of God alone who onely is there to be serued and not of any Saint as in time past they haue beene And so ought the daies also As vnder the law all the Sabbaths were consecrated vnto the honour of God the creator of heauen and earth and vnder the Gospel vnto the honour of Christ the Redeemer of his Church and all other daies that are now put a part among vs from the common affaires of the world they are sanctified to that ende that God might be honoured in them and by them And therefore we put a great difference betweene these holy daies and the Sabbath or Lords day First of all in that we know this later to stand vpon a better foundation then they as hauing his institution from Christ and his Apostles and so doth binde all nations and is perpetuall neuer to be changed Whereas the former haue their warrant only from men and so doe not binde all Churches alike and may be changed yea taken cleane away and serue onely for Christian policie and good order in the Church that men vpon these daies might come together and serue God And therefore it is to be prouided that there should not be too many of them least thereby men should be hindred from the necessarie workes of their callings which hath mooued the reformed Churches as in this Realme so els-where to cut off many that were vsed in the time of Poperie and so to keepe theÌ„selues in a mediocritie neither hauing too many nor putting downe all Secondly there is a difference betweene them in the manner of keeping the one and the other for on the Christian Sabbath the lawes of our kingdome and Church doe restraine all men from many things as from markets and faires and keeping of Assises and Sessions for the execution of iustice which they doe tolerate and permit vpon other holydaies Whereas in the time of blindnesse they sometimes preferred these daies before the Sabbath and had more solemne seruice and feasts vpon them and counted it a more deadly sinne then to worke then vpon the Sabbath day Besides this they appointing these daies to the honor of men did thereby greatly dishonour the Saints theÌ„selues For what greater dishonour can there be vnto any man then to make him a traytor and to giue vnto him that honour that is due onely to the Prince And if any should in simplicitie and good will ascribe so much to the greatest noble man in the Realme that at the last he should giue him the titles that belong vnto the King and so bring him into the suspicion of treason against his will it were no honour but dishonour vnto him So the Papists in extolling the Saints so highly that they consecrate daies vnto them and thereby seeke to honour them and hope that therefore they will become Patrons vnto them all which are proper vnto Christ in so doing they dishonour them for they make them as much as lieth in them to be traytors vnto Christ in robbing him of that honor that is proper vnto him And these Saints if they were now aliue vpon earth would not onely not take this honor vnto themselues and thanke them for it but altogether refuse it and rebuke them for it as Paul and Barnabas did vnto the people at Lystra when they brought buls with garlands and would haue sacrificed vnto them They rent their cloathes and ranne in among them Act. 14 14 saying O men why doe you these things we are men subiect vnto the like passions that you be and preach vnto you that you should turne from these vaine things vnto the liuing God IN this text there are these foure things principally to be obserued first of all the great infidelitie of S. Thomas the Apostle who did not beleeue the resurrection of Christ reported vnto him by all his fellow Apostles who had seene him v. 24 25. Secondly the great mercie of Christ who did not cast him off and leaue him to perish in this vnbeleefe of his but most louingly in time conuenient sought to pull him out of it by all good meanes euen the very same which himselfe desired vers 26 27. Thirdly the increase of faith in Thomas by these meanes appearing by the confession that he made after that he was thus confirmed namely that he did beleeue not onely that he was risen againe but for him and therefore calleth him his Lord and his God v. 28. Lastly here Christ vpon this occasion deliuereth a generall doctrine and so applieth this fact of Thomas vnto the whole church euen that they should be blessed who should beleeue in him though they did not see him as he had done I doe not purpose to intreat of all these but onely of so much as doth concerne the vnbeleefe of S. Thomas But before I come to it it may seeme somewhat strange that S. Iohn in his Gospel doth write this of his fellow Apostle seeing it tendeth so wholly to his discredit The other Euangelists all of them haue left it out it may seeme in fauour of him and it might be thought that it had beene better if he had passed it ouer with silence also But this Apostle liuing longer then all the rest about an hundred yeares after Christ and so seeing all their writings doth adde this as a matter of speciall moment as indeede in it there is offered to the Church great instruction and consolation And this plaine dealing of his is a note of that integritie that is to be