may soon deceive himself and think in his own phantasie that he by Faith knoweth God loveth him feareth him and belongeth to him when in very deed he doth nothing less For the tryal of all these things is a very Godly and Christian Life He that feeleth his Heart set to seek God's Honour and studieth to know the Will and Commandments of God and to frame himself thereunto and leadeth not his Life after the desire of his own flesh to serve the Devil by Sin but setteth his Mind to serve God for his own sake and for his sake also to love all his Neighbors whether they be Friends or Adversaries doing good to every Man as opportunity serveth and willingly hurting no Man Such a Man may well rejoyce in God perceiving by the trade of his Life that he unfeignedly hath the right knowledge of God a lively Faith a stedfast Hope a true and unfeigned Love and Fear of God But he that casteth away the yoke of God's Commandments from his Neck and giveth himself to live without true Repentance after his own sensual Mind and Pleasure not regarding to know God's Word and much less to live according thereunto Such a Man clearly deceiveth himself and seeth not his own Heart if he thinketh that he either knoweth God loveth him feareth him or trusteth in him Some peradventure fancy in themselves that they belong to God although they live in Sin and so they come to the Church and shew themselves as God's dear Children But St. John saith plainly If we say 1 John 1. that we have any company with God and walk in darkness we do lye Others do vainly think that they know and love God although they pass not of the Commandments But St. John saith clearly 1 John 2. He that saith I know God and keepeth not his Commandments he is a lyar Some falsly persuade themselves that they love God when they hate their Neighbors But St. John saith manifestly If any man say I love God 1 John 4. 1 John 2. and yet hateth his Brother he is a lyar He that saith that he is in the light and hateth his brother he is still in darkness He that loveth his brother dwelleth in the light but he that hateth his brother is in darkness and walketh in darkness and knowe h not whither he goeth For darkness hath blinded h s eyes And moreover he saith 1 John 3. Hereby we manif stly know the Children of God from the Children of the Devil He that doth not righteously is not the child of God nor he that hateth his Brother Deceive not yourselves therefore thinking that you have Faith in God or that you love God or do trust in him or do fear him when you live in sin For then your ungodly and sinful Life declareth the contrary whatsoever you say or think It pertaineth to a Christian Man to have this true Christian Faith and to try himself whether he hath it or no and to know what belongeth to it and how it doth work in him It is not the World that we can trust to the World and all that is therein is but vanity It is God that must be our Defence and Protection against all temptation of Wickedness and Sin Errors Superstition Idolatry and all Evil. If all the World were on our side and God against us What could the World avail us Therefore let us set our whole Faith and Trust in God and neither the World the Devil nor all the power of them shall prevail against us Let us therefore good Christian Poople try and examine our Faith what it is Let us not flatter our selves but look upon our Works and so judge of our Faith what it is Christ himself speaketh of this matter Luke 6. and saith The tree is known by the fruit Therefore let us do good Works and thereby declare our Faith to be the lively Christian Faith Let us by such Virtues as ought to spring out of Faith shew our election to be sure and stable as St. Peter teacheth 2 Pet. 1. endeavour yourselves to make your calling and election certain by good Works And also he saith minister or declare in your faith virtue in virtue knowledge in knowledge temperance in temperance patience in patience godliness in godliness brotherly charity in brotherly charity love So shall we shew indeed that we have the very lively Christian Faith and may so both certifie our Conscience the better that we be in the right Faith and also by these means confirm other Men. If these fruits do not follow we do but mock with God deceive ourselves and also other Men. Well may we bear the name of Christian Men but we do lack the true Faith that doth belong thereunto for the true Faith doth ever bring forth good Works as St. James saith James 2. Shew me thy faith by thy deeds Thy Deeds and Works must be an open Testimonial of thy Faith Otherwise thy Faith being without good VVorks is but the Devils Faith the Faith of the wicked a phantasie of Faith and not a true Christian Faith And like as the Devils and evil People be nothing the better for their counterfeit Faith but it is unto them the more cause of damnation So they that be Christians and have received knowledge