shall forthwith pass from death to life If this kind of purgation will not serve them let them never hope to be released by other mens Prayers though they should continue therein unto the Worlds end He that cannot be saved by Faith in Christs Blood how shall he look to be delivered by mans Intercessions Hath God more respect to man on Earth than he hath to Christ in Heaven 1 John 2. If any man sin saith St. John we have an Advocate with the Father even Jesus Christ the righteous and he is the propitiation for our sins But we must take heed that we call upon this Advocate while we have space given us in this life lest when we are once dead there be no hope of Salvation left unto us For as every man sleepeth with his own cause so every man shall rise again with his own cause And look in what state he dieth in the same state he shall be also judged whether it be to Salvation or Damnation Let us not therefore dream either of Purgatory or of Prayer for the Souls of them that be dead but let us earnestly and diligently pray for them which are expresly commanded in Holy Scripture namely for Kings and Rulers for Ministers of Gods Holy Word and Sacraments for the Saints of this World otherwise called the Faithful to be short for all men living be they never so great Enemies to God and his People as Jews Turks Pagans Infidels Hereticks c. Then shall we truly fulfil the Commandment of God in that behalf and plainly declare our selves to be the true Children of our Heavenly Father who suffereth the Sun to shine upon the good and the bad and the rain to fall upon the just and the unjust For which and all other benefits most abundantly bestowed upon mankind from the beginning let us give him hearty thanks as we are most bound and praise his Name for ever and ever Amen AN HOMILY OF THE Place and Time OF PRAYER GOD through his Almighty Power Wisdom and Goodness created in the beginning Heaven and Earth the Sun the Moon the Stars the Fowls of the Air the Beasts of the Earth the Fishes in the Sea and all other Creatures for the use and commodity of Man whom also he had created to his own image and likeness and given him the use and government over them all to the end he should use them in such sort as he had given him in charge and commandment and also that he should declare himself thankful and kind for all those benefits so liberally and so graciously bestowed upon him utterly without any deserving on his behalf And although we ought at all times and in all places to have in remembrance and to be thankful to our gracious Lord according as it is written Psal 103. I will magnifie the Lord at all times And again Wheresoever the Lord beareth rule O my Soul praise the Lord Yet it appeareth to be Gods good will and pleasure that we should at special times and in special places gather our selves together to the intent his Name might be renowned and his glory set forth in the Congregation and Assembly of his Saints As concerning the time which Almighty God hath appointed his People to assemble together solemnly it doth appear by the fourth Commandment of God Remember saith God that thou keep holy the Sabbath Day Upon the which day as is plain in the Acts of the Apostles Acts 13. the People accustomably resorted together and heard diligently the Law and the Prophets read among them And albeit this Commandment of God doth not bind Christian People so straitly to observe and keep the utter Ceremonies of the Sabbath day as it was given unto the Jews as touching the forbearing of work and labour in time of great necessity and as touching the precise keeping of the Seventh day after the manner of the Jews For we keep now the First day which is our Sunday and make that our Sabbath that is our day of Rest in the honour of our Saviour Christ who as upon that day rose from death conquering the same most triumphantly Yet notwithstanding whatsoever is found in the Commandment appertaining to the Law of Nature as a thing most godly most just and needful for the setting forth of Gods glory it ought to be retained and kept of all good Christian People And therefore by this Commandment we ought to have a time as one day in the Week wherein we ought to rest yea from our lawful and needful works For like as it appeareth by this Commandment that no man in the six days ought to be slothful or idle but diligently to labour in that state wherein God hath set him Even so God hath given express charge to all men that upon the Sabbath day which is now our Sunday they should cease from all weekly and work-work-day labour to the intent that like as God himself wrought six days and rested the seventh and blessed and sanctified it and consecrated it to quietness and rest from labour even so Gods obedient People should use the Sunday holily and rest from their common and daily business and also give themselves wholly to Heavenly Exercises of Gods true Religion and Service So that God doth not only command the observation of this Holy Day but also by his own example doth stir and provoke us to the diligent keeping of the same Good natural Children will not only become obedient to the Commandment of their Parents but also have a diligent Eye to their doings and gladly follow the same So if we will be the Children of our Heavenly Father we must be careful to keep the Christian Sabbath day which is the Sunday not only for that it is Gods express Commandment but also to declare our selves to be loving Children in following the example of our gracious Lord and Father Thus it may plainly appear that Gods Will and Commandment was to have a solemn time and standing day in the Week wherein the People should come together and have in remembrance his wonderful benefits and to render him thanks for them as appertaineth to loving kind and obedient People This Example and Commandment of God the godly Christian People began to follow immediately after the Ascension of our Lord Christ and began to chuse them a standing day of the Week to come together in Yet not the seventh day which the Jews kept but the Lords day the day of the Lords Resurrection the day after the seventh day which is the first day of the Week Of the which day mention is made by St. Paul on this wise 1 Cor. 16. In the first day of the Sabbath let every man lay up what he thinketh good meaning for the Poor By the first day of the Sabbath is meant our Sunday which is the first day after the Jews seventh day And in the Apocalyps it is more plain whereas St. John saith I was in the Spirit upon the Lords
living They called and cryed to God for Help and Mercy with such a ceremony of Sackcloth Dust and Ashes that thereby they might declare to the whole World what an humble and lowly estimation they had of themselves and how well they remembred their Name and Title aforesaid their vile corrupt frail Nature Dust Earth and Ashes Sapi. 7. The Book of Wisdom also willing to pull down our proud Stomachs moveth us diligently to remember our mortal and earthly Generation which we have all of him that was first Made and that all Men as well Kings as Subjects come into this world and go out of the same in like sort that is as of ourselves full miserable as we may daily see And Almighty God commanded his Prophet Esay to make a Proclamation and cry to the whole World and Esay asking What shall I cry The Lord answered Cry That all Flesh is Grass Esay 40. and that all the Glory thereof is but as the Flower of the Field when the Grass is withered the Flower falleth away when the Wind of the Lord bloweth upon it The People surely is Grass the which dryeth up and the Flower fadeth away And the Holy Man Job Job 14. having in himself great experience of the miserable and sinful estate of Man doth open the same to the World in these words Man saith he that is born of a Woman living but a short time is full of manifold Miseries he springeth up like a Flower and fadeth again vanisheth away as it were a shadow and never continueth in one state And dost thou judge it meet O Lord to open thine Eyes upon such a one and to bring him to judgment with thee Who can make him clean that is conceived of an unclean Seed and all Men of their evilness and natural proneness be so universally given to Sin that as the Scripture saith God repented that ever he made Man And by Sin his Indignation was so much provoked against the World that he drowned all the World with Noes Flood Gen. 7. except Noe himself and his little Houshold It is not without great cause that the Scripture of God doth so many times call all Men here in this world by this Word Earth O thou Earth Jer. 22. Earth Earth saith Jeremy hear the word of the Lord. This our right Name Calling and Title Earth Earth Earth pronounced by the Prophet sheweth what we be indeed by whatsoever other Style Title or Dignity Men do call us Thus he plainly named us who knoweth best both what we be and what we ought of right to be called And thus he setteth us forth speaking by his faithful Apostle St. Paul All Men Jews and Gentiles are under sin there is none righteous no not one There is none that understandeth there is none that seeketh after God they are all gone out of the way they are all unprofitable there is none that doth good no not one Their throat is an open Sepulchre with their tongues they have used craft and deceit the poison of serpents is under their Lips their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness their feet are swift to shed blood destruction and wretchedness are in their ways and the way of peace have they not known Rom. 11. Gal. 3. there is no fear of God before their eyes And in another place St. Paul writeth thus God hath wrapped all nations in unbelief that he might have mercy on all The Scripture shutteth up all under Sin Ephes 2. that the Promise by the Faith of Jesus Christ should be given unto them that believe St. Paul in many places painteth us out in our colours calling us the Children of the wrath of God when we be born saying also that we cannot think a good thought of ourselves much less can we say well or do well of ourselves And the Wise Man saith in the Book of Proverbs Prov. 24. The iust man falleth seven times a day The most tried and approved Man Job feared all his Works Luke 1. St. John the Baptist being Sanctified in his Mothers Womb and praised before he was Born being called an Angel and great before the Lord filled even from his Birth with the Holy Ghost the preparer of the way for our Saviour Christ and commended of our Saviour Christ to be more than a Prophet Matth. 