sake and will remember thy sinnes no more And againe a litle after Esay 48.9 V. 11. For mine owne sake I will be gracious for mine owne glory I wil refraine mine anger and will not destroy thee Propter me propter me faciam It is for my selfe and mine owne sake that I will do this for thee There was no cause in the Iewes that God should chuse them as elect vessels to cary the treasure of his word and to passe by so many other nations more rich and more populous Neither is there any cause in vs that we should haue the Gospell in peace and quietnesse preached vnto vs which blessing is denied to many mighty nations about vs. The cause is onely in the free goodnesse of God wherewith he embraceth his elect and chosen and therefore we may well say of our nations as Esay sayd of the Iewes of his time Isai 1â— If the Lord had not left vnto vs a remnant we had bene as Sodome and Gomorrha Such is our vnthankfulnesse for Gods manifold blessings such is our carelesnesse and dulnesse in prayer such is our disobedience and contempt of God his holy word that vnlesse there were a remnant of God his elect people amongst vs it could not haue bene but long before this time we should haue had the iudgement of Sodome and the cities adioyning in full measure powred vpon vs. But God hath a remnant of his elect amongst vs and in respect of his free loue towards them he doth still continue his goodnesse towards vs. God be eternally praysed for that remnant of his elect God graunt vs to be of that number God increase them daily God so continue and multiply them that the truth of his holy Gospell may still remaine to vs and to our posterity for euer A good hope we haue in the second property of Gods goodnesse to wit in the continuance and perpetuity thereof Saint Iames doth teach vs Iam. 1.13 that with the Lord there is no change nor shadow of change If we cast off the kindnesse of men we can yet haue no full assurance of the continuance of their benefits because the harts of men are variable Math. 21.8 They which this day doe cut downe bowes to strew in the way may to morow cry away with him and crucifie him But with God with whom there is no change nor shadow of mutability euery experience of Gods goodnesse is a sufficient argument of the perpetuity thereof as the king Prophet saith Psal 61.3 Thou Lord hast bene my refuge and strong tower against the enemy therefore I will dwell in thy tabernacle for euer and seeke my succor vnder the shadow of thy wings Whom God doth loue Iohn 13.2 Rom. 11.27 he doth loue to the end and the gifts and calling of God are without repentance It is his owne voice by the Prophet Isay 54.8 In a moment of time haue I hid my face from thee but in mine euerlasting mercy will I gather thee againe saith the Lord thy redeemer When Dauid doth in thankfulnesse of mind extoll the goodnesse of God Psal 136. he doth principally praise and magnifie the perpetuitie thereof And therefore in his Psalme of thanksgiuing as neuer sufficiently satisfied with the consideration thereof he doth still in euery verse repeate the mercie of God endureth for euer Many causes we giue for the abbridging and with-holding thereof but the Lord being patient long suffering Esay 30.18 doth still waite for our repentance Why will ye die O ye house of Israel Thus sayth the Lord I will not the death of a sinner Ezech. 18.31 but if he repent he shall liue We haue many wayes offended but God his goodnesse doth yet still enlarge it selfe towardes vs We are all as drie stubble yet the Lord doth not burne vs vp we are barren trees yet the Lord doth not cut vs downe we are all vnfruitfull ground yet the Lord doth make his Sunne to shine and raine to fall vpon vs. We haue often deserued Gods louing countenance to be turned from vs but we may thankfully say with the Prophet Misericordia est Domini Ierâ—m Iam. 3.22 quòd non consumimur It is the mercie of the Lord that we are not consumed This perpetuitie of God his goodnesse is our chiefest comfort in all afflictions and distresses For thereby though we be killed all the day long yet with the Apostle we are assured that neither life nor death nor principalitie nor power Rom. 8.38 nor any other thing shall separate vs from the loue of God in Christ Iesus Though God punish vs yet we doe chearefully with Iob blesse the name of God assuring our selues that whom the Lord doth loue he doth correct Hebr. 12. â— and scourgeth euery sonne whom hee doth receiue If we bee thankfull onely in prosperitie we loue not God but we loue the prosperity but herein appeareth the triall of our loue when we say with Iob Iob. 1â— 15 Although God kill me I will put