A VIEW OF man's estate, wherein the great mercy of God in man's free justification by Christ, is very comfortably declared.  
By Andrew Kingesmill.  
Divided into Chapters in such sort as may best serve for the commodity of the Reader.  
Whereunto is annexed a godly advise given by the Author touching marriage.  
Seen and allowed according to the order appointed.  
Imprinted at London by H. Bynneman, for Lucas Harison and George Bishop. Anno. 1574.   

To the Reader.  
THe author hereof, being a very young Gentleman, so applied the study and exercises of the civil law in the University of Oxford, that he attained as much knowledge therein as any of his time, & professed the same in keeping of public exercises with great commendation. Yet did he not forget (as many do) to seek the kingdom of God and the righteousness thereof: but so earnestly traveled to understand the mysteries of Christian religion, that he thought himself never well satisfied in any thing touching the same, until he could by word and writing give account of the truth, which he conceived. Wherefore he endeavoured to commit to memory the text of holy Scripture with such diligence in learning, and often repeating thereof, that he could readily without book rehearse in the greek tongue Paul's Epistles to the Rom. and Galat. S. john's first canonical epistle, besides other Psalms & chapters of the old & new Testament. Also he exercised himself by writing of sundry matters, that he might grow in judgement, readiness and aptness to teach other if at any time God should call him thereunto. Whereof this treatise yieldeth some proof, which he writ being about. 22. years of age: by which thou mayst conceive, what fruit the Church of God in time might have reaped of his towardness, if it had pleased god in this untoward world to prolong his days. He esteemed not so much the preferment and profit, whereunto many ways he might easily have attained by profession of law, as the comfortable assurance, and blessed hope of life eternal, which he might enjoy by the truth of the Gospel and the sincerity of God's holy religion. Therefore to further himself herein, he sought not only the exact knowledge of the greek & hebrewe tongues, but also for a time to live in some one of the best reformed Churches, where he might, both by the doctrine and discipline of the gospel, be daily confirmed in the true worshipping of God, and well prepared to the ministery of the church. So he settled himself at Geneva, where he remained, being well liked of the learned and godly, the space of three years. From whence he removed to Lausanna, where being too good for this corrupt world, he ended this mortal life in the month of September, Anno. 1569 when he had lived about. 31. years: a Phoenix among Lawyers, a rare example of godliness amongst gentlemen.   
john. 3. 
¶ God so loved the world that he hath given his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him, should not perish, but have everlasting life.  

The first Chapter.  
¶ That many seek the kingdom of God, and that men are directed to the knowledge thereof only by the word of God.  
IN the xiij of Mathewe, christ our Saviour by diverse Parables setteth forth and preacheth unto us the everlasting Kingdom of his heavenly father: and amongst other useth these similitudes, saying: The kingdom of heaven is like unto a treasure hid in the field, which when a man hath found, he hideth it, and for joy thereof departeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field. Again the kingdom of heaven is like to a merchant man that seeketh good pearls, who having found a pearl of great price went and sold all that he had, & bought it. Now I think there is none in so desperate a state, or so far fallen out with himself, but that he is very fain of the finding of such a field as is here spoken of: neither is there any so unhappy a merchant but that he would venture far so that he might come to the purchase of so precious a pearl, as to have part in the inheritance of the kingdom of heaven to enjoy the rest of God, and to devil on his holy hill: yea many will say, they will be glad to walk & wander forth the uttermost compass of the earth, so that they might at length tract & try out the field where in lieth hidden so great a treasure: and all men will profess this merchandise, not refusing the pains to travail through the whole seas, so that they might in the end assure themselves to arrive at the heavenly haven of the kingdom of God: and who is he which so far setteth the body before the soul, that be he never so rich, will not cell all to purchase that glorious jewel of eternal joy? But (a lamentable case) few there are of those feigning folk that know the right way which should lead them to that pleasant place of eternal rest: so that their questions are such and the like: Which is the way? Where lieth the path, that we may walk therein? so Christ talking of a redeemer and a Saviour unto the blind man: 
john. 9  he thus questioneth: who is the Lord that I may believe in him? So Philip standing yet in that doubt said unto Christ: Master, show us the father. 
john. 14.  Therefore concerning that question David the anointed of God speaketh by experience: Thy word is a lantern to my feet, 
Psal. 119.  and a light unto my footsteps. So David found the way even by the lightsome lantern of God's word: wherefore he maketh often and earnest request that that light might shine still before him: thus he saith: O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes: open mine eyes that I may see the wonders of thy law, make me understand the way of thy precepts, teach me O Lord the way of thy statutes. direct me in the path of thy commaunments: These were the light and the lantern, the feet and the footsteps, the way and the path whereby David was directed and conducted into the field which we are now to seek: and even that commodity whereof David protesteth so generally that he found in the word of God, shall be proved true in special experience, of those, that shall diligently mark and with earnest zeal seek to understand this short sentence spoken of our Saviour, and written by S. john for our learning, God so loved the world etc.   

The second Chapter.  
¶ How pleasantly and plainly one text of Scripture showeth the way to life eternal.  
THis is a flower containing in it such pleasant juice, that who so like a diligent be, should suck the same for his store and learning, he shall say with admiration as the Prophet doth: O Lord how sweet are thy words to my mouth? Yea he shall found that they are far sweeter than the honey or the honey comb: for behold in these words is that precious pearl to be found, I mean the promise, not to perish, here is that inestimable treasure hidden and closed up, as in these words, but have life everlasting: here is pointed out the field of faith, where we have to fetch that treasure: here is also a light set up unto us, that we do not wander in darkness, and so lose our way, 
Num. 24. Apoc. 22.  I mean Christ that bright blazing star, the true light of the world: finally here is as it were in a plot drawn out, the work of our redemption, and in a knot knit up the whole mystery of our salvation: and in handling hereof, I think it good to use that means that those do, which when they have an hard knot given them to knit the like, strait they undo the same, and so make it up again with less ado: you may say then here is a goodly warning, not to perish: a large promise, a rich pearl, a worthy treasure, to have life everlasting: but the next question is, how we may obtain those promises? here is an ordinary means expressed, answering that question, who so believeth in him. This is the field to walk in, the foot we must trust to, even the field and foot of faith: But whom? in whom shall we believe? here can we not be to seek neither. For christ setteth up himself here as a mark for our faith to shoot at: who so believeth in him. Why should we believe in him? Here is answer to that also: because he is that Prophet sent of God, the son, the only begotten son of the father, therefore aught our faith to work, and rest on him. What moved God to send that Ambassador, not to spare his dear, his only son? that cause also is not omitted: God so loved the world etc. it was his own love, his free mercy that brought this to pass: now (I think) there are no more questions to be made, no more doubts to be moved: For if all were said and understood, which concerneth these points, it were sufficient to save a soul, and to make a perfit man of God. For believe thou in Christ, as sent of God, as the son of God, considering thoroughly the love of God by him declared, then as truly as Christ is the truth and may not lie, thou standest in the state of salvation, thou hast found the field, & possessest that treasure, not to perish, but to have life everlasting.   

The third Chapter.  
¶ That the especial love of God is the chief cause of man's salvation, and that to the right knowledge thereof man's estate must be considered.  
THus the knot being undone, let us severally consider the parts and pieces thereof, that the very bowels of the matter being searched, there may a more perfect understanding grow thereof: Therefore the first step, the first entry, toward the work of our salvation, is the love of God: God so loved the world. And to consider how this love is declared towards man, therein consisteth the whole sum of our redemption. And the first consideration herein to be had, is this, as whose love it is we speak of, for it is no vain or light love of man, but an assured and steadfast love, the love of God: 
1. Epist. 4.  who is (as S. john saith) love itself. Then what love it is that is here mentioned. For God declareth his love towards us in divers sorts, and many are the benefits of God towards man, as that by him we live, we move, and have our being, he satisfieth the thirsty soul, 
Psal. 107.  and filleth the hungry soul with good things: And the servant of Abraham when he went a wooing for Isaac, told his tale unto Laban the brother of Rebecca in this wife: 
Gene. 24.  I am Abraham's servant, and the Lord hath blessed my master wonderfully, that he is become great: for he hath given him sheep and beeves, and silver and gold, and men servants and maid servants, and Camels and asses. This was a blessing & a great token of God's love, but there was a better blessing & a greater love, wherewith God embraced Abraham and his posterity, & that is it whereof S. john speaketh: God so loved the world. etc. It is a special love that is here meant, and it needeth a special consideration. Therefore that we may the better acknowledge the goodness of God in this behalf, it shall not be from the purpose to remember our first state, how God did then show himself a loving Lord towards us: then to set before us our fall, that we might understand what we are, whom God so loveth, as S. john here speaketh of love, that God should send his only begotten son to be a pledge of his love: then how the love of God did work and appear in him: finally how that love might have his full effect in us, by receiving that worthy Ambassador christ, which is (as S. john saith) by believing in him. These being treated, in whose hearts it shall happen to take root, it will be a seed that shall spring to that flower that withereth not, and fruit that fadeth not, as to have life everlasting.   

The fourth Chapter.  
¶ How the love of God appeareth in the creation of the world, and in man's first estate.  
FIrst therefore the love of God did marvelously appear in our first creation, yea before our creation: he made all things for the benefit of man, and man for his own glory, he bestowed six days labour upon man and his necessaries, as the book of Genesis reporteth: He laid the foundations of the earth, and stretched out the heavens like a curtain, he gathered the waters together, that the dry land might appear. This he did for the benefit of man, bringing all things into an uniformity, that there might be a place of habitation for man: but yet were not all things provided necessary for the maintenance of man, wherefore he stayd his creation until all such things were provided as his heavenly wisdom thought best to serve his turn, & out of these three his first creatures, the earth the firmament, and the waters, he drew out his other creatures necessary for the use and preservation of man. To the earth God said: Let the earth bud forth the bud of the herb that seedeth seed, & the fruitful trees bearing fruit according to his kind: God said that word, and it came to pass, and God saw it was good, it was good forth glory of God principally, and it was good for the commodity of man. Moreover God let the earth bring forth the living thing according to his kind, cattle and that which creepeth, and the beast of the earth, according to his kind: it was done, it was good in the sight of God, and it was good for the profit of man: of the firmament God said, let there be lights in the firmament of heaven, to give light upon the earth: Then God made two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, and the less light to rule the night, he made the stars also and set them in the firmament of the heaven to shine upon the earth: God saw that it was good, first for his own glory, then for the benefit of man. Of the waters God created the great Whales & every thing living and moving which the waters brought forth in abundance according to their kind, & every feathered foul according to his kind, & God saw all that he had made, and lo it was very good, and all these things were made, as good for the necessity of man. God made these creatures for man, yea & he made them blissed for man: saying, bring forth fruit & multiply. Now when God had thus provided all things to man's hand, & set them in so blissed estate, than came the course of our creation, than he said let us make man: & how? after what form? in what mould was he cast? In our Image (saith the almighty) according to our own likeness, not as other his creatures, & therefore that this high point of God's love, might with the deeper consideration enter our hearts, Moses repeateth it double. Thus God created man in his image, in the image of God created he him, neither did he make him sole and comfortless, but male and female created he them: neither when he had made man, strait he cast him of, & set him as it were a grazing with other his creatures, so taking no further care of him, but without long delay, he gave him his heavenly blessing, he made him a sovereign, and a ruler over all other his creatures, and straight gave him possession of them: God blessed them and said, bring forth fruit and multiply and fill the earth, and subdue it, and rule over the fish of the sea, and over the foul of the heaven, and over every beast that moveth on the earth. Now behold the love of God towards man in his first creation, God viewed all the glorious works of his fingers, and they were all pleasant in his sight, but he did most glory in man, as the perfection of all his works, wherefore he could not but delight in him, while he kept himself in that estate: man was now a blessed man when God had blessed him, and blessed every thing about him, wherefore David ravished in manner with the consideration hereof, bursteth out in vehemency of spirit, and saith: what is man (O Lord) that thou art mindful of him, 
Psal. 8.  or what is the son of man that thou visitest him? for thou hast made him a little lower than God, thou haste crowned him with glory and worship, thou makest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands, thou hast put all things under his feet, all sheep and Oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field, the fowls of the air, and the fish of the Sea, and that which passeth through the paths of the Seas: besides all this, he made him a Prince of Paradise, and placed him in a garden of pleasure, where he turned him on no side, but every eye was full of the blessing and love of God.   

The fifth Chapter.  
¶ The fall of Adam, and his miserable estate by occasion thereof.  
THus God loved the world even in his first foundation, wherein he showed manifold tokens of a fatherly favour towards man, but this was not that special love here meant, there was yet no need of that love: let us therefore now consider the occasion of this our necessity, why God should so show his mercy towards us as is here mentioned: let us search the sore, so shall the salve seem more precious. He that can not in himself find what he is of himself, let him look upon Adam, as the child on the father, and the true image of us all, so justly valueing ourselves, what we are whom God so loveth, we shall have occasion to set the greater price on that love, and it may be as a spur unto us, stirring us unto a further thankfulness. Now therefore when God had so mercifully dealt with Adam, settling him in that place of pleasure, giving him such liberty as these words do import: 
Gene. 2.  Thou shalt eat freely of every tree of the Garden: yet least the pot might set up himself against the potter, lest by presumption man should advance and equal himself with his creator, it was the good pleasure of the almighty God to give him this bridle to bite on, and to keep down that stomach which he foresaw would shortly swell with pride, so to restrain his liberty, as in those words is expressed. But as touching the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it, for whensoever thou eatest thereof, thou shalt die the death. This was the holy commandment of our heavenly father, which it had been the part of man willingly to have obeyed, always to have observed, never to have resisted: so might he have kept his possession in Paradise. For all the benefits which God had most plentifully bestowed upon man, he desired but this one thing, that is, 
1. Sam. 15.  obedience to his william. This was a sacrifice wherewith he would be pleased: he hath always cried for obedience, even from the first man hither unto: but he could never get it at any man's hands, excepting Christ the righteous. For Adam how did he behave himself? what obedience showed he? he stopped his ear at the voice of the living God his loving Lord, who dealt so mercifully and liberally with him, it was forgotten which God said, thou shalt die, and that voice of the serpent, ye shall not die, how soon did that enter the ear? For the man he gave ear to the Woman, the Woman to the Serpent, they broke the commandment, they eat of the excepted tree: so the blind led the blind, and they fell together into the ditch, they become subject to the curse of God, who called them to account for their disobedience, and gave to every one his several curse: here is the point, here lieth the matter a bleeding: this is the old sore (as they say) bred in the bone, that will never be gotten out of the flesh, passing man's cunning to cure, without a special remedy provided of God. O Adam how wert thou bewitched? thou wert once in an high and heavenly estate, but thou art fallen flat to the earth: thou wert sure in Paradise, but now thou art endangered to become a firebrand of hell: it was sweet meat perchance thou tastedst, but thou shouldest have remembered the sour sauce that followed. Could not these blessings and manifold benefits, received of thy creator, cool thy presumptuous courage? could not the fear of falling into the contrary plagues and calamities stay thy wilful appetite? O how didst thou forget that threatening, thou shalt die the death, that double death, the due reward of thy sin? But thou shouldest have been obedient: obedience had been the way to have kept thee upright, but now thou hast received thy wages, the wages for sin is death. 
Rom. 6.  Whilst thou keptst thyself within the bounds which thy loving Lord had appointed for thee, then waste thou an happy Adam: O thank God for that: now art thou unhappy and in misery, thank thyself, thyself will sin for that. Thou waste once in the favour of God, he showed himself a most favourable father unto thee, whilst thou behavedest thyself as an obedient child: but now hath he justly turned thee of. Thou wast once the free friend of God, but now art become the sworn servant of sin, and bondslave of Satan: this is spoken as by the mouth of God. 
john. 15.  Then are you my friends, if you do what I command you: now therefore art thou an enemy unto God because thou hast neglected his holy commandment: whosoever committeth sin, is the servant of sin: 
john. 8.  therefore art thou Adam out of God's service: he that sinneth is of the Devil: thou haste sinned Adam, 
1. john. 3.  therefore art thou not of God. Thou didst once receive a blessing at God's hand, thou didst feel no part of pain, God cared altogether for thee, thou tookest no care for thyself, thou wast warm without clotheses, naked without shame, satisfied without travel, thy meat was put into thy mouth, God had so blessed every thing for thee, that the earth, the herbs, the trees, the cattle, the fowls, the fish, they gave thee their fruit and yielded their increase of their own accord, in the mean while mightest thou take thy pleasure in thy garden: but now thou haste sinned Adam, therefore must thou harden thy hands to labour, thou must set thy shoulders to heavy burdens, thou must buy thy bread dearly with the sweat of thy face: this might have been foreseen: hadst thou not sinned, thou needest not have sweated: but there is no remedy that man may find. Thou art sick Adam, thou art sick unto death, thou hast provoked the wrath of God, thou hast caused him to pour out his vengeance, and to open his cup of curses. O behold how the wrath of God being once kindled, overrunneth the whole world, for the disobedience of man: see what a flame riseth of the burning spark of sin: 
john. 9  As before in obedience man was blessed, so in disobedience, of the justice of God must he needs be cursed: hearken therefore unto the dreadful judgement and hard sentence pronounced upon disobedience Adam, thus saith the Lord, 
Gene. 3.  because thou hast eaten of the tree which I commanded thee thou shouldest not eat of, Cursed is the earth for thy sake, in sorrow shalt thou eat of it, all the days of thy life, thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth unto thee, in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return to the earth, thou art dust, and to dust thou shalt return again. O lamentable fall, O pitiful case, wherein thou now standest (Adam) so clad and clogged with the intolerable burden of sin, so overwhelmed with the bloody floods of God's vengeance and curses, so pitifully and plentifully poured out upon thy head, and besides this he may no longen enjoy his paradise, he is dispossessed thereof, he is banished, he is turned abroad into the wide world, whereas now he might not so much as come near the tree of knowledge of good and evil, for the which he ventured so far, neither might any longer enjoy any part of that liberty, as to eat of all other the trees and fruits of the garden, & lost also the fight of the tree of life. These are the wages of sin paid as debt due unto a sinful and disobedient man: Let us therefore by this know ourselves what we are: What is Adam? he is but dust, he is hated of GOD, he is ashamed of himself, he is cursed, he is sick with sin, he is dead, he is twice dead, subject to mortality, and subject to eternal damnation. Cry out then (Adam) give thy Children warning, that they may know themselves, tell them in what case thou standest, and what an inheritance thou hast purchased for them. Thus saith your father (O children of men) he that hath cares to hear, let him hear. I was once a man, a free man, a blessed man, full of life as God had breathed into me, the light shining round about me, the mercy of God embracing me on every side: if I beheld the earth, there was blessing for me, engraved as it were in the herbs, the flowers & the fruits thereof, turning me to the firmament, there I saw the sun, the moon, the stars, in them was God to be seen a blessed God, likewise in the waters there were innumerable tokens of Gods tender mercy towards me: so far was I in the favour of my creator, I might stand in his presence enjoying his joyful countenance, yea, he made me like unto his own Image: 
Psal. 49.  But alas wretch that I am, when I was in honour knew not myself, forgot my duty, & become far unlike to my God, not like to myself, but altogether like unto a beast, yea, rather worse than a beast, for behold the dull ore he knoweth his owner, 
Esay. 1.  & the simple Ass he knoweth his master's crib: but I man, nay the shadow of man, a very worm & no man, I could not bear the yoke of my creator, I would not hearken unto his voice, I denied him my service, I have sinned I have sinned, therefore I am worthily rewarded: I presumed & am therefore brought low: I advanced myself, & therefore I am thrown down: I have eaten without need, & therefore I am subject to hunger, I pine away for desire of the fruit of that pleasant garden, I thirst as the Heart after the waters of those sweet running rivers, I am become of the son of God the child of wrath, I am clean altered, I have lost the light, I walk in darkness, of a blessed creature I am become a cursed caitiff: Where may I rest myself? I have sinned, and my sin is ever before me, against thee alone, against thee (Lord) have I sinned: I dare not present, myself in thy presence, I tremble at thy voice, I am ashamed of myself. Wither then may I flee? what stay may I find? I sink in sin. O that sting of death, how it pierceth me. O death, O grave, yours is the victory, and thou Satan mine enemy how ruefully thou roarest? thou standest with open mouth ready to devour me, & I find yet no defence: Thou subtle serpent that drewest me into this net, how thou spettest thy poison, how busy art thou about my heel? how fast hangest thou? how suckest thou my blood? O that I could shake thee of, or that I might bruise thy head: And thou Eve, which shouldest be my comfort, thou hast as much need of comfort thyself, thou shouldest have comforted me, but thou hast deceived me, and thyself also, we are become a cursed couple, and with my creator I find this comfort, thou shalt die the death: verily it had been better for me never to have been made, than so to have fallen into the hands of the living God. This might be a true confession of Adam's folly, and the description of his estate after his fall: wherein we have to consider what we are of ourselves without Christ, even as it were sworn enemies, and at utter defiance with God.   

