is now vsed in some colleges Hereby also wee are kept from surfetting and drunkennesse and from feeding our selues vnto an inflaming to lust Saint Chrysostome speaketh of this excellently Opus est nos et mensam petentes et desistentes gratias agere c. It is needfull that sitting down to meat and rising from meate we should giue thankes For he that is prepared hereunto shall neither fall into drunkennesse or insolence nor be swollen with gurmundizing but hauing the expectation of prayer as a bridle to his senses Chrys loco supra citato hee will with due modesty take of those things which are set before him and so fill his body and his soule with a plentifull blessing Holy Christians eate to the Lord but such as giue not thankes but surfet themselues and are drunke eate and drink to the Diuell VERSE 7. For none of vs liueth to himselfe and no man dyeth to himselfe THis verse hath another Reason to proue that the beleeuing Gentiles and Iewes the strong and the weake doe eate or not eate to the glory of God The reason is taken à generali intentione fidelium Aquinas Caluinus Pareus from the generall intention of the faithful which is to consecrate their whole life and death also to God Or you may say it is taken à toto ad partes from the whole to the parts thus They who liue and die to the Lord doe eate or not eat c. to the Lord. But both the strong and weake beleeuer doe liue and die to the Lord. Therefore c. For all our particular actions and passages are comprehended vnder life and death and therefore Peter Martyr calleth this Argument a generall cause and Rollocke a general reason from the end of life and death Here are the Thing Life and Death and the Amplification first from the Subiect None of vs secondly from the End denyed Not to our selues Life and Death A liuing to righteousnesse and dying to sinne is not here meant though only such glorifie God Neither is here meant a good life and a dying in sinne as Chrysostome expoundeth for this will not agree with that in the next verse Wee are the Lords for they which dye in sinne are not his children But here Naturall life and death are meant comprehending generally all actions and passions and whatsoeuer befalleth vs in life or death None of vs Though all men liue and dye yet here only the faithfull are vnderstood which are set downe generally in respect of themselues None and restrictiuely in respect of others none of vs. None liue c. True of right but not of fact but here of fact is to be vnderstood and therefore he saith None of vs iudging charitably that they were beleeuers in truth as himselfe Paul from their thankesgiuing iudgeth charitably of them Obser so where thou seest any signes of goodnesse iudge the best if thou knowest not the contrary The want of this charity is the cause of much contention Liueth Dieth To himselfe The end is denyed not to our selues and it is affirmed in the next verse To the Lord. To liue and die to a mans selfe may be taken Ciuilly or Theologically To liue to a mans selfe Ciuilly hath two Expositions First to be suiiuris as they say to be his owne man not to be subiect to the command and direction of others as a seruant and bondmen are and this is a Ciuill good 1. Cor. 7.21 and therefore Paul saith to a bondman if thou mayest be made free vse it rather Secondly In liuing onely to care for and respect a mans solfe and this is euill for wee are not borne for our selues but partly for our Countrey partly for our parents c. To liue and die to our selues Theologically both must bee denyed We may not liue to our selues for we are not our owne wee must liue to God and respect him in all things preferre his will before our owne to be at his becke and to refer all things to his glory To dye to a mans selfe is to die so as that wee respect no body and no body respecteth or careth for vs No man saith Ah my brother To die to the Lord is to acknowledge God to trust in God to haue hope of going to the Lord to beare our sicknesse and death patiently and to be content to glorifie God in any manner of death which God shall appoint All Christians must liue and dye to the Lord Doctr. not to themselues 2. Cor. 5.9 Wherefore we labour that whether present or absent we may be accepted of him 1. Pet. 42. That hee no longer should liue the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men but to the will of God Pauls drift is to perswade to vnity Vse 1 whomsoeuer therefore we see to haue a care to please God and to auoid the sinnes of the times wee ought not to iudge and censure them and to contend with them but to loue and embrace them for with whom should a man liue louingly if not with them which liue to the Lord ayming at nothing but how to please him Our whole life and Death must be to the glory of God Vse 2 Euery thought euery word and deed must bee directed to this maine end the glory of God at home abroad in the Church in the market in prosperitie in aduersitie Many wil shew a face of glorifying God and liuing to him while they are taking and while they thriue but if God beginne to take and in stead of health and riches send the Crosse then they murmure It was falsely said of Iob Doth he serue God for naught let vs take heed it be not truly said of vs that we serue God onely for our bellies Some would be contented to dye to the Lord but haue no care to liue in the Lord It was Balaams wish to dye well but the onely way to this is to liue well True Christians both liue and dye to the Lord. Hee that liues to God shall die to God hee that liues to himselfe shall dye to himselfe and it is a thousand to one but that he which liues not to God shall die to the diuell None of vs Vse 3 as if wicked men had no such care as indeed they haue not Here we learne that the conuersation of beleeuers and the godly must bee otherwise directed then is the conuersation of wicked and profane beasts Their practices become not vs as they care not how they liue so they care not how they dye neither doth God care for them which is fearefull But all our care ought to bee for a good life and a comfortable death Wouldst thou not dye like a drunkard nor rise to the last iudgement as the Reprobates then liue not as they liue to themselues to Satan to sinne to vanity but to the Lord. A good death followes a good life Vse 4 and to liue well is to liue to the Lord and the first and hardest
profession refuse them for a vesture or gesture And hence prophane people account all profession to bee curiosity and the preaching of the Gospell to bee the cause of contention and while wee contend about such things they laugh all religion to scorne Let the strong gratifie the weake in abstaining from their liberty in such things which are in their power and let the weake because nothing is imposed vpon their consciences suffer themselues to be perswaded to conformity and vniformity that so we may redeeme the Gospell and our liberty from contempt All are to be admonished to haue a speciall regard to our good Vse 3 that it be not blasphemed by our euill liues If by our drunkennesse whoredome c. wee cause the Gospell to be ill spoken of God will seuerely punish it as hee did in Dauid If wee which should shine as lights bee turned into darknesse if wee who by our conuersation should winne others to the Gospell cause them to abhorre it how shall we escape To sinne ignorantly is damnable but for him which professeth knowledge to erre in that which hee doth professe is abominable The Church hath neuer sustained more damage then from her owne children S. Bernard alledging in a Sermon the words of Ezechias Esay 38.17 In pace amaritudo mea amarissima that is according to that letter In peace is my bitternesse most bitter saith thus Many waies hath the Diuell hurt the Church but neuer more then now Bernh in ser ad pastores in Synod Ecclesiam incipientem por tyrannos proficientem per haereticos iam laetam et florentem per motus illicitos hee hurt the Church when she began by Tyrants when she had well profited and proceeded by Hereticks and Schismaticks and now she florisheth by the vnlawfull motions and inordinate liues of wicked men Fuit amara in persecutione Tyrannorum amarior in versutia Haereticorum amarissima in prauitate filiorum She was bitter vnder the persecution of Tyrants more bitter by the subtilty of the Hereticks and most bitter by the prauity of her owne children Wisedome is iustified of her children let vs not eate out the bowels of our Mother the Church of England by our contentions and profanenesse but iustifie her and adorne and grace her and the Gospell which she holdeth forth vnto vs by our peace and piety Amen VERSE 17. For the Kingdome of God is not meat and drink but righteousnesse and peace and ioy in the Holy Ghost NOw followeth a reason why the strong and the weake should not by their contentions about indifferent things cause their good to be euill spoken of This reason is brought in by a Prolepsis vnto which also belong the two next verses Chrysostome well obserues that this pertaines to both of them for indeed both of them seeme to haue good ground for their contentions and not yeelding each to other thus For that wherein the Kingdome of God consisteth we ought to contend But the Kingdome of God is in not eating saith the weake by the Law in eating saith the strong by the Gospell Therefore Now hereunto Paul answers denying the minor and in stead thereof putteth downe a contrary assertion in this verse which is confirmed in the 18 and applied in the 19. verse Hee proueth herein that they ought not to contend by an argument drawne for a definition of the Kingdome of God or from the nature of things indifferent or from a comparison of things necessary to the promoting of Gods kingdome and things not necessary thus For those things which further not the Kingdome of God we ought not to contend But meat and drink further not the kingdome of God Therefore In this assertion are two things The thing it selfe and the description of it The thing it selfe is the Kingdome of God which being spoken of the Elect is ordinarily taken either for the state of the Church present in this world and so called the Kingdome of grace or for the Kingdome of Glory in the world to come Chrysostome vnderstandeth it of the Kingdome of Glory that it is not attained by eating or not eating others vnderstand the Kingdome of Grace Some interpret our iustification not to consist in meat Hier. in locum Aug. 1. 2. quaest Euan. c. 11. Aquinas Melanchton Oleuianus Gualterus or drinke some that whereby we are brought to Heauen some that by the which God reigneth in vs some spirituall motions in our hearts some the administration of saluation by the Word Spirit which was before called our good some the whole businesse of our saluation of which Christ is the Auther destroying the Kingdome of Satan and setting vp the Kingdome of God setting certaine notes wherby the citizens of this Kingdome should be knowne which are not meat and drinke but righteousnesse c. as if yee should say Christianity is not meat c. These seuerall expositions are as a large commentary and all to be receiued that of Saint Hierome concerning iustification being warily vnderstood This Kingdome is described here Negatiuely it is not meate and drinke and affirmatiuely but righteousnesse and peace and ioy amplified by the Author of them the Holy Ghost Is not meat and drinke that is is not conserued and maintained 1 Cor 8.8 by meat and drinke or such transitory things meat commendeth not vs to God saith Paul in another place for neither if wee eate are wee the better nor if wee eate not are we the worse to which purpose speaketh Saint Ambrose Hee saith not is not liberty for this is an especiall priuiledge of this Kingdome This must also warily bee vnderstood for in some construction the Kingdome of GOD may bee furthered or hindred by meat and drinke and things indifferent Here therefore wee must distinguish that principally and substantially the kingdome of God is not in such things for substantialia regni as one saith Caietanus the substantiall things of the kingdome are righteousnesse ioy peace For meat is for the belly not for the conscience for the temporall health of the bodie not for the eternall saluation of the soule for this life not for that which is to come Accidentally the kingdome of God may be in such things which Aquinas here excellently sheweth Externa c. Outward things saith he doe so farre belong to this kingdome as the affections are ordered or disordred about those things in which principally consisteth this kingdome not per se but in regard of vsing or abstaining which he confirmeth by the sentence of Saint Augustine We may so eate as that wee may destroy the kingdome of God in our selues as in surfetting and drunkennesse and we may so abstaine that we may helpe to build it vp as in fasting and abstinence for our more humiliation and feruencie in prayer We may consider Adam The kingdome of God was not in the Apple for what is an Apple thereto but Adams obedience in abstaining and his disobedience in eating pertained to the kingdome
pop Anteoch euery little filing the least ray is of great value Singuli sermones syllabae apices puncta in diuinis Scripturis plena sunt sensibus In the diuine Scriptures euery word syllable accent point is full of sense said S. Hierome e Hieron com in 3. ca. Ep. ad Ephes The Anabaptists are here confuted Vse 2 who refuse the Old Testament Also the Papists to be taxed for diuers points 1 For equalling vnwritten traditions to the written word in authority 2 For denying lay people as they call them to reade the Scriptures lest they should thereby proue Hereticks but in very deed lest the common people by that light should discerne their impostures and therefore whereas the Councell of Trent licenced young men to reade the Bible hauing a certificate from their Curate of their wisdome and sincerity the Pope after restrained that liberty 3 For holding the Scriptures not to be necessary but onely to the well and more conuenient being of the Church They make them necessary no otherwaies then riches to our life or a horse to our trauaile but we hold them as necessary as our daily bread for life and as our legges for trauailing on foot Though when God spake face to face to the Patriarcks and by dreames c. there was not such necessity of writing yet now those meanes being ceased S. Iude said Iude v. 3. it was needfull for me to write The Scripture is necessary for all Vse 3 for learned and vnlearned for old and young if they desire knowledge comfort and hope Quae nullis animis nullis non congruit annis Esp in 2. Tim. Lacte rigans paruos pane cibans validos Saint Augustine saith His praua corriguntur Aug. Velus Ep. 3. parua nutriuntur magna oblectantur ingenia Here ill dispositions may find for them amendment weak ones for their nourishment good ones for their delight Let the vnlearned study them that they may come to knowledge and the learned that they may be put in mind and stirred vp to doe according to that they know If thou beest faint here are the Flaggons of wine and apples of Paradise to comfort thee if thou beest strong and healthfull in grace here is the salt which will keepe thee from putrifying and corrupting If the Diuell assault thee here is the Riuer out of which thou maist choose thee smooth stones to repell and throw him vnder thy feet If thy lusts rebell here is the Sword to cut them off If thou beest sicke here is the Apothecaries shop of Cordials Conseruatiues and Restoratiues It were infinite to trauaile in this commendation Let vs all reade the Scriptures and learne them let vs teach our children to say Hosanna Timothy knowing the Scriptures from a child proued an admirable man Get thee a Bible at the least a new Testament it is the best implement of houshold As he is a simple Souldier that wants a sword so hee is a very sory Christian that wants a Bible The booke of the Scriptures giuen for our learning Vse 4 also to teach vs patience and consolation and hope They are Gods letters to vs to make vs not onely more learned but also more godly Apply the Scriptures to thy life and turne the words into workes or thou losest thy labour Many the more they know the nearer they are to hell because they liue not according to their knowledge As meat plentifully eaten and vndigested destroyeth the body so much knowledge not digested into works damneth the soule Therefore If you know these things happy are ye if ye doe them Iohn 13.17 VERSE 5. Now the God of patience and consolating grant you to be like minded one towards another according to Christ Iesus 6. That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorifie God the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ THese two Verses are a Prayer for vnity and peace among the now dissenting Romanes It is a singular light and ornament of Pauls discourse It is brought in by a Prolepsis as if some should say to Paul you haue brought many strong reasons but doe you euer thinke to bring the weake to yeeld to the strong or the strong to forbeare their liberty for the weake by arguments no they are too much heat in the controuersie to heare reason To this Paul may be supposed to answer that which corruption denieth praier obtaineth Now the God of patience and consolation vnite their minds For he is able to make the Lion and the Lambe so to dwell together that a little childe may lead them In this prayer are two things The thing prayed for and the Amplification The thing prayed for to be like minded which implieth a vnion of their thoughts iudgements sentences affections this we call Concord which is a ioyning together of hearts that as they are concorporated into one outward profession Ephes 3.6 so they may be coanimated as I may say into one inward loue in Christ The Amplification is diuers 1 From the Author God the Father of the raine c. but especially the giuer and maintainer of vnity and peace God is here described by two effects Patience and Consolation Of Patience before Consolation because by diuine dispensation the way to mount Thabor is by mount Caluary Of Patience and Consolation together Because of the abundant sweetnesse and comfort which hee powreth into the hearts of his children vnder the Crosse But why of Patience and Consolation here rather then of Faith and Hope Because in prayer it is most comely to suite the thing wee pray for with attributes to God accordingly The strong were not patient toward the weake nor the weake toward the strong for if they had been so they might in time better haue vnderstood the Doctrine of Christian liberty If hot spirits would haue patience they should not so much ouershoot themselues and the Church should haue more peace 2 The persons which should be like minded one towards another the strong with the weake and the weake with the strong not onely with them of their owne party but also of the other that so parting and siding may be taken away 3 According to Christ which you may call the Kind of vnity an vnity in truth and godlinesse Agreement is a thing indifferent in it selfe but good or bad according as the things are in which the agreement is The agreement of drunkards and theeues c. is against Christ but this according to Christ. Or you may say according to Christs example and commandement which seemeth to be fittest for this place because of the Argument of Christs example of which this prayer is an illustration and because this implyeth the other 4 From the End of like-mindednesse which is the glory of God and this is amplified two wayes First from the instrument of this glory which is double the Inward Anselmus one minde the Outward one mouth that is Quando vnus idem sensus sermo per
