much euery day and therefore not onely while as yet we liue we must seeke him but we must not neglect any time yea we must with expedition accept any occasion of seeking Christ for wee know not if euer hee will knocke at our doores againe The second error men commit in seeking of Christ is in the manner it is long ere wee beginne to seeke him whom we should seeke before all things but when wee doe begin to seeke it is after a negligent and carelesse manner as if the matter were not great whether found him or no. Matth. 6.33 But what saith our Sauiour Christ Seeke first the Kingdome of God and by First is meant not a priority in order and the anticipation of time but a priority in the earnestnes or intention of our minde as if he should haue said Seeke the Kingdome of heauen not onely before all things but aboue all things with greater vehemencie and affection then you doe any other thing in the world besides This is the meaning of our Sauiour and so much doth the words of our Sauiour import Hee that would finde Christ must seeke him zealously with feruour and heate Mat. 11.12 For the Kingdome of heauen suffereth violence the violent take it by force And after we haue found him then we must seeke how to keepe him too To which purpose Tertullian hath a notable admonition and very fit for our times in which many are like vnto children Ephes 4.14 Carried about with euerie blast of doctrine or like those women who were euer learning 2. Tim. 3.7 and yet neuer came to the knowledge of the truth euer seeking and neuer finding because when they haue found they loose that they haue found either of too much curiositie in seeking or of too much inconstancie in relecting and learning to seeke of whom Tertullian thus speaketh Our Sauiour saith Seeke and yee shall finde knocke it shal be opened vnto you aske and it shall be giuen The true vnderstanding of which place saith he consists in three points For our Sauiour speaketh this Jnipsis doctrinae primitijs when first he began to teach when hee was yet scarce knowne to his Disciples while as yet Peter had not acknowledged him to be the Sonne of God and so most peculiarly saith he doth the speech belong to the Iewes who did not acknowledge Christ to be the Messias and therefore were willed to seeke He addeth further admit it be spoken to vs as in truth it is yet saith he it hath his bounds and the true vnderstanding of these words consists in three points in re in tempore in modo in the thing in the time in the manner The diuision is not much vnlike that of Bernard that is saith he we must vnderstand what it is wee seeke how wee seeke and when wee are to seeke it That which we ought to seeke is Christ and we ought to seeke him till we finde him Et invenisti cùm credidisti and then thou hast found him when thou hast beleeued in him and then seeke how thou mayest keepe him for no man saith he seeketh but he which either neuer had Christ or else hath lost him Luke 11.5 The man in the Gospel who repaired to his friends house knockt at his doore desiring him to lend him three loaues was very importunate to be let in but as soone as he was let in he ceased to knocke any more The widdow that lost her Groat Luke 15.8 swept the house diligently till she found it but after shee once found it shee gaue ouer seeking and sweeping Luke 18.3 The widdow was importunate to be heard of the wicked Iudge but after she was admitted to audience she gaue ouer her importunity and therefore there is a measure in Seeking and Knocking therefore after we haue by Faith working by Charitie apprehended Christ we must not seeke after any other Faith No nor if wee will follow the policie of some States not suffer disputation in the question of Faith and Religion for though disputing of truth be a kind of teaching of truth and that truth feares no examination or discussion yet as often as factious or schismaticall spirits shall offer disputation in the matter of Faith or Gouernemrnt to accept of that challenge is to bring those things that are soundly and surely setled to new trialls and to seeke after that which is already found which neyther the rules of Pollicie nor Diuinitie doe admit I speake this to stop the mouths of some who with more insolency then confidency desire that things in controuersie may be disputed of which according to the sence in which they desire it were to seeke for that which indeede wee haue found and which without curiositie or distrusting wee ought to maintayne euen with the perill of our liues As wee haue learned Christ so let vs goe on rooted and grounded in Charitie and not be moued from the profession of our most holy Faith Neither let vs giue eare to those who vnder pretence either of truth in Religion or sincerity in Ceremonie would alienate your mindes from that obedience and gouernement in which you haue been trayned vp in Christ Iesus VVee presume that we haue found Christ so farre forth now our endeuour is and must be to keepe him not onely in our heads by speculation that in our hearts by affection to which purpose I shall speake more in conuenient place The third errour men commit in seeking after Christ is that they seeke him not in the place they should seeke him This is the errour committed by these holy women for which the Angels blamed them and therefore a little longer to