ouersight in this point also is not vnworthy to be taxed who being so hardly kept and continued in this newe and liuing way that leadeth to the holye place are yet in all itching curiositie so carryed awaye and inclined to newes and newe things and so running and starting out into euerie new deuise that is pleasing to our fences that nothing can content vs except it bee very newe nor the selfe same delight vs long after while when it waxeth olde or common How straunge and vnwontedly new is our apparrell both in matter and forme both in substaunce and fashion so that garments are not stored to the proportion of mens bodies 〈◊〉 â—y the straunge varietie and newnesse of their apparrell they tranceforme themselues like Proteus to appeare in what forme they lift How vnsatiable are our eyes to beholde vanities and gaze after newe deuises New buildings newe manners newe dyet newe sportes newe fashions which are chiefelye sought out and looked for in euerye science and trade and are onely nowe in price and estimation among vs And yet our eares more precise and curious so as scarse anye thing maie content vs but that which we heard not or we knew not either in matter or in forme before It must be new or else it is tedious it must bee hotte from the forge or else it is vnsauery If you bringe not newe and vnwoonted matter which is commonly looked for at least you must dyppe it in a newe dye and deliuer it in a different manner or else mens eares are hedged with thornes it will not enter it is no other then the passage of a ship through the waues or of a birde in the ayre which vanish in their course afterwards are not once remembred or seene But if we so delight in new thinges at least let vs reforme our iudgemeÌ„t herein The thing y t is hath bin saith Salomon and there is no new thing vnder the sun But behold saith Esai speaking of this new way of our redemption by the blood of Iesus Olde thinges are come to passe and newe thinges doe I declare and or euer they come I tell you of them If wee so delight in newe thinges let vs serue God saith Saint Paule in newnesse of the spirite not in the oldenesse of the letter Let vs put of the olde man with al the deceaueable lustes therof and put on the newe man which according to God is shapen in righteousnesse and true holines let vs put on Christ in whom neither circumcision auaileth any thing neither vncircumcision but a new creature And so as those that looke for a new heauen and a new earth let vs walke worthy of y t vocation wherunto we are called in all newnes of life by this new liuing way into y t holy place which is the new Hierusalem heauenly Citie of God This is y â— new liuing way blessed are they y t doe walke in the same this is the waye of righteousnes and truth which hath neither end nor error let vs walke therin with an vpright hart and turne neither to the right hand nor to y t left this is the way of peace which the wicked cannot finde and the straight and narrowe waye wherein the multitude delight not this waie is high for suche as contemne the world and yet both lowe and easie and the humble shall walke therein this is the way of the commaundement wherin it is required that we run now the Lord hath set our harts at libertie And therefore let vs purge clense it from all filthines of the flesh and of the spirite let vs decke and adorne it with flowers of good life and conuersation and with the spoiles and garlands as I may say of our conquered affections and lustes and so holde vp our goeings stedfastly in this path that our footesteps slip not And although there be many causes in our selues to discourage and withhold vs from entraunce thereinto beeing euerye waye so let and pressed downe with the burden of our sinnes although there are and wil be many impediments in y e worlde to staye and hinder vs in our course yet many more are our comforts againe and more forcible are the causes that shoulde embolden and excite vs thereunto seeing we haue not onely the things mencioned before concerning the sacrifice and offering of the blood of Iesus for the expiation of our sinnes and reconcilliation made with God But moreouer according to the figures and former shadowes of the lawe both a temple euen the house and Church of God wherein our prayers shalbe heard our petitions graunted and wee remaine as safe from the rage of the Enemie as was Noe in the arke from drowning in the waters And also an high Priest and mediator euen the man Iesus Christ which ruleth and gouerneth the same And then if hee bee on our side who can be against vs If hee haue iustified vs who shall condemne vs if he haue chosen vs who shall lay any thing to our charge If he be our shepherd how can wee lacke any thing If hee bee our high Priest how shall wee not bee accepted For the sweete smelling sacrifice that hee hath offered vnto God the father for vs And if he haue giuen vs libertie with boldnesse to enter who shall abridge the same to hold vs backe from the grace