THE Care of a Christian Conscience Ten Sermons on the 25. Psalme preached in Tewkesburie in the Countie of Gloucester By Richard Curtis NVNC AVT NVNQVAM Imprinted at London by Simon Stafford dwelling on Adling hill neere Carter lane 1600. TO THE HONORABLE AND VERtuous Lady the Lady Dorothee Stafford widdow one of the Ladies of her Maiesties bed-chamber Simon Stafford wisheth all honor and happinesse in this life and in the life to come perpetuall glorie and rest THE straight and dutifull consideration of so many great fauors with which your Honorable disposition hath vouchsafed to grace me vnworthie the least of them hath compelled me thus presumptuously to dedicate these Christian models albeit the talent of another mans zealous inuention yet as the tithe of my poore Printing-presse vnto your honourable patronage hoping that in regard of their worth and not of my deserts you will likewise peruse them at conuenient seasons The vtilitie of them I neede not rippe vp seeing that your owne deepe-grounded wisedome wil hereafter by experienced perusall find out the same far better then either my simple mind can imagine or my pen lay down Onely this I humbly craue of your Honour that my good deuotion herein bee acceptable vnto you for our Sauior Christ preferred the poore widdowes mite before the golden offerings of the rich And is it not written that Artaxerxes a Pagan King daigned to receiue a cup-full of cold water at the hand of poore Synetes Whose president I imitating am emboldened to register your Heroicall name in the forefront of this booke intituled The Care of a Christian Conscience nothing doubting at all but that your Honours name is registred in the Booke of life for the Christian Care which you haue extēded to many of the poore distressed members of Iesus Christ Thus ceasing I beseech the Lord to cōtinue you in your godly course endue you with all blessings which eyther this earth affords or heauen contains From London Aprill 20. 1600. Your Honours most bounden Simon Stafford The first Sermon vpon the 25. Psalme 1.2 3. verses 1 Vnto thee O Lord lift I vp my soule THe sence is Many are the slaunders great are the iniuries which the wicked O Lord my God the Father the Sonne the holy Ghost thrée persons and one eternall God do raise vp against me thy humble and obedient seruant being vpright as thou knowest and innocent of that great offence to séeke the destruction of thine anointed Saul which whosoeuer doth shall neuer be guiltlesse in thy sight as I now am and for as much as thou knowest that to be deliuered from lying lippes flaunderous toungs I earnestly desire that mine integritie and vprightnes being knowen vnto thy maiestie may also vnto mē appeare I put not my trust as worldlings do in any worldly thing but my trust being fully fixed in the only one God I humbly and hartily in the name and by the mediation of thy dearly beloued sonne Iesus Christ the Messias which is to come beséech thée to deliuer me so shall I praise thy name all the daies of my life Doct. 1 1. Doct. In all our afflictions we must lift vp our hearts to God only by Praier The reason is It is the hand wherwith the Lord from heauen reacheth his benefits vnto vs. Vse Vse Let vs exercise it at all times For euen as the birdes and fowles of the aire that they may escape the nettes and snares of the fowlers flie vp on high so we to auoid the infinit snares of our enemies and innumerable temptations must lift vp our selues from the corruptions lying vanities and deceitful sleights of the world by earnest and harty praier When the sacred Scriptures mention the honoring of God the chiefest point which it setteth downe to vs is prayer and had this bene obserued as it ought to be the manner thereof had bene much more estéemed among men so as they would not haue so swarued one way nor other but haue folowed that which the holy Scripture teacheth But now men regard not profitably to pray they respect not in what maner they pray that their praier might be accepted of God but most men rush in and steppe to it like blind Bayard and come not dutifully and reuerently as they ought to the Lord. From whence procéedeth this vnreuerent behauior Euen from hence Because men accompt not of it to be of so great importance as it is for if we tooke it for the chiefe point of the seruice of God as it is it is certaine wée would more hartily zealously and reuerently take it