that were without Law to the weake he became as weake that hee Act. 20. 20. 1 Thess 2. 11. might winne the weake and became all things to all men that by all meanes he might winne some Hee taught publikely and privately throughout every house exhorting and comforting every one as a Father doth his Children Even so the Minister of God must be carefull of every soule that he may bee partaker of this common salvation 2. Secondly hee calleth it common salvation because it is not prepared for some few as the Arke was for the Deluge For 1 Pet. 3. 20. Exod. 19. Iohn 4. 22. then but a few that is Eight persons were saved in the water Neither because it appertaineth to one nation Kingdome or people as the Law of Moses to the Israelites Salvation is of the Iewes But the doctrine of the Gospell is offered unto all Christ sent his Apostles in orbem non in urbem Goe into the world preach the Gospell to every creature Erunt illi testes usque ad fines terrae they were As Salvation is common so the Church is Catholike his witnesses to the end of the world With these places Augustine refuted the Donatists which tyed the Church to a small corner of the world Africa Thirdly hee calleth it common Salvation because we are all saved by one common meanes that is by Christ Salvation is of the Lord. Ego sum ego sum praeter me non est Salvator I am I Psal 13. Esa 43. am and besides mee there is no Saviour no true Saviour All other come short Vana salus hominum Mans salvation is in vaine And therefore the Elders the Angels and all Creatures give this glory to Christ Salvation is of him that sitteth on the Throne and of the Lambe and they all together cry Amen For these causes it is called common Salvation In this sense as Salvation is called common so the Church is Apoc. 4. called common or Catholike in three respects First it is not tyed to any time as the time of the Law but it endureth ever Mar. 16. Secondly it is not tyed to any place as to Iuda For in Iuda was God knowne and his name was great in Israel but to the whole Psal 76. 1. Act. 10. 34. world For God is no accepter of persons but in every nation hee that feareth him and worketh righteousnesse is accepted And the true worshippers worship him in spirit truth As Christ said unto the woman Iohn 4. 23. Thirdly it is not tyed to any persons as to the seed of Abraham but to all that beleeve There is neither Iew nor Gentile there is neither bond nor free there is neither male nor female but wee Gal. 3. 28. are all one in Christ Iesus In these respects Salvation is called catholicke or common and so is the Church It is worth your noting that Iude sayth hee gave all diligence to write For Iude speaketh here of necessity of writing For Hosius Eckius Pigheus Andradius say that Christ commanded the Apostles to preach not to write and that their writings are subesse non praeesse fidei nostrae that Scripturae sequuntur Ecclesiam the Scriptures follow the Church and not the Church the Scriptures But Saint Peter saith he wrote that the truth might remaine to posterity his words are these I thinke it meete so long as I am in 2 Pet. 1. 13 14 15. this tabernacle to stirre you up by putting you in remembrance seeing I know the time is at hand that I must lay downe my tabernacle c. I will endevour therefore alwayes that yee also may bee able to have remembrance of these things after my departing So Saint Iohn wrote to all Little children I write unto you that your sinnes are forgiven you And againe I write unto you Fathers because yee have known him 1 Iohn 2. 12 13 14. that is from the beginning And againe I write to you young men because yee have overcome the world I write unto you babes c. Chrysostome writing upon these words They that are in Iewry let them flie to the Math. 24. 16. mountaines Id est qui in fide sunt conferant se ad Scripturas that is quoth Chrysost Let them that are in the Faith flie unto the Scriptures I love not allegories but it is true that Chrysostome said Traditions the meanes of propagating errors though not upon that occasion S. Iohn saw three Gospells written viz. Mathew Marke and Luke and approved them S. Peter allowed of Pauls Epistles and commended them unto the Churches yea the Prophets nayled their prophecies in writing 2 Pet. 3. 15. Hebr. 2. 2. Hebr. 2. 1. 2 Tim. 3. 16. to the doores of the Temple which the Priests reserved in the Sanctuarie lest the things should runne out that they received by word of mouth Paul at the end of his life saith of all the bookes of the New Testament that they were able to make the man of God perfect Traditions and unwritten verities or vanities have beene ever the Pandora-boxes full of poyson the Troiane horse out of which all enemies have issued that cursed water of Styx that killeth them that taste it These traditions the Holy Ghost sometime likeneth to sowre grapes which cannot bee eaten Sometime to broken cisternes that can hold no water Sometime to sand wherupon Esa 5. Jer. 2. Mat. 7. Esa 64. to build it is not lawfull Sometime to a menstruous cloth And sometime to things more base and vile than any of these On the Contrarie the written Word is called a Fountaine waters of life a Rocke whereupon the Church is built the sword of the Esa 55. Apoc. 21. Luk 6. Ephes 8. Ephes 2. 19. spirit Basis Ecclesiae the foundation of the Church But what will not hungrie dogs eate and Papists receive all the spite of the Papists is against the written word that they may give us poyson for meate sowre Leaven for sweet dough thornes for grapes thistles for figges the Legend for the Gospell mens traditions Mat. 15. 9. Gen. 8. for Gods precepts the cup of the whore of Babylon for the cup of the Lord. But as Noahs dove found no rest but in the Arke so our consciences find no rest but in the Word Augustine calleth the scriptures the Lords Scales which shew Quid grave quid leve what August contra Donat. is heavie and what is light Vbi non appendimus quid volumus sed omnia per trutinam Domini whereby wee apprehend not what we would but all things according to the ballance of the Sanctuary of the Lord himselfe And he saith unto them often Auferantur de medio chartae nostrae procedat in medium codex Dei take away from among us our owne writings and let the booke of God be brought forth Non audiamus Haec dico haec dicis sed hoc dicit Dominus Let us not heare these words This
