of Gods workes they are in our eyes and we behold them and take vse of them euery day and they that bestow the most paines in the search of Gods worke do know him most and best and from them his name hath or should haue most honour This booke the Apostle calleth the wisedome of God and seeing this was not found sufficient to make God knowen to the world as he desired for their good 2. Another booke was opened the holy Scriptures of God that by them God might be made manifest and his name declared So saith the Apostle After that in the wisedome of God the world by wisdome knew not God it pleased God by the foolishnes of preaching to saue them that beleeue This preaching taketh the text from the written word of God and they that study that booke well shall know the name of the Lord. God hath recommended to his Church the reading hearing and meditating on his law and the blessed man doth exercise himselfe therein day and night and there is nothing that honoureth a nation more in the sight of all nations of the world then the studie and obedience of this law as Moses sayd to the Lords Israel Keepe therefore and doe them for this is your wisedome and your vnderstanding in the sight of the nations which shall heare all these statutes and say Surely this great nation is a wise and vnderstanding people For what nation is there so great who hath God so nigh vnto them as the Lord our God is in all things that we call vpon him for And what nation is there so great that hath statutes and iudgements so righteous as all this law which I set before you this day In which wordes you may obserue 1 That God requireth an exact care for the keeping of his law 2 That this is found and profest by God himselfe to be the wisedome and vnderstanding of his people 3 That it is their glory amongst other nations of the world 4 That by the diligent study and reading and obedience of the law God doth draw nigh to vs 5 That God doth therefore set the law before all the 〈◊〉 6 That Gods name is hereby hallowed of his owne people glorified amongst other nations of the world I beseech you lay all this to heart and I dare say you will call the Church of Rome an hard stepmother to her Children who hideth this booke of God from them for 1 How can the law be well kept when it is not well knowne how can it be well knowen where it is not well preached where euery soule hath not liberty to read and study it at large so that they doe herein hinder the obedience which God requireth to be giuen to his law for as in faith so in obedience how shall they either beleeue or obey without hearing 2 Seeing the wisedome of the Church doth consist in knowing and keeping the law of God doth not the Church of Rome infatuate her children aâ—d make starke fooles of them by hiding the booke of God from them and so robbeth God of his delight for God delighteth not in fooles 3 Seeing the libertie of the law of God is the glorie of a nation the Church of Rome by hiding the booke of God from their people doe make them inglorious and dishonour them to the nations round about them 4 Seeing God doth reueale himself to be neare vnto them that know and study his Law and keepe it the Church of Rome doth what it can to driue it away from amongst them A strange peruersenesse God would draw neere to them by the Ministerie of his word and they refuse him He would be farre off from them when they would make him their creature for the Priests of Rome professe themselues God makers they wil inforce his presence 5 Seeing God doth set his Law before all the people at large the Church of Rome which keepeth vp this booke and forbiddeth the generall communication thereof to all that are capable thereof doth professe it selfe an Antigod herein 6 Seeing by this knowledge and this obedience of the Law the name of God is hallowed and without this it cannot be sanctified as it ought the Church of Rome is guilty of hindering the honour of God both in his Church and without and therefore is no way to be hearkned vnto or embraced as the true Church Let me therefore exhort you so many as do make conscience of hallowing the name of God in which our helpe standeth to exercise your selues in the reading hearing and studie of the holy word of God that you may know the Maiestie Wisedome Holinesse Power and goodnesse of that name that the name of the God of Iacob may defend you from all euill And to this purpose frequent you both diligently and reuerently the house of Gods name and honour where his word is read preached faithfully and sincerely make the Sabbath of the Lord which is a day appointed to the hallowing of Gods name especially your delight for this is the onely outward ordinarie meanes by God deuised and commanded for the making his name knowne to his Church 2. The inward meanes This is without vs for it is the worke of the holy Ghost the meanes to attaine this spirit of God to assist and enable this worke in vs by prayer for so our Sauiour saith If ye then being euill know how to giue good gifts to your children how much more shall your heauenly father giue the holy spirit to them that aske him the gift of this spirit is not obtained by all them that pray but by such onely as pray according to rule and though grace be not necessitated to the outward meanes yet the promise thereof is so annexed to the right vse of the means as we may be bold in that way to lay claime to it God neuer faileth his owne holy ordinances but they that giue themselues to the holy consideration of the workes and word of God and are feruent and frequent in praier such are in the eye and fauour of God and preuaile with him It is a short and sweete praier of Dauid let me commend it to you say it in your hearts often to your God Support and hold me with thy free spirit 2 When we know the name of God our next dutie is to be zealous of the glory of this name for else we do not sanctifie it as we ought Take heed that we doe not speake of it vainly that we doe not blaspheme it profanely that we doe not sweare by it but when we are lawfully called thereto that nothing in the world be more pretious in our estimation then this name of God for God is our blessednesse and the fulnesse of our ioy here reward hereafter his name is glorious and they that haue no other Gods but him will with their soules seeke him and in thought word and deed they will honour his name But God may
