an innocent person Yea the moe Dauids giftes and graces were and the more he was prospered of God and liked of the people all these was more wood to the fier and farther matter for his enuious imagination to fret it self vpon euen as in the fable of the snake comming into the smithes forge and finding a file there seing it had teeth thought nothing should haue teeth but it selfe and began to licke it and licked so long til she had licked off her tongue so Saul could neuer be quiet and Dauids good deeds successiuely following still one vpon another encreased Sauls greefe and out-rage continually so much the more as the fier burneth and in burning consumeth it selfe so was it with Saul and so is it with al enuious men One of the philosophers for a punishment could wish to the enuious person nothing but that hee might haue many eies and eares to see and heare the good haps and prosperity in other men For then is he lanced and cut and pearced with such euentes as it were with kniues and arrowes and sharp weapons on euery side where he discerneth any good Who euer he were that wrote those collations ad * Serm. 18. Aug. Tom. 10. fratres in Eremo among recital of sundry ensamples that Basil and Cyprian and others had touched before him as of Caius enuying the sacrifice of â—…el which was accepted Esaus enuying Iacob 〈…〉 when yet hee had sold it the Patriarkes enuying of Ioseph for their fathers liking and Sauls enuying of good Dauid c. Amongest other parables hee likeneth enuy to the worme in the greene gourde that shadowed the prophet to the worms in Manna that marred the Angels foode to the frogs in Aegypt in their fairest parlers Among the rest he compareth an enuious man to the Phoenix and they say there is but one bird of that kinde In deede it were to bee wished that there were neuer such a Phoenix at all as enuie is The story or the conceaued opinion of this bird is that she gathereth togither the driest and sweetest sticks of Synomom and the like and carieth them vp to some high mountaine and hote place neere the sunne and with flapping her winges vp and downe ouer the pile of stickes shee incenseth them and enflameth her self withal and both burn in one fier And this is right enuy which to burne another mans house setteth his owne house on fier and to put out both another mans eies wil be desirous at least to loose one of her owne yea and is content that her owne bowels may be eaten out to bring forth a viperous effect Paul teacheth vs a fairer way that we prouoke not one another but that we preuent one another in giuing honor and enuying no man and neuer contending but vppon necessary and butifull occasions crucifieng the fleshe which woulde otherwise rancle and fester and the affections of the fleshe which will boile and seeth and the lustes of the fleshe which against the true liberty of the spirit And thus if we liue in the spirit the life of the spirit is the death of the flesh and backwarde the life of the fleshe is the death of the spirite which maketh a man as colde as a stone and as stiffe as a dead man that wee cannot wagge much-lesse walcke in the waies of Godlinesse of righteousnesse and temperate behauiour in any good path But the Lorde loueth a bodie that is deade to sinne and hee altogether delighteth in the soule that liueth through his spirite For without his spirite wee cannot liue CHAP. VI. 1 BRETHREN if a man be sodenly taken in any offence yee which are spiritual restore such a one with the spirit of meekenesse considering thy selfe least thou also be tempted 2 Bear ye one an others burden so fulfill the Law of Christ 3 For if any man seem to himselfe that he is somewhat when he is nothing he deceiueth himselfe in his imagination 4 But let euery man proue his own work and then shal he haue reioycing in himselfe only and not in another 5 For euery man shal bear his own burden FOR a preseruatiue against the vices last spoken of viz. ambition strife enuy the best treacle is to take a quite contrary diet The ambitious the contentious the enuious maÌ„ wil keep a needelesse stur and trouble euery man without all cause But the contented Christian desireth to pacifie al things and to help euery where where help is wanting Sathan is a mighty enimy and man is weak and flesh is fraile and our waies are slippery Now if a man which is better than thy neighbours Ox or Asse whereof notwithstanding in cases thou standest charged if a man nay if any man thy like in nature and brother in Christ if any man for all may not onely of thy friends or thy kinne or some of thy family but if anie man be supprised by Sathan preuented by suttlety inueigled by sleights intised by sinners taken and vpon the suddain * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ouer-taken by infirmity what is to be doone He that is fallen may rise againe reach-forth thy hand and help him vp A member dislocated out of ioynt may bee set in againe restore such a member yea restore you such a man saith the Apostle that is fallen out of the order and place he should haue kept himselfe in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mutual help If one walke alone and no man goe with him nor any man care for him and fall then is his fall the more dangerous Likewise the single thread is soone snapt a sunder but when men intertwist themselues in mutual loue to help one the other the double the triple-folde woorke is like to hold out In like manner if men could and would ioine in one to the behoofe of one another I see no reason why things may not bee wel restored and reformed without any great a-do The Spirit of Lenitie The maner of this restoring is not to play the rude Chirurgian but to do al that may be in the spirit of lenitie The good sheepehard laieth the straied sheepe that straid by simplicity on his own shoulders the tender mother carieth the sicke childe in her armes the mercifull Samaritan setteth the wounded man vppon his owne beast and himselfe goeth a foote Yet note there is a difference between simplicitie and wilfulnesse betweene fore and fore leaper and leaper plague and plague fault faults sinners and sinners But this is the property of a peruerse zeale and perfect hypocrisie to stand most vpon trifles mint and commin and vpon matters of lesse importance to stick at a straw stride ouer a block to swallow an Oxe and straine a Gnat to hallow with hue and cry after a mote as if the sheepheard shoulde still trouble the weake sheepe and let the scabbed ram walke at will and spread his venom throughout the whole flock No brethren If any man be howsoeuer preuented in a
and if hee that offendeth in any offendeth in al in what case are we al How can we be iustified by the Law These thinges touch vs neerely and concerne vs much What Vrim and Thummim may wee consult in this case Esa 46. Repaire wee to the Lord in the and six fourtith Chapter of Esay who resolueth vs on this wise Heare me yee stubburne harted that are farre from Iustice As if it were said if any of you presume in pride or precend in hypocrisie of much iustice you are ouer-bold you are deceaued and you cannot deceaue God It is a pride and a pretence of righteousnesse from whence in verie deede you are farre wide Heare mee harken not to your selues to your selfe-wit and ouer-weening I will bring neere my righteousnesse neither shall your iniquitie frustrate or make vaine my promises or sequester my purposed mercy from my elect amongst you and from my church vnto whom I wil shew mercy I wil giue my saluation in Sion and my glory in Israel Then I aske wil Israel be glorified wil Sion bee saued will man bee iustified will hypocrisie speake truely wil stubburne hearts bee mollified and frowarde mindes rectified Then harken what God saith Glory Saluation Righteousnesse and Iustification the acceptation of vs as iust yea of vs very impious and Atheists by nature is Gods only grace and free gift A vanting and a vilde spirite is onely in man who naturally hath but a sorry a naughty and a sleight conceat of the mercy of the father and of the infinit merit of Christ his sonne Come wee home to our Apostle Wee knowe that man is not iustified by the woorkes of the Lawe but by faith It is not an opinion Opinio est entis non entis Opinion is of thinges that may be so or may bee no. But wee know saieth Paul And whereas there are but two waies to bee quit either plea of our owne innocency or help and trust else-where to be iustified wee must leane either to the one or to the other either perfourning the Lawe which no man can or embracing Christ onely relying in him by faith by onely faith in Christ If it be quarreled why cannot man bee yet iustified by the Lawe what should bee the cause thereof It is * An ineuitable reason why Man cannot possiblie iustified by the Law aunswered by Paul flat al men are flesh But why cannot flesh Why Al flesh is fleshly al fleshe is grasse euen the very grace thereof And what is hey and stubble to saue a man * Esay 4.6 And the grace thereof is but as the flower Some flowres are green yellow red stammel purple or white c. These are but gay coulers and what are these before the face of the winde in the heate of the Sunne and in the sight of God Wherefore flesh and bloode may not cannot dare not should not prosume to appeare where it can stand in iudgement before the consistory of our God in the strength of it selfe and without our aduocate Nay the heauens are not cleare in his eies nor the very Angels and celestiall spirites much lesse man who dwelleth in an house of cley and in a body subiect to the soile of sinne who drinketh in iniquity as a drie ground doth a rainey water Wherefore by the * Workes are imperfect being as perfect as they may be they beno deserts but dueties Christ is our righteousnes at the right hand of his father woorkes of the Lawe perfourmed by man by his fleshly arme and strength wee euen the regenerate wee bee not we cannot bee iustified Saint Paul knoweth and acknowledgeth that by faith in Christ and that by Christ alone in whom wee beleeue we bee pronounced in him to bee that wee are not nor can bee of our selues nor in our selues So that heere is guilty and not guilty righteous and not righteous Not righteous but guilty by the Lawe by woorkes by nature and in our selues but in Christ who is made our wisedome righteousnes sanctification and redemption we haue al that wee haue and in him who hath payd all for vs wee haue al and enough And this knowledge brethren being thoroughly learned perfectly beleeued and fully setled in a sanctified soule most honoureth God and comforteth man aboue al thinges that can be named 17 If then while we seeke to be made