of the paines of Purgatory to send thē to heauen As for scriptures Roffensis Perionius Soto are inforced to confesse yet they were great papists they haue none plain enough to proue it And how can they seeing Christ the father of the scriptures hath diuided al mē but into two sorts beleeuers in him and not beleeuers in him Iohn 3.18 and hath told vs there are two waies only the one broade leading to hell and the other streite leading to heauen Mat. 7.13.14 Luk. 13.24 placing for further explication of his minde concerning the state of those two sorts of mē taking the one of those two waies Lazarus an exāple of the one sort streight in ioy and felicity and the rich glutton example of the other sort streight in hell after death Luke 16. And truely as for Fathers to proue their purgatory withal they are to seeke also Some of them as Origen his folowers imagin a purgatory through which both good bad shal go wherin the wicked and the diuell also after the iudgemēt in the ende after long tormentes shall be saued Which beastly heresie Aug. worthily condēneth confuteth in diuerse places as they well know And I am sure they will not hold such a purgatory neither Some other as Theodor. Oecumenius Alcuinus talke of a purgatory fire at the last day wherewith Christ shall come when he commeth in glory as they imagine through which al shall passe but this is not their purgatory neither is it any thing but a meere phāsie indeed Some other among whom Aug. is as they take it the chiefe man seeme somewhat to allow their purgatorie but indeed the chiefe places which they cite out of him for it are such where he speaketh but doubtfully as thus For sitan verum est non est incredibile An sit quaeripotest that is perhaps it is so It is not altogether incredible It may be a question whether there be any such place or no as in his booke de Ciuitate Deilib 21. cap. 26. in Enchirid cap. 69. And yet in diuers other places belike better aduised and more settled he flatly determineth that there is no such third place For in a sermon of his de vamiate huius saecul◠I read thus Scitote vos quod cū anima a corpore auellitur statim in paradiso collocatur aut in inferni tartara praecipitatur that is Knowe yee that when the soule is taken from the body either by and by it is placed in paradise or thrown into Hell And in hie Hypognosticon the 5. booke he saith thus The first place the Catholike faith by Gods authoritie beleeueth to be the kingdome of heauen the second place that same catholike faith beleeueth to be hell where all runnagates and all that are without the faith of Christ shall tast euerlasting punishment As for any third place penitus ignoramus that is we vtterly know none saith he neither shal we finde in the holy scriptures that there is any such And in his booke de peccatorum meritis li. 1. ca. 28. he hath these words Non est vlli vllus medius locus vt possit esse nisi cum diabolo qui non est cum Christo there is no middle place for any but that he must needes be with the diuel if not with Christ And truely for the releeuing of soules departed by things done for thē here by others as you haue heard the scriptures are against them so the fathers be also For Augustine saith flatly to Hesichius Epist 80. In what state thy dying day findeth thee the last day also shall come vpon thee And Hierom. vpon the 9. of Eccles before alleadged gathereth that there can nothing bee added to the dead by any thing done hereafter And accordingly writeth Cyprian de mortalitate saying Qualē t◠inuenit Deus cū hinc euocat talē pariter iudicat that is In what state God findeth thee whē he calleth thee hence such a one he wil also iudge thee Indeed they may haue these fathers the heathen philosopher Plato in his Gorgia Homer in his 1. 3. Odyss Virgil in his 6. book of AEneid Ouid in his 2. Fastorū Aristotle the Alcoran such like to fetch their purgatory from others of any sound credit they haue none And as for their reasons they are but discourses of their own wit or of others like themselues laste before named And their best are when they are driuen to the vtmost but counterfait writings of fathers falsly bearing their names and writen by some of their owne crew of later time false tales lying apparitions of men and diuels For rather than Purgatory shal be left without an author the diuell shal be he and they will make much of his authority also For they write in Lombardica historia that Saint Odilio at Vulcania of Sicilia hearing that the howlinges and cries of Diuels were hard mourning that soules were takē from them after their departure out of the body by the almes praiers of their friendes liuing caused the feast of the cōmemoration of the dead for the reliefe of soules in purgatory to be ordeined The truth is dearly beloued that their