a thing to be attained in this life True charity is not to do hurt but good to our neighbour Vse 1 to doe good rather then to receiue else it is selfe loue not the loue of our neighbour I must loue my neighbour for his owne sake A man loues his horse his meat c. for the good hee receiues by them but we must loue our neighbour for himselfe otherwise wee put no difference betweene a neighbour and a horse now the best good wee can doe for our neighbour is to bring him to God and saue his soule All the Law is comprehended in loue and loue doth no ill Vse 2 but keepes all the commandements as a good mother tends all her children and carefully nourisheth them Loue is a Mother the ten commandements are her ten children she forgets none is vnkinde to none neglects none fulfileth all Dauid had an instrument of ten strings loue is that instrument the tenne strings are the tenne commandements if one string bee out of tune the harmony is marred so the breaking of one commandement destroyes loue and corrupts it as one dead flye the pretious ointment of the Apothecary The law is copulatiue founded and comprehended in charity Iames 2.11 vertues are coherent He that said Doe not commit adultery said also Doe not kill Endeuour then to keepe euery commandement if thou wouldest auoyd the curse of the law For then shall I not bee ashamed saith Dauid when I haue respect to all thy commandements Psal 119.6 Charity is a good Catholike Charity fulsils the law Vse 3 Out loue is discerned by our obedience to the law If you say Charity suppose doing good for it is as possible to separate heate from the fire and light from the Sunne as good workes from Charity Many speake of charity and deepely protest it but words will not carry it It is the shame of Christians that charity is so much in our tongues and so little in our hands There are many which without any wit can turne house and land into smoake as our idle Tobacconists but to turne the fume and breath of loue into workes requires wit and grace too Shew me thy faith by thy charity and thy charity by thy workes Let vs not loue in tongue onely but in deed and truth saith Saint Iohn 1 Ioh. 3.18 Ama vt videam let mee see thy loue as well as heare it for a verball loue is like a painted fire for shew not for vse Loue is a substantiue it must bee seene felt and vnderstood Charity is a beautifull Lady which desires to be seene she is no Nun she is not of that religion she is conuersant abroad doing good to her neighbours Faith alwayes keepes within to defend the conscience but charity is alwayes without feeding the poore visiting the sicke c. The proper act of faith is to receiue of loue to giue and distribute of faith to doe our selues good of loue to doe good to our neighbour and this is the fulfilling of the law As the Moone among the lesser stars Vse 4 so is charity among the graces called a more excellent way 1. Cor. 12.31 then things greatly excelling I would we were sicke of loue as the Church in the Canticles and yet loue is not a sicknesse Cant. 2.5 but the sanitie of the soule What is loue more then other vertues Loue is the comfort of life If a poore man liue in a towne where loue is he cannot want for loue will vndoe all locks and if a rich man want loue towards his poore neighbour he is as if he had lost the key of his money cupboard If a wicked man dwell where loue is hee shall haue good counsell good admonition good examples good prayers c. If a man be rich and not beloued his life is miserable c. Loue is the spirit of pietie and good life Non faciunt bonos aut malos mores nisi boni vel mali amores as our loue is Aug. Macedoni epist 52. so are our manners said Augustine Loue is the life of faith Iames 2.17 Bern. ser 2. de Resur 24. sup cant He that doth any hurt to his neighbour though he be not a fratricide yet is fideicida a killer of faith said Saint Bernard Loue is the strength of the Common-wealth A Citie diuided cannot stand Matth. 12. as stones without morter in a building so are men without loue in a Common-wealth Loue is the Nurse of the Church Ephes 4.16 So Tertullian Corpus Ecclesiae fibula charitatis connexum crescit in deum The body of the Church being buttoned and knit together in loue groweth vp in God Loue is the soule of the law Where there is loue Aristot Ethis l. 8. c. 1. Cic. l. de Amici there needs no law but where there is law there needs loue as Heathen wise men haue obserued Nay loue can doe more then all lawes There are good lawes against theft murder drunkennesse whoredome c. and yet there are many offenders but if there were loue none of these euils would be done to our neighbours Will a man take away his life whom he loues and for the sauing of whose life hee will venture his owne it cannot bee and so of the rest Thus and much more excellent is loue as the tongue of Angels is nothing without loue so it is not sufficient to commend loue The law therefore non dispendium sed compendium consecuta est hath not lost but gotten by being reduced into one precept of loue Let vs labour for loue The Corinthians had abundance of knowledge but they wanted loue and were rent into Schismes we are sicke of the Corinthian disease I wish wee were truely humbled for it that we might be healed If thou wishest well to the Church of England liue in loue If thou wishest well to thine owne soule and desirest to keepe the law Chrysost hom 33. in 1. Cor. loue thy neighbour Magnus Doctor charitas said Saint Chrysostome Loue is a great Doctor It will teach vs to obey the Magistrate to reuerence the Minister to reliue the poore to doe good to all and hurt to none and to doe these things Iames 2.8.12 Galath 5.13 willingly and freely Therefore called a royall law and of libertie by Saint Iames yea it makes vs very seruants to our neighbours as Saint Paul affirmes The Lord giue vs this loue VERSE 11. And that knowing the time that now it is high time to awake out of sleepe for now is our saluation neerer then when we beleeued HEre begins the third and last part of this Chapter which sheweth our dutie toward our selues which is Temperance This part containeth two Exhortations The first concerning the manner of performing the dutie required in this verse The second concerning the things themselues about which this dutie is conuersant in the rest of the verses The manner is that it be done not sleepily and negligently but
seruing him nor by nimity of fasting nor of feeding so to oppresse the body that we must alwayes haue a Physitian at our elbow We must doe wisely The body is to bee serued not the Concupiscence This is difficult if you neglect the body you weaken it to the exercises of godlinesse if you cherish it you maintaine your enemy which is lust The body is a garment the lusts are Moaths kill the Moaths and saue the garment The body is a Castle the lusts an enemy or rebell within the castle it were easie to blow vp castle and rebell and all but thou hast no authority to raze the castle thou must saue the Castle and destroy the Rebell They are to be reproued which either so nourish the body that they withall maintaine their lusts or so extinguish the prouocations to sinne that withall they destroy the body Be content with that which is sufficient and vnder a pretence of necessity runne not to excesse As he is a foole which will haue no fire in his house because his neighbours house was consumed with fire so is he a foole who because fire is necessary will make so great a fire as which may burne downe his house Too much ballast or too little are alike hurtfull to a ship so too much or too little prouender for thy beast too much or too little straining of the string of thy instrument There is vse of Hagar the bondmaid but cocker her a little and she will grow insolent toward her dame Sara Ama tanquam osurus loue thy body but so that if need require thou canst hate it for the compassion of nature it is to be loued but for the restraining of vice it is to be hated keepe it from the fire and yet in some cases yeeld it to bee burnt in the fire Seneca Be not thy bodies slave Viuendum non propter corpus sed tanquam non sine corpore We must liue not for the body but as not without the body Dauid is a notable example herein 2 Sam. 23.13.14.15.16 hee longs for water which the Philistines had in their possession His Worthies breake through and fetch him some of it when he had it he would not please his lusts but poures it out as an offering to God See how he curbed his lusts The three Worthies did a great exploit but Dauid a greater in conquering his concupiscence Concupiscence is not fulfilled without a great deale of care in prouiding here Vse 4 and a great deale of torment hereafter Esau is weary in following his pleasure and to satisfie his lust with red pottage he sells the richest thing in the world euen his birth-right Dost thou lust after daintie faire It is not gotten without great charge nor made readie without great labour nor deuoured without great discommoditie But if Christ be thy meat hee refresheth without satietie filleth without loathing costs thee no money breeds no diseases but healeth thy infirmities Doest thou desire gorgeous apparell It costeth thee deare it requireth much care in the wearing and occasioneth much danger but if thou put on Christ it costeth thee not deare great care indeed must be in the wearing but then it dischargeth vs of all other vnnecessary cares and it so becommeth vs and setteth vs forth that God himselfe taketh pleasure in vs. It requireth labour and eare to serue our lusts and afterwards commeth damnation but though it require care to serue God yet afterwards it bringeth euerlasting life Most men are ouer carefull for their bodies Vse 5 and carelesse for their soules Nimia corporis cura nimia animae incuria where there is so much studie for daintie fare and gay apparell for house and land c. there is little study and care for grace and a better life and so on the contrary When Peter saw the heauenly sights in the Mount at Christs transfiguration hee forgot his nets so they which set their mind too much vpon their nets forget the heauenly things in the mountaine Abate the care for thy body and encrease thy care for thy soule Doe here as thou dost in a paire of skales If the bodie weigh downe thy soule take from the body and adde to the soule and then shall it come to passe that thy soule shall lift vp thy body to heauen otherwise thy body will sinke thy soule to hell God hath committed to our keeping a body and a soule the soule as a sonne to bee delicately brought vp to bee fed with the daintiest and to be clothed with the richest the body as a slaue to be brought vp to labour and to bee fed with bread and water to be chastised also and kept vnder but wee contrarily cocker the slaue till he rebell and make the sonne a slaue But let our bodies serue lest our concupiscence grow strong to our condemnation and whatsoeuer befall the bodie let vs take care for saluation of our soules A PLAINE EXPOSITION VPON THE FOVRTEENTH CHAPTER OF THE EPISTLE OF Saint PAVL to the Romanes IN this Chapter and part of the next the Apostle entreateth of the vse of things Indifferent and of Christian libertie and how Christians strong and weake are to cary themselues therein one to another that God may haue glory the Church peace and themselues mutuall comfort As there was great neede to write of these things in Pauls time so now also because our Church hath of late yeares suffered more about these things then about the Articles of the Faith The occasion of this passage was this By reason of the dispersion of the Iewes the Churches almost in all places consisted of Iewes and Gentiles The Iewes could hardly be brought from the obseruation of Leuiticall Ceremonies being brought vp in them from their cradle as in Ordinances comming from God himselfe and therefore though they entertained the Gospell yet they held difference of dayes and meats of conscience still necessary to be obserued The Gentiles were easily perswaded of the Christian libertie from such things purchased by Christ and liued without making difference Hence grew hot disputations eager contentions and dissention almost inreconcileable the Gentile holding the Iew as superstitious the Iew the Gentile as prophane Paul commeth with his bucket to quench this flame which burnt vehemently in the Church at Rome and endeuoreth here as an Vmpire to arbitrate the matter and to make a pacification Although he instanceth in Iewish Ceremonies yet in proportion here are Rules concerning all Indifferent things VERSE 1. Him that is weake in the faith receiue you but not to doubtfull disputations HEre beginne Pauls Hieraticks or hauing before written of things commanded and forbidden here he writeth of things of a middle nature or before of charitie to our friends our brethren our enemies the Magistrate our neighbours our selues here of charitie toward the weake The particular and immediate coherence Chrysost in loc is with the last verse of the thirteenth Chapter for hauing there forbidden satisfaction to
Lord will haue it so willingly resigne them vnto him Whether the one or the other it is the Lord let him doe what seemeth him good as sayd old Eli. Not as I will 1 Sam. 3.18 but as thou wilt Mat. 26.39 said our blessed Sauiour So Saint Paul Christ shall bee magnified in my body whether it be by life or by death If I liue by preaching if I dye by suffering A great comfort Vse 4 If we beleeue we are Christs He preserues vs while we liue and he takes care for vs when we dye Not as we doe doth Christ we when a seruant growes old turne him away But our Master tenderly cares for vs to old age in death and after death We cannot doe as Christ doth when our seruants dye it is out of our power both to command them and to doe for them But death cannot separate vs from Christ but it euen lets vs in to our Masters ioy O how sweet a thing is it Christ to be a good Master to vs when we are dying not to be forsaken in death and left to our selues O the miserable estate of an impenitent sinner As hee hath liued like a wretch and a beast so he dyes Thinke of it you drunkards c. you may liue in some pleasure here for a time but your death shall be a very euill death then you shall bee cast out The Hauke while it liues is in price and vpon the Masters fist sometimes but when it dyes it is cast vpon the dunghill The Partrich is hunted while it liues but when it dyes it is prepared for the Masters owne Table such is the difference betweene a wicked man and a true beleeuer in death He which hath no care to liue to Christ it is iust that in death Christ should take no care for him It belongs to him to care for vs in death to whom we haue directed our liues To whom hast thou liued to Satan O truly miserable for whom none takes care in the houre of death but the diuell our deadly enemy Happy is the man that in the houre of death hath the God of Iacob for his helpe so haue all those which haue liued to him If thou forsakest not God in thy life he will neuer forsake thee in death thy Master Iesus Christ will then stick close to thee when thou hast most need and all the world can doe thee no good Thou shalt haue assurance of the pardon of thy sinnes Thou shalt tread downe Satan vnder thy feet Thou shalt lye downe in the peace ioy and comfort of a good conscience For thy blessed Lord and Master lesus Christ careth for thee and his honour is great in thy saluation VERSE 9. For to this end Christ both died and rose and reuiued that he might be Lord both of the dead and liuing THat we are the Lords was concluded in the end of the 8. verse of which the reason is in this verse where we haue two parts 1. who is this our Lord. 2. what is the cause of his Lordship ouer vs. The person who is our Lord is Christ a title of the second person in the sacred Trinity noting both the Diuine and Humane nature in one person being the name of our Mediator declaring his office In the cause of his Lordship are the actions causing and the effect caused The actions are three 1. He died I call this an action because it was voluntary Potuit mori Iohn 10.18 he could dye if it pleased him No man taketh my life from me but I haue power to lay it downe saith himselfe The 2. He rose that is from death 3. He reuiued Ambrose inuerts the order of these speaking in the first place of his life as meaning his naturall life Hee liued he dyed and rose againe Chrysostome leaues out the second his resurrection the Vulgar which the Papists follow leaues out the last He reuiued Tolet censures the third to be superfluous Caietamu but one of his owne side approues it noting thereby such a reuiuing which shall neuer be subiect to death or one might say the pretertense is put for the present He reuiued that is Erasinus Beza he now liueth or rather hee reuiued to a new state of life not subiect to hunger wearinesse c. but free from such things The effect caused or the end That hee might bee Lord both of the dead and the liuing where we haue the authority that he might be Lord and the obiect both of the dead and liuing That he might be Lord that is so Lord as to protect and saue vs as well as command vs a Lord not onely ouer vs but for vs to deliuer vs from the bondage of other cruell Lords we haue need of such a Lord to defend vs he hath no need of such seruants as we are to serue him Both of the dead and of the liuing sometime quicke and dead comprehends all men both good and bad as in the Creed but here it is meant onely of beleeuers of whom some be dead and some are now liuing and some shall be liuing at the comming of Christ His sauing power reacheth to all beleeuers it is sufficient for all but in regard of the Application the wicked are excluded Christ by dying Doct. rising and reuiuing obtained power ouer vs to saue vs and bring vs to heauen Matthew 28.18 All power is giuen me in heauen and earth which words he spake after his rising and reuiuing Iohn 17.2 Thou hast giuen him power ouer all flesh that hee should giue eternall life to as many as thou hast giuen him Ephesians 1.19 seq Philippians 2.6.7.8.9 Obiect But God is said not to bee the God of the dead Matth. 22.32 Answ The Sadduces denied the resurrection of the body and the Immortality of the soule holding that men dyed as doe beasts now Christ affirmeth that God is not the God of men so dying Then by dead the Sadduces vnderstood men ceasing to liue at all Paul here by dead vnderstands men ceasing to liue this naturall and common life Quest Did he merit and deserue this Lordship for himselfe by his death and resurrection Answ c. So say the Schoolemen but I find no sound ground for it Amb. de fide resur c. 24. The Scripture no where saith that hee died or rose for himselfe but for vs men and for our saluation as saith the Nicene Creed Si nobis non resurrexit vtique non resurrexit qui cur sibi resurgeret non habebat If he rose not for vs he rose not at all who had no cause why he should rise for himselfe Also such power and glory was due to him as hee was God for euer as he was man from the time of his Incarnation by reason his manhood was assumed into the vnity of his person But God appointed and ordained that he should this way enter vpon the execution of his right and that it should be thus made manifest
