alledgeth the words of Esay the Prophet where it is said Abraham is ignorant of us and Israel knoweth us not His mind therefore is this not that we should put any Religion in worshipping of them or praying unto them but that we should honour them by following their vertuous and godly Life For as he witnesseth in another place the Martyrs and Holy Men in times past were wont after their death to be remembred and named of the Priest at Divine Service but never to be invocated or called upon And why so because the Priest saith he is Gods Priest and not theirs whereby he is bound to call upon God and not upon them John 5. Thus you see that the Authority both of the Scripture and also of Augustin doth not permit that we should pray unto them O that all men would studiously read and search the Scriptures then should they not be drowned in Ignorance but should easily perceive the Truth as well of this Point of Doctrine as of all the rest For there doth the Holy Ghost plainly teach us that Christ is our only Mediator and Intercessor with God and that we must not seek and run to another 1 John 2. If any man sinneth saith St. John we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and he is the Propitiation for our sins 1 Tim. 2. St. Paul also saith There is one God and one Mediator between God and man even the man Jesus Christ Whereunto agreeth the Testimony of our Saviour himself John 14. witnessing that no man cometh to the Father but only by him who is the Way John 10. the Truth the Life yea and the only Door whereby we must enter into the Kingdom of Heaven because God is pleased in no other but in him For which cause also he crieth and calleth unto us that we should come unto him Matt. 11. saying Come unto me all ye that labour and be heavy laden and I shall refresh you Would Christ have us so necessarily come unto him and shall we most unthankfully leave him and run unto other This is even that which God so greatly complaineth of by his Prophet Jeremy saying My People have committed two great offences they have forsaken me the Fountain of the Waters of Life and have digged to themselves broken Pits that can hold no Water Is not that man think you unwise that will run for Water to a little Brook when he may as well go to the head-spring Even so may his Wisdom be justly suspected that will flee unto Saints in time of necessity when he may boldly and without fear declare his grief and direct his Prayer unto the Lord himself If God were strange or dangerous to be talked withal then might we justly draw back and seek to some other Psal 145. Judith 9. But the Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him in Faith and Truth And the Prayer of the humble and meek hath always pleased him What if we be sinners shall we not therefore pray unto God or shall we despair to obtain any thing at his hands Why did Christ then teach us to ask forgiveness of our sins saying And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us Shall we think that the Saints are more merciful in hearing sinners than God David saith Psal 103. Ephes 2. that the Lord is full of compassion and mercy slow to anger and of great kindness St. Paul saith that he is rich in mercy toward all them that call upon him And he himself by the mouth of his Prophet Esay saith Esay 51. For a little while have I forsaken thee but with great compassion will I gather thee For a moment in mine anger I have hid my face from thee but with everlasting mercy I have had compassion upon thee Therefore the sins of any man ought not to withhold him from Praying unto the Lord his God But if he be truly penitent and stedfast in Faith let him assure himself that the Lord will be merciful unto him and hear his Prayers O but I dare not will some man say trouble God at all times with my Prayers We see that in Kings Houses and Courts of Princes men cannot be admitted unless they first use the help and means of some special Noble-man to come to the speech of the King and to obtain the thing that they would have To this reason doth St. Ambrose answer very well Ambros supper cap. 1 Rom. writing upon the first Chapter to the Romans Therefore saith he we use to go unto the King by Officers and Noble-men because the King is a Mortal man and knoweth not to whom he may commit the Government of the Common-wealth But to have God our Friend from whom nothing is hid we need not any helper that should further us with his good word but only a devout and godly mind And if it be so that we need one to intreat for us why may we not content our selves with that one Mediator Heb. 7. which is at the right hand of God the Father and there liveth for ever to make Intercession for us As the Blood of Christ did Redeem us on the Cross and cleanse us from our sins even so it is now able to save all them that come unto God by it For Christ sitting in Heaven hath an everlasting Priesthood and always prayeth to his Father for them that be Penitent obtaining by vertue of his Wounds which are evermore in the sight of God not only perfect remission of our sins but also all other necessaries that we lack in this World so that this only Mediator is sufficient in Heaven and needeth no others to help him Matt. 6. James 5. Coloss 4. 1 Tim. 2. Why then do we Pray one for another in this Life some man perchance will here demand Forsooth we are willed so to do by the express Commandment both of Christ and his Disciples to declare therein as well the Faith that we have in Christ towards God as also the mutual Charity that we bear one towards another in that we pity our Brothers case and make our Humble Petition to God for him But that we should Pray unto Saints neither have we any Commandment in all the Scripture nor yet Example which we may safely follow So that being done without Authority of Gods Word it lacketh the ground of Faith and therefore cannot be acceptable before God Hebr. 11. Rom. 14. Rom. 10. For whatsoever is not of Faith is sin And the Apostle saith that Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God Yet thou wilt object further that the Saints in Heaven do pray for us and that their Prayer proceedeth of an earnest Charity that they have towards their Brethren on Earth Whereto it may be well answered First that no man knoweth whether they do Pray for us or no. And if any will go about to prove it by
Publican before the Proud Holy and Glorious Pharisee He calleth himself a Physician but not to them that be whole Luke 18. Matth. 9. but to them that be sick and have need of his Salve for their Sore He teacheth us in our Prayers to acknowledge ourselves Sinners and to ask Righteousness and deliverance from all Evils at our Heavenly Father's hand He declareth that the sins of our own Hearts do defile our ownselves He teacheth Matth. 12. that an evil Word or Thought deserveth Condemnation affirming that We shall give account for every idle word Matth. 