doctrine in this point is such that if ten thousand angels and al the fathers should tel vs that it were true we ought to bold both them and their assertiō accursed it is so blasphemous and iniurious to the precious boud-shed of Iesus Christ the only purgatory indeed both of soul and body For to maintain this they first must hold that the merites and satisfactions of Christ are not sufficient of themselues and by themselues without these paines suffering in purgatory also and this other relief to saue the soule of the beleeuer in him Secondly they must hold that in the bloud of Christ the beleeuer hath forgiuenes of sinnes but not of the punishment due therefore Thirdly that God is such a God as will punish a soule with such hellish torments for the same sinnes which he hath already forgiuen in his sonne and therfore promised to remember no more Heb. 10.17 And lastly they must attribute power to do that to the paines of purgatory and to this their reliefe that they talke of which they hold the bloud of Christ hath not done without these to such You see therfore that these fellowes that are so busy in purgatory are wel worthy for their labour to finde nothing els whē they depart but hell and hellish torments And no doubt of it they sell heauen so fast to others that if they repent not there wil be no place els left for them but hell But to leaue them to their fained king the pope and to this his new kingdome which he hath appropriated to him and his it is further to be noted that in that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth not onely signifie vp by but noteth also a continuāce of time thenceforth that to the full comfort of them that die in the
that I alwaies seeke is to edifie theÌ„ that heare me with as good and necessary doctrine as I can As for gloriousnesse of words pleasant and delicate speech I think it becommeth the philosophers chaire but not the pulpit For I finde that Paul hath written that hee vvas not sent to Preache the Gospell vvith vvisedome of vvoordes least the Crosse of Christ should bee made of none effect 1. Corinth 1.17 And therefore vvhen hee came among them he saieth hee came not vvith excellencie of vvoordes or of vvisedome shevving vnto them the testimonie of God For hee esteemed not to knovve anie thing among them saue onelie Iesus Christ and him crucified 1. Corinth 2.1.2 Sometimes there are some sentences of the Doctors and ancient fathers interlaced but they are not by mee at any time alleadged as though their testimonie or iudgement vvere a sufficient argument to grounde a trueth vpon For all trueth must haue and hath his sufficient warrant from the canonicall Scriptures and hauing so it is a trueth though all the Doctors and Fathers shoulde gaine-saie it I onely therefore bring them in as vvitnesses of the trueth in their times receiued partly to shewe the Popish vaine bragge of antiquitie in these pointes and partely to beate them from their errours vvith their owne weapons Howbeit herein I haue beene very sparing though indeed I might haue beene in the citing of them verie plentifull they are so full of excellent sentences to the same endes and purposes for the vvhich these fewe out of them vvere alleadged Nowe my reasons that moue me to bee so bolde as to make this Sermon appeare againe after this sorte vnder your Lordshippes protection making my choise of you to dedicate it vnto are these First I am perswaded that you vvere a principall meanes that I vvas occasioned first to conceaue and preach it Secondly you are the man to whome among all other and aboue all other I am most bound for your manifolde kindenesses diuersly shewed vnto mee and therefore hee that maie most iustly chalenge all dutifulnesse and tokens of thankefulnesse vvhich lie in my poore povver to shewe amongest vvhich I beseech you accept this as one though it bee but a small one Thirdely I knowe suche is your sincere affection to the trueth of Doctrine therein contayned and such vvas your vnfayned loue and affection to-vvardes him whose memoriall it still reuiueth that as you took pleasure in hearing of it once so you wil delight your selfe in reading perusing of it often Which reasons considered I hope you will beare with my boldnes herein and others I trust whosoeuer they bee will approue of this my so doing And therefore beseeching the Lord of his mercy long to preserue you your vertuous and good wife my verie good Ladie with all your children in health all true honour and prosperity I cease from any farther troubling of your Honor at this time At Bletchley the 25. of December 1585. Your honours alwaies to commaund THOMAS SPARKE Text. Apocal. 