of God and of Christ's Merits and yet of a set purpose do live idly without good VVorks thinking the name of a naked Faith to be either sufficient for them or else setting their Minds upon vain pleasures of this VVorld do live in Sin without Repentance not uttering the fruits that do belong to such an high Profession upon such presumptious Persons and wilful Sinners must needs remain the great vengeance of God and eternal punishment in Hell prepared for the unjust and wicked Livers Therefore as you profess the name of Christ good Christian People let no such phantasie and imagination of Faith at any time beguile you But be sure of your Faith try it by your living look upon the fruits that come of it mark the increase of Love and Charity by it towards God and your Neighbor and so shall you perceive it to be a true lively Faith If you feel and perceive such a Faith in you rejoyce in it and be diligent to maintain it and keep it still in you let it be daily increasing and more and more by well-working and so shall you be sure that you shall please God by this Faith and at the length as other faithful Men have done before so shall you when his Will is come to him and receive the end and final reward of your Faith as St. Peter nameth it the salvation of your Souls 1 Pet. 1. The which God Grant us that hath promised the same unto his Faithful to whom be all Honour and Glory World without end Amen A SERMON Of Good Works annexed unto Faith IN the last Sermon was declared unto you what the lively and true Faith of a
not contend therein but this I will surely affirm That Faith only saved him If he had lived and not regarded Faith and the Works thereof he should have lost his Salvation again But this is the effect that I say That Faith by itself saved him but Works by themselves never justified any Man Here ye have heard the Mind of St. Chrysostome whereby you may perceive that neither Faith is without Works having opportunity thereto nor Works can avail to everlasting Life without Faith The Seccond Part of the Sermon of Good Works OF three things which were in the former Sermon especially noted of lively Faith to be declared unto you The First was that Faith is never idle without Good Works when occasion serveth The Second What Works they are that spring out of Faith that good Works acceptable to God cannot be done without Faith Now to go forward to the Third Part that is What manner of Works they be which spring out of true Faith and lead faithful Men unto everlasting Life This cannot be known so well as by our Saviour Christ himself who was asked of a certain great Man the same Question What Works shall I do Matth. 19. said a Prince to come to everlasting life to whom Jesus answered If thou wilt come to everlasting life keep the Commandments But the Prince not satisfied herewith asked farther Which Commandments The Scribes and Pharises had made so many of their own Laws and Traditions to bring Men to Heaven besides God's Commandments that this Man was in doubt whether he should come to Heaven by those Laws and Traditions or by the Law of God and therefore he asked Christ which Commandments he meant Whereunto Christ made him a plain answer rehearsing the Commandments of God saying Thou shalt not kill Thou shalt not commit adultery Matth. 19. Thou shalt not steal Thou shalt not bear false witness Honour thy Father and thy Mother and love thy neighbor as thyself By which words Christ declared The Works that lead to Heaven be Works of God's Commandments Man from his first falling from God's Commandments hath ever been ready to do the like and doth devise works of his own phantasie to please God withal that the Laws of God be the very way that doth lead to everlasting Life and not the Traditions and Laws of Men. So that this is to be taken for a most true Lesson taught by Christ's own Mouth That the works of the Moral Commandments of God be the very true Works of Faith which lead to the Blessed Life to come But the blindness and malice of Man even from the beginning hath ever been ready to fall from God's Commandments As Adam the first Man having but one Commandment That he should not eat of the Fruit forbidden notwithstanding God's Commandment he gave credit unto the Woman seduced by the subtil persuasion of the Serpent and so followed his own Will and left God's Commandment And ever since that time all that came of him have been so blinded through original Sin that they have been ever ready to fall from God and his Law and to invent a new way unto Salvation by Works of their own device so much that almost all the World forsaking the true Honour of the only Eternal living God wandred about their own phantasies worshipping some the Sun the Moon The Devices and Idolatry of the Gentiles The Devices and Idolatries of the Israelites Exod. 32. the Stars some Jupiter Juno Diana Saturnus Apollo Neptunus Ceres Bacchus and other