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
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
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. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
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
Pauls conuersion what it was 2. The end why 3. And his obedience thereto The cause of mans conuersion is not found at al in man 1 In the search of the cause of mans conuersion a proud Papist would seeke after some puritie in nature some preparation in man and for some fauorable willingnes thereunto in himselfe but looke wee vpon Paul being left to himselfe and see this one man and know al men what we are Nature worketh alike in al whereuer it worketh For if there be any oddes the difference is not in men naturally wherein we agree but aboue and beside our nature where lieth the ods Paul rideth a maine his commission is in his bozom and care at his hart for the ouerthrow of Christians and Christian profession when it pleased God here is the cause when it pleased God euen then to alter him wholely and cal him effectually here is the cause and in nothing else Nay from the wombe was Paul segregated by the prouidence and wil of God and here is the sole and onely cause both in the wombe where there neither was nor could bee cause at al and afterward in the world when there was great cause to the contrarie but that so great was Gods goodnes so good his pleasure The fruite of this example and of the lesson therein is double both for an assured confirmation of our faith and also to imprint a necessary remembrance of our duetie to so prouident and louing a God that not onely careth for * Gen. 39.20 Ioseph in the pit and prison or * Exod. 2.6 Moses in the flags c. but hath a special purpose in his chosen before he framed and when he fashioned them in the womb 2 The ende why God called Paul is apparent to reueale his sonne in Paul which was his special and priuate and endlesse comfort But the vse God would put him to was the commoditie and instruction of the Gentiles Neither could the Apostle haue reuealed that vnto others if it had beene hid from himselfe And therefore as it were to tinde the candle that should light a house was Christ reuealed to Paul that Paul might in preaching reueale Christ to them that should beleeue God vseth ordinarilie external and ordinarie meanes And thus it pleaseth God as without meanes to cal Paul at the first so afterward by meanes of Paul to win others Pharao himselfe could haue deliuered out of his Kingly prouision corne to his subiects but he sent them to Ioseph and said to his people * Gen. 41.55 Go to Ioseph Our Sauiour when by miracle he multiplied the fiue Loaues and the two Fishes Hee gaue to his Disciples and his Disciples I say his * Iohn 6.11 Disciples gaue to them that were set down Likewise in spiritual foode and releefe externally and in publique order by the ministerie of men and by the meane of preaching both then it pleased God to recal the Iews and cal the Gentiles and now * Eph. 4.13 stil hee vouchsaueth vs that his accustomed goodnes by men to deale with men and to anner this outward mean of preaching to the inward woorking of his holie spirit Ready and resolute obedience where God warranteth without al respects 3 For my third note Paul being thus freely called and fully illuminated not to shine onely to himselfe or to some fewe but purposely for the instruction of many and namely of the Gentiles for so general was his commission obedientlie immediatly and strait way as it were an arrowe out of a bowe or a boole downe a hil or a lightening out of the Heauens he hasteth about his busines and incontinently without farther debate or delaie iournieth but whither To Ierusalem To the holie Citie To his ancesters To them that were Apostles before him Nothing lesse He neither regarded the place nor respected their persons but the mightie and merciful God that called him and sent him sufficiently warranted and he went accordingly about his calling 1 Sam. 3.8 Young and yet ignorant Samuel when God called him could not tel what the calling went and went to Ely when he should haue harkened vnto God But Paul knoweth what hee doth he consulteth not with any at al neither with the Apostles that might seeme to aduise him better or authorize him farther neither with flesh and bloode kif or kin one man or other that could affection him best or affect him most but as it is storied of the * 1 Sam. 6.12 newe milch-kine that caried home the Ark whē their calues were shut vp that they went straight turned neither to the right hand nor to the left so Paul shutting resigning vp al his thoughts directly and foorth right respecting no one consideration at all what euer vnder heauen resolueth himselfe most readily vpon the obsequent and due performance of his Apostolicke office And great reason for he had warrant alsufficient and ability most conuenient The expresse warrant of God needeth not the allowance of men few or