is on our side and therfore we feare not what the Pope or any other Carnalite can doe against vs. Fourthly where and when is this horne erected Euen there then where and in what place the worlds force is to represse the same euen in the house of his seruant Dauid When did Israel féele most the presence of the horne Whē Pharao entred with greatest rage to destroy the Lordes heritage When did Daniel perceiue his might and where Euen when his friend the Kyng wanted strength to helpe him and in the place prouided for his destruction Where did Helias the good Prophet beholde this wonderfull horne erected But where idolatrie had preuayled ouer all and then also when not one séemed to stand with the lord And did not Israell now decay and the heathen enter into their possessions Was not Dauids house aboue al persecuted Then there did the Lord send his promised horne Christ our Lorde by whose sapience the wisedome of all flesh is proued foolishnesse and through whose strength the strong armed mā is spoyled of his treasure Be of good comfort O thou little flock afflicted for the Lord hath and wil haue his Christ to haue the victorie Yea death is the instrument of life and he maketh persecution to bee the séede time of his Gospel and the bloud of Martirs the budding time of the same Wherfore alwayes with this other such places of the holy Scripture take comfort thou that trustest in the Lord And let the experiment of the last persecution in England assure thée that the power of this horne is eftsones encreased Where and when did this Christ shewe forth to our age his might But when the bloud of his saintes in our English bloudy Church became as riuers of water and in the time of their greatest pride and ripenes of their Butchers actes Then and there hath the Lord againe in this nation erected his Christ and Gospell and from the prison of the Tower hath to the Throne and diademe of this land raysed his more then halfe dead Elizabeth our godly and gracious Quéene vnder whom the ruines of the decayed walles of true Religion are greatly repayred once againe God make vs mindfull of his mercies thankfull for his benefites And giue her Maiestie such encrease of his zealous spirite that the remnant of the Hydra and seuen headed beast may be banished this nation that in her gracious raigne and by her godly hand with the state of her ecclesiastical and ciuil gouernment in God as Gods holy instruments Christ alone may be erected as he is set downe by the Psalmist to be our strength our light So shal her daies be many her throne established and her and our enemies vtterly ashamed And in the meane space graunt vs O Lord for Christes sake true and perfect obedience to her Maiestie with pacient abyding in humble peace till the time which thou hast set to frame her heroical heart further to those things which shall most sound forth thy glory her Maiesties honour and the profite of thy Church that so we may depend vppon Christ our horne of saluation God of strength The Prophet not contented to staye with this summary spéech dilateth the same more amplie sayth as followeth in the next verse Vers 3 As he spake by the mouth of his holy Prophets which haue ben since the world began Least the saluation by him now preached in Christ should séeme to the world a new noueltie fréeed from vtilitie and truth he voucheth the same to be long sith determined of God and the same open to all ages before by the holy Prophets in their times Euē from the voice omnipotent to Satan at the fal of Adam vntill the houre of this ioyful song so sending as to our certaine stay the written word of god As if he had sayd other sauing health to looke for at the handes of God then hée hath promised and to refuse the same by him set and geuen according to his promise is mere wickednes To geue credite to his word and to subscribe therto is true godlines Wherfore come hither ye sonnes of God this is the promised séed the little stone the virgins sonne Jesse his braunch the Messias and the anoynted Sauiour of the Lord promised by al the prophets since the beginning of the world This verse exhibiteth as by hand to our sences excellent matter First that to the whole world aswell before Christ as since and till the last day and houre of the same world there is no saluatiō to be looked for by that perishing world els where then in Dauids house in and by the horne Christ Iesus alone by God and not men erected vp in all sight in that house not set with or vnder other helpes but alone and aboue all other séeking their helpe at him Of saintes the virgin Mary is of most worthy fame yet is she farre of frō hauing power to helpe in earth the sonnes of men Therefore she in her life for a lesson till the end of death to all Dauids house in the Gospell being called vpon of the seruitors at the mariage sayth Whatsoeuer he biddeth you do speaking of her