vnto vs. Iudge not thy brother Vse 1 this were to incroach vpon that right of Chirst for which he died rose and reuiued Here is the vniuersality of the Church Vse 2 it comprehends all beleeuers liuing dead and also the vnity for these all liuing and dead are seruants to one Lord Iesus Christ Here is a threefold comfort Vse 3 1 Of assurance of remission of sinnes and of eternall life for though hee died yet hee rose againe and reuiued which hee could not haue done if he had not fully satisfied for all our sinnes Also he is able to saue them to the vttermost Heb. 7.25 which come to God by him seeing hee euer liueth to make intercession for them 2 Of supply of all necessary grace and good things He is our Lord and will maintaine his seruants The Lord is my shepheard I shall not want saith Dauid Psal 23.1 3 Of encouragement against all opposites we haue many enemies but our Master is stronger then all Hee cannot forsake vs now hee liues who loued vs so that for our sakes he died Will he suffer that to perish through any tentation which he purchased at such a price By no meanes Ionas makes great account of a gourd which he laboured not for and we neglect not a beast which hath cost vs money much more will our Lord care for vs for whom hee hath suffered so much and whom hee hath redeemed not with corruptible things as gold and siluer but by his owne blood If Christ died for all then were all dead and hee died for all Vse 4 that they which liue should not henceforth liue vnto themselues 2 Cor. 5.14.15 but vnto him which died for them and rose againe Let vs therefore sanctifie our bodies and soules to his seruice who hath redeemed both our soules and bodies Ye are bought with a price 1 Cor. 6.20 1 Cor. 7.23 therefore glorifie God in your body and in your spirit which are Gods Ye are bought with a price be not the seruants of men much lesse the seruants of sinne or of Satan Obey Christ whatsoeuer it cost thee If thou walkest and continuest in drunkennesse vncleannesse or any sinne not repenting thou art more guilty then the very Diuell for he died not for the Diuell nor euer offered him grace and the Diuell neuer denyed the Lord that bought him 2 Pet. 2.2 which is affirmed of euery vnrepentant sinner in the time of the Gospell Consider wicked wretch that thy soule which thou castest away through thy abhominable life was purchased with no meaner price then the blood of the Sonne of God and therefore thou shalt haue the sorer damnation if thou repentest not VERSE 10. But why doest thou iudge thy brother or why doest thou set at nought thy brother we shall all stand before the iudgement seat of Christ HEre is a new Argument from the last Iudgement In which we haue the Admonition repeated which we had in the third verse and the Reason it selfe The Repetition is with aduantage hauing two things which we had not in the third verse The first a Reproofe The second a Reason The Reproofe is in the manner of deliuering it by a chiding Apostrophe in an Interrogation But why doest thou iudge thy brother or why c. which is a sharpe manner of reproouing pointing out particulars and speaking as it were face to face Why doest thou The Reason is from the condition of both they are brethren not by blood nor by nation but by faith and profession not by naturall generation but by supernaturall regeneration for for the most part they were Iewes and Gentiles that so dissented From the Repetition we may obserue Obs 1 that it is a generall corruption of our natures and hardly to be remoued to censure and to contemne one another If wee haue a little more knowledge then other men wee are ready to despise them and if we haue a conceit of our owne hatching wee censure euery man that doth not approoue it and daunce in our ring From the Obiurgation Obser 2 note that it is no small fault to censure our brethren because Paul chides so angerly them which are faulty From the Reason obserue that we are to be charitable Obser 3 and studious of vnity because we are brethren It is of very ill report for brethren to quarrell about trifles it was Abrahams reason to Lot for peace Gen. 13.8 Art thou strong despise not him that is weake for though he be weake yet he is thy brother Art thou weake iudge not him that is strong for hee is strong and also thy brother We would be loath that other men should iudge or despise vs let not vs doe so to others The new Argument to enforce this Admonition is taken as I said from the consideration of the iudgement day thus They which shal stand before the iudgement seat of Christ to be iudged themselues ought not to iudge others But all both strong and weake must stand before Christ to be iudged themselues Therefore c. Some apply this Argument onely against the weake Chrysost Musculas but in as much as S. Paul spake to both in the admonition therefore I think it concernes both but principally the weake In this Reason are two things The thing it selfe spoken of standing before the iudgement seat and the Amplification Standing before the iudgement seat put for being iudged by a figure the signe put for the thing signified a tribunall or iudgement seat being attributed to Christ by a similitude of the sitting of earthly Iudges The throne is for the King the chaire for the Doctor the tribunall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the Iudge which vsually is a seat erected on high whither the Iudge ascendeth both for the more reuerence of his person and also that hee may the better beholde the malefactours the witnesses c. The Amplification is from the persons iudging to bee iudged The person iudging is Christ which is the name of our Mediator God and man Christ is our iudge and hee shall execute this iudgement in his humane nature He hath appointed a day in which he will iudge the world by that Man whom he hath ordained Acts 17.31 The authority to iudge which is in Christ as hee is God by nature is in Christ as he is man by grace But yet he shal not iudge as a Delegate but as the Principall from whom there is no appeale And though the pronouncing of sentence shall be by his humane nature yet the validity and force of it is from the Diuine The persons to be iudged are set downe two waies by their generality all and by their manner of appearing shall stand before All Angels and men good and bad strong and weake great and small Shall stand The Iudge sitteth the malefactors to be arraigned must stand The word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and might bee rendered shall be presented though we be vnwilling and hang backe or
such complements which may take vp that time which ought otherwise to be bestowed 2 The other 2. Ioh. v. 10.11 If any come to you and bring not the doctrine of Christ receiue him not into your house nor bid him God speed For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his euill deeds An Hereticke and stubborne maintainer of false doctrine against the foundation is not to be saluted Polycarpus meeting with Marcion the Hereticke refused to salute him and when Marcion said Cognosce nos Irenaeus aduers Haeres l. 3. c. 3. I pray you take knowledge of vs Polycarpus answered Cognosco te primogenitum Satanae I know thee for an Impe of the Diuell Wee may pray for such but we may not familiarly salute them Thus much of the generall doctrine of Salutations now of the particular persons saluted The first whom Paul saluteth are a married couple Aquila and his wife Priscilla who are described in the third and fourth verses which description as the rest following containeth a commendation of them These are here described three wayes 1 By their Names which doubtlesse are from the Romane tongue the woman being here and elsewhere called Prisca in some copies but the Romanes very vsually called women by Diminutiues as Drusilla Petronilla Domitilla Tulliola so Priscilla either noting their loue to them or the softnesse of their sexe or their lesser stature There were other of these names but after them as one Aquila who of a Heathen became a Christian and of a Christian at length a lew who translated the old Testament into Greeke and thereby much peruerted the Scriptures Also there were diuers of the name of Priscilla some vertuous but one infamous namely one of the impure prophetesses of Montanus But these are that Aquila and Priscilla of whom we reade Acts 18.2.3 by nation a Iew borne in Pontus by occupation a Tent-maker 2 By their Helpe which they afforded Paul not onely in making of Tents for Paul was of that trade but in Christ Iesus that is in preaching the Gospell of Christ not that they preached but furthered the preaching many wayes priuately as occasion was offered Act. 18.26 as by Catechizing of Apollos and by protecting of Paul as it followeth in the next verse No man is so meane Obser but hee may be and ought to be a furtherance to the preaching of the Gospell If Parents and Masters would bring vp their children and seruants in the feare of God and vnder discipline it would be a great furtherance to a Minister Also priuate men by their prayers good life and liberalitie may much set forward the Ministery of the Word 3 By their loue to Paul set downe by an infallible token of it which was that for his life they laid downe their owne neckes Greater loue can no man shew then to venture his life for his friend This is amplified by Pauls thankefulnesse and the Churches to them for it When or where or in what manner this was done is no where set downe that euer I read It is supposed to haue bin either at Corinth or at Ephesus in both which places Paul was in danger and they in his company Acts 18. and 19. There are three persons for whom we are to venture our liues Obser 1 For our Naturall parents for we receiue our liues from them 2 And most principally for the Father of the Countrey for the King or Supreme Magistrate 2. Sam. 21.17 as Abishai for Dauid for the King is more worth then ten thousand others 2. Sam. 18.3 3 For our faithfull Preachers being publike persons and such as may by their labours saue many soules Hearers owe themselues to their Pastors as Paul telleth Philemon Phil. 19. and their liues as in the example of Aquila and Priscilla They ought not then to rayle on and slaunder their Teachers neither ought they to defraud them of their due maintenance but they ought to submit to their godly admonitions Thou owest thy life to thy Teacher much more the reformation of thy wicked life at his admonition Paul giues thankes to them so doe all the Churches of the Gentiles also for Paul was the Apostle of the Gentiles and by his death they had had an vnspeakable losse We must giue thankes to God for his blessings Obser 1 also to the instruments by whose meanes God bestoweth them vpon vs. Singular examples of thankfulnesse are Dauid and Elisha the one enquiring for some of the house of Saul that hee might shew kindnesse to them for his friend Ionathans sake 2 Sam. 9.1 the other in studying how to requite the woman of Shunem 2 Kings 4.8.13 Gen. 40.23 On the other side Pharaohs Butler is an example of vnthankfulnesse though afterwards he acknowledged his fault Gen. 41.9 So is Ioash King of Iudah who vniustly caused to bee put to death the sonne of Iehoiada the high Priest which Iehoiada had saued his life and aduanced him to the kingdome For thus is it written 2 Chron. 24.22 Thus Ioash the king remembred not the kindnesse which Iehoiada had done vnto him but slew his sonne A people are bound to them who shew kindnesse to their Teacher Obser 2 VERSE 5. Likewise greet the Church which is in their house SAint Paul salutes the houshold of Aquila which he cals a Church for the priuate duties of Gods worship as prayer catechising reading the Scriptures c. performed therein and also for the good and orderly life of the family It is not like that Saint Paul meaneth the Saints which met there for the publique seruice of God by reason of the particular salutations of diuers of them following We ought so to gouerne our families that they may bee worthy to be called Churches Obser Adams house was called The face of God Gen. 4.14 And so did Abraham and Iacob Gen. 18.19 Gen. 35.2 Iosh 24.15 Psal 101. Acts 10.2 and Ioshua Dauid order their families Also Cornelius though a military man A house where there are no exercises of religion but where idlenesse lying slandering common swearing cursing are rife and where drunkennesse vncleannes and riotous liuing are ordinarily practised may bee called an assembly of Atheists a denne of theeues and lewd beasts and the Diuels chappell rather then Church of God As our bodies and soules so our families are to be consecrated to God as his holy Temples VERSE 5. Salute my welbeloued Epenetus who is the first fruits of Achaia vnto Christ EPenetus is here saluted and described three wayes 1 By his name Epenetus that is as the Greeke soundeth praise-worthy or laudable and doubtlesse his life was answerable to his name 2 By Pauls loue to him his welbeloued without doubt for his vertues 3 By his forwardnesse in Religion The first fruits of Achaia vnto Christ that is one of the first that in that countrey receiued the Gospell and gaue his name vnto Christ This is expressed by a speech alluding to the Leuiticall Law
exhortation to obedience and at the third verse began particular expressions of the Generall in diuers cases among which obedience to Magistrates is a principall and is handled in this thirteenth Chapter There was great necessitie of preaching this doctrine in Pauls time for many Christians interpreted the Liberty by Christ to haue freed them from subiection to Gouernment by reason whereof diuers cruell persecutions were raised and Christianity had gotten a very ill report it being put into the eares of Emperours and Princes that Christianity allowed not of Magistracie For some such reason in effect it is necessary that in these times also this Doctrine of obedience to Magistrates should be taught and the people throughly catechised and punctually instructed therein which point is so fully handled here and with so many reasons confirmed as in no place the like for the which this Chapter is called Paul Politickes though other things also be handled therein For it hath three parts The first sheweth our duty to Magistrates which is Subiection The second our dutie to all men which is Loue The third our duty toward our selues which is Temperance The duty to Magistrates is declared in the first 7. verses VERSE 1. Let euery soule be subiect to the higher Powers IN the latter end of the twelfth Chapter hee spake against Reuenge now lest any inferâ—e therefore not lawfull to vse the Magistrate in cases of wrong Saint Paul seasonably adioynes a commandement to be subiect to Magistrates and so not publique but priuate Reuenge to be vnlawfull This first part containeth two things first a Precept secondly Reasons of obedience thereunto The Precept peremptorily set downe in these words hath the Thing Subiection and the Persons which are two yeelding subiection Euery soule and to whom it is to bee yeelded which are set downe Powers and distinguished Higher Powers To begin with the Exposition of the last words first Powers Not Angels though the Greeke word a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may be so construed elsewhere but Magistrates nor Ecclesiasticall Magistrates properly but ciuill Magistrates whose is the Sword and to whom Tribute is due Ciuill Magistracie is an Ordinance of God for the punishment of euill doers and for the praise of them that doe well 1. Pet. 2.14 He saith not To Emperours Kings c. but Powers naming the Thing not the Persons because though the Officer may be wicked and in regard of his person be vnworthy of respect yet the Office is to be honored and respected and the Power alwayes to be obeyed Powers in the plurall For there are diuers kinds A Monarchie an Aristocratie a Demoeratie when one alone when some of the best when the people or most part rule all things vnder which of these soeuer wee liue wee must bee subiect thereunto Higher 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in authoritie as it is translated 1. Tim. 2.2 that is high or excellent Authority For there are Powers from God which are more meane and not so general and publike as of Fathers Masters c. which are not meant in this place And not onely to the Supreame Magistrate but vnto all Gouernours sent and appointed by him as Saint Peter expounds b 1. Pet. 2.13.14 Be subiect The word signifies an orderly subiection and implies the reuerence of the heart respectfull language and gesture obedience without resisting c. A Subiection willing and in due manner Euery soule Soule for the whole Man by a Synechdoche he being so called from his most noble part The Magistrate hath most power ouer the bodies of their Subiects but Soule is named eyther by an Hebraisme or to shew the manner of the obedience required that it must be ex animo euen from the very soule Euery soule No exemption of any who enioy the benefit of the lawes in the Common-wealth of which they are members vpon any pretence whatsoeuer in regard of Ecclesiasticall calling or otherwise All which liue vnder any ciuill Gouernment Doctr. must vnto the Gouernours yeeld obedience and subiection Matth. 22.21 Render vnto Caesar the things which are Caesars Titus 3.1 Put them in minde to be subiect to Principalities and Powers and to obey Magistrates 1 Pet. 2.13 14. This obedience is to be limited in things lawfull Obser and not contrary to the word of God The Magistrates in the Apostles time were enemies and Persecutors and yet hee requires subiection to them Vse 1 and Titus is charged to put the people in continuall remembrance of it much more are wee to preach obedience to the godly and religious Magistrates Must Nero be obeyed and ought not much more King Iames a Defender of the Faith a Nursing Father of the Church The Gospell doth in some sort meddle with obedience to the Ciuill Magistrate Vse 2 I say in some sort as that it is lawfull to be a Magistrate and that he may and ought to be obeyed For we must haue the testimony of the Word of the lawfulnesse of these things But to set downe lawes of ciuill businesse of Contracts of Successions of Conueyance of Lands of Pleas of Punishments of Warre c. in the Common-wealth or of the times of meeting for the seruice of God or of reading of the Scriptures or of Garments or Gestures to be vsed in the Administration of holy things c. in the Church it belongs not to the Gospell in particular to enact but these things are to bee directed by reason being not contrarie to the Word The calling of the Physitian or Carpenter is lawfull by the Gospell and it requireth of them that they should deale conscionably but what drugges or what course of prescribing the one should vse in euery disease or what plot or tooles the other should vse in building the Gospell determines not but these are left to the iudgement of right reason So for particulars in Church or Common-wealth Moses had the execution of all gouernment both Ciuill and Ecclesiasticall among the Israelites and performed it in his owne person Iethro his father in law seeing it tells him that the thing which hee did was not good c Exod. 18.17 and aduiseth him to a course much more conuenient In giuing sentence and iust determining of Suites Moses saw more then Iethro but in the orderly and more easie proceeding therein both for Moses and the people Iethro saw more then Moses by reason and experience Hee which readeth the Gospell as a booke of State Policie or a booke of Statutes abuseth it For the principall scope of the Gospell is to reueale the will of God concerning Remission of sinnes by faith in Christ and in the Generall to exhort to a righteous conuersation The Brownists therefore and others are greatly to bee blamed who absurdly deny and contemne all Canons and Constitutions concerning order which are not in so many words set downe and commanded in the Gospell but of this more in the next Chapter Here are to be reproued the