15. He saith He came not to save but the sheep that were utterly lost and cast away Therefore few of the Proud Just Learned Wise Perfect and Holy Pharisees were saved by him because they justified themselves by their counterfeit Holiness before Men. Wherefore good People let us beware of such Hypocrisie Vain-glory and Justifying of ourselves The Second Part of the SERMON of the Misery of Man FOrasmuch as the true knowledge of ourselves is very necessary to come to the right knowledge of God ye have heard in the last Reading how Humbly all good Men always have thought of themselves and so to think and judge of themselves are taught of God their Creator by his Holy Word For of ourselves we be Crab-trees that can bring forth no Apples We be of ourselves of such Earth as can but bring forth Weeds Nettles Brambles Briers Cockle and Darnel Our Fruits be declared in the 5th Chapter to the Galatians Gal. 5. We have neither Faith Charity Hope Patience Chastity nor any thing else that good is but of God and therefore these Virtues be called there The fruits of the Holy Ghost and not the fruits of Man Let us therefore acknowledge ourselves before God as we be indeed miserable and wretched Sinners And let us earnestly Repent and Humble ourselves heartily and cry to God for Mercy Let us all Confess with Mouth and Heart that we be full of Imperfections Let us know our own Works of what imperfection they be and then we shall not stand foolishly and arrogantly in our own Conceits nor challenge any part of Justification by our Merits or Works For truly there be imperfections in our best Works We do not love God so much as we are bound to do with all our Heart Mind and Power We do not fear God so much as we ought to do We do not pray to God but with great and many imperfections We Give Forgive Believe Live and Hope imperfectly We Speak Think and Do impefectly We Fight against the Devil the World and the Flesh imperfectly Let us therefore not be ashamed to confess plainly our state of Imperfection Yea let us not be ashamed to confess Imperfection even in all our best Works Let none of us be ashamed to say with the Holy St. Peter Luke 5. Psal 106. I am a sinful man Let us say with the Holy Prophet David We have sinned with our fathers we have done amiss and dealt wickedly Let us all make open Confession with the Prodigal Son to our Father and say with him We have sinned against Heaven Luke 14. and before thee O Father we are not worthy to be called thy sons Let us all say with Holy Baruch Baruch 2. O Lord our God to us is worthily ascribed shame and confusion and to thee righteousness We have sinned we have done wickedly we have behaved ourselves ungodlily in all thy Righteousness Let us all say with the Holy Prophet Daniel Dan. 9. O Lord righteousness belongeth to thee unto us belongeth confusion We have sinned we have been naughty we have offended we have fled from thee we have gone back from all thy Precepts and Judgments So we learn of all good Men in Holy Scriptures to Humble our selves and to Exalt Extol Praise Magnifie and Glorifie God Thus we have heard how evil we be of ourselves how of ourselves and by ourselves we have no Goodness Help or Salvation but contrariwise Sin Damnation and Death everlasting Which if we deeply weigh and consider we shall the better understand the great Mercy of God and how our Salvation cometh only by Christ 2 Cor. 3. For in ourselves as of ourselves we find nothing whereby we may be delivered from this miserable Captivity into the which we are cast through the envy of the Devil by breaking of God's Commandment in our first Parent Adam Psal 50. Ephes 2. We are all become unclean but we all are not able to cleanse ourselves nor make one another of us clean We are by nature the children of God's wrath but we are notable to make ourselves the Children and Inheritors of God's Glory We are Sheep that run astray 1 Pet. 2. but we cannot of our own power come again to the Sheepfold so great is our Imperfection and Weakness In ourselves therefore may we not glory which of ourselves are nothing but sinful neither may we rejoyce in any Works that we do all which be so Imperfect and Impure that they are not able to stand before the Righteous Judgment Seat of God as the Holy Prophet David saith Psal 143. Enter not into judgment with thy Servant O Lord for no man that liveth shall be found righteous in thy sight To God therefore must we flee or else shall we never find Peace Rest and Quietness of Conscience in our Hearts For he is the father of mercies and God of all consolation He is the Lord with whom is plenteous redemption 2 Cor. 1. He is the God which of his own mercy saveth us Psal 130. and setteth out his Charity and exceeding Love towards us in that of his own voluntary Goodness when we were Perishing he Saved us and provided an everlasting Kingdom for us And all these Heavenly Treasures are given us not for our own Deserts Merits or good Deeds which of ourselves we have none but of his mere Mercy freely And for whose sake Truly for Jesus Christ's sake that pure and undefiled Lamb of God He is that dearly beloved Son for whose sake God is fully pacified satisfied and set at One with Man He is the Lamb of God John 1. which taketh away the sins of the World of whom only it may be truly spoken that he did all things well 1 Pet. 2. and in his mouth was found no craft nor subtilty None but he alone may say The Prince of the World came and in me he hath nothing And he alone may also say Which of you shall reprove me of any fault John 8. He is the high and everlasting Priest Heb. 7. which hath offered himself once for all upon the Altar of the Cross and with that one oblation hath made perfect for evermore them that are sanctified 1 John 2. He is the alone Mediator between God and Man which paid our ransom to God with his own blood and with that hath he cleansed us
otherwhiles obey God but by and by do think that laying him aside it is lawful for them to serve the World and the Flesh And because that we are letted by the natural corruption of our own Flesh and the wicked affections of the same he doth bid us also to return with Fasting not thereby understanding a superstitious Abstinence and choosing of Meats but a true Discipline or taming of the Flesh whereby the nourishments of filthy Lusts and of stubborn Contumacy and Pride may be withdrawn and pluckt away from it Whereunto he doth add weeping and mourning which do contain an outward profession of Repentance which is very needful and necessary that so we may partly set forth the righteousness of God when by such means we do testifie that we deserved punishments at his hands and partly stop the offence that was openly given unto the weak Psal 25. Thus did David see who being not content to have bewept and bewailed his sins privately would publickly in his Psalms declare and set forth the rigteousness of God in punishing sin and also stay them that might have abused his Example to sin the more boldly Therefore they are farthest from true Repentance that will not confess and acknowledge their sins nor yet bewail them but rather do most ungodlily glory and rejoyce in them Now lest any Man should think that Repentance doth consist in outward weeping and mourning only he doth rehearse that wherein the chief of the whole matter doth lie when he saith Rent your Hearts and not your Garments and turn unto the Lord your God For the People of the East part of the World were wont to rent their Garments Psal 52. if any thing hapned unto them that seemed intolerable Hypocrites do counterfeit all manner of things This thing did Hypocrites sometimes counterfeit and follow as though the whole Repentance did stand in such outward gesture He teacheth then that another manner of thing is required that is That they must be contrite in their Hearts that they must utterly detest and abhor Sins and being at defiance with them return unto the Lord their God from whom they went away before For God hath no pleasure in the outward Ceremony but requireth a contrite and humble Heart Psal 52. which he will never despise as David doth testifie There is therefore none other use of these outward Ceremonies but as far forth as we are stirred up by them and do serve to the glory of God and to the edifying of others Now doth he add unto this Doctrin or Exhortation How Repentance is not unprofitable certain godly Reasons which he doth ground upon the nature and property of God and whereby he doth teach that true Repentance can never be unprofitable or unfruitful For as in all other things Mens hearts do quail and faint if they once perceive that they travel in vain Even so most especially in this matter must we take heed and beware that we suffer not our selves to be persuaded that all that we do is but labor lost for thereof either sudden desperation doth arise or a licentious boldness to sin which at length bringeth unto desperation Lest any such thing then should happen unto them he doth certifie them of the grace and goodness of God who is always most ready to receive them into favor again that turn speedily unto him Which thing he doth prove with the same Titles wherewith God doth describe and set forth himself unto Moses speaking on this manner Exod. 34. For he is gracious and merciful slow to anger of great kindness and repenteth him of the evil that is such a one as is sorry for your Afflictions First He calleth him gentle and gracious as he who of his own nature is more prompt and ready to do good than to punish Whereunto this saying of Esaias the Prophet seemeth to pertain where he saith Esay 55. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous his own imaginations and return unto the Lord and he will have pity on him and to our God for he is very ready to forgive Secondly Doth attribute unto him mercy or rather according to the Hebrew word the Bowels of mercies whereby he signified the natural affections of Parents towards their Children Which thing David doth set forth goodly Psal 103. saying As a Father hath compassion on his Children so hath the Lord compassion on them that fear him for he knoweth whereof we be made he remembreth that we are but dust Thirdly He saith that he is slow to anger that is to say long-suffering and which is not lightly provoked to wrath Fourthly That he is of much kindness for he is that bottomless Well of all goodness who rejoyceth to do good unto us therefore did he create and make Men that he might have whom he should do good unto and make partakers of his Heavenly Riches Fifthly He repenteth of the evil that is to say he doth call back again and revoke the punishment which he had threatned when he seeth Men repent turn and amend Against the Novatians Whereupon we do not without a just cause detest and abhor the damnable Opinion of them which do most wickedly go about to persuade the simple and ignorant People That if we chance after we be once come to God and grafted in his Son Jesus Christ to fall into some horrible sin shall be unprofitable unto us there is no more hope of reconciliation or to be received again into the favor and mercy of God And that they may give the better colour unto their pestilent and pernicious Error they do commonly bring in the sixth and tenth Chapters of the Epistle to the Hebrews and the second Chapter of the second Epistle of Peter not considering that in those places the holy Apostles do not speak of the daily falls that we as long as we carry about this body of sin are subject unto Mat. 12. Mark 3. but of the final falling away from Christ and his Gospel The sin against the Holy Ghost which is a sin against the Holy Ghost that shall never be forgiven because that they do utterly forsake the known Truth do hate Christ and his Word they do crucifie and mock him but to their utter destruction and therefore fall into desparation and cannot repent And that this is the true meaning of the holy Spirit of God it appeareth by many other places of the Scriptures which promise unto all true repentant sinners and to them that with their whole heart do turn unto the Lord their God free pardon and remission of their sins For the probation hereof we read this O Israel saith the holy Prophet Jeremy if thou return Jer. 4. return unto me saith the Lord and if thou put away thine abominations out of my sight then shalt thou not be removed Again these are Esaias words Esay 55. Let the wicked forsake his own ways and the unrighteous his own
move us to Repent Esay 31. Ezek. 33. Hos 14. First The Commandment of God who in so many places of the holy and sacred Scriptures doth bid us return unto him O ye Children of Israel saith he turn again from your infidelity wherein ye drowned your selves Again Turn you turn you from your evil ways For why will ye die O ye House of Israel And in another place thus doth he speak by his Prophet Hosea O Israel return unto the Lord thy God For thou hast taken a great fall by thine iniquity Take unto you these words with you when you turn unto the Lord and say unto him Take away all iniquity and receive us graciously so will we offer the Calves of our Lips unto thee In all these places we have an express commandment given unto us of God for to return unto him Therefore we must take good heed unto our selves lest whereas we have already by our manifold sins and transgressions provoked and kindled the wrath of God against us we do by breaking this his Commandment double our offences and so heap still damnation upon our own heads by our daily offences and trespasses whereby we provoke the eyes of his Majesty we do well deserve if he should deal with us according to his justice to be put away for ever from the fruition of his Glory How much more then are we worthy of the endless torments of Hell if when we be so gently called again after our Rebellion and commanded to return we will in no wise hearken unto the voice of our heavenly Father but walk still after the stubbornness of our own hearts Secondly The most comfortable and sweet promise that the Lord our God did of his meer mercy and goodness joyn unto his Commandment for he doth not only say Return unto me O Israel Jer. 4. but also if thou wilt return and put away all thine abominations out of my sight thou shalt never be moved These words also have we in the Prophet Ezekiel Ezek. 18. At what time soever a sinner doth repent him of his sin from the bottom of his heart I will put all his wickedness out of my remembrance saith the Lord so that they shall be no more thought upon Thus are we sufficiently instructed that God will according to his promise freely pardon forgive and forget all our sins so that we shall never be cast in the teeth with them if obeying his Commadment and allured by his sweet Promises we will unfeignedly return unto him Thirdly The filthiness of sin which is such that as long as we do abide in it God cannot but detest and abhor us neither can there be any hope that we shall enter into the Heavenly Jerusalem except we be first made clean and purged from it But this will never be unless forsaking our former life we do with our whole heart return unto the Lord our God and with a full purpose of amendment of life flee unto his mercy taking sure hold thereupon through Faith in the Blood of his Son Jesus Christ If we should suspect any uncleanness to be in us Similitude wherefore the earthly Prince should loath and abhor the sight of us what pains would we take to remove and put it away How much more ought we with all diligence and speed that may be to put away that unclean filthiness that doth separate and make a division betwixt us and our God Esay 59. and that hideth his Face from us that he will not hear us And verily herein doth appear how filthy a thing sin is sith than it can by no other means be washed away but by the Blood of the only begotten Son of God And shall we not from the bottom of our hearts detest and abhor and with all earnestness flee from it sith that it did cost the dear Heart-Blood of the only begotten Son of God our Saviour and Redeemer to purge us from it Plato doth in a certain place write that if Vertue could be seen with bodily Eyes all Men would wonderfully be inflamed and kindled with the love of it even so on the contrary if we might with our bodily Eyes behold the filthiness of sin and the uncleanness thereof we could in no wise abide it but as most present and deadly Poison hate and eschew it We have a common Experience of the same in them which when they have committed any heinous offence or some filthy and abominable sin if it once come to light or if they chance to have a through feeling of it they be so ashamed their own Conscience putting before their Eyes the filthiness of their Act that they dare look no Man in the Face much less that they should be able to stand in the sight of God Fourthly The uncertainty and brittleness of our own lives which is such that we cannot assure our selves that we shall live one hour or one half quarter of it Which by experience we do find daily to be true in them that being now merry and lusty and sometimes Feasting and Banqueting with their Friends do fall suddenly dead in the Streets and otherwhiles under the Board when they are at meat These daily Examples as they are most terrible and dreadful so