The sixth Chapter.  
¶ That all Adam's posterity are joined with him in the same guiltiness of sin, and so stand in the same miserable estate.  
NOw the matter standing at this stay, if God did so stretch his mercy, as that he would vouchsafe to take us into his favour again, & to make atonement with us, if we may perceive him notwithstanding our frowardness to receive us as his children, then if we did not worthily esteem that love, we were worthy double damnation. But let every man be thus minded that he standeth in case like with Adam. Let every one consider his necessity and search his wound, and see what need he hath of such a medicine: for some peradventure there be, having so little taste of the truth, that they will say: what tell ye me of Adam? what have I to do with him? Other not considering their own infirmity, in whom the inposthume of sin lieth so hidden, that they will bear themselves as whole and sound, whereas within like painted sepulchres, they are full of corruption, having nothing in them to show when they shall come to be opened, but rusty and rotten bones, and such sayings proceed from them as do declare their hollow hearts puffed up with painted hypocrisy and double dissimulation: These men will say I am not like Adam, or if I had been in Adam's case, I would have looked better before I had made so rash a leap: But, O thou man, dissemble not with God, judge thyself least thou be judged of the Lord: search the bottom of thy conscience, take thy glass in thine hand: is it a true glass? what then findest thou there but the very face of Adam, be it never so well coloured? It is true, it is to true, every one of us are fallen, we have sinned every mother's child, as truly as we are the seed of sinful Even, it is but vain to say this, if I had been in Adam's coat, for we have each one of us in our coats clothed a sinful Adam: or to say, if I had been in his case, for every man's skin is the case of a sinner: Nay we may not so rid our hands, we can not wash our fingers so clean but that pitch of sin will stick fast what soever face be set on the matter. O thou man that yet knowest not thyself, that art so benumbed of thy senses, that thou feelest not the serpent which lieth gnawing at thy heel, which sleepest in a dead slumber, and feelest not the sting of death fast fired in thy flesh, which breedest in thy breast the consuming worm of sin: awake out of thy slumber, stand up and harken to the cry of Esdras in his disputation with the Angel: 
2. Esdr. 7.  O Adam (saith he) what hast thou done? for in that thou haste sinned, thou art not fallen alone, but thy fall also redoundeth unto us that come of thee: and so saith the Apostle: that by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so went death over all men, for as much as all men have sinned: this flood of sin, it goeth with a higher stream than the flood of No, that went even over the top of the Ark, for so saith S. john, the whole world is set on wickedness. Thus do they say of us, and we can make no better of ourselves: we are lost, every one of us have gone astray, we have lost ourselves in the wild wood of worldly wickedness, following that blind guide our own wilful appetite, Adam he gave the first onset, and we broke not the array: he broke the ice, and we are leapt into the ditch: we are all hung on one hook like fish taken with the bait, for we have tasted of the cup of short sweet concupiscence: and as Esdras saith, 
2. Esdr. 8.  we and our fathers have all one disease, meaning sin that shrew amongst the sheep of God's pasture: we are all sick of sin, that is, the grief that Esdras complaineth of. jeremy. 31. The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children's teeth are set on edge withal. This Proverb did the people use in the time of jeremy, murmuring against God, as though they were punished for the offence of their fathers: But thus saith the Lord: every one shall die for his own iniquity, every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge. Now what father, what child is it that hath not tasted of the sour grape of sin? David maketh thy confession: we have sinned, we have done wickedly with our fathers: reckon all the children to the last, all the fathers to the first, who is it that hath not eaten with Adam? the Apple, that grape, it sticketh yet in our teeth, we are all choked with the core of carnal concupiscence: that subtle counsel of the Serpent which deceived the first man, it will also deceive the last, that venom hath infected the whole race, the whole brood of Adam's birds: David he thus saith, of no worse man than himself, I was borne in iniquity, 
Psal. 51.  and in sin hath my mother conceived me: Behold no sooner conceived in Eve, but as soon deceived of the Serpent: and this hath God to lay against us as he doth against the Israelites: Thy first father hath sinned, 
Esay▪ 43.  and thy teachers have transgressed against me. Seeing then we have tasted one meat, seeing that we have sucked sin of the forbidden fruit, what may we look for but to be served of the same sauce, even that bitter gall the dreadful curse of God to turn to dust, and to die the death: In this state stand we, unless God take pity on us, we are fallen, we lie flat on our faces, we are become dusty & deadly, we can not help ourselves, but as the bird taken in the net, we lie fast fettered, our own eyes not serving us to espy any way to wind out, we are not able to move our feeble legs, nor to stretch forth our weary hands, our souls are sick, our hearts are faint, we must needs yield to our enemy, and be taken as prisoners of Satan that fierce Serpent and fiery Dragon.   

The seventh Chapter.  
¶ That the sin wherewith God may charge every one of us can neither be bidden by us, nor excused by blaming any other.  
Now by this we may consider our fall, that we are lost without some special remedy, and that we have no part in Paradise, we are in darkness without light, sick for sin, panting for breath, and bleeding to death. But yet before we despair, let us look about us, & see whither we can espy any hook to hung our hope on, let us confer and take counsel with our father Adam what is to be done: if there appear any staff to stay on let us there catch hold, if we have any thing to say for ourselves, it is good to speak in time. What then shall we say? how shall we begin with God? let him that thinketh himself best speak first: will he say thus: I am righteous, I walk uprightly, I have recovered myself with good works: either I am not fallen, either I have deserved to be restored again? Such indeed was the saying of the Pharisie justifying himself, 
Luke. 18.  so he laid out before God his farthel of fastings, his rusty pack of alms and tithes: but how sped he? the nearer the Church he made himself to be, the further he was from GOD, he departed home righteous in his own eyes, but so much the more unrighteous before GOD. O play not the pharisees, forget not yourselves whose children you are, what else but the child of perdition, O earth, earth, that thou shouldst make so much of thyself. Nay this is not the way to recover the lost Paradise: this was that fools Paradise whereinto the galatians were brought, and wherefore S. Paul rebuketh them: O ye foolish galatians, who hath bewitched you? 
Gala. 3  are ye foolish (saith he) to seek your perfection in your flesh? Take heed then. S. Paul counteth thee but for a fool, if thou go that way to work, as to say mine own deserts shall raise me up from my fall: no it will be but a vain brag in thee, and the increase of thy sin, to say, I have no sin, 
1. john. 1.  that were but to prove thyself a liar: for if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us, nay, in so saying we make God a liar, so far as lieth in us: this therefore is but a stolen feather, belonging to a better bird, it is the arms of our heavenly king Christ, it is his ensign wherewith he triumpheth over his enemies to say this: who of you is able to reprove me of any sin? let us not rob Christ of his honour, let us not make Gods of ourselves: for who is good but God? To say that we are guiltless before the judgement seat of God, in that we shall have a thousand witnesses against us, even our own conscience crying and convincing us: it were a better way to confess ourselves sinners, for that way there may be some hope: for if we acknowledge our sins, God is merciful to forgive us, 
1. john. 1.  and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness: This way did the holiest of all take: for what saith David that chosen of God, 
Psal. 51.  he crieth: against thee, against thee only have I sinned, and my sin is ever before me: this was the confession of the father, and his wise son Solomon whom God had endued with such gifts, what hath he to say but guilty? 
1. King. 9  wherefore he maketh his prayer, and as it were aforehand bespeaketh the mercy of God for him and his people, for he foresaw (as he saith) that there is no man which sinneth not: and he maketh this question: 
prover. 10.  who can say I have made mine heart clean, I am clean from sin? And job a just man (as the market of man's justice goeth) he saith unto God holding up his hand: I have sinned, what shall I do unto thee? 
job. 7.  And Paul the elect vessel, doth not he also say guilty, when he protesteth thus of himself: I know that in me, 
Rom. 7.  that is, in my flesh there dwelleth no good thing: nay he felt the burden of sin so heavy on his back, that it causeth him to cry with a great groan and deep sigh: O wretch that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death. And that holy Apostle Peter what said he but guilty, when he said unto our Saviour, depart from me (O Lord) I am a sinful man. Let us therefore follow the wise counsel of the wise son of Syrach. My son (saith he) justify not thyself before the Lord, 
Cap. 7.  for he knoweth thine heart: This account therefore must we make of ourselves: we are bore Adams, and naked eves, we have nothing to hide our sins, but the more we seek to cloak them, the more they do appear, our own works they be but fig leaves, they will not hide our nakedness, we shall be ashamed of them, and will be feign to hide our heads from the presence of the Lord, when the cool of the day cometh, that he will call us to account. But why do I compare them to fig leaves? the Prophet hath made a meeter comparison of them: what is our righteousness like unto? it is almost a shame to speak of them as they deserve: they are (saith he) like unto a cloth bespotted with the flowers of a woman. O shameless hypocrites that can present the most holy God, with the shameful clouts and filthy rags of their own righteousness, and offer that a price of their redemption. Hath not God then left a law of righteousness by the which we shall be judged? Yea verily. But who will stand to the trial thereof that he hath kept that law? he that thinketh that justification cometh this way, let him hearken a little to the doctrine of S. Paul. 
Rom. 3.  By the law (saith he) cometh the knowledge of sin, that is, it proveth us guilty, it convinceth us of unrighteousness: and there is the office of the law: but concerning our justification, we know (saith he) that what soever the law saith, it saith it to them which are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world found culpable before GOD. And this is his conclusion: therefore by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. Nay let us not take this way, let us rather crave a pardon than plead the law: for that we see is a bone that choketh us all: if we stand upon the plea, we are sure to be cast in the great debt of sin, and after to be thrown in that prison of darkness, never to be let lose again, not not till we have paid the uttermost farthing. Yet than we slide, we fall, here is no hold to be had, no rest to be found: which way then shall we now turn us? Shall we seek excuses to cloak our offences? Shall we say this man or that man provoked me to wickedness? had not this cause been, I had not transgressed: neither will this cloak serve us, it is not able to keep off the smoking rain of God's wrath, which is poured down out of heaven upon all unrighteousness. This way was first of all said, but it would not prevail with God: for when God called Adam to reckoning and said, why hast thou eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat? then did Adam put it over to Eve and so said, the woman which thou gavest to me, she brought of the tree and I did eat: then God called the woman, saying, why hast thou done this, and she laid the blame upon the Serpent, having no more to say but this: The Serpent beguiled me and I did eat. But God held not Adam excused by Eve, nor Eve by the Serpent, every one of them beareth his iniquity, and they drink all of one cup, that is, of the curse of God: so he that giveth evil counsel, shall have the reward of evil, and he that followeth evil counsel, because he hath sinned, he must be paid with the wages of sin: here then are we as far to seek as at the first, 
Without Christ is naught but desperation.  here then are we as far out of the way as before, here is no sure ground for us to stand on, yet that sting of death sticketh as deep in us as ever it did.   

The eight Chapter.  
¶ The distress and despair of man, in the view of his own wickedness.  
How then? is there no remedy to be found? must we needs lie still sweeting in the grease of our own fleshly wickedness? is there none to deliver us from this body of death? if it be so, then suck on Serpent, than death take thy pleasure, then crave thy right: grave open thy mouth: Hell swallow up thy portion: for thou God haste forsaken us, thou hast yielded up all thy right: whither shall we flee then? where may we find rest for our souls? Thy face (thou mighty one) is always against us: we sweat, we burn, we fry with the fury of wrath, all places are to hot for man to rest on, so is thine indignation kindled. If I say I have done justly, than thou reprovest me as a liar: 
Psal. 130.  if I have sinned than thou wilt straightly look unto me, and wilt not hold me guiltless of mine iniquity, and seeing thou markest iniquity straightly, who shall abide it? 
job. 10.  wherefore then hath thine hands fashioned me? O that I had perished in my conception and that none eye had seen me, and that I were as I had not been, that my grave had been my mother: behold I go and shall not return, even to the land of darkness, into a land I say dark as darkness it self, into the shadow of death, where is no order, but the light is there as darkness, my days are as the smoke, and my life as the shadow. O ye worms I am your food, O corruption thou art my father, O death thou art my mother, out of thee was I taken, and into thee I return, to thee I bequeath that which I had from thee, this lump of earth, this mass of flesh. To whom shall I betake my spirit? I may not long possess it myself, seeing thou wilt not have it (thou holy one) I must needs yield it up as a pray unto mine enemy.   

The ninth Chapter.  
¶ That christ from the beginning hath been, is, and shall be the only stay and comfort of all sorts of men.  
But thou son of man stay thee a while in patience, do not so give over thy soul, as to say thy sin is greater than it may be forgiven: humble thyself, acknowledge thy rebellion, but despair not, cast not thyself headlong into Hell: is there no remedy to be found on earth? then lift up thine eyes to heaven: there is a comfort, there is a comfort coming, there is a saving health in hand: thy wound is great indeed, but there is a strong medicine a tempering: thy fall was grievous, but thy rising up shall be as wonderful: many and mighty are thine enemies, but there is one that shall fight for thee, whose name is the Lord of Hosts, and he shall subdue all power. Behold thy creator hath not utterly cast thee off, thou hast found favour in his sight. S. john saith, God loveth the world, yea, such store of mercy there is with God, that although we were his enemies, yet he is become our God again, 
Gene. 8.  and will stand an enemy against our enemies, and although he seeth that the imagination of man's heart is evil even from his youth, yet he doth not utterly cast us off: Go to then Lord we beseech thee, we have seen thy judgements how terrible they are, we are full fed with the gall of thy bitter vengeance, now if it be thy good pleasure, turn thy face from our sins, and blot out our offences, created in us a new heart, renew a right spirit in our bowels, show thyself once again a merciful God, we know we are not worthy to be called thy children, we have sinned against heaven and against earth, they bore part of our curse: against thee, against thee have we sinned: but if it be thy good pleasure, turn thy loving countenance towards us. Surely there is mercy with God, he hath heard the groanings and afflictions of his people, he is moved with compassion and pity towards us: behold we that were shattered in pieces, lying still in the sound of sin and buried up in death, the Lord of his infinite goodness, goeth about together us up and to set us upright again, he intendeth to cast Adam in a new mould, and to make him a new creature, not of earth earthly, but of heaven heavenly. For there is a Lamb a killing, whose blood shall wash away our sins, there is a stone framing, it shall be laid in Zion, it shall fall upon our enemy, it shall grind his head and crush it in pieces, we are but heel hurted, but he shall be wounded on the head. And it shall be thine own child (Adam) thine own seed (Eve) that shall thus subdue the Serpent. So good and gracious is the Lord, he promiseth a victory, his own mouth hath spoken it, and with his mighty hand hath he brought it to pass: for God so loveth the world that he hath sent: what hath he sent? even that saving seed, that innocent Lamb provided from the beginning, he hath sent his only begotten son bringing with him that pearl, not to perish, with that heavenly treasure, to have life everlasting: here then may we cast anchor, all other remedies failing us, this is it we must trust unto, this is the sure pledge of God's favour towards us, without this comfort we had been altogether comfortless, but now is our joy full and plenteous. This is that joyful tidings sent from heaven, brought by the Angel, belonging to all, as well as to those joyful shepherds: 
Luke. 2.  be not afraid (saith the angel) for behold I bring you tidings of great joy, that shall be to all the people, that unto you this day is borne a Saviour in the city of David, which is Christ. O glorious day, wherein shineth such a sun, the very sun of God, the bright sun of righteousness: in that day so bright were the beams of the sun, that they shined even into the dim eyes of Abraham: 
john. 8.  this was the glorious day which he saw with such joy. Now by this is God truly become the God of Abraham, Isaac, and jacob: here is the performance of the heavenly promise and blessed bargain made for him & us all betwixt Abraham and his God: for when it might seem a hope against hope, that aged Abraham should have any such seed, & the Lord knew that Sara would laugh and wonder at his word, yet the Lord of his love wherewith he loved the world, established his covenant with them, that in them sholude all nations be blessed, (yea, we of England & Ireland, have our part in this blessing) and of Sara Kings also should come. And to confirm us in opinion that this is the very true promised seed by the which Abraham should become a blessed father, and we his happy Children: and by the which Adam should subdue the Serpent, S. Paul proveth unto us arguing of the form of the promise, he saith, 
Gala. 3  not to the seeds (as speaking of many) but, and to thy seed, as of one, as though he had said: of all the Kings coming of Sara, yet was there but one by whom we shall obtain the kingdom of heaven, of all the seed of Abraham which was innumerable as the stars of the heaven, and the sand of the Sea shore, yet was there but one seed which brought this blessing with it, and that was as he there saith, only christ, and as S. john here speaketh, the only begotten son of God: for it was not that earthly Isaac, that fleshly son of Sara: but it is this heavenly Isaac, the only begotten son of God, that bringeth his blessing on his back, neither was it that jacob the begotten of Isaac, but the only begotten of God in whom the promise was performed: this is that wise wary jacob, that supplanteth and undermineth all envious Esau's: this is the mighty and sturdy Israel, that subdueth all powers, to whom all knees (be they never so stiff) shall crouch here beneath and above in earth, in hell, and in heaven: this is the very seed out of which springeth all blessing, all that are blessed among the begotten of men, it is by this begotten of God, this seed blesseth both the begetting and begotten, the son and the father, the first as Alpha, and the last as Omega: 
Alpha. Omega.  without this heavenly jacob, had that been but a detested Esau, and not a beloved jacob: without this Isaac, had that other been in worse case than wild Ishmael, and in this Isaac stood the chief joy of Abraham, yea before Abraham was, this Isaac was: for but in respect of him had blessed Shem been an accursed Ham: it is written that Noah found grace in the sight of the Lord: 
Gene. 6.  had it not been for this gracious Lord, he had not found such grace, for it was the hope of this grace given by christ that bore the Ark, and saved him from those roaring floods. And this Isaac stood by Abel shadowing him with his blessing, while Cain was cursed: and this is the self seed that saveth Adam from the serpent. And that blessed among women the mother of our saviour, wherein stood her blessedness but in that the Angel said: Thou hast found favour with God, for lo, thou shalt conceive in thy womb & bear a son, and shalt call his name jesus: 
Luke. 1.  and she of herself: from henceforth shall all nations call me blessed. From that time when God had so showed his favour, as that she was overshadowed by the power of the highest, and had conceived that fruit of the womb, then from that time become she blessed, and not she only, but all those nations calling her blissed have part with her in the blessed seed, in the conceived fruit jesus. This therefore is the love, wherewith God so loveth us, that he sending his only begotten son, his dearly beloved christ, we stand in possibility to become the blessed sons of blessed Abraham: let us therefore the children with our father rejoice in this day, whereof the Angel speaketh, and whereof the Lord himself saith: Thou art my son, 
Psal. 2.  this day have I begotten thee: This day was such, as many Kings and Prophets desired to see, yea happy were they that were so happy as to hope for this day: for all the blessed among the fathers rested in this hope? This was the comfort of jacob's feeble spirit now entering into the grave, for thus he gloried before his son joseph visiting him in Egypt in his sickness, and to him was it joyful tidings to hear that saying at his father's mouth: 
Gene. 48.  God almighty appeared unto me at Luze in the land of Canaan and blessed me, in the which blessing was contained the promise of the hoped and performed saviour: and a little before his last breath, he declareth his hope by these words: O Lord I have waited for thy salvation: 
Gene. 49.  and this was the comfort wherewith the prophets comforted themselves and the people of God: declaring it in such sort as though the insensible creatures, the heavens and the earth, the mountains and the valleys should be refreshed withal: such was the prophecy of Esaye. 
Cap. 49.  Rejoice O heavens, and be joyful O earth, burst forth into praise O mountains, for God hath comforted his people, and will have mercy on his afflicted. And by the prophet Zacharie thus said the Lord: Rejoice with great joy O daughter Zion, 
Cap. 5.  shout for joy O daughter jerusalem, behold thy King cometh unto thee, And by Micheas: And thou Bethléem in the land of juda art not the lest among the Princes of juda, for out of thee shall come the governor that shall feed my people Israel: and to the comfort of the gentiles thus he saith, speaking as it were to his christ: Behold thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, 
Esay. 55.  and a nation that knew not thee shall run unto thee, because of the Lord thy God, and the holy one of Israel: thus was christ always a comfort for the hope of the fathers to rest upon, and by him was their hope full with joy: So did God love them his chosen of Israel, that he hath sent them the governor that should feed his people, he hath sent them the good shepherd that should save the lost sheep. But this love is such that it resteth not in the compass of jerusalem, for S. john saith, it is the love wherewith God loved the world. God hath sent his son and he hath sent him, as well for the light and joy of the Gentle, as for the glory of the jew: and we that knew not God may now know him: and now if faith fail not, it shall please God as well to be called the God of England as the God of Israel: for he hath sent the promised seed of Abraham, that shall bless the one nation as well as the other, and he hath sent his son to bestow his love upon all parts of the world, that in him all people should be blessed.   

