holy Spirit and raiseth them up again When we are most ready to perish then is God most ready to help Psal 94. Except the Lord had holpen me saith David my Soul had almost dwelt in silence Verse 8. Our help is in the Name of the Lord who hath made both Heaven and Earth This is the Conclusion of Thanksgiving containing a worthy sentence of great Comfort that against Sin the horrour of Death The Name of the Lord is our only Sanctuary and succour in all afflictions and other Dangers there is no other help or safety but only the Name of the Lord. If that were not saith he we should fall into all manner of Sin Blasphemy Errors and into all kind of Calamities But our help is in the Name of the Lord which preserveth our Faith and our Life against the Devil and the World And as ye heard in the other Verses before so he sheweth in this verse also that God suffereth his Saints to be tempted and in their Tentation to fall into great Distress as even now ready to be drowned and swallowed up presently with great floods of Water yet notwithstanding this Comfort he sheweth them that he will not utterly forsake them By the which Examples we may learn to know the Will of the Lord and to seek our help and safety at his hands which suffereth his People to be exercised in the Furnace of Egypt not to their utter Destruction but only to kill the old man with his vain hope and confidence which he hath in his own strength This is the cause why God suffereth his People to be exercised For it is not hearing reading talking or teaching nor Speculation only which maketh a Christian man but Practice is that which specially is required in a true Christian that is to say the Cross to pluck down the flesh and bring it to nothing That man despairing of his own strength and seeing no succour in himself should resign himself wholly unto the Lord looking with Patience and Hope for help at his hand for this is the Will of God Neither must we imagine to our selves any other God then such an one as will help the afflicted and oppressed with Desperation and other Calamities To know this Doctrine is one piece of the victory For they that know it not when Tentation assaileth them either do despair or seek other helps Let us learn then out of this Psalm that it is the Will of God to exercise his Saints with troubles and afflictions Who suffereth great floods of Water to run over their heads who also permitteth them to fall into the Snares of the Wicked and tryeth every Way not to destroy them but to shew them what they are of themselves and so to teach them to trust in his saving health But the flesh looketh to the power and multitude of the Adversaries and her own infirmity but to look unto God and to hope for his help and succour it is not able Wherefore this is a necessary Conclusion Our help is in the Name of the Lord. It is a short-Sentence but it setteth forth most worthy Doctrine and Consolation whereof specially in these latter days we have great need seeing the Pope together with the greatest part of the Princes and Rulers of the World so cruelly do persecure the Doctrine of the Gospel In respect of these huge Mountains what are we small Molehils Yea tho there were no Force nor Power of man for us to fear how are we able to stand against not only so many Devils but even the very gates of Hell also And yet this Experience we have of the great Mercy and Goodness of the Lord our God that when we are even in their hands and never so much oppressed yet are we not forsaken but are safe through our Confidence and trust in his Help The fruit of afflictions But to this Wisdom it is impossible for us to attain without continual afflictions whereby it is necessary that the confidence of all worldly succours should be beaten down For vexation and trouble bringeth Understanding as Isaiah saith whereby we are compelled to cry Help Lord for else we perish So in the last hour when Death approacheth there is nothing wherein mans Heart can repose it self or find Comfort but his trust and confidence in the help of the Lord There is rest and quietness there is perfect Peace He that can then say My Help is in the Name of the Lord dyeth happily and is out of all danger Thus we may learn what it is to have and enjoy God even to rest in the sure trust of his merciful help and succour in all dangers These are the Words therefore of a victorious and triumphing Faith Our help is in the name of the Lord which made Heaven and Earth As if he said The maker of Heaven and Earth is my God and my helper Shew me a God O ye my Adversaries like unto him What are your snares and your traines then compared unto this God What are your threatnings your Power your Policies c. Thus he setteth the Eternal God the maker of Heaven and Earth against all terrours and dangers against the floods and overflowings of all tentations and swalloweth up as it were with on breath all the raging furies of the whole World and of Hell it