past al helpe His rotten relikes cannot comfort you His blinde dumbe and wormeaten Idols can doe you no good It is cast awaie which is spent vpon his shamelesse pardons they wil not preuaile God wil not admit them By his Latine seruice ye cannot be edified or made wiser Yet this trumperie they sel for monie and vpon this trash they cause sillie men to wast their substance and to these to commit their soules Thus you see a manifest difference betweene Christ and Antichrist the doctrine of God and the learning of man true teachers and false sounde and counterfaited religion The one offereth true bread freely the other that which is no bread for bread and that not freely neither but for monie The diuersitie of religion professed in these our times is here most plainely and liuely depainted For the better clearing whereof I wil in three notes lay before your eies the whole difference which is betweene them 9 First we disagree in the very foundation They lay one ground and we an other We lay no one stone but onely vpon that foundation of the Prophets and Apostles whereupon whosoeuer is builded groweth into an holie temple in the Lord a temple which no winde no waues no storme no tempest is able to ouerthrowe The foundation of our religion is the written worde the Scriptures of God the vndoubted records of the holie Ghost We require no credite to be giuen to any part or parcel of our doctrine further than the same may be clearely and manifestly proued by the plaine words of the lawe of God which remaineth in writing to be seene read examined of all men This we doe First because we knowe that God hath caused his whole Lawe to be written Secondly because we see that it hath beene the practise of all the defenders of the truth since the beginning to relie their faith onely vpon the Scripture and written word Thirdly because it is euident and plaine that we cannot receiue any other foundation of heauenly truth without the ouerthrowe of Christian faith 10 There was neuer any Lawemaker so simple as to make statutes for perpetuitie and not to register them in bookes or engraue them in tables When Memucan was desirous to haue a Law made for the bringing of women in subiection vnder their husbands his perswasion was this If it may please the King let a royall decree proceede from him and let it be written The Lawes of the Medes and Persians that might neuer be altered were for euer recorded When God deliuered his first Lawe vnto his people the Lawe which commonly we call morall he gaue it them written in tables of stone Againe when he deliuered them ciuil ordinaunces for the administration of iustice betweene man and man Moses first proclaimed all those Lawes and ordinances amongst the people afterward he tooke and wrote in a booke all the words of the Lord. As for the Lawes of rites and ceremonies they are likewise written in this booke To these we must adde that Lawe which the blessed Apostle doth call the Lawe of faith This Lawe God preached vnto Adam by himselfe The seede of the woman shall breake the serpents head vnto Abraham by his Angel In thee shall all the nations of the earth be blessed to the children of Abraham by his Prophets Behold a virgin shal conceiue and beare a sonne finally vnto vs by his sonne and by them whom his sonne hath sent into the world to make it knowen that through this man is preached remission of sinnes and from all things from which ye could not be iustified by the Lawe of Moses by him euerie one that beleeueth is iustified And the statutes of this Lawe are also written God being moreouer desirous to haue his seruaunts not only taught by doctrine but prouoked also by examples gaue them a fift sort of Lawes and testimonies called historical not leauing these neither to men to deliuer vnto their children by word of mouth but all by writing If God haue committed his Lawes moral ciuil ceremonial euangelical and historical also vnto writing where should we seeke for the statutes of the almightie but in his written word 11 The auncients of the house of God knewe no fountaine of his truth but this They neuer enquired what had beene whispered in mens eares that which they beleeued and taught they read it out of the booke In the Historie of Iosua it is recorded howe hee did assemble the Tribes Elders Heads Iudges and Officers of Israel together shewing them what God had spoken vnto them by Moses but vttering to them no speech which was not writtē Iosias with all the men of Iuda and all the inhabitants of Ierusalem the Priests Prophets and all the people small and great made a couenaunt before the Lord to keepe his commaundements and his testimonies and his statutes with all their heart and with all their soule But what statutes what testimonies The words of the couenaunt written in this Booke Christ speaketh many things his Apostles many things concerning the doctrine of the Prophets but no one point of doctrine which is not found in their bookes and writings The prophet Esay crieth Adlegem testimonium To the lawe and to the testimonie If they teache not according to this Lawe it is because there is no light in them Consider the practise of Christ Iesus His proofes are Scriptum est It is written His demaunds are Quomodo legis Howe doest thou reade His Apologies are Scrutamini Scripturas Searche the Scriptures they beare me record His Apostles tread in the same path they goe not the breadth of an haire not a whit from that which is written Thus S. Paul protesteth I deliuered vnto you that which I receiued how Christ died for our sinnes according to the Scriptures and that he was buried and that he rose the third day according to the Scriptures It is not lightly to be marked which is twise repeated He deliuered nothing but according to the Scriptures I would heare the voice of my pastor saith S. Augustine Reade this out of some Prophet reade it out of some Psalme recite it out of the Lawe recite it out of the Gospel recite it out of some Apostle reade it and we will beleeue it These be good presidents for vs to followe til sufficient reason be alleaged why we should lay an other foundation than that which hath beene laide by so many so wise so reuerend builders 12 Especially sith this foundation is so peculiar to the trueth that we cannot rest vpon any other without manifest daunger of the vtter ouerthrowe of Christian faith For first what certainetie or assurance can we haue of any of those things which are beleeued if our faith doe not leane onely vpon the Scriptures If once a religious credite be giuen to vnwritten verities and to mens reports the vndoubted articles of our beleefe cannot choose but at the
As verily as he doth liue it is not the goodnesse of their religion but the strength of their faction and the wilinesse of flesh by which they stand 39 Wherefore briefly to conclude this matter and in fewe words to knit vp that which remaineth I haue as you see set before you life and death truth and error wholesome foode and noysome poison If ye tender the safetie of your owne soules be not as children readie to take whatsoeuer is offered you learne to iudge betweene good and euill lay not out monie for that which is no bread spend not your labour in that which cannot satisfie come to the waters whereunto God calleth you 40 The maner of comming is set downe by the Prophet in many words the summe of all is this Wee must not giue eare vnto lying spirits Heare not the wordes of the Prophets that prophecie vnto you and teache you vanitie they speake the vision of their owne heart and not out of the mouth of the Lord turne away your eares from such and hearken vnto me saith the Lorde Hearken diligently carefully attentiuely The word of life is of power and strength to saue your soules But if ye be as vessels that leake and runne out how should the doctrine of saluation profite you This food refusing all other we are exhorted both to take and to eate If sinners heretikes enemies of the truth say Come with vs shunne them turne away your feete from their pathes offer not you their offerings of bloud present not your selues in their temples tast not things sacrificed vnto their Idols Eate that which is good Labour not for the meate which perisheth much lesse for that whereby men perish but labour for the meate that endureth to euerlasting life which meate the sonne of man shall giue you For him hath God the father sealed He is the bread of life his flesh is meate indeede and his bloud is drinke in deede his word is the power of God vnto saluation his sacraments are seales of righteousnesse by faith in him are all the treasures of peace ioie rest comfort no eye hath seene no eare hath heard no heart hath conceiued the things which are hidden and laide vp in him Whereupon if we feede in such sort that our soules take ioie pleasure and delight in fatnesse then the fruite which hereby we shall reape is this 41 Your soule saith God shall liue and I wil make an euerlasting couenaunt with you euen the sure mercies of Dauid What Shall they then which hearken vnto him and put their trust in his mercie deliuer their liues for euer from the hand of the graue Shal they liue and not see death There is a first and a second death the one onely seuereth the soule from the bodie for a time the other tormenteth first the soule seuered and afterward both bodie and soule for euer The second death shal not touche them of whom the Prophet here speaketh But of the first Iob hath saide Death is the house appointed for all the liuing Wherefore God doeth not promise to prolong the daies of his children continually heere on earth but his promise is that their soules shal liue For touching outward things we cannot certainely iudge the hatred or loue of God by them In these externall euents The same condition is to the iust and to the wicked to the good and pure and to them that are polluted to him that sacrificeth and to him that sacrificeth not As is the good so is the sinner he that sweareth as he that feareth an oath Howe dieth the wise man Euen as the foole saith the Preacher Nay one is wicked and liueth in ease and prosperitie another feareth God and dieth in the bitternesse of his soule they sleepe both in the dust together the wormes couer them both alike This onely is the difference The wicked is kept to the day of destruction and shall bee brought foorth to the day of wrath But the iust shall liue by faith his soule shall liue The foundation from whence this life floweth is that couenaunt which was made with Dauid I wil set vp thy seede after thee which shall proceede out of the bodie and I will stablish his kingdome hee shal build an house for my name and I wil stablish the throne of his kingdome for euer Now as Dauid so the children of Dauid after him fulfilled their daies and fel asleepe the throne of Dauid was not established in them for euer But of Christ the Angel of the Lorde hath saide The Lord shall giue vnto him the throne of his father Dauid and he shall raigne ouer the house of Iacob for euer and of his kingdome shall be no ende Wherefore in Christ this couenaunt with Dauid is fulfilled The mercies which were promised vnto Dauid are the benefites and as the Apostle termeth them the holie things which we receiue by Christ Iesus This couenant is euerlasting If saith God by the Prophet Ieremie you can breake my couenaunt of the day and my couenaunt of the night that there should not be day and night in their season then may my couenaunt be broken with Dauid As the couenaunt made with Dauid is euerlasting so the mercies therein contained are sure Of the sure mercies of Dauid thus he speaketh in the booke of Psalmes Mine hande shall be established with him and mine arme shal strengthen him the enemie shall not oppresse him neither shall the wicked doe him hurt but I will destroy his foes before his face and plague them that hate him my mercie will I keepe for him for euermore and my couenaunt shall stand fast with him The couenaunt made with Dauid is made with vs his mercies are our mercies if so be we performe that which here is required at our hands If we hearken diligently vnto him that cryeth Come to the waters if we cleaue fast vnto his trueth if we embrace his promises with ioie eating that which is good shunning and loathing that which is euil surely his hande shall be established with vs as with Dauid his arme shall bee our strength the enemie shal not oppresse vs neither shal the wicked doe vs harme but God shall destroy all our enemies before vs and plague them that hate vs his mercies he shal keepe towards vs for euer his couenaunt shall stand fast with vs our soules shal liue he shal make an euerlasting couenaunt with vs euen the sure mercies of Dauid Which mercies the God of all mercie graunt vs vnto whom with the Sonne by whose blood they are purchased together with that glorious Spirite which hath sealed in our heartes ful assurance that they cannot faile be honour and glorie for euer and euer Amen A Sermon made before the Parliament at Westminster 1. SAMVEL 12. 23 Be this sinne against the Lord farre from me that I should cease to pray for you But I will shewe you the good and the right waie 24
common wealth What stirs diuersities of religion hath raised in nations kingdoms the histories are so many so plaine and our times in such sort haue told you that with further proofe I need not trouble your eares One God one king one faith one profession is fit for one monarchie common wealth Diuision weakneth Concord strēgtheneth The storie of Scilurus the Scythian is knowen who vpon his death bed taught his lxxx sons the force of vnitie by the strength of sticks weake by themselues when they are tyed in a bundle Let conformitie and vnitie in religion be prouided for and it shal be as a wall of defence vnto this Realme 26 And as these things are especially to be regarded as our principal care must be for the highest matters synceritie and vnitie in religion so we may not neglect or passe ouer smaller things which neede redresse For as diseases and sores in the basest and vilest parts of the body doe grieue and may endaunger the chiefest vnlesse they bee cured betimes so the least abuses by sufferance may worke the greatest harme Gorgeous apparel and sumptuous dyet with such like matters may seeme small things but they are the causes of no small euils They eate vp England and are therefore to bee repressed by straite Lawes It is a part of true seruice done vnto God to see euen vnto these things 27 Wee may seeme to cast our eyes very lowe when wee looke into the dealings of euerie officer vnder the Prince Yet euerie one must be seene vnto They waxe sodainely rich by the spoile of the Prince Reforme it by Lawe that all may walke in trueth If merchaunts with other artificers and meaner trades doe inriche themselues by impouerishing others through deceitfull shifts the common wealth suffereth dammage by their vneuen dealings If we wil haue God serued in trueth wee must by Lawe reforme them 28 That biting worme of vsurie that deuouring wolfe hath consumed many many it hath pulled vpon their knees and brought to beggerie many such as might haue liued in great wealth and in honour not a fewe This canker hath corrupted all England It is become the chiefe chaffer and merchaundise of England We shall doe God and our countrie true seruice by taking away this euill Represse it by Lawe else the heauie hand of God hangeth ouer vs and wil strike vs. 29 That vile sinne of adulterie in Gods common wealth punished with death so ouerfloweth the bankes of all chastitie that if by sharpe Lawes it be not speedily cut off God from heauen with fire will consume it Preuent Gods wrath bridle this outrage so shal you serue the Lord in truth 30 There is nothing more hurtfull to the common wealth than these corner contracts without consent of parents contrary to the woorde of God the Lawe of nature the Lawe ciuil and all right and reason The inconueniences that followe are not sufferable Euaristus a Bishop of Rome saith It is not wedlocke but whoredome when the consent of parents is wanting God cannot bee better serued than if by Lawe yee restraine this vnlawfull contracting The children of this inconuenient mariage may scarsely bee termed lawfull The deuill that hath euer hated wedlocke and loueth whoredome was the first author of this great disorder God graunt you vnderstanding heartes and willing mindes faithfully and in trueth to trauell to represse and take away these euils 31 And as euill is to be controlled by Lawe so that which is good is also by Lawe to be procured God hath made vs many wayes riche For what wee haue freely at his hands we haue it But he himselfe is become very poore in so much that for want of reliefe he is forced to begge and for want of lodging and meate hee lieth and dieth in our streetes This great ingratitude God cannot but reuenge Oh what shame is this to a Christian common wealth in a reformed countrie Obstinate Iewes would neuer shew themselues so vnthankful Their auncient Lawe forbidding beggars is euen to this day most straitly kept amongest them Lawes in this behalfe haue beene prouided but as they wanted perfection so haue they in manner in no point or any where had execution Serue God in trueth prouide that Christ craue not Such as wil not feede him here he wil neuer feede in his kingdome Thus haue I point by point let you see disorders and wants in the common wealth Ye haue authoritie by Lawe to reforme them Consider duetifully of it and serue God truely as ye ought alwayes remembring the saying of the Prophet Esay Woe be to them that make wicked Lawes 32 When good Lawes are made they must be put in execution Lawe is the life of the common wealth and execution the life of the Lawe And better not to make Lawes than not to execute Lawes when they are once made This is the dutie of the publike ministers of the common wealth They must first keepe Lawes themselues then see that others in like sort may obserue them If the officers and ministers of the common wealth contemne lawes doubtlesse the people wil neuer reuerence them if they breake them the people wil neuer keep them Which Solon wisely considering wisely aunswered being demaunded what was chiefe safetie for a common wealth If the Citizens obey the Magistrate and the Magistrate the Lawes You that are appointed to this purpose and put in trust therewith lay aside dread and meede fauour and friendship gift and gaine and with simplicitie of heart punish the transgressor of the Lawe according to the Law Make not Anacharsis webbe of the Lawe Let not the hornet escape and the litle flie bee caught Fewe Lawes well made and well kept would serue the turne This is Gods seruice the execution thereof he hath set ouer to your hands Serue him in trueth and singlenesse of heart Cursed is he that negligently doeth the worke of the Lorde 33 Thus much hath beene spoken concerning higher powers and of their duetie in the seruice of God Samuel speaketh not to them alone to the people it is spoken as well as to the prince Feare and serue ye the Lorde in trueth Feare God embrace the Gospel leade your liues in holinesse and righteousnesse according to the word of trueth The Lorde is a strong defence to them that feare him They that feare him want nothing 34 Giue vnto the Lordes annointed due reuerence and honour Let euerie soule be subiect not by constraint but for conscience sake Imitate those worthie Israelites who were so willingly obedient to Iosua that they cryed with one voice Whosoeuer shall rebell against thy commaundement and will not obey thy woordes in all that thou commaundest him let him die Grudge not repine not at higher powers say not in your hearts Let vs breake their bands and cast away their chaines from vs. 35 Seeke the peace of the common wealth and