sonne Christ se that ye do it And when Elizabeth this holy priestes wife had saluted her she acknowledged Gods mercie to be the cause and sayd My soule doth magnifie the lord c. And my spirite eke reioyceth in God my Sonne which is my Sauiour for els had I wyth the rest of the sinfull world both soule and bodie perished into eternall fire had not this Christ by the spirite of God my Lord bene conceited and borne not of me alone but to and nor me also Secōdly he hath promised by al his Prophets to deliuer vs from error that this Christ is not to be found els where then in Dauids house by the which as all false Christes are descried so also the true Church is hereby approuedly knowne For as after the flesh Christ is of the line of Dauid so spiritually Dauids house signifieth his new Church and in the same wise Christ is by the Prophets called sundrie times Dauid aswell by Jeremie as Ezechiel where the church is prophesied to serue God and Dauid their king vz. christ the sonne of Dauid For Dauid was now long sith departed to the Lord and again sayth the Lord I will set vp a shepherd ouer them euen my seruaunt Dauid c. And my seruaunt Dauid that is Christ shal be the Prince among them I the lord haue spoken it Therefore good Reader of force it must be so The house wherin this Princely Dauid raigneth and this priestly Prophet teacheth is the church of true Israelites the vnfayned house of Jacob to the which and for the which the Angels discend and ascend dayly by the commaundement of our King to the ministring comfort of his
the same right the instrumentes of destruction of what nature or condition so euer they bee are together with the author of them to be punnished and condemned Hereto he alleadgeth certaine examples of scriptures as of Achan of Corah and his companie In end he thus concludeth If to condemne the organ with the wicked spirit the author it be Iniquum So by the same reason must it be wicked that the bodies of the faithfull together with their soules be made partakers of eternall life and heauenly felicitie But farre be such thoughts from the minds of the godly c. Thus farre Musculus That old father and great learned Doctor Chrisostome vppon the same place of Genesis geueth in effect the same censure whose wordes vpon the Serpents iudgement are as they are reported also by Peter Martir that famous man thus God in this action delt like vnto a man that is a most naturall louing Father who when he séeth his deare sonne slaine doth not only couet the death of the murtherer but the sword Speare euery the instrument wherewith he perished will he likewise séeke to destroy Should I stand to speake of al lets rubbish in this nation I should frō my self to al flesh without great search see such matter aboūd as no reasonable volume could cōtaine their descriptiō Idolatrous papists Atheistes Carnalites Hipocrites Adulterers Drunkardes and sundry wicked vices else in many places many times are lesse loked vpon with iustice censure then such as many wayes els are profitable mēbers in the church of god This is a perilous shrub it would be stubbed vp by the rootes The Lord graunt better regard lest the maiestie on hye take the matter into his owne hand from such as be ouer negligent Gods in earth The Preachers of God must cry out in Sion and tell Ierusalem and Iuda of her faults from the hiest to the lowest to one and other for agaynst this that euill In paine of damnation must the preacher cry out that the desert may be tracked and the hils the valleyes the ragged the croked the old and rotten for age may be altered or quite remoued that in England his prophets may so exhibit to the lord at his comming a prepared people and well instructed whose soules by his spirit being gouerned their bodies by his force shall walke in all holines in his sight as the dayes of their lyfe Then will the Lord yet more delight in our Church state and people he will take pleasure to walke into the garden of our harts there to receiue the redolent smell of the swete fruites spreading themselues far abroad all a long the beds of fayth he will blesse her with beautie and builde hir with precious stones of great price he wil teach this nation himselfe by his worde and will giue thée the more abounding spirit to walke in his statutes he wil be for thée agaynst thy forren foes domesticall enemies a tower of strēgth to assist thée and bruse thē in myerie streates before thy eyes he will destroy the smyth and all his instrumentes the Pope and his pelfe all diuelishe deuises agaynst thée of what force so euer To his faythfull ministers and Teachers will he graunt his ayde and power to be for them a well fenced cytie wyth walles of Brase agaynst all Popishe practises bent to their destruction Finally to some all from thy vertuous Quéene to the faythfull Plowman sowing his séede will he poure forth his grace and