The tenth Chapter.  
¶ What christ is, and in what state he wrought the work of our salvation.  
Now this hitherunto spoken, we have been thus far in the favour of God, and have tasted how gracious the Lord is, that we know, even for the love he beareth unto us, he hath sent us a redeemer which shall be a reconciliation for us, and shall quicken us lying in the shadow of death, that we might not perish, but live for ever: and who it is that he maketh our redeemer, as by the flesh the blessed seed of Abraham, a true man, and yet the only begotten son of God, him he hath not spared to make a Messenger of salvation unto the world, and this we know that God hath not given him to any other, rather than to us, he is our Saviour, if we be so happy as to receive him, for we being graffed in Christ are members of that world which God so loveth: Now adding to this, the knowledge by what means Christ wrought this reconciliation, how he hath throughly appeased the wrath of the father which we see was so kindled against us, and understanding what price he paid for our redemption, then shall the love of God appear unto us by a brighter light, & as it were in a clear sun shining. Our Saviour saith, my father worketh and I work, we have seen the work proper to the father, in that he hath sent the son, and thus far forward we see our Saviour in his work, as that according to the determinate will of the father, he is come down into the earth, and hath debased himself to the base estate of our frail flesh, so by this, the work of our regeneration is in a goodly forwardness, now doth Adam begin to move himself, to wax warm, and to revive with a new spirit: here lieth the Serpent a bleeding, but by this is not the victory gotten. Let us see then how Christ quitteth himself, and revengeth our quarrel. What force? what weapons doth he use? far other than man would imagine. He overcometh with kindness: his armour is preaching, pains, patience, shame, rebuke, reproach, hard handling, evil entreaty, taunts in the teeth, and slanderous reports, scorns and scourgings, false accusations, unjust judgement, and in the end, bitter and bloody death. This was the marvelous working of God, that our Saviour should pass those hard pikes to save us from the sword of the enemy. And behold as soon as he entered into the world, he strait gave the onset, he felt incontinently of our infirmities: for see the Lord of David, the King of Kings in his birth how simply he lieth wrapped in swaddling clouts: Thus is it described in the Gospel. A stable was his best house, and a cratch his Cradle, 
Luke. 2.  for (saith the Evangelist) there was no room for him in the Inn: whose was the earth, and the store thereof, at whose commandment were the heavens, there was no room for him to rest in. Well therefore might that complaint be made to the confusion of unkind & beastly man. The Foxes have holes, 
Math. 8.  and the birds of heaven have nests, but the son of man how is he entreated? he hath not whereon to rest his head: Neither was he suffered to have that little room with rest, but he was feign to flee touch, and to avoid from Bethléem into Egypt, as when Herode in his fury sent forth his slaughter men, and bloody butchers, with this commandment, that they should slay all the male children that were in Bethléem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, seeking thereby (as it was forewarned by the Angel) to murder the child jesus, whom he heard should be borne King of the jews. Such a welcome had our Saviour into the world: and afterward in process of time being conversant in Jerusalem, and the country about, with what travel preached he the kingdom of God? & how few received that glad tidings? how many a miracle did he? and what thanks had he? and how small were the number of such as believed, and would be content to be called the followers of christ, not disdaining the name of a Christian? Now when he was most busy about the work of our salvation, as when he was most occupied in feeding with the word, and converting by miracles, the report that many made of him, it was no better, but that his own held him as a stranger, some said he was a sinner, 
Luke. 7.  some a seducer of the people, some a glutton and a drinker of wine, some a man stark mad, yea, & some gave him this good word, that he wrought by the power of Belzebub: Bitter words for the son of God: yet this was his patience to bear. Of the better sort, some took him for Elias, some for john Baptist, and some were so good as to call him a Prophet, but few were there found of faithful Peter'S, that judged so right of him, as to say: Thou art the son of the living God. And with whom had our saviour his conversation here on earth? he was to be had in such reputation, as of whom the almighty father forespoke by this Prophet, even him that was both a king and a Prophet: I have set my king upon Zion mine holy mountain: 
Psal. 2.  and such a one was he, as David acknowledged to be his Lord and sovereign: The Lord said unto my Lord, 
Psal. 110.  sit thou at my right hand. etc. It had been therefore the part of Princes to have been always in his presence, and the duty of Kings to have kept him company, or rather to have attended on him, as whose shoe latched they were not worthy to unloose: But true is the Prophet in his saying. 
Psal. 2.  The Kings and Princes of the earth they assembled and bent themselves against him: there was no company nor comfort with them for the meek King of Zion and the poor Prince of jerusalem. For we see how Herode persecuted and hunted him, as the Fox the sheep, from Bethléem to Egypt, from one place to another, and it was treason to Caesar's person to call Christ a King, he might not be taken for Caesar's friend that would speak on Christ's part to maintain his kingdom. But our saviours kingdom was not of this world, 
john. 19  therefore no marvel though the kings of the earth were so cruelly set against him: Our saviour was also the anointed of God, a Prince, and a princely Priest for ever, of whose body Melchisedech was the shadow, he was that Doctor admitted and authorized to teach, with that heavenly and thundering voice of the father, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased, hear him: it would have beseemed therefore those high priests, looked they never so high, that ruffling guard of pharisees, those great Doctors the Scribes, to have had their conversation with him, of whom they should receive their salvation: if they had hearkened to him then might they have reckoned themselves wise, if they had followed that good shepherd, then might they have gloried truly, as otherwise they did vainly, that they had been the leaders of the blind. But Christ was not for their tooth, neither any meet man for their company, he was a stone cast aside of those builders, although he approved himself the chief corner stone: they could not reprove him, yet they refused him: they might found no fault with him, yet he could found no favour with them, he put them many times to silence, and stopped their mouths in reasoning and argument, yet they spared no words in misreporting him: he sought all means to win them, yet they disdained him as one unworthy to have place amongst them: for when that carnal spirituality, the high Priests and presumptuous pharisees saw that christ and his doctrine began somewhat to be accepted of the people, they thinking that a derogation to their worships, 
john. 7.  sent out their officers to take Christ as he was teaching in the temple: but these officers although they came with full purpose to have apprehended our saviour, yet so were they ravished with his heavenly preachings and wonderful words flowing from him so plentifully, that they had no power to do their purpose, but returned again making this answer to their masters, never man spoke like this man: but so was not the malice of those hypocrites stayed, and with such words they stormed and stamped against him continually, saying unto those their messengers: are ye also deceived? doth any of the Rulers, and of the pharisees believe in him? but this people which know not the law are cursed: So did the Serpent deceive them that they did still spit their venom against that unspotted lamb that sought their salvation: they held him accursed that followed Christ: this suffered our Saviour: the high Priests could not look so low as to entertain him amongst them: the pharisees and Scribes in their own conceit were to wise, to holy and to good, to take him into their company, it should have stained their good name to be called Christians, it was not for their worships to have professed themselves the disciples of christ: so was our saviour an abject, an outcast, and made of no reputation, he was disdained both of Priest and Prince, and this is marvelous in our eyes. But it was the good will of God, so to provide for us, that we should not perish: for Christ hereby hath approved himself the true anointed, the self saviour and very Messiah, and David also a true Prophet, 
Psal. 118.  saying: that the head stone of the corner should be refused of the builders: they made no more of Christ than a stone to stumble and to spurn at: where then had our saviour his conversation? he betook himself (as he disdained not the name of a physician coming to have the sick) even to be amongst Publicans and sinners: there was his company to visit poor Publicans, and to save simple sinners that was his comfort. This was the comfortable tidings that he had to sand john Baptist into prison, The blind see, the halt go, 
Luke. 7.  the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead rise again: This was his guard, he was still busy about these, the blind, the Leper, the lame, the deaf and the dead: in the mean space where was the rich, the wise and the wealthy? Nay they would not be taken for Christ's soldiers: but the poor (saith he) receive the glad tidings of the Gospel: and happy it was that all fell not beside, but that there stood some at receipt to receive the precious seed sown by our saviour: thus we see a great piece of the love of God working in his son our saviour: for what love is this, that the son of God should so humble himself to set us in honour with his heavenly father, but yet the greatest piece of love, and the chief token of god's mercy towards us, is yet behind, and that which is unspoken is more than all that heretofore hath been spoken: & that doth S. Paul set forth after a most reverent sort, howbeit no man may utter it with worthy words: that place which I mean is in the second to the Philippians whom he exhorteth by the example of Christ to humility, and wherein for our purpose is to be seen the love of God working in his only begotten, even to the uttermost point that may be imagined within all the compass of love, and in that he proceedeth by degree, gathering up in short sum all which is spoken in our former words concerning our saviour, that it might enter into us with a deeper consideration: this is his saying: let the same mind be in you that was even in Christ jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it no robbery to be equal with God, but he made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made like unto men, and was found in shape as a man: Here let us stay a while, and divide Paul's sentence, keeping back that which followeth, until we have somewhat considered this part of God's love, Christ the son of God a very God, a glorious God equal with the father, (and no wrong neither) is come down from the bright heavens to the bore earth, is content to be made of man's metal, taking on him very flesh, well pleased to be cast in the mould and simple shape of man, no whit disdaining the womb of a woman, content to be called the seed of Eve, and laying aside his glory, and as it were hiding his godhead, emptied himself of all honour, becoming of the son of God the son of man, like unto man, a very man, a servant of men, and what else but a slave, to save men: if there had here a stay been made, yet might not the love of God but seem marvelous towards man: But that which followeth in Saint Paul, that is much more marvelous, that cannot but inflame the heart of the Christian with the love of God, & break the stony stomach of the infidel. To what may I then compare those words following? it is a thunderbolt that me thinks should sound through the whole heavens, piercing the clouds and shaking the foundations of the earth, bringing with it a smoking fire, by the heat whereof the very mountains melt like wax, joined with a wind that hurleth down the high Ceders of Libanus: hearken then (O heaven) give ear (O earth) see the love of the almighty: he (saith the Apostle) even that glorious God, beside that he become man, in his manhood he humbled himself and become obedient: with what humility? how far was he obedient? even to the death: what death? the death of the cross. This is that special love, God so loveth the world, that he hath given his son to be a sacrifice for our sins, to be slain that we might not perish, and to die that we might have everlasting life.   

