Augustine sayth Qui non manet in Christo c. He that dwelleth not in Christe and in whome Christe dwelleth not vndoubtedly he eateth not spiritually the fleshe and blood of Christe Albeit he carnally and visibly teare with his teeth the Sacrament of the body and blood of Christe And if any man say vnto me why then doth Christ say This is my body I answere it is a figuratiue speach of our Sauiour and is of him spoken to a people that well were acquaynted with the Scriptures phrase in Sacramentes So is Circumcision called the Couenaunt of the Lorde when it is but the signe of the Lordes Couenaunt The Couenaunt it selfe was I will be thy God and thou shalt be my people And therefore Circumcision is called in the same chapter that which in it selfe it remayneth to be namely the Signe and not the Couenaunt And it shall be sayth God a signe of the Couenaunt betwixt thee and me Likewise the Pascall Lambe is called Transitus domini the passing by of the Lord vntill the comming of Christe yet the Lorde by his angel passed but once in al through the land of Egipt and therfore verily indede that sacrament could not be the passsing of the lord This is the vse of scripture sayth Augu. that the signes which signifie are called by the names whiche they do represent as thus the seuē eares of corne septem anni sunt are seuen yeres The Rocke was Christe c. And in another place he sayth The Lord doubted not to say This is my body whē he gaue signū corporis the signe of his body So good christian Audience the words of Christ as of him they were spoken are sacramentally to be vnderstoode So that whē Christ saith This is my body we are to take it thus this is the representing to the faithfull the exhibiting signe of my body That these words of Christ are figuratiuely spoken Augu. also witnesseth in his booke De doctrina christiana But that the faythful do eate by the worke of the spirite Christes diuine power his very body and blood in the true vse of the Lords supper the faithfulnes in god approueth who euer was the same to his people that his faithful pledges the Sacraments promised Circūcision promised his continuall ayde that he would be their god and they should be his people Search the Scriptures see if euer any people were so guerdoned or had the presence of God so neare them or were any people so prospered so long as they continued with circumcised harts in his holy couenant Did not the Lord by his angel performe that in dede which he promised by his paesah his sacramentall passeouer Did he not passe by the Israelites house tied to this Couenant plagued all the first borne in Egypt So no doubt he truely feedeth the faithfull with not only the power but the precious body in himself not stouping one inch yet frō his fathers Throne or giuing his body to be rent into peces with our mortal teeth but in such a diuine sort as our tongs can not vtter bicause our or thy capacities cā not cōceiue the maner how further thē by the sight of his noble creature the shining sun The sunne in his globe and person doth kepe continue his spheare circle in the Zodiake yet doth he by the decree and prouident power of God light vs warm vs comforte vs and renewe our blood and bodies and as we may saye by borowed speache geueth vs lyfe by his heauenly beames the ordinarie conducts from him felfe with his very liuing substaunce Sith thus we haue so elegant a shadow of our Sauiour Christes body verily feding vs that are his in earth let vs not distrust or further descant howe the Lord can sith we know not how the sonne doth his office but feele it so to be but let vs beleeue that the Lord by his holy spirite doth feede vs and in deede with his very body blood from heauen as verily as his minister at the table in earth doth geue vs the sacred symboles of his holy body whiche in their former nature remaine not other then bread wine And with that mind that our father Abraham did receiue the sacrament of circumcision let vs folow approch the Lordes table That is so taccept with faythful harte in hand the holy Mysteries as the seales of righteousnes that God will giue vs the same that he affyrmeth them to be and in such sort as the same is to be distributed vnto vs effectually in spirite truth Let vs examine trie our selues whether we be in the fayth let vs wel consider of our steppes whether we be stāding or falling before our God let vs cast from vs our former ills put vpon vs Iesus Christ his obedience Let vs confesse our daily sinnes approch with louing feare reuerence vnto this table of attonement Finally repent beleeue the Gospel Let the Papist depart from all his ignoraunt superstition receyue the doctrine of the holy written scriptures vnfaignedly Let the carnal gospeller the Atheist be ashamed at his filthy life skoffing girds cast at the truth Let the Auncient harlot hate his whordome and bath his beastly body in the blood of Christ by repentant fayth Let the couetous stretche out his hande vnto the poore shut vp his eyes from worldly thirst Let the courtly Dames you here present cut short the phantasies of vaine desires and rather couet to come behind the lashing pride of these ill days then seeke to folow the vntamed fashion of this wicked world And pray with Dauid that your eyes may be fast shut from beholding our to to much abhominable vanities Let the contentious ceasse their brawling striffe and with vs in one by the Lordes spirite of truth ascende to the Lordes sacrament of vnitie loue That this grace may come to euery of vs and to the whole Church of god this Church of England Ireland and therein to the Quenes maiestie Elizabeth her honorable Councelours and Potentates Gods spiritual Preachers and Ministers to all Magistrates gouernours as well here present as absent and to this congregation a member of the sayd Church let vs the louing sheepe of our cheefe Shepherd Christe by the comfort direction of his holy spirite humbly at the hands of our most merciful Father for the loue he beareth to Christe his only begotten sonne and in his name craue it saying O our father whiche arte in heauen c. Graunt O Lorde that into the vvords vvhich this day and at other times through thy great mercy vve haue graciously heard vve may be effectually transformed through Christe our head Shepheard and Lorde To whom together with thee O Father and the holy Ghost three distinct persons and one eternall God be all honour and glory power and dominion now and for euer
