16. The place appointed for the observation thereof was Jerusalem where was great recourse of People from all parts of the World as may well appear in the second Chapter of the Acts wherein mention is made of Parthians Medes Elamites Inhabiters of Mesopotamia Inhabiters of Jury Cappadocia Pontus Asia Phrygia Pamphilia and divers other such places whereby we may also partly gather what great and Royal Solemnity was commonly used in that Feast Now as this was given in commandment to the Jews in the Old Law so did our Saviour Christ as it were confirm the same in the time of the Gospel 1 Cor. 10. ordaining after a sort a new Pentecost for his Disciples namely When he sent down the Holy Ghost visibly in form of cloven Tongues like Fire and gave them power to speak in such sort that every one might hear them and also understand them in his own Language Which Miracle that it might be had in perpetual remembrance the Church hath thought good to solemnize and keep holy this day commonly called Whitsunday And here is to be noted that as the Law was given to the Jews in the Mount Sinai the fiftieth day after Easter so was the Preaching of the Gospel through the mighty power of the Holy Ghost given to the Apostles in the Mount Sion the fiftieth day after Easter And hereof this Feast hath his name to be called Pentecost even of the number of the days For as St. Luke writeth in the Acts of the Apostles when fifty days were come to an end the Disciples being all together with one accord in one place the Holy Ghost came suddenly among them and sat upon each of them like as it had been cloven Tongues of Fire Which thing was undoubtedly done to teach the Apostles and all other Men that it is he which giveth eloquence and utterance in Preaching the Gospel that it is he which openeth the mouth to declare the mighty Works of God that it is he which engendreth a burning zeal towards Gods Word and giveth all Men a Tongue yea a fiery Tongue so that they may boldly and chearfully profess the truth in the Face of the whole World as Isaiah was endued with this Spirit Esay 50. The Lord saith Isaiah give me a learned and a skilful Tongue so that I might know to raise up them that are fallen with the Word The Prophet David crieth to have this gift Psal 50. saying Open thou my lips O Lord and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise For our Saviour Christ also in the Gospel saith to his Disciples Mat. 10. It is not you that speak but the Spirit of your Father which is within you All which testimonies of Holy Scripture do sufficiently declare that the Mystery in the Tongues betokeneth the Preaching of the Gospel and the open confession of the Christian Faith in all them that are possessed with the Holy Ghost So that if any Man be a dumb Christian not professing his Faith openly but cloaking and colouring himself for fear of danger in time to come he giveth Men occasion justly and with good Conscience to doubt lest he have not the Grace of the Holy Ghost within him because he is Tongue-tied and doth not speak Thus then have ye heard the first institution of this Feast of Pentecost or Whitsuntide as well in the Old Law among the Jews as also in the time of the Gospel among the Christians Now let us consider what the Holy Ghost is and how consequently he worketh his miraculous Works towards Mankind The Holy Ghost is a spiritual and divine Substance the third Person in the Deity distinct from the Father and the Son and yet proceeding from them both which thing to be true both the Creed of Athanasius beareth witness and may be also easily proved by most plain Testimonies of Gods Holy Word Mat. 3. When Christ was Baptized of John in the River Jordan we read that the Holy Ghost came down in form of a Dove and that the Father thundred from Heaven saying This is my dear and well beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Where note three divers and distinct Persons the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost which all notwithstanding are not three Gods but one God Likewise when Christ did first institute and ordain the Sacrament of Baptism he sent his Disciples into the whole World willing them to Baptize all Nations Mat. 28. In the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost And in another place he saith I will pray unto my Father and he shall give you another Comforter Again John 4. John 2. When the Comforter shall come whom I will send from my Father c. These and such other places of the New Testament do so plainly and evidently confirm the distinction of the Holy Ghost from the other Persons in the Trinity that no Man possibly can doubt thereof unless he will blaspheme the everlasting truth of Gods Word As for his proper Nature and Substance it is altogether one with God the Father and God the Son that is to say Spiritual Eternal Uncreated Incomprehensible Almighty to be short he is even God and Lord everlasting Therefore he is called the Spirit of the Father therefore he is said to proceed from the Father and the Son and therefore he was equally joyned with them in the Commission that the Apostles had to Baptize all Nations But that this may appear more sensibly to the Eyes of all Men it shall be requisite to come to the other part namely to the wonderful and heavenly Works of the Holy Ghost which plainly declare unto the World his mighty and divine Power First It is evident that he did wonderfully govern and direct the Hearts of the Patriarchs and Prophets in old time illuminating their Minds with the knowledge of the true Messias and giving them utterance to Prophesie of things that should come to pass long time after 2 Pet. 1. For as St. Peter witnesseth the Prophesie came not in old time by the will of Man but the holy Men of God spake as they were moved inwardly by the Holy Ghost And of Zachary the high Priest it is said in the Gospel Luke 1. That he being full of the Holy Ghost Prophesied and praised God So did also Simeon Anna Mary and divers other to the great wonder and admiration of all Men. Moreover was not the Holy Ghost a mighty worker in the Conception and the Nativity of Christ our Saviour St. Matthew saith Mat. 1. that the blessed Virgin was found with Child of the Holy Ghost before Joseph and she came together And the Angel Gabriel did expresly tell her Luke 1. that it should come to pass saying The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the Power of the most High shall over-shadow thee A marvellous matter that a Woman should conceive and bear a Child without the knowledge of Man But where the Holy Ghost worketh there
or profitable The praise of Holy Scripture than the Knowledge of Holy Scripture forasmuch as in it is contained God's true Word setting forth his Glory and also Man's Duty The perfection of Holy Scripture The knowledge of Holy Scripture is necessary To whom the knowledge of Holy Scriture is sweet and pleasant Who be enemies to Holy Scripture And there is no Truth nor Doctrine necessary for our Justification and everlasting Salvation but that is or may be drawn out of that Fountain and Well of Truth Therefore as many as be desirous to enter into the Right and Perfect way unto God must apply their Minds to know Holy Scripture without the which they can neither sufficiently know God and his Will neither their Office and Duty And as Drink is pleasant to them that be Drie and Meat to them that be Hungry So is the Reading Hearing Searching and Studying of Holy Scripture to them that be desirous to know God or themselves and to do his Will And their Stomachs only do loath and abhor the Heavenly Knowledge and Food of God's Word that be so drowned in worldly Vanities that they neither favour God nor any Godliness For that is the cause why they desire such Vanities rather than the time knowledge of God As they that are sick of an Ague An apt Similitude declaring of whom the Scripture is abhorred An exhortation unto the diligent reading and searching of the holy Scripture Matth. 4. The Holy Scripture is a sufficient Doctrine for our Salvation What things we may learn in the Holy Scripture whatsoever they eat and drink though it be never so pleasant yet it is as bitter to them as Wormwood not for the bitterness of the Meat but for the corrupt and bitter humor that is in their own Tongue and Mouth Even so is the sweetness of God's Word bitter not of itself but only unto them that have their Minds corrupted with long custom of Sin and love of this World Therefore forsaking the corrupt judgment of fleshly Men which care not but for their Carkass Let us reverently hear and read Holy Scripture which is the Food of the Soul Let us diligently search for the Well of Life in the Books of the New and Old Testament and not run to the stinking Puddles of Mens Traditions devised by Mens Imagination for our Justification and Salvation For in Holy Scripture is fully contained what we ought to do and what to eschew what to believe what to love and what to look for at God's hands at length In these Books we shall find the Father from whom the Son by whom and the Holy Ghost in whom all Things have their Being and Keeping up And these Three Persons to be but One God and One Substance In these Books we may learn to know ourselves how Vile and Miserable we be and also to know God how Good He is of Himself and how He maketh us and all Creatures partakers of His Goodness We may learn also in these Books to know God's Will and Pleasure as much as for this present time is convenient for us to know And as the great Clerk and godly Preacher St. John Chrysostom saith whatsoever is required to the Salvation of Man is fully contained in the Scripture of God He that is Ignorant may there learn and have Knowledge He that is Hard-hearted and an obstinate Sinner shall there find Everlasting Torments prepared of God's Justice to make him afraid and to mollifie or soften him He that is oppressed with Misery in this World shall there find Relief in the promises of Everlasting Life to his great Consolation and Comfort He that is wounded by the Devil unto death shall find there Medicine whereby he may be restored again unto Health If it shall require to teach any Truth or reprove any false Doctrine to rebuke any Vice to commend any Virtue to give good Counsel to Comfort or Exhort or to do any other thing requisite for our Salvation All those things saith St. Chrysostome we may learn plentifully of the Scripture There is saith Fulgentius abundantly enough Holy Scripture ministreth sufficient Doctrine for all Degrees and Ages Matth. 4. Luke 3. John 17. Psal 19. What commodities and Profits the knowledge of Holy Scripture bringeth both for Men to eat and Children to suck There is whatsoever is meet for all Ages and for all Degrees and sorts of Men. These Books therefore ought to be much in our Hands in our Eyes in our Ears in our Mouths but most of all in our Hearts For the Scripture of God is the Heavenly Meat of our Souls the Hearing and Keeping of it maketh us Blessed Sanctifieth us and maketh us Holy it turneth our Souls it is a light Lanthorn to our Feet it is a sure stedfast and everlasting instrument of Salvation it giveth Wisdom to the humble and lowly Hearts it Comforteth maketh Glad Cheereth and Cherisheth our Conscience It is a more excellent Jewel or Treasure than any Gold or precious Stone it is more sweet than Honey or Honey-comb it is called the best part which Mary did choose for it hath in it everlasting Comfort The Words of Holy Scripture be called Words of Everlasting Life For they be God's Instruments ordained for the same purpose They have power to turn through God's Promise and they be effectual through God's assistence Luke 10. John 6. and being received in a faithful Heart they have ever an Heavenly spiritual working in them They are lively quick and mighty in Operation and sharper than any two-edged Sword and enter through Heb. 4. even to the dividing asunder of the Soul and the Spirit of the Joints and the Marrow Christ calleth him a Wise Builder Matth. 7. that Buildeth upon his Word upon his sure and substantial Foundation By this Word of God we shall be judged For the Word that I speak saith Christ John 12. is it that shall judge in the last day He that keepeth the Word of Christ is promised the Love and Favour of God John 14. and that he shall be the Dwelling-place or Temple of the Blessed Trinity This Word whosoever is diligent to Read and in his Heart to Print that he readeth the great affection to the transitory things of this World shall be minished in him and the great desire of Heavenly things that be therein promised of God shall increase in him And there is nothing that so much strengthneth our Faith and Trust in God that so much keepeth up Innocency and Pureness of the Heart and also of outward Godly Life and Conversation as continual Reading and recording of God's Word For that thing which by continual use of Reading of Holy Scripture and diligent searching of the same is deeply Printed and Graven in the Heart at length turneth almost into Nature And moreover the Effect and Virtue of God's Word is to illuminate the Ignorant and to give more light unto them that faithfully and diligently
c. 10. Num. 16. Ps 77. Some of the Children of Israel being Murmurers against their Magistrates appointed over them by God were stricken with foul Leprosie many were burnt up with Fire suddenly sent from the Lord sometime a great sort of thousands were consumed with the Pestilence sometime they were stinged to death with a strange kind of fiery Serpents and which is most horrible some of the Captains with their Band of Murmurers not dying by any usual or natural death of Men but the Earth opening they with their Wives Children and Families were swallowed quick down into Hell Num. 16. Which horrible destructions of such Israelites as were Murmurers against Moses appointed by God to be their Head and chief Magistrate Num. 16. are recorded in the Book of Numbers and other places of the Scriptures for perpetual memory and warning to all subjects how highly God is displeased with the murmuring and evil speaking of Subjects against their Princes so that as the Scripture recordeth Exod. 16. b. 7 c. Their murmur was not against their Prince only being a mortal Creature but against God himself also Now if such strange and horrible Plagues did fall upon such Subjects as did only murmur and speak evil against their Heads what shall become of those most wicked imps of the Devil that do conspire arm themselves assemble great numbers of Armed Rebels and lead them with them against their Prince and Country spoiling and robbing killing and murdering all good Subjects that do withstand them as many as they may prevail against But those Examples are written to stay us not only from such mischiefs but also from murmuring and speaking once an evil word against our Prince which though any should do never so secretly yet do the Holy Scriptures shew that the very Birds of the Air will bewray them and these so many Examples before noted out of the Holy Scriptures do declare That they shall not escape horrible punishment therefore Now concerning Actual Rebellion Eccl. 10. d. 2 King 15. c. 12. 17. a. 1 c. 11. 18. b. 7.18 Amongst many Examples thereof set forth in the Holy Scriptures the Example of Absalom is notable who entring into Conspiracy against King David his Father both used the advice of very witty Men and assembled a very great and huge company of Rebels the which Absalom though he were most goodly of Person of great Nobility being the Kings Son in great favor of the People and so dearly beloved of the King himself so much that he gave commandment that notwithstanding his Rebellion his life should be saved when for these considerations most Men were afraid to lay hands upon him 2 King 18. a. 5. a great Tree stretched out his Arm as it were for that purpose caught him by the great and long Bush of his goodly Hair lapping about it as he fled hastily bare-headed under the said Tree and so hanged him up by the Hair of his Head in the Air to give an eternal document that neither comliness of Personage 2 King 18. b. 9. neither Nobility nor favor of the People no nor the favor of the King himself can save a Rebel from due punishment God the King of all Kings being so offended with him that rather than he should lack due Execution for his Treason every Tree by the Way will be a Gallows or Gibbet unto him and the Hair of his own Head will be unto him instead of a Halter to hang him up with rather than he should lack one A fearful example of Gods punishment good People to consider Now Achitophel Achitophel though otherwise an exceeding wise Man yet the mischievous Counsellor of Absalom in this wicked Rebellion for lack of an Hangman a convenient Servitor for such a Traytor went and hanged up himself 2 King 15. c. 12. 16. d. 2. 23. 17. f. 23. 2 King 18. c. 7. 8 9. A worthy end of all false Rebels who rather than they should lack due execution will by Gods just Judgment become Hangmen unto themselves Thus hapned it to the Captains of that Rebellion beside forty thousand of rascal Rebels slain in the Field and in the Chase Likewise is it to be seen in the Holy Scriptures how that great Rebellion which the Traitor Seba moved in Israel 2 King 20. was suddenly appeased the head of the Captain Traitor by the means of a silly Woman being cut off And as the Holy Scripture doth shew so doth daily experience prove that the Counsels Conspiracies and attempts of Rebels never took effect neither came to good but to most horrible end For though God doth oftentimes prosper just and lawful Enemies Ps 20.12 which be no Subjects against their Foreign Enemies yet did he never long prosper Rebellious Subjects against their Prince were they never so great in Authority Gen. 14. or so many in number Five Princes or Kings for so the Scripture termeth them with all their multitudes could not prevail against Chedorlaomer unto whom they had promised Loyalty and Obedience and had continued in the same certain years but they were all overthrown and taken Prisoners by him but Abraham with his Family and Kinsfolks an handful of Men in respect owing no subjection unto Chedorlaomer overthrew him and all his Host in Battel and recovered the Prisoners and delivered them So that though War be so dreadful and cruel a thing as it is yet doth God often prosper a few in lawful Wars with Foreign Enemies against many thousands but never yet prospered he Subjects being Rebels against their natural Sovereign were they never so great or noble so many so stout so witty and politic but always they came by the overthrow and to a shameful end so much doth God abhor Rebellion more than other Wars though otherwise being so dreadful and so great a destruction to Mankind Though not only great multitudes of the rude and rascal Commons but sometime also Men of great Wit Nobility and Authority have moved Rebellions against their lawful Princes whereas true Nobility should most abhor such Villanous and true wisdom should most detest such frantic Rebellion though they should pretend sundry causes as the Redress of the Common-wealth which Rebellion of all other mischiefs doth most destroy or Reformation of Religion whereas Rebellion is most against all true Religion though they have made a great shew of holy meaning by beginning their Rebellions with a counterfeit Service of God 2 Reg. 15. c. 12. as did wicked Absalom begin his Rebellion with Sacrificing unto God though they display and bear about Ensigns and Banners which are acceptable unto the rude ignorant common people great multitudes of whom by such false pretences and shews they do deceive and draw unto them yet were the multitudes of the Rebels never so huge and great the Captains never so noble politic and witty the Pretences feigned to be never so good and holy yet the speedy
understood And concerning the hardness of Scripture he that is so weak that he is not able to brook strong Meat yet he may suck the sweet and tender Milk and defer the rest until he wax stronger and come to more knowledge For God receiveth the Learned and Unlearned and casteth away none but is indifferent unto all And the Scripture is full as well of low Valleys plain Ways and easie for every Man to use and to walk in As also of high Hills and Mountains which few Men can climb unto God leaveth no Man untaught that hath good Will to know his Word And whosoever giveth his Mind to Holy Scriptures with diligent Study and burning Desire it cannot be saith St. Chrysostome that he should be left without help For either God Almighty will send him some Godly Doctor to teach him as he did to instruct the Eunuch a Nobleman of Ethiope and Treasurer unto Queen Candace who having affecton to read the Scripture although he understood it not yet for the desire that he had unto God's Word God sent his Apostle Philip to declare unto him the true Sense of the Scripture that he read or else if we lack a learned Man to instruct and teach us yet God himself from above will give light unto our Minds and teach us those things which are necessary for us and wherein we be ignorant How the knowledge of the Scripture may be attained unto Matt. 7. A good rule for the understanding of Scripture And in another place St. Chrysostome saith that Man 's Human and Worldly Wisdom or Science is not needful to the understanding of Scripture but the revelation of the Holy Ghost who inspireth the true meaning unto them that with Humility and Diligence do search therefore He that asketh shall have and he that seeketh shall find and he that knocketh shall have the Door opened If we read once twice or thrice and understand not let us not cease so but still continue Reading Praying Asking of others and so by still knocking at the last the Door shall be opened as St. Augustin saith although many things in the Scripture be spoken in obscure mysteries yet there is nothing spoken under dark Mysteries in one place but the self-same thing in other places is spoken more familiarly and plainly to the capacity both of learned and unlearned No Man is excepted from the knowledge of God's Word And those things in the Scripture that be plain to understand and necessary for Salvation every Man's Duty is to Learn them to print them in Memory and effectually to Exercise them And as for the dark Mysteries to be contented to be ignorant in them until such time as it shall please God to open those things unto him In the mean season if he lack either aptness or opportunity God will not impute it to his folly But yet it behoveth not that such as be apt should set aside reading because some other be unapt to read Nevertheless for the hardness of such places the reading of the whole ought not to be set apart And briefly to conclude What persons would have Ignorance to continue as St. Augustine saith by the Scripture all Men be amended weak Men be strenthened and strong Men be comforted So that surely none be enemies to the reading of God's Word but such as either be so ignorant that they know not how wholsome a thing it is or else be so sick that they hate the most comfortable Medicine that should heal them Or so ungodly that they would wish the People still to continue in blindness and ignorance of God Thus we have briefly touched some part of the Commodities of God's Holy Word The Holy Scripture is one of God's chief Benefits which is one of God's chief and principal Benefits given and declared to Mankind here on Earth Let us thank God heartily for this his great and special Gift beneficial Favour and Fatherly Providence The right reading use and fruitful studying in Holy Scripture Psal 50. Let us be glad to receive this precious Gift of our Heavenly Father Let us Hear Read and Know these Holy Rules Injunctions and Statutes of our Christian Religion and upon that we have made profession to God at our Baptisme Let us with fear and reverence lay up in the chest of our Hearts these necessary and fruitful Lessons Let us night and day muse and have Meditation and Contemplation in them Let us ruminate and as it were chew the Cud that we have the sweet Juice spiritual Effect Marrow Honey Kernel Taste Comfort and Consolation of them Let us stay quiet and certify our Consciences with the most infallible Certainty Truth and perpetual assurance of them Let us pray to God the only Author of these Heavenly Studies that we may Speak Think Believe Live and Depart hence according to the wholesom Doctrine and Verities of them And by that means in this world we shall have God's Defence Favour and Grace with the unspeakable solace of peace and quietness of Conscience and after this miserable life we shall enjoy the endless Bliss and Glory of Heaven which he Grant us all that died for us all Jesus Christ to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all Honour and Glory both now and everlastingly A SERMON OF THE Misery of Mankind and of his condemnation to Death everlasting by his own Sin THe Holy Ghost in Writing the Holy Scripture is in nothing more diligent than to pull down Man's Vain-glory and Pride which of all Vices is most universally grafted in all Mankind even from the first infection of our first Father Adam And therefore we read in many places of Scripture many notable Lessons against this old rooted Vice to teach us the most commendable virtue of Humility how to know ourselves and to remember what we be of ourselves In the Book of Genesis â—â—n 3. Almighty God giveth us all a Title and Name in our great Grandfather Adam which ought to warn us all to consider what we be whereof we be from whence we came and whither we shall saying thus In the sweat of thy Face shalt thou eat thy Bread till thou be turned again into the ground for out of it wast thou taken inasmuch as thou art Dust into Dust shalt thou be turned again Here as it were in a Glass we may learn to know ourselves to be but Ground Earth and Ashes and that to Earth and Ashes we shall return Also the Holy Patriarch Abraham did well remember this Name and Title Dust Earth and Ashes appointed and assigned by God to all Mankind and therefore he calleth himself by that Name when he maketh his earnest Prayer for Sodom and Gomorrah And we read that Judith Esther Job Jud. 4. 9. Job 13. Jer. 6. and 25. Jeremy with other Holy Men and Women in the Old Testament did use Sackcloth and to cast Dust and Ashes upon their Heads when they bewailed their sinful
Publican before the Proud Holy and Glorious Pharisee He calleth himself a Physician but not to them that be whole Luke 18. Matth. 9. but to them that be sick and have need of his Salve for their Sore He teacheth us in our Prayers to acknowledge ourselves Sinners and to ask Righteousness and deliverance from all Evils at our Heavenly Father's hand He declareth that the sins of our own Hearts do defile our ownselves He teacheth Matth. 12. that an evil Word or Thought deserveth Condemnation affirming that We shall give account for every idle word Matth. 15. He saith He came not to save but the sheep that were utterly lost and cast away Therefore few of the Proud Just Learned Wise Perfect and Holy Pharisees were saved by him because they justified themselves by their counterfeit Holiness before Men. Wherefore good People let us beware of such Hypocrisie Vain-glory and Justifying of ourselves The Second Part of the SERMON of the Misery of Man FOrasmuch as the true knowledge of ourselves is very necessary to come to the right knowledge of God ye have heard in the last Reading how Humbly all good Men always have thought of themselves and so to think and judge of themselves are taught of God their Creator by his Holy Word For of ourselves we be Crab-trees that can bring forth no Apples We be of ourselves of such Earth as can but bring forth Weeds Nettles Brambles Briers Cockle and Darnel Our Fruits be declared in the 5th Chapter to the Galatians Gal. 5. We have neither Faith Charity Hope Patience Chastity nor any thing else that good is but of God and therefore these Virtues be called there The fruits of the Holy Ghost and not the fruits of Man Let us therefore acknowledge ourselves before God as we be indeed miserable and wretched Sinners And let us earnestly Repent and Humble ourselves heartily and cry to God for Mercy Let us all Confess with Mouth and Heart that we be full of Imperfections Let us know our own Works of what imperfection they be and then we shall not stand foolishly and arrogantly in our own Conceits nor challenge any part of Justification by our Merits or Works For truly there be imperfections in our best Works We do not love God so much as we are bound to do with all our Heart Mind and Power We do not fear God so much as we ought to do We do not pray to God but with great and many imperfections We Give Forgive Believe Live and Hope imperfectly We Speak Think and Do impefectly We Fight against the Devil the World and the Flesh imperfectly Let us therefore not be ashamed to confess plainly our state of Imperfection Yea let us not be ashamed to confess Imperfection even in all our best Works Let none of us be ashamed to say with the Holy St. Peter Luke 5. Psal 106. I am a sinful man Let us say with the Holy Prophet David We have sinned with our fathers we have done amiss and dealt wickedly Let us all make open Confession with the Prodigal Son to our Father and say with him We have sinned against Heaven Luke 14. and before thee O Father we are not worthy to be called thy sons Let us all say with Holy Baruch Baruch 2. O Lord our God to us is worthily ascribed shame and confusion and to thee righteousness We have sinned we have done wickedly we have behaved ourselves ungodlily in all thy Righteousness Let us all say with the Holy Prophet Daniel Dan. 9. O Lord righteousness belongeth to thee unto us belongeth confusion We have sinned we have been naughty we have offended we have fled from thee we have gone back from all thy Precepts and Judgments So we learn of all good Men in Holy Scriptures to Humble our selves and to Exalt Extol Praise Magnifie and Glorifie God Thus we have heard how evil we be of ourselves how of ourselves and by ourselves we have no Goodness Help or Salvation but contrariwise Sin Damnation and Death everlasting Which if we deeply weigh and consider we shall the better understand the great Mercy of God and how our Salvation cometh only by Christ 2 Cor. 3. For in ourselves as of ourselves we find nothing whereby we may be delivered from this miserable Captivity into the which we are cast through the envy of the Devil by breaking of God's Commandment in our first Parent Adam Psal 50. Ephes 2. We are all become unclean but we all are not able to cleanse ourselves nor make one another of us clean We are by nature the children of God's wrath but we are notable to make ourselves the Children and Inheritors of God's Glory We are Sheep that run astray 1 Pet. 2. but we cannot of our own power come again to the Sheepfold so great is our Imperfection and Weakness In ourselves therefore may we not glory which of ourselves are nothing but sinful neither may we rejoyce in any Works that we do all which be so Imperfect and Impure that they are not able to stand before the Righteous Judgment Seat of God as the Holy Prophet David saith Psal 143. Enter not into judgment with thy Servant O Lord for no man that liveth shall be found righteous in thy sight To God therefore must we flee or else shall we never find Peace Rest and Quietness of Conscience in our Hearts For he is the father of mercies and God of all consolation He is the Lord with whom is plenteous redemption 2 Cor. 1. He is the God which of his own mercy saveth us Psal 130. and setteth out his Charity and exceeding Love towards us in that of his own voluntary Goodness when we were Perishing he Saved us and provided an everlasting Kingdom for us And all these Heavenly Treasures are given us not for our own Deserts Merits or good Deeds which of ourselves we have none but of his mere Mercy freely And for whose sake Truly for Jesus Christ's sake that pure and undefiled Lamb of God He is that dearly beloved Son for whose sake God is fully pacified satisfied and set at One with Man He is the Lamb of God John 1. which taketh away the sins of the World of whom only it may be truly spoken that he did all things well 1 Pet. 2. and in his mouth was found no craft nor subtilty None but he alone may say The Prince of the World came and in me he hath nothing And he alone may also say Which of you shall reprove me of any fault John 8. He is the high and everlasting Priest Heb. 7. which hath offered himself once for all upon the Altar of the Cross and with that one oblation hath made perfect for evermore them that are sanctified 1 John 2. He is the alone Mediator between God and Man which paid our ransom to God with his own blood and with that hath he cleansed us