The eleventh Chapter.  
¶ A description of the passion of Christ and the profit that cometh thereby.  
But yet that this love might enter deeper, and take a more grounded root in our hearts, let us somewhat consider the death of the Lord, let us see what a preparative he had to his cup, let us mark the manner of his death, and let us behold him with our inward eyes in his pangs as he hangeth on the cross: this therefore did our saviour forewarn his disciples what should become of him, wherein we have also a warning to consider the love of God: 
Math. 20.  Behold (saith he) we go up to jerusalem, and the son of man shall be delivered into the hands of sinners, unto the chief Priests & unto the Scribes, & they shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him. This did our saviour foresee as a God, and fulfil as a man sent to redeem men: first when the time of his temptation drew near, his scholars began to scatter and fleet from him until they left him clean without company and comfort. For some fainting by default of faith he drove away with a word, 
john. 6.  when he gave them that lesson concerning the eating of the flesh and drinking of the blood of the son of man: this is a hard saying (say they) who can away with this? so they gave over school and followed their master no further. Then thought our Saviour good to make much of his twelve, and therefore to hold in them, that they should not start likewise, he turned unto them as it were grating kindness on them with this pitiful question: and will you also go from me? Peter's stomach was yet somewhat stout, wherefore he answered the question with this other: Master to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. That was Christ's chief captain: it was to be thought he would have a bidden the brunt, but of him it shall be said after. Now by this time Christ had but his chosen twelve with him, and yet one of them was but a traitor, yea a devil. For in that heavy feast and last supper, whereat he took his leave as it were of his disciples: then began Satan to stir himself, to assault and sift the simple soldiers of Christ, and took full possession of judas to work by him that horrible treason against our poor Prince, which sought by kindness to overcome his enemies: for he as soon as he had received that choking morsel the sour sop, he got him out about the devils business, seeking our saviours death and his own destruction. And for his farewell, saith Christ, that thou dost, do quickly, for belike he felt pangs of temptation already upon him, wherefore upon this his departure, he comforted himself and the rest of his disciples with those and the like sayings as did declare the providence of God the Father in this behalf: 
Luke. 22.  verily (sayeth he) it goeth with the son of man as it is written of him: it was written, he that eateth bread with me, 
Psal. 41.  lifteth up his heel against me. Whiles that judas and these bloody merchants were busy about their bargain, valuing that innocent and saving soul at xxx silverlings, Christ with part of his Disciples went up into the Mount Olivet to make his prayer: where how bitter were his temptations? In what an agony was he? 
Luke. 22.  when those bloody drops of sweat trickled down along that sweet glorious face? what deep sighs did he fetch? out of how heavy an heart did these sayings proceed: first to his Disciples, saying, my soul is very heavy unto death: then in his lamentable prayer: O my father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me? and yet in this distress he humbled himself, submitting his will to the will of his father. Now after this fit was passed, and he had overcomed that temptation, behold those Wolves, that bloody band appointed by the high Priests and Pharisees cometh out with their Lanterns and lights, as to make search for a thief, with staves and sword, as against a rebellious traitor, laying hands on him as on a mischievous murderer. And who was their captain? even that lost child judas, he become their guide: 
Act. 2  he tracked our Saviour in his way, he led those murderers over the brook Cedron, he brought them into the Garden, 
john. 18.  where they found that silly shepherd with his small flock, that meek hen having no where to hide his head, with his little brood of Chickens trembling and shaking about him for fear, looking for secure under the shadow of his wings, who himself was now destitute of all earthly aid: this also might not but augment his sorrows, that in the same place in that garden, where they had so often gathered together to their comfort, and where judas himself had been diverse times fed at our saviour's hand with the sweet bread of life, there he should be given up to the hands of sinners: & how was he betrayed? Even as that lamentable question importeth, 
Luke. 22.  judas betrayest thou the son of man with a kiss? Which was to say, thou whom I have choose of many a thousand, one of my twelve familiaes, thou upon whom I have bestowed so many good turns, to whom I have given freely so many good lessons, upon whom I have wasted so many words, thou that eatest bread with me, thou that dippedst in one dish with me, dost thou lift up thy heel against me, and tread me under thy foot? thou that providedst for the sustenance of my body, art thou become the betrayer of my soul? whose salvation I have sought by so many means, dost thou thirst my blood? for whom I am content to say down my life, art thou become my hangman? Comest thou unto me with the face of a friend, and givest me up to mine enemies? Callest thou me master, and wishest me the curse of the cross? givest thou me a kiss, and woundest my heart? These sighs no doubt came up with that question. Now by this time had judas done his part, he might go hung himself: In this case than we see our saviour, how he standeth as a poor prisoner delivered into the hands of his mortal enemies, being himself an immortal God. He that might have had at his call a legion of Angels to deliver him, is yet contented to become a prisoner, a captive and as a caitiff, rather than he would break off this work of our redemption which he had brought so near to perfection. What then followed? the shepherd was stricken, and the sheep were scattered: and alas poor Peter what resistance mayst thou make? Put up thy sword, and hearken what thy Saviour saith: yea let us all hearken to that voice of humility: shall I not drink of the cup which my father hath given me? 
john. 18.  So Christ still fighteth with patience even till he maketh his enemies his footstool: for behold he is bound with patience, by the hand, the captain and the officers of the jews: so as it was appointed of him, he was led as a sheep brought before the sheerer, to Annas that sharp shéerer: then was he turned and tossed from one to another, from post to pillar, from the Fox to the Wolf, from Annas to Cayphas, from Cayphas to Annas again, and still fast bound for fear of scaping. O what an heavy sight, what a pain was that for Peter, when he saw his Master standing like a forsaken soul, and a pitiful prisoner in the hall of the high Priest? Now where was that stout, courage when he said, though all men be offended for thee, 
Math. 26.  yet I will not? He followed his master indeed: but a far off for fear. And when he came to the door of the high Priest, in what a trance, in what a terror was he? where was his sword? now where was his heart, when the maid moved him this question: art not thou one of this man's disciples? what had he then to answer? he made then a flat denial of his master, he was none of his disciples, he knew no such man as Christ was: and now was it time for the cock to crow, for Peter to fall a weeping and a howling: there was Christ left alone and given over on every side, for the sheep they were all dispersed. Now that guiltless Lamb with what a sort of wicked wolves was he beset? There was Annas the first, Caiphas the high Priest, Pilate the precedent, there was the assembly of Scribes, the ●ocke of pharisees: but thanks be to God the heavenly father, his Christ had patience enough for them all. There was in that Lamb blood enough for those greedy wolves the rulers and governors, there were bones enough for those hungry dogs the Scribes, and flesh to satisfy that swarm of adders the pharisees: for all those there was patience enough with our suffering saviour, being ready to bear what soever burden they might devise to oppress him withal: for they bound him, they made a scorn and a mock of him, turning him into a strange disguised apparel, plaiting a crown of thorns upon his head, adding thereto thorny and galling words, being haled and tossed to and fro betwixt Pilate, the Priests and the people: 
john. 19  one crying on this side, behold the man, in despite of his omnipotent godhead: on the other side another company crying, hail King of the jews, in contempt of this eternal kingdom: and yet for further trial of his patience some blindfelded him, some buffeted him, some most shamefully spewed their spittle on his face: then was he tormented also with Pilate'S bitter scourge, & yet no resistance made Christ: remedy was patience: but that was not thought enough, neither scourging would not serve: therefore he must be committed again to the hands of pilate, he must be examined, witness is sought, and false witness is brought in against the truth itself, yea although pilate himself, could not but thus depose for his innocency, saying and repeating it often: 
john. 19  I find no fault in him: wherefore yet this friendship was showed of pilate, that the people contented, he should be let lose according to the custom of the jews: This was the greatest courtesy that Christ found: he was set against Barrabas: an holy God compared with a wicked murderer: for so did pilate put it to the people's choice, 
Math. 27.  saying: Will ye that I let lose unto you Barrabas, or jesus which is called Christ? nay, if Christ should have now been let at liberty, than had the Priests his enemies from the beginning lost all their labour: wherefore Mathewe reporteth that they counseled the people to quite Barrabas, and to ask Christ to be crucified, wherefore the saving and condemnation being referred unto them, when they cried for Barrabas that he might be saved, than pilate speaking somewhat favourably as he durst, on Christ's part, said: what shall I do then with jesus? the answer was: let him be crucified. And pilate demanding again, what evil hath he done? That question might not be heard, because it could not be answered, but the more they cried, away with him, crucify him. This was that rueful cry that Christ was content to hear, for all the love of God that was and should be declared by him towards the world, he had this reward, crucify him & nothing but crucify him. After this hard sentence, as a lamb to the slaughter, so was our saviour led out of the City to the place of his execution, 
john. 19  having the company of his Cross, and bearing it part of the way himself: 
Num. 21.  Now must our Saviour be served as the Serpent in the wilderness, he must be lift up to the cross: behold he drinketh the cup of that curse: (Cursed is he that hangeth on the tree: 
john. 3. Gene. 22. ) This is the true represented Isaac, that humbleth himself to the altar a sacrifice for sin, and the Lord suffereth that bloody knife withdrawn from Isaac, to fall upon his only begotten son and to pierce his precious bowels that the water might run out which should wash away the sins of his people. O Christians, O men and brethren, this was ours by right, but Christ is contented to bear our burden, he is contented to die, to die the death, the shameful death, the cursed death of the bitter cross. Now behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world: O thou son of man see what the son of God suffereth for thy sake, see how he is tormented. let his pangs enter a little into thy heart, that thou mayst consider the love of God towards thee, let that pitiful scricke of our Saviour always ring in thine ear, as when he cried, my God my God why hast thou forsaken me: for so did the sorrows of death gripe him as though he had indeed been forsaken of his father: wherefore he suffered him to be laid in the grave also, that he might taste of all our infirmities as well under the earth as above: howbeit now was it time for the Lord God to glorify his son in the heavens, which had glorified him on the earth, 
Psal. 15.  wherefore he might not leave the soul of his dearly beloved in the grave, nor suffer his holy one to see corruption: but hath raised him up to his right hand, there to reign with glory until he make his enemies and our enemies, (if we be true Christians) his footstool: and thus with the glory of Christ doth the love of God fully appear, towards us: for in all this hath God and his christ sought our salvation: 
Math. 18.  for the son of man came for no other purpose, but to save that which was lost, and by these means in sum hath he achieved the end of his message: 
Rom. 4.  he was delivered to death for our sins, and rose again for our justification.   

The twelfth Chapter.  
¶ How only faith wrought in us by the spirit of God, and grounded upon the word of God, maketh us partakers of the fruit of Christ's death.  
THus is that worthy work finished. Now may Abraham rejoice with full joy, for his promised seed is performed, and he hath poured out his blessing most plentifully upon his faithful children: now is Adam truly made up a new creature, & thus far is he in the favour of God, that he hath sent his only begotten son to purchase him his pardon: God said in his indignation: thou shalt die the death: (but so hath the son pleased him, that he now crieth:) thou shalt not perish, but have life everlasting: Now shalt thou live, for so God loveth thee that Christ hath died in thy stead: now mayst thou stand upright, for so God loveth thee, that his christ hath fallen for thee: christ is risen and behold he so loveth thee, that he offereth his gentle hand to raise thee together with himself: he hath deceived the serpent that deceived thee: he shall make his enemies his footstool, and he hath trodden thy enemies under his feet, for this is thy seed that hath crushed his head: he hath obtained a crown of glory, and he maketh thee also a glorious conqueror: All this no doubt did S. john consider in the love of God, when he wrote this worthy saying of our Saviour, God so loveth the world, that he hath given his only begotten son, that he should live with us, because we were dead to him, that he should die for us, to the end we might live with him, that he should enter into the earth, to make us an entry into the heaens. We have by this seen some shadow of the marvelous work of God concerning our redemption: we see the loving work of God the father, whose proper praise it is, that he hath sent his son: we have seen also the painful work of God the son who hath suffered as we see: now have we to consider the work of the holy spirit likewise, whose work it is that we enjoy those benefits sent us by the father, & brought by the Son: for in whose heart that spirit worketh not, to him is the Cross of christ altogether fruitless, to him is jesus not jesus, that is, no saviour, and he may enjoy no part of that love of God which bringeth life with it: for what? now God hath sent his son, is that sufficient for us? have we without any further ado taken possession of heaven? are we straight by this in the bosom of Abraham? shall we now take no further care? is the Cross of Christ accepted an excuse, indifferently for all? shall every soul be saved? Nay let no man deceive himself: Christ indeed hath made an entry into Heaven, he hath set open a gate unto us: but yet a straight gate where few shall enter: neither yet is the gate of Hell clean shut up: no it standeth wide open with a gaping mouth, and many shall go that way. In the general flock, Christ hath his sheep, and they are the fewer: he hath also his goats, and they are the greater part? There is in God's field good corn, but that is overgrown with evil chaff: there be some likewise that shall be received with the right hand: O happy are they, for Christ is theirs altogether: there are also whose place is provided on the left hand: O unhappy are they, for they have no part in Christ: let us therefore look unto our salvation whiles yet the light shineth, for as much as there is a little flock which that good shepherd hath chosen to himself, let us get into the fold with them, 
Luke. 13.  and following his council, let us strive to enter in at the straight gate, and that in time, lest the door be shut against us, when it shall be to late to knock: Christ is sent unto us, let us beware that we receive him: Christ hath brought this reward with him, to as many of us as do receive him: (that we should not perish, but live for ever.) Let us therefore provide that we lose not our part in that precious pearl: what then is there now to be done? Verily now we have seen the love of God declared by Christ, there is but one step betwixt us and home, but one word betwixt us and life everlasting: neither hath the holy Evangelist left that out of his place: for those are the footsteps he pointeth out unto us, the love of God the father, the patience and cross of Christ, 
Galath. 6  finally faith the good gift of the holy Ghost: for this is the condition: who so believeth in Christ sent from God, he should be sure not to perish, but to have life everlasting. Now then must we make provision for belief, that faith fail not, this must be all our care: for what shall it profit us though Christ come into the world, and come again, if he be not received of us. By faith he must be received, or else he must be refused: his own received him not saith S. john: 
Cap. 1.  and why, but for lack of faith? for to as many as received him, to them he gave power to be the sons of God: and what were they? even to them saith he, that believe in his name: accordingly as S. Paul saith to the galatians, 
Cap. 3.  by faith are ye the sons of God: the believers than they are the beloved sons of God, they are the right receivers of Christ: when that Christ the glory of God, first appeared amongst us, than did the Angels proclaim peace betwixt heaven and earth, and from God goodwill towards men: for Christ indeed is the true Melchisedech, that is, the King that brought peace with him into the world. But what shall all this avail us, if we believe not? 
john. 3.  for so saith our Saviour himself, he that believeth in the son hath everlasting life, and he that obeyeth not the son, shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth upon him: so wrath remaineth for the infidel, what then for the faithful? there is peace kept in store for him as for a faithful subject to the king of peace: for we being justified by faith, have peace with God through our Lord jesus Christ: 
Rom. 5. Luke. 2.  that is the saying of the Apostle. Christ is appointed for the fall of many: who are they but the faithless? he is ordained also to be the rising of many: and who are they but the faithful? for so saith our Saviour likewise, 
john. 3.  (who can not bely himself,) he that believeth in him, he shall not be condemned: he that believeth not is already condemned, because he believeth not in the name of the only begotten Son of GOD. Christ is also a stone of diverse operations: 
1. Pet. 2.  he is a precious stone, and he is likewise a stumbling stone. To whom then is it precious but to such, as by joining the jewel of faith thereunto, have the right use thereof. So sayeth the Scripture. 
Esay. 28.  Behold I put in Zion a chief corner stone elect and precious, and he that believeth therein shall not be ashamed: and here Saint Peter maketh this conclusion, saying: to you therefore which believe it is precious, this part is for the believer, now must the infidel take that which is left: they halting for want of the steady foot of faith, make themselves of Christ a stone to stumble at, and a rock of offence: although Christ be set up unto them a sign of salvation, yet they like the Cock on the dunghill, do spurn him aside, not knowing what virtue there is laid up in that precious stone, for such as by faith do find him: wherefore that Prophecy is their portion: 
Esay. 8. Math. 21.  whosoever shall fall on this stone, he shall be broken: and on whom soever it falleth, it shall grind him to powder: the misbelievers they stumble and lie under the stone, they fall and are fallen on, therefore must they be broken, and that grinding stone shall grind them to powder. O the rock of infidelity that maketh Christ the rock of offence, that rock it is that shattereth our ships, that shooteth us on the sands, but the anchor of faith fast fixed on the sure ground Christ, having hold by his word, that never deceiveth him that hopeth for help, that saveth us sound from storm and tempest, from all wind and weather, he maketh sure work that worketh by the worthy and sure instrument of faith, and he buildeth once for all that hath Christ laid for his foundation, directing himself always by the right rule of his word: for they that come to that lively stone, they are a spiritual house as Saint Peter saith, 
1. Epist. 2.  yea they are the sure grounded and glorious temple of the living God: thus than we being builded up by faith, & casting anchor on Christ, now let the floods arise, let the winds blow, yet stand we sure, for we believe in him that will see we do not perish, those that are in that raging sea of the wild wicked world, they seem to stand in great danger of shipwreck, but if we enter the Ark by faith with No, (for S. Paul attributeth his favour unto faith) then let the Pirates come, let Satan assault us, 
Heb. 11.  yet are we harmless, Christ is on our side, what may prevail against us? not sands, not Rocks, not storms nor tempests, no winds ne floods, nor fire nor water, not not all the power of Satan, not the gaping gates of hell shall move us a whit. Such commodity do those find that be so happy as to enjoy the inestimable jewel of faith: but those that have no experience hereof, and feel not the force of faith, they make light of the matter, not seeking Christ by faith, nor faith by his word, and therefore no marvel though they be still overshadowed with death, & being in darkness comprehended not the light: how should they believe except they hear? 
Rom. 10.  faith cometh by hearing, hearing of the word of God. They than that have lost their hearing, how should they find faith? where the seed of the word is not sown, how should the fruit of faith spring? how may they enjoy Christ or any part of his love that receive not his witnesses? 
john. 5.  The Scriptures (saith Christ) they bear witness of me. These things saith S. john, 
Cap. 20.  meaning the contents of the Gospel, are written, that ye might believe that jesus is Christ the son of God, and that in believing ye might have life through his name. Wherefore understand ye that upon this double point standeth the whole course of our salvation: art thou in the right way? therefore than it is, because thou hast followed the counsel of our saviour, saying: 
john. 5.  search the scriptures. Art thou out of the way? The cause learn of Christ: ye are deceived, 
Mat. 22.  not knowing the Scriptures. This is the mark wherewith Christ marketh his sheep, by the voice we know our shepherd, and by hearing we are known of him: 
john. 19  my sheep hear my voice (saith that good shepherd) and I know them and they follow me: Thus know where we have to fetch faith, that we be not to seek on this sid●, where we find also how God loveth the world, in providing so mercifully the lively food of his word, that our souls faint not in faith: but let us tread a little deeper in this matter, and that we may value faith somewhat near the worthy price it should bear with us, let us consider how the market goeth with us, let us consider in what case we stand: then shall we see what service faith will do us: first this we know, that we have but borrowed breath and that lying in our nostrils, as the scripture speaketh: our life what is it but a plain warfare? wherein we have either to yield or to overcome? we understand with what enemies we are beset, as that wily witch the world, the proud swelling flesh ever rebelling against the spirit: the serpent and his seed daily spitting out his fiery flames and venomous poison upon us, Satan I mean that ramping roaring Lion continually seeking and searching how to devour us. Now he that must abide the brunt of such a battle, and hath to encounter with so fierce and cruel adversaries, as whom we see daily murdering many a soul, it is necessary that such a soldier should go well appointed to the field. Wherefore in this behalf it shall be good we follow the counsel of Saint Paul, 
Ephes. 6.  who speaketh not without book, but of experience (for he fought a good fight) his council is, that we put on the armour of God, and this is the furniture that he appointeth for to arm such a Soldier as we seek. He wisheth our loins to be girded with verity, having on the breastplate of righteousness, our feet being shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace: But above all (sayeth he) take unto you the shield of faith wherewith ye may quench all the fiery darts of the wicked: and Saint john likewise strong in the spirit, he giveth us good instruction, and warneth us which way we may win the field. All that is borne of God (saith he) overcometh the world, 
1. Epist. 5.  and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith: then he addeth this question with his answer: who is it that overcometh the world, 
1. Epist. 5.  but he which believeth that jesus is the son of God? And S. Peter also when he had declared what an adversary we have of the devil, as that like a roaring Lion he seeketh to devour us, then maketh he this exhortation showing how we may stand against the assaults of Satan: resist him (saith he) steadfast in the faith. Thus is faith commended unto us of all hands, as a shield to defend us in all assaults, and as a sure tried weapon to conquer and beat down to the dust, the devil, the world, and all that stand against us, it is Christ in deed that hath gotten the victory, but such is his love, he doth not enjoy it alone, but he giveth us part also. Thus he comforteth us like a captain of courage: be of good cheer, 
john. 16.  for I have overcomed the world. He fought the fight indeed, he hath taken the fort, but he giveth us the spoil, and is content that his victory be accounted our victory, so speaketh Saint Paul, acknowledging the love of God therein: 
1. Cor. 15.  Thanks be to God (saith he) which hath given us victory through our Lord jesus Christ: and how hath Christ given us the victory, but as he sayeth, faith quencheth the fiery darts of the wicked, and as Saint john saith, our faith in Christ overcometh the world, and as Saint Peter exhorteth, by steadfastness of faith to resist the Devil? Such is the marvelous virtue of true belief, that by it we enjoy all the fruits which spring so plenteously out of that flourishing root of Ishai: for Christ had subdued sin: 
Esay. 11.  so have we by faith in Christ: Christ by death hath overcomed death: so have we by faith: Christ is proved by suffering a Saviour, and we by faith are saved: Christ by his resurrection hath purchased to himself an everlasting kingdom: and we rising in him by faith are joined in that purchase. Christ by nature is the son of God, so are we of his grace by faith: finally Christ is altogether ours by faith, which doth incorporate all Christians into his mystical body: Christ (as Saint Paul saith) is our peace: how but by faith? as he saith, 
Ephes. ●  we being justified by faith have peace with God: and the Apostle sayeth that the righteousness of Christ is our righteousness, and how is that but by faith? Christ'S holiness is our sanctification, his justice is our justification: all this cometh by none other means: than as Saint Paul declareth when Christ dwelleth in our hearts by faith, 
Ephes. 3.  we are filled with all fullness of God: such than is the force of faith, that with this one counter we may shortly cast the whole sum of our salvation. For art thou not dead to God, but livest uprightly before him in holiness and righteousness? 
Abacuc. 2.  then hast thou faith, for the just liveth by faith. Art thou wicked and sinful: no marvel if thou hast not faith, for whatsoever is not of faith is sin? this is the root, 
Rom. 14.  we are the trees, the rest as our good works they are but flowers and fruits. Now such as the root is, such is the tree, and such as the tree is, such is the fruit: for Christ maketh no more differences of trees and fruits, but as in the Gospel. Either make the tree good and his fruit good, or else make the tree evil and his fruit evil: and what is that that maketh this difference but faith the root of all righteousness? for unless by this means we be truly graffed in Christ the true vine, all that we do, it were as good undone, as good never a whit as never the better, we make but wood for the fire, 
john. 15.  it is in effect nothing, but as he saith, without me ye can do nothing: and our works whatsoever show they have, if they be not rooted in Christ by faith, they are neither figs nor grapes, but very thorns and thistles, well may they grow for a while, but they may not flourish long: even as herbs that grow in the shadow, never well weathered with the warm sun: or rather as the grass on the house top which lacketh his root, and therefore although it springeth in the Summer season, yet it soon withereth in the Winter, and the mower never filleth his hand withal. Let those then that seem fruitful in good works, consider of what root that springeth: for the believer worketh well moved by faith, and his fruit is life everlasting: but the misbelieving hypocrite he worketh of glory, and he hath his reward, missing far of the right mark of righteousness: all that he maketh is marred for lack of belief, his works are nought but bore leaves of the fruitless fig tree, they are but paintings and shadows, mockings and apish toys in comparison of that justice of the just living by faith: for what is he that flourisheth never so much in his painted grapes and well coloured fruits, which is able to please God unless he be a true tree, planted of the heavenly father, in the faith of christ? what fruit is it that God will allow unless it be fet by faith of the true vine? dost thou fast? well done if it be done in faith: dost thou give alms to the poor? dost thou break thy bread to the needy? dost thou clothe the naked, and secure the harbourless? Good fruits verily, therefore belike they come of a good tree, whose root is faith, watered with the precious blood of our Saviour. Dost thou withdraw thy hands from injury? then dost thou believe of likelihood: dost thou suffer wrong with patience? a good sign it is that thou art already justified by faith: and all those with such like good works of men, of themselves they are not meritorious, but with faith they are acceptable: for so generally speaketh the Apostle: without faith it is unpossible to please God. 
●●b. 12.  Mark, this infidelity hath with it an impossibility: but contrariwise if thou have faith, fear not, for that bringeth a possibility: so large is the promise of Christ speaking to the believers: Nothing shall be unpossible unto you. 
Math. 18.  O great is the force of faith, as the which to withstand it is impossible: a little faith is much worth, and will go far, yea, although it be but as much as a grain of Mustard seed, it shall pluck up the roots of sin, yea let the devil cast up Mountains against us, yet will it have his free course, and may not be severed from Christ, whatsoever standeth in the way: it is whole in sickness, free in bands, strong in torments, it shineth in darkness, it dieth not with death, it is cast into the waters, and perisheth not, it is tried in the fiery furnace and yet wasteth not: it is trodden down, but it riseth again, it is assaulted, but never yieldeth: it is wounded, but yet getteth the victory. Such as Chryst is, such is the faith of the Christian: Christ is the body, faith is the shadow: where so Christ goeth, there faith faileth not to follow. It is no earthly thing, but as Chryst came from the high heavens, so is that the heavenly gift of the holy Ghost. Where Christ is occupied, faith is not idle, when christ worketh miracles in the body, faith worketh salvation in the soul, when Christ uttered the word, faith printed in the heart, when he fed the body with bread, he fed the soul with faith, the spittle was the mean to heal the eye, but faith the instrument to save the soul, faith hath his course with Christ in all places to all purposes, it followed Christ to the temple, to the mountain, it was with him in the field, in the house, on the Sea, on the land, it abideth with him in temptations, in torments, it suffereth the scourge with him, it hangeth on him on the cross, it goeth into the grave with him, it riseth with him, it followeth him through the clouds, as it were with the wings of an Eagle, entering the heavens after him & there findeth food to feed on, where Christ suffereth her to hung on his breast, and to suck of his precious blood until she be satisfied. Thus is faith exalted, that it taketh up her place in the high heavens, and is still so far in favour with God, that it can no rather call, but it is heard, no rather ask, but it obtaineth, no sooner seek but it findeth, no rather knock, but it is opened unto her. So doth faith work for the believer: for he is the beloved of god, to him is the son sent, he receiveth the son: Christ is his Saviour, the death of Christ is his life, Christ taketh him up with him in his Resurrection, Christ is altogether his, and who may resist him? for God so loveth him that by Christ he shall not perish but have life everlasting.   