dead Men and Women Some therewith not satisfied worshipping divers kinds of Beasts Birds Fish Fowl and Serpents every Country Town and House in a manner being divided and setting up Images of such things as they liked and worshipping the same Such was the rudeness of the People after they fell to their own phantasies and left the Eternal living God and his Commandments that they devised innumerable Images and Gods In which error and blindness they did remain until such a time as Almighty God pitying the blindness of Man sent his true Prophet Moses into the World to reprove and rebuke this extreme madness and to teach the People to know the only living God and his true Honour and Worship But the corrupt inclination of Man was so much given to follow his own phantasie and as you would say to favour his own Bird that he brought up himself that all the Admonitions Exhortations Benefits and Threatnings of God could not keep him from such his Inventions For notwithstanding all the Benefits of God shewed unto the People of Israel yet when Moses went up into the Mountain to speak with Almighty God he had tarried there but a few days when the People began to invent new Gods And as it came into their heads they made a Calfe of Gold and kneeled down and worshipped it And after that they followed the Moabites and worshipped Beelphegor the Moabites God Read the Book of Judges the Book of the Kings and the Prophets and there you shall find how unstedfast the People were how full of inventions and more ready to run after their own phantasies than God's most Holy Commandments There shall you read of Baal Molâ—ch Chamos Melchom Baalpeor Astaroth Bell the Dragon Priapus the brazen Serpent the twelve Signs and many other unto whose Images the People with great Devotion invented Pilgrimages precious decking and censing them kneeling down and offering to them thinking that an high merit before God and to be esteemed above the Precepts and Commandments of God And where at that time God commanded no Sacrifice to be made but in Jerusalem only they did clean contrary making Altars and Sacrifices every where in Hills in Woods and in Houses not regarding God's Commandments but esteeming their own Phantasies and Devotions to be better than they And the error hereof was so spread abroad that not only the unlearned People but also the Priests and Teachers of the People partly by Vain-glory and Covetousness were corrupted and partly by Ignorance blindly deceived with the same abominations So much that King Achab having but only Helias a true Teacher and Minister of God there were Four hundred and fifty Priests that persuaded him to Honour Baal and to do Sacrifice in the Woods or Groves And so continued that horrible Error until the three Noble Kings as Josaphat Ezechias and Josias God's chosen Ministers destroyed the same clearly and brought again the People from such their feigned Inventions unto the very Commandments of God For the which thing their immortal Reward and Glory doth and shall remain with God for ever Religions and Sects among the Jews And beside the foresaid Inventions the inclination of Man to have his own Holy Devotions devised new Sects and Religions called Pharises Sadduces and Scribes with many Holy and Godly Traditions and Ordinances as it seemed by the outward appearance and goodly glistering of the Works but in very deed all tending to Idolatry
contrary to this Commandment do make or worship any Images or Similitude which he so strictly hath forbidden And when they this notwithstanding partly by Inclination of Mans corrupt Nature most prone to Idolatry and partly occasioned by the Gentiles and Heathen People dwelling about them who were Idolaters did fall to the making and worshipping of Images God according to his Word brought upon them all those Plagues which he threatned them with as appeareth in the Books of the Kings and the Chronicles in sundry places at large And agreeable hereunto are many other notable places in the Old Testament Deuteronomy 27. Cursed be he that maketh a carved Image or a cast or molten Image which is abomination before the Lord the Work of the Artificers Hand and setteth it up in a secret corner and all the People shall say Amen Read the thirteeenth and fourteenth Chapters of the Book of Wisdom concerning Idols or Images how they be made set up called upon and offered unto and how he praiseth the Tree whereof the Gibbet is made as happy in comparison to the Tree that an Image or Idol is made of even by these very words Happy is the Tree where through Righteousness cometh meaning the Gibbet but cursed is the Idol that is made with hands yea both it and he that made it and so forth And by and by he sheweth how that the things which were the good Creatures of God before as Trees or Stones when they be once altered and fashioned into Images to be worshipped become abomination a temptation