many And why should men then depend vpon farther councels and consultations of men either prouincial or els general when they are expressely commaunded enabled from God himselfe either immediatly speaking or in his Scriptures directing 18 Then after three yeares I came againe to Ierusalem to see Peter and abode with him fifteene daies 19 And none other of the Apostles sawe I saue Iames the Lords brother 20 Nowe the thinges which I write vnto you behold before God I lie not 21 After that I went into the coasts of Syria and Cilicia for I was vnknowen by face vnto the Churches of Iudea which were in Christ 22 But they had heard only he which persecuted vs in time past now preacheth the faith which before he destroyed 23 And they glorified God for me Paul went to Ierusalem when you see three yeares passing betweene his calling and his going thither and why to see Peter and al the midle while he wanted neither abilitie nor authority in the trade of his function In the remnant of this Chapter would be obserued two matters 1. First a doubt which must be resolued 2. And then a duetie that ought to be learned 1 The doubt is why Paul shoulde goe to see Peter * Stapleton de do prin l. 6. c. 13. For our aduersaries reason herehence in effect thus Paul went to see Peter ergo Peter was better than Paul and if Peter were better than Paul then Peters successors are also better than Pauls and the * The Popes supremacie deriued from Peter Pope succeedeth Peter therfore the Pope is better than any els head of al. I will not dispute the question whether the Pope if but locally and in place onely and why more at Rome he than others at Antioch succeedeth Peter whether so or no I dispute not nowe Suppose he there succeedeth what then Personal priuileges are nothing to him who hath nothing but a local
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
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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
had thought that the name of Protestants had not beene so ancient and we gesse the books of Chronicles were not written in Latine so expresly to hit vpon the name of Protestantes and we take that the matter you alleadge is a flat story of the present fact not a fore-prophesieng of a future euent And we tel you and by occasion of your falsifieng master Pointes we tell the woorld you haue told a tale of a tub of the man in the Moon and of Protestants of your owne making How and when the Name of Protestantes came first vp May it please you brethren to bear with me and in a woord I shall shew you both why we are named Protestants and what the name of Protestants meaneth in that place of the scripture For Master Points is quite beside the Text. In the yeare of our Lorde * Sleid. Com. lib. 6. 1529 after sundry debateings precedent for the reformation of things amisse and some agreement accorded vpon in that respect yet it was put in the head of the Emperour how to deuise for a contrary course to be taken in a meeting at Spiers Whereupon the Princes of Germany were constrained to frame did frame out their lawful Protestatiō A thing vsual and known in euery common court to protest against the iniquity or nullity of proceeding So did these Pieres Princes Nobles of Germany others associating themselues in so iust a cause concerning the honor of God and glory of his name Whereupon the name of Protesting and Protestantes was not vnwillingly accepted of al who misliked disorders And so it became a common appellation vnto this day And this is the true original or short and plaine narration to the demaund and motiue for the name of Protestants Now for the allegation of Points his Scripture and so may I cal it for the scripture it selfe is to another sense and if his grammer woulde serue him but to conster the woordes he would soone haue seene his palpable error Verily the meaning is that God sent his Prophets and his Prophets went and protesteth the wrath of God but there were not Protestants but there were that would not giue eare to the protestations of the Prophets quos Protestantes illi audire nolebant There were that woulde not hear the Protestants and these Protestants were Gods Prophets Religion goeth not by Names And hence if we would trifle in names we might make a faire shew by the name whence foolishly he seeketh our vtter shame But it is too vaine a labor to argue of names good or bad the one way or the other But backe againe to our purpose what euer we are called by you or otherwise are you called the catholick Church Who calleth you so Your selues We doe not But suppose you were so called Thinges goe not by names For then as the country-man saith we should haue no Wood-hens for all the birds of that kind are named and called Wood-cockes And were he not then a proper wise man that woulde ground his reason vpon common speach This were good for your Popes who hauing ill fauored faces and wriemouthes and woorse maners and yet when they can gette and clammer vp into the