SInce the time that Adam grew disobedient to GOD his Father, all Mankinde haue taken after the Earth their Mother, and whether the temper of the Climate which we inhabite doe in­force it, or the quality of the Soyle wherein wee breathe, or the nourish­ment whereon wee liue, altering vs somewhat, as it is altered by vs; plaine it is, that we borrow our disposi­tions [Page 2]from our Countryes, and our humours are by con­sent of Nature so annext, to our tenures, and intangled to our possessions, that Geographers haue now thought man­ners of people as essentiall parts of their Art, as Regions; and a Mappe as precisely to bee drawne of the one as of the other. Wherefore the Apostle S. Paul in the blossom­ing of the Gospell having planted Titus in the Episco­pall See of Crete, and deliuering a kinde of Decretalls, and Canon Law, touching the life and demeanure of the Cler­gy; he thought it no lesse behoofefull for Titus amongst o­ther things to bee acquainted with the manners of his Flocke, then for a Physitian to know the constitution of his Patients, and therefore out of a Prophet of their owne, extracts for him a character of the Nation: [...]: The Cretes are alwayes lyars, euill beasts, slow bellies. I will not stand to discusse what Pro­phet of theirs it was which thus acted the Criticke, whe­ther Epimenides, or Calimachus, since I finde that Epimeni­des hath amongst the Learned prevayled for multitude of voyces, nor is it expedient to vent all reasons which are alleadg'd, why he was here term'd a Prophet, that name be­ing common to all, whose inventions could pace measures, and more particularly appropriated to Epimenides, as who was esteemed by the report of Laertius euen of the Cre­tians themselues, to bee such an one. The verdict you see he giues vp, findes them guilty of a three-fold corruption: first, of a corruption of the reasonable faculty, which sitting as supreme Iudge in the Court of Truth and Falsehood, they laboured what they could to part it by wrong infor­mations, They were alwayes lyars: Secondly, of a corrupti­on on of the irascible faculty, which they cherish'd with ma­lice, and brutish cruelty, They were euill beasts: Thirdly, of a corruption of the concupiscible faculty, being better fed then taught, pigri, idle companions, and ventres, belly-gods, (to speake with the time) bad observers of Fasting-dayes, [Page 3]ill Lent-keepers, They were slow bellies. Heere is a cri­stall mirrour of divine providence, wherein the sole mer­cy of GOD is resplendent. Let our Pelagians of the newest devis'd fashion tell me, let them which would ex­alt the decayed and dead will of man one linke higher in the chaine of Predestination then the eternall decree of GOD, answere mee, how was Nature manur'd and prun'd in these Cretians? how were her talents here turn'd and winded in the banke for the best advantage, that thus be­yond all plea of desert, the Gospell should arriue in Crete, and Titus as Ambassadour bee sent from GOD to winne them vnto Christ? Certainely if Cretians tongues be sha­ped for the vtterance of any truth, they might resolue our new Cretians the controversie, from their own case, where the light of the truth so immediatly followed in their I­land vpon a midnight of ignorance, and blindnesse, and that without any twilight interceeding or arising from the extinguished tapers of mans natural vnderstāding, that my Text makes their disease and their cure to bee close successours the one of the other; where we discouer, first an accusation against them, begun indeede by Epimenides, but seconded by himselfe, This witnesse is true: Secondly, a reformation, in which (as if the grace of GOD building vpon no other foundation either of good nature, or morall ho­nesty) Titus must not exclude with Aristotle either youth or vnbridled affections from being hearers of his Philoso­phy, but must seriously intend their recovery, Wherefore rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the faith.

Concerning the first, namely the accusation; the Creti­ans found no Advocate that I know to maintaine their ho­nesty, till the Iesuites entertain'd Eudemon as being a na­tiue Cretian, and therefore best squaring with their disci­pline, and admitted him into their society, whom when a writer of ours fitly reputed for a notorious lyar, with Cre­tenses mendaces, The Cretians are alwayes lyars, he blusheth [Page 4]not to excuse the matter, as if Epimenides call'd them lyars for this onely, because they affirm'd that they could shew the sepulchre of Iupiter, whom both he and the rest of the Gentiles did conceiue to be immortall. This shift smells of the same dye with a Sophisme vsed in Logicians. The Cre­tians are alwayes lyars; but Epimenides was a Cretian which said this; therefore Epimenides lyed, and so by a cō ­sequence it is false, that the Cretians are alwayes lyars; for as in this Syllogisme, a fallacy is committed in arguing from meere particulars, the major, that the Cretians are al­wayes lyars, being but equipollent to this; that many, or a greater part are lyars, out of which route, Epimenides might well be exempted; so in the other caption of Eude­mon's, what lets, that Epimenides saying might bee true in part, though not in this; that Iupiter was immortall; yet in this; that the Cretians are alwayes lyars, euill beasts, slow bellyes; which is all that our Apostle doth quote, Cretes e­runt testes, nec fingunt omnes Cretes. A pretty world it is with the Iesuites, that as heretofore they haue put vs to maintaine the authority of the Scriptures aboue the Church, so now we must defend the truth of them against a Cretian. But Eudemon reasoning against so manifest a te­stimony of the Holy Ghost, argues, that either his Coun­trymen haue not yet left off their old quality, or else that a­midst the refin'd decisions of their order touching lyes & equivocations, an officious lye for ones Country is helde currant ware, though the credite of an Apostle suffer by it. But let's leaue Eudemon & his Countrymen as condemn'd by the Sentence of S. Paul himself, besides an whole jury of Proverbs pack'd against them, Cretizare, Cretizare cum Cretensi, Cretensis cum Aegineta, Cretensis nescit mare, all which giue no better language then the lye to the Cre­tians.

The points which I shall desire you to consider in this accusation of S. Pauls, are chiefly two. First, his Christian [Page 5]ingenuity in receiuing and approuing the truth, though breath'd from the lippes of a prophane Cretian, where he rejects not the pearle because it was enclos'd in a wooden casket, nor disdaines the fruit because it was seru'd vp in an earthen dish; but rather the more admires it, and com­mends it to Titus and these Cretians, to be tasted by them also. This was farre from the daintinesse of many in our age, which thinke no instructions availeable or of force, but such as proceede from men, of whose inward calling they are perswaded, as if the efficacy of the Word depen­ded on the sanctity of the deliuerer. Hence growes that loathing amongst some of their Pastors & their doctrine, that they follow those teachers, not whom God by an or­dinary calling appointed them, but whō they choose thē ­selues. They pretend as strict an observation of the Saba­oth almost as the Iewes, onely to heare whom they fancy; they can convert the Sabaoth dayes journey, to spite the Pope, from two Italian miles, to two high Germane. True it is, that as the bels which hung in the Vestments of Aaron were intermingled with Pomgranates, so God loueth not a sound without fruit, & exēplary piety is a second Sermō; nay, to say the truth, there is not a figure in Rhetoricke more potent then the good opinion conceiu'd of the spea­ker, in which respect both Arist. & Cicero, requir'd it euen in a ciuill Oratour: But this argues not the truth, vttered by a prophane person, of imperfection, but the stomacks of most hearers to be of weak disgestion. The gift of the Ho­ly Ghost mentioned in the Gospel, where the Apostles were confirm'd in the Ministery of the word, is not graetia justi­ficationis, a grace of justification; but gratia aedificationis, a grace of edification, not gratia gratū faciens, as the School­men, say, that is, a peculiar grace giuen thē for the salvation of thēselues, but gratia gratis data, a grace giuen thē for the salvation of others. The Carpenters (you know) builded the Arke, & yet were not sav'd thēselues: & the Tyrians & Sydonians furnished Salomon with materials for the Tēple, [Page 6]and were neuerthelesse themselues without the covenant: So this witnesse of Epimenides, S. Paul converts to an in­strument of winning the Cretians to true speaking, which yet could not saue Epimenides from venting a notorious lye, and that in the very place it selfe touching Iupiter's e­ternity. But what imports it whether the Physitian doe heale himselfe, so long as he prescribes vs wholesome Phy­sicke; or whether the prison key be in the hands of a pri­soner, so long as it open's the wicket, and sets vs free from thraldome and bondage?

The second thing to bee considered in this accusation, is the Christian liberty, which S. Paul assumeth in inserting the witnesse of a prophane Writer, and that with no small commendations, into the bowels of Canonicall Scripture. In the verse preceeding, he cited indeed one of their Po­ets, but the manner of his citing of him is there somewhat more doubtfull; here in my Text, saying, this witnesse is true, the case is more clear'd; and he declares himselfe that he vseth it as a confirmation or proofe, not to bee refuted by him, but to refute the gainsaying of the Cretians by it. But what will some say, Is S. Paul come to quote Poets? why? he hath taught vs, that the Scriptures are sufficient, to teach, to instruct, to confirme, to reproue, that the man of God may be perfect in euery good worke: how is it then that hee takes vp the defence of an vnhallowed Poeme, and turnes Patron to the assertion of an Ethnicke Writer? Nay, hee which profess'd his comming not to bee in the wisedome of men, doth he borrow this furniture from Philosophers, and giue roome to strangers to lodge vnder the roofe of God's Sanctuary? But the Fathers doe vpon this place note the prudence of the Apostle, who to the Cretians vs'd the authority of a Cretian, giuing them their food in due season, and applying Physicke to the temper of his Pati­ents, becomming all things to all men, vnto the Iew a Iew, vnto the Gentile a Gentile, that he might winne them vnto Christ. [Page 7]For what more clearenesse can there bee, then to make men parties in the proofe, judges in their owne cause, and witnesses against themselues? how can one better confute the Iew, then by Paraphrast's, disperst as well in their Ca­ball, as in their Talmud? How should one reason better a­gainst the Epicure and Atheist, then by bringing the world and creatures therein for witnesse, or these are the records which they louebest, and most beleeue, and from which they are loathest to depart? How can one soundlyer con­found the Naturalist, then by the things that euery man readeth in his owne nature, which hee findes inscrib'd in his heart, and hath beene vttered by naturall men? Thus God himselfe doth oftentimes suite his manner of calling men, to their condition of life; The Wise men which were Astronomers he call'd by a starre, Peter a fisherman by a draught of fishes, Dionysius Areopagita, of the Sect of the Stoickes or Epicures, as Ambrose supposes, by a sentence vrg'd by S. Paul at Athens out of Aratus, and here is the same enterpris'd against the prophane Cretians, from a prophane Prophet of their owne, Epimenides. Certainely, seeing it hath pleas'd our Apostle to quote a saying of Na­tures Secretary, and to insert it into his writings as an en­gine which he would employ for the conversion of the Cretians vnto godlinesse, and since wee see the Spirit of God to haue sweetned the waters of cursed Iericho, and to haue made wholesome drinke of them for the children of the Prophets, as also to haue quickned and made fertile these wilde stockes, and to transplant them, to bud and bring forth fruits of righteousnesse and faith in these Cretians; I cannot here by the way but condemne them which thinke either the study, or citing of humane writers in divine ex­ercises, to be altogether vnlawfull. The maine prejudice a­gainst these citations happens from a wilfull blindnes of a perverse generation, which hath not after so many yeares tutouring, learned to distinguish between the lawfull vse [Page 8]and the abuse of a thing: I confesse as it was more in pra­ctise in the Primitiue Church, then now it is, to cite some Authors; so was there then another reason for the same thē now there is, the Fathers being then to deale with Eth­nicks, & sometimes with learned & judicious Philosophers, as was the case of S. Paul at Athens, and here happily in Crete, in which Cydon might then as well yeeld an Eude­mon as now, howsoeuer the whole Island was famous in this, saith Solinus, that it first gaue lawes to letters before all others, & therefore the example of these men can yeeld no sufficiēt pretence to any now-a-dayes, to make preach­ing the Word to be but a rapsody or medly of Greeke & La­tine Poets; Bernard saith truly, that humane eruditiō (too much of it) is but vinum inebrians, wine that makes a man drunke: inflans, non nutriens; implens, non adificans; rather glutting, then nourishing; and puffing vp, then edifying, & to such as make their auditours to surfet of such raw and immature fruits, I may say with S. Hierome to Eustochius, Quid cum Psalterio Horatius, cum Evangelistis Maro, cum Apostolis Cicero; what makes Horace with the Psalter, what Virgil with the Evangelists, what Cicero with the A­postles? Nay, we all know how vnseemely a thing it is for a subject to sit on the same Throne with his Prince, or an handmaid to beare equall rule in the house with her Mi­stresse; or the dog (as our Sauiour termes these forraign­ers) to possesse the roome and place of the Children: Yet let mee say thus much; that the subject may vsher his Prince, the servant attend his Master, & the handmaide her Mistresse. There is yet an Atheist in the world, which saith in his heart, there is no God, to him we may send Cicero, a man as ignorant of the Scripture, as hee incredulous of it, which shall certifie him of the consent of all Nations in the acknowledging a divine power. There are of the Sect of the Epicures, which bid vs eate, & drink, & sport, for after death there is neither Heauen nor Hell, to these wee [Page 9]may oppose Homer if blind, yet seeing farther then they perhaps into the state of men deceas'd. There are of the Stoickes brood remaining which minde not the pro­vidence of God, but referre all things to destiny, to these the Orator or Plato, that Atticke Moses will reply, that God's providence extendeth it selfe vnto all things, and that there is not a mote (as Democritus) so small which yet hee doth not minde and order. Is this now to make the pulpit a Philosopher's Schoole, or rather the Philosopher's Schoole a foote-stoole vnto the pulpit, and an handmaid vnto divinity, to proceede better in the necessary worke? I cannot tell what others may con­ceiue, but me-thinkes as often as wee heare an Epime­nides resolue vs morrally into the chaos of vice of which wee consist, this meditation should bud in the heart of every good Christian; Good GOD are those peri­lous times to ensue in our dayes which thou foretold'st by thy Apostles, or do the mindes of men decay with the whole fabricke of the world, that thus in the first principle of our catechismes, Heathens should informe vs of our misery, and the Disciples of nature prooue greater Masters then the Schollers of the Gospell? Be­leeue it, beleeue it (belooued) these are those Nini­vites which will rise vp in judgement against you, these those Queenes of the South which will conndemne you, for they had not those lights which wee haue, and yet they saw farre more, then many of vs doe. True­ly doth Hierome obserue vpon the first of Daniel, that if you turne over the bookes of the Philosophers tou­ching manners, you shall finde part of the vessels of the house of God there; in Plato that was the maker of the world, in Zeno the Prince of the Stoickes you may dis­cover hell, and the immortality of the soule, although they mixing the truth with much falsehoode may be sayd [Page 10]to haue taken not all the vessels of Gods house, but some onely, and those not whole neither, but crack'd and broken. Something you may finde in Plato that is borrowed from Moses, whom hee alwayes meaneth as some thinke by this phrase, [...], as the old ancient speech hath it: Something in Homer that he might be beholding vnto the same for; especially that in his 4 ^th Iliad. Parents are to be honoured that wee may be long liu'd; where he rellisheth of the fift Commande­ment: nay D. Chytreus affirmes all the writings of Philo­sophers touching manners to be nothing else but so many commentaries vpon the fiue former commandements of the latter table. Now tell me I beseech, you why (after the greate captivity which Iaphet's posterity hath suffered vnder Satan; God having sent his Apostles and vs their suc­cessours in Preaching the word, to build an house vnto him amongst the Gentiles) why I say, wee may not lawfully vse those instruments which once were dedicated to the Tabernacle, or not restore those things to the Temple, which once were stolne from the Temple, or burne those lampes in our Sanctuary which once were lighted at the altar, and haue all this while lyen vnprofitably in the trea­sure house of the God of the King of Babylon. I am not ignorant that this course hath found inveighers in all ages; it is reported that S ^t Hierome was whipt in a sleepe by an Angell, for too much addicting himselfe vnto Ci­cero's workes, I am sure that waking, Magnus scourged him, quasi candorem Ecclesiae Ethnicorum sordibus pollu­eret, as if hee polluted the candor of the Church with the filth of Ethuickes. To be briefe, I finde that they de­ny not the vse of humane learning to be lawfully ad­mitted in divine exercise, so that these foure conditi­ons, observed also by S Paul himselfe in this very text, be not wanting. The first concernes the end, that as our Apostle heere make the marke (at which hee shotte this [Page 11]arrow drawne from the quiver of Epimenides) to be the soundnesse of the Cretians faith, so not vaine glory, but the confirmation of faith, and the remouing of rubbes thereof, laid by its oppugners, either to hinder its growth or fruites, must bee that which giues vs commission to make sale of that ware in Christ's market. For Philo­sophers if they haue spoken any thing consonant to our be­liefe, wee are not onely not to be affraid to meddle with it, sed etiam ah ijs tanquam ab injustis possessoribus vindi­candum, but also wee are to challenge it (sayth Au­stine) as being detain'd by vnjust possessors, wee are not to shunne learning because they say that Mercury was the first inventer of letters, neither are wee to reject ver­tue and justice, because the Gentiles dedicated Temples to the worshippe of them; nay rather whosoever is a good Christian will acknowledge the truth to be his Masters wheresoever hee findes it; and thinke it no vil­lany, so long as it benefits his Lords worke, either to goe downe to the Philistins to sharpen his axe, or to bor­row of the Egyptians gold and silver for the building of the Tabernacle.

The second condition is that the prophanesse or Ethni­cisme in them be castrated, not so much in the presse as in the mouth, for by this meanes wee gather the rose, sayth Theodoret, and leaue the bryar, wee take the gold and let the drosse goe. Wee are to deale in these cases, sayth Hierome, as God commanded the Israelites Deut. 21. If you see among the captiues a beautifull woman, and haue a desire vnto her, and would make her your wife, you must shaue her head, and pare her nayles, and put the rai­ment of her captivity from off her, and then you may marry her: So if wee be enamour'd on secular wisdome, and for the beauty and decency thereof do desire of a captiue maide to make it an Israelite, quicquid in ea mortuum, [Page 12]idololatriae, voluptatis, errorum, libidinum, vel praecide vel ra­de, whatsoever is dead in it, whether idolatry or wan­tonnesse, or errour, or lasciviousnesse, either pare or shaue, and then you may lawfully beget of her, household servants vnto the Lord God of Sabaoth: This rule is most excellently kept by S ^t Paul in this my text, where he quoting a sentence of Epimenides, the greater halfe hee is contented to lay by; it being, as Hierome, Austine, Chry­sostome, and Theophilact do witnesse, tainted with the im­mortality of Iupiter, and avouching of his eternity. The same course hee tooke with that of Aratus mentioned, Act. 17. [...], for wee also are his offspring; in which Calvin thinkes that the Poet conceiued some particle of the divine essence to reside in the soule of man, yet this nothing letted (sayth hee) why the Apostle might not thence extract a sense good enough to confute the Athenians withall; so senselesse is their position which thinke no reformation to be lawfull, but that which abro­gates the whole vse of a thing for some partiall abuse sly­ding hereby from an affirmatiue superstition, which ido­latrously toucheth what is vnlawfull, to a negatiue super­stition, which abstaineth from what is lawfull.

The third condition is that wee alwayes so vse humane learning that wee ever giue the Scriptures the vpper hand. So S ^t Paul having condemned these Cretians from the mouth of Epimenides, hee thought this might serve as a good motiue or preparation to stirre them vp towards their amendment, but because Titus was to goe on a surer ground, hee establisheth that sentence from another of his owne, which proceeding from one inspir'd with the infallible spirit of truth, could not incurre suspicion of er­rours; (This witnesse is true,) for as much difference as was between that riches which Salomon had to build the Tēple, and that which the Israelites borrowed of the Egyptians to [Page 13]build the tabernacle; so much and more is betweene that testimony which nature brings, to divine writings, & that which the pen-men of the Holy Ghost bring vnto it: the which being well conceived, the contention (as the Fa­thers obserue) 'twixt Hagar and Sarah, may be compos'd, if Hagar flout not Sarah, as if shee vvere barren, nor Sarah exclude Hagar, as being her hand-maid.

The last condition is that which Rhetoricians do giue in like case, that these citations of humane writers be vsed in di­vine exercise: non vt esculentis, sed vt condimentis: not as meate, but as sawce. The Apostle therefore, though there vvere many straines of poetry and proverbs touching these Cretians imperfections, as common to be had as any vvare in the market, yet he contents himselfe with one, and saith not, haec testimonia sunt vera, these vvitnes­ses are true, but, hoc testimonium est verum, this vvit­nesse is true, not as if more then one humane authori­ty vvere vnlawfull, for hee himselfe in a short oration to the Athenians, did quote both an inscription vpon an altar, and a sentence of a Poet, but to teach vs herein to vse a moderation: for it were a madnesse, because lace sets forth a suite, therefore to make a suite of lace onely, or because tapestry and hangings doe grace a house, therefore to content our selues with them insteede of stone and timber the most principall stuffe in building, vvhich vvere as much as to say, I would build me an house, but in effect make but an arbour. Poets and Oratours are not the solide meates vvhich doe nourish, but the greene oliue which provokes the appetite: [...], saith Pinda­rus, sub finem coenae dulcis est placenta: vvherevpon, as Gratian obserues, Gregorie blames not those Bi­shops which studied & applied these things, Sed qui contra episcopale officium pro lege Evangelicâ grammaticam po­pulo exponebant, but them which contrary to their [Page 14]office of expounding the Gospell, read a grammar le­cture vnto the people, such as for wholsome foode pro­pos'd pepons and onions, and I know not what old ends to disgest, as if hee were no body which compil'd not a whole Homers Centons, or a Virgils Centons, and vented them all at once to their auditory. Otherwise who can deny, but that an ingenuous hearer may get some profit by hearing as well as another by reading? as for them of the opposite opinion, I would wish them more charity, then to grudge that other men see with two eyes, where­as they see but with one, and will leaue them with that saying of Hierome to Magnus, ne vescentium dentibus e­dentuli invideant, & oculos caprarum talpae contemnant: that if they want teeth, they would not envy them which eate with them, nor contemne the eyes of goates, if them­selues bee Wantes and starke blinde. And so I come from the accusation taken vp by our Apostle against these Cre­tians, This witnesse is true, vnto the reformation, whose steppes and degrees succeede in the next place to be han­dled, Wherefore rebuke them sharply that they may bee sound in the faith.