to be ever ready to give ourselves to our Neighbours and as much as lieth in us to study with all our endeavour to do good to every Man These be the fruits of true Faith to do good asmuch as lieth in us to every Man and above all things and in all things to advance the Glory of God of whom only we have our Sanctification Justification Salvation and Redemption To whom be ever Glory Praise and Honour VVorld without end Amen A Short DECLARATION OF THE True Lively and Christian Faith Faith THE First coming unto God good Christian People is through Faith whereby as it is declared in the last Sermon we be Justified before God And lest any Man should be deceived for lack of right Understanding thereof it is diligently to be noted that Faith is taken in the Scripture two manner of ways A dead Faith There is one Faith which in Scripture is called a Dead Faith which bringeth forth no good Works but is idle barren and unfruitful And this Faith by the Holy Apostle St. James is compared to the Faith of Devils James 2. which believe God to be True and Just and tremble for fear yet they do nothing well but all evil And such a manner of Faith have the wicked and naughty Christian People which confess God as St. Paul saith in their mouths Titus 6. but deny him in their deeds being abominable and without the right Faith and to all good works reproveable And this Faith is a Persuasion and Belief in Man's Heart whereby he knoweth that there is a God and agreeth unto all Truths of God's most Holy Word contained in the Holy Scripture So that it consisteth only in Believing in the Word of God that it is true And this is not properly called Faith But as he that readeth Caesar's Commentary believing the same to be true hath thereby a knowledge of Caesar's Life and notable Acts because he believeth the History of Caesar Yet it is not properly said that he believeth in Caesar of whom he looketh for no help nor benefit Even so he that Believeth that all that is spoken of God in the Bible is true and yet liveth so ungodly that he cannot look to enjoy the Promises and Benefits of God Although it may be said that such a Man hath a Faith and Belief to the Words of God yet it is not properly said that he believeth in God or hath such a Faith and Trust in God whereby he may surely look for Grace Mercy and everlasting Life at God's hand but rather for Indignation and Punishment according to the Merits of his wicked Life For as it is written in a Book Entituled to be of Didymus Alexandrinus Forasmuch as Faith without Works is dead it is not now Faith as a dead Man is not a Man This dead Faith therefore is not that sure and substantial Faith which saveth Sinners Another Faith there is in Scripture which is not as the aforesaid Faith idle unfruitful and dead A lively Faith but worketh by charity as St. Paul declareth Gal. 5. Which as the other vain Faith is called a dead Faith so may this be called a quick or lively Faith And this is not only the common belief of the Articles of our Faith but it is also a true Trust and Confidence of the Mercy of God through our Lord Jesus Christ and a stedfast hope of all good things to be received at God's hand And that although we through Infirmity or Temptation of our Ghostly enemy do fall from him by Sin yet if we return again unto him by true Repentance that he will forgive and forget our Offences for his Sons sake our Saviour Jesus Christ and will make us Inheritors with him of his everlasting Kingdom and that in the mean time untill that Kingdom come he will be our Protector and Defender in all perils and dangers whatsoever do chance And that though somtime he doth send us sharp adversity yet that evermore he will be a loving Father unto us correcting us for our Sin but not withdrawing his Mercy finally from us if we trust in him and commit our selves wholly unto him hang only upon him and call upon him ready to obey and serve him This is the true lively and unfeigned Christian Faith and is not in the Mouth and outward Profession only but it liveth and stirreth inwardly in the Heart And this Faith is not without Hope and Trust in God nor without the Love of God and of our Neighbors nor without the Fear of God nor without the Desire to hear God's Word and to follow the same in eschewing Evil and doing gladly all good Works Heb. 12. Thus Faith as St. Paul describeth it is the sure ground and foundation of the benefits which we ought to look for and trust to receive of God a Certificate and sure looking for them although they yet sensibly appear not unto us And after he saith He that cometh to God must believe both that he is and that he is a merciful rewarder of Well-doers And nothing commendeth good Men unto God so much as this assured Faith and Trust in him Of this Faith three things are specially to be noted Three things are to be noted of Faith First that this Faith doth not lye dead in the Heart but is lively and fruitful in bringing forth good Works Secondly that without it can no good Works be done that shall be acceptable and pleasant to God Thirdly what manner of good Works they be that this Faith doth bring forth Faith is full of good Works For the First That as the Light cannot be hid but will shew forth itself at one place or other So a true Faith cannot be kept secret but when occasion is offered it will break out and shew itself by good Works And as the living Body of a Man ever exerciseth such things as belong to a natural and living Body for nourishment and preservation of the same as it hath need opportunity and occasion Even so the Soul that hath a lively Faith in it will be doing alway some good Work which shall declare that it is living and will not be unoccupied Therefore when Men hear in the Scripture so high commendations of Faith that it maketh us to please God to live with God and to be the Children of God If then they fancy that they be set at liberty from doing all good Works and may live as they list they trifle with God and deceive themselves And it is a manifest token that they be far from having the true and lively Faith and also far from Knowledge what true Faith meaneth For the very sure and lively Christian Faith is not only to believe all things of God which are contained in Holy Scripture but also is an earnest Trust and Confidence in God that he doth regard us and that he is careful over us as the Father is over the Child whom he doth love and that
he will be merciful unto us for his only Sons sake and that we have our Saviour Christ our perpetual Advocate and Priest in whose only Merits Oblation and Suffering we do trust that our Offences be continually washed and purged whensoever we repenting truly do return to him with our whole Heart stedfastly determining with ourselves through his Grace to obey and serve him in keeping his Commandments and never to turn back again to Sin Such is the true Faith that the Scripture doth so much commend the which when it seeth and considereth what God hath done for us is also moved through continual assistance of the Spirit of God to serve and please him to keep his Favour to fear his Displeasure to continue his Obedient Children shewing Thakfulness again by observing or keeping his Commandments and that freely for true Love chiefly and not for dread of Punishment or love of temporal Reward considering how clearly without deservings we have received his Mercy and Pardon freely This true Faith will shew forth itself and cannot long be idle For as it is written Abac 2 The Just man doth live by his Faith He never sleepeth nor is idle when he would wake and be well occupied And God by his Prophet Jeremy saith Jer. 17. That he is a happy and blessed man which hath Faith and confidence in God For he is like a Tree set by the water-side and spreadeth his roots abroad towards the moisture and feareth not heat when it cometh his leaf will be green and will not cease to bring forth his Fruit Even so Faithful men putting away all fear of Adversity will shew forth the fruit of their good Works as occasion is offered to do them The Second Part of the Sermon of Faith YE have heard in the First Part of this Sermon that there be two kinds of Faith a dead and an unfruitful Faith and a Faith lively that worketh by Charity The First to be unprofitable the Second necessary for the obtaining of our Salvation The which Faith hath Charity always joyned unto it and is fruitful and bringeth forth all good Works Now as concerning the same matter you shall hear what followeth Eccles 31. The VVise Man saith He that believeth in God will hearken unto his Commandments For if we do not shew ourselves faithful in our Conversation the Faith which we pretend to have is but a feigned Faith Because the true Christian Faith is manifestly shewed by good Living and not by VVords only as St. Augustin saith Good Living cannot be separated from true Faith which worketh by Love Libro de fide operibus cap. 2. Sermo de lege fide Heb. 11. Gen. 4. Gen. 6. Eccl. 44. Gen. 11. And St. Chrysostome saith Faith of itself is full of good VVorks As soon as a Man doth Believe he shall be garnished with them How plentiful this Faith is of good VVorks and how it maketh the work of one Man more acceptable to God than of another St. Paul teacheth at large in the Eleventh Chapter to the Hebrews saying That faith made the oblation of Abel better than the oblation of Cain This made Noah to build the Ark. This made Abraham to forsake his Country and all his Friends and go into a far Country there to dwell among Strangers So did also Isaac and Jacob depending or hanging only on the Help and Trust that they had in God And when they came to the Country which God promised them they would build no Cities Towns nor Houses but lived like Strangers in Tents that might every day be removed Their Trust was so much in God that they set but little by any worldly thing for that God had prepared better Dwelling-places for them in Heaven of his own Foundation and Building Gen. 22. Eccl. 13. This Faith made Abraham ready at God's Commandment to offer his own Son and Heir Isaac whom he loved so well and by whom he was promised to have innumerable issue among the which One should be Born in whom all Nations should be blessed trusting so much in God that though he were slain yet that God was able by his Omnipotent Power to raise him from Death and perform his Promise He mistrusted not the promise of God although unto his Reason every thing seemeth contrary He Believed verily that God would not forsake him in Dearth and Famine that was in the Country And in all other dangers that he was brought unto he trusted ever that God should be his God and his Protector and Defender whatsoever he saw to the contrary This Faith wrought so in the Heart of Moses that he refused to be taken for King Pharaoh Exod. 2. his Daughters Son and to have great inheritance in Egypt thinking it better with the people of God to have affliction and sorrow than with naughty Men in Sin to live pleasantly for a time By faith he cared not for the threatning of King Pharaoh For his Trust was so in God that he passed not of the Felicity of this VVorld but looked for the Reward to come in Heaven setting his Heart upon the invisible God as if he had seen him ever present before his Eyes By faith Exod. 14. the children of Israel passed through the red Sea By faith the walls of Jericho fell down without stroke and many other wonderful Miracles have been wrought In all good Men that heretofore have been Faith hath brought forth their good Works Dan. 6. and obtained the Promises of God Faith hath stopped the Lyons Mouths Faith hath quenched the force of fire Faith hath escaped the Swords edges Dan. 3. Faith hath given weak men strength victory in battel overthrown the armies of Infidels Heb. 11. raised the dead to life Faith hath made good Men to take adversity in good part some have been mocked and whipped bound and cast in prison some have lost all their Goods and lived in great Poverty some have wandred in Mountains Hills and Wildernesses some have been racked some slain some stoned some sawen some rent in pieces some beheaded some burnt without mercy and would not be delivered because they looked to rise again to a better state All these Fathers Martyrs and other Holy Men whom St. Paul spake of had their Faith surely fixed in God when all the World was against them They did not only know God to be the Lord Maker and Governor of all Men in the World But also they had a special Confidence and Trust that he was and would be their God their Comforter Aider Helper Maintainer and Defender This is the Christian Faith which these Holy Men had and we also ought to have And although they were not named Christian Men yet was it a Christian Faith that they had for they looked for all Benefits of God the Father through the Merits of his Son Jesu Christ as we now do This difference is between them and us that they looked when Christ should come
and we be in the time when he is come Therefore saith St. Augustine In Johan Tract 45. The Time is altered and changed but not the Faith For we have both one Faith in one Christ 1 Cor. 4 The same Holy Ghost also that we have had they saith St. Paul For as the Holy Ghost doth teach us to trust in God and to call upon him as our Father Eâ—ai 4â— So did he teach them to say as it is written Thou Lord art our Father and Redeemer and thy Name is without beginning and everlasting God gave them then Grace to be his Children as he doth us now But now by the coming of our Saviour Christ we have received more abundantly the Spirit of God in our Hearts whereby we may conceive a greater Faith and a surer Trust than many of them had But in effect they and we be all one We have the same Faith that they had in God and they the same that we have And St. Paul so much extolleth their Faith because we should not less but rather more give our selves wholly unto Christ both in Profession and Living now when Christ is come than the old Fathers did before his coming And by all the Declaration of St. Paul it is evident that the true lively and Christian Faith is no dead vain or unfruitful thing but a thing of perfect Virtue of wonderful Operation or Working and Strength bringing forth all good Motions and good Works All Holy Scripture agreeably beareth witness that a true lively Faith in Christ doth bring forth good VVorks And therefore every Man must examine and try himself diligently to know whether he have the same true lively Faith in his Heart unfeignedly or not which he shall know by the fruits thereof Many that professed the Faith of Christ were in this error that they thought they knew God and believed in him when in their Life they declared the contrary VVhich error St. John in his First Epistle confuting writeth in this wise 1 John 2. Hereby we are certified that we knew God if we observe his Commandments He that saith he knoweth God and observeth not his Commandments is a lyar and the truth is not in him And again he saith 1 John 3. Whosoever sinneth doth not see God nor know him let no man deceive you welbeloved children And moreover he saith Hereby we know that we be of the truth and so we shall persuade our hearts before him 1 John 3. For if our own hearts reprove us God is above our hearts and knoweth all things Welbeloved if our hearts reprove us not then have we confidence in God and shall have of him whatsoever we ask because we keep his Commandments and do those things that please him And yet further he saith Every man that believeth that Jesus is Christ is born of God and we know that whosoever is born of God doth not sin But he that is begotten of God purgeth himself and the Devil doth not touch him And finally he concludeth and sheweth the cause why he wrote this Epistle 1 John 5. saying For this cause have I thus written unto you that you may know that you have everlasting life which do believe in the Son of God And in his third Epistle he confirmeth the whole matter of Faith and VVorks in few words 3 John 1. saying He that doth well is of God and he that doth evil knoweth not God And as St. John saith That as the lively Knowledge and Faith of God bringeth forth good VVorks So saith he likewise of Hope and Charity That they cannot stand with evil living Of Hope he writeth thus 1 John 3. We know that when God shall appear we shall be like unto him for we shall see him even as he is And whosoever hath this hope in him doth purifie himself like as God is pure And of Charity he saith these words 1 John 2. 1 John 5. He that doth keep God's word and Commandment in him is truly the perfect love of God And again he saith This is the love of God that we should keep his Commandments And St. John wrote not this as a subtil saying devised of his own phantasie but as a most certain and necessary Truth taught unto him by Christ himself the Eternal and infallible Verity who in many places doth most clearly affirm That Faith Hope and Charity cannot consist or stand without Good and Godly VVorks 1 John 5. Of Faith he saith He that believeth in the Son hath everlasting Life But he that believeth not in the Son John 3. shall not see that life but the wrath of God remaineth upon him John 6. And the same he confirmeth with a double Oath saying Verily verily I say unto you he that believeth in me hath everlasting life Now forasmuch as he that believeth in Christ hath everlasting life it must needs consequently follow that he that hath this Faith must have also good Works and be studious to observe God's Commandments obediently For to them that have evil Works and lead their Life in Disobedience and Transgression or breaking of God's Commandments without Repentance pertaineth not everlasting Life Matth. 25. but everlasting Death as Christ himself saith They that do well shall go into life eternal but they that do evil shall go into everlasting Fire And again he saith Apoc. 21. I am the first Letter and the last the beginning and the ending To him that is athirst I will give of the well of the water of life freely He that hath the victory shall have all things and I will be his God and he shall be my Son But they that be fearful mistrusting God and lacking Faith they that be cursed People and murtherers and fornicators and sorcerers and all lyars shall have their portion in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death And as Christ undoubtedly affirmeth that true faith bringeth forth good works So doth he say likewise of Charity Charity bringeth forth good Works John 14. Eccles. 1. Eccles. 15. Whosoever hath my Commandments and keepeth them that is he that loveth me And after he saith He that loveth me will keep my word and he that loveth me not keepeth not my words And as the Love of God is tryed by good Works so is the Fear of God also as the Wise man saith The dread of God putteth away sin And also he saith He that feareth God will do good Works The Third Part of the Sermon of Faith YOu have heard in the Second Part of this Sermon that no Man should think that he hath that lively Faith which Scripture commandeth when he liveth not obediently to God's Laws for all good Works spring out of that Faith And also it hath been declared unto you by examples that Faith maketh Men stedfast quiet and patient in all affliction Now as concerning the same matter you shall hear what followeth A Man
so not conceiving a right Faith thereof make those Promises larger than ever God did trusting that although they continue in their sinful and detestable Living never so long yet that God at the end of their Life will shew his Mercy upon them and that then they will return And both these two sorts of Men be in a damnable state and yet nevertheless God who willeth not the Death of the wicked Ezek. 18. and 33. hath shewed means whereby both the same if they take heed in season may escape The first Against desperation as they do dread God's rightful Justice in punishing Sinners whereby they should be dismayed and should despair indeed as touching any hope that may be in themselves so if they would constantly or stedfastly believe that God's Mercy is the Remedy appointed against such despair and distrust not only for them but generally for all that be sorry and truely repentant and will therewithal stick to God's Mercy they may be sure they shall obtain Mercy and enter into the Port or Haven of Safeguard into the which whosoever doth come be they beforetime never so wicked they shall be out of danger of everlasting damnation Ezek. 3. as God by Ezekiel saith What time soever a Sinner doth return and take earnest and true Repentance Against Presumption I will forget all his Wickedness The other as they be ready to believe God's Promises so they should be as ready to believe the Threatnings of God As well they should believe the Law as the Gospel As well that there is an Hell and everlasting Fire as that there is an Heaven and everlasting Joy As well they should believe Damnation to be threatned to the wicked and evil doers as Salvation to be promised to the faithful in Word and Works As well they should believe God to be true in the one as in the other And the Sinners that continue in their wicked living ought to think that the Promises of God's Mercy and the Gospel pertain not unto them being in that state but only the Law and those Scriptures which contain the Wrath and Indignation of God and his Threatnings which should certifie them that as they do over-boldly presume of God's Mercy and live dissolutely So doth God still more and more withdraw his Mercy from them and he is so provoked thereby to wrath at length that he destroyeth such Presumers many times suddenly 1 Thess 5. For of such St. Paul saith thus When they shall say it is Peace there is no danger then shall sudden destruction come upon them Let us beware therefore of such naughty boldness to Sin For God which hath promised his Mercy to them that be truly repentant although it be at the later end hath not promised to the presumptuous Sinner either that he shall have long Life or that he shall have true Repentance at the last end But for that purpose hath he made every Man's death uncertain that he should not put his hope in the end and in the mean season to God's high displeasure live ungodly Wherefore let us follow the Counsel of the wise Man let us make no tarrying to turn unto the Lord Let us not put off from day to day for suddenly shall his Wrath come and in time of Vengeance he will destroy the wicked Let us therefore turn betimes and when we turn let us pray to God Osee 14. as Osee teacheth saying Forgive all our Sins receive us graciously And if we turn to him with an humble and a very penitent Heart he will receive us to his Favour and Grace for his Holy Names sake for his Promise sake for his Truth and Mercies sake promised to all faithful Believers in Jesus Christ his only natural Son To whom the only Saviour of the World with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all honor glory and power world without end Amen AN EXHORTATION Against the Fear of Death IT is not to be marvelled that worldly Men do fear to die For death depriveth them of all worldly Honors Riches and Possessions in the fruition whereof the worldly Man counteth himself happy so long as he may enjoy them at his own Pleasure and otherwise if he be dispossessed of the same without hope of recovery then he can no otherwise think of himself but that he is unhappy because he hath lost his worldly Joy and Pleasure Alas thinketh this carnal Man shall I now depart for ever from all my Honors all my Treasure from my Country Friends Riches Possessions and worldly Pleasures which are my Joy and Heart's delight Alas that ever that day should come when all these I must bid farewel at once and never enjoy any of them after Wherefore it is not without great cause spoken of the wise Man O Death Eccles 41. how bitter and sower is the remembrance of thee to a Man that liveth in Peace and Prosperity in his Substance to a Man living at ease leading his Life after his own Mind without trouble and is therewithal well pampered and fed There be other Men whom this World doth not so greatly laugh upon but rather vex and oppress with Poverty Sickness or some other Adversity yet they do fear death partly because the Flesh abhorreth naturally it 's own sorrowful dissolution which death doth threaten to them and partly by reason of Sicknesses and painful diseases which be most strong Pangs and Agonies in the Flesh and use commonly to come to sick Men before death or at the least accompany death whensoever it cometh Although these two Causes seem great and weighty to a worldly Man whereupon he is moved to fear death yet there is another Cause much greater than any of these afore rehearsed for which indeed he hath just cause to fear death and that is the state and condition whereunto at the last end death bringeth all them that have their Hearts fixed upon this World without Repentance and Amendment This state and condition is called the second death which unto all such shall ensue after this bodily death And this is that death which indeed ought to be dreaded and feared For it is an everlasting loss without remedy of the Grace and Favor of God and of everlasting Joy Pleasure and Felicity And it is not only the loss for ever of all these eternal Pleasures but also it is the condemnation both of Body and Soul without either appellation or hope of redemption unto everlasting pains in Hell Unto this state death sent the unmerciful and ungodly rich Man Luke 16. that Luke speaketh of in his Gospel who living in all Wealth and Pleasure in this World and cherishing himself daily with dainty Fare and gorgeous Apparel despised poor Lazarus that lay pitiful at his Gate miserably plagued and full of Sores and also grievously pined with Hunger Both these two were arrested by death which sent Lazarus the poor miserable Man by Angels anon unto Abraham's Bosom a place of Rest
Pleasure and Consolation But the unmerciful rich Man descended down into Hell and being in Torments he cried for Comfort complaining of the intolerable pain that he suffered in that flame of Fire but it was too late So unto this place bodily death sendeth all them that in this World have their Joy and Felicity all them that in this World be unfaithful unto God and uncharitable unto their Neighbours so dying without Repentance and hope of God's Mercy Wherefore it is no marvel that the worldly Man feareth death for he hath much more cause so to do than he himself doth consider Thus we see three Causes why worldly Men fear death One The First because they shall lose thereby their worldly Honors Riches Possessions and all their Hearts desires Another Second because of the painful diseases and bitter pangs which commonly Men suffer either before or at the time of death Third But the chief cause above all other is the dread of the miserable state of eternal damnation both of Body and Soul which they fear shall follow after their departing from the worldly Pleasures of this present Life For these Causes be all mortal Men which be given to the love of this World both in fear and state of death through Sin as the Holy Apostle saith so long as they live here in this World But Heb. 10. everlasting thanks be to Almighty God for ever there is never a one of all these Causes no nor yet them all together that can make a true Christian man afraid to die who is the very Member of Christ 1 Cor. 3. the Temple of the Holy Ghost the Son of God and the very Inheritor of the everlasting Kingdom of Heaven but plainly contrary he conceiveth great and many Causes undoubtedly grounded upon the infallible and everlasting truth of the Word of God which moveth him not only to put away the fear of bodily death but also for the manifold Benefits and singular Commodities which ensue unto every faithful Person by reason of the same to wish desire and long heartily for it For death shall be to him no death at all but a very deliverance from death from all Pains Cares and Sorrows Miseries and Wretchedness of this World and the very entry into Rest and a beginning of everlasting Joy a tasting of heavenly Pleasures so great that neither Tongue is able to express neither Eye to see nor Ear to hear them no nor any earthly Man's heart to conceive them So exceeding great Benefits they be which God our heavenly Father by his mere Mercy and for the Love of his Son Jesus Christ hath laid up in store and prepared for them that humbly submit themselves to God's Will and evermore unfeignedly love him from the bottom of their Hearts And we ought to believe that death being slain by Christ cannot keep any Man that stedfastly trusteth in Christ under his perpetual Tyranny and Subjection But that he shall rise from death again unto Glory at the last day appointed by Almighty God like as Christ our Head did rise again according to God's appointment the third day For St. Augustine saith The Head going before the Members trust to follow and come after And St. Paul saith If Christ be risen from the dead we shall rise also from the same And to comfort all Christian Persons herein Holy Scripture calleth this bodily death a sleep wherein Man's Senses be as it were taken from him for a season and yet when he awaketh he is more fresh than he was when he went to Bed So although we have our Souls separated from our Bodies for a season yet at the general Resurrection we shall be more fresh beautiful and perfect than we be now For now we be mortal then shall we be immortal Now infected with divers Infirmities then clearly void of all mortal Infirmities Now we be subject to all carnal desires then we shall be all Spiritual desiring nothing but God's Glory and things eternal Thus is this bodily death a door or entring unto Life and therefore not so much dreadful if it be rightly considered as it is comfortable not a mischief but a Remedy for all mischief no Enemy but a Friend not a cruel Tyrant but a gentle Guide leading us not to mortality but to immortality not to Sorrow and Pain but to Joy and Pleasure and that to endure for ever if it be thankfully taken and accepted as God's Messenger and patiently born of us for Christ's Love that suffered most painful death for our Love to redeem us from death eternal Accordingly hereunto St. Paul saith Col. 3. Our Life is hid with Christ in God But when our Life shall appear then shall we also appear with him in Glory Why then shall we fear to die considering the manifold and comfortable Promises of the Gospel and of Holy Scriptures 1 John 5. God the Father hath given us everlasting Life saith St. John 1 John 5. and this Life is in his Son He that hath the Son hath Life and he that hath not the Son hath not Life And this I write saith St. John to you that believe in the Name of the Son of God that you may know that you have everlasting Life and that you do believe upon the Name of the Son of God And our Saviour Christ saith John 5. He that believeth in me hath Life everlasting and I will raise him from Death to Life at the last day St. Paul also saith 1 Cor. 1. That Christ is ordained and made of God our Righteousness or Holiness and Redemption to the intent that he which will glory should glory in the Lord. St. Paul did contemn and set little by all other things Phil. 3. esteeming them as Dung which before he had in very great price that he might be found in Christ to have everlasting Life true Holiness Righteousness and Redemption Finally St. Paul maketh a plain Argument on this wise Rom. 8. If our heavenly Father would not spare his own natural Son but did give him to death for us how can it it be but that with him he should give us all things Therefore if we have Christ then have we with him and by him all good things whatsoever we can in our Hearts wish or desire as Victory over Death Sin and Hell We have the Favour of God Peace with him Holiness Wisdom Justice Power Life and Redemption we have by him perpetual Health Wealth Joy and Bliss everlasting The Second Part of the Sermon against the Fear of Death IT hath been heretofore shewed you That there be three Causes wherefore Men do commonly fear Death First the sorrowful departing from Worldly Goods and Pleasures The Second the fear of the pangs and pains that come with Death The last and principal Cause is The horrible fear of extreme Misery and perpetual Damnation in time to come And yet none of these three Causes troubleth good Men because they stay
that Heb. 12. saith St. Paul whom the Father loveth and doth not chastise If ye be without God's correction which all his welbeloved and true Children have then be you but Bastards smally regarded of God and not his true Children Therefore seeing that when we have on Earth our carnal Fathers to be our correctors we do fear them and reverently take their correction shall we not much more be in Subjection to God our Spiritual Father by whom we shall have everlasting Life and our Carnal Fathers somtimes correct us even as it pleaseth them without cause But this Father justly correcteth us either for our Sin to the intent we should amend or for our Commodity and Wealth to make us thereby partakers of his Holiness Furthermore all Correction which God sendeth us in this present time seemeth to have no Joy and Comfort but Sorrow and Pain yet it bringeth with it a tast of God's Mercy and Goodness towards them that be so corrected and a sure hope of God's everlasting Consolation in Heaven If then these Sorrows Diseases and Sicknesses and also Death itself be nothing else but our Heavenly Father's Rod whereby he certifieth us of his Love and gracious Favour whereby he tryeth and purifieth us whereby he giveth unto us Holiness and certifieth us that we be his Children and he our merciful Father Shall not we then with all humility as obedient and loving Children joyfully kiss our Heavenly Father's Rod and ever say in our Heart with our Saviour Jesus Christ Father if this Anguish and Sorrow which I feel and Death which I see approach may not pass but that thy will is that I must suffer them Thy Will be done The Third Part of the Sermon against the Fear of Death IN this Sermon against the fear of Death Two Causes were declared which commonly move worldly Men to be in much fear to die and yet the same do nothing trouble the faithful and good Livers when Death cometh but rather give them occasion greatly to rejoice considering that they shall be delivered from the sorrow and misery of this World and be brought to the great Joy and Felicity of the Life to come The Third Cause why Death is to be feared Now the Third and special Cause why Death indeed is to be feared is the miserable State of the worldly and ungodly People after their Death But this is no Cause at all why the godly and faithful People should fear Death but rather contrariwise their godly Conversation in this Life and Belief in Christ cleaving continually to his Mercies should make them to long sore after that Life that remaineth for them undoubtedly after this bodily Death Of this immortal State after this transitory Life where we shall live evermore in the Presence of God in Joy and Rest after Victory over all Sickness Sorrows Sin and Death There be many plain places of Holy Scripture which confirm the weak Conscience against the fear of all such Dolours Sicknesses Sin and bodily Death to asswage such trembling and ungodly fear and to encourage us with Comfort and hope of a blessed State after this Life Saint Paul wisheth unto the Ephesians Ephes 1. That God the Father of Glory would give unto them the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation that the Eyes of their Hearts might give Light to know him and to perceive how great things he had called them unto and how rich an Inheritance he hath prepared after this Life for them that pertain unto him Phil. 1. And St. Paul himself declareth the desire of his Heart which was to be dissolved and loosed from his Body and to be with Christ which as he said was much better for him although to them it was more necessary that he should live which he refused not for their sakes Even like as St. Martin said Good Lord if I be necessary for thy People to do good unto them I will refuse no Labour But else for mine own self I beseech thee to take my Soul Now the Holy Fathers of the Old Law and all faithful and righteous Men which departed before our Saviour Christ's Ascension into Heaven did by Death depart from Troubles unto Rest from the hands of their Enemies into the hands of God from Sorrows and Sicknesses unto joyful refreshing in Abraham's bosom a place of all Comfort and Consolation as the Scriptures do plainly by manifest words testifie Wisdom 3. The Book of Wisdom saith That the Righteous Mens Souls be in the hand of God and no torment shall touch them They seemed to the eyes of foolish Men to die and their death was counted miserable and their departing out of this World wretched but they be in Rest And another place saith Wisd 4. That the Righteous shall live for ever and their Reward is with the Lord and their Minds be with God who is above all Therefore they shall receive a Glorious Kingdom and a Beautiful Crown at the Lord's hand And in another place the same Book saith The Righteous though he be prevented with suddain Death nevertheless he shall be there where he shall be refreshed Of Abraham's Bosom Christ's words be so plain that a Christian Man needeth no more proof of it Now then if this were the state of the Holy Fathers and Righteous Men before the coming of our Saviour and before he was Glorified How much more then ought all we to have a stedfast Faith and a sure Hope of this blessed state and condition after our death Seeing that our Saviour now hath performed the whole Work of our Redemption and is Gloriously ascended into Heaven to prepare our dwelling places with him and said unto his Father Father John 17. I will that where I am my servants shall be with me And we know that whatsoever Christ Will his Father Wills the same wherefore it cannot be but if we be his Faithful Servants our Souls shall be with him after our departure out of this present life St. Stephen when he was stoned to death even in the midst of his torments what was his Mind most upon Acts 7. When he was full of the Holy Ghost saith Holy Scripture having his eyes lifted up into Heaven he saw the Glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God The which Truth after he had confessed boldly before the enemies of Christ they drew him out of the City and there they stoned him who cryed unto God saying Lord Jesu Christ take my Spirit And doth not our Saviour say plainly in St. John's Gospel Verily John 5. verily I say unto you He that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life and cometh not into judgment but shall pass from death to life Shall we not then think that death to be precious by the which we pass unto life Therefore it is a true saying of the Prophet Psal 116. The death of the Holy and Righteous Men is precious in the