ought they to move us to seek for to be at one with our heavenly Judge that we may with a good Conscience appear before him whensoever it shall please him for to call us whether it be suddenly or otherwise for we have no more Charter of our life than they have But as we are most certain that we shall die so are we most uncertain when we shall die For our life doth lie in the hand of God who will take it away when it pleaseth him And verily when the highest Summer of all Death the Lords Sumner Eccles 11. Contra Demetrianum Eccles 5. which is death shall come he will not be said nay but we must be forthwith be packing to be present before the Judgment seat of God as he doth find us according as it is written Whereas the Tree falleth whether it be toward the South or toward the North there it shall lie Whereunto agreeth the saying of the holy Martyr of God St. Cyprian saying As God doth find thee when he doth call so doth he judge thee Let us therefore follow the Counsel of the Wise Man where he saith Make no tarrying to turn unto the Lord and put not off from day to day For suddenly shall the wrath of the Lord break forth and in thy security shalt thou be destroyed and shalt perish in the time of Vengeance Which words I desire you to mark diligently because they do most lively put before our Eyes the fondness of many Men who abusing the long-suffering and goodness of God do never think on Repentance or amendment of Life Follow not saith he thine own mind and thy strength to walk in the ways of thy heart neither say thou Who will bring me under for
living They called and cryed to God for Help and Mercy with such a ceremony of Sackcloth Dust and Ashes that thereby they might declare to the whole World what an humble and lowly estimation they had of themselves and how well they remembred their Name and Title aforesaid their vile corrupt frail Nature Dust Earth and Ashes Sapi. 7. The Book of Wisdom also willing to pull down our proud Stomachs moveth us diligently to remember our mortal and earthly Generation which we have all of him that was first Made and that all Men as well Kings as Subjects come into this world and go out of the same in like sort that is as of ourselves full miserable as we may daily see And Almighty God commanded his Prophet Esay to make a Proclamation and cry to the whole World and Esay asking What shall I cry The Lord answered Cry That all Flesh is Grass Esay 40. and that all the Glory thereof is but as the Flower of the Field when the Grass is withered the Flower falleth away when the Wind of the Lord bloweth upon it The People surely is Grass the which dryeth up and the Flower fadeth away And the Holy Man Job Job 14. having in himself great experience of the miserable and sinful estate of Man doth open the same to the World in these words Man saith he that is born of a Woman living but a short time is full of manifold Miseries he springeth up like a Flower and fadeth again vanisheth away as it were a shadow and never continueth in one state And dost thou judge it meet O Lord to open thine Eyes upon such a one and to bring him to judgment with thee Who can make him clean that is conceived of an unclean Seed and all Men of their evilness and natural proneness be so universally given to Sin that as the Scripture saith God repented that ever he made Man And by Sin his Indignation was so much provoked against the World that he drowned all the World with Noes Flood Gen. 7. except Noe himself and his little Houshold It is not without great cause that the Scripture of God doth so many times call all Men here in this world by this Word Earth O thou Earth Jer. 22. Earth Earth saith Jeremy hear the word of the Lord. This our right Name Calling and Title Earth Earth Earth pronounced by the Prophet sheweth what we be indeed by whatsoever other Style Title or Dignity Men do call us Thus he plainly named us who knoweth best both what we be and what we ought of right to be called And thus he setteth us forth speaking by his faithful Apostle St. Paul All Men Jews and Gentiles are under sin there is none righteous no not one There is none that understandeth there is none that seeketh after God they are all gone out of the way they are all unprofitable there is none that doth good no not one Their throat is an open Sepulchre with their tongues they have used craft and deceit the poison of serpents is under their Lips their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness their feet are swift to shed blood destruction and wretchedness are in their ways and the way of peace have they not known Rom. 11. Gal. 3. there is no fear of God before their eyes And in another place St. Paul writeth thus God hath wrapped all nations in unbelief that he might have mercy on all The Scripture shutteth up all under Sin Ephes 2. that the Promise by the Faith of Jesus Christ should be given unto them that believe St. Paul in many places painteth us out in our colours calling us the Children of the wrath of God when we be born saying also that we cannot think a good thought of ourselves much less can we say well or do well of ourselves And the Wise Man saith in the Book of Proverbs Prov. 24. The iust man falleth seven times a day The most tried and approved Man Job feared all his Works Luke 1. St. John the Baptist being Sanctified in his Mothers Womb and praised before he was Born being called an Angel and great before the Lord filled even from his Birth with the Holy Ghost the preparer of the way for our Saviour Christ and commended of our Saviour Christ to be more than a Prophet Matth. 3. and the greatest that ever was born of a Woman Yet he plainly granteth that he had need to be washed of Christ he worthily Extolleth and Glorifieth his Lord and Master Christ and Humbleth himself as unworthy to unbuckle his Shooes and giveth all Honour and Glory to God So doth S. Paul both oft and evidently confess himself what he was of himself ever giving as a most faithful Servant all Praise to his Master and Saviour So doth blessed St. John the Evangelist in the name of himself and of all other Holy Men be they never so just make this open Confession If we say we have no sin 1 Joh. 1. and 2. we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us If we acknowledge our sins God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness If we say we have not sinned we make him a lyar and his word is not in us Wherefore the Wise Man in the Book called Ecclesiastes maketh this true and general Confession Eccles 7. There is not one just man upon the Earth that doth good and sinneth not And David is ashamed of his sin but not to confess his sin Psal 51. How oft how earnestly and lamentably doth he desire God's great Mercy for his great Offences and that God should not enter into judgment with him Psal 113. And again How well weigheth this Holy Man his sins which he confesseth that they be so many in number and so hid and hard to understand that it is in a manner impossible to know utter Psal 19. or number them Wherefore he having a true earnest and deep Contemplation and Consideration of his sins and yet not coming to the bottom of them he maketh Supplication to God to forgive him his privy secret hid sins The knowledge of which he cannot attain unto He weigheth rightly his Sins from the Original root and Spring-head perceiving Inclinations Provocations Stirrings Stingings Buds Branches Dregs Infections Tastes Feelings and Scents of them to continue in him still Wherefore he saith Mark and Behold I was conceived in sins He saith not Sin Psal 51. but in the plural number Sins forasmuch as out of one as a Fountain spring all the rest Mark 10. Luke 18. Our Saviour Christ saith There is none good but God And that we can do nothing that is good without him nor can any man come to the Father but by him He commandeth us also to say that We be unprofitable servants John 15. Luke 17. when we have done all that we can do He preferreth the penitent