life and grace and thy visitation hath preserved my spirit For these causes ought wee to keep our selves in the Love of God These among many are reasons most sorcible to keep our selves in the Love of God How our God is to bee loved our Saviour sheweth Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart with all thy soule and with all thy mind But first wee must love Mat. 22 37. him with all our heart that is with all our affections joying and delighting in none but in him For he loves not God that delights in any thing more than God as Augustine saith truly Minus te amat qui aliquid tecum amat quod non propter te amat He loves thee not who loves any thing with thee which he loves Aug. not for thee 2. Wee must love him with all our soule induring rather a separation of the soule from the body than that our soule should bee separated from God who is the Soule of the soule and the comsort both of soule and body How we are to love God 3. Wee must love him with all our mind so that our cogitations must bee fixed upon him and ruled by him his Word should direct our reason our reason rule our wills that so wee may say with the Apostle wee live not but God doth live within us Our chiefest care should bee how to performe this duty to God how to love him as the Church said I am full of love I am sicke of love All owe this duty to God but few pay it or if they Cant. 5. 8. doe it is with crackt money not currant in Gods Exchequer for our love to God is cold yea plaine dead and that appeareth in the breach of the first Table wee are bankrupts both in piety towards God and charity towards men we love the world and our pleasures more than God wee worshippe not God in Spirit and in truth wee sweare and blaspheme the name of God wee prophane and pollute the Sabbaths of God wee come seldome to the house of God how can wee say that we love God The Love of God standeth in the keeping of his Commandements So saith our Saviour Hee that hath my Commandements Iohn 14. 21 23 24. and keepeth them is he that loves mee And againe If any man love me hee will keep my Word and my Father will love him and wee will come unto him and dwell with him And againe Hee that loveth mee not keepeth not my words c. Hee speaketh positively and privatively The blessed and undivided Trinity will dwell with that man who loveth God truely but till wee serve God in holinesse and righteousnesse till wee pray diligently heare his Word attentively receive the Sacraments penitently keepe the Sabbaths religiously use his name reverently let us be ashamed to say that wee love God Nam Regnum Dei non est in verbis 1 Cor. 4. 20. sed in virtute The Kingdome of God is not in word but in power Many Christians are mutilated and lame either they want an eare and cannot heare God or they want a tongue and cannot praise God or they want an heart and cannot love God These Atheists are a disgrace to Religion a Moth in the garment of the Church Monsters in nature Divels in shape of men as Christ said of Iudas hollow trees not holy trees these men are reprived till the last Sessions a gibbet is built in hell for them and all the gold in the world cannot purchase their pardon this is durus sermo sed verus sermo an hard saying but a true saying Wee talke of the love of men and say Charity is waxed cold but as touching the Love of God there is altum silentium not a word wee are like unslaked lime hot in the water cold in the Sunne as the stone of Thracia which burneth in the river but is quenched with hot oyle wee are pennie-wise and pound-foolish like the Pharises which did tithe Mint and Rew and all manner Luk. 11. 42. of hearbes and passed over judgement and the Love of God And yet if we loved God an ell where wee love him an inch it were but due debt O it is a most honorable thing to bee a lover of God! it was one of Abrahams greatest titles of honour to bee called the friend The hope of eternall life makes Gods precepts seeme easy of God it is a most blessed thing to bee a lover of God They that love the Lord shall be as the Sunne that riseth in his strength And it is a most miserable thing not to love God for Maranatha Anathema to them that love not the Lord Iesus Therefore as Paul prayed for the Thessalonians that God would guide their hearts in his Love and this Iudg. 5. 31. 1 Cor. 16. ought to bee thy prayer and my prayer and all our prayers that God would guide our hearts in his Love And God guide our hearts in his Love evermore THE FOVRE AND THIRTIETH SERMON VERS XXI Looking for the mercy of our Lord Iesus Christ unto eternall Life The hope of eternall life makes Gods precepts seem easie YEE have heard before that Iude gave the Saints many precepts now to mitigate the rigour of those precepts hee biddeth them looke for eternall life as if hee should say If it bee grievous to remember the words of the Lord to heare it to get faith to pray to keep themselves in the Love of God if nature if flesh and bloud wil hardly take out these lessons yet comfort your selves with the hope of eternall life there will bee an end of all troubles Salomon hath told you this long agoe saying Surely there is an end and thy hope shall not bee cut off Prov. 23. 