Was this witnesse true, and must Titus therefore be so hardy as to rebuke them for it? Surely this was a ser­vice of no small danger; for first venter non habet aures, the belly was never tender ear'd, especially in cases, wherein her copie is questioned, and can it now brooke with patience to be stinted, & those ancient feasts famous in Creete for their antiquity and founder, renowned Mi­nos, to be censur'd? Againe, that evill beasts should bee curryed without kicking, or giving some token of their ferall inclination, almost o'refloweth the banks of all pro­bability in nature: But to take the lye without a challenge, to be twitted by St Paul, & then tax'd by Titus for being [...], alwayes lyars, the Valiant of our times, I am sure, will never be induced to beleeue, that either the Cretians [Page 15]were men of resolution, or else that they would pocket vp a rebuke in this kind without a frey. I cannot tell, whether since the time that duells haue beene thought the best meanes to disproue a lye, although in them is made good, that which was neuer questioned, to wit, skill in fencing, and not that which is impeach't, to wit, trueth and honesty, but these rather impair'd, for hardly I shall beleeue him to regard his word, which regards not his soule, whether (I say) reproofes of this nature bee now warrantable? Certainely had Paul construed this lan­guage to bee a subject worthy of a combate, hee would not haue branded a whole nation with such a vice, or at least thought to haue wrought soundnesse in mens faith by so vnseasonable an instrument? Wee which challenge farre higher places in Christs schoole, then these raw converts, must acknowledge our non-proficiency, if wee be more offended with others telling vs of our faults, then with our selues, for being faulty, seing it is more dis­graceful to be, then to be called so; inasmuch as wordes are but aery images of things, and to make the most of it, a biting enemy is but a cholericke physitian that tells one his disease in his anger. But counterfeit valour hath confin'd reproofes to such narrow limits, & tyed them to such nice termes, that for feare of an encounter they seldome or never goe abroad, and haue scarce the pulpit allowed them for a sanctuary. Hence springs that vnhap­py friendship, quae illum quem diligit, (as Carthusian saith) tacendo tradit diabolo, which favouring his brothers eares, breakes his necke: hence that indulgency, and conniven­cie of parents, especially in cases of vertue and religion, where if the question were to be decided, whether the foule be ex traduce, that is, may be allowed by heralds, a place in pedegrees; I might answere, no: seeing the ne­glect which they haue of it doth convince sufficiently, that they begot their childrens bodies, but not their [Page 16]soules. The Law in Deuteronomy is vniversal, thou shalt not see thy brothers oxe, or his asse fall downe by the way, and hide thy selfe from them: what shall we say, (beloued) doth God take care for oxen or asses? but the pitty is (saith Bernard) cadit asina, succurritur ei, cadit anima, non est qui relevet eaem: the asse falls, shee is succoured, a soule falls, & there is none which by reproving, will relieue it. I finde by the testimony of a Iesuite, Valentia 3. Tom. 3. disp. & 10. q. that this duty of rebuking in my text, is so little valued in the Church of Rome, that seldome either con­fessors are inquisitiue in asking, or penitents carefull to accuse themselues of any defect herein: but yet to make vs as deformed as themselues, they deliver that all rebu­kings whatsoever are taken away by our doctrine, for what (saith Bellarmine) wilt thou checke him for not walking in the fields, whom thou supposest by abridging the power of the will, to be shut vp in prison? or if thou blame a man for falling into a pit, because through his owne fault he fell, yet willt thou reproue him for not comming out, when thou makest him so weake and feeble, and the pit so high that he cannot? Yes, hee may rightly be blam'd for not being in the fields, which ought to be there, shuts himselfe vp, and is willing to abide there still, and he is worthy to be chid which comes not out of a pit though he cannot, if he by his owne negligence brake the ladder, vvhich should helpe him out. Now man cast's himselfe into this pit, and shuts himselfe in this prison, herein he is to be rebuked; he willingly would abide there still, herein hee is to be rebuked; he lost by his owne de­fault the meanes to escape thence, I meane to avoide an occurrent sinne, and herein he is to be rebuked. But they reply, you shew indeede in this, a justice in reproving, but by denying a power to the will of vsing or rejecting these reproofes, you deny the profit or necessity of them. Why? admit that reproofes take not their effect from [Page 17]the freedome of the will, yet must Titus his talke bee thought superfluous, and Cicero's rhetoricke bee canoni­call scripture, frustra leges dantur, frustra objurgationes, laudes, vituperationes adhibentur, in civill matters wee de­ny not the will to haue a kinde of regiment, though some­what impair'd, but ever in spirituall: doe not rebukes serue as so many rules and precepts to informe vs what wee should doe? doe they not as sumners admonish vs of our misery, doe they not imprint a kinde of shame even in the wicked, touching the outward act; is not the justice of God in punishing sinners preach't in them? lastly, are they not ordain'd by God as sharpe instruments to search the benumm'd wounds of his maim'd children, which by joyning to them the saving oyle of his grace, hee makes ef­fectuall? What matters, though they receiue not their ef­ficacy from nature, if they haue it from grace? Thus much my text assures me, that rebukes are to bee vsed, and if we belieue our Apostle, they must not bee regulated by Po­pery, which to make the will a Lord, attires the vnderstan­ding as nakedly as a beggar, and to pamper the one, starues the other, [...], saith the originall, which is not a bare reproofe, but implyes also a disproofe, as if hee should haue saide, tyranize not ouer their conscien­ces in matters of religion, lap not vp your reproofes in the generall beliefe of the Church, but batter downe the rampires of sinne with reason, and subdue selfe will with the weight of invincible demonstration. This teacheth vs what ought to bee the furniture of rebukes, if wee would haue them effectuall, to wit, that they be fraught with convincing arguments, that Rhetoricke enter not the listes without some weapons borrowed from the arsenall of Logicke, that wee remember the Maxime in Philosophie, that the will wils no more then the vnder­standing vnderstands. Checks haue a kinde of signio­ry over the outward members, they may fetter the legges, [...] [Page 20]indeed (addes the same Father) the eares of all men, but I convent the consciences of some few, wherefore I say not, thou adulterer correct thy selfe, but whosoever art infected with that vice in this people, correct thy selfe: Such doubtlesse was the oratory of Titus, Paul bade him rebuke the Cretians for their lying, this hee might say, the loue which you professe, is dissimulation, your vowing of service, and all you haue (if any such com­plement were then in vse) is nothing else for the most part, but a courteous & courtlike kind of Cretisme, but to giue the lye to any one in particular, herein, though the party hate not the thing, yet he would hate the name, and the potion would turne to gall, what should remoue it? The reasons and grounds hereof, are principally two, the one lest wee arme shame with a brazē vizard, to take vp the patronage of a fault, and so quem vis correctiorem, facis pejorem, saith Austin, whom thou intendest to mend, thou makest worse: the other is, because a good name is like the fasces and ensignes of honour, which vsher the good actions of men, and make them passable in the world: Hee which defames this, depriues his brother of an instrument, without which neither his generall calling of a Christian, nor his particular almost whatsoeuer, can be so powerfull. Alexander ab Ales therefore disputing the question, whe­ther contumelies are to bee remitted, not onely quoad rancorem, as touching malice and rancor, but also quoad satisfactionem, as touching satisfaction; he distin­guisheth of contumelies, that some are injuriosae in per­sonas, injurious to the persons; some, injuriosae in officia, iniurious to the offices which they beare: the former hee saith, ought not to bee greatly set by, but easily pardoned, but not the latter without some amends, if it may bee had. For in things vvhich touch ones particular person, vvee giue an account to God, but for our selues; but in things which concerne ones office or [Page 21]calling wee may giue an account to God for others, and therefore wee cannot dispense with ought that belongs to them without being injurious to our neighbours; now a­mongst these not the least is a good name, it being our owne indeede, as our riches are, in respect of the possession, but it is others in respect of the vse and benefit. Heere ther­fore (beloued) I could wish that in publique speaking men would obserue this distinction of him and them, more seriously, whether they speake of those which beare sway in the common-wealth, or them which are over-seers in the Church. Chiefe Magistrates are set by God, to be like Sūnes in the firmament, rash censures of these are like Cloudes in the middle region of the aire, they hurt not the Sunne it selfe, neither do they abstract any thing from his permanent brightnesse, but they depriue vs which liue below of that light and warmth which hee deri­veth to vs. So likewise Pastours in the Church, are trumpets of the Gospell which summon you to battaile a­gainst your spirituall enemies, hee which defames them, doth hee stoppe the breath of the trumpet; doth hee hinder it from sounding? no, but hee enchants your organs and puts wooll into your eares, that you cannot di­stinguish the sounding of it: I speake not this as if I would procure their obliquities exemption from reproofe, that they should be depriv'd of the meanes prescrib'd by God for mens recoveryes, as the glosse would haue the Pope, to whom no man may say, Domine cur itafacis? for if vices once ascend the Pulpit, where shall they not enter? if Sa­than plant ill manners in the most eminent place of the Church, what will hee not do in private houses? But what was prescrib'd to Titus to bee the square of his fra­ternall corrections, I commend to all, redargue illos, not il­lum, rebuke privately him, publiquely not him, but them. But perhaps in the third place you will aske, how you must rebuke? my Apostle heere tell's you, when hee sayth, [Page 22] Rebuke them sharpely. The vices aboue mentioned were so common and frequent amongst the Cretians, that the whole Iland seem'd to be lulled a sleepe & to need sharpe reprehensions to rouse it vp. For as it is with ill humours, that a weake dose doth but stirre and anger them, not purge them out; so it fareth with inveterate sinnes, an easie reproofe doth but encourage wickednesse, and make it thinke it selfe so slight as that censure importeth. Vpon which ground, Commentator vpon the 1. Ethicks, disputing, whether yong men sway'd by their affection may bee ad­mitted into the Schoole of Morall Philosophy, determines affirmatiuely that they may, but with this limitation, that the professers and readers of that discipline, do oftentimes place opprobrious and contumelious speeches insteede of speculariue arguments, the reason whereof I finde given by Gregory, vt cum culpa ab actore non cognoscitur, quanti sit ponderis ab increpantis ore sentiatur, that when the fault is not conceiued by the doer, the weight of it may bee felt, from the mouth of the reprouer. For a sharpe reproofe and a contumely do agree, as Thomas well notes, in the matter, but differ formally, meaning that the same words or phrases may be common to them both; for to call foole, Matth. 5. is judg'd a contumely and deserving hell fire, yet foolish, Luke 24. is a reproofe, and vs'd by our Saviour to the two Disciples, and to the Galatians by S ^t Paul, chap. 3. but be­cause the signification of words do depend vpon the in­ward affection, therefore the forme which denominates the action is taken from the end and scope of the spea­ker, to wit, whether he intendeth the dishonouring of the persons, or their reformation, as Titus when he made the butt of his rebukings the soundnesse of the Cretians faith. But least wee should imagine the sinewes and vigor of re­proofe to consist in Sarcasmes, or to prevaile onely in the tongue of barking Doeg, S ^t Paul here tell's vs what sharpe­nesse is most convenient, when hee sayth, [...], sig­nifying [Page 23]a cutting off, and as some interpreters do note, vs'd by S. Paul as alluding to chirurgians who cut away the dead flesh which fostereth corruption in wounds, where­by we may learne, that reproofes are then most feeling & do peirce home, when they not onely make that sinne bleede whose cure is intended, but also lay the axe to the roote of it, as well as occasions, and the like, which do preserue and foster it. It were folly to preach obedience to the Prince, vnlesse we infringe and extirpate the sandy foundation of Papall authority: In vaine it were to rebuke lying, & not to cancell the grounds of equivocations, to blame dispaire, and not take away the vncertainty of Salvation, to beate downe presumption, and proclaime open markets for indulgences. The last thing which may be desired to be knowne in this precept of rebuking is the end, wherefore it is to be done; & that is set down in the last place, That they may be sound in the faith. Faithfull are the wounds of a friend, sayth the Wiseman, his accusations are instructions, his chastisemēts peace, his pretious blames shal never break our heads. But here likewise may be questioned, what faith is vnderstood by the Apostle, whether fides quae creditur, the faith which is beleeved, or fides quâ creditur, the faith whereby we beleeue: I cannot altogether exclude this latter from an interest in my text, seeing these two are relatiues, and therefore what toucheth one, doth obliquely concerne the other; but yet I take the former to be principally in­tended, the phrase importing no lesse, which sayth not that they may haue a sound faith, as implying a defect meerely in the subject, but that they may bee sound in the faith, as implying an imperfection in the object, & the circūstances enforcing the same, which mention, corruption of do­ctrine in the teachers, and a mixture of Iewish fables in the things taught. When therefore S. Paul lay's an in­junction vpon Titus to rebuke the Cretians for those three notorious vices, that they might be sound in the faith, hee [Page 24]seemes to paint in one small table the whole progresse of heresies how they begin, how they are promoted, and how they are established and confirm'd: The lyar which is the first brocher of them tell's the tale, The evil beasts, which are his contentious followers do defend it, and The slow bellyes are most hearers that for want of paines taking in the enquirie do approue it. But to remoue these obstructions, Titus must turne Physitian, and to pro­cure soundnesse of faith must take vpon him the taske of a spirituall Hypocrates. And to apply this to our selues; the voice of more then a Titus is necessary in this decrepit age of ours, wherein faith in many places lie's bed-ridden, and as if Crete had dispers'd new colonies throughout the world, it scarce is any where secure from the assaults of a lying and contentious Cretian. What plott of ground feed's not Minotaures which gore the sides of faith and Christian religion: what pasture so levell wherein some a­spiring Ida lift's not vp it's head, and involues it's vaine conceites in the cloudes? Even the Labyrinthes of Deda­lus haue left their subterranean habitations, and planted themselues in the fallacies and impostures of home-bred Donatists and neighbouring Pelagians. I wish that words were as coyne, that so the many which this subject re­quires, might be exchang'd into fewer, & yet of equivalēt value, & I might cōtain my selfe within that circle of time on which hope rather then assurance bidd's mee trespasse: but this Presence cōmands mee silence, where the example of our royall Theseus himselfe in quelling these mon­sters, hath supplyed that which you may suppose was the taske of Titus, and engrafted (I doubt not) what my text aime's at, with a silent Sermon, and reall per­swasion of it's owne. For conclusion therefore, I haue hitherto entertain'd your eares with the anatomy of a Cretian, and transported your thoughts a while from this Island of ours, the gemme of the Westerne Ocean, & set them on shore on the most eminent and renowned [Page 25] Island of the Mediterranean; what you haue there beheld, I trust your riper judgments will make vse of, not as most trauailers doe, by bringing them home with you into your Country, but by learning how to avoyde them. In that ca­talogue or inventory rather of Cretish trash, the first so­phisticate ware which offer'd it selfe for currant, was the lye; if these quarters of Europe doe as much detest the thing, as distaste the name, thinke Titus rebukes bound for some other coast, & not ours. But for the other moue­ables, fitter to store parkes and forrests, then townes or cit­tyes; namely, euill-beasts, I should be also confident of our freedome herein as of wolues, were not slow bellies, where­of our Soyle is too copious, and sharpe teeth euer individu­all companions. My hope is, that parting from Crete, you will shake hands and bidadew to those surquedries & su­perfluities which stil'd these Cretians, slow bellies, S. Paul especially in my Text making this [...], that is, (as I shew'd before) the pruning or paring off, of those things which breed and foster corruption in vs, to be the most necessary meane to arriue at soundnesse of faith. Why should our pamperings, afford matter to any home-bred viper to censure vs, as Epimenides did his Countrymen, or thinke the beasts which wee prophane by sacrifice to our owne appetites, doe as they did to these Cretians, incor­porate their brutish affections with their carkasses: This time bid's them liue, that you may kill these. Thus must this sharpnesse of rebuking be practi­sed, thus this soundnesse of faith heere mentioned, be perfected.

AMEN.

IT is the in-bred disposition of most men, no sooner to set hand to the plough in the field, or to thrust a sickle into his har­vest; but, whereas the maine scope of their actions ought to be the good and benefite of others, they alwayes driue at, and chiefly intend the welfare of themselues. As Peter (in the Chapter going before) scarce had three winters past, (as Writers note) when from his travailes in the Deep, he had bin called to the quiet harbour of the Gospel; & frō a poore silly Fisherman, beene promoted by our Saviour to bee [Page 28]a fisher of men, but that hee thinkes fit already (good man) his portion should be prescrib'd him, the slender service he had yet done, or could doe his Master, hee thinkes not of; but high promotions, and munificent rewards are al­ready his Butt he shoote's at, and his question is, What shall we haue? God's rewards (beloved) to his Servants are vneffable, Yee which followed mee in the regeneration (Christ Tell's them) shall sit vpon twelue thrones, and judge the twelue Tribes of Israel: an answere (no doubt) satisfy­ing to the full both Peter and his Companions; but so it fall's out oftentimes, that the best prescrib'd potions vn­discreetly taken, proue banes vnto the Patient, and the wholesome proposes of an instructer, vttered for the con­firming of one in a good course, by mis-applying, produce the contrary effect. Christ therefore, lest confidence should beget in them sloathfulnesse, his benignity preju­dice their forwardnesse, & too much security of the prize make them idle in the race, in this Chapter he rouses them by the Parable of an Husbandman sending out labourers into the Vineyard, where some being hired at the dawning of the day, some at the third and sixt houre, others but at the ninth and the eleuenth, yet all equally receiuing their penny, nay, the last, in some respects, being preferr'd be­fore the first; he giue's his Disciples to vnderstand, that it is labour, not earely calling, which gett's precedency in God's Kingdome, the mansion houses which their Father will bestow on them, should bee according to their dili­gence; as they multiply'd their talents, so should they be remunerated with Cittyes; if they looke to sit on the Thrones he told them of, and would shine as the brighter starres in Heauen, they must here on Earth be more emi­nent then others in painefull conversation; there are primi vocatione, the first in calling, and there are primi affectione, the first in affection; those oftentimes for their fainting in God's Vineyard, shall haue a lower place at his Supper, [Page 29]and these for their forward zeale after their calling, shall sit in the higher roome, and so the first shall be last, and the last shall be first. Interpreters for the most part doe a­gree, that by the Husbandman in this Parable is meant GOD himselfe; by the labourers, Men vpon Earth; by the Vine-yard, the Church of God; to which, men being cal­led, should in it (according to their vocation) doe deedes of piety and justice; and by the penny which was payde in the evening, to be vnderstood, the Crowne of glory, which at the end of the World God giue's to his Elect. The dif­ficulty resteth chiefly in the houres; some (as Hierome re­late's it) would haue the eleuenth houre to signifie the cal­ling of the Gentiles, and the former to be referred vnto the Iewes, which liu'd before Christ's comming in the flesh; Gregory, Beda, and Theophylact are of opinion, that the la­bourers of the first houre doe signifie the Patriarchs from Adam to Noah; those of the third, the Fathers from Noah to Abraham; those of the sixt, from Abraham to Moses; the ninth, from Moses to CHRIST; and the eleuenth, from CHRIST to the end of the world. But heerein I suppose that the Logicke rule is to be obserued, which sayth, Om­nis Similitudo claudicat; Chrisostome especially vpon this place giving this note, that in Parables wee should attend chiefly to the generall scope, and not bee too curious in particulars: wherefore with our best reformed Interpre­ters, in that our Saviour was pleased to name 5 houres, we rather take an ornament to bee added thereby to the Pa­rable, then any mysterie to be involved in the number, and by those seuerall houres doe vnderstand onely seuerall ages and seasons of mans life, according to which, God calleth some sooner, and some later into his Church, some in their infancy, some at riper yeares, and some not long before their death; of which latter sort, the Housholder heere in my Text speaketh, Why stand yee heere all the day idle? Maldonat & the rest of Popish Commentators, would haue [Page 30]these loyterers to be blamed here in my Text, not so much for that by their carelesse security, they endangered the losse of that invaluable Crowne, which God freely giue's to whom he pleaseth; but in that forsooth they merited not ex condigno, and meritis operum, the Kingdome of Hea­uen: wherein I know not whether they may justlier bee branded with ignorance or impiety; for pretend what they can, a maine difference will euer appeare between the me­rits which they maintain, & the practise of these men here in my Text; for first the husbandman pretēds here, that it is lawfull for him to do as he will with his owne, the Papists wil haue him deale according to mens deseruings; for justo Dei judicio debetur meritis bonorū operū, merces vitae aeternae, saith Bellar. in his 5 ^th book de Iustif. & 16. cap. Againe, the penny here was wages sufficient for the whole day; & ther­fore admit that the first labourers were idle for some part of the day; yet they can neuer make it good, that the labo­rers which wrought but one houre in the day, could chal­lēnge the whole daies hire ex meritis; & to conclude, Bellar. in his 5 ^th de Iustif. & 17. cap. would haue good works meri­torious, ratione pacti & operis simul, in regard of the perfe­ctiō of the work & the promise of God annexed withall, whereas besides the first labourers, none are found in this Parable to haue had any pactū or agreement made with thē (as their own men obserue,) & therfore their kind of me­rit can agree with none of thē, saue peradventure the first, which were least respected, last paid, & besides, were noted to be great murmurers; in which regard, Musculus is con­tent that the Papists shall share with thē, & for their satis­faction, shall find something correspondent to thēselues in this Parable. The husbandman therfore in my Text, dealing not with those which had turned ouer Peter Lombards sentences, or Thomas Aquinas summes, vsed not (as I sup­pose) those schoole quiddities to simple labourers; but see­ing thē sloathfull & idle, he thought good to blame thē for it, before he hired thē, as if he should thus haue argued the [Page 31]case with thē: Idlenes you know is vnprofitable to all men, & being labourers, inexcusable in you, your Vocation (me­thinks) should prompt you to sedulity; & where the harvest is great, & hirers many, you should be more solicitous for your selues, & not be deficiēt in your own cause, your idle manner of stāding (it seemes) is an impeachmēt vnto you, & causeth that either hirers heed not you, or you not thē, & therefore, Why stand you idle? Again, you are labourers of the Vine-yard, & there it is that you should exercise your endowments; this is a market-place for buyers and sellers, a tribunall for justice, a councell-chamber for actions of state, wherein you, by your Vocation which another way had diverted your imployments, cannot deale, and there­fore, why stand you heere idle? To be briefe, the day is the time, in which a man goeth out vnto his worke vntill the eve­ning; would you be coūted worthy of your hire, & are you loath to sustaine the brunt of the heat? He that sleepeth in haruest, shall be fill'd with poverty; and he which is sloathfull in the day, shall not receiue the penny at night: But oh! I feare by your own negligence you will loose the oportunity of the time, the sweetnes of the labour, & the plenteousnes of the reward; & therfore, why stand you here all the day idle?

The summe is a reprehension of idlenesse in all men which are labourers in God's Vineyard, as indeed all men are, or at least, ought to be inrolled vnder that title.

The things re­prehended are three; the

• 1 Action, why stand you idle.
• 2 Place, heere in the market-place.
• 3 Time, all the day.

Standing, that describes idlenesse's degree; the market place, that note's oportunity; & all the day, that expresseth perpe­tuity. [No place so fit that I know to stand idle in, as the market place; & he that will loose no time of standing idle, his best course is to stand idle all the day.] Within these bounds I shall endeavor by God's assistance, & your Chri­stian patience to confine my meditations; & first for the a­ction, which come's in the first place to be cōsidered, Why stand ye idle▪

The vsual place in great & large Citties (as ancient wri­ters doe obserue) where labourers stood for hire in the Ro­mans time, to whō suppose Iudea now subject, was the Fo­rum, or market place; & it may bee evidently gathered out of this Parable, for there it was where the Housholder found some standing for him at the third houre, & either in the same, or not much differing place that he found the rest standing at other times; for had they stood in a place vn­vsuall to finde labourers in, they rather would haue giuen some satisfaction to the Housholder why they stood there, then why they stood idle, whereas these labourers onely to excuse their idlenesse, in saying that no man had hired them, ver. 7. made no mention at all of the place they stood in. They whose quills write with no inke but with the blood of Monarchs, and finde no Panegyricke theames fitting their paradoxall braines, but treasons a­gainst States, murdering of Princes, and massacring of God's Elect, might with much more ease (I doubt not) commend these men heere in my Text, and with a great deale better vizord of Christian charity, ranke these silly labourers amongst their canonized Saints; for if the son in the Gospel be blamed for denying to do his Fathers will, Mat. 28.21. These men are to be commended in that they came hither (as it should seeme) on set purpose to doe it. It had beene little acceptable in God's sight for them to haue risen early, and late to haue taken rest, had it not been to a good end, and right vse, but labour it was which they aim'd at, and patience it was with which they waited for it. The foolish virgins which attended not the Bride­groome's comming, were justly rebuked: that could not be objected against these men, for they waited and atten­ded for hire all the day, and what vertue is oftner ingemi­nated in holy Writ with greater commendations, then pa­tient waiting? Yet when Christ enters into judgement with his servants, what flesh can appeare righteous in his [Page 33]sight? whilst wee liue in this world wee must not ex­pect any absolute perfection, and so farre are wee vnable (which our adversaries would haue) to performe more then we neede do, that it is a matter vnpossible for vs to performe what wee should do. The comming of these men to market to be hired, the patient expectation of hi­rers, the willing vndertaking of paines imposed vpon them, was a thing (no doubt) to God well pleasing, but that immaculate lambe, which is the true Pastor, and Bi­shop of our Soules, hath concluded all vnder sinne that he might haue mercy on all; when he is pleased to aske a why? what man is he that can answer one to a thousand? That which these labourers did, their intent to labour in the vineyard, was in it selfe bonum, an action good & laudable, but there wanted a benè to it, & therein did the obliquity consist. When the harvest was greate & the labourers few, these came indeed for worke, but yet diligētly they sought it not out, whē any came into the market to hire labourers (as it seemes) they profered not thēselues, till the husbād­man or others asked them, as negligent & carelesse people they heeded not the oportunities of the time, but are sayd in an idle fashion to stand there, which being so blamed by the husbādman in my text, directeth vs to this observatiō.

That the labourers of God's vineyard should not stand only expecting when labours should bee imposed on them, but also should seeke out and bee apprehensiue of all good [...]ccasions, wherein they may be imployed.

It is a position of Aristotle well knowne, that morall fe­licity consists in action: & certainely if that may be estee­med our summum bonū, or highest felicity on earth with­out which we are assured of no felicity in heaven, I may well conclude with the Philosopher, that our earthly hap­pinesse doth consist in nothing so much as in action. For doth not our Saviour tell vs, that the tree which brin­geth not forth good fruit is hewen downe and cast into the fire. Matth. 7.19? and the life of a Christian is [Page 34]it not compared by S. Paul both to a race wherein God affords no toleration to standers by, & bestowes a crowne vpon none but such as so striue as they ought to doe 2. Tim. 4? & againe to a time of sowing, wherein whatso­ever a man soweth in his life hee is sure to reape the same againe in the world to come. Gal. 6.7? for though it bee true that Deus coronat dona sua, non merita tua, God crow­neth his owne gifts not thy merits, as sayth S ^t Augustine, yet is it as true that to the making of the wedding gar­ment, with which we must appeare cloathed, when at the last trumpe, the great King shall summon vs vnto his hea­venly supper, there is required not faith alone, but workes also, as Hierome well obserues vppon the 22 Mat. Faith I confesse, is as the chiefe stuffe of which the garmēt or coate is made; but workes are, that by which it is knowne & dis­cerned: & in as much as that the seed of the Serpent by hy­pocrisie & dissimulation hath of ten made false garments for the divell to maske in like an angell of the light, Christ will never acknowledge the garment to be his livery, vn­lesse he finde on it his owne badge, & that badge is works, Now in regard of this necessity of well-doeing, I hope there is not in this assembly any so rudely catechis'd in the Schoole of Christianity, which will not frō these premisses inferre with me, that if we expect the promisses annexed, wee must diligently exercise the functions of our calling when oportunity is offered; yet as in morall actions [...], that is, prudence and perspicuity are so necessary that the Philosopher in the 6 of his Ethickes, concludes no morall vertue to subsist without them; so are we to thinke of the actions of our vocations, that they likewise will bee vnfruitfull without these requisites adjoyned: for bee our drifts never so religious, never so laudable be our inten­tions, yet want there but prudence to direct vs, or perspi­cuity to apprehend & force the meanes conducing to our designes, and wee may easily mistake the narrow pathes [Page 35]which lead vnto life, & bee mis-led into the broad way which leadeth vnto destruction▪ seeing therefore that a Christian is on all sides so encoūtred with the wiles of Sa­than &c inticemēts of the world, well & wary must he bee, lest by standing idlely or carelessely with these labourers when oportunities are offer'd, he misse & faile of the scope he intēded. So farre were the Saints in the old Testament frō omitting any oportunity whereby they might practise their piety, that on the cōtrary side they sought out waies, & as it were plotted how to do good. Abraham, Gen. 18. lookes vp & sees three men, and what doth he? not looke aside like the mizers of our daies, nor stand expecting whē they should implore harbour of him, though the Sunne was as then at the highest, & the time of the day by reason of heate vnseasonable to travaile in, but hee runs to meete them, lest they should overpasse him, bowes to the groūd that they might not deny him, and petitions them if hee hath found favour in their sight, that they would vouch­safe to turne in vnto him. Remember Lot in the chapter following, doth not hee likewise rise vp to meete the men which came to Sodome, bow his face vnto the ground, & presse earnestly vpon them, which seemed loath to be bur­denous to so kind an inviter, that they would turne into his house, & partake of his provision? Why these men be­came humble suiters vnto their guests, & not their guests vnto thē? All the parcels of holy writ are full of such exā ­ples; the zeale of David for the house of the Lord, Iehoas his owne care in purging the Temple, Paul's preaching in sea­son & out of season, & Nehemiah's solitary night-walkes about desolate Hierusalem, what are they but liuely pat­ternes of that forwardnes & forecast, though not specially stirr'd vp by others, which every Christian should assume himselfe in the worke of the vineyard? I could here pro­pose vnto you the example of our Saviour Christ, whose compassion commonly then most appeared when it was lead implored. Litle did Hierusalem or Sion think of him, [Page 36]when he weeps for it, or the soule-sicke Iew seeke for him as the Phisitian, when he sought nothing more thē to salue him, sinfull man which never had the grace either to dis­cerne his owne misery or to beg God's mercy, Christ see­ing what he had need of, of himselfe came downe to cure his infirmity; and his mortall enemies which abandoned him, & had lost the right of their inheritance, thirty-three yeares and more voluntarily fights hee with the divell, world, & death, that he might purchase it a new for them.

These (beleued) and the like examples should moue vs to bethinke our selues of those free and voluntary actions of piety which God requires at our hands, and whilst wee are here abiding in this Naioth as in a Source whence knowledge is to be derived into the barren places of this land, let vs not stand idle, or be too beetle-sighted in appre­hēding the good opportunities which are heere presented vnto vs to do good to others: & though wee are not call'd to any speciall charge; yet imagine we may not, that in the meane season God challengeth no mites at our hands to be freely bestowed on the hungry soules which dwell by vs, & which perish often for wāt of the smallest crūmes that fall frō our tables; you know whose voice it was, Nunquid ego custos fratris mei? am I my brothers keeper? O beloued? thou shalt not see (saith God) thy brothers oxe or his asse go a­stray, & hide thy selfe, thon shalt in any case bring thē againe vnto thy brother: Deut. 22. I may aske you as the Apostle did of another sētence of the law; doth God care for oxen or asses? hath he not a greater care of men's soules? wilt thou thē see I say, not thy brothers asse, but thy Saviour's sheepe goe astray, and not seeke to bring it againe vnto him? If wee oppresse the fatherlesse, or detaine the right of the poore, mortui sumus non otiosi, we stand not idle, sayth Chrysostome, but are then dead; but though wee doe not this, yet if wee seeke not out the poore and giue voluntarily vntothem, stamus otiosi, sayth hee, wee stand [Page 37]idle. This is the market place where the husband-man expecteth to finde labourers, and it is almost the twelfth houre with some that they haue stood idle therein, shall they say with these in my text, quia nemo nos conduxit, be­cause no man hath hired vs: why then belike the vineyard in this parable is not the Church of God, wheresoeuer the brambles of sinne are to be cut off; but some fatte benefice: nor the penny which the husband-man agrees to giue them, the crowne of glory, which they must not receiue vntill the evening; but some worldly promotion, which they must harpe after in the meane time. They indeede which are possest of a pastorall charge, haue a more spe­ciall vocation to imploy their talent in that place, which talent if they put vp in a napkin, as some doe, they shall be beaten with more stripes then wee, yet we haue a generall vocation besides, by vertue whereof in those things which beare a relation vnto Christ our head, we haue all an inte­rest one in another, and in this respect, we are comman­ded to admonish one another: Rom. 15.14. besides, wee are parts of the same body, and haue wee no fellow-fee­ling when other members are wounded, or doe fester? we doe fight the same battaile, & thinke wee it endangers vs nothing, when others breake their rankes, or forsake their stations? Wee are the flocke of the same sheepheard, and feede in the same pastures, and shall wee conceiue our selues free from all perill, when wee see others tainted or infected? if any by preferring a Simon Magus before a prompt and learned Ezra, doe hinder thee somewhat from an ordinary performance of the workes of thy cal­ling, this thing will God require at their hands, but if these neglect their care of vs, shall we wholly neglect our care of Gods flocke? God graunt there be none here of whom, as the wiseman said of worldlings, that God gaue them riches, but hee gaue them not the heart to vse them, so I may say of them, that God hath given them learning, elo­quence [Page 38]& other blessings from aboue, and hath not given them the heart to vse them. It was farre otherwise (be­loved) in the Prophet Esay, of whom wee reade, that so soone as God had but touch't his lips with a coale from his altar, his heart was straight inflamed to bee set on worke, and when the House of Israel, and men of Iudah, which were the vineyard which the Lord of hostes had planted, and of whom he looked for judgement and righ­teousnesse, when they had brought forth wilde grapes, the sinnes of crying and oppression, and God had said, who shall goe vp for vs, and whom shall I send? Esay makes no delayes but cries, send mee. Let vs reason together (belo­ved) wee are the vineyard of the Lord as was Iudah and Israel, what could he haue done more for them, then hee hath done for vs? and hath not superstition and Baalisme infected yet many an angle of our land, as it did that of Iudah, and to roote out this, God saith, whom shall I send? hath not simony and senselesnesse of religion invaded the richer sort, and to correct these, God saith daily, whom shall I send? Flattery, raines it not in pallaces, false ballan­ces in cities, and ignorance in cottages? and to reforme these, God saith once and againe, whom shall I send? Every minister is a watchman, and as an officious messenger, is to say in these cases, send me. Now when God sends vs out into the wayes, and wills vs to bid as many as we can find, of poore and distressed vnto the marriage, can it suffice vs to preach in high places onely, or kings palaces? This is with the people to seeke Christ, not so much for ought else, as for the loaues they eate, and which filled them; or With Iudas, to follow Christ rather for his bagge, then for his doctrine Rouse vp your selues therefore (beloued) the harvest is great, and good labourers in many places are deficient, knowledge decayes in some parts, and how should it be repaired but by you? the necessity you see is vrgent, the opportunities apparent, the reward eminent, [Page 39]and therefore why stand you here? which is the place re­prehended, and commeth next to be handled. Why stand you here? The place here reprehended by the husband­man was, in all probability, the market-place, and indeed the market-place, if we may stand vpon the letter, is no fit place for the labourers of the vineyard to stand in. But to passe from the letter to the sense; the market (saith one) is the world, vbi omnia sunt venalia, maxime verò animae, where all things are bought and sold, especially mens soules; Lord to see how cheape the devill buyes them! for how litle pleasure, how litle gaine or honour? the shrewd merchants of our dayes, who will sticke at a penny when they trade with their neighbours, vvill not stand for their soules when they are to barter with the devill. But yet as our best interpreters doe obserue, the vineyard being taken more particularly for the Church, the market may signifie any place out of Church, and not amisse, for God forbid, that markets should be kept either in Churches, or Church matters, since it pleased our Saviour to whip both buyers and sellers out of the Church: but this I note onely by the way. The labourers of the vineyard being so sharply rebuked by the husband-man for standing (here) that is, in a place wherein their labour lay not, & whereof they were not labourers, doth direct vs more vsefully to this observation:

That a Christians labour should chiefely be imployed in that place, whereof his calling makes him a labourer.

