believe also in me and I verily believe it and am strongly perswaded that in doing this thing which you say you are fearful to do lest you should be the more inexcusable for your sins you shall be so far from being accused and condemned for it that it shall rather be a means to excuse you and a help to hide and cover your sins at the day of Judgment and all the harm I wish unto you or my self or to any of the dearest and nearest Friends that I have in his World is that we had no greater Crime or Offence then this to answer for at the great and terrible Day of our general and common appearance For then should we be acquitted and dismissed with that sentence of absolution I mean with that joyful and comfortable and soul-reviving sentence of Venite Benedicti Come ye blessed And for your further satisfaction herein and better confirmation of that which I have affirmed and averred Let me give you a hint and instance of it in that one and remarkable example of Mary Magdalen who though she were a notorious Malefactor and a great and grievous Sinner Luke 7. as the History Evangelical effigiates and sets her forth unto us yet hearing that Jesus sate down to meat in a Pharisee's house she presnmed and made bold to go into the house and bringing an Alablaster-Box of Oyntment she stood at his feet behind him weeping and began to wash his feet with tears and did wipe them with the hairs of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the Ointment Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it he spake within himself being discontented saying This man if he were a Prophet would have known who and what manner of Woman this is that toucheth him for she is a Sinner And Jesus answering said unto him Simon I have somewhat to say unto thee and he saith Master say on There was a certain Creditor who had two Debtors the one owed five hundred pence and the other fifty and when they had nothing to pay He freely forgave them hoth tell me therefore which of them will love him most Simon answered and â—aid I suppose that he to whom he forgave most and he said unto him Thou hast rightly judged And he turned unto the Woman and said unto Simon Seest thou this Woman I entred into thy House Thou gavest me no water for my Feet but she hath washed my Feet with tears and wiped them with the hairs of her head Thou gavest me no kisse but this Woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kisse my Feet My Feet with Oyl thou didst not anoint but this Woman hath anointed my Feet with Oyntment Wherefore I say unto thee Her sins which are many are forgiven for she loved much but to whom little is forgiven the same loveth little Where the Argument is not as learned Fulk observeth and as the whole discourse of the Text makes it manifest from the Cause to the Effect but from the Effect to the Cause Many sins are forgiven her therefore she hath loved much for our Saviour had cast seven Devils out of her therefore she had good cause to love him much for to whom little is remitted he loveth little wherefore our Saviour preferrs and extolleth her kindnesse both above and before the entertainment of the Pharisees House So that if we in like manner do shew our love to Christ freely and chearfully in celebrating the memoriall of his Birth as she did in token of his Burial we shall not onely be excused but accepted as she was for as St. Mark relates the same story more briefly Mark 14. 4. When there were some that murmured at it and had indignation within themselves saying Why was this waste of the Oyntment made for it might have been sold for more then three hundred pence and have bin given to the poor But Jesus said by way of Apology for her Let her alone Why trouble you her She hath wrought a good work on me for you have the poor with you alwayes and whensoever ye will you may do them good but me you have not alwayes She hath done what she could she is come aforehand to anoint my Body to the Burying Verily I say unto you Wheresoever the Gospel shall be preached thorow out the whole World this also that she hath done shall be spoken for a memoriall of her i. e. for a memoriall of her love of that good work that she hath bestowed upon me Wherefore as St. Austin answers some who made a question How it was possible a Virgin should bring forth a Child Fides adsit nulla quaestio remanebit So I say to you Si amor adsit timor iste removebit if you love Christ in sincerity as you ought to do then this fear will soon remove and expell such timorous Niceties and frivolous Scrupulosities out of your mind for what saith the Apostle St. John There is no fear in love but perfect love casteth out fear because fear hath torment