now he was accursed as before he was loved so now he was abhorred as before he was most beautiful and precious so now he was most vile and wretched in the sight of his Lord and Maker Instead of the Image of God he was now become the Image of the Devil instead of the Citizen of Heaven he was become the bond-slave of Hell having in himself no one part of his former purity and cleanness but being altogether spotted and defiled insomuch that now he seemed to be nothing else but a lump of sin and thâ—râ—fore by the just judgment of God was condemned to everlasting death This so great and miserable a Plague if it had only rested on Adam who first offended it had been so much the easier and might the better have been born But it fell not only on him but also on his Posterity and Children for ever so that the whole brood of Adam's flesh should sustain the self-same fall and punishment which their forefather by his offence most justly had deserved St. Paul in the fifth Chapter to the Romans saith By the offence of only Adam the fault came upon all men to condemnation and by one mans disobedience many were made sinners By which words we are taught that as in Adam all men universally sinned so in Adam all men universally received the reward of sin that is to say became mortal and subject unto death having in themselves nothing but everlasting damnation both of Body and Soul They became as David saith corrupt and abominable they went all out of the way there was none that did good no not one O what a miserable and woful state was this that the sin of one man should destroy and condemn all men that nothing in all the World might be looked for but only pangs of death and pains of Hell Had it been any marvel if mankind had been utterly driven to desperation being thus fallen from life to death from salvation to destruction from Heaven to Hell But behold the great goodness and tender mercy of God in his behalf albeit mans wickedness and sinful behaviour was such that it deserved not in any part to be forgiven yet to the intent he might not be clean destitute of all hope and comfort in time to come he ordained a new Covenant and made a sure Promise thereof namely that he would send a Messias or Mediator into the World which should make intercession and put himself as a stay between both Parties to pacifie the wrath and indignation conceived against sin and to deliver man out of the miserable curse and cursed misery whereinto he was fallen headlong by disobeying the Will and Commandment of the only Lord and Maker This Covenant and Promise was first made unto Adam himself immediately after his Fall as we read in the third of Genesis where God said to the Serpent on this wise I will put enmity between thee and the woman between thy seed and her seed He shall break thine head and thou shalt bruise his heel Afterward the self-same Covenant was also more amply and plainly renewed unto Abraham where God promised him that in his seed all Nations and Families of the Earth should be blessed Again it was continued and confirmed unto Isaac in the same form of words Gen. 26. as it was before unto his Father And to the intent that mankind might not despair but always live in hope Almighty God never ceased to publish repeat confirm and continue the same by divers and sundry testimonies of his Prophets who for the better perswasion of the thing prophesied the time the place the manner and circumstance of his Birth the affliction of his Life the kind of his Death the glory of his Resurrection the receiving of his Kingdom the deliverance of his People with all other circumstances belonging thereunto Isaiah prophesied that he should be born of a Virgin and called Emanuel Micheas prophesied that he should be born in Bethlehem a place of Jury Ezekiel prophesied that he should come of the stock and linage of David Daniel prophesied that all Nations and Languages should serve him Zachary prophesied that he should come in poverty riding upon an Ass Malachy prophesied that he should send Elias before him which was John the Baptist Jeremy prophesied that he should be sold for Thirty Pieces of Silver c. And all this was done that the Promise and Covenant of God made unto Abraham and his Posterity concerning the Redemption of the World might be credited and fully believed Now as the Apostle Paul saith when the fulness of time was come that is the perfection and course of years appointed from the beginning thâ—n God according to his former Covenant and Promise sent a Messias otherwise called a Mediator unto the World not such a one as Moses was not such a one as Josua Saul or David was but such a one as should deliver mankind from the bitter curse of the Law and make perfect satisfaction by his death for the sins of all people namely he sent his dear and only Son Jesus Christ born as the Apostle saith of a Woman and made under the Law that he might redeem them that were in bondage of the Law and make them the Children of God by adoption Was not this a wonderful great love towards us that were his professed and open Enemies towards us that were by Nature the Children of Wrath and fire-brands of Hell-fire In this saith St. John appeared the great love of God that he sent his only begotten Son into the World to save us when we were his extream enemies Herein is love not that we loved him but that he loved us and sent his Son to be a reconciliation for our sins St. Paul also saith Christ Rom. 5. when we were yet of no strength died for us being ungodly Doubtless a man will scarce die for a righteous man Peradventure some one durst die for him of whom they have received good But God setteth out his love towards us in that he sent Christ to die for us when we were yet void of all goodness This and such other comparisons doth the Apostle use to amplifie and set forth the tender mercy and great goodness of God declarâ—d towards mankind in sending down a Saviour from Heaven even Christ the Lord. Which one benefit among all other is so great and wonderful that neither Tongue can well express it neither Heart think it much less give sufficient thanks to God for it But here is a great controversie between us and the Jews whether the saine Jesus which was born of the Virgin Mary be the true Messias and true Saviour of the World so long promised and prophesied of before They as they are and have been always proud and stiff-necked would never acknowledge him until this day but have looked and waited for another to come They have this fond imagination in their heads That the Messias shall come not as Christ did like a
shall not be imputed to our condemnation He hath taken upon him the just reward of sin Rom. 6. which was death and by death hath overthrown death that we believing in him might live for ever and not die Ought not this to engender extream hatred of sin in us to consider that it did violently as it were pluck God out of Heaven to make him feel the horrors and pains of Death O that we would sometimes consider this in the midst of our pomps and pleasures it would bridle the outragiousness of the flesh it would abate and asswage our carnal affections it would restrain our fleshly appetites that we should not run at random as we commonly do To commit sin wilfully and desperately without fear of God is nothing else but to crucifie Christ anew as we are expresly taught in the Epistle to the Hebrews Heb. 6. Which thing if it were deeply printed in all mens hearts then should not sin reign every where so much as it doth to the great grief and torment of Christ now sitting in Heaven Let us therefore remember and always bear in mind Christ crucified that thereby we may be inwardly moved both to abhor sin throughly and also with an earnest and zealous heart to love God For this is another fruit which the memorial of Christs death ought to work in us an earnest and unfeigned love towards God So God loved the World saith St. John that he gave his only begotten Son John 3. that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have life everlasting If God declared so great love towards us his silly Creatures how can we of right but love him again Was not this a sure Pledge of his Love to give us his own Son from Heaven He might have given us an Angel if he would or some other Creature and yet should his love have been far above our deserts Now he gave us not an Angel but his Son And what Son His only Son his natural Son his well-beloved Son even that Son whom he had made Lord and Ruler of all things Was not this a singular token of great love But to whom did he give him He gave him to the whole World that it to say to Adam and all that should come after him O Lord what had Adam or any other man deserved at Gods hands that he should give us his own Son We are all miserable Persons sinful Persons damnable Persons justly driven out of Paradise justly excluded from Heaven justly condemned to Hell-fire And yet see a wonderful token of Gods love he gave us his only begotten Son us I say that were his extream and deadly Enemies that we by vertue of his Blood shed upon the Cross might be clean purged from our sins and made righteous again in his sight Who can chuse but marvel to hear that God should shew such unspeakable love towards us that were his deadly Enemies Indeed O mortal man thou oughtest of right to marvel at it and to acknowledge therein Gods great goodness and mercy towards mankind which is so wonderful that no flesh be it never so worldly wise may well conceive it or express it For as St. Paul testifieth Rom. 5. God greatly commendeth and setteth out his love towards us in that he sent his Son Christ to die for us when we were yet sinners and open enemies of his Name If we had in any manner of wise deserved it at his hands then had it been no marvel at all but there was no desert on our part wherfore he should do it Therefore thou sinful Creature when thou hearest that God gave his Son to die for the sins of the World think not he did it for any desert or goodness that was in thee for thou wast then the Bond-slave of the Devil But fall down upon thy knees and cry with the Prophet David Psal 8. O Lord what is man that thou art so mindful of him or the son of man that thou so regardest him And seeing he hath so greatly loved thee endeavour thy self to love him again with all thy Heart with all thy Soul and with all thy Strength that therein thou maist appear not to be unworthy of his love I report me to thine own Conscience whether thou wouldest not think thy love ill bestowed upon him that could not find in his heart to love thee again If this be true as it is most true then think how greatly it behoveth thee in Duty to love God which hath so greatly loved thee that he hath not spared his own only Son from so cruel and shameful a death for thy sake And hitherto concerning the cause of Christs Death and Passion which as it was on our part most horrible and grievous sin so on the other side it was the free gift of God proceeding of his meer and tender love towards mankind without any merit or desert of our part The Lord for his mercies sake grant that we never forget this great benefit of our Salvation in Christ Jesu but that we always shew our selves thankful for it abhorring all kind of wickedness and sin and applying our minds wholly to the service of God and the diligent keeping of his Commandments Now it remaineth that I shew unto you how to apply Christs death and Passion to our comfort as a Medicine to our Wounds so that it may work the same effect in us wherefore it was given namely the health and salvation of our souls For as it profiteth a man nothing to have salve unless it be well applied to the part infected So the death of Christ shall stand us in no force unless we apply it to our selves in such sort as God hath appointed Almighty God commonly worketh by means and in this thing he hath also ordained a certain mean whereby we may take fruit and profit to our souls health What mean is that forsooth it is Faith Not an unconstant and wavering Faith but a sure stedfast grounded and unfeigned Faith God sent his Son into the World saith St. John John 3. To what end That whosoever believeth in him should not perish bâ—t have life everlasting Mark these words That whosoever believeth in him Here is the mean whereby we must apply the fruits of Christs death unto our deadly Wound Here is the mean whereby we must obtain eternal life namely Faith For as St. Paul teacheth in his Epistle to the Romans with the heart man believeth unto righteo sness Rom. 10. and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation Paul being demanded of the Keeper of the Prison what he should do to be saved Acts 16. made this Answer Believe in the Lord Jesus so shalt thou and thine house both be saved After the Evangelist hâ—d described and set forth unto us at large the life and the death of the Lord Jesus in the end he concludeth with these words John 20. These things are written that we may believe Jesus