be insisted vpon And this error may be collected easily and plainly from the speach of our Sauiour in the Gospell who telleth vs That false Christs Matt. 24.24 26. and false Prophets shall arise and shall shew great signes and wonders saying Beholde hee is in the wildernesse hee is in the secret places On which place Doctor Stapleton writing according to his virulent manner sayth it is accomplished in our teachers who leauing the right way the Kings high-way the auncient and Apostolike Church doe seeke after Christ in corners in the wildernesse of our owne wandring imaginations and amongst such Apostataes who challenge to themselues the name of the Church But the truth is it is much better fulfilled amongst them who confine Christ vnto a certayne place and thinke he cannot be found out of the limits of their Churches In times past the visible Church was in one Kingdome I meane among the Iewes Notus in Iudaea Deus God is well knowne in Jewrie But now the time is come which our Sauiour spake of Iohn 4.23 The houre commeth and now is that the true worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and truth And this was long fore-told by the Prophets and namely the Prophet Malachy Mala. 1.11 who saith From the rising of the
Sunne vnto the going downe of the same my Name is great among the Gentiles By which is meant the calling of the Gentiles And therefore they are iniurious to binde Christ to Rome and absurd also seeing in their Creede they insert these words I beleeue the Romaine Catholike Church For the Catholike Church is the vniuersall society of all the Faithfull or Elect both of men and Angells the Romaine Church is but a particular Church as the Church of England or France is though to speake the trueth sometimes a flourishing Church Rom. 1.8 of which Saint Paul saith That their Faith was published throughout the whole world One of the originall or mother-churches a Church for her constancie in the Faith reuerenced of other Churches But now the case is altered The faithfull Citie is become a Harlot Iustice Iudgement lodged in her but now those that shined as gold are as blacke as pitch And therefore to seeke after Christ in Rome is not conuenient much lesse to appropriate the truth to the Church of Rome and yet I will not deny but many in the Romaine Church appertaine to Christ who grone vnder that grosse superstition Papisme it selfe is not a totall defection but an aberration from Christ though a grosse one neither is there any cause why they should obiect vnto vs our paucity who neither are so few as they would haue vs to be esteemed and yet if we were we know that trueth is not to be measured by multitude Thou shalt not follow a multitude to doe euill For the most part euill goeth with the multitude And Gregory Nazianzene saith That to esteeme of things according to the multitude were to preferre the dust of the earth before the Stars of Heauen to neglect Pearles and to gather pibble-stones which are infinite I cannot hasting to other matters prosecute this point at full onely this I wish you to take heede of the confused clamours of our Aduersaries in whose mouthes nothing is more frequent then the Temple of the Lord the Church the Faith the ancient and Apostolike Sea the Chaire that cannot erre with a number of like childish vaunts to bring vs backe vnto Rome as if Christ were no where to be found but there where indeede hee is neither so soundly nor sincerely as he ought to be I would also admonish the Schismatikes who according to the praediction of our Sauiour say Heere is Christ and there is Christ and with them is Christ no where else is Christ euerie Sect challenging to themselues the name of Christ and thence excluding the other from any right or title therein But this occasion requireth other matter at my hands and therefore leauing other errours committed in seeking Christ out of due place I come to that which is heere committed by the VVomen and here I must repeate our distinction The errours saith Bernard committed in seeking of Christ are in the time in the manner in the place of which three errors these women committed onely the last for of the former two we must acquit them For how can they be said to erre in the time who so earely come to the Sepulchre to finde Christ Christ was crucified on the Friday the day following was the Sabboath which caused them to rest but the day after before it was yet light neither discouraged with the darknesse nor caring for the VVatch which might well haue amated them they come vnto the Sepulchre to finde Christ Neither may they be said to erre in that manner of seeking which those doe commit that follow Christ in the Desart not for the Miracle but for the Meate Many there are that are like vnto these the Apostle saith Philip. 