abate your sinnes that God may abate your punishment Nay cast away all your workes of darkenesse that yee may never come into the place of darkenesse the Divels dungeon where the worme dyeth not where the fire goeth not out but continuall weeping and gnashing of teeth howling yelling and crying without ease of paine or comfort of mind that is such endlesse misery as the griefe thereof can neither be conceived of us nor expressed of them that feele it THE FIVE AND TVVENTIETH SERMON VERS XIV XV. And Enoch the seventh also from Adam prophesied of such saying Behold the Lord commeth c. Antiquity with Verity bring Authority to Doctrine HEre hee describeth the judgement of God at large which is ready to hasten nay to full upon these Epicures and Hypocrites and all proud swelling men yea and upon all ungodly persons whatsoever For as the power of the Lord had her day in the creation of the World and the mercy of God her day in redemption of man the little World so the justice of God must have her day in the just punishment of the unjust and wicked of the world This text of judgement devides it selfe into foure branches 1 That there shall bee a judgement 2 That the Lord shall be the Iudge 3 The manner of the judgement 4 The end of it To condemne all the ungodly of their evill deedes and cruell speakings against God But first he citeth his Author and saith that Enoch the seventh prophesied of such men that is of such Epicures of such proud swelling persons of such hypocrites Enoch is named the seventh Though some Scripture bee lost yet it is supplied in others and is perfect from Adam for Adam Seth Enos Kenan Mahalaleel Iared lived before him and dyed onely he was taken up alive into Heaven as was Elias in a firie chariot Tanquam candidati resurrectionis as the forerunners of the resurrection So that note here the antiquitie of the Prophesie of Enoch which Iude citeth to purchase authority unto the doctrine antiquity joyned with verity is of great force Quod primum illud verum quod posterius illud falsum whatsoever is first that is true what is later that is false Ieremy sendeth men to the old wayes Stand in the way saith he and behold aske for the old way and walke Ier. 6. 16. therein ye shall finde rest unto your soules Christ debating a question sendeth them to Antiquity saying Ab initio non fuit sic from Mat. 19. 8. the beginning it was not so Ab initio non Papae non Cardinales c. from the beginning no Popes no Cardinals no Patriarches c. therefore shall they not continue for ever sed eradicabuntur but shall be rooted out So reasoned the Wise man for idols saying Wisd 14. 12. cap. The inventing of Idols was the beginning of whoredom and the finding of them is the corruption of life for they were not from the beginning neither shall they continue for ever Sed vetusta consuetudo sine veritate vetustus Cypr. error an old custome without truth is but an old error The Papists to warrant their traditions and unwritten verities mightily urge the Prophesie of Enoch but this prophesie is not counterfeit or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inscriptum quiddam but wee must know that much Scripture is lost which we have not which might bee when Antiochus and Maximine caused the bookes of the Law to bee burnt We lacke many of Salomons workes who wrote of all things from the Cedar of Lebanon to the Hysop on the 1 Reg 4. wall In that God hath not given us the bookes of Nathan of 1 Chro. 29. 2 Chro. 9. Gad of Iado of Shemaia of Athia the Shilonite of Iohn the sonne of Hanani c. It is not for that the Scriptures are unperfect and to bee supplied with unwritten verities but for some other causes best knowne to God They say the Scriptures are unperfect and therefore have added their unwritten traditions which they call Apostolicall unto the Scriptures to make the totall rule of Faith the Scriptures making but one part thereof and their traditions another as it appeareth by the late Trident Councell and of Bellarmines exposition thereof The Councell saith Omnes libros veteris novi Testamenti necnon traditiones ipsas Sess 4. decret 1. tum ad fidem tum ad mores pertinentes tanquam vel ore tenus a Christo vel à Spiritu Sancto dictatas continua successione in Ecclesia Catholica conservatas pari pietatis affectu reverentia suscipit ac veneratur Tridentina Synodus that is All the bookes of the old and new Testament as also the traditions themselves pertaining both to Faith and manners as being either pronounced by the mouth of Christ or delivered by the holy Ghost and by continuall succession preserved in the Catholike Church the Councell of Trent receiueth and honoreth with like and equall affection of pietie The Papists hold the Scriptures insufficient without traditions and reverence And Cardinall Bellarmine writeth thus Asserimus in Scripturis non contineri expressè totam doctrinam necessariam sive de fide sive de moribus proinde praeter Verbum Dei scriptum requiri etiam Verbum Dei non scriptum idest divinas Apostolicas traditiones that is Libro de verbo Dei non Script cap. 3. We affirme that in the Scripture is not contained expressely all necessary doctrine whether of faith or manners and therefore beside the written Word of God is required also the unwritten word of God namely divine and Apostolicall traditions And againe he saith Scripturae sine traditionibus nec fuer unt simpliciter necessariae necsufficientes The Scriptures without traditions were Ibid. cap. 4. neither simply necessary nor yet sufficient And againe Dico Scripturam etsi non sit facta praecipuè ut sit regula fidei esse tamen regulam Ibid. cap. 12. fidei non totalem sed partialem totalis enim regula fidei est Verbum Dei sive revelatio Dei Ecclesiaefacta quae dividitur in duas regulas partiales scripturam traditiones I say that the Scripture though it were not made especially to be the rule of faith yet it is the rule of faith not in whole but in part For the whole rule of faith is the Word of God or the revelatiō of God made unto the Church which is devided into two partie-rules Scripture and traditions Besides they further alledge that the Church was 2249. yeeres before the Word written but how shall that appeare that the Church then had not the written Word Why Moses citeth a booke called The warres of the Lord and in Iosua the booke of the iust is cited and it may bee that Noah Abraham Numb ◠Ios 10. and Isaac wrote those things that did belong to those times Iude also in this Epistle eiteth the booke of Enoch Papists alledge that
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
AN EXPLANATION OF THE GENERALL Epistle of Saint Iude. Delivered in one and forty SERMONS by that Learned Reverend and faithfull Servant of Christ Master SAMVEL OTES Parson of Sowthreps in Norfolke Preached in the Parish Church of Northwalsham in the same County in a publike Lecture And now published for the benefit of Gods Church by SAMVEL OTES his sonne Minister of the Word of God at MARSHAM 2 PET. 1. 15. I will endevour alwayes that ye also may be able to have remembrance of these things after my departing PROV 13. 9. The light of righteousnesse shineth more and more but the candle of the wicked shall bee put out PROV 13. 13. He that despiseth the Word shall be destroyed but hee that feareth the commandement shall be rewarded LONDON Printed by Elizabeth Purslow for Nicholas Bourne and are to be sold at his Shop at the South Entrance of the ROYALL EXCHANGE 1633. TO THE RELIGIOVS AND RIGHT WORSHIPFVLL Knight and Baronet Sir IOHN HOBERT of Blickling Deputy Lieutenant and High Sheriffe of the Country of Norfolke SAMVEL OTES wisheth all felicity here and eternall salvation hereafter Right VVorshipfull THese Sermons of my Fathers upon Saint Iude Right worshipfull Sir after that once I was perswaded for Sions sake to have them printed I thought good to dedicate them to your worthy selfe as Saint Luke dedicated his Gospell to Theophilus so I to you another Theophilus a true lover of God and of his Word so right honestly affected to Doctrine and Religion that your Comportment in Gods Church and in all your courses and in all good causes perswades the Countrey your Pietie and Devotion to bee unfained The causes why I present them unto you are these First the true respect you merit from all them who professe Learning Secondly the many excellent gifts worthy of much commendations in your selfe Thirdly that my Father whom God hath taken to his Mercy was sometime Chaplaine to my late Honourable good Lord your Father who now resteth with God his body being layd up in peace and his memory with good men precious and one of the first Chaplaines that ever he entertained Lastly to testifie my owne engagement you being my worthy Patron humbly desiring that as you succeeded your Honourable Father in his Vertues so I may succeed my Father in your favours Touching these Sermons upon Iude the naturall sense thereof is so clearely opened and the Doctrines arising so powerfully applied and enforced and all manner of sinne so reproved that I doubt not but Gods Church and People shall hence reape much benefit which was the Authors onely intent in the exercise of his Ministery But it becommeth not mee to say much they are exposed to publique viewe and as mens eyes shall bee upon them so my prayer to God shall bee that their hearts may be informed and reformed by them For my part I intend especially though I bee of all men most unworthy to bee an instrument herein to further Christs Kingdom which if it may I have my desire howsoever I shall leave it to the blessing of God and your worthy Patronage Now the God of all consolation according to the riches of his Mercy blesse you with the Honorable good Lady your Wife your hopefull Children and whole Familie with all externall internall and eternall blessings of his Spirit that all your actions may bee prosperous your troubles few your comforts many your life long your death blessed your election sure and your salvation certaine Amen Your Worships in all Christian offices to command Samuel Otes Minister of the Word of God at Marsham in Norfolke TO THE GODLY AND Well-affected Reader whosoever COurteous Reader I am bold at the length to present to thy view these Sermons of my Fathers upon the Epistle of Saint Iude which though in this Learned age among so many excellent and accurate Sermons and Treatises it may seeme presumption to publish yet in this sinfull age I thought they might proove most usefull for the beating downe of sinne and convincing the consciences and converting the soules of sinners there being not many of this kinde for though knowledge abound and learning florish and most desire to have their understanding informed and affections pleased yet true godlines and righteousnes is dayly decaying and few desire to have their lives reformed though they have the forme of godlines yet they have denied the power thereof and though they professe they know God yet in their works they deny him Which this man of God considering did bend all his labour and learning to the beating downe of sinne and building up in vertue and saving knowledge wherein how powerfull and prevalent hee was thou mayst ghesse by these Sermons tanquam ex ungue leonem Concerning himselfe his learning life c. It is not meete I should say much seeing I may seeme to speake partially out of affection yet I hope I may without blame give testimony to that truth which all that knew him will acknowledge namely that hee was a faithfull labourer in the worke of the Lord a workeman that needed not to bee ashamed a burning and a shining light burning with zeale shining both by divine Doctrine and godly conversation Burning so as he consumed himselfe to give light to others and shining not onely before his Parochiall charge where hee lived and exercised his Ministery being as an Augustine Sowthreps in Norfolke to that Hyppo a Polycarpe to that Smyrna but the whole Country so as they all knew him a faithfull Samuel a learned laborious and godly Preacher who did empty himselfe to fill others and did waste and consume his strength to instruct the flocke committed to his charge Neither was the lustre of his light confined in that Parish or Country wherein hee lived but shined further into other parts of this Kingdome so as three very Godly and Eminent Persons in this State worthy instruments of Gods glory florishing in their time with many excellent graces and vertues on earth and now all shining glorious Saints in Heaven did take notice of him and did successively entertaine him Chaplaine namely Sir Francis Walshingham Secretary to the State Sir Iohn Popham Lord-Chiefe-Iustice of England and Sir Henry Hobart Knight and Baronet Lord Chiefe-Iustice of the Common Pleas all which notwithstanding hee continued so lowly in his owne eyes and so zealous in his Function as hee neither carelesly nor ambitiously left his Cure to seeke other preferment But having at any time performed his due observance to those Honorable Persons according as hee was engaged hee presently returned to his accustomed weekely and almost daily taske of preaching for his heart was so inflamed with the zeale of Gods glory and yet so ballanced with the feare of God and true humility that neither the learning nor graces that were in his owne heart nor the lustre and grace he had with other did puffe him up with price and this humility and lowlines in his owne eyes Magna
Ahab to Ramoth-Gilead how the Corinthians drew the yoke with infidels how the 2 Chro. 19. 3. 2 Cor. 6. 14. Esa 31. 13. Iewes strengthened themselves with the Aegyptians I wish the like were not to have been found among Protestants Wee have sate with Psal 26. 4. vaine persons and kept company with dissemblers Servants if they be threatned tremble Wee if Gods Prophets reprove us are the prouder Wee say of Gods Prophets as the Iewes did of Ieremy Come let us imagine some device against Ieremy For the Law shall not perish from the Priests nor Counsell from the Wise nor the Word from the Ier. 18. 18. Prophets Come let us smite him with the tongue and let us not give heed to any of his words And yet wee owe a thousand times more to God than servants to their Masters God doth not onely feede us and cloath us as Masters doe their servants but hee giveth us all things besides Hee ladeth us dayly with benefits Servants by Psal 68. 19. their travell profit their Masters wee profit God nothing If thou bee righteous what givest thou unto him or what receiveth he at thy hands Servants receive small wages God to us hath given Iob 35. 7. Rom. 8. 32. his Sonne and with him all things his face was buffeted his checks nipped his eyes blinded his hands nailed his side lanched with a speare Hee was as water powred out all his bones were out of joint his heart like Wax molten within the middest of his bowels his strength was Psal 22. 14 15. dryed up like a pot-sheard his tongue did cleave to his jawes and hee was brought unto the dust of death Non ergo caput faciem oculos manus cor illi trademus ut illi serviamus Must we not therefore give him head face eyes hands and heart to serve him Wee must not give our members weapons of unrighteousnesse unto sinne What then All servants in Gods Church Wee must give our selves to God and our members of righteousnesse to serve God But alas wee serve not God he hath the least part of our service if hee hath any at all The Covetous serve Mammon the Malicious their Envie and Rancour the proud their Arrogancie the Gluttonous their Belly the Voluptuous their Pleasure Tot Dominos habemus quot peccata Wee have so many masters as wee have sinnes according to the Axiome of the Apostle Of whom soever a man is overcome even unto the same is hee in bondage Thou art a slave to thy malice thy ambition 2 Pet. 2. 19. thy belly Sed nemo potest duobus Dominis servire Non man can serve two masters Againe observe That this title Servus Dei the servant of God meeteth with the Manichoeans and Libertines who raile on all the Apostles for they call Paul Vas confractum a broken Vessell Peter abnegatorum Dei a denier of his Master Andrew Medicantem piscatorem a begging Fisherman Iohn Stolidum adolescentem a foolish young man Luke Ineptem medicum an unskilfull Phisitian Mathew Faeneratorem an Vsurer To conclude this point in that Saint Iude calleth himselfe a servant wee learne that wee are all but servants in Gods Church and therfore to make no Lawes to alter no decrees to change no ordinance to injoyne no orders but such as the Word of God alloweth and liketh of Moses the greatest Prophet that ever Hebr. 3. 5. rose or should rise in Israel yet but a servant David a rare Prophet the sweet singer of Israel a man after Gods owne heart yet he calleth himselfe a servant Thy servant Lord thy servant loe Psal 116. 16. I doe my selfe confesse c. Paul taken up to the third heaven taken into Paradise where hee heard 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Secrets not to bee uttered honoured above all the Apostles yet but a servant What is the Rom. 1. 