righteous by christ we our selues are found sinners is Christ therefore the Minister of sinne God forbid 18 For if I builde againe the thinges that I haue destroied I make my selfe a trespasser 19 For I thorough the Lawe am dead to the Lawe that I might liue vnto God 20 I am crucified with Christ but I liue yet not I any more but Christ liueth in mee and in that that I nowe liue in the fleshe I liue by the faith in the sonne of God who hath loued mee and giuen himselfe for me 20 I doe not abrogate the grace of God for if righteousnesse come by the Lawe then Christ died without a cause Vpon the former matters premised Paul may seeme to argue thus if while wee seeking which was graunted on euery side to bee made righteous by Christ yet wee bee found notwithstanding sinners by relying to the Lawe which the false Apostles woulde haue annexed is Christ therefore become the Minister of sinne which must needes bee if he bee coupled with the Law Phy out vpon 〈◊〉 it were most absurd it cannot be and God forbid Christ and the Law cannot make one fabricke or building If any man should build vp the Iericho which hee had destroied and was accursed were hee not to bee accursed If Paul shoulde builde vp the Lawe which accurseth though it were with the coupling of Christ in the building yet should hee shewe himselfe to bee a transgressor in setting vp of the Lawe with Christ which two to stand together were vtterly impossible For to that end entered Christ that the Lawe might cease To that ende Paul exemplyfieng in himselfe voucheth he was dead to the Lawe and therefore had not to doe with the Lawe at all was crucified with Christ and fixed to Christ and vnto Christ alone Iustification by acceptation or imputation excludeth not a measure of inherent sanctification And dying to the curse of the Law shutteth not out good liuing according to the rule of the Law And yet least Paul being dead from the Lawe and crucified with Christ might seeme by this doctrine in himselfe to bee an ensample of dying vnto God and liuing to the world vers 20. hee saith But I liue and because no man should mistake him hee sheweth 1. in what measure of goodnes he liueth as he might in the flesh and 2. withall sheweth how it came to passe that in the flesh he might liue saying that he liueth by Christ and thorough faith in him In him who hath loued me and giuen himselfe for me Whereupon I note 1. the freenesse of the giuer 2. the
entred and beginne in the spirit and end and be finished and seeke to be perfected in the flesh 3. They had endured many an hard brunt for the Ghospell and should they nowe frustrate all their sufferings 4. Hee that ministred vnto them and confirmed his ministery with miracles that is Paul had not so taught them the Ghospel These respects made him vehement and very earnest In the whole I beholde foure principall matters 1. The procliuity and readinesse of man to be seduced 2. The duty of the preacher in such a case 3. The condicion of the Lawe 4. The dignity of the Ghospell Mans nature is foolish and froward prone to euil and obstinate in sinne 1 Man by nature hath a vagary disposition drawen from his mothers wombe Euen as birds are caught with a whissell and fish with a bait so open but a gap he a disorderly thing will desire no more Once perswade man that the euill hee doeth is good set but a glosse vpon the errors wherein he delighted and hee is caried with full sailes And a foole will be a foole and think himselfe marueilous wise Euil entents are neuer without faire pretenses Sathan hath gay helpes and shewes to further this folly The Ostrige hath as many feathers as the Hauke These Galathians were not only inwardly fooles but externally bewitched There is a bodily and there is a spirituall bewitching Of the former more in the fifth Chapter following The spiritual bewitching is ment here they say children are soonest bewitched we aer ouer-childish in Gods matters and therefore the sooner deceiued especially if the deceiuer bee his crafts-master A fine flatterer wil bee more in the bookes of a foole than a perfect friend To the weake eie the clearest and the truest light is most offensiue to the sick of an ague the best drinke is worst and as to children and vnto weomen with-childe vntimely fruite or vnholsome foode seemeth better than better meate so wee see it in Adam and in Adams children being in an ague and distempred with his fall as it were with-child with their own fancies affection misleadeth them and folly maketh vs prone to euery inconuenience and in this sinister conceit and ouer-weening were the Galathians deceiued And it being put in their heads that Gods Lawe would doe very wel with Christs Ghospell and that woorkes iointly with faith would the rather iustifie saue than faith in Christ alone they were caried headlong into that most pernicious error so become 1. fools in their vnderstanding 2. Bewitched in opinion 3. And disobedient to the faith cleane contrary to their education and training vp contrary to their owne conuersation in the Gospel contrary to their former sufferings not at al for the Law but only for the faith in Christ alone Was this no folly They whoe had indured many stormes and dangers euery way only for Christ thus wilfully at the hauen where they should ariue to cast away themselues Except they were bewitched and out of their wittes they could not possibly bee so so disobedient to fall from their spirituall comfort and to become as grosse as the old Iewes for their ceremonies worse than the Iewes as to dreame that any workes could saue either without or yet with Christ as to that purpose Workes are duties to be doone but when wee haue doone al it is Christ that saueth and workes do not iustifie That is a fleshly a grosse a foolish imagination There is no spirit no spiritual wisedome in it and marke marke with an attentiue eare and with an intentiue eie what Saint Paul auerreth and saith that they were fooles not to end as they beganne beginning as they did in Christ The diuision of A first and A second iustification is a fooles deuise in Saint Pauls iudgement Our Papists tell vs of a first Iustification and of a second Iustification the first free in Christ the second merited by workes Paul telleth them they are fooles they must end as they began if they wil be saued Christ only saueth onely iustifieth when At first And why not at last Will ye beginne with Christ and end in your selues The author and finisher of our saluation is our Sauiour and the end is greater than the entrance and hee that giueth vs grace to bee iustified in this world hee only giueth vs also the glory of our saluation in the world to come Are ye bewitched and will yee bee fooles charme the charmer neuer so cunningly Paul giueth vs a faire president and pattern to woorke by both 1. In the manner of his dealing with the Galathians 2. And also in his Doctrine he treated to them 1. A leperous tongue a fluxe of a foule mouth must bee stopped a rauing Dogge must be more than musled the Or that goreth all that commeth in his way must be killed I deny not strong wine is good but least it fume in the head delay it with water it will bee better Zeale is requisite and he that hateth a realous Preacher is an enemy to his soule a frind to his sinnes but zeale tempered with charity and discretion is the true zeale a * A fire of Iuniper coales is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a zeale vngratefull and not to be liked scalding zeale and a scorching heate is not the fiar that worketh effectually and separateth things of dissimular and diuers natures and vniteth men of similar and like condicion rightly and truely together I graunt if Paul had beene a cold frost hee might haue let all alone and suffer to freese together Lawe Ghospell Moses and Christ faith and workes the flesh and the spirite as wee see in the * A cold reproofe is vnprofitable and rather freeseth men in the dregs of sinne than otherwise frost stickes and stones and myre such like matters of different dislike natures to stick freeze togither No Paul was zealous to barke against sin and withal discreet to do it with intent to recal sinners to win and not to sting their persons The Mastiffe is not driuen away with a fragment nor errors with fawning looks flattering wordes If a man touch a nettle crisily it stingeth the sooner Paul taketh them vp in termes as before ô ye foolish c. Yet with a meaning to amend them not with a trumping mind which is too too bad in any case in any man to be-foole men as many doe and which is condemned by our * Mat. 5. Sauiour The purpose of the reprouer doth make much in the manner of reprouing The end in our actions doth distinguish our doings and the purpose in our wordes doth put make the difference in our sayings Saint Pauls drift was to reforme them to restore them to recall and reclaime them to their first estate he was the salt of the earth to season them with sharpnes and not the gall of the earth to greeue them with bitter speech And demanding whether
personal pains setting the wounded man on his owne beast and bringing him to the Inne and taking farther order for farther charges requisite knowing that there was a mutuall neighbourhoode not euer by neerenes of place but for necessity and extremity of pure neede And he that loueth cannot lacke the vnderstanding to discerne who is a neighbour Loue is wise and Loue is euer willing to doe any good to any man to the vttermost The inconuenience of diuision 3 If the excellency of louing bee so great the inconuenience of not louing cannot bee little And in not louing is not ment a meere want of charity but which euer ensueth where charitie wanteth a present enducement of the contrarie quality And where the cōtrary affections raign there is snarling and biting and deuouring and a plain consuming one of the other For the diuided house cannot endure And it is an euil land that deuoureth their own inhabitants and the spirit of the lord doth not lightly rest in these whirlewind-spirits such as troubled the Galathians and turmoile impertinently euery place where euer they come without lawefull and necessary cause as if they were made of wild-fier to enflame and burn vp the world O Lord if it be thy wil take away al iust occasion of mislike quench all their furies which seeke occasions there where none are offered The dew and grace of thy holy spirit can doe al this may it please thy goodnes to grant vs this fauour in Christ Iesu So be it Amen 19 Moreouer the works of the flesh are manifest which are adultery fornication vncleannesse wantonnesse Albeit the roote of sinne be deepe and the corruption of fleshly hidde and lurke in the inwarde parts yet the woorks thereof are not obscure but euident to the ey big grosse open and manifest so that a man may soon know that the tree is naught by the vitious fruits it beareth And if a man may iudge of the workman by his workes some of the woorkes of the flesh are adultery fornication vncleannes wantonnes Fornication Adultery Wantonnes breedeth vncleannes vncleannes breaketh forth into sinful fornication where the partes are single and into abominable adultery where either party offending is a married person By the Law of God the adulterer and the adulteresse shal dy moriendo morientur Leuit. 