single vertue and power of our owne free will without the finger and grace of GOD. For whereas the Papists acquite manie of them and cleare them from sinne as if an vnregenerate man by the strength and abilitie of his owne will as it were mounted vpon his owne wings were able to aspire to the accomplishment of holie desires wee see that the Apostle in this place maketh no other account of the vnregenerate then of dead men and therefore that they must bee quickened and new borne againe before they can practise or performe any vitall action in the life of GOD. Christ is resembled to a vine and wee to the braunches for that all the iuice and sappe whereby the braunches spring and liue issueth and ariseth from the roote of the vine so all the grace and goodnesse that is in vs droppeth and distilleth from the riches of the person of Iesus Christ Before GOD blessed Sara she was barren and childlesse so vntill God blesse our hearts they bee wicked and fruitlesse And therefore as an vncleane fountaine cannot sende foorth sweete water nor a bad tree bring foorth good fruite no more can the corrupt and wicked heart of the vnregenerate bud and bring foorth anie good and vertuous actions Thus much of our condition and preparation whereby wee haue learned with how holie and with how sanctified affections wee ought to repaire to the hearing of the worde Now followeth our duetie and affection when wee are newe borne As newe borne babes desire Wee must not bee children in wauering and inconstancie because the Apostle sayth that GOD hath furnished his Church with Pastors and Teachers That we bee no more children wauering and carried about with euery winde of doctrine reeling from faith to faith from religion to religion like a drunken man from wall to wall Nor we must not be children in vnderstanding and knowledge because the same Apostle sayth Brethren be not children in vnderstanding but concerning maliciousnes bee children but in vnderstanding be of a ripe age But wee must bee children in an ardent and burning affectiō in thirsting and longing for the word of God Blessed are they which hunger and thirst after righteousnes for they shall bee filled because God filles the hungrie with good things but the rich and the wealthie he dismisseth emptie The kingdome of God suffereth violence because none can enter at the narrowe gate but such as striue throng and thrust to enter And therefore as when the damme feedes her young euery bird gapeth and struggleth and stretcheth out the necke to receiue the foode So when wee come to heare euery man must reach and stretch out his heart to receiue the word For then indeede the word worketh most effectually in vs when our hearts before are kindled and inflamed with desire of it like waxe which receiueth any stampe after it is heated The Shunamites child which was raised by Elisha so soone as his flesh beganne to waxe warme neesed and opened his eyes and reuiued agayne So when wee waxe warme in the spirite and conceiue a desire and a thirst of the word of GOD it is an vndoubted token that wee are borne agayne that there is breath and a soule within vs and we are not vtterly dead in the life of grace As contrariwise they which haue not a sharpe and hungrie appetite to bee fedde and satisfied with the milke of the word are but dead carcasses and skinnes full of rotten bones so that this Citie which shoulde bee the glorie of the kingdome may well bee tearmed Golgotha The place of dead mens skulles in regard there are so manie thousand soules dead in sinne dead in desire who haue no thirst and hunger for the word of God If they haue a bare reading Minister as children haue a puppit to play with they thinke themselues in a happy state as if Elishaes staffe could raise the dead child without Elisha and the word giue life without a preacher It may bee they can bee content with Micah to accept a Leuite if they light vpon him But who will sende to Hierusalem the schoole of the Prophets as Saul sent to Bethelem to fetch Dauid for his comfort I thinke you know my meaning I would not wish you wait till preachers offer themselues to instruct you but to sende to the schooles of learning to prouide godly able men who may minister the word in due season Balaake because he longed for Balaam went to the vtmost coast of the countrey to meete him The father because he longed for his prodigall sonne ranne to kisse him a great way off Dauid because he longed for the Arke went and brought it vp from Kiriathaim So then indeed we desire the word of God when we will not stay till it come vnto vs but we will preuent it and goe to the vtmost borders of our coūtrey to fetch it home vnto vs. We must desire the milke of the word and we must desire it as babes that is in three respects First they say children so soone as they are borne into the worlde presently crie out for the