Three things must go together in our justification which walk not after the flesh but after the spirit In these foresaid places the Apostle toucheth specially three things which must go together in our justification Upon God's part his great Mercy and Grace upon Christ's part Justice that is the satisfaction of God's Justice or the price of our Redemption by the offering of his Body and shedding of his Blood with fulfilling of the Law perfectly and throughly and upon our part true and lively Faith in the Merits of Jesus Christ which yet is not ours but by God's working in us So that in our Justification there is not only God's Mercy and Grace but also his Justice which the Apostle calleth the Justice of God and it consisteth in paying our Ransom and fulfilling of the Law And so the Grace of God doth not shut out the Justice of God in our Justification but only shutteth out the Justice of Man that is to say the Justice of our Works as to be Merits of deserving our Justification And therefore St. Paul declareth here nothing upon the behalf of Man concerning his Justification but only a true and lively Faith which nevertheless is the Gift of God and not Man's only Work without God And yet that Faith doth not shut out Repentance Hope Love Dread and the Fear of God to be joyned with Faith in every Man that is justified but it shutteth them out from the office of Justifying How it is to be understood that Faith justifieth without Works So that although they be all present together in him that is Justified yet they justifie not altogether Neither doth Faith shut out the Justice of our good Works necessarily to be done afterwards of Duty towards God for we are most bounden to serve God in doing good Deeds commanded by him in his Holy Scripture all the days of our Life But it excludeth them so that we may not do them to this intent to be made Just by doing of them For all the good Works that we can do be imperfect and therefore not able to deserve our Justification but our Justification doth come freely by the mere Mercy of God and of so great and free Mercy that whereas all the World was not able of themselves to pay any part towards their Ransom it pleased our Heavenly Father of his infinite Mercy without any our desert or deserving to prepare for us the most precious Jewels of Christ's Body and Blood whereby our Ransom might be fully paid the Law fulfilled and his Justice fully satisfied So that Christ is now the Righteousness of all them that truly do believe in him He for them paid their Ransom by his Death He for them fulfilled the Law in his Life So that now in him and by him every true Christian Man may be called A fulfiller of the Law Forasmuch as that which their Infirmity lacked Christ's Justice hath supplied The Second Part of the Sermon of Salvation YE have heard of whom all Men ought to seek their Justification and Righteousness and how also this Righteousness cometh unto Men by Christ's Death and Merits Ye heard also how that three things are required to the obtaining of our Righteousness that is God's Mercy Christ's Justice and a true and lively Faith out of the which Faith spring good Works Also before was declared at large That no Man can be justified by his own good Works that no Man fulfilleth the Law according to the strict rigor of the Law And St. Paul in his Epistle to the Galatians proveth the same saying thus Gal. 2. If there had been any Law given which could have justified verily Righteousness should have been by the Law And again he saith If righteousness be by the Law then Christ died in vain And again he saith Ephes 2. You that are justified by the Law are fallen away from Grace And furthermore he writeth to the Ephesians on this wise By Grace are ye saved through Faith and that not of yourselves for it is the gift of God and not of Works lest any Man should Glory And to be short the sum of all Paul's Disputation is this That if Justice come of Works then it cometh not of Grace and if it come of Grace then it cometh not of Works And to this end tend all the Prophets as St. Peter saith in the 10th of the Acts. Of Christ all the Prophets saith St. Peter Acts 10. do witness that through his Name all they that believe in him shall receive the remission of sins Faith only justifieth is the Doctrine of old Doctors And after this wise to be justified only by this true and lively Faith in Christ speak all the old and antient Authors both Greeks and Latins Of whom I will specially rehearse three Hilary Basil and Ambrose St. Hilary saith these Words plainly in the ninth Canon upon Matthew Faith only justifieth And St. Basil a Greek Author writeth thus This is a perfect and whole reioycing in God when a Man advanceth not himself for his own Righteousness but acknowledgeth himself to lack true Justice and Righteousness and to be justified by the only Faith in Christ And Paul saith he Philip. 