18. all teares shall bee wiped from your eyes and yee shall bee filled with perfect joy after this iron world there is a golden world Esa 25. 8. there is a better life prepared for them in Gods house there are many dwellings as Christ said In my Fathers house there bee many mansions the time of refreshing will come as Peter said Act. Iohn 14. 1. 3. 19. And this is all joy and there is no joy but this I will give you Luk. 10. 19 20. power saith our Saviour to his disciples to treade on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall hurt you Neverthelesse in this rejoice not but rather rejoice because your names are written in Heaven Let not the rich man rejoice in his riches nor the Hope of reward makes all labours light wiseman in his wisdom nor the strong man in his strength as Ieremy speaketh but let us rejoice that our names are written in heaven Shal the souldier in the wars the mariner in the boistrous Ier. 9. waves the husbandman in the cloddy lands the prentice in a hard service undergoe great paines in hope and shal not we For what
with God God is no accepter of persons but in every nation hee that feareth him and worketh righteousnes Act. 10. 34 35. is accepted with him Many will glory of their alliance and kindred and albeit they haue neither Learning nor Living nor Wisedome nor Civility nor Honesty nor Piety at all yet if they can fetch their Pedigree from some Noble or Worshipfull House they boast thereof and hold themselves worthy of reverence and honour The Iewes gloried that Abraham was their Father but what gained they by it When Christ told them Vos estis ex patre Iohn 8. 44. diabolo You are of your Father the devill and his workes yee doe 2 Reg. 21. 2. Reg. 20. David had Absolom Salomon Rehoboham Amon a wicked Father had Iosiah to his sonne a good man and Ezekiah a good father had Manasses to his sonne a vile man Ismaell had Isaac to his brother so had Esau Iacob Caine had Abell Absolom had Salomon But Caine was a Vagabond Ismaell a persecutor Absolom a Rebell Esau a Reprobate 'T is follie in men to glory in Gen. 4. Gal. 4. stocke or kindred If they will glory let them glorie in this that they are the servants of Iesus Christ for outward titles without inward vertues availe nothing for what shall it profit Not to glory in Alliance and Kindred us to bee intituled Christians and yet live as prophanely as Infidels to be called the Church of God and yet in conversation to resemble the Synagogue of Satan to bee counted the children of God and yet spend our times like the sonnes of Belial to bee reputed the servants of Christ Iesus and serve the World the Flesh and the Divell to descend of noble godly Parents and yet degenerate from their noble godly wayes God is not pleased with shadowes but with substance not with outward titles but with truth in the inward parts If then Psal 51. thou wilt boast of thine honourable Kindred labour strive endevour that thou mayest glory and say That God is thy Father the Church thy Mother Christ Iesus thy elder Brother that is most High Holy Honourable Kindred Thus much for the Person writing his Name his Calling his Kindred THE SECOND SERMON VERS I. To them which are Called and Sanctified c. Vocation the beginning of Salvation I Am now come to the persons to whom he wrote this Epistle and they are described three wayes 1 By their Calling 2 By their Sanctification 3 By their Preservation But first they are described by their calling To them that are called saith hee The beginning of our Salvation is that wee are first called of God wee come not of our selves God calleth us Nemo venit ad Christum nisi pater traxerit Iohn 6. 44. No man commeth unto Christ except the Father draw him Et ista attractio est nostra vocatio per Evangelium Spiritum sanctum and this drawing is our calling by the Gospel and holy Spirit Caro sanguis non revelat c. Flesh and Bloud doe not reveale these Mat. 16. 17. things but God our Father by our calling in the Gospel As the Sheepheard with his whistle calleth his sheepe as the two silver trumpets called Israel to warre as the master-Bee calleth the Num. 10. whole hyve together with his humming So God calleth his Church running from him by his Word and Spirit Wisedome saith Salomon cryeth without shee uttereth her voyce in Prov. 1. 20. the streets shee calleth in the high street among the prease in the entrings of the gates and uttereth her words in the City And againe he saith Wisedome hath built her house and hewen out her seven Pillars she hath killed her Victuals drawne her Wine and prepared her Table she hath Prov. 9. 1 c. sent forth her Maidens and cryeth in the highest places of the City saying Whoso is simple let him come hither and to him that is destitute of Wisedome shee saith Come and eate of my Meat and drinke of the Christ profitable to none but to them that are called Wine that I have drawne Wisedome there is Christ Iesus who calleth us by his Gospel The lowest staffe or step of Salvation is Vocation the highest is Glorification For whom hee predestinated them also hee called and whom hee called them also hee justified and whom he justified Rom. 8. 30. them also hee glorified I speake in respect of men For with God praescientia his prescience is the first step of salvation For those which he knew before he predestinated Wee runne from God but he Rom. 8. 