This is easie to be confirm'd by sundry places of holy writ, for first we finde that the Levites were watchmen, but yet by Moses law, as in their proper place, they espe­cially were to watch in the Tabernacle or the Congrega­tion; Num. 10. Israel must fight the Lords battaile a­gainst Midiā, yet so that all obserue the place which their Gideon appointes them: Iudg. 7. And the Elders at Ephe­sus are commanded to watch and take heede, but it must [Page 40]be to the flocke, over which the Holy Ghost had made them overseers: Act. 20. Iacob, as wee reade Gen. 31. when hee once vndertooke to bee his vncles sheepheard, the homelines of the taske could not daunt him, nor the vnkindnes of churlish Laban diminish his vigilancy, but that for 20 yeares together, though the drought consum'd him in the day, and the frost by night, so that for care, his sleepe departed from him, he still abode with his flocke in the field.

A good example (beloved) for vs ministers, which either now haue, or may hereafter haue a flocke of Christs committed to our custody, to teach vs with what care & diligence we should alwayes attend on it. It is a vineyard vvherein the enemy will sow weedes to plucke downe the vines, if vve be not vvatchfull as vvas this Patriarch: it is a campe on all sides oppugned by Satans stratagems, so that if vve but budge from our station, hee'le imme­diatly finde entrance: it is a flocke vvhich vve must feed not verbo onely, but exemplo by example likewise, as we are taught 1. Pet. 5. and therefore if through our absence any thereof doe erre or goe astray, at our hands God vvill require it againe. Woe therefore, saith Ezechiel, to the idle sheepheard that leaueth the flocke, the sword shall bee vpon his arme, and his right eye shall bee vtterly darkened. But vvhat (vvill some object) must the sheep­heard then be alwayes attending his flocke, the labourer alwayes labouring in the vineyard? this is an hard saying, and vvho is able to beare it? Neither am I ignorant vvhat hath befallen to many, vvho at the first haue beene so vehement in speaking against any toleration in this kind, that afterwards having more feelingly look't into the case haue changed their mindes: a notable example vvhereof vve may haue in Cajeran, vvhom Ambrosius Cathari­nus in his apologie against Dominicus a Soto, produceth to proue the lawfulnes of this act, for that hee having [Page 41]once in his writings inveighed most bitterly against it, & afterwards being made Cardinall, accepted of a Bishop­ricke, and resided not at it, and so refuted his writings with his example. To come briefely therefore to the point, I dare not be so peremptorie against the practise of our Church as some are, plaine it is that this commande­ment of residing is praeceptum affirmativum, an affirmatiue precept, as Eliseus, Valentia, with others doe obserue, and therefore you know it binds not sempe, or ad semper, it must not be laid in the ballance stript from those necessa­ry materiall circumstances which should giue it waight. I graunt therefore that there may be certaine cases which, though one be a labourer of this vineyard, or a pastor of this flocke, yet may excuse his absence for a time. As first intrinsecall impediments, such as is the sicknes of the body, for if the place be vnfit for recouery, it were hard heart­ednes in a flocke to barre the physitian of their soules (as Mosconius notes) the lawfull meanes to recover the health of his body; and therefore leaving not his place vnfur­nished vntill his recovery, I take, the husband-man excep­teth this man though hee bee a labourer of the vineyard from his censure of standing here. Secondly, there may be extrinsecall impediments, which may admit of a dispensation of absence, as persecution, so that the two rules which S ^t Austine requireth in his 18 epistle to Honoratus bee observ'd; the first is, that the persecution bee not generall but personall: not generall, that is of all pastours, or of the flocke as well as pastours, for if he then leaue his station, he is compared by our Saviour to an hireling, who seeth the wolfe comming, and lea­veth the sheepe, and the wolfe catcheth them, and scattereth the sheepe, Ioh. 10. and this persecution of cleargy and lay-people together, is likened by that Fa­ther, to the equall danger of marriners and merchants in the same shippe in a great tempest, now God [Page 42]forbid (saith he) that the marriners, or specially the ma­ster of the shippe leaving his passengers behind, should saue himselfe by a boate, or by swimming, and commit the vnwealdy vessell to the mercy of the vnmercifull waues. But the persecution must bee personall and pro­per not to pastours onely, but to that pastour or some pa­stours only, and in this case Elias fled from Iesabell: 1. King. 19. Peter left the Church of Hierusalem to escape Herods furie: Act. 12. Paul left the Church of Damas­cus, when some particularly sought to kill him: Act. 9. and Christ wish't his disciples when they were persecu­ted in one citie, to flie into another, Mat. 10. The second rule which S ^t Austine sets downe, is that the necessary offi­ces of the pastour which is fled, bee supplied by others: and therefore, Paul when he fled the persecutours, left not Damascus voide of a necessary ministerie, nor Athanasius left the Church of Alexandria destitute of other teachers, when hee fled from Constantius the Emperour, as the same Father well noteth. Thirdly, I deny not but that a labourer from his speciall place, or a pastour from his particular flocke may be absent, and yet not come vnder the Husband-mans lash of Why stand you here: and this may be qualitate negotij, when the businesse about which hee goeth, is to the profite either of the vniversall Church, or of some particular. Naclantius, Campegius, Mosconius and others which write vpon this subject, do reduce to this title the going to generall or particular Sy­nods, and helping to establish other Churches, & the like, in which cases they agree that a pastour may leaue his flocke for a time, so that the time be not very long, and the place not vnprovided of a sufficient substitute: for so we reade of Timothy, to whom Paul had committed the Church of Ephesus, and Tytus who was Bishop of Crete, how the one was sent to establish the Church in Dalmatia, & the other both promised to the Philippians, & also vpon [Page 43]an occasion sent for to come to Rome: 2. Tim. 4. but yet so, that neither Titus his flocke were left vnprovided of ma­ny instructors which before he had ordained there, nor E­phesus, as Calvin well noteth, wāted a Tychicus, which was sent vnto them to supply Timothie's roome. But these for­mer exceptions may be applyed to all Churches in gene­rall, there are some other alleadged by our men which cō ­cerne our Church of England more particularly: for first, there is a liberty of absence graunted to some, that their knowledge may be increased in the Vniversity, & their la­bours by that meanes, be made afterwards the more profi­table: secondly, to others, lest the houses of great men should want that daily exercise of religion, wherein their example availeth as much, yea many times peradventure more then the lawes thēelues, with the cōmon sort: third­ly, to others which are men of quality, that as their servi­ces are in weight for the publicke good, so likewise their rewardes & encouragements should be the more, lest it might here be verified, which we reade in the first of Iob, that the oxen should be only plowing, and the asses feeding. But because it is controversed with no small fervency on both sides, what are the true limits, without which it is not lawfull to stray in this point; & for as much as it cannot be imagined, that all circūstances are so perspicuously delive­red in the Scriptures concerning this, as that moe doubtes, like Hydra's heads, shall notrise vp a new to continue the fight; for mine own part I could wish, that mē would but first practise on all parts that which may be certainely de­termined by the word of God. Fourethings we find plain­ly expressed in the Scriptures concerning the duty of a Pa­stour. First, that he is to imploy his talent to the best ad­vantage of the Church, lest the grace bestowed vpon him be in vaine: 1. Cor. 15. Secondly, that hee hath a particular calling to take heed to, & to feed that flocke of God, ouer which the Holy Ghost hath made him ouerseer: Act. 20. Thirdly, that his hirelings negligence shall not excuse him, [Page 44]if the wicked be not warned from his way, but that the bloud of that man God will require at his hands which is the true watchman, Ezech. 33. Fourthly, that the feeding of his flocke is to be preferr'd before any worldly respect, be it either honour or wealth; and therefore we are com­manded to take the ouersight thereof, not for filthy lucre, but of a ready minde: 1. Pet. 5. and indeede our lawes ne­ver intended, that the outward pompe of the Church should bee advanced with any prejudice to the inward growth of it, as some thinke, who take the Church to be of the Spanish humour, & could be content to haue it's belly pinch't, rather then it's backe vngarded. These things, I take, may be sufficiently strengthned by many texts in ho­ly writ: if any will pretend that they can practise these by substitutes, or can supply in effect by proxies what these challenge, let others take vp the first stone, I should bee here silent: for mine owne part I came not hither to lay any aspertion of negligence vpon those reverend pillars of our Church, whose assiduous and frequent visiting of their flockes, besides other worthy labours consumed in higher places, might serue to brande our rurall sluggards with perpetuall ignominy: only for those, whose flocke, (as S ^t Paul termes it) haue scarce seene their face in the flesh, nor others in the pulpit; & which abusing the scope of the statute, provided no doubt to a good end, thinke they may goe safely therein, as farre as the very letter of the law will giue them leaue; I know not what to judge; vnlesse they are perswaded, that before Gods tribunall, they shall bee proceeded against by the common law, or else, that they hope they shall bee allowed a Counsel­ler to plead their case at that day. In the meane time, leaving the deciding of the question to others, let vs apply to our selues but those foure points which before I men­tioned, and consider therein the duties which God exa­cteth at our hands: the first, which concernes the imploy­ment of our talent, yeelds a caveat both to those, who ha­ving [Page 45]spent their litle stocke in the country, make a co­lour of cōming hither like the foolish virgins to buy more oyle, that they take heed lest the bridegroome passe by in the meane season, or that they shew not themselues more foolish then the virgins; and when they come for oyle, mi­stake the vessell, and bestow their talent vpon a differing ware: as also to those which are well fraughted with spi­rituall food, that they would not take hold of that dispen­satiō which the law provided for emptier vessels; he which caused the widdowes barrell of meale not to wast, nor her cruize of oyle to faile vntill the day that se sent raine vpon the earth, will make thy lampe not to waxe dimme, nor thy store to decrease till thou hast watered and enlightned those barren and darke places whither thou art sent. Con­sider the Prophet Ieremie, a man would thinke that he had not a fourty years vnder-age, but child-hood on his side to avoyd so waighty a worke, as to be a Prophet vnto natiōs, but when God had once set him to destroy and pull downe, to build and to plant, (there was his calling) and put forth his hand and touched his mouth, (there was the collocation of gifts requisite to his calling) why his plea of want of yeares did him no good, ne dicas, sum puer; say not then, I am a child, Ier. 1.7. The second and third points (I pro­pos'd) which concerne the care that God exact's of every man that hath a flocke; do shew those whom either ser­vices or greater imployments haue call'd away; what con­flicts (as the Apostle tels vs) they should haue for their flockes, and I hope they will all herein imitate the exam­ple of S ^t Paul, Col. 2.5. though they bee absent in the flesh, yet they will bee with them in the spirit, joying and beholding their order: at least they will escape that com­plaint of the Church, Cant. 1. My mothers children were angry with mee, they made mee the keeper of the vineyards, but mine owne vineyard haue I not kept. The last point which intimates the high respect wee [Page 46]should beare to our office of labouring in the vineyard, cō ­demnes in all sorts any proposing to themselues of inferi­our ends or reasons inducing their absence, other then is the profitting of the Church in generall or in particular. O beloued, I feare mee if many pried but into their owne hearts, they should find the state of the questiō somewhat altered from that which they propose vnto the world; it would not bee, whether they might dispence with them­selues to be absent from the place where their particular calling lyes, vpon case of sicknesse or persecution, or the e­stablishment of their neighbour Churches, or assisting of Synods assēbled; or lastly, (which seemes to be M ^r Hookers ground, and indeed is an excellent one,) to bring to the Church in case of necessity a greater profit: but they should finde that pleasure too often would challenge as great a priviledge as persecution; and private profit would thinke her cause as good as profitting of whole Churches, and herein would consist the controversie of our worldlings, whether these be causes sufficient to make it lawfull for a labourer in the vineyard, or a Pastour in the Church, to liue not for a small time, but ordinarily remote from the place of which hee is a labourer or pastor, and to commit the principall worke vnto an hireling: I name not these, as though other pretences might not be inserted into the state of the question; but these giuing aime as it were vnto the rest, and the difficulty herein consisting not so much in scientia as in conscientia, all men vpon what pre­tence soever they liue away, leaueing the higher subtil­ties to the Schooles, I desire them that they would but first according to these Criteria examine a litle their owne soules. Fathers and Brethren, I know not what to say, if these carnall motiues are sufficient to make any neg­ligence in this case excusable: hath not Christ taught vs that a good sheepeheard will lay downe, not his goods or his wealth, (for that were a small matter) but even [Page 47]his owne life for his flocke. Ioh. 10? Mathew had a­bounded more in wealth had be still fate at the receipt of custome, and not followed our Saviour; and Paul might more freely haue enjoyed himselfe had hee still continued at the feete of Gamaliel. But Mathew thou hadst beene poore to Christ, hadst thou not made thy selfe poore vn­to the world: and Paul had beene hard hearted to vs, had hee not beene cruell to himselfe: the world had lost an example, wee had lost our lesson, the Church had lost an instructer, and Christ an Apostle. The good Fathers (I am ashamed to speake it) Tertullian to Fa­bius, and Austine to Honoratus made more scruple of leauing their flockes, when cruell persecutours fought their liues, then many now adayes doe to abide with them when they are oppugned onely by their carnall ap­petites; they prodigall of their liues, and bloud charged the enemy in open fight, and cast him out, rescuing king­domes and subduing the nations of the world to Christ and his Gospell, and shall wee when the field is wonne forsake our colours, bee slacke inpursuite, and giue the adversary leaue once more to make a re-entry? But the time bids mee bee breefe, I will leaue therefore the far­ther application heereof vnto your owne consciences, and so I come to the time reprehended in my texra all the day, Why stand yet here all the day idle?

I shewed you the Sunne before in his rising, when to you (beloued) yet hanging vpon this our mothers breasts my advise was, that you would not stand idle there, wan­ting not oportunities of entring into the vineyard; my next lesson was for those which had taken earnest and were al­ready hired, that they would not stand (here) idle out of their proper place the vineyard, & loe, to them the Sunne stood as it were in the midst of the firmament;but now we must behold him not stationary as at the prayer of Ioshua, nor retrograde as in the dyall of Ahaz, but going downe, [Page 48]and the glorious lampes of heaven whisome obscured by his brighter beames, almost ready to make their appea­rance: now was the time or never for the husband-man to bestirre himselfe, now must the labourers do something to earne their penny; poore men it was the 11. houre of the day, and they in the same case as at the first. O but let not the Sunne go downe in this manner, worke the worke of the husbandman dum dies est, whilst it is yet day, the night will come when no man can worke, then hee which hath stood all the day idle, shall loose all the dayes hire, the the crowne of eternall glory. Many good conclusions might from hence bee deduced; as first how dangerous a thing it is for a man to deferre his entrance into a new course of life: haec parabola (saith one) tollit desperationem, non docet praesumptionem, this parable taketh away despera­tion, not teacheth presumption, for hee which at the 11 ^th houre was willing to accept of these mens labours, gaue them no assurance that they should find labour at the sixth. Besidcs, non semper manet in foro Pater-familias, (saith Au­stin) the lord of the vineyard is not alwayes in the market to set thee on worke; and no marvaile (saith Gregory) if at the last gaspe hee forget himselfe, who in all his life negle­cted to remember God. But these I passe over, as being by others often beate vpon: wherefore I desire that you would returne a litle backward with mee, and call to minde, how Interpreters for the most part do agree, that the severall howers and parts of the day, do delineate vnto vs in this parable nothing else, but the severall seasons of of mans life, and how that the market place doth paint out any place out of the Church: that therefore the husband­man should brand all the day or parts of mans life spent (here) or out of the Church with this blot of idlenesse, I inferre:

That all our life appeares idle in Gods sight, which is spent before wee truly are inserted or engrafted into the body of the Church.

As the Church is distinguished into visible & invisible, so may a man be said to be actually inserted either into the visible alone, which requireth nothing but an externall profession of the true faith; or into the invisible, which be­sides the profession, craues the inward spirit of adoption. The Papists howsoeuer they make a faire glose, and seeme much to extoll their Mother the Church with extra Ec­clesiā non est salus, out of the Church there is no salvation; a point acknowledged as well by vs, as themselues; yet it is a matter worth the observing, that lest the doctrine of me­rits and freewill should quite goe to the ground, so bolde will they make with this their Mother; as that Andradius on the one part, would haue euen Heathēs, existing out of the visible Church, by their good workes to purchase sal­vation; & Bellarmine on the other part, in his 1. book de Iu­stif. & 21. chap: thinks, that men wanting justifying grace, & therfore not yet actually of the invisible Church (if we should speak according to the truth) may performe works which, shall not onely appeare not idle in God's sight, but over & aboue; proue meritorious ex congruo of justificati­on. Alas but if either of these doctrines might hold play, it had been hard measure to haue stiled these labourers stan­ding here with so homely a title, as idle. Bellarm. quoting this Parable at least 7 times in his 4 ^th Tome, to proue free-will & merits, cannot (if he be ingenious) but confesse, that if euer meritū ex congruo were found in any, it was in these men: For what vertues requires he to merit of congruiry, which any way might be defectiue in them? Faith enough for a Papist they had, for they knew the way into the mar­ket, in which they were to stād for hire; & the Papists de­sire to know no more for this merite, then where is the church: wāted their Hope (another of Bellar. preparatiues) when they so stedfastly kept their station? Slack't they their desire. or was their intēt altered when they so patiēt­ly expected the hire, vntill the 11 ^•• houre? nay, to cōclude, lack't there anything to the perfection of the actiō, when [Page 50]it tooke effect? They might haue excused themselues, say­ing, Lord, thou knowest all things, thou knowest that wee haue stood heere all the day to merite ex congruo our hire, that we might merite ex condigno the penny. But beholde the Husbandman like a good Physitian, first shewes them their malady, before he applyes the medicine, and by argu­ing their infirmity, stirres them vp to an acknowledging of their misery. What shall wee say (beloued) is it likely that God is so rigide in his censures, that he will not spare to reproue euen actions meritorious? his mercy was wont to be aboue all his works, and will hee now make well-de­seruings the subject of his high displeasure? God forbid! let him be just, and these labourers, how glorious soeuer their actions, sinners; and being sinners, it followeth, that God which in the evening rewarded them aboue their merite, did now entertaine them without their merite; and that their works which after their calling into the Church appeared pleasing, before this admission appeared idle and vaine in themselues: The reason is giuen by our Sauiour, Mat. 12. when he bids vs to make the tree good, and his fruit good; or the tree euill, and his fruit euill; for as is the tree, such will be the fruit; the sacrifice of the vnregene­rate or wicked, is an abomination vnto the Lord, Proverb. 15. and the Lord Esay 1. cryes out to the Iewes which had forsaken him. Bring no more oblations in vaine, my soule ha­teth your new Moones, and your appointed feaste, they are a burthen vnto me, and I am weary to beare them; and againe in the 66. Chap: He that killeth a bullocke, as if he slew a man, he that offereth an oblation, is as if he offered swines bloud, he that remembreth incense, as if he blessed an Idoll. Heere no­thing might passe for meritorious, ex opere operato, though it were sacramentall; but rather in that they wanted Faith, the seale of their redemption, and gate of entrance into the Church of Christ; they had no fruit in those things, their workes yet did appeare idle.

A point worth the considering by those who hauing once beene freed from the bondage of Antichrist, doe like Lot's wise looke backe againe towards Sodome, if not with a resolution of returning, yet with a delight of beholding her painted outside. Beloued, if wee acknowledge them to be none of the true Church, I may confidently pronounce their workes as they are in Gods sight, vaine and idle. For Sodome will be Sodome and Antichrist will bee Antichrist; we cannot expect grapes of thornes, nor figges of thistles. Affirmatiuely I confesse I cannot conclude, this or that man doth outward good workes, therefore hee is a mem­ber of the true Church; for God onely who knoweth the heart of man, can truely judge of the goodnesse of the worke; but negatiuely I may say, this man is no member of the true Church, therfore his life beit never so laborious in the eyes of men, yet in the sight of God, with these labou­rers in my Text, he stands alwayes idle. And indeede the husbandman's argument so runnes. statis hîc, you stand here out of the Church, ergo otiose; pretend therefore what you list, defend your case how you can, you stand heere all the day idle. It hath beene a preposterous course therefore, as you may well obserue, which the Iesuites and Priests haue vsed, in seducing our Countrymen either at home or abroad, to winne them to their side, by shewing them the devotion of their religious men, the liberality of their Lay people, or the strange outward holinesse of both sorts, at some times in the yeare; our men should first, before they venture too farre vpon their workes, sift the truth of their Church; and before they suffer shipwracke in their pra­ctickes, sound the depth or their shallowes in their theo­ricks. For from the glistering of works to the verity of the Church, inference can be but probable at the most, & often false; but from the corruption of doctrine, or from a nullity of the Church, to the nullity of good workes, the argument holdes alwayes strong, and the conclusion ne­cessary. [Page 52] Bellarmine himselfe acknowledgeth the former in his 5. booke de gratia & libero arbitrio, and 10. chap: when he sayth, Ex operibus ipsorum hominum qui nos docent, non posce cognosci doctrinam, cùm opera interna non videantur, externa autem sunt communia vtrisque. The doctrine which men teach cannot be knowne by their workes, be­cause their inward workes are not seene, and their out­ward workes are common to both sides. The latter I con­firmed before, & it needes not much amplifying; for if the roote be bitter, the fruit cannot be sweet; and if the mem­ber be rotten, it cannot but be of small performance. But to come more particularly vnto them, because they seeme heerein to out-face vs: our men doc commonly giue three reasons, wherefore the workes of those which exist out of the true Church, can by no meanes be pleasing in God's sight; and should I not too farre encroach vpon your pati­ence, I could easily exemplifie thē in the Church of Rome; The first is, because they proccede not from a true faith. & alas! what is the faith of the Church of Rome? Antichrist hath not so shedde her hornes, as she hath diminished that true faith to which Paul tells vs, shee was once obedient, that faith was such an one as came by hearing the word of God: Rom: 10: and was like that of Abraham's, by which he doub­ted not of the promises made vnto him, Gen. 15: so that her eyes were knowledge, & her soule was a firme confidence in the merits of our Saviour; here you may see a strange al­teration, Bellarmine defining faith rather by ignorance, thē knowledge, & telling vs, that all confidence in these cases is plaine presumption: wherfore Rome's faith being depri­ved both of sight & soule at once, can bee no more opera­tiue, it must needs be dead, & profit them nothing. The 2 ^d reason why the workes of those which are not members of the true Church, are idle in God's sight, is because they are not done to a right end: well said therfore S. Austin, Cùm facit homo aliquid vbi peccare non videtur, si non propter hoc [Page 53]facit, propter quod facere debet, peccare convincitur. Now to instance in the Church of Rome, whither bend their actiōs but to this end, to foūd the kingdome of Antichrist? Whi­ther tends all their doctrine & teachings, but only to reare vp & fortify (as Molineus well notes) the towre of confu­sion, new? Babell? some points to enrich her treasury, as in­dulgences, pilgrimages and dispensations: some to augment her power & authority, as ignorance of Lay-people, multi­plying of Fryeries, the necessity of Confession and Absolution; some to conserue that which hath already beene gotten: as the single life of Priests, exemption of Clergie from secular Magistrates, the preheminence of the Pope aboue Princes, Councels, and Scripture it selfe, with the like. See how out of the mines of the Gospell, Antichrist labours to hew his throne, & make the Articles of faith nothing but columnes of a Papall Empire. But these may seeme yet to be actions of State; let's see what each member doth in the closet of his soule: a man would thinke that betweene onesselfe & God there should be plaine dealing found; yet behold, evē there do they erre in their scope, & rob God of his honour, rejecting him which is the way, & striuing through their owne workes to beat a path to the heavenly Canaan. How art thou fallen Babylon that great City, and art become the habitation of divels! how hast thou built thy fortresse vpō the sands of humane wisdome, refusing the rock & corner­stone Christ Iesus! But to be briefe, the 3 ^d reason, why those works are idle in God's sight, which are done by men out of the true Church, is drawne à formali, because the works many of thē in their owne nature are grosse sins; & indeed it is a matter worth the observing by all of vs, that those fects which maintain not the truth of the Gospel in purity & sincerity, are tainted cōmonly besides other errors, with the defending of some grosse sin or other, which displaies and add's suspition to all the rest: God in his providence detecting hypocrisie by some apparent iniquity. S. Paul giues vs an evidēt exāple hereof in the Gentils Ro. 1. who for [Page 54]that they turned the glory of the incorruptible God, to the si­militude of the image of a corruptible man, and of birdes, and foure-footed beasts, and creeping things; God also gaue them vp vnto horrible sinnes, promiscuous lusts, which were against nature, and deliuered them vp vnto a reprobate minde, to doe those things, which they knew that they which cōmitted them were worthy of death, and yet they not onely did the same, but also favoured them which did them. And to say the plaine truth, what are many of those points which the Romane Consistory defends at this day, any other then hay nous crymes hatefull to all men? Perhaps their prayer for the dead, their pilgrimages, fasting-dayes, vowes and ce­remonies, may seeme to come frō a foolish ignorant zeale, and therfore the more excusable; but the doctrine of mur­dering and deposing of Princes, their Powder ▪ plots, the asser­tion of aequivocation, their tolerating of publicke stewes euen in Rome it selfe, what Christian can with patience abide to heare them? O heauens! open your doores, & send thunder that may sound out these wicked and vnnaturall positions, astonish the nature of things reasonable a while, that the nature of things vnreasonable may vnderstand, and all God's creatures be abashed at such impieties! It is not (I am perswaded) either the wheele offortune, or the change of destiny, or the craft of the diuell, that brings the adver­saries of our Church to beleeue such shamefull doctrines; but it is God in his divine providence which hath per­mitted them, euen there where the light of nature is most apparent, so to stumble, that the meanest of God's Elect whom he hath decreed to redeeme from the servitude of the Beast, by feeling the Law written in their hearts, to thwart and contradict those strange assertions, nay grow to a distrust in the rest, and by distrusting search, and by searching finde the true way which leades vnto life euer­lasting. We may well remember how the absurd selling of Indulgences or pardons for mens sinnes, by Leo the tenth, [Page 55]was that which first stirred vp Luther's generous spirit in Germanic, to make a farther inquirie into Babylon's my­steries, and how that grosse dispensation from the Pope, for K. Henry to marry his brothers wife, was that which did first animate him to shake off the yoke of Antichrist heere in England. It were now plaine way wardnes with vs, and simplicitie vnpardonable, especially in vs Schollars, either not to obserue, or in obseruing, not to make vse of these things. There may be Balsecks, and Eudemons, amongst them, to carpe at the actions of our men; wee against them need no such libellers, the Pillars of their own Church haue in writing vented blasphemies enough to brand thē with­all, & their owne pennes in many countryes haue serued as just instruments of their confusion. To come to an end; This Land hath seene with watery eyes; the strumpet for many hundred of yeares together, sitting ouer multitudes and nations, as ouer many waters; it hath beheld her, forti­fying her selfe like a Monarch, & carrying the kingdomes of the Earth in open triumph; let it suffice vs now, that the good Husbanndman CHRIST IESVS, at the 11. houre, at the end of the day of dayes, hath opened our eyes to dis­cerne her fornications, that we might goe out of her; and hath redeemed vs from that market where before wee stood idle, at sale amongst her merchandises, by hyring vs out into the Vineyard of his Gospell. Let vs beseech God, that wee being now reduced againe into the right way, may no more fall back to stand idle in the wrong; but that like good labourers we may worke the worke of the vine­yard wherein we are placed with all alacrity & diligence, that whether the Master come at the 3 ^d or 6 ^•, or 9 ^• or 11 ^• houre, when he commeth he may finde vs well-doing, and in the euening, reward vs with that penny, or Crowne of e­ternall glory, which before the foundation of the World he layde vp for those which would faithfully serue him.

AMEN.

THIS Chapter containes an arraignment of the Gentiles; the Iudgment place, the tribunall of Christ, where the defendant must plead guilty; the witnesse is consci­ence which cannot lye, though to the pre­judice of the owner; the accusers sinne and Sathan, two tyrannous opposites; and the inditement an action of willfull perverting the Law of nature, and de­taining the trueth in vnrighteousnesse. In this accusation wee may consider,

Viz.

• 1. Gods bountifull declaring of himselfe objected to them: implyed in these words, because when they knew God &c.
• 2. The Gentiles grosse neglect and contempt of this bounty, detected in them both;

Viz.

• 1. From the parts of it, to wit,
  • 1. Gloria Deo denegata, they glorified him not as God.
  • 2. Contumelia Deo irrogata, neither were thankefull.
• 2. From the effects of it, which, were
  • 1. A promptitude to invent vaine false-hoodes, but be­came vaine in their imagina­tions.
  • 2. An indisposition to cre­dit evident trueths, and their foolish heart was dark­ned.

The alleaging of Gods bountifull declaring of himselfe in my text, was to remoue an objection which the Gen­tiles might vrge in their owne defence, it is not expressely set downe, but tacitly implyed in that it is refuted, [...] because, being a rationall particle, and here vsed as in­structiue, so that whereas the Gentiles would per­haps haue pleaded ignorance to excuse their idolatry, the Apostle shewes them, that their ignorance was crassa & affectata, was grosse and affected, such as the Pope now a­dayes enjoynes his subjects, and such as by the tenures of Philosophy doth augement rather then deminish an of­fence: for besides that to excuse ignorance is required; first that it bee not gotten by mens owne fault, as theirs was by Adams transgression; Secondly that they bewaile their owne ignorance, and acknowledge it, and desire to bee en­lightned by the spirit of God; Thirdly, that God bee ob­leiged by covenant to restore them to that light which [Page 59]they wilfully lost: it is farther exacted that they make good vse of that light of nature which is left them, and suffer it not grossely to be extinguished, in which the Gen­tiles most of all offended. For what if they knew not God absolutely? as Bellarmine in his fourth booke de gra­tiá & lib. arb. &c. Yet by the light of nature they knew there was a God, and that God ought to be worshipped, though by their wilfull ignorance, they glorified him not as God: and so I come from Gods bountifull decla­ring of himselfe objected to the Gentiles;s to their grosse neglect and contempt of the same detected in them both from the parts and the effects of it, but first of the parts, which come in the next place to bee handled, Gloria Deo denegata, they glorified him not as God, and Contume­lia Deo irrogata neither were thankefull.