in hand 2. Doct. 1. verse Vnto thee O Lord. Doct. 2 Praier must be made to God only in the name of Iesus Christ For he onely heareth vs he onely euen Iesus Christ praieth for vs he onely vnderstandeth our praiers he onely is more ready to help thē we to aske Vse Vse Let vs therfore not pray vnto Sainctes departed for we ought not to pray to thē 2. They pray not for vs. 3. They vnderstand not our Prayers The Papists assertiō is that Saincts departed are with great profit and piety called vpon and praied vnto R. 1. Tim 2. sect 4. B. cap. 19 lib. 1. De sanctorū beatit and that it is not onely lawful but godly so to do Arg. 1. They say they pray not to Saincts as authors of any benefit or grace but as Intercessors only neither doe they make them immediate intercessors but onely through Christ concluding all their praiers Per Christum Dominum nostrum Ans 1. It is false that they pray vnto them as intercessors onely for they desire them not onely to praie for them but to haue mercie vpon them For thus they praie O blessed Ladie haue mercy vpon vs preserue thy seruants let the merites of S. Mary bring vs to the kingdome of heauen Answ 2. It is also false that they make them not immediat intercessors but conclude their praiers Per Christum Dominum nostrum for in that blasphemous praier Tu per Thomae sanguinem quem pro nobis impendit fac nos Christe scandere quo Christus ascendit By the blood of Thomas O Christ which hée shed for vs make vs to clime whither he ascended There they aske life eternal of Christ by the blood of Thomas of Canterbury How then is it true which the Rhemists affirme the Christ alone by his merites procureth all grace and mercy towards mankind Praiers are made to S. Mary S. Osmōd S. Anne S. Katherine and none of them concludeth Per Christum Dominum nostrum Likewise An. 1551. in Scotland it was as good doctrine amongst the Papists that it was lawful to say the Pater noster to Saincts that we may call them our fathers say Hallowed be your names because God hath made their names holy and that their kingdome may come because the kingdome of heauē is theirs by possession and further that their will may be done seing their
great miserie and affliction for thou hast promised to saue all them that call vpon thy name for the remission of their sins Remember not the sinnes Doct. 1 1. Doct. In vaine doe wee pray to God to be deliuered from our afflictiōs except we pray for the remission of our sinnes both of our youth and all other afterward committed by vs. The 1. Reason is There is no hope for vs to obtaine grace except the Lord be mercifull vnto vs and how doth he loue vs except we be first reconciled to him and that by our Sauiour Christ Iesus and our confession and repentaunce of our sinnes Vse The Vse is therefore to teach vs in all our afflictions to acknowledge our sinnes to GOD onely séeing hee is gracious and fauourable to all his Doct. 2 2. Doct. It is necessarie for Gods people in their praiers to God to make vnto him onely a frée confession of their sinnes Psal 32.5 Then I acknowledged my sinne vnto thee neither hidde I mine iniquities for I thought I will confesse against my selfe my wickednes vnto the Lord and thou forgauest the punishment of my sinne Selah Dan. 9.5 We haue sinned and haue committed iniquitie and haue done wickedly yea we haue rebelled and haue departed from thy preceptes and from thy iudgements Nehem. 1.6 I pray thee let thine eares bee attent and thine eyes open to heare the praier of thy seruant which I pray before thee day and night for the children of Israel thy seruants and confesse the sinnes of the children of Israel which wee haue sinned against thee The 1. Reason is Els we obtaine no forgiuenesse Secondly Els we haue no assurance that we haue repented séeing confession doth alwaies accompany repentance Thirdly Otherwise wée cannot rightly and throughly condemne our selues and cleare the Lord for punishing vs. Fourthly By the confession of our sinnes we are the more humbled and the better prepared to praier The Vse is First to reprooue all them that iustifie themselues like the proud Pharise and offer vp their owne workes as the Papistes doe Secondly to reprooue them that will not beare sharpe rebuke for their sinnes nor bee contented to be censured by those meanes that God hath prescribed by his word for the same purpose Thirdly it teacheth vs to loue them that admonish vs often and reprooue vs sharpely when wee haue offended estéeming them our déerest friends and auoiding them that flatter vs Leuit. 