your vnderstanding in the sight of the people vvhich shall heare all these ordinaunces and shall say only this people is vvise and of vnderstanding and a great nation For what nation is so greate vnto whom the Gods come so neere vnto them as the Lord our God is neere vnto vs in all that we call vnto him for And what nation is so greate that hath ordinaunces and lawes so righteous as all this law which I set before you this day But if from the constituted lawe most holy righteous briefe and comodious thou cast thine eyes to the common welth of Israell euen from the king Salomon to his people thou shalt see it most beautifull The constitution of the church in Iury as it far passed all popishe pompe and that was maruelous so was it not without a preaching office to the posteritie of Christes glorified churche The doctrine plainely did set forth the way to life in Christ and because all this faire forme tended to this ende to keepe the poople of Israell in the limittes of their calling it is aptly cōpared to a shepheardes staffe and for the excelling order is moste worthely called beauty By the second staffe he vnderstandeth the lynked loue and fraternitie in blood which farre excelled all other kingdomes whiche know not their originall or are kept immixed with forrē blood The Iewes proceede all from one father Iacob and are as touching blood al in one brotherhood The Lord to keepe them in them selues as well in externall rites as continuall Genelogies of their Tribes did tye them together in one that they shoulde not he ignorant of their pedigrie nor shoulde mixt them selues with forreiners Neither was it els then the Lordes singular blessing that notwithstanding so many battailes and often troubles such diuision of the kingdome and long exile in so many forepassed yeeres they till the day wherin the Lord brake these his staues of beauty and bands knowe one anothers race ofspring for the which things sake you may see howe elegantly this staffe is called bands as by the which the Iewish amitie was preserued But both these staues Christ brake when Symony firste purchased the priesthood in Ierusalē lastly whē the Iewes were oppressed of all mē made the out castes of the world which sometime were Lordes in the earthe aboue the rest And this couenaūt did God vnfold when after Christs assention he sent the Romaines to pollute and finally to subuert both their ecclesiasticall and pollitique gouernment Yet some comforte was left them tyll the reigne of Aelius Adrianus by whom their rebelliō to Christ and his word was vtterly reuēged For he slewe many of them he put the rest to exile and forbdd them the entraunce into their former Cyties townes he did cōpell them to cast their lokes from the land of promise He rammed vp the gates in Ierusalem with swynes doung to the ignomious reproch of the obstinate Iewes with whome God in iustice had caused his Christe to breake the staues of their former defence beautie bandes And frō this tyme is it that the temple and common welth in Iury is so ouerthrowne that none of them can now truely tell of what linnaige or kindred he is of O Lord who can loke into this people and not quake in feare so greatly blessed so dearely loued as to them and for them God spared not to gyue his sonne in first and chiefe Besides for this he kept the whole earth to stand in awe of them But now no people so odious eyther to God or man as they quite geuen ouer of god and persecuted of all good men By this we are taught that sith all our christian fraternitie dependeth vpon Christ whom this people dispised of whom we are named and by whom also we haue God to our father spedely to kisse the sonne least he be angry and so we perishe from the right way for vnlesse we be at one with him there is no accompt of vs but as to the wicked Iewes to whom there is no peace The beautiful gouernment of this our lande so long continued vnder one monarchy may assure vs of Christe our shephearde to holde our stay his beautifull staffe in hande But I feare me our demerites be suche as were it not for his owne names sake this staffe by him yet holden would spedely be sore shiuered God preserue our noble Queene in whō alone by his great mercy the stay of our happy gouernment is continued for beyonde her we can see nothing but confusion Our beauty is then lyke to be turned into more than beggery Farre be it from men in earth to take this Gods office from heauen in hand If any gouernment he not perfect it is the Lords to amende it yf any to be reformed the same is with such foresight to be regarded that in seeking to remoue the forreing matter from the shepheards staffe which by longer tyme as a snayle slowly hathe crept vppon it and by latter dayes is conglutinate so thereto that hardly may it be seuered withoute some detriment that the staffe may still be preserued without which we perishe To the shepheardes which haue this staffe in hold belongeth the pollishing of the same