clearly stopped up this pure Well of God's lively Word Teaching that this Love and Charity pertained only to a Man's Friends and that it was sufficient for a Man to love them which do love him and hate his foes Therefore Christ opened this Well again purged it and scoured it by giving unto his Godly Law of Charity a true and clear interpretation which is this That we ought to love every Man both Friend and Foe adding thereto what commodity we shall have thereby and what incommodity by doing the contrary What thing can we wish so good for us as the Eternal Heavenly Father to reckon and take us for his Children And this we shall be sure of saith Christ if we love every Man without exception And if we do otherwise saith he we be no better than the Pharisees Publicans and Heathen and shall have our reward with them that is to be shut out from the number of God's chosen Children and from his everlasting Inheritance in Heaven Thus of true Charity Christ taught that every Man is bound to love God above all things and to love every Man Friend and Foe and this likewise he did use himself exhorting his Adversaries rebuking the Faults of his Adversaries and when he could not amend them yet he prayed for them First he loved God his Father above all things so much that he sought not his own Glory and Will but the Glory and Will of his Father I seek not said he John 6. mine own Will but the Will of him that sent me Nor refused he to dye to satisfie his Fathers Will saying If it may be let this cup of death pass from me Matth. 26. if not thy Will be done and not mine He loved not only his Friends but also his Enemies which in their Hearts bore exceeding great hatred against him and with their Tongues spake all evil of him and in their Acts and Deeds persued him with all their Might and Power even unto Death yet all this notwithstanding he withdrew not his Favour from them but still loved them preached unto them of Love rebuked their false Doctrine their wicked Living and did good unto them patiently taking whatsoever they spake or did against him When they gave him evil words he gave none evil again VVhen they did strike him he did not smite them again And when he suffered death he did not slay them nor threaten them but prayed for them and did put all things to his Fathers Will. And as a Sheep that is led unto the Shambles to be slain and as a Lamb that is shorn of his Fleece maketh no noise nor resistance even so he went to his death without any repugnance or opening of his Mouth to say any evil Thus have I set forth unto you what Charity is as well by the Doctrine as by the Example of Christ himself whereby also every Man may without error know himself what state and condition he standeth in whether he be in Charity and so the Child of the Father in Heaven or not For although almost every Man persuadeth himself to be in Charity yet let him examine none other Man but his own Heart his Life and Conversation and he shall not be deceived but truly discern and judge whether he be in perfect Charity or not For he that followeth not his own Appetite and Will but giveth himself earnestly to God to do all his Will and Commandments he may be sure that he loveth God above all things and else surely he loveth him not whatsoever he pretend As Christ said If ye love me keep my Commandments For he that knoweth my Commandments and keepeth them he it is saith Christ that loveth me And again he saith John 14. He that loveth me will keep my words and and my Father will love him and we will both come to him and dwell with him And he that loveth me not will not keep my words And likewise he that beareth a good Heart and Mind and useth well his Tongue and Deeds unto every man Friend and Foe he may know thereby that he hath Charity And then he is sure that Almighty God taketh him for his dearly beloved Son as St. John saith Hereby manifestly are known the children of God from the children of the Devil For whosoever doth not love his Brother 1 John 3. belongeth not unto God The Second Part of the Sermon of Charity YOu have heard a plain and fruitful setting forth of Charity and how profitable and necessary a thing Charity is How Charity stretcheth itself both to God and Man Friend and Foe and that by the Doctrine and Example of Christ And also who may certifie himself whether he be in perfect Charity or not Now as concerning the same matter it followeth The perverse Nature of Man Against carnal Men that will not forgive their Enemies corrupt with Sin and destitute of God's Word and Grace thinketh it against all reason that a Man should love his Enemy and hath many persuasions which bring him to the contrary Against all which Reasons we ought aswell to set the Teaching as the Living of our Saviour Christ who loving us when we were his Enemies doth teach us to love our Enemies He did patiently take for us many reproaches suffered Beating and most cruel Death Therefore we be no Members of him if we will not follow him Christ saith St. Peter suffered for us leaving an Example that we should follow him Furthermore we must consider 1 Pet. 2. that to love our Friends is no more but that which Thieves Adulterers Homicides and all wicked Persons do Insomuch that Jews Turks Infidels and all brute Beasts do love them that be their Friends of whom they have their living or any other benefits But to love Enemies is the proper condition of them that be the Children of God the Disciples and Followers of Christ Notwithstanding Man's froward and corrupt Nature weigheth over-deeply many times the offence and displeasure done unto him by Enemies and thinketh it a burden intolerable to be bound to love them that hate him But the burden should be easie enough if on the other side every Man would consider what displeasure he hath done to his Enemy again and what pleasure he hath received of his Enemy And if we find no equal or even recompence neither in receiving pleasures of our Enemy nor in requiting displeasures unto him again Then let us ponder the displeasures which we have done unto Almighty God how often and how grievously we have offended him whereof if we will have of God forgiveness there is none other remedy but to forgive the offences done unto us which be very small in comparison of our offences done against God And if we consider that he which hath offended us deserveth not to be forgiven of us let us consider again that we much less deserve to be forgiven of God And although our Enemy deserve not to be forgiven for his own sake
Pleasure and Consolation But the unmerciful rich Man descended down into Hell and being in Torments he cried for Comfort complaining of the intolerable pain that he suffered in that flame of Fire but it was too late So unto this place bodily death sendeth all them that in this World have their Joy and Felicity all them that in this World be unfaithful unto God and uncharitable unto their Neighbours so dying without Repentance and hope of God's Mercy Wherefore it is no marvel that the worldly Man feareth death for he hath much more cause so to do than he himself doth consider Thus we see three Causes why worldly Men fear death One The First because they shall lose thereby their worldly Honors Riches Possessions and all their Hearts desires Another Second because of the painful diseases and bitter pangs which commonly Men suffer either before or at the time of death Third But the chief cause above all other is the dread of the miserable state of eternal damnation both of Body and Soul which they fear shall follow after their departing from the worldly Pleasures of this present Life For these Causes be all mortal Men which be given to the love of this World both in fear and state of death through Sin as the Holy Apostle saith so long as they live here in this World But Heb. 10. everlasting thanks be to Almighty God for ever there is never a one of all these Causes no nor yet them all together that can make a true Christian man afraid to die who is the very Member of Christ 1 Cor. 3. the Temple of the Holy Ghost the Son of God and the very Inheritor of the everlasting Kingdom of Heaven but plainly contrary he conceiveth great and many Causes undoubtedly grounded upon the infallible and everlasting truth of the Word of God which moveth him not only to put away the fear of bodily death but also for the manifold Benefits and singular Commodities which ensue unto every faithful Person by reason of the same to wish desire and long heartily for it For death shall be to him no death at all but a very deliverance from death from all Pains Cares and Sorrows Miseries and Wretchedness of this World and the very entry into Rest and a beginning of everlasting Joy a tasting of heavenly Pleasures so great that neither Tongue is able to express neither Eye to see nor Ear to hear them no nor any earthly Man's heart to conceive them So exceeding great Benefits they be which God our heavenly Father by his mere Mercy and for the Love of his Son Jesus Christ hath laid up in store and prepared for them that humbly submit themselves to God's Will and evermore unfeignedly love him from the bottom of their Hearts And we ought to believe that death being slain by Christ cannot keep any Man that stedfastly trusteth in Christ under his perpetual Tyranny and Subjection But that he shall rise from death again unto Glory at the last day appointed by Almighty God like as Christ our Head did rise again according to God's appointment the third day For St. Augustine saith The Head going before the Members trust to follow and come after And St. Paul saith If Christ be risen from the dead we shall rise also from the same And to comfort all Christian Persons herein Holy Scripture calleth this bodily death a sleep wherein Man's Senses be as it were taken from him for a season and yet when he awaketh he is more fresh than he was when he went to Bed So although we have our Souls separated from our Bodies for a season yet at the general Resurrection we shall be more fresh beautiful and perfect than we be now For now we be mortal then shall we be immortal Now infected with divers Infirmities then clearly void of all mortal Infirmities Now we be subject to all carnal desires then we shall be all Spiritual desiring nothing but God's Glory and things eternal Thus is this bodily death a door or entring unto Life and therefore not so much dreadful if it be rightly considered as it is comfortable not a mischief but a Remedy for all mischief no Enemy but a Friend not a cruel Tyrant but a gentle Guide leading us not to mortality but to immortality not to Sorrow and Pain but to Joy and Pleasure and that to endure for ever if it be thankfully taken and accepted as God's Messenger and patiently born of us for Christ's Love that suffered most painful death for our Love to redeem us from death eternal Accordingly hereunto St. Paul saith Col. 3. Our Life is hid with Christ in God But when our Life shall appear then shall we also appear with him in Glory Why then shall we fear to die considering the manifold and comfortable Promises of the Gospel and of Holy Scriptures 1 John 5. God the Father hath given us everlasting Life saith St. John 1 John 5. and this Life is in his Son He that hath the Son hath Life and he that hath not the Son hath not Life And this I write saith St. John to you that believe in the Name of the Son of God that you may know that you have everlasting Life and that you do believe upon the Name of the Son of God And our Saviour Christ saith John 5. He that believeth in me hath Life everlasting and I will raise him from Death to Life at the last day St. Paul also saith 1 Cor. 1. That Christ is ordained and made of God our Righteousness or Holiness and Redemption to the intent that he which will glory should glory in the Lord. St. Paul did contemn and set little by all other things Phil. 3. esteeming them as Dung which before he had in very great price that he might be found in Christ to have everlasting Life true Holiness Righteousness and Redemption Finally St. Paul maketh a plain Argument on this wise Rom. 8. If our heavenly Father would not spare his own natural Son but did give him to death for us how can it it be but that with him he should give us all things Therefore if we have Christ then have we with him and by him all good things whatsoever we can in our Hearts wish or desire as Victory over Death Sin and Hell We have the Favour of God Peace with him Holiness Wisdom Justice Power Life and Redemption we have by him perpetual Health Wealth Joy and Bliss everlasting The Second Part of the Sermon against the Fear of Death IT hath been heretofore shewed you That there be three Causes wherefore Men do commonly fear Death First the sorrowful departing from Worldly Goods and Pleasures The Second the fear of the pangs and pains that come with Death The last and principal Cause is The horrible fear of extreme Misery and perpetual Damnation in time to come And yet none of these three Causes troubleth good Men because they stay