1. Pope then or what is his parentage that he may dispence with the Doctrine of the old and new Testament a vile man that was never further than Rome as far from Paradise as Heaven from Hel Abolebit eum Dominus for the Lord shall abolish him I confesse 2 Thess 2. 8. that Gregory matcheth the foure Oecumenicall Councels with the foure Gospels the Nicene Constantinople Ephesian and Chalcedon hee calleth them Lapidem quadrantem ex quo sanctae fidei Structura assurgit The foure corner stones upon which the building of the holy Faith doth rise But hee spake like a man for those Councels could make no orders but from the Lords The third thing to bee considered in this Apostle is his alliance and kindred he nameth himselfe the Brother of Iames. First Honoris gracia for honors sake to distinguish himself from Iudas Iscariot the sonne of Simon whom our Saviour calleth a Divell Have not I chosen you twelve and one of you is a Divell For John 6. 70. Iames was a piller in Gods Church he was Bonarges the sonne of Thunder hee was a chiefe man in the Councell of Ierusalem hee was Bishop of Ierusalem and Paul answereth before The alliance and kindred of the Apostle Iude. him hee was with Christ at his transfiguration hee was one of the three at his passion hee was the brother of the Lord that is a kinsman unto Christ for he was the son of Marie Cleophas Sister to the Virgin Mary and so Christ cousin germane called his Brother Mat. 17. Mat. 26. Gal. 1. after the manner of the Hebrewes Mar. 3. 32. Behold thy Mother and thy Brethren seeke for thee without and Mat. 13. 55. Is not this the Carpenters Sonne is not his Mother called Mary and his Brethren Iames and Ioses and Simon and Iudas This Iudas is elsewhere called Thaddeus and Labbeus but hee graceth himselfe by this that hee was the Brother of Iames a Mat. 10. Iohn 6. 70. Iohn 12. 6. Act. 1. 18. rare Apostle not Iudas the traytor whom Christ as yee heard before called a Divell whom Saint Iohn calleth a thiefe whom Peter calleth an hangman who burst asunder but the Brother of Iames the sonne of Alpheus who wrote the Canonicall Epistle for there were two Iameses one the sonne of Zebedie Brother to Iohn the other the sonne of Alpheus Brother to Iude. Secondly Hee calleth himselfe the Brother of Iames to win more credit not to his person but to his Doctrine that all men might know that this Epistle was penned not by Iudas the traytor but by Iude the Brother of Iames the just and therefore might more reverently receive it and more religiously regard it Nam dictum clari hominis facile admittitur For the saying of an excellent man is easily admitted these are the causes why he calleth himselfe the Brother of Iames. And observe with me here that first hee glorieth of his Profession that hee was the servant of Iesus Christ before hee maketh any mention of his alliance For no kindred Fatherhood or Motherhood can grace us
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
say that bare reading is bare feeding and a thing unable to worke faith in us is to avouch a great untruth But the especiall ordinary meanes and the most powerfull usuall meanes is the word preached This is that which the scripture laieth downe How shall they beleeve in him of whom they have not heard how shall they heare without a preacher And againe It pleaseth Rom. 10. 14. Gal. 3. 1 God by preaching to save Reading is profitable but preaching doth profit more than reading doeth Spice when it is whole smelleth sweetly but when it is broken and bruised by the hand of the Apothecarie it smelleth a great deale more So is the word read of The ministery of the word motion of the spirit meanes of faith us or to us sweet as they hony and bringeth the light of life to many but if the spirituall Apothecarie breake it and bruise it cut it and divide it as the Lord hath appointed by preaching then reacheth the savor of such heavenly sweet to many moe in a fuller measure by reason of the blessing that God giveth unto it The Eunuth read but he understood not but when Philip preached unto him the sweet brake out to his lasting good Act. 8. The inward meanes wherby faith is wrought in us is the blessed Spirit of God which softeneth and openeth our hearts and maketh them as good ground that when the seed of the Word is cast into them it taketh deep rooting and bringeth forth the blessed fruit of faith The Apostle saith that His preaching was 1 Cor. 2. 4 5. in demonstration of the spirit that their faith might be in the power of God And the preaching of the Gospell is tearmed A ministration of the Spirit yea he useth this phrase The Spirit of faith because 2 Cor. 3. 8. cap. 4. 15. that faith is wrought inwardly by the Spirit Thus yee see faith is wrought in us outwardly by the word of God and inwardly by the Spirit of God he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where are confuted Andradius Latomus Hosius who say that Philosophie iustified the Gentiles that Socrates Plato beleeved aswell as Abraham Isaak and Iacob Yet Howlet a Papist saith that faith is both begunne and increased by the word preached 1 Pet. 1. 23. and that therefore it is called Incorruptible seed Here are confuted also the Atheists that thinke that faith is common For all of them say that they beleeve but faith is a gift yea a most rare gift of God God sent his Patriarchs in the ancientest age of the world and could find no faith Hee sent his Prophets in a latter generation and could find no faith Last of all he sent his owne Sonne a man approved of God and approved his doctrine with miracles and signes following and could find no faith And when the Sonne of man shall come shall he find faith on the earth We read but of two beleevers in all the host of Luk. 18. 8. Num. 14. 1 Pet. 3. 20. 2 Tim. 1. 26. Act. 1. 15. Apoc. 3. 4. Mat. 16. Iam. 2. 19. Israel but of eight in all the old world but of one family that beleeved in all Asia but of a hundred and twentie in all Christs time but of a few in all Sardis Caro sanguis non dant fidem sed pater in coelis Flesh and blood give not faith but the Father in heaven Many boast of faith but if they have any it is the Divels faith Nay many beleeve not so much as the Divell doth but say with the foole Non est Deus non est daemon non est infernus non Psal 14. 1. est coelum There is no God no divell no hell no heaven All by nature are Infidells we draw it from Adams loynes and sucked Gen. 3. it from the breasts of Heva who beleeved the divell before God And in that some few beleeve it is by grace not by nature Now grace is rare therefore saith the Apostle unto you it is given for Christ that not onely yee should beleeve in him but also c. If any aske me when God gave this faith I answere that he did it in the beginning and it hath doth and shall continue for ever This As God is immutable so true faith and Religion commendeth the Faith the Religion of God that it is before all religions the ancientest Philosophers and Poets as Orpheus Homer Hesiod exceeded not the dayes of Salomon who yet lived five hundred yeeres after Moses the writer of the Law Againe all the wonderfull things recounted in the Scripture are recorded by the Heathen as Noahs flood by Berosus the tower of Babel by the Sibyls the storie of Abraham by Dupolimus the acts of Salomon recorded by Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus But to proceed to the next point This faith was once given once for all once for ever which commendeth unto us the constancie of God With whom is no variablenesse nor shadow of change Hee Iam. 1. 17. Psal 33. 9. speaketh and it is done he commandeth and it is made he giveth and granteth without revocation Therefore it was well said Balaam God is not as man that he should lye nor the Sonne of man that he Num. 23. 19. should repent Shall God say and not doe shall he speake and not performe With men there is unconstancy as in Iael who offered Sisera rest and milke but there withall a nayle and a hammer Saul granted peace to David with a breath and with a breath revoked Iudg. 4. 1 Sam. 26. 2 Sam. 13. Iohn 6. it Ammon loved Thamar once but hated her by and by more than hee loved her The Iewes gave Christ the title of a King anon after the title of a Rebell The Antiocheans honored Paul as a God but after changed their mind There is such mutabilitie in men that they change like the Moone they alter like the Cameleon but God alters not but giveth his gifts to his Church once for ever The gifts and calling of God are without repentance Rom. 11. 29. Note this word Once so often repeated once God gave the Law once he gave the Gospell Once more will I shake not the earth only but also Heaven And againe After he had offered one sacrifice Hebr. 12. 26 27. for sinnes sitteth for ever at the right hand of God And againe with one offering he hath consecrated for ever them that are sanctified And againe Heb. 10. 12. 14. Hebr. 9. 27 28. Rom. 6. 10. It is appointed for men once to dye c. so Christ was once offered to take away the sinnes of many And againe In that he died he died once to sinne Note all these Texts one Gospell one Sacrifice one death one appearing of Christ one death of Christ one for all and one for ever If any object and prove a change in God because God gave Circumcision the Passeover the
est causa discordiae mori possum tacere non possum If Truth bee the cause of our discord I may dye but I may not be silent Wee cannot but speake the things Act. 4. 20. wee have seene and heard But to come to the description of these Adversaries they are here described two wayes By their Life End By their Life they are described foure wayes First they creepe into the Church Secondly they be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 men without God Thirdly they bee Libertines Fourthly they are Blasphemers Denying God and Christ By their End also they be described they are ordained to Iudgement written in the blacke Booke not of Life but of Death But first they are described by their Life and they are said first to creepe into the Church The Greeke word signifieth a craftie entrance into the Church they come not in by the Doore Iohn 10. into the Sheepefold but clime up some other way they come not in the Day but in the night like theeves they are Woolves in Sheepes clothing Caterpillers to devoure the vineyard of Christ Mat. 24. they thrust in themselves like Iudas amongst the Apostles therfore the more to bee resisted for no enemy is so dangerous as a secret enemy It was not an open enemy quoth David that did defame mee for I could have borne it neither did my Adversary exalt Psal 55. 12 13. himselfe against me for I would have hidden mee from him but it was thou ô man even mine own companion and guide and my familiar They pray with us in one Church and dip their hand with us in one dish these creepers are the most dangerous hell-hounds above all others they have Butter in their mouths but Swords in their hearts A Dogge that barketh may bee prevented before hee bite and the serpent that hisseth before hee sting and the fire Satan assaults sometime by cruelty sometime by subtilty that smoketh before it burne so may a knowne enemy but a secret enemie a creeper is hard to prevent Satan prevaileth many wayes sometime as a Lion sometime as a Serpent sometime by force as a Lion as in Nero Domitian Trajane Vulerian sometime by fraud as a Serpent as in Herod in the Pharisees in Iulian the Apostata who corrupted by the faith more by lenitie and rewards than all the bloody persecutors did by the sword wherupon one distinguisheth of Divels and saith that some are blacke and some are white to teach that he hurteth not one way but many wayes he sheweth himselfe a blacke Divell when He goeth about like a roaring Lion seeking to devoure a white Divell 1 Pet. 5. 8. Luk. 4. 41. Act. 16. 17. when hee cried Thou art Christ the Sonne of God and againe hee shewed himselfe a white Divell when as he cried These men are the servants of the living God which shew untous in the way of salvatio meaning Paul and Silas But whether Divells be white or blacke yet they be Divells still yea and so much the more vile that they be Mat. 26. Mat. 7. 2 Cor. 11. 14. white For there is no kisse to the kisse of Iudas no woolfe to him that is clad in a Lambes skinne no teare to the teare of a Crocodile so no Divell to him that appeareth in the shape of an Angell Satan hath sore wounded the Church every by open tragicall persecutions as in the dayes of Christ Even among the cheefe John 12. 42. rulers many beleeved in him but because of the Pharisees they did not confesse him lest they should be excommunicate And in the ten persecutions Satan raged against the Church horribly but never so much as by inward enemies in the bosome of the Church For when the Officers that were sent to apprehend Christ told the Pharisies saying Never man spake as this man The Pharisees answered Are yee also deceived Doth any of the rulers or the Pharisees Iohn 7. 48. beleeve in him Christ had no greater enemies than the Church the Synagogue For who resisted him not Atheists but the Church the Scribes and Pharisees the expounders of the Law the friends of the Gospell Paul had more adoe with false Apostles than with the uncircumcised the infidells the Pagans Some would destroy the purity of majesty the Gospell by their eloquence some would bring in Iudaisme The subtle Gibeonites troubled Iosua more than the open Canaanites The Manichees did more hurt the Church than all heretikes and that under the colour of not marrying not eating of flesh not drinking of wine None will weep faster than a Crocodyle none will make a greater face of godlinesse than these hedge-creepers Ismael will Ier. 41. weep to Gedaliah Herod will bid the wise men seeke diligently for Christ and when they have found him to bring him word Mat. 2. that he may come and worship him The Herodians will salute Christ Mat. 22. with many goodly titles saying Master we know that thou art true and teachest the way of God truly for thou carest for no man thou considerest not the outward appearance of men c. Dalila will pretend all love to Sampson O I love thee Sampson The adversaries of Iuda Popery prevailes more by fraud than by force and Benjamin will say to Zorobabel and to the rest Wee will build with you wee will sacrifice with you but Ismael killed Godaliah Herod would have butchered Christ the Herodians tempted him Dalila betraied Sampson and the adversaries of Iuda would have pulled downe the Church and not built it up Such trees without Iudg. 15. Esder 4. fruit such eares without corne such nets without fish such lampes without oyle such clouds without raine shall perish As they have lived without feare so shall they did without hope as they have a body without an heart so have they a soule without God They in felle nequitiae even in the gall of bitternesse in the bond of iniquity and therefore they have neither part nor fellowship in Gods Kingdome To apply this to the present state of the Church Satan hath prevailed more in Popery by fraud than by force by creeping than by breaking in with a skaling ladder The first Romane Monarchie stood of unjustice maintained by armes and this latter of impietie maintained by fraud and hypocrisie Whose comming is by the working of Satan with all power and signes and lying 2 Thess ◠9 10. wonders and in all deceiveablenesse of unrighteousnesse The Popes Kingdome is not described by force and armes but by sleights and wiles by the names of women enchantments cups Apoc. 17. 19. fornications The beast representing the Romane Empire had the hornes of a Lambe and the mouth of a dragon In all the Kingdome of Popery in Pope Cardinals Bishops Monks Friers Nunnes what was there but hypocrisie How deceived they the world with their Prayers Almes Fastings Crossings Greasings Purgatory Auricular confessions Trentas Dirges Masses Prayer for the dead going