3. doth glory in the contempt of his own Righteousness and that he looketh for the Righteousness of God by Faith These be the very words of St. Basil and St. Ambrose a Latin Author saith these words This is the Ordinance of God that they which believe in Christ should be saved without Works by Faith only freely receiving remission of their sins Consider diligently these words Without works by Faith only freely we receive remission of our sins What can be spoken more plainly than to say That freely without Works by Faith only we obtain remission of our sins These and other like Sentences that we be justified by Faith only freely and without Works we do read oft-times in the best and most antient Writers As beside Hilary Basil and St. Ambrose before rehearsed we read the same in Origen St. Chrysostom St. Cyprian St. Augustin Prosper Oecumenius Proclus Bernardus Anselm and many other Authors Greek and Latin Nevertheless this Sentence that we be justified by Faith only is not so meant of them that the said justifying Faith is alone in Man without true Repentance Hope Charity Dread and the Fear of God at any time and season Faith alone how it is to be understood Nor when they say that we should be justified freely do they mean that we should or might afterward be idle and that nothing should be required on our parts afterward Neither do they mean so to be justified without good Works that we should do no good Works at all like as shall be more expressed at large hereafter But this saying That we be justified by Faith only freely and without Works is spoken for to take away clearly all Merit of our Works as being unable to deserve our Justification at God's hands
Christian Man is that it causeth not a Man to be idle but to be occupied in bringing forth good Works No good Works can be done without Faith John 15. as occasion serveth Now by God's Grace shall be declared the Second thing that before was noted of Faith that without it can no good Work be done accepted and pleasant unto God For as a branch cannot bear fruit of itself saith our Saviour Christ except it abide in the Vine so cannot you except you abide in me I am the Vine and you are the branches he that abideth in me and I in him he bringeth forth much fruit for without me you can do nothing And St. Paul proveth that the Eunuch had Faith because he pleased God Heb. 11. For without Faith saith he it is not possible to please God And again to the Romans he saith Rom. 14. Whatsoever work is done without faith it is sin Faith giveth life to the Soul and they be as much dead to God that lack Faith as they be to the World whose Bodies lack Souls Without Faith all that is done of us is but dead before God although the work seem never so gay and glorious before Man Even as the Picture graven or painted is but a dead representation of the thing itself and is without life or any manner of moving So be the Works of all unfaithful Persons before God They do appear to be lively Works and indeed they be but dead not availing to the everlasting life They be but shadows and shews of lively and good things and not good and lively things indeed For true Faith doth give life to the Works and out of such Faith come good Works that be very good Works indeed and without Faith no Work is good before God as saith St. Augustine In Praefat. Psal 13. We must set no good Works before Faith nor think that before Faith a Man may do any good VVorks for such VVorks although they seem unto Men to be praise-worthy yet indeed they be but vain and not allowed before God They be as the Course of an Horse that runneth out of the way which taketh great labour but to no purpose Let no Man therefore saith he reckon upon his good Works before his Faith VVhereas Faith was not good VVorks were not The intent saith he maketh good VVorks but Faith must guide and order the intent of Man And Christ saith Matth. 6. In Praefat. Psal 31. If thine eye be naught thy whole body is full of darkness The Eye doth signifie the intent saith St. Augustine wherewith a Man doth a thing So that he which doth not his good VVorks with a godly intent and a true Faith that worketh by Love the whole Body beside that is to say all the whole number of his Works is dark and there is no light in them For good Deeds be not measured by the Facts themselves and so discerned from Vices but by the ends and intents for the which they were done If a Heathen Man cloath the Naked feed the Hungry and do such other like Works yet because he doth them not in Faith for the Honour and Love of God they be but dead vain and fruitless Works to him Faith it is that doth commend the Work to God For as St. Augustine saith whether thou wilt or no that Work that cometh not of Faith is naught Where the Faith of Christ is not the foundation there is no good Work what Building soever we make There is one Work in the which be all good Works that is Faith which worketh by Charity If thou have it thou hast the ground of all good Works For the virtues of Strength Wisdom Temperance and Justice be all referred unto this same Faith Without this Faith we have not them but only the names and shadows of them as St. Augustine saith All the life of them that lack the true Faith is Sin and nothing is Good without him that is the Author of Goodness Where he is not there is but feigned Virtue although it be in the best VVorks And St. Augustine De vocatione Gentium lib. cap. 3. declaring this Verse of the Psalm The Turtle hath found a nest where she may keep her young Birds saith that Jews Hereticks and Pagans do good VVorks they cloath