his thirst Euen so the way to grow rich â—s not by heaping of riches but by diminishing the couetise of the same Augustine in his confessâ—on It will be saith S. Augustine no griefe to be depriued of riches if a man be not desirous to haue them Yea which is more Socrates very wel said that man is neuer so happie neither so fully enioyeth his desire as when he is willing to desire nothing Nature is content with little And man should neuer be poore if he could liue according to nature Chilon the Lacedemonian whose reputation glory was such that when hee was dead all Greece celebrated his funerals accoÌ„panied his body to the sepulcher while he liued vsed many sententious speeches but among the rest there were three of such estimation that they were written in letters of golde The first that ther is no better knowledge then for a man to know himselfe The second that the end of al strife contention is misery The third that man ought not to couet too much but to be content with that which may suffice costeth litle so long as it is ordered according to nature not according to our lusts which are infinite miserable Manlius Curius Plut. in his Apotheg To this effect do we also read of a certain Romane captaine to whoÌ„ the Embassaders of the Samnites offered a great sum of mony to the end to diuert him froÌ„ taking the charge conduct of the warres against theÌ„ When he had heard their Oration he shewed them a little pot vpon the fire containing a few hearbes rootes for his supper answered that he which was coÌ„tent with such a supper need not so much mony so sent them away When King Archelaus sent for Socrates with promise of great riches he returned him answere that at Athens meale cost but a halfepenie and water nothing 19 But what is the end of al these labors trauailes dangers that we in our for to get theÌ„ Is it not rest Yet might we both sooner with more safetie attaine thereto if we could bee content with so much as might suffice And to this effect we reade that wheÌ„ king Pirrhus determined to leauie war against the Romaines his couÌ„sellor Cyneas to the end to diuert him therfro asked him saying wel Sir When we haue ouercome taken Italy what shal we theÌ„ do Pirrhus answered we wil passe into Sicil theÌ„ce into Libia Carthage And what more said Cyneas Then wil we go into Macedonia said the king conquer all Greece Againe said Cyneas what shal we then do We will then said Pirrhus take our rest passe our time in pleasure Then said Cyneas Why do we not euen now take this rest ease but that we must needs with such paine danger labour trauaile goe to seeke that which already we haue in our handes This wise counsellor sitly shewed him that if he could be content with his own realme not haue coueted after other meÌ„s he might haue enioyed rest beene more happy theÌ„ by seeking to conquer other mens so to endanger himselfe after great labours to enioy none For contentation onely ministreth rest and giueth happines 20 Now therefore sith both Iesus Christ and Saint Iohn in their first Sermon doe admonish vs to amend and that this vice of couetousnesse is so common among men so deepely rooted in their harts so daungerous and pernitious Let vs to the end to refraine therfro diligently meditate vpon the remedies afore mentioned And first that we may denie this cursed couetise let vs remember that it is the mother and nurse of most wretched fruite which causeth vs to become enemies to God to our neighbor and to our selues as we haue more at large declared Secondly let vs not forget that riches are so farre from giuing contentment and making men happie that contrariwise they engender a thousand sorrowes and cares they are vnto vs as thornes that choke the good seede and the originall of all vertue in vs which they chaunge into vice and so make vs most miserable and wretched Thirdly that the vengeaunce and horrible punishment which God inflicteth vpon the couetous euen in this life but especially such as hee will poure foorth vpon them after this race make vs to abhorre this couetousnesse which is the roote of all euill Lastly let vs learne not to put our trust in these vaine and vncertaine riches but in the liuing God and depend wholly vpon his prouidence in all thinges necessarie for the maintenance of this life And let vs apprehend the treasures of the euerlasting kingdome contenting our selues with so much as God alloweth vs for this our pilgrimage and iournie from earth vnto heauen But because it is God onely that worketh in vs both the will and the performance let vs feruently and continually pray vnto him to purge our harts from this couetousnesse working in vs by his holy spirite whatsoeuer he requireth of vs in his word Psal 119.36 And with Dauid let vs say O Lord encline not my hart to couetousnesse but to obey thy precepts And with Salomon let vs say this praier Giue me neither pouertie nor riches feede me with foode conuenient for me Prou. 30.8 least if I be full I denie thee and say who is the Lord or least if I be poore I steale and take the name of my God in vain Now let vs proceede to ambition Of Ambition and Pride Chap. 12. AS Auarice is an excessiue coueting of riches so ambition iâ— an vnmeasurable desire of honour glorie and reputation with men That wee may therefore the more plainely laie open this vice we will consider it in three sortes First in that man not content with his estate coueteth to be greater and to haue more reputation and honour Secondly in that hee pretendeth a glory and praise in the giftes and graces which hee hath receiued from the Lord and this kinde of ambition may properly bee tearmed arrogancie and pride Thirdly when man saith or doth anie thing whereby to seeme to haue or be more than he hath or is it may well be tearmed boasting As for the first Gen. 1.26 Gen. 3 it is most liuely presented vnto vs in the fall of man Adam beeing created after the image of God and appointed Lord master ouer al his creatures was not content with that excellencie and greatnesse but by the instigation of Satan coueted and endeuoured to bee greater yea euen to bee lyke vnto God This plague hath so infected his posteritie that there is no imp of Adam but is tickled yea wounded with this desire to be great euen greatest of all And in deed as the couetous man is neuer satisfied with monie so is the ambitious neuer full with glorie and honour Ambition sayth Seneca Seneca in hiâ— Epistles neuer suffereth man to rest in the same measure of felicitie which himselfe hath before time wished No
first reason of this commandement tended by the ceasing from manuall labour to figure vnto vs the spirituall rest namely the mortification and ceasing from all desires willes workes and wordes of the flesh Esa 58.13 as the Prophet Esay also declareth saying If thou refrainest vpon the sabaoth from dooing thy will vpon my holie daie and doest consecrate it to bee a holie and pleasing Sabaoth to the Lorde of glorie and that thou glorifie him in not dooing thy owne workes and that thy owne will be not found therein thou shalt prosper in God Besides this figure hath farther relation euen vnto Iesus Christ as to the truth thereof because it was hee who dying for vs purchased vnto vs the grace so to mortifie the olde man that beeing dead vnto sinne Col. 2.16 wee might sanctifie this Sabaoth in resting from our workes and labours And to that purpose wee reade in Exodus Obserue my Sabaoth for it is a signe that I am the God that sanctifyeth you Exod. 31.13 Ezech. 20.12 Now how necessarie this amendement sanctification of life is it doth appeare in this that God neuer required anie thing more strictly than obedience to this commandement of the Sabaoth Ezech. 20.13 22.8 23 38. Iere. 17.21.27 For wheresoeuer he wil note that all religion is subuerted he complaineth that his Sabaoth is defiled and violated 9 Where God also commaundeth that hee that had gathered a few stickes vpon the saboath day should be put to death he plainly sheweth that the least will word or work of our sleth deserueth euerlasting death And in deed this Emanuel perfectly and infinitly holy cannot indure any filthynes and sinne in that which is ioyned and vnited vnto him As we doo also reade that when the soâ—s of Aaron Nadab and Abiu offered strange fire before the Lorde the fire proceeded from the presence of the Lorde and deuoured them Leuit. 10. 1 and they died before the Lord whereupon Moses said vnto Aaron This is it that the Lord pronounced saying I will be sanctified in those that come neere vnto me and I will bee glorified in the presence of all the people Therby shewing that the neerer that Emanuel commeth vnto men or draweth men vnto him the lesse will hee beare with their corruptions and the sooner will he punish theÌ„ as doth appeare in a lump of waxe which the neerer that it is laid to the fire the more doth the fire shew his heate in melting it And in this respect when God appearing out of the burning bush to Moses commanded him to put of his shooes of his feet he addeth this reason For the ground whereon thou standest is holy not by nature more than anie other Exod. 3.5 but in regard of the presence of God 10 In olde time God dwelt in the midst of the people of Israel and the Arke and the Temple were testimonies of his presence which presence tended to assure them either of his sauor to blesse those that yeelded due obedience by amendement of lyfe oâ— of his wrath to punish those most grieuously who contemning this grace should rebell against him And this dyd Iosua most liuelye represent to the people of Israel For when they had protested that they would serue God and no Idols hee sayde vnto them You cannot serue the Lord for hee is a holy and iealous God and will not pardon your sinnes and transgressions so that if you forsake him hee will roughly intreate you Ios 24.19 When God named his sonne Iesus Christ Emanuel hee thereby declared vnto vs that hee is in the middest among vs and with vs after a more excellent fashion as beeing vnited and conioyned in our flesh and consequentlye vnto vs. And therefore we are also the more bounde in duetie to liue in holynesse by amendement of lyfe as beeing assured that as hee is come neerer vnto vs and more excellently into vs thorough his sonne Emanuel so will hee shew himselfe more seuere and iealous in punishing vs when wee turne from him and serue his enemies the world and the flesh So often therefore as wee shall heare or reade this name Emanuel attributed to Iesus Christ let vs remember that the same is a summon to vs to amend our liues that separating our selues from all filthinesse and corruption wee may bee consecrated and wholy dedicated to the seruice of God who is with vs in praying him fully to sanctifie vs both in bodie in soule and in minde that wee may bee preserued without reproch vnto the comming of our Lord Iesus Christ Hee sayth Saint Paul that hath called vs to this sanctification ioyning vs vnto Iesus Christ 1. Thes 5.23 is faithfull and will doo it 11 Secondly this name Emanuel teacheth vs that God is with vs wheresoeuer wee bee and consequently that he seeth and knoweth all our thoughts wills wordes and workes For as wee haue before sayde his diuinitie is in all places and consequently by vs with vs and in vs. Not that we should rest vpon the bare contemplation of this diuine essence to vs incomprehensible but that we should referre all to his prouidence by beleeuing that it is he that seeth knoweth guideth and gouerneth all that is done in heauen in earth neither that he should need to stand neere vs to looke vpon our affections and works And in deed marke how he reproueth hypocrites Iere. 23.23 that thought that they had to do with a God of a short or a dim sight Weenest thou sayeth he that I am a God neere at hand and not a God a farre off Can anie hide himselfe in secret places that I shall not see him sayth the Lorde Doo not I fill heauen and earth sayth the Lord Hypocrits did imagine such a God in heauen that withall they represented him to themselues to be like a man yea euen short sighted such a one as could not see farre so perswaded themselues that God did not see theyr wicked thoughtes and workes But hee reproued them saying that hee is not a God at hand only that is to saie such a one as is lyke vnto men that had need to stand by when they will see anie thing but that hee seeth a farre of As Dauid also representeth him vnto vs saying Psalme 33. 13 Hebr. 4.13 The Lord looketh from the heauens hee beholdeth all the sonnes of men and from his dwelling hee seeth all the inhabitants of the earth And the Apostle plainly declareth that no creature can be hidden from him but all things lie open and bare to his sight that wee haue to doo withall In the meane time because that men according to theyr nature doo more easily beleeue that such as are neere them do see them let them thinke that in whatsoeuer place they be God is neere them as this name Emanuel doth admonish which signifieth that God is with vs yea euen in vs as hauing ioyned and vnited vs to himselfe and therefore that
that haunt both land and sea do tremble at Gods scourge vnder whom the whole worlde doeth quake These Atheists therefore are more incredulous than the verie deuils and least they shoulde tremble with the deuils do choake vp all remembrance of God yet hath experience from time to time euen to this daie taught vs that they which most impudently would seeme to beleeue no diuinity haue bin are the first loudest confessers of the same wheÌ„soeuer it vouchsafeth to be reueled by thuÌ„der earthquakes such other extraordinary works for the horrible terror which then affrighteth theÌ„ forceth theÌ„ euen to cry out and confes that their deniall of God groweth onely of their drousines in his ordinary workes considering that being wakened by the extraordinary effectes of his power with trembling and terror they acknowledge that there is a God Againe euen in Gods ordinarie workes they doo by speech confes that which they wil not beleeue For wheÌ„ they say it raineth it snoweth it haileth it blustreth it is hot it is cold c. If a man should demand who doth all this it would amaze them And why Because it is a common perswasion with all men that it is God that those workes are proper to God onely As contrarywise when at the entering into or beginning of anie communication if a man shall saie he writeth he commandeth he walketh hee eateth hee commeth This were an inconsiderate phrase of speech and would minister occasion to demand who it is that writeth commandeth walketh eateth or commeth And why Because those actions are common to many But the other being proper to God only men neuer aske who haileth who raineth who snoweth c. because euerie man referreth those workes to God Those likewise who to the end to denie God doo referre such workes to nature doo euen in their owne speech condemne themselues in that they saie not she raineth shee snoweth shee haileth as speaking of nature but doo saie it raineth it snoweth it haileth as speaking of God Concluding therefore this purpose first all Iewes and Christians secondly all Heathen throughout the whole worlde doo with one voyce confesse that there is a God And lastly the verie Atheists them selues both in trembling and speech doo many times acknowledge that which willingly they would deny namely that there is a God 13 Now let vs go forward and come to other creatures yet comprehending man also who all without speaking shal testifie that there is a God Of these there are four sorts The first haue essence onely as the elements the sunne the moone the earth the stones and the water The second haue essence and life and are called Vegetatiue as hearbs trees and all plants The third haue essence life and sense as soules fishes and other beasts Finally others haue essence life sense and reason as man Now to begin with the first if we aske which was first Essence or no Essence The answere is plaine and by all men confessed namely no Essence and this doth necesâ—itie require for otherwise the elements the earth the sea to be briefe euen euerie thing that is must haue beene from all eternitie and haue had no beginning Beholde heere is alreadie one absurdity which mans vnderstanding doth gainsaie As also it is a most resolute point that whatsoeuer is eternall and without beginning is also immortall and without ending That which is from euer is also for euer But euery thing that is God excepted is by nature subiect to change corruption death and end Nothing therefore that is is eternal without beginning but God who giueth beginning essence to euerie thing that is Moreouer if that which is had bin from all eternitie and without beginning then must it of necessitie ensue that the elementes the earth the water euen so many things as are must bee so many Gods considering that nothing can be from all eternitie or without beginning but that which hath his essence of himselfe and consequently God onely And therfore to denie a beginning in any thing that is is to acknowledge the same to be a God whereof it would followe that for the denying of one God wee should bee forced to confesse that there be as many Gods as there be elements stars stones grains of sand vpon the earth or drops of water in the sea If then wee must confesse that anie thing that is hath not euer bin but haue had some beginning then must it ensue that there is a God who of nothing hath made that that is euen as it is written In the beginning God made heauen and earth Gen. 1.1 Thus wee see how that which hath essence onely euen without life sense or reason doeth neuerthelesse without speaking euidently testifie that there is a God that gaue vnto it essence and beginning And in deed anie thing that is is either a creature or a creator But if the creature presupposeth and acknowledgeth a creator and consequently a God Then do the elements the earth the sea the stones and in briefe euery creature by his essence testifie against the Atheists that there is a God their creator 14 If they replie that euerie thing that is is of it selfe we will demand since when If they answere from all eternitie how can they proue it Besides they must make as many Gods as there be things that haue essence as is afore shewed Otherwise it cannot be chosen but that they haue bin since some time Which if they graunt then let them tell vs since what time that that is and before was not made it selfe and thereof lay downe some proofe But contrariwise if of nothing nothing be made as the Philosophers do define then could not that which was nothing make it selfe some thing and assume anie essence considering it was nothing Thus it followeth that it is contrarie to all reason and mans capacitie to saie that anie thing that is is come of it selfe And therefore we must grow to acknowledge a God who only hauing beene from all eternitie Exod. 3 giueth essence to all that is As also in respect thereof hee is called among the Hebrewes Iehoua Apoc. 1 8 signifiyng this worde Essence and with the Greekes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifiyng he that is because God is of himselfe Essence Rom. 11.36 and giueth essence to his creatures as it is written Of him and through him and for him are all things 15 But let vs farther consider euerie thing that is in state as it is The Philosophers are of opinion that the earth together with the sea doo containe in compasse or circuit sixe thousand three hundred Dutch miles Also that the bodie of the Sunne is a hundred sixtie and sixe times greater than the earth How great then is that heauen wherein the Sunne is contained Or rather how great is the highest heauen which inuironeth all other heauens that doo compasse the same wherein the Sunne hath his habitation yea and with a meruailous
