heauen which shall be immutable and without chaunge and without swaruing For then shal we do nothing but that which good is and that with a constant minde alwaies to perseuere and to continue in laâ—ding and praising God and dooing his will as now the Angels of heauen doo And this may suffice concerning Freewill both that we may know what power of Fréewil was giuen to man in his first creation and also what is to be thought and how we ought to be perswaded of it When by mans Fréewill he came to his downefall then he proued Gods word to be true Thou shalt die the death whereas before he was in the state of life and immortalitie For he was created immortall with this condition if he had continued in Gods obedience but being wilfull and carelesse he came to his death and was in the way to hell when he thought to climbe vp into heauen When he was immortall he knew not what it meant but when through his follie hee perceiued his dayes to bee shortened he wondred at the one and gréeued to remember the other The estate of immortalitie wherein our first parentes were created was nothing else but a continuance and endurance of life and a freedome from death And although it be now vsuall and common and nothing more common then for euerie one of vs to die yet at the first it was not so If our first parents had obeied they had neuer suffered death but when they gaue themselues to sin and to deceitfull vanities then they knew themselues to be mortall and then death came vpon them As we read Rom. 6. 23. The wages of sinne is death but euerlasting life is the gift of God through Iesus Christ our Lorde And in the first Chapter of the same Epistle verse 12. As by one man meaning Adam the first man sinne entered into the world and death by sinne and so death went ouer all men forasmuch as all men haue sinned so that the cause and only cause of death is sinne And because the best sort of men and women are sinfull though not in that degrée and in that measure as the wicked and vngodly are yet because euen they also haue procured the wrath of God through their sinne they must néedes vndertake the punishment of sinne which is death But there is a great difference to bee considered off For death to the godly is life and happie are they that are deliuered out of this miserable and wretched world For they knowe that while they are here they are absent from God that is from the enioying of his presence And againe they know that if their earthly house their bodies of dust and claie be destroyed they shall haue a building giuen of GOD that is an house not made with handes but eternall in the heauens For therefore they sigh desiring to be cloathed with their house which is from heauen that mortalitie might bee swallowed vp of life and their earthly mansion chaunged for an euerlasting habitation In the godly there is a great desire of death what moueth them hereunto Euen this that they may enioy immortalitie and be made partakers of that part of the image of God which by the meanes of sinne they were depriued off and put from But as for the vngodly it is nothing so with them For they tremble and shake at the remembrance of death as we reade of Naball who when his wife tolde him heauie newes which was toward him his hart died within him The sea men when they are tossed vp and down with the waues of the sea and néer to be cast away their ship drowned their soule melteth within them so the wicked their hart dieth within them al the parts of their body quake their soules within ar sore vexed miserably tormented with yâ— present forethought as it were feeling of yâ— euerlasting death and those endlesse torments which they shall endure And this moueth them in a wonderful secret sort to that feare they are in that they know by death they shal be taken from all their ioy and that they shall passe from this short life which they haue here in this world to death and from this light death which is no more but a seperation of the soule from the bodie to a second death which is euerlasting death And from death to these torments which are the worme of a continuall guiltie conscience the wrath of God increasing their punishment from time to time the restlesse crueltie of the diuell and hellish spirits to punish them where there shal be nothing else but wringing of hands weeping and gnashing of teeth Felix the gouernour shooke and trembled when he heard Paule disputing of righteousnesse and temperaunce and of other waightie matters as of death the resurrection and of the iudgement to come and willed him to depart out of his presence Much like to king Belshazzar who when he sawe a hand writing vpon the wall wherby was declared the end of his kingdome and the ende of his life his countenance chaunged his thoughts troubled him so that the ioynts of his loines were looced and his knees smote one against the other The feare of death is in them as it was in king Saul 1. Sam. 28. 20 who when he was tolde howe neare his death did approach he was sore affraied his soule fainted within him and he fell along on the earth neither was there any strength in him he refused meate and would not be comforted because through the sorrow of his death he had a taste of the death and torments which were to come The cause why we lost this benefit of immortalitie is sin and disobedience which brought vs to our death and to our last home The difference of death betwixt the godly and the wicked is this the one sort is greatly desirous to die the other are greatly affraied of death That man was created vnto immortalitie we may perceiue in that one part of man neuer dieth which is his soule Furthermore the bodie also shall receiue immortalitie at the day of resurrection when the generall iudgement shall be and when all flesh by the sound of a Trumpet shal be summoned togither from the foure quarters of the earth Then the bodies of all that haue bene departed from the beginning of the world togither with them that shall die vnto the end of the world being raised vp shal be ioyned vnto their soules and both shal be immortall and shall liue for euer either to receiue ioyes and euerlasting blisse or torments which shal neuer haue end The one sort to liue with God and his Angels the other sort with the diuel and the fiends of hell Which immortalitie of the bodie is confirmed by that of the Apostle writing to the Corinthians 1. Cor 15. 52. 53. In a moment in the twinckling of an eye at the last trumpet shall the dead be raised vp incorruptible and we shall bee chaunged For this corruptible must
mercy and compassion yea he onely forgiueth because he onely is offended I euen I saith he am he that putteth away thine iniquities for mine owne sake and will not remember thy sinnes Yea though they were as redde as scarlet and as a menstruous cloth as the starres of the skie and as the sande of the sea-shore which is innumerable Euen originall sinne which Originall sin is the roote of all mischief within togither with al the branches thereof the lusts of the heart the euill motions of the minde the consent of reason the déed performed He forgiueth all our negligence in not kéeping his commandemeÌ„ts and our transgression and rebellion against them he hath deliuered vs from the guilt and from the punishment and hath fréely inriched vs with life eternall by the merites and intercessions of Christ Iesus our mediatour who is our redemption and sanctification and satisfaction that we might bee deliuered from condemnation for there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Iesus whom God hath set forth to be a reconciliation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousnesse by the forgiuenesse of sinnes that are passed This is that righteousnesse of God through the faith of Iesus euen the remission of sins wherunto all the prophets witnesse The Apostle speaketh by way of proclamation Be it knowne vnto you therefore men and bretheren that through this man is preached vnto you the forgiuenes of sins and from all things from which ye cannot be iustified by the lawe of Moses by him euery one that beléeueth is iustified By way of consolation and comfort for they are glad tidings Litle children I write vnto you because your sinnes are forginen you for his name sake By way of doctrine And ye knowe that he was made manifest that he might take away our sinnes In whome we haue redemption through his blood that is the forgiuenesse of sinnes Neuerthelesse though we be fréed from the punishment yet are we subiect Affliction and correction to the correction which it pleaseth god to lay vpon vs either for the triall of our faith and patience or to bring vs to humilitie or for some other occasion which he in his wisdome best knoweth The second branch of the righteousnesse of God by faith 2. Imputation of Christ his righteousnes is the Imputation of Christ his righteousnes wherby we are iustified stand as righteous before the iudgement seat of God not being cloathed with our merits but being inriched with his mercy In coÌ„sideratioÌ„ of which righteousnes we are to cite to summoÌ„ our selues before the tribunall seat of Gods iudgement where we shal vnderstand what is that righteousnes which is required at out our haÌ„ds eueÌ„ a most perfect and absolute obedience of the lawe which reqireth VVhat is the true righteousnesse Man is altogither sinne the heart and a most heauenly purenesse And séeing that man is full of corruption and wickednesse and from the sole of the foote vnto the head there is nothing in him but wounds and swellings and sores and that the head is sicke and the whole heart is heauy contrariwise Christ being man and taking our sinfull flesh vpon him yet being without sinne is in most glorious sort apparelled with righteousnesse yea euen the hemme of his vesture lacketh not vertue being so gloriously arraied in a vesture of broydered gold and néedle worke as the Prophet speaketh from Christ haue we all our clearnesse and puritie all our attire wherein we shine as Angels of light by whom all righteousnesse is deriued vnto vs which the prophet in the person of Iehoshua liuely Zacharâ—ah 3. 3. expresseth Now Iehoshua was clothed with filthy garmeÌ„ts and stood before the Angel and he spake vnto those yâ— stood by him saying Take away the filthie garments from him And vnto him he said Beholde I haue caused thine iniquitie to depart from thee I will cloath thee with change of raiment And I said let them set a faire diademe vppon his head so they set a faire diademe vppon his head and cloathed him with garments and the Angel of the Lord stood by What may be the filthie garments Euen the vncleannesse of our wickednes the impurity of our thoughts our abhominable and daily weltring in our sinnes and vntill they are taken away howe ougly and contemptible are we in the sight of God Which place of the Prophet though some interpret it of Christ in that he was cloathed in our flesh and bare our sinnes yet in respect of vs it may haue this sence and meaning For what are wée else before it please god to take mercy vpon vs He it is that cleanseth vs from our sinnes for his name sake he it is that sawe vs when when we were polluted in our bloode and then he said we should liue euen when we were polluted in our blood he said Thou shalt liue Behold I haue caused thine iniquitie to depart away from thée and I will cloath thée with change of raiment For hee What the rich garment is wherewith the polluted sinner is aâ—â—aied was made sinne for vs that knewe no sinne that wée should be made the righteousnesse of God in him Yea where sinne abounded there grace abounded much more that as sinne had raigned vnto death so might grace also raigne by righteousnesse to eternall life through Iesus Christ our Lorde Which righteousnesse of God by the faith of Iesus Christ is imputed vnto all and vpon all that beléeue By this imputation we are cloathed with the righteousnesse of Christ through whome we behold the face of God to be vnto vs most chéerefull by whome we haue an enteraunce vnto the father by whose puritie and holinesse all our spottes are couered Without which imputation all our workes are vnrighteous for by the righteousnesse of faith are all our workes made perfect and being ingraffed into Christ and made partakeres of his righteousnesse our The effect of this righteousnesse workes are accounted before God as iust and righteous in whome all our imperfections are blotted out and those workes which are done of faith are accepted through the imputation of Christ his righteousnes For as in vs there is nothing but sinne so in Christ is all our sufficiency vpon whom as vpon the sacrifice was cast that curse of man that his condemnation might be our absolution and our happinesse his righteousnesse according to that of the prophet Dauid who knew it by his owne experience to be most true that the man is blessed vnto whome God imputeth righteousnesse without workes Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiuen and whose sinnes are couered Blessed is the man vnto whom the Lord imputeth not sin that the lord might only be iust and a iustifier of him that is of the faith of Iesus Who tooke vpon him our person was accused for vs and iudged as a sinner not for his owne but for the faults and transgressions of other being himselfe pure and
looking for of iudgement Vppon this gift of faith and perseuerance the godly doubt not to call vpon God in all afflictions Rom. 8 38. 39. For I am perswaded that neither death nor life nor Angels nor any creature shall be able to seperate mée from the loue of God which is in Christ Iesus our Lord. 2. Cor. 1. 21. 22. It is God which stablisheth vs with you in Christ and hath annointed vs who hath also sealed vs and hath giuen the earnest of the spirit in our hearts Iom 1. 6. 7. 8. 9. He that wauereth is like a waue of the sea tost of the winde and carried away Neither let that man thinke that he shall receiue any thing of the Lord. A wauering minded man is vnstable in all his waies Hebr. 4. 16. Let vs therefore go boldly vnto the throne of grace that we may receiue mercy and find grace to help in time of néed Hehr. 10. 21. 22. Séeing we haue a high Priest which is ouer the house of God let vs drawe neare with a true heart in assurance of faith sprinckeled in our hearts from an euill conscience and washed in our bedies with pure water 1. Iohn 4. 17. Herein is the loue perfect in vs that we should haue boldnesse in the day of iudgement by reason of this perseuerance wherewith he hath inabled vs. Yet the godly may swarue and fall as did Moses Aaron Dauid Peter but at length by Gods grace they returne againe 1. Iohn 3. 9. Whosoeuer is borne of God sinneth not finally For his séed remaineth in him neither can he sin because he is borne of God Through the power of his word and the operation of his holy spirit 2. Pet. 1. 10. Wherfore brethren giue diligence to make your calling and election sure For if ye do these things ye shall neuer fall No man is made righreous but hee that is made holie and framed to good workes Ephe. 2. 10. For we are his workemanship created in Christ Iesus to good workes which God hath ordained that we should walke in them Ephe. 1. 4. He hath chosen vs in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy without blame before him in loue The way whereby God by his mercy doth prepare his elect to his kingdome is by the mediation of our sauiour Christ while they stedfastly beleeue not onely that he is their perfect sacrifice but their aduocate and intercessor to God for them Heb. 9. 13. 14. 15. 16. For if the blood of Bulls Goates and the ashes of an heifer sprinckling them that are vncleane sanctifieth as touching the purifieng of the flesh How much more shall the blood of Christ which through the eternall spirit offered himselfe without spot to God purge your conscience from dead workes to serue the liuing God And for this cause is he the mediatour of the newe Testament that through death which was for the redemption of the transgressions that were in the former Testament they which were called might receiue the promise of eternall inheritance 1. Tim. 2. 5. For there is one God and one Mediator betwéene God and man which is the man Christ Iesus As concerning infants which die assoone as they are borne who are elected and chosen vnto life by Gods secret purpose the way is more speedie For they are presently in the hands of God Because he accepteth the children of the faithfull Gene. 17. 7. Moreouer I will establish my couenant betwene me and thée and thy seede after thée in their generations for an euerlasting couenant to be god vnto thée and to thy seede after thée Exo. 20. 6. Shewing mercy vnto thousands to them that loue me and kéepe my commandements 1. Cor. 7. 14. For the vnbeléeuing husband is sanctified by the wife and the vnbeléeuing wife is sanctified by the husband else were your children vncleane but nowe are they holy Chap. 5. After what sort almightie God doth execute and effectually declare his counsaile touching Reprobation BY these things whereof we haue spoken it may easily The old Adam is the foundation of the reprobation which mans iudgement can attaine vnto appeare howe God maketh them to goe to their owne place whom he created to that end that he might be glorified in their iust condemnation For as Christ the second heauenly Adam is the foundation very substance and effect of the elects saluation so also the first earthly Adam because he fell is the first author of the hate and so consequently of the damnation of the reproued For whē god moued with these causes which he onely knoweth had determined to create thē to this end to shewe foorth in them his iust wrath power he did likewise orderly dispose the causes and meanes whereby it might come to passe that the whole cause of their damnation might be of themselues as hath bin declared before in the third chapter Whē man then The iudgement of God towards infants that are reprobate was fallen willingly into that misrable estate whereof we haue spoken in the chapter before God who hateth iustly the Reprobate because they are corrupt in part of thē he doth execute his iust wrath assoone as they are borne and towards the rest that be of age whō he reserueth to a more sharpe iudgement he obserueth two waies cleane contrary one to the other For as concerning some he sheweth How Reprobaton is first manifested No calling to the Cospell them not so much fauour as once to heare of Iesus Christ in whome onely is saluation but suffereth them to walke in their owne waies and runne headlong to their perdition And as for the testimonies that God hath left to thē of his diuinitie serue them to no other vse but to make thē without all excuse yet through their owne default séeing their ignoraunce and lacke of capacitie is the iust punishment of the corruption wherein they are borne And surely as touching that they can attaine vnto in knowing God by their light or rather naturall darkenesse albeit they neuer failed in the way but so continued yet were it not in any wise sufficient for their saluation For it is necessary for vs that shall be saued that we know God not onely as God but as our father in Christ The which misterie flesh and bloud doth not reueale but the sonne himselfe to them whome his father hath giuen him As An vnprofitable calling or of none effect concerning others their fall is more terrible For he causeth them to heare by preaching the outward worde of the gospell but because they are not of the number of the elect being called they are not And forasmuch as they are not able to receiue the spirit of truth therefore they cannot beléeue because it is not giuen vnto them Wherefore when they are called to the feast thy refuse to come so that the worde of life is folly vnto them and an offence finally the sauour of death to their destruction There
from the secrete and malicious conspiracies treasons and trecheries of vnnaturall subiects and from the sauage cruelties of forraine foes doo giue sufficient cause not only to vs but euen to the enemie also to say That there is no God that can deliuer after this sorte but onely the Almightie that hath established her All these benefites O Lorde wée confesse doo procéede from thy goodnesse and from thy mercy toward vs. To thée belongeth praise and honour and power but to vs shame and confusion Yet grant vnto vs good Lord that we may both receiue these thy benifits thankfully and that we may performe our duties accordingly Increase her daies continue her gouernment defend her from her enemies keepe her in thy feare and after this life grant her all happinesse euen to rule and raigne with thée for euer among the blessed soules Grant also to vs that we may haue the benifit of thy truth and Gospell long among vs and that thy blessings of peace and prosperitie may be séene in this land So shall we be bound more and more to praise and magnifie thy name for thy great and infinit goodnesse towards vs For her Maiesrie and for vs thy seruants and her faithful subiects thus we conclude our praiers O Lord blesse and kéep vs O Lord make thy face to shine vpon vs and be mercifull vnto vs O Lord lift thou vp thy countenance vpon vs and giue vs thy peace All which benifits and blessings we begge of thée O heauenly Father for Iesus Christ his sake in that forme of prater which he himselfe hath taught vs saying Our Father c. A secret Meditation to God before the deliuery of the word LEt the words of my mouth O Lord and the meditation of my heart be alwaies acceptable in thy sight Set thou a watch before my mouth and so kéepe the doore of my lippes that speaking before this congregation assembled here in thy holy name I may specially intreat of those things which tend to thy glory the good of thy Church the discharge of my dutie the comfort of the afflicted conscience the euerthrow of sinne and the aduauncement of vertue through Iesus Christ our Lord. So be it I. D. A publque forme of Praier O Most mightie God most gracious and mercifull father we stand before thy maiestie defiled with the filthinesse of many and most gréeuous sinnes whereof we confesse we are not able to answere thée one of a thousand if thou O Lord shouldst enter into iudgement with vs. For in sinne were we conceaued and borne and therefore are guiltie of originall corruption and in sinne haue we liued and continued and therefore stand guiltie of actuall transgression which hath broken foorth vppon vs in thought word and déede from time to time continually euen vnto this present Wherefore we humbly craue thy mercy and the grace of forgiuenesse in Iesus Christ for therein we confesse standeth the only hope of our comfort and welfare And forasmuch as it hath pleased thée to giue thine owne sonne to be a flaine sacrifice for our sinnes and to offer the grace of reconciliation by the preaching of the Gospell to all them that repent and beléeue the same good Lord we beséech thée vouchsafe to make vs of that blessed number worke true repentance in our hearts increase our faith and giue vs grare to bring foorth the frutes thereof that so it may appeare that we haue not receiued thy holy grace in vaine And for this purpose good Lord we beséech thee blesse the Ministery of thy word at this present gius me grace to speak it as it ought to be spoken sincerely and boldly giue grace to this people to he are it attentiuely and reuerently giue grace to vs all to beléeue it stedfastly to follow it obediently and constantly to continue euen to the end That seruing thée faithfully in this life we may liue and raigne with thée for euer in the life to come through Iesus Christ our Lord. Amen The Praier which M. Deering vsed before his Lectures O Lord God which hast left vnto vs thy holy word to be a lanterne vnto our féete and a light vnto our steppes giue vnto vs all thy holy spirite that out of the same word we may learne what is thy eternall will and frame our liues in all obedience to the same to thy honour and glorie and increase of our faith through Iesus Christ our Lord. Amen An excellent speech of M. Deering a little before his death whereby thou maist clearly see and learne that there is a sweete peace in death to all such as painfully serue the Lord in life For he being raised vp in bedde and his friend requesting him to speake the Sunne shone on his face and thereby tooke occasion thus to say THere is but one Sunne that giueth light to the world there is but one righteousnesse there is but one communion of Saints If I were the excellentest creature in the world If I were as righteous as Abraham Isaac and Saâ—ob for they were excellent men in the world yet we must all confesse that we are great sinners and that there â—â—â—o saluation but in the righteousnesse of Iesus Christ And we haue all néed of the grace of God And for my part as concerning death I féele such ioy of spirit that if I should haue the sentence of life on the one side and the sentence of death on the other side I had rather choose a thousand times séeing God hath appointed the seperation the sentence of death then the sentence of life Soli Deo laus gloria gratia IN euery Sermon for the most part these points are to be vsed The declaration of the order of the text by opening the circumstances The diuision The doctrine The confutation The vse and application Exhortation or reprehension or both The Conclusion wherin the chéefest matters must be remembred and briefly collected that the auditorie may the better kéepe and carry away those things which are necessary and for their vse All which although I haue not vsed I haue left the matter to the discretion of them that shall haue knowledge better to handle their matters then I haue handled mine Let thy text be applied to thy auditorie and haue care to vtter those thinges that are most waightie to be touched and of thy auditorie to be remembred Be circumspect wise and discréete Endeuour to be briefe and pithie There is an other Methode as profitable which Maister Vdall vseth in his Commentary vpon the Lamentations of Ieremy Consisting on these thrée points the Doctrine Reason Vse Some only learne for knowledge sake but that is curiositie And some for praise great paines do take but that is foolish vanitie Some learne for gaine but lightly those do leaue the text and vse the gloze But learning ioynd with vertues lore doth leade to Christianitie The glory of God and people taught the way is to eternitie To the Right Worshipfull and one
