Paul vaine bablings Kenophonias 1. Tim. 6. 20. But Ambrose and some other read Kainophonias as in the vulgar Latine vocum nouitates new doctrines vpon which place Vincentius Lyrenensis hath this glosse non dixit antiquitates sed nouitates nam si vâ—…tanda nouitas tenenda est antiquitas prophana nouitas sancta vetustas Hee saith not auoyd olde bounds but new bablings antiquity is to bee reuerenced nouelty to bee reiected a wise man as Gueuara writeth is a friend to old hookes and an enemy to new opinions It is plaine saith Tertullian against Marcion that that is truest which is first that first which is from the beginning that from the beginning which was deliuered by the Apostles An Heretike is nothing else but an after teacher a new master one that teacheth otherwise as the word signifies 1. Tim 1. 3. Heterodidascaltin that which Optatus reports of Victor is verified of all Heretikes that they bee sonnes without fathers souldiers without Captaines and scholers without masters In the dayes of Pope Leo the 1 there were certaine Heretiks called Acephali so termed as Platina coniectures quia sine cerebro et authore habebantur Because they were both heedlesse and headlesse a proper name for all such as haue neither grounds nor bounds of their assertions Ismael is a liuely type of an Heretike saith Alphonsus de Castro His hand is against euery maâ—… and euery mans hand is against him Errâ—… as a viâ—…er must breake the mothers belly to gâ—… out and when it is out as Esay speakeâ—… Aegyptians are set against Aegyptians and they 〈◊〉 one against his brother and euery 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nâ—…ighbour city against city kingdome 〈◊〉 kingdome one schismaticke against anoâ—…her Michaâ—…l and his Angels that is Christ and his church which is the pillar of truth against them all Vpon these premises I will inferre this conclusion in despight of all blacke deuils and white deuils Hereâ—…ikes and hypocrites that the reformed and conformed Protestants in the Church of England doe iustly condemne both Papists and Puritans as vpstarts and nouelists in remouing the most ancient boundes of our forefathers I know the Papists are great boasters of antiquity but they deale with vs as Tertullian in his Apologie speakes of the Gentiles Laudatis antiquitatem et nouè de die vivitis Yee magnifie much antiquitie yet shape your religion after a new cut as Scaliger acutely to Serranus Nos non sumus nouatores sed vos estis veteratores It is not wee but you and your fathers house that trouble Israel It is not wee but you which haue remoued ancient boundes First if by Fathers here wee shall vnderstand the Prophets and Apostles as Lauater vpon the place then it will appeare clearely that the Papists haue remoued ancient boundes 1. In accounting their vnwritten traditions equall to the written word 2. In preferring the Churches authority before the Scriptures and in making the Pope lawgiuer vnto the Church 3. In discarding vpon the point the second Command and in dispensing with other as Pope Martine the 5. gaue dispensation vnto one to marry his owne sister and a learned Bishop of our Church in his Apology lib. 2. Chap 13. shewes that the Church of Rome deludeth euery precept in the whole law 4. In their malicious mistranslating the sayings of the Prophets and Apostles against their owne knowledge witnesse that one place Gen. 3 15. Which is Medulla Scripturarum as one sayd of the creed euen the pith of the whole Bible The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpents head where they doe not read ipsum or ipse but ipsa conteret ascribing that to Mary which is proper only to the Blessed seed her Son our Sauiour Christ Iesus 5. In rauishing or as Luther speakes in crucifying the sayings of the Prophets and Apostles and so making the sacred text a ship-mans hose to serue their owâ—…e turnes as for example God made two great lightes this is saith Innocentius the 3. Two great dignities the Papall and Imperial and as the Sun is farre greater then the Moone so the Pope forsooth exceeds the Emperours in greatnesse Peter said vnto Christ Ecce duo gladij Behold here be two swordes and Christ answered it is enough hencâ—… Boniface the 8. argued thus Christ sayd it is enough Hee sayd not it is too much Ergo the Pope which is Peters successour may manage both the swordes and become a temporall Prince so well as a spirituall Pastor a voyce from heauen Acts. 10. 