like a roaring Lion seeking whom to devoure 1 Pet. 5. 8. The dragon with his tayle drew the third part of the starres out of heaven and cast them to the ground and the dragon is ready to devoure us as soone as wee bee brought forth but wee must resist him Resist the Divell and he will flie from you So long as Ioas 1 Pet. 4. had Iehojada at his elbow he did well he walked uprightly in the sight of the Lord. So long as Vzziah had Zechariah to teach him he sought God and he understood the visions of God and God 2 Chron. 24. 2. 2 Chron. 26. 5. made him prosper but they being taken away Satan prevailed both with the one and with the other Therefore the Word is compared to showres so saith Moses My doctrine shall drop as the raine and my speech shall still as doth the dew as the showre upon the hearbs and as the great raine upon the grasse Deut. 32. 2. The Word is compared to an hammer Is not my Word like a fire saith the Lord and like an hammer that breaketh a stone And it is compared to Wind I saw saith S. Iohn an Angell standing on the Ier. 23. 29. Apoc. 7. 1. Iohn 6. 27. foure corners of the earth holding the foure windes of the earth that the windes should not blow on the earth And the word is compared to Food hereupon saith our Saviour Labour not for the meate that perisheth but for that which will indure to eternall life Grasse groweth not greene with one showre of raigne knottie wood is not riven with one stroke a ship saileth not with one blast a Child groweth not to a man with one meale and wee goe not to heaven with one sermon but with precept upon precept precept upon precept Esa 28. 10. line unto line line unto line that is with doctrine upon doctrine and wee must have one thing oft told This meeteth with those preachers and auditors that make strawberries of the Word to have it once in a yeare or once in a quarter but it is Food and every one must have his portion of meate in due season it is not strawberries It is also food for that we must heare it often it must be familiar unto us There is a waste in the body by reason of the heate in the stomacke and the liver and therefore must be repaired with a fresh supply of meate So there is a waste in the soule which must bee repaired with a supply of intellectuall meate that is the word Sometime there is a waste in the understanding which is darkened sometime in the will and affections ' Meditation recordation meanes to enrich the soule which are unruly sometime in the memory which is brittle sometime in our faith which is weake or in our love which is small or in our zeale which may be cold or in the minde which is earthly or in the whole man which is lumpish heavy unfit for Coll. 1. Coll. 3. Hebr. 12. Luk. 17. Phil. 3. 19. any good thing Come therefore still unto the Word heare it still heare it to learne and learne to remember it and remember to follow it and follow to continue it that I may say to this towne of Wallsham as Christ said to Zacheus house This day is salvation come unto your towne But as Lords and Barons never put on their Luk. 19. 9. Parliament robes till they goe to the Parliament house So wee put not on Religion till we goe to the Church and there wee leave it till the next Sunday We remember little and practise lesse like Cambridge Schollers that leave their Logicke in Sophisters hills till they returne againe But wee must heare to bee put in remembrance and though many bee soone wearie yet must not wee Be not weary of well doing saith the Apostle be not Gal. 6. wearie of hearing I see many that if they have a preacher in their towne on the Sunday refuse to heare any other on the weeke day as though they could heare too much Let the Word of God dwell in you plenteously not as a guest for an houre but as Col. 3. 16. an owner continually which cannot be except we be put oft in remembrance and heare often But in saying I will put you in remembrance he insinuateth that they had forgotten these following examples for wee are like the Ostrich that forgetteth her eggs in the dust like Partriches Iob 29. Jer. 17. which gather the yong that be not theirs like the bird Fulica that forgetteth her nest and hatcheth strange birds like the Philosopher that forgat his owne name we had need therefore be put in remembrance and often thinke and meditate of the doctrines we have heard Christians must be like the cleane-beasts that parted the hoofe and chewed the cud so we must ruminate and chaw that at home and concoct that which we have heard in the Church Marie laid up the words of the Shepheard In her heart we must learne of her For the heart is Thesaurus the Luk. 2. 17. treasure-house to store up all doctrines of life and of salvation the memorie is as a chest or coffer if wee had never so great Iewells yet if they be not safely kept as well as truely gotten all is lost not they that eate but they that digest most are the most healthfull not they that get most but they that keep most are richest So not they that heare most but they that remember most are most edified Our memories are like Bankrouts purses and like Danaides tunne the one can hold no money the other no liquor and our memories can hold no doctrine But let us strive to remember and as the Apostle speaketh Whatsoever things are Phil. 4. 8. true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are iust whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things pertaine to love whatsoever things God offereth mercy before hee inflicts iudgement are of good report if there be any vertue if there be any praise thinke on these things which yee have both received and heard c. But what are the things that Iude would remember them of Three notable examples of Gods wrath he calleth to their remembrance The first of the Israelites and therein observe with me three things Gods mercy in delivering them the first His iustice in destroying them the second Their sinne the Cause of Gods iustice the whetstone unto it the third and last But first let us looke upon Gods mercy in their deliverance for God beginneth with mercy that is the first act mercy is Alpha Iustice is Omega so David placeth it For speaking of Gods attribute he placeth mercy in the foreward Iustice in the rereward saying My song shall be of mercy and judgement God is patient and Psal 110. 1. Rom. 2. 4. full of mercy Paul calleth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the riches of Gods mercy God never useth Iustice but when
〈◊〉 misery but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 good order is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 prosperity then Kingdomes flourish All the villanies and iniquities of Israel are imputed to this Non erat Rex there was no King Iudg. 19. 21. in Israel Magistrates have a sparke of Gods Majesty in them or rather a reflexion of a sparke of Gods power and so extensive are called Gods I have said that ye are Gods and that ye all are the children Psal 82. 1. of the most highest They be Gods 1. by Analogie 2. By Deputation 3. By Participation First by Analogie for as God hath his seate of judgement in Heaven so these their tribunals and judiciall thrones wherein to judge the actions of men Tanquam in hoc Deum imitantes as Theodor. in Psal 81. it were imitating God in this and their authority though it be not transcendent yet without controll of any save of the Rex Regum the King of Kings Secondly they be Gods by deputation Ye judge not for men but for the Lord saith Iehosaphat The judgement is Gods saith Moses 2 Chro. 19. 8. Magistrates are his mouthes to pronounce and his hands to Anabaptists and Papists enemies to magistratâ—y execute it Thirdly Gods by Participation because God dealeth with them as Kings and Princes doe with their children to whom they communicate some part of their glory Participando sunt Aug. dii they bee Gods in participating with God As Starres participate their light from the Sunne the primum lucidum So these their authoritie from the supreame Majestie God hath two hands by the one he governeth in the common-wealth the other in the Church by the one he reacheth good things unto the body by the other to the soules that is by magistrates ministers By some magistrates he reacheth peace by some wealth by some order by some Iustice by some Mercy For the magistrate is like the frog called Borexo which hath two Livers one for poyson the other for treacle So the magistrates hath two hands one for justice the other for mercy his song is of mercy and judgement habet poenam proemium Vt apis habet mel Psal 101. 1. aculeum He hath punishment and reward as the Bee hath both hony and a sting But to speake properly magistrates are fingers of that great hand that ruleth the World yet some thinke the magistracy began in Lucifer for which they quote Esai 14. Esa 14. And that it was seconded by the Giants in Gen. 6. and continued by Nimrod that mighty Hunter and inlarged by the Gen. 6. cap. 10. 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fighters against God that builded the tower of Babel But it is evident to all the World that it came from God who governed his owne people sometimes by Prophets as by Moses and Aaron For hee led his people like sheepe by the hands of Moses and Aaron Sometime by Iudges that foure hundred thirty Psal 77. 20. yeeres together sometime by Kings sometime by Princes Act. 13. 1 Sam. 1. 11. 1 Pet. 2. 17. Rom. 13. 1. as after the captivity And Saint Peter saith Honour all men love brotherly fellowship feare God and honour the King For the powers that are are ordered and ordained of God and There is no power but of God sivè jubente sivè sinente quoth Augustine by Aug. contra â—auâ—â—um maâ—â—â—haeum libro cap. 7. Gods either commission or permission the persons sometime are intruders as in case of Vsurpation somtime abusers of their authoritie as when they Tyrannize but the powers themselves have God for their Author Saint Peter indeed cals them Humane ordinances but he speaketh of the severall formes not of the substance of governement 1 Pet. 2. 13. But to let all this goe here I am to deale with two sorts of men that be enemies to magistrates and as I may say Despise governement the one the Anabaptist the other the Papists For these two hell-hounds joyne together against the Magistrate like Sampsons Foxes that were tyed by the tailes and burnt up the corne of the Philistines Like the two shee-beares that came out of the wood and devoured the children of Bethel like Ephraim and Manasses against Iuda like Herod and Pilate against Christ And no marvaile For these two like the Edomites The manifold benefits that come to the Church by magistracy and Babylonions shake hands in many sinnes The Anabaptist despise the Word flying to Revelations The Papist condemne it as insufficient sending us to Tradition For the Iewes had their Thalmud the Turkes their Alcoran the Anabaptist Iudg. 15. 2 Reg. 2. Esa 9 Mat. 26. 2 Tim. 3. 16. Revelations the Papist Traditions the Protestants Scripture The Anabaptist rejecteth Baptisme utterly the Papist defileth it with Grease Creame Oyle the Anabaptist denieth the whole supper of the Lord the Papist mingleth it giving but the halfe onely unto the people The Anabaptist denieth all Magistracy the Papist subjecteth it to the Pope The Anabaptist object that the Kings of Iuda were figures of Christ and therefore now ceased Which is true in part for in part they were shadows figures but yet they were more than figures For the Levitical Priest-hood took Hebr. 9. an end but the Political government hath no end For the office of Kings is established Honor the King saith the Apostle and Paul reckoning 1 Pet. 2. 13. 1 Cor. 12. 28. up the gifts of God for the right ordering of the Church in the New Testament mentioneth Governmentes that is gifts of government Rom. 13. 4. The title of Magistrates is to be Ministers of God their end use the good of the Church Pauls counsel is to pray for Kings and those in authority that they may bee converted Withall he intimates the good uses flowing from their conversion Peace Honesty Godlinesse to the people of God their governement therefore is not to be despised To conclude this point it is promised as a blessing to the Church of the New Testament that shee should have Kings her nursing fathers and Queenes her nursing mothers And at the conuersion of Constantine to Christianity this promise was accomplished and never before except to sucke the bloud of the Church were to bee nurses unto the Church It remaines then that magistracy hath Gods ordinance to commend it to the perpetuall use of the Church and Common-wealth unto the end of the World But to proceed still with these Anabaptists they condemne the sword utterly and thinke Excommunication to be the last punishment that can be in a Christian Church Which is true in respect of God and the soule but not in respect of men and their bodies 1 Cor. 5. 5. Esra 10. For one man was punished both by losse of goods civilly and by separation from the congregation Which was spirituall The Magistrate may punish him who despiseth the censure of the 1 Pet. 2. 14. Rom. 13. 4.
aside saith the Apostle all maliciousnesse and all guile and dissimulation and envy and all evil speaking as new borne 2 Pet. 2. 1. Babes desire the sincere milke of the Word that yee may growe thereby Among all the indignities that were offered unto Christ this was not the least they nipped his cheekes they buffeted his face they blinded his eyes they nayled his hands they peirced his feet they lanced his heart but especially they rayled on him saying He saved others let him also save himselfe if he be the Christ the Luke 23. 35 36. chosen of God The Souldiers also mocked him and came and offered him vynegar mixt with myrh and gal to hasten his death and said if thou be the King of the Iewes save thy selfe Therefore wee are willed to thinke upon him that endured such speaking against of sinners Heb. 12. 3. As an image is not seene in water that is troubled no more is truth in a mind that is malitious but it sendeth forth with violence all manner of evill speakings A soule mouthed an evill tongued man is worse than the divell not simply but in respect For a man may avoid the divell Resist the divell and hee Jam. 4. 7. will flye from you but we cannot resist a slanderer a rayler And albeit the Apostles charge is Speake not evill one of another brethren he that speaketh evill of his brother or he that condemneth his brother Iam. 4. 11. speaketh evill of the Law and condemneth the Law Yet the world is as full of evill speakers as Nilus of Crokadyles as Sodome of Sulphur and Egypt of Lice In conviviis rodunt in circulis vellicant maledico dente omnia carpunt It is salt to their meat to rayle on men in feasts and bankets A good name is a pretious oyntment and woe to them that bereave a man of it many mens tongues walke at randome and speake evill of the things they know not Can the wound be cured so long as the iron remaine in it Can the iron be cold so long as it is in the Smiths forge Can the River cease running so long as the Fountaine floweth And can the tongue refraine from evill speaking so long as hatred boileth in the heart Of the abundance of the heart the mouth Luke 6. 45. speaketh And as the water turneth the wheele so the heart the tongue Boetius saith Si irâ fremis Leo es si fraude inniteris Vulpes es si inconstans Camaeleon es si luxuriaris porcus es si convitiaris Canis es if thou beest greatly moved with anger thou art a Lion if thou delightest in fraud thou art a Fox if thou beest unconstant thou art a Camaeleon if lecherous a Hog if foule-mouthed or evill-tongued a dogge and Beware of dogges saith the Phil. 3. 2. Apostle they are alwayes barking and biting and snarling One resembleth a foule-mouthed man an evill speaker to the Basiliske for as the Basiliske killeth the Bird that flyeth in the ayre with his breath so doth the evil speaker kil men with his tongue I will say of these foule-mouthed men as Hierom sometime said Brownists raile on our Church doctrin and Ministery of Iovinian Tacere nesciunt maledicere non cessant nunquam enim bene loqui dedicerunt they cannot hold their peace they cannot cease from evill speaking they never yet learned to speake well There is an art in speaking as well as in writing for there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Right speaking as well as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Right writing and both necessary Iudge now of what spirit our Brownists be as Christ said of his disciples that would have fire come downe from Heaven and Luke 9. 35. destroy Samaria Yee know not of what spirit yee are So they know not of what spirits they be of for all their eloquence standeth in biting speeches that our Church is Babylon Sodome as Apoc 11. 8. that our ministers have the marke of the beast as Apoc. 13. 16. that our people are swine and dogges as Mat. 7. 6. that our Communion cup is Calix diaboli the cup of the Divell that Mensa Christi is Mensa diaboli the table of Christ is the table of the Divell as 1. Cor. 10. 20. our pulpits bee tubs our Geneva Psalmes Gehenna Psalmes But I will say to them as one said Hoc genus hominum ridere soleo non odisse I am wont to laugh at these kind of men not to hate them they thinke much to be touched in doctrine but I will answere them as Erasmus answered Longolius deponant gladios nos scuta abiiciemus removeant venena nos antidoto uti cessabimus cessent maledicere nos non regeremus in hoc illis consentire non possumus ut pareamus schismaticis Let them lay away their swords and wee will throw away our shields Let them remove their poyson and wee will cease to use any Antidote Let them refraine from evill speaking and we will not taunt againe In this wee cannot consent unto them in their schismes I but say they wee are willed To come out from Babylon yea and To separate our selves and to touch no uncleane thing I 2 Cor. 6. 14. confesse Schismatikes interpret this discession locally but the Fathers understand it mentally and morally The Prophets and Apostles proclaimed Touch no uncleane thing but how Contactu cordis non corporis Doth hee that commit sinne displease thee thou touchest no uncleane thing Hast thou charitably rebuked him thou art come out from him yet they cry out we have no Ministers no Sacraments no Church at all What is their reason our lives are not answerable to the doctrine of the Gospell Be it so yet this is no reason why they should make discession from us How corrupt was Ierusalem so corrupt that Esay compareth her to Sodome and Gomorah yet hee erected Esa 1. not new Altars whereupon to offer sacrifice apart but entred into the same Temples and celebrated the same Sacraments with them while Moses received the Law in the mount the people made a Golden Calfe below in the valley God shewed Exod. 32. their idolatry to Moses making an offer to destroy them and to multiply him to a greater and better nation Had not Moses now a faire occasion of departing from them lest hee should No men perfectly pure no state totally corrupt touch any uncleane thing yet he leaves them not but goeth unto them reproveth them and maketh intercession to God for them How desperate was the impiety of the Pharisees in the dayes of our Saviour Yet for all that Christ our Saviour frequented their Temple and would not forbeare their religious exercises The Church of Corinth was defiled with many sinnes and horrible out-rages both in life and Doctrine they were deriders sectaries incestuous prophaners of the Lords supper denyers of the most essentiall Article of the Resurrection yet so long as the Ministery of the Word