29. calleth us and cryeth after us as the Canaanite did after Christ hee seeketh us being lost hee calleth us being deafe he lighteneth Luke 4. 18. 1 Sam. 26. 14. us being blind hee freeth us being slaves hee healeth us being lame he quickeneth us being dead he awaketh us by his Gospell as David did Abner with his showting The top the roote the foundation and the roofe the beginning increasing and finishing of our salvation is of God Coepit perficiet Hee hath begunne and he will finish it So saith the Apostle Hee that hath begun this good worke in you will performe it untill the day of Iesus Christ Paul arrogateth nothing to himselfe but placeth himselfe in the ranck of the Wicked till God called him his words are We are by nature the children of wrath as well as others And to the Ephes 2. 3. Gal. 1. 13. 15. Galathians hee writeth thus Yee have heard of my conversation in times past in the Iewish Religion how that I persecuted the Church of God extreamely and wasted it But when it had pleased God which had separated me from my mothers womb called me by his Grace c. The Galathians were Idolaters knew not God til God called them The Ephesians were darkenesse but being called they were lux Gal. 4. 8. Ephes 5. 9. in Domino Light in the Lord The same is said of the Corinthians But what doe I light a candle at noone-day or adde legges 1 Cor. 12. to the Dromedarie who runneth most swiftly or powre water into the Sea which overfloweth or prove a knowne truth received of all men But to proceede Christ is not profitable but unto them that are called otherwise hee is as a Medicine not taken as a Plaister not applied as Meate not eaten as Light to them that are in a dungeon Hereupon saith Paul Wee preach Christ crucified to the Iewes a stumbling-blocke to the Gentiles foolishnesse but to them that are called of God the Wisedome of God and the Power of God Persius wept when he saw a Toade that hee had not given thanks to God who made him not a Toade but a Man Socrates thanked Nature that had made him a reasonable creature and not a Beast and among them a Man and not a Woman and among men an Athenian not a Thebane Philip rejoyced that
that they know him it is evident Col. 3. 1 2 3. by the testimony of the Apostle Behold thou art called a Iew and restest in the Law and gloriest in God but that they did not know him truly the same Apostle also testifieth saying The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you yea the Rom. 2. 17. 24. Divels knew him and his death but yet idly historically onely not unto Salvation And many so beleeve historically no further than the very Divels themselves doe For sinne still raigneth Iam. 2. 19. in them notwithstanding the commandement of the Apostle Let not sinne raigne in your mortall bodies that yee should obey it in the lusts thereof Rom. 6. 12. But to returne to our Papists who have opened their mouth against Heaven whose tongue walketh through the world for pride is to them as a chaine they are found to be notable hereticks denying not in words but in truth the Lord Iesus First they make him no Iesus by ascribing purging of sin to the bloud of Martyrs which they call Thesaurum Ecclesiae the treasure of the Church out of which they grant their Indulgences They make him no Christ by denying his Offices first they make no Priest by erecting a daily unbloudy sacrifice they rob him of his intercession by praying to Saints They make him no Prophet by ascribing so much to their traditions by giving the Pope authority over the Gospell to coyne Lawes as they list by bringing in with Cyrill the Monke Evangelium aeternum an everlasting Gospel which say they abolisheth the Gospell of the Father in the time of the Law and the Gospell of Christ in the time of Grace They make him no King by giving all power to the Pope to save to destroy to pull out of Heaven to pluck down to Hell Such a Cerberus is this of Rome not with three heads but with three crownes boasting De plenitudine potestatis of the fulnesse of power whose comming is by the working of Sathan with all power and signes and lying wonders and in all deceivablenesse of unrighteousnesse among them that perish This hath Sathan parted his Kingdome that the Turke in the 2 Thess 2. 9. East should deny Christs Natures and the Pope in the West his Offices and Merits For the former Romane Empire stood on Injustice the latter of Impiety the first injuring Men the other God yet not so much 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 against God as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 against Christ The Papists alleage the words of the Apostle Hereby shall yee know the spirit of God every spirit that confesseth that Iesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God but by the Spirit there is meant the doctrine not of men the doctrine is of God though not the man They quote also another place of Iohn Whosoever Christ alone paid the whole ransome of our Redemption beleeveth that Iesus is Christ is borne of God but Saint Iohn speaketh not of a bare confession but of a right beleefe for the Divels confessed Christ To conclude they hold not the foundation with us For other 1 Iohn 5. 1. Luke 4. 1 Cor. 3. 11. Gal. 5. 