and the world were formed euen from euerlasting to euerlasting the Lord is our God What creature then is able to disanull that which God hath willed before that euer a creature was onely let vs labour that as our election is sure in it selfe so we may make it sure vnto vs by walking in a good conscience before the Lord and then we shall not care what man or Angell say to the contrary against it they are but posterior creatures and what intrest can they haue to gaine say that which God hath done before that they were Happy are they who are rooted grounded and builded vpon this rocke no stormy waue of the sea shall ouerturne them no rage of tentation nor power of the gates of hell shall preuaile against them Lastly we are taught here by the holy Apostle that all men are not foreknowne all are not predestinated to life otherwise there were not an election there is onely a certaine and definit number which belong to the election of Grace a fulnesse both of Iewes and Gentiles a number not knowne to vs but knowne to the Lord not one more nor one lesse shall be pertakers of saluation Many saith out Sauiour shall come from the East and from the West and shall sit with Abraham Isaac and Iacob in the kingdome of God he saith not all the children of the East shall come but many shall come This should waken in vs a holy care so long as the calling of God continues among vs to take heed to our selues striuing to thrust in at the doore of the kingdome of heauen for it suffers violence and the violent take it the fewer there be to be receiued into that kingdome the more we should about to be of that number We see that in nature things that are common were they neuer so excellent are not esteemed the Sunne because common to all is regarded of few though it be a very excellent and profitable creature but parcels of the earth possessed by men in propertie are much more remembred and regarded by those to whom they belong riches and honour are in greater account among men because few attaine vnto them and if we were as wise in spirituall things that grace of Christ which brings saluation would be more pretious and deere vnto vs because it is communicated to few The Lord giue vs grace to consider rightly of it in time To be made like to the image of his Sonne The Apostle insists not in the rest of the linckes of the Chaine hauing touched them he leaues them onely he insists in this lincke of Predestination teaching vs that he vseth not here the word of Predestination generally but restraines it to Predestination vnto life as also that we cannot step from election to glory but by a conformitie with Christ which is most necessary for vs to marke for albeit there be great comfort in the consideration of Gods immutable purpose ordayning man to life as also in the consideration of that glory whereunto we are ordayned yet neither of them can comfort vs vnlesse we be sure that our life is a proceeding from election to glorification by the right meanes The first and neerest end of election in regard of man is his sanctification for the Lord hath chosen vs that wee should be holy the second and furthest end is mans glorification The same Lord Iesus who said I am the life said in like manner I am the way and the veritie if thou wouldst be at life lye not still in thy sinnes but rise and walke in the way and if thou knowest not the way learne it from him who is veritie Let not presumption which slayes the wicked ouertake thee they passe ouer the matter of their saluation with a wanton word their hearts are prophane yet they boast with their tongues that they are sure to be saued but this is a vaine reioycing for he that walkes not in the way how is it possible that he can come to the end assuredly he shall neuer come where Christ is to liue with him that walkes not after Christ in newnesse of life This conformitie with the Lord Iesus whereunto wee are predestinated is partly in this life partly in the life to come Our conformitie in the life to come shall stand in liuing and raigning with Christ which is our glorification whereof he speakes hereafter Our conformitie in this life stands in liuing and suffering with Christ and of this hee speakes here to liue godly after the rule of Christ to suffer patiently after the similitude of Christ are the two parts of our present conformitie with him The Lord Iesus is giuen vs of the Father both to be a Sauiour and an example vnlesse we make him an example to follow him in our doing and suffering he shall not be vnto vs a Sauiour Here we are to marke that the workes done by Christ in our nature are threefold first his personall workes of Redemption as that he was borne of the Virgin that he suffered the cursed death of the Crosse for the expiation of our sinnes that hee rose the third day for our iustification that hee ascended triumphantly into Heauen leading captiuitie captiue Secondly his workes of miracles as that hee fasted forty dayes gaue sight to the blinde life to the dead and such like Thirdly his workes of godlinesse and sanctification as that he was subiect to his parents louing to his brethren painefull in his calling perseuering in prayer To practise to follow him in his personall workes of Redemption is blasphemie or in his workes of Miracles is impossibilitie but to follow him in the workes of a godly life is true pietie In the first Papists are blasphemous that on good Fryday makes a play to the people by counterfaiting the sufferings of Christ. In the second Papists are ridiculous that practise to counterfaite him in his fortie dayes fasting as if that might ordinarily be done of men which once Iesus did for a Miracle In the third let all those who are truely religious striue to follow him as Children looking to their coppy learne to mend their letters so let vs by looking daily to our example learne to amend our liues Imitation in the first two Iesus did neuer require onely hee craues that wee should follow him in the third there is his voyce Learne of me that I am lowly and meeke he did not bid thee saith Augustine learne at him how to make the world or how to raise the dead but how to be lowly and meeke for this cause did our blessed Sauiour wash his Disciples feete that hee might giue vs an example how one of vs should serue another as I haue loued you saide Iesus so loue yee one another yea in that vpon the Crosse hee prayed for his enimies hee hath also taught vs how to practise that precept Pray for them who persecute you In patience likewise hee is proposed
brought vpon them To make this yet more cleare wee are to know that there are three obiects of Sathans malice The first is God and his glory the second is man and his saluation the third is the creature made for Gods glory and mans good The principall obiect of Sathans malice is God and his glory he hates the Lord vvith a deadly and irreconcilable hatred so that if it lay in his power he would vndoe that most high and holy maiestie but because rage as he will he cannot impaire his sacred Maiestie he turnes him to the secondarie obiect which is man and troubles him by all meanes not so much for mans owne cause as for the Lords whose glory he seekes to deface that shines in man And if here also he cannot preuaile by reason that the Lord hath made a hedge round about man he turnes him to the third obiect of his malice which is the creature against which he is so insatiable that if he can be licensed to doe no more yet doth he esteeme it some pleasure to him to get leaue to enter into Swine that he may destroy them and this hee doth not that hee accounts a beast his pray for all the beasts of the earth cannot satisfie this roaring Lyon but that destroying the creature he may driue man to impatience and prouoke him to blaspheme the Lord as by these same meanes he made the Gadarens murmure against Iesus Christ and put him out of their land and this hath beene the course of Sathan euer since the beginning But blessed be the Lord our God who ouer-shootes Sathan and all his intentions that same man whom Sathan wounded hath the Lord restored and shall set his image more glorious in him than it was before