self even as a little drop of Water is swallowed up of a mighty flaming fire And what is the World with all his Force and Power in respect of him which made Heaven and Earth Let the World fret then let it rage so that this succour never fail us And if it be the Will of God that we shall suffer trouble and affliction yet in him we shall overcome at length THE COMMENTARY OF Dr. MARTIN LVTHER Upon the CXXV PSALM They that trust in the Lord c. THE Psalm going before The argument of the Psalm is a Thanksgiving or a Sacrifice of Praise because the Godly see and by experience feel that the Lord is faithful and helpeth them in the time of need This Psalm following containeth also in a manner the same matter For it pertaineth to the Doctrine of Faith and exhorteth the Faithful likewise to a sure trust and assiance in the help of the Lord in all their necessities Whereunto he stirreth them up with great and excellent promises It may also be easily understood by that which we have said before For herein consisteth all this Heavenly Wisdom that we do utterly remove out of our sight whatsoever flesh can comprehend and believe that which the Word only telleth us even against all that which either we know feel or see And therefore this Wisdom is against all humane Wisdom and Reason For by Reason and all that Reason can comprehend we feel see and conceive all things contrary to that which Faith leadeth us unto He that lyeth sick at the point of Death can by Reason conceive nothing else but the imagination of Death But a
A word in Season BEING THE COMMENTARY OF Dr. Martin Luther ON Three SELECT PSALMS VIZ. The CXXIVth CXXVth and CXXIXth WITH His Commentary on some part of the Fourth and Fifth Chapters of the First Epistle of St. Peter Being of special Vse for the present Times ECCLES XII 11. The Words of the wise are goads and as nails fastened by the Masters of Assemblies which are given from one Shepherd LONDON Printed by George Larkin at the lower End of Broad-street next to London-Wall 1685. TO THE READER Reader IT would be an unaccountable Presumption for me to commend to thy good Opinion the Author of the Commentary on the Psalms and that part of St. Peters First Epistle presented to thee in the following Sheets If thou art a Protestant Christian and indifferently acquainted with Authors thou must acknowledge Dr. Martin Luther a Worthy of the First Rank next the Apostles if not the First also in that Rank or stand by thy self as some odd single Exception from the stream of thy Profession But if thou art a Roman Catholick and so of a Denomination as contradictory to it self as thy Papal Principles are to Truth Reason Sence and Humane Society I must not hope the Authors Name than which to those of thy Profession none is more abhorred will commend his Work to thy Perusal much less thy Embraces That mighty Opposition which this Worthy met with in his Successful Attempts of pulling down the Papal Power was an Exercise for such a Faith and Courage as the God of all Grace had filled him withal And the Commentaries following express as much of both as any of his Numerous Tracts And this considered with the sad Parallel of our Present Confusions and their Causes with those of his Days Those very Remedies animated with the same Spirit are with much reason proposed for thy Support under our present Calamities if not also as of some Tendency towards a Cure I doubt not but such who have not prostituted their Souls to their Sensuality and their Religion to those who bid most and the Church of Christ to the Lusts of Antichrist will Accept and Approve of these Flowers out of Luther's Garden as Eminently Seasonable and to a Spiritual Palate no less Savoury I have no further to acquaint thee with but that this Commentary is according to the English Translation out of the Latin Printed in the year 1615. THE COMMENTARY OF Dr. MARTIN LVTHER Upon the CXXIV PSALM Vers 1. If the Lord had not been on our side c. THis Psalm is a Thanksgiving to God for his great mercy in preserving his People placed as the stories do shew in the midst of the Gentiles and Heathen People The Argument of the Psalm as a flock of Sheep in a wild Forrest or in respect of the multitude as a City compared to a mighty Kingdom The People of Israel as a flock of Sheep among many Wolves being compassed on every side with the Kings of the Assyrians the Egyptians the Ammonites the Ismaelites the Moabites whom Satan had stirred up with deadly hatred to vex and persecute them seeking by all means to root them out from the Earth that thereby he might utterly deface and abolish the Word and Worship of the Lord. This danger David saw and thanked God which had preserved his People from the rage of so many Lyons and Dragons which notwithstanding that they never ceased to seek their Destruction yet all that they went about was in vain And what a miracle was this that this People could so long continue notwithstanding the