perceiue the gréeuousnesse of our sinnes and haue a desire to leaue and forsake them before we hunger and thirst for this grace This is euen the light of the world which did shine abroad and yet the world knewe it not Christ came vnto his owne his owne receiued him not Oh howe secret are God his iudgmeÌ„ts that his grace is hid from some and appeareth vnto other And yet howe is this grace hid But froÌ„ them that make more account of their pleasures and fulfilling of their lusts who make more account of their wealth and riches as it is set downe in the parable of the séede cast in the earth then they do of this grace yea of this rich grace who cleaue vnto the world and loue the world more then God In whose mindes and hearts the God of this world that is to say the diuil doth raigne by his temptations As the Apostle witnesseth writing to the Corinthians 2. Cor. 4. 4. If our gospell and if this grace of God be hid it is hid to them that are lost In whom the God of this world hath blinded the mindes that the light of the glorious gospell of Christ should not shine vnto them And as the world knew him not and his owne people to whom he was sent receiued him not so as many as did receiue him to them he gaue power to be the sonnes of God euen to them that beléeue in his name and so are partakers of his grace Which are borne not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God Which grace although it hath bine a mistery hid since the world beganne and from all ages yet nowe is made manifest to his saincts to his beloued and those that do receiue him To whom God would make knowne what is the riches of this glorious mistery among the gentiles which riches is Christ the hope of glory in euery one of vs that are saued Whom we preach saith the Apostle admonishing euery one and teaching euery man in all wisdom that wée may present euery man perfect in Christ Iesus and that euery one may be capable of this grace For God that commaunded the light to shine out of darkenesse is he which hath shined in our hearts to giue the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Iesus Christ hath sent vs foorth to preach that this his grace may euery where appeare Which doth appeare and shewe it selfe to all but so that the repentant sinners the faithfull beléeuers those onely that are made righteous in Christ do receiue the same Who as by this grace they are receiued into the fauour of God their sinnes being forgiuen them so are they not in any sort to take a libertie vnto themselues to sinne againe The lawe entred hereupon that the offence should abound and be made notorious neuerthelesse where sinne abounded their grace abounded much more That as sin had raigned vnto death so might grace also raigne by righteousnesse vnto eternall life through Iesus Christ our Lord. What shall we say then Shall we continue still in sinne yâ— grace may abound God forbid How shal we yâ— are dead to sinne liue yet therein After the Apostle had shewed that by grace the mercy of god wée were saued fréely beloued fréely iustified and made righteous he sheweth also howe we are sanctified that is by practisiing all good workes so continning in this grace As we reade Tit. 3. 8. This is a true saying these things I wil thou shouldest affirm teach that they which haue beléeued in god might be carefull to shew foorth gods workes The good spirit of god and his grace it teacheth vs how we should be sanctified that is by denieng all vngodlinesse worldly lusts also by liuing soverly righteously godly in this present world They who beléeue are also iustified made righteous and they who are iustified yâ— is made righteous are also sanctified made holy This worke therefore of sanctification procéeding from the grace of god is liuely expressed in this text which I haue read vnto you And so much for the generall proposition The grace of God hath appeared vnto 〈◊〉 Vnto this generall proposition may be added thrée other principall parts of this text As first what is the effct of this Diuisicâ— grace that is sanctification wherein this sanctification coÌ„sisteth which is mortification viuification or yâ— I may vse more plaine euident termes in vtterly foresaking the lusts of our flesh our owne will desires imbracing all the is good leading a life agréeable to God his will Which part is set downe in these words teacheth vs to deny vngodlinesse worldly lusts and yâ— we should liue soberly and righteously godly in this present world The second part is a perswasion reason mouing vs to this sanctification that is the glorious inheritance of the kingdome of god set downe by the circumstance of Christ his comming At which time the godly shall be receiued in to the kingdome of god in these words looking for the blessed hope appearing of the glory of the mighty god of our sauiour Iesus Christ The third part setteth downe the cause of this sanctification and yâ— is Christ who hath redéemed and purged vs to his purpose yâ— we might performe all good workes in these wordes Who gaue himselfe for vs yâ— he might redéeme vs from all iniquitie purge vs to be a peculiar people vnto himselfe zealous of good workes The grace of god hath appeared vnto all and teacheth vs. In the life of man there are two teachers There is the wicked spirit of the diuil being accompanied The eâ—fect of this grace with our be â—raâ—eng flesh the naughty examples wicked 〈◊〉 of the world this teacher moueth vs to all 〈◊〉 worldly luâ—ts which fight against the soule this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath an 〈◊〉 multitude of schollers The other teacher is the spirit of God the grace of God which hath but a fewe followers because yâ— fewe imbrace the godly 〈◊〉 Mortification which 〈◊〉 Of which distinction I might 〈◊〉 stand on bring 〈◊〉 matter of godly edifieng but I leaue 〈◊〉 The grace of God teacheth vs howe farre héeretofore wee haue gone astray and openeth vnto vs howe loâ—t 〈◊〉 but â—aies haue bene wherein wée haue so â—elighted and howe greatly wée haue offended GOD. Whereas otherwise the eies of our vnderstanding are shut vp and we togither with the world and wicked company are carried away And first it sheweth vs how greatly we haue offended concerning religion and the seruice of God mentioned in these words Teaching vs to deny vngodtinesse which hath respect to that dutie we owe vnto God comprehended in the foure first commandements God hath created vs to serue and to worship him and to come to the knowledge of his wil as he
forgetfull This third part setteth downe the cause of our sanctification in these wordes Who gaue himselfe for vs that hee might redeeme vs from all iniquitie and purge vs to bee a peculiar people zealous of good workes The cause of our sanctification lieth The cause of sanctification partly in the death and passion of Christ and partly in the power of his holie spirite who is his vicegerent and deputie here on earth Before it pleased our sauiour to die for vs and by the shedding of his pretious bloud to clense vs from our sinnes we were altogither polluted and as the Prophet saith lying in our bloud Gréeuous sinnes in the sight of God miserable wretches appointed to death because through our iust desertes we were to looke for nothing els but eternall tormentes In which miserable and wofull estate our pitifull Sauiour séeing vs to be in gaue himselfe and offered himselfe most willingly to doe vs all the good he could and to make vs of a defiled and vnclean◠people cleane and holy And because in the lawe of Moses sacrifices were offered vp for the sinnes of the people and beastes slaine and bloud shed as we reade Heb. 9. 22. All thinges were by the lawe purged with bloud and without shedding of bloud is no remission and forgiuenesse therefore it pleased our Sauior Christ to shed his dearest bloud that as the Prophet Esay ca. 53. saith by his stripes we were healed so by his bloud we might be clensed Which thing the Prophet Dauid meaneth in his 51. Psal which is the Psalme of his repentance wherein he sheweth his heartie griefe and his vnfeigned sorrow for those hainous sinnes whereby he had prouoked Gods wrath against him Haue mercie vpon me O God according to thy louing kindnesse according to thy compassions put away mine iniquities Wash me throughly from mine iniquitie and cleanse me from my sinne Purge me with hisope and I shal be cleane wash me and I shal be whiter then snowe Now if the bloud of bulles and goates and heiffers in the time of Moses lawe which law God ordained though Moses was the minister if the bloud of these beastes in Moses lawe sprinckling them that were vncleane did sanctifie and clense them by an outward kinde of clensing and sanctification Howe much more saith the Apostle Heb. 9. 14. shall the bloud of Christ that most perfect and absolute sacrifice who through the eternall spirit offered himselfe without spot to God purge your consciences from dead workes to serue the liuing God At the time of his death and passion this matter was most notably declared when as his side being pierced through with a speare there issued out from thence both water and bloud to giue out a most effectuall signification that hée was the cause of our sanctification and cleansing from our sinnes Which is prooued by that which we reade I. Corinth 6. Knowe ye not saith the Apostle that the vnrighteous shall not inherite the kingdome of God Be not deceiued neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor wantons nor buggerers nor theeues nor couetous nor drunkardes nor railers nor extortioners shall inherite the kingdome of God And such were some of you and who can say my heart is cleare But ye are washed but ye are sanctified and made cleane in the name of the Lord Iesus that is by the shedding of his bloud and also we are sanctified and made cleane saith hée by the spirite of our God According to that of the Prophet Dauid in the Psalme aforesaide Wash me throughly and cleanse me from my sinne and establish me with thy frée spirit which may assure me that I am drawne out of the slauery of sin and that my guiltinesse shall be no more laid to my charge The law entred thereupon that the offence should abound that is the it might be known to be notorious neuerthelesse where sinne abounded there grace abounded much more That as sinne had raigned vnto death so might grace also raign by righteousnesse and sanctification vnto eternal life through Iesus Christ our Lord. The which grace that is the forgiuenesse of our sinnes through the blood of Christ the good spirit of God the holy Ghost doth certifie vnto our hearts And therefore it is well said to be the comfortor as our Sauiour Christ promised that after his ascention vp into heauen hée would send the comfortour Ib. 14. 16. and 16. 7. By the vertue of which spirite the power of sinne is beaten downe and our hearts are renued our mindes altered our liues chaunged and we become new creatures which before were foule and filthie ougly and loathsome through the deformitie of sinne and now are we sanctified and made holy But wherefore hath Christ redéemed vs from all our 〈◊〉 of good workes iniquitie and purged vs that we might be a peculiar people vnto himselfe if it bee not to this intent and purpose that wee should bee zealous of good workes A thankfull minde would aske how so great benefits might be requited and if no recompence could be made as certainly it cannot it would be desirous to know how part of a mends might be made and would be maruellous readie to put in practise any dutie which might shewe the thankfulnesse thereof Thou néedest not in this matter to go farre to enquire and search it out only this is required of thée that thou maiest shewe thy thankfulnesse bee zealous of good workes For we are the workmanship of God esperially by grace created anew in Christ Iesus vnto good workes which God hath ordained that wee should walke in them Heere are all carnall gospellers condemned who liue in hope that vnder the countenance of their profession all libertie of life will be borne out well inough Who turne the grace of God into wantonnesse and make their profession their shame making Christ his death to bee nothing else but as it were a boude vnto their lewde life Here may we sée that the Lord hath not laide downe his life to purchase no other thing at our hands besides a profession of the truth but that he bought with his bloud a zealous addicting of our selues to Christian conuersation It is a wonder to sée how the wicked will boast of the benefite of Christ his blood how mightie it is to merite how sufficient to saue from sinne But for all that they will not giue ouer any libertie of life that before they haue enioyed whereas the life of Christ was giuen to purchase a new conuersation as well as a new profession For he gaue himselfe for vs that we might giue our selues vnto him being a peculiar people zealous of good workes Let vs marke it then my brethren that he gaue himselfe for vs that our life might be let out to honour him He made not so slender a purchase with so great a price as if he had a déep and sorrowfull sigh or a good word at our last breath that would suffice him no his life was
VVisedome heauenly gifts and graces and see how by the feare of God we are furthered in them that we may fully and perfectly knowe that there is no happinesse that man can desire which the feare of God doth not reach vnto And first concerning that excellent gift of wisedom It is said that The feare of God is the beginning of wisedome and a good vnderstanding haue all they that do therafter And what greater commoditie can there be then wisedome For it maketh men gracious among Princes and great men And by daily experience we sée that they that excell in wisedome excell in credit also Whereas Kings and Princes haue bene despised of their subiects Nobles also mightie men haue bene little set by of their inferiours for want of wisedome applying themselues to their lusts and to the vanitie of their humours whereby they departed from the seare of God so that there was no wisdom found in them Wherby they became as the Prophet doth set them forth Psa 49. 20. Man being in honor hath no vnderstanding but is compared vnto the beasts that perish And againe as we read Pro. 3. 35. The wise shall inherit glory but fooles dishonour though they be exalted When king Saul saw that Dauid 1. Sa. 18. was very wise he was affraid of him and whē he vnderstood that the Lord was with him then was hee more and more affraid and Saul became alwaies Dauids enemy And when Ecc. 24. 11. the Princes of the Philistins went forth at their going forth Dauid behaued himselfe more wisely then all the seruants of Saul so that his name was much set by No other cause was there that brought Ioseph from a prisoner to the estate of a Prince but that the feare of God had planted wisedome in his heart for the which he was so highly honoured among straungers The feare of the Lord is the onely step to wisedome as we read Psal 25. 12. What man is hee that feareth the Lord him will hee teach the way that hee shall chuse Nay further The secret of the Lord is reuealed to them that feare him and his couenant to giue them vnderstanding All earthly secrets may be found out but as for The hidden mistery of saluation the wisedome of God and the secret of the Lord concerning the spirituall vnderstanding of his heauenly will and secret blessings Let the depth say It is not in me and the heigth say I cannot attaine vnto it Onely he that feareth God is partaker therof So saith that worthy seruant of god Iob. 28. Behold to man he said the feare of the Lord is wisedome The feare of God doth not onely leade vs to that wisedome which may serue for this present life but by steppes and degrées it dooth bring vs to that wisedome which maketh vs partakers of saluation which is a most principall benefit and blessing Ye men and brethren saith the Apostle Act. 13. 26. Children of the generation of Abraham and whosoeuer among you feareth God to you is the word of this saluation sent For the word of God may well be termed the word of saluation because it is the foode of our soules and sheweth vs the way to life and how wée should be partakers thereof Which heauenly wisedom no doubt the heathen people haue and as yet do want because they are such of whom the Prophet speaketh The feare of God is not before their eyes And as one saith Stultorū plena sunt omnia They all run after vanitie and such things that cannot profit whereby they can neuer attaine vnto true happinesse which ought to be their chéefest delight And that especially if they had the grace to cōsider what notable and worthy effects it hath to make them partakers of that happinesse which they would full gladly enioy For it worketh A remedie against sinne in the people of God thus much that it expelleth driueth out sinne it kéepeth the deadly poyson of the diuels temptations from our hearts and mindes It bringeth the quiet frute of peace and maketh a merry and chéerfull A quiet conscience Long life heart whereas the guiltinesse of sinne doth make the heart heauie and the countenance sadde It giueth long life and increaseth the dayes of man who so desireth to sée good dayes let him resort vnto her The treasures of wisedome are with her and shée raineth downe knowledge and vnderstanding Yea it greatly furthereth vs in that which is our excéeding comfort and that is That Our requests heard granted God will performe the lawfull requests and godly desires of them that thus feare him For it is no more with them but séeke and finde aske and haue Whereas all other are neuer partakers of their desires especially to their good For as they that were found without the Arke of Noe had no life So they whose hearts the feare of God doth not possesse reape and receiue no blessing from God Hée that possesseth her shall thus bee blessed in this life And furthermore also he shall be happie at his latter end A happie death Ecclesi 1. 13. 18. O well art thou and happie shalt thou be saith the wise man Whosoeuer feareth God it shall go well with him at the last and hee shall finde fauoure in the day of his death and in the end he shall be blessed What a great commoditie and aduantage is this that how troublesome soeuer the life of them that feare God shall bee in this worlde yet their latter ende shall bée blessed Happie is the man whiche feareth the Lorde For hée will place his minde vppon his Commaundements therein dooth the feare of God consist and in that feare there is our happie estate The feare of God is the fountaine of life the roote of wisedome the Crowne of ioy yea heauen it selfe to them that looke for heauen And these are the principall commodities which the feare of God dooth bring béeing sufficient and forcible inough to make vs in loue therwith and to set our whole mindes thereon Which being so furnished sheweth it selfe vnto us as it were crowned with a garland of all the blessings gifts and graces of God much like a Princes Diademe which is set out and garnished with precious stones of all sorts and those also of high account But who can sufficiently commend it and set foorth the praises thereof as it deserueth sitting as it were a Ladie and a Quéene about the throne of God whose commendations well we may admire and wonder at but who can reach so farre as fully to expresse them The feare of God is the beginning of wisedome and a The commēdation of the feare of God is that the praise thereof endureth for euer good vnderstanding haue all they that do thereafter The praise thereof endureth for euer Amongst the rest this séemeth to be the only commendation of the feare of God that the praise thereof endureth for euer All flesh is as grasse and fadeth the
sathan vnder their féete For this From whence is victory in this fight victory is in Christ and therefore S. Paul with a gladsome voice breaketh out I thanke God through Iesus Christ our Lord. Who indéed is sufficient wel able to endue vs with that strength that we may valiantly ouercome the assaults Armour of proofe and firy darts of satan For the weapons of our warfare are not carnall but mightie through God to cast downe holds principalities and powers euen the prince of darkenesse of this world and al spiritual wickednes which is in high places as it were on the higher ground and hath maruellous vantage ouer vs. Wherefore we ought to be more héedfull We ought to watch and be diligent and diligent alwaies and watchfull that the enemy take vs not at vnawares séeing not only our enemies without vs are very strong but also our owne flesh is ready to betraie vs and to take armour against vs. And who knoweth not how hard a thing it is to behaue himselfe wisely and warily in a ciuill warre Wherein although wee knowe not which part shall haue the vpper hand yet to fight with an expert and renowned Captaine it séemeth vnto vs that the victorie is written in our handes yea and our hearts are fully perswaded and reioyce in hope thereof In this fight we cannot want a wise and expert Captaine whiche hath borne the brunts of this warre and ouercome the daunger by a greater force from aboue then euer was séene to be in man Whose The best coūsel in this fight is continually to resist sinne and to meditate and practise mortification counsell is that by all meanes continually wee resist sinne giuing vs to knowe and vnderstande that hée that obeyeth sinne is the seruaunt of sinne vnto death But wée are neither seruants nor debters vnto the flesh to liue after the flesh for if wée liue after the fleshe wee shall die for euer but if wée mortifie and kill the déedes of the bodie by the spirite wee shall liue If wee desire to beare about vs the dying of our Lord Iesus Christ the life of Iesus shal be made manifest in our bodies euen in our mortal flesh We are baptised in Christ euen into his death that as he was raised vp from the dead to the glory of thy father so we should walke in newnesse of life that our olde man being crucified the bodie of sinne might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serue sin in that we are dead thereunto Therefore because our life is hid with Christ in God let vs set our affections on those things which are aboue and let vs mortifie our members which are on the earth fornication vncleannesse inordinat affections euill concupiscence couetousnesse which is idolatry As the victory ouer sin consisteth in the mortification of our sinfull flesh So the way to happinesse is viuification and holinesse of life togither with all those workes of the flesh which the Apostle nameth Galat. 5. 19. 22. or elsewhere yea and all those which are contrary to the wholsom doctrine of Christ knowing that the wrath of God commeth vppon the children of disobedience and that the end of sinne is death and that the frute of holinesse and the end therof is euerlasting life for the wages of sinne is death but the gift of God is euerlasting life through Iesus Christ our Lord. Thinke ye therefore that ye are dead to sinne but are aliue to God in Iesus Christ our Lorde whome God hath raised vp and sent to blesse vs in turning euery one of vs from our iniquities that we might walke in the spirit and in all godlinesse of life whereby we may auoyd the lusts of the flesh and walke worthie of that vocation whereunto we are called being followers of God as deare children approuing that which is pleasing vnto the Lord By all meanes auoiding the fellowship of the vnfruitfull workes of darknesse and that as children of light we may fulfill the workes and bring forth the frutes of light and of the spirit in all godlinesse righteousnesse and truth hauing peace in our conscience and ioy in the holy Ghost to godward through Christ giuing thankes alwaies with spirituall songs singing and making melodie to the Lord in our hearts Now seeing we By this sanctification we are inabled to performe our dutie to are in Christ let vs be as new creatures for olde things are passed away behold all things are become new For whereas before we were haters of God and maliciously set against him now through his mercy who hath written his lawes in our harts and giuen vs a hart of flesh through the grace which we haue in Christ we are readie and willing to loue God to feare him and to kéepe his commaundements God whereby he dwelleth in vs and we in him ready to acknowledge him to be the giuer of all good thinges readie to giue him thankes for all his benefites readie in all necessities and agréeuances to pray vnto him and to séeke helpe at his hands to put our trust only in him Yea the image of God in a measure is renued and restored in vs that we might walke in newnesse of life because he is holy And as our life and conuersation is renewed to the glory of God so is it also profitable to the furtherance of our neighbour whome in all charitable order we are as Our neighbour willing to helpe as our selues being mercifull humble long suffering forbearing one an other forgiuing one an other as Christ forgaue vs. Prouiding for the necessities of one an other as Christ is plenteous toward vs in all good things hartily louing one an other laying aside all filthinesse not only for the loue of God and hatred of sinne but also for feare of offence least our brethren by our example should be drawne to euill Dealing in all simplicitie in that the old man is put off with his workes putting away all hatefull and cursed speaking for that the gospell and doctrine of Christianitie is in all kindnesse and brotherly loue which is euen the full accomplishment of the law submitting our selues one to another in the feare of the Lord. Having the peace of God ruling in our hearts the word of Yea we are instructed how to behaue our selues in all wisedome God plenteously dwelling in vs in all wisedome procuring all things honestly in the sight of God men hauing peace as much as in vs lieth with all men vsing this worlde as though we vsed it not neither being too much axalted in prosperitie nor cast downe in aduersitie but as the children of God we commit our waies vnto him yéeld our selues to the direction of his holy spirit in all obedience depend vpon his prouidence trust in his promises waite patiently for the day of reuelation the comming of Christ endure and perseuere vnto the end Yea we are mortified in the body because of sinne hauing our