the safetie thereof for in the peace thereof your peace doeth stand In this sort God is to be feared in this sort of all sorts he is to be serued and by this meane the common wealth is to bee maintained and preserued If we linked together in the feare of God and in true concord and amitie among our selues put to our helping handes euerie one duetifully in his calling to the supporting of this state and defending thereof doubtlesse no enemie no forren power can hurt vs no Bull of Basan shall preuaile against vs but wee and our common wealth in despite of all both corporal and spiritual enemies shall be strengthened and stablished for euer So true is it that kingdome which is grounded vpon good wil standeth fast and sure for euer 36 But as the naturall bodie without sinewes can not growe waxe strong or continue no more can a ciuil bodie without his sinewes The sinewes of the common wealth are the treasures Tributes therefore and subsidies are due to the Prince Giue vnto Caesar those things that are Caesars tribute vnto whom tribute belongeth It is not giuen to the Prince but to the common wealth it is in trueth bestowed vpon our selues The prince in respect of priuate vse neither needeth neither requireth our money It is the common wealth whereunto we owe not our goods onely but our liues also it requireth this at our handes for our owne safetie The prince will be but a steward hereof seasonably to lay it out for publike vse Good common wealthsmen haue not spared to giue their very liues for their countrie as Themistocles Curtius Codrus and others And who can so litle regard the common wealth as by pinching at a peece of monie to pinche it He that seeth his house ruinous and for sparing will not repaire it if it fall vpon his head let him fall himselfe Moses found his subiects maruellous readie in this behalfe when a voluntarie contribution was required towardes the building of the tabernacle they brought in so much that he was forced to crie Sufficit Nowe ynough Cyrus was a gentle and a good prince and he had thankefull subiects their voluntarie gift at one subsidie surmounted all the long heaped treasure of riche Craesus The Princes treasure is wasted in our defence our duetie is to repaire it againe for our safetie This duetie God and our common wealth require at our handes Let vs paie franklie this debt so shall we worke our owne safetie strengthen the common wealth and serue God and our countrie in trueth 37 And thus we learne that if the ministers earnestly praie for and faithfully teache the prince and the people if the prince and the people syncerely feare and serue God feare him as an omnipotent Lord and iust Iudge and withall loue him as a most louing father serue him in cleansing and feeding his Church cleansing it from false doctrine Idolatrie superstition and symonie feeding it with the word by causing it eueriewhere to be preached which will be by prouiding maintenance for the preachers thereof and compelling all subiects to heare Gods word and receiue his sacraments Further if the Prince carefully consider of the common wealth to represse the euil encourage and strengthen the good and ouerlooke the whole and doe choose wise religious louers of the trueth and haters of couetousnesse vnder him to gouerne it If in this great and stately counsell of the kingdome banishing priuate affections it syncerely be sought by Lawe to set foorth and preferre true religion and withall to bridle the desperate tongues of gainesayers If by strength of good Lawes they represse monstrous apparell and excessiue dyet deceitful bargaining vsurie adulterie vnlawfully stolen contracts and so prouide for the poore that Christ in his members may be relieued If the officers of the common wealth keepe good Lawes themselues and faithfully without foolish pitie which is crueltie see them executed vpon others If the people like good subiectes feare God honour the Prince liue peaceably and seeke the safetie of their countrie Lastly if we all linked together in loue liberally relieue the common wealth and frankly supplie the want therof for our owne safetie then doubtlesse the Lord wil blesse and preserue our Prince and vs and stablish this kingdome in peace and prosperitie to flourish and to continue But if we be cold and negligent in Gods cause if we be vnthankefull and disobedient to our good Samuel to our gratious Soueraigne then let vs looke for that which God threateneth here by his prophet Both you and your king shall perish God graunt in his mercie that assisted with his grace we may syncerely seeke and serue him to his great glorie and our great safetie in this life and eternal saluation in the world to come To that immortall onely wise and most gratious God c. A Sermon preached in Yorke at the celebration of the day of the Queenes entraunce into her Raigne CANTIC 2. 15 Take vs the litle foxes which destroy the vines for our vine hath flourished SVch solemne assemblies in so sacred a place to giue God thankes for great benefites receiued are no rare things among Gods people but are confirmed by sundrie examples in the scriptures Nehemias after that the house of God was reedified assembled the people caused the Lawe of the Lord to be openly read gaue thankes vnto the Lord for their deliuerance from Babylon and for restitution of religion and with great reioising and feasting kept that day holie vnto the Lord. When by the meanes of Queene Hester the Iewes had gotten rest and giuen a great ouerthrow to their enemies she likewise with the aduise of hir godly vncle Mardocheus commanded the people to keepe that day the fourteenth of the moneth Adar holie vnto the Lord yerely to feast and giue thanks for Gods great mercies and their maruellous deliuerance When God had deliuered his people Israel from the tyrannie of Triphon by the meanes of Simon the high priest a gouernour and prince of the Iewes Simon ordained that the same day of their deliueraunce should yerely bee kept holie vnto the Lorde with gladnesse feasting and thankesgiuing The feasts of Passeouer Pentecost Tabernacles and such other were commaunded to be kept holie in remembraunce of great benefites receiued at the Lords hands The people of Israel with thankefull hearts remembring what a great benefite they had receiued when hee chose and annointed Dauid to be their king gathered together in a solemne assemblie to celebrate that happie daie and to giue God thankes sang with ioyfull acclamation vnto the Lord This is the daie which the Lord hath made let vs reioice and be glad in it 2 Greater cause to assemble together and to giue God thankes for blessings and benefites receiued had neuer nation or people than we presently haue For as this day now twentie yeres fully finished the Lorde in his mercie
not so wel to deale with prophane things in this place the word of God beeing so plentifull and of great power to mooue the hearts of such as beleeue In the scriptures of God Counsellers haue examples laide before them of both sorts as well such as haue referred all their counsels to their owne priuate gaine as also such as haue faithfully employed their trauels to the benefite of others Achitophel beeing a man of a traiterous heart gaue trecherous aduise tending to the kings confusion But Chusa the Archite directed faithfully his counsell to the safetie of his Lord and Master the King Let him be followed who is most to be commended and was best rewarded This lesson must be deliuered vnto them also which haue charge to deliuer it vnto others For woe be to those pastors that feede themselues and not their flocke Paul had care of all Churches Christ preferred the safetie of his flocke before his owne soule hee gaue his pretious life for his beloued sheepe To bee short this must teache euerie member to trauell for the benefite of the whole bodie that the glorie of God may be sought of all Which that all may seeke syncerely and heartily God the Father graunt for his Sonne our Sauiours sake to whom c. The sixth Sermon A Sermon preached before the Queene PSALME 86. 11 Teache me thy way O Lord and I will walke in thy trueth I Will not meddle with the argument of this Psalme nor make any generall discourse of the whole this one verse shall suffice being plentifull and riche in matter most fit for these our times and not vnfit for this most honourable audience they are the words of a most woorthie prince pertinent to all princes and conuenient for all Christians This short sentence consisteth partly of a petition and partly of a promise For first he praieth to be taught of God secondly hee promiseth to walke in his trueth In the former part are these things chiefly to be considered first a request to be taught Teach me secondly to be taught of God Teache me O Lord thirdly what he would be taught Teache me thy waies 2 The king in praying to be taught confesseth his ignorance and if the great prophet of God pleade ignoraunce who is hee that dare boast of knowledge If S. Paul after so long studie and after so many heauenly reuelations did confesse We knowe in part then the best learned of all may learne Yea when a man hath doone his best he must then begin againe as if all which hath beene doone alreadie were in comparison of perfection nothing It is too much arrogancie in that proude man who thinketh himselfe to haue all knowledge hid in the chest of his bosome and all trueth cheined to his tongue so that hee can neither deceiue nor be deceiued No man hath attained to the knowledge of any thing which will not confesse with Socrates This one thing I knowe that I knowe nothing Brethren saith the Apostle I would not haue you ignoraunt Ignorance is the mother not of deuotion but of superstition not of trueth but of error and sinne If wee desire therefore rather to walke in light than to dwell in blindenesse we must learne of this princely prophet to become scholers in Gods schoole we must with Salomon prefer knowledge and wisedome before riches honour and long life 3 God hath appointed good meanes to leade men to knowledge hee hath caused the scriptures to bee written for our learning Without the knowledge whereof neither can kings beare rule neither subiects obey and liue in order as they should Wherefore Iosua was commaunded not to laie aside the volume of the Law at any time night nor day The prophet Dauid made it his continuall studie The wisest gouernours of Israel would not enterprise any matter of weight til they had turned the leaues of this booke thence to take aduice for their better direction This most pretious iewel is to be preferred before all treasure If thou be hungrie it is meate to satisfie thee if thou be thirstie it is drinke to refresh thee if thou be sicke it is a present remedie if thou bee weake it is a staffe to leane vnto if thine enemie assault thee it is a swoord to fight withall if thou be in darkenesse it is a lanterne to guide thy feete if thou be doubtfull of the way it is a bright shining starre to direct thee if thou be in displeasure with God it is the message of reconciliation if thou studie to saue thy soule receiue the word ingrafted for that is able to doe it It is the word of life Whoso loueth saluation will loue this woord loue to reade it loue to heare it and such as wil neither reade nor heare it Christ saith plainely they are not of God For the spouse gladly heareth the voice of the bridegroome and my sheepe heare my voice saith the prince of pastors 4 But the world seemeth to be glutted with the word there be many stomackes that cannot digest it and many that loath it I stand in feare that God in his iustice wil giue vs instead of plentie of this bread a famine and for wholesome foode meate that shal rot betweene our teeth There is not that desire in vs to knowe the wisedome of Christ which was in the Queene of Saba to heare the wisedome of Salomon There were of the Iewes no small numbers that heard Christ three daies together in the wildernesse and that fasting but he hath fed vs so full that wee care not for him The seruaunts of Salomon were thought happy that they might stand daily to heare his wisedome Happie it were both for the seruants of Salomon for Salomon too if but euerie Sabaoth they would heare him which is farre both greater and wiser than Salomon There is no want except it be of willingnes onely for both we haue leisure ynough to heare and there are store of them whom God hath verie well enabled to speake No time can be better spent nothing more necessarie for a Christian Court What more princelike than to honour the prince of all princes with that seruice wherein he is so highly delighted The bellie is daily and daintily fed O suffer not the soule to want that foode which abideth for euer They are not blessed that feede and pamper the flesh they are that heare the word and keepe it This word attentiuely and carefully heard would conuert our soules correct our liues soften our hearts inflame our mindes with the loue of God it would roote out vice and ingraft vertue banish vaine and cherish good desires in vs it would lay our sins before our faces humble our proude and hawtie lookes bring vs vnto true and heartie repentaunce throwe vs downe with godlie sorowe and raise vs vp againe with heauenly comfort in the merites and mercies of Christ Iesus it would perfectly perfect vs vnto
euerie good worke 5 The Prophet beeing inflamed with a desire of knowledge and vnderstanding sawe no other waie to attaine thereunto but by ioyning with continuall meditation earnest prayer Teache me thy waies O Lord Giue me vnderstanding Shewe me thy Law He knewe that praying was as needefull altogether as reading that if there be any difference at all it is this By praying we profite more than by reading 6 As he desireth to be taught so it is especially to bee noted that his desire is to be taught of God Teache thou me O Lorde There is none that can open the sealed booke of God but onely the Lion of the tribe of Iuda the roote of Dauid the Lambe of God For Thou art woorthie to take the booke and to open the seuen seales thereof because thou wast slaine and hast redeemed vs to God by thy bloud It is he that hath the keie of Dauid which openeth and no man shutteth shutteth and no man openeth For the outward reading of the word without the inward working of his spirite is nothing The precise Pharisees the learned Scribes red the Scriptures ouer and ouer againe they not onely red them in bookes but woore them on their garments they were not onely taught but were able themselues to teache others But because this heauenly teacher had not instructed them their vnderstanding was darkened their knowledge was but vanitie they were ignoraunt altogether in that sauing trueth which the Prophet Dauid is so desirous to learne The mysteries of saluation were so hard to be conceiued of the verie Apostles of Christ Iesus that he is forced many times sharpely to rebuke them for their dulnesse which vnlesse he himselfe had remooued by opening the eyes of their mindes they could neuer haue attained to the knowledge of saluation in Christ Iesus The eares of that woman Lydia would haue beene as close shut against the preaching of Paul as any others if the finger of God had not touched and opened her heart As many as learne they are taught of God and no man knoweth the father but he to whom it pleaseth the sonne to reueale him There is but one teacher in the schoole of Christ hee it is that leadeth vnto all trueth 7 Nowe although Christ onely openeth the booke of knowledge giueth vnderstanding and reuealeth vnto vs the wil of his father although the spirite onely bee the schoolemaster that inwardly guideth the heart in the way of trueth yet may wee not gape for reuelations as the Anabaptists doe or thinke that God hath reuealed vnto vs whatsoeuer wee doe vainely imagine and conceiue in our braines For as there is a spirite of truth so there is also a lying spirit S. Iohn therefore giueth vs a caueat not to credit euerie spirit but to trie spirits whether they be of God or no. We are to bee taught of God yet by such meanes as God hath appointed The riche man beeing in torments craued reuelations for his brethren to whom it was aunswered They haue Moses and the Prophets God doth teache inwardly but by outward meanes He spake in old time by Angels by dreames by visions by reuelations But now in these latter daies he hath spoken by his sonne and he by his ministers He taught the Eunuch but it was by Philip he taught Cornelius but it was by Peter he taught Paul but it was by Ananias 8 But howsoeuer or by whomsoeuer we taught the thing which we must learne is the woord of God not the decrees and decretals of Popes not the quiddities of too curious schoolemen not lying legends not amorous arts not the daungerous discourses of Politikes voide of the feare of God denying defacing Christian religion This is not our schoole these are not our studies What we should desire to learne the Prophet sheweth by the words following Thy waies 9 This word WAIE by a translation or metaphor in the scripture hath sundrie significations Sometime it is taken for doctrine as thou teachest the WAIE of God truely sometimes for religion as when S. Paul saith I persecuted this WAIE and againe According to this WAIE which they call heresie I woorship the God of my Fathers sometimes it is taken for the course and order of a mans life as in the words of the Prophet Esay The Lord taught mee that I should not walk in the WAIE of this people sometimes for the counsels and purposes of men so Elihu meant it saying His eyes are vpon the WAIES of man and he seeth all his goings The waie which the Prophet heere would learne of God is true religion the doctrine of his holie wil in his word reuealed but chieflie the doctrine of the true Messias promised the waie of trueth it selfe hee onely being the waie the trueth and the life hauing giuen vs an example that we should followe his steps who did no sinne Now as God hath his waie so man hath his My waies are not your waies The waies of Christ and Antichrist of the Church of God and the Synagogue of Satan of religion and superstition these are contrarie eche to other Christ saith of himselfe I am the waie In the knowledge of this waie S. Paul glorieth I esteemed to knowe nothing but Christ Iesus and him crucified and in the knowledge of this waie the Prophet desireth to be taught of God Teach me thy waie O Lord. 10 To this petition he addeth a promise first to walke and secondly to walke in trueth We may not be idle We are created vnto good workes which God hath prepared that we might walke in them Wee are redeemed and bought with a price not to doe nothing or to liue as we list but to serue him which hath redeemed vs. Our Sauiour could in no wise abide idlenesse Why stand ye still Saint Paul would haue all men to be stirring Let euerie man walke Not one is excepted not one can be dispensed withall Whosoeuer hee bee that will not labour let him not eate For it is good that euerie man should eate his bread in the sweate of his browes And worke in the wise mans iudgement is euen as needefull for men as meate There is no such bane to a common wealth or kingdome no such poison to the maners of euerie particular man as idlenesse is Examples we haue too many in all ages Idlenesse in Dauid was a cause of lewdenesse so that it is not good no not for Princes to bee idle Idlenesse was the roote of all that filth in Sodoma Israel in the absence of Moses being idle fell to feasting dauncing and idolatrie And therefore seeing that such as bee idle are subiect to so many noysome temptations S. Ieroms counsell is this See thou be alwaies dooing somewhat that the diuell may finde thee occupied he that is out of good exercise is easilie snared of the diuell And idlenesse saith S.