20. there should bee no remedy There were Lawes among the Gentils to the same effect But Iuuenal complaineth Lex Iulia dormis May not wee rather Lex Iehouae dormis Whether Adulterie should be death There is a great deale of questioning about this matter whether the penalty of adultery must necessarily bee death or no for it may be and that it deserueth there is no question Giue me leaue to say thus much that if it were death adulteries woulde bee fewer quarrels of marrying againe after adultery the adultresse liuing would not be so rife and loue to the certaine vndoubtedly known and only children would be much increased betweene the Parents If a man steale xij d hee shall bee hanged if a man abuse twelue mens wiues yet he may liue The peace is broken in my Ox or Horse is the peace kept when my wiue is defiled my daughters deflored Other vices swarme but this is a Noes flud Young men are no niggards Olde men are no wasters countrimen are no ruffins nor townsmē quarrelers But old and yong towne and country had neede to looke better to this vice There is no good giuing place to a flattering sinne Nature is frail and the flesh lusteth against the spirite and there is no sirding at all for a man that standeth vppon a Pinnacle Wherefore all causes yea al occasions of this way sinning must be deuoyded Praeparatiues to vncleannes Shal I be plain or why should I not painting of faces frisling of hair mōsterous starcht supported rufs pride vpon pride in apparel exces of diet minsing dances wanton gestures ribaldry talke amorous ditties vaine discourses Venus court and the Pallace of pleasures and the like wherein there is no Pallas no wit verily no true wisdome all these for the most part are nothing but the ministers many times of much vncleannes and the Apostle who cannot abide any wantonnes would he tolerate these enormities Go to the commandement and study wel the precept Thou shalt not commit adultery and these follies these preparatiues to adultery will soone be forsaken As our Sauiour Iohn 8.4 when talke was about the woman that was taken * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the act hee stooped downe and wrote on the ground so I could desire to speak as if it were vnder a vaut in most secret termes for the amendment of this sinne but the works of darknes are become bould and men are not ashamed of their turpitude and shame and they can looke thorough a white sheete and neuer blush The Israelites made of the house of God the house of iniquity the Iewes of the temple of God a denne of Theeues but these offenders make the Temples of the holy Ghost and the members of Christ that should bee the members of an harlot and the Temples of the holy Ghost they make to be the cage of vncleane birds a very sty for hogs and a stable for horse that neieth after that which is none of his owne O Lord were it not better or is it not the nature of mariage thine holy ordinance that for the * 1 Cor. 7.2 auoiding of fornication euery man should haue his wife and euery woman her husband and beeing in that honorable state should keepe themselues from strange flesh shrouding themselues from all inconueniences vnder the broad vine leafe of thine owne planting If any man or woman among vs haue offended herein let neither him nor her henceforth ad drunckennes to thirst let him not walowe in this mire any more let him rise vp by repentance let him vomit out by confession this surfeiting and let him deepely consider that he is made after the image of God which he should not deface that he is the member of Christ which he may not prostitute and that our bodies are as an holy place if we know so much euen the Temples of the holy spirite which howe it is greeued with these transgressions it hath beene told you at sundry times 20 Idolatry witch-craft hatred debate emulations wrath contentions seditions heresies 21 Enuy murders drunckennes gluttony and such like whereof I tel you before as I also haue told you before that they which doe such things shal not inherit the kingdome of God Paul entendeth not to make a iust beadrol and ful computation of all sinnes that eyther were in the Galathians or might arise out of the flesh or els to marshal euery vice and disorder in a precise order Certaine manifest enormities are onely touched and in the end he addeth and such like and of them al he denounceth that they wil weigh a man to hell and exclude
this calling is either ordinary and appointed orderly by imposition of handes according to the right touch of conscience in the called and the good choise of the caller or els calling is extraordinarie whensoeuer and of whomsoeuer it pleaseth God immediatly by himselfe to call vnto and enable for the worke of his spirituall haruest Such a calling was Pauls by a voice from heauen at noone whereof himselfe speaketh * Acts. 26.9 I was not disobedient to the heauenly vision and voice Thus was he ordained to his office and as he here addeth neither by men called neither by men instituted but extraordinarily in heauenly thinges a * Numb 10.2 consecrated trumpet put * Rom. 1.1 a-part to preach the Gospel euen from heauen and by God himselfe Called not of men nor by man but by Iesus Christ and God the Father which raised him from the dead Both natures in our Sauiour By the way you will obiect that if Paul were called by Christ and therefore not by man then belike Christ was not man I answere these wordes deny not our sauiours humanity though they rather proue his Deity and Godhead For if ye marke in the same tenor of speech they couple him equally with God and expressely they term God his Father and such as is the Father such in substance is the Son And because the Father is God therefore by consequent necessarily ensuing the Son also is very God And yet marke withall his Father here is said to raise him from the dead Which must needs be spoken of Christs humanity For the Deity neither dieth nor reuiueth neither falleth nor riseth nor is raysed againe Wherefore Paul was called by him that is not denied to be man but by the * 1 Tim. 2.5 man Christ who was both very God and perfect man and so a fit mediator betweene God and man And nowe being thus called in the second third fourth and fifth verses he sendeth greeting wherein would be considered 1. The sender 2. The persons to whom he writeth 3. His entry with an holy salutation 1 He that sendeth chiefly is Paul of whom in part hath beene and in part hereafter shal be declared then they with Paul who sent their greeting are annexed Al the brethren who were with Paul My note is that whereas flesh and blood is of a corrupt nature ful of wrath pride and swelling whereas euery man deemeth his lead to be siluer his glasse diamond whereas some can brooke no superiour some no equal Paul was altogether of a contrary minde of an humble meeke and lowly spirit And albeit his giftes were moe than were al the giftes of many his labours incomparable and his calling Apostolical yet hee calleth euery of them that were with him brethren and conioyneth them with himselfe in his owne Epistle A charitable consent in Christians most forceable to persuade in cases of Christianitie And this was then and wil be euer as it were a twisted cord of greatest strēgth the better able to draw men to christ when Christians drawe all one way and driue against sinne and lift all with one shoulder to further the trueth and altogether liue in charitable manner like brethren one with an other Paul and all the brethren He excepteth none that includeth all and he accepteth of all that excludeth none The persons to whom the Epistle is directed 2 To the Churches of Galatia The * The name of the Church taken diuersly name of the church is diuersly takē either for the whole Church catholicke in times persons and places or for the parces of the whole professing in earth the Catholicke faith And therein as euery part of the sea is called the sea as the English the Spanish and the French Sea is termed the Sea euen so euerie part of the whole Church professing the trueth may and doth well receaue the name of the Church as the Church of England is the Church and the Church of Scotland the Church c. And because in Galatia their congregations were copious they are plurallie termed the Churches Whole churches may be seduced And herein it were not amisse to be noted that not only some smal church truly so called though in some pointes vnperfect but many Churches may tread awry whole populous Churches may be seduced Psal 116.11 For truely men whether sole single or assembled and making a Church or churches are but men and therefore prone to sinne and soone deceaued and as the moone doth often ecclypse so Churches may sometimes erre Men cannot his stil the white shal they not therefore aime at the marke And yet an other good obseruation it is that if any man therefore will needes be wilfull vnwilling to contend to perfection because all men necessarily haue imperfections verily that man is vnwise and wanteth grace and can be no child of the Church of God which is an house of such men as inuocate and call vpon the holy name of God 2 Tim. 2.19 And whosoeuer so doth of duty must euermore more and more depart as far as he possiblely may from all iniquitie And to this end both euery where Paul preacheth and here writeth and wisheth as followeth The greeting 3 Grace and Peace Grace is Gods fauour peace signifieth gods blessing in * Gen. 43.23 a prosperous estate Grace goeth before and Peace followeth after and both proceede by the meanes of Christ our Sauiour Rhemish Test Pag. 384. Wherein I cannot omit a Rhemish and a peeuish note that misliketh the vsage of this salutation appropriating it to the Apostles without all reason and foolishly inferring that because Heretickes and namely Manicheus haue vsed it therefore we maie not vse it * The salutations were vsed of the Apostles may be vsed by others I pray you why did Paul request that mutuall prayers bee made for him if others might not praie for him as hee did for them And why may not al pray especially for Grace and Peace Or may I not wish them to my selfe Or if to my selfe why not to my * Rom. 13.9 neighbour Or wherein lieth the lette May I not wish a man Gods grace Or may I not pray for the peace of men Or may I pray at all and can I praie almost for anie thing and not for these thinges and with these wordes For the other point that Manicheus did vse it * Epiphanius haeres 66. I finde hee did And what of that The best things either in hypocrisie may be pretended for hypocrites pretend not the worst or else the best thinges to purposes may bee abused And what then The Pharisie abuseth his long praiers the tempter abused the holie Scriptures the Corinthians abused the Sacraments Baptisme and the Supper and Manicheus abused this good salutation which yet is not the thing is so found fault with in him But hee tooke vpon him to be an Apostle as the woorde is