all from sin He is the Physician which healeth all our Diseases He is that Saviour which saveth People from all their sins To be short Matth. 1. he is that flowing and most plentious Fountain of whose fulness all we have received For in him alone are all the treasures of the wisdom and knowledge of God hidden And in him and by him have we from God the Father all good things pertaining either to the Body or to the Soul O how much are we bound to this our Heavenly Father for his great Mercies which he hath so plenteously declared unto us in Christ Jesu our Lord and Saviour What Thanks worthy and sufficient can we give to him Let us all with one accord burst out with joyful voice ever Praising and Magnifying this Lord of Mercy for his tender Kindness shewed unto us in his dearly beloved Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Hitherto we have heard what we are of ourselves very sinful wretched and damnable Again we have heard how that of ourselves and by ourselves we are not able either to think a good Thought or work a good Deed so that we can find in ourselves no hope of Salvation but rather whatsoever maketh unto our Destruction Again we have heard the tender Kindness and great Mercy of God the Father towards us and how beneficial he is to us for Christ's sake without our Merits or Deserts even of his own mere Mercy and tender Goodness Now how these exceeding great Mercies of God set abroad in Christ Jesu for us be obtained and how we be delivered from the captivity of Sin Death and Hell shall more at large with God's help be declared in the next Sermon In the mean season yea and at all times let us learn to know ourselves our frailty and weakness without any boasting or cracking of our own good Deeds and Merits Let us also acknowledge the exceeding Mercy of God towards us and confess that as of ourselves cometh all Evil and Damnation so likewise of him cometh all Goodness and Salvation Osee 13. as God himself saith by the Prophet Osee O Israel thy destruction cometh of thyself but in me only is thy help and comfort If we thus Humbly submit ourselves in the sight of God we may be sure that in the time of his Visitation he will lift us up unto the Kingdom of his dearly beloved Son Christ Jesu our Lord to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all Honour and Glory for ever Amen A SERMON OF THE Salvation of Mankind by only Christ our Saviour from Sin and Death everlasting BEcause all Men be Sinners and Offenders against God and Breakers of his Law and Commandments therefore can no Man by his own Acts Works and Deeds seem they never so good be justified and made righteous before God But every Man of necessity is constrained to seek for another Righteousness of Justification to be received at God's own hands that is to say the forgiveness of his Sins and Trespasses in such things as he hath offended And this Justification or Righteousness which we so receive of God's Mercy and Christ's Merits embraced by Faith is taken accepted and allowed of God for our perfect and full Justification For the more full understanding hereof it is our Parts and Duties ever to remember the great Mercy of God how that all the World being wrapped in Sin by breaking of the Law God sent his only Son our Saviour Christ into this World to fulfil the Law for us and by shedding of his most precious Blood to make a sacrifice and satisfaction or as it may be called amends to his Father for our sins to asswage his Wrath and Indignation conceived against us for the same The efficacy of Christ's Passion and Oblation Insomuch that Infants being Baptized and dying in their Infancy are by this Sacrifice washed from their Sins brought to God's Favour and made his Children and Inheritors of his Kingdom of Heaven And they which in Act or Deed do sin after their Baptism when they turn again to God unfeignedly they are likewise washed by this Sacrifice from their sins in such sort that there remaineth not any spot of Sin that shall be imputed to their Damnation This is that justification of Righteousness which St. Paul speaketh of when he saith No man is Justified by the works of the Law Gal. 2. but freely by faith in Jesus Christ And again he saith We believe in Jesus Christ that we be justified freely by the faith of Christ and not by the works of the Law because that no Man shall be justified by the works of the Law And although this justification be free unto us yet it cometh not so freely unto us that there is no ransom paid therefore at all But here may Man's Reason be astonished reasoning after this fashion Objection If a Ransom be paid for our Redemption then is it not given us freely For a Prisoner that payd his Ransom is not let go freely For if he go freely then he goeth without Ransom For what is it else to go freely than to be set at liberty without paying of Ransom Answer This Reason is satisfied by the great Wisdom of God in this mystery of our Redemption who hath so tempered his Justice and Mercy together that he would neither by his Justice condemn us unto the everlasting Captivity of the Devil and his Prison of Hell remediless for ever without Mercy nor by his Mercy deliver us clearly without Justice or Payment of a just Ransom but with his endless Mercy he joyned his most upright and equal Justice His great Mercy he shewed unto us in delivering us from our former Captivity without requiring of any Ransom to be paid or amends to be made upon our parts which thing by us had been impossible to be done And whereas it lay not in us to do that he provided a Ransom for us that was the most precious Body and Blood of his own most dear and best beloved Son Jesu Christ who besides this Ransom fulfilled the Law for us perfectly And so the Justice of God and his Mercy did embrace together and fulfilled the Mystery of our Redemption And of this Justice and Mercy of God knit together speaketh St. Paul in the third Chap. to the Romans Rom. 3. All have offended and have need of the Glory of God but are justified freely by Grace by Redemption which is in Jesu Christ whom God hath sent forth to us for a Reconciler and Peace-maker through Faith in his Blood to shew his righteousness And in the 10th Chapter Rom. 10. Rom. 8. Christ is the end of the Law unto righteousness to every man that believeth And in the 8th Chapter That which was impossible by the Law inasmuch as it was weak by the flesh God sending his own Son in the similitude of sinful flesh by sin condemned sin in the flesh that the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us
Hell to the intent to put us in good hope that by his strength we shall do the same He paid the Ransom of sin that it should not be laid to our charge He destroyed the Devil and all his Tyranny and openly triumphed over him and took away from him all his Captives and hath raised and set them with himself among the Heavenly Citizens above Ephes 2. He died to destroy the rule of the Devil in us and he rose again to send down his Holy Spirit to rule in our hearts to endow us with perfect Righteousness Thus it is true that David sung Psal 84. Ephes 4. Captivam duxit captivitatem Luke 2. Veritas de terra orta est justitia de coelo prospexit The truth of Gods promise is in Earth to man declared or from the Earth is the everlasting Verity Gods Son risen to life and the true righteousness of the Holy Ghost looking out of Heaven and in most liberal largess dealt upon all the World Thus is glory and praise rebounded upwards to God above for his mercy and truth And thus is Peace come down from Heaven to men of good and faithful hearts Psal 48. Misericordia veritas obviaverunt sibi Thus is mercy and truth as David writeth together met thus is peace and righteousness embracing and kissing each other If thou doubtest of so great wealth and felicity that is wrought for thee O man call to thy mind that therefore hast thou received into thine own possession the everlasting Verity our Saviour Jesus Christ to confirm to thy Conscience the truth of all this matter Thou hast received him if in true faith and repentance of Heart thou hast received him If in purpose of amendment thou hast received him for an