may soon deceive himself and think in his own phantasie that he by Faith knoweth God loveth him feareth him and belongeth to him when in very deed he doth nothing less For the tryal of all these things is a very Godly and Christian Life He that feeleth his Heart set to seek God's Honour and studieth to know the Will and Commandments of God and to frame himself thereunto and leadeth not his Life after the desire of his own flesh to serve the Devil by Sin but setteth his Mind to serve God for his own sake and for his sake also to love all his Neighbors whether they be Friends or Adversaries doing good to every Man as opportunity serveth and willingly hurting no Man Such a Man may well rejoyce in God perceiving by the trade of his Life that he unfeignedly hath the right knowledge of God a lively Faith a stedfast Hope a true and unfeigned Love and Fear of God But he that casteth away the yoke of God's Commandments from his Neck and giveth himself to live without true Repentance after his own sensual Mind and Pleasure not regarding to know God's Word and much less to live according thereunto Such a Man clearly deceiveth himself and seeth not his own Heart if he thinketh that he either knoweth God loveth him feareth him or trusteth in him Some peradventure fancy in themselves that they belong to God although they live in Sin and so they come to the Church and shew themselves as God's dear Children But St. John saith plainly If we say 1 John 1. that we have any company with God and walk in darkness we do lye Others do vainly think that they know and love God although they pass not of the Commandments But St. John saith clearly 1 John 2. He that saith I know God and keepeth not his Commandments he is a lyar Some falsly persuade themselves that they love God when they hate their Neighbors But St. John saith manifestly If any man say I love God 1 John 4. 1 John 2. and yet hateth his Brother he is a lyar He that saith that he is in the light and hateth his brother he is still in darkness He that loveth his brother dwelleth in the light but he that hateth his brother is in darkness and walketh in darkness and knowe h not whither he goeth For darkness hath blinded h s eyes And moreover he saith 1 John 3. Hereby we manif stly know the Children of God from the Children of the Devil He that doth not righteously is not the child of God nor he that hateth his Brother Deceive not yourselves therefore thinking that you have Faith in God or that you love God or do trust in him or do fear him when you live in sin For then your ungodly and sinful Life declareth the contrary whatsoever you say or think It pertaineth to a Christian Man to have this true Christian Faith and to try himself whether he hath it or no and to know what belongeth to it and how it doth work in him It is not the World that we can trust to the World and all that is therein is but vanity It is God that must be our Defence and Protection against all temptation of Wickedness and Sin Errors Superstition Idolatry and all Evil. If all the World were on our side and God against us What could the World avail us Therefore let us set our whole Faith and Trust in God and neither the World the Devil nor all the power of them shall prevail against us Let us therefore good Christian Poople try and examine our Faith what it is Let us not flatter our selves but look upon our Works and so judge of our Faith what it is Christ himself speaketh of this matter Luke 6. and saith The tree is known by the fruit Therefore let us do good Works and thereby declare our Faith to be the lively Christian Faith Let us by such Virtues as ought to spring out of Faith shew our election to be sure and stable as St. Peter teacheth 2 Pet. 1. endeavour yourselves to make your calling and election certain by good Works And also he saith minister or declare in your faith virtue in virtue knowledge in knowledge temperance in temperance patience in patience godliness in godliness brotherly charity in brotherly charity love So shall we shew indeed that we have the very lively Christian Faith and may so both certifie our Conscience the better that we be in the right Faith and also by these means confirm other Men. If these fruits do not follow we do but mock with God deceive ourselves and also other Men. Well may we bear the name of Christian Men but we do lack the true Faith that doth belong thereunto for the true Faith doth ever bring forth good Works as St. James saith James 2. Shew me thy faith by thy deeds Thy Deeds and Works must be an open Testimonial of thy Faith Otherwise thy Faith being without good VVorks is but the Devils Faith the Faith of the wicked a phantasie of Faith and not a true Christian Faith And like as the Devils and evil People be nothing the better for their counterfeit Faith but it is unto them the more cause of damnation So they that be Christians and have received knowledge of God and of Christ's Merits and yet of a set purpose do live idly without good VVorks thinking the name of a naked Faith to be either sufficient for them or else setting their Minds upon vain pleasures of this VVorld do live in Sin without Repentance not uttering the fruits that do belong to such an high Profession upon such presumptious Persons and wilful Sinners must needs remain the great vengeance of God and eternal punishment in Hell prepared for the unjust and wicked Livers Therefore as you profess the name of Christ good Christian People let no such phantasie and imagination of Faith at any time beguile you But be sure of your Faith try it by your living look upon the fruits that come of it mark the increase of Love and Charity by it towards God and your Neighbor and so shall you perceive it to be a true lively Faith If you feel and perceive such a Faith in you rejoyce in it and be diligent to maintain it and keep it still in you let it be daily increasing and more and more by well-working and so shall you be sure that you shall please God by this Faith and at the length as other faithful Men have done before so shall you when his Will is come to him and receive the end and final reward of your Faith as St. Peter nameth it the salvation of your Souls 1 Pet. 1. The which God Grant us that hath promised the same unto his Faithful to whom be all Honour and Glory World without end Amen A SERMON Of Good Works annexed unto Faith IN the last Sermon was declared unto you what the lively and true Faith of a