19.17 Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart but thou shalt plainely rebuke thy neighbour and suffer him not to sinne Math. 18.18 Whatsoeuer you binde in earth c. seeing it is the meanes to bring vs to this confession which is so necessarie Text. Remember not the transgressions of my youth nor my rebellions Doct. 3 3. Doct. True repentance worketh in vs earnest and heartie praier The Reason is First In it we see our miseries in our selues and what néede wee haue to séeke to GOD for helpe Secondly It assureth vs of Gods loue to vs and readinesse to heare vs. Thirdly It encourageth vs to call on the name of the Lord who in our conuersion hath giuen vs experience of his vnspeakeable mercies The Vse is to teach vs to bee as diligent to performe this praier aright as wee are desirous to prooue to our owne hearts that our repentance is vnfained Doct. 4 4. Doct. All our praiers are to bee made to God alone Psa 50.15 Call vpon me c. Rom. 10.14 How shall they call vpon him of whome they haue not heard The 1. Reason It is he onely that can graunt vs our request Secondly We are not commaunded in the holy Scripture to call vpon any other and therefore if we doe it is not of faith and consequently it is sinne The Vse is First to reprooue the dotage of the heathen that praied to the Sunne Moone and Starres and of the Papistes that pray to Angels and Saints Secondly to teach vs to make all our praiers to GOD alone in the name of his Sonne Christ for such things as he hath promised in his word and in such maner as hee hath prescribed Nor my rebellions Text. Doct. 5 5. Doct. It is rebellion against the Lord to despise any of his lawes although all humane lawes should approoue vs therein The 1. Reason Reu. 19.16 God is King of Kings and will bee serued without exception Secondly Els God should yéeld vnto men Thirdly Wee are to obey men onely in the Lord and no further The Vse is First to reproue rulers that require obedience of their subiects to all their owne decrees not regarding whether God be disobeyed therby or no. Secondly to reprooue them that pretend mans lawes to excuse themselues in their sinnes as in the breach of the Sabboth contentednesse with the dumbe Ministerie putting of money to vsurie Thirdly it teacheth vs alwaies to hold this both in iudgement and practise It is better to obey God then man Act. 5.29 Doct. 6 6. Doct. It is our dutie so often as the Lord shal terrifie vs with his iudgements not onely to mourne sigh and lament but to repent vs not onely for our former sinnes committed in our youth but all other sinnes since which we can either call to mind hidden or vnknowne The Reason is The Lord may laye them all to our charge The Vse is that wee neuer flatter or stroke our selues in our vices but narrowly prye into them not into others as hypocrites doe but into our owne not to espie a moate in our brothers eye to cloke our hypocrisie but to pull out of our owne eyes not onely the beames but euen the verie moates therein But according to thy kindnesse remember me euen for thy goodnes sake Text. O Lord. Doct. 7 7. Doct. The children of God expect remission of their sinnes from none but from the mercy of God onely The Reason Sinne prouoketh Gods anger which is infinite and cannot be satisfied by any that is no more then a creature Secondly The Scriptures make the Lords mercie the first part of our righteousnesse Psal 32.1 Blessed is he whose wickednes is forgiuen and whose sinne is couered The Vse is To confute them that thinke they haue it in their owne fréewil to be saued Secondly To confute them that thinke to obtaine heauen by their merites Thirdly To reprooue them that seeke for the Popes pardons and Indulgences seeing it is the Lord of his méere mercie that doth pardon vs our sinnes Psal 25.8 Gracious and righteous is the Lord therefore will he teach sinners in the way The sence is The 2. part of the 3. Sermon I Doubt not at all of the remission of my sinnes neither yet heereafter to leade an holy and innocent life séeing I consider and weigh the great goodnesse and gracious bountie of the liuing Lord as also his righteousnes in performing his promises which among others are that he will pardon the sinnes of the penitent and direct the way
