MASTER BEZAES' SERMONS UPON THE THREE FIRST CHAPTERS OF THE CANTICLE OF CANTICLES:  
WHEREIN ARE HANDLED THE CHIEFEST POINTS OF RELIGION CONTROVERSED AND DEBATED BETWEEN US AND THE ADVERSARY AT THIS DAY, ESPECIALLY TOUCHING THE TRUE JESUS CHRIST AND THE TRUE CHURCH, AND THE CERTAIN & INFALLIBLE MARKS BOTH OF THE ONE AND OF THE OTHER.  
TRANSLATED OUT OF FRENCH INTO ENGLISH BY JOHN HARMAR, HER highness PROFESSOR IN THE GREEK TONGUE IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD, AND FELLOW OF THE NEW COLLEGE THERE.  
AT OXFORD, PRINTED BY JOSEPH BARNES, AND ARE TO BE SOULD IN PAUL'S CHURCHYARD AT THE tigers HEAD, 1587.   

TO THE RIGHT EXCELLENT AND Honourable Lord, the Lord Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, Baron of Denbigh, knight of the most noble order of the garter, Master of the Queen's majesties horse, and one of her graces most Honourable privy Counsel, john Harmar wisheth all godly felicity, continuance of health, increase of Honour, & graces eternal.  
I WAS REQVESTED, RIGHT Honourable, by many of my friends, to employ the time of this last vacation of mine from my public readings in the University, in the translating of Master Bezaes' Sermons upon the Canticle of Canticles, which I had a little before received from the Francfurt Mart in French, into our vulgar and Mother tongue. The desire I had of advancing and promoting the glory of God, which is then especially increased and farthered, when his word, the mirror of his will, is no longer a sealed book unto the simple and ignorant, but a volume laid open in clear and capital letters, that he that runneth may read it: enforced me principally to undertake upon my present leisure, this more painful, then happily thankful work of translating.  
Wherein, for the utility and profit of many, as well the learned as the unlettered who have not the understanding of the French tongue, I did the more willingly employ both my leisure and my pain, because I would have somewhat to present your Lordship withal for a token and monument of my thankful duty, and dutiful thankfulness, upon so many, so memorable, so utterly undeserved benefits of your Honour, not so much collated, as congested, & heaped from time to time upon me. For extend I the cogitation of my mind to the farthest part of my infancy and childhood, and draw it forth as in a continual and even thread unto this present time, what part of my age hath not been honoured with the patronage of your Lordship's favour and goodwill towards me? The ground and foundation of my first studies laid in Winchester by your honours only means, in obtaining her highness letters for my preferment unto that school; the rearing of the farther frame of them in this College, wherein placed by your Lordship's favour, I yet continue; my time spent to my great desire & contentment in the parts beyond the Seas by your Honour's intercession; my room and degree I do now enjoy in the University being one of her majesties public professors, purchased by your Lordship's favourable mediation, do every of them in particular deserve a volume of acknowledgements in all thankfulness and humble devotion towards your honour. And therefore, that I might not seem unmindful of your Lordship's gracious respect and favour towards me, or drown so many benefits received in the flood of forgetfulness and utter oblivion, I was bold to adventure the delivery of these my simple labours in this so small a work of translation unto your honours patronage.  
What common profit & emolument the work itself may bring unto the Church of God among us, may be easily esteemed of them, who shall aright consider both the argument itself deduced in this present treatise, as likewise the author whose deduction and exposition it is, and lastly both the manner he hath used in the handling thereof, and the principal end whereunto he hath directed it.  
The Argument therefore or subject thereof, I mean the Canticle itself, entitled by an eminency of speech, the Song of Songs, that is the only Song as it were in the holy Scripture, and of the most heavenliest & excellentest ditty, concluded in terms and phrases of speech altogether enigmatical and allegorical, and containing the great mystery as the Apostle calleth it of our salvation, the mystical conjunction of Christ with the faithful his members, and the whole order of the spiritual fraunsailes and marriage match it pleaseth Christ to contract with his Church, being always reputed so dark and obscure, so hard and difficult, that many aswell of the ancient as of the later Church have thought this arm of the main Ocean of holy scriptures, the waters of life, fit for the Elephant to swim, then for the Lamb to wade in: that is, according to the phrase of the Apostle, rather strong meat for such as are grown unto a perfect man in jesus Christ, than milk for such as are still babes and infants in understanding: it can not be denied but that the sound interpretation thereof according unto the sense & meaning of the holy Ghost, the uniformity and consent of other scriptures, the proportion and analogy of christian faith, must needs be profitable and available to the edification of the Church of God, the congregation of saints. For what admirable comfort, & consolation utterly incomprehensible, the reading of this part of Scripture may bring every Christian, what peace and tranquillity it may breed in the afflicted mind and conscience, what incomparable joy it may work in the hearts of the believing, it is easy to consider by the spouse herself in this place representing not only the whole but every part & member of the Church of God. My beloved, saith she, is mine, and I am his. Lo the ground of our holy assurance of the favour and love of God towards us. The which words making and plighting in most formal sort a reciprocal donation of the Bride to her Bridegroom, of Christ to his Church, serveth as it were for the burden of this holy & sacred nuptial song. Now this ground being of itself so comfortable and so plain, deduced throughout by the way of mutual speech in many dark and allegorical terms and similitudes, implieth a singular degree of consolation in the rest being sound and perfectly understood.  
And albeit many have travailed in the exposition of this most comfortable part of holy scripture, among whom some of our own countrymen have well deserved of the Church of God for their painful labours in this behalf, notwithstanding if I be not deceived with the love and affection I bear the author, in whose translation I have laboured (a man to be embraced and loved of all who love the Lord & embrace his truth, but in particular to be honoured and reverenced of myself, who found him no less than a father unto me in courtesy & good will, when I lived as a stranger in Geneva, and enjoyed the benefit of hearing of him in lectures and sermons) there is none that hath so plainly, so perfitly, so distinctly set down and expounded it, as he hath done. Wherein let monsieur Genebrard himself be judge, whether Master Beza understand this Canticle or no, and leave to accuse with such shameless impudency his ignorance and impiety.  
Now for the profit and benefit of the Church of God in common, how could it be more plainly and familiarly, more largely and plentifully, more distinctly and particularly handled, then by this way which he took for the behoof of his particular flock and charge, the people of Geneva, to expound the whole Canticle by particular sermons, and so to draw from thence for instruction and doctrine, rebuking and reproving, warning and exhortation, comforting and consolation, what ground and precepts soever might be offered? Which how aptly and fitly it is done by Master Beza in these sermons, there is no man so ignorant which in reading shall not perceive: especially observing those special notes which contain the sum of all that which in the sermons following he hath particularly deduced and handled, every section answering by the like figure unto that which is premitted in those summary contents, which may serve both in steed of marginal notes, and an exact table unto the whole work. And in these who so list may summarily and shortly see in what sort the Author's whole discourses are framed and directed, according unto the natural importance of the text itself, against the adversary.  
And this is it whereat principally Master Beza hath in these sermons of his aimed, namely, to the convincing of the adversary in the chiefest & most fundamental points controversed between the Papists & us, and especially touching the principal points concerning the true jesus Christ (for there are false Christ's gone out into the world, and many say, here is Christ, and there is Christ, but believe them not) and the true Church (for there is a false Catholic Church too, resembling the true only in name) and the certain and infallible marks both of the one and the other, which are the questions especially debated between our adversaries and us at this day. As in deed this is the principal end and scope which Solomon himself respected in this song of his, namely, to paint forth unto us in most lively colours, aswell the true and essential qualities of this Bridegroom, as also the native and lively portrait of this spouse, which is his Church. And therefore five of the sermons of this volume, which go no farther than the third Chapter of the Canticles (for the rest Master Beza hath promised if God will hereafter, and myself by the assistance of the same God will according to my leisure perform the translation of them when I shall receive them) concerning the description of salomon's Coche, and the crowning of him with a crown by his mother in the day of his fiaunsailes, are wholly touching the usurped tyranny of the Church of Rome over all Christendom, and the falsification, which the head thereof, who nameth himself the Lieutenant general in earth unto this king which is here crowned, useth, in all the ordinances and laws of God. And first in the law moral, throughout every commandment, first, second, third, fourth, fift, sixth, seventh, eight, ninth, and tenth: and then in the law ceremonial, thirdly in confounding the law with the Gospel, and causing men, to seek after their salvation in that which inditeth and condemneth them, showing and proving after this how Christ is degraded from all his estates & offices by this Apostatical See. And first of his dignity royal, than his state prophetical, thirdly his Priesthood. The same both touching these and other points debated between the Papists and us, is likewise performed throughout his whole sermons, that the diligent reading of them may furnish every one of the simpler and ignorant sort, with store of weapons defensive & offensive against the adversary.  
Some few things, being personal matters, I must confess unto your Lordship, I have omitted in the printed translation, which are pointed unto by a little star, that who so list to see them may by that means consult the author himself. I thought it for my own part not convenient, as many good men also with me, to hinder the Church of so great a commodity, as I doubt not this work will bring it, by occasioning any offence through some few words which might happily breed some grievance. And herein as I doubt not, but the author himself, for his love towards me, will pardon me: so I hope all the godly will hold me excused.  
It remaineth I beseech your Lordship in all duty and humility favourably to accept of this simple present of mine, no requital or recompense of your honours bounty and liberality always exhibited unto me, but a testimony and signification of my grateful and thankful mind most affectionately devoted unto all serviceable duty towards your honour.  
THE Lord of Lords and God almighty, guide you ever, and direct you in all your honourable actions with his holy spirit, and continue you long in all honour unto his honour: for the welfare of his Church, the benefit of our common Weal, the patronage of our University, the joy of all such as pray for your Lordship's health and prosperity. Amen.   

¶ THE ARGUMENT OF THE XLV. Psalm, serving for an Argument and preface or abridgement of this book of the Canticle of Canticles or song of songs of Solomon.  
THis Psalm as the whole book of the Canticle of Canticles is to be taken and altogether to be understood in a spiritual sense: and therefore there is no appearance or show of reason to take it as some have done, for a marriage song of Solomon and Pharaoh's daughter. For beside, that the title which is in Hebrew over many of the Psalms would have made some mention touching this point, we see how this marriage is condemned, and that worthily by the holy ghost, 1. Kings. 11. so far it is from all reason to take that alliance & marriage of his to have been a figure of so holy & sacred a one as that is which is proposed unto us in this Psal. We have therefore in this psalm an excellent and most divine treaty touching the most straight and spiritual bond and alliance which is between jesus Christ and his Church, every point thereof being prosecuted and continued under such forms and phrases of speech as are customarily used in the treaty of the conditions of a natural marriage between such persons as are of an high degree and quality: as the Prophets also have in many places retained the very same terms of Bridegroom and spouse and of marriage speaking of jesus Christ and of his Church, as the Apostle hath likewise used the same, namely, Rom. 7.2. & 2. Cor. 11. and Ephs. 5.  
We are therefore to note in the first place that as in the matter of marriage the fiansailes or betrothings are first solemnized & then afterward the marriage, so Christ also as the bridegroom of the Church ought to be in some sort considered after two diverse manners, first according unto his infirmity, which may be compared unto the fiansailes: and secondly according unto his glory which he obtained after his resurrection, being now the true husband of his Church, replenished himself with glory, though she be yet remaining in part upon earth. Now as touching this psalm Christ is therein proposed unto us, as being already in his glory, and as he who hath begun already to accomplish in deed this holy marriage with his Church.  
Christ therefore as husband is this true king of his Church, so perfit in respect of himself in all beauty, that there is nothing wanting, vers. 2. As touching the good grace he hath to win all hearts unto himself, and even to change and turn them altogether, the same also appeareth in the preaching of the gospel accompanied with a virtue & power of the spirit which cannot be expressed. Himself in as much as he hath taken upon him the nature of man, hath received in the same nature the spirit of God without measure, in such abundant wise that he poured it as it were over in all his saints.  
He is girded also with a sword, and that not in show only without effect, but which he draweth and unsheatheth in deed, namely then when he maketh his word to pierce unto the dividing of the soul & of the spirit: vers. 3.  
He is beside described to be furnished and provided with arrows with which he shooteth thorough & transpearceth all his enemies, ver. 5. which maketh also that all praise ought principally & sovereignly to be yielded unto him, who showeth himself of so ready and mighty a power that he is able to secure and defend such as are his, & to break in sunder and overthrow the strength of such as rebel against him. ver. 5. To this purpose he is introduced as being trained in his chariot by these three horses, Truth, Meekness, and Righteousness, which are conducted by the word as by him that guideth this Chariot, vers. 4.  
Now to declare at large the sense and meaning of every of these things here proposed, it would require a great volume. Notwithstanding we may as it were by the way observe somewhat out of them, if we make a comparison on the contrary side of the train they keep, and on what chariot they cause themselves to be carried, I mean the kings & Princes who serve that master which is opposed altogether unto this head of the Church, in whose whole furniture and provision is nothing but Ambition, Pride, Insolency, Cruelty, Dissolution, with an horrible trampling under & oppressing of them which are their subjects. We must also diligently note that which is added, that albeit the world will not accept this most just and most mild government of his, that notwithstanding this so just a king governeth always most happily, & that the more men oppose and set themselves against him, the more he maketh his power to appear, whether it be in that so just and assured defence which he causeth those who are his to feel, or whether he strike his enemies within unto death by a most divine power, namely when he casteth them into a reprobate sense to make themselves the instruments of their own ruin & destruction. Now albeit these things come to pass every day, inasmuch as this good king doth always defend all his elect, to the end that none of them perish, & inasmuch as he doth vengeance upon their enemies according as it pleaseth him to show the marks thereof: notwithstanding this appeared most expressly in the first beginning of this marriage, as it seemeth to be here in some sort touched, when he showed such vengeance on that ungrateful synagogue of the jews obstinately persevering in her incredulity, in which she continueth unto this date, reserving notwithstanding the remnant of his elect according unto his express mercy which he promised unto the race of Abraham, how rebellious so ever it doth show itself.  
Now after this king hath obtained such a victory, he is here seated on his seat of justice and Righteousness, which is called eternal and everlasting, ver. 6. to give us to understand that it is not of this woorld, and that not only because that justice establisheth the seat of the king in this world, as it is written, Prou. 27.28. but especially because here the question is of a king who is together both true God eternal, and true Son of David according unto the flesh, unto whom also in as much as he is man is given all power both in heaven and in earth, being exalted above every name, as this place is alleged, Heb. 1.8. in so much that the Church hath no more many kings, than one woman can have many husbands: neither is he whom she hath for her husband so God, that he is not also man, seeing otherwise the marriage would not agree between him & the Church which is gathered from among men: as neither is he man in such sort, that he is not God too, because that otherwise the Church should not have an head and husband mighty enough to defend her.  
afterward is declared the most righteous government of this goodly kingdom, to wit, of the Church, ver. 7. for there is no kingdom but the Church which is governed by the true rule of a most just and moderate discretion, be it in public charges or in private duties and particular charges, because it is in it properly that the spirit of God doth reign, which ordereth & directeth indeed the senses, & governeth the affections of the true faithful & believing. And the reason of this point which is added is of great weight, namely, because that this king of the Church both in respect of his person as also of his office, is anointed above his companions, that is to say, we must set him by himself in another order & degree then other kings are. For even in the most excellent kings, yea in David himself there have been many defects and imperfections, but in such a king as this is there is nothing but all perfection.  
As for that which is added of the most exquisite robes and vestments of this king, vers. 8. this is referred partly unto that proper voice which the father caused to be heard when he was baptised, saying, This is my well-beloved Son in whom I am well pleased▪ by which voice is given us to understand the full and perfect reconciliation with the father by that most sweet odor aswell of the integrity and righteousness resiant in the parson of Christ our Immanuel, as also his obedience unto death even the death of the cross. These same vestments also and robes of his are referred unto that which the Apostle saith, 2. Cor. 2.15. we are the sweet odor of Christ as of him who hath been made unto us Wisdom, Righteousness, and Sanctification, & Redemption, 1. Cor. 1.30. which blessings he poureth down upon us from those palaces of ivory, which are those heavenly places where he is seated, and from whence he looketh upon us, and from whence also he causeth these blessings & graces of his, to flow down upon us, yea his own self (as we may so say) after a spiritual manner & fashion, & such as is utterly incomprehensible unto us.  
This king and Bridegroom being thus described unto us, the condition and estate of the Church his spouse, and of their whole marriage is most amply set down and handled vers. 9 Now in the discourse and handling hereof there are adjoined unto the Israelites and faithful jews which properly represent this spouse, certain others which are the kings Daughters also to be her companions: all which notwithstanding appertaining but to one husband represent unto us by this means the person of one only Church truly Catholic, that is to say universal, but yet in such sort that they are as it were placed after this principal spouse of the people of Israel: because the first right appertaineth first of all unto the holy Prophets & Apostles of the nation of the jews and to all the other which the Apostle calleth the natural branches, by whose ministery also we have been led and conducted into the chamber of this king, with whose gold and glittering shining we are made bright and shining. We are farther to note touching the ornaments of these Queens which are the body of the Church, that it is not said that they took them out of their own cabinets and wardrobes, but they received them of the king himself, to the end it should be acknowledged that whatsoever is fair & goodly proceedeth not, as it is most true, but from his mere grace & favour who hath covered our poverty & nakedness. Whereupon it followeth that she ought properly to be held & taken for the true Catholic Church whom we see to come forth in this place with her companions in all humility with that rich crown of the only righteousness of Christ her king and saviour, embraced by faith and freely imputed & allowed her: although together with this righteousness of faith there must appear beside in the faithful an actual righteousness, but never perfect and entire, but only begun and delineated forth by little and little, by which notwithstanding a man may always distinguish the children of light from the children of darkness, as it seemeth our Lord jesus Christ had also respect thereunto, Math. 22.11.  
All these things being thus handled, in which almost all the secrets of our salvation are comprised, the Prophet addresseth his speech unto the Church or rather unto every member thereof: ver. 10.11. exhorting to study to please this Bridegroom who cherisheth and favoureth her so much, showing withal how she shall do it, namely if in hearkening diligently unto him (according as faith proceedeth of that which a man heareth of God himself, and without which a man cannot please God) and ordering herself altogether unto him (which is done if she take narrow heed unto his will which is seen in the glass of the Law) she beginneth to rid herself in the whole train and tenor of her life from all wicked spots and defilements of corruption which she hath in herself imprinted in her both from the original and beginning of her nature & being, and from the nurture of her Parents as also of all such as after by custom & continuance are grown according unto the flesh & deeply rooted in her, that so she may learn the better to obey this only Bridegroom of hers as her true head and Lord for ever.  
Afterward there is adjoined an exhortation which is used in respect of the small beginnings of the Christian Church such as it was when it began to take her first beginning in jerusalem, ver. 12.13.  
For it is easy to be seen by the Acts of the Apostles what the Church might be according unto the flesh when there were in the first assembly but threescore persons and those poor people and of no countenance or appearance, and therefore he comforteth her and foretelleth that it shall come to pass, that they even of tire itself, under whom he comprehendeth the strange nations & the very mightiest of the world, should join themselves unto her. And yet for all this he warneth her in good time that all this goodly beautiful show and setting forth whereof he maketh mention, & which he saith is to be priced above all the gold in the world without comparison & whatsoever ornament the greatest Queens of this world might have, aught to be within & in the heart & not without to be apparent only unto the eyes according unto the fashion & manner of the world, ver. 13.14.15. & that yet a day should come when it should appear so high and magnificent in this Queen and in her Daughters, that it should surmount and exceed all the magnificency the mind of man were able to conceive, namely then when we shall meet Christ as the Apostle speaketh, and when being entered with him into his palace we shall be and abide with him for ever.  
Now to conclude if any man demand what this Bride shall do while she waiteth & expecteth the last accomplishment of this sovereign bliss & happiness which this blissful Bridegroom shall in the end bestow upon the church his true spouse: it is said that this spouse for the time she waiteth for shall not cease to bear or bring forth children unto this husband ver. 16. yea & those excellent & good children, & such as shall resemble & prove like unto their true ancestors, I mean the ancient Prophets & patriarchs: & such as shall be kings to rule over all the coasts & quarters of the world, having therein by the virtue of the spirit of this great king subdued and overcome satan, sin, death and themselves. Whence it followeth that then here shall be in every respect a most perfect marriage, and such a one as shall endure for ever.   

THE FIRST SERMON UPON THE 1. CHAPTER. It is written as followeth in the title of the third book of Solomon. The Canticle of Canticles, or Song of Songs, of Solomon. The principal points handled in the first Sermon.  
1 That this book is canonical, but aught to be red, and expounded in the church with great discretion.  
2 That nothing contained in holy writ ought to be concealed or hid in the church, and wherefore God hath not always spoken so plainly at one time as at another.  
3 Wherefore the holy ghost hath chosen and prosecuted so far the allegory of marriage, both in this Canticle or Song, as also elsewhere.  
4 Three manners of Gods joining himself with his creature, the one general, the other particular in the person of Christ jesus: the third of the son of God with his church.  
5 Of the persons which are introduced and brought in in this Canticle, in manner of a dialogue, or mutual speech, with the sum and scope thereof.  