distance How many stars bee there in the skie How many drops of water in the sea Or how many graines of sand vpon the earth If all the men in the world kings or philosophers who haue not onely essence but also life sense and reason cannot without matter precedent make one drop of water one stone or one candle How can these creatures of such incomprehensible greatnes as are the heauens of such wonderfull brightnes as are the Sunne the Moone and the starres and so abundant as are both lande and sea hauing not so much as essence giue to themselues essence yea and such essence as they now haue Yet speaking onely of essence common sense doth also denie that Let vs therefore conclude that there is a God almightie who being of himselfe from all eternitie in his time hath of nothing created both heauen and earth according as Moses hath affirmed saying Gen. 1.1 In the beginning God made heauen and earth 16 Moreouer experience teacheth that the heauens haue their motions But whence come those motions euen motions of such incomprehensible swiftnes that as we see by daily practise the Sunne in foure and twentie houres compasseth the whole earth and consequently in one houre runneth two hundred sixtie Dutch miles Besides the heauen where the Sunne hath his abode is from the earth 1202700. leagues How many leagues then doeth hee dayly runne in his owne heauen A matter incomprehensible to mannes capacitie But euerie motion especially in thinges that haue essence onelie and no lyfe doeth of necessitie presuppose a moouer that causeth the motion And this doo wee plainelye see in the Earth in Starres in Water c. which haue no motion but from others The motion therfore of the heauens doo euidently testifie that there is a God who being of himselfe immoueable giueth motion to all his creatures But who disposed the wonderfull order which we find to be in all creatures that haue but essence onely that an inferior heauen should be comprehended in a greater and that againe in an other greater and so consequently of the rest Who placed the Sun the Moone and the Stars in their heauens and places Who formed and continueth the double motion of the Sunne in all seasons from East to West from one pole to another Who so established the foure elements vnder the heauens that the region of fire enuironeth the aire the aire the water and the water the earth The nature of contrarieties is one to destroie another as the water to quench the fire and the fire to drie vp the water yet are these four elements kept in such accord that of the same being mixed and vnited together all bodily creatures are formed and doo consist not consuming or disordering one of another It must their needs be that there is a God the creator preseruer and conducter of the elements 18 Who guideth the course of the heauens in so certaine inuariable a measure that a man may foretell at what houre a hundred yeres hence the Moone or Sunne shall bee eclipsed Who placed the heauie lumpe of the earth as a center to the world hanged it in the aire What handes do withholde the sea which lyeth higher than the earth from drowning the same Can this wisedome conduct and power which doo thus shine in these workes be found in anie thing that was not to place it selfe in essence and so to direct guide and maintaine it selfe Had these creatures had their essence from all eternitie yet coulde that which had onely essence without life sense or reason haue established such an order course and consent to bee briefe this worke of such incomprehensible wisedome and power Wee must therefore confesse that anie thing that hath onely essence considered as is aforesayd doth exclime against the Atheists and crie out that there is a God the author of the same as Dauid saith Psal 19 1 The heauens declare the glorie of God and the firmament sheweth his handie worke Againe The pillers of the earth sayth Hanna the mother of Samuel Sam. 2.8 are the Lordes and hee hath set the earth vpon them Psal 104 9 And Dauid saith But God hath set the sea a bound which it shall not passe neither shall it returne to couer the earth As also Iob doth more at large declare Iob. 3â— 19 As for those creatures which haue Vegetatiue life as hearbs and all plants the same are also so many vnreproueable witnesses that there is a God No man can giue that which he hath not but the earth hath onely essence and no life Likewise the Sun which warmeth the earth the raine that watereth it or the seed whereof the plant doth come The life therfore of hearbes and plants doth loudly testifie that there is a God the author of the same Againe whence came such diuersitie of hearbs plaâ—ts in one self ground So many kindes of trees some fruitfull some vnfruitfull And among the trees that beare fruit so many sundrie sortes as apples peares cheries plums c. Also among apple trees so many kindes of apples among peare trees so many sortes of peares likewyse of chery trees plum trees and all others that beare fruit Each sort notwithstanding either of apples peares or cheries c. bearing some diuersitie in forme colour and sauour or tast The lyke in hearbes Come into a medow looke vppon a garden howe manie kindes of hearbes shall you see of seuerall formes colours tastes or smels And whereof proceede all these hearbes and trees theyr leaues and fruit their shape colour and smell and their seuerall properties vertues They proceed neither from the earth from the sunne from the raine no neither from the seed The eie seeth it the capacitie knoweth it The whole therfore proceedeth from God And in deed sow in one selfe ground one selfe hearbe vnder one selfe forme and let it be watered with one selfe water yet do no other kinde of hearbes spring vp But some wil saie that it is of the seed that the life and diuersitie of hearbes trees flowers and fruites doth proceed Yet keepe the seed out of either the earth the sunne or the raine and it wil lie dead and bring forth nothing And open the seed therein peraduenture may you discerne some small sprout hauing essence yet wanting both life forme of hearb colour or fauour thereof It must needs then haue some other originall than from the seed onely And whence but euen from God Againe what is the cause that one kinde of seede still bringeth forth one kinde of hearbe with all the stems leaues colour sauour propertie and vertue a like Haue these small sprouts which haue onely essence vnderstanding also to agree to bring forth hearbes alike Are they able to doo it either to giue that which they haue not If not then some other must imploy his power and wisdome and that is God as it is written Gen. 1.11 In the beginning of the world hee ordained that euerie
tree and hearb should bring forth seed to increase according to his kind And therefore so many hearbes and trees as we see in gardens medowes forestes are so many witnesses against the Atheistes that there is a God 20 Now let vs speake of those creatures that haue not onely essence and life but also sence or seeing As fish soules and other creatures First as concerning their generation For example wee might demaund of those men that do belieue that ther is no God whether was first the henne or the egge For the egge commeth from the henne and the henne out of the egge If they answere the egge How came that egge without a henne Or how could that which was not make it selfe an egge Or how did that which was an egge hauing onely essence giue it selfe life Sith also that feeling commeth of sence how could a thing that had onely essence giue it selfe sence to heare see tast smell or feele either cold or heate Againe if there bee not also a cocke with the henne or that the henne sitteth not vpon the egge the egge wil rot bring forth nothing How therefore could the egge if it were before the henne bring forth the henne considering there was neither cocke nor henne as also that the egge had onely essence but neither life nor feeling If they say the henne was before the egge yet wil not that suffice For of necessitie there must also haue beene a cocke with the henne before the egge for otherwise the egge would neuer haue yeelded a henne It must needs then be that God hauing created heauen earth of nothing of that which neuer was either egge or henne Gen. 1. hath created the cocke the henne to bring forth egges froÌ„ whence the hens haue their originall as Moses teacheth 21 But yet let vs marke how the henne proceedeth from the egge Imagine the egge to be vnder the henne what is in the egge A substance hauing onely essence but neither token of life oâ— forme of soule Come againe within a few daies ye that perceiue the head of a litle chicken piercing the egge â—heâ—â— with her head and clouen beake Looke vpon the eyes and shape of the head Marke what is in it heare the voice Come to the body consider the winges and the feete What is in the body the â—â—â—ers the diuersitie of colours and to conclude the life and motions thereof Remember that al this was wrought within the egge shell whereto 〈◊〉 any man set hand or vnderstanding Who theâ— without touching the inner side of the egge hath formed such a creature onely through the hens warming of the egge who knew not what the did Who so will not acknowledge it to be onely God doth combat against his owne conscience and reason Moreouer who is the cause that hennes egges alwaies do yeeld chickeÌ„s the egges of other soules young ones according to the kinde from whence they came Doth this diuersity of soules rest either in the egges or in their substance Euery man knoweth no. The small chickens therefore issuing out of their shels are witnesses sufficient against the Atheists that ther is a God who hath created formed them 22 Next let vs behold other soules flying in the aire Al waightie thinges fall toward the earth What is it then that beareth vp the soules in the aire If they say the wings Put the winges of a swanne vpon a dead sparrow and cast it vp into the aire yet will it fall to the ground wings and all The soule therefore must haue life neither is that enough For in her winges she must also haue very artificiall motions together with a wonderfull industry to flie maruailous swift Some times to turne short some times to mount aloft as the larke and sometimes to stoope very low as the swallow And whence proceedeth this industry and skill but from God Againe who created the aire to beare them vp Meate to nourish them indued them with industry to make their neasts but God But this may suffice for soules Neither shall wee neede to aledge like testimonies for the diuinitie as may bee noted in fishes and other creatures who all with one consent doe agree in their generation shape life nature propertie and other considerations to proclaime that ther is a God from whom they take their essence life feeling and motions 23 Lastly let vs come to the chiefe handiworke of God which is man of the philosophers termed the little world because that in him we may discerne as it were an Abridgement of the whole world yea more then is to be seene in all the world besides For man besides his essence life and sence or feeling hath also reason vnderstanding The frame of mans body in euery part therof both internal externall considered doth sufficiently testifie him that created it to be a master workman And in deede who could so exactly proportion all the members of the body So dispose order it that euery part theâ—of hath relation to the vse seruice one of another together with the preseruation of the body vnder the conduct of a spirit that gouerneth the whole which without motion giueth seuerall motions to all the members of this body with reason and vnderstanding to guide euery member in his action representing to it selfe thinges pasâ— present and to come neere or farre off concealed and â—â—dden in the sea within the center of the earth aboue the heauens or in the bodies or heartes of men and declaring the imaginations thereof by the diuerse motions of the tongue And albeit such a spirit be in vs yet can we neither see nor comprehend it Howbeit man composed of such a bodie of such a spirit or soule cannot bee from all eternitie as in other creatures we haue proued The time was that man was not that he liued not that he had neither feeling nor reason Whence theÌ„ came the first man who was nothing How could that which had neither life feeling nor reason giue it selfe that which it had not How could that which was no spirit make it self a spirit How could that which had neither vnderstanding nor reason make it selfe vnderstanding and reason When thou seest a man Gen. 1. thou presupposest a father and to that father another father and so vpward vntill at last thou commest to Adam There art thou put from thy naturall discourse and presupposing a father for him and so art driuen to acknowledge God to haue created the first man as Moses also rehearseth Hee that seeth onely the portraiture of a man doth immediatly conceiue a painter and if it be a faire peece his first question is Who made it If a dead peece of worke shall make vs conceiue a liuing worke-man much rather should a liuing peece of worke namely Man make vs to conceiue a quickning worke-man euen God who onely is able to giue essence life feeling and reason 24 Now let vs proceed to the
in matter appertaining to life euerlasting thinketh himselfe wise and is in deed but a foole because he is wise in the lesse and a foole in the principall wise as concerning men and this temporall life but a foole as concerning God and life euerlasting And we shall finde many presidents counsellors aduocates phisitions philosophers marchants and artificers wise discreet and aduised in their arte and vocation who all in the vocation of Christianitie are but fooles ignorant and senselesse They are verie perfect in matter concerning this present life but ignorant and foolish in matter of lyfe euerlasting Neither is it anie maruell For euerie man in youth learneth a phrase mysterie or arte whereby to grow wise expert in his vocation and so to prouide for this present life but few there are that learne the skill to bee true Christians wise and well aduised Beholde therefore how weening to be wise because they bee wise men they be but fooles in that they be ignorant vnaduised Christians 3 By experience we see that the aduocate can be skilfull learned in the vnderstanding of the ciuill laws pleading other mens causes yet vnderstandeth nothing in Gods law whereby to plead his owne cause against the deuill and so be iustified in the sight of God The phisition can be skilfull and expert in the cure of bodily diseases and yet not know wherein the cure of so many the diseases of his owne soule doth consist The Arithmetician can multiply numbers yet wotteth not how to reckon to 70. or 80. yeres of his life Psal 90 12 but as all the rest must bee forced to praie to God to giue him grace to vnderstand how to count his daies that he may apply his heart to true wisedome The Geometrician can bee skilfull in measuring the earth yet hath no knowledg of heauen either of Iesus Christ who is the way to come thereunto The Astronomer is well seene in the course and greatnesse of the Sun yet hath no skill in the Son of righteousnes our Lord Iesus Christ The philosophers perfect in a number of the secrets of nature are neuertheles ignorant in the mysteries and secretes of the eternall saluation of the soule reuealed in the Gospell The marchant can keepe his booke of accounts to know his estate who is indebted to him yet wotteth not hee what account hee must make to God of his life The Smith is skilful in making of keies yet vnderstandeth not what the keies of the kingdome of heauen are Euery one can tell what fruit apple trees pearetrees plumtrees c. do beare yet few know what fruit Christians should beare To be brief there be men enow wise and aduised but few Christians wise and well instructed What is it for an aduocate a phisition a marchant or an artificer to be wise in his profession and yet in Christianitie to be a foole ignorant and vnaduised To bee accounted wise among beasts that haue no immortall soule yet to be so much the more foolish and vnaduised as that in seruing men wisely and God foolishly hee looseth both bodie and soule for euer Augustine in his myrrour for sinners cap. 6 S Augustine reproouing those that take greater delight in the writings of Plato and Aristotle than of the Apostles calleth them fooles His reason because they reaped knowledge like to their study leaues in sted of fruit that is to say words and no vertue So men generally thinking themselues wise because they be so in matters of this life are yet foolish sensles in that they vnderstand not what is requisite for the obtaining of lyfe euerlasting 4 What doth it auaile vs saith S. Augustine subtilly to search out Augustine in his booke of the spirit and the letter cap. 1. 2 and plentifully to comprehend the nature of all things if wee haue no knowledge of our selues This sentence Know thy selfe for the excellencie thereof was thought to be brought from heauen The rather to the end that man standing in necessity of the knowledge of himselfe his ignorance pouertie miserie might humble himself seeke his felicity from other than himselfe The wise Socrates said that he knew but one thing viz. that he knew nothing And therein he spake better than hee was aware For if man knowing much as hee did must notwithstanding confesse that hee knoweth nothing in comparison of so much as hee is ignoraunt of euen in such sciences as concerne not life euerlasting how much rather must he were he double as wise as euer was Socrates confesse that he knoweth nothing if he haue no knowledge in the heauenly knowledge requisite to the saluation of our soules It is therefore a hellish opinion for a man to think himself wise when he is a fool likewise to be a wise man yet a foolish vntaught christian Iesus Christ speaking to the pharisies who thinking themselues skilful said Are we also blind Said vnto them If yee were blind Ioh. 9 40 you should haue no sin But now you saie We do see therefore your sin abideth in you Thereby shewing that as the beginning of a cure consisteth in the knowledge and feeling of the hurt so the beginning of our sight resteth in the knowledge that we are ignorant and fooles That we may therfore Amend our liues we must giue ouer this folly wherby we thinke our selues wise and heereafter being better aduised confes that we know nothing so long as we know not Iesus Christ Besides that how wise discreet and expert so euer we be in worldly matters yet knowing our selues to bee fooles and senselesse in thinking our selues wise while we are ignorant Christians we may be better aduised increasing in whatsoeuer may make vs become true Christians and consequently the children of God and inheritours of life euerlasting 5 This is the knowledge of all knowledge and consisteth in two poyntes First in that which Saint Paule sayeth I am not determined to know my other thing 1. Cor. 2.2 but onely Iesus Christ and him crucifyed Therin declaring that he that knoweth not Christ knoweth nothing but is a foole deuoid of sense how wise discreet so euer he is in the sight of the world so he that truly knoweth Iesus Christ how simple so euer the world accounteth him is perfectly wise and well aduised Secondly this knowledge consisteth in the beginning of wisedome Pro. 1.7 as the holy Ghost calleth it namely in walking in the feare of God Whereupon Dauid addeth that they which walke in the feare of God and keepe his commandements Psa 111.10 are wise And on the other side SalomoÌ„ protesteth that such as despise this wisdome discretion are fooles Iob. 28. â—5 Iob more largely speaking therof sayth Wisedome is more to bee esteemed than siluer golde precious stones or any worldly goods Then discoursing vppon the wonderfull workes of God in the knowledge whereof it seemeth there resteth great wisdome he concludeth his speech