enemies 1 Sathan takes vpon him to be the Prince of this world and maketh many beleeue that hee hath power to giue kingdomes where he listeth 2 The Pope vsurpeth dominion ouer all Princes and giues out that God hath set him in the world ouer the nations and ouer kingdomes to roote out and to pull downe and to destroy and to throw downe and to build and io plant Blasphemously applying to himselfe the power which God giueth to his Word in the Ministery of the Prophets 3 There is imperium peccati of which the Apostle saith When they knew God they glorified him not as God but became vaine in their imaginations and their foolish hearts were darkened professing themselues wise they became fooles and changed the glory of the vncorruptible God into an image made like to a corruptible man and to birdes and four-footed beastes and creeping things 4 There is imperium mortis Death reigned from Adam to Moses That is before the law was written much more hath death reigned since the law published for the strength of sinne is the law Death came in by sinne and hath dilated an empire ouer all the earth that we see daily what desolations it maketh in the same It is appointed to al men once to die 2 Concerning Sathan Christ saith The Prince of this world is cast out and Saint Paul saith The God of peace shall crush Sathan vnder your feete shortly And when we pray Let the kingdome of thy power come we pray that God would destroy the kingdome of Sathan and cast him out and tread him vnder our feete that God may reigne abroad gloriously in the world 2 Concerning the Pope hee is that Antichrist that man of sinne the sonne of perdition of which the Apostle speaketh who exalteth himselfe aboue all that is called God or is worshipped so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God shewing himselfe that he is God But it followeth that The Lord shall consume him with the spirit of his mouth and shall destroy him with the brightnesse of his comming Whose comming is after the working of Sathan with all power and signes and lying wonders Therfore when we pray that the kingdome of Gods power may come wee pray that God would be pleased to appeare in power against this vsurper and deluder of his subiects to destroy him that he may no longer infatuate and befoole the world with an opinion of his power or holinesse but that hee may be reuealed as hee is a man of sinne ful of subtilty and the child of the deuil as Simon Magus his predecessor and the true founder of his impostures was 3 Concerning sinne the Apostle hath aduised Let not sinne reigne in your mortall bodies that you should obey it in the lusts thereof He hath also comforted vs againe Sinne shall not haue dominion ouer you for yee are not vnder the Law but vnder Grace Wee pray therefore that God would exercise this his power against the kingdome of sinne that the body of sinne may be destroyed that henceforth wee should not serue sinne For the Dominion of sinne doth teach men to resist the power of God and to say Nolumus hunc regnare super nos it teacheth man to be proud and cruell Dauid Lord how long shall the wicked how long shall the wicked triumph How long shall they vtter and speake hard things and all the workers of iniquity bâ—ast themselues They breake in peeces thy people O Lord and afflict thine heritage They slay the widow and the fatherlesse and murther the stranger Yet they say the Lord shall not see Sinne is a dominearing and daring tyrant so that wee haue cause with Dauid to awake the iustice of God against it O Lord God to whom vengeance belongeth O God to whom vengeance belongeth shew thy selfe Lift vp thy selfe thou iudge of the earth render a reward to the proud and that is our adveniat regnum tuum 4 Concerning death which maketh such hauocke in the workes of God God hath said O death I will be thy plagues O graue I will be thy destruction repentance shall be hid from mine eyes And this is that we pray for let thy kingdome of thy power destroy death for euer that we may insult ouer it saying O death where is thy sling O graue where is thy victory We pray God to take his rod of yron into his hand and to breake in peeces all the rebels to his kingdome of power here on earth 2 Concerning the kingdome of grace 1 We pray that that kingdome may come that is that God would declare his Sonne the king and Soueraigne Monarch of his Church and that he would rule therein by his Word and holy Spirit 2 That God would aduance the kingdome of his Sonne Iesus Christ in the hearts of all his elect people seuerally that they may liue in the knowledge loue faith and obedience of him 1 And this is a most necessarie petition to be put vp often to God in regard of those enemies which doe oppose this domination and seeke to dethrone the Sonne of God in vs. 2 And in regard of those necessarie graces which are wanting in vs and can by no other way be supplied but by the aduancement and establishment of that kingdom in vs. 1 For the