6 Wherefore this Canticle or Song, is called the Canticle of Canticles or Song of songs, and who was the penman thereof.  
7 A special observation touching the order of the three books of Solomon.  
8 An enhortation for every one to make his profit by the exposition of this Canticle.  
THIS book albeit it hath been as well in the ancient church of the Israelites, as also in the Christian church by one common consent not only reckoned amongst the number of those which the holy Ghost hath spoken and uttered to the pen, and which ought to be the rule and canon of our faith: but also held for one of the most excellent and spiritual of all the rest: yet hath it not been handled or read in the church as every of the other, but reserved to be proposed unto them, who were farther advanced and grown up in the knowledge of God, and were of a more stable and constant judgement. The causes whereof were, first because the style and phrase thereof is altogether allegorical and enigmatical, that is to say, delivereth to our understanding things heavenly and spiritual, by a similitude and figure of things natural and corporal, which every man neither of himself can, nor by the help of an other is able, so to conceive and understand, as thereby thoroughly to be profited and instructed. Secondly because this allegory is wholly grounded upon the conjunction and coupling of man and wife in marriage: in the which, being humanly and carnally considered, we shall find even from the beginning thereof unto the end, many great wants and imperfections on men's behalfs, which defaults as they have been ever rife since the entrance of sin into the world: so we know how they have been daily increased since men have for so long a time given themselves over to all this uncleanness and wantonness, which is no other thing then a polluting and defiling of the honest and chaste caresses, dilections, and embrasementes in marriage. The which notwithstanding it hath in it many defects and blemishes, which the Lord of his great goodness must support and cover, hindereth not but that according to the saying of the Apostle Heb. 15.4. Marriage is honourable amongst all, and the bed thereof undefiled. And thus you see how some considering the mischievous manners of this world, and be cause there are in this Canticle many kinds of speeches, according to the simplicity of that time in which this book was written, which the world might easily abuse, have been hardly induced to interpret it in the church, fearing lest it should bring more harm thereunto, then profit and edification. Others there have been which have gone farther, and have been so bold and hardy, or rather so overweening and heady, as to go about to raze this book out of the canonical scriptures, as being a writing altogether profane, and compiled by Solomon in the midst of his wanton and licentious dissolutions. As touching the first sort of these men, they are herein to be greatly commended, that they think it not good that every one should rashly & unadvisedly be carried or led to the handling of this book: according unto the saying of the Apostle 1. Cor. 3.2. that we must begin with milk, & so proceed & come to hard & solid meat. Which thing hath been carefully & diligently observed both in this church and in others by the faithful pastors and ministers. But as for those which presume to condemn this book, they are no more to be hearkened unto or regarded then those, who desperately and arrogantly address and oppose themselves against the spirit of God. For besides that the old and new church hath from all times judged the contrary, (this book being diligently expounded by the ancient Doctors both greek and latin, yea even in monasteries amongst the monks used and handled, as a book altogether contemplative more than any beside: albeit they then made solemn profession of being far from all thought of women and marriage) this very allegory of marriage, is very amply to the same end and purpose prosecuted in other books, which by a perpetual and common consent have been always held for holy & divine, as in the Psalm 45, which is as it were a sum and abridgement of this whole Canticle, and in Esay, 62.1.6. jerem. 3. Ezech. 16. and 23. Oseas 1.2. Math. 25. joh. 3.29. Rom. 7.1.2. Cor. 11.2. and especially Ephe. 5. where the Apostle useth the very same words which Adam used in the first institution of marriage, to wit, that the church is made flesh of the flesh of jesus Christ, and bone of his bones, which is, saith he, a great secret and mystery: to be short the holy Ghost in the Apocal. 17. is the expounder and interpreter of the beginning of this book. Neither is that to be regarded which some bring for an argument why this book is not Canonical, because that no place of it is alleged in the new testament. For first, beside that which I have said of the 45. Psalm, that it is an abridgement of this book, the similitudes which are taken from marriage in Saint Paul, and in the last chapter of the Apocalyps are drawn from hence: and by the same reason we may condemn other books of the old testament, which are received without contradiction or gainsaying.  
2 We must therefore use & observe a mean in the exposition of this book, handling it then and in such wise as it appertaineth, in the church of God. For God will not that any thing which he teacheth us by his Prophets and Apostles should be hidden or kept secret in such sort, as to content ourselves to have it enregistered only in his word, without farther regarding and considering what it is: as the paynims were wont to deal in their false religions & worships, who feared their abuses should be discovered, if their mysteries were known: or as we yet to this day see it practised in the false church, where the reading of the scriptures in the vulgar and common tongue is forbidden: whereas the Apostles and Prophets since the beginning have spoken and written in a common and intelligible language, to the end they might be understood of all men. And yet is it very true, that the holy Ghost hath not used throughout the same style and manner of writing, but hath spoken sometimes very plainly, sometimes obscurely, in such sort notwithstanding, that (as one of the ancient fathers hath heretofore well observed) obscurity and darkness is tempered and mixed with plainness and clearness, to the end to sharpen and quicken our desire to search after that which we understood not at the first, and to cause us to esteem more higher of the secrets of his wisdom, after that he hath bestowed on us the gift of knowledge and understanding of them, upon our careful diligence of reading and conferring together the places of scripture. And this is that which we hope to do, by God's good assistance obtained by your prayers, in the expounding of this book: seeing it is now about fifty years that God hath set up, as it were anew, his holy jubilee amongst us, causing the holy light of his gospel to shine in such sort in this place, that now nothing in this behalf ought to seem new and strange unto us: as if we were yet young infants and babes in understanding: in steed of being ashamed not to be of the number of those, of whom it is spoken in the fift to the hebrews, that they be exercised and practised in discerning between that which is good and that which is evil.  
3 Now for the understanding of this book, it is requisite we learn and know, what moved the holy Ghost to choose and prosecute so far this similitude of marriage: the which is not, as I said before, if God would deal with rigour in examining every point thereof, without many great wants and imperfections. This was it therefore, to speak in few words, because there is not amongst men, either in respect of the obligation, a more sacred and divine, or in regard of the effect, a more straight and firm bond to be found, than this of marriage. For in all other contracts and bargains wherein one man is obliged and bound unto the other, the question & point is only of the goods and possessions of this world, and of such things as are without the persons which bargain and contract together: or if the matter be touching the body, yet is not the obligation reciprocal, wherein the one party is as much interessed as the other: but may happily be as far to the disadvantage of the one, as the advantage of the other: as for the contract of marriage, therein God himself as principal author so dealeth, as that this bond continueth indissoluble, if himself say not the word to the contrary, and break this bond either by death or by any other his ordinance. And again the obligation or bond of both parties is so mutual and reciprocal, that neither of the parties is free and at his own choice, and both of them become as it were one person by the conjunction of marriage. Now, which is more, the effect thereof is rather divine then human, to wit, the generation and procreation of mankind. For God by this contract useth men as his instruments to do that which is properly belonging to himself, to wit, to the engendering of mankind, whereof his church is made and composed. For albeit this ordinance of God, Increase and multiply, be extended generally to all the creatures, comprising man also in the number of them: yet notwithstanding, as the creating of man, both touching the male and touching the female, is other and different from that of the rest of the creatures: even so we must conclude that God hath led and conducted the race and succession of mankind from the father to the son, to his effect by a special and particular conjunction in wedlock, specially ordained and blessed by the inspiration of his holy spirit and calling upon of his name. The holy Ghost therefore minding to represent unto us, that which in itself is incomprehensible, & not to be conceived, I mean that most straight spiritual bond of jesus Christ, with every faithful soul, to the end to engender in the minds of the believing (the assembly and congregation of whom is called the church) the knowledge of truth, together with all other holy motions and operations, thereby to quicken and give life to every one of the faithful wholly and entirely, and consequently to his whole church and congregation in the true life which lasteth for ever, could not choose a more proper similitude, nor a more lively pattern and model thereof then this conjunction of marriage.  
And this is also the reason, why the word of God, which is received & fructifieth by faith, is by Saint Peter called The incorruptible seed. Hereunto also tendeth that second generation & New-byrth, which is made by the spirit, whereof our Lord jesus Christ so largely treateth with Nicodemus joh. 3. which I will therefore declare unto you and handle more at large, because this secret, whereof I now speak, is the ground and foundation of our salvation.  
4 Every one of us than is constrained to confess, that every good thing cometh from God, whether we consider the essence and being which all the creatures have received of God, or the diverse qualities whereby they are maintained. Which thing is signified unto us by the Apostle Act. 17. when he saith, That in him we are, we live and have our moving, as if God the Creator did, as I may so say, insinuate himself within his creatures, to declare unto us the better, that divine efficacy & working of his, which is in them opened & displayed, according to that measure and durance it pleaseth him: although to speak properly, his divine essence, be neither within, nor without the world, but comprehendeth all, itself being incomprehensible. But there are two other manner of conjunctions, yea rather unions of God with man, much different from that whereof I last spoke, and of an effect of greater consequence, to wit, first of all the uniting of the eternal son of God with a true body and true human soul in the womb of the blessed Virgin Mary, by a personal union, which to the Angels themselves is incomprehensible, by which, the word, which is the son, eternal and coessential with the father, was made flesh, joh. 1.14. in such sort that since, this person, which is called jesus Christ, Mat. 1.16. is true God and true man, without any either severing or confounding of the two natures: which is that great secret whereof the Apostle speaketh 1. Tim. 3. And upon this dependeth a third conjunction of our Immanuel with the believing, by the which every faithful person, and so consequently the whole church which is composed of them, is spiritually as it were married with jesus Christ, and made flesh of his flesh, and bone of his bones. Not that the body of Christ is really within our bodies, or his soul within our soul (which the truth and verity of his body and of his soul cannot suffer, as neither any such conjunction appertaineth any whit at all to this mystery, which is altogether spiritual and tending to a spiritual life) but because that as in an human body, the soul, being naturally joined thereunto, quickeneth and liveth all the members of the body, if so they be knit and joined together according to the frame and building of the body: so jesus Christ, as the spiritual bridegroom of his church, by the and virtue of his holy spirit, and by the means of his human nature, by the which he symbolizeth, that is, agreeth in one part with us, is so near and so powerfully joined with us, by the means of faith which apprehendeth him, that he quickeneth us to life eternal, working in our understanding and will, to repair in us by little and little the image of God done forth and defaced by sin, to make us in the end perfect partakers of his glorious immortality in the later day, unto which the consummation & perfiting of this holy & spiritual marriage is reserved. Hence it is that the Apostle hath drawn these manners of speaking, which he learned of Christ himself, when he saith, That we are in jesus Christ. Rom. 8.1. and that jesus Christ is in us. Rom. 8.10. That he liveth in us, and we in him. Gal. 2.20. and That he dwelleth in his saints. joh. 14.23. And jesus Christ himself to this end compareth himself to a vine, and us to the branches which fructify and bear fruit. joh. 15. and his body is called our food, and his blood our drink. joh. 6. because that as corporally by meat and drink this present life is maintained in us: even so by jesus Christ incorporating himself in us, in that manner I have said, and being as I may so say received, eaten, and digested by the inner man, we receive and draw from him the true life everlasting. In the exposition therefore of this book, there is no question of bringing with us unto the understanding thereof a sensual mind and carnal, but our soul must with Solomon conceive this husband, this marriage, and whatsoever is said thereof, after a spiritual fashion, far removed from all carnal and filthy cogitations, remembering the saying of the Apostle, That he which cleaveth unto the lord is made one spirit with him. 1. Co. 6.17. & that of Christ, That he which is born of the spirit is spirit. Io. 3.6.  
5 Now to understand more particularly the order of handling of this Canticle or song, we must know, that it is written in manner of a dialogue, many persons being introduced in a most wonderful and artificial manner, speaking and answering one the other: to wit, a Bride addressing her speech unto her maidens, and a Bridegroom in like sort accompanied with his friends: according to the manner used in the celebration of such fiansailes and espousales as are honestly and orderly made. The spouse or bride is the company of the faithful land believing, which is called the Church, represented as it were in one only person, (as it is also said that the faithful have but one heart, and one soul. Act. 4.32) in the which company notwithstanding Solomon bringeth one in speaking as it were in the name of the rest of the train. But farther seeing he maketh a distinction between her, which speaketh as the Queen & mistress, and the other daughters & maidens of jerusalem, (according to that which is written in the 45 Psalm) we may understand by these other daughters, aswell those, which are in the church rather in name then in deed, as those, which are the true faithful, but are yet new, and as it were little children, which follow their mother, who is as it were a Queen accompanied and waited on with her damoysels and maidens. On the other side the bridegroom is our Lord jesus Christ, by whose friends, in the treatise of this marriage, we understand, first the blessed spirits, which have at all times served jesus Christ, and whose ministry he useth for the building of his church, as it is said in the 34 Psal. and Heb. 1. as also the whole scripture showeth us their effects & workings: secondly those excellent archbuilders of the spiritual temple of the church, I mean, the Prophets and Apostles, Ephes. 2. and Apocal. 21. thirdly the pastors and teachers who painfully and faithfully travail for the preparing this holy Bride, as the Apostle speaketh 2 Cor. 11.2. and gathering together the company and assembly of the Saints, Ephe 4.12. We must farther note, that as in marriage there be three degrees, whereof the first is the stipulation and contracting, which we call fiansailes or betrothings, during the which the parties are called the fiancer & the fianced: afterward the solemn celebration of the marriage, at which day they are called the Bridegroom & the Bride: & lastly the consummation of the marriage, after which they are termed Man & Wife: even so in this spiritual marriage he hath as it were fianced & betrothed to himself his church, by that promise of his made unto Adam, concerning the seed of the woman, the which seed should bruise the head of the Serpent: which he afterward reconfirmed to Abraham, Isaac and jacob. But he hath passed yet farther, when by establishing of a levitical priesthood and other types and shadows of the promises of the gospel, (the body and substance of which was in christ, Colos. 2.) he did as it were espouse his Love and fianced, howbeit in absence, and as it were by substitutes. And this is the cause why the Bride is first brought in by Solomon ravished with the desire & longing after of the real & personal presence of this Bridegroom, who having in divers sorts comforted & strengthened her by most certain and assured testimonies of his love and goodwill, doth in the end present and yield himself personally unto her. Wherein Solomon doth prophetically foretell the manifestation of the son of God in flesh, and his real conversing among his own: notwithstanding but for a little time, remitting the perfect and entire celebration & consummation of this holy & more than holy conjunction, until the later day, in the heavens, when God shall be all in all. 1. Cor. 15.28. and when it shall appear, what the church is, which shall see him as he is. 1. joh. 3.2. This is it then whereunto the Bride aspireth with a marvelous ardent desire, to wit, unto the first and second actual coming of the Bridegroom: accordingly as it said in S. Math. 13.17. and by S. Peter of the desire of the ancient prophets. 1. Pet. 1.10. & more plainly & expressly by S. Paul desiring to be dislodged from this body, to be long ago with Christ. Phil. 1.23. as all the true faithful do likewise desire, & that with unspeakable sighings & groanings, Rom. 8.26. demanding in their ordinary prayer, the coming of his kingdom. Neither doth Solomon in the mean while forget to speak of the persecutions which should happen unto the Church, even by her own, and the vocation of the gentiles, together with the most assured and excellent promises, with which the Bridegroom entertaining his Bride comforteth her by the often reiteration & recital of his most ascertained promises, accompanied with great spiritual blessing which are no less than gauges & pledges unto the Church of his second most glorious and majestical coming.  
6 This is then the sum and scope of this Canticle or song: which is therefore called the Canticle of Canticles, or Song of Songs either because of the excellency thereof above all other songs contained in the scriptures (so far is it, that it should be rejected) or for that it is composed of many Canticles or Songs, by reason of the persons which answer one the other. And because no man should doubt of the author or rather the penman of this treatise, it is said expressly, that it is composed by Solomon: by Solomon, I say, when he was filled and replenished with the wisdom of God, and not then, when he followed after his wantonness and folly. In whose sliding we must as it were in a looking-glass behold ourselves, desiring the Lord to grant us his grace, so to profit in this Canticle, that we pass and surpass herein Solomon himself, keeping carefully in our hearts, that which Solomon let slide out of his, except we will say that in his old age (which thing may in part be gathered out of the book of the Preacher) he had the gift of repentance, although the Scripture make no express mention thereof, and that at the least his Idolatries endured many years after him.  
7 How ever it be, not to stay long on this point, considering the order of the three books of Solomon, we may say that in his Proverbs he teacheth men the true guiding & direction of this life, in such sort, and after so familiar a manner, as if a master were speaking to his scholars in the school: afterward in his Ecclesiastes, or the book of the Preacher, he leadeth us as it were from the plain and champion country, up to an high hill, causing us thence, as from a more high and eminent place, to behold the divers turnings and windings, by the which men wander and go astray, some after one fashion, others after an other, declaring and showing himself, amidst these ways & labyrinths, which is the true way, that we be not surprised and overtaken with the vanity of this world, but use and order our life in such sort, that it be unto us the way, which leadeth unto the true & ever-during happiness and felicity. Now lastly in this Song or Canticle, those whom he hath in such double wise instructed, he lifteth here above the clouds, being as it were ravished with the consideration & contemplation of those heavenly blessings, as if they were already dwelling in, and inhabiting the heavens, or at the least did already knock at the gates thereof. The which order of his book, is by one of the ancient fathers resembled, by way of allegory, to the Temple of the Lord built by the same Solomon: in the which was first, the utter common court for the people, unto which the book of the Proverbs may be compared: after that was the inner place, provided for the Priests: and lastly the Sanctuary called the holy of Holies. Even so we may say, that the Church is as it were lead to enter into the Holy place by the book of Ecclesiastes, called the Preacher, & from thence by this Canticle or Song, brought even to the entry in of the Sanctuary, or Holy of Holies, after her bridegroom jesus Christ, who is first entered in thither, to dedicate us the way, Heb. 9 & there to provide us a place of abode, joh. 14. whereinto according to that prayer and request which he hath made to God the Father for this his bride, she also might be received in her time. joh. 17.  
8 It remaineth now that we come to the text of this Canticle or Song, which we will not at this time begin. Let us in the mean time so heedfully consider of these things which have been said, that we make our profit by them, beseeching him which hath showed us so great favour, as to have brought us into his Church, out of the filthy pollutions of this world & so many Idolatries and superstitions, that he will give us his spirit the better to consider of, and to understand his holy Doctrine taught in his Church, that we may profit thereby more and more in the knowledge and true fear of him, considering the bottomless depths of his great mercies in this, that in steed of rejecting and casting us off, according to our merits, it hath pleased him to cleanse us from so many filth and corruptions, to dedicate and consecrate us wholly unto himself, as a chaste & pure virgin. Wherefore let us not grieve or make sad the spirit of Sanctification, but contrariwise suffer him to work mightily and power-fully in us, waiting for his second coming, which shall be the accomplishment of that which we must presently hope for. According to his holy Doctrine, we will crave of him grace and mercy as followeth.  
Almighty God and heavenly Father, etc.   

THE SECOND SERMON UPON THE FIRST CHAPTER OF THE CANTICLE OF CANTICLES. Our help be in the name of God, etc. It is written as followeth in the first Chapter of the Canticle of Canticles, the second verse.  
2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth.  
1 A brief recital of the principal scope of this Canticle.  
2 Four things to be considered in this text: and why and in what sort the bride speaketh first.  
3 That the love of this bridegroom towards his bride, and the love of the bride towards her bridegroom is reciprocal & mutual.  
4 Why the bride standeth so much upon kissing of the bridegroom, and the ancient manner and fashion of kissing.  
5 Why the bride addeth these words, of his mouth, & of the diverse fashions by which the bridegroom hath contracted with his spouse from the beginning.  
6 Of the two degrees of this spiritual marriage.  
7 Of the three degrees distinctly set down by the Apostle, of this marriage.  
8 How the spouse kisseth in being kissed, and the difference between these two kisses.  
9 Where the kissing of the spouse must begin and end.  
10 What the kisses of the spouse must be, and who they are which indeed kiss Christ, and are kissed of him.  
WE have before summarily declared the end & scope whereunto we must refer the contents of this Canticle, & what we are to learn out of it, namely, that so we ought to be in this woorld, as if we were not at all in it: but be in mind & thought ravished into heaven: Phil. 3.20. using in such wise all those things which present & offer themselves here to our senses, that we refer the usage of them to the glory of God. 1. Cor. 10.31. And to this thrise-happy conjunction, whereunto we daily aspire, which is the perfect and entire enjoying of our Lord jesus Christ, which he hath requested of his father for us. john 17.24. Whereof we have now the holy spirit for a gage and pledge. 2. Cor. 5.5. waiting until God be all in all in his children. 1. Cor. 15.28. This is here represented unto us in the person of the Church composed of all the faithful, which although they be here below creeping as it were & groveling on the ground, are notwithstanding already in a manner ravished into heaven, and as a betrothed damsel, or rather a bride, desireth the end and consummation of the marriage: with which affection we ought every day to be stirred up & moved, whereas above & before all other things, we daily crave and desire of our father, That his name be hallowed, That his kingdom come: seeing, that even our own salvation is not the farthest end whereunto we tend, but the glory of our God therein. Whereunto the Apostle doth also teach us to refer all things, as being the last end and scope of our election. And Solomon in the mean while forgetteth not the manifold turmoils, which the Church and every member there of must suffer, while she waiteth & looketh for the accomplishment of her desire: as neither the comforts & consolations which Christ her bridegroom giveth her being in heaven, and reaching forth his arms unto her, unto the end and consummation of the world, Mat. 28.20. & joh. 14.16. yea moving & raising in us these undeclareable sighings & groanings, which are never neglected of God, Ro. 8.26.  