Christian Man is that it causeth not a Man to be idle but to be occupied in bringing forth good Works No good Works can be done without Faith John 15. as occasion serveth Now by God's Grace shall be declared the Second thing that before was noted of Faith that without it can no good Work be done accepted and pleasant unto God For as a branch cannot bear fruit of itself saith our Saviour Christ except it abide in the Vine so cannot you except you abide in me I am the Vine and you are the branches he that abideth in me and I in him he bringeth forth much fruit for without me you can do nothing And St. Paul proveth that the Eunuch had Faith because he pleased God Heb. 11. For without Faith saith he it is not possible to please God And again to the Romans he saith Rom. 14. Whatsoever work is done without faith it is sin Faith giveth life to the Soul and they be as much dead to God that lack Faith as they be to the World whose Bodies lack Souls Without Faith all that is done of us is but dead before God although the work seem never so gay and glorious before Man Even as the Picture graven or painted is but a dead representation of the thing itself and is without life or any manner of moving So be the Works of all unfaithful Persons before God They do appear to be lively Works and indeed they be but dead not availing to the everlasting life They be but shadows and shews of lively and good things and not good and lively things indeed For true Faith doth give life to the Works and out of such Faith come good Works that be very good Works indeed and without Faith no Work is good before God as saith St. Augustine In Praefat. Psal 13. We must set no good Works before Faith nor think that before Faith a Man may do any good VVorks for such VVorks although they seem unto Men to be praise-worthy yet indeed they be but vain and not allowed before God They be as the Course of an Horse that runneth out of the way which taketh great labour but to no purpose Let no Man therefore saith he reckon upon his good Works before his Faith VVhereas Faith was not good VVorks were not The intent saith he maketh good VVorks but Faith must guide and order the intent of Man And Christ saith Matth. 6. In Praefat. Psal 31. If thine eye be naught thy whole body is full of darkness The Eye doth signifie the intent saith St. Augustine wherewith a Man doth a thing So that he which doth not his good VVorks with a godly intent and a true Faith that worketh by Love the whole Body beside that is to say all the whole number of his Works is dark and there is no light in them For good Deeds be not measured by the Facts themselves and so discerned from Vices but by the ends and intents for the which they were done If a Heathen Man cloath the Naked feed the Hungry and do such other like Works yet because he doth them not in Faith for the Honour and Love of God they be but dead vain and fruitless Works to him Faith it is that doth commend the Work to God For as St. Augustine saith whether thou wilt or no that Work that cometh not of Faith is naught Where the Faith of Christ is not the foundation there is no good Work what Building soever we make There is one Work in the which be all good Works that is Faith which worketh by Charity If thou have it thou hast the ground of all good Works For the virtues of Strength Wisdom Temperance and Justice be all referred unto this same Faith Without this Faith we have not them but only the names and shadows of them as St. Augustine saith All the life of them that lack the true Faith is Sin and nothing is Good without him that is the Author of Goodness Where he is not there is but feigned Virtue although it be in the best VVorks And St. Augustine De vocatione Gentium lib. cap. 3. declaring this Verse of the Psalm The Turtle hath found a nest where she may keep her young Birds saith that Jews Hereticks and Pagans do good VVorks they cloath the Naked feed the Poor and do other good works of Mercy But because they be not done in the true Faith therefore the Birds be lost But if they remain in Faith then Faith is the nest and safeguard of their Birds that is to say safeguard of their good VVorks that the reward of them be not utterly lost And this matter which St. Augustine at large in many Books disputeth St. Ambrose concludeth in few words saying He that by nature would withstand Vice either by natural VVill or Reason he doth in vain garnish the time of this Life and attaineth not the very true Virtues For without the worshipping of the true God that which seemeth to be Virtue is Vice And yet most plainly to this purpose writeth St. Chrysostome in this wife In Sermone de side lege spiritu Sancto You shall find many which have not the true Faith that be not of the flock of Christ and yet as it appeareth they flourish in good works of Mercy You shall find them full of Pity Compassion and given to Justice and yet for all that they have no fruit of their VVorks because the chief VVork lacketh For when the Jews asked of Christ what they should do to work good VVorks He answer'd John 6. This is the work of God to believe in him whom he sent So that he called Faith the VVork of God And as soon as a Man hath Faith anon he shall flourish in good VVorks For Faith of itself is full of good Works and nothing is good without Faith And for a similitude he saith That they which glister and shine in good Works without Faith in God be like dead Men which have goodly and precious Tombs and yet it availeth them nothing Faith may not be naked without good Works for then it is no true Faith And when it is adjoyned to Works yet it is above the Works For as Men that be very Men indeed first have life and after be nourished So must our Faith in Christ go before and after be nourished with good Works And life may be without nourishment but nourishment cannot be without life A Man must needs be nourished by good Works but first he must have Faith He that doth good Deeds yet without Faith he hath no Life I can shew a Man that by Faith without Works lived and came to Heaven But without Faith never Man had Life The Thief that was hanged when Christ suffer'd did Believe only and the most merciful God justified him And because no Man shall say a-again that he lacked time to do good Works for else he would have done them Truth it is and I will
Publican before the Proud Holy and Glorious Pharisee He calleth himself a Physician but not to them that be whole Luke 18. Matth. 9. but to them that be sick and have need of his Salve for their Sore He teacheth us in our Prayers to acknowledge ourselves Sinners and to ask Righteousness and deliverance from all Evils at our Heavenly Father's hand He declareth that the sins of our own Hearts do defile our ownselves He teacheth Matth. 12. that an evil Word or Thought deserveth Condemnation affirming that We shall give account for every idle word Matth. 15. He saith He came not to save but the sheep that were utterly lost and cast away Therefore few of the Proud Just Learned Wise Perfect and Holy Pharisees were saved by him because they justified themselves by their counterfeit Holiness before Men. Wherefore good People let us beware of such Hypocrisie Vain-glory and Justifying of ourselves The Second Part of the SERMON of the Misery of Man FOrasmuch as the true knowledge of ourselves is very necessary to come to the right knowledge of God ye have heard in the last Reading how Humbly all good Men always have thought of themselves and so to think and judge of themselves are taught of God their Creator by his Holy Word For of ourselves we be Crab-trees that can bring forth no Apples We be of ourselves of such Earth as can but bring forth Weeds Nettles Brambles Briers Cockle and Darnel Our Fruits be declared in the 5th Chapter to the Galatians Gal. 5. We have neither Faith Charity Hope Patience Chastity nor any thing else that good is but of God and therefore these Virtues be called there The fruits of the Holy Ghost and not the fruits of Man Let us therefore acknowledge ourselves before God as we be indeed miserable and wretched Sinners And let us earnestly Repent and Humble ourselves heartily and cry to God for Mercy Let us all Confess with Mouth and Heart that we be full of Imperfections Let us know our own Works of what imperfection they be and then we shall not stand foolishly and arrogantly in our own Conceits nor challenge any part of Justification by our Merits or Works For truly there be imperfections in our