he died for his cause because they contemne the sptrit of grace that is they despise it and repell it even for that they by their wicked life they deride and contemne Christ his bloud calleth for revenge against the wicked the mighty grace of God offered so that the bloud of Christ shed for them crieth for revenge against them and that by the just judgement of God which is most terrible to heare all which they doe offer up draw upon themselves for truly it is a fearfull thing to fall into the hands of the living God as it is written in the same Chapter for God even our God is a living God not a livelesse Idoll that will not or is not able to revenge this refusall and contempt of his grace which revenge and divine wrath even their own conscience doth threaten them and follow them at the heeles who hearing that the Sonne of God did die a most terrible death for sinne yet doe not take any care to abstain from sinne And this is the cause wherefore presently after the death of Christ repentance Why God requireth repentance of all men was preached over all the world both because he died the death for the sinnes of the whole world and in all places of the world men should repent as it is written Chap. 17. Acts and that they might receive that Panacea that soveraigne hearb that cureth all diseases with a contrite penitent and faithfull heart lest the grace of God should be frustrated and made voyd Without repentance sins are not forgiven for after this serious repentance remission of sinnes doth follow immediatly after neither is it possible he should have his sins remitted that repenteth not grieveth not that hath sinned and yet rejoyceth in sins as also nothing is more fooolish and preposterous that those sinnes should be pardoned the which thou never didst think to abstain from or challenge the merit of Christ to himselfe and in the mean time to wallow in his sinnes which was the cause of Christs death And yet there be many who although all their life they never repented seriously that they had sinned nor have abated a hair of their wrath covetousnes pride hatred envie hypocrisie and unrighteousnesse but rather have grown and augmented their sinnes more and more and yet dare require remission of their sins The false faith of false Christians and challenge the merit of Christ to belong unto them which indeed is their blind and deplorable impudencie These are such as flatter themselves to their exceeding evill perswading themselves through their own foolishnesse that they are good Christians because for sooth they know and beleeve that Christ died for their sinnes and by this meanes they doe beleeve sted fastly they shall be saved but thou art an unhappy and after a most miserable manner bewitched false Christian for neither doth the word of God teach that by this means life eternall is to be obtained neither any of the Prophets or Apostles did any time so preach but this is the unanimous consent Thou which requirest to have thy sinnes pardoned first repent abst in from thy sins and then grieving from thy heart earnestly that thou hast sinned beleeve in Christ But how should he bee sorry for his sinnes who never thinketh how to eschew sinne or how should he eschew his sinnes which is not sorrowfull for the committing of them Wherefore Christ with all his Apostles Prophets doth teach thee that thou must What it is to die to the world dye to the world and sinne as to pride covetousnesse lust wrath hatred and that thou must return with all thy heart to the Lord and ask pardon of him which being done now thou art absolved and free from thy sins and now the heavenly Physitian respecteth thee who onely healeth contrite hearts if thou insist upon any other way Christ profiteth thee nothing and in vain and of no value or belonging to salvation is the boasting of thy faith for true faith which reneweth the man it extinguisheth and mortifieth sinnes in man and quickneth him in Christ that is maketh him to live in Christ in faith and in his charity humility meeknesse and patience And after this manner Christ is to thee the way to life and thou in like manner art a new creature in him But if thou intend to sinne and hast not yet determined to leave thine iniquity but applaudest all thy old sinnes or actions of old Adam let it be how canst thou be another creature or how canst thou belong to Christ when thou dost not crucifie the flesh with all the desires thereof and concupiscences as the Apostle saith Galat. 5. Goe then and daily heare ten Sermons a day and every The vaine worship of God month confesse thy selfe and communicate for all these things are farre unworthy of remission of sinnes because a penitent heart contrite and faithfull which maketh thee capable of this wholsome medicine thou dost not bring with thee Truly and indeed the Sacraments and Word of God which are the most powerfull remedies helps yet but only to those that repent of their sins from the bottom of their hearts and that with daily faithfull mourning doe detest the way of their old and former life For what profiteth it to anoint a stone with pretious oyntment or a medicine Or what harvest shalt thou reap if thou sowest amongst thornes and briers Therefore thou must first pull up all these young thornes that choak the good seed and all things that hinder thee from reaping Whom Christ profiteth nothing a good harvest Last of all whosoever cleaveth to his sinnes it is sure that Christ profiteth him nothing the nativity of Christ helpeth him nothing who careth not to be born with him nothing the death of Christ him who hath not determined firmly in his mind to die unto sin nothing the resurrectioÌ„ of Christ him who refuseth in him to arise from sin lastly the ascension of Christ profiteth nothing to