Papacy they change their names into words of flattering signification But you see names are not forceable proofes neither against others nor for themselues either for the goodnesse of their verie Popes or for the Catholicknesse and Motherdome of their Church The Rhomish dame is too ceremonious to be the free Mother 2 Secondly as the Romane Church being at the most when she was best but a Church and therefore not the Catholique whole Church so Rome as she is now she is too seruile a dame to be the Mother of those who are free and freed in christ She is too Ceremonious too Slauish too Peeuish in her Ceremonies and God which hath abolished his owne rites must needes abhor her trinkets which seeme to some faire and greatly adorning and gracifieng all like the Iuy about the Tree which in the ende will be the death of the tree it embraceth What are hir Duckings Beckings Fiskings vp and downe apish Illusions infinit endlesse and purposelesse Obseruations with terror of Conscience and trouble of mind onely occupied and set on woorke with friuolous wil-worships and fond conceats in euery thing to draw men from a solid and sound vnderstanding of the substantial points of true deuotion Col. 2. Touch not Tast not Handle not Eate not Marry not now but when we appoint not you but you whom we permit and al vpon pain of damnation peril of saluation in as many as misse the heauenly hestes of holy Rome Is this the spirit of Christ pacifieng our minds or rather intangling our soules with so many wind-laces The true worshippers Iohn 4.23 worship in spirite and truth And what spirit is there in these and these like toyes There is no substaunce no truth no graine but all chaffe in these eares in these filly-follies Reply to D.F. Pag. 119. No maruel if Bristow require in Christians not the spirit of truth but the spirite of obedience but of what Obedience To what And whom If men were but meanly directed by the truth it were impossible they shoulde so obediently delue and dig and so grouelingly serue in the mines and misteries of slauery it selfe Wherfore because Rome is not Catholicke because Rome is too too be-spanged and set about with Ceremonies vnfruitfully therefore she is none of our Mother nor we her children 3 The Catholick Church is not locally tied to any territory The motiue of the visibility of the Church Both for the consideration of Catholicisme and also for that shee descendeth FROM ABOVE and is by grace and holdeth not of any place and looketh vpward and seeketh those things which are aboue and setteth hir affections on heauenly things There is much adoe about the VISIBILITY of the Catholicke Church May I tary you now in sifting somewhat more that question a while Paul describeth the Church to be from aboue spiritually by speciall fauour and reflecting againe vpward in inward hartines and requisite dueties Our aduersaries seeke hir on earth and require hir to be liable to the ey and locally visible and that in Rome as Hierusalem was in Iurie where God for a time was best known We speak of the catholique Church * The Catholick Church property taken what it meaneth which is the society or company of all the Saints of God of al times and places the whole body whereof cannot bee seene nay the meanes whereby any part of the Church is made a part and continueth a part thereof is secret inward and inuisible and the certainty thereof is an article of faith and not obiect of the ey sight Credo Ecclesiam not Video Ecclesiam I beleeue that God hath a chosen Church and that the Lord knoweth who are his though I discerne it not by sense For the glory
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
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
and the spirite against the fleshe and these are contrary the one to the other so that ye cannot doe the same things that ye would 18 And if ye bee led by the spirit ye are not vnder the Law The Galathians as they were to recognize the state wherein they were placed and the condition whereunto they were called and therein to liue die to stand to that so yet because licentious men may soon abuse the liberty of the gospel Paul deliuereth foorth a caueat and maketh as it were a circle least men take an exorbitant and a wandering course in the waies of their saluation Grace hath superabounded but sinne may not therefore abound Abraham and Abrahams race is iustified and sette at liberty by faith by the promise in the seede through fauour and grace from our sinnes as likewise also from the olde ceremonies shall wee therefore ad sinne to sinne and liue as we list and lust after the flesh and offend euery weake one being called to lead a life after the spirit and that in perfect loue and brotherly charity Phy for shame The nature of man is prone to superstition and bent to ceremonies and ready to take any other way to Heauen than God himselfe prescribeth Of old Spiridion bishop of Cypris Sozo lib. 1. c. 11. a man most renouned known by fame wheÌ„ in a fasting time a stranger