best Works We do not love God so much as we are bound to do with all our Heart Mind and Power We do not fear God so much as we ought to do We do not pray to God but with great and many imperfections We Give Forgive Believe Live and Hope imperfectly We Speak Think and Do impefectly We Fight against the Devil the World and the Flesh imperfectly Let us therefore not be ashamed to confess plainly our state of Imperfection Yea let us not be ashamed to confess Imperfection even in all our best Works Let none of us be ashamed to say with the Holy St. Peter Luke 5. Psal 106. I am a sinful man Let us say with the Holy Prophet David We have sinned with our fathers we have done amiss and dealt wickedly Let us all make open Confession with the Prodigal Son to our Father and say with him We have sinned against Heaven Luke 14. and before thee O Father we are not worthy to be called thy sons Let us all say with Holy Baruch Baruch 2. O Lord our God to us is worthily ascribed shame and confusion and to thee righteousness We have sinned we have done wickedly we have behaved ourselves ungodlily in all thy Righteousness Let us all say with the Holy Prophet Daniel Dan. 9. O Lord righteousness belongeth to thee unto us belongeth confusion We have sinned we have been naughty we have offended we have fled from thee we have gone back from all thy Precepts and Judgments So we learn of all good Men in Holy Scriptures to Humble our selves and to Exalt Extol Praise Magnifie and Glorifie God Thus we have heard how evil we be of ourselves how of ourselves and by ourselves we have no Goodness Help or Salvation but contrariwise Sin Damnation and Death everlasting Which if we deeply weigh and consider we shall the better understand the great Mercy of God and how our Salvation cometh only by Christ 2 Cor. 3. For in ourselves as of ourselves we find nothing whereby we may be delivered from this miserable Captivity into the which we are cast through the envy of the Devil by breaking of God's Commandment in our first Parent Adam Psal 50. Ephes 2. We are all become unclean but we all are not able to cleanse ourselves nor make one another of us clean We are by nature the children of God's wrath but we are notable to make ourselves the Children and Inheritors of God's Glory We are Sheep that run astray 1 Pet. 2. but we cannot of our own power come again to the Sheepfold so great is our Imperfection and Weakness In ourselves therefore may we not glory which of ourselves are nothing but sinful neither may we rejoyce in any Works that we do all which be so Imperfect and Impure that they are not able to stand before the Righteous Judgment Seat of God as the Holy Prophet David saith Psal 143. Enter not into judgment with thy Servant O Lord for no man that liveth shall be found righteous in thy sight To God therefore must we flee or else shall we never find Peace Rest and Quietness of Conscience in our Hearts For he is the father of mercies and God of all consolation He is the Lord with whom is plenteous redemption 2 Cor. 1. He is the God which of his own mercy saveth us Psal 130. and setteth out his Charity and exceeding Love towards us in that of his own voluntary Goodness when we were Perishing he Saved us and provided an everlasting Kingdom for us And all these Heavenly Treasures are given us not for our own Deserts Merits or good Deeds which of ourselves we have none but of his mere Mercy freely And for whose sake Truly for Jesus Christ's sake that pure and undefiled Lamb of God He is that dearly beloved Son for whose sake God is fully pacified satisfied and set at One with Man He is the Lamb of God John 1. which taketh away the sins of the World of whom only it may be truly spoken that he did all things well 1 Pet. 2. and in his mouth was found no craft nor subtilty None but he alone may say The Prince of the World came and in me he hath nothing And he alone may also say Which of you shall reprove me of any fault John 8. He is the high and everlasting Priest Heb. 7. which hath offered himself once for all upon the Altar of the Cross and with that one oblation hath made perfect for evermore them that are sanctified 1 John 2. He is the alone Mediator between God and Man which paid our ransom to God with his own blood and with that hath he cleansed us
and thereby most plainly to express the Weakness of Man and the Goodness of God the great infirmity of ourselves and the Might and Power of God the imperfection of our own Works and the most abundant Grace of our Saviour Christ and therefore wholly to ascribe the merit and deserving of our Justification unto Christ only and his most precious Blood shedding This Faith the Holy Scripture teacheth us The profit of the Doctrine of Faith only justifieth is the strong Rock and Foundation of Christian Religion this Doctrine all old and antient Authors of Christ's Church do approve this Doctrine advanceth and setteth forth the true Glory of Christ and beateth down the Vain-glory of Man this whosoever denieth is not to be accounted for a Christian Man nor for a setter forth of Christ's Glory but for an adversary to Christ and his Gospel and for a setter forth of Mens Vain-glory. What they be that impugn the Doctrine of Faith only justifieth And although this Doctrine be never so true as it is most true indeed that we be justified freely without all merit of our own good Works as St. Paul doth express it and freely by this lively and perfect Faith in Christ only as the ancient Authors use to speak it yet this true Doctrine must be also truly understood and most plainly declared lest carnal Men should take unjustly occasion thereby to live carnally after the Appetite and Will of the World the Flesh and the Devil A declaration of this Doctrine of Faith without Works justifieth And because no Man should err by mistaking of this Doctrine I shall plainly and shortly so declare the right understanding of the same that no Man shall justly think that he may thereby take any occasion of carnal liberty to follow the desires of the flesh or that thereby any kind of sin shall be committed or any ungodly living the more used First you shall understand that in our Justification by Christ it is not all one thing the Office of God unto Man and the Office of Man unto God Justification is not the Office of Man but of God for Man cannot make himself Righteous by his own Works neither in part nor in the whole for that were the greatest arrogancy and presumption of Man that Antichrist could set up against God to affirm that a Man might by his own Works take away and purge his own sins and so justifie himself But Justification is the Office of God only Justification is the Office of God only and is not a thing which we render unto him but which we receive of him Not which we give to him but which we take of him by his free Mercy and by the only Merits of his most dearly beloved Son our only Redeemer Saviour and Justifier Jesus Christ So that the true understanding of this Doctrine We be justified freely by Faith without Works or that we be justified by Faith in Christ only is not that this our own act to Believe in Christ or this our Faith in Christ which is within us doth justifie us and deserve our Justification unto us for that were to count our selves to be justified by some Act or Virtue that is within ourselves but the true understanding and meaning thereof is that although we hear God's Word and believe it although we have Faith