that is offered Seeing hee is the highe Prieste and ruler ouer the house of God Who for this cause hauing offered vp himself without spot to purge our conscience from dead works to serue the liuing God is set downe at the right hand of Maiestie in heauenly places far aboue al principalities and powers and might and domination and euery name that is named both in this world and in the worlde to come who is appointed ouer all things the head of the Church which is his body and the fulnesse of him that filleth all in all thinges in whome dwelleth all the fulnesse of the godhead bodyly and the hidden treasures of the wisedome and knowledge of God and to whom al power is giuen both in heauen and earth That in all things he might haue the preheminence to bee crowned with maiestie and honor as an eternall high priest for euer hauing sole and supreme authoritie and rule ouer the house and Church of God both in heauen triumphant and militant here in earth Which Church which house which familie and peculier people of God thus purchased with the blood of Christ nourished with his worde and sacraments preserued susteyned directed by hys grace and holy spirite wherin he hath promised to abyde and dwell as in his holy resting place for euer whilst it is here militant whiche concerneth more pertinently our present instruction and whilst we are here wandring and soiourning on the earth is not now to be sought for in the Region or land of Iewry as the Iewes would haue it nor driuen onelye into Affrica as the Donatistes imagined nor
sence hee here spreadeth out on eche side two armes or braunches of this fruitefull tree of faith which if it bee quicke and florishing doe necessarilie spring out and shadowe againe the roote from whence they proceede and growe euen a true harte and a good Conscience whose effectes are so to sanctifie and season both our soules and bodies in all exercises and duties answerable to our profession that if they abide in vs they shal make vs neither ydle nor vnfruitefull in the worde of the Lorde But if these doe not direct vs if our hartes be not sound in his light if our hartes be not setled and inwardly affected to walke in his lawes if our hearts be not sprinckled from an euill conscience howsoeuer wee pretende Religion and holines in the sight of men yet are we but sounding brasse and tinckling simbals but cloudes without raine but trees without fruite twise dead and plucked vp by y e rootes we caÌ„not so drawe nere vnto God who searcheth the hartes raines who lighteneth things that are hid in darkenesse who is a spirite and will be worshipped in spirite and truth for the birth is aunswerable to firste conception if the roote be corrupt how canne the fruite be wholesome If the Spring be defiled how can the waters be cleane If the hart whiche is as it were the seate of the soule the fountaine and first instrument of life from whome all our actions and affections doe proceede bee stayned with sinne and wickednesse how can wee thinke our bare pretence of naked idle faith is pleasing vnto God And therfore sayth S. Iames Clense your harts you sinners and purge your hands you wauering minded men O Hierusalem washe thine hart from wickednesse sayth Ieremie that thou mayst be saued My sonne sayth Salomon giue me thy hart let thine eyes delight in my wayes and keepe thine hearte with all safetie for from it proceedeth thy life A good man sayth Christ out of the good treasure of his hart bringeth foorth good thinges but an euill man of the euill treasure of his heart bringeth foorth euill thinges Their hart sayth Ose is deuided therefore shall they be founde faultie I will walke sayeth Dauid in my house not with an outward shew but with a true and perfect hart which is necessarilye required here in him that will draw nere to the holy place Many are the sortes and differences of harts from whence agayne proceedeth that greate diuersitie of manners amongst men there is a wise harte that considereth all thinges soberly with iudgement and there is a foolishe harte whiche knoweth nothing but to commit iniquitie there is a stonie stubborn harte not mooued to repentaunce there is also a softe and fleshly harte soone pearsed and wounded with euery checke for sin there is a lose and faint hart vnstable in all his wayes and there is a firme and constant a true an vpright a faithfull hart commended here vnto vs whose praise is not of men but of God But among all other differences wherof I cannot now particulerlye increate to come neare vnto our selues what shal we say of the contrary hereof of falshood and flatterie of fained double hollowe and dissembling harts both toward God and men whiche doe so swarme amongste vs and haue so possessed and inlarged the inner partes of Christians at these daies that nothing is more common then to dissemble and deceaue and nothing more rare and daintie than a true and faithfull harte whereby both Epicure Atheus and Machiauill as it seemeth haue founde