came to him coÌ„sidering circumstances he willed his daughter for he was maried to dres such prouision as he had to wit a peece of bacon when it was ready himselfe did eate and bad his ghest doe the like and take part the straunger refused so to do because he was a Christian nay saieth Spiridion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by so much the rather thou shouldest not refuse All things are cleane to the cleane The Scriptures are plaine And I ad God is not the god of meats he careth not for fishers more than for butchers for salt fish more than for powdred beefe for meates too or fro Touch not tast not were Iewish seruices wee are free as Spiridion said euen because we are Christians and so are wee free from the fleshely grosser yoke of the whole Law euen because we are Christians but yet not to liue after the flesh without the rules of the Law and beside the orders of charitable and duetiful consideration A Christian is most free and most bound In two woordes I may seeme to speake contraries but mark what I say yea 1. A Christian is the only freeman 2. Againe a Christian is as much bound though not seruilely bound as anie man els 1 Concerning the curse of the Lawe the degrees and wilfulnes of sinning the slauery of sathan the feare of death the thrall of ceremonies old or new and the bond of damnation a christian man is a free-man 2 On the otherside not onely to serue God whose seruice is perfect freedome but also to serue one another a Christian is most bound of al men Which kind of seruice is no slauery but a willing seruice and dewty and not a compelled doing and seruitude because al is and should bee in a louely performance labored and contended vnto To induce men hereunto the reasons are very forcible 1. The commaundement to loue 2. The excellency of loue 3. The inconuenience in not louing 1 If God command what seeke we farder Ego Dominus I am the Lorde is the conclusion which God euer maketh either in his prohibitions or precents and Hely taught Samuel to say that which we al must say Speake on Lord thy seruant heareth and by hearing is meant obedience in hearing Loue and Charitie 2 The excellency of loue appeareth herein that loue God and loue man also loue God and man and the perfection of the Law could require no more Of so large a compasse is loue and of so excellent a quality But yet the Apostle doth not dispute nowe whether a man can loue in the highest degree but what hee must endeuour to doe being freed from his imperfection and wanting the perfectnesse which is required If we could loue in that measure we ought in that sort we should and in what manner the Law commandeth then might we fulfill the Lawe no doubt But we haue a discharge from that perfection for we are not vnder the Law but yet not without release from contending to perfection for thereunto the spirit leadeth and louingly conductâ—…h vs al along By the spirite is meant the first fruites of the holy Ghost the effects of grace and power of christ working in christians which because some relickes of the old man remaine in vs which the Apostle calleth the fleshe alas this flesh lusteth against the spirit so that we cannot doe what wee would and therefore not what we should For many times we wish to doe lesse than we ought and yet let vs euer endeuour to doe the most Herein the onely way is to go the wayes of loue and charity For loue thinketh nothing harde though it be neuer so hard In louing as the heauens are placed aboue the earth so the God of heauen is to be beloued aboue al his creatures And yet loke what loue we duly and orderly shew to our neighbour hee accepteth as doone to himselfe so that in him and for his sake wee performe it throughly as vsually wee would to our own selues Man hath a natural * Selfe-Loue forbidden philauty and selfe-loue but God requireth not the euil kinde of loue whereby alwaies and especially in the last daies men shal be louers of themselues but the high degree of hartines in louing others euen as our selues the Law would haue Eate not thy bread alone by thy selfe breake it to the poore Break it with discretion but breake it Iudas the traitors voice was what will yee giue me Cain asked am I the keeper of my brother And why not the keeper But God saue euery innocent Abel from such keepers Yet indeede no man hath greater charity than to giue his life for his brethren I deny not the greatnes Magis aut minus non variant speciem greatnes or litlenes doth not alter the question it is charity to loue and it is the nature of true charity to lay downe our liues for the good of our neighbours euen as Christ Iesus did all that hee did not for himselfe whether in his birth Nobis natus hee was borne for vs or in his life nobis datus he was giuen to vs or at his departure Expedit vobis it was expedient for you that hee should ascend All the actions of our Sauior were commodious and profitable for vs not behoouefull for himselfe Let no man seek his own but the wealth of others saith the Apostle Loue loueth our neighbours all yea and aboue our selues I need not resolue you who is your neighbor The Samaritane in Saint Luke Luc. 10. in compassion and true loue spareth neither his wine nor his oyle nor his