2 Now in this beginning we are to consider four points. The first, who he is that speaketh: because (as we said the last day) there be in this Canticle many persons brought in. Secondly to whom, or rather of whom it is here spoken. For it is not said here, Kiss me, but Let him kiss me. Thirdly we must consider what the demand is of her which speaketh: & four, after what fashion this demand is made. It is then the Spouse or Bride, which speaketh to her Bridegroom. For as touching the manner of speaking, whereas the spouse saith not, Kiss me, but Let him kiss me, this is according to the use and custom of that tongue wherein Solomon wrote, & therefore letteth not, but that the spouse addresseth her speech to her beloved. But it may seem strange and little seeming to this most chaste and pure Virgin, that she in this sort beginneth first, sith honesty itself prescribeth & commandeth in every wel-ordered marriage, that the first words proceed from the man, and not from the maiden or woman which he wooeth. I answer that even in deed so it is also in these spiritual fiansailes in respect of every faithful soul. For albeit the spouse spoke first in this place, as covering & desiring her beloved, even as the hind brayeth after, and desireth the refreshing of the rivers of water. Psal. 42.1. notwithstanding we must take diligent heed how we think, that this desire of hers which opened the mouth, began from her. It is then the Bridegroom which hath spoken first unto her, & prepared her within to seek and search after him as it is said, Psal. 116.10. I have believed, & therefore I have spoken. And in an other place, With the heart a man believeth to righteousness, and afterward with the mouth he confesseth to salvation, Rom. 10.10. And indeed Ezechiel cap. 16. declaring the beginning of this contract of marriage, showeth us well, that it proceeded-not from the spouse, whom he compareth to a poor maiden coming newly forth out of the womb of her mother altogether bloody & polluted. Which S. Paul plainly & without figure expoundeth unto us, Ephes. 2.5. calling us poor and wretched carrions, dead in sin. And this is it which the justest of us all must avouch & confess, that it is the Lord which hath loved us first, and therefore hath washed us. Apoc. 1.5. 1. john. 4.10. and elected & chosen us, not in ourselves (no more than he hath made us by ourselves) Psal. 95. but in his well-beloved: not that we were already holy, but that we should be made holy, Ephes. 1.4. Will we have examples hereof? Abraham followed the Lord, but it was because he was then called, when he was a poor & miserable Idolater among others. Ios. 24.2. Isaac was the child of promise apprehended by his father Abraham by faith, & therefore was he engendered beyond & above the order of nature. Gen. 18.13 Rom. 4. for it is God which must give children unto Abraham, that is to say, make himself a Church, it is not in Abraham to give a Church unto God. jacob inherited the blessing, because God loved him, and not Esau: Gen. 25.23. and Mal. 1.2. Moses is sent to deliver the people, but it is as it were mawger himself. Exod. 3.11. The people is brought into the land of Chanaan, but it is being forced thither as it were by constraint. The prophets have spoken, but it was because the spirit of God was upon them: the Apostles followed jesus Christ, yea, but being then called, when they thought on nought else but their nets & their fishing. Saint Paul was a chosen instrument of God, but by a special & singular grace, then when he was a blasphemer & persecutor. 1. Tim. 1. Briefly, to go no further for examples, of every one of us which are here assembled, as it were out of all quarters of the world, every man taking a view of himself, is there any one to be found, who can rightly and in conscience say, that he first knew God, and hath first spoken unto him? Nay let us all on the contrary side protest and confess before the face of the Lord, that which is spoken by isaiah, namely, that he hath made himself to be found of them which sought him not. Esay. 65.1. And who is he which hath given him first? Rom. 11.5. seeing we cannot of ourselves, so much as think of the things of God. 2. Cor. 3.5. To return therefore to our matter, the spouse speaketh here, the Lord having first spoken unto her in her heart, according to that which is said in the 51. Ps. Open thou my lips, and they shall show forth thy praise: to speak in a word, she was drawn of God. joh. 6.44. to the end that every mouth should be shut, to give the glory only to God, as being the beginning, middle, and end of our salvation. For how could the spouse sigh after her beloved, if she were not assured by faith of his love towards her? Rom. 10.14. Now faith is not of ourselves: Ephes. 2.8. but it must be given us to believe. Phil. 1.29.  
3 But let us on the other side remember that which the spouse teacheth us by these words, namely, that the free love of the Lord towards us, engender in us that other love, with which we love God, and with which the faithful love one another in the Lord, things so linked & knit together, that they cannot be separated. For as this is a sure testimony that we are the sons of God, if we love him: 1. joh. 3.10. so again the love which we bear unto God is showed herein, that we love one another: 1. joh. 4.20. as the Lord himself so carefully advertiseth and warneth us in that excellent last sermon of his, which he made to his Disciples going to his death: and which was afterward so many times reiterated by his well-beloved Disciple in his first general Epist. And the lord himself saith in S. Luke. 7.47. of that poor woman which was such a sinner, that she loved much: whence he would have them to gather, that many sins were pardoned her. We also therefore on whom the Lord hath bestowed so many tokens of his favour and grace in this our time, let us follow this advertisement, witnessing by a true conversion unto God, and as well by loving of him, as mutual charity one to another, that we are in deed of the number of them whom he hath truly loved.  
4 But now to come to the third point, let us consider what this spouse demandeth. He unto whom she addresseth and directeth her speech, is exceeding rich, passing bountiful and liberal, having in his hand, all the goods and blessings both of this life which is present, and of that which is to come. Yet this spouse desireth and demandeth nothing else, but to be kissed and kissed again with the mouth of her beloved: neither must we wonder at this familiar demand of hers. For the spouse, which is the Church of God, hath not received the spirit of fear by the condemnation of the Law, Rom. 8.15. but the assurance of that holy hardiness and boldness which doth thrust us forward even to the throne of Grace, Heb. 4.16. not for any opinion of ourselves, but by an holy assurance grounded on him which is our peace, Ephes. 2.14. as his spirit beareth us witness in our hearts, Gal. 4.6. yea so far as to verify that which is said, that the kingdom is even as it were snatched & caught away by violence, Mat. 11.12. the lord himself yet suffering himself to be as it were overcome in plain wrestling, by his Israel, according as it is described, Gen. 32. Now touching this kissing which is here spoken of, we have to note that men by a certain address and instinct of nature, to declare their mutual love & amity one towards an other, have accustomably used certain manners of outward actions, having some agreeableness with the same thing which they would witness to be within them, some after one fashion, others after another. As for example, this custom of putting off the cap and veiling bonnet, this bending and bowing of the body, this kissing, in witness of love and reverence one towards another, by which outward gesture a man maketh himself inferior to another to do him courtesy. The like is that of giving the hand one to another, to witness that a man is ready to make mutual delivery of his heart and all that he hath. But among all other gestures kissing hath I know not how the most evident & express representation of that which is within. For whereas the life consisteth in respiration and breathing, and that our breathing is by the mouth, kissing is a sign, that a man is ready to communicate and as it were to infuse his own proper soul into his friend. And this hath been used to be done above all others amongst the people of the East, and especially among the people of God, yea in the ancient Christian Church both East and West: witness, that of Saint Paul, Rom. 16.16. and in many other his Epistles, as also in Saint Peter, 1. Pet. 5.14. which thing as touching the ceremony is yet observed among the Monks, and in that which they call the Pax in their great & solemn masses in the popish Church, where in the mean while notwithstanding, the communion of the holy Supper, to the preparation whereof this kissing was used as a testimony of all true concord and mutual charity, is taken away and abolished. But it is come to pass in this, as in many other ancient and laudable customs, which have been so villainously and filthily abused, that it is a very hard thing to use it holily and sincerely: for which cause also they may not be rashly & lightly brought in use again. Howbeit notwithstanding this holy spouse in this place speaketh of an holy and sacred kind of kissing and more chaste a great deal without comparison, than any kiss can be between any husband and wife, the chastest that ever were, or possibly can be: understanding by this kiss a most certain and most evident testimony of her hoped conjunction with her beloved.  
5 But wherefore will she be kissed with the mouth of her husband, seeing properly to speak, there is no kissing but with the mouth? Let us note here first of all, that hereby is shown us the ordinary mean by which God joineth himself unto his Church, and his Church unto him: which is by the preaching of his word accompanied with the virtue & working of his holy spirit: which word of his, is here understood by the word Mouth, which is the instrument thereof: insomuch that this word is called the power of God to salvation to every one that believeth: Rom. 1.16. and the incorruptible seed of the Church. 1, Pet. 1.23. which is properly attributed unto the holy ghost, joh. 3.18. but this is not all. For if we consider very nearly of the whole matter, we shall find that whereas the spouse never wanted this word, without the which the church could be no church, it is evident that in this place she demandeth some farther matter than this. Therefore she seemeth here thus to say, you have saluted me hitherunto, and as it were kissed me with letters & messages, but now I desire and crave the presence of yourself in proper person, otherwise I cannot be satisfied or contented. Although then the Lord and Saviour of the woorld hath from the beginning contracted himself with his Church in the persons of Adam and Eve, of and from whom he would have it to be drawn and descended, and albeit he hath afterward renewed his fiansailes by other his promises reiterated, with Abraham, Isaac, and jacob, as with the fathers of the believing, yet was this but a stipulation and contract of marriage, by words of the future: and although afterward the fiancer Christ himself, did as it were represent himself in the ceremonial Law, by which he approached more nearer unto his fianced, his Church, & did as it were espouse and marry her by words more plain and express, yet was it done (as saith the author of the Epistle to the hebrews) but after an imperfect manner, Heb. 1.1. & by shadows, the body and truth of which is jesus Christ himself: Colos. 2.17. And this was sufficient to salvation for the ancient fathers, by means of their faith, insomuch that the place of the blessed, is called the bosom of Abraham: Luke 16.22. who saw the day of the Lord & rejoiced thereat: joh. 5.56. yet nevertheless this did not altogether satisfy & content them, knowing that their hope respected that which was to be accomplished and fulfilled in his time, namely, then when the heir should come himself in person into his vineyard, Mat. 21.38. And therefore our Lord jesus Christ said, Luk. 10 24. Many kings and prophets have desired to see that which you have seen, and have not seen it, and to hear that which you hear, & have not heard it. The which thing is also witnessed by Saint Peter, 1. Pet. 1.11. This is it then which the spouse in this place meaneth, as if she should say: O Lord my Saviour & my beloved, I have received commendations enough, messages enough, testimonies enough, that thou wilt come in person, and accomplish thy marriage: but when, when will this blessed hour and time come, in the which thou wilt join thyself really unto me, with the chaste & holy kisses of thy own mouth? For in very truth it may and aught to be well said, that the son of God hath kissed us, yea more than kissed us, by joining himself in such wise and so near unto us, that the man whom he hath taken unto himself, is not only the image of God his Creator, as was the first Adam, but is true God & true man in one only person: and that in such sort, that this joining and uniting himself with our nature neither is nor shall be ever severed or broken: by this means his mouth hath ever, & doth yet remain, as it were glued upon ours, by this holy kiss of his.  
5 But yet this is not enough to understand this holy kiss which the spouse doth so wish for and desire. For albeit the son of God, which is this Bridegroom, hath taken upon himself this nature common to all mankind, yet hath he not kissed all men. No: but his church only, his only spouse. And therefore as every man is not one flesh with every woman, nor every woman with every man: but besides the human nature which is in general common to them both, there must be also a special conjunction between them of bodies, to have one man made one flesh with one woman: so to have jesus Christ become the Bridegroom of his Church, and so to make her flesh of his flesh, and bone of his bones, as it is spoken, Eph. 5.30. there must be between him and his Church a matrimonial conjunction, whereof the spouse speaketh in this place.  
6 Now touching this spiritual contract, the Scripture again teacheth us two degrees thereof. The first in this present life, which is made by the promise of the Bridegroom, and received by faith of the spouse: the instrument whereof is the Gospel, which is preached unto us, the seals are Baptism, and principally the Supper of the Lord. The second degree whereunto we aspire and contend, is this real & entire actual union, whereunto we shall come in the later day, when that which we are already by hope neither vain nor uncertain shallbe then perfectly effectuated: then, I say, When we shall see him, as he is. 1. joh. 3.2. when God shallbe all in all, 1. Co. 15.28. when we shall know no longer in part, 1 Cor. 13.12. but shallbe eternally with him. 1. Thess. 4.17.  
Furthermore when the spouse speaketh here not simply of one kiss but of the kisses of his mouth, she declareth that she desireth not this coming only of his in flesh into the earth: albeit she knew that the bridegroom should then come in person, but wisheth and desireth kiss upon kiss, knowing that this corporal presence of his here below, should endure but a small time, and that the place of the true consummation of this marriage is not in earth, but in heaven, in which this king should crown his spouse, making her partaker of his glory, according to that petition and request of his made unto the father: joh. 17.24. that whither he went, thither we might also come. She knew, I say, that this her beloved should come down to the earth, not to stay here himself, but to draw us after him into heaven: joh. 12.32. being gone himself before to prepare a place for this wedding: joh. 14.12. And therefore not content with one kiss, she aspireth and hasteth to this later day, staying no whit in the midway: as the Lord himself also teacheth us to pray every hour, & every moment, that his kingdom come, calling also this day the day of our deliverance, at the approaching & drawing near whereof, we are warned to lift up our heads: Luk. 21.28. This is that desire which made the Apostle to cry out, miserable man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death? Rom. 7.24. & in another place, I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ: Phil. 1.23. confessing that he had not yet obtained the price, but that he still runneth after it, Phil. 3.13. yea which more is, the same Apostle is elsewhere accustomed to set down three degrees, before he come to the highest of his desire, put off and delayed to this latter day, unto the which, saith he, the crown of righteousness is kept and reserved for me: 2. Tim. 4.8. The first degree is when the Bridegroom christ joineth himself unto us in this life by his holy spirit: joh. 14.23. the second is at our departing out of this world, waiting for the later day. For albeit at their departing out of this world the spirits of the faithful are gathered unto God, & as it were kissed in person by the son of God their beloved, according to the saying of jesus to that poor thief on the cross, Luk. 23.43. and the prayer of Saint Stephen, Act. 7.59. yet notwithstanding one part of us, to wit, the body lying in the dust & ignominy of death, these full kisses are respected & delayed until this later day, when we shall meet him, & he meet us with this blessed speech, Come ye blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world. For than shall it be, when the bridegroom coming, the virgins shall go to meet him, Mat. 25.6.  
Farther, though we respected only this present state here below, yet must we observe, that the spouse, when she demandeth and craveth not one kiss but many kisses of her beloved, she desireth a continuance & increase of faith, hope & charity, & all other graces necessary to salvation. And for this cause is the life of a christian compared to a race, in which we must run still on forward to the end of the list where the crown is: as the Apostle in many places warneth us, as elsewhere he also saith, that jesus Christ must grow in us, and we in him: Phil. 3.12. Eph. 4.13.  
8 To go on, although the spouse speak not here of kissing, but of being kissed; notwithstanding, whereas the one cannot be done without the other, we must know that it is our duty also to kiss the Bridegroom: but we must kiss in being ourselves kissed, otherwise our kisses would be foul and unclean, if they either should begin, or end in ourselves, as are all the worshippings & services of God, which come out of the forge of men's brains, Esay 29.13. yea all those moral and philosophical virtues which proceed from elsewhere, than from the spirit of regeneration. Rom. 4.2. Phil. 3.8. seeing, which more is, even the kisses of the Bride, kissed by her Bridegroom, though they be reciprocal, are notwithstanding very unequal in quality unto those of her Bridegroom. For the kisses of the spouse are of no value in themselves, and that it pleaseth the Bridegroom to approve and like of them, proceedeth of his only favour and grace.  
9 Now in kissing this bridegroom, to do him that fealty & homage (which the greatest monarches of the world, as it is in the Psal. 2.12. own him) we may not be so presumptuous & malapert as to hoist our head up at the first to kiss his mouth, but we must begin at his feet, after the example of that poor sinful woman, who washed them with her tears, & wiped them with the hair of her head, & anointed them with her sweet ointment, Luk. 7.38. being herself first inwardly anointed by him. We must therefore begin our kissing with a true acknowledgement of our sins, after the example of the poor Publican (daring not to approach at the first, but standing a far off) Luk. 18.13. and thence bringing that contrite heart which is never despised of God, but is a sacrifice unto him of a sweet smell. Psalm 51.17. we must so come unto his feet, and finally demand in faith with this spouse, that he will receive us to the kissing of his holy mouth, from which we shall hear this most precious speech, Thy sins are forgiven thee, to be brought in the end to the true consummation of this holy conjunction.  
10 Lastly, to come unto the fourth point, we must observe and note after what manner of fashion these kisses are desired, namely with a most full and lively affection of a most assured faith, and with so ardent a zeal and desire, as none can be greater. And this showeth the fruit which the spirit of God bringeth forth in us, by this repentance of which I spoke, I mean a true assurance of conscience thoroughly pacified and quieted, then, when by the grace & favour of god apprehended by a true and lively faith, we are resolved of the love of God, by the testimony and witness of his spirit of adoption, teaching us what God hath determined of us, 1. Cor. 2.16. the which gift of God is such, that it is never altered or changed. Rom. 11.22. so that we can never be separated or removed from this love, Rom. 8.35. And thence is framed in us that ardent desire, which making us to forget all other things, without looking back any whit at all behind us, furnisheth us with forces to strive & go on with all our power in this race, according to the example of the Apostle, without staying any thing at all in the way, until we come to the end of the list, where the Bridegroom waiteth for us, saying with David, Psal. 16.5. Thou art my lot and mine inheritance: and not this world, whereunto we must be crucified, Gal. 4.14. & again, Psal. 17.15. When thy glory shall appear, then shall I be satisfied. Who is then this Bride which is kissed of the Bridegroom, & that kisseth him again reciprocally? Certainly not they who look behind them, & who seek themselves & the world. For the heavens are not in the earth; & none hath part with this Bridegroom, save he which seeketh after him indeed, & above all things renounceth himself. For when the spouse saith, Let him kiss me, she declareth that she expecteth all things of him, & that she utterly forgetteth herself, to seek after him & to find him. Nether are those they whose god is their belly, & who desire nothing else but to be kissing the cup: neither the covetous, which desire only to be kissing of their gold, & their silver. For we cannot serve God & Mammon, job. 31.24. Mat. 6.24. To be short, whosoever he be that will have part in this conjunction which is here understood by these kisses, in which our assured & everlasting felicity consisteth, he must cleave unto the lord to be one spirit with him, 1. Cor. 6.17. renouncing the Prince of this world, & himself, & every other thing whatsoever, which may turn him never so little from this holy affection. Which thing being true, & seeing how it is practised among us (among whom there are yet to be found so many mischievous vices & dissolutions, notwithstanding the ordinary & continual warnings here used, accompanied with so many of God's judgements before our eyes) I know not what to say or think, but that, if we change not and return, and that betimes, there will fall on us, without the singular mercy of God, that divorce whereof there is mention in Ezech. 23. if our estate and condition become not yet far worse, according to that which the Lord threateneth to Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum, Mat. 11.21. Nether may we here allege that we have renounced our idolatry to kiss the Bridegroom, for the most dangerous kind of Idolatry, which is invisible, reigneth yet in the midst of us. Now it is nothing to have renounced Satan & superstition, if we put not on jesus Christ. We are alas a great part of us of the number of them, of whom the lord speaketh by Esay, 29.13. This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. And this is called the kiss of joab when he killed Abner, 2. Sam. 3.27. and the kiss of judas, not the kisses which are here desired, and mutually given of the spouse: agreeable with that of David, Psal. 42.1. that his soul, like unto the poor hind which panteth after the waters, longeth after the living God. For, to attain unto this conjunction, we are not to keep ourselves from all such thoughts, words, and deeds, by the which the holy spirit, which teacheth us to sigh after this Bridegroom, is manifestly made sad and grieved, and in the end chased and driven out of the midst of us, whereby it cometh to pass, that the later estate is made worse than the first, Matth. 12.45. as alas we see too many examples thereof at this day before our eyes: but we must stand also diligently upon our guard, to take heed that these kisses do follow one upon another in a continual tenor & train, after that god of his grace hath begun once to be working in us: for our enemy is crafty and subtle, and can, to surprise and snare us, serve his turn even with those graces and blessings which God bestoweth on us, to make them so many instruments to our ruin and destruction. For who is he, which having said or done any thing but some thing well, is not incontinently tempted with an opinion of himself? Ye see then how soon all is marred, if we stand not carefully upon our guard. Abraham and Sara had a singular desire of seeing the race and seed which was promised them, neither were they without a true and lively faith, without which they had not so carefully looked for it. But behold Satan in his scout watch, who bestirreth himself so well, that amidst this faith, he soweth so great impatience, that there is nothing wanting on the part of Abraham & Sara, that they be not deprived of their longing, through their own great fault and folly. For what doth Sara? She persuadeth her husband to take Agar the bond maid, to have of her this issue and seed, of whom Ishmael is borne, the persecutor of Isaac the child of promise and only heir thereof. Look we likewise on Rebecca, who believed that which was told her of her two children, being yet in her womb, Gen. 25.23. notwithstanding being narrowly watched & snared by Satan, when she saw isaack's intent and purpose was to bless Esau: it wanted not through her impatience, that all was not overthrown & turned upside down, as it had indeed notoriously come to pass, had not God by his grace & holy spirit governed Isaak in the end & issue of this matter. And among other causes we must principally attribute the great afflictions, which after befell jacob menaced by his brother, to this sly touch of hers, though God drew light out of darkness. We have hereof also a notable example in Martha the Sister of Marie, who not knowing how to govern and rule in good sort that good and holy desire she had of receiving and well entertaining of Christ in her house, chose not the better part, but that, for which she was reprehended Luk. 10.42. Let us therefore all of us little and great be careful, not only to demand of God his graces and blessings, but also that principal grace which governeth all the rest: as we here see that the spouse speaketh not simply of one kiss, but of kisses in the plural number, and addeth moreover of his Mouth: to teach us that to come unto this so much desired conjunction we must demand of God grace upon grace, which graces do truly part from his mouth, being not only produced, but also entirely governed by his spirit, without any mixture of our leaven. As for example, conformably to that which I even now alleged of Martha, you the worshipful the magistrates are much busied & encumbered in the dispatch of civil causes and administering of justice unto every man (which is an holy vocation and calling, with which the Lord hath honoured you, wherein I beseech him to grant you his grace to bear yourselves well, & uprightly, and diligently.) But if you so employ yourselves herein, that the desire you have to do justice in civil causes, cause these rooms to be void which ought to be filled with your persons, to hear the word of God, which should rule and direct you in your charge: this is called under the colour of doing well, to forget the chief & principal business. Again, behold a preacher which will be diligent and painful at his study, to provide wherewith to feed his sheep. This is a most holy & necessary desire: but if he give himself in such sort to his book, that while he is at his study, Satan catcheth one of his sheep, this is not to do the duty of a pastor or shepherd, who should not only attend unto reading, according to the admonition of Saint Paul: 2. Tim. 1.13. but also to watching over his flock, both in general & in particular, according to the example of our Apostle, Act. 20.26. Behold likewise an householder & housewife, who is careful to travel according to the commandment of god for the maintenance of her family: look on an honest merchant, which endeavoureth to follow his calling in a good conscience, for the profit of the common weal (which is a thing very rare & seldom in this world) these are holy & honest desires: but if to attend on these things, a man be then at his shop, when he should be at a sermon, to do better: this is nothing else but to do evil, when we think to do our duty. And therefore I say again, that we must be watchful & stand upon our guard, to desire above all things, the kisses of the mouth of the Lord: & that with a pure, holy, & ordered affection, after the example of this spouse, unto whom the lord of his grace conform us: which thing we will demand of him saying,  
Almighty God etc.   

