THE FIRST LECTVRE, VPON the wordes of the Prophet David, allead­ged by the author of the Epistle to the He­brews, cha. 3. ve. 7. 8. 9. 10. & 11. of the autho­rity of the word of God: and of the speciall causes why this scripture of the Prophet is here alleadged: with the application thereof.

IN the begining of this chapter (men and brethren beloved in Christ) the Apostle, that was the author of this epistle, exhorteth the Hebrewes, or Iewes, to whom he writeth, to consider Christ Iesus, the Apostle, & high Priest, as he faith, of our profession of Chrsti­anisme; & he compareth him with that great and renowned Prophet of God, Moses; be­cause the lewes did magnisie the remebrance [Page 2] of Moses, by whom God had planted and e­stablished both the religion & civill govern­ment of the people of Israel: and therfore it is writen of him, there arose not a Prophet since in Israel like vnto Moses, who, the Lord knewe Deut. 34 10face to face. And for this cause in the ninth of Iohn, the Iewes stand so precisely vpon the au­thoritie of Moses, and say, we be Moses disei­ples. To 9. 28. 29. we know that God spake with Moses. Now to proue that Christ far excelleth Moses in ho­nour and authoritie, the Apostle vseth two notable and familiar arguments. The one he draweth from a comparison betweene the builder & the house which he h [...]th builded: Ch [...]ist is the builder of his spirituall house, which is the church; Moses was but one part of the building: therefore Christ is aboue Moses. The other from a comparison be­tweene the heire, or the naturall sonne, and the servant of his house: Christ is the sonne; Moses was but a servant: therefore Christ is more honourable then Moses. Here vpon the Apostle inferreth th [...]t all the faithfull which professe Christian religion are the house of Christ, if they persevere and conti­nue in his grace vnto the end.

But because without faith it is vnpossible Heb. 11. 6. Row. 10. 17 to ple [...]se God, and without the hearing of [Page 3] the word of God faith is not attained, and without a good heart there cometh no pro­site Heb. 42. by hearing.

Therefore, that they which heare the word of God may be effectually ioined to this building of the house of God, and that they may be so prepared to heare this word, that it may be so prepared to heare this word, that it may not be vnto them a favour of death vnto death, but of life vnto life, the A­postle [...]leadgeth this scripture out of the Psalmes of David: the authoritie whereof Psal 95. he attributeth to the holy Ghost, who spake by the Prophets. And here we learne that the holy scriptures which we heare or read, thought they be named after that Prophet, that Apostle, or that Evangelist by whom they were ministred or written, are not with standing the liuely oracles of God, and the very words of the holy Ghost, who inspired the Prophets [...]nd holy Ghost, who inspired the Prophets and holy men, and moved thē to speake as they were taught and directed from aboue: according as the Apostle Peter 2. P [...]. 1. 10. 21. witnesleth, know this, that no prophecie in the scripture is of any private [...]: for the prophec, came not in olde time by the will of [...]: but h [...]l [...] [...] of God spake as they were mooved by the holy Ghost. And likewise when [Page] of sinne, is by the faithfull pastour collected and preached out of the sacred scriptures, we are to teceyue the same, and to esteeme of it, as if God himselfe did speake vnto vs, who then sheweth his face vnto vs so far as we are able to abide it, but his glorious voice, our fraile nature cladde with sinne and transgression cannot endure to heare, without the ministerie of men, as it appear­eth in the Israelits, who say to Moses, talke Exod. 20. 19. thou with vs, and we will heart: but i [...]t not God talke with vs least we die.

And yet, when we are taught by Gods ministers, it is the holy Ghost that teacheth vs, Of whose wysedome the Apostle saith, vvee haue this treasure in earthen vesselles: 2. Cor. 4. 7. even heauenly treasure, pure and vndesiled. for, as we see the water of a fountaine when it is put into the earthen vesselles, doeth not chaung his nature and qualitie that it had before: And the light of the sun, though it shine through a window into a darke place, doth neverthelesse retaine that vertue & o­peration which it hath from the body of the sun; so the ministery of men, which are the organes or instruments of the holy Ghost, altereth not the nature and propertie, nei­ther diminisheth the authoritie of those [Page 5] thinges which they, minister. VVee must bevvare therefore that vvee giue not the lesse credue to the vvisedome of the ho­lye Ghost because vvee heare it at the mouth of men. For, it is vvritten, God 2. Cor. 4. [...] that commaunded the light to shine out of darke­nesse, is hee vvhich hath shined in the heartes of his Ministers to giue the light of the know­ledge of the glorie of GOD in the face of IESUS CHRIST. And therefore vvhosoever beleeveth not men, teaching as they are taughte of GOD, the same beleeveth not the spirite of GOD vvho hath made them able Ministers of his ho­lye vvill revealed in his vvoorde. For CHRIST hath given that commission to his true Ministers, that hee sayeth of them, hee that heareth you, heareth Luke 10. 1 [...] mee, and hee that despiseth you despiseth mee

Novve seeing that the Canonicall scrip­tures are the sayings of the holy Ghost, who yet speaketh to vs, [...] oft as we heare them ministred and taughte, shall wee not giue greate heede to so great a Doctour, that his woordes maye perswade and take place in our heartes to the winninge of the soule? for this cause this scripture vvith the rest [Page 6] of that Psalme of Dauid was vsually song among the lewes, vppon the sabbath dayes, when the church came together, that it might stirre them vp to a more attentiue hearing of the law and the Prophetes. And so likwise this psalme is wont to be read, or song in our chruches in these dayes, before the common praires and diuine exercise of the other scriptures, as a preparatiue to the estectuall hearing of Gode voice; And not to giue place to evill thoughtes, and world­ly cogitations which are wont to harden mens heartes, and to cause manie to depart out of the church, as wyse, and with as litle knowledge, as they came to it.

To omitte now the particulare handling of these words of the Prophet: for they are afterwardes repeated and applied by the A­postle, as we shal see in the handling therof: let vs here consider three especiall causes why this scripture is here alledged: wherof the first is, that the Hebrewes might haue no I cause to glorie of their farhers and progeni­tours after the [...]lesh. For those their fathers which, as they boast of, had eaten Manna [...] Ioh. 6. 31. the wildernesse, tempted God, faith the Pro­phet; and therefore he exhorteth their poste­ritie, and all that heare the same worde [Page 7] of saluation, which was preached vnto those fathers by Moses, not to harden their heart [...]s as they did.

There is nothinge so common in the mouth of vanie and superstitious men, as the prayse of their fo [...]efathers, and of the dayes that are past; as if it were inough for vs, if we could but follow the example of our fathers; neuer examining how they belee­ued, [...]r how they heard the word of God, or whether they haue heard it at all. And wee thinke that our sins sh [...]l not come into iudg­ment yf wee haue learned them of our fathers. But doe we not heare that God faith in the seconde commaundement, that he is is a ie [...]ouse God, visiting the sinns of Exod 20. 5. the fathers, vpon the children, vppon the third generation, and vppon the fourth of them that hate him? that is, as a worthie teacher ex­poundeth Bullinger vpon the second cō ­mādemēt. it, yf the children walke in the crooked stepps of their fathers, and thinke that their iniqu [...]tie [...]hall not be punished, because they haue learned it of [...] their fathers, yet God will [...]harplye reuenge it in the children, although he touched not their fathers when they committed the same iniquitie. [Page 8] The people that vvere left from the cap­tivitie of Babilon obiect against the Pro­phet Ieremiah that vvhen they, and their fathers did burne incense vnto the Queene of Ier. 44. 17. 18. heaven, and powre out drincke offeringes vnto her, they had plentie of victuals, and all was well with them. But when they left of that service, wee haue had, say they, scarcenesse of all thinges, and haue beene con­sumed by the svvorde and by the famine. The Prophete replyeth, that because they and their fathers vvith their Kinges and Princes h [...]dde doone such thinges, there­fore the LORDE coulde no longer for­beare Ier. 44. 20. 21. 22. it, but broughte those plagues vpon them.

And thus doe the frovvarde people of our dayes, vvhich vvincke at the lighte, deceiue themselues, obiecting that our fa­thers, (vvhich as they saie, vvere of the olde religion) had plentie of all thinges, and felte no vvant. And because they are touched vvith the evilles of these dayes, (vvhich notwithstandinge are nothing so greate as the obstinacie and vvillfull igno­raunce of this age hath deserved) they run into that note of follie, vvhy is it that the Eccle. [...]. 12. [Page 9] former daies vvere better then these?

This hath beene the olde complainte of all ages. The heathen Ovid fast­lib. I. lauda­mus vete­res, sed no­stri [...] vti­mut annis. Poet saith lauda­mus veteres, wee are vvonte to praise the yeares of our forefathers. This commeth from the darkenesse of our nature, that we iudge foolishlie of those thinges where­of vvee bee ignoraunte, according to this saying of a learned teacher: because vvee Bishop lewell. feele not our fathers evilles, therefore wee imagine they had no evil at al. But though it vvere true that our fathers haue had the peace, and posperitie of this worlde, yet if wee will looke into that age, wherein they lived, wee shall finde nothing whereof wee may glorie. For indeede it was the Egypte of superstition and spirituall darkenesse, and therefore as Deering vpon the epistle to the Hebr. lect. 24. one hath lefte in writing vpon this Epistle to the Hebrewes, if wee goe after Baalims vvhich our fathers haue taught vs, wee shall bee fedde vvith the wormwoode vvhich our fathers haue lea­ten. Yea let vs assure our selues vvee shall bee beaten vvith more stripes then our fa­thers, if vvee will wittinglie treade in their steppe [...]. For as Bulliuger saith, if thy fore­fathers Bulliuget vpon th [...] Apoc. set. 35. bad had the like opportunitie vvhich then neglectest, vvhat a space vvould they haue [Page 10] runne afore thee.

And therefore, as it shall bee easier for Ty­r [...] Luke. 10. 14. and S [...]lon at the day of iudgemente then for them that heard Christ, and saw his mira­cles, and were not the better therefore: so, I may say, it shall be easier for our forefathers at that day, then for them, which bring forth no good fruite, nor make profession of the trueth (beeing preached and made knowne vnto them) vvhich hath not beene so revealed to our fathers, as it is now to the people of our daies.

The seconde cause why the Apostle reci­teth 2 this scripture of David, is, that with the example, and punishmente of them that tempted and hardened their heartes in the dese [...]te, hee mighte terrifie the He­brevves, and make them more carefull to receiue the vvordes of exhortation, and to obey the voice of Christ the mediatour of the new testament, whose voice; as he is greater then Moses, so shall they draw vpon them great erpunishment which neg­lect to heare it.

The children of Israell, of vvhom men­tion is heere made, after they vvere deli­vered out of Egypt by Moses, for al that they had seene the works of God, & his miracles [Page 11] which he wrought for them in Egypt, & at the redde sea, yet they tempted him in the wildernesse, and doubted of his [...]goodnesse and providence towardes them, and said, is the Lord among vs or no? because they had not Exod. 17. 7. water at their pleasure. This was the provo­cation which is here mentioned, wherewith the Lorde God was tempted, in the vvilder­nes, of his own people, after that he had deli­vered thē out of the hands of their enemies.

And againe when they should haue gone out of the wildernesse into the land of Cana­an to possesse it, and to dwell therein, where they should haue had rest, peace, and pros­perity, yet they beleeved not the worde of God, The chil-dren of Is­rael are cō ­manded to goe vp and possesse the land which God had said before them: but they say they will sende men to search out the land, Deur. I. 21. 22. and therefore the Lord, s [...]ll, bearing with them, biddeth them len, Num. 1 [...]. [...]3. how be it the event and issue of their sending, declareth that it came from the people [...] disobe­dience to the word of God: for the years, in which they did b [...]r [...] their iniquity in the wildernesse, are measured with the number or the daies, in the which they had searched out the land of C [...] ­naan, Num. 13. 14. 33. 34. but sent twelue men, a man out of e­very tribe of the children of Israell to search the land to know what maner of land it was, and whether they might obtaine it or no; as if the living God, and Lorde of the whole earth, which had done so many thinges for [Page 12] them, shoulde not nowe bee able to subdue their enemies, and to giue them the land according to his promise. And when the twelue men returned, after fortie daies, from searching of the lande, and brought with them of the fruite thereof to shewe to all the congregation of the children of Is­raell, tenne of the twelue brought vp an evil report & slander vpon the land, & to these ten men, the whole assembly gaue credite, and their words to them seemed to bee true. And therefore they murmured against Mo­ses and Aaron, and would haue made a Num. 14. new captaine to bring them againe vnto E­gypt; but Ioshua and Caleb (two of the twelue that had searched the land) al the multitude would haue stoned with stones, for the truth sake which these two men reported of the land, & because they perswaded the people not to rebel against the Lord.

Thus the Israelites that came out of E­gypt tempted the Lord in the wildernesse and provoked him to anger by following the counsels of their owne harts, & therefore the Lord saith of thē, as it is in this text, they erre [...]ver in their hearts, and what was then their punishments? as I liue, saith the Lord, I wil surely do vnto you, even as ye haue spoken in mine ears; Num. 14. 28. 2 [...]. [Page 13] your carkases shall sal in this wildernesse &c. And so it came to passe: for of the sixe hundreth thousand, which came out of Egypt [...], and vvere able to discerne betweene good and evil, none but two men, Caleb the sonne of Iephiumeth, and Ioshua the sonne of Nun, which constantly, as the scripture saith, followed Num. 32. 12 the Lord, did enter into the land of Canaan to inhabite it; all the rest were consumed in the terrible wildernesse according to the worde of the Lord, for Moses saith, and the Lord was Num. 32. 13 very angry with Israell, and made them wander in the wildernesse fourty yeares, vntill all the genera­tion that had done evill in the sighte of the Lorde were consumed. And here the text saith, there­fore I sware in my wrath if they shoulde enter into my rest.

Where it is said, in my wrath, we are to vn­derstand that God, who is a spirite immortal, infinite, and incomprehensible, with whome is 1am. 1. 17.no variablenesse, neither shadow by turning, is not subiect to any of these passions which the scriptures seeme to attribute vnto him, as wrath, ielousie, greefe, repentance, and the like. But these things are figuratiuely applyed to God after the manner of men for our vnder­standinge sake, vvhich are not able to con­ceiue of heavenly things, without metaphors, [Page 14] allegories, [...]arables and similit [...]es, borrowed from earthlie and naturall things, which are therefore so much vsed in holy scriptures for ou [...] learning. And heere by the name of wrath, or anger, is set foorth the determinate sentence of Gods eternall iustice against sin and disobedience.

And when it is said, that he sware, it teacheth vs feare, and consirmeth to vs that Gods threatnings fall not to the grounde without Augustine in Psal 95. full effect. For as Aurelius Augustine saith vpon this place, iurantem hominem debes time­re, thou oughtest to feare when a man swea­reth, least for his oths sake he should do that which is As Herod did Mar. 6. 26. when he caused Iohn Bap­sist to be beheaded. against his will; howe much more, saith he, oughtest thou to feare when God sweareth, who can sware nothing rashlie? his oath is a sure confirmation. Wheras in deed, as another father saith, everie word of God ought to be takē for anoth. And this phrase, of they shall outer, doeth aggravate the threat­ning. For here is an [...], that is, a concealing of that that would bee vttered, after the maner of men, when one through indignation, or anger, or otherwise moved with some passion of the minde, vttereth not out his meaning to a full and perfect serce. And the meaning of this is, if they shall en­ter [Page 15] into my rest, my word is of no force, or I am not to be beleeved when I speake. Our saviou [...] Christ, mourning for the Pharises be­cause of the hardnesse of their heartes, vseth the same phrase of speech in the gospell by Marke, saying [...], verilie I sa [...] vnto you, if a signe Mar. 8. 12 shall be given to this nation; as if he should saie, if a figne bee given them there is no truth in me, or let me be a deceiver.

Thus as M. Beza [...] wri [...]eth, when God sweareth by himselfe, he suffereth his truth, In Mar. ca. 8. ver. 12. and his glory to bee iudged of according! to the words which he assirmeth.