or fear hath painfulnesse 1 John 4.18 And let this suffice for the answering of the seventh Argument Answer to the eighth Argument The words of the eighth Argument are these It seems to me a vain and needless thing c. To this Argument I answer first in the words of the Roman Oratour Quaedam videntur non sunt some things seem to be that which they are not for according to the Opinion of the Philosopher Quandoque sensus fallitur circa proprium Objectum sometimes the sense is deceived about its proper Object as when a Man seeth a Bush a far off he takes it to be a Man which when he cometh neer it he finds it to be no such matter even as the Man in the Gospel having received a little glimpse and glimmering of his sight thought he saw men walk like Trees i.e. he took them to be as bigg as Trees because the Organ of his Eye being not sufficiently cleansed he could not otherwise discern them Mark 8.24 But it seems to you to be a vain and needless thing What Is it a vain and needless thing to serve God It seems there were some who both thought and spake so in Malachi's time Mal. 3.13 14. but their gross error and their madness was reproved by the Prophet even as St. Peter tells us that Balaam was rebuked for his Iniquity the dumb Asse speaking with Man's veice forbade the madness of that false Propher because he loved the wages of Unrighteousness went beyond his permission being blinded with the hope of Bribes and Rewards of Divination 2 Pet. 2.16 and Is it think you a vain thing unprofitable to serve the Lord as Eliphaz the Temanite saith Job 4.7 Who ever perished being innocent So who ever waited on the Lord and went away unrewarded He that serveth himself serveth a Fool He that serveth the Devil serveth his Enemy He that serveth the World
serveth his Servant The onely true freedom is to serve the Lord For Godliness with Contentment is great Gain saith the Apostle 1 Tim. 6.6 yea it is profitable unto all things saith he having promise of the life which now is of that which is to come 1 Tim. 4.8 How then can you justify or affirm it to be a vain needless thing to spend this time in the publick Worship and Service of God namely in the duties of Piety and exercises of Religion in hearing of the Word in offering up Prayers Praises to God celebrating it lauding his holy and glorious Name with Psalms and Hymns and spiritual Songs singing and making melody in our hearts to the Lord Eph. 5.19 20. giving thanks alwaies for all things unto God and the Father in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ And especially and above all things giving thanks for this one thing I mean that inestimable benefit and unspeakable gift which God bestowed upon the World at this time And me thinks to this end and purpose we may very well encourage and stirr up our selves with the words of David and say as he doth Psal 69.31 32. I will praise the name of God with a Song and magnify it with thanksgiving this also shall please the Lord better than a Bullock which hath horns and hoofs yea this shall be as precious and odoriferous in his Nostrils and no less pleasing and acceptable in his sight than that right costly Spikenard which was spent to anoint our Saviour's feet withall although it be said of that That the whole House wherein our Saviour was at that time was filled and perfumed with the odour of the Oyntment Joh. 12.3 But the Reasons you alledge to prove it to be a vain and needless thing to observe this day are in the next place to be examined and considered the first whereof is this as you affirm it because God hath set apart a Sabbath the Lord's-day for this purpose to meditate upon God's Love in redeeming the World and this seems to be an indifferent good one yet you know or at the least cannot but know that the Sabbath or the Seventh day was at the first ordained sanctified and set apart onely in remembrance of the World's Creation as it appears in that passage or Conclusion of the fourth Commandment Exod. 20. For in six daies the Lord made Heaven and Earth the Sea and all that in them is Wherefore the Lord blessed the Seventh day and hallowed it For this Commandment is hedged in on every side lest we should break out from observing it with a Caveat and speciall Memorandum before it Remember c. and with two Reasons after one drawn from the Equity of the Law and the other taken from the Law-giver's or the Law-maker's own Example Six daies shalt thou labour As if God should speak thus If I permit thee six whole daies to follow thine own business thou mayest well afford me one onely for my own Service but six daies shalt thou labour and do all thine own work therefore hallow the Seventh in doing