through him that loued vs. For I am perswaded that neither death nor life nor Angels nor principalities nor powers nor things prâ—sent nor things to come nor heigth nor depth nor any other creature shal be able to seperate vs from the loue of God which is in Christ Iesus our Lord. The sâ—â—â—ne of all is this that the righteousnesse of man by reason of idolatry and wickednes procéeding from his corrupt nature is abhominable in the sight of god and that by no excuse or deuise he may acquit himselfe before the iudgement seate of God but hée is subiect both Iewe and Gentile to the condemnation which the iustice of God doth require Therefore lieth it not in mans power by the lawe of the workes thereof to attaine vnto righteousnesse because in his hart hée hateth the lawe he being carnall and the lawe spirituall As hée desireth to hide his sinne so by the lawe is the knowledge of sinne and as he séemeth to himselfe to be iust before he examine his life by the lawe not but that by the lawe hée is condemned but he putteth his condemnation farre from him and thinketh not of it so is the lawe the cause of transgression of sinne and of death Yea the regenerate man is stained with sin therefore neither can he be iustified by the lawe So that the righteousnesse of man is that which is from God by faithe in Christ vnto all that beleeue Of which righteousnesse there are thrée braunches Remission of sinnes which is not frée from correction though there be deliueraunce from eternal punishment and damnation The second braunch is the Conclusion Imputation of Christ his righteousnes whereby the filthy garments of our sinnes are taken from vs and we arraied in a vesture and garment of broydered gold I meane hauing not only our sinnes forgiuen vs but the righteousnes and holines of God also imputed vnto vs. The third branch is sanctification and holines of life by the which we are made fit to fulfill the lawe Yea séeing that while we are cloathed with this body of flesh sinne remaineth and that the flesh fighteth against the spirit we are to meditate and practise the mortification of our sinfull flesh Hauing this aduantage that we are vnder grace and that also by Christ we obtaine victory And not only to practise mortification but to bring forth the frutes of the spirite and of the inner man euen the loue which we do owe vnto God and that charitable duty which we are bound to extend to our neighbour And at all times we offer vp our selues as an acceptable sacrifice vnto God séeking the glory of his name as well by our death as by our life knowing this that in afflictions whatsoeuer if so be it we endure with patience we shall not be destitute of comfort and consolation Yea such that may swallow vp the bitternesse of all torments beside that rich reward that is reserued for them in the life to come who with all confidence and boldnesse willingly and readily confesse Christ before men standing to the triall of their faith and the assurednesse of their vndoubted hope euen to the sheading of their blood Now the God of all comfort and consolation euen the God of peace which brought againe from the dead our Lord Iesus Christ the great shepheard of the shéepe through the blood of the euerlasting couenant make vs perfect in all good workes to doo his will working in vs that which is pleasant in his sight through Iesus Christ To whom with the Father and the holy Ghost be all praise dominion and power both now and for euer Amen Deo soli laus gloria Of Predestination A briefe declaration of Predestination set forth by that learned man and principall member in Christs Church M. Theodore Beza A waightie and most necessary matter for euery true Christian to know containing the very ground and principall scope of religion which the more we read the more we may both for the sweetnesse and singular profit that it yeeldeth to them whose harts it pleaseth God to open and whose mindes are lightned by Gods good spirit He that hath eares to heare let him heare Mat. 13. 9. They which pertaine to the kingdome of God to them it is giuen to know this and all other secrets and misteries belonging to saluation and euerlasting life As for the rest and them which are without all things are spoken in parables there is a vaile before them that they seeing should not see and hearing should not heare and hauing hearts to perceiue should not vnderstand Mat. 13. 11. Act. 28. 25. 26. 27. The first Chapter The question of Gods eternall Predestination is not curious or vnprofitable but of great importance and very necessary in the Church of God SAint Augustine in his booke of Perseuerance De bono perseuerantiae Obiection chap. 14. saith that they which were against him as aduersaries in this question did alledge that this doctrine of Predestination did hinder the preaching of Gods word and caused that it could not profit As if saith he Answere this doctrine had hindred the Apostle Saint Paul to do his dutie who so oftentimes doth commend vnto vs and teach Predestination and yet neuer ceaseth to preach the word of God Also saith moreouer As he that hath receiued the gift can better exhort and preach so he that hath receiued this gift doth hear the preacher more obediently and with greater reuerence c. We do therefore exhort and preach but they only which haue eares to heare do heare vs quietly and to their comfort and in those that haue them not this sentence is fulfilled That hearing with their eares they do not heare for they heare with outward sence but not with the inward consent Now why some men haue these eares and others not it is because it is giuen to some to come and to others not Who knew Gods counsell must that be denied which is plaine and euident because that cannot be knowne which is hid and secret Againe in the 15. Chapter I pray you saith he if some vnder the shadow of Predestination giue themselues to slothful negligence and as they are bent to flatter their flesh to follow their owne lusts must we therefore iudge that this which is written of the foreknowledge of God is false Now surely this is verie handsome and to the purpose that we shall not speake that which by the scripture is lawfull to speake Oh we feare say you least he should be offended which is not able to vnderstand and take it And shall we not feare say I lest while we do hold our tongues he that is able to take the truth be taken and snared with falshood and error Also in the twentie chapter of the same booke he writeth in this sort If the Apostles and Doctors of the Church which came after them did the one and the other both teaching the eternall election of God purely and truly and
execute his election VVHen God determined with himself the things before The foundation of that election which is manifest vnto vs. meÌ„tioned he by a more manifest order of causes which notwithstanding was eternal as all things are present to him disposed orderly all the degrées whereby he wold bring his elect vnto his kingdom Forasmuch therfore as he is merciful yet could not forget his iustice before al other things it was necessary that a mediator shuld be appointed by whoÌ„ maÌ„ might be perfectly restored and that this shuld be done by the mercy grace which doth appear in the saluation of his elect But maÌ„ being so weak that he cannot abide the waight of gods wrath doth so much flatter himselfe in his most miserable blindnesse that he cannot perceiue it because he is wholly in bondage to sin so that the lawe of god is to him as death so farre is he vnable of himselfe to recouer his liberty or to satisfie the lawe of God in the very least â—ote God therefore the most mercifull father of the elect moderating in such sort his iustice with his infinit Iesus Christ our mediator mercy appointed his onely sonne who was the very same substance and God eternall with him that at the time determined he should by the power of the holy ghost be made very man to the end that both the natures being ioyned in Iesus Christ alone first all the corruption of man should Iustification and santification in christ be fully healed in one man who should also accomplish all iustice and moreouer should be able inough to sustaine the iudgement of God and be a Priest sufficient and worthy of himself to appease the wrath of God his father in dying as iust and innocent for them that were vniust sinners couering our disobedience purging all our sinnes which were laid vpon him And finally with one onely offering and sacrifice of himself should sanctifie al the elect mortifieng and burying sin in them by the partaking of his death and buriall quickening them into newnesse of life by his resurrection so that they should finde more in him then they had lost in Adam And to the intent this remedy should not be found ordained in vaine the Lord god determined to giue his son with al things appertaining vnto saluation to theÌ„ whoÌ„ he had determined in himself to choose on the other side to giue theÌ„ vnto his son that they being in him he in theÌ„ might be coÌ„summate made perfect in one by these degrées that follow according as it pleased him to bring foorth euery one of his elect into this world For first when it pleaseth him to disclose that secret which he had purposed froÌ„ before al beginning at such time as meÌ„ least looke for it As meÌ„ are blinded and yet think they sée most cleare when as in very déede death and damnation hangeth ouer their heads hée commeth suddenly setteth before their eies the great danger Externall vâ—caâ—ionâ— wherein they are and that they might be touched more sharply and liuely he addeth to the witnesse of their owne conscience being as it were a sléepe and dead the preaching of his lawe examples of his iudgements to strike them The lawe with the horrour of their sinnes Not that they should remain in that feare but rather that beholding the great danger thereof should flie to that onely mediator Iesus Christ In whom after the sharpe preaching of the lawe he setteth The Gospell foorth the swéete grace of the Gospell but yet with this condition that they beléeue in him who onely can deliuer them from condemnation and giue them right and title to the heauenly inheritance Yet all these things were but vaine if he should only set before mens eyes these secrets by the externall preaching of his word written and published in the Church of God which notwithstanding is the ordinary meanes whereby Iesus Christ is communicate vnto vs. Therefore as touching his elect vnto the externall The inward calling preaching of his word he ioyneth the inward working of his holy spirit the which doth not restore as the Papists VVhat Free-will is after the fall of Adam imagine the remnants or residue of Fréewill For what power soeuer of Fréewill remaineth in vs serueth to no other vse but willingly to sin to flie from God to hate him and so not to heare him nor to beléeue in him neither yet to acknowledge his gift no not so much as to thinke a good thought and finally to be children of wrath malediction But contrariwise changeth their hard hearts of stone into soft hearts of flesh draweth them teacheth them lighteneth their eyes and openeth their sence their heart their eares and vnderstanding First to make theÌ„ to know as we haue said before their own misery and next to plaÌ„t in them the gift of faith wherby they may perform the condition which is ioyned Faith hath two parts Faith which doth apprehend iustificaon by Christ and sanctification to the preaching of the gospel And that standeth on two points the one wherby we know Christ in generall beléeuing the story of Christ and the prophecies which are writ of him the which part of faith as we shal declare in due place is sometimes giuen to the reprobate The other which is proper and only belonging to the elect consisteth in applying Christ who is vniuersally and indifferently preached to all men to our selues as ours And that euery man make himselfe sure of his election which hath bene hid before al time in Gods secret and afterwards reuealed vnto vs partly by inward testimony of our conscience through the holy Ghost ioyned to the externall preaching of Gods word and partly also by the vertue and power of the same spirit who deliuering the elect from the seruitude of sinne perswadeth and conducteth them to will and worke the things which pleased God These then be the degrées whereby it pleased God to create and forme by his especiall grace that precious and peculiar gift of faith in his elect to the intent that they may imbrace their saluation in Iesus Christ But because this faith in vs is yet weake and only begunne to the end that we may not only perseuer in it but also proffit which thing is most necessary for all men to do first according to the time that our adoption is reuealed vnto vs this Baptisme faith is sealed in our hearts by the sacrament of Baptisme and afterward euery day more and more is confirmed and sealed in vs by the sacrament of the Lords supper Of the The Lords supper which two Sacraments the principall end is that they bée sure and effectuall signes pledges of the communion of the faithfull with Christ who is their wisdome iustice sanctification and redemption For this occasion it is so oftentimes mentioned by Saint Paul that we being iustified by faith haue peace with
shall heare indéed but ye shall not vnderstand ye shall plainly sée and not perceiue o The Genena note vpon that place Whereby is declared that for the malice of man God will not immediately take away his word but he wil cause it to be preached to their condemnation when as they will not learne thereby to obey his will and be saued Hereby he exhorteth the Ministers to do their dutie and answereth to the wicked murmurers that through their owne malice their heart is hardened Mat. 13. 14. Act. 28. 26. Rom. 11. 8. Verse 10. Make the heart of his people fat make their eares heauy and shut their eies lest they sée with their eies and heare with their eares and vnderstande with their hearts and conuert and he heale them And to bring this to passe he vseth partly their owne vile concupiscences to the which hee hath giuen them vp to be ruled and led by Rom. 1. 26. For this cause God gaue them vp to vile affections c. Sée more in that chap. And Esay 64. 7. And partly also the spirit of lies who keepeth them wrapt in his snares 2. Thess 2. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. Euen him whose comming is by the working of Sathan with all power and signes and lying wonders and in all deceiueablenesse of vnrighteousnesse among them that perish because they receiued not the loue of the truth that they may be saued And therefore God shall send them strong delusion that they should beléeue lies That all they might be damned which beléeued not the truth but had pleasure in vnrighteousnesse Iohn 3. 19. And this is the condemnation that light is come into the world men loued darknesse rather then light because their déedes were euill Ezay 63. 17. O Lord why hast thou made vs erre from thy waies and hardned our heart from thy feare Ro. 11. 32. For God hath shut vp all in vnbeliefe Acts. 7. 42. Then God turned himselfe away and gaue them vp to serue the host of heauen 1. Kin. 22. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. The Lord said Who shal intice Ahab that he may go fall at Ramoth Gilead And one said on this maner and an other said on that manner Then there came foorth a spirit and stoode before the Lord and said I will entice him And the Lord said vnto him Wherewith And he said I will goe out and be a false spirit in the mouth of all his Prophets Then he said thou shalt entice him and shalt also preuaile goe foorth and do so Nowe therefore behold the Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy Prophets and the Lord hath appointed euill against thée 2. Cor. 4. 3. 4. If our Gospell be then hid it is hid to them that are lost In whom the God of this world hath blinded the mindes that is of the Infidels that the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ which is the image of God should not shine vnto them By reason of their corruption from the which as out of a fountaine issueth a continuall flowing riuer of infidelitie ignorance and iniquitie 2. Tim. 2. 26. And that they may come to amendment out of the snares of the diuel which are taken of him at his will Whereby it followeth that hauing as it were made shipwracke of their faith 1. Tim. 1. 19. Hauing faith and a good conscience which some haue put away and as concerning faith haue made shipwracke Can by no meanes escape the day which is appointed for their destruction that God may be glorified in their iust condemnation Prou. 16. 4. The Lord hath made all things for his owne sake yea euen the wicked for the day of euil Rom. 9. 21. 22. Hath not the potter power of the clay to make of the same lumpe one vessell to honour and an other vnto dishonour What and if God would to shewe his wrath and to make his power knowne suffer with long patience the vessels of wrath prepared to destruction The sixt Chapter Of the last and full accomplishment of Gods eternall counsell as well towards the elect as the reprobate FOrasmuch as God is iustice it selfe it is necessary that The full execution of god counsaile he should saue the iust and condemne the vniust Now they among men are only iust who being by faith ioined to Christ grafted rooted in him and made one bodie with him are iustified sanctified in him by him Wherof it followeth that the glory to the which they are destinate to the glory of God appertaineth to them as by a certain right or title On the other part they which remaine in Adams pollution death are iustly hated of God and so condemned by him not excepting so much as thē which die before they sin as Adam did But both these manners of executing Gods iudgements as well in these as in the other which are elected are in thrée sorts whereof we haue already declared the first For the elect in that same moment that they In the elect haue receiued the gift of faith haue after a certaine sort passed from death to life whereof they haue a sure pledge But this their life is hid in Christ till this corporall death make them to steppe a degrée further and that the soule being loosed out of the band of the body enter into the ioy of the Lord Finally in the day appointed to iudge the quicke and the dead when that which is corruptible and mortall shall be clad with incorruption and immortalitie and God shall be all in all things then they shall sée his maiestie face to face and shall fully enioy that vnspeakable comfort and ioy which before all beginning was prepared for them which is also the reward that is due to the righteousnesse holinesse of Christ who was giuen for their sinnes and raised againe from death for their iustification By whose vertue and spirit they haue procéeded and gone forward from faith to faith as shall manifestly appeare by the whole In the Reprobate course of their life and good workes Whereas altogither contrary the reprobate conceaued and brought vp in sin death wrath of God when they depart out of this world they fall into an other gulfe of destruction and their soules are plunged in that endlesse paine vntill the day come that their bodies soules being ioyned againe they shall enter into euerlasting fire which is prepared for the diuell and his Angels Then by these two waies which are The glory of God cleane contrarie one to an other the last issue and end of Gods iudgement shall set forth manifestly his glory to all men foramuch as in his elect he shall declare himselfe most iust and most mercifull Most iust I say for that he Perfectly iust and perfectly mereifull hath punished with extréeme rigour seueritie the sinnes of his elect in the person of his sonne neither did receiue them into the fellowship of his glory before
11. 12. According to the eternall purpose which he wrought in Christ Iesus our Lord. By whom we haue boldnesse and entraunce with confidence by faith in him 1. Thes 5. 24. Faithfull is he which calleth you which will also do it Hebr. 10. 23. Let vs kéepe the profession of our hope without wauering for he is faithfull that promised Rom. 8. 38. 39. For I am perswaded that neither death nor life nor Angels nor principalities nor powers nor thinges present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to seperate vs from the loue of God which is in Christ Iesus our Lord. And therefore I cannot nor I may not doubt of my saluation So farre then it is against reason to say that this doctrine maketh men negligent or dissolute that contrariwise this alone dooth open vs the way to search out and vnderstand by the power of the holy Ghost Gods deepe secrets 1. Cor. 2. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. The things which eye hath not séene neither eare hath heard neither came into mans hart are which God hath prepared for them that loue him But God hath reuealed them vnto vs by his spirit For the spirit searcheth all things yea the déepe things of God For what man knoweth the things of a man saue the spirit of a man which is in him Euen so the things of God knoweth no man but the spirit of God Now we haue receiued not the spirit of the world but the spirit which is of God that we might know the things that are giuen to vs of God It maketh vs painfull in good workes Ephe. 2. 10. For we are his workemanship created in Christ Iesus vnto good workes which God hath ordained that we should walke in them 1. Iohn 3. 24. For he that kéepeth his commandements dwelleth in him and he in him and thereby we know that he abideth in vs euen by the spirit that he hath giuen vs. Gal. 5. 17. For the flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and these are contrary one to the other so that we cannot do the same things that we would Knowing this infirmitie to be in vs it stirreth vs to good workes And chap. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. Be not deceined God is not mocked For whatsoeuer a man soweth that also shall he reape For he that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reape corruption And he that soweth to the spirit shal of the spirit reape life euerlasting Rom. 6. 1. What shall we say then Shall we continue stil in sin that grace may abound God forbid Hebr. 10. 24. And let vsconsider one an other to prouoke vnto loue and to good workes Iam. 3. 17. The wisedome that is from aboue is first pure then peâ—â—eable gentle easie to bee intreated full of mercy and good workes without iudging and without hipocrisie It maketh vs inuincible against all temptations and vexations For how shall he stand sure and constant against so many grieuous temptations both within and without against so many assaults of fortune as the world doth terme it that is not well resolued in this point of Gods predestination toward him and of his election in Christ Iob. 13. 15. Loe though hée slaie me yet will I trust in him Rom. 8. 28. Also we know that all things worke togither for the best vnto them that loue God euen to them that are called of his purpose Verse 31. What shall we then say to these things If God be on our side who can be against vs Verse 35. 37. Who shall seperate vs from the loue of Christ Shall tribulation or anguish or persecution or famine or nakednesse or peril or sword In all which things we are more then conquerours through him that loued vs. Iohn 16. 33. Maruell not though the world hate you In the world ye shall haue affliction but in me ye shall haue peace Be of good comfort I haue chosen you out of the world and none shall take you out of my hands Rom. 15. 3. Through Christ we reioyce in tribulations that we may say with the Apostle We are persecuted but not forsaken cast downe but we perish not Ia. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. My brethren count it exceeding ioy when ye fall into diuerse temptations knowing that the trying of your faith bringeth forth patience And let patience haue her perfect work that ye may be perfect and intire lacking nothing Of the which number of the elect he is that findeth himselfe in this daunger and trouble Rom. 8. 16. 17. 18. The same spirit beareth witnesse with our spirit that we are the children of God If we be children we are also heires euen the heires of God and heires annexed with Christ if so be that we suffer with him that we may also be glorified with him For I count that the afflictions of this present time are not worthie of the glorie which shall be shewed vnto vs. Luke 23. 43. Iesus said to the théefe on the crosse Verily I say vnto thée To day shalt thou be with me in Paradice This part is to be considered and weighed and that with great modestie principally in these two considerations First that the height of Gods iudgements may at all times bridle our curious fancies Secondly that we doo not apply it to any man particularly or any certaine company For the first let it be sufficient that we vnderstand generally that there be vessels prepared by Gods iudgement and appointed to destruction The which séeing God doth not reueale vnto vs who they are we ought both in example of life and praier diligently to endeuour to winne and recouer to their saluation yea euen very such of whom by séeing their horible vices we almost dispaire Mat. 5. 16. Let your light so shine before men that they may sée your good workes and glorifie your father which is in heauen 1. Pet. 2. 12. Haue your conuersation honest among the Gentiles that they which speake euil of you as of euill dooers may by your good workes which they shall sée glorifie God in the day of the visitation And chap. 3. 15. 16. Sanctifie the Lord God in your hearts and be readie alwaies to giue an answere to euery man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you And that with méekenesse and reuerence hauing a good conscience that when they speake euill of you as of euill dooers they may be ashamed which blame your good conuersation in Christ 1. Cor. 9. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. For though I be frée from all men yet haue I made my selfe seruant vnto all men that I might winne the moe And vnto the Iewes I become as a Iewe that I may winne the Iewes to them that are vnder the lawe as though I were vnder the lawe that I may win them that are vnder the lawe to them that are without the lawe as though I were without the lawe when I am not without the