Amplification is the manner of enunciating and deliuering both the dutie and the Reasons The duty is not plainly deliuered Be subiect but yee must and more yee must needs be subiect There is a necessity of subiection The Reasons are deliuered by comparison not simply for wrath but not for wrath onely but also and much more for conscience The wisedome and care of the Apostle here appeareth that handling a matter so weightie leaueth it not rawly but endeauoureth so forcibly to speake that all men may take knowledge hereof and be perswaded Yee must needs Things are necessary or indifferent Things necessary to be done are such as are commanded in the Word necessary not to be done such as are there forbidden indifferent such as are neither forbidden nor commanded Things necessary bind the conscience because they are Morall Things indifferent both in nature and vse also bind not the conscience but in case of scandall Be subiect to Magistrates to their Lawes Statutes Decrees Edicts Orders Constitutions c. For wrath of God for God is angry with all such who resist authoritie and of the Magistrate whom wee prouoke by our disobedience and who may iustly punish vs. Not only for wrath but also for conscience If wrath make vs subiect much more ought conscience and if a man could hide from the Magistrate his breach of the Law yet conscience must with-hold him from transgression For conscience of the brother for it is an offence to a peaceable and loyall subiect that any should take libertie to breake the lawes of the Magistrate The argument is forcible if we so vnderstand it But better for thine owne conscience as the Syrian Translator expresseth Conscience is a facultie of the soule taking notice of all things passing in our whole life and determining thereof either accusing or excusing before God Caluine calleth it the Sense of the diuine Iudgement a Sensus Iudicii diuini Caluin Instit lib. 4. cap. 10. sect 3. For conscience that is lest by not obeying the Magistrate thou wound thine owne conscience in sinning against God for if conscience be offended then is God offended who is the Lord of Conscience Euery soule is bound in conscience to be subiect to Magistrates Doctr. This is proued by the fift Commandement Honor thy father c. Euery part of the Morall law bindes the conscience But to obey the Magistrate is a part Therefore c. Matth. 22.21 Render to Caesar the things which are Caesars we are bound to deale iustly and to render to all their due Ecclesiastes 8.2 Keepe the Kings commandement in regard of the oath of God Both the oath which thou hast solemnely made to God in thy Baptisme to keep his lawes and the oath of Allegiance which thou hast by the name of God taken to obey thy Prince An oath binds conscience but thou hast sworn God hath bound thee to obey and thou hast bound thy selfe Saul sought Dauids life then Dauid hauing him at an aduantage only cut off the skirt of his garment no great matter one would thinke yet it was his Soueraigne and afterward his conscience was troubled and his heart smote him euen for that 1. Sam. 24.5 Doe the Lawes and Constitutions of Magistrates Quest Ciuill and Ecclesiasticall bind the conscience It is the prerogatiue of Gods Law to bind conscience Answ and Princes lawes bind but not by their owne power but by vertue of the law of God Nebridius exceedingly hated de quaestione magna responsionem breuem b August refert Epist 23. ad Bonifacium non procul à fine a short answer to a weightie question a word or two more therefore hereof to make it plaine It is therefore to be vnderstood that Magistrates are inuested with a power from God to make Lawes and Constitutions Ciuill and Ecclesiasticall and these determining not the substance but the circumstances of Gods worship as what garments what gesture what times of meeting c. to be vsed in the holy seruice for comlinesse and order This is only questioned but it may thus appeare The Magistrate is the Minister of God for thy good as before verse 4. But a great part of this good is in comely maner of worshipping God The very Heathen Philosophers saw by Naturall reason that the end and care of the Magistrate is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c Arist Ethic. lib. 1. ca. 9. 13. to make his subiects vertuous and practisers of things good and honest This is grounded vpon Deut. 17.19.20 The King must heare and reade and study the lawes and statutes of God to keepe and doe them as hee is a man in his owne obedience and as he is a Magistrate to see others obey them punishing the breach of the first Table as well as of the second and making laws for the comely worship of God as wel as for the preseruation of Iustice and honestie amongst men otherwise how doth he keepe all the words of the Law This is confirmed by the examples of all godly Princes as of Moses Dauid Salomon Asa Iehosaphat Hezechias Iosias and since the comming of Christ of Constantine Theodosius Martianus Leo c. Saint Augustine more then once d August Bonif. comiti ep 50. praecip tom 7. contra epist Parmeniani l. 1. c. 7. commends an Imperiall law against the Donatists and Schismaticks which was that they which separated from the Church and held priuat conuenticles should bee punished with pecuniary mulcts their Leaders with banishment and the place of their meetings to be forfeited to the Emperour Also that they should haue no power to bestow their goods by will nor to enioy any legacy bequeathed to them and he instanceth in a certaine Noble man who recouered a legacie from certaine Donatists specially from one Augustinus a Bishop of that side giuen to them by his Sister Indeed the Papists would engrosse all this power Ecclesiasticall to the Pope And the Donatists e Aug. tom 7. lib. 2. cont epist Gaudentii cap. 16.17 in Saint Augustines dayes would be left to themselues and not to bee vnder the power of the Magistrate in matters Ecclesiasticall as to be compelled to the outward seruice of God This way runne the Brownists also who would haue the King to bee but as one of the company and to be subiect to their vnwarranted Lay Elders These things then thus premised the Answer is that all Lawes and Constitutions of the Magistrate not repugnant to Gods word bind the conscience perse f Caluin Jnst lib. 4. c. 10. sect 5 to obedience vnder the danger of mortall sinne in the Generall for the Generall is Morall which is that we obey Magistrates and by consequent in particular also because to violate orders established to trouble the peace of the Church and to giue offence is morall Transgression and the breaking of a particular inferres the breaking of the Generall The obligation we speake of is not in the things commanded but in the commandement
alledged because adultery was a common sinne among the Romans Or for the feditie of it and odiousnesse doth he name it first and so among the fruits of the flesh is Adultery first named and among the fruits of the Spirit Loue. Galath 5.19.22 and in some part of the Ciuill law Faius in loc the title of Adulterie is next to the title of Treason to shew the hainousnesse of that sinne 3 The tenth Commandement is mentioned in this one word Thou shalt not couet whence it appeares that the commandement of not Coueting is but one contrary to the doctrine of Rome Is briefly comprehended is consummate or recapitulated Ambros August epist 29. ad Hieron as Orators in their Epilogue repeate the generall heads So that that which the Philosophers affirmed of Iustice is true of loue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In summe Charity is all vertue Charity is the Decalogue contracted and the Decalogue is Charity vnfolded A generall vertue diffusing it selfe into all vertues as the blood and spirits into all parts of our bodies The summe then is Thou shalt loue thy neighbour as thy selfe In this wee haue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The thing commanded to loue our neighbour and the Rule As thy selfe Neighbour Euery one that stands in need of our help by the proportion of the parable of the Samaritane Luke 10. knowne or vnknowne friend or foe this is a hard saying but it is law Good and bad the bad for communion of nature the good for communion of nature and grace Kindred and strangers Proximus non sanguinis propinquitate Aug. epist 52. sed rationis societate pensandus est c. saith Augustine Neighbourhood is to be esteemed not by the neerenesse of blood but by the societie of Reason Hierome brings the blessed Angels within this order of Neighbourhood Hieron in epist ad Gal. and indeed Charitie is as large as heauen and earth The Schoolemen make euen the Diuels and damned Valent. tom 3. Disp 3. quaest 3. punct 1. secundum naturam a part of the obiect of our charity not in the deprauation of their nature but in their essence not in their opposition to the Creator but in their relation tanquam res amici as part of the things or substance belonging to our friend that they be preserued and still exist that Gods Iustice might haue due execution vpon them As thy selfe both in the thing and in the manner In the thing as to wish the best to our neighbour as wee wish the best to our selues Luke 6.31 Mat. 7.12 expounded by our Sauiour As yee would that men should doe to you doe yee also to them likewise wishing the same good to be obtained and the hurt to bee auoyded by them as by your selues In the manner Truely without dissembling earnestly without remissnesse and coldnesse constantly without changing Wee must loue our neighbours as our selues Doctr. The very same words are Leuit. 19.18 Gal 5.14 and Mat. 22.39 Where our Sauiour being asked by a Lawyer which was the Great Commandement answered that the loue of God was the first and great Commandement and that the second was like vnto it which is the loue of our neighbour Like vnto the first in three respects 1 In forme that is truly For God must be loued with all the heart and our neighbour as our selfe 2 In time wee must alwaies loue God and so wee must our neighbour 3 In difficulty it is hard to loue God aboue all because our hearts are so much vpon the world and as hard to loue our neighbour as our selues because our hearts are set so much vpon our selues Whether may I loue my neighbour more then my selfe Quest or no In regard of the affection Answ loue must be equall but in regard of the effect in outward things I may at some time prefer my neighbour before my selfe and serue him first not so in spirituall things I must wish my neighbours saluation as well as mine owne but I must seeke my owne first May I loue one neighbour more then another Quest Appretiatiuè as they say we may Answ as Iacob loued one of his children Ioseph one of his brethren and Christ one of his Disciples It is lawfull to loue our selues Vse 1 and yet there is an euill selfe loue of the which the most part are sicke There is a naturall selfe loue and a morall The naturall is the Rule of our loue to our neighbour the morall is that which is forbidden in the law which destroies the loue of our neighbour Nature requires the law allowes and grace denyes not that we should loue our selues amore recto with a right loue Neither can he loue his neighbour well who doth not so loue himselfe euen as he can neuer write a right line who writeth by a wrong rule Many say they loue their neighbour as their owne soules and therein they may say true and yet be far from the fulfilling of the law or they care not to damne their owne soules as well as their neighbours Learne to loue thy selfe as thou oughtest that God may commit thy neighbour to thee whom thou maist loue as thy selfe To loue a mans selfe is not curare cutens to pamper the body to giue a mans selfe to liberty and pleasure but curare animam to haue a care of the soule to loue God and our selues in God For He that sinneth hateth his owne soule Pro. 8.36 and hee that enticeth his neighbour to sinne hateth his neighbours soule And hee will neuer be profitable for another who is vnprofitable for himselfe He that loues a garment hates the moth that eates it so he that loues his owne soule and his neighbours will hate sinne which destroyes it Let him loue me who loues himselfe in goodnesse The Godly mans loue is the best loue Here diuers are to be reproued Vse 2 1 They that loue themselues onely There is a City of God and a city of the Diuell The City of God beginnes in the loue of God and increaseth to the loue of our neighbour the city of the Diuell beginnes in the loue of our selues Aug. in princ lib. de Ciuit. Dei and ends in the contempt of God and our neighbour such were Caine and Nabal 2. They which loue some of their neighbours but not all This man is mine enemy I cannot loue him But Christ commands thee to loue him and he is thy neighbour Loue him that he may be thy friend That man is wicked and his sinnes offend me Thinke that thy sinnes offend others and yet thou wouldest they should loue thee Consule Zanch. in explic ca. 2. ep 1. Ioh. Loue him but not his faults and because hee hath faults hee hath so much the more need of thy loue that thou mayst reclaime him Euill men are to be loued as sick men we run to the Physitian for loue to the man not for loue of his sicknes to helpe the man and to destroy
strenuously cheerefully and watchfully In setting downe whereof there are two things first A Transition secondly An Exhortation The Transition And that not Bezaes Idque nor Chrysostoms Praesertim referring it to the eight verse of this Chapter as an enforcing of the dutie of loue to our neighbour as Piscator but rather the ancient Et hoc so that we do not with Aquinas construe it with tempus or M. Caluins Hoc etiam supplying Edico out of the third verse of the twelfth Chapter or Paraeus his Insuper or if you will Ad haec Praeterea in English Moreouer or Besides or Furthermore I say that now it is high time to awake out of sleepe I take this verse then to be as a Preface to that which followes though it may also be a conclusion of all that is before from the beginning of the twelfth Chapter for watchfulnesse is necessary to the duties precedent and that which followes is referred vpon occasion of these words So that this verse may be likened to Noah who saw the old and new world or to Ianus whose two faces beholds the old and new yeare or to Christ who is the end of the law and the beginning of the Gospell In the Exhortation we haue two parts The Dutie exhorted vnto and the Reason The Dutie It is now high time to awake out of sleepe High time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the houre of waking a short part of time being named to signifie that wee must speedily awake and not lose a minute To awake The Greeke word signifies more namely to arise which is best here and to be necessarily vnderstood if we translate awake for many awake who rise not The Drunkard common Swearer c. are awake sometime they know they doe euill and vnderstand admonitions but they lye still in their sinnes and arise not now the intent of Paul is that we should awake and arise too that is to stand vp from the dead as he speaketh elsewhere Ephes 5.14 Out of sleepe Sleepe is two fold so properly called and Metaphoricall the first is of the body only for the soule sleepeth not and it is that naturall rest which God hath appointed for the refreshing of the dissipated spirits and the preseruation of wearied Nature Metaphoricall sleepe is either of the body or of the soule That of the body Olli dura quies oculos ferreus vrget Somnus Virg. Aen. 12. is Death often called in the Scripture Sleepe Iron sleepe as the Poet called it That of the Soule and it is either the Sleepe of sinne noting an vnregenerate estate or somnus inertiae the sleepe of sloath when hauing receiued grace wee begin to drowse in the duties of godlinesse this last is here meant for hee writeth to beleeuers who somewhat began to be remisse in holy duties So is it said of the mightie men of the hoast of the Ammonites and Moabites in the dayes of Iehoshaphat or of the hoast of Sanecherib in the dayes of Hezechiah They haue slept their sleepe that is they haue languished and fainted not hauing any heart to repell dangers Psal 76.5 The Reason is from the consideration of the time knowing the time Time that is opportunitie of time fit and seasonable time As men when they call vp their seruants vrge them because the Sunne is vp so Paul requires that wee should considering the season the more earnestly apply our selues to our duties This time is set forth by a comparison the time of faith receiued and begunne compared with the time of faith continued and encreased Now is our saluation nearer then when wes beleeued Saluation Not Christ incarnate nor saluation begunne in the remission of sinnes but eternall life which is the reward of faith vnto the which we are now nearer then when we first beleeued and therefore should be the more liuely in pressing toward the same The longer we professe the Gospell Doctr. the more strong in faith and zealous in godlinesse we ought to be Hebr. 5.12 Paul reproues the Hebrewes because they profited not according to their standing and Hebr. 11.32 he vrgeth them to constant enduring and patient suffering of persecution from the remembrance of their courage in the dayes of their first Illumination then they endured a great fight it were a shame now to faint and play the cowards The time of grace is no time of sleeping but of waking Vse 1 and labour Now lay hold now if euer get some thing for hereafter some faith and grace which may helpe and stand vs in stead in the euill day The Merchant obserues carefully the best time of buying in his fraught and then bestirres him The Husbandman in haruest time riseth early calleth his people together and away for it is good to take faire weather while it lasts Now is our haruest let vs be gleaning something The Sheplieard in Lambing time watcheth his flocke as Iacob did Labans let vs now watch to saue our soules Many when they come to heare the Word and to prayers then begin to nod Is this a time of sleeping for shame awake Ganst thou not watch one houre Lose not the pretious time of Repentance Non enim in tempore vtiliter viuitur Aug. Probae Epist 121. c. 7. nisi ad comparandum meritum quo in aeternitate viuatur Hee spends his time vnprofitably who gets not some grace whereby hee may liue in eternity said Augustine Our Aduersary the Diuell sleepes not The souldier that is asleepe when the enemie is come hath his throat cut Vt iugulent homines surgunt de nocte latrones Vt teipsum serues non expergisceris If the good man of the house know at what watch the theefe would come he would surely watch and not suffer his house to bee digged thorow Matth. 24.43 Besides our time is short all the time of grace is but an houre and an houre is soone out cito pede praeterit aetas said the Poet Qui hodiè habemus horam nescimus an cras habuerimus vitam Wee which haue an houre to day know not whether we shall haue a life to morrow said Anselme Anselm in loc Seuen times passed ouer Nabuchadnezzar Dan. 4.25 that is he liued seuen years like a beast but many among vs haue liued seuen yeares twice or thrice told like beasts and yet remember not to make vse of the time that remaines to turne vnto the Lord. Many of vs haue but a minute or two remaining let vs vow not to giue sleepe to our eyes nor slumber to our lids till we haue found fauour with the Lord and grace to helpe in the time of need Here is a commendation of godlinesse Vse 2 He that beleeues his saluation is euery day neerer then other as a wicked mans damnation is neerer and neerer let this encourage vs Thou meetest with many discouragements but behold the kingdome of heauen is at hand This reproues them which begin well Vse 3 but after grow sleepie and sluggish Hony at