13. sayd to Peter macta et manduca kill and eate Ergo the Pope may depose Princes and dispose of their scepters Caesar Baronius his application in his aduice to Pope Paulus Quintus concerning the excommunication of the Venetians Light is come into the world that is Poperie but men loued darkenesse that is Luthers doctrine more then the light as the Archbishop of Bitonto declaymed in the counsell of Trent Luther was wont to say that the Pater noster is made by them a great Martyr another sayd Aue Maria was a greater Martyr but in my conceit the text thou art Peter is the greatest Martyr of all 6. They remoue the boundes of the Prophets and Apostles in opposing the tenour and tenet of their writings and that in many poynts I will at this present onely name two 1. The Prophets and Apostles ascribe the whole worke of our saluation only to Christ who alone is the seed of the woman that brake the serpents head who alone is the seed of Abraham Isaac and Iacob in whom all the nations of the world are blessed who alone was wounded for our transgressions and broken for our iniquities who hath trodden the wine-presse alone and of all the people there was none with him Who alone gâ—…ue himselfe for vs an offering and a sacrifice to God of a sweete smelling sauour and obteined eternall redemption for vs. But the Papists attribute some part of our saluation to the worthinesse of our selues other to the merits of Saints to the works of supererogation and to the sufferings of Martyrs layd vp in the Popes treasure house contradicting herein apparently the tenet of our Church in the 11. 18. 31. articles of our confession Secondly the Prophets and Apostles affirme that God who made all things is not made himselfe for if he could be made he were not God But the Papists auowe that a miserable masse-Priest in a corner is able to make the maker of all for in God say they there bee 3. kinds of power Magna maior maxima Greate greater greatest of all As for example the great power of God appeared when hee made one thing of another as man of the earth and woman of the rib of man The greater power of God appeared when hee made heauen and earth of nothing but the greatest of all is that one creature of
of Condoling woe and shall be free from Condemning though our spirituall enemies are stronger and our greiuous sinnes are greater then wee yet as God said to Rebecca the greater shall serue the lesser In Christ all thiâ—…gs are ours and all things quoth Paul euen Sin it selfe quoth Augustine euen the Deuill himselfe quoth Luther worke together for our good yea for the best if we loue God in his Christ. Heale vs thenô Lord and wee shall be healed saue vs and we shall be saued Deliuer vs from eternall woe that we may bee blessed with euerlasting happinesse in thy kingdome of glory where wee shall euer be sure to be free from sorrow because free from sin Ceasing to draw iniquity with cordes of vanity and sin as it were with cart-ropes ESAY 41. 14. Feare not worme Iacob c. CHrist is Alpha and Omega Reu. 1. 8. As Esay speakes in this Chap. at the 4. verse the first and the last and that vnto vs as well as in himselfe being yesterday and to day and the same for euer Heb. 13. 8. And therefore the Church allots a proper Scripture for euery Sunday throughout the whole yeare begins and ends her deuout seruice with the comming of Christ. For the first sentence declared in the Gospell appointed for the first Sunday is behold thy King commeth vnto thee And the conclusion of the last Gospell on the last Sunday this of a truth is the same Prophet that should come into the world which occasioned Petrus Machado to terme this order annulus Christianus as it were the Christians round or ring So the Church in obseruing this high and holy time makes the birth of our Lord and appurtenances of the same the first and the last obiect of all her solemne deuotions other holy dayes in deed come between the feasts of his Natiuity Circumcision and Epiphany but all of them are called Christmas dedicated onely to Christs honour and the reason as some coniecture why Saint Stephen and Saint Iohn and the blessed Innocents are mentioned aboue the rest of the Saints is to shew that Christ came into the world to saue men of all sorts of whatsoeuer degree the Chiualrie represented by Saint Stephen a resolute Knight and warriour in the Lords battaile The Clergie represented by S. Iohn stiled the Diuine The Commonaltie or Infantrie represented by the children Herod slew Or intimating that Christ was borne for men of euery seueral age for men of perfect strength as Saint Stephen For old men on their Crouches as Saint Iohn who liued after Christ was dead as Hierom reports in his life 68. yeeres being as Baronius avoweth at his dying houre 106. yeeres old Lastly for Infants in their Cradles as the blessed Innocents Or it may bee these Saints are honourably remembred at Christmas rather then other because Christ saith if any will follow me let him forsake himselfe take vp his Crosse Mat. 16. 