2. foundation can no man lay than that which is laid which is Christ Iesus For if the Galathians joyning Circumcision with Christ overthrew all for so saith the Apostle If yee circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing The Papists joyning workes with faith nature with Grace the Law with the Gospell the Sacrifice with the Sacrament Moses with Christ must needs overthrow all for whole Christ or no Christ Totus Christus aut nullus Christus Hee payd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Ransome and either hee paid all or not a 1 Tit. 2. Act. 4. penny Non est aliud nomen there is no other name given unto men whereby they shall bee saved save onely by the name of Iesus One compareth Christ to a man that purchaseth a Lease with his owne money and lets it to his successors to hold it by a Pepper kernell or a Rose leafe Christ hath paid for our Salvation For we are redeemed not with corruptible things as Silver and Gold c. But with the precious bloud of Christ as of a Lambe undefiled all our 1 Pet. 1. 18 19. workes are but as a pepper kernell yea as nothing For when we have done all those things that are commanded us wee may say that wee are unprofitable servants we have done that which was our duties to do Luke 17. 10. If the fathers of these men had never sinned yet could they not doe greater injury to the Church of God than to beget such sonnes or monsters rather as Tully said of Catiline Ecce ecclesiam apostaticam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non Catholicam utinam Deus Nestorem excitaret qui lites inter nos illos componeret Behold a Church Apostolicall and strife-stirring not Catholike I would God were pleased to raise some Nestor up to compose these jarres betweene us and them But to leave this note that Christ here is called our Lord which he is two wayes Iure creationis Iure redemptionis First By right of Creation for by him God made the World Hebr. 1. 2. Secondly By the right of Redemption for God so loved the world that he gave his onely begotten Sonne to save the World Hereupon Iohn 3. 16. 1 Cor. 6. 20. saith Paul Yee are bought with a price Now redeeming is either by price and paying or by power and force Christ hath done both hee gave a price to God And gave himselfe a ransome for all 1 Tim. 2. 6. men Hee came by water and bloud not by water onely but by water 1 Iohn 5. and bloud In water is signified washing by bloud Redemption Secondly by his Power he redeemeth and hath taken us from the Divell So saith the Author to the Hebrewes Hee hath delivered Hebr. 2. us from death and him that hath the Lordship of death And Saint Iohn saith that Hee saw a great battell in Heaven Micbael and his Divers effusions of Christs bloud Angels fought against the Dragon and the Dragon fought and his Angels but prevailed not neither was their place any more found in Heaven It was a greater matter to Christ to redeeme the World Apoc. 12. 7. than to make the World Hee made it in six dayes but he was thirtie and three yeeres in redeeming it hee made all with a word yea with a breath By the word of the Lord were the Heavens made and the hoast of them by the breath of his mouth For the letter Psal 33. 6. ◠He in the Hebrew is but a breath But hee redeemed it with a great price not with silver and gold but with bloud not with bloud of Buls Goats but with his own precious Bloud 1 Pet. 1. 18. Gold and silver are but red earth and white earth which the error of
things which yee heare and have not heard them Luke 10. 23 24. But to proceed if it bee a sinne to raile in ignorance how execrable is it when it is in knowledge then it is a double sinne as in Iulian the Apostata who said of the Scriptures 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He knew the Scriptures hee had read the Scriptures but he despised them and therfore the Church never pray'd for him but against him So Chrysostome speaking of certain Hereticks called Anomaies saith Hanc arborem haereseos nec Paulus plantavit nec Apollo rigavit nec Deus auxit neither have Paul Chrys planted this tree of heresie nor Apollo watered it nor God encreased it sed plantavit superbia rigavit invidia but Pride planted it A shame for a Christian to bee ignorant of Christianity and Envy watered it they sinned in knowledge not in ignorance they said that they knew God as well as God knew himselfe And as these Anomaies went to farre one way so did the Sceptickes another way they doubted of all things Num Chrisippus homo esset an formica whether Chrisippus were a man or a pismire whether snow is white or blacke For Satan is ever in his contraries All Arrianisme came from pride in knowledge not ignorance alone Arrius seeing Alexander preferred before him denied 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christ the consubstantiality against his own conscience and his end was accordingly for as he was a disputing being provoked to the stoole in exonerating nature hee poured out all his bowels and so hee dyed These men had need say Pone ostium labiis set a doore before my lips The Pharisees also knew Christ yet railed on him they called him Fabri filium the Carpenters Sonne a man of new learning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psal 141. a drunkard a worker by the Divell a deceiver therefore they were farre from mercy and many sinned In spiritum sauctum against the holy Ghost Lastly the Divell sinned thus for it could not be ignorance they being by creation Angels of light Mat. 13. Mar. 2. Mat. 12. Iohn 7. he fell upon mere envy in knowledge whereupon Billius in his Anthologiâ maketh the comparison betweene him and Christ Ille voluit esse supra Angelum Hee would be above an Angell Sed hic infra hominem but Christ beneath a man and therefore he became a scorne of men yea the very outcast of all people Ille coelum dedignatus est he disdained Heaven but Christ disdained not to walke on the earth Ille omnibus hominibus invidit hee envied all men and would have them to perish but Christ Loved 1 Tim. 2. 