malice and rage of so many Devils David therefore in this Psalm exhorteth his People to be thankful to the Lord their God so mightily preserving defending and delivering them from the violence of so many Nations and Kingdoms hating and persecuting them on every side Which Psalm we also do sing not only against our adversaries which hate and persecute the Word but also against spiritual Wickedness For we are taught by the Gospel that there are now seven Devils which lye in wait for us whereas we were before in danger but of one which cease not to stir up the whole World against us Yea our Case were more tollerable if we had but only the World and not Satan also with all his Angels and the gates of Hell wholly bent against us But yet further to molest and vex us besides all these we have also the third Enemy which we carry always about with us which we nourish also and foster at home with us and even within us the flesh I mean which giveth us no rest but continually tempteth us to Sin fighteth against Faith and striveth in our members against the Spirit Forasmuch then as the Church of God is never free from these dangers let us also sing to the praise of Christ this Psalm that he preserveth us his members from all these Enemies For it were extream ingratitude not to acknowledge this miracle that notwithstanding all these the Church doth yet continue and that there be some which truly teach and confess Christ and believe in Christ thô Satan rage the World and false Brethren conspire against us and the flesh as an untamed Beast fight against the Word and Faith never so much This is the benefit then that David so highly extolleth and wisheth that his People would understand and give thanks to God for the same Verse 1. If the Lord had not been on our side may Israel now say Verse 2. If the Lord had not been been on our side when men rose up against us Verse 3. They had then swallowed us up quick when their wrath was kindled against us Here the Prophet David exhorteth the People to consider how mercifully God hath delivered them from the hands of their Enemies and how miraculously he had preserved that Kingdom and also to praise God with him for the same Which words are not to be restrained to Davids time only For the Heathen People had oftentimes before warred against them with such Force and Power as was like to the rage of most huge and terrible floods of Water whereof he speaketh here ready to overflow them Therefore seeing he mentioneth here no one kind of deliverance it seemeth that he meaneth in these words of Thanksgiving to set forth whatsoever God had done for the succour and deliverance of his People at any time before Wherein he sheweth as it were in a glass the dangerous state of the Church from the beginning that the faithful may learn to know that it hath not been preserved by the strength and policy of man but by the miraculous power and hand of God and therefore in their troubles and afflictions should always flie to God for help and succour Israel signifieth the People of God Let us acknowledge then that there is no way for Gods People to escape the hands of their Enemies but by the help and power of God and that he will have the glory and
he is righteous whom unrighteousness and impiety pleaseth not Therefore although he suffer the wicked to flourish for a time yet at the last he cutteth their cords that is he destroyeth both their power and them according to that saying Psal 5. Thou art not a God that loveth wickedness Wherefore let Christians learn to judge not by that which presently they feel but by that which the Word of God promiseth and shall assuredly come to pass to wit That the wicked when they have long plowed upon the backs of the faithful and many ways afflicted them shall perish at the length For God is just and his justice will not suffer the righteous to be oppressed Verse 5. Let them that hate Sion be confounded and turned back This as before I have said is a Prayer But ye know that in every Prayer there is a Promise included which Promise this word Righteous doth express in the former verse with a singular vehemency to the end we should not murmur or blaspheme God as though he were not mindful of us or had not regard of us Now where he saith Let them be confounded and turned back it is an exposition of that which he said before that their cords should be cut that is to say their Kingdoms their Power their Riches their Laws and finally their whole politick body and common weal should be brought to nought as it befell to Babylon Ninive Jerusalem Athens Corinth Thebes Rome and briefly to all these Kingdoms and Common-weales which did not submit themselves to the Gospel For when they proudly stretched out their necks and set themselves against Christ their King and by their power sought to oppress him they were destroyed In like manner must we also pray and certainly look for the execution of Gods vengeance upon those