and those creatures which Sathan defaced for the hatred he carryeth to Gods glory and mans good the Lord shall restore againe the glory of God encreaseth as it is impugned euery new declaration of Sathans malice shall end in a new declaration of Gods glory neyther is that enimie able to giue a wound to any of Gods children but the Lord shall make it whole and shall at the length confound Sathan by his owne meanes And here because it is commonly demaunded vnto what vse can these creatures serue in that day seeing wee shall haue no neede of the Sunne nor of other naturall meanes whereby now our life is preserued To this I answere that if the Lord will haue these workes of his hands to continue and stand as euerlasting monuments of his goodnesse and witnesses in their kinde of his glory who is it that can contradict it It is enough for vs that wee know they shall be deliuered and transchanged into a more glorious estate but for what vse wee shall best know in that day when we shall see it in the meane time reuerencing the Lords dispensation let vs rather endeauour to be pertakers of that glory than curiously to moue thorny and vnprofitable questions concerning it Now as for the manner of their deliuerance Seeing the Apostle saith that the heauens shall passe away with a noise and the elements shall melt with heate and the earth with the workes therein shall be burnt vp with fire and seeing the Psalmist saith that they shall perish how is it that here the Apostle saith they shall be deliuered This doubt shall easily be loosed if Scripture be made interpreter of Scripture The Psalmist in that same place expones the word of perishing by the word of changing what this changing shall be the Apostle here makes it manifest while he cals it the deliuering of them from one estate into another so that wee are not to thinke that they shall perish as concerning their substance but as concerning those qualities of vanitie seruitude and impotencie whereunto they haue beene subiected by the fall of man As siluer and gold is changed by the fire the drosse perisheth but the substance remayneth so shall these creatures be changed in that day for which cause also they are called new heauens and new earth And out of this wee may perceiue the necessitie of that exhortation giuen vnto vs by the holy Apostle Seeing therfore that all these things must be dissolued what manner of persons ought we to be in holy conuersation and godlinesse seeing the simplest seruant who shall haue any place in that kingdome must be changed and receiue a new liuerie how much more ought wee our selues to be changed who are the sonnes and heyres of that kingdome let vs not deceiue our selues no vncleane thing can enter into that heauenly Ierusalem without sanctification wee cannot see the Lord vnlesse wee be purged from our drosse and puâ—ified and fined by the spirit of the Lord wee shall not dwell in those new heauens wherein dwels righteousnesse Verse 22. For wee know that euery creature groneth with vs also and trauaileth in paine together vnto thâ—s present THe Apostle in this Verse concludes this purpurpose with some amplification thereof for hee ascribes to the creature a groning with vs and a trauailing together in paine whereby he doth yet more expresse the vehemencie of their desire for as he that goeth vnder an heauie burthen grones and longs to be eased thereof or as the woman which trauailes with childe hath a most earnest desire to be deliuered thereof so the creature wearie of this seruitude longs to bee eased This groning of the creature is not to be neglected seeing in holy Scripture wee finde that sometime God complaines to his creatures vpon the sinne of man and somtime the creatures complaines to God miserable is man if hee doe not complaine vpon himselfe In the first of Esay there the Lord complaines to his creatures vpon man Heare O Heauens hearken O Earth I haue nourished and brought vp Children but they haue rebelled against me c. and here againe the creature is brought in groning and complaining to God vpon man The first bloud that euer the earth receiued into her bosome sent vp vnto God a crying voyce for vengeance and the Lord heard it and now the earth meruailes in her kinde that hauing receiued so much bloud of the Saints of God into her bosome the Lord should delay to require it shee wonders againe that the hand of the Lord stablisheth her and makes her beare vp such a number of wicked men as are a burthen to her considering that once he caused her to open and swallow vp Corah Dathan and Abiram and hath many a time since shaken her foundations and destroyed by earth-quake notable cities making the houses of the inhabitants therof their buriall place the burden of sinne being now wonderfully encreased shee meruailes that the Lord causeth her to beare it and for this cause she cryes and grones vnto the Lord and this complaining of the creature wee are not to neglect it as I said for seeing they sigh and grone for the vanitie vnder
ipso cuiâ—s potissimum esse videar thus doe they striue within mee saith Bernard about mee to which of their dominion I should appertaine That which hee confessed of himselfe all the Godly may feele in their owne experience innumerable are those tyrants that striue among themselues but all of them striue against vs to haue domination ouer vs but indeede these are vncouth Lords and such as can claime no title nor right vnto vs wee are the workemanship of God the redeemed of the Lord and are bound to doe seruice to none but to him alone O Lord therefore come downe and possesse thine owne kingdome erect a throne to thy selfe in our hearts that thou by thy Spirit may raigne in vs as our King and make vs free from these tyrants that would oppresse vs. But that wee may the better perceiue how abhominable this seruitude is let vs out of the Apostles words mark these three things first how this dominion is tyrannicall Secondly how the Commaundements of these tyrants are all wicked and thirdly are all deadly these three he toucheth shortly when he saith that Christ hath freed vs from the law of sinne and death First then he ascribeth vnto sinne a Law not as if sin proceeded by a Law properly so called or that there were any lawfulnesse in sinne but onely to poynt out the tyranny thereof for as Rulers ordayned by the image of God inuested in this dignitie to be Lord and ruler ouer the creatures Animal es O homo principatu decoratum vt quid seruis affectionibus quamobrem tuam ipsius dignitatem abijcis teque ipsum seruum peccati constituis quare tcipsumfacis captiuuÌ„ diaboli Princeps creaturarum constitutus es dignitatem naturae tuae proijcâ—s O man thou art a creature adorned with princely power by thy first creation why then seruest thou affections why dost thou cast away thine owne dignitie and makes thy selfe a captiue of Sathan thou wast placed Lord of the creatures thou wast appoynted to rule ouer the fish of the Sea and euery beast of the field what shame is it then that thou shouldest be ouerruled with those beasts which are within thee Secondly consider what thou hopest to bee after this life dost thou not hope to raigne as a King in the heauens and wilt thou now liue as a slaue to Sathan vpon earth Is any man crowned except he striue as he ought or doth he receiue the price who runnes not the race or caâ— hee obtaine the victorie who neuer wrestled why then fightest thou not why runnest thou not why beginnest thou not to raigne in earth as a king ouer thy lusts seeing thou hopest to raigne as a king in heauen in glory Doe not deceiue thy selfe that crowne is for conquerours not for captiues Non sperare potest regnum coelorum cui supra propria membra regnare non donatur hee cannot looke for that heauenly kingdome to whom it is not giuen to raign ouer his owne earthly members Wee know that when Iesus shall appeare we shall bee like him for wee shall see him as hee is and hee that hath this hope in himselfe purgeth himselfe euen as hee is pure Certainely if the Lord through Grace prepare thee not for his Heauenly Kingdome thou canst neuer say with a warrant that the Lord hath