2.21 Omnes quae sua sunt quaerunt Euery man seekes his owne and not that which is Christs But these holy VVomen when Christ was now dead with the perill of their liues considering the malice of the Iewes with the expence and cost of their goods come earely to the Sepulchre intending to performe their funerall rites vnto Christ And heerein for their zeale and loue though not according to knowledge they deserue if not commendation yet tolleration The errour properly committed by them is their seeking of Christ out of due place Cur quaeritis viuentem inter mortuos Why seeke ye him that liueth among the dead The Sepulchre or Graue is domus mortuorum The house of the dead inhabited of rotten carkasses in which it was vnpossible that Christ should either remaine or putrifie He tolde them That hee would rise the third day which they forgetting or not beleeuing come with their odours to embalme him and to that end doe seeke him among the dead For which cause the Angell doth somewhat taxe them Cur quaeritis viuentem inter mortuos Why seeke yee the liuing among the dead This is their errour about the place and so is it ours to and much more grosse and I now speake of the ordinarie errours committed call them how you will either in the manner of seeking or about the place Christ when they did seeke him was risen but he was not yet ascended but now heis both risen and ascended sitting on the right hand of God Coloss 3.1 where wee ought to seeke him If Christ be risen let vs seeke him where he sits at the right of God But we like wormes lie groueling on the earth whose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Conuersation ought to be in heauen If you vnderstand not my meaning I will make it plaine The Apostle taxing certaine persons among other things brandeth them with this title namely Philip. 3. That they minded earthly things then the which nothing is more opposite to the finding of Christ Christ as he is God filleth all places as hee is Man hee is contained in one place namely in Heauen where is the Kingdome of Glorie where our affections desires and thoughts ought to be For if we seeke him on earth who now raignes in Heauen wee shall neuer finde him Men naturally looke vp-wards to heauen whereas the beast looks downe wards But is it not absurd that with the eyes of our bodies we should looke vp-wards and with the eyes of our hearts looke downe-wards Yet so it is which he saith is to transforme the Image of God into the Image of a Beast and thus speaketh he to him to make him blush for shame For whereas thou art made streight and oughtest to looke vp to heauen thou with the beasts dost creepe on the earth like a brutish creature so art become beastiall in heart in the stowping of thy soule to the earth If hee did thus say vnto them doe not wee stand in need to stirre vp our selues by all meanes to the contemplation of the heauenly life and to shake off this earthlinesse of minde The Prophet speaking to the Iewes begins thus Ierem. 22. Hearken O earth earth earth three times repeated May it not be said to many of vs who are
be baptised In which words diuers things do offer themselues to bee considered and that which I thinke first is necessary is the coniunction of these two namely Faith and Baptisme He that shall beleeue and be baptised must be read without dis-junction and make but one proposition For our Sauiour Christ doth not heere meane that he which is baptised but beleeueth not or that he that beleeueth and is not baptised shall be saued but both are heere ioyned together He that beleeueth and is baptised Betweene these two I meane Faith and Baptisme Christ doth part the causes of Saluation yet let none mis-take me in that I say these are causes of Saluation I doe not say they are principall causes but instrumentall adiuvant secundary inferiour causes which it pleaseth God to vse and sanctifie for the sauing of our soules I doe not say that either both together or any one of them by it selfe is a cause absolutely necessarie to Saluation so that he that wants either one or both must be damned which in the latter member I shall more largely declare but I say they are necessarie in respect of our obedience and necessarie because commanded and therefore if of contempt or grosse or affected negligence we either refuse the one or the other we incurre the displeasure of God and by that meanes eternall damnation In this sence I call them causes and ioyne them both together euen as Christ himselfe doth Hee that beleeueth and is baptised both of them are in their kinde necessary Of the one that is Faith the Apostle sayth Without faith it is vnpossible to please God Hebr. 11.6 Of the other that is Baptisme the Apostle sayth Titus 3.5 it is Lauacrum regenerationis the washing of the new birth and is resembled by Saint Peter 1. Pet. 3.20.21 to the Arke in which Noah and his children were saued The Arke was not a signe onely of the mercy of God but God vsed it as an instrumentall cause to preserue Noah in that great and vniuersall deluge and to it is Baptisme compared The ancient Fathers grounding themselues vpon that and the like places doe speake as becomes them reuerently resembling Baptisme to the red-Sea in which Pharaoh that is the Diuell with all his workes are drowned and the Israelites that is the true Christians regenerate are deliuered from the wrath of God To the Poole of Bethesda into which the Angell descended at a certaine time and stirred the water and who first descended there-into was cured of his infirmitie I say they not onely resemble it but preferre it before this water for that water did onely cure the bodie but this the soule in this water but one could be cured at one time there many are cured into that water the Angell descended at a certayne time and before he had stirred the water it would not worke and therefore it might