personal pains setting the wounded man on his owne beast and bringing him to the Inne and taking farther order for farther charges requisite knowing that there was a mutuall neighbourhoode not euer by neerenes of place but for necessity and extremity of pure neede And he that loueth cannot lacke the vnderstanding to discerne who is a neighbour Loue is wise and Loue is euer willing to doe any good to any man to the vttermost The inconuenience of diuision 3 If the excellency of louing bee so great the inconuenience of not louing cannot bee little And in not louing is not ment a meere want of charity but which euer ensueth where charitie wanteth a present enducement of the contrarie quality And where the cōtrary affections raign there is snarling and biting and deuouring and a plain consuming one of the other For the diuided house cannot endure And it is an euil land that deuoureth their own inhabitants and the spirit of the lord doth not lightly rest in these whirlewind-spirits such as troubled the Galathians and turmoile impertinently euery place where euer they come without lawefull and necessary cause as if they were made of wild-fier to enflame and burn vp the world O Lord if it be thy wil take away al iust occasion of mislike quench all their furies which seeke occasions there where none are offered The dew and grace of thy holy spirit can doe al this may it please thy goodnes to grant vs this fauour in Christ Iesu So be it Amen 19 Moreouer the works of the flesh are manifest which are adultery fornication vncleannesse wantonnesse Albeit the roote of sinne be deepe and the corruption of fleshly hidde and lurke in the inwarde parts yet the woorks thereof are not obscure but euident to the ey big grosse open and manifest so that a man may soon know that the tree is naught by the vitious fruits it beareth And if a man may iudge of the workman by his workes some of the woorkes of the flesh are adultery fornication vncleannes wantonnes Fornication Adultery Wantonnes breedeth vncleannes vncleannes breaketh forth into sinful fornication where the partes are single and into abominable adultery where either party offending is a married person By the Law of God the adulterer and the adulteresse shal dy moriendo morientur Leuit. 20. there should bee no remedy There were Lawes among the Gentils to the same effect But Iuuenal complaineth Lex Iulia dormis May not wee rather Lex Iehouae dormis Whether Adulterie should be death There is a great deale of questioning about this matter whether the penalty of adultery must necessarily bee death or no for it may be and that it deserueth there is no question Giue me leaue to say thus much that if it were death adulteries woulde bee fewer quarrels of marrying againe after adultery the adultresse liuing would not be so rife and loue to the certaine vndoubtedly known and only children would be much increased betweene the Parents If a man steale xij d hee shall bee hanged if a man abuse twelue mens wiues yet he may liue The peace is broken in my Ox or Horse is the peace kept when my wiue is defiled my daughters deflored Other vices swarme but this is a Noes flud Young men are no niggards Olde men are no wasters countrimen are no ruffins nor townsmē quarrelers But old and yong towne and country had neede to looke better to this vice There is no good giuing place to a flattering sinne Nature is frail and the flesh lusteth against the spirite and there is no sirding at all for a man that standeth vppon a Pinnacle Wherefore all causes yea al occasions of this way sinning must be deuoyded Praeparatiues to vncleannes Shal I be plain or why should I not painting of faces frisling of hair mōsterous starcht supported rufs pride vpon pride in apparel exces of diet minsing dances wanton gestures ribaldry talke amorous ditties vaine discourses Venus court and the Pallace of pleasures and the like wherein there is no Pallas no wit verily no true wisdome all these for the most part are nothing but the ministers many times of much vncleannes and the Apostle who cannot abide any wantonnes would he tolerate these enormities Go to the commandement and study wel the precept Thou shalt not commit adultery and these follies these preparatiues to adultery will soone be forsaken As our Sauiour Iohn 8.4 when talke was about the woman that was taken * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the act hee stooped downe and wrote on the ground so I could desire to speak as if it were vnder a vaut in most secret termes for the amendment of this sinne but the works of darknes are become bould and men are not ashamed of their turpitude and shame and they can looke thorough a white sheete and neuer blush The Israelites made of the house of God the house of iniquity the Iewes