which at this day have set themselves against the Gospel as the Pope and his Bishops with all their faction and with all the Kings and Princes of the earth which maintain and defend their impiety for at the last they shall be confounded But the Gospel and the Word of the Lord shall endure for ever For the name of Christ shall never be oppressed but being faithfully called upon shall always be ready to help the afflicted and shall cut the cords now of the wicked man and now of that Thus the Holy Ghost comforteth us sundry ways For when we have learned that Satan is such a Spirit as never ceaseth to tempt and to vex us so that when he cannot overcome us by the greatness and multitude of tentations he goeth about to do it by the tediousness and long continuance thereof he would have us to comfort our selves herewith that albeit these tentations continue long yet notwithstanding they shall have an end And since we are forewarned both of the continuance of the end thereof it is the more easy for as to bear them Here is to be noted also that he sheweth to whom he wisheth evil namely to those which hate Sion And that hatred which they bare against Sion was an hatred against God For in that Satan hateth the Church he doth it not only in respect of men but because he hateth God himself whom the Church praiseth and magnifieth Moreover Sion was a place which God had chosen unto himself Like as therefore God had chosen that place to shew his great love towards it so had Satan chosen the same to shew his malice against it and with all his power to vex it In like manner not only Satan but also the malignant Church of the Pope doth persecute us not because we are evil in the sight of the World for this they could well suffer yea and would be glad if they might hear that we are Whoremongers and Murtherers as they are But the true cause why they so deadly hate and persecute us is this for that it grieveth them that we in their eyes are innocent as touching the second table and also obedient to the first wherein we are commanded to honour serve and praise the Lord to fear him and trust in his Mercy c. Verse 6. Let them be as the grass on the tops of the houses which withereth afore it cometh forth This is a goodly Psalm for the sundry excellent and most apt similitudes contained therein whereby the Holy Ghost painteth out those great Majesties and Principalities of the World which fight against the the Gospel A little before he compared them to plowers drawing out furrows of a marvellous length to whom he so compareth them not in this respect as though it were granted unto them so long to abuse their power wealth and riches but in respect of the great Tediousness Grief and anguish of those which suffer the Plowers the Furrows the Wounds and treading under foot for unto them it seemeth a tedious a long and as it were an infinite Plowing Wherefore they desire to be delivered and never so little tarrying through this tediousness and anguish of heart seemeth to them intollerable Against this Weariness and thi Tediousness therefore he comforteth the faithful with this similitude of grass in the top of the house As if he said Why seemeth the time so long and tedious unto thee Why dost thou not learn to understand what these Plowers thy Adversaries be Didst thou never see grass growing on the tops of houses Who did ever complain that the grass flourished so long who ever went about to pluck it up As though it were not wont of it self to wither and vanish away Learn therefore that the very same is the state and condition of thine Adversaries Thus with one similitude he sighteth against another He setteth the similitude of the grass in the house top against the similitude of the Plowers But if a man could effectually believe that this similitude was made and here set down by the Holy Ghost and close up the same fully in his heart he should fear neither the Turk dor the Pope with all his cruel Prelates nor the Tyranny of Princes but should contemn them all and as little regard them as the grass on the tops of the houses But behold the outward shew of this grass If any child should see it he would esteem it to be better then any Barley for to Barley it is most like since it groweth not as other things do upon the Earth but in an higher and more notable place and loadeth the tops of the houses But take a man that knoweth these things and he will say it is nothing else but a goodly shew and resemblance without any fruit Thus hath the Holy Ghost chosen this similitude to teach us not to wish the Tyrants may be like grass but to know that they are indeed most like unto grass on the house tops which withereth away before the harvest time come or any man go about to cut it down Senacherib who besieged Jerusalem did flie over Kingdoms oppressed and trod down all things under his