Hope Charity Repentance Dread and Fear of God within us and do never so many Works thereunto Yet we must renounce the merit of all our said Virtues of Faith Hope Charity and all other Virtues and good Deeds which we either have done shall do or can do as things that be far too weak and insufficient and imperfect to deserve remission of our Sins and our Justification and therefore we must trust only in God's Mercy and that Sacrifice which our High Priest and Saviour Christ Jesus the Son of God once offered for us upon the Cross to obtain thereby God's Grace and Remission as well of our original Sin in Baptism as of all actual Sin committed by us after our Baptism if we truly repent and turn unfeignedly to him again So that as St. John Baptist although he were never so Virtuous and Godly a Man yet in this matter of forgiving of Sin he did put the People from him and appointed them unto Christ saying thus unto them Behold yonder is the Lamb of God John 1. which taketh away the sins of the World Even so as Great and as Godly a Virtue as the lively Faith is yet it putteth us from itself and remitteth or appointeth us unto Christ for to have only by him remission of our Sins or Justification So that our Faith in Christ as it were saith unto us thus It is not I that taketh away your Sins but it is Christ only and to him only I send you for that purpose forsaking therein all your good Virtues Words Thoughts and Works and only putting your Trust in Christ The Third Part of the Sermon of Salvation IT hath been manifestly declared unto you that no Man can fulfil the Law of God and therefore by the Law all Men are condemned Whereupon it followeth necessarily that some other thing should be required for our Salvation than the Law And that is a true and a lively Faith in Christ bringing forth good Works and a Life according to God's Commandments And also you heard the ancient Authors Minds of this Saying Faith in Christ only justifieth Man so plainly declared that you see that the very true meaning of this Proposition or Saying We be justified by Faith in Christ only according to the meaning of the old ancient Authors is this VVe put our Faith in Christ that we be Justified by him only that we be Justified by God's free Mercy and the Merits of our Saviour Christ only and by no Virtue or good Works of our own that is in us or that we can be able to have or to do for to deserve the same Christ himself only being the cause meritorious thereof Here you perceive many words to be used to avoid contention in Words with them that delight to brawl about Words and also to shew the true meaning to avoid evil taking and misunderstanding and yet peradventure all will not serve with them that be contentious But Contenders will ever forge matters of Contention even when they have none occasion thereto Notwithstanding such be the less to be passed upon so that the rest may profit which will be more desirous to know the Truth than when it is plain enough to contend about it and with contentious and captious Cavillation to obscure and darken it Truth it is that our Works do not justifie us to speak properly of our Justification that is to say our Works do not merit or deserve remission of our Sins and make us of Unjust Just before God But God of his own Mercy through the only Merits and Deservings of his Son Jesus Christ doth justifie us Nevertheless because
that are strayed from thee This Experience was perceived to be true of that holy Prophet Jeremy Jer. 15. O Lord saith he whatsoever they be that forsake thee shall be confounded they that depart from thee shall be written in the Earth and soon forgotten It profiteth not good People to hear the goodness of God declared unto us if our hearts be not enflamed thereby to honor and thank him It profited not the Jews which were Gods elect People to hear much of God seeing that he was not received in their hearts by Faith nor thanked for his benefits bestowed upon them their unthankfulness was the cause of their destruction Let us eschew the manner of these before rehearsed and follow rather the Example of that holy Apostle St. Paul who when in a deep Meditation he did behold the marvellous Proceedings of Almighty God and considered his infinite goodness in the ordering of his Creatures he burst out into this conclusion Surely saith he of him Rom. 11. by him and in him be all things And this once pronounced he stuck not still at this Point but forthwith thereupon joyned to these words To him be glory and praise for ever Amen Upon the ground of which words of St. Paul good Audience I purpose to build my Exhortation of this day unto you Wherein I shall do my endeavour First To prove unto you that all good things come down unto us from above from the Father of Light Secondly That Jesus Christ his Son and our Saviour is the mean by whom we receive his liberal goodness Thirdly That in the power and vertue of the Holy Ghost we be made meet and able to receive his gifts and graces Which things distinctly and advisedly considered in our minds must needs compel us in most low reverence after our bounden Duty always to render him thanks again in some testification of our good hearts for his deserts unto us And that the entreating of this matter in hand may be to the glory of Almighty God Let us in one Faith and Charity call upon the Father of Mercy from whom cometh every good gift and every perfect gift by the mediation of his well-beloved Son our Saviour that we may be assisted with the presence of his Holy Spirit and profitably on both parts to demean our selves in speaking and hearkning to the Salvation of our Souls In the beginning of my speaking unto you good Christian People suppose not that I do take upon me to declare unto you the excellent Power or the incomparable Wisdom of Almighty God as though I would have you believe that it might be expressed unto you by words Nay it may not be thought that that thing may be comprehended by Mans words that is incomprehensible And too much arrogancy it were for Dust and Ashes to think that he can worthily decâ—are his Maker It passeth far the dark understanding and wisdom of a Mortal Man to speak sufficiently of that divine Majesty which the Angels cannot understand We shall therefore lay apart to speak of the profound and unsearchable Nature of Almighty God rather acknowledging our weakness than rashly to attempt what is above all Mans capacity to compass It shall better suffice us in low Humility to reverence and dread his Majesty which we cannot comprize than by over-much curious searching to be over-charged with the Glory We shall rather turn our whole Contemplation to answer a while his goodness towards us wherein we shall be much more profitably occupied and more may we be bold to search To consider the great Power he is of can but make us dread and fear To consider his high Wisdom might utterly discomfort our Frailty to have any thing to do with him but in consideration of his inestimable goodness we take good heart again to trust well unto him By his goodness we be assured to take him for our refuge our hope and comfort our merciful Father in all the course of our Lives His Power and Wisdom compelleth us to take him for God Omnipotent Invisible having Rule in Heaven and Earth having all things in his subjection and will have none in Council with him nor any to ask the reason of his doing Dan. 11. For he may do what liketh him and none can resist him