a watrie nature But neither sense nor reason can deal in these cases it is our Creede There is a blessed Trinity in a sacred Vnity Quod lego credo I reade it in Scripture and therefore beleeue it in heart and leaue off to reason whereof I cannot and I may not reason Well God sent the spirite of his Sonne into the hartes of vs his sonnes * Sonnes by nature and sonnes by adoption So that hee is the Sonne and we the sonnes of God hee by nature and we by adoption through Christ whereupon the Apostle maketh these collections If we bee sonnes and sonnes of a ripe iudgement out of our nonage and wardship of the Law farewell al seruile feare nay because wee are sonnes God hath sent his spirite which crieth in our hartes that which a carnall heart could neuer bring foorth Abba Father And because wee are Sonnes by consequent wee are heires but how Through Christ Sonnes through Christ Heires through Christ sealed and settled with that prerogatiue and most singular priuilege of the holye spirite of Christ The Papist like an Atheist iesteth at the spirit of God in the sonnes of God but what marueil if men laugh at that they knowe not what it meaneth But if they were the children of God and inheritours of heauen they might know that they are not Christes who want his spirite euen this crying spirit The certainty of saluation most assured by the spirit of God and other infallible grounds Heb. 4. A wauering minde hath a stammering tongue in the case of his saluation But the spirit of christ crieth and hath an audible voice in the cōsciences of Christians The Ankerite speaketh simperingly hollowly as it were with the mouth of death out of his grate but the spirit openeth and culargeth our harts and forceth foorth a bold and a free confession and therein wee haue accesse euen as Gods deere Children vnto the throne of grace and not vnto a terrible consistory or tribunall of feare but a most gracious Father and mercifull God Alas alas Popery flyeth after butterflies and beateth the aire and aimeth at vncertainties alas it knoweth neither the right meanes nor the perfect certainty of mans saluation But brethren faith is a sure ground Hope is an infallible anker with God there is no variablenes his promises are all yea and Amen his spirit doth not speake but * Rom. 8. cry thus much in our harts Neither is it an vncertaine sound or a false alarum it is the cry of his spirite I could dilate and I haue debated these things in a treatise of Nature and Grace which you haue in you handes and therefore I referre you thereunto where purposely I haue refuted their chiefest argumentes which either Master Stapleton or Pigghius both being chiefe Papists haue brought in this matter greeuing the spirit of God as much as in them lieth The spirit resēbled to a seale whereby we are sealed vnto the day of our redemption I say whereby we are sealed For therby are we sealed and this seale is set and imprinted on the harts of Christians To an ernest penny The spirite is also called an earnest penny a perfect assurance of a greater sum and a ful payment which shal be discharged in heauen To an inunctiō Likewise it is termed an inunction the annointing of God whereby we are inaugurated and destrinated to an infallible inheritance certainly reserued in the hands of a strong keeper against that famous day of our redemption And therefore they who are Sonns are Heires and they who are Heires shal inherit So saith nay so crieth the spirit Papistes seeke to infirme this faith to weaken our hope to
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Onely expect we in patience the Lordes leasure knowing assuredly that God wil make vs a forth and a way amids al temptations Neither wil hee suffer his children to be tempted aboue their measure Dauid had his Goliath Sampson his Lion to encounter with God knew the measure of Dauids courage and Sampsons strength Physitions giue the strongest potions to the strongest bodies And health is most acceptable after the greatest sicknes And the ioy of the sick soule is then enlarged when it returneth after sorrowe and then is the cry of the spirite heard with a quicker sense when for a while it had not beene heard at al. And thus much for the consequent that because we are sonnes wee are therefore endued with his spirite assuring vs though not euer alike Rom. 9. that we are his sonnes and heires because it crieth and certifieth our harts that God through Christ is become our father 8 But euen then when ye knew not God yee did seruice vnto them which by nature are not Gods 9 But now seeing yee know God yea rather are knowen of God how turne yee againe vnto impotent and beggerly rudiments wherunto as from the beginning yee wil be in bondage againe 10 Yee obserue daies and moneths and times and yeares 11 I feare of you least I haue bestowed on you labour in vaine The best way of discerning is euer to compare matters times persons causes condicions and circumstances together Paul taketh this course and sheweth them 1. What they were they knew not God c. 2. What they are they know God or rather are knowen of God c. 3. And