preciousnesse of the gift 3. the certaintie in receauing 4. and the neede of the receauer 1. The freenesse of the giuer For what is freer than gift And then a gift proceeding of loue Which loued me 2. For the preciousnes of the gift what can bee more precious than the Sonne of God the heire of al Hee gaue himselfe 3. The certainty of receauing is vttered in the specialitie of speaking for mee But O blessed Paul what meane these * Christ is not receaued in a general conceat but by a special applying enclosures Why Is Christ thy Christ Is hee thy Sauiour And is hee not rather the Sauiour of the world That which is thine is none of mine Is it not so In worldly thinges true the right and propriety is in the true owner onely and in him alone and in none other In spirituall rightes it is not so altogether Christ is the Christ of all in generall and in speciall too yet not a diuided Christ but whole and entire whosoeuer hee is In natural thinges see a resemblance hereof the Sunne in the aire is a generall light in the eye a speciall and the sound in the ayre a generall noyce yet seerely discerned in the eare so Christ is a general Sauiour of all that shall bee saued but specially is hee receaued discerned and applied by the eye of faieth which faieth commeth by hearing him generally deliuered but specially applied As take eate take drinke at the Lordes Supper feede on him by thy faieth And blessings so speciallie and certainely taken haue euer a quicker tast in the receauer and prouoke thereby the more thankefulnesse towarde the donor 4. The neede of the receauer appeareth in this * The price of the ransom doth proue the neede of the party and the hainousnes of his trespas who is to bee ransommed that if a lesse ransom would haue doone the deed so great a payment had not needed But somuch it cost to saue one Soule And whereas hee saith Christ gaue himselfe For me it is plaine in how harde a case hee was before that Christ must dy that wee may liue or else wee dy euen as the Ramme was Sacrificed that Isaake might bee saued Wherefore of his perfect mercy and for our pure neede Christ dyed for thee for me and for vs al. Why Christians die though Christ died for them It is but an easie demaunde and soone satisfied why I must dye though Christ died for mee Yet God doubtlesse requireth no double satisfaction hee desireth not to bee twise paied for one debt Notwithstanding nothing is more certaine than that death is the common and vneuitable Lodge and Receptacle of the liuing The Wiseman shall dye as wel as shal the Foole. Dauid when he had * Acts. 13.36 serued his time was reposed to his Fathers and the statute is generall and cannot not be dispensed with al must dye By sin * Rom. 5.12 came in death and as sinne is in al so must all dy If there had beene no sinne there shoulde haue beene no death nor dissolution no not of our mixt bodies no more than there shall be of the very same bodies after their restitution glorification By sinne death entered and must goe ouer all But the question is why wee dye whom Christ hath deliuered both from sinne the cause and from death the consequent of sinne As we are deliuered from sinne not that it bee not but that it sting not so are wee deliuered from death not that it come not but that it conquer not that it lead vs not in a triumph ô death where is thy sting The sting of death is sinne but sinne is doone away and therefore ô graue where is thy victory Death is no Death to a good Christian Thou takest holde of vs not because wee are stung to death but because of a natural necessity indeede inducted thorough sinne at first yet for that the guilt of sinne is taken away death is no right death nowe but a dissolution and a passage to a better life and a very instrument whereby mortality putteth on immortality and whereby we liue for euer And the assurance of our certaine departure hence is hence-foorth a noble monument of the weight of sinne to weane vs from sinning and to win vs to Christ in perpetual thankefulnes for that we are freed from the curse of the Lawe against sinne from the guilt of sinne in it selfe and from the danger of death for sinning and all this by his infinit desert in dying for vs that otherwise should haue died a death euerlasting This grace would not bee abrogated I abrogate not the grace of God this grace of his Gospell Steuen Gardiner Steuen Gardiner in King Edwards time whē he stood much but falsly vpon his innocency and would not yeelde that hee had offended yet at length being asked whether he would accept the Kings pardon or no nay saith he I am learned enough not to refuse the Kings pardon In like manner men may dally and play and vse figge leaues at pleasure truly the greatest wisedome in the end will be to renounce all and craue mercy and stand vpon pardon and to trust vnto Christ and onely in him Grace is reiected when works are annexed And for a good fare-well and end of this Chapter be it remembred and written in the hartes of humble men for euer that wee after the example of our Apostle we disanull not we reiect not we frustrate not we abrogate not we throwe not away the grace of God which necessarily ensueth by meashing or adnexing either the association of Ceremonies or the obseruation of the Lawe vnto his free and absolutely free Grace free in GOD though deserued by Christ our Iesus and onely Sauiour CHAP. III. 1 O FOOLISH Galathians who hath bewitched you that you should not obey the trueth to whome Iesus Christ before was described in your sight and among you crucified 2 This only would I learne of you Receaued ye the spirit by the workes of the Law or by hearing of faith 3 Are yee so foolish that after ye haue begun in the spirit ye would now end in the flesh 4 Haue yee suffered many things in vaine If yet in vaine 5 He therefore that ministreth to you the spirite and worketh miracles among you doth he it through the workes of the Law or by the hearing of faith O YEE foolish bewitched and disobedient or incredulous Galathians These are vehement speeches But this vehemency proceeded of great zeale and this zeale for them was grounded vppon many reasons 1. Christ was described before their face and crucified in their sight 2. They had receiued the spirit and the graces of the holie Ghost not by the deeds of the Law for they were Gentils but by the Ghospel preached vnto them And the Law in comparison is flesh and grosse the Ghospel is spirituall Should they beginne with the better and relaps to the worse Be
this loue is periert hatred And this hate passeth al hate that is begun in hypocrisie and continued in the greatest villame that euer was hearde of since the beginning In cōsideration whereof tuen as Naomi in the booke of Ruth Ruth 1.19 when it was bruted that shee was returned out of Moab the citizens of Bethleem said is not this Naomi Who answered tall me not Naomi which by interpretation is beuty but cal me mara which is bitternes cal me bitternes cal me not beuty When she went into Moab constrained by the famine in Canaan shee went out ful with conuenient wealth but in her exile her substance was spent hit husband deseased her two sonnes died and shee was left a poore widdowe rather Mara than Naomi Semblably while the church or rather a part of the catholick church is in the peregrination of this miserable world as Naomi in Moab what wroonges are sustained on euery side And sometimes those that should play the husbandes part deale woorse with hir than ethers who yet deale not wel She bringeth forth as it is figured in the * Reuel 12. Reuelation with paine and the fruite of her womb yea the most part of her children become an vncomfortable generation Scant Ruth euen a few those many times most vnlikely as the daughter in Law followeth accompanieth Naomi to the euerlasting home and heauenly Canaan Doth not this story suffer this application and may not the Church euen in places claiming by the name of the Church the Church cry foorth and say ô cal me not Naomi but cal mec Mara cal me not beutie but cal me bitter call mee not a visible Monarchie a glorious multitude a beutiful hierarchie a braue prelacie and a Romane papacie a galant tabernacle placed in the clearest Sun The true beuty of the Church what no cal me as the tents of Cedar fair indeed within by spiritual comforts and graces of the holy Ghost accompanied and made vn of the soules of the iust and righteous men euen of the sonnes of Sara and the children of Ierusalem which is from aboue but this beuty is altogether inwarde but outwardly these tentes are black both which the imperfection of humane frailnes and most by the blacke reportes and bad dealings we are daylie defaced with in the world and in opinion defamed O call not this condition generally Naomi specially to the outward view but cal it bitrernes for it is bitter in deed if there were not as it were some Elizeus meale to sweeten the pot withall But hereof as occasion shall serue euen as by occasion of the two mothers thus much hath been spoken Now look we vpon their children 28 Therefore brethren wee are after the manner of Isaack children of the promise 29 But as then he that was borne after the fleshe persecuted him that was borne after the spirit euen so it is now 30 But what saith the Scripture Put out the seruant and her sonne for the sonne of the seruant shal not bee heire with the sonne of the free woman 31 Then brethren wee are not children of the seruant but of the free woman The comparison betwixt Ismael and Isaack distinctlie considered The Church as it is likened by the Apostle to Abrahams wiues so also is it to Abrahams children and so in Gods Church appeareth also as plain a difference as before viz. 1. In their birth 2. In their affections 3. In the right of