And what doe these things teach vs? for­sooth they confirme Gods iust iudgementes to overtake them which harden their hearts and obey not his voice, that we therby might be taught to feare, & brought to obedience. For to vs is now preached the same Christi­an verity, and religion, that the Apostle prea­ched to the Hebrewes in this Epistle. Seeing therefore how fearefully the children of Is­raell were punished for their provoking, and disobeying the word which was brought vn­to them by the servant of God, Moses, how great then shall their punishment bee which harden their hearts, & set light by that word of grace which was brought into the worlde [Page 16] by the sonne of God himselfe? surely as one faith, we, if we harden our heartes, shall be Eralmu [...]. so much the more greeuously punished, by how much the greater he is that hath vouch safed to speake vnto vs in his owne per­son.

Seeing therfore that Christ the media­tour of the newe testament, who by his owne testimony is greater then lonas greater then Salomon, and greater then all the Pro­phets that went before him, hath vttered his voice; vnto vs with his owne mouth, and yet the same voice is heard in our eares; howe then shall we escape if we neglect so great salutation?

Lastly the rest mentioned in this scrip­ture The thirde cause why this scrip-ture is a [...] ­leadged of the Apostle in this text to the He-brewes. doth notably expresse the rest and pro­mise of God set forth in the new testament, as a figure most agreeable to the thing figu­red. For the external rest wheronto the chil­dren of Israel were to be brought, was the land of Canaan. The rest of the gospel is the celestiall Ierusalem, the citie of the huinge GOD described in the twentieth and one of the Reuelation, into the which none vncleane thing shall enter. And now as the murmuring Israelites were depriued of en­tering into the land of Canaan: because they [Page 17] beleeued those tenn men, which brought a­vile slander vppon the land, and would giue no credite to the other two, Caleb and Ioshua, which stood for the truth; so we, if we go after Baals Prophets, false teachers, and deceiuers which are mo in number then Elyab, or Caleb and Ioshua, and so follow the multitude and decline from the truth, shall be excluded from the rest euerlasting; and shall haue our portion with the multitude of Hyppocrites and vnbeleeuers.

The Papistes that are against vs, do bragg of the multitude of people: and nations, which haue followed the church of Rome, and receyued their traditions: but this prou­eth not the truth to be of their side, but ra­ther the contrarie. For Christ calleth his church a little flocke. And he saith, that wide Luk. 12. 32. Mat. 7. 13.is the gate, and broad is the way that leadesh to destruction. So the whole world in the dayes of Noah consented togeither in vngodli­nesse confirmed by the custome of many ages: but Noah and his familie is all the Gen. 7. 1. slocke that was CHRISTES, and that hadde not consented to the vngodlinesse and custome of those evill daies. And L [...] alone is founde righteous in a whole cittie of wicked people. Caleb and Ioshua, even Gen. 19. [Page 18] two men are found faithfull and constant in all that greate multitude of Gods owne people which came out of Egipt. And in the reuelation, the Lord calleth his seruants, my two witnesses; as yf they were the fewest in Revel. 11. 3. number of all other.

Now here are two wayes set before thee. Yf thou wilt go to hell; Follow the multi­tude and thou art neuer out of the way. But if thou wil [...] enter into life; follow the exam­ple of good men though they be but one or Luke 13. 24. two amoug many thousand: for Christ faith to thee striue; because the gate is so straight that it is hard and most difficult to enter in there at. Yet harden not thine heart, nei­ther regard what thy forefathers haue done before thee; but regard and obey the Lords voice, and walke not after the flesh, but after the spirite: and thou arte in the way to that glo­riouse rest which remayneth to the people of God, purchased with the blood of the mediatour of the newe testament, to whom be praise in the church throughout all gene­rations for ever.

The second Lecture, vpon the 12. and 13. ver­ses; of the fruit of an evill heart; of mu­tuall exhortation; and of the deceit­fulnesse of sinne.

THese wordes, my brethren, haue a re­lation to that scripture which continu­eth from the seventh v [...]se of this chapter to this twelfth verse of the same, taken out of the Psalme of David, as an excellent sermon of the holy Ghost, and so applied by the A­postle to declare, as you haue heard, that the authority of men, and examples of fathers can be no ground, nor stay of faith, or religi­on to any man; because the best of thē haue erred; as al those fathers of the Hebrews, who after they had seene the glory of God, and were delivered out of Egipt with signes and wonders, even the whole company of them (two or three men excepted) provoked God [Page 20] in he wildernesse, and would not beleeue the worde which was preached vnto them. VVhere we haue also learned that if Moses the servant of the house, and the lawe given by him could not bee despised without pu­nishment: for they which obeyed not were deprived of the promised rest, and over­throwen in the wildernesse; much more shal they bee punished which will not heare the sonne, of whom Moses did beare witnesse, and whose voice inviteth to a more glorious rest then the earthly rest of the lande of Ca­naan

These thinges being so alleadged, by the Author of this Epistle, to warne the Hebrews, and in them all other people, to whom the same gospel is revealed, to the end that they might heereby receiue instruction to bee the more careful to heare the voice of Christ the prince of all the Prophets, and the end of the law to every one that beleeveth.

Now he proceedeth to applie the exhor­tation of the Prophet more particularlie, according as the time of Godes calling re­quireth. And by this word, brethren, he de­clareth his tender affection toward them, and the earnest desire that he hath to winne them to Christ. Where we are to know in [Page 21] what sense they are called, brethran. Not ac­cording to nature, as Iacob and Esau were 4 So [...]tes of brethren. brethren; nor [...]or consanguinitie sake, as all the lewes vvere brethren; neither are they called brethren by imitation, or for their a­greement in evill, as Simon and Leui are Gen. 49. 5. called brethren in euill, because they hadde consented to slaie a man; and in this sense malefactours and vvicked menne imitating one another, and consenting to doe evil, are brethren.

But according to trueth the Hebrewes are [...]heere called, brethren: for all the faith­full are brethren by grace. It appeareth in many places of this Epistle, that much people of the Ievves vvere converted to the Christian faith, and had received the doctrine of the Gospell, and acknowled­ged CHRIST IESVS for their Mes­sias.

And also it is recorded in the Actes of the Apostles that manye thousande levves Act. 21. 20. did beleeue. Yet the chiefest of them, and for the more part the vvhole nation vvere obstinate and persisted in the blindnesse of their owne hearts; and also those that belee­ved vvere all zealous of the lavve of Moses, retaining with the gospel, the Circumcision, [Page 22] the sabbath day, the purification; and other ceremonies of the lawe. And therefore as the doctrine of the holy Ghost, in this scrip­ture, is most forcible to perswade the vnbe­lieuing to receiue the grace of God in Christ; so is it most necessarie to keepe and strength­en the weake members in the sinceritie of the Gospell, and to teach them to forsake the ceremonies and earthly rudiments now abrogated and taken away by the death of the Messias. Thus we vnderstand that, as bre­thren by grace, and indued with Christian faith, he exherteth them to be ware of an evill heart of vnbeliefe.

There is no defection or falling; away from the liui [...]g God where there is not an evill heart. And therfore where the Prophet speaketh of the prouoking and apostasie of their fathers in the wildernesse, it is added with all, they erre ever in their heart. There Psal 95. 10. Hebr. 3. 10 is the roote of evill and insidelitie, euen the heart. The holy Prophet saith, the heart is de­ceitfull and wicked aboue all thinges; who can Ier. 17. 9. know it? Heere we see that naturally in the heart of man there is nothinge but wick­ednesse and obduration: and this is the cause that the children of men are ac­customed to do evill and to delight in [Page 23] sinne. For such as the tree is, so is the fruit thereof. And so long as this obduration possesseth mans heart, his voluntarie reli­gion is nothinge but Hypocrisie, his out­vvarde shewe of obedience is but dissimu­lation, vvhen hee offereth his praiers and intercessions, it is but lippe labour, like the people which drew neere vnto Christ vvith their mouth, and honoured him vvith their but their hearte, faith he, is farre from [...]: and therefore they worshipped him it vaine.

Simon the Sorcerer, as it is in the Actes Act. 8. 11. of the Apostles, beleeued and was baptised: but he was not therefore the better: for, Pe­ter said to him thine hart is not right in the sight of the Lorde. VVherefore if you wil loue the Lorde your God, you must loue him with loue out of a pure heart. For that is the ende 1. Tim. 15. of his commaundement. For the Lord iudg­eth not as men doe after the outwarde ap­pearance, but as it is written, the Lord be hol­deth 1. Sam. 16. 7. the heart. If the heart be not purged by grace, all outwarde holynesse is but as pain­ted sepulchers faire without and foule with­in, or as greene grasse, and faire flowres vnder the which lyeth a venimous snake that will sting you to death. Christ telleth you that [Page 24] out of the hearte come those things that defile the whole man, as, evill thoughtes, murthers, Mat. 15. 19. 20. adulteries, fornications, theftes, false testimo­nies, slaunders, and the like. And for this cause his Apostle faith, purge your heartes yee lam 48. wavering minded. For while the heart is not purged, there is nothing in man but a vva­vering minde; and as the same Apostle faith, avvavering minded man is vnstable in all his vvaies. He is carried from one vani­tie to another, he selleth himselfe to sinne, from miquitie to iniquity. Hee is content with Iudas to sell Christ and Christian religi­on for the gaine of this world, and for the pleasures of sinne, this is the fruite of an e­vill heart and vnfaithful, which hateth to be reformed, and will not obey the voice of the almighty.

The Prophet Zachariah crieth out against the people, that would not, heare the law of their God, and saith, they made their hearts, as Z [...]c. 7. 12. an ada [...]an [...] stone least they shoulde heare the l [...]we, &c. Their hearts were so farre from be­leeving the word of the Lorde, that for the hardnesse therof, he compareth them to the adamant stone. Plin. nat. [...]ist. lib. 37. cap. 4.

The adamant as the historiographers doe obserue, is the hardest of all other stones. It [Page 25] is so hard that no toole can breake it, no fire can heate it; yea nothing can overcome the hardnesse of this stone, or soften it & breake it, but only the warme blood of the he Goat: And surelie the hearts of the children of this world are rightly compared with the harde adamant, which naturally are so hardened in sinne, that without the dew of grace, and the vertue of the bloode of Christ make them soft, and renew them, all our prea­ching, all our exhorting, and dehorting, though we had the tongues of men and an­gels cannot soften, nor turne the heart. For as it is vvritten, that vvhich is crooked can [...]o Eccle. 1. 15. man make straight. VVee see that the gra­cious, and most powerfull wordes of Christ himselfe did nothing prevaile to winne tho hard hearted Iewes, but ratheri hardened them in their contumacie, and made them more perverse thē they were before, because the vaile of vnbeliefe was laide over their hearts.

Beholde how great a roote of wickednes is the obduration and frowardnesse of the heart, whence commeth the forsaking of life and health, vttered in that desperate sentence against the counsell of the almigh­ty, departe from vs▪ for vvee desire not the Iob. 2 [...]. [...]4. [Page 26] knowledge of thy waies. Neverthelesse, although most men haue not the heartes of brethren, yet this doctrine must be preached to al, take heede brethren, least at any time there bee in anie of you an evil hart, and vnfaithful, to depart awaie from the living God.

He is called the living God in two respects: the one is for difference sake put betweene him and the Idols of the Gentiles, which were the worke of mens handes, and had no life, and yet were they called Gods. But he is more properlie and truely called the liuing God for excellency sake, because he ever li­veth, and is the well spring of life, which gi­veth to all things life and being. To fall a­way therefore through the evill of thine owne heart, from him, which is to thee all in all thinges, is a desperate evill case.

Here we learne that it profiteth vs nothing to haue beleeued the word of life, & to haue begunne in the spirite if afterwarde we falle by the way, and seeke to be made per [...]ect by the flesh. For, as the Prophet saith, when­soeuer the righteous man turneth away from his Ezech. 18. [...]. righteousnesse, and committeth iniquitie, he shall even die for the same. Many haue begun wel, and haue afterwarde fainted in the midst of their race, & departed from the living God. [Page 27] Ioash king of Iudah began to doe well, and did that which was acceptable in the sighte 2 Chro. 24. of the Lord, so lō as Ieho [...]ada the priest lived; but afterward he fel to idolarry, & departed away from the living God. So Amaziab his 2. Chio. 25. sonne, at the beginning of his taigne, did vprightly in the eie [...] of the Lorde, but not with a perfect heart. For he was weary of wel doing. And therefore hee was slame and [...]reason was wrought against him, when he turned away from the Lord. The Galathians Gal. 3. 3. Gal. 5. 7. began in the spirite, & did runne well for a time; but afterwardes they turned away from the truth to the weake rudiments of the world, and would be made perfect by the flesh. Gal. 3. 3.

And among other examples of this Apo­stasie, or falling away from grace, not able is that of Iulian the Emperour, who for his revolting is called, Apostata. In his youth he was brought vp in the colledge of clergy men, and profited so well in Christian lear­ning Greg. Naz. in Iusiansi or at. 1. that hee became a publique reader of the holy scriptures; but afterward he sufre­red himselfe to be deceived of heathen Phi­losophers, and then renouncing Christia­nity, he gaue himselfe to Paganisme, in the raigne of the Emperour Constantius. He vvas taken for a sound Christian; and for his suc­sesse [Page 28] in warre, for his learning, his gentle­nes and many other laudable giftes that he had, he was highlie renouned. But when he was promoted to the empire, and had full authoritie, then hee shewed him­selfe an Apostaia. Hee was wont con­tunieliouslye to call Christ our sauiour, Galileus, the man of Gablee, and by all craftie meanes to seeke the dishonour of the Christians, aduancing the Paganes, and such as woulde forsake Christ and his religion, to honour and offices, and so, in des­pite of Christianisme, he licensed and ay­ded the lews to build the temple at Ierusa­lem. Greg. Naz. in lusianā oral. 2. But when they laid the foundations thereof, the earth claue asunder with a great earth quake & a mightie storme of wind a­rose, that their whole worke was over­throwne, & many of the lews slain, many of thē burnt & maimed in their principal mem­bers, with lightnings and fire from heauen. Other tokens of Gods wrath were seene a­mong them, as also in the hoast of luliā. And so the lewes were made to desist from their wicked enterprise. And lulian, when he had reigned a yeare and seuen monthes, or there abouts, hauing receyued his deathes wound in battell against the Persians, tooke his [Page 29] hand ful of blood and threw it into the aire, saying, vicists tandem Galiae, thou man of Ga­lilee, meaning Christ Iesus, when all is done thou hast the victory. With this blasphemie vttered in despaire, and in a feeling of woe, he perished. Here is a notable paterne of an evill heart and vnfaithfull.

Many in al ages haue after this maner fal­len away from the liuing God, and haue gone from Christ to Antichrist, though not so famous as Indian.

It can not be vnknowne to them, which by reading & exercise seeke the ground of true religion, how many in this land, which seemed to be professors of the word of God in the reigne of the last king Edward, haue fallen away againe in the dayes of Queene Mary, and like the wethercocke haue turnd from the Gospel to the Masse, and from the seruants of Christ became the seruāts of the Pope, rather then they would forsake either wife, children, lands, houses, or other earthly commodities for Christ & the Gospels sake.

Againe, which is more to bee lamented, not fewe within these forty yeares, being brought vppe in this their natiue country in schooles and vniversities of learning, when they shoulde haue done good in the church [Page 30] of God, haue contrariewyse runne beyond the seas to commite fornication with that painted harlot the false church of Rome: & then haue become rebells agaynst God and his eternal word, against their lawful prince and their natural countrey. They haue imi­tated lulian in apostasie. And it is come vn­to them according to the saying of the holy Ghost, the doggees returned to his vomit, and the 2. Pet. 2. 22. sowe that was washed to the wallowing in the [...]re & to leaue these men to him to whom they fall; there are now abiding in this land too many, that are infected with the leauen of them, which haue drunke of the poysoned cup of Rome, and doe wilfully withdrawe themselues from the true church, and refuse [...]o heare the doctrine of the Gospell, least they should be converted thereby, and least the savior of the world should heale them. An evil heart therfore hath deceived these peo­ple. And this is the iust iudgement of God, to sende them strong delusion, as the scripture 2. Thess. [...]. 11. 12. faith, that they shoulde beleeuel [...]s, that all they might bee damned which beleeued not the trueth, but bad pleasure in vnrighteousnesse. Nowe the remedie which the Apostle prescribeth against the custome of sinne, against apo­stasie, and falling away from GOD, is, [Page 31] exhort one another daily, vvhile it is called to day, least any of you bee hardened through the deceit­nesse of sinne.