The thirteenth Chapter.  
¶ That true faith requireth an earnest consideration of man's estate, and the love of God towards him, appearing in the death of Christ.  
THus have we waded in the bottomless sea of God's love & infinite mercy, wherewith he loveth and embraceth the world, not minding to find any end, or to search the ground thereof (for we confess with the Prophet.) Thy mercy O Lord reacheth unto the heavens, 
Psal. 36.  and thy faithfulness unto the clouds, thy righteousness is like the mighty mountains, and thy judgements are like a great deep: but by this which is said we have assayed somewhat to taste of the goodness of God, following herein the provocation of the Prophet, which calleth men to the consideration of God's mercy by this call: O taste and see (saith he) how gracious the Lord is: Blessed is the man that putteth his trust in his mercy. And thus far have we tasted the love of God, as we might, only picking out the sweet marrow of that bone which S. john hath cast us, for the comfort of our souls to feed on: God so loved the world, etc. In the which short and sweet sentence duly considered and weighed as it is worthy, what found we but salvation showing itself unto us in a bright glass, and that (as is aforesaid) it is a knot knitting up the whole mystery of our redemption, wherefore in the handling thereof we have passed to this point, as that we have loosed and undone the same, and as grace was given, have laid out the parts thereof to the view of the Reader.  
Now that we may gather up those pieces and close the knot again, let us stand a while and see what rocks we have passed, let us look back and view the wonderful work of God, declaring his love to our salvation: we know therefore what a loss we had in Adam being deprived utterly of the favour of God, for so God loved the world, in the first foundation that we stood in the state of innocency, comparable with the glorious Angels of heaven: we were fashioned of earth, but not endangered to turn again into earth: we were made men, but like unto God: ours matter and substance was earthly, but our form and fashion was heavenly: the pattern whereafter God made us was his own image, being in subjection to god our creator, but reigning as sovereigns' over all God's creatures, blessed in ourselves in our seed walking on a blessed earth, enjoying at will the fruits & flowers of pleasant paradise, that image of heaven: all our senses they were set upon pleasure without any loathsomeness: what sounded in the ear, but the sweet and comfortable voice of God's blessing? God's blessing was always in our eyes, yea what was in our mouth but God's blessing? Our labour was rest, our rest was continual, our pains was pleasure, and our pleasure was eternal: we sweated not, for we had no need to travel: we were ignorant of evil, tasting of no corruption, free from infirmities, standing in the presence of God without fear, beholding his glorious countenance without shame, having health without danger of sickness, enjoying life without fear of death: the flesh and the spirit never strived, the body obeyed the soul, and the soul saved the body, they were knit together with a fast binding band, so that they might not depart the one from the other: yea then was the body in better case than is now the soul separate from christ, the soul was not subject to death, nor the body in case to be corrupted of the dust: neither hell nor the grave, nor dust nor death, not not the fear of them might touch or trouble us, so standing as God had appointed. And such was the love of God, that he gave all those heavenly commodities as a state of inheritance to our first father, to him and his heirs for ever: O goodly gift of God, wherein the date is ever and a day, and nothing betwixt heaven and earth excepted, but only that the fruit of one tree might not be tasted: But O frail flesh, O lykerishe lips of earthly Adam, that knew not himself, and considered not how merciful and loving a God he had of his creator, it did not content him to be a man, but he would be a God a God's name, he did not content him to rule and reign over the insensible and unreasonable, but he would set his foot as far forward as his Creator, in whose hands he was as the brittle clay in the potter's fingers. Therefore when that man had so given over the service of God as rashly to break his holy commandment, and to devour the forbidden fruit: what then might the righteous Lord do of his justice but pluck down that presumptuous stomach? but set his face with fury against rebellious man? but hate him, but curse him, and clean cast him off, as one that despised his goodness, unworthy of his favour, and utterly to be rejected as the servant of the Serpent, the slave of sin, and a meet hellhound for the Devil? Verily so are we without christ cursed creatures, children of disobedience, children of perdition, ever rebelling against the righteous God, serving the flesh with his appetites, given over to concupiscence, the lost sons of the lost father, nothing heavenly, but altogether earthly, using the world and the present life, as a shadow whose end is eternal darkness, and as a course to run headlong to Hell, being nothing but naked souls, ashamed to stand in the sight of God, not not the best of all, were we as holy as holy David, but must be feign to say after him, I have sinned, as whose righteousness are but rotten rags all to bespotted with the foul blur of sin, whose hope is desperation, whose life is without light, and whose desert is death. So are we fallen, and our feet serveth us not to get up again, we are taken prisoners in captivity with the Devil, and we are not so rich as to redeem ourselves: for our deserts are but such, that when we have reckoned all that we can do, yet are we but unprofitable servants: but who is he that cometh so near perfection, as to perform that duty, to set his brother equal in love with himself, and to set God before himself, and that in all times, all places, and all respects? and who then is he that dare adventure the trial hereof, and to stand to the extremity of the law? S. Paul hath tried that way, and giveth us a fair warning, as that, the law stoppeth every mouth, no flesh shall be found righteous by that rule. Let us then cast aside those fig leaves, which can not hide our nakedness, that is the deserts of the flesh, the deeds of the law, for this way we may be sure to meet with that curse: Cursed is he that abideth not in all that is written in the law: Let us not make so little of the love of Christ, and so much evacuate his cross, as to justify ourselves by any law: for if righteousness be by the law, 
Galath. 2.  than Christ died with out a cause. Neither will excuses serve to salvation, for than should the Serpent have been cursed alone, as upon whom all the blame was laid: but if the Serpent seduce and be followed, if the Devil tempt and be not withstood, both Adam & Eve, man and woman, they must needs drink of the cup of God's curse. This for the knowledge of ourselves, what the world is which God so loveth, and so setting before us our reward by justice, the terrible torments & intolerable flames of hell fire, with the bitter biting worm that never dieth, which Satan threateneth, leading us forward fast fettered with the chain of sin, what might we do but lie sweeting in the miserable & pitiful pangs of desperation? what comfort might we find one in another, but tears and torments, sorrows & sighs, crying and howling, weeping and wailing, groaning and gnashing of teeth? But the merciful God, the loving Lord, when we stood at this point in manner at defiance with God, although he saw that all flesh had corrupted his way, although he knew the imaginations of man's heart to be evil even from his youth, and saw that we always bore a stiff stomach against him, and his holy will, yet hath he not utterly cast us of, but blessed be his name for ever, he hath showed us a glad and cheerful countenance, he taketh pity upon us, it grieveth him we should deserve his wrath, but it would more grieve him that we should die the deserved death. Wherefore he hath showed us marvelous kindness, and more mercy than when we stood first in his favour, yea more mercy, I will not say than man might deserve, but more than we could devise to ask. For behold, he hath opened unto us all his treasure and endless riches of his infinite mercy, choosing out as it were the best jewel of all his store and stock, even that precious pearl, his own glory, in whom is all his delight, his only begotten, his best beloved son, 
Collo. 2.  in whom dwelleth all the fullness of the godhead bodily, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, who is the very express Image of the invisible God, him he hath not spared to make our Messiah, and to send us a saviour, to raise us from that foul fall of our first father, to regenerate and make us a new, to conquer the world, to slay the seed of the serpent, and see that we should not perish, but live and reign with him in his kingdom everlastingly: and how Christ hath approved himself a saviour, and how he persited that knotty work of our redemption, and made all sure that it might not perish, what he suffered before he said, (it is finished) we have seen some show thereof: but O that we could consider it worthily, and weigh it in a just balance: then should our hearts undoubtedly wax hot with the fervent love of God, so marvelously declared in his son our saviour, bearing this in mind always, that whatsoever he suffered, he suffered for us: having still that voice of our Saviour ringing in our ears, and fresh in our hearts: the zeal of thy house hath consumed me: Christ was sick of that consumption, even of zeal, to make us an holy house to his father: and what soever was done by Christ on the earth, let us reckon altogether upon the end whereof he himself protesteth, 
Math. 18.  the son of man came to save that which was lost, and whatsoever was laid upon him, let us reckon that ours by right, and that we deserved a thousand fold more than so: 
Esay. 52.  for we alas like giddy sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one of us his own way, we were oppressed with burden of sin, but by him we are eased and refreshed, for he hath laid upon him the iniquity of us all, that are come unto him with our heavy load: surely he hath borne our infirmities and carried our sorrows, he was wounded for our transgressions, he was broken for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed: he came down from the high heavens to raise us that were fast slipping to the deep dark hell: he refused not to take upon him the burden of our flesh, that we might by him be quickened in the spirit: he lived amongst us men, that we by him might live with God: he suffered such evil entreaty at that Fox Herod's hands, lest we might be a portion for Foxes, and a pray for wolves: he followed that thankless office of preaching, that we might not perish but live by his word: for though the devil say nay, yet Christ saith truly, that man liveth by every word proceeding out of the mouth of God, and therefore rather than he would leave us unprovided of that necessary food which he brought from heaven, he took well a worth the misreports of the wicked blasphemers: That we might call on him as a saviour, he suffered himself to be called a Samaritane, a sinner, a surfeiter: and for our souls health it was, that he wrought so many a miracle by the means of one body cured visibly, saving a thousand souls by invisible operation of faith: so Christ himself saith: unless you see signs and wonders, you will not believe: therefore to lay that salve to our sore also, he professeth himself a Physician and a Surgeon, nothing disdaining the company of such as were in misery, and despised of men: he shut not his eyes to the blind: he came to the lame that could not come to him, he looked on the lepers, he visited the sick, he wept with the sorrowful, he lamented with Lazarus, fewer times bidden to feasts, than he was found at burials. But this is to be accounted the lest part of all the pains & sorrows of our saviour. The cup, the cursed cup of his cross, what heart is so hard that may consider that without great admiration of God's mercy? with how bitter temptations did he take the taste thereof before his hour came? with what heaviness of heart did he utter his complaint unto his disciples? and again to his father when he sweated that bloody water? let us hear then our saviour himself uttering his complaints, by the mouth of the Prophets? Thus saith one: 
Esay. 53.  he is despised and rejected of men, he is a man full of sorrows, and hath experience of infirmities, we hid our faces from him, we esteemed him not: this we know how it was accomplished, in that the hanghtie high Priests and proud pharisees, regarded not, but utterly disdained our Saviour: by another Prophet he saith: he that eateth bread with me, lifteth up his heel against me: This we saw performed by saucy judas, who when he had dipped with our Saviour in his dish, straight after goat him out and made up his bloody bargain, and as Christ forewarned his disciples, delivered the son of man into the hands of sinners: another Scripture is: 
Esay. 53.  he is brought as a sheep before his shearer, that openeth not his mouth: so was he brought before Annas, Cayphas, Herode and pilate, of whom he heard evil words enough to move his patience, but it was unmovable, therefore he gave them the hearing, and answered their quarreling questions with humble silence: for patience and silence they were two of the sharpest weapons he maintaineth his kingdom withal. Another saying of our saviour is this: I gave my back unto the smiters and my cheeks unto the nippers, 
Esay. 50.  I hide not my face from shame and spitting: how that was tried true we know, when our Saviour was so roughly handled of Soldiers under Pilate, now laid on with fists, now smitten with rods: and how shamefully he was bespetted, 
Mar. 14.  the Evangelist doth most faithfully report: and how he held his back to the torments, what backbiting he had as well by evil entreaty, as misreports, thereof Pylats bitter scourge may be for witness sufficient: 
Esay. 53.  another Scripture saith: he is brought as a sheep to the slaughter: in such manner did our Saviour go out of jerusalem to the place of his execution called Caluaria, where he was offered up an innocent lamb, and slain as a sacrifice with blood for our offences: And so doth the Prophet cry in the person of Christ, pouring out his complaints, and declaring the terrible pangs that he had on his Cross: I am (saith he) become a worm and not a man, 
Psal. 22.  a shame of men, and the contempt of the people, all they that see me, have me in derision, they make a mow at me, and nod the head, saying, he trusted in the Lord, let him deliver him, let him save him seeing he loveth him: again he saith: I am like water poured out, and all my bones are out of joint, mine heart is like wax, it is molten in the midst of my bowels, my strength is dried up like a potsherd, my tongue cleaveth to my jaws, and thou hast brought me into the dust of death, for dogs have compassed me, and the assembly of the wicked hath enclosed me, they pierced my hands and my feet, they gave me gall in my meat, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink: they parted my garments amongst them, 
Psal. 69. Psal. 22. Psal. 69.  and cast lots upon my vesture: rebuke hath broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness, and I looked for some to have pity on me, but there was none, and for comfort, but I found none: These were the sighs and sobs uttered of the Prophet to be verified of our saviour, whiles he was in that terrible horror and dreadful anguish of soul, as he lay like a lamb broken to the cross, and most bitterly bleeding to death: for so far did he submit himself in the cause of our redemption, that he is made the most perfect pattern of all patience: so did the love of God work in him, that he was consumed even of very zeal to his house: so was he turmoiled and tormented, bruised and broken, racked and rend into pieces for evil deserving servants, for our disobedience he performed the uttermost point of obedience, as Saint Paul saith, he was obedient to the death, the death of the cross.   