my trust in him And doe with the Apostles reioyce that we bee accounted worthie to suffer any rebuke for the name of Christ Iesus Act. 5.41 It is good for me sayd Dauid that I haue bene afflicted that I might learne thy statutes Before I was afflicted Psal 119.71 67. I went astray but now O Lod I learne thy commaundements Psal 112.4 Vnto the godly saith Dauid there doth arise vp light in darknesse In the middest of all troubles they haue a sweete feeling of Gods goodnesse If sicknesse or any grieuous calamitie doe happen vnto the wicked all their ioy and comfort is vtterly driuen away The candle of the wicked as Salomon doth call it is soone put out Prou. 24.20 But the godly and faithfull though they be often ouer-whelmed with darknesse and misery yet their light doth still arise Ioh. 16.22 the sweete feeling of the mercie of God in Christ doth neuer depart from them They are assured that all things will worke for the best to them that loue God Rom. 8.28 they acknowledge that all their sorowes and sicknesses are nothing so great as their manifold follies and trespasses haue deserued and as the palme-tree the more waight is hanged vppon it the better it is sayd to prosper so the greater calamities they endure the more their faith doth flourish and the more zealous they are in prayer as the Psalmist here affirmeth Psal 107. Ve. 19. They crie vnto the Lord in their trouble and he deliuereth them out of their distresse O that men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodnes and declare his wonderfull workes before the children of men The second thing for which the Prophet doth here exhort vs to praise God is the effect of his goodnesse to wit his wonderfull deliuerances in the midst of all distresses Ve. 20. He sayth in the verse going before that God sendeth forth his word and healeth
fouÌ„taine of our saluatioÌ„ Ioh. 3.16 So God loued the world that he gaue his only begotten Son In the causes of our redeÌ„ptioÌ„ we must not begin at our selues or at our own merits nay we may not begin at the death and passion of Christ Iesus but wee must begin at the eternall loue of God who sent his onely begotten Sonne and therefore blesse that good God Ephe. 1.4 which hath chosen vs to bee saued before the foundatioÌ„ of the world was laid The goodnesse of God in our redemption appeared to be greater towardes mankind then it was to the very Angels When the Angels fel froÌ„ God they were neuer restored but as S. Iude sayth they are reserued in euerlasting chaines vnder darkenesse to the iudgement of the great day but when man was fallen Iude. v. 6. the Lord of his goodnes gaue a comfortable promise of the seede of the woman Gen. 3 15 which should bruse the power of Satan The Angels which continued stedfast do continually prayse God are ready to execute his will Psal 103.21 but of Gods goodnes they are yet ministring spirits to serue for their vse that shall bee heires of saluation Heb. 1.14 And therefore Dauid Psal 34.7 when hee hath said that the Angels of the Lord doe pitch round about theÌ„ that feare him he addeth in the next verse O tast see how good the Lord is blessed is the man that putteth his trust in him A blessing it is to bee guarded by meÌ„ a greater blessing to bee guarded by Princes but what exceeding fauour is this when God doth vouchsafe to guard vs with his holy and blessed Angels Though in some respects Dauid doth acknowledge man to bee somewhat inferior to the Angels yet in this he saith Psal â— 5 that God hath crowned man with glory and worship in that he hath made him an Emperour ouer all his works put all things in subiection vnder his feet not only the beastes of the field the foules of the aire whatsoeuer walketh through the pathes of the seas but as he saith before in the same Psalme euen the heauenly Creatures when I consider the heauens v. 3. the worke of thy fingers the moon the stars which thou hast ordained theÌ„ say I O Lord what is man that thou art so mindfull of him or the son of man that thou so regardest him This vse we must make of all Gods Creatures so to behold in theÌ„ the goodnes of God towards maÌ„kind that we be thereby stirred vp to prayse Gods holy name The horse mule can behold the heauens to bee high bright and lightsome The hog seeth the earth to be a place to walke vpon the so to feede vpon The Peacocke conceiueth a glorious shew in his variable coloured fethers many dumbe Creatures doe exceed man in the sharpenes of smelling when wee behold eyther the glistering azured skye or the beautifull flowers and fruites of the earth if we goe no further then seeing smelling and tasting theÌ„ are we no better