my work Six daies shalt thou labour whereupon both Reverend Calvin and that learned Gentleman B. Babington who was once Bishop of this Diocesse a man of no mean Note but of good Report both for Life and Learning do observe That these Words Six daies shalt thou labour c. are a permission or a remission of God's right who might challenge all rather than an absolute Commandment For as Judicious Perkins hath also delivered it in his Golden Chaine for a sound Orthodoxal and undeniable Thesis Catenâ aureâ cap. 13 The Church upon just occasion may separate some week daies also to the Service of the Lord and rest from Labour Joel 2.15 Blow the Trumpet in Zion sanctify a Fast call a solemn Assembly And as daies of publick Fasting for some great Judgment so daies of publick Rejoycing for some great Benefit are not unlawfull but exceeding commendable yea necessary And you cannot in Modesty and I hope you will not for Shame deny this to be the Truth for besides the ordinary Sabbath among the Jews they had their Sabbaths and their new Moons and appointed Feasts yea Almighty God himself ordained in the old Testament divers and sundry Feasts to put his People in mind of his great Benefits bestowed upon them Amongst the rest there were three solemn Festivals every year namely the Passover the Pentecost and the Feast of Tabernacles as we read in the 16th of Deuteronomy The Passover was instituted in remembrance of the deliverance from Egypt's bondage Pentecost in remembrance of the Law given in Mount Sinui The Feast of Tabernacles in remembrance of Israel's dwelling in Tents forty years in the Wilderness Now as Hemingius observes in his Postil dom 1. post Epiph. instead of those three Jewish Feasts our Christian Church which may challenge as much Liberty as the Jewish if not more hath substituted Christmas in honour of Christ's Incarnation Easter in honour of Christ's Resurrection and Whitsuntide in honour of Christ's confirmation of the Gospel by sending unto us the Holy Ghost at that time So that we say according as St. Austin saith in his 108 Epist. cap. 1 Celebrantes Anniversariâ solemnitate Pascha reliquasque Christianas diêrum Festivitutes non observamus tempora sed quae illis significantur temporibiu i.e. In celebrating Easter and other Christian Feasts we do not so much observe the times as the things that are represented and signified unto us at those times If then it be granted as it cannot be denied according to your words that God hath set apart a Sabbath which is our Christian Sabbath and is called the Lord's Day because the Lord rose from death to life on that Day and that on this day in that respect we are to meditate on God's Love in redeeming the World if we must do this once every week in an ordinary course how much more may the Church and Spouse of Christ appoint and set apart one day in the year after an extraordinary manner to meditate and muse and think on his Love in redeeming her from the hands of all her Enemies for so indeed the holy Priest Zacharias tells us in his Song called Benedictus That this was the main End of our Redemption Luk. 1.74 that we being delivered out of the hands of our Enemies might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness all the daies of our Life Whereupon I infer That if we must serve him all the daies of our life as he may justly challenge and require it at our hands in regard he hath redeemed us How much more ought we to meditate on his Love not onely once a week but also once in every year praise his most Holy Name after a more speciall and singular manner For at this time especially and particularly it may be said of Him as the Psalmist doth Psal 111.9 He sent Redemption unto his People He
observe the Birth-day of Christ To this I say you deserve a sharp rejection and a serious and severe reprehension For it is a meer falshood and a grosse and manifest untruth and I wonder that a man of your account Countenance and gravity should suffer such an unjustifiable thing to fall either from your tongue or pen for I say contrarium hujus argumenti est verum credat Judaus Apella non ego believe it who will for I cannot otherwise be perswaded but you speak herein that which is contrary to truth for besides that it is well known among the Learned especially by those who are conversant in the large Volumes and accurate writings of the Ancient Fathers It hath been the annuall and constant Practice of the Primitive Church to observe it especially in the time August 118. Epist cap. 7. and since the time of Constantine the Great who gave peace to the Church and commanded this Festivall time among divers others to be observed Witnesse August con