of the temple of God a denne of Theeues but these offenders make the Temples of the holy Ghost and the members of Christ that should bee the members of an harlot and the Temples of the holy Ghost they make to be the cage of vncleane birds a very sty for hogs and a stable for horse that neieth after that which is none of his owne O Lord were it not better or is it not the nature of mariage thine holy ordinance that for the * 1 Cor. 7.2 auoiding of fornication euery man should haue his wife and euery woman her husband and beeing in that honorable state should keepe themselues from strange flesh shrouding themselues from all inconueniences vnder the broad vine leafe of thine owne planting If any man or woman among vs haue offended herein let neither him nor her henceforth ad drunckennes to thirst let him not walowe in this mire any more let him rise vp by repentance let him vomit out by confession this surfeiting and let him deepely consider that he is made after the image of God which he should not deface that he is the member of Christ which he may not prostitute and that our bodies are as an holy place if we know so much euen the Temples of the holy spirite which howe it is greeued with these transgressions it hath beene told you at sundry times 20 Idolatry witch-craft hatred debate emulations wrath contentions seditions heresies 21 Enuy murders drunckennes gluttony and such like whereof I tel you before as I also haue told you before that they which doe such things shal not inherit the kingdome of God Paul entendeth not to make a iust beadrol and ful computation of all sinnes that eyther were in the Galathians or might arise out of the flesh or els to marshal euery vice and disorder in a precise order Certaine manifest enormities are onely touched and in the end he addeth and such like and of them al he denounceth that they wil weigh a man to hell and exclude
preciousnesse of the gift 3. the certaintie in receauing 4. and the neede of the receauer 1. The freenesse of the giuer For what is freer than gift And then a gift proceeding of loue Which loued me 2. For the preciousnes of the gift what can bee more precious than the Sonne of God the heire of al Hee gaue himselfe 3. The certainty of receauing is vttered in the specialitie of speaking for mee But O blessed Paul what meane these * Christ is not receaued in a general conceat but by a special applying enclosures Why Is Christ thy Christ Is hee thy Sauiour And is hee not rather the Sauiour of the world That which is thine is none of mine Is it not so In worldly thinges true the right and propriety is in the true owner onely and in him alone and in none other In spirituall rightes it is not so altogether Christ is the Christ of all in generall and in speciall too yet not a diuided Christ but whole and entire whosoeuer hee is In natural thinges see a resemblance hereof the Sunne in the aire is a generall light in the eye a speciall and the sound in the ayre a generall noyce yet seerely discerned in the eare so Christ is a general Sauiour of all that shall bee saued but specially is hee receaued discerned and applied by the eye of faieth which faieth commeth by hearing him generally deliuered but specially applied As take eate take drinke at the Lordes Supper feede on him by thy faieth And blessings so speciallie and certainely taken haue euer a quicker tast in the receauer and prouoke thereby the more thankefulnesse towarde the donor 4. The neede of the receauer appeareth in this * The price of the ransom doth proue the neede of the party and the hainousnes of his trespas who is to bee ransommed that if a lesse ransom would haue doone the deed so great a payment had not needed But somuch it cost to saue one Soule And whereas hee saith Christ gaue himselfe For me it is plaine in how harde a case hee was before that Christ must dy that wee may liue or else wee dy euen as the Ramme was Sacrificed that Isaake might bee saued Wherefore of his perfect mercy and for our pure neede Christ dyed for thee for me and for vs al. Why Christians die though Christ died for them It is but an easie demaunde and soone satisfied why I must dye though Christ died for mee Yet God doubtlesse requireth no double satisfaction hee desireth not to bee twise paied for one debt Notwithstanding nothing is more certaine than that death is the common and vneuitable Lodge and Receptacle of the liuing The Wiseman shall dye as wel as shal the Foole. Dauid when he had * Acts. 13.36 serued his time was reposed to his Fathers and the statute is generall and cannot not be dispensed with al must dye By sin * Rom. 5.12 came in death and as sinne is in al so must all dy If there had beene no sinne there shoulde haue beene no death nor dissolution no not of our mixt bodies no more than there shall be of the very same bodies after their restitution glorification By sinne death entered and must goe ouer all But the question is why wee dye whom Christ hath deliuered both from sinne the cause