then the brute vnreasonable creatures but we must in all those things go further we must behold therein the mighty power of God that wee may bee stirred vp to feare him and the infinite goodnes of God that we may learne to loue him and then are we endued with true spirituall wisedom as Dauid concludeth in the end of this psalme Psal 107.43 Who so is wise will consider and ponder these thinges he shall vnderstand the louing kindnes of the Lord. The goodnes of God doth many wayes shine out in the creation of man Hee made him as Zorastes said Pulcherrimum naturae spectaculum the most beautifull spectacle of nature not going groue-long towards the earth but with his face lifted vp to heauen to signifie that his mind should alwayes bee on heauenly things Hee gaue vnto him a soule endued with vnderstanding made after his own image He framed him to be as it were a little world and an abridgement of all his creatures whereupon some haue giuen him the name of Microcosmus some of Omnigena Creatura because he taketh part of al and containeth the principal parts of all Hee hath substance as haue stones life as haue plants sense as haue beastes and vnderstanding as haue angels When the Romane Pollio would haue drowned one of his slaues in a fury because hee had broken a fayre Christall glasse Augustus did well forbid him and said Homo cuiusuis conditionis si nulla alia ratione nisi quia est homo totius mundi vitris preciosior A man of any poor estate whatsoeuer if it be for no other cause but onely because he is a man is farre more pretious then all the glasses of the whole world but especially the goodnesse of God did appeare in the renewing of our hearts by his grace and holy word 1. Pet. 1.3 That doth S. Peter call the aboundant mercy of God Blessed be God the father of our Lord Iesus Christ which according to his abouÌ„dant mercy hath begotten vs againe to a liuely hope by the resurrection of Christ Iesus That doth S. Bernard call a greater worke then the Creation of vs Bernard in Cantic or of the whole world When God made the world onely he spake the word and it was done Let there be a light Gen. 1.3.9 and there was light let the waters be gathered into one heape and they were gathered whereby was made the sea and the dry land was called earth Let there be two great lights in the firmament and there was straightway a Sunne to rule the night Bern. But quam multa dixit quà m multa fecit quà m multa perpâ—ssus est How many things hath God spoken how many things hath God done how many things hath he suffered to renew the heart of man If we should receiue the creatures ordained for the sustenance of our bodies and not be renewed and fed inwardly in our soules our estate were infinite thousand times worse then the estate of brute beasts For they are fed to perish temporally but we should be fed to perish eternally The seed of our new birth 1. Pet. 1.23 to wit the word of God is by an earnest acclamatioÌ„ pronounced by the Psalmist to be one of the greatest tokens of Gods fauour and goodnesse towards his elect For when he hath declared that God gaue his word vnto Iacob Psal 147.20 his statutes and ordinances vnto Israel he crieth out He hath not dealt so with euery nation neither haue other people the knowledge of his lawes There are two especiall properties which do greatly extoll and magnifie the goodnesse of God First that it is free not in respect of our deserts but in respect of Gods aboundant mercy Secondly that it is endlesse and perpetuall Esay 43.25 The freenesse thereof is set out by the Prophet I euen I am he that putteth away thine iniquities for mine owne
as it is said Gen. 2.7 Hee breathed in his face the spirit of life Neither must wee thinke that they haue onely imbecility and weakenes in resisting corruptions but that they haue also many other defects of mind and will they are destitute of spirituall light are therefore blinde and not inclined to such desires and actions as the law of God requireth God bestowed his giftes and graces vpon Adam on this condition that hee would giue them also to his posterity if hee himselfe would by obedience keepe them but would not giue them to his seed if he by his vnthankfulnes should cast them away Now Adam hauing by disobedience lost them God in iustice as a iust punishment inflicted vpō Adams sinne doth bereaue his posterity of them Now these defects and the inclinations corrupted by these defectes are sins as they are drawne by men sinning vpon themselues and their posterity and as they haue from them and their seed their beginning and as they are causes also that man neither is nor can bee conformable