24. The seruant is not greater then his Master if they haue persecuted me they will persecute you also Ioh. 15. 20. Now Bernard other Doctours say there bee 3. kinds of suffering or martyrdome in Christs cause The 1. In will in act as that of Saint Stephen the 2. In will but not in act as that of Saint Iohn the third in act but not in will as that of the Bethelemitish Innocents And so Christ as it is sayd Cant. 5. 10. Is white and ruddy the chiefest among ten thousand as one featly but I censure not hovv featly Candidus in Iohanne rubicundus in Stephano electus ex millibus in Innocentibus This Scripture then is chosen aptly for a Christmas Sunday promising that in type which wee now see performed in truth namely that Christ our Lord is the deliuerer of Sion out of her Captiuity the Comforter abettor strength helper in a word the redeemer of his people from the hands of all their enemies from the bands of all her sinnes In this verse which is Capitulum Capitis as it were the Chapters abridgment two points are to be considered especially 1. The weaknesse of the Church in respect of her selfe as being a worme and as a dead man 2. The strength of the Church in respect of her Sauiour saying feare not I will helpe thee this I haue sayd and this I will haue done being powerfull and able because the Lord pittifull and willing because thy redeemer faithfull and true because the holy one of Israel The Lord calleth elsewhere Iacob his chosen Israel his possession Iuda his Sanctuary Israel his dominion an holy Nation a Kingdome of Priests an holy tree springing of an holy root a people peculiar to himselfe enclosed as it were from the Commons of the whole world But heere considering their present affection and miserable condition vnder Captiuity hee takes a better course with them in omitting these glorious titles and comparing them vnto wormes and men that are dead for this he shewes more That he greatly cares for them although they seeme most abiect in the worlds eye Feare not I am with thee be not affrayd I am thy God I will strengthen thee and helpe thee and sustaine thee with the right hand of my iustice Howsoeuer now thou beest nothing yet I wil so succour thee that all the men of thy strife shall be confounded ashamed perish and come themselues to nothing Behold I will make thee a roller and a new threshing instrument hauing teeth and so thou shalt thresh the mountaines and grind them to powder and make the hills as chaffe A word spoken in his place saith Salomon is like aples of gold with pictures of siluer He therefore which is set apart for the gathering together of the Saints and the worke of the ministrie must as St. Paul exhorts diuide the word of truth aright He must as the Baptist in preparing way for his Lord exalt the vallyes and make the mountaines low Men are made mountaines two wayes either assuming too much vnto themselues out of their owne merit or else presuming too much vpon Gods mercy and on the contrarie men are vallyes in contemplating their great faults and little faith humbled in their sin and in their suffering for sin And therefore the man of God ought to digg downe Mountaines by denouncing Iudgments and to raise vallyes by pronouncing mercy He must as Ambrose sayd bee like a Bee applying the I awes sting to the proud in heart but the Gospells honie to the poore in Spirit It is written in the Law that if a man goeth vnto the wood with his neighbour to hew wood and his hand strikes with the axe to cut downe the tree If the head slip from the helme and hit his neighbour that he dye the same shall flie to one of the Cities appoynted for refuge and liue Such as handle the word indiscreetly without any distinction of times or places or persons or circumstances of sin makes the head
another creature should make the Creator and his power is giuen neither to Angell nor Archangell but onely to the holy Priests A doctrine sayth our Church Art 28. Repugnant to the plaine words of Scripture ouerthrowing the nature of a Sacrament and giuing occasion to many superstitions out of doubt as S. Paul telleth vs the lesser is blessed of the greater I demand then of a Romanist how the Priest can blesse the bread after consecration when it is actually transubstantiated and so consequently made Christ. Answere is made that this Priest also represents Christ in that action and so Christ consecrating may be considered as greater then Christ consecrated If this be so then either Christ must bee in the bread as in the Priest only representatiuely or else they must make a new transubstantiation of the Priest into Christ otherwise the bread must be greater then the Priest the bread being the true body