bee called Fons signatus a Fountaine sealed vp but this water is open and common and floweth plentifully to all Christians according to that prediction of the Prophet Zacharie In that day Zach. 13.1 there shall be a fountaine opened to the house of Dauid and to the house of Ierusalem for sinne and for vncleannesse In that water God did worke by the ministerie of an Angell heere he worketh by the ministery of sinfull men yet is the effect wonderfull neither doth our humility derogate from the power and operation of it I might repeate many other their similitudes to this purpose many speeches they haue which some thinke to be Hyperbolicall and beyond the truth but indeed they are no more then the Scripture teacheth A man may as well ascribe too little as too much to the Sacrament and as the Papists haue erred in Superstition so some perhaps in Prophanenesse to which these our times do too much incline A meane may be held betweene both that is to thinke of these as they are in effect causes and instruments by which Christ doth deriue into our soules the efficacie of his precious bloud He that beleeueth and is baptised shall be saued And this is the first thing I thought meete to be obserued I meane the coniunction of these two Faith and Baptisme But is nothing else will some say required to Saluation Is it sufficient to beleeue and be baptised VVill these two without good-workes bring them that are come to yeares of discretion to heauen God forbid any should think so yet some in former times haue beene of that minde who held that Faith without Workes was sufficient to Saluation and against that heresie Saint Augustine hath written a whole Booke very learnedly Our Aduersaries of the Church of Rome doe ascribe vnto vs this errour and say that we haue reuiued this Heresie wherein their conscience tells them they doe vs wrong It may be you haue heard some say that Faith onely is necessary to Iustification and that is very true but did you euer heare any say that onely Faith was necessary to Saluation I suppose there was neuer any so madde as once to thinke it Bellarmine in this poynt doth vs right who sayth That both they and wee doe hold a necessity of workes though in a diuers sence They hold in workes necessitatem efficientiae a necessitie of the efficacie of workes we holde necessitatem praesentiae a necessitie of the presence of workes In plaine termes the Question betweene vs is not of the necessitie of workes but of the merit and dignity of workes in which there is some difference betweene vs but the necessity of workes is held of both and therefore there is no need to refuse the words he is supposed to be in the wrong which taketh away the necessity of a vertuous life it rather requireth a reall refutation For although it is confessed on both sides I meane of Protestants and Papists that good workes are necessary to saluation yet in eyther Religion many there are who ouerthrow the confession of their faith with the notorious sins of their liues professing they know God but denying him with their workes Tit. 1.16 as the Apostle saith and that is a kinde of indirect and implicite Atheisme How true this is the times doe testifie and I shall easily make knowne yet not without griefe as one that taketh small delight in this discourse and yet not without profit for I see a profitable vse of it I will beginne then with our Aduersaries who in contention do iustify themselues and lay heauy imputations vpon others but as the old saying is Hee that condemnes another ought not himselfe to be faultie Let vs consider then their demeanour Bellarmine amongst other notes of the Church saith that Sanctitas doctrinae Purenesse of doctrine both concerning Faith and Manners is a speciall one and another is Sanctitas vitae Holinesse of life at the least in the authors and founders of their seuerall Orders But if you should measure truth either by some of their doctrine taught or by
the practise of some of their Professours it would goe hard with them In the Councell of Trent amongst other things they haue established Inuocation of Saints and worshipping of Reliques in which Councell notwithstanding the Fathers assembled giue great charges to their Priests that no superstition of idolatry be committed in eyther of them whereby they plainly confesse that whatsoeuer they teach the practise of the vulgar is full of corruption superstition and that Bellarmine doth intreat that the weaknesse or ignorance of the common sort do not preiudice the truth of their doctrine vsing certaine words of Saint Augustine in a like case Noui multos simulacrorum adoratores c. Many superstitions are committed by the vulgar out of ignorance and weakenesse But if wee should come now from matter of Opinion to the matter of Life and alledge those things which Bernard spoke of the corruption of the Church in his time and that which Petrarch and sundry others haue written it will make our haire stand vpright and I do abstain from particular reciting of them neyther is it my meaning in thus censuring them to iustifie our selues for I am perswaded that the scandalous demeanour of many dissolute Protestants doth make many a Papist and that the vnchristian carriage of either sort doth make many an Atheist and therefore both sorts should ioyne together to redeeme our Christian profession from these scandalous imputations with which diuers doe too truely taxe vs and to adorne our calling with good-workes that the Name of God be not blasphemed by vs and that the mouthes of our enimies may be stopped This is the best way to confute the supposed opinion which taketh away the necessity of good life that is not by VVords but by VVorkes Matth. 