and will not tarrie Let no man bee wearie of well dooing For in due season wee shall reape if wee fainte not Let none of vs deceiue our selues God will not bee mocked For if our life be godly wee shall hereafter reape life and ioyes eternall If otherwise death standeth at the doore The crop must bee sowed in this worlde the haruest must bee in another worlde and then shall the Angelles bee the reapers For they shall seperate and diuide the good from the bad The grace of God teacheth vs to liue soberly righteously Present world and godly in this present world For all the doubt is in this present world where it is a hard matter for vs to goe upright and to behaue our selues in the feare of God as we ought to do For the life of man may well be compared vnto the passage of a ship in the sea which through tempestuous weather may be ouerturned by the mounting waues of the sea or torne in pieces by the gunshot of the enemie and théeuish and mischieuous pirates or else may be dasht in pieces against the rockes or suddainly sunke in the quicke sands or vnawares taken within the compasse of a whirlpoole and by the force and strength thereof carried violently into the bottome but after it hath once arriued at the hauen there is no such doubt there is no such feare So is our life in this present worlde subiect to many an ouerthrow the life of the bodie I meane not but the life of the soule whereof we ought to haue especiall care sinne within vs abounding like the force of the enemie the pirate or the mounting waues frailties infirmities like the quick soft sands euill examples of other and their wicked counsailes like the dashing of the rockes the temptations and snares of the diuel like the force of a whirlepoole which neuer leaue vntill we be brought to the bottome If any of these take hold of vs in this present world so that they preuaile against vs we are gone Therefore thrice happie is he who by a godly life can auoyd all these and at last arriue at the hauen and take vp his euerlasting rest in heauen Oh that we could be godly and watchfull in this present world for in the world to come we shall haue no hinderance and nothing to let but that most freely we may serue God and leade a godly life Let vs pray that the grace of our Lord Iesus Christ may be with vs and that it may abound who gaue himselfe for the sacrifice and satisfaction of our sinnes that hee might deliuer vs from this present euill worlde Gal. 1. Before that he suffered his passion he praied for vs Iohn 17. that in this present euil world we should not fall away from God I pray not saith he that thou shouldest take them out of the world but that thou kéepe them from euil And herehence groweth the exhortation of the Apostle written to the Phil. chapter 2. 15. wherby he warneth them and vs also by them that we should behaue our selues blamelesse and pure as the sonnes of God without rebuke and that we should endeuour to shine as lights in this present wicked world dwelling in the midst of naughtie and bad people Who by our example of godly life may be won to be godly in the day of Gods visitation whom the grace of God shall teache and touch their hearts and call them throughly A great comfort we haue and a great incouragement to be godly because we are not vnder the lawe but vnder grace that is we are frée from the curse of the law that we may the more chearfully giue obedience therunto being furthered assisted by the grace of God which strengthneth vs to doo his will For the lawe is not giuen to the righteous but to the vnholy and to the prophane The curse to the one and the blessing to the other Let vs be sanctified and holy and kéepe our harts from an euil conscience let vs hold out our profession without wauering séeing that we looke for the performance of great promises which he hath made vnto vs that will not deceiue vs. The deceit of sinne is readie to harden our hearts and make vs continually fall away The best are mightily tempted and much adoo they haue to kéepe and hold their owne How necessary therefore is it for euerie one of vs to prouoke one another to loue and to good workes Let euery one of vs striue aboue our strength with praier for Gods assistance and so much the more because the day of the Lord the comming of Christ draweth néere And i◠this do not perswade vs yet that which may follow and fal out through our backsliding may through feare inforce vs. For if we sinne willingly after that we haue vndertaken the course of a godly life there remaineth for vs a fearfull looking for of iudgement which God in his wrath and heauy vengeaunce shall powre out And better it had béene for vs not to haue knowne the way of godlinesse then after we haue knowne it to turne away Rather let vs bee stirred vp and incouraged by the words of the Apostle S. Peter 2. Epist 1. 10. 11. Wherefore brethren giue rather diligence to make your calling and election sure by your holy life and godly connersation For if ye do these thinges ye shall neuer fall And furthermore by these meanes an entring shal be ministred vnto you aboundantly into the euerlasting kingdome of our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ And if we finde that we are risen with Christ let vs séeke those things which are aboue where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God Our affections must be aboue and not on things beneath which are on the earth And if we be dead vnto sinne our life is hid with Christ in God So that when Christ which is our life shall appeare then shall we also appeare with him in glorie Thus by gods help I haue set downe vnto you the effect of sanctification contained in these words of the Apostle The grace of God hath appeared teaching vs to deny vngodlinesse and worldly lusts and to liue soberly righteously and godly in this present world Now followeth the second part of my diuision noted in the text which is a perswasion and a reason mouing vs to this santification A perswasion vnto sanctification and that is the glorious inheritance of the kingdome of God expressed by the circumstance of Christ his comming at which time the godly shal be receiued into the kingdome of heauen their ioyfull dwelling place gathered out of these wordes Looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glorie of the mightie God and of our Sauiour Iesus Christ We cannot giue our selues vnto the duties of godlinesse vnlesse we shal be in the expectation and looking after the hope of another life and therfore very fitly doth the Apostle ioine vnto the duties of a godly life this spéech Waiting for
giuen for the purchase of a zealous giuing of our liues to those workes And therefore doth the Apostle tell vs that we are not our owne as to frame our liues after our owne liking but we are to serue the Lord both with our bodie and with our spirite because they are the Lords who hath bought them with a price If we humble not not our selues to a zealous following of good works we withhold the Lords due for he hath paide a great price to purchase a good life at our hands and dearly paide for a life ledde in zealous obedience vnto his word For we are not barely to giue some good words either to shewe some good countenance towards religion and Christian conuersation but to haue our conuersation declare that we are affected with the same and become studious of such an estate of life And such are they which declare themselues to be the peculiar people for whome the Lord laide out his life As for those who walke so indifferently betwéene true religion and false that a man cannot discerne whether they are more inclined vnto as also those that walke so euen betwéene a eiuill life and a Christianlike behauiour that the difference is not easily perceiued they doo declare themselues as yet not to be affected in desire toward those dueties which the Lord hath laid vpon his people to performe Now where this purchase of his hath taken place and effect they are become a peculiar people zealous of good workes And if cold and luke-warme christians may haue but litle comfort froÌ„ the death of Christ what shall become of them who are sworne enemies either to true religion or els to a good life and christian behauiour It is said here that we must be purged and so the Apostle would haue vs to become a peculiar people vnto our God zealous of good works Which agreeth with that of S. Peter 1. Ep. 2. 9. Ye are a chosen generation a royall priesthood an holy nation a peculiar people that ye should shew forth the vertues of him that hath called you out of darkenesse into his maruellous light Which in time past were not a people yet are now the people of God which in time past were not vnder me rcie but now haue obteined mercie He gaue himselfe to purge vs which office of purging the holy ghost performeth not by miracle but by meanes as I haue said afore Which spirite of God pray we that it may so worke togither with his grace in our heartes yâ— we may be throughly taught and also perswaded vtterly to deny vngodlinesse and worldly lustes as we haue made a vow and faithfull promise thereof in our baptisme so that we may liue soberly without excesse and riot righteously without doing iniurie and wrong and godly with a care to do all good workes whereby we may please God and liue in fauour and credit among men Spending as much time as remaineth in this life not after the lustes of the flesh or the vanities of the world or after the temptations of the diuell but after the will of God knowing this that if we liue after the flesh we shall die but if we mortifie the déeds of the body by the spirite we shall liue And what though some should mocke at vs for our reformed life and godly and holy conuersation for the diuell will stirre vs vp enemies inough for al such matters we must be prâ—uided prepare our selues before-hand And this is a great comfort vnto vs in that matter to teach vs not to be dismaied but still to hold on our course constantly considering that they that are so wilfully and so maliciously bent against vs shall giue account of their doings to him that is readie to iudge them Rather let vs be contrarily minded vnto them and let vs learne to set out our selues against all worldly hinderaunces whatsoeuer framing our selues to be such as looke for the blessed hope and appearing of the glorie of the Almightie God and of our Sauiour Iesus Christ And let vs not make the death of Christ of so small account as not to be zealous and carefull of good workes séeing he tooke vpon him a bitter death for our sakes not only to deliuer vs from our â—innes but also that we should leade a godly a holie and sanctified life Which God graunt and giue vs the grace that we may so doo And the Lord guide our hearts to the loue of God and to the waiting for of Christ To God the Father God the Sonne and God the holy Ghost thrée persons and one euerliuing God be rendred all praise dominion and power now and for euermore Amen Deo gratia solique gloria Here endeth the Patterne of Sanctification To the Right Worshipfull and one of his chiefest friends M. Francis Newport Esquire Iustice of Peace and Quorum in the Countie of Salop S. I. wisheth blessings of God in this life and the ioyes of that which is to come THe remembrance of your former curtesies Right Worshipfull makes me that I caÌ„not forget you when I remember my chiefest friends Wherefore deuising with my selfe how I might in some sort shewe my thankfull mind toward you I could not do it otherwise then by presenting this slender gift of my studie before your eyes wishing praying that the effect and meaning thereof might take so deep a consideration in your hart that it may worke your heauenly consolation assurance VVhose patronage likewise I humbly desire may giue credit and countenance thereunto I should haue remembred the right worshipfull my Ladie your mother but the matters of learning are more fit to bee directed to men of knowledge then vnto that sexe which is not so well acquainted therwith Only this I may say to shewe my good will from my heart and to giue vnto her Ladiship her due that although her estate be worshipfull yet is her report and remembrance honorable As long as she liueth she shall increase it when it shall please God to take her to himself she shall not loose it God requite vnto her and comfort her in her most need as shee hath bountifully relieued and comforted my father and mother and vs his children euen all the houshold of vs. And I doubt not but that many housholdes in Shropshire especially in Shrewesbury may saie the same Yet ought this so much to bee her comfort as that her onlie staie I meane her saluatioÌ„ is wrought by the death and precious blood-sheading of Iesus Christ our Sauiour onlie of his mercy without any desert of ours and by no other meanes whatsoeuer I would to God that many both honorable and worshipfull women in the lande whom God hath inriched no doubt to do good to others and to supplie the wants of those that stand in need would take her course that they might deserue the like commendation and haue the praiers and hearts of the people which is more woorth then all their landes and treasures or
Achab did that wicked King of Israel Some will say it is an eafie matter for a man to ouercome his sinfull affections and wee may doo well if wee will But I aske them who was more able and better furnished then the blessed Apostle S. Paul yet he findeth the matter so hard to performe that he confesseth it to the whole world Rom. 11. 22. I delight in the law of God concerning the inner man but I see an other lawe in my members rebelling against the lawe of my minde and leading me captiue vnto the lawe of sinne which is in my members that is in all the sences and in all the parts of my bodie Yea he seeth it to be a matter so impossible that he is faine to crie out O wretched man that I am who shall deliuer me And seeth no other meane of deliueraunce but only praier for Gods helpe that it would please God to beate downe the power of sinne in him I besought the Lord thrice that it might depart from me And answere was made My grace is sufficient for thee and my power is made perfect through thy weaknesse For that which is impossible to man is most easie for God to bring to passe Most truly therefore might he say Very gladly will I reioyce rather in mine infirmities that the power of Christ may dwell in me and master and mortifie sinne which would full faine haue the better hand ouer me Many will not be knowne of their sinnes when they be admonished of them because they are loth to leaue them yet some of a better minde and more tractable will acknowledge them and in their minde will mislike them and also will not sticke to confesse that they would faine leaue them and would thinke themselues happie if they might be rid of them yet find in themselues no power at all to forgo them No maruell then though the Apostle Heb. 12. perswadeth vs to cast off sinne which cleaneth vnto vs and hangeth on so fast But how may we forgo them how may we be rid of them we cannot it is impossible to vs. Craue it and beg it as the apostle did once twice thrice yea often euer at the hands of God in earnest and humble praier and he will performe it vnto thée and after a while thou shalt perceiue how weake the power of sin will begin to be in thée So that thou shalt be daily lesse proude lesse giuen to drunkennesse to theft to whoredome and the like till thou growest at the last to hate that sin that troubled thy soule so much till in time thou hast gathered that strength that thou maiest dispossesse and throwe out that strong man Behold then how great cause the godly haue to reioyce at their infirmities in that not only the power of their ruling sinnes is abated but also by the power of Gods good spirit and by the grace of Christ who dwelleth in the harts of the godly they are quite ouercome and ouerthrowne Whereby we may gather these two comforts First that this is a sure token vnto vs that we appertaine vnto God and secondly that the diuel shall haue no power to destroy vs séeing that we haue escaped his snares and that his bands that held vs in so fast are loosed burst and broken I will adde but one ioy more which is most pertinent To do good for euill and for the present purpose And that is that the godly reioyce to do the wicked good as the wicked reioyce to hurt them and sport and solace themselues in their sorrowes At the conuertion of the sinner and wicked the Angels in heauen reioyce and it is not to be doubted but that the godly beare them company heerein and are as greatly ioyfull The enemy of the Prophet Eliseus sought his death but he set bread water before them and sent them away in peace when they were al in his hand and at his word they might haue bene put to death When Dauid might haue saline Saul yet he reioyced in preseruing his life The Prophet Ieremy counselled the Israelies to pray for the life of King Nabuchodonosor who held them in captiuitie although he were a wicked and an idolatrous King Our Sauiour Christ praied for the life of his persecutors O Lord laie not this sinne to their charge for they know not what they do So did the blessed Martyr S. Stenen when the stones flue thicke about his eares Thus doo they pray for them that persecute them that God would turn his wrath from them and that in mercy he would call them as the Apostle Saint Paul was called from persecution to profession thus doo they speake well of them that hate them blesse them that curse them thus do they good for euil and séeke the preseruation of their liues who gréedily hunt after their ouerthrow death According to the examples of the Apostles 1. Cor. 4. 12. We are reuiled and yet we blesse we are persecuted and suffer it we are euill spoken of and we pray I say the truth in Christ saith S. Paul Rom. 9. 1. I lie not my conscience bearing mee witnesse in the holie Ghost that I haue great heauinesse and continual sorrow in my heart For I would wish my self to be seperate from Christ for my brethren that are my kinsmen according to the flesh but his professed and vtter enemies by persecution Yet he calleth them brethren Brethren my hearts desire and praier to God for Israel is that they might bee saued Accounting the good and welfare of his enemies the greatest ioy that might befall him More might be said but I haue stood vpon this point of the ioy of the godly somewhat too long Wherefore as a matter more proper to the godly I will The sorrow of the godly returne vnto the words of my text and intreat once againe of their sorrow The world shall reioyce and ye shall sorrow as if they were both borne and bred to it and should end their liues in the same For as the oxen appointed to the slaughter are let runne a fatting at their pleasure and other oxen kept vnder daily labour of the yoke so fareth it with the godly that are exercised with trouble all the daies of their life while the wicked escape run at randam gathering fat and growing grosse dying shortly nay more then that eternally If the godly haue any comfort in this world it continueth not long and therefore their life may well be said to be a mixture of swéet soure and a continual interchange of sorrow comfort comfort sorrow Which if they consider wel is a benefit vnto them so far forth as to draw their minds frō earth to heauen from y◠world to God Wherunto they are the more moued bicause the world maketh a wonder of them a gazing stock a matter of contempt and derision As the Apostle 1. Cor. 4. 13. hath foretold We are counted as the filth of the worlde and the