hath the greatest skil the prince because he hath the highest roume the people because they are most in number If the pastor goe before the sheepe will be the readier to followe after if the fountaines bee sweete the riuers that flowe from them will not be sowre if there be darkenesse in the hils there will bee more in the valleies if those that should giue light vnto others be turned into darkenesse how great shall the darkenesse of others be Examples haue a meruelous force to leade men The whole world is led as they haue others especially their superiors for examples And therefore you that be chiefest in authoritie should by reason be foremost in the waie of trueth Walke in what way you wil you are sure to haue followers Iosias walked in the straite waie to heauen and the people followed Ieroboam in the broade waie and the people were caried after in heapes If you liue in securitie carelesse for Gods matters carelesse for the causes of the common wealth carefull to feede vpon pleasures and fancies carefull to passe ouer your owne times in ease and quietnesse the people will easily take after your your townes and cities will soone be made like to that secure and carelesse citie of Lais. If ye will haue the people of the Land watchfull you your selues must not slumber If you make light of the word of God the people will learne by your example to despise it if you embrace the truth they also wil loue it You my Lords you whom God hath placed before you must goe before for Gods loue striue no longer take your places and goe on that the people of God being guided by you as by lights may follow after in the way of trueth It is a monstrous thing to see the basest liues in the highest roumes Your conuersation must be a glasse for others to looke into Others shall aunswere for their owne faults but you for your owne faults and for others who through your example are faultie To conclude let vs all so walke as becommeth the children of the light let it suffice that in times past wee haue walked according to the vanitie of the Gentiles let vs now returne vnto the Lord let vs cast away impietie and worldly concupiscence and liue a sober a righteous and a godlie life let vs with true repentance craue pardon and mercie at the handes of God and hereafter walke humbly before him not for a day or for a moneth or a Lent season but continually all the daies of our pilgrimage vpon earth He onely shall be saued that continueth walking in trueth to the ende God for his mercie sake let fall plentifully the drops and dewe of his heauenly grace vpon the hil of Hermon and the mountaines of Sion to the fruitefull watering of the whole Land of Israel Teach vs O Lorde euen our princes our prophets and our people thy waies direct all our goings that we may walke for euer in thy trueth This that wee may doe all and euerie of vs in our seuerall callings God the father graunt for his Sonne Christs sake to whom c. The seuenth Sermon A Sermon preached before the Queene IAC 4. 8 Drawe neere to God and he will drawe neere to you Cleanse your hands ye sinners and purge your hearts ye double minded 9 Suffer affliction and be sorie Weepe Let your laughter be turned into mourning and your iote into heauinesse 10 Cast downe your selues before the Lord and he will lift you vp GOD requireth in his houshold steward the minister of his blessed word fidelitie and discretion fidelitie to deliuer to Gods familie such meat without mingling as he hath receiued at his Lords hands discretion to giue it fitly in due season by respecting the time place auditorie like circumstances Al men are not of one kind of constitution Some are able to receiue and digest strong meate high mysteries deepe secrets of God Others must be fed with milke simple and plaine lessons yet auaileable to their saluation These differences are in the foode it selfe The maner of diuiding it standeth in doctrine and exhortation Doctrine is for the ignoraunt to instruct them exhortation for the learned to monishe and strengthen them both may most profitably be ioined together Paul hauing to doe with the ignorant Gentiles learned in profane arts but barbarous in true religion is ful of doctrine Iames dealing with the learned Iewes traueileth more in exhortation Our times are learned times God hath blessed our daies with vnderstanding Wee are inriched by him in all speeche and in all knowledge But we knowe and doe not and that deserueth stripes Miserable is it to be ignorant of Christ not to knowe the path which leadeth to heauen Yet better it were not to knowe the way of truth than not to walke in it being knowne I will therefore followe the wisedome of S. Iames and with his owne woordes exhort you Drawe neere to God and he will drawe neere to you c. In which woords first hee exhorteth vs to drawe neere vnto God secondly he sheweth vs the meanes how we may so doe lastly hee telleth what commoditie we shall reape thereby 2 He exhorteth sinners double hearted men to draw neere vnto God Sinners are such as be notable open offenders who make all the world witnesses of their wickednesse Marie Magdalene is called a sinner because she was knowne to be a great offender Behold a woman that was in the Citie a sinner The Sodomites and the Amalechites are likewise termed sinners for the excessiuenesse of their sinne because their sinnes were notorious and manifest Double hearted men are hypocrites resembling painted sepulchers beautifull without and within full of rottennesse such as say and doe not pretending holinesse for aduantage and working mischiefe in their hearts 3 This exhortation is generall it reacheth to all for wee are al offenders euen against the maiestie of almighty God although not all in the same degree All haue sinned and do need the glorie of God Euerie mans waies are corrupt The imagination of mans heart is euill euen from his youth What man liuing can say My heart is pure Betweene an open sinner and an hypocrite there is a difference in their sight which take them as they seeme there is no difference before God who beholdeth them as they are As God wil not heare the praier of the open obstinate sinner so doeth hee powre his grieuous curse vpon all hypocrites and counterfeite Christians Woe be to you ye hypocrites 4 Dauid when hee committed that great follie was an open sinner and gaue great offence It was told him by Nathan Thou hast made the Lords enemies to blaspheme Mariage is honourable in the sight of all men but fornication and adulterie the Lord doth abhorre and the offenders therein the Lorde shall iudge This one sinne drowned the whole world it called fire out
sheepes coate and play the wolfe in his right kinde They would shewe their rauenous nature by their cruell deedes then would they fil their bellies with that after which they now thirst they would finde swift feete to shed the bloud of innocents From the mouth of the Lyon O Lord deliuer vs. This sort of people our Apostle calleth double hearted 12 Herode was a double hearted man who calling the wise men to him bad them goe and searche out Christ returne and bring him word that he also might goe and worship him He intended to kill whom he pretended to worship Iudas was like affected he kissed and betraied Cains minde was as double when he spake faire vnto his brother entised him into the fielde and there villanously murthered him Ioab dealt euen so with Amasa and Abner whom vnder pretense of friendship traiterously hee slewe Absolon inuited his brother Ammon to a feast and in the midst thereof sodainely bereaued him of his life 13 These double hearts died not with these men they liue stil in their posteritie With Herode all men pretend to woorship Christ but most part also with Herode in trueth in heart in life kill him and trample vnder their feete the pretious bloud of his Testament Whom wee professe in woord wee denie in deede whō in doctrine we follow him in life we forsake Thus in doublenesse with Iudas we flatter we dissemble we courtesie we kisse but the inward heart is full of malice and treason Faithful friendship hath taken his flight away There is no trueth in the earth We speake them full faire whom we hate full deadly Whom we kisse we can sell to death for a peece of monie Iudges can talke of iustice and for monie peruert iudgement For monie the vineyard of the Lorde is laide wast by them who professe themselues the keeepers of it By them for monie the flocke of Christ is scattered and left to the wolfe to bee deuoured For monie an Idoll is made a pastor Iudas selleth Magus buyeth a thiefe by a thiefe is placed Beware of these double harted men Cain is a murtherer speake he neuer so faire If Absolon feast thee yet feare least thou finde sowre sawce to thy sweete meate The bond of brotherhoode is not of strength sufficient to retaine these double hearts Take heede of Ioab howsoeuer hee fawne for hee carieth inwardly a bigge and hawtie minde It is death to him that any should be in credite or direct Dauid besides himselfe Hee must doe all alone His outward speech is faire but his inward thought is ful of hatred enuie and wrath 14 Such as the fountaine is such is the riuer that runneth from it A double heart maketh a double tongue They which thinke deceitfully speake deceitfully and flatter with their lippes The Disciples of the Pharisees and the Herodians as they had double hearts so had they double tongues Before Christs face they could say Master we knowe that thou art true and teachest the waie of God truely neither carest for any man nor respectest the person of men But behinde his backe they termed him a seducer a companion of Publicanes and sinners a wine bibber and most spitefully railed against the righteous Lord of glorie All flatterers are double tongued Whom they praise excessiuely being present of him their maner is being out of sight to speake most slanderously and vilely So vnlike they are to our Sauiour Christ who would not praise Iohn to Iohns Disciples but after their departure commended him to the people It is Saint Augustines iudgement that the hand of no persecuter is more grieuous than is the tongue of a flatterer 15 These sinners and double hearts our Apostle doeth here reprooue vsing withal and earnest exhortation vnto them to draw neere vnto God from whom they haue so farre straied All sinners are straiers for sinne maketh a diuision betweene God and man Your iniquities haue made a separation betweene me and you To sinne is to depart and fall away from God The more wee sinne the faster and farther we flie from him Iudas sinned deepely and deadly hauing sinned he could not abide the presence of that innocent whom he had betraied but went out and vnrecouerably fell away The prodigall childe being loosely giuen waxed wearie of his fathers vertuous house raunged abroade fell to follie fed on filthinesse and bathed himselfe in all loathsome sinne yet being touched with Gods hand he repented and drew neere What should I name this or that man which hath gone astray It is most true that the Prophet saith We haue all erred gone astray like sheepe Not one hath remained within the sheepefold Euerie one hath either skipt ouer the hurdles or crept through the hedge All haue sinned there is not one innocent He that saith hee is no sinner is a sinner because he is a lyer Our sinne therefore hath separated vs from God who hateth and abhorreth sinne Our doubtfull double hearts haue caried vs into many crooked dangerous waies Our Apostle doth call vs home againe as sheepe that haue strayed saying Drawe neere vnto God 16 But what is it in our owne wil and power to returne or doeth God commaund that which is impossible for vs to performe Trueth it is All our sufficiencie is of God Of our selues wee are not able to thinke a good thought It is God that giueth both to will and to performe Without me saith Christ you are able to doe nothing No doubt we haue power and free will to runne from God but to drawe neere vnto him is his grace and gift Ad malum sufficit sibi liberum arbitrium ad bonum non Freewill hath in it selfe abilitie ynough to euill but not to good Hee commaundeth vs therefore to doe that which of our selues we are not able to doe that seeing our want we may craue his grace and helpe which will inable vs to drawe neere vnto him This grace is not in vaine by it we are that we are when we be as we should be neere vnto him If he that commandeth vs do not reach vs his hand when we are bidden to drawe neere we goe farther off But let God giue that which he commaundeth and then commaund whatsoeuer hee will Conuert vs O Lord and we shall be conuerted If he conuert vs not we shal remaine as we are or rather proceede to woorse No man commeth vnto me saith Christ except the father drawe him The spirit grace of God of vntoward and vnwilling maketh forward and readie and so by the efficacie of the spirit being changed we which were farre off are drawne neere 17 The way to drawe neere vnto God our Apostle setteth downe at large Cleanse your handes purge your hearts bee afflicted mourne weepe let your laughter bee turned into sorowe and your tote into griefe Humble your selues in the sight of the Lorde Esay the
hath dealt as mercifully with vs as with them if we deale as vnkindely as they with him we which knowe what befell them for it cannot be ignorant what is likely to befall vs except we take the cup of saluation betimes and call vpon the name of the Lord while he is neere 17 And as his benefites doe require thankes so our owne estate doth need succour Our necessities therfore should make vs earnest suters vnto God that he would be our relieuer Our ship is in peril of tempest the ragings of the sea doe threaten it yet who crieth Help Lord What man is there that weepeth bitterly with Peter or nightly watereth his cowch with teares as Dauid Yet al haue sinned offended the Lord of glorie It is high time therefore to call vpon God that earnestly The superstitious praied without vnderstanding Wherein are we better if our praiers be without feeling The fountaine of praier is the feeling of the heart Powre out that before the Lord cal vpon him from thence crie from the depth and he shall answere Here I am thy readie helper in time of neede 18 But withall take this Let the wicked forsake his waies and the vnrighteous his owne imaginations and returne vnto the Lord that is to say Repent Paul to Titus vseth the like description of repētance saying The grace of God teacheth vs that we should denie vngodlinesse worldly lusts and liue soberly and righteously and godlily in this present world Peter out of the Psalme in fewer words saith the same Decline from euill and doe good The Papists set repentance vpon three feete Confession Contrition and Satisfaction But two of them are of wood without life Their confession is to a priest whereas the scripture maketh God and not the priest our Confessor Confitemini Domino saieth the Psalmist Make confession to the Lord. Their satisfaction is but monie matter and God is satisfied not by gold but by bloud with vs he is pleased when our liues are amended Deus morum emendatione placatur qui peccare desinit iram Dei mortalem facit God is pacified by the mending of our maners and he that ceaseth from sin bringeth the wrath of God to an end saith Lactantius We must forsake therefore our owne waies our owne cogitations they are wicked vngodly There is nothing ours but imbecillitie and naughtinesse which with our selues we must vtterly renounce and forsake and flie to Gods mercie that in mercie he may accept vs. No doubt wee haue all wandered out of the waie all haue started aside euerie man hath wandered his owne fond and sinnefull way wee haue prouoked Gods wrath our ingratitude hath grieued him we haue wickedly profaned his sacred Gospell his word we haue contemned and abused vsing it as a cloake to couer our deepe hypocrisie Christ was neuer more professed neuer lesse obeied It is truly verified in our times which the Prophet Oseas complained of in his There is no trueth there is no mercifulnesse there is no knowledge of God in the Land cursing and lying and murther and theft and whoredome haue ouerflowed bloud hath touched bloud Ezechiel teacheth that the sinnes of Sodome that sinke of sinne were Idlenesse of fulnesse of bread pride and vnmercifulnesse towards the poore Are not these the sinnes of this Land of this Citie of this Court at this day Are not these bad waies our waies Halfe Englande liueth idly or woorse occupied we are fed to the full and who is not puffed vp with pride or who relieueth his neighbours want No man is contented with his owne estate but euerie one striueth to clime higher to sit aloft There is want of the true feare of God in all sorts estates and ages Yet we please our selues and walke on as if God either sawe not our sinne or else in his iustice could not punish it Are the eyes of the Lord shut vp or hath God forgotten to be iust Surely our sinnes will not suffer his plagues to stay long from vs. What plagues I dare not presume to prophecie For God hath kept that secrete to himselfe But I stande in feare that we are the men to whom Christ saith The kingdome of God shall be taken from Yov that wee are they whose sinnes will bring the scepter of this kingdome into the handes of an hypocrite If God in his iustice doe this woe worth vs most wretched men The losse of the Gospell is the losse of our soules and the losse of our Soueraigne the losse of our liues Truely when I fall into consideration of the wickednesse of this worlde that all sorts of men fall to sinning with greedinesse that there is skant one left as Elias complaineth that truly seeketh after God that in all conditions iniquitie doeth abound and charitie waxe colde that the zeale of God is vtterly dryed vp in the hearts of men that God is serued for fashions sake and not in trueth what should I thinke but that God hath gathered his lap ful of plagues and is readie to powre them downe vpon vs There is but one way to staie him for which he himselfe doth staie and waite Doe ye not knowe that the lenitie of God inuiteth you to repentance If we wil saue our Nineuie we must repent and turne to our God we must seeke him both prince and people 19 The benefite which commeth vnto those that seeke him is this He will haue mercie on them Although the house of Israel rebelled against the Lord as a froward woman rebelleth against her husband yet he ceased not to call vpon them still by the voice of his Prophets O ye disobedient children returne returne and I will heale your rebellions Surely it perteineth vnto God to say I haue pardoned I will not destroie He looketh vpon men and if one say I haue sinned and peruerted righteousnesse and it did not profite mee hee will deliuer his soule from going into the pit and his life shall see light Loe all these things will GOD worke twise or thrise with a man He desireth not our destruction but our conuersion be we neuer so great sinners For hee is verie readie to forgiue Aske pardon and thou shalt haue it Returne to the Lord vnfeinedly and he will mercifully accept thee 20 And if he be readie to forgiue vs let not vs bee loath to giue vnto him We neede not aske where he is or what he wanteth that we may giue vnto him He is neere at hand straying staruing in the streetes naked hungrie cold harborlesse sicke and diseased ruthfully moning and crying for reliefe Let the pitifull crie of our Christ mooue our hearts to mercie He that shutteth his eares at the crie of the poore shall crie himselfe and not be heard Let that mercilesse Moguntine terrifie men of hard and stonie hearts who was deuoured of rats the vilest vermin for his cruell heart voide of all
with his complices eatē vp of the earth Herode sodainely deuoured with lice The riche man after all his prouision sodainely smitten with death Lying Ananias sodainely fel downe dead Eglon the Moabite Abner the captaine sodainely murthered by the swoord of Aod and Ioab All histories all ages are full of like examples 24 The third danger is that in driuing off to the lest day we shall finde hard time then to turne vnto our God Sickenesse wil sore disquiet vs Satan wil extremely tempt vs Our friends with talking and crauing will molest vs the terror of our ouglie conscience will astonish vs so that hard it will be for vs then to bee rightly mindful of our end so in this extremitie to turn to God that hee in our extreme case may turne his mercie towardes vs. And as S. Augustine saith The remedies come too late when perill of death is neere Remember that which hee also saith elsewhere Hee that hath liued well cannot die ill and hee can hardlie die well that hath liued ill Hee saith hardly not vnpossibly but questionlesseverie hardly 25 Put thine houshold in an order for thou shalt die and not liue saith Esay to Ezechias Giue thy goods whilest they be thine for after death thou hast no interest in them Stand with your loines girded and your shoes on your feete and your staffe in your hande that you may bee readie Wee haue slept too long in sinne to our great danger Let vs now awake to our speedie deliueraunce It is sufficient for vs that we haue spent the time that is past of our life after the will of the Gentiles Let vs now imitate that woorthie souldier who after long warring vnder Adrian the Emperor returned home and liued as Christs souldier a most godlie life and after 7◠yeeres died and caused to be written on his tombe Here lyeth Similis a man that was many yeres and liued but seuen Let vs these fewe yeres that we haue liue them to God For that onely is woorthie to be called a life which bringeth vs from a transitorie life to an eternall from a miserable to a most blessed and glorious Let the trumpe euer sound in our eares Rise you dead come vnto iudgement Let vs daily remember that we must die and so shall we contemne these things present and make hast to things to come Truly if we shal rightly consider the vanitie of the worlde the miserable estate of man that we are here but pilgrims and haue no permanent citie that whilest we liue in this rotten tabernacle wee are meere straungers and men from home that wee daily slide yea and fall into sinne that our righteous God hateth it and that the stipend therof is eternall death and withall propose before our eyes the celestiall kingdome the crowne of glorie the eternall felicites which the Lord hath prepared in heauen for such as loue his comming we wil not onely watchefully looke for but most greedily desire the same In our heart wee wil daily crie with S. Iohn Come quickely Lord Iesu wee wil bee like affected to S. Paul desiring to depart hence and to be with Christ we wil sigh and mourne as hee did O wretched man that I am who shall deliuer me frō the bodie of this death We wil with Iob euen be wearie of our liues and crie with Elias It is ynough O Lord take my soule it wil be with vs as it was with al the blessed Patriarches and Prophets and Apostles and holie men now glorious Saints in heauen who continually beeing heere thirsted after God and now most blessedly haue enioied him we will vtterly contemne this earthly trash worldely vanities and transitorie things and desire and seeke those things which are aboue where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God we will whilest wee haue our beeing heere which is but a while humble our selues to walke with our God and although wee tread this earth yet our conuersation wil be in heauen from whence also we looke for the Sauiour the Lord Iesus Christ who will change our vile bodie that it may bee fashioned like to his glorious bodie according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things vnto himselfe 26 Thus wee see that funerals are Christian auncient and commendable that the causes are sundry good godly yet neither our preaching nor praier neither any other ceremonie nor circumstance can profite the dead but are helping comforts to such as liue that onely in this life mercie remaineth for man and after this life onely iudgement As we now sowe so we shall then reape Here we are Christs souldiers to fight a good fight so wee may hope for the crowne of glorie Which thing Iob doeth wel declare vnto vs First telling vs that wee are in continuall warre wherein both the generals the captaines the trumpetors and common souldiers that is the prince the nobilitie the ministers and the people must take to them a good courage be faithful dutiful and manfull in fighting the battle of the Lorde euerie man keepe his standing and answere his office But we must all striue for Gods truth and not struggle against it not ambitiously contending for superioritie or malitiously howe to vndermine and wrong one another This is no lawfull combat no Christian warre this is not to fight a good fight But wee must wage warre against our common and our deadly enemies the diuell the world and the flesh The diuel is a roaring lyon a subtile serpent who hath ouercome the perfectest the strongest the wisest The world is all wrapped in wickednesse The flesh wrestleth against the spirite We must put on the armour of God resist the diuell and he will flie from vs crucifie the world chasten our flesh and bring it into subiection vnto the more noble part our spirit At length this our warrefare will come to an ende wee may looke for a change All the world is mutable and of all thinges in the world man most mutable We would change our condition our magistrates our ministers our religion all things But the change that Iob speaketh of we least remember wee litle thinke vpon the change of this mortall life Wee may assure our selues that we all shall die It is an act of Parliament that shall neuer be repealed it is the way of all flesh The daies of man are short and wretched short a spanne long wretched full of miseries All flesh is as grasse and as a flowre both do fade but the flowre sooner Cares wantonnesse ambition yea God in sundrie respects cutteth off both the good and the bad good flowers bad flowers but all as flowers The time of our change is vncertaine and often sodaine that our minde be not troubled that we alwaies be in readinesse Iobs example admonisheth vs of this I looke still when my changing shall come Let vs after his example