Although this dutie of exhorting doeth chieflie belong to the Ministers and tea­chere of the worde of GOD, as Paule tea­cheth 2. Tim. 4. 2 preach the vvordo:, bee instant, in season and out of season [...]prooue, re­buke, exhorte vvith all long suffering and do­ctrine, yet here the holie GHOST, spea­king by the Authour of this Epistle, wil haue all men, which professe true religion, to ex­hort one another, and that daylie or eve­ry day; for asmuch as there is no day, nor houre of our life without temptations of infidelitie, and without the snares of death laid in our waies. And therefore wee are taught in diuerse places of holy scriptures to haue a care of our brethren, and to in­struct them; so Paule saith to the Thessa­lonians, exhorte one another, and edifie one 1 Thesse. 5. 11. another even as ye doe. And because he de­serueth not the name of a Christian, who­soever is ignorant of the ground of faith, and religion contained in the sacred scrip­tures, and is not able to edifie another, nor to speake as the word of God. There­fore the same Apostle writeth to the [Page 32] Romanes, I am perswaded of you my brethren, that yee also are full of goodnesse and filled with Rom. 15. 14 all knovveledge, and are able to admonish one another. The doctrine of the holy GHOST delivered by the Apostles, as it appeareth in their writings, is full of such exhortations, as, edi [...]ie one another, exhorte one another, be fulfilled with the spirite.

But Satan the enemy of all trueth hath alwaies too many of his side, which are a­gainst this doctrine; yea and in these dai [...] some that haue the name to bee preachers, (I pray God they bee not for Baal) whose vo [...]ce soundeth, let not artificers, husband­men, and menne vvithout learning, busie themselues with holy scriptures, and with matters of faith and religion, let them not goe aboute to tell other men what they shoulde doe, and to admonish other men of their errors, tracte [...] fabri [...]a fabri, let them meddle with those things they haue to doe; and take no care of other men though they bee in an errour. This is the wisedome of the flesh, and here we see how contrary it is to the wisedome which is from aboue, and tea­cheth vs to exhort, to edifie, and to admonish one another, what calling, vvhat trade of life, or vvhat condition soever we be of. For God [Page 33] hath alwaies required this duetie of mutuall exhortation of them that professe his name, as it is written, thou shalt not hate thy brother in Levit, 19. 17 thine heart, but thou shalt plainly rebuke thy neighbour, and suffer him not to sinne: For this cause Augustine saith, that every Christian hath the August. do verb. domi­ni serm. 16. keies in his hande to binde and to loose his brother vpon earth: for when he giveth him warning and admonition, if he heare him, he hath won him, but if he despise him, he hath bound [...] him: because the wordes of exhor­tation, taken out▪ of the doctrine of Christ and his holy scriptures are a favour either to life or to death, by whomsoever they bee spoken or delivered. For we haue learned, that not only the minister of the word, but also all Christians without exception are commanded to instruct, and exhorte their brethren, & the greater that every one is in respect of his place, or calling, the greateri [...] his charge herein, and the more cause hee hath to covet vvith that faithfull servaunt of the LORDE, Moses, that all the Num. 11. 29. Lordes people vvere Prophetes, and that the Lorde woulde put his spirite vppon them, that so they might be able to teach one an­other, that none might perish for lacke of knowledge. For the Lord complaineth that [Page 34] his people is go [...]e into captiuitie, because they had Isa. 5. 13. no knowledge. If there be no knowledge, there cā be no exhortation, & then no setting free from the captiuitie of s [...]nne.

The time to exhort, and likwise to learne, is, while it is called, to day. It must not be defer­red, or put over till to morrow: for the scrip­ture saith, yee cannot tell what shall be to morrow. Iam. 4. 14. By the date in this place is not meant the whole course of our life, as some haue taught vpon this text. But the daie is taken for the acceptable time of grace, in which the wise­dome of God vttereth her voice amōg vs, & inviteth vs to the marriage of the kings son. For not withstanding that no time, while we liue vpon the earth, is to late to amendment of life, yet the Gospell of Christ, which is the light of the world that teachceth vs faith and repentaunce, may bee taken from vs, and then it is night, and no daie, even as it is this day with the Turkes, [...]he Papistes, and all o­ther nations of the earth, to whom the Lord hath not giuen the light of his holy worde, thought they haue the naturall daie, yet haue they not the daie of grace, but they walke in the night of ignorāce & superstitiō, in which they goe out of the waie and perish. VVe haue had this day almost this fortye [Page 36] yeares; and yet so farre are we from beeing a­ble to exhort one another that the most part of our elder men and women haue not yet learned the meaning of their baptisme, oh, how lamentably haue these people beene hardned through the deceitfulnesse of sinne And will you stil walke in this feareful dark­nesse, & not come into the light of [...]he day? now let the sunne of right cousnesse shine in your hearts For even this day it is called to day, and we know not how long this day wil last; but when it is past it will not be redee­med though wee would seeke it with teares, Heb. 12 17. as Esau sought the blessing; and yet was re­iected, because the day was past.

Now that which hardeneth vs, is, the de­ceitfulnesse of sinne. If sinne were not deceit­full, it could not overcome, nor prevaile a­gainst so many men, and all sortes of people, and all ages, as it doeth. It prevaileth against old men, which in respect of time ought to be teachers, and deceiveth them, that not­withstanding they be come to that age, that their strength is but labour and sorrow, yet wil they not giue over the loue of this world: for it is with them as Cicero saith, there is none Cicero lib. de s [...]nectu­ [...]e. so olde, which doeth not thinke himselfe able to liue one yeare. And so deferring from yeare to [Page 36] yeare, and from day to day, the hoare head is childishly deceiued, and al his experience cannot draw him out of the snares of sinne. It deceyueth youth and middle age, and telleth them, it is time inough to serue God, and to be religiouse when old age shall ap­proch; and being deceyued they will not heare veritie, which saith, remember now thy creator in the dayes of thy youth. For when age Eccle. 1. 12. cometh then are the evill dayes, and the yeares wherin thou shalt say, I haue no pleasure in them.

Sinne is so cra [...]tie and deceitfull that it deceyueth euen the wyse and the prudent of this world; it is obserued in the little beast Chameleon, that it can change it selfe into all coloures that it si [...]teth vpon, except white. But there is no colour or [...]hew of vertue which sinne cannot chaunge itselfe into. For therby it deceyueth and hardeneth all sinners. It cometh to the coneteouse man, hauing the colour and name of good hus­bandrie, and not of coueteousnes, and so hardeneth him. It cometh to the drunkard, not vnder the [...]ame of drunkenes, but of good felowshippe, and hardeneth him so, that he is nothing ashamed of his sinne.

The sinne of whoredome cometh to the [Page 37] leacherous, and to the wanton naminge it selfe, sweete loue, or, a tricke of youth, and then it is receiued as a delectable guest, and not as sinne which stayeth [...]he soule.

Pride in apparel deceiveth the prowd, & vaine glorious soule, vnder the title of cle­anlines, and decencte: because, if it come vnder the name of pride, it is more odiouse, and is knowne to be sinne. Neither is there any sinne so soule or detestable, which is not smoothed with some faire name, and ti­tle to cloake it with all. For herein is the de­ceitfollnesse of sinne and here with are men deceyued and hardened that they sinne as with cart ropes, and drinke vp iniquitie like water. But woe vnto them, saith the Prophet, thas speake good of euil, and euill of good, which put Isa. 5. 10. darknesse for light, and light for darkensse, that put bitter for sweete, and sweete for s [...]wre. Now, if you haue not an evill heart of vnbeliefe, call vpon the name of the Lord, seeke the Lorde while he may be foūd, seeke the knowledge of his waies, while it is called to daie, that so you may be able to exhorte and instruct one another, and to avoide the deceitfulnesse of sinne, before you bee hardened and blinded through the craftinesse thereof, let vs nowe [...]o [...]e togither and pray.

The thirde Lecture, vpon the 14. verse; of faith; and of the assurance of salvation, and [...]verlasting felicitie to the true beleevers.

THE Apostle having already prooued by plaine and strong argumentes that Christ is the sonne of God, and the Messias that should redeeme Israell, and hauing ex­horted the Hebrewes to beware of infideli­ty, and disobedience, which wa [...] the cause that their forefathers perished in the wilder­nesse, whose example he layeth before them in the scripture of the Psalmist before alled­ged: now he declareth howe and by vvhat means we are made true members of Christ, and fellow heires with him of the celestiall inheritance.

We are made partakers of Christ, saith he, if vvs keepe sure vnto the [...]nd the beginning, wherewith we are vpholden. These words lead vs to speak of faith, and iustification by faith.

In the 6. of Iohn it is recorded that when [Page 39] the people which had seene the miracles of Christ, asked what they shoulde doe, that they Io. 6. 28. might worke the works of God: Christ telleth thē, this is the work of God, that ye [...] cleeue in him whōver. 29.he hath sent. And in the 2. of the Actes, those Iewes, which had heard the sermon of Peter, being p [...]icked in their hearts, said to the Apo­stles, men and brethren what shall we do? To whō Act 2. 37. the Apostle Peter answereth, amēd your liues, ver. 38. & be baptised every one of you in the name of Iesus Christ for the remission of sins. And in the 16. of the Acts, to the lay [...]er, or keeper of the prisō, Act. 16. 30. demanding what he must do to be saued, Paule ver. 31. & Sylas say, beleeue in the Lord Iesus Christ.

These & the like place [...] of scriptures, my brethrē, do teach vs principally two things, the one is, that there is a feare of deat [...] eter­nall, and of Gods iudgements, naturally re­maining in the hearts of all men, according as it is written, that for feare of death, men are Heb. 2. 15. all their life time subiect to bondage.

And that is, because of sinne and the testi­mony of a guilty conscience: which, as wee see vpon any occasion of feare, bewraveth that sinne lyeth at the dore. The other thing which wee doe heere learne, is, vvhere the remedie against the strength of sinne, & the sting of death is to be found, namely in the [Page 40] Lord Iesus Christ by beleeuinge in him: for among in in there as giuen no [...]e other name vnder heauen, wherby we must be saued, but by the Act. [...]. 11. name of Christ Iesus, who vvas deliuered to death for our sinnes, and is risen againe for our ins­tification. Rom. 4. 25.

As in the time of Moses there was no re­medie, not cure that could helpe them, that were stung with the firie and venemous ser­pents in the wildernesse but onely the be holding of the braslen serpent, which Moses had set vp, made the poyson harmelesle, Num 21. 9. and saued from death them that were bit­ten; so is there no mediatour, nor aduocate in heauen, nor in earth, nor any oblation, or offering of man, that can deliuer from the death of the soule, and breake the force of the poyson of sinne, but onely true faith, which is the eie of the soule, wherby we be­hold him that was figured in the brassen ser­pent, and is lifted vpon the tree of the crosse for the health and saluation of all that be­leeue. This is the wedding garmente, which whosoeuer hath not put on, is in danger to be cast into vtter darkenesse, where shall be weep­ing and guashing of teeth. This is the faith wher­by Mat. 22. 12. 13 the iust do liue. This is the begining where with wee are vpholde, which we must keepe sure [Page 41] vnto the end. In the text it is called, [...] the beginning of the substaunce. And some translate it, the foundation of the assurance: vvhich foundation is the sounde doctrine of the Gospell of CHRIST ap­prehended by faith: or according to Chri­sostomes exposition, faith it selfe. For that is the organe or instrumente whereby we are made partakers of Christ. VVee finde in an other place of this Epistle that the A­postle vseth the same word, [...], in the Heb. 11. 1. definition of faith. By this phrase therefore, the beginning of the substance vnto the ende, is meant nothing else but continuance, or per­severance in the faith of Christ, according to that to the Coloss. 1. 23. If yee continue groun­ded Col. 1. 23. and established in the faith. These, and the like places in the scriptures, which speake with this conditiō, if, ought not to be; so vn­derstood, as if any of the faithful, that are ele­cted to life eternal, could perish or fall away frō grace; but they do effectually exhort vs to be the more strengthened in the spirit, a­gainst the weaknes of the flesh, & the cōtinu­al al tēptatiōs of this life that would guēch our faith. For there are many imperfectiōs in the faith of the godly so long as they liue vpon the earth. And the narrownes of our harts is [Page 42] such, that we cannot comprehend, as wee ought to doe, what God will doe for vs, but yet the gates of hell, and the stormes of this life, that neuer put out the candel of Gods e­lect, which is their faith. This faith therfore is here called, the substance, or vnholding, or sure standing, by a the vse of building: for as no building canne stand vvithout a sure substance, or founda­tion to stande vpon, so no man can stande or walke in the way of life without; faith, vvhich is the thing that quickeneth evene true Christian, and is vnto him a rising a­gaine from death vnto life through Christ the saviour. For even as the body is dead without the soule, so the soule is dead with­out faith; and therefore Augustine writeth, Super 10. tract. 49. auima [...]u [...] anima si [...]es est, faith is the life of thy soule. And againe where the A postle faith, that Christ may dwell in your heartes by Eph. 3. 17 faith. How should Christ dwell in my heart? hee answereth, thy faith in Christ is Christ dwelling in thine heart.

And nowe speaking of this faith that iusti­fieth the elect of God, we must note that it differeth from other giftes of the spirite, which in the scriptures haue the name of [...]aith, that so we may the better vnderstand [Page 43] what that faith is whereby we are said to be iustified, and made the sonns of God.

There is therefore an illumination, or in­lightning 4 Kindes of faith. of some mens mindes, to consent to the doctrine of the Gospell, and to re­ceiue it for the infallible truth of God: for in the gospel they that ar on the stones, which Mat. 13. 20. 21. Mat. 4. 16. 17. Luk. 8. 13. receiue the word with ioy, but haue no root, are said to beleeue for a tune, but in the time of temptation they fall away. This beleefe, or faith for a time is commonly called, tem­porary faith, because it is not permanent, nor effectuall to iustification, but it is a faith that reprobates haue that are yet in the state of condemnation. There is also a gift of doinge Miracles, which an vngodlie or reprobate man may haue: and this is called, the faith of miracles: of the which 1. Cor. 13. 2. the A postle speaketh, if I bade all faith, so that I could remoue mountaines, and had not loue I were nothinge. This faith, or gifte, mak­eth no man partaker of Christ. Thirdlie there is a generall kind of acknowledging the word of God and the historie of the Gospell to be true, and that Christ is such a sauiour of men as the scriptures do report of him, and yet he that so beleeueth can­not apply the grace of Christ, nor the [Page 44] comfort of GODS promises, confirmed in CHRIST, to himselfe. He cannot be­leeue the remission of sinnes to belong to himselfe for CHRISTES sake. This is called, faith historicall, and is common both to the devilles and to reprobate men. And of this kinde of faith, the Apostle Iames faith, thou beleevest that there is one God: thou doest well: the devilles also beleeue it, and tre [...] ­ble. Iam. 2. 19. Lastly, the faith which the Apostle spea­keth of in this text, and which is proper to Gods childrē only, is called a pastifying faith, because it apprehendeth, and layeth hold on the iustification which is in CHRISTIE-SVS.

Some learned devines make of these 4. sorts of faith, but two, wherof the one (as they cal it) is a faith of Christ, and this is such as the de vils & false Christians haue the other a faith in Christ, such as true Christians haue. Yet for difference betweene the faith of repio­bate men, and the saith that devils are said to haue, the former kind of faith, to wit, a faith of Christ, is devided of others, as we haue hard, into a temporary faith, a [...]h of miracles, and a faith historicall.

Nowe the faith in CHRIST, which none but the godly areindued with, is defined in [Page 45] the 11. chapter of the Epistle to the He­brewes, Heb. 11. 1. to bee the substaunce of thinges vvhich are hoped for, and the demonstration of thinges vvhich are not seene. It is called the substance, or grounde, or the state of the soule: for that we liue by it. I liue, faith the Apostle, yes not! I Gal. 2. 20.now, but Christ liveth in me: and in that I now liue in the flesh, I liue by the faith in the sonne of God.