Aimant c. 16.118 Epist and in divers of his Sermons de Tempore especially in his second and fourth Sermon de Tempore Witnesse Fulgentius de dup Nat. Christi witnesse Ambrose de Incarnat Domini witnesse Bernard in his first Sermon in Nat. Domini for that ingenuous and Religions man that witty and Godly Father of the Primitive Church preaching on this day in that his first Sermon and towards the latter end of it uttered these words and said Brevitas temporis cogit me contrahere coarctare Sermonem meum the shortness of the time constraineth me to shorten my Sermon at this time ne cui vestrûm sit mirum si brevis esse laboro Let none quoth he wonder if my words be short seeing on this day God the Father hath abbreviated his own Word For whereas it was so long and so large that it filled Heaven and Earth Jer. 23.24 it was on this day so short that it was laid in a Manger I wish here unfainedly with the same devour Bernard in his Sermon in Natalem Domini that as the Word was made flesh so our stony Hearts may be made flesh also that we might alwayes meditate on his Sacred Message and his Heavenly Gospell Unto you this day is born in the City of David a Saviour which is Christ the Lord For all our sound comfort stands in happinesse and all our happinesse is in the Fellowship and Communion with God and all our Fellowship and Communion with God is by Jesus Christ for so that good Divine St. John tells us in his 1 Epist cap. 2.3 Wherefore also St. Austin useth a most excellent acclamation to this purpose in his ninth Sermon de Tempore which as it is probable he also preached on this day ô beatum vagitum Infantuli beati oh the blessed crying of a blessed babe by which every faithfull servant and Son of God escapeth eternal howlings in Hell ô splendidum Gloriosum praesepe Oh famous and glorious Manger in which our Souls Manna lay 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the bread of life that came down from Heaven on which if a man once c. ô quà m dites sunt panni tui Oh how Rich and Honourable are the rags which have made plaisters for our sores even for our sins I will shut up this passage with a Hymn of Prudentius Mortale corpus sumpsit immortalitas Vt dum caducum poytat aeternus deus Transire nostrum possit ad coelestia And what say you now to these things before said Can they not yet perswade you to yield that it was the practise of Christian Churches in Antient times to observe it Yet put the case or suppose it was not you cannot yea I hope you will not deny but it hath been the practise of these our Churches of Great Brittain I mean the Churches of England Scotland and Ireland for divers Centuries or hundreds of years to observe it for they are both Christian and reformed Churches and therefore unlesse you mean by Christian Churches the old Brownists of Amsterdam or the new Anabaptists and Antipaedobaptists of England and other the like proud and phantasticall and Pharisaicall Sectaries and Separatists that are amongst us in these Giddy and unsetled times of ours who think there is no true Christian Church but what is of their choosing planting and erecting who like the Jews of old cry Templum Domini or like the Papists who will have no Church to be a true Church but their Church at Rome who stand upon their Pontificatibus and are all for the justification of their own Opinion saying as those Justiciaries of old did Esay 65.5 Stand by thy self or stand far off me come not near me for I am Holier then thou c. And here I could tell you a thing which perhaps also you are not ignorant of that the late upstart Seraphicall illuminated Independents as it is commonly thought are likely to jostle and thrust the proud rigid Fantasticall and Pharisaicall Presbyterians out of their places even as they have cunningly supplanted and undermined the Reverend Bishops and their conformable Clergy out of theirs neque enim lex justior ulla est Quam necis artifices c. Indeed I never heard nor read of any Christian Churches but have observed this day and therefore howsoever such factious and Schismaticall Wild-brain'd Zelots of our time refuse to do it and both write and speak against it yet we know that all the Antient Fathers of the Primitive Church did celebrate it with great Solemnities as Mr Fisher in his Vindication of our Gospell Festivalls hath wittily observed in his fifth Section even Cyprian Basil Nazianzene Ambrose Epiphanius Jerome Chrysostome Fulgentius alledging and producing their very words which they preached on this day and proving it withall punctually plainly and directly that it was the 25th day of December that Christ was born on And further to confute your palpable Errour he