enemies of this kingdome 1 The great enemie of the Church is Sathan the Prince of darkenesse that great red Dragon in the Reuelation that watched the woman with childe to deuoure the fruite of her wombe as soone as it should be borne this is the Deuil persecuting the Church of God the fruitfull mother of the elect whose issue we are This is he that corrupted our first parents in Paradice by his temptations and hauing sowed his seed of all iniquitie in them defiled the whole nature of mankind and made it obnoxious to the curse of the Law And when the second Adam came to accomplish the remedy of that fall hee persecuted him by Herod in his infancie that he was to be carried into Egypt for refuge and after his Baptisme hee tempted him in the wildernesse fortie dayes and this Prince of the world set many a worke to bring him to the Crosse he came himselfe to him with a new assault a little before his passion as Christ himselfe confest but he had nought in him of his to worke vpon This Lyon goeth about continually compassing the earth seeking whom he may deuoure whom resist saith Peter our way of resistance is to pray Adueniat regnum tuum 2 The world is an enemie to this kingdome of Christ for Christ saith The world hateth you because you are not of the world that is the wicked sonnes of disobedience who are called filij saeculi huius Vnder this title of the world I comprehend all the open and secret enemies of the Gospell The Pope here we will giue him the first place because his scarlet vesturs are died
and are with God toward that part of the Church which is militant here on earth and we giue God thankes for them and their glory But wee haue no warrant to resort to them for their intercession but haue an open way to the perfect and full al-sufficient Mediatour Iesus Christ who sitteth at the right hand of God and maketh intercession for vs. Yet let vs see how faithfully this apostata doth quote the Fathers to the maintenance of this idolatrous inuocation I will examine some few of his quotations out of the Fathers that you may tast him in a little for hee that hath dealt doubly with God and vnfaithfully with the faith it selfe what hope can wee haue of him that he same he being now in the cleare light where he may behold the truth would therefore pray to God for such as sit yet here below amiddest many clouds of darkenesse But that he meant not to make Cyprian a Mediatour betweene God and the Church who can better tell then Saint Augustine himselfe who of purpose handling this point doth 1 Shew the necessity of a Mediatour betweene God and vs. 2 He sheweth what kinde of Mediatour hee must be that will serue our turnes God and man and from thence 3 He excludeth Angels Boni igitur Angeli inter miseros mortales beatos immortales medij esse non possunt This declareth his found iudgement against mediations of any but Christ So that adiuuet nos orationibus suis is no prayer to him but a figuratiue kinde of Colloquie with him as when Dauid saith Laudent eum coeli The next authority is S. Aug. De verbis Apostoli Serm. 47. I know not where he found that sermon for we haue in print but 35. in all It were a long worke for me and not so pleasant for you nor profitable that I should pursue this fugitiue Apostata in all his colourable pretences for inuocation of Saints I desire to establish your hearts in the doctrine of truth grounded vpon the name of Father It teacheth vs to seeke the face of God onely in his mediation for whose sake God is become our Father To worke this stedfast faith in you know that there be three things which properly belong to a Mediatour which can be found in none but Christ onely 1 He must be of Gods appointing and declaring to vs none but hee can tell whom he will admit or heare for vs. And we finde Christ onely reuealed If any sinne we haue an aduocate with the Father Iesus Christ the righteous I am the way no man commeth to the Father but by me 2 He must be iustus institia suâ we say of Angels that they are iust iustitia data a quo nostram ab eo habent iustitiam we say of Saints that they be rather Iustificati then iusti But Christ is called sapientia patris iustitia nostra 3 He must be able to merit for others that no Angell nor Saint can doe Christ confirmed Angels Christ restored man For the angels wee deny not but they may know what our wants are because they are ministring spirits that by the appointment of God doe attend vpon vs yet no Scripture hath reuealed any example of inuocation directed to them But for the Saints they know not our particular necessities they see not the euils which wee suffer onely they know as hauing beene members of the militant Church that we are left behinde them here in a valley of teares and therefore in generall they pray for vs as hath beene said Against their particular knowledge of our wants two plaine texts conuince our aduersaries of errour therein 1 When the Church confesseth that Abraham is ignorant of vs and Israel knoweth vs not 2 Huldah the Prophetesse telleth Iosiah he must bee gathered to his fathers and put into his graue in peace that his eyes may not see all the euill that God would bring vpon that place From whence wee may conclude that they who see not our miseries heare not our prayers and therefore are not to be required to mediate for vs. I conclude this point in the words of S. Aug. All christian men commended each other in their prayers to God and he who praies for all and for whom none praies he is that one and true Mediatour you may easily know whom he meanes We call him Father to teach vs that prayer is a spirituall exercise a worke of the holy Ghost in vs therefore Rea. 4 it is called