exercises purely orderly established in the Church this is to separate themselues by schisme If they willingly cast of and vtterly forsake both profession of Christ communion with Christians taking their leaue of all religion this is to separate themselues by plaine Apostasie And Saint Iude to expresse the manner of their departure which by Apostasie fell away frō the faith of Christ saith they separated themselues noting thereby that it was not constraint of others which forced them to depart it was not infirmitie and weaknes in themselues it was not feare of persecution to come vpō them whereat their hearts did faile it was not griefe of torments whereof they had tasted and were not able any longer to endure them No they voluntarily did separate themselues with a fully setled and altogether determined purpose never to name the Lord Iesus and more nor to haue any fellowship with his Saints but to bend all their counsell and all their strength to raze out their memoriall from amongst men 12 Now because that by such examples not only the hearts of Infidels were hardned against the truth but the mindes of weake brethren also much troubled the holy Ghost hath given sentence of these backsliders that they were carnall men and had not the spirit of Christ Iesus least any man hauing an overweening of their persons should be overmuch amazed and offended at their fall For simple men not able to discerne their spirits were brought by their apostasie thus to reason with themselues If Christ be the sonne of the liuing God if hee haue the words of eternall life if he be able to bring salvation to all men that come vnto him what meaneth this Apostasie and vnconstrained departure Why doe his servants so willingly forsake him Babes be not deceived his servants forsake him not They that separate themselues were amongst his servants but if they had been of his servants they had not separated themselues They were amongst vs not of vs saith Saint Iohn and Saint Iude proveth it because they were carnall and had not the spirit Will you iudge of wheat by chaffe which the winde hath scattered from amongst it Haue the children no bread because the dogs haue not tasted it Are Christians deceived of that salvatiō they looked for because they denied the ioies of the life to come which were not Christiās What if they seemed to bee pillers and principall vpholders of our faith What is that to vs which know that Angels haue fallen from heaven Although if these men had beene of vs indeed O the blessednes of a Christian mans estate they had stood surer then the Angels they had never departed from their place Whereas now we mervaile not at their departure at all neither are we prejudiced by their falling away because they were not of vs sith they are fleshly and haue not the spirit Children abide in the house for ever they are bondmen and bondwomen which are cast out 13 It behoveth you therefore greatly every mā to examine his owne estate and to try whether you be bond or free children or no children I haue tolde you already that we must beware we presume not to sit as Gods in iudgement vpon others and rashlie as our conceipt and fancie doth lead vs so to determine of this man he is sincere or of that man he is an hypocrit except by their falling away they make it manifest and knowne what they are For who art thou that takest vpon thee to iudge another before the time Iudge thy selfe God hath left vs infallible evidence whereby we may at any time giue true righteous sentence vpon our selues We cannot examine the harts of other men we may our owne That we haue passed from death to life we knowe it saith St Iohn because we loue our brethren knowe yee not your owne selues how that Iesus Christ is in you except yee bee reprobates I trust beloued wec knowe that wee are not reprobates because our spirit doth bear vs record that the faith of our Lord Iesus Christ is in vs. 14 It is as easie a matter for the spirit within you to tell whose yee are as for the eies of your body to iudge where you sit or in what place you stand For what saith the Scripture Yee which were in times past strangers and enimies because your minds were set on evill workes Christ hath now reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to make you holy and vnblameable and without fault in his sight if you continue grounded and established in the faith and bee not moved away from the hope of the Gospell Colos. 