earth shall perish from the earth from vnder these heauens He hath made the earth by his power c. Wherein we are to note that albeit Ieremie writ al his prophecies in Hebrew yet this one sentence is set downe in the Caldean or Babilonian speech therby admonishing the captiue Iewes to disaduow Idols to cōfesse the true God plainly sensibly in a language knowen to the Idolaters If this confession bee required of these poore captiue Iewes how can these men be excused who being at libertie to depart from among the Idolaters do assist at their Idolatry thereby to giue the world to vnderstand that they also are Idolaters therefore dare not vtter one word in reproofe of the Idols 9 Sith therefore that the first sermon both of Christ of Iohn the Baptist do notably proclaime Amend your liues Let all such as haue attained to the knowledge of the truth resolue with thēselues to renounce all Idolatrie superstition vtterly to denie all assistance participation whatsoeuer therin either in hart or body Let them remember that all abandoning of their bodies to Idolatrie is a prophanation of the temple of God That the yeelding of the body to the deuill reseruing the hart to God is intollerable sacriledge That the denial of the true God the worshipping of the deuill is detestable hipocrisie That thereby they blaspheme Iesus Christ honor the Idol that they giue offēce to their neighbours as well by confirming some in their errors as by inducing others to follow their examples But especially let them remember that their pretended excuse will redound to their double damnatiō For if he who thinking to worship God yet of ignorāce throgh worshiping an Idoll offendeth deserueth death surely then he that boweth his body to worship that which he knoweth to be an Idoll 1. Con. 10.20 Luk. 12.47.48 yea a very deuil as S. Paul calleth it offendeth in far greater measure deserues greter punishmēt And so doth Christ himself pronounce concerning the disobedient seruant who knowing his masters wil not doing it Exod. 20.5 shall be beaten much more grieuously thē he that was ignorāt therof And indeed it is not only a simple sinne and transgression as in the ignorant but more contempt and misprision against the maiestie of the law-giuer as God in many places complaineth of his people that they haue dispised him Rom. 5.20 yea euen hated him as himselfe faith in his law And hereto likewise may be referred the sentence of the Apostle where hee saith That God gaue the law that sinne might abound because the knowledge of the law taking away ignorance maketh the transgression to be conioyned with contempt and despising of God 10 The more therfore that we know the inconuenience of Idolatrie the more we are to detest abhor and flie from it and neuer flatter our selues in the presence of God who knoweth our hearts It is but a foolish enterprise to vndertake to deceiue the Lord or to thinke to prosper by offending him We feare the losse of our goods dignities countrie and life if we go not to masse with other men and counterfeate our selues to bee Idolaters as they are yet we feare not to loose the treasure and inheritance of heauen life euerlasting and the kingdome of God by polluting our bodies in Idolatrie euen by the assured testimonie of our owne hearts We are not to order our duties after the easements of our flesh but according to the word of God The meanes to obtaine safetie and felicitie consisteth not in prouoking God to wrath by seruing of Idols but if we desire his mercie and fauour towardes vs wee must renounce and denie our selues and the world that wee may worship and serue him onely Let vs obey S. Iohn who saith 1. Ioh. 5.21 Psal 97.7 1. Cor. 6.20 My little children keepe your selues from Idols And let vs remember that the holy Ghost pronounceth woe to all those that worship Idols And contrariwise blesseth all those that adore and glorifie God both in hart and minde That it is not enough that we seperate our selues from Idolatrie vnlesse we also ioyne with the Church of Christ by frequenting Sermons communicating in the Sacraments and comming to common prayer Chap. 2. AS repentance and Amendement of life consisteth in this that we forsake sinne and applie our selues to goodnesse So it is not enough that we keepe both bodies and soules from Idolatrie and superstition vnlesse that also seperating our bodies from Idolaters we adioine our selues to the Church of Christ by hearing his word receiuing the Sacraments calling vpon God in the name of Iesus Christ The titles that the holy Ghost attributeth to this Church do euidently declare vnto vs of how great importance to the glory of God saluatiō of mankind this duty of ioyning with the true Church is First it is in many places called the kingdom of God yet not without great cause For as this kingdome consisteth in euidēt assured knowledge of the true God of his Son Iesus Christ in faith righteousnes peace and comfort of the holy Ghost in sanctification to be briefe in euerlasting life glory So is it in the church wherin God manifests himself reueales his truth pleasure To the mēbers therof he giueth faith righteousnes holines peace ioy and finally life glory euerlasting Contrariwise the kingdom of Sathan cōsisteth in ignorance Mat. 13. infidelity corruptiō vice sin iniquity in a bad conscience trouble of mind dispaire death damnation The members therfore of Christs Church are the kingdome of God retired from the power dominion of Sathā to the end that God may raigne in them by his spirit the scepter of his word as contrariwise al that are without the Church do belong to the kingdome of Sathā as S. Paul also doth say of the excōmunicate that they be deliuered to Sathā who raigneth without the Church of Christ 1. Cor. 5.5 1. Cor 6.9.10 Luk. 13.28 Act. 1.47 This likewise is confirmed in that the same title of the kingdom of God wherby the Church is signified is also attributed to that blessed glorious estate which the elect shal enioy after the resurrection Wherin we are taught that theris such a cōiunction betweene the Church that glorious kingdom of Iesus Christ that it is as it were the suburbes gate thereinto wherupon also al they that refuse to ioyne with the Church can pretend no portion in this kingdom of heauē For the path to felicitie importeth an ascention frō the kingdome of God vpon earth to the kingdome of God in heauē And that doth S. Luke note saying that God did dayly adioyne vnto the Church those that should be saued thereby signifying that such as refuse to adioyne themselues therto do minister no occasion to imagine that they haue attained the way to saluation and life euerlasting 2 By another title are the
gaue giftes vnto men And what giftes He gaue some to be Apostles some Prophets some Euangelists Ephes 3.8 some Pastors and teachers for the gathering together of the Saintes for the worke of the ministerie and for the edification of the bodie of Christ If therefore wee desire to be reestablished into life gathered vnto Christ and made liuely stones in the temple of God Iohn 21.15 1. Pet. 4.2 Act. 20.28 wee must vse this gift of Christ euen to heare sermons by the ministerie of the pastors Iesus Christ commandeth Saint Peter to feed his lambes and Peter exhorteth his companions in the holy ministerie to feed the flocke of Christ As also Saint Paul speaking to the Bishops of â—phesus who were come to Miletum sheweth them that the holy Ghost had established them in that vocation to the ende they should seede the Church of God which he had purchased with his bloud Hee therefore that seeketh the foode of his soule least it should famish die Math. 16 15 must labor that it may be fed with the worde of God through the preaching of the same Which is more Preaching is named the key of the kingdome of heauen thereby to declare that as by preaching of the Gospell heauen is opened to all that giue eare thereunto and do beleeue the word preached so al such as condemn the hearing therof are excluded from the same 3 Experience hath euermore borne witnes and euen to this day do testify what numbers haue bin illuminated reconciled to God and drawen to saluation life euerlasting through the preaching of the Gospell In one daie saith S. Luke by the preaching of the Apostles there were added to the Church about three thousand persons This efficacie of the preaching of the Gospel Act. 2.41 Luke 10.18 doth Christ confirm saying that when his disciples did preach it he saw satan like lightning fall downe from heauen therein shewing vs that satan by the ministerie of the pastors preaching the Gospell is banished destroied Doo we not euen in our daies see how by the ministerie of men Math. 13.31 preaching the Gospell the little graine of mustard seede as Christ tearmed it is growen into a great tree that with the branches and fruit thereof ouerspreadeth many prouinces and kingdomes As therfore there is no famine more dangerous than is that whereof Amos speaketh Amos 8.11 Math. 9.48 saying God shall send a famine not of bread but of the hearing of the word of God so is there no haruest more necessarie and blessed than that which is reaped by the workemen of Christ when they preach the Gospell 4 And in deede albeit men when they preach the worde haue not in them vertue and power to illuminate to giue faith to conuert harts and to saue soules 1. Cor. 3.7 for he that planteth and he that watereth as S. Paul saith are nothing but he that giueth increase yet is this one point which most soueraignlye commaundeth the holye ministerie of the worde that God who hath ordayned it doth also accompanie it with the efficacie of his holy spirit that it may illuminate and saue men Esa 59.21 This is my couenant with them saith the Lord My spirit which is vpon thee and my wordes which I haue put in thy mouth shall not departe out of thy mouth nor out of the mouth of thy seed nor out of the mouth of the seed of thy seed from henceforth for euer 2. Cor. 3.8 Gal. 3.2 And this is most singularly performed in the preaching of the Gospell Heereupon Paule calleth it The ministery of the holy Ghost And in another place he sayth that the Galathians receiued the holy Ghost by hearing of the faith preached And therefore speaking of himselfe and his fellowes 1. Cor. 3.9 he saith thus We are Gods laborers because that God imploying them in his seruice wrought in them by his spirite 5 Yet for the more commendation and authoritie of the ministery of the word Luke 10.16 Iohn 13.30 Iesus Christ aduertiseth vs that it is not so much that mortall men speake vnto vs as in deed it is God in them and by them He that heareth you saith Iesus Christ to his Apostles consequently to all preachers heareth me and hee that receiueth you receiueth me In this sense did the Prophets vsually begin their sermons Ier. 1.9 saying Thus saith the Lord Heare the worde of the Lord and made an end saying For the mouth of the Almightie hath spoken it And where Ieremie rehearseth that God speaking vnto him sayd Ezech. 33 I haue put my wordes in thy mouth it importeth the same that Ezechiel setteth downe Apoc. 10.8 saying God gaue me a scrowle to eate commanded me to declare his wordes thereby signifying that his preaching was but an vtterance of the words declared in the scrowle that hee had deliuered him to eate As also S. Iohn at the commandement of the Angell eate a booke which the Angell gaue him with this addition Thou must yet prophesie to many nations Therein declaring that his sermons were a deliuerie of that which God had written in that booke Psal 95.1 Heb. 7 18. 4.7 2. Cor. 5.20 1. Thes 2. Dauid likewise exhorting the people of his time to conuert to the Lord for the authorizing of his doctrine saith thus If at this daie ye will heare the voice of the Lord harden not your hearts The Apostle exhorting the Hebrewes to giue credit to the Lord vseth the same sentence saying This daie if ye heare the voice of God harden not your hearts The same doth S. Paule expresly confirme saying We are the embassadors of Christ as if God exhorted by vs. And thereupon he testifieth to the Thessalonians that they receiued his doctrine not as the word of man but as the word of God Adding as in truth it was True it is there is a difference betweene the ministers of the word and the Prophets Apostles neuerthelesse if we be bound to receiue the doctrine of the Apostles Prophets as the word of God and that the faithful ministers preaching their doctrine do likewise preach the word of God then they that in these daies do contemne the preaching of the faithfull ministers doo as Christ said to his Apostles contemne and reiect God in them and therfore the vengeance by Iesus Christ himself denounced against those that would not heare his Apostles who said That it should be easier for Sodome Gomorrha in the daie of iudgement than for them Math. 14. will likewise fall vppon the contemners of the preachinges of the faithfull pastours of our time And they who for their contempt incredulitie and obstinacie in euill dooing shall at this day bee bound in earth by the ministery of the word Math. 16.19 shall also be bounde in heauen It is not therefore because man hath this power in him selfe neither is it so great an offence not to heare men
of euery one indifferently or that we would not care although afterward they liued other wise then might beseeme the children of God or were occasion of offence to the weake then would they surely come to communicate But if they may not be admitted before they haue talked with some minister or elder of the Church yea peraduenture be forced to beare with some Christian admonition in case they do not afterward walke in the course of Christianitie they will rather chuse to depriue thēselues of the communion As also to the end to confirme them in this mislike they shall find some discontented persons who to mislike the order of the Church will euen against their owne consciences charge it with the title of a new tyrannie inquisition Yet must wee confesse that the Church of Christ cannot consist without some order and as S. Paul saith All things must be done in order and decencie 1. Cor. 14.40 If no Cittie or familie can long continue without establishment of some order and gouernment Then the more excellent that the Church is the more necessarie it is therein to erect and obserue some gouernment which we tearme Ecclesiasticall Discipline Doctrine is as it were the soule of the Church and order as the sinnewes of the same to vphold it If the Church which is Gods house must not be a receptacle and harborow for dissolute persons and vnbeleeuing vnthrists and as both the Prophet and Iesus Christ himselfe termeth them a denne of theeues Then must there bee some order Iere. 7.11 Mat. 21.13 whereby to purge and preserue it from such 4 Particularly if the holy supper be ordained for the faithfull the children of God and the members of Iesus Christ Such as haue the gouernment of the Church must also haue some testimonie that they that desire to adioyne themselues thereto and to communicate therewith are taken to bee such as approuing the puritie of the doctrine doe not leade anie offensiue life And as for those that are once admitted to the communion they may continue therein by trying themselues because by the rule of charitie we are to beleeue that they perseuere in the faith godlines loue vntill either by reuolt from the doctrine offensiue conuersation or obstinate refusal of Christian admonitions exhortations they shew themselues vnworthie the communion whereto neuerthelesse vpon testimonie of their repentaunce and amendement of life they may bee againe admitted Let those therefore that stumbling at this order doe depriue themselues of the communion euen iudge in their owne consciences whether it bee not meete that order bee maintained and all persons subiected thereto rather then to bring in such confusion as indifferently to receiue to the Lordes supper all fornicators drunkerds theeues murderers and other like offensiue people whereof might ensue a most grieuous prophanation of the Lords table to the condemnation as well of those that so shall bee admitted as of them that voluntarilie doe admit them When Christ and Saint Iohn doe crie Amend your liues they speake also to such people that they vnderstanding how requisite this order is for the happie conduct of the Church in the feare of God accommodating themselues thereto may so dispose of themselues as to communicate in the Lordes supper to his glorie and theyr owne comfort and saluation 5 Some there are that voluntarilie doe abstaine from the communion because they cannot saie they resolue where the Church is as stumbling at the infirmities of such as doe communicate and still finding more faulte in the Church then in themselues These men shaming to bee reputed either halfe Papistes or of no Religion doe sometime frequent Sermons but they staie there and ioyne themselues to no Church Yea they euen doe seeme to reioyce when they heare of any the offences or infirmities of any of the members of the Church that thereby they may haue some collour to stand a loose Yet must they confesse that there is a Church in the worlde and that they must ioyne themselues thereto if they desire to bee in Gods house and partakers in the promises made to the Church To bee short if they looke to bee saued By alowing no Church they seperate themselues from the true Church that is vpon earth and consequently from the entrie into that which is in heauen If themselues should be in the fieldes ouertaken with some sharpe storme of wether woulde they stand still and seeke no couert vntill some great thicke leaued tree would offer it selfe to defend them Are they without fault The onely pride that possessing them maketh them to condemne all Churches considering they ioyne themselues to none doth sufficiently shew that they are not restrained so much by the particular faultes of some of the Church as by their owne offences and corruptions Mat. 18.1 and consequently haue such a mislike that they thinke no bread good In Christs Church which consisted but of twelue Apostles there was one traitor Mat. 26.65 There were ambitious disputations who should be chiefest in the kingdome of Christ They all forsooke their master and S. Peter thrice denyed him Mat. 26.69 How many faultes and corruptions did Saint Paule note and reproue in the Church of Corinth and the seuen flourishing Churches of Asia Apoc. 2. ◠Yet all that ioyned in these Churches and in them were partakers of the holy supper were accompted faithfull chosen and contrariwise they that kept themselues without vnbeleeuers Neither is it a matter indifferent or at mens libertie whether they shal communicate or abstaine but a precept from God Doe this saith Iesus Christ in remembrance of me And S. Paul Let euery man trie himselfe Luk. 22.19 1. Cor. 11.28 Mat. 26.27 Num. 9.13 and so eate of this bread and drinke of this cuppe Againe Take eate Take drinke ye all God in old time ordained as is aforesaide that they that had opportunitie to eate of the passe-ouer and voluntarily did abstaine should be rooted out from among the people that is to say be no longer accompted any members of Gods Church We must therefore obey God and feare his iudgements and so resolue to ioyne with his Church and communicate in the holy supper of the Lord. 6 There is a certaine decree ascribed to Zepherin Bishopp of Rome wherein he ordaineth that all Christians should communicate at the least once a yeere In the decretal Cap. Omnis depen Remiss Platina in his life If wee consider the state of the Church in his time we shall finde that they oftner did communicate then they now doe in our Churches And indeed this communicating should bee better frequented then it is Neither did Zepherin meane to permit or alow them to cōmunicate but once a yeere but rather to reproue the corruption and sloth of those who desiring the name of Christians did neuer communicate and so shewed themselues vnworthie of that name if by communicating with the faithfull in the holy supper