and not to priuate persons which are rather to be directed therby Our partes is to pray the head shepheard Christ by whom kinges do reigne so to frame the hartes of christian kings which are al in his hand that they may feede the flocke committed to their charge faithfully and in the integritie of their soule with the staffe of Christes gouernment Namely by the Cannon of his worde which by his diuine prouidence is appointed the staffe of our assured defence The preachers office is into the hartes of Kinges to beat the knowledge of this truth that they by doctrine may know the substanciall duetie of best gouernmēt The higher called to the first must hoalpe thereto that God our highe shephearde by him selfe in the person of his princes in earth may dayly rule ouer vs his children So farre I lyke of the learned at this day seeking for redresse but in no wise dare I alowe that others shoulde be shut vp in hate which cannot ioyne in all respects to that them selues do not perceiue And I conclude that petition patience and parliament is the ascending staire to this high blessing Beyonde this there seemeth not els to be but a chrusshing of the shepeheardes croke which is the worke of god alone and to vs then no other but the dore of desolation and confusion to our former christian vnitie which God preserue for his names sake and purge his church of snayly knurres glewed to this staffe and keepe the same whole sound ouer vs to our farthest posteritie yf it stande with his good will and pleasure So shal our kingdome be beautifull and our christian brotherhoode garded with the band of Gods spirite to our eternall peace in him For the
Amen Laus Deo per Christum 1. Ian. 1575 Psa 77.21 Psal 80.1 Esai 40.11 Psa 110.1 Ma. 23. Act. 2.34 Io. 10.11 1. Pe. 2.25 Io. 5.24 Io. 10.15 Mat. 11.28 Io. 21.15.16.17 Act. 20.28 Luke 15.4 5. Mat. 18 12 Lu. 10.34 Esai 53. 1. Pe. 2.24 Ma. 12.20 Io. 15.2 Io. 15.2.3 Eze. 3.18 Act. 20.28 Zach. 11.17 Rom. 8 1. Pet. 2. Rom. 8. 1. Pe. 5. Io. 10. Esa. 53.7 Heb. 12.2.3 4. c. Psal 37.25 1. Kin. 17.4 5.6 1. Kin. 17.14.15.16 Dan. 14. story of Bell. Io. 6.11.12 13. Mat. 6.33 Psa 37.19 Phi. 4.11 Psa 37.2.3 Psa. 17.14 2. Cor. 5.8.9.10.11.16.17.18 2. Cor. 6.9.10 Luke 16 vers 2 Io. 5.24 Ioh. 7.39 Iohn 4.14 Math. 6. vers 3. Rom. 7.18.19.20 2 Chro. 24 17.18.19.20 Rom. 8. Io. 17.2.6 Rom. 8.29 Eph. 1.2.3.4 Rom. 8. Colos 3. Math. 3. 2. Co. 5.20 Luke 1.17 Psal 19 1. Co. 9.16 Pro. 29.18 Ro. 10.17 Rom. 8.37 Mark. 16 16 Esa. 56.10 11.12 Ephe. 1 Eph. 2.19 Eph. 2.12 Rom. 8.3.4 Tit. 2.11.11 Lu. 9.62 2. Cor. 3.5 Phil. 1.6 Ezech. 35.30.31 Ephe. 2.18 Rom. 8.15 Apoc. 7. and 14 Eph. 4.30 1. Io. 5.10 Rom. 8.33 2. 1. Pet. 2.21 Rom. 8.14 Rom. 7.19 2. Pet. 2.19 Eph. 3.16 Eph. 4.19 20. Eph. 5.4 1. Cor. 11.1 Luk. 2. Sap. 5. Esa. 40 Esa. 30.22 Esa. 64 vers 6 Psal 31.4 1. Sa. 12.22 Esa. 48.9 Eze. 20.9 Eze. 36.32 vers 4. Psa 34.19 Eph. 5.7 2. Cor. 4.13 Exo. 14.22 Dan. 3.25 Gen. 20.3 2. Sa. 12.1 Psa 22.24 Gene. 17. Iona. 1.17 Act. 12.8.9 2. Cor. 2.3 Zach. 11. 1. Cor. 11.32 Ezech. 18. Psal 103.8 Heb. 12.10 and 2.17 Esa. 5 4.7 Hebr. 12.5.6.7 Psal 39.11 Luke 13.2 Psal 2.9 Ps. 78.45 2. Sa. 10.12 1. Para. 18.19 Esa. 37.36.38 2. King. 6.14.18 2. Kin. 7.6 2. Ki. 6.25 2. Tes 2. Mat. 21.44 2. Cor. 10.4 Ioh. 14.1 Mat. 21.43 Zach. 11.7 Deu. 4.6 Gualterus in zachari Psa 2.12 Prou. 20. Ps. 78.70.71.72 Zac. 11.16 Ps. 61.2.5 1. Co. 10.4 Psa 122.1 1. Cor. 10. Ioel. 2.16 17. 1. Cor. 10.17 1. Cor. 14.23 1. Cor. 10.1 2.3.4 Rom. 15. Rom. 4. In the Sacrament two things are conceiued Cipriani de vnct Chrism Ambro. de sacra li. 4. cap. 4. Origen in Matth. August in Io. tra 20. Gen. 17.10 Exod. 12. August in Leuit. 17. Gen. 41.26 Augu. de doct chri lib. 3. Deut. 4. Exo. 12.12.13.28.29 Ro. 4.11.12 2. Corinth Rom. 12.2 Psal 119.32 To the right vvorshipfull Syr William Fitzwilliam Knight late Lorde deputie of Irelande A. Anderson the minister of Christes holy Gospell vvisheth Christ our Lorde vvith his vvhole merites CAll vppon me sayth God in the day of thy trouble and I will deliuer thee Greater troubles with lesse comfortes than in the raging Seas can not be founde as those with Dauid must confesse which occupie their busines in greate waters This daungerous Iourney as among many others ye are in the Lordes name to aduenture so vouchsafe this preparatiue to your godly hart and by and with the same in assured hope of Gods assistaunce for his Christ approche his mercy seate The hast we haue and gaping hope for Westerly winds will not permit long leysure to proyue this sodayne frame Take it Right Worshipfull as it is and accept the good will of the Geuer vse it at your neede to the Lordes prayse and your present comfort which is my harty desire And I shall dayly pray the Lorde for you and vs that we may speedely imbarke and safely arriue in Englande through Christes ayde the master of our ship At Holme Patricke in Irelande 17. October 1575. Your Worships in Dom. A. Anderson A forme of prayer for sea-men and passengers to vse in the sayling Shippe ¶ A confession of our sinnes to God. O Almighty God and most righteous we thy deare children here encompassed with these thy mighty creatures the windes the huge seas and sayling ship do acknowledge and confesse our selues and euery of vs to be miserable sinners and from our first cradles depely to haue offended thy diuine maiestie Our seuerall thoughtes be corrupted our sundry hartes and acts are polluted our synnes cannot be hid from thee We hartely confesse them O Lord els should our consciences condemne vs because our transgressions beare witnes against vs But thou art the God of our saluation and to vs thy children the beste father full of mercyes riche in compassion slowe to wrath and most