14.13 I hearde a voice from heauen saying vnto me write Blessed are they that die in the Lord thencefoorth euen so saith the spirit that they rest from their labours and their workes accompany them The certainty of the truth in this scripture conteined noted to breede attention obedieÌ„â—e thereto THis present occasion considered right honorable dearly beloued in our Lorde and Sauiour Iesus this portion of Scripture offereth most fit necessary matter both to me to speak of to you to he are For as you may well perceiue herein is set down what the state and condition of al those is that die in the Lorde yea immediatly vpoÌ„ that their death Of which number I hope all you here present are fully perswaded this honorable person whose funerall day heere this is was one And the more reuerently both to mooue me to speake thereof and to prouoke you all the more attentiuely to listen to that which is therin auouched we are to wey that that which herein is set down is a proposition or assertion not first deuised vttered and recorded by the will wit of man but which came downe from heauen left in writing thus vnto vs by expresse and speciall commandement from thence confirmed also to be most true by the assent and approbation of the holy Ghost For Iohn the beloued disciple of Iesus Christ a faithfull witnesse testifieth vnto vs that he heard a voice from heauen commaunding him to write it also hee telleth vs that this heauenly voice had no sooner tolde him that the thing which he shoulde write was this Blessed are they that dye in the Lorde thenceforth but that the Spirit said yea vnto it adding further that such rest from their labors and that the woorkes of such accompany them Wherefore in the feare of God we are al of vs so to consider of the matter taught vs in this proposition as of matter most weighty most certain true For if Iohn himself had left it in writing but by the ordinarye direction of his Apostolike spirite wee ought not at all to haue doubted either of the necessarinesse or certainety thereof For euen thereby both hee and all the rest of his fellowes writers of the Canonical Scriptures were euer preserued in their writinges both from all erring in their writings and also from committing vnto writing any needelesse or vnprofit able thing Howe much lesse it being as you haue hearde most earnestlie affirmed and by most inuincible authoritie confirmed and strengthened may we doubt of any thing taught vs in this heauenly oracle Out of all doubt euen hereby we are to begin with al al of vs fast bound most readily to beleeue euery thing to be most certainelye true which herein is taught whatsoeuer wee haue taught heeretofore or fleshe and bloode can say to the contrarie hereafter otherwise most gracelessely wee shoulde call into question whether there be trueth or no in a most vehement asseueration of the almighty which once to doe were blasphemie The scope occasion and other circumstaunces thereof The scope and drift that our most wise and louing GOD had in causing these woordes to be registred and recorded in this booke after this sort to the eternall consolation of his considered wee shall euen thereby perceiue that it was not without very great cause why euen thus they were set downe For it appeareth in certaine chapters before this whereof these woordes are a part that it was reuealed vnto Iohn how Antichrist shoulde come grow and flourish in his kingdome to the ecclipsing of the trueth marueilouslie Wherefore in this Chapter as our verie aduersaries are compelled to confesse to his comfort and the farther consolation of the Church the Lord vouchsafeth to reueale vnto him the fall of Antichrist and the manner how in this sorte first in causing him to see an Angell flie in the middest of heauen hauing an euerlasting Gospell to preach vnto them that dwell
on the earth to euerie Nation Kindred Toungue and People saying with a lowde voice Feare God giue glorie to him for the houre of his iudgemēt is come worship him that made heauē and earth the Sea the fountaines of waters and then in causing him to see another Angell following saying It is fallen it is fallen Babylon the great citie For shee made all nations to drinke of the wine of the wrath of her fornication and thirdly in causing him to see and heare a third Angell following the other two saying with a loude voice If any man worshippe the beast and his image and receiue his marke in his foreheade or hand the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God yea of the pure wine which is powred into the cup of his wrath and hee shall be tormented in fire and brimstone before the holy Angels and before the Lambe and the smoke of their torment shal ascend euermore and they shall haue no rest day nor night which worship the beast and his image and whosoeuer receiueth the Print of his name Wherein in effect is shewed as it is also written 2. Thes 2. that after Antichrist shall haue