to the law of God It is not a doctrine so strange as some would make it that the soule being created pure should bee polluted by the body seeing that the soules of our first parents were created most pure and yet afterward depraued and though the bodies of their posterity bee of themselues sencelesse yet that doth not proue but that vpon the curse laid on our first parentes they may be prone to ill and no fit instruments for any goodnesse neither is it against the goodnesse of God so to ioine his pure creature to the body that it must needes bee polluted thereby seeing that as hee hath therein shewed his iustice in punishing sinne so hee doth thereby set forth his infinite mercy ordaining for it a remedy by the redemption of Christ Iesus God could haue made the soules of our first parents in such manner that they could not possibly fall away but it was not expedient that they should be so made because then the obedience of man should haue beene as it were forced and therefore not so acceptable vnto God So God could haue made the soules of his posterity with such strength and stedfastnesse that they could not possibly bee polluted but it was more expedient that they should be so made that it might be knowne both what wee are by nature and what we are by grace The goodnesse and mercy of God doth more shine by the redemptiō of Christ Iesus then it should haue done if man had neuer fallen into miseries although in the iust iudgement of God the soule bee made in such sort as it must of necessity be polluted by the vniting of it with the body yet is it not thereby to be excused from the guilt of sinne for though it bee of necessity yet is it not of any compulsiō A stone let downe into the water goeth downe of necessity yet not with compulsion bodies depriued of food doe faint of necessity and flesh doth in time putrifie of necessity yet neither doth the one faint nor the other putrifie by any compulsion God of necessity is good and the Diuell of necessity euill yet cannot we say that eyther goodnes in God or iniquity in the Diuell do proceed of compulsion The soule being ioined to the body is of necessity sinnefull yet not by compulsion but willingly and of her owne accord But some may say the faithfull are regenerate and born a new and are in Christ become a holy people 2. Pet. 2 9. how can it then bee that their seed should not be sanctified or how can their posterity be originally sinnefull either in body or in soule To that it is annswered that man can giue nothing to his posterity but what hee hath by nature for that which cōmeth to him by grace must come to his posteritie by grace also Our new birth commeth not by any naturall meanes wee are borne as it is in the Euangelist not of bloud Ioh. 1.13 nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of the will of God If we winnow wheat neuer so perfectly and purge it throughly frō the eares Comparatio Petri Mart. ex Aug. chaffe and drosse yet if that wheat be sowne againe it will not bring forth winnowed or clensed wheate but together with the stalke huskes and such other thinges as must afterward be seperated from it It can giue nothing to the corn that must grow of it but what it had by nature what it had by art industry that must the graine next growing haue by the same meanes againe Euen so the faithful though they be washed iustified and sanctified yet they cannot giue to their children these giftes which they haue receiued of Gods grace they can giue to their children no more then what they haue had by nature and by nature they haue nothing else but to bee children of wrath Eph. 2.3 Here now ariseth another doubt if from our parents wee bee Children of wrath it should seem that the children are punished for the parents trespasse how can this agree with the iustice of God Ezech. 18.26 to afflict one for the fault of another This doubt is easily resolued if these fower positions bee duely considered First that the most excellent graces which were at the first bestowed on man were giuen on this condition that if he did loose them he should loose thē both from himselfe and from his posterity Secondly that children doe proceede out of the masse or substance of their parents and therefore must needes be accounted as a part of their parēts according to that in the epistle to the Hebrewes Heb. 7.10 The Tribe of Leui being fower generations after Abraham was yet in the loines of Abraham if then the whole nature of man bee corrupted then must needes euery portion be guilty of the same corruptiō vntill by some singular grace and fauour it doe obtaine remission Rom. 5.12 Thirdly that seeing the body