tells us there That the Churches of Helvetia Bohemia Leye Sunday a Sab. pag. 173. Dr. Rayn Confer with Hart. c. 8. S. 2. Bremen Auspurg the Churches of Savoy Poland Hungary Scotland France and the Low-Countries do allow the Feasts that belong to Christ his Nativity Circumcision Passion c. The Churches of Denmark Sweden and all other Lutheran-Churches do solemnly observe the Feast of the Nativity of Christ and on that day use proper Hymns of Thanksgiving made by Martin Luther himself Perth Assembly refuted pag. 85. the Church of Geneva doth celebrate the day of his Nativity wherefore as he saith here for a Conclusion seeing we are compassed about with so great a Cloud of Witnesses we must according to the truth affirm That the Celebration of this Feast is confirmed by the judgment of the Christian Church in all ages So we conclude against you that your eleventh Assertion is a meer falshood and manifest untruth and no more to be credited or believed then that vain fancy and fond surmise
the last verse If they hear not Moses and the Prophets neither will they be perswaded though one rose from the dead Yet willingly would I add here one strange thing more or two which are no more strange then true as a Corollary and Appendix to the former which though they were not Synchronisms or things Contemporaneous with the Birth of Christ yet the People of our Nation and our own Countrymen can witnesse them to be true as I relate them The first is the Thorne at Glastenbury in Sommersetshire which was commonly called Joseph's Thorne which for many hundred years together even as it is to be thought since the first arriving of Joseph of Arimathea there which was within five years after the Death and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus as that antient Historian of our Nation the Golden-mouthed Gildas reporteth this Thorne constantly budded and shewed forth its green leaves fair fresh and flourishing on this Day every year to the great admiration of all Spectators that came of purpose to behold it and this was no other then a Miracle and may serve for our confirmation in the faith of Him who for our sakes was contented to wear Coronam Spineam a Crown of Thornes Or it may well be supposed that ir flourished on this Day to testifie the truth of his Nativity and to signifie the flourishing Estate of the Gospel by Him which shall prosper and flourish manger the head and hatred of all Gain-sayers And although this Thorne be now as they say cut down by some spightful and malignant Zoilus yet those sufficient men of our parts who with their eyes have seen it and beheld it will still talk of it and tell it to their Children not for an old Wives Fable but for truth and one Gentleman among the rest of good rank and quality in these Parts who is a man well affected and devoted to the power and purity of Religion for that Thorn's sake having seen it doth strictly and carefully and conscionably keep this Day and is resolved to observe and keep it so long as he liveth The other rare and strange thing are the three pitts of Durham commonly called Hell kettles which are adjoyning near unto Darlington whose Waters are somewhat warm these are thought to come of an Earth-quake which happened in the year of Grace 1179. whereof the Chronicle of Tinmouth maketh mention whose record is this That on Christmasday at Oxen-Hall in the Territories of Darlington within the County of Durham the ground heaved aloft like unto a high Tower and so continued all that day as it were unmoveable untill the evening and then fell with so horrible a noise that it made the Neighbourhood-dwellers much afraid and the Earth swallowed it up and made in the same place three deep pits which are there to be seen for a Testimony unto this Day Here then we may apply that of the Psalmist and say Tremble thou Earth at the presence of the Lord at the presence of the God of Jacob which turned the hard Rock into a standing Water and the flint stone into a springing Well Psal 114.7 8. But whilst I am relling you a story of a Thorne-Tree and of deep pits of Water you bring me into another difficult and thorny question and plunge me as it were in a deep pit of non plus or nil ultra and into such a quick and and quagmire of troublesome meditation that I shall hardly get out of it the Quaery is this ninth following Answer to the ninth Argument The ninth Argument is this It is an impossibility to keep it and God never made an impossibility a Duty and that no man in the World knoweth certainly what day Christ was born on To this I answer although I first ingenuously confesse according to that Adage Davus sum ego non Oedipus for it is true which