to be scorned whose desire is to liue according to Gods will and commandements And this is a greate cause of the fall of many that otherwise would doe well let them that vse it refraine it they knowe not what hurt they doe The least of vs are readie to fall away and therfore the Apostle willeth vs to exhort and Esd 10. 50. prouoke one another vnto good workes daily This mocking and taunting the Apostle doubteth not to call by the name of persecution wherewith Isaac was vexed by Ismael In consideration whereof it gréeueth the godly that they are aliue among the wicked whose reproachfull spéeches and vngodly behauiour haue bin pricks in their sides and thorns in their eies if not knines to their throats and as grieuous as the point of a dagger to their hearts For if they looke into the world and take a viewe of the fashion of men amongst whome they must liue they shall sée the mallice of Caine reuiued the hatred of Esau set on foote flattering tongues like Ioab but murdering minds Some as proud and as diuellish as Haman some as trecherous as Iudas some as cruel as Iezabel as incroching and gréedily hunting after other mens mainteuance and liuings if not their liues withall as euer was wicked Achab Naboths vineard litle kindnesse and much churlishnesse as bad or worse then that of Nabal many dissemblers as Ananias and where is the man that speaketh the truth from his heart For the most part all the conuersation of the wicked stanvpon Vncleannesse to beare so greate asway baudry and vncleannes Iust Lot was vexed with the vncleanly conuersation of the wicked For he being righteous and dwelling among them in séeing hearing vexed his righteous soule from day to day with their vnlawfull déeds In respect of all which snares and incombrances the godly are vexed with sorrow euē to the death I am aweary of my life for the daughters of Heth saith Rebeccay Abrahams wife It is inough now O Lord take my soule for I am no better then my fathers séeing I only am aliue and the rest hath forsaken thée saith Elias Woe is me saith the Prophet Dauid Ps 120. 5. that I must dwell with Mesech and haue mine habitation among the tents of Cedar My soule hath too long dwelt among them Yet hath God so appointed that we should shine as glistring starres amongst a naughty generation Whose behauiour shall make vs more wary and circumspect as also our good workes which they shall sée and behold shall turn either to their happy conuersion or most iust confusion and endlesse condemnation The weake minds which are not as yet throughly strengthned wish daily continually although it be godly and wel with the Apostle I desire to be dissolued and to be with Christ which is best of all Hitherto of the sorrowes of the godly And y◠I may make perfect this part touching the difference betwixt the godly and the wicked concerning ioy and sorrow as also that ye may be the better comforted and encouraged to vndertake and endure sorrow I will let you vnderstand howe that the world hath his sorrow also And séeing I haue begun to be tedious beare with mee a while I hope you will not thinke your labour altogither lost in reading which may be at your leisure though it cost mee some studie to gather it Who would thinke that the wicked should haue any sorrow in this world howsoeuer they are like to spéed in the world to come séeing they haue the world at will and as the Prophet saith they come in no misfortune like other men And yet it falleth out sometimes that they haue sorrow but what is the cause of their sorrow No other but for worldly matters for temporall losses and that their transitorie ioyes are abated and diminished As for example when their goods are taken by pirates their wealth consumed by shipwracke their houses burnt with fire their landes taken from them by violent oppression their riches wasted by vsurie their libertie restrained by imprisonment their children to miscarry suddeinly their friends either to die or to fall away from them daily as the wise man saith In prosperitie a friend cannot bee knowne and in aduersitie and calamitie a mans verie friend will fall away from him and forsake him Now when these miseries and these worldly calamities come vppon them what crying what wringing of hands what lamenting what wéeping is there among them But that God by their wickednesse is offended his name through them blasphemed his lawe and holy word contemned his patience and long sufferance daily prouoked and abused his threatnings his admonitions his counsels neglected his louing mercies forgotten and his great benefits not remembred that many good things pertaining to our dutie haue bin through our follies omitted and many wickednesses whereof we should haue bene cleare committed by vs who wéepeth for these matters who lamenteth for these causes The world reioyceth in hurting the godly and if their mischiefe and their mallice be preuented then are they sorry for nothing more then that they can do no more hurt nor any more mischief where the godly pray for them their cōuersion How do they enuy maligne those persons in whō they sée Gods gifts graces This was the cause y◠Iosephs brethren hated him that Core Dathan and Abiram did set themselues against Moses that king Saul did enuy and séeke the destruction of Dauid Whereat the godly are not to take any discomfort for their enuie shall not hurt them no more then Ioseph and Moses and Dauid was hurt For God shal turn all to his glorie and their good as is in his good pleasure determined of them And as they cannot abide the godly so secretly in their hearts they hate God as their déedes and workes declare for if the loue of God were in them the fruites therof would also appeare For who are more backward to heare Gods word to be present at his diuine seruice who make lesse accompt of christian profession yea they hate it they scoffe and scorne it and they that counsell them to religion goodnesse are their chiefest enemies King Dauid bearing the person of the godly was otherwise minded who counted it his great sorow that he was debarred for a time from Gods seruice Ps 48. 3. O Lord of hostes how amiable are thy tabernacles my soule longeth yea and fainteth for the courts of the Lord for my heart my flesh reioyce in the liuing God Yea the sparrow hath found her an house and the swallow a neast for her where she may lay her yoong ones euen by the altars ô Lord of hostes my king and my God But because the wicked are so set against God good men therefore the Prophet said truely of them Many are the sorrowes and great are the plagues that remaine for the wicked Psa 32. 10. Which is most effectually set downe Eccles 40. Great trauell is created for all men
will write vpon him my new name Mary hath chosen the better part which shall neuer be taken from her he that drinketh of the fountaine of life shall neuer thirst againe The despised of the world and the beloued of the Lord shall be to the Lord for a name and for an euerlasting signe that shall not be taken away He will make them an eternall glorie and a ioy from generation to generation the Lord shall be their euerlasting light and God their glorie For God shall appoint comfort to them that mourne and giue them beautie for ashes the oyle of ioy for mourning the garment of gladnesse for the spirit of heauinesse Esay 61. 2. 3. For their shame and vnworthie reproach they shall receiue double euen aboundant recompence and for confusion they shall reioyce in their portion In the holiest land of all where none but the chosen shall dwell they shall possesse the double euerlasting ioy be vnto them This is the heritage ◠Esd 2. 27. of the Lordes seruaunts It is a ioy that their miseries shall haue an ende and their sorrow shall quite bee taken away but howe much more may they reioyce that their ioy when it commeth shall neuer be taken away And all that haue this hope may well say with the Apostle with great comfort and gladnesse of heart Who shall seperate vs from the loue of Christ shall tribulation or anguish or persecution or famine or nakednesse or perill or sword As it is written For thy sake are we killed all day long we are counted as shéepe for the slaughter Neuerthelesse in all these things wee are more then conquerours through him that loued vs. Wherefore I am now perswaded and fully resolued that neither death nor life nor Angels nor principallities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor heigth nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to seperate me from the loue of GOD which is in Christ Iesus our Lord. To conclude let vs with all loue and zealous affection vndergoe this burthen that it shall please God to laie vppon vs howe heauie so euer For God will not faile those that trust in him but will giue them a comfortable issue neither will hée laie any more vppon vs then hée will make vs able to beare Admit the burthen bee verie heauie yet séeing we are sure to be well paide for our laboure and againe that we haue but a little way to beare the same and shall after a while and that a little while bee eased who is it that would not straine himselfe greatly to go through to his waies end rather then for sparing so short and so small a labour to loose so great and so present a reward Wée are kept by the power of God through faith vnto saluation which is prepared to be shewed in the last time and at the day of iudgement Wherein wée reioyce though nowe for a season if néede require we are in sorrow and heauinesse through manifold temptations That the triall of our faith béeing much more precious then golde that perisheth though it bee tried with fire might bee founde vnto our praise and honour and glorie at the appearing of Iesus Christ Who hath purchased an inheritance immortall and vndefiled and that fadeth not away reserued in heauen for vs. And if through hope and patience being strengthned by Gods spirit we hold out in all sorrowes troubles extremities and persecutions we may be well assured that all our sorrow shall be turned into ioy and such ioy that shall neuer be taken from vs. All which vertues and supernaturall and celestiall qualities which is the glory and crowne of the godly God in mercy bestowe vpon vs. Which glory hauing receiued we may surrender it into his hands that gaue it vs and in all humility with the Elders spoken of in the Reuelation we may cast downe our crownes before the throne saying Praise and honour and glory and power be vnto him that sitteth vpon the throne and vnto the Lambe for euermore Amen A meane to moderate our ioy and to abate the excesse thereof and to moue vs to preparation of minde R. T. IF we consider how the mallice of the whole world and the hatred of the greatest princes men of might is kindled and inflamed against vs partly through enuie of our wealth and partly for the hate they haue to true religiō and how they are confederate and haue combined themselues against the truth of God and against the Lords annointed for the defence of the same who by secret conspiracies and open attempts of horrible treason by raising the subiects against the Prince and the people against their lawfull soueraigne haue at many times by diuers waies endeuoured the death of her royall person decay of religion destruction and calamitie of this our natiue country shall not our laughter be turned into mourning and our ioy into heauinesse Whose determination had they effected according to their minds our stréetes had run with streames of bloud our children had béen slain before our faces our daughters rauished in our sights our wiues abused before our eies our houses on flaming fire in our presence our selues finally murthered in most cruel manner Gods truth had perished from among vs religion and the gospell had béene put to flight romish superstition had inuaded this land againe to the destruction of innumerable soules When with carefull diligence we recount these dangers and with thankfull hearts for that miraculous deliueraunce out of the iawes of so cruell lions and gratefull memorie to God for so wonderfull safetie from so bloudie enemies wee shall remember these thinges shall not our laughter be turned to mourning and our ioy into heauinesse When we consider besides this that the hope of our happinesse the state of our wealth the continuance of the Gospell in mans opinion with vs the terme and time of our peace the prolonging of our prosperitie standeth in the life of one most tender woman and vertuous Princes vnder the shadow of whose winges by the great prouidence of God we haue these thirtie seuen yeares bene shrouded from many daungers and mightily protected from suddaine perilles at home and abroad by our open professed enemies and our owne vnnaturall Country-men by whose godly zeale religion hath bene erected the truth of Gods word established the glorious Gospell of Christ maintained though the princes of the world haue snuffed and raged fretted and fumed stampt and stared thereat by whose gracious gouernment euerie man hath hitherto in peace eaten the frutes of his owne orchiard the grapes of his owne vine the commoditie of his owne land not the least of Gods blessings among men without either hostile inuasion or ciuill discention to any great damage whose terme of daies cannot be but the ende of our prosperitie whose day of death shall be the beginning of our wofull wretchednesse whose rest with God in eternall peace our enterance into troubles in this Common-wealth her yéelding to nature which the Lord deferre long to his glorie and her endlesse comfort the first steppe and degree as it were to our miserable calamitie this I say when we do consider shall not our laughter be turned into mourning and our ioy into heauinesse to sée the vncertaine ticklish and hard condition whereinto we are driuen Gloria Deo soli gratia FINIS LONDON Printed by Tho. Creede dwelling in Thames streete at the signe of the Katheren-wheele neare the olde Swanne 1595.
world is my country Whereas the wicked enioying these earthly blessings do rather vsurpe them then that they are the true owners and lawfull possessours of them This straunge and wonderfull inriching of them that liue in the feare of God that wise King Salomon amongst the manifolde experiments of worldly affaies doth note and that is thus That howsoeuer the wicked labour and toyle for wealth riches yet at last it commeth into their hands that feare God and they are possessours thereof Eccl. 2. 26. So we reade in his booke called Ecclesiastes and these be the words verie héedfully to be marked of vs which this King layd vp in his highest remembrances Surely to a man that is good in his sight God giueth wisedome and knowledge and ioy but to the sinner hee giueth paine to gather and to heape to giue to him that is good before God Which words both the good and the bad may well consider and â—use vppon and laie it to their heart that they may learne and be wise Which words sence Iob. 27. 13. 16. 17. and meaning is confirmed in the historie of Iob. This is the portion of a wicked man with God and the heritage which he shall receiue of the Almightie Though he should heape vp siluer as the dust and prepare raiment as the clay He may prepare it but the iust shall put it on and the innocent shall diuide the siluer As it is in the booke of Prouerbs The wicked shall be a raunsome for the iust and the transgressour Pro. 21. 18. for the righteous When a plague and mischiefe and daunger is towarde the righteous shall escape and it shall fall vpon the wicked they shall be deliuered and the wicked shall come in their places so also though they gather great wealth and substance they shall be least owners of it for god will so dispose it that the good shall enioy it For it is nothing in the sight of god suddainly to make a poore man rich The Prophet Moses doth she we a manifest example and proofe of this commoditie and blessing from god towarde them that feare him God gaue the Deut. 6. 10. 20. Israelites his children and beloued people the land of Canaan which flowed with milk and hony and which abounded with all gods blessings hée gaue them this land which before was the possession of sinners But how He gaue them great and goodly Citties which they builded not houses full of all manner of goods which they builded not nor laboured for Wels of water necessary for their vse which they diggâ—d not Vineyards and Oliue trees to their comfort and delight which they planted not And this is it which is to be considered heerein that all came without their labour without their desert god gaue it it was his blessing As the selfe same Prophet dooth set it dewne for a punishment of them that feare not god Thou shalt haue Deu. 28. 4. 39. 30. Oliue trees in all thy coasts but shalt not annoynt thy selfe with the Oyle Thou shalt plant a Vineyard and dresse it but shalt neither drinke of the wine nor gather the grapes Thou shalt builde a house and shalt not dwell therein The excellent commodities which were performed to Abrahams posteritie were long before promised to Abraham for this cause onelie because hée feared god as we reade Genes 22. I knowe thou fearest God saith god to Abraham by the mouth of an Angel Therefore will I surely blesse thee and will greatly multiply thy seede as the starres of the heauen and so foorth as before I might enlarge this commendation of the feare of The greeuous punishments of the contrary god which is and ought to be the onely delight of a Christian minde by reckoning vp the miseries that fall on them in whome the feare of god is not séene Which are warre famine pestilence pouertie shame and discredite the torment of an euill conscience diseases and straunge kindes of death to make an ende of them in fearefull sort that they may bée an example vnto all other beside many other discommodities which now I doo not stand vpon but thinke good rather to leaue it to your consideration Helping your remembraunce with this one notable place of scripture recited in the Prophecie of Ieremy 15. 1. 2. 3. Then saide the Lorde vnto mee Ier. 15. 1. 2. 3. Though Moses and Samuel stood before me yet mine affection could not be toward this people Cast them out of my sight and let them depart And if they say vnto thee whither shall we depart then tell them Thus saith the Lord such as are appointed to death vnto death and such as are for the famine to famine and such as are for the captiuitie to the captiuitie And I will appoint ouer them foure kindes saith the Lord. The sword to slaie and the dogs to teare in peeces and the foules of the heauen and the beasts of the earth to deuoure and to destroy From riches and wealth which although it be a great The company of prophets holy men and angels blessing of God yet if it please God to exercise our faith and patience with pouertie and want we must take the one in as good part as the other let vs come to an other worldly blessing and great comfort and that is to a matter of credit and honour We should thinke our selues happie men if we might be thought worthie to entertaine and receiue into our houses those that were of highest account about the Prince but behold what great fauour is shewed them that feare God that not onely holy men and Prophets but Angels also haue made choice of them to come to their houses and to be familiar with them 1. King 18. Eliah that famous Prophet of the Lord appeared not to King Ahab but to his seruant Obadiah the gouernour of the house The reason is because Obadiah feared God greatly The same we shal read in the whole course of the Bible that the Prophets and messengers of the Lord they did not resort vnto the common sort but vnto them that feared God WheÌ„ our Sauior Christ sent foorth his Disciples to preach as it is in Mat. 10. 11. he willed them when they entred into a Citie or Towne to enquire who was worthie in it that is whether there were a man that feared God there and there to abide till they departed And that Angels haue resorted vnto them letting passe the rest it is recorded in the booke of Genesis of Abraham and of Lot Yea Angels haue comforted them in their distresses As the Angel that was séene with the thrée children in the firy fornace and the Angell that deliuered the Apostle S. Peter out of prison the Angels that comforted Iacob when he stood in feare of his brother Esau So is it Psal 34. 9. The Angel of the Lord pitcheth rounde about them that feare him and deliuereth them Let vs ascend yet higher from earthly commodities to
tribulation reioycing in persecution reioycing in torments reioycing in death because they haue bin so well learned in gods schoole in gods booke that the loue of God is throughly shed abroad in their harts by the inward secret and most heauenly working of his holy spirit Triumphing against the world and the cruelties thereof being fully perswaded that neither life nor death nor any thing else shall be able to seperate them from the loue of God which is in Christ Iesus We learne that we are the children and beloued of god and that we are heires euen the heires of god and fellow heires with Christ if so be that we suffer with him that we may also be glorified with him For the afflictions that may fall out vnto vs are not worthie of the glorie that shall be shewed vnto vs and that we shall receiue in the kingdome of heauen If it were not so saith the Apostle we were of all men the most miserable if our hope were ended in this life and if that persecution had not a ioyfull recompence He that striueth not shall neuer be crowned and he that doth not take vp Christ his crosse euen to the death shall neuer come where he is To them that thus endure trouble and are thus hated reuiled and slaine of the world they know and are assured by gods word that there is a crowne reserued for them which the Lord shall giue them at that day dreadfull to others but ioyfull to them When it shall be said vnto them Come ye blessed enioy the kingdome prepared of my father for you from the beginning of the world Search the scriptures for in them ye thinke to haue etrnall life And thus they do performe it It followeth in those words which I haue reade vnto They testifie of Christ you touching the effectuall reason that should moue vs to the reading of the scriptures And they are they which testifie of me In them ye thinke to haue euerlasting life because they direct vs vnto the knowledge of Christ wherein consisteth life According as he saith of himselfe I am the way the truth and the life To him saith the Apostle Act. 10. 43. giue all the Prophets witnesse that through his name all that beléeue in him shall receiue remission of sinnes This is life euerlasting saith the Euangelist S. Iohn 17. 3. that they know thée to be the onely very god and whome thou hast sent Iesus Christ And thus the word of god doth testifie of our Sauiour Christ Ioh. 3. 16. That God so loued the world that he hath giuen his onely begotten sonne for the redemption of the world that whosoeur beleeueth in him should not perish but haue life euerlasting They are they which testifie that I am the onely life to true repentant sinners to giue them ease and comfort that are swallowed vp and ouerwhelmed with heauie sorrowes and as it were vtterly cast away through griefe and distresse of minde for their sinnes According as the Apostle saith Christ came into the world to saue sinners Come vnto me saith Christ all ye that be heauily loaden with the burthen of your sinnes and I will ease you and I will refresh you For I came not to saue the righteous but to call the sinners to repentance They are they which testifie of his holie and vndefiled conception being conceiued by the holie Ghost and borne of a virgine and so being without all blot of sin to the intent that we might be freed from our vncleannes which we draw from our parents being born in sinne and conceiued in iniquitie being defiled by originall sinne and naturall corruption which testifie of his life and conuersation that it was altogither vnrebukable blamelesse and that in euery point he fulfilled the law of God y◠his righteousnes perfect obediēce might be imputed vnto vs which are otherwise vnder the curse of the law that our sinne and disobedience might be couered and that we might not be called to account for the same which testifie that hée was condemned before an earthly iudge to acquite vs from the dreadfuil sentence of the heauenly iudge which testifie that in bodie soule he suffered gréeuous torments that the wrath of god might not take hold of vs which testifie of the wonderful worke of his resurrectiō of his triumphing ouer death sin hell and the diuel to make vs ioyful conquerers which testifie of his glorious ascention into heauen to giue vs assurance of y◠heauenly possession which he hath purchased for vs which testifie y◠he shal be y◠iudge of quick dead to giue vs euerlasting comfort which haue put our whole trust in him when all other vnbeléeuers wicked vngodly people shal stand in his presence with great horror séeing his comming shall bee to be reuenged of their vnbeliefe and contempt Finally in an other consideration we may say that they They bring vs to the knowledge of God our selues are they that testifie of him For first and principally they teach vs the knowledge of God Secondarily and consequently the knowledge of our selues The knowledge of the Almightie power of God in the creation of all things of his infinit wisdom in disposing them in their due order of his great goodnes in doing al these things for the vse and benefit of mankinde Indéed the creation of the world and all the creatures therein do bring vs to the knowledge of God and this is onely the scripture of the heathen people but yet this doth not shew vnto vs sufficiently how God is our God and our father in Iesus Christ which knowledge we do only attain by reading the word of God And this is the scripture of the Christians Through which knowledge of God in respect of Christ we learn that God hath entred into a couenant with all faithful people that he would be their God and that they should be his people And that therfore they ought to performe vnto god his due scruice which especially consisteth in these thrée points First to worship the true God and to detest all idolatry and false gods to make our praiers to God alone and religiously and deuoutly to serue him Secondly that the worship of God doth cōsist in spirituall matters as faith hope charitie obedience righteousnes holines innocency patiēce truth and all godlines Thirdly to improue accuse and condemne all wickednesse and sinne infidelitie desperation disobedience impatience lying hipocrisie hatred slaunder iniurie and wrongfull dealing vncleannesse lust gluttony and all other vngodlinesse and iniquitie Furthermore that God doth in mercy and fauour reward the good and according to his iustice punish the offendors and that therefore he hath prepared ioyes and torments after this life For our soules are such that they neuer die and our bodies shall rise again to be ioyned to our soules at the latter day In respect of which knowledge of God the scriptures do perswade vs so to liue in this world that