excéeding sicke dealeth more roughly and seuerely with his Sonne then with his seruant not because hée loueth his seruant more then his Sonne but because hee would restore his sicke seruaunt to his former health but his Sonne whom hee loueth most déerely hée reprooueth checketh taunteth and correcteth Euen so our good gracious GOD and louing father sometimes afflicteth his deere children whom he tenderly loueth and suffereth thē to be exercised with wéepings wailings and want with sighes and sorowfull sobbes with hunger and cold with nakednes and want of harbor with heauinesse of heart and vexation of spirite with sicknes of body and restraint of liberty and with a thousand other calamities and cares and in the meane time suffereth the wicked and vngodly ones of the world to want nothing he giueth them health wealth and libertie worldly honour and dignitie and what not meaning and purposing by these means if the fault bee not in themselues to bring them to know feare honor and serue him by whose prouidence and appointment they haue and do enioy all those good blessings and so be cured and healed of the sores and sicknesse of their soules A similitude As the skilfull Gemmarie and cunning Lapidarie doth willingly suffer the Indian Diamond or Adamant to be smitten with great and waighty blowes because he knoweth well that the hammer and Anuile will sooner be brused then the Diamond or Adamant will be broken so our most wise God yea wisedome it selfe suffereth men of excellent vertues of vnquenchable charity and inuincible constancy as Dauid to fall into diuers temptations to be plunged deepe into manifold miseries because he will haue their inward graces to shewe foorth and so shine before men that they seing the constancy of his Saincts may glorifie God which is in heauen For he is sure that they are cōstant that nothing can separate them from the loue of God Ioseph was imprisoned in Egypt Ieremy in Iudea Ezechiel in Chaldea and Iohn Baptist in Israel by wicked Herode and yet all these infinite others did neuer shrinke from God but as they liued in him so they died in him and are exalted vp on high and shall dwell in his tabernacle rest in the hill of his holines for euer And euen so if wee wil be as they were we shall be as they are True it is that God being iust doth neuer afflict vs vniustly which thing we ought alwaies to thinke confesse to humble our selues and glorifie God Neuerthelesse God doth not alwaies take occasion of our sinnes to punish vs but oftentimes he sheweth this fauour to his children to dispose it for their benefite Text. Mine eies are euer towards the Lord for hee will bring my feete out of the nette Doct. 2 2. Doct. The continuall lifting vp of Dauids eies to the Lord teacheth this Doctrine whosoeuer will pray aright that the Lord might accept them must lift vp continually their affections to the Lord for by the eye which of the sences is the sharpest and draweth the whole man to himselfe he meaneth all the affections of man The Prophet no doubt also by the eyes meaneth his corporall eies which as by an instrument did draw vp his affections to the Lord. The reason is All good things whatsoeuer wée haue GOD is the author thereof of whom in lifting vp our harts we desire the same Example of lifting vp of the eies in prayer is our Lord and sauiour Iesus Christ both whē he prayed with thanksgiuing to his Father when hée raised vp Lazarus from death who foure daies lay buried in his graue as also when he prayed to his father not onely for his Disciples but for all that shall beleeue in him Iohn 11.41 and Iohn 17.1 Therefore they tooke away the stone where he was laid that was dead and Iesus lifted vp his eies and said Father I thanke thee that thou hast heard mee This is a token of a mind well framed to praier for to the end a mā may rightly call vpon GOD he must be ioyned with him which cannot bée vnlesse being lifted vp aboue the earth he ascend vp aboue the heauens This is not done with the eye onely seeing that hypocrites who are drowned in the déepe filth and dregges of their flesh séeme with their sterne countenance to draw heauen vnto them but the children of GOD must sincerely perfourme that which hypocrites do but faine Neyther yet must hee that lifteth vp his eyes towardes Heauen there include GOD in his cogitation who is euery where and filleth heauen and earth But because mens mindes can neither escape from nor acquit themselues of grosse