found in all the Scriptures as beeing penned by the spirit of God For they came not in old time as S. Peter saith 2. Pet. 1.2 by the will of man but holy men of God did speake and write as they were mooued by the holy Ghost And therefore they greatly differ froÌ„ the writings of men which sauour of the spirit of men and so are in many things partiall as this is a common fault in many Historiographers that they flatter great men and speak onely of their vertues which they set out to the full but their vices either they wholly conceale or lightly passe theÌ„ ouer especially when they are their friends and of the same ranke and order with them as S. Thomas was vnto the Apostle S. Iohn But it is not so in the Scriptures which proceeding froÌ„ the spirit of truth are no more partiall then God himselfe with whome there is no respect of persons â—om 2.11 in so much that the penners of them doe lay open the greatest sinnes of the greatest men in their time euen of the Kings and of the Priests Sam. 2.8 As of Heli how he honoured his children aboue God and caused the sacrifices of the Lord to be despised and troaden vnder foote and of Manasseh king of Iudah how he caused his sonnes to passe through the fire in the valley of Ben-hinnom Chr. 33.6 and gaue himselfe to witchcraft and to charming and to sorcerie and vsed them that had familiar
aboue all reason but also in the offering vp of the said Isaac his sonne whom he loued and in whom he receiued the promises euen that with him God would establish his couenant Gen. 17 â— and with his seede after him for euer and therefore take away him and take away all and the hope of all and yet at the commandement of God he was contented to offer him vp for a burnt offering in mouÌ„t Moriah which he did by faith chap. 22 as the Apostle saith Hebr. 11. for he considered that God was able to raise him vp eueÌ„ from the dead and so he measured the performance of the promises of God not by his owne reason though neuer so great but by the truth and power of God The like may be saide of Noah concerning the building of the Arke of whom it is said â—â—rs 17. that by faith he beeing warned of God of the things which were not as yet seene mooued with reuerence prepared the Arke to the sauing of his houshold In which matter if he had consulted with flesh blood and conferred with his own reason he should neuer haue vndertaken so great a matter For how could he thereby imagine that all the world should be drowned except his family and that they should be saued and all the rest perish when by the space of 120 yeares he both preparing the Arke and preaching their destruction not one man or woman would beleeue it besides his owne family of eight persons might not he haue thought that he was deceiued rather then they all And how could he haue hope that fowre men should gouerne so great a vessell wherein should be male female at the least of euery liuing thing vpon the earth â—nd in the ayre with sufficient prouision for them all by the space of an whole yeare and that not in the great Ocean sea but when the whole world was a sea And where could he thinke â—o haue meanes to take and bring in all these fowles of the heauen and beasts of the earth and how could â—hey attend vpon them all to feede them and to doe all things necessarie â—nto them And many more things might be put into his head to cause â—im to desist from this worke as a â—hing impossible and no doubt he â—as subiect vnto many of these and â—uch like temptations but the Apoâ—tle sheweth vs how he ouercame theÌ„â—ll euen by faith whose nature and â—ropertie is to relie vpon the comâ—andement and promise of God aâ—oue all reason and contrarie vnto â—t But on the otherside vnbeleefe which is contrarie vnto faith that resteth wholly and onely vpon reason in so much that vnlesse they can see some reason how that may be done that is saide and promised they will not beleeue it they thinke it impossible they reiect it as an vnreasonable thing A most liuely patterne whereof we haue in that great man of Samaria in the daies of Ahab king of Israel at what time by reason of the fiege of the king of Aram there was such an extreame famine that women did eate their owne children â— king 6.28 Then the prophet Elisha did prophesie vnto them great plentie on the sudden euen the next day following To whom this great prince â—hap 7.2 on whose hand the king leaned answered and said Though the Lord would make windows in heauen could this thing come to passe as though he had said this is impossible though the Lord shal raine downe corne from heauen among vs for he could not conceiue â—y any reason how either the siege â—hould be so suddenly raised or if it â—ere how it should come to passe â—hat corne beeing so vnreasonably â—eare to day it should be so exceeâ—ingly cheape to morrow But God verified his owne word vnto them at â—he time appointed and this man saw it with his eyes but neuer tasted of it because of his vnbeleefe For the king appointed him to be gouernor and to sit in the gate of the citie to see the corne sold to the people who so thronged vers 20. that they troad vpon him and there he died The whole world