ready to forgiue the penitent sinner calling vpon thee And sithe it is the worke of thy most holy spirite to mollifie the stony harted and to chaunge the fleshly hart into a spirituall soule Eze. 36. We most humbly besech thee for thy Christes sake to graunt vs thy holy spirite takē from vs our stony and gyue vs hartes of fleshe and into them power thy graces turne vs vnto thee Thy holy law imprint in our soules and giue vs to walke in thy statutes during these our naturall lyues Bow downe thine eare and heare vs and with thy fauourable countenance loke vpon vs behold our place and cause of cry Our ship is subiect to subuersion if thy holy hande direct vs not in mercifull prouidence Gyue O lord the sweete and plesant gale in thy name of vs to be desired in vehement stormes by thee called to punish and proue vs assist vs with thy strength and spirite of comfort Loke vpon our mediatour Christ and through him pitie vs and in the bowels of thy mercy conduct vs to the hauen of vs desired if it be thy will. Then shall we sing and prayse thy name and shew thy wonders in the deepe and our soules shall confesse that though the seas be mightie Psa 93.5 yet thou O God art of most might ouer them Let vs not be tempted further gracious God then that our strength in thee shall counteruaile and graunt the euent prosperous Glad our hartes with safety on shore and make vs mindfull of thy mercies Gyue vs we beseche thee true fayth firme hope and feruēt loue in thee keepe vs alwayes thine and graunt thy Christ for euer ours in whose name for our selues and all other in our condition with the rest of thy churche we call vnto thee thus O our father which arte in heauen halowed be thy name c. A psalme Psa 93.5 The waues of the sea are mighy and rage horribly but yet the Lord that dwelleth on high is mightier Psal 107. 23. They that go down to the sea in ships occupie their busines in great waters 24. These men see the workes of the Lord and his wonders in the deepe 25. For at his worde the stormy wind ariseth which lifteth vp the waues therof 26. They are caried vp to heauen downe againe to the deepe their soule melteth in them because of their trouble 27. They reele to fro and stagger like a dronken man are at their wittes ende 28. So when they cry vnto the Lorde in their trouble hee deliuereth them out of their distresse 29. For
¶ A GODLIE Sermon Preached on Newe yeeres day last before Sir William Fitzwilliam Knight late Lord deputie of Irelande Sir Iames Harrington Knight their Ladyes and Children vvith many others at Burghley in Rutlande By the minister of God Anthony Anderson Hereto is added a very profitable forme of prayer good for all such as passe the seas by the same author framed and vsed in his aduentured iourney Psal 37. Marke the vpright man and behold the iust for the ende of that man is peace ¶ Imprinted at London by Thomas Purfoote for Lucas Harison dwelling in Paules Church yarde Anno Dom. 1576. ¶ TO THE RIGHT worshipfull Sir William Fitzwilliam Knight late Lorde deputie of Ireland Sir Iames Harrington Knight Master Ihon Harrington his sonne and godly heire their vertuous Ladies Wiues and faithfull children Anthony Anderson Preacher of Christs Gospell wisheth all health in Christ our Lorde THough I vse not more thē briefe notes to write my sermons yet right worshipfull for that of some of your godly religious children I was more then earnestly entreated to set downe this Sermon my simple newyeares gift bestowed in comon amongst you I after lōger sute then there was great cause graunted and haue penned downe the same so neare as I can call to my memory the manner of my speche The order and disposition I haue exactly obserued and not omitted any note or authoritie of scripture by me then alledged And as it is vnpossible for him that penneth not his Sermons to set them downe euen so and with the selfe same words in all places as he spake them So to all my possibilitie haue I performed as neare as may be my order and speech And some thing haue I added in some place which want of tyme trained me from at that present And if any lesse ye nowe lyke then when you herde the same consider then the difference betwixt reading preaching the selfe same truth and matter Gods grace did thē assist the preachers spirit voice gesture and disposition likewise your hartes by his spirite were made to hunger this holy bread And now you haue the liuing wordes but seuered from the lyuely voyce which neuer can bring like profit to the godly hartes vnles greate thirste of the matter cause the resemblaunce of the maner howe to stande as freshe before your eyes The Lord graūt it to profit as much as my good will is then shall my small labour be fully recompensed I haue ioyned here to the forme of prayer which I gaue to your worship good Sir William at Holme Patricke in Irelande very good for all such as passe the seas as our selues haue tasted by good proofe the comforts receiued in our late ariual the lord be praised therefore Take the small gyft with the geuer all yours as he may in the Lorde to whome vvith dayly thanks for your great curtesie to me in Irelande I in my prayers commende you the rest vnfainedly Ian. 3. 