therefore their relapse is strange to the beggerly Elementes and thereupon hee feareth their greater danger to ensue The effectes of Ignorance The condicion and state wherein the Galathians liued was in ignoraunce and liuing in ignorance of the liuing God they serued them which by nature were no Gods For certes if they had knowen the true God they woulde haue serued him Ioh. 4. The woman of Samaria if she had known with whom she talked as Christ requested water of hir so would shee haue craued of him the waters of eternal life Mat. 25. The wise Virgins had their entrance with the bride and haue their due commendation for they were wise But the folish virgins though virgins yet because they were fooles and ignorant reaped the sour fruit of their security are reputed thereafter were excluded when the bride was entred Ephes 2. The Ephesians to whom our Apostle writeth the next Epistle what were they How liued they Read the second chapter They folowed the sway of this sinful woorld Sathan ledde the dance hee went before and they thronged after their whole conuersation was altogether in the lusts and wil of the flesh Aske yee the reason They were Aliants from the common wealth of Israel they were strangers from the couenant of the promise they were in the same case were these Galathians and al the Gentils else they had no hope and were very Atheists that is men without God Aske yee why they were Atheists why they hoped not why they trusted not in God The answere is easie and was laide downe in the woordes before because they were strangers and vnacquainted with gods promises Testimonies and Lawes because they were Aliantes from the statutes and ordinances of his church and common wealth because in one woord they knew not God therefore they serued false Gods and by name Diana and cried out like man men Acts. 19. Magna est Diana Ephesiorum Great is Diana the Goddes of the Ephesians Read the thirteenth and the fourteenth Chapters of Wisedom and you should see it vouched that many inconueniences specially Idolatry and the seruice of strange gods and very Idols came in by Ignorance And were mens eies in their heads and their sight cleared and enabled so as to discerne but indifferently it were impossible that the wicked inuention the doctrine of lying the discipline of vanity the multitude of Idolatrous seruices shoulde so preuaile and that men shoulde serue as God that which is incomparably woorse than man that man made by his creation after the Image of God shoulde creepe to a materiall crosse gad to a shrine say my father to a peece of wood yea that a man purposing to saile the Seas should call vpon a stocke and a rotten Roode more rotten than the vessel that carieth him But ignorance is the mistres the mother and the nurse of this deuotion or rather superstition Rom. 4.21 The Romanes because they knewe not God they glorified him not but became vnthankful vanishing away in their Imaginations And why Their foolish harts were ful of dareknesse And being fooles they turned the glory of God into the similitude of innumerable increadible and corruptible vanities In this state at the first were the Romans the Ephesians the Galathians c. And al through ignorance I could dilate and be long and enter disputation with our known and neerest aduersaries because of their introducing and bringing in because of their maintenance and supportation of intolerable Ignorance and Idolatry I know they haue shiftes and distinctions curiously wrought but spiders webs cannot holde out winde or weather The worshipping of Images The ignorant is ignorant hee knoweth not the difference they vainely make of Douly and Latry and Hyperdouly and it is a toy and greeke as we say to the people And it is greeke indeede and that to the English man that knoweth nothing but his owne language And in his ignorance hee creepeth and croucheth lifteth vp handes and falleth downe and adoreth all the Images in their Temples and knoweth litle God knoweth what these sorry proportions and terms meane I aske you do you know them Douly Latry Hyperdouly I know you know them not O learne to know God and thou will worship God alone and in such sort as himselfe hath prescribed But liue in Ignoraunce and straite thou rangest inordinately and seruest straunge gods euen as the children of Israel when the onely God had wrought their strong delyuerance yet sacrificed and gaue the praise thereof euen to a Calfe that eateth hey And say not say not brethren that you you serue not strange gods for all this The Israelites sayde they worshipped God when they adored a Calfe you say you worship God when you fal downe before the Image of the father before the picture of his sonne or of his Saintes but they worshipped strange gods notwithstanding and so doe you in that you worshippe God after a straunge manner which is not Gods-worshippe but a wil-worship and an idol of your owne deuising and that expresly against the scriptures and all for want of true knowledge and by reason of ignorance The making of Images Moses conuenting the people of Israel togither commandeth on gods behalfe on this wise In the day the Lord spake vnto you out of the mids of the fier in