proceeding from sinfull parents is one part of man and found guilty in and by the parentes it standteh well with the iustice of God to bee offended with whole man and thereupon so to withdraw his graces from the other parte that both together may fall into malediction Fourthly that though God doe thus punish sinne with sinne yet hee doth it in that maner that hee is no way the author of sinne Aug. de gratia lib arbit cap. 21 as Saint Augustine saith Deus operatur in cordibus hominum ad inclinandum voluntates eorum quocunque vult siue ad bona prosua misericordia siue ad mala pro ipsorum meritis iudicio vtique suo aliquando aperto aliquando occulto semper iusto GOD doth worke in the heartes of men to encline their willes which way soeuer his pleasure is eyther to good thinges according to his mercy or to ill according to their owne desert and that by his
doth neuer apply it to any purging fire taking place betwixt the departure of the soule out of this life and that finall day of iudgement Similitudes as you see are easily drawne into sundrie expositions But it was well said of Aquinas Aquin. opusculo septuagesimo siue super Roetiū de trinitate though in words somewhat barbarous symbolica theologica non est argumentatiua when for pointes in Diuinitie there are no other proofes but similitudes and metaphors they rest vpon slender arguments Another such figuratiue speech they alleage out of the Apostle that at the name of Iesus euery knee must bowe Phil. 2.10 both of things in heauen and of things in earth and of thinges vnder the earth there by the thinges vnder the earth they vnderstand the soules in purgatorie But the Apostle there setteth downe a generall doctrine that all creatures whatsouer are subiect vnto Christ the good to bee gouerned by his spirit and the bad to be bridled by his power The bowing of the knee in Esay Esay 45.23 signifieth the worshipping of God and the bowing of the knee in the Epistle to the Romās Rom. 14.10 is taken for the appearing of all before the tribunall seate of Christ where shall also bee iudged euen the diuels Iude. V. 6. who as Saint Iude saith are reserued in euerlasting chaines vnder darkenesse vnto the iudgement of the great day The like maner of speech wee haue in the Reuelation where it is said that euery creature in heauē and in earth Apoc. 5.13 and vnder the earth and in the sea did ascribe honour and glorie and power to him that sate vpon the throne and vnto the Lambe that is so submit themselues to God that either his mercy or iustice might bee glorified in them So to the Philippians the Apostle speaketh of the soueraigne power of Christ ouer both elect and reprobate as it was foreshadowed in the kingdome of Salomon whereof the Prophet saith Psal 72.9 his enemies shall licke the dust CHAP. XII The Conclusion concerning the twofold estate of soules once loosed from their bodies WHen the soule is by death separated from the body it is either receiued into eternall happinesse as was the soule of Lazarus Luk. 16.22 or else it entreth into eternall torments as did the soul of the vnmercifull rich glutton Saint Augustine although in some places he call the bosome of Abraham onely secretum quietis eius Aug. de genes ad liter lib 12 cap 23 the secret of his rest into which the Fathers were gathered for as in the newe Testament Saintes departing are said to bee gathered to their head Christ so in the former times they were said to be gathered to Abraham the Father of the faithfull yet elsewhere doth Augustine at large define what this bosome is Aug quest Euang lib. 2. cap 38 tom 4 sinus Abrahae est requies beatorum pauperum quorum est regnum caelorum in quo post hanc vitam recipiuntur The bosom of Abraham is the rest of those blessed poore in spirit Mar. 5.3 to whom is promised the kingdome of heauen into which kingdome they are receiued when this life is ended but the hel which was possessed by the rich glutton he saith is that Paenarum profunditas quae superbos immisericordes post hanc vitam vorat That very depth of all punishments which doth swallow vp the proud and vnmercifull after this life Gregory affirmeth the very same Gregor in Euangel homil 40. Quid Abrahae sinus nisi secretam requiem significat patrum de qua veritas dixit multi venient ab oriente occidente c. What doth the bosome of Abraham signifie but that secret rest of the fathers of which our Sauiour speaketh Mat. 8.11 Many shall come from the east and from the west and shall sit downe with Abrahā Isaac and Iacob in the kingdome of heauen They doe both interprete the bosome to bee the kingdome of heauen and both also consent in this that there