4. all and would have all to be saved but this malice of Satan could not be in ignorance but in knowledge But to returne most men raile in ignorance they are like unto Herpasta Socrates shee foole that having lost her eyes did not beleeve that shee was blind but thought the house to be darke So we are blind and yet will not see it it is nothing to name the tenne Commandements the Lords prayer the twelve Articles of faith the two Sacraments but to understand them We raile on Catechising for that wee understood it not Acts 8. 30. I say to thee as Philip said to the Eunuch when he heard him read the Prophecie of Esaias Vnderstandest thou what thou readest Even so understandest thou what thou prayest beleevest receivest Christianus sine scientia est sicut navis sine remis A Christian without knowledge is like a ship withovt sailes rudder ancker cable c. or like a bird without wings or like a tree without Iohn 3. 19 rootes or a purse without mony This is the condemnation of the World that men love darkenesse more than light and why so their deedes are evill They shall one day cry out in Hell Wee have erred from the way of truth the light of righteousnesse hath not shined unto us the Sunne of understanding rose not up upon us Wee have wearied our Ignorance the cause of distruction selves in the way of wickednesse and destruction and wee have gone through dangerous wayes but wee have not knowne the way of the Lord. Men are not ignorant for want of teaching but for want of learning Wisd 5. 6 7. 13. wee will not learne there wee shall say Assoone as we were borne wee beganne to draw an end and have shewed no token of Vertue but are consumed in our owne wickednesse If wee should live so long as Methnsalah who lived nine hundred sixty nine yeeres it may be we would have more knowledge for the World but no more for God we have sold our selves with Ahab to doe wickedly the dayes will come that we shall say as Iacob said Surely Gen. 5. ca. 28. 16 the Lord was in this place and I was not aware The Lord was here but I was not aware of it hee spake to me and I heard him not hee offered his grace to me and I regarded it not his Sunne shined and I beheld it not And now it is night and I cannot walke death commeth and I cannot worke their bones shall lie downe in the graves full of ignorance blindnesse poperie Iohn 12. Qualis enim vita finis ita For as thy life is so is thy death Thy bones are full of the sinne of thy youth and it shall lie downe with thee in the Dust And Paul is peremptory namely That God will render Iob 20. 11. 2 Thess 1. 8. vengeance unto them that doe not know him The wicked seeing the elect in Heaven shall say to God as Esau said to Isaac Hast thou but one blessing my Father blesse me even me also my Father But it will be too late their blessing shall be turned into a cursing Nay Iude chargeth them further that they abused themselves in that they knew not like the Doctors of Ephesus of whom Paul reporteth thus They would be Doctors of the Law and yet understand 1 Tim. 1. 7. not what they speake neither whereof they affirme And also in that they knew For saith Iude Whatsoever things they know naturally as beasts which are without reason in those things they corrupt themselves so that every way they are vile and miserable as Apoc. 3. 17. Some things they knew naturally as beasts that know sweet from sowre good from evill meat from poyson The wicked know 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the formall things but not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 2. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the mysteries in Christ Hereupon saith Paul We speake the Wisedome of God in a mysterie even the hid Wisedome whereof 1 Cor. 2. 14. the wicked have no saving understanding The naturall man perceiveth not the things of the spirit of God for they are foolishnesse unto him neither can hee know them because they are not spiritually discerned They savor not the things that are of God as Christ said to Peter Come behind
sanctity and holinesse then hypocrites as drie clouds make shewes of raine corrupt trees a shew of fruite wandring starres of light so they of religion They have a shew of holinesse saith the Apostle but inwardly they denie the power of it outwardly 2 Tim. 3. 5. they professe to know God but inwardly in their workes they doe deny him being abominable disobedient and unto every good Tit. 1. 16. Mat. 7. 21. worke reprobate They cry Lord Lord but they doe not the will of the Lord they say The Lord liveth yet they sweare to deceive Herod will make a great bragge of loving and worshipping of Christ Goe your wayes and search diligently for the Child and when yee Mat. 2. have found him bring me word that I may come and worship him Iezabel will proclaime a solemne feast the Herodians will speake 1 Reg. 21. 9. Christ faire Good master thou art true and teachest the way of God truly The adversaries of Iudah and Benjamin will pretend to worship God wee will build with you wee will sacrifice with you Simon Mat. 22. Magus will offer money to the Apostles that on whomsoever he God will reward the hypocrite as hee is not as hee sheweth lay his hands hee may receive the Holy Ghost and Saul will say that he hath done all that God commandeth and Iudas will come to Christ with a kisse and say Haile Master But Herods purpose was to kill Christ Iezabels to get away Naboths Act. 8. 1 Sam. 13. Mat. 26. vineyard the Herodians drift was to tempt and intrappe Christ the adversaries of Iuda Benjamin to hinder the worke of God to spie out their libertie Simon Magus to make gaine of the Holy Ghost Iudas to betray Christ for none will weep faster then the Crocodile and as did Ismael none will give a fairer Ier. 41. 