inuentions but when they be lifted vp aboue the world the sacred Scripture called vs thither and testifieth that heauen is Gods seat As touching the lifting vp of eies it is no continuall ceremonie which lawfull Praier cannot want For the Publican that praieth with his countenance towardes the earth doth neuerthelesse pearce the heauens with his faith Yet that is a profitable exercise whereby men awake and stirre vp themselues to séeke the Lord yea the feruentnesse of prayer doth so affect and moue the body sometimes that besides meditation it doth willingly folow the mind Certainly it is without all doubt that when Christ and Dauid lifted vp their eyes towards heauen they were caried thither with singular vehemency Vse The vse is that in our prayer we lifting vp our eies to the Lord should not doe it as the hypocrites without the affections of our minds but that both the eyes and the affections of our minds being lifted vp to him together we may be assured that he will heare vs. If we bée in daungers he will deliuer vs if in pouerty he will relieue vs if in sicknes he will cure vs if in sorow he will solace vs. Iohn 17.1 These things spake Iesus and he lifted vp his eies towardes heauen In that Iohn said that Christ lifted vp his eyes towards heauen it was no small signe of zeale and feruentnes For Christ testified in déed by this gesture that he was rather in heauen by the affection of his mind then in earth that he might talke familiarly with God He looked vp towards heauen not that God is shut vp there who doth also fill the earth Ierem. 23. but because his maiestie appeareth there chiefly and secondly because the beholding of heauen doth admonish vs that the power of GOD farre passeth all creatures To the same purpose serued the lifting vp of his hāds when he praied for seing that men are slacke and slow by nature and their earthly nature doth bend them downeward they haue néed to bee stirred vp thus yea they haue néed of chariots to carrie them vp to God But if wee desire to imitate Christ and Dauid truly we must take diligent héed that our ceremonies expresse no more then is in the mind but let the inward affection mooue both handes eies tongue féet and whatsoeuer we haue
part of the first Sermon TWo branches a Consolation an Imprecation Doct. 1 1. Doct. God preserueth from shame al that hope in him The Reason is Because he hath promised so to do Psal 91.14 Because he hath loued me therefore will I deliuer him Secondly he hath alwaies in greatest extremities deliuered his people Psal 22.4 Our father 's trusted in thee they trusted and thou diddest deliuer them verse 5. They called vpon thee and were deliuered they trusted in thee and were not confounded The vse is That as wée beléeue the promises of God in generall so we must beléeue them to appertaine to our selues especially otherwise our hope and faith differeth not from the hope and faith of the Diuels for they beléeue and tremble Doct. 2 2. Doct. God confoundeth often in this life Cain Babilo Philistiās Egiptiās Haman Daniels Sydracs Misachs and Abednagoes enemies alwaies without true conuersion to God in the life to come all those that by persecuting the godly without cause do transgresse his lawes The Reason is That by persecuting them they persecute Christ himselfe Act. 9.4 And Saul fell to the earth and heard a voyce saying vnto him Saul Saul why persecutest thou mee verse 5. And hee said Who art thou Lorde And the Lord said I am Iesus whom thou persecutest it is hard for thee to kicke against prickes Zachar. 2.8 Hee that toucheth them toucheth the apple of his eye Vse The vse is First to walke in the feare of God and as members of the body of Christ séeing he hath so great care of vs. Vse The 2. vse Not to be discouraged although our afflictions by the wicked are long in the end hée will burne the rodde Vse The 3. vse is Let vs pray to God to endue vs with his spirite rather to be persecuted then to persecute the mēbers of Christ séeing their end is so miserable Iob 5.3 I haue seene the foolish wel rooted and sodainly I cursed his habitation saying vers 4. His children shal be farre from saluation and they shal be destroied in the gate and none shal deliuer them vers 5. The hungry shall eate vp his haruest yea they shall take it from among the thornes and the thirsty shall drinke vp their substance * Simil. Like as a tree thoroughly well setled and deepely