VVhen the scripture faith that wee are iustified by faith, it signifieth as much, as that we are set free from the penaltie of the law, and acquitted from the sentence of con­demnation. For this word, iustification, is the contrary to condemnation: and without Christ it is manifest that all men are in the state of condemnation, as it is written, like vvise then as by the offence of one, the fault came Rom. 5. 18.on all men to condemnation, so by the iustifying if [...]ne, the benefite abounded towarde all men to the iustification of life. This is the free gifte of GOD, to bee iustified by faith, and counted righteous in the sighte of GOD through the imputation of CHRISTES righteousnesse. VVee conclude, faith the A­postle, Rom. 3. 28. that a man is iustified by faith vvithout the workes of the law. And againe, being iusti­fied by faith, wee haue peace toward God throughRom. 5. 1.our Lord Iesus Christ. And to the same effect [Page 46] againe, being now iustified by his blood, we shall be saued from wrath through him. Thus we see Rom. 5. 9. how the faith that iustifieth differeth from other faithes, which reprobate men, and de­vils are said to haue. VVe see also the vertue and propertie of this faith, and what it is to be iustified by it.

But, in that we are said to be made parta­kers of Christ by a right faith, we are further to note two thinges in the vertue and qua­lity of this faith that iustifieth. I he one is the assurance of our saluation, because our sinns are for giuē vs. The other is the assurance of our glorification with Christ in life eternall: for where remission of sinnes is, there is al­so life everlasting.

Touching the assurance of our saluation, we are sure to be saued, because we beleeue, and are surely Perswaded that the price of our redemption is Christ hath in his owne person sustere whatsoever was due to our sins, & hath therby fully [...]reed vs frō the ire of God, & the curse of the law. Of his sufferings I haue else where spoken more at large, which, iflets were not, should haue beene published. fully and sufficiently paid. For the holy Ghost witnesseth, God so loued the world, that he hath giuen his only begot­tē son, that whosoeuer beleeueth in him, should not perish, but haue euerlasting life. 10. 3. 16. & again he beareth witnesse, saying, the sonne of man [Page 47] came. Wherfore? to giue his life for the rāsome of many; or as the word, [...], is interpreted of the best translatours, for the price of the re­demptionMar. 10. 45.of many. This assureth vs of full satis­faction made for our sinnes. For to ransome, or to redeeme, is properly vsed to signifie the desiverance of captiues, when man for man, or life for life is redeemed.

So Christ, being the good shepheard, did giue his own life for the life of his sheepe. And 10. 10. 11. Gal. 3. 13. thereby hath redeemed vs from the curse of the law, when he was made a curse for vs.

For the plainer vnderstāding of this so great a misterie, marke a familiar similitude. There is a king, whose lawes are iust and good, and by the law al his enemies which haue rebel­led, and are founde guilty of high treason ought to suffer death: and the sentence of condemnation is already denoūced against them, and there is no hope of life remaining. Yet the king hath no pleasure in the death of these rebelles, but the law, which decla­reth that he is a most iust king, must be ful­filled: and therefore the kings owne sonne doth offer himselfe to die, to satisfie the law, to the end that these men may be acquitted from the iudgment that hath passed against them; and now these condemned persons [Page 48] are ransomed, and set at liberty, but the price of their redemption was paide by the kings owne sonne, and it cost him his life. Thus was the cause with al the children of Adam. We had al rebelled against the king of hea­ven, and earth, and there was founde none that kept his lawe, none that was righteous, [...] not one. And therefore death was gone over Rom. 3. 10 ail men: for asmuch as all men had sinned; and Rom. 5. 12. now the sonne of God Christ Iesus taketh our nature vpon him, and beeing made like vnto one of vs (sinne only excepted) he suf­fereth the cursed death of the crosse for our rede [...]tion. Here appeareth the loue of God to vs ward, and herein standeth the as­surance of our salvation, that Gods son, the king of kings, was wounded for our trāsgressions, and broken for our iniquities: that the chastismētIs [...]. 53. 5.of our peace was vpon him, & that with his stripes we are healed. And that we might be sure that he hath paid our debts to the vttermost far­thing by susteining the infinite wrath that was due to vs, the same Prophet saith, that he was plagued and smitten of GOD, and that hee povvred out his souls vnto death, and all this for our transgrestion. Isa 53. 4. 8 12.

And therefore thou that art a Christian, and beleevest vvithout vvaveringe that [Page 49] CHRIST hath suffered these thinges for thee, and for thy deliveraunce out of the handes of thine enemies, havinge that feeling of thy sinnes that thou feele thy selfe to stande in neede of every droppe of that precious bloode which was shedde vp­on the tree of the crosse for the redemp­tion of mankinde: thou that hast this faith, if thou holde if faste vnto the ende, art made partaker of CHRIST. And now it is vnpossible that thou shouldest bee dam­ned. For there is no condemnation to them, Rom. 8. 1.that are in CHRIST IESUS. Yea (as a Godly Doctor faith Christ the redee­mer Martin Lu­ther. must bee damned before the elect man can be damned, for whom he delivered him selfe to death. And another faithfull teacher Bradford the Martyr in his ser. of repen­tance. saith, if the sufferings of Christihad not bin i­nough, he would yet once more come again, yea God the father, if the death of his son in­carnate would not serue, would himselfe & the holy Ghost also become incarnate & die for vs. Hereof then is that assurance which the elect haue of their health and salvation through the grace of GOD in CHRIST IESVS; accordinge to that notable te­stimony of the Apostle, I am perswaded that neither death, nor life; nor Angels, nor Rom. 8. 38. 39. [Page 50] principalities, nor powers, nor thinges present, not thinges to come, nor beight, nor depth, nor anie other crea [...]ure shal be able to seperate vs from the loue of God, which is in Christ Iesus.

If this bee not true, why doest thou say in thy creed, I beleeue the forgiuenes of sinnes? For to beleeue & to doubt, or to be vncertaine, can never go togither.

The other property of faith that iustifieth, is, to be assured, not only of forgiuenesse of sinnes, and deliverance from death, but also of eternall life, and that we shall be cō ­municants with our redeemer Christ in the glory that shall bee revealed. For, if we bee iustified by faith, & ingraffed into his misti­call body, according to the meaning of our baptisme, we are not onely acquitted from the iudgement of condemnation, and saved from wrath, but we are also made partakers of all the merits of Christ, and they are as sure­ly sealed to be ours, as if wee our selues had wrought them. For now the kingdome of heaven, and the inheritaunce of the blessed life is due vnto vs, as to heires annexed vvith Rom. 8. 17.Christ. And whereas of our selues wee are without vnderstanding, full of iniquity, vn­holy and lost sheepe. The holy Ghost saith, that Christ is made vnto vs wisedome, and righ­teousnes,1. Cor. 1. 30.[Page 51] & sanctification, & redemption. For, (as the same Apostle speaketh in an otherplace) if God spared not his owne son but gaue him for Rom. 8. 32.vs all to death, how shall bee not with him giue vs all things also? This is most true, as it may be illustrated by example, the spouse, after shee be once marryed to her husband, is not on­ly called after his name, but is also made partaker of all things that her husband hath right to; his honour is her honour, his wealth is her wealth, what estimation, what dignity, and what deserts soever the husbande hath, the spouse his wife, is made partaker of the same; because they two are made one flesh, as Mat. 19. 5. saith the scripture: even so the faithful soule, which is iustified by faith, and married to the bridegrome Christ Iesus, is fully beautified withall the graces of Christ, with his righte­ousnesse, with his innocency, with his holy­nesse, with his honour, & with his glory: yea the faithfull are so honored that they shal sit Luk. 22. 30. on seats, and iudge not only men but also the Angels themselues. Know yee not that wee shall 1. Cor. 6. 3.iudge the Angels? how much more thinges pertai­ning to this life? such is the honour that they haue in whose hearts Christ dwelleth by true iustifying faith. And thus are they made par­takers of Christ.

[Page 52] But let none of thē that are hardened in sinne, and which delight and take pleasure in the workes of the flesh, thinke that they a [...] made partakers of this g [...]ace. For without that sure faith, wherof you haue heard, there is no saluation, and where no workes of the spirite, nor any token of regeneration ap­peareth, there can be no sound faith: and therfore where the Apostle saith, that there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Ie­sus, Rom 8. 1. he addeth, and sheweth, who they are, which waelke not after the flesh, but a [...]er the spirit.

These three things are proper to a sauing faith: that thou stedfasthe beleeue in th [...] heart; that thou make consession of thy faith to the worlde be confessing Christ before Mat. 10. 32. Col. 1. 10. m [...], and that thou be fruitfull in all good vvorkes, adorning thy faith, with workes worthy amendments of life. Walke according Mat. 3. 8. to this rule and persenere in it to the end, and thou art [...]d [...] partaker of Christ. And it his appearing thou shalt receyue an incor­ruptible crowne of glory. Let vs humble onr selues in prayer.

The fourth Lecture, vpon the 15. verse; of the ne­cessitie of hearing the word of God; how the har­dening of the heart is to be vnderstood; and of th [...] errour of praying in the church; specially in the time of publ [...]ke teaching, or of common praiers.

OF the word, to day, I haue a [...]eady shew­ed that it is applied vnto the time of grace, that is, so long as the word of GOD which is the light of the world is made ma­nifest vnto vs. And here againe we may ob­serue, that when the Apostle saith, to day, hee giveth vs to vnderstād that the spirit of God did speake by the mouth of the holy Pro­phets, not only for the learning & instructiō of the people that liued in the daies of the Prophets, but also for the learning of all men in all times and ages to the ende of the world.

For the Prophet David to instruct the peo­ple of his time saith, to day, Psalm. 95. 7. and the Apostle, almost eleven hundreth yeares [Page 54] after Dauid, teaching the Hebrewes, saith, to day if yee heare his voice harden not your [...]eartes, Whereby he would haue them to vnder­stand that the same scripture did then call them to the obedience of the Gospell, which to the same effect was preached to their fa­ther▪ so long ago by the Prophet [...] Dauid. & so at this present time, you are called of God to the spirituall marriage of his sonne, that you may receyue forgiuenesse of your sins, and inheritance among them that are sanc­tified by faith in him, here is no more requi­red of you but obedience and attentiuenesse to heare, so long as it is called to day. For now we haue the word neere vnto vs even in our mouth, and in our heartes, as the scripture Rom. 10. 8. saith: And no man is commanded to go be­yond the sea to heare it. For it is not to be heard at the mouth of the Priests of Egipt; nor of the Philosophers of Greece; nor of the Rabbins of the Iewes: to whom men in times past were wont to trauaile for to heare wisdome, as the Queene of Sheba came from the furthest partes of the earth to Ierusa­lem. 1. King 10. 1 Mat. 12. 42. To what end? to heare the wysdome of Se­lomon. Wee may easilie gather that such a iorney coulde not be perfourmed without great charges and many danger [...] and ther­fore, [Page 55] as Christ witnesseth, shee shall rise in Iudgement, and shall condemne those that are carlesse to heare the wysdome of Christ, the true Sal [...]mon, which he hath now, (blessed be his name for it) sent out of Ierusalem, And out of the land of Iudea, even into this land; and hath dispersed it over the same, so that wee neede not trauaile farre for to heare it.

For now it is called, to day, with vs, and now we may heare it if we will, and by hear­ing it we may liue. the houre shall come, saith Christ, and now is, when the dead shall heare Io. 5. 2 [...]. the voice of the son of God, and they that heare it shall liue. Loe heare it appeareth that we are spiritually dead, and are estranged from God through sinne, and therfore oppres­sed with eternall destruction without hope of life, except we be quickened by hear­ing of Christes voice. The Prophet Dauid had experience of this in himselfe, which made him say, I will neuer forget thy precepts: Psal. 119. 93 for by them thou hast quickened mee. As if he should say, before the time that I heard and obeyed thy voice, I was dead, but now the Gospell of thy sauing health hath restored mee to life.

Cōsider therfore the necessitie of hearing [Page 56] and let that mooue you to put away hard­nesse of heart. It is manifest that without Io. 3. 36. faith none can be saved frō the secōd death, nor frō the day of Gods wrath: and faith, as witnesseth the holy Ghost, commeth by hea­ring. Neither hath God appointed any other Rom. 1 [...]. 17. meanes, then the hearing of his vo [...]ce for the attaining of faith, and by faith salvation: as it is most evident by that one and nota­ble example of the rich man, who because hee had not regarded the day of grace, was after his bodily death tormented in hel; Luke. 16. and desiring to haue Lazarus sent to preach vnto his brethren, least they also shoulde come into that place of [...]orment, receiveth this answere from Abraha [...], they haue Mo­ses and the Prophetes; let them heare the [...]. But [...]er. 29. when hee was yet more instant to haue one sent vnto them from the dead, Abraham, replyeth againe, If they heare not Moses and the Prophetes, neither vvill they b [...]e perswaded ver. 31. though one rise from the deade againe. This may su [...]ice any man, that will vnderstande, that God will haue no other way, nor means for man to come to the knowledge of his wil, and to be saved from the wrath to come, but by hearing his voice revealed in the scrip­tures. VVherefore, so long as the time of [Page 57] grace lasteth, let no man harden his hearte from hearing, let no man looke the gate of heaven against his owne soule, not become the minister of his owne death, let no man, (as the maner of most men is) be like the vaine Athenians, more desi [...]us, either to tell Act. 17. 21. or to heare some newes of other men, or that cō ­cerneth some worldly commodities, then to heare the wisedome of God, which yet cry­eth openly, & vttereth her voice in the stre [...]. Pro. 1. 20. For the voice of this wisedome, if thee bee heard and receiued vvith meekenesse, saith the Iam 1. 21. scripture, is able to saue mens soules: and is the power of God vnto salvation to every one that be­leeveth. Rom. 1. 16. Herein the wisedome of God ex­celleth the wisedome of this world. For all the counsell of the wise men, and lawyers of the world, al the learning of the Philoso­phers and s [...]oolemen, and al the cloquence of the readiest oratours & advocats, though a man heare thē never so attentiuely, cannot make him wise vnto salvation; neither is it in them to bring the glad tidings of peace to a troubled soule disquieted with the feare of death & the terror of hel: for only the voice of Christ hath that p [...]e [...]ogatiue; & therfore al mē are cōmanded not to harden their hearts, if they wil heare it. But is it in the power of mā [Page 58] not to harden his heart, sith the scripture saith, I will harden Pharachs heart; and in an o­ther Exod. [...]. 3. Revel. [...]: [...]. place, hee shutteth and no man openeth? Here we must vnderstand that there is two manner of hardening of the heart, to wit, a divine hardening, and a humane hardening, or the hardening of God, and the the harde­ning of man, and yet the one of these doeth not harden without the other: for God har­deneth not Pharaohs heart, but that Pharaohs owne will is the cause of it, & his hardening proceedeth not from any other, but frō him­selfe. And therefore the scripture saith, that Pharaoh harde [...]ed his heart. Neither for al that E [...]od 9. 34. doeth Pharaoh harden his owne heart, but God doeth it iudicially, or according to his secret iudgements: for the kings heart is in the hand of the [...]ord. Pro. 21. 1. But when it is said that God hardeneth the heart; we must not so vnderstand it, as if God should make that hard, which before was softe and tender, or of it selfe was not hard. For the truth is, that all men are borne with a hard heart and darke vnderstanding, even with a heart of stone like the Adamant, of the which wee haue heard already. And for this cause the Lord saith by his Prophet, I will take away the sto [...] [...]. 36. 26. heart o [...] of your bodie, and I will giue you an heart [Page 59] of flesh. God therefore is saide to harden the heart, when as he denieth his grace, and the fire of his holy spirite to mol [...]fie and soften that which is naturally hard, even as when the heat of the fire is denied to the softening of the hard and vntempered waxe. This is called of some, a pr [...]vatiue hardening; because God detaineth his grace from men for iust causes which are not knowne to vs.