picture and image of the Church which the Painters set forth which paint her as a goodly Virgin as a City well armed adorned and beautified Indeed that is a true picture but not according to the Eyes of the Flesh But spiritual Eyes do see this great Beauty that Christ is her Husband and begot her unto himself by the Holy Ghost beautified her and made her glorious with his own blood with his merits and with his righteousness Of all these things the flesh can see nothing can judge nothing but seeth rather the contrary how she is subject to most bitter hatred malice vexations and torments Wherefore if it would paint her out in such sort as he seeth and beholdeth her then must it paint and set her forth as a deformed and poor maiden sitting in a dangerous Wood or Desac in the midst of cruel and hungry Lyons Bears Wolve Swine and Venemous Serpents also in the midst of outragious and furious men attempting with Sword Fire and Water to destroy her and to root her out from the face of the Earth As there is in the Apocalyps set forth a goodly Picture Chap. 12. then the which there is nothing more excellent in that book that the Church as a desolate woman flyeth from the old Serpent or Dragon persecuting her and her Child Wherefore these words which David here useth may very well be applied to her Many times have mine Enemies afflicted me many times have they vexed me But this affliction seemeth rather to be an utter Destruction if we follow the judgment of the flesh As if the Enemies did so prevail and overcome that the Church were utterly oppressed and vanquished for ever As we all find by our own Experience in our Conflicts which privately we suffer in our Hearts when Satan terrifieth and confoundeth our Consciences For then are raised up such terrors that no man can otherwise judge but that the victory is Satans oppressing us with heavy and bitter Cogitations with Tentations Vexation and Anguish of Spirit and spoyling us as to the flesh it seemeth of all the sweet Consolations which by the merit of Christ and the Word are offered unto us According to this sence we may well say Oftentimes have they afflicted me For this seemeth to be not only an affliction but an utter Desolation and Destruction As we privately feel this every one in our own Hearts and Consciences so the whole body of the Church in all times doth confess that it is vehemently assailed with strong and mighty Armies of most deadly Enemies of all Nations and oppugned with the Engines of all Tentations and Tribulations even from her youth that is from the time that when the People were delivered out of Egypt they began to be known from other Nations and to be the people of God But here the Church and the Children of God comfort and raise up themselves again having good Experience that in all these Calamities God shewed forth his Power and not only remitted their Sin but also turned away the punishment thereof so that still they remained a Church and the practices of their Enemies were brought to nought Wherefore the Prophet here not only repeateth the danger and calamity of the Church but with great joy he addeth withal an Exhortation that every member of this body should praise the mercy and goodness of the Lord and say They could not prevail against me This is a singular Consolation not only for the whole Church of God but also for every one of us particularly against the proud brags of our Enemies and the great hope which they have conceived that they shall prevail against us Hereticks and Sectaries do glory that they shall have the Victory The Pope vaunting of his own strength and the power of Princes cryeth out We shall overcome Satan joyneth with them both and raiseth up such troubles that it seemeth doubtful to whom the victory will fall This oppresseth not only every man privately with great heaviness and sorrow but also the whole Church As we by Experience did prove in the Assembly gathered at Augusta where it seemed that our Enemies should utterly have swallowed us up But did not we there find these words to be full of Consolation They could not prevail This Consolation we must hold fast even when we are killed as by the Examples of the primitive Church we are taught For the Church is as it were watered with the blood of the faithful that the greater inccrease may come thereof Now like as these words of the Prophet are rightly applyed to that persecution which is done with the sword so must they be applyed also to the assaults of Hereticks and Enthusiasts For it is their property to boast and brag of the Conquest and always to triumph before the victory But how soever our adversaries triumph and glory let us endeavour to hold fast the word and whatsoever we do let us apply it wholly to the amplyfying of the Kingdom of Christ and his word If then as needs it must be assaults and battels do follow yet let us sing with David They could not prevail For albeit they kill us yet neither the Pope nor any other hereticks nor the Turk nor Satan himself shall ever be able to quench the Word Neither