shewed himselfe in his full then yet when God shall see it time that he would by the spirit of his mouth that is by the effectuall preaching againe of the Gospel which Antichrist had smothered bring him to a desperate consumption Which once beeing brought to passe of the great mercie of the Lorde towards his church by this light thē so come into the world shining therin the Lord teacheth here by the voice of the 3. Angel that as many as be desirous to escape eternal damnatiō should in any case so seperate themselues from Antichrist his religiō that neither in forhead nor hand they bear his mark that is that neither openly nor secretly they be any longer fauorers of him and his abhominations And this more plainly after chap. 18. vpon occasion of a reuelation like vnto this which he had of the fall of the kingdome of Antichrist he doth warn vs of by a voice from heauē saying Go out of her my people that ye be not partakers in her sins that ye receiue not of her plagues Which admonition Iohn by the spirite of Prophesie foreseeing would take place in a number that thereupon Antichrist and his confederates would take occasion of great griefe anger seeing so their kingdomes to decay he bursteth out into these words saying Here is the patience of the Saints here are they that keep the cōmandements of God the faith of Iesus As who should say I foresee that when these thinges shoulde come to passe which the Lord hath foreshewed by the voices of these three Angels shall then they that leaue Antichrist to cleaue to Christ and forsake his abhominable superstition to imbrace the sinceritie of the Gospell shall maruellously bee assaulted by Antichrist and his to reclaime them againe by al meanes both faire and foule sweete and subtile sowre and violent insomuch that they then shall stād neede of perfect patience For if it were possible the deuises and meanes which he will vse to repaire his kingdome againe withal will bee such that the very elect should be seduced as Christ hath foretold Mat. 24.24 Wherupon the words of my text follow where incoragemēt is giuē to al men that shal liue to see Antichrist and his treacherie by the preaching again of the gospell thus detected brought to his consumption to imbrace the doctrine of the Gospell and to leaue his yea and constantly to perseuere both in the profession of their hatred and defiance of his abominations though neuer so vniuersally liked before yet stil the better to deceiue offered in a golden cup and also in their loue liking of the sincerity of the truth of the gospel though neuer so much slaundred by his to be a new doctrine heresie and persecuted also For so far off shall it bee that ye shall loose anie thing saith the Lord vnto such in my text if you take this course quite to forsake Antichrist and leane onely vnto and vppon Christ that when hee hath doone his woorst which is but to kill your bodies and so to cause your soules to flit the sooner out of them that I assure you without all doubt you shall immediately thence-foorth bee blessed in that all manner of woe and paine shall bee ended to you and besides your sincere profession holy cōuersation must bee rewarded with ioy vnspeakeable felicitie in heauen Be therefore of good courage the light shining amongest you againe imbrace it and walke in it haue no longer either secretly or openly any further fellowshippe with the workes of darkenesse if you haue you haue heard the thirde Angell tell you that then therefore ye shal be euerlastingly accursed and condemned But if you haue refused them and will liue and die in the sincere profession and beleefe of the trueth of the Gospell whatsoeuer meanes Antichrist shall vse to drawe you backe againe vnto him I say vnto you and I say it most earnestly you shal be for euer blessed and happie My text therfore commeth in as a preoccupation to take awaie from al such as should fall from Antichrist to Christ by the preaching of the Gospell all obiections whatsoeuer can or may arise in their mindes to make them wauer or go backe againe vnto him And for asmuch as the Lord saw that these would be many yea and that in shew so forcible to a man consulting with flesh bloud that he should euen therwith be often amased you see right honorable as I haue said that not without verie great cause is this proposition tending to their comforce and strengthening vttered and recorded in such sort and maner as you haue heard Wherefore whensoeuer there ariseth any reason or motion in our mindes to draw vs backe frō the sincerity of the Gospell to take again the marke of the beast either in our forehead or hand then to strengthen our selues to withstand all such let vs make our recourse vnto this place and well wey this point that here is damnation flatly denoūced to all such as after the sound of the gospell againe reuolt to Antichrist and that there is most certainly saluatiō and blisse promised to those that refuse to doe it and choose rather to lose their liues The diuision Now in the proportiō it self thus vpō this occasion vttered we haue to cōsider two things principally that is who they be of whō the Lord therein speaketh what it is that he speaketh of such The first is expressed in these words They that die in the Lord the later in these Are blessed thenceforth euen so saith the spirit that they rest from their labors their works accōpany thē Wherof orderly nowe I am to speake as the text offereth occasiō as the time wil permit me Though this particle