as the verie bane and pestilence of a common wealth whereof the olde Romane both historie and practise is an often witnesse These secret shifts are seene of God and abhorred and will be reuenged Well maiest thou escape the hands of man by thy colored delusions yet canst thou not escape the sharpe and swift iudgement of God who accordingly as hee hath threatened will exclude thee out of his kingdome interdict thee his tabernacle and hurle thee into hel where thy euill gotten monie can neither redeeme nor help thee A iust reward for thy vniust vsurie Our Apostle requireth that we paie vnto euerie man the thing that we owe. And wee are as much debtors to lend freely as others faithfully to pay the thing which is lent 13 The merchaunt is indebted to his neighbour the feller to the buyer to deale truely with him not to defraude him by false weights false measures false lights false words by swearing and forswearing or by any such vsuall but vnlawfull meane One lesson obserued serueth this matter lend as thou wouldst borrowe sell as thou wouldst buie doe as thou wouldst bee doone vnto This is duetie this is debt Pay it and owe nothing vnto any man but this that ye loue one another 14 The debt of loue is naturall and continuall We all owe it and we owe it vnto all And vnto whom we owe it we neuer pay it except we acknowledge that we owe it stil. In this debt of loue we must consider why we must loue whom wee must loue and lastly how we must loue 15 To omit the reasons drawne from nature this one taken from the God of nature shal suffice We must loue because God hath so commanded and because it is the fulfilling of all his commandements I giue you a newe commandement saith Christ that yee loue one another In our newe birth or regeneration wee are made brethren and fellowe heires with Christ of Gods kingdome As God therefore for euer loueth vs in Christ so wee ought to loue our brethren for God and in Christ for euer If ye wil be knowne to be his seruaunts by this men shall knowe you If yee will bee counted not hearers onely but also doers of the Lawe the Lawe is loue He that loueth another fulfilleth the Lawe Which the Apostle prooueth thus The Lawe saith Thou shalt not kil thou shalt not steale thou shalt not beare false witnesse thou shalt not couet that is to say thou shalt no way harme thy brother Loue doth no euill or hurt to any hee that loueth his neighbour will not take away his life will not defile his bed will not steale or rob him of his goods will not witnesse vntruely against him wil not in his heart couet any thing that is his And he that doth any of these things against him beareth not in deed hearty and true loue towards him Therefore is loue the fulfilling of the Lawe So that you see great cause why we should enter into this holie and Christian band of loue 16 But whom must we loue Thou shalt loue thy neighbour And who is our neighbour Not hee onely to whom wee are ioined by familiar acquaintance by alliance or neerenesse of dwelling but whosoeuer doth neede our helpe he is our neighbour be he Iewe or Gentile Christian or Infidell yea friend or enemie he is our neighbour To him wee ought to bee neere to doe him good It is friuolous for thee to obiect hee is mine enemie hee hath many waies wronged me he hath raised slanderous reports of me he hath practised against me spoiled and robbed me how can I loue him If Christ had loued his friends onely he had neuer loued thee whosoeuer thou art Loke vpon him whose hands were stretched out vpon the crosse for his enemies and for thee when thou wast his foe No man proposeth him as a paterne to be followed whom in his heart he doth mislike Thou mislikest thine enemie because he hateth thee if thou hate him then doest thou imitate the very thing which thou hatest Loue thy neighbour therefore without exception and loue him as thy selfe 17 For after this maner wee ought to loue No man hateth his owne fleshe no man is enuious of his owne commoditie or preferment Nature breedeth a selfeloue in euerie man And as this Lawe of nature doth woorke in vs a very feruent and carefull desire both to procure vnto our selues whatsoeuer wee are perswaded is good and to auoide whatsoeuer seemeth hurtfull or noysome So the Lawe of charitie requireth at our handes like readinesse and cheerefulnesse to benefite others Of loue towards our selues we hide and very warily couer all such faults as might any way worke our discredit or disgrace If we loue our brethren as our selues we will no more blase their offences than our own Charitie doth hide the multitude of sinnes But when we inlarge the sins of other men that they may seeme great or recken them vp by one and one to make them appeare as if they were many how fulfill we the Lawe of charitie would wee doe this in our owne transgressions we are neuer wearie in dooing good to our selues but to doe good to others wee haue no sooner begun but we are euen tired Our selues we loue not in woord and shew but in truth and in deede If wee speake deceitfully euerie one to his neighbour if we flatter with our lippes if we carie in our heads a double tongue and in our bodies a double heart and say wee loue we lie Which of vs beeing in his right minde doth lift vp his fist to strike himselfe If any part of our bodies be out of frame any bone out of ioint we seeke by and by all the helpe we can to set it in The name of strife and contention would neuer he heard of if we were thus affected towards others The onely breache of peace is the want of loue he that loueth al men wil haue peace with all men 18 Yet this doth suffer a kind of exception Haue peace with all men saith the Apostle but he addeth if it may be and as much as in you lieth It may not be which may not be lawfully Wee may not so yeeld vnto loue that wee yeeld vnto sinne withall not so haue peace with our neighbors that to continue loue with them we depart from the faith and loue of God or that for peace sake we flatter and followe our neighbour in his euill That were to fall out with Christ that we may keepe in with men If thy hand or eye offend thee cut the one off plucke the other out Loue Gods creation but hate all sinnefulnesse the Lorde also doth abhorre it And therfore we must be well content to loose the loue and beare the enmitie of the whole world for the loue we beare to God and his trueth With that strife to keepe this peace the Lord is pleased 19 But we are fallen into these euill
not into the temple as did Aaron wil hardly behaue themselues in the house of the Lord as Aaron did Iason obteined a superioritie in the Church by monie But howe behaued he himselfe in this his purchased function Began he not immediatly to drawe his brethren to the customes of the Gentiles Did hee not by and by change their Lawes and policies and bring vp newe statutes contrarie to their Lawe As the good sheepeheard entring in at the doore when he is entred guideth his sheepe as Dauid in the discretion of his hands feedeth them carefully with wholesome doctrine walketh in all vprightnesse of holie and vndefiled conuersation before them so he that climeth vp an other way after hee hath gotten himselfe in seeketh nothing but to steale kil and destroie The theefe commeth not but to steale to kill and to destroie Hee hath no other ende or purpose 13 The onely thing that should be desired by the pastor is the weale and benefite of his flocke For if the marke whereat wee shoote be but to make our commoditie by the Gospell of Iesus Christ wherein doe we differ from theeues and robbers Is not our intent and purpose the very selfesame with theirs Wherefore S. Peters exhortation is Feede the flocke of God caring for it not for filthie lucre but of a readie minde If a man haue al knowledge in so much that he be able to speake with tongues yea and to prophecie yet if the thing for which he laboureth be his owne gaine if he vse this vocation than which nothing is more pretious and holie onely as a way or trade to liue by whatsoeuer hee receiueth with such a minde he stealeth rather than receiueth it This is that whereof the Lorde complaineth so grieuously by his Prophets The priests teache for hire the prophets prophecie for monie yet will they leane vpon the Lord and say Is not the Lord among vs And againe These sheepeheards cannot vnderstand they all looke to their owne way euerie one for his aduantage and for his owne purpose Moses blessing Leuie before his death saith first They shall teache Iacob thy iudgements and Israel thy Lawe they shall put incense before thy face and then addeth Blesse O Lord his substance accept the worke of his hands As if he should haue saide So long as Leuie and his sonnes doe not seeke their owne commoditie but thy glorie thou art righteous and canst not forget to prouide in large maner both for them and theirs As indeede till the men of that sacred order tooke fleshhookes in their hands and sought to better their estate by force til they became like to greedie mastiues rauening curres who euer sawe the Leuite of the Lord forsaken or the sonne of the Leuite begging his bread So likewise the Church of GOD was neuer spoiled till her pastors were ouercarefull to be inriched In the prime and first appearing of Christian religion as long as that heroicall contempt of earthly things continued in the guides and leaders of the people what heapes of worldly treasure were brought and laide downe euen at their feete Men thought themselues to performe nothing worthie of that profession into which they were entred vnlesse they sold away their lands goods and possessions and gaue al to make thē rich by whose meanes thēselues were become righteous The contrarie to which affection as in other parts of the Christian world so in this also hath taken such roote and is growen nowe so strong that God may iustly charge vs as sometime he did his owne people saying Ye haue spoiled me euen this whole Nation If therefore we be grieued as who is not grieued to see the hauocke that is made of the Church of GOD let vs change our earthly and worldly affection that he may change the condition of his Church God is no puruey or for theeues and robbers Let vs in synceritie and in truth heartily and in deede despise our own gaine for his glorie and prooue him if hee will not rebuke these deuourers for our sakes 14 The next thing which Christ obserueth in theeues is this they destroie the flocke and make as litle conscience to kill as to steale They kill not the bodies but the soules of men The life of the soule is the word of truth wherein whosoeuer hath taken vpon him to instruct the flocke of Christ and either cannot or wil not doe it what doth he else but kil and destroie Moses speaking of the obedience of Israel to the Lawes and statutes of their God This is saith he your wisedome But howe came Israel by that wisedome Did they naturally knowe the Lord as beasts doe naturally knowe their dammes No The Lord said vnto me saith Moses Gather the people together and I wil cause them to heare my woordes that they may learne to feare me all the daies that they shall liue vpon the earth and that they may teache their children So they came neere and stoode vnder the mountaine and were taught of God which spake vnto them out of the midst of the fire Thus God taught Israel then Afterward he raised vp prophets among them of their owne brethren and they were taught by men like vnto themselues Neither hath God at any time ceased and left off but from the beginning of the world to this verie houre he hath giuen men knowledge by instruction and saued his elect by teaching Can not God then giue wisedome from aboue without a teacher Yes God is able to mainteine the life of man without bread But why doe we talke of his absolute power when his wil is that Cornelius be taught by Peter Lydia by Paul Paul by Ananias the Eunuch by Philip euerie soule that is wise in the doctrine of saluation by Apostles Prophets Euangelists teachers appointed for the gathering together of the Saints for the worke of the ministerie and for the edification of the bodie of Christ. As therefore he that wil liue must eate so he that will bee saued must haue a teacher Wherefore when the Lorde meant a blessing to his people hee made them this promise I will giue you pastors according to my heart which shall feede you with knowledge and vnderstanding When their pastors were voide of knowledge and vnderstanding this was euer a token that their ruine and destruction was at hande Come nowe saith the prophet all ye beasts of the field come to deuoure euen all the beasts of the forrest this people cannot continue nowe they must needes perish for their watchemen are all blinde they haue no knowledge they are all dumme dogges and cannot barke they lie asleepe and delight in sleeping We are vnworthie of our liues if we doe not acknowledge the woonderfull blessing of God in our ministerie at this day For howsoeuer it bee debased by some yet is it so farre off God be thanked from the state of the Iewish Clergie in those daies that I am perswaded
5 Cornelius the Ethnike-captaine being placed in Cesarea ouer the Iewes putteth vs in minde howe the kingdome of Israel was taken from the Israelites and giuen to others Israel was the elect and welbeloued people of God the happie seede of Abraham to whom pertained the adoption and the glorie and the couenant and the Lawe that was giuen and the seruices of God and the promises A most free people as themselues boasted We are Abrahams seede and were neuer bound to any man A plentifull land flowing with milke and honie a most flourishing kingdome a mightie and victorious people for the Lord of hosts did fight for them Yet this elect beloued free and mightie people was ouerthrowen wasted translated brought into most miserable bondage and slauerie first by the Caldeis then by the Meedes afterward by the Grecians and last of al by the Romans And this was the Lords dooing I haue made the earth saith he the men and beasts that are vpon the ground by my great power and by my out-stretched arme and haue giuen it vnto whom it pleased me The name of God bee praised for euer and euer for wisedome and strength are his and he changeth the times and seasons hee taketh away kings and setteth vp kings The most high beareth rule ouer the kingdome of men and giueth it to them whomsoeuer he will 6 Iesus the sonne of Syrach shewing the causes why GOD translateth kingdomes A kingdome is translated saith he from one people vnto another because of vnrighteous dealings and wrongs and riches gotten by deceit and couetousnesse and pride The things that destroied Sodome were pride fulnesse of breade aboundance of idlenesse and that she strengthened not the hand of the poore needie The sinnes that consumed Gods people in the wildernesse and of sixe hundred thousand left but two aliue was loathing of the heauenly Manna and lusting after the flesh-pots of Egypt worshipping of idols fleshly fornication tempting of God and muttering against magistrates The cause why Iurie was laide wast and Israel caried away captiue was the contempt of Gods woord preached by Ieremie three and twentie yeres and that there was no trueth no mercie no knowledge of GOD amongst them Swearing lying murther theft and adulterie had gotten the vpper hand and one bloud guiltinesse followed an other Therefore did the Land mourne and euery one that dwelt therein was rooted out God is alwaies a iust God one that hateth all iniquitie hauing no respect to countrie or calling If our faults be like we may looke for like punishment Let vs recount with our selues and compare our selues with others Are we not as guiltie of vnrighteous dealing of oppression of extortion are we not as couetous are we not as proude as euer any people was Is there not as much pride belly-cheere idlenesse vnmercifulnesse in the citie of London as was in the citie of Sodome Doe wee not as much loath the true bread of heauen Cleaue we not as fast vnto idolatrie and superstition Commit we not adulterie and filthie fornication Tempt we not God Doe wee not mutter against the magistrates as the Israelites did in the wildernesse Is there more trueth mercie and knowledge of God lesse swearing lying murther theft adulterie and bloudshed in England than was in the Lande of Iurie If kingdomes then be translated for wrongfull dealing for couetousnesse and pride howe can vnrighteous couetous proude England stand long If God spared not the flourishing citie of Sodome can he in his iustice spare the sinnefull citie of London If God ouerthrewe the mightie people of Israel in the wildernesse for their sinnes can he winke at our fowle and manifold offences If the Land of Iurie was laid wast and the elect Israel caried away captiue for their ingratitude will not God punish and plague our shamefull contempt our wilfull disobedience For these examples are written for vs that we should not offend as they did least the like fall vpon vs as fell vpon them knowing that if God spared not the braunches of the true oliue hee wil not spare the twigges of the wilde oliue If hee spared not the transgressing Angels the offending Iewes neither will hee spare vs most vile and sinnefull Gentiles Our sinne no doubt hath iustly prouoked our God to anger Let our sighing and groning our earnest praier and true repentance remooue his wrath least our Niniuie sinke and perish in her sinne Yet remaine there a fewe daies of repentance for the safetie of our citie 7 Nowe to the former circumstances of Cornelius S. Luke addeth also the description of his maners testifying therein that he was deuoute that he feared God with all his familie that hee gaue much almes that he praied God continually Here is he set forth as a perfect paterne of true Christianitie an obseruer keeper of the Lawe of the almightie And because the Lawe is conteined in two tables his pietie towardes God is commended first secondly his loue and duetie towards men So that it is shewed howe he liued towards God how he ordered his familie and howe he behaued himselfe towards his neighbours 8 Towards God he was deuoute he feared God hee praied continually The foundation of deuotion is faith the fruits are the feare of God and praier Faith commeth by hearing of the word he heard by reason that he remained amongst the Iewes that there was one true God who was onely to be honoured He had heard of the promised seede in whom all people should bee blessed of the Messias which should bee the Sauiour of the people He beleeued in this promised Messias and thereupon hee is called deuoute for without this faith there is no deuotion no pietie no religion That feare that praier that commeth not of faith is but vaine it is reiected as sinful in Gods sight Whatsoeuer is not of faith is sinne The tree must be good before it bring foorth good fruite As the braunche cannot beare fruite of it selfe except it abide in the vine no more can ye except ye abide in me saith Christ. Cornelius brought foorth good fruite and therefore by faith he abode in Christ that is he beleeued The fruites of his faith were the feare of God and praier vnto God for neither can we feare God as we ought nor call vpon him rightly except wee beleeue in him Howe shall they call on him in whom they haue not beleeued And they beleeue not in God that doe not feare him that doe not call vpon him For true faith will exercise the faithfull herein This feare of God hath euer respect to religion Come ye children and hearken vnto me I will teache you the feare of the Lord saith the Prophet That is I will instruct you in true religion I will teache you the true worshipping of God This is the first lesson that a Christian should learne And as all Christians so especially such