The fourteenth Chapter.  
¶ The sweetness of God's love, felt by a true and lively faith.  
THis was the price paid for our redemption, this was the purchase of our pardon, even the most precious bloodshedding of the only begotten son of God: so hath the merciful Lord stretched his love towards the world in Christ, even to the top of the cross, and so to the bowels of the earth, the bottom of the grave, from whence he is risen to the right hand of the father there to reign, until he have trodden his enemies clean under his feet. Now we to whom belonged nothing but shame and reproach, may freely glory without all suspicion of vanity: we that in ourselves had no cause but to lament, have now good leave to rejoice, rejoicing in the Lord, now may we without all fear triumph over our enemies with that sure Soldier of Christ, 
1. Corin. 15.  & say: O death where is thy sting? O grave where is thy victory? May we now stay ourselves, but to fall in admiration of gods infinite mercy, and say with the Apostle: O the deepness of the riches of God: with the Prophet, O Lord, what is man that thou visitest him? or what is the son of man that thou so regardest him? 
john. 15.  No man can have greater love than to give his life for his friends. What then might we now ask more at God's hands? 
john. 10.  what piece of love is there now left which god hath not fully bestowed upon us? for Christ is that good shepherd which layeth down his life for his sheep: O Lord what is man that thou shouldest so regard him? O that men would consider this love of God which S. john maketh so much of, that he repeateth it again and again: In this (saith he) appeared the love of God toward us, because God sent his only begotten son into the world, 
1. Epist. 4.  that we might live through him. And again, herein is love (saith he) not that we loved him, but that he loved us, and hath sent his son to be a reconciliation for our sins. Let this sentence be well weighed: The love of God is a well containing the water of life, whose operation is reconciliation, whose rivers are righteousness, whose streams wipe away the sands of sin, whose little drops refresh the hot heart of man, flaming and boiling with the smoking fire of God's fury: and besides this, it is a fountain not forced but freely springing of itself: so saith S. john: it is not a reward for a desert, it is not love for love, one for another, but it is love for hatred, mercy without merit, favour for falsehood, pity for obstinacy, pardon for rebellion, the payment of honour for the debt of shame, bringing hope for desperation, and life unlooked for in place of deserved death: thus doth S. john lay forth the love of GOD before us, as it were still harping on this one string, (God so loveth the world) and on this playeth S. Paul also, not without great pleasure, & in such sort that I think where it entereth the ear, it may not but much move the heart: for first he putteth the Ephesians in mind of their old estate, in what case they stood before they were called to the grace of the gospel, that they so knowing themselves, might the better know God & his goodness towards them: ye were (saith he) dead in trespasses and in sins, ye in time passed walked according to the course of the world, and after the Prince that ruleth in the air, even the spirit that worketh in the children of disobedience: and here joining himself and his fellows with the Ephesians, among whom we also had our conversation in times passed in the lusts of our flesh, and were by nature, what were they? the children of wrath as well as others. Such were they, such children are we all as we are the children of Adam, without the love and the beloved son of God. But now Christ is come, what news bringeth he? But God (saith the Apostle) which is rich in mercy through his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead by sins, hath quickened us together in Christ, by whose grace ye are saved, and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ jesus O what is man that God should so love him, as thus to pour upon us the whole store and riches of his mercy, and to bestow upon us his chief jewel, his only begotten son, and by him to exalt us even from the deep hell to the high heavens? Surely God hath marvelously showed his gracious goodness upon the children of men, but in this that he so loved the world as to give us his son, even as the heavens, the earth, so doth this far surmount all the prosperity that any people, all the felicity that any man at any time hath ever enjoyed: it was much that God blessed Abraham so as to give him the dew of heaven, the fat of the earth, enriching him with great store of treasure and flocks of cattle: but what was this to the blessed seed that blesseth all nations? and Solomon in all his royalty, what was he but a lily in the garden, and a flower in the field, but that he was assured of that promise made unto his father, that unto David should be raised a righteous branch and a king should reign and sit upon his seat, whom we should call the Lord our righteousness? God as he had before the coming of our Messiah, chosen to himself the Israelites a peculiar people, whom he tendered as the husbandman his vine, so his hand wrought marvelously with them, and bestowed innumerable benefits upon them: goodly and glorious were the fruits and flowers that God caused to flourish in that vine, but if we be branches well graffed in the true vine, then may England well compare with Israel. For whatsoever they received otherwise, we have received as fully and with as large conditions in Christ the son of God: they had but the figure more than we, we have the body and substance represented as well as they: theirs was the shales, but we have part in the kernel: they had the shadow above us, but we enjoy the true sun of righteousness equal with them: there was a great jubilee no doubt among the Israelites, when that voice was first heard on the mount Sinai: I have seen the affliction of my people which is in Egypt, 
Exod. 9  and I am come down to deliver them: but what was this to the joyful tidings brought of the Angel? unto you is borne in the City of David a saviour, and by another Angel, 
Math, 1.  he shall save his people from their sins. Herein was love as Saint john saith: far in deed might that people seem to be in the favour of God, that he did so mightily by his servant Moses deliver them out of the hands of hard-hearted Pharaoh and that cruel country of Egypte: But O Lord what is man that thou so lovest him, as by the cross of thy Christ, to pluck him out of the bloody clammes of that roaring and ravening Lion Satan, and to save us from that hot burning Egypte the fiery furnace of hell? God made Moses a marvel and a mirror before his people: but he never gave him this commendation: This is my beloved son. 
Heb. 1  Nay to which of the Angels said he at any time: Thou art my son, this day begat I thee? yet this beloved son whom the father maketh so much of, is made our Moses to fulfil the law, and our Messiah to fill us full of grace: he hath brought us out of all bondage, 
john. 8.  it is he that hath led captivity captive: and now are we free in deed when the son hath made us free: David refresheth himself marvelously with the memory of those benefits of GOD which he bestowed upon his people when they were now passing from Egypt toward the promised land: wherefore he uttereth such sayings in his psalms and songs, 
Psal. 78.  recording therein the goodness of God: he divided the Sea and led them through: In the day also he led them with the cloud. This was their Baptism under Moses, as Saint Paul saith: Now if we be baptized in Christ jesus with water and the holy Ghost: then have we drowned Pharaoh in the flood, and have buried up Satan safe in the Sea: then are we covered and clothed with the true cloud, so that the heat of hell may not hurt us: so saith S. Paul: 
Galath. 3.  All ye that are baptized into Christ have put on Christ, and so saith S. john of the water falling from that cloud: 
1. Epist. 2.  The blood of jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin: David goeth forward and saith: as he led them in the day time with a cloud, so he did all the night with a light of fire. 
john. 8.  This was a great token that God was with them: but this was but a shadow of him that saith: I am the light of the world, he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life: This is the light, 
john. 1.  that is the life of men, this is the light that shineth in the darkness: here hath the Gentle gotten as much as the jew: for this is the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world. Again saith David, for the glory of the jew he clave the rock in the wilderness, and gave them drink as of the great depths: 
1. Corin. 10  but Paul saith also, for the comfort of the Gentle, the rock was Christ: for out of the rock rend on the cross gushed out that plentiful aqua vitae which serveth to satisfy the thirst of every soul: that is it, which shall wash away all our uncleanness. 
Esay. 1.  That although our sins were as crimson, they shall now be made white as snow: though they were read like Scarlet, 
Psal. 68  they shall be as wool: though they be rusty for sin, as those that have lain among pots, yet shall we be as the wings of a Dove that is covered with silver, and whose feathers are like unto the yellow gold. Wherefore without this water, was that nothing in comparison, but as our Saviour saith in his reasoning with the woman of Samaria concerning jacob's well: 
john. 4.  Whosoever shall drink of this water shall thirst again, but who so drinketh of the water which I shall give him shall never thirst again, and it shall be unto him a well of water springing up into eternal life. Another marvelous benefit of God doth David glory in, saying: God opened the doors of heaven, and rained down Manna upon them for to eat, and gave them of the Wheat of heaven, and so man did eat Angels food: this was a sure token of God's singular love towards them: but this was but a shadow to that which Christ bringeth with him: for so he himself maketh comparison: I am the bread of life: your fathers did eat Manna in the wilderness and are dead: 
john. 6.  I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread he shall live for ever: finally that God by the hand of his servant josua conducted his people and set them safe in the possession of Canaan, that land so long looked for, so commended, that it should flow with milk and honey, therein did he show himself, as a mighty so a most merciful God: 
1. Peter. 1.  but blessed be the father of our Lord jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again unto a lively hope, by the resurrection of our Lord jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance immortal and undefiled, and that fadeth not away. This is that eternal possession which Christ hath purchased for us with the price of his precious blood, even the eternal and glorious kingdom of his heavenly father. O blessed Bees that may be so happy as to swarm about Christ, and to suck the sweet honey flowing from the flowers of that Canaan: verily there is heavenly honey, even such as the eye hath not seen, the ear hath not heard, neither yet hath ever entered into the heart of man: that is it which God hath provided for his beloved: it was undoubtedly a great loss which we had in Adam. But thanks be unto God we have found more in Christ than we enjoyed before. 
Rom. 5.  So saint Paul maketh conference of both estates: for if by the offence of one, death reigned through one, much more shall they which receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through one, that is jesus Christ. O Lord what is man that thou shouldest be so mindful of him? But herein is love, that Christ hath purchased us a new Paradise, & is gone to provide us a kingdom, even of his own kingdom doth he make us fellow heirs, he raiseth us together with him to the heavenvly places, and with his crown of thorns he hath gotten us the crown of glory that ever flourisheth and never fadeth: although we eat not the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and bad, yet may we be sure to avoid the choking pear (I mean) to perish: although we meet not with the tree of life which stood in the old Paradise, yet in the high pillar of the Almighty God, coming to Christ his heavenly table, we shall not miss the worthy fruit to have life everlasting.   

The fifteenth Chapter.  
¶ The assurance of such as take hold of God's mercy freely offered in Christ.  
THus have we looked on and overlooked the beautiful work of God, concerning our regeneration in christ jesus our Lord, we have assayed to draw up that which was laid abroad: now therefore to knit up the knot and to make a through stitch, let us cast aside all self love, and stick only to the love of the living God, the true fountain and well of the water of life: bearing still in mind the saying of S. john: God so loveth the world,) and that he saith, herein is love not that we loved him, and that our love is but a fruit of the root: for so he saith: 
1. Epist 4.  therefore we love him because he loved us first: let us therefore begin to reckon there where we have to fetch all good things, whether it be love, light or life, even from that first fountain which S. john hath so set abroach before us, saying: he loved us first, remember what he saith in whom God showeth all his mercy: (without me ye can do nothing:) and what he saith to them that take part with him: to you nothing shall be unpossible: and above all things let us consider the condition under which that deed of gift passeth: God hath given his son, that whoso believeth in him, he should have love and life with God: So doth God draw us unto Christ, as he pronounced by his Prophet: 
Esay. 28.  he that believeth on him shall not be ashamed. And Christ calleth us unto him: 
Rom. 8.  come unto me all ye that are heavy laden: how may we come but by the foot of faith? 
Rom. 5.  for whom he calleth, them he justifieth: and we being justified by faith have peace towards God through our Lord jesus Christ, by whom also we have access through faith (saith the Apostle) unto this grace wherein we stand: 
john. 1.  for want of faith it was that Christ was not received of his own, but the beloved believers they received him: to them he gave the power to be the sons of God, they are knit fast to Christ, they are the body, and he is the head, they are free by him, they are friends in one house, fellows in one inheritance, and sons of one father with our Lord jesus O how happy are we if we have faith: for then are we chosen, we are called, we are justified, we are glorified: God is on our side: who may stand against us? what shall we now doubt to obtain at God's hands? for he that spared not his son, but gave him for us all: how shall he not with him give us all things also? we are Gods chosen: who shall lay any thing to our charge? Christ is dead, he is risen: even he to whom all judgement is committed, he maketh earnest suit and continual request, he pleadeth for us: who shall then condemn us? who shall separate us now from the love of Chryst? Shall tribulation or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? in all these things (saith S. Paul) we are more than conquerors through him that loved us: And upon this is he so bold that he saith: I am persuaded, that neither death nor life, nor Angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ jesus our Lord. 
1. Corin. 15.  O let us set this example of faithful Paul before us, let us hold fast the love of God with him: how came he by that bold and mighty spirit? by the grace of God I am that I am (saith he) & again: we have boldness and entrance by faith in him, that is, in Christ jesus: wherefore his exhortation shall be most necessary at all times: watch ye (saith he) stand fast in the faith, quit you like men & be strong, let us put on the armour of God, let us not fear to enter the field having Christ our Captain, & above all, let us be sure to take with us the shield of faith: that hath S. john's warrant, that therewith we may conquer the world as Christ hath done: and S. Paul's, that therewith we may quench the fiery darts of the wicked: and S. Peter's also, that with the mighty force of faith we may mousell up the bloody mouth of that roaring Lion, so we being armed and fortified with faith, we may walk free without all fear: now we may defy the serpent & his seed with all their subtlety: let the Devil now roar and rage, let him fret, let him fume, & foam, Christ is on our side, in whom the Prince of this world hath nought to do: let him as he dare fling upon us his fiery darts, the shield of faith shall soon quench them: let him cast his blocks and set his trees against us, yet by faith we shall soon remove and rend them by the roots: let him throw mountains upon us, let the gates of hell be set open upon us, yet what is that can prevail against us? what may separate us from the love God? Christ is risen and we shall not be kept down: for in him as S. Paul saith: 
Collos. 2.  we are raised up together through the faith of the operation of God, which raised him fro the dead: wherefore I exhort such as love their life and like the love of God, and say again with S. Paul that which can never be said to much, stand fast in the faith of Christ: let us hear his warning while it may profit us: This is the condemnation (saith Christ) that light is come into the world, 
john. 3.  and men loved darkness more than light: And again on the contrary part, he calleth us unto him on this wise: While ye have light, believe on the light that ye may be the children of light: let us beware therefore, and as we would be loath to loose our part in that joyful tidings of the Angel, unto you is borne a Saviour: so let us take that warning of Christ, believe in the light: upon this point standeth the whole cause of our redemption: God he hath sent light into the world, & that light is life to the believer: betwixt believing & not believing, there now lieth the whole matter a bleeding: if we believe not, than no doubt but we bleed to death: for Christ is come, and this is he that should come, & we must not look for any other: he is dead, and he died once for all, he offered one sacrifice, and that once for all: let us therefore now or never beware that Christ be welcome unto us: that he deny us not before his father, and that we be welcome unto him at his next coming. For he shall come the second time, not as before, to save that which was lost, but to sit in his glorious throne, and to judge who is saved and who is lost. Then shall he use his left hand as well as his right hand, he shall sift the good corn from the chaff: the one part shall be gathered into the barn, but the other shall be most terribly burned with unquenchable fire: and it is faith that maketh and marreth in this matter, that is the knyse wherewith Christ shall cut the parts asunder: if we believe we live, if we believe not, we live not: for it is decreed that Christ shall deal those two dishes: to perish, and to have life everlasting: And he hath already made the division, and shall as certainly distribute it. And this is thy portion O unhappy infidel: Christ biddeth thee departed from him, for thou hast not received him, thou hast refused the love of God offered in Christ, and therefore must thou take thy part with the Devil and his fellows: thou shalt perish and not have life everlasting: but blessed are you ye faithful believers, you have the right hand, Christ biddeth you welcome, you are the beloved of God, you have not been ashamed to receive Christ on the earth, and he shall receive you in the high heavens, you shall possess the glorious kingdom prepared for the chosen of God, you shall not perish, but have life everlasting. The which God grant us of the love wherewith he so loveth the world for his only begotten sons sake. God be blessed for ever Amen.  By M.A.K. 
The year of our Lord. 1562.    