yet shall they prevail against us if we stedfastly abide in the Word Indeed this will we grant unto Satan that he is stronger than we and vexeth us many wayes For many are the troubles of the just but God will deliver them out of all And why Because it is the word of God which they profess and teach and moreover it is Gods own cause which they defend Wherefore although the Pope attempt and practise never so much mischief and go about to stir up the whole world against us although false brethren which walk not in true and sound doctrine continually vex us although Satan himself never cease to raise up the gates of hell against us yet will we sing with David even to the end They could not prevail yea and that only because of the word Verse 3. The Plowers plowed upon my back and they made long furrows See what unlike and almost contrary things he joyneth here together Before he comforted the faithfull that the enemies should never be able to do any thing against the Church because it is invincible and cannot be overcome and here he complayneth that they plow upon the backs of the Church and make such furrow as seem to be of an infinite length This is an offence therefore which vehemently troubleth the godly that God suffereth Satan and the world so long to rage so long to vex and afflict the Church that he giveth success unto their wicked counsels and attempts that he suffereth the ungodly even then to prosper when they are most worthy to be punished with all manner of torments and utterly consumed On the othe other side the godly the more they pray and the more they hope
feet therefore he could not be counted of Ezechia others like unto grass and yet before he atchieved what he went about he was compelled not without great fear and also much slaughter of his souldiers to raise his siege and he himself most miserably perished So Pharoah seemed mightily to grow and increase not upon the earth but in the air and upon the house tops but the miserable Jews were oppressed and trodden under foot like mire in the streets This is a resemblance of grass not withering but freshly flourishing But how quickly did it wither and vanish to nothing For when Pharoah did verily think to oppress them he was suddenly oppressed himself and perished in the waters Such an image of Tyrants and Tyranny the Holy Ghost painteth out unto us in this place Why then shouldest thou fear Why shouldest thou tremble Why shouldest thou despair as though thou hadst never seen most flourishing grass within few days to wither away of its own accord or didst not know the nature of it to be such as cannot long continue Athanasius when Julianus the Emperour did many wayes afflict both him and the whole Church and fought not only with cruelty but also with craft and subtilty against the faithful insomuch that others as it were in a terrible tempest were utterly discouraged and past all hope of deliverance said that this Persecution of Julian was not a tempest but a little cloud Indeed his heart was full of faith which could believe that Julianus was like not to a terrible and a violent tempest not to a mighty black cloud wrapping all things in darkness but unto a very little cloud which the Sun doth quickly consume In like manner must we also extenuate and diminish the power of our adversaries and set at nought all their proud brags and all their cruelty not in respect of our own strength but because they are of themselves nothing else but a bubble in the water grass on the house tops and a very shadow rather then men besides this that they provoke God also against themselves whose fury cruelty compared unto his power is a thing more vain than grass on the house tops or a bubble in the water for it is nothing but a bare and a naked shew which seemeth to be something when indeed it is nothing So are all the attempts of the adversaries full of threatnings but in the end they come to nothing This is the wisdom of Christians to diminish the power of the adversaries and contrariwise to amplifie the Word and the mighty protection of the Lord. The Devil Sin Death and other spiritual tentations are great but a Christian can make a distinction of greatness For greatness is understood two manner of ways The one is according to the eye which the eye judgeth after the outward shew the other is according to the truth which the truth judgeth after the Word The greatness therefore of Sin Death wicked Kings Princes and Bishops is that which is according to the eye only For God which saith Be of good comfort I have overcome the World Also Fear not those which can kill the Body but are not able to kill the Soul the same God alone I say is the very true greatness to which if you compare Satan and all the fury of the whole World what are they else but a bubble what are they else but grass but light straw and stubble But when they are considered without God then do they terrify with a false fearful shew and