feared God and praied to God who brought vp his familie in the feare of God who was pitifull to the poore and liberally gaue almes euen vnto strangers 12 The next point we haue to consider of is vpon what occasion hee did send for Peter In his praier at the ninth houre which is our three of the clocke at afternoone an Angell of God appeared vnto him and tolde him that his praiers and almes were come vp in remembraunce before God and bad him send men to Ioppe and call for Simon Peter who lodged at a tanners house neere the sea and he should tell him what he ought to doe After the Angel was departed he sent two of his seruaunts and a souldier that feared God to Ioppe for Peter Heere is the cause expressed why hee sent for Peter God by his Angel commaunded and he obeied In the Angels Oration I note two things in Cornelius other two The Angell comforteth Cornelius and telleth him what hee shall doe Cornelius is afraide at the message and doeth that which the Angel willeth him 13 Angels are ministring spirites sent foorth to minister for their sakes which shall be heires of saluation God sendeth his good Angels to comfort nourish gouerne guide and defende his elect The euill Angels are sent either to trie the godly or to punish plague and destroie the wicked This Angel was a good Angel of God sent to comfort and instruct Cornelius the deuout and righteous man He doth comfort him declaring vnto him that his praiers and almes are ascended vp in remembraunce before God which is as much to say as that God doth accept and allowe of them 14 The papists abuse much these woords of the Angell striuing thereby to set foorth their owne righteousnesse to the ouerthrow of the merit and righteousnesse which we haue by Christ. For they inferre thereof that our owne woorkes before wee haue faith are preparations to grace Secondly they attribute our iustification to our woorkes Things more absurd than that they neede confutation For what preparation can there be in vs of our selues to grace when S. Paul saith plainely that wee are not able of our selues as of our selues to thinke any good The naturall man perceiueth not the things of the spirit of God And howe can our praiers or almes which are not done in faith please God when without faith it is impossible to please him And if Cornelius had faith as it must needes be graunted he had that also was the gift of God as S. Paul teacheth vs. Nowe to attribute iustification to our merits or workes is to make of none effect the merite of Christ to make grace no grace For remission of sins is iustification as the scripture sheweth saying Blessed are they whose sinnes are forgiuen But we obteine remission of sinnes not by our workes but through faith in Christ wee are iustified freely by the grace of God through the redemption that is in Christ Iesus whom God hath set foorth to be a reconciliation through faith in his bloud to declare his righteousnesse by the forgiuenesse of the sinnes passed And our woorkes are such euen the workes of the best men that when we haue doone all we are vnprofitable seruants Enter not into iudgement with thy seruaunts O Lord for in thy sight shall no man liuing bee iustified The Angel therefore meant not that Cornelius was either prepared to grace or iustified by his workes but that God considered his pietie praiers and almes and would encrease his good gifts in him For God both accepteth good woorkes and will reward them He accepteth them for the mans sake in that the man is faithfull and therefore accepted In which sort the sacrifice of Abel was accepted through the faith of Abel Hee rewardeth our workes not for their woorthinesse but for his owne sake for his loue and promise And he promiseth reward to prouoke vs to worke for to that end are wee created and redeemed euen to serue him in holinesse and righteousnesse all the daies of our life So doth the Angel comfort Cornelius in mentioning his workes and Gods remembrance of them 15 As for that he willeth him to sende for Simon Peter and learne of him what he should doe this speeche doth import that Cornelius in his praier had desired to knowe howe and by what meanes he should be saued Whereupon the Angel Gods messenger telleth him that he must send for Peter by whom he shal be taught the way of saluation God euer prouideth teachers to such as are desirous to learne and sendeth the woord of truth to such as loue the truth He sent Philip to instruct the Eunuch the Queene of the Ethiopians chiefe gouernour as hee was reading the prophet Esaias touching Christ. Hee prouided Ananias for Paul and Peter for Cornelius The Angel setteth ouer Cornelius to Peter to instruct him To commend the ministerie God will haue his Gospel preached by men and not by Angels Hee will not haue vs looke for reuelations from heauen but to giue eare and credit to the voice of his messengers to whom hee hath committed the word of reconciliation whom he would haue esteemed for their office sake to contemne such is to contemne him that hath sent them He that despiseth you despiseth me saith Christ. 16 At his message Cornelius was afraide The presence of the Angel and the strangenesse of the message abashed him Now if he heard the voice of the Angel with trembling and feare with what awe reuerence should we giue eare to the voice of the son of God Christ Iesus Whensoeuer the gospel is preached Christ is present Christ speaketh to vs. The godly tremble at his word as we reade in Esay To whom wil I looke To him saith the Lord to him that is poore and of contrite spirit and trembleth at my words They who despise or disobey the word of God doe not feare him For hee that feareth God doth reuerence his woord 17 And he that doth reuerence the word of God truly wil no doubt obey it Example whereof we haue in Cornelius Hee obeyed the Angel and straight way sent two of his seruants and a godlie souldier that waited vpon him to Ioppe for Peter Euen so likewise must we giue eare when God speaketh as it is written I will hearken what the Lord God will say Neither may we consult with flesh and bloud when God commaundeth but we must obey we must not deliberate in his causes Reason and experience would haue told Cornelius howe dangerons it was publikely to professe a strange and hated religion it might not only tend to the losse of his office but of his life too He might haue disputed also with himselfe What is Peter Some odde sectarie fled from Ierusalem who for feare least he with his errors should be condemned hideth himselfe in a tanners house What learning what pietie can
I looke for to come out of such a schoole and from such a schoolemaster This would worldly wisedome and flesh bloud haue said vnto him but faith putteth no such perill but readily obeyeth whatsoeuer God commaundeth It doubteth not it stackereth not but if God saith goe it goeth if GOD say coÌ„me it commeth if God say doe this it doth it Beholde to obey is better than sacrifice and to hearken is better than the fat of rammes 18 He sendeth two of his seruaunts and a godlie souldier that attendeâ—â— vpon him Here was the reward of his labour in bringing vp his houshold in the feare of God He had taught his seruaunts truely and syncerely to feare God and God had taught his seruaunts faithfully and willingly to serue him For he saith the Scripture that doeth serue his master faithfully and heartily serueth Christ Iesu who rewardeth all faithfull seruice Abraham brought vp his familie in the feare of God and he reaped the fruite of it He had a most faithfull seruaunt whom hee sent to procure a wife to his sonne Isaak whosoeuer therefore will be trustily serued let him traine vp his houshold in the feare of God and expell out thence all that be not godlie as godly Dauid did It is dangerous for any man to nourish serpents in his bosome they will at one time or other sting him Faithlesse seruaunts haue beene the confusion of many good masters And godlesse children the destruction of many good fathers Ophâ—ni and Phinees were the death of their father Ely the high priest And Iudas conspired against his master Christ the innocent sonne of God 19 But to come to that which I set downe for the last Note in Cornelius with what humanitie and reuerence hee receiued Peter the preacher of Gods word he called to him his kinsemen and friends and expected him he fel downe prostrate to doe him honour he thanked him for his comming declaring how readie he was to heare him And because faith doth labour for Gods glorie and breake foorth into loue towards our neighbour hee called his friends and kinsemen to be partakers of that great treasure of God with him Hee was not Caine-like who had no care for his brother Cornelius teacheth vs howe desirous we ought to be of Gods word howe glad and readie to heare it and howe that in duetifull loue wee should prouoke others to the hearing and imbracing of it For it is the woord of trueth and saluation Which S. Iames considering exhorteth his brethren to receiue the word that is able to saue their soules And let vs consider one another saith S. Paul to prouoke vnto loue and to good woorkes not forsaking the fellowship that we haue among our selues as the maner of some is but exhorting one another The arrogant Iewes puffed vp with selfe-loue would not ioine themselues in the congregation with Gentiles Which thing the Apostle reprooueth exhorting them not to contemne their brethren but rather one prouoke another charitably to ioine together in pietie in hearing of the woord and receiuing of the Sacraments As Esay did foreshewe that the faithfull in Christs time should say one to another Come and let vs goe vp to the mountaines of the Lord to the house of the God of Iacob and he will teache vs his waies and we will walke in his pathes But alas this zeale of the glorie of God this loue towardes our brethren is worne away in vs I feare me wee will neither goe our selues to heare the word neither suffer others but dehort them so much as we may pretending I knowe not what to couer our arrogant malitious heart withall Such a man is an vsurper I cannot heare him with safe conscience hee weareth a surplisse I will neither heare him nor trust him Another is a shrinker another halfe a papist leaue them heare them not This is the common crie I will not vse their owne speeche it is too proude and too bitter I trust we all preache Christ crucified Howsoeuer it be saith S. Paul so that Christ be taught I reioice in it If we mislike the minister shall we mislike the message also If we cannot brooke the messenger shal we be at defiance with him that sent him God graunt vs such hearts as Cornelius had that in liking and loue we may prouoke one another to pietie and godlinesse that wee may hunger after Gods truth heare the word without respect of the messenger and so heare it that we may liue by it Cornelius fell downe prostrate before Peter Hee considered of him as of the embassador of God hee reuerenced him as his spirituall father he gaue vnto him that double honour which S. Paul saith is due vnto him The Elders that rule well are woorthie of double honour specially they who labour in the woord and doctrine He looked not on the man but regarded his office Wee beseeche you brethren that you knowe them which labour among you and are ouer you in the Lorde and admonish you that you haue them in singular loue for their workes sake S. Paul doeth greatly commend the Galathians in this behalfe that they loued him as an Angell of God yea as Christ Iesus yea if it had beene possible they would haue plucked out their owne eyes and giuen them him But our times are altered men are otherwise affected They enuie and mutter against Moses and Aaron They are become such of whom God complaineth by his prophet Hosea Thy people are as they that rebuke the Priest I would to God they would remember Christ saying He that despiseth you despiseth me 20 But the honour which Cornelius gaue vnto Peter was more than was fit to be giuen to a man For Peter refused it with thâ—â— reason I my selfe am a man too The zeale and reuerence that he had to the woord made him ouerreach in honouring the minister of it So did the men of Lystra honour Paul and Barnabas but they saide in like sort O men why doe ye these things We are men subiect to the like passions that ye be Iohn would haue woorshipped the Angel likewise but the Angel refused See thou doe it not I am thy fellowe seruaunt Worship God Here we learne howe dangerously religious honour is giuen to any creature It cannot be thought that either Cornelius or Iohn would robbe God of his glorie and giue it to Angel or man But yet they were forbidden to doe that which they did least they should attribute more to the messenger of God than they ought through preposterous zeale It is not so great a daunger to honour a prince with al humilitie therein men cannot so easilie exceed because the honour is ciuill But the danger is in a spirituall person least in respect of his holie office they honour him too much And here is the insolent pride of the pope reproued who vaunteth himselfe for Peters successor
told him that he should not take as polluted that which hee had made cleane All meates are sanctified by the word and praier So are the Gentils as cleane as the Iewes whose hearts God hath purified To forbid meates or mariage as vncleane seeing that the Lorde hath purified them by his woord is the doctrine of diuels For all things are cleane to them that be cleane and the beleeuing Gentile is accepted of God as wel as the beleeuing Iewe. While Peter mused at this vision Cornelius his messengers asked for him at the doore and God spake vnto him and saide Goe with them and doubt nothing for I haue sent them 26 Peter hauing the woord of God for his calling went cherefully forward on his iourney readie to preache to them to whom God did send him He alleaged not howe dangerous it was to preache the Gospel in Cesarea howe long and tedious a way thither howe odious to be conuersant with the Gentiles he indented not what reward he should haue hee asked not who should beare his costs he alleaged not his worne bodie his olde age he was voide of all such put-offs he knewe that Woe be vnto him if he preached not he remembred his lesson giuen to others Feed the flocke of God he forgat not Christs lesson giuen vnto him If thou loue me feede my sheepe he knewe that the minister of the word ought to preache in season and out of season And he tooke the thing in hand the more gladly hauing hope that he should winne vnto Christ by the word a Captaine a man of might and authoritie in getting of whom he should also get a great sort he should get an hundred souldiers who easily would be drawne to bee like affected with their Captaine he should win a great familie with the rest of Cornelius friends kinsemen and euen so it came to passe It is a great gain vnto the Church of Christ when as a man in authoritie is woon by the word Therefore S. Paul vsed all perswasion to drawe king Agrippa to be a Christian knowing what great aduantage would come thereby to Christs Church To winne a prince is to winne a multitude yea a nation The Church of Christ encreaseth and thriueth apace when Kings Queenes become nurces to it 27 Peter being come now to Cornelius and perceiuing how God had touched his heart with the rest of his companie and made them most readie and greedie of the word of God opened his mouth and saide Of a trueth I perceiue that God is no accepter of persons and so foorth Now Peter entereth into his sermon seeing so wide a doore opened vnto him so great an occasion offered so large and apt a field to sowe Gods seede in In which Sermon there is ynough for a Christian to learne all matter needful to saluation is comprised in it He that hath taken out this lesson needeth not to learne another And a great occasion of it as of other excellent sermons was in the people For the holie Ghost soweth seede plentifully where he findeth a good ground to cast it in and giueth great vtterance lightly to the minister when he giueth good will to the auditorie to heare If the field be barren the seede is spared least it should be spilt Hee will not haue his seede cast in an vnfruitefull ground Surely when the people are woorthie of the woord God will sende preachers with aboundance of it 28 Of a trueth I perceiue that God is no accepter of persons This is S. Peters entrance to his matter wherein he declareth that hee hath nowe learned that the Gospel of Christ the doctrine of saluation doth as well pertaine to the Gentiles as to the Iewes For although there was a partition-wall which diuided them now it is taken away The Gentiles were aliants from the common wealth of Israel strangers from the couenant of promise and had no hope and were without God in the world but now in Christ Iesu they which were farre off are made neere For he is our peace which made of both one and hath broken down the partition-wall to make of twaine one newe man in himselfe so making peace Through him both Iewe and Gentile hath an entrance vnto the father by one spirit And Peter hauing had this reuealed to him before in his vision doth now affirme to the Gentiles in the beginning of his speeche partly to winne fauourable hearing in that he enuied not their saluation as other Iewes did but carefully sought it partly to make them attentiue to heare those things which pertained to their saluation Of a truth I perceiue Peter confesseth his former ignorance touching the calling of the Gentiles and that he hath learned that which he knew not before A token of his great humilitie His successor the pope is led by an other spirite hee cannot abide to graunt ignorance or that he can erre all knowledge is shut vp in scrinio pectoris as they terme it in the hutch of his brest Paul would not arrogate all knowledge though he were taken vp into the third heauen and sawe mysteries not to be reuealed vnto men for he saith We knowe in part These Romish Rabbies will be no Disciples but masters They will aunswere him that shall take in hande to teache them Thou art borne wholly in sinnes and doest thou teache vs 29 But what hath Peter learned That God is no accepter of persons I regard not that which man doth regard saith God to Samuel For man regardeth that which is before his eyes but God regardeth the heart The person heere is taken for the outward apparance and qualities as you would say or circumstances of persons as circumcision vncircumcision man woman magistrate subiect Iewe Gentile English-man French-man master seruaunt riche poore faire euill fauoured a tall man a dwarfe a citizen a countrie man a wise man a foole a learned an vnlearned These such other things are here meant by the persons of men GOD is no accepter of these outward shewes he iudgeth not as man iudgeth There is neither Iewe nor Gretian there is neither bond nor free there is neither male nor female for ye are all one in Christ Iesus There is no respect of persons with God neither ought we to be caried away with externall shewes of magnifical pompe of glorious titles of great authority much learning nor in matter of religion to respect the messenger but the message Paul reprooueth the Corinthians for respecting of persons in matter of religion some would heare none but Paul some liked none but Apollos others followed after Peter would only be his disciples Is Christ diuided saith S. Paul The preacher is to be heard for the woords sake and not for his owne sake If Scribes and Pharisees teache out of the chaire of Moses if Iudas teache the Gospell of Christ they are to be heard To heare or not to
heare in respect of the person is to iustifie or condemne the woord for the person Respect not persons but reuerence the matter when thou hearest the minister preaching the truth thou hearest not him but the sonne of God the teacher of al truth Christ Iesus Plato was as honest a man and as good a philosopher as was Diogenes for all his pretense of simplicitie and contemning of the world Haue no respect to outward pretenses Iudge not according to the sight least in opinion you condemne the good and iustifie the euill In matter of saluation neither ought the childe to respect his parent nor the seruaunt his master nor the subiect his prince nor posteritie the predecessors for we may not hang vpon man but vpon God Cursed is hee that maketh flesh his arme We must herein onely giue eare and respect what the sonne of God shall say vnto vs who is the wisedome of his father whom our heauenly father hath commaunded vs to heare saying Heare you him 30 In euerie nation he that feareth him and woorketh righteousnesse is accepted of him God respecteth not the outward person but the inward man He regardeth not the shape but his owne image that is in man Hee is not partiall to the Iewe more than to the Gentile Riche and poore learned and vnlearned are all one in his sight He accepteth of such as feare him and worke righteousnesse Herein is comprised perfect religion our duetie towards God and our dutie towards man the former and the latter table to beleene in God and to doe right to our neighbour to loue God aboue all and to loue our neighbour as our selfe To feare God is in true holinesse to serue GOD to worke righteousnesse is not to hurt but to help our neighbour to doe to others as we would be doone vnto our selues Hee that will be a wise man in deede must learne to feare God The beginning of wisedome is the feare of the Lord. All other wisedome wherein the feare of God wanteth is but earthly sensuall and diuelish Such as feare God shall be strengthened to stand against all assaults of Satan yea they shal continue and stand stedfast vnto the end euen to the last gasp Canst thou not away with want Wouldst thou haue plentie There is nothing wanting to them that feare him Canst thou not away with infamie Wouldest thou be praised The greatest praise that can come to any man is that he feareth God It is the glorie of the riche the noble and the poore Wouldest thou haue all vertues and the rewards of them Wouldest thou be free from sinnes and the punishments ensuing them Followe the example of Cornelius and feare God For they who feare God will honour and obey their parents they who feare God will diligently exercise themselues in praier they who feare God wil search their owne hearts see their offences and with the prodigall child be sorie for them confesse them and forsake them They who feare God will abstaine from sinne remembring that the Lord doth hate it and will punish it and knowing that their dooings cannot bee hid from him If the feare of God were planted in our hearts wee would learne after so many admonitions to leade a better life wee would practise such lessons as we haue beene so long in learning wee would not liue in such carelesse securitie as we doe the Gospel would take better effect in vs and bring foorth more plentifull fruite wee would at the length cast away impietie and worldely concupiscence and liue a sober iust and godlie life we would repent and forsake sinne least sinne procure Gods speedie wrath the ministers would be more diligent in feeding of the flocke the people more readie to heare the voice of the sheepeheard the magistrates more carefull ouer the common-wealth the subiectes more obedient to frame themselues to liue vnder Law the riche would not suffer the giuer of their riches to goe on begging the poore would endeuour to get spirituall treasures and to be riche in Christ finally we would not feede our bellies so daintily nor so vainly and superfluously cloath our bodies but vse temperance in diet and sobrietie in apparell hauing what to eate and wherewith to be cloathed we would bee content Verily to conclude such as feare God abstaine from euill and doe good and as our Apostle S. Peter saith they doe worke righteousnesse 31 Righteousnesse compriseth in it all such duetie as we doe owe vnto our neighbour Whatsoeuer is contained in the second table is comprehended in this word Righteousnesse But how can we worke righteousnesse who are as vncleane things and al our righteousnesse as a filthie clowte Of whom the prophet saieth There is not one that doth good no not one In deede we are not able to worke perfect righteousnesse For if wee could then Christ had died in vaine with whose perfect righteousnesse we must be cloathed by imputation that wee may bee accepted as righteous in Gods sight For God hath made him which knewe no sinne to be sinne for vs that we might be made the righteousnesse of God in him But when we are iustified so by the perfect righteousnesse of Christ wee must endeuour to serue God in righteousnesse and bring foorth good fruites though they be vnperfect such as in this frailtie of the flesh we may And these are accepted of God for Christes sake their weakenesse and imperfection being pardoned in him Wherefore in this sort we must worke righteousnesse and follow sanctification Hitherto howe all estates must apply themselues to worke righteousnesse 32 Omitting therfore others whom generally this toucheth I will at this present remember children onely of a point of righteousnesse which they must worke in giuing due honour to their parents For there is a great fault in many at this day that wheras they are specially bound to their parents both by the linkes of nature and by the bonds of Gods word they burst those bondes asunder dispose of themselues in mariage as they list without consent of their parents A fault as most heinous in the sight of God and condemned by his law so condemned too by the law of nature the Lawe Ciuil the Lawe Canon and the opinion of the best writers For the Lawe of God doeth not onely charge children generally to obey their parents in all thinges but also particularly doth shewe by sundrie examples that children ought to be giuen by their parents in mariage and not to bee left to their owne fantasies And among the Ethnikes euen by the Lawe of nature as their Poets shew mariages for children were not made by themselues but by their parents It is written in the Lawe Ciuil If a sonne marie a wife against his fathers will the child that shall be borne of that mariage shall not be counted lawfull In the Canon Lawe it is saide Mariages are then