the Naked feed the Poor and do other good works of Mercy But because they be not done in the true Faith therefore the Birds be lost But if they remain in Faith then Faith is the nest and safeguard of their Birds that is to say safeguard of their good VVorks that the reward of them be not utterly lost And this matter which St. Augustine at large in many Books disputeth St. Ambrose concludeth in few words saying He that by nature would withstand Vice either by natural VVill or Reason he doth in vain garnish the time of this Life and attaineth not the very true Virtues For without the worshipping of the true God that which seemeth to be Virtue is Vice And yet most plainly to this purpose writeth St. Chrysostome in this wife In Sermone de side lege spiritu Sancto You shall find many which have not the true Faith that be not of the flock of Christ and yet as it appeareth they flourish in good works of Mercy You shall find them full of Pity Compassion and given to Justice and yet for all that they have no fruit of their VVorks because the chief VVork lacketh For when the Jews asked of Christ what they should do to work good VVorks He answer'd John 6. This is the work of God to believe in him whom he sent So that he called Faith the VVork of God And as soon as a Man hath Faith anon he shall flourish in good VVorks For Faith of itself is full of good Works and nothing is good without Faith And for a similitude he saith That they which glister and shine in good Works without Faith in God be like dead Men which have goodly and precious Tombs and yet it availeth them nothing Faith may not be naked without good Works for then it is no true Faith And when it is adjoyned to Works yet it is above the Works For as Men that be very Men indeed first have life and after be nourished So must our Faith in Christ go before and after be nourished with good Works And life may be without nourishment but nourishment cannot be without life A Man must needs be nourished by good Works but first he must have Faith He that doth good Deeds yet without Faith he hath no Life I can shew a Man that by Faith without Works lived and came to Heaven But without Faith never Man had Life The Thief that was hanged when Christ suffer'd did Believe only and the most merciful God justified him And because no Man shall say a-again that he lacked time to do good Works for else he would have done them Truth it is and I will
yet we ought to forgive him for God's Love considering how great and many benefits we have received of him without our deserts and that Christ hath deserved of us that for his sake we should forgive them their trespasses committed against us But here may rise a necessary question to be dissolved A Question If Charity require to think speak and do well unto every Man both good and evil How can Magistrates execute Justice upon Malefactors or Evil-doers with Charity How can they cast evil Men in prison take away their Goods and somtimes their Lives according to Laws if Charity will not suffer them so to do Hereunto is a plain and a brief Answer Answer That Plagues and Punishments be not evil of themselves if they be well taken of the harmless And to an evil Man they are both good and necessary and may be executed according to Charity and with Charity should be executed For Declaration whereof you shall understand that Charity hath two Offices Charity hath two Offices the one contrary to the other and yet both necessary to be used upon Men of contrary sort and disposition The one Office of Charity is to cherish good and harmless Men not to oppress them with false Accusations but to encourage them with Rewards to do well and to continue in well-doing defending them with the Sword from their Adversaries As the Office of Bishops and Pastors is to praise Good Men for well-doing that they may continue therein and to rebuke and correct by the Word of God the Offences and Crimes of all evil-disposed Persons The other Office of Charity is to rebuke correct and punish Vice without regard of Persons and is to be used against them only that be evil Men and Malefactors or evil-doers And that it is aswel the Office of Charity to rebuke punish and correct them that be evil as it is to cherish and reward them that be good and harmless St. Paul declareth writing to the Romans saying Rom. 13. That the high powers are ordained of God not to be dreadful to them that do well but unto Malefactors to draw the Sword to take vengeance of him that committeth the Sin And St. Paul biddeth Timothy stoutly and earnestly to rebuke Sin by the Word of God 1 Tim. 13. So that both Offices should be diligently executed to fight against the Kingdom of the Devil the Preacher with the Word and the Governours with the Sword Else they neither love God nor them whom they Govern if for lack of correction they wilfully suffer God to be offended and them whom they Govern to perish For as every loving Father correcteth his Natural Son when he doth amiss or else he loveth him not So all Governors of Realms Countries Towns and Houses should lovingly correct them which be Offenders under their Governance and cherish them which live innocently if they have any respect either unto God and their Office or love unto them