be present at praiers vnles we also lift vp our minds to heauen 1. Cor. 14.16 For if when the Pastor speaketh in the name of the Church euery man at each petition saith not in hart Amen feeling a feruent desire to haue his petitioÌ„ granted then is ther both vanity hypocrisie eueÌ„ in this point may we find great corruption infirmitie in many For how many are ther who all the time of praiers do staÌ„d as men without life thinking vpon nothing How many be there whose minds are wandring How many that haue no feeling or desire of the benefits that wee craue at Gods hand To be short how many be ther whose harts minds are entangled buried in earthly affaires euen when their hands are lifted vp to heauen As this vanitie therfore is odious in the sight of God so for the ameÌ„ding therof let vs be both diligent comers to common praier and so touched with a liuely feeling of the same that we may reape the fruits thereof And to this purpose let vs remeÌ„ber that the deuil feareth nothing more theÌ„ the praiers of the Church that ther is no exercise of godlines wherin we are more often more feruently or more attentiuely to employ our selues For albeit the deuill be alwaies at hand ready to induce vs to wickednes yet is his readines most wheÌ„ he seeth vs disposed to pray that then intruding himselfe into our harts drawing away our cogitatioÌ„s he may hinder the sanctificatioÌ„ of the word of God the most excelleÌ„t fruit of our praiers Let the experience of this corruption vanitie in all praiers both publique priuate with the difficulty in amending the same albeit it be troublesome vnto vs yet make vs more wary the better to stand vpoÌ„ our gard to the end that so soone as we feele our selues amisse our thoughts otherwise distracted we may remember that Sathan is at hand among other our praiers beseech God to driue him from vs to giue vs grace to lift vp our minds to heauen with one hart call vpon him that finally we may receiue the fruit of our praiers 4 By this deduction of the titles markes of the Church afore mentioned it doth manifestly appere that they which refuse to ioyne therto become meÌ„bers therof are not in the kingdome house of God that denying to take the Church for their mother they caÌ„ not call God their father that they deserue as coÌ„cerning the soule to languish die because they reiect the food therof that they are worthy to incur the vengeance pronouÌ„ced by Christ importing that in the day of iudgement he wil denie them before God his father because they would not coÌ„fesse him before men We can with S. Austen confesse that there be wolues in the sheepe-fould and sheep without Mat. 10.32 neither must we deny but ther be many hypocrites in the Church whom God will finally disclose and reiect to their confusion or cast headlong into grieuous damnation because they prophaned the honour graces to them presented by the Lord in his Church 2 Tim. 2.19 Likewise God forbid wee should say that all that are out of the visible externall Church should be reprobates in the sight of God God knoweth his he waiteth he beareth with them finally he calleth them touching their harts he maketh them to feele their fault either inserting them into his visible Church or euen in the middest of the Idolaters through his great mercy and power sauing them in his kingdome glory when vntil the very houre of their deaths there is no shew or appearance that they be the children of God as it happened to the theese that was hanged by Christ Iesus But as by the iudgement of loue we are bound to thinke all to be elect that are ioyned to the Church vntil they minister occasion either by reuolt or bad coÌ„uersation to think otherwise so haue wee no ground to accompt those that refuse to ioyne therto to be members of Christ because they beare not his marks or tokens vntill by amendement they renounce the kingdome of Sathan which is without the Church and settle themselues in the house of God as his children there to call vpon him and to be fed with his spirituall food to life euerlasting And in deed Sith in hart we beleeue to righteousnes with our lips do make confession to saluation Rom. 10 10. as S. Paul saith it is in vaine for vs to boast of faith whereby to be iustified vnlesse we confesse Iesus Christ that we may obtaine saluation by true faith iustifieng vs in Christ 5 Sith therfore that the Church called the kingdome of heauen is like vnto a precious pearle Mat. 13.44 and a treasure hid in a garden which when a man findeth he selleth al that he hath to buy enioy it Let vs accompt nothing so deare or precious but that we may be ready resolued to leaue it to get into the Church of Christ To this purpose let vs remember the zeale of Dauid who being depriued of this benefit bitterly complained saying As the hart brayeth for the riuers of water so panteth my soule after thee O God My soule thirsteth after God saying When shal I come appeare before the presence of God Psal 42.1 Psal 84.1 Psal 26.8 In another place also what a desire sheweth hee to bee in the temple of God O Lord of hoasts saith he how amiable are thy tabernacles My soule longeth yea fainteth for the courts of the Lord for my heart and my flesh reioyceth in the liuing God Blessed are they that dwellin thy house praise thee continually And in another Psal O Lord I haue loued the habitations of thy house the place where thy honour dwelleth If Dauid a man yea a Prophet so excellent in faith vertue so plainly so often doth confesse how needful it was for him to be in the Church of God feeling himselfe as it were rauished with a feruent desire to enioy such a benefit What may we feele euen we who are so ignorant so weake so corrupt among so many dangers and assaults Will we how health-some necessarie this grace for vs to be in the Church of Christ is so far would we be from retiring therefro or deferring to ioyne thereunto that contrariwise we would euen run chearefully to get a roome therin Yea we wâ—uld reioyce boast of such a benefit and sauour Esa 44.5 saying with the Prophet Isay One shall say I am the Lords another shall be called by the name of Iacob and another shall subscribe with his hand vnto the Lord name himselfe by the name of Israell When therefore we heare Iesus Christ and S. Iohn crying Amend your lines Let vs know that the principall point wherin we are to Amend consisteth in renouncing and denying both in hart body al Idolatry superstition
in adioyning our selues to the Church of Christ ther to hear his word attentiuely to participate in his sacrameÌ„ts holily deuoutly with our whole affections to assist at coÌ„mon praiers Of the duetie both of domesticall and priuate praiers of euery faithfull Chap. 6. NOw as we haue shewed that publique praiers in the Church and the preaching of Gods word are vnto vs most profitable necessary so are we to vnderstand that notwithstaÌ„ding the same we are not neuertheles to neglect the vse both of Domesticall and priuate praier nor yet to forbeare the reading of the holy Scripture in our houses These be two points wherein as in that they be more coÌ„mon pernitious in respect of negligence slouth so are we the more hartely in dutie to seeke to Amend As for the praiers which euery housholder is to practise among his family Morning Euening we will speake of them hereafter where we entreate of the duties of housholders But for the priuate praiers of euery perticuler person ther is no man but besides his publique and domesticall exercises ought dayly to exercise himselfe therin Were we endued with the true knowledg both of our selues our estate condition of the efficacie of praiers we should need no solliciter to put vs in mind many times to present our selues before God to pray him more and more to reueale his truth to encrease in vs faith loue pacience and other his spirituall gifts to mortifie our corruptions to strengthen vs against the temptations and assaults of the flesh the world and the deuill to prouide vs of such and such necessaries wherof we are in want to preserue vs from so many daungers wherwith we are enuironed To be short to grant vs his holy spirite happyly to conduct vs all the daies of our life He that feeleth not the necessity of such graces and consequently of praier to obtaine them is sencelesse and voide of al vnderstanding as also euery man perticulerly in his vocation hath great need of Gods assistance and consequently of praiers Parents that God will giue them grace vertuously to bring vp wel to nurture their children Ministers of the word in holines to employ themselues in their ministerie Marchaunts and artificers faithfully to follow their traficke and trades Generally all men that God will vouchsafe to blesse them in their vocations workes and labours And besides there may be many of our acquaintance whose estate and condition bindeth vs to pray to God for them also 2 To be briefe ther is not any but after all priuate petitions accomodated to the time to the persons or to the occurreÌ„ces ought dayly to put in practise the doctrine of Iesus Christ where he saith You shall pray thus Our father which art in heauen c. as followeth In this forme of praier teaching vs that euery of vs ought dayly to present himselfe before God is a procurer first of his glorie then of the benefit and saluation of the congregation The zeale of Gods glorie as also our loue towards our neighbours do bind vâ— dayly to make this praier and that with greater diligence and feruencie because that making it as it were from the month of Christ the author thereof we shall be assured of hearing and consequently it shall make greatly to the aduancement as well of the glorie of God as of the good and saluation of our neighbours whereupon also as God in the obedience of his law doth more respeâ—t the obedience of his children then the worke it selfe so may we say that this praier whereby in the three first petitions we seeke the glory of God and in the three last the good and necessities requisite both for the body soule as well of our neighbours as of our selues being dayly with hart and mind poured forth is as it were a fulfilling of the lawe the summe whereof consisteth in this that wee loue God with our whole hearts and our neighbours as our selfe 3 Moreouer in these praiers lifting vp our hearts vnto God and so communicating dayly with him we do by little and little forget the earth and the world and doe grow spirituall and heauenly Euen as Moses in olde time hauing conuersed with God fortie daies and fortie nights when hee came downe to the people seemed to haue shining beames in his face And indeede as by little and little we learne the maners and language of those with whom we do ordinarily conuerse besides that by such conuersation ther breedeth a certaine affection betweene them more then others so by this our conuersing with God in our praiers we learne both the manners and language of heauen and in our selues doe perceiue some encrease of loue towards God Which is more as wee are but to much enclined either to our selues or at other mens solliciting to some riot or iniquitie so when we call to mind that in the morning we haue praied vnto God that he would vouchsafe to keepe vs also that at night we are to return againe to do the like the same is vnto vs a mightie bridle to restraine vs from wickednes and to retaine vs in due obedience towards God Besides as when we pray vnto him we haue regard to his promises the experience of his benefits and so cal him father beseeching him to guide vs as a father doth his children the same is a good meanes to strengthen our faith and a foundation of comfort in euerie vocation and estate whereinto it pleaseth God to call and place vs assuring our selues that by such praiers euery thing that shall come to passe shall be according to the worke and conduct of our father yea euen the accomplishment of his will which cannot be bad vnto vs. To be short such as through Gods grace doe dayly exercise themselues therein do by experience find what a comfort benefit and contentation they receiue by the same 4 This is the reason why the most excellent seruants children of God haue beene the rather addicted thereto How seruently did Moses employ himselfe therein when hee continued groueling before God in prayer for the space of fortie dayes and fortie nightes Likewise Samuell when hee sayde God sorbid that I shoulde sinne against the Lorde and cease praying for you Deu 9.18 1. Sam. 12.23 Psa 119.147 Psal 88.14 Act. 10.2.4 Especially the princely Prophet Dauid who in his Psalmes sufficiently declareth that he was as it were tyed thereto by dayly exercise As perticulerly wher to this purpose hee sayth I preuented the morning light to praye to God Againe My prayer preuenteth thee in the Morning Cornelius the Centurion so laboured therein that he prayed continually Whereby finally the Lords Angell sayde vnto him Pphil 1.4 Ehe 1.16 Col. 1.9 1. Thes 1.2 5.17 Col. 4.2 that his praiers were come in remembraunce before God S. Paul in many Epistles protesteth that he ceased not night and day to pray for the Churches As also in many places
he carefully commendeth himselfe to their praiers and by his example exhorteth vs to pray without ceasing and to perseuere in prayer with watching and thankesgiuing 5 That we may the better therefore employ our selues in this dutie it is meete that we practise the saying of Iesus Christ When thou prayest enter into thy chamber Mat. 6.6 and when thou hast shut thy doore praie vnto thy father which is in secret and thy father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly True it is that this exhortation tendeth especially to reproue the hipocrisy of those that seek to make a shew and to boast of their deuotion yet with all it ministreth a generall and very profitable instruction that wee should exercise our selues in praiers not onely in publique but also priuate withdrawing our selues solitarily apart to employ some time therin with assurance that it shall not be without fruite And to that purpose wee reade that Isaac went from among his familie into the field to pray That Peter went into the toppe of the house among the Iewes the roofes of the houses were flat to pray Did not Iesus Christ many times goe a side alone to pray to God his father Gen. 24.63 Act. 10.9 Mark 6.46 Mark 1.36 Luk. 6.12 Saint Marke saith that he went vp into the mountaine to pray Also that rising while it was yet night hee went forth into a desert place and prayed And Saint Luke saith that beeing gone into the mountaine to praie he spent the whole night in praier As therefore by his example we ought to seeke out all secret opportunities wherby we may the more freely lift vp our hearts to God in praier So when we find our selues alone vpon occasion or otherwise in the house or in the fields by night or by day such solitarinesse should be vnto vs as a warning and allurement by and by to thinke vpon God that we may praie and praise him For as the spirite cannot be Idle so being alone from noise companie or companion to talke with it giueth occasion to the children of God that are not to much entangled in worldly affaires to enter as it were into familiaritie with God and to call onely vpon him 6 And in as much as we are but meanely enclined and giuen to these spiritual exercises it might well beseeme the childreÌ„ of God to binde themselues to certaine houres not in superstition but for a remedie to our in firmities because otherwise we will many times ouerslippe the whole day without this dutie But hauing limited some certaine houre for that employment the striking of the clocke will admonish vs of our dutie that wee shoulde not let it escape Dauid a man greatly exercised in praier practised this course as he sheweth saying that he called vpon the Lord at night Psal 55.18 Dan. 6.10 August 10 Proba in the morning and at noone daie Daniel also thrice a daie entered into his chamber to pray to God And Saint Augustine writeth that the brethren of Egypt in his time vsed many prayers to God but verie short cast forth as darts into heauen least through tediousnes the seruencie that ought to be in prayer might quaile By the premises therefore it appeareth that for the amendement of our liues we ought according to the exhortation of Iesus Christ to correct the negligence and sloth that hath taken holde of vs to imploie our selues in praier and priuate supplications thereto heereafter to giue our selues with such zeale Luke 21.36 Psal 4.6 that by continuall watching and praying to God our petitions in all things may bee made knowen to him by praiers and supplications with thankesgiuing as beeing assured that the more that we exercise and accustome our selues thereunto the greater shal be our comfort and affection to abide therin to Gods glory and the benefit and saluation both of our neighbors and our selues Of our dutie to reade the holy Scriptures Chap. 7. AS for the reading of the holy Scriptures wherein euerie one ought diligently to exercise himselfe experience sufficiently teacheth that when without daunger of fire it was prohibited vs wee then burned in seruent affection to reade but nowe when lawfully wee may doo it and that we bee thereto dayly exhorted either wee haue no bookes or if wee haue anie wee neuer looke vpon them How many whole families admitted to the holy supper shall wee finde that haue not among them all one Bible no not a new Testament And howe many of those that haue them doo bestowe daily one quarter of an houre in reading vpon them Nay how many dayes yea euen weekes doo they passe ouer without reading anie one woorde therein They surelye thinke it enough that they haue them to make shewe of them vppon some cupboord or deske Chrisost in his third Ho. vpon Iohn cap. 4 Saint Iohn Chrisostome noted the lyke corruption in his time Let vs bee ashamed sayth hee that a woman hauing had fiue husbands and she a Samaritan should bee so diligent and attentiue to learne that neither the time neither her businesse could withdrawe her from Christs mouth where she might bee taught and yet that wee doo neuer enquire anie thing concerning instruction in heauenly matters Which of you at your returne to your houses doo applie your selues to anie thing worthie Christians Which of you seeketh after the sense of the holye Scriptures Truely none Wee many times finde you in hand with the Chesse boord and playing Tables but seldome with bookes If ye haue bookes it is as if yee had none for they bee locked vp and kept in coffers your onely care is to haue them of fine parchment and sayâ—â— written not that yee may reade them but to make them an ostentation of your wealth and ambition Heereto hee addeth The vse of the Scriptures is not to haue them in bookes onely but to reade and print them in our heartes As in those dayes there was no printing so were bookes rare and very dere and in that respect did men vse them for an ostentation of their riches and shewed theyr ambition in this that hauing bookes fayre written and in fine parchment they referred them not to their right vse namely to reade them and so to take profite to saluation But in these dayes where there is such plentie of bookes through the helpe of printing men care not for hauing them much lesse for reading in them 2 Before the new Testament was translated into our tongue some would take pains to copie our Chapters which their Curates beeing wel minded to religion had secretly translated now many will grudge a small portion of monie for the price of a Bible yea euen of a new Testament And this hath beene a perpetuall infirmitie Poore men sayth Chrisostome doo excuse theyr neglygence in reading Gods word Chrisostome vpon Iohn Tom. 5. â—o 10 vpon tâ—e first Chapter â—lledging want of bookes meanes to buy anie A lyttle will I â—â—â—ake vnto them