are but two wayes for the soule after this life Augustine sayeth Aug. de verbi Apost serm 18 Duae quippe habitationes sunt vna in igne aeterno altera in regno aeterno There are but two habitations one in an euerlasting fire Aug. lib. 5. Hypognost and the other in an eternall kingdome and againe Primum fides catholica diuina authoritate regnum esse credit coelorum secundum gehennam tertium ignoramus imo nec esse in scripturis sanctis inuenimus First the catholike faith by the authority of Gods word beleeueth that there is a kingdome of heauen and secondly a hell Greg. in 7 cap. Iob. lib. 8. cap. 8. a third place wee know not neither doe wee finde in the holy scriptures that there is any Hereto agreeth Gregory Cum humani casus tempore siue sanctus siue malignus spiritus egredientem animam claustro carnis acceperit in aeternum se cum sine vlla permutatione retinebit vt nec exaltata ad supplicium proruat nec mersa aeternis suppliciis vltra ad remedium ereptionis ascendat when in the time of mans fall or death eyther a good Angel or an euill Angell shall receiue his soule going out of the prison of his body it doth hold it for euer as it is holden it selfe without any change so that if it bee exalted it cannot fall into punishment neither can it ascend vnto any remedy of deliuerance if it bee once drowned in eternall punishmentes Mat 12.32 The scripture maketh mention of two worlds this world the world to come Damascene sheweth what is that worlde to come Aeterna vita Damascene de fide Orthodoxa lib. 2. cap. 1 aeternū supplicium seculum futurum The world to come is either euerlasting life or euerlasting punishment Bernard likewise acknowledgeth but two places Bernard in sentent cap. 9 when the soule hath left the earth Tria sunt loca coelum terra infernus coelū habet solos bonos terra mixtos infernus solos malos There are three places heauen earth and hell heauen conteineth onely the good the earth hath good and bad mingled together and hell hath onely the bad Aug. de vera religione cap 38. Augustine saith Omnia temporalia transeuntia mundus iste concludit This worlde is the place that containeth all temporall transitory things the things of the life to come 2 Cor. 4.18 whether ioyes or paines are not temporall but eternall But some may say how commeth it then to passe that Augustine praied for his mother Monica being departed and Ambrose prayed for Theodosius and diuers others of the auncient Fathers made rehearsall of the deade in their praiers and supplications if eyther the departed bee in torments vnrecouerable or in blisse immutable what neede there any prayers to bee made to God for them Those auncient fathers did pray for the departed not as hauing any
when the poorest should liue of the spoile of the richest and the best sword should most preuaile Amongst all these dispaires of men ill minded it pleased God when wee were bereaued of our most Gratious Queene whose memory bee blessed for euer to send vs according to the expectation and hearty desire of the faithfull a most noble religious wise and vertuous King and with him such an assured hope of an established succession that wee are neuer able sufficiently to magnifie his inestimable goodnes and mercies And the more to testifie that it was his own handy work it was the good pleasure of God that when at the first our Soueraigne King being far absent from the chiefe seate of his Realmes authority could not of a sodaine bee presently established In that time as it were of magistracie sleeping all partes were founde so quiet and obedient that the most simple in the world might see such a gouernour now to be placed ouer vs as whoÌ„ God doth vntertake to protect with his owne right hand WheÌ„ in the Arke oÌ„f Noah the rauening birdes Gen. 7.2 the Hauke Gripe and Vultur liued quietly with the Doue and tamer fowles when the Wolfe Lion and Leopard remained in peace with the simple sheepe and heyfer then it appeared euidently that this agreemeÌ„t was not ordinarie but a very wonderfull worke of the finger of Gods own hand And euen so wonderfull of late was the prouideÌ„ce of God in repressing the cruell affections of them which had before ill will against Sion The Lord make vs so truely thankefull for these his vnspeakable benefits that his graces and fauours may still be multiplied towards vs. And the Lord so still extend his miraculous preseruations that by our noble king and by his most royall issue the holy Gospell may be continued to vs and our posterity for euer The second thing that is to bee obserued in this text is the maner how wee must shewe our thankfulnsse to wit first both priuately and