seem to be great indeed Wherefore Christians must judge not according to their opinion but according to the truth For an opinion is that which Reason bringeth forth besides the Word but Truth is grounded upon the Word which judgeth the fury and the cruelty of the World raging against the faithful to be like unto grass on the house tops This promise being setled and surely fixed in the mind This Judgment that the enemies are like grass and therefore shall perish he calleth a promise confirmeth the godly against the great power as to reason it seemeth of the World and Satan Like as on the other side where the word is not the mind deceived thro' a terrible shew of Truth and the judgment of Reason is oppressed with terror These things must not so be taken as tho' we did utterly condemn the power of Princes and of the World which we count to be the creature of God but their presumption and the abuse of their power is it that we condemn because they fight therewith against God and his Church Let them be Princes on the earth Let them use their Power and Authority in the World but when they will needs make War in Heaven and with their Power go about to invade and oppress the word this is horrible this is execrable and damnable And who so compareth them to bubbles to grass to stubble yea and to nothing he saith truly he judgeth rightly For why do they fight against God Think they that we know not what God is and what man is what the Creature is and what the Creator is Wherefore they are rightly compared to grass on the house tops for more contemptuously the Holy Ghost could not speak of them For this grass is such that it soon withereth away before the sickle be put unto it Yea no man thinketh it worthy to be cut down no man regardeth it every man suffereth it to brag for a while and to shew it self unto men from the house tops as though it were somewhat when it is nothing So the wicked Persecutors in the World which are taken to be mighty and terrible according to the outward shew are of all men most contemptible For Christians do not once think of plucking them up or cutting them down they persecute them not they revenge not their own injuries but suffer them to increase to brag and glory as much as they list For they know that they cannot abide the violence of a vehement Wind. Yea though all things be in quietness yet as grass on the house tops by little and little withereth away through the heat of the Sun so Tyrants upon small occasions do perish and soon vanish away The faithful therefore in suffering do prevail and overcome but the wicked in doing are overthrown and miserably perish as all the Histories of all times and ages do plainly witness Verse 7. Whereof the Mower filleth not his hand neither the Gleaner his Lap. Here the Holy Ghost maketh a comparison between Grass which yieldeth no fruit and true corn which is fruitful that thereby he may the better commend unto us the former similitude and withdraw our minds from the false dread and terror which that vain and counterfeit shew bringeth Fruitful corn saith he is such that he which moweth it shall fill his hand and he that gathereth the sheaves shall have plenty to carry into his barn Here ye see is a truth and not a vain shew But
grass on the house tops maketh a shew of that which is not true because it is fruitless So the Pope and his Prelates with other Tyrants and Persecutors have a resemblance and a counterfeit shew that they are the Church They hold and enjoy Dignities Prebends Benefices as grass hath his stalk and ear but indeed they are none of the Chrrch like as grass is no Corn for it withereth away before it can bring forth fruit For this is the chiefest argument wherewith they fight against us that for this glorious shew whereof I speak they usurp and challenge to themselves the title of the Church But we are commanded to take heed that we be not deceived by outward shews Yea and we are admonished also that such shews are oftentimes occasions of great calamities Beware saith our Saviour Christ of False Prophets which come to you in Sheeps-cloathing Also By their fruits ye shall know them Whereas then they challenge unto themselves the name of the Church and for a goodly shew which the grass also that groweth on the house tops hath as well as they will be counted good Corn this will not we grant them For if they be good Corn let them fill the hand of the Mower but this they do not They are unprofitable Grass yea worse then grass For in that filthiness of their wicked lusts and fleshly pleasures wherewith they are horribly polluted and that cruelty which they exercise against the true Church they retain not so much as the outward shew which they pretend Wherefore since there is nothing to be found in our adversaries but a naked and an hypocritical shew and the same also miserably and many ways deformed and defaced since I say there is nothing else in them but meer hypocrisy we judge