unto the Souls of Men and a snare for the feet of the unwise And why The seeking out of Images is the beginning of Whoredom saith he and the bringing up of them is the destruction of Life For they were not from the beginning neither shall they continue for ever The wealthy idleness of Men hath found them out upon Earth therefore shall they come shortly to an end And so forth to the end of the Chapter containing these Points How Idols or Images were first invented and offered unto how by an ungracious custom they were established how Tyrants compel Men to worship them how the ignorant and the common People are deceived by the cunning of the Workman and the beauty of the Image to do honour unto it and to err from the knowledg of God and of other great and many Mischiefs that come hy Images And for a conclusion he saith That the honouring of abominable Images is the cause the beginning and end of all evil and that the Worshippers of them be either mad or most wicked See and view the whole Chapter with diligence for it is worthy to be well considered specially that is written of the deceiving of the simple and unwise common People by Idols and Images and repeated twice or thrice Sap. 15. lest it should be forgotten And in the Chapter following be these words The painting of the Picture and carved Image with divers Colours enticeth the ignorant so that he honoreth and loveth the Picture of a dead Image that hath no Soul Nevertheless they that love such evil things they that trust in them they that make them they that favour them and they that honor them are all worthy of death and so forth Psal 115. In the Book of Psalms the Prophet curseth the Image-honorers in divers places Confounded be all they that worship carved Images and that delight or glory in them Psal 135. Like be they unto the Images that make them and all they that put their trust in them And in the Prophet Isaiah saith the Lord Isai 42. Even I am the Lord and this is my Name and my Glory will I give to none other neither mine Honor to graven Images And by and by Let them be confounded with shame that trust in Idols or Images or say to them you are our Gods And in the xl Chapter Isai 40. after he hath set forth the incomprehensible Majesty of God he asketh To whom then will ye make God like Or what similitude will ye set up unto him Shall the Carver make him a carved Image And shall the Goldsmith cover him with Gold and cast him into a form of Silver Plates And for the poor Man shall the Image-maker frame an Image of Timber that he may have somwhat to set up also And after this he cryeth out O Wretches heard ye never of this Hath it not been preached unto you since the beginning and so forth how by the Creation of the World and the greatness of the Work They might understand the Majesty of God the Creator and Maker of all to be greater than that it should be expressed or set forth in any Image or bodily Similitude And besides this Preaching even in the Law of God written with his own Finger as the Scripture speaketh and that in the first Table Exo. 20. and the beginning thereof is this Doctrine aforesaid against Images not briefly touched but at large set forth and preached and that with denunciation of destruction to the Contemners and Breakers of this Law and their Posterity after them And lest it should not yet be marked or not remembred the same is written and reported not in one but in sundry places of the Word of God that by oft hearing and reading of it we might once learn and remember it as you also hear daily read in the Church God spake these Words and said I am the Lord thy God Thou shalt have none other Gods but me Exo. 20. Levit. 26. Deut. 5. Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven Image nor the likeness of any thing that is in Heaven above nor in the Earth beneath nor in the Water under the Earth thou shalt not bow down to them nor worship them For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God and visit the Sin of the Fathers upon the Children unto the third and fourth Generation of them that hate me and shew Mercy unto thousands in them that love me and keep my Commandments All this notwithstanding neither could the notableness of the place being the very beginning of the very loving Lord's Law make us to mark it nor the plain declaration by recounting of all kind of similitudes cause us to understand it nor the oft repeating and reporting of it in divers and sundry Places the oft reading and hearing of it could cause us to remember it nor the dread of the horrible penalty to ourselves our Children and Posterity after us fright us from transgressing of it nor the greatness of the reward to us and our Children after us move us any thing to Obedience and the observing of this the Lord 's Great Law But as though it had been written in some corner and not at large expressed but briefly and obscurely touched as though no penalty to the Transgressors nor reward to the Obedient had been adjoined unto it like blind Men without all knowledg and understanding like