the spirit of grace and supplications which teacheth vs to pray and enableth vs in praier It is the spirit of God onely which witnesseth to our spirits that we are the sonnes of God by which we call Abba Father Therefore all those that pray to God by that name without that sweet and secret testimony of the holy Ghost assuring them that they are the children of God doe not pray but prate and babble and God heareth them not This confuteth the Popish doctrine of doubting whether we be in the state of grace for shall I call God Father and yet stand in doubt whether he be my Father if I beleeue as I say that hee is my Father vpon what shall I build my faith is it not the suggestion of Gods spirit that is the author of my regeneration and that leadeth me into the way of all truth that telleth me so This is the right comming to God in prayer to aske as S. Iames teacheth nothing doubting to come in assurance of faith We call him Father to comfort all our distresses and Rea. 5 to warrant the successe of our prayers for Christ hath taught vs that this Father exceedeth all naturall Parents both in the knowledge of the necessities of his children and in tendernesse of compassion of them and in readinesse to heare them and grant their requests and in giuing good things to them what can I sinne against my father that he will not forgiue what can I aske that he will not giue Rea. 6 Another great reason is to assure vs of the excellencie of the state of grace for so Saint Iohn doth vrge it Behold what manner of loue the Father hath bestowed vpon vs that we should be called the sonnes of God This would be thought an high honour if wee did wisely consider the glorious liberty of the Sonnes of God hereafter the gratious liberty of them here We call the sonnes of rich men happy because they are like to be left full and the sonnes of great men because they shall sit amongst the Princes of the earth but if these be not the Sonnes of God they may one day see poore Lazarus in ioyes when themselues are tormented in flames The truth is though the flesh the world and the deuill oppugne it that there is no man in the way of happinesse but such onely as are the Sonnes of God such onely as haue God to their Father by a speciall interest in him by Iesus Christ If
his name The Lawes of this kingdome are the holy Scriptures and these are called often the kingdome of heauen in their Ministerie for by them the glory and power of Gods kingdome is declared on earth and they are The rod of his mouth The arme of God by which he directeth and aweth all his subiects Therefore the Scepter of this Kingdome is called Sceptrum iustitiae This Kingdome of God is 1 Outward in the visible profession of the same faith and coniunction in one body of a Church and so all that ioyne together in the one worship of the same God professing to be ruled and gouerned by his holy Lawes are the visible kingdome 2 Inward in the hearts of all the elect people of God And so Christ saith Behold the kingdome of God is within you For God reigneth in the hearts and consciences of all his chosen by their faith and obedience and loue and this kingdome is not meate or drinke but it is Righteousnesse Peace and ioy in the holy Ghost 1. Righteousnesse that is the iustification of his subiect by faith whereby Christ is made to vs of God righteousnesse because the righteousnesse of Christ is imputed to vs. 2 Peace for the Gospell of the kingdome is called the Gospell of peace because it filleth vs with peace of conscience in the assurance of the pardon of all our sinnes and it giueth vs a loue of outward peace in the Church knitting vs so together with the bonds of loue that as much as in vs lieth we desire to haue peace with all men 3 Ioy in the holy Ghost for where righteousnesse and peace dwell there is all spirituall ioy The voyce of ioy is in the Tabernacles of the righteous for hauing once tasted how sweete the Lord is then the soule delighteth in the Lord. Then the Statutes of God taste sweeter then hony or the hony combe they are more pretious then all manner of riches they are the very ioy of our hearts Then the feete of them that bring vs glad tydings of peace are beautifull Then the house of Gods worship is the place of our delight we will begge of God that we may dwell there where his honour dwelleth Then we shall loue the holy assemblies and be glad when it is sayd to vs we will goe vp to the house of the Lord our feete shall then stand in the gates of Gods house And the assembly of his armies will seeme to vs to be in perfect beauty Then we shall call the Sabbath of the Lord our delight and we shall make conscience of doing our owne will vpon Gods holy day Then shall we be weaned from the immoderate loue of the world and contentednesse shall meete with godlinesse Then shall we find and tast sweetnesse in afflictons and perciue it good for vs that wee haue beene afflicted and shal reioyce in our sufferings for Iesus Christ so then the kingdome of grace is two fold 1 Generall in the whole body of the Church where Christ reigneth King beeing head of his Church to guide it with his wisedome to saue and defend it by his power to Sanctifie it by his Spirit 2 Particular in euery elect member of the Church where Christ reigneth in the conscience and hid man of the heart gouerning and protecting and teaching and sanctifying the same to himselfe 3. Regnum gloriae 1 Nostrae 2 Dei This is that heauenly inheritance of the Church which Christ hath purchased for all the faithfull of which our Sauiour saith Feare not little flocke for it is your fathers pleasure to giue you the kingdome And of this is said Come yee blessed of my Father