of Christ the Priest only representatiue Christ thus as we speake in the schooles one absurdity being granted a thousand follow Lastly for though I were so strong as Hercules I could not at one blow cut off all the heads of this hissing Hydra they remoue the bounds of the Prophets and Apostles in suppressing their writings forbidding Gods people to read them in a knowne tongue wherein as one sayd they deale like cunning theeues who comming to rob an house will be sure first of all to put out the candle lest the light discouer them as the Philistines hauing put out Samsons eyes made sport with him Euen so the Popish Priestes hauing blindfolded the people prohibiting them to read the Scripture which is a lanterne to their feete and a guide to their pathes and suffering them in the businesse of religion to see nothing but only through spectacles haue made themselues exceeding merry the scripture saith Paul is the peoples instruction the scripture say the Papists in a vulgar translation is the peoples destruction the scripture sayth Paul doth make the man of God absolute the scripture say the papists in a knowen tongue makes men heretical and dissolute but the bible makes men Hereticks as the sunne makes men blind and therefore Wickliffe sayd truely To condemne the word of God in any language for Heresie is to make God an Hereticke They well vnderstand that the Scripture would shew their praying in a strange tongue by tale to be most idle their traffique for soules very sacriledge their miracles to be meere iuglings their indulgences to be blasphemies their incontroleable Lord of Rome to bee that Imperious bewitching Lady of Babylon and their worshipping of Images and Saints is flat Idolatry The Princes of Iuda saiâ—…h Hosea were like those that remoue the bounds Hosea 5. 10. Ribera the Iesuite construeth it from Theodorete and Theophilact they forsake the lawes of God and embrace traditions of men or as Theodorus Antiochenus they transpose the honour of the liuing God and giue it to dead Idols from which obseruation I will argue thus they who remoue the Bible may bee sayd to remoue the bounds but the Papistes haue remoued from the handes of Gods people the Bible forsaking the fountaines of liuing water and digging pits that can hold no water Ergo the Papists are they that remooue the bounds as they giue you too much Sacrament and too little too much Christs transubstantiated body taking away the cup euen so they giue you too much Scripture and too little too much adding to the Canon Apocrypha too little clapsing it vp that ye may not read it and what is this but to thrust you from the path of Paradise for as Hierome sweetely the Prophets are the way to Christ and Christ is the way to God As the Lord then once sayd to the Iewes If I be your Father where is mine honour So the Prophets and Apostles may well obiect against the Papists If ye repuâ—…e vs Fathers why doe ye remoue the bounds which we haue set If our moderne Papistes admit the Primitiue Bishops of Rome for the Fathers here mentioned our plea still is the same that they haue remoued the ancient bounds and not wee 30. Popes at the first planting of the Church layd downe their heads vpon the blocke successiuely to seale the bond of conscience with the blood of innocencie The Martyrd Popes laying downe their necks at the persecuting Emperours feete but afterward the Mitred antechristian Popes set their feete vpon the good Emperours necks The late learned Earle of Northampton openly deliuered at Garnets arraignment that the Church of Rome in the beginning agreed with Daniels Image in the head of gold for godly gouernment in the breastes of siluer for vnspotted conscience and in the legges of brasse for incessant industry But in succeeding ages the heads of Popes saith hee grew humorous their breastes auaritious and their legs idle Gregrory the great did account him the forerunner of Antichrist that should call himselfe vniuersall Bishop auowing that none of his ancestors euer vsurped that insolent stile censuring it for a title of Nouelty errour impiety blasphemy the poyson of the Church But euery Pope now doth exalt himselfe aboue all that is called God his Soueraigne supremacy is the supreme difference vnto which all other poynts betweene them and vs are subordinate that is the very soule of Popery The Pope forsooth is now the vicar of Christ and vicegod Christ was the Lord of Lords but hee behaued himselfe as a seruant the Pope cals himselfe a seruant but carrieth himselfe as the Lord of Lords Christ the word was made flesh but now flesh is made the word so the Papists our Lord God the Pope To conclude this argument we professe ingeniously with our Iudicious and