question therein The motiue of Succession Now for the extent of persecution did it liue die in their persons Our aduersaries would fain holde and maintaine by succession the goodnes of their relligion I knowe they knowe that they cannot shew neither orderly beginning nor vnbroken continuance for the matters we charge them with But coulde they prooue a prolonged race what then * Hard. detect Pag. 217. a. Must we then seeke our faith in the Romish comperts A scrole of names is a sory proofe to proue a truth in doctrine Cain killed Abell so did hee so doth he still Ismael mocked Isaack so doth he euer since till this day Persecutors draw after them a long taile and descent of a continued line in euill Wherefore succession is no firme argument to inferre their errors or to infirme our truth The wicked haue it most the good may misse it manie times What did it profit Cham that he was the sonne of Noe or Absolon that holy Dauid was his father Learning Wit Eloquence muchlesse godlinesse goe not by descent in a right line Aristippus was a fine cunning Courting Philosopher which may better beseeme Philosophy than Diuinity but his sonne was a very loute Demosthenes was most eloquent in the grauest kinde but his Sonne was too too rude Cicero was both wise and eloquent and yet his son was a very sot Ely of himselfe except in cockering vp of his children was no euill man but his Sonnes degenerated and were as the Sonnes of Belial Naturally man is naught and therefore a natural succession in persons cannot be good by nature and which is to be noted succession in the place and in the room of predecessors addeth no sanctity and holines Numb 32. Numb 32. Behold you are risen vp an increase of sinnefull men insteede of your Fathers Behold likewise the pleasant valley of Sodome was changed into Surphur Salt Pits of Brimstone and the like stincking matter Oye generation of vipers saith our Sauiour to the Pharisies who sate in the place which God had chosē reprouing them both because they were vipers and because they were a generation euen SVCCESSIVELY a venemous race The motiue of Antiquity Pa. Supra 42. Againe our Aduersaries claime by antiquitie but doe you not see the elder brother persecuting the younger the elder brother killing Abel the elder brother selling young Ioseph into the hands of strangers And euen so is it nowe as it was of old But of this Motiue more before And note also that it is the lot of the best both to bee interrupted 1. in their continuance while the badde produce out whole generations and then 2. to be the yongest in their beginnings and lastly 3. to be euil intreated euen of their brethren 3 The thirde difference betwixt the children which I obserued was the right the obtaining of their inheritance wherein is set forth that the bond woman by name with her brat for their intolerable brables at the fast were shut out of dores and cast as it were out of the the Arke of Abrahams family Cain complaineth findeth fault that he was as a rough stone cast out of the hande of God to bee a vagabond vpon the face of the earth Agar also and Ismael of whom we speake betoke them to their portions but such portions are * Gen. 21. soone spent and in the anguish of soule they were a cōfortlesse couple and cried out for want which was a pattern of farder distres For though the chaffe for a time growe in the field and rest in the mow and lie in the flower in greater quantity than the good graine yet after fanning time the chaffe shal be cast out into the fire and the corne shal be receaued into the Lordes euerlasting garners While they were in prosperity who but Agar against Sara Ismael against his brother the Iews against the Gentils The chaffe exceedeth the corne and the corne seemeth to be but chaffe But that day is neuer intirely faire that endeth in a wette raine Ismaels scoffing iollity commeth to nothing Isaac obtaineth the promise and tarieth with his father and inioyeth the inheritance and Ismaels pleasureable waters of many frumpes and sundry delights runne all into the salt Sea receiue a bitter end and onely Isaac inioyeth that inheritance Now looke ye to it saith the Apostles exhortation of whether Testament of whether Hierusalem of whether Mother of whether Mountain of Agar or Sara of Sinay or Sion will ye be Will yee bee Ismaelites or Isaackes With Moses or Christ alone will you Christians hold Will you tarry in the house and inioy the inheritance or be cast out of doores CHAP. V. 1 STAND fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made vs free be not intangled againe with the yoke of bondage 2 Behold I Paul say vnto you that if ye be circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing 3 For I testifie againe to euery man which is circumcised that hee is bound to keepe the whole Law 4 Yee are abolished from Christ whosoeuer are iustified by the Law ye are fallen from Grace 5 For wee through the spirite wait for the hope of righteousnes through faith 6 For in Iesus Christ neither circumcision