the private faith or fancie rather by which men beleeve to be saved by themselves absolutely without condition or regard of the faith of the Church And this is that which is mother and nurse to vice and enemy to all good life And that this is not the catholick faith it shall appeare because that faith hath not a speciall object as a mans private self or Gods speciall favour to this or that particular man which is hopes object but a catholick object which is the whole first truth and every member of Gods word as the School teacheth This faith goeth but to the truth and esse of divine things according to that of the Apostle Heb. 11. 1. Faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen Faith gives them a subsisting and being in our minde and after this Hope layes hold of them in the will and affections and applies them to our selves and Charity goes into them Again the Apostle saith He that cometh to God must beleeve that God is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him not a rewarder of thee and me as if the Article of the faith were personall but of them that diligently seek him Here is the condition If thou and I seek him diligently then is he a rewarder of thee and me and not otherwise if the condition be kept the Article is just and the faith is stedfast Secondly if faith be to beleeve all the parts of Gods word then none can be absolutely sure of their salvation by faith because the threatnings against sinne which none are without do as much discourage us as the promises pull us on and the one must be beleeved as well as the other Thirdly whereas all hope of salvation depends upon the promises there is no promise but in one part of Gods word or other hath conditions tied to it as repentance after sinnes keeping of Gods law and perseverance to the end from whence it follows that none can be secure of the promises though he have all the faith in the world except he be sure of the conditions keeping of which none can be secure because no man is his own judge Fourthly if men might be saved by such a faith or by faith onely then prayer to God might sleep care of standing might stand by and good life which is the nearest bond of our conjunction with God might be forborn which God forbid Wherefore that we might preach the right way and you walk the right way we must joyn S. James justifying of works with S. Pauls justification by faith and then have we the two principalls of faith and good life observed by which the hope of our salvation is confirmed and strengthened and if you would have a breviary of good life it is to keep all the commandments of Gods law and the Canons of the Church as farre as we can it is to flie sinne to follow vertue to live justly to give to every one his own mercy to some and love and charity to all because Charity is the fulfilling of the law Thus much for Sermons fit for Gods house Where such cannot be had because such are not common there the distinct and sensible reading of the two lessons and the Churchhomilies with Sermons heard abroad sometimes upon occasions will supply this want and were these read as the Canon directeth aptly that is by just distinctions and by a sensible reader observing all the rules of reading with pronuntiation fit for the matter and with due attention of the hearer the profit and edifying would be much Thirdly and lastly to this office on the peoples part belongs attention and devotion without which the former office freezeth Attention is to separate our thoughts from all other things whatsoever and to give them onely to divine doctrine and service according to holy Ephrems counsel Cave nè aurum tuum aere vel plumbo misceas hoc est Nè animam improbis immundis cogitationibus contamines c. Take heed that thou mix not thy gold with brasse or lead that is Defile not thy soul with wicked or unclean thoughts For as a virgin espoused to an husband if she be deflowred by others becomes execrable unto him even so the soul distracted with filthy and immodest thoughts becomes abominable to Christ her heavenly bridegroom For these impure thoughts contaminate our attention which gives life to that we receive into us and devotion is the soul of that which goes out of us the one gives form to our hearing the other perfection to our praying Attention is commanded in Proverbs 5. 1. My sonne hearken unto my wisdome and encline thine eare unto my knowledge The enclining of the eare is attention without which Gods word goes in at the one eare and out at the other Attention is the souls concurrence with the eares and mouths organs What is the reason why Gods word read and the Church-service is to many so fruitlesse They attend it not they neither mark it nor respect it Wouldest thou have God to heare thee saith S. Chrysostome and thou hearest not thy self Had we a sermon preached by angels yet if we did not mark it what would it profit Gods service is common therefore it is not regarded The sunne shines daily is it therefore the worse every day we say the Lords prayer is it therefore the weaker No but Vis unita fortior Force united is stronger The sunne by its often beating upon the earth makes the greater heat so the oftener we beat upon Gods word and repeat the Church-prayers the more the Sonne of Gods light reflecteth upon us and the more heat of devotion is stirred up in us If God or the Church make a prayer for our use that is slighted but if men make an extemporarie prayer or frame a prayer of their own that is extolled For shame let us gather our wits together let us put a difference betwixt God and man and let us attend