Beside this God hardeneth after an other manner, when he doeth not only suffer the heart to remaine in that hardnesle and ob­duration which it hath by nature, but doeth also externally harden it more and more by his ministers. For, as we may see in [...], Pharaoh was made more obstinate & hard­hearted by the ministery of Moses and Aa­ron, then he was before hee had heard [...]hese men. And in these daies we haue too much expetience hereof by seeing vngodly men to become the more froward and malicious, the more that they heare Gods worde and are taught by his ministers. This is Gods iu­dicial hardening of the heart, whereby in his iust iudgementes hee punisheth the former sinnes of men: and for this purpose he com­mandeth his ministers as it is written, Make the heart of this people [...]at, make their eares hea­vie, Isa. 10. [Page 60] & shut their eies, least they see with their eies, and heare with their eares, and vnderstande with their hearts, and convert that I might heale thē. Here we see how, and wherefore, God har­deneth the heart.

Now the humane hardening, or the har­dening attributed to man himselfe, is that, which the text that we handle warneth vs to beware of, if yee heare his voice harden not your hearts. This hardening of the hart is nothing else but a voluntary purpose and intent of man to continue in sinne, and not to follow nor obey the doctrine of Gods everlasting trueth howsoeuer it be preached vnto him; as hereof we haue examples in king Saule, in Iudas, in Iuhan the Aposta [...], and others'; but specially in Pharach, whom the scriptures do set before vs as a notable paterne of a diso­bedient and hard-hearted man. After this maner thhrefore the Israelies in the wilder­nesle hardened their heartes, by grudging and bitter strining against Moses when they wanted water, notwithstanding they had the word of the Lord among them. This is it Exod. 17. which the Apostle putteth vs in minde of, when he saith, harden not your hearts as in the p [...]ov [...]ation. And this is the hardening where­with man hardeneth his heart; even his own [Page 61] perverse will, and purpose of sinning wherin he persisteth, and so becōmeth the minister of death & perdition to his own soule. Now the cause of all hardening of the heart is sin and the custome of sinning. For Moses saith, Phiraoh sinned againe and hardened his hearte. Exod. 9. 34. There Pharaohs sinne goeth before the har­dening of his heart. VVherefore consider how fearefull and dangerous the custome of sinne is: it bringeth hardnesse of hearte which denyeth obedience to the worde of God, and despiseth his holy ministery, and so groweth to fulnesse of sinne, the wages whereof is death eternall. Let the conside­ration Rom. 6. 23. of these thinges cause you with feare & reverence to hear the Gospel of your sal­vation; and before you come to heare it, bee careful, as the Apostle exhorteth, to cast away euery thing that presseth downe, and the sinne that Heb. 12. 1.hangeth so fast on, that whē the Lord speaketh by the mouth of his mess [...]gers, you may haue cares to hear, & hearts to vnderstād, & be in a readmes to heare his voice, & to say with Samuel, speake Lord for thy servāt heareth. Here 1. Sam. 3. 10 we see that as there was a voice hard, so there was a readines to hear it. Here [...]od did speak & here man was prepared to heare him.

But this exāple of obediēce & preparatiō to [Page 62] heare the Gospell, which is more glorious, & speaketh better thinges then the law, is too rare in our age. For most men and women, though they resort to church, and to Chri­stian congregations, are yet in the time of di­vine exercise of the word of God more rea­dy to speake then to heare. They are more ready to pray by themselues, and to offer vp a sacrifice of their owne superstition, then ei­ther to heare reading or preaching of the holy scriptures; or to consent with one mind to the common praters of the whole church, if the time so require: yea and some are not content to be thus farre superstitious, but wil also giue themselues to read on some praier booke, when God speaketh to them out of his booke of life. Such blinde devotion of men, and private repeating of words, out of due time and place, must needes be a sacri­fice, not accepted, but reiected of God For it cannot be the fruit of faith, because you haue not so learned Christ: and whatsoever, saith the Apostle, is not of faith is sinne. Rom. 14. 13

Marke a speciall doctrine of that famous preacher Salomon touching this point, take heede to thy foote when thou enterest into the house Eccl. 4. 7. of God, and be wore neere to heare then to giue the sacrifice of fooles: for they know not that they d [...] e­vill. [Page 63] If they know not that they do evil, then they do it of ignorance. But it is evil saith he; and we are taught that Christians must ab­staine, not onely from evill it selfe, but, from al appe [...]nce of evill. Yet because nothing is so 1. Thess. 5. 22. evill, but if it be commonly vsed, seemeth to be good, and men will needs defend it so to be, as in this case some are wont to say, that when they giue themselues to pray privatly in the church, they doe it that they may be the better prepared to serue God. But, as the Apostle saith to the Corinthians, which came disorderedly to the receiving of the Lordes supper, haue yee not houses to eate and to drincke 1. Cor. 11. 22. in? So I may say to such mē, if you wil pray a­lone, and pray privatly, haue yee not houses and privat places to pray in? ought yee not at home, and before yee come from home to prepare your selues, & to remember that, going to church, you go to appeare before the Lorde to heare his voice for the attaining of faith, and to praise him with the congrega­tion. And for this cause, as a learned & pain­full teacher in these daies hath writtē, ought M. Per­ki [...]s vpon the fourth comman­dement. wee on the Sabboth day to arise early in the morning, that wee may prepare our selues to the better sanctifying of that day. And this preparation, as he saith, consisteth in private [Page 64] prayers and taking account of our severall sinnes. but no man can be ignorant that privat prayers must be referred to privat pla­ces, and time convenient. For, as Salomon saith, to all thinges there is an appointed t [...]. Eccle. 3. 1.

But if you thinke that the temple or ma­teriall house, where we assemble our selues for diuine exercise, can make your prayers more holy, then your heartes from whence they proceed can make them, yee are then indeede super [...]. For the Lord of hea­ven and earth dwelleth not in temples built Act. 17. 24. with h [...]ds. Neither is one place of the earth (in respect of the place it selfe) more acceptable to him then an other. For now, the temple at Ierusalem, which was called, the house of prayer, hath an end. And, as the scriptures affirme, you your selues (if yee be true Christians) are the temple of the liuing god. 2. Cor. 6. 16 1. Cor. 6. 19 No place therefore, as one father saith, doeth sanctifie or make holy the man that is in it, but rather the man the place.

yet for the defence of this evill custome of praying in preposterous maner, some say, it is a decent order for mē whē they come into the church to kneele downe and pray. The cōtrary is rather true: for it is an affected dis­order, and betokeneth what of reuerence to the word of God & his ordinance, for some [Page 65] mē to be at their own praiers, whē the whole assembly doth either heare the word, or pray otherwise with one accord. This is not accor­ding to the rule o [...] the Apostle, with one mind, and with one [...]onth to prayse God, except they Rom. 15. 6. that wil pray by themselues, when time and place serue not therevnto, haue another God beside the father of our Lord [...]esus Christ.

Where Luke writeth how the Apostles re­cemed the holy Ghost vpon the day of Pen­tecost, he saith that then they were all with one Act. 2 1. accord in one place. And for this cause hath Christ promised to be in the midst of them that Mat. 18. 20. are gathered together in his name, assuring vs of his spirituall presence to be with vs, if ther be vnitie of faith, & Christian concord in our assemblies. And this vnitie is, when, as the Apostle exhorteth, all speake one thinge, & are knit together in one minde and in one iudgment without distentions. But for al this, some mē, 1. Cor. 1. 10 because they will not seeme to do otherwise then they haue bene accustomed, can cavill & say, that, because praier is good, it is good to pray alwaies: & therfore they wil repeate their praiers when they may be seene of mē, and when other men pray not. These are like the Heretickes which were called Eu­chites, Euchits or Psallia­pist [...]s. for that they were wōt to spend much time in praying, and to repeate their praiers [Page 66] as it is recorded of them) so hastely, and with swi [...]tnes of tongue, as if God had beene to be serued with lippe labour. This is contra­rie to the rule of the Apostle Iames, which saith, let ever [...]e man be swifte to heare, slow to Iam. 1. 19. speake. And the sonne of Sirach saith to the same effect, [...]e swift to heare good thinges. For Eccl. 5. 1 [...]. shall the naturall men of this world be swift & ready to hear the coūsel of a lawyer or ad­vocate in some earthly matter, & shall not Christians be more careful & ready to he are the counsell of God, which is able to make them wise vnto salvation?

Yet some will say that when they pray, they are carefull to serue GOD, and they meane well, and therefore they will do it at church, and regard no time. But as one hath truely said, a good meaning doth not excuse an evill act, and this we may see to bee most true, if wee remember the punishment of V [...]zah, who, without doubt, meant well in that he put his hand to the arke of God, and helde 2 Sam. 6. 6. it, because the oxen which drew it did shake it. But because he had no warrant from God so to do, the Lord smote him that he died in that [...]. place. And it is probable that Saul meant well, in his owne opinion, when he spared the fat beasts, and the best of the sheepe, and of [...]. 15. [...] [Page 67] the oxen of the Amalekites, because he would sacrifice them vnto the Lord. But what saith the oracle of God to him? hath the Lorde as ver. 22. great pleasure in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as when the voice of the Lord is obeyed? behold, to o­bey is better then sacrifice, and to harken is better then the fat of Rammes.

Beholde here how acceptable a sacrifice it is to harken to the voice of the Lord. And contrariwise learne of Salomon, how abhomi­nable the praier of them is, which will pray, and wil not heare the law of the Lord, he that Pro. 28. 9. turneth away his [...]are from hearing the law, even his praier shalbe abominable. Let no man ther­fore harden his heart, and preferre superstiti­on before truth, that his praier be not abomi­nable but acceptable, beeing offered in due season, and proceeding from faith & know­ledge, which is by hearing, and hearing by the Rom. 10 17. word of God. As the ministery of the newe te­stament is principally divided into the mini­stration Act. 6. 4. of the word, and praier, so in the time of teaching the minister is the mouth of God vnto the people: and in the time of publicke praiers, he is the mouth of the people to offer their sacrifice to God [...] and he that despiseth, or regardeth not these things, despiseth not man, but God. For these very words of the [Page 68] text, if yee heare his voice harden not your harts, declare vnto vs that when we heare that doctrine wih [...]h teacheth vs faith in the son of God, and repentance from dead workes, it is God that speaketh vnto vs by the mo [...]th of men: and he requireth at our handes that s [...]l [...]ng as it is sa [...]a to day, that is so long as we may heare the voice of the new couenant of grace, we be more neere to heare it, then to giue the sacrifice of fooles. For ought not Christians so to profite by hearing & learning that they may be able (as it is required in these places of scriptures. Col. 3. 16. Rom. 15. 14. Heb. 3. 13. 1. Thess 4. 18. & 5. 11.) to teach, to edifie, to ad­monish and to comfort one another with the word of God? but if the knowledge of these thinges had any place in the heart [...] of vaine mē, they would abhorre to be at their prayers, or to speake their owne wordes, when they should be intentine to heare the word of faith. Let vs beware therfore, as Origen saith, least there bee a vaile laide over our heartes, not onely when Moses is read Super Ex­od. ho [...]il. 12. but also when Paul is read. And without doubt, if we be negligent in hearing, and set not our mind to learne, and to understand, not onely the scriptures of the law and the Prophets, but also the scriptures of the A­postles [Page 69] and Evangelists are covered with a vaile that we shall not vnderstand thē. Thus saith O [...]gen. And surely, as the lews reiected the Gospell of the new testament, and boa­sted that they were the see [...] Abraham, and [...] [...] 2. C [...]. [...]. 14. 15. the disciples of M [...]ses, when is in the reading of Moses, their [...]nds wer [...] h [...]d [...], & the vaile of vnbe [...]ie [...]e was la [...]d over th [...] [...]es that they did not vnderstand the old testament: so do [...]ost [...]en in these d [...]es, being content with the b [...]te name of [...], & with the blinde customes receiued from their fathers harden their hearts in sin, & stop their ea [...]es against the same Gospel of grace. But wo be to the security of these men.

Now seeing that to pray, or to be other­wise exercised in the congregation then the time and place requireth, when mē come in­to the church, is not the least [...], which ar­gueth (if men will pe [...]sist in it being admoni­shed) that they harden their hearts in igno­raunce and will not bee ready to come to Christ vvhen hee calleth: take heede that you giue not the lesse credite to this, or any other doctrine confirmed with the trueth, because you heare it frō young men, or from your inferiours in the estimati [...] of the world. For hee that despiseth the preceptes of life [Page 71] ministred by men, despiseth not man but God, 1. Thess. 4. 8 saith the Apostle. Satan is a most subtill ad­versarie, and goeth about by all meanes to keepe you vnder the vaile of darkenesse, & naturall ignorance. if other meanes faile him he can work by perswading you to measure your faith to the word of God, with the fame and estimation of the minister, and so ei­ther to receiue or reiect his doctrine accor­ding as the world iudgeth of the man. Here­of we haue a manifest example in the ninth of Iohn; where, when the mā that was borne Io. 9. 30. 31. 32. 33. blinde began to preach vnto the Iewes of Christ, known by his diuine power in open­ing his eies, the Iewes shew their pride, and disdaine to learne of such a one, and say vn­to him, thou art altogether borne in sinnes, and ver. 34. doest thou teach vs? saith an ancient Christian doctor vpon these wordes, it is seene that Cy [...]ill. greater men do commonly disdaine to learne of their inferiours▪ this proceedeth from the dangerous disease of pride, where­by man perswadeth himselfe in his owne conceite, that he hath sufficient knowledge, when he is ignorant; and he is ashamed▪ to learne of them that are of lesse reputation, in the iudgement of men, then himselfe, least he should seeme to be ignorant, or to haue [Page 72] lesse learning then that man hath of whome he is taught. But, if our minde were indued with true humility. we should not be asham­ed to learne, a quovis puerulo, of any child, saith he, that could teach vs the thing which we knowe not. For the truth is to be embra­ced, & heard of whomsoeuer it may be learned. These at the words of a worthy teacher.

And of this humilitie which ought to be in all Christians to learne, we haue a notable example in Apollos, a mā eloquent, and migh­tie Act. 18. [...]4. 25. 26. in the scriptures, and yet humble to be fur­ther instructed of Aquila & Priscill [...], a poore tent-maker and his wife. here euerie one, that wil be the seruant of Christ, may learne humilitie, and be prepared, like the men of Berea, with all readinesse to receiue the word, Act. 17. 11. which is able to saue his soule, and of the seruant of sinne to make him the seruant of righteousenesse. It is yet called to day. And yet we may heare the voice of the bridegrome Christ Iesus. And is there is one day of seuen appointed for men to rest, And to heare his voice: and as there is a time of that day for men to heare, and not to be otherwise occupied then in hear­ing; let no man abuse that time; let no man thē speake his owne words. Art thou dull of [Page 73] hearing, and canst hardly setle thy minde to learne [...] yet be carefull to heare from the be­ginning to the end, and thou canst not goe away without some good leslon laide vp in thine heart. Hast thou a good memory, and a [...]t thou apt to learne? thē spend all the time of hearing in hearing, & thy knowledge shal be the more increased. Wi [...] thou be iustified by [...]aith, & be made partaker of Christ? thou hast heard that saith cōmeth by hearing; and Rom. 10 17. now thou m [...]ist heare; now is the day of hea­ring, so lōg [...] the Lord calleth. Hereafter wil be the daie of reiecting, for them that would not hear when they were called. In that day men cannot learne though they would: for wisdome warneth thē which sleepe out the time of grace, when learning is offered vnto them, when affliction and anguish shall come vppon P [...]o. 1. 27. 28. you: then shal they cal vpō me but I wil not answer: they shall see [...]e me early, but they shall not find me. the reason is added, why wisdome wil not be found of m [...] at their pleasure: because they h [...] ­ted knowledg, & did not chuse the fear of the Lord.