auaileth any thing neither vncircumcision but faith which worketh by Loue. The happy condicion of a true Christian THE case of a christian man stādeth thus The horror of death the terror of hel the suttlety of sinne the frailty of the fleshe the might of the world the power of Sathan haue naught to doe with him For why the fauor of God the comfort of the spirit the merit of the son the force of faith the nature of hope doe swallowe vp all those former enimies and terrible inuasions For are we not a royal race children of choice sons of the promise wheritours with Isaack a freed and a free people manumitted from the Law and set at liberty by Christ Iohn 8.36 Whom the sonne freed they are free without question The apostle hath inculcated this heauenly doctrine both in plain words often likewise by sundry parables as also by certain special euentes in the family of Abraham and thereupon he willeth the Galathians to bee wise and couragious to mainteine their liberty to stand to it yea to die in the quarell A million of liues were well lost in such a cause and yet not lost but well and wisely laide forth This liberty is no humane freedome as from the Turkes Gallies or Spaniards Mines or such like Aegyptian Slauery but a liberty of conscience from a spiritual thrall and euerlasting damnation Christianitie is not made as Lincy-Wolsey of diuerse matters The purchase of this liberty as wee say cost whot water nay my brethren it cost the shedding of the precious bloode of the sonne of God and of the Lord of glory and therefore stand to it saith Paul quit your selues like men loose not this liberty entangle not
is he therefore the wiser man The flagellant Friar may whip himselfe the whipping Iesuit may scourge himselfe Baals Priestes may cut themselues and others may be whipt cut scourged of others all these bee no marks that can make the cause good but the good cause sanctifieth those markes that men inflict vpon vs for righteousnes sake Wherefore argue not of prosperity for it is seldome found neither yet argue of the markes of aduersity without discretion except your cause be as Pauls was for though they be more common to most of the godly yet they are not euer necessary nor alwaies proper 18 Brethren the grace of our Lord Iesus Christ be with your spirit Amen The entrance into this Epistle was not hard the end is easie the middle hath beene as you haue heard and al to set foorth the Grace of God which is almost the first and last woorde of the whole wishing them and euen to their spirites a liuely feeling of his Grace which quickneth the soule And heere why shoulde I dilate or driue and sleek out that which is without pleats and plaine in it selfe and which hath beene laide open more than once already I know the Lombar Thomas Aqui. c. Sarcerius in dict scholasta Pelbartus in Rosareo aureo Schoole-men in steede of diuiding the various significations of this word Grace they break it into shiuers and beat it into pouder and neuer make an end In few and generally Grace is no way Grace that is not euery way gratiously graunted and freely giuen and it may bee offered where it may be refused But where God wil bestow it it shal be receaued Grace In special first the Grace of God is the fauor of the father 2. The Grace of the spirit is the operation of the holy Ghost 3. The grace of Christ is the merit of the sonne and the mystery of his passion And these three go al together and are neuer asunder And these three brethren beeing thoroughlie known and beleeued and laid to hart in a full and certain assuraunce of the spirit not swimming in the quick conceat of an imagining head and gliding vp and down in a slippery tongue but felt in the soule and setled by faith in the inward fruition of the secret parts what comfort work they not They quiet the conscience they pacifie the mind they order the whole tenour of a Christian conuersation in euery good way The feare of the Law hath not these effectes And therefore Paul especially wisheth the Galathians the Grace of Christ Ciuil salutatiō It was an ancient custom among the Gentils to subscribe their letters with an ordinary wish as of SAFETY and HEALTH c. And wee * Dion Nicaeus in vita Tiberi◠reade that when Tiberius the emperour had receaued letters from the Magistrates of Rhodes and by some negligence the customary subscription was omitted hee sent for them and caused them to set vnto their letters their vsuall wishes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and to subscribe their letters as the vsage was Christian wishes I note as meaning not to note any farther matter of dict culty in this Epistle that our Apostle and so the rest of the Apostles wisely admitting the ciuil vsage of salutations yet with some amendment reducing all to the center and ground-work of all our doings and deriuing all from the fiest head he and they also wish Grace Mercy Peace Health and Saluation Health of Body Saluation of Soule and Safety of both and that not at a-ventures they knowe not from whom but certainly from the right spirite of all Grace euen from God thorough Christ our Iesus and onely Sauiour And thus the Apostle endeth And now I hope with your good leaue with this ende I may end and betake my selfe to a doubled charge nearer home and at home My deare friends and good Brethren of Abington Fare you wel I can but wish vnto you as to my selfe O Lord and Gracious Father let thine Apostle Pauls wish and praier take place among this people The Grace of Christ Iesu be with you al and with your spirit for euer more Amen NVMB. 6.24 The Lord blesse you and keepe you the Lorde make his face to shine vpon you and bee mercifull vnto you The lord lift vp his countenance vpon you giue you his PEACE FINIS