A godly advise touching Marriage  
Worshipful, as I am not unmindful, so I desire by these not to seem unthankful for those rewards, not small in my purse, which you have heretofore of your liberality diverse times bestowed on me. The which my purpose, is not here to recompense, as Courtiers think sufficient to reward other men's good works with their fair words: but yet I thought it good manner first to make this courtesy, before I entered any further matter with you: lest I should seem still to beg, and never to bring, or else that my bringing might seem nothing else but a coloured begging, even as the subtle fawning Spaniel oft times fetcheth his masters glove in hope to change it for a better morsel. Wherefore understand you, that this proceedeth not of any such purpose, as either to pick any thank for an undeserved good turn, for therein you are before hand with me, either to quite you with like measure as you have met unto me, for that is also above my reach: but only I wish you to accept this as a pledge of a grateful mind, confessing unto you a debt, and yet desiring a pardon of payment. And such is the pledge which I have to commend unto you, surely without dissimulation, no better than of that which is grown in mine own ground, not far fet thing, neither dearly bought, and therefore not meet for you, especially if you be very Lady fine, no greater than that came out of my pen, not more precious than may be kept and carried in a poor piece of paper, of no further form and fashion, than mine own hands could frame, mine own simple wit might work. The fine cook men dight the rude morsel with some conceit of their cunning, but I have no other Sugar to grace my dish withal, but as I have said. Wherefore as you see, so shall you taste: as you like the qualities, so accept my present. Whereas therefore your gentleness is such that it deserveth great thankfulness, and otherwise moved if you had not set me up this mark, I thought it my part (if you should take it in good part) not to spare pen, paper nor pains at this present in writing unto you: and although it were more meet for me to treat trysles than mysteries, things of nought & little force, than matters of weight and great importance: yet considering your person, whose case requireth even in enforced trifles to seek a gravity, and I ●eeing loath that lost labour should run with lost time, (for lost time I accounted lost lands) have bethought myself to devise some matter that happily might quite your labour for reading, and not be altogether fruitless in wit, so that altogether my words might not seem as wasted wind, and I might be somewhat botter occupied than as one that did nought else but tell the clocks and watch the sun how he shadoweth the dial. Considering therefore the state of your life, the case wherein you now stand: that is, towards me and the world my sister, a woman once a wife, now a widow, and therefore having of God leave and liberty by marriage to become a wife again: for when the husband is dead, the woman may lawfully betake herself unto another. This your case I reckoned so far to be mine, that I might not like a careless stranger stand dumb, but as a well wishing brother open my mouth, & utter my mind unto you, not that I mind to persuade or dissuade marriage with you, for therein you may best be your own judge, for you know best where you shoe wringeth you: neither need you any counsellor to bid you cut where it wringeth you: But whereas you know it lawful, if you shall think expedient also, that of a widow you become a wife, then aught you to take good advisement how you bestow yourself, lest you both marry and mar yourself in one day, and of an happy widow become an unhappy wife. For I need not to seek to show you the dangers that such leapt into, that in this matter rashly leapt before they wisely looked: because on the one side others have had experience in you, and on the contrary you have sufficient experience in other, which may lead you through the consideration hereof even as straight as a line: and therefore I will not counsel you as needless to advisement, but rather commend you that you have hitherto stand so stayed, with such advised deliberation. Only this point I find in you, which needeth a knot, as to consider how you might do most advisedly, what match were most meet for you to be made, that repentance follow not: to what mark you aught to direct your counsel, advisement, and deliberation, that the success might answer your hope, that is, that it might turn to your continual comfort, and to the glory of God. This verily I wot well is a case of such importance to consider, and hath so many hard knots to work on, that it were more fit for grey hears, sage wits, & deep divines to take in hand, than for my simplicity to adventure. I think you have read what M. the Emperor said in the like case: I am of opinion, that if all the wise men were melted together in a furnace, they could not give one good counsel to make a marriage, what counsel then of likelihood may you look to have at my hands, if a wise man, if many wise men, if all the wise be not wise enough in any point well to advertise you in this behalf? Wherefore I will ask no pardon of presumption, whereof I trust there shall be no suspicion betwixt brother and sister. But this desire, you would rather weigh the will than the wit, which by me here shall be showed: and if I (as of likelihood) shall overshoot myself by any kind of folly, yet let such wisdom rest in you, that you make not that open & common, which betwixt us is private and privy. Therefore to enter my purpose, because that of many, yet must one join but with one, and because where one is to be chosen, it is good to see which and all if it might be. I will be so bold as to send you four such suitors as may represent unto you all the rest that may happen hereafter to come. Consider all by four, try four and trust one. Therefore I see three marks generally whereat you may shoot out your game, and which are to be considered in man. The inward mind of the man, the outward parsonage and the state wherein he standeth of things appertaining to the world. By this rule I will sever and single out the sorts of men, that after the division you may with less doubt make your choice. And first to begin with the worst: There are men that live neither well, nor wealthily, being in a desperate state both toward God and the world, past hope, and past shame: But we may set these aside, as we find them, so let us leave them, for I know as they are nought worthy, so you will not have to do with them. None of those I think will come unto you in the name of a suitor. The next man is not so wise, nor so well favoured as wealthy, not so courteous as covetous, not so mannered as moneyed, and he having hope through his wealth peradventure will attempt you. For what case is desperate in the world to such as fortune laugheth upon, and as one saith: whereunto doth not the religious thirst of gold enforce the hearts of men? This man you may soon espy, where his treasure is, there is his heart: even such kind of wowing you shall have of him as Satan used to our Saviour: if thou wilt fall down and worship me, 
Math. 4.  I will give you (saith he) all these: you shall be mistress of so many sheep, so many oxen, thus much money shall be yours as mine own. So harpeth he upon his halfpenny. But let us set him aside a while, and bring an other in place, as such a one, that is handsome of parsonage, either as they say, a tall gentleman, or a proper man, well borne, graced with some courtly behaviour, well spoken, a pretty natural wit, and graced with other such qualities of the body, and yet peradventure virtue hath taken little or no root in him, he worshippeth God at leisure, and hath some civil godliness in him, and a religion he hath that he useth as the Market serveth, and thus doth he reckon his game: I see not (saith he to himself) why I should despair, I see not but I am worthy of as good as she is, I come of as good an house as she, mine ancestors were all worshipful, and some honourable: I doubt not the misliking of my behaviour, for I have not been so evil brought up but I know how to entertain a gentlewoman, I shall see well enough too, that my demeanour be courteous and courtly, as for my countenance, my parsonage, I force not who behold it. So to himself he saith, when to you he shall commend himself with such modesty, as to say, he is not disfigured nor maimed: and that he cannot of shame say himself, some other friend shall set out in plainer terms, his friends peradventure not yours, will so blaze his arms, as though he should cell him unto you, as though ye should take him at his word, besetting him with these & the like flowers: if you respect the parsonage of a man, if you refuse him, ye shall not be so matched again, mark him and view him well, see what deformity you may find in him: is there any part of him out of joint, or out of square? Mark what a jolly complexion he hath, see whether ye may espy any wart, any blemish in his visage: consider whether he be not a very gentleman in his behaviour, and forget not his qualities how commendable they are, his activity, his merry conceits, his pretty practices: see how cleanly and trim he is in his apparel, how skilful and neat he is about his horse, his hawks, his hounds: his exercise also be useth, is gentleman like, abroad he useth his bow, within doors he can sing to his lute, and so he hath wiped clean the outside of the cup. As for learning he hath enough for a Gentleman. Here peradventure that wise saying shall be wisely alleged. Ecclesiast. 7. Be not too wise: if he have a good wit in deed, then shall there be great compasses of comparisons set. If he be but mean in that respect, than yet he is no fool, no natural: if he be peradventure somewhat stained in fame, as for the familiarity, you shall have that issue straight stopped with some plaster of excuse: if it be not manifest, then is it false and forged, no man is able to charge him so, the best are most subject to corruption, the finest cloth may be soon stained, the honestest man may be soon slandered. And if it be not to be denied, yet it shall be excused, as that those are but toys and pranks that run in common course among young men, or else you must consider that we are all sinners, and there is Scripture enough to prove this: There is not one good, not not one, we have all gone astray like sheep, no man is good but God, and such the like. Wherefore a man is not to be rejected, but to be borne withal in such things, for as much as we are all full of imperfections and infirmities. And so if there appear any good gift it shall be set out as it were a sunning to behold. But if th●re be any suspicion of vice, or otherwise any want or defect, that shall either be let slip with silence, or else the broken pieces shall be glued together in some sort, that which is unseemly or unsightly shall have a better colour set on it with some glozing tale: the want of wit shall be supplied with abundance of wealth, evil manners with much money, if his life be suspected you must look in his face, for with some women the pleasing parsonage satisfieth for itself, and also for virtue: and good qualities is for learning in a gentleman. If the quiver be well furnished, if it be well in the stable, in the mue, the kennel, it doth not so much force what is in the house, the chamber and the study. Such verily is the table talk amongst the Gentiles the gentlemen, such bolts shoots suitors and suitors friends, and with such trains some women are entrapped, with such winlesses some are driven into the net. But I trust your eyesight serveth you better, than to be dimmed with such mists, or dazed with such short sunshyning. In the degree of mysuters, the third remaineth, whom if you by the eye judge, that discerneth no further than the face, and if you weigh the worth of your marriage with weights of silver, this man shall soon be put out of countenance and hope, he shall soon be countervailed and weighed down to the ground, as who may sing Peter's song: Silver and Gold have I little or none, he can not number his lands, his leases, his farms and his tenements: not of great living, but of good life: he hath a living, but competent, not abounding, not flowing with full stream: peradventure no knight, yet a plain gentleman, not very well borne, but very well brought up, not worshipful, but worship worthy, not of great estimation, but of singular honesty, not so long trained in the Court as conversant in the school, his lands are not so great as his learning, his chest not so stored with money, but his head and mind possessed and furnished with the trusty treasure of truth, and the inestimable wealth of wisdom: his demesnes to others are not comparable, but his demeanour above others commendable, and amiable countenance, but yet a manly visage, a face in which appeareth more grace than favour, more gravity than beauty, his tongue speeding words no faster than they may seem well bestowed, having his mouth in his heart, and not his heart in his mouth: not so well friended of men as favoured of God, his body not so handsome of making as his soul well fashioned & framed to godward, his leg not so clean as his life without spot, his hand not so white to see, as his heart sure to trust: not high of stature, yet his wit not short, his body not so straight as his conscience upright, not so brave in his apparel as grave in his behaviour, not curious & neat, but honest and cleanly, not so well faced as well lived, I mean not so well attired in the outward man as clothed in the inward man. These are me thinks the degrees of men to be considered in our purpose: for I can reckon no other marks whereunto women direct their eyes and thought. She that resteth upon these three first, those which they call the gifts of fortune, the outward goods as wealth and substance which they possess, their place and state, their parents and friends concerning worship and estimation, and in the man himself, the goods of the mind, wherein you may respect shortly life and learning and wit: then the parsonage of the man, considering his making and proportion, his stature, his form and favour, and also his years: and although these good gifts and graces do not enjoy one the other, but that sometimes in one person diverse of them may make their habitation: for the better conference of them to sever them into diverse persons, I would you could discern them apart in deed: then should you be in less danger of deceit: there are to be found I think, if we seek far, in whom virtue, fortune and favour have made a marriage: and such a one, if my prayer might be heard you should soon attain. But such stars shoot not often, such birds fly seldom abroad: but if there happen any such whereupon your consideration shall stand, my counsel is that you follow the example of the Physician, who to know the whole state of a man openeth and cutteth him up, and divideth him into parts, and thereby groweth into a greater knowledge: so I wish you to make an anatomy of him that you have in hand, make no confusion of wealth, wit, body and soul, life and living: For so you may soon deceive yourself. In one man therefore consider three, of the which you aught to choose but one, lest perhaps you mistake your right mark & lose your game: lest in stead of a man, ye found but the shadow of a man: refer yourself to the pattern of those persons which I have rudely described unto you: compare unto them, and those betwixt themselves. Wherefore to enter the comparison, if you ask my judgement: The Poets to lay a foundation of a further invention, feigned there were three she Gods in contention for their beauty, who did most excel: juno, who had the disposition of honour and dignity, Pallas at whose pleasure were all gifts of wisdom, & Venus the Lady of love. To end this strife, it pleased jupiter and other gods, to refer the judgement hereof to one Paris, a shepherd, conveying to him a gold apple with this inscription: Let it be give to the fairest. The foresaid Gods presented themselves before this their appointed judge, and offered every one their reward to have sentence on their side: juno would make him the highest: Pallas the wisest: & Venus a husband of the fairest Venus here prevailed, she was pronounced fairest. Paris had his reward, that was the beautiful Helena, who they say, was the cause and destruction of the troyans. Now if your marriage stood upon the gift and delivery of an apple, I trust you could not play Paris part, that Venus should vanquish you. Wherefore my counsel is, that rather you incline to Pallas for some reward of wit: than either to juno for her honour, or Venus for pleasure. And besides these, there is one that by right hath greater interest in the apple than any of the other, although she strive not so much for the matter, I mean the Lady Virtue. Wherefore if she come in place, wythholde not your hand from her for fear of the other, if she offer not herself at the first, yet be not rash or hasty, but call unto God that he may sand her unto you, and he no doubt, as his ears are always open unto the prayers of the faithful, shall bring her even home to you, and she, I think, is for your purpose, to her as you aught, deliver up your apple if you intend to give it to the fairest, to the best & the most worthy. Wherefore consider well my last pourtred person, of whom although I have not set so fair a colour, yet if he were to be sold, I would hold as dearest: as who, although he be not formed of the finest fashion, yet is he made of the purest metal: whom peradventure juno may jest at, Venus have little to vaunt of, & Plutus whom they call the God of riches passeth not on: yet if virtue may prevail, you shall be his, & virtue shall be yours, yea Pallas also pleadeth on his part. Wherefore I counsel you as you would give the apple unto virtue, so give your wedding ring to be worn of the virtuous. For if it be so, as the Philosopher truly disputeth of friendship, that it can not consist but betwixt the good: how slender a marriage will that be, where virtue knitteth not the knot? where honesty is not called to counsel, and godliness is not bid to the bridal? I think there needeth no far fet examples in this matter, seeing you have experience so near you: you know what the son of Syrach saith: blessed is that man that hath a virtuous wife, for the number of his years shall be double. You I think being virtuously disposed, intend to make an happy husband: see then that he do as much for you as you for him: where as you shall make him happy, foresee that he for want of virtue turn not the course of your state: whereas you shall double his days, take heed that he cut not of yours by the middle. Ecclesiastes. 26. You have some good flowers growing, take heed they be not overgrown & choked with the evil weeds that he shall bring into your ground: you are, thanks be to god, disposed to godliness, match not with the contrary disposition: for than shall you be as the yoke of oxen that draweth divers ways. Vice and virtue were yet never friends, it caused hatred in brethren, as in Cain & Abel, Esau & jacob: how can the wolf and the Lamb agree? no more can the ungodly with the righteous. He that toucheth pitch shall be defiled therewith. Think not then that the virtuous and the vicious may make a good marriage: Can you set fire and water together, but that they shall stir and strive for the mastery, and each to consume the other? Stand therefore, make no haste for fear of the worst: it is better to look long than to leap lightly: rake up the ashes thoroughly, and turn them to and fro, that you be sure there remain no spark of burning vice, or at the least, leave as little as you may, and sweep as clean as you can. Therefore mark well, I wish, what condition S. Paul setteth, when he giveth you your licence to marry 1. Cor. 7. The wife is bound by the law, as long as her husband liveth, but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to marry only in the Lord. Weigh well that restraint of your liberty, or rather a sure stay of your liberty, lest by abuse you turn that liberty into a bondage. For unless you have God before your eyes, you shall change your liberty into a straight bondage: whereas you seek comfort, you shall find a curse, whereas you hope for ease and rest, you shall enter into disease and trouble. Above all therefore have a special and a steadfast eye upon this rule: That you marry in the Lord. He made the first marriage that ever was made, and I doubt not but he made the first that you made: and if he make the second also, then shall you be sure never to repent you of your bargain. He did institute marriage as a thing most holy, to his glory, and to the comfort of man: See therefore that you in your case be void of all fleshly affection as near as you may, that you profane not that which is holy to your own discomfort, and the dishonour of God. Christ you know was present at a marriage in Cana, where besides his presence, he honoured it with his first miracle, as that he turned water into wine. I pray you make Cothring as like Cana as you can, let Christ be present with you: I mean, to guide your spirit with his holy spirit, turn not his miracle, make not, I mean, water of wine, but let that which God hath instituted to your comfort, be godly handled of you to his glory. Whereas Matrimony is honourable amongst all men, provide that it turn not to your shame and confusion, as you see in some: I need not here (as it were to long) particularly to give you precepts, to rehearse she virtues to be embraced, & the vices to be detested in men. But shortly, as our Saviour answered, thou knowest the commandments, do this and thou shalt live: So I, you know the commandments, meet the length of their feet, by that measure shall you well perceive whether his shoe will serve your foot: yet one thing in this behalf I must add, not of mistrust, but to make a double knot of a single, or a triple of a double: for the surer the better, the warier the wiser. Be wise then and beware, that you put not your head under the girdle of the ungodly, neither so burden yourself as to bear the yoke with an Infidel. For than it may not seem you kept S. Paul his rule. As to marry in the Lord, for that is his counsel. 2. Cor. 6. For what marriage may righteousness make with unrighteousness? light with darkness, Christ with Beliall, the unfeigned children with the faithless Infidel? For here beside the danger of discord and bodily trouble thereof ensuing, there is also apparent peril that may pierce the soul. For so saith the Lord to his people Israel concerning their joining with foreign nations. Deut. 7. Thou shalt make no covenant with them, neither shalt thou make marriages with them, neither give thy daughter unto his son, nor take his daughter unto thy son, for they will 'cause thy son to turn away from me, and to serve other Gods: Then will the wrath of the Lord wax hot against you and destroy thee suddenly: You are no Israelite, here might be said, how then? yet a Christian I trow, and by faith the daughter of Abraham. Then this must you reckon to be written for your learning. There are no Heathites, no Amorites, no Canaanites to be feared: yet are many in our days both faithless and godless, as the obstinate Papist & double dealing gospeler, in whom there is no less danger of deceit: and although the persons be not one, yet little difference seemeth to be in the cause. For first mark the reason, and then apply it. The marriage of a Cananite was forbidden the Israelite, for fear jest he should be withdrawn from the true worship of the true God of Israel: and do we not see in experience that the wicked wife corrupteth such men as we judge sometime most upright in life and steadfast in profession of the truth. And how much more danger is there lest the unbelieving and wicked man altar the good nature of the honest woman into his own nature, seeing that to him she is subject, as the body to the head? ye must of necessity be one in flesh with him whom ye shall choose: foresee therefore by wisdom that his religion be one with yours, see that you change not your manners with your name: presume not of yourself herein, you are not wiser than Solomon, yet as in the .9. of the .1. of the kings, his wisdom was so bewitched by the means of those foreign women with whom he matched in marriage, that he become a fond Idolater, & so fell into the hands of god. Of this example I trust you will take sufficient warning, so that herein I need not make any more words: unless you object to me or any other to you, the place of S. Paul 1 Cor. 7. The unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband If we mark the purpose of Saint Paul, the answer shall not be hard: The verse next afore doth contain his purpose, which is that the believing woman already married to the unbelieving man, should not use his infidelity as an occasion to depart from him: the words are: The woman which hath an husband which believeth not, if he be content to devil with her, let her not forsake him: and the other he joineth as a reason to confirm this sentence, so that that place serveth to this, that if you and your husband were first both of you unbelievers, afterward it pleased God to call you to the knowledge of this truth, your husband continuing in his infidelity, or if now being grounded, you should adventure the marriage of an Infidel, you aught not yet for the hope of sanctification to seek a separation For as you should do ill to take on the yoke of an infidel, so should you do worse to shake it off without some juster cause: and although that be not a sufficient cause to break the knot that is knit, whereas is hope of sanctification, yet is it just and necessary wherefore to refrain marriage. For the marriage of an ungodly Infidel I grant is a marriage, & not lightly to be dissolved: but yet an ungodly marriage, and that which lacketh sanctification, which is easy to gather eue● of the same words of S. Paul alleged. Wherefore as if your head were fast in the yoke I would counsel you to continued for the hope of sanctification, that you might win your husband: so now standing free, tempt not God, presume not, match not with any that you know to be out of the household of faith for fear of corruption, lest you lose yourself before you win an other. Thus I have spoken hitherto for my last wooer, who pleadeth honesty, virtue and godliness, and who I doubt not shall speed, because that God is on his side. Here if ye demand of me, whether I would have you so precise as only to regard the honesty and virtue, without any further respect. Truly (although peradventure I shall seem too spiritual in this point) that if you had your eye fully fixed upon the mark, without wavering other ways, no doubt but God would prospero you the better, for as much as he shall thereby have trial that you depend wholly upon him and his providence, and then shall you be lest in danger of snares And of this, that it aught so to be, we may take a warning of the manner that God used in the first marriage making in the. 2. of Genesis, as whilst he was providing for Adam the woman that should be his wife and his comfort, he caused an heavy sleep to fall upon the man, and whilst he was a sleep, he took out that rib whereof he framed the woman. So verily I would think that God did most work with you, if you laid Adam a sleep, I mean, if you removed all carnal affections and worldly respects which proceed as earthly from Adam, while that this bargain were a driving. This I know is far wide from worldly wisdom: but this way you shall go nearest to make a marriage of Paradise, and so shall you seem most to marry in the Lord. And if you may not abide so strait binding, yet serve as little as you may: if this be not your whole building, yet at the lest let it be your chief foundation: if this be your ground, have no doubt but there will grow and follow other good followers. So then I think you shall gather a good sum if you cast your accounts in this wise: if virtue come alone, she is not to be refused: if she come with the company of such as the world esteemeth, not as a servant but as a mistress, which is hard and seldom, she is also to be embraced. But yet if you stand on this point, you are in greater danger to slide: for virtue clothed is not so sure to trust as if it be naked & bore. Then a little virtue exceeding in one, may not be supplied with great store, and abundance of other gifts and goods in an other: for we must in our doings first seek the kingdom of heaven, as for other things, after them seek the Gentiles, if they be sought with care, even when we think us nearest we are often furthest of, and shoot to short. If we attain the thing desired, yet we lack the fruition, as when we wanted the thing. If we enjoy it, yet the space is short. But if they come as unbidden guests, then are they most welcome: yea if we seek them not, the promise is, they shall be cast unto us: and if they be cast, then come they in their kind. Now then to speak somewhat of other respects severally, you may remember the suitor whom I commended unto you, I did so qualify, that as I would not have him godless, so I wish him not to be witless: for that I reckon a most honest respect, so that you discern the true wisdom from the false, so that the simplicity of the dove join not with the wiliness of the serpent: neither shall this hinder my honest & godly wooer in his suit, but rather further. For as fools are fortunate, so the virtuous commonly have less want of wisdom. The fear of the Lord is wisdom. job. 28. Chryst is the wisdom of the father: therefore if you make account of true wisdom, in this behalf you shall be best sped in the true Christian: and by this I need not to make comparison betwixt the godly and the wise, so that you use your wisdom to discern and judge aright of wisdom, for as much as the right wisdom the righteous hath obtained. Only if the comparison stand betwixt the wise and the wealthy or handsome, let Solomon be your counsellor here. prover. 8. Wisdom is better than precious stones, and all pleasures are not to be compared unto her: and prover. 16. How much better is it to get wisdom than gold, and to get understanding is more to be desired than silver. And thus the Preacher maketh comparison. cap. 7. Wisdom is good with an inheritance, and excellent to them that see the same: for a man shall rest in the shadow of wisdom, and in the shadow of silver. But the excellency of the knowledge of wisdom giveth life to the possessors thereof.  
Now if the righteous and the rich stand in comparison, yet I trust my poor spirited suitor shall not be outfaced, you sitting as judge: and such I trust shall be your sentence, as was Themistocles answer (a Captain among the Grecians, to this question) whether a man should bestow his daughter upon a good poor man, or upon a rich man not so honest? his answer was (as Tully showeth, lib. 2. officiorum) I rather like the man who lacketh money, than money which wanteth a man. So little thought he that riches and substance did make a matter of marriage, that she seemed not to him to marry for any regard of the man, that hath such respect of riches: and that she that married not an honest man, did scarce marry a man. Some in deed have their fancy so led as though money made men: But let this be your Poesy rather, when you make your marriage: Manners makes man. Consider the saying of the Prophet. Psal. 37. and Prou. 16. A small thing that the just man hath, is better than great riches of the ungodly, wicked and mighty. There is a good piece of counsel in the .13. of Ecclesiasticus, concerning those with whom we may not win familiarity, for he saith: Burden not thyself above thy power whilst thou livest, and company not with one that is mightier and richer than thyself: for how agree the Kettle and the earthen pot together? For if the one be smitten against the other, it shall be broken. Wherefore in this behalf an equality were a goodly property. That would take away the occasion of such quarrels and complaints as the unequal matches (we see) lay one in the other's dish, which choking morsels you know are not easy to digest. I wish you wealth and riches, for I know they are the good gifts of God. But I fear lest virtue will be over whelmed where such floods break out. He that will tarry for the company of a rich man to go to heaven, it will be long or he come there. For his way is as straight as the eye of a needle, and he himself as huge as a Camel Ecclesiasticus maketh a marvel of the rich upright man .20. or .2. Chap. Have not this mind with you (sister) as to seek a rich marriage For then you miss of the right mark of marriage ordained for your comfort: there lieth not the way leading to rest and quietness .6. Timo. For they that will be rich, fall into temptations and snares, and into many foolish and ●oysome lusts which drown men in perdition and destruction, and repeat that saying with yourself: the desire of money is the root of all evil. Take heed that that root overgrow not other good flowers: but hearken unto the sentence that our saviour pronounceth: Woe be unto you that are rich, for you have received your consolation. Luke .6. These therefore be the bounds that S. Paul appointeth us: If we have, saith he, food and raiment, let us therewith be content. Truly herein consisteth not true riches to possess this earthly treasure, the meat of Moths, and the bait of thieves: But such as my commended suitor possesseth, if you may be partaker thereof, then may you say: my lot is fallen to me on a fair ground, and that you have a goodly heritage. Godliness (saith the Apostle) is great gain, if a man be content with that he hath: even that is it which my suitor bringeth, godliness with contentation. Wherefore then should you desire the marriage of the rich? you see it bringeth no rest: you see godliness is the true riches. Do you seek to establish unto you and yours an inheritance? Hearken then what the Prophet saith. Psal .37. The evil doers shall be cut off, and they that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the land. Again, the meek men shall possess the earth. And again, the Lord knoweth the days of upright men, & their inheritance shall be perpetual. Do you seek a continuance & perpetuity in things? james saith, as when the sun riseth with heat them the grass withereth & his flower falleth away, & the beauty of the fashion of it perisheth: even so shall the rich man fade away in all his ways. But the just they flourish like the palm tree, they are like the Bay tree, even green & fresh like themselves. Pro .12. The root of the righteous shall not be moved. Do you desire to have such a head as may best defend you from injuries and oppressions: who is of more might than the righteous? David saith. Psal. 34. The angel of the Lord pitcheth round about them that fear him & delivereth them. And again: the ears of the lord are open unto their prayers, and his ears are open unto their cry, yea he keepeth their bones that none of them be broken, he numbereth their hears that none of them be lost. Do you fear peril or penury? of the righteous thus saith the Prophet. Psa. 37. They shall not be confounded in the perilous time, and in the days of famine they shall have enough. You will say, for myself I can hold myself content, but my children's case moveth me. hearken how David speaketh of his experience. Psal. 37. I have been young and now am old, yet I saw never the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging their bread. Doubtless GOD shall provide for you and yours sufficiently and abundantly, if you cast away all such worldly respects, and much more than otherwise. Now I think these shall suffice to underset and stay you up that you fall not on this side. The next care concerneth my second suitor, that he take you not with the bait of beauty, whereby many wise women and men have been deceived, and with a short pleasure have purchased long and desperate repentance. This caused Solomon to commit folly .11. of the 1. Kings. This cooled she mighty sampson's courage. jud. 16. Did not the beauty of Bethseba so ravish the eyes of holy David, that he committed with her most abominable adultery, and made him also guilty of bloodshed? So it is written .11. of .2. Samuel. He saw a woman washing herself, and the woman was very beautiful to look upon. You might abuse these examples to folly, as to say: These men were notable for strength, for wisdom, for godliness: marvel not then (might you say) though I be overcome in that case. Not so sister, but this consider in these examples, that if such of so excellent graces have been led away with these trains, you have hereby a fair warning to beware, and to be very circumspect in so subtle a point and so dangerous a case: if you give place to such fantasies that they overcome reason, you may soon slip into those inconveniences that you see in the examples of others, you may pluck the house on your head as Samson did. As you choose your mark so goeth your game: as you make your foundation, so will your building be: if the one be steadfast, the other will not lightly shake: but if the one be not surely grounded, a little blast marreth much work: surely the handsome person of man is not of long continuance. Besides that, it is subject to corruption by innumerable means. Wherefore if your marriage hung upon that knot, a little force will break it, a little labour will undo it, and of itself it will decay and wear away. If this fancy be the leader of your love, you follow a blind guide, you may soon slide and wander out of your right way. Many an unsavoury weed beareth a fair blossom: so under a fair face, there lieth hidden many a foul fault, and with sound look often is covered the hollow heart, all hatred. (A lively example in Absalon. 14. Sam. 2.) I have read an history of one Paulus Aemilius a noble man of Rome, matched with a wife called Papiria, both for birth and beauty (to judge) worthy such an husband. Howbeit he divorced her: and when her friends entreated for her, demanding of him what should be the cause moving him so to do, for they saw none, seeing that she was to behold mannerly and modest, fair and fruitful. Then he for answer, thrusteth out his foot, and saith: Behold, see my shoe, is it not fair? is it not new? yet none of you woteth where it wringeth me. Belike there was some secret fault in that woman not to be borne withal, which was so loathsome unto the husband, as her beauty could be pleasant. Be advised therefore lest you find that your handsome husband have that, which this man found in his fair wife. If you will not that your shoe wring, measure him before you buy, and judge not of him by the colour, but measure him rather within than without, lest you wring for it afterward. The goodly parsonage without wisdom & virtue, what is it better than a painted man? Plato the Philosopher in the person of Socrates thus saith to Alcibiades: He that at any time hath loved Alcibiades body, hath not loved Alcibiades himself: but he that loveth thee, loveth thy mind, nunc tui corpus amatur. etc. And the wise Tully saith: Man is as his mind is, & not that form & figure which may be pointed at with the finger. For this you understand that man consisteth of two parts, the one as the mind endued with reason that beareth the image of god: the other as the body which we have common with the brute beasts. Wherefore David you know, compareth that man that lacketh understanding unto horse & mule: and I me thinks, may well compare such lusty lads whose commendation is only on their parsonage, and lacketh learning, wit, and honesty, unto Plato his Man, as Diogenes called. When that Plato in his school had defined a man in this wise, as to be a living and twofooted creature, made upright and without any feathers: Diogenes thinking that he had not well defined or expressed the nature, because he suppressed that which was most proper to man, and did concern the mind and gift of reason, he pluck me a Capon bore and turned him into the school, saying: Behold Plato's man. Thus is a man if you consider not his mind, a fool, what is he but an unfeathered foul? A man without manners, what is he better than a capon without feathers? Wherefore if you meet any such in your dish, esteem him as you list, I have told you the price. Trust not to soon those fair faces, which come like capons upon sops and Sugar. That brave apparel, what is it but Peacocks feathers? the good complexion, the strength of the body, the white hand, the clean leg, what are these, but fading flattering flowers? what but baits to deceive the foolish fish? all these serve but to please the eye, and to satisfy the fantasy of the flesh. Consider what is written in the .6. of Genesis. The sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair, & they took them wives of all that they liked. Therefore the Lord said: my spirit shall not always strive with man. etc. Behold that fleshly fancy of marriage, for that they thereby abused and polluted the holy ordinance of God, is expressed there as one of the causes that provoked God so to power out the rain of his wrath, and to destroy all flesh from the face of the earth. Wherefore in this point I end with the exhortation of S. john .1. epist. 2. chap. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world: if any man love the world, the love of the father is not in him: for all that is in the world, as the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the father, but is of the world: and the world passeth away and the lust thereof: but he that fulfilleth the will of God abideth for ever. By these, sister, you may consider the true and sure way you have to walk: you have the bywayes that may 'cause you to wander, in some sort stopped up: you may see, if it please you, the good and the bad, although set forth but in a rude glass, Sing not now Medea's song, who said: I see and allow the better, but yet I follow the worse. Give not Venus your apple, but give the virtuous your wedding ring: then see how you have headed your arrow. And then see the blissed estate you stand in, he is yours for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, he shall be to you an husband, to your children a father, to your friends a favourer, to your enemies a terror, he shall willingly bear part of all your blows and burdens, he shall double your prosperity, he shall mourn when you weep, he shall laugh when you are glad, his love is sure sealed, even joined by God himself. He is not like the rich of whom the son of Syrach saith. chap. 13. if thou be for his profit he useth thee, but if thou have nothing, he will forsake thee. He is not like the light lover for beauty, of whom the wise Plato saith: He that loveth thee for thy favour, when that decayeth he will give thee over. But he shall be one with you both body & soul, he shall walk forth with you here your pilgrimage on earth, and shall lead you the way to eternal rest. He shall be blissed in all his affairs, if David be a true Prophet. 1. Psal. His wife also shall be blissed, he shall have seed and blissed seed: for Psal. 114. Blissed is the man that feareth the Lord, and delighteth in his commandments, his seed shall be mighty upon earth, the generation of the righteous shall be blissed: riches and treasure shall be in his house, & his righteousness shall endure forever Psal. 128. Blissed is every one that feareth the Lord and walketh in his ways: when thou eatest the labours of thy hands thou shalt be blissed, and it shall be well with thee, thy wife shall be as the fruitful Vine on the sides of thy house, even your husband's wife shall be such a one, if your husband be such a one: & thy children like the Olive branches round about thy table. This David promiseth and prophesieth, & confirmeth it again, saying: Lo surely, thus shall the man be blissed (in marrying) that man that feareth the Lord. You will say peradventure I would think myself well bestowed upon such a man: but the craft is in the catching, the doubt is in the obtaining. But go you forward in your race of virtue, and then you shall not go far before you meet with a meet match, It is an old saying: The like loveth the like. The son of Syrach saith chap. 13. All flesh will resort to their like, and every man will keep company with such as he is himself. A virtuous woman saith he chap. 26. is a good portion and a gift to be given to some just joseph, or some true Tobias. You know that every good gift cometh from God as the first father and founder: yet in this case God appeareth more evidently to strike the stroke to work as it were immediately within with his own hand: So saith Solomon Proverb. 19 House and riches are the inheritance of the fathers, but a prudent wife cometh of the Lord. Wherefore although there be good tokens & marks whereby to make your choice, as by the fruit to judge the tree: & as Eccl. saith .27. The word declareth the heart, the talk is the trial of men: yet because these are rather probable conjectures than sure demonstrations (for fame oftentimes lieth, the eye deceiveth, the tongue dissembleth) therefore when you have cast the whole & the sum, yet God is all in all this matter, & the only maker of good marriages. Be free then from worldly business, be clear from carnal affections, cast your hope upon God, depend upon his providence, commit the matter wholly to his hands, resort & flee to him with often & earnest prayer. For that when all other ways be tried, is the plainest to seek, the surest to trust, the readiest to found for such as seek good wives & good husbands. You have a good example in the .24. of Genesis, how Abraham proceeded in the marriage of his son Isaac: you have there the prayer that the servant of Abraham made, to whom this charge was committed, how he entering his journey, desired God to prospero him, & to show mercy unto his master Abraham, & that God according to his faithful prayer, gave him a token, whereby he chose the fair virtuous virgin Rebecca For her parents, when they perceived that God wrought with man, could not deny their goodwill unto Isaac, but answered: This thing is proceeded of the Lord, we can not therefore say unto thee neither evil nor good. You have there also the exercise of Isaac, how he was occupied in the mean time, while Rebecca was taken out of his rib. Moses saith: He went out to pray in the field towards the evening, & that Rebecca first found him so occupied. This is all, sister, that I have now to be said: give yourself over wholly unto God to be your guide. Let your eyes be so earnest bend upon him, as they were wont to be upon your mistress whom you have heretofore served: then shall God, no doubt, give you as a portion to the righteous, he shall so join you, that man may not separate you: Christ shallbe present with you, as at the marriage of Cana: he shall conduct you with his holy spirit, he shall turn your water into wine, he shall make the sour sweet, and prospero all your affairs: In mean time, while God worketh, be not you idle, but practise yourself in Isaac's exercise, and God shall send you an husband of his kind, even a faithful son of Abraham, a chosen child of God. God shall send his Angel to lead that man unto your house, even as he brought Tobias unto Sara at the house of her father Raguel. And as my poor prayer may help, the Lord (I beseech him) guide you with his holy spirit, and provide you an head for your comfort, grant you long to live and ever to love together with the increase of your godly children.  
FINIS.   