of whom they have Governance And such rebukes and punishments of them that offend must be done in due time lest by delay the offenders fall headlong into all manner of mischief and not only be evil themselves but also do hurt unto many Men drawing others by their evil example to sin and outrage after them As one Thief may both rob many Men and also make many Thieves And one seditious Person may allure many and annoy a whole Town or Country And such evil persons that be so great offenders to God and the Commonweal Charity requireth to be cut from the Body of the Commonweal lest they corrupt other good and honest Persons Like as a good Surgeon cutteth away a rotten and festered Member for love he hath to the whole Body lest it infect other Members adjoyning unto it Thus it is declared unto you what true Charity or Christian Love is so plainly that no Man need to be deceived Which Love whosoever keepeth not only towards God whom he is bound to love above all things but also toward his Neighbor as well Friend as Foe it shall surely keep him from all offence of God and just offence of Man Therefore bear well away this one short lesson That by true Christian Charity God ought to be loved Good and Evil Friend and Foe and to all such we ought as we may to do good Those that be good of Love to encourage and cherish because they be good And those that be evil of Love to procure and seek their correction and due punishment that they may thereby either be brought to Goodness or at the least that God and the Commonwealth may be less hurt and offended And if we thus direct our Life by Christian Love and Charity then Christ doth promise and assure us that he loveth us that we be the Children of our Heavenly Father reconciled to his Favour very Members of Christ and that after this short time of this present and mortal Life we shall have with him everlasting Life in his everlasting Kingdom of Heaven Therefore to Him with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all Honour and Glory now and for ever Amen A SERMON AGAINST Swearing and Perjury ALmighty God to the intent his most Holy Name should be had in Honour and evermore be Magnified of the People commandeth rhat no Man should take his Name vainly in his Mouth threatning punishment unto him that unreverently abuseth it by Swearing Forswearing and Blasphemy To the intent therefore How and in what causes it is lawful to Swear that this Commandment may be the better known and kept it shall be declared unto you both how it is lawful for Christian People to Swear and also what peril and danger it is vainly to Swear or to be Forsworn First when Judges require Oaths of the People for declaration or opening of the Truth or for execution of Justice this manner of Swearing is lawful Also when Men make faithful Promises with calling to witness of the Name of God to keep Covenants honest Promises Statutes Laws and good Customs as Christian Princes do in their conclusion of Peace for conversation of Commonwealths and private Persons promise their Fidelity in Matrimony or one to another in Honesty and true Friendship And all Men when they do Swear to keep common Laws and local Statuts and good Customs for due order to be had and continued among Men when Subjects do Swear to be true and faithful to their King and Sovereign Lord and when Judges Magistrates and Officers Swear truly to execute their Offices and when a Man would affirm the Truth to the setting forth God's Glory for the Salvation of the People in open preaching of the Gospel or in giving of good Counsel privately for their Souls health All these manners of Swearing for Causes necessary and honest be lawful But when Men do Swear of custom in reasoning buying and selling or other daily communications as many be common and great Swearers such kind of Swearing is ungodly
the Body full of sluggishness makes it unable and unfit to serve either God or Man not nourishing the Body but hurting it and last of all bringing many kinds of incurable Diseases whereof ensueth sometimes desperate Death But what should I need to say any more in this behalf For except God bless our Meats and give them strength to feed us again except God give strength to Nature to digest so that we may take profit by them either shall we filthily vomit them up again or else shall they lie stinking in our bodies as in a lothsom sink and channel and so diversly infect the whole Body And surely the blessing of God is so far from such as use riotous banqueting that in their faces be sometimes seen the express tokens of this intemperancy as Solomon noteth in his Proverbs To whom is wo saith he to whom is sorrow Prov. 23. to whom is strife to whom is brawling to whom are wounds without cause and for whom is the redness of eyes even to them that tarry long at the wine Mark I beseech you the terrible tokens of Gods indignation Wo and sorrow strife and brawling wounds without cause disfigured face and redness of eyes are to be looked for when men set themselves to excess and gormandise devising all means to increase their greedy appetites by tempering the Wine and sawcing it in such sort that it may be more delectable and pleasant unto them It were expedient that such delicate Persons should