gracious Soueraigne that wee doe not further depart from Rome then Rome departs from herselfe in her flourishing estate Wee doe not remoue the bounds of old Rome but only shake off the bonds of new Rome Wee confesse the faith of ancient Rome but wee renounce the faction of Antichristian Rome the one being so vnlike the other that we may well exclay me with Ouid. Hen quantum haec Nobie Nobie distabat ab illa If the Papists vnderstand here by Fathers those whom vsually we call Fathers the most ancient doctours of the Westerne and Easterne Churches in life spotlesse in learning matchlesse yet our plea still is the same that they not wee remooue the bounds Not wee for it is a Canon of our Church An. 1571. That no preacher shall vent any doctrine but such as is agreeable to the scriptures according to the collections and expositions of the Catholike Fathers and ancient Bishops but they contrariwise for First we prooue that in stead of true Fathers they cite fayned doctours as Aâ—…philochius Abdias Hipolitus authors altogether voyd of authority Fathers lately found out long looked but neuer missed 2. Wee demonstrate by their owne purging
being nothing else but a type of the new and the new nothing else but a trueth of the old The whole saith Iacobus de Valentia consists of one Syllogisme the Law and the Prophets are the Maior all that Christ did and sayd the Minor the writings of the blessed Euangelists and Apostles inferre the conclusion or the Gospell is hidden in the Law like the conclusion in the premises But albeit the Scriptures be deepe yet as Gregory speakes it is a riuer wherein the little lambe may wade so well as the great Elephant swimme it is the rolle of a booke spread abroad and written within and without Ezec. 2. 9. 10. In some places it is rolled vp from the most searching wits in other spread abroad to the capacities of the most simple Testamentum est testatio mentis Gods word therefore being his Testament reueales as much of his will as is to bee knowen In it wee may find the Father from whom and the Son by whom and the holy Ghost in whom are all things and therefore should bee much in our handes in our eyes in our eares in our mouthes but most of all in our hearts as Fulgentius saith it affordes enough abundantly for men to eate and children to sucke Maximus compares it to a man The old Testament resembling the body and the new Testament the soule or the letter of the Prophets is the body and the meaning is the soule and as the mortall part of man is seene but that which is immortall vnseene So the letter of the Scriptures is plaine but the spirit in some places inuolued and not easily discerned One deepe calling vpon another deepe S. Augustine and Hugo de S. Vict vnderstand it thus the depth of Gods knowledge findeth out the depth of mans heart for the Lord searcheth vs out he knoweth our downe-sitting and our vprising hee is about our paths and about our bed and spieth out all our wayes and vnderstandeth all our thoughts long before Psal 139. It is the duty then of euery Christian especially tempted to sinne to resolue with holy Ioseph How can I do this great wickednesse and so sinne against God Is there any thing so secret that shall not be disclosed If I commit it in the wood shall not a bird of the aire cary the voice that which hath wings declare the matter Ecclesiastes 10. 20. If I sinne in the forrest am I now to learne that a beast hath spoken Or if birdes and beasts happily should hold their peace would not as Christ sayd in the like case the very stones cry Luke 19. 40. If in my closet or study shall not my bookes of deuotion especially the Bible witnesse against mee There is one that accuseth you quoth our Sauiour to the Iewes euen Moses that is Moses law the which as it was once spoken by God so it dayly speakes in Gods cause to God Or if all these be silent shall not the sinne it selfe like the blood of Abel cry for reuenge Plutarch aduiseth vs so circumspectly to demeane our selues as if our enemies alway beheld vs. Seneca counselleth vs to liue so well as if Cato Laelius or some reuerend person of great wisedome and account ouerlooked vs. Thales Milesius in the committing of any sinne wished vs when wee were alone to bee afraid of our selues and our owne conscience which is instead of a thousand witnesses a thousand Iuries a thousand Iudges te sine teste time saith Ausonius S. Paul exhorts women to carry themselues in Gods house reuerently because of the Angels obseruing their behauiour But our text tels vs yet a better way then all these which is to remember alway that the depth of Gods science calleth vnto the depth of our conscience If any be deiected in his mind for that hee cannot remember the good lessons hee dayly reads in bookes and heares in sermons let him bee comforted againe because this one precept concerning Gods omni-presence comprehends amnia media et remedia all meanes and medicines for the curing of his sicke soule If he beare still in mind this one poynt that all things are naked to Gods eye Heb. 4. 