nothing is impossible as may further also appear by the inward Regeneration and Sanctification of Mankind When Christ said to Nicodemus Unless a Man be born a-new of Water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God he was greatly amazed in his mind and began to reason with Christ demanding how a Man might be born which was old John 3. Can he enter saith he into his Mothers Womb again and so be born anew Behold a lively pattern of a fleshly and carnal Man He had little or no intelligence of the Holy Ghost and therefore he goeth bluntly to work and asketh how this thing were possible to be true whereas otherwise if he had known the great power of the Holy Ghost in this behalf that it is he which inwardly worketh the Regeneration and New Birth of Mankind he would never have marvelled at Christs words but would rather take occasion thereby to praise and glorifie God For as there are three several and sundry Persons in the Deity so have they three several and sundry Offices proper unto each of them The Father to Create the Son to Redeem the Holy Ghost to Sanctifie and Regenerate Whereof the last the more it is hid from our understanding the more it ought to move all Men to wonder at the secret and mighty working of Gods Holy Spirit which is within us For it is the Holy Ghost and no other thing that doth quicken the Minds of Men stirring up good and godly Motions in their Hearts which are agreeable to the Will and Commandment of God such as otherwise of their own crooked and perverse Nature they should never have John 5. That which is born of the Spirit is Spirit As who should say Man of his own Nature is fleshly and carnal corrupt and naught sinful and disobedient to God without any spark of goodness in him without any vertuous or godly Motion only given to evil Thoughts and wicked Deeds As for the Works of the Spirit the Fruits of Faith charitable and godly Motions if he have any at all in him they proceed only of the Holy Ghost who is the only worker of our Sanctification and maketh us new Men in Christ Jesus Did not Gods holy Spirit miraculously work in the Child David when of a poor Shepherd he became a Princely Prophet 1 Sam. 17. Mat. 9. Did not Gods Holy Spirit miraculously work in Matthew sitting at the receit of Custom when of a proud Publican he became an humble and lowly Evangelist And who can choose but marvel to consider that Peter should become of a simple Fisher a chief and mighty Apostle Paul of a cruel and bloody Persecutor a faithful Disciple of Christ to teach the Gentiles Such is the power of the Holy Ghost to Regenerate Men and as it were to bring them forth anew so that they shall be nothing like the Men that they were before Neither doth he think it sufficient inwardly to work the Spiritual and New Birth of Man unless he do also dwell and abide in him 1 Cor. 3. Know ye not saith St. Paul that ye are the Temple of God and that his Spirit dwelleth in you Know ye not that your Bodies are the Temples of the Holy Ghost which is within you Again he saith You are not in the Flesh but in the Spirit For why Rom. 8. 1 John 2 the Spirit of God dwelleth in you To this agreeth the Doctrin of St. John writing on this wise The Anointing which ye have received he meaneth the Holy Ghost dwelleth in you And the Doctrin of Peter saith the same 1 Pet. 4. who hath these words The Spirit of Glory and of God resteth upon you O what comfort is this to the heart of a true Christian to think that the Holy Ghost dwelleth within him Rom. 5. If God be with us as the Apostle saith who can be against us O but how shall I know that the Holy Ghost is within me Some Man perchance will say forsooth As the Tree is known by his Fruit so is also the Holy Ghost The Fruits of the Holy Ghost according to the mind of St. Paul are these Love Joy Peace long Suffering Gentleness Goodness Gal. 5. Faithfulness Meekness Temperance c. Contrariwise the Deeds of the Flesh are these Adultery Fornication Uncleanness Wantonness Idolatry Witchcraft Hatred Debate Emulation Wrath Contention Sedition Heresie Envy Murder Drunkenness Gluttony and such like Here is now that Glass wherein thou must behold thy self and discern whether thou have the Holy Ghost within thee or the Spirit of the Flesh If thou see that thy Works be vertuous and good consonant to the prescript Rule of Gods Word favouring and tasting not of the Flesh but of the Spirit then assure thy self that thou art endued with the Holy Ghost otherwise in thinking well of thy self thou dost nothing else but deceive thy self The Holy Ghost doth always declare himself by his fruitful and gracious gifts namely by the word of Wisdom by the word of Knowledge which is the understanding of the Scriptures by Faith 1 Cor. 12. in doing of