him that will not lead a heavenly life But if converted with the prodigall thou deplore hate and slye sinne and then prayest to obtain pardon of God and beholding by faith Christ crucified and his wouuds like unto the true Israelite thou mayst say Good God have mercy upon me a most grievous sinner then pardon is at hand what and how great soever thy sinnes be thou hast committed so great truly is the perfection in the redemption gotten by the bloud of Christ and so is the perfection of applying the grace and imputation of the whole merit of Christ by faith and it is most true that is in 12. Sap. God giveth place to repentance for sins that is to say pardoning â—reely perfectly and wholly the penitent for Christ yea it is the great good pleasure of God to exercise mercy and to pardon sinnes freely My bowels are troubled within me as towards them I am mercâ—fâ—ll and I will have mercy of
truly humbled think themselves worthy of nothing Jacob Gen. 32. who pronounceth himself unworthy of all divine favour and temporall blessings Therefore to his example and pattern a heart truly humbled contrite acknowledging himselfe unworthy of the least heavenly visitation and consolation be it never so little crieth O Lord my soule thine handmaid is unworthy of thy great love and mercy which thou hast shewed it in Christ Jesus behold since thou gavest me thy Sonne I come with two troops with the blessings I say of grace and glory And indeed if a man would weep a sea of teares it were not sufficient price for the least heavenly favour or consolation Therefore the grace of God is meerly pure and free gift and the merit of man is nothing else but punishments and eternall damnation which every one knoweth What misera men God respects through faith and acknowledgeth freely man consequently is guilty of his own misery and is pardoned of God that which cannot befall man without this zealous acknowledgement and so to obtain the favour of God Wherupon S. Paul 2 Cor. 12. saith I would boast of the infirmities in me that the power of Christ might awell in me For such is the mercifulnes of God he will not see his workes suffer corruption but so much the weaker it is in it selfe so much more fortitude is divinely infused into it according to that the Lord said unto Paul My grace is sufficient for thee for my power is made perfect in infirmity Wherefore by how much a true Christian in his own judgment is more wretched by so much doth God pardon more freely to the manifestation of the riches of his glory in a vessell of mercy Rom. 9. not looking to any merit of his by heavenly consolations more sincere then all human joyes Furthermore we call not him a miserable man not he that is poore Why a man is wretched and destitute of human succour and comfort but he that from the bottome of his heart acknowledgeth and is grieved for his sinnes for if sinne were not there would be no misery in the world and so much could not befall man but that he is worthy of much more Far be it from us to grieve because many heavenly benefits are not bestowed Man is worthy of no divine grace seeing we are not worthy of the least no not the life we carry about with us Which saying although our flesh think it a very unworthy and hard saying yet if we will obtain the grace of God the truth is to be spoken and every true repentant sinner most be a most bitter Judge and upbraider of himselfe for his sinnes Wherein then and wherefore should a man open his mouth Truly thus I think what ever man thou be it is better for thee to say thou canst say nothing in these two words Lord I have sinned Have mercy upon me a sinner certainly God himselfe requireth nothing else of a man but that he should deplore his sins and crave pardon which two whoso The best work of man neglecteth may be said that he hath omitted the best part Take heed therefore O man to powre forth teares for thy body because it is naked because it is afflicted with hunger and cold and because it suffereth persecutions because it is restrained in bands or because it is weak and sick but bewaile and send forth tears for thy soule which is constrained to dwell in flesh and bloud obnoxious to sinne and death Vnhappy man that I am cryeth blessed Paul Rom. 7. who shall deliver me from this body of sinne And this Christian acknowledgement and conscience of his proper and inward misery this grace-thirsting repentance Faith is the door of grace this faith fastened on Christ alone opening the doore of grace in Christ by which God cometh into the soule therefore repent and amend saith John chap. 3. Behold I stand at the doore and I beat or knock if any shall heare my voyce and shall open it to me I will enter therein and I will sup with him and he with me Which supper is nothing verily but the remission of sinnes consolation life and happinesse at this doore of faith our most loving God at his own time doth meet the wretched soule here the truth ariseth from the earth and justice looketh from heaven here Mercy and Truth meet one another Justice and Peace doe kisse each other Psalm 85. Here the offender Magdalene I say the soule of Mystical Magdalen man all confused and powring forth tears anointeth the feet of our Lord washeth them with teares wipeth them with the hairs of her head of most profound humility Here the spirituall and mysticall Bishop in the holy ornaments of faith offereth the true sacrifice the contrite heart and lowly and the frankincense of true repentance and contrition I say the teares for sins committed that true cleansing water The misticall Bishop and sacrifice of a Christian wherewith the mysticall Israel are washed and made clean by faith and efficacy of the bloud of Christ And thus much Christians it appeareth how by the acknowledgement of your