who became poor to make us rich vile to make us precious subject to death to make us live for ever What greater love could we silly Creatures desire or wish to have at Gods hands Therefore Dearly Beloved let us not forget this exceeding love of our Lord and Saviour let us not shew our selves unmindful or unthankful toward him but let us love him fear him obey him and serve him Let us confess him with our Mouths praise him with our Tongues believe on him with our Hearts and glorifie him with our good Works Christ is the light let us receive the light Christ is the truth let us believe the truth Christ is the way let us follow the way And because he is our only Master our only Teacher our only Shepherd and chief Captain therefore let us become his Servants his Scholars his Sheep and his Souldiers As for Sin the Flesh the World and the Devil whose Servants and Bond-slaves we were before Christs coming let us utterly cast them off and defie them as the chief and only Enemies of our Soul And seeing we are once delivered from their cruel Tyranny by Christ let us never fall into their hands again lest we chance to be in a worse case than ever we were before Happy are they saith the Scripture that continue to the end Be faithful saith God until death and I will give thee a crown of life Again he saith in another place He that putteth his hand unto the Plough and looketh back is not meet for the Kingdom of God Therefore let us be strong stedfast and unmoveable abounding always in the works of the Lord. Let us receive Christ not for a time but for ever let us believe his Word not for a time but for ever let us become his Servants not for a time but for ever in consideration that he hath redeemed and saved us not for a time but for ever and will receive us into his Heavenly Kingdom there to reign with him not for a time but for ever To him therefore with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all Honour Praise and Glory for ever and ever Amen AN HOMILY FOR Good-Friday concerning the Death and Passion of our Saviour Jesus Christ IT should not become us well-beloved in Christ being that People which he redeemed from the Devil from Sin and Death and from everlasting Damnation by Christ to suffer this time to pass forth without any meditation and remembrance of that excellent Work of our Redemption wrought as about this time through the great mercy and charity of our Saviour Jesus Christ for us wretched Sinners and his mortal Enemies For if a mortal mans deed done to the behoof of the Common-wealth be had in remembrance of us with thanks for the benefit and profit which we receive thereby how much more readily should we have in memory this excellent act and benefit of Christs death whereby he hath purchased for us the undoubted pardon and forgiveness of our sins whereby he made at one the Father of Heaven with us in such wise that he taketh us now for his loving Children and for the true inheritors with Christ his Natural Son of the Kingdom of Heaven And verily so much more doth Christs kindness appear unto us in that it pleased him to deliver himself of all his goodly Honour which he was equally in with his Father in Heaven and to come down into this vale of misery to be made mortal man and to be in the state of a most low Servant serving us for our wealth and profit us I say which were his sworn Enemies which had renounced his holy Law and Commandments and followed the lusts and sinful pleasures of our corrupt Nature And yet I say Coloss 2. did Christ put himself between Gods deserved wrath and our sin and rent that Obligation wherein we were in danger to God and paid our debt Our debt was a great deal too great for us to have paid And without payment God the Father could never be at one with us Neither was it possible to be loosed from this debt by our own ability It pleased him therefore to be the payer thereof and to discharge us quite Who can now consider the grievous debt of sin which could none otherwise be paid but by the death of an Innocent and will not hate sin in his heart If God hateth sin so much that he would allow neither man nor Angel for the Redemption thereof but only the death of his only and well-beloved Son who will not stand in fear thereof If we my Friends consider this that for our sins this most innocent Lamb was driven to death we shall have much more cause to bewail our selves that we were the cause of his death than to cry out of the malice and cruelty of the Jews which pursued him to his death We did the deeds wherefore he was thus stricken and wounded they were only the ministers of our wickedness It is meet then that we should step low down into our hearts and bewail our own wretchedness and sinful living Let us know for a certainty that if the most dearly beloved Son of God was thus punished and stricken for the sin which he had not done himself how much more ought we sore to be stricken for our daily and manifold sins which we commit against God if we earnestly repent us not and be not sorry for them No man can love sin which God hateth so much and be in his favour No man can say that he loveth Christ truly and have his great Enemy sin I mean the author of his death familiar and in friendship with him So much do we love God and Christ as we hate sin We ought therefore to take great heed that we be not favourers thereof lest we be found Enemies to God and Traytors to Christ For not only they which nailed Christ upon the Cross are his tormentors and crucifiers Heb. 6. But all they saith St. Paul crucifie again the Son of God as much as is in them who do commit vice and sin which brought him to his death Rom. 6. If the wages of sin be death and death everlasting surely it is no small danger to be in service thereof Rom. 8. Rom. 8. If we live after the flesh and after the sinful lusts thereof St Paul threatneth yea Almighty God in St. Paul threatneth that we shall surely die We can none otherwise live to God but by dying to sin If Christ be in us then is sin dead in us and if the Spirit of God be in us which raised Christ from death to life so shall the same Spirit raise us to the resurrection of everlasting life Rom. 1. But if sin rule and reign in us then is God which is the fountain of all Grace and Vertue departed from us then hath the Devil and his ungracious spirit rule and dominion in us And surely if in such miserable state we die we shall
When he was wrongfully dealt with he threatned not again nor revenged his quarrel but delivered his cause to him that judgeth rightly Perfect patience careth not what Perfect patience nor how much it suffereth nor of whom it suffereth whether of Friend or Foe but studieth to suffer innocently and without deserving Yea he in whom perfect Charity is careth so little to revenge Mat. 5. that he rather studieth to do good for evil to bless and say well of them that curse him to pray for them that pursue him according to the example of our Saviour Christ The meekness of Christ who is the most perfect example and pattern of all meekness and sufferance which hanging upon the Cross in most fervent anguish bleeding in every part of his blessed Body being set in the midst of his enemies and crucifiers and he notwithstanding the intolerable pains which they saw him in being of them mocked and scorned despitefully without all favour and compassion had yet towards them such compassion in heart that he prayed to his Father of Heaven for them Luke 15. and said O Father forgive them for they wot not what they do What patience was it also which he shewed when one of his own Apostles and Servants which was put in trust of him came to betray him unto his Enemies to the death He said nothing worse to him Mat. 15. but Friend wherefore at thou come Thus good People should we call to mind the great examples of Charity which Christ shewed in his Passion if we will fruitfully remember his Passion Such charity and love should we bear one to another if we will be the true Servants of Christ For if we love but them that love and say well by us Mat. 5. what great thing is it that we do saith Christ Do not the Paynims and open sinners so We must be more perfect in our Charity than thus even as our Father in Heaven is perfect which maketh the light of his Sun to rise upon the good and the bad and sendeth his rain upon the kind and unkind After this manner should we shew our Charity indifferently as well to one as to another as well to friend as foe like obedient Children after the example of our Father in Heaven For if Christ was obedient to his Father even to the death and that the most shameful death as the Jews esteemed it the death of the Cross why should we not be obedient to God in lower points of Charity and Patience Ecclus. 28. Mat. 28. Let us forgive then our Neighbours their small faults as God for Christs sake hath forgiven us our great It is not meet that we should crave forgiveness of our great offences at Gods hands and yet will not forgive the small trespasses of our Neighbours against us We do call for mercy in vain if we will not shew mercy to our Neighbours For if we will not put wrath and displeasure forth of our hearts to our Christian Brother no more will God forgive the displeasure and wrath that our sins have deserved before him For under this condition doth God forgive us if we forgive other It becometh not Christian men to be hard one to another nor yet to think their Neighbour unworthy to be forgiven For howsoever unworthy he is yet is Christ worthy to have thee do thus much for his sake he hath deserved it of thee that thou shouldest forgive thy Neighbour And God is also to be obeyed which commandeth us to forgive if we will have any part of the Pardon which our Saviour Christ purchased once of God the Father by shedding of his precious Blood Nothing becometh Christs Servants so much as mercy and compassion Let us then be favourable one to another James 5. and pray we one for another that we may be healed from all frailties of our life the less to offend one the other and that we may be of one mind Ephes 5. and one spirit agreeing together in brotherly love and concord even like the dear Children of God By these means shall we move God to be merciful unto our sins yea and we shall be hereby the more ready to receive our Saviour and Maker in his blessed Sacrament to our everlasting comfort and health of Soul Christ delighteth to enter and dwell in that Soul where Love and Charity ruleth and where Peace and Concord is seen For thus writeth St. John 1 John 4. 1 John 2. God is charity he that abideth in charity abideth in God and God in him And by this saith he we shall know that we be of God if we love our brethren Yea and by this shall we know that we be delivered from death to life if we love one another 1 John 2. But he which hateth his brother saith the same Apostle abideth in death even in the danger of everlasâ—â—ng death and is moreover the child of damnation an◠〈◊〉 the Devil cursed of God and hated so long as 〈◊〉 so remaineth of God and all his heavenly company For as Peace and Charity make us the blessed Children of Almighty God so doth hatred and envy make us the cursed Children of the Devil Rom. 8. God give us all grace to follow Christs examples in Peace and in Charity in Patience and Sufferance that we now may have him our guest to enter and dwell within us so as we may be in full surety having such a pledge of our Salvation If we have him and his favour we may be sure we have the favour of God by his means For he sitteth on the right hand of God his Father as our Proctor and Attorney pleading and suing for us in all our needs and necessities Wherefore if we we want any gift of godly wisdom we may ask it of God for Christs sake and we shall have it Let us consider and examine our selves in what want we be concerning this virtue of Charity and Patience If we see that our hearts be nothing inclined thereunto in forgiving them that have offended against us then let us knowledge our want and wish to God to have it But if we want it and see in our selves no desire thereunto verily we be in a dangerous case before God and have need to make much earnest Prayer to God that we may have such an heart changed to the grafting in of a new For unless we forgive other we shall never be forgiven of God No not all the prayers and good works of other can pacifie God unto us unless we be at peace and at one with our Neighbour Nor all our deeds and good works can move God to forgive us our debts to him except we forgive to other He setteth more by Mercy than by Sacrifice Mercy moved our Saviour Christ to suffer for his Enemies it becometh us then to follow his example For it shall little avail us to have in meditation the fruits and price of his Passion to magnifie
or profitable The praise of Holy Scripture than the Knowledge of Holy Scripture forasmuch as in it is contained God's true Word setting forth his Glory and also Man's Duty The perfection of Holy Scripture The knowledge of Holy Scripture is necessary To whom the knowledge of Holy Scriture is sweet and pleasant Who be enemies to Holy Scripture And there is no Truth nor Doctrine necessary for our Justification and everlasting Salvation but that is or may be drawn out of that Fountain and Well of Truth Therefore as many as be desirous to enter into the Right and Perfect way unto God must apply their Minds to know Holy Scripture without the which they can neither sufficiently know God and his Will neither their Office and Duty And as Drink is pleasant to them that be Drie and Meat to them that be Hungry So is the Reading Hearing Searching and Studying of Holy Scripture to them that be desirous to know God or themselves and to do his Will And their Stomachs only do loath and abhor the Heavenly Knowledge and Food of God's Word that be so drowned in worldly Vanities that they neither favour God nor any Godliness For that is the cause why they desire such Vanities rather than the time knowledge of God As they that are sick of an Ague An apt Similitude declaring of whom the Scripture is abhorred An exhortation unto the diligent reading and searching of the holy Scripture Matth. 4. The Holy Scripture is a sufficient Doctrine for our Salvation What things we may learn in the Holy Scripture whatsoever they eat and drink though it be never so pleasant yet it is as bitter to them as Wormwood not for the bitterness of the Meat but for the corrupt and bitter humor that is in their own Tongue and Mouth Even so is the sweetness of God's Word bitter not of itself but only unto them that have their Minds corrupted with long custom of Sin and love of this World Therefore forsaking the corrupt judgment of fleshly Men which care not but for their Carkass Let us reverently hear and read Holy Scripture which is the Food of the Soul Let us diligently search for the Well of Life in the Books of the New and Old Testament and not run to the stinking Puddles of Mens Traditions devised by Mens Imagination for our Justification and Salvation For in Holy Scripture is fully contained what we ought to do and what to eschew what to believe what to love and what to look for at God's hands at length In these Books we shall find the Father from whom the Son by whom and the Holy Ghost in whom all Things have their Being and Keeping up And these Three Persons to be but One God and One Substance In these Books we may learn to know ourselves how Vile and Miserable we be and also to know God how Good He is of Himself and how He maketh us and all Creatures partakers of His Goodness We may learn also in these Books to know God's Will and Pleasure as much as for this present time is convenient for us to know And as the great Clerk and godly Preacher St. John Chrysostom saith whatsoever is required to the Salvation of Man is fully contained in the Scripture of God He that is Ignorant may there learn and have Knowledge He that is Hard-hearted and an obstinate Sinner shall there find Everlasting Torments prepared of God's Justice to make him afraid and to mollifie or soften him He that is oppressed with Misery in this World shall there find Relief in the promises of Everlasting Life to his great Consolation and Comfort He that is wounded by the Devil unto death shall find there Medicine whereby he may be restored again unto Health If it shall require to teach any Truth or reprove any false Doctrine to rebuke any Vice to commend any Virtue to give good Counsel to Comfort or Exhort or to do any other thing requisite for our Salvation All those things saith St. Chrysostome we may learn plentifully of the Scripture There is saith Fulgentius abundantly enough Holy Scripture ministreth sufficient Doctrine for all Degrees and Ages Matth. 