3. and the greatest that ever was born of a Woman Yet he plainly granteth that he had need to be washed of Christ he worthily Extolleth and Glorifieth his Lord and Master Christ and Humbleth himself as unworthy to unbuckle his Shooes and giveth all Honour and Glory to God So doth S. Paul both oft and evidently confess himself what he was of himself ever giving as a most faithful Servant all Praise to his Master and Saviour So doth blessed St. John the Evangelist in the name of himself and of all other Holy Men be they never so just make this open Confession If we say we have no sin 1 Joh. 1. and 2. we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us If we acknowledge our sins God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness If we say we have not sinned we make him a lyar and his word is not in us Wherefore the Wise Man in the Book called Ecclesiastes maketh this true and general Confession Eccles 7. There is not one just man upon the Earth that doth good and sinneth not And David is ashamed of his sin but not to confess his sin Psal 51. How oft how earnestly and lamentably doth he desire God's great Mercy for his great Offences and that God should not enter into judgment with him Psal 113. And again How well weigheth this Holy Man his sins which he confesseth that they be so many in number and so hid and hard to understand that it is in a manner impossible to know utter Psal 19. or number them Wherefore he having a true earnest and deep Contemplation and Consideration of his sins and yet not coming to the bottom of them he maketh Supplication to God to forgive him his privy secret hid sins The knowledge of which he cannot attain unto He weigheth rightly his Sins from the Original root and Spring-head perceiving Inclinations Provocations Stirrings Stingings Buds Branches Dregs Infections Tastes Feelings and Scents of them to continue in him still Wherefore he saith Mark and Behold I was conceived in sins He saith not Sin Psal 51. but in the plural number Sins forasmuch as out of one as a Fountain spring all the rest Mark 10. Luke 18. Our Saviour Christ saith There is none good but God And that we can do nothing that is good without him nor can any man come to the Father but by him He commandeth us also to say that We be unprofitable servants John 15. Luke 17. when we have done all that we can do He preferreth the penitent
Three things must go together in our justification which walk not after the flesh but after the spirit In these foresaid places the Apostle toucheth specially three things which must go together in our justification Upon God's part his great Mercy and Grace upon Christ's part Justice that is the satisfaction of God's Justice or the price of our Redemption by the offering of his Body and shedding of his Blood with fulfilling of the Law perfectly and throughly and upon our part true and lively Faith in the Merits of Jesus Christ which yet is not ours but by God's working in us So that in our Justification there is not only God's Mercy and Grace but also his Justice which the Apostle calleth the Justice of God and it consisteth in paying our Ransom and fulfilling of the Law And so the Grace of God doth not shut out the Justice of God in our Justification but only shutteth out the Justice of Man that is to say the Justice of our Works as to be Merits of deserving our Justification And therefore St. Paul declareth here nothing upon the behalf of Man concerning his Justification but only a true and lively Faith which nevertheless is the Gift of God and not Man's only Work without God And yet that Faith doth not shut out Repentance Hope Love Dread and the Fear of God to be joyned with Faith in every Man that is justified but it shutteth them out from the office of Justifying How it is to be understood that Faith justifieth without Works So that although they be all present together in him that is Justified yet they justifie not altogether Neither doth Faith shut out the Justice of our good Works necessarily to be done afterwards of Duty towards God for we are most bounden to serve God in doing good Deeds commanded by him in his Holy Scripture all the days of our Life But it excludeth them so that we may not do them to this intent to be made Just by doing of them For all the good Works that we can do be imperfect and therefore not able to deserve our Justification but our Justification doth come freely by the mere Mercy of God and of so great and free Mercy that whereas all the World was not able of themselves to pay any part towards their Ransom it pleased our Heavenly Father of his infinite Mercy without any our desert or deserving to prepare for us the most precious Jewels of Christ's Body and Blood whereby our Ransom might be fully paid the Law fulfilled and his Justice fully satisfied So that Christ is now the Righteousness of all them that truly do believe in him He for them paid their Ransom by his Death He for them fulfilled the Law in his Life So that now in him and by him every true Christian Man may be called A fulfiller of the Law Forasmuch as that which their Infirmity lacked Christ's Justice hath supplied The Second Part of the Sermon of Salvation YE have heard of whom all Men ought to seek their Justification and Righteousness and how also this Righteousness cometh unto Men by Christ's Death and Merits Ye heard also how that three things are required to the obtaining of our Righteousness that is God's Mercy Christ's Justice and a true and lively Faith out of the which Faith spring good Works Also before was declared at large That no Man can be justified by his own good Works that no Man fulfilleth the Law according to the strict rigor of the Law And St. Paul in his Epistle to the Galatians proveth the same saying thus Gal. 2. If there had been any Law given which could have justified verily Righteousness should have been by the Law And again he saith If righteousness be by the Law then Christ died in vain And again he saith Ephes 2. You that are justified by the Law are fallen away from Grace And furthermore he writeth to the Ephesians on this wise By Grace are ye saved through Faith and that not of yourselves for it is the gift of God and not of Works lest any Man should Glory And to be short the sum of all Paul's Disputation is this That if Justice come of Works then it cometh not of Grace and if it come of Grace then it cometh not of Works And to this end tend all the Prophets as St. Peter saith in the 10th of the Acts. Of Christ all the Prophets saith St. Peter Acts 10. do witness that through his Name all they that believe in him shall receive the remission of sins Faith only justifieth is the Doctrine of old Doctors And after this wise to be justified only by this true and lively Faith in Christ speak all the old and antient Authors both Greeks and Latins Of whom I will specially rehearse three Hilary Basil and Ambrose St. Hilary saith these Words plainly in the ninth Canon upon Matthew Faith only justifieth And St. Basil a Greek Author writeth thus This is a perfect and whole reioycing in God when a Man advanceth not himself for his own Righteousness but acknowledgeth himself to lack true Justice and Righteousness and to be justified by the only Faith in Christ And Paul saith he Philip. 3. doth glory in the contempt of his own Righteousness and that he looketh for the Righteousness of God by Faith These be the very words of St. Basil and St. Ambrose a Latin Author saith these words This is the Ordinance of God that they which believe in Christ should be saved without Works by Faith only freely receiving remission of their sins Consider diligently these words Without works by Faith only freely we receive remission of our sins What can be spoken more plainly than to say That freely without Works by Faith only we obtain remission of our sins These and other like Sentences that we be justified by Faith only freely and without Works we do read oft-times in the best and most antient Writers As beside Hilary Basil and St. Ambrose before rehearsed we read the same in Origen St. Chrysostom St. Cyprian St. Augustin Prosper Oecumenius Proclus Bernardus Anselm and many other Authors Greek and Latin Nevertheless this Sentence that we be justified by Faith only is not so meant of them that the said justifying Faith is alone in Man without true Repentance Hope Charity Dread and the Fear of God at any time and season Faith alone how it is to be understood Nor when they say that we should be justified freely do they mean that we should or might afterward be idle and that nothing should be required on our parts afterward Neither do they mean so to be justified without good Works that we should do no good Works at all like as shall be more expressed at large hereafter But this saying That we be justified by Faith only freely and without Works is spoken for to take away clearly all Merit of our Works as being unable to deserve our Justification at God's hands
Neither had the Jews in their most blindness so many Pilgrimages unto Images nor used so much kneeling kissing and censing of them as hath been used in our time Sects and Religions amongst Christian Men. Sects and feigned Religions were neither the fortieth part so many among the Jews nor more superstitiously and ungodlily abused than of late days they have been among us Which Sects and Religions had so many hypocritical and feigned Works in their state of Religion as they arrogantly named it that their Lamps as they said ran always over able to satisfie not only for their own Sins but also for all other their Benefactors Brothers and Sisters of Religion as most ungodlily and craftily they had persuaded the multitude of ignorant People Keeping in divers places as it were Marts or Markets of Merits being full of their Holy Reliques Images Shrines and Works of overflowing abundance ready to be sold and all things which they had were called Holy Holy Cowls Holy Girdles Holy Pardons Beads Holy Shooes Holy Rules and all full of Holiness And what thing can be more foolish more superstitious or ungodly than that Men Women and Children should wear a Friers Coat to deliver them from Agues or Pestilence Or when they Dye or when they be Buried cause it to be cast upon them in hope thereby to be saved Which Superstition although Thanks be to God it hath been little used in this Realm yet in divers other Realms it hath been and yet is used among many both learned and unlearned But to pass over the innumerable Superstitiousness that hath been in strange Apparel in Silence in Dormitory in Cloister in Chapter in choice of meats and drinks and in such like things let us consider what enormities and abuses have been in the three chief principal points which they called the three Essentials or three chief Foundations of Religion that is to say Obedience Chastity and wilful Poverty First The three chief vows of Religion under pretence or colour of Obedience to their Father in Religion which Obedience they made themselves they were made free by their Rule and Canons from the Obedience of their natural Father and Mother and from the Obedience of Emperor and King and all temporal Power whom of very Duty by God's Laws they were bound to obey And so the profession of their Obedience not due was a forsaking of their due Obedience And how their profession of Chastity was kept it is more honesty to pass over in silence and let the World judge of that which is well known than with unchaste Words by expressing of their unchaste Life to offend Chaste and Godly Ears And as for their wilful Poverty it was such that when in Possessions Jewels Plate and Riches they were equal or above Merchants Gentlemen Barons Earls and Dukes Yet by this subtil sophistical term Proprium in commune that is to say Proper in common they mocked the World persuading that notwithstanding all their Possessions and Riches yet they kept their Vow and were in wilful Poverty But for all their Riches they might neither help Father or Mother nor other that were indeed very needy and poor without the Licence of their Father Abbot Prior or Warden and yet they might take of every Man but they might not give ought to any Man no not to them whom the Laws of God bound them to help And so through their Traditions and Rules the Laws of God could bear no rule with them And therefore of them might be most truly said that which Christ spake unto the Pharises Matth. 