their inheritance 1 Albeit Ismael and Isaak both came from the loines of Abraham yet as out of one seede the solid corn and stender chaffe arise so was in them two great oddes much according to the ground wherein the seede was sowen according to the diuersities of the wombs according to the teperature of the regiō indeed according to the blessing of God and the grace of his promise A dry slip to take roote a deade wombe to conceaue was more than strange and the only work of the almightie Whereof before 2 Their contrary affection is descried by the open persecution not obscurely offered And as it was in the letter of the story so once so is it stil For this enmity was not ended in their persons neither was this a priuate case but a type of a farther matter And in them was represented in the one the malignant Church and in the other the Church of God Whether Ismaels mocking may be properly termed persecution Here it may bee questioned whether Ismael indeed did persecute Isaake or no. In the booke of Genesis God visited Sara as you haue hard Sara in her and hir husbands old age conceaueth and beareth a sonne When the child was borne he is in conuenient time circumcised named and weaned and the father maketh a great feast which when Ismael saw hee much scorneth at his brother Isaak But was this such a matter Or doth euerie frump come within the compasse and nature of persecution In cases the virulency of an adders congue the poyson of lips and the contradiction of railers and table-talkers and bitter speakers greeueth more than the wounds of a sword But yet there was more in this story than so He seeth his father liberal the mother ioyfull the childe made of and the promise perfourmed and yet he imagineth hee can defeat al and therefore hee scorneth setteth the promise at naught and maketh a May-game of the Lords purpose and this being rightly considered and laid to hart there can be no greater persecution whatsoeuer This cutteth deepe and poisoneth as it cutteth A man were better be flead with Bartlemew or sawed asunder as Isay or broyled on a gridiarn as Lawrence than tolerate the reproches of impiety Pharoes bricke or Phalaris bul that is the extremest persecution is nothing comparable In the booke of Iudges Iudg. 16.23 Sampson suffered the entisementes of Dalila euen to the boring out of his owne eies but when the Philistines were not content therewith but would needes send for Sampson to make them merry and in him sportingly to scorne the Lordes strength you knowe what followed In the 2 of Kinges 2 King 2. it may seeme at first sight but an vnmannerly prancke of young vntaught thinges to vpbraide the Prophet Goe vp thou bald bate goe vp thou balde bate but the greeuousnes of their punishment may easily enforme vs of the waight of that transgression Wherefore the mocking of a Prophet the illuding the promise the vpbraiding of the strength of the Lord the scorneful out-brauing the saintes of God as when they say Come sing vs one of your Sion songs or There is no helpe for Dauid in Dauids God or as to our sauiour If God wil saue him or let himselfe come downe from the crosse saue himself These are the sorest persecutions and the most insufferable sufferings that can bee suffered Wherefore Ismaels open throte and vnsauery breath his scorning head and scoffing spirite was a very persecution there is no
question therein The motiue of Succession Now for the extent of persecution did it liue die in their persons Our aduersaries would fain holde and maintaine by succession the goodnes of their relligion I knowe they knowe that they cannot shew neither orderly beginning nor vnbroken continuance for the matters we charge them with But coulde they prooue a prolonged race what then * Hard. detect Pag. 217. a. Must we then seeke our faith in the Romish comperts A scrole of names is a sory proofe to proue a truth in doctrine Cain killed Abell so did hee so doth he still Ismael mocked Isaack so doth he euer since till this day Persecutors draw after them a long taile and descent of a continued line in euill Wherefore succession is no firme argument to inferre their errors or to infirme our truth The wicked haue it most the good may misse it manie times What did it profit Cham that he was the sonne of Noe or Absolon that holy Dauid was his father Learning Wit Eloquence muchlesse godlinesse goe not by descent in a right line Aristippus was a fine cunning Courting Philosopher which may better beseeme Philosophy than Diuinity but his sonne was a very loute Demosthenes was most eloquent in the grauest kinde but his Sonne was too too rude Cicero was both wise and eloquent and yet his son was a very sot Ely of himselfe except in cockering vp of his children was no euill man but his Sonnes degenerated and were as the Sonnes of Belial Naturally man is naught and therefore a natural succession in persons cannot be good by nature and which is to be noted succession in the place and in the room of predecessors addeth no sanctity and holines Numb 32. Numb 32. Behold you are risen vp an increase of sinnefull men insteede of your Fathers Behold likewise the pleasant valley of Sodome was changed into Surphur Salt Pits of Brimstone and the like stincking matter Oye generation of vipers saith our Sauiour to the Pharisies who sate in the place which God had chosē reprouing them both because they were vipers and because they were a generation euen SVCCESSIVELY a venemous race The motiue of Antiquity Pa. Supra 42. Againe our Aduersaries claime by antiquitie but doe you not see the elder brother persecuting the younger the elder brother killing Abel the elder brother selling young Ioseph into the hands of strangers And euen so is it nowe as it was of old But of this Motiue more before And note also that it is the lot of the best both to bee interrupted 1. in their continuance while the badde produce out whole generations and then 2. to be the yongest in their beginnings and lastly 3. to be euil intreated euen of their brethren 3 The thirde difference betwixt the children which I obserued was the right the obtaining of their inheritance wherein is set forth that the bond woman by name with her brat for their intolerable brables at the fast were shut out of dores and cast as it were out of the the Arke of Abrahams family Cain complaineth findeth fault that he was as a rough stone cast out of the hande of God to bee a vagabond vpon the face of the earth Agar also and Ismael of whom we speake betoke them to their portions but such portions are * Gen. 21. soone spent and in the anguish of soule they were a cōfortlesse couple and cried out for want which was a pattern of farder distres For though the chaffe for a time growe in the field and rest in the mow and lie in the flower in greater quantity than the good graine yet after fanning time the chaffe shal be cast out into the fire and the corne shal be receaued into the Lordes euerlasting garners While they were in prosperity who but Agar against Sara Ismael against his brother the Iews against the Gentils The chaffe exceedeth the corne and the corne seemeth to be but chaffe But that day is neuer intirely faire that endeth in a wette raine Ismaels scoffing iollity commeth to nothing Isaac obtaineth the promise and tarieth with his father and inioyeth the inheritance and Ismaels pleasureable waters of many frumpes and sundry delights runne all into the salt Sea receiue a bitter end and onely Isaac inioyeth that inheritance Now looke ye to it saith the Apostles exhortation of whether Testament of whether Hierusalem of whether Mother of whether Mountain of Agar or Sara of Sinay or Sion will ye be Will yee bee Ismaelites or Isaackes With Moses or Christ alone will you Christians hold Will you tarry in the house and inioy the inheritance or be cast out of doores CHAP. V. 1 STAND fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made vs free be not intangled againe with the yoke of bondage 2 Behold I Paul say vnto you that if ye be circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing 3 For I testifie againe to euery man which is circumcised that hee is bound to keepe the whole Law 4 Yee are abolished from Christ whosoeuer are iustified by the Law ye are fallen from Grace 5 For wee through the spirite wait for the hope of righteousnes through faith 6 For in Iesus Christ neither circumcision auaileth any thing neither vncircumcision but faith which worketh by Loue. The happy condicion of a true Christian THE case of a christian man stādeth thus The horror of death the terror of hel the suttlety of sinne the frailty of the fleshe the might of the world the power of Sathan haue naught to doe with him For why the fauor of God the comfort of the spirit the merit of the son the force of faith the nature of hope doe swallowe vp all those former enimies and terrible inuasions For are we not a royal race children of choice sons of the promise wheritours with Isaack a freed and a free people manumitted from the Law and set at liberty by Christ Iohn 8.36 Whom the sonne freed they are free without question The apostle hath inculcated this heauenly doctrine both in plain words often likewise by sundry parables as also by certain special euentes in the family of Abraham and thereupon he willeth the Galathians to bee wise and couragious to mainteine their liberty to stand to it yea to die in the quarell A million of liues were well lost in such a cause and yet not lost but well and wisely laide forth This liberty is no humane freedome as from the Turkes Gallies or Spaniards Mines or such like Aegyptian Slauery but a liberty of conscience from a spiritual thrall and euerlasting damnation Christianitie is not made as Lincy-Wolsey of diuerse matters The purchase of this liberty as wee say cost whot water nay my brethren it cost the shedding of the precious bloode of the sonne of God and of the Lord of glory and therefore stand to it saith Paul quit your selues like men loose not this liberty entangle not