and from death the consequent of sinne As we are deliuered from sinne not that it bee not but that it sting not so are wee deliuered from death not that it come not but that it conquer not that it lead vs not in a triumph ô death where is thy sting The sting of death is sinne but sinne is doone away and therefore ô graue where is thy victory Death is no Death to a good Christian Thou takest holde of vs not because wee are stung to death but because of a natural necessity indeede inducted thorough sinne at first yet for that the guilt of sinne is taken away death is no right death nowe but a dissolution and a passage to a better life and a very instrument whereby mortality putteth on immortality and whereby we liue for euer And the assurance of our certaine departure hence is hence-foorth a noble monument of the weight of sinne to weane vs from sinning and to win vs to Christ in perpetual thankefulnes for that we are freed from the curse of the Lawe against sinne from the guilt of sinne in it selfe and from the danger of death for sinning and all this by his infinit desert in dying for vs that otherwise should haue died a death euerlasting This grace would not bee abrogated I abrogate not the grace of God this grace of his Gospell Steuen Gardiner Steuen Gardiner in King Edwards time whē he stood much but falsly vpon his innocency and would not yeelde that hee had offended yet at length being asked whether he would accept the Kings pardon or no nay saith he I am learned enough not to refuse the Kings pardon In like manner men may dally and play and vse figge leaues at pleasure truly the greatest wisedome in the end will be to renounce all and craue mercy and stand vpon pardon and to trust vnto Christ and onely in him Grace is reiected when works are annexed And for a good fare-well and end of this Chapter be it remembred and written in the hartes of humble men for euer that wee after the example of our Apostle we disanull not we reiect not we frustrate not we abrogate not we throwe not away the grace of God which necessarily ensueth by meashing or adnexing either the association of Ceremonies or the obseruation of the Lawe vnto his free and absolutely free Grace free in GOD though deserued by Christ our Iesus and onely Sauiour CHAP. III. 1 O FOOLISH Galathians who hath bewitched you that you should not obey the trueth to whome Iesus Christ before was described in your sight and among you crucified 2 This only would I learne of you Receaued ye the spirit by the workes of the Law or by hearing of faith 3 Are yee so foolish that after ye haue begun in the spirit ye would now end in the flesh 4 Haue yee suffered many things in vaine If yet in vaine 5 He therefore that ministreth to you the spirite and worketh miracles among you doth he it through the workes of the Law or by the hearing of faith O YEE foolish bewitched and disobedient or incredulous Galathians These are vehement speeches But this vehemency proceeded of great zeale and this zeale for them was grounded vppon many reasons 1. Christ was described before their face and crucified in their sight 2. They had receiued the spirit and the graces of the holie Ghost not by the deeds of the Law for they were Gentils but by the Ghospel preached vnto them And the Law in comparison is flesh and grosse the Ghospel is spirituall Should they beginne with the better and relaps to the worse Be
entred and beginne in the spirit and end and be finished and seeke to be perfected in the flesh 3. They had endured many an hard brunt for the Ghospell and should they nowe frustrate all their sufferings 4. Hee that ministred vnto them and confirmed his ministery with miracles that is Paul had not so taught them the Ghospel These respects made him vehement and very earnest In the whole I beholde foure principall matters 1. The procliuity and readinesse of man to be seduced 2. The duty of the preacher in such a case 3. The condicion of the Lawe 4. The dignity of the Ghospell Mans nature is foolish and froward prone to euil and obstinate in sinne 1 Man by nature hath a vagary disposition drawen from his mothers wombe Euen as birds are caught with a whissell and fish with a bait so open but a gap he a disorderly thing will desire no more Once perswade man that the euill hee doeth is good set but a glosse vpon the errors wherein he delighted and hee is caried with full sailes And a foole will be a foole and think himselfe marueilous wise Euil entents are neuer without faire pretenses Sathan hath gay helpes and shewes to further this folly The Ostrige hath as many feathers as the Hauke These Galathians were not only inwardly fooles but externally bewitched There is a bodily and there is a spirituall bewitching Of the former more in the fifth Chapter following The spiritual bewitching is ment here they say children are soonest bewitched we aer ouer-childish in Gods matters and therefore the sooner deceiued especially if the deceiuer bee his crafts-master A fine flatterer wil