his stablished ordinance in his Church before the rolling wits of men So running is mans head that it will stay no where Should the best wits in the world make a new liturgie applauded of all yet would it not long be liked except it might roll as mens wits roll that is as continually to alter as the winde bloweth and the weather changeth People now are grown so cunning and proud in their learning that if the preacher speaks any thing which they distast they will fleere at it in the very house of God such come not to heare with attention but to sit judges on him they come to catch something from him as the Scribes and Pharisees came to take Christ in his doctrine This is contrary to sanctified attention and a vice to be shunned when thou comest to Gods house thou must not bring a chair with thee to sit down and judge but if thou canst not presently assent to all that thou
is thy preacher And to prove this see 1 John 2. 27. where it is written But that anointing which ye have received of him dwelleth in you and ye need not that any teach you but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things c. This anointing is nothing els but Gods Spirit and grace bestowed upon Christians in their Baptisme And of this Spirit and grace speaketh S. Paul 1. Cor. 2. 10. God hath revealed them to us by his Spirit for the Spirit searcheth all things yea the deep things of God Then if Gods word be true the Spirit of grace which he hath given to his children is another of thy preachers Sixthly thy conscience is thy preacher For assoon as thou hast done any thing amisse or left any thing undone that ought to be done that will by and by tell thee of it Thus Adam and Eves conscience when they had eaten of the forbidden fruit preached unto them that they had offended God and therefore they hid themselves and made them breeches of fig-leaves Who told thee said God that thou wast naked oh his conscience the first preacher had made a sermon unto him So again when David had cut off but a lap of Sauls garment privily his heart smote him for it and told him that he had wronged the Lords anointed And again when he had numbred the people his heart touched him for it Thus every mans conscience is his tutour to teach and govern him not onely after but before he hath done amisse Wouldest thou be thus dealt withall will it say Thou mayst bribe thy preacher with a gift and thou mayst stop the mouth of the parish-priest with a good tithe but nothing will stop the mouth of thy conscience that is a continuall preacher within thee And of this preacher the prophet Isaiah saith further in his 30 chapter vers 21. And thine eares shall heare a word behinde thee saying This is the way walk ye in it when thou turnest to the right hand and when thou turnest to the left This word behinde thee is the word of thy conscience thou canst turn thy self no way but that will speak unto thee If thou goest on thy left hand when thou shouldest go on thy right it will call to thee and tell thee Thou art out of thy way and when thou art in the way if thou goest too much to the right hand or too much to the left it will say to thee with the Preacher in the book of the Preacher Be not thou just overmuch neither make thy self over-wise play not the hypocrite nor the proud fellow for vertue is ever in the midst But how comes thy conscience to preach thus to thee from the law that is written in thine heart by the finger of Gods own hand as S. Paul teacheth Rom. 2. 15. Which shew the effect of the law written in their hearts their conscience bearing witnesse and their thoughts accusing one another or excusing If thou dost ill thy conscience will preach nothing to thee but the Law judgement but if thou dost well then nothing but the Gospel and mercie then thy conscience will be to thee a continuall feast as Solomon saith Besides thy conscience hath another law to inform thee and this is the new covenant of the Gospel spoken of Jer. 31. 33 34. This shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel After those dayes saith the Lord I will put my law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts and I will be their God and they shall be my people And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour and every man his brother saying Know the Lord for they shall all know me from the least to the greatest saith the Lord. Is this word of God true then how canst thou complain for want of teaching except thou wilt make Gods word a liar And here you shall further understand that there be two kindes of teaching the one outward the other inward The outward is that which comes from the mouth of man the inward is that which comes from the mouth of the conscience And this inward teaching because it is next to the heart worketh farre more strongly upon it then the outward doth When men had more of this inward teaching and lesse of the outward then was there farre better living for then they lived alwayes in fear of offending and assoon as they had done any thing amisse their conscience by and by gave them a nip and a memento for it Then they confessed their sinnes to God and their Minister for spirituall comfort and counsell then they endeavoured to make the best temporall satisfaction they could by almes prayer and fasting and other good works of humiliation but now outward teaching being not rightly understood hath beaten away this Faith onely justifieth saith the vulgar preacher Then saith the Solifidian and loose liver what need I care how I live no sinne can hurt me so long as I beleeve Thy preacher and thou are both in an