and I will make this Cittie a curse to all the nations of the earth The destruction of this Citie shall be a matter of feare and wonder and shall be continually in euery mans mouth as an example of the reuenge that the lord hath wrought Worship the lord in the glorious Sanctuary tremble before him all the earth Say among the nations The lord raigneth surely he shall iudge the people In the tenth Chapter to the Hebr. The Lord shal iudge his people Before whose iudgement seate we shall all appeare to receiue those things which we haue done in our bodies according to that we haue done whether it be good or euill As the wise man in his booke called Eccle. putteth vs in mind Reioyce ô yoong man in thy youth and let thy heart cheare thee in the dayes of thy youth and walke in the wayes of thy heart and in the sight of thine eyes but knowe that for all these thinges God will bring thee to iudgement If thou set light by and disobey that which I command thee I am the Lorde thou shalt not escape when I shall shewe my selfe from heauen with my mightie Angelles in flaming fire rendering vengeance and paying euerie one according to his desertes The Lorde the Lorde shall appeare in glorie when hee commeth to iudgement and all his holie Angels with him And before him shall be gathered all nations and he shall seperate them one from an other as a shepheard seperateth the shéepe from the goates and he shall set the shéepe on his right hand and the goates on the left Vnto the goates that is to them that haue disobeyed him he shal say Depart from me ye cursed into euerlasting fire which is prepared for the diuel and his angels And if god spared not the angels that had sinned but cast them downe into hell and deliuered them into chaines of darknesse to be kept vnto damnation and spared not the old world but brought the floud vpon the vngodly and turned the Citties of Sodome and Gomorra into ashes coÌ„demned them and ouerthrew them and made them an ensample vnto them that after should liue vngodly Surely the Lord as yet and from this day vnto the end of the world will reserue the wicked and vniust vnto the day of iudgement vnto punishment The Lord shall consume them with the fire of his wrath and render vppon their heads their owne waies and they shall knowe how true and certaine this is that he is the Lorde For in his hand is a cuppe and the wine is redde it is full mixt and he powreth out of the same Surely all the wicked of the earth shall wring out and drinke the dregs thereof Therfore are we willed to lead our liues before the Lord in feare and trembling considering how dreadfull the Lord is As saith the Prophet Dauid My flesh trembleth for feare of thee and I am affraid of thy iudgements Knowing therfore the terrour of the Lord and his fearfull iudgement we perswade men that they haue a diligent regard to that which the Lord hath commanded And séeing that the Lord shall come in such dreadfull maner to iudge the vngodly and disobedient what maner persons ought we to be in holy conuersation and godlinesse And being fully perswaded thorof let vs be diligent that we may be found of him without spot and blamelesse And let vs marke what is written in the last words of the book of Salomon called Ecclesiastes his words are these Let vs heare the end of all Feare God and keepe his commandements For this is the whole dutie of man For God wil bring euery worke vnto iudgement with euery secret thing whether it be good or euill Thus much you haue heard concerning his sacred and Strong fearefull maiestie wherein also the force of his power doth shewe it selfe and yet it is further expressed in that hée is said to be strong Which especially is to be séene in his punishments where I might bring in manifolde and infinit examples of plagues against the wicked procéeding from his iust anger whereby the Lord hath shewed his mightie power and declared his maiestie to be most dreadfull and full of force As among the rest were most notorious the drowning of the old world and the burning of Sodome and Gomorrha with fire and brimstone from heauen This his mightie power did not the Lorde make knowne onely to straungers but euen to his owne people in making the earth to open and swallow vp some the fire to burne and consume others a mightie great plague to make a riddance of them firie serpents to sting them to death for their murmuring and rebellion that they also might confesse and acknowledge the mightie power of the Lord. And to declare howe strong hee is he maketh mention of his thrée great plagues the Sword and Famine and the Pestilence wherby not a fewe but thousands and infinit multitudes perish when it pleaseth God to strike by them as we may read in diuers places of the scriptures well knowne to them that are but meanely séene in them Againe this is a great argument to proue how strong he is that when one punishment is sent and past and gone he can send another and another in the necke of the same and still increase his power by adding and doubling and multiplying For as his mercies haue no ende so his iudgements cannot be numbred And where his anger is â—â—â—led there his power groweth stronger and stronger In the Prophecie of Iere. cap. 15. 2. 3. The Lord instructeth the Prophet what he shall answere the Iewes that had so greatly prouoked his wrath And if they say vnto thée Whither shall we depart then tell them Thus saith the Lord Such as are appointed vnto death vnto death and such as are for the sword to the sword and such as are for the famine to the famine and such as are for the captiuitie to the captiuitie And I will appoint ouer them foure kinds saith the Lord. The sword to sley and the dogs to teare in pieces the foules of the heauen to deuouâ— and the beasts of the earth to destroy He might haue gone further in reckoning vp his plagues and neuer bene wearied in throwing downe his thunderbolts That proud and hard hearted king Pharaoh that said Who is the lord that I should heare his voyce I know not the lord The lord that he might make manifest his power shewed himself to this wicked king in diuers plagues punishments Which were such that one excéeding an other one was more greeuous then an other The waters of his land being turned into blood the earth couered with frogges the dust of the earth chaunged into lice the aire replenished with great swarmes of flies the hand of the lord was vpon their beasts and cattle and they died by a mightie great murrain there came a scab-breaking out into blisters vppon man and vppon beast the lord sent lightning and thunder and haile mixed with
continue constant But this is one of the vnchaungeable properties of god as to be stedfast in his promises According to that of the Apostle Saint Iames 1. 17. Euerie good giuing and euerie perfect gift is from aboue and commeth downe from the father of lights with whome is no variablenesse neither shadowing by turning All his promises are yea and Amen that is to say certaine truthes For as he is aboundant in goodnes so also is he aboundant in truth God is alwaies mindful of his promise although it bee to a thousande generations As the Psalme doth testifie concerning the Israelites That God remembred his holy promise and Abraham his seruant For as he promised that his séed shuld increase into multitudes so also was it his promise that they shuld possesse the gates of their enemies For although they were a long time euil intreated and held vnder cruell slauery and bondage yet God for his promise and mercy sake at length did set them frée And brought them into a good and plentifull land flowing with milke and honie and abounding with all Gods blessings but so that it pleased God to trie them by many extremities Wherein our fraile nature is too weake for if god do not performe when we looke for it wée are readie straightway to say Is the promise of the Lord come to an end and hath he forgot to be good and gratious Should we receiue good at the Lords hand and not euill saith Iob And is it not for vs to wait and staie the Lords leisure And although many fall away for want of present performance yet let not vs doubt the goodnesse of God which is a sure staie in the time of néed if we be stedfast in hope and not too impatient in trouble And why should not we wait for the goodnesse of god although our miseries be great Behold the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth and hath long patience for it vntill he receiue the former and the latter raine If God for diuers necessary considerations regarding that which is most for his glory and our good do withdraw his helpe in this world yet he requites it in an other world graunting vs a better matter then we can desire of him And so it falleth out that when we thinke his promise doth vs least good then doth it turne to our best aduantage and greatest comfort requiting earthly miseries with heauenly ioyes So excéeding good is he vnto vs by vsing all meanes to kéepe vs in his feare and so doth hée helpe and staie vs lest we should fall away from him Yet fraile flesh is readie to fall away euery houre and 4 doth often fall away for all gods goodnes neuerthelesse the Reseruing mercy c. mercy of the Lord is such that he lifteth vs vp againe As the Psal 90. 3. saith When we are fallen into destruction yet the Lord hath a comfortable word and biddeth vs Come againe The Lord hath mercy in store and his goodnes is so great that he reserueth mercy for vs. It is too manifest that there are but a fewe that cleaue to the Lord and again that infinit thousands cast themselues away yet is the Lord so pittifull that he reserueth mercy for thousands The day of his wrath last iudgement is but one day but he delaieth that day many a thousand daies yéeres because he would Offering mercie haue no man perish but all to come to repētance Reseruing mercy by offring repentance saying At what time so euer a sinner repenteth him of his sinnes from the bottome of his heart I wil put out all his wickednes out of my remembrance saith the Lord. If the wicked wil return from all his sinnes that he hath committed and kéep al my statutes and do that which is lawfull right he shall surely liue shall not die And in an other place if he returne he shall saue his soule aliue Euery where in the scriptures doth God shew forth his mercy by his seruants the Prophets warning his people early late in season and out of season Yet as the raine that falleth vpon the barren ground hath no effect so the mercy of God being offered doth not alwaies enter into our hearts Yea so hard a matter it is euen for those which pertaine to God to receiue his mercy offered that vnlesse God himself do turne their harts by giuing them repentance they shuld Giuing repētance neuer be saued What then shal we say to them that are left in their sinnes Surely as he is mercifull to his seruants so his reuenging hand is vpon the vngodly For on them he will raine suares fire and brimstone as saith the Psalme The more the God did offer mercy vnto his people the more they did refuse it Neuerthelesse saith God Psal 89. My mercy will not I vtterly take away nor suffer my truth to faile According as the Prophet Esay remembreth Except the Lord of hosts had reserued vnto vs euen a smal remnant we should haue bin as Sodom and should haue bin like vnto Gomorrha Euen as a firebrand is taken out of the fire halfe burnt so doth the Lord reserue mercy euen when we deserue destruction and so it fareth with vs as with a théefe who is brought to the gallowes to suffer death with the halter about his neck yet by som extraordinary fauour is saued Doubtlesse by our sin desert al are lost and in the way of damnation but yet by the mercy and fauour of god whē many are left in their sins and sent to eternal punishments some after a wonderfull sort are saued And y◠which is more to be wondred Sauing thousands at euen thousands are saued As we read in the Reuelation of S. Iohn of such a Tribe wer sealed 12. thousand vntil it came to many thousands yet in respect of many other also y◠shal be saued they are but a few thousands Reseruing mercy for thousands as it were by a thousand meanes For A pluralitie of Gods mercies there is a pluralitie of gods mercies and more waies hée hath to bring vs vnto him then we can wel consider of Hée calleth vs vnto him by offering repentance he assisteth vs with his grace to do good moueth our mindes inwardly by infinit good inspiratiōs giueth vs space to repent by diuers occasiōs opportunities incouragements allureth vs outwardly with exhortations promises Feareth vs by his gréeuous punishments shewed vpō others for an example laieth gēlle correctiōs vpō vs as pouerty aduersitie losses sicknes threatneth vs with eternal death least we should vtterly be lost destroied with others Yet further are ther his preuenting mercies whereby he either vseth meanes to withdraw vs from our wickednesse or hindereth and stoppeth the euill intents of the diuell and the worlde kéeping vs from euill company and from euill counsell arming vs and giuing vs strength against them So soone as we rise in the morning we go
the blacke Moore which was in the kings house heard that they had put Ieremiah in the dungeon And he went vnto the king and said My Lord the king these men haue done euill in all that they haue done to Ieremiah the Prophet whome they haue cast into the dungeon and he dieth for hunger in the place where he is for there is no more bread in the citie Then the king had compassion and committed the matter vnto the Eunuch to take order for Ieremiahs reliefe The widow of Zarephath in great famine hauing but a handfull of meale in a barrell and a little oyle in a cruse when she and her sonne had spent that she looked for nothing else but present death But the Lorde did comfort her by the mouth of his Prophet Eliah saying The meale in the barrell shall not be wasted neither shall the oyle in the cruse be diminished vntill the time that the Lorde send raine vpon the earth and there be plentie And according to the words of the Prophet it fell out so vnto her When the Prophet Eliah had thought to haue giuen vp his life being in distresse the Angel of the Lord had brought him a cake and a pot of water and set the same at his head and touched him and awaked him out of his sléepe and sayd vnto him Vp and eate So hee arose and did eate and drinke and walked in the strength of that meate fortie dayes and fortie nights And if it bee lawfull to bring in forraine histories into suche wâ—â—ghtie matters I will shewe you a thing as straunge as the former which is recorded in the historie of the warres of the lowe Countries Page 79. The words of the Author are these Now when I call to mind the wonderful workes of God I cannot passe ouer but tell you how that after the murther and massacre of Narden and the whole towne on a flaming fire a yoong Lad was saued by running out of the gates of the towne into a little gardain full of rootes The father of this boy was murthered and his mother being rauished was hanged vp by the armes of the Tyrantes Spaniards and when the fire came and tooke holde of her house shée beeing tied by the armes could not get away so that shée was burnt in her owne house The yoong Lad hauing not eaten any thing for the space of thrée whole dayes togither wept bitterly both for the death of his parents as also by reason that he was hungerbit But God who neuer forsaketh his sent him reliefe For the very same night there came vnto him a wel-fauoured yoong man in white apparrell who gaue him whereon to féede and said Wéepe no more my fatherlesse childe for I will neuer leaue thée Eate and be of good cheare for they that haue murthered thy father and mother shall haue a double plague light vppon them Thy teares shall be turned into ioy and gladnesse and their laughing into teares and mourning and forthwith the yoong man vanished out of sight When my father and mother forsake mee saith the Prophet the Lord taketh me vp And there ye sée that they that haue neither father nor mother want not no not when they are in great distresse Wonderfull are Gods woorkes and infinite are his mercies and his wayes past finding out Oh what is man fraile man wretched and miserable man that God should thus regard him may we well say with the Prophet And shall that God that prepared for man ere euer he was now forsake man when hée is if hée be not most vnkindly and too vnkindly forsaken of man It cannot be it can nâ—â—â—r be And therefore in all distresses let vs cast our eyes vpon him and thinke of such examples of his loue and rare prouideÌ„ce as these are which I haue recited vnto you and be sure that he knowing what we haue néed of will neuer forsake vs. All this it pleaseth God to worke in our behalfe God worketh for his owne glorie to the intent that he should be praised and honoured of vs. O Lord our God saith the Prophet howe excellent is thy name in all the world And againe Psal 146. 7. 9. Blessed is the Lord which giueth bread to the hungrie that relieueth the straungers the fatherlesse and the widow When Iacob met his brother Esau in token of good will he gaue him a rich present and therwithall acknowledged Gods bountifulnesse toward him in these words God hath had mercy on me and therfore I haue all things When Daniel was relieued by gods prouidence he gaue thanks and said O God thou hast thought vpon me and thou neuer failest them that seek thee and loue thee When our Sauiour Christ fed the people euen a great multitude with 5. loues 2. fishes he looked vp to heauen and gaue thankes We are earnest to craue good thinges of God but slowe to giue thankes To giue thankes for that which is receiued is a way to helpe vs to more in time to come to be thankfull for the old brings with it a new benefit and a new good turn But bicause by nature we are very backward in this dutie therfore God putteth his people in mind thereof by his prophet Moses When thou hast eaten and filled thy selfe saith he thou shalt blesse the Lord thy God for the good land which he hath giuen thee Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God lest when thou hast eaten and filled thy selfe and hast built goodly houses and dwelt therein and thy beastes and thy sheepe are increased and thy siluer and gold is multiplied and all that thou hast is increased then thy heart be lifted vp and thou forget the Lord thy God who fed thee in the wildernesse with Manna froÌ„ heauen who brought forth water for thee out of the rocke of flint And again Bewaâ—â— as though he could not speake it too often to such as were dull of hearing as Christ had his disciples Watch twice or thrice and yet found them sléeping Beware least thou say in thine heart My power and the strength of mine owne hand hath procured me this abundance But remember the Lord thy God for it is he and he onely which giueth thée power to get substance and onely in his blessing is all abundance Let not this be our first care if our store be increased to pull downe our barnes and make them larger but rather let vs lift vp our eyes to heauen in consideration that God hath so blessed vs and let vs pray that god will vouchsafe to giue vs the vse of his blessings to his glory and our comfort For to euery one to whom god hath giuen riches and giueth him power to eate thereof and to take his part and to enioy his labour this is the gift of god Otherwise a man may sée much good and peraduenture reioyce and boast of it but he shall neuer come to enioy it And then what profit and comfort is it to him that
that which followeth marke their mischéeuous intents But he thinketh not so neither doth his heart estéeme it so but hée imagineth to destroy and to cut off not a fewe nations Gods woorke héerein is to chastise his people for their amendment and he hath respect vnto his iustice the wicked Assirians they purpose to destory them to inrich themselues and in them is nothing to be séene but the worke of malice and of the diuel But to let you vnderstand that God hath as it were a bridle in his hand to restraine them the Prophet vseth these wordes Shall the axe boaste it selfe against him that heweth therewith Or shall the sawe exalt it selfe against him that mooueth it When they shake the rodde shall it magnifie it selfe against them that take it vp When they lift vp a staffe is it not wood True it is and most true that no creature is able to doe any thing but as God appoynteth him and that they are all but his instruments to doo his woorke though the intentions be diuerse When he wil he sendeth warres and again at his wil they cease as the Psalm saith Hee breaketh the bowe and knappeth the speare in pieces Though Sanacharib come with multitudes as the dust of the earth against poore King Hezekiah and his people and thinking to deuoure them at once yet shal God put a hooke in his nosthrils and a bridle in his lippes and shall bring him back again the same way he came his whole army shal be destroied in a night and he shalve amazed at gods wonderfull worke Ammon and Moab and the inhabitants of mount Seir come vp against Iudah and their king Ichoshaphat 2. Chro. 20. Wherefore they fearing pestilence famine and the sword with other mischiefes that warre doth bring with it and séeing themselues vnable make their prayers vnto God saying O our God there is no strength in vs to stand before this great multitude that commeth against vs neither do we know what to do but our whole trust is in thee Then God sent them comfort by a Prophet saying Feare not for the battaile is not yours but Gods Stand still mooue not and beholde the saluation of the Lorde And now behold Gods prouidence and his worke When they of Iudah beganne to shout and to praise God for his great mercy then the Lorde layd ambushments against the children of Ammon Moab and mount Seir to flaie and to destroy them And this is straunge when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir euery one helped to destroy an other till there was not a man left as though euery one had sworne his owne death The lyke example is in the booke of Iudges cap. 7. For when Gedeon whom the Lord had strengthned came against the Midianites and the Amalekites whose number was as it were without number so many were they Gedeon caused the trumpets to blow and the people cried The sword of the Lord and of Gedeon And the Lord set euery mans sword vpon his neighbour and vpon all the hoste Not only in matters of warre but in all other punishments God hath his worke according to that of the Prophet Amos Shall there be euill in a citie the Lord hath not done it As if he had said Can any aduersitie come without gods appointment Read the 28. cha of Deu. sée whether it be not so Which thing holy men heretofore well considering did not impute their distresses miseries to any other cause but only to y◠prouidēce of god Ioseph had great wrong mischief wrought against him by his own brethren Doth he blame his brethren or reuenge himself on thē No. But the vseth them wel when he might haue procured their trouble He kissed them wept vppon them made himself knowne vnto thē did not discomfort or discourage them Come néer my brethren saith he I am Ioseph your brother whom ye sold into Egipt Be not sad neither gréeued with your selues y◠ye sold me For God did send me before you for your preseruation Whē ye thought euil against me God disposed it to good Feare not I will norish you your childrē he comforted them spake kindly vnto them VVhen Shimei cursed king Dauid they that wer about him wold haue slain Shimei for so doing Suffer him to curse saith he let him alone for he curseth euē because the Lord hath bidden him curse Dauid Who dare then say wherfore hast thou done so Dauid remembred y◠words of the prophet I wil raise euil vnto thee out of thine own house Behold my son which came out of mine own bowels séekes my life how much more a stranger Suffer him It may be that the Lord wil looke vpon my affliction do me good for his cursing this day send me comfort in due time Iob in a godly mind when he was driuen to great aduersitie miserie repineth not neither curseth as the fashion of the world is whē they méet with such heauy crosses but he looketh vp to heauē saith Naked came I out of my mothers wombe naked shall I go hence The Lord hath giuen and the Lord hath taken it Blessed be the name of the Lord. In all his affliction did not Iob sin nor charge God foolishly by rash and vnaduised by grudging wicked and reproachful spéeches If Ioseph and Dauid had set their eyes vpon them that did them wrong they should haue thought vpō reuenge But because their trouble was by gods wil from his sending therfore they take it in good part both reuerētly patiently not only because they cannot resist but because god willeth nothing but that which is iust and for the good benifit of them whom he so afflicteth As the prophet saith It is good for me that I haue bene in trouble Let passe therefore the iniury of men which might increase thy sorow grief of mind and hasten thée to reuenge and consider gods will who hath breught that to passe which thy enemies haue done against thée Maruel not but commit the matter to gods infinit wisdome whose will as it is often most manifest so is it more often hid vnknowne Let vs only harp vpon this string y◠as by his benefits he doth moue vs to serue him so by his crosses and punishments he driueth vs to repentance When miseries come we can sée Gods prouidence God graunt that when hee sendeth prosperitie wee may acknowledge his goodnesse and not be forgetfull So much for the gouernment of God in the affaires of men Now let vs consider the same in men themselues A sect of Philosophers called Pripatetickes although peraduenture they did acknowledge the prouidence of God in many things yet rather then they would haue man subiect to the same would deny that there were any prouidence at al as if it gréeued them that gods prouidence should stretch further then their owne reason did lead them And so long as they tried the