bee more in the bookes of a foole than a perfect friend To the weake eie the clearest and the truest light is most offensiue to the sick of an ague the best drinke is worst and as to children and vnto weomen with-childe vntimely fruite or vnholsome foode seemeth better than better meate so wee see it in Adam and in Adams children being in an ague and distempred with his fall as it were with-child with their own fancies affection misleadeth them and folly maketh vs prone to euery inconuenience and in this sinister conceit and ouer-weening were the Galathians deceiued And it being put in their heads that Gods Lawe would doe very wel with Christs Ghospell and that woorkes iointly with faith would the rather iustifie saue than faith in Christ alone they were caried headlong into that most pernicious error so become 1. fools in their vnderstanding 2. Bewitched in opinion 3. And disobedient to the faith cleane contrary to their education and training vp contrary to their owne conuersation in the Gospel contrary to their former sufferings not at al for the Law but only for the faith in Christ alone Was this no folly They whoe had indured many stormes and dangers euery way only for Christ thus wilfully at the hauen where they should ariue to cast away themselues Except they were bewitched and out of their wittes they could not possibly bee so so disobedient to fall from their spirituall comfort and to become as grosse as the old Iewes for their ceremonies worse than the Iewes as to dreame that any workes could saue either without or yet with Christ as to that purpose Workes are duties to be doone but when wee haue doone al it is Christ that saueth and workes do not iustifie That is a fleshly a grosse a foolish imagination There is no spirit no spiritual wisedome in it and marke marke with an attentiue eare and with an intentiue eie what Saint Paul auerreth and saith that they were fooles not to end as they beganne beginning as they did in Christ The diuision of A first and A second iustification is a fooles deuise in Saint Pauls iudgement Our Papists tell vs of a first Iustification and of a second Iustification the first free in Christ the second merited by workes Paul telleth them they are fooles they must end as they began if they wil be saued Christ only saueth onely iustifieth when At first And why not at last Will ye beginne with Christ and end in your selues The author and finisher of our saluation is our Sauiour and the end is greater than the entrance and hee that giueth vs grace to bee iustified in this world hee only giueth vs also the glory of our saluation in the world to come Are ye bewitched and will yee bee fooles charme the charmer neuer so cunningly Paul giueth vs a faire president and pattern to woorke by both 1. In the manner of his dealing with the Galathians 2. And also in his Doctrine he treated to them 1. A leperous tongue a fluxe of a foule mouth must bee stopped a rauing Dogge must be more than musled the Or that goreth all that commeth in his way must be killed I deny not strong wine is good but least it fume in the head delay it with water it will bee better Zeale is requisite and he that hateth a realous Preacher is an enemy to his soule a frind to his sinnes but zeale tempered with charity and discretion is the true zeale a * A fire of Iuniper coales is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a zeale vngratefull and not to be liked scalding zeale and a scorching heate is not the fiar that worketh effectually and separateth things of dissimular and diuers natures and vniteth men of similar and like condicion rightly and truely together I graunt if Paul had beene a cold frost hee might haue let all alone and suffer to freese together Lawe Ghospell Moses and Christ faith and workes the flesh and the spirite as wee see in the * A cold reproofe is vnprofitable and rather freeseth men in the dregs of sinne than otherwise frost stickes and stones and myre such like matters of different dislike natures to stick freeze togither No Paul was zealous to barke against sin and withal discreet to do it with intent to recal sinners to win and not to sting their persons The Mastiffe is not driuen away with a fragment nor errors with fawning looks flattering wordes If a man touch a nettle crisily it stingeth the sooner Paul taketh them vp in termes as before ô ye foolish c. Yet with a meaning to amend them not with a trumping mind which is too too bad in any case in any man to be-foole men as many doe and which is condemned by our * Mat. 5. Sauiour The purpose of the reprouer doth make much in the manner of reprouing The end in our actions doth distinguish our doings and the purpose in our wordes doth put make the difference in our sayings Saint Pauls drift was to reforme them to restore them to recall and reclaime them to their first estate he was the salt of the earth to season them with sharpnes and not the gall of the earth to greeue them with bitter speech And demanding whether