If therfore thou wilt not in this day of his g [...] hea [...] his voice to thy salvation, thou shalt hereafter in the day of his wrath heare it to thy condemnation: & if now in the day of his calling, his voice cānot awake thee out [Page 61] of the sleepe of sin & security, it shal hereaf­ter in the day of his iudgment awake thee to thine eternal confusion, though thou sleepe in the earth, & though thou be returned in­to dust, doubt not of this: for the [...]ord spea­keth it, the houre sh [...]l [...] come in the which all that 10. 5 28. 29. are in the graues shall heare his voice. And they shal come forth, that haue done good vnto there­surrection of life: but they that haue done evil, vn­to there surrection of condemnation. In that day shall every scripture, every sermon, & every word of exhortatiō, which thou hast heard, or read, be a witnesse against thee how thou hast hardened thine heart, & wouldst not o­bey his voice whē he offered thee his grace. Consider therfore that this is the daie where, in he calleth thee, and speaketh to thee, say­ing, behold now the accepted time, beholde now the 2. Cor. 6. 2. daie of salvation.

This time, & this day, wherein he proclai­meth peace, is but short, and v [...]e: re­deeme it therfore with all readines of mind, that thou maist be at peace with God for all eternity.

You that are diligent husband-mē are carefull to redeeme the time of faire weather in haruest, because you know not how soo [...]e it wil raine, And man, whose life is cōpared to [Page 74] a vapour that appeareth for a little time, and af­ter vvarde vanisheth avva [...], if hee liue to Iam. 4. 14. day, knoweth not whether he shall liue to morowe. And if it be permitted him to liue, yet knoweth he not how soone the Lord will send a famine of hearing his holy word; and send a darke night of ignorance, in the which no man can worke, no man can heare the glad tidings of the Gospell, nor beleeue it, though he woulde. Let vs pray that our hearts may be mollified, & prepared as good ground to receiue the seede of the worde, while it is yet called, to day.

The fifth Lecture, vpon the 16. and 17. verses▪ of the wickednesse of mans nature; all men are natu­rally bent to idolatrie; vvee must imitate the faithfull (though they bee but few in num­ber, or [...]n one age) whom God raiseth vp in al ages to confesse his name; of Gods long sufferance, & boun­tifulnes towarde sinners: of sinne, and the fruit thereof.

THe Apostle, which was the Authour of this Epistles, applying the exhortation of the Prophet before alleadged, seemeth here to allude to that desperate provoking, and disobedience of the children of Israel mentioned in the 14 of Num. When they beleeued those ten men that brought vp a vile slander vpon the land of promise, and murmured against Moses and A [...]r [...], and [Page 76] would haue stoned Ioshua and Caleb, because they stood for the truth, as it appeareth more [...] large in the 14. of Num. this is therefore as if [...] Apostle should say, the whole assem­bly of them that came out of Egypt, to the number of sixe handieth thousande men of vnderstanding, even all of them vvithout ex [...]tion heard the word of the LORD, and his promise concerning the lande of Canaan, but some of them, yea the greatest some, the [...]h [...]le assemblie saieth the scrip­ture, and againe, all the mul [...]tua [...] (not­withstanding [...] 4. 2. [...] some are excepted) vvhen they heard, did not beleeue, but provoked the [...]o [...]d [...] to anger with their meredulous [...]ing and [...] bellion.

And it is worthy to be noted that he saith, when they [...]rd they provoked him, or hearing they provoked him [...]. For as hee that is of God, 10. 8 47. heareth GODS vvordes; so they that are c [...]lly minded, and haue their vnder­standing darkened, doe neuer provoke the LORDE so much as when his word, and his counsell [...] p [...]e [...]ched vnto them; which because it is contrary to the wisdome of the [...]h, [...]st [...]eth vppe the naturall man [...]o [...]e [...]ll, and to oppose himselfe against the wisedome of the holy GHOST, ac­cordinge [Page 77] as it is vvritten, the vvisedome of Rom. 8 7. the flesh is enimitie against GOD. And a­gaine, the naturall manne perceiveth not the 1. Cor. 2 14. thinges of the spirite of GOD: for they are foo­lishnesse vnto him: neither canne hee knovve them, because they are spiritually discerned. For Satan, who worketh in the children of disobedience, vvill rather su [...]er them to consent to any thing, then to that doctrine which ostereth vnto them the peace and fa­vour of God.

And for this cause our Saviour CHRIST saieth, that hee came not to sende peace into Mat. 10 34. the earth: but the svvorde. A sworde, as we knowe, cutteth asunder and maketh a se­paration. And CHRIST, although hee bee the very authour of our peace, yet when his peace is preached vnto the world, the vvicked and disobedient, vvhich be­fore seemed to bee quiet and calme, doe nowe shewe foorth their bitternesse and corruption of nature, by contending against this peace, and against the messengers and professours of the same.

And so CHRIST by their malice is made the occassion of t [...]multe and dis­corde.

They provoke him not before they hear him, [Page 78] for the wickednesse of mans nature is like fire that lyeth hid in quicke lime, which never boyleth, nor sheweth his heate vntil you put water to it; which, being of a contrary na­ture and quality, causeth it to burne and cost out heate. It is also like to the vapours of the earth, which appeare not so long as the vertue and heate of the sunne is not on the earth, but when the sunne ariseth then they arise and ascend, not from the sun, but from the earth.

Thus is the case with the vnregenerate & earthly minded man. If there be no worde of faith preached, there is no provoking: but if the word bee ministred to exhorte, to im­proue, and to rebuke, then the wisedome of the flesh which is enimitie against God, begin­neth to bee vnquiet and to provoke. The high Priest of Ierusalem, and the Scribes never provoked so furiously, as when they heard the wordes of Christ, saying, hereafter shall yee see Mat. 26. 64. the sonne of man sitting on the right hande of the hea­ven. Then the high Priest rent his cloathes. ver 65. Act. 7. 54. And againe, The stiffe-necked among the Iewes provoked never so madly, as when they were sharpely rebuked of the holy Ghost by the mouth of Stephen: for then, as Luke saith, [Page 79] their hearts did cleane for anger, and they guashed at him with their teeth. So king Ahab provoked most of all, when he heard the Prophet Mi­chaiah, 1 King. 2 [...]. 17. 18. at what time he told him the trueth from the Lord, & signified the event of the warre, which Ahab waged against the king of Syria, to goe against him. And the rem­nant of the Iewes which were left from the captivity of Babilon, although they had pro­tested Ier. 42. 5. 6. vnto Ieremiah that they woulde obey the voice of the Lorde whatsoever woulde come of it; yet when the same Prophet told them from the Lord, that if they did set their Ier. 17. faces to enter into Egypt to dwell there, they should die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, and none of them should remaine nor escape from the plague, which the Lord would bring vpō them. At the hearing of these things they disobey, and say that Ieremtah speaketh Ier. 43. 2. falsely, and they will goe into Egypt whether he wil or no. So the multitude in the wilder­nesse, of whom the Apostle speaketh here, provoked then most desperately, when Caleb and Ioshua rebuked them that they shoulde not rebell against the Lord, neither feare the peo­ple Num. 14. 6. 7. 8. 9. of the land of Canaan who should bee but bread for them, knowing that the Lorde, whose word is a sure rocke, would giue them [Page 80] the land according to his promise. These thinge▪ when they hearde they so proucked that they woulde haue stoned Caleb and ver. 10. I [...]s [...]

By these examples we may learne how cō ­trarie, and repugnant the wisedome of flesh and blood is to the wisedome of the holie Ghost: for it is not subiect, as saieth the Apos­tle, Rom. 8. 7. to the law of God, neither indeed can be. And for this cause the Lord saith, as the heauēs are Isa. 55 9. higher then the earth, so are my waies higher then your waies, and my thoughts aboue your thoughts. This is it therefore why the nations of the worlde, and the most part of men in all ages haue affected, & sought after false, & coun­terfeit religions, as most agreeable with the corruption of mans nature, at the hearinge whereof no man might be displeased, nor made to prouoke. Such were the inuentions of the Heathē, they were content to receiue & subscribe to any religion, or rather idola­trie, except the religion of the true & euer­liuing God.

The Egiptians, as it is recorded of them, worshipped so many fayned Godes, that their seuerall sacrifices and ceremonies are said to haue beene more then sixe hundreth & sixtie in number. The Grecians imitated [Page 81] them. The old Romans in processe of time exceeded them in the number of superstiti­ous religions. But for all that, the Romans woulde neuer consente to worshippe the GOD of Israel, nor to receiue the religi­on of that people: because they knew that hee must bee vvorshipped accordinge to his commaundemente, and not as they would.

The religion of Mahomet, which now the Turkes doe mainetaine, was patched togither of the inventions of Mahomet, and of the devises of certaine prophane and vvicked men, in such vvise that the igno­raunt multitude might haue no cause to dis­like of the same, that so they might drawe the more people to [...]ome with them in their sect: But the doctrine of CHRIST, and his Apostles they sought by all meanes to slaunder, and treade vnder foote; and they doe still provoke as oft as they heare it, be­cause it is the doctrine of truth.

We cānot deny that our forefathers, withal the adherentes of the false church of Rome haue most fearefully provoked the Lord, for the space of fiue hundreth yeares at the least, by consentinge to suppresse the holye scriptures, that they shoulde not [Page 82] bee published to the vnderstanding of the common people, and by persecuting and kil­ling the little flocke of Christ, which profes­sed to be saued by faith alone in Christ Iesus, and not by the law, nor by workes. It is too well knowne that such hath beene the fruit of Antichrist; making ignorance the mother of deuotiò, & devising so many new Gods, or dead mē to be called vpon, & praied vnto for help, that in number the Gods of the hea­then haue not exceeded thē. With these & the like impreties, that sonne of perdition the bishop of Rome hath of long time provoked the God of truth, and mightely bewitched the vnthankefull world. For (as it is written in the Popes owne Gratian as distinct. 44. si papa. law) he hath not onely bee [...]e remisse and negligent of his owne, and his brethrens salvatiō, but perversitas Papa [...]m [...]. rabiles populos catervatim secum duxit ad gehe [...] ­nam, the Popes maliciousnes hath drawne with him to hell innumerable people by heapes.

And what shall we say of the provoking of these daies? in which (the people of this land being brought out of the Popes Egypt of darke ignorance, and superstition, and ha­ving heard the doctrin of Moses, of the Pro­phets, of Christ, and his Apostles, now fortie [Page 83] yeares long, even so many yeares as the chil­dren of Israel heard the same doctrine of faith in the wildernesse (yet Atheisme, superstition, and contempt of the truth are so rife every where, that Caleb and Ioshua, the mes­sengers of the truth, cannot perswade men to forget Egypt, and to set their minde vpon the land of promise. Surely this must be the greater condemnation of the world, that Io. 3. 19. light is come into the world, and men loued darkenesse more then light.

Here we see that all men are naturally in­clined to superstitiō and idolatrie. And ther­fore no man that continueth in sinne, and neglecteth the calling of God, shall be ex­cused because so many ages and so many people, our fathers, and our forefathers haue so liued; yea & haue so prouoked the Lord, and walked in the broad way that leadeth to destruction: all such examples of disobedi­ence, if we wil sinne after them, shal, as hath beene already said, aggravate our punish­ment: because the Lorde hath caused them to come to our knowledge for our admoni­tion. For whosoever shall follow the wicked fact of Caine to shed innocent bloode, shal be punished seaven folde more then Caine was, be­cause Gen. 4. 15. he is warned by Caines example to ab­staine [Page 84] from murther. And all those plagues which happened vnto the Israelits in the wil­dernesse for their infidelitie & mur [...]u [...]ing, came for examples sake, & ar [...] written, saith Paul, to a [...]monish vs, vpon whom the ends of the 1. Cor. 10. [...]1. worlde are come. And f [...]r this [...]use the Lord would h [...]e his dreadfull iudgments, which haue bene executed against the sinnes of former times to be in al ages tould and prea­ched vnto the worlde, that men might be warned thereby to amend their liues, as we may see by those messengers which came to Iob, one a [...]ter another, to tell him of Gods iudgmentes shewed vpon his ca [...]ell, his ser­vantes & his children. Everie one of these messengers saith, I onely a [...] escaped alone. To Iob 1. 15 16 17. 19. what end? or wherefore are they escaped? it followeth, to tell thee. And to the same effect the Lord saith by Eze [...]el, I will leaue a litle Eze. 12. 16. number of them from the sworde, & from the fa­mine, & from the pestilence. To what end? that they may declare, saith he, all these abominations among the heathen where they come.

We are then sufficiently admonished, by the examples of former ages, what will be the punishment of euill▪ & are taught what examples we must follow, to wit, the exam­ples of good men, wherof we haue some in [Page 85] all ages of the world. The Apostle saith here that not all which came out of [...]gypt by Moses provoked. VVee must looke on them that provoked not, but obeyed the word of the Lord, though they be but few among many thousandes of disobedient and vnfaithfull people. It seemeth that the younger forte which were vnder twentie yeares olde, among Num. 14. [...]9 the childrē of Israel, provoked not the Lord, or if they did, yet, by the testimony of the A­postle here, there was a remnant left among those murmuring people which obeyed the word of the LORDE, as Moses and Aaron, Caleb and Ioshua: vnto those few we must haue an e [...]e, and not vnto the mul­titude of sinners. For the LORDE saith, thou shalt not follovve a multitude to doe evill, Exod. 23. 2. neither agree in a controversie to decline after manie and overth [...]ovve the trueth. And therefore vvicked is that common saying vvhich hath beene alleadged of the Pa­pistes, communis error facit [...]s, a common errour, or consent in evill standeth for a law.

Notwithstanding that at all times, and in all places, the more parte of men, which are evill, giue euill examples to drawe o­thers vnto sinne, vvhich is the cause that [Page 86] Christ saith, woe bee vnto the worlde because of offences: for it must needes be that offences shall Mat. 18. 7. come &c. Yet, as the Apostle speaketh, we are Heb. 12. 1. cōpassed about with a great cloud of witnesses, or goode examples which we must imitate so lōg as we liue in the wildernesse of this world.

We haue the Patriarchs, the Prophetes, and the Saintes of the old testament. Wee haue Christ himselfe the authour and finisher of nor saith. we haue the Apostles, Confes­sours, and martyrs in the time of the new testament, for an example to suffer perse­cution for righteousnesse sake, and in all thinges to obey the will of God.

And vvithin the period of these last fiue hundreth yeeres, euen in the florish­ing time of Antichrist, we haue those faithfull co [...]ses [...]ours (though they were but few in number that we haue heard of) which haue resisted Antichristian iniquitie euen vnto blood: we haue them, I say, for an example of loue and long patience, witnessing, vnto vs, that in those dayes of desolation, and popish tyrannie, all did not prouoke the Lord, nor fall away from the right saith.

For as in the dayes of El [...]ah, when that 1. King. 19. 10. wicked woman Iezebel hade persecuted [Page 87] the Lordes Prophetes, and when the true worship of God seemed to bee vtterlie abo­lished o [...]t of the land, seuen thousand were re­serued (though none of them was knowne ver. 18. to El [...]ah) which had not consented to idola­trie, so in the dayes of our forefathers, ma­ny thousandes did obey the Gospell of sal­uation, & did not defile their garmēts with Popish idolatrie; and of them the Lord hath made some to bee knowne to the worlde, and their memoriall to rema [...]ne as monu­mentes of his grace for our comfort and ex­ample.

And to come to examples neerer to our time, & to our selues. I haue heard it credibli reported, that, when here in Englād, within these When this was prea­ched, i [...] was the yeare 1598. fiue & fourtie yeeres, many of the Saintes and true beleeuers did constantly suffer martyrdome for the testimonie of the word of God, ther were here in Sussex whole parishes of men and women, which for all the heat of that greeuous persecution in the The con­stancy of su [...]ex peo­ple in the prosession of the Gos­pell. dayes of Queen Mary, came not at the false church, not bowed the knee to the idole of the Masse; beside those that were martyi [...], which with their blood haue sealed the confes­sion of their faith.

And (as it is best knowne to them that [Page 88] professe religion, & haue long knowne this countrie) there were also diuers which tes­tified their loue & obedience to the Gospell by assembling together at cōuement times in woodes and [...]li [...]a [...]ie places, where they had the word of saith pu [...]elie taught, & the sa­cramentes administered; The Lord pro­tecting thē from the cruelty of those daies.

These are as cloudes of witnesses for our example, that we should follow their faith & obedience to the word of God.