inherite the kingdome prepared for you from the foundation of the world Of this Dauid saith I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likenesse and before In thy presence is the fulnesse of ioy and at thy right hand pleasures for euermore This is a place of glory 1 In respect of the holinesse of the subiects of it for no vncleane thing can enter into it it is called Ciuitas sancta He that is left in Ierusalem and he that remaineth in Sion shall be called holy euen euery one that is written among the liuing in Ierusalem When the Lord shall haue washed away the filth of the daughters of Sion and shall haue purged the bloud of Ierusalem from the middest thereof by the spirit of iudgement and by the spirit of burning 2 It is a kingdome of glorie because all the subiects of it are stripped out of all their infirmities and made like to the glorious Angels of God Yea the Scripture telleth vs more that we shall be like to Christ because we shall see him as he is More it saith that our vile bodies shall be like his glorious bodie Eternall health eternall ioy perfect and full knowledge blessednesse which shall neuer be taken away from vs and a full and finall abolition of all our wantes Here is that Crowne of righteousnesse and the reward of faith and the purchase of our Mediatour Here we are subiects and Kings our subiection is a royaltie for we reigne with Christ and the adoption of children is so complete in heauen and in glory that like the Elder sonne in the parable of the prodigall all that our father hath is ours The kingdome of grace is the way to the kingdome of glory it is the suburbs of this abiding city The kingdome of grace is that kingdome which Christ exerciseth in his Church here and which he deliuereth vp to God his father when the kingdome of glory cometh of which the Apostle saith Then cometh the end when he shall haue deliuered vp the kingdome to God euen the Father when he shall haue put downe all rule and all authority and power For he must reigne till hee haue put downe all his enemies vnder his feete Then shall the sonne also himselfe be subiect to him that put all things vnder him that God may be all in all Where the Apostle sheweth the vtter cessation of the kingdome of grace swallowed vp of this kingdome of glory This place of the Apostle is notable and containeth points of deepe consideration 1 Concerning Christs deliuering vp of the kingdome we must know that Christ is King as God and man so is the head of his Church and this kingdome hee holdeth by vertue of his office as hee is Mediatour between God and man and when that worke is accomplished in the fulnesse of his glory of the elect then that kingdome must cease and be giuen vp into the hands of the Father who gaue him the administration thereof for the gathering together of the Saints and for the bringing of all the elect to him 2 When he saith that Christ shall deliuer vp this kingdome to his Father let no man conceiue that the Father was all this while out of his kingdome and is now by the Sonne restored at
deepe in the blood of Gods Saints he careth not to destroy Christs kingdome to aduance his owne vsurping that power in the world in the name of Christ which himselfe did not assume who said My kingdome is not of this world The Turke the Iew and all the Barbarous nations of the world who liue in the darke to whom the pretious light of the Gospel hath not appeared all professe hostilitie to this Gospell of the kingdom that we may say of it as the Iewes sayd to Paul As concerning this sect we know that euery where it is spoken against But these profest enemies of the kingdome of Iesus Christ are in open hostility against the Church and proclaime warres to it they are the forces of that great king who came against that litle city in the booke of the preacher and besieged it and built bulwarkes against it we can expect no better from them then force and fury There be secret enemies Wolues in sheepes cloathing whose close malice doth put vs into more danger and feare these hide themselues within the Church and carry a semblance of brethren and they are 1 Heretikes that corrode and fret the holy truth of the Gospell with their false doctrines and blasphemous and impious assertions of vntruthes to mis-lead the ignorant into errour and to corrupt their iudgements 2 Schismatikes that disquiet the peace of the Church disturbe the order rankes of Gods wel ordered armies and disfigure the beautie of holinesse setting vs together by the eares fermēting the masse of Christian charity with their gall of bitternesse which they maliciously infuse into the body of that city that is compact together 3 Hypocrites which put on Religion as they do fine garments for shew onely and personate pietie to make the world of opinion that they are holy whereas all their Religion and holinesse is in the eye those are but the outsides of professors and their workes denie and blaspheme the faith of which their mouthes tongues doe make formall profession Against all these we pray that the Kingdome of Iesus Christ may come to vs to reueale to vs the light of Gods truth to establish peace and concord amongst brethren and to declare the true and vnfeined Religion which consisteth in the sincere seruice of our God for where this kingdome is throughly established there truth and peace and sincerity doe shew their faces and lift vp their heads and are exalted by all the subiects of that Kingdome 3 Our naturall corruptions are enemies to this kingdome the flesh lusteth against the spirit and the law of our members resisteth the law of God there is ventus ab oriente which bringeth into vs whole armies of Grashoppers