15. You break the Commandments of God by your Traditions You honour God with your lips but your hearts be far from him And the longer Prayers they used by day and by night under pretence or colour of such Holiness to get the favour of Widows and other simple folks that they might sing Trentals and Service for their Husbands and Friends and admit or receive them into their Prayers The more truly is verified of them the Saying of Christ Matth. 23. Wo be unto you Scribes and Pharises Hypocrites for you devour Widows houses under colour of long Prayers therefore your damnation shall be the greater Woe be to you Scribes and Pharises Hypocrites for you go about by Sea and by Land to make more Novices and new Brethren and when they be let in or received of your Sect you make them the children of Hell worse than yourselves be Honour be to God who did put light in the Heart of his faithful and true Minister of most famous Memory King Henry the 8th and gave him the knowledge of his Word and an earnest affection to seek his Glory and to put away all such Superstitions and Pharisaical Sects by Antichrist invented and set up against the true Word of God and Glory of his most Blessed Name as he gave the like Spirit unto the most Noble and Famous Princes Josaphat Josias and Ezechias God grant all us the King's Highness faithful and true Subjects to feed of the sweet and savory Bread of God's own Word and as Christ commanded to eschew all our Pharisaical and Papistical Leaven of Man's feigned Religion Which although it were before God most abominable and contrary to God's Commandments and Christ's pure Religion yet it was praised to be a most Godly life and highest state of perfection As though a Man might be more Godly and more perfect by keeping the Rules Other Devices and Superstitious Traditions and Professions of Men than by keeping the Holy Commandments of God And briefly to pass over the ungodly and counterfeit Religion let us rehearse some other kinds of Papistical Superstitions and Abuses as of Beads of Lady Psalters and Rosaries of fifteen Oes of St. Bernard's Verses of St. Agathe's Letters of Purgatory of Masses satisfactory of Stations and Jubilees of feigned Reliques of hallowed Beads Bells Bread Water Psalms Candles Fire and such other Of Superstitious Fastings of Fraternities or Brotherhoods of Pardons with such like Merchandise which were so esteemed and abused to the great prejudice of God's Glory and Commandments that they were made most High and most Holy things whereby to attain to the everlasting Life or remission of Sin Yea also vain Inventions unfruitful Ceremonies and ungodly Laws Decrees Decrees and Decretals and Councils of Rome were in such wise advanced that nothing was thought comparable in Authority Wisdom Learning and Godliness unto them So that the Laws of Rome as they said were to be received of all Men as the four Evangelists to the which all Laws of Princes must give place And the Laws of God also partly were left off and less esteemed that the said Laws Decrees and Councils with their Traditions and Ceremonies might be more duly kept and had in greater reverence Thus was the People through ignorance so blinded with the Godly shew and appearance of those things that they thought the keeping of them to be a more Holiness
Acts 15. That when the Apostles and Elders with the whole Congregation were gathered together to pacifie the hearts of the faithful dwelling at Antioch which were disquieted through the false Doctrine of several Jewish Preachers they sent word to the Brethren That it seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to them to charge them with no more than with necessary things Among others they willed them to abstain from Idolatry and Fornication from which said they if you keep your selves ye shall do well Note here how these holy and blessed Fathers of Christ's Church would charge the Congregation with no more things than were necessary Mark also how among those things from the which they commanded the Brethren of Antioch to abstain Fornication and Whoredom are numbred It is therefore necessary by the determination and consent of the Holy Ghost and the Apostles and Elders with the whole Congregation that as from Idolatry and Superstition so likewise we must abstain from Fornication and Whoredom It is necessary unto Salvation to abstain from Idolatry So it is to abstain from Whoredom Is there any nigher way to lead unto damnation than to be an Idolater No even so neither is there any nearer way to damnation than to be a Fornicator and a Whoremonger Now where are those People which so lightly esteem breaking of Wedlock Whoredom Fornication and Adultery It is necessary saith the Holy Ghost the blessed Apostles the Elders with the whole Congregation of Christ it is necessary to Salvation say they to abstain from Whoredom If it be necessary unto Salvation then woe be to them which neglecting their Salvation give their Minds to so filthy and stinking a Sin to so wicked Vice and to such detestable abomination The Second Part of the Sermon against Adultery YOU have been taught in the First Part of this Sermon against Adultery how that Vice at this day reigneth most above all other Vices and what is meant by this word Adultery and how Holy Scripture dissuadeth or discounselleth from doing that filthy Sin and finally what corruption cometh to Man's Soul through the Sin of Adultery Now to proceed further let us hear what the blessed Apostle St. Paul saith to this matter writing to the Romans he hath these words Rom. 13. Let us cast away the Works of Darkness and put on the Armour of Light Let us walk honestly as it were in the day time not in eating and drinking neither in chambering and wantonness neither in strife and envying but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the Flesh to fulfil the Lusts of it Here the Holy Apostle exhorteth us to cast away the Works of Darkness which among other he calleth gluttonous eating drinking chambering and wantonness which are all Ministers unto that Vice and preparations to induce and bring in the filthy Sin of the Flesh He calleth them the Deeds and Works of Darkness not only because they are customably in Darkness John 3 Matth. 25. or in the night time for every one that doth evil hateth the Light neither cometh he to the Light lest his Works should be reproved but that they lead the right way unto that utter Darkness where weeping and gnashing of Teeth shall be Rom. 8. And he saith in another place of the same Epistle They that are in the Flesh cannot please God We are Debtors not to the Flesh that we should live after the Flesh for if ye live after the Flesh ye shall die 1. Cor. 6. Again he saith Flee from Whoredom for every Sin that a Man committeth is without his Body But whosoever committeth Whoredom sinneth against his own Body Do ye not know That your Members are the Temples of the Holy Ghost which is in you whom also ye have of God and ye are not your own For ye are dearly bought Glorifie God in your Bodies c. And a little before he saith Do ye not know That your Bodies are the Members of Christ Shall I then take the Members of Christ and make them the Members of a Whore God forbid Do ye not know That he which cleaveth to a Whore is made one Body with her There shall be two in one Flesh saith he but he that cleaveth to the Lord is one Spirit What godly Words doth the blessed Apostle St. Paul bring forth here to dissuade and discounsel us from Whoredom and Uncleanness Your Members saith he are the Temples of the Holy Ghost which whosoever doth defile Gâ—d will destroy him as saith St. Paul If we be the Temple of the Holy Ghost how unfitting then is it to drive that Holy Spirit from us through Whoredom and in his place to set the wicked Spirits of Uncleanness and Fornication and to be joined and do Service to them Ye are dearly bought saith he 1. Pet. 1. therefore glorifie God in your Bodies Christ that innocent Lamb of God hath bought us from the Servitude of the Devil not with corruptible Gold and Silver Esaiah 38. but with his most precious and dear heart blood To what intent That we should fall again into our old Uncleanness and abominable Living Luke 1. Nay verily But that we should serve him all the days of our Life in Holiness and Righteousness that we should glorifie him in our Bodies by purity and cleanness of Life He declareth also That our Bodies are the Members of Christ How unseemly a thing is it then to cease to be incorporate or imbodied and made one with Christ and through Whoredom to be enjoined and made all one with a Whore What greater dishonor or injury can we do to Christ than to take away from him the Members of his Body and to join them to Whores Devils and wicked Spirits And what more dishonor can we do to ourselves than through Uncleanness to lose so excellent a Dignity and Freedom and to become Bond-slaves and miserable Captives to the Spirits of Darkness Let us therefore consider First the Glory of Christ then our Estate our Dignity and Freedom wherein God hath set us by giving us his Holy Spirit and let us valiantly defend the same against Satan and all his crafty Assaults that Christ may be honored and that we lose not our Liberty or Freedom but still remain in one Spirit with him Eph. 5. Moreover in his Epistle to the Ephesians the blessed Apostle willeth us to be so pure and free from Adultery Fornication and all Uncleanness that we not once name them among us as it becometh Saints nor Filthiness nor foolish Talking nor Jesting which are not comely but rather giving of Thanks For this ye know saith he that no Whoremonger 1 Cor. 6. neither unclean Person or covetous Person which is an Idolater hath any Inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of God And that we should remember to be holy pure and free from all Uncleanness the holy Apostle calleth us Saints because we are sanctified and made holy by the