errour because Gods word no where teacheth this but the contrary Ye see saith S. James how a man is justified by works and not by faith onely Thou wilt say The Fathers taught this doctrine and our own Church too But how and in what sense to shut out works before faith be come and to acknowledge faith to be the onely beginning in the preparations of our justification but our young preachers and hearers shut up all in faith onely and stay at the beginning and thus verbo tenus they prove but half-Christians Thine own conscience will preach better to thee for that will exclude no vertue and admit no vice And as for thee which art an hearer though thy principles be good yet thy apprehension cannot well digest them because they be somewhat above thy reach Therefore the Church in all ages hath provided that the common people should be content with the common faith as S. Paul calleth it Titus 1. 4. and that deep mysteries should be reserved for the learned who have their wits exercised to discern both good and evil Seventhly good life and conversation of Christians is thy preacher by which very heathens may be wonne and converted to God But you will say How prove you that Turn to 1. Pet. 3. 1. where you shall finde it thus written Let wives be subject to their husbands that even they which obey not the word may without the word be wonne by the conversation of the wives while they behold your pure conversation coupled with fear Here see the force of this preaching when the preaching of the word cannot prevail then men may be wonne by good conversation without the word preached while they behold your pure conversation coupled with fear Good life my brethren is better then a good sermon for that with many goes in at one eare and out at the other but a good life is a sermon in print it
of works As the bodie without the spirit is dead so faith without works is dead also for where no works are there is no charitie and where no charitie is there faith and works and all is dead Therefore the Apostle saith Though I feed the poore with all my goods and have not charitie it profiteth me nothing Why because without charitie works are dead as well as faith and knowledge and other graces And where there is charitie that is to say a divine love to God and all goodnesse there all things are alive and every grace working to salvation Faith beleeveth to salvation hope hopeth to salvation knowledge knoweth to salvation all work by charities spirit Hence the School calleth charitie the form of vertues But you may say How prove you that divine love and charitie is the spirit that giveth life and motion to all other graces Thus because faith which is the first grace worketh by it Gal. 5. 6. For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but faith which worketh by charitie Then as all the members of the bodie work by the power of the soul so faith and other graces in the spirituall body work by the power of charitie First because charitie is the impulse of the Christian soul. Neither can you with reason say that because faith is the first grace in spiritualitie therefore all animation and motion proceedeth from it because in generation the matter goeth before the form and in the body of man there is vegetation and animalitie common to other creatures before the reasonable soul come which is the sole beginning of actions reasonable Secondly I prove this because where is no charitie there all is dead as S. John sheweth He that loveth not his brother abideth in death Again We know that we are translated from death to life because we love the brethren Where love is there is life and where no love is there is no life Thirdly I prove this because God is our life but God is charitie as Saint John sheweth God is charitie and he that remaineth in charitie remaineth in God and God in him If God be charitie then charitie in the Christian must needs be his life because our charitie floweth from his charitie Fourthly I shew that charitie is the life of all vertues and graces because it is the root of the spirituall tree within us as S. Paul teacheth Ephes. 3. 17 18 19. That ye being rooted and grounded in charity may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge that ye may be filled with all the fulnesse of God Here ye see charitie to be the root therefore so long as the root lasteth no vertue or grace can wither in us but if the root die all die All comes from the root the leaves the blossoms the fruit If there be either ornament of vertue or fruit of grace in us all comes from the root of charitie Yea the life of vertue not onely comes from this root but there it is kept and preserved too for when winter and cold storms come then the sappe for shelter runnes down to the root and there it is preserved till the next spring so again when the winter of Gods wrath and storms of persecution assault the profession of the Gospel then by and by we retire to the root of charitie and there is our profession preserved till the storm be over Thus Peter denied his Master thrice when he was going to his death yet because he still loved his Master therefore his life remained in him in the time of persecution it lay hid in the root of charitie The Apostle goeth forward That ye may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the length and breadth and height and depth Charity breaks forth into all the dimensions of spirituall growth The prophet Isaiah rather then he would forsake his God was sawn asunder in the midst others were racked and would not be delivered they would not be delivered but held out to the death The blessed Marie Magdalene washt our Saviours feet with her tears and wiped them drie again with the hairs of her head Oh blessed charitie If thou hast this root in thee thou also shalt comprehend this breadth and length height and depth and thou shalt with these holy Saints say If I had been in their coats or had their occasions I would have done as they did This is that love of Christ which passeth knowledge and this is the fulnesse of God To proceed Charitie is the most excellent grace because it is the divine seed of a Christian by which we are born of God and freed from mortall sinne 1. John 3. 