1575. Your worships in the Lord Anthony Anderson The Lord is my sheperd therfore shall I want nothing He maketh me to rest in greene pasture c. RIght worshipfull and dearely beloued brethren it hath from auncient dayes bene receaued that in the first of the newe yeare eache friende doth salute his other with some token of friendship and therwith wisheth to such his friende all helth good prosperitie in god Which cyuill custome in Newyeares gyfts I do allowe in ciuill sort and hauing so many freinds here assembled haue purposed to benefite you all at once and with suche a speciall gift as of euery of you the same being worthely receaued I shall be deemed to haue satisfied my office belōging my boūden amitie to you all The gift I exhibit is a portion of Gods heauenly treasure fully sufficient from this first day of the yeare to enriche you aboue measure in Christ so that you vse the same wyth the spirituall instrument of faithfull and obedient practise continually in your hartes And this treasure forth of the Psalmists treasury I haue receaued and by the same spirit deliuer it to you in the Lord whose grace the Lorde vouchsafe to be oures in this holy actiō for his Christes sake The treasure it selfe is the .23 Psalme of the Prophet Dauid the which Psalme was made by that holy king after the receipt of his kingdome and Crowne wherto he confesseth God to be his onely helpe and promiseth to him selfe by the former receyued benefites an absolute warrant of Gods heauenly prouidence in his succeding Regiment The words are thus The Lord is my sheperd therfore shall I want nothing He maketh me to rest in greene pasture and leadeth me by the still waters And so forth to the ende of the Psalme I purpose hauing thus by prayer called vpō god to giue you the Psal by verses and of euery of them such comfortable lessons as the Lorde in mercy shall gyue me to vtter vnto your Christian hartes and with as much breuitie as may be because of the extreme cold that so we may more speedely approche the Lordes holy Table to receiue his heauenly mysteries The Lord is my sheperd c. The prophet calleth his God a shepherd because of his prouident care ouer him one of his chosen lambes which word sheperd importeth an office of continual feeding of dayly care of feruēt loue to the flocke vnder his charge of watching guiding and defending to the best safety of his sheepe All which the noble Dauid by the spirite of Gods instructiū knoweth to be in the Lord his our god therfore he giueth his maiestie this most apt tytle The Lord is my sheperd Dauid the prophet vseth the phrase which God by his holy spirite giueth to him his other Prophets in calling the Lord a sheperd as thus Thou diddest lead thy people lyke sheepe by the hand of Moses and Aaron Againe O thou sheperd of Israell herken which leadest Ioseph lyke a sheepe And when God will by his Prophet foretell in what sorte he will visite his people he promiseth his visiting Christ by this name saying He shall feede his flocke lyke a sheperde he shall gather the lambes with his arme and cary them in his bosome and shall guide them with young Lykewise in the Prophet Iere. 23.4 Ezec. 34.10.12 This sheperd Christ is Dauids sheperd and lord The Lord said vnto my Lord sit thou on my right hand vntil I make thine enemies thy footestole In which place Dauid calleth Christ his lord which is to hsm to all the chosen children of god the appointed sheperd of their soules as Christ him selfe doth witnes saying J am the good sheperd the good sheperde giueth his lyfe for his sheepe And Peter in his first epistle thus Ye were as sheepe going astray but ye are returned now vnto the sheperd and byshop of your soules In a good sheperd are to be required these things all which are most
aptly found in Christe our good sheperde He must be of sounde skill to know his sheepe from other mens cattel this is said of Christ I know my shepe by name am knowne of mine He must haue skill in pasturing his sheepe least he bring them to rotten soyle and wasting grasse In Christe is the onely pasture of mans soule in whom all safetie of foode is for his glorious gospel is our heauenly foode his spirite life is our celestiall diet by the mouth of our faith this our bread of lyfe is of euery of vs that beleue firmely eaten and the same is so sounde and sweete pasture that no rot and death can come vnto the worthy fieldes or any lesse able is yt then his diuine power to bring vs to life eternall Thirdly a good sheperde must haue will to feede according to his skill that so his sheepe may not be pyned for want of his louing paynes So Christ is most louing of all others to feede his lambes who hath not spared to lay downe his lyfe for the foode of his sheepe willing to feede for he calleth all men to hym for pasture most carefull of their diet and therfore he hath left their Pabulum his holy worde to the ende of the world whereby his beloued sheepe shoulde become fatte and well lyking in him and hath to this ende commaunded Peter to feede also hath from thence tyll nowe and will to the ende of this worlde select his pastors from among men to feede men with the breade of life Christ in his word Sacraments Further a good Sheperd taketh greate eare ouer his sheepe and vigilantly doth search if so any of them skabbe or be infected and finding them faultie hee addresseth him selfe to their amendment so Christe our Lorde doth dearely care ouer his flocke they be to him as the apple of his eye for them he hath payd the price of their synne and deadly disease namely his owne heart blood he seeketh the lost and caryeth thē on his owne shoulders he annoynteth their sores with the soueraigne salue of his mercy and iustice with the one he pacifieth and that because he fully satisfieth his iust Father with the other he couereth our sins healeth our infirmities He most louingly loketh into our weakenes and beareth vp our infancy he breaketh not the brused rede nor quencheth the smoking flaxe He suffereth not our lyues to be lasciuious but scourgeth and purgeth vs that we may bring forth more frute Lastly a good sheperd hath himselfe his staffe sheperdes dog to help aide his wandering flocke Euen so hath Christe giuen him