instrument to receiue it withall is faith He that beleeueth is made partaker of it and not of it onely but of eternall life also For he that beleeueth in me hath life eternall saith our Sauiour Christ. But this faith this iustifying faith doth worke through loue and sheweth it selfe by workes The good tree will be fruitfull The beleeuing iustified childe of God will feare God and worke righteousnesse 46 This doctrine of iustification by faith in the death and resurrection of Christ Iesu is witnessed by all the Prophets It is no newe doctrine but olde not onely proceeding from the Apostles but also from the Prophets For Moses and all the Prophets beare witnesse of him And as they so the Apostles after them Whose steppes we must followe and acknowledge that no doctrine is to be established but that which is testified by the Apostles and Prophets The true Church of Christ doth builde her faith on their foundation God will be worshipped and serued according to his prescript woord and not according to the braine of man The Prophets and Apostles with all such as be ministers of the woord are heere and elsewhere called witnesses Yea Christ himselfe termeth himselfe a witnesse of the truth For this cause am I borne and for this cause came into the worlde that I should beare witnesse to the truth And Christ saith to his Apostles Ye shall be witnesses vnto me both in Ierusalem and in Samaria euen to the vttermost endes of the earth 47 The truth is to bee testified by publike preaching Paul commendeth the Thessalonians for beleeuing his testimonie His testimonie was the Gospel which he did preache and testifie vnto them According to the voice that did speake vnto him when he was cast off his horse I haue appeared to thee for this purpose to appoint thee a minister and witnesse both of things which thou hast seene and of the things in which I will appeare vnto thee The truth is also testified by writing By the writings of the Prophets Apostles and Euangelists the truth of God Iesus Christ was most plainely testified As Iohn to name one of them among many This is that Disciple which testifieth of these things The truth is also witnessed when as it is testified in bloud for a martyr is a witnes Christ told Peter that when he was young hee girded himselfe and walked whither he lusted but when he waxed old other should gird him and carie him whither hee would not Nowe this saith Iohn he spake signifying by what death he should glorifie God Many Martyrs haue thus testified the truth with suffering for it But they ouercame by the bloud of the Lambe and by the woord of their testimonie not louing their life no not to the death That minister which will neither testifie it by publike preaching nor by writing will hardly testifie it by suffering but will rather say with Peter I knowe not the man But I must here make an end for the time hath ouertaken me and without repetition as you knowe the maner is To God the father God the son God the holie Ghost three persons one almightie almerciful God be rendred all thanks all glorie giuen for euer and for euer Amen The fifteenth Sermon A Sermon preached at Strausborough in the time of Q. Maries reigne 2. COR. 6. 2 Wee therefore as helpers beseeche you that ye receiue not the grace of God in vaine 3 For he saith I haue heard thee in a time accepted in the day of saluation haue I succoured thee behold now the accepted time beholde now the day of saluation THE Prophet to abate the hawtie conceit which naturally wee haue of our selues in such sort as euery man were his owne God and had no other whom to praise for the graces and gifts wherewith he is beautified and set forth as a mirror for al other creatures to beholde and woonder at indeuoureth to turn away our eyes frō too much gazing vpon our owne excellencie by pointing as it were his finger at him who is author of euerie good perfect gift saying Hee made vs and not we our selues For what end and purpose Zacharie teacheth namely that we might serue him in holinesse and righteonsnesse before him all the daies of our life For we are his workemanship created in Christ Iesus vnto good works which God hath ordeined that we should walke in them Ye are not saith S. Paul to the Corinthians your owne Why so For you are bought with a price Glorifie therefore God in your bodie and in your spirite for they are Gods Forsomuch then as we are all of the houshold of God all one in Christ all members of one and the same spirituall bodie woorshipping one Lord receiuing one baptisme professing one faith expecting one glorie to be reuealed vpon vs in that great day it is our duetie in token of our neere coniunction in the spirite with one heart one minde and as it were with one mouth to present our selues before his mercie seate to praise him to heare his word to receiue the seales of his merciful couenaunt in the Gospel and to offer him our needeful supplications together that in all things it may appeare that we are one as hee and the father are one euen one God to be blessed for euer 2 With what zeale desire Gods people of old were woont to do this we may gesse by that which we reade of y ◠Prophet Dauid who being persecuted of his wicked vnnatural son driuen from y e presence of that glorious tabernacle which with great triumph ioye himselfe had placed in the Citie of Dauid where he was woont with the rest of the people to call vpon the name of the Lord to heare the Lawe and to offer sacrifice vpon those beautiful altars conceiued such a deepe impression of griefe by the sorowfull meditation of those sweete and heauenly comforts whereof his soule had tasted in former times that forgetting quite the losse of all other royalties whatsoeuer he maketh mone for nothing but onely this that he might not nowe be partaker of those inestimable benefites and the comforts of minde and conscience which he was woont to receiue at the hand of God at such time as with the rest of the Israelites he resorted to the tabernacle where God promised to be present and fauourably to heare the petitions there made vnto him Of this his great miferie he complaineth him lamentably in diuerse of his Psalmes but especially in the 84 where he breaketh out into these woords of great zeale O Lord of hosts howe amiable are thy Tabernacles My soule longeth yea and fainteth for the courts of the Lorde mine heart and my flesh reioice in the liuing God He goeth on and magnifieth the blessed estates of those sillie birds which might haue their nests and lay their young euen
the moone shall be abashed the sunne ashamed when the Lorde of hostes shal raigne in mount Sion The like we read in Ezechiel threatning destruction and desolation to Egypt I will couer the heauen and make the starres thereof darke I will couer the sunne with a cloude and the moone shall not giue hir light all the lightes of heauen will I make darke for thee and bring darkenes vpon thy lande sayth the Lorde I might alledge the like out of Ioel Ieremie Amos and Micheas but the matter is cleare inough needeth rather to be considered thaÌ„ prooued 19 The wordes being literally thus vnderstoode may be morally applied not without great fruite vnto the vnderstanding and wise hearer which can discerne betweene interpretation of scripture application thereof In the one we giue you the bare sense of the scripture in the other we teach you the profitable vse of it For the vse of scripture may be very well shewed not only by such collectioÌ„s as do probably gather or necessarily coÌ„clude one thing out of another but also by those allegoricall comparisons which shewe how in one thing another is shadowed a spirituall thing resembled in a corporall As for example if heere we refer the sun to Christ that sunne of righteousnes the moone to the Church and the starres to the pastors and doctors of the Church 20 The sunne in this sence is most euidently in this our age darkned Christ is obscured by that great enimie Antichrist the man of sinne who hath set himselfe in Christs peculiar place and will be exalted aboue all that is called God To make any other mediator betwene God and man sauing only Christ Iesus which is not onely man but also God To seeke else where remission of sinnes iustification redemption sanctification or saluation than only in this Iesus in him crucified doth darken make dimme both him and his merites And of this treason the Romish Antichristian Church which they terme Catholike is founde guiltie For the children of this harlot labour by al meanes to obscure the sonne of God to robbe him of the glorie of his desertes in our saluation I would neuer haue beleeued that any professing learning or hauing had but a glimse of the course of the woorde of God could haue beene so grosse in such sort to haue eclipsed the brightnesse of Christ Iesus by giuing his glorie vnto earthly creatures if of late I had not to my great greefe and their great shame heard their owne blasphemous conâ—essions therof Surely the Romish strumpet hath rubbed hir forehead hir children are become altogether shamelesse whatsoeuer shee determineth they make it equiualent with the written word of God There is no absurditie in poperie in which there are ful many and full grosse which they doe not defende to be right good and Catholike The Popes pardons purgatorie masses merites praiers both for to y e dead pilgrimages images reliques yea holy water and holy bread All these they will haue some one way and some another to bee forcible remedies against sinne and death This is their religion and seruing of God thus they honour the Lambe that was slaine for the sinnes of all the worlde If this doe not derogate from him and stoppe the brightnesse of his glorie who is the only once offered propitiation for all our sinnes by whose bloud we are only purged whose death only hath made vs free from death if this doe not obscure the glorious beautie of Christ Iesus if this doe not deface the woorthinesse of his merites what doeth or what can do Hath the glorious sonne of God sacrificed his precious life for our sakes vpon the crosse that Thomas of Caunterburies bloud powred out in an earthly quarrell should make passage to heauen for vs Is there any man in whose heart the light of the glorie of God hath shined which seeth not how this fogge doth darken this blessed sunne 21 Againe this sonne is obscured when as we professe that in our woordes which in our liues and deedes we doe denie After that king Dauid had committed adulterie Nathan the phophet charged him therewith in these words Thou hast caused the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme When men professe wel liue ill their life is not tolerated for their profession but their profession is slandered by their conuersation When the Iewes which professed the Law did not practise it the Law which they professed heard euill thereby For a bad professor of a good thing is a staine to that thing which he doth professe This is the speciall fault of our wicked dayes these our times are clowdie and full of this darkenesse our light doth not shine to glorifie God but our darkenes doth abounde to the obscuring of his Christ. The mercilesse rich men which wring and oppresse by deceitfull and iniurious dealing which neglect and despise their afflicted brethren the needie members of Christ doe not they blaspheme the woorthie name wherewith both they and we are named It were a great deale better neuer to haue professed then not to practise neuer to haue receaued then not to obserue neuer to haue knowne then not to obey the word of truth Vnto them which heare the word and keepe it being heard a blessing is promised but vnto theÌ„ of whom it is written Dicunt non faciunt They say do not woes againe and againe are denounced This knowe sayth the Apostle that in the last dayes shall come perillous times For men shall be louers of themselues couetous boasters proude cursed speakers disobedient to parentes vnthankefull vnholy without naturall affection truce breakers false accusers intemperate fierce despisers of them which are good traitours headie high minded louers of pleasure more than louers of God hauing a shewe of godlinesse but hauing denied the power thereof Let all the worlde iudge whether these be not the cloudes which haue darkned the sunne of our dayes 22 Now as the sun reseÌ„bleth Christ so the moone his Church For as the moone hath hir light from the sun so the Church hirs from Christ. And as the sunne being vnchangeable is at all times exceeding bright and glorious but the moone doth change and some times is at the full sometimes at the wane hir light to the eye of the worlde now encreasing and nowe diminishing nowe filling the whole globe and now in no part thereof appearing so Christ and his Church Christs glorie is alwaies great and alwaies one His Church vpon earth doth varie nowe she flowrisheth and nowe is blacke sometimes shee ouer spreadeth the face of the whole earth at other times she is brought to so narrowe streightes that mortall eye is vnable to espie hir When the Church of Christ is persecuted as it was in the dayes of those cruell Emperours which were of olde and as it is at this daie vnder Antichrist and Antichristian Princes this is as it were the chaunging
feare me whose God is their bellie and whose felicitie is meate and drinke Our excesse this way is intollerable and abhominable we striue to equall almost Vitellius who had serued vnto him at one feast 2000. fishes 7000. birds and Heliogabalus that monster of the worlde who at one supper was serued with 600. ostriches There is no birde that flieth no fish that swimmeth no beast that moueth which is not buried in our bellies This excesse is an enemie both to wealth health it hath cut off much housekeeping and brought many men to extreme beggerie and as many great diseases are cured by abstinence so fulnesse hath beene the cause of sundrie straunge and vnwoonted sicknesses Aurelian the Emperour did neuer sende for phisitian in time of his sicknesse but cured himself only by thin diet And as immoderate feeding doth much hurt to the bodie so it is more noysome to the minde For as the grounde if it receiue too much raine is not watered but drowned and turneth into myre which is neither fit for tillage nor for yeelding of fruite so our flesh ouerwatered with wine is not fit to admit the spirituall plough or to bring foorth the celestiall fruites of righteousnesse The herbes that growe about it will be lothsome and stinking weedes as brawling chiding blasphemie slaunder periurie hatred manslaughter and such like bad workes of drunkennesse and darkenesse Are not these vnsauourie fruites ynough to make vs abhor the tree A drunken bodie is not a man but a swine fit for Diuels to enter into For these sins are against nature which being moderately refreshed is satisfied being stuffed is hurt violated deformed God hath giuen vs his creatures soberly to vse and not so shamefully to abuse we should if we did well feede the body to serue not to rule to obey not to leade the spirite I chastise my body sayth S. Paul and bring it into seruitude Is it not perillous trow you to pamper make strong our aduersarie or haue we a greater or stronger enemie than our rebellious flesh Ful bellied drunkards are no better then traytors in this spirituall warre Ge â—deon a figure of Christ would no other souldiers to fight against the Madianites but such as stood tooke vp water in their haÌ„d lickt it out of such there were but 300. in number the rest y t were afraide or lay downe to drinke their fill he sent away they were not for his purpose Such filled bellies were not fit to serue God nor able to fight against the Madianites Satan and sin Gods and Gods peoples enemies The Israelites lusted after quailes but to their owne confusioÌ„ Esau for his belly sake sold his birth right inheritance Beware their examples Lucullus a Romaine had a seruant alwaies at his elbow to pul him by the sleeue at such times as he porred in too fast But we haue the blessed Apostle of Christ the seruaunt of God to put vs in minde of sobrietie in diet Nor in diet onely but also in attire 10 A mans apparell laughter gate doth shew his nature In apparell this is to be obserued that auoyding vanitie pride therein euery man weare according to his calling Iohn Baptist ware a rough cote of camels haire But SalomoÌ„ vsed rich glorious apparel yet both vsed y t which did become theÌ„ There is no more holinesse in a Fryers coule than in a sheepheardes cloke Yet that is comely in one which is not seemely in an another Saint Paule is verie earnest with women and requireth them to goe in sober apparell decking themselues with shamfastnes and modestie not with brodered haire or with golde or pearles or sumptuous attire but as becommeth women that professe the feare of God And S. Peter telleth theÌ„ that their godlie mother Sara went soberly apparelled Sara was a good woman a rich woman and a noble woman such as followe hir footesteppes neede not be ashamed Yet doe I not condemne all other apparell yea euen such apparell as is costlie and gorgious may be fit for some states and personages I doe not doubt but that Hester and Iudith did weare golde and were gorgiously decked But if Paule and Peter did liue in our dayes they would not spare the vanitie of our women much lesse of our men The vaine and monstrous apparell of all other countries and nations Englande hath scraped together and in a brauerie put it on the estimation whereof is this A light wauering minde matched with a vaine proude heart desireth a light vaine strange proude and monstrous apparell to couer and cladde it withall But sobrietie is content with that which is seemely Be sober in your apparell 11 Be yee sober also in your speech and gesture Be slowe to speake and when you speake let your woordes be so seasoned that they may be wholsome and not offensiue to the hearer Let no lewde speech proceede from your mouthes A mans speech and gesture will bewray his thoughtes The talke of a foole is vnsauourie altogether and his gesture vncomely but a wise mans vnderstanding is seene euen in his lookes A foole exalteth his voice in laughter but the man that is soberly minded will scarcely smile to himselfe He that is guiltlesse hideth not his face but the murderers heade is in his bosome Our outwarde actions are liuelie tokens of our inwarde disposition from which they proceede Wherefore it greatly behooueth al estates and conditions of men both inwardly in minde and outwardly in diet attire speech and gesture to be sober 12 With sobrietie S. Peter ioyneth watchfulnesse Be sober and watching I will not heere recite vnto you the manifolde kindes of watching whereof the Scriptures make mention but rather note a fewe vnto you most necessarie and such as the Apostle chieflie meaneth Before we can watch we must be wakened Wherefore he sayth Awake thou that sleepest and stande vp from the dead and Christ shall giue thee light He speaketh not of naturall sleeping but of a sleepe which is in death He that liueth in pleasures is dead being aliue and they that wake vnto sinne are asleepe vnto righteousnesse All such as liue in error and lie in sinne are but dead men in the sight of God Aristotle saith that seuen houres of sleepe suffice naturally the bodie Let it suffice the soules of men to haue slept in the lappe of Antichrist 700. yeares and to haue beene rocked so long in the cradell of that deadly errour It is now high time to awake and arise from the dreames of poperie for they are not sickly but deadly At the length let Christ shine vnto thee the light of his Gospell if thou embrace it will driue away the darke cloudes of errour and ignoraunce Awake I say at the sounde of Gods woord from thy former superstition and at length embrace the trueth which will be as a lanterne nay as a bright shining starre to guide thee vnto