spirit his christ and heauen to be thine for euer Vers 11.12 Through the tender mercy of our God whereby the day spring from an high hath visited vs To giue light to them that sit in darkenesse and in the shadow of death and to guide our feet into the way of peace This knowledge of Saluation where by man is brought to the forgiuenesse of sinnes in christ commeth not to vs by purchase of gold and siluer or any other mans merit but by the inward mercy of our God sayth Zachary euen as a naturall mother séeing her child wounded in her armes or taken violently from her to be slaine all the partes of her body and soule are therewith moued with singuler compassion so hast thou O God saith he beholding our most miserable blindnes bandage vnder sinne taken most mercifull pitie in the bowels of thy Fatherly mercies hast sēt to vs this branch thy Christ day spring as the beautie of thy flesh to visit our darkenesse with the light of his trueth and by his lyfe to deliuer vs from the gloming darke death of ignorance sinne to set our conscience quiet in the Iustification by his bloud to embolden vs to approch thy presence as Children to their best beloued Father without terror of death for Sinne or feare of any worldly want For through the comfort of this bright shining sunne of righteousnesse and virident braunche of Jesse his roote the anoynted Christ we shall ouercome whatsoeuer shall set it selfe against vs. To our instruction further comforts let vs as before so in these two verses obserue some such pith as lieth within the vertue of these happy words By this maner of speach the Prophet would haue vs to consider déeply the chiefe and aboundant loue of the ineffable God whose studye and care as it were is onely bent to doe vs the best good though we in no part demerit the same Thrée speciall thinges I obserue to thée gentle reeder in these last verses whereof the first followeth The first is that by the only mercy of God without the merit of man Christ our Sauiour is giuen to vs as himselfe testifieth in the third of Iohn saying So dearely God loued the world that hee gaue his onely begotten Sonne c. Without our merit gaue the heauenly Father his sauing Christ for when we were his ennemies he saued vs Vpon the which most mercifull acte he perswadeth vs that now much more sence we belong to him will he deliuer vs frō wrath The second note is that albeit God in his great mercy hath so copiously enritched vs with the hidden treasure of ful remission from al our sinnes yet hath he therwith nothing impared his iustice but hath by the merit of another himselfe Christ Iesus our Lord which the Prophet here calleth the day spring from an high fully answered the same In whose person mercy iustice haue met together mercy peace haue kyssed each other for in that Christ Iesus tooke vpon him our nature sanctifiing the same by his conception and ioined it to his god head He tooke that person of sinne vppon him which could be subiecte to the crosse and aptly receiued the curse due thereto for our iniquitie and accept to the ful the fury of his fathers iust conceiued wrath In which body he did fully beare the same vpon the
An Exposition of the Hymne commonly called Benedictus with an ample comfortable application of the same to our age and people By A. Anderson Preacher Stay prophane vain bablings for they shall encrease vnto more vngodlines 2. Timothe 2.16 But if you haue bitter enuying and strife in your harts reioyce not neither be liars against the truth This wisdom discendeth not from aboue but is earthly sensuall and diuelish For where enuying and strife is there is sedition and all maner of euill woorkes Iames. 3.14.15 16. ¶ Imprinted at LondoÌ„ by Henry Middelton for Raufe Newbery The booke to the Reader To prayse the Lord is my desire To helpe his Church all that I can To quench if could such burning yre As Satan late hath caste in man VVhile pen doth carpe at brothers ill Sinne taketh rest the Church doth spill For other state some men do craue And cut themselues from this we haue In hart they hate thy state and life â–ª They ioy to see thee at such strife And they at ease do by disdaine Inuent all meanes t' encrease thy paâ—â—â— Their Pope and Masse they long to see Our Christ his law and vnitie They do blaspheme through our discent In cases new of gouernment Thy brawle their broyle would come to end If cease thou couldst thus to contend Ioyne hands in one embrace remorce To banish sinne bend all thy force Thy selfe restraine Gods truth respect His Church and peace of his elect Vouchsafe vs Lord thy Christ his grace Our Queene thy sprite but sinne deface Amen A.A. ¶ To the right reuerend Father in God THOMAS by the mercifull prouidence of God Bishop of Lincolne his good L Anthony Anderson Minister of the good Gospel of God wisheth all health and peace in Christ our only Sauiour THe holy Apostle