they were espoused But there was 1. some secret leauen to season them in a contrary doctrine 2. likely there was one a more notable troubler of them than the rest though they were 3. many who much disquieted these Churches The least part of the leauen of quarrelers is ouer dangeroâ—… 1 Of the leauen Paul willeth to beware euen of the least part thereof Men make smal reckoning of smal sinnes yet the least forfite forfiteth the whole lease The litle leaking may drown the ship one litle pinte of vineger marreth a pipe of wine a litle leauen sowreth the whole lumpe and causeth it to swell and neuer leaueth till it haue brought the whole lumpe to be of his own nature viz. to be of a soure poutting and proud condition 2 An example hereof may be euen hee whom Paul scriketh at he who perswaded them contrary to their callings who was that notable turmoiler of them Of whom Paul saith who euer he be there is a higher than he there is a iudgement seate hee cannot decline but shall and must abide the verdict that God will giue vpon all such 3 Of this man generally of the rest which purposely made a concision and a rent in the Church of God like vnruly fish breaking the net and disordering all Paul wisheth in respect of gods glory the Churches commodity that they were euen cut off A heauy wish But a necessary when priuy lurckers and whispering corrupters are otherwise like to contaminate all Wo to them by whom offences come And yet there must come offences there must be heresies and there shal be enimies heresies to try our faith and enimies to proue our patience * Inwarde contention worse than outward persecution And while the wind bloeth but into the house there may be meanes to keepe it forth but when it is bred in the house and while the contention is within the womb of Rebecca the contention and strugling is felt with a most sorrowfull feeling who can abide it And yet lo herein is patience and herein is great wisedome patience in praying to God and wishing of him that he would take his own cause into his own hand wisedome in prouiding remedies conuenient according to our callings If any man be giuen to contend wee haue no such custome in the Church of God if any man be like the Salamander that liketh and liueth best in the fire I say in the fire of vnnecessary strife which is not certainly which is not taken from the Lords Altar truely for mine own part I cannot but say and pray ô my soul enter not into such Councels Elias seruant sawe a litle clowd 1 King 18.44 as it were a mans hand at first and afterwards the heauens waxt thicke and blacke and clowdy and a great storme ensued I can not prognosticate what stormes may come God be thanked euer who hath graunted so long a calme but if they must needs come and cannot be diuerted which I most wish then I pray God they fal vpon that sea and vppon those troublesome waters from whence they rise Browne the schismatique I wil not so speake in clouds but that you may know whom I meane directly In deed I meane the man whose opprobrious pamphlets I take some of you haue or haue seene I meane Brown that shameles reuiler of our Sacraments a railer at our ministerie that saucy reprocher of the state and Parlament by name and the very diuider as much as in him lieth of the body of Christ which is his Church The nature of schisme where it entereth and what means it vseth Marke what I tel you the nature of schisme is euer to hunt after and to enter the places where religion is most planted and because the affections of weomen are great where they take the old Pharisie the cunning Iesuit the peeuish Schismatique alwaies inuade widowes housen and young wiues companies specially of the richer sort and when deuotion hath fore-possessed their minds either the one way or the other then come they with their intemperate heate inflaming the aire prepared alreaby so that it may be incensed Gaine by schisms And as these men feed these weomens humors so these weomen fill these mens purses and they gaine more by schisme than they coulde by vnity and to that ende in steede of true preaching of sound doctrine onely certaine debates impetrinent are handled among a sort of the infirmer sex and the regiment and ordering of euery thing are demurred and decided priuatly in places where some one woman or other can finde the husband inclineable or else where the woman is venterous wil and doth giue giue for they cal it giuing largely to heare of these matters of these only And within a while the open Church is refused secret conuenticles taken vp charity is brokeÌ„ al is turned to an eger sharpnes of speech sometimes against preaching at Pauls Reading in towns or studieng in Vniuersities generally against the whole order of this Realme This is a secret souring Leauen this is not as Elizeus meale to sweeten the bitter but as gal added to the sweete to make it most bitter and like a rosted Onnion cut and laid open ready to take euery euil sent in the house where it can finde the least suspicion thereof If there be any imperfection amongst vs as I am sure there is none vrged as an additament to Christ and the * Articles agreeed vpon c. anno 1562. Artic. 20. Scriptures which were a case to by in but if there be any in other matters shal the corne say I will not grow but in the fielde where no weedes growe I will not heare them which teach well and which teach all the trueth in faith but not al the truth which I couÌ„t truthes in other respects And therefore brag and vaunt I had rather defie al and liue alone In the body there are wertes and deformities of diuers sorts some may bee cut off with ease or with no great paine othersome seeme to bee deformities and be not but in the eies of some and yee if they were I say not better a mischiefe than an inconuenience but better an inconuenience than an intolerable mischiefe And these schismes these angry biles these insufferable plagues will grow to an intolerable mischiefe if they be not cut off as Paul wisheth or some other way qualified and asswaged But this much by the way and vpon iust occasion 13 For brethren yee haue beene called vnto libertie only vse it not as an occasion vnto the flesh but by loue serue one another 14 For al the Lawe is fulfilled in one word which is this thou shalt loue thy Neighbour as thy selfe 15 If yee bite and deuoure one another take heede least yee bee consumed one of another 16 I say walke in the spirit and ye shal not fulfil the lusts of the flesh 17 For the fleshe lusteth against the spirit
and the spirite against the fleshe and these are contrary the one to the other so that ye cannot doe the same things that ye would 18 And if ye bee led by the spirit ye are not vnder the Law The Galathians as they were to recognize the state wherein they were placed and the condition whereunto they were called and therein to liue die to stand to that so yet because licentious men may soon abuse the liberty of the gospel Paul deliuereth foorth a caueat and maketh as it were a circle least men take an exorbitant and a wandering course in the waies of their saluation Grace hath superabounded but sinne may not therefore abound Abraham and Abrahams race is iustified and sette at liberty by faith by the promise in the seede through fauour and grace from our sinnes as likewise also from the olde ceremonies shall wee therefore ad sinne to sinne and liue as we list and lust after the flesh and offend euery weake one being called to lead a life after the spirit and that in perfect loue and brotherly charity Phy for shame The nature of man is prone to superstition and bent to ceremonies and ready to take any other way to Heauen than God himselfe prescribeth Of old Spiridion bishop of Cypris Sozo lib. 1. c. 11. a man most renouned known by fame wheÌ„ in a fasting time a stranger came to him coÌ„sidering circumstances he willed his daughter for he was maried to dres such prouision as he had to wit a peece of bacon when it was ready himselfe did eate and bad his ghest doe the like and take part the straunger refused so to do because he was a Christian nay saieth Spiridion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by so much the rather thou shouldest not refuse All things are cleane to the cleane The Scriptures are plaine And I ad God is not the god of meats he careth not for fishers more than for butchers for salt fish more than for powdred beefe for meates too or fro Touch not tast not were Iewish seruices wee are free as Spiridion said euen because we are Christians and so are wee free from the fleshely grosser yoke of the whole Law euen because we are Christians but yet not to liue after the flesh without the rules of the Law and beside the orders of charitable and duetiful consideration A Christian is most free and most bound In two woordes I may seeme to speake contraries but mark what I say yea 1. A Christian is the only freeman 2. Againe a Christian is as much bound though not seruilely bound as anie man els 1 Concerning the curse of the Lawe the degrees and wilfulnes of sinning the slauery of sathan the feare of death the thrall of ceremonies old or new and the bond of damnation a christian man is a free-man 2 On the otherside not onely to serue God whose seruice is perfect freedome but also to serue one another a Christian is most bound of al men Which kind of seruice is no slauery but a willing seruice and dewty and not a compelled doing and seruitude because al is and should bee in a louely performance labored and contended vnto To induce men hereunto the reasons are very forcible 1. The commaundement to loue 2. The excellency of loue 3. The inconuenience in not louing 1 If God command what seeke we farder Ego Dominus I am the Lorde is the conclusion which God euer maketh either in his prohibitions or precents and Hely taught Samuel to say that which we al must say Speake on Lord thy seruant heareth and by hearing is meant obedience in hearing Loue and Charitie 2 The excellency of loue appeareth herein that loue God and loue man also loue God and man and the perfection of the Law could require no more Of so large a compasse is loue and of so excellent a quality But yet the Apostle doth not dispute nowe whether a man can loue in the highest degree but what hee must endeuour to doe being freed from his imperfection and wanting the perfectnesse which is required If we could loue in that measure we ought in that sort we should and in what manner the Law commandeth then might we fulfill the Lawe no doubt But we haue a discharge from that perfection for we are not vnder the Law but yet not without release from contending to perfection for thereunto the spirit leadeth and louingly conductâ—…h vs al along By the spirite is meant the first fruites of the holy Ghost the effects of grace and power of christ working in christians which because some relickes of the old man remaine in vs which the Apostle calleth the fleshe alas this flesh lusteth against the spirit so that we cannot doe what wee would and therefore not what we should For many times we wish to doe lesse than we ought and yet let vs euer endeuour to doe the most Herein the onely way is to go the wayes of loue and charity For loue thinketh nothing harde though it be neuer so hard In louing as the heauens are placed aboue the earth so the God of heauen is to be