Lorde The blessed state of them that dy in the lord is permanēt they may hereby learne that not onely immediatly after their death they shal rest from their labours and enter vppon their rewarde and so bee blessed but that also this their state is certaine without any falling backe from it and therefore still their reward is called life euerlasting in the scriptures And surely if this be their state immediatly thenceforth without euer any dāger of falling backe to worse then of the contrary it must needs follow that quite contrary immediatly after their death shal be the state and condition of al that die not in the Lord and that there is no hope for euer for them to attaine vnto a better What neede there then a general iudgement will some say I answere for two causes that the bodies thē may be restored to their soules againe that both the ioies of the faithful paines of the faithles to the ful manifestatiō both of gods mercy iustice may be cōsummate and ful that so god thē may outwardly solemnly iustify before al the world his former particular iudgemēt which imediatly before at euery mās death he had laid vpon them Lastly we are not to passe ouer or forget how our aduersaries the Papistes abuse this last clause of the text For they hearing that workes follow such thereupon inferre that works merit eternal blisse The abuse of this place therby to prooue that workes merite confuted Indeed hereupon it followeth as I haue noted before that none haue a right faith in Christ but those that haue also good works to accompany them whensoeuer they dye in the Lord which I would not haue forgotten But hereupon to gather that our workes merite heauen we may not For then they should go before our being in the Lord be a cause therof whereas here it is only sayde that they follow and accompany such Which it should seeme that Augustine had obserued li. de Fide operibus ca. 14. when he said that good workes goe not before iustification but they follow a man iustified Let them therefore followe in Gods name as a fruit of a man in the Lorde but let them not step before as a cause of his being in the fauor of the Lord. And vnderstād that this argument is stark naught good workes shal be rewarded with heauēly blisse therefore they merite it Is no man rewarded but he which hath merited and deserued it first The heire when he commeth to his fathers lands is then wel rewarded for his paines he took in his fathers time yet hee hath not his inheritance for those his paines for then rather some seruant oftentimes should haue the inheritance but for that he was his fathers son heire before Euen so it is in this case we are born the sons of God by faith in Christ Ioh. 1.12 13. so coheires with him of heauen Rom. 8.17 thereby first and then follow good workes in vs not as a cause why we shal haue this inheritance but as a fruit effect flowing frō our thankful mindes to our heauenly father for this notable inheritance thus freely prepared for vs. And yet when we come to the inheritance because it cōmeth after these our works after a sort we may say that euē there by our paines in working are rewarded yet we haue not that reward for our workes but for that we working so were the sons heires of God But for the better loosing of al such popish knots vnderstād that it is not al one to say good works shal be rewarded and to say good works haue merited that rewarde For there are rewards giuen of mercy and so is this as well as of debt and duty Rom. 4.4 Againe there is great ods betwixt these two questions who shal bee saued and why man shal bee saued To the former we answere the well worker to the latter only for Christs sake apprehended by faith And therfore take this for the conclusion we shal be iudged Secundū operum indicium non propter operum meritū according to the testimony y our workes giue of vs not for the merit of our workes For it is writen Ephe. 2.8.9 We are saued by grace through faith that not of our selues it is the gift of God not of works lest any man should boast himself And yet this doctrine neither letteth nor staieth at al frō good works but is