who had no night of ceremonies Thirdly Paul sets downe verse 13. what be the works of the night hee meanes viz. Chambering and wontonnesse gluttony and drunkennesse c. We therfore take the fifth and last to be the true meaning of this place The Night is farre spent the Day is at hand The Apostles so speakes to note the goodnesse and yet the imperfection of our estate It is not so Day with vs but that we haue much darknesse nor so Night but that blessed be God wee haue some light some knowledge some Faith some power against sinne c. Our estate is excellently called by the Fathers Crepusculum which is a middle time betweene darknesse and light it is as the grey morning with vs betweene the darknes of sin and the light of the vision and glory of God Infidelity is midnight Faith is the morning The vision of God is as High noone If we looke vpon Infidelity it is day with vs If to the blessed vision of God it is as night The Angels haue a day which we haue not yet and we haue a day which Turkes and Infidels haue not yet Infidels see nothing We see in part The blessed in heauen see all things The time of Infidelity Doctr. is darke night and the time of grace as the comfortable day Act. 26.18 Paul is sent to the Gentiles that they may turne from darknesse to light Eph. 5 8. Yet were sometime darknesse but now are yee light in the Lord. As the euening was before the morning Vse 1 so first it is night with vs through our corruption before it be day with vs by grace No man is borne in this day but as when darknesse was vpon the face of the deepe God made the light by his word so by the preaching of his Word hath he turned our spirituall darknesse into light according to that comfortable saying God 2 Cor. 4.6 who commanded the light to shine out of darknesse hath shined in our hearts to giue the light of the knowledge of God in the face of Iesus Christ The Creation of light no greater worke then thy conuersion Be thankfull to him who by his word hath brought thee which satest in darknesse and in the shadow of death into the comfortable light of sauing grace Happy are beleeuers Vse 2 vnbeleeuers and wicked men are most miserable when these with the Aegyptians are vnder darknesse which may be felt then are the children of God with the Israelites in the blessed light of Goshen Truely the light is sweet Eccle. 11.7 and a pleasant thing is it for the eyes to behold the Sunne but darknesse is hideous How tedious to a sick man is the night how desires hee and longs for the Day for light of it selfe cheareth and mitigates griefe so is the time of grace most comfortable As is he who lyeth in the bottome of a dark stinking dungeon so is the man who hath a conscience without the light of grace There is nothing more pure more pretious more delightfull more powerfull then the light Damasc Ort. fid l. 2. c. 7. it is pulchritudo et ornamentum omnis visibilis creaturae the beauty and ornament of euery visible creature said Damascene The best things are called light God dwells in the light Christ is the light of the world The good Angels are Angels of light the Word is light Saints are light Baptisme is light c. and the night or darknesse is contrary To bee bodily blind is a great misery but to bee spirituall blind is an excesse of misery As it is easie to make the blind fall into the ditch so if our eyes spirituall be darkned how great is the darknesse how easily can Satan lead such men into the very pit of hell If thou hast receiued grace shew forth his prayses who hath called thee out of darknesse in to his maruellous light 1 Pet. 2.9 Night and Day are two contrary states Vse 3 It is not possible to bring mid-night and mid-day together so impossible that a man being in the state of sinne and infidelity should bee a good Christian Examine thy estate whether it be night with thee or day thou shalt know this by thy inward affections and by thy outward actions 1 Thou readest in the Psalmes that God makes darknesse and it is night and then all the beasts of the forest creepe forth the Lyons seeke after their prey c. But when the Sunne ariseth they lay them downe in their dennes and then man goeth forth to his worke and to his labour till the euening Looke now to thy heart is pride there malice couetousnesse c. Surely if these beasts be abroad it is night with thee these are not to be seene in the light of grace but are hunted out to Hell the Diuels den from whence they came 2 Thou readest in S. 1 Thess 5.6 7. Paul Let vs watch and be sober for they that sleepe sleepe in the night they that are drunken are drunken in the night Looke now to thy life Ioh. 3.20 Euery one that doth euill hateth the light Iob. 24.14 15.16.17 saith our Sauiour and the theefe the murderer the Adulterer wait for the twilight saith Iob and the morning is to them as the shadow of death If therefore whoredome drunkennesse theft c. be thy practices then certainly it it midnight with thee stand vp from these dead workes that Christ may giue thee light The Night is farre spent Vse 4 the Day is at hand Though wee haue some light yet wee haue some darkenesse which the Regenerate see and bitterly complaine of O the dulnesse ignorance rebellious corruptions that yet remaine wee are not perfectly renewed in euery degree let it admonish vs to proceed in faith and the daily practice of repentance that the Day-Starre may more and more dawne in our hearts Heare the Word and pray that thy light may increase Democritus the Philosopher put out the eyes of his body A. Gellius Noct. Attic. l. 10.17 perswading himselfe that the cogitations and commentations of his minde in the contemplation of nature would bee the more liuely and exact thereby so one way doubtlesse to further the light of the soule is to pluck off the scales of worldlinesse and voluptuousnesse and to put out the carnall eye wherewith with so much doting we behold the things of this world Euery day dresse thine eyes that thou maist see more and more Pre. 4.18 He that is righteous let him be more righteous that he may be like the morning light which shineth more and more vnto perfect day VERSE 12. Let vs therefore cast off the workes of darknesse and let vs put on the Armour of light IN these words are the generall Exhortation issuing out of the Reason contained in the first words of this verse of which before This Exhortation hath two branches according to the two parts of the Reason The night is farre spent therefore cast off
the workes of darknesse The day is at hand therefore put on the armour of light In each of these are two things The Act the Obiect In the first branch the Act is Cast off the Obiect the workes of darknesse Darknesse is the priuation of light caused by the absence of the Sunne when the body of the Earth is interposed betweene vs and it here translated to signifie an vnregenerate estate when the cogitation is darkened and the soule destitute of the light of Grace and there is an excellent Analogie and similitude betweene bodily and spirituall darknesse and that in fiue things 1 Tenebra est visus impeditiua Jâ—â—an à S Geâ—â—â—â—ano lib. 1 de 〈◊〉 clâ—â— â—â—p 3â— darkenesse hindereth sight and therefore tenebrae à tenendo because our eyes are as holden that wee cannot see to reade to distinguish colours c. In the Night Coloromnthus vnus So an vnregenerate man is blinde he sees not the foulâ—nesse of sinne the danger of his soule c. 2 It is gressus prohibitiua it hinders a mans going and trauell when the plague of thicke darknesse was vpon Aegypt Exod. 10.23 it is said that no man rose from his place for three dayes they might haue candle and fire yet the darknesse was so thicke that the light of these could not pierce it it was a darknesse that might haue been felt So the vnregenerate in regard of their blindnesse lye and die in their sinnes if God mercifully enlighten them not 3 Darknesse is casus inductiua causeth a man dangerously to fall He that walkes in the night here runnes against a poste there tumbles into a ditch So the way of the wicked is as darknesse Pâ—â—â— â— 9 they know not at what they stumble as Salomon saith 4 It is timoris incussiua darknesse strikes a feare into a man In the darke night a little noyse any vnexpected thing in our way yea sometimes a mans owne imagination will make hâ—â— afraâ—d though otherwise of good courage So the darknesse â—f the vnregenerate makes them feare where no feare is as in the superstition of the Heathen is manifest So the Papists are afraid of eating an egge in Lent and thinke the Diuel would fetch them away if they should eate fresh vpon a fasting-day but it is their darknesse for if they had light they would discerne that not for these things but for theâ—r â—dolatries Act 10. cruelties blasphemies c. they had cause to feare Peter was afraid to eate out of the sheete but it was his ignorance 5 Darkenesse is Verecundiae diminutiua it diminisheth shamefastnesse and makes men bold to doe that then of which they would beâ— shamed in the day-light Nox Amor vinumque nihil moderabile suadent So the vnregenerate because of their darknesse are not ashamed of drunkennesse whoredome swearing lying c. they are impudent as an harlot they haue a whores forhead and reiuse to be ashamed But a regenerate man if hee bee by infirmitie ouertaken with a fault how is he ashamed of himselfe and to shew his head before God or men If a man doe ill and be not ashamed it is his darknesse Workâ—s of darknesse By workes are meant all such practices and courses which come from an vnregenerate estate which are called of darknesse in three respects 1 Because they issue from the darknesse of the minde for it is that which bringeth forth drunkennesse c. All sinnes come from our corruption and from Satan the Prince of darknesse 2 Because they are done in darknesse 1. Thess 5.5 3 Because they lead vs to darknesse for such workers are sentenced to vtter darknesse Cast off as a man when he begins to rise casteth off his blankets and bed-clothes but because a man that doth so at night returneth thither againe to bee couered with such things therefore rather so to cast off as a man that hath so long worne a suite that now it beginneth to doe him discredit to weare it or yet rather as a man comming out of prison hauing filthy ragges about him and full of vermine goeth aside putteth them off and hurleth them away on some dunghill or into some ditch and neuer purposeth to touch them more so are wee to cast off the workes of darknesse as whoredome drunkennesse c. these nastie ragges with indignation throwing them into Hell their proper place from whence they came And let vs put on the Armour of light The Action here is putting on the Obiect the Armour of light 1 Light in opposition to Darknesse implying a holy and sanctified estate being renued by the Spirit of God Grace of sanctification is called light because as the light Iames 1.17 Malachy 4.2 it comes from heauen from the Father of lights and from Iesus Christ the Sunne of righteousnesse An estate of Grace is a heauenly estate 2 Because as light manifesteth dangers and snares so the minde being renued and enlightned with grace discerneth betweene good and bad truth and falsehood and seeth that the end of euill wayes is assured destruction c. 3 Because as light is comfortable so the conscience is cheared by grace 4 Because he that liueth holily is a light to others who by the shine of his good workes glorifieth God Armour of light 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bezâ— translateth with a circumstance of words Induamur habitu qui luci conucniat put on a habite sutable to the light but the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 properly signifieth Armour and it is so proper to Paul to speake after this manner that I wonder M. Beza would not retaine the antient and proper translation herein Rom. 6.13 We reade of Instruments or weapons of vnrighteousnesse and righteousnesse and when Paul reckoneth vp the particular graces of Sanctification he doth it vnder the termes of such pareels of armour which are vsed in the war So Ephes 6.11 put on saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the whole armour of God the parcels whereof follow in that place So 1. Thess 5.8 faith and loue are called a brest plate and hope a helmet of saluation Workes of light are called Armour because of their defensiue and offensiue property they helpe to defend our consciences against Satan and they offend Satan nothing almost vexeth the foule spirit more then our conscionable and vpright proceeding in godlinesse Put on a metaphor from the putting on of apparell familiar with Paul of which more vers 14. M. Beza translateth it in the passiue Induamur let vs bee put on because this armour is bestowed vpon vs from aboue it is the holy Spirit which fashioneth it and girdeth it to vs. The consideration of our holy calling to the state of grace Doctr. ought to teach vs to hate and abhorre euill workes and to doe the good Ephes 5.8 Yee were sometimes darknesse but now yee are light in the Lord walke as children of light 1. Thess 5.8 Let vs who are of the day be sober Tit. 2.11.12
The grace of God hath appeared teaching vs to deny vngodlinesse c. 1. Ioh. 2.8 Euery man ought to manifest his regeneration Vse 1 by the light of his life nay it will be so if once enlightned there will be as much difference from our former estate as between light and darknesse if once grafted into Christ our fruit will bee so changed that there will be as much difference from that which was as betweene the faire and sweet fruit of Paradise and the most bitter Coloquintida Euery thing doth agree performam worke according to and by the forme fire will heate if it bee fire and light will dispell darknesse if we haue receiued grace our conuersation and whole behauiour will be gracefull If we say that wee haue fellowship with him who is the light and walke in darkenesse we lye and doe not the truth If thou beest ordâ—narily drunke if thou delightest in vanitie art a common blasphemer c. there is no light no grace Esay 8.20 To the law and to the testimony if they speake and do not according to this word it is because there is no light in them We must cast off euill with hatred to it Vse 2 and put on goodnesse with delight in it Many will spet at the naming of the Diuell and say they defie him but hast thou cast him out of thy heart Many will say they cannot abide hypocrisie dissembling malice slandering pride c. which yet continually practise such things when thou hearest or seest euill as swearing drunkennesse c. doth thy heart rise against such euils for the true hatred thou bearest to them and in this hatred dost thou abandon the workes and workers of such darknesse If so this is a good signe Many will commend the Word but if the Preacher come home to their conscience and tell them of their beloued sinne they will storme and rage many will commend sobrietie chastitie humilitie patience but put thou them on and weare them Put on the Armour of light Where there is vse of armour Vse 3 there is some feare of danger yet if there come danger blessed be God that we haue Armour A godly man is armed from top to toe Satan may buffet him but destroy him he cannot for he is armed in proofe Miserable is the vnregenerate man for hee is both blinde and naked how easily are such assaulted wounded and in body and soule destroyed by Satan Let vs put on the armour of light and for as much as Christ hath suffered for vs in the flesh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 arme your selues with the same minde namely to cease from sin 1. Pet. 4.1.2.3 and to liue the rest of our time not to the lusts of men in lasciuiousnesse excesse of wine c. but to the will of God VERSE 13. Let vs walke honestly as in the day not in rioting and drunkennesse not in chambering and wantonnesse nor in strife and enuying LEt vs walke honestly as in the day Concerning the coherence of these words with them before there is some difference without any damage of the sense Some make it a new argument ab honesto Pet. Mart. Gryneus which certainly is of great force with them which haue not put off humane sense Some from the end of casting off and putting on of which in the twelfth verse Sarcerius translating 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by two words sic vt in English so that thus the vulgar and our other translations not well The truest reading is as it is here from his Maiesties translation and so the first part of the verse yeeldeth vs an exhortation which is another from that in the twelfth verse in words but not in sense The duty required in this repeated exhortation is Honest walking where is the action walking the manner honestly and this amplified from the consideration of the time as in the day Let vs walke to walke with the Apostle is to liue the effect or signe of life put for life it selfe and so the Commandements are called a way and our obedience a walking therein there are diuers Analogies here of the which I haue written somewhat vpon the eight Chapter of this Epistle vers 1. All our thoughts words deeds whole behauiour must be honest and so to bee must bee our delight and wee must daily goe forward therein Honestly honesty is taken sometimes in our ordinary speech for chastity and so here but this is but a part of the sense Sometimes for faithfulnesse so we say an honest man that is a faithfull and iust dealing so here also but this but in part the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is in a good fashion implying all comely and commendable carriage The Adiectiue is somewhere translated Act. 13.50 Honorable The Iewes stirred vp many deuout women 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and honorable and this excellently fits here and the Ciuill Lawyers oppose honest to vile and base let vs walke honestly honorably according to the credit of our place and calling The Syrian Translation reades modestly Beza compositè orderly fitly as you would say in print The Vulgar and Master Caluin Tit. de Zelo â—â—ore post medium decently and so Saint Cyprian read this place Pareus expoundeth it by Pauls three aduerbs Tit. 2.12 soberly righteously and godly As in the day for our night apparell any thing though patcht and homely will serue the turne but in the day comelinesse requireth that wee should bee more handsomely attired When a man is to goe abroad among his betters especially he brusheth and trimmeth vp himselfe The Husbandman whilest he goeth to plough and cart is clad it may be in lether but at another time his garments are very neate and trimme hee hath his worke-day and his holy-day apparell So because it is now day with vs and that we walke before men and Angels we are sutably to be fashioned and arrayed and in as much as very day is holy-day with a true Christian and euery place as the Church to him therefore he is to walke thereafter Euery Christian must haue a speciall care ouer all his behauiour that it be honest and such as becommeth the Gospell Prou. 4.25 Doctr. Let thine eyes look right on and let thine eye-lids look streight before thee 26. Ponder the path of thy feet and let all thy wayes be stablished or ordered aright 27. Turne not to the right hand nor to the left remoue thy foote from euill Ephes See that yee walke circumspectly accurately 1. Thess 4.14 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That yee malke honestly according to the Word in this place A Christian must be walking Vse 1 to stand still and idle is reproued Matth. 20.3.6 An idle man falls into pouertie and a man that giueth himselfe to ease into diuers diseases Bee walking that thou mayest expell noxious humours When Dauid began to take his ease hee began to bee ouer-growne with lustfull affections If the husbandman be not