Chrysostome saith Praestat probâ ignoratione detineri quà m falsa opinione mancipari It is easier to plow in the plain then in the ground new-stocked better to write on a paper free from writing than on that which is full of lines and more easie to reach the simple then him that is opinionated of his own knowledge Better it is for a man and more commendable to confess a little ignorance then to boast of too much knowledge wherefore as Beza on that place in 1 Cor. 11.10 For this Cause ought the Woman to have power on her head because of the Angels gives no other note but this Quid hoc sit nondum mihi liquet wherein he confesseth he did not understand as yet what the Apostle meant by these words So if we should here yield and acknowledge that we do not certainly know what day Christ was born on Vaux yet As a late Starrgazing Speculator takes upon him in his Almanack to define the year of Christ his coming to Judgment but dare not precisely set down the day and hour of his coming So perhaps we shall here endeavour pro Nosse Posse to calculate and discover unto you the year when our Saviour Christ was born if not the day And for this I shall referr you to the Rhemists Marginal note on the second of Luke which reports unto us that in the year from the Creation of the World 3199 from Noah's flood 2957 from the Nativity of Abraham 2015 from Moses and the coming forth of the People of Israel out of Egypt 1510 from David anointed King 1032 from the first Olympias 800 from the building of Rome 752 Hebdomada 63 according to the prophecy of Daniel c. 9. that is in the year 440 or thereabout in the sixth age of the World when there was universal Peace in all the World the eternal God and son of the eternal Father meaning to Consecrate and Sanctifie the World with his most blessed coming being conceived of the Holy Ghost nine Months after his Conception Jesus Christ the Son of God is born in Bethlehem of Juda in the year of Caesar Augustus 42 Usuard in the Martyrol * And then why should not the 25 of Decem. be as solemnly observed and kept as the 5 of Nov. December 25 according to the common ancient supputation But it may be you will object against this because it comes from the Rhemists you will mislike it and disdain it yet nevertheless I say because it is not thwarted nor contradicted by Calvin nor Beza nor Fulke nor any other of our late Protestant Writers I see no just Cause or Reason why we should reject it but rather receive it Fide historicâ and believe it for truth as it is faithfully and exactly related by them for a sufficient Author and ancient Chronologer or Reporter of that which was nothing else but a true story and cannot be denyed or disproved yet put the Case here that we neither do nor cannot certainly know the Day whereon Christ was born therefore shall it be thought a thing impossible to keep it Then by the same
Rule and Reason you may as well say It is impossible to keep the Sabbath day H. Wolphii Chronol lib. 2 p. 1. p. 92. For the Commandement doth not say remember to keep holy the seventh day next following the sixth day of the Creation or this or that seventh day but indefinitely remember that thou keep holy a seventh day And to speak properly as we take a day for the distinction of time called either a day natural consisting of twenty four hours or a day artificial consisting of twelve hours from Sun-rising to Sun-setting and withall consider the Sun standing still at noon in Joshua's time the space of a whole day Josh 10.12 13. and the same going back ten degrees viz. five hours 2 Kâ—ng 26.11 almost half an arificial Day in Ezekias time the Jews themselves could not keep this Sabbath upon that precise and just distinction of time called at the first The seventh day from the Creation therefore in such difficult and doubtful Cases the best way is to be ordered and guided and resolved by the Judgment and Discipline and Direction of the Church wherein we live for she is our Mother saith Calvin Lib. Instit 4. C. 1. Sect. 4. forasmuch as there is no other entry into life unless she conceive us in her Womb unless she bring us forth unless she feed us with her Breasts and keep us under her Custody and Governance untill such time as being unclothed of mortal flesh we shall be like unto Angels Again in his Lib. 4. Cap. 10. Sect. 30. He saith of the Church and Church-Ordinances that in outward discipline and Ceremonies the will of God was not to prescribe each thing particularly what we ought to follow because he foresaw this to hang upon the State of times and did not think one form to be fit for all Ages herein we must fly to those general Rules which he hath given that thereby all