Miracles by healing them that are Diseased by Prophesie which is the Declaration of Gods Mysteries by discerning of Spirits diversities of Tongues interpretation of Tongues and so forth All which gifts as they proceed from one Spirit and are severally given to Man according to the measurable distribution of the Holy Ghost even so do they bring Men and not without good cause into a wonderful admiration of Gods divine Power Who will not marvel at that which is written in the Acts of the Apostles Acts 5. to hear their bold confession before the Council at Jerusalem And to consider that they went away with joy and gladness rejoycing that they were worthy to suffer Rebukes and Checks for the Name and Faith of Christ Jesus This was the mighty work of the Holy Ghost who because he giveth patience and joyfulness of heart in Temptation and Affliction hath therefore worthily obtained this name in Holy Scripture to be called a Comforter Who will not also marvel to read the learned and heavenly Sermons of Peter and the Disciples considering that they were never brought up in School of Learning but called even from their Nets to supply the Rooms of Apostles This was likewise the mighty work of the Holy Ghost John 14. who because he doth instruct the hearts of the simple in the true knowledge of God and his Word is most justly termed by this name and title to be the Spirit of Truth Lib. 11. cap. 3. Eusebius in his Ecclesiastical History cap. 3. telleth a strange Story of a certain learned and subtil Philosopher who being an extream adversary to Christ and his Doctrin could by no kind of Learning be converted to the Faith but was able to withstand all the Arguments that could be brought against him with little or no labor At length there started up a poor
this matter that in the mouth of two or three may the truth be known Verily that holy Prophet Esay beareth record and saith Esay 26. O Lord it is thou of thy goodness that hast wrought all our works in us not we our selves And to uphold the truth of this matter against all Justiciaries and Hypocrites which rob Almighty God of his Honor and ascribe it to themselves St. Paul bringeth in his Belief 1 Cor. 3. Acts 17. We be not saith he sufficient of our selves as of our selves once to think any thing but all our ableness is of Gods goodness For he it is in whom we have all our Being our Living and Moving If ye will know furthermore where they had their Gifts and Sacrifices which they offered continually in their Lives to Almighty God they cannot but agree with David where he saith Of thy liberal hand O Lord we have received that we gave unto thee If this holy Company therefore confess so constantly that all the Goods and Graces wherewith they were indued in Soul came of the goodness of God only What more can be said to prove that all that is good cometh from Almighty God Is it meet to think that all spiritual goodness cometh from God above only and that other good things either of Nature or of Fortune as we call them cometh of any other cause Doth God of his goodness adorn the Soul with all the Powers thereof as it is and come the gifts of the Body wherewith it is endued from any other If he doth the more cannot he do the less To justifie a sinner to new create him from a wicked Person to a righteous Man is a greater Act saith St. Augustin than to make such a new Heaven and Earth as is already made We must needs agree that whatsoever good thing is in us of Grace of Nature or of Fortune is of God only as the only Author and Worker And yet it is not to be thought that God hath created all this whole Universal World as it is and thus once made hath given it up to be ruled and used after our own wits and device and so taketh no more charge thereof As we see the Shipwright after he hath brought his Ship to a perfect end then delivereth it to the Mariners and taketh no more care thereof nay God hath not so created the World that he is careless of it but he still preserveth it by his goodness he still stayeth it in his Creation for else without his special goodness it could not stand long in this condition And therefore St. Paul saith That he preserveth all things Heb. 2. Heb. 3. and beareth them up still in his Word lest they should fall without him to their nothing again whereof they were made If his especial goodness were not every where present every Creature should be out of order and no Creature should have his property wherein he was first created He is therefore invisible every where and in every Creature and filleth both Heaven and Earth with his Presence In the Fire to give Heat in the Water to give Moisture in the Earth to give Fruit in the Heart to give his Strength yea in our Bread and Drink is he to give us nourishment where without him the Bread and Drink cannot give sustenance nor the Herb health as the Wise Man plainly confesseth it saying Wisd 16. It is not the