not things indifferent nor tolerable but against Gods Law and Commandment taking theiâ— own Interpretation and Exposition of it First for that all Images so set up publickly have been Worshipped of the Unlearned and Simple sort shortly after they have been publickly so set up and in conclusion of the Wise and Learned also Secondly for that they are Worshipped in sundry places now in our time also And Thirdly for that it is impossible that Images of God Christ or his Saints can be suffered especially in Temples and Churches any while or space without Worshipping of them And that Idolatry which is most abominable before God cannot possibly be escaped and avoided without the abolishing and destruction of Images and Pictures in Temples and Churches for that Idolatry is to Images specially in Temples and Churches an inseparable accident as they term it so that Images in Churches and Idolatry go always both together and that therefore the one cannot be avoided except the other specially in all publick places be destroyed Wherefore to make the Images and publickly to set them up in the Temples and Churches places appointed peculiarly to the service of God is to make Images to the use of Religion and not only against this Precept Thou shalt make no manner of Images but against this also Thou shalt not bowe down to them nor Worship them For they being set up have been be and ever will be Worshipped And the full proof of that which in the beginning of the first part of this Treatise was touched is here to be made and performed To wit that our Images and Idols of the Gentiles be all one as well in the things themselves as also in that our Images have been before be now and ever will be Worshipped in like form and manner as the Idols of the Gentiles were Worshipped so long as they be suffered in Churches and Temples Whereupon it followeth that our Images in Churches have been be and ever will be none other but abominable Idols and be therefore no things indifferent And every of these parts shall be proved in order as hereafter followeth Simulachra gentium Argentum aurum Fusile Similitudo Sculptile Simulachrum opera manuum hominum And first that our Images and the Idols of the Gentiles be all one concerning themselves is most evident the matter of them being Gold Silver or other Metal Stone Wood Clay or Plaister as were the Idols of the Gentiles and so being either molten or cast either carved graven hewen or otherwise formed and fashioned after the similitude and likeness of Man or Woman be dead and dumb Works of Man's hands having Mouths and speak not Eyes and see not Hands and feel not Feet and go not and so as well in form as matter be altogether like the Idols of the Gentiles Insomuch that all the Titles which be given to the Idols in the Scriptures may be verified of our Images Wherefore no doubt but the like Curses which are men-in the Scriptures will light upon the Makers and Worshippers of them both Secondly that they have been and be worshipped in our time in like form and manner as were the Idols of the Gentiles is now to be proved And for that Idolatry standeth chiefly in the mind it shall in this part first be proved that our Image-maintainers have had and have the same Opinions and Judgment of Saints whose Images they have made and worshipped as the Gentiles Idolaters had of their Gods And afterwards shall be declared that our Image-maintainers and Worshippers have used and used the same outward Rites and manner of honoring and worshipping their Images as the Gentiles did use before their Idols and that therefore they commit Idolatry as well inwardly and outwardly as did the wicked Gentiles Idolaters And concerning the first part of the idolatrous Opinions of our Image-maintainers What I pray you be such Saints with us to whom we attribute the defence of certain Countries spoiling God of his due honor herein but Dij Tutelares of the Gentiles Idolaters Dij Tutelares Such as were Belus to the Babylonians and Assyrians Osiris and Isis to the Aegyptians Vulcan to the Lemnians and to such other What be such Saints to whom the safeguard of certain Cities are appointed but Dij Praesides with the Gentiles Idolaters Such as were at Delphos Apollo at Athens Minerva at Carthage Juno at Rome Quirinus c. What be such Saints to whom contrary to the use of the Primitive Church Temples and Churches be builded and Altars erected but Dij Patroni of the Gentiles Idolaters Such as were in the Capitol Jupiter in Paphus Temple Venus in Ephesus Temple Diana and such like Alas we seem in thus thinking and doing to have Learned our Religion not out of Gods Word but out of the Pagan Poets who say Excessere omnes adytis arisque relictis Dij quibus imperium hoc steterat c. That is to say All the Gods by whose defence this Empire stood are gone out of the Temples and have forsaken their Altars And where one Saint hath Images in divers places the same Saint hath divers Names thereof most like to the Gentiles When you hear of our Lady of Walsingham our Lady of Ipswich our Lady of Wilsdon and such others what is it but an imitation of the Gentiles Idolaters Diana Agrâ—tera Diana Coriphea Diana Ephesia c. Venus Cypria Venus Paphia Venus Gnidia Whereby is evidently meant that the Saint for the Image sake should in those places yea in the Images themselves have a dwelling which is the ground of their Idolatry For where no Images be they have no such means Terentius Varro sheweth that there were Three Hundred Jupiters in his time there were no fewer Veneres and Diana's we had no fewer Christophers Ladies and Mary Magdalens and other Saints Oenomaus and Hesiodus shew that in their time there were Thirty Thousand Gods I think we had no fewer Saints to whom we gave the Honour due to God And they have not only spoiled the true living God of his due Honour in Temples Cities Countries and Lands by such devices and inventions as the Gentiles Idolaters have done before them But the Sea and Waters have as well special Saints with them as they had Gods with the Gentiles Neptune Triton Nereus Castor and Pollux Venus and such other In whose places be come Saint Christopher Saint Clement and divers other and specially our Lady to whom Shipmen Sing Ave maris stella Neither hath the Fire scaped the Idolatrous inventions For instead of Vulcan and Vesta the Gentiles Gods of the Fire our Men have placed Saint Agatha and make Letters on her day for to quench Fire with Every Artificer and Profession hath his special Saint as a peculiar God As for Example Scholars have Saint Nicholas and Saint Gregory Painters Saint Luke neither lack Souldiers their Mars nor Lovers their Venus amongst Christians All Diseases have their special Saints as Gods the curers
set forth and the Churches restored to their ancient and godly use render your hearty thanks to the goodness of Almighty God who hath in our days stirred up the hearts not only of his godly Preachers and Ministers but also of his faithful and most Christian Magistrates and Governors to bring such godly things to pass And forasmuch as your Churches are scoured and swept from the sinful and superstitious filthiness wherewith they were defiled and disfigured Do ye your parts good People to keep your Churches comely and clean suffer them not to be defiled with Rain and Weather with dung of Doves and Owls Stares and Choughs and other filthiness as it is foul and lamentable to behold in many places of this Country It is the House of Prayer not the House of talking of walking of brawling of minstrelsie of Hawks and Dogs Provoke not the displeasure and plagues of God for despising and abusing his Holy House as the wicked Jews did But have God in your heart be obedient to his blessed Will bind your selves every Man and Woman to your power toward the reparations and clean keeping of the Church to the intent that ye may be partakers of Gods manifold Blessings and that ye may be the better encouraged to resort to your Parish Church there to learn your Duty towards God and your Neighbour there to be present and partakers of Christs Holy Sacraments there to render thanks to your Heavenly Father for the manifold benefits which he daily poureth upon you there to pray together and to call upon Gods Holy Name which be blessed World without end Amen AN HOMILY OF Good Works And first of Fasting THE life which we live in this World good Christian People is of the free benefit of God lent us yet not to use it at our pleasure after our own fleshly will but to trade over the same in those Works which are beseeming them that are become new Creatures in Christ These works the Apostle calleth good works saying We are Gods workmanship Ephes 2. created in Christ Jesus to good works which God hath ordained that we should walk in them And yet his meaning is not by these words to induce us to have any affiance or to put any confidence in our works as by the merit and deserving of them to purchase to our selves and others remission of sin and so consequently everlasting life for that were meer Blasphemy against Gods mercy and great derogation to the blood-shedding of our Saviour Jesus Christ For it is of the free grace and mercy of God by the mediation of the Blood of his Son Jesus Christ without merit or deserving on our part that our sins are forgiven us that we are reconciled and brought again into his favour and are made Heirs of his Heavenly Kingdom Grace saith * Aug. de dâ—ver quaest ad Sâ—mpl lib. 1. Quaest 28. St. Augustine belonging to God who doth call us and then hath he good works whosoever receiveth grace Good works then bring not forth grace but are brought forth by grace The Wheel saith he turneth round not to the end that it may be made round but because it is first made round therefore it turneth round So no man doth good works to receive grace by his good works but because he hath first received grace therefore consequently he doth good works Aug. de fide operibus cap. 4. And in another place he saith Good works go not before in him which shall afterward be justified but good works do follow after when a man is first justified St. Paul therefore teacheth that we must do