meant in any condition of the pretenced or coloured Power of the Bishop of Rome For truly the Scripture of God alloweth no such Usurped Power full of Enormities Abusions and Blasphemies But the true meaning of these and such places be to extol and set forth God's true Ordinance and the Authority of God's Anointed Kings and of their Officers appointed under them And concerning the Usurped Power of the Bishop of Rome which he most wrongfully challengeth as the successor of Christ and Peter We may easily perceive how false feigned and forged it is not only in that it hath no sufficient ground in Holy Scripture but also by the Fruits and Doctrine thereof For our Saviour Christ and St. Peter teach most earnestly and agreeably Obedience to Kings as to the chief and Supreme Rulers in this world next under God But the Bishop of Rome teacheth that they that are under him are free from all burdens and charges of the Commonwealth and Obedience toward their Prince most clearly against Christ's Doctrine and St. Peters He ought therefore rather to be called Antichrist and the Successor of the Scribes and Pharises than Christ's Vicar and St. Peter's Successor Seeing that not only in this point but also in other weighty matters of Christian Religion in matters of Remission and Forgiveness of Sins and of Salvation he teacheth so directly against both St. Peter and against our Saviour Christ who not only taught Obedience to Kings but also practised Obedience in their Conversation and Living For we read that they both paid Tribute to the King And also we read that the Holy Virgin Mary Matth. 17. Mother to our Saviour Christ and Joseph who was taken for his Father at the Emperor's Commandment went to the City of David Luke 2. named Bethlehem to be taxed among other and to declare their Obedience to the Magistrates for God's Ordinances sake And here let us not forget the blessed Virgin Maries Obedience For although she was highly in God's Favour and and Christs natural Mother and was also great with Child at the same time and so nigh her Travail that she was delivered in her journey yet she gladly without any excuse or grudging for Conscience sake did take that cold and foul Winter journey being in the mean season so poor that she lay in a Stable and there she was Delivered of Christ And according to the same Lo how St. Peter agreeth writing by express words in his first Epistle 1 Pet. 2. Submit your selves and be Subject saith he unto Kings as unto the chief heads and unto rulers as unto them that are sent of him for the punishment of evil-doors and for the praise of them that do well for so is the will of God I need not to expound these words they be so plain of themselves St. Peter doth not say Submit your selves unto me as Supreme Head of the Church Neither saith he Submit your selves from time to time to my Successors in Rome But he saith Submit your selves unto your King your Supreme Head and unto those that he appointeth in Authority under him for that you shall so shew your Obedience it is the Will of God God will that you be in subjection to your Head and King This is God's Ordinance God's Commandment and God's Will that the whole Body of every Realm and all the Members and Parts of the same shall be subject to their Head their King and that as St. Peter writeth for the Lords sake 1 Pet. 2. Rom. 13. Matth. 22. And as St. Paul writeth for conscience sake and not for fear only Thus we learn by the word of God to yield to our King that is due to our King That is Honour Obedience payments of due Taxes Customs Tributes Subsidies Love and Fear Rom. 13. Thus we know partly our bounden Duties to common Authority now let us learn to accomplish the same And let us most instantly and heartily pray to God the only Author of all Authority for all them that be in Authority according as St. Paul willeth writing thus to Timothy in his first Epistle 1 Tim. 2. I exhort therefore that above all things Prayers Supplications Intercessions and giving of Thanks be done for all Men for Kings and for all that be in Authority that we may live a quiet and a peaceable life with all godliness and Honesty For that is good and accepted or allowable in the sight of God our Saviour Here St. Paul maketh an earnest and an especial Exhortation concerning Giving of Thanks and Prayer for Kings and Rulers saying Above all things as he might say in any wise principally and chiefly let prayer be made for Kings Let us heartily thank God for his great and excellent Benefit and Providence concerning the state of Kings Let us pray for them that they may have God's Favour and God's Protection Let us pray that they may ever in all things have God before their Eyes Let us pray that they may have Wisdom Strength Justice Clemency and Zeal to God's Glory to God's Verity to Christian Souls and to the Commonwealth Let us pray that they may rightly use their Sword and Authority for the maintenance and defence of the Catholick Faith contained in Holy Scripture and of their good and honest Subjects for the fear and punishment of the evil and vicious People Let us pray that they may most faithfully follow the Kings and Captains in the Bible David Ezekias Josias and Moses with such other And let us pray for ourselves that we may live Godlily in Holy and Christian Conversation So shall we have God on our side and then let us not fear what Man can do against us So we shall live in true Obedience both to our most merciful King in Heaven and to our most Christian King on Earth So shall we please God and have the exceeding Benefit peace of Conscience rest and quietness here in this World and after this life we shall enjoy a better Life Rest Peace and the everlasting Bliss of Heaven which he grant us all that was obedient for us all even to the death of the Cross Jesus Christ To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all Honour and Glory both now and ever Amen A SERMON Against Whoredom and Vncleanness ALthough there want not good Christian People great swarms of Vices worthy to be rebuked unto such decay is true Godliness and Virtuous living now come Yet above other Vices the outragious Seas of Adultery or breaking of Wedlock Whoredom Fornication and Uncleanness have not only burst in but also overflowed almost the whole World unto the great dishonour of God the exceeding Infamy of the Name of Christ the notable decay of true Religion and the utter destruction of the publick Wealth and that so abundantly that through the customable use thereof this Vice is grown unto such an height that in a manner among many it is counted no sin at all but rather a pastime a
Acts 15. That when the Apostles and Elders with the whole Congregation were gathered together to pacifie the hearts of the faithful dwelling at Antioch which were disquieted through the false Doctrine of several Jewish Preachers they sent word to the Brethren That it seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to them to charge them with no more than with necessary things Among others they willed them to abstain from Idolatry and Fornication from which said they if you keep your selves ye shall do well Note here how these holy and blessed Fathers of Christ's Church would charge the Congregation with no more things than were necessary Mark also how among those things from the which they commanded the Brethren of Antioch to abstain Fornication and Whoredom are numbred It is therefore necessary by the determination and consent of the Holy Ghost and the Apostles and Elders with the whole Congregation that as from Idolatry and Superstition so likewise we must abstain from Fornication and Whoredom It is necessary unto Salvation to abstain from Idolatry So it is to abstain from Whoredom Is there any nigher way to lead unto damnation than to be an Idolater No even so neither is there any nearer way to damnation than to be a Fornicator and a Whoremonger Now where are those People which so lightly esteem breaking of Wedlock Whoredom Fornication and Adultery It is necessary saith the Holy Ghost the blessed Apostles the Elders with the whole Congregation of Christ it is necessary to Salvation say they to abstain from Whoredom If it be necessary unto Salvation then woe be to them which neglecting their Salvation give their Minds to so filthy and stinking a Sin to so wicked Vice and to such detestable abomination The Second Part of the Sermon against Adultery YOU have been taught in the First Part of this Sermon against Adultery how that Vice at this day reigneth most above all other Vices and what is meant by this word Adultery and how Holy Scripture dissuadeth or discounselleth from doing that filthy Sin and finally what corruption cometh to Man's Soul through the Sin of Adultery Now to proceed further let us hear what the blessed Apostle St. Paul saith to this matter writing to the Romans he hath these words Rom. 13. Let us cast away the Works of Darkness and put on the Armour of Light Let us walk honestly as it were in the day time not in eating and drinking neither in chambering and wantonness neither in strife and envying but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the Flesh to fulfil the Lusts of it Here the Holy Apostle exhorteth us to cast away the Works of Darkness which among other he calleth gluttonous eating drinking chambering and wantonness which are all Ministers unto that Vice and preparations to induce and bring in the filthy Sin of the Flesh He calleth them the Deeds and Works of Darkness not only because they are customably in Darkness John 3 Matth. 25. or in the night time for every one that doth evil hateth the Light neither cometh he to the Light lest his Works should be reproved but that they lead the right way unto that utter Darkness where weeping and gnashing of Teeth shall be Rom. 8. And he saith in another place of the same Epistle They that are in the Flesh cannot please God We are Debtors not to the Flesh that we should live after the Flesh for if ye live after the Flesh ye shall die 1. Cor. 6. Again he saith Flee from Whoredom for every Sin that a Man committeth is without his Body But whosoever committeth Whoredom sinneth against his own Body Do ye not know That your Members are the Temples of the Holy Ghost which is in you whom also ye have of God and ye are not your own For ye are dearly bought Glorifie God in your Bodies c. And a little before he saith Do ye not know That your Bodies are the Members of Christ Shall I then take the Members of Christ and make them the Members of a Whore God forbid Do ye not know That he which cleaveth to a Whore is made one Body with her There shall be two in one Flesh saith he but he that cleaveth to the Lord is one Spirit What godly Words doth the blessed Apostle St. Paul bring forth here to dissuade and discounsel us from Whoredom and Uncleanness Your Members saith he are the Temples of the Holy Ghost which whosoever doth defile Gâ—d will destroy him as saith St. Paul If we be the Temple of the Holy Ghost how unfitting then is it to drive that Holy Spirit from us through Whoredom and in his place to set the wicked Spirits of Uncleanness and Fornication and to be joined and do Service to them Ye are dearly bought saith he 1. Pet. 1. therefore glorifie God in your Bodies Christ that innocent Lamb of God hath bought us from the Servitude of the Devil not with corruptible Gold and Silver Esaiah 38. but with his most precious and dear heart blood To what intent That we should fall again into our old Uncleanness and abominable Living Luke 1. Nay verily But that we should serve him all the days of our Life in Holiness and Righteousness that we should glorifie him in our Bodies by purity and cleanness of Life He declareth also That our Bodies are the Members of Christ How unseemly a thing is it then to cease to be incorporate or imbodied and made one with Christ and through Whoredom to be enjoined and made all one with a Whore What greater dishonor or injury can we do to Christ than to take away from him the Members of his Body and to join them to Whores Devils and wicked Spirits And what more dishonor can we do to ourselves than through Uncleanness to lose so excellent a Dignity and Freedom and to become Bond-slaves and miserable Captives to the Spirits of Darkness Let us therefore consider First the Glory of Christ then our Estate our Dignity and Freedom wherein God hath set us by giving us his Holy Spirit and let us valiantly defend the same against Satan and all his crafty Assaults that Christ may be honored and that we lose not our Liberty or Freedom but still remain in one Spirit with him Eph. 5. Moreover in his Epistle to the Ephesians the blessed Apostle willeth us to be so pure and free from Adultery Fornication and all Uncleanness that we not once name them among us as it becometh Saints nor Filthiness nor foolish Talking nor Jesting which are not comely but rather giving of Thanks For this ye know saith he that no Whoremonger 1 Cor. 6. neither unclean Person or covetous Person which is an Idolater hath any Inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of God And that we should remember to be holy pure and free from all Uncleanness the holy Apostle calleth us Saints because we are sanctified and made holy by the
the Quietness and Peace of the same And whereof cometh this Contention Strife and Variance but of Pride and Vain-glory Let us therefore humble ourselves under the mighty Hand of God 1 Pet. 5. Luk. 1. which hath promised to rest upon them that be humble and low in Spirit If we be good and quiet Christian Men let it appear in our Speech and Tongues If we have forsaken the Devil let us use no more Devilish Tongues He that hath been a railing Scolder now let him be a sober Counsellor He that hath been a malicious Slanderer now let him be a loving Comforter He that hath been a vain Railer now let him be a ghostly Teacher He that hath abused his Tongue in Cursing now let him use it in Blessing He that hath abused his Tongue in evil-speaking now let him use it in speaking well All Bitterness Anger Railing and Blasphemy let it be avoided from you If you may and if it be possible in no wise be angry But if you may not be clean void of this passion yet then so temper and bridle it that it stir you not to Contention and Brawling If you be provoked with evil-speaking arm yourself with Patience Lenity and Silence either speaking nothing or else being very soft meek and gentle in answering Overcome thine Adversary with Benefits and Gentleness And above all things keep Peace and Unity Be no Peace-breakers but Peace-makers And then there is no doubt but that God the Author of Comfort and Peace will grant us Peace of Conscience and such Concord and Agreement that with one Mouth and Mind we may glorifie God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ to whom be all Glory now and for ever AMEN HEreafter shall follow Sermons of Fasting Prayer Alms-Deeds of the Nativity Passion Resurrection and Ascension of our Saviour Christ Of the due Receiving of his Blessed Body and Blood under the form of Bread and Wine Against Idleness against Gluttony and Drunkenness against Covetousness against Envy Ire and Malice with many other matters as well fruitful as necessary to the edifying of Christian People and the increase of Godly Living GOD Save the KING THE Second PART OF THE HOMILIES LONDON Printed for George Wells at the Sun Abel Swall at the Unicorn in St. Paul's Church-yard and George Pawlett at the Bible in Chancery-Lane 1687. AN ADMONITION TO ALL Ministers Ecclesiastical FOR that the Lord doth require of his Servant whom he hath set over his Houshold to shew both Faithfulness and Prudence in his Office It shall be necessary that ye above all other do behave yourselves most faithfully and diligently in your so high a Function That is aptly plainly and distinctly to Read the Sacred Scriptures diligently to instruct the Youth in their Catechism gravely and reverently to Minister his most Holy Sacraments prudently also to choose out such Homilies as be most meet for the time and for the more agreeable Instruction of the People committed to your charge with such discretion that where the Homily may appear too long for one Reading to divide the same to be Read part in the Forenoon and part in the Afternoon And where it may so chance some one or other Chapter of the Old Testament to fall in order to be Read upon the Sundays or Holy-days which were better to be changed with some other of the New Testament of more Edification it shall be well done to spend your time to consider well of such Chapters before-hand whereby your Prudence and diligence in your Office may appear so that your People may have cause to glorifie God for you and be the readier to embrace your Labours to your better Commendation to the discharge of your Consciences and their own THE TABLE OF Homilies ensuing I. OF the Right Use of the Church Page 93 II. Against Peril of Idolatry Page 102 III. For Repairing and keeping Clean the Church Page 282 IV. Of Good Works And first of Fasting Page 289 V. Against Gluttony and Drunkenness Page 309 VI. Against excess of Apparel Page 322 VII An Homily of Prayer Page 334 VIII Of the Place and Time of Prayer Page 356 IX Of Common-Prayer and Sacraments Page 370 X. An Information of them which take Offence at certain places of Holy Scripture Page 385 XI Of Alms-Deeds Page 402 XII Of the Nativity Page 421 XIII Of the Passion for Good Friday Page 434 443 XIV Of the Resurrection for Easter Day Page 455 XV. Of the Worthy Receiving of the Sacrament Page 467 XVI An Homily concerning the coming down of the Holy Ghost for Whitsunday Page 480 XVII An Homily for Rogation-Week Page 497 XVIII Of the State of Matrimony Page 539 XIX Against Idleness Page 540 XX. Of Repentance and true Reconciliation unto God Page 556 XXI An Homily against Disobedience and wilful Rebellion Page 583 AN HOMILY OF THE Right Use of the Church or Temple of GOD and of the Reverence due unto the same The First Chapter WHereas there appeareth in these days great slackness and negligence of a great sort of People in resorting to the Church there to serve God their Heavenly Father according to their most bounden duty as also much Uncomely and Unreverent behaviour of many Persons in the same when they be there assembled and thereby may just fear arise of the Wrath of God and his dreadful Plagues hanging over Head for our grievous Offences in this behalf amongst other many and great Sins which we daily and hourly commit before the Lord. Therefore for the discharge of all our Consciences and for the avoiding of the common Peril and Plague hanging over us let us consider what may be said out of Gods Holy Book concerning this matter whereunto I pray you give good Audience for that it is of great weight and concerneth you all Although the Eternal and Incomprehensible Majesty of God the Lord of Heaven and Earth whose seat is Heaven and the Earth his Footstool cannot be inclosed in Temples or Houses made with Mans Hand as in dwelling places able to receive or contain his Majesty according as is evidently declared by the Prophet Isaiah Isaiah 66. Act. 7.17 3 Reg. 8. 2 Par. 2. and 6. and by the Doctrine of St. Stephen and St. Paul in the Acts of the Apostles And where King Solomon who builded unto the Lord the most glorious Temple that ever was made saith Who shall be able to build a meet or worthy House for him If Heaven and the Heaven above all Heavens cannot contain him how much less can that which I have builded And further confesseth What am I that I should be able to build thee an House O Lord But yet for this purpose only it is made that thou mayest regard the Prayer of thy Servant and his Humble Supplication Much less then be our Churches meet dwelling places to receive the Incomprehensible Majesty of God And indeed the chief and special Temples of God wherein he hath greatest pleasure and most delighteth to dwell
convenient that the Scriptures of God and specially the Gospel of our Saviour Christ should be Read and Expounded unto us that be Christians in our Churches specially our Saviour Christ and his Apostles allowing this most godly and necessary usage and by their Examples confirming the same It is written in the Stories of the Gospel in divers places that Jesus went round about all Galilee Matth. 4. Mark 1. Luke 4. Matth. 13.20 Mark 6. Luke 13. Luke 4. teaching in their Synagogues and preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom In which places is his great diligence in continual Preaching and Teaching of the People most evidently set forth In Luke ye read how Jesus according to his accustomed use came into the Temple and how the Book of Isaiah the Prophet was delivered him how he read a Text therein and made a Sermon upon the same Luke 19. And in the Nineteenth is expressed how he Taught daily in the Temple And it is thus written in the Eighth of John John 8. John 18. Jesus came again early in the Morning into the Temple and all the People came unto him and he sate down and Taught them And in the Eighteenth of John our Saviour testifieth before Pilate that he spake openly unto the World and that he always Taught in the Synagogue and in the Temple whither all the Jews resorted and that secretly he spake nothing Luke 21. And in Saint Luke Jesus Taught in the Temple and all the People came early in the Morning unto him that they might hear him in the Temple Here ye see as well the diligence of our Saviour in teaching the Word of God in the Temple daily and specially on the Sabbath-days as also the readiness of the People resorting all together and that early in the Morning into the Temple to hear him The same Example of diligence in preaching the Word of God in the Temple shall ye find in the Apostles and the People resorting unto them Acts the Fifth Where the Apostles although they had been whipped and scourged the day before and by the High Priest commanded that they should preach no more in the Name of Jesus yet the day following they entred early in the Morning into the Temple and did not cease to teach and declare Jesus Christ And in sundry other places of the Story of the Acts Acts 13.15.17 ye shall find like diligence both in the Apostles in Teaching and in the People in coming to the Temple to hear Gods Word And it is testified in the First of Luke that when Zachary the Holy Priest Luke 1. and Father to John Baptist did Sacrifice within the Temple all the People stood without a long time praying such was their zeal and fervency at that time And in the Second of Luke appeareth what great Journeys Men Luke 2. Women yea and Children took to come to the Temple on the Feast-day there to serve the Lord and specially the Example of Joseph the Blessed Virgin Mary Mother to our Saviour Jesus Christ and of our Saviour Christ himself being yet but a Child whose Examples are worthy for us to follow So that if we would compare our negligence in resorting to the House of the Lord there to serve him with the diligence of the Jews in coming daily very early somtimes by great Journeys to their Temple and when the multitude could not be received within the Temple the fervent zeal that they had was declared in standing long without and Praying We may justly in this Comparison condemn our slothfulness and negligence yea plain contempt in coming to the Lord's House standing so near unto us so seldom and scarcely at any time So far is it from a great many of us to come early in the Morning or give attendance without who disdain to come into the Temple And yet we abhor the very Name of the Jews when we hear it as of a most wicked and ungodly People But it is to be feared that in this point we be far worse than the Jews and that they shall rise at the day of Judgment to our Condemnation who in Comparison to them shew such slackness and contempt in resorting to the House of the Lord there to serve him according as we are of duty most bound And besides this most horrible dread of God's just Judgment in the great day we shall not in this Life escape his heavy Hand and Vengeance for this contempt of the House of the Lord and his due service in the same according as the Lord himself threatneth in the First Chapter of the Prophet Aggeus after this sort Agge 1. Because you have left my House desert and without Company saith the Lord and ye have made haste every Man to his own House for this cause are the Heavens stayed over you that they should give no Dew and the Earth is forbidden that it should bring forth her Fruit and I have called Drought upon the Earth and upon the Mountains and upon corn and upon wine and upon oil and upon all things that the earth bringeth forth and upon men and upon beasts and upon all things that mens hands labour for Behold if we be such worldlings that we care not for the Eternal Judgments of God which yet of all other are most dreadful and horrible we shall not escape the punishment of God in this World by drought and famine and the taking away of all worldly commodities which we as worldlings seem only to regard and care for Whereas on the contrary part if we would amend this fault or neglignce slothfulness and contempt of the House of the Lord and his due service there and with diligence resort thither together to serve the Lord with one accord and consent in all Holiness and Righteousness before him we have promises of benefits Matth. 18. both Heavenly and Worldly Wheresoever two or three be gathered in my Name saith our Saviour Christ there am I in the midst of them And what can be more blessed than to have our Saviour Christ among us Or what again can be more unhappy or mischievous than to drive our Saviour Christ from amongst us to leave a place for his and our most ancient and mortal Enemy the old Dragon and Serpent Satan the Devil in the midst of us In the Second of Luke it is written how that the mother of Christ and Joseph when they had long sought Christ whom they had lost and could find him no where Luke 2. that at the last they found him in the Temple sitting in the midst of the Doctors So if we lack Jesus Christ that is to say the Saviour of our Souls and Bodies we shall not find him in the Market-place or in the Guild-Hall much less in the Ale-house or Tavern amongst good Fellows as they call them so soon as we shall find him in the Temple the Lords House amongst the Teachers and Preachers of his Word where indeed he is to be
creeping upon the Earth in comparison to his Eternal Majesty and less regarding that they must give an account at the great day of every idle word wheresoever it be spoken Matth. 12. much more of filthy unclean or wicked words spoken in the Lords House to the great dishonour of his Majesty and offence of all that hear them And indeed concerning the People and Multitude the Temple is prepared for them to be Hearers rather than Speakers considering that as well the Word of God is there Read and Taught whereunto they are bound to give diligent Ear with all Reverence and Silence as also that Common-Prayer and Thanksgiving are Rehearsed and said by the Publick Minister in the Name of the People and the whole multitude present whereunto they giving their ready Audience should assent and say Cor. 14. Amen as Saint Paul teacheth in the first Epistle to the Corinthians And in another place Glorifying God with one Spirit and Mouth Which cannot be when every Man and Woman in several pretences of Devotion prayeth privately one Asking another giving Thanks another reading Doctrine and not regarding to hear the Common Prayer of the Minister And peculiarly what due Reverence is to be used in the Ministring of the Sacraments in the Temple the same Saint Paul teacheth to the Corinthians 1 Cor. 11. rebuking such as did Unreverently use themselves in that behalf Have ye not Houses to eat and drink in saith he Do ye despise the Church or Congregation of God What shall I say unto you Shall I praise you In this I praise you not And God requireth not only this outward Reverence of Behaviour and silence in his House but all inward Reverence in cleansing of the Thoughts of our Hearts Osee 9. threatning by his Prophet Osee in the Ninth Chapter that for the Malice of the Inventions and Devices of the People he will cast them out of his House Whereby is also signified the Eternal casting of them out of his Heavenly House and Kingdom which is most horrible And therefore in the Ninteenth of Leviticus God saith Levit. 19. Psal 5. Fear you with Reverence my Sanctuary for I am the Lord. And according to the same the Prophet David saith I will enter into thine House I will Worship in thy Holy Temple in thy Fear Shewing what inward Reverence and Humbleness of Mind the godly Man ought to have in the House of the Lord. And to alledge somwhat concerning this matter out of the New Testament in what Honour God would have his House or Temple kept and that by the Example of our Saviour Christ whose Authority ought of good reason with all true Christians to be of most Weight and Estimation It is written of all the four Evangelists as a Notable Act Matth. 21. Mar. 11. Luke 19. John 11. and worthy to be testified by many Holy Witnesses how that our Saviour Jesus Christ that Merciful and Mild Lord compared for his Meekness to a Sheep suffering with silence his Fleece to be shorn from him Isaiah 53. Acts 8. Isaiah 50. Matth. 5. and to a Lamb led without resistance to the Slaughter which gave his Body to them that did smite him answered not him that reviled nor turned away his Face from them that did reproach him and spit upon him and according to his own Example gave Precepts of Mildness and Sufferance to his Disciples Yet when he seeth the Temple and Holy House of his Heavenly Father misordered polluted and prophaned useth great severity and sharpness overturneth the Tables of the Exchangers subverted the Seats of them that sold Doves maketh a whip of Cords and scourgeth out those wicked abusers and profaners of the Temple of God saying My House shall be called the House of Prayer but ye have made it a Den of Thieves John 2. And in the Second of John Do not ye make the House of my Father the House of Merchandize For as it is the House of God when Gods service is duly done in it So when we wickedly abuse it with wicked talk or covetous bargaining we make it a Den of Thieves or an House of Merchandize Mark 11 Yea and such Reverence would Christ should be therein that he would not suffer any Vessel to be carried through the Temple And whereas our Saviour Christ as is before mentioned out of Saint Luke could be found no where when he was sought but only in the Temple amongst the Doctors and now again he exerciseth his Authority and Jurisdiction not in Castles and Princely Palaces amongst Souldiers but in the Temple Ye may hereby understand in what place his spiritual Kingdom which he denieth to be of this World is soonest to be found and best to be known of all places in this World And according to this Example of our Saviour Christ in the Primitive Church which was most Holy and Godly and in the which due discipline with severity was used against the wicked open Offenders were not suffered once to enter into the House of the Lord nor admitted to Common Prayer and the use of the Holy Sacraments with other true Christians until they had done open Penance before the whole Church And this was practised not only upon mean Persons but also upon the Rich Noble and Mighty Persons yea upon Theodosius that Puissant and Mighty Emperor whom for committing * The Peoples fault was most grievous The sentence executed otherwise and more cruel than it should a grievous and wilful Murder Saint Ambrose Bishop of Milain reproved sharply and ‡ did also Excommunicate the said Emperor and brought him to open Penance And they that were so justly exempted and banished as it were from the House of the Lord were taken as they be indeed for Men divided and separated from Christs Church and in most dangerous estate yea as Saint Paul saith * 1 Cor. 5 even given unto Satan †He was only dehorted from receiving the Sacrament until by Repentance he might be better prepared Chrys the Devil for a time and their company was shunned and avoided of all Godly Men and Women until such time as they by Repentance and publick Penance were Reconciled Such was the Honour of the Lords House in Mens Hearts and outward Reverence also at that time and so horrible a thing was it to be shut out of the Church and House of the Lord in those days when Religion was most pure and nothing so corrupt as it hath been of late days And yet we willingly either by absenting ourselves from the House of the Lord do as it were Excommunicate ourselves from the Church and and Fellowship of the Saints of God or else coming thither by uncomely and unreverent behaviour there by hasty rash yea unclean and wicked Thoughts and Words before the Lord our God horribly dishonour his Holy House the Church of God and his Holy Name and Majesty to the great danger of our Souls yea and certain Damnation also if