The Gentiles glorified not God as God, two manner of wayes, in the theorie, and in the practike; 1. in the the­orie, to wit, in the doctrine of his essence. The Peripa­tetickes, as it appeares by Aristotle in the eighth of his Physickes, and first de Coelo, rob'd him of the creation of the world, which with motion they would haue eter­nall. The Stoickes tooke from him providence, by re­ferring the events of things to destiny. Most of them deprived him of his vnity, Simplicity, immensity, and power, by faining a number of Gods, which they confi­ned either to certaine nations or certaine offices, and ne­gotiations: thus they glorified him not as God. In the practicke part of their divinity, which concerned the out­ward worship of him, which S Paul well expressed in 23 ^d verse of this chapter, where hee sayth, they changed the glory of the incorruptible God, into an image made like to corruptible man, and birds, and foure-footed beasts, and creeping things. Some of them went lower even to plants and herbes, as if GOD could haue growne [Page 60]in their gardens, with which the Poet derided the E­gyptians:

So that though wee cannot deny in the Gentiles a good meaning and intention of glorifying God, yet how little acceptable to him is devotion not directed by true know­ledge, no where appeares better then in this example in my text of the Gentiles. Who could be more solicitous and forward in the worship of God then they? witnesse the sumptuous and magnificent Temples, the solemne feasts and shewes, the continuall Sacrifices which they advanced in the honour of their supposititious deities: but as Austine vpon the 31. Psalme alluding to such blinde worshippers as these, sayth truely, that the swiftest run­ners beeing once out of the way become greatest loosers, and that it were farre better to haue the ship guided by slacke and heavy marriners, then by a nimble and quicke pilot, who failing in his course, sternes the vessell with greater violence and much sooner against the rockes: so questionlesse it had beene lesse to these Gen­tiles condemnation, if they had beene sluggishly religious, then missing their marke to bee so zealously impious. Whence wee may learne, sayth Beza, that to pro­pose, as these Gentiles did, the [...] GOD for one's scope, and not to bee grounded on sound and sure foundations, a good meaning is nothing avai­leable to excuse one before GOD. To a good inten­tion it is not enough (say Divines) that the end bee good, vnlesse other two properties bee present, Good­nesse in the worke, and Lawfullnesse in the meanes. Saul had a good end when hee sought to slay the Gi­beonites, the text tell's vs, it was in his zeale to the Children of Israell and Iudah, neverthelesse it [Page 61]brought a famine vpon the land, and cost the liues of his seuen sonnes, because the worke was bloudy: 2. Sam. 21. The Scribes and the Pharisees, no doubt, had a good end in their laborious worship of God, but our Savi­our tells them, that in vaine did they worship him, because they taught for doctrines, the commandements of men: Matt. 15.8. If the end be sufficient to excuse an action, then Paul sinned not in that he persecuted the Church of God, hee should not haue said, Accepi misericordiam, I found mer­cy, but rather Mercedem accepi, I receiued a reward, for he did it with zeale ignorantly: 1. Tim. 1. If sins, as our ad­versaries would haue them, may become veniall from the end, then we are vnjustly angry with the murtherers of the Apostles, for they were not only ignorant that it was a sinne, but thought also moreover, that they did God good service, Ioh. 16.2. How is it then that this answere flies with such plausible passage in the world, that when igno­rance and superstition raigne together, neither the igno­rant is so carefull to learne, nor the learned to teach, nor the taught to remember; onely because if the worst come to the worst, God will be merciful, in that things are done (as we say) with a good meaning. Alas (beloued) it had beene happy for the Gentiles if any such plea could haue serv'd their turnes, compare but their Hecatombs with the Papists wafers, their Colossus's and golden statues with these mens woodden or stonie poppets, their cuttings with others whippings, and you will say, that in the end they equalled, in many other things out-stripped Popery, yet this begg'd not their pardons: the Apostle tells vs that the wrath of God was revealed from heauen against them, because though God they glorified, yet they say led in the maine matter, non vt Deum glorificarunt, they glorified him not as God. It is not therefore, we see, the glorious title of a profession, not the antiquity, not the duration, not the conspiration of a multitude in doctrine, or a religious purpose, which is [Page 62]warrant sufficient for a Church to be true, so long as they first proue not their worship to bee free from idolatrie, their ceremonies from superstitions, their faith and do­ctrine not tainted with false conceivings of the deitie, but as they glorifie God in word, so really, vt Deum glorificant, they glorifie him as God.

What is man if he be spoiled of reason, and senses, and motions, so what is God, if hee bee supposed without his attributes? the Gentiles glorified him not as god, because, as you heard, they rob'd him of his simplicity, immensity, power and providence, and what doe the Papists when they impaire his wisedome, grace, and glorie? They match traditions with the written word, therein injurious to the wisedome of God; they mingle mans merits with the merits of Christ, therein injurious to the grace of God; they communicate divine worship to stocks and stones, therein injurious to the glory of God.

Thus haue you briefely seene what the Apostle vnder­stood, in that they glorified not God of God; what he addes, that they were not thankefull, is but a part, if not the same in substance with the former, for they glorified him not as God, because they stript him, besides other attributes, of his workes of creation and providence; and they were not thankefull, because they acknowledged not these things to bee his doings and handie worke. I will not therefore stand long vpon it, it requiring rather the comment of a gratefull convert, then of a curious interpreter. Onely let mee say, that if ingratitude be so highly condemned in the sonnes of nature, it is much more to bee pittied in the children of grace; God might say to all, that he gaue them a soule to bee commander of their bodies, thinking that it being placed by him, would performe the ordinary respect of the worke to be at his command, and at the sinke-ports of the body, would admit no enemie which should im­peach the quiet of his government, hee might alleadge [Page 63]farther, that he made them after his owne image, hoping that as Simile simili gaudet, their joy and contentation should be to walke with him like Enoch, and not to goe like cursed Caine from his presence, but never did such arguments enter into the heart of any oratour or rhetori­cian, to stirre the coales of gratitude and thankefulnesse, as are conversant and familiar with the least of Gods elect. If you pervse the acts and monuments of our re­demption, that he of rich did become poore, this is more then of a monarch to become a beggar, it was in the ab­stract, of riches to become pouerty; but that hee so loved the vvorld, that hee gaue his onely begotten Sonne to die, and be subject to death, even the death of the crosse for vs, vvhen vve vvere yet his enemies; here eloquence may cast in her mite, and like the poore widow, be liberall of what shee hath, but admiration and stupor must supply, what the tongue of men and Angels cannot vtter. There is therefore no ingratitude like the ingratitude of men to God, it is a contempt of him, whose benefits they cannot want, it is (saith Gregory) suis contra Deū donis pugnare, to oppugne God with his own gifts; thus are they vnthanke­full which acknowledge not Gods grace and protection, they which deny themselues to be sinners, or bragge of merits, they to whom God hath given the meanes of knowing him, as he did to these Gentiles, and they abuse it by not hearkning vnto it, and living accordingly. I pray God it may not be imputed to vs, that in this respect wee are not thankefull, lest wee participate of the punishments of these Gentiles, in becomming vaine in our imaginations, and having our foolish hearts darkened and obscured. O that we could be taught by presidents; and were not so bloc­kish, as not to learne vntill our owne experience bee our master. We know how heretofore the Easterne Churches contended for the Empire of learning & knowledge with the whole world, where are now those famous schooles [Page 64]of Alexandria, where those seven renowned Churches of letter Asia, where those Colledges of Monkes dispers'd through Egypt and Syria, where their Basill's, Nazianzens, Chrysostomes, Nyssens, Cyrils? was not the vngratefull world thought vnworthy of these benefits, and therefore were those lights extinguished, those candlesticks remo­ved, and in their place nothing but darkenesse and confusi­on? Greece it selfe, sometimes the flow and luxury of wit, now containes nothing but extreame barbarisme and stupidity: in it Athens so glorious in times past for Phi­losophers, is now the temple of ignorance: as in respect of her temporall estate, shee hath lost her beauty, pared her large dimensions, deposed her scepter wherewith shee o­ver-ruled and sway ed all Greece; so in respect of her wise­dome, knowledge, and skill in disciplines, one might now seeke old Athens in new Athens, and not finde it. As there­fore God dealt with the land of Canaan, which being sometimes the mirrour of the world, for fertility and a­bundance of all things, now for a testimony of punishment to the ingratefull inhabitants, he hath made it subject to many curses, and especially to that of barrennes; so hath he done to these nations, even plagued them with ex­treame wante of that knowledge, the abundance of which, their fathers did so wantōly & vnthankfully abuse. Now (beloued) for this which hee hath done for our soules, what exacts he againe at the hands of vs his crea­tures? temples, or basilikes, or marble pallaces for his Majestie to dwell in? Why, the earth is but his foote­stoole, and the heaven of heavens is not able to containe him; or is it the bloud of bulls & goates that he is delighted with? why, Mille sui Siculis errant in montibus agni, all the beasts of the forrest are his, and so are the sheepe vpon a thousand mountaines. What tribute therefore is it which hee demands at our hands, what is the coyne that he requires to be paid with? Why, the Psalmist tells [Page 65]vs. Offer vnto the Lord the sacrifice of praise and thankes­giving. Well might we feare lest God should haue requi­red some thing without vs, some thing in the house that the mothes had corrupted, some thing in the garner that the mice or vermine had consumed, some thing in the field that the fox or wolfe had devoured; but he sends vs to our selues, to our owne ward, to the inmost closet of the soule, which none can vnlocke but God onely, ara tua conscientia, saith S ^r Austine, thy conscience is thine altar, offer thereon the sacrifice of praise. Here you see how litle it is that God challengeth, and yet as litle re­garded, I pray God it be not one day as hard laid to the charge of Christians, as it was here to the Gentiles, that they were not thankefull. And so I come from the parts of that contempt and neglect, which the Gentiles shewed in the abuse of that knowledge which God afforded them of himselfe, in that they glorified him not as God, neither were thankefull; vnto the effects of the same, which were, as before I shewed you, a promptitude to invent and foster vaine falsehoods, and a difficulty to credite the truth, but first of the pronenesse they had to invent falsehoods, which commeth in the next place to bee treated of: but became vaine in their imaginations.

Bonaventure on the 2 ^d of the Sent. is so confident, that he pronounceth it impossible, esse culpam in aliquo, quin ad ipsam poena sequatur inseparabiliter, that there should bee a fault in any man, which punishment doth not follow in­separably at the heeles. Wee perhaps would cast about whence this punishment should come; wee looke if our goods doe diminish, our stocke be impaired, our health be abated, our friends alienated; but alas! then had this maxime prov'd false in these Gentiles, which had no cause to complaine of any such disasters. But the punish­ment was in their mindes, sinne begot sinne, errours be­got errours, falsehoods begot falsehoods, and that, saith [Page 66] Durand, either by way of a finall cause, as one misconceit being more plausible vnto them then another, and to defend it, they invented others, in which kinde Ari­stotle in the first of his phys. saith truely, that vno absur­do dato, sequuntur mille: or else by way of an efficient cause, the one habituating and disposing them, as we com­monly see it experimented in lyars, to coyne other fa­bles with as great facility as the former. And thus stood the case with the Gentiles at this time, they had no sooner detain'd the trueth in vnrighteousnesse, that is, laide downe one false Maxime of examining the trueth of the God-head, by the fancies and inventions of men; but that straight (as necessarily as a false ell makes a false measure, or light waights errours in trafficke) their braines conceiv'd meteors and aerie speculations, and brought forth idle and vaine imaginations. And there­fore the Apostle taking his phrase from the dealing of a tyrant, which detaines hisprisoner vnjustly in a darke dungeon, not judging him according to forme of law, saith, that the Gentiles detain'd the trueth [...], in vnjustice; for vnjustice it is to trie a man by his enemie, and the wisedome of the flesh is at enmity with God: Rom. 8.7. it is vnjustice to make them of ones jury, which cannot vnderstand the cause in hand, and the naturall man cannot vnderstand the things that are of God: 1. Cor. 2. As therefore (saith Chryso­stome vpon my text) hee which either travailes in an vnknowne way, or sailes in a darke night amongst dange­rous rockes, not onely is not liliely to arriue at his inten­ded port, but also for the most part doth miscarry; so they which enter vpon the way to heaven, and reje­cting the light necessary to their journey, instead thereof doe vse the darkenesse of their owne inventi­ons, seeke for God incorporeall in bodies, for God without figure in earthly figures, must needes suffer [Page 67]shipwracke, and sinke with the waues of their owne vaine imaginations. Neither hath the Gentiles onely beene partakers of these inconveniences, but the Iew also hath tasted of the like sawce, because (saith the Lord, Esay 28.) the feare of this people towards mee, is taught by the precepts of men, there was the trueth detain'd in injustice, therefore behold, I will proceede, or I will adde to doe a marveilous worke, and a won­der: for the wisedome of their wise men shall perish, and the vnderstanding of their prudent men shall bee hidde. S ^r Paul in the 1. Cor. 1. points at the fulfil­ling of this prophesie, when hee askes where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of the world? hath not God made foolish the wisedome of this world? where (as a learned writer of ours in his mi­scellanea sacra, hath observed) are described the vaine imaginations, not of the Gentile onely, who was puft vp with his owne reasonings from effects to causes, from accidents to substances, when hee sayes, where is the wise? nor onely those ecclesiasticall Doctours, which expounded the Scriptures according to the grammati­call sense for the instruction of the people, when he addes, where is the Scribe? but also in concluding with the disputers, hee would signifie the musicall expo­sitors of the Iewes (whose apes our postillers seeme to bee) which expounded not the Scriptures after the ordinary way, but busied themselnes about allegori­call, tropologicall, and anagogicall senses, and the places in Ierusalem were call'd the houses of mysticall dis­putes where they taught▪ Now how vaine were the imaginations of these Doctours, who, as Antipheron Orietes in Aristotle, thought, that every where hee saw his owne shape and picture going before him, so did these in all partes of Scripture where they wal­ked, perswade themselues that they saw the image [Page 68]of their owne conceits; and what gaue occasion to this vainenesse in them? was it not that they for­sooke the pathes and ancient formes of teaching, which their Samuels and Eliah's and Elisha's had in their schooles of the Prophets children left vnto them? and their Rabbies being train'd vp, as it appeares by Philo, in the phylosophy of Pythagoras & Plato, which was much symbolicall and aenigmaticall, would shew whose disciples they were in the pulpit, and attire Sarah in the garments and weedes of Hagar the bond­woman? I doe not here deny the vse of Phylosophy in divine matters, it is a footestoole to the pulpit, and as Laban when hee gaue Rachel vnto Iacob, hee gaue also Bilhah to bee her maide; so in this latter age of the world, when it pleased God to restore the light of his word so plentifully vnto vs, hee grati­ously hath adorn'd it with the service and attendance of phylosophy, and humane learning: but yet we must remember, that phylosophy is but the hand-maid, she must not prescribe lawes and rules to her mistresse, When some sought to examine the truth of the word by the dictates of philosophers, and the speculation of humane reason, the Apostle in 2 ^d of the Col. bid's them beware, lest any man spoyle them, through philo­sophy, and vaine deceit, after the tradition of men, af­ter the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. By which saying Tertullian obserues, that hee con­condemnes all hereticks, of which the phylosophers were the Patriarchs, for whence did Valentinus faine his formes and trinity in man, but from Plato? Marcion the coeternity of matter with God, but from the Stoicks; that God was mortall, but from the Epicures; that hee was of a fiery substance but from Heraclitus? whence arose the impious conceits of the Artemonites, but from this, as Eusebius in his fifth booke of Eccle­siasticall [Page 69]history confesseth, that they more were addicted to Aristotle, Theophrastus, and Gallen, then to the Scrip­tures? Whence grew the errours of Origen; but from this, as Epiphanius witnesseth, that hee triumphed too much in the disciplines of the Philosophers, & cōtented not himselfe with the simplicity of the Apostles? whence sprang the he­resie of the Arrians, but from this, as Ambrose on the 118. Psalme obserues, that they examined the divine generation of Christ, according to the grounds of Aristotle, and the vse of this world? Thus by preferring their owne fancies and the sandy foundation of humane wisdome, before the sure foundation of the Prophets and Apostles, they detain'd the truth in vnjustice, and became vaine in their imaginati­ons. The Fathers were (as Hiperius notes) for the most part Platonists, and I know not if some of them may not else-where bee sayd to relish of his precepts; certaine­ly if in any thing this age of ours may cōtend with theirs, or else out-strippe it, it is there where in their com­mentaries in imitation of him, they drench the literall sense too much with Allegories, as Andradius confesseth. S. Hierome, a man not too easily brought on to acknow­ledge the errours of his writings, amongst those few things which he doth retract, censures nothing so sharpe­ly as the mistake of his youth in this kind, thinking it one of the greatest sinnes of his youth, that being carried a­way through an inconsiderate heate in his studies of Scripture, hee adventured to interpret Abdias the Pro­phet Allegorically, when as yet hee knew not the histo­recall meaning. I will not deny Allegories, Tropologies, Anagogies, as severall applacations of one sense, I will not deny more then one literall sense, so that one be subordi­nate to the other; but to make all places, as the Papists would haue them, liable to as many senses as wit is able to faigne, to draw the Pope's temporall sword out of Peter's scabbard, or to fish for his vicaredge with Peter's net, this [Page 70]I leaue to the limbeckes of the Iesuites, and aske if my text fits not right to them, that detaining the truth in vnrighte­ousnesse, they became vaine in their imaginations. Gerson in his tract of Astrology tell's vs, that it was a custome in the Vniversity of Paris, that whosoever was licenciated in the arts, should take an oath to determine his Philosophy pro­blemes alwayes agreeable to the Articles of faith, and that they would dissolue the reasons of the Philosopher brought to the contrary; this was an excellent course to giue liber­ty to the truth of the Scriptures, whilst the dreames of Philosophers kept it not in subjection; but hee which shall read the Sorbornes determinations in Theologie, would guesse that they had taken another oath to determine their questions in Divinity according to the precepts of Ari­stotle's Philosophy, and to dissolue the authorities of the Apostle's brought to the contrary. And may not wee here see my text well verified, that these Schoole-men detaining the trueth in vnrighteousnesse, first in their ex­position of the Scripture, by keeping the literall sense from the view of the world, and distasting those (witnesse the sundry apologies of Caietan) who betooke themselues to the literall sense, as knowing inwardly that their po­sitions were not sufficiently grounded, and that this kind of teaching opened a gappe vnto the world to discry their palpable abuses; Secondly, in their positions rely­ing first, as Daneus shewes, vpon Austine, afterwards as Popery more strengthened it selfe, vpon Aristotle, and lastly vpon the Tridentine Councell, and vncertaine tradi­tions, that these I say should not else-where in their vnpro­fitable questions, and more ridiculous resolutions, bee seene, as my text saye's, to become vaine in their imagi­nations; perhaps their prayer for the dead, their pil­grimages, vowes and ceremonies, may seeme to come from a foolish ignorant zeale, and herein though their imaginations cannot scape the lash of vaine, yet they may [Page 71]be more pardonable. But to teach that colours may sub­sist without a subject, that a man may be at the same time at home in his bed and fighting against the Turkes, that one may equivocate and dissemble to a good end, that one may do evill that good may come thereof, that the rights of lawes and nations do lye vnder the Popes girdle, why this Philosophy was never taught by Aristotle, or Plato, or Cicero, but as I guesse, when Hermolaus Barbarus questioned the divell for the meaning of [...], hee added some further instructions to be delivered the Iesuites touching these matters, for the defending their tenents. And truly I am perswaded, that it is neither the wheele of fortune, nor chaine of de­stiny, nor craft of Sathan, that hath brought our adversa­ries to beleeue such shamefull doctrines, but it is God in his divine providence which hath permitted them even there where the light of nature is most apparent so to stumble, not onely to giue the world a caveat, that those which detaine the truth in vnjustice, should become vaine and ridiculous in their imaginations, but also that the mea­nest of his elect which hee hath decreed to redeeme from the servitude of the beast, by seeing the law written in their hearts, to thwart and contradict these vaine imagi­nations, may grow to a distrust of the rest, and by di­strusting search, and by searching finde out the true way which leadeth vnto life everlasting. And thus having spo­ken of the first effect of this abuse of the Gentiles, concer­ning the bountifull declaration of God vnto vs by his crea­tures, which was a promptitude to invent vaine and ridi­culous falsehoods, they became vaine in their imaginati­ons, I passe vnto the second effect of the same, to wit, an indisposition to credit or assent to evident truths, which comes in the last place to bee discussed, and their foolish heart was darkened.

In darkning of the heart wee find three kindes of agents mentioned in holy writ, first God, of whom our Saviour [Page 72]out of Esay tells vs, that the Iewes could not beleeue because hee had blinded their eyes, which hee effects (sayth Austen) non impertiendo malitiam, not by imparting or infusing ma­lice, but non impertiendo misericordiam, by not impar­ting mercy; or as vpon the 12. of Iohn. hee hath it, dese­rendo & non adjuvando, by forsaking & not helping or as­sisting them with his illuminating grace. Secondly, the divell, whom God permitteth oftentimes to blinde those, which hee will punish, as when hee suffereth a lying spi­rit to go into the mouthes of the Prophets of Ahab, to de­ceiue them. 1. Kings 22. Thirdly, our selues, who by our corrupt and inordinate affections, do cast a vaile be­fore our owne eyes, that wee cannot see the truth often­times, when it is most palpable: this the Apostle seemes in generall to intimate vnto vs in this whole chapter to haue bin a maine cause of the Gentiles blindnes for that seeking after wisdome as it is 1. Cor. 1. and applauding themselues with their humane inventions, they became lesse prepar'd to yeeld attētiue cares vnto the truth, so that the preaching of the crosse was foolishnesse vnto thē, scoffed at by their Phi­losophers, & graced by no better a title then babling, Act. 17. in a word (saith Ansten) quod curiositate invenerunt, per su­perbiam perdiderunt, pride lost them that, which curiosity had gotten. But more particularly my text doth intimate it, when it discribes vnto vs what heart it is that is dark­ned, to wit, cor insipiens, stultū, ineptiens, [...], a foo­lish heart; an heart which lodgeth in her chiefest roomes vaine guests, that will brook no wise thoughts to enter, but sets wilfulnesse at the doore to keepe thē out. In a word if there be any prejudice, if there bee any forestalling, if any preoccupation in a minde, bent to vanities, that it becomes darkned, and cannot see the truth when it is most obvious & plaine, the Apostle comprehends it in this one saying [...], afoolish heart. It is in man, as it was in the pa­rable of the vineyard, let the Lord go to a farre country, I meane, let not his spirit be present with vs, and the soule [Page 73]which should roote out the wilde and sowre grapes, that the whole Vine-yard of our bodies may yeelde pleasant fruit vnto the Lord, will suffer the inferiour faculties to mutinie and resist his messengers, though his Sonne him­selfe come in Person vnto vs. This folly is not one single individuum, nor one infima species, but like the Viper, which in euery letter of the Alphabet can shew some of her kinred; so in all societies, all trades, all subjects, this foolishnes of heart can bragge, that shee puts out to nurse some or other of her yong ones to do mischiefe, & darken the heart. The Psalmist therefore when he would expresse how God punished the stiffe-necked Israelites in the de­sart, sayth not, that he sent false Prophets amōgst thē to se­duce thē, nor that he suffered them to be deluded by lying wonders; but he gaue them vp to their owne hearts lusts, & in this Chap. that he deliuered the Gentiles vnto their affectios, to signify what legiōs of deuils man carries in his heart, what Lyons, & Beares, & Wolues, & vncouth beasts within his brest, what ignis fatuus in his braines, to transport him out of the way, though neuer so broad, if God's Spirit sit not at the sterne to direct thē? Read the Scriptures frō Genesis to the Revel. search curiously into the judgmēts of God therin registred, examin the causes, pervse the instrumēts, pry in­to the wōderful wayes of the Lord so far as he hath revea­led thē, & tell me if for the most part, errors, falshoods, & heresies haue not been rooted in some folly of the heart, in some corrupt & naughty affectiō, which darkens the vn­derstāding. What could be more plain to the Israelits whē they came out of Egypt, thē that the Lord was God, & that he was a strōg pillar of defence, in whō they were to trust? They saw the wōders which he did in Eypt, they saw the marvailous conduct they had through the red sea, they saw the terrible deliverāce of the law in moūt Sinai, their noble cōquest ouer Pharaoh & all his host, their mighty victories over all their enemies that durst oppose thē; why did these so often rebel against him, murmure against Moses, crect [Page 74]Idols? Would you that I should recount either the waters of Meribah, or the Quailes & Manna in the desert, or the daughters of Moab? you shal see that the groūds of all these revolts were lusts of the flesh, sensualitie, intemperancie, gluttonie, and the like, which are the vanities and foolish­nesses of the heart. Salomon (you know) was a Prophet, & one beloued of GOD, it was much that hee should runne a whooring after many gods, and erre in a principle which he suck't with his nurses milke, and had so throughly beene instructed in, both by the writings of Moses, the Law of Nature, & the sundry apparitions of God, most grati­ously vouchsaf'd vnto him. He spake (saith the Scriptures) of trees, from the Cedar which is in Lebanon, to the hyssop that springeth out of the wall; whether he red Lectures of these Plants, or else wrote bookes of thē, is somthing doubtfull; but if he had but seene a tree, and considered how it hath a barke, and a stalke, and a trunke, besides many boughes and branches, and an infinite number of leaues; if hee had but obserued how the body hath no likenesse to the leaues, nor the leaues to the fruite, nor the fruit to the blossomes, and yet how all these come from one root, and that root againe from a kernell; he could not thinke that all these could bee the worke of any more then one workeman, or that Na­ture could direct vs hereby to ought else then one begin­ning. He spake also (saith the same verse) of beasts and fowles; in them he might haue seene how the Bees haue one King, the Cranes in their flight follow one Captaine, even heards in the field naturally incline to one Leader, all which might haue taught him, that all things are subordi­nate, and moderated not by many, but by one Governour. Besides, he was more wise then either was the Chaldees or Aegyptians, and therefore we can presume him to be igno­rant of none of their Arts and Disciplines; and did not their Arithmeticke teach him, that numbers do proceede from vnities; their Geometrie, that magnitudes doc arise [Page 75]from indivisible points; why the Perspectiues drawes all lines to one center? Philosophie, all causes to one first cause? Astronomie, all motions to one first Mouer? so that there was nothing in all his learning from whence he might not haue learned, that of all things there is but one Maker, and so consequently, for all things we are to worship and giue divine honour but to one God. Yet loe this Salomon, this bright morning starre, sets in the West, & is hous'd in one of those darke and smoakie degrees, mentioned by Astro­nomers; lust and loue of his wiues possesse his fantasie, and then whatsoeuer good object would present it selfe to his vnderstanding, it is by the interposition of these earthly vanities, these foolishnesses of heart darkened: It might be wisely said of him, as S. Austin once spake of the Wise­men of his dayes: O Lord, with the vnderstanding which thou giuest vnto men, they number the starres of the firma­ment, and the sands of the sea; they measure the heauens with their instruments, and foretell the Eclipses of the Sunne and Moone many ages before-hand; they can say, that such a yeare, & such a month, & such a day of the month, & such a houre of the day, there shall be an Eclipse, and it falls out ac­cordingly; and they are lifted vp, and greatly extolled which know these things; notwithstanding per impiam su­perbiam recedentes ac deficientes à lumine tuo, tantò antè solis defectuns in futurum praevident, & in praesentia suum non vi­dent; through impious pride, their foolish hearts depar­ting away from thy light, so long before they can fore­see the darkening of the sunne which is to come, and can­not see their owne darkenes which is present. Let me lead you from the Olde Testament into the New, there sup­pose the Scribes and Pharisees sitting in Moses Chaire, and scanning the gestures, and wordes, and workes of our Sa­viour; why did they not know him to be the Messias? they heard Iohn Baptist giue plaine testimonie of him, the same Christ fulfilled likewise all that was spoken by the Pro­phets; [Page 76]why could not they see that hee was the Saviour of the world? hee made the blinde to see, the deafe to heare, the dumbe to speake, the lame to goe; he made the sick and diseased whole, hee raised vp the dead, hee told them even their thoughts & cogitations: how were their hearts so darkened, that they could not know him? S. Paul informes vs, that their foolish hearts were possest with pride, & that see­king to establish their owne righteousnes, & to bee justified by the workes of the Law, they stumbled at that stumbling stone: Rom: 9.32: if any therefore aske or demaund, how it comes to passe that so many see not the truth of the Gospel, if it be so plaine as we make it; whence it is, that the Scrip­tures which, we say, are so easie in all matters of Salvation, be not yet vnderstood, either by the wise Salomons, or the learned Scribes and Pharisees of the Romane Church; I must answere with the Apostle in my text, quòd abscurum & ob­tonebratum est eorum cor insipiens; because their foolish heart, their heart taken vp with foolish & earthly imagi­nations is obscured & darkened. The Apocalyps in descri­bing the whore of Babylon, notes two branches of this foolishnesse in her; pride in challenging adoration, and cove­tousnesse in venting her Merchandices, which goe beyond all Markets that I know, but the divels, even to the soules of men. Cap. 19. & are not our adversaries carefull & di­ligent to fulfill the Scriptures? whither tend all their do­ctrines and teachings, as some well note, but either to en­rich her treasures? as indulgences pilgrimages, and dispensa­tions, or augment her power and authority? as ignorance of Lay-people, multiplicitie of Fryeries, necessity of confession and absolution: or to conserve that which hath been alrea­dy gotten? as single life of Priests, exemption of the Cleargie from secular Magistrates, the preheminences of the Pope a­boue Princes, Councels, and Scripture it selfe? See the witch-crafts wherewith shee is bewitched, the Cuppes wherwith she is drunken; the mists wherwith her foolish [Page 77]heart is darkned and obscured. Can our adversaries object truly to vs any such follies of the heart, which do shut our eyes, that wee are not able to discerne the acutenesse of their Achillean arguments? yes, some of them haue said, it is a desire of Soveraigntie in Princes, & of licentiousnes in all, that casts the vaile before our hearts, and makes thē foolish in things pertaining to his Holines. Why then be­like these cause vs that wee doe not allow of Friers and Mookes. though in the fourth of Gen: it be said, as Bellar. vrgeth it. then began men to call vpon the name of the Lord: for these it is that we doe yeelde vnto the sacrifice of the Masse, though Salomon in the 9 of the Prouerbes, as Bel­lar. quotes him, saith most plainly, that wisdome hath built her an house, slaine her victuals, and drawne her wine. These make vs that we will not kill and devoure those creatures the Kings and Princes, which performe not what the Pope enjoynes and commands, though Baronius most subtilly hath concluded it from the voyce to Peter, kill and eate; hence it is that wee require more then an implicite faith in the Laytie: though the Master of the Sent: and Bell. alleadge it, in the 1. of Iob it is printed in faire Letters and good Characters, that the Oxen were plowing, and the Asses fee­ding besides them. If therefore foolishnesse do darken our hearts, that we cannot see so farre as the Lynxes of the Ro­man Church, I must say with S. Paul, that it is the foolishnes of God which is wiser then men, and the weakenesse of God which is stronger then men. But what marvaile if others, whose hearts are the Cabinets of vanity and folly, are pur­blinde in the way of truth, when as wee our selues are so led often-times by them in easie matters, that we become beetle-ey'd, & see little or nothing? why do we not see the shortnes of our life, but thus Iiue in the world, as though we should liue euer? why doe wee not see the vanities of earthly things; but embrace them as though they had some substance in them? Why doe wee not see our owne [Page 78]imperfections and follies, but contemne our brethren, as though our selues were some demi-gods vpon earth. O beloued! if wee list to marvaile at the darkenesse of others hearts, we cannot well marvaile at any thing so much as at our owne darknes, that cannot see our selues. Let vs looke at the last, into the Closet of our owne soules, and if wee finde the roome then darkened, that in seeing wee see not, and the Word is a sealed booke vnto vs; then wee must know, that it is some foolishnesse in the heart which is the cause of that blockish dulnesse which is come vpon vs, anger hath troubled our affections, pleasure hath stolne a­way our attention, profit hath corrupted our judgements; then must we returne vnto the Lord with prayer, that by glorifying God as God, and being thankefull, wee may haue our vaine imaginations removed, the foolishnesse of our hearts expurged, and our darke vnderstandings enlighte­ned through Iesus Christ our Lord: To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost, one God, and three Per­sons, be rendered all praise, honour, and glory, might, majestie, and dominion, from this time forth for evermore.