Christ. S. Paul speaketh to the elect of God who doubtlesse will at length awake As for the reprobate they still shal sleepe on in their errours and sinnes vnto their eternall death and confusion But arise Ierusalem and be thou enlightned arise Ierusalem from death to life frō errour to truth from darkenesse to light from Antichrist to Christ who by his holy spirite will illuminate thee that thou mayst knowe God the father and him whom he hath sent Iesus Christ and that is the only way to euerlasting life Plinie reproouing our drowsinesse sayeth that sleepe doth steale away the halfe of our life But this sleepe wherof we speake stealeth away the whole life of the greatest part of men Dauid himselfe lay slumbering in the filthy sleepe of whoredome a whole yeare at the least and could not awake vntill Nathan blewe in his eare and stirred him But Dauids sleepe was but a nappe in comparison of such as are so hard and fast a sleepe that they will neuer stirre vntill fire out of heauen flee about their eares to waken them So were the Sodomites wakened and consumed Awake therefore and when ye are wakened then watch 13 Watch that ye be not deceiued by false prophetes who watch to deceiue you teach otherwise thā Christ hath taught The diuell is a subtill perswader of men he is a lying spirite in the mouth of his prophets his ministers workmen are craftie companions such as creepe into houses and leade away the simple as captiues with them A man of a watchfull eye shall knowe these wolues by two properties First they are rauenous cruel bloudy they will persecute and kill they will be as Caine not as Abell as Ismaell and not as Isaak as Esau not as Iacob as Pharao and not as Moses as Caiaphas and not as Peter The seconde note is that which Chrysostome mentioneth Who so in blasphemie yelleth and howleth with a foule and open mouth against the trueth he is a wolfe Such they were of whom the prophet speaketh in the psalme saying They set their mouth against heauen 14 All must watch that they be not themselues deceiued by these deceitfull wolues when they put on sheepes clothing But God giueth charge to such as be the pastors of his people to be watchfull also ouer others not only carefully to feede them as his flocke deerely redeemed in good wholsome pastures but also to driue chase away the wolues least Gods sheepe be deuoured by thē And this pastoral office doth not only pertain vnto priests prechers but also vnto princes tēporal gouerners whō God hath placed in authority to y t end y t they shold promote his glory For the which cause God calleth Cyrus the king his shephard Vigilate watch the wolfe to driue him away watch the flock to fede it 15 Let euerie one be watchfull ouer his life that his conuersation be according to his profession If we walke disorderly we shal not walke alone our example wil draw others after it their sins we shall answere for Lucifer fell not alone he drew cōpany from heauen with him Ieroboam being sinfull made Israell to sin And he is burnt in the hand with that marke of horror for a warning to al succeeding ages Ieroboā the son of Nebat that made Israel to sin Let vs beware that we play not Simeon Leui so make our father Iacob to be loathed of the Cananites We professe Christ true Christianitie Let vs not through our lewd life be a slander to our sauiour and a shame to his gospel Watch therefore But because as S. Paul sayth neither planting nor watering will helpe except God himself do giue encrease because our watching as the prophet witnesseth is in vaine neither can sobrietie and heedefulnes serue to keepe a citie except the Lorde himselfe doe keepe it let vs craue help at Gods mercifull hands let vs pray as wel as watch When S. Paul hath armed Gods souldier he biddeth him pray Man be he neuer so well appointed for defence neuer so stronge and perfit cannot stande without Gods strength He that looketh but a litle into the worlde shall espie iust cause to moue vs to prayer if anie men now if euer The greate diuell in these our later dayes is let loose Antichrist rageth and seeketh our confusion The wicked glistering world maruelously deceiueth bewitcheth The flesh raigneth and beareth swinge The spirite is faint sinne ouerfloweth Christ is comming in the cloudes to call vs vnto iudgement Therefore be ye sober watch pray Pray I say not in shewe but in deede not in appearance but from the heart not for fashion but in earnest Babble not in wordes like hypocrites but powre out thy heart before God as did Hanna And God graunt for his Christ our Iesus sake that in fayth and loue wee may lift vp pure hands sincere affections hartie grones vnto our Lorde that we may ouercome our many dreadfull enemies purchase pardon and glorifie God Let vs with Dauid with whom we haue sinned pray for mercy Let vs with the disciples of Christ with whom we haue wauered pray for the encrease of our faith because the ende of all thinges is nowe at hande 16 It followeth Haue feruent charity amongst your selues This cōcerneth our dutie towardes men as y ◠other did towards God All our dutie towards our neighbour consisteth in loue He that loueth another hath fulfilled the lawe Iohn the beloued disciple of Christ was the preacher of loue it was euer in his mouth as it is in his writings in so much that lying vpon his death bed his disciples requesting to haue one lessō frō him before his departure he was able to deuise no one thing more needful to be spokē of then this which he had oftē said Loue one another my litle childrē Peter would haue our loue to be earnest hote Euery one loueth himself very vehemently but our loue towards others is very cold chill Our loue for the most part this way is in word in phraise but not in deede in truth This world is dubble harted dissēbling is made a trade to liue by There be many Labans but fewe Iacobs Many that salute say Aue but their next word is Apprehendite If Christ came nowe he were like to finde litle faith but lesse charity yet without charity al that we do is vaine yea it is very sin Let vs therfore loue as God hath loued vs he loued vs not slenderly when he tooke so bitter a death for vs. A God for his enemies See therfore that ye haue vehement sincere hearty loue among your selues not contenting your selues barely to haue it in shewe vnlesse yee shewe it by these effectes which Saint Peter in this place setteth down Vehement loue heere spoken of is described by these properties First it couereth y e multitude of
sins Secondly it causeth vs to be giuen to hospitalitie Thirdly it will not suffer men to hide those graces which they haue receiued at Gods handes but is a cause of bestowing the same to the vse benefit of their brethrē 17 It is not our charitie that can couer our sins from the sight of God Christ is the propitiation for our sinnes It is I that blot out your iniquities sayth the Lorde But as Gods loue to vs ward couereth our sinnes so our towardes our brethren doeth couer theirs If God loue vs his mercie is as a cloke that hideth all our shame he seeth no blemish or deformity in vs. If we loue our brethren our charity is as a vaile before our eies we behold not their faults Although they be great we do not waie thē although many we recken thē not For charitie couereth euen the multitude of sins The eye of the charitable man is alwaies vewing his owne woundes as for the scarres of other 〈◊〉 he seeth them not His hād is alwaies occupied not in picking out motes frō other mens eyes but in drawing out beames from his owne S. Augustine to shew the great dislike he had of such as vncharitably delighted to vnfold other mens faults wrote these verses ouer his table Quisquis amat dictis absentum rodere vitam Hanc mensam vetitam nouerit esse sibi Who so loueth to gnawe vpon men in their absence Let him knowe that this table doth not like his presence 18 The next fruit of loue is hospitalitie Be harborus one toward another without grudging S. Paul is of the same iudgement For hauing vsed this exhortation Let brotherly loue continue he immediatly addeth Be not forgetfull to lodge strangers Hospitalitie hath respect vnto all men but chiefly to strangers namely such as are of the houshould of faith and are driuen out of their countrie for the profession of Christs Gospel Such are chiefly to be releeued Of such especially it is written and prouided for in the lawe The strāger that dwelleth with you shalbe as one of your selues thou shalt loue him as thy selfe for ye were strangers in the lande of Egypt I am the Lord your God God hath offered vs at this time great occasion to shew foorth our charitie many of Gods good children are straungers in Englande Let vs not omit this good occasion to doe good Abraham and Lot were liberall towardes straungers and when they supposed to haue receiued men they receiued Angelles to their great benefit But we no doubt in receiuing these strangers which wander from place to place beeing cast out of their countries for confessing and professing Christ receiue not Angels but the Lorde of Angelles Hee that receiueth you receiueth me In doing good to straungers we doe good also to our selues for great shall be the benefit when Christ shall say I was a straunger and yee harboured me As great the curse to them to whom it shalbe said I was harbourlesse and ye did not lodge me Saint Peter would haue vs giuen to hospitalitie without murmuring and with kindnesse entertaine straungers For in shewing of beneuolence there are three speciall vertues which if they be wanting our benefits loose their grace and goodnesse The first is willingnesse God doth loue a cheerefull giuer The seconde is bountifulnesse For he that soweth sparinglie shall reape sparingly The thirde is singlenesse of heart for if we giue vainegloriously to be seene of men wee loose our rewarde at Gods handes as by murmuring we deserue no thankes of men 19 There be two graunde enemies of hospitalitie The one is couetousnesse the other profusenesse Nigardlinesse would not suffer Naball that rich carle to bestowe a peece of breade to releeue the necessitie of Dauid a king Shall I take my breade and my water and the flesh of my beastes that I haue killed for my shearers and giue it to men whom I knowe not eyther who or whence they are Others with the prodigall sonne wast that vnthriftilie wherewith they should releeue the poore and comfort straungers Some of them being eaten vp as they say with three H. H. H. Horses Haukes and Harlots Some with vaine apparell casting away as much vpon a garment as would almost ransome a king Some with building some with banquetting some by one meane and some by an other whereby it is come to passe that hospitalitie it selfe is waxen a straunger and needeth harbour we haue shut it quite and cleane out of doores 20 The last fruite of heartie loue is the good bestowing of our graces and giftes to the benefit of others Let euery man as he hath receiued a gift minister the same one to another as good disposers of the manifolde graces of God The giftes that we haue which be good they be of God for euery good gift commeth downe from the Father of lightes And these giftes we receiue to bestowe vpon others as good stewardes of the Lorde S. Peter doeth seeme chiefly as it were to point vnto two sortes of high and principall stewardes at whose handes an especiall reckoning of the graces of God will be required the magistrate and the minister For God leadeth his people like sheepe by the hande of Moses and Aaron whose gifts are the sworde and the woorde whereof the one may not be borne in vaine but drawne to the punishment of euill doers and to the aduauncement of them that doe well the other is to bee preached in season and out of season to the confirmation of the trueth the refutation of errour the exhortation to vertue the disswasion from vice that the man of God may be perfectly inabled to euerie good worke Howbeit as magistrates and ministers are principally ment in this exhortation so are all sexes and sorts of people called vpon For we shall all giue an account of our stewardship we must all make a reckoning of the talentes we haue receiued be they fiue two or one No man is borne nor brought vp to himselfe but to the benefit and behoofe of an other and as stones in one building or members in one bodie so is euerie man interessed and inuested in the possession ech one of an other to the ende no man should seeke his owne thinges but the things that make for the profiting of an other Which one lesson amongest many if once we would heare to learne it and learne to remember it and remember to followe it and followe to continue and perseuer in it we should not onely declare our selues to be good dispensers of the manifolde gifts and graces of God but heare also that blessed voice Euge serue bone fidelis Come my good and faithful seruant I haue set thee ouer a few small things I wil henceforth place thee ouer more and greater come and enter into thy maisters ioy whereunto he bring vs that so dearelie bought it for vs euen Iesus the price of our redemption to whome with the father and
thou doest 7 As God is perfit in himselfe in his worde and in all his workes so we are exhorted to fashion our selues according to that similitude and likenesse which is in him and to become perfit as our father in heauen is perfit There is a perfection which all beleeuers haue by imputation whereof although S. Paule doe not speake directly in this place yet because it is the roote of that perfection whereof he speaketh it is not besides the purpose for me to put you in minde of it Vnto euerie sonne of Adam it may iustlie be saide Thou wast perfit in thy waies from the day that thou wast created till iniquitie was founde in thee But our sanctification being once defiled and polluted with sinne he which liketh no vncleane or vnperfect thing if hee looke vppon vs as wee are in our selues cannot but loath vs. Wherefore except the perfection of righteousnes which is in Christ be imputed vnto vs and accounted as ours except in him we be made the righteousnes of God howe should we euer hope to appeare without spot and wrincle in the sight of God He therefore is perfect whose imperfections Christ with his perfection hath couered This is a secret which because the Iewes were not able to comprehende therefore they stumbled Israel sought perfection and found it not Wherefore Because they sought it by the workes of the law and not by faith they thought perfection by imputation to be a meere fancie Contrariwise the Gentils not following that perfection which is by the lawe attained vnto that which is by faith which S. Paule did so esteeme that although he were concerning the righteousnesse which is in the lawe vnreproueable yet he thought all the labour and trauell lost which hee had spent about attaining perfection that way and desired nothing more than to be found not hauing his owne perfection which was of the law but that which is through the faith of Christ. 8 But the perfection wherof S. Paul heere speaketh is nothing else but the finishing of that which the grace of Christ hath alreadie begun to worke in our hearts our growing and increasing in true godlinesse our proceeding and going forwarde from vertue to vertue from strength to strength till we come vnto that whereunto we striue Brethren sayeth the Apostle I count not my selfe as if I had attained it or were alreadie perfect But one thing I forget that which is behinde and endeuour my selfe vnto that which is before and followe harde towardes the marke for the price of the high calling of God in Christ Iesus Let vs therefore as many as be perfect be thus minded let as many as haue attained the former perfection striue vnto this which is the latter 9 For this cause Apostles Prophetes Euangelistes pastors and teachers at the first were giuen vnto this all doctrine and exhortation doth tende that being builded together to be the habitation of God by the spirite wee might rise to a perfect man vnto the measure of the age of the fulnesse of Christ and in all things growe vp into him which is the head in all thinges whether they be inwarde vertues or outwarde duties which God requireth at the handes of men Touching inwarde vertues although we haue knowledge and be established in the present trueth although our faith bee such that it be knowen and spoken of through out the worlde although we abound in godlinesse in brotherlie kindenesse and in all loue it is neuerthelesse a thing needefull as long as we are in this tabernacle that we be alwayes put in minde stirred vp and prouoked to endeuour that in these thinges we may abounde more and more and go forward in them to perfection 10 The worde of truth which is the Gospell was fruitfull among the Colossians from the very first day that they hearde and truely knewe the grace of God Yet S. Paule ceased not still to pray for them and to desire that they might be fulfilled with the knowledge of his will in all wisedome spirituall vnderstanding that they might encrease in the knowledge of God and so be perfect The Hebrues no dout were not vtterly ignorant in the highest mysteries of their saluation yet are they sharply reproued for their rawnesse and exhorted to proceede from the doctrine of the beginning of Christ and from the first principles of the word of God that at the length they might come to some perfection We must all confesse euen the best learned amongst vs all that as yet we are but beginning to learne we knowe but little our skill is of small and tender growth It behooueth vs therefore to pray continually with the prophet Lord teach vs thy statutes make vs to vnderstande the way of thy preceptes that we may profit in meditating of thy lawe leade vs on in our way by the gracious conduction of thy holy spirite so direct our course that we may run out the race into which we are entred not ceasing till thou hast brought vs into all truth fully instructed vs in thy righteousnesse made vs absolute and perfect vnto all good workes 11 Where there is backwardnesse in knowledge there must needes be also weakenes of faith if we growe in the one we are the nearer to perfection in the other Howe great care the blessed Apostle had that the faith of as many as did beleeue through his preaching might be perfited let that one speach of his to them of Thessalonica serue to shewe in steede of manie Bretheren wee had consolation in you in all our affliction and necessitie through your faith For nowe are we aliue if we stande stedfast in the Lorde What thankes can we recompence to God againe for you for all the ioy for which we reioyce for your sakes before God night and day praying exceedinglie that we might see your face and might accomplish that which is lacking in your faith If he were thus carefull for the faith of others shall we neglect to make perfect our owne When we heare that this is the victorie which ouercometh the world euen our faith that by faith all the firie dartes of Satan are expelled and driuen back that vnto beleeuers all thinges are possible that he which beleeueth commeth not into iudgment but hath passed from death to life are we not glad to say in our hartes Lord we beleeue If we be then considering that by how much our faith is more stedfast by so much we are the more certainlie assured of all these thinges let vs ioyne in request with the disciples of Christ and beg of him to increase faith in vs let vs crie euen with teares Lorde helpe our incredulitie 12 But how can you beleeue saith our sauiour that receaue glorie one of another and the glorie which is of God onelie ye seeke not How should we growe vnto fulnesse of faith which are so emptie and void of godlinesse The complaint
to admonish the wicked of his wicked waie his bloud will I require at thine hand and for speaking against sinne Elias was persecuted Zacharias stoned Esaias cut in pieces Ieremias cast into a dungeon Iohn Baptist Stephen Paul Iames Peter Iustine Athanasius Cyprian Polycarp of our owne Bishops and teachers not a fewe in other nations huge multitudes both heeretofore and of late in most cruel and sauage maner tormented with all extremitie that might be deuised to increase the bitternesse of their death 6 Many auncient Prophets and woorthie Fathers of the primitiue Church casting these accounts in their minds haue shunned and laboured by what meanes they could to auoide this office Doubtlesse mans flesh is fraile we are all weake and ful of infirmitie If this office require a strong man to beare the burthen of so great a trauell certainly it is altogether vnfitly cast vpon me I would haue wished rather rest for this my wearysh bodie full of diseases and as the Prophet speaketh almost worne away like a clowte If this office in respect of the hardnesse thereof of the great daungers incident into it and in consideration of mans vnablenesse to performe it haue made so many so loath to enter vpon a charge of such difficultie and daunger before God and the world what may I then thinke of my selfe From the bottom of my heart I confesse with S. Paul Minimus sum I am the least of the Apostles not woorthie to bee called an Apostle Wherefore as Moses was contented to take vpon him the charge and keeping of a fewe sheepe in Madian but beeing called to guide the great and mightie people of Israel aunswered Mitte quem missurus es Send whom thou wilt send So although considering the great want of labourers in the Church of Christ I were contented to vndertake the care and charge of a smal flock yet beeing called to this great this wise and riche people remembring my vnfitnesse thereunto I sawe no aunswere more conuenient for me than that of Moses before mentioned But God hath his secrete and vnsearchable working and I am as clay in the potters hand Si passeres non cadunt in terram absque prouidentia diuina fortuito fient Episcopi If sparrowes fall not on the grounde without the prouidence of the almightie are Bishops made at all aduenture saith S. Cyprian Here I see God hath placed mee by the hand of his chiefe minister with the aduise of her wise honourable counsellers and the choise of them to whom it apperteineth not without your great contentation and liking as I am giuen to vnderstand I haue therefore submitted my selfe and taken vpon me this heauie yoke as the searcher of all secrets will beare me record vnwillingly willingly In respect of my many imperfections my vnfitnesse to execute this great and weightie office in such sort as it ought to bee performed I receiue it vnwillingly but in regard of the calling which I am perswaded proceedeth from the determination of almightie God I willingly submit my selfe hereunto It is you it is you dearely beloued that haue drawne me hither Her Maiestie could spie nothing in me woorthie of this roome but your too much and on my part altogether vndeserued liking The Lord bee mercifull vnto mee and graunt mee his grace that in some measure I may aunswere your expectation 7 And now to the matter which I haue chosen to speake of at this present Wherein it shall not bee a thing vnnecessarie for your better vnderstanding somewhat to consider of the circumstances occasions wherepon the words which I haue red doe depend Christ hauing cured a poore sicke man which had beene eight and thirtie yeres diseased whom he found lying by the pond of Bethsaida desirous of remedie but lacking one to helpe him into the water where it was to be had the blinde Iewes because this was doone vpon the Sabaoth day found themselues much grieued and thereupon persecuted Iesus who after an Apologie made in defence of that holie action perceiuing their malice to be increased thereby rather than abated left them and went beyond the sea of Galilee Howbeit the multitude left not him but because they had seene the signes and woonders which hee wrought miraculously recouering the sicke and restoring them to perfect health therfore they flocked after him in great troups When Iesus therefore had lifted vp his eyes and sawe that a very great multitude came vnto him hee saith to Philip Whence shall we buie bread that these may eate 8 The first reason therefore why Christ forsooke Ierusalem and went beyond the sea of Galilee was to the ende hee might conuey himselfe from the tyrannie and persecution of the wicked So we reade in the Gospel according to S. Matthew that hearing howe his forerunner was beheaded he went aside tooke boate and retired into a solitarie place apart Whereby wee are giuen to vnderstand that if our liues be particularly sought wee may lawfully flee from the cruell and bloudie hands of our persecutors Christ foretelling his Disciples of the grieuous heauie entertainement which they should finde at the handes of the worlde giueth them this lesson Beware of men and withall this license When they shall persecute you in this Citie flie into an other Herein I neede not much to perswade fraile and fearefull flesh is euer readie to flie perill But what scripture those wen can alleage for themselues that flie not for the Gospel but from the Gospell that flie before they be persecuted or their bloud sought as yet I cannot learne Belike they feare least they should bee repayed with their owne measure No our Gospel is a doctrine of mercie and not of malice they which syncerely professe it are full of clemencie and altogether ruled by pietie our Church consisteth of milde sheepe and not of cruel woolues the popish Church is the wooluish and bloudie Church we seeke reformation and not destruction knowing that Christian hearts are to be perswaded by the Scriptures and not by fire and fagot to be inforced Yet doe I not meane by this speeche but that the obstinate the resisters and disturbers of religion the false prophets and deceiuers of the people may be lawfully cut off the sword may lawfully be drawne against such as are manifest traitors vnto the trueth and to the state But this is not the matter whereof they stande in feare It is not outward daunger but inwarde terror for which they flie Fugit impius nemine persequente the wicked man flyeth when no man pursueth him he trembleth where nothing is to be feared the wagging of a leafe doeth make him shake because his heart is euill 9 Another cause why Christ went aside into the wildernesse may seeme to haue beene a desire of taking some rest after the great and manifold trauels that hee and his Disciples had susteined as appeareth by the woords which he spake to his disciples