9. Whosoever is born of God sinneth not for his seed remaineth in him This seed S. Hierome in his 2 book against Jovinian and S. Austine in his 5 tract upon 1. John calleth charitie for in it is contained the beginning of our conversion to God which is a holy desire For no man desireth any thing untill he loves it but when he loves it then he desires it when he desires it then he seeks it after he hath sought it then he findes it according to that in the Gospel Seek and ye shall finde knock and it shall be opened and when a man hath found because he loves it entirely he will so cleave to it that he will not be removed from it So is it between the regenerate heart and God When God hath given a man a heart to love him then he beginnes to desire him when he desires him then he seeks him then he knocks at heaven gates by prayer and will not away till God open to him because his seed remaineth in him And after he hath found him then he so cleaves to him by hope and hangs so fast upon him that he will die before he leave him because faith hath perswaded him that God is his maker and redeemer and that he is moreover a rewarder of them that diligently seek him Heb. 11. 6. And how will he reward him not with gold and silver which are corruptible but with life everlasting and the joyes of heaven Oh here is enough we will seek no further Thus you see how love and charitie sets the soul to desire and seek God above all things and so charitie is the beginning of our conversion and after it hath begun it will never cease seeking untill it hath found and obtained Were a man by faith perswaded that God is the authour of all happinesse and that all the goods in heaven and earth lay in him treasured up yet if he should love the goods of the world more then God then he would never set his heart to seek and desire him But when faith hath enlightned the minde to know God then if the love of the heart will forsake the world and things
nothing but winde in them the one lifteth up in nature the other lifteth up in God But here it may be objected What meaneth the Apostle thus to disable knowledge seeing by it we depart from evil and are informed to good and the prophet Isaiah saith in his 53 chapter vers 11. By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justifie many where knowledge is made the cause of our justification I answer that wheresoever knowledge in holy scripture is taken in a good sense there it is vox complexa as sapientia is by S. Bernard called sapida scientia savourie knowledge for in this knowledge charitie which is the extern form of knowledge is comprehended But here in this text of scripture Knowledge is vox incomplexa standing alone by it self and in opposition to Charitie and therefore here it produceth no good effect but onely pride which is enemie to goodnesse But charitie is the substance of Christianitie and therefore is called of the School Divines grace it self And this in the building of a Christian toward heaven is the master-builder for the more it worketh in us the better and bigger Christians we grow according to that of S. Augustine Charitas inchoata inchoata justitia est charitas provecta provecta justitia est charitas magna magna justitia est charitas perfecta perfecta justitia est Charitie begunne is righteousnesse begunne charitie increased is righteousnesse increased great charitie is great righteousnesse and perfect charitie is perfect righteousnesse And when this is come then there is no difference between God and man it is conformitie between God and man it is as S. Paul saith the fulfilling of the law further then this we cannot go Yea that which is the most comfortable and remarkable point in all Christianitie is the law of the Spirit of life which freeth from the law of sinne and of death and this is the main refuge to the distressed conscience There are in the best two laws ruling in them because the best are compounded of two the flesh and the spirit The law of the flesh is concupiscence which gives precepts onely for the flesh whose end is sinne and death and therefore it is called the law of sinne of death and the law of the spirit is charitie which gives precepts onely for holinesse and righteousnes and this is called the law of life because the end of it is life These two laws are ex diametro opposite one to the other in the regenerate because they be both of force in this life therefore the regenerate are carried both wayes sometimes to sinne and sometimes to holines and vertue But because charitie which is the root of all good desires is the more noble law as being the law of the spirit and is in all evil actions first or last or both opposite to them and never yeeldeth but during the violence of the passion which being over it immediately returneth to his former strength and vertue therefore this freeth from the other so that condemnation is never liable to them in whom this law is found Therefore when the blessed Apostle besought God that the