we do not speedily and earnestly Repent us of this Wickedness Thus ye have heard dearly beloved out of Gods Word what Reverence is due to the Holy House of the Lord how all Godly Persons ought with diligence at times appointed thither to repair how they ought to behave themselves there with Reverence and Dread before the Lord what Plagues and Punishments as well Temporal as Eternal the Lord in his Holy Word threatneth as well to such as neglect to come to his Holy House as also to such who coming thither do unreverently by gesture or talk there behave themselves Wherefore if we desire to have seasonable Weather and thereby to enjoy the good Fruits of the Earth if we will avoid Drought and Barrenness Thirst and Hunger which are Plagues threatned unto such as make haste to go to their own Houses to Ale-Houses and Taverns and leave the House of the Lord empty and desolate if we abhor to be scourged not with Whips made of Cords out of the material Temple only as our Saviour Christ served the Desilers of the House of God in Jerusalem but also to be beaten and driven out of the Eternal Temple and House of the Lord which is his Heavenly Kingdom Ephes 3. with the Iron Rod of Everlasting Damnation and cast into utter Darkness where is Weeping and Gnashing of Teeth if we Fear Dread and abhor this I say as we have most just cause to do Then let us amend this our negligence and contempt in coming to the House of the Lord this our unreverent behaviour in the House of the Lord and resorting thither diligently together let us there with Reverent hearing of the Lords Holy Word calling on the Lords Holy Name giving of hearty Thanks unto the Lord for his manifold and inestimable benefits daily and hourly bestowed upon us celebrating also Reverently the Lords Holy Sacraments serve the Lord in his Holy House as becometh the Servants of the Lord in Holiness and Righteousness before him all the days of our Life and then we shall be assured after this Life to rest in his Holy Hill and to dwell in his Tabernacle there to Praise and Magnifie his Holy Name in the Congregation of his Saints in the Holy House of his Eternal Kingdom of Heaven which he hath purchased for us by the Death and Shedding of the precious Blood of his Son our Saviour Jesus Christ to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost one Immortal God be all Honour Glory Praise and Thanksgiving world without end Amen AN HOMILY AGAINST Peril of Idolatry and superfluous Decking of Churches The First Part. IN what points the true Ornaments of the Church or Temple of God do consist and stand hath been declared in the two last Homilies treating of the Right Use of the Temple or House of God and of the due Reverence that all true Christian People are bound to give unto the same The Sum whereof is that the Church or House of God is a place appointed by the Holy Scriptures where the lively Word of God ought to be Read Taught and Heard the Lords Holy Name called upon by publick Prayer hearty Thanks given to his Majesty for his infinite and unspeakable benefits bestowed upon us his Holy Sacraments duly and reverently ministred and that therefore all that be Godly indeed ought both with diligence at times appointed to repair together to the said Church and there with all Reverence to use and behave themselves before the Lord. And that the said Church thus godly used by the Servants of the Lord in the Lords true Service for the effectual presence of Gods Grace wherewith he doth by his holy Word and Promises endue his people there present and assembled to the attainment as well of Commodities worldly necessary for us as also of all heavenly Gifts and Life everlasting is called by the Word of God as it is indeed the Temple of the Lord and the House of God and that therefore the due Reverence thereof is stirred up in the Hearts of the Godly by the Consideration of these true Ornaments of the said House of God and not by any outward Ceremonies or costly and glorious decking of the said House or Temple of the Lord contrary to the which most manifest Doctrine of the Scriptures and contrary to the usage of the Primitive Chruch which was pure and uncorrupt and contrary to the Sentences and Judgments of the most antient learned and godly Doctors of the Church as hereafter shall appear the Corruption of these later days hath brought into the Church infinite multitudes of Images and the same with other parts of the Temple also have decked with Gold and Silver painted with Colours set them with Stone and Pearl clothed them with Silks and precious Vestures fancying untruly that to be the chief Decking and Adorning of the Temple or the House of God and that all People should be the more moved to the due Reverence of the same if all Corners thereof were glorious and glistering with Gold and precious Stones Whereas indeed they by the said Images and such Glorious decking of the Temple have nothing at all profited such as were Wise and Understanding But have thereby greatly hurt the Simple and Unwise occasioning them thereby to commit horrible Idolatry And the covetous Persons by the same occasion seeming to worship and peradventure worshipping indeed not only the Images but also the matter of them Gold and Silver as that Vice is of all others in the Scriptures peculiarly called Idolatry Ephes 5. Coloss 3. or worshipping of Images Against the which foul Abuses and great Enormities shall be alledged unto you First the Authority of Gods holy Word as well out of the Old Testament as of the New And secondly the Testimonies of the holy and ancient learned Fathers and Doctors out of their own Works and ancient Histories Ecclesiastical both that you may at once know their Judgments and withal understand what manner of Ornaments were in the Temples in the Primitive Church in those times which were most pure and sincere Thirdly the Reasons and Arguments made for the defence of Images or Idols and the outragious decking of Temples and Churches with Gold Silver Pearl and precious Stones shall be confuted and so this whole matter concluded But lest any should take occasion by the way of doubting by Words or Names it is thought good here to note first of all that although in common speech we use to call the likeness or similitudes of Men or other things Images and not Idols yet the Scriptures use the said two words Idols and Images indifferently for one thing alway They be words of divers Tongues and Sounds but one in Sense and Signification in the Scriptures The one is taken of the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Idol and the other of the Latin word Imago an Image and so both used as English terms in the translating of Scriptures indifferently according as the Septuaginta
of the First Part was promised that this Truth and Doctrine concerning the forbidding of Images and Worshipping of them taken out of the Holy Scriptures as well of the Old Testament as the New was believed and taught of the old Holy Fathers and most ancient Learned Doctors and received in the Old Primitive Church which was most uncorrupt and pure And this Declaration shall be made out of the said Holy Doctors own Writings and out of the ancient Histories Ecclesiastical to the same belonging Tertullian a most ancient Writer and Doctor of the Church who lived about One Hundred and Threescore years after the Death of our Saviour Christ both in sundry other places of his Works and specially in his Book Written against The manner of Crowning Lib. contra coronandi morem and in another little Treatise Entituled Of the Souldiers Crown or Garland doth most sharply and vehemently write and inveigh against Images or Idols And upon Saint John's words the First Epistle and Fifth Chapter saith thus Saint John saith he deeply considering the matter saith My little Children 1 John 5. keep yourselves from Images or Idols He saith not now keep yourselves from Idolatry as it were from the Service and Worshipping of them But from the Images or Idols themselves that is from the very shape and likeness of them For it were an unworthy thing that the Image of the living God should become the Image of a dead Idol Do you not think those Persons which place Images and Idols in Churches and Temples yea shrine them even over the Lords Table even as it were of purpose to the Worshipping and Honouring of them take good heed either to Saint John's Counsel or Tertullian's For so to place Images and Idols is it to keep themselves from them or else to receive and embrace them Origen in his Book against Celsus saith thus Christian Men and Jews when they hear these words of the Law Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God and shalt not make any Image do not only abhor the Temples Altars and Images of the Gods but if need be will rather die than they should defile themselves with any impiety And shortly after he saith In the Common-Wealth of the Jews the Carver of Idols and Image-maker was cast far off and forbidden lest they should have any occasion to make Images which might pluck certain foolish Persons from God and turn the Eyes of their Souls to the Contemplation of Earthly Things And in another place of the same Book It is not only saith he a Mad and Frantick part to Worship Images but also once to dissemble or wink at it And a Man may know God and his only Son and those which have had such Honour given them by God that they be called Gods But it is not possible that any should by Worshipping of Images get any knowledge of God Athanasius in his Book against the Gentiles hath these Words Let them tell I pray you how God may be known by an Image If it be by the matter of an Image then there needeth no shape or form seeing that God hath appeared in all material Creatures which do testifie his Glory Now if they say he is known by the form or fashion Is he not better to be known by the living things themselves whose fashions the Images express For of surety the glory of God should be more evidently known if it were declared by reasonable and living Creatures rather than by dead and unmoveable Images Therefore when ye do Grave or Paint Images to the end to know God thereby surely ye do an unworthy and unfit thing And in another place of the same Book he saith The invention of Images came of no good but of evil and whatsoever hath an evil beginning can never in any thing be judged good seeing it is altogether naught Thus far Athanasius a very Ancient Holy and Learned Bishop and Doctor who judgeth both the first beginning and the end and altogether of Images or Idols to be naught Laclantius likewise an Old and Learned Writer in his Book of The Original of E rour hath these words God is above Man and is not placed beneath but is to be sought in the highest Region Wherefore there is no doubt but that no Religion is in that place wheresoever any Image is For if Religion stand in godly things and there is no godliness but in heavenly things then be Images without Religion Lib. 2. c. 16. These be Lactantius his words who was above Thirteen Hundred years ago and within Three Hundred years after our Saviour Christ Cyrillus an Old and Holy Doctor upon the Gospel of Saint John hath these words Many have left the Creator and have Worshipped the Creature neither have they been abashed to say unto a Stock Thou art my Father and to a Stone Thou begottest me For many yea almost all alas for Sorrow are fallen unto such folly that they have given the Glory of Deity or Godhead to things without Sense or Feeling Epiphanius Bishop of Salamine in Cyprus a very Holy and Learned Man who lived in Theodosius the Emperors time about Three Hundred and Ninety years after our Saviour Christs Ascension writeth thus to John Patriarch of Jerusalem I entred saith Epiphanius into a certain Church to pray I found there a Linen Cloth hanging in the Church Door Painted and having in it the Image of Christ as it were or of some other Saint for I remember not well whose Image it was therefore when I did see the Image of a Man hanging in the Church of Christ contrary to the Authority of the Sâ—â—â—ptures I did tear it and gave Counsel to the 〈◊〉 of the Church that they should wind a 〈…〉 â—hat was Dead in the said Cloth and 〈…〉 And 〈…〉 same Epiphanius sending another 〈…〉 for that Painted one which 〈◊〉 â—ad 〈…〉 said Patriarch writeth thus I pray you 〈…〉 Elders of that place to receive this Cloth which 〈…〉 sent by this bearer and Command them 〈◊〉 from henceforth no such Painted Cloths contrary to our Religion be hanged in the Church of Christ For it becometh your goodness rather to have this care that you take away such scrupulosity which is unfitting for the Church of Christ and offensive to the People committed to your charge And this Epistle as Worthy to be Read of many did Saint Jerome himself Translate into the Latin Tongue And that ye may know that Saint Jerome had this Holy and Learned Bishop Epiphanius in most high Estimation and therefore did Translate this Epistle as a Writing of Authority hear what a Testimony the said Saint Jerome giveth him in another place in his Treatise against the Errours of John Bishop of Jerusalem where he hath these words All notable Bishops were then called Popes Thou hast saith Saint Jerome Pope Epiphanius which doth openly in his Letters call thee an Heretick Surely thou art not to be preferred before him neither for Age nor Learning nor
that when the Contention began about Images how of Six Christian Emperors who were the chief Magistrates by Gods Law to be obeyed only one which was Theodosius who Reigned but one year held with Images All the other Emperors and all the Learned Men and Bishops of the East Church and that in assembled Councils condemned them besides the two Emperors before mentioned Valens and Theodosius the Second who were long before these times who strictly forbad that any Images should be made And universally after this time all the Emperors of Greece only Theodosius excepted destroyed continually all Images Now on the contrary part note ye that the Bishops of Rome being no ordinary Magistrates appointed of God out of their Diocess but Usurpers of Princes Authority contrary to Gods Word were the Maintainers of Images against Gods Word and Stirrers up of Sedition and Rebellion and Workers of continual Treason against their Sovereign Lords contrary to Gods Law and the Ordinances of all Human Laws being not only Enemies to God but also Rebels and Traytors against their Princes These be the first bringers in of Images openly into Churches These be the maintainers of them in the Churches and these be the means whereby they have maintained them To wit Conspiracy Treason and Rebellion against God and their Princes Now to proceed in the History most worthy to be known In the Nonage of Constantine the Sixth the Empress Irene his Mother in whose Hands the Regiment of the Empire remained was governed much by the advice of Theodore Bishop and Tharasius Patriarch of Constantinople who practised and held with the Bishop of Rome in maintaining of Images most earnestly By whose Counsel and intreaty the Empress first most wickedly digged up the Body of her Father in Law Constantine the Fifth and commanded it to be openly burned and the Ashes to be thrown into the Sea Which Example as the constant report goeth had like to have been put in practice with Princes Corses in our days had the Authority of the Holy Father continued but a little longer The cause why the Empress Irene thus used her Father in Law was for that he when he was alive had destroyed Images and had taken away the sumptuous Ornaments of Churches saying That Christ whose Temples they were allowed Poverty and not Pearls and precious Stones Afterward the said Irene at the persuasion of Adrian Bishop of Rome and Paul the Patriarch of Constantinople and his Successor Tharasius assembled a Council of the Bishops of Asia and Greece at the City Nicea where the Bishop of Rome's Legates being Presidents of the Council and ordering all things as they listed the Council which was assembled before under the Emperor Constantine the Fifth and had decreed that all Images should be destroyed was Condemned as an Heretical Council and Assembly And a Decree was made That Images should be put up in all the Churches of Greece and that Honour and Worship also should be given unto the said Images And so the Empress sparing no diligence in setting up of Images A Decree that Images should be Worshipped nor cost in decking them in all Churches made Constantinople within a short time altogether like Rome itself And now you may see that come to pass which Bishop Serenus feared and Gregory the First forbad in vain to wit that Images should in no wise be Worshipped For now not only the Simple and Unwise unto whom Images as the Scriptures teach be specially a snare but the Bishops and Learned Men also fall to Idolatry by occasion of Images yea and make Decrees and Laws for the maintenance of the same So hard is it and indeed impossible any long time to have Images publickly in Churches and Temples without Idolatry as by the space of little more than One Hundred years betwixt Gregory the First forbidding most strictly the Worshipping of Images and Gregory the Third Paul and Leo the Third Bishops of Rome with this Council Commanding and Decreeing that Images should be Worshipped most evidently appeareth Now when Constantine the young Emperor came to the Age of Twenty years he was daily in less and less estimation For such as were about his Mother persuaded her that it was Gods Determination that she should Reign alone and not her Son with her The Ambitious Woman believing the same deprived her Son of all Imperial Dignity and compelled all the Men of War with their Captains to Swear to her that they would not suffer her Son Constantine to Reign during her Life With which Indignity the young Prince being moved recovered the Regimen of the Empire unto himself by force and being brought up in true Religion in his Father's time seeing the Superstition of his Mother Irene and the Idolatry committed by Images cast down brake and burned all the Idols and Images that his Mother had set up But within a few years after Irene the Empress taken again into her Son's Favour after she had persuaded him to put out Nicephorus his Uncle's Eyes and to cut out the Tongues of his four other Uncles and to forsake his Wife and by such means to bring him into hatred with all his Subjects now further to declare that she was no Changeling but the same Woman that had before digged up and burned her Father-in-Law's Body and that she would be as natural a Mother as she had been a kind Daughter seeing the Images which she loved so well and had with so great cost set up daily destroyed by her own Son the Emperor by the help of certain good Companions deprived her Son of the Empire And first like a kind and loving Mother put out both his Eyes and laid him in Prison where after long and many Torments she at the last most cruelly slew him In this History joined to Eutropius it is written That the Sun was darkned by the space of xvij days most strangely and dreadfully and that all Men said that for the horribleness of that cruel and unnatural Fact of Irene and the putting out of the Emperor's Eyes the Sun had lost his light But indeed God would signifie by the darkness of the Sun into what darkness and blindness of Ignorance and Idolatry Christendom should fall by the occasion of Images The bright Sun of his eternal Truth and light of his Holy Word by the mists and black Clouds of Mens Traditions being blemished and darkned as by sundry most terrible Earthquakes that happened about the same time God signified that the quiet estate of true Religion should by such Idolatry be most horribly tossed and turmoiled And here may you see what a gracious and virtuous Lady this Irene was how loving a Neece to her Husband's Uncles how kind a Mother-in-Law to her Son's Wife how loving a Daughter to her Father-in-Law how natural a Mother to her own Son and what a stout and valiant Captain the Bishops of Rome had of her for the setting up and maintenance of their Idols or Images Surely they could
set forth and the Churches restored to their ancient and godly use render your hearty thanks to the goodness of Almighty God who hath in our days stirred up the hearts not only of his godly Preachers and Ministers but also of his faithful and most Christian Magistrates and Governors to bring such godly things to pass And forasmuch as your Churches are scoured and swept from the sinful and superstitious filthiness wherewith they were defiled and disfigured Do ye your parts good People to keep your Churches comely and clean suffer them not to be defiled with Rain and Weather with dung of Doves and Owls Stares and Choughs and other filthiness as it is foul and lamentable to behold in many places of this Country It is the House of Prayer not the House of talking of walking of brawling of minstrelsie of Hawks and Dogs Provoke not the displeasure and plagues of God for despising and abusing his Holy House as the wicked Jews did But have God in your heart be obedient to his blessed Will bind your selves every Man and Woman to your power toward the reparations and clean keeping of the Church to the intent that ye may be partakers of Gods manifold Blessings and that ye may be the better encouraged to resort to your Parish Church there to learn your Duty towards God and your Neighbour there to be present and partakers of Christs Holy Sacraments there to render thanks to your Heavenly Father for the manifold benefits which he daily poureth upon you there to pray together and to call upon Gods Holy Name which be blessed World without end Amen AN HOMILY OF Good Works And first of Fasting THE life which we live in this World good Christian People is of the free benefit of God lent us yet not to use it at our pleasure after our own fleshly will but to trade over the same in those Works which are beseeming them that are become new Creatures in Christ These works the Apostle calleth good works saying We are Gods workmanship Ephes 2. created in Christ Jesus to good works which God hath ordained that we should walk in them And yet his meaning is not by these words to induce us to have any affiance or to put any confidence in our works as by the merit and deserving of them to purchase to our selves and others remission of sin and so consequently everlasting life for that were meer Blasphemy against Gods mercy and great derogation to the blood-shedding of our Saviour Jesus Christ For it is of the free grace and mercy of God by the mediation of the Blood of his Son Jesus Christ without merit or deserving on our part that our sins are forgiven us that we are reconciled and brought again into his favour and are made Heirs of his Heavenly Kingdom Grace saith * Aug. de dâ—ver quaest ad Sâ—mpl lib. 1. Quaest 28. St. Augustine belonging to God who doth call us and then hath he good works whosoever receiveth grace Good works then bring not forth grace but are brought forth by grace The Wheel saith he turneth round not to the end that it may be made round but because it is first made round therefore it turneth round So no man doth good works to receive grace by his good works but because he hath first received grace therefore consequently he doth good works Aug. de fide operibus cap. 4. And in another place he saith Good works go not before in him which shall afterward be justified but good works do follow after when a man is first justified St. Paul therefore teacheth that we must do good works for divers respects First to shew our selves obedient Children unto our Heavenly Father who hath ordained them that we should walk in them Secondly for that they are good declarations and testimonies of our justification Thirdly that others seeing our good works may the rather by them be stirred up and excited to glorifie our Father which is in Heaven Let us not therefore be slack to do good works seeing it is the will of God that we should walk in them assuring our selves that at the last day every man shall receive of God for his labour done in true Faith a greater reward than his works have deserved And because somewhat shall now be spoken of one particular good work whose commendation is both in the Law and in the Gospel Thus much is said in the beginning generally of all good works First to remove out of the way of the simple and unlearned this dangerous stumbling-block that any man should go about to purchase or buy Heaven with his works Secondly to take away so much as may be from envious minds and slanderous tongues all just occasion of slanderous speaking as though good works were rejected This good work which now shall be treated of is Fasting which is found in the Scriptures to be of two sorts The one outward pertaining to the Body the other inward in the Heart and Mind This outward Fast is an abstinence from meat drink and all natural food yea from all delicious pleasures and delectations worldly When this outward Fast pertaineth to one particular man or to a few and not the whole number of the People for causes which hereafter shall be declared then it is called a private Fast But when the whole multitude of Men Women and Children in a Township or City yea through a whole Country do fast it is called a publick Fast Such was that Fast which the whole multitude of the Children of Israel were commanded to keep the tenth day of the seventh month because Almighty God appointed that day to be a cleansing day a day of atonement a time of reconciliation a day wherein the People were cleansed from their sins The order and manner how it was done is written in the xvi and xxiii Lev. 16. and 23. Chapters of Leviticus That day the People did lament mourn weep and bewail their former sins And whosoever upon that day did not humble his Soul bewailing his sins as is said abstaining from all bodily food until the Evening that soul saith Almighty God should be destroyed from among his people We do not read that Moses ordained by order of Law any days of publick Fast throughout the whole year more than that one day The Jews notwithstanding had more times of common Fasting which the Prophet Zachary reciteth to be the fast of the fourth the fast of the fifth Zach. 8. the fast of the seventh and the fast of the tenth Month. But for that it appeareth not in the Law when they were instituted it is to be judged that those other times of Fasting more than the Fast of the seventh month were ordained among the Jews by the appointment of their Governors rather of Devotion than by an express Commandment given from God Upon the Ordinance of this general Fast good men took occasion to appoint to themselves private Fasts at such times as they did
either earnestly lament and bewail their sinful lives or did addict themselves to more fervent Prayer that it might please God to turn his wrath from them when either they were admonished and brought to the consideration thereof by the preaching of the Prophets or otherwise when they saw present danger to hang over their heads This sorrowfulness of Heart joyned with Fasting they uttered sometimes by their outward behaviour and gesture of Body putting on Sackcloth sprinkling themselves with ashes and dust and sitting or lying upon the Earth For when good men feel in themselves the heavy burden of sin see damnation to be the reward of it and behold with the eye of their mind the horror of Hell they tremble they quake and are inwardly touched with sorrowfulness of heart for their offences and cannot but accuse themselves and open this their grief unto Almighty God and call unto him for mercy This being done seriously their mind is so occupied partly with sorrow and heaviness partly with an earnest desire to be delivered from this danger of Hell and Damnation that all desire of meat and drink is laid apart and loathsomness of all worldly things and pleasure cometh in place so that nothing then liketh them more than to weep to lament to mourn and both with words and behaviour of body to shew themselves weary of this life Thus did David fast when he made intercession to Almighty God for the Childs life begotten in Adultery of Bathshtba Vriah's Wife King Ahab fasted after this sort when it repented him of murdering of Naboth bewailing his own sinful doings Such was the Ninevites Fast brought to repentance by Jonas preaching When forty thousand of the Israelites were slain in Battel against the Benjamites the Scripture saith All the Children of Israel and the whole multitude of the People went to Bethel and sate there weeping before the Lord and fasted all that day till night Judges 20. So did Daniel Hester Nehemias and many others in the Old Testament fast But if any man will say it is true so they fasted indeed but we are not now under the yoke of the Law we are set at liberty by the freedom of the Gospel therefore those Rites and Customs of the old Law bind not us except it can be shewed by the Scriptures of the New Testament or by examples out of the same that fasting now under the Gospel is a restraint of meat drink and all bodily food and pleasures fro◠〈…〉 First that 〈…〉 is a truth more manifest than that it should here need to be proved the Scriptures which teach the same are evident The doubt therefore is whether when we Fast we ought to withhold from our bodies all meat and drink during the time of our Fast or no That we ought so to do may be well gathered upon a Question moved by the Pharisees to Christ and by his answer again to the same Why say they do John's Disciples fast often Luke â— and pray and we likewise but thy Disciples eat and drink and fast not at all In this smooth Question they couch up subtilly this Argument or Reason Whoso fasteth not that man is not of God For Fasting and Prayer are works both commended and commanded of God in the Scriptures and all good men from Moses till this time as well the Prophets as others have exercised themselves in these works John also and his Disciples at this day do fast oft and pray much and so do we the Pharisees in like manner But thy Disciples fast not at all which if thou wilt deny we can easily prove it For whosoever eateth and drinketh fasteth not Thy Disciples eat and drink therefore they fast not Of this we conclude say they necessarily that neither art thou nor yet thy Disciples of God Christ maketh answer saying Can ye make that the children of the wedding shalt fast while the Bridegroom is with them The days shall come when the Bridegroom shall be taken from them In those days shall they fast Our Saviour Christ like a good Master defendeth the Innocency of his Disciples against the malice of the arrogant Pharisees and proveth that his Disciples are not guilty of transgressing any jot of Gods Law although as then they fasted and in his answer reproveth the Pharisees of Superstition and Ignorance Superstition because they put a Religion in their doings and ascribed holiness to the outward work wrought not regarding to what end Fasting is ordained Of Ignorance for that they could not discern between time and 〈◊〉 They knew not that there is a time of rejoycing and mirth and 〈…〉 â—tation and mourning which both he teacheth in his answer as shall be touched more largely hereafter when we shall shew what time is most fit to fast in But here beloved let us note that our Saviour Christ in making his answer to their question denied not but confessed that his Disciples fasted not and therefore agreeth to the Pharisees in this as unto a manifest truth that whoso eateth and drinketh fasteth not Fasting then even by Christs assent is a withholding of meat drink and all natural food from the Body for the determined time of Fasting And that it was used in the Primitive Church appeareth most evidently by the Chalcedon Council one of the four first General Councils The Fathers assembled there to the number of 630. considering with themselves how acceptable a thing Fasting is to God when it is used according to his word Again having before their eyes also the great abuses of the same crept into the Church at those days through the negligence of them which should have taught the People the right use thereof and by vain glosses devised of men to reform the said abuses and to restore this so good and godly a work to the true use thereof decreed in that Council that every Person as well in his private as publick Fast should continue all the day without meat and drink till after the Evening Prayer And whosoever did eat or drink before the Evening Prayer was ended should be accounted and reputed not to consider the purity of his Fast This Canon teacheth so evidently how Fasting was used in the Primitive Church as by words it cannot be more plainly expressed Fasting then by the Decree of those six hundred and thirty Fathers grounding their determination in this matter upon the Sacred Scriptures and long continued usage or practice both of the Prophets and other godly Persons before the coming of Christ and also of the Apostles and other devout men in the New Testament is a withholding of meat drink and all natural Food from the Body for the determined time of Fasting Thus much is spoken hitherto to make plain unto you what Fasting is Now hereafter shall be shewed the true and right use of Fasting Good works are not all of one sort For some are of themselves and of their own proper nature always good as to love God above all things to