proper misery and faith in Christ you may attain the grace of God so that by how much every one in their own judgement is more wretched so much the more dearly beloved of God and by him is adorned with great favours CHAP. XX. By Christian contrition our life is daily amended and made more and more fit for the Kingdome of Heaven and life eternall 2 Corinth 7. Godly sorrow worketh repentance to eternall salvation but worldly sorrow worketh death TRue Christianity consisteth in pure Faith true Charity and holy life which have their beginning out of serious Holiness from whence contrition repentance and a strict and severe knowledge of himselfe perceiving daily more and more his defects and amending them daily and participating the righteousnesse and holinesse of Christ by faith 1 Cor. 1. and cannot be obtained The fear of God by any other means in which if we walk in the continuall feare of God after the example of good children and subjects we doe not nourish any thing belonging to the flesh All things are lawfull for me saith Paul 1 Cor. 6. but are not all expedient in me making me better For even as a sonne in his fathers house doth not all things which many times the lust of the flesh prompteth him unto but warily observeth his father and as it were by the eye doth counsel with him before hee cometh to say or doe any thing So a true Christian and the Child of God will chastice his senses with Christian modesty neither will doe or speak any thing without the fear of God But for The ioy of the world doth extinguish the fear of God the most part all men are without the feare of God do addict themselves to worldly pleasures not knowing it is better continually to feare God then to wallow in
is Christ doth as it were call back his merit from them that do not pardoÌ„ their neighbour not first reconciled to his neighbour For all mankind under the person of the wicked servant Matth. 18. is described who when hee had not wherewith to pay the King remitted him all his debts but when he afterwards behaved himselfe so cruelly towards his fellow servant the King revoked his pardon condemning the wicked servant by reason of his hard usage of his neighbour Which Parable Christ concludeth with this farewell So will my heavenly Father doe unto you Like unto that is the saying of Matth. 7. What measure you mete unto others the same shall hee meted unto you Christs mandate Whereby it appeareth that man was not onely created for himselfe alone but for his neighbours cause also And immediatly he passeth over the precepts of loving our neighbour to withdraw the love of God and to proceed with his justice by whose most rigid decree hee is immediatly condemned but if we should call such things to mind as this Parable we should never be angry long with our Neighbour neither should the Sun go down in our wrath for it A heart irreconcilcable is not capable of Christs merits is in truth a horrible thing to be thought that the merit of Christ whereby he satisfied for the whole world fully and after the example of that little King of meer grace hath remitted all our sins I say that this merit should be cut off and become of no effect if we do not pardon our brother and hate him But although this law seem hard yet so it is written and it so bindeth us that God without the love of our neighbour will not be loved of us and if wee become irreconcileable wee lose the love and favour of God Neither may we think The cause of charity it was for other cause that man was not created one better then another but that one should not insult over another but as twins of one mother and one father we should live lovingly peaceably together our consciences never accusing us Therfore whosoever hateth his brother and despiseth him let him know that God doth hate him and despise him because he hath most severely forbidden it and consequently that he is hatefull and abominable to him as also guilty of eternall condemnation and altogether excluded from the merit of Christ Neither can it by any means come to passe that a heart in enmity without mercy and inhumane should participate of the bloud of Christ which was shed out of meere love seeing out of the Parable Matth. 18. it is manifest that God was lesse moved or offended for the debt of ten thousand Talents then at the unmercifulnesse and cruelty of the fellow-servant Wherefore let us never forget but daily remember that saying of Christ So will my Heavenly Father doe unto you CHAP. XXVI Wherefore a mans Neighbour is to be loved Rom. 13. Owe nothing to any man but that you love one another for he that loveth his Neighbour fulfilleth the Law THese are the words of Micah chap. 6. What good things shall I offer unto the Lord Shall I offer unto him Meat-offerings and Calves of a yeare old Can the Lord bee pleased in thousands of Raâ—â—nes or in many thousands of fat be-goats Shall I give my first-born for my wickednesse and the fruits of my womb for the sinnes of my soule I will shew thee O man what is good and what the Lord requireth of thee Even to doe judgement and to love mercy and to walk carefully before thy God By which judgement he teacheth us Wherein consisteth the true worship of God wherein the true worship of God consisteth not in Ceremonies and Sacrifices which conferre nothing on God because all is his own nor in humane offerings which hee requireth not nay rather hee abhorreth because they contain the reproach of Jesus Christ the Propitiatory offering which God appointed to take away the sinnes of the world but in pure faith which the Prophet describeth in this form To doe judgement I say in the exercise of faith in charity in mercy better pleasing then all sacrifices in humility according to the Psalm 51. The sacrifice to God is a troubled