worse by bad company such as are continually in the Sunne must needes be Sunne-burnt such as walke in the myst must needs bee berayed such as touch pitch cannot bee but defiled so such as abide in bad company cannot bee but spotted Ioseph living in the Court of Pharaoh had quickly learned to sweare by the life of Pharaoh and Peter being among lyers and swearers had quickly learned to lye and sweare Therefore saith Ierome It is no wisedome to sleepe neere a Serpent it may bee it will sting thee it may be it will not so it may be that thou conversing with a wicked man maiest convert him but it may be he will pervert spot and defile thee David durst not meddle with these spots and spotted companions I have not haunted with vaine persons neither kept company with Psal 26. 4 5. the dissemblers I have hated the assembly of the evill and have not companied with the wicked and surely hee that loveth the Lord hee will love those that love him and hate those that hate him not his person but his manners Pacem cum hominibus bellum cum Aug. vitiis we must have peace with men but war with their vices But let men bee as blinde in minde as Bartimaeus who followed Mat. 20. Christ by the noyse let them bee as deafe as the Adder as filthy in soule as Lazarus in body as blacke as the blacke horse Psal 58. Apoc. 6. in the Apoc. yet if wee gaine by him if hee be for our honour or profit or pleasure wee countenance him he is an honest man a good fellow But hee that iustifieth the wicked is as hee that condemneth the just both are abomination to the Lord. Hee that saith Prov. 17. 25. Cap. 24. 24. to the wicked Thou art righteous him shall the people curse and the multitude abhorre Let us not then give any countenance to the wicked but bee at defiance with them as was David when hee cryed Away from mee yee wicked I will keepe the commandements Love-feasts abused were after abolished of God But some will say Is it a sinne simply to eate with the wicked No there bee cases of necessity and cases voluntary wherein it is no sinne to eate with them David partaked with the Philistines Psal 119. 2 Sam. 23. in the water of Bethlem The Apostles ate meate in Athens consecrated to Minerva Act. 17. cap. 17. with the Idolaters Paul went in a ship dedicated to Castor and Pollux and wee now may eate meat in a common Inne with bad men Againe in cases voluntary it is not ever a sin to eate with the wicked so that wee doe it to exhort them to reprove them and gaine them to God Note the Antithesis the caution the Apostle useth Have no fellowship with the unfruitfull workes of Ephes 5. 11. darkenesse but even reprove them rather So to reprove them is not to have fellowship with them These are Spots in your feasts These feasts were love-feasts and these love-feasts were used before the communion as appeareth 1 Cor. 11. 20 21 c. by the words of the Apostle and in Tertullians Apologeticon to note this as many members make but one body many strings make but one sound many graines but one loafe many grapes but one cup of wine So many Christians make but one Church So saith the Apostle Now yee are the bodie of Christ and members for your part for all Churches dispersed thorow the World 1 Cor. 12. 27. are members of one body of one Church for albeit in the evill state there be differences of callings yet in the spirituall there is Neither Iew nor Grecian there is neither bond nor free there is neither male nor female yee are all one in Christ Iesus all as Gal. 3. 28. one man But these love-feasts being well begun were afterwards corrupted for from feasts of charitie they were turned into feasts of 1 Cor. 11. drunkennesse for men would be drunken and so became spots and staines to these feasts and therefore were these feasts after abolished as all ceremonies ought to bee if they edifie not Ezeehias brake the brazen Serpent a figure of Christ and called 2 Reg. 18. it Nehushtan Nectarius a learned and a godly Bishop of Constantinople abrogated auricular confession when it was used to hypocrisie So that Pedum lotio washing of feet fetched Iohn 13. from Christs example when it was made a part of baptisme was abolished by Augustine The judiciall observation of Easter raising contention betweene the Latine and the Greeke Church was by Irenaeus and other Fathers removed Paul circumcised Timothy not Titus Legales Ceremoniae ante Christum erant pars cultus Christi the legall ceremonies before Christ were a part of Christs worship Post Christi adventum res erant adiaphorae after his comming they were things indifferent Post templum eversum quum corrumpebantur erant sublatae ut res impiae after the destruction of the Temple they were abolished as Ceremonies abused are to be abolished things impious But to leave this If any man will aske mee when and by whom these love-feasts were taken away I answer by the Antisiodorensian Councell then were they abolished In these feasts at the first was great sobriety as Tertullian affirmeth but after many used riot and excesse In Apologetico 39. they that should have beene ornaments were spots and staines they that should have beene Lights were scandals to these feasts and therefore were they abolished THE THREE AND TVVENTIETH SERMON VERS XII Clouds they are without water c. Pride occasioned many wayes ever odious to God THis was the second sin of this people viz. Pride they swelled like waves of the sea and lifted up them selves against God and good men Of such swelling proud men spake Peter calling them presumptuous and saith That they stand in their own 2 Pet. 2. 10 18. conceit speaking swelling words of vanity for it seemeth that Peter tooke these words from Iude or Iude from Peter rather they spake swelling words words of a foot and a halfe long glorious words like Thraso in the Comedy Such were the Quintinists and Libertines in Germany who boasted of a celestiall perfection such were one Henry Nicolitanes who spake in the clouds highly mystically that we are co-deified with God and God co-homonified with us such are our Papists whose doctrine savours nothing but of pride as their doctrine of free will justification by workes workes of supererogation which they call the treasure of the Church works of preparation c. thus they speake words of the wind and fill their belly with the East wind For what is pride but wind A wind to fill and a wind to torment Men may be spiritually swelled both in life and opinion there is a swelling for abundance of riches there is a swelling behaviour in mens courses there is a swelling in sinne a swelling in opinion Oh
peasant as the Prince the cobler as the Counsellour Corrus sequitur Curiam the cart will follow the Court and as the Preacher saith Folly is set in great excellency and the rich set in the low place I have seene servants on horses and Princes walking as servants on the ground As Eccles 10. 6 7. the Academicks said they knew nothing and the Anomies all things so some are too base but most are too proud like the Fly that sitting in the Charriot said Heu quantum pulverem excitavi What a dust have I raised The poore Fly was proud and so most men swell in pride like the Aegyptian Asse that carried the Goddesse Isis thinking the honour done to the Goddesse to be done to her pricking up her cares till he that drave her lashed her for her folly saying Non tibi sed deae stulte Asine datur hie honos O foolish Asse this honour is not done to thee but to the Goddesse like Caius Caligula who was so proud that hee would have his horse called Velocissimus and to bee fed with barely Dion histo sua in vessels of gold and to drinke wine in Caldrons of gold and resolved to make his horse Consul of Rome like Sapor King of Persia who was so proud that he wrote himselfe King of Kings brother to the Sunne and Moone partner with the starres like Haman who was so proud that none must ride upon the Kings horse but he To most mē pride is as a chaine they wil lose their goods yea their lives before they will lose their will Let there bee a proud Psal 73. 6. man in a town he must dominiere over all to die for it he must rule and have his will but be jealous over thy soule suspect thy selfe of pride while thou livest it creepeth on us in most of our actions chiefely when wee doe best therefore Pascentius niger was a rare man who being praised of an Orator for an excellent act answered thus Write the praises of Marius Iugurth and Hannibal but praise not mee till I bee dead for that quoth hee is but flattery A most grave saying to shame us Christians And surely as Demosthenes said that the first the second and third vertue in an Orator was Action so Augustine said well that the first second and third vertue of a Christian is humility for that is the Congregation of all vertues without which the gathering together of all vertues is nothing else but a scattering of them Give honour saith the Apostle and goe one before another Give honour take it not strive not for the highest pew in the Church the highest roome at a Feast bee Pride brings confusion lowest not highest If Paul had said In taking honour goe one before another hee had had five thousand disciples Let not these words be heard among you I am as good as hee I am as well borne as hee hee shall not have my necke under his gyrdle for these speeches savour of pride and pride of all other sinnes doth most discredit and disgrace a Christian as it did Tarquinius Superbus who being a traitour an whoremonger yet was not called Tarquinius the Traitor or Tarquinius the Adulterer but Tarquinius the proud to teach us that pride doth more disgrace a man than any other sinne Let us not therefore swell like waves be lifted up with pride the end will be shame and therefore hee saith these waves doe but fome out their owne shame For God will confound them throw them from their Pinnaces shake them with his whirle-windes strike them with his lightenings beate them with his thunder-claps for pride must have a fall and great pride a great fall Herod fell from a throne of gold to a bed of dust to bee Act. 12. 23. Dan. 4. 29. eaten of wormes and yet behold a greater fall Nabuchodonozer fell from the glory of a King to the state of a beast to eate grasse like an Oxe to bee wet with the dew of Heaven his nailes to grow like the talons of an Eagle and yet behold a greater fall Adam fell from innocency to mortality to bee exiled Gen. 3. 24. out of Paradise and kept out with a shaking sword and yet to make up the mease the up-shot behold a greater fall The Angels fell from Heaven to Hell from felicity to all misery are now reserved in everlasting chaines In the Primitive Church Simon Magus did abuse the Ascension of Christ our Saviour Iude vers 6. and made him selfe wings and pretended and offered to flye up to Heaven but Peter prayed and he fell downe like lead and crushed his members grievously Ante pervenit justa petitio quam iniqua praesumptio A just prayer came up before an unjust presumption Euseb such were the Giants in the old World that would lay Pelion upon Ossa and both upon Olympus and pull Iupiter out of Heaven but their language was confounded What should I speake of Haman who by pride brake his necke of Holofernes Iudith 13. who by pride lost his head of Sennacherib who for his pride had killed in one night an hundred fourescore and five thousand of his men and not long after his own Sons Adramelech Sharezer Esa 37. 38. slew him as he was in the Temple worshipping Nisroch his god Of Antiochus who for his pride had his head and hand cut off and hanged up upon the gates of Ierusalem Of Pharao who for his 2 Mach. 1. 15. Exod. 12. pride against God and his people was drowned in the red sea of Apris a King of Aegypt who for his pride and glorying that neither God nor man could put him from his Kingdome was strangled Of Caphaneus who for his pride was overthrowne with lightning For he said he would overthrow Thebes invito Deo whether God would or no Of Domitian who for his pride for Examples of the fall of divers proud men he would be called a God and worshipped was slaine of his servants with daggers in his privy Chamber his body was buried without honor his memory cursed and his trophies defaced Of Queene Venda daughter to the famous King of Poland who out of the pride of her heart refused to be married shee thought none good enough for her but at last she was drowned in the river Vestula And many wayes doth the Lord meet with proud men sometimes giving them up to hardnes and impenitence of heart sometime bringing them to disgrace and open shame sometime suffering them to fall into other sinnes whereby the Lawes of men take hold of them either to deprive them of their lives or of their honors One way or other he doth usually punish them in this life to say nothing of those punishments prepared for them in the life to come Yet all these iudgements cannot keep us from swelling from pride but still men will be like the raging waves of the Sea foming out their owne shame and though there be
quà m anima dissimulans coram Deo Angelis A dead dogge sauoureth lesse in our noses then a dissembling soule an hypocrite doth in Gods and therefore Let death seaze upon them let them goe downe quicke into the grave for wickednesse is in Psal 55. 15. their dwellings even in the middest of them But in that he compareth us to trees it is to teach us that God will come take an account of our fruit A grievous day it will be when he shall say to these hypocriticall professors Where is prayer knowledge godly conference meditation instruction of your families education of your children love of religion The greater part of Christians hypocrites zeale of my glory When hee shall say Why stand these vineyards and yeeld no grapes why hangeth this ivy-bush here and there is no wine why stand these trees and yeeld no fruit what doe these starres in heaven and yeeld no light why doe these husband-men occupie my farme and pay no rent He will command the clouds to raine no raine upon these vineyards he will Esa 5. 7. Luk. 13. cut downe these trees and burne them he will destroy these husband-men let out his vineyard to other husband-men which shall deliver him the fruits in their seasons When God shall aske for fruits we may say as the woman said of her accusers Lord they are gone either wee never had any or else they are lost Mat. 21. 41. either our brests never had milke or else like dry nurses we have lost our milke either our candles never had light or else are out Iohn 8. 