be ruled by Solomon who in consideration of the aforesaid inconveniencies forbiddeth the very sight of Wine Look not upon the wine saith he when it is red and when it sheweth his colour in the cup or goeth down pleasantly for in the end thereof it will bite like a Serpent and hurt like a Cockatrice Thine eyes shall look upon strange women and thine heart shall speak lewd things and thou shalt be as one that sleepeth in the midst of the Sea and as he that sleepeth on the top of the Mast They have stricken me thou shalt say but I was not sick they have beaten me but I felt it not Pâ—ov 23. therefore will I seek it yet still Certainly that must needs be very hurtful which biteth and infecteth like a poysoned Serpent whereby men are brought to filthy Fornication which causeth the heart to devise mischief He doubtless is in great danger that sleepeth in the midst of the Sea for soon he is overwhelmed with waves He is like to fall suddenly that sleepeth on the top of the Mast And surely he hath lost his senses that cannot feel when he is stricken that knoweth not when he is beaten So surfeiting and drunkenness bites by the belly and causeth continual gnawing in the stomach brings men to Whordom and lewdness of heart with dangers unspeakable so that men are bereaved and robbed of their senses and are altogether without power of themselves Who seeth not now the miserable estate whereinto men are brought by these foul filthy Monsters Gluttony and Drunkenness The body is so much disquieted by them that as Jesus the Son of Syrach affirmeth Ecclus. 31. the insatiable feeder never sleepeth quietly such an unmeasurable heat is kindled whereof ensueth continual ach and pain to the whole body And no less truly the mind is also annoyed by surfeiting banquets For sometimes men are stricken with frenzy of mind and are brought in like manner to meer madness some wax so brutish and blockish that they become altogether void of Understanding It is an horrible thing that any man should maim himself in any Member but for a man of his own accord to bereave himself of his Wits is a mischief intolerable The Prophet Osee in the fourth Chapter Osee 4. saith that wine and drunkenness take away the heart Alas then that any man should yield unto that whereby he might bereave himself of the possession of his own Heart Wine and women lead wise men out of the way and bring men of understanding to reproof and shame Eccâ—uâ— 19. saith Jesus the Son of Syrach Yea he asketh what is the life of man that is overcome with drunkenness Ecclus. 31. Wine drunken with excess maketh bitterness of mind and causeth brawling and strife In Magistrates it causeth Cruelty instead of Justice as that wise Philosopher Plato perceived right-well when he affirmed that a drunken man hath a tyrannous heart and therefore will Rule at his pleasure contrary to Right and Reason And certainly drunkenness maketh men forget both Law and Equity Prov. 31. which caused King Solomon so strictly to charge that no Wine should be given unto Rulers lest peradventure by drinking they forget what the Law appointeth them and so change the judgment of all the Children of the Poor Therefore among all sorts of men excessive drinking is most intolerable in a Magistrate or man of Authority as Plato saith De repub lib. 3. For a Drunkard knoweth not where he is himself If then a man of Authority should be a Drunkard alas how might he be a guide unto other men standing in need of a Governor himself Besides this a drunken man can keep nothing secret many fond foolish and filthy words are spoken when men are at their Banquets Drunkenness as Seneca affirmeth discovereth all wickedness and bringeth it to light it removeth all shamefastness and increaseth all mischief The proud man being drunken uttereth his pride the cruel man his cruelty and the envious man his envy so that no Vice can lie hid in a Drunkard Moreover in that he knoweth not himself he fumbleth and stammereth in his speech staggereth to and fro in his going beholding nothing stedfastly with his staring eyes believeth that the House runneth round about him It is evident that the mind is brought clean out of frame by excessive drinking so that whosoever is deceived by wine or strong drink becometh as Solomon saith a mocker or mad-man Prov. 20 so that he can never be wise If any man think that he may drink much Wine and yet be well in his wits he may as well suppose as Seneca saith that when he hath drunken Poyson he shall not die For wheresoever excessive drinking is there must needs follow perturbation of mind and where the belly is stuffed with dainty fare there the mind is oppressed with slothful sluggishness A full belly maketh a gross understanding saith St. Bernard Ad sororem ser 24. and much meat maketh a weary mind But alas now adays men pass little either for body or mind so they have worldly wealth and riches abundant to satisfie their unmeasurable lusts they care not what they do They are not ashamed to shew their drunken faces and to play the mad-men openly They think themselves in good case and that all is well with them if they be not pinched by lack and poverty Lest any of us therefore might take occasion to flatter himself in this beastly kind of excess