selfe for our defence his preaching prophets haue of him especiall charge to feede his flocke and them protect continually and great plagues hath he appointed to suche ydle sheperds as no way fede his lowly lābes and though all men faile yet Dauid byddeth vs all be glad for the Lorde is our sheperd therfore shall we not want And now dearely beloued tyme and place requireth to speake something of the sheepes propertie which belong to that sheperde Christe the which thing knowne euery man and woman with their young ones may with examination of them selues best say to God I am thy shepe for thou O Lorde art my sheperd For of no other is Christ the Sheperd but of those which know their wandring wickednes feele their staie to stand in him their God and spedely submit thē selues vnder his tuitiō And to this is Dauid our guide who notwithstanding he was rich and a mighty king yet he freely confesseth his health to be in this that he is the Lords sheepe hath Christe to his euerlasting sheperd In a sheepe are sundry thinges agreeing with the corruption of our nature and therefore standeth in great neede of an expert sheperde She is foolishe and vnwares of harmes she runneth into dayly daungers in her selfe remediles So we by nature are vnwise and blynde to all heauenly thinges Or can the naturall man sauor the thinges which be of God or yet keepe hym from the wandring pathes of death The wandring wayes of all the beste may set downe this to the other sorte for all to true that man can not but sinne and dayly runne from God the Lorde Our Dauid he may stande as able among the rest to this for profe neither can any in the fleshe by the qualities fleshy please God. A sheepe for weakenes and want of courage is vnable to stande agaynste so many her deuouring foes the Foxe the Wolfe and the rauenous Lyon nor is the stoutest mā in the earth by nature of power to gyue checke vnto synne who like a subtill Foxe lyeth lurking and fawning for his pray of Christian soule or from the gaping gulfe of woluishe chappes that hipocritically seeke his spoyle or yet from the raging Satan who goeth roring abroade seeking euery where whō he may deuour The good sheperde Christe therefore is moste requisite in whom against all these we may goe in and out safely and finde pasture But els the naturall sheepe hath qualities right good which are frequented in the children of God they know their Pastors whystle and thereat they yelde vnto his will. So the sheepe of Chrste refusing all straunge voyce they herken vnto the word of our sauiour Christ therin they take such comfort as hauing therin full contentatiō they eschew all others charme be they neuer so subtill sly The sheepe is euer feding with his flece those which no way haue pleasured him for he hath his lyfe of his sheperdes pasture So the children of God lyuing in their Christ are beneficiall to all for his names sake The sheepe is laid by the sherer to the losse of him selfe vpon the thrall and yet he openeth not his mouth So also the true christian abideth for his Christ all ignominy reprochful death not resisting at al but willingly abydeth the crosse expecting the euent in the Lord which is to them that suffer for his names sake euer prosperous Now my brethren of the pastors condition clasped in Christe and of the sheepes nature fixed by his spirite learne your selues to know to whom ye belong and yf you feele your selues the Foldimates of Dauid then may you be bold to say The Lord is my sheperd therfore can I not want The wants whereof the prophet here speaketh are of two sortes The one is called insaciable lust the other necessarie nede With the first as the godly are not combred for that belongeth only the reprobate so the other in them is euer remedied by the feeding sheperde Christ first in supplying their neede with present necessaries then in forming their harts to be content with their estate established by his diuine prouidence to his glorie and their beste good I haue bene young and now am I olde sayth Dauid yet neuer sawe I the righteous
forsaken or his seede begging their breade Helias following his vocation was forsaken of all men but dayly fed of God by the rauenous Crowes the poore wydowes meale when the riche gluttons of Israell were pined for want of necessarie foode Daniell seeking chiefly the glory of our God is cast into the hungry Lyons den in deede but preserued to lyue and to him is sent the prophet Abacucke with his dinner many a myle by the guide of an Angell The Iewes which folowe Christ into the wildernes are of him miraculously fed And to all is this promise gyuen Seeke first the kindome of God and the righteousnes therof and all other thinges shall be mynistred vnto you Now as concerning that the Lord frameth his peoples harts to be contented with their estate Paule for the body of the whole churche sayeth thus I haue learned in what state soeuer I am therwith to be content I can be abased I can aboūde euery where in all things I am instructed both to be full to be hungry to a bound and to haue want The wicked many tymes do florishe as the greene bay tree and haue the worlde at will great store of welth for them selues and childrē so that their sonne sonnes doo feede of the elder gotten bread but withall they haue their portion in this lyfe and after that can see no further cōforts And though the godly contrary do feele many wants and seeme in mans conceipt vtterly to decay yet far other is their state then externall shewe doth tell For the Lord is their sheperde whē they seeme to dye they lyue they are chastened but not killed they seeme in sorow to be swallowed vp but they alway reioyce they seeme poore but yet they make many rich depriued