THE THIRD SERMON. Our help be in the name of God, etc.  
2 For thy dilections are better than wine.  
1 That the whole contentment of the spouse or Bride proceedeth from this, that the Bridegroom hath loved her first.  
2 The work of creation is the first testimony of God's love & dilection towards man.  
3 The work of redemption is a more admirable testimony of this dilection, but is particularly belonging unto the spouse.  
4 The testimony of this love is declared unto us in the holy Scriptures.  
5 In what sense these dilections are preferred before wine, and why the spouse useth this word in the plural number.  
6 The mutual and interchangeable dilection or love which is dew unto the Bridegroom, is the sum of the Law. And the principal abuses which are committed in dilection or love, and in hatred.  
7 That God alone ought properly to be loved.  
8 That knowledge must go before love, and how man before his fall knew and loved God.  
9 Whether Adam and Eve had the knowledge of evil, thereby to have hated it, before their fall.  
10 Men before they be regenerate, cannot, nor will not learn to love or hate aright.  
11 The only spirit of God, which created us, teacheth the spouse this lesson, but yet not without resistance.  
12 The marvelous combat of the Bridegroom for his Bride.  
13 The war of the spirit against the flesh is not by and by ended.  
14 How we ought to love one another, and the other creatures.  
15 The hatred of us against the devil ought to be irreconcilable.  
16 How we ought to hate the wicked.  
17 Abuse in hating the creatures which are made for our use.  
18 A conclusion of the treatise of orderly dilection and hatred.  
WE have heard how the spouse forgetting all other things whatsoever without exception, protested that she desired no other thing than the kisses of the mouth of her Bridegroom. Now to the end that every one of us may know that she speaketh not as a fond passionate body, but as one which is indeed sage and sober, and which knoweth to make good difference between that which she ought to desire and that she ought to shun, she addeth a peremptory reason of her so ardent desire, to wit, the dilections of her Bridegroom. Which thing because it may be taken in two sorts, either of the love of the Bridegroom towards the Bride, or of the Bride towards the Bridegroom, we must first of all understand, that this here is meant of the dilection wherewith the Bridegroom doth love the Bride. For otherwise the Bride should brag and boast of herself, which the Saints of God are never wont to do. This therefore is the sense and meaning of this place, that it is not, but upon great ground and reason, that the spouse forgetting all other things, yea even her own self, desireth nothing else than to be loved of jesus Christ her Bridegroom, & to enjoy her well-beloved, seeing there is nothing to be compared unto the dilection and love of God towards us: whence it followeth reciprocally, that is, back again, that there is nothing which we ought to love besides him. But first we must begin with him which hath loved us first, because that without this, we could never know him aright unto salvation, nor love him.  
2 But who is able to sound this bottomless depth, whereinto we now enter, I mean the special dilection of God towards his church? Truly our God is infinite & incomprenable in all his works, even in the smallest of them, sith there is no proportion at all, between that which is infinite, & that, which is bounded & limited, & we can go no farther in comprehending that which is incomprenable, than to know it to be incomprenable. But God having made man, not to be comprehended of him, but yet to be known notwithstanding & adored in the government of this world, hath given him a soul endued with understanding, which may attain as it were to the borders & skirts of his Majesty, having for his object this goodly theatre of the world above & beneath, witnessing sensibly (that is by a corporal object, and such a one as may be perceived by the corporal senses) the eternity of the Creator, together with all his power, wisdom, bounty and favour in particular, towards the flowar of all his works, which is man. Psal. 8. & 19 & 23. Rom. 1.20. And this was the first testimony of the infinite dilection of God towards man, to wit, the creation of the world (which he hath made subject unto many works worthy of perpetual admiration, as we are taught, Psal. 8.3. and which is called the wisdom of God, 1. Cor. 1.21. and the mirror of his eternity & power. Rom. 1.20.  
3 But what? Man having put out the eyes of his understanding not to see, or know any more, such a favour and exceeding grace of his Creator in the work of his creation, behold this Bridegroom which appeared with an infinitely more clear and evident testimony of his love and dilection in the work of redemption, than he had done in the work of the creation of the world for man: yea without all comparison, whether we consider the manner he hath used to make this second work, or whether we have regard unto the work itself. For in the creation, it was doubtless an exceeding bounty & passing measure which moved him to make man after his own image: so excellent and so perfect he made him. But what is this unto this infinite love and charity which moved him to make this second work, by which he hath drawn, even out of the corrupt mass of mankind, sanctified notwithstanding by his holy spirit, not only another man more holy, and more perfect without comparison than ever the first was, but a Man-God, by uniting his son personally, and for ever with our flesh, yea with all our infirmities for a time in the flesh, sin only excepted, and which is more, charging all our sins upon him? And for whom? For us his enemies, out of whom he hath chosen, and made to be borne this beloved spouse, to the end that being ravished with the Apostle, we should cry out at this most high, most great, and most profound secret of secrets, Ephes. 3.18. and 5.32. O the profound riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God.  
4 But behold yet another kind of incomprehensible dilection and love which manifesteth itself in this work of our redemption. For because that this corporal presence of his in the world should not always endure, the son of God being not come into the world to consummate and end his marriage here with his Church: but contrariwise to seek after her, and to draw her up on high, into that most holy place whereinto he is entered first: Heb. 9.24. to provide there for us an eternal habitation, joh. 14.2. 2. Cor. 5.1. To the end notwithstanding, that this lively image of the Son of God should not leave therefore to be always before our eyes: Gal. 3.1. he hath left us his lively portrait in his doctrine written by the Apostles, comprising whatsoever is behoveful for us to know, either touching his person, or touching all the counsel of god his father concerning our salvation, Act. 20.17. & this after so evident a manner, as if, yea more spiritually, than if we saw it with our carnal eyes only, hard it with our ears, touched it with our hands, as many did, which notwithstanding knew him not, nor understood him as they ought to know and understand to salvation. What more? Behold dilection upon dilection. For because it were in vain to present the fairest thing in the world to those which are blind, behold wherefore together with his word so preached by himself, & after written by his Apostles, he hath sent in full abundance (as much as was necessary, to know and follow this good way) his holy spirit into his Church, according to those promises of his made by his Prophets, and namely by joel as S. Peter expoundeth the same: Act. 2.17. to lead us into all truth: joh. 16.13. giving us eyes to see, and ears to hear: in a word, to be and reign himself in our hearts unto the end of the world, which shall be the full consummation of this holy marriage: Mat. 28.20.  
5 marvel we then if this spouse to whom only it is given to savour indeed such a sweetness, being altogether ravished herewith, neither loveth, nor desireth any thing else, than the kisses of her Bridegroom, saying, that the wine is nothing in respect of his dilections? For by this word wine she meaneth not only that creature of God of which it is specially said, that it is made to rejoice the heart of man, Psal. 104.15. but all delicateness, yea without exception every other creature in the which a man may delight and take pleasure. And therefore this spouse speaketh of the dilections of her Bridegroom in the plural number: not that there be many in the essence of God, in whom all things are but one, as himself is but one, but in respect of us: because that not only in this world God bestoweth on us an infinite diversity of his graces, as well in quality, as in quantity: but above all, in respect of that great treasure of felicity, which he will heap upon his Church, when God shall be all in all, 1. Cor. 15.28. giving her those things which never eye hath seen, never ear hath hard, never heart hath conceived: Esay 64.4. 1. Cor. 2.9.  
6 Last of all, let us learn of this spouse the true use of considering of these infinite dilections of this Bridegroom, namely, to the end that as he hath loved us more than he needed, so that we love him because he is only worthy to be loved: whereupon it is requisite and needful that we here treat at large of true dilection, and well ordered hatred, which are two affections which rule, as I may say, all the other.  
Our Lord jesus Christ Math. 22.36. being asked his opinion touching the greatest commandment, sendeth us back to the first table of the law, which he reduceth into this sum: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy thought: and indeed mutual love and amity, be it good or bad, leadeth us thereto, that he which loveth truly, seeketh after nothing so diligently and so affectionately, as to do that which he knoweth to be agreeable and pleasing to him, whom he loveth. And therefore the faithful soul which is here brought in, to show us what and how ardent the true affection of the faithful soul is towards God, began her speech with the testimony of her extreme desire she hath to be joined most nearly with jesus Christ her Bridegroom, to wit, to be united altogether unto him, yea to be as it were with him, to serve & to honour him with all her heart & all her might. And this is also the true, the right and the last end and scope of not only all our actions, but also of our whole understanding and will, to the end that we may say with the Apostle, that jesus Christ liveth in us and we in him: Gal. 2.20. So then as among all the rest of the affections, love is the most ardent, so are the effects thereof most vehement, according to the saying of Christ: Where the treasure is, there is the heart also, Luk. 12.34. but all lieth in this point, that a man love that which he ought to love, and so as he ought to love. And this is it wherein men do ordinarily deceive themselves, loving that which they should hate, & hating that which they should love: or if happily they love that which they should love, or hate that which they should hate, yet not loving nor hating in such sort and so far as they ought, but ever either more or less than they ought, or for some other end than they ought.  
7 To correct therefore all these defaults, the spouse teacheth us here first by her own example, that it is God alone, to speak properly, whom we ought to love, without giving any part of our heart to any other thing whatsoever. Which thing reason itself may in general teach us, how corrupt and perverse so ever it be. For there are two things which naturally draw men to love, to wit, beauty and virtue: which if a man will not be deceived, must never be separated, witness the common proverb, That a fair feature with foul conditions is nothing worth, beauty by itself being nothing else, but a vain bait and allurement, which draweth to an evil end. Now we must of necessity confess that God alone is properly beautiful and good, yea beauty and virtue or goodness itself in infinite perfection, seeing whatsoever is good and beautiful among the creatures, is but a small glimmering beam of that which is wholly entire and essential in the Creator.  
8 But because that God is incomprehensible not only to our outward senses, so that we can neither see, nor hear, nor taste, nor smell, nor touch him, but also to our understanding: it seemeth that it may be thence concluded, that therefore we cannot any way neither know, nor love him, seeing we must know him before we love him, nor by consequent serve him aright; whence it would follow, that our faith and hope are things vain and frivolous, which would be the overthrowing of all religion. You see then why this matter is to be understood yet more clearly. The Scripture therefore teacheth us that the Creator having created all things for his glory▪ Proverb. 16.4. that is to say, to be thereby glorified (which could not be if he made not himself to be in some sort known by them) hath not made notwithstanding all creatures capable of this knowledge, but only Angels and men. As for the Angels we will not speak of them in this place. But touching men, Moses showeth us by this word of image and likeness of God, according to the which he saith that God created man, that the Lord creating the soul of the first man engraved together in his understanding a marvelous light and knowledge naturally infused, to know his Creator, and that in a very high degree of knowledge: and likewise a most excellent uprightness and integrity in will, to have no affection whatsoever which were not correspondent to the nature and will of God, perfectly just and perfectly good. The which thing is expounded by the Apostle by the words of truth in understanding, and of righteousness in will, when he declareth what was this image and resemblance of god, Ephes. 4.24. & all this that God might be known and glorified by him. Beside these two graces the Creator had also engraved in all his creatures innumerable testimonies both of his infinite wisdom and liberality, and of all other his perfections, in yielding the government of them next under himself unto man, as having made them for his use, as is declared among other places in the eight Psalm: to the end that this knowledge of God, and uprightness of affection might by the object of the creatures be maintained and confirmed in man, having always before his eyes so many mirrors or looking-glasses to behold the perfections in God, as were creatures in the world: and so many testimonies of the goodness of God towards him, as were creatures made for the use of man, and subjecteth to his government. And of this it followeth, that man is not only bound to give God thanks for that which he hath received from him, in himself, but also for all the gifts which God hath bestowed upon all other creatures for man, which are as it were preachers of the glory of God unto men, Psal. 19 and if they had understanding and mouths, would cry with a loud voice, both above and below saying, Ye men, for whom we are made, thank God for us, glorify him in us: Whereas since the fall of man, by the sin of whom they have been brought to this miserable estate whereunto they have been subject, Gen. 3.17. they cry and demand vengeance of god, Rom. 8.22. The creatures therefore being fair & good every one in his degree, as Moses also distinctly specifieth the same in the history of the creation, and as I have said, beauty and goodness being the objects of dilection, it followeth that man naturally before his fall (which was also requisite for the right government of all those things which were committed unto him, seeing none taketh pleasure to maintain and govern that which he hateth) bore an affection unto all the creatures, but yet so, that in the beauty and goodness of them, he did contemplate the author and giver, and therefore by consequent loved not, to speak properly, the creatures, but the Creator in contemplating and beholding the creatures.  
9 Now seeing that love and hatred are so directly contrary, and that the one putteth forth the other, it must needs be that man before his fall hated that which was foul and ill, seeing he loved that which was fair and good. But, how can this be true, whereas before the fall of man all was fair and good in the world, as the Lord had made it? Gen. 1.31. I answer, that truly seeing there was nothing foul or evil in the world, man before his fall hated nothing, but loved his Creator in all things. But seeing he was endued with understanding to know wherein he ought to love his Creator, he had also in himself the mean to know, that he ought to hate the contrary if he should meet with it: as indeed alas he met it with a mischief, when Satan (which remaining not in his first estate had made himself most fowl and most wicked) discovered himself enough unto him for such a one as he was, and most worthy to be hated and rejected, when in tempting of him, he accused the creator of envy and lying. And behold here wherein Eve, and after her Adam did fail inexcusably, to wit, that in steed of using that address and help which they had to know well enough and to hate this deceiver, they suffered themselves to be persuaded of him, & so enthralled and captivated themselves with all their posterity in this corruption: Rom. 7.14. which maketh that he is now most blind and most bad together in loving and in hating.  
10 For if we examine the whole course and train of the world, what shall we find else, but some deceived in the difference between good and fair, and evil and foul: others wittingly loving that which is worthy of hatred, and hating that which they ought to love? For example, if the question be touching that which directly concerneth the love and service of God, behold the superstitious and Idolaters so bewitched, that not only they cannot, nor will not know & love the truth, but they stop their cares that they may not hear, & their eyes that they may not see, and which more is, they persecute it with fire and sword. Behold on the other side the Atheists and mockers of all religion, with which the whole world at this day stinketh, the earth itself demanding vengeance of God. If we speak of the life of men towards men, and consider whereunto all apply and give themselves great and small from morning to evening, we shall find that some burst with the plenty and abundance they have, and would sell paradise out of hand for a lickerous morsel, others travail not to serve God by their life, but only to maintain this life, fearing they should die for famine, and will not stick, so they may save a farthing, to lose their soul, & the word of their salvation: others possess not their goods, but are possessed of them in body & in soul, others welter and wallow like hogs in their wanton lusts, others are insatiable in swallowing down of honour to fill themselves with wind, others give themselves to ten thousand vanities, as this wise king Solomon himself hath at large declared in his book of the Preacher. In a word, see how by not loving and hating as they ought, every man departeth out of this life, without knowing, or without well thinking thereon, what he came hither to do.  
11 You see then what this evil is & what is the original cause thereof. But what remedy is there? To have recourse unto him which hath made us, & who alone can make us anew, by the same power, which is his holy spirit, enlightening the eyes of our understanding: Ephes. 1.18. Act. 26.18. framing a clean heart within us, Psal. 51.12. creating in us both to will and to do. Phil. 2.13. in a word, making us from the head to the feet new creatures, 2. Cor. 5.17. that is to say, such as this spouse is set before us here to be, which is at large described unto us by Ezechiel, both in her first estate and condition, and also in this whereunto she is exalted, Ezech. 16. in such sort that rightly the Apostle calleth the Church the workmanship of God. 1. Cor. 9.1. yea of him alone in respect of the effect, 1. Cor. 3.7. and a work so long, and so hard and difficult, because of our rebellion, that the spirit of God cannot, as I may so say, come to the end thereof but with time, and by plucking us up as it were by a pulley. Which seeing it is so, let us consider what this perfect love and charity of ours ought to be towards God and our neighbour, the portraiture whereof, is set down in the two tables of the Law, and hath too in some sort been known & marked by a Painim, saying, (in speaking of the mutual friendship of men,) that true and perfect love and friendship is shown in this, that the one desireth that which the other desireth, and will not that which the other will not, which is as much to say, that he loveth that which the other loveth, and hateth that which the other hateth. This is an excellent rule to direct our whole life by, if we take the Law of God for the ground and foundation of that which we ought to love and to hate, and by consequent presuppose, that the will of the Bridegroom which is the head, whose will is declared in his Law, giveth a Law unto the will of the spouse, witness that which we crave every day in our prayer, saying, Thy will be done.  
12 And to show how necessary this pattern is, behold jesus Christ, that is to say the Bridegroom himself, who being come into the world to conquer & win this Bride, & to kiss her, as herself desired, with his own mouth, being in combat with him, which held her from him, uttereth this strange speech Notwithstanding not that which I will, but which thou wilt. Mat. 26.39. And what meaneth this? Was there a strife and rebellion between the will of jesus Christ and the will of God his Father? None at all. For were it so, he could not have been either God, or so much as a good man, much less our Saviour, as indeed and truth he is. For as much then as the person of the father and of the holy Ghost, and his, are one and the same God, his will also is one & the same will with the father & the holy ghost. And in as much as he is man he had another will, as it were another nature, but without all repugnancy notwithstanding against his divine wil Who is it then which speaketh thus? jesus christ, God & man, but according to his humanity: against which distinctly this combat was addressed, because it was in it, that he should make his combat and overcome as it were himself, in as much as he is God the judge and revenger of sin, in such sort that in one person alone, he is assailed and assaulted, and is always conqueror. And what caused him so to speak? Not any rebellion of his human will against his divine will, but only a diversity proceeding from the apprehension of that most frightful and most horrible feeling of the curse & malediction of God, against all the sins of the elect, which he had upon himself, although he had no blemish at all in himself: an apprehension notwithstanding entirely subjecting itself unto the will of God, and in every point well ordered and governed. And if the Bridegroom speak thus being altogether perfect, what must the Bride and spouse do, in whom this orderliness and good regiment of will is scarcely begun?  
13 Behold therefore, I say, why this change, by which it is given unto this Bride to love that which her Bridegroom loveth, and to hate that which he hateth, is not a work of an hour, not of a day, not of a month, not of a year, but a continual combat, so long as life lasteth between the spirit of the regenerate man, and the flesh of him which remaineth still in his old skin. And therefore this which the spouse here speaketh, and shall tell us hereafter of the affection which she beareth unto her Bridegroom, in whom she seeketh her whole rest and contentment, is not feignedly spoken or in hypocrisy, for the Church is not the school of feignedness & hypocrisy, but of truth and sincerity. But this aught to be understood, as of her in whom sin raighneth no more, Rom. 6.14. and yet leaveth not to be in her notwithstanding, Rom. 7.17.18. & to fight as much as it is able against the spirit, Gal. 5.17. the Apostle himself one of the most perfectest members of this faithful & chaste spouse may be more than a sufficient witness hereof unto us, crying out that he doth yet the evil which he would not do, and doth not that good which he would do: and again crying forth, miserable man that I am, who shall deliver me from this mortal body, Rom. 7.19.24. Let us therefore confess, that through the grace of God, this spouse, which is the company of the true faithful, is reform, both in her understanding, to discern between that which is good and that which is evil, and in her affections to love & follow after that which is good, & to hate and fly that which is evil: but yet notwithstanding she must still grow both in this knowledge from faith to faith Coloss. 1.10. 2. Pet. 3.18. and in the practice not only of loving and of hating rightly and soundly, but also so far and in such measure as she ought, the which thing is especially hard to observe.  
14 Yet is it an easy matter to know it, to wit, that seeing a man must love God with all his heart, he may not divide & part this dilection to other things: and touching the love due unto a man's neighbour, being loved next after God, and for the obedience we own unto God, this dilection is nothing else, but a stream flowing from the fountain of that love due entirely unto God alone, and not, to speak properly, another dilection, for which our heart is parted and divided into two. For God which is jealous of his spouse and of his glory, will have either all or none. That which I speak of our neighbour, yea of all men, aught to be practised towards all the creatures made for our use, unto the which we must take heed we transfer not our love, as the covetous do which make an idol of their substance. Ephes. 5.5. The riotous and gluttons which have no other God but their belly, Philip. 3.19. and in general all those which make their soul & their body to serve any other creature, according unto their passions and lusts, in steed of using them with giving of thanks, praising and blessing the Lord in them: 1. Tim. 4.4. and keeping ourselves from all disorder and unmeasurableness, be it in quantity, or in quality, or principally in the end & scope of the right usage of them, which is the glory of god, 1. Cor. 10.31. as we are warned by diverse advertisements sowed here and there, touching this point, throughout the Scriptures. Thus you see what this dilection is of the true spouse, addressing and turning her heart thither, where her treasure is, according to that measure of grace which is bestowed upon her.  