For he worketh all things in his secret Judgment to his own pleasure Prov. 16. yea even the wicked to damnation saith Solomon By the reason of his Nature he is called in Scripture consuming Fire he is called a terrible and fearful God Heb. 11. of this behalf therefore we have no familiarity no access unto him but his goodness again tempereth the rigor of his High Power and maketh us bold and putteth us in hope that he will be conversant with us and easie unto us It is his goodness that moveth him to say in Scripture It is my delight to be with the Children of Men. It is his goodness that moveth him to call us unto him to offer us his Friendship and Presence It is his goodness that patiently suffereth our straying from him and suffereth us long to win us to Repentance It is of his goodness that we be created reasonable Creatures where else he might have made us brute Beasts Prov. 8. It was his Mercy to have us born among the number of Christian People and thereby in a much more nighness to Salvation where we might have been born if his goodness had not been among the Paynims clean void from God and the hope of Everlasting Life And what other thing doth his loving and gentle Voice spoken in his word where he calleth us to his Presence and Friendship but declare his goodness only without regard of our worthiness And what other thing doth stir him to call us to him when we be strayed from him to suffer us patiently to win us to Repentance but only his singular goodness no whit of our deserving Let them all come together that be now glorified in Heaven and let us hear what answer they will make in these Points before rehearsed whether their first Creation was in Gods goodness or of themselves Forsooth David would make answer for them all and say Know ye for surety even the Lord is God he hath made us and not we our selves If they were asked again who should be thanked for their Regeneration for their Justification and for their Salvation Whether their deserts or Gods goodness only Although in this Point every one confess sufficiently the truth of this matter in his own Person yet let David answer by the mouth of them all at this time who cannot chuse but say Not to us O Lord not to us but to thy Name give all the thanks for thy loving mercy and for thy truths sake If we should ask again from whence came their glorious Works and Deeds which they wrought in their lives wherewith God was so highly pleased and worshipped by them Let some other witness be brought in to testifie
Wife to learn this Vertue by that occasion Wherefore seeing many Men be far be hind the wisdom of this Man my Counsel is that first before all things a Man do his best endeavor to get him a good Wife endued with all Honesty and Vertue But if it so chance that he is deceived that he hath chosen such a Wife as is neither good nor tolerable then let the Husband follow this Philosopher and let him instruct his Wife in every condition and never lay these matters to sight For the Merchant-man except he be first at composition with his Factor to use his interfairs quietly he will neither stir his Ship to sail nor yet will lay hands upon his Merchandise Even so let us do all things that we may have the fellowship of our Wives which is the Factor of all our doings at home in great quiet and rest And by these means all things shall prosper quietly and so shall we pass through the dangers of the troublous Sea of this World For this state of life will be more Honorable and Comfortable than our Houses than Servants than Mony than Lands and Possessions than all things that can be told As all these with Sedition and Discord can never work us any comfort So shall all things turn to our Commodity and Pleasure if we draw this Yoke in one concord of Heart and Mind Whereupon do your best endeavor that after this sort ye use your Matrimony and so shall ye be armed on every side Ye have escaped the snares of the Devil and the unlawful lusts of the Flesh ye have the quietness of Conscience by this instruction of Matrimony ordained by God therefore use oft Prayer to him that he would be present by you that he would continue Concord and Charity betwixt you Do the best you can of your parts to Custom your selves to softness and meekness and bear well in worth such oversights as chance and thus shall your Conversation be most pleasant and comfortable And although which can no otherwise be some Adversities shall follow and otherwhiles now one discommodity now another shall appear yet in this common Trouble and Adversity lift up both your Hands unto Heaven call upon the help and assistance of God the Author of your Marriage and surely the promise of relief is at hand For Christ affirmeth in his Gospel Where two or three be gathered together in my Name and be agreed what matter soever they Pray for it shall be granted them of my Heavenly Father Why therefore shouldst thou be afraid of the danger where thou hast so ready a Promise and so nigh an Help Furthermore you must understand how necessary it is for Christian Folk to bear Christs Cross for else we shall never feel how comfortable Gods help is unto us Therefore give thanks to God for his great benefit in that ye have taken upon you this state of Wedlock and Pray ye instantly that Almighty God may luckily defend and maintain ye therein that neither ye be overcome with any Temptations nor with any Adversity But before all things take good heed that ye give no occasion to the Devil to let and hinder your Prayers by Discord and Dissention for there is no stronger defence and stay in all our life than is Prayer in the which we may call for the help of God and obtain it whereby we may win his Blessing his Grace his Defence and Protection so to continue therein to a better life to come Which grant us he that died for us all to whom be all Honor and Praise for ever and ever Amen AN HOMILY AGAINST IDLENESS FOrasmuch as Man being not born to Ease and Rest but to Labor and Travel is by corruption of Nature through sin so far degenerated and grown out of kind that he taketh Idleness to be no evil at all but rather a commendable thing seemly for those that be Wealthy and therefore is greedily imbraced of most part of Men as agreeable to their sensual affection and all Labor and Travel is diligently avoided as a thing Painful and Repugnant to the pleasure of the Flesh It is necessary to be declared unto you that by the Ordinance of God which he hath set in the Nature of Man every one ought in his Lawful Vocation and Calling to give himself to Labor and that Idleness being Repugnant to the same Ordinance is a grievous sin and also for the great inconveniences and mischiefs which spring thereof an intolerable Evil To the intent that when ye understand the same ye may diligently flee from it and on the other part earnestly apply your selves every Man in his Vocation to honest Labor and Business which as it is enjoyned unto Man by Gods appointment so it wanteth not his manifold Blessings and sundry Benefits Almighty God after that he had Created Man put him into Paradise that he might dress and keep it but when he had transgressed Gods Commandment Eating the Fruit of the Tree which was forbidden him Almighty God fort with did cast him out of Paradise into this woful Vail of Misery Gen. 3. enjoyning him to Labor the Ground that he was taken out of and to eat his Bread in the sweat of his Face all the days of his Life It is the appoinment