and Catterpillars that is a corruption from our birth which spanneth in our vnderstandings with multiplicity of phantasticall opinions various distraction of our thoughts and filleth the inferiour part of the soule with many vnlawfull desires vnquiet longings for things forbidden wherby our affections are troubled and corrupted with vniust appetite of things forbidden Against these also we pray in the comming of this kingdome that God would rule in our vnderstandings to instruct vs and that God would rule in our thoughts to limit them and keepe them from all wandring distraction and that he would rule in our affections to bridle restraine their loosenesse to correct their rebellion to the spirit of God to awe them to the obedience of God and to sanctifie vs wholly both in our bodies soules and spirits that neither in thought word nor deed we may grieue the holy Spirit of God by whom we are sealed vp to the day of our redemption So that in this petition we pray against the dominion of sinne in our mortall bodies against the pollution of sinne in our immortall soules against all spirituall and carnall wickednesse that the brightnesse of Christs kingdome may driue away the darkenesse of Sathans kingdom in vs that he would enter into vs by his grace and bind the strong man Sathan who possesseth vs by his power and cast him out in his iustice and abide in vs by his mercie For so shall no iniquity haue dominion ouer vs. What need we haue to pray for this as Christ praied with strong cries we may easily discerne for when wee looke about vs and behold what horrible sins are afoot in the world euen all the workes of the flesh Adultery lasciuiousnesse Idolatry Contentions seditions heresies enuie murther drunkennesse and such like all which are the pretious stones in the Diademe of Sathan When wee see how much those are despised that walke conscionably and feare the prophanation of Gods Sabbath by doing their owne workes on Gods holy day and feare the blasphemie of Gods holy name by an oath would faine put off the very garment that is spotted with the flesh When we see the proud esteemed happy and them that worke wickednesse set vp yea them that tempt God deliuered When wee behold corruption in courtes of iustice oppressions of the mighty persecutions of the poore and weake Simony bribery extort on trades of liuing swearing gluttony drunkennesse filthy speaking sins in fashion There is no hope to helpe all this but by the comming of the kingdom of grace to pardon these trāsgressions to conuert these transgressors for this great King is able to set vp a light in our vnderstandings to informe vs in the truth and to shed his loue in our affections to knit vs together both to himselfe and to one another of vs. 3 Saint Cyprian hath a good caution vpon this petition Continua oratione opus est ne excidamus a regno Coelesti this doth bring in the Kingdome of glory into this petition This is our maine ambition to be heires of this heauenly Kingdome and S. Cyprian saith Cauendum ne excidamus a regno Coelesti sicut Iudaei For it is an heauy saying of Christ And I say vnto you many shall come from the East and West and shall sit downe with Abraham and Isaac and Iacob in the kingdome of heauen But the children of the kingdome shall be cast out into vtter darkenesse c. By the children of the kingdome here hee meaneth the Iewes the seed of Abraham to whom the promises of this kingdome came and to whom all the meanes for attaining this kingdome were tendered so that being then the visible Church of God on earth they were in a kinde of possession of the kingdome of heauen but lost it by their disobedience and so left a way open for many to come from the East and West that is for the Church of the Gentiles to come in euen in their place and now till Plenitudo gentium be come in there is no promise of the restitution of the Iewes ad viam regni It is a good note of Saint Cyprian quando cessauit in eis no men paternum cessauit et regnum When they gaue ouer hallowing
it is called Malum poenae Is there any euill in the city and I haue not done it Among the many exceptions that are taken against our booke of Common prayer this is quarrelled by some Ministers of Deuonshire and Cornwall because in the Collect for the 22. Sunday after Trinity our Church prayeth thus Lord we beseech thee to keepe thy houshold the Church in continuall godlinesse that through thy protection it may be free from all aduersities Againe this they obiect That this petition is against the manifest word of God and against his decree and true faith for it is written We must through many afflictions enter into the kingdome of God and All that will liue godly in Christ Iesus shall suffer persecutions and In the world ye shall haue tribulation God hath promised that we shall not be swallowed vp of aduersitie but no promise that we shall be free from all ergo To pray for that whereof we haue no proofe is against faith and so sinne To this our answer is 1 That it is no sinne to pray against the decree of God concerning our punishment by aduersities 1 Because this decree of God is reuocable as appeareth by the example of the Niniuites to whom Ionah preached threatning them destruction withing forty daies and God defended his truth and iustice against Ionah who tooke the reuocation thereof impatiently which example proueth these decrees of God to bee conditionall with exception of true repentance And Zephany preaching repentance to Iudah and Ierusalem admonisheth them to hasten their repentance before the decree bring forth And though the decree passe yet he comforteth them It may be ye shall be hid in the day of she Lords