mothers dugge so must wee so soone as wee feele the grace of God to haue renewed vs while wee are yet hote from the wombe hunger and thirst for the milke of the word If the mother should deferre to giue her childe sucke were it able to liue a moneth or a weeke or a day No more is our faith able to sustaine and support it selfe vnlesse it be presently nourished with the foode of life Christ so soone as he had raysed vp Iairus daughter commanded her meate as if it were in vaine for vs to be quickned by the finger of his power vnles we be fed by the word of his grace and therfore Eden was watered so soone as it was planted to shew that we must be strengthened so soon as we are instructed so that it is a great fault among vs when GOD hath quickned vs with his spirit we perceiue his graces to budde and to blossome in vs that we presently prouide not moysture to nourish and to preserue them We count it a miracle that Elias liued fortie dayes without foode and yet we after many yeares of famine still poste off the feeding of our soules We thinke it alwayes too soone to beginne though we begin then when we are ready to end as the rich man who then went in hand to inlarge his barnes when hee was euen at deaths doore to resigne his life As Christe was then sent for to heale the Rulers daughter when she was ready to departe so manie neuer desire the preachers company till they be ready to die They say that the time is not yet come that the Lords house shoulde bee built not yet time to sanctifie their soules for God not yet time to prouide for the milke of the word And thus we poste off from day to day from yeare to yeare till wee bee arrested by death
one holdeth one way and another another way some leaue all and will be of no Religion vntill both parties agree as if a patient should pine himselfe and eate no meate at all because one Phisition sayth that this meate will hurt him and another sayth that meate will hurt him These are the three enemies which make vs and our labours despised Now what shall we answere to our despisers Reioyce not against mee O mine enemie saith the Church for I shall be raised so Despise not the Prophets O ye Ismaelites for they shall be honored Peter saith to Ananias and Saphira You haue not lyed vnto men but vnto God so you haue not despised man but God for Christ saith He which despiseth you despiseth mee VVhen Sathan slew Iobs seruants his malice was agaiust Iob so when you despise Gods seruants your presumption is against God for That which you doo vnto them saith Christ you do vnto me Why then if they despise Christ Christ wil despise them for he told Saul that he spurned against the pricke that is he spurned against that which would spurne against him Therefore if you giue vnto Christ when you giue vnto the poore and if you honour Christ when you honour his Prophetes as you giue vnto the poore for Christs sake so despise not the prophets for Christs sake If for all this we must be despised stil then this is our remedie Paul saith Whatsoeuer wee are to you yet wee are a sweet sauour to God both in them which are saued and them which perish that is though we bring him word that you will not come to the banquet yet we shalbe welcome without you And so much of that After Despise not Prophecying followeth Trie all things as if he should say Despise not prophecying but for all that try prophecying lest you beleeue errour for truth for as among Rulers there bee bad Rulers so among Prophets therebe false Prophets This made Christ warne his Disciples to beware of the leauen of the Pharisies that is of their false doctrine This made Iohn say Trie the Spirites And therefore wee reade in the seauenteenth Chapter of the Acts of the Apostles and the eleuenth verse how the men of Beroea would not receiue Paules doctrine before they had tried it and how did they trie it It is sayd that they searched the Scripture This is the way which Paule woulde teach you to trie other whereby he was tryed him selfe whereby you may see that if you vse to reade the Scripture you shal be able to trie all doctrines for the word of God is the touchstone of euery thing like the light which God made to behold all his creatures so is the Scripture to decide all questions euerie doubt must come to the Word and all cōtrouersies must be ended at this Tribunall the Scripture must speake which is right and which is wrong which is truth and which is errour and all tongues must keepe silence to heare it so God hath appointed that the Iudge of our controuersies which he saith in the twelfth chapter of Iohn and the eight and fortieth verse shall iudge vs in the last daye Here a man may aske If it be so that God would haue vs to trie all our Religion by the Scripture and not by Fathers nor by Doctors nor by Councels nor by Angell nor by Pope how then do the Papists say we must beleeue as the