spirit a contrite heart and humble O God thou wilt not despise To which divine worship consisting in the inwards of the heart and in faith charity and humility Saint Paul exhorteth us Rom. 13. whose admonition we have prefixed to this chapter which containeth the praise of Charity and the perpetuall debt to our neighbour For certainly there is no other way of serving God but this to whom we can approve of nothing but what wee our selves allow and he himselfe worketh in our hearts so that to worship God is nothing but to observe our neighbour and to doe him good To this love of our neighbour the Apostle inciting us useth an argument somthing plausible to those which Charity praised are desirous to lead a Christian life calling it a breviary of all vertues and a fulfilling of the Law not that we are able possibly by our charity to fulfill the divine Law or that consequently it followeth to gain eternall life thereby but it insinuateth unto us the noble bounty and majesty of this most excellent vertue and inflameth us to love it with all our desire For our justice and happinesse is founded on the merit of Jesus Christ which we apply to our selves by faith out of which also the love to our neighbour doth flow and all other vertues which therefore are called the fruits of justice to the praise and glory of God Seeing then the dignity of this vertue is so great it were worthy the labour to seeke more arguments to draw us unto the love of it but the strongest in my opinion is that which Saint John useth Epist 1. Chap. 4. The impâ—lsive cause of charity God is Love and he that remaineth in Love remaineth in God and God in him for who would not wish to be in God and remain in him and that God in like manner shall be and remain in him And who on the contrary would not abhorre to bee in Satan and Satan in him which is so often as charity is repulsed barbarisme and inhumane hostility doth dwell in our hearts For as it is the delight of God to be with the sonnes of men so contrariwise the Devill is a devourer of men To which belongeth that place of John who saith He that Charity is a token of the sons of God loveth is born of God and knoweth God In this is made manifest whether they be the sons of God or the Devil and can there be any thing more desirable then to be the sonnes of God to be begotten of God to know God truly and whosoever hath his heart void of charity nor by experience hath known the force of it life gifts goodnesse gentlenesse long-suffering and patience
and holy Ghost and without God himselfe Contrariwise a true Christian and he which is anointed with the spirit of Christ doth beare with all men in condoling commiserating and loving him after the example of Christ And this is the Touch-stone whereby every one is to be tried whether Where charity is not there God is not he be of God or not But if he find he hath no love of his neighbour in him let him assuredly perswade himselfe he hath not the charity of God in him rather let him feare God himselfe hath forsaken him wherewith he ought to be afraid and be sory from his heart and seek to return into his neighbours favour Which being done God through his love will marry himselfe unto him and whatsoever thereafter he shall doe in faith and charity is and will be accounted for good holy and divine Moreover by reason of the inherent love of God of his free will he embraceth all with his mercy and love neither is any thing more acceptable then to doe good or as Jeremy speaketh He rejoyceth in them he will doe good unto them Without charity in man all things are altogether evil and Devillish neither is there Why all things that the devill doth are evill other cause why the Devil can do no good but because he is destitute of the love of God and his neighbour and thereupon what he doth is altogether evill neither doth his workes and counsels whatsoever tend to other end then the reproach of God and damage of mankind and that he may satisfie his malicious mind and rancor against God and man For which cause he useth such cruell and vengeable mindes to execute and bring to passe the counsels and contrivement of his wrath envy And this is the mark of the sonnes of Satan whereby they are discerned from the sonnes of God Charity proceedeth from faith not fained which cleaveth and adhereth to God equally in prosperity and adversity Whosoever loveth a man heartily he cannot be ungratefull because what God He that loveth God all his works he loveth all his punishments hath appointed against him he doth after the example of Christ who with a cheerfull mind tooke up his Crosse which he knew to be put upon him by his Fathers will whereupon Luke saith chap. 12. I have a baptisme to be baptized with and how grieved am I untill it be finished which all the Martyrs of the Church did imitate bearing his Crosse with joy And for a truth whosoever loveth God heartily he cannot but beare his Crosse easily which he knoweth to be the yoak of Christ And if a Load-stone can lift up a weight of Iron and draw it unto it selfe what cannot that celestiall Load-stone of love divine do Shal not it take up the worst weight of our Crosse and mitigate the feeling of it Also why doth Sugar rather correct the bitternesse of the hearb and medicine then the sweetnesse of love take away the ungratefull and inhumane savour of our crosse whose force is such as the holy Martyrs had no other where that strength of their incredible and cheerfull constancy but they did draw it out of this fountain of Love wherewith being most sweetly intoxicated they did not feele the paines of their torments CHAP. XXV Of love to our Neighbour in speciall 2 Peter 2. Of whom any man is overcome he is that mans servant AMongst all kinds of servitude none is The servitude