and will of God that every Man during the time of this Mortal and Transitory life should give himself to such Honest and Godly Exercise and Labor and every one follow his own business and to walk uprightly in his own Calling Man saith Job is born to Labor Job 5. Eccles 7. And we are commanded by Jesus Sirach not to hate painful works neither Husbandry or other such Mysteries of Travel which the highest hath Created The Wise Man also exhorteth us Prov. 5. to drink the Waters of our own Cistern and of the Rivers that run out of the midst of our own Well meaning thereby that we should live of our own Labors and not devour the Labors of others 2 Thess 3. St. Paul hearing that among the Thessalonians there were certain that lived dissolutely and out of order that is to say which did not work but were busie-bodies not getting their own living with their own Travel but eating other Mens Bread of free-cost did command the said Thessalonians not only to withdraw themselves and abstain from the familiar company of such inordinate persons but also that if there were any such among them that would not Labor the same should not Eat nor have any Living at other Mens hands Which Doctrin of St. Paul no doubt is grounded upon the general Ordinance of God which is that every Man should Labor And therefore it is to be obeyed of all Men and no Man can justly exempt himself from the same But when it is said all Men should Labor it is not so streightly meant that all Men should use handy Labor But as there be divers sorts of Labors some of the Mind and some of the Body
earthly Prince doth come in his Regiment the greater Blessing of Gods mercy is he unto that Country and People over whom he Reigneth and the further and further that an earthly Prince doth swerve from the example of the heavenly Government the greater plague is he of Gods wrath and punishment by Gods justice unto that Country and People over whom God for their sins hath placed such a Prince and Governor For it is indeed evident both by the Scriptures and daily by experience that the maintainance of all Vertue and Godliness and consequently of the Wealth and Prosperity of a Kingdom and People doth stand and rest more in a wise and good Prince on the one part than in great multitudes of other Men being Subjects and on the contrary part the overthrow of all Vertue and Godliness and consequently the decay and utter ruin of a Realm and People doth grow and come more by an undiscreet and evil Governor than by many thousands of other Men being Subjects Eccles 10. d. 16. Prov. 16. 29. Eccles 10. Esa 32. a. Thus say the Scriptures Well is thee O thou Land saith the Preacher whose King is come of Nobles and whose Princes eat in due season for necessity and not for lust Again A Wise and Righteous King maketh his Realm and People wealthy And a Good Merciful and Gracious Prince is a shadow in Heat as a defence in Storms as Dew as sweet showers as fresh Water-springs in great droughts Again the Scriptures of undiscreet and evil Princes speak thus Eccles 10.16 Pro. 28. 29. Wo be to thee O thou band whose King is but a Child and whose Princes are early at their Banquets Again When the wicked do Reign then Men go to Ruin And again A foolish Prince destroyeth the People and a covetous King undoeth his Subjects Thus speak the Scriptures thus experince testifieth of good and evil Princes What shall Subjects do then shall they obey Valiant Stout Wise and Good Princes and Contemn Disobey and Rebel against Children being their Princes or against undiscreet and evil Governors God forbid For First What a perilous thing were it to commit unto the Subjects the Judgment which Prince is Wise and Godly and his Government good and which is otherwise as though the Foot must judge of the Head an enterprise very heinous and must needs breed Rebellion For who else be they that are most enclined to Rebellion but such haughty Spirits From whom springeth such foul ruin of Realms Is not Rebellion the greatest of all Mischiefs And who are most ready to the greatest of Mischiefs but the worst Men Rebels therefore the worst of all Subjects are most ready to Rebellion as being the worst of all Vices and farthest from the duty of a good Subject as on the contrary part the best Subjects are most firm and constant in obedience as in the special and peculiar vertue of good Subjects What an unworthy matter were it then to make the naughtiest Subjects and most inclined to Rebellion and all evil Judges over their Princes over their Government and over their Counsellors to determin which of them be good or tolerable and which be evil and so intolerable that they must needs be removed by Rebels being ever ready as the naughtiest Subjects soonest to Rebel against the best Princes specially if they be young in Age Women in Sex or gentle and courteous in Government as trusting by their wicked boldness easily to overthrow their weakness and gentleness or at the least so to fear the minds of such Princes that they may have impunity of their mischievous doings But whereas indeed a Rebel is worse than the worst Prince and Rebellion worse than the worst Government of the worst Prince that hitherto hath been both Rebels are unmeet Ministers and Rebellion an unfit and unwholsom Medicine to reform any small lacks in a Prince or to cure any little griefs in Government such lewd Remedies being far worse than any other maladies and disorders that can be in the Body of a Common-wealth But whatsoever the Prince be or his Government it is evident that for the most part those Princes whom some Subjects do think to be very godly and under whose Government they rejoyce to live some other Subjects do take the same to be evil and ungodly and do wish for a change If therefore all Subjects that mislike of their Prince should Rebel no Realm should ever be without Rebellion It were more meet that Rebels should hear the advice of wise Men and give place unto their Judgment and follow the example of obedient Subjects as reason is that they whose understanding is blinded with so evil an affection should give place to them that be of sound judgment and that the worst should give place to the better and so might Realms continue in long Obedience Peace and Quietness But what if the Prince be undiscreet and evil indeed and is also evident to all Mens eyes that he so is I ask again What if it be long of the wickedness of the Subjects that the Prince is undiscreet and evil Shall the Subjects both by their wickedness provoke God for their deserved punishment to give them an undiscreet or evil Prince and also rebel against him and withal against God who for the punishment of their sins did give them such a Prince Will you hear the Scriptures concerning this Point Job 34.10 Hos 13.6 God say the Holy Scriptures maketh a wicked Man to Reign for the sins of the People Again God giveth a Prince in his anger meaning an evil one and taketh away a Prince in his displeasure meaning especially when he taketh away a good Prince for the sins of the People as in our Memory he took away our good Josias King Edward in his young and good years for our wickedness And contrarily the Scriptures do teach 2 Par. 2.9 Prov. 16. That God giveth wisdom unto Princes and maketh a wise and good King to Reign over that People whom he loveth and who loveth him Again If the People obey God 1 Reg. 12. both they and their King shall prosper and be safe else both shall perish saith God by the mouth of Samuel Here you see that God placeth as well evil Princes as good and for what cause he doth both If we therefore will have a good Prince either to be given us or to continue now we have such a one let us by our obedience to God and to our Prince move God thereunto If we will have an evil Prince when God shall send such a one taken away and a good in his place let us take away our wickedness which provoketh God to place such a one over us and God will either displace him or of an evil Prince make him a good Prince so that we first will change our evil into good For will you hear the Scriptures Prov. 21. The heart of the Prince is in Gods hand which way soever it