is full of this vnbeleefe that they will beleeue no more then their owne reason perswades them vnto and that that goeth against their reason they are readie to crosse it though it be neuer so true For how many are there that haue set downe with themselues that whatsoeuer the Preachers say they haue determined a course which they thinke they haue good reason for in that they minde to continue beyond that they will not goe they are so setled that out of it they will not be remooued they hope they are not now to learne they are too old to be taught they trust that they haue not liued so long for nothing they haue wit and reason as well as other men and so that that they haue conceiued they will sticke vnto that course they haue entred into they purpose to continue in and in that they minde to liue and die and this course they hold for doctrine both of faith and manners for duties to God and to men and thus they will beleeue none but theÌ„selues and their owne reason And thus though they come to the Church from day to day they come not to learne any thing they haue determined beforehand what they minde to doe They will learne of no man they can teach themselues sufficiently Whereupon it commeth to passe that though they daily heare their sinnes rebuked they will amend nothing and the iudgements of God denounced against them they will beleeue nothing they thinke they haue better reason for their doings then any man can haue against them And if they be called vpon to increase in knowledge and godlines and so to goe on to perfection they stand still at a stay and thinke it not necessarie they like well of their owne doings and no man shall remooue them froÌ„ them they will beleeue none but themselues vnlesse I see reason for it mine owne selfe I will not beleeue you Thus through vnbeleefe the word is choaked in the greatest part of the hearers as our Sauiour Christ sheweth in the parable of the seede and it profiteth them not one whit no more then it did the Iewes when it was preached vnto them because it was not mixed with faith in them that heard it â—ct 4.2 And so that is the very cause why in this long time of preaching there hath bin so little good done euen the great vnbeleefe that raigneth in men euery where Of which the Prophet Isai had too great experience in his time in them to whom he preached and doth with great griefe complaine of it when he crieth out thus pathetically who will beleeue our report to whom is the arme of the Lord reuealed â—â—a 53.1 meaning that none would beleeue it but those whose hearts God touched by his holy Sprit And thus by their doings men doe too apparently
out of the same in time that they might be saued And why doth he say thus rather then any thing else Except I may see and feele c. Are these two senses such sure iudges of the truth that they cannot be deceiued May not a man thinke that he seeth and feeleth that which he doth not and may he not againe doubt whether he seeeth and feeleth that which indeede he doth How came it to passe that when Elisha had caused water to come miraculously into a vally of the wildernes for the Kings of Israel of Iudah and of Edom that the Moabites when as earely in the morning the sunne rose vpon the water and they saw the water as redde as blood ouer against them they said This is blood the kings are surely slaine and one hath smitten an other but when they came to the host of Israel they found it otherwise And as the sight of these men deceiued them so did the feeling of Isaac deceiue him in his old age For his sonne Iaakob comming vnto him in the person and habite of his elder brother Esau to receiue the blessing when he felt the roughnes of his necke and hands which Rebekah had couered wiâ—h skinnes he iudged by his feeling that it was Esau For he said Come neere my sonne that I may feele thee whether thou be my sonne Esau or no when he had felt him he said The hands are the hands of Esau Thus wee see that sight and feeling may easily be deceiued and yet this is the nature of vnbeleefe to giue credit more vnto these deceiueable senses then to many other things that are most sure and certaine And many men in matters of faith will almost beleeue nothing vntill such time as they see and feele them and therefore when they are taught what in heauen is prepared for them that serue God what in hell for them that disobey him they are readie to say who hath seen them giuing vs to vnderstand that they will not beleeue them vntill they either see them or feele them themselues Was not this vnbeleefe vniuersally spread ouer the face of the whole world before the flood when Noah the prâ—â—cher of righteosnes declared vnto thâ— the iudgment of God that should come vpon them for their sinnes namly that God would bring a flood of waters vpoÌ„ the earth to destroy all flesh wherin was the breath of life vnder the heauen because all flesh had corrupted his way and the earth was filled with cruelty and thus he continued preaching an huÌ„dred twentie yeares But none of them beleeued it though they saw him also all this while preparing the Arke for the sauing of himselfe and his family And therefore they continued still in