light of reason doo teach them and informe them what is good their conscience bearing them witnesse and the lawe of God â—ore perfectly establishing it and making it knowne The lawe of our slesh yet the lawe of our fleshe is most vnperfect and full of obstinate rebellion For our corrupt nature turneth the benefite of the lawe to our destruction whereby it followeth that that is moste peruerse and wicked which turneth that which is wholesome in it selfe to condemnation In the vnregenerate man it bringeth foorth death and may well be accused of him because it hath this operation in him that it causeth wrath stirreth vp grudging fretting and murmuring of our nature How the lawe is the power of sinne For the more it presseth by reason of our infirmitie in that wee are not able to withstand it it stirreth vp sin because wée are readie and moste desirous to doo that which is sorbidden it is the force and power of sinne it increaseth sinne and slaieth vs and maketh vs guiltie of the wrath of God and eternall death and damnation Wherefore if wée say there is no sinne in vs we How we do the workes of the lawe are founde liars béeing reprooued by the lawe And as for the outwarde woorkes of the lawe whiche wée doo are either for feare of punishment which might ensue vppon the offence or else for loue of our selues that we might reioyce in our owne righteousnesse But séeing with our workes there is ioyned stubburnnesse and the heart rebelleth within because the lawe reproueth our concupiscence and that naturally euen from the loines of our forefather Adam there is ingraffed into vs a seruile feare and deadly hatred of the lawe if not of the lawe-giuer our workes can in no wise come to the height that they may please GOD. The lawe therefore is spirituall and iust and holie and good and by the lawe commeth the knowledge of sinne therefore is euery mouth stopped and all the worlde found subiect vnto the iudgement of God Howe then may No man iustified by the lawe wée imagine that by the workes of the lawe we may bee iustified séeing that it is sayd by the woorkes of the lawe shall no flesh bee iustified Againe it is impossible to be made righteous by the lawe not onely to him The regenerate are stained with sin that is not regenerate but vnto the regenerate also in that their righteousnesse is stained with so many sinnes and they culpable of iudgement before God For the lawe cannot iustifie those that are in the flesh The lawe is spirituall but we are carnall sold vnder sinne and enemies to God and strangers from the common wealth of Israel Howsoeuer therefore we thinke to please God by the outwarde workes of the lawe yet is not that the righteousnes which The righteousnesse that God requireth is of the heart No iustification by works God requireth For the circumcision is of the heart in the spirite not in letter whose praise is not of men but of GOD. But if Abraham bee iustified by workes hée hath wherein to reioyce but not with God séeing that if iustification might be accomplished by the workes of the lawe it were altogither debt and not fauoure But that should not be blinded with a vaine opinion of debt and merit there the Apostle crosseth this sentence with a contrary position For to him that woorketh not but beléeueth in him that iustifieth the vngodly his faith is counted for righteousnesse Whiche afterwarde hée prooueth more manifestly by the fall and ruine of the Iewes béeing compared with the Gentiles What shall we say then that the Gentiles which followed righteousnesse haue attained vnto righteousnesse euen the righteousnesse which is of faith But Israel which followed the lawe of righteousnesse could not attaine vnto righteousnesse Wherefore because they sought it not by faith but as it it were by the workes of the lawe For they being ignorant of the righteousnesse of God and going about to establish their owne righteousnesse haue not submitted Our iustification is by Christ In all humilitie we ought to confesse our selues to be sinners themselues to the righteousnesse of God For Christ is the ende of the lawe for righteousnesse vnto euerie one that beléeueth And vnlesse we acknowledge our selues to be sinners being voide and destitute of any righteousnesse that is in vs we séeme to deface and to darken the worthinesse and dignitie of Christ Which consisteth in this that he is the onely light saluation life resurrection and righteousnesse and the soueraigne phisicke of euery mans soule and to what end If not to lighten the blind to restore them that were condemned to quicken them which were dead to raise them vp which wer brought to nothing to cleanse them which were polluted with all filthinesse to cure and heale them which were death sicke and almost swallowed vp thereof Nay but if we attribute any part of He that attri buteth any thing to himselfe derogateth froÌ„ God and wrastleth with him How Christ is a rocke of offence righteousnesse vnto our selues we wrastle as it were with Christ whose propertie it is to beate downe them that are fleshly minded and to reléeue those that are heauie laden with the burthen of of their sinnes So that Christ is a stumbling blocke and a rocke of offence not that it agreeth vnto him to be so but that malicious mindes do take offence through their owne corruption For they stumble by reason of their owne pride and their damnation is in them selues What sencelesse blockishnesse is it therefore in vs that we should deriue saluation righteousnesse and iustification from the lawe which is our downfall and the cause of wrath Neuerthelesse if we be not as yet satisfied he vseth an other effectuall proofe whereby we may plainly sée that righteousnesse and iustification is not by the lawe For the promise that was made to Abraham the father of the faithfull that he should be the father of many nations through gods euerlasting couenant with him that he would be his god and the god of his séede after him I say the promise The promise is not by the lawe that he should be the heire of the worlde was not giuen to Abraham and to his séede through the lawe First because the lawe cannot comprehend the promise secondly because faith should be ioyned in vaine to the promise which should be apprehended by workes Againe if iustification depended Iustification that is the righteousnesse of God pertaineth vnto all vpon the lawe of Moses then should god be the Sauiour only of the Iewes but it is god who shall iustifie circumcision of faith meaning the Iewes and vncircumcision through faith meaning the gentiles And in that that Abraham was iustified being vncircumcised it also followeth that iustification belongeth vnto them that are vncircumcised This therefore may be the generall conclusion of this point that we are not iustified by the law the
life in the spirite Spirit for righteousnesse sake Which spirit quickneth our mortall bodies beareth witnesse with our spirit that we are the children of God Whereby we are ridde from the spirit of bondage which is in feare and are indued with that of adoption which bringeth foorth good frutes which the father accepteth though indéed they be of small perfection not aunswerable to that high calling which is in Christ God doth not only by imputation accept our workes but Affliction the end of this fight also by affliction trieth our obedience before we come to that spirituall rest which he hath prepared for vs and we in hope enioy Yea we are heires with Christ Howe or in what respct If so be that we suffer with him that we may also be glorified with him Which affliction and persecution is the end of our spirituall fight the entraunce into glory Which in this world is to vs as a proofe of our patience our patience a helpe to experience our experience a furtherer of our hope which hope maketh vs not ashamed The proffite of affliction because the loue of God is shed abroad in our harts by the holy ghost which is giuen vs. Againe it maketh our infirmities and imperfections knowen vnto vs it correcteth our sinfull desires the euill lusts of our flesh it bringeth vs to a mutuall and harty loue one of an other it bréedeth in vs a couragious mind to withstand the assaults of Sathan it increaseth in vs the hope of our election frameth vs to immortality worketh a most effectual and gladsome Perseuerance in affliction is the stay of the spirituall man comfortable meditation of the life to come Only we are to take héede of this downfall that we faint not because the crowne of glory is not giuen but to him that ouercommeth and endureth vntill he come to the end of his race Moreouer vnto these commodities which come vnto vs by reason of these afflictions there are also added most Consolatiō in affliction comfortable consolations For it is the will of God that wée suffer affliction for his name sake and blessed are they that do so And if God be on our side who can be against vs All things come from the prouidence of God if with gladnesse wée receiue blessings from the Lord why should wée not in all obedience receiue punishment correction also Wée knowe also that al things worke togither for the best vnto them that loue God and to them that are called of his purpose Yea our afflictions indéed light afflitions which are but for a moment cause vnto vs a farre more excellent and an eternall waight of glory Not that wée in respect of those afflictions are worthy of the same but because it pleaseth the father to giue vnto his children the kingdome of heauen Let vs therefore with all patience wait for the perfection of our adoption euen the redemption of our soule and body And though wée sigh while wée are in the flesh yet are wée not alone for our bretheren also which haue the first frutes of the spirit sigh togither with vs yea euery creature groneth with vs also and trauelleth in paine euen to this present time vntill it be deliuered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the sonnes of God And séeing euen the creatures shall be restored how comfortable should our hope bée while wée looke not on the things that are séene for they are but temporal but on the things which are not séene which are eternall For the which with patience wée abide knowing that our hope is not of those things which wée sée and shall in time most certainly come to passe Not only our bretheren and euery creature sigheth with vs but also the spirit is partaker of our gronings and while wée offer vp our praiers to god in our afflictions and extremities the spirit helpeth our infirmities and in a greater measure maketh request for vs with infinite sighes which The spirit a helper of our infirmities ignoraunce cannot bée expressed Yea hée helpeth also our ignoraunce in that according to the pleasure and will of God he maketh request for the saints and he which searcheth the harts knoweth what the meaning of the spirit is Moreouer the finisher of our hope and the crowne of our glorie euen Christ Iesus which is dead yea or rather which is risen again who is also at the right hand of God he maketh intercession and request also for vs. Nowe then are there any accusers of whome we The assured confidence of saluation which wee haue in God through Christ ought to be affraied before God seeing that God absolueth vs as iust can sathan charge vs or doeth his accusations anie whit auaile séeing that through faith in Christ wée haue peace towards god and our conscience is deliuered from the guilt of sinne Who shall laie any nay the whole burthen of our sinnes to our charge It is god that cleareth it is god that iustifieth yea it is Christ that vnladeth vs. Come vnto me saith he ye that are heauie laden and I will ease you and refresh you Who shall condemne vs Is it not Christ that hath redéemed vs who also shall come to be A caueat our iudge Only let vs cast aside our high mindes which are lifted vp with merit and desert and confessing our vnworthinesse Humility is greatly requited to Iustification in all feare and humilitie let vs approach vnto the throne of grace there to receiue these bounteous almes and rich treasures which the gifts of Sheba nay the wealth of Salomon cannot accomplish which neither siluer gold or precious stones yea the delicatest treasure in the worlde nay the worlde it selfe may match and counteruaile Which heauenly treasure could by no other meanes be bought and purchased for vs but by the precious blood of Iesus Christ who as an innocent lambe without spot How our righteousnesse and iustification is accomplished was offred vp for our sinnes euen the iust for the vniust who being frée from sinne and knowing no sinne yet was made sinne for vs that is a sacrifise for sinne that we might receiue I say this rich treasure euen the righteousnes of God in him redemption and iustification So that the punishment of our sinnes is swallowed vp in victorie that with the Apostle we may in ioy burst foorth and say O death where is thy sting O graue where is thy victorie The sting of death is sinne and the strength of sinne is the lawe But thankes be vnto God who hath giuen vs victory through our Lord Iesus Christ Who shal seperat vs then from the loue of Christ shall tribualtion or anguish or persecution or famine or nakednesse or perill or sword As it is written For thy sake are we killed all day long Wée are counted as shéepe for the slaughter Neuerthelesse in all these things wée are more then conquerers
quarrelling Let vs rather reuerence yâ— which passeth the reach and compasse of our wits and turne our mindes wholy to praise his mercy who by his onely grace hath saued vs when we deserued the like punishment and damnation and were no lesse sinners and wicked theÌ„ they The chief matters with places of Scripture for proofe God hath appointed a way to his infinit wisdome and to the execution of his predestination shutting vp al vnder disobadience sinne and vnbeleefe Gall. 3. 22. But the Scripture hath concluded all vnder sinne that the promise by the faith of Iesus Christ should be giuen to them that beléeue Rom. 11. 32. God hath shut vp all in vnbeléefe that he might haue mercy vpon all that beléeue So that the way to the Godly to be partakers of mercy is to beleeue wherein we must vnderstand that faith is a gift of God peculiarly belonging to the elect and chosen children of God Acts. 13. 48. And when the Gentiles heard it they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord and as many as were ordained vnto eternal life beléeued Ephe. 2. 8. For by grace are ye saued through faith and that not of your selues it is the gift of God Titus 1. 1. Paule a seruant of God and an Apostle of Iesus Christ according to the faith of Gods elect which is proper and peculiar vnto them so that they that are partakers of faith may assure themselues yâ— they pertaine to god Philip. 1. 29. For vnto you it is giuen for Christ that not only ye should beléeue in him but also suffer for his sake Gal. 5. 22. The frute of the spirit is loue ioy peace long suffring gentlenes goodnes faith Iohn 6. 65. No man can come vnto me except it be giuen vnto him of my father As also they that doe not beleeue nor knowe God are iustly condemned 2. These 3. 2. Pray for vs that we may be deliuered from vnreasonable and euill men For all men haue not faith Mat. 13. 11. It is giuen vnto you saith Christ to knowe the secrets of the kingdome of heauen but to them it is not giuen For the gospell and meanes of saluation is hid to them that perish 2. Cor. 4. 3. 4. 2. Thes 2. 10. Ihon 12. 37. And though Iesus had done so many miracles before them yet beléeued they not on him That the saying of Esaias the Prophet might be fulfiled c. Man created in innocency puritie and holinesse Gene. 1. 27. Thus God created the man in his image in the image of God created he him he created them male and female And what vertuous and holy qualities were there which were not in the image of God according as it is at large set downe Ephe. 4. 24. Put on the new man which after God is created in righteousnes true holines and so forth to the end of the chapter Man fell not from God by constraint or necessitie but became seruant of sin through his owne will Gen. 3. 6. So the woman séeing that the trée was good for meat and that it was pleasant to the eies and a trée to be desired to get knowledge tooke of the frute thereof and did eate and gaue also to her husband with her and he did eate which thing was contrary to the commaundement of God and a penaltie of death set vpon them if they did eate as we reade chap. 2. 16. 17. And the Lord God commanded the man saying Thou shalt eate fréely of euery trée of the garden but as touching the trée of knowâ—edge of good and euill thou shalt not eate of it For whensoeuer thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the death By which fall and and disobedience he did binde and drawe the whole nature of man to sin and so consequently to the death of body and soule Ro. 7. 20. Nowe if I doe that I would not it is no more I that do it but the sinne that dwelleth in me Ro. 5. 12. Wherefore as by one man sinne entred into the world and death by sinne and so death went ouer all men forasmuch as all men haue sinned This fall of man came not by chaunce or fortune because the prouidence of God reacheth euen to the smallest matters Mat. 10. 29. 30. Are not two sparrowes sold for a farthing and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your father yea and all the haires of your head are numbred Pro. 16. 33. The lot is cast into the lappe but the whole disposition thereof is of the Lord. What matter God hath so ordained to shewe his glory by mercy to the one and wrath to the other Ro. 9. 21. Hath not the potter power of the clay to make of the same lumpe on vessell to honour and an other vnto dishonour What and if God would to shewe his wrath and to make his power to be knowne suffer with long patience the vessels of wrath prepared to destruction And that he might declare the riches of his glorie vpon the vessels of mercy which he hath prepared vnto glorie Pet. 2. 6. 8. Behold I put in Sion a chiefe corner stone elect and precious and he that beleueth therein shall not be ashamed A stone to stumble at and a rocke of offence euen to them which stumble at the word being disobedient vnto the which thing they were eueÌ„ ordained Neither saluation nor damnation is the finall end of Gods counsaile but his owne glory Ro. 9. 17. For the scripture saith vnto Pharaoh For this same purpose haue I stirred thée vp that I might shewe my power in thée and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth Pro. 16. 4. The Lord hath made all things for his owne sake yea euen the wicked for the day of euill For ere the children were borne and when they had neither done good nor euill that the purpose of God might remaine according to election not by workes but by him that calleth it was said vnto Rebecca their mother The elder shall serue the younger As it is written I haue loued Iacob and haue hated Esau Well in this cause may men pleade against God but it shall not preuaile Ro. 9. 19. 20. Thou wilt say then vnto me Why doth he yet complaine For who hath resisted his will But O maÌ„ who art thou which pleadest against God shal the thing formed say to him that formed it Why hast thou made me thus But rather we ought to reuerence that which is past our reach and turne our minds wholly to praise god in his workes especially for his mercy toward vs. Ro. 11. 33. O the déepenesse of the riches both of the wisdome and knowledge of God! howe vn searchable are his iudgements and his waies past finding out Ps 107. 8. O that men would therefore confesse before the Lord his louing kindnes and praise him for his wonderfull workes that he doeth for the children of men The fourth Chapter By what order God proceedeth to declare and
he had fully and perfectly instified and sanctified them in his sonne And most mercifull forasmuch as he fréely appointed with himselfe to elect them and according as he had purposed chose them fréely in his sonne by calling iustifying and glorifying them by meanes of that same faith which he had giuen them through the same grace and mercie On the other God is perfectly iust ther side touching the reprobate their corruption and infidelitie with such frutes as come thereof and testimonie of their owne conscience shall so reprooue and accuse them that although they resist and kicke against the pricke yet the most perfect iustice of God shall be manisest and shine by all mens confession in their iust condemnation The chiefe notes with proofes As God is iust so it is necessarie that he should saue the iust and condemne the vniust Nowe amongst men none are iust but by faith being by faith ioyned to Christ grafted rooted in him and made on body with him and thereby also iustified sanctified by him and in him Whereof it followeth that the glory to the which they are destinate to the glory of God appertaineth to them as by a certaine right or title Ge. 18. 25. Be it farre from thée from doing this thing to flay the righteous with the wicked and that the righteous should be euen as the wicked be it farre from thée shall not the iudge of all the world do right Ro. 11. 19. 20. Thou wilt say then The braunches are broken off that I might be graft in Well threugh vnbeliefe they are broken off and thou standest and are graft in by faith be not high minded but feare Colloss 2. 6. 7. 8. 9. As ye haue therefore receiued Christ Iesus the Lord so walke with him rooted and built in him and stablished in the faith as ye haue bene taught abounding therein with thanksgiuing Beware lest there be any man that spoile you through Philosophie and vaine deceit through the traditions of men according to the rudiments of the world and not after Christ Made one bodie 1. Cor. 10. 16. The cup of blessing which we blesse is it not the communion of the blood of Christ The bread which we breake is it not the communion of the bodie of Christ For we that are many are one bread and one bodie because we are all partakers of one bread Iohn 17. 21. I pray for them that they all may be one as thou O father art in me and I in thée euen that they also may be one in vs and the world may beléeue that thou hast sent me And thereby sanctified and iustified in him and by him Rom. 8. 30. Moreouer whom he predestinate them also he called and whom he called them also he iustified and whom he iustified them also he gloried 1. Cor. 1. 30. But ye are of him in Christ Iesus who of God is made vnto vs wisdome and righteousnesse and sanctification and redemption Rom. 3. 25. Whom God hath set foorth to be a reconciliation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousnesse by the forgiuenesse of sinnes that are passed through the patience of God To she we at this time his righteousnesse that he might be iust and a iustifier of him which is of the faith of Iesus And also glorified Rom. 9. 23. And that he might declare the riches of his glory vpon the vessels of mercy which he hath prepared vnto glory Ro. 8. 30. And whom he iustified them he also glorified Iohn 17. 22. 23. 24. 25. And the glorie that thou gauest me I haue giuē them that they may be one as we are one I in them and thou in me that they may be made perfect in one and that the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loued them as thou hast loued me Father I will that they which thou hast giuen me be with me euen where I am that they may be hold my glorie which thou hast giuen me On the other part they which remaine in Adams pollution and death are iustly hated of God and so condemned by him not excepting so much as them which die before they sinne as did Adam Ro. 5. 14. But death raigned from Adam to Moses euen ouer them also that sinned not after the like manner of the transgression of Adam Ephe. 2. 3. We were by nature the children of wrath as well as others The elect in that same moment that they haue receiued the gift of faith haue after a cerraine sort passed from death to life Ihon. 5. 24. Verely verely I say vnto you he that heareth my word beléeueth in him that sent me hath euerlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but hath passed from death vnto life Whereof they hane a sure pledge the Spirit of God that dwelleth within them and certifieth their hearts 1. Cor. 1. 22. It is God which stablisheth vs in Christ who hath also sealed vs and hath giuen the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts And chap. 5. 4. 5. For indéed we that are in this tabernacle of this earthly body sigh and are burthened because we would not be vncloathed but would be cloathed vpon that immortalitie might be swallowed vp of life And he that hath created vs for this thing is God who also hath giuen vnto vs the earnest of the spirit Ephe. 1. 12. 13. 14. That we which trusted in Christ should be vnto the praise of his glory In whom also ye haue trusted after that ye heard the word of truth euen the Gospell of your saluation Wherein also after ye beléeued ye were sealed with the holy spirit of promise which is the earnest of our inheritance vntill the redemption of the possession purchased vnto the praise of his glory But this their life is hid in Christ 1. Cor. 1. 7. 8. Ye are not destitute of any gift waiting for the appearing of our Lord Iesus Christ Who shall also confirme you vnto the end that ye may be blamelesse in the day of our Lord Iesus Christ Rom. 5. 2. By whom also we haue accesse through faith vnto this grace wherein we stand and reioyce vnder the hope of the glory of God and chapter 8. 23. 24. 25. 26. And not only the creature but we also which haue the first frutes of the spirit euen we do sigh in our selues waiting for the adoption euen the redemption of our bodie For we are saued by hope but hope that is séene is not hope For how can a man hope for that which he seeth But if we hope for that we sée not we do with patience abide for it Colloss 3. 3. 4. For ye are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God When Christ which is our life shal appear then shall ye also appeare with him in glory Vntill this corporall death make them to step a degree further and that the soule being loosed out of the bands of the bodie enter into the ioy of the Lord. Ephe. 2. 6.