anger Therefore the word of God is our warrant to pray against the decree of God and our possibility is double Either in the auersment of the decree Or in our occultation from the force of it Did not Christ who saith in the world you shall haue afflictions pray against this decree I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world but that thou shouldest keepe them from euill Where he vseth the same word that is here vsed in this petition What euill doth he meane there but both Sathan the euill one and all euils both of sinne and punishment euen all aduersities 2 Christ himselfe who came into the world to bee made a sacrifice for our sinne by his death on the crosse who foreknew and foretold what hee should suffer at Ierusalem and went thither of purpose to vndergoe that bitter passion and to drinke of that cup yet hee prayed three times to his father to let that cup passe from him If our wisdome alleadge that that prayer was with reseruation of his fathers will let our charity plead the same for our Church prayer that we desire of God to be free from all aduersities with that reseruation as in this prayer fiat voluntas tua then libera a nos à malo 3 Here they alleadge that we haue no promise to secure vs against all aduersities what say they to the promises made by Moses to them that keepe the law there is no euill to them that haue those blessings And what say they to the promise of Dauid There shall no euill happen vnto thee neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling May not we say Blessed are the people that are in such a case May we not pray to be in such a case Sure we may pray for the protection of God that includeth a deliuerance from all aduersity Againe the Psalmist saith The Lord shall preserue thee from all euill hee shall preserue thy soule This is that we pray for in libera nos à malo 4 In our Church Collect we pray to be free from all aduersities And if we come to take a full weight of the word aduersities doth it not signifie such things onely as are against vs This word will not beare the stresse to include all afflictions and tribulations whatsoeuer for in the afflictions of the iust there is bonum It is good for me that I haue beene afflicted This bonum is no aduersity it is not against vs but as Physick which is against the disease Our prayer is libera nos not morbis nostris There is malum in affliction in pouerty in losses in defamation c. There euill is in all that we haue in all that we suffer not in the nature but in the vse of them vermis divitiarum against this wee pray The wise son of Iakeh saw this euill in pouerty and in riches and prayed against it the euill of riches is Lest I be full and deny thee and say who is the Lord The euill of pouerty is Lest I bee poore and steale and take the name of my God in vaine The euill of honour is pride Lest thy heart bee exalted aboue thy brethren The euill of power and authority is oppression The euill of a low degree is enuy against all these we pray these are aduersities Libera nos Therefore our Church Letany like a comment vpon this text like a descant vpon this plainsong doth expresse this petition more at large 2 Declaring from what we desire to bee deliuered from all euill and mischiefe c. in foure seuerall eiaculations 2 By what we desire to be deliuered that is by that which Christ was by that he did and by that he suffered in two By the mystery of his holy incarnation c. 3 In what times specially of danger wee desire to bee deliuered that is in all times of tribulation in all times of prosperity in the houre of death and at the day of iudgement Which prayer of the Church though it hath not pleased all yet is it warantable by this last petition of the Lords prayer and sober iudgements may make an holy vse of it There is a particular enumeration of many euils to which we are here subiect especially our sinne which breedeth and spawneth them all let our holy thoughts comprehend them all in this one full petition Deliuer vs from euill Sed libera nos à malo We may also include in this petition all the present and incumbent calamities of life all present paines in our bodies or griefes in our mindes all wants of things necessary for life and whatsoeuer present affliction distresseth our owne persons or any member of the Church of God All euils personall or popular For our Sauiour saith Sufficient vnto the day is the euill thereof Euery day then hath it euill and bringeth with it sundry inconueniences which we desire God to put off from vs. And as we beg bread for the food of this day and pardon of sinnes for this day and deprecate this daies temptations to euill so we pray against this daies vexations that nothing may disquiet or molest vs to hinder the seruice of our God or the labours in our seuerall callings For Iob
also telleth vs by his experience Man that is borne of woman is of few daies and full of trouble The best of Gods seruants commonly smart most in these daily grieuances for iudgement beginneth at Gods house Dauid makes great moane often in his Psalmes griefes in his body vnquietnesse in his soule persecutions from his enemies and innumerable vexations S. Paul complaineth of laboures stripes imprisonments shipwrack many perils by land and by sea wearinesse painfulnesse watching fasting hunger thirst cold nakednesse And who is he that walketh conscionably in the feare of God that hath not cause to complaine with Dauid Innumerable troubles haue compassed me about 2 The remedy of this Pater noster libera nos The deliuerance here desired of our father is that copiosa redemptio plentifull redemption which Dauid doth speake of which is By grace of preuention