1 Pet. 2. Hebr. 12. either we never had any birth-right or else with Esau wee have sold our birth-right either we never had zeale or else it is quenched like the fire on the Altar in the Babylonicall captivity We heare the word we communicate but where is private praier private conference private meditation private instruction of our families We professe Religion we come to the Church we heare the Word for shew only for fashion only of custome not of conscience Dagon of the Philistines and the Arke of God is all one to us the temple of Salomon and the temple of Rimmon is all one the service of God and the worship of Diana is all one Sion and Samaria Ierusalem and Ierico the Gospeland the Masse to us are both alike Satan may say to us as he did unto the Monke who had his portise in one hand and his harlot in the other Parùm refert atraque enim via ducit ad interitum it is no matter both wayes lead to hell and to destruction so it is not matter whether we professe the Gospell or not so long as wee professe it so coldly and so carnally so hypocritically so dissemblingly both are naught both damnable Our carnall gospelling first tooke King Edward from us then Queene Elizabeth from us then King Iames I pray God at the last it take not the Gospell from us and our Soveraigne from us It is monstrous for trees to stand seven and seven yeeres yea forty fifty nay sixty yeeres and more and to yeeld no fruit For us to live long in the Church and to doe no good Devide the world into an hundred parts scarce one is Christendome and that one devide into tenne and scarce one is sincere voide of hypocrisie Oh remember that yee are washed with the water of Baptisme that yee have God for your Father the Church for your mother that yee have beene fedde with the milke of the Gospell instructed in the Word of God fed with the bread of Angels with sacramentall bread and will yee yet live like Ethnicks like Pagans like Turkes like infidels and like hypocrites yet most men so live For what forbidden fruit will they not eate Iudgements denounced against hypocrisie with Adam What Babylonish garment will they not take with Achan What usury with Zacheus and what Naboths vineyard will they not covet with Ahab what sinne is there which they can commit but they have committed they bee trees indeed but bad trees without fruit and therfore two things hath God prepared for them a sharp axe and a quicke fire For every tree Mat. 3. that bringeth not forth good fruit shall be hewne downe and cast into the fire And Saint Iude tells us that these trees be twice dead and plucked up by the rootes dead in worke and deed and inword dead tam in ramis bonorum operum aswell in the boughes of good workes quà m in radicibus fidei as in the rootes of faith twice dead because according to the flesh they be most corrupt and according to the soule most perverse twice dead dead to God dead unto the world both in this world and in the world to come Augustine maketh three deaths the death of the soule the death of the body the death of both body and soule called the second death the first death is here meant But to draw unto a Conclusion If hypocrisie be a sinne so odious and seeing that hypocrites be as clouds without raine as starres without light as trees without fruit and shal be sharply Apoc. 20. 1. punished and pulled up by the rootes Let us stedfastly cleave unto the Lord with full purpose of heart and let us abandon hypocrisie that we may please the Lord and let us reject dissimulation that we may be blessed and let us not presume to carry the name of Christ without sincerity and godlinesse of conversation THE FOVRE AND TVVENTIETH SERMON VERS XIII To whom is reserved blacknesse of darkenesse for ever Hell torments set out by divers names YEE heard before of their sinnes as namely of their Epicurisme in that they did eate and drinke without feare feeding themselves then of their pride in that they were like the waves of the sea swelling high lastly of their hypocrisie in that they were as cloudes that promise raine and had nothing but drynesse in them in that they were as trees that promise fruit and yet they had nothing but leaves And now in these words hee commeth to their punishment and their punishment is that blacknesse of darkenesse is reserved for them for evermote Whereby hee meaneth Hell fire Hell paines For there the Sunne never shineth the Moone and Starres never give light Hell is diversly called by the holy Ghost who taketh great paines in this matter and all to drive us from sin and wickednes He calleth Hell A place for divels Mat. 25. Mat. 18. 8. Mark 9. 2 Thes 1. 8. Psal 11. Vnquenchable fire A worme that ever gnaweth Flaming fire Fire and brimstone A river of hot brimstone All sufferings here but shadowes and beginning of sorrowes A Lake that burneth with fire and brimstone A second death The wine-presse of Gods wrath Damnation of body and soule Esa 30. Apoc. 19. 20. Apoc. 20. Apoc. 14. 19. Mat. 10. 2. 9. Cap. 22. 13. Vtter darkenesse And here in
them Wee must not bee forgetfull readers nor forgetfull hearers For He that is not a forgetfull hearer but a doer of Iam. 1. 25. the Word is blessed in his deed There be two points of husbandry to We heare the Word but remember it not get and to hold fast and there bee two points of Christianity to learne and to remember that wee have learned many have this first few the latter Christ speaking of the future state of the Church biddeth them remember Remember the Words saith Iohn 15. 20. Christ that I said unto you The servant is not greater then the Master c. The Apostle speaking to the Hebrewes chargeth them with forgetfulnesse And yee have forgotten saith he the consolation Hebr. 12. 5. that speaketh to you as children The Lord Iesus writing to the Church of Sardis biddeth it remember Remember how thou hast Apoc. 3. 3. received and heard and hold fast and repent When Paul commeth to this his zeale breaketh out in great measure he doth not sound out words but a trumpet like Esay he doth not speake but thunder Esa 58. 1. Mar. 3. like Iames Iohn he crieth out like a Giant as a strong maÌ„ refreshed with wine his zeale breaketh out as the Sun thorow a cloud Furthermore brethren whatsoever things ar true whatsoever Phil. 3. 8. things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things pertaine to Love whatsoever things are of good report if there be any vertue or any praise thinke on these things At the newes of Christs birth many heard many wondred some mocked but Mary kept it in her heart the words of the Shepheards also she kept and would neither forgoe them nor forget them Many good lessons in a yeere doe we heare but wee profit but a little because we remember not if it be an evill word that we will remember or a promise of debt that we looke to profit by our memory is of brasse but Lord how forgetfull in the best things Which of us is there that having a portion left us by the will and testament of our Father will not remember What hearts have wee of flesh or of flint or folly or of madnesse that wee cannot remember a better inheritance left to us in the Word of the Lord That is our Coppy or free Deed rather for thereby we hold Heaven Hereupon Paul commended the elders of Ephesus first to God secondly to the Word of his grace which is able to build further that is to increase them with more graces and to Act. 20. 32. give them an inheritance among all them that are sanctified The Word remembred worketh faith faith apprehendeth Christ Christ uniteth us to God and giveth salvation For salvation is of the Psal 3. 8. Lord and his blessing is upon the people and our Saviour and Redeemer is the mighty one of Iacob God would have his Word so Esa 60. 16. remembred that he chargeth his people Israel saying Yee shall Deut. 11. 18. lay up these my Words in your heart and in your soule and bind them for a signe upon your hand that they bee as a frontlet betweene your eyes that yee may ever remember them David did it I have hid thy Word Psal 119. 11. within my heart that I might not sinne against thee And thus he describeth a good man The Law of his God is in his heart and his goings shall not slide The Apostle crieth out to the Corinthians to receive Psal 37. 31. the Word of God fruitfully Wee beseech you saith he that yee receive not the grace of God in vaine But alas how often have we The neglect of the Word will bring a famine of it received it in vaine How often have we come to Gods Schoole and have taken out never a lesson How often have wee received the food of our soules and never digested it How many Sermons have we heard in vaine How often hath the sower sowed 2 Cor. 6. 1. his seed in vaine Either in the high-way or among stones and thornes If in the time to come wee profit no more than in the times past I assure you our graves will meet with us in the way and it will bee too late to learne when wee are fallen into the pit of silence and into the land where all things are Psal â—â— 12. forgotten Not hee that eateth most but hee that digesteth most is most healthfull not hee that heareth most but he that remembreth most is most edified and most comforted by it hearing is as chewing Christus auditu devorandus Christ is to be devoured by hearing and remembrance is unto the soule Bern. as digestion is to the stomacke meate is nothing without digestion the Word is nothing without remembrance of it by it we are saved if we keep it in memory that is it that maketh or marreth all In this plenty but not of bread in this abundance 1 Cor. 15. 2. but not of water we shall I feare me for our negligence and forgetfulnesse we shall have a famine not of bread a thirst but not of water I feare me the dayes will come that the Word of God will be rare as in the dayes of Heli that a good Minister will be 1 Sam. 3. Amos 8. 11. 2 Chro. 15. 10. precious in our eyes as in the dayes of Amos when mâ—n ran from sea to sea to heare and could not heare as in the dayes of Asa who was wroth with Hanani the Seer and put him in prison Except the time of the Prophets and the Primitive Church wherein they spake with fierie tongues and cloven tongues there was never I am Act. 2. 3. perswaded such a time as this is such excellency and variety of Gods gifts For surely for doctrine for exhortation for prayer arguing utterance and perswasion men in these dayes have rare gifts and the contempt of such precious gifts cannot but bring some rare and great plague upon this age yea the plague that Amos threatned The prudenr shall keep silence in that time For it is an evill time and no marvell we regard not the Word but sit gaping for sleep in the Church as Ravens upon the house-top for heat in the Summer time Magnes ferrum rubiginosum ad se non trahit The Load-stone draweth not to it selfe rusty Iron but iron that is pure and Iet draweth not unto it selfe straw that is soule but that which is cleane Sic Verbum reprobos non ad se trahit nisi fuerint Spiritu Dei sanctificati So the Word doth not draw unto it the Reprobates except they bee sanctified by the Spirit of God it worketh not upon incredulous sluggish Auditors which are not touched with any care of the Word but upon attentive and diligent hearers such as bring with them before they come to heare 1. A desire to heare Who are profitable hearers of the
Word 2. A preparation to heare 3. A purpose to obey And such as in hearing bring 1. Attention 2. Circumspection 3. Application And such as when they have heard the Word use 1. Meditation 2. Action 3. Continuation To these the Word is a savour of life unto life but unto those that regard not these things it is a savour of death unto death I have read of many florishing memories Seneca writeth of himselfe that he was able to recite by heart 2000. names in the same order wherein they were spoken Portius Latro had such a memory that yee could not name that martiall man but hee would runne thorow his acts presently and Cyneas the next day hee came to Rome could salute all the Senators of Rome in order and all the people that stood round about him whom he never saw nor knew before and Tully for memory commendeth Hortentius and Lucullus Lucullus for matter the other for words Now the excellentest matter of all others either for the memory to account or for any part of the soule to conceive is the Word of God therefore saith Iude Remember the words which were spoken c. Memory is as the verticle of the soule and the habitacle of the Word as the meate in the stomacke so the Word in the memory The belly is the bodies storehouse and the memory the soules treasury Thesaurus custos omnium In this storehouse Esdras is reported to store up the Bible and Mary the sayings of our Saviour in this Carindes did lay up volumes Aug. prologo in lib. 1. de doctrina Christi and Cyrus of Persia 300000. Souldiers and Antony the unlearned Eremite of Aegypt by hearing remembred and by remembring came to understand the Scriptures The beasts that chew not the cud were holde for uncleane the mind that remembers not the Word is unpure uncleane there is Memoria reminiscentia the habituall actuall memory the present and recalling remembrance which some resemble to a booke and the reading in the booke unseparable twinnes in matters of Divinity lest our memory unpractised bee turned like Pharoes butler to forgetfulnesse is well compared to a game at tennise which so long indures quà m diu pila inter èos proijciatur as the ball is tossing and the Scriptures so long profit as they are remembred Sicut nullum momentum est quo homo non utetur vel fruatur Dei bonitate Ita nullum debet esse momentum quo Verbum in Hugo de anima memoria non habeat The Word of God ought to be so frequent in out memories as Gods blessings are to our ordinary senses the one is ever present the other ought never to bee forgotten but ourmemory as touching this Word of God it is as an unthrifts purse that holdeth no mony like a riven dish that holdeth We are dull to heare careless to remember Gods Word no water ut Danaidum dolium which runneth out so soone as it is filled our eares are like a riddle or five which letteth go cleane water and keepeth gravell and stones still but they must be like a glasse window that shutteth out a tempest admitteth the light they must be stopped at vaine things and opened to good things yee must not be like them of whom Paul prophesied Which will not suffer wholesome doctrine but having their eares itching 2 Tim. 4. 3. shall after their owne lusts get to themselves an heape of teachers Men are so dull deafe carelesse that God sometime is enforced to speake to the Heavens saying Heare ob Heavens and harken oh Earth for the Lord hath spoken Sometimes to the Earth O Earth Earth Earth heare the Word of the Lord sometime to the Esa 1. Ier. 22. 29. Mountaines Heare O yee Mountaines the Lords quarrell and yee mighty foundations of the Earth for the Lord hath a controversie with his people sometime to the trees so he may speake to the pillars roofe and glasse windowes for wee will not heare him or if we heare him wee remember it not Aristotle saith that the Thracians doe not count above five they cannot remember to five but wee can remember five hundred things of the World but not five things of Gods doctrine Can a maid forget her ornament or a bride her attire yet my people have forgotten mee dayes without number Ier. ◠32. we neither remember the text nor any doctrine nor any exhortation delivered from it like the Philosopher that remembred not his owne name like the Ostrich that remembreth not her egges left in the dust but wee must heare to learne and learne to remember to follow it and follow it to continue in that good that wee have heard then are wee blessed so saith our Saviour Blessed are they that heare the Word of God and keepe it that is that keepe it in his life and keepe it in his memory that wee Luk. 11. 28. may say of our Sundayes as Titus Vespasian said of his dayes wherein he gave not an Almes Hoc Sabbatum perdidi I have lost the Sabbath Yea a thousand yea tenne thousand Sabbaths have we lost we are no whit the better for comming unto Church as Peter said to Christ Master wee have laboured all night and have catched nothing so may we say We have come to the Church and have heard the Word of Life and Salvation but we have learned nothing we can remember nothing we are now hit the better for comming to the Church Frustrà Dei gratiam accipimus wee have received the Word of God in vaine Memorie is as a chest If a ◠Cor. 16. 1. man have all the gold of Ophir and the silver of Tharsis and the treasures of Ganges it is nothing except he hath a place to keepe them in if a man heare tenne thousand sermons it is nothing except hee remember them they are gotten in the Church and forgotten and scattred in the Churchyard like Hannibal that could get the victory but could not keepe it Tell mee O tell me what day in the weeke doe we give so evill The doctrine of Christ and his Apostles the foundation of the Church example of sitting and lulling in our beds as on the Sabbath either we come not to Church or if we come wee heare not or if we heare we remember it not O filthy favour that ariseth out of this loathsome channell I spare to speake I shame to see I rue to know what I fully know against our soules in this respect how can we escape if we neglect so great salvation Hebr. 2. 2. Sinnes past be gone and the Lord forgive us some be to come and the Lord strengthen us lye wee may not the Lord beeing judge cleere our selves wee cannot our consciences bearing witnesse of so many negligences and our great forgetfulnesse How great might our knowledge have beene How strong our faith How ardent our love How fierie our zeale How reformed our lives if we had heard