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
call Gods promises into question and with out-cries to confound the cry of the spirit But thou who art the Sonne of God in thy bozome in thy brest in thy heart thou hast thou bearest a spirit that defieth and crieth out vpon all doubtfulnes and Popish dispaire In the seuenth chapter of Toby Toby 5 when young Tobyas came to Ecbatane and after questioning Raguel had learned that he was old Tobyas his sonne Raguel leaped and kissed him and blessed him and saide vnto him Thou art the sonne of a good and honest man If Raguel did this in respect of Tobyas parentage why doe not our aduersaries as Raguel did and what shoulde Toby the Sonne doe in respect of himselfe that he was the Son of such a Toby Yea what what should he doe that feeleth in his faith and findeth in his soule that he is the Sonne not of a good and honest man but of the good and louing god Should he not ioie in hart or should he feare and tremble and doubt of his estate But in the former story Raguel was right sory and wept when hee was informed that olde Toby had lost his sight and was blind Euen so verily whose hart doth not bleed to see the blindnesse of our aduersaries that are not only depriued of the light of this comfort but desire also that no man els may see any more than they doe themselues Flesh is fraile Sathan is a tempter sinnes do terrifie vs the law accuseth accurseth popery telleth vs there is no certaine helpe nor hope in Christ except you merit by woorks and by what woorks Or els you fry in purgatory or purchase a pardon or kill a Queene or betray our country and this is the only compendious method to be assured of heauen beleeue them who list for faithfull subiects and the Sonnes of God cannot Yet is it more than strange that men can trust in villaines more than in God who neuer deceiued any that trusted in him Trust in God brethren * Iohan. 16.33 Confidite * Mat. 9.2 cōfide fili trust confidētly Build thine house vpon the rocke and dwell in safety and rest in peace He will not deceaue his seruants muchlesse his sonnes Thou art his sonne thou hast his spirit the ernest penny the pawne the pledge the inunction the cry of his spirit A man maie talke of honie that cannot tast the sweetenesse thereof I do not deny many as the Enthusiast the Family of loue and their like may iangle of the spirit who are not spirituall may talke of the booke of life whose names were neuer written in the check and register of Israel But these proud Cedars and great Oakes that seeme to stand but stand not indeede when they fal their fall wil bee great and the fiar durable that such fuell maketh But he that standeth in Christ shal stand for euer He that is engraffed into Christ shall growe florish and fructifie his leafe his life shal neuer fade He that is once Christs can neuer be but Christs A wind out of the wildernesse may ouer-throwe the house where Iobs children were banketing but Iobs hart was fixed sure * Iob. 18.15 Etiamsi occidat tamen sperabo If God should kill Iob yet would Iob liue in hope and trust in God no the gates of hell and power of sathan cannot preuaile against the children of God Of them whom the Father gaue to Christ he Ioh. 18.9 lost not any one Iudas the lost childe was among the rest but not of them and when he fell away he went into his owne place Wherefore all the time he seemed to be a disciple and a beleeuer it was but a seeming and putatiue supposal either in himselfe or vnto others It was but a shooting starre no firm light a false noyse no true cry of the holy ghost Because the fool thinketh himselfe wise and is not therefore doth not wisedome know that shee is wise But what then What concludeth the Papist out of this Some may seeme to stand to bee in Christ to be Gods Sonnes to haue his spirit and all in vaine True What then Ergo the cry of the spirit is vncertaine Ergo the being and continuing in Christ is not certaine Yea There is a difference betweene seeming to bee and being indeede There is great ods betwixt a flash of a fancie and a faithfull perswasion But how shall I know whether my conceit bee right whether my vnder standing bee a glimmering light or a true vnderstanding wheras a fancifull man may perswade himselfe as thoroughly as the faithfull As throughly Say not so Or if so what then If the mad man standing on the shore thinke all the vessels that come in and their lading to bee his be deceiued shall not cannot therefore the true