as Iesus Christ also saith that God his father will reward vs openly for that Almes that we giue in secret Mat. 6.4 10 To this end also doth hee counsell vs to inuite to our feasts not the rich men that are able to requite feast with feast but the poore that are not able to restore and thou shalt bee saith hee blessed Luk. 14 â—2 because they can make no recompence for thou shalt haue the rewarde in the resurrection of the righteous and in that sence doth hee also exhort and teach vs to vse the wisedome of the vniust steward for saying Make you friends of the vnrighteous Mammon that wheÌ„ you want they may receiue you into euerlasting habitations he sheweth that the vniust steward had that descretion Luk. 16.5 to giue away his masters goods thogh with a bad coÌ„science that therby he might be able to liue when he should be put from the administration of his masters goods much rather then should we giue to the poor that which god hath lent vs seeing we haue froÌ„ him both a commandement to do it a promise that whatsoeuer we giue we shal find it againe in heauen when by death the administration of our goods shall be taken from vs. And therfore if we be in loue with goods it is best for vs to enlarge them to the poore that they may transport them for vs to heauen ther purchase for vs an euerlasting tresure he is vniust vnfaithful saith a good father Leo vpon this Giue and it shall be giuen to you Chrirostome vpon this Lay not vp your treasures c. that coueteth not to retaine that which hee loueth with al his hart for euer What a folly is it saith Chrisostome ther to leaue thy goods from whence thou must depart and not rather to send theÌ„ before thee to the place where thou goest to enhabite Let thy goods bee wher thy countrie is He that hordeth vp treasure vpon earth hath nothing to looke for in heauen Why lookest thou vp to heauen wher thou hast laid vp nothing whatsoeuer thou dost for thy soule at thy death shal be nothing the rest shalt thou loose If we be so desirous to keep our goods safe how can we do better theÌ„ to make vse of the admonitioÌ„ of Iesus Christ who saith Luk. 12. 33. Mat. 6.89 Sell that ye haue and giue Almes make you bagges which wex not old a treasure that can neuer faile in heauen wher no theefe commeth neither moath corrupteth 11 Sith God so commendeth commandeth Almes reliefe of the poore euen with assured promises that whatsoeuer we giue vnto theÌ„ is a tresure fasly laid vp for vs in heauen shal be againe restored vnto vs with plentifull vsury euerlasting reward what else haue we to do but to Amend our former negligence and sparing and more and more to encrease in the workes of charity and relieuing the poore by giuing liberally according to our abilitie as S. Paul saith according to the goods that God hath imparted vnto vs And this is yet one thing that we are to note namely that as many are ashamed to giue nothing to the poore 2. Cor. 8.11 so their giuing is alwaies as litle as may be coÌ„meth from them as if a man should plucke some rib out of their sides If it coÌ„cerne the priuate benefit of the poore ther must be some long Oration to prepare induce them to their duties If a man come to them againe in any short time then will they complaine that still wee come to them that wee neuer leaue begging the poore will they saye must not bee fed so fat and many doe abuse their Almes Then will they come in with their losses the smalnes of their traficke their sclender gaine their housholde charges To be short ye shal find them wonderfull full of inuention cunning to excuse themselues that they may giue as little as may be But if they wist how profitable it were to giue to the poore and what a sauour God sheweth vs wheÌ„ he vouchsafeth to touch our harts with a purpose to distribute liberally to the needy then will they thanke those that come to summon and stir theÌ„ vp to their duties and so will resolue to giue largly according to the portioÌ„ that they haue receued of the Lord. 12 To this duty may the example of the Macedonians greatly incite vs to whoÌ„ S. Paul gaue this commendation that in the great trial of affliction 2. Cor. 8 they enioied plentifull comforte in the depth of pouerty they abouÌ„ded in the treasures of their simplicitie They were sore afflicted yet feeling aboundance of ioy in God without respect to the consideration of their pouerty or standing vpon any long discourse of distrust but in all simplicitie depending wholly vpon Gods prouidence they thrust their hands into the bottomes of their coffers to helpe the poore with that small remainder that was left being redy as S. Paul testifieth of theÌ„ to distribute to their power yea euen beyond their power And so far were they froÌ„ needing any to intreate or sollicite them that euen with great instancie they required S. Paul to receiue of them that which they had contributed And this reliefe did they call the grace of God fellowship in relieuing the Saints This example of the Macedonians ought euery man coÌ„tinually to behold to the end that the rich by coÌ„sideration of the willing liberalitie of these poore Macedonians might be ashamed thus to keepe backe their aboundance that others which be not so welthy might neuerthelesse acknowledging their duties bee ready to giue if not as the Macedonians more then their abilitie would beare yet at the least according as God hath made them able Esay speaking of the conuersion of Tyrus saith Her occupying her wages shall be holy vnto the Lord It shal not be laid vp nor kept in store but her marchandise shall be before them that dwel before the Lord Esay 23.18 to eate sufficieÌ„tly to haue dureable clothing If marchants other welthy persons would well consider this example of the Tyrants they shold vnderstand that al that they haue ought to be coÌ„secrated to the lord that it belongeth not so iustly to theÌ„ as to the poore needy seruants childreÌ„ of God And albeit God suffereth them to be more honorably clothed more daintily sed yet ought they so to enlarge themselues that when their own garments be of fine cloth the poore may haue freeze wheÌ„ they eate whitebread the poor may be satisfied with browne 13 As these titles bee attributed to Iob that he was an vpright and iust man and one that feared God Iob 1. Iob 31.16 so did he declare the same by his workes of charitie protesting that he neuer denied the petition of the poore neither caused the eies of the widdow to faile that hee eate not his morsels alone but that
it were at the hand of God all meet reliefe for their necessities thereby praise God for his care ouer them for the meanes that he vseth in releeuing their want and necessitie Let them therefore beware of murmuring at their owne pouertie because others haue such plenty welth Let theÌ„ think that this is ordred by the skilfull prouidence of God who being their father loueth them and louing them wisheth their good and saluation And as hee is able to do whatsoeuer he willeth so would he make them as rich as other men if hee thought it expedient but being wiser than we we ought as obedient children to be content to be lead by him 27 Besides praier it is also conuenient that euerie one shoulde labour in his vocation to maintaine his familye by caring for to keepe it without almes Exod. 20 9 except vpon great necessitie First God hath commanded that we should labour sixe daies in the weeke wherein euerie one is so to discharge his duetie as if hee were to giue account vnto God for such time as he looseth in idlenes wheÌ„ he might worke Psal 1â—8 2 but doth it not Secondly they are to remember that as Dauid saith the man is blessed that eateth the labors of his owne hands wherin he sheweth that as such as will not work that they may liue of theyr owne labours doo therein feele the curse of God so doeth not mans felicitie consist in hauing great riches heaped vp for him but rather in that he laboring in his vocation and contenting himselfe with a mediocrity doth eate the fruit of his owne labours In correspondence whereof in the time of Saint Paule 2. Thes 3.11 when there were some that alreadie walked licentiously in idlenesse who liued curiously and medled in thinges nothing appertaining to theyr vocation he chargeth and exhorteth theÌ„ in the name of Christ to labor to eate their bread in quietnes How grieuously would he now therefore reprooue those that neuer worke but against theyr wils and doo lesse than well they are able waiting vppon the reliefe of the Church as if it were a certaine rent and take no care to husband that which they get either by worke or by such reliefe Yet how much more sharply would the Apostle reproue others who beeing wholie giuen to idlenesse the mother and nurse of all mischiefe doo haunt Tauernes there in stead of getting by theyr labours to spend in drinking suffering their wiues poor children in the meane time to starue for hunger if they had not reliefe from others whereon also they will depend 1. Tim. 5.8 shewing themselues cruell and vnkinde to theyr wiues and children yea euen worse than Infidels as the Apostle tearmeth them because they haue no care of theyr families Let such therefore as receiue the almes and reliefe which they might well spare eyther by earning by theyr owne labors or soberly sparing that is ministred vnto them thinke and well vnderstand that they are but as Church robbers in the sight of God who seeth all and to whome all must yeelde account in the day of iudgement 28 Moreouer if the poore doo thinke theyr calling to be base and contemptible in the sight of the worlde let them looke vpon Iesus Christ the prince of glorie theyr sauiour who made himselfe poore to inriche vs and comfort themselues in that they beare his image in their pouertie 2. Cor. 8.9 which they maye assure themselues selues is blessed sanctifyed and made honorable in the pouertie of theyr head Iesus Christ Let them imagine that the seruant which is as well vsed as his master hath no cause to mislyke If they bee poorely or meanely housed let them beholde Iesus Christe the creator of heauen and earth borne in a stable in stead of a cradle laid in a manger afterward protesting Math. 10.24 Ioh. 15.20 Luke 2.7 Math. 8.20 Gen. 18.11 2. Cor. 11.27 that the foxes haue holes and the birds of heauen neasts but the son of man hath not wheron to rest his head If their lodging be homely and base let them looke vppon the Patriarke Iacob who tooke a stone for his pillow If their clothing be pore let them remember that S. Paul was molested with nakednesse If at anie time they hunger thirst or bee a colde let them hearken to the same Apostle protesting that himselfe also hungred thirsted and was a colde as also that the same which he saith of himselfe he also affirmeth in his fellowe labourers of the Lordes worke Vnto this houre we both hunger and thirst 1. Cor. 4.11 and are naked If in sicknesse or otherwise thirsting they haue but water or small beere let them behold Iesus Christ vpon the crosse Iohn 19.28 to whom in his thirst they ministred vineger to drinke If after wealth and dignities they be fallen into pouertie Heb. 11.24 let them thinke vpon Moses who when he might haue bin called the sonne of Pharao Exod. 3 1 refused it and accounting reproch with Christ to bee greater riches than all the treasures of Aegypt forsooke all and became a shepheard and not for his owne but for another mans 29 If rich men haue as it seemeth greater commodities as concerning the flesh and are in greater estimation with the world let the poore think that many times they sleep not so quietly as they also that theyr carnall commodities haue theyr recompence in cares and labours of minde wherewith they are more troubled than the poore Let them also remember Math. 13.22 that riches make not a man blessed in the sight of God for they are also common to the wicked Luke 16.9 yea and oftentimes doo minister occasion to offend God as also they be sometimes tearmed thornes vnrighteous Mammon Math. 19.23 And in that sense Iesus Christ pronounced that it was a verie hard matter for a rich man to enter into the kingdome of heauen And contrariwise Luke 2.8 Math 11.5 Iames 2.5 as in old time the good tidings of the birth of our Lord Iesus Christ was by the Angell first deliuered to the shepheards so vsually the Gospell is especially preached to the poore As also S Iames saith that God hath chosen the pore of this world which are rich in faith and heires to the kingdome that he hath promised to them that loue him To bee short in beeing poore 1. Tim. 6.17 they haue not anie such occasion or temptation to to be proud or to trust in the vncertaintie of their treasures as the rich men but to repose themselues vpon the liuing God to depend wholy vpon him and dayly to saie Giue vs this daie our daily bread and dayly to waite for the same Luke 15. as for Manna descending from heauen To conclude as the prodigall childe hauing goods in the wasting of them gaue himselfe to the world and the flesh but hauing fallen into pouertie thought vpon his fathers house and returned thereto so shoulde
man is content wyth the same estate that hee hath attained vnto but seketh a higher Man is neuer satisfied so long as one may go before him for Ambition suffereth him not to see whence hee came howe farre thee is gone or whether hee doeth aspire Euerie souldier desireth to be Captaine beeing a Captaine he climbeth higher and seeketh from degree to degree to come to bee a king yea if hee might attaine to be Emperour of all Europe he then would couet to be Emperor of the whole world Great Alexander was not content wyth the realmes that his father left him therefore vndertooke the conquest of all the world yea when he had obtained a great victorie agaynst Darius king of Persia refusing the offer that he then made of his daughter in marriage and halfe his dominions he answered That as there was but one Sunne in the world Iustin in his 11. booke so would he bee the onely king in the world How many such Alexanders are there in these latter daies Whereto tended this roiall deuice taken of the increase of the Mooâ— Vntill shee fill her whole compasse Also of an Emperour Farther Bee not these euident testomonies that mans heart is ambitious and vnsatiable that it is so farre from beeing satisfied by increase that the same increase doth whet the appetite and still minister more increase to the vnsatiable coueting of more honor and glorie 2 There is not anie that in estate or dignitie either in towne prouince or kingdome is second but hee aspireth to climbe and to bee first if not in the principall degree as king yet to bee next to his person as Ionathan sayde to Dauid Thou shalt raigne and I will bee next to thee 1. Sam 23 17. Math. 20.20 The mother of the Apostles Iohn and Iames made a petition to Iesus Christe that in his kingdome the one might sit vppon his right hande 3. Iohn 1.9 the other on his lefte Saint Iohn also taxed one Diotrephes that coueted to bee chiefest in the Church Plu. in the life of Iuli. Caesar The Romane Emperour Iulius Caesar when some maruelled that in a little towne where they passed through there was strife who shoulde be greatest freely sayde that himselfe had rather bee the chiefest in that litle towne than the second at Rome Were not the Apostles at controuersie who shoulde bee greatest And dyd not they demaund of Iesus Christ who shoulde be greatest in the kingdome of heauen Mark 9.34 Math. 18.1 They imagined that Christe shoulde raigne vppon earth as Salomon before had doone and before they saw the crowne vpon his head they demanded which of them shoulde haue the chiefest offices Which is more he that might attaine to the soueraigntie of the whole worlde woulde yet seeke to bee greater and if it laie in him to climbe euen into heauen and as Adam dyd to bee lyke vnto God Some are of opinion that the sinne of the Angels that were turned to deuils proceeded of the lyke ambition Esa 14.13 taking it to be the same which Esaie noteth where hee speaketh not directly of them but of Nabuchadnezzer king of Babylon declaring him to be in deede of the race of Adam in these woordes I will ascend into heauen and exalt my throane aboue besydes the starres of God I will syt also vppon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the North I will ascend aboue the height of the cloudes and I will bee lyke to the most high All the kingdomes of the earth coulde not satisfie the ambition of greate Alexander Valerius in his first booke who by the readinges of Anaxarchus vnderstanding that his master Democritus maintayned that there were sundrye worldes cryed out saying Woe is mee wretch that I am that haue not yet attained to the possession of one of them Wherevppon Valerius fitly noteth yet speaking as a Heathen man that mortall man esteemeth his glorie to bee straighted because it is bounded in one worlde which neuerthelesse might suffice for the habitation of all the Gods Hee also writ to the Lacedemonians requiring them to place him among the Gods and to offer sacrifice to him Plutarch in his Apotheg as vnto a God Wherevppon one named Damis scorned his ambition and sayd Well let vs giue Alexander leaue to bee called God 3 It is no maruell that the Heathen so exalted themselues considering that some who not onely take vppon them the name of Christians but also doo boast to bee Saint Peters successors haue growen to as great ambition For the Bishops of Rome not contented with the title of Bishops of the first sea haue taken vppon them to be called vniuersall Bishops heads of the Church vppon earth placed themselues aboue kinges and Emperours compared themselues to the Sunne and Kings and Emperors to the Moone because as the Moone hath no light but from the light of the Sun so kings and Emperors do hold their power dignity from them yea they proceed farther share with God Cap. Satis Dist 69 suffering themselues by their parasites to be called Gods vpon earth Whervpon Pope Nicholas concluded that sith God might not be iudged by man neither might the Popes And this is it which Saint Paul foretold 2. Thes 2.4 that Antichrist should exalt himself against al that is called God or that is worshipped so that he doth sit as God in the temple of God shewing himselfe that he is God Thus we see that the ambitious man is vnsatiable and cannot be satisfied with all the glorie of the world but that hee must also climbe into heauen to become God euen hee who beeing a poore worme vppon the earth and coueting to bee great like vnto God through his ambition fell so lowe that he is not now worthie to be mentioned among the least creatures in the world 4 As this ambition burning in the hart flameth euen vp to heauen so is there no vice corruption sinne or iniquitie Bern. in his 40. Serm. but it engendereth and in deede the eldest daughter of the first sinne namely of the incredulitie of Adam and Eue coulde not but bee a fruitfull mother and plentifull in vicious pernitious and damnable children Ambition sayth Saint Barnard is a secrete poyson a hidden sinne a forger of fraude a mother of hypocrisie a spring of enuie a fountaine of all vice a moath to holynesse a blinding of the heart conuerting remedyes into diseases and medecines into languishing First what poyson or plague is more mortall than ambition whereby man seeking to bee equall wyth God was made lyke vnto the deuill not onelye worthie of death but also so vicious and corrupt that at euerie moment hee hastneth more and more to death Psal 51.7 Ephes 3.2 2. Sam. 15.2 â— 4.5 This vnthankefull ambition which was also the breeder of disobedience hath infected vs with this plague and scabbe that wee are conceiued in sinne borne in iniquitie and by nature the children
darknes What concord hath Christ with Belial Or what part hath the beleeuer with the Infidell And what agreement hath the temple of God with Idols for yee are the temple of the liuing God as God hath sayde I will dwell among them and walke there and I will bee their God and they shall bee my people Wherefore come out from among them and separate your selues sayth the Lord and touch no vncleane thing and I will receiue you and I will bee a father vnto you and you shall bee my sonnes and daughters saith the Lorde almightie And in the next Chapter following hee addeth Now therefore beloued seeing wee haue these promises let vs cleanse our selues from all filthinesse of the flesh and spirite and growe vp vnto full holinesse in the feare of God 3 The temple of Ierusalem was called holy because it was not a lodging for men but the house of God wholye dedicated and consecrated to his seruice as were also the vesselles belonging thereto in the same respect called holy Nowe if Baltasar king of Babylon by vsing them in a banquet drinking in them with his princes and concubines dyd prophane them and was for the same soone after rewarded for the same night hee lost both his kingdome and lyfe surely they that shall abandon not the vessels but the temple it selfe and not a temple of stone and of wood but euen theyr bodies and soules that are made the liuely temples of the liuing God to the prophane and filthie vses of the world and the flesh in lieu of dedicating the whole to the holye seruice of God who is with them do most filthily prophane the Temple of God and can expect no other than a most horrible vengeaunce and punishment as the holie Apostle Saint Paule protesteth saying Hee that destroieth the temple of God God will destroie him 1. Cor. 3.17 for the temple of God is holy which you are When a king maketh his entrie into a Towne or Citie hee findeth those streetes where he is to passe made cleane and his pallace hanged howe much rather ought wee whome God chooseth to bee his temple and to make his entrie into vs to bee with vs and to dwell with vs to purifie and cleanse from all filthynesse and vncleannesse and to adorne the place of his habitation with all vertue and holynesse 1. Pet. 1 13 4 Heereunto doth Saint Peter exhort vs saying Gird vp the loines of your minde bee sober and trust perfectly on the grace that is brought vnto you by the reuelation of Iesus Christ as obedient children not fashioning your selues vnto the former lusts of your ignorance But as hee that hath called you is holie so bee yee holie in all manner of conuersation because it is written Leuit. 11.44 19. 2 Be ye holie for I am holy Where hee sayeth that the loyns of our minds must be girt hee sheweth that as they that weare long garments when they come in foule wayes doo tucke and girte them vp least they should load them with mire by dragging them through the same so wee whose mindes and affections doo so bend to the earth that they doo euen traile thereupon walking thorough this world full of mire and corruption must tucke them vp toward heauen least they shoulde touch such daungerous and damnable mire from the which we ought wholy to retire and separate our selues that we may be made holy to the Lord. If anie man 2. Tim. 2.21 sayth Saint Paul purge himselfe from these filthinesses and corruptions he shall be a vessell vnto honour sanctified and meet for the Lord and prepared vnto euerie good worke 5 Iesus Christ prayeth vnto his father to sanctifie vs but how Euen by withdrawing vs from the corruptions of this worlde Iohn 17.17 and guiding vs by his spirite to bee consecrated and dedicated vnto him If therefore we grow not in sanctification we do make vaine the prayer of Iesus Christ so farre as it concerneth our selues In the same prayer hee addeth this protestation For their sakes I sanctifie my selfe Iohn 17.19 that they also maie bee sanctified thorough the truth If our sauiour Iesus Christ sanctified and consecrated himselfe to God his father to the ende his holynesse might stretch vnto vs and so in him and by him wee might bee sanctifyed vnto God wee doo falsely boast that hee is Emanuel God wyth vs conioyned and vnited vnto vs and that wee are members of his bodie vnlesse that separating our selues from the corruptions of the worlde and the flesh 1. Cor. 1.30 wee bee sanctified in him and vnto him And in deede if Christ were of God made vnto vs not onely righteousnesse but also sanctification it is in vaine for vs to boast of iustification wythout sanctification for God beeing wyth vs and vnited vnto vs this vnion must of necessitie engender not onelye our iustification in him but also our sanctification by him 6 It is the holy Ghost dwelling in vs that hath conioyned vs with Iesus Christ that hee may bee E anuel God wyth vs For hee sayth the Apostle Saint Paul that hath not the spirit of Christ is not his And as there can bee no fire without warmth or lyght so cannot God bee by his spirite in vs or with vs but hee will also sanctifie and purifie vs from all vice and corruption Rom. 8.9 that hee may consecrate vs vnto God We beleeue the holy Catholike Church Holy I saie because God is with it causing it to participate in his holynesse Wee are not therefore members of this holy Church vnlesse wee also bee holie As lykewise wee adde that wee beleeue the communion of Saintes that is of the faithfull and children of God But falsely and in vaine shall wee beare the name of Saintes or pretende our selues to bee the faithfull and children of God vnlesse that denying the filthynesse and corruptions of the worlde and the flesh wee bee fully dedicated in all purenesse and holynsse to the seruice of God And in deede when the holy Apostle sayeth Ensue peace and holinesse Heb. 12.14 without the which no man commeth to the Lorde Hee aduertiseth vs that holinesse is as it were the bonde betweene God and vs also that without the same we cannot beholde the face of the Lord. 7 This is the will of God saith Saint Paule euen your sanctification 1 Thes 4.3 that is that wee abstaine from whooredome that euerie one of you shuld know how to possesse his vessell in holinesse and honour not in the lust of couetousnes euen as the Gentiles which knowe not God That no man oppresse or defrande his brother in anie matter for the Lorde is auenger of all such thinges as wee also haue tolde yee before time and testified for God hath not called vs to vncleannes but vnto holines 8 Whereas Emanuel commaundeth vs to sanctifie the sabaoth daie hee therein sheweth vs how much his holynes doth bind vs to amend our liues The