them secrete harbour to worke by fraude and policie where Christ should be interteyned in sinceritie and truth although Dissimulation be nowe spunne of so cunning and fine a threade that it is harde to discerne men asunder yet let vs vse the tried and infallible meane sette downe by our sauiour Christ Looke into mens actions which as a mirroure represent the image of their harts Esteeme the tree by his fruite confer their workes with their speeches and their liues with their profession and it is easilye espied For how doe wee bring foorth thistles in steade of figges and thorns in steed of grapes and the workes of darknesse and yet would be called the children of light and the fruits of lies of falshoode deceit yet will be counted the louers of religion and professors of truth And though we can saye the Lorde liueth yet will wee sweare to deceaue and though we bende our faces and profession to wardes the new and liuing waye of Christ yet will wee looke backe againe with Lots wife to Sodome followe the steps euen the lustes and imaginations of olde Adam and though as the Ephesians boasted of Diana and the Iewes of their Temple crying out the Temple of the Lorde the Temple of the Lorde this is the Temple of the Lord so we likewise can triumphe the Gospell of Christ the preaching of the worde the glad tidings of saluation and wee haue now the light and preaching of the worde of God yet all this notwithstanding so dissonant are the liues and the proceedings in a great many of vs so repugnant to our outwarde wordes and profession that it seemeth we are nothing lesse then those we should be and would so faine be counted and are so farre from drawing nere in a true and vpright hart That we doe but flatter with our lips and dissemble in our double hartes For was there euer more priuie canckred and malitious hatred in harte and yet more cloaking flatterie in tongue then nowe a daies was there euer more close and craftie shifting and shuffling and preueÌ„ting and circumuenting and vndermining one of another was there euer more deceite or fraude in bargaining contracts wherein as euery one exceedeth in subtiltie so he is counted the wise and most sufficient man was there euer more lying swearing forswearing for aduaÌ„tage for gain and lucre or hath there bene at any time more truth and holinesse professed lesse honestie and truth performed wherat the very aduersaries not a litle reioice take occasion of blaspheming the truth or shal we finde among men more hipocrisie and double dealing with two faces vnder one hood such as can blow hote and cold with one breath whiche haue Iacobs slender voice but Esaus rough handes which can hide a woluish hart vnder a simple sheeps clothing as graue and as sage as Cato in their countinaunce but as tirannous as Nero in their deeds and actions as neatly pullished cleansed on the outside as the Pharises pot platter but inwardly most ougly and loathsome to beholde then nowe a dayes It is not euerye where now put in practise which was sometime sayde by one Frâ—ns occuli vultus per sepe mentiuntur oratio vero sepissime The lookes the face and countinaunce of men do often dissemble and deceaue but their wordes and speeches more often Is it not playnlye come to passe that Lactantius citeth out of Seneca
lib. 5. ca. 9.7 Vni se atque eideÌ„ studio omnes dedere arti Verba dare vt caute possint pugnare dolose Blanditia certarè bonum simulare verum sic Insidias facere vt si hostes sint omnibus oÌ„nes Euery one followeth one and the same trade and arte to deceiue by faire wordes that he may closely and secretely supplant and ouerthrowe subtlelye to striue with fawning speeche and flatterie to make resemblaunce and shewe of great integritie and holinesse and thereby to lay snares and trappes as Ieremie saith to catche men as if euery one had professed to be enemie to other And is it not a true complaint amongste vs also that S. Ierome hath to Rusticus Nunc sub cristianae religionis titulo iniusta excercent compendia honor christiani nominis iniuniam magis facit quam patitur quod pudet dicere Nowe vnder the coloure of Christian holinesse and Religion they vse vniust gaines and dealings and the honor of the Christian name doth more offer then suffer iniury which shameth me to speake Sonne of man saith God to the Prophet Ezechiell discribing most liuely the maners of these our times the children of my people talke of thee by the wales and in the dores of their houses and speake one to another come I praie you and here what is the worde that commeth from the Lorde they come vnto thee as the people vseth to come they sit before thee and they heare thy wordes but they will not doe them for with their mouthes they make iestes and their harte goeth after their couetousnes and loe thou arte vnto them as a iesting songe of one that hath a pleasant voice and can sing well for they here thy woordes but they doe them not you men of London and inhabitantes of this Cittie iudge I pray