Heirs for ever for whom they might purchase Livings and Lands as natural Parents do take care and pains and to be at great costs and charges and universally instead of all Quietness Joy and Felicity which do follow blessed Peace and due Obedience to bring in all troubles sorrow disquietness of Minds and Bodies and all Mischief and Calamity to turn all good Order upside down to bring all good Laws in contempt and to tread them under feet to oppress all Vertue and Honesty and all vertuous and honest Persons and to set all Vice and Wickedness and all vicious and wicked Men at liberty to work their wicked Wills which were before bridled by wholsom Laws to weaken to overthrow and to consume the strength of the Realm their natural Country as well by the spending and wasting of the Mony and Treasure of the Prince and Realm as by murdering the People of the same Prov. 14. their own Country-men who should defend the honor of their Prince and liberty of their Country against the Invasion of Foreign Enemies And so finally To make their Country thus by their mischief weakned ready to be a prey and spoil to all outward Enemies that will invade it to the utter and perpetual captivity slavery and destruction of all their Country-men their Children their Friends their Kinsfolk left alive whom by their wicked Rebellion they procure to be delivered into the hands of the Foreign Enemies as much as in them doth lie In Foreign Wars our Country-men in obtaining the Victory win the praise of valiantness yea and though they were overcome and slain yet win they an honest commendation in this World and die in a good Conscience for serving God their Prince and their Country and be Children of eternal Salvation But the Rebels how desperate and strong soever they be yet win they shame here in fighting against God their Prince and Country and therefore justly do fall headlong into Hell if they die and live in shame and fearful Conscience though they escape But commonly they be rewarded with shameful Deaths their Hands and Carcasses set upon Poles and hanged in Chains eaten with Kites and Crows judged unworthy the honor of Burial and so their Souls if they repent not as commonly they do not the Devil hurrieth them into Hell in the midst of their mischief For which dreadful execution St. Paul sheweth the cause of Obedience Rom. 13. not only for fear of Death but also in Conscience to God-ward for fear of eternal damnation in the World to come Wherefore good People let us as the Children of Obedience fear the dreadful Execution of God and live in quiet Obedience to be the Children of everlasting Salvation For as Heaven is the place of good obedient Subjects and Hell the Prison and Dungeon of Rebels against God and their Prince so is that Realm happy where most obedience of Subjects doth appear being the very Figure of Heaven and contrariwise where most Rebellions and Rebels be there is the express similitude of Hell and the Rebels themselves are the very Figures of Fiends and Devils and their Captain the ungracious pattern of Lucifer and Satan the Prince of darkness of whose Rebellion as they be Followers so shall they of his damnation in Hell undoubtedly be partakers and as undoubtedly Children of Peace the inheriters of Heaven with God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost To whom be all Honor and Glory for ever and ever Amen Thus have you heard the First Part of this Homily Now good People Let us pray The PRAYER as in that time it was Published O Most mighty God the Lord of Hosts the Governor of all Creatures the only giver of all Victories who alone art able to strengthen the Weak against the Mighty and to vanquish infinite multitudes of thine Enemies with the Countenance of a few of thy Servants calling upon thy Name and trusting in thee Defend O Lord thy Servant and our Governor under thee our Sovereign Lord the KING and all thy People committed to his charge O Lord withstand the cruelty of all those which be Common Enemies as well to the truth of thy Eternal Word as to their own natural Prince and Country and manifestly to this Crown and Realm of England which thou hast of thy Divine Providence assigned in these our days to the government of thy Servant our Sovereign and gracious KING O most merciful Father if it be thy holy Will make soft and tender the stony Hearts of all those that exalt themselves against thy Truth and seek either to trouble the quiet of this Realm of England or to oppress the Crown of the same and convert them to the knowledge of thy Son the only Saviour of the World Jesus Christ that we and they may joyntly glorifie thy mercies Lighten we beseech thee their ignorant Hearts to embrace the Truth of thy Word or else so abate their cruelty O most mighty Lord that this our Christian Realm with others that confess thy holy GOSPEL may obtain by thy aid and strength surety from all Enemies without shedding of Christian Blood whereby all they which be oppressed with their Tyranny may be relieved and they which be in fear of their cruelty may be comforted and finally that all Christian Realms and especially this Realm of England may by thy Defence and Protection continue in the Truth of the Gospel and enjoy perfect Peace Quietness and Security And that we for these thy Mercies joyntly all together with one consonant Heart and Voice may thankfully render to thee all Laud and Praise that we knit in one godly Concord and Unity amongst our selves may continually magnifie thy glorious Name who with thy Son our Saviour Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost art one Eternal Almighty and most merciful God To whom be all Laud and Praise World without end Amen The Fourth Part of the Homily against Disobedience and Wilful Rebellion FOr your further instruction good People to shew unto you how much Almighty God doth abhor Disobedience and Wilful Rebellion specially when Rebels advance themselves so high that they arm themselves with Weapon and stand in the Field to sight against God their Prince and their Country It shall not be out of the way to shew some Examples set out in Scriptures written for our eternal Erudition We may soon know good People how heinous an offence the treachery of Rebellion is if we call to remembrance the heavy wrath and dreadful indignation of Almighty God against Subjects as do only but inwardly grudge mutter and murmur against their Governors though their inward Treason so privily hatched in their Breasts come not to open Declaration of their doings as hard it is whom the Devil hath so far enticed against Gods Word to keep themselves there no he meaneth still to blow the Coal to kindle their Rebellious Hearts to flame into open Deeds if he be not with Grace speedily withstood Num. 11. a Num. 12.