13. Yea hell it selfe Iob 26. 6. To his eye which is all eye Ten thousand times brighter then the Sunne Ecclesiasticus 23. 19. He hath already commenced Doctor in Israel and is a liuing and a walking library knowing so much as may serue for the well ordering of his whole life Gregory the great construeth our text thus one iudgement of God calleth vp another for his iudgements are a great depth Psal. 36. 6. So deepe that they be past finding out Rom. 11. 33. When as therefore for feare of Gods iudgement we iudge our selues one deepe occasioneth another and that at the noyse of the water pipes or cloudes which are the preachers exhorting vs as S. Paul his Corinthians If yee would iudge your selues yee should not be iudged Arnobius expoundeth it thus one deepe calleth another deepe When Christ on earth and in the nethermost hell also called to God the Father in the Highest Heauen the strong crying of our Blessed Sauiour vnto God with teares Heb. 5. 7. Was a very deepe base and Gods counter-verse was sung with an exceeding high voyce from heauen of heauen This is my beloued sonne in whom I am well pleased Mat. 3 17. One deepe calleth another deepe when as truth flourished out of the earth and righteousnesse looked downe from heauen Psal. 85. 11. Hugo Cardinalis and Lyra thus Abyssus abyssum inuocat that is peccatum peccatum prouocat As one deepe calleth another deepe So one sinne prouoketh and calleth vp another sinne Pride to maintaine her selfe calleth vp Nigardise Gluttony calleth vp Wantonnesse Malice calls vp Murther Vnthriftinesse calls vp in great ones Oppression In the poore theeuery an vncleane thought calls vp vnsauoury wordes and bad wordes corrupt good manners and corruption in manners breeds a custome in sin and custome in sinne brings men to sencelesnesse in sinne such as giue themselues ouer or sell themselues to commit iniquity proceed from euill to worse Ieremy 9. 3. and fall from one wickednesse to another Psalme 69. 28. First there is walking in the counsell of the vngodly then standing in the way of sinners last of all sitting in the seate of the scornefull Hee that blowes a feather into the ayre or throwes a piece of paper into the riuer knowes not where it will settle So hee that begins with a sinne knowes not when or where it will end Herod happily began with a little dalliance but afterward he committed incest and that darling sinne caused him to adde yet this aboue all the rest of his faults to shut vp Iohn in prison And so Dania glutted with a large meale lusted after Bath saba and that fire did rage till hee had committed vncleannesse with her and for the couering of that foule fact
O Father of mercies wee know that thou canst not deny thy selfe and nothing is more thy selfe then thy mercy which is aboue all thy workes it is it wee want most it is it wee craue most it is it thou doest vse to giue most haue mercy then vpon vs according to the multitudes of thy louing kindnesses of old that forthe dayes wherein wee haue suffered for euill we may now from thy fulnesse receiue grace for grace PSAL. 84 10. One day in thy courts is better then a thousand THe most excellent thing in the world is man and the most excellent thing in man is the soule and the most excellent thing in the soule is religion and the most excellent thing in religion is to seeke God here that wee may see him hereafter in whose most amiable dwellings one day sayth our Prophetâ—… is better then a thousand For by the Courts of God in the iudgement of most and best expositors is here meant either the Church militant which is heauen on earth or the Church tâ—…umphant which is heauen in heauen and the least of time â—…pent in either of them is better then a thousand days or moneths or yeeres or ages elsewhere to wit as may bee supplied by the verse following in the tents of vngodlinesse Concerning the first it is well obserued by Placidus Parmensis and other that this one day is Christs day which Abraham reioyced to see Iobâ—… 8. 56. The day of sulâ—…ation and acceptable time 2. Cor. 6. 2. Wherein all of 〈◊〉 haue receiued from his fulnesse and grace for grace the day which the Lord hath made and all his Saints are glad in it Psal. 118. 24. One houre whereof among the faithfull in the true worship of God is better in respect of profit then a thousand in the market better in respect of pleasure then a thousand in the theater better in respect of honour then a thousand in the palaces of Princes For profit our euidence is cleare 1. Tim. 6. 