them all other true Christian men to Pray always and never to faint or shrink Remember also the example of the Woman of Canaan Mat 15. how she was rejected of Christ and called Dog as one most unworthy of any benefit at his hands yet she gave not over but followed him still crying and calling upon him to be good and merciful unto her Daughter And at length by very importunity she obtained her request O let us learn by these examples to be earnest and fervent in Prayer assuring our selves that whatsoever we ask of God the Father in the Name of his Son Christ John 16. and according to his will he will undoubtedly grant it He is truth it self and as truly as he hath promised it so truly will he perform it God for his great mercies sake so work in our hearts by his Holy Spirit that we may always make our humble Prayers unto him as we ought to do and always obtain the thing which we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all Honour and Glory World without end Amen The Second Part of the Homily concerning PRAYER IN the First Part of this Sermon ye heard the great necessity and also the great force of devout and earnest Prayer declared and proved unto you both by divers weighty Testimonies and also by sundry good Examples of Holy Scripture Now shall you learn whom you ought to call upon and to whom you ought always to direct your Prayers We are evidently taught in Gods Holy Testament that Almighty God is the only Fountain and Well-spring of all Goodness and that whatsoever we have in this World we receive it only at his hands to this effect serveth the place of St. James James 1. Every good and perfect gift saith he cometh from above and proceedeth from the Father of Lights To this effect also serveth the Testimony of Paul in divers places of his Epistles witnessing that the Spirit of Wisdom the Spirit of Knowledge and Revelation yea every good and heavenly gift as Faith Hope Charity Grace and Peace cometh only and solely of God In consideration whereof he bursteth out into a sudden Passion and saith O man 1 Cor. 4. what thing hast thou which thou hast not received Therefore whensoever we need or lack any thing pertaining either to the Body or to the Soul it behoveth us to run only unto God who is the only giver of all good things Our Saviour Christ in the Gospel teaching his Disciples how they should Pray sendeth them to the Father in his Name saying Verily verily John 16. Matt. 6. Luke 11. I say unto you whatsoever ye ask the Father in my Name he will give it unto you And in another place When ye Pray pray after this sort Our Father which art in Heaven c. And doth not God himself Psal 50. Acts 1. by the mouth of his Prophet David will and command us to call upon him The Apostle wisheth Grace and Peace to all them that call on the Name of the Lord and of his Son Jesus Christ Joel 2. as doth also the Prophet Joel saying And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on the Name of the Lord shall be saved Thus then it is plain by the infallible word of Truth and Life that in all our necessities we must flee unto God direct our Prayers unto him call upon his Holy Name desire help at his hands and at none others whereof if we will yet have further reason mark that which followeth There are certain conditions most requisite to be found in every such a one as must be called upon which if they be not found in him unto whom we pray then doth our Prayer avail us nothing but is altogether in vain The first is this that he to whom we make our Prayers be able to help us The second is that he will help us The third is that he be such a one as may hear our Prayers The fourth is that he understand better than we our selves what we lack and how far we have need of help If these things be to be found in any other saving only God then may we lawfully call upon some other besides God But what man is so gross but he well understandeth that these things are only proper to him which is Omnipotent and knoweth all things even the very secrets of the Heart that is to say only and to God alone whereof it followeth that we must call neither upon Angel nor yet upon Saint but only and solely upon God Rom. 10. as St. Paul doth write How shall men call upon him in whom they have not believed So that Invocation or Prayer may not be made without Faith in him on whom they call but that we must first believe in him before we can make our Prayer unto him whereupon we must only and solely Pray unto God For to say that we should believe either in Angel or Saint or in any other living Creature were meer horrible Blasphemy against God and his Holy Word neither ought this Fancy to enter into the Heart of any Christian man because we are expresly taught in the Word of the Lord only to repose our Faith in the Blessed Trinity in whose only Name we are also Baptized according to the express Commandment of our Saviour Jesus Christ Mat. 28. in the last of St. Matthew But that the truth hereof may the better appear even to them that be most simple and unlearned let us consider what Prayer is De spi lit cap. 50. De summo bono cap. 8. lib. 3. St. Augustin calleth it a lifting up of the mind to God that is to say an humble and lowly pouring out of the Heart to God Isidorus saith that it is an affection of the Heart and not a labour of the Lips So that by these places true Prayer doth consist not so much in the outward sound and voice of words as in the inward groaning and crying of the Heart to God Now then is there any Angel any Virgin any Patriarch or Prophet among the dead that can understand or know the meaning of the Heart The Scripture saith Psal 7. Apoc. 2. Jer. 17. 2 Par. 6. It is God that searcheth the Heart and the Reins and that he only knoweth the Hearts of the children of men As for the Saints they have so little knowledge of the secrets of the Heart that many of the ancient Fathers greatly doubt whether they know any thing at all that is commonly done on Earth And albeit some think they do yet St. Augustin Lib. de cura pro mort agenda c. 13. De vera Râ—l cap. 22. Esay 63. Lib. 22. de civit Dei cap. 10. a Doctor of great Authority and also Antiquity hath this Opinion of them That they know no more what we do on Earth than we know what they do in Heaven For Proof whereof he
alledgeth the words of Esay the Prophet where it is said Abraham is ignorant of us and Israel knoweth us not His mind therefore is this not that we should put any Religion in worshipping of them or praying unto them but that we should honour them by following their vertuous and godly Life For as he witnesseth in another place the Martyrs and Holy Men in times past were wont after their death to be remembred and named of the Priest at Divine Service but never to be invocated or called upon And why so because the Priest saith he is Gods Priest and not theirs whereby he is bound to call upon God and not upon them John 5. Thus you see that the Authority both of the Scripture and also of Augustin doth not permit that we should pray unto them O that all men would studiously read and search the Scriptures then should they not be drowned in Ignorance but should easily perceive the Truth as well of this Point of Doctrine as of all the rest For there doth the Holy Ghost plainly teach us that Christ is our only Mediator and Intercessor with God and that we must not seek and run to another 1 John 2. If any man sinneth saith St. John we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and he is the Propitiation for our sins 1 Tim. 2. St. Paul also saith There is one God and one Mediator between God and man even the man Jesus Christ Whereunto agreeth the Testimony of our Saviour himself John 14. witnessing that no man cometh to the Father but only by him who is the Way John 10. the Truth the Life yea and the only Door whereby we must enter into the Kingdom of Heaven because God is pleased in no other but in him For which cause also he crieth and calleth unto us that we should come unto him Matt. 11. saying Come unto me all ye that labour and be heavy laden and I shall refresh you Would Christ have us so necessarily come unto him and shall we most unthankfully leave him and run unto other This is even that which God so greatly complaineth of by his Prophet Jeremy saying My People have committed two great offences they have forsaken me the Fountain of the Waters of Life and have digged to themselves broken Pits that can hold no Water Is not that man think you unwise that will run for Water to a little Brook when he may as well go to the head-spring Even so may his Wisdom be justly suspected that will flee unto Saints in time of necessity when he may boldly and without fear declare his grief and direct his Prayer unto the Lord himself If God were strange or dangerous to be talked withal then might we justly draw back and seek to some other Psal 145. Judith 9. But the Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him in Faith and Truth And the Prayer of the humble and meek hath always pleased him What if we be sinners shall we not therefore pray unto God or shall we despair to obtain any thing at his hands Why did Christ then teach us to ask forgiveness of our sins saying And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us Shall we think that the Saints are more merciful in hearing sinners than God David saith Psal 103. Ephes 2. that the Lord is full of compassion and mercy slow to anger and of great kindness St. Paul saith that he is rich in mercy toward all them that call upon him And he himself by the mouth of his Prophet Esay saith Esay 51. For a little while have I forsaken thee but with great compassion will I gather thee For a moment in mine anger I have hid my face from thee but with everlasting mercy I have had compassion upon thee Therefore the sins of any man ought not to withhold him from Praying unto the Lord his God But if he be truly penitent and stedfast in Faith let him assure himself that the Lord will be merciful unto him and hear his Prayers O but I dare not will some man say trouble God at all times with my Prayers We see that in Kings Houses and Courts of Princes men cannot be admitted unless they first use the help and means of some special Noble-man to come to the speech of the King and to obtain the thing that they would have To this reason doth St. Ambrose answer very well Ambros supper cap. 1 Rom. writing upon the first Chapter to the Romans Therefore saith he we use to go unto the King by Officers and Noble-men because the King is a Mortal man and knoweth not to whom he may commit the Government of the Common-wealth But to have God our Friend from whom nothing is hid we need not any helper that should further us with his good word but only a devout and godly mind And if it be so that we need one to intreat for us why may we not content our selves with that one Mediator Heb. 7. which is at the right hand of God the Father and there liveth for ever to make Intercession for us As the Blood of Christ did Redeem us on the Cross and cleanse us from our sins even so it is now able to save all them that come unto God by it For Christ sitting in Heaven hath an everlasting Priesthood and always prayeth to his Father for them that be Penitent obtaining by vertue of his Wounds which are evermore in the sight of God not only perfect remission of our sins but also all other necessaries that we lack in this World so that this only Mediator is sufficient in Heaven and needeth no others to help him Matt. 6. James 5. Coloss 4. 1 Tim. 2. Why then do we Pray one for another in this Life some man perchance will here demand Forsooth we are willed so to do by the express Commandment both of Christ and his Disciples to declare therein as well the Faith that we have in Christ towards God as also the mutual Charity that we bear one towards another in that we pity our Brothers case and make our Humble Petition to God for him But that we should Pray unto Saints neither have we any Commandment in all the Scripture nor yet Example which we may safely follow So that being done without Authority of Gods Word it lacketh the ground of Faith and therefore cannot be acceptable before God Hebr. 11. Rom. 14. Rom. 10. For whatsoever is not of Faith is sin And the Apostle saith that Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God Yet thou wilt object further that the Saints in Heaven do pray for us and that their Prayer proceedeth of an earnest Charity that they have towards their Brethren on Earth Whereto it may be well answered First that no man knoweth whether they do Pray for us or no. And if any will go about to prove it by
the nature of Charity concluding that because they did pray for men on Earth therefore they do much more the same now in Heaven Then may it be said by the same reason that as oft as we do weep on Earth they do also weep in Heaven because while they lived in this World it is most certain and sure they did so And for that place which is written in the Apocalyps namely that the Angel did offer up the Prayers of the Saints upon the golden Altar it is properly to be understood of those Saints that are yet living on Earth and not of them that are dead otherwise what need were it that the Angel should offer up their Prayers being now in Heaven before the face of Almighty God But admit the Saints do Pray for us yet do we not know how whether specially for them which call upon them or else generally for all men wishing well to every man alike If they Pray specially for them which call upon them then it is like they hear our Prayers and also know our hearts desire Which thing to be false it is already proved both by the Scriptures and also by the Authority of Augustin Let us not therefore put our trust or confidence in the Saints or Martyrs that be dead Let us not call upon them nor desire help at their hands but let us always lift up our Hearts to God in the name of his dear Son Christ for whose sake as God hath promised to hear our Prayer so he will truly perform it Invocation is a thing proper unto God which if we attribute unto the Saints it soundeth to their reproach neither can they well bear it at our hands When Paul had healed a certain lame man Acts 14. which was impotent in his Feet at Lystra the People would have done Sacrifice unto him and Barnabas who rending their clothes refused it and exhorted them to worship the true God Likewise in the Revelation Apoc. 19. when St. John fell before the Angel's feet to worship him the Angel would not permit him to do it but commanded him that he should worship God Which Examples declare unto us that the Saints and Angels in Heaven will not have us to do any Honour unto them that is due and proper unto God He only is our Father he only is Omnipotent he only knoweth and understandeth all things he only can help us at all times and in all places he suffereth the Sun to shine upon the good and the bad he feedeth the young Ravens that cry unto him he saveth both Man and Beast he will not that any one hair of our Head shall perish but is always ready to help and preserve all them that put their trust in him according as he hath promised Isai 65. saying Before they call I will answer and whilst they speak I will hear Let us not therefore any thing mistrust his goodness let us not fear to come before the Throne of his Mercy let us not seek the aid and help of Saints but let us come boldly our selves nothing doubting but God for Christs sake in whom he is well pleased will hear us without a Spokes-man and accomplish our desire in all such things as shall be agreeable to his most Holy Will Chrysost 6 hom de profectu Evang. So saith Chrysostom an ancient Doctor of the Church and so must we stedfastly believe not because he saith it but much more because it is the Doctrine of our Saviour Christ himself who hath promised that if we Pray to the Father in his name we shall certainly be heard both to the relief of our Necessities and also to the Salvation of our Souls which he hath purchased unto us not with Gold or Silver but with his precious Blood shed once for all upon the Cross To him therefore with the Father and the Holy Ghost three Persons and one God be all Honour Praise and Glory for ever and ever Amen The Third Part of the Homily concerning PRAYER YE were taught in the other part of this Sermon unto whom ye ought to direct your Prayers in time of need and necessity that is to wit not unto Angels or Saints but unto the eternal and everliving God who because he is merciful is always ready to hear us when we call upon him in true and perfect Faith And because he is Omnipotent he can easily perform and bring to pass the thing that we request to have at his hands To doubt of his Power it were a plain point of Infidelity and clean against the Doctrine of the Holy Ghost which teacheth us that he is all in all And as touching his good will in this behalf we have express Testimonies in Scripture Psal 50. how that he will help us and also deliver us if we call upon him in time of trouble So that in both these respects we ought rather to call upon him than upon any other Neither ought any man therefore to doubt to come boldly unto God because he is a sinner For the Lord as the Prophet David saith is gracious and merciful yea Psal 107. 1 Tim. 1. his mercy and goodness endureth for ever He that sent his own Son into the World to save sinners will he not also hear sinners if with a true penitent Heart and a stedfast Faith they Pray unto him Yea 1 John 1. if we acknowledge our sins God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness as we are plainly taught by the Examples of David Peter Mary Magdalen the Publican and divers others And whereas we must needs use the help of some Mediator and Intercessor let us content our selves with him that is the true and only Mediator of the New Testament namely the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ For as St. John saith If any man sin 1 John 2. we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous who is the Propitiation for our sins And St. Paul 1 Tim. 2. in his first Epistle to Timothy saith There is one God and one Mediator between God and man even the man Jesus Christ who gave himself a ransom for all men to be a testimony in due time Now after this Doctrine established you shall be instructed for what kind of things and what kind of persons ye ought to make your Prayers unto God It greatly behoveth all men when they Pray to consider well and diligently with themselves what they ask and require at Gods hands lest if they desire that thing which they ought not their Petitions be made void and of none effect There came on a time unto Agesilaus the King a certain importunate suiter who requested him in a matter earnestly saying Sir and it please your Grace you did once promise me Truth quoth the King if it be just that thou requirest then I promised thee otherwise I did only speak it and not promise it The man would not
be so answered at the King's hand but still urging him more and more said It becometh a King to perform the least word he hath spoken yea if he should only beck with his Head No more saith the King than it behoveth one that cometh to a King to speak and ask those things which are rightful and honest Thus the King cast off this unreasonable and importunate suiter Now if so great consideration be to be had when we kneel before an Earthly King how much more ought to be had when we kneel before the Heavenly King who is only delighted with Justice and Equity neither will admit any vain foolish or unjust Petition Therefore it shall be good and profitable throughly to consider and determine with our selves what things we may lawfully ask of God without fear of repulse and also what kind of Persons we are bound to commend unto God in our daily Prayers Two things are chiefly to be respected in every good and godly mans Prayer His own necessity and the glory of Almighty God Necessity belongeth either outwardly to the Body or else inwardly to the Soul Which part of man because it is much more precious and excellent than the other therefore we ought first of all to crave such things as properly belong to the salvation thereof as the gift of Repentance the gift of Faith the gift of Charity and Good Works Remission and Forgiveness of Sins Patience in Adversity Lowliness in Prosperity Gal. 5. and such other like fruits of the Spirit as Hope Love Joy Peace Long-suffering Gentleness Goodness Meekness and Temperance which things God requireth of all them that profess themselves to be his Children saying unto them in this wise Matt. 5. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorifie your Father which is in Heaven And in another place also he saith Matt. 6. Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness and then all other things shall be given unto you Wherein he putteth us in mind that our chief and greatest care ought to be for those things which pertain to the health and safeguard of the Soul Hebr. 13. because we have here as the Apostle saith no continuing City but we seek after another in the World to come Now when we have sufficiently prayed for things belonging to the Soul then may we lawfully and with safe Conscience Pray also for our bodily Necessities as Meat Drink Clothing Health of Body deliverance out of Prison good luck in our daily Affairs and so forth according as we shall have need Whereof Matt. 6. Luke 11. what better Example can we desire to have than of Christ himself who taught his Disciples and all other Christian men first to pray for Heavenly things and afterward for Earthly things as is to be seen in that Prayer which he left unto his Church commonly called the Lords Prayer In the third Book of Kings and third Chapter it is written That God appeared by night in a dream unto Solomon the King saying Ask of me whatsoever thou wilt and I will give it thee Solomon made his Humble Prayer and asked a wise and prudent Heart that might judge and understand what were good and what were ill what were godly and what were ungodly what were righteous and what were unrighteous in the sight of the Lord. It pleased God wondrously that he had asked this thing And God said unto him Because thou hast requested this word and hast not desired many days and long years upon the Earth neither abundance of Riches and Goods nor yet the life of thine Enemies which hate thee but hast desired Wisdom to sit in Judgment behold I have done unto thee according to thy words I have given thee a wise heart full of knowledge and understanding so that there was never any like thee before time neither shall be in time to come Moreover I have besides this given thee that which thou hast not required namely worldly wealth and riches Princely honour and glory so that thou shalt therein also pass all Kings that ever were Note this Example how Solomon being put to his choice to ask of God whatsoever he would requested not vain and transitory things but the high and Heavenly Treasures of Wisdom and that in so doing he obtaineth as it were in recompence both Riches and Honour Wherein is given us to understand that in our daily Prayers we should chiefly and principally ask those things which concern the Kingdom of God and the Salvation of our own Souls nothing doubting but all other things shall according to the promise of Christ be given unto us But here we must take heed that we forget not that other end whereof mention was made before namely the Glory of God Which unless we mind and set before our Eyes in making our Prayers we may not look to be heard or to receive any thing of the Lord. In the xx Chapter of Matthew the Mother of the two Sons of Zebedee came unto Jesus worshipping him and saying Grant that my two Sons may sit in thy Kingdom the one on thy right hand and the other at thy left hand In this Petition she did not respect the Glory of God but plainly declared the ambition and vain-glory of her own mind for which cause she was also most worthily repelled and rebuked at the Lords hand In like manner we read in the Acts of one Simon Magus Acts 8. a Sorcerer how that he perceiving that through laying on of the Apostles hands the Holy Ghost was given offered them money saying Give me also this power that on whomsoever I lay my hands he may receive the Holy Ghost In making this Request he sought not the Honour and Glory of God but his own private Gain and Lucre thinking to get great store of Money by this feat and therefore it was justly said unto him Thy money perish with thee because thou thinkest that the gift of God may be obtained with money By these and such other Examples we are taught whensoever we make our Prayers unto God chiefly to respect the Honour and Glory of his Name Whereof we have this general Precept in the Apostle Paul 1 Cor. 10. Coloss 3. Mat. 26. Luke 22. Whether ye eat or drink or whatsoever ye do look that ye do it to the glory of God Which thing we shall best of all do if we follow the example of our Saviour Christ who praying that the bitter Cup of Death might pass from him would not therein have his own will fulfilled but referred the whole matter to the good will and pleasure of his Father And hitherto concerning those things that we may lawfully and boldly ask of God Now it followeth that we declare what kind of Persons we are bound in Conscience to pray for St. Paul writing to Timothy 1 Tim. â— exhorteth him to make Prayers and Supplications for all men exempting none of what
the place where he hath promised to be present and where he will hear the Prayers of them that call upon him The which thing both Christ and his Apostles with all the rest of the Holy Fathers do sufficiently declare by this That albeit they certainly knew that their Prayers were heard in what place soever they made them though it were in Caves in Woods and in Desarts yet so oft as they could conveniently they resorted to the material Temples there with the rest of the Congregation to joyn in Prayer and true Worship Wherefore dearly beloved you that profess your selves to be Christians and glory in that name disdain not to follow the example of your Master Christ whose Scholars you say you be shew you to be like them whose School-mates you take upon you to be that is the Apostles and Disciples of Christ Lift up pure hands with clean hearts in all places and at all times But do the same in the Temples and Churches upon the Sabbath days also Our godly Predecessors and the ancient Fathers of the Primitive Church spared not their Goods to build Churches no they spared not their Lives in time of Persecution and to hazard their Blood that they might assemble themselves together in Churches And shall we spare a little labour to come to Churches Shall neither their Example nor our Duty nor the Commodities that thereby should come unto us move us If we will declare our selves to have the fear of God if we will shew our selves true Christians if we will be the followers of Christ our Master and of those godly Fathers that have lived before us and now have received the Reward of true and faithful Christians we must both willingly earnestly and reverently come unto the material Churches and Temples to Pray as unto fit places appointed for that use and that upon the Sabbath day as at most convenient time for Gods People to cease from bodily and worldly business to give themselves to Holy Rest and Godly Contemplation pertaining to the Service of Almighty God Whereby we may reconcile our selves to God be partakers of his Holy Sacraments and be devout hearers of his Holy Word so to be established in Faith to Godward in Hope against all Adversity and in Charity toward our Neighbours And thus running our course as good Christian People we may at the last attain the Reward of everlasting Glory through the Merits of our Saviour Jesus Christ To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all Honour and Glory Amen The Second Part of the Homily of the Place and Time of PRAYER IT hath been declared unto you good Christian People in the former Sermon read unto you at what Time and into what Place ye shall come together to praise God Now I intend to set before your Eyes First how zealous and desirous ye ought to be to come to your Church Secondly how sore God is grieved with them that do despise or little regard to come to the Church upon the Holy restful Day It may well appear by the Scriptures that many of the godly Israelites being now in Captivity for their sins among the Babylonians full often wished and desired to be again at Jerusalem And at their return through Gods goodness though many of the People were negligent yet the Fathers were marvellous devout to build up the Temple that Gods People might repair thither to honour him And King David when he was a banished man out of his Countrey out of Jerusalem the Holy City from the Sanctuary from the Holy place and from the Tabernacle of God What desire what ferventness was in him toward that Holy place what wishings and prayers made he to God to be a Dweller in the House of the Lord One thing saith he have I asked of the Lord and this will I still crave that I may resort and have my dwelling in the House of the Lord so long as I live Again O how I joyed when I heard these words We shall go into the Lords House Psal 122. And in other places of the Psalms he declareth for what intent and purpose he hath such a fervent desire to enter into the Temple and Church of the Lord I will fall down saith he and worship in the holy Temple of the Lord. Again Psal 63. I have appeared in thy holy place that I might behold thy might and power that I might behold thy glory and magnificence Finally he saith I will shew forth thy name to my brethren I will praise thee in the midst of the Congregation Why then had David such an earnest desire to the House of God First because there he would worship and honour God Secondly there he would have a contemplation and a sight of the Power and Glory of God Thirdly there he would praise the Name of God with all the Congregation and Company of the People These considerations of this blessed Prophet of God ought to stir up and kindle in us the like earnest desire to resort to the Church especially upon the holy restful days there to do our Duties and to serve God there to call to remembrance how God even of his meer mercy and for the glory of his Name sake worketh mightily to conserve us in Health Wealth and Godliness and mightily preserveth us from the assaults and rages of our fierce and cruel Enemies and there joyfully in the number of his faithful People to praise and magnifie the Lords Holy Name Set before your Eyes also that Ancient Father Simeon of whom the Scripture speaketh thus to his great commendation and an encouragement for us to do the like There was a man at Jerusalem Luke 2. named Simeon a just man fearing God he came by the spirit of God into the Temple and was told by the same spirit that he should not die before he saw the anointed of the Lord. In the Temple his Promise was fulfilled in the Temple he saw Christ and took him in his Arms in the Temple he brake out into the mighty praise of God his Lord. Anna a Prophetess an old Widow departed out of the Temple giving her self to Prayer and Fasting day and night And she coming about the same time was likewise inspired and confessed and spake of the Lord to all them that looked for the Redemption of Israel This blessed Man and this blessed Woman were not disappointed of wonderful Fruit Commodity and Comfort which God sent them by their diligent resorting to Gods Holy Temple Now ye shall hear how grievously God hath been offended with his People for that they passed so little upon his Holy Temple and foulely either despised or abused the same Which thing may plainly appear by the notable Plagues and Punishments which God hath laid upon his People especially in this that he stirred up their Adversaries horribly to beat down and utterly to destroy his Holy Temple with a perpetual desolation Alas how many Churches Countries and Kingdoms of Christian