15 But what shall we say of the hatred which is jointly opposed to love & dilection? It is easy to understand, that we must as much hate that which is evil, as love that which is good. But whereas evil is not a creature of God, but a vicious quality fallen on that which was created good, we must put a great difference between the Creature and the vice, as much, I say, as may and can be put. This I add, because of one creature, the which is so corrupted, and so far cursed of God, because it hath been the original and spring of all vice and of all evil, as well in itself as in man, and consequently of sin and of death: that it is, and shall ever be worthy of all hatred and execration, I mean the Devil and his Angels. And behold my brethren, behold him which being perpetual enemy of this Bridegroom who hath bruised his head: Gen. 13.15. and trodden it under his own feet and under the feet of his spouse, Rom. 16.20. and seeking nothing else but as a greedy Lion to devour us: 1. Pet. 5.8. this old red Dragon I say, pursuing this spouse with all manner of rage, Apoc. 12.3. this is he whom we must hate with an irreconcilable hatred, this is he against whom we must armour ourselves with all the pieces of our armour: Ephes. 6.13. and 1. Thess. 5.8. in a word this is he whom we must perpetually detest and abhor.  
16 As for the other creatures there is choice to be made. For first because man alone amongst all the creatures is infected with the poison and venom of this serpent, yea and that wholly and entirely both within and without, we must consider of him also distinctly: and behold how we must govern ourselves herein. It is true that mankind is altogether corrupted and consequently every man being such, even from his conception, Psal. 51.7. is culpable of the wrath of God: Eph. 2.3. It is also true that the Law of friendship requireth, that a man be a friend of his friends friends, and an enemy of his friends enemies. But because that God of his infinite goodness would not adjudge every man particularly unto everlasting destruction, as he hath done Satan & the Angels his complices, but contrariwise would draw his spouse & his Church out of this corrupt mass, in such manner as I have before spoken: & thereupon we cannot (& therefore consequently we ought not) but by very uncertain presumptions discern those, which he hath destinated or not destinated unto this favour: therefore leaving unto God his secret judgements, we must indeed be friends unto the friends, & consequently enemies unto the enemies of our beloved, but indefinitely: that is to say, without giving of sentence of this man, or that man to set & sort him among the number of the reprobat. On the contrary side knowing by experience of ourselves, that of being his enemies by nature, Ephes. 2.3. he hath made us his friends, Rom. 5.8. Ephes. 2.11. we must irreconciliably hate the evil, that is to say, the corruption, & all the fruits thereof, first in ourselves, then in every one beside, & yet not hate the persons, but contrariwise seek by all means to make them partakers of the same grace, which is showed on us by our continual prayers unto god, beseeching him, That his kingdom come: (which consists in the accomplishment of the number of his elect in the last day, 1. Cor. 15.24.) and by all duty of charity, even towards strangers themselves, to force them to enter in unto the banquet, Luk. 13.14. towards the domestical, which shut out themselves, to the end to make them ashamed to stay without, 2. Thes. 3.14. yea towards the persecutors themselves, Mat. 5.14. being apparent by the first sermon of Saint Peter, Act. 2.37. that the Lord prayed not in vain indefinitely for them which crucified him, Luk. 23.34. and by the conversion of Saint Paul, that Saint Stephen prayed not in vain for them which stoned him, Act. 7.60. And thus we must understand the saying of David, to wit, indefinitely, that he hateth yea entirely hateth those which hated God, Psal. 139.21. and the imprecations which he useth in many places of his Psalms, excepting such as be prophetical, of which sort there are also some in Saint Paul, Gal. 5.12. & 2. Tim. 4.14. which we must take good heed we draw not into consequence, according to that advertisement which jesus christ gave his disciples in this behalf, when they would rashly imitate the zeal of Elias, Luk. 9.55. And yet we are likewise commanded to fly, yea to detest the companies of the dissolute & wicked, 1. Cor. 5.9. although jesus Christ himself took his repast with sinners and Publicans, whereof he yieldeth a reason, Mat. 9.13.  
17 As for other creatures which are made for our use, there is no question of hating or flying of them in themselves, being good creatures of god. In the which point some fantastical men do fail, of whom the Apostle speaketh, 1. Tim. 4.3. & some others, which would bring up again the legal distinction & difference of meats, Coloss. 2.21 & yet to this day certain superstitious hypocrites, of whom it is spoken: Math. 23.24. make a conscience of smelling unto a nosegay: whereas this spouse said not, that wine is nought, but that the dilections of her Bridegroom are a great deal better. We must therefore love them less than to set our whole heart upon them, as hath been handled by us a little before. For rather we must fly all things which estrange & turn us from the love of God, without excepting father or mother, wife or children, which is meant by this word of hating where mention is made of hating, that is to say we must set all things without exception after the glory of God & our vocation, Deu. 33.9. Luk. 14.26. In a word, it is this spouse who in this respect, is crucified to the world, and the world crucified unto her, Gal. 6.14. using the world as if she used it not, according unto the saying of the Apostle, 1. Cor. 7.31. and being so in the world that she is not of the world, joh. 17.11.16.  
18 Ye see then my brethren what the love and dilection of the Bridegroom is towards his Bride, whence proceedeth our salvation: you see on the other side how we ought reciprocally to love him which hath loved us so much, wherein consisteth the testimony of our election & salvation. 1. joh. 4.12. Lastly you see how we ought in this world to order & rule our love and hatred, which is the sum of a Christian man's life. God of his mercy give us grace thoroughly to know & to follow this way, which we will demand of him together with all other things necessary for us, beseeching him as followeth.  
Almighty God our heavenly father, etc.   

THE FOURTH SERMON. Our help be in the name of God, etc. It is written as followeth in the first Chapter of the Canticle of Canticles, the third verse.  
3 Because of the odor of thy excellent perfumes, thy name is poured forth as a perfume, and therefore the virgins love thee.  
1 The consideration of the excellency of the Bridegroom, is that which engendereth in the Bride a desire of knowing him, as the savour of that which is odoriferous, maketh a man to covet after it.  
2 What the sacramental perfume which represented Christ was, whereunto the spouse hath respect in this place, and wherefore he speaketh in the plural number.  
3 These odours savour not but to the spouse, and are considered in jesus Christ according to both natures, notwithstanding in diverse respects.  
4 The first relation and correspondence between that sacramental perfume and the perfections of jesus Christ.  
5 The second correspondence.  
6 The third correspondence.  
7 That it behoved that this perfume should be poured forth, first towards god, to appease him towards us by his sweet smell.  
8 secondly upon every member in the Church, represented by this spouse, to be perfumed with the wisdom, obedience, righteousness and purity of this Bridegroom, by imputation.  
9 Another effect of this perfume in our sanctification, & how our good works are a sweet smell unto the Lord, not for their value, but because they are perfumed therewith.  
10 An exhortation to take heed of all stinking filthiness opposite to this so sweet smelling perfume.  
11 In what sense it is requisite that every Christian be a Virgin, and the abuse committed of old in this point.  
12 The conclusion and summary con 〈…〉 of this third verse.  
THE end and scope whereunto we ought to refer this whole Canticle, is in sum to show us, that every faithful soul, yea all the true Church, is in such sort in this world, that her whole heart is ravished into heaven, tending only to the full and perfect conjunction and enjoying of him, in whom lieth all her treasure, which is our Lord jesus christ her beloved. And therefore this holy spouse having opened & declared her so ardent affection, addeth now, that it is not without just cause that she maketh no reckoning of whatsoever withholdeth men here below, in comparison of him, whom she desireth and longeth after, because saith she, there is nothing of so good and sweet a smell as he, whose perfume she and her companions smelled.  
2 Whereupon we are before all other things to note that she useth this word of perfumes, having regard properly and specially to the perfumes ordained and appointed in the Law. For albeit the use of these precious perfumes were from all times usual and accustomable among the people of the East, which is to be seen aswell by sacred as profane histories, notwithstanding, the spouse had not properly respect unto this, but to that sacred perfume which was in such sort composed of earthly sweets, that notwithstanding the receipt & composition thereof came not from man, but was expressly prescribed of God, Exod. 30.23. with an express forbiddall of applying it to any use else save to the holy & sacred service of God: Exod. 30.32. This perfume therefore was a sacrament and distinguished from other perfumes, as the water of Baptism is distinguished from common water, and the Bread and Wine of the holy Supper of the Lord from common bread and wine, I mean in respect of the use: the signs always remaining in respect of their natural substance and matter entirely as before. This sacrament, I say, as all other sacraments, was composed of a sign and of a thing signified, sacramentally joined & united, that is to say, by a signification tending not only to represent and bring to our mind the thing signified, but also to assure us, that that which was so signified to our external senses, was certainly & truly presented and given unto every faithful soul. And this is the cause why the name & effect of the thing signified are often attributed unto the sign: as when outward Baptism, is called the washing away of our sins, Act. 22.16. which is properly belonging unto the inward washing, which is made by the holy Ghost, 1. Pet. 3.2. and Mat. 3.11. as also the names of the body given for us, and of the blood shed for us, are attributed to the bread and wine of the holy Supper in the institution thereof. So also in this place, he that was signified in salomon's time, by these holy perfumes, namely jesus Christ, is called by the name of perfume and that in the plural number, for the reason which I shall tell you anon. It is then the Bridegroom of the Church and of every faithful soul, of whose perfumes it is here spoken, and not of any other: according to that which is said of the Apostle, that he is the body and substance of all the shadows of the Law. Colos. 2.17. the perfections of whom being without measure, and most excellent in the sovereign degree, are meant by these perfumes in the plural number.  
3 Now jesus Christ being true God and true man, this is a thing without all doubt, that in respect of his divinity he is the fountain of all goodness, and of whatsoever we can imagine perfect and complete, wherewith all his creatures at the beginning were perfumed, in as much as he engraved in them such testimonies of his goodness and beauty. But the question is here of a perfume communicated unto his spouse by this sweet odour and smell, and not unto the world remaining in his uncleanness and filthiness. And therefore we will consider of these perfumes of jesus Christ both in his divinity and in his humanity jointly considered, that we separate not and divide his two natures (as certain heretics called Nestorians have taught) but in such sort notwithstanding, that we know that these excellent smells proceeding from the divinity & godhead, are powered into the humanity and manhood by which he is united & joined unto his church, to make her as well partaker of his gifts and graces, as of his glory and life everlasting. And this is also the cause why the Apostle said not simply, that jesus Christ is the only mediator between God and man, but also expressly named him Man; not that he is not a mediator also between the father and us according to his divine nature, agreeable with that, which was well said by an ancient father, that his divinity is not a mediatrix without his humanity, nor his humanity without his divinity: but because it is by the intervention of his humanity by the which he joineth himself with us, that we ascend up unto God, and to eternal life▪ 1. Tim. 2.5. Heb. 2.14. The same then which is called by Saint john the spirit which the son hath received without measure, joh. 3.34. and which was represented by the dove in his Baptism, is that very same which the spouse meaneth here by these Perfumes, as also Esay hath thereof spoken, using the very same figure, being as it were a commentator upon this place, Esay. 61.1.  
4 Now in all sacraments there must necessarily be some convenience and correspondence betwixt the sign and the thing signified: for which cause under the new covenant the Lord minding to signify the spiritual washing of our sins and blots, took the sign of Water: and minding to show from whom we draw eternal life, chose bread and wine to signify it. The same must therefore be found in this sacrament of Perfume. Therefore we must note first of all, that as the receipt and composition of this Perfume proceeded from God and not from men: so the graces of which it is here spoken, are in the humanity of jesus Christ, in as much as the son of God hath taken on him this human nature of the substance of the virgin descended from David, and consequently from Adam, in whom this nature of man was deprived of the image of god and made the bondslave of sin, Rom. 7.14. but he is borne according to the flesh without any sin, with his graces, in as much as the corporal mass of his body was so taken from the substance issued from Adam, that notwithstanding it was through the virtue of the holy Ghost, that the body of Christ was form thereof, the power of the highest (that is to say the holy Ghost) having fully sanctified it, to be a most holy and sacred palace and perpetual dwelling place of his most holy soul, endowed above every other creature with all integrity & perfection: & especially that this humanity should become the true and perpetual temple of the person of the eternal and only son of God his father, from the time it was conceived in the womb of the Virgin, to the end that jesus Christ might become true God and true man, man I say most righteous, and just, and the holy of holies.  
5 Secondly as the mixtures of the divine receipt of this legal perfume were earthly creatures of themselves, so by these gifts and graces, of which the humanity is the subject, and whereof the spouse speaketh in this place, we must understand not that which is essential in the divinity of jesus Christ, in which thing the Eutychians abuse and deceive themselves, but the qualities created by this divinity in the humanity of jesus Christ, of whom we which are his members could not otherwise draw them by any manner of participation, Ephes. 2.21. These things are very high I confess and surpass all natural knowledge: Ephes. 5.32. but having heard God spoken of so long in this Church, we should and ought to have our senses used & practised in them, Heb. 5.14. When we say therefore that God is wise, righteous, good, we speak according unto the capacity and conceit of our understanding: but to speak more properly, and to come more nearer his nature, we must say that he is wisdom, righteousness, goodness itself, yea essentially, that is to say, considered in his own essence and being, and not that he is so or so affected, to be such or such, as it is said of the creatures. But by these perfumes we will understand the effects and operations, of these perfections of the divinity, poured upon the head of our great & perpetual Aaron, according as it is spoken, Psal. 133.  
6 Thirdly the better to understand the convenience and correspondence of the sign and of this thing signified, we must consider wherefore these graces, with which the divinity perfumed his humanity, are called perfumes. It is therefore to show us first of all, that as a good perfume hindereth & chaseth away the stench of any thing that is stinking & infecteth: so the sovereign perfection which is in the humanity of our mediator mortifieth and putteth away from God all the stench of our corruption, and of whatsoever ariseth thence, in such sort that in him, who is by good right most acceptable unto him, Mat. 3.17. we be also acceptable unto him, Ephse. 1.6. Farther as the odoriferous fume mounteth up on high, albeit it be powered forth, and perfumeth all which come near it: so the graces of jesus Christ which are powered forth upon us to perfume us, as they came from above, so tend they upward & serve not to hold us here below: for which cause also jesus Christ, for either of these reasons, is called the man from heaven: 1. Cor. 15.48. and we are taught by him when we pray and say Our father, to add, which art in heaven, whither we lift up ourselves, as being already by God sitting with him in the heavenly places, whither this spouse aspireth and contendeth, and we with her if we be his true children, Colos. 2.6. Ye see then what we are to gather upon these three points, I mean, touching this sign, figured in the Law by those corporal and sensible holy perfumes, & the thing signified by them, namely the perfections with which jesus Christ is endowed in all perfection, (in as much as he is our elder brother) and thirdly touching the correspondence, which is between this sign & the thing signified.  
7 jesus Christ therefore is the only vessel in which all these most excellent and most perfect odours & smells are contained: but this were but in vain in respect of the spouse, if they were so enclosed and shut up there, that the vessel only were perfumed with them. And this is the cause that the spouse saith not, Because of thy excellent perfumes, but because of the odor of thy most excellent perfumes: & not thy name is as it were a perfume: but thy name is as it were a perfume powered out. We are therefore now to consider of the sweet odour of this perfume, and towards whom it is powered forth. And that was, as we have above touched, first towards God the father of our Lord jesus Christ, who hath taken such a pleasure in the smell thereof, that he is for ever appeased towards us, for whom (saith the Apostle Eph. 5.2.) the well-beloved son hath offered up himself a sacrifice of a sweet smelling savour unto God. For albeit in infinite many places this very same thing is attributed by Moses to the sacrifices of the law: yet notwithstanding this must be so taken, in as much as they were the true figure hereof, & not that the blood of bulls and of goats had any such force at all in themselves, either in whole, or in part, Heb. 10.4. And this is the cause why Saint john calleth him the lamb which taketh away the sins of the world, joh. 1.36. and Saint Peter saith that he hath borne our sins in his body upon the tree, 1. Pet. 2.24. to the end (saith the Apostle, Rom. 5.19.) that as by the disobedience of one man sin entered into the world and by sin death: so by the obedience of an other man righteousness and life were given us, this obedience stretching itself unto death, even the death of the cross, Philip. 2.8.  
8 Secondly this odour was powered, and is powered forth from day to day, upon every member of his church, as all things were sprinkled with blood under the law, Heb. 9.18. which is expounded of the blood of Christ, by S. Peter, 1. Pet. 1.2. And this is the cause why the Angels announcing unto the shepherds his birth, & the real and actual pouring forth of this perfume, whereunto this spouse even in the time of Solomon aspired, saith not only a Saviour is borne to day, but a Saviour is borne unto you to day, & consequently the Angels in that excellent song, sung not only Glory to God on high, but added and in earth peace, goodwill towards men, Luk. 2.11.14. This is then that sweet odour, which only bringeth us that unspeakable peace unto our consciences, which the world cannot give, joh. 14.27. Rom. 5.1. & Philip. 4.7. & that not without cause, seeing jesus Christ is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, 1. Cor. 1.30. taking away by this means all that which maketh us stinking before God, and instead of that uncleanness, perfuming us with all that which may make us acceptable unto the father. For first of all, the whole and entire pure wisdom of him, in whom are enclosed all the treasures of wisdom and understanding, Coloss. 2.3. being communicated unto us and allowed us by faith, our ignorance and blindness, which infected our whole mind, are covered therewith: moreover all our sins being blotted clean out by the satisfaction of him, who died, the Just for the unjust, 1. Pet. 3.18. and which is more, the full and perfect accomplishment of all the commandments of God being found in him, which made himself subject unto the law, Gal. 4.4. to the end to accomplish for us all righteousness: Mat. 3.15. all this being reckoned and allowed us, and applied unto us by the instrument of faith, we are not only delivered from the stench of our unrighteousness, but also clothed with the odoriferous smell of the entire obedience of our elder brother, not only to escape death, but which is more, to enter into life. Besides this, this perfect restoration of our nature in his person, being also allowed us, and because it cannot be, that he which hath given us him, should not give us also all other things with him, Rom. 8.32. it followeth, that instead of many most infected and filthy soyling, which the Lord being altogether holy, and altogether pure, cannot suffer, he findeth us in the person of his son, altogether pure and clean without spot or blame, and consequently of a most sweet savour, as it is he in whom alone we are made acceptable, Ephes. 1.4.6.  
9 What more? Besides this, this very same power which is the holy Ghost, by whom we were in the beginning created unto the image and likeness of God, and which hath afterward fully sanctified our nature in jesus Christ our brother: by reason whereof he is also called our anointment, 1. joh. 2.27. poureth forth the effects of the same holiness and uprightness into the hearts of the believing, abolishing by little and little that old most stinking nature, and making on the contrary side a new & altogether another nature to be born: 1. Pet. 1.23. to will & to do according unto our measure, those things which are acceptable unto God, Phil. 2.13. beside the special and particular gifts which the same spirit distributeth unto us, drawing them from him which is the fountain of them, joh. 16.15. 1. Cor. 12.11. as all the scripture witnesseth speaking of our second creation or regeneration. And this is also the cause why the works of Christians being perfumed by our Lord jesus Christ, who worketh in our hearts by his spirit, Rom. 8.14. are acceptable unto god, Rom. 12.1. among the which the principal is the invocation of his name, of which the prophet speaking and having respect unto this sacramental perfume, said, Psal. 141.2. Let my prayer appear before thee, as the perfume, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice: as it is also said Apoc. 8.4. The works of charity towards our neighbour come after in the second place, ascending up also even unto the lord by this perfume, Act. 10.4. & Phil. 4.18. by reason whereof the spouse also compareth his name to a perfume poured forth. For for this cause is he called Christ, that is to say the anointed of the Lord, and we also are named Christians, that is to say anointed or perfumed, with this his perfume, which bringeth us salvation. This is the cause also why he is named jesus, that is to say, he which hath delivered us from all mortal uncleanness and filthiness which was in us: Matth. 1.21. But let us take heed in the mean time that we attribute no worthiness of merit or desert unto our works, neither in quality of satisfaction, nor of any righteousness which deserveth any wages or reward: for this were nothing else, but to mar and pollute this perfume with the vilest stench that may be. But let the worthiness & perfume of jesus christ alone suffice us, in whom we are fully complete: Colos. 2.10. although of mere grace & mercy it pleaseth him to accept of & to crown the fruits of his spirit in us.  