good works for divers respects First to shew our selves obedient Children unto our Heavenly Father who hath ordained them that we should walk in them Secondly for that they are good declarations and testimonies of our justification Thirdly that others seeing our good works may the rather by them be stirred up and excited to glorifie our Father which is in Heaven Let us not therefore be slack to do good works seeing it is the will of God that we should walk in them assuring our selves that at the last day every man shall receive of God for his labour done in true Faith a greater reward than his works have deserved And because somewhat shall now be spoken of one particular good work whose commendation is both in the Law and in the Gospel Thus much is said in the beginning generally of all good works First to remove out of the way of the simple and unlearned this dangerous stumbling-block that any man should go about to purchase or buy Heaven with his works Secondly to take away so much as may be from envious minds and slanderous tongues all just occasion of slanderous speaking as though good works were rejected This good work which now shall be treated of is Fasting which is found in the Scriptures to be of two sorts The one outward pertaining to the Body the other inward in the Heart and Mind This outward Fast is an abstinence from meat drink and all natural food yea from all delicious pleasures and delectations worldly When this outward Fast pertaineth to one particular man or to a few and not the whole number of the People for causes which hereafter shall be declared then it is called a private Fast But when the whole multitude of Men Women and Children in a Township or City yea through a whole Country do fast it is called a publick Fast Such was that Fast which the whole multitude of the Children of Israel were commanded to keep the tenth day of the seventh month because Almighty God appointed that day to be a cleansing day a day of atonement a time of reconciliation a day wherein the People were cleansed from their sins The order and manner how it was done is written in the xvi and xxiii Lev. 16. and 23. Chapters of Leviticus That day the People did lament mourn weep and bewail their former sins And whosoever upon that day did not humble his Soul bewailing his sins as is said abstaining from all bodily food until the Evening that soul saith Almighty God should be destroyed from among his people We do not read that Moses ordained by order of Law any days of publick Fast throughout the whole year more than that one day The Jews notwithstanding had more times of common Fasting which the Prophet Zachary reciteth to be the fast of the fourth the fast of the fifth Zach. 8. the fast of the seventh and the fast of the tenth Month. But for that it appeareth not in the Law when they were instituted it is to be judged that those other times of Fasting more than the Fast of the seventh month were ordained among the Jews by the appointment of their Governors rather of Devotion than by an express Commandment given from God Upon the Ordinance of this general Fast good men took occasion to appoint to themselves private Fasts at such times as they did
either earnestly lament and bewail their sinful lives or did addict themselves to more fervent Prayer that it might please God to turn his wrath from them when either they were admonished and brought to the consideration thereof by the preaching of the Prophets or otherwise when they saw present danger to hang over their heads This sorrowfulness of Heart joyned with Fasting they uttered sometimes by their outward behaviour and gesture of Body putting on Sackcloth sprinkling themselves with ashes and dust and sitting or lying upon the Earth For when good men feel in themselves the heavy burden of sin see damnation to be the reward of it and behold with the eye of their mind the horror of Hell they tremble they quake and are inwardly touched with sorrowfulness of heart for their offences and cannot but accuse themselves and open this their grief unto Almighty God and call unto him for mercy This being done seriously their mind is so occupied partly with sorrow and heaviness partly with an earnest desire to be delivered from this danger of Hell and Damnation that all desire of meat and drink is laid apart and loathsomness of all worldly things and pleasure cometh in place so that nothing then liketh them more than to weep to lament to mourn and both with words and behaviour of body to shew themselves weary of this life Thus did David fast when he made intercession to Almighty God for the Childs life begotten in Adultery of Bathshtba Vriah's Wife King Ahab fasted after this sort when it repented him of murdering of Naboth bewailing his own sinful doings Such was the Ninevites Fast brought to repentance by Jonas preaching When forty thousand of the Israelites were slain in Battel against the Benjamites the Scripture saith All the Children of Israel and the whole multitude of the People went to Bethel and sate there weeping before the Lord and fasted all that day till night Judges 20. So did Daniel Hester Nehemias and many others in the Old Testament fast But if any man will say it is true so they fasted indeed but we are not now under the yoke of the Law we are set at liberty by the freedom of the Gospel therefore those Rites and Customs of the old Law bind not us except it can be shewed by the Scriptures of the New Testament or by examples out of the same that fasting now under the Gospel is a restraint of meat drink and all bodily food and pleasures fro◠〈…〉 First that 〈…〉 is a truth more manifest than that it should here need to be proved the Scriptures which teach the same are evident The doubt therefore is whether when we Fast we ought to withhold from our bodies all meat and drink during the time of our Fast or no That we ought so to do may be well gathered upon a Question moved by the Pharisees to Christ and by his answer again to the same Why say they do John's Disciples fast often Luke â— and pray and we likewise but thy Disciples eat and drink and fast not at all In this smooth Question they couch up subtilly this Argument or Reason Whoso fasteth not that man is not of God For Fasting and Prayer are works both commended and commanded of God in the Scriptures and all good men from Moses till this time as well the Prophets as others have exercised themselves in these works John also and his Disciples at this day do fast oft and pray much and so do we the Pharisees in like manner But thy Disciples fast not at all which if thou wilt deny we can easily prove it For whosoever eateth and drinketh fasteth not Thy Disciples eat and drink therefore they fast not Of this we conclude say they necessarily that neither art thou nor yet thy Disciples of God Christ maketh answer saying Can ye make that the children of the wedding shalt fast while the Bridegroom is with them The days shall come when the Bridegroom shall be taken from them In those days shall they fast Our Saviour Christ like a good Master defendeth the Innocency of his Disciples against the malice of the arrogant Pharisees and proveth that his Disciples are not guilty of transgressing any jot of Gods Law although as then they fasted and in his answer reproveth the Pharisees of Superstition and Ignorance Superstition because they put a Religion in their doings and ascribed holiness to the outward work wrought not regarding to what end Fasting is ordained Of Ignorance for that they could not discern between time and 〈◊〉 They knew not that there is a time of rejoycing and mirth and 〈…〉 â—tation and mourning which both he teacheth in his answer as shall be touched more largely hereafter when we shall shew what time is most fit to fast in But here beloved let us note that our Saviour Christ in making his answer to their question denied not but confessed that his Disciples fasted not and therefore agreeth to the Pharisees in this as unto a manifest truth that whoso eateth and drinketh fasteth not Fasting then even by Christs assent is a withholding of meat drink and all natural food from the Body for the determined time of Fasting And that it was used in the Primitive Church appeareth most evidently by the Chalcedon Council one of the four first General Councils The Fathers assembled there to the number of 630. considering with themselves how acceptable a thing Fasting is to God when it is used according to his word Again having before their eyes also the great abuses of the same crept into the Church at those days through the negligence of them which should have taught the People the right use thereof and by vain glosses devised of men to reform the said abuses and to restore this so good and godly a work to the true use thereof decreed in that Council that every Person as well in his private as publick Fast should continue all the day without meat and drink till after the Evening Prayer And whosoever did eat or drink before the Evening Prayer was ended should be accounted and reputed not to consider the purity of his Fast This Canon teacheth so evidently how Fasting was used in the Primitive Church as by words it cannot be more plainly expressed Fasting then by the Decree of those six hundred and thirty Fathers grounding their determination in this matter upon the Sacred Scriptures and long continued usage or practice both of the Prophets and other godly Persons before the coming of Christ and also of the Apostles and other devout men in the New Testament is a withholding of meat drink and all natural Food from the Body for the determined time of Fasting Thus much is spoken hitherto to make plain unto you what Fasting is Now hereafter shall be shewed the true and right use of Fasting Good works are not all of one sort For some are of themselves and of their own proper nature always good as to love God above all things to