prepared that kingdome for thee And thirdly the consideration of the present occasion should waken vs to goe out of this house of bondage for now the Sonne of God offers to make vs free a Prince of greater power is content to enter in confederacie with vs hee promiseth to restore vs to all the priuiledges wee lost in Adam yea to giue vs much more than euer we had in him and shall we neglect so faire an occasion When Cyrus king of Persia proclaymed liberty to the Iewes to goe from Babell the place of their captiuitie homeward to Ierusalem it is said that all those went forward whose spirit God had raised vp and now when the Lords annoynted proclaymes liberty to the captiues and the opening of the dore to them that are in prison I know that none shall follow his calling but such whose spirit the Lord hath raysed vp the rest being miserably blind delight to lye still in captiuitie thinking their bondage liberty The Lord giue vs grace that we may discerne the time of our visitation that with Dauid we may aduance our eyes toward the Lord who hath begunne to plucke our feete out of the net and that still we may lift vp and stretch out our hands vnto him till hee haue deliuered vs fully from the power of the enimie This being spoken of the bondage vve are now to consider that our deliuerance from it is here ascribed to Iesus Christ. Thy perdition is of thy selfe O Israel But our saluation belongs to the Lord and to the Lambe that sits vpon the throne Let no man therefore bee so vnthankfull as to ascribe any part of this glory to another my glory will I not giue to an other saith the Lord the glory of a temporall deliuerance God will not giue it vnto man hee would not saue Israell vnder Gideon with thirtie two thousand and why least Israell should vaunt against the Lord and say my right hand hath done it Or euer he entred his people Israell into the land of Canaan he forewarned them that they should not say it was for their righteousnesse and will hee then thinke yee giue the praise of this most notable deliuerance to the Creature No the whole booke of God witnesseth that it is not for our righteousnesse but for the praise of the glory of his rich mercie that wee are entred into heauenly Canaan Did Peter Iames and Iohn help the Lord Iesus in that agonie which hee suffered in the garden no surely hee bad them watch with him and pray but when hee was sweating blood they were sleeping when hee was buffeâ—ed in Caiphas hall did not Peter deny him when hee went to the Crosse did not all his Disciples forsake him and those who loued him most dearely did they not stand a farre off from him Certainely he alone troad the wine-presse of the wrath of God he alone bare the punishment of our sinnes in his blessed body on the Crosse to him therfore alone pertayneth the glory of our saluation As for the persons to whom this deliuerance pertaines the Apostle names himselfe among them hath freed vs not to exclude but rather to confirme all others who are in Iesus Christ. For hee confesses of himselfe that hee was receiued to mercy for this end that God might shew vpon him an example of long suffering to them who shall in time to come beleâ—ue in him vnto eternall life therefore is it that hee speakes of this deliuerance in his owne person for the confirmation of others who hauing beene before as hee was notorious sinners are now become such as repents
it in the graue longest from rottennesse and corruption and how when themselues are gone to preserue their names in immortall remembrance with the posteritie thus by the very instinct of nature are men carried away with a desire of eternitie but herein are they foolish that they seek it the wrong way they lay out their siluer but not for bread they spend their labour and are not satisfied immortalitie and life is to bee sought there where the word of the Lord directs vs let the Spirit of Christ dwell in thee and thou shalt liue otherwise though thou wert the greatest Monarch in the world though all thy meate were soueraigne medicines though thy body were laid in graue with as great externall pompe as worldly glory can afford to any creature and thy flesh were embalmed with the costliest oyntments these are but miserable comforts perishing preseruatiues thou shalt lye downe in dishonour and shalt be raised in greater dishonor to euerlasting shame and endlesse confusion Now as wee haue these three degrees of eternall life by the Spirit dwelling in vs so are wee to marke the order by vvhich hee proceedes in communicating them vnto vs first hee restores life to the soule and secondly he shall restore life vnto the body saith the Apostle where the one is done bee assured the other shall bee done the one is the proper end of his first comming therefore his Heraulds cryed before him Behold the Lambe of God who taketh away the sins of the world In his second comming shall bee the redemption of our bodyes when hee shall appeare hee shall change our vile bodies and make them like to his owne glorious bodie Let this reforme the preposterous care of men art thou desirous that thy body should liue be first carefull that life be communicated to the soule for surely the redemption of thy body shall not follow vnlesse the restitution of thy soule goe before Oportet cor nostrum conformari humilitati cordis Christi priusquam corpus conformetur glorioso corpori eius our heart must first bee conformed to the humilitie of Christs heart before that our body be configurated to his glorious body this is the first resurrection blessed are they that are pertakers of it for vpon such the second death shall haue no power But it is out of doubt qui non resurgit in anima resurget in corpore ad poenam hee that riseth not now in his soule from his sinnes shall rise hereafter in his body to iudgement But now leauing the condition to come to the comfort he that raysed vp Christ from the dead saith the Apostle shall also quicken your mortall bodies What necessitie is there here that he who raysed Christ shall raise vs yes indeed the necessitie is great the head and the members of the misticall body cannot be sundred seeing the head is raysed from the dead no member can be left vnder death the Lord workes in euery member according to that same mightie power by which hee wrought in the head his resurrection necessarily imports ours seeing hee arose not as a priuate man but as the head of all his members full of power to draw the body after him and to communicate that same life to euery member which he hath declared in himselfe Christ in risen from the dead and is made the first fruits of them that sleepe the first fruit is â—isen the after fruit shall in like manner follow Vexit in coelum carnem nostram tanquam arhabonem pignus totius summae illuc quandoque redigendae the Lord Iesus hath carryed our flesh into heauen as an earnest and pledge of the whole summe which afterward is to be brought thether hee hath not thought it inough to giue his spirit vnto vs here on earth as the earnest of our inheritance but to put vs out of all doubt hee hath carryed vp our flesh into heauen and possest it in the kingdome in the name of all his members Who raysed vp Iesus from the dead Then we see that our Lord was once among the dead but now is risen from them let vs not then be afraid when God shall call vs to lye down among the dead also shal the seruant be ashamed of his Masters condition or will the patient refuse to drink that potion which the phisition hath tasted before him No we must follow our Lord through the miseries of this life through the dolours of death through the horrours of the graue if wee looke to follow him in his resurrection in his ascension to be amongst those hundred fortie and foure thousand in mount Sion who hauing his fathers name written in their foreheads follow the Lambe wheresoeuer hee goeth singing that new song which none can sing but they whom hee hath bought from the earth When those women came to seeke the Lord Iesus in the Sepulchre all the feare they had conceiued concerning Christs death the Angels remoues it by sending them to meditate on the resurrection Why seeke yee him