1. And in the third to the Coloss. yee knowe that of the Lord yee shall receiue the reward of that inheritance for yee serue the Lord Christ. If wee can make this account with our selues I was in times past dead in trespasses and sinnes I walked after the prince that ruleth in the aire after the spirit that worketh in the children of disobedience but God who is rich in mercy through his great loue wherewith he loued me evē when I was dead hath quickned me in Christ. I was fierce heady proud high minded but God hath made me like the child that is newly wained I loved pleasures more then God I followed greedily the ioies of this present world I esteemed him that erected a stage or theatre more then Solomon which built a Temple to the Lord the Harpe Viole Timbrell Pipe men singers womē singers were at my feasts it was my felicity to see my children dance before me I said of every kind of vanitie O how sweet art thou vnto my soule All which things now are crucified to me and J to them now I hate the pride of life and pompe of this world now I take as great delight in the way of thy testimonies O Lord as in all riches now I finde more ioy of heart in my Lord and Saviour then the worldly minded man when his wheate and oyle do much abound now I tast nothing sweet but the bread that came downe from heaven to giue life vnto the world now mine eyes see nothing but Iesus rising from the dead now my eare refuseth all kind of melodie to heare the song of them that haue gotten victory of the beast and of his image and of his marke and of the number of his name that stand on the sea of glasse hauing the harpes of God and singing the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lambe saying Great and marvailous are thy workes Lord God Almightie iust true are thy waies O king of Saints Surely if the spirit haue been thus effectuall in the secret worke of our regeneration vnto newnesse of life if wee endeavour thus to frame our selues anew then we may say boldly with the blessed Apostle in the 10. to the Hebrewes we are not of them which withdraw our selues to perdition but which follow
TVVO SERMONS VPON PART OF S. JVDES EPISTLE BY RICHARD HOOKER sometimes Fellow of Corpus Christi College in Oxford AC OX Printed at Oxford by Ioseph Barnes Ann. Dom. 1614. TO THE WORSHIPFVLL Mr GEORGE SVMMASTER Principall of Broad-Gates Hall in Oxford HENRY IACKSON wisheth all happinesse SIR YOur kind acceptance of a former testification of that respect I owe you hath made mee venture to shewe the world these godly Sermons vnder your name In which as every point is worth observation so some especially are to bee noted The first that as the spirit of Prophecie is from God himselfe who doth inwardly heate and enlighten the hearts minds of his holy Pen-men which if some would diligently consider they would not puzzle themselues with the contentions of Scot Thomas Whether God only or his ministring spirits doe infuse into mens minds propheticall revelations per species intelligibiles so God framed their words also Whence the holy Father S. Augustine religiously obserueth that al those which vnderstand the sacred writers wil also perceaue that they ought not to vse other wordes then they did in expressing those heavenly mysteries which their hearts conceaved as the Blessed Virgin did our Saviour By the holy Ghost The greater is Castellio his offence who hath laboured to teach the Prophets to speake otherwise then they haue already Much like to that impious King of Spaine Alphonsus X who found fault with Gods workes Si inquit creationi affuissem mundum meliùs ordinassem if he had beene with God at the creation of the world the world had gone better then now it doth As this maÌ„ fouÌ„d fault with Gods works so did the other with Gods words But because we haue a most â—ure word of the Prophets to which we must take heed I wil let his words passe with the wind having elsewhere spokeÌ„ to you more largely of his errours whom notwithstanding for his other excellent parts I much respect You shall moreover from hence vnderstand how Christianitic consists not in formall and seeming puritie vnder which who knowes not notorious villanie to maske but in the heart root Whence the author truly teacheth that Mockers which vse religion as a cloake to put off and on as the weather serveth are worse then Pagans and Infidels Where I cannot omit to shew how iustly this kind of men hath beene reproved by that renowned Martyr of Iesus Christ B. Latimer both because it will bee apposite to this purpose and also free that Christian worthy from the slaunderous reproaches of him who was if ever any a Mocker of God Religion and all good men But first I must desire you and in you all Readers not to thinke lightly of that excellent man for vsing of this and the like wittie similitudes in his Sermons For whosoever will call to minde with what riff-raff Gods people were fedde in those daies when their Priests whose lips should haue preserued knowledge preached nothing else but dreames and false miracles of counterfeit saints enrolled in that sottish Legend coined amplified by a drowsie head betweene sleeping and waking He that will consider this and also how the people were delighted with such toies God sending them strong delusions that they should beleeue lies and how hard it would haue beene for any man wholly and vpon the suddaine to drawe their minds to another bent