Church beleeueth and neuer looke into the Scripture whether our teachers say as God saith but take it vpon their credit as a blind man eateth his meate A man trieth his horse which must beare him and shall hee not trie his faith which must saue him Paule saith Let euerie one be able to giue a reason of his faith Is this a reason of our faith to say I beleeue so because Rome beleeueth so or rather because that the word doth teach me so It will not answer for them which die in heresie to say the Priests taught vs so no more than it would excuse Eue to say the Serpent taught her so for God saith Be not deceiued neither by serpent nor by Prophet nor by Angell Therefore I conclude with Paule Despise not Prophecying lest the Gospell be taken from you and yet trie prophecying lest you receiue error for truth As we are to trie doctrines so Paul would haue vs to trie our thoughts and our speeches and our actions therefore he saith Trie all things He doth not bid vs take a tast of all sinnes and vanities as Salomon did to trie them for they are tried alreadie but that we should set the word of God alway before vs like a rule beleeue nothing but that which it teacheth loue nothing but that which it prescribeth hate nothing but that which it forbiddeth doo nothing but that which it commaundeth and then we trie all things by the word As the Eunuch sayd How should I vnderstand without an Interpreter so thou mayest say Howe should I trie without the word which is the touchstone of good and euill Now when wee haue tried by the word which is truth and which is error what shuld we doo then Keep that which is best that is stay at the truth as the wise men stayed when they came to Christ We must keep and hold the truth as a man gripeth a thing with both his handes that is defend it with thy tongue maintain it with thy purse further it with thy labour in danger and trouble and losse and displeasure come life come death thinke as Christ did seale the truth with his blood so thou must seale it with thy blood or else thou doost not keepe it but let it goe Well dooth Paul put Trie before Choose for he which trieth may chuse the best but he which chuseth before he trie takes the worst sooner than the best and therefore the Popes priests because the people should take superstition before religion will neuer let them haue the Touchstone but keep them from the Scripture and locke it vp in an vnknowen tongue which they cannot skill of least they should try their doctrines like the men of Boerea making religion a craft as men call their trades Therefore as Iosiah reioyced that the booke of God was found againe so we may reioyce that the booke of God is found againe for when the people might not reade it it was all one as if they had lost it After Trie all things and keepe the best foloweth Abstaine from all appearance of euill As if hee should saie That is like to be best which is so farre from euill that it hath not the appearance of euill and that is like to be the truth which is so farre from errour that it hath not the shewe of errour whereby hee sheweth that nothing should be brought into the Church or added to our Religion but that which is an vndoubted truth without suspition of errour It is not inough
which was after broken If the crowne did lie in the midde way then thou needest run but halfe the way but to shew that there is no reward for them that begin well all the promises are made to him that continueth to the end Hee is cursed not onely which doth euill but hee which dooth the worke of the Lorde negligently or by halfes that is hee which offereth a maymed sacrifice for a sound almost a Christian for altogether Therefore Dauid before hee prayes summoneth his thoughts his speeches actions and saith All that is within mee praise the Lorde as a man giueth that which he thinketh wil be accepted that he may be welcome for it If we did serue an vngratefull master then we might thinke almost enough But Christ did not loue almost when he shed his heart bloud for vs therefore he cannot aske more than he gaue and yet the inheritaunce of his blessings is behinde why shouldest not thou giue as much for them as Abraham or Dauid or Simeon which would haue serued God till this time if they had liued still reformed themselues yet thought they had done nothing as Iacob counted his seruice for Rachel nothing because he loued her but thou thinkest that if thou giuest thy pleasures thou shalt want thy pleasures No as Abrahā did not lose his son when he would haue sacrificed his sonne so God can keepe his pleasures when thou resignest thy pleasures Thou thinkest that God will not misse it as Ananias thought that Peter woulde not misse it but if Peter did misse it will not God misse it So we pare the offering like Elies sonnes which kept the best and fatest to themselues which made the people abhor the