prick in the flesh that is to say concupiscence the law of sinne and death might be removed from him he would not grant it but told him My grace shall be sufficient for thee and this is nothing else but charitie which freeth the compound from sinne and death because as S. Peter saith it covereth the multitude of sinnes it will not suffer them to appeare And the reason why God would not have the law of the flesh and of sinne to be outed from this holy man and from the regenerate was because he would have his grace to conflict with the flesh that after the conflict his grace might be victour For my power saith God is made perfect through weaknesse But there is no greater weaknesse in man then concupiscence the lust of the flesh which being overcome by charities desire Gods grace and power is advanced and perfected And this law of the spirit S. Paul opposeth to the law of the letter which is knowledge when it is separate from the spirit and this killeth as well in the ministerie of the Gospel as in the ministerie of the Law of Moses as S. Augustine teacheth lib. de spiritu litera because the more knowledge we have the greater shall be our condemnation if we want the spirit of charitie to put it in practise Will you know then what charitie is which is thus advanced above knowledge It is the most noble above all vertues as our Apostle teacheth 1. Cor. 13. 13. Now abideth faith hope and charitie but the greatest of these is charitie He saith not shall be as Calvin and Beza offer to evacuate the Apostles comparison commendation but is now Now abideth faith hope and charitie but the greatest of these is charitie This is the lust and desire of the spirit as concupiscence is the lust and desire of the flesh the one sanctifieth and justifieth the other damnifieth and condemneth Gal. 5. 17. As concupiscence is the root of all vices so this is the root of all vertues it is the souls sanctified appetite Every man that hath wit and discretion will make choice of the best and the fairest but charitie is the best of all Gods gifts above faith and hope and knowledge and therefore above all things I wish you to seek and follow that In the twelfth chapter before the Apostle sets down all the better sort of Gods gifts among which he placeth wisdome knowledge faith working of miracles and the rest and then willeth them to make choice of the best But saith he desire you the best gifts and when he had so said then he said further I will yet shew you a more excellent way as if he had said Now I will shew you of a gift that is above all gifts yea better then the best before-named such a gift that without it all other are worth nothing Though I speak with the tongues of men and angels and have not charitie I am as sounding brasse or a tinkling cymball And though I had the gift of prophesie and knew all secrets and all knowledge yea if I had all faith so that I could remove mountains and had not charitie I were nothing And though I feed the poore with all my goods and though I give my bodie that I be burned and have not charitie it profiteth me nothing Now if all be nothing without this then get this and get all But what is the reason why all other graces without this are worth nothing Because without charitie they are as a bodie without a soul. Hadst thou a bodie as well framed as Leanders and Hero's was yet if thou hadst not a spirit to move in it thou shouldest have but a dead bodie worth nothing as S. James teacheth of faith without charitie by the effect
father and mother and cleave to his wife and they twain shall be one flesh So they that have charitie will leave all things to cleave to God to be one spirit with him Yea so fast doth charitie glue the good soul to God as the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 expresseth that it will die before it leave him as is to be seen in all the holy Martyrs Nothing may quench this fire as Solomon singeth Set me as a seal upon thy heart and as a signet upon thy arm for love is strong as death jealousie is cruell as the grave the coals thereof are fiery coals yea a vehement flame Much water cannot quench love neither can the flouds drown it if a man would give all the substance of his house for love they would greatly contemne it For what is that which makes all the marriages in the world is it not love if they did not love one another they would never come together Now this charitie is nothing else but divine love and this makes God and man one spirit as naturall love and marriage makes man and wife one flesh and it is called Charity to distinguish it from naturall love for that it is the most deare and precious love in regard it is between God and mans spirit Again that must be the most excellent vertue which makes man most like to God but there is nothing that makes man more like to God then charitie because S. John saith God is charitie therefore they that have charitie must needs be most like him It is the holy Ghosts child as I may say sanctifying the soul. It is no where said that God is faith or God is knowledge for then the devils should be more like to God then man because they know more and beleeve more then any man but he is called in scripture onely charitie in regard of goodnesse and sanctitie for that all goodnesse of sanctification proceeds from charitie So God loved the world saith our Lord in John 3. 