owners discern their own and claime their right bicause the mad man is deceiued Bicause the sick persons mouth in his distemperature is out of tast cannot therfore a man in good helth relish his drink meat Ioh. 3. Qui credit habet vitam He that beleeueth hath life he hath it he doth not doubt whether he hath it or no. He hath life life euerlasting I graunt sometimes euen the best children of God are brought to narrow straites somewhat stoppeth their cares they cannot heare somwhat dulleth their harts they cannot vnderstand what the spirit crieth and sealeth vnto their harts at all times alike and yet they are their Lordes and they cannot perish and they must not dispaire Dauid Abeit a man according to Gods owne hart and therefore no doubt a man in whose hart the sport of God was in great measure yet such is the frailty of our nature euen holy Dauid and that after hee had endured many stormes vp-held with the promise that God woulde place him in the roome of his master yet at the last hee fainted and faied in his infirmity 1. Sam. 20. that there was but a step betweene him and death surely one day I shal fal into the hands of Saul And therefore he fled to Achis and flattered the very enimy of God Notwithstanding after all this reforming his frailty and comming to himselfe againe he found that God was faithful and that his promises were certaine and as constant as the sunne and vuremoueable as mount Sion and that euer God knoweth best how long it is best to detaine his owne vpon the tenters No doubt when like Dalila a deceatfull suggestion the subtill finde a melancholy humor infirme fleshe naturall imperfections or forceable considerations what euer haue done their woorst ioyntly all or seuerally any of them when they haue learned where lieth our strength when they haue battered our strongest holdes when they haue cut off Sampsons haire yet this haire will grow againe and his strength returne and that man or woman whom the Lorde so trieth is the pure and perfect gold and so in the end wil proue 1 Cor. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
mount Horeb Deut. 4. you hard a voice you saw no similitude Take heede therefore as you loue your soules that yee make no grauen Image no representation of any figure neither of male nor femal nor of any creature These woords are cleare and plaine and neede no commentary Esaie 40. The Prophet Esay likewise is as vehement herein as was Moses all people are but a drop of a bucket full in comparison of the Lord. The woddes of Libanus can neither finde him fuel for friar nor beastes for sacrifice To whom shal men liken so woorthie a God What similitude can set him forth Shall the Carpenter make him an Image and the goold-smith couer it with gilt or cast it in a frame of siluer plates Or because this is ouer-costly for the poorer sort what shal the poore man doe Gette him into the Forest and choose out a tree and cause it to be carued out O know yee nothing Saith the Prophet As who would say they are vtterly deuoid of vnderstanding and that it is an extremely ignorant extrauagant imagination to deeme that any protraiture or imagery of better or baser either matter or fashion can fit and frame out a conuement worship of the liuing and eternal God For hath not the Almighty imparted his pleasure herein hath hee not made a veile betwixt the seate of his glory and the earth his footstoole betwixt himselfe and our sightes that possibly we cannot see discern him as he is therefore must not go about to expres him in a dumb earthly figure as hee is not And to whom wilt thou make him like whom thou hast not seene Wilt thou make him like to whom hee is not like and to whom he neither can neither wil be likened A graie headed man is a monument of our mortality not an expression of the Godhead of the father The forme of an aged gray headed father with intent to declare his ancientnes because he is the ancient of daies is but a good intent falsly called good For there is no good intention without the direction of true faith and a right faith resteth on the foundation and ground of the word of god wel known and wisely pondered and the word of god is full and flat to the contrary and darest thou vpon thine owne head make him like an oulde man whose yeares bring age and whose age bringeth death Good Intentes Schoole distinctions secret traditions are the only foundation of images and image-worship Any secret tradition added to this intent to bolster it vp is but a basterd slip and the watering of it with some few fonde distinctions may make it shewe greene a whâ—le but the thunder of gods spirit proceeding from the breath of his mouth wil blast and wither it and finally root it out and confound all such deuises so expresly and oppositely set against his manifest precept Thou shalt not expresse God in forme of male or female or of anie creature God the Sonne is no more to be depictured thaÌ„ God the father And farther as god the father will not bee pictured of thee nor cannot be carued by thee so will not neither can god the sonne bee portraited out more than the father or