that liueth among the dead hee is not here but hee is risen Wee are not yet laid downe among the dead but or euer we goe to the graue we haue this comfort that the Lord by his power shall raise vs out of it where the head growes through the members will follow Per angustum passionis foramen transiuit Christus vt latum praeberet ingressum sequentibus membris Our Lord is gone through the narrow passage of death that he might make it the wider and easier to all his members who are to follow him We see by experience the body of a man drownes not though it be vnder the water as long as the head is borne aboue many of the members of Christ are here in this valley of death tost too and fro in this sea of tribulation with continuall tentations yet our comfort is we cannot perish for our head is aboue and a great part of the body liuing and raigning with him in glory there is life in him to draw forth out of these miseries all his members and hee shall doe it by that same power by which he raised himselfe from the dead For we are taught here that our resurrection is a worke not to be done by man nor the power of nature but by the power of God we are not therefore to hearken to the deceitfull motions of our infidelitie which calles in doubt this article of our Faith wee must not consider the imbecillitie and weaknesse of nature neither measure heauenly and supernaturall things with the narrow span of naturall reason but as it is Abrahams praise the father of the faithfull that when God promised him a sonne in his old age he was not weake in the faith hee considered not his owne body which was dead neither the deadnesse of Sarahs wombe but was strengthned in the faith and gaue glory to God being fully assured that he who
so hath that aduersary a thousand wiles whereby either before prayer he seekes to diuert them to some other businesse or in the action to trouble them and diuide the powers of the soule by vncomely and prophane motions If Iehoshua stand before the Lord Sathan shall stand at his right hand to resist him Vnlesse therefore with Abraham we driue away the rauening birds from our sacrifice vnles with the Israelites we stand on Ierusalems wall with a weapon ready in our hand to repell the aduersarie as oft as hee comes to stay the worke of God it is impossible that our harts can continue in feruent prayer to God Yet the restles opposition of the aduersary should not make vs to breake off this exercise of prayer but the more we finde Sathan angry at our prayers the more should we be prouoked to pray if hee felt not himselfe hurt and his kingdome weakened by our prayers he would not so busily trouble vs in prayer yee see hee troubles vs not in such exercises as troubles not him speake as long as you will of taught of God we cannot saith the Apostle call vpon him in whom we beleeue not As for the Angels wee beleeue that they are which the Saduces did not but we beleeue not in them and therefore will not pray vnto them In all the old Testament we read no prayer made to Abraham albeit hee was the father of the faithfull none to Isaac or Iacob or Moses or any other of the fathers departed In a hundreth and fiftie Psalmes no prayer is made to Cherube or Seraphin though they in their psalter of the Virgin haue turned ouer all the prayses and petitions made to our Lord into petitions to our Lady as if where Dauid saith O Lord rebuke mee not in thine anger wee were also to say O Ladie rebuke me not in thine anger and O Lord thou art my righteousnesse O Ladie thou art my righteousnesse and so forth in the rest but we may boldly say with Bernard libenter certe gloriosa virgo tali honore carebit the glorious Virgin is willingly content to want such a honour The Angell would not suffer Iohn to prostrate before him doe it not saith he I am but thy fellow seruant this one of those blessed spirits witnesses to vs in name of all the rest that it is the will of the Saints of God in heauen that we who are vpon earth should reserue to the Lord his owne worship and giue no part thereof to creatures yea they are offended when that honour is offered to them which is due to their Lord. Where if that common obiection be brought which Ambrose did obuiate in his time posse nos per istos ire ad Deum sicut comites peruenitur ad regem that men by such mediators may goe to God as they goe to Kings by those who are honorable in their courts to them we answere with him hoc est misera vti excusatione this is to pretend a miserable excuse for men goe to kings by courtiers because the king is but a man ad Deum autem quem nihil latet promirendum suffragatore non opus est sed mente deuota but as for the Lord from whom nothing is hid there needs no such procutor to make him fauourable vnto vs onely there is required a deuout minde for in whatsoeuer place he who is truely godly speaks vnto God the Lord shall answere him And lastly that the Apostle here ioyneth two words of sundry languages Abba Father it is to teach vs that euery tongue is sanctified to the vse of Gods children and that it is lawfull for vs to pray in any language if so be we vnderstand it but to binde people to pray in a language they vnderstand not or for him that should be the mouth of God in the exercise of diuine worship to speake to the people in a strange language which they vnderstand not is a sacrilegious tyrannie That which God powred out as a cruse on the first Babell that one of them vnderstood not what another said and the people knew not what the builders craued in the second Babell is receiued as a blessing The Caldeans a fierce and cruell nation were sent against the Iewes speaking to them in a language which they vnderstood not to punish in them the contempt of the voice of God which they would not learne nor vnderstand and now the messengers of Antichrist a cruell and mercilesse people are come out speaking to the world in an vncouth language for punishment of them that receiued not the loue of the truth A faithfull seruant of the Lord had he neuer so many languages had rather speake in the Church fiue words with vnderstanding that others might be instructed than tenne thousand otherwaies he is but an hireling and a false Apostle that purposely speakes to a people in a language they vnderstand not Wee giue thanks to God who hath deliuered vs from this most fearefull captiuitie and confusion of Babell thou art but a lyar against the holy Ghost and a wilfull murtherer of thine owne soule by faithlesse presumption The other sort of men are the Children of God who because they finde not alwayes within themselues this testimony of the Spirit in a like measure are therefore cast downe and made oftentimes to think they neuer had it for as none are more ready to boast of the spirit then they who haue him not so none complaines more that they want him then they who possesse him The Children of God in this being like vnto rich worldlings who suppose they bee possessours of much yet the great desire of more which is in them causeth them to esteeme that which they haue as nothing and therefore comforts not themselues with the lawfull vse of that which they haue but vexes their spirits with restlesse thoughts for that which they want euen so it is customable with the Children of God albeit they haue attayned to a good measure of faith and loue of God and are euen become rich in the grace of the Lord Iesus yet are they so desirous of more that many a time they esteeme nothing of that which they haue but goe about mourning and complaining that they haue no faith no loue no grace no life in which extremitie we see that many in their weaknesse offend the Lord their God Herein therefore is the Christian to bee admonished that hee keepe mediocritie to lament thy wants and to thirst for more grace is a sure token of a spirituall life but let vs so complaine for that which wee vvant that wee bee comforted in God for that beginning and little measure of grace which wee haue remember that the same mouth of God which commaunds thee to mourne commaunds thee also to reioyce we want not matter of both matter vve haue of mourning for which wee may lament with the Apostle O wretched man that