4. Luke 3. John 17. Psal 19. What commodities and Profits the knowledge of Holy Scripture bringeth both for Men to eat and Children to suck There is whatsoever is meet for all Ages and for all Degrees and sorts of Men. These Books therefore ought to be much in our Hands in our Eyes in our Ears in our Mouths but most of all in our Hearts For the Scripture of God is the Heavenly Meat of our Souls the Hearing and Keeping of it maketh us Blessed Sanctifieth us and maketh us Holy it turneth our Souls it is a light Lanthorn to our Feet it is a sure stedfast and everlasting instrument of Salvation it giveth Wisdom to the humble and lowly Hearts it Comforteth maketh Glad Cheereth and Cherisheth our Conscience It is a more excellent Jewel or Treasure than any Gold or precious Stone it is more sweet than Honey or Honey-comb it is called the best part which Mary did choose for it hath in it everlasting Comfort The Words of Holy Scripture be called Words of Everlasting Life For they be God's Instruments ordained for the same purpose They have power to turn through God's Promise and they be effectual through God's assistence Luke 10. John 6. and being received in a faithful Heart they have ever an Heavenly spiritual working in them They are lively quick and mighty in Operation and sharper than any two-edged Sword and enter through Heb. 4. even to the dividing asunder of the Soul and the Spirit of the Joints and the Marrow Christ calleth him a Wise Builder Matth. 7. that Buildeth upon his Word upon his sure and substantial Foundation By this Word of God we shall be judged For the Word that I speak saith Christ John 12. is it that shall judge in the last day He that keepeth the Word of Christ is promised the Love and Favour of God John 14. and that he shall be the Dwelling-place or Temple of the Blessed Trinity This Word whosoever is diligent to Read and in his Heart to Print that he readeth the great affection to the transitory things of this World shall be minished in him and the great desire of Heavenly things that be therein promised of God shall increase in him And there is nothing that so much strengthneth our Faith and Trust in God that so much keepeth up Innocency and Pureness of the Heart and also of outward Godly Life and Conversation as continual Reading and recording of God's Word For that thing which by continual use of Reading of Holy Scripture and diligent searching of the same is deeply Printed and Graven in the Heart at length turneth almost into Nature And moreover the Effect and Virtue of God's Word is to illuminate the Ignorant and to give more light unto them that faithfully and diligently
yet we ought to forgive him for God's Love considering how great and many benefits we have received of him without our deserts and that Christ hath deserved of us that for his sake we should forgive them their trespasses committed against us But here may rise a necessary question to be dissolved A Question If Charity require to think speak and do well unto every Man both good and evil How can Magistrates execute Justice upon Malefactors or Evil-doers with Charity How can they cast evil Men in prison take away their Goods and somtimes their Lives according to Laws if Charity will not suffer them so to do Hereunto is a plain and a brief Answer Answer That Plagues and Punishments be not evil of themselves if they be well taken of the harmless And to an evil Man they are both good and necessary and may be executed according to Charity and with Charity should be executed For Declaration whereof you shall understand that Charity hath two Offices Charity hath two Offices the one contrary to the other and yet both necessary to be used upon Men of contrary sort and disposition The one Office of Charity is to cherish good and harmless Men not to oppress them with false Accusations but to encourage them with Rewards to do well and to continue in well-doing defending them with the Sword from their Adversaries As the Office of Bishops and Pastors is to praise Good Men for well-doing that they may continue therein and to rebuke and correct by the Word of God the Offences and Crimes of all evil-disposed Persons The other Office of Charity is to rebuke correct and punish Vice without regard of Persons and is to be used against them only that be evil Men and Malefactors or evil-doers And that it is aswel the Office of Charity to rebuke punish and correct them that be evil as it is to cherish and reward them that be good and harmless St. Paul declareth writing to the Romans saying Rom. 13. That the high powers are ordained of God not to be dreadful to them that do well but unto Malefactors to draw the Sword to take vengeance of him that committeth the Sin And St. Paul biddeth Timothy stoutly and earnestly to rebuke Sin by the Word of God 1 Tim. 13. So that both Offices should be diligently executed to fight against the Kingdom of the Devil the Preacher with the Word and the Governours with the Sword Else they neither love God nor them whom they Govern if for lack of correction they wilfully suffer God to be offended and them whom they Govern to perish For as every loving Father correcteth his Natural Son when he doth amiss or else he loveth him not So all Governors of Realms Countries Towns and Houses should lovingly correct them which be Offenders under their Governance and cherish them which live innocently if they have any respect either unto God and their Office or love unto them of whom they have Governance And such rebukes and punishments of them that offend must be done in due time lest by delay the offenders fall headlong into all manner of mischief and not only be evil themselves but also do hurt unto many Men drawing others by their evil example to sin and outrage after them As one Thief may both rob many Men and also make many Thieves And one seditious Person may allure many and annoy a whole Town or Country And such evil persons that be so great offenders to God and the Commonweal Charity requireth to be cut from the Body of the Commonweal lest they corrupt other good and honest Persons Like as a good Surgeon cutteth away a rotten and festered Member for love he hath to the whole Body lest it infect other Members adjoyning unto it Thus it is declared unto you what true Charity or Christian Love is so plainly that no Man need to be deceived Which Love whosoever keepeth not only towards God whom he is bound to love above all things but also toward his Neighbor as well Friend as Foe it shall surely keep him from all offence of God and just offence of Man Therefore bear well away this one short lesson That by true Christian Charity God ought to be loved Good and Evil Friend and Foe and to all such we ought as we may to do good Those that be good of Love to encourage and cherish because they be good And those that be evil of Love to procure and seek their correction and due punishment that they may thereby either be brought to Goodness or at the least that God and the Commonwealth may be less hurt and offended And if we thus direct our Life by Christian Love and Charity then Christ doth promise and assure us that he loveth us that we be the Children of our Heavenly Father reconciled to his Favour very Members of Christ and that after this short time of this present and mortal Life we shall have with him everlasting Life in his everlasting Kingdom of Heaven Therefore to Him with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all Honour and Glory now and for ever Amen A SERMON AGAINST Swearing and Perjury ALmighty God to the intent his most Holy Name should be had in Honour and evermore be Magnified of the People commandeth rhat no Man should take his Name vainly in his Mouth threatning punishment unto him that unreverently abuseth it by Swearing Forswearing and Blasphemy To the intent therefore How and in what causes it is lawful to Swear that this Commandment may be the better known and kept it shall be declared unto you both how it is lawful for Christian People to Swear and also what peril and danger it is vainly to Swear or to be Forsworn First when Judges require Oaths of the People for declaration or opening of the Truth or for execution of Justice this manner of Swearing is lawful Also when Men make faithful Promises with calling to witness of the Name of God to keep Covenants honest Promises Statutes Laws and good Customs as Christian Princes do in their conclusion of Peace for conversation of Commonwealths and private Persons promise their Fidelity in Matrimony or one to another in Honesty and true Friendship And all Men when they do Swear to keep common Laws and local Statuts and good Customs for due order to be had and continued among Men when Subjects do Swear to be true and faithful to their King and Sovereign Lord and when Judges Magistrates and Officers Swear truly to execute their Offices and when a Man would affirm the Truth to the setting forth God's Glory for the Salvation of the People in open preaching of the Gospel or in giving of good Counsel privately for their Souls health All these manners of Swearing for Causes necessary and honest be lawful But when Men do Swear of custom in reasoning buying and selling or other daily communications as many be common and great Swearers such kind of Swearing is ungodly
unto God saved Agag the King and all the chief of their Cattel therewith to make Sacrifice unto God Wherewithal God being displeased highly said unto the Prophet Samuel I repent that ever I made Saul King for he hath forsaken me and not followed my Words and so he commanded Samuel to shew him and when Samuel asked wherefore contrary to God's Word he had saved the Cattel he excused the matter partly by fear saying he durst do no other for that the People would have it so partly for that they were goodly Beasts he thought God would be content seeing it was done of a good intent and devotion to honour God with the Sacrifice of them But Samuel reproving all such intents and devotions seem they never so much to God's Honour if they stand not with his Word whereby we may be assured of his pleasure said on this wise Would God have Sacrifices and Offerings Or rather that his Word should be obeyed To obey him is better than offerings and to listen to him is better than to offer the fat of Rams yea to repugn against his voice is as evil as the sin of soothsaying and not to agree to it is like abominable Idolatry And now forasmuch as thou hast cast away the word of the Lord he hath cast away thee that thou shouldest not be King By all these examples of Holy Scripture The turning of God from Man we may know that as we forsake God so shall he ever forsake us And what miserable state doth consequently and necessarily follow thereupon a Man may easily consider by the terrible threatnings of God And although he consider not all the said misery to the uttermost being so great that it passeth any Man's capacity in this life sufficiently to consider the same Yet he shall soon perceive so much thereof that if his Heart be not more than stony or harder than the Adamant he shall fear tremble and quake to call the same to his remembrance First the displeasure of God towards us is commonly expressed in the Scripture by these two things By shewing his fearful Countenance upon us and by turning his Face or hiding it from us By shewing his dreadful Countenance is signified his great wrath But by turning his Face or hiding thereof is many times more signified that is to say That he clearly forsaketh us and giveth us over The which significations be taken of the properties of Mens manners For Men towards them whom they favour commonly bear a good a chearful and a loving Countenance So that by the Face or Countenance of a Man it doth commonly appear what Will or Mind he beareth towards others So when God doth shew his dreadful Countenance towards us that is to say doth send dreadful plagues of Sword Famine or Pestilence upon us it appeareth that he is greatly wroth with us But when he withdraweth from us his Word the right Doctrine of Christ his Gracious assistance and aid which is ever joyned to his Word and leaveth us to our own Wit our own Will and Strength He declareth then that he beginneth to forsake us For whereas God hath shewed to all them that truly believe his Gospel his Face of Mercy in Jesus Christ which doth so lighten their Hearts that they if they behold it as they ought to do be transformed to his Image be made partakers of the Heavenly Light and of his Holy Spirit and be fashioned to him in all Goodness requisite to the Children of God So if they after do neglect the same if they be unthankful unto him if they order not their lives according to his Example and Doctrine and to the setting forth of his Glory he will take away from them his Kingdom his Holy Word whereby he should reign in them because