6. 2. Cor. 11. kisse then a Iudas and no Divell is so dangerous as the white Divell as hee that changeth himselfe into an Angell of light but such trees without fruit such welles without water such clouds without raine such lampes without oyle such starres without light such eares without corne such lampes without oyle as they live not the life of the righteous so shall they not dye the death of the righteous Therefore brethren let us not bee like silver white in shew and yet makes blacke strikes and lines nor like the Vintner that delivers good wine to his guests and drinkes the lees himselfe For though wee can talke holily and speake religiously yet Not Mat. 7. 21. every one that saith Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdome of Heaven but he that doth the will of God which is in Heaven It was wittily observed of one that God in forming man first frames the heart but the Painter in portraying a man first deciphers the face so the hypocrite he is all in shew nothing in heart his heart is with Venus or Bacchus or Mammon his face his countenance only with God It is written of the foxe that hee faines himselfe dead when hee comes among birds or poultery but when hee sees them come neere unto him hee suddenly preyes on them So the hypocrite as one dead unto the world and a man mortified converseth amongst the harmelesse untill he getteth some occasion of calumniating biting and devouring this is Iohn Baptists generation of Vipers that inwardly nourish poison Mat. 3. 7. but outwardly hisse forth a kind of zeale Salomon speaketh of a generation that is pure in their owne eyes and yet are not washed Pro. 30. 12. from their filthines these are the generation of hypocrites they professe well and make a shew of religion but expresse it not like the figge-tree that bare leaves but no fruite The profession Mar. 11. of many is as the travell of the mountaines we have two faces with Ianus one to looke forward another to looke backward we have two hands with Ioab one to embrace withall another 2 Sam. 3. to stabbe withall we have two tongues with Iudas one to salute Christ another to betray Christ we have two hearts with Israel Mat. 25. Psal 78. one for God another for the world The frogge Borax hath two livers one for meate another for poison The Arrians had two faiths one for the truth and Nicene Councell another for the Many Christians in shew few in deed truth time they had fidem annuam ac fidem menstruam a yeerely faith a monethly faith The Israelites cried Haile King Salomō haile King Adonia Apuleius Parret said Ave Auguste Imperator Ave Antoni haile Augustus the Emperor haile Anthony And many hypocrites 1 Reg. 1. have said Haile Mary Haile Elizabeth and to gaine the world we would say Ave Papa Haile Pope Ave Turca Haile Turke haile Divell We make profession of any religion under heaven In Aegypt all the dust was turned into lice all the waters into blood and in England not all but most religion is turned into Exod. 7. hypocrisy Wee can say The Lord liveth yet we sweare to deceive Coelum aedificamus voce vita autem Infernum We build heaven with our voice but hell with our life wee are Angels in words but Divels in deeds like the Peacocke we are Angels for our feathers Divels for our feet and Hell for our voice Augustine would not have the Churches of Africa excommunicated for drunkenesse for then no professor had beene left in Africa and if all hypocrites temporizers and formalists in England were excommunicated few or no Professors would be left in England The good man the sincere professor should then have iust cause to cry out with the Prophet Woe is mee for I am as the summer gathering and as the grapes of the vintage there is no cluster to eate Mich. 7. 1. my soule desired the first ripe fruits There bee many starres in heaven but few give light as the Sunne and Moone doe many many birds in the ayre but few Phoenix's as in Arabia many stones in the earth but few precious stones as the Diamond many trees in a forrest yet few Cedars as in Libanus many Israelites but few true Israelites like Nathaniel who had no guile Rara avis in terris nigró que simillima Cygno A rare bird and comparable to a blacke Iohn 1. 47. Swan Hypocrisy in a Christian is as rottennesse in an apple For as rottennesse beginnes at the heart of the apple so doth hypocrisie beginne at the heart of a Christian and as rottennesse corrupteth the favour the odour the colour the vigour of the whole apple so doth hypocrisie the soule of a man it taketh from it the dignity of grace the odour of a good name and all goodnesse whatsoever For as rottennesse marres the apple so doth hypocrisie the Christian Foris Cato intus Nero a Cato without and a Nero within is monstrous One saith Canis mortuus minùs faetet in naribus hominum