sayth that whatsoeuer thinges are writteÌ„ afore time are written for our learning which sentence reuerend father as often as I do remember by the hand leadeth mee deepely to consider with reuerent regard what I read in the holy Scriptures and vrgeth me by feruent prayer to craue of God the geuer of all good giftes in Christ the true vnderstanding of the Scriptures sense and the hidden treasures therein comprised And so hath it pleased the lord of life to open the windows of heauen his name bee euer praised and from thence by his spirite most familiarly to speake vnto mee by his written word So that to his great prayse and my endlesse comfort I see that no iot of his Law is voyd of most excellent comfortes to the heart that simply in integritie of soule seeketh to quench his thirst in this fountaine of health the Gospell of God. In this word I find the knowledge of God Christ his sonne with promise of his holy spirit shall in all his elect open their hartes and write in them the true vnderstanding of his lawes Ezec. 36. The which most excellent gift by the learned books since the time of the Apostles and penned trauels of sundrie godly fathers in the Church aswell before our times as in these our dayes doth appeare to be eueÌ„ now most florishing in the church of God his name be alwayes praysed therefore And wherefore did the Prophets by his spirite speake or Christ and his Apostles preach or the godly Fathers before vs or these our learned writers in this age VVherefore I saye with hart mouth and penne haue they trauailed But to vtter the testimonie of gods gift confesse his name to the people of the earth to the life of the elect the inexcuse of the reprobate So will the Lord haue his spirite euer resiant in his Church to the end of the world To follow these Fathers as they followe Christ I accompt it my part hauing for further example amongest the many worthy workes of our writers now your L. profitable worke lately set forth to the better tast of Gods good wil in his expressed word in the appoynted Lessons at common prayer Of which worke I cease to speake further and seeke to follow as I can such good examples to the ende before touched VVhat if my Mite be not much worth Yet as it commeth from the Lord of heauen so shal it no doubt profite thither to his habilitie and that is my whole desire Let the learned eares accept as in inferior place this my small coyne yet good curraÌ„t siluer I trust tried by the touch of truth and geue him licence to passe to the lesse learned and poore countrey people whose state requireth yet mornings milke not all able for solidate questioÌ„s or deepe digested misteries Their soules are precious in the sight of God their liues ought to be deare in our consciences their wounded hartes require some soueraigne medicine of gentle digesture and quiet operation yet so that their ignorance weaknes may be remoued which God for his mercies sake in Christ vouchsafe them richly in his loue This is not the least cause why I haue stirred vp the small gift of God in me to exercise the same vpon this Hymne vsed in and at the morning prayer Iudging as by order through vse the wordes are readie at the lippe to vouch the Prophetes speech So if their tender hartes had some helpe to open therto the hidden cause of ioye in that holy letter no doubt I say the same of them shuld both with hart and mouth ioynd in one consent of grateful harmonie crie out the praises of the Lord in the temples of the holy Ghost which is the song that deliteth only the musical eares of Gods maiestie Assuredly al other chaunting notes and changing keys seeme they neuer so pleasant in the eares of men are far estranged from the good like of god al if set vp in his house of prayer This people worship me saith God with their lippes but their hartes are farre from me In vaine do they serue me c. And albeit I cannot touch the stile worthie so high a matter or set downe such deepe doctrine as the nature of the place requireth or yet approch such the hidden treasures as are here layd vp or the finenes of this our age expecteth yet nay the lesse the wydowes Myte is my boldninge comfort And on the other part the sorowfull lookes of the slothful Miser to whom the Lordes Talent was imparted maketh me afraid to queÌ„ch the spirit or stay the firie word kindled in my hart if I may vse Ieremies wordes at this present But be it that I should blushe to present my simple skill to the scanning of the wise and sharpned sight of the loftie learned deepe Doctors of our time knowing that my owne weaknes is to sundrie of them knowne also inable to this exploit in respect of infinit others â–ª yet I ioye at this refuge my conscience beareth me witnes tofore GOD and men that the onely end and scope of this my pen is chiefely to promote Gods glory