AMEN.

I Thinke (sayth this blessed Apostle, 1. Cor. 4.) that God hath set foorth vs the last A­postles, as men appointed to death, for we are made a gazing-stocke vnto the world, and to Angels, and to men. If any of the Apostles could receiue this testimony, as indeede there was not any of them which liuely exprest it not in the whole course of his life, witnessing S. Iohn's banish­ment, Peter's imprisonment, Iames his beheading; yet much more was it true of S. Paul; were they persecuted? so was hee: were they afflicted? so was hee; in labours [Page 80]more abundant, in stripes aboue measure, in prisons more plen­teously, in deaths often, 2. Cor. 11. Nothing seem'd wan­ting to this valiant Souldier of Christ, but the time of his offering; and loe, and Agabus is heere present to fore-tell him, that that likewise drew neere and was at hand. What would you I should propose vnto you, a man wrestling with his enemies abroad, or with his friēds at home; with his owne afflictions, or the Churche's ne­cessities? all seeme to dehort our blessed Apostle from his combate; yet he which desired to bee dissolv'd for Christ, speak 's roughly Pharaoh-like, as a son of thunder to him­selfe, Vinciatur Paulus modò liberè discurrat Evangelii ser­mo, immò occidatur Paulus, modò vivat apud omnes, vigea (que) gloria nominis Iesu; Let Paul be bound, so that the Gospell haue its free passage; yea, let Paul bee put to death, so that the glory of the Name of Christ do liue & flourish amōgst all men: pericula non respicit, coronas respicit; plagas non hor­ret, sed praemia numerat, saith Cyprian: he respect's not the danger, but the crowne; he feares not the strokes, but con­ceives the rewards. Come therefore afflictions, come tor­ments, come bonds, come death, hee's ready, not to bee bound onely, but to dye at Ierusalem for the Name of the Lord Iesus.

The summe is a protestation or declaration of S. Paul's zeale, constancy, and forwardnesse in the maintaining and defending Christ's cause: Wherein obserue with me (I beseech you) these three parts,

viz:

• 1. Affectionem personae, the affection and dispo­sition of the Person. I am ready.
• 2. Gravitatem rei, the greatnesse of the thing which he was to vnder-goe, not to be bound only, but also to dye at Ierusalem.
• 3. Qualitatem ceausae, the quality or nature of the cause, for the Name of the Lord Iesus.

Within these bounds by Gods grace & your Christian patience, I shall confine my meditations, & first de affecti­one personae, the affection or dispositiō of the person which comes in the first place to be handled, I am ready. Hee sayth not, I will be bound, or I will dye, but [...], paratus sum, I am ready to bee bound and to dye. Where­vpon sayth Thomas 2 ^• 2 ^ae: q. 124. Non debet homo occa­sionem dare alteri injustè agendi, sed si alius injustè egerit ipse moderatè tolerare debet: A man ought not to giue an occasion to a Tyrant to do ill, but if a Tyrant should do ill, he ought moderately to beare it. Raise not warres thy selfe (sayth Chrysostome) for this is not a part of a souldier but of a seditious person, but if the trumpet of piety shall summon thee, march then on without lingering, con­temne thy life, enter the lists with alacrity, breake the rankes with thine adversary, and retraite not till the victo­ry bee thine owne. Origen in his 31. hom, on S ^t Iohn giues the reason why wee may not giue any occasion to others to persecute vs, Not onely (sayth hee) because the event of so great a temptation is vncertaine, but also lest wee bee a cause that others by shedding our bloud become greater sinners then otherwise they would be. The words are not therefore to be Categorically vnderstood, but Hy­pothetically, if a just occasion be offered, not absolute ab­solutely (say the Schoole-men) but secundum praeparatio­nem animi, one must haue his minde prepar'd for't; all beating vpon this conclusion: That a good Christian should alwayes bee ready and prepar'd in minde manfully, to vnder-goe such crosses and afflictions as it shall please God to object him vnto.

In prosperity (sayth Chrysostome) expect adversity, in a calme thinke of a tempest, in health of sicknesse, in plenty of want. There is not one minute left vs wherein we may so glut our selues with the enjoying of a present good, as that wee are not likewise, to prepare and fit our selues to [Page 82]sustaine a future ill. There is therefore a [...] or a [...] to day, or now, in all the mandates almost of the King of hea­ven. So our Saviours Watch, Marke 13.37. the Wise-mans Consider, Eccles. 7.14. S ^t Pauls armour, Ephes. 6.13. containe no other thing▪ then what the same Apostle so much beates vpon, Phil. 4.11. I haue learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content; I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound, every-where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. All backwardnesse is sliding backe, and delayes are denialls, when our Saviour sayth vnto us, Take vp thy crosse and follow mee. Wee must therefore bee like valiant souldiers alwayes in armes, sober, watchfull, ever expecting the enemy. Wee must bee prepared (in Christs Scoole) to answere ad vnguem all the divels so­phistry, to refute the objections of the world with the an­sweres of the spirit, the motions of our appetites with Gods commandements, and to oppose Satans Hoc dabo, This will I giue thee, with Christ's Scriptum est, It is writ­ten. It was Nabal's curse to be strucken at his feast, and the rich-mans doome to haue his soule taken away when it was possest with worldly projects. Farre bee it from those which account this world but as an Inne where they may non abide, & this life but the high way to a better estate, to be taken at so vnawares and to bee assaulted so vnprovi­ded. As we know not when the bridegrome will passe by, nor when the master will come: so know we not when he will set vs to our taske nor how soone hee will put vs to our triall.

But I will stand no longer for the proofe of a point so evident, I will now come to apply it to our selues. These things are written for our instruction, to admonish vs to beware how wee stand vnprovided to vnder-goe the crosses of this world. It is strange to obserue our impro­vidence herein, how cunningly wee can couzen our selues [Page 83]and be vnfitted of munition vntill the last cast. But had▪ we but the grace to consider what true preparation is, the wonderfull fruites of it, and the manifold difficulties that alwayes crosse it, most evidently it would appeare, that by this deceite more do perish, then by all the guiles and sub­tilties of Satan besides: for that serpent which deceived our first parents even in paradise, better considers he then wee doe, how that he which is not fit to day, will be lesse fit to morrow; that an enemy the lesse expected, the hardli­er repulst; hee knowes the more our negligence is, the ea­sier is his entrance; the greater our improvidence, the more effectuall his violence, the lesse we are ready to suffer for Christ, the lesse Christ is ready to protect vs: whence our good inclinations are the weaker, our vnderstanding the more darkned, our will the more perverted, our appetite the more dissordered, all our inferiour parts and passions the more strengthened, and stirred vp against the rule of reason, whereby his footing is the stronger, and our case the more desperate. Lastly he is privy to the crosses and perills of our life, to the dangers that may befall vs, to the objects that may withdraw vs, to the calamities that may at any time deject vs, so that if once hee spie vs but to lye open, he doubteth not but to subdue vs vnder him. Now shall we see this net and be yet intangled? know the guile of this old wreathing serpent, and yet never indeavour to prevent it? Most cōmonly there is no man hath so litle care of himselfe but that he hath desire to prevent these incon­veniences, and to prepare himselfe more seriously to resist the temptations of the world, and when hee heareth the commendations of the Saints of God, their resolution in defending Christ's cause, & manfulnesse in sustaining such afflictions as befell them, hee wisheth in his heart that hee also were such an one, and groaneth oftentimes in consci­ence that he never hath indeavour'd so to bee. But alas my good Christian brother! what letteth at this instant, [Page 84]that this course should not bee taken, what inconvenience would follow it, if presently this were practised which for ever should do vs good? Thou should'st prevent the evill day which suddainely may overtake thee, thou should'st haue thy lampe ready whensoever the bridegroome pas­seth by thee, thou should'st be in thy cōpleat armour whē the enemy shall assaile thee. In being defectiue herein thou committest that which in matters of lesse moment thou would'st be loath to commit. Wee would esteeme him an vnwise marriner which will venter to sea in a calme, and not haue his shippe able to brooke a tempest; and him to be an vnconsiderate states-man, which in peace thinkes it needlesse to provide munition for time of warre: the pys­mire may be our teacher herein, which (as Salomon sayth) prepareth her meate in summer, and gathereth her food in har­vest; Now shall these vnreasonable creatures & brute beasts bee more provident then man, the lord and ruler of them? shall the children of this world be more wise in their ge­nerations, then the children of the spirit in theirs? wee are not to thinke that tempests, or winters, or warres are nigh at hand or approaching onely; but wee are to conceiue our selues to be alwaies in the field, ever in battaile, cōtinually in a storme; our whole life, saith Paul, is a warrefare; & it is nothing else, faith Augustine, but a continuall temptation. I confesse it is no small taske sufficiently to resolue ones selfe herein: the Fathers meditations on this subject are not books but volumes. Chrysostome thought it the best discourse to be alwaies talking of hell, & S ^t Hierome sayth, this voice of Christs continually sounded in his eares, and awoke him, Surgite mortui, venite ad judicium, Arise you dead & come to judgment. I cannot tell what others may cōceiue, but me-thinkes this meditation should be suffici­ent to rouse the drousest spirit amongst vs, and to provoke him to a serious resolution to suffer vnder Christs banner. Hath God made mee and created mee, and shall I for feare [Page 85]or favour basely subject my selfe to be anothers creature? hath hee sacrificed his onely sonne to redeeme mee, and shall I thinke it much to mortifie the desires of my flesh to please him? O God thy mercyes towards man haue beene innumerable! the starres of the firmament, and the sands of the sea are but as an handfull to what thou hast heaped vpon him; Et quid retribuemus Domino? What shall wee giue vnto thee, o Lord, for all the benefits thou hast done vnto vs? Thou desirest no sacrifice, else would we giue it thee, thou delightest no in burnt offerings: mille tui Siculis errant in montibus agni, for all the beasts of the for­rest are thine, and so are the cattell vpon a thousand hills: behold therefore thy servants & the worke of thy hands, doe with vs even as it shall seeme best in thy sight, loe wee are all thy creatures. You see (beloved) the vse of this one word Ready, though we haue time enough to strug­gle with the crosses of this world, and ability to vse that time, and desire to vse that ability, and grace to prosper that desire; yet it were foolishnes to put off the practise thereof vntill such time as the dayes of temptation shall come vpon vs, when Satan will bee at the strongest and wee at the weakest: though there bee twelue houres in the day to walke in, and it bee neuer too late (as the say­ing is) to bee good; yet wee should hold it indiscretion, not to shut the doore till the theefe bee entred; and folly, not to put the head-peece on, till the blow be given. My counsell therefore shall bee that which S ^t Paul giues to the Ephes. c. 6. Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devill, and withstand in the evill day: stand therefore, having your loynes girt about with truth, and having on the breast-plate of righteousnesse, and your feete shod with the preparation of the Gospell of peace: aboue all, taking the shield of faith, whereby yee shall bee able to quench all the fierie darts of the wicked, and take the helmet of salvation, [Page 86]and the sword of the spirit which is the word of God, that you may not onely vanquish the allurements of the world, but also the threatnings of Antichrist, not only the temptations of the flesh within, but also the assaults of the adversary without, that bonds may not dismay you, death not terrifie you, but that in all just occasions you may bee ready and prepared for the name of Christ, not to be bound onely, but to die also: which is the second part of my text and commeth next to bee handled, I am ready not to be bound onely, but also to die, &c.

Wee see in the Apostle S ^t Paul a notable example of obedience: hee shutteth his eyes to all things else, and on­ly openeth them to Gods word: hee maketh a way to serue God through all lets, all fleshly impossibilities, and being in this way, hee trampleth vnder him his owne na­ture, and beateth a path for Gods word out of his owne heart: finally, he regardeth not what men say, nor what his owne thoughts can say, but having received his man­dat, resolues for his journey, suffering Gods wisedome to reason for him, and Gods omnipotent power and pro­vidence to worke for him. For Paul was now such a man as might haue hoped for rest in his flesh, hee might haue said, Lord I haue serv'd thee these many yeares in sufficient trialls of my loue and obedience, in perills of waters, in perills of robbers, in stripes, in shipwracke, in hunger and thirst, in cold and nakednesse, now I am old, giue mee now immunity, let mee be no longer prest. A­gaine he had accesse to God and familiarity, he knew God was pittifull, and mercifull, and easie to be entreated, and yet he never spake one word for himselfe, or his owne re­leasement: Hee complained not of his greife, he desired not to haue the burden lesned, but as if hee had the feete of an hinde, runnes many a tedious dayes journey by way of the commandement, till at length hee arrived at Hieru­salem. Freedome and liberty are more worth then gold, [Page 87]as the saying is, but skinne for skinne, and all that a man hath hee will giue for his life, Iob. 2. the Casualists there­fore in a matter of life and death, forbid to administer an oath to any in his own cause: wherfore if any thing might plead exemption from Gods edicts, then might this case of bonds and death, and if any man, then questionlesse might S ^t Paul more then any other in this case: the state of the Churches, whereof some were not so sufficiently confirmed, others, with wolues which crept in amongst them, not a litle distracted, did seeme to require it, but he so resolutely vndergoing that which God commanded him, and submitting himselfe to whatsoever God, in the defence of his owne name should impose on him, may not vnfitly direct vs to this conclusion: That neither bonds, nor death, nor any respect whatsoever, can bee of such force or power, at to priviledge the least backewardnesse, or starting backe in defending of Gods cause.

Hee that loveth father or mother more then me (saith our Saviour) is not worthy of mee; and hee that loveth sonne or daughter more then mee, is not worthy of mee; feare not them therefore (saith he) that kill the body, but are not able to kill the soule, Luk. 12.5. In regard whereof God hath ever emboldened some valiant souldiers or others, and propos'd them to the Church for the rest to imitate. A­mongst his Prophets, one hath his forehead as an ada­mant, harder then a flint, not to be dismayed at mens proud lookes, howsoever they bee hard hearted and rebellious, Ezech. 3.8. another is a fensed brasen wall, not to bee prevail'd against, Ierem. 15.20. and hence grew the re­solution of Gods servants, not to shrinke backe or yeeld a foote, when Gods honour lay at the stake, or his Churches preservation was any way interested. So Hanani is bold with Asa, though the prison follow it, Thou hast done foolishly, 2. Chron. 16. The three children with Nabuchad­nezzar threatning the fiery furnace, Wee are not carefull [Page 88]to answere thee in this matter, Dan. 3. Iohn with Herod, though his head pay for it, It is not lawfull for thee to haue thy brothers wife, Matt. 14. and Peter with the Coun­cell breathing threatnings and slaughter, Act. 5. Wee ought to obey God rather then man. In this life the Church hath neede of more then a lions heart, for shee shall ever finde enemies to resist, afflictions to wrastle with, teares to wipe, beasts to fight with, calamities to subdue. In Egypt, it had Pharaoh's to oppresse it, in Iudah and Israel Manasseh's, and Ahabs to vexe it; in captivitie, Hamans to destroy it; and at returne, Tatnai's and Sanballats to discourage it. To say the truth, it is so appointed from the foundation of the world, that righteousnesse here should suffer in secular conflicts; for so just Abel was slaine in the beginning, and before any example (saith Chrysostom) first of all dedicated to martyrdome: him fol­lowed an Holocaust, and whole Hecatombs of Prophets, of whom as the authour to the Hebrewes tells vs; Some were tortur'd, others mock't and imprison'd, some, stoned and sawen asunder, others slaine with the sword, or wan­dred about in sheep-skins and goate-skins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented, of whom the world was not worthy, they wandred i. deserts, and in mountaines, and in dennes, and caues of the earth. To mee therefore (saith a religious divine) the caues, and prisons, and wildernesses are most welcome; for there it was either that the Prophets taught, or the Apostles preach't, or the Evangelists testified the truth of Christ. But such hath ever beene the loue of God in protecting of his Church, that whereas all other things by vexation and oppression, doe wane and decay; his Church like the moone, when the Sunne of righte­ousnes seemes to bee in opposition against her, giues ever most light, and is at the fullest. It is vsuall with the Fa­thers to compare the Church to the arke, because as none were saved from the deluge but such as were in [Page 89]the arke, so none are delivered from eternall death, but such as are really existing in the Church. But the simili­tude holds, as well in respect of the stormes and tempests which alwayes accompanie it; the more the floods of af­fliction doe increase, the more it is elevated and lifted vp towards heaven. Hence were drawne those excellent al­legories of ancient fathers; Gods people (saith Iustin Martyr) are a vine planted by our Saviour, if you prune or cut it, the branches will sproute the better. The bloud of Christians is like seede, (saith Tertullian) the more they are mowed and cut downe, the thicker they will grow. The Church (saith Leo) is Gods field, the cares of corne are his servants, the more graines fall to the ground, the more eares doe multiply and rise vp. As plants seated by rivers of waters, so is the Church oppugned by her ad­versaries, (saith Chrysostome) no garden so flourisheth being moistned by the streames of running waters, as the Church when it is watered with the bloud of Mar­tyrs. Howsoever therefore wee esteeme of afflictions and perfections, and pray to be deliuered from them; yet did wee but throughly examine their ends and singu­lar vses, wee would freely confesse with the Wise man, Eccles. 7. It is better to goe to the house of mourning, then to goe to the house of feasting: And indeede the ends of these chastisings, proposed in the Scripture, are manifold; the exercising and trying of the faithfull, the waking of the drowzie, the testifying of the truth, &c. whereby the weake are confirmed, the sluggish rows'd, and Gods power in mans weakenes the more manifested. To these S ^t Augustine in his 78 Serm. de Tempore, prettily al­ludes the story of Esau and Iacob, both struggling toge­ther in Rebeccah's wombe: for when Rebeccah went to enquire of the Lord concerning their strugglings, the Lord said vnto her, Gen. 25. Two nations are in thy wombe, and two manner of people shall bee separated from thy [Page 90]bowells, and the one people shall bee stronger then the other, and the elder shall serue the younger. S ^t Austin askes how this was fulfill'd, for wee never read at any time that the elder did serue or performe obedience to the younger. Hee answers therefore, the elder shall serue the younger, as wicked men doc serue the godly, non obsequen­do, sed persequendo, not by obeying, but by persecuting, as the hammer serues the mettall, as the mill serues the wheate, and as the furnace the gold when it tries it. It is a memorable saying therefore of Ignatius, when hee was to be cast to Lions to be devoured of them, I am the wheate and graine of Christ, I shall be ground with the teeth of wilde beasts, that I may bee found pure bread. You see (beloved) how persecutions and fiery trialls doe alwayes attend the Church whil'st it wanders in this de­sert of sinne, so that so farre I am from assenting any thing to Bellarmine, who makes his 15 ^th note of the true Church to bee foelicitas temporalis, temporall felicity; that rather with our owne divines I take cruces, the crosses of this world, though they are not a note, to bee a condition of the Church militant. Seeing therefore that sufferings arc necessary, it is a Christian vertue by a mag­nanimous patience to make them voluntary: we must not revolt with Demas, nor follow afarre off with timorous Peter, nor dissemble our profession by Iesuiticall equi­vocation, but rest stedfast in the faith, knowing that if wee suffer with Christ, wee shall also raigne with him, if wee forsake houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for his names sake; wee shall be recompensed in this life with peace of conscience, and in the other with felicity.

But (boloved) the loved of the voyce of more then a trumpet is ne­cessary in these dastardly times of ours, wherein men are as farre from the zeale of those godly Saints, as they are degenerated from their vertuous manners. Every one in [Page 91]the defence of his owne cause will bee eager enough, we want no courage to stoute and braue it in defence of our wicked liues and lewd manners, a man is not afraid to cha­lenge his brother into the field, & seeke to shed his bloud with hazard of his owne life, though he fight against God and the just lawes arm'd with vengeance; but in Christs cause, hee will be more faint-hearted then Peter, who denied his master at the voyce of a silly chamber­maide; or at lest-wise rather then hee will loose a friend, will not sticke to dispease God. But alas! selfe will'd and inconsiderate man, little doest thou marke the stepps thou treadest, or the downe-fall of that way wherein thou po­stest; shall Christ be thought to be thy master, when thou art asham'd openly to be his servant? shall he receiue thee which rejectest him? or suppose, thou wilt greatly esteem his robes of glory, which voluntarily doest here put on the devils livery? No, no (beloved) he hath taught vs o­therwise: Hee that confesseth not me (saith he) before men, him will I deny before my Father which is in heaven: Hee that loveth father or mother, or sonne or daughter more then mee, is not worthy of mee. Wee are vnworthy indeede to be his souldiers, if wee will not take vp our crosse & fol­low him. Alas! what thing of moment can there be which may yeeld a coloured pretence to shake off our allegeance to so good a master? Shall persecution, or anguish, or tri­bulation, or famine, or nakednes, or perill, or sword? why, in all these wee are more then conquerours through him that loved vs. Sufferings and bonds are not things execrable to Christians; for a Christian mans breast, whose hope consists wholly in the tree, dreadeth neither bat nor club; woundes and scarres of the body bee ornaments to him, such as bring no shame nor dishonesty to the party, but rather preferre and free him with the Lord. Though in dungeons there bee no beds for his body to rest on, yet hath hee rest in Christ, and though his weary bones [Page 92]lye vpon the cold ground, you hee thinkes it no paine for him to lye with his Saviour. Ones feete may be fet­ter'd with bonds and chaines, but happily is hee bound of men, whom the Lord Christ doth loose; happily doth he lye tyed in the stockes, whose feete are thereby swifter to runne to heaven. Neither can any man rye a Chri­stian so fast, but that hee runneth so much the faster for his garland of life; say one hath no garment to saue him from cold, yet he that putteth on Christ is sufficiently coated; say bread doe lacke to your hungry bodyes, but man liveth not by bread onely, but by every word proceeding from the mouth of God. What if we shorten our dayes of misery, doe we not the sooner make our entrance into better of glory? What if wee suffer tor­ments of body? but oh let vs more seare, least wee for ever loose the joyes of the soule! But some (perhaps) will thinke it impertinent to vrge this hard and vnsavo­ry precept at such a calme of the Church, wherein every man eates of his owne vineyard, who gathers quietly the fruite himselfe, which hee himselfe hath planted, there are now no persecutions (men will say) no bonds nor death threatned for Christs name, (and God graunt these words may never more be heard in this our Israel, God grant it I say,) but in the meane time, shall we be so sencelesse as to thinke that Christs name is now banished this Iland, and that it surceas'd with the bloud of Martyrs? No, it is conversant amongst vs, and summons her cham­pions as resolutely to defend it as ever it did: but where is it? why, 'tis every where; that poore man oppressed, is Christs cause; that sicke brother, that wretch, that Lazarus, that naked body, that widow, that orphane childe; heare what our Saviour saith, Matt. 25. What you haue done vnto one of the least of these my bre­thren, you haue done it vnto mee. And doe you aske yet where is Christs cause? why, 'tis in the midst of you; [Page 93]are any of your neighbours drunkards or prophane? there it is; are any of your servants disorderly or negligent? there it is; are any of your children disobedient or disso­lute? why, there it is. Say not as the wicked do, it is in the wildernesse, it is in the desert, it is in Spaine, it is in Rome; no, but examine your owne hearts, & if you find there written the God of the world, then be bold to say, lo here is Christ▪s cause, here I must fight valiantly to destroy the kingdome of Satan and to vanquish Christ's enemy. No sacke of a citty is so lamentable as when the divell entreth into a soule, and when hee cryes downe with an heart and sinkes the whole man into ruine and perdition. Come on therefore decre Christians, you which stand for Christ's name haue a strong cause, why haue you faint hearts? I confesse that there be Cananites which must bee expulsed before we can obtaine the land of promisse, and Schons and Oggs, gyants of monstrous stature to appale & affright vs, but doth not the matter stand just so with the affaires of this world? Can one obtain any thing here amongst men but he must get it by violence? seeke we thē with the same violence the things in heaven, with which wicked men do seeke the things of this world. Here wee can get nothing without labour, watching, trouble, venture, fight; do but the same, and see heaven is offered! how much difference in the ends, and see the meanes are both one. And so I passe à gravitate rei, from the greatnesse of the thing which the Apostle was ready to vndergo, ad Qualitatē causae, the na­ture of the cause, which comes in the last place to be trea­ted of, For the name of the Lord Iesus.