shall perish but hee doth remaine they shall waxe old as doth a garment but hee is the same and his yeeres shall not faile Hee is the father of eternitie in whom there cannot fall so much as a shadow of change farre lesse is hee subiect to death but as for vs by suffering death we must enter into our kingdome wee cannot see him so long as wee liue nor be satisfied with his image till wee awake therefore should the day of death be a ioyfull day vnto vs because it is the day of our entrance to our inheritance Vnnaturall worldlings reioyce at the death of their Parents because by it they come to the heritage they carry merriest harts within them when they put on their blackest garments but as for vs wee should reioyce at the day of our owne death it is not the day of our sorrow as naturall men accounts it but the day of our delight in the which we enter into the fruition of our heauenly inheritance Hee cals vs not onely the Heyres of God but annexed Heyres with Iesus Christ that so he may shew Nos grandes futuros haeredes that wee are to be great heyres The Lord Iesus hath a twofold right to his fathers inheritance one by his eternall generation and so hee is the heyre of God in a manner proper and peculiar to himselfe onely the other hee hath by conquest for by the merit of his death he hath conquered eternall life for all his brethren and this right he communicates vnto vs whereby we also become heyres annexed with him in the first hee admits no companion in the second hee cals vs to be pertakers with him And this serues vnto vs not onely for a speciall comfort in the houre of tentation and day of death as wee marked before but should also prouoke vs to answere the heauenly vocation by a holy disposition seeing wee are the sonnes of God shall wee not resemble his image seeing wee are called to be heyres of an heauenly inheritance shall we any more minde earthly things Farre be it from vs that wee should be prophane like Esau who sould his birth-right for a mease of pottage or like Demas wee should forsake the fellowship of our brethren and imbrace this present world but let vs rather with the holy Apostle account all things to be but doung in respect of the excellent knowledge and fellowship of our Lord Iesus Seeing Christ must be our comfort in death when all other comforts will foâ—sake vs let vs make him our ioy and pleasure in life that so both in life and death he may be an aduantage vnto vs for these things for which miserable worldlings forsake their God shall in the end forsake them Let a couetous man see in the houre of his death those treasures of Gold and siluer which hee fought in his life more than God and they shall be no more pleasure to him than was those thirty peeces of siluer to Iudas which hee tooke in exchange of Iesus Christ. Present a spoonefull of Wine to the drunkard whose bellie was his God in his life time and hee shall not be able to receiue it Let the harlot stand at that time in the sight of the whoremonger shee may encrease his sorrow and terrifie his conscience but shall not render him comfort Yet these are the strange Gods after which most part of the world goes a whooring but let vs not cast in our portion among them we are pertakers of the heauenly vocation called to bee the sonnes and daughters of the liuing God blessed shall we be if we walke worthie of our calling For we see here whervnto we are called by adoption we are made the sons of God and brethren of Christ of rebels we are made the seruants of God yea more than that the friends of God hence forth call I not you seruants but friends yea more than friends he hath made vs brethren hee that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all one wherefore he is not ashamed to call them brethren O wonderfull comfort the Father cryes from heauen this is my beloued Sonne in whom I am well pleased heare him the Sonne againe speaking to vs on earth saith I goe vp to your Father and my Father hee that is my Father is also your Father therefore goe yee vnto him and call vpon him as your Father O qualis ille dominus qui omnes seruos suos facit amicos suos quod multo maius est fratres suos O what a sweet Lord is hee who makes all his seruants his friends and which is much more his brethren Surely the yoake of Christ is easie and his burthen is light we are called to be annexed pertakers with him of all the good that is in him The Lord therefore more and more confirme vs that despysing all the subtill offers of Sathan whereby he would steale vs away from the loue of Christ and delighting in that high dignitie whereunto we are called our harts may cleaue to the Lord for euer without seperation THE RIGHT WAY TO Eternall Glory VVherein the counsaile of God concerning Mans saluation is so manifested that the Christian effectually called may heare himselfe after the Crosse ordayned to the Crowne and read his owne Name written in the booke of Life Being the second benefit wee haue by our Lord Iesus Christ. Come and see Written by Mr. William Cowper Minister of Gods word at Perth LONDON Printed by Thomas Snodham for William Firebrand and are to be sould at his shoppe in Popes-head Pallace 1609. â—â—… the welfare of your Highnesse royall children the terrour of your enimies and common benefite of all your Maiesties well affected subiects A good so much the more carefully to bee keept because Sathan out of all doubt spitefully doth enuie it as being the very fountaine out of which doth flow that great and common good both of your royall posteritie and loyall people the aspect of your Highnesse fauourable countenances looking in loue one of you to another and both of your maiesties in coniunct compassion to your people sweeter than the influence of the vndiuided Pleiades bringing to Church and common wealth vnder your happy raigne a flourishing spring of innumerable blessings We doe therefore blesse the Lord who hath confirmed your royall hearts and set it in the foremost of your godly cares how to keep and increase this holy and happy band of loue which keepeth you both For the continuance whereof as after my weake measure I stand vp a dayly supplicant vnto the Lord among others your Highnesse loyall subiects so doe I humbly craue that your Highnesse impute it not to me for presumption that I haue conioyned your maiesties in the participation of this small propine of the first fruits of my labors whom I doe wish for euer to be conioyned in the communion of al good present and to come but that rather
Ierusalem except the hand of God first beat from vs our proud lumps by the hammer of affliction As standing waters putrifie and rot so the wicked feares not God because they haue no changes and Moab keepes his sent because he was not powred from vessell to vessell but hath beene at rest euer since his youth And therefore O Lord rather than that we should keepe the sent of our old naturall corruption and liue in a careles securitie without the feare of thine holy name and so become sit fasts in our sinnes no rather O Lord change thou vs from estate to estate waken vs with the touch of thine hand purge vs with thy fire and chastise vs with thy roddes alway Lord with this protestation that thou keepe towards vs that promise made to the sonnes of Dauid I will visit them with my roddes if they sinne against me but my mercy will I neuer take from them So be it O Lord euen So be it The same comfort haue we also against death that now in Iesus Christ it is not a punishment of our sinnes but a full accomplishment of the mortification of our sinne both in soule and body for by it both the fountaine and the fluxe of sinne are dryed vp all the conduits of sinne are stopped and the weapons of vnrighteousnesse broken And though our bodyes seeme to be consumed and turned into nothing yet are they but sowen like graynes of Wheat in the field and husbandry of the Lord which must dye before they be quickned but in the day of Christ shall spring vp againe most glorious And as for our soules they are by death releeued out of this honse of seruitude that they may returne vnto him who gaue them therefore