16. that he gave his onely begotten Sonne that whosoever beleeveth in him should not perish but have everlasting life Now as all good of sanctitie comes from Gods love to man so from mans charitie comes all the like goodnesse toward God and our neighbour Light comes from faith and understanding from knowledge but goodnesse and sanctitie come onely from charitie And if God be charitie then what interest have they to God and his kingdome who live continually in malice and quarrels Moreover Charitie is called of Divines the universall grace because S. Paul Colos. 3. 14. calleth it the bond of perfection Above all these things put on charitie which is the bond of perfectnesse He saith above all because this is the best of all and he calleth it the bond of perfectnesse first because it tieth man to God in the heart who is perfectnesse it self and next because it tieth all vertues together as we are taught in the Collect of Quinquagesima Hast thou charitie then canst thou want no vertue because all are bound up in it There is justice there is mercy there is liberalitie there is fidelitie there is the highest there is the lowest there is magnanimitie there is humilitie charitie bindes all together in one man Then get charitie and thou needest not run from parish to parish to get understanding because it dwells in charitie According to this S. Austine saith Scriptura nihil praecipit nisi charitatem nihil culpat nisi cupiditatem The scripture commandeth nothing but charitie and blameth nothing but concupiscence Now what charitie is the Father in that place thus defineth Charitatem voco motum animi ad fruendum Deo propter ipsum se atque proximo propter Deum I call charitie saith he a motion of the minde to the fruition of God for himself and of himself and his neighbour for God Lastly there is yet another title of eâ—cellencie belonging to charitie and this is Queen of vertues because it commandeth and governeth them all to right ends For say I had all knowledge and could confute all men and say I had all eloquence that I could with Orpheus move the stonie heart say I had all patience and could give my body to be burned and say I had all faith that I could remove mountains yet if I did not know to Godward speak to Godward suffer to Godward and beleeve to Godward and so of all other vertues all this would do me no good Why because the Queen of vertues Charitie which should bend and order all these to Godward is wanting For every action as the learned know proceeds from election election is in the will and the principall power of the will is love and charitie therefore look which way that goeth that way go all thy actions of heart and minde If thy love be naturall then it orders and carries all thy actions to a naturall end and that leadeth to hell but if thy love be divine and spirituall which my Text calleth Charitie then that like a Queen regulates all thy actions to a supernaturall end which is to serve God and to gain his kingdome And the more good actions thou dost in this kinde the more thou edifiest as my Text saith Knowledge puffeth up but Charitie edifieth that is to say Charitie buildeth As the carpenter and mason build with wood and stone so charitie buildeth with good and godly actions Faith is often idle knowledge sleepie and hope is drousie but charitie is alwayes working because it is the hearts pulse to God-ward As the pulse never leaves beating so charitie never leaves working and the more it worketh the greater is the edifying Little charitie makes a little Christian and great charitie makes a great Christian and perfect charitie makes a perfect Christian. The main Tenet of the scripture is that God will reward every man according to his works Therefore the more good works a Christian doth in the kingdome of grace the greater shall be his crown in the kingdome of glorie For as S. Paul saith 1. Cor. 15. 41 42. As one starre differeth from another in glory so is the resurrection of the dead the body with the more good works it riseth the more it shall shine in heavens glory In my Fathers house are many mansions saith our Saviour John 14. 2. Every man here strives to have the fairest house if he be a man of worth Then if thou desirest one of the better mansions in the kingdome of glorie thou must build for it here in the kingdome of grace The more good works thou preparest here the larger shall be thy house there the holier works the higher habitation in heavens majestie Wherefore brethren be never weary of well doing but as S. Paul exhorteth 1. Cor. 15. 58. be abundant alwayes in the work of the Lord forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. There is nothing lost but all gotten by good life and good
7. And lastly it is more congruent and most for Christs honour that whereas Antichrist is Christs personall opposite therefore he should be suppressed by Christs personall presence Again it was a received thing in the primitive Church that Antichrists time and the end of the world shall coincidere fall in one as we reade 1. John 2. 18. Little children it is the last time and as ye have heard that Antichrist shall come even now there are many Antichrists whereby we know that it is the last time Thus by Antichrists time ye may know the last time and by the last time ye may know Antichrists time But here seems a difficultie in that S. John maketh the last time to be in his dayes I answer He speaketh this inchoativé to stirre up his children to watchfulnesse because then the last day was coming on and even then there were many Antichrists the forerunners of the main Antichrist that man of sinne Secondly Antichrist cannot be yet come by reason of the circumstances which holy Writ hath fastned to his time For in Antichrists time the daily sacrifice shall be taken away and the abomination of desolation shall be set up in place of it as appeareth Dan. 12. 