their impenitencie and in their sinnes till the flood came and tooke them all away And so they said to Noah some in their thoghts some in their words as Thomas did here in an other case to the Apostles You say that the world shal be drowned but except we see the raine come in such measure and feele it we will not beleeue it And was not the like infidelity afterwards in all the men of Sodom where iust Lot liued and was vexed with their vncleanely conuersation for which he denounced Gods iudgemeÌ„t against them and at the last by speciall reuelation of the Angels that were sent vnto them he saide vnto his sonnes in law which had maried his daughters Arise go out of this place for the Lord wil destroy this citie but he seemed to his sonnes in law as though he had mocked Thus they would not beleeue it because they saw it not nor any likelihood of it till fire and brimstone came downe from heauen and fell vpon them and consumed them And so they being condemned and the citie ouerthrowne they were made an example vnto them that after should liue vngodly and which would not beleeue the truth of Gods iudgements against sinne in the mouthes of his seruants any further then they shall see and feele themselues Thus we see how common this is among all vnbeleeuers so farre as infidelitie preuaileth with them that they will beleeue nothing that is threatned against sinne any further then they see and feele it themselues When in the famin of Samaria there was exceeding great plentie against the next day promised by Elisha the Prophet did not one of the Princes say when I see it I will beleeue it and not before Whereupon this answere was giuen vnto him Beholde thou shalt see it with thine eies but thou shalt not eate thereof And so vnbeleefe discredits not only the threatnings but the promises except they can see them with their eies and feele them with their hands of which we shall speake more afterwards Doth not S. Peter say that there shal come mockers in these last daies which will walke after their lust and say where is the promise of his comming for since the fathers died all things continue alike froÌ„ the beginning of the creation Wherein he sheweth how men through vnbeleef will make a mocke of Christs second comming of the end of the world and of the day of iudgement because with their eyes they doe not see any such thing likely to come to passe when they shall see some great alteration in heauen in earth bending that way they will beleeue it and no sooner nor any further And we finde by experience the truth of this daily in many that they will beleeue nothing of this matter any further then they can see themselues And our Sauiour Christ in the Gospel hath foretold and forewarned vs of this when as he saith As it was in the dayes of Noah â—â—k 17.26 so shall it be in the dayes of the sonne of man they eate they dranke they bought they solde they married wiues and gaue in marriage vnto the day that Noah went into the Arke and the flood came and destroyed them all Likewise also as it was in the daies of Lot they eate they dranke they planted they built but in the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heauen and destroyed them all after these insamples shall it be when the sonne of man shall be reuealed that is not onely it shall come suddenly and all things shall continue in their ordinarie course but men shall then giue themselues to all pleasure and worldlines and shall neither beleeue it nor thinke of it till it come as the men of the old world did not of whome the Euangelist S. Matthew saith that they knew nothing till the flood came and tooke them all away so shal also the comming of the sonne of man be They knew nothing not that they had not heard of it for Noah did preach vnto them an 120. yeares before but they did not beleeue it nor regard it because they saw it not euen so shall it be towards the end of the world though they haue heard of these things
sheweth what answer Abraham gaue him for our instruction 29. They haue Moses and the Prophets let them heare them as if he had said they doe sufficiently declare the truth of these things of theÌ„ they may learne them and so it is needelesse to haue any come from heauen to tell them there are enough vpon the earth that doe declare it daily so doe the Apostles and the Euangelists now much more But the rich man saide againe 30. Father Abraham but if one come from the dead they will amend their liues which is as if he had said Though they doe heare daily out of the Scripture what punishment is in hell for the wicked yet they doe not beleeue it except some come from the dead and tell them of it and then they would Thus foolish is vnbeleefe to neglect the certen testimonie of the Prophets and Apostles which is the ordinarie meanes to reueale his will vnto vs and to desire that Angels or dead men might come from heauen or from hell to speake vnto them and then they would beleeue theÌ„ which in these daies is so extraordinary that it is not to be looked for But this is a short and plaine answer for such men set downe there from Abraham who said thus vnto him 31. If they heare not Moses and the Prophets neither will