victorie Adde vnto the holy Scriptures testes our own experimented testymony in the late persecuting time of Queene Marie and therewith well consider the encrease of hys Church number of her children which by the persecuted Preachers then with others their brethren since through their ministerie in the Gospell are begot in Christ and in thys Churche of Englande fostered to the praise and in the profession of the same our lord To conclude let euery faithfull man assure himselfe of the same continuall worke of God in his church to the end of the world For his eyes with remembrance of his promise are euer ouer the righteous to performe to all perpetuity that which by so many holy witnesses as his patriarks prophets he hath to the same promised frō time to time so assuredly Now let vs repaire again to our prophet Zachary who proceding doth set forth at large the performed promise of God and the effectes of the same to his beloued Church saying as followeth Vers 4 That he would send vs deliueraunce from our ennemies and from the hands of all that hate vs. Vers 5 That he would shew mercie towardes our Fathers and remember his holy couenant Vers 6 And the othe which he sware to our Father Abraham Vers 7 Which was that he would graunt to vs that we being deliuered out of the handes of our enemies should serue him with out feare Vers 8 All the daies of our life in holines and righteousnes before him This whole text dependeth vppon the former expounded verse As he promised to our fore c. And declareth by manifest proofe the faithfulnes of God which hath fulfilled his promises and oth not by the Prophets alone but long before made to the Patriarkes that was to Abraham saying I will blesse them that blesse thée and I wil curse them that curse thée And also thy séede shall possesse the gates of their enemies and in thy séede shall all the Nations of the earth be blessed and this promis he confirmed with an oth which Zacherie here repeateth saying I haue sworne by my selfe I will blesse thée and multiplie thy seede His liuing couenant also with Abraham was this Moreouer I will stablish my loue betwéene me and thée and thy séede after thée in their generations for an euerlasting couenant to be god vnto thée and to thy séede after thée And I will geue thée and thy séede after thée the land wherein thou art a straunger euen all the land of Canaan for an euerlasting possession I wil be their god And with our Father Dauid he made a couenant also which by oth eke he established that it might be euery way most firme and now in sending his Christ saith Zachary he hath performed the same which erst thus spake I haue made a couenant with my chosē I haue sworne to Dauid my seruant thy séed wil I stablish for euer and set vp thy throne from generation to generations Againe I haue found Dauid my seruant with my holy oyle haue I anointed him Therefore mine hand shal be established with him and my arme shall strengthen him The enemy shall not oppresse him neither shal the wicked hurt him But I will destroy his foes before his face and plague them that hate him My truth and my mercy shal be with him and in my name shall his horne be exalted And albeit that these and such other couenants by GOD with the Fathers made for and to them and the rest of his Churche may séeme to sound temporall thinges yet beside that this Psalme sheweth them to be spirituall our Prophet here as a moste true Paraphrast expoundeth the same couenantes and promises by othe of the LORDE also confirmed to their infallible stabilitie to be vnderstanded of vs spiritually and in Christ to possesse them by him likewyse as victorius men and more then conqueroures to triumph ouer and against our spirituall ennemies sinne Sathan the worlde and the flesh Principalities powers worldly gouernoures that is to say such as gouerne by and for the worldes luste Princes of darknes of this world spirituall wickednesses which are in high places and whatsoeuer openeth it selfe to the worke of our Saluation Neither did Christ deliuer the Iewes from the tirranny and bondage of the Romaines but yéelding himselfe to that authoritye paid the tribute thither due Teachinge vs thereby to looke for a further a more blessed deliuerance of which as before Paule speaketh to the Ephesians And the Angelles from Heauen preached the same to Ioseph saying he shal be called Iesus For he shall saue his people not from temporall gouernment of Straungers but from the spiritual captiuity of their sinnes That being so from feare of sin sathan hell world and flesh spiritually and safely deliuered they may serue the Lord not with Iewish rites or popish deuotion but with sinceritie of hart purenes of handes in euery place in true holynesse and like righteousnesse by him accepted and in his sight frée from hipocrisy al the daies of their life Lo this is the fruite of the blessed promises othe and couenantes which our Prophet here speaketh of This