10 What are we then to do? Even this in a word, that according unto the example of this spouse, nothing savour us but jesus Christ, holding the rest, as being infected by us▪ for dung and filthiness, I say as being infected and polluted by us. and by reason of us. For when Moses saith that God cursed the earth because of the sin of man, as he had before made and blessed it for man, Gen. 3.7. he teacheth us in general, that there is nothing in this world which hath not some spot of the curse of God, as experience itself doth also show us the same. But this is especially declared by that pollution which consisteth in this, that men pollute and defile both themselves and all the creatures of God, when neither they can, nor they will, so long as they remain in their own nature, use them as it appertaineth, that is to say, in good measure, with an upright conscience, and to the honour of the Creator. I speak of those which are otherwise lawfully to be used, and of which the use were pure, if we used them well: as for example, travail for to get our living, eating, drinking, clothing, loving of father, of mother, of country, & of other things, in which we shall ever find some default or excess: and above all, this most infectious vice, of not referring all unto the glory of God. And what shall we say of those things which are directly contrary to the will of God, with which the world is wholly infected both within & without? The Lord of his mercy give us grace to know throughlie indeed such our filthy & stinking uncleanness, & contrariwise to seek after this so precious and sweet odour, with which this spouse is said to be perfumed, running down from the ivory palaces, of which mention is made Psal. 45.8. Learn therefore ye covetous, how infected and stinking this filthiness of yours is before God: and instead of seeking after your pleasure, and putting your trust in uncertain and transitory riches, 1. Tim. 6.17. have your heart & your treasure in the true and pure & not perishing riches. Ye ambitious, learn, what the vanity of those honours & false great states, is, with which you are bewitched. Ye drunkards and gluttons, to whom nothing savoureth but wine and meats, the end whereof is stench and rottenness, learn to seek after the living water which refresheth to eternal life, and that true bread of life, and that wine which rejoiceth the heart of man, with a true and perfect joy. Ye adulterers and vile unclean persons, very hogs and swine with two feet, how long will you wallow in your abominable and filthy infections? Contrariwise my brethren let us hearken, (if we will have any part in the true life and in these sweets whereof it is spoken: Psal. 23. and 138. and 36.9. opposed to vain and corruptible delights, of which it is spoken: Psal. 17.14. & to that which hath been taught throughout the book of Solomon in the Preacher)  
11 Let us hearken I say, to that which the spouse saith here in these words, And therefore the virgins love thee. Let us be therefore, both men and women, young and old, these virgins, of whom it is here spoken, and in the Apocal. 14.4. or rather let all of us be this pure spouse as she is named by the Apostle: 2. Cor. 11.2. which speaketh here, and warneth us with herself. For concerning corporal virginity, there is no such matter here meant or imported: in the which simply the kingdom of God doth no more consist, then in eating and drinking: 1. Cor. 7.36. and Rom. 14.17. as also no man is the holier because he is married: but all consists in behaving a man's self holily, be he married or unmarried. This pertaineth then nothing at all, as I have said, unto corporal virginity, opposed both to marriage and other uncleanness forbidden by God: but signifieth here that chastity and spiritual purity, opposed to all unclean affections and actions of the flesh, which the Scripture calleth the old man: which if we renounce not, & which if we suffer not the spirit of god to destroy by little & little in us, but remain in our old skin, we have no part with jesus Christ, nor consequently with the kingdom of God: 1. Cor. 6.9. Rom. 8.9. They therefore who have so highly praised & commended virginity, as to make it the sum of Christian perfection, have gone too far & exceeded in this point. Wherewith Satan, contrary to their intent, hath so well served his turn, that binding at the last their poor consciences with the vow thereof against the meaning of the Apostle, 1. Cor. 7.35. he hath in the end made the world a Sodom & Gomorrha, both by the clergy of Rome to this day & many ages heretofore, and specially by these sinks of stews, & brothelhouses of men & women, the stench & infection of which, ascendeth up into heaven. And that this is here very much beside the purpose alleged for virginity, it appeareth at least by this, that in the time of Solomon, there was no mention at all of such virginity among the people of God, but he which married not his daughter, was thought to do wrong and injury to his tribe & family. But besides this, if we should take the name of virgins thus in this place, we must exclude out of this company, the chief & principal men of it: I mean, Abraham, Isaac, jacob, the patriarchs, and almost all other the renowned Godly before the coming of Christ. Nay which more is, Saint Peter himself, whom they make the head of their Church, must be shut out Mat. 8.14. & the other Apostles, and the brethren of the Lord, 1. Cor. 9.5. yea Saint Paul himself also, if a man will believe most of the ancient and renowned expositors, upon the place of the Philip. 2.20. To return to our purpose, the spouse teacheth us here three most necessary points: the first that to be partakers of this conjunction with jesus Christ, we must be virgins, that is to say, sin must not reign in us any more, but as our God is holy, so we must give ourselves unto all holiness, mortifying our members which are upon earth, being followers of Christ, and walking as he hath walked, Colos. 3.5. Ephes. 5.1. and 1. john 2.6. secondly by what means we pass from our uncleanness to this purity, to wit, being perfumed with the graces of the Bridegroom, by whom it is given us to believe: Philip. 1.29. Ephes. 2.8. and to will and to do, according to his free goodwill: Philip. 2.13. And thirdly what is the principal effect of this perfume, powered into our hearts, namely, the love of God opposed to the love of the world, and which love is as it were the light of the lamp of those wise virgins, of whom mention is made, Matt. 25. as also it is expressly reiterated by jesus Christ, in that excellent and last sermon which he made unto his Disciples going to his death, and by Saint john almost throughout his first canonical Epistle.  
12 We have therefore in this third verse an excellent abbridgement of all true Christianity to discern it from the false, which leaneth to itself in whole or in part, & likewise the most certain & perpetual mark of true Christians: to be of the number of which, it sufficeth not that the presume of the gospel be powered upon us, but we must be sprinkled within with the blood of the Bridegroom, and with the power of the spirit of sanctification, 1. Pet. 1.2. being received by a true & lively faith, and witnessed truly by good works: to the end that that being accomplished in us which is written in the 133. Psal. namely, that this precious perfume with which our true head jesus Christ was anointed descending down unto us, so to love him as he hath loved us, Ephes. 5.25. we may be in the later day really and fully perfumed and filled with his eternal glory in heavenly places, to whom in the unity of the father and of the holy spirit, be all glory for ever. Amen.   

THE FIFTH SERMON. Our help be in the name of God, etc. It is written as followeth in the first Chapter of the Canticle of Canticles, the fourth verse.  
4 Draw me, we will run after thee: when the king shall have brought me into his privy chambers, we will be merry and rejoice in thee, and will celebrate thy dilections which are better than wine.  
1 How much this word of Drawing importeth, & how greatly repugnant the nature of man is to God and his truth.  
2 Two most pernicious errors against this doctrine.  
3 We had need to be drawn during the course of our whole life.  
4 The imperfection of man appeareth both in the universal body of the church, & in every member thereof.  
5 With what chord the Bridegroom draweth his Bride unto him.  
6 We must one draw the other to run all together.  
7 An application of this doctrine as well against those which are idle and negligent, as those which draw back and turn aside.  
8 This is not all, to run: but we must run after the Bridegroom, and of what turnings we must take heed in this race.  
9 What have been, & are, & shall be the secret chambers we are admitted into, there to be merry.  
10 How we must make more reckoning of the dilection of this Bridegroom, then of all things else without exception.  
11 Wherefore special mention is made of wine, and how detestable a thing drunkenness is.  
12 The conclusion of this doctrine.  
HITHERUNTO we have understood what hath been the most ardent desire of the spouse, ravished with the consideration of the excellency of her Bridegroom, with whom she wisheth and desireth to be entirely and happily joined and united. All which may seem not to accord and agree with that which she now addeth, demanding to be drawn by him, whereas they which march forward of themselves with all diligence, as this spouse doth, which seemeth rather to fly than to run, need not be drawn, no more than a free horse needeth the spur, but they which are slow and heavy, and they much more which are altogether restive. And therefore we must weigh well this word of Drawing, to make our profit the better by it. We must therefore first of all confess, that if we have in us any good motion at all, that is to say, tending in such sort as it ought, to the glory of god, be the same never so small, it proceedeth not from our nature, either in whole, or in part. For contrariwise there is in our nature nothing but most desperate & most obstinate rebellion, until the spirit of God do drive away, first the darkness of our understanding, which cannot, nor will not of itself, so much as think upon the things of God, 2. Cor. 3.5. and that secondly it correct the frowardness of our will, which is an enemy of God, & of whatsoever is truly good, Rom. 5.10. & 8.7. And this is the cause why the Apostle, Ephes. 2.1. saith not simply, that we are wounded, but that we are naturally dead in our sins and offences.  
2 We must therefore in this place take heed of two most false doctrines, whereof the one is of those, who being ignorant of the effect of the fall of the first man in his whole posterity, even unto the little children which are yet in the womb of their mother, have thought that man being provided of some natural understanding and judgement, had no farther need of the law of God then to be better and perfectlier informed of the will of God his Creator: as a child that hath a good wit, need no more than a good master, or as a fair white paper, which is fit to receive all that a man will write in it. The other of these false doctrines is of them, which compare our nature unto a lame man, that hath no need but of one to stay him up, to go upright. And this is the opinion of those Sophists, which confess indeed that we have need of the grace of God to prevent us, and accompany us, by reason of that natural infirmity which is befallen us by the hereditary corruption which we draw from our first father: but they will have the grace of God to serve us but for a pair of crutches, hereby afterward to establish their own merits. The first therefore utterly take away the supernatural grace of God, which is the first ground and foundation of our salvation: & therefore have they been heretofore rightly condemned and detested: but the other, desiring to part stakes between that which they call Free-will & the grace of God, fall by an other way into the same inconvenience and mischief. For towards God, the former of these doctrines is as good as the later, whereas we ought to avouch & confess, that it is the mere & only grace & mercy of God, not which aideth our nature being weakened, but which changeth it altogether in quality, bringing us out of darkness into light. Act. 26.18. & Ephes. 5.8. & from death unto life, Ephes. 2.1.5. & He which knoweth not this grace & that so far too as this point reacheth, knoweth not what the gospel meaneth, or the words of the Lord, joh. 6.44. No man cometh unto me except the father draw him. They reply hereupon that we then transform men into blocks & stones, depriving them utterly of understanding & will: which conclusion they falsely draw from our doctrine. For we know well enough, God be thanked, that the fall of the first man hath not deprived him of understanding and will, by the which faculties, man doth yet ciffer from bruit beasts: so far we are from transforming of him into wood or stone, although the scripture call the heart of the man unregenerate, a heart of stone, opposed to an heart of flesh, that is to say, made soft and tender by the grace of God, Ezec. 36.26. But we say, that in that which concerneth the knowledge of the true God unto salvation, that is to say, touching the doctrine of the gospel, which is the power of God to salvation to all that believe, Rom. 1.16. flesh and blood reveal it not unto us, neither in whole nor in part, Mat. 16.17. but the son of God must reveal it unto us, joh. 1.18. not as if we had eyes and there needed nothing else but to present the truth unto them to make us to see, but giving us first eyes, that is to say in the language of the Apostle Ephes. 1.18. enlightening the eyes of our mind, to wit, which were before clean put out in respect of this knowledge of our salvation. The like is to be said of the will utterly out of rule, and repugnant to that of God. Our understanding therefore remained unto us, but filled with ignorance and uncapable of knowledge: yea an enemy to the truth of God, Rom. 8.7. We have also a will, but replenished and filled with all wickedness and vanity, by reason whereof the Lord speaking of this first grace useth the word of Newbirth, joh. 3.3. which declareth the first original and beginning of our spiritual life and being, I mean touching these new qualities of both parts of the soul, & not in respect of the essence of them. To conclude therefore that which the Apostle saith, that man before this first grace, is sold under sin, that is to say, is made a slave of sin: Rom. 7.14. and that the natural man, that is to say, that the man which is not otherwise quickened & made alive in his soul, them now it is naturally in him, cannot conceive the things of the spirit of God, is most true of man entirely considered in his own nature without any manner of exception, or qualification whatsoever.  
3 And yet all this notwithstanding, this manner of drawing cannot be applied to this spouse, as appeareth by the words which went before, by which she most plainly and unfeignedly declareth, that she was already drawn, yea and as it were ravished above the clouds by this grace, witnessed by a most vehement desire of hers of passing yet farther. And therefore we must add unto that which we have already said, that if the first grace be altogether necessary for us, even so is the second, and after the second a third, and so on, in such wise, that even to his last breathing, every faithful soul must every minute and moment cry out: Draw me, draw me: such repugnancy & resistance there is yet remaining in those, which are most obedient, such heaviness and lumpishness in those which are most ready and diligent: and all these graces which come one on the head of an other, must proceed from the same fountain from which the first did, I mean from the mere and only free bounty and liberality of our God, which moveth him to perfect his work begun in us; and that not to crown any merits of our works, but to keep his pomise as freely with us, as he made it at the first. So that this distinction of works going before faith and only preparatory, as the Sophists speak, from the works which follow and come after faith, of which they make their merits of condignity, were verily forged in the shop of Satan, who could by no better and readier means lead men unto destruction, then by persuading them, that they be of some price, and deserve some thing before God. The Apostle speaketh far another language: Rom. 7.24.25. who feeling in himself the residue & remnant of the corruption which was yet in him, how regenerate soever he was, and crying out miserable man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death, goeth not to vaunt himself of his travails, but giveth God thanks through jesus Christ our Lord, protesting elsewhere, (albeit he was well assured of the crown promised unto them which run well, and to loyal and faithful servants: 2. Tim. 4.8. that he will be found, having, saith he, not my own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is by faith in Christ, Philip. 3.9. in such sort as that saying of Leo an ancient Bishop of Rome, overthrowing the indulgences and pardons forged by his wicked successors, is most true, namely, that the righteous gave not crowns, but received crowns, and that from the constancy of the faithful are proceeded examples of patience and not the gifts of righteousness. It is not therefore enough that God form in us a desire to know him, and to serve and walk after him, but he must secure, maintain, & give continual forces to this desire, which otherwise would suddenly die and come to nothing, and our latter estate and condition become worse than the first. Alas we see at this day but too many examples of that which is written: Mat. 12.45. and 2. Pet. 2.20. Our spouse therefore when she saith Draw me, it is as much as if she said, Alas my beloved, although I cry, yet I see not that thou comest any thing the nearer unto me. This, this is the extreme desire the fathers had, whereof jesus Christ spoke Mat. 13.17. and 1. Pet. 1.11. I must therefore (saith the spouse) approach nearer thee. But alas although I do that which thou givest me power to do, me thinks I have no legs, so heavy, so benumbed, and so asleep they are. I would gladly fly unto thee, but I trail the wing, & therefore draw me. The like aught we to say every day, although we may say, that this Bridegroom or beloved, is come nearer unto us now, than he was in salomon's time, and that he is as it were painted out before our eyes.  
4 And we must note here that this prayer pertaineth not only to every member of the Church in the feebleness of his spirit and will, but to the whole body of every Church, yea of the whole Church, catholicly, that is universally considered, so vexed and troubled as all ancient histories do witness, both by heretics in matter of doctrine, and so defaced and disfigured with infinite scandals and offences in the discipline and government thereof: which thing should be well considered, both of them which seek here below a perfection in every member of the Church, as the Catharistes of old, and in our time the Anabaptists, and of them which forge unto themselves an Idea of a Catholic Church, which should be without spot or wrinkle, which they afterward apply to their phantasm of the Sea of Rome, without any either scripture or reason. And yet for all this the true Church leaveth not to be the receptacle & gardien of the truth of God, who never suffereth that this foundation should not remain and abide firm and sure.  
5 But in saying Draw me, we must withal take the cord in our hand by which we are craned up and drawn unto him: for to speak thus, & in the mean time to refuse the mean which is presented us to draw us, were but to mock God. That which I call the cord is the preaching of the Gospel, the ordinary instrument of the spirit of God, to open our heart, to the end to make it heedful and attentive, and to pierce our ears to hear, & to give us eyes to see, in a word to lead us into all truth, and to confirm and comfort us unto the end: and this is it in which the ordinary exercise of all Christians consisteth. It is but in vain therefore for such as are ordinary and common contemners of God's word to say Draw me. For it is no more than if they should say unto God, make me to live without a soul, make me to see without light.  
6 But to go on: a man may demand why the spouse saith in the singular number Draw me and not Draw us, seeing that anon after she speaketh also of her companions And we will run after thee. Let us therefore understand that this spouse here representeth not one only person, but the whole company & assembly of the true faithful already instructed, and bringing forth every day as a fruitful mother children unto God: which are here understood by the companions of this spouse. She meant not therefore to forget her company in speaking particularly of herself, but to show by her own example the rest of her train what they ought to do. And thus must they do which have profited more than others in the Church of God, they must be instruments of grace towards others, and so take one another by the hand, and ascend up together to this holy house of God whereunto we aspire: Esay 2.3. which thing is principally required in the pastors and teachers which are sent to this effect and purpose.  
The spouse therefore addeth, joining herself with her company, And we will run after thee. By which words is shown us the effect of that which she required, when she desired to be drawn, to wit, to the end that she might not only march forward and go on with more courage but rather run. And this is opposed to that negligence and slowness which is in the greatest part of them which are of others most enabled, and all for want of taking courage to themselves and making the graces of God to be powerful in them, profiting from faith to faith, & from good to better, as it is said, Psal. 84.7. without fainting and being weary in running well, Heb. 12.12. Wherefore the Apostle exhorting us, and proposing himself for an example, saith, That we must forget those things which are behind, and follow hard after those things which are before, and draw to the mark, that is to the price of the high calling of God in Christ jesus. Philip. 3.13.14. the life of man being elsewhere compared unto a race, in the which, saith he, many do run, but one only receiveth the price, namely he which runneth to the lists end, & seizeth upon the price, 1. Cor. 9.24. And if they be to be reprehended, which run not swift enough, they are much less to be excused which go not but pace by pace. But what shall become of them who recoil and go backward in steed of going forward? what shall become of them which not only draw back but flatly turn the back, returning as swine unto their mire, and as dogs unto their vomit? 2. Pet. 2.22.  
7 And what may I say hereupon? even thus much in few words, that albeit the Lord by a more than admirable continuing of his graces and singular patience to invite, to draw, to summon us, us, I say, of this City, yea crying so loud and so shrill, that this voice of his hath been hard in all corners and quarters of the world: yet notwithstanding I dare not say that there are found any runners amongst us, but too many idle, too many deaf, too many lame, too many cold, yea too many which draw back. I speak it to my great regret & grief, comparing the time which I have seen, in the which there was so great zeal to the word of God, that the pastors and teachers were not sufficient to furnish men therewith, & that not without goodly and great fruits, both in respect of the good order observed in the state public, & in private families, which did ring of Psalms and praises of God: one neighbour warned & instructed another, open scandals and offences were not hidden and dissembled, the strangers forgot their oaths, and other their evil manners, assoon as they entered but the gates of Geneva: to be short in comparison of the time wherein we now are, men did not go, but did run unto God, and God did bless them, withholding & staying the fury & rage of their greatest enemies, during their greatest fiery zeal & courage. And now what? Hardly do we retain the name of that, of which before we had the true substance, and our fire is a fire of chaff. And therefore it is unto us, that that reprehension made by the Apostle to the Galathians pertaineth, that having begun in the spirit, we end in the flesh: Galat. 3.3. Every one is given unto himself, covetousness and distrust have possessed every man's heart, there are no laws which can bridle our pomps and superfluities, in such a time, when we should be rather clad in sackcloth and ashes, as neither the gamming, fornications, and adulteries of some amongst us. In a word in steed of going forward we go backward, every man doing so, as if a man to run would charge himself with a furred and heavy coat, instead of putting himself into his doublet, yea into his shirt if our clothes did hinder us. Every man foldeth & wrappeth himself in the cares and thoughts of this woorld, instead of meditating and putting that in ure, which retireth and plucketh us from the world, that we perish not with it. Every man is cold instead of being hot and fervent in zeal of knowledge. To be short, every man fatteth himself so gross, that it willbe impossible hereafter to pass through the straight gate: a thing lamentable, and whereof I warn you in the name of God: while he yet saith Come unto me, and whiles the door is yet open, or at the least only half shut. If we will not, God will show us to our cost (and we are very blind if we perceive not that he doth already prepare himself thereunto) that if we think not on it, he will think on it, and when we shall cry, it shall be answered us, as it was them which were invited to the banquet, Matth. 22.8. as the workers of iniquity, Mat. 7.23. as the foolish Virgins: Mat. 25.12. from the number of which the Lord keep us. In sum therefore the faithful as strangers and wayfarers in the world do protest in this place, that they labour to come unto that City whereof God is the maker and builder, Heb. 11.10. not only to walk thither, but also to run thither with all their forces they have received of him which draweth them thither.  
8 But we may not forget these words After thee. For it is not enough to run, but we must first run in the right way, and secondly we must run right, without straying either to the right or to the left hand, and thirdly we must tend & go forward unto the mark unto which we ought to tend, if we will not have our pains to be frustrate and lost. All these things are given us in jesus Christ solely and alone. For first, besides that it is of his spirit that we receive as well the desire of running, as the power to run, Phil. 2.13. He is the way, the truth and the life, and for to follow him without straying, and to obtain the price at the end of our race, he must always run before and we must run after him. They therefore, who to go to eternal life devise unto themselves new ways, that is to say any serving of God according to their own pleasure, or happily follow the inventions and devices of other men whatsoever, although these ways be never so common and frequented, and as old and ancient as a man can wish: how ever they reply that these are not other ways, but only certain paths, which bring them into the high way, as those men dream which make themselves believe, that the merits of works agree very well with grace: and the invocation of holy men departed with the office of mediation of jesus Christ alone: and his corporal and essential presence in the mass with the verity and truth of the body of jesus Christ, and with the ascension and second coming of him, and other such conclusions necessarily contradictory: yet notwithstanding not holding the right way after him, they shall not find him at their journeys end, and consequently they shall have no other fruit of their travail, then that which Esay speaketh of 29.13. and the Apostle: Colos. 2.18. Ye see then all false worships and religions condemned in one word, of which the Apostle in that place of the Colos. 2.18. handling this very matter setteth down three kinds. The first is of those which are grounded upon certain vain speculations, having an appearance of some great wisdom. As when at this day, men ground the Intercession of Saints upon this, that men go not to kings & princes, but by mediators. Item that if holy personages have had credit with God being in this woorld, they have a great deal more being received with him into paradise. Item that we must satisfy God in this world, or in the other. Item that because the perfection of every estate consisteth in unity, there must be one general head in the administration and government of the catholic Church, or other like conclusions of theirs who forge and devise a religion after their own fancy, taking their human discourse (a very bad rule and squire) to rule and squire out their building by. The second kind consisteth in gross superstitions, and such as are manifest unto all, except it be to them, which are altogether blind and so will be. Such have been from all time infinite manners of fancied things & doings, by which men have dreamt, first that their sins were thereby done forth, and finally that God himself was indebted unto them for them, as are at this day in the Church of Rome holy water, holy wax, paternosters or beads, going on pilgrimage, certain signs of the cross, certain kinds of weeds & attires & other such babbles, in which there is neither sense nor reason, neither with God nor with men.  