out and the young Eagles eateit what shall the tongue doe that mocketh God his heavenly Father the 2 Cor. 5. 20. Church his Mother the Saints his fellow brethren members of Christs Body the holy Ghost his Schoole-master the Preachers the messengers of God the Gospell the Word of life the two Sacraments the two dugges of life the Food of our soules Into their secrets let not my soule come saith old father Iacob Many Scoffers and railers smite with the tongue condemne us of singularity precisenesse puritanisme they would not have us so odde but to be good fellowes boone companions sport and play drinke and swill like other men and to Gen. 49. 6. walke as the world doth But let us answere these men as Alexander answered Parmenio counselling him to a thing undecent and unseemely Facerem si Parmenio essem at Alexandro neutiquam licet I would doe this if I were Parmenio but it is no way beseeming Alexander to doe it So will wee answere Atheists Papists Worldlings We would doe such and such things we would drinke with the drunkard sweare with the swaggerer and runne into all excesse of riot if wee were Atheists Papists prophane worldlings At Protestantibus Christianis non licet But it is not lawfull for Christians and Protestants so to doe God bee thanked wee are free now from open persecution the Moone is not turned into bloud the Dragon pursueth not the woman the daughters of Sion are not Apoc. 6. Cap. 12. Lament 2. 1. 2 Reg. 21. darkened the Church is not blacke as Cant. 1. our bloud is not powred out like water as in Ierusalem the Preachers are not scattred abroad as Moses in Madian Daniel in Chaldaea Hosea in Israel Ieremy in Iuda Iohn in Asia Peter in Samaria Philip in Alexandria Thomas in Aethiopia Bartholomew in India Andrew in Scythia SimoÌ„ in Persia Iudas in Mesopotamia Marcus in Colonia Nathanael in France Ioseph of Aramathia in Scotland and Paul in England yet are we not free from all persecution for wee are persecuted with the toung the woolf cannot bite yet can he barke the wicked cannot smite with the fist yet can he smite with the toung these serpents cannot sting yet can they hisse as they said of Ieremy Come let Ier. 18. 18. us smite him with the tongue and let â—â— not give heed to any of his Words so good men shall be sure to bee smitten with the tongue These voices are oftentimes heard Oh these holy men oh these Bible-men oh these precisians Puritans mortified men men of the spiritlare not others holy and honest and good as well as they Oh take heed Dathan Corah and Abiram went to hell for as liâ—lle as Numb 6. 16. that and thither shall these go if they repent not The first Christians wanted not these derisions mockings and scoffings Tertullian in Apologetico saith that they in the Primitive Church were called Asinarij Semissij homines Crucifixi discipuli Galilaei Nazareni heards of Asses vile Fellowes the disciples of a man crucified Galilaeans Nazarites eaters of mans flesh drinkers of mans bloud for that they received the Sacraments Libanus scholler to Iulian the Apostata scoffed at Christ asking what the Sonne of the Carpenter did then in heaven To whom the Schoole-master of Antioch answered Concinnat loculos Iuliano he was making coffins for Iulian. So he died within 3. daies saith the Tripartite History The same Tripartite History telleth of one Lucius Lib. 7. cap. 12. Samasatensis who mocking at Christianity said that he got nothing by it but the increase of his name in one syllable For The godly usually mocked for well doing before he was christened hee was called Lucius but after that he was called Lucianuâ— but he mocked and barked so long at Christ that in fine he was torne in pieces of dogs one dog are another A wicked witnesse mocketh Iudgement saith Salomon but judgements Prov. 19. 28 29. 2 Sam. 6. 21 21. are prepared for the scornefull that is mockers Finely did David answere Michol It was before the Lord which chose me rather then thy Fathers house c. And I will yet bee more vile then thus and will bee low in my owne sight c. So let us answere these huswifes dames scoffers mockers God hath not chosen them nor their Fathers house and we wil be yet more vile seeing it is before our God But yet howsoever Iulian flowt at Christ Diagoras jest at religion Dionysius scoffe at the last Iudgement Ismael the bastard 2 Reg. 2. 19. mocke Isaac Senacherib laugh at the virgin Sion and nod his head at Ierusalem yet how le they weep they and lament this sinne in hell Oh brethren hee that heard our men how in their secret meetings they deride the Preacher the Word the Auditors the Church the assemblies how they canvice every professour his life how they censure all men how they open their mouth against heaven and their tongues walke thorow the earth how they talke on their Ale-bench sparing neither Magistrate not Minister nor private man would wonder that such iniquitie should be in the world yet are they no sooner in danger but they tremble But the vilenesse of this sinne of mocking shall yet more plainely appeare if yee marke the cause of it it is ever lightly for doing well and refraining evill For this cavse Cain disdained and hated his brother Abell because his owne works were evil 1 Iohn 3. 12. his brothers good a vile spirit that cannot abide vertue but so greedily thirsteth after sinne which is of the Divell drinke not with the drunkard and they mocke thee sweare not with the swearers and they mocke thee be not vaine in words in apparell in behaviour and they mocke thee Heare the Word read of it talke of it and by and by a yong Saint and an old Divell you will to Heaven ere your bones bee cold with a number of such mockes and divellish taunts but Iudgements are prepared for these Prov. 19. 29. sinne seene and sorrowed for hath pardon promised but sinne jested at and played withall hath vengeacne threatened It is the 2 Sam. 24. voice of a Christian to say I have sinned but it is the voice of a reprobate to say Tush let them preach I will sinne still and Prov. 14. 9. so verifieth the saying of Salomon The foole maketh a mocke of sinne he doth not know the grievousnesse thereof nor Gods judgements against the same It is strange that one reporteth that in Collecke a towne in Germany Anno. 1505. certaine vaine persons hopping and dancing in the Church-yard being admonished by the minister to cease and contemning it ranne round about till at last they fell all downe dead And note that these vile men shall be in the It is damnable to scoffe at the Saints last times they have beene at all times For sinne is as ancient as Satan who was a murtherer from
lupus ovem à grege The Divell tempteth Cypri and assaieth one thing as a Woolfe he tempteth the sheep from the flocke as an hawke hee tempteth to sever the flying Dove from her company as a sword-player hee proveth to divide and cut the member from the body And so the Divell tempteth to sever and divide a Christian from the Church than which nothing is more dangerous Hilary saith Periculosum est atque etiam maximè miserabile tot nunc fides existere quot volunt ates Hil. lib. ad Constan tot nobis doctrinas esse quot mores tot causas blasphemiarum pullulare quot vitia sunt dum aut fides scribuntur ut volumus aut ita ut volumus intelliguntur It is most dangerous and very miserable that there are so many faiths as wills and so many doctrines as manners of men and thereby so many causes of blasphemy should spring up as there are private faults and vices in men whilest either we set downe and penne our faith as we will or els expound and understand it as wee lust and like of And indeed for Sects and Schismes we abound Omnes volunt esse Apostolos Cypr. lib. 1. ep 1. All would be Apostles all Prophets all Doctors Pastoris officium oves vendicant The sheep doe vendicate and challenge the office of the shepheard the foote contendeth to bee the head the souldier striveth to be the Captaine every member would usurpe anothers office and be in others place hinc Schismata hence spring Schismes and Sects et radix eorum superbia and the Nazianz. roote of them is pride The Sects in Christs time among the Mat. 22. 1 Cor. 1. 10. 2 Pet. 2. 1. Pharises Sadduces Essenes the Sects that sprung up in Corinth those in Rome where of yee may read Rom. 16. and the Sects Schismes that are this day in our Church rose either of pride or of covetousnes As a member cut from the body dieth as a branch cut from the vine whithereth as a river cut and divided into many parts drieth up so if we be cut and divided from the Church wee perish utterly For what concord hath Christ with Belial or what part hath the beleever with the Infidell or what agreement hath the Temple of 2 Cor. 6. 15. God with Idols Yet this I note withall that these Sects hinder not the Church forever God by them revealeth his truth Si hostes Ecclesiam gladio persequuntur exercent ejus patientiam If enemies August de civit Dei lib. 18. cap. 51. persecute the Church with the sword they doe exercise her patience sin malè sentiunt exercent ejus sapientiam but if they imagine evill against the Church they do exercise her wisdome There must needs be offences aswell in doctrine as in manners God turnes the malice of hereticks to the good of his Church oportet esse haereses there must be heresies That they which are approved among you might be knowne For Gods Church is not only subject to dissention as touching orders and manners but also to heresies as touching doctrine Per haec otium torporem Ecclesiae discutit Deus By these things God shaketh off the idlenesse Mat. 18. 1 Cor. 11. 19. or slothfull heavinesse or dulnesse of his Church and wipeth away the rust thereof and maketh the Church people of God carefull and diligent to search the Scriptures whereby all heresy and schismes might be destroied and so avoided But you will say that these hereticks and Sectaries quote Scriptures and what shall the simple doe I answere that wee must deale with them as Christ did with Satan returne Scripture upon them For the Divell having taken Christ into the holy City and set him on the pinacle of the Temple said unto him If thou be the Sonne of God cast thy selfe downe For it is written He will give his Angels charge over thee and with their hands they shall Mat. 4 5 6 7. lift thee up lest at any time thou shouldest dash thy foote against a stone But Christ our Saviour retorted Scripture upon him againe and said It is written Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God The Pelagians to prove Gods grace is not sufficient without our will alledge these words of the Almighty If yee consent and obey yee shall eate the good things of the land The Anabaptists to overthrow Esay 1. 19. Magistracie quote the words of Paul Standfast in the libertie wherwith Christ hath made us free and be not intangled againe with the yoke Gal. 5. 1. of bondage The Donatists to prove a perfection quote the saying of the Apostle Now the God of peace sanctifio you throughout and I Gal. 5. pray God that your whole Spirit soule and body may bee kept blamelesse unto the comming of our Lord Iesus Christ. The Anthropomorphites to prove God like a man quote the saying of the Psalmist The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and his eares are open to their prayers Psal 34. 15. The Familists to prove that wee are co-deified with God and God co-hominified with us alledge the saying of the Apostle Whosoever is borne of God sinneth not the seed of God abideth in him neither 1 Iohn 3. 9. can he sinne for he is borne of God The Papists to prove the primacy of the Pope alledge God made two lights the greater Light to Gen. 1. 16. rule the Day and the lesser the Night meaning say they the Pope and the Emperour the Pope to rule the Clergy and the Emperour the Laity To prove Purgatory they quote the 8. Psalme Thou hast put all things under his feete all sheep and oxen yea Psal 8. 8. and the beasts of the field the fowles of the ayre and the fishes of the sea per pisces animas in Purgatorio intelligunt by fishes they understand the soules in Purgatory as by the birds the Angels and by beasts men The Brownists to prove that no good can be done by a Parliament quote these words of the Holy Ghost Neither by an army Zacha 4. 6. or strength but by my Spirit saith the Lord. To prove that Kings have no authority in the Church they alledge this text To bind their Kings in chaines and their Nobles with linkes of iron To prove that we have in our Church no Word preached no Sacraments The Papists charging us with Sects have more themselves rightly ministred no Minister lawfully called of God they alledge this Scripture How shall they preach except they bee sent To all which we must be able to say Rursus scriptum est as Christ did we must have judgement We must abound in knowledge Psal 149. Rom. 10. 15. Mat. 4. 7. Phil. 1. 9. Hebr. 13. 9. 1 Cor. 14. 20. and in judgement The heart must be established with grace we must not be children in understanding as concerning maliciousnesse wee must bee children but in understanding we must
will be tristitia pudor confusion and punishment but the other thinkes of nothing but his present joy merriment Let others therefore live as they list we must edifie our selves and build up our selves in our most holy Faith let other serve Mammon or Bacchus or Venus wee must serve none of them but the Lord Iesus But of this I have spoken before in the seventeenth Verse But yee beloved edifie your selves This word edifie signifieth to build the metaphor is taken from Carpenters from builders who by little little reare up their worke until it come to a certain height and perfection this metaphor is not improperly applied to the Saints for building edification is proper to houses Now the Church and Saints of God are as houses therfore may be said to bee builded and edified Saint Peter calleth the Saints an house saying The time is come that iudgement must beginne at the house of God And againe And yee as lively stones are 1 Pet. 4. 17. 1 Pet. 2. 5. made a spirituall house So spake Paul Now therefore yee are no more strangers and forreners but Citizens with the Saints and of the houshold Ephes 2. 19 20. of God and are built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Iesus Christ himselfe being the chiefe corner stone And againe writing to the Hebrewes he saith Christ is as the Sonne over his own Hebr. 3. 6 house whose house wee are For in obeying the Sonne wee are made the house of God But most plainely in his Epistle unto the the Saints at Corinth Yee are Gods husbandry and Gods building 1 Cor. 3. 9. This teacheth us two things first that all Christians should bee edifiers builders that is should make themselves a seemely house for God to dwell in Wee read what care David had to build a Temple but God would not suffer him but now every man must build a Temple for God even his own soule We read The Word of God must be the square wherewith we must build what cost Salomon bestowed upon the Temple but now God careth not for such Temples made of stone he will have a Temple made of lively stones For howsoever Heaven is his seate and the Earth his foot-stole yet his most principall princely palace of 1 Chro. 17. 1 4. 1 Pet. 2. 5. pleasure is mans heart hereupon saith a father Quà m excelsus es Domine humiles corde sunt domus tuae O how high how Soveraigne art thou O Lord yet the humble-hearted are the houses wherein thou dwellest For as the Lord loved the gates of Sion more than all the dwellings of Iacob so hee loveth a faithfull heart a devout soule more than all the pavillions of Princes All true Christians must bee builders therefore saith Paul Let all bee to edification 1. Cor. 14. 27. but before they build they 1 Cor. 14 27. must know how to build and the way to come to this knowledge is the Scripture No Carpenter will build an house without rule and square and the rule and square of Christian building is the Word of God by it our hearts and soules are squared and made fit for Gods house and therefore Saint Paul taking his leave of the Church of Ephesus commendeth them to God and to the Act. 20. 32. Word of his grace which is able to build further and to give them an inheritance with all them that are sanctified Where withall saith David Psal 1 19. shall a young man cleanse his way Even by ruling himselfe after thy Word Timothy knew the Scriptures from a child his grandmother 2 Tim. 3. 15. Lois and his mother Eunica taught him them Without the knowledge of the Scripture wee can no more edifie and build than a Carpenter can build without tooles or a Mariner saile without his compasse or a bird flye without his feathers it is the Word of God that is able to make the man of God perfect it is that that will make him become a fit house and Temple for the Lord Of this building Saint Peter speaketh thus Yee are come to the Lord Iesus as a living stone reiected of men but precious and chosen of God wherefore you your selves bee built as lively 1 Pet. 2. 4. stones a spirituall house And Saint Paul Let all things be done to edification 1 Cor. 14. 27. that is Let this be the end of all thy workes the building of Gods spirituall Temple bee more carefull to build it than Salomon was for his Temple If Salomons workemen were one moneth in Libanus about the worke of the Temple and 1 Reg. 5. 14. two moneths at home about their owne businesse Let us exceed them let us imploy two moneths about the Lords building and but one about our owne businesse Let us first seeke the Kingdome of God for as Elias said unto the widow of Sarepta Bake me a cake Mat. 6. 33. 1 Reg. 17. 13. first and after provide for thee and thine so saith Almighty God to us Build me an house first and after for thee and thine And as wee must edifie and build houses for ourselves so for our brethren also so saith the Apostle Exhort one another and edifie one another but especially wee must edifie our children a 1 Thess 5. 11. sonne in Hebrew is called Ben that is a building because the father should especially build his sonne in Religion and Vertue Parents must edifâ—e their children by godly instâ—uction Nature teacheth all men this the Savage Beare fashioneth her whelpes being deformed with her tongue so should all Christians with gentle admonitions frame the deformed manners of their children That commandement which injoyneth fathers to teach their children what the Passe-over meant teacheth them Deut. 6. 10. this building and all Parents if they will have their Children lead a pure life if they will have them strong in the Lord and through the power of his might if they will have them to overcome the Divell if they will have them true Saints Sonnes of Abraham they must edifie them with instruction and see that the Word of God dwell plentifully in them in all Wisedome Papists were great builders they built Churches Religious houses as Col. 3. 16. Abbeyes Nunneries c. but they left the principall worke undone they did not build themselves by the Word of God in their most holy faith neither would they suffer others to build but their guides and leaders tooke away from the people the levell and square of the Word without which men cannot build but God bee blessed the Word is restored wee have the levell to build by let us not bee idle but build up an holy house for God that hee may dwell with us and that wee may dwell with him hereafter for ever Secondly this teacheth us that it is not ynough to begin to build in faith and good workes but wee must goe on goe forward