Come apart into the wildernesse and rest a while This lesson is gladly learned and too much practised Requiescite pleaseth euerie man The trueth is that the bodie and minde of man must after labour be refreshed with rest But he which laboureth not is altogether as vnwoorthie to rest as to eate Againe such as will take rest and ease after labours must learne of Christ as well to measure their ease as their paines Hee permitteth his Disciples to take their rest but he limiteth and restraineth his permission saying Rest a while For by too much rest men are not made the more fit but the lesse willing to take paine There is no one fault from which the wise man doth so much indeuour to withdrawe men as from sloth For this cause he putteth vs so often in minde of the great blessings which God doth heape vpon the painefull man The hand of the diligent shall beare rule Hee that tilleth his land shall he satisfied with bread c. Againe indeuouring to set out the liuely paterne of a perfect woman such a one as can hardly be found amongst a thousand hee noteth this as a chiefe and principall vertue in her She laboureth cheerefully her candle goeth not out she ouerseeth the waies of her houshold and eateth not the bread of idlenesse As for the slothfull he did not onely hate them himselfe but laboured by all meanes to make them odious sometime by setting their forlorne estate before mens eyes I passed by the field of the slothfull and by the vineyard of the man destitute of vnderstanding and loe it was all growne ouer with thornes and nettles had couered the face therof and the stone wall therof was broken downe sometimes by shewing their excuses and shifts to auoide labour The slothful man saith A Lâ—on is without I shall be slaine in the streetes sometimes by describing their lasie gestures As the dore turneth vpon his hinges so doth the slothfull man vpon his bed he hideth his hand in his bosome and it grieueth him to put it to his owne mouth sometimes by deriding their vnwillingnesse to take their leaue of their rest Yet a litle sleepe a litle slumber a litle folding of the hands And what is the ende Pouertie commeth as one that trauelleth by the way and necessitie like an armed man Wherefore though wearinesse though labour and trauell doe cause thee to desire necessarie rest yet beware that the sweetnes of rest doe not cause thee to thinke that labour is vnnecessarie Rest but rest a litle 10 The last cause that I gather of Christs going into the wildernesse was as it may be coniectured to auoide the feast of Easter at Ierusalem For so the Euangelist speaketh Easter a festiuall daie of the Iewes was nowe at haâ—de It seemeth strange that Christ the example of all good order behauiour should flie from this solemne feast of Easter which he himselfe by his Prophet Moses had straitly commaunded to be obserued and kept You must therefore consider that the Iewes neglected the commandement of God and in stead thereof set vp their owne traditions as S. Paul recordeth so that the temple was nowe become a denne of theeues Christ therefore auoyded too much fellowship with this wicked generation For what societie hath righteousnesse with vnrighteousnesse what communion hath light with darkenesse what concord hath Christ with Belial what part hath the beleeuer with the infidell what agreement hath the temple of God with idols In this we ought all to followe Christ all to flie as he did from the place where the seruice of God is openly prophaned and his name intolerably blasphemed Depart depart goe out from thence Choose rather to suffer want in the wildernes with Christ than to enioye the pleasures of the worlde with an euil conscience to be partakers of the word of life in a desert than to raigne where the aduersarie of Christ and Christianitie beareth sway God be praised for euer in our Churches of England to our great comfort God is serued euen in such sort as him selfe by his holie woord hath prescribed So that no miscontented person can alleage any reason sufficient why to withdraw him selfe from our assemblies Our Church-praiers are the Psalmes our lessons the scriptures our sacraments according to Christes institution Which thing not many yeeres sithence I alleaging vnto one of no small account nowe in Louain his aunswere was I must confesse that is good which you haue in your Churches but the trueth is you haue not ynough Indeede wee haue lesse in their eye than ynough But if we weie things according vnto that rule What soeuer I commaund you take heede you doe it thou shalt put nothing thereto nor take ought there from then can it not be denied but that our litle is sufficient and their more is too much 11 As these considerations droue Christ into the wildernes so the Euangelist setteth foorth some motiues which caused so great a multitude to followe him Some were drawne with the strangenesse of those things which hee wrought and taught amongst them To whom in these our daies wee may compare them which haunt sermons for no other end but either vainly to hearken for newes or curiously to note what order eloquence they may finde in the preacher or maliciouslie to take holde of things spoken when they may by froward construction be drawen to an offensiue meaning These labour to their owne losse they are vnprofitable followers 12 Others followed Christ for bread Such followers our times haue brought out to many So long as the Gospell can feede cherish and mainteine them they are willing and glad to be professors of it but when persecution commeth they shrink A great sort of halting and dissembling ministers doe now occupie roomes in the Church which in heart hate the Gospell yet for bread sake they are contented to goe in the same ranke with the followers of Christ Iesus But he knoweth their secret cogitations and will one day make them knowne vnto others what they are 13 Sundrie there were which followed for a desire which they had of bodilie health For Christ went about healing euerie maladie and euerie infirmitie in the people We see by daily experience that the bodie is more cared for than the soule the flesh than the spirite the carcase than the minde If the bodie be diseased we seeke phisicke and are willing to paie well for it to preserue the bodie from griefe and sickenesse who is not carefull but where is hee that studieth howe to auoide the diseases of the soule that mortifieth the noysome desires of the fleshe that keepeth his heart in awe and subiection that dieteth himselfe according to the rules which that blessed Physitian hath prescribed Chrysostome findeth great fault with parents in this behalfe who if their children fall sicke in bodie weepe and lament but if they be neuer so grieuously
vexed and tormented with sinne they make light or no account of it These men loue the bodies of their children as it seemeth better than their soules So this fraile carcase this bodie of claie is much made of To procure things good and comfortable for it we can be content to trauel sea and lande to be at any cost to endure any paines If health may be had though it be in a wildernesse it wil be sought 14 The last and best sort of followers were such as followed Christ to heare his word This is that trauell that chiefly is required of a Christian. Seeke first the kingdome of God This declareth vs to be his children to be his flocke He that is of God heareth Gods woord My sheepe heare my voice Thus you see the causes why Christ was followed of the multitude 15 Christ was quietly set with his Disciples in the mount when this people approched The hill as S. Chrysostome noteth may represent the kingdome of God the inheritors whereof are alwaies delighted to clime vpward to seeke those thinges that be aboue to take pleasure in nothing but that which is from heauen Christ and his Disciples being on the top of the mount were quiet And the Church of Christ euen in the wildernesse in the midst of affliction doth in him finde rest In the worlde saith our Sauiour You shall haue distresse but haue confidence I haue ouercome the world these things haue I spoken vnto you that in me you may haue peace Vpon this assurance Peter being in prison and in cheines slept quietly the Prophet Dauid in the midst of persecution tooke sweete and pleasaunt rest I lay mee downe saith he and sleepe in peace for thou Lord onely makest mee dwell in safetie 16 Nowe followeth the miracle which our Sauiour wrought by occasion of the multitude which was there assembled together with him and his Disciples In this there are many things conteined very woorthie of your good and godlie considerations which for orders sake we may reduce to the persons of the people of the Disciples and of Christ. Concerning the people the words of the Euangelist S. Iohn are these Sequebatur eum turba multa A great troupe followed him But S. Marke more liuely expressing the great zeale and desire they had to the Gospel of Christ saith They ran flocking thither on foote out of all Cities In whom we haue first to obserue that they were not of the Princes nor of the priests which came vnto him but turba the common and vulgar sort Num quis ex principihus Doth any of the rulers or of the Pharisees beleeue in him Not many noble not many wise saith the Apostle The noble and mightie loued libertie of life and feared mutations The wise were circumspect and sawe that the Gospel would marre their workes Onely the people they which were basely accounted of in the worlde they which knewe not the Lawe came vnto Christ. 17 The second thing to be obserued in them is their cheerefulnesse their alacritie their zeale and courage They came not dragging their legges after them they ran vnto Christ. Neither care of things at home nor feare of daunger abroade neither the length of the waie thither nor the lacke of lodging and foode there neither the feare of the Priests the Scribes and Pharisees the knowne and professed enemies of Christ nor any other by respect in the worlde was able to staie them Shall not this people rise vp in iudgement thinke you against vs whom God hath by so many blessings allured and as it were entised to come vnto him and notwithstanding findeth vs so farre from this cheerefull and gladsome following of him that when hee doth followe and seeke after vs we turne our backes and flie from him Could wee doe thus if indeede we did beleeue that he hath the woords of eternall life and that as many as continue with him to the end they shall be saued 18 The thirde thing especially to be noted in this people is that their willingnesse to come was not greater then their readynesse to obey him vnto whom they came For when they were willed to sit downe vpon the grasse although they were so many and had so little in sight before them for what were fiue loaues and two fishes to relieue almost fiue thowsand men neuerthelesse they made no aunswere they gainsaide not but without contradiction did that which they were commaunded Elisha prophecied in the name of the Lorde and promised plentie to the people of Samaria being grieuouslie afflicted with extreeme famine But a Prince in great fauour and authoritie with the king replyed against the man of God Though the Lorde woulde make windowes in the heauen could this thing come to passe The same Prophet sent one to Naman the Syrian with this message Goe and washe thee in Iordan seuen times and thy fleshe shall come vnto thee againe and thou shalt bee cleansed But Naman replied Are not Abanah Pharphar riuers of Damascus better than all the waters of Israell may I not wash me in them and be clensed This is the manner of the wise ones in the worlde when they should obey God they reason and dispute the matter with him as if he knewe not what hee did But the faith of this people did subdue their witte and reason to the sacred worde and will of God 19 This may suffice concerning the people Of the Disciples of our Sauiour it is said that They made the people to sit downe Hence Ministers Pastours and Teachers may learne that sith God hath ordained them as the meanes whereby the elect must be brought to the obedience of Christ Iesus they cannot approue their fidelitie vnto him except they bee carefull to fulfill the worke for which he hath appointed them I say vnto you that many shall come from the East and West and shall sit downe with Abraham Isaac and Iacob in the kingdome of heauen In this sense that wee might also sit downe Christ hath established those high and holie functions before mentioned Wherefore S. Paule professeth that for this cause he receiued grace and Apostleship that obedience might be yeelded to the faith amongst all nations For this he laboured as in other places so in Corinth also both deliuering them the doctrine which he had receiued and executing amongest them the discipline which their grieuous abuses did deserue 20 The seconde thing to be noted in the Disciples is that they neither purloyned nor chaunged the peoples foode They receiued bread and they deliuered bread But there are deceiptfull workmen which haue entred by a postern gate into the Church which preache and deliuer not what they haue receiued at the handes of Christ but what Antichrist hath deliuered them For sweete breade they giue soure leauen for wheat darnell for wholsome meate venimous poyson for the word of God the doctrines of man for
truth fables and vaine fancies for the holie communion popish priuate blasphemous Masses for the seruing of God the worshipping of Images for fishe and loaues stones and serpentes 21 The next thing to bee noted in the Disciples is that when the people had eaten sufficiente they gathered vppe the broaken meate which remained By which frugalitie of theirs we are admonished to vse the creatures of God in such sort as they may be most beneficiall vnto manie after wee haue taken for our owne contentment then to reserue for the vse of others that nothing be wasted which may profitablie be saued God loueth a bountifull but not a wastfull hande For although it be true which the Prophet saith that God hath giuen the earth to the sonnes of men although it be graunted that we may rule ouer the fishe of the sea and ouer the foule of heauen and ouer euerie beast that moueth vpon the earth vsing them not onely for our necessitie but also for our honest delight and conuenient pleasure yet we must remember that this power is rather a stewardship than a Lordship ouer the creatures of God in earth We stand accountable for them we may not lauish them out as we list 22 That which hitherto we haue obserued in these Disciples is both allowed of God and written that it might be followed of vs. Another thing there is which we may not let passe although it be a blemish and a staine in them For when Christ spake vnto them of feeding the multitude one aunswered two hundred peniworth of breade is not sufficient for them that euerie man may take a morsell Another said here is a boy that hath fiue loaues and two fishes but what are they among so many The like we reade of the seruaunt of Elisha in the seconde of Kinges There came a man from Baalshalisha which brought the Prophet twentie barely loaues and certaine corne The Prophet willed it to be giuen to the people that they might eate But his seruaunte answered how should I set this before a hundred men Wel giue it saith the Prophet that they may eate For thus saith the Lord They shall eate and there shall remaine Then he set it before them they did eate left ouer This mistrust of the power and wonderfull prouidence of Almightie God is the very roote of all euill It cause◠the rich man spoken of in the Gospell to hoorde vp corne for many yeares it caused Ananias to withdraw a portion of the price of his fearme it caused Vespasian to lay an vnsauory imposition vppon the people to paie monie be it spoken with good manner for their very vrine it caused Iudas to betraie his Maister it caused the Israelites when their citie was besieged to make ther bellies their cofers to eate their goulde 23. But let vs now come from the people and disciples to the person of Christ himselfe In whom the first thing which we haue to obserue is his diligence in his office He preached in the cities in the temple in the villages in the ships on the shoares in the wildernes he neither spared any labour nor omitted any occasion to doe good 24 The next thing is his pitifull affection towardes the people vpon whom when he looked his hart was touched with compassion First because they were as sheepe without a Pastor The high priestes the learned Scribes the holie Pharisies were their appointed Pastors to gouerne them to teach them and to lead them by example of honest life Neuerthelesse Christ saith they were sine pastore without a sheepehard The glorious couetous deceiptfull ceremoniall and superstitious rable of popish guides God doth not account amongst the guides of his people neither are they to be called Pastours but deuourers of the flock Pastors which cannot or will not teach are no pastours Because thou hast refused knowledge saith God by his Prophet Ose I will also refuse thee that thou shalt be no priest to me Vndoubtedly their heartes are not touched with any pitie or compassion at all ouer Gods people who for their owne priuate gaine and commoditie thrust such pastours vpon the Church that when the Church hath them it may iustly be saide it hath no pastours This is the plague the poison the bane of al religiō it threatneth ruine to christianity 25 The other cause that moued Christ to compassion was that the people which had taried long with him were hungrie in the wildernes coulde get no meate By this we learne of our maister Christ to beare pytifull heartes towardes our needie naked and hungrie breathren For whosoeuer hath this worldes good and seeth his brother haue neede and shutteth vp his compassion towardes him how dwelleth the loue of God in such a man In former times here hath beene prouision for the poore some as yet remaineth but it is for the most part much abused I shall therefore exhorte you the citizens of London in Christ Iesus require it at your handes that such order may be taken that the poore may bee prouided for and not suffred to crie in your streetes If you that be magistrates will take the thing in hande you shall finde I doubt not a great sorte of liberall heartes and helping handes hereunto The suffring of the people to begge breadeth great inconuenience both in the Church and common wealth I do therefore in Christ againe require you to take due cōsideration hereof that this thing may bee reformed So shall you well please God ease and profit your selues and giue a good example to the rest of the realme God cannot bee vnmindfull of so good a worke It wilbe an hundred times requited both in this life and in the world to come 26 The last thing which I purpose to note in the person of our Sauiour is that he did not onely conceiue an inwarde pitie and therewith content him selfe but his compassion brake out and declared it selfe in workes of mercie He sent them not awaie as the maner is loaden with wordes and emptie of almes he fed them largelie and gaue them till euerie man had enough But first he gaue thanks to his heauenly father leauing vs an example thankfully to acknowledge that whatsoeuer wee receiue it commeth from him as from the principall authour whatsoeuer we bestow he is the Lord owner of it In deuiding the bread hee vse the ministerie of his disciples as the stewardes and disposers of his riches Be it therefore corporall or spirituall sustenaunce which we receiue although it bee at the handes of men yet is it vnto vs as if Christ him selfe in his owne person did reach out his hand from heauen to feede vs. They are therefore too nice which refuse their meate because they like not the man by whom it is brought and set before them They by whose meanes wee are made partakers of good thinges are vnto vs the Angels of God and ought accordinglie