And now in our dayes, notwithstanding that the love & zeale of many doeth waxe colde, and that the d [...]rnell and wilde oates do [...] over-growe the good corne. that, for the most parte, wee canne see nothing but the multitude of luke-vvarme and irreli­gions people, yet are there many faithfull witnesses, & sincere professoures of the Gos­pel of God among vs. But alas, as the world is alwayes like it selfe, we are so far from fol­lowing the saith & example of the Saintes, that while they liue among vs, we cease not to speake euil of them, & to persecute them.

[...]hus we see that the Lord leaueth no time (no not when it seemeth that the professors of his name are rooted out of the earth) without worthy vvitnesses of his trueth, [Page 89] whose steppes wee must tread in, vnlesse we will runne in the broad waye that leadeth to destruction.

It followeth: but with whome was hee dis­pleased fourtie yeeres? was hee not displeased with them that sinned, vvhose carke [...]ses fell in the, vvildernesse? Heere commeth the long suffering, and bountifulnesse of God to be considered, who neuer destroyeth a­ny people, nor any childe of man for their wickednesse, before they be sufficiently war­ned, and haue time to repent, and to turne from their evill waies if they will. Before hee brought a stoode of waters to drowne the olde worlde, hee gaue them, that then had sinned, the space, not of fortie, but of three times fortie yeares [...]or [...]epentance. Hee Ge [...]. 6. 3. burned not the cities of S [...]dom and Gomo­rah with fire and brimstone from heauen, Ge [...]. 19. 24. 25. [...]. Pet. 2. 8. before hee had giuen them time to amend, and warning from day to daie by righteous Lot.

And of that vngodlie woman Iezabell, the Lord saith, I haue giuē her space. To what end? to repent of her fo [...]nication, & shee repented not. so Rev. 2. 20. 21. here, the holy Ghost saith, that forty yeares he was displeased with the Israelites after they came out of Egypt. So long endured hee [Page 90] their maners and intollerable rebelling a­gainst his word in the wildernesse.

Here we may learne, as the Apostle war­neth vs, to walke circumspectly, & to [...]edeeme Eph. 5. 15. 16. the time, remembring also what hee saith of them that abuse the time of repentance, des­pises [...] thou the riches of Gods bountifulnesse, and Rom. 2. 4. patience, and long sufferance, not knowing that the bountifulnesse of God le [...]eth thee to repentance.

[...]et a Christian therefore be careful to vse wel the time wherein he liuet [...], considering that, while he is in this world, he is in a wilder­nesse of innumerable dangers and temptati­ons, whe [...]e it be hooveth him to watch and to be circumspect, or els he is in a desperate case, & heapeth vnto himselfe wrath against the day of wrath, whosoeuer he be that de­spiseth Gods long patience.

Fortie yeares. This number fortie is often­times vsed in the holy scriptures, and is com­monly applied to the time of repentance [...], of abolishing of sinne, and stablishing of righ­teousnes. And it teacheth vs that the works of God are perfect, and that, when he begin­neth, he maketh an end. As here, fortie yeares he was displeased with the Israelites in the wildernesse, according to the number of the Num. 14. 33. 34. daies in the which they had searched out the land [Page 91] of promise. In which fortie yeares he over­threw them, and made an end of them with their sinnes. Fortie daies and fortie nightes was the raine vpon the earth when all the in­habitants Gen. 7. 12. of the old world (except Noah and his family) were drowned. In those fortie daies, and fortie nights the Lord wiped away all wickednesse and crueltie wherewith the earth was corrupted.

Forty daies are limited to the people of Ni­ [...]eveh for repentaunce. And in that space they repented: for they beleeved God, as it is in Ionah, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sacke­cloath Ion. 3. 4. 5. from the greatest of them even to the least of them.

And to speake according to naturall ob­servation, it is noted in mankinde generally that an Plin. nat. hist. lib. 7. in pro [...]m. infant doth seldome or never laugh before he be fortie daies old. Here we may see that man [...]ath iust cause to bee alwaies sorie, and to mourne for his sinnes which are the cause of all the miseries of this life.

When God establisheth perfect righte­ousnes vpon earth, forty of daies and nightes are spoken of: as when Moses was called from the sight of the people, he was with the Lord in mount Sinai forty daies and forty nights Exod. 24 18 & 34. 28. in which he fasted miraculously, that so the [Page 92] law of God, which hee was to deliuer vnto the Isra [...]lites, might receiue the more honor and authority. And againe, fortie daies and 1. King. [...]9. [...] fortie [...] E [...]h, at the calling of the Lord continued [...]s [...]ing, because hee was the mi­nister that should restore the law to the for­mer perfection thereof.

And our saviour Christ is said to haue fa­sted Ma [...]. 4. 2. [...]uke 4 2. [...], and fourtie mightes, before hee beganne his publique life, and preaching. The end of which fast, o [...] [...]le, as Vpon the harmony of the [...]ā ­gell. Mat. 4. [...]. M. C [...]lv [...] doeth well obsetue, was that it should bee a seale to the doctrine of the Gospell; which as it is more glorious then the lawe of Moses, so was it to bee adorned with mira­cles, and rate signes. And after he had suffe­red his passion, and was [...]sen againe, hee was seene of his Apostles by the spice of forty daies. Act. 1. 3. In which fortie daies he confirmed vnto them the verity of his [...]u [...]ection.

Thus we see where vnto this number forty is vsually applyed in holy scriptures. For as te [...]e is a perfect and absolute number, and all supe [...] numbers doe arise either by ad­ding vnto te [...]e, o [...] els by multiplying of ten, so the multiplying of ten in this number forty, declareth vnto vs the louing kindnesse, and mercy of God, who giueth vnto men such [Page 93] space of daies, or of yeares, either to see the confirmatiō of his truth, and his workes, or to amend and turne vnto him before they bee destroied for their sins and transgressions.

And here we may learne that our depar­ting from iniquity, our faith, and obedience to the worde of GOD must bee effectu­all, earnest and vnsamed, and wee must persevere in the same, not for one day, but fortie dayes, or fortie yeares, that is, so long as the LORDE vvill haue vs to remayne in the vvildernesse of this world.

Nowe the cause why the LORDE was displeased with his people fortie yeares, was sinne. For the Apostle sayeth, vvas hee not displeased vvith them that sinned, vvhose car [...]ses fell in the vvildernesse? The roote and beginning of all sinne is the naturall corruption, or originall sinne vvherein all menne are vvrapped from their mothers wombe, and vvherevvith mankinde hath beene infected euer since the fall of A­dam.

This corruption bringeth foorth fruite vnto death, by transgressing the law of God We sinne three ma­ner of waie [...]. three maner of waies, that is, in thought, worde, and deede, according to the wordes [Page 94] of our saviour Christ affirming that those thinges, which desile a man, come from the heart. For out of the hearte, saith hee, come Mat. 15. 19. evi [...] thoughts. These are sinnes, and defile th [...] whole man. Murthers, adulteries, fornications, theftes. These are sinnes in deed. False testi­monies, slaunders. These are sinnes commit­ted in word.

And now all these transgressions, and e­very one of them, as they are committed of men, are called actuall sinnes. And they are Three sorts of actuall sinnes. of three sortes. One is counted a sinne of in­firmitie, into the which the godly, and re­generate men of God, doe commonly fall through the weakenesse of the flesh. Of this kinde of sinne speaketh Paule, when he saith, the evill which I vvould not, that do I. And Rom 7. 19. 1. [...]. 1. 8. of this Saint Iohn saith, If we saie that wee haue no sinne, we deceiue our selues, and the truth is not in vs.

The second is a sinne of ignorance, commit­ted through lacke of knowledge, when hee that sinneth knoweth not that he doeth e­vill. Such was the sinne of Paule before his conversion, when hee liued a Pharis [...], and persecuted the Christians, notwithstanding he had zeale, and in his life was vnrebukeable, Phil. 3. 6. touching the righteousnesse of the law. And [Page 95] of this sinne, after he was conuerted, hee saith, I did it ignorantly through vnbeliefe. 1. Tim. 1. 13.

The third kind of sinne, is, a sinne of malice, or a sinne of disobedience to the trueth of God, when they that haue experience of Gods fauour, and goodnesse towards them, and know his word to be the rule of righte­ousnesse, will not for all that forsake their owne waies to followe it, and to obey it. Such was the sinne of Saul when he did not 1. Sam. 15 9 obey the wordes of Samuel, being comman­ded to destroy the Amalekites, and all that appertained vnto them.

This sinne of disobedience was the sinne of the children of Israell, for the which the Lord was displeased with them fortie yeares; who knowing the goodnesse of God to bee more extended towardes them, then any o­ther nation of the earth, did notwith­standing disobey his voice, and tempte him [...]enne tymes, as the scripture witnesseth. Num. 14. [...]2 And therefore they were reiected of the Lord that they should not enter into his rest, and were punished in the wildernesse with horrible plagues, where their carkei­ses fell for an example, and a terrour to all that should haue thereof.

This sinne of maliciouse frowardnes, & [Page 96] disobedience to the word of God, is of all o­ther most fearefull, & is therefore called re­bellion, 1. Sam. 15. 23. wickednes, & idolatrie, & compared with the sinne of witchcraft. And of this kind of sinne Iohn saith, hee that commiteth sin [...]s of 1. 10. 3. 8. 9. the deuill. And whosoeuer is borne of God sinneth not.

This is therefore the sinne that we must beware of. We see how fearefully it was punished in Gods chosen people. And their punishments, as Paule witnesseth, be­ing written to admonish vs, might, if they were 1. Cor. 10. [...]. well weyed, terrifie the stubborne, & fro­ward generation of this age, and might moue those that preferre the darkenesse of their owne heartes before the light of the truth, to examine them selues what ground they stand vpon. For there shin­eth in many now-adayes a goodlie shewe of holines & equitie in their dealinges, and yet are they enemies to the Gospell, & glad if they can find occation to do hurt, & to slaunder the professours therof. But if this sinne of wicked frowardnes, & dis­obedience to the worde that wee heare, were farre from vs, then all other sinnes would soone be corrected, & reformed. Wherefore being compassed, as we haue [Page 97] with a cloud of many witnesses, whose ex­ample, if we consider them, leadeth vs to o­bedience to the will of God, we pray that e­verie one of you shew the like diligence to the resisting of sinne & euill examples of the worlde, & to grow to perfect knowledge in the word of God while it is yet called to day.

The sixth and last Lecture, vpon the 18. and 19. v [...]rses: of the punishment of them that obey not the Gospell, though for a time they bee borne with, and liue in a flowrishing state; What the to­kens of Gods iudgements, which befal [...]n the world, [...]and wherewith so [...]e men are visited, should pro­ [...]ite vs; the worde of God is the iu [...]ge of men: which word is to be obeyed, while the day of grace lasteth.

WE haue already heard of thē, which, when they heard the word of God from the mouth of his ministers, provoked him to anger with their rebelling and murmuring against him, where it was noted how great the corruption and wickednesse of mans nature is, which provoketh against the wis­dome of the holy Ghost, & setteth more by superstitious vanities, then by the worde of eternall life. We haue also heard of sinne, [Page 72] and the effect thereof. The sinnes of the Israelites, whom God delivered from the bondage of Egypt, were the cause that with­in fortie yeares, in which they abused Gods long suffering, they were with diverse plagues destroyed and consumed in the wil­dernesse.

And now to declare a further punishment of sinne, and rebellion, then is the bodilie punishment, and the evils of this life, the scripture saith here, that God sware to them that obeyed not, that they shoulde not enter into his rest, By which wordes, repeated out of the scripture of the Prophet before alledged, the Apostle putteth the Hebrewes in mind, not of the rest of the land of Canaan, which their fathers through disobedience and vn­beliefe had lost, but of the rest of the heauen­ly [...]salem, the everlasting inheritaunce of the Saintes, whereof the earthly rest and peace in the land of Canaan, as also the rest of the seuenth day, was but a type or a sha­dow: & therefore he saith, If Iesus (or Ioshua) Heb. 4. 8. had giuen them rest, then would he not after this day haue spoken of an other. For the Prophet Dauid in his exhortation made long after the possessing of the land of Canaan, speak­eth of the true and perfect rest, which the [Page 100] faithfull do enter into, & which God hath pro­mised Heb. 4. 3. from the begining of the world to them that obey his voice.

To be excluded from this rest through vnbeliefe and hardnes of heart, is a wo [...]full case. It is to haue thy portion with dogges & Rev. 22. 15. enchanters, & whoremongers, and murtherers, & idolaters, and whosoever loueth or maketh lies.

The children of Israell, to whom the Lord made his power so manifestly knowne in E­gypt, at the red sea, and in the wildernesse, were afterward, when they sinned, most fear­fully punished, & destroied. And moreouer, as this scripture witnesseth, the Lorde swa [...]e that they should not enter into his rest. Here is the iust reward of sin, & disobedience, that is, to be deb [...]rred, & shut out for evermore from en [...]ng into the [...]ords rest. And this is heere declared in that he denyeth vnto those per­verse people the signe or sacrament of his grace, signifiyng therby that the grace it selfe is denied vnto thē: for the not admitting of those obstinate and vnfaithful Iews into the land of Canaan, sheweth that for then vnbe­liefe they are not As no sa­crament [...] instituted of God without sig­nificatiō of an invisible grace, so the taking away of the sacramētes importeth a taking a­way of the grace that was signified thereby: howbeit not so but that God may, and doth extraordinarily saue some where the ordinary meanes of salvati­on and the sacraments cannot be had. admitted into the perfect [Page 101] and eternall rest figured in the earthly rest of that promised land: Which also in an other place, the Authour of this Epistle (whom we vnderstand to dispute here, not of the shadow, but of the substance, not of the transitorie, but of the perpetual rest) inferr­eth with these words, they to whom it was first preached, entered not therein for vnbeliefes sak [...] Heb. 4. 6. This passeth all the temporary pla­gues, & punishments which befall men for their sinnes in this present life. And yet this happened to them which in this world were reputed for Gods people, & for a time were partakers of all the signes & tokens of Gods favour.

Wherefore, that no man be deceiued in himselfe, and thinke that he standeth fast be­cause he is in the church of God, when he is not of the church, here we see, that, as Paule saith, to be vnder the cloud, to passe through 1. Cor. 10. [...]. [...]. 3. 4. the se [...], to be baptized vnto Moses (that is, to be partakers of Gods sacraments vnder their captaine Moses) to eate man [...]a, & to drinke of the spirituall rocke. which, as he interpret­eth it, was Christ, did nothing profite the children of Israel: for when they sinned, and would not obey, nor giue credite either to the comfortable promises, or to the fearfull threatnings of God, they were ouerthrown [...] [Page 102] in the wildernesse, & depriued of all hope of the rest promised to the faithfull seede of Abraham.

These things are written that we might learne & vnderstand that our baptisme mi­nistred to vs in the name of the holy trinitie, our coming to church, our common prayers & our outward hearing of the word of God, our receiuing of the communion of the Lords supper, our names of Christians, and whatsoeuer outward signes and markes of Christian religion we haue, shall profite vs nothing to attaine eternall rest, so long as our hearts be not cleane from the hipocrisie, & superstion of the flesh, & so long as we do not crucifie the olde Adam which is wont to rebel against the word of God, because it reacheth vs things contrary to our owne wil.

Whosoeuer therfore doeth not suffer the words of exhortation, & doeth not in. since­ritie & trueth obey the voice of Christ, hath no part in the inheritance which is prepared for the sons of [...]od, notwithstanding that for a time he he partaker of the earthly sacra­ments and signes of the same.

Moreouer let no man flatter himselfe, & thinke that he is safe from Gods iudgment [...] if he hath no [...] so tempted God as the Israe­lits did in the wilder [...]es, or if he hath not so [Page 103] murmured against his ministers as they did; but let him rather cōsider whether his faith, and obedience hath bene so tried as the [...]s was, & whether without murmuring & dis­trust, he hath gone through the fire & water of temptation which they were brought vn­to for their triall, according as the scripture witnesseth, thou shalt remember all the way Deut. 8. 2. which the Lord thy God led thee this fourtie yeare in the wildernes; for to humble thee, and to proue thee, to know what was in thine heart whether thou wouldest keepe his commandements or no. Here we see that the Lord exercised the Is­raelits with great daungers and many diffi­culties of the terrible wildernes, for to hum­ble them, and to know whether with sound and faithfull heartes they would cleaue to him, & abide his triall.