Is this to celebrate the Nativity of the Lord Iesus Erubescat Sol confundatur Luna Let the Sunne blush and let the Moone bee ashamed Did the Heavenly souldiers thus did the shepheards thus did Mary thus We make melodie Luk. 2. Ephes 5. 19. but not to the Lord our rejoycing is not good God will turne our feasts into mournings 1 Cor. 5. 6. Amos. 8. To this riotous time God fitted this earth-quake a rare worke of God the earth being seventeen hundred miles thick odde it being 800. miles and odde to the Center as saith Munster what a work of God is it to shake the whole Globe the whole wombe of the earth being so mighty A great earth-quake there was in the raigne of King Henry the sixth thorow the world in the even of S. Michael which continued two houres with thunder and lightning so that the beasts rored and the fowles of the ayre cryed out but in this Queenes time there have beene two earth-quakes a thing not observed in the raigne of one Prince of this Land this five hundred yeeres A new starre appeared in Heaven in this Queenes raigne Anno. 15. that was never seene before 26. acres of ground removed in Hartfordshire and three acres at another time in Devonshire strange monsters have appeared strange Comets have beene seene Hate your sinnes the Iudge is at the doore THE EIGHT AND THIRTIETH SERMON VERS XXIIII Now unto him that is able to keepe you that yee fall not c. We can neither stand nor rise being fallen without Christ THis is the Epilogue the conclusion the last part of this Epistle and it containeth two things First A commending them to God and his Grace And secondly A celebration of the name and praises of God The first is double for hee commendeth them two wayes to God for this life and the life to come Againe for this life two wayes first that they fall not but persist and stand in the grace begun Secondly that they may bee pure perfect absolute untill the day of Christ Lastly for the other life that they may bee glorious lambs and not goats sonnes and not bastards citizens and not strangers built on the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles Iesus Christ Ephes 2. 20. himselfe being the chiefe corner stone that they may follow the Lambe on mount Sion and there sing the songs of their joy Apoc. 14. 3. which none can understand save the hundred forty and foure thousand which were bought from the earth Now in the first part of this prayer Saint Iude noteth two things First the weaknesse of man ready to fall All our sufficiencie is of God Secondly the power of God able to keepe us Touching our weakenesse we neither rise when wee are fallen nor stand when wee are risen of our selves all is of God for we are not sufficient of our selves to think any thing as of our selves but our sufficiency 2 Cor. 3. 5. is of God Cum Christo nil nobis deficit With Christ nothing is wanting unto us for as Paul saith I am able to do al things through the Phil. 4. 13. helpe of Christ which strengtheneth me Sine Christo nil nobis sufficit and without Christ nothing is sufficient for us For as the branch cannot Iohn 15. 4 5. beare fruit of it selfe except it abide in the vine no more can yee except yee abide in mee I am the vine yee are the branches hee that abideth in mee and I in him the same bringeth foorth much fruit In eo omnia possumus absque eo nil possumus in him we can doe all things without him we can doe nothing And therefore Paul willeth us to be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might for all our sufficiencie Ephes 6. 10. Iohn 15. 5. Psal 18. 1 2. is of God Hence is it that David saith unto God I love thee dearely oh Lord my Strength the Lord is my Rocke and my Fortresse c. Wee can neither beginne nor continue nor make an end of our selves but by God therefore Paul commendeth the Churches to God ever as hee onely that keepeth them that the whole worke of our salvation may bee ascribed unto him Initium incrementum finis the beginning the increase and the end Wee are of him in Christ Iesus who of God is made unto us Wisedome 1 Cor. 1. 30 31. and Righteousnesse and Sanctification and Redemption that according as it is written He that rejoyceth let him rejoyce in the Lord. Wherein hee noteth three things What wee are of our selves what in God and the end of all that God may have the glory Thus Paul commendeth the Church of Thessalonica to God saying Now the very God of Peace sanctifie you throughout and I 1 Thess 5. 23. pray God that your whole spirit and soule and body may bee kept blamelesse unto the comming of our Lord Iesus Christ and thus he commended the Church of Ephesus at Miletum to God saying Now brethren I commend you to God and the Word of his Grace which is Act. 20. 32. able to build further and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified And thus hee commended the Church of Rome to God To him now that is of power to stablish you according to Rom. 16. 25. my Gospell and preaching of Iesus Christ by the revelation of the mystery which was kept secret since the world beganne c. And thus did the Apostle commend the Church of the Iewes to God whether it was Paul or Luke or Barnabas it skilleth not The God of peace saith hee which brought againe from the dead our Lord Iesus the great Heb. 13. 20 21. Shepheard of the sheepe through the bloud of the everlasting Covenant make you perfect in all good workes to doe his Will working in you that which is pleasant in his sight through Iesus Christ Here by the way let mee answere one cavill in Popery they urge that wee are bidden to stand fast to grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Iesus to goe forward to Wee cannot but fall except we bee preserved continue I answere that all those places are meant conditionally if God doth assist us with his Spirit Sit unus contextus instar mille Let one context bee in stead of a thousand as namely that of Pauls to the Thessalonians where hee telleth them that it is God which worketh in us both the will and the deed even of his good pleasure 2 Thes 1. Psal 4. 1. He biddeth them worke yet he explaneth it by and by that it is God that worketh Agimus passivè quatenus è coelis suggeritur facultas Calvin agis ageris tunc bene agis cum à bono ageris Spiritu Wee worke passively because wee are holpen from Heaven power is ministred unto thee thou workest and art wrought and then thou workest well when thou
Ioram fell to idolatry Hilary did beleeve the Church rather hidde for hee could not see it flourishing and he said that the mountaines the woods the prisons and the whirlepooles were safer than the temples for these are his owne words Montes lucus carceres voragines sunt tutiores quà m templa Arrianisme so prevailed at that time Hierome said Ingemuit totus mundus Arrianum se esse miratus est That 〈◊〉 the whole world wept and wondred that it was become an Arrian Peters little ship was now indangered the windes tost her the waves beat her on the sides little hope but was at the point of sinking but at the last the Lord did arise commanded the winds and the tempest ceased and a calme succeeded and all the Bishops which were exiled were called home againe then Aegypt received his Athanasius triumphing then France embraced Hilary returning from warre then was Antioch gladde at the returne of Chrysostome and Italy threw off her mourning garments at the returne of Eusebius I know that Canus calleth these speeches hyperbolicall of Hilary and Hierome but that is but his hyperbolicall lye This is the common Inne wherein the Papists lodge most of our objections but I reason thus Eadem est ratio totius quae est singulornus membrorum At singula membra possunt cadere Ergo totum corpus The same reason is of the whole which is of every particular member But every particular member may fall The Pope may erre Therefore the whole body The epistles of the Bishops were corrected by Councels provinciall and the Provinciall Councels by the generall and the former generall Councels by those that came afterward saith Augustine Ecclesiam Dei finaliter errare nego that the Church of Aug. lib. 2. de Baptism 1. Iohn 3. God can finally erre I deny for hee that is of God sinneth not and Christ telleth us that there shall arise false Christs and false prophets and shall shew great signes and wonders so that if it were possible they should deceive the very elect if it were possible but unpossible that they should finally be deceived Here the great question is decided Num Papa potest in fide deficere whether the Pope can faile in faith because hee is the whole Church Virtualiter To this wee object Pope Iohn the 22. That hee erred because hee affirmed and held that the soules of the righteous did not see God till the day of judgement which heresy of his was condemned at Paris with the blast of trumpers and we say that Câ—lestine erred when hee held that marriage was dissolved if either of them meaning the man or wife fell into heresy and Gregory when writing to Augustine of Canterbury he said that the husband might marry another wife Si mulier non possit debitum maâ—iâ—o reddere Saint Ambrose in a certaine Sermon of his dicit Petrum fidem sum perdidisse saith Ambr. ser 47. that Saint Peter lost his faith If Peter failed certenly his successors may faile To these Canus answereth that Iohn the 22. and the rest erred personally not judicially to Ambrose his speech hee saith Fides capitur pro fidelitate that faith is there taken for fidelity illam ergo non fidem amisit it was that hee lost namely his fidelity not his faith and he further addeth Papam haeredem esse Petri privilegiorum non culparum that the Pope was the heire of Peters priviledges not of his offences To conclude with Canus all come to this point Bishops Fathers Councels The Popes Legates in Councels may erre for Christ prayed not for Peters Legates but for Peter himselfe quoth the Cardinall of Ture Immo Papam errare posse sed moribus yea the Pope may erre but yet in manners not in faith yea the Pope may erre in faith personaliter non judicialiter personally not judicially quoad factum non quoad fidem as touching facts not as touching faith as Sixtus 4. which taught Catherinam Senensem stigmata non habuisse where hee erred as touching the history not as touching faith and they all affirme that the Pope may erre in his gallery not in his Consistory which is a monstrous answere as though Christ had prayed for the place the walles not for the person as if faith were in the walles not in the heart But if the Pope dye in an heresy though never holden in his Consistory as Iohn the two and twentieth did let them tell mee in what state hee dieth Corde creditur ad justitiam With Rom. 10. the heart man beleeveth unto righteousnesse shall they give The Papists distinctions how the Pope may erre and not erre nice and frivolous us such drosse for gold such chaffe for corne suth lees for wine Shall they build such stubble upon the foundation Ignis probabit the fire shall trie it Let God and man judge of this answere 1 Cor. 3. THE NINE AND THIRTIETH SERMON VERS XXIIII And to present you faultlesse before the presence of his glory with ioy Wee must bee presented blamelesse before God THis is the second thing hee prayeth for as touching this life that God shall present them faultlesse Wee shall bee pure and perfect without fault without spot or wrinkle Nam nil Apot. 21. 27. immundum intrabit c. No uncleane thing shall passe thorow the gates of the new Ierusalem To this end God hath elected us before the foundation of the World That wee should bee holy Ephes 1. 4. and without blame before him in love Hitherto tendeth Pauls prayer Now the very God of Peace sanctifie you throughout and I pray God that your whole spirit soule and body 1 Thess 5. 23. may bee kept blamelesse untill the comming of our Lord Iesus Christ Wee are said to be faultlesse blamelesse and without spot not that wee are without sinne but because God imputes not our sinnes unto us So Saint Paul would have a Bishop sine crimine without fault non dicit sine peccate hee doth not say without sinne for no man is sine peccato without fault though many be sine crimine without offensive fault and yet sine peccate sumus wee are without sinne without fault quia non imputatur nothis because it is not imputed to us Whereupon David Blessed is Psal 32. 2. the man to whom the Lord imputeth not sinne If therefore the Papists should cry all the day long and all their life long Beatus qui Wee are righteous by imputation of Christs righteousnesse timet Deum Blessed is he that feareth God Beatus qui miseretur pauperibus Blessed is hee that considereth the poore and needie Beatus qui operatur justitiam Blessed is he that worketh righteousnesse Beatus qui loquitur verè Blessed is he that speaketh truly for Psal 112. 1. Psal 42. 1. Psal 119. Esa 33. 15. he shall dwell on high his defence shal be the munitions of the rockes bread shall bee given him