what meanes wee haue to helpe the needie and let vs not thinke to blinde his eyes with anie excuse or by diminishing our fault Let vs not lie to men in his sight that seeth our dissimulation and threatneth to punish it as wee haue a horrible example in Ananias and his wife Saphira who both fell downe dead for lying in the sight of God when they spake but to men O Lorde sayth the Prophet Ieremie thou art mightie in counsell Acts 9. Iere. 32.4 and plentifull in thy actions Thy eies are open vpon the whole course of the children of men to giue to euerie one after his course and after the fruit of his works Behold again what the same Prophet saith in the person of God Iere. 16.19 I will send out many fishers and they shall fish them and after I will send out many hunters and they shall hunt them from euerie mountaine and from euerie hill and out of the caues of the rockes For mine eies are vpon all their waies They are not hid from my face neither is their iniquitie hid from my eies 16 Let vs continue steadfast in this resolution that God is with vs and in vs seeth all our thoughts and workes That all things lie open and naked in his sight that the very holes darknes that we seeke out wherein to worke our wickednes are as light before him that we can not go into any place but he wil be present with vs and in vs. To be short that we cannot think say or do any thing but still it wil be in his sight and hereupon let vs imagine with our selues what an impudency it will be in vs to presume to think say or to doe in his sight any thing that wee would be ashamed of in the sight of men and withall remember that he is not onely holy hating iniquitie and detesting such contempt of his maiestie but also righteous punishing most grieuously as well the iniquity it selfe as the blasphemie to think that God is blinde seeth not the thoughts and words of men also how horrible this impudency is to presume to commit such filthines and iniquity in the sight of God as we would be ashamed to commit before men Rather therefore seeing this name Emanuel admonisheth vs that God is with vs and in vs let all our thoughts wordes and workes be holy as he is holy to the end that in liew of making a seperation betweene God and vs through our sinnes we may perseuere in this soueraigne good to haue God with vs according as the name Emanuell giuen to our Lord Iesus Christ doth teach The fift cause of amendment drawen from these tytles wonderfull a Counsailor the strong and mightie God the Prince of peace the Father of eternity attributed to Iesus Christ Chap. 5. THere be three especiall things that procure the subiectes to loue their Prince and louing him voluntarely to yeeld vnto him all obedience and fidelitie First if he be wise to gouerne thē with wisedome and discretion Secondly if he seek their prosperity Thirdly if he be able to defend them against the endeuours of their enemies and to effect whatsoeuer may be requisite for the safety and good of his subiectes These three pointes and many more shall we finde in these titles attributed by the Prophet Esay to our Lord Iesus Christ for in calling him Counsailor Esay 9. the Prophet declareth that he is replenished with all wisdome wherwith to giue assured counsail in all trouble and perplexitie but chiefely in matter concerning the acceptable seruice of God and the hope of our saluation Secondly he calleth him the strong and mightye God thereby to assure vs that he is of infinite strength and power to execute and fulfill his will whether in defending vs against the endeuours of our enemies in punishing such as disobey him or in making those that are subiect and obedient to him partakers of his graces and benefites Thirdly hee nameth him the Prince of peace because he is the author and fountaine of all prosperity and felicitie both bodily and ghostly signified by the worde Peace he doth moueouer terme him also wonderfull to the end to giue vs to vnderstand that from Iesus Christ we are to expect thinges more high and excellent then any that we can discerne in the ordinary course of the worlde also that in him are hidden the inestimable treasures of wonderfull thinges surpassing mans expectation and capacitie whether to the blysse of such as feare and obey him or to the punishment of vnbeleeuers and disobedient persons To conclude the Prophet also doth entytle him the father of eternitie therein teaching vs that Iesus Christ is the author and ground worke of the eternity of the Church preseruing it vpon the earth with a continuall protection and guiding it to heauen there to remaine eternally in the possession of perdurable ioy and glory for euer 2 Beholde therfore who and what maner of one he is that commaundeth vs to amend by louing him and fearing to offend him and by our willing obedience vnto him And indeed is not such a King or Prince most worthy the loue honor feare and obedience of his subiects First if he be Gods counsailor he is of necessitie replenished with the spirite of wisedome and vnderstanding as Esay more at large doth declare saying The spirite of the Lord shall rest vpon him Esay 11. 2. the spirite of wisedome and vnderstanding the spirite of counsaile and strength the spirite of knowledge and of the feare of the Lord yet S. Paul goeth further Col. 2.3 saying All the treasures of wisedome and knowledge are hidden in him This Counsailor beeing thus replenished with all wisedome knowledge and vnderstanding are not we to beleeue that whatsoeuer he commaundeth vs is holy good righteous and necessary for the seruing of him according to his will must we not in our selues finde that it is meere folly to seeke after the counsaile of man in matter cōcerning the seruice of God and the hope or path to saluation and to listen vnto the wisedome of our owne flesh that seeketh to turne vs from the wisedome of that great counsailor or to thinke it any wisedome to reiect his counsaile or documents To be short as al the members of the body doe suffer themselues to be ledde by the sence and vnderstanding that is in the head euen so the members of the Church must follow no other sense thē such as is in their head Iesus Christ neither hearken to any other counsailers but him and this also doth our heauenly father commaund vs saying Mat. 17.5 This is my well beloued sonne in whom I am well pleased heare him So often therefore as the world the flesh or the deuill shall solicite vs to loue or to doe any thing condemned by this counsailor Iesus Christ let this title giuē to Iesus Christ waken vs and cause vs immediatly to resolue to deny them and not to
whereof the one doth signifie Be ye better aduised or learne to know your ignorance or fault and the other as much as if wee should saie Returne and conuert By the first the holy Ghost teacheth that it is a great folly to offend God considering that God exhorting vs to amend commandeth vs to be wise and aduised And the other confirmeth it to be in truth a great folly For when God saith Conuert returne to me namely by amendement he giueth vs to vnderstand that by transgressing his law we go to the deuill by amending we turne backe and go from the deuill to the liuing God And in deed if anie man list to demand what waie the idolaters fornicators whoremongers dronkardes couetous persons dreamers blasphemers and to bee short all they that giue themselues to the world and to the lusts of the flesh doo take the aunswere is certaine and readie euen they that take the waie that leadeth to hell that forsaking life they go to death and running from God they draw neere to the deuil Saint Paul making a catalogue of these people doth resolutely pronounce 1. Cor. 6.10 Rom. 6.23 Deut. 27.26 that they shall not inherit the kingdome of God also that the reward of sinne is death and cursed is he that keepeth not the commandements of the law And because there are few that take care to obey God to amend their liues Math. 7.13 our Lord Iesus Christ pronounceth that broade is the gate and path that leadeth to destruction As therefore if a man departing from Paris taketh his waie into Spaine and yet giueth out that hee wil take his waie through Flanders or Holand euerie man will scorne him as a foole or take pittie of him as if he were a senselesse person that goeth farre amisse euen so is it with him who taking no course to amend but continuing in offending of God doth neuertheles say vphold that he will go to heauen for euery man may iudge him to be senselesse and greatly out of the waie because he taketh the contrarie course which leadeth to hell 2 Now if there be no greater madnes or pernitious folly than by offending God to take the waie to hell and euerlasting fire Iesus Christ in commanding vs to amend doth iustly saie Be ye wise better aduised and conuert returne to me And in deed if God should aske the sinner Wilt thou amend Wilt thou go to hel fire into weeping and gnashing of teeth with the deuills There is no man so desperate but that he will answere No Lorde God forbid yet hath not God good cause to replie Why thou takest the way thether thy workes doo leade to hell and euerlasting destruction and therefore amend But how Lord be better aduised As now thou turnest thy backe to me and thy face to the deuill so turne conuert thou to mee Where thou goest from heauen and drawest neere vnto hell turne backe leaue the world the flesh and all the corruptions of the same walking in my commandements amend thy life Thus turning thy backe to the deuil thy face vnto me going from hell thou shalt come to me the fountaine of life euerlasting And in deed saith S. Augustin we draw neere vnto God who is euery where Prosper in his sentences out of Augustine Se. 91. Sc. 195 not by remouing from place to place but by alteration of manners For as dissimilitude separateth vs frō him so doth resemblance and imitation conioyne vs with him And what a woe is this saith he by displeasing God to abandon this soueraigne felicitie which is in all places Let this commandement therefore Amend that is to saie Be ye better aduised and conuert vnto me waken and inflame our hearts to amend our liues and to be wise and aduised to conuert vnto God If a marchaunt seemeth willing to trust another that is redie to be banquerout with all his goods one warning will be inough to reclaime him ye shall not need to praie him to beware or to alleadge many reasons to withhold him The only feare apprehēsion of the losse of all his goods wil be reason and exhortation sufficient What shall wee then doo when Iesus Christ saith Be ye better aduised that is Amend and note that by offending God so taking the waie to hel we indanger our selues yea we do euen assure our selues to loose both bodies and souls for euer Is it not meere madnes and vngrateful rage to continue and not to be wiser and better aduised that wee may conuert to God and by amendement preserue our bodies and souls vnto life euerlasting The eight cause of Amendement taken of the reason added by Iesus Christ where he saith For the kingdome of heauen or of God is at hand Chap. 8. NOw let vs especially consider the reason added by Iesus Christ For the kingdome of heauen or of God is at hand And for the better vnderstanding therof let vs note three significations of the kingdome of heauen First by this kingdome is signified the blessed estate and incomprehensible felicitie that wee shall inioye after the resurrection is when Iesus Christ sayth Math. 8.11 Many shall come from the East and from the West and shall sit at the table in the kingdome of heauen with Abraham Isaac and Iacob Agayne Math. 7.21 Not euery one that sayth Lord Lord shall enter into the kingdome of heauen but hee that doth the will of my father shall enter into the kingdome of heauen Againe Suffer little children to come vnto mee Math. 19.14 for vnto such belongeth the kingdome of heauen And so in many other passages Secondly by the kingdom of heauen is signified the estate of the regenerate man which consisteth in the true knowledge of God in faith in mortification of the olde man and in newnesse of lyfe As when Iesus Christ sayth The kingdome of God is in you Luke 17.21 Also in this saying of Saint Paul The kingdome of God is not meate or drinke but righteousnes and peace and ioy in the holy Ghost Thirdly Rom. 14.17 the kingdome of heauen many times signifieth the ministerie and preaching of the Gospell As when Saint Paul speaking of certaine faithfull seruants of Iesus Christ sayd Col. 4.11 Math. 11.11 These onely are my companions in the worke of the kingdom of God Againe as where Iesus Christ saith He that is best in the kingdome of heauen is greater than Iohn the Baptist Whereto wee also refeere this saying of Iesus Christ Math. 13.3 13.44.45 The kingdome of heauen is like vnto seede that fell in diuerse groundes Thereby signifying that the holy ministerie bringeth not fruit in all men Likewise where he compareth the kingdome of heauen to a treasure hidden in the earth and to a marchant that sought for good pearles thereby to shew how highly wee are to esteeme of the holy ministerie 2 All these significations of the kingdome of heauen ought
reformed and the goodnesse wisedome and wonderfull iustice of God be reuealed 5 True it is as Saint Peter saith that in the later times there shall come scorners that shall walke after their owne lusts say Where is the promise of his comming 2. Pet 3.3 For since the fathers died all things continue alike from the beginning of the creation And in deed we now see but too many that are not touched with the apprehension either of the kingdome of heauen or of the torments of hell but are possessed with prophane and deuilish spirits that take al to be but fables that is spoken as well of the kingdome of heauen promised to the faithfull as of the tormentes of hell prepared for the wicked And this is a pernitious pollicie of Sathan wherewith he discourageth the faithfull from walking in the feare of God from amending their liues Psal 73 13. from cleansing their harts and as the Prophet saith from washing their hands in innocencie But to the contrary hereof let vs stand stedfast and be wel assured that there is a kingdom of heauen prepared for the children of God and a hell for the disobedient and therfore let vs labour to grow in faith to fructisie in good workes 2. Cor. 15 58 and so to amend our liues as knowing that as S. Paul saith our labour shall not be in vaine in the sight of the Lord. 6 This is the foundation whereupon the Apostle laieth holde to perswade men to repentance and amendement of lyfe God sayth hee Act. 17.30 nothing regarding this time of ignorance now admonisheth all men euerie where to repent because hee hath appoynted a daie in the which hee will iudge the worlde in righteousnesse But how in righteousnesse Euerie man shall as else where it is sayde receiue the thinges that are done in his bodie 2 Cor. 5 10 according as hee hath done whether it bee good or euill and God will render to euerie man according to his workes That is to them which by continuance in well dooing seeke glorie honour and immortalitie Rom. 2.6 eternall life but vnto them that are contentious and disobey the truth and obey vnrighteousnes shall be indignation and wrath 7 Albet we see not this kingdome of heauen Rom. 8. Heb. 11. yet let vs remember that the goods saluation of Gods children consisteth in faith and hope and that as well the one as the other doth appertaine to things to come which we see not so that not to beleeue or hope for more than we see is to be short the abolishment of faith and hope and so consequently the subuerting of the assured foundation of our saluation Let therfore this faith the mother of hope and hope her mothers nurse cause vs patiently to attend the fruition of this kingdom of heauen and our assured attendance for the same make vs to amend our liues Apoc 19.9 T it 2.11 that we may cloath our selues in garmentes beseeming those that purpose to come vnto the marriage and to haue a seat at the banquet of the lambe Iesus Christ The grace of God saith S. Paul that bringeth saluation to al men hath appeared teacheth vs that we should denie vngodlynes and worldly lusts and that we should liue righteously soberly and godly in this present world looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glorie of God which is our sauiour Iesus Christ The same Apostle gaue thanks to God for the Colossians when he heard of their faith and loue for the hopes sake which was laid vp for them in heauen Col. 1.4 1. Iohn 3 And in this sense saith Saint Iohn Welbeloued we are now the children of God but yet it doth not appeare what we shal be and we know that when Iesus Christ shal appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is And euery man that hath this hope in him purgeth himselfe euen as he is pure 8 But to the end the more earnestly to incourage vs to amend our liues in hope of the kingdome of heauen wee are moreouer to apprehend the incomprehensible excellencie of the glorie and ioye that we shall inioy in this kingdome when our bodies being risen againe vncorruptible and immortall like vnto the image of the glorious bodie of Christ reunited to their sanctified souls shall be lifted vp into the house of God our father aboue all heauens wher we shall see the face of God as the Sun in his brightnes shall inioy the fruit of the praiers of Iesus Christ when he said Iohn 17.24 Father I wil that they which thou hast giuen mee bee with me where I am 1 Cor 15.28 that they may see my glorie which thou hast giuen me When Iesus Christ hath rendered the kingdome to God his father then shall God the father the son the holy Ghost be vnto vs all in all yea euen such a fulnes of good and felicitie that as sundrie vessels cast into the sea are so filled with water that they can desire or hold no more so this sea of diuinity being in vs all in all we shall be replenished and satisfied with life glorie and ioy so as we shall not bee able to desire or haue anie more Apoc. 21.18 Euen when wee shall bee truely burgeses of the heauenly and holy Citie that shall be of fine golde like vnto pure Christall the foundations of the walls set with precious stones the twelue gates made of twelue pearles which shal need neither Sun nor Moone to shine therein for the light of God shall illuminate it and the lambe himselfe shall be the candle To be short when we shall be in the fellowship of the Angels shining as the Sunne in his pride and rauished with ioy that shall neuer be taken from vs. A ioy I saie not onely for our owne felicitie but also for the felicitie of all the elect for wee shall loue them all as our selues and so shall reioyce as much for their felicitie as for our owne And this ioy shal be infinitly corroborated by the contemplation as well of the glorie of Iesus Christ whom iustly we shal loue better than our selues as also of the glorious maiestie of God whom we shall loue with our hearts our strength and our mindes 9 If the representation remembrance of this kingdom of heauen doth not kindle our heartes with a feruent desire to attaine thereto and by desiring the same to amend our liues that we may take the path that leadeth to such felicitie the same is an assured testimonie that wee account of our selues as of beastes that looke for no goodnesse after death And on the other side if the apprehension of the fire that neuer shall be quenched of the wormes that shall be alwayes gnawing of the terrible darknes of the weeping and gnashing of teeth through the feeling of the heauy wrath of the liuing God doth not moue our harts to feare to offend