beloued aboue al his creatures And yet loke what loue we duly and orderly shew to our neighbour hee accepteth as doone to himselfe so that in him and for his sake wee performe it throughly as vsually wee would to our own selues Man hath a natural * Selfe-Loue forbidden philauty and selfe-loue but God requireth not the euil kinde of loue whereby alwaies and especially in the last daies men shal be louers of themselues but the high degree of hartines in louing others euen as our selues the Law would haue Eate not thy bread alone by thy selfe breake it to the poore Break it with discretion but breake it Iudas the traitors voice was what will yee giue me Cain asked am I the keeper of my brother And why not the keeper But God saue euery innocent Abel from such keepers Yet indeede no man hath greater charity than to giue his life for his brethren I deny not the greatnes Magis aut minus non variant speciem greatnes or litlenes doth not alter the question it is charity to loue and it is the nature of true charity to lay downe our liues for the good of our neighbours euen as Christ Iesus did all that hee did not for himselfe whether in his birth Nobis natus hee was borne for vs or in his life nobis datus he was giuen to vs or at his departure Expedit vobis it was expedient for you that hee should ascend All the actions of our Sauior were commodious and profitable for vs not behoouefull for himselfe Let no man seek his own but the wealth of others saith the Apostle Loue loueth our neighbours all yea and aboue our selues I need not resolue you who is your neighbor The Samaritane in Saint Luke Luc. 10. in compassion and true loue spareth neither his wine nor his oyle nor his
a quicke sand let vs eate and drinke like Epicures and belligods for to morrow we shal dy and there is an end Nay not so for as you who so offend shall bee excluded the inheritance of euerlasting life so shall you also for such enormities be tormented for euer in endlesse paines without repentance The rich glutton in the Gospel goeth gaily fareth deliciously euery day al purple aboue silcke within diet most exquisite He taketh his rest in idlenes eateth in gluttony quaffeth in drunckennes passeth the time in * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 iocondnes But Lazarus lieth after another sort being sicke and coulde not stand but was faine to ly downe at the gate and lay in open sight euen at the gate was no counterfet but ful of sores and not able to driue away the dogges and a small almes would haue serued him for he was but one person and he required no great matter but a fewe crommes and euen such as fell from the rich mans table but this rich man releeueth him not himselfe and his eate all drinke all or wastfully spill all But was this all This proude greedy Hauke or rather Rite that was thus pruned and trimmed euery day thus curiously fed so carefully kept thus gorgiously vsed in fine he dieth soudenly and straite he plumpeth downe to hell and there is detained in euerlasting torments and so is storied to be for an ensample to al that so egregiously delight to pamper the flesh and cram the body 22 But the fruite of the spirite is Loue Ioy Peace Long-suffering Gentlenes Goodnes Faith 23 Meekenes Temperance against such there is no Lawe 24 For they that are Christs haue crucified the flesh with the affections and the lusts 25 If we liue in the spirit let vs also walk in the spirite 26 Let vs not bee desirous of vaine glory prouoking one an other enuieng one an other Contrary causes produce contrary effectes The fleshe and the spirit are contrary and therefore the workes of the one and the fruites of the other are contrary And therefore also these fruites of the spirite come not at all from the contrarie cause which is the flesh but from the spirit alone which doth incubate fructifieth and woorketh in our nature otherwise not onely barren of good woorkes but quite repugnant to all goodnesse For in whom the fleshe ruleth you heard howe it worketh but whom the spirite guideth you see what fruits spring thence only thence to wit Loue Ioy Peace and euery gracious vertue The caterpillers of the Orchard where these fruits should grow were the aboue named vices Paul distinctly noteth three in the ende of this Chapter 1. Ambition 2. Contention 3. Enuy. 1 Euerie thing hangeth in the ambitious mans light 2. The contentious man is neuer content 3. But the enuying eye is not possibly quiet Ambition 1 Ambition is a tree that groweth in euerie ground rooteth deepe and spreadeth wide especially being watered with folly selfe-loue and pride For as humility contentation lowlinesse are seldome found so an aspiring minde as the catching bramble resteth and prooueth in euery mans brest The baits of pomp are sondry the weak brain of man is fanciful flesh is soone puft vp and there is leauen enough in the world to make it rise and swell And set but a beggar on horsebacke and he will ride a gallope Yea our nature is as the vntamed colt except it be kept in and held short and rained hard there wil be no rule The towne the country the great City generally all flesh hath an ouer-weening thought of it selfe When the Peacoch vieweth her fowl feet she laieth downe her proud feathers and yet a litle after forgetting all that she pranketh vp herselfe as before In like manner when God toucheth vs somewhat neare doubtlesse the godly stoupe full low fall downe flat as Paul from his horse but being raised vp againe wee doe not euer consider thoroughly by what strength we were raised and when he remoueth his hand wee strait forget that it was euer laide vpon vs and to what end to wit to teach vs humblenesse meekenesse sobriety patience and al goodnes for euermore The last enimy that the Godly in Christ shall ouercome is death but one of the last and that not the least is a vaine conceit either of being vaine or tending to vaine glory And this is a general fault yea the very heardman thinketh as well of his horne as of the siluer trumpet the minoe in the fresh water is as proud as the whale of the sea the pricking fruitles * thistle is as high minded as the profitable Cedar Austine in his * Lib. 6. cap. 6. confessions agnizeth plainely his imperfection in this behalfe in sense confessing thus I gaped full wide after promotion honour gaine a good mariage and the like and in seeking to satisfie these my lusts I endured many a hard brunt much bitternes and sundry dangers On a day I was to make an Oration before the Emperour or Gouernour therein I tooke not a little pains to depaint out his praises therby entending to purchase some fauour and credite and opinion of credit with his honour But as I was in the way and while my head was ful and my hart heauy and I as it were with child til this wind were vented and I deliuered of that which I had conceaued I met a beggerly drunkē rogue that sang ful merily and was marueilous excessiue pleasaunt I stoode and considered the man and compared his state At last I began to reason with my companions that it went far better with this fellow than it fared with me by how much mirth is better than sorrow a gladsome hart than a heauy soule and albeit it might be said that the ioy I might conceaue of my learning were to be preferred verily I must confesse where that fault secretly wringeth alas my learning knowledge and study is more bent to please than to profit to speak to the eare than to the consciences of men And this is a very vanity And though the druncken mans mirth may seeme more vile than a fancy of vaine glory yet it is not so For to glory but not in the Lord is the greatest shame To seeke to bee great but not in Christ is the weightiest sinne To striue for honor in the kingdom of humility is worse than a drunkennes Againe the begger getteth a penny or two easily and so a drunkennes of so small a charge is soon disgessed with one nights sleep but the price of vaine glory is ouer-costly and the giddines it bringeth is not so soone concocted I goe to bed many nightes and rise many a morning yet stil my drunckennes is the same it was c. Thus could Austen bethink himselfe and such was his humble confession to God and sober conference with his companions And this did hee turne the sinne of another to the reformation of himselfe And herein is true wisedome and
fault let him be restored in the spirite of lenity and with meeke discretion in a proportionable rate There is a publique restoring and there is a priuate restoring You are priuate men and yet priuate men rather looke into publique orders than into their priuate owne doings And in deed as he said nos quoque eruditos oculos habemus you see somewhat and you say as much as you see The execution of the Law is the life of the Law There is order taken for commuting of penance and the open restoring of the penitent But I grant lawes without execution are no lawes Quid leges sine moribus Vanae proficiunt There is no profite by such lawes nay they are lawlesse and as if they were no lawes at al. And therefore a latter law comming after with full meaning to put in execution the former law is said to reuiue such a law therby inferring plainly that the law wanteth life and is deade when it lacketh execution In the most honourable audience of the high court of Parliament they were the words of wise and right worthy Sir Nicolas Bacon the Lord Keeper whose memorie is as the memory of Iosias very sweete in euery mans mouth his wordes were that the best instruments and sharpest weeding tooles did the garden no good though they were prepared and if they were laid vp in the store house and not put to vse and so forth to the same purpose much But I am beside my Text pardon me in one word your selues haue made you haue lawes and yet notwithstanding as if you had none you who can find fault with others why doe you not execute your owne lawes and mulctes appointed for the restoring of greater repaire to the hearing of the holy word of the Lord Wil you see men fall from god and fal to vice and profanenesse euen the Lecture time and will ye not restore these members to their old order If you were spirituall no doubt these things would be better ordered For shame looke to it The ground of the Apostles exhortation for the maner of restoring is because they be spiritual and for that the Lawe of Christ requireth that men deale with men as meekely and louely as they may wherein I obserue two notes 1. The cause of their standing who stood when others fel 2. Then the vrgent duety to endeuor to raise vp them who are fallen 1 The cause why wee stand is not in the strength of our selues ye that are spiritual it commeth from Gods spirit verse 3. If