otherwise than is prescribed For the sonne is very god of the same substance with his father It is replied that as he was man so may he be pictured The historicall picturing of any thing that may lawefully bee pictured is not the chiefe point of the quarrell betwixt our aduersaries and vs yet herein we require their wisdomes greatly But in their ignorance they not onely made Images but in the grosse darcknesse of later times Images haue receiued an Idolatrous worship and this principally this is that pernicious Popish error which we most abhor * Ioh. 5.39 Search the Scriptures for they bear witnes of Christ this is a true teaching But gaze vpon his Image were a doctrinne for Demetrius the siluer-smith for Alexander the copper-smith for Licippus tooles or Apelles pensill Ephes 4.10 No warrant for Images in the word of God Saint Paul intending to shew that our Sauiour ascending on high notwithstanding left behinde him sufficient woorcke-men and spirituall artisans for the accomplishment of the frame and furniture of his Church to wit Prophets Apostles Teachers and Pastours and yet he maketh no mention at all of Painters and Carpenters of Caruers in wood and Engrauers in stone Also God hath spoken of old sundry both waies and times by Vrim and Thummim by visions and dreames by his holy Prophets and lastly in person by his sonne and stil and euer inwardly by his spirite and outwardely by the ordinarie preaching of his word yea in and to the consciences of natural and wicked men he hath not left himselfe without a witnes at any time Among all these meanes or any other that I can tel these sacredimages are not mencioned If they were so sacred and holy so requisite as they beare vs in hande it were more than a wonder there should bee such silence of them If Christs personall presence were not requisit why require they so much the picture of his person Concerning the image of Christes humanity how can it concerne vs so much When himselfe was personally present was it not expedient he should depart And yet is it so necessary that his corporal image must be retained While hee was on the earth were not his Apostles dull of vnderstanding slow of beleef Did not Peter deny Thomas doubt and all fly and forsake him And while himselfe was in place his image was needeles and when hee entred the heauens he promised the assurance of his spirit and the assistance of the holy ghost Of his corporal shape and feature what pattern I should say what picture left he whence nothing is learned though the painter should perfourme his duety neuer so wel but onely the outward lineaments of his humanity Ioh. 20.17 Marie Magdalen was not permitted to touch him after his resurrection For a fleshly vsage since that time much and since his ascention especially is and was much more inconuenient For we walke by faith and not by the outward appearance we serue God in truth and spirit and blessed is hee that beleeueth though hee see not his fleshe much lesse the image thereof The flesh profiteth nothing neither eaten with teeth nor seene with eie Christ careth little for the gazing of the senses but for the stedfastnes of the hart and so farre onely for signes externall as they bee ordained by himselfe expresly to such purposes as his eternal wisdome hath giuen out direction D. Clement Doctor Clement in Oxford when the Church was supposed to haue beene on fier ranne to the pix indeede in the pix were many pictures made on the wafer cakes yea and these cakes he and all Papists like him thinke to be very God the Son of God and the second person in the blessed
this loue is periert hatred And this hate passeth al hate that is begun in hypocrisie and continued in the greatest villame that euer was hearde of since the beginning In cōsideration whereof tuen as Naomi in the booke of Ruth Ruth 1.19 when it was bruted that shee was returned out of Moab the citizens of Bethleem said is not this Naomi Who answered tall me not Naomi which by interpretation is beuty but cal me mara which is bitternes cal me bitternes cal me not beuty When she went into Moab constrained by the famine in Canaan shee went out ful with conuenient wealth but in her exile her substance was spent hit husband deseased her two sonnes died and shee was left a poore widdowe rather Mara than Naomi Semblably while the church or rather a part of the catholick church is in the peregrination of this miserable world as Naomi in Moab what wroonges are sustained on euery side And sometimes those that should play the husbandes part deale woorse with hir than ethers who yet deale not wel She bringeth forth as it is figured in the * Reuel 12. Reuelation with paine and the fruite of her womb yea the most part of her children become an vncomfortable generation Scant Ruth euen a few those many times most vnlikely as the daughter in Law followeth accompanieth Naomi to the euerlasting home and heauenly Canaan Doth not this story suffer this application and may not the Church euen in places claiming by the name of the Church the Church cry foorth and say ô cal me not Naomi but cal mec Mara cal me not