hath prepared for them a Cittie Heere the Apostle sheweth that Abraham Isaack and Iacob were strangers in the land of Canaan in respect of Vr in Chaldea from whence they came when Abraham at Gods commandement left his countrey his kinred and the house of his father But in that they were called forreiners and strangers it was not in that respect but in respect of heauen where God had prepared a Cittie for them and therefore albeit they had time to returne to Vr their natiue countrey yet sought they a better namely the heauenly and in that regarde conuersing vpon earth they are called strangers 3 Now the remeÌ„brance that we are strangers pilgrims trauellers ought to induce vs to lift vp settle our thoghts minds cogitations vpon our heauenly country that in the coÌ„templation of God of the glory of Christ and of the excellency of our inheritance we might reioyce with the angels souls of the saints that are already gathered thither and incessaÌ„tly sing praises vnto God with them And indeed as the Apostle saith Heb. 12.22 Wee that beleeue in Christ are come to the hill of Syon and to the cittye of the liuing God to the heaueÌ„ly Ierusalem to millions of angels to the church of the first born that are written in the heauens to God who is the iudge of all to the soules of the righteous that are sanctified and to Iesus the mediator of the new couenant Being ascended so high hauing our coÌ„uersation in heauen as Burgesses therof if froÌ„ thence we look vpon the earth and cast our view vpon the kingdomes riches dignities men and the most excellent things in the world all will seem in our eyes so small that wee will be euen ashamed to esteeme of them yea euen so much as to think vpon them so far will we be from setting our affections thervpon and truly goe vp vnto a high steeple and look from the top therof looke vpon men that go in the streets and they wil seem to you not to be men but children their houses euen cabbins for if it were possible to climbe fiue or six leagues higher ye should see no men yea the greatest townes would seeme but as one house and the Sea a poole Moreouer if possibly ye could ascend to the heauen of the moon which is the lowest the greatnes of the whole world would seem nothing it would not shew so much as a good pinnes head hanging in the middest of a great Church What would it be in case hee were in the highest heauen among the starres or aboue the heauens in the house of our father and in the heauenly citie wherof we are burgesses Much rather in those dayes will the vniuersall worlde be vnto vs nothing at all 4 To this purpose doe we read of a great Romain personage who in a dreame or conceit being ascended into the region of heauen among the Starres Cicero in Scipios dreame and beholding their greatnes and brightnesse thence casting downe his eyes vpon the earth it seemed that the whole worlde was so little that hee was ashamed of the Romain empire which neuerthelesse extended into so many realmes Now as this Ethnick could in his discourse clymbe no higher so if wee that are burgesses of heauen doe ascend aboue al heauens there conuersing in spirit doo behold the glorye of God and his pallace of light of an incomprehensible extent and afterward shal looke downe to the earth we will be ashamed of the smalnesse thereof and of all the kingdomes therein which thence will not shewe so great as a graine of sande but euen nothing at all The three Apostles when they had seene some parte of the glorye of Christ in his transfiguration vppon mount Thabor were so mooued that they saide Mat. 17.4 Lord it is good for vs to be heere let vs builde three tabernacles What then would we doe if we should conuerse in heauen and there beholde the maiestye of God and the glorye of Iesus Christ wold not euen the apprehension therof allure vs to wish to dwell there and to forget and despise the earth or then remembring and looking towardes the same woulde wee not reproue our selues as that Romain was reproued by his father who saide vnto him why dost thou yet cast downe thine eyes vpon the earth 5 Among other the vanities that men doe seeke and so feruently desire is glory and the reputation of vertue valour riches power wisedome and such other like but this Romain Ethnick being in a dreame rapt aboue the starres is by his father admonished in the smalenesse of all the worlde to contemplate the vanity of this ambition men will talke saith hee of thee and thy vertues but wher be it throughout the Romain Empire yet shall not thy fame passe such and such mountains there will no man once speake of thee What a folly is it therefore so to delight in the reputation of great welth ornaments of body excesse in banquets goodly houses honourable functions euen wisedome and humaine discretion sith all this fame and glory shal be shut vp in so small a corner of the worlde that when thou art ascended into the Citie whereof thy selfe art a Burgesse thou shalt not be able to see it most men labour to haue faire houses gardens of pleasure lordshippes and to heape vp possession vpon possession as if themselues should dwell alone vpon the earth as Esay saith Esay 5.8 and yet when they haue purchased whole townes and kingdomes if they should from heauen looke vpon them they would disdaine and contemne the smalnes and basenes of them And indeed let a man looke vpon a towne platted in foure leaues of paper hee shall somewhat discerne the order of the streetes and houses thereof but afterward laye downe in the like quantity of paper the whole prouince wherein that cittie standeth and the same will not shew so great as a mans nayle And lastly let him represent the whole worlde in asmuch paper and he shall see neither house nor towne yea scarsely the whole prouince perhaps hee may finde the names of the realmes and see their extent in the breadth of two or three nayles and looking from heauen the whole worlde will not seeme so much What a folly then or rather a madnesse is it for those that are strangers vpon earth and burgesses of heauen diuersly and by sundry meanes to offend God Gen. 25 34. Heb. 12.16 for the getting of so small a portion of earth which is as nothing wherein they resemble Esau who for a peece of bread and a messe of pottage solde his birth-right 6 Againe such as are strangers in a forraine countrey and haue parents and great wealth in their natiue soyle being hardlye entreated where they soiourne and vpon the pointe to returne home into their countrey are vndoubtedly very glad thereof euen already they seeme to see their houses lands and possessions and in their conceiâ—s doe
talke with their parents and feele a feruent desire to be soone there euen so we if we remember that in heauen we haue treasures of eternall riches an vndefiled inheritance immortall and incorruptible which is reserued for vs a heauenly father that loueth vs in his welbeloued son our elder brother Iesus Christ in glory the angels holy spirits in ioy and that wee their fellow burgesses haue our portion in all these goods and are euen vpon the point to be really in heauen with them why should we not be rauished with a feruent desire to be lifted vp thether and with S. Paul to say I couet to be dissolued and to be with Christ Phil. 1.23 what letteth vs when wee feele how hardly wee are entreated and what mortall wounds our soules doe daylye receiue by offending God through their corruptions to say with S. Paul Rom. 7.24 O wretched men that we are who shall deliuer vs from this body of death Shall not the very feeling of so grieuous and so many bodily afflictions whereto we are subiect in this strange land cause vs seruently to pray to be deliuered from the same 2. Cor. 5. 1. especially considering that we know as S. Paul saith that when the earthly habitation of this lodge is destroyed wee haue a building in God euen an euerlasting house in the heauens which is not made with mans hand And in this respect we that abide in these earthly dwellinges doe groane vnder our burdens for we desire to bee clothed with our habitation which is in heauen as knowing that remaining vpon earth wee are absent from the Lord for we doe walke in saith and not by sight albeit we trust loue rather to be estranged from this body and to dwell with the Lord. 7 Howbeit attending vntill we may be really there both in body and soule let vs be there in spirit let vs be conuersant in heauen and begin to feele the felicity wherof we shall hereafter haue full and perfect fruition in this conuersation with God with the angels and with the holy spirits let vs more and more learne the language and maners of heauen to the end wee may resemble the angels saints there dwelling When Moses had conuersed with God forty daies vpon the mountaine Exod. 34.29 at his comming downe his face shined and glistered with the heauenly glorye so will it bee with vs by then we haue for twenty or thirty yeares bene conuersant in heauen we shall become heauenlye and spirituall both in worde and deed euen as by experience wee see that when a countryman hath dwelled some twenty or thirty yeares in the Court he forgetteth his country speech and course of life and groweth to be as good a courtier as if he were borne in the Court Our earthly talke and communication our worldly course of life and the corruptions of the flesh that beare but too much swaye in vs doe but ouer manifestlye shew how little we are conuersant in heauen and consequently doe testifie that we account our selues Burgesses of earth and not of heauen That wee may therefore amend let vs continually thinke that heauen is our true countrey that wee are Burgesses thereof that there we haue our parents and blessed brethren the treasures of ioye and glory an immortall and incorruptible enheritance and that we are at the very point of going thither to take possession as in truth wee doe euery houre looke for the time of our departure let this holye meditation make vs to conuerse in heauen and to liue as heauēly people setting our harts vpon our treasure let it euen make vs to forsake the speeche habit fashions and manners of those among whom wee are for a short time strangers that we may enure our selues to the language and holy life of the burgesses of heauen and angels with whom we shall liue for euer Let it withdraw our affections from all that we must leaue at our departure out of this forrain country least otherwise we lose the incomprehensible goods that are prepared for vs in our heauenly and eternal country let it cause vs to renounce al that might detaine vs in this country replenished with misery and calamity that cheerefully we may aspire to our country which aboundeth in ioy glory and al felicity Let it enforce vs to say with Dauid Woe is me that I remaine in Mesech Psal 120.5 and dwell in the tentes of Keder That is to say among barbarous nations that loue not the Burgesses of heauen let the hard vsage of the prince of this world in this strange country make vs to couet to liue among the blessed Cittizens of the kingdome of heauen let all our thoughtes words cōmunication testifie that in spirit we are already there yea let all our works be preparatiues and pathes to lead vs therinto and to these ends let vs ouercome all that might break of or hinder our so happy iourney from earth to heauen 8 We must moreouer remember that we are pilgrimes and trauellers and therefore for the attaining to the place whereto wee are trauelling wee must beware of three points First of turning backe againe Secondly of turning either to the right hand or to the lefte Thirdly of standing still The offending of God and transgressing his commaundementes is a going backe againe for as in walking after his woorde and in his feare wee goe to God to heauen and to euerlasting life so by sinning in liewe of going forwarde wee slippe backe and drawe toward death as we haue before more at large declared We cannot therefore turne backe that is to saye offend God but with this condition that wee shall fall into ruine and euerlasting perdition much like vnto him who flying from his enemies that pursue him in liewe of sauing himselfe in some towne turneth backe towardes them and so putteth himselfe into their handes neither are we without many and mighty enemies that pursue vs and labour to make vs to turne backe by offending God and these must wee fight against Deerely beloued saith the Apostle Saint Peter 1. Pet. 2.11 I beseech you as strangers and pilgrimes abstayne from fleshly lustes which fight against the soule Let vs diligently note that hee heere saith not against our goods to rob vs of them neither against our bodies to murder vs but against our soules to induce thē to offend God so to drawe them into euerlasting damnation And heereof haue we a notable example in the person of Iob Iob. 1. he was a iust man one that feared God and eschewed euill and so walked in the waye to heauen but Satan would withstand him and therefore commenced warre against his soule but how true it is he seemed as if he would haue fought against his goods in causing them to bee taken away against his children in procuring their death and against his body in vexing it most cruelly yet was it properly the soule that he assaulted as himselfe
God and are become such as haue need of milke and not of strong meate Thus we see how this worde Pilgrimes or Trauellers doth warne vs not to stand still but to march on and walke forwarde in that blessed path that leadeth to the kingdome of heauen 12 As they therfore that be vpon their iournies doe not abide in those hostryes oâ— Innes where they are well vsed lodged or entertained and where they finde plesant gardens walkes or such other inticements but after their baâ—t or in the morning doe passe on their way Euen so we albeit God in this life giue vs goods honours houses and other carnall commodities yet let vs remember that we are trauellers and must not stay but goe forwarde on our iourney toward heauen yea and in case we be afflicted with sicknesse pouerty or any other calamity yet must we still thinke that we are vpon our iourney and therefore taking comfort say Peraduenture we shall be better to morrowe but howsoeuer it bee our way lyeth forward that we may soone be at heauen this doth S. Paul teach vs where he saith Because the time is shorte heareafter 1. Cor. 7.29 that both they which haue wine be as though they had none and they that weepe as though they wept not and they that reioyce as though they reioyced not and they thâ—t buye as though they possessed not and they that vse this worlde as though they vsed it not for the fashion of the world goeth away And I would haue you without care Thus we see that there ought to be nothing that should let vs from proceeding and going forward on our way and that we should not stop at any disturbance or alurement either of the worlde or of the slesh 13 It now therefore remaineth that as they who are to departe from a forraine land toward their own country do prepare things necessary for their iourney so that we likewise prouide that which is expedient for the happy perfourmance of our iourney towards our heauenly countrey let vs therefore make ready the chariots of good consciences the horses of feruent praier to God the oyle of holinesse in our lampes the sworde of the spirite Eph. 6.16 which is the worde of God and the buckler of saith that resisting all our enemies that warre against vs Gen. 19.26 Luke 17.32 we may constantly proceed in our iourney let vs not as Lots wife looke behinde vs but without any sorrow for leauing the worlde and the flesh let vs cheerefully go forward in this blessed voyadge To conclude as they that returne into their country doe leaue none of their goods in those places where they haue bene strangers but doe either send them before them or carry them with them euen so let vs looke that we leaue not our goods vpon earth but send and transporte them into heauen by enlarging them plentifully to the poore who shall bee our horses and moyses to carry them and withall let vs think that all that we leaue vpon earth at our departure is euen so much lost also that we shall neither keepe nor finde any thing in our heauenly country more then we haue giuen Apoc. 14.13 neither carry thither any thing but the good that we haue done as S. Iohn saith of those that doe dye in the Lord that their workes doe follow them 14 Thus may we see how the continuall meditation of this that in this life we be strangers pilgrimes and trauellers wil stand vs in great stead for the amendment of life that denying the worlde we may prepare our selues by al good works by faith hope praier patience meditation vpon Gods word and desire to be in fruition of our inheritance in heauen wherof we are burgesses and finally taking possession therof we may reioyce in ioy and eternall glory The tenth cause of amendment drawen from the kingdome of heauen which is in vs. Chap. 10. HOw the kingdome of heauen which after the resurrection we shall enioy ought to induce vs to amendment of life wee haue already shewed now as secondly by the kingdome of heauen is signified the estate whereinto the Children of God euen in this life Luke 17. 21. Rom. 14.17 are reestablished through saith in Iesus Christ so let vs beholde how mightily this kingdome which Iesus Christ hath said to be in our selues ought to enflame our harts to amend It consisteth saith S. Paul in righteousnes peace ioy in the holy ghost by righteousnes he vnderstandeth that singuler benefite comprized in this that Iesus Christ hauing by his death satisfied Gods iustice for all our sinnes and so paid all our debtes hath also giuen and imputed vnto vs his perfect obedience to the end that by this his righteousnesse wee may be iustified in the iudgement of God This benefite is the assured foundation of our saluation and therfore both in greatnes excellencye incoÌ„prehensible and indeed being by nature the children of wrath pore sinners such as hourely by our iniquities doe deserue death and eternall damnation what greater benefite can God bestow vpon vs then in his iudgement to be absolued and so iustified that wee may be the children of God and inheritours of life euerlasting The remembrance therfore of such a benefite ought to induce vs to amend our liues and diligently to beware of offending God and surelye if onelye one sinne may make vs in his iudgement guilty worthy of damnation can we be so vnthankeful to God and such enemies to our soules as by pleasing our flesh and the worlde to tread vnder foot such a benefite and so happy and blessed an estate shall wee that can appeare before God iustified by the righteousnes of Christ to be absolued in his iust iudgement go make our selues guilty and worthy of sentence of eternall death by offending of God shall we who by this righteousnesse are aduowed to be the children of God be such wretches as by giuing ouer our selues to sinne make our selues the children of the deuill when this righteousnesse hath freed vs from the power of Sathan shall wee by offending God reduce our selues againe vnder his tirannie when Christ by paying our debtes hath so purchased this righteousnesse for vs that the deuill can pretend nothing against vs shal we by our sins binde our selues anew to eternall death 2 Sith one onely sinne is a hand-writing giuen vnto Satan by vertue whereof hee maye detaine vs in the prison of hell there to dwell for euer vnlesse we bee deliuered by the paiment of Iesus Christ in dying for vs is it not a monstrous and horrible case that beeing brought foorth of hell and by this righteousnesse lifted vp into heauen we should by our sinnes so cast our selues again into hell that we should abide swallowed vp therin either that our sinnes should procure Iesus Christ againe to discend into our hell to fetch vs forth By the shedding of Christs bloud al the spots of our soules are washed away