their adoption by the parable of an earnest pennie and by the parable of a seale In making of a bargaine when part of the price is paide and laid downe in earnest then assurance is made that all the rest yâ— remaines behind shal be wel truly paid And as when an indenture or lease is made for the peaceable possession of any lands tenements for the terme of a mans life or for long time the seale of the landlord is put too to make the matter most certain sure so when the childe of god hath receiued thus much from the holy ghest as to be persuaded that he is adopted and chosen in Christ he may be in good hope and is alreadie put in good assurance fully to eâ—ioâ— eternall life in the kingdome of heauen So familiar is God with vs as to bring vs to be perswaded of his good will by such meanes as are most vsuall with vs. For what is more vsuall with vs then either the order of an earnest penny or a seale to put vs out of all doubt and to warrant that thing which we haue vndertaken Therfore the Apostle in an other place doth giue vs great comfort shewing forth the determinate purpose of god coÌ„cerning this matter God saith he sent forth his son and made him subiâ—â— vnto the curse of the laâ—â— that by vndergoing the penaltie punishment which that curse and wrath of God did import he might redéeme them which were vnder the condemnation of the lawe vnder the bondage of sin and â—athan hell that being released and deliuered they might receiue the adoption of sonnes Wherfore saith he and the most chéerfully thou art no more a seruant but a sonne Now if thou be a sonne thou art also the heire of God through Christ This assurance of gods holy spirit is then most effectual wheÌ„ it shall yéeld vs greatest comfort and that is at the time of our departure out of this world and in the houre of death When all worldly comforts shal vanish theÌ„ shal this come in place gods blessings in this world shall shall then take their leaue wealth and possessions wife and children friendes and acquaintance and we shall goe naked out as we came naked in only this glorious apparel and this heauenlie raiment shal remaine that we are the adopted children of God that being along time strangers and pilgrims here on earth we shall nowe come to our home and to our inheritance reserued in heauen for vs. Here also shall the greatnes and the swéetnesse of the comfort appeare that when the diuell shal be most busie with vs to lay our sinnes to our charge and when death shall approach and the time of our passage drawe neare and when he shall vse all meanes possible to put vs beside the assured hope of our adoption then shall the comfort of Gods good spirit so strengthen our harts and consciences against the assaults of the diuel that he shal go away vanquished and we imboldned TheÌ„ shal our minds be lifted vp with cheerfulnesse knowing that our redemption shall fully be accomplished and our adoption sealed and perfectlie confirmed vnto vs. Contrariwise the wicked at the houre of death How Adoption respecteth the wicked which in their life time haue flattered themselues with the hope of their adoption shall then féele no certeintie neither anie comfort of the holy Ghost but in stéed of comfort they shall féele the horrible and dreadfull accusations of the diuel then to take place be of force against them The wicked and reprobate cannot haue the testimony and witnesse of gods good spirit to assure them that they are the children of God although for a time their vaâ—ne imaginations may deceiue themselues as also the diuel imitating the spirit of god doth vsually perswade carnal men and hipocrites that they are adopted and that they shal be saued But this perswasion of the diuel is but an illution and their deceiued hearts are not established by the assurance of Gods spirit which filleth the heart with ioy Whereas their hearts are full of doubtfulnesse full of distrust full of dispaire It may be they may beléeue for a time but as for that stâ—dfast and induring faith whereby they may trulie say that God is their father this is onlie in the elect children of God and those that are adopted Whose perfect regeneration it pleaseth God to begin in this world by sowing in their harts the immortall séed of life whereby he doth so certainly seale vnto them the grace of his adoption that it shall continue firme vnto the end In the meane time the faithfull are admonished carefullie and humblie to examine themselues least in stéede of a true faith concerning their adoption a carnall kinde of securitie créepe into their minds and growe vpon them and compasse them about euen as the Iuie doth the Oake The wicked haue neuer the féeling of gods grace but after a confused sort taking hold as it were rather of a shadow then of a bodie Because the spirit of God doth truly and properly seale the forgiuenesse of their sinnes onelie in the hearts of the godlie and the elect that they may apply the same by an especiall gift of faith vnto their comfort Confusedly I say the vngodlie receiue the grace of God not that they are partakers togither with the children of God of regeneration but because they séeme to haue a ground of faith after a common sort which is hid with a vaile and couering of hipocrisie Yet notwithstanding it may not be denied that God doth lighten their mindes so farre as they may ackowledge his grace and goodnesse toward them but this common sence and féeling of his grace is so distinguished from that comfortable assurance of gods spirit which is in the elect that the wicked come neuer to that sounde comfort and ioy which adoption bringeth with it For God dooth not so farre shewe himselfe fauourable vnto them as to take them into his guarde and kéeping as though they were quite deliuered from the punishment of their sinnes and from the feare of eternall death and damnation but only for the present time God doth giue them a taste of his mercie Neither is it amisse that God doth lighten the mindes of the wicked with some féeling of his gracious fauour the which anon withereth and vanisheth away through the hardnesse of their hearts through their vnstedfast mindes and through their owne vnthankfulnesse and backsliding wherby they make themselues more culpable and the more inexcusable all which is wonderfully brought to passe by the manifold wisedome of God That spirit of ours which the Apostle talketh off is a renued heart and a sanctified minde that fully and perfectly receiueth the benefit of adoption and vnto which spirit of ours gods spirite doth also beare witnesse that out of all doubt we are the adopted children of god The vngodly they haue but as it were a glimse but vnto the godly
vnto thée from thy God For I will set mine eies vpon them for good and I wil bring them again to this land and I wil build them and not destroy them and I wil plant them and not roote them out saith the Lord. Therfore they shall come reioyce in the height of Sion and shall run to the bountifulnesse of the Lord euen for the wheat for the wine and for the oile for the increase of shéep bullocks and their soule shal be as a watred garden they shall haue no more sorrow Then shal the virgin reioyce in the dance and the yong men the old mē togither for I wil turn their mourning into ioy wil comfort them giue them ioy for their sorrows And y◠voice of ioy and the voice of gladnesse and the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride shal be heard in their stréets as also the voice of them y◠shal say Praise the Lord of hostes because the Lord is good for his mercy endureth for euer Hagar Abrahams handmaid being ready to wéepe out her hart with sad mournfull teares and pittious lamentable cries God caused her to behold ioy and gaue her the life of her infant when it was ready to die with thirst promised her moreouer that of him shuld come a great people What trobles did king Dauid endure whē he was a subiect vnder king Saul who continually sought his death and most cruelly and vndeseruedly to shead his innocent blood how many feares how many flights how many dangers Where death was God made life appeare where contempt was God gaue credit and when his crosses were ended God gaue him his crowne to reioyce him Which made him thankfull to God saying Thou hast turned my mourning into ioy thou hast loosed my sackcloth and girded mee with gladnesse Therefore shall my tongue praise thee and not cease O Lord my God I will giue thankes vnto thee for euer Ieremiah the Prophet beaten cast into prison readie to starue for hunger like to be put to death but the Lord hi◠him Who had regard of his trouble and of his sorrow and sent him ioy with great credit For in the sight of them that were led into captiuitie Zabuzaradan the chiefe steward according to the commaundement of king Nabuchodonozor who willed him to looke well vnto him and to doo him no harme but euen as he himselfe would desire to be dealt withall loosed him from the chaines which were on his hands and intreated him most kindly saying If it please thée to come with me into Babel come and I wil looke wel vnto thée but if it please thée not to come with me into Babel tarry still Behold all the land is before thée whither it séemeth good and conuenient for thée to go thither go So the chiefe steward gaue him vittailes and a reward and let him go If we looke vpon the deathfull sorrow of chaste Susanna do we not in reading her storie reioyce with her to sée what ioy of heart God sent her The Apostle Saint Peter being in prison his bands were loosed the prison doore set wide open and he by an Angel willed to come forth so was his ioy increased vpon the suddain beyond expectation Tolet goe other examples I will vse but this one King Ashuerus through the accusations of wicked Haman gaue out his letters that the Iewes should be slaine throughout his dominions A pittifull thing it was to sée and heare the outcries of the poore distressed Iewes Mardocheus gréeuously mourning yea Hester the Quéene her selfe fainted and fel down in a swoune Yet behold after a while the kings heart and mind is changed after a while life ioy yea and a solemne and a yearly remembrance of that ioy throughout their posterities and generations After a tempest a calme after stormie weather faire All which examples ought to be sufficient incouragements vnto vs not to be daunted or dismaied for any sorrow but rather to sustaine our selues with the hope of ioy to come After pouertie may come wealth after sicknesse Psal 107. 41. health after imprisonment libertie after shame by false reports credite againe after miserie dignitie after hatred good will after sorrow ioy and who knoweth what a day may bring foorth The seruant that endureth much drudgery that is beaten vndeseruedly that continueth painfully that performeth faithfully is in time released and with riches store and plentie blessed when as to remember what great miserie hee hath abidden and gone through is one of his chiefe ioyes Experience prooueth this to be true and the example of Iacobs seruice vnder Laban vnrequited by his grudging maister but plentifully rewarded by God himselfe dooth shewe howe thy sorrowes may bee turned into ioy Feare not saith Tobit to his sonne though thou bee poore for thou hast many things if thou feare God For indéed all Gods blessings especially pertaine to them that feare him though otherwise enioyed by vsurpation and an easie thing it is with God suddeinly to make a poore man rich The sorrowes of sicknesse may ende in ioyfull health King Hezekiah had fiftéene yeares added to his daies and it reioyced him more then his kingdome Compare Iosephs imprisonment with his honour and Susannais credite with her shame and Mordecais miserie with his dignitie and Esaus hatred Pro. 16. 7. toward Iacob altered to good will and louing affection and sée whither it be not true that Christ hath said set downe in the behalfe and respect of the godly Ye shall sorrow but your sorrow shal be turned into ioy It was a benefite and a ioy to Hezekiah to haue his daies prolonged and it was promised to king Iosiah for a great blessing to haue his daies cut off But the cause of this blessing and ioy was the great sorrowe that he tooke considering the great plagues that were to come vpon his people As it was answered by Hulda the Prophetesse These euils which you haue heard read vnto you shall come vpon this land because of their idolatry But to the king that sent you thus shall you say Thus saith the Lord because thy heart did melt when thou heardst what was spoken against this place and didst rent thy clothes and wéepe before me I haue heard it saith the Lord. Behold therefore I will gather Esay 57. 1. thee to thy fathers and thou shalt be put in thy graue in peace and thine eyes shall not sée all the euil which I wil bring vpon this place Moses wéepeth and mourneth to himselfe that he could not be partaker of his desire as to enter into that promised plentifull pleasant land that hée could not sée that goodly mountaine and Lebanon and was angry with his people who were the cause that he was bereaued of his ioy but in that he was taken vp into paradise and placed in the heauens were not all sorrows think you fully and most aboundantly requited with ioy The world
ioy and to her crowne who was ful néere her death The greatnesse of our peril can be no stop to our deliuerance because the power of our deliuerer is infinit Indéed we sée that men are altogither amazed and in a manner berest of wit and vnderstanding when they féele themselues daungerously tossed too and fro But do we not also sée that when they crie vnto the Lord in their trouble he bringeth them out of distresse hee turneth the storme to calme so that the waues thereof are still Do we not sée how that they passe through tribulations to the kingdome of heauen and through stormie tempests are brought to the hauen where they would be This the Lord doth that we might confesse his louing kindnesse before him and his wonderfull workes before the sonnes of men God for diuers secret causes leadeth his church through many bitter afflictions as it were to no other purpose then by trying them by the crosse to make them true to his crowne and then either in death doth giue them patience and constancie or by deliuerance doth send them ease and libertie Psal 38. 19. Many are the troubles of the righteous but the Lord deliuereth him out of them all It is euen the time of Iacobs trouble saith the Lord yet shall he be deliuered from it and shall be in rest and prosperitie and none shall make him afraid And there shall be a day Zacha. 14. 7. it is knowne to the Lord neither day nor night but about the euening time it shall be light And loe in the euening there is trouble but afore the morning it is gone Esay 17. 14. The wrath of the Lord endureth but the twinkling of an eie and his pleasure is life heauinesse may endure for a night but ioy commeth in the morning Ps 30. 5. The thoughts of the Lord are thoughts of peace and not of trouble to giue you an ende and your hope Ieremy 29. 10. Then shall ye cry vnto me and I will heare you ye shall seeke me and find me because ye shall seeke me with all your heart And if hee come out presently at our call it is most méete and conuenient that wée should waite his pleasure Knowest thou not or hast thou not heard that the euerlasting God the Lord hath created the ends of the earth neither fainteth nor is weary there is no searching of his vnderstanding But he giueth strength to him that fainteth and vnto him that hath no strength he increaseth power Euen the yong men shall faint and be weary and they shall stumble and fall Eut they that wait vpon the Lord shall renue their strength they shall lift vp theire winges as the eagles they shall runne and not be weary they shall walke and not faint Somtimes it pleaseth God to send his people deliueraÌ„ce by turning the hearts of the percecutors So was the firie and fierce wrath of Nabuchodonozor turned to great good will toward Shadrake Meshake and Abednago Saul breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the saints of God was conuerted miraculously and Saule a persecutor became Paule the professor and then had the churches rest in those daies King Agrippa beganne to yéeld and from iudging was readie to defend Paule Pontius Pilate spake for Christ when all the Iewes were against him saying I finde no fault in him at all Sometimes by sending danger and trouble to the persecutors Themselues in danger themselues As when Dauid was almost taken and like to come into the hands of Saul his enemy then he heard that the Philistines had inuaded his land Lastly God sendeth comfort and ioy by powring foorth Gods ven gâ—ance being powred out his vengeance on their enimies Vengeance is mine I will repay faith the Lord. God in time will reuenge our cause According to that we reade in the prophet Ieremie against king Nabuchodonozor and his land Iere. 50. 22. Acrie of Eze. 25. 17. 26. 5. 28. 22. 23. battell is in the land and of great destruction How is the hammer of the whole world destroied and broken how is Babel become desolate among the nations At the noise of the winning of Babel the earth is mooued mooued and the cry is heard among the nations Make bright the arrowes gather the shields the Lord hath raised vp the spirit of the king of Medes For his purpose is against Babel to destroy it because it is the vengeance of the Lord and the vengeance of his temple Iere. 5. 11. Re. 16. 19. Great Babylon came in remembrance before God to giue vnto her the cup of the wine of the fiercenesse of his wrath 18. 20. Oheauen reioyce of her and ye holy Apostles and Prophets For God hath giuen your iudgement on her and reuenged your cause in punishing her and in one houre shee is made desolate But let vs come a little néerer and behold Gods iudgementes vpon persecutors and the ouerthrow not of the And his iudgmentes being put in execution meanest but of the greatest and mightiest in the world kinges and emperours Ioas slaine of his seruauntes after he had caused Zachariah to be put to death by stoning Senacharib murthered by two of his owne sonnes after that he Eze. 28. 26. 35. 11. ca. 39. 21. 22. had blasphemed God and done his worst against godly Ezekiah Antiochus perished by grieuous tormentes in the bowels so that wormes came out of his bodie in aboundance and being aliue his flesh fell from him for paine and torment and all his armie was gréeued at his smell yea and he himselfe might not abide his owne stinke When Nero one of the Emperours of Rome went about by all meanes to extinguish and blot out for euer the religion of Christ and had caused both Paul and Peter and many holy martyrs to be murdered at length he also receiued reward according to his crueltie For being left of all his prouinces souldiers and acquaintance being iudged of the Romaine Senate an ennemie and condemned by most ignominious death to suffer flying at midnight with Sporus his page there fell before bis féete a thunderbolt whereat afraid and hiding himselfe and falling into vtter dispaire he vttered these words Filthily haue I liued and worse shall I die and so taking his dagger with the helpe of Sporus he cut his owne throate and perished What punishments Domitian Traiane Antoninus Verus Seuerus Maximinus Decius Valerianus Emperours yet bloodie and cruell persecutors of Gods church haue suffered time would faile to declare vnto you Most euident it is that Aurelian for his crueltie against the Saints was slaine of his seruaunts that Dioclesian after he had shead much Christian blood druncke poyson in extreame desperation and so perished that Maximian was hanged at Massilia by Constantine and Maximine strooken for his crueltie with Antiochus his disease wormes growing in bodie and deuouring him vp Infinite the like examples might be alledged of the iust iudgements of almightie God vpon such as
yea though we had knowne Christ after the flesh yet now henceforth know we him no more Our Sauiour Christ when he departed from his Apostles and was taken away by death he tooke his leaue of them but not his last farwell After a while ye shall not see mee and yet after a while ye shall see mee Did not the holy Martyr S. Stephen sée Iesus standing at the right hand of God And shall not the time come that all the godly shal sit with him in the kingdome of heauen A friend being departed farre out of sight and abiding in a straunge land our heart and delight being setled vpō him how earnest is our desire to sée him and to talke with him and to be in his presence yea if we can heare but any talke or tidings of him or receiue any token from him how greatly doth it reioyce vs And all is because of the doubt and feare that holdeth our mindes that we shall sée him no more But if our friend being desirous of our welfare and for the bettering of our estate do send vs word what a fruitfull soile he dwelleth in and howe he can prouide vs if wee will come vnto him a place to dwell in so that it shall be to our great contentment and good liking not only the ioy of our friendes presence will moue our hearts but also the bettering of our estate shall cause vs to vndertake a long iourney and that without wearisomenesse and fainting And when we méet what kissing what ioy what imbracing Ye shall see mee a while saith Christ and after a while ye shall not see mee for I go to the father Therefore he put forth this parable A certaine noble man went into a farre country to receiue for himselfe a kingdome and so to come againe bringing rewards with him For them who by continuance in wel-doing haue fought for glory and honor and immortalitie and eternall life Wherefore went Christ to his father but to drawe vs vnto his father that where the head is there might the members be and where he is there might we be also He went to receiue for himselfe a kingdome but when he was gone did he forget vs after the maner of the world Out of sight out of mind No he is most careful for vs. And although a mother may forget her child yet will he not forget vs whom he hath written in the palme of his hand and whome he remembreth and beholdeth as the signet on his right hand Ioh. 14. 2. In my fathers house are many dwelling places if it were not so I would haue told you I go to prepare a place for you also as well as for my selfe And though I goe to prepare a place for you I will come againe and receiue you vnto my selfe that where I am there may ye be also Now though he be absent from vs yet he remembreth vs and sendeth vs many tokens of his loue to put vs in minde that wee shall come to his sight to our great comfort Which tokens are his gifts and graces benefits and blessings daily poured vpon vs. But of all tokens this is the surest that he hath sent his holy spirite into our hearts to witnesse vnto our spirtite that we are his children and shall also in time to come be heires of the kingdome Whome although we doe not presently sée yet are we in good hope that we shall sée and in the meane time we must with patience abide for it They shall sée him which put him to death and pierced Mat. 23. 39. him through but it shal be litle to their comfort But when we shall sée him then shall our sorrow be turned into ioy then shall we be caught vp into the clouds to méet the Lord in the aire and so shall we be euer with the Lord. Wherfore comfort your selues saith the Apostle one another with these words And though as yet we cannot sée Christ yet the time shall come that we shall sée him face to face In whose presence is the fulnesse of ioy and at whose right hand are pleasures for euermore The next place of proofe is in these words And your Your harts shall reioyce hearts shall reioyce With how great ioy it is may be perceiued by these words of the wise man Eccle. 25. 14 The greatest heauinesse is the heauinesse of the heart Giue me any plague saue the plague of the heart For griefe and sorrow and taking thought doth make them pine away which be yong lustie and strong and by the course of nature are like to liue many yeares The reason is because that the heart thereby doth diminish and weare away by little and little vntill the vitall spirits be spent which haue all their comfort and strength from the heart Your hearts which haue béene cast downe with sorrow shal be raised vp againe with ioy euen at the sight of my presence In the sadde and sorrowfull winter all thinges decay and come to nothing but when the ioyfull countenance of the sunne at the spring time appeareth then euery thing that lay dead and buried péereth out of the ground and taketh heart and groweth to strength and commeth to perfection So in the sorrowfull dayes of this worlde the godly are abased but in the ioyful time of deliuerance when Christ their onely comforter shall appeare in glory then shall their dead heartes receiue life and comfort and ioy In respect whereof Christ comforted his disciples saying Let not your heart be troubled Confirming them by thrée reasons The first from his loue and the certaintie of his promises Ye beléeue in God beléeue also in me which am readie not onely to promise but also to performe what euer shall bee for your good In the worlde yee shall haue trouble and affliction in mée ye shall haue peace be of good comfort and let not your heart be dismaied I haue ouercome the world The second reason is drawen from the friendly care that hée had to prouide for his Disciples and for all the godly In my fathers house are manie dwellinges places and I goe to prepare a place for you euen for euerie one of you And if it had not béen so yée shoulde haue knowne it long ere this The third reason séemeth most forcible because of the perfourmaunce and present and full possession of his promises When I haue prepared then will I come againe and establishe euerie one of you in his euerlasting habitation and receiue you vnto my selfe that where I am there may ye be also All which reasons are set downe in the fourtéenth chapter of Saint Iohn and the thrée first verses What can keepe the heart more from comforte and reioysing then a troubled minde and an vnquiet conscience the which among all the miseries and afflictions of this worlde the godly are frée from Which comfort of heart Christ perfourmeth vnto them Iohn 14. 27. Peace I leaue with you my peace I giue vnto you not