The third sort was in the Apostles time of them, which yet held and retained the judaical ceremonies, willing to mingle them with jesus Christ. In the room of this have succeeded at this day the traditions of men, and an infinite number of devotions, by which not only the commandments of God are taken away and abolished, and Christians brought into a most miserable servitude and bondage: but the grace also of jesus Christ himself is utterly made void and of none effect, and there is neither doctrine nor sacrament remaining uncorrupted. Now all this is nothing else but to run in vain after strange Gods, although a man give them not this name but that all this is disguised under these fair words of serving of God, of the authority of the Church, of Antiquity, and of good Meaning. But in am of all this we are sent here unto jesus Christ alone, and consequently to his holy and only word preached, and wholly put in writing, first by the Prophets according to the measure and dispensation of the times, & finally by his Apostles, without being lawful even to the Angels themselves, to change any thing therein, to add or diminish, the Church being founded and grounded upon this ground-plot & foundation, and no other whatsoever, Ephes. 2.20. Apoc. 21.14. the whole Scripture also giving us most certain witness hereof: which without this would not be sufficient for the barring and shutting out of all false doctrines and heresies: which thing cannot be said without great blasphemy. Ye see then what are our lists, what is our race and course, and what the price is which is set for us at the end thereof. Neither doth this point concern only the doctrine which is common to the whole true church, but this advertisement must also guide us in all our particular thoughts, deliberations and practices, in which we must always demand of God the address and direction of his holy spirit, that we never go beyond him, but always walk after him, having him and his commandments before our eyes, as we are taught at large in that excellent Psal. 119. and Psal. 1.2. And herein committed Saint Peter a very great fault, by and by after he had made that excellent confession of faith, by reason whereof he was called Cephas, that is a stone or rock: when he would needs be meddling in counseling his master, for which cause he was called Satan, and had it said unto him, Go behind me, thou understandest not the things of God, but the things which are of men. afterward jesus Christ addeth, If any man will come after me, let him renounce himself, & take up his cross and follow me. And therefore to conclude, if we will be Christians we may not go before jesus Christ, but we must follow.  
9 The spouse addeth The king having brought us into his privy chambers, we will be cheerful & merry. Declaring by these words that she is indeed the true Church, cheering herself so greatly with that which notwithstanding yet she saw not but in part. 1. Cor. 13.12. but holding herself so assured of the rest, for which she hath so sure pledges: 2. Cor. 1.22. that it seemeth her, she is as it were already placed in heavenly places: Eph. 2.6. according to the example of the Prophet crying out Psal. 84. O eternal God of hosts, how are thy tabernacles to be desired, as he also wisheth and longeth after them most fervently. Ps. 42. and rejoiceth himself herein: Psal. 133. speaking of the shadows, the body and substance of which are in jesus Christ. The secret chambers therefore of him who is here called the king, and is so indeed, according to the ordinance of the father which no man can break or infringe, Psal. 2.6. are first of all the revelations of the secrets of God touching our salvation in jesus Christ, by the mouth of his Prophets: which we may call the porch or forechamber unto the palace of heaven, into the which the Saints and holy men being brought before the manifesting of the Lord in flesh, have seen and as it were saluted the promises a far off: Hebr. 11.13. looking in into the holy court through the vail, for the which vision and sight, it is said by the Lord, that Abraham rejoiced, joh. 8.56. So doth the spouse also in this place, declaring notwithstanding that she looketh for some better thing, namely that which is called The great secret of piety and Godliness, that her beloved would make himself to be seen in flesh, would be justified in the spirit, seen of Angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, and received into glory. 1 Tim. 3.16. This was then the time when this spouse was brought in into the Cabinets and secret chambers of her beloved, meaning thereby the more near and plain opening of all the will of his heavenly father, joh. 15.15. and himself being really exhibited, In whom are ratified all the promises of salvation. 2. Cor. 1.20. For which reason Esay calleth the Gospel the arm of God. Esay 53.1. and Saint Paul saith that it is the power of God to salvation to all that believe. Rom. 1.16. And therefore it is not without cause that Simeon holding our Saviour in his arms received a most singular and unspeakable contentment, Luk. 2.29. and that our Lord said unto the Apostles that they had a great advantage above the ancient just men and Prophets. Math. 13.17. But yet notwithstanding we see yet but as it were through a cloud, and know not but in part, 1 Cor. 13.12. not appearing as yet what we are, which is differred unto his later coming: 1. joh. 3.2. We are therefore entered into the secret chambers, but beholding as it were from behind the door the glory of the Lord, as it were in a glass, 2. Cor. 3.28. looking till he bring us into the innermost of these secret chambers, which he is gone to prepare for us, joh. 14.3. to see him as he is in his true kingdom, and to be eternally with him, 1. Thess. 3.17. to see that which eye never saw, to hear that which ear never hard, and to know that which never ascended into the heart of man. 1. Cor. 29. And thus you see what the cabinets & secret chambers are, and the true place called the holy of holies, not earthly but heavenly, unto which every faithful soul aspireth, as unto the place of their true & everlasting rest, and their unspeakable joy, even to the Lord, as here it is said: not only because that all this glory proceedeth of his only grace, but also because he is the last end thereof: the faithful desiring to be saved for no other cause but to glorify him, (not staying so much on that which shall betide themselves to sing that goodly song unto God with full and perfect joy, Not unto us O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give the glory for thy goodness and faithfulness sake, Psal. 155.  
10 It is not then without just and great cause (the which notwithstanding no man understandeth but he which is born of the spirit, and which hath his senses fashioned thereunto and purified, to discern rightly betwixt that which is good and that which is ill: Heb. 5.14. that this blessed company promiseth that she will forget the wine, that is to say, all the most alluring delicacies of this life, to take her whole pleasure in the meditation of the dilections of this her beloved, using again a word of the plural number to signify more expressly the plenty and abundance of that which God hath reserved in store for his, as also before she made mention not of one cabinet and secret chamber, but of secret chambers, according to that which the beloved afterward said, that there are many lodgings and chambers of abode for the elect in his father's house: joh. 14.2. and we may not doubt but that by this word of Delicacies we are to understand, not only that which is beside the necessity, which is required to the entertainment of this life, according to the saying of the Apostle, that having food & raiment we be therewith content, seeing we brought nothing into this world nor shall carry any thing out of it: 1. Tim. 6.7. but also that we must go so far, if we be true Christians, that nothing, be it of the highest, middle or lowest quality, no not our own selves, which we should not cast far from us, and to which we should not say I know thee not: Deut. 33.9. so far as it should turn us never so little from that duty which we own unto God. And this is that which jesus Christ signifieth by those forms of speaking, of hating of father and mother for the love of him: Luk. 14.26. of cutting off the hand and the foot, and putting out the eyes: Matth. 18.8 and not seeking to savour life: Mat. 16.25. For we may not understand these speeches according to the letter after the manner of certain fantastical men, so to become a murderer of a man's self: nor after the manner of hypocritical monks, as if it were a work of perfection to forsake father and mother to retire a man's self into a desert for contemplations sake, unprofitable both to one's self and to others: but according as the first table of the Law, which ruleth the second, teacheth us, when we are commanded to love God with all our heart: which cannot be done, if the things of this woorld have never so little a part of it: for it is another thing so to use this world, as to refer all things thereof to the glory of the Creator without seeking after any thing else in it but the use, with giving of God thanks. And this is that which Solomon himself hath taught us at large in that excellent book of the Preacher, in the which he hath walked us through the whole labyrinth & mizmaze of this life, showing us the knowledge of using it well without abusing of it, according as the Apostle doth also warn & advertise us: 1. Cor. 7.31▪ and 1. Tim. 5.17. and the psalmist most amply Psal. 49. Therefore although it be here said, that a man must think more upon the dilections of the beloved than upon wine, we may not so take it, as if we might give our heart over to them both, but more unto the one then unto the other: but this must be taken to signify that neither the present life, nor ought at all in it, should possess the affection and mind of the spouse. So when it is said Ps. 52.5. thou lovest that which is evil better than that which is good, and joh. 3.19. that the world loved dracknes better than the light, we must understand hereby that that which was evil was loved, as also darkness, & not that the good & light were less loved, that is, loved indeed, but not so much loved as evil and darkness.  
11 Neither must we marvel that this word of Wine is taken here generally, rather than any other word, to signify unto us the abuse of the good creatures of God. For if there be any thing in the world which the world hath for all time and in all places abused, it is wine: in such sort that for one murderer, one covetous person, one adulterer, or such other like vicious man, yea for one glutton, there shallbe found a thousand drunkards, or abusers otherwise of wine, be it of the vine, or of other natural or artificial drink: a thing so much accustomed, that men have a long time made it a common trade, yea a virtue, as Esay hereof beareth us witness, Esay. 5.11. & 22. since which time we see to our great grief how the most part of the world is grown to be worse and worse in this point, the Apostle not having spoken in vain. Ephes. 5.18. That therein is excess, and that which an ancient writer, who never heard jesus Christ spoken of, saith, That drunkenness was the Metropolitan or capital Cytty of all the whole province of vices. In steed of this, the Apostle in the place above alleged warneth us to be filled with the holy Ghost, as before him the Lord himself doth, crying so loud by Esay. 55.1. Come take wine without money or money worth. How ever it be, the sentence given by the Lord shallbe executed, to wit, That drunkards shall have no part in the kingdom of heaven, 1. Cor. 6.10. Besides the horrible judgements which God executeth daily upon the bodies of drunkards witnessed by that common proverb being most true, The pot slayeth more men than the sword. To return to our purpose & so to conclude, this holy Queen and her companions, acknowledging that all goodness cometh from the mere grace of god, drawing us unto himself, protest in this place, that being once admitted and let in into the secret chambers of the king, they will forget whatsoever they have had and received without him, that is to say, they will not look back, to sorrow for this or for that, nor have their minds & affection any where else, then on the glory and praise of this king, whom they shall then enjoy: which shall be truly and fully accomplished in the later day, but must be happily begun & constantly pursued after of us here below, not following the example of Lot's wife: Luk. 17.32. but making in verity and truth the same protestation which David maketh: Psal. 16.5. and the Apostle Galat. 2.20. and 6.14. to wit, that God is our true foundation, and that we live not in ourselves, but that jesus Christ liveth in us, and that the world is crucified unto us, and we crucified unto the world. According to this holy doctrine, etc.   

THE SIXTH SERMON. Our help be in the name of God, etc. It is written as followeth in the first Chapter of the Canticle of Canticles, the fourth and fifth verses.  
4 The upright love thee.  
5 I am black but comely ye daughters of jerusalem (I am) such as the tabernacles of Kedar, & the pavilions of Solomon.  
1 A summary rehearsal of the sermons going before, and wherefore the spouse changeth her speech, casting her eyes upon the company which followed her.  
2 The small number is on the Church's side.  
3 Every small number or great number is not the Church, but that of the upright.  
4 True uprightness and the love of god are things inseparably linked together.  
5 This spouse is accompanied with three sorts of maidens, whereof some of them are indeed her companions, others her enemies, others are as it were betwixt both.  
6 Why these here are called daughters of jerusalem, and the mean to bring them to their true mother.  
7 In what sense this spouse faith, that she is black, that she is of that comely hue which is contrary to the tanned and parched colour.  
8 The inward beauty of the spouse is never taken from her, but she may well be spoiled of her outward ornaments for a time, when it pleaseth her Bridegroom.  
9 Examples of this poor estate of the spouse in the ancient Church.  
10 Examples of the same in the Christian Church.  
11 This spouse is sometimes so disfigured, that she is not known of men.  
12 But yet she is always fair and shining before God, and such as are of a clear sight.  
13 That this doctrine is of all others most necessary in this our time.  
WE have hitherto understood the earnest and ardent desire of the spouse, thinking on no other thing, then on this real conjunction with her beloved, in which consisteth her whole felicity, and for this cause desiring him, that either he would come unto her, or else (being forced as it were to make this request by an holy impatiency) desiring that she may be drawn unto him. We have examples of either of these desires in the holy Scriptures, being a thing most certain, that the ancient fathers from the beginning of the Church, wished for nothing more than the coming of their deliverer, as jesus Christ witnesseth, Mat. 13.17. and Saint Peter in his first chapter verse 11. and David in many Psalms singing & rejoicing, as if he saw already this sovereign king before his eyes, Ps 96 97. and in others following. Whereunto belongeth that also which the Lord himself saith of Abraham, that seeing the day of the Lord he rejoiced: joh. 8.56. But whereas the fathers saw him not but afar off in the promises and shadows of the Law: Heb. 11.13. it is no marvel if they desired some thing more (for which Simeon giveth God thanks in his song) seeing the Saints at this day, since his first coming, instead of being satisfied therewith, desire yet more fervently his return, as witnesseth that demand of ours every day in our prayer, That his kingdom come: or else wishing to be dislodged quickly from below as the Apostle crieth out, Rom. 7.24. and Phil. 1.23. which is nothing else but to be drawn unto him, leaving here below, the old cast garment of this body, until it be changed & taken again in incorruption, 2. Cor. 5.5. Now the spouse having ended her former speech, by the which she was raised as it were above the clouds, by the wings of faith and hope, she entereth here now into another, as having cast her eyes both upon her company and train, and upon herself and others which beheld her. And this hath Solomon here set down not without great reason, as shall appear, by the handling of this matter. For it cannot be but such considerations will often arise in the minds and thoughts of such as are most perfect: for which cause it is more than necessary we provide before hand that we be nothing shaken by them, as many in our days are. This Queen therefore having boasted herself, that if she were drawn by the king her beloved, she would come running unto him with a goodly and triumphant company, and hereupon beginning to consider what this troop and train of hers could be in comparison of them, whom she calleth here, Daughters of jerusalem, and of those of whom she afterwards complaineth, she becometh at the first as it were ashamed. But afterwards considering the quality and not the quantity thereof, she pronounceth cheerfully these words, The upright love thee, as if she should have said, we are indeed a small company, but fair and good: for I bring thee nothing which is not entire and upright, and which beareth thee not a true and sincere affection. And a little and good is better than a great deal and nought.  
2 This is the comfort & consolation which hath been, & yet is most necessary unto the church, according to these words of the Lord: Luk. 12.32. Fear not little flock, for it is your father's pleasure to bestow on you a kingdom. There are then no greater deceivers, to term them in most courteous manner, than they, who to discern the true church (to the which we must of necessity join ourselves if we willbe saved) from the false (from which we must of necessity separat ourselves if we will not perish) stand wholly upon a multitude. For first of all, every one is constrained to confess, that even in the affairs & dealings of this world, there are always to be found more fools then wise men. How is it then when the point concerneth supernatural wisdom and goodness? If we will not believe that which the Lord himself hath said in express terms, speaking of the broad gate which leadeth to destruction, & through which many do pass, and of the straight and narrow gate leading unto life, and which few do find, Mat. 7.13. let us at least believe that perpetual experience which we have hereof. For what was I pray you the number and multitude of the true children of God, when the deluge came upon the world, in the which only eight persons were spared which perished not by the waters? And afterward what was Abraham's house, in respect of the Cananits only? Yea what was the whole people of Israel, to comprise therein the hypocrites and false Israelites, in comparison of all the nations of the world, shut out of the covenant of salvation? Eph. 2.12. Yea and then especially when the Bridegroom came into the earth in person, to gather and to visit his church, who rejected him but the builders? who cried away with him, away with him, crucify him, crucify him, but the multitude? what multitude was that first number of sixscore persons, by which the the Christian church began in jerusalem? To be short when our adversaries at this day, who oppose their great number to our small company, shall have well counted, what are they all together in comparison of the rest of the world which acknowledge not jesus Christ? The multitude therefore is so far from being a true mark of the Church of God, that on the contrary side the greatest number ought rather to be suspected of us.  
3 Notwithstanding we say not that every small company ought always to be followed: but it must be withal qualified with this name which is here given unto it, to wit, the name of upright: which we ought well to weigh, to know not only where the true church is, but also those which are the true members thereof. The true church therefore is that where the upright and true verity of God touching our salvation is purely taught, and they are indeed of the church, who embrace it in their mind and heart, and by effect do declare the same. And what is this uprightness, but the will of our God witnessed in all perfection by the writings of his prophets & Apostles? I mean in his law, in respect of our applying ourselves to perform it, according to the measure of his grace, and in his gospel in respect of that our believing unto salvation. Every assembly therefore, be it great or little, which holdeth not itself to this uprightness, cannot be the church of God, nor he a member of the true church, who believeth or doth otherwise.  
4 And we must note well that this true uprightness & the love of God, are things altogether joined each to other, & inseparable: whence it followeth that what doctrine soever withdraweth us never so little from the love of God (as all false religions have this in common, that they stay men either on themselves, or upon other creatures in whole or in part) cannot be the true & right way, whereof mention is here made: & likewise, that whosoever witnesseth not by his life, that he loveth & feareth god, is no true upright man nor a Christian, though he have all the knowledge of truth in his head. And because the love of God is declared by the love of our neighbour, whosoever loveth not his neighbour, is a liar, if he say that he loveth God, joh. 13.35. and 1. joh. 4.20.  
5 There follow now after this, the words of the spouse turning herself to the daughters of jerusalem: which we must by name discern & distinguish as well from those which she called the upright, to wit, the ladies of her train; as from them of whom she complaineth afterward, and calleth the sons of her mother. Seeing then that we understand by this spouse the true Church of the Lord, and by the Virgins which follow her, those which from day to day are borne and bred up in her in the Lord, and by the sons of her mother the domestical enemies of the Church, abusing their authority to the ruining and destroying of her: it followeth that in this place by the Daughters of jerusalem, we must understand the common sort, namely them which are in such sort in the Church, that notwithstanding they care not greatly for it, and referring themselves to the present estate of religion, such as it falleth out to be, follow the course and rate of the market, as we say, yea and willingly adjoin themselves rather to the persecutors then otherwise.  
6 The spouse therefore speaking unto these, and calling them Daughters of jerusalem, because that jerusalem should be especially the City of God, setteth before them, first of all, the grace that God bestowed on them, if they could use it well, and secondly upbraideth them, and that worthily with their carelessness, as if she should say: And you the rest which I see here about me, and yet are not of my train, of whom is it long, that you are not, having received this grace of God to be born not Philistines, nor Edomites, but citizens of this city of God? I see what the matter is. You think me not fair, because my hue is Sun-burned and black, in comparison of you who have so fresh & so fair an hue. Now I confess that I am indeed black, but yet notwithstanding, I have a fair and pleasant beauty, which you see not. For as, if you behold me outwardly, I am as black & as tanned, as if I had been brought up under the skins and Cabins of these moors and Arabians: so if you consider of my beauty through this blackness, there is no pavilion or tent of Solomon that rich & mighty king so fair, and so glittering as myself. Afterward she addeth, that this tanned hue of hers is not natural, but that it hath happened unto her, as unto a young maiden driven by her naughty and wicked brethren out of her father's house, where she should have lived and continued at her ease, driven I say, far and wide, and made to endure abroad the parching of the Sun and other injuries of the weather. Now for the understanding of this speech which is altogether allegorical, as also this whole Canticle or Song, we must first of all note, that whereas ordinarily by the colour of black is understood every sad and unpleasant thing, as contrariwise by white joy and pleasure is signified: notwithstanding by blackness in this place, which the spouse confesseth to be in her, is not meant our natural foulness & blackness, which is indeed more than filthy & detestable, in which this spouse was found at the beginning as Ezechiel hereof speaketh Ezech. 16. For, as touching this uncleanness the Bridegroom had already washed this spouse of his, with his most pure and clean waters Esay. 1.55. namely by his blood, and his spirit which maketh that ever sithence, the Church, in as much as it is cleansed by faith, and considered such as it is in her Bridegroom her beloved, is without spot or blemish Eph. 1.4. and Colos. 1.22. & as touching her person within, she is already so cleansed, that sin reigneth no more in her, but decreaseth by little and little, waiting still for that later day, in which being clothed anew with incorruption, and made conformable to the glorious body of her Bridegroom: Philip. 3.10. she shall be truly without spot or wrinkle, Ephes. 5.27. The spouse therefore speaketh not in this place of this natural infection, neither in whole nor in part, but meaneth by this word the poor & miserable estate, whereunto the Church is sometimes brought in two sorts. The first in respect of her native beauty, which is given her in proper: the second in regard of many and diverse calamities of this life, by which her beloved doth sometimes prove her, & sometimes chastise her. Which thing requireth a more large and ample declaration. I call therefore the proper beauty of this spouse, and that whereby her Bridegroom maketh her indeed gracious and commendable, and causeth her to be known unto all those, which are not utterly blind, by her admirable shining beauty: first, this inestimable brightness of the clearness of truth, and of the favour and good will of him, who hath endued his spouse therewith: the which beauty is truly within, as it is said in the 45. Psalms, verse. 13. & in the inward and spiritual man. Secondly by the proper beauty of the Church, we must understand that goodly order of the ministery, and outward service of God, which was truly heretofore, such as might ravish the whole world in admiration by the magnificency and sumpteousnes, first of the Tabernacle, afterwards of the Temple of Solomon, and of all that which was therein done by the ordinance and appointment of God. All this notwithstanding, as the Apostle teacheth us: Colos. 2.17. & the whole Epistle to the hebrews, was nothing but the figure and shadow, as well of the person of jesus Christ, as also of the excellency of the ministery of the Gospel, so much the more precious and glorious to the eyes of such as see clearly, the more simple and less earthly it is. For even that outward Levitical pomp, how glorious and excellent so ever it were, had it not been referred unto this end, wherefore it was ordained, would have been not only no fair or beautiful thing in the eyes of the Lord: but contrariwise, as he declareth by the mouth of all his prophets, all of it whatsoever would have been unto him in this respect most stinking, foul, & infected. Ye see then that the Church hath a double ornament, and that a most precious one, with which being clothed and decked, she showeth passing fair & goodly, as on the contrary side, being spoiled thereof, she is in such sort disfigured and groweth out of favour, that he must have very good eyes which will know her.  