abuses by divers good and wholesom Laws which if they were practised as they ought to be of all true Subjects they might in some part serve to diminish this raging and riotous excess in Apparel But alas there appeareth amongst us little fear and obedience either of God or Man Therefore must we needs look for Gods fearful vengeance from Heaven to overthrow our presumption and pride Acts 12. as he overthrew Herod who in his Royal Apparel forgetting God was smitten of an Angel and eaten up of Worms By which terrible Example God hath taught us that we are but Worms meat although we pamper our selves never so much in gorgeous Apparel Ecclus 1. Here we may learn that which Jesus the Son of Syrach teacheth not to be proud of clothing and rayment neither to exalt our selves in the day of honour because the works of the Lord are wonderful and glorious secret and unknown teaching us with humbleness of mind every one to be mindful of the Vocation whereunto God hath called him Let Christians therefore endeavour themselves to quench the care of pleasing the flesh let us use the benefits of God in this World in such wise that we be not too much occupied in providing for the Body Let us content our selves quietly with that which God sendeth be it never so little And if it please him to send plenty let us not wax proud thereof but let us use it moderately as well to our own comfort as to the relief of such as stand in necessity He that in abundance and plenty of apparel hideth his face from him that is naked despiseth his own flesh as Isaiah the Prophet saith Isai 58. Let us learn to know our selves and not to despise others let us remember that we stand all before the Majesty of Almighty God who shall judge us by his Holy Word wherein he forbiddeth excess not only to Men but also to Women So that none can excuse themselves of what estate or condition soever they be Let us therefore present our selves before his Throne as Tertullian exhorteth with the Ornaments which the Apostle speaketh of Ephes 6. Ephesians the sixth Chapter having our loyns girt about with verity having the breast-plate of righteousness and shod with shoes prepared by the Gospel of peace Mat. 11. Let us take unto us simplicity chastity and comeliness submitting our necks to the sweet yoke of Christ Let Women be subject to their Husbands and they are sufficiently attired saith Tertullian The Wife of one Philo an Heathen Philosopher being demanded why she wore no Gold She answered that she thought her Husbands Vertues sufficient Ornaments How much more ought Christian Women instructed by the Word of God to content themselves in their Husbands yea how much more ought every Christian to content himself in our Saviour Christ thinking himself sufficiently garnished with his heavenly vertues But it will be hear objected and said of some nice and vain Women that all which we do in painting our faces in dying our hair in embalming our bodies in decking us with gay apparel is to please our Husbands to delight his eyes and to retain his love toward us O vain excuse and most shameful answer to the reproach of thy Husband What couldst thou more say to set out his foolishness than to charge him to be pleased and delighted with the Devils attire Who can paint her face and curle her hair and change it into an unnatural colour but therein doth work reproof to her maker who made her As though she could make her self more comely than God hath appointed the measure of her beauty What do these Women but go about to reform that which God hath made not knowing that all things natural are the work of God and things disguised and unnatural are the works of the Devil And as though a wise and Christian Husband should delight to see his Wife in such painted and flourished visages which common Harlots most do use to train therewith their Lovers to naughtiness or as though an honest Woman could delight to be like an Harlot for pleasing of her Husband Nay nay these be but vain excuses of such as go about to please rather others than their Husbands And such attires be but to provoke her to shew her self abroad to entice others a worthy matter She must keep 〈…〉 her â—usband to maintain such Apparel whereby she is the worse Housewife the seldomer at home to see her charge and so neglect his thrift by giving great provocation to her houshold to waste and wantonness while she must wander abroad to shew her own vanity and her Husbands foolishness By which her Pride she stirreth up much envy of others which be as vainly delighted as she is She doth but deserve mocks and scorns to set out all her commendation in Jewish and Ethnick Apparel and yet brag of her Christianity She doth but waste superfluously her Husbands stock by such sumptuousness and sometimes she is the cause of much bribery extortion and deceit in her Husbands dealings that she may be the more gorgeously set out to the sight of the vain World to please the Devils eyes and not Gods who giveth to every Creature sufficient and moderate comeliness wherewith we should be contented if we were of God What other thing dost thou by those means but provokest others to tempt thee to deceive thy Soul by the bait of thy pomp and pride What else dost thou but settest out thy Pride and makest of the undecent apparel of thy Body the Devils Net to catch the souls of them which behold thee O thou Woman not a Christian but worse than a Paynim thou Minister of the Devil Why pamperest thou that carrion flesh so high which sometimes doth stink and rot on the Earth as thou goest Howsoever thou perfumest thy self yet cannot thy beastliness be hidden or overcome with thy smells and savours which do rather deform and mis-shape thee than beautifie thee What meant Solomon to say of such trimming of vain Women Prov. 11. when he said A fair woman without good manners and conditions is like a Sow which hath a ring of gold upon her snout but that the more thou garnish thy self with these outward blasings the less thou carest for the inward garnishing of thy mind and so dost but deform thy self by such array aâ—d not beautifie thy self Hear hear what Christs holy Apostles do write Let not the outward apparel of women saith St. Peter be decked with the braiding of hair 1 Pet. 3. with wrapping on of gold or goodly clothing but let the mind and the conscience which is not seen with the eyes be pure and clean that is saith he an acceptable and an excellent thing before God For so the old ancient women attired themselves and were obedient to their husbands And St. Paul saith 1 Tim. 2. that women should apparel themselves with shamefacedness and soberness and not with braids of their hair
degree or state soever they be In which place he maketh mention by name of Kings and Rulers which are in Authority putting us thereby to acknowledge how greatly it concerneth the profit of the Common-wealth to pray diligently for the Higher Powers Neither is it without good cause that he doth so often in all his Epistles crave the Prayers of Gods People for himself Colos 4. Rom. 15. 2 Thess 3. For in so doing he declareth to the World how expedient and needful it is daily to call upon God for the Ministers of his Holy Word and Sacraments that they may have the door of utterance oppened unto them Ephes 6. that they may truly understand the Scriptures that they may effectually Preach the same unto the People and bring forth the true Fruits thereof to the Example of all other After this sort did the Congregation continually Pray for Peter at Jerusalem Acts 12. and for Paul among the Gentiles to the great increase and furtherance of Christs Gospel And if we following their good Example herein will study to do the like doubtless it cannot be expressed how greatly we shall both help our selves and also please God To discourse and run through all degrees of Persons it were too long Therefore ye shall briefly take this one conclusion for all Whomsoever we are bound by express Commandment to love for those also are we bound in Conscience to pray But we are bound by express Commandment to love all men as our selves therefore we are also bound to Pray for all men even as well as if it were for our selves notwithstanding we know them to be our extream and deadly Enemies For so doth our Saviour Christ plainly teach us in his Gospel saying Love your enemies Matt. 5. bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you pray for them that persecute you that ye may be the children of your Father which is in Heaven And as he taught his Disciples so did he practice himself in his life-time Luke 23. praying for his Enemies upon the Cross and desiring his Father to forgive them because they knew not what they did As did also that Holy and blessed Martyr Stephen Acts 7. when he was cruelly stoned to death of the stubborn and stiff-necked Jews to the example of all them that will truly and unfeignedly follow their Lord and Master Christ in this miserable and mortal life Now to entreat of that Question whether we ought to pray for them that are departed out of this World or no Wherein if we will cleave only unto the Word of God then must we needs grant that we have no Commandment so to do For the Scripture doth acknowledge but two places after this life The one proper to the Elect and Blessed of God the other to the Reprobate and Damned Souls as may be well gathered by the Parable of Lazarus and the Rich man Luke 16. Lib. 2. Evang. quaest 1. cap. 38. which place St. Augustine expounding saith in this wise That which Abraham speaketh unto the Rich man in Lukes Gospel namely that the Just cannot go into those places where the Wicked are tormented what other thing doth it signifie but only this that the just by reason of Gods Judgment which may not be revoked can shew no deed of Mercy in helping them which after this life are cast into Prison until they pay the uttermost farthing These words as they confound the Opinion of helping the dead by Prayer so they do clean confute and take away the vain Error of Purgatory which is grounded upon the saying of the Gospel Thou shalt not depart thence until thou hast paid the uttermost farthing Now doth St. Augustine say that those men which are cast into Prison after this life on that condition may in no wise be holpen though we would help them never so much And why Because the Sentence of God is unchangeable and cannot be revoked again Therefore let us not deceive our selves thinking that either we may help other or other may help us by their good and charitable Prayers in time to come For as the Preacher saith When the tree falleth whether it be toward the South Eccles 11. or toward the North in what place soever the tree falleth there it lieth meaning thereby that every mortal man dieth either in the state of Salvation or Damnation according as the words of the Evangelist John do also plainly import saying John 3. He that believeth on the Son of God hath eternal life But he that believeth not on the Son shall never see life but the wrath of God abideth upon him Where is then the third place which they call Purgatory or where shall our Prayers help and profit the dead Lib. 5. Hypogno Chrysost in Heb. 2. Homil. 5. in Cyprian contra Demetrianum St. Augustine doth only acknowledge two places after this life Heaven and Hell As for the third place he doth plainly deny that there is any such to be found in all Scripture Chrysostom likewise is of this mind that unless we wash away our sins in this present World we shall find no comfort afterward And St. Cyprian saith that after death Repentance and Sorrow of pain shall be without fruit Weeping also shall be in vain and Prayer shall be to no purpose Therefore he counselleth all men to make provision for themselves while they may because when they are once departed out of this life there is no place for Repentance nor yet for satisfaction Let these and such other places be sufficient to take away the gross Error of Purgatory out of our Heads neither let us dream any more that the Souls of the dead are any thing at all holpen by our Prayers But as the Scripture teacheth us let us think that the Soul of man passing out of the Body goeth straightways either to Heaven or else to Hell whereof the one needeth no Prayer the other is without Redemption The only Purgatory wherein we must trust to be saved is the death and blood of Christ which if we apprehend with a true and stedfast Faith it purgeth and cleanseth us from all our sins even as well as if he were now hanging upon the Cross The blood of Christ 1 John 1. Heb. 9. saith St. John hath cleansed us from all sin Thâ— blood of Christ saith St. Paul hath purged our Consciences from dead works to serve the living God Heb. 10. Also in another place he saith We be sanctified and made holy by the offering up of the body of Jesus Christ done once for all Yea he addeth more bidem saying With the one oblation of his blessed Body and precious Blood he hath made perfect for ever and ever all them that are sanctified This then is that Purgatory wherein all Christian men put their whole trust and confidence nothing doubting but if they truly repent them of their sins and die in perfect Faith that then they