openly both before the Lord and before the sonnes of men and secondly with offering the sacrifice of praise telling Gods workes with gladnes To celebrate Gods goodnes before the Lord is to do it religiously zealously as in Gods presence Ioh. 4.24 God is a spirit they which worship him must do it in spirit and truth Dauid in his thanksgiuing doth principally encourage his soule to praise God Psal 103.1 Prayse the Lord O my soule and all that is within me prayse his holy name In the time of Gods seruice our mind must still cary in selfe as now talking with God When the word is preached vnto vs Aug. Serm. 112. I de temp God speaketh to vs wheÌ„ we pray or giue thanks we speake vnto God Cypr. lib 2. â—p 2. if then in those holy exercises our hearts be caried away with wordly or vaine cogitatioÌ„s it is an euident token that Satan doth then endeuor to steale our hart from God that our outward profession is nothing but meer hypocrisie Of such seruing of God the Lord himself doth pronounce by the Prophet Esay This people doth draw neer vnto me with their mouth Esay 29 13â— and honor me with their lips but their heart is far froÌ„ me That we may giue thanks in soule spirit it is altogether requisite that the hart of euery particular man do vnderstand the sense and meaning of the wordes which are vttered 1. Cor. 14.8 for that I may vse the coÌ„parisoÌ„ of the Apostle vnlesse the truÌ„pet do giue a certain souÌ„d that the army may plainly vnderstand when is souÌ„ded the alarum wheÌ„ the retreat how shal the souldier order himselfe aright in the battell Euen so in the seruice of God vnlesse the people do vnderstaÌ„d wheÌ„ they pray wheÌ„ they giue thanks for what they pray for what they giue thanks how can they in hart ioyne with the Pastor how can they serue the Lord in zeale spirit Psal 103.1 euery thing within theÌ„ praise Gods holy name 1. Cor. 14 1â— I had rather saith S. Paul speake fiue words with vnderstanding to instruct others then ten thousand words in a strange language Obiection The Romanists haue a slender shift and euasion that the Apostle should speake of the preaching of the word because in that Chapter he nameth sometimes the instructing of others and the edifying of others The confesse that preaching must needes bee in a knowne language but as for prayer and thanksgiuing such Psalmes hymnes as are song vnto God they say that all these may be in Latine although it be either in them or before them which vnderstand not the Latin tongue Resp But it is more cleare then the Sun that the Apostle doth speake not only of preaching 1. Cor 14.15 but also of all maner of prayer and thankesgiuing in the Church of God Hee saith in the fifteenth verse I will pray with the spirit that is with the strange language which was then the extraordinary gift of the spirit but I will pray also with vnderstanding I will sing with the spirit but I will sing also with vnderstanding Hee willeth therefore not onely preaching of the word but also all prayers hymnes songs and anthems whatsoeuer to bee in that tongue which may be vnderstood by them by whome they are presented to God I thinke that euery good Christian ought to be perswaded that when the minister doth publikely vtter either prayer or thanksgiuing the whole Church either doth or ought to ioyne with him in the offering of that spirituall sacirfice vnto God But in the verse following V. 16. the Apostle doth put the matter out of all controuersie he saith if thou shalt blesse with the spirit hee which occupieth the place of the vnlearned how shall hee say Amen to thy giuing of thanks seeing he vnderstandeth not what thou hast said Thou truely doest giue thaÌ„ks well but the other is not edified It is therfore a thing necessarie to thanksgiuing as well as to prayer or preaching that the heart doe vnderstand what is vttered before the Lord. If an vnknowne tongue had no place in the Apostles time where was the miraculous gift of Gods spirit much lesse may it chalenge any place now when it is gotten more vnperfectly and by more ordinary meanes If in that primitiue church not onely the latine or greeke Acts. 2.9 or hebrew but also all languages vnder heauen were vouchsafed to be powred downe by the holy ghost then why should not euery tongue be equally sanctified to giue thanks vnto God Phil. 2.11 to confesse that Iesus is Christ to the glorie of God the Father Thanksgiuing must bee done with ioyfulnesse as here Dauid sheweth now the olde saying is true ignotinulla cupido Psal 107.22 There is neither hearty desire nor true ioy in that whereof the mind is vnskilfull and ignorant All thinges in the Church of God ought