wil easily perceaue both how necessary it was to vse symbolicall discourse and how wisely and moderately it was applied by that religious Father to the end he might lead their vnderstanding so farre till it were so convinced informed and setled that it might forget the meanes and way by which it was led and thinke only of that it had acquired For in all such mysticall speeches who knows not that the end for which they are vsed is onely to bee thought vpon This then being first considered let vs heare the story as it is related by Mr Fox Mr Latimer saith he in his sermon gaue the people certaine cardes out of the fift sixt and seaventh Chap of S. Matthew For the chiefe Triumph in the cards he limited the Hart as the principal thing that they should serue God withall whereby he quite overthrew all hypocriticall and externall ceremonies not tending to the necessarie furtherance of Gods holy word Sacraments By this he exhorted all men to serue the Lord with inward heart and true affection not with outward ceremonies adding moreouer to the praise of that triuÌ„ph that though it were never so smal yet it would take vp the best coat card beside in the bunch yea though it were the king of Clubbes c. meaning thereby how the Lord would be worshipped and served in simplicitie of the heart and verity wherein consisteth true Christian religion c. Thus Mr. Fox By which it appeares that the holy mans intention was to lift vp the peoples hearts to God not that he made a sermon of playing at cards and taught them how to play at Triumph plaied himselfe at cards in the Pulpit as that base companion Parsons reports the matter in his wonted scurrilous vaine of rayling whence hee calleth it a Christmasse Sermon Now he that will thinke ill of such allusions may out of the abundance of his follie iest at Demosthenes for his story of the sheepe wolues dogs and at Menenius for his fiction of the Belly But hinc illae lacrymae The good Bishop meant that the Romish Religion came not from the heart but consisted in outward ceremonies which sorely greived Parsons who never had the least warmth or sparke of honesty Whether B. Latimer coÌ„pared the Bishops to the knaues of Clubs as the fellow interprets him I knowe not I am sure Parsons of all others deserved those colours and so I leaue him We see then what inward puritie is required of all Christians which if they haue then in prayer and all other Christian duties they shall lift vp pure hands as the Apostle speakes not as Baronius would haue it washed from sins with holy water but pure that is holy free from the pollution of sin as the greeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth signify You may also see here refuted those calumnies of the Papists that we abandon al religious rites godsy duties as also the confirmatioÌ„ of our doctrine touching certainty of faith so of salvation which is so strongly denied by some of that faction that they haue told the world S. Paule himselfe was vncertaine of his owne salvation What then shall we saie but pronounce a woe to the most strict observers of S. Francis rule and his canonicall discipline though they make him even equal with Christ the most meritorious Monke that ever was registered in their Calendar of Saints But wee for our comfort are otherwise taught out of the holy Sbripture and therefore exhorted to build our selues in our
out in the Canticles at the beholding of this attire How faire art thou and how pleasant art thou O my loue in these pleasures 9 And perhaps S. Iude exhorteth vs here not to build our houses but our selues forseeing by the spirit of the Almighty which was with him that there should be men in the last daies like to those in the first which should encourage and stirre vp each other to make bricke to burne it in the fire to build houses huge as cities and towers as high as heaven thereby to get them a name vpon earth men that shoulde turne out the poore and the fatherlesse and the widdow to build places of rest for dogs swine in their roomes men that should lay houses of praier even with ground and make thē stables where Gods people haue worshipped before the Lord. Surely this is a vanity of all vanities and it is much amongst men a speciall sicknesse of this age What it should meane I know not except God haue set thē on worke to provide fewel against that day when the Lord Iesus shal shew himselfe from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire What good commeth vnto the owners of these things saith Solomon but only the beholding thereof with their eies Martha Martha thou busiest thy selfe about many things One thing is necessarie Yee are too busie my brethren with timber and bricke They haue chosen the better part they haue taken a better course that build themselues Yee are the Temples of the living God as God hath said I wil dwel in them and will walke in them they shal be my people and I wil be their God 10 Which