they bring not forth the fruit thereof that he looketh for Nevertheless he is so merciful and of so long-sufferance that he doth not shew upon us that great wrath suddainly But when we begin to shrink from his Word not believing it or not expressing it in our livings First he doth send his Messengers the true Preachers of his Word to admonish and warn us of our Duty That as he for his part for the great love he bare unto us delivered his own Son to suffer death that we by his death might be delivered from death and be restored to the Life everlasting evermore to dwell with him and to be partakers and inheritors with him of his everlasting Glory and Kingdom of Heaven So again that we for our parts should walk in a Godly life as becometh his Children to do And if this will not serve but still we remain disobedient to his Word and Will not knowing him nor loving him nor fearing him nor putting our whole trust and confidence in him And on the other side to Neighbours behaving our selves uncharitably by Disdain Envy Malice or by committing Murder Robbery Adultery Gluttony Deceit Lying Swearing or other like detestable Works Heb. 3. and ungodly behaviour then he threatneth us by terrible Comminations swearing in great Anger Psal 15. that whosoever doth these Works shall never enter into his Rest 1 Cor. â—â— which is the Kingdom of Heaven The Second Part of the Sermon of Falling from God IN the former part of this Sermon ye have learned how many manner of ways Men fall from God Some by Idolatry some for lack of Faith some by neglecting of their Neighbours some by not hearing of God's Word some by the Pleasure they take in the Vanities of worldly things Ye have also learned in what misery that Man is which is gone from God And how that God yet of his infinite Goodness to call again Man from that his misery useth first gentle Admonitions by his Preachers after he layeth on terrible Threatnings Now if this gentle Monition and Threatning together do not serve then God will shew his terrible Countenance upon us he will pour intolerable Plagues upon our Heads and after he will take away from us all his Aid and Assistance wherewith before he did defend us from all such manner of Calamity As the Evangelical Prophet Isaiah agreeing with Christ's Parable Isaiah 5. doth teach us saying That God had made a goodly Vineyard for his beloved Children he hedged it he walled it round about he planted it with chosen Vines and made a Turret in the mid'st thereof Matth. 2â—â— and therein also a Vine-press And when he looked that it should bring forth good Grapes it brought forth wild Grapes And after it followeth Now shall I shew you saith God what I will do with my Vineyard I will pluck down the Hedges that it may perish I will break down the Walls that it may be troden under foot I will let it lye waste it shall not be cut it shall not be digged but Bryers and Thorns shall overgrow it and I shall command the Clouds that they shall no more rain upon it By these Threatnings we
that Heb. 12. saith St. Paul whom the Father loveth and doth not chastise If ye be without God's correction which all his welbeloved and true Children have then be you but Bastards smally regarded of God and not his true Children Therefore seeing that when we have on Earth our carnal Fathers to be our correctors we do fear them and reverently take their correction shall we not much more be in Subjection to God our Spiritual Father by whom we shall have everlasting Life and our Carnal Fathers somtimes correct us even as it pleaseth them without cause But this Father justly correcteth us either for our Sin to the intent we should amend or for our Commodity and Wealth to make us thereby partakers of his Holiness Furthermore all Correction which God sendeth us in this present time seemeth to have no Joy and Comfort but Sorrow and Pain yet it bringeth with it a tast of God's Mercy and Goodness towards them that be so corrected and a sure hope of God's everlasting Consolation in Heaven If then these Sorrows Diseases and Sicknesses and also Death itself be nothing else but our Heavenly Father's Rod whereby he certifieth us of his Love and gracious Favour whereby he tryeth and purifieth us whereby he giveth unto us Holiness and certifieth us that we be his Children and he our merciful Father Shall not we then with all humility as obedient and loving Children joyfully kiss our Heavenly Father's Rod and ever say in our Heart with our Saviour Jesus Christ Father if this Anguish and Sorrow which I feel and Death which I see approach may not pass but that thy will is that I must suffer them Thy Will be done The Third Part of the Sermon against the Fear of Death IN this Sermon against the fear of Death Two Causes were declared which commonly move worldly Men to be in much fear to die and yet the same do nothing trouble the faithful and good Livers when Death cometh but rather give them occasion greatly to rejoice considering that they shall be delivered from the sorrow and misery of this World and be brought to the great Joy and Felicity of the Life to come The Third Cause why Death is to be feared Now the Third and special Cause why Death indeed is to be feared is the miserable State of the worldly and ungodly People after their Death But this is no Cause at all why the godly and faithful People should fear Death but rather contrariwise their godly Conversation in this Life and Belief in Christ cleaving continually to his Mercies should make them to long sore after that Life that remaineth for them undoubtedly after this bodily Death Of this immortal State after this transitory Life where we shall live evermore in the Presence of God in Joy and Rest after Victory over all Sickness Sorrows Sin and Death There be many plain places of Holy Scripture which confirm the weak Conscience against the fear of all such Dolours Sicknesses Sin and bodily Death to asswage such trembling and ungodly fear and to encourage us with Comfort and hope of a blessed State after this Life Saint Paul wisheth unto the Ephesians Ephes 1. That God the Father of Glory would give unto them the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation that the Eyes of their Hearts might give Light to know him and to perceive how great things he had called them unto and how rich an Inheritance he hath prepared after this Life for them that pertain unto him Phil. 1. And St. Paul himself declareth the desire of his Heart which was to be dissolved and loosed from his Body and to be with Christ which as he said was much better for him although to them it was more necessary that he should live which he refused not for their sakes Even like as St. Martin said Good Lord if I be necessary for thy People to do good unto them I will refuse no Labour But else for mine own self I beseech thee to take my Soul Now the Holy Fathers of the Old Law and all faithful and righteous Men which departed before our Saviour Christ's Ascension into Heaven did by Death depart from Troubles unto Rest from the hands of their Enemies into the hands of God from Sorrows and Sicknesses unto joyful refreshing in Abraham's bosom a place of all Comfort and Consolation as the Scriptures do plainly by manifest words testifie Wisdom 3. The Book of Wisdom saith That the Righteous Mens Souls be in the hand of God and no torment shall touch them They seemed to the eyes of foolish Men to die and their death was counted miserable and their departing out of this World wretched but they be in Rest And another place saith Wisd 4. That the Righteous shall live for ever and their Reward is with the Lord and their Minds be with God who is above all Therefore they shall receive a Glorious Kingdom and a Beautiful Crown at the Lord's hand And in another place the same Book saith The Righteous though he be prevented with suddain Death nevertheless he shall be there where he shall be refreshed Of Abraham's Bosom Christ's words be so plain that a Christian Man needeth no more proof of it Now then if this were the state of the Holy Fathers and Righteous Men before the coming of our Saviour and before he was Glorified How much more then ought all we to have a stedfast Faith and a sure Hope of this blessed state and condition after our death Seeing that our Saviour now hath performed the whole Work of our Redemption and is Gloriously ascended into Heaven to prepare our dwelling places with him and said unto his Father Father John 17. I will that where I am my servants shall be with me And we know that whatsoever Christ Will his Father Wills the same wherefore it cannot be but if we be his Faithful Servants our Souls shall be with him after our departure out of this present life St. Stephen when he was stoned to death even in the midst of his torments what was his Mind most upon Acts 7. When he was full of the Holy Ghost saith Holy Scripture having his eyes lifted up into Heaven he saw the Glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God The which Truth after he had confessed boldly before the enemies of Christ they drew him out of the City and there they stoned him who cryed unto God saying Lord Jesu Christ take my Spirit And doth not our Saviour say plainly in St. John's Gospel Verily John 5. verily I say unto you He that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life and cometh not into judgment but shall pass from death to life Shall we not then think that death to be precious by the which we pass unto life Therefore it is a true saying of the Prophet Psal 116. The death of the Holy and Righteous Men is precious in the
Blood of Christ through the Holy Ghost Now if we be Saints what have we to do with the manners of the Heathen 1 Pet. 1. Levit. 19. Saint Peter saith As he which called you his Holy even so be ye Holy also in your Conversation because it is written Be ye Holy for I am Holy Hitherto have we heard how grievous a Sin Fornication and Whoredom is and how greatly God doth abhor it throughout the whole Scripture How can it any otherwise be than a Sin of most abomination seeing it may not once be named among the Christians much less may it in any point be committed And surely if we would weigh the greatness of this Sin and consider it in the right kind we should find the Sin of Whoredom to be that most filthy Lake foul Puddle and stinking Sink whereunto all kinds of Sins and Evils flow where also they have their resting place and abiding For hath not the Adulterer a pride in his Whoredom As the Wise Man saith They are glad when they have done evil and rejoyce in things that are stark naught Is not the Adulterer also Idle and delighteth in no Godly exercise but only in that his most filthy and beastly pleasure Is not his Mind pluckt and utterly drawn away from all virtuous Studies and fruitful Labours and only given to carnal and fleshly imagination Doth not the Whoremonger give his mind to Gluttony that he may be the more apt to serve his Lusts and carnal Pleasures Doth not the Adulterer give his Mind to Covetousness and to polling and pilling of others that he may be the more able to maintain his Harlots and Whores and to continue in his filthy and unlawful Love Swelleth he not also with Envy against others fearing that his Prey should be allured and taken away from him Again is he not ireful and replenished with Wrath and Displeasure even against his best beloved if at any time his beastly and devilish Request be letted What Sin or kind of Sin is it that is not joyned with Fornication and Whoredom It is a Monster of many Heads It receiveth all kinds of Vices and refuseth all kinds of Virtues If one several Sin bringeth Damnation what is to be thought of that Sin which is accompanied with all Evils and hath waiting on it whatsoever is hateful to God damnable to Man and pleasant to Satan Great is the Damnation that hangeth over the Heads of Fornicators and Adulterers What shall I speak of other incommodities which issue and flow out of this stinking puddle of Whoredom Is not that Treasure which before all other is most regarded of honest Persons the good Fame and Name of Man and Woman lost through Whoredom What Patrimony or Livelihood What Substance What Goods What Riches doth Whoredom shortly consume and bring to nought What Valiantness and Strength is many times made weak and destroyed with Whoredom What Wit is so fine that is not besotted and defaced through Whoredom What Beauty although it were never so excellent is not disfigured through Whoredom Is not Whoredom an enemy to the pleasant Flower of Youth and bringeth it not gray Hairs and old Age before the time What gift of Nature although it were never so precious is not corrupted with Whoredom Come not many foul and most loathsome Diseases of Whoredom From whence come so many Bastards and misbegotten Children to the high displeasure of God and dishonour of Holy Wedlock but of Whoredom How many consume all their Substance and Goods and at the last fall into such extreme poverty that afterward they steal and so are hanged through Whoredom What Contention and Man slaughter cometh of Whoredom How many Maidens be deflowred How many Wives corrupted how many Widows defiled through Whoredom How much is the Publick and Commonweal impoverished and troubled through Whoredom How much is God's Word contemned and depraved through Whoredom and Whoremongers Of this Vice cometh a great part of the Divorces which now adays be so commonly accustomed and used by Mens private Authority to the great displeasure of God and the breach of the most Holy knot and bond of Matrimony For when this most detestable Sin is once crept into the Breast of the Adulterer so that he is intangled with unlawful and unchast Love straightways his true and lawful Wife is despised her Presence is abhorred her company stinketh and is loathsom whatsoever she doth is dispraised There is no quietness in the House so long as she is in his sight Therefore to make short work she must away for her Husband can brook her no longer Thus through Whoredom is the honest and harmless Wife put away and an Harlot received in her stead And in like sort it happeneth many times in the Wife towards her Husband O Abomination Christ our Saviour very God and Man coming to restore the Law of his Heavenly Father unto the right sense understanding and meaning among other things reformed the abuse of this Law of God For whereas the Jews used a long sufferance by custom to put away their Wives at their pleasure for every cause Christ correcting that evil custom did teach That if any Man put away his Wife and marrieth another Matth. 