People and Country where Rebellion was first begun that the Child then and yet unborn might rue and lament it with the final overthrow and shameful deaths of all Rebels set forth as well in the Histories of Foreign Nations as in the Chronicles of our own Country some thereof being yet in fresh Memory which if they were collected together would make many Volums and Books But on the contrary part all good luck success and prosperity that ever hapned unto any Rebels of any Age Time or Country may be contained in a very few lines or words Wherefore to conclude let all good Subjects considering how horrible a sin against God their Prince their Country and Country-men against all Gods and Mans Laws Rebellion is being indeed not one several sin but all sins against God and Man heaped together considering the mischievous life and deeds and the shameful ends and deaths of all Rebels hitherto and the pitiful undoing of their Wives Children and Families and disinheriting of their Heirs for ever and above all things considering the eternal damnation that is prepared for all impenitent Rebels in Hell with Satan the first Founder of Rebellion and Grand Captain of all Rebels let all good Subjects I say considering these things avoid and flee all Rebellion as the greatest of all mischiefs and embrace due obedience to God and our Prince as the greatest of all Vertues that we may both escape all Evils and Miseries that do follow Rebellion in this World and eternal damnation in the World to come and enjoy Peace Quietness and Security with all other Gods benefits and blessings which follow Obedience in this life and finally may enjoy the Kingdom of Heaven the peculiar place of all obedient Subjects to God and their Prince in the World to come which I beseech God the King of all Kings grant unto us for the obedience of his Son our Saviour Jesus Christ unto whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost one God and King immortal all honor service and obedience of all his Creatures is due for ever Amen Thus have you heard the Fourth Part of this Homily Now good People Let us pray The PRAYER as in that time it was Published O Most mighty God the Lord of Hosts the Governor of all Creatures the only giver of all Victories who alone art able to strengthen the Weak against the Mighty and to vanquish infinite multitudes of thine Enemies with the Countenance of a few of thy Servants calling upon thy Name and trusting in thee Defend O Lord thy Servant and our Governor under thee our Sovereign Lord the KING and all thy People committed to his charge O Lord withstand the cruelty of all those which be common Enemies as well to the truth of thy eternal Word as to their own natural Prince and Country and manifestly to this Crown and Realm of England which thou hast of thy Divine Providence assigned in these our days to the government of thy Servant our Sovereign and gracious KING O most merciful Father if it be thy holy Will make soft and tender the stony Hearts of all those that exalt themselves against thy Truth and seek either to trouble the quiet of this Realm of England or to oppress the Crown of the same and convert them to the knowledge of thy Son the only Saviour of the World Jesus Christ that we and they may joyntly glorifie thy mercies Lighten we beseech thee their ignorant Hearts to embrace the Truth of thy Word or else so abate their cruelty O most mighty Lord that this our Christian Realm with others that confess thy holy GOSPEL may obtain by thy aid and strength surety from all Enemies without shedding of Christian Blood whereby all they which be oppressed with their Tyranny may be relieved and they which be in fear of their cruelty may be comforted and finally that all Christian Realms and especially this Realm of England may by thy Defence and Protection continue in the Truth of the Gospel and enjoy perfect Peace Quietness and Security And that we for these thy Mercies joyntly all together with one consonant Heart and Voice may thankfully render to thee all Laud and Praise that we knit in one godly Concord and Unity amongst our selves may continually magnifie thy glorious Name who with thy Son our Saviour Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost art one Eternal Almighty and most merciful God To whom be all Laud and Praise World without end Amen The Fifth Part of the Homily against Disobedience and Wilful Rebellion WHereas after both Doctrin and examples of due Obedience of Subjects to their Princes I declared lastly unto you what an abominable sin against God and Man Rebellion is and what horrible Plagues Punishments and Deaths with Death everlasting finally doth hang over the heads of all Rebels it shall not be either impertinent or unprofitable now to declare who they be whom the Devil the first Author and Founder of Rebellion doth chiefly use to the stirring up of Subjects to Rebel against their lawful Princes that knowing them ye may flee them and their damnable suggestions avoid all Rebellion and escape the horrible plagues and dreadful death and damnation eternal finally due to all Rebels Though many causes of Rebellion may be reckoned and almost as many as there be Vices in Men and Women as hath been before noted yet in this place I will only touch the principal and most usual causes as specially Ambition and Ignorance By Ambition I mean the unlawful and restless desire in Men to be of higher estate than God hath given or appointed unto them By Ignorance I mean no unskilfulness in Arts and Sciences but the lack of knowledge of Gods blessed Will declared in his holy Word which teacheth both extreamly to abhor all Rebellion as being the root of all mischief and specially to delight in obedience as the beginning and Foundation of all goodness as hath been also before specified And as these are the two chief causes of Rebellion so are there specially two sorts of Men in whom these Vices do Reign by whom the Devil the Author of all evil doth chiefly stir up all Disobedience and Rebellion The restless Ambitious having once determined by one means or other to atchieve to their intended purpose when they cannot by lawful and peaceable means climb so high as they do desire they attempt the same by force and violence wherein when they cannot prevail against the ordinary Authority and Power of lawful Princes and Governors themselves alone they do seek the aid and help of the ignorant multitude abusing them to their wicked purpose Wherefore seeing a few ambitious and malitious are the Authors and Heads and multitudes of ignorant Men are the Ministers and furtherers of Rebellion the chief Point of this part shall be as well to notifie to the simple and ignorant Men who they be that have been and be usual Authors of Rebellion that they may know them and also to admonish