is the victory which God geueth to his faithfull fighting souldiers and sanctified people On this sorte shall they possesse the gates of their ennemies they shal through Christ their head remaine and dwell as Lordes ouer all thinges And shall treade Satan vnder their féete notwithstanding his dayly assaltes and subtil fight The battel is betwixt Sathan and the soule of man it beginneth wyth mans lyfe and is fought in the fielde of a good conscience enduring by fayth till death for both partes sound the retyre But the a victory by Gods spirite is euer assured to the faythfull and shall be perfected wyth b Christ in his kingdome to our endles happie and most blessed state Now hauing the text thus opened by Gods mercies and grace of his spirit let vs according to our former rule obserue some such profitable notes as the same doth reache apparantly to our considerations And first in this seconde verse of this section for of the first we shall speake more herafter Christ so willing let vs vpon the wordes note that the Fathers Patriarkes and Prophets albeit they are of the prophet here called and that truly holy yet did not their holinesse demerit such great treasures and heauenly fruitfulnesse eyther for their selues or their posterity as by his words he here expresseth But sayth the prophet well instructed in the doctrine of truth the Lorde was there vnto brought towardes our Fathers by his mere mercy that wyth them he should make so Solempne and Honorable a couenaunt And if the Fathers whose holinesse the sacred Scriptures so much recounteth had not wherwyth to meritte the couenaunt of peace wyth God Where shall theyr Chyldren obteyne suche pryce Naye such as haue sought by theyr worthynesse and Obedience to the Lawe set
among the wicked of the earth hath taken them and according to his good will being before the foundation of the worlde was layde hath chosen them to be his people This is the minde of our Prophet saying To giue knowledge c. If we should aske of the Papistes whereby we apprehend Saluation they will say to vs partly by christ and partly by the worthinesse of mans workes Such blasphemies they bray out of their helly hartes But deare reader be not deceiued by their delusions lend thy selfe some leasure to take view for thy wealth of that which here is sayd Were it that saluation could be atteyned by the workes of the law as true it is the law of-God sayth he that doth fulfill the law shall lyue by the law yet are there two absolute reasones ouerthrowing all meritte in man what or whosoeuer by the Lawe The firste is the impossibilytie that is men to perfourme the law The other is the frayltie of man which fulfylling if he could yet can not alwayes stand frée from transgressing the Law of god And at what time he falleth his righteousnes tombleth downe with himselfe in to the dyche and so frustrate is his vaine trust before reposed in his owne holines For the first he that shall by the works of the Lawe become iust before God must in hearte be pure from Sinne for as out of a filthy puddle can naturally come no swéete water so out of a wicked hart can procéede no pure action nor is God pacified from wrath by any worke which procéedeth from a sinfull and a corrupted conscience Search seeke from east to west north south among the sonnes of men behold no where shalt thou find a man whose hart is pure from sinne Nay whose harte is not altogether a lump of that Massie poison so that if God should loke strayghtly vpon him his holinesse should not be able to abyde the tryall of the lord Finally the wisedome of the fleshe is death and is at set battle in enimytie wyth God for it is not subiect to the Spirite nor the Law of God neyther in deede can be So that I conclude with Paule that they which be in the flesh and that is euery Popishe iusticiarie cannot please god Wherfore since the founteine of mans harte is corrupt and poysoned what pleasant action can proceede from his conduites But ye will say the regenerate man meriteth Yet Paule sayth to the man regenerate what hast thou that thou hast not receiued I suppose Paule was regenerate when he wrot his Epistle to the Romanes and yet he of himselfe sayth that his hart is combred wyth the Canker of sinne So that he dare not boast of meritte but rather cryeth out for woe agaynst that guylt of his Regenerate fleshe saying I sée another Lawe in my members rebelling agaynst the Lawe of my mind and leading me Captiue into the Lawe of Sinne that is in my members Oh wretched man that I am who shall deliuer me from the bodye of this death I thanke God through Iesus Christ our Lorde His desert here he confesseth to be suche that were it not God through Christ our Lorde he caried nothing with him but a body he meaneth soule and body deseruing by meritte euerlasting death And of his impossibilitie to perfourme the act of Iustification by