those things should be tryed which the necessity of the Church shall require to be commanded for order and comeliness And forasmuch as he hath therefore taught nothing expresly because these things both are not necessary to Salvarion and according to the manners of every Nation and Age ought diversly to be applyed to the edifying of the Church therefore as the profit of the Church shall require though it might be thought convenient as well to change and abrogate those that be used as to institute new yet I grant it indeed and must needs confesse it That we ought not rashly nor oft nor for leight and trivial Causes to run to Innovation but what may hurt or edifie Charity shall best be judge which if we will suffer to be the Governess all shall be safe And in the next Section at the latter end thereof It is alwayes meet saith he for the publike worship and service of God that there be both certain dayes and appointed hours and a place fit to receive all if there be regard had of the preservation of peace For how great an occasion of scandal brawling and contention should the confusion of these things be if it were lawfull for every man as he listeth to change those things which belong to common State forasmuch as it will never come to pass that one and the same thing shall please all Men it being an old and true saying difficillimum est omnibus placere if things be left as it were at randome and in the middest to the choice of every Man to do what he pleaseth to have a Psalm and a Doctrine and a Revelation and an Interpretation by himself as the Apostle speaketh with a kind of Indignation and Increpation of them that used it 1 Cor. 14.26 If any man therefore do Carp and Cavil against us and herein will be more wise then he ought let him see himself by what reason he can defend his own preciseness to the Lord. As for us That saying of Paul ought to satisfie us If any man seem to be Schismatical and contentious we have no such use we have no such Custome nor the Churches of God 1 Cor. 11.16 Where we may perceive that that good Man and faithful Pastor of Geneva though he liked not the Masse yet he preached Christ sincerely and maintained and defended his Church and laboured by all means to preserve Tunicam ejus inconsutilem his seamlesse Coat to be without brack or breach Sector Schism Rent or Division at all but still to continue pure and undefiled without spot or wrinkle or any such thing I will then conclude and shut up this passage with the witty Sentences of St. Austin Contrarationem nemo sobrius contra Scripturas nemo Christianus contra ecclesiam nemo pacificus senserii And if we will be the Children of the Church as we professe our selves to be then let us hearken what the wise man saith Ecclus. 3.1 The Children of wisdome are the Church of the Righteous and their exercise is Obedience and Love Answer to the tenth Argument The words are these I observe God hides things on purpose from us to see whether we will do any things on our own heads I answer This Argument is derived de profundis and drawn or fetched ab absconditis secretis 'T is true and we cannot much deny it For He hideth or concealeth from us his Decree of Election and final Dereliction or Reprobation Rom. 9.13 because he will have Mercy on whom he will and whom he will he hardneth And this he doth because he would not have us like curious Bethshemites to pry into the Ark of his Secrets but rather to work out our own Salvation with fear and trembling Phil. 2.12 as the Apostle St. Paul speaks and as the other Apostle teacheth and exhorteth us 2 Pet. 1.10 to give all diligence to make our Calling and Election sure And now is this to be understood why surely thus if I be not deceived sure to God I need not I cannot 2 Tim. 2.19 the Foundation of God stands sure enough of it self and the Gifts and Calling of God are without Repentance Rom. 11.29 i. e. Sine mutatione stabiliter fixa sunt saith St. Austin they are irrevocable immutable and unchangeable but Sure to my own Soul I may I must by all means labour and endeavour to make and effect it or else this Precept is in vain of giving all diligence to make our Calling and Election sure Secondly He hideth the hour of every particular man's death and the day of the generall Judgment from us and reserveth them in the private Cabinet of his own Foreknowledgeship Act. 1.17 For it is not for us to know the times and the Seasons which the Father hath reserved in his own Power And this he doth for this very end as an ancient Father of the Primitive Church hath told us truly and especially Ideò latet ultimus dies ut observetur omnis dies It is to make us careful and watchful every day