Wee read in histories how prodigall some haue beene of their liues; honour, ease, devotion, shame, want, paine, any thing served them for a reason not on­ly to forsake themselues, or to expose themselues to vnevitable dangers, but also to bee their owne exe­cutioners. Gellius in his fifteenth booke and twentieth ch. [Page 94]tell's of the women of a certain towne, that in wanton­nesse had brought it vp for a fashion to kill themselues. Next to them seem'd to be those in the Primitiue Church, which invented new wayes of martyrdome, with hunger; wherewith they were so transported, that some of them taught, that vpon conscience of sin, to kill ones selfe, was by this act of justice a martyrdome: vpon which ground Petillian, against whom S Austine writes, canonized Iu­das for a Martyr. The rage and fury of the Circumcellians in extorting this imagined martyrdome, brought them first to sollicite and importune others to kill them, and if they failed in that suite, they did it themselues; and ano­ther sect prospered so farre in heaping vp nūbers of mar­tyrs, that their whole sect, as Epiphamius tell's vs, was cal­led Martyriani. Diverse therefore contributing their Helps to the preservation and tranquillity of states, em­ployed their best inventions to remedy these inconveni­ences, and to divert men from such precipitate courses. Aristotle in the 3. of his Ethickes and 7. chap. to correct the opinion of getting honour by that act, taught that no­thing was more base and cowardly then to kill ones selfe, became (sayth hee) men did it not, either for henesties sake, or for the good of the common-weale, but onely to bee freed from some inconveniences, which they thought might molest them. The Spaniards in the In­dies had another policie; when they found a generall incli­nation and practise in the inhabitants to kill themselues to avoid slavery, they had no way to reduce them, but by some dissembling and outward counterfeiting, to make them beleeue that they also killed themselues, and so went with them into the next world, and afflicted them more there then they did in this. Princes likewise haue inflicted forfietures and infamous mulcts vpon them which should so slay themselues; and the Church by her Canons hath denyed them buriall. Thus in sundry times [Page 95]placet, sundry meanes haue beene thought of to prevent and disswade men from such inconsiderate actions. But Almighty God, who disposeth all things sweetely, hath beene so indulgent to our nature and the frailty thereof, that hee hath afforded vs a meanes how to giue away our life, and yet so as it shall bee pleasing to him; which is, by delivering our selues to martyrdome, so that it bee for the testimony of his name, and the advancing of his glory, For in this wee restore him his talent with profit, our owne soule, with as many more as our example workes vpon and winnes to him. This is that which S. Paul im­plies in the words of my text, declaring that hee was ready not to bee bound onely, but also to dye at Hierusalem. But because martyrem non facit poena sed causa, as S. Austine tell's vs, it is not the punishment but the cause which makes a martyr; the Apostle would not so leaue vs in a doubt , as if to dye simply were good or desi­rable, and as if it were lawfull in any occasion to be profuse and prodigall of ones bloud; but intimates the quality of the cause, which makes true martyrdome, not to be fame, or honour, or any worldly respect, but onely the name of the Lord Iesus: from which example of our blessed Apostle may it please you to inferre with mee this conclusion; That, that cause which warrants true martyrdome, is to bee the maintaining of Christ's truth and the defending of his name.

The wicked and the godly, may both haue the same pu­nishment, but not the same cause; Christ was crucified and the theeues were crucified, but quos passio jungebat, causa separabat (saith Austine) whom the passion did joyne, the cause did sever; which he sweetly thus presseth from those words of the kingly Prophet, Psal. 35. Arife and wake to my judgement, even to my cause, my God and my Lord: not to punishment (saith the Father)but to my cause, not to that which the theife hath common with mee, but to that [Page 96]which the blessed onely can challenge, who suffer persecu­tion for righteousness sake: Mat. 5. Now that wee may the better know what is to bee vnderstood by the name of Christian in this place, and in what respects it may truely be tearmed martyrdome, which one sustaines in the de­fence of it; wee must note that all true martyrdome for Christs sake is grounded vpon one of these three preten­ses and claimes: The first is the sealing with our bloud the profession of some morall truth, which though it be not directly of the body of the Christian faith, nor exprest in the articles thereof; yet it is some of those workes which a Christian man is bound to do: Such was the martyrdome of S. Iohn Baptist, when hee was beheaded for telling He­rod that it was not lawfull for him to haue his brothers wife: Mat. 14. The second is, the maintaining with losse of life the integrity of the Christian faith, and not suffer­ing any part thereof to perish and corrupt: Such were the martyrdomes of the Prophets before Christ, of the Fathers in the Ten first persecutions, and of the Prote­stants here in England in Queene Marie's dayes. The third is, the endeavouring by the same meanes to preserue the liberties and immunities of the Church: which are two fold, either natiue and connaturall to the Church, as preaching the word, administring the Sacraments, and ap­plying medicinall censure; or accessory, such as for the fur­therance & advancement of the worship of God, Christi­an Princes haue given vnto it. If any to whose charge God hath committed these by an ordinary calling do loose his life either in the execution of the former, or for a pious & dutifull admonition to the Prince for the latter, wee may justly esteeme him for a martyr.

But to come to our application; Christ hath his martyrs, and Antichrist would haue his also. It may make some peradventure to wonder and stand astonisht, at the strange hardnesse of some priests & Iesuites of the Roman religiō, [Page 97]their resolution to dye for their Bell the Bishop of Rome; but should wee but sift the truth of the point, wee should finde that it is not Christ's cause that they dye for; nor his Name which with the Apostle here they so stand for, but that other reasons and by-respects do induce them to this false martyrdome. To see one lavish of his bloud, would perswade a simple man to thinke that the cause could not be but good: but alas! it is not true zeale, but fury which driues them to these exigences, it is not the loue of their Master Christ, but the hope of avoyding Purgatory, and of meriting heaven, which so advanceth this corrupt inclina­tion. Yet this I will say, that if the sustaining of death for the defence of one's cause could end the controversie, Bel­larmine the greatest Doctor of the Romish Church, would giue the Vmpire to our side, for in his 4 ^th book de signis Ec­clesia & 2. chap. he ingenioussly cōfesseth, that Martyrdome can be no note of the Romish Church, because (saith he) o­ther sects there are, amongst which he name's the Calvi­nists, who haue ever bin most forward in dying for their Religion. But let vs goe on, and examine a little, whether those Iesuites and Priests, according to the ground laide downe before, can challenge the names of true Martyrs, or no. To beginne therefore with the first kinde of Martyr­dome, which is, for defending some morall truth; doe they dye for defending any such verity? No (beloved) it is for oppugniug euen the rirst Commandement, which con­cernes our duty towards man; that Commandement teacheth vs, that we should honour our Fathers and Mo­thers, by which is meant not only our naturall Parents, but likewise all higher powers, and especially such as haue soveraigne authority over vs as Kings and Princes, whom the Scripture doth terme nursing Fathers of the Church, Esay 49. But they are executed for plotting their deaths, for contriving powder-treasons, for affirming that the Pope may depose the King, that hee may ex­communicate him, and then giue his Subjects a [Page 98]priviledge to assassinate him, so that for defending any mo­rall truth they are not Martyrs, but rather for breaking of so great a Commandement, they dye as guilty offenders both of God and the Lawes of the Land. Well then, let's goe to the Articles of Faith, may they beterm'd Martyrs, because they stand for the vp-holding of any part of the Creed? therein do they maintaine the Name of Iesus? No (beloved) though some of them are called Iesuites, yet are they so farre from being so indeed, that as Whitaker a lear­ned divine of ours hath observ'd, there is no point of their doctrine wherein they differ from vs, but either therein they deny the Name of Iesus, or the Name of Christ, one of our Saviour's two Names is alwayes infring'd by thē. But yet they will say (perhaps) that they dye for maintai­ning their Churche's immunities & priviledges; & there­in do descrue to be called Martyrs: (They may wel indeed say, their Churche's, for I cannot say, Christ's Church.) But what are the Priviledges which they pretend? why, a­ny of their Priests will tell you, they are those which our Saviour gaue to S. Peter, in Matt., 16. ver. 18. in these words, Thou art Peter, and vpon this rocke I will build my Church. But what meane these words? are they any thing else then that Christ would build his Church vpon that rocke, that is, vpon that confession of Peter's immediatly before vttered, That he was the Sonne of God? this indeede is the true sense; but yet the Pope's Canon-Law hath pleas'd to giue another interpretation, Thou art Peter, that is to say, in the Romane speech, (I am sure neither in the Greeke nor Latine) thou art Bishop of Rome, and vpon thee as thou art such an one, I will build my Church; but not onely vpon thee Peter, for there shall be no moreBi­shops of Rome of that name; but vpon thee Gregory, vpon thee Adrian, Iulius, Ioane, vpon euery Bishop of Rome, good or bad, holy or prophane, Christian or Atheist, be he what he will, I will build my Church; and vnder this I or­daine [Page 99]thee Monarch, both of things temporall, and things spirituall, Soveraigne King and Bishop together; of spiri­tuall, to controlle the Olde Testament, to dispense against the Gospell, and against the Apostles, to make new articles of faith, to be aboue all Councels, and when thou traylest men by thousands into hell, I would haue no man to que­stion thee, why doest thou this? Of Temporall, to dispose of all the World, to distribute it at thy pleasure, as if it were thine own heritage, to raigne over Kings, to arraigne and indite them, to depose them, to absolue their subjects from their Oath of Allegiance, to expose their estates for a prey, their persons to murther, to bestow their King­domes on whom it shall please thee, and lastly to change their tenures to fealty, or convert their territories to their owne demaine. Pitty will strike one here into hor­rour: but sweete Iesus, were these the priviledges which thou bequeathed'st to S. Peter? were these the dignities which thou conferred'st on thy Church? thy profession was wont to be that thy Kingdome was not of this world, that the servant is not greater then his Master; and thy A­postles haue taught vs, that euery soule should be subiect vn­to higher powers; & may now any be so hardy, as to claime this Imperiall sway from thy donation? Alas beloued, this challenge by the Pope, is farre from the promise of the A­postles, and of S. Peter himselfe! let's looke into his 1 E­pistle, and 2 Chap. where he enjoynes all men to feare God, and honour the King, and wee shall perceiue that his scope was obedience, subjectiō, duty. Poore man whil'st he liv'd he was in want and need, silver and gold he had none; and see, since his death the Pope hath provided for him a migh­ty Kingdome. All the Churche's priviledges which they dye for (if they dye for any) are these which you haue heard; whether he deserves the name of a Martyr, which dyes for such manifest impieties, judge you. Of all their Martyrs it may be said, as once S. Austine in his 68. Epistle [Page 100]said of the Donatists, Vivebant vt latrones, honorab antur vt martyres; they liue murtherers, and traitours, & false Pro­phets, & a painted straw shall make them to bee honour'd as Martyrs. Our case (thankes be to God) is farre differing from theirs; we know whose name it is which we main­taine: & if ever the Lord marched before vs in a pillar of fire to shew vs the true way we are to take, he doth it this day; here you see the representation of his death, these are those remembrances he left vs, to shew how he was cruci­fied in our cause, & these are they which put vs in minde what we are to do againe in his cause. His Supper hee or­dain'd to begirt & arme vs to withstand his enemies. He which is loath to put on this armour, is vnwilling to fight his battaile. Let no man therefore drawback when Christ offereth to assist him with such munition. Let no man say, I am vnworthie, but put his confidence in his Saviour, which makes him worthie. Wee may not deceiue our selues (beloved) he is not vnworthy to eate his body and drinke his bloud, which thinkes himselfe vnworthy: for vnto such Christ saith, Come vnto me all ye which are laden, & I will ease you; but he is vnworthy which is loath to bee made worthier, which is prophane in his life, and meanes yet to be so, which is malicious in his thoughts, & resolv's to cōtinue so, which is covetous in his heart, & purposeth to abide so; to thē if any be here so minded, I giue this coū ­sell; refraine frō this holy Cōmunion, touch not, taste not, handle not those sacred resēblances of your Redeemer: this Supper indeed is an armour of proofe, to shield all such as do fight truly in Christ's cause; but if you warre vnder the divel's banner, it will prove like Saul's armour to David, it will presse you downewards: it is a weapon left vs to put Satan to flight; but if you fight not on God's side, it will bend it selfe vpō your selues, & like the Midianites swords, will sticke in your owne sides. But I hope better things of you. In Baptisme you receiv'd your presse-money,& were [Page 101]entred into your Captaine Christ Iesus his Booke; then you made your first vow, to fight against the world, the flesh, & the divell: you must remember if that you will be expert and able souldiers, you are often to be muttered & train'd, often must you beare the colours, often take the bread of munition during this spirituall warrefare. You see as there is a prize to winne, so there is a buckler to defend you, food to strengthen you. Courage, courage therefore for Heauen, for CHRIST, for the Crowne of Glory: it is a shame in such a multitude of those that professe CHRIST, that there are so few which truly follow him, & that men are like Pharaoh's leane kine, in the rich and plentifull pa­strures of the Gospell; the bloud of Martyrs was the milke which nurst the Primitiue Church in her infancie, & shall it be too hard for our disgestion now? it was the seede of the Church out of which we sprung, and shall wee grudge to tithe our selues to God in any proportion that he will accept? But the Apostles are dead, and those great lights of example the Patriarchs, the Prophets, & the holy Mar­tyrs, and wee haue their sepulchres with vs; yet let their hope, their zeale, their faith, their constancy, their patiēce liue. I speake with more vehemency, because I know not what concernes vs more then this Scripture, Hee that loo­seth his life for my sake shall finde it. Loe we stand vpon our being, or not being; vpon having, or loosing of our soules: the God of loue and peace giue vs all the spirit of zeale, hope, and patience, that in the sweate of Iesus Christ wee may overcome all faintings of the heart, all reluctations of the flesh, all bitternesse of temptation: To him therefore, with the Father, and Holy Ghost, one God and three Persons, be ren­dred all praise, honour, and glory, now and for evermore.

AMEN.

WHat the occasion might bee which moued our Saviour to make this reply, Interpre­ters on all parts doe not agree. Tertullian, Chrysostome, and Theophylact are of opini­on, that Christ here tax'd his Mother and Brethren, as if the scope of their com­ming had bin, to shew their kinred with our Saviour, and [Page 104]their authority over him. Others thinke hee reprehended onely their vnseasonable and inconsiderate proclaiming of their affinity with him, because by this meanes (say some) the divell might take an opportunity to extinguish that opinion which some (a little before) began to con­ceiue of his divinity. But Hierome thinks rather, he blamed by this answer, him which interrupted him in his preach­ing, as who should tempt him, whether he would preferre flesh & bloud before the spirituall worke of his Vocation. Of all these the Popish Writers can best brooke them which cast any aspersion of a fault vpon our Lady; whom the Councell of Trent in the 6. Sess: would redeeme if not frō being conceived in originall sin, yet frō ever commit­ting of any actual transgression. Tolet therfore the Iesuite, would haue these words in my Text to imply no reprehē ­sion, but rather an admonition or commonefaction; albeit Iansenius, so he may saue our Lady from a chiding, stands not greatly whether it were bestowed vpon Christ's bre­thren, or vpon him which told our Saviour of his mothers being without. For mine owne part, though I am not desi­rous to impute any obliquitie to the blessed Virgin at this time; yet farre bee it from mee to say, that there was ever any (Christ onely excepted) which liv'd with­out sinne. For what is that of our Saviours to Mary, Ioh. 2. Woman, what haue I to doe with thee, but a reprehendsion? and shall Christ reprehend where there was no fault? What other thing can those wordes of Maryes import, Luke 1. My soule doth magnifie the Lord, and my spirit hath reioyced in God my Saviour? but that shee confessed her sinnes, when shee acknowledged a Saviour. Bellarmine therefore in his 4 ^th booke de amissione gratiae, and 16. Chapter, denyes not that shee had a Saviour, and that remission of sinnes was necessary vnto her, as well as vnto others; but he would faine recover himselfe with this shift, saying, that those sinnes were remitted vnto her, [Page 105] non in quae inciderat, sed in quae incidisset, nisi gratia Dei per merit a Christi praeventae suisset: not those into which shee fell, but those into which shee would haue fallen, bad not the grace of God prevented her; as if forshooth God vsed to impute those sins to men which they never committed, or as if a King should be stow his pardon of felony vpon him which never stole, and yet thinke it a great favour. As for the words of my text, I deny not but that the of died Virgin might come with good intent vnto our Saviour, hoping either to heare him & see him, as some would haue it:or as others, to recouer him from those traps & shares which the Scribes & Pharisces laid to entrap him withall. Yet I may well gather thus much, that if our Saviour re­prehends not in this place an errour already commited, yet he giueth a caveat of one which might be committed; and if I may not say he blameth one past, it is plaine he prevēts one to come. For what do not men conceiue of the bond of kinred? might not the Iewes suppose that our Saviour would haue granted great privileges to those which clay­med affinity or consanguinity with him? or at lest haue omitted his preaching and teaching at their importunity? Hee therefore either to divert them from such fancies, or to shew by his owne example how highly we are to value the exercise of our heavēly calling before al respect what­soever to our earthly parents, answered as wee read it set down in Mathew, & Markes gospell, Who is my mother, & who are my brethrē? As if he should haue said: it is so indeed with the world that kinred & consanguinity are of great importance, that they beare great sway in mens affections, and potent orators they are to turne them which way they list. This wholy I dislike not, nay rather as I my selfe was ever obedient vnto my parents, so leaue I this commandement vnto you, that of all others you most en­cline your eares to them and hearken vnto their coun­sell: but now I am about the businesse of my hea­venly [Page 106]Father, I am performing the worke for which I was sent; I confesse, that great is the priviledge of our carnall progenitours, yet greater is the preheminence of our p [...]tuall alliance: if that other is to be respected as good yet this is to be preferred as better. What therfore if my mother or brethrē stād without, must I leaue my taske of preaching the kingdome of God to converse with thē? No, no, I say vnto you, the nearenes which I haue with thē is somewhat, but the propinquity I haue with you in God is much more: are they of my bloud? so are you; are they of my kindred? so are you; is there my mother or my sisters or my brethren? why know this also, that whosoever hea­veth the word of God and doth it, the same is my mother, my sister and my brother.

The summe is a declaration of that neare conjunction which they haue with Christ who are members of, him, and are truly engrafted into his body. Wherein obserue with mee these two circumstances,

viz. First the titles here given vnto them, my mother & my brethren are these &c.

viz. Secondly, the properties required in them, which are two

• 1. Hearing the word of God.
• 2. Doing it.

My mother and my brethren are these which heare the word of God and do it.

My mother and my brethren, there's the Invitation; are these which heare the word of God, there's the Information; and do it, there's the Execution: so that consanguinity and nearenesse of kinne invites to heare, hearing is the meanes to informe; & information directs vs how to execute. My mother and my brethren are these &c. It may seeme strange to some that our Saviour should in this place vse so harsh a Metaphor in shewing the neare conjunction and vnion of himselfe with his members, as not onely to apply to the same subject things of diverse natures, but also differing [Page 107]sexes. Whosoever heares the word of God and doth it (saith hee;) hee excludes not men, nor alters the case with women, they are all of them both his mother and his bre­thren. Morally indeed (as Iansenius expounds it) hee may be tearmed his brother, because hee is the son of the same heavenly father & joynt heire with Christ: Rom. 8.17. and his mother because Christ is borne a new in him by a spi­rituall nativity, according to that of the Apostle: Gal. 4.19. My little children with whom I travell in birth againe vntill Christ be formed in you. But because it is true which S. Paul hath in the same Epistle and 3 chap: there is neither Iew nor Greeke, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female, for they are all one in Christ Ie­sus; Literally should I explicate it, it imports by a menti­oning of the subject for the abstract, that they are his mo­ther and brethren, implying as much as this, what loue a mother receiues of her son, the same you receiue of mee; what affection a brother challengeth of a brother the same impart I to you, what ever alliance, consanguinity or kin­red effects in provoking to compassion and mutuall desires of each others wellfare, the same and greater passeth from my bowels to them which heare Gods word and do it. To bee breefe, hee shewes a new kinred, not such as Heralds can reduce into a pedigree grounding vpon a lineall de­scent of flesh and bloud, but vpon a spirituall cognation with him; and here (saith Ambrose) hee which gaue lawes and precepts vnto vs became an executer of his owne e­dicts. For having prescribed, that he which leaveth not fa­ther or mother is not worthy of him, practiseth it first in his owne person, not that he might abrogate the duties due to mothers, for it was his owne decree, that he which ho­nours not his father & mother shal dye the death, sed affecti­bus quia paterius se mysterijs ambitùs quàm maternis debere cognoscat, hut because he knowes he ought more to his fa­thers mysteries the to his mothers affections. The sume of all affords vs this observation;

That wee are to esteeme, no bond of kinred or consanguinity so great, as the spirituall all [...]nce which wee haue with Christ, and through Christ one with another.

How nearely the elect and chosen vessels of God are linked to Christ, may sundry wayes be shewed out of the writings of the holy Ghost. For first, they haue a neere re­lation vnto him in respect of nature, whereby hee is their father by the right of Creation; for though from their parēts they take their bodies derivation, as being Gods in­struments in their production, yet vpon him they depend as vpon the principall efficient: in him we liue, and moone, and have our being (sayth Saint Paul) Act. 17. and in this respect Adam is is termed the Sonne of God, Luke 3.38. Secondly, they are neerely adjoyned vnto him, in respect of grace; & indeed this seemes a more neere conjunctiō with him thē any can be of kinred or affinity, for in this regard Christ is termed the head, they the mēbers, Eph. 4.15. Christ the husband, they the spouse, 2. Cor. 11. Christ the vine, they the branches, Ioh. 15.1. Christ the fountaine, they the brooke, Ioh. 4.14. and if any thing may more plainely expresse the neerenesse and conjunction they haue with him; hee calls himselfe via & vita, the way and the life, Ioh. 14.6. Whē a woman therefore had said vnto him. Luk. 11. Bles­sed is the wōbe that bare thee, & the paps that gaue thee suck; yea rather (saith hee) blessed are they that heare the word of God & keepe it. yea. rather; non carnales parētes negat, sed spi­rituales Praefert; (saith Maldonat) he denies not his naturall parēts, but prefer's, his spirituall. Matrē matri, fraters fra­tribus anteponit, he preferres his mother hearing the word, before his mother giuing him sucke: his brethren doing the will of God, before his brethren descending from the same parents. What if Mary were his mother by bearing him in her wombe? yet her motherhood seemed redoubled in her when shee conceiued him in her soule. If Iames and Ioses might call him brother, because [Page 109]they were linked vnto him by the bond of the flesh, yet more truely were they then his brethren, when they were so made by the bond of the spirit.

But I neede not insist longer vpon the proofe of a point so evident. I will now come to apply it to our selues; we see the neere alliance wee haue with Christ, and through Christ, one with another: the great King of heaven and earth vouchsafeth to incorporate vs into his family, and as if it were too little to place vs in any remote degrees of alliance, he graceth vs with those excellent, and most af­fectionate names, of Mother and Brethren. O let vs not swell and be carried away with the meere titles thereof, but endeavour to make manifest to the world, that our af­fections are correspondent to our appellations. Men and brethren, are you ambitious of this high dignity, to be cal­led his brother? Would you bee styled with so super­eminent a title? Why, you must performe then the offices of a brother to him, by reducing your selues, and by win­ning others to his faith; you must raise vp seed vnto him, and become the sonnes of the same heavenly father. Are any amongst you, which affect the priviledges of a mo­ther? Thinke yee not that also to bee a thing impossible that our blessed Saviour should be borne againe, and that of any other besides his virgin mother? though to natu­rall man this seeme impossible, yet to the spirituall man it will seeme easie, and of no difficulty to be performed. Beleeue but his word, and you haue conceived him in your wombe; doe but his will, and you haue brought him forth into the world; entertaine but his messengers, and you embrace him in your armes; releiue but him which craues a cup of cold water in his name, & you giue him sucke. This is a grace not appropriated to women onely, nor onely to the married, for men also and virgins themselue, may bee the happy mothers of such an issue. But alas (beloved) how is it that we so sleight & so little [Page 110]value this vnspeakeable honour? wee recount our carnall pedegrees, and are puft vp if an herauld can deriue our de­scent from any noted family vpon earth, which yet began but yesterday, and perhaps will perish before night; and doe wee thinke it a small thing that wee are here offered to bee admitted into so noble an alliance, as to haue God to our Father, and Christ to our Sonne and brother? The greatest Monarch vpon earth can shew his descent, but for some hundred of yeares, although few can prescribe for so long; so subject to changes and alterations are all things vnder the funne; and shall it not bee our ambition to reject those vaine and vpstart descents, when wee haue such evidences as these to deriue our pedegree from eter­nity? In our naturall descents there is great vncertainty, heraulds may bee corrupted, wrirings lost, deedes chan­ged; but in our spirituall alliance with Christ, our names are written in the booke of life which no forgery can counterfeit, nor injury of time deface. But the world vnderstands not this, and the foolish will not beleeue it, a greater matter they thinke it, to be of a noble house, and to haue had such and such ancestors: why, (beloved) let vs reason together; what content can a man finde to deriue himselfe from him whom hereafter hee will Judge most vile and wretched? what a fondnesse were it to build ones reputation vpon the glory of such an one, as perhaps the next day hee shall follow to the place of execution with execrations and curses? And yet this may be the case betweene vs and our glorious progeni­tours, whom now wee so vaunt of; who knowes whether at Christs appearance hee shall not rife vp in judgement against them and condemne them? Who can assure him­selfe, whether those which the world accounted as worthies, shall not bee found at the last day, to haue beene but painted clouts, and full of slime and corrupti­on within? And yet the greatest sort of men are proud, [Page 111]and selfe conceited, that they are descended even from those, who were so cruell vnto them, that the same mo­ment they gaue them life, they gaue them also the sting of death, in their flesh; and in the meane time, they set at naught the alliance they haue with the Lord of life, or that they may bee in so honourable a ranke, as to bee Christs mother or his brethren. And what is the issue of all? Why, wee reject God from being our Father, that wee may glory only in earthly ancestours; we exclude Christ from being our eldest brother, that wee may apply our selues to the brethren of our owne house; wee renounce for our kinsmen the blessed troupes of Saints and Angels, that wee may haue none of our stocke but whom the world applauds and counts happie. This was not the practise of the godly in the Scripture, wee reade of Mo­ses, how when hee came to years, he refused to bee called the sonne of Pharaohs daughter, choosing rather to suffer af­fliction with the people of God, then to enjoy the pleasures of sinne for a season: Heb. 11.24. for, to say the truth, our earthly affinity is but transitory, and abideth not, if you would purchase an everlasting and never-dying kindred, call them your brethren which are humbled with adversity, for these shall bee partners with you in the kingdome of God; call them your brethren, which haue forsaken the splendour of the world, for these shall raigne with you for ever in heaven; call them your bre­thren, which haue renounced the ambitious titles of ho­nour, for these shall inherit with you the crowne of righteoussnesse; call them your brethren, vvhich heare the vvord of God and doe it, for these must bee your companions in glory. Linke not your selues with the covetous for wealth, with the proud for honour, with the voluptuous for pleasure, with the hollow-hearted in religion for gaine and preferment; but if you vvould knit an vnseparable knot of kindred, let your brother­hood [Page 112]bee founded in Christ, lest at your deaths you bee both of you either everlastingly separated, or everlastingly confounded. I confesse it is an hard thing to perswade flesh and bloud to follow this, they will scarce beleeue that Christ by the right of kinred, claimes such an interest in them, as that by his example they should so much preferred the spirituall alliance they haue vvith him, before that vvhich they haue vvith their owne kinred. For doe not vvee see the quite contrary practised every vvhere in the vvorld? Doth not one thinke his vvife neerer to him, and for her sake either quits, or at lest is cold in the profession of Christs religion? Doe not others thinke their mother or their brethren neerer to them, and vvhen they heare Christ taught in the Church, if any saith vnto them, as here vvee finde it in my text, thy mo­ther and thy brethren are without desiring to see thee, they vvill leaue Christs company to feede their fancies? Doe not all thinke their humours and pleasures and profits neerer vnto them, and for their sakes goe to law vvith their brethren, reject all alliance they haue vvith any in Christ, and vvith slaundrings, backbitings, and ray­lings, like foule birds defile their owne nests? Moses vvhen two Israelites stroue together, said, why smitest thou thy fellow? I say more, vvhy striue vvee, vvee are brethren? Wee may conceiue our head Iesus Christ as saying from heaven, vvhy striue you my kinsmen? vvhy make you divisions in our family my mother and my brethren, vvhich you are? Your are all children of the same heavenly Father, children should dwell together; members of the same body, members should grow to­gether; souldiers of the same army, souldiers should gether; souldiers of the same army, souldiers should march together. Thus vvee are termed in the holy Scrip­tures, let it be our care to be answerable to such ho­nourable appellations. And now that you have seene your titles and prerogatiues vvhich Christ bestowes on [Page 113]you, of his mother and brethren, hearken but like mothers and brethren to the propertyes required in you, which are hearing and doing, and God will make you to be so indeed And first I desire hearing, which commeth in the next place to be handled : My mother and my brethren are they which heare the word of God, &c.

There is nothing so necessary to a Christian which travells from this Egypt of misery and oppression to the heavenly Canaan, as the knowledge of the vvord of God; for by this hee is directed in his way, conducted to his port, assured of his safe arrivall. This made the Prophets so often to ingeminate the hearing of it vnto Gods people: Heare yee the word of the Lord yee rulers: Esay. 1.10. Heare the word of the Lord yee house of David, Ierem. 12.4. You sheepheards heare the word of the Lord: Ezech. 34.7. Heare all yee old men: Ioel. 1.2. Heare all yee people. Mich. 1.2. Princes, rulers, sheep­heards, people, old, young, all, lyable to this taske of hearing, in somuch, that our Saviour makes this the bur­den of his Sermons, hee that hath an eare to heare let him heare. But (beloved) in this place our Saviour seemes to goe somewhat farther, and as if our kinred and alli­ance with him were to be confirmed by charter, makes none capable of that honour, but those which can shew their title out of the word of God. My mother and my brethren are they which heare the word of God; The ob­servation which I draw from hence, is this,

That it is required of all those, which would bee adopted into Christs family, to bee diligent hearers of Gods word.