workes he in that place a little before sheweth saying for I know that in me that is in my fleshe dwelleth no good thing for to will is present wyth me but I finde not meanes to perfourme that which is good for I doe not that good thing that I would but the euill that I would not that doe I. If in the best sort of men and most perfect Sinne hath such power how shall the Papistes the ofscourings of the Church boast of their worthinees Nay neyther we or our Fathers are able to fulfyll the law and therefore God sent his sonne in the similitude of sinful flesh and for sinne condemned sinne in the flesh that the righteousnesse of the lawe should be fulfilled in vs that is to say by christ imputed to vs which walke not after the flesh but after the spirit And that no man should bost of his workes being regenerate he more telleth vs that God the father which raised vp his son christ from death shall also quicken our mortal bodies not for any worthines in vs but because of his owne gift euē bicause his spirit dwelleth in vs Thus his diuine wisdome hath disposed the matter that both the action the cause of our true righteousnesse may not descende one steppe from the maiesty of his throne of grace Assure thy selfe therefore Christian reader that in man is no meritte vnlesse to death for Sinne which maketh al men culpable before god So it is his goodnesse to haue mercy vpon all Therfore if thou wilt atteyne to true righteousnesse it is by the lawe not of works but of fayth in Iesus Christ vnto all and vpon all that beleue For the redemption is not in man regenerate or carnall but in christ who hath reconciled vs to the father in his bloud declareth our righteousnesse to come by the forgiuenes of our sinnes so preaching cōfusion shame to vs the glory to him selfe And albeit that fayth which saueth is called a worke yet is not the worke comming from the poure of man for it is the worke of God and his onely gift by the which we obteine christ in whom we haue plentifull redemption from all our sins Now let vs speak of the second branch that is of mans impossibility to stand alwayes fulfilling the law The Scripture saith cursed is euery man that continueth not in al things which are written in the law to doe them And againe when a righteous man tourneth away from his righteousnes and committeth iniury he shal euen die for the same If once departure from well doing demerit death and the iust falleth seauen times and since there is no flesh that sinneth not nor any be he neuer so pefect that alwaies continueth in well doing I aske where shall we finde the meriting man or who shall dare to present him before the Lorde the reuenger of sin Or yet what is he that can deliuer himselfe from the danger of Gods Curse due to his transgressions Vaine therefore and diuelish is the confidence in such Popish doctrine and pernicious is the euill which this opinion bringeth to the soule and great is the iniurie by it committed against christ Iesus the price of thy forgiuenes The man meritor thrusteth Christ Crucifyed vnder his féet setteth himselfe vp in his stead for his owne sauiour by his workes But cast thy accompt by scripturs audite at the foot of the same thou shalt find this debt apparant to such wastfull spenders of their Lordes treasure that such as haue sought
thy quiet but chiefely Gods blessing for thy soules health in his Christ against the spirite of error and Sathan himselfe Secondly to him vz. to his office exercise is ascribed a certaine power to turne the harts of the fathers to their childrē This power is by his preaching the word the spirit of god directing him where note that the word preached is of power to conuert bicause it is the b mallet of God to beat downe sinne and his two edged sword to cut downe vice The mylke of GOD to nourish and alter the crooked nature of mans corpupted fleshe The séede to make him a fruitfull ground the pleasaunt Odor to delight that faythfull scent The faythfull witnesse and the poure of God to ouercome Satan and his assaultes To beate downe strong holdes and euery height that exalteth it selfe against the knowledge of God and to bring and leade captiue to the obedience of Christe euery thought and full power the worde hath to be reuenged of all the obstinate when the obedience of the faythfull is fulfilled It is not for other cause that God doth spare the wicked then that the Godly should first be brought to more perfection and the wicked should waxe more rype in their iniquitie and that the Godly by their tyranie might dayly be exercised and that for a season they deuoure the noysome creatures of the earth that else would more hurte the children of god But when the Aples be rype the Lorde will pull the trée and cast the fruite into the fyre For the wicked as he cannot forget so wil he in his appoynted time poure out the dregges of his angry must be taken