and denounce them not to be the Church of Christ but of Satan Wherefore they are prepared as chaff and stubble to the fire although under a shevv and colour of the Church they afflict and Persecute us never so much Verse 8. Neither they which go by say We bless you in the name of the Lord. This also commendeth and setteth forth unto us the similitude of the grass For true Corn hath this commendation that it is the blessing of God They therefore vvhich see it grovv vvish that God vvould bless and prosper it This saith David shall not be said of that grass that is to say of the Tyrants and the adversaries of the Church but rather they shall be cursed of all men yea the malediction both of God and man shall be heaped upon them Like as it hath also hapned to the Church of Rome which before our doctrine and preaching most gloriously flourished But now that the Gospel hath plucked away her visour and sheweth that she is not without fruit all her cursed hypocrisy is bewrayed and her memory is perish'd from among the godly Thus the Prophet comforteth the faithful and sheweth that the wicked what glorious brag and pretence soever they make are indeed nothing and because God blesseth them not they shall inherit nothing but malediction and shall be confounded like as Judas the Pharisees Corinthus Aâ—ius and Pelagius though they seemed to slourish most miserably perished with all their glory Wherefore let us whose doctrine by the grace of God is sound and agreeable with the holy Scripture remember this similitude that when we must suffer hatred slander reproaches and all manner of injuries for the Gospels sake we are not afraid but may learn hereby to judge the Pope the Bishops the wicked Princes with the tormentors and executioners of their cruelty to be nothing else but grass on the house tops which seemeth to be somewhat when indeed it is nothing and therefore it is without all blessing To such it shall be said with the rich glutton in hell Luke 16. Son remember that thou in thy life time receivedst thy pleasures For if we consider the whole history of the Church even from the beginning of the world we shall see that God hath always so wrought by his secret counsel that as grass on the house tops withereth away before the harvest come so Tyrants are suddenly cut off and never come to their full time Wherefore let us constantly abide and endure with patience in all afflictions until the end do shew that it was nothing but grass and suddenly withered when it was most like to increase and flourish The wicked do enjoy all good things for the Churches sake like as the grass on the house tops hath the benefit of the rain and of the Sun as well as the Corn in the fields But as they shall not live half their days and as they shall see their own counsels and devices to be but vain and without success so shall they be as a perpetual shame among men insomuch that no man shall wish any good unto them As at this day the memory of Judas Pilate the wicked Jews Dioclesianus Maximinus and other Tyrants is without honour yea most execrable and odious unto all men This consolation is set forth by the holy Ghost by these gross similitudes and examples that we may conceive in our minds some shadow or resemblance of Gods Works since we cannot rightly judge and esteem the things themselves according to the truth but we judge the enemies and Persecutors of the Church by their goodly shew and outvvard appearance to be good Wheat because they prosper and flourish so long upon the earth Wherefore vve must rest vvholly in the Word which with such similitudes painteth out these things and we must with draw our senses from all outward sights and shews and judge no otherwise of the adversaries of the word then of most vile grass that groweth on the house tops and is contemned of all men For so saith the Spirit of faith tho' our senses say otherwise In like manner must we do also in spiritual tentations when our conscience accuseth us and giveth testimony against us as well in the agony and danger of death as in other conflicts Here if we follow that which appeareth to reason and our own senses to be true it shall seem unto us that our enemies are invincible and almighty and that there is no remedy but we must needs be overcome and utterly perish The sight and feeling of this greatness pertaineth to the eyes and to the senses onely and riseth of the judgment of reason and not of the truth But when we look to the true greatness which the word setteth forth unto us we are constrained to say that Death Sin Satan and the very gates of hell are indeed nothing else but grass on the house tops but stubble but a very bubble swimming upon the water vvhich vvith the least occasion breaketh and vanisheth avvay So must these things be amplified and set against all kinds of tentations vvhether they be Persecutors of the Word as the vvorld and vvicked Princes or else Sin Death and Satan All vvhich vve