5.16 Let your light so shine before men sayth our Sauiour that they maysee your good workes and glorifie your Father which is in heauen But you will reply and say Are not the words of your Text plaine Doth not Christ say He that beleeueth and is baptised shall be saued I aunswere that vnder these two are comprehended good-workes without which Faith or Baptisme is to small purpose The diuels are not altogether without Faith Iac. 2.19 for they beleeue and tremble Simon Magus had both these Faith and Baptisme Act. 8.13 Of his Baptisme there can be no question for it is plainely set downe in expresse tearmes and why should any make doubt of his faith for Saint Luke doth not onely say He beleeued but he saith it with an emphasis now Simon himselfe also beleeued that great sorcerer that notable Impostor and that which is more that he with others beleeued And therefore vnlesse we thinke that all others were hypocrites and that Saint Luke were deceiued in them all wee must needes thinke that Simon Magus beleeued and was baptised for both doth the Euangelist affirme yet his end as is thought was most miserable and damnable and therfore Faith and Baptisme without good-workes profite not Nay it is certaine that both these I meane Faith and Baptisme without good-workes when we grow vp to yeares of discretion doe but increase our damnation so farre are they from procuring our saluation For it is better neuer to haue knowne the way of God 2. Pet. 2.21 then after they haue knowne it to turne from the holy Commaundement giuen vnto them In Baptisme we bind our selues to the seruice of God God contracts with vs and we with him He couenants with vs to be our God yet conditionally so wee serue him VVe couenant with him to renounce the workes of the Diuell and to contract our selues wholly to his seruice True it is that without this contract wee are bound to the same duety for wee are his creatures and in regard both of our Creation and Redemption are bound to serue him but yet by our contract in Baptisme we bring a speciall Bond and Obligation vpon our selues for euer For euen those things which of themselues doe binde vs if we binde our selues to them by speciall Obligation doe binde vs more forcibly For example Genes 28.20 21.22 Iacob doth make a vow and promise That if God would bee with him and keepe him in his iourney and would giue him bread to eate and cloathes to put on so that he come againe to his Fathers house in safety then should the Lord be his God then of all that God gaue him would hee giue him the tenth To which duties he was bound without a vow but by this vow hee was double bound The Prophet Dauid describing a iust and righteous man Psal 15.4 makes this one note of him that he sweareth to his neighbour and disappointeth him not though it were to his owne hinderance No question but if he promise he is bound to performe though it be neuer so nudum pactum a bare and naked promise yet is a man in conscience honesty bound but if he sweare then is he bound in a greater bond for these are two bonds of a wonderfull force the one of Oathe the other of Vow and it is a question whether is the greater bond The Casuists obserue that Obligatio iuramenti est voto firmior the Oath is a stronger bond then the Vow because we sweare by God though the Vow be sanctior holier because we vow to God It is euident then that the contract wee make in Baptisme which is as strong as any Oathe or Vowe in the world doth tie vs more strongly to that duety which of it selfe without any vow or promise is simply and absolutely necessarie But let vs yet a little consider what manner of bond and obligation it is that by Baptisme wee bring vpon ourselues VVe call this mystery by the name of Sacrament which is a borrowed word for the Romaines in times past when they prest any Souldiers ministred an oathe vnto them of Fidelity which they called Sacramentum militiae the Oathe of their militarie seruice without which Oathe they made a scruple to beare Armes VVee when wee take vp Souldiers doe not alwayes sweare them but they receiue Presse-mony which bindes them sufficiently And what thinke you of a Souldier that after he hath receiued his Presse-mony after he is admitted into pay inrolled in the Booke shall forsake his Campe without the leaue of his Generall as many run-agate souldiers doe or perhappes reuolte and flee into the enemies Campe or staying in the Campe haue notwithstanding conference with the enemie and as opportunity serues deliuers vp the Fort or Holde committed to him as some in our times perfidiously and dishonestly haue done Or if hee doe none of these yet eyther of cowardise or contempt neuer fights blowe neuer doth any seruice to his Captaine or Commaunder Doe not such Souldiers deserue punishment greater then if they had refused to serue to which notwithstanding their alleageance doth binde them So is it in this case In Baptisme wee receiue Gods Presse-mony then wee beginne