19. for any cause except only for Adultery which then was Death by the Law he was an Adulterer and forced also his Wife so divorced to commit Adultery if she were joyned to any other Man and the Man also so joyned with her to commit Adultery In what case then are these Adulterers which for the love of an Whore put away their true and lawful Wife against all Law right Reason and Conscience O how Damnable is the state wherein they stand Swift Destruction shall fall on them if they repent not and amend not For God will not suffer Holy Wedlock thus to be dishonoured hated and despised He will once punish this fleshly and licentious manner of living and cause that this holy Ordinance shall be had in Reverence and Honour For surely Wedlock as the Apostle saith is honourable among all Men and the Bed undefiled Heb. â— But Whoremongers and Fornicators God will Judge that is to say punish and condemn But to what purpose is this labour taken to describe and set forth the greatness of the Sin of Whoredom and the Discommodities that issue and flow out from it seeing that breath and tongue shall sooner fail any Man than he shall or may be able to set it out according to the Abomination and Heinousness thereof Notwithstanding this is spoken to the intent that all Men should flee Whoredom and live in the fear of God God grant that it may not be spoken in vain The Third Part of the Sermon against Adultery IN the Second Part of this Sermon against Adultery that was last read you have learned how earnestly the Scripture warneth us to avoid the sin of Adultery and to embrace cleanness of Life And that through Adultery we fall into all kinds of Sin
of the West would not acknowledg for their Emperor for they had already created them another And so there became two Emperors And the Empire which was before one was divided into two Parts upon occasion of Idols and Images and the worshipping of them Even as the Kingdom of the Israelites was in old time for the like cause of Idolatry divided in King Rehoboham's time And so the Bishop of Rome having the Favour of Charles the Great by this means assured to him was wondrously enhanced in Power and Authority and did in all the West Church especially in Italy what he list where Images were set up garnished and worshipped of all sorts of Men But Images were not so fast set up and so much honoured in Italy and the West but Nicephorus Emperor of Constantinople and his Successors Scauratius the two Michaels Leo Or Staurtius Theophorus and other Emperors their Successors in the Empire of Greece continually pulled them down brake them burned them and destroyed them as fast And when Theodorus the Emperor would at the Council of Lyons have agreed with the Bishop of Rome and have set up Images He was by the Nobles of the Empire of Greece deprived and another chosen in his place and so rose a jealousie suspicion grudge hatred and enmity between the Christians and Empires of the East Countries and West which could never be quenched nor pacified So that when the Sarazens first and afterward the Turks invaded the Christians the one part of Christendom would not help the other By reason whereof at the last the Noble Empire of Greece and the City Imperial Constantinople was lost and is come into the hands of the Infidels who now have overrun almost all Christendom and possessing past the middle of Hungary which is part of the West Empire do hang over all our heads to the utter danger of all Christendom Thus we see what a sea of mischiefs the maintenance of Images hath brought with it what an horrible Schism between the East and the West Church what an hatred between one Christian and another Councils agaist Councils Church against Church Christians against Christians Princes against Princes Rebellions Treasons unnatural and most cruel Murders the Daughter digging up and burning her Father the Emperor's Body the Mother for love of Idols most abominably murthering of her own Son being an Emperor at the last the tearing in sunder of Christendom and the Empire into two pieces till the Infidels Sarazens and Turks common Enemies to both parts have most cruelly vanquished destroyed and subdued the one part the whole Empire of Greece Asia the less Thracia Macedonia Epirus and many other great and goodly Countries and Provinces and have won a great piece of the other Empire and put the whole in dreadful fear and most horrible danger For it is not without a just and great cause to be dreaded lest as the Empire of Rome was even for the like cause of Images and the worshipping of them torn in pieces and divided as was for Idolatry the Kingdom of Israel in old time divided so like punishment as for the like offence fell upon the Jews will also light upon us that is lest the cruel Tyrant and Enemy of our Commonwealth and Religion the Turk by God's just vengeance should likewise partly Murder and partly lead away into Captivity us Christians as did the Assyrian and Babylonian Kings Murder and lead away the Israelites and lest the Empire of Rome and Christian Religion be so utteâ—ly brought under foot as was then the Kingdom of Israel and true Religion of God whereunto the matter already as I have declared shrewdly inclineth on our part the greater part of Christendom within less than three hundred years space being brought into Captivity and most miserable thraldom under the Turk and the Noble Empire of Greece clean everted Whereas if the Christians divided by these Image matters had holden together no Infidels and Miscreants could thus have prevailed against Christendom And all this mischief and misery which we have hitherto fallen into do we owe to our mighty gods of Gold and Silver Stock and Stone in whose help and defence where they cannot help themselves we have trusted so long until our enemies the Infidels have overcome and overrun us almost altogether A just reward for those that have left the mighty living God the Lord of Hosts and have stooped and given the Honour due to him to dead blocks and stocks who have Eies and see not Feet and cannot go and so forth and are cursed of God and all they that make them and that put their trust in them Thus you understand well-beloved in our Saviour Christ by the judgment of the old Learned and Godly Doctors of the Church and by ancient Histories Ecclesiastical agreeing to the verity of God's Word alledged out of the Old Testament and the New that Images and Image-worshipping were in the Primitive Church which was most pure and uncorrupt abhorred and detested as abominable and contrary to true Christian Religion And that when Images began to creep into the Church they were not only spoken and written against by Godly and Learned Bishops Doctors and Clerks but also condemned by whole Councils of Bishops and learned Men assembled together yea the said Images by many Christian Emperors and Bishops were defaced broken and destroyed and that above seven hundred and eight hundred years ago and that therefore it is not of late days as some would bear you in hand that Images and Image-worshipping have been spoken and written against Finally you have heard what mischief and misery hath by the occasion of the said Images fallen upon whole Christendom besides the loss of infinite Souls which is most horrible of all Wherefore let us beseech God that we being warned by his Holy Word forbidding all Idolatry and by the Writing of old Godly Doctors and Ecclesiastical Histories written and preserved by God's Ordinance for our admonition and warning may flee from all Idolatry and so escape the horrible punishment and plagues as well worldly as everlasting threatned for the same which God our Heavenly Father Grant us for our only Saviour and Mediator Jesus Christ's sake Amen The Third Part of the Homily against Images and the worshipping of them containing the confutation of the principal Arguments which are used to be made for the maintenance of Images Which part may serve to instruct the Curates themselves or Men of good understanding NOw ye have heard how plainly how vehemently and that in many places the Word of God speaketh against not only Idolatry and worshipping of Images but also against Idols and Images themselves I mean always thus herein in that we be stirred and provoked by them to worship them and not as though they were simply forbidden by the New Testament without such occasion and danger And ye have heard likewise out of Histories Ecclesiastical the beginning proceeding and success of Idolatry by Images and the
of the Experience of ancient Antiquity that Idolatry cannot possibly be separated from Images any long time but that as an unseparable accident or as a shadow followeth the body when the Sun shineth so Idolatry followeth and cleaveth to the publick having of Images in Temples and Churches And finally as Idolatry is to be abhorred and avoided so are Images which cannot be long without Idolatry to be put away and destroyed Besides the which experiments and proof of time before the very nature and origine of Images themselves draweth to Idolatry most violently and mens nature and inclination also is bent to Idolatry so vehemently that it is not possible to sever or part Images nor to keep men from Idolatry if Images be suffered publickly That I speak of the nature and origine of Images is this Even as the first invention of them is naught and no good can come of that which had an evil beginning for they be altogether naught as Athanasius in his Book against the Gentiles declareth and St. Jerome also upon the Prophet Jeremy the sixth Chapter and Eusebius in the Seventh Book of his Ecclesiastical History the xviij testifieth that as they first came from the Gentiles which were Idolaters and worshippers of Images unto us and as the invention of them was the beginning of Spiritual Fornication as the Word of God testifieth Sap. 14. So will they naturally as it were of necessity turn to their origine from whence they came and draw us with them most violently to Idolatry abominable to God and all godly men For if the origine of Images and worshipping of them as it is recorded in the eighth Chapter of the Book of Wisdom began of a blind love of a fond Father framing for his comfort an Image of his Son being dead and so at the last men fell to the worshipping of the Image of him whom they did know to be dead How much more will Men and Women fall to the worshipping of the Images of God our Saviour Christ and his Saints if they be suffered to stand in Churches and Temples publickly For the greater the opinion is of the Majesty and Holiness of the Person to whom an Image is made the sooner will the People fall to the worshipping of the said Image Wherefore the Images God our Saviour Christ the Blessed Virgin Mary the Apostles Martyrs and others of notable Holiness are of all other Images most dangerous for the peril of Idolatry and therefore greatest heed to be taken that none of them be suffered to stand publickly in Churches and Temples For there is no great dread lest any should fall to the worshipping of the Images of Annas Caiaphas Pilate or Judas the Traytor if they were set up But to the other it is already at full proved that Idolatry hath been is and is most like continually to be committed Now as was before touched and is here most largely to be declared the nature of man is none otherwise bent to worshipping of Images if he may have them and see them than it is bent to Whoredom and Adultery in the company of Harlots And as unto a man given to the lust of the flesh seeing a wanton Harlot sitting by her and embracing her it profiteth little for one to say 1 Cor. 6. 1 Cor. 4. Heb. 13. Beware of Fornication God will condemn Fornicators and Adulterers for neither will he being overcome with greater inticements of the Strumpet give ear or take heed to such godly admonitions and when he is left afterwards alone with the Harlot nothing can follow but wickedness even so suffer Images to be set in the Churches and Temples ye shall in vain bid them beware of Images as St. John doth 1 John 5. and flee Idolatry as all the Scriptures warn us ye shall in vain preach and teach them against Idolatry For a number will notwithstanding fall headlong unto it what by the nature of Images and what by the inclination of their own corrupt nature Wherefore as for a man given to Lust to sit down by a Strumpet is to tempt God so is it likewise to erect an Idol in this proneness of mans nature to Idolatry nothing but a tempting Now if any will say that this similitude proveth nothing yet I pray them let the Word of God out of the which the similitude is taken prove something Lev. 17. and 20. Numb 25. Deut. 31. Baruch 6. Doth not the Word of God call Idolary spiritual Fornication Doth it not call a gilt or painted Idol or Image a Strumpet with a painted Face Be not the spiritual wickednesses of an Idols inticing like the flatteries of a wanton Harlot Be not Men and Women as prone to spiritual Fornication I mean Idolatry as to carnal Fornication If this be denied let all the Nations upon the Earth which have been Idolaters as by all stories appeareth prove it true Let the Jews and the People of God which were so often and so earnestly warned so dreadfully threatned concerning Images and Idolatry and so extreamly punished therefore and yet fell into it prove it to be true as in almost all the Books of the Old Testament namely the Kings and the Chronicles and the Prophets it appeareth most evidently Let all Ages and Times and Men of all Ages and Times of all Degrees and Conditions Wise men Learned men Princes Idiots Unlearned and Commonalty prove it to be true If you require Examples For Wise Men ye have the Egyptians and the Indian Gymnosophists for wisest men of the World you have Solomon the wisest of all other For Learned men the Greeks and namely the Athenians exceeding all other Nations in Superstition and Idolatry as in the History of the Acts of the Apostles St. Paul chargeth them Acts 17. Rom. 1. For Princes and Governors you have the Romans the rulers of the rost as they say you have the same forenamed King Solomon and all the Kings of Israel and Judah after him saving David Ezechias and Josias and one or two more All these I say and infinite others wise learned Princes and Governors being all Idolaters have you for examples and a proof of mens inclination to Idolatry That I may pass over with silence in the mean time infinite multitudes and millions of Idiots and unlearned Psal 23. the ignorant and gross People like unto Horses and Mules in whom is no understanding whose peril and danger to fall on heaps to Idolatry by occasion of Images Sap. 13.14 the Scriptures specially foreshew and give warning of And indeed how should the unlearned simple and foolish scape the Nets and Snares of Idols and Images in the which the wisest and the best learned have been so entangled trapped and wrapped Wherefore the Argument holdeth this ground sure That men be as inclined of their corrupt Nature to spiritual Fornication as to carnal which the wisdom of God fore-seeing to the general prohibition that none should make to themselves any