away and remoued Euery valley must be exalted euery mountaine brought low the croked must be streyght framed and the rough wayes made playne and this preparation must be by the preaching of the Gospell so expoundeth Luke the place or rather the Angel when he saith to Zachary that J. Bap. should make ready a people instructed for the Lorde As Jhon behaued him nobly so dyd the Apostles faythfully and the Fathers of olde sincerely in this their charge Remaineth that the Princes and Preachers now be diligent therein as best beséemeth their vocation to prepare his holy wayes The way of the Lord is in mans hart which agaynst the comming of his God the king of al kinges he must so prepare that there be nothing to offend his eye or hinder his louing comming If an earthly Prince shal come to a Towne or Citye how are the wayes skoured the path made playne the streates so sanded that the very Horse shall not haue wheron to trip The house paynted the Conduites running wyne the place perfumed and so garnished that his delight may féede wyth pleasure vpon the view of this prepared way This would the Baptist haue vs to thinke vpon when he alludeth to the comfortable comming of their mightie kings and the pompous preparations of the people for his receipt But sith Christes comming is into the soule of man by his Spirite the path of mans conscience must be prepared in desēt sort aswel in matters of cōscience touching religiō as in the reformatiō of his former wicked life for no mā cā be in christ Iesu vnles he be made a new creature The path of our religiō ought to he framed vnto vs by the word of God neyther ought we or may we wythout mere sacrileadge adde thereto or diminishe in the worshippe of the mightie loue in Christ eny thing at all Thrise Cursed be the Papistes therefore that leape vp into Christes Throane and thrust him to the walles setting vp a will worship of their owne inuention hauing no other warrant then the fleshe that framed that Idolatrie But the Scripture holde all them accursed that set vppe false worship vnto him or that builde their nests in mans strength or put their trust in fleshly wisdome or turn the glory of God to a mortall man or set their affiaunce in their inuentions O ye mightie magestrates in and of the church of christ to you this chiefly doth be long so to prepare this heauenly path the no offensiue matter be there left to stay or stop his godly presence from our harts You are to enter the path appoynted to the lord his vse to remoue out of the way euery base beggerly matter that is to the dishonor of God set vp as to his worship or garnishing falsly of his house the rudiments of men which can neuer edifie in the Church of god And to commaund send abroad the Preachers and forerunners of this king to cry for preparation to euery rugged hart depressed conscience with the weight of sin that by the comfort of christs gospel they may be brought to lift vp the eies of their faith to the lord in Sion There Iesus christ is set vp for their saluation there shall their heauie harts laden soules haue new refreshing in him the Lord crucified of his Father againe raysed to lyfe for their iustification And you Baptists of the Lord your dutie is to pull out of mens hartes by sound moderate doctrine the God Maisim and euery height that exalteth it selfe against god The pryd of mans hearte by the power of the worde must you beate downe which proudly say wyth Popish spyte Sic volumus so we will haue it and not by the word to measure the time cause whether so it ought to be All such as set vp their hornes on high against Christes lowly members and nothing lyke of that the path might somthing be skowred such be they which fight for lyfe with tooth and nayle as the prouerbe is to kéepe vppe the troublous thickets and the loftie hye hilles that can not stoupe to the Lordes lawe The Papistes Atheistes and Hypocrites of our dayes I meane which all though they be woll shrubbed and shred yet they begin euen nowe before the springe to budde and hope againe in time to florish as the gréen bay trée But were they lopped dazie height or proined the wyth princely Dauids a cutting knife they as the shred willow florish in a momēt but neuer eftsoones could they take roote The ragged hartes which wyth the Hare skipe here and there to flye from trueth whose smothed lippes imbrace dissimulation your seasoned sound with Helias hart oh ye Prophets of the Lorde must ring wyth power into their eares For most abhominable is the halting Hypocrite he is a Thornie Hedge and Bushe of Briers to wounde and stinge as many as be partakers of his companie The harte chaffed wyth flyght séeketh to the Riuers of water for his comfort But the Hypocryte pursued by Satan to his destruction hath no lust to looke after the water of lyfe which God doth giue to all that fathfully thirst therefore Oh let them know that