so of worldly comforts seeming to haue nothing they notwithstāding possesse all things Likewise their ende is farre otherwise then the worldly riche For the Lorde dealeth with them as the noble man with his fatted Oxe when he is well fedde is by the slaughter man committed to the axe of death his noble sonne abydeth many sharp yirkes and correcting blowes and after that enioyeth his fathers possessions Euen so the wicked in wealth are wrapped with Diues in hell and the beloued though payned Lazarus is caried by seruice of Angels into our heauenly Fathers kingdome our Christes inheritaunce belonging to the iust This is the marke that Dauid shooteth at when he sayth I shall not want It followeth He shall make me to rest in greene pasture he leadeth me by the styll vvaters All things necessarie shall the Lorde geue me sayth Dauid and that in no base sort or shall any trouble molest my feeding for I shal quietly be guyded and my prosperitie shall be continuing alwayes florishing greene and at no tyme dry or withered neyther shall his blessinges be taken from me with the rage of wicked men but as the shepe of her selfe weake needeth resting place and quiet riuers so shall all thinges come to the best and to my hartes desire in him But beloued in Christ our shepheard is spiritual therfore our pasture must be answerable and it is set downe to vs by our master Pastor thus He that heareth my vvorde and beleeueth on him that sent me hath eternall lyfe and he shall not come into iudgement but hath passed from death vnto lyfe Heere is the pasture of life the gospell of God The rest for mans soule fayth in God through Christe The still waters the holye spirite whiche dothe pacifie the troubled conscience and quietly establisheth vs in Christe who freeth vs from the Fathers iuslice the sentence of eternall death and giueth vs hys glorious Crowne and heauenly kingdome our inheritaunce in him Come to this pasture feede on this bread rest in this power drinke of this water So shall you no more thirst after the filthy puddles of Popishe poysoned Cuppes For in your selues by this spirite of Christe shall abundant riuers of spirituall goodnes flowe out of you that all men seeing your good workes may bee prouoked to prayse the Lorde This God graunt you for his sonne our sauiour Christ his sake Amen He shall conuert my soule leade me in the pathes of righteousnes for his names sake Three especiall thinges in this verse the Prophet teacheth moste notably Firste that we are by nature stubborne and estraunged from the nature belonging the sheepe of god Secondly that after regeneration by the spirite there remayneth yet in vs such matter of massy sinne that vnable we be to walke the pathes belonging to the children of god and therefore it behoueth vs to haue a leader into righteousnes Thirdly as many be the falles by sinne which Satan and the fleshe procureth to vs So sundrie be the fruites of the godly In whiche vertues as in sinne Satan seeketh our ouerthrowe if so he can make vs to reste in them as eyther satisfactorie to God or meritorious for their valor But the Lord by his Prophet here preacheth that our conuersion to god our walking dayly in godlynes is from by the Lorde and that also not for any preuenting foreknowne or succeeding graces in vs but only soly for hys names sake He shall conuerte my soule sayth Dauid The roote of the Tree beeing sounde and good feedeth hir braunches to hir fruitfull life So the soule of mans principall substaunce beeing made whole sounde can not but geue life to the whole body In this braunche also we are to note that vnles the inwarde man be turned vnto God thexternall partes can be but hipocriticall and seruing time So the Nobles in Ioash Court during the dayes of the good Byshop Jehoiada seemed moste religious but death had no sooner depriued the godly of this Priestes life then they diswaded the Prince to their earst ydolatrie perswaded they him Many be the mouthes that nowe confesse them selues changed frō Popish life but God continue our noble Elizabethes raigne and the Gospell safe progresse els doubt I that stormy dayes would sterue the smal store of liuing grace in many Englishe hartes of sundry callings But who so is turned in hart and minde vnfaignedly he ioyeth the dayes of dangerous death and soroweth to see the worldly solace the cause no doubt of all infinite woes He hateth that he loued first he lotheth at his former lyfe he is ashamed of sinne he casteth off from him the works of darknes and confessing Christe with his lippes because he beleeueth on him in harte he dayly walketh in the pathes of righteousnes after his leader Christ our lord And here with me note good Auditorie who it is that doth conuert mans soule him selfe or some other the Lorde our Shepheard Dauid sayth it is He shal conuert my soule In that we are conuerted it is not our action or in our power is it to become the sheepe of