the highest degree as God complaineth I have nourished and brought up Children but they have rebelled against mee The Oxe doth know his owner the Asse his masters crib but Israel Esa 1. 2 3 4. hath not knowne my people hath not understood We are a sinfull nation a people loden with iniquity a seed of the wicked corrupt children We have forsaken the Lord and provoked the Holy one of Israel to anger We professe to serve God but in works wee deny God we have a shew of godlines but inwardly wee deny the power of it our profession Tit. 1. 16. 2 Tim. 3. is like the apples and grapes of Sodom faire to the sight but if you touch them they vanish to smoke so all our profession standeth in words not in works as Iames said Ostende mihi fidem per opera Shew mee thy faith by thy works so Ostende Iam. 2. mihi regnum Dei per subjectionem tuam Shew mee the Kingdome of God by thy subjection by thy obedience which is due to his Word apply thy heart to keepe his statutes alwayes unto the end Bee not deceived God will not thus bee mocked in fine wee shall receive the reward of Rebels Quid dicta audiam cùm facta videam What should I heare words when I should see deeds as Moses said to Israeel laying out their severall rebellions So might I lay out the rebellions of England 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 egge and bird all naught our Fathers naught and wee also our Fathers have forsaken God and kept not his Law and we have Notorious sinners Satans subjects done worse than our Fathers and walke every one after the stubbornesse of his heart As well may wee spit on Christ Iesus buffet and beate him with a reed and cry with the mockers Haile King of the Iewes as kneele in the Church and say Thy Kingdome come Lord and yet in our deeds promote the kingdome of Satan disobey and not receive the Word which is the power of God Rom. 1. 16. to salvation to every one that beleeveth Therefore hee so highly extolleth it saying The weapons of our warfare are not carnall but mighty through God to cast downe holdes casting downe the imaginations 2 Cor. 10. 5. and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ Wee pray to be like the Angels we must strive then to come neere Mat. 6. them in obedience Three properties are noted in the Angels Obediunt Libentissimè Citissimè Fidelissimè most Willingly Speedily Faithfully They are willing to obey and so wee read that one Angell with speed killed an hundred fourescore and five thousand of the Assyrians in one night We must be like Angels if we looke Esa 37. to live with Angels they praise God day and night so must we Esa 6. But it may bee said of most of us that which Vivaldus said of Corasius Erat foris Cato intus Noro he was a Cato without a Nero within foris Angelus intus Diabolus an Angell without a Divell within foris Agnus intus Lupus a Lambe without a Wolfe within Deum ore laudabat corde factis negabat hee praised God with his mouth but denied him in heart in deeds tales sunt mancipia Diaboli such are the slaves of Satan God doth not raigne as a King in them his grace hath no dominion over them they are in the snare of the Divell and are taken of him at his will In this sence Christ called the Iewes the sonnes of the Divell Yee are of your father the Divell and the lusts of your father will yee doe so 2 Tim. 2. 26. Iohn 8. 44. 1 Iohn 2. 14. Iohn saith in the contrary I write unto you babes because yee have knowne the father Impij servi sunt tot daemoniorum quot vitiorum the wicked are the servants of so many divels as they have sinnes and transgressions it is the divell that hath dominion over them not God by his grace As there is in the body a palsy that striketh the one halfe and an Apoplexy that striketh the whole body so there is in our soules a spirituall palsy if not an Apoplexy our understanding is not lightned with the doctrine of God and our will is not enflamed with the Love of God to doe his will as it becommeth us Hereupon Saint Augustine crieth out Augusta foeda est domus Aug. animae meae Straight and filthy is the house of my soule but when thou commest vnto it ô Lord it shall bee enlarged and mundified of thee it is ruinous Lord repaire and amend it it is filthy Lord clense it and wash it there be many things in this Christ will dwell and raigne in a pure soule house of my soule which may offend thy sacred eyes but who shall purge it and purify it or unto whom shall I cry but unto thee Ab ocultis meis purga me Clense mee from my secret sinnes Let this bee our prayer and pray with that spirit wherewith Augustine prayed it and no doubt God will heare thee and have a Kingdom in thy soule This testimony is true the Heavens have sealed unto it and the living God hath spoken it of the children of men and blessed are wee if wee beleeve it there is more happinesse in one day of Gods service and under his Dominion then in ten thousand dayes of vanity in which Satan hath dominion and wee fall from the Lord of life The sixth and last attribute is Power wherein the excellent praise of God consisteth which is the ability in God to do what hee listeth like unto the former attributes but not all one with them haec enim magis conjungi quà m confundi velim I had rather conjoine these things than confound them as Calvin said in another case Of this power speaketh David O Lord my God thou art Psal 104. 1. exceeding great thou art clothed with glory and Majesty And of this power speaketh Esay Who hath measured the waters in his fist and counted Heaven with a spanne and comprehended the dust of the earth in Esa 40. 12. a measure and weighted the mountaines in a weight and the hilles in a balance And of this power of God speaketh Salomon Who hath Prov. 30. 4. ascended up to Heaven or descended Who hath gathered the Wind in his fist Who hath bound the Waters in a garment Who hath established all the ends of the world What is his Name or his Sonnes Name if thou canst tell And in respect of this power Christ said Ecce vobiscum sum Behold I am with you to the end of the world whereupon Mat. 28. 20. Aug. Augustine finely Iturus erat Christus ad dextram Patris per mortem praesentia Corporali In regard of his Corporall presence he was by death to goe to the right hand of his Father and in regard of his
and concludeth his Epistle with it Grace bee with you Amen for wee must not doubt of Gods promises but beleeve stedfastly That all the promises of God are in Amen diversly used in Scripture Christ yea and are in him AMEN Againe this word Amen teacheth us to desire earnestly 2 Tim. 4. 22. and fervently the thing wee pray for For the prayer of the righteous availeth much if it bee fervent David was fervent in his Iam. 9. 16. Psal 106. 48. prayer Blessed bee the Lord God of Israel for ever and ever and let all the people say Amen And verily this word Amen noteth our desire our earnest fervent desire to bee heard and to obtaine it is in effect thus much O Lord thus bee it unto mee what my tongue or soule have begged give it me grant it me Amen Amen So Lord even so Lord. FINIS THE TABLE OF THE Sermons upon Saint IVDE Points handled Serm. 1. THe holy Ghost the Author of all Scripture Fol. 1. Two Iudases 1 Iscariot 2 Brother of Iames 1 Some Scriptures doubted of 2 A threefold office of the Church concerning Scripture 3 Honourable titles given the wicked why 4 Stormes should not discourage the godly ibid. Three sorts of servants ibid. Gods service most happy 5 Gods service perfect freedome ibid. Brings all good to us 6 All other service vile or dangerous 7 Mans dignity in three things 8 Priviledges of Gods servants ibid. Pope abuseth the title of servant 9 Servants must imitate their Master obey him 10 Gods servants rewarded ibid. Servants may not Lord it over the rest of the Family 11 Godly profession brings more glory than honourable alliance 12 13. Sermon 2. VOcation the first step to Salvation 15 Before calling wee are children of wrath not capable of Christ 16 The happinesse of having the Gospell 17 Vocation Externall Internall Invitation Admission 17 18 Externall calling unprofitable without internall 18 The efficacie of Gods Word in the ministery thereof 19 Vocation diverse in respect of time and place 20 None called for desert ibid. Sanctification followes vocation 21 God as he beginne will finish till he glorifie ibid. Sanctification three-fold Imputed unto us Wrought in us Wrought by us 22 Difference of righteousnesse of Iustification and Sanctification 23 Papisticall doctrine tends to licentiousnes ours to holinesse ibid. Faith and Workes joyned in the person justified in the act of justification 24 Sermon 3. CHrists Priesthood two parts Redemption Intercession 26 Redemption hath two parts Reconciliation and Sanctification ibid. Reconciliation consists in two points Remission of sinnes and imputation of Christs righteousnesse 27 Iustification what it is ibid. Adoption what it is ibid. Benefits of Adoption and Iustification 27 Sanctification consists in mortification and vivification 28 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath his beginning godly sorrow his companion the Spirituall combat ibid. Sanctification but in part as our knowledge ibid. Divers acceptions of holinesse 29 Wee must bee holy because God is holy 30 Wee must bee holy because it is the end of our Redemption 31 Without holinesse no salvation ibid. Wee must bee holy because called Saints ibid. All our holinesse is from God 32 The persons of the Trinity distinguished 33 Preservation in the state of Grace the chiefest blessing 34 Gods providence preserves in all accidents of life 35 God frees from all afflictions 36 God preserves his Scriptures and Saints 37 Gods preservation of soule and spirituall estate most gracious 38 39 Sermon 4. MErcie Peace and Love three most excellent gifts 40 How these three flow from the Trinity ibid. How mercy in God 41 A rule for Christian salutations ibid. Mercy fourefold ibid. Generall mercies bestowed on all ibid. Speciall mercies on the elect ibid. The long suffering of God 42 The greatest mercy concernes salvation ibid. Our election is of Mercy ibid. Gods abundant mercy in Christ 43 Mercy seven-fold ibid. All that wee have is of mercy ibid. Misericordia communis peccantium portus ibid. Peace three-fold 44 Peace the ornament of the Church and signe of Christs Kingdome ibid. God the Author of Peace 45 A commendation of peace ibid. Contention cause of destruction 46 Vnion makes powerfull ibid. True peace to bee sought and imbraced 47 Righteousnesse cause of peace ibid. Peace of Conscience passeth all understanding 48 Prosperity profiteth not without peace of Conscience ibid. The wicked have no peace 49 Christ dyed rose ascended to perfect our peace ibid. Peace is used for outward prosperitie 50 All priviledges spirituall and temporall belong to the godly ibid. Yet sometime God withholds outward blessings 51 Sermon 5. God loves the fountaine of mercy peace and all good things 52 Gods love is most abundant immeasurable immutable unspeakeable 53 How God is said to be love ibid. Love of man to man the most excellent vertue 54 No Love to man without the love of God 55 True love rare among men 56 That love which is truely Christian must be embraced all other abandoned 57 Not sufficient to have grace but there must be a desire of increase till we come to glory 58 Sermon 6. FAith the most necessarie and excellent vertue 61 Sonnes three-fold by Nature by Doctrine by Adoption or Inspiration 62 Faith set out by it's attributes that wee might labour for it 63 Many carelesse to get Faith or maintaine it ibid. Faith must bee maintained to the death 64 A foure-fold fight and flight of Ministers ibid. The zeale of Idolaters and Heretickes for false religion should make us to be zealous for Gods truth 65 Divers degrees of zeale ibid. God lookes to the truth of our zeale not the heate 66 God accepts according to that a man hath if in truth ibid. Love ought to bee shewed in all our instructions and reprehensions 67 What love required in Ministers to their people ibid. Wee must be zealous in the matter of Religion and industrious for our soules 68 Salvation ought to be our onely ayme to have it assured to our selves and propagated to others 69 Many more regard humane writings yea vaine pamphlets than Scriptures 70 All men ought to labour to get assurance of salvation 71 Salvation common in three respects ibid. As salvation is common so the Church Catholicke 72 Writing the most safe meanes to performe God truth ibid. Traditions bring errors to the Church 73 Exhortation powerfull urged in meekenesse 74 The Minister must exhort and the people suffer the Word of exhortation 75 Sermon 7. GOds truth must bee maintained 76 Faith the gift of God a fruit of the Spirit ibid. Divers acceptions of Faith 77 Divers excellent attributes of saving Faith ibid. Faith a worke of the Trinity 78 The meanes to beget Faith outwardly the Ministery of the Word inwardly the operation of the Spirit 79 True Faith in few in all ages ibid. True Religion most ancient and Scriptures before all other writings 80 As God is immutable so his truth and Religion ibid. Though types and shadowes vanish truth and
servant Nam naturae gratia se apponit daemoni Deus malae consâ—â—tudini bonus usus multitudini malorum spirituum exercitus Angelorum Grace opposeth it selfe to nature God opposeth himselfe against the Divell good custome against evill an hoste of heavenly Angels against a multitude of evill spirits For the Angels of the Lord doe pitch their tents about them Psal 34. that feare him God telleth us that his grace is sufficient for us and that his power is made perfect is knowne and evidently seene through our 2 Cor. 12. 9. weakenesse A question here may bee asked If God bee able to keepe us from falling why then doth hee suffer us to fall Why did hee let Adam fall by the subtilty of the serpent why did he let Lot Gen. 3. Gen. 19. Numb 21. 1 Reg. 11. fall in Zoar by wine and strong drinke Why did hee suffer Moses in the desart by infidelity Why did he let Salomon King Salomon wise King Salomon fall by women Why did hee let Peter fall through feare into lying perjurie banning and cursing Mat. 26. Why doth hee suffer most of his Saints to fall some into one sinne some into another and all into some sinne So that it may bee said of the best of them Septies in die cadit justus the Prov. 24. Iam. 3. 2. righteous man sinneth seven times a day Et in multis peccavimus omnes in many things wee offend all Hereto I answere Adams fall was permitted of God to bring to passe this eternall counsell decreed before the foundation of the world concerning the incarnation of his Sonne and the redemption of mankind through him Nam tu quis es qui litigas cum Deo Who art thou that strivest with God Secondly concerning Rom. 9. the fall of other Saints God permitteth them for two causes either that his mercy might bee made manifest in their God permitted Adam and the Saints to fall for divers reasons pardon and reclaiming or else that they may see the frailty of their nature that they stand not by themselves but by God For the way of man is not in himselfe neither is it in man to direct his pathes that thus God may humble us and that hee that standeth may take heed hee fall not Saint Iude saith not that God ever keepeth us Ier. 10. 23. 1 Cor. 10. 12. from falling but that hee is able to keepe us and will so farre forth doe it as shall stand with his glory and our consolation And this withall I note that God never suffereth his to fall for ever Qui ex Deo est non peccat Hee that is of God sinneth not that is non peccat in aeternum hee sinneth not for ever their 1 Iohn 3. light is eclypsed sometime like the Sunne but never quenched like the fire on the Altar in the Babylonicall captivity they sleepe but they wake againe to righteousnesse they bee not in a lethargie in a dead sleepe like Coranus and Plato who slept and never waked againe â—hey fall sometime but they rise againe like the Dromedary they lye not by it like the Elephant that wanteth jointes they have weeds and faults but they have corne and vertues also like the fields of Sharon whereas the wicked are as Sichem sowne with salt where never fruit grew they have leaves Cant. 4. but they have fruit also like the vine of Megeddo but the wicked Iudg. 9. Mar. 11. are like the figge-tree that Christ cursed they are all leaves all sinne being full of unrighteousnesse fornication wickednesse covetousnesse Rom. 1. 29. full of envy of murder of debate taking all things in evill part they lie downe in sinne they sleepe in sinne they rise up in sinne in the morning they live in it they dye in it it is Alpha Omega Aleph and Tau first and last for the wicked are strangers from the Psal 58. 3. wombe even from the belly thy have erred and spake lies They fall and never rise againe they sinne and repent not of the uncleannesse and fornication and wantonnesse which they have committed 2 Cor. 12. 21. In one word God is able to keepe us and doth keepe us else should wee fall as often as wee are tempted For wee are as dry stubble apt to receive fire but there is a plurality of mercies with God Hee is rich in mercy hee hath mercy for thousands he hath Ephes 2. Exod. 20. Psal 51. Psal 126. â— Ephes 1. 3. 1 Cor. 2. 8. a multitude of mercies he hath lesser mercies and greater mercies Hee filleth our mouthes with laughter and our tongues with joy hee hath corporall blessings and spirituall blessings temporall joyes in earth and everlasting joyes in heaven hee hath a preventing grace in delivering from sinne and a following grace in pardoning sinne he hath an infusing grace and a restraining grace and Iohn 17. 2 Cor. 12. 7. his grace is sufficient for us But here a question may be moved whether the Church may fall from God in doctrine in manners num errare potest tam fide quà m vita whether it may erre as well in faith as in life To this some answer Ecclesia non cadit non errat universaliter totaliter fundamentaliter finaliter that the Church doth not fall doth not erre universally totally fundamentally finally non universaliter The best have erred in omnibus membris not universally in all the members non totaliter in singulis fidei capitibus not totally in every article of faith non fundamentaliter in praecipuis capitibus not fundamentally in the chiefe heads non finaliter in aeternum not finally for euer unto perdition But admit this yet it may fall it may erre The question is not what it doth but what it may doe Ecclesia potest errare the Church may erre whether yee respect it as universall in Councels or the singular members thereof severally quoth Danaeus for it is manifest that I may erre and you may Danaeus erre and hee may erre sic de singulis and so of every one For wee set but in part the which words are meant of every one wee 1 Cor. 13. 9. proceed and goe forward daily wee are not yet come unto perfection wee see the most excellent men have erred as Thomas in Phil. 3. Iohn 20. Act. 10. Num 9. Exod. 32. Act. 1. the resurrection Peter in circumcision Moses in the Passeover Aaron in the golden Calfe in Idolatry All the Apostles in the Kingdome of Christ Lactantius Eusebius Apollinaris Arnobius were tainted errore Chiliastarum with the error of the Chiliasts which held that Christ should come personally and raigne as a King in this world a thousand yeeres yea all men are lyers and all pray Forgive us our trespasses yea looke into the Apocalyps and Mat. 5. Apos 12. 2 Reg. 11. yee shall find that the woman fledde into the wildernesse the whole visible Church under