I neede not be large in proving the truth of this do­ctrine; It is sufficient, that hearing is the ordinary meanes vvhich Christ hath left vs to engraft vs into his fami­ly, and to make vs the children of his heavenly Father: for by faith wee are made the heires of salvation, and faith commeth by hearing: (saith the Apostle) Rom. 10. [Page 114]so that no hearing, no faith; no faith, no salvation: Hee therefore which is of God, heares Gods voyce (saith our Sa­viour,) Iohn. 8.47. And againe, my sheepe heare my voyce. Ioh. 10.27. In regard whereof, the Saints in all ages were bound to repaire to the ministers of the word, and to heare the Law at the Priests lips, Malach. 2.7. In the Old Testament, wee finde that they resorted to the Prophets vpon the sabbaths, and vpon other dayes; for when the Shunamite in 2. King. 4. craved leaue of her husband to goe to the Prophet, hee replyed wherefore wilt thou goe? it is neither new moone nor Sabbath day, as if on those dayes the people vsed to resort vnto them to heare them. The like was vsed in the new Testament, for so our Saviour sent the Iewes to the Scribes and Pha­risees, Matt. 23.1. the Angell sent Cornelius to Peter, Act. 10.32. and of these times Esay prophecying, saith, that in the last dayes it shall come to passe that many people shall goe and say, Come yee, and let vs goe vp to the mountaine of the Lord, to the house of the God of Iacob, and hee will teach vs his wayes, Esay. 2.3. For indeed the ministery of the Gospell is that golden pipe (as one termes it) where­by and wherethrough all the goodnesse of God, all the sweetnesse of Christ, all heavenly graces whatsoever are derived vnto vs; It is that hooke and bait which Christs fishers of men, his disciples and Apostles vsed, in the taking of soules; It is that spirituall armour which ca­steth downe every thing that exalteth it selfe against the knowledge of God, and bringeth into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; It is that blowing of the Levites, which, if not at the first, yet at the seventh time, will beat downe Iericho in vs, and hew a passage in our hearts for the entrance of the heavēly tabernacle. It is that poole of Bethesda, at which should lye every distressed & impotent soule, & expect the moving of the waters, I meane, the first moving of the spirituall waters of life, [Page 115]by the preachers of the Gospell. To make vse of this doctrine; there are two sorts of men vvhich commonly faile in the performance of this commandement, of hear­ing the word; the first are those which say, they can reade the Bible in their houses, that they haue Gods word which will instruct them as sufficiently at home, as any sermons in the Churches. But these men foulety deceiue them­selues, for first they must know that it is one thing to say that the Scriptures are sufficient to teach them all things necessary to salvation; another thing to say, that they teach these things so vsefully without an interpreter, as with one. I deny not but that in the Scriptures more excellent knowledge & profound mysteries are contayned, then the greatest Doctours & learned'st men withall their paines & industry can attaine vnto: but so powerfull & so profi­table it is not to them when it is read privately, as when it is preached in the Church; for who can say that he shall not heare in preaching, many things expounded which [...] vvas ignorant of, many godly instructions gathered, which he observed not, many vsefull points applyed to his conscience which he heeded not? I passe by his sinnes ript vp, the weakenesses & diseases of his soule displayed to his view, the threatning of the law denounced, the sweete comforts of the Gospell produc'd, salues applyed to his sores, balsome to his wounds, playsters to his dying & putrifying members: besides a thousand excellent and heavenly effects, which hearing brings with it. Thou camest into the Church a vulture, before thou departest, thou maist bee transformed into a doue; thou camst in a wolfe, thou maist be changed into a lambe; not having thy body or soule so altered that thou shalt bee no more a man, but thy foule minde, and beastly thoughts expelled, which before would not suffer thee to be a man. I adde, the hearing of the word preached is a part of the service of God, and a duty enjoyned every Christian to performe, if therfore other things moved vs not vnto it, yet me-thinks [Page 116]the commandement it selfe should be of vertue sufficient to moue a good Christian to be zealous in this kinde, to say with David, One thing haue I desired of the Lord, that I will require, even that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the dayes of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to visit his holy temple. At the day of judgement when all the glory of this world shall be as drosse, when our riches shall faile vs, our honour not profit vs, our friends forsake vs, there will be nothing left vs to doe vs good, but what wee shall haue learnd by having heard Christ preached. But I passe to the other fort of me which offfend like wise, & that perhaps more dangerously in not hearing the word preached. These are they which are so farre from reading at home, that thinke it not greatly necessary for the either to reade or to heare any where; many of thē will pretend that they are busied about this or that businesse, they are craftsmen, they must follow their trade, they haue a wife, their children must be fed, their houshold provided for; and lastly, they are men of the world, a little knowledg [...] & a good meaning is sufficient for them, it is for schollers, and such as giue themselues to a contemplatiue life, to bee skill'd in these points. But alas! (my good Christian bro­ther) is it not for thee to apply thy selfe to the hearing of the word preached, because thou art distracted and en­combred with cares & businesses? why, so much the more it is necessary for thee to haue the munition of the word, by how much the more distressed thou art in worldly dan­gers; they that bee free and farre from trouble and inter­medling of worldly things, liue in safegard, in trāquillity, and in a calme, or within a sure haven; Thou art in the midst of the sea of worldly wickednesse, & therefore thou needest the more of ghostly succour & comfort; They fit farre from the stroakes of battaile, and farre out of gun­shot, and therefore they be but seldome wounded; thou that standest in the forefront of the hoste, & nighest to [Page 117]thine enemies, must needes take now and then many stroakes, and be grievously wounded, and therefore thou hast most neede to haue thy remedies and medicines at hand. Thy wife provoketh thee to anger, thy childe gi­veth thee occasion to take sorrow and pensiuenesse, thy e­nemies lye in waite for thee, thy friend (as thou takest him) sometimes envies thee, thy neighbour misreporteth thee, or picketh quarels against thee, thy mate or partner vndermineth thee, thy lord or superiour threatneth thee, poverty is painfull vnto thee, the losse of thy deare and well-beloued causeth thee to mourne, prosperity exalteth thee, adversity bringeth the low, and lastly, manifold occa­sions of cares, tribulations and temptations, do beset thee and beseege thee round about. Now where canst thou haue armour or fortresse against these thine assaults? where canst thou haue salue for thy sores, but in the word of God, and in diligently hearing it preached? O therefore (beloued) stoppe not vppe with earth, as the Philistiues did, those fountaines which are digged for you, neither yet with the Iewes runne to broken Cisternes. If Christ come peaching vnto you, entreat him not with the Girgasites to depart out of your coasts; if his messengers are present to instruct you, say not as Felix did to Paul, Go thy way for this time, and when I have convenient sea­son, I will call for thee againe, but lay hold vpon all occasions & oportunities; when angels food is offered refuse not to tast it, when clothing is profered, be not way ward and go naked, but remember that saying of a good father, he which harkneth not vnto God inviting him, shall be sure to find God taking vengeance vpon him. And so I passe from the first property which is required in those which are of Christs family, to wit, hearing the word, to the second, which is doing of the same; my mother and my brethren are they which heare the word of God, and do it.

After hearing, our Saviour inculcates dooing, and that to good purpose, for to heare the word and not to do it yeilds rather matter of condemnation then of profit. For what sayth the Apostle? It had beene better for them not to haue knowne the way of righteousnesse then after they haue knowne it, to turne from the holy commandement delivered vnto them. Saint Peter therefore compares them to the dogge that turnes to his owne vomit againe, and the sow to her wallowing in the myre; Saint Iames to a man beholding his face in a glasse, who when hee goeth away, hee straight wayes forgetteth it; and our Saviour resembleth them to him who built his house vpon the sand, which, when the raine descended & the floods came and the winds blew, fell and great was the fall of it. All shew the brutish and swinish fashion of those which spurne at the pearles of the law, and like those in Saint Iames which devide faith from workes, and say, I haue faith and thou hast workes. What God hath joy­ned together let no man separate, as faith comes by hea­ring so hearing through faith must bee operatiue in good workes, otherwise no kinred nor alliance with Christ, we can claime no interest in his blood. If wee would bee his brethren wee must heare his owne word, and yet not so onely, but also do it: from whence I inferred this observa­tion.

That it is necessary for all those which would claime any interest in Christ to be doers of his word.

For the fuller explication of the which assertion wee must first distinguish of necessity, a thing may bee said to be necessary in a double respect, either by way of a cause, and so the sunne is necessary to make the daie because it is the cause of it: physicke is necessary for the recovery of a mans health because it is the cause of it: or else a thing may be said to be necessary by way of an effect or of a condi­tion, and so heate is necessary to the fire, light to the sunne, [Page 119]moystnesse to the water, not that heate is the cause of the fire, nor light the cause of the sunne, nor moystnesse the cause of the water, but that the fire, and sunne, and water, are rather the causes of them, and they necessary effects of these. Vpon this distinction depends the great controver­sie betweene vs and the Church of Rome concerning good workes. We agree on both sides, that to do and performe the word of God, to do good workes, is necessary for eve­ry man which expecteth to be justified by Christ, the dif­ference consists in this; they say that good workes are ne­cessary to justificatiō, as being causes of it, we say they are necessary to justification only, as being effects of it: I need not insist much vpon the deciding of the controversie in these barren times of ours, wherein there are so few which do good workes, I wonder what they aile to busie them­selues so much in musing what gaine or merit shall accrue vnto them from them, whether it shall bee a merit of con­gruity or desert, whether of the first grace or of the secōd? when as their store, me-thinks, is yet so small, that though they sell all they haue and become bankerupt marchants, they shall never bee able to purchasse the least pearle which adornes the crowne of glory. I know that diverse are of opinion, that it is a good pollicie to perswade the common people as the Pope doth, that good workes are the meritorious causes of justification, & so by a conse­quence, of salvation, because by this meanes the heat of sin (say they) will bee repressed in many, & men will bee the more carefull in the performance of good deeds. But were these men either well catechised in their religion, or else were any whit skilled in the writings of the adverse party, I doubt not but they would soone perceiue, that their do­ctrin of works addes fewell rather to increase the flame of bad desires in one, thē any way extinguisheth or diminish­eth the vigour of it. For besides that they teach that many grosse & hainous sins are no sins, & that they mince many [Page 120]and of mortall make them veniall, say that the hope of the reward for their good workes & the feare of punishment either in hell or in purgatory for their bad, do something moue & rouse thē vp to performe good deedes, yet judge you (beloued) whether the easy avoiding of those punish­ments which they haue devised will not as much giue thē courage to goe on in sin & persevere in the way of wicked­nesse? Why, marke but a little their doctrine; in any sinne there are these two parts, the guilt of it, & the punishmēt; the punishmēt they make to be twofold, the one eternall, which is in hell, the other temporall, wherewith (say they) God ei­ther afflicts men in this life, or else in purgatory whē they are dead. Now would you know how easie a matter they make it to be freed from the guilt of sin, & from hell fire? Why Bellarmine will soone resolue you for that, & tell you that these are taken away by confessing of ones sins to the Priest, & by receiuing an absolution frō him, in his 4 ^th booke de poenit: and 1. ch. and because contrition is so necessary to make the absolution to be of force, hee will tell you that a servile contrition is sufficient for that purpose, such an one as ariseth not from a feare of offending God, but only from a feare of the punishment which God will inflict vpō thē, as we find it in his 2 ^d booke de poenit. & 17. ch. which kinde of contrition and sorrow for ones sinnes, if it be sufficient, I make no question but that the divell himselfe might bee absolved from his sinnes; for besides that hee trembles, which argues that hee is possest with such a feare as this; Saint Iames tells vs moreover that he beleeues, which I think is more then many Papists do, who content thēselues with an implicit faith (as they terme it) and a blind zeale: but because when the guilt and the punishment of hell fire is taken away they teach that God leaues a temporall pu­nishment to bee vndergone by them, either in this life, or after this life in purgatory, you shall see that the meanes to avoid that will bee, as casie as the former. For to omit [Page 121]more going about then needes; if they would take a speedy way, it is but purchasing an Indulgence of the Pope, they may haue plenam, pleniorem, plenissimam, as they terme them, for halfe their sins, or for one third or fourth part, or if the Pope please, for all, as wee may well see in Bellarm: his 1. booke de Indulgent: chap. 9. Who would not bee a Papist if he were desirous to liue as he li­sted? When besides the Indulgences, for a certaine num­ber of Ave-Maryes (repeated at some altars, which the Pope appoints) he may haue a pardon for more yeares then the world is like to continue? But to leaue them a while to themselues, it shall be enough at this time to shew you, that howsoever we holde not good workes to be the cau­ses of salvation, nor yet that we are to merite Heauen by them, as they doe; yet that wee make them absolutely ne­cessary for those which are the heires of salvation; and so withall that our doctrine rightly considered, doth more necessarily require them of vs, then the Papists doe. For first, wee holde them to bee necessary, in respect, of God, that his Commandement may bee obeyed, that his will may be done, that wee shew our selues obedient chil­dren vnto him, that wee bee thankefull for our redemp­tion by CHRIST, that wee may glorifie our Father which is in Heaven. Secondly, we hold them to bee neces­sary, in regard of our neighbours, that they may bee helped, that they may be wonne by our example, and that by do­ing good, the mouthes of our adversaries may be stopped. Thirdly, we hold good workes necessary for our selues, and that notably in these respects. First, that wee may haue some assurance of our faith, and of our salvation; for when wee cannot discerne our faith, whether it bee a true and liuely one or no, but onely by the workes which it bringeth foorth, as the tree is not knowne but by his fruite, it greatly concernes all those which would over-come all temptations at their death, [Page 122]to make good proofe of their faith in their life, which is the thing pointed at by the Apostle S. Peter in his 2. Ep. and 1. Chap: where he saith, giue diligence to make your calling and election sure. And herein the Schooles afford vs a good distinction, and tell vs, that aliud est fiduciam ponere in operibus, aliud fiduciam oriri ex operibus; it is one thing to put ones confidence in ones workes, another thing to haue a confidence from ones workes, though wee put not the confidence of our [...]alvation in our workes, as the Pa­pists doe, yet we holde that a confidence of our salvation may arise vnto vs from our workes, because our workes doe testifie our faith, whether it be a liuely one, or no. Se­condly, we hold good workes are necessary for vs, because though the hauing of them deserues not Heauen, yet the not hauing of them merits Hell. It was a good answere therefore which a godly man made vnto one, who asked him, what if there were no Heauen, wherewith should his austerity and mortification be recompensed? He reply­ed, but what if there bee an hell wherewith thy vices shall be punished? Thirdly, that we may receiue temporall bene­fites in this life, and avoide temporall punishments, which otherwise God will inflict vpon vs, if wee doe amisse; for so saith S. Paul, Godlines is profitable vnto all things, hauing promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come, 1. Tim. 4. chap But I hasten to my application. This serues (beloved) for a caveat to those which put all their holines in hearing, and thinke that will serue their turnes, though they neuer doe any thing. Many there be in these dayes of ours, whose not onely eares are bent to hearing, but also their tongues are ready whet to all vnprofitable disputati­on; whom I could wish, as they be prompt of hearing, and vehement in reasoning, so they were as ready & practiue to do good deedes. I mervaile to recount whereof cōmeth this strange hypocrisie, whence it happeneth, that the Re­ligion of Christ beginneth to waxe nothing else but as it [Page 123]were a sophistry and talking-craft. Wee heare the Scrip­tures, and we heare preaching, but in the meane time wee subdue not our selues by fasting, watching, and weeping, wee make not this life a meditation of death, wee doe not striue to be Lords ower our appetites and affections, we go not about to pull downe our proud and high mindes, to a­bate our fumish & rancorous stomacks, to restraine our in­discreet sorrowes, our lascivious mirths, our inordinate thoughts, our insatiable hearing of vanities: but all our ho­lines consists in talking or hearing, & wee pardon each o­ther for all good living, so wee may sticke fast together in argumentation. What should I stand in perswading you to goodnes, whereas no day nor houre passeth, wherein ap­peareth not some silent sermon, or reall perswasion to a­voide sinne, & practise goodness? If you cannot be induced vnto it, because of its owne pulchritude, because it carry­eth such a shew of honestie, such a grace and excellencie, that the action it selfe may bee a sufficient remuneration; yet for your soules sake let me perswade you vnto it. I know whilst you are in your flourishing time, you are free frō all despaires or feares of desertion; but when the dayes of temptation shall come vpon you, and Sathan like a hard creditour shall most presse, when you are least able to stand vpright; in so dangerous a conflict, against so subtile an ad­versary, how will you bee able to maintaine your owne right? Hee'll tell you, you haue no right nor interest in Christ's family, you haue no portion with his brethren, for no vnrighteous person shall inherit the kingdome of God; youll reply that you stand not vpon your workes, neither expect, as the Papistes doe, to be justified by merites; but your faith in Christ is that Helmet of salvation, & the hand which layes hold vpon the heauenly promises. True, hee'l answere, but how can you assure your selues that you haue true faith? That you cannot judge of, but by the fruits; When bad company enticed you to intemperancie, did [Page 124]you resist them? when wealth and preferment tempted you, did you forgoe them, rather than commit any disho­nest action? when your acquaintance or friends perswaded you to any wrong course, did you for the truth's cause on­ly gainsay them? when your enemies reviled you, did you blesse thē? when they sought your vndoing, did you pray for them? these things will shew whether your faith be a liuely▪ faith or no; and these questions you must be provi­ded to answere vnto, if you would be able to refute the di­vel's sophistry. But perhaps I may finde many so sense­lesse, that they shall haue no feeling of their estate, in re­spect of the world to come; because repentance never comes too late; the Theese vpon the Crosse found mercy, and therefore why not they vpon their death-beds a more likely place? Well, say that he may finde mercie at the last, though no merveile (saith Gregory) if at the last gaspe he forget himselfe, who in all his life neglected, to remember GOD; but suppose the best that may bee hoped for, yet consider herein thy foolishnesse, which in matters of lesse moment thou would'st bee loath to commit; each day thou knittest knots, which once thou must vndoe againe; thou heapest that together, which one thou must disperse againe; thou eatest and drinkest that hourely, which once thou must vo­mit vp againe, to omit thy vngratefull dealing with thy Lord and Master IESVS CHRIST, whom thou servest thus at the length with the divel's lea­vings: and then (forsooth) wee will turne to bee re­ligious, when time will scarce permit vs to be wicked any longer. O what a senselesnesse is it, to make that the taske of thy death, which should be the pra­ctice of all thy life! and to settle thine everlasting, thine onely and surest Making and Marring, vpon so tottering, and sinking, and sandy a foundation! Wee see and know by experience, that a ship the longer it [Page 125]leaketh, the harder it is to bee emptied; a house, the longer it goeth to decay, the worse it is to repaire; or a nayle, the farther it is driven in, the harder it is to plucke out againe; And can wee perswade our selues, that the trembling hands, the shaking joynts, the dazled eyes, the fainting heart, the fayling legges of vnweldy drooping and vndisciplinable olde age, may empty, repaire, plucke out, the leakes, and ruines, and nayles of so many yeares flowing, fayling, and fastening? But imagine thou thinkest not of the Kingdome of GOD, because thou conceiuest thy selfe to bee too sure of it already, yet the horrible pu­nishments mentioned in the Scriptures, inflicted for sinne euen in this life (if thou hadst grace) might me­thinkes, inforce doing good vpon thee. For what cast A­dam out of Paradise? sinne: what wounded him in nature, & spoyled him of grace? sinne: what brought first hunger and thirst into the world, but his gluttonie? What made so many poore men, such a number of beggars, but his o­riginall theft? What caused our dayes to bee so short, that many drop away in the very prime of their yeares, but his inordinate appetite of divinity, and consequently of eter­nity? Many examples could I bring out of the Olde Te­stament, as deaths of private men and Princes, subversions of Armies, dispersions of Countryes, mortality of thou­sands, famine, warres & plagues, captivities & imprison­ments, for no other cause inflicted, then sinne and wicked­nesse. But I will giue you this one lesson for all, and it is a point worthy your observing, that howsoever God suffers the vngodly oftentimes to liue in great prosperity, and as the Psalmist sayth, to flourish like a greene bay tree; yet let those which hope for any part of inheritance with Christ, expect for certainty, that if they be not allured to well-doing by Gods blessings, that at length they shall bee deterred from ill-doing by his chastisements. [Page 126]For it is a true saying, Whom the Lord loueth he chasteneth, and scourgeth euery sonne whom he receiueth. All sinnes therefore (saith Auselme) be they great, or be they small, they shall be punished; heere's onely the difference, if wee crucify our selues vnto the world, and so we first abandon it, plectuntur homine puniente, they are punished man cor­recting them; if God crucify the world vnto vs, and so make it and the glory thereof first to forsake vs, plectuntur Deo iudicante, they are punished God adjudging them. It is a fearefull thing (beloued) to fall into the hands of the liuing God. He therefore which only beholdeth the hearts of all men, and turneth them which way it seemeth best to his godly wisdome, vnite our hearts to serue him, and through him to loue one another; that being not onely hearers of his Word, but also doers of the same, we may be adopted into Christ's family, and be­come the sonnes of our Heauenly Fa­ther, to raigne with him for evermore.

AMEN.

COncerning the Ceremoniall law, of which Saint Paul treates throughout this whole Epistle, I finde a differing practice of the Apostles. A while after our Saviour's death, they retain'd the vse of it, at the least in many things; because a suddaine abrogation carries a shew of violence, and breedes an opi­nion of contempt; whereas Mater Synagoga (faith Saint Austin in his 19. Ep. ad Hieronym.) cum honore sepelienda erat; the Mother the Synagogue was to be buried honou­rably; [Page 128]shee was to bee brought to her sepulchre by her sonnes, and not by a present forsaking, be exposed to the biting of dogges, and reproaches of the enemy. In which respect, lest a prejudicate opinion should fore-stall the Iewes, and make them conceiue that the Apostles held their ceremonies in detestation, as things impious and abominable: we reade how the Apostles counselled the Gen­tiles for a time to abstaine from things strangled, and from blood, Act. 15. how S. Paul circumcised Timothy, Act. 16: and purified and shaved himselfe with foure others, Act. 21. all tending to no other end then this, (saith that Father) that the Iewes might see the nature of their ceremonies, that they ought nec tanquā necessaria appeti, nec tanquā ne­cessaria damnari; neither bee desired, nor yet condemned as things necessary. But when the Gospell was suffici­ently settled, and the Iewes by infallible proofes convin­ced, that all sacrifices and circumcisions ended with the sacrifice of Christ Iesus vpon the Crosse, then the Apo­stles tooke the Synagogue to bee as buried; and that hee which by a revocation of the ceremoniall law, should disturbe her ashes where they lay in queit; would adde nothing to what shee had in honour, but rake her out of her graue, and shew her wanne and dead corps to the world with dishonour. Before, even as soone as her Spouse yeelded vp the Ghost, they acknowledged her to be mor­tuam; but afterwards when they had divulged her death, and rung as it were her knell, they proclaimed her to be not onely mortuam, dead; but also to bee mortiferam, deadly. When therefore in Ierusalem and Galatia, some mistaking perhaps the reason of the Apostles applying themselues at the beginning to the Iewish customes, would yet continue in them, and seeke to reconcile Iu­daisme with Christianity, to advance the liberty of the one, and yet to bring in the bondage of the other; make one Religion of two, or else in the exercise of [Page 129]the one, joyne as a thing necessary the outward rites and ceremonies of the other; Saint Paul valiantly withstand's them; though before hee had circumcised Tymothy, which was to go amongst the Iewes, yet Titus hee would not suf­fer to be circumcised, who was to preach vnto the Gen­tiles; first see in my text a couragious and resolute oppositi­tion, To whom wee gaue place by subjection, no not for an houre. Secondly, an vrgent motiue or induction, that the truth of the gospell might continue with you; all directing vs to this conclusion,

That reconciling of other religions, with that which alone is allowed and approued of God, is to bee withstood, as being most dangerous to overthrow, and corrupt the truth.

There is nothing more destructiue in nature, then the combining and vniting of contraries, fire the most actiue element, if you apply once water to it, is extinguished; a little leaven leavens the whole lumpe, the starres them­selues in conjunction with starres of other tempers, do change their influence and operation; and from such pre­posterous engendrings of beasts of diverse kinds, sprung that ancient proverbe, Africa semper aliquid apportat novi. Africa is ever brought a-bed of some strange, and vn­couth monster. And as it fares in nature, so doth it in divinity; there hath nothing proued more dangerous and hurtfull in it, then a reconciling of truth with falsehood, a medly of religions, and a too facile perswasion to admit errour within the pale of verity. Hence was it that God by way of embleme, and as in a mirrour teaching vs how farre wee should ever set a sunder worships of divers na­ture, forbids mingled seede, a plow of an oxe and an asse, gar­ments of linsey-woolsey. The neglect of this command­ment produced that pernicious heresie of Samaritanisme before Christ; they which turned from captivity would bee Iewes forsooth in profession; and yet because they thought their idolatrous worship was nothing opposite [Page 130]to this course, therefore the text saith, that they feared the Lord and served their owne Gods. 2. Kings. 17. It was that which hatched Semi-pelagianisme, Semi-arrianisme in the Primitiue Church; and it is evident that Mahomets first position was this, that all men might bee saved by their owne religion whatsoever it were; and so compo­sed of Christianity, Iudaisme, and Paganisme, that most pestilent Alcaron, the Turkes divinity. Herod had a hu­mour of indifferencie in this kinde, and as if the Prophets had beene turbulent spirits in exclaiming so against Ido­latry, hee would bee a Iew with the Iew, and an Ethnick with the Ethnickes, build a Temple to Caesar and to the true God (sayth Iosephus) at the same time. Iulian the Apo­state followeth him, but it was with a more divellish po­licy, hee gaue heretickes freedome amongst true belee­vers, not that hee cared for either, but that by their mu­tuall distractions hee might destroy both. Tunc enim reddidit Basilicas haereticis (sayth Saint Austine) quando templa daemoniis: he restored at the same time Churches to heretickes, and Temples to divels. The best advised therefore, and most judicious haue in all ages resisted with might and maine these crafty divices of the divell, who, when hee knowes errour to bee too weake whilst it stands in hostile opposition with the truth; would yet seeke to advance it by way of friendship and amity. Excel­lent was that resolution of Saint Basill to the president of Valence the Emperour, who desired him to yeeld to some moderation and not to make such a rent in the Church for small subtilties; Those which are throughly season'd with true religiō, will rather suffer all kinds of death, then giue way for the altering of one syllable. A man would thinke it but a small difference (it it but a little iota) betweene [...], and [...]; yet the right beleevers could never be (brought, (as Theodoret witnesseth) either to omit the one, or admit the other. It is true indeed which [Page 131] Ireneus hath written, It is better not to search the causes of things, and to know nothing but Iesus Christ, then by subtilties ad bablings to fall into impiety; and that of Hillary, that God calls vs not to happinesse by hard que­stions; and againe Dulce pacis nomen, that the name of peace should be sweete amongst Christians, yet both of these, do they not with what vehemency they can oppose errours? How many labyrinths and perplexities is Irene­us compelled to rippe vp, that hee might freç the truth from prodigious fallacies? how sollicitous and earnest was Hillary in dissolving the cavils of the Arrians: shall wee terme these Fathers contentious, or rather good and obe­dient souldiers? that where Christ proclaimed warre, and sayd he came not to send peace, but the sword, they would not bee so inconsiderate, as to treat on the Articles of peace. The Iewish ceremonies, you know, had beene ele­ments in their time, and God had vsed them before, as the first letters of the booke to schoole his people with; yet the Gospell of Christ beeing planted in the Church of Ga­latia, might haue no copartnership with them; in this chapter Saint Paul relates how he withstood Peter to the face, for admitting of them, ingeminates anathema to such as Preached otherwise, and protests vnto them, not hi­ding his face, nor dissembling his name, Behold, I Paul, say vnto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you no­thing. Now when Moses and Christ together were so of­fensiue to him, he would never haue heard of a reconcili­ation betweene Christ and Belial, light and darkenesse, righteousnesse and vnrighteousnesse, the Temple of God and Idols, the cup of the Lord and the cup of divels, in the communion whereof hee noteth an impossibility in both his Epistles to the Corinthians. If therefore the reconci­ling, and attoning of truth and falsehood, bee so dis­like in Gods pure eyes, and so dangerous to his Church, [Page 132]with what colour can some in our dayes, take in hand the reconciling Protestancy and Popery, of Christ and An­tichrist, at the least, as they pretend in all matters of mo­ment, and points necessary to salvation: I feare it is not a generall agreement which they aime at on both sides, which is as impossible to effect, as to bring the Northerne and Southerne pole into one center, but rather as Cal­vin well notes, to gaiue a liberty to themselues in parti­cular, and a plausible acceptance , at the adverse partie. This taske I finde enterprized by divers, first Cassan­der who was set on worke by Ferdinand and Maxi­milian the Emperours, to compose if possibly hee could, the dissentions of the Church, wrote his consultation of it, and thought that a meane betwixt the rigid Pa­pist and Protestant was best; whiles the one might re­mit somewhat of their pride, and needelelesse cere­monies; the other, hard constructions of the Papists de­terminations, which though they might bee false, yet hee tooke them not to bee so dangerous as they were conceiued. To him wee may joyne Andreas Frisi­us de emendanda repub. Bartholomaeus Nervus, which defended Cassander, and Seravius Modestus who in his tract intitled, the duty of a godly man, in these dis­sentions would make the rupture and breach betweene vs and the Church of Rome, to bee a case of scisme, and not heresie, that is, to consist in matters of lesse moment, and not in fundamentall pointes of salvati­on. After these, others haue continued the plea, in Germany the Interremists, in France hec, whosoever hec were, that wrote the pacificall discourse, to proue that Hugo­nets of good right may bee accounted members of the Roman Church. With what successe or applause, the world hath re­ceiued these treatyes of peace, I leaue to those to judge who haue observed with what violence and indignation [Page 133]these subtle practises of the Pope haue from time to time beene resisted. It is not amity and vnion which our men haue in these things rejected; as farre as they can in all contoversies, the most learned haue distinctly set downe the pointes of agreement; but they saw the fraud of the enemy, and therefore preferred just warre before an vn­just peace. Temporall princes might respect herein the quiet of their state, but the Popes instruments gaine doubly by it; for first, they would by bringing vs to the vnity of their Church, keepe vs in obedience to the See of Rome: secondly, by working an opinion of agreement in the maynest pointes of religion, winne vs to come over to them the more easily in all pointes. It shall not there­fore be amisse, by way of prevention, to shew somewhat of this matter, and though it would be over long to runne through the differences betweene particular writers on both sides which are infinite, and perhaps not so evident, to proue to all men my position; yet the state of these dangerous times, (wherein too many doe fall from cooling to benumbednesse, from slackenes to defection, from indifferency to sencelesnesse, and a loathing of all re­ligion,) doth require that somewhat bee set downe out of the allowed bookes, and writings established by both Churches, whether the differences in fundamentall points bee such, as hitherto we haue made the world to beleeue. That wee may not bee mistaken or thought over hot in parting the fray to make it greater, I will set downe cer­taine conclusions, wherein wee will not greatly dissent from these peace-makers in this question. First, it is one thing to speake of the Church of Rome before the Coun­cell of Trent, and another thing to speake of it since the Councell of Trent. I graunt that before the Councell of Trent, though in many things there was a difference be­tweene vs and them, yet in most of greatest moment, there was not the precise difference betweene vs as is now, [Page 134]which happened, partly, because that the Church of Rome had not so strictly defined those tenents in any Councell before that time, as it did then; partly, because though the current of the greater faction ran the quite contrary way, yet they which were of our opinion sub­mitted themselues to the obedience of the Church of Rome, which Luther did not. So that if any aske, where was our Church before Luthers rising? I answere, it was in Rome, and the Romane Iurisdiction; perhaps not in the Popes privy chamber, yet in his Court amongst his greatest counsellours, agents, doctours, writers, prelates. Then did Gregorius, Ariminensis doubt how any such place as Limbus puerorum might stand with the doctrine of the primitiue Church; then did Richardus de Sancto Victore, Gerson and Durand, deny that distinction of veniall and mortall sinnes; then did Scotus, Cameracensis, and Wal­densis refute those merits of congruity and condignity; Bernard with others, justification by inherent qualities; thē did the M. of the Sentences not once mētion transub­stantiation; Bonaventure doubted of it; Cajetan confes'd, that though in word most doe affirme it, yet in deed many deny it, thinking nothing lesse. Then did many (saith Bacon) deny that Purgatory could bee proved by Scriptures: Willielmus Altisiodorensis said, it was a com­mon opinion of his time, that wee neither doe properly pray to Saints, nor Saints for vs: Then did Mirandula withstand worshipping of images; the Sorbonistes the Popes infallibility; many his indulgences and par­dons; and most good men his Iurisdiction in the tem­porall affaires of princes: So that hee which shall seeke reconciliation betweene vs and them, (because before the Councell of Trent wee jumpt in opinions with many of their men, or at lest not greatly swarv'd from them) will fight very much without an enemy, and forgets that the Papists by the Church, which they would vnder paine [Page 135]of damnation, binde every man to beleeue, vnderstand not the Church which was sixty or an hundred yeares since, but the present Church, as Bellarmine, and their great Doctours doe interpret. Secondly, wee distinguish of Romane Catholickes, whereof, as in all religions, so in theirs, some are more moderate, and (whether through ig­norance of their owne doctrine, or through an impartia­lity of judgement, as divers learned men in France, or through an accusation of their conscience, as most at the time of death, especially touching the doctrine of me­rits) doe greatly incline to our tenents; others are profes­sed Romanists both in letter and title, and swarne not a whit from the determination of the Church. The for­mer I leaue in this controversie, the demonstration of the probleme shall bee in the latter. Thirdly, because wee propose the question, whether wee and they doe differ not onely in lighter matters, but also in those which concerne the foundation of religion; lest any should misconceiue our meaning, let vs adde a third di­stinction, that a foundation of religion is overthrow'd two wayes; either in flat termes, when a maine principle of faith is absolutely denyed, as the deity, and the con­substantiality of the Sonne, by Arrius; the trinity of the persons by Sabellius and Servetus; the resurrection of the body by Hymenaeus and Philetus; and the last judge­ment by S Peters mockers; or 2 ^ly by consequent, when any opinion is maintained, which by just sequell over­turneth the truth of that principle which the defendant professeth to hold. So the Minaei, of whom S ^t Ierome speakes, whil'st they vrged circumcision, by consequent according to Paules rule, rejected Christ; so the Pela­gians, whil'st they defended a full perfection of our righteousnesse in our selues, by a consequent overthrew Christs justification. Popery comes in the latter ranke, it pronounceth the same wordes of the Bible, & beleeues [Page 136]them; it repeates the same Creed Apostolique, Nicene, and Athanasian, and adheres to it; but it denyes each article by a consequent, because it denyes the true exposition of the article. Non enim in verbis, sed in sensu fides est, (saith Bellarmine) nec idem symbolum habemus, si in explicatione dissidemus: Our beliefe stayes not it selfe vpon the words, but vpon the sense, nor haue wee the same Creed if we differ in the explanation of it. The Ar­rians, Novatians, Nestorians, and almost all heretickes haue ever agreed vpō the same Creed; but because they a­greed not vpon the meaning of it, they therefore conse­quently may bee said to deny it. The state therefore of our position in summe is this,