Hearers through the testimony of the truth And after many weighty words to the same end he saith The conclusion is this that nothing should be done in the Church in vain and that this thing ought chiefly to be laboured for that the unlearned also might take profit lest any part of the Body should be dark through Ignorance And lest any man should think all this to be meant of Preaching and not of Prayer he taketh occasion of these words of St. Paul If there be not an Interpreter let him keep silence in the Church to say as followeth Let him Pray secretly or speak to God who heareth all things that be dumb For in the Church must he speak that may profit all Persons St. Hierom writing upon these words of St. Paul 1 Cor. 14. How shall he that supplieth the place of the unlearned c. saith It is the Lay-man whom Paul understandeth here to be in the place of the ignorant man which hath no Ecclesiastical Office How shall he answer Amen to the prayer that he understandeth not And a little after upon the words of St Paul For if I should pray in a Tongue c. he saith thus This is Paul's meaning If any man speak in strange and unknown Tongues his mind is made unfruitful not to himself but to the Hearer For whatsoever is spoken he knoweth it not Psal 18. St. Augustine writing upon the xviii Psalm saith What this should be we ought to understand that we may sing with reason of Man and not with chattering of Birds For Owls Popinjays Ravens Pies and other such like Birds are taught by men to prate they know not what but to sing with understanding is given by Gods Holy Will to the Nature of Man Again the same Augustine saith De Magist There needeth no speech when we Pray saving perhaps as the Priests do for to declare their meaning not that God but that Men may hear them And so being put in remembrance by consenting with the Priest they may â—ang upon God Thus are we taught both by the Scripture and Ancient Doctors that in the Administration of Common-Prayer and Sacraments no Tongue unknown to the Hearers ought to be used So that for the satisfying of a Christian mans Conscience we need to spend no more time in this matter But yet to stop the mouths of the Adversaries which stay themselves much upon General Decrees it shall be good to add to these Testimonies of Scriptures and Doctors one Constitution made by Justinian the Emperor who lived five hundred twenty and seven years after Christ and was Emperor of Rome The Constitution is this Noâ—el constit 23. We command that all Bishops and Priests do celebrate the Holy Oblation and the Prayers used in Holy Baptism not speaking low but with a clear or loud voice which may be heard of the people that thereby the mind of the Hearers may be stirred up with great Devotion in uttering the Prayers of the Lord God for so the Holy Apostle teacheth in his first Epistle to the Corinthians saying Truly if thou only bless or give thanks in spirit how doth he that occupieth the place of the unlearned say Amen at thy giving thanks unto God for he understandeth not what thou sayest Thou verily givest thanks well but the other is not edified And again in the Epistle to the Romans he saith With the heart a man believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation Therefore for these causes it is convenient that among other Prayers those things also which are spoken in the Holy Oblation be uttered and spoken of the most Religious Bishops and Priests unto our Lord Jesus Christ our God with the Father and the Holy Ghost with a loud voice And let the most Religious Priests know this that if they neglect any of these things that they shall give an account for them in the dreadful judgment of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. Neither will we when we know it rest and leave it unrevenged This Emperor as Sabellicus writeth favoured the Bishop of Rome and yet we see how plain a Decree he maketh for Praying and Administring of Sacraments in a known Tongue that the Devotion of the Hearers might be stirred up by knowledge contrary to the judgment of them that would have Ignorance to make Devotion He maketh it also a matter of Damnation to do these things in a Tongue that the Hearers understand not Let us therefore conclude with God and all good mens assent that no Common-Prayer or Sacraments ought to be ministred in a Tongue that is not understood of the Hearers Now a word or two of private Prayer in an unknown Tongue We took in hand where we began to speak of this matter not only to prove that no Common-Prayer or Administration of Sacraments ought to be in a Tongue unknown to the Hearers but also that no Person ought to Pray privately in that Tongue that he himself understandeth not Which thing shall not be hard to prove if we forget not what Prayer is For if Prayer be that Devotion of the Mind which enforceth the Heart to lift up it self to God how should it be said that that Person prayeth that understandeth not the words that his Tongue speaketh in Prayer Yea how can it be said that he speaketh For to speak is by voice to utter the thought of the mind And the voice that a man uttereth in speaking is nothing else but the Messenger of the mind to bring abroad the knowledge of that which otherwise lieth secret in the heart and cannot be known according to that which St. Paul writeth 1 Cor. 2. What man saith he knoweth the things that appertain to man saving only the spirit of man which is in man He therefore that doth not understand the voices that his Tongue doth utter cannot properly be said to speak but rather to counterfeit as Parats and such other Birds use to counterfeit mens voices No man therefore that feareth to provoke the wrath of God against himself will be so bold to speak of God unadvisedly without regard of reverent understanding in his presence but he will prepare his Heart before he presume to speak unto God And therefore in our Common-Prayer the Minister doth often-times say Let us pray meaning thereby to admonish the People that they should prepare their Ears to hear what he should crave at Gods hand and their Hearts to consent to the same and their Tongues to say Amen at the end thereof On this sort did the Prophet David prepare his Heart when he said Psal 57. My heart is ready O my God my heart is ready I will sing and declare a Psalm The Jews also when in the time of Judith they did with all their heart pray God to visit his People of Israel had so prepared their hearts before they began to pray 2 Par. 3. After this sort had Manasses prepared
that man which openly before the Magistrates refused to marry her And it was not a reproach to him alone but to all his Posterity also For they were called ever after The House of him whose shoe is pulled off Another place out of the Psalms Psal 75. I will break saith David the horns of the ungodly and the horns of the righteous shall be exalted By an Horn in the Scripture is understood Power Might Strength and sometime Rule and Government The Prophet then saying I will break the horns of the ungodly meaneth that all the Power Strength and Might of Gods Enemies shall not only be weakned and made feeble but shall at length also be clean broken and destroyed though for a time for the better tryal of his People God suffereth the Enemies to prevail and have the upper hand In the 132 Psalm it is said Psal 132. I will make David 's horn to flourish Here David's Horn signifieth his Kingdom Almighty God therefore by this manner of speaking promiseth to give David Victory over all his Enemies and to stablish him in his Kingdom spite of all his Enemies And in the threescore Psalm it is written Moab is my wash-pot Psal 60. and over Edom will I cast out my shoe c. In that place the Prophet sheweth how graciously God hath dealt with his People the Children of Israel giving them great Victories upon their Enemies on every side For the Moabites and Idumeans being two great Nations proud People stout and mighty God brought them under and made them Servants to the Israelites Servants I say to stoop down to pull off their shoes and wash their feet Then Moab is my wash-pot and over Edom will I cast out my shoe is as if he had said The Moabites and the Idumeans for all their stoutness against us in the Wilderness are now made our Subjects ouâ— Servants yea Underlings to pull off our shoes and wash our feet Now I pray you what uncomely manner of speech is this so used in common phrase among the Hebrews It is a shame that Christian men should be so light headed to toy as Ruffians do with such manner of speeches uttered in good grave signification by the Holy Ghost More reasonable it were for vain men to learn to reverence the form of Gods Words than to sport at them to their Damnation Some again are offended to hear that the godly Fathers had many Wives and Concubines although after the phrase of the Scripture a Concubine is an honest name for every Concubine is a Lawful Wife but every Wife is not a Concubine And that ye may the better understand this to be true ye shall note that it was permitted to the Fathers of the Old Testament to have at one time moe Wives than one for what purpose ye shall afterward hear Of which Wives some were Free-women born some were Bond-women and Servants She that was Free-born had a Prerogative above those that were Servants and Bond-women The Free-born Woman was by Marriage made the Ruler of the House under her Husband and is called the Mother of the Houshold the Mistress or the Dame of the House after our manner of speaking and had by her Marriage an Interest a Right and an Ownership of his Goods unto whom she was married Other Servants and Bond-women were given by the Owners of them as the manner was then I will not say always but for the most part unto their Daughters at the day of their Marriage to be Handmaidens unto them After such a sort did Pharaoh King of Egypt give unto Sarah Geâ— 29. Abraham's Wife Agar the Egyptian to be her Maid So did Laban give unto his Daughter Lea at the day of her Marriage Zilpha to be her Handmaid And to his other Daughter Rachel he gave another Bond-maid named Bilha And the Wives that were the owners of their Handmaidens gave them in Marriage to their Husbands upon divers occasions Sarah gave her Maid Agar in Marriage to Abraham Gen. 16. Lea gave in like manner her Maid Zilpha to her Husband Jacob. So did Rachel his other Wife give him Bilha her Maid Gen. 30. saying unto him Go in unto her and she shall bear upon my knees which is as if she had said Take her to Wife and the Children that she shall bear will I take upon my lap and make of them as if they were mine own These Hand-maidens or Bond-women although by Marriage they were made Wives yet they had not this Prerogative to Rule in the House but were still Underlings and in such subjection to their Masters and were never called Mothers of the Houshould Mistresses or Dames of the House but are called sometimes Wives sometimes Concubines The plurality of Wives was by a special Prerogative suffered to the Fathers of the Old Testament not for satisfying their carnal and fleshly Lusts but to have many Children because every one of them hoped and begged oft-times of God in their Prayers that that Blessed Seed which God promised should come into the World to break the Serpents Head might come and be born of this stock and kindred Now of those which take occasion of carnality and evil life by hearing and reading in Gods Book what God had suffered even in those men whose commendation is praised in the Scripture As that Noe 2 Pet. 2. Gen. 9. whom St. Peter calleth the eighth Preacher of Righteousness was so drunk with Wine that in his sleep he uncovered his own Privities Gen. 19. The just man Lot was in like manner drunken and in his drunkenness lay with his own Daughters contrary to the Law of Nature Abraham Gen. 17. whose Faith was so great that for the same he deserved to be called of Gods own mouth a Father of many Nations Rom. 4. the Father of all Believers besides with Sarah his Wife had also carnal company with Agar Sarah's Handmaid Gen. 29. The Patriarch Jacob had to his Wives two Sisters at one time The Prophet David and King Solomon his Son had many Wives and Concubines c. Which things we see plainly to be forbidden us by the Law of God and are now repugnant to all publick Honesty These and such like in Gods Book good People are not written that we should or may do the like following their examples or that we ought to think that God did allow every of these things in those men But we ought rather to believe and to judge that Noe in his drunkenness offended God highly Lot lying with his Daughters committed horrible Incest We ought then to learn by them this profitable Lesson that if so godly men as they were which otherwise felt inwardly Gods Holy Spirit inflaming their hearts with the fear and love of God could not by their own strength keep themselves from committing horrible sin but did so grievously fall that without Gods great Mercy they had perished everlastingly How much more ought we then miserable
beloved of God and wrapt in spirit with an ardent zeal to Gods glory He spake not of a private hatred and in a stomach against their Persons but wished spiritually the destruction of such corrupt Errors and Vices which reigned in all devilish Persons set against God He was of like mind as St. Paul was when he did deliver Hymeneus and Alexander with the notorious Fornicator to Satan to their Temporal confusion that their Spirit might be saved against the day of the Lord. And when David did profess in some places that he hated the wicked yet in other places of his Psalms he professeth that he hated them with a perfect hate not with a malicious hate to the hurt of the Soul Which perfection of spirit because it cannot be performed in us so corrupted in affections as we be we ought not to use in our private causes the like words in form for that we cannot fulfil the like words in sense Let us not therefore be offended but search out the reason of such words before we be offended that we may the more reverently judge of such sayings though strange to our carnal Understandings yet to them that be spiritually minded judged to be zealously and godly pronounced God therefore for his mercies sake vouchsafe to purifie our minds through Faith in his Son Jesus Christ and to instill the Heavenly drops of his grace into our hard stony hearts to supple the same that we be not contemners and deriders of his Infallible Word but that with all humbleness of mind and Christian reverence we may endeavour our selves to hear and to read his sacred Scriptures and inwardly so to digest them as shall be to the comfort of our Souls sanctification of his Holy Name To whom with the Son and the Holy Ghost three Persons and one living God be all Land Honour and Praise for ever and ever Amen AN HOMILY OF Alms-Deeds and Mercifulness towards the Poor and Needy AMongst the manifold Duties that Almighty God requireth of his Faithful Servants the true Christians by the which he would that both his Name should be glorified and the certainty of their Vocation declared there is none that is either more acceptable unto him or more profitable for them than are the Works of Mercy and Pity shewed upon the Poor which be afflicted with any kind of misery And yet this notwithstanding such is the slothful sluggishness of our dull Nature to that which is good and godly that we are almost in nothing more negligent and less careful than we are therein It is therefore a very ncessary thing that Gods People should awake their sleepy minds and consider their Duty on this behalf And meet it is that all true Christians should desirously seek and learn what God by his Holy Word doth herein require of them that first knowing their Duty whereof many by their slackness seem to be very ignorant they may afterwards diligently endeavour to perform the same By the which both the godly charitable Persons may be encouraged to go forwards and continue in their merciful Deeds of Alms-giving to the Poor and also such as hitherto have either neglected or contemned it may yet now at length when they shall hear how much it appertaineth to them advisedly consider it and vertuously apply themselves thereunto And to the intent that every one of you may the better understand that which is taught and also easilier bear away and so take more fruit of that shall be said when several matters are severally handled I mind particularly and in this order to speak and intreat of these points First I will shew how earnestly Almighty God in his Holy Word doth exact the doing of Alms-Deeds of us and how acceptable they be unto him Secondly how profitable it is for us to use them and what commodity and fruit they will bring unto us Thirdly and lastly I will shew out of Gods Word that whoso is liberal to the Poor and relieveth them plenteously shall notwithstanding have sufficient for himself and evermore be without danger of penury and scarcity Concerning the first which is the acceptation and dignity or price of Alms-Deeds before God Know this that to help and succour the Poor in their need and misery pleaseth God so much that as the Holy Scripture in sundry places recordeth nothing can be more thankfully taken or accepted of God For first we read that Almighty God doth account that to be given and to be bestowed upon himself that that is bestowed upon the Poor For so doth the Holy Ghost testifie unto us by the Wise Man saying He that hath pity upon the Poor Prov. 19. lendeth unto the Lord himself And Christ in the Gospel avoucheth and as a most certain truth bindeth it with an Oath that the Alms bestowed upon the Poor was bestowed upon him and so shall be reckoned at the last day For thus he saith to the charitable Alms-givers when he sitteth as Judge in the doom to give sentence of every man according to his deserts Mat. 25. Verily I say unto you whatsoever good and merciful deed you did upon any of the least of these my brethren ye did the same unto me In relieving their hunger ye relieved mine in quenching their thirst ye quenched mine in clothing them ye clothed me and when ye harboured them ye lodged me also when ye visited them being sick in Prison ye visited me For as he that hath received a Princes Embassadors and entertaineth them well doth honour the Prince from whom those Embassadors do come So he that receiveth the Poor and Needy and helpeth them in their affliction and distress doth thereby receive and honour Christ their Master who as he was poor and needy himself whilest he lived here amongst us to work the Mystery of our Salvation at his departure hence he promised in his stead to send unto us those that were Poor by whose means his absence should be supplied and therefore that we would do unto him we must do unto them And for this cause doth the Almighty God say unto Moses The Land wherein you dwell Deut. 15. shall never be without poor men because he would have continual trial of his People whether they loved him or no that in shewing themselves obedient unto his will they might certainly assure themselves of his love and favour towards them and nothing doubt but that as his Law and Ordinance wherein he commanded them that they should open their hand unto their brethren that were poor and needy in the Land were accepted of them and willingly performed So he would on his part lovingly accept them and truly perform his promises that he had made unto them The Holy Apostles and Disciples of Christ who by reason of his daily conversation saw by his Deeds and heard in his Doctrine how much he tendred the Poor the godly Fathers also that were both before and since Christ indued without doubt with the Holy Ghost and most
certainly certified of Gods Holy Will they both do most earnestly exhort us and in all their writings almost continually admonish us that we would remember the Poor and bestow our charitable Alms upon them St. Paul crieth unto us after this sort Comfort the feeble minded 1 Thess 5. lift up the weak and be charitable towards all men And again To do good to the poor Hebr. 13. and to distribute alms gladly see that thou do not forget for with such sacrifices God is pleased Esay 58. Esay the Prophet teacheth on this wise Deal thy bread to the hungry and bring the poor wandring home to thy house When thou seest the naked see thou clothe him and hide not thy face from thy poor neighbour neither despise thou thine own flesh And the Holy Father Toby giveth this counsel Tob. 4. Give alms saith he of thine own goods and turn never thy face from the poor eat thy bread with the hungry and cover the naked with thy clothes And the learned and godly Doctor Chrysostom giveth admonition Ad pop Aâ—tioch Hom. 35. Let merciful Alms be always with us as a Garment that is as mindful as we will be to put our garments upon us to cover our nakedness to defend us from the cold and to shew our selves comely So mindful let us be at all times and seasons that we give Alms to the Poor and shew our selves merciful towards them But what mean these often admonitions and earnest exhortations of the Prophets Apostles Fathers and holy Doctors Surely as they were faithful to God-ward and therefore discharged their Duty truly in telling us what was Gods Will so of a singular love to us-ward they laboured not only to inform us but also to perswade us that to give Alms and to succour the poor and needy was a very acceptable thing and an high Sacrifice to God wherein he greatly delighted and had a singular pleasure For so doth the Wise Man the Son of Syrach teach us saying Ecclus. 33. Whoso is merciful and giveth alms he offereth the right thank-offering And he addeth thereunto The right thank-offering maketh the Altar fat and a sweet smell it is before the Highest it is acceptable before God and shall never be forgotten And the truth of this Doctrine is verified by the examples of those holy and charitable Fathers of whom we read in the Scriptures that they were given to merciful compassion towards the Poor and charitable relieving of their necessities Such a one was Abraham in whom God had so great pleasure that he vouchsafed to come unto him in form of an Angel and to be entertained of him at his House Such was his kinsman Lot whom God so favoured for receiving his Messengers into his House which otherwise should have lien in the street that he saved him with his whole Family from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrha Such were the Holy Fathers Job and Toby with many others who felt most sensible proofs of Gods special love towards them And as all these by their mercifulness and tender compassion which they shewed to the miserable afflicted Members of Christ in the relieving helping and succouring them with their Temporal Goods in this life obtained Gods favour and were dear acceptable and pleasant in his sight so now they themselves take pleasure in the fruition of God in the pleasant joys of Heaven and are also in Gods eternal Word set before us as perfect examples ever before our eyes both how we shall please God in this mortal life and also how we may come to live in joy with them in everlasting pleasure and felicity For most true is that saying which Augustine hath that the giving of Alms and relieving of the Poor is the right way to Heaven Via Coeli pauper est The Poor man saith he is the way to Heaven They used in times past to set in High-ways sides the Picture of Mercury pointing with his finger which was the right way to the Town And we use in cross-ways to set up a wooden or stone Cross to admonish the travelling man which way he must turn when he cometh thither to direct his Journey aright But Gods Word as St. Augustine saith hath set in the way to Heaven the Poor Man and his House so that whoso will go aright thither and not turn out of the way must go by the poor The poor man is that Mercury that shall set us the ready way and if we look well to this mark we shall not wander much out of the right path The manner of wise worldly men amongst us is that if they know a man of a meaner Estate than themselves to be in favour with the Prince or any other Noble-man whom they either fear or love such a one they will be glad to benefit and pleasure that when they have need they may become their Spokesman either to obtain a commodity or to escape a displeasure Now surely it ought to be a shame to us that worldly men for temporal things that last but for a season should be more wise and provident in procuring them than we in heavenly Our Saviour Christ testifieth of poor men that they are dear unto him and that he loveth them especially For he calleth them his little ones by a name of tender love he saith they be his brethren And St. James saith that God hath chosen them to be the Heirs of his Kingdom James â— Hath not God saith he chosen the poor of this World to himself to make them hereafter the rich heirs of that Kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him And we know that the Prayer which they make for us shall be acceptable and regarded of God their complaint shall be heard also Thereof doth Jesus the Son of Syrach certainly assure us saying Ecclus. 4. If the poor complain of thee in the bitterness of his soul his prayer shall be heard even he that made him shall hear him Be courteous therefore unto the Poor We know also that he who acknowledgeth himself to be their Master and Patron and refuseth not to take them for his Servants is both able to pleasure and displeasure us and that we stand every hour in need of his help Why should we then be either negligent or unwilling to procure their friendship and favour by the which also we may be assured to get his favour that is both able and willing to do us all pleasures that are for our commodity and wealth Christ doth declare by this how much he accepteth our charitable affection toward the Poor in that he promiseth a reward unto them that give but a cup of cold water in his name to them that have need thereof and that reward is the Kingdom of Heaven No doubt is it therefore that God regardeth highly that which he rewardeth so liberally For he that promiseth a Princely recompence for a beggerly benevolence declareth that he is more delighted with
the giving than with the gift and that he as much esteemeth the doing of the thing as the fruit and commodity that cometh of it Whoso therefore hath hitherto neglected to give Alms let him know that God now requireth it of him and he that hath been liberal to the Poor let him know that his godly doings are accepted and thankfully taken at Gods hands which he will requite with double and treble For so saith the Wise man He which sheweth mercy to the poor doth lay his money in bank to the Lord for a large interest and gain the gain being chiefly the possession of the life everlasting through the merits of our Saviour Jesus Christ To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all Honour and Glory for ever Amen The Second Part of the Sermon of Alms-deeds YE have heard before Dearly Beloved that to give Alms unto the Poor and to help them in time of necessity is so acceptable unto our Saviour Christ that he counteth that to be done to himself that we do for his sake unto them Ye have heard also how earnestly both the Apostles Prophets Holy Fathers and Doctors do exhort us unto the same And ye see how wel-beloved and dear unto God they were whom the Scriptures report unto us to have been good Alms-men Wherefore if either their good examples or the wholsom counsel of godly Fathers or the love of Christ whose especial favour we may be assured by this means to obtain may move us or do any thing at all with us let us provide us that from henceforth we shew unto God-ward this thankful service to be mindful and ready to help them that be poor and in misery Now will I this second time that I entreat of Alms-deeds shew unto you how profitable it is for us to exercise them and what fruit thereby shall arise unto us if we do them faithfully Our Saviour Christ in the Gospel teacheth us that it profiteth a man nothing to have in possession all the riches of the whole World and the wealth or glory thereof if in the mean season he lose his Soul or do that thing whereby it should become captive unto death sin and hell-fire By the which saying he not only instructeth us how much the souls health is to be preferred before worldly commodities but it also serveth to stir up our minds and to prick us forwards to seek diligently and learn by what means we may preserve and keep our souls ever in safety that is how we may recover our health if it be lost or impaired and how it may be defended and maintained if once we have it Yea he teacheth us also thereby to esteem that as a precious Medicine and an inestimable Jewel that hath such strength and vertue in it that can either procure or preserve so incomparable a treasure For if we greatly regard that Medicine or Salve that is able to heal sundry and grievous Diseases of the Body much more will we esteem that which hath like power over the Soul And because we might be better assured both to know and to have in readiness that so profitable a Remedy he as a most faithful and loving Teacher sheweth himself both what it is and where we may find it and how we may use and apply it For when both he and his Disciples were grievously accused of the Pharisees to have defiled their souls in breaking the constitutions of the Elders because they went to meat and washed not their hands before according to the custom of the Jews Christ answering their superstitious complaint teacheth them an especial remedy how to keep clean their souls notwithstanding the breach of such superstitious Orders Luke 11. Give Alms saith he and behold all things are clean unto you He teacheth them that to be merciful and charitable in helping the Poor is the means to keep the Soul pure and clean in the sight of God We are taught therefore by this that merciful Alms-dealing is profitable to purge the Soul from the infection and filthy spots of sin The same Lesson doth the Holy Ghost also teach in sundry places of the Scripture Tobit 4. saying Mercifulness and Alms-giving purgeth from all sins and delivereth from death and suffereth not the soul to come into darkness A great confidence may they have before the high God that shew mercy and compassion to them that are afflicted The wise Preacher the Son of Syrach confimeth the same Ecclus 5. when he saith That as water quencheth burning fire even so mercy and alms resisteth and reconcileth sins And sure it is that mercifulness quaileth the heat of sin so much that they shall not take hold upon man to hurt him or if ye have by any infirmity or weakness been touched and annoyed with them straightways shall mercifulness wipe and wash away as salves and remedies to heal their sores and grievous diseases And thereupon that Holy Father Cyprian taketh good occasion to exhort earnestly to the merciful works of giving Alms and helping the Poor and there he admonisheth to consider how wholsom and profitable it is to relieve the needy and help the afflicted by the which we may purge our sins and heal our wounded souls But yet some will say unto me If Alms-giving and our charitable works towards the Poor be able to wash away sins to reconcile us to God to deliver us from the peril of damnation and makes us the Sons and Heirs of Gods Kingdom then are Christs merits defaced and his blood shed in vain then are we justified by Works and by our Deeds may we merit Heaven then do we in vain believe that Christ died for to put away our sins and that he rose for our justification as St. Paul teacheth But ye shall understand Dearly Beloved that neither those places of the Scripture before alledged neither the Doctrine of the blessed Martyr Cyprian neither any other godly and learned man when they in extolling the dignity profit fruit and effect of vertuous and liberal Alms do say that it washeth away sins and bringeth us to the favour of God do mean that our work and charitable deed is the original cause of our acception before God or that for the digninity or worthiness thereof our sins may be washed away and we purged and cleansed of all the spots of our iniquity for that were indeed to deface Christ and to defraud him of his glory But they mean this and this is the understanding of those and such like sayings that God of his mercy and special favour towards them whom he hath appointed to everlasting salvation hath so offered his grace especially and they have so received it fruitfully that although by reason of their sinful living outwardly they seemed before to have been the Children of Wrath and Perdition yet now the Spirit of God mightily working in them unto obedience to Gods Will and Commandments they declare by their outward deeds and life in the shewing of
sent down from Heaven unto us the Holy Ghost nor that he sitteth on the right hand of his Heavenly Father having the Rule of Heaven and Earth Psal 17. reigning as the Prophet saith from Sea to Sea nor that he should after this World be the Judge as well of the living as of the dead to give reward to the good and judgment to the evil That these Links therefore of our Faith should all hang together in stedfast establishment and confirmation it pleased our Saviour not straitway to withdraw himself from the bodily presence and sight of his Disciples but he chose out forty days wherein he would declare unto them by manifold and most strong arguments and tokens that he had conquered Death and that he was also truly risen again to life He began saith Luke at Moses and all the Prophets Luke 24. and expounded unto them the Prophesies that were written in all the Scriptures of him to the intent to confirm the truth of his Resurrection long before spoken of which he verified indeed as it is declared very apparently and manifestly by his oft appearance to sundry Persons at sundry times First Mat 28. he sent his Angels to the Sepulcher who did shew unto certain Women the empty Grave saying that the burial-linen remained therein And by these signs were these Women fully instructed that he was risen again and so did they testifie it openly After this Jesus himself appeared to Mary Magdalen John 20. and after that to certain other Women and strait afterward he appeared to Peter then to the two Disciples which were going to Emmaus 1 Cor. 15. He appeared to the Disciples also as they were gathered together for fear of the Jews the door shut Luke 24. John 21. At another time he was seen at the Sea of Tiberias of Peter and Thomas and of other Disciples when they were fishing He was seen of more than five hundred brethren in the Mount of Galilee where Jesus appointed them to be by his Angel when he said Behold he shall go before you into Galilee there shall ye see him as he hath said unto you After this he appeared unto James and last of all he was visibly seen of all the Apostles Acts 1. at such time as he was taken up into Heaven Thus at sundry times he shewed himself after he was risen again to confirm and stablish this Article And in these revelations sometime he shewed them his Hands his Feet and his Side and bad them touch him that they should not take him for a Ghost or a Spirit Sometime he also did eat with them but ever he was talking with them of the everlasting Kingdom of God to assure the truth of his Resurrection Luke 24. For then be opened their understanding that they might perceive the Scriptures and said unto them Thus it is written and thus it behoved Christ to suffer and to risâ— from death the third day and that there should be preached openly in his name pardon and remission of sins to all the Nations of the World Ye see good Christian People how necessary this Article of our Faith is seeing it was proved of Christ himself by such evident reasons and tokens by so long time and space Now therefore as our Saviour was diligent for our comfort and instruction to declare it so let us be as ready in our belief to receive it to our comfort and instruction As he died not for himself no more did he rise again for himself â— Cor. 15. He was dead saith St. Paul for our sins and rose again for our justification O most comfortable word evermore to be born in remembrance He died saith he to put away sin he rose again to endow us with righteousness His death took away sin and malediction his death was the Ransom of them both his death destroyed death and overcame the Devil which had the power of death in his subjection his death destroyed Hell with all the damnation thereof Thus is Death swallowed up by Christs Victory thus is Hell spoiled for ever If any man doubt of this Victory let Christs glorious Resurrection declare him the thing If Death could not keep Christ under his dominion and power but that he rose again it is manifest that his power was overcome If Death be conquered then must it follow that sin wherefore death was appointed as the wages must be also destroyed If Death and Sin be vanished away then is the Devil's Tyranny vanished which had the power of Death and was the author and brewer of sin and the ruler of Hell If Christ had the victory of them all by the power of his death and openly proved it by his most victorious and valiant Resurrection as it was not possible for his great might to be subdued of them and it is true that Christ died for our sins and rose again for our justification Why may not we that be his Members by true Faith rejoyce and boldly say with the Prophet Hosea and the Apostle Paul Where is thy Dart O Death Where is thy Victory O Hell Thanks be unto God say they which hath given us the Victory by our Lord Jesus Christ This mighty Conquest of his Resurrection was not only signified before by divers figures of the Old Testament as by Samson when he slew the Lion out of whose mouth came sweetness and honey and as David bare his figure when he delivered the Lamb out of the Lions mouth 1 Reg. 17. and when he overcame and slew the great Giant Goliath and as when Jonas was swallowed up in the Whales mouth Jonas 1. and cast up again on land alive but was also most clearly prophesied by the Prophets of the Old Testament and in the New also confirmed by the Apostles He hath spoiled saith St. Paul Rule and Power Col. 2. and all the Dominion of our spiritual enemies He hath made a shew of them openly and hath triumphed over them in his own person This is the mighty power of the Lord whom we believe on By his Death hath he wrought for us this Victory and by his Resurrection hath he purchased Everlasting Life and Righteousness for us It had not been enough to be delivered by his Death from sin except by his Resurrection we had been endowed with righteousness And it should not avail us to be delivered from death except he had risen again to open for us the Gates of Heaven to enter into life everlasting And therefore St. Peter thanketh God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ for his abundant mercy 1 Pet. 1. because he hath begotten us saith he unto a lively hope by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from death to enjoy an inheritance immortal that never shall perish which is laid up in Heaven for them that be kept by the power of God through Faith Thus hath his Resurrection wrought for us life and righteousness He passed through Death and