Enemies with the Countenance of a few of thy Servants calling upon thy Name and trusting in thee Defend O Lord thy Servant and our Governor under thee our Sovereign Lord the KING and all thy People committed to his charge O Lord withstand the cruelty of all those which be Common Enemies as well to the Truth of thy Eternal Word as to their own natural Prince and Country and manifestly to this Crown and Realm of England which thou hast of thy Divine Providence assigned in these our days to the Government of thy Servant our Sovereign and gracious KING O most merciful Father if it be thy holy Will make soft and tender the stony Hearts of all those that exalt themselves against thy Truth and seek either to trouble the quiet of this Realm of England or to oppress the Crown of the same and convert them to the knowledge of thy Son the only Saviour of the World Jesus Christ that we and they may joyntly glorifie thy Mercies Lighten we beseech the their ignorant Hearts to embrace the Truth of thy Word or else so abate their cruelty O most mighty Lord that this our Christian Realm with others that confess thy holy GOSPEL may obtain by thy aid and strength surety from all Enemies without shedding of Christian Blood whereby all they which be oppressed with their Tyranny may be relieved and they which be in fear of their cruelty may be comforted and finally that all Christian Realms and especially this Realm of England may by thy Defence and Protection continue in the Truth of the Gospel and enjoy perfect Peace Quietness and Security And that we for these thy Mercies joyntly all together with one consonant Heart and Voice may thankfully render to thee all Laud and Praise that we knit in one Godly concord and unity amongst our selves may continually magnifie thy glorious Name who with thy Son our Saviour Jesus Christ and th◠〈◊〉 Ghost art one Eternal Almighty and most mercâ—â—â—â— God To whom be all Laud and Praise World without end Amen The Third Part of the Homily against Disobedience and Wilful Rebellion AS I have in the First Part of this Treatise shewed unto you the Doctrin of the Holy Scriptures as concerning the Obedience of true Subjects to their Princes even as well to such as be evil as unto the good and in the Second Part of the same Treaty confirmed the same Doctrin by notable examples likewise taken out of the Holy Scriptures so remaineth it now that I partly do declare unto you in this Third Part what an abominable sin against God and Man Rebellion is and how dreadfully the wrath of God is kindled and inflamed against all Rebels and what horrible plagues punishments and deaths and finally eternal damnation doth hang over their heads as how on the contrary part good and obedient Subjects are in Gods favor and be partakers of Peace Quietness and Security with other Gods manifold blessings in this World and by his mercies through our Saviour Christ of life everlasting also in the World to come How horrible a sin against God and Man Rebellion is cannot possibly be expressed according unto the greatness thereof For he that nameth Rebellion nameth not a singular or one only sin as is Theft Robbery Murder and such like but he nameth the whole puddle and sink of all sins against God and Man against his Prince his Country his Country-men his Parents his Children his Kinsfolks his Friends and against all Men universally all sins I say against God and all Men heaped together nameth he that nameth Rebellion For concerning the offence of Gods Majesty who seeth not that Rebellion riseth first by contempt of God and of his holy Ordinances and Laws wherein he so straitly commandeth Obedience forbiddeth Disobedience and Rebellion And besides the dishonor done by Rebels unto Gods holy name by their breaking of their Oath made to their Prince with the attestation of Gods Name and calling of his Majesty to witness Who heareth not the horrible Oaths and Blasphemies of Gods holy Name that are used daily amongst Rebels that is either amongst them or heareth the truth of their Behavior Who knoweth not that Rebels do not only themselves leave all Works necessary to be done upon work-Work-days undone whiles they accomplish their abominable work of Rebellion and to compel others that would gladly be well occupied to do the same but also how Rebels do not only leave the sabbath-Sabbath-day of the Lord unsanctified the Temple and Church of the Lord unresorted unto but also do by their Works of wickedness most horribly prophane and pollute the sabbath-Sabbath-day serving Satan and by doing of his work making it the Devils day instead of the Lords day Besides that they compel good Men that would gladly serve the Lord assembling in his Temple and Church upon his day as becometh the Lords Servants to Assemble and meet Armed in the Field to resist the fury of such Rebels Yea and many Rebels lest they should leave any part of Gods Commandments in the first Table of his Law unbroken or any sin against God undone do make Rebellion for the maintainance of their Images and Idols and of their Idolatry committed or to be committed by them and in despite of God cut and tear in sunder his holy Word and tread it under their Feet as of late ye know was done The fifth Commandment As concerning the second Table of Gods Law and all sins that may be committed against Man who seeth not that they be contained in Rebellion For first the Rebels do not only dishonor their Prince the Parent of their Country but also do dishonor and shame their natural Parents if they have any do shame their Kindred and Friends do disinherit and undo for ever their Children and Heirs The sixth and eighth Commandment Thefts Robberies and Murders which of all sins are most loathed of most Men are in no Men so much nor so perniciously and mischievously as in Rebels For the most arrant Thieves cruellest Murderers that ever were so long as they refrain from Rebellion as they are not many in number so spreadeth their wickedness and damnation unto a few they spoil but a few they shed the Blood but of a few in comparison But Rebels are the cause of infinite Robberies and murderers of great Multitudes and of those also whom they should defend from the spoil and violence of other and as Rebels are many in number so doth their wickedness and damnation spread it self unto many And if Whoredom and Adultery amongst such Persons as are agreeable to such wickedness are as they indeed be most damnable The Seventh Commandment What are the forcible oppressions of Matrons and Mens Wives and the violating and deflouring of Virgins and Maids which are most rife with Rebels How horrible and damnable think you are they Now besides that The Nninth Commandment Rebels by breach of their Faith given and the Oath made to their
daily talk Why should I not Swear when I Swear truly To such Men it may be said that though they Swear truly yet in Swearing often unadvisedly for trifles without necessity and when they should not Swear they be not without fault but do take God's most Holy Name in vain Much more ungodly and unwise Men are they that abuse God's most Holy Name not only in buying and selling of small things daily in all places but also in eating drinking playing communing and reasoning As if none of these things might be done except in doing of them the most Holy Name of God be commonly used and abused vainly and unreverently talked of sworn by and forsworn to the breaking of God's Commandment and procurement of his Indignation The Second Part of the Sermon of Swearing YOu have been taught in the First Part of this Sermon against Swearing and Perjury what great danger it is to use the Name of God in vain And that all kind of Swearing is not unlawful neither against God's Commandment and that there be three things required in a lawful Oath First that it be made for the maintainance of the Truth Secondly that it be made with Judgment not rashly and unadvisedly Thirdly for the zeal and love of Justice Ye heard also what commodities come of lawful Oaths and what danger cometh of rash and unlawful Oaths Now as concerning the rest of the same matter you shall understand that as well they use the Name of God in vain that by an Oath make unlawful promises of good and honest things and perform them not As they which do promise evil and unlawful things and do perform the same Of such Men Lawful Oaths and Promises would be better regarded Josh 6. that regard not their Godly Promises bound by an Oath but wittingly and wilfully break them we do read in Holy Scripture two notable punishments First Joshua and the people of Israel made a League and faithful Promise of perpetual Amity and Friendship with the Gibeonites Notwithstanding afterwards in the days of wicked Saul many of these Gibeonites were murthered contrary to the said faithful Promise made Wherewith Almighty God was sore displeased that he sent an universal Hunger upon the whole Country which continued by the space of three years And God would not withdraw his punishment until the said Offence was revenged by the death of seven Sons 2 Kingâ—â— Chap. 25. or next kinsmen of King Saul And whereas Zâ—dechias King of Jerusalem had promised Fidelity to the King of Chaldea afterward when Zedechiaâ— contrary to his Oath and Allegiance did rebel against King Nebuchadonosor This Heathen King by God's permission and sufferance invading the Land of Jury and besieging the City of Jerusalem compelled the said King Zedechias to flee and in fleeing took him prisoner slew his Sons before his Face and put out both his Eies and binding him with chains led him prisoner miserably into Babylon Thus doth God shew plainly Unlawful Oaths and Promises are not to be kept how much he abhorreth breakers of honest Promises bound by an Oath made in his Name And of them that make wicked Promises by an Oath and will perform the same we have example in the Scriptures chiefly of Herod of the wicked Jews and of Jeptha Matth. 