which peace onely we ought to stryue for all other peace is meare warres with god Thus much of the shepheardes roddes and staues and nowe we proceede to the .5 verse which sayth Thou doest prepare a table before me in the sight of myne aduersaries Thou dost anoynt my heade with oyle and my cup runneth ouer Doubtles kindnes and mercy shall follovv me all the dayes of my lyfe and J shall remaine a long season in the house of the Lord. Though mine enemyes sayth Dauid seeke to destroy me yet thou Lorde doest not onely deliuer me but also in despite of their fury dealest most liberally with me as menne doo with their chiefest friendes in this our lande of Iury. Bydden to their sumptuous feastes they anoynt their heades with pleasant Oyle and gyue them Cuppes of large importe and them moste amplie fylled So haste thou and muche more aboundantly delt with me and wilt after for thy mercy is suche as kindnes shall follow me during lyfe And for this thy mercy in my prolonged dayes I shall alway in them seeke to serue thee in thy holy house Because I haue long troubled you I wil omit to speake here of the prouidence of God in them which be his and persecuted of the multitude but such it is that their deuises the Lorde doth laugh to skorne and erecteth his beloued vp to honor maugre their berdes Or more to say of the difference betwixte the papist and the faithful protestant the one with the Iew is euer gaping after good but after the godly Gods blessing runneth them to comfort euen as the Ryuer from Moses Rocke flowed after Israell to be their drinke spirituall sacrament Or once to touch that longing lust which ought to be in Dauids lyue in all christian heroicall honorable worshipfull godly riche and meaner persons that is a dayly desire to serue God yea euen in the house of prayer with the floke of Christs folde I was glad saith Dauid of those which sayde vnto me Come we will go into the house of the Lorde together Your olde chaples your priuate houses O ye states of the earth are for the most part an occasion of great losse to your selues Ye so seperate your selues from the common exercise of Christes sheepe Ye lacke the doctrine which other there receiue to their greate comfort Ye keepe your families frō grace be euill examples to the vulgar sorte Ye expresse the small loue to those that be like Dauid whiche if you mende not can not but bring you from his god our sheheard Christ whose desire is to haue his sheepe come together Where two or three be gathered together in my name saith Christe there am I in the middest of them Gather the people sayth God sanctifie the congregation gather the Elders assemble the children those that sucke the brest let the bridegrome go out of his chamber and the Bride out of her closet Let the Priests the ministers of the Lord weepe betweene the porch and the Alter and let them say Spare thy people O lord c. This was the order in the Apostles churche as Paule affirmeth in his first epistle to the Corrin saying I prayse you not that you come together not with profite but with hurt For firste of all vvhen you come together in the churche J heare that there is dissention among you Againe if therefore vvhen the vvhole church is come together in one c. In this churche were of greate byrth lyke welth and stately condition yet they came together in one they assembled them selues in the church they kept not some their priuie chaples other their dining chambers but most of all their sléeping heades Looke to this you states be not so stately that you set your selues stiffe necked to the Lorde frequent his house adsociate his people conioyne with his churche to heare the Lorde by his ministers speake vnto you that your common cry with the reste may ioyntly pearce the eares of Gods most louing maiestie in the throne of his mercy seat In hope of your content hereto I say nothing hereof but as you see runne from the same in haste to ende But because of the holy communion to the which we purpose in the Lorde one worde thereof and so an ende Paule the Apostle taketh occasion by the temporall blessing of God vpon the Israelites in Manna and the stony rocke to deliuer to the Corrinthians sound doctrine in sacraments And yf the same with the rest of holy scripture be writtē for our learning why should I forget so good and apt a lesson as both his example our present ministration and this our profitable texte doth offer vnto me c. Dauid speaketh of his Crowne and Diademe with the Appendices Neither doth he forget the spirituall comfortes that from the Lorde he dayly receiueth by the seales of the lords righteousnes his sacred sacraments The sacramēts of Gods church are only two The lauer of baptisme and the Table of the Lorde In the Supper at this table prepared without our prouision and desert of God in his Christ the faithfull do receiue two things that of two seuerall persons sacred bread wyne at of the externall preaching ministry the only fyt ministre for the same by the inward secret omnipotent inuisible worke of the holy ghost in soule by fayth truely fixed in christ they verely eat receiue the very true substantiall body of Iesus Christ still sitting at the right hād of his heuēly father in maiesty on hie By faith he is receiued by gods spirit he is deliuered in soule he is eaten for the diet is spirituall and can not be pressed with mans carnall téeth That of the minister we receiue only bread and wine the holy Apostle Paule fyue times telleth vs in the deliuerie therof to the Corinthians 1 epist. chap. 11. And the auncient Fathers say the same amongst whom S. Ciprian doth stand approued and he sayth thus of the Eucharist Dedit itaque dominus noster in mensa c. Therefore our Lorde Christe in his laste supper which he made with his Apostles gaue to them at that table Bread wine with his owne handes but vppon the Crosse by the hands of the cruell tormenters he gaue his body wounded for vs Sunt quae erant sayth Ambrose speaking of the Elementall bread and wine The same they were they are and are chaunged into another vse If the sacramental bread be the very body of Christ after cōsecration then the wicked aswell eate Christes body as the godly But this the auncient fathers doe denie Origen saith Est verus Cibus Christ is the true meate which no euill and wicked man can eate For if the wicked man could in the Sacrament eate the body of the Lord then should it not be written Qui edit hunc panem He that eateth this bread shall lyue for euer