any man seem to himselfe to bee but somewhat hee is deceaued The spirit is ready but the flesh is weak and al the readines we haue to stand to it in persecution to persist in al temptations either outwardly assalting or inwardly molesting is from the spirit of God because we are spiritual The Popish partition betweene spiritual and temporal as if amongest them and their orders euery doore keeper Church sweeper bel ringer or taper bearer c. were necessarily spiritual men and all men else were not spirituall is a toy and wel confuted of * D. Bilson of Christian subiection part 1. Pag. 244. late Paul writing generally to the Galathians calleth them by that which they should bee spirituall in the cariage of themselues mutually one to another Wherein my note is to that end wee looke vpward to the spirit of Gods assistaunce and to his powerfull hand that holdeth vs vp that are ready to fal There were 7000. that did not adore Baal and not so much as bow their knees to the Idoll but this came not of themselues but they were kept vp by God The candlesticks in the Reuelation are held vp by no other hād but by the hand of Christ Wherfore as it is in the song of Anna it is God that ruleth the woorlde it is the Lorde who guideth and directeth the feet of his Saints it is his woorde that teacheth and his spirite that conducteth his chosen seruants The Lawe of Christ 2 The vrgentnes is also thereby enforced of a good duty toward the repairing of a sinner that the Law of Christ prouoketh vs thereunto The Law of Moses is full of feare and terror but the Law of Christ is ful of loue and as the body is a perfect body that is sustained with meate and drinke inwardly and kept warme externally with clothes so the faithfull man is a right Christian that feeleth within the food of life the consolation of the spirit and the comfort of Christ and in the exercise of good works and brotherly kindnes as it were thorough clothes to warme and to foster his good actions and all this after the commandement law and ensample of our Sauiour who did al that he did for others and nothing for himselfe euen as the sheepe both in fell and flesh is for his owner and not for himselfe Wherefore brethren let vs suffer one with an other euen for his sake that suffered for vs al. Let vs beare one an others burden for his sake who vpō the crosse bore al our burdēs It is the law of christ that it shold so not thereby that we become sauiors of our selues but because he hath saued vs already and therefore may make a Lawe for his saued which most willingly they must walke in He that considereth wel his owne faults will the better beare will the imperfection of other men The hye-way thereunto is if a man can descend into him-selfe if that his considerations be like Solomons windows Skued to giue light rather into the house thā that a mā may stand at the windowe to loke abroad and if he iudge himselfe rather than others and proue himselfe and know say that if such or such a one be a sinner in such or such a case by infirmity well euen I either haue bin or am perchance and certainly by nature am and therefore may be if now I am not as great an offender as that my brother and therefore I must and wil doe for him as I would wish to be done vnto my selfe seeking to restore him as wel as I can and that with al lenity For there is no insulting vppon or vpbraiding of one another man in a fault The mariners of Tharsis fell to casting of lottes to know who was the sinner but that God had a purpose therein the lots might haue fallen rather vpon any of the mariners than vpon Ionas In Paradise there were but two and they two being both faulty began to post off their sinne the one to the other but it went not by that euerie man shal beare his owne burden And a quiet conscience is a continuall feast And that conscience which is blowen vp in pride and goeth for a time merrily like the wind-mill with the gale of vaine praise or selfeliking or that conscience that can disgest yron like the Estrige that is al his own bad doings and yet square it out and compare it with
other men one day shal it bee called to his proper account and when the mowing time shall come the proud blasted eare shall ly as low as the lowest and shal seeme no taller than his fellowes nor better indeede than it is in it selfe 6 Let him that is taught in the woorde make him that hath taught him partaker of all his goods 7 Be not deceiued God is not mocked for whatsoeuer a man soweth that shall hee also reap 8 For hee that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption but he that soweth to the spirite shall of the spirite reape life euerlasting The maintenance of the Ministerie Paul is led in the spirit to direct the Galathians from point to point as they most needed and wher as the infirme sinner was ouer hardly dealt withal and no man would beare with his brother and euery man was partially affected yea wher as hee who sought to reforme them most and to teach them best in better waies was least regarded amongst them our apostle both for the former matters told them and so for this last point sheweth what is their duety in that respect saying Let him that is taught among other lessons learne this withall to releeue his teacher In the one and twentith of Iosue the principal fathers of the Leuits demaunded their due when they were not thought of and passed ouer in the diuision wherein certes appeareth a great ouer sight so litle to regard the Lordes commandement but priuate care as then it did so now also wil marre al if the Lords portion be not looked vnto And I note yet that in that iniury the yonger Leuits deale not by heapes disorderly but the grauest chiefest fathers take the matter in hand and they demaund their due For right is right and may be demanded and that which the lord alloweth is a very right and it is no shame to aske our owne that is ful painfully deserued Who is he that goeth to warfare vpon his own charges We fight the battles of the Lord in your behalfe Who planteth a vineyard and eateth not the fruite thereof One planteth another watereth an other diggeth ditcheth and hurleth outstones that may hinder your growth in Christ Who feedeth a flock eateth not of the milck We lead you into the Lords pastures wee watch day and night ouer your souls we encounter with Wolues we endure the parching beate and chilly cold of al inconueniences for your sakes Then if we be as the souldiour in the camp as the laborer in the vineyard as the carefull sheepe-heard amongst his flock should not these charges be defraid Our pains respected Our persons rewarded It is enacted and ordered by God himselfe that the Or mouth that treadeth out the corne as the fashion then was should not bee musted Hath God care of Oren I knowe hee hath but much more of men that sow the seede of life that labour in his spirituall haruest that thresh the sheaues that winnow that grind the corne that bake the bread that break to you the bread of your souls They that serued but at the Altar liued of the offerings and the offerings were certain for the most part In the new Testament why is the work-man lesse worthy of his wages than before They taught in types we teach in the euidence of truth They sacrificed beasts we offer mens souls to God They dealt out of the Lawe we deliuer and we preach the Gospel We sow spiritual things vnto you is it much if we be partakers of your temporalities We plow vp the vallow grounds of your harts we shed into euery eare the seede of Gods woord we pray incessantly for the increase of Gods grace amongst you all Poperie fed hir priests shal the Gospel starue her ministers Popery crambd the bellies stuffed the barns and butteries and latheries of a sort of sory hinds that could doe nothing for the most part of them but turne and wind before a heape of stones tosse a wafer cake rinse a challice and mumble vp a seruice in a strange tongue And can ye not affourd the laborsome ministery a conuenient competency Nay out of that cōpetency which by the grace of god is yet left the seruing-mā the waiting-mayd many times think to make vp the recōpence of their bodily seruices by some symonical leprosie by flat bargaining with some of their own cote and therein verily is the greater griefe Prolers for liuinges Wherefore as Pilat said to our Sauior thine owne nation hath betraied thee and as it is in the Prophet ô Israel thy destruction is of thy selfe So O my brethren of the Elergy will you betray your selues Will you prostitute the honor of your learning the reputation of your good names the quiet of your consciences the patrimony of the Church to the couetous horseleech that can say nothing but GIVE GIVE Or as Iudas said What will ye giue me Rather liue and dy at your scholerly pittance which your honorable founders bequeathed you in your Colledges in the poore Vniuersities than thus scrape and scamble and flatter abroad glozing with the woorld and misreporting one another impouerishing your learning and beggering your selues by borrowed expenses in your ordinary and endles prolings yeelding matter for Satyr-writers and mournefull Chronicles of shameful reproch to al posterity If things go forward or rather so backwarde as some stick not to say they doe whereof in truth I must cōfesse my selfe I thank God am no way experienced but if it be so I feare least as Christ once draue these Merchandizers out of the temple so this chafering in church matters wil driue out Christ which God forbid out of our church In speciall you O Patrons of benefices remember the example of noble and worthy Dauid who refused to drincke of the water that was brought vnto him because it was fetcht with the venture of blood Remember you that in selling you more than venture your owne souls and that in buying is more than ventured the soule of the buyer And will any man buy or dare you sell or suffer to be sold by your retinue the lords portion God wil not be answered with prittle-prattle disputes I knowe the world is cunning and can distinguish and iangle of tithes and church-liuings too and fro till the cow come home and that in some is borne withal which in some others is sacrilege without any alteration of other circumstance but that affection can winke when it will When all is done for I purpose not to enter particular discourse thereof the resolution of all in all is God wil not be mocked A man may pul his better by the nose and play with a mans beard but if he reason against God God wil not be out-reasoned Ananias Saphira could not deceaue the holy Ghost and you read of their ende Acan hid his theft but not from God Adam thought to couer himselfe in the shrubs