y◠only fountain indeed from whēce al true works do spring flow And therfore y◠Apo. Paul as you may obserue throughout al his epistles first laboreth to set down this doctrine then thereupon after buildeth exhortation to godlines of life the like course tooke Peter as you may see in his first epistle And yet these knewe how to prouoke to good works and in no case may be counted teachers of a doctrine enemy to good works Yea there is none indeed that hath grace to imbrace this doctrine effectually but therby he feeleth by experience his hart so enflamed with loue towardes God for his infinite mercy hereby displaied vnto him both in sauing him frō perishing and in thus freely preparing heauē for him that frō that loue of his there floweth riuers flouds of al thankfulnes in al true obedience to his God wherin he walketh chearfully cōfortably But the Papists being bastards no lawful children of the Lorde beeing not assured of this full and free fauor of his towards thē of a slauish feare with a seruile mind to earn heauē at his hands doe the good which they do Which indeed in matter maner of doing is such that though it carrye the shew of godlines yet it is not so indeede For the matter of good works they wil not fetch warrāt only frō gods reuealed wil in his word but matter good inough with thē For a good worke is any thing for the which they can alleage a traditiō of the elders or their own good intent Which kinde of works the Lord reiecteth as stincking in his sight Isa 29.13 Mat. 15.9 Co. 2.20 c. And as for their maner of doing it is like the Pharises ioyned with a conceit that therefore they may despise others trust to be heard at Gods hands for the merite of their works Which kinde of doing Christ hath cōdēned Mat. 6.1 Luk. 18.9 c. in forbidding vs to do our workes as the Pharisees did in sending home the proude Pharisee vniustified And therfore in very deed as they are without all true christian faith so are they without al true good works And therefore whosoeuer hath any thing to comfort himself by this place it is none of thē No doubt of it this noble mā whose body lieth here amongst vs to be encōbed though euen in outwarde shew of almes giuing other good works he ouermatched most merit mongers yet seeing he trusted only to the meries of Christ and neuer to his owne workes but did them only of loue and thankefulnesse towas his God is among those of whome it is here said Their workes accompany them and therfore now is in ioyful fruition of the reward thereof Whose example as wee that bee of the same faith are to followe that so with him we may bee in euerlasting remembrance both with God and good men as no doubt hee shall so it is an example to stoppe the mouths of the aduersaries that lyingly crye out that they that bee of our religion haue no good woorkes following them The secōd conclusiō Thus at last right honorable and dearely beloued we haue runne thorow this portiō of scrpture and considered both the generall and particular vse thereof And so first we haue heard how strongly it is warranted to conteine nothing but soūd truth namely that not whosoeuer knoweth or cōmeth ny but whosoeuer is by a true a liuely faith vnited vnto Christ dieth in him which is neither a miraculous historicall temporarie dead or popish faith but a faith seeking and apprehending saluation onely in Christ Iesus shal thēceforth be blessed immediatly in resting from all woe in body and soule and in entring vppon possession of their euerlasting rewarde and then thereby more particularly we haue obserued that therefore the body riseth againe and that the soule is neither mortall nor sleepeth that there is no popish purgatory nor any thing that can be done by others for soules departed that can doe them any good to ease or better their estate and finally that though here bee offered vs great encouragement to good workes yet here is nothing to proue that woorkes merite any thing at Gods hand All which doctrine and lessons our honourable friend here departed as I haue from point to point shewed you hath already found true by experience God of his mercy giue vs all grace so to set his example before vs that wee may so followe him that we may euery one of vs one day also to Gods glory and our own euerlasting comfort feele and finde the trueth thereof in our selues This O Lorde we beseech thee to grant vs all for thy onely sonne Iesus Christes sake to whome with thee and the holy Ghost three persons and one euerliuing God be all power honour might and maiestie nowe and for euer Amen September 22. An. Do. 1594. The grace of our Lord Iesus Christ the loue of God the Father and the most comfortable fellowship of the holy Ghost be with vs all now and euer to direct sanctifie and gouerne vs in all our waies works thoughts Amen FINIS