That a pure profest Romanist, which strictly adheres to the doctrine of the Pope and of the Romane Church, since the Councell of Trent; doth differ from this reformed Church of ours, in such fundamentall pointes, that, if not di­rectly, yet by a consequence, wee must needes hold him to deny sundry articles of faith, and therefore all hope of re­conciliation to be taken away.

In the proofe of which assertion, because I will not stand vpon such differences as perhaps arise betwixt private persons on both sides, I will take for the Papists side the Councell of Trent, begun in the yeare 1545 , celebrated by three Popes, Paulus tertius, Iulius tertius, and Pius quartus, received by all succeeding Popes, and vnder paine of Anathema or curse, enjoyned to be beleeved by all Ca­tholicks: For our side I will take the booke of Articles, Ho­melyes, and such bookes, as to which wee all doe subscribe. And that wee may the better proceed in such pointes as may cause a separation from a Church, let vs exa­mine those things which the 19 ^th article makes to bee the notes of a Church, to wit, the pure preaching of the Word, and the right administration of the Sacraments. Now the controversie betwixt vs & the Church of Rome [Page 137]concerning the preaching of the Word, are either of the Word it selfe, or of the things delivered in the Word. Touch­ing the Word, wee agree that it is infallible, but we differ mainely three manner of wayes: first, in setting downe what is Scripture and what is not. The Councell of Trent in the fourth Session, reckons vp all those bookes which we terme A­pocrypha, to be Canonicall;and saith, that the Church doth pari pietatis affectu ac reverentiâ suscipere & venerari, receiue them with the same reverence and affection, as it doth the other bookes of the Old or New Testaments Our booke of Articles in the sixth Article saith of these Apo­crypha bookes, that the Church doth reade them (as Hie­rome saith) for example of life and instruction of manners, but yet doth not apply them to establish any doctrine. So then it doth not receiue them with the same reverence & affection, as it doth the other. Secondly, we differ in the in­terpretation of the Scriptures: The Councell of Trent in the same Session, forbids any man to interprete the Scrip­ture, contra eum sensum, quem tenuit, aut tenet sancta ma­ter Ecclesia, contrary to the sense which the holy mother the Church hath held or doth hold; by the Church (saith Bellarmine in his 3 booke de verbo Dei, and 3 chap. vnder­standing Pontificem cum Concilio, the Pope in a Councell, in which opinion hee affirmes all Catholickes to con­curre. Our booke of Articles in the sixteenth art. saith, that a generall Councell, for as much as it is but an assem­bly of men whereof all are not governed with the Spi­rit, and Word of God, may erre, and sometime hath er­red, even in things pertayning to God. And therefore, it holdeth not with the Church of Rome, that the Church, much lesse the Pope in a Councell, is the infallible exposi­tor of Scriptures, which none may vpon any ground whatsoever gainesay. Thirdly, wee differ concerning the perfection of the Scriptures. The Councell of Trent in the same Session, supposing the Scriptures not to containe per­fectly [Page 138]all things necessary to salvation, enjoynes the world to embrace with like respect as wee doe the Scrip­tures, traditiones sine scripto tum ad fidem tum ad mores pertinentes, vnwritten traditions pertayning as well to faith as to manners. Our Articles in the 6 Art. saith, that the holy Scripture contayneth all things necessary to salvation, so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may bee proved thereby, is not to bee required of any man, that it should bee believed as an article of faith, or bee thought requisite or necessary to salvation, well then, whereas it is required that every rule should be knowne; first, what it is, otherwise it cannot without much vncer­tainty direct: secondly, how it is to be vnderstood, other­wise wee cannot vse it: thirdly, that it be perfect and suf­ficient, otherwise it will not serue the turne; why then, see that wee, and the Church of Rome differ in the rule it selfe, in the interpretation of it, and in the perfection of it; now they which are so diverse in describing the prin­ciples, and very rule of their faith, I much marvaile, if they agree in the substance of it: But let vs come now to the thing delivered in the Word: it is necessary for every Christian, which would be restored to the glorious liber­ty of the sonnes of God, to haue a two-fold knowledge, the one, in what miserable an estate he is in; the other, how, and by what meanes he may be freed from this misery; if I know not my disease, I shall not seeke to the physitian for reliefe; and if I know not how to vse and apply my physicke, I am yet in the same case of despaire. To omit lesser differēces, let vs see whether in those pointes which are necessary to the knowledge of these things the Church of Rome and we doe so farre differ, as that a moderate spi­rit may not reconcile vs, and make vs one. To begin with our state and misery. The Councell of Trent doth sundry wayes lessen our miserable state & condition; first, by cur­telling originall sin, & making concupiscence no part of it; [Page 139]the words in the 5 Session are these; hanc concupiscentiam quam aliquando Apostolus peccatum appellat, sancta Sy­nodus declarat Ecclesiam Catholicam nunquam intellexisse peccatum appellari, &c: this concupiscence which some­times the Apostle calls sinne, the holy Councell doth de­clare, that the Catholicke Church never vnderstood it to be call'd a sinne, as if it were truely & properly a sinne in the regenerate; but only because it came frō sinne, & doth incline to sinne: Againe, the Councell pronounce than Ana­thema, or curse, to those which affirme, that by the grace which is conferr'd in baptisme, non tolli totum id quod veram & propriam rationem peccati habet; that whatso­ever hath the nature of sinne, or may be so term'd in ori­ginall sinne, is not taken away. Wee yeelde, that in those which are baptised, and are regenerate, originall sinne is taken away in respect of the guilt; so that it be not im­puted to vs, and in respect of that absolute rule which before it had in vs; because, though it be, as S ^t Paul saith, a law in our members warring against the law of our minde; yet hath it not that full sway in vs after regenera­tion, which it had before, by reason that it is suppressed greatly by the grace of God. But that concupiscence is no parte of it, or that it remaineth not vnder the title of sinne after baptisme, our booke of Articles flatly denies, both in the ninth Article, where it saith, And this infecti­on of nature (namely originall sinne) doth remaine, yea even in them that are regenerate, whereby the lust of the flesh, called in Greeke [...], which some doe ex­pound the wisedome, some sensuality, some the affecti­on, some the desire of the flesh, is not subject to the law of God; and although there is no condemnation to them that belieue & are baptised, yet the Apostle doth confesse, that concupiscence and lust hath of it selfe the nature of sinne, so as for originall sinne, you see our tenents are con­trary, and can no way be reconcil'd: secondly, the Councell [Page 140]of Trent lessens our estate of misery, not only in diminish­ing that which is malum culpae, an evill (as the Schoole­men say) of sinne, but also in patching vp other defects which are term'd malum poenae, an evill of punishment; to wit, by attributing to the soule free will: Wee graunt first, that wee haue a freedome of will in all respects; as free imports as much, as not constrayned or compelled, for God compells vs not to any thing contrary to our minde, but moues and sollicites, as it were, our mindes with his grace, to will willingly what hee would haue vs to will: secondly, we graunt that in naturall, and mo­rall, and bad actions, we haue a freedome of will, as free­dome is taken for a power, even before regeneration; and in supernaturall and divine actions after regeneration, though somewhat imperfectly, and thus farre the Papists and we agree. The question is, what freedome the will hath in respect of supernaturall good workes, either in generall before regeneration, or more particularly in the worke of regeneration. As for these workes in generally, the Councell of Trent in the 6 Session, and 7 Can. saith, that whosoever affirmes that all workes which are done before justification, howsoever they are done, to be truely sins, or to deserue the hatred of God, let him be accursed. Our 13 ^th Article saith, contrary; workes done before the grace of Christ and the inspiration of the spirit, are not pleasant to God, for as much as they spring not of faith in Christ Iesus; yea rather for that they are not done as God hath willed and commanded them to be done, we doubt not but that they haue the nature of sinne; Our Article is directly oppos'd to their Canon. As for the worke of regeneratiō the Councell of Trent hath provided for that in the 4 ^th and 5 ^th Can. and puts downe, that whosoever affirmes the will of man to be extinct, or as dead & meerely passiue in these a­ctiōs, let him be accursed; whereas our 10 ^th Article allowes the will, no strength nor power to do any good thing, till it be, as it were, revived by the grace of God prevēting vs. [Page 141]Wherevpon say some of our league-makers, the difference betweene the Papist and Protestant in Freewill, is onely this: they both compare a man after the fall of Adam to a prisoner; the one conceiues that hee cannot come out of this prison because hee is bound onely, as the Papist; the other, because hee is not only bound but dead also, as the Protestant; both acknowledge that God is hee with­out whom they cannot bee freed from this estate of thral­dome; only the Papist sayes, that God needes but only vn­tie his bonds, and then hee can come out of himselfe, whereas the Protestant seemes to increase his mercie, and say's he must not only loose his bonds, but also restore him to life. Now for as much as both do attribute the power of comming out of prison to God; what great danger say they, is in either opinion, which should so set vs at oddes about it? But these obserue not the whole difference: say that wee both acknowledge God to bee him which giues vs power to come out of prison; yet if hee leaue vs there, and perswades vs not so effectually, that we not only may, but also will come out: if being wounded, the chirurgian giues mee a plaster, and then leaues mee to apply it to my wound, if I will, or otherwise not, why surely I must im­pute the immediate cause of my deliverance or cure to my selfe, and not to the other, which vnties my bonds, or giues mee my plaster; Now what sayth the Councell of Trent, in the 4. Canon and 6. Session; whosoever sayth, that the free will of man being moued and stirred vp by God, doth not cooperate by yeelding to God, so stirring and calling him, whereby he may dispose and prepare himselfe to obtaine the grace of justification, and that hee cannot dissent, if hee list; let him be accursed. So in the first act of regeneration, it makes mans will a co-worker with Gods grace, and giues the will a power to vse or refuse this grace offered, (as before I told you of staying and going out of prison, of curing or not curing of wounds:) [Page 142]whereas our tenth Article tell's vs, that the grace of God prevents vs: how? why it sayth not onely that wee may haue a power, but that we may haue a good will, nor doth it, there leaue vs, but worketh with vs, when we haue the will. The Papists tenent is much derogatory frō the mer­cy of God, wich claimes both the will & the deed to him­selfe; and in this point of free will, the Church of Rome, and Wee cannot be reconciled.

Thus haue you seene how Popery blindes herselfe in viewing herestate of misery, how she covers her wrinkles & deformities, and stops her crevisses with vntempered morter, if shee taught not that concupiscence which is the inmost garment of the soule, the first it puts on and the last it puts off, is no sinne, shee could not affirme afterwards that any man could performe the Law, or bee justified by inherent righteousnesse, and if shee layd not with ano­ther hand the sandy foundation of free-will, she could not haue out-faced the world that the merit of any man were his owne. So then having play'd her part (as she thinketh) with applause in the first scene of mans life his forlorne e­state of misery, she ventures frō that to the second scene of his life, his cure & recovery out of his former sicknesse by justificatiō. Though as yet you se she is not so good a leech as to find out the extremity of the disease, yet I wish her so good lucke, as to light vpon some good medicine to re­moue it. Hence the question ariseth betwixt the Protestant and her, whether shee must looke for nhe Physicke with­in herselfe, or whether shee must looke for it abroad. In a word; the chiefe quarrell is about the matter of this Phy­sicke, and the instrument which applyes it. First for the mat­ter of it, wee agree on both sides that it is righteousnesse, and that this righteousnesse must come from Christ. Now the righteousnesse of Christ is either inherent in him­selfe, and esteemed as ours by reason of our faith in him, or else inherent in vs, but proceeding from him being infus'd [Page 143]in our hearts by his grace, which wee call sanctification. The difference lyes in this. The Councell of Trent makes the matter of this cure, that is, which workes our redem­ption from death, and purchaseth everlasting life, to bee Christs righteousnesse inherent in vs, which consists partly of habituall righteousnesse, to wit, grace and cha­rity diffused into our hearts by the holy Ghost, as wee find it in the 6 ^th session, and the 11 ^th canon: partly of actu­all righteousnesse, to wit, good workes flowing from the former, as it is in the same session and 26 ^th can. By reason of the former of these, say the Schoole-men, wee obtaine the first justification, having heaven made due vnto vs by title of inheritance; by the latter wee obtaine a second justification, that is, wee do corrobo­rate and encrease the former, laying right to heaven by title of merit: Contrariwise our 11 Article tells vs, that wee are accounted righteous before God onely for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ, by faith: and not for our owne workes and deservings. I might then reason here with Saint Paul, if wee are accounted righteous, then it's of grace, not of debt, if onely for the merit of Christ, then not for our inherent righteousnesse, if not for our owne workes and deservings, then certainely not for any habituall or actuall justice that is in vs: But here our peace-makers do inter­pose, seeing that both sides do agree that wee are absol­ved from our sinnes, and delivered from Hell, originally by the blood or Iesus Christ, what doth it import vs whether another pay our debts for vs, as the Protestant teacheth, or that hee giue vs mony in our hands to pay it our selues, as the Papist affirmes, are not both alike behol­ding to him? I answere, it is true if it be first proued, that he doth giue it vs in our hands: for otherwise when wee thinke our selues rich, and venture to purchase a good­ly Lordship, if wee haue no money to pay for it, happily [Page 144]wee may go without it: Againe it must bee proved, that wee are able to receiue this mony into our hands, if hee should giue it vs: suppose one should see a citty, which hee is desirous to bee Lord of, the which the owners va­lue at the price of many millions, the party beeing desti­tute of mony, begges of some great Prince, whose favour hee is in, to giue him so much out of his treasury, to pay for this citty, as the summe amounts vnto; the Prince giues it him, and by this meanes, the partie be­comes Lord and Master of the citty: but how? doth the Prince giue all these millions into his hands, or lay them vpon his backe? why the burthen were vnsup­portable, and his hand vncapable to hold so great a masse; therefore hee brings the sellers to the place where it lyes, and there shewes them, where it is, and that way giues it them. So it is in the worke of justifi­cation, and in the purchassing everlasting life: the price of it is infinite, it cost the death of him which was God and man, to gaine it for vs; if hee had beene God onely, and not man, hee could not haue suffered for vs, and if hee had beene man onely, and not God, his sufferings had not beene of so great a vertue, as to merit for vs, so goodly an inheritance; now is it pos­sible, that hee which is God as well as man (that hee might bee capable of such a merit) should make vs againe (which are but men and sinfull men, and not Gods) capable of this merit; why, surely wee dare not say, that wee are able to carry all those millions, which must bee payed for our celestiall Citty, in our pockets, as do the Papists; but wee must bring the Lord of it to our treasury, Christ Iesus, and bid him take from thence what will satisfie him. Thus you see, the Papists and Wee do yet differ about the matter of our cure, or justification: and in this wee cannot bee reconciled. [Page 145]Let's now come to the instrument whereby the playster is applyed to the wound. The Papists affirme, that it is applied by habituall and actuall righteousnesse. But yet amongst these, they allow faith a share; wee say on the o­ther side, that faith onely doth apply it, but yet not that faith which is alone, without inherent righteousnesse habituall and actuall; so that, say our truce-makers, for so much as the Protestant and Papist doe both holde, faith and good workes to bee necessary for those which are saved, it seemes they agree vpon the same roote CHRIST IESVS, vpon the same tree, springing and receiving nou­rishment from its roote, faith and workes; the difference is onely in the boughes, which wee must holde by: the Protestant (say they) layes holde of a sure one, which will holde, it is faith in CHRIST; the Papists for more security lay holde on both, faith in CHRIST, and workes; seeing then it is but so, that both may bee sa­ved by their holde; why should wee so wrangle about trifles? I answere, that the reason holdes not, vnlesse we conceiue faith and workes to bee two firme boughes, equally growing out of the same body, whereon one might hang; now faith (I confesse) is a firme bough, whereon wee may safely venture; but workes, or ra­ther righteousnesse, is not another bough equalling faith, but a tender and weake twigge, blasted and halfe withe­red, sprouting out of the bough which is called faith: So that hee which shall hang vpon it, shall certainely fall downe. Againe, that faith which wee rest vpon, is a bough of the tree, which wee may put confidence in, and and may bee bolde to relye vpon: their faith is not the same bough (as men would make vs beleeue) but ano­ther bough, wanting sappe, and juyce, and strength, split­ted with tempests, and shaken with winde and weather, vpon which they forbid any man to lay his assurance, and indeed which cannot saue them: marke but the difference; [Page 146]The Councell of Trent in the 6. Sess: and 12. chap: hath these words, Nemo quamdiù in hac mortalitate vivitur, de arcano divinae praedestinationis mysterio vs (que) adeo praesumere debeat, vt certò statuat se omninò esse in numero praedestinatorum: Let no man so lōg as he liues in this mortal life, presume so farre of the mystery of divine predestination, that he will re­solue assuredly, that hee is in the number of the Elect: And in the 3 ^d Canon of the 6. Sess▪ pronounceth Anathe­ma to him whosoever hee be, which assuredly, without doubting, by reason of his owne infirmities and vnfit­nesse, beleeues that his sinnes are forgiuen; on the other side, our Church of England in the 11. Article, as before you heard, saith, that wee are accounted righteous before God onely by faith; and for the fuller explication of this faith, what it is; it referreth vs to the Homily of Iustifica­tion, confirmed likewise by publicke authority, which Homily in the third part of it, tells vs, that the right and true justi­fying faith is, not onely to beleeue, the holy Scripture, and all the foresaid articles of our faith, are true, but also to haue a sure trust and confidence in God's mercifull promises, to be saved from everlasting damnation by Christ: they are the very wordes, and therefore I pray you marke them. Nowel's Catechisme commaunded to bee taught by pub­like authority, saith the like; that a liuely, true, & Christian faith, is a certaine Knowledge of God's father-like good will towardes vs through CHRIST, & a confidence in the same, and that none haue this true faith which doe de­spaire of God's mercy. I need not stand long in proving ei­ther the former to be the Church of Rome's; (Bell. Valentia, & the whole current of Popish Doctors, making it a main cō ­troversie between vs) nor to induce you to credit the lat­ter as a firme position of our Church; for I hope you heare no other doctrine preached vnto you then this, that you must bee saved by a firme faith and confidence, that your sinnes are remitted in IESVS CHRIST. Onely let me for conclusion of all, frame this Argument: The Church of [Page 147]England holdes it necessary to salvation, to beleeue confi­dently and assuredly one's selfe to be of the number of the Elect, and that his sinnes are remitted in IESVS CHRIST; but the Church of Rome pronounceth a curse to all those which beleeue confidently and assuredly▪ that they are of the number of the Elect, and that their sinnes are remitted in IESVS CHRIST; therefore the Church of England, and the Church of Rome doe differ in a point, which we holde necessary to salvation; and therefore they can by no meanes be reconcil'd. Having shewed vnto you what the maine differences [...]re betweene Vs. and the Church of Rome; concerning the pure preaching of the Word, which is the first note of a true Church. I will now come to the Ad­ministration of the Sacraments, which the 19. Article, makes to bee the second note. Wherein (for brevities sake) I will giue you onely a taste, and that shall bee in the Sacra­ment of the Lords Supper. Wee agree on both sides, that CHRIST is really present in the Sacrament, the question is about the manner of it. The Councell of Trent in Session 17 ^th, injoynes vnder paine of curse, to beleeue that CHRIST is there substantially, by converting the bread and wine into the substance of his Body and Bloud, which the Church termes transubstantiation. Our 8 ^th Article deter­mines first negatiuely, that he is not there by transubstanti­ation, for that the change of the substance of bread and wine in the Supper of the Lord, is repugnant to plaine wordes of Scripture, and over-throweth the nature of a Sacrament, and hath given occasion to many superstitions. Secondly affirmatiuely, how Christ is there, to wit, after an heauenly and spirituall manner, and receiued and eaten by faith; Afterwards, whereas the Councell of Trent would haue vs to worship this Sacramēt with divine worship, the 31. Artic. of ours, well cōplaines, that these sacrifices of Masses were blasphemous fables, & dangerous conceits; Now if by the censure of our Church, [Page 148]the case stands so betweene vs, that the opposite side de­stroyes the nature of a Sacrament, giues occasiō to supersti­tions, nay more, supports blasphemous fables, and dange­rous conceits, (as you heare it doth) why, surely 'tis ab­solutely vnlawfull for vs to communicate with you in the outward worship of God, and therefore in a maine point; even on the markes and notes of the true Church, the Pope and Wee are vnreconcileable.

What can the truce-makers then here object for their purpose? will they say our differences doe consist in nice­ties and meere subtilties? is this a nicety? to know whence we are to be assured of our faith, which we beleeue; whe­ther out of the Canonicall Scripture, or out of the Apocry­pha writings and traditions? or is it a meere subtilty, & vn­worthy the maintaining of a Christian, whether we com­mit Idolatry or no, in receiving the Sacraments? how wee are wounded in nature, and despoiled of grace; and againe, by what meanes we must be saved from destruction? I o­mit the Pope's vniversall sway which he challengeth over things temporall, workes of supererrogation, prayer for the dead, invocation of Saints, Purgatory, worshipping of Images, the number of the Sacraments, and their efficacy, auricular confession, veniall sinnes, falling from grace, and a multitude of other points, wherein it is impossible to reconcile vs: would you haue vs for quietnesse sake, in these to con­descend to you? why, Gelasius tells vs, that to condescend▪ is to goe from a higher place to a lower; nos coascendere eos nobiscum rogamus ad summa de imis; wee doe entreate them rather to ascend with vs from the low place where­in they are, into an higher: One thing I adde , that to yeeld any way to them, besides the scruples which it may breed in mens mindes, & the vnstablenesse it may worke, were no lesse impossible, for the points vpon which wee differ, then bootlesse for the perversenesse of the Romanists, with whom wee deale; for though wee accorded with [Page 149]them in all other points, yet if wee doe not subject our selues to them in this; that we acknowledge the Pope for Peter's successour, and the Head of the Church, wee yet are Heretickes, and no members of the true Church, (saith Bellarmine in his 3. Booke de membris Ecclesiae, Chap 19.) This supremacy of the Pope is such an Article of their faith, that to defend it, and over-shaddow it, there is nothing which the Court of Rome leaues vnattempted; so that to retaine it, it passeth not to forgoe halfe her controversies, yea to renounce the holy Scriptures, and the Articles of all the Creeds: For the dead, you may choose whether you will pray for them; for Saints if you will, you shall not bee compelled to pray to them; Pilgrimages, and vowes you may bee dispensed with; in all which, and more, the holy Fathers will beare with their weake Catholiques. Turne over a new leafe, & albeit thou beest a good Catholique, yet if thou sayest vnto them, Father, I doubt somewhat of the preheminence of the Pope, and of his Monarchie, whe­ther it hath so large an extent, as some make it to haue; these termes of his being God's-Vicegerent, and of his Om­nipotency, doe wound my conscience; they are streight in an vproare; an inexpiable blasphemy, and an Anathema: If thou think'st but to dull the edge of this blade, or bend this temporall sword, if thou receiu'st not the thrust of it with thy naked breast, thou art a dead man; hadst thou faith enough to remoue mountaines from one place to a­nother; hadst thou as much charity as to suffer thy selfe to be burnt for thy brethren, yet the Ocean, were it turn'd all into holy-water, could not saue thee, there's no peace for thee in this life, nor remission in the world to come. Much more might be said, concerning the vnreconcileable differences betweene Vs and Rome; but the many liues spent in the quarrell, even of those which held right deare amity, and concord, the constant opinion on both sides, our Soveraigne's heroicall Defiance to Rome, in his Writings, [Page 150]proclaiming the Pope, Antichrist, prevailes so farre with you, I doubt not, as that I shall not neede to insist any longer vpon a point so plaine & evident: Now he which brought vs out of darknesse into light, open our eyes, that we may discerne light from darknesse; and that now be­ing made the children of th'one, wee fall not backe to bee the servants of the other, through Iesus Christ our Lord: To him therefore, with the Father, and Holy Ghost, one GOD and three Persons, bee rendred all praise, honour, and glory, now and for evermore. AMEN.