increase of Fruits that feedeth Men but it is thy word O Lord which preserveth them that trust in thee And Moses agreeth to the same when he saith Deut. 8. Mans life resteth not in Bread only but in every Word which proceedeth out of Gods mouth Wisd 17. It is neither the Herb nor the Plaister that giveth Health of themselves but thy Word O Lord saith the Wise Man which healeth all things It is not therefore the power of the Croatures which worketh their effects but the goodness of God which worketh in them In his Word truly do all things consist By that same Word that Heaven and Earth were made by the same are they upholden maintained 2 Pet. 3. and kept in order saith St. Peter and shall be till Almighty God shall withdraw his Power from them and speak their dissolution If it were not thus that the goodness of God were effectually in his Creatures to rule them how could it be that the Main Sea so raging and laboring to over-flow the Earth could be kept within its bounds and banks as it is That Holy Man Job evidently spied the goodness of God in this Point and confessed that if he had not a special goodness to the preservation of the Earth it could not but shortly be over-flowed of the Sea How could it be that the Elements so divers and contrary as they be among themselves should yet agree and abide together in a concord without destruction one of another to serve our use if it came not only of Gods goodness so to temper them How could the Fire not burn and consume all things if it were let loose to go whither it would and not staid in its sphere by the goodness of God measurably to heat these inferior Creaturs to their riping Consider the huge Substance of the Earth so heavy and great as it is How could it so stand stably in the space as it doth if Gods goodness reserved it not so for us to travel on It is thou Psal 10.3 O Lord saith David which hast founded the Earth in its stability and during thy Word it shall never reel or fall down Consider the great strong Beasts and Fishes far passing the strength of Man how fierce soever they be and strong yet by the goodness of God they prevail not against us but are under our subjection and serve our use Of whom came the invention thus to subdue them and make them fit for our Commodities Was it by Mans Brain nay rather this invention came by the goodness of God which inspired Mans understanding to have his purpose of every Creature Job 38. Who was it saith Job that put Will and Wisdom in Mans head but God only his goodness And as the same saith again I perceive that every Man hath a mind but it is the inspiration of the Almighty that giveth understanding It could not be verily good Christian People that Man of his own wit upholden should invent so many and divers devices in all Crafts and Sciences except the goodness of Almighty God had been present with Men and had stirred their wits and studies of purpose to know the natures and dispositions of all his Creatures to serve us sufficiently in our needs and necessities Yea not only to serve our necessities but to serve our pleasures and delight more than necessity requireth So liberal is Gods goodness to us to provoke us to thank him if any hearts we have The Wise Man in his Contemplation by himself could not but grant this thing to be true
Wife to learn this Vertue by that occasion Wherefore seeing many Men be far be hind the wisdom of this Man my Counsel is that first before all things a Man do his best endeavor to get him a good Wife endued with all Honesty and Vertue But if it so chance that he is deceived that he hath chosen such a Wife as is neither good nor tolerable then let the Husband follow this Philosopher and let him instruct his Wife in every condition and never lay these matters to sight For the Merchant-man except he be first at composition with his Factor to use his interfairs quietly he will neither stir his Ship to sail nor yet will lay hands upon his Merchandise Even so let us do all things that we may have the fellowship of our Wives which is the Factor of all our doings at home in great quiet and rest And by these means all things shall prosper quietly and so shall we pass through the dangers of the troublous Sea of this World For this state of life will be more Honorable and Comfortable than our Houses than Servants than Mony than Lands and Possessions than all things that can be told As all these with Sedition and Discord can never work us any comfort So shall all things turn to our Commodity and Pleasure if we draw this Yoke in one concord of Heart and Mind Whereupon do your best endeavor that after this sort ye use your Matrimony and so shall ye be armed on every side Ye have escaped the snares of the Devil and the unlawful lusts of the Flesh ye have the quietness of Conscience by this instruction of Matrimony ordained by God therefore use oft Prayer to him that he would be present by you that