of the affections is most heavie more hard and sharp then to be under the subjection of affections neither of these is any more cruell then hostility or inhumanity because that wearieth and bindeth all the powers and strength of the body and soul and so leaveth to a man not the least thought free but he that exerciseth or remaineth in charity he is free in his minde neither is he the servant or captive to wrath envie covetousnesse usury pride lying and slander from all which being free by charity he suffereth not himselfe to be brought into slavery by his evill concupiscences but remaineth a freeman of Christ through the spirit of liberty 2 Cor. 3. For where the spirit is there is liberty whosoever therefore walketh in the charity of Christ he ceaseth to be the slave of sinne and servant to affections and carnall lusts For by the spirit of divine charity we are purged and set free And The universality of divine Charity charity divine is equally reached and extended to all men so that not onely out of the word of God but by nature universall also it is made known for we are all equally and alike covered with the heavens and we have the use of the Sunne Aire Earth Water both high and low degree alike Moreover with what mind God Almighty is towards all mankind so ought our mind to be affected towards our neighbour seeing what things even now we shewed thou dost not say it happened for that cause God would have it so but that by his example he might teach us and make it manifest that he loveth all with like equall affection and that it is without reâ—pect of persons and prerogative of dignity or merit in Christ to love every one alike so that as hee sheweth himselfe towards us such ught we to be and to carry our selves toowards our neighbour whom after the same manner as wee shall deal with God will deale with us Which Law God writ in our hearts that evidently he might convince and teach us with what mind he was affected to us lest we should be mistaken and overtaken unawares we ought to carry the same mind towards our neighbour every one of us Wherefore he that would know what respect hee is in with God it is sufficient to ask his conscience for that thing will tell him presently as his mind is towards his neighbour whereby he The triall of divine love may gather how God is affected towards him For like as we have done to our neighbour so it is meet God should doe to us And in this sense the great God is good to the good and averse to the averse neither doth hee deserve to have God his friend that is an enemy to his neighbour Now seeing that God hath no need of our works as our neighbour hath it appeareth by this counsell that the charity towards our neighbour gives us in charge that it should be as a Load-stone a most certain argument of our charity towards God For if these things were otherwise he would not have directed these things to our neighbor so exactly as to a certain sope nor bound us to this as a law but that we might know his affection to us thereby and we should approve the same mind every houre and moment to our neighbour Wherefore though Christ Jesus by his death once sufficiently made satisfaction for the sinnes of the whole world and all men therein for which all men are to give thanks no man can warrant him who
no delay By which beside other places may bee known who those are who are inwardly fed with Gods word to wit those that are poor in spirit and in God alone who place their trust and delight Those I say are worthy to tast heavenly gifts of whom David Whom God feedeth with his eternal word speaketh Psalm 84. How delightfull O Lord are the Tabernacles of thy dwellings my soule sainted and was moved in my inwardnesse in the entries of the Lord. My heart and my flesh were exalted in the living God Whereby one may understand that the least pleasures of eternal life doe farre exceed all the joyes of this present world and that one day there is more excellent then here to live in worldly pleasure one whole year which whosoever hath once made triall of and found to be so the world bringeth unto him a loathing and tediousnesse and as one accustomed to better things can relish it no more Hereto appertaineth that which the eternal Wisdome speaketh in Ecclus. 24. saying God alone filleth the soule My spirit is sweet above the hony and my inheritance is above the hony and the hony comb Who eat mee doe yet hunger and who drinke me doe yet thirst And his hunger thirst no creature but God alone can fill w th his love wherewith the Saints are made drunk according to the Canticle of Canticles Eate O friends drink he drunk O my dearest friendâ— Therefore Almighty God for that purpose doth make such delicacies for his dear The type of eternall life friends as being inamored with this bait of delight they may forget all wordly delight Now if in this life it be better for us to leave all the pleasures thereof for a few crums of hidden Manna and a few drops of Nectar and of the heavenly Vine how much more plentiful abundant shall that bee which wee shall attain to in the other life That our Saviour might stirre up this thirst in us it was expedient he should thirst upon the Crosse For even as he alone can stanch our hunger and thirst so we in like manner can restrain his most flagrant desire of loving He thirsteth after us more vehemently then we thirst after him according to that of John cap. 4. My meat is to doe the will of him that sent mee that I may finish his work And what is the wil of God but that we may attain eternal life And if we equally thirst after him as he thirsteth after us then of a truth should we drink and be intoxicated with his Spirit most liberally and sweetly so that out of our bodies should flow rivers of living water that is