sacrifices and shall not God abhor such sacrifices If Ely reprooued his sons how wil God reproue them which reproued Ely for not reprouing thē enough A spirituall eare can heare GOD reprouing this land for this mincing of his worship Can the preaching of the word the signes of heauen the shaking of the earth the victorie of your enemies and all the blessings of God make you but almost Christians almost religious almost thankefull Is this my reward saith God as though you were afrayde to bee too good If you thinke that you shall bee mocked if you bee too zealous as Micholl scorned Dauid when he daunced before the Arke Dauid tels you how you shal stop such scorners mouthes O saith Dauid I will be more humble yet before my God When Michol sawe his resolution she mocked him no more but reuerenced him euer after So tell the Diuell and all his mockers I wil be more zealous more feruēt and more holy yet vntill I be like him which said Follow me and they which mocke thee shall reuerence thee as Michol did Dauid This when thou art in the way to heauen remember that thou must goe forwarde or backward for Iacob did see none stand vpon the ladder which ascended vp to heauen but either thy went vp or down they which go not forward go backward They which will not come so forward as altogether shall not stay at almost but fal from their faith loue and knowledge and zeale by descents till Christes threatning be fulfilled That which they seeme to haue shall be taken from them as though they neuer had any taste at al. Thus I haue set you a glasse to beholde whether you are in almost or altogether Yet Paul lured for Agrippa Now he sues to the people When he had caught the King hee spred his net for the people I would to God that not onely thou but all that heare mee were not onely almost but altogether as I am Hee might wish rather than hope and therefore hee praies I would to God that all were Christians As Moses wished that all coulde prophesie Peter was taught both to feede the sheepe and the lambs great and small and old an young rich and poore So Paul praies for the King and for the people too wisheth that they were all Christians This prayer we may say for them that doe not praye for themselues to make them ashamed when they see other more careful for their soules than they thēselues The Pastours care extendeth to all although some are more to be laboured yet none is to be despised which is but a lamb of the flock Paule doth not wish Agrippa more honour or more wealth or more friēds but more religion which is the greatest want of Princes Although they haue receiued a kingdome yet they are not so thankfull as they which haue receiued nothing but from hande to mouth Though they haue done a thousand times more euil yet they are not so penitent as he which hath done least of all They sit in Gods seat are called Gods but are not like God but like Mammon more than their names and their Crownes except Dauid or Salomon or Iosua a fewe which remember whose person they bear the rest are like Herod and Saul and Nabuchadnezzar which know not from whō their kingdoms come As I am saith Paul directly Paul shoulde haue replied altogether a Christian and not altogether as I am but who shall teach the Spirit to perswade Hee chose to say as I am that Agrippa might see his single heart and loue toward him who went not about to seduce him but wisht it vnto him as vnto him selfe Euen as I am If any thing will perswade most fit is the example when he which teacheth vs goes before vs for then we see that hee dealeth plainly and speakes of loue and meanes no deceit when we see him doe as he saith Saul hath slaine his thousand but Dauid his ten thousand So where another conuerts a thousand hee shall conuert ten thousand which can say like Christ Follow mee Oh what is this when a Christian and I am all one that ye might say to your children I woulde to God thou were a Christian when you say I woulde to God thou were like me The king shoulde bee like Paule by this saying How then doe some say with Festus Too much zeale hath made thee mad If the people know the Lords prayer the ten cōmandemēts the Articles of beleefe it is enough is this to be like Paul No Festus the knowledge of the word doth not make a mā mad but makes him wise to saluation Can that which makes a mā wise make him mad Therefore they which say that we are the worse for knowledge or worse for religion or worse for zeale are like Festus which had neither knowledge zeale nor religion in him And they which teach the people that they shall not neede to be as Paul but that a mediocritie will serue incurre that curse of Paule Hee which teacheth another doctrine than that which yee haue receiued of vs which wished all as perfect as himselfe Let him bee Anathema that is accursed They which loue you like Paul doo not wish you zeale by waight and knowledge by