14. Herod promised by an Oath unto the Damsel which danced before him to give unto her whatsoever she should ask When she was instructed before of her wicked Mother to ask the Head of St. John Baptist Herod as he took a wicked Oath so he more wickedly performed the same and cruelly slew the most Holy Prophet Likewise did the malicious Jews make an Oath Acts 23. Judges 11. cursing themselves if they did either eat or drink until they had slain St. Paul And Jeptha when God had given to him victory of the Children of Ammon promised of a foolish Devotion unto God to offer for a Sacrifice unto him that Person which of his own House should first meet with him after his return home By force of which fond and unadvised Oath he did slay his own and only Daughter which came out of his House with Mirth and Joy to welcome him home Thus the Promise which he made most foolishly to God against God's everlasting Will and the Law of Nature most cruelly he performed so committing against God a double offence Therefore whosoever maketh any Promise binding himself thereunto by an Oath let him foresee that the thing which he promiseth be good and honest and not against the Commandment of God and that it be in his own power to perform it justly And such good Promises must all Men keep evermore assuredly But if a Man at any time shall either of Ignorance or of Malice Promise and Swear to do any thing which is either against the Law of Almighty God or not in his power to perform Let him take it for an unlawful and ungodly Oath Now somthing to speak of Perjury to the intent you should know how great and grievous an offence against God this wilful Perjury is I will shew you what it is to take an Oath before a Judge upon a Book Against Perjury First when they laying their hands upon the Gospel Book do Swear truly no enquire and to make a true presentment of things wherewith they be charged An Oath before a Judge and not to let from saying the Truth and doing truly for favour love dread or malice of any Person as God may help them and the Holy Contents of that Book They must consider that in that Book is contained God's everlasting Truth his most Holy and Eternal Word whereby we have forgiveness of our Sins and be made inheritors of Heaven to live for ever with God's Angels and Saints in Joy and Gladness In the Gospel Book is contained also God's terrible threats to obstinate sinners that will not amend their lives nor believe the Truth of God's Holy Word and the everlasting pain prepared in Hell for Idolaters Hypocrites for false and vain Swearers for perjured Men for False Witness-bearers for False Condemners of innocent and guiltless Men and for them which for favour hide the crimes of evil doers that they should not be punished So that whosoever wilfully forswear themselves upon Christ's Holy Evangely they utterly forsake God's Mercy Goodness and Truth the Merits of our Saviour Christ's Nativity Life Passion Death Resurrection and Ascension they refuse the forgiveness of Sins promised to all penitent Sinners the joyes of Heaven the company with Angels and Saints for ever All which Benefits and Comforts are promised unto true Christian Persons in the Gospel And they so being forsworn upon the Gospel do betake themselves to the Devils Service the Master of all Lies Falshood Deceit and Perjury provoking the great Indignation and Curse of God against them in this Life and the terrible Wrath and Judgment of our Saviour Christ at the great day of the last Judgment when he
shall justly judge both the quick and the dead according to their Works For whosoever forsaketh the Truth Though Perjury do escape here unspied and unpunished it shall not do so ever for love or displeasure of any Man or for lucre and profit to himself doth forsake Christ and with Judas betray him And although such perjured Mens falshood be now kept secret yet it shall be opened at the last day when the secrets of all Mens Hearts shall be manifest to all the World And then the Truth shall appear and accuse them and their own Conscience with all the blessed company of Heaven shall bear witness truly against them And Christ the Righteous Judge shall then justly condemn them to everlasting shame and death This sin of Perjury Almighty God by the Prophet Malachy doth threaten to punish sore saying unto the Jews Malac. 3â— I will come to you in judgment and I will be a swift witness and a sharp Judge upon Sorcerers Adulterers and Perjured persons Which thing to the Prophet Zachary God declareth in a vision wherein the Prophet saw a Book flying which was twenty Cubits long and ten Cubits broad God saying then unto him this is the curse that shall go forth upon the face of the Earth for Falshood false Swearing and Perjury And this Curse shall enter into the House of the false Man and into the House of the perjured Man and it shall remain in the midst of his House consume him and the timber and stones of his House Thus you see how much God doth hate Perjury and what punishment God hath prepared for false Swearers and perjured Persons Thus you have heard how and in what causes it is lawful for a Christian Man to Swear Ye have heard what properties and conditions a lawful Oath must have and also how such lawful Oaths are both Godly and necessary to be observed Ye have heard that it is not lawful to Swear vainly that is other ways than in such Causes and after such sort as is declared And finally ye have heard how damnable a thing it is either to forswear ourselves or to keep an unlawful and an unadvised Oath Wherefore let us earnestly call for Grace that all Vain-swearing and Perjury set apart we may only use such Oaths as be lawful and Godly and that we may truly without all fraud keep the same according to God's Will and Pleasure To whom with the Son and the Holy Ghost be all Honour and Glory Amen A SERMON How dangerous a thing it is to fall from God OF our going from God the Wise Man saith that Pride was the first beginning for by it Man's Heart was turned from God his Maker For Pride saith he Eccl. 10. is the Fountain of all Sin He that hath it shall be full of Cursings and at the end it shall overthrow him And as by Pride and Sin we go from God so shall God and all Goodness with him go from us And the Prophet Osee doth plainly affirm that they which go away still from God by vicious living and yet would go about to pacifie him otherwise by Sacrifice Osee 5. and entertain him thereby they labour in vain For notwithstanding all their Sacrifice yet he goeth still away from them Forsomuch saith the Prophet as they do not apply their Minds to return to God although they go about with whole Flocks and Herds to seek the Lord yet they shall not find him for he is gone away from them But as touching our turning to God or from God you shall understand that it may be done divers ways Somtimes directly by Idolatry as Israel and Judah then did Somtimes Men go from God by lack of Faith and mistrusting of God whereof Isaiah speaketh on this wise Wo to them that go down into Egypt to seek for help trusting in Horses and having confidence in the number of Chariots and puissance or power of Horsemen Isai 31. They have no confidence in the Holy God of Israel nor seek for the Lord. But what followeth The Lord shall let his hand fall upon them and down shall come both the helper and he that is holpen they shall be destroyed all together Somtimes Men go from God by the neglecting of his Commandments concerning their Neighbours which command them to express hearty Love towards every Man as Zachary said unto the People in God's behalf Give true judgment shew mercy and compassion every one to his brother imagine no deceit towards Widows Zach. 7. or children fatherless and motherless towards strangers or the poor let no man forge evil in his heart against his brother But these things they passed not of they turned their backs and went their way they stopped their Ears that they might not hear they hardned their Hearts as an Adamant stone that they might not listen to the Law and the words that the Lord had sent through his Holy Spirit by his ancient Prophets Wherefore the Lord shewed his great Indignation upon them It came to pass saith the Prophet even as I told them As they would not hear so when they cried they were not heard but were scattered into all Kingdoms which they never knew and their land was made desolate Jer. 7. And to be short all they that may not abide the Word of God but following the persuasions and stubbornness of their own Hearts go backward and not forward as it is said in Jeremy They go and turn away from God Insomuch that Origen saith He that with Mind with Study with Deeds with Thought and Care applieth Jer. 7. and giveth himself to God's Word and thinketh upon his Laws day and night giveth himself wholly to God and in his Precepts and Commandments is exercised This is he that is turned to God And on the other part he saith Whosoever is occupied with Fables and Tales when the Word of God is rehearsed he is turned from God Whosoever in time of reading God's Word is careful in his mind of Worldly business of Money or of Lucre he is turned from God Whosoever is intangled with the cares of Possessions filled with covetousness of Riches Whosoever studieth for the Glory and Honour of this World he is turned from God So that after his Mind whosoever hath not a special mind to that thing that is commanded or taught of God he that doth not listen unto it embrace and imprint it in his Heart to the intent that he may duly fashion his life thereafter he is plainly turned from God although he do other things of his own Devotion and Mind which to him seem better and more to God's Honour Which thing to be true we be taught and admonished in the Holy Scripture by the example of King Saul who being commanded of God by Samuel 1 Kings 15. that he should kill all the Amalekites and destroy them clearly with their Goods and Cattle Yet he being moved partly with pity and partly as he thought with devotion