everlasting gage or pledge of thy Salvation Thou hast received his Body which was once broken and his Blood which was shed for the remission of thy sin Thou hast received his Body to have within thee the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost for to dwell with thee to endow thee with grace to strengthen thee against thine Enemies and to comfort thee with their presence Thou hast received his Body to endow thee with everlasting righteousness to assure thee of everlasting bliss Ephes 5. and life of thy Soul For with Christ by true Faith art thou quickned again saith St. Paul from death of sin to life of grace and in hope translated from corporal and everlasting death to the everlasting life and glory in Heaven where now thy conversation should be and thy heart and desire set Doubt not of the truth of this matter how great and high soever these things be It becometh God to do no small deeds how impossible soever they seem to thee Pray to God that thou mayest have Faith to perceive this great Mystery of Christs Resurrection that by Faith thou mayest certainly believe nothing to be impossible with God Luke 18. Only bring thou Faith to Christs Holy Word and Sacrament Let thy Repentance shew thy Faith let thy purpose of amendment and obedience of thy heart to Gods Law hereafter declare thy true belief Endeavour thy self to say with St. Paul Phil. 4. From henceforth our conversation is in Heaven from whence we look for a Saviour even the Lord Jesus Christ which shall change our vile bodies that they may be fashioned like his glorious body which he shall do by the same power whereby he rose from death and whereby he shall be able to subdue all things unto himself Thus good Christian People forasmuch as ye have heard these so great and excellent benefits of Christs mighty and glorious Resurrection as how that he hath ransomed Sin overcome the Devil Death and Hell and hath victoriously gotten the better hand of them all to make us free and safe from them and knowing that we be by this benefit of his Resurrection risen with him by our Faith unto life everlasting being in full surety of our hope that we shall have our bodies likewise raised again from death to have them glorified in immortality and joyned to his glorious body having in the mean while his holy Spirit within our hearts as a Seal and Pledge of our everlasting Inheritance By whose assistance we be replenished with all righteousness by whose power we shall be able to subdue all our evil affections rising against the pleasure of God These things I say well considered let us now in the rest of our life declare our Faith that we have in this most fruitful Article by framing our selves thereunto in rising daily from sin to righteousness and holiness of life For what shall it avail us saith St. Peter to be 2 Pet. 2. escaped and delivered from the filthiness of the World through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ if we be entangled again therewith and be overcome again Certainly it had been better saith he never to have known the way of righteousness then after it is known and received to turn back again from the holy Commandment of God given unto us For so shall the Proverb have place in us where it is said The Dog is returned to his vomit again and the Sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire again What a shame were it for us being thus so clearly and freely washed from our sin to return to the filthiness thereof again What a folly were it thus endowed with righteousness to lose it again What madness were it to lose the Inheritance that we be now set in for the vile and transitory pleasure of sin And what an unkindness should it be where our Saviour Christ of his mercy is come to us to dwell with us as our Guest to drive him from us and to banish him violently out of our souls and instead of him in whom is all grace and vertue to receive the ungracious spirit of the Devil the founder of all naughtiness and mischief How can we find in our hearts to shew such extream unkindness to Christ which hath now so gently called us to mercy and offered himself unto us and he now entred within us Yea how dare we be so bold to renounce the presence of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost For where one is there is God all whole in Majesty together with all his power wisdom and goodness and fear not I say the danger and peril of so traiterous a defiance and departure Good Christian Brethren and Sisters advise your selves consider the dignity that ye be now set in let no Folly lose the thing that Grace hath so preciously offered and purchased let not wilfulness and blindness put out so great light that is now shewed unto you Ephes 6. Only take good hearts unto you and put upon you all the Armour of God that ye may stand against your Enemies which would again subdue you and bring you into their thraldom Remember ye be bought from your vain conversation
1 Pet. 1â— and that your freedom is purchased neither with gold nor silver but with the price of the precious blood of that innocent Lamb Jesus Christ which was ordained to the same purpose before the World was made But he was so declared in the latter time of grace for your sakes which by him have your Faith in God who hath raised him from death and hath given him glory that you should have your faith and hope towards God Therefore as you have hitherto followed the vain lusts of your minds and so displeased God to the danger of your souls So now like obedient Children thus purified by Faith 1 Pet. 1. give your selves to walk that way which God moveth you to that ye may receive the end of your Faith the Salvation of your Souls And as you have given your bodies to unrighteousness to sin after sin so now give your selves to righteousness to be sanctified therein If ye delight in this Article of our Faith that Christ is risen again from death to life then follow you the example of his Resurrection as St. Paul exhorteth us saying Rom. 6. As we be buried with Christ by our Baptism into death so let us daily die to sin mortifying and killing the evil desires and motions thereof And as Christ was raised up from death by the glory of the Father so let us rise to a new life and walk continually therein that we may likewise as natural children live a conversation to move men to glorifie our Father which is in Heaven Matth. 5. If we then be risen with Christ by our faith to the hope of everlasting life let us rise also with Christ after his example to a new life and leave our old We shall then be truly risen if we seek for things that be heavenly if we have our affection on things that be above and not on things that be on the earth If ye desire to know what these earthly things be which ye should put off and what be the heavenly things above that ye should seek and ensue St. Paul in the Epistle to the Colossians declareth when he exhorteth us thus Mortifie your earthly members Col. 3. and old affection of sin as fornication uncleanness unnatural lust evil concupiscence and covetousness which is worshipping of Idols for the which things the wrath of God is wont to fall on the children of unbelief in which things once ye walked when ye lived in them But now put ye also away from you wrath fierceness maliciousness cursed speaking filthy speaking out of your mouths Lie not one to another that the old man with his works be put off and the new be put on These be the earthly things which St. Paul moved you to cast from you and to pluck your hearts from them For in following these ye declare your selves earthly and worldly These be the fruits of the earthly Adam These should you daily kill by good diligence in withstanding the desires of them that ye might rise to righteousness Let your affection from henceforth be set on heavenly things sue and search for mercy kindness meekness patience forbearing one another and forgiving one another If any man have a quarrel to another as Christ forgave you even so do ye If these and such other heavenly vertues ye ensue in the residue of your