you vprightlie whether this bee truely spoken of your selues or noe they come vnto thee and sit before thee but their harte goeth after their couetousnes they here thy woordes but they doe them not and is this to draw neare with a true harts Simon Magus would haue bought the â—iftes of the holy ghost of Peter for mouie and therefore was accursed and perished with his mony But what shall we thinke of them in contrarie sorte that being sealed by the spirite of God as they pretende vnto the day of redemption yet feare not by lying periurie or any euill practise by corrupt proceedinges by fraudulent deuises and vnlawfull contracts to set to sale themselues their soules and consciences their faith their troth and honestie and all other good graces and vertues of the holy ghost for mony for gaine and lucre where is any hope of aduauntage offered The hipocriâ—e and dissembling Iudas said the oyâ—tment powered vpon Christes heade might well haue bene solde and giuen to the poore and yet he loued nâ—â—ther Christ nor the poore but his bagges and silueâ— plates more then them both and shall you not heare diuers vse like speaches nowe there are many poore and needle people amongest vs it were well 〈◊〉 to succour them they would bee â—â—uided for maâ—â—e things are supersâ—uously bestowed which might be well imployed to their vse and yet like hipocrites will â—hey not bestowe no not of their supâ—rfluity two mitâ—s in respect to relieue and succour the poore and is this to draw nere with a true hart Let Saint Iames tell you If a brother or a sister be destituâ—e of daylie foode or rayment and one of you saie vnto them departe in peace God send you warmth and foode to fill you and giue them not those thinges that are needefull to the bodie what helpeth it pure Religion and vndefiled before God is this To visite the fatherles and widdowes in their aduersitie and to keepe your selues vnspotted of the worlde It is not then an outwarde showe or estimation amongst men It is not a vaine semblance or feyned pretence of holynesse swimming in the lippes and countenaunce not fixed and setled in the harte that shall bee accepted with the Lorde that shall enter into the holye place It is not to call him Lorde Lorde and doe not as hee biddeth but in that a good conscience as Sainte Peter saithe maketh request vnto GOD by the resurrection of Iesus Christ and in that wee purge our conscience from deade workes to serue the liuing God that wee cast from vs the cloakes of hipocrisie and deceipt and waâ—king not like the Gentiles in craftinesse and vanitie of minde but approuing our selues to euery mans conscience in the sight of God and so drawe nere as our Sauiour saith of Nathaniel like right Israelites in whoÌ„ is no guile euen with a true hart sprinckled from an euill conscience For this saith Saint Paule is our reioycing this is our glorie not the credite of the worlde but the testimonie of our owne good conscience which is as Salomon saith Juge convivium a continuall feaste And therefore hee saith to Timothie and to vs all in Timothie Fight a good fight hauing faith and a good conscience which some haue put awaye and as concerning faith haue made shipwracke As if hee had saide their harts are not sprinckeled from an euill conscience and therefore whatsoeuer they pretende they haue loft and made shipwracke of faith also which can no more continue out of a true hart and a good conscience then trees can growe without earth or fishes liue without the water And as y e righteous is thus hollie coÌ„fident as a lyon so y t wicked flieth when no man pursueth him By the accusing or excusing of a 〈◊〉 or â—rubled conscience which neither in life nor death can be auoided for a corrupt conscience is a continuall torment it is the sinne lying at the dore of our harts It is called of the Prophet Esaie a worme that neuer dieth a sea that alwaies rageth without rest Of Saint Paule a fearing with a hotte yron and in this present chapiter a fearefull looking for Iudgement and violent fire and besides daylie experience to bee seene in many was manifest in Caine for the murther of his mother in Antiochuâ— for his wickednes done to Hierusalem in Iudas and like traytors for his treason against his maister and in Nero with many other crying out in the insufferable torments of his euill conscience Turpiter vixi turpius iam perio filthilie haue I liued and now more filthilie doe I die there is no peace to the wicked the Lorde hath saide it But they shall carrie in their brestes from which they shall not flie both feare and terrour and tormenting furies continually citing them before the tribunall feate of Christ All wickednes saith Salomon is full of feare giuing testimonie â—fiâ—lâ—mnation against it selfe So that a troubeled conscience alwaies presumeâ—h cruell thinges And although that some with vaine pastimes of pleasure and delights of this world can lenifie and driue away the sting of sinne the remembrance of Gods iudgements