they be perswaded though one rise from the dead againe Where Christ sheweth not only what are the means of knowing these things euen the bookes of the Prophets and Apostles in which the will of God is perfectly set downe concerning all things that are needefull for vs to know and that the other is not to be desired nor hoped for So if they had them they would not profit by them when as they neglect the other but yet we see by this that vnbeleefe is full of these foolish desires And truly if we could so well see into the hearts of men as Christ did when he vttered this parable wee should see that the greatest part of the world is still of this mind to neglect all the ordinarie meanes that God hath appointed either to worke faith in them at the first or to confirme it in them afterwards and to desire such meanes as are impossible and not to be looked for because they are contrarie to the word of God For the Apostle saith â—ob 1.1 At sundrie times and in diuers manners God spake in the olde time to our fathers by the Prophets but in these last daies he hath spoken vnto vs by his Sonne that is in the old time God did sundrie waies declare his will vnto men as sometimes by visions when they were waking and by dreames when they were sleeping by Vrim ThuÌ„mim in the Priests breast by Angels from heauen by the Prophets c. but now he hath fully declared his will by his sonne Christ and hath appointed that we should come to the knowledge of it by that order which Christ hath established who when he ascended vp into heauen gaue vnto his Church Pastors and teachers Eph. 4.12 for the repairing of the Saints for the worke of the ministerie and for the edification of the bodie of Christ till we all meete together in the vnitie of faith and the acknowledging of the son of God vnto a perfect man and vnto the measure of the age of the fulnesse of Christ therefore as long as we liue we are to looke for no other meanes then these of Pastors and teachers the other haue ceased long agoe as beeing appointed for the old world But yet vnbeleeuing men refuse these and with itching eares they linger after the other and some are ready to say Oh if I might haue an Angel come and tell me of the destruction that shall come vpon the wicked for their sinne Gen. 19.13 as Lot had in Sodom I would beleeue it and some are ready to say if Lazarus might come from the dead that is if some of those my freinds and aquaintance that are dead might rise out of their graues and come and tell me what they haue seene and felt in heauen hell if I might haue but a litle conference with them I would beleeue them Or if I could see into the heauens and there behold Christ standing at the right hand of God as Stephen the Martyr did Act 7.56 or if I could heare him speake vnto me from heauen and call me from my sinnes as Saul did â—â—k 9.4 when he was a persecuter then I would hearken vnto him and become a new man And others thinke Oh if they might be rapt into the third heauens 2. Cor. 12 â— and be taken vp into paradise as Paul was and there heare God speake vnto them then they would performe great matters and lead an Angels life or if beeing here on earth they might see God come downe from heauen vnto theÌ„ they might haue some sure token that it was he that spake vnto them as the Israelites had in the wildernes Exod. 19 when God spake there vnto them vpon Mount Sinai then they would yeeld great obedience and nothing should draw theÌ„ froÌ„ that which they had heard These and many such foolish and impossible things doe men desire then they say they would beleeue all things and vntill theÌ„ they neede not neither will they But what saith the Apostle to the Romanes Rom. 10. â— The righteousnes which is of faith speaketh on this wise Say not in thine heart who shall ascend into heauen that is to bring Christ from aboue or who shall descend into the deepe that is to bring Christ from the dead But what saith it The word is neere thee euen in thy mouth and in thine heart this is the word of faith which wee preach Where he sheweth what are the doubtfull and wauering thoughts of vnbeleeuers concerning that saluation that is purchased for vs by Christ and offered vnto vs in the Gospel how those thoughts imaginations by faith are to be reprâ—ssed For they which seek righteousnes in theÌ„selues that by the workes of the law they might be iustified and saued beeing alwaies vnquiet and doubtfull of their saluation because they cannot finde perfect righteousnes in themselues are ready to say if I might see any Saint or Angel come from heauen to cary me thither or to assure me that I shall come thither or any come from the depth of hell to tell me that I am deliuered from thence I could beleeue it But the righteousnes of faith that is true faith whereby we are made righteous in Christ suppresseth these thoughts of vnbeleefe and telleth vs according to that that is preached in the Gospel that Christ hath fulfilled all things needefull for our saluation euen that he hath suffered the curse of the law to deliuer vs from hel and that he hath fulfilled the righteousnes of the law to bring vs to heauen and he hath ascended vp thither for vs in