life ye shall shew plainly that ye be risen with Christ and that ye be the heavenly Children of your Father in Heaven from whom as from the giver James 1. cometh these graces and gifts Ye shall prove by this manner that your conversation is in Heaven where your hope is and not on Earth following the beastly appetites of the flesh Phil. 3. Ye must consider that ye be therefore cleansed and renewed that ye should from henceforth serve God in holiness and righteousness all the days of your lives that ye may reign with him in everlasting life If ye refuse so great grace whereto ye be called what other thing do ye Luke 1. than heap to you damnation more and more and so provoke God to cast his displeasure upon you and to revenge this mockage of his Holy Sacraments in so great abusing of them Apply your selves good Friends to live in Christ that Christ may still live in you whose favour and assistance if ye have then have ye everlasting life already within you then can nothing hurt you Whatsoever is hitherto done and committed John 5. Christ ye see hath offered you pardon and clearly received you to his favour again again in full surety whereof ye have him now inhabiting and dwelling within you Only shew your selves thankful in your lives Col. 3. determine with your selves to refuse and avoid all such things in your conversations as should offend his eyes of mercy Endeavour your selves that way to rise up again which way ye fell into the Well or Pit of sin If by your Tongue you have offended now thereby rise again and glorifie God therewith accustom it to land and praise the Name of God as ye have therewith dishonoured it And as ye have hurt the name of your Neighbour or otherwise hindred him so now intend to restore it to him again For without Restitution Restitution God accepteth not your Confession nor yet your Repentance It is not enough to forsake evil except you set your courage to do good By what occasion soever you have offended turn now the occasion to the honouring of God and profit of your Neighbour Psal 36. Truth it is that sin is strong and affections unruly Hard it is to subdue and resist our Nature so corrupt and leavened with the sour bitterness of the Poison which we received by the inheritance of our old Father Adam But yet take good courage saith our Saviour Christ Matth. 6. for I have overcome the World and all other Enemies for you Sin shall not have power over you for ye be now under grace saith St. Paul Rom. 6. Rom. 8. Though your power be weak yet Christ is risen again to strengthen you in your Battel his Holy Spirit shall help your Infirmities In trust of his mercy 1 Cor. 5. take you in hand to purge this old leaven of sin that corrupteth and soureth the sweetness of our life before God that ye may be as new and fresh dough void of all sour leaven of wickedness so shall ye shew your selves to be sweet bread to God that he may have his delight in you I say kill and offer you up the worldly and earthly affections of your bodies For Christ our Easter Lamb is offered up for us to slay the power of sin to deliver us from the danger thereof and to give us example to die to sin in our lives As the Jews did eat their Easter Lamb and keep their Feast in remembrance of their deliverance out of Egypt Even so let us keep our Easter Feast in the thankful remembrance of
imaginations and turn again unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he is ready to forgive And in the Prophet Hosea the godly exhort one another after this manner Come and let us turn again unto the Lord Hos 6. for he hath smitten us and he will heal us he hath wounded us and he will bind us up again Note It is most evident and plain that these things ought to be understood of them that were with the Lord before and by their sins and wickednesses were gone away from him For we do not turn again unto him with whom we were never before but we come unto him Now unto all them that will return unfeignedly unto the Lord their God Eccles 7. 1 John 1. the favor and mercy of God unto forgiveness of sins is liberally offered whereby it followeth necessarily that although we do after we be once come to God and grafted in his Son Jesus Christ fall into great sins for there is no righteous Man upon the Earth that sinneth not and if we say we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us yet if we rise again by Repentance and with a full purpose of amendment of Life do flee unto the mercy of God taking sure hold thereupon through Faith in his Son Jesu Christ there is an assured and infallible hope of pardon and remission of the same and that we shall be received again into the favor of our Heavenly Father It is written of David Acts 13. 2 Sam. 7. I have found a Man according to mine own heart or I have found David the Son of Jesse a Man according to mine own heart who will do all things that I will This is a great commendation of David It is also most certain that he did stedfastly believe the promise that was made him touching the Messias who should come of him touching the Flesh and that by the same Faith he was justified and grafted in our Saviour Jesu Christ to come and yet afterwards he fell horribly committing most detestable Adultery and damnable Murder and yet as soon as he cried Peccavi 2 Sam. 2. 2 Sam. 22. I have sinned unto the Lord his sin being forgiven he was received into favor again Now will we come unto Peter of whom no Man can doubt but that he was grafted in our Saviour Jesus Christ long before his denial Which thing may easily be proved by the answer which he did in his Name and in the Name of his Fellow Apostles make unto our Saviour Jesus Christ when he said unto them Will ye also go away John 6. Master saith he to whom shall we go Thou hast the words of eternal life and we believe and know that thou art that Christ the Son of the living God Whereunto may be added the like Confession of Peter where Christ doth give us most infallible testimony Thou art blessed Simon the Son of Jonas for neither Flesh nor Blood hath revealed this unto thee but my Father which is in Heaven These words are sufficient to prove that Peter was already justifyed through this lively Faith in the only begotten Son of God whereof he made so notable and so solemn a confession But did not he afterwards most cowardly deny his Master although he had heard of him Mat. 26. Mat. 10. Whosoever denieth me before Men I will deny him before my Father Nevertheless as soon as with weeping eyes and with a sobing heart he did acknowledge his offence and with an earnest repentance did flee unto the mercy of God taking sure hold thereupon through Faith in him whom he had so shamefully denied his sin was forgiven him and for a Certificate and Assurance thereof the Room of his Apostleship was not denied unto him But now mark what doth follow After the same Holy Apostle had on Whitsunday Acts 2. with the rest of the Disciples received the gift of the Holy Ghost most abundantly he committed no small offence in Antiochia by bringing the Consciences of the Faithful into doubt by his Example Gal. 2. so that Paul was fain to rebuke him to his Face because that he walked not uprightly or went not the right way in the Gospel Shall we now say that after this grievous offence he was utterly excluded and shut out from the grace and mercy of God and that this his trespass whereby he was a stumbling Block unto many was unpardonable God defend we should say so But as these Examples are not brought in to the end that we should thereby take a boldness to sin presuming on the mercy and goodness of God but to the end that if through the frailness of our own Flesh and the temptation of the Devil we fall into like sins we should in no wise despair of the mercy and goodness of God What we must beware of Even so must we beware and take heed that we do in no wise think in our hearts imagine or believe that we are able to repent aright or to turn effectually unto the Lord by our own might and strength For this must be verified in all Men John 15. 