will not rectified Deest enim intellectus voluntatis consiliariâ—s for understanding is wanting which is the Counseller of the soule The naturall man perceiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishnesse 1 Cor. 2. 14. unto him neither can hee know them because they are spiritually discerned at spiritus non natura sed gratia the spirit is not of nature but of grace So said Christ of the whole world O righteous Father Iohn 17. 25. the World hath not knowne thee but I have knowne thee and these have knowne c. therefore hee prayed for his Apostles and in them for us all I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the World but that thou keepe them from evill And againe Sanctifie them Iohn 17. 15 17. with thy truth by nature wee are the children of wrath by grace we are Gods adopted Sonnes Hereupon saith the Apostle In times past we walked according to the course of the World and after the spirit that ruleth in the Ayre and that now worketh in the children of disobedience among whome also wee had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh and fulfilling the will of the flesh and of the minde Ephes 2. 3 4 5. and were by nature the children of Wrath nor by creation but by Adams transgression and so by birth as well as others But God which is rich in mercy through the great love wherewith he loved us when wee were dead by sinnes hath quickned us together in Christ by whose grace we are saved There are but two things in us either nature or grace either flesh or spirit Now in the state of nature al are accursed in the state of grace we are blessed For by grace wee beleeve and faith Act. 18. 27. Iohn 1. 12 13. maketh us the sonnes of God for as many as received him to them he gave power to be the Sonnes of God even to them that beleeve in his name which are borne not of bloud nor of the will of the flesh nor of the No true good in us by nature till regenerate will of man but of God Where he distinguisheth of two births the one naturall and the other spirituall a birth from men a birth from God a generation by nature a regeneration by the Spirit as he doth againe to Nicodemus Except a man be borne of Water and of the Spirit hee cannot enter the Kingdome of God and againe Yee Cap. 3. 5 6. Psal 2. 7. must be borne againe there is no naturall Sonne of God but the Lord Iesus we are all the adopted Sonnes of God in Christ and by Christ by his meanes we are raised up together and made to sit together Ephes 2. 6. Rom. 8. 17. in Heavenly places For saith the Apostle If we be children wee are also heires even the heires of God and heires annexed with Christ c. we bring nothing from our mothers wombe but death and damnation every one must say with David I was shapen in wickednes Psal 51. 5. and in sinne hath my mother conceived me Quis dabit mundum de immundo Who can bring a cleane thing out of filthinesse What Iob 14. 4. can be had from the egge of a Cockatrice but a Serpent From a spider but venome from the Taxus tree in India but poyson from the bitter poole Exanthus but bitter water Wee have not Math. 7. Lambes from Woolves no grapes from thornes nor figges from thistles Well said the Schooleman Quòd dona naturalia in Adamo sunt corrupta supernaturalia ablata ille ut radix nos ut rami radix est venenata ergo rami Our naturall gifts in Adam were corrupt our supernaturall taken away he as the roote we as the boughes the root is poisoned therefore the boughes like the waters of Mara untill Moses put in the sweet wood untill God Exod. 17. infuse grace for by grace we are saved and where sinne abounded there grace abounded much more that as sinne had raigned unto death so Ephes 2. 8. Rom. 5. 20 21. might grace also raigne by righteousnesse unto eternall life The Pelagians held that sinne came by imitation not by propagation but Paul confuteth them saying As by one man sinne entred into the world and death by sinne and so death went over all men forasmuch as Rom. 5. 12. all men have sinned c. These men quoth Iude walke as Naturall men that is in all sinne and vanity as is said of the Gentiles That they walked in the vanity of their minde having their cogitations darkened being strangers from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the hardnesse of their hearts So Paul reasoned with the Corinths Are yee not carnall For whereas there is among you envying and strife and divisions 1 Cor. 3. 3. are yee not carnall and walke as men even so reason wee with you When malice envy rancour whoredome covetousnesse pride raigneth among us are wee not naturall men For God would cut downe these sinnes as a sickle If yee live after the flesh yee shal dye but if yee through the Spirit mortify the deeds of the flesh Rom. 8. 13. yee shall live Yea many naturall men goe before us in brideling their lusts and affections Aristides being by the unjust Law of Ostracisme in Athens banished and being asked what hee would to Athens answered Se nihil velle quin tantam rerum prosperitatem ut illis nunquam in mentem veniat Aristides hee desired nothing We should strive to exceed naturall men but so much prosperity to Athens as that they might never remember Aristides The like is said of Phocion condemned to drink hemlocke the juce whereof through extreme cold is poison Being asked what he would unto his Sons said Nothing sed ne hujus unquam iniuriae velint meminisse but that they should never remeÌ„ber this injury Socrates by Philosophie brideled whoredome in himselfe and Telamon by it bare the death of his sonne patiently saying Sciebam me genuisse mortalem I did know that I begat a mortall man I take no pleasure in these prophane examples save only to ashame us as Paul did the Athenians by Aratus and the Cretians by Epimenides and the Corinths by Menander Let our righteousnesse exceed theirs else there is no roome for us in Gods Kingdome our life must have all vertues in it such a life led the Christians they could be touched with no open crime or notorious fault but that they sung Psalmes to Iesus before day as Plinius secundus writeth of them to the Emperour our Saviour Christ told his disciples that their justice must exceed the justice Mat. 5. 20. of the Scribes and Pharises and so must wee tell all Christians that they must exceed Turkes and Pagans or else they shall never see the goodnesse of the Lord in the Land of the liuing yet it is reported