Christs benefits which he hath plentifully wrought for us by his Resurrection and passing to his Father whereby we are delivered from the captivity and thraldom of all our Enemies Let us in like manner pass over the affections of our old conversation that we may be delivered from the bondage thereof Exod. 7. and rise with Christ The Jews kept their Feast in abstaining from leavened bread by the space of seven days Let us Christian folk keep our Holy-day in spiritual manner that is in abstaining not from material leavened bread but from the old leaven of sin the leaven of maliciousness and wickedness Let us cast from us the leaven of corrupt Doctrine that will infect our Souls Let us keep our Feast the whole term of our life with eating the bread of pureness of godly life and truth of Christs Doctrine Thus shall we declare that Christs gifts and graces have their effect in us and that we have the right belief and knowledge of his holy Resurrection where truly if we apply our Faith to the vertue thereof in our life and conform us to the example and signification meant thereby we shall be sure to rise hereafter to everlasting glory by the goodness and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all Glory Thanksgiving and Praise in infinita seculorum secula Amen AN HOMILY OF THE Worthy Receiving and reverend Esteeming of the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ THE great love of our Saviour Christ towards mankind good Christian People doth not only appear in that dear-bought benefit of our Redemption and Salvation by his Death and Passion but also in that he so kindly provided that the same most merciful work might be had in continual remembrance to take some place in us and not be frustrate of his end and purpose For as tender Parents are not content to procure for their Children costly Possessions and Livelihood but take order that the same may be conserved and come to their use So our Lord and Saviour thought it not sufficient to purchase for us his Fathers favour again which is that deep Fountain of all goodness and eternal life but also invented the ways most wisely whereby they might redound to our commodity and profit Amongst the which means is the publick celebration of the memory of his precious Death at the Lords Table Which although it seem of small vertue to some yet being righly done by the Faithful it doth not only help their weakness who by their poisoned Nature readier to remember injuries than benefits but strengtheneth and comforteth their inward man with peace and gladness and maketh them thankful to their Redeemer with diligent care and godly conversation Exod. 12. And as of old time God decreed his wondrous benefits of the deliverance of his People to be kept in memory by the eating of the Passover with his Rites and Ceremonies So our loving Saviour hath ordained and established the remembrance of his great mercy expressed in his Passion in the institution of his Heavenly Supper Mat. 26. 1 Cor. 11. where every one of us must be Guests and not Gazers Eaters and not Lookers feeding our selves and not hiring others to feed for us that we may live by our own meat Luke 11. and not to perish for hunger whiles other devour all To this his Commandment forceth us 1 Cor. 6. Mat. 26. saying Do ye this drink ye all of this To this his Promise enticeth This is my Body which is given for you This is my Blood which is shed for you So then of necessity we must be our selves partakers of this Table and not beholders of other So we must address our selves to frequent the same in reverent and comely manner lest as Physick provided for the Body being misused more hurteth than profiteth so this comfortable Medicine of the Soul undecently received tendeth to our greater harm and sorrow 1 Cor. 11. And St. Paul saith He that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh his own damnation Wherefore that it be not said to us as it was to the Guest of that great Supper Mat. 22. Friend how camest thou in not having the marriage-garment And that we may fruitfully use St. Paul's counsel Let a man prove himself 1 Cor. 11. and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup we must certainly know that three things be requisite in him which would seemly as becometh such high Mysteries resort to the Lords Table That is First a right and worthy estimation and understanding of this Mystery Secondly to come in a sure Faith And Thirdly to have newness or pureness of life to succeed the receiving of the same But before all other things this we must be sure of especially that this Supper be in such wise done and ministred as our Lord and Saviour did and commanded to be done as his holy Apostles used it and the good Fathers in the Primitive Church frequented it For as that worthy man St. Ambrose saith he is unworthy of the Lord that otherwise doth celebrate that Mystery than it was delivered by him Neither can he be devout that otherwise doth presume than it was given by the Author We must then take heed lest of the Memory it be made a Sacrifice lest of a Communion it be made a private eating lest of two parts we have but one lest applying it for the dead we lose the fruit that be alive Let us rather in these matters follow the advice of Cyprian in the like cases that is cleave fast to the first beginning hold fast the Lords tradition do that in the Lords commemoration which he himself did he himself commanded and his Apostles confirmed This caution or fore-sight if we use then may we see those things that be requisite in the worthy receiver whereof this was the first that we have a right understanding of the thing it self As concerning which thing this we may assuredly perswade our selves that the ignorant man can neither worthily esteem nor effectually use those marvellous graces and benefits offered and exhibited in that Supper but either will lightly regard them to no small offence or utterly condemn them to his utter destruction So that by his negligence he deserveth the Plagues of God to fall upon him and by contempt he deserveth everlasting Perdition To avoid then these harms use the advice of the Wise man Prov. 23. who willeth thee when thou sittest at an earthly Kings Table to take diligent heed what things are set before thee So now much more at the King of Kings Table thou must carefully search and know what dainties are provided for thy Soul whither thou art come not to feed thy senses and belly to corruption but thy inward man to immortality and life nor to consider the earthly creatures which thou seest but the heavenly graces which thy Faith beholdeth For this Table is not saith Chrysostom
simple Man of small wit and less knowledge one that was reputed among the Learned as an Ideot and he on Gods name would needs take in hand to dispute with this proud Philosopher The Bishops and other learned Men standing by were marvellously abashed at the matter thinking that by his doings they should be all confounded and put to open shame He notwithstanding goeth on and beginning in the Name of the Lord Jesus brought the Philosopher to such Point in the end contrary to all Mens expectation that he could not chuse but acknowledge the power of God in his Words and to give place to the Truth Was not this a miraculous Work that one silly Soul of no Learning should do that which many Bishops of great knowledge and understanding were never able to bring to pass So true is the saying of Bede Where the Holy Ghost doth instruct and teach there is no delay at all in learning Much more might here be spoken of the manifold gifts and graces of the Holy Ghost most excellent and wonderful in our eyes but to make a long Discourse through all the shortness of time will not serve And seeing ye have heard the chiefest ye may easily conceive and judge of the rest Now were it expedient to discuss this Question Whether all they which boast and brag that they have the Holy Ghost do truly challenge this unto themselves or no Which doubt because it is necessary and profitable shall God willing be dissolved in the next Part of this Homily In the mean season let us as we are most bound give hearty thanks to God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ for sending down his Comforter into the World humbly beseeching him so to work in our Hearts by the power of this Holy Spirit that we being Regenerate and newly Born again in all Goodness Righteousness Sobriety and Truth may in the end be made partakers of everlasting Life in his Heavenly Kingdom through Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour Amen The Second Part of the Homily concerning the HOLY GHOST dissoâ—â—â—â—◠〈◊〉 doubt Whether all Men riâ—htly 〈…〉 themselves the HOLY GHOST or no â—ohn 14. â—5 OUr Saviour Christ departing out of the World unto his Father promised his Disciples to send down another Comforter that should continue with them for ever and direct them into all truth Which thing to be faithfully and truly performed the Scriptures do sufficiently bear witness Neither must we think that this Comforter was either promised or else given only to the Apostles but also to the Universal Church of Christ dispersed through the whole World For unless the Holy Ghost had been always present governing and preserving the Church from the beginning it could never have sustained so many and great brunts of Affliction and Persecution with so little damage and harm as it hath And the words of Christ are most plain in this behalf saying John 24. Mat. 21. That the Spirit of truth should abide with them for ever that he would be with them always he meaneth by Grace Vertue and Power even to the Worlds end Also in the Prayer that he made to his Father a little before his death he maketh intercession not only for himself and his Apostles but indifferently for all them that should believe in him through their words John 17. Rom. 8 that is to wit for his whole Church Again St. Paul saith If any Man have not the Spirit of Christ the same is not his Also in the words following Ibidem We have received the Spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father Hereby then it is evident and plain to all Men that the Holy Ghost was given not only to the Apostles but also to the whole Body of Christs Congregation although not in like form and majesty as he came down at the Feast of Pentecost But now herein standeth the Controversie Whether all Men do justly arrogate to themselves the Holy Ghost or no The Bishops of Rome have for along time made a sore Challenge thereunto reasoning with themselves after this sort The Holy Ghost say they was promised to the Church and never forsaketh the Church But we are the chief Heads and the principal part of the Church therefore we have the Holy Ghost for ever and whatsoever things we decree are undoubted Verities and Oracles of the Holy Ghost That ye may perceive the weakness of this Argument it is needful to teach you First What the true Church of Christ is and then to confer the Church of Rome therewith to discern how well they agree together The true Church is an Universal Congregation or Fellowship of Gods faithful and elect People built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Ephes 2. Jesus Christ himself being the head Corner-stone And it hath always three Notes or Marks whereby it is known Pure and Sound Doctrin the Sacraments Ministred according to Christs holy Institution and the right use of Ecclesiastical Discipline This description of the Church is agreeable both to the Scriptures of God and also to the Doctrin of the Ancient Fathers so that none may Justly find fault therewith Now if you will compare this with the Church of Rome not as it was in the beginning but as it is at present and hath been for the space of Nine hundred Years and odd you shall well perceive the state thereof to be so far wide from the nature of the true Church that nothing can be more For neither are they built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets retaining the sound and pure Doctrin of Christ Jesu neither yet do they order the Sacraments or else the Ecclesiastical Keys in such sort as he did first Institute and Ordain them But have so intermingled their own Traditions and Inventions by chopping and changing by adding and plucking away that now they may seem to be converted into a new Guise Christ commended to his Church a Sacrament of his Body and Blood they have changed it into a Sacrifice for the Quick and the Dead Christ did Minister to his Apostles and the Apostles to other Men indifferently under both kinds They have robbed the Lay people of the Cup saying that for them one kind is sufficient Christ Ordained no other Element to be used in Baptism but only Water whereunto when the Word is joyned it is made as St. Augustine saith a full and perfect Sacrament Augustine They being wiser in their own conceit than Christ think it is not well nor orderly done unless they use Conjuration unless they Hallow the Water unless there be Oyl Salt Spittle Tapers and such other dumb Ceremonies serving to no use contrary to the plain Rule of St. Paul 1 Cor. 14. who willeth all things to be done in the Church to Edification Christ Ordained the Authority of the Keys to Excommunicate notorious sinners and to Absolve them which are truly Penitent They abuse this Power at their own pleasure as well in
Cursing the Godly with Bell Book and Candle as also in Absolving the Reprobate which are known to be unworthy of any Christian Society Whereof they that Lust to see Examples let them search their Lives To be short look what our Saviour Christ pronounced of the Scribes and Pharisees in the Gospel the same may be boldly and with safe Conscience pronounced of the Bishops of Rome namely that they have forsaken and daily do forsake the Commandments of God to erect and set up their own Constitutions Which thing being true as all they which have any light of Gods Word must needs confess we may well conclude according to the Rule of Augustin That the Bishops of Rome and their adherents are not the true Church of Christ much less then to be taken as chief Heads and Rulers of the same Whosoever saith he do dissent from the Scriptures concerning the Head August contra Petilian Donatist Ep. cap. 4. although they be found in all places where the Church is appointed yet are they not in the Church a plain place concluding directly against the Church of Rome Where is now the Holy Ghost which they so stoutly claim to themselves Where is now the Spirit of Truth that will not suffer them in any wise to err If it be possible to be there where the true Church is not then is it at Rome otherwise it is but a vain brag and nothing else St. Paul as you have heard before saith If any man have not the Spirit of Christ the same is not his And by turning the words it may be truly said If any man be not of Christ the same hath not the Spirit Now to discern who are truly his and who not we have this Rule given us that his Sheep do always hear his Voice And St. John saith John 10. John 8. He that is of God heareth Gods Word Whereof it followeth that the Popes in not hearing Christs voice as they ought to do but preferring their own decrees before the express Word of God do plainly argue to the World that they are not of Christ nor yet possessed with his Spirit But here they all alledge for themselves that there are divers necessary Points not expressed in holy Scripture John 16. which were left to the Revelation of the Holy Ghost Who being given to the Church according to Christs promise hath taught many things from time to time which the Apostles could not then bear To this we may easily Answer by the plain words of Christ teaching us that the proper Office of the Holy Ghost is not to institute and bring in new Ordinances contrary to his Doctrin before taught but shall come and declare those things which he had before taught John 16. so that it might be well and truly understood When the Holy Ghost saith he shall come he shall lead you into all truth What truth doth he mean Any other than he himself had before expressed in his Word John 16. No. For he saith He shall take of mine and shew unto you Again he shall bring you in remembrance of all things that I have told you It is not then the Duty and part of any Christian under pretence of the Holy Ghost to bring in his own Dreams and Phantasies into the Church but he must diligently provide that his Doctrin and Decrees be agreeable to Christs holy Testament otherwise in making the Holy Ghost the Author thereof he doth Blaspheme and Belie the Holy Ghost to his own Condemnation Now to leave their Doctrin and to come to other Points What shall we think or judge of the Popes intolerable Pride The Scripture saith that God resisteth the Proud and sheweth grace to the Humble Also it pronouceth them blessed which are Poor in Spirit Matt. 5. Matt. 14. promising that they which humble themselves shall be exalted And Christ our Saviour willeth all his to learn of him because he is humble and meek As for Pride St. Gregory saith it is the Root of all Mischief And St. Augustin's judgment is this that it maketh Men Devils Can any Man then which either hath or shall read the Popes Lives justly say that they had the Holy Ghost within them First as touching that they will be termed Universal Bishops and Heads of all Christian Churches through the World we have the judgment of Gregory expresly against them Lib. 3. Epist 76.78 who writing to Mauritius the Emperor condemneth John Bishop of Constantinople in that behalf calling him the Prince of Pride Lucifers Successor and the fore runner of Antichrist Serm. 3. de resur Dom. St. Bernard also agreeing thereunto saith What greater Pride can there be than that one Man should prefer his own judgment before the whole Congregation as though he only had the Spirit of God Dialogorum lib. 3. And Chrysostom pronounceth a terrible sentence against them affirming plainly that whosoever seeketh to be chief in Earth shall find confusion in Heaven and that he which striveth for the Supremacy shall not be reputed among the Servants of Christ Again he saith To desire a good work it is good Chrysost sup Mat. but to covet the chief degree of Honor it is meer Vanity Do not these places sufficiently convince their outragious Pride in Usurping to themselves a Superiority above all other as well Ministers and Bishops as Kings also and Emperors But as the Lion is known by his Claws so let us learn to know these Men by their Deeds What shall we say of him that made the Noble King Dandalus to be tied by the Neck with a Chain Sabell Ennead 9. lib. 7. and to lie flat down before his Table there to gnaw Bones like a Dog Shall we think that he hath Gods holy Spirit within him and not rather the Spirit of the Devil Such a Tyrant was Pope Clement the VI. What shall we say of him that proudly and contemptuously trod Frederick the Emperor under his Feet applying the verse of the Psalm unto himself Thou shalt go upon the Lion and the Adder Psal 60. the young Lion and the Dragon thou shalt tread under thy foot Shall we say that he hath Gods holy Spirit within him and not rather the Spirit of the Devil Such a Tyrant was Pope Alexander the III. What shall we say of him that Armed and animated the Sun against the Father causing him to be taken and to be cruelly famished to death contrary to the Law both of God and also of Nature Shall we say that he had Gods holy Spirit within him and not rather the Spirit of the Devil Such a Tyrant was Pope Pascal the II. What shall we say of him that came into his Popedom like a Fox that reigned like a Lion and died like a Dog Shall we say that he had Gods holy Spirit within him and not rather the Spirit of the Devil Such a Tyrant was Pope Boniface the VIII What shall we say of him that made
wait to serve his Maker to be fierce against unjust Men to their Punishment For as the same Author saith He Armeth the Creatrue to revenge his Enemies and otherwhiles to the probation of our Faith stirreth he up such storms And therefore by what mean and instrument soever God takes from us his Gifts we must patiently take Gods Judgment in worth and acknowledge him to be the Taker and Giver Job 1. as Job saith The Lord gave and the Lord took when yet his Enemies drove his Cattle away and when the Devil slew his Children and afflicted his Body with grievous Sickness Such meekness was in that holy King and Prophet David when he was reviled of Shimei in the presence of all his Host he took it patiently and reviled not again but as confessing God to be the Author of his Innocency and good Name and offering it to be at his pleasure Let him alone saith he to one of his Servants that would have revenged such despite for God hath commanded him to curse David 2 Sam. 16. and peradventure God intendeth thereby to render me some good turn for this curse of him to day And though the Minister other whiles doth evil in his Act proceeding of Malice yet forasmuch as God turneth his evil act to a proof of our Patience we should rather submit our selves in Patience than to have indignation at Gods Rod which peradventure when he hath corrected us to our nurture he will cast it into the fire as it deserveth Let us in like manner truly acknowledge all our Gifts and Prerogatives to be so Gods Gifts that we shall be ready to resign them up at his Will and Pleasure again Let us throughout our whole Lives confess all good things to come from God of what Name or Nature soever they be not of these corruptible things only whereof I have now last spoken but much more of all Spiritual Graces behoveable for our Soul without whose Goodness no Man is called to Faith or staid therein as I shall hereafter in the next part of this Homily declare to you In the mean season forget not what hath already been spoken to you forget not to be conformable in your judgments to the truth of his Doctrin and forget not to practise the same in the whole state of your Life whereby ye shall obtain the blessing promised by our Saviour Christ Blessed are they which hear the Word of God and fulfil it in Life Which blessing he grant to us all who reigneth over all one God in Trinity the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost To whom be all Honor and Glory for ever Amen The Third Part of the Homily for Rogation-Week I Promised to you to declare that all Spiritual Gifts and Graces come specially from God Let us consider the truth of this matter and hear what is testified first of the gift of Faith the first entry into a Christian Life without which no Man can please God For St. Paul confesseth it plainly to be Gods gift Ephes 2. 1 Pet. 1. saying Faith is the gift of God And again St. Peter saith It is of Gods power that ye be kept through Faith to Salvation It is of the goodness of God that we falter not in our hope unto him It is verily Gods work in us the Charity wherewith we love our Brethren If after our fall we Repent it is by him that we Repent which reacheth forth his Merciful Hand to raise us up If we have any Will to rise it is he that preventeth our Will and disposeth us thereto If after Contrition we feel our Consciences at peace with God through remission of our sin and so be reconciled again to his favor and hope to be his Children and Inheritors of Everlasting Life Who worketh these great Miracles in us Our Worthiness our Deservings and Endeavors our Wits and Vertue Nay verily St. Paul will not suffer Flesh and Clay to presume to such Arrogancy and therefore saith All is of God which hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ For God was in Christ when he reconciled the World unto himself God the Father of all Mercy wrought this high benefit unto us not by his own Person but by a mean by no less a mean than his only beloved Son whom he spared not from any pain and travail that might do us good For upon him he put our Sins and upon him he made our Ransom him he made the mean betwixt us and himself whose mediation was so acceptable to God the Father through his absolute and perfect Obedience that he took his Act for a full satisfaction of all our Disobedience and Rebellion whose Righteousness he took to weigh against our Sins whose Redemption he would have stand against our Damnation In this Point what have we to muse within our selves good Friends I think no less that that which St. Paul said in remembrance of this wonderful goodness of God Thanks be to Almighty God Rom. 7. Ephes 1. through Jesus Christ our Lord for it is he for whose sake we received this high gift of Grace For as by him being the Everlasting Wisdom he wrought all the World and that is contained therein So by him only and wholly would he have all things restored again in Heaven and Earth By this our Heavenly Mediator therefore do we know the Favor and Mercy of God the Father by him know we his Will and Pleasure towards us Matt. 3. For he is the brightness of his Fathers Glory and a very clear Image and Pattern of his Substance It is he whom the Father in Heaven delighteth to have for his well beloved Son whom he Authorized to be our Teacher whom he charged us to hear Ephes 1. saying Hear him It is he by whom the Father of Heaven doth bless us with all Spiritual and Heavenly gifts for whose sake and favor writeth St. John we have received Grace and Favor John 1. To this our Saviour and Mediator hath God the Father given the Power of Heaven and Earth and the whole Jurisdiction and Authority to destribute his Goods and Gifts committed to him for so writeth the Apostle Ephes 4.7 To every one of us is Grace given according to the measure of Christs giving And thereupon to execute his Authority committed after that he had brought Sin and the Devil to Captivity to be no more hurtful to his Members he ascended up to his Father again and from thence sent liberal Gifts to his welbeloved Servants and hath still the power to the Worlds end to distribute his Fathers Gifts continually in his Church to the establishment and comfort thereof And by him hath Almighty God decreed to dissolve the World to call all before him to judge both the Quick and the Dead and finally by him shall he Condemn the Wicked to Eternal Fire in Hell and give the Good Eternal Life and set them assuredly in presence with him in Heaven for evermore Thus
ye see how all is of God by his Son Christ our Lord and Saviour Remember I say once again your Duty of Thanks let them be never to want still injoyn your self to continue in Thanksgiving ye can offer to God no better Sacrifice For he saith himself Psal 50. It is the Sacrifice of Praise and Thanks that shall honor me Which thing was well perceived of that holy Prophet David when he so earnestly spake to himself thus Psal 103. O my Soul bless thou the Lord and all that is within me bless his holy Name I say once again O my Soul bless thou the Lord and never forget his manifold rewards God give us Grace good People to know these things and to feel them in our Hearts This knowledge and feeling is not in our selves by our selves it is not possible to come by it a great pity it were that we should lose so profitable knowledge Let us therefore meekly call upon that bountiful Spirit the Holy Ghost which proceedeth from our Father of Mercy and from our Mediator Christ that he would assist us and inspire us with his presence that in him we may be able to hear the goodness of God declared unto us to our Salvation For without his lively and secret inspiration can we not once so much as speak the Name of our Mediator as St. Paul plainly testifieth 1 Cor. 12 No Man can once Name our Lord Jesus Christ but in the Holy Ghost Much less should we be able to believe and know these great Mysteries that be opened to us by Christ St. Paul saith That no Man can know what is of God 1 Cor. 2. but the Spirit of God As for us saith he we have received not the Spirit of the World but the Spirit which is of God for this purpose That in that holy Spirit we might know the things that be given us by Christ The Wise man saith that in the Power and Vertue of the Holy Ghost resteth all Wisdom and all Ability to know God and to please him For he waiteth thus We know that it is not in Mans power to guide his goings Wisd 9. No Man can know thy Pleasure except thou givest Wisdom and sendest thy holy Spirit from above Send him down therefore prayeth he to God from the holy Heavens and from the Throne of thy Majesty that he may be with me and labor with me that so I may know what is acceptable before thee Let us with so good Heart Pray as he did and we shall not fail but to have his assistance For he is soon seen of them that love him he will be found of them that seek him for very liberal and gentle is the Spirit of Wisdom In his power shall we have sufficient Abilty to know our Duty to God in him shall we be comforted and encouraged to walk in our Duty in him shall we be meet vessels to receive the Grace of Almighty God for it is he that purgeth and purifieth the mind by his secret working And he only is present every where by his invisible Power and containeth all things in his Dominion He lightneth the Heart to conceive worthy thoughts to Almighty God he sitteth in the Tongue of Man to stir him to speak his Honor no Language is hid from him for he hath the knowledge of all Speech he only Ministreth Spiritual strength to the powers of our Soul and Body To hold the way which God had prepared for us to walk rightly in our Journey we must acknowledge that it is in the power of his Spirit which helpeth our infirmity That we may boldly come in Prayer and call upon Almighty God as our Father it is by this holy Spirit which maketh intercession for us with continual Sighs Galat. 4. Rom. 8. If any Gift we have wherewith we may work to the Glory of God and profit of our Neighbor all is wrought by this own and self same Spirit which maketh his distributions peculiarly to every Man as he will 1 Cor. 12. If any Wisdom we have it is not of our selves we cannot glory therein as begun of our selves but we ought to glory in God from whom it came to us as the Prophet Jeremy writeth Jerem. 9. Let him that rejoyceth rejoyce in this that he understandeth and knoweth me for I am the Lord which sheweth Mercy Judgment and Righteousness in the Earth for in these things I delight saith the Lord. This Wisdom cannot be attained but by the direction of the Spirit of God and therefore it is called Spiritual Wisdom And no where can we more certainly search for the knowledge of this Will of God by the which we must direct all our Works and Deeds but in the holy Scriptures for they be they that testifie of him John 5. saith our Saviour Christ It may be called Knowledg and Learning that is other where gotten without the Word but the Wise Man plainly testifieth Wisd 13. that they all be but Vain which have not in them the Wisdom of God We see to what Vanity the Old Philosophers came who were destitute of this Science gotten and searched for in his Word We see what Vanity the School Doctrin is mixed with for that in this Word they sought not the Will of God but rather the Will of Reason the Trade of Custom the Path of the Fathers the Practice of the Church Let us therefore Read and Revolve the holy Scripture both Day and Night Psal 1. Psal 119. For blessed is he that hath his whole meditation therein It is that which giveth light to our Feet to walk by It is that which giveth Wisdom to the simple and ignorant In it may we find Eternal Life In the holy Scriptures find we Christ in Christ find we God for he it is that is the express Image of the Father He that seeth Christ seeth the Father And contrariwise as St. Jerome saith the ignorance of the Scripture is the ignorance of Christ Not to know Christ Psal 19. Heb. 1. John 14. is to be in darkness in the midst of our Worldly and Carnal light of Reason and Philosophy To be without Christ is to be in foolishness For he is the only Wisdom of the Father in whom it pleased him that all fulness and perfection should dwell Coloss 2. With whom whosoever is endued in Heart by Faith and rooted fast in Charity hath laid a sure Foundation to build on whereby he may be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the breadth length and depth and to know the love of Christ This universal and absolute knowledge is that Wisdom which St. Paul wisheth these Ephesians to have as under Heaven the greatest treasure that can be obtained Ephes 3. For of this Wisdom the Wise Man writeth thus of his experience All good things came to me together with her and innumerable Riches through her hands And addeth more in that same place Sap. 7.