2 Cor. 3. Phil. 2. Without me ye can do nothing Again Of our selves we are not able as much as to think a good thought And in another place It is God that worketh in us both the Will and the Deed. For this cause although Jeremy had said before Jer. 6. If thou return O Israel return unto me saith the Lord yet afterwards he saith Turn thou me O Lord and I shall be turned for thou art the Lord my God And therefore that holy Writer and ancient Father Ambrose doth plainly affirm That the turning of the heart unto God Ambros de Vocat Gent. lib. 8 cap. 9. is of God as the Lord himself doth testifie by his Prophet saying And I will give thee an heart to know me that I am the Lord and they shall be my People and I will be their God for they shall return unto me with their whole heart These things being considered let us earnestly pray unto the living God our Heavenly Father that he will vouchsafe by his holy Spirit to work a true and unfeigned Repentance in us that after the painful labors and travels of this Life we may live eternally with his Son Jesus Christ to whom be all praise and glory for ever and ever Amen The Second Part of the Homily of Repentance HItherto have ye heard Well-beloved how needful and necessary the Doctrin of Repentance is and how earnestly it is throughout all the Scriptures of God urged and set forth both by the ancient Prophets by our Saviour Jesus Christ and his Apostles And that for as much as it is the conversion or turning again of the whole Man unto God from whom we go away by sin these four Points ought to be observed that is From whence or from what things we must return
my works For God the Revenger will revenge the wrong done by thee And say not I have sinned and what evil hath come unto me For the Almighty is a patient Rewarder but he will not leave thee unpunished Because thy sins are forgiven thee be not without fear to heap sin upon sin Say not neither The mercy of God is great he will forgive my manifold sins For mercy and wrath come from him and his indignation cometh upon unrepentant sinners As if ye should say Art thou strong and mighty Art thou lusty and young Hast thou the Wealth and Riches of the World Or when thou hast sinned hast thou received no punishment for it Let none of all these things make thee to be the slower to repent and to return with speed unto the Lord. For in the day of punishment and of his sudden vengeance they shall not be able to help thee And specially when thou art either by the Preaching of Gods Word or by some inward motion of his holy Spirit or else by some other means called unto Repentance neglect not the good occasion that is ministred unto thee lest when thou wouldst repent thou hast not the grace for to do it For to repent is a good gift of God which he will never grant unto them who living in carnal security do make a mock of his Threatnings or seek to rule his Spirit as they list as though his working and gifts were tied unto their will Fifthly The avoiding of the plagues of God and the utter destruction that by his righteous Judgment doth hang over the heads of them all that will in no wise return unto the Lord Jer. 24. I will saith the Lord give them for a terrible plague to all the Kingdoms of the Earth and for a Reproach and for a Proverb and for a Curse in all places where I shall cast them and will send the Sword of Famine and the Pestilence among them till they be consumed out of the Land And wherefore is this Because they hardned their hearts and would in no wise return from their evil ways nor yet forsake the wickedness that was in their own hands that the fierceness of the Lords fury might depart from them Rom. 8. But yet this is nothing in comparison of the intolerable and endless torments of Hell fire which they shall be fain to suffer who after their hardness of heart that cannot repent do heap unto themselves Wrath against the day of anger and of the declaration of the just Judgment of God Whereas if we will repent and be earnestly sorry for our sin and with a full purpose and amendment of Life flee unto the mercy of our God and taking sure hold thereupon through Faith in our Saviour Jesus Christ do bring forth Fruits worthy of Repentance he will not only pour his manifold Blessings upon us here in this World but also at the last after the painful Travels of this Life reward us with the inheritance of his Children which is the Kingdom of Heaven purchased unto us with the death of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all praise glory and honor World without end Amen AN HOMILY AGAINST Disobedience and Wilful Rebellion The First Part. AS God the Creator Lord of all things appointed his Angels and heavenly Creatures in all obedience to serve and to honor his Majesty so was it his will that Man his chief Creature upon the Earth should live under the obedience of his Creator and Lord and for that cause God as soon as he had created Man gave unto him a certain Precept and Law which he being yet in the State of innocency and remaining in Paradise should observe as a pledge and token of his due and bounden Obedience with denunciation of Death if he did transgress and break the said Law and Commandment And as God would have Man to be his obedient Subject so did he make all earthly Creatures subject unto Man who kept their due obedience unto Man so long as Man remained in his obedience unto God In the which obedience if Man had continued still there had been no Poverty no Diseases no Sickness no Death nor other miseries wherewith Mankind is now infinitely and most miserably afflicted and oppressed So here appeareth the Original Kingdom of God over Angels and Man and universally over all things and of Man over earthly Creatures which God hath made subject unto him and withal the felicity and blessed State which Angels Man and all Creatures had remained in had they continued in due obedience unto God their King For as long as in this first Kingdom the Subjects continued in due obedience to God their King so long did God embrace all his Subjects with his love favor and grace which to enjoy is perfectly Felicity whereby it is evident that Obedience is the principal Vertue of all Vertues and indeed the very root of all Vertues Mat. 4. b. 9. Mat. 25. d. 41. John 8. f. 44. 2 Pet. 2. a 4. Epist Jude a. 6. Apoc. 12. b. 7. Gen. 3. a. 1 Wisd 2. d. 24. Gen. 3. b. 8.9 c. c. 17. d. 23.24 and the cause of all Felicity But as all Felicity and Blessedness should have continued with the continuance of Obedience so with the breach of Obedience and breaking in of Rebellion all Vices and Miseries did withal break in and overwhelm the World The first Author of which Rebellion the Root of all Vices and Mother of all Mischiefs was Lucifer first Gods most excellent Creature and most bounden Subject who by Rebelling against the Majesty of God of the brightest and most glorious Angel is become the blackest and most foul Fiend and Devil and from the height of Heaven is fallen into the Pit and bottom of Hell Here you may see the first Author and Founder of Rebellion and the reward thereof here you may see the grand Captain and Father of Rebels who perswading the following of his Rebellion against God their Creator and Lord unto our first Parents Adam and Eve brought them in high displeasure with God wrought their exile and banishment out of Paradise a place of pleasure and goodness into this wretched earth and vale of misery procured unto them sorrows of their Minds Mischiefs Sickness Diseases death of their Bodies and which is far more horrible than all worldly and bodily Mischiefs Rom. 5. c. 12. c. d. 19. c. he had wrought thereby their eternal and everlasting death and damnation had not God by the obedience of his Son Jesus Christ repaired that which Man by Disobedience and Rebellion had destroyed and so of his mercy had pardoned and forgiven him of which all and singular the Premises the holy Scriptures do bear record in sundry places Thus do you sâ—e that neither Heaven nor Paradise could suffer any Rebellion in them neither be places for any Rebels to remain in Thus became