condemned unto death to take upon him the reward of our sins and to give his Body to be broken on the Cross for our offences He saith the Prophet Esay Esay 55. meaning Christ hath born our infirmities and hath carried our sorrows the chastisements of our peace was upon him and by his stripes we were made whole 2 Cor. 5. St. Paul likewise saith God made him a sacrifice for our sins which knew not sin that we should be made the righteousness of God by him And St. Peter most agreeably writing in this behalf saith Christ hath once died and suffered for our sins the just for the unjust c. To these might be added an infinite number of other places to the same effect but these few shall be sufficient for this time Now then as it was said in the beginning let us ponder and weigh the cause of his death that thereby we may be the more moved to glorifie him in our whole life Which if you will have comprehended briefly in one word it was nothing else on our part but only the transgression and sin of mankind When the Angel came to warn Joseph that he should not fear to take Mary to his Wife Did he not therefore will the Childs Name to be called Jesus because he should save his People from their sins When John the Baptist preached Christ and shewed him to the People with his finger Did he not plainly say unto them John 1. Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the World When the Woman of Canaan besought Christ to help her Daughter which was possest with a Devil Mat. 15. Did he not openly confess that he was sent to save the lost sheep of the house of Israel by giving his life for their sins It was sin then O man even thy sin that caused Christ the only Son of God to be crucified in the flesh and to suffer the most vile and slanderous death of the Cross If thou hadst kept thy self upright if thou hadst observed the Commandments if thou hadst not presumed to transgress the will of God in thy first Father Adam then Christ Rom. 5. being in form of God needed not to have taken upon him the shape of a Servant being immortal in Heaven he needed not to become mortal on Earth being the true Bread of the Soul he needed not to hunger being the healthful Water of Life he needed not to thirst being life it self he needed not to have suffered death But to these and many other such extremities was he driven by thy sin which was so manifold and great that God could be only pleased in him and none other Canst thou think of this O sinful man and not tremble within thy self Canst thou hear it quietly without remorse of Conscience and sorrow of Heart Did Christ suffer his Passion for thee and wilt thou shew no compassion towards him While Christ was yeâ— hanging on the Cross and yielding up the Ghost the Scripture witnesseth that the veil of the Temple did rent in twain Mat. 27. and the Earth did quake that the stones clave asunder that the Graves did open and the dead bodies rise and shall the Heart of man be nothing moved to remember how grievously and cruelly he was handled of the Jews for our sins Shall man shew himself to be more hard hearted than stones to have less compassion than dead Bodies Call to mind O sinful Creature and set before thine eyes Christ crucified Think thou seest his Body stretched out in length upon the Cross his Head crowned with sharp Thorns and his Hands and his Feet pierced with Nails his Heart opened with a long Spear his Flesh rent and torn with Whips his Brows sweating Water and Blood Think thou hearest him now crying in an intolerable agony to his Father and saying My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Couldst thou behold this woful sight or hear this mournful voice without Tears considering that he suffered all this not for any desert of his own but only for the grievousness of thy sins O that mankind should put the everlasting Son of God to such pains O that we should be the occasion of his death and the only cause of his condemnation May we not justly cry wo worth the time that ever we sinned O my Brethren let this Image of Christ crucified be always printed in our hearts let it stir us up to the hatred of sin and provoke our minds to the earnest love of Almighty God For why is not sin think you a grievous thing in his sight seeing for the transgressing of Gods Precept in eating of one Apple he condemned all the Wâ—â—ld to perpetual death and would not be pacified but only with the blood of his own Son True yea most true is that saying of David Psal 5. Thou O Lord hatest all them that work iniquity neither shall the wicked and evil man dwell with thee By the mouth of his holy Prophet Esay Esay 5. he cried mainly out against sinners and saith Wo be unto you that draw iniquity with cords of vanity and sin as it were with cart-ropes Did he not give a plain token how greatly he hated and abhorred sin Gen. 7. when he drowned all the World save only eight Persons when he destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah with Fire and Brimstone Gen. 19. 1 Kings 26. when in three days space he killed with Pestilence threescore and ten thousand for David's offence when he drowned Pharaoh and all his Host in the Red-Sea Exod. 14. Daniel 4. when he turned Nabuchodonosor the King into the form of a brute Beast creeping upon all four 2 Kings 27. Acts 1. when he suffered Achitophel and Judas to hang themselves upon the remorse of sin which was so terrible to their eyes A thousand such examples are to be found in Scripture if a man would stand to seek them out But what need we This one example which we have now in hand is of more force and ought more to move us than all the rest Christ being the Son of God and perfect God himself who never committed sin was compelled to come down from Heaven to give his Body to be bruised and broken on the Cross for our sins Was not this a manifest token of Gods great wrath and displeasure towards sin that he could be pacified by no other means but only by the sweet and precious Blood of his dear Son O sin sin that ever thou shouldest drive Christ to such extremity Wo worth the time that ever thou camest into the World But what booteth it now to bewail Sin is come and so come that it cannot be avoided There is no man living Prov. 24. no not the justest man on the Earth but he falleth seven times a day as Solomon saith And our Saviour Christ although he hath delivered us from sin yet not so that we shall be free from committing sin but so that it
to be ever ready to give ourselves to our Neighbours and as much as lieth in us to study with all our endeavour to do good to every Man These be the fruits of true Faith to do good asmuch as lieth in us to every Man and above all things and in all things to advance the Glory of God of whom only we have our Sanctification Justification Salvation and Redemption To whom be ever Glory Praise and Honour VVorld without end Amen A Short DECLARATION OF THE True Lively and Christian Faith Faith THE First coming unto God good Christian People is through Faith whereby as it is declared in the last Sermon we be Justified before God And lest any Man should be deceived for lack of right Understanding thereof it is diligently to be noted that Faith is taken in the Scripture two manner of ways A dead Faith There is one Faith which in Scripture is called a Dead Faith which bringeth forth no good Works but is idle barren and unfruitful And this Faith by the Holy Apostle St. James is compared to the Faith of Devils James 2. which believe God to be True and Just and tremble for fear yet they do nothing well but all evil And such a manner of Faith have the wicked and naughty Christian People which confess God as St. Paul saith in their mouths Titus 6. but deny him in their deeds being abominable and without the right Faith and to all good works reproveable And this Faith is a Persuasion and Belief in Man's Heart whereby he knoweth that there is a God and agreeth unto all Truths of God's most Holy Word contained in the Holy Scripture So that it consisteth only in Believing in the Word of God that it is true And this is not properly called Faith But as he that readeth Caesar's Commentary believing the same to be true hath thereby a knowledge of Caesar's Life and notable Acts because he believeth the History of Caesar Yet it is not properly said that he believeth in Caesar of whom he looketh for no help nor benefit Even so he that Believeth that all that is spoken of God in the Bible is true and yet liveth so ungodly that he cannot look to enjoy the Promises and Benefits of God Although it may be said that such a Man hath a Faith and Belief to the Words of God yet it is not properly said that he believeth in God or hath such a Faith and Trust in God whereby he may surely look for Grace Mercy and everlasting Life at God's hand but rather for Indignation and Punishment according to the Merits of his wicked Life For as it is written in a Book Entituled to be of Didymus Alexandrinus Forasmuch as Faith without Works is dead it is not now Faith as a dead Man is not a Man This dead Faith therefore is not that sure and substantial Faith which saveth Sinners Another Faith there is in Scripture which is not as the aforesaid Faith idle unfruitful and dead A lively Faith but worketh by charity as St. Paul declareth Gal. 5. Which as the other vain Faith is called a dead Faith so may this be called a quick or lively Faith And this is not only the common belief of the Articles of our Faith but it is also a true Trust and Confidence of the Mercy of God through our Lord Jesus Christ and a stedfast hope of all good things to be received at God's hand And that although we through Infirmity or Temptation of our Ghostly enemy do fall from him by Sin yet if we return again unto him by true Repentance that he will forgive and forget our Offences for his Sons sake our Saviour Jesus Christ and will make us Inheritors with him of his everlasting Kingdom and that in the mean time untill that Kingdom come he will be our Protector and Defender in all perils and dangers whatsoever do chance And that though somtime he doth send us sharp adversity yet that evermore he will be a loving Father unto us correcting us for our Sin but not withdrawing his Mercy finally from us if we trust in him and commit our selves wholly unto him hang only upon him and call upon him ready to obey and serve him This is the true lively and unfeigned Christian Faith and is not in the Mouth and outward Profession only but it liveth and stirreth inwardly in the Heart And this Faith is not without Hope and Trust in God nor without the Love of God and of our Neighbors nor without the Fear of God nor without the Desire to hear God's Word and to follow the same in eschewing Evil and doing gladly all good Works Heb. 12. Thus Faith as St. Paul describeth it is the sure ground and foundation of the benefits which we ought to look for and trust to receive of God a Certificate and sure looking for them although they yet sensibly appear not unto us And after he saith He that cometh to God must believe both that he is and that he is a merciful rewarder of Well-doers And nothing commendeth good Men unto God so much as this assured Faith and Trust in him Of this Faith three things are specially to be noted Three things are to be noted of Faith First that this Faith doth not lye dead in the Heart but is lively and fruitful in bringing forth good Works Secondly that without it can no good Works be done that shall be acceptable and pleasant to God Thirdly what manner of good Works they be that this Faith doth bring forth Faith is full of good Works For the First That as the Light cannot be hid but will shew forth itself at one place or other So a true Faith cannot be kept secret but when occasion is offered it will break out and shew itself by good Works And as the living Body of a Man ever exerciseth such things as belong to a natural and living Body for nourishment and preservation of the same as it hath need opportunity and occasion Even so the Soul that hath a lively Faith in it will be doing alway some good Work which shall declare that it is living and will not be unoccupied Therefore when Men hear in the Scripture so high commendations of Faith that it maketh us to please God to live with God and to be the Children of God If then they fancy that they be set at liberty from doing all good Works and may live as they list they trifle with God and deceive themselves And it is a manifest token that they be far from having the true and lively Faith and also far from Knowledge what true Faith meaneth For the very sure and lively Christian Faith is not only to believe all things of God which are contained in Holy Scripture but also is an earnest Trust and Confidence in God that he doth regard us and that he is careful over us as the Father is over the Child whom he doth love and that