word may be confirmed And if he will not vouchsafe to heare them tell it vnto the Church if hee refuse to heare the Church also let him be vnto thee as the heathen and publicans Verely I say vnto you whatsoeuer ye bind on earth shall be bound in heauen and whatsoeuer yee loose vpon earth shal be loosed in heauen This sentence threatning ought so neerely to touch our harts that we shold not despise the exhortations admonitions that tend to amendment For if the impenitent be detained in the bonds of Satan vntill by amendment they be vnbounde As their estate is truely wretched miserable so is there nothing that we should haue in greater regard then by amending our liues to be dissolued and vnbound Thus may we see how the holie ministerie signified by the kingdome of heauen considered in all the principall parts thereof ought to bind vs in all affectionate desire to amend The twelfth cause of Amendement taken of this That by the kingdome of heauen is signified the most blessed felicitie of the children of God in heauen The kingdome of God in vs and the holy ministerie in the Church Chap. 12. THis is one thing worthy the noting that by the kingdome of heauen or of God is signified the felicitie of Gods children in heauen the kingdome of God in vs and the holy ministrie or the Church This title The kingdome of heauen common to these three seuerall estates doth sufficiently shew that albeit there be a great binding coniunction betweene thē yea euen such that as being in the kingdome of heauen that is in the Church and vsing the holy ministerie we are in the waie to heauen so the kingdom of heauen proceeding there hence being in vs we are assured to enter into the kingdome of God which is in heauen And in deede these are as it were two steps to climbe vp and two gates which we must passe through to get in And therefore who so desireth to be resolued whether hee bee of the number of the elect and heires of the kingdome of God let him seeke the certaintie knowledge therof in himselfe For if he be a member of the Church and inioy the holy ministerie men may haue some ground and are euen bound to account him a child of God belonging to his kingdom but if he be gotten vp the second step and seeleth the kingdome of God in his heart let him bee assured that God accounteth him his child and that he shall enter into his kingdome of eternall glorie Nowe as there is no greater felicitie than to inioy the kingdome of God in heauen so is ther nothing to be more desired than to enter thorough both the first and second gate of this kingdome of heauen This is one sharpe spurre to induce vs to practise this commandement of Iesus Christ First seeke the kingdome of God Math. 6.36 and the righteousnes thereof and consequently let vs amend our liues For if the apprehension of the kingdome of glorie that is in heauen ought euen to rauish vs into a feruent desire to attaine theurnto Likewise that we cannot attaine thereto vnles the kingdome of heauen bee also in vs that is to saie if wee haue not faith fructifying in good workes amendement of life Furthermore that we cannot haue this kingdome of heauen in vs vnlesse we also be members of the Church and vse the holy ministerie It followeth that there is nothing that we should so feruently desire and so earnestly seeke for◠as the kingdome of heauen that is to inioy the holy ministerie in the Church and by the vse thereof to establish the kingdome of heauen in vs and thereby finally to enter into the fruition of the kingdome of God in heauen 2 But ordinarily wee doo the contrarie Wee seeke first the things that concerne this present life and as for those that belong to the kingdome of heauen we seeke after them but seldome slightly and as it were for a fashion Our reason Because wee doo naturally loue the bodie more than the soule and the goods and commodities of this temporall life more than the treasures of spirituall riches Wee resemble little children that esteeme more of an apple or morsell of Sugar than of an assuraunce of rents Neyther need we to open our eyes verie wide or to vse any spectacles to see this corruptiō in men experience doth but too plainly shew it And for our more manifest conuiction heereof let vs consider fiue proofes which wee may note vppon all the fingers of one of our handes that we may the better remember them and so take some care to correct them First wherupon we do first think when we wake that is what is neerest to our hands for sometimes euen the care of some matter doeth waken vs. If thou findest that thy first cogitations when thou doest awake are such as concerne the bodie and this present lyfe and do nothing concerne the kingdome of heauen the dutie saluation and comfort of thy soule this is one pin vpon the sleeue and a pricke in one finger to make thee to remember that thou carest more for earth than for heauen for the bodie than for the soule 3 Secondly Iesus Christ sayth that of the abundaunce of the heart the tongue speaketh Mat. 12.34 When therefore thou goest to bed thinke what speech communication thou hast had all that daie so shalt thou be forced to confesse that peraduenture thou hast spoken little of the kingdome of heauen or of the saluation of thy soul but rather or at the leastwise that the greatest part without comparison hath concerned the bodie and this present life The third point concerneth the care and affection that in many doth appeare to be greater for the getting of goods and other the appurtenaunces of this life than for the obtaining of the kingdome of God his righteousnes And in deede most men and the wisest in the worlde doo not so much as vnderstand the meaning of the kingdome of heauen and the righteousnes thereof so farre are they from seeking it rather than the riches commodities of the flesh wherewith they be better acquainted and which naturally they doo more desire The fourth resteth in the care which without comparison is greater for the preseruation of the bodie and this life present than for the keeping of the soule or anie thing that concerneth the kingdome of heauen And indeed al men do take more care to nourish the body than the soul also to preuent the diseases or woūds of the bodie rather than of the soule The fifth consisteth in this that according as our loue or inclination to any thing is great or small so is our sorrow for the losse thereof more or lesse If through dronkennes falling into the fire we chance to burne our face it troubleth vs more than when by dronkennes we lose the image of God and cast our soules into hell fire The loosing of
and to the felicity of the Children of God in heauen doth admonishe and teach vs that we must first enter into the Church and vse the holy ministery secondly thereby increase in faith and amendment of life and so attaine to the fruition of the incomprehensible felicity and glory prepared in heauen for the children of God The thirteenth cause of amendment deriued of this saying of Iesus Christ The kingdome of heauen is at hand Chap. 13. THis saying of Iesus Christ The kingdome of heauen is at hand may be referred first to the kingdom of glory which we waite for in heauen Secondly to the renewing restauration of man and thirdly to the preaching of the gospel And indeed the kingdome of heauen considered in these three points Gen. 3. 23. did truely at the comming of our Lord Iesus Christ come very neere vnto man As concerning the kingdome of glory that is in heauen we know that our first parents Adam and liue when they had transgressed the commaundement of God were driuen out of the garden of Eden also that God placed the Cherubins on the east side of the garden with a flaming sworde continually mouing to keep the way to the tree of life Then God thereby hauing shewed that man was put forth and banished out of heauen and life euerlasting by the building of the tabernacle and afterward of the temple in Hierusalem gaue vnto his people some figure of a passage into heauen through the Messias that was to come For in that the people remained in the porch might haue no accesse into the holy sanctuarye Exod. 28.9 the figure of heauen God gaue them to vnderstand that they were vnworthy to come in but in that the high priest once in the yeere did enter with the twelue names of the twelue tribes vpon his shoulders and his breast God thereby signified that when Iesus Christ figured in this high priest should come he by his death should open vnto them the gate of heauen and should enter thereat not for himselfe onelie but as it were carying his people in with him And thereupon at the death of Christ the vaile of the Temple that seperated and did hide the holy Sanctuary did cleaue and rent to the bottom Mat. 27.51 Heb. 9.8 thereby to shew that the way of heauen was now open to the members of Iesus Christ which was not before reuealed as the Apostle saieth to the Hebrews Thus did the kingedome of heauen beginne to be at hand 2 Yet drew it nearer when Iesus Christ rising from death ascended into heauen For as the high Priest entring into the holy Sanctuarie vpon his shoulders and brest carryed the twelue names of the twelue tribes of Israel So Iesus Christ entred not alone into heauē but we also with him as saith Saint Paule Eph. 2.5 That God quickened vs together with Christ and raiseth vs vp together and made vs sit together in the heauenlie places in Iesus Christ And in an other place the same Apostle saieth If we be children we are also heires euen the heires of God and coheyres with Iesus Christ And this he sayeth to assure vs Rom. 3.17 that Iesus Christ hath so taken possession of heauen that it is not onely for himselfe but also for vs his coheyres As if vpon the confiscation of an inheritance common to many brethren when the prince afterward maketh a release the eldest brother taketh the possession for assurance that himselfe and his bretheren are restored to their goods the same is an assurance to the coheires with the eldest that in the person of their eldest brother themselues are put in possession of the inheritance common to them all Thus did the kingedome of heauen draw neare at the comming of Iesus Christ and this is it that he first wisheth vs to note for our amendment when he saith Amend your liues for the kingdome of heauen is at hand 3 The auncient fathers could neuer discerne this kingdome but a farre off and very obscurely God promised to Abraham Isaac and Iacob the land of Canaan Not that they should settle their minds vpon the fat of the earth but that it might be to thē as an image of this kingdome of heauen wherto they should aspire Heb. 11.13 But saieth the Apostle They are all dead and receiued not the promises but saw them a farre off and beleeued them and receiued them thankfully And this he meaneth not simply by the land of Canaan but principally by the opening of heauen approching of this kingdome of heauen fulfilled at the comming of Iesus Christ Howe neare then is this kingedome of heauen commen vnto vs by the comming of Iesus Christ in respect of them sith he toke possession both for himselfe and vs whom also we cannot behold in the fruition of this heauenly kingdome but we must withall behold our selues with him because he is our head and keepeth his members vnited to himselfe and our spouse who communicateth with vs all his goods in which sence Saint Paule also calleth vs Burgesses of heauen Doth not Iesus Christ therefore when he saieth Amend your liues iustly alledge this reason For the kingdome of heauen is at hand Ephes 2.19 And in deed If Abraham Isaac Iacob the Prophets Iohn 8.56 and the rest of the faithfull before the comming of the sonne of God in the flesh whilest the kingdom of heauen was yet so farre from them and from their view did notwithstanding reioyce as it is written of Abraham and accounted themselues Pilgrims and strangers in this world and lyued deuoutly righteously and religiously to be short did amend their liues as aspiring to this kingdome of heauen How much more earnestly ought we to feele in our selues that we are strangers pilgrims vpon the earth whereto his kingdome is come so neare that we do therein behold Iesus Christ and our selues with him Howe much rather I say should we be euen rauished to asp re to this kingdome which we see open by denying the world the flesh and all that might keepe vs backe that by amending our lyues we might increase in faith loue holynesse in euery good thing that might be vnto vs as a path a Chariot horse to transport vs really into heauen When winter is ouer the nearer that the Sun draweth vnto vs the more doth the earth being warmed by the heat therof fructifie And the longer that the dayes are the more worke may we do Euen so the nearer that the kingdome of heauen doth draw vnto vs by the cōming of Iesus Christ especially by his ascention into heauen the more should we be heat in the loue of God and charity to our neighbors to bring foorth the more fruite of holines be the more adicted to al good works 4 Secondly we are to consider the drawing neere of the kingdom of heuen in the restauratiō renewing of man Whē Christ died for our sins Rom. 4.25 Rom.
to the workes of darkenesse What an ingratitude will it be in vs who by nature are Gentils if when the kingdom of heauen is thus come vpon vs by the preaching of the Gospell we make no accompt thereof neither haue any care to amend our liues according to the cōmandemēt of Iesus Christ how mightily wil the deuil possesse vs vnlesse by the ministerye of the holy ghost he be expelled to the end to make roome for the kingdome of heauen in vs 8 Iesus Christ saith The men of Niniue shall rise in iudgement with this generation and condemne it for they repented at the preaching of Ionas and beholde a greater then Ionas is heere Againe Mat. 12.41.42 The Queene of the south shall rise in iudgement with this generation and shall condemne it For she came from the vtmost partes of the earth to heare the wisedome of Salomon and beholde a greater then Salomon is heere Woe thē be vnto vs if hearing the Gospel of our Lord Iesus Christ Rom. 13.12 we doe not obey his commandement and amend It is now time that we should arise from sleep saith S. Paul for now is our saluation neerer then when we beleeued by the preaching of the gospell and were before vnbeleeuers The night is past and the day is come let vs therfore cast away the works of darknes and put on the armour of light so as we walk honestly as in the day not in gluttony and drunkennes c. 9 This kingdome of heauen is at hand and dayly gathereth vpon vs in two maners which for a conclusion wee will heere adde First all faithfull beleeuers doe know and are assured that at the separation of the soule and the body the soule shal be exalted into heauen with Christ Now as dayly this seperation doth by death drawe neerer and neerer to the faithfull so doth the kingdome of heauen also come vpon them how carefull therfore should we be to amend our liues and to prepare our selues to make our entry into heauen the holy Ghost protesteth that there shall enter no vncleane thing Apoc. 21.27 neither any that worketh abhomination or lyes We must therefore put of all the workes of the flesh which are as S. Paul noteth adultery fornication vncleannesse wantonnesse idolatrie Gal. 5.19 witchcraft hatred debate emulation wrath contention sedition heresie enuie murther dronkennes gluttonie and such lyke And afterward protesteth that they which commit these things shall not inherite the kingdome of God Let vs then beware of delaying of this amendment least in a matter of such importance we bee surprised we haue not two soules that we may hazarde one If the day of death findeth vs a sleepe in our sinnes woe be vnto vs let vs remember the saying of S. Peter The end of all thinges draweth neere 1. Pet 4. Be ye therfore sober and watchfull in praier Euery of vs shall in our death finde this end of all things and indeed let vs look vpon a rich man caried dead out at dores and we shall see that all is at an end with him neither hath his body any more then his length of ground 10 Let vs therefore remember to be sober not in workes of pietie for in them we cannot be too plentifull neither in sinne for we must vtterly abstaine therefro wherin then euen in thinges appertaining to this present life 1. Cor. 7.29 by practising this admonition of S. Paul And this I say brethren because the time is shorte hereafter that both they which haue wines be as though they had none And they that weep as though they wept not And they that reioyce as though they reioyced not And they that buy as though they possessed not And they that vse this worlde as though they vsed it not for the fashion of this worlde goeth away And I would haue you without care Here doth he shew that the sobriety whereto S. Peter exhorteth vs doth admonish vs that there is drunkennesse not onely of the body but also of the spirite And indeede where Iesus Christ saith See to your selues Luke 21.34 that your harts be not ouercome with gluttony and drunkennesse neither with the cares of this life He doth sufficiently declare that there is another kinde of drunkennesse then either with beere or wine And that is when the care for the things of this life whether of warre or marchandise or of landes and possessions of wiues or of children doe so feaze vpon and entangle our mindes and affections that we are diuerted letted frō that which is required for the seruice of God and the saluation of our soules if a man rise in the morning and goe to the Tauerne and tarry there all day and at night commeth home drunke and so againe the next day and the next and all the weeke long and neuer thinketh vpon his famely but letteth his wife and his children sit staruing at home wil we not say that he is a drunkard and in case he continue this course a moneth or two will we not reporte of him as of a perfect and desperate drunkard What shall we then say of those that doe so set their harts and mindes vpon the affaires of this life that so soone as they are vp in the morning they are presently at the Tauern of those cares wherein they delight and whereto they so giue themselues that they care neither for the kingdome of heauen the seruice of God nor the saluation of their own soules which is more during this repast at home their mindes are in their tauernes yea and which is worse whether they speak to God in their praiers or that God talketh to them by sermons their mindes are so wandering that immediatly they are in this tauerne of worldly cares and affaires and that so deepely that they neither hear God speaking to them neither wot what themselues doe say to him for there is no more but the body that speaketh or heareth euen a body as it were without a soule for their minde is in their Tauerne If they then follow this course not one moneth or sixe or tenne neyther one yeere but ten twentie thirtie yea euen to the death may we not well call them perfect drunkards Likewise as to that tauerne that beareth the name to haue the best drinke or wine the drunkards will soonest resort as seeking occasions to be drunk so these spirituall drunkards doe seeke after townes and places of most practise where there is great dooinges which breede encrease of cares that likewise they may be the more drunken in them 11 This is an excessiue and most pernitious drunkennesse yet ouer common among christians and therefore let euery man examine him selfe that knowing it he may amend And indede sith the kingdome of heauen doth dayly approch to the faithfull by death we are in duty to beware according to Christs admonition that our harts be not ouercome with this drunkennesse of cares least that day ouertake