to keepe them off from vs ne ingruant 2 By grace of subuention to support vs in these euils ne opprimant 3 By grace of full deliuerance to remoue them vtterly from vs ne destruant 1 For the grace of preuention Dauid was very neare a shrewd turne when Saul the king threw his iauelin at him So was he when Michall conueied him away through a window that he might escape the messengers which Saul sent of purpose to kill him S. Paul had such a deliuerance In Damascus the Gouernor vnder Aretas the king kept the city with a garrison desirous to apprehend me And through the windowes in a basket I was let downe by the wall and escaped The Scripture is full of examples of this kind and he that obserueth well the course of his own life will find many of these gratious preuentions of euill wherewith the hand of our great deliuerer hath kept off many euils from him Destruction was come euen to the very gates of Niniueh and within forty daies all had perished had not mercy interposed In 88. when Spaine girded on her harnesse against this land and came hitherward with purpose to inuade with the Popes promise to conquer and possesse this kingdome here was the Deuill suggesting the Pope abetting and the Spaniard attempting and God preuenting In 1605 the machination of the powder treason by the sonnes of Belial men of blood the corroboration of the plot by the agents for the Pope the secret abetment of it from Spaine the prosecution of it to the day of destruction lost all their strength and spit their venome vpon themselues in the defeat of their treason the destruction of the traitours and in the perpetuall reproach of Popish religion to all the ends of the world and to the last period of time All this by this preuenting goodnesse of God who kept vs from the euill and would not suffer vs to fall into the pit that they had digged for our soules For this Christ prayed his father Pater si possibile est transeat hic calix And this is that which is promised to the faithfull There shall no euill befall thee neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling He shall giue his Angels charge ne offendas This is the chiefest of Gods deliuerances and the fullest of Gods temporall mercies this also is a common and usuall tendernesse of God to vs to preserue vs from danger but this is neither so sensibly perceiued nor receiued so thankfully as it deserues It may bee we may report our strange escapes with wonder and tell them for newes but we do not commonly giue God the honor due to his name for them by praysing him for them as we ought 2 The grace of subuention in euils This was the fauour that the father did to the sonne in the agony that he suffered in the garden for hee sent to him then And there appeared to him an Angell from heauen strengthening him Christ our louing Sauiour chose rather to be comforted in his sorrowes then to bee kept quite from them for he did vndergoe them for vs as S. Ambrose sweetly saith Suscepit tristitiam meam vt mihi largiretur laetitiam suam and againe Debuit dolorem suscipere vt vinceret And God sent to him his Angell to comfort him in this distresse as Beda saith Sicut propter nos tristis est propter nos confortatur that we might know that so many as are by faith vnited to Christ haue interest in Gods spirituall consolations in the middest of all troubles Thus Saint Paul was comforted aboord the ship in his dangerous voyage to Rome the Angell of the Lord appeared to him and promised him his owne life and all their liues that sailed with him Thus was Noah supported in the deluge of the whole world Lot in the conflagration of Sodome Daniel in the den of Lyons the three Children in the fierie furnace Ioseph in the prison Peter also being in ward Our Father to whom wee pray euen as Ionah from the belly of hell is called the father of mercies and the God of all comfort who comforteth vs in all our tribulations that we may be able to comfort you which be in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we our selues are comforted of God So he himselfe is a comforter and he would haue vs comforters one to another and his Angels be comforters Yet for all this to make vp a full consolation Christ saith I will giue you another comforter and he promiseth his abode with vs for euer This grace of subuention though it doe not quit the afflictions yet it taketh away the euill of them so that the Saints of God are exprest reioycing in tribulations which they could not doe if the euill thereof were not remoued This mercy of subuention if neither charitie nor zeale desire it yet smart and paine will extort it from men for who suffers paine or griefe or losse or infamie but in the pang of the fit he cryeth God helpe me 3 The grace of full deliuerance Many are the troubles of the righteous but the Lord deliuereth him out of them all The snare is broken we are deliuered This fauour Noah and Lot had so had Daniel and the three Children first comforted in tribulations then deliuered from them and Ioseph of whom it is said that they put his feete in the stockes the iron entred into his soule He had the innocency of his cause to comfort him and though for a time he did suffer this affliction in the prison as a malefactor for so we must vnderstand the storie yet after some time of suffering God did giue him fauour in the sight of the Keeper and then he had comfort in his captiuity And as the Psalmist saith he abode there vntill the time that his word came the word of the Lord tryed him The King sent and loosed him the ruler of the people and let him goe free The time when his word came was the time when he interpreted to Pharaoh his double dreame then the word of