and naked Some are clad halfe way as the messengers of Dauid to Hanun in some things they are carefull but in other they take liberty But we must be cloathed with Christ from top to toe that no part of our owne filthy ragges may be seene nor our nakednesse but that whatsoeuer is heard or seene in vs may be of Christ As a man is contained in his garments Aquinas in loc and seene in their colour so in him who imitates Christ must nothing be seene but the workes of Christ Christ is a neat hansome straite garment it is not easie to put him on He that hath a bunch of pride drunkennesse can neuer get him ouer all such things must be pared off before it will fit vs. In other garments if they be too short or too strait they may be pieced or eeked out or if too wide or long they may be cut lesse or shorter till they be fit to our bodies but our Garment we speake of may not be patcht nor curtailed nor fitted to vs but we must be fitted to that The Taylor fits our garments to our bodies but we must be fitted to this garment Christs will may not submit to ours but ours to Christ Labour to put on Christ Vse 3 It is horrible to see what monstrous attires for fashion and vnreasonable for charge men and women daily inuent and weare beyond their abilitie and rancke and contrary to their sexe but the best and seemliest garment which is Christ is not regarded or put on Men and women seeke for rich cloathing for their body but esteeme not the nakednesse of their soules The reason of this strange negligence is this Euery one would be esteemed and taken forth they cannot for their vertue and honesty and therefore they thinke to carry it away with their sine cloathes these are they which lay their whole substance on their backes these are they which bestow so much time in trimming and trussing and cutting and poudering c. that betweene the combe and the glasse as they say they can neuer finde leasure to serue God These are they who had rather the Common-wealth should bee out of order then their perriwigs and disordered apparell Apelles his prentice not doing his part in the face of Helen whom hee was to draw all to be dawbed her apparell with gold and garish colours Notat Clemens Alex. 3. paeda ca. 10. to whom Apelles O adolescens cum non posses pingere pulchram pinxisti diuitem O young man seeing thou couldst not paint her beautifull thou hast painted her rich So many their liues be not faire therefore their clothes are rich It is our folly to esteem of men more for a gold ring Iames 2.2 as Saint Iames speaketh then for vertue which hath caused this madnesse in many more to seeke gay and costly garments then to put on Christ Mat. 6.25 Our Sauiour sayd that the body is more then the rayment but I verely thinke that there are some so besotted who if a rich suit of apparell and vertue nay Christ himselfe were set to sale would rather giue a hundred pounds for the gay cloathes then a hundred pence for Christ Let vs not esteeme of men but for their vertues and let vs seeke to put on Christ rather then outward apparell In the morning when thou dressest thy selfe examine whether thou haue put on Christ Thou art ashamed of a foule garment and art thou not ashamed of drunkennes whoredome c. If thy garments need mending doth not thy life much more Thou art ashamed of the nakednesse of thy body and therefore thou puttest on apparell Oh consider if the vildenesse of thy heart and thy wicked thoughts and desires were known or it may bee if that which thou didst this last night were knowne what great cause shouldst thou haue to bee ashamed God knowes it put on therefore the Lord Iesus Christ by faith and repentance that thy spirituall nakednes may be couered from the sight of God and men Hast thou put on Christ weare him honestly and carefully Vse 4 if thou puttest on thy bodie a new garment thou keepest it from the dust and spots so hauing put on Christ in thy baptisme suffer not that white garment to be spotted otherwise how wilt thou be able to bring it forth at the last day Muritta a Deacon baptized one Elpidophorus who afterward persecuted Muritta and others but the Deacon brought out his white garment and held it vp and shooke it against him saying These linnen garments Elpidophorus shal accuse thee at the comming of the Iudge of all which I haue kept by me as a witnesse of thy Apostasie c. Haue a care then that thou staine not thy profession and dishonour his name after which thou art called If thou hast put on Christ wallow not with that pretious garment in the mire of thy former sinnes VERSE 14. And make not prouision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof THe exhortation to put on Christ in the former part of the verse is here amplified from the Effect of such putting on which is that we doate not on the things of this life and that our care for worldly things abates He that putteth on Christ is rid of a great deale of care and thought for the flesh This Effect is brought in by an Occupation of which after the exposition of the words These words containe two parts a Prohibition Make not prouision for the flesh and a Limitation to fulfill the lusts thereof which limitation is added because that which is forbidden is not simply euill Flesh This word is of diuers significations here it either signifies our corrupt nature or the body If you take it for nature corrupt then the second part is an exposition of the first But it is best to take it for the body as the very words must needs import Make not prouision that is with care as it was sormerly translated which must also be here vnderstood according to that of our Sauiour Mat. 6.25 Take no thought for your life what you shall eate c. To fulfill the lusts To fulfill is added to fill the sense Lusts Lust or concupiscence is a naturall faculty of the soule desiring obiects conuenient to nature and abhorring the contrary That which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is in insensible things in sensible and reasonable creatures is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This concupiscence or lust in entire and pure nature was euery way ordinate In corrupt nature the faculty it selfe as it is naturall is to be reckoned among naturall good things put into vs by God and the motions of it vnto things naturall as desiring of meat drink sleepe apparell c. are indifferent but by prauity adherent they are euill three waies 1 In regard of the obiect when that is desired and coueted which is forbidden as in the tenth commandement that which is our neighbours 2 In regard of the measure as when
we immoderately desire that which is lawfull to bee desired when there is no measure of our study for riches meat and drinke house and land c. as indeed it is very hard to bound our concupiscence in such things 3 In regard of the end when wee desire such things to wrong ends and not to the glory of God in the preseruation of nature for the seruice of God and of our neighbour and the furthering of our owne saluation This exorbitant and inordinate concupiscence or lust is vnderstood in this place The meaning then is Prouide not so for the body that thereby the lusts thereof should be fulfilled and satisfied This is brought in by way of preuenting an Obiection Some might say from the prohibition of drunkennesse and wantonnesse c. What must we cast away the care of bodies is nothing to be granted to our fragility and infirmity may we not eate and drinke and be merry Paul answereth you may make prouision for the body but with limitation that you fulfill not the lusts of the body which will easily vpon a small occasion grow vnruly as wee may discerne in our selues how soone in the putting on of a new garment c. Corruption will discouer it selfe There ought to be a care had of health and state of wholsome meat competent medicines comely apparell but excesse is to be taken heed of Eate and drinke but not to enflame thy lusts A little is enough for nature but nothing for our lusts Make not prouision for the body If Paul had stayed here he had writ no good diuinity therefore he addeth to fulfill the lusts thereof warning vs to keep downe concupiscence and not to set her on cockhorse as they say The body is not so to bee tended and prouided for that the lusts thereof should be fulfilled or strengthned Mat. 6.25 Doctr. Take no thought for your life what you shall eate c. We must not haue an immoderate care for necessaries much lesse for superfluities to the fulfilling of our lusts Galathians 5.13 Vse not liberty for an occasion to the flesh Saint Paul there spake of Legall ceremonies and it is true in all matters of like nature God hath giuen vs liberty to eate and drinke c. this liberty is not to bee vsed to nourish lust 1 Peter 2.11 As Pilgrimes abstaine from fleshly lusts which fight against the soule Pilgrimes comber not themselues with vnnecessary things Here wee may discerne whether wee haue put on Christ or no Vse 1 namely if wee prouide not for the body so as to fulfill our lusts this is to follow Christs example Christ did eate and drinke but his fare was meane and moderate after forty dayes fast hee being hungry would not turne stones into bread the most ordinary refection to retaine nature but stayed for an ordinary prouision When he was weary how did he prouide for his body Iohn 4.6 7. did he take vp his Inne call for dainty cheere and a soft bed no but rested himselfe vpon a Well and asked a little water though there was a good towne hard by For his sleepe his body had need of it as well as ours and besides his nature was most pure and without the danger of inordinate lusting and yet he would not follow innocent nature herein but broke himself of his sleep to spend whole nights in prayer to his Father Luke 6.12 It may be thou wilt sleepe at a Sermon ordinarily and at prayer This is not to be like Christ to put him on It is not vnlawfull to prouide for the body Vse 2 Religion requireth not that a man should not giue nature her due or cleere his forehead as they say and be merry in which morosities hypocrites faine perfection Yea to neglect the body is a sinne if it bee not prouided for and nourished how shall it be a fit instrument of the soule for good To deny food and raiment conuenient to the necessity of nature to our callings and estate is ostentation and rigidity rather then true vertue Our Sauiour furnished the feast Ioh. 2 10. Psal 104.13 with excellent and neate wine which God created to make the heart of man glad and S. Paul reproues such neglecting of the body Coloss 2.23 Saint Augustine writing to Proba a rich Widow Aug. Probae ep 121. who had a great retinue and prouision for her body and for her table sutable willeth her not to cease to be so attended and serued as was fit for her estate and place but that shee should temper and moderate her selfe in the vse of them and to seeke nothing therein but integram valetudinem quae non contemnenda propter necessarios vsus huius vitae good health which is not to be contemned for the necessary vses of this life and he alledgeth this place Also hee alledgeth Pauls aduice to Timothy 1 Tim. 5.23 Drinke no longer water but vse a little wine It was so that Timothy to giue an example of sobriety to the riotous and dissolute Ephesians ouer whom hee was Bishop did so take downe his body with vnreasonable abstinence from wine and continuall drinking of water that Paul was faine to write to him and charge him for his stomacke sake and often infirmities to drinke wine For such abstaining Saint Augustine giueth the holy Bishop this censure that he was nimius corporis castigator too great a chastiser of his body for his very studying and contemplation with his continuall preaching were sufficient to weaken his body though hee had not vsed such abstinence and for this is wine necessary for Timothy for the preseruation of his health Philosophers affirme that there is but one soule in man which is both vegetatiue senfitiue and rationall which together intendeth to vegetation sensation and vnderstanding when therefore the soule is wholly busie in the braine about contemplation it must needs follow that shee cannot attend in the stomacke at the same time to concoction and so the stomack being destitute of conuenient heate and spirit and the influence of the soule must needs abound with crudities and for this cause Physitians giue this rule to be merry at meate that through such remission of study the soule may attend vnto necessary nutrition and hence also it commeth ordinarily that great students haue weake stomacks Hee therefore who is weary with labour or study the spirits languishing thereby may with a good conscience drinke wine and vse other comforts of Nature especially if he beleeue and repent for God hath created such good things principally for such That therefore which Saint Bernard saith of Timothy Serm. 30. in Cant. we may say of euery Saint Giue mee a Bishop or Preacher like to Timothy or a holy man like him and hee shall eate gold and drinke Ypocras Though we may serue the necessitie of the body Vse 3 yet wee may not the lusts Deus prudenter vult sibi seruiri An brosius God will haue vs prudent in
receiued the beginnings of grace Pareus or not of finall perseuerance but of standing in some particular thing The censure and iudgement of mens deeds and behauiour pertaineth to God Doctr. This is proued by the two parables Matth. 18.23 and Matth. 25.14.19 where the King or Lord is brought in taking account of his seruants for as it appeareth in that of the Talents the diligence or negligence of the seruants is to the Masters either benefit or losse This Doctrine taketh not away charitable reproofe of my brother if he offend doing that which is euidently contrary to Gods word but it taketh away rash iudgement concerning things indifferent which are not commanded or forbidden in Gods word Condemne no man for the lawfull vse of things indifferent Vse 1 for such shall be stablished but rather iudge charitably If thou seest thy brother standing wish his establishing if falling pray for him and despaire not of his rising againe considering not his Humane condition but the Diuine vertue It was an excellent speech of M. Caluin in locum Caluin Semper benè speremus de eo in quo cernimus aliquid Dei Let vs alwayes hope well of him in whom we see any grace of God though the least tokens of adoption It is our fault to require that euery man by and by should be as Paul or Abraham but God accepteth of the least grace if it be in truth Let vs therefore be charitable Our deeds belong to God Vse 2 not that hee receiueth either profit or damage by them but our selues Not as we are benefited or hindered by our seruants Plato in Euthyphrone 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aug. de Gen. ad lit lib. 8. cap 11. Jrenaeus aduers Haereses l. 4. c. 31. so is God by vs godlinesse is gratefull to him but not profitable as on the contrary sinne is hatefull but not hurtfull to him Ille seruitute nostra non indiget nos vero dominatione illius indigemus saith Saint Augustine wee need such a Master he needeth not such seruants To this purpose also Irenaeus in a certaine chapter shewing that God commandeth that wee should loue him not that he wanteth our loue sed homini deest gloria Dei c. but wee want his glory which wee by no meanes can be partakers of but by louing and obeying him Ibid. ap 32. and a little after that God commanded sacrifices not for his gaine but to honour vs and to haue occasion to bestow his benefits vpon vs. So Eliphaz to Iob Can a man be profitable to God Iob 22.2 3. as he that is wise may be profitable to himselfe Is it any pleasure to the Almightie that thou art righteous or gaine to him that thou makest thy wayes perfect And thus Elihu also to him If thou sinnest Iob 35 6 7 8. what doest thou against him c. If thou be righteous what giuest thou him c. Thy wickednesse may hurt a man as thou art c. but not God If thou doest well God will blesse thee if ill he will slay thee not as a King doth a traytor because he feareth him but to manifest his iustice Doe well because God acknowledgeth it Doe not ill because thou fallest to God Remember thou wretch when thou art drunke blasphemest c. to whom thou fallest euen to thine owne Master to whom thou art bound a thousand wayes to such a Master as is able to kill bodie and soule and throw them into hell to such an one as hath and is readie to offer grace if thou repentest seeking thy good thereby not his owne O how this wounded Dauids heart when he fell hee fell to God Against thee thee onely haue I sinned c. Psal 51.4 So this broke the Prodigals heart it was his Father whom hee had offended We haue a Lord who standeth not for a Cyphar but who will call vs to account Let vs so liue as remembring wee must giue vp an account and that to God Here is comfort he that standeth shall be stablished Vse 3 To him that hath shall be giuen We haue a louing and bountifull Master who is able and willing to promote vs in the grace he hath bestowed Hee is not so able but wee stand in as much need wee are weake wee cannot beare a crosse word euerie little temptation foyleth vs pray to him who is able and hath promised 2. Tim. 1.12 Hee is able to keepe that which thou hast committed vnto him vnto that day God is only able to make vs stand Vse 4 without whom we haue no more power then an infant of a day old Man falleth by his owne will and weaknesse but hee standeth by the will and power of God If God forsake they which stand must fall and they which fall must perish for euer If Christ had not held Peter hee had sunke to the bottome and if God had not raised Dauid he had layne in his sinne to this day Let him that thinketh he standeth 1 Cor. 10.12 take heed lest he fall It is fearefull to be without grace but to fall from grace much more What is then to be done Pray heare the Word come to the Lords Table and receiue his holy Supper for this especially was instituted for our establishing and confirmation If thou commest to the holy Communion with faith and repentance This was preached a few daies before a Communion thou shalt receiue strength against Satan against sinne against thy corruptions Feelest thou thy selfe weake come that thou mayest bee strengthened Cypr. l. 4. Epist epist 6. Art thou afraid of persecution consider Te calicem sanguinis Christi bibere vt possis et ipse propter Christum sanguinem fundere That thou drinkest of the Chalice of Christs blood that thou thy selfe mightest bee able to shed thy blood for Christ saith Cyprian Wouldest thou that the Diuell should be more afraid of thee then thou of him Come to that holy Sacrament in faith and repentance and it shall so come to passe For Quasi leones ignem spirantes ab illa mensa recedimus Daemonibus terribiles Chrysost hom 61 ad pop Antioch As lyons breathing fire we goe from that Table terrible euen to the Diuels themselues saith Chrysostome If the woman which touched the Hemme of Christs garment Matth. 9.21 was made whole of her infirmitie much more they which touch and eate the very body of Christ by faith shall be confirmed in spirituall health VERSE 5. One man esteemeth one day aboue another another esteemeth euery day alike Let euery man be fully perswaded in his owne minde HEre is the second instance of Dayes where we haue the Case and the Remedy or Direction In the case wee haue two things First what daies are meant Second what was the opinion of each part concerning such dayes Concerning the first neither is here meant an obseruation of fasting dayes appoynted by the Church Nor the Ciuill difference of daies