he would continue Concord and Charity betwixt you Do the best you can of your parts to Custom your selves to softness and meekness and bear well in worth such oversights as chance and thus shall your Conversation be most pleasant and comfortable And although which can no otherwise be some Adversities shall follow and otherwhiles now one discommodity now another shall appear yet in this common Trouble and Adversity lift up both your Hands unto Heaven call upon the help and assistance of God the Author of your Marriage and surely the promise of relief is at hand For Christ affirmeth in his Gospel Where two or three be gathered together in my Name and be agreed what matter soever they Pray for it shall be granted them of my Heavenly Father Why therefore shouldst thou be afraid of the danger where thou hast so ready a Promise and so nigh an Help Furthermore you must understand how necessary it is for Christian Folk to bear Christs Cross for else we shall never feel how comfortable Gods help is unto us Therefore give thanks to God for his great benefit in that ye have taken upon you this state of Wedlock and Pray ye instantly that Almighty God may luckily defend and maintain ye therein that neither ye be overcome with any Temptations nor with any Adversity But before all things take good heed that ye give no occasion to the Devil to let and hinder your Prayers by Discord and Dissention for there is no stronger defence and stay in all our life than is Prayer in the which we may call for the help of God and obtain it whereby we may win his Blessing his Grace his Defence and Protection so to continue therein to a better life to come Which grant us he that died for us all to whom be all Honor and Praise for ever and ever Amen AN HOMILY AGAINST IDLENESS FOrasmuch as Man being not born to Ease and Rest but to Labor and Travel is by corruption of Nature through sin so far degenerated and grown out of kind that he taketh Idleness to be no evil at all but rather a commendable thing seemly for those that be Wealthy and therefore is greedily imbraced of most part of Men as agreeable to their sensual affection and all Labor and Travel is diligently avoided as a thing Painful and Repugnant to the pleasure of the Flesh It is necessary to be declared unto you that by the Ordinance of God which he hath set in the Nature of Man every one ought in his Lawful Vocation and Calling to give himself to Labor and that Idleness being Repugnant to the same Ordinance is a grievous sin and also for the great inconveniences and mischiefs which spring thereof an intolerable Evil To the intent that when ye understand the same ye may diligently flee from it and on the other part earnestly apply your selves every Man in his Vocation to honest Labor and Business which as it is enjoyned unto Man by Gods appointment so it wanteth not his manifold Blessings and sundry Benefits Almighty God after that he had Created Man put him into Paradise that he might dress and keep it but when he had transgressed Gods Commandment Eating the Fruit of the Tree which was forbidden him Almighty God fort with did cast him out of Paradise into this woful Vail of Misery Gen. 3. enjoyning him to Labor the Ground that he was taken out of and to eat his Bread in the sweat of his Face all the days of his Life It is the appoinment and will of God that every Man during the time of this Mortal and Transitory life should give himself to such Honest and Godly Exercise and Labor and every one follow his own business and to walk uprightly in his own Calling Man saith Job is born to Labor Job 5. Eccles 7. And we are commanded by Jesus Sirach not to hate painful works neither Husbandry or other such Mysteries of Travel which the highest hath Created The Wise Man also exhorteth us Prov. 5. to drink the Waters of our own Cistern and of the Rivers that run out of the midst of our own Well meaning thereby that we should live of our own Labors and not devour the Labors of others 2 Thess 3. St. Paul hearing that among the Thessalonians there were certain that lived dissolutely and out of order that is to say which did not work but were busie-bodies not getting their own living with their own Travel but eating other Mens Bread of free-cost did command the said Thessalonians not only to withdraw themselves and abstain from the familiar company of such inordinate persons but also that if there were any such among them that would not Labor the same should not Eat nor have any Living at other Mens hands Which Doctrin of St. Paul no doubt is grounded upon the general Ordinance of God which is that every Man should Labor And therefore it is to be obeyed of all Men and no Man can justly exempt himself from the same But when it is said all Men should Labor it is not so streightly meant that all Men should use handy Labor But as there be divers sorts of Labors some of the Mind and some of the Body