 

  

   

Certain places of Scripture, touching ungodly matching in Marriage.  
1 THe godly, marrying with women of a wicked kindred and Religion for worldly considerations, are reprehended. Gen. chap. 6. verse. 1. and .2.  
2 Matching with unbelievers maketh the believing parties unready to follow God's calling, and wrappeth them in great danger of God's vengeance when it is poured on the wicked: as appeareth Gen. chap. 19 verse. 14. &. 15.  
3 Abraham took an oath of his servant, to take no wife for Isaac from amongst the Idolatrous Canaanites. Gen chap. 14. verse .3. and .4.  
4 Isaac charged his son jacob, not to marry a Cananite. Gen. 28. ver. 1 &. 2.  
5 Esau trespassed in marrying with unbelieving women. Gen. chap. 27. verse. 46. Also Gen. 28. verse. 6. and .9.  
6 Not only marriages with Infidels, but also all other compacts with them are forbidden: neither may they devil in our land, or any idolatrous thing be brought into our houses. Exod. chap. 34. verse. 12.15. and. 16. Also Exod. 23. verse. 32. and .33. Also Deut. chap. 7. verse. 2.3.4.25. and. 26. The reason of this law and commandment is of continual force, and serveth generally for all the children of God, which is: That the believers be not snared by the allurements of Infidels, and drawn to Idolatry.  
7 By the false Prophet balaam's counsel the idolatrous women of Moab joined themselves to the Israelites, and so led them to Idolatry, as appeareth Numbers chap. 31. verse. 16. Those women therefore by Moses' commandment were put to the sword: in the same chap. verse. 17.  
8 The match of Duke Zimrie an Israelite, with Princess Cozbie a Moabite, with Phincas commendation for steaing them both. Numbers chap. 25.  
9 The children of Israel did wickedly in marrying with the Canaanites, judges. chap. 3. verse. 6.  
10 Samson reproved by his parents (who considered the general law of God to the contrary) for seeking a wife amongst the Philistines. jud. 14. verse. 3. The inconvenience that ensued of her betraying his secrecy of his riddle to the Philistines, in the same chap. verse 17. The ill success of that marriage, in the same chap. verse. 20.  
11 Solomon, the wisest man that ever was, fell away from God to idolatry by means of his outlandish idolatrous wives, as appeareth first of the Kings, chapter. 11.  
12 jehoram king of juda, son of godly jehosaphat, was a wicked King: the reason also added: For the daughter of wicked and idolatrous King Achab was his wife. 2. Reg. 8. verse. 18.  
13 Ahaziah king of juda, son of jehoram, a wicked King: the reason also added: For he was the son in law of the house of Achab. His mother also was Athaliah the daughter of Omrie King of Israel, who was achab's father. 2. Reg. 8. verse. 26.  
14 Achab king of Israel married jesabel the king of the Zidonians daughter, in the first of the Kings. Chap. 16. verse. 31. He sold himself to sin. 1. Reg. 20.  
15 Esdras reproved the Israelites for marrying with infidels, as appeareth, Chapter. 9 verse. 1. and 2. Princes and great personages especially there blamed for this fault.  
16 Those ungodly marriages were dissolved by Esdras. cap. 10. vers. 10.9. &. 44.  
17 The ceremonies also commanded, in that special permission to the Israelites of marrying an unbelieving woman taken in battle, declare and argue, that it is not lawful for any of the faithful to match with an unbeliever, before the unbeliever have renounced whatsoever may be a hindrance to godliness & true religion. Read Deut. chap. 21. vers. 12. &. 13.  
18 If the husband die, the woman is no otherwise at liberty to marry but in the Lord. 1. Cor. 7. verse. 39  
19 We are forbidden to be unequally yoked with infidels. 2. Cor. 6. verse. 14.  
20 Paul showing that he might lawfully charge the congregation, to which he preached, with a wife, restraineth this his liberty both of marrying and also burdening those whom he taught, with this condition: That the wife be a sister, that is, a believing woman. 1. Cor. 9 verse. 5.  
21 In wives it is required that they fear their husbands, that they submit themselves unto them as is comely in the Lord. Ephes. 5. verse. 33. and Colos. 3. verse. 18. But no hope of this dutiful fear & submission in an unbelieving woman. For it is commonly seen that the unbelieving wife overruleth the believing husband, and causeth him either to make a plain shipwreck of faith, or so cooleth his godly zeal, that he may hardly be discerned from an infidel.  
22 Parents are commanded to bring up their children in instruction and information of the Lord. Ephes. 6. verse. 4. and. 1. Tim. 3. verse. 12. But when the husband and wife be of contrary religion, this work of education can in no wise be well ordered.  
23 Peter commandeth wives to be such manner of women as have hearts uncorrupted. Epistle. 3. verse. 4. By whose pure conversation the unbelievers may be won. In the same Chapter. verse. 1. and. 2. They must be faithful in all things. 1. Tim. 3. verse. 11.  
24 As unity and like affection in all prosperity and adversity is required in all Christians: So especially it is requisite in the godly husband and godly wife, who aught to devil together as fellow heirs of the grace of life, that their prayers he not interrupted. 1. Pet. 3. verse. 7. and. 8. But when a believer is matched with an unbeliever, no hope of this communion and like affection in prayer to God.  
FINIS.   


OMNIA TEMPUS HABENT.