haue I compared death to the red sea wherein Pharaoh and his Aegiptians were drowned and sancke like a stone to the bottome but the Israelits of God went through to their promised Canaan so shall death be vnto you O miserable infidels whose eyes the God of this world hath blinded that no more then blinded Aegiptians can yee see the light of God shining in Goshen which is his Church though yee be in it to you I say your death shall be the very centre of all your miseries a sea of the vengeance of God wherein yee shall be drowned and shall sincke with your sinnes heauier than a milstone about the necke of our soules to presse you downe to the lowest hell But as for you who are the Israelits of God ye shall walk through the valley of death and not neede to be afraid because the Lord is with you his staffe and his rod shall comfort you albeit the guiltinesse of forepassed sinnes yet remayning in the memory the terrour of hell and horrour of the graue stand vp on euery side like mountaines threatning to ouerwhelme you yet shall yee goe safely through to the land of your inheritance where with Moses and Miriam and all the children of God euen the congregation of the first borne yee shall sing prayses ioyfully to the God of your saluation Now in the last roome concerning the imaginations of men against vs wee shall haue cause to say of them in the end as Ioseph said to his brethren yee did it vnto me for euill but the Lord turned it to good The whole history of Gods booke is a cloude of manifold witnesses concurring together to confirme his truth therefore among many wee will be content with one When Dauid was going forward in battell against Israell with Acish King of Gath vnder whom he soiourned a while in the time of his banishment the remanent Princes of the Philistims commanded him to goe backe and this they did for the worst to disgrace him because they distrusted him but the Lord turned it vnto him for the best for if hee had come forward he had been guiltie of the blood of Israell specially of Saul the Lords annointed who was slaine in that battell from this the prouident mercy of God doth in such sort deliuer him that no offence is done by Dauid to Saul or his people because Dauid came not against them neither yet could the Philistims blame him because he went backe by their own commaund So a notable benefit Dauid did receiue by that same deed wherein his enimies thought they had done him a notable shame And where otherwise it pleaseth the Lord to suffer wicked men to lay hand on the bodyes of his children yet all they are able to doe is but like the renting of Iosephs garment from him As he doth sustaine small losse whose garment is cut if his body be preserued so the Christian when his body is wounded vnto the death yet hath he lost nothing which hee striues to keepe for hee knowes it is but a corruptible garment which would decay in it selfe albeit there were no man to rent it Non sunt itaque timenda spiritui quae fiunt in carne quae extra nos est quasi vestamentum let not therefore our soule be afraid for those things which are done to our bodyes for it is without vs as a garment that doth but couer vs. Thus haue wee seene how that their is nothing so euill in â— selfe vvhich by the prouident vvorking of God is not turned to the good of his children Whereof arises yet vnto vs this further comfort that seeing it is the priuiledge of euery one who loues the Lord it must much more be the priuiledge of the whole Church that promise made to the Father of the faithfull I will blesse them that blesse thee and curse them that curse thee we may easily thinke belongs also to all his seed euen to that congregation of the first borne The Lord will bee a wall of fire round about Ierusalem and the glory in the middest of her he will keepe her as the apple of his eye and make Ierusalem a cuppe of poyson to all her enimies and a heauie stone which whosoeuer striueth to lift shall be torne therewith though all the people of the earth were gathered together against it the weapons made against her shall not prosper and euery tongue that shall rise against her in iudgement shall be condemned This is the heritage of the Lords seruants and the portion of them that loue him for the Church is that Arke which mounts vp higher as the water increases but cannot be ouerwhelmed the bush which may burne but cannot be consumed the house built on a rocke which may be beaten with winde and raine but cannot be ouerthrowne The Lord who changeth times and seasons who takes away Kings and sets vp Kings hath reproued Kings for his Churches sake yea hee gouernes all he kingdomes of the earth in such sort that their fallings risings their changes and mutations are all directed to the good of his Church In one of these two sentences all the Iudges of the world may see themselues
the meanes of men and not according to the determinate purpose of God it is no meruaile if still they returne to their old sinnes and remaine disobedient to the heauenly vocation And further out of the ground laid already that the calling of God is according to his purpose we are taught that the least intermission of Gods calling should be vnto vs a great matter of our humiliation seeing the Lord calleth men to be Preachers and hath them in his hand as starres holding them out sometime to one part of the world and sometime to another that hee may communicate light to them who are sitting in darknesse the remouing of them from a people is a fearefull token of the Lords departure and translating of his kingdome The Husbandman calles not his Labourers out of the field in the middest of the day vnlesse the haruest be done and if the Lord remoue his Seruants from a people it is because his purpose is finished for the ground is sure that his calling is according to his purpose but the Lord forbid that the tearme of the ending of this calling should euer come in our dayes And to the ende that wee haste it not vpon our selues wee are to know that as the Gospell comes not to a Land by mans procurement so no power of man is able to remoue it The Lord who set the Sunne in the Firmament and gouernes it in such sort that it giues light to one part of the world when another is in darknesse and no malice of the euill doer is able to obscure it howeuer hee hates it hath also set his Gospell in the firmament of his Church to giue light to Goshen while as Egypt is in darknesse and all the courses of politikes though they were filled vvith Achitophels wisedome are not able to stay it onely our owne vnthankfulnesse and abuse of the time of Grace is to be feared if therefore wee loue the light let vs cast away the vvorkes of darkenesse and walke in the light while as yet wee haue it let vs welcome those messengers of peace that come to vs in the name of the Lord endeuouring by all holy meanes to transferre this Kingdome of God to our Children after vs that they also may see the beautie of the Lord which vvee haue seene to their euerlasting saluation Verse 29. For those whom hee knew before hee also predestinated to be made like vnto the image of his Sonne that he might be the first borne among many brethren THe whole Booke of God is full of heauenly consolation euery parcell thereof hath in it the words of eternall life but this place of Scripture wherein now wee are trauailing may be called aboue the rest a treasure of comfort for here the Apostle leadeth vp the Christian to the register of God and lets him see his owne name written in the booke of life his saluation established in Gods immutable decree exhibited now by Gods effectuall calling to be performed and perfected to him by his endlesse glorification So that in all the booke of God there is not so cleare and certaine a sight of saluation giuen to the Christian as in this place It comforted Stephen when he was in the vally of death that he saw the heauens opened and the Lord Iesus standing at the right hand of his Father and it should no lesse comfort vs in all our tribulations that the Apostle here lets vs see the third heauens opened vnto vs to make knowne vnto vs the will of God concerning our saluation