beutie but cal me bitter call mee not a visible Monarchie a glorious multitude a beutiful hierarchie a braue prelacie and a Romane papacie a galant tabernacle placed in the clearest Sun The true beuty of the Church what no cal me as the tents of Cedar fair indeed within by spiritual comforts and graces of the holy Ghost accompanied and made vn of the soules of the iust and righteous men euen of the sonnes of Sara and the children of Ierusalem which is from aboue but this beuty is altogether inwarde but outwardly these tentes are black both which the imperfection of humane frailnes and most by the blacke reportes and bad dealings we are daylie defaced with in the world and in opinion defamed O call not this condition generally Naomi specially to the outward view but cal it bitrernes for it is bitter in deed if there were not as it were some Elizeus meale to sweeten the pot withall But hereof as occasion shall serue euen as by occasion of the two mothers thus much hath been spoken Now look we vpon their children 28 Therefore brethren wee are after the manner of Isaack children of the promise 29 But as then he that was borne after the fleshe persecuted him that was borne after the spirit euen so it is now 30 But what saith the Scripture Put out the seruant and her sonne for the sonne of the seruant shal not bee heire with the sonne of the free woman 31 Then brethren wee are not children of the seruant but of the free woman The comparison betwixt Ismael and Isaack distinctlie considered The Church as it is likened by the Apostle to Abrahams wiues so also is it to Abrahams children and so in Gods Church appeareth also as plain a difference as before viz. 1. In their birth 2. In their affections 3. In the right of their inheritance 1 Albeit Ismael and Isaak both came from the loines of Abraham yet as out of one seede the solid corn and stender chaffe arise so was in them two great oddes much according to the ground wherein the seede was sowen according to the diuersities of the wombs according to the teperature of the regiō indeed according to the blessing of God and the grace of his promise A dry slip to take roote a deade wombe to conceaue was more than strange and the only work of the almightie Whereof before 2 Their contrary affection is descried by the open persecution not obscurely offered And as it was in the letter of the story so once so is it stil For this enmity was not ended in their persons neither was this a priuate case but a type of a farther matter And in them was represented in the one the malignant Church and in the other the Church of God Whether Ismaels mocking may be properly termed persecution Here it may bee questioned whether Ismael indeed did persecute Isaake or no. In the booke of Genesis God visited Sara as you haue hard Sara in her and hir husbands old age conceaueth and beareth a sonne When the child was borne he is in conuenient time circumcised named and weaned and the father maketh a great feast which when Ismael saw hee much scorneth at his brother Isaak But was this such a matter Or doth euerie frump come within the compasse and nature of persecution In cases the virulency of an adders congue the poyson of lips and the contradiction of railers and table-talkers and bitter speakers greeueth more than the wounds of a sword But yet there was more in this story than so He seeth his father liberal the mother ioyfull the childe made of and the promise perfourmed and yet he imagineth hee can defeat al and therefore hee scorneth setteth the promise at naught and maketh a May-game of the Lords purpose and this being rightly considered and laid to hart there can be no greater persecution whatsoeuer This cutteth deepe and poisoneth as it cutteth A man were better be flead with Bartlemew or sawed asunder as Isay or broyled on a gridiarn as Lawrence than tolerate the reproches of impiety Pharoes bricke or Phalaris bul that is the extremest persecution is nothing comparable In the booke of Iudges Iudg. 16.23 Sampson suffered the entisementes of Dalila euen to the boring out of his owne eies but when the Philistines were not content therewith but would needes send for Sampson to make them merry and in him sportingly to scorne the Lordes strength you knowe what followed In the 2 of Kinges 2 King 2. it may seeme at first sight but an vnmannerly prancke of young vntaught thinges to vpbraide the Prophet Goe vp thou bald bate goe vp thou balde bate but the greeuousnes of their punishment may easily enforme vs of the waight of that transgression Wherefore the mocking of a Prophet the illuding the promise the vpbraiding of the strength of the Lord the scorneful out-brauing the saintes of God as when they say Come sing vs one of your Sion songs or There is no helpe for Dauid in Dauids God or as to our sauiour If God wil saue him or let himselfe come downe from the crosse saue himself These are the sorest persecutions and the most insufferable sufferings that can bee suffered Wherefore Ismaels open throte and vnsauery breath his scorning head and scoffing spirite was a very persecution there is no