11. and is confirmed by our Saviour Matth. 24. 15. For the abomination cannot be set up till the daily sacrifice be removed So in the figure after Antiochus had taken away the daily sacrifice from the Temple he set up in place of it the statue of Jupiter Olympius And this is further illustrated by the opposition between Christ and Antichrist For he that is Christs opposite cannot endure Christs service before his eyes but at this day neither is the daily sacrifice taken away nor the abomination of desolation set up for that no land of the Christians is yet divasted nor the temples of Papists or Protestants left desolate but the Christian world every where offer up their daily liturgies and the holy Eucharist Papists by themselves and Protestants by themselves without disturbance and therefore as yet that great Antichrist is not come who will take this away and set himself in place of it as S. Paul teacheth so that he doth sit as God in the temple of God which is the abomination and this abomination cannot be erected till Antichrist by his souldiers have made the temples of Christians desolate Therefore Beza translateth illam abominationem vastatricem the abomination making desolate and so our Church-Bible also translateth in Dan. 12. 11. Thirdly I shew this from the description of Antichrist which is this Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped But as yet no man hath done thus Therefore as yet that Antichrist is not come The assumption is proved from particulars of importance The first beast the Romane Cesars have acknowledged and adored the multitude of Gods as Jupiter Mercurie Diana Venus c. The second beast the Turk to this day worshippeth a supreme God as he saith which is neither the Father nor the Sonne nor the holy Ghost and that with great devotion as our own countrey travellers report Lastly the Pope acknowledgeth the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost as is manifest from the Apostles Creed the Nicene and Athanasian to this day used of him and from calling himself Christs vicar which is to say his substitute or vicegerent upon earth and from concluding all his prayers to God the Father per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum by our Lord Jesus Christ and from singing to the holy Trinitie Gloria Patri Filióque Spiritui sancto that is Glorie be to the Father to the Sonne and to the holy Ghost And that the Pope is not to be held for Antichrist I prove from S. Johns descriptions 1. Joh. 2. 22. Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is that Christ the same is that Antichrist that denieth the Father and the Sonne But the Pope denieth neither of both as is before declared and therefore he is not to be held for Antichrist A second description of Antichrist is in his fourth chapter of the same epistle in these words Every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God and this is that spirit of Antichrist From whence I thus reason Whosoever is not of Antichrists spirit cannot be Antichrist but the Pope is not of Antichrists spirit therefore he cannot be Antichrist The assumption is proved thus Antichrists spirit will not confesse that Christ is come in the flesh But the Pope confesseth that Christ is come in the flesh that he was born of the virgin Marie suffered death under Pontius Pilate for the sinnes of the world Therefore so long as the Pope holdeth this minde he cannot possibly be the Antichrist But Doctor Whitakers to crosse these two manifest demonstrations of Gods word affirmeth that though the Pope denieth not Christ to be come in the flesh verbo tenus and in the first yet that he denieth him in the second that is by consequent First saith he he denieth him to be the onely King Priest and Prophet of his Church and next in subjoyning to Christs merits and passion other subordinate means as the use of Sacraments penitentiall sorrow forgiving of injuries giving of almes the abundance of charitie and all the kindes of good works From whence it follows as Doctor Whitakers thinketh that where so many concurrent means are joyned to Christs death and merits there Christs coming and suffering in the flesh is in a manner or by consequence denied and diminished I reply that if we should understand Antichrists denying of Christ by such consequents and comments of our own brain then Luther should be the Antichrist who in his comment upon the epistle to the Galatians calleth Christ a sinner yea the greatest of all sinners by which blasphemie though Christs coming in the flesh is not absolutely denied yet his meriting in the flesh is absolutely denied by the former way of consequence because a sinner can make no satisfaction nor merit any thing Again by such sequence Calvine should be the Antichrist who absolutely denieth the sufficiencie of Christs bodily death and suffering for us thus writing Nihil actum erat si corporeâ tantùm morte defunctus fuisset Nothing had been done if Christ had died onely a bodily death Again Eam mortem pertulit quae sceleratis ab irato Deo infligitur He bore that death which is inflicted by the angrie God upon wicked men But if Christ were dead in soul and suffered hell-torments such as a damned man should do which are deprivation of grace and eternall torments then he could not have redeemed us as the worthy Doctor Bilson observeth upon this because he which is dead in soul can deserve nothing Yet God forbid I should put the term of Antichrist upon these my brethren because they opposed not Christ directé but indirectè obliqué