This comfort the Apostle brake vp shortly as we heard in the end of the last verse and now more largely explanes it in these two verses in the which hee sets downe in order the causes of our saluation and lets vs see how our present effectuall calling is so inseperably knit with our election glorification by the hand of God that no power in earth nor in hell is able to sunder them whereof the certaintie of his former comfort appeares cleerely that of necessitie all things must worke together for the best vnto them that loue God euen to them that are called according to his purpose Which shall yet be more manifested if wee consider how that this golden Chaine of our saluation reaches so to speake it from eternitie to eternitie the beginning of it albeit without beginning is our Election the end of it albeit without end is our Glorification And these two ends of the chaine the Lord keepes them sure and secret in his owne hand but the two middle linckes thereof to wit our Calling and Iustification the Lord lets them downe from heauen to the earth that wee for our comfort might gripe and apprehend them and being sure of the two middle linekes we might also be sure of the two ends because the Lord hath knit them inseperably together Thou then who wouldst be comforted with the assurance of thy saluation make it first knowne to thy owne conscience by breaking off the former course of thy sinnes and by well doing for the time to come that God hath called thee and iustified thee Gripe sure as it were with the one hand the lincke of Calling and with the other the linck of Iustification fasten both thy hands vpon the middle linckes of this Chaine that by them thou mayst be pulled out of this dungeon and raised vp to heauen to see that thou art one of them who was elected before time after time shall be glorified To make this yet more plaine we are to know that this mortall life of ours is a short interiected point of time betweene two eternities so to call it in the which some in feare and trembling working out their saluation passes from Gods eternall election to endlesse glorification others againe in wantonnes and carelesse securitie drincke in iniquitie with greedinesse and so steps from the decree of reprobation that most iustly they procure their owne condemnation So that euery man hath to consider of his euerlasting weale or woe by his present disposition in this life Oh that we had sanctified memories alwayes to remember this so long as we are here if of weakenesse wee fall wee may rise againe and if in one day we haue not learned well to repent we haue leaue of the Lords patience to learne it better another day but he who in the day of his transmigration steps the wrong step will neuer get leaue to amend it where the tree fals it shall lye there the wicked who die in their sinnes step downeward to the deepe pit and gulfe out of the which there is no redemption Let vs therefore be well aduised before we leape let vs fasten the one foote vpon the border of that Canaan before we go out of the body let vs make sure that wee shall be receiued into those euerlasting habitations This shall be done if we make our whole life a proceeding from election to
transformation into the glorious image of God The second is in the houre of death and that is a neerer vnion of our soules with Iesus The third will be in the last day wherin both soule and body shall be glorified this is the highest step of Salomons throne vnto the which we must ascend by the former degrees As for the beginning of this glory which now wee haue it consists in these three Righteousnesse Peace and Ioy there is a ioy which is no presumption flowing from a peace which is not securitie bred of righteousnesse which is not hypocrisie in these three stands the beginning of eternall life here vpon earth and in the perfection of them shall consist the perfection of eternall life afterward in heauen perseuerance in righteousnesse peace ioy and glory being adioyned vnto them This Ioy which is the highest degree of eternall life wee can attaine to here vpon earth hath also these three degrees first there is a Ioy which ariseth of beleeuing wee haue not as yet seenâ— the Lord Iesus yet doe wee beleeue in him and reioyce in him with Ioy vnspeakeable and glorious Secondly there is a Ioy which ariseth of feeling and tasting taste and consider how gratious the Lord is and this feeling is much more than beleeuing Thirdly there is a ioy which ariseth of sight and of spirituall embracing such vvas the ioy of Simeon when hee saw that promised saluation and embraced the Lord Iesus in his armes Hereof ariseth to vs first a lesson of comfort if the beginnings of this glory be so great that as S. Peter saith they bring to vs ioy vnspeakable and glorious what shall the fulnesse thereof be let this waken in vs a loathing of these vaine perishing pleasures and a longing for that better and more enduring substance Certe non sunt tibi not a futura gaudia si non renuit consolari anima tua donec veniant thou knowest not those ioyes which are to come if thy soule do not refuse all comfort till they come vnto thee Certe si sempiterna essent haec terrena tamen prae coelestibus essent commutanda Certainely albeit these earthly things were eternall yet were they to be exchanged with those that are heauenly And therefore let the little tast of that ioy which wee haue now worke in vs a greater hunger and thirst after the fulnes thereof And againe we are here to be remembred that as pearles are found in the bottome of the water and gold is not gotten in the superfice but bosome of the earth so this ioy is not to be found but in the inward parts of a broken and contrite spirit many speake of this ioy who neuer felt it Righteousnesse is the mother of Peace and Peace the mother of Ioy they who haue not learned to do well and cannot morne for the euil which they haue done how shall they taste of the ioyes of God wee must pearce by the hammer of contrition into the very inward of our harts or euer we we can finde the refreshing springs of Gods sweet consolations arising vnto vs. It deceiues many that they thinke eternall life is not begunne but after death but assuredly except now thou get the beginnings thou shalt neuer hereafter attaine to the perfections thereof and therefore looke to it in time As for the second degree of this glory which is a neerer vnion of our soules with Iesus Christ after our dissolution by death it is not my purpose now to insist in it As for the third degree which consists in the glorification both of our soules and bodyes we haue spoken of it before specially in the 18. verse Now the Tabernacle of God is with men but then shall our securitie be without feare and our glory consummated when we shall dwell in the Tabernacle of God vnto the which the Lord bring vs all for Iesus Christs sake Amen THE GLORIFICATION of a Christian. VVhere you may see the counsaile of GOD concerning mans Saluation more cleerely manifested THEY THAT HAVE EYES MAY COME and see the Christian possessed and crowned in his heauenly Kingdome Which is the greatest and last benefit wee haue by Christ Iesus our Lord. Come and see Written by Mr. William Cowper Minister of Gods word at Perth LONDON Printed by Thomas Snodham for William Firebrand and are to be sould at his shoppe in Popes-head Pallace 1609. TO THE MOST EXcellent Vertuous and Gratious Prince Henry by the Grace of God Prince of Wales and Heyre Apparent vnto the most famous Kingdomes of England Scotland Fraunce and Ireland All happinesse in this life and eternall Glory in the life to come THat which the Apostle hath seuerally deliuered in the two former Discourses dedicated to your most Royall Parents hee now in this last Treatise collects and conioynes in one which therfore of right can appertaine to none more then to you Sir who being by them both the happy fruite of heauenly prouidence and decrest pledge of their mutuall loue and ioy may iustly challenge interest in the smallest good ouer which their names are named Sir here is the way to that Crowne of Triumph which the more you know the more I hope shall you