there should be nothing in us that would not be spiritual amiable comely nay no The greatnes of the humane soul and the humility otherwise then if we were filled as from a torrent of goodnesse and consolation divine in our whole mind and conversation we should rejoyce in God For nothing is of more account with God then the humane soul or greater when it conceiveth God and heaven and earth by way of enjoyment freely and nothing lesse then it when it humbleth it self before God and â—asteth it selfe below all creatures CHAP. XXXVII Those that doe not follow Christ in their life cannot be freed from the blindnes of their heart but do remain in perpetual darknes Moreover he cannot truly know Christ or participate of him or earnestly repent 2 John 1. God is light and there is no darknesse in him if we shall say we have fellowship with him and walk in darknesse we doe lie and are not in the truth But if wee walk in the truth even as he is in the truth we have joynt fellowship with him THat we may understand the nature of Light and Darknesse it is necessary to seek into the definition of Light which no man can give a better then that which blessed John himselfe delivereth God saith he is light And what is God A spiritual being eternal infinite almighty merciful gentle just holy true all-knowing lastly of love and faith ineffable God the Fathet the Sonne and holy Ghost one in essence three in persons the chiefe and all good essentially And this is the true and eternall light whence every one from True light true darknes God and his love mercy justice and virtue turneth himselfe when it is evident hee passeth from light to darknes seeing without God there is nothing but darknesse For if he be light it followeth contrariwise that the Devil is darknesse it selfe if he be charity the Devil is nothing but wrath envie hatred sinne and torment it must needs be so To which whosoever joyneth himselfe he is changed to darknesse and the Devil from which he is not delivered before he shall convert himselfe from darknesse to light from sinne to righteousnesse and lastly from the Devil to God That which is the work of faith alone by which our hearts are purified Acts 15. For whosoever beleeveth in Christ he repenteth daily and converteth himself from sinne that is from the Devil to Christ For as Adam by sinne converted himselfe from God to the Devil so it behoveth every one of us to flye by true repentance and remission of sinnes from the Devil to God Whereupon it followeth that man without returning and conversion to God cannot be inlightned For what fellowship hath justice with unrighteousnesse or what place of society is there for light and darknesse 2 Cor. 6. This darknesse is unrighteousnesse but the light is the true knowledge of Christ which can no wayes enter into fellowship so that it is impossible that those should be inlightned by the Spirit and light of eternall â—ruth who live in the darknesse of unrighteousnes To which appertaineth the saying of Paul concerning the Jews When tâ—ey shall be converted to the Lord the vail shall 2 Cor. 3. be taken away that is darknesse blindnesse and ignorance shal cease Christ shall inlighten them For what greater blindnesse or thicker mist can cover the minds of men then infidelity with the fruit thereof as pride covetousnesse wrath lust therefore where they be it cannot come to passe that a man should acknowledge Christ the most true light until hee beleeve in him confide in him and bee saved by him For how shal he understand the humility of Christ whose mind knoweth not himself through pride How should he know his meeknes that is altogether full of wrath and envie How his exceeding wonderfull patience which rejoyceth in revenge and imitateth The true knowledge of Christ the brute beast in cruelty For whosoever understandeth not the lowlinesse humility and patience of Christ hee never knoweth Christ in his faith And that you may truly and rightly know him it behoveth thee by faith to have the heart understanding of Christ and to perceive his lowlinesse patience and humility within thee in thy heart For as a plant is known by the tast and
130. If thy imperfections be great again and again remember Christs merits are far greater and say with David Psalm 11. Have A repentanr soul is at peace with God mercy upon mee according to thy great mercies And when by the grace of God thou art penitent for thy sinnes and dost behold Christ in faith then in like manner God is grieved at thy punishment and pardon and remission followeth this thy divine and wholsome contrition by and by and so oft as thou becomest an offender and returnest again to him by sorrowfull sighes For even as the Leper was healed in a moment when he said to Christ Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me whole and he answered I will be thou clean So Almighty God inwardly and in the Spirit maketh thee clean saying Be confident my sonne thy sins are forgiven thee Which great mercy of God in cleansing and pardoning our sins prefigured in that Lepers example ought not to give us occasion to sin again but more and more to glorifie God whereupon thou mayst say My soule praise the Lord. IX Outward injuries reproaches and How iniuries are to be born upbraids beware they doe not provoke thee to wrath indignation or revenge but rather think them to be certain trials of thy heart by which God would prove thee what is in thee and in thy heart doth lie hid I say whether meeknesse and humility or pride and wrath For whatsoever lieth hid in a man or concealed provocated contumelies do make triall of him Therefore if thy heart bee indued with humility and lowlinesse thou wilt easily beare all contempts nay whatsoever shal happen to thee of that kind thou wilt accept it