of you wil gladly remaine or abide in a mishapen a ruinous or a broken house And shal we suffer sinne and vanity to drop in at our eies and at our eares at every corner of our bodies of our soules knowing that we are the Temples of the holy Ghost Which of you receiveth a guest whom he honoureth or whom he loveth and doth not sweepe his chamber against his comming And shal we suffer the chamber of our hearts and consciences to lie full of vomiting full of filth ful of garbidge knowing that Christ hath said I and my Father will come and dwell with you Is it meete for your Oxen to lay in parlours and your selues to lodge in cribs Or is it seemely for your selues to dwell in your setled houses and the house of the Almighty to lie wast whose house yee are your selues Do not our eies behold how God every day overtaketh the wicked in their iourneies how suddenly they pop downe into the pit how Gods iudgements for their times come so swiftly vpon them that they haue not the leasure to crie Alas how their life is cut off like a threed in a moment how they passe like a shadow how they open their mouthes to speake and God taketh them even in the midst of a vaine or an idle word And dare we for all this lay downe take our rest eate our meat securely and carelesly in the midst of so great and so many ruines Blessed and praised for ever and ever be his name who perceiuing of how senselesse heavy mettall we are made hath instituted in his Church a spirituall supper and an holy communion to be celebrated often that we might thereby bee occasioned often to examine these buildings of ours in what case they stand For sith God doth not dwell in Temples which are vncleane sith a shrine cannot be a sanctuary vnto him and this supper is receaued as a seale vnto vs that we are his house and his sanctuarie that his Christ is as truly vnited to me and I to him as my arme is vnited and knit vnto my shoulder that hee dwelleth in me as verily as the elements of bread and wine abide within me which perswasion by receiving these dreadfull mysteries we professe our selues to haue a due comfort if truly and if in hypocrisie then woe worth vs. Therefore ere wee put forth our hands to take this blessed Sacrament we are charged to examine and to trie our hearts whether God bee in vs of a truth or no and if by faith and loue vnfained we be found the temples of the holy Ghost then to iudge whether we haue had such regard every one to our building that the spirit which dwelleth in vs hath no way beene vexed molested and grieued Or if it haue as no doubt sometimes it hath by incredulitie sometimes by breach of charitie sometimes by want of zeale sometimes by spots of life even in the best and most perfect amongst vs for who can say his heart is cleane O then to fly vnto God by vnfained repentance to fall downe before him in the humilitie of our soules begging of him whatsoever is needfull to repaire out decaies before wee fall into that desolation whereof the Prophet speaketh saying Thy breach is great like the sea who can heale thee 11 Receiving the sacrament of the Supper of the Lord after this sort you that are spiritual iudge what I speake is not all other wine like the water of Marah being compared to the cup which we blesse Is not Manna like to gall and our bread like to Manna Is there not a tast a tast of Christ Iesus in the hart of him that eateth Doth not hee which drinketh behold plainely in this cup that his soul is bathed in the blood of the lambe O beloued in our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ if yee will tast how sweet the Lord is if yee will receaue the king of glory Build your selues 12 Young men I speake this to you for yee are his house because by faith yee are conquerers over Satan and haue overcome that evill Fathers I speake it also to you yee are his house because yee haue knowne him which is from the beginning Sweete Babes I speake it even to you also yee are his house because your sinnes are forgiven you for his name-sake Matrons and Sisters I may not hold it from you yee are also the Lords building and as S. Peter speaketh heires of the grace of life as well as we Though it be forbidden you to open your mouthes in publike assemblies yet yee must bee inquisitiue in things concerning this building which is of God with your husbands and friends at home not as Dalila with Sampson but as Sara with Abraham whose daughters yee are whilst yee doe well and build your selues 13 Having spoken thus farre of the exhortation as whereby we are called vpon to edifie and build our selues It remaineth now that wee consider the thing prescribed namely wherein we must bee built This prescription standeth also vpon two points the thing prescribed and the adiuncts of the thing And that is our most pure and holy faith 14 The thing prescribed is Faith For as in a chaine which is made of many linkes if you pull the first you drawe the rest and as