6. Godlines is great gaine that is gaine of great things as Caietan or greater gaine so Theophilact or the greatest and enough gaine so Caluin as if the Blessed Apostle should haue sayd gaiâ—…e and more then gayne riches and better then riches as when the Scripture would difference the true liuing God from dumbe and dead Idols it calleth a great God and a great King aboue all gods So speaking of godlinesse which is the riches of the soule termes it great riches heauenly riches inâ—…stim able riches vnchangeable riches euerlasting riches For to spend our time well is the best husbandry saith Seneca to giue to the poore the best vsury sayth Augustine to coâ—…et spirituall giftes hereby to winne soules is the best auarice saith Hierome to buy the truth is the best bargaine sayth Solomon to bee rich in good workes is the best opulencie saith Paul 1. Tim. 6. 18. Other gaines are not without their inconueniences and incommodities as hauing in them an emptinesse and neuer enough as Bernard told his brethren nec verâ—… sâ—…t 〈◊〉 vestrâ—… but godlinesse affordeâ—…â—…way contentation either in dâ—…ed or desire In deed as hauing prâ—…mia reposita and prâ—…posita the promises both of the life present and of that which is to come the blessings of the right hand and of the left hand Prouerb 3. 16. The Lyons doe lacke and suffer hunger sayth our Prophet But they that feare the Lord shall want no manner of thing that is good The couetous that goe about like roaring Lyons seeking whom they may deuoure by their oppression and cruelty sometime misse their prey yea the more they haue the greater is their hunger and thirst after the thinges of this world The Chronicle reportes of Peirce Gaueston that the more he was inriched the worse was his estate But they who seeke the Lord which is vnto those that serue him all in all things haue their meale so multiplyed in the barrell and oyle in the cruse that they want no manner of thing that is good habent omnia qâ—…ia habent habentem omnia It may bee some good thing is wanting in their estate but happily not good for them it was good for Naaman that he was a leper good for Dauid that hee was in trouble good for Bartimeus that he was blind as a nurse knowes what is best for her infant so God our heauenly Father knowes what is best for vs his children If he giue the subsâ—…iue saluation hee will afford like wise the adâ—…ectiue things necessary for this life Mat. 6 33. Caetera ad jeintur 〈◊〉 If hee giue his Son for vs how shall hee not with him giue vs all things also Rom 8. â—… Howsoeâ—…er godlinesse affordes contentation in respect of the desire because godly men If they haue not estatâ—… according to their minds they wil haue mindes according to their estates hauing nothing and yet possessing all things 2. Cor. 6. 10. The couetous is only poore and the content is only rich omnia famulantur famulanti Deo The seruant of God is Lord of all as Christ sayd If the soâ—…e make you free then are you free indeed so deare Christians If godlinesse make you rich then are yee rich indeed a great deale more rich then they which of their corne and wine and oyle haue full encroase the Pompous Prelate who sayd hee would not loose his part in Paris for his part in Paradise nay Leo the 10. who got so much and in the Holy sea spent so much of S. Peters inheritance that Guicciardine writes in his history Whereas other were Popes no longer then they liued he was sayd to be Pope many yeeres after hee was dead was not so rich as Martine Luther a poore preacher who professeth of himselfe that of all faults hee was euer least subiect to the dirty sin of euil coueting If any then aske the question in the third of Malac 14. what profit is it to serue God answere is made by the father of lies in this truely Iob. 1. 9. doth Iob serue God for nought hath hee not made an hedge about him and about all that he hath on euery side the like may be sayed of euery man which is vpright and feares God is he not rich and his godlines gaine being blessed in his field blessed in his fold blessed in his corne blessed in his cattle loe thus shall the man be blessed that fâ—…areth the Lord On the contrarie sinnes are termed by Saint Paul vnprofitable works of darknes what fruite had ye saith he to the Romans in those things wherof ye are now ashamed he doth answere himselfe in the same place the wages of sin is death bad worke sad wages But our Sauiours question in the 16 of S. Matthew puts this matter out of all question what shall a man gayne though he winne the whole world and loose his owne soule put the whole world