as a punishment of God for thy just desert and sinne after the example of David who being reproached to his face by Shimei said 2 Sam. 16. God commanded him to revile David Moreover thou shouldst think the contempt of us to be a great part of the contumely of Christ which a living and a true member of him ought to participate according to that saying Heb. 13. Let us goe to him bearing our infirmities Not being unmindfull with what heart with what lowlinesse hee did beare his reproach then conclude for him in like manner thou art to bear thy reproaches and private injuries with an equal mind Do not thou say Shall I suffer these things at his hands For by reason of the lowlinesse and most patient heart of Christ all things should bee moderately born by thee I conceale the benignity of Christ to be so great that for one contumely that an innocent doth suffer he is ready to reward it with many honours and gifts That David knew when hee received the reproach of Shimei as a pledge and token of honour to come saying Suffer him to revile as the Lord hath commanded him If the Lord shall respect my affliction and the Lord shall return me good for his cursing this very day Wherefore let not the fables of men perturb thee but rather rejoyce because the glory of Gods Spirit resteth in vile things 1 Pet. 4. Victory consists in patience X. Study to overcome and pacifie thy enemies and detractors with benefits and goodnesse not in wrath nor in revenge nor in returning answer for no man will be reconciled to thee by this means seeing that victory consisteth in virtue not in vice For as Devils doe not drive one another out or away so revenges and maledictions doe not pacifie but provoke thy calumniators For as no man goeth about to heale a frantick man or a wretched person or a wounded man afflicted with soares with beating or club-law so a man evil affected to you is to be handled with lenity and not with cruelty and by sweet and gentle means pacified That which God himself to overcome us doth think he must observe pacifying our malice with his goodnes and our wrath with his love and inviting us with this such and so great benignity to repentance And Paul hath commended the same Art unto us Rom. 12. Bee not overcome of evill but overcome evill with goodnesse For this is our victory XI If in thy neighbour thou observest Wee ought not to envie good in others a gift which God hath adorned him with before thee and others take heed thou dost not envie this in him rather rejoyce give God thanks for seeing all the chosen and faithfull are one body it followeth that the beauty of every member doe ennoble the whole body On the contrary if thou perceive The sin of our neighbour is to be condoled any misery in thy neighbour lament it as thine own thinking the condition of all men to be equall and the weaknesse of the flesh to bee alike and hee that cannot take compassion nor condole he is no member of Christ For hee thought ours his own by compassion hee delivered us from all our miseries To which belongeth that of Saint Paul to the Galatians chap. 6. Bear one anothers burdens and so you shall fulfill the law of Christ XII The vices and sins of our neighbour are to be hated even as the works of Hate the vice not the mâ—n the Devil and if he should be no otherwise lest thou become more wicked then the man himselfe but rather bewaile his lot because he is subdued with such sinnes and commend his cause to God as Christ prayed for his enemies upon the Crosse Father forgive them And contrariwise whosoever hateth man cannot please God seeing it is his property to desire to rectify all men according to that of Luke 9. The Son of Man came not to destroy but to save mens souls XIII Think all men frail but thy self A Christian thinks himselfâ— the greatest sinner most frail for before God all men are of equal condition and alike condemnable because we have all sinned neither have we any thing whereon wee may boast before God Then how great a sinner soever thy neighbour be take heed thou beleeve not therefore thou art the better before God Let him that standeth take heed that hee fall not Yea he that maketh himself the lowest of all men this man keepeth the grace and favour of God It is sure that thou no lesse standest need of the grace and mercy of God then the greatest sinner which is the greater to thee the more humble thou art Wherefore blessed Paul accounted himselfe the greatest sinner 1 Tim. 1. And therefore saith That he obtained mercy Christ shewing his patience in him To which alike is that which he saith 2 Cor. 12. As concerning my selfe I will boast of nothing but my infirmities XIV That true illumination doth follow The contempt of the world is from illumination contempt of worldly things For even as the sonnes of this world have their inheritance upon earth as temporall honours fraile wealth vain splendor and beauty which they love and keep as treasures so the treasures of the sons of God are poverty