he will be merciful unto us for his only Sons sake and that we have our Saviour Christ our perpetual Advocate and Priest in whose only Merits Oblation and Suffering we do trust that our Offences be continually washed and purged whensoever we repenting truly do return to him with our whole Heart stedfastly determining with ourselves through his Grace to obey and serve him in keeping his Commandments and never to turn back again to Sin Such is the true Faith that the Scripture doth so much commend the which when it seeth and considereth what God hath done for us is also moved through continual assistance of the Spirit of God to serve and please him to keep his Favour to fear his Displeasure to continue his Obedient Children shewing Thakfulness again by observing or keeping his Commandments and that freely for true Love chiefly and not for dread of Punishment or love of temporal Reward considering how clearly without deservings we have received his Mercy and Pardon freely This true Faith will shew forth itself and cannot long be idle For as it is written Abac 2 The Just man doth live by his Faith He never sleepeth nor is idle when he would wake and be well occupied And God by his Prophet Jeremy saith Jer. 17. That he is a happy and blessed man which hath Faith and confidence in God For he is like a Tree set by the water-side and spreadeth his roots abroad towards the moisture and feareth not heat when it cometh his leaf will be green and will not cease to bring forth his Fruit Even so Faithful men putting away all fear of Adversity will shew forth the fruit of their good Works as occasion is offered to do them The Second Part of the Sermon of Faith YE have heard in the First Part of this Sermon that there be two kinds of Faith a dead and an unfruitful Faith and a Faith lively that worketh by Charity The First to be unprofitable the Second necessary for the obtaining of our Salvation The which Faith hath Charity always joyned unto it and is fruitful and bringeth forth all good Works Now as concerning the same matter you shall hear what followeth Eccles 31. The VVise Man saith He that believeth in God will hearken unto his Commandments For if we do not shew ourselves faithful in our Conversation the Faith which we pretend to have is but a feigned Faith Because the true Christian Faith is manifestly shewed by good Living and not by VVords only as St. Augustin saith Good Living cannot be separated from true Faith which worketh by Love Libro de fide operibus cap. 2. Sermo de lege fide Heb. 11. Gen. 4. Gen. 6. Eccl. 44. Gen. 11. And St. Chrysostome saith Faith of itself is full of good VVorks As soon as a Man doth Believe he shall be garnished with them How plentiful this Faith is of good VVorks and how it maketh the work of one Man more acceptable to God than of another St. Paul teacheth at large in the Eleventh Chapter to the Hebrews saying That faith made the oblation of Abel better than the oblation of Cain This made Noah to build the Ark. This made Abraham to forsake his Country and all his Friends and go into a far Country there to dwell among Strangers So did also Isaac and Jacob depending or hanging only on the Help and Trust that they had in God And when they came to the Country which God promised them they would build no Cities Towns nor Houses but lived like Strangers in Tents that might every day be removed Their Trust was so much in God that they set but little by any worldly thing for that God had prepared better Dwelling-places for them in Heaven of his own Foundation and Building Gen. 22. Eccl. 13. This Faith made Abraham ready at God's Commandment to offer his own Son and Heir Isaac whom he loved so well and by whom he was promised to have innumerable issue among the which One should be Born in whom all Nations should be blessed trusting so much in God that though he were slain yet that God was able by his Omnipotent Power to raise him from Death and perform his Promise He mistrusted not the promise of God although unto his Reason every thing seemeth contrary He Believed verily that God would not forsake him in Dearth and Famine that was in the Country And in all other dangers that he was brought unto he trusted ever that God should be his God and his Protector and Defender whatsoever he saw to the contrary This Faith wrought so in the Heart of Moses that he refused to be taken for King Pharaoh Exod. 2. his Daughters Son and to have great inheritance in Egypt thinking it better with the people of God to have affliction and sorrow than with naughty Men in Sin to live pleasantly for a time By faith he cared not for the threatning of King Pharaoh For his Trust was so in God that he passed not of the Felicity of this VVorld but looked for the Reward to come in Heaven setting his Heart upon the invisible God as if he had seen him ever present before his Eyes By faith Exod. 14. the children of Israel passed through the red Sea By faith the walls of Jericho fell down without stroke and many other wonderful Miracles have been wrought In all good Men that heretofore have been Faith hath brought forth their good Works Dan. 6. and obtained the Promises of God Faith hath stopped the Lyons Mouths Faith hath quenched the force of fire Faith hath escaped the Swords edges Dan. 3. Faith hath given weak men strength victory in battel overthrown the armies of Infidels Heb. 11. raised the dead to life Faith hath made good Men to take adversity in good part some have been mocked and whipped bound and cast in prison some have lost all their Goods and lived in great Poverty some have wandred in Mountains Hills and Wildernesses some have been racked some slain some stoned some sawen some rent in pieces some beheaded some burnt without mercy and would not be delivered because they looked to rise again to a better state All these Fathers Martyrs and other Holy Men whom St. Paul spake of had their Faith surely fixed in God when all the World was against them They did not only know God to be the Lord Maker and Governor of all Men in the World But also they had a special Confidence and Trust that he was and would be their God their Comforter Aider Helper Maintainer and Defender This is the Christian Faith which these Holy Men had and we also ought to have And although they were not named Christian Men yet was it a Christian Faith that they had for they looked for all Benefits of God the Father through the Merits of his Son Jesu Christ as we now do This difference is between them and us that they looked when Christ should come
reprove them with these testimonies of Gods Word and such other Whereunto I am most sure they shall never be able to answer For the necessity of our Salvation did require such a Mediator and Saviour as under one Person should be a partaker of both Natures It was requisite he should be Man it was also requisite he should be God For as the transgression came by man so was it meet the satisfaction should be made by man And because death according to St. Paul is the just stipend and reward of sin therefore to appease the wrath of God and to satisfie his Justice it was expedient that our Mediator should be such a one as might take upon him the sins of mankind and sustain the due punishment thereof namely Death Moreover he came in flesh and in the self-same flesh ascended into Heaven to declare and testifie unto us that all faithful People which stedfastly believe in him shall likewise come unto the same Mansion-place whereunto he being our chief Captain is gone before Last of all he became man that we thereby might receive the greater comfort as well in our Prayers as also in our Adversity considering with our selves that we have a Mediator that is true man as we are who also is touched with our Infirmities and was tempted even in like sort as we are For these and sundry other causes it was most needful he should come as he did in the flesh But because no creature in that he is only a creature hath or may have power to destroy death and give life to overcome Hell and purchase Heaven to remit Sins and give Righteousness therefore it was needful that our Messias whose proper Duty and Office that was should be not only full and perfect Man but also full and perfect God to the intent he might more fully and perfectly make satisfaction for mankind Mat. 3. God saith This is my wel-beloved Son in whom I am well pleased By which place we learn that Christ appeased and quenched the wrath of his Father not in that he was only the Son of Man But much more in that he was the Son of God Thus ye have heard declared out of the Scriptures that Jesus Christ was the true Messias and Saviour of the World that he was by Nature and Substance perfect God and perfect Man and for what cause it was expedient it should be so Now that we may be the more mindful and thankful unto God in this behalf let us briefly consider and call to mind the manifold and great benefits that we have received by the Nativity and Birth of this our Messias and Saviour Before Christ coming into the World all men universally in Adam were nothing else but a wicked and crooked Generation rotten and corrupt Trees stony Ground full of Brambles and Briers lost Sheep Prodigal Sons naughty unprofitable Servants unrighteous Stewards workers of Iniquity the brood of Adders blind Guides sitting in Darkness and in the shadow of Death to be short nothing else but Children of Perdition and inheritors of Hell-fire To this doth St. Paul bear witness in divers places of his Epistles and Christ also himself in sundry places of his Gospel But after he was once come down from Heaven and had taken our frail Nature upon him he made all them that would receive him truly and believe his word good Trees and good Ground fruitful and pleasant Branches Children of Light Citizens of Heaven Sheep of his Fold Members of his Body Heirs of his Kingdom his true Friends and Brethren sweet and lively Bread the elect and chosen People of God For as St. Peter saith in his first Epistle and second Chapter He bare our sins in his body upon the Cross he healed us and made us whole by his stripes and whereas before we were sheep going astray he by his coming brought us home again to the true Shepherd and Bishop of our Souls making us a chosen Generation a Royal Priesthood an Holy Nation a particular People of God in that he died for our Offences and rose for our Justification St. Paul to Timothy the third Chapter We were saith he in times past unwise disobedient deceived serving divers lusts and pleasures living in hatred envy maliciousness and so forth But after the loving kindness of God our Saviour appeared towards mankind not according to the Righteousness that we had done but according to his great Mercy he saved us by the Fountain of the new Birth and by the renewing of the Holy Ghost which he poured upon us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour that we being once Justified by his grace should be Heirs of Eternal Life through hope and faith in his blood In these and such other places is set out before our Eyes as it were in a Glass Mat. 2. Mat. 5. John 18. Luke 4. John 8. Mat. 9. Mat. 11. John 12. Coloss 1. the abundant grace of God received in Christ Jesu which is so much the more wonderful because it came not of any desert of ours but of his meer and tender mercy even then when we were his extream Enemies But for the better understanding and consideration of this thing let us behold the end of his coming so shall we perceive what great commodity and profit his Nativity hath brought unto us miserable and sinful creatures Heb. 10. Rom. 3. The end of his coming was to save and deliver his People to fulfil the Law for us to bear witness unto the Truth to teach and preach the words of his Father to give light unto the World to call sinners to Repentance to refresh them that labour and be heavy laden to cast out the Prince of this World to reconcile us in the body of his flesh to dissolve the works of the Devil last of all to become a Propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole World These were the chief ends wherefore Christ became man not for any profit that should come to himself thereby but only for our sakes that we might understand the Will of God be partakers of his Heavenly Light be delivered out of the Devils claws released from the burden of sin justified through faith in his blood and finally received up into everlasting glory there to reign with him for ever Was not this a great and singular love of Christ towards mankind that being the express and lively Image of God he would notwithstanding humble himself and take upon him the form of a Servant and that only to save and redeem us O how much are we bound to the goodness of God in this behalf how many thanks and praises do we owe unto him for this our Salvation wrought by his dear and only Son Christ who became a Pilgrim in Earth to make us Citizens in Heaven who became the Son of man to make us the Sons of God who became obedient to the Law to deliver us from the curse of the Law