rooted standeth fast although it be shaken with wind euē so it seemeth that after God hath once planted the wicked their raigne is for euer But forasmuch as oftentimes the kickers against GOD do prosper and are well at their ease here is mention made of their estate notwithstanding that men estéeme them happy to the worldward Eliphas saith that when hée saw a foolish man in prosperity he iudged not as men commonly doe which is This man is happy he is blessed of GOD but knew by and by that the end of him shal be euill and that hée shall be punished euen in his ofspring God doth oftentimes vtter such kind of sayings to turne vs frō the false opinion which we may conceyue when we see them not punished out of hand that runne into such excesse of wickednes but rather to our séeming are fauoured of God I know what the common opinion is for we estéeme of things as they may be séene by the eye our mind wadeth no further If God lift vp his hand and execute any Iustice that may be séene scarcely will men vouchsafe to regard it But if he winke at thinges and tarry patiently for the sinners wée thinke him to be asléepe and that he gouerneth not the world but letteth all thinges goe at randome without any minde to remedy them Sée how blockish we be But God sheweth vs that the wicked persecutors cease not to bée cursed euen in the middest of their prosperity that we néed not to spite them for their happy successe as they terme it For they must be doubly punished so that it were farre better for them that they were miserable because they shall pay ouer-déere for their pleasures And behold also why I said that it behoueth vs to marke well these sentēces both of my text which is They shal be confoūded that without cause persecute the Saincts of God as also I haue seene the foolish well rooted and immediatly or sodainly I cursed his habitation Because both containe a profitable lesson and because the Prophet Dauid in this his prayer to God saith Let them be confounded that transgresse without a cause In which wordes he cursed his persecutors not so much for that they were his enemies but in persecuting him they foolishly kicked against the prickes that is against Christ himselfe And Eliphaz calleth thē Fooles that are wicked though they haue taken roote and presently He hath cursed his habitation which both are to be vnderstood in one sence I purpose God willing the longer to persist in this necessarie point both to consider in what sence the wicked persecutours although flourishing in this world for a time may be said to be fooles as also how cursing of them may not disagrée to the commaundement of our Sauiour Christ Blesse Math. 5. I say and curse not For the first That we may the better profite our selues by the doctrine herein contayned First it behooueth vs to note that this word Foole is here Iere. 5. Mat. 23. Gal. 3.1 and in diuers other places of the sacred Scriptures put for those that in their prosperity and persecuting regard not GOD. For although the world accompteth them wise mē which can skill well to deale for their owne profite and can shift their matters cunningly as they say the holy Scriptures tell vs there is none other wisdome then the feare of the Lord. Then if wée lift vp our soules and cast vp our eyes fast fixed on GOD in the heauens so as wée direct our lyfe according to his will and put our whole trust in him as Dauid in this and diuers other Psalmes diuersly protested hée did to haue by Prayer recourse to him for succour behold the same is our true wisedome And here wée sée why Saint Paul saith that such as are learned in the Gospell are perfectly wise Col. 1.28 Whome that is Christ Iesus wee preach admonishing euery man and teaching euery man in all wisedome that wee may present euery man perfect in Christ Iesus Therefore the glorious Gospell of Iesus Christ our Sauiour is called wisedome for that there we find how to order our whole lyfe without missing or erring Although then that men bée full of subtilty and fine conueyance and suppose themselues to be very wise yet must wée holde vs to that which the Scriptures teach vs how it is in euery whit of it but folly and vanity for for their folly in persecuting the Saincts without cause they shal be confounded séeing that the feare of GOD is not in them I haue saith Eliphaz seene the Foole taking roote and immediatly I haue cursed his house Whereas hée speaketh of taking