If thou hast not then bene exercised with diuers temptations as they were, or if thou a [...]t not yet come into the day of triall, perswad not thy selfe that all is well with thee, be­cause thou standest when none doth sight a­gainst thee. Say not like the church of the Revel. 3. 17 [...]aodiceans, that thou art rich because thou knowest not thy wretchednes & pouertie, and that thou hast neede of nothing because thou seest not thy nakednes. It is an easie thing to ouercome where thei [...] is no battell, [Page 104] & to promise to thy selfe the victorie before thou a [...]t tried. That lesson of the King of Is­rael is worthy to be remembred, let not him▪ 1. King. 10. 11. that g [...]rd [...]th his har [...]es, boast himselfe, as hee that putteth it of. And that, of the Apostle is a notable warming, let him that thinketh h [...] 1. Co [...]. 10. 1 [...]. standeth, take heede least he fall.

Thirdly & specially let vs here learne, that if such sinnes & iniquities, as are equal to the sinns of the Israelits in the wildernes, be not visited with the like plagues as theirs were, they shall not therfore escape vnpu­nished. For there is a iudgment to come, & the Lord hath sworne that the vnfaithfull & vnrighteouse, which disobey his word, shall not enter into his rest. This is a sure testimon [...]e that putteth away all doubt: for if anoath for Heb 6. 16. confirmation among men be an end of all strif [...], as are the wordes of the Apostle, how much more doth it take away al occasiō of doubt­ing when the Lord almightie bindeth him­selfe with an oath?

The interrogation which the Apost [...]e vs­eth in these wordes, to whom sware hee that they should not enter into his rest? doeth more significantly expresse the punishment of not obeying. And here is also vsed a figura­tiue kind of speech, wherby lesse is said, thē [...] vnderstood, & wherby we gather that [Page 105] there are dreadfull punishments ordeined for all obstinate & vnbeleeuing sinners. For what ensueth from not ētering into the rest of immortality but to haue thy parte & por­tion with them which are shut out of the citie of [...]od? & what part haue they? the holy Ghost declareth in these wordes, the fearfull and vnbeleeuing, and the abominable & Revel. [...]1. 8. murtherers, & wheremongers & sorcerers, and idolaters and all [...]ers shall haue their portion [...] the lake, which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the secon [...] death.

This is the wages of sin & disobedience; & although the time of payment be defer­red vntill the haruest of this world, yet this cuppe of vengeance is prepared for all the workers of iniquitie, which shall not enter into rest. And therefore, as one father saith, he that doeth euill ought to feare the more if he be not punished in this world: for then hee is to drinke the deeper of Gods wrath in the iudgment to come.

These things being most true, let it not greeue thee that art a true Christian, though sinners doe flourish for a time, and though thou see the vncleane conuersation of wic­ked and profane people to abound in the earth, and yet in the meane while thou thy­selfe doest suffer affliction, and art tried with [Page 106] diuerse adue [...]sities. Remember for all this that God is good to Israel, and the damna­tion of his enemies sleepeth not.

It cannot be denied but that many of those sinnes, which God in former ages did so [...]ly punish for an example vnto the world, do now reigne in the worlde, and yet are [...] visited vvith the like seueritie and puni [...]hment, because as we reade, God hath [...] a day, in the which he will iudge the Acts 1 [...] [...]1. world [...] rightousnes. And therefore, as it is well obse [...]ed of Chrysostome, many of those sinnes, for the which the world was drown­ed in the dayes of Noah, are day he commit­ted in the world, & yet [...]od bringeth not Ge [...] 7. [...]1. 2 [...]. 23. a [...]lo [...]d to drowne the world, as he did then; because there is a [...]ood of wrath ordeined for them in the world to come. Many of those sins for the which Sodom & Gomor­rah were consumed with fire and brimstone from heauen, are still practised in the world, Gen. 19. 24. 25. and yet the Lo [...]d raineth not fire out of hea­ven to destroy them that do such thinges▪ because he hath appoynted for them the [...]i [...]e that [...]hall neuer be quenched. Many are they which speake against Gods word, and persecute his church as Pharaoh did, & yet Exod. 14. 27. 28. are not choked with the sea water, as Pha­raoh and his [...]eruantes were; because the [Page 107] bottomlesse sea of perdition is reserued for them. Many do murmur against heauen, & dislike of Gods ordināce as the Israelits did in the wildernes, and yet are not destroyed with firy serpents, & with other plagues, as Num. 21. 5. 6. they were: because the worme that neuer di­eth shall hereafter torment them. Many there be which take bribes & giftes vnlaw­fully as Gehaz [...] did; & yet they are not st [...]i­kē with the foule disease of leprosie, as he was; 2 King. 5. 27. because they shall be plagued after this life where there shall bee weeping and gnashinge of teeth.

And againe many do lye & dissemble in matters of religion, as Ananias & Sapphira Act. 5. 5. 10. did, and yet are not punished with suden death, as they were: because death immortall, & euerlasting waiteth for thē.

These thinges are thus applied of * Chris­sostom. 1 Chrysost. in Act. Apo. c. 5. h [...]m. 12. & for this cause, when the Apostle Peter saith, that God spared not the angels, that had sinned, but east them downe into hell; & that 2 Pet. 2. 4. 5 6. he spared not the old world: & that he turned the cit [...]es of Sodom & Gomorah into ashes; hee doth not say that God did then with the like punishmēts cut of the false teachers, of whom he speaketh, & such as walk [...] like the Sodo­mits after the flesh, in the l [...]st of vncleannesse; but he gathereth therby, that the Lord know­eth 2. P [...]t. 2. 9. [Page 108] how to reserue the vniust vnto the day of iudgment to be punished.

The heathen man, as Iustine Martyr al­ledgeth, Iust. Mart. in h [...]de mo­ [...]chia. was not ignorant of this [...]udgment, & of the reckoning to come: for he speaketh pl [...]ly therof: S [...]ustus et [...]mp [...]us eadem condi­tione futu [...], rape, [...]urare, frauda, misce, if af­ter this life there be no difference betweene the iust mā & the wicked, then go to, catch what thou canst, steale, deceiue, make con­fusion of all thing [...]: s [...]derrarenol [...], but be not deceyued: for, saith he, there is a [...]iudgment in hel beneath, which God that is Lord of al things will doe, whose name is so dreadfull that I d [...]re not name him. Th [...] and much more he alledgeth out of Phil [...]mo [...] & other heathē writers, which by the light of nature did set forth, not onely the ommpotency of God & the immortalitie of mans soule, but also the reward of vertue, & the punishment of sin after this life; & how that God (which, as one of them saith, is the eye of equitie that seeth all thinges) doeth beare with the euill deedes of men in this life for that they shall come into iudgment hereafter.

The doctrine of the holy Psalmist is of sin­gular force to this purpose, who for the instru­ction of others, confesseth that his f [...]t [...] were almost gone, & that his steppes had wel-nigh slypt, Psal. 73. [...]3. [...]. 5. [Page 109] when he saw the prosperitie of the wicked, how they thriue in the world, and are not in trow­ble ver. 17. 18. 19. 20. as other men: but when the Lord opened his vnderstanding, he saw the ende of these men, namelie that they are se [...] in slippery places, and are suddenlie destroyed, & horriblelio consumed, as a dreame when one awaketh. Iob Iob. 21. 17. 18. testifieth the like both of their momentary prosperitie, and of their sudden destruction.

The seruants of God haue here a singular comfort, that they may not be discouraged with tribulatiō, and aduersitie, and that they may not at anie time stumble at Gods long patience and benignitie toward reprobate and vniust men, seeing that he rewardeth everie mā according as his deedes shal be, though Rom. 2. 6. Rev. 22. 12. he be not hasty in punishing, and though he doeth not in this life punish all mens sinnes alike.

Heere also secure worldlings, and such as are slow to beleeue the word of truth, may be moued to feare Gods iudgments, and by amendment of life to withdrawe them­selues out of the s [...]are of the deuill, vvhich, as the Apostle saith, are taken of him at his 2. Tim. [...]. 26. will.

And now, if neither the promises of en­tering into eternall rest, nor the testimonies of Gods fearfull iudgments reuealed against [Page 110] sin and disobedience, can moue vs to repē ­tance, let vs yet make vse of Gods visitatiōs wherwith we heare, and see the iniquities of these our dayes to be visited; as in all ages God sheweth diuers tokēs of his displeasure and indignation against the vnrighteousnes and vnbeleefe of men. For euerie plague, e­v [...] calamitie, sudden death, burning with fire [...]ther, strange sicknesses, famine, eue­rie stood of waters, ruine of buildings, vnsea­sonable weather: euerie one of these, and of the like aduersities, as oft as they happen in the world, are a sermon of repentance to all that see them, or heare therof For whenso­euer God punisheth some kind of sinns, or punisheth some men more seuerely then o­thers that haue sinned, euen that his punish­ment is a warning & a memento to euery one of vs to looke to our selues, and to call to re­remēbrance our owne sinns, knowing that it is the same God that will take vengeance of eue [...]e sinne, and transgression of men, & that he will strike with a more heauie hand, if his warning, and example of his iustice be not regarded.

Wherfore, to come to our selues. We see that beside the pestilence, and many other [...]ignes of Gods anger where with this land of late yeares hath bene visited, the Lord hath [Page 111] now for the space of three yeares together sent scarsitie of bread, famine, and penurie among vs▪ And shall we thinke that the poore, and the helplesse, who (for the most-part) suffer these thinges, are sinners aboue the rest that haue not yet tasted of this cup? if we thinke so we vtterly deceiue our selues For we are otherwise taught of the Lordes Prophet in these words, when the land sinneth against me by committing a trespasse, then will I Eze [...]. 14 13 stretch out my hand vpon it, and will breake the staffe of the bread therof, and will send famine v­pon it. We see that the Lords hand is after this maner stretched out, and that the staffe of bread is broken. We see, and must needes know that the sinnes of the land are great, and that the inhabitants therof from the greatest to the least haue not ob [...] the voice of the Lord to walke in all his waies; and yet we see but some punished with the scourge of hunger and aduesitie. The rest, that are not yet touched, are so farre from repētance, & newnesse of life that, as the Prophet saith, they drinke wine in bowles and anoynt themselues Amos. 6. 6. with the che [...]e oyntments, but no man is sory for the afflections of Ioseph. Few do weepe, or haue that Christian-like affection to weepe with them that suffer afflictiō. And will you still cōtinue in sinne and hardnes of heart? shall [Page 112] not the afflictions of our brethren cause vs to feare, & to turne into the way of truth before that greater plagues be powred out vpon the land, euen vpon euery soule that doeth euill and continueth in sinne and disobedience?

Euery mā may gather that the calamities of other men do testifie, that the punishmēt of his owne sinns lyeth at the doore; As to this effect, the heathen Poet speaketh.

When thou seest thy neighbours house set on fire thou hast warning to looke to thine owne And for this cause the Lord, sometimes, cutteth downe the greene tree, shewing therby what he will do to the vn­fruitful fig tree that keepeth bar [...]ē the groūd of the vinyard, though he let it stand for a­while.

That no man therfore might sleepe in his sinns, or thinke himselfe to be the better man because he seeth other men punished, & himselfe not touched, Christ teacheth vs most plainely by the cruell slaughter of the Galileans made by Pilat, & by the fall of the Luk. 13. 2. 3. 4. 5. towre vpon the men [...]n Siloa [...], that the worst men are not first punished, but that if God shew such tokens of his iudgments vpō some few, all other mē (except they amend) shall [Page 113] nothing the rather escape his heauie hand for that they be borne with for a time.

When we see therfore that God hādleth some men seuerelie, and in his iustice, we ought to feare & examine our selues what we haue deserued, & so to consider that the lōger that God beareth with vs, the more ter­rible will be his reuengment if we abuse his benignitie & winke at the testimonies of his wrath shewed vpon others for our ex­ample.

Now, hauing such euident testimonies of Gods seuere iudgmēts in al ages reuealed a­gainst the vnrighteousenes and vnbeleefe of men: as the Apostle saith here of the vn­beleeuing Israelits, we see that they could not enter in because of vnbeliefe; so we see, & de­clare vnto you by the same word of trueth, which we minister [...], that all obstinate and vnbeleeuing sinners which will not obey the trueth, shall not enter in to the rest of life euerlasting, or haue any part in the feliciti [...] of the faithfull. Do we therfore iudge men? no in no wise. The word which we minister is the iudge, and by it we denounce the iudg­ments of God against them which obey not this word, instructing them with meeknes, & prouing i [...] God at any time will giue thē repēt [...]nce that they may come to the know­ledge [Page 114] of his truth: for this is the iudgment of the spirite of God, hee that obeyeth not the sonne, shall not see life but the wrath of God abid­eth [...]o. 3 36. on him. and he that is in this vnbeliefe, though he fasi from mea [...], though he say many pra [...]ers, though he giue much to the poore, & though he build churches, and do many gloriouse workes, doeth yet nothing acceptable to God, while he beleeueth not in the sonne, & while hi [...] heart cleaveth not to the word of the Lord. For as it is written, without faith it is vnpossible to please God. and a­gaine, Heb [...] 11. 6 Rom. 14 23 what soeuer is not of faith is sinne. So far is the carnal mā, which is possessed with vnbe­liefe, frō pleasing of God, that all his workes, euen the best deedes that he doeth are no­thing els but sinne.

Many there be, which doe many thinges that haue in deed, as the Apostle saith, a shew Col. 2. 23. of wisedome, in voluntary religion: but if you aske these people, from what faith their works do proceede, and vpon what promises of God cōtained in his word their faith is setled; they will commonly say, that though they know not these things, yet hope they to bee saued as wel as your selfe. But be not deceiued: for this hope is no hope. It is not the auker of the soule both sure and stedfast. And your faith is no Heb. 6. 19. faith, so long as it be not built vpon the rocke [Page 115] of Gods worde, which is the iewell that you should desire more then gold: and finde to be sweeter then hony, and the hony combe. But while Psal. 19 19. you builde vpon the devises of your owne heart, your adversary, when the day of triall cōmeth, wil overthrow your whole building which is not grounded▪ vpon the rocke but vpon the vnsure sand.

Wherfore if you wil enter into Gods rest, & dwel safely frō the feare of evill, your heart must be purified by faith, and, as you heare dayly, faith is by hearing, & hearing by the word of God. Rom. 10. 17

If hitherto you haue beene dul of hearing, or slow of heart to beleeue this word, giue now the more diligence to heare, and to ex­ercise your selues therin: least it be taken a­way from you for your former negligence & vnthankfullnes. For so the Lord threatneth by his Propher, bebould the daies come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the lād, Amo [...]. 8. 11 12. not a famine of bread, nor a thrist for water, but of the hearing of the word of the Lord. And they shall wander from sea to sea, & from the North euen vnto the East shall they runne is & fro to seeke the word of the Lord, & shall not finde it. This is a famine more to be feared then any famine of materiall bread. For this falmine of hearing the word of God, is a tokē of re­probation, & a signe that God doth vtterly [Page 116] forsake, & cast away that people or nation where it is sent. For, when God taketh away the light of his word, what shall we find but hell [...]h darkenesse, & the shadowe of death? & this is the [...]ust iudgment of God for the vnbeliefe of them that shall nos enter into his rest.

Beholde now, therfore the accepted time, be­hold 2. Cor. 6. 1. now the day of saluation. For yet it is called to day, & yet wisedome vttereth her voice in the Heb. 3. 13. Pro. 1. 20. streets, & open assemblies of our people, & promiseth that whosoeuer obeyeth her, shall ver. 33. dwel safely & be quiet frō the fear of euil. Be hold now the Lord stadeth at the d [...]re, & knockee [...], saying, if any man heare my voice & opē the Rev. 3 20. doore, I will come in vnto him, and will supp [...] with him, & he with me.

To this Lord, that hath made his voice to be heard among vs now aboue fourty yeeres long, and yet continueth vnto vs the glorious day of his grace, be praise in the church throughout all generations for euer. Let vs humble our selues before the thrōe of grace and pray.