of it and the substance The Quality it is a written Testimony Obser taken-out of Esay 45.23 Sinne is to be conuinced Errours reproued and Doctrines proued by the Scriptures Yet of points taught there is difference Some things are Substantiall some things Circumstantial The first must haue plaine proof out of the Scripture for the second it is enough if they agree with the generall Rules of such things deliuered in the Word In matters of substance that which the Scriptures command not Matth. 12.30 they forbid He that is not with Christ here is against him In matters of circumstance and outward order that which the Scripture forbiddeth not Luke 9.50 it permitteth He that is not against Christ here is with him In the substance of the Testimony wee haue the Argument to proue that we must all stand before the Iudgement seate of Christ thus To whom euery knee must bow and whom euery tongue must confesse before his tribunall we must stand But euery knee must bow to Christ and euery tongue confesse him Therefore c. If any shall take exception to the Argument because the prophet Esay speaketh of the vocation of the Gentiles it may be thus answered that the Prophecie containeth more being begunne to be fulfilled in the Gentiles and to bee consummate at the last iudgement when all shall submit and aptly did the Apostle bring such an Allegation speaking of the Gentiles because the Iewes thought not so friendly of them as they ought Herein we haue two things An Affirmation and a Confirmation The Affirmation is that all shall acknowledge Christ for their Iudge and submit vnto him This is set downe in two phrases The first Euery knee shall bow to mee Where are the Action and the Persons The Action shall bow that is shall submit to me shall adore me shall be subiect to my sentence the signe put for the thing signified for by making a legge or kneeling wee acknowledge his Maioritie towards whom wee vse such gesture and therefore among the Aegyptians the Elephant that scarce hath or boweth the knee ioynts is the Hieroglyphick of Regall power The persons are bowing or bowed vnto Bowing noted generally Euery knee that is euery man noted by the Instrument of bowing Iew and Gentile yea euery reasonable creature Angels good and bad and Men Editio Complutii as one Greeke copy hath it Euery knee of things in heauen of things in earth of things vnder the earth which our Beza thinketh to be added out of Philip. 2.10 And although the knee be a part of the body yet it is translated to the minde also of whose submission this is a signe Wee must bowe the knees of bodies and soules also to Christ The Person bowed vnto Christ named in the verse before to whom Adoration is due Christ is a name of our Mediator signifying his whole Person and therefore this bowing must be to the Humanity with the Deity to the God-head perse by it selfe to the Manhood in the person of the Sonne of God and for the Godhead It is due to the Person and because the Person cannot bee diuided so neither may the Adoration but as the person is one and the same so must it be worshipped with one and the same Adoration But all doe not bowe vnto him The Iewes doe not Obiect nor the Turkes nor the wicked They doe not but they ought and they shall bowe Answ will they nill they That which the righteous doe now of faith to saluation the wicked shall be compelled to doe against their wills and though not to their saluation yet to the Honour of Christ For at the last iudgement perceiuing his Power Glory and Godhead they shall be compelled to acknowledge him for their Lord and Iudge The second phrase Euery tongue shall confesse to God Here we haue also The Action and the persons The Action confesse What shall they confesse Whatsouer they haue done saith one rather as Philip 2.11 Sarcerius that Iesus Christ is Lord. In the Prophet Esay it is read Euery tongue shall sweare which is all one in sense For in euery oath there is a confession and an acknowledgement of a witnesse a Iudge and a reuenger of falshood and iniustice The Confirmation is from the Oath of God As I liue saith the Lord He sweares by himselfe who hath no greater to sweare by The manner of this swearing is as if God should haue said It shall as surely come to passe as it is sure that I liue and am God Doctr. All men must and shall submit themselues to Christ as to their Iudge Ioh. 5.22 The Father hath committed all iudgement vnto the Sonne Philip 2.9 10 11. Where are the very words of this Text declaring that all shall bowe at the Name of Iesus this name was contemptible among the Iewes but it was declared glorious in all the world by the preaching of the Apostles and shall much more be glorified at the last day All knees haue not yet bowed to Christ Obser 1 but they shall therefore there must needs bee both the resurrection of the dead and a day of Iudgement That which in Esay is attributed to Iehouah Obser 2 is here attributed to Christ therefore Christ is that Iehouah We may here note the originall of that Antient Ceremony of putting off the hat Obser 3 and making a leg at the Name of Iesus in the Congregation in token of reuerence and Adoration not of the bare Name as the Papists doe superstitiously attributing force and vertue to the very letters pronounced written and worn making it a part of Gods worship but vnto the person so named This Ceremony is not onely of antient practice in the Church but hath approbation of as great learned and holy men as any haue written in these daies Master Zanchy saith Zanch. com in Philip. c. 2. v. 10. that it is Consuetudo non improbanda a custome not to be found fault with if it be vsed without superstition For there is no other Name whereby we must be saued and therefore it is worthily exalted aboue euery Name shewing that hee which bore that name being accounted among the Iewes a meere man a Carpenter a sorcerer a wine-bibber is declared to bee the very Sonne of the liuing God by nature Pareus also Pare com in loc Si vt ritus indifferens praestetur externa reuerentia nemo improbat No man doth finde fault with bowing the knee at the Name of Iesus if such reuerence be vsed not as a necessary part of Gods worship but as an indifferent rite and I am sure that it is vsed no otherwaies in the Church of England The end of this Ceremony was threefold 1 For confutation of the Arians being mixt with the Orthodoxall Christians in their assemblies who thereby also were discouered 2 For working attention to the holy Scriptures when they are read for vnlesse they attended they might easily faile in performance of such reuerence and so
to iudge and euery eye shall see him the wicked shall see him to their confusion the righteous to their comfort There shall bee no difference on the part of the Obiect appearing but on the part of the Subiect seeing the same brightnesse of glory shall fill the Saints with ioy and stricke the wicked with horror Euery one must giue account of all his matters to God Doctr. to our Lord Iesus Christ 1 Pet. 4.5 Who shall giue account to him that is ready to iudge the quicke and dead So 2 Cor. 5.10 and in the parables Vse 1 Matth. 25.19 Luk. 16.2 seq Look to thy self and to thine own matters leaue medling with thy brother and censuring him put not thine care into another mans boat but regard thine owne for thou must giue account of thy selfe of thy iudging thy brother of thy breaking thy peace and vnity of the Church euen for these thou shalt be questioned at that day Therefore be not rash The righteous may be comforted Vse 2 their account is ready made by Christ himselfe they shall be absolued not by the vertue of their owne innocency but of a free pardon by the mercy of the Iudge Prepare carefully for the day of iudgement Vse 3 and see thou haue thy account cast vp and ready against the day of that great Audit The most part of men neglect it suffering the score of their sinnes so to increase and their debt to grow that in the end they will be found tardy to their condemnation Three things should make vs carefull The consideration of the Iudge of the suddennesse of our accounting and of the matters to be accounted for 1 The Iudge is our Lord Christ infinite in knowledge and iustice who cannot be deceiued by cunning nor corrupted by gifts and whose glory it is to render in most strict iustice vnto euery man his due Now he is infinitely mercifull then he will be infinitely rigorous and seuere The consideration of this Iudge made deuout Arsenius to feare who being in his sicknes told by his friends that he needed not to feare because he had led a holy life answered Indeed I feare for Gods iudgement is not as mans 2 This iudgement and our giuing account may be sudden ere we be aware When Iesabel had painted her face she little thought her iudgement and account had beene so neare So neither thought Ammon at the feast nor Absolon being mounted on his Mule nor Diues vpon the view of his goods that so soone they should haue beene called to a reckoning The day of the generall iudgement shall not bee yet but the time of any mans particular iudgement and account may be this very houre How many diseases are we subiect vnto which knock vs downe on a sudden Euery man hath his particular iudgement in death and as death leaues him so the last iudgement findes him Death is the gate of iudgement and the iudgement the gate of heauen or hell Spend not the rest of this houre before thou hast examined thy selfe looke to thy account if thou hast it not yet ready consider in what a fearfull estate thou wert if God should at this instant call thee to thy reckoning 3 The matters to bee accounted of Eccles. 12. vlt. Act 8.22 Rom. 2.15.16 Mat. 12.37 2 Cor. 5.10 Mat. 5.26 Mat. 12.36 our selues our thoughts our words deeds committed omitted yea the smallest and least things farthings idle words How great rigour If a King call his Treasurer to account for euery pinne how much more for pounds and great summes of money So if God will reckon with vs for idle wordes how much more for cursing lying common swearing and blaspeming his Name If for the vtmost farthing how much more for Couetousnesse Oppression Drunkennesse Whoredome Theft Murther c. Thou shalt be called to account for that which thou hast receiued for the gifts of nature and grace for thy body and soule for euery Sermon thou hast heard for euery good occasion and opportunity offered of well doing And this before God before Angels and men yea before the Diuels How great must the shame of the wicked bee when all their abhominable and secretest sinnes shall be layd open Then shall that bee published on the house top which thou wouldest not now should be discouered for the whole world It may bee thou wouldest blush if that which thou diddest the last night should bee published at the market Crosse in the hearing but of a few in comparison how wilt thou bee confounded when all thy damnable practices shall bee brought forth to light before the whole world Then shall be emptied in the view of all that end of the wallet which we now hang at our back What shall we doe to auoide the shame and horror of that day Let vs euery day cast vp our account Let vs vnfainedly repent Euery sinne wee commit is scored vp and so soone as wee repent it is wiped and blotted out Repent and bee conuerted that your sinnes may bee blotted said Peter Act. 3.19 who had experience of the force of repentant teares which blotted out his horrible deniall of his Master The Iesuits report of a Student at Paris who comming to Confession and not being able for teares and sobbing to speake was willed by his Confessour to write downe his sinnes which hee did and when the Confessour receiued it the writing vanished and there remained nothing but the white and cleane paper this say they was by a miracle because of his great contrition Let the credit of this storie bee vpon the Reporters but vpon the credite of the word of God if wee repent vnfainedly all our sinnes shall bee blotted out and a booke of cleane paper in respect of sinne shall bee presented to the Iudge Repent therefore and bring foorth good fruits for this also shall further our reckoning at that day So Paul telleth the Philippians that their charitie in relieuing him was a fruit that did abound to their account Thy Prayers Philip. 4.17 thine Almes deeds thy Teares for sinne thy conscionable walking in thy Calling shall exceedingly further thy reckoning VERSE 13. Let vs not therefore iudge one another any more but iudge this rather that no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brothers way HEre beginneth the second part of the Explication spoken of in the second verse The first was a Direction for the compounding of the Controuersies among the Romanes about meates and dayes This second is a Dehortation from Scandall with diuers Reasons following to the end of the Chapter This Dehortation is set downe by an Antithesis where two things are opposed the one is denied the other affirmed The first hath a Prohibition shewing what we must not do We must not iudge one another any more The second hath a precept shewing what we must do We must iudge this rather that we put not a stumbling blocke or an occasion to fall in our brothers way
conuersion of a sinner If thou hast made the good to sorrow by thy sinnes repent and make them glad with thy amendment This is true charity towards God and men VERSE 15. Destroy not him with thy meat for whom Christ dyed THe Apostle here proues by another Argument that scandall is contrary to charitie namely by another effect of it Thus That which destroyes our brother is contrary to charity But to giue scandall destroyes him Therefore c. This Argument is set downe in the manner of a prohibition Where we haue the thing prohibited to destroy our brother And the Illustration In the thing prohibited is the action to destroy the obiect him that is our brother Both these are illustrated the action from the instrument of destruction with thy meat The obiect from his dignitie which is that he is beloued of Christ declared by an infallible token of such loue he dyed for him Destroy not The word signifies totall destruction It is no light losse that comes to our brother by giuing offence but euen the losse of body and soule Not that euery one who is scandalized is so lost but that scandall is apt so to doe and where it is taken without the mercy of God bringeth forth such effect Such a destruction is here meant which came to Iudas Iohn 17.12 2 Thess 2.3 which shall come to Antichrist who are both called the sonnes of perdition from this word Such a destruction as wicked men shall haue at the day of Iudgement 2 Pet. 3.7 which is therefore called the day of perdition of vngodly men Such a destruction which the deuill endeuours to bring vpon vs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Reuel 9.11 who is therefore called Apollyon the destroyer So that here is an Auxesis scandall not onely grieues but destroies our brother Him the strong saith Ambrose who by the abstinence of the weake beginnes to doubt of his liberty as diuers at this day among vs doubtlesse haue by the scrupulousnesse of some begunne to stagger at such things whereof before they haue beene well perswaded But it is rather meant of the weake destroy not him that is Aretius thy weake brother he saith not brother but him though that terme be vsed before and after because desinit esse frater cum pergas occidere saith one He ceaseth to be thy brother when thou goest about to destroy him With thy meat Meat is the instrument of this destruction not a Sword or Pistoll and so surely many perish through riotous eating and drinking but he meanes here by vsing our liberty in eating of all things without the respect of our weake brother who is in danger of destruction thereby three wayes 1 In regard of a passiue scandall through rash iudgement 2 By being in danger of eating against conscience by the example of the strong which brings shipwracke of faith 3 From the danger of Apostasie and alienation from the faith For whom Christ died For him for whom Christ died wee should be carefull and esteeme him aboue our meat apparell or any indifferent thing here a comparison being as interpreters obserue betweene our meat and our brother redeemed by the death of Christ Scandall is apt to destroy our Brother Doctr. 1. Cor. 8.11 And through thy knowledge shall thy weake brother perish for whom Christ died And verse 20. of this Chapter For meat destroy not the worke of God Can any of them be destroyed for whom Christ dyed Quest If we consider the counsell and decree of God Answ and the promise of saluation vnto them they cannot But diuide and separate them from these and then they may in regard of their owne infirmity of the malice of Satan and of the innumerable offences which are giuen which they were neuer able to outstand if they were left to themselues Here is a comfort for the weake Christ dyed for them Vse 1 Though thou hast not so strong a faith as Abraham so much patience as Iob c. yet if thou hast a true faith though small and striuest against corruption though weakly thou art to be reputed one belonging to Christ and shalt haue benefit by his death Here is a threefold admonition Vse 2 1 To the strong that out of their indulgence to their weak brethren they should abstaine from the vse of their liberty in things indifferent They are their Brethren Charity requires it and Christ also who dyed for them and not so to doe Paul elsewhere calleth sinning against Christ 1 Cor. 8.12 Thy meat or apparell are thine but thy brother is Christs he came to saue thy brother wilt thou goe about to destroy him that were in some sort to bean Antichrist Christ did that which was hard he parted with his bloud and life for thy brother what madnesse is it if wee will not doe that which is easie as to refraine some dish of meate or some colour or fashion of garment for our brothers nay for Christs sake 2 To the weake that they should beware how they take offence at the liberty of their brethren for hereby they are in danger to be destroyed Note But no man perisheth but for his owne sinne It is a rule Aquinas in loc Scandalum passiuum non est sine peceato scandalizati A passiue scandall is not without the sinne of him that is scandalized but it may be without the sinne of the scandalizing As first if hee doe an indifferent thing by the commandement of the Church or Magistrate Secondly if he doe it not knowing nor being able vpon any probability to suspect that any would be offended at his liberty Now in these cases to be offended is a sinne and sinne hath a destroying nature Doe then as thou pleasest in indifferent things whose vse is not determined by authoritie but leaue thy brother to his liberty and iudge him not He may vse his liberty and not sinne but thou canst not bee offended at it but thou must needs sinne Men speake of tendernesse of conscience and grace but it is a signe of neyther to finde fault and be offended at that which wee cannot soundly proue to be vnlawfull by Gods word 3 To all men That they haue a care of the saluation of their brethren also of their owne Giue no ill example entise no man to theft drunkennes vncleannesse to lye to forsweare themselues or to any sin for this is to play the Diuell and to oppose Christ in the worke of mans saluation Christ dyed for thee haue a care of thy owne soule for which Christ dyed and damne not thy selfe by thy sinnes VERSE 16. Let not then your good be euill spoken of IN this Verse is another Argument to disswade from scandall from the pernicious effect thereof which is the defamation of our good That which makes our good to be euill spoken of is not to be done But giuing offence makes our good to be euill spoken of Therefore c. The Argument is set downe in