them saith the Lord Jer. 31. For then the death of Christ is effectuall and cometh to perfection or bringeth forth his fruits and therefore the Angels of God in heaven rejoyce because the bloud of Christ is become profitable to sinners for whom it was shed CHAP. IX The Antichristian life of men of this time doth deny Christ and the true faith 2 Timoth. 3. They have a certain form of godlinesse but doe deny the vertue thereof BEcause no man doth boast himself that he is no Christian although he doe no part of a Christian it followeth that by Christ is derided by a wicked life those manners he denieth Christ or Christ is denied contemned derided blasphemed whipt crucified slain and buried according to the Apostle who saith that certain men crucified the Sonne of God again and doe boast thereof and also according to Daniel who in the twelfth chapter foretelleth that Christ shall be pulled up by the roots which Prophesie is vulgarly expounded of Christ crucified at Jerusalem by the Jewes crying Away with him Away with him crucifie him which exposition I would to God it were true and that Christ were not yet daily by the Antichristian life taken from amongst us so that his life truly holy and excellent at this day is no where Where the life of Christ is not there is no Christ to be found for what darest thou speak of thy faith and doctrine where the life of Christ is banished there is no Christ that is more true then may be doubted or what is faith without a Christian life even a barren tree without fruit according to blessed Jude who calleth the false Apostles Summer trees without fruit twice dead of which sort the world is full That which Christ foretold would come to passe Luke 18. When the Sonne of Man commeth doe you True faith think he shall find faith upon the earth He speaketh of faith not this faith of which the world is full and which we professe in our mouthes and deny the same in our workes as if it consisted in this to love Christ in words and not in deeds and truth but the new man is another man regeneration a good tree with his fruits a man renewed by faith in whom Christ liveth and dwelleth by faith This is the faith that our Saviour meant which according to his prophesie is almost no where to be found at this day For where true faith is there Christ and his life must needs be even so contrariwise whosoever doth not imitate the life of Christ by faith in him is neither faith nor Christ The words of our Saviour are Luk. 12. He that shall deny me before men I will deny him before the Angels of God This deniall Deniall of Christ is not onely done in words or by the mouth as when we renounce our faith and Christ but much more and more powerfully when in deeds and life we resist Christ and the holy Ghost voluntarily that which St. Paul calleth deniall in workes and deeds For it is most certain that Christ is no lesse denied by a wicked and Diabolicall life then if he were denied openly by open words even so it is with hypocrisie with a specious and verball holinesse as if it were by doctrine to which purpose the Parable is extant Matth. 21. of two sons to one of which his father said My sonne goe worke to day in my vineyard but be answered and said I will not yet afterwards he repented him and did goe And coming to the other sonne he said in like manner to him who answered I goe Lord and went not which of these two did the will of his father They said The first who denied to goe yet afterwards did goe and labour But the other that said he would and lied or deceived did not he The greatest contempt of God is in or by a wicked life mock and deny his father And so there are many at this day of our false Christians crying So so Lord Lord the worst of all others not any of them doing the commandement of the Father And to this belongeth the saying of Saint Paul They have indeed a shew of godlinesse but denie the power thereof And what else is it to deny the power of godlinesse then to betray False Christians and violate their faith towards Christ and to play the Ethnick under the name of a Christian whom therefore St. Paul rightly calleth Infidels the children of infidelity having no faith Lastly those that usurp a Christians name and doe nothing and therefore Christ saith Depart from me yee accursed because I know you not And worthy it is that I should deny you who first durst and did deny me CHAP. X. The moderne life of worldly men is against Christ and is false Christianity Matth. 12. He that is not with me is against me IF any will examine the life and manners The life of the worldly of these times after the square of the life and doctrine delivered by Christ shall not he find the life of most men to be Antichristians because they have no other thing more then covetousnesse the study of getting usury concupiscence of the flesh and of the eyes pride of life ambition pomp hunting after fame and glory disobedience wrath strife warre disorder displeasure thirsting after revenge secret hatred envie implacability unrighteousnesse uncleannesse falsenesse frauds and backbitings In briefe we are all for the most part selfe-lovers seekers of the world greedy The life of Christ Christians affecters of honours and our own proper gain when contrariwise the life of Christ is nothing but the most pure and sincere love of God and man courtesie mildnesse humility patience obedience to death mercy righteousnesse truth chastity holinesse contempt of the world of honours wealth and pleasures deniall of our selves to beare the crosse continually trouble and affliction daily study and thirst after the Kingdome of God and lastly an unexpressible desire to fulfil the divine will seeing Christ saith He that is not with me is He that hath not the Spirit of Christ is Antichrist Antichrist But the modern life of worldly men hath no community with Christ but most men are at discord with Christ and dissent with their whole heart will mind and spirit from Christ Paul 1 Cor. 2. commanding another thing But we have the will of Christ and to the Phil. 2. Have yee the same manners with Christ it is agreeable that all worldly men should be adverse to Christ what every one doth this is Antichrist not in doctrine but in manner of life which being so in what place shall we find true Christians Seeing then this flock should be lowly in their own eyes Luke 12. to whom the Prophet Isaias agreeth who compareth the faithfull assembly and true Church to a little Cottage in a Vineyard The paucity of true Christians and a Watch-tower in a garden of Cucumbers and to a wasted