imaginations and turn again unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he is ready to forgive And in the Prophet Hosea the godly exhort one another after this manner Come and let us turn again unto the Lord Hos 6. for he hath smitten us and he will heal us he hath wounded us and he will bind us up again Note It is most evident and plain that these things ought to be understood of them that were with the Lord before and by their sins and wickednesses were gone away from him For we do not turn again unto him with whom we were never before but we come unto him Now unto all them that will return unfeignedly unto the Lord their God Eccles 7. 1 John 1. the favor and mercy of God unto forgiveness of sins is liberally offered whereby it followeth necessarily that although we do after we be once come to God and grafted in his Son Jesus Christ fall into great sins for there is no righteous Man upon the Earth that sinneth not and if we say we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us yet if we rise again by Repentance and with a full purpose of amendment of Life do flee unto the mercy of God taking sure hold thereupon through Faith in his Son Jesu Christ there is an assured and infallible hope of pardon and remission of the same and that we shall be received again into the favor of our Heavenly Father It is written of David Acts 13. 2 Sam. 7. I have found a Man according to mine own heart or I have found David the Son of Jesse a Man according to mine own heart who will do all things that I will This is a great commendation of David It is also most certain that he did stedfastly believe the promise that was made him touching the Messias who should come of him touching the Flesh and that by the same Faith he was justified and grafted in our Saviour Jesu Christ to come and yet afterwards he fell horribly committing most detestable Adultery and damnable Murder and yet as soon as he cried Peccavi 2 Sam. 2. 2 Sam. 22. I have sinned unto the Lord his sin being forgiven he was received into favor again Now will we come unto Peter of whom no Man can doubt but that he was grafted in our Saviour Jesus Christ long before his denial Which thing may easily be proved by the answer which he did in his Name and in the Name of his Fellow Apostles make unto our Saviour Jesus Christ when he said unto them Will ye also go away John 6. Master saith he to whom shall we go Thou hast the words of eternal life and we believe and know that thou art that Christ the Son of the living God Whereunto may be added the like Confession of Peter where Christ doth give us most infallible testimony Thou art blessed Simon the Son of Jonas for neither Flesh nor Blood hath revealed this unto thee but my Father which is in Heaven These words are sufficient to prove that Peter was already justifyed through this lively Faith in the only begotten Son of God whereof he made so notable and so solemn a confession But did not he afterwards most cowardly deny his Master although he had heard of him Mat. 26. Mat. 10. Whosoever denieth me before Men I will deny him before my Father Nevertheless as soon as with weeping eyes and with a sobing heart he did acknowledge his offence and with an earnest repentance did flee unto the mercy of God taking sure hold thereupon through Faith in him whom he had so shamefully denied his sin was forgiven him and for a Certificate and Assurance thereof the Room of his Apostleship was not denied unto him But now mark what doth follow After the same Holy Apostle had on Whitsunday Acts 2. with the rest of the Disciples received the gift of the Holy Ghost most abundantly he committed no small offence in Antiochia by bringing the Consciences of the Faithful into doubt by his Example Gal. 2. so that Paul was fain to rebuke him to his Face because that he walked not uprightly or went not the right way in the Gospel Shall we now say that after this grievous offence he was utterly excluded and shut out from the grace and mercy of God and that this his trespass whereby he was a stumbling Block unto many was unpardonable God defend we should say so But as these Examples are not brought in to the end that we should thereby take a boldness to sin presuming on the mercy and goodness of God but to the end that if through the frailness of our own Flesh and the temptation of the Devil we fall into like sins we should in no wise despair of the mercy and goodness of God What we must beware of Even so must we beware and take heed that we do in no wise think in our hearts imagine or believe that we are able to repent aright or to turn effectually unto the Lord by our own might and strength For this must be verified in all Men John 15. 2 Cor. 3. Phil. 2. Without me ye can do nothing Again Of our selves we are not able as much as to think a good thought And in another place It is God that worketh in us both the Will and the Deed. For this cause although Jeremy had said before Jer. 6. If thou return O Israel return unto me saith the Lord yet afterwards he saith Turn thou me O Lord and I shall be turned for thou art the Lord my God And therefore that holy Writer and ancient Father Ambrose doth plainly affirm That the turning of the heart unto God Ambros de Vocat Gent. lib. 8 cap. 9. is of God as the Lord himself doth testifie by his Prophet saying And I will give thee an heart to know me that I am the Lord and they shall be my People and I will be their God for they shall return unto me with their whole heart These things being considered let us earnestly pray unto the living God our Heavenly Father that he will vouchsafe by his holy Spirit to work a true and unfeigned Repentance in us that after the painful labors and travels of this Life we may live eternally with his Son Jesus Christ to whom be all praise and glory for ever and ever Amen The Second Part of the Homily of Repentance HItherto have ye heard Well-beloved how needful and necessary the Doctrin of Repentance is and how earnestly it is throughout all the Scriptures of God urged and set forth both by the ancient Prophets by our Saviour Jesus Christ and his Apostles And that for as much as it is the conversion or turning again of the whole Man unto God from whom we go away by sin these four Points ought to be observed that is From whence or from what things we must return
impute them unto us when he shall render to every Man according to his Works Answer to the Adversaries which maintain Auricular Confession And whereas the Adversaries go about to wrest this place for to maintain their Auricular Confession withal they are greatly deceived themselves and do shamefully deceive others for if this Text ought to be understood of Auricular Confession then the Priests are as much bound to confess themselves unto the Lay-people as the Lay-people are bound to confess themselves to them And if to Pray is to Absolve then the Laity by this place hath as great Authority to Absolve the Priests as the Priests have to Absolve the Laity This did Johannes Scotus otherwise called Duns well perceive who upon this place writeth on this manner Johannes Scotus lib. 4. sen distinct 17 quaest 1. Neither doth it seem unto me that James did give this commandment or that he did set it forth as being received of Christ For first and foremost whence had he Authority to bind the whole Church sith that he was only Bishop of the Church of Jerusalem except thou wilt say that the same Church was at the beginning the Head Church and consequently that he was the Head Bishop which thing the See of Rome will never grant The understanding of it then is as in these words Confess your sins one to another A persuasion to Hum lity whereby he willeth us to confess our selves generally unto our Neighbors that we are sinners according to this saying If we say we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us And where that they do alledge this saying of our Saviour Jesus Christ unto the Leper to prove Auricular Confession to stand on Gods Word Go thy way Mat. 8. and shew thy self unto the Priest Do they not see that the Leper was cleansed from his Leprosie before he was by Christ sent unto the Priest for to shew himself unto him By the same reason we must be cleansed from our Spiritual Leprosie I mean our sins must be forgiven us before that we come to Confession What need we then to tell forth our sins into the ear of the Priest sith that they be already taken away Therefore holy Ambrose in his second Sermon upon the hundred and nineteenth Psalm doth say full well Go shew thy self unto the Priest Who is the true Priest but he which is the Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedech whoreby this holy Father doth understand that both the Priesthood the Law being changed we ought to acknowledge none other Priest for deliverance from our sins but our Saviour Jesus Christ who being Sovereign Bishop doth with the Sacrifice of his Body and Blood offered once for ever upon the Altar of the Cross most effectually cleanse the Spiritual Leprosie and wash away the Sins of those that with true confession of the same do flee unto him It is most evident and plain that this Auricular Confession hath not his warrant of Gods Word Nectarius Sozomen Eccles Hist lib. 7. cap. 16. lib. 10. confessionum cap. 3. else it had not been lawful for Nectarius Bishop of Constantinople upon a just occasion to have put it down For then any thing ordained of God is by the lewdness of Men abused the abuse ought to be taken away and the thing it self suffered to remain Moreover these are St. Augustins words What have I to do with Men that they should hear my Confession as though they were able to heal my Diseases A curious sorâ— of Men to know another Mans life and slothfully to correct and amend their own Why do they seek to hear of me what I am which will not hear of thee what they are And how can they tell when they hear by me of my self whether I tell the truth or not â—â—th no mortal Man knoweth what is in Man but the Spirit of Man which is in him Augustin would not have written thus if Auricular Confession had been used in his time Being therefore not led with the Conscience thereof let us with fear and trembling and with a true contrite Heart use that kind of Confession that God doth command in his Word and then doubtless as he is Faithful and Righteous he will forgive us our Sins and make us clean from all wickedness I do not say but that if any do find themselves troubled in Conscience they may repair to their Learned Curate or Pastor or to some other Godly Learned Man and shew the trouble and doubt of their Conscience to them that they may receive at their hand the comfortable Salve of Gods Word but it is against the true Christian liberty that any Man should be bound to the numbring of his Sins as it hath been used heretofore in the time of blindness and ignorance The Third prrt of Repentance is Faith whereby we do apprehend and take hold upon the promises of God touching the free Pardon and Forgiveness of our sins Which promises are Sealed up unto us with the Death and Blood-shedding of his Son Jesus Christ For what should avail and profit us to be sorry for our Sins to lament and bewail that we have offended our most Bounteous and Merciful Father or to confess and acknowledge our Offences and Trespasses though it be done never so earnestly unless we do stedfastly believe and be fully perswaded that God for his Son Jesus Christs sake will Forgive us all our Sins and put them out of Remembrance and from his sight Therefore they that teach Repentance without a lively Faith in our Saviour Jesus Christ do teach none other but Judas Repentance as all the School-men do The Repentance of the School-men Judas and his Repentance Matt. 27. which do only allow these Three Parts of Repentance the Contrition of the Heart the Confession of the Mouth and the Satisfaction of the Work But all these things we find in Judas Repentance which in outward appearance did far exceed and pass the Repentance of Peter For first and formost we read in the Gospel that Judas was so sorrowful and heavy yea that he was fillled with such anguish and vexation of mind for that which he had done that he could not abide to live any longer Did not he also before he Hanged himself make an open Confession of his fault when he said I have sinned betraying the Innocent Blood and verily this was a very bold Confession which might have brought him to great trouble For by it he did lay to the High Priest and Elders charge the shedding of Innocent Blood and that they were most Abominable Murderers He did also make a certain kind of satisfaction when he did cast their Mony unto them again No such things do we read of Peter although he had committed a very heinous sin and most grievous offence Peter and his Repentance in denying his of Master We find that he went out and wept bitterly whereof Ambrose speaketh on
that the People that will not see with their Eyes nor hear with their Ears to learn and to understand with their Hearts cannot be converted and saved And the wicked themselves being damned in Hell shall confess ignorance in Gods Word to have brought them thereunto saying We have erred from the way of the truth and the light of Righteousness hath not shined unto us and the Sun of understanding hath not risen unto us Mat. 7. John 3. we have wearied our selves in the way of wickedness and perdition and have walked cumberous and crooked ways but the way of the Lord have we not known Mat. 11. b. 15. 13. a. 9. f. 3. Luke 8. a. 8. Joh. 5. f. 39. Ps 1. Mat. 7. b. 7. Luk. 11.9 Luke 16. g. 30.31 Gal. 1. b. 8. Deut. 5.32 Deut. 17. c. 14.15 c. Rom. 13. 1 Pet. 2. Psal 118. Psal 18. 118. Eph. 5.14 1 Thes 5. a. 4.5 John 12.35.36 Jam 1. c. 17. 1 Tim. 6. d. 16. John 3. And as well our Saviour himself as his Apostle St. Paul doth teach that the ignorance of Gods Word cometh of the Devil is the cause of all error and misjudging as falleth out with ignorant Subjects who can rather espy a little mote in the eye of the Prince or a Counsellor than a great Beam in their own and universally it is the cause of all evil and finally of eternal damnation Gods Judgment being severe towards those who when the light of Christs Gospel is come into the World do delight more in darkness of ignorance than in the light of knowledge in Gods Word For all are commanded to read or hear to search and study the holy Scriptures and are promised understanding to be given them from God if they so do all are charged not to believe either any dead Man nor if an Angel should speak from Heaven much less if the Pope do speak from Rome against or contrary to the Word of God from the which we may not decline neither to the right hand nor to the left In Gods Word Princes must learn how to obey God and to govern Men in Gods Word Subjects must learn Obedience both to God and their Princes Old Men and young rich and poor all Men and Women all Estates Sexes and Ages are taught their several Duties in the Word of God For the Word of God is bright giving light unto all Mens Eyes the shining Lamp directing all Mens Paths and Steps Let us therefore awake from the sleep and darkness of Ignorance and open our Eyes that we may see the light let us rise from the works of darkness that we may escape eternal darkness the due reward thereof and let us walk in the light of Gods Word whiles we have light as becometh the Children of light so directing the steps of our Lives in that way which leadeth to light and life everlasting that we may finally obtain and enjoy the same which God the Father of Lights who dwelleth in light incomprehensible and inaccessible grant unto us through the light of the World our Saviour Jesus Christ Unto whom with the Holy Ghost one most glorious God be all Honor Praise and Thanksgiving for ever and ever Amen Thus have you heard the Sixth Part of this Homily Now good People Let us pray The PRAYER as in that time it was Published O Most mighty God the Lord of Hosts the Governor of all Creatures the only giver of all Victories who alone art able to strengthen the Weak against the Mighty and to vanquish infinite multitudes of thine Enemies with the Countenance of a few of thy Servants calling upon thy Name and trusting in thee Defend O Lord thy Servant and our Governor under thee our Sovereign Lord the KING and all thy People committed to his charge O Lord withstand the cruelty of all those which be common Enemies as well to the truth of thy eternal Word as to their own natural Prince and Country and manifestly to this Crown and Realm of ENGLAND which thou hast of thy Divine Providence assigned in these our days to the Government of thy Servant our Sovereign and gracious KING O most merciful Father if it be thy holy Will make soft and tender the stony hearts of all those that exalt themselves against thy Truth and seek either to trouble the quiet of this Realm of ENGLAND or to oppress the Crown of the same and convert them to the knowledge of thy Son the only Saviour of the World Jesus Christ that we and they may joyntly glorifie thy Mercies Lighten we beseech thee their ignorant hearts to embrace the truth of thy Word or else so abate their cruelty O most mighty Lord that this our Christian Realm with others that confess thy holy GOSPEL may obtain by thine aid and strength surety from all Enemies without shedding of Christian Blood whereby all they which be oppressed with their Tyranny may be relieved and they which be in fear of their cruelty may be comforted And finally that all Christian Realms and especially this Realm of ENGLAND may by thy Defence and Protection continue in the truth of the Gospel and enjoy perfect Peace Quietness and Security and that we for these thy Mercies joyntly all together with one consonant heart and voice may thankfully render to thee all laud and praise that we knit in one godly concord and unity amongst our selves may continually magnifie thy glorious Name who with thy Son our Saviour Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost art one Eternal Almighty and most merciful GOD. To whom be all laud and praise World without end Amen A THANKSGIVING for the Suppression of the last Rebellion O Heavenly and most merciful Father the defender of those that put their trust in thee the sure fortress of all them that flee to thee for succor who of thy most just Judgments for our Disobedience and Rebellion against thy holy Word and for our sinful and wicked living nothing answering to our holy profession whereby we have given an occasion that thy holy Name hath been blasphemed amongst the ignorant hast of late both sore abashed the whole Realm and People of England with the terror and danger of Rebellion thereby to awake us out of our dead sleep of careless security and hast yet by the miseries following the same Rebellion more sharply punished part of our Country-men and Christian-brethren who have more nearly felt the same and most dreadfully hast scourged some of the seditious Persons with terrible Executions justly inflicted for their disobedience unto thee and to thy Servant their Sovereign to the example of us all and to the warning correction and amendment of thy Servants of thine accustomed goodness turning always the wickedness of evil Men to the proof of them that fear thee who in thy Judgments remembring thy Mercy hast by thy assistance given the Victory to thy Servant our Queen her true Nobility and faithful Subjects with so little or rather no effusion of Christian Blood as also might have justly ensued to the exceeding comfort of all sorrowful Christian hearts and that of thy fatherly pity and merciful goodness only and even for thine own names sake without any our desert at all Wherefore we render unto thee most humble and hearty thanks for these thy great mercies shewed unto us who had deserved sharper punishment most humbly beseeching thee to grant unto all us that confess thy holy Name and profess the true and perfect Religion of thy holy Gospel thy heavenly Grace to shew our selves in our living according to our profession that we truly knowing thee in thy blessed Word may obediently walk in thy holy Commadments and that we being warned by this thy Fatherly correction do provoke thy just wrath against us no more but may enjoy the continuance of thy great mercies towards us thy right hand as in this so in all other Invasions Rebellions and dangers continually saving and defending our Church our Realm our Queen and People of England that all our Posterities ensuing confessing thy holy Name professing thy holy Gospel and leading an holy Life may perpetually praise and magnifie thee with thy only Son Jesus Christ our Saviour and the Holy Ghost To whom be all laud praise glory and Empire for ever and ever Amen FINIS
day Apoc. 1. Sithence which time Gods People hath always in all Ages without any gain-saying used to come together upon the Sunday Numb 15. to celebrate and honour the Lords blessed Name and carefully to keep that day in Holy rest and quietness both Man Woman Child Servant and Stranger For the transgression and breach of which day God hath declared himself much to be grieved as it may appear by him who for gathering of sticks on the Sabbath day was stoned to death But alas all these notwithstanding it is lamentable to see the wicked boldness of those that will be counted Gods People who pass nothing at all of keeping and hallowing the Sunday And these People are of two sorts The one sort if they have any business to do though there be no extream need they must not spare for the Sunday they must ride and journey on the Sunday they must drive and carry on the Sunday they must row and ferry on the Sunday they must buy and sell on the Sunday they must keep Markets and Fairs on the Sunday finally they use all days alike Work-days and Holy-days all are one The other sort is worse For although they will not Travel nor Labour on the Sunday as they do on the Week-day yet they will not rest in Holiness as God commandeth but they rest in ungodliness and filthiness prancing in their Pride pranking and pricking pointing and painting themselves to be gorgeous and gay they rest in excess and superfluity in gluttony and drunkenness like Rats and Swine they rest in brawling and railing in quarrelling and fighting they rest in wantonness in toyish talking in filthy fleshliness so that it doth too evidently appear that God is more dishonoured and the Devil better served on the Sunday than upon all the days in the Week besides And I assure you the Beasts which are commanded to rest on the Sunday honour God better than this kind of People For they offend not God they break not their Holy-days Wherefore O ye People of God lay your hands upon your hearts repent and amend this grievous and dangerous wickedness stand in awe of the Commandment of God gladly follow the example of God himself be not disobedient to the godly Order of Christs Church used and kept from the Apostles time until this day Fear the displeasure and just Plagues of Almighty God if ye be negligent and forbear not labouring and travelling on the Sabbath day or Sunday and do not resort together to celebrate and magnifie Gods blessed Name in quiet Holiness and godly Reverence Now concerning the Place where the People of God ought to resort together and where especially they ought to celebrate and sanctifie the Sabbath day that is the Sunday the day of Holy Rest That Place is called Gods Temple or the Church because the Company and Congregation of Gods People which is properly called the Church doth there assemble themselves on the days appointed for such Assemblies and Meetings And forasmuch as Almighty God hath appointed a special time to be honoured in it is very meet godly and also necessary that there should be a Place appointed where these People should meet and resort to serve their gracious God and merciful Father Truth it is the Holy Patriarchs for a great number of years had neither Temple nor Church to resort unto The cause was they were not staid in any place but were in a continual peregrination and wandring that they could not conveniently build any Church But so soon as God had delivered his People from their Enemies and set them in some liberty in the Wilderness he set them up a costly and a curious Tabernacle which was as it were the Parish Church a place to resort unto of the whole multitude a place to have his Sacrifices made in and other Observances and Rites to be used in Furthermore after that God according to the truth of his Promise had placed and quietly setled his People in the Land of Canaan now called Jury he commanded a great and magnificent Temple to be built by King Solomon as seldom the like hath been seen a Temple so decked and adorned so gorgeously garnished as was meet and expedient for People of that time which would be allured and stirred with nothing so much as with such outward goodly gay things This was now the Temple of God endued also with many gifts and sundry promises This was the publick Church and the Mother-Church of all Jury Here was God honoured and served Hither was the whole Realm of all the Israelites bound to come at three Solemn Feasts in the Year to serve their Lord God here But let us proceed further In the time of Christ and his Apostles there were yet no Temples nor Churches for Christian men For why they were always for the most part in persecution vexation and trouble so that there could be no liberty nor licence obtained for that purpose Yet God delighted much that they should often resort together in a place and therefore after his ascension they remained together in an Upper Chamber sometime they entred into the Temple sometime into the Synagogues sometimes they were in Prison sometimes in their Houses sometimes in the Fields c. And this continued so long till the Faith of Christ Jesus began to multiply in a great part of the World Now when divers Realms were established in Gods true Religion and God had given them peace and quietness then began Kings Noble-men and the People also stirred up with a godly zeal and ferventness to build up Temples and Churches whither the People might resort the better to do their Duty towards God and to keep Holy their Sabbath day the day of Rest And to these Temples have the Christians customably used to resort from time to time as unto meet places where they might with common consent praise and magnifie Gods name yielding him thanks for the benefits that he daily poureth upon them both mercifully and abundantly where they might also hear his Holy Word read expounded and preached sincerely and receive his Holy Sacraments ministred unto them duly and purely True it is that the chief and special Temples of God wherein he hath greatest pleasure and most delighteth to dwell are the bodies and minds of true Christians and the chosen People of God according to the Doctrine of Holy Scriptures declared by St. Paul Know ye not saith he that ye be the Temple of God 1 Cor. 3. and that the Spirit of God doth dwell in you The Temple of God is Holy which ye are And again in the same Epistle 1 Cor. 6. Know ye not that your body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost dwelling in you whom you have given you of God and that ye be not your own Yet this notwithstanding God doth allow the material Temple made with Lime and Stone so oft as his People come together into it to praise his Holy Name to be his House and
poor Pilgrim and meek soul riding upon an Ass but like a valiant and mighty King in great Royalty and Honour Not as Christ did with a few Fishermen and men of small estimation in the World but with a great Army of strong men with a great train of Wise and Noble men as Knights Lords Earls Dukes Princes and so forth Neither do they think that their Messias shall slanderously suffer death as Christ did but that he shall stoutly conquer and manfully subdue all his Enemies and finally obtain such a Kingdom on Earth as never was seen from the beginning While they feign unto themselves after this sort a Messias of their own brain they deceive themselves and account Christ as an abject and scorn of the World Therefore Christ crucified as St. Paul saith is unto the Jews a stumbling-block and to the Gentiles foolishness because they think it an absurd thing and contrary to all reason that a Redeemer and Saviour of the whole World should be handled after such a sort as he was namely scorned reviled scourged condemned and last of all cruelly hanged This I say seemed in their eyes strange and most absurd and therefore neither they would at that time neither will they as yet acknowledge Christ to be their Messiâ—s and Saviour But we dearly beloved that hope and look to be saved must both stedfastly believe and also boldly confess that the same Jesus which was born of the Virgin Mary was the true Messias and Mediator between God and Man promised and prophesied of so long before For as the Apostle writeth With the heart man believeth unto righteousness Rom. 10. and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation Again in the same place Whosoever believeth in him shall never be ashamed nor confounded Whereto also agreeth the testimony of St. John written in the fourth Chapter of his first general Epistle on this wise Whosoever confesseth that Jesus is the Son of God he dwelleth in God and God in him There is no doubt but in this point all Christian men are fully and perfectly perswaded Yet shall it not be a lost labour to instruct and furnish you with a few places concerning this matter that ye may be able to stop the blasphemous mouths of all them that most Jewishly or rather devilishly shall at any time go about to teach or maintain the contrary First ye have the witness and testimony of the Angel Gabriel declared as well to Zachary the High-Priest as also to the blessed Virgin Secondly ye have the witness and testimony of John the Baptist pointing unto Christ and saying Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the World Thirdly ye have the witness and testimony of God the Father who thundred from Heaven and said This is my dearly beloved Son in whom I am well pleased hear him Fourthly ye have the witness and testimony of the Holy Ghost which came down from Heaven in manner of a Dove and lighted upon him in time of his Baptism To these might be added a great number more namely the witness and testimony of the Wise Men that came to Herod the witness and testimony of Simeon and Anna the witness and testimony of Andrew and Philip Nathaniel and Peter Nicodemus and Martha with divers other But it were too long to repeat all and a few places are sufficient in so plain a matter specially among them that are already perswaded Therefore if the privy Imps of Antichrist and crafty Instruments of the Devil shall attempt or go about to withdraw you from this true Messias and perswade you to look for another that is not yet come let them not in any case seduce you but confirm your selves with these and such other testimonies of Holy Scripture which are so sure and certain that all the Devils in Hell shall never be able to withstand them For as truly as God liveth so truly was Jesus Christ the true Messias and Saviour of the World even the same Jesus which as this day was born of the Virgin Mary without all help of man only by the power and operation of the Holy Ghost Concerning whose nature and substance because divers and sundry Heresies are risen in these our days through the motion and suggestion of Satan therefore it shall be needful and profitable for your instruction to speak a word or two also of this part We are evidently taught in the Scripture that our Lord and Saviour Christ consisteth of two several natures of his manhood being thereby perfect man and of his Godhead being thereby perfect God John 1. Rom. 8. It is written The Word that is to say the second Person in Trinity became flesh God sending his own Son in the similitude of sinful flesh fulfilled those things which the Law could not Phil. 2. Christ being in form of God took on him the form of a servant and was made like unto man being found in shape as a man 1 Tim. 3. God was shewed in Flesh justified in Spirit seen of Angels preached to the Gentiles believed on in the World and received up in glory Also in another place There is one God and one Mediator between God and man even the Man Jesus Christ These be plain places for the proof and declaration of both Natures united and knit together in one Christ Let us diligently consider and weigh the works that he did whiles he lived on Earth and we shall thereby also perceive the self-same thing to be most true In that he did hunger and thirst eat and drink sleep and wake in that he preached his Gospel to the People in that he wept and sorrowed for Jerusalem in that he paid Tribute for himself and Peter in that he died and suffered death what other things did he else declare but only this that he was perfect man as we are For which cause he is called in Holy Scripture sometime the Son of David sometime the Son of Man sometime the Son of Mary sometime the Son of Joseph and so forth Now in that he forgave Sins in that he wrought Miracles in that he did cast out Devils in that he healed men with his only Word in that he knew the thoughts of mens Hearts in that he had the Seas at his Commandment in that he walked on the Water in that he rose from Death to Life in that he ascended into Heaven and so forth What other thing did he shew therein but only that he was perfect God coequal with the Father as touching his Deity Therefore he saith The Father and I are all one which is to be understood of his Godhead For as touching his Manhood he saith The Father is greater than I am Where are now those Marcionites that deny Christ to have been born in the flesh or to have been perfect man Where are now those Arians which deny Christ to have been perfect God of equal substance with the Father If there be any such we may easily
reprove them with these testimonies of Gods Word and such other Whereunto I am most sure they shall never be able to answer For the necessity of our Salvation did require such a Mediator and Saviour as under one Person should be a partaker of both Natures It was requisite he should be Man it was also requisite he should be God For as the transgression came by man so was it meet the satisfaction should be made by man And because death according to St. Paul is the just stipend and reward of sin therefore to appease the wrath of God and to satisfie his Justice it was expedient that our Mediator should be such a one as might take upon him the sins of mankind and sustain the due punishment thereof namely Death Moreover he came in flesh and in the self-same flesh ascended into Heaven to declare and testifie unto us that all faithful People which stedfastly believe in him shall likewise come unto the same Mansion-place whereunto he being our chief Captain is gone before Last of all he became man that we thereby might receive the greater comfort as well in our Prayers as also in our Adversity considering with our selves that we have a Mediator that is true man as we are who also is touched with our Infirmities and was tempted even in like sort as we are For these and sundry other causes it was most needful he should come as he did in the flesh But because no creature in that he is only a creature hath or may have power to destroy death and give life to overcome Hell and purchase Heaven to remit Sins and give Righteousness therefore it was needful that our Messias whose proper Duty and Office that was should be not only full and perfect Man but also full and perfect God to the intent he might more fully and perfectly make satisfaction for mankind Mat. 3. God saith This is my wel-beloved Son in whom I am well pleased By which place we learn that Christ appeased and quenched the wrath of his Father not in that he was only the Son of Man But much more in that he was the Son of God Thus ye have heard declared out of the Scriptures that Jesus Christ was the true Messias and Saviour of the World that he was by Nature and Substance perfect God and perfect Man and for what cause it was expedient it should be so Now that we may be the more mindful and thankful unto God in this behalf let us briefly consider and call to mind the manifold and great benefits that we have received by the Nativity and Birth of this our Messias and Saviour Before Christ coming into the World all men universally in Adam were nothing else but a wicked and crooked Generation rotten and corrupt Trees stony Ground full of Brambles and Briers lost Sheep Prodigal Sons naughty unprofitable Servants unrighteous Stewards workers of Iniquity the brood of Adders blind Guides sitting in Darkness and in the shadow of Death to be short nothing else but Children of Perdition and inheritors of Hell-fire To this doth St. Paul bear witness in divers places of his Epistles and Christ also himself in sundry places of his Gospel But after he was once come down from Heaven and had taken our frail Nature upon him he made all them that would receive him truly and believe his word good Trees and good Ground fruitful and pleasant Branches Children of Light Citizens of Heaven Sheep of his Fold Members of his Body Heirs of his Kingdom his true Friends and Brethren sweet and lively Bread the elect and chosen People of God For as St. Peter saith in his first Epistle and second Chapter He bare our sins in his body upon the Cross he healed us and made us whole by his stripes and whereas before we were sheep going astray he by his coming brought us home again to the true Shepherd and Bishop of our Souls making us a chosen Generation a Royal Priesthood an Holy Nation a particular People of God in that he died for our Offences and rose for our Justification St. Paul to Timothy the third Chapter We were saith he in times past unwise disobedient deceived serving divers lusts and pleasures living in hatred envy maliciousness and so forth But after the loving kindness of God our Saviour appeared towards mankind not according to the Righteousness that we had done but according to his great Mercy he saved us by the Fountain of the new Birth and by the renewing of the Holy Ghost which he poured upon us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour that we being once Justified by his grace should be Heirs of Eternal Life through hope and faith in his blood In these and such other places is set out before our Eyes as it were in a Glass Mat. 2. Mat. 5. John 18. Luke 4. John 8. Mat. 9. Mat. 11. John 12. Coloss 1. the abundant grace of God received in Christ Jesu which is so much the more wonderful because it came not of any desert of ours but of his meer and tender mercy even then when we were his extream Enemies But for the better understanding and consideration of this thing let us behold the end of his coming so shall we perceive what great commodity and profit his Nativity hath brought unto us miserable and sinful creatures Heb. 10. Rom. 3. The end of his coming was to save and deliver his People to fulfil the Law for us to bear witness unto the Truth to teach and preach the words of his Father to give light unto the World to call sinners to Repentance to refresh them that labour and be heavy laden to cast out the Prince of this World to reconcile us in the body of his flesh to dissolve the works of the Devil last of all to become a Propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole World These were the chief ends wherefore Christ became man not for any profit that should come to himself thereby but only for our sakes that we might understand the Will of God be partakers of his Heavenly Light be delivered out of the Devils claws released from the burden of sin justified through faith in his blood and finally received up into everlasting glory there to reign with him for ever Was not this a great and singular love of Christ towards mankind that being the express and lively Image of God he would notwithstanding humble himself and take upon him the form of a Servant and that only to save and redeem us O how much are we bound to the goodness of God in this behalf how many thanks and praises do we owe unto him for this our Salvation wrought by his dear and only Son Christ who became a Pilgrim in Earth to make us Citizens in Heaven who became the Son of man to make us the Sons of God who became obedient to the Law to deliver us from the curse of the Law