diuersorum or a procedit When one and the same meaning and speech proceedeth out of the mouthes of diuers men Secondly from a description of God the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ adding force to his prayer by the mention of Christ whom the Father gaue to death to vnite vs to himselfe and together The members of the same Church Doctr. ought to be like minded one to another that God may be glorified 1. Cor. 1.10 Paul prayeth that the Corinthians may all speake the same thing that there be no diuisions among them but that they may perfectly be ioyned together in the same mind and in the same iudgement Phil. 3.16 and the Apostolicall Church is an example Act. 4.32 And the multitude of them that beleeued were of one heart and one soule In trouble seeke patience and consolation from God Vse 1 and hauing obtained them be thankefull Many thinke by their owne strength and manly stomack to beare trouble but if God giue not patience a little paine or crosse will moue vs to impatience Also to finde comfort in their calamities from their purses from their friends from merry company seeking to driue away the euill spirit by musicke as Saul but it is the Holy Spirit which is the Comforter Resort thou in thy trouble to God the Author and to the word of God the Instrument of Patience and Consolation Paul vnto his preaching Vse 2 and writing and disputing addes Prayer for disputation and sound arguments will not preuaile vnto concord though they doe to conuiction vnlesse God moue the heart as wee haue experience with the Papists and Brownists Many learned Preachers profit not their hearers for want of Prayer Paul may plant and Apollo may water but God will be intreated for the encrease As in the nourishment of the body many feed of the daintiest and yet are leane and sickly so many heare and reade the Word which is the food of the soule and yet are not nourished because they pray not Be at the Prayers as well as at the Preaching if thou wouldest profit Vnity and Concord are here specially commended vnto vs Vse 3 not in error or euill but in truth and goodnesse How good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in vnitie It is pretious as the oyntment of Aaron Psal 13. â—â— and profitable as the dew of Hermon The Lord make this dew abundantly to fall about the Tents of the Church of England Herod and Pilate shake hands against Christ set on it may be by the High Priests Annas and Caiphas and the wicked Iewes Let vs agree and hold together for the defence of Christ and his Gospell The Papists bragge of Vnity as of an infallible note of the Church and surely Hierusalem is a City compact together Psal 122.3 they also face the world downe that wee cannot haue the Truth because of our Contentions this is that which they lay in our dish in all their Pamphlets the more guiltie are they which broach new opinions which contend for trifles and so cause the Truth which we professe to be euill spoken of by the Aduersaries God is not glorified there where there is no vnity Vse 4 where men agree not in affection and speech and gesture He cannot endure them which call him Father and will not liue quietly and in vnity with their brethren By strife and contention God is not glorified but blasphemed The Lords Supper is instituted as a band and nourisher of Vnity and Concord but it is made a fountaine of discord and variance by some and that for a gesture there can bee no religion in this neither is God glorified thereby What is the reason that our contentions are not coniured downe by that most effectuall charme of the Apostle to the Corinthians in the beginning of his first Epistle to them Now I beseech you brethren by our Lord Iesus Christ that there be no diuisions among you 1. Cor. 1.10 c. And by the end of the last Epistle to them Finally my brethren farewell be perfect be of good comfort 2. Cor. 13.11 be of one mind liue in peace and the God of Loue and Peace shall be with you Whom should not that Patheticall prayer of our Sauiour going to his Crosse moue to vnity Holy Father keepe through thine owne Name those whom thou hast giuen me that they may be one Iohn 17.11.21 as wee are that the world may beleeue that thou bast sent mee Surely if wee haue not put off Christianity these speeches must and will preuaile with vs vnto Peace and Vnitie VERSE 7. Wherefore receiue yee one another as Christ also receiued vs to the glory of God IN this Verse is the Conclusion of the Argument taken from the Example of Christ vers 3. Christ pleased not himselfe Therefore we ought to receiue one another The phrase Receiuing one another being put for Not pleasing our selues because pleasing our selues is the cause why wee receiue not one another Not to please our selues To beare the infirmities of our brethren To receiue one another are Synonima with Paul here And thus not onely is repeated the Argument of Christs Example but also the maine Admonition set downe Chap. 14.1 and Chap. 15.1 The Argument is repeated nouo modo after a new manner vt pondus addat Aretius that he might adde weight thereunto The Admonition is now the third time iterated here the word Receiuing being vsed that so by a holy kinde of Art Pet. Martyr he might end this disputation in the same tearme in which he beganne it This Conclusion is set downe by way of precept that it may be the stronglier imprinted in vs. In it wee haue the Duty commanded and the Rule of it wherein is the Argument of the example of Christ The Duty hath the action Receiue and the obiect one another Receiue as before Chap. 14.1 not onely to entertaine our brethren comming to vs but to seeke them vp not to shunne their company but with all loue to embrace them and to admit them to familiar conuersation fellowship and communication of offices One another In the 14. Chapter verse 1. the admonition was charged vpon the strong toward the weake but here both are charged the strong must receiue the weake and the weake the strong As Christ also receiued vs to the glory of God In these words is the Rule in which we haue the Note of the Rule and the Argument from Christs example As This notes the Rule Wee must receiue one another as Christ hath receiued vs this note signifies syncerity not aequality there being as much difference in the degree of receiuing and dispropâ—rtion as is betweene that which is infinite and that which is finite The Argument is taken from the effect of Christ where is the Action hath receiued which containeth all his loue hee redeemed vs purchased life for vs with his bloud of enemies made vs the children of God reconciled vs to God
that Paul by his Ministery might offer them vp to God through faith of the Gospell Sanctified by the Holy Ghost not a spirituall conuersation but noting the third Person in the Trinity the Author of Sanctification As S. Pauls Apostleship is here described so proportionably the ministery of the word to be continued to the end Paul is a Priest the Gentiles the sacrifice the preaching of the Gospell the sacrificing knife Ministers must by preaching offer vp the people an acceptable sacrifice to God Esay 66.20 Doctr. They shall bring your brethren as an offering to the Lord out of all Nations Eph. 4.12 Act. 26.18 Rom. 1.16 Ministers by their office are sacred persons they must therefore adorne their function with a holy life and their calling should so farre be from being a disgrace vnto them that euen in this regard they should bee had in singular estimation If the Ministery of the Law were glorious more the ministery of the Gospell The office of the Ministery is sacred Vse 2 by themselues therefore to bee reuerently performed and carefully by the people reuerently to be attended vnto Ministers are priests Vse 3 not properly but by allusion not Masse priests of the order of Rome to offer vp their Maker as a propitiatory sacrifice for the quick and the dead we abhor such blasphemy Nor Leuiticall priests of the order of Aaron they offered beasts wee men in sacrifice killing their lusts that they may be an offering sanctified and acceptable As wee are Priests so all Christians are priests or else wee haue no part in the blood of Christ Reuel 1.5 6. and we are a holy 1 Pet. 2.5.9 and a Royall priesthood saith Saint Peter alluding to Exod. 19.6 where God saith that the Israelites shall bee to him a kingdome of priests for though the Rituall priesthood were conferred vpon the tribe of Leui and appropriated to it Rom. 12.1 Phil. 2.17 Psal 51.17 Psa 50.14 Heb. 13.16 Psal 4.5 yet the Royall priesthood belonged to the whole kingdome You are all Priests your sacrifices are your selues your faith your repentance your prayers and prayses your workes of mercy offer then the sacrifices of righteousnesse and put your trust in the Lord. As Ministers are priests Vse 4 so the people are sacrifices which terme puts them in mind of their sinfulnesse deseruing death for sacrifices must be killed vnder the law there was confession of sinne by the parties bringing the sacrifice it was they which deserued to dye not the guiltles beast Also they must learne that they must be pure the sacrifices were washed and they must be sanctified or not acceptable There might be no blemish or imperfection in them Leu. 22. If we be wicked and profane we are fit for the Diuell but no sacrifices for God And if we our selues be sacrifices then our bodies soules with all the members and faculties of both must be dedicated to God We must deny our selues and liue onely to God The end of preaching and hearing is Vse 5 that wee may bee sacrificed when then thou comest to the word suffer the sacrificing knife to cut the throat of thy lusts It is painfull to be launced but if thou part not with them thou must be damned with them and canst be no sacrifice acceptable to God When thou comest therefore to a Sermon remember thou comest to be sacrificed struggle not yeeld thy selfe be not angry when thy sinnes are toucht lye as still as Isaack did when he should be made a sacrifice if thou desirest to be saued As Isaack said to his Father Here is the knife and the wood but where is the Lamb so I feare me a man may aske at our ser mons Here is the Priest and the knife but where is the sacrifice many come to the Altar but they break away and will not bee sacrificed going from the Sermon with more sinfulnesse and condemnation then they brought with them Great is the happinesse of such which are sacrificed to God Vse 6 for they are acceptable They which are not are reiected and a very abomination reserued for the shambles but if thou be conuerted thou art for the holy Altar in heauen He seemes to be depriued of the sense of piety which hearing that the conuersion of a sinner is an acceptable sacrifice reioyceth nor for it If thou hast once beene sacrificed to God thou art for euer to bee separated and set apart from common vse see then that thou take not thy body and soule being dedicated to God to prostitute before the Diuels altar by abominable sinning VERSE 17. I haue therefore whereof I may glory through Iesus Christ in those things which pertaine to God 18. For I will not dare to speake of any of those things which Christ hath not wrought by mee to make the Gentiles obedient IN these words and so to the end of the 21. verse he commendeth his Apostleship from the efficacy of it which was such that he might iustly glory in it There are two parts First an assertion I haue whereof I may glory Secondly a declaration of certaine bounds whereby his boasting is limited which bounds are set downe in the 17. verse and expounded in the 18. Those bounds are either in regard of the efficient or of the matter of his boasting The efficient Iesus Christ The matter Things pertaining to God Not in my selfe but in and through Iesus Christ In things pertaining to God All things pertaine to God Good things as to the Author and Rewarder of them Euill things as the Iudge and auenger of them But here Paul hath another meaning In the 16. verse hee described his Apostleship in termes borrowed from the Leuiticall priest-hood calling it a Leyturgye and Hierourgye and here continuing the same Metaphor hee calleth the execution of his function Hes 5.2 a performing of things pertaining to God So in the Hebrewes A high priest is ordained in things pertaining to God that is to declare the will of God to the people and to offer the sacrifices of the people to God These two are expounded in the 18. verse The first I dare not speake of those things which Christ hath not wrought by me that is I acknowledge that what good soeuer hath come to men by my labours it is wrought by Christ whose instrument onely I haue bin It is not effected by my vertue but by his goodnes Let the glory bee to him I haue planted and watred but the encrease is of him Paul Apolles are but vnderworking causes Ministers by whom the Gentiles beleeued euen as the Lord gaue to euery man 1. Cor. 3.5 not according to their will and appointing This is amplified by Pauls modestie I dare not Augustine Melior est in malis factis humilis confessio quam in bonis superba gloriatio An humble confession of the euill we haue done is better then a proud bragging of the good we haue done therefore Paul dareth not glory in himselfe
of his Prouidence to beleeuers and therefore outward things and transitory are in the word propounded to such as feare God that they shall not want that which is good for them Though the principall end and fruit of faith and Godlinesse be eternall life yet Godlinesse hath the promises of this life 1 Tim. 4.8 also Faith is wonderfull vsefull as wheat being sowne not onely bringeth forth the kernells of wheat for mans sustenance but straw and chaffe also for fodder for cattell so faith furnisheth both body and soule with necessaries But the best and most naturall is to vnderstand the fruit of the faith of the Gentiles The manner of his comming in the fulnesse of the blessing of the Gospell The blessing of the Gospell what this blessing is Authors diuersly expound but wee may from Paul himselfe fetch the meaning in the 1. Chapter verse 11.12 hee saith I long to see you that I may impart vnto you some spirituall gift to strengthen and comfort you The blessing of the Gospell is nothing else but the comfort and strength of Grace conueyed into our hearts by the preaching of the Gospell With this Paul promises to come wherein me thinkes he deales like vnto fathers who when they go abroad promise to bring their little ones something whereby they both still them for their absence and make them long for their returne So by this promise of his comming with blessing he maketh them the more contented with his absence and inflameth them with a great desire of his presence This manner is amplified by the certainty I know by secret reuelation This confidence of Paul is not so much to his commendation as to the Romanes For not onely good seed and a good Tilths man but good ground is also necessary to a good crop Herein Paul implyeth the confidence he bad that the Romans were a very Godly people in whom he should haue much comfort Euery man is faithfully to performe that which he vndertakes Doctr. Luke 12.42.43 Who is that faithfull and wise steward c. Blessed is that seruant c. so is the faithfull seruant commended Mat. 25.21 and one of Moses his principall praises was that he was faithfull Numb 12.7 Heb. 3.2 Here Paul is an example vnto all men Vse 1 faithfully to discharge the trust committed vnto them Let seruants apply it to themselues that they be no pickers or stealers or wasters of their masters goods committed to them but let them shew all good faithfulnesse Also Executors that they enrich not themselues by the trust committed vnto them by the dead to the damage of Orphanes widowes and such who are to receiue lands or legacies Gen. 47.29 30 31. et 50.5 6 7 et seq Let them remember Ioseph who faithfully dealt with his Father Iacob according to his will Also all feoffees that they take no aduantage to them and their heires but conscionably discharge the trust imposed in them Also all such to whom is committed any stocke of the Church or commonwealth to be imployed to necessary 2 King 22.7 ciuill or pious vses to be faithfull like these good men in Iosiahs time spoken of in the 2. of the Kings And specially all Ouerseers for the poore to remember Pauls example and neither by any cunning to enrich themselues by the money collected nor by any negligence to dissipate it but in their states and euery other way to husband euery thing for the best aduantage of the poore for whom they are put in trust Not to giue of a mans owne is a sinne but to defraud the poore of that which others giue is a thing abominable and such vnfaithfulnesse most vnworthy of pardon Neither can any good be expected from such as saith our Sauiour Luke 16.10 11 12. To deceiue a trust committed vnto vs argues a lewd minde and among the Pisidians such were to bee put to death Also the Imperiall lawes adiudged him who conuerted things committed to his trust to his owne vse to be guilty of theft By proportion also Ministers hereby are to be carefull to keepe that good thing which is committed to them 1 Tim. 6.20 2 Tim. 1.14 as Paul twice chargeth Timothy And if wee are faithfully to satisfie the trust comitted by men much more to deale faithfully in that which God committeth to our trust as our bodies and soules that we returne them vnpolluted and the gifts and talents wee receiue that we imploy them faithfully to our Masters vse The Grecians are an Example to all Christians Vse 2 that they bring forth fruit of their profession A Godly man is compared to a tree which is fruitfull Psal 1. and herein saith Christ is my Father glorified Iohn 15.2 8. if you beare much fruit To speake well and make faire shewes without fruit is to bring forth leaues onely like the cursed fig-tree and is the note of an Hypocrite and to bring forth ill fruit is the note of a profane beast To be planted in Paradise and to be barren or to beare ill fruit as drunkennesse whoredome c. is as contrary to nature as it is agreeable to Nature for the Sunne to shine or the fire burne Let vs then haue our fruit vnto holinesse and the end euerlasting life Rom. 6.22 An admonition to ministers Vse 3 what their principall endeuour should bee when they receiue any place namely to come with the fulnesse of the blessing of the Gospell they must liue and yet to make their people partakers of the blessing of the Gospell must bee as or more deare vnto them then their liues Also to the people to know what vse they are to make of their teachers not to make a gaine of them in outward things but to receiue by them the blessing of the Gospell We bring a blessing and treasure in earthen vessels more precious then gold faith repentance remission of sinnes peace of conscience life eternall Qui capere potest capiat He that is able to receiue them let him receiue them and woe to them which despise these things VERSE 30. Now I beseech you brethren for the Lord Iesus Christ his sake and for the loue of the Spirit that you striue together with me in your prayers to God for me 31. That I may be deliuered from them which doe not beleeue in Iudea and that my seruice which I haue for Hierusalem may be accepted of the Saints 32. That I may come to you with ioy by the will of God and may with you be refreshed 33. Now the God of peace be with you all Amen THese words containe the third amplification of Pauls excuse that he comes not now to the Romanes which is a request he makes to them We may consider here two things First Pauls manner of requesting secondly the request it selfe In the manner there is first a compellation Brethen Secondly an obtestation I beseech you for the Lord Iesus Christs sake and for the loue of the Spirit Brethren This