place your glory in it Crownes of earthly Kingdomes are indeede the gâ—fts of God but such as bring not so much Honour as they breed vnquietnesse O nobilem magis quam foelicem pannum said Antigonus If the cares which dwell in the Diadem wâ—re knowne no man would stoope to the ground to take it vp said Seleucus And albeit it be not giuen to all to know this in their entrie to Honour yet are they all compelled to acknowledge it in the end Seuerus Monâ—rch of the world found his Crownes but comfortlesse to him in death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I haue said hee beene all things and it profiteth mee nothing Not onely the teares of Xerxes but the laments of Salomon may witnesse to all the world that the end of the worme-eaten pleasures of this life is heauie displeasure yea the golden head of Babell had at length worms spread vnder him worms to couer him Esa. 14 For all flesh is grasse and the glory thereof as the flowre of the field Onely The word of the Lord endures for euer By which that same God who hath called you to be an apparant Heyre of the most famous Kingdomes on earth doth also call your Grace to a more certaine inheritance of a better Kingdome in heauen which cannot be shaken whereby aboue other Princes and Rulers of the earth yee are blessed if so be yee answere your Calling endeauouring to be no lesse than you are named Principem te agnosce neseruias affectibus It is vnseemely in any but most of all in a Prince to become asâ—ruant eyther to the corrupt humours of men without him who creeping in into the Courts of Kings like wormes into the bosome of excellent trees doe nothing but consume
and rotten members Secondly wee communicate with the affliction of our brethren when in our affection wee are ready to suffer with them if so it would please the Lord to employ vs as they are Martyres in action so will the Lord accept the others as Martyres in affection Deus enim non estimat quenquam ex euentu rerum sed ex affectu for God esteemes not one by the euent of things but by their affection Non fraudabitur Martyrij gloria per quem non stetit quo minus Martyrium peregerit hee shall not be defrauded of the glory of martyrdome in whose default it was not that he accomplished his Martyrdome therefore Aquila Priscilla are commended that for the Apostles life they had laide downe their owne â—eckes their good-will being reckoned vnto them for a deede But as Iacob hazarded some of his familie in the hands of Esau before others so the Lord sends out some of his seruants to trouble before others For the Lord is not so prodigall of the liues of his children that at one time hee will hauock them all in the hands of the wicked though he send some out to the tryall he will reserue others to be as it were the seede of the Gospell All the day long If we apply this testimonie to the whole Church then this day shall be the whole course of time from the beginning to the end thereof Earely in the morning Cain began to persecute his brother and euer since bloudy persecuters in all ages haue followed his way but among them all the persecuters of this last age which is the euening are most miserable for all the blood shed since the dayes of Abell shall light vpon them As in a good course his praise is greatest who is formost so in an euill course his iudgement shall be greatest who comes hindmost because he subscribes to the wickednesse of all those who hath gone before him But if otherwise we apply this testimonie to euery christian then this day must be called the whole time of our life from our birth to our death warning vs that in no age of our life we should promise to our selues immunitie from affliction yet our comfort is that the time of our trouble is here called a day and in the Reuelation the houre of tentation because it is but short That rebuke which our Sauiour gaue his Disciples when they were sleeping in the garden could you not watch with me one houre may serue as a checke vnto vs when wee faint in tentation could yee not suffer with me one houre Againe seeing our trouble is short let vs not in it limit the holy one of Israell to prescribe to the Lord the time of our deliuerance O how may wee be ashamed of our impatience in trouble when wee looke to Noah who entring into the Arke at the Lords commandement after hee had tarried a whole yeere in it yet sought not to come put till the Lord commaunded him And Ioseph the nourishing father of our Lord Iesus when the Angell commaunded him to goe to Aegipt and said further vnto him tarte there till I tell thee though Ioseph knew not when hee should come out of Aegipt the place of banishment yet referring the time to the Lord hee yeelded himselfe obedient to the holy commandement The Lord work in vs the like obedience of Faith And are counted This is added by way of amplification we are not onely slaine but slaine as if we vvere slaues nothing worth Wicked men account the godly little worth and therefore doe handle them in a vile manner but shall we for that be discouraged No the Prince of our saluation was esteemed among men no more worth then thirtie peeces of siluer and that for our sake shall we then thinke euill for his sake to be counted lesse than the doung or clay wher vpon we tread The Lord giue vs true humilitie that wee may be content to be despised of men that wee may be approued of our God he onely hath the ballance in his hands what euer waight worldlings haue in the eyes of men when the Lord beginnes to weigh them as hee did Beltasar no honour no riches no kingdome shall help them to hold out waight As sheepe for the slaughter Wicked men accounts the godly slaughter sheepe because they thinke nothing is lost when they are taken out of the way yea also they reape a benefit thereby a proofe whereof wee may see in the primitiue Church for when Famine Pestilence and such like calamities were inflicted by God vpon the Empire for the contempt of his Gospell the cause thereof was still imputed by men to the christians and therefore they were persecuted to death with no lesse opinion than that the putting them out of the way was to put the plagues of God from the whole Empire yet did they not this way remedy the wrath due to their sinnes but procured thereby either double stripes to themselues or then were handled in the patience of God like vnto Oxen fed for the slaughter And here it shall not be vnprofitable to oppone the iudgement of the Lord concerning his children to the iudgement of men The Lord also compares his little ones to sheepe but vpon plaine contrary respects to those which the world hath first for their innocencie and simplicitie they are not like other beastes that haue either teeth in their head pawes in their feete or poyson in their bowels to powre out when they are offended secondly for their patience whereas other beasts being beaten vtter vnruly and rowting voyces they are dumbe before their shearers yea when they are iniured are farre from reuenge The sheepe of Christ saith Cyprian hath not the bloudy teeth of Wolues crueltie is an argument of bastard religion and thirdly for their vtilitie for they do not onely giue their milk but their Wooll and Skinne to the vse of man teaching vs how profitable wee should be to our brethren but alas the great number of them who being voide of innocencie wise to do euill voide of patience not acquainted with the yoke void of charitie being like that barren tree which had no fruit to giue to Christ in his hunger euidently declares how that many in this age howsoeuer esteemed among men yet are not accounted of God the sheepe of Christ. Verse 37. Neuerthelesse in all these things we are more then conquerours through him that loued vs. HEre the Apostle doth now subioyne an negatiue answere to his former interrogations with an amplification these things whereof I haue spoken are so farre from being able to seperate vs from the loue of God that by the contrary in them all we are more then conquerours that is victors out of all doubt In all these things Then yee may perceiue that vnto all those crosses enumerated before the christian man is subiect hee is not