8 But we are to note that of these two ornaments, the inward is never taken from this spouse, being as it were a costly jewel which he never looseth, and without the which also she should be no more taken and acknowledged for the spouse. But as for the outward decking, together with other marks which are likewise visible, when it pleaseth God, his poor Church is for a time as it were stripped out of it, either because the world is not worthy to have in the midst of it such a beauty which it contemneth, or happily because it is expedient and necessary, that she be for some fault of hers, deprived of it for a time, to wit, until the time of reconciliation, as Esay hereof speaketh: 54.6. and 7. For that time therefore she is in sorrow and heaviness, and without her gloss and glittering, which may be perceived: fair still notwithstanding and beautiful in the eyes of her beloved, who hath always an eye upon her, not to forsake her.  
9 For example and proof hereof let us compare the time of the captivity of Egypt, of the greatest part under the judges, under Saul, under the ten tribes after their revolt, under a great part of the kings of juda, under the captivity of Babylon (under which there was no apparent form of state, either temporal or ecclesiastical) the time of the miseries and horrible disorders and confusions which happened under the empire of the Greeks, and under the Romans, until the total destruction of the Temple, and of the nation of the jews, let us, I say but compare these times with the outward estate of the Church under Moses, Aaron, josua, David, Solomon, so long as he continued wise, Asa, josaphat, Ezechias, josias, Nehemias, and other like kings, and governors, when there were any such, and we shall need no farther proof of this which I have said. And therefore they are themselves deceived, and do deceive others, which judge of the church according unto this outward and visible mark, as if it were essential and perpetual, being most commonly spoiled thereof, and yet not leaving therefore to be known by them, who have had good eyes to mark her native, and essential inseparable beauty.  
10 Now to come to the christian Church, this point is especially to be noted, to wit, that whereas the ancient church for the obscurity of the promises, which were as it were the contract of this marriage, waiting for the visible coming of the Bridegroom, had need of these earthly & material jewels, as being pledges & witnesses of his coming: so the Bridegroom being come, as this marriage also is spiritual and tendeth unto a spiritual life, hath made an end of all this: establishing the charges and callings of the officers of his house, and of all his outward service, after a most simple manner and fashion, far different from the former. Retaining therefore the sovereign and eternal Priesthood unto himself, and likewise the regality in am of all the Levitical Priesthood and other charges & offices serving thereunto: he hath first of all set up his spiritual Temple throughout the world, which is the Christian church, by his master builders, I mean, by his Apostles, Prophets, and Evangelists: which being done, he hath withal established for governors of this building, unto the end and consummation of the world, Pastors and Doctors for the administration of the word and of the Sacraments: likewise Elders for the inspection and oversight of manners and other Ecclesiastical censures: and finally Deacons for the administering & dispensing of the Church-almes, and other reliefs of the poor: and hath also ordained but two Sacraments, common unto the whole Church and perpetual, the most simplest, that possibly might be, whether we consider the matter, or whether we respect the form & administering of them: & all this, fearing lest we should stay ourselves on earthly things, to seek after our salvation in them, or any holiness beside. And therefore was the Christian Church then in her gloss and beautiful hue, when this simplicity was diligently observed therein and maintained, as it was in the time of the Apostles, under whom verily she flourished in this native and ingenuous beauty, both inward and outward, which Esay describeth unto us, 54 and 60. But alas, we may well say that this glittering gloss of hers, was but as a lightning which passeth from East to West, and is soon vanished away and gone, as the Lord himself foretold it would be, Mat. 24.27. and Luk. 17.24. For behold already even in the Apostles time, they of the Circumcision could not abide the taking away of the judaical Ceremonies, which had been sometime the decking & setting forth of this spouse, but had an end at the coming of the bridegroom in person. Others began then to mingle, under the shadow of devotion, their goodly frivolous and altogether superstitious inventions: others, not considering that they went about to be more wise than god himself, instead of contenting themselves with this native and ingenuous beauty, added thereunto the painting of their own goodly human wisdom. And albeit the Apostle hath so often and so diversly cried out against all such inventions, and namely by a most singular divine and clear distinct setting down of all these abuses, Coloss. 2.16. and the verses following, yet could he not hinder that this should not come to pass. Hereupon is entered into the Church the most part of Ceremonies manifestly and notoriously taken from judaisme, as namely holy water, priestly vestments, lights, decking of material temples, shining and glittering with gold and silver and precious stones, without sparing of all manner costly apparel, & bravery that might be. Afterwards the simplicity of administering the Sacraments seemed over light, & therefore there must be added to the consecration of the water, chrism, salt, spittle, chreme, etc. As for the sacrament of the Supper, it was in the end clean taken away & abolished by Transubstantiation, & by a real and expiatory offering and oblation which men have invented. Besides all this, this goodly human wisdom hath had that credit a long time to model and pattern forth ecclesiastical charges after the Roman policy, to the end to fulfil and accomplish that which was foretold by Saint john, in the Apocalyps, of the Image of the beast. From hence instead of an Aristocratical order of Bishops, that is to say Pastors, are come * the dignities of patriarchs and others, and last of all two Popes or Ecumenical Bishops, the one in the East, whose wings Mahomet hath clipped, and the other in the West: seated the one and the other upon the seven hills, and especially he of the West, who doth yet make drunk the Kings and Nations of the earth, assisted with his brethren, officers of the latest and newest forge, called Cardinals. I let pass so many superstitions, at which, a man may presuppose that Satan himself laugheth. All this notwithstanding, if a man will believe our adversaries, behold the beauty of the Christian Church: yea verily, if a shameless thing, painted and diapered by her lovers, may be this chaste and modest spouse of jesus Christ, which hath neither within her nor upon her any thing save that which it hath pleased her Bridegroom to give her, & which contenteth herself altogether with the garments, which the true and faithful woorkmen of the Lord, I mean his Apostles, have cut forth and fitted for her. The more than the Church is decked after the Apostolic fashion, the more fair she is, whatsoever the minians and bawds of the false painted Church say to the contrary. And if the poor ancient Church brought in here by the holy ghost, hath had just occasion of complaining, that she was as it were disfigured by them, either which plucked from her the outward ornaments she received of her Bridegroom, or which loaded and disguised her with profane trimmings & tiffling up of her, which darkened and obscured her shining beauty, according as the Prophets in many places speak thereof: alas upon how much more just occasion, may and ought the Christian Church to complain of them, who under colour that they would deck and trim her, and make her more fair and beautiful than her spouse had made her, have arrayed her so ill? And so hath she indeed already made her complaint hereof unto her Bridegroom, who hath begun in our time to hear her, and hath put it into the minds of good Christian Princes and Magistrates to disburden her of those stinking and defiled gauds to restore her unto her native beauty▪ in which thing, God of his goodness inspire them farther, and guide them with his favour more and more, to the end that we may soon see the accomplishment of that which hath been hereof foretold, Apocal. 21. It remaineth we now speak of the second kind of blackness, proceeding as hath been said from the afflictions and incommodities which concern the state of this present life. This blackness happeneth unto the Church, according unto the providence of God for diverse reasons: namely, sometimes for the chastening or rather awaking of her, when she is as it were asleep, and sometimes for the proving of her, and for the glorifying of God in the patience and constancy which he giveth her: all this notwithstanding, be it he chastise her, be it he exercise or prove her (as it is said Psalm 44.) finally turning to an happy and good end for her. Romans 8.28. But amongst all these afflictions, those which are understood by the name of Cross in the Scripture, to wit, the sufferings for the name of the Bridegroom, and for righteousness, whether they proceed from within by domestical enemies, or whether they come from without by the persecutions of the open enemies of the Church, are marked forth unto us throughout the whole Scripture as singular deckings up and excellent ornaments of the Church of God, and the most glittering jewels he giveth his spouse together with faith, according to that which is said by the Apostle: Philip. 1.14. in such sort as this is the true rejoicing of the spouse: Rom. 5.3. Matth. 5.12. Galat. 6.14. and elsewhere in infinite many places of the Scripture. And indeed the Church was never more beautiful and shining then under the Cross, the saying of the Apostle being verified by experience, That the power of the Lord is made perfect in our infirmity and weakness: 2. Cor. 12.9.  
11 But this letteth not but▪ that sometimes the Church in respect of the visible marks thereof, and the eyes of men, is as it were darkened, and that so far, that it is not known to the most part of the world for a time, as if it were no more at all in the world: whether a man regard the apparent beauty of it, which is the public exercise of preaching the word and of administering the Sacraments: or whether a man consider this goodly order of callings, and of the discipline of the Church hindered and as it were broken off for a time by the violence of persecutions, be it within by the sway of heresies, or without by the open enemies of the Church, when both these kinds of blackness of which we have spoken meet together. Such was the estate of the Church, both by them within it, and by them without, under the horrible persecution of Pharaoh, then when Moses was so ill known of his own: and afterward under a great part of the judges, & namely at the time of the war against the tribe of Benjamin, when (as the Scripture saith) there was no governor nor king in Israel, but every man did what seemed him good in his own eyes. judg. 21.25. as also under Ely the word of God being a very precious & dainty thing at that time: 1. Sam. 3.1. In the later time also of Saul, and after his death, until the second election of David, a man might see a terrible obscuring & darkening of the true visible marks of the Church: yea as it were a total defacing of them in the kingdom of Israel under the persecution of jesabel, so far that Elias was entered into this opinion, that he was left alone to serve God, 1. King. 19.10. And as for the kingdom of juda, the state of the Church was brought there to that point, that even juda justified Israel, as Ezechiel upbraideth her therewith, Ezech. 16.51. And what could the service and worship of God be under Achaz? 2. Chron. 28. & under Manasses: 2. King. 21. and 2. Chronic. 33. Finally during the seventy years of the captivity of Babylon, whereunto was the name of the people of God brought? And under the persecution of Antiochus, until the purging again of the Temple? And as for the Christian Church, what was the desolation thereof in the most part of the world, then when the Arrians for certain hundreds of years were afloat & bare sway? But especially & above the rest, that desolation is to be marked, which happened after the Emperors Maurice and Phocas, both in the East, where Mahomet and his successors have so disfigured this spouse, that yet to this present day can she with much ado be known, and in the West, by the Child of perdition, seated in the Temple of God, being by this means verified and yet daily proved true, that which the Lord himself hereof hath foretold, Luk. 18.8. and the Apostle after him. 2. Timot. 3.1. and 2. Thessaly. 2.3. and yet more clearly Apoc. 12.14.  
12 But notwithstanding it is to be noted, that as the Sun, being by the interposition of the Moon eclipsed and darkened, or rather hindered to cast his clear beams upon the earth by some mists of clouds for a time, in respect of men, leaveth not for all this to remain in his own nature full of light, and of brightness: yea and it may be that some sharp and clear eyes may acknowledge and perceive his beauty and brightness amidst these mists: even so this spouse although such persecutions do darken, and as I may so say, do utterly take away her native and ingenuous beauty, yea make her to look like a Moor or Arabian, in respect of men, who by this means know her not: so is it notwithstanding that through this blackness of hers remain certain traces of beauty: nay farther, as white showeth more white, being laid near unto black: so afflictions, which are meant by this blackness, cause her to show more beautiful and fair, both to her Bridegroom, as we shall see it in the verses following, and unto them which know her well, as Saint Paul, 2. Cor. 11.30. and Galat. 6.14. and 17. And this is the reason which moved the spouse to say, That she is black and yet very fair withal, and that on one side, she is black as the Tabernacles of the Arabians, and on the other side, that she is white and shining as the Tents and Pavilions of Solomon. Neither is it without great cause, that she speaketh in this place of Solomon opposed and contrary matched with them of Kedar. For all the shining brightness of this spouse, cometh unto her from the true Solomon, which is that true king of peace, on whom dependeth all her being and brightness, as the moon hath no light but of the sun. This beauty is also well set forth and described in the 45. Psal. verse. 11. unto which the Kedarits are here opposed, I mean the children of darkness, who appertain not at all to this King of light, nor unto this Queen, amongst which also, David complaineth that he had dwelled and been held captive too long: Psalm 120. vers. 5.  
13 Now by these matters which we have above declared, and the times wherein we are, the Lord maketh us to see if we have any eyes, and causeth us feel and perceive if we be not more then bereaved of sense, how not only expedient, but how altogether necessary it is that we be well instructed in the knowledge of the true marks of the Church, being in so many places as yet wholly defaced, and in other places so counterfeited, that it is hard for a man not to be deceived among them, if he look not the nearer unto them, & examine all by this touchstone, which is the word of the Lord enregistered by the Prophets and Apostles, the sum whereof we have in our Christian Creed. Above all let these temporizers, and irresolute, and politic fellows of our time, unto whom properly this spouse here speaketh, look unto themselves, and instead of being scandalised and offended with the poor estate of this spouse according unto the world, provide for their own conscience upon pain of everlasting death: seeing that without the church there is no salvation, and hearing the reprehension which Elias maketh against them which know not on which side to turn themselves, 1. Kings. 18.21. let them take pity on themselves, and join themselves unto this spouse, to the end all may come together with her unto eternal and everlasting bliss and felicity, through our Lord jesus Christ, Amen.   

THE SEVENTH SERMON. Our help be in the name of God, etc. It is written as followeth in the first Chapter of the Canticle of Canticles, the sixth verse.  
6 Regard me not that I am brown, for the sun hath looked upon me. The sons of my mother were angry against me, they set me to keep the vineyard, but I kept not my own vineyard.  
1 A brief rehearsal of the Sermon going before.  
2 The Church leaveth not to be a Church for some defects of hers, be it in manners or in doctrine. How we ought to bear ourselves in such a case. The difference betwixt a body which hath some fauls & defect, & a body utterly rotten in the most noble and chief parts.  
3 The cross ought not to bring the Church out of knowledge, but is contrariwise an express demonstration thereof.  
4 The great desolations of the Church have happened by the principal of them within it.  
5 Wherefore the spouse speaketh here of a vine.  
6 In what sense the Church calleth her persecutors the sons of her mother.  
7 Whence the anger and despite of bastard brethren proceedeth against their innocent sister, even to put her sometimes out of the house.  
8 The application of this Doctrine to the estate of the Church, from many ages, unto this which is now.  
WE have understood the words of the spouse turning her speech unto the daughters of jerusalem, that is to say, unto them who according to the diversity of times which went before Solomon, & followed afterwards, being Israelites by name, made small reckoning notwithstanding of knowing either what religion was (amidst the conflicts and strifes they had with the nations bordering about them) or what this spouse meant, or else applied themselves to the greatest and mightiest, despising the poor estate and condition of the small number of the children of God, as appeared by the writings of the Prophets, and as it happened unto jesus Christ himself, Mat. 11. and Mar. 6.3. Whereupon the spouse warned them, that for all this she leaveth not to have her true beauty, to be known thereby and followed. But now she addeth a singular exhortation, which consisteth in three points: the first, that it is not the outward hue which men must stand upon to judge of her beauty: the second, that men make her blacker than indeed she is: the third, that this blackness of hers is not natural, and therefore by consequent will not always continue to be such, adding withal, through whose fault it is that she is in this case.  
2 Now touching the first of these points, she warneth and advertiseth them, not to stand so much upon considering of her in this hue, how sunburnt soever it be: a warning & advertisement of all others most necessary, seeing there is nothing so fair and perfect in nature, whereof a man groweth not out of taste and liking, if letting pass to consider the beauty and goodness thereof, he settle his mind wholly to take a view of every defect & imperfection which may be found in it: whereas rightly to judge of a thing, and to make our profit thereby, we must equally consider of it, and uprightly balance every thing in it. And as this measure is to be held in esteeming all other things, so is it especially and above all to be observed in this matter, whereof we here speak. They whom they called in ancient time Catharists, as also the Donatists, and of our time a certain sort of Anabaptists make good proof hereof: who imagining a perfect beauty of a church in this world, sever themselves from all others (as if in their particular assemblies this perfection were to be found) wherein they do greatly abuse and deceive themselves. First in this, that they stand only upon the defects of the Church, thinking that therefore the Church is no Church. Secondly in this, that they espy a mote in the eye of an other, & will not see the beam which is in their own eyes. We are therefore to note, that there is a diversity & difference of defects and imperfections which are found in the Church. The first are touching manners, which how wicked and corrupt soever they be, either in the pastors and shepherds, or in the sheep, ought not to cast us into such a rage as therefore to think, that there is no Church in those places where such corruptions are found. I say so long as the truth is there taught, according to that which the Lord said speaking to the Scribes and pharisees, so long as they sat in the chair of Moses, that is to say, so long as they taught the doctrine of Moses: do ye, saith he, that which they say, but do not that which they do: Mat. 23.2. Although this hinder not, but that a man may well withdraw himself from the company of such men, following the Apostles admonition, 1. Cor. 5.11. & as the Prophet protesteth himself did, Psal. 17.4. and warneth us to do the like, Ps. 1.1. nay letteth not, but that a man may retire himself into purer and cleaner flocks (if there be any such) and where he may be in less danger of being corrupted by the contagion and infection of others. The other imperfection consisteth in doctrine. In which again there are many circumstances to be considered before we deprive any assembly, be it great or small, of the name of the Church. And that this should be so, we see by the first epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians, that in the church of Corinth, not only touching manners, the discipline of the church was very loosely observed, and the manner of teaching the word greatly profaned by a vain and affected kind of babbling: but which more is that the pro and the con touching the article of the resurrection of the dead was stoutly and stiffly disputed, an article notwithstanding of such ground & foundation in the Church, that without it the preaching of the gospel would become vain: 1. Cor. 15.17. And yet notwithstanding it was so called and held of the Apostle for the true and holy Church of God. Among the Galathians it was yet worse, being for the most part of them turned aside, by the false Apostles, from the principal ground-plot and foundation of the Christian Church, namely, from the free justification, by the only satisfaction of one only jesus Christ: and yet all this notwithstanding, Saint Paul giveth them the name of Church. The reason is, as touching the Corinthians, because they showed not themselves incorrigible and past amendment, and that, though there were some but badly instructed in the article of the resurrection of the dead, notwithstanding the body of the Church did still retain and hold the truth. The Galathians also had not banded themselves against the doctrine of the Apostle, but were only turned somewhat aside by a light headiness, and yet not all of them, as is to be presupposed.  
The like is also to be seen by that which the Apostle writeth unto Timothy, and likewise by the second of Saint Peter, and that of Saint Jude, that there were already false teachers, and wicked Disciples even in the bosom of the Churches, which notwithstanding for all these imperfections, left not to be called true Churches: as a man leaveth not to be a man, though he have some wert or some ulcers & biles in one part of his body. But the case is otherwise of a body altogether rotten and corrupted in the noblest and principallest parts: whereunto the Synagogues of the jews may be compared, after that they stubbornly resisted the preaching of the Apostle, from which, for this cause, he utterly divided and disjoined the Church of Ephesus, Act. 19.9. and 28.28. and himself also hath given us a rule hereof, Philip. 3.2. Neither are we otherwise to believe or to do, touching such assemblies and congregations (be they great or little) which notoriously and stubbornly oppose themselves against the principal and fundamental articles of Christian Religion, as that assembly doth at this day which sitteth upon the seven hills, and opposeth itself directly against the kingdom of jesus Christ, whose name notwithstanding it falsely borroweth, and therefore we have it justly in execration and hold it accursed, following the doctrine of the Apostle: Galat. 1.8. To come therefore to our purpose, we must take heed in this case, how we stand in such sort upon the defects and imperfections of one Church or more as therefore not to take them for Churches: but we must use those ordinary means which God hath appointed, to bear with that which is to be borne withal, to remedy that which may be remedied, and to take heed to ourselves we be not smutted, as they say, among colliers: applying all our study and endeavour to mutual edification, as the Prophets and Apostles teach us, both by their doctrine and by their example.  
3 It is very true notwithstanding that the spouse speaketh here of another kind of blackness, to wit, of the outward overthrow and dissipation of the Church by the vehemency of persecutions: which is the cause that many making no difference between the glittering beauty of the kingdoms of this world, and the spiritual beauty of that kingdom, which is not of this world: and suffering themselves to be dazzled and blinded with that which hath only a certain outward gloss: either enter not at all into the Church, or if happily they be entered, retire themselves afterward out of it, to return again to their vomit, 2. Pet. 2.22. For fault of hearkening unto this warning and advertisement, not to rely or stand upon this outward black and hideous appearance of the cross; but contrariwise to weigh and consider well the true and native beauty of the Church, in the midst of her greatest afflictions. According hereunto the Lord having warned us that his kingdom cometh not with such observation, Luk. 17.20. hath said also, That he shall be happy which shall not be offended at him, who notwithstanding is called a man of sorrows and griefs, and so disfigured, isaiah 53.3. that he is compared unto a worm of the earth: Psal. 22.6. to whom notwithstanding the church must be made conformable to be the true church, Rom. 8.29. in such sort, that so far it is that the cross maketh the Church not to be known, that on the contrary it is the true mark thereof being given to none but to the true believers, to suffer for the name of God, the Apostle crying out, That this is it whereof he will boast himself: Gal. 6.14. Mat. 5.10. Phil. 1.19. and elsewhere throughout the Scripture. Hereunto is referred the second point which I have touched, being contained in this, that the Church which called herself black, saith that she is Browne, as if she should say to these Daughters of jerusalem, Comparing myself with you, who are so fresh and so fair, it seemeth indeed that there is nothing more black than I: but yet if your eyes be good, you shall find that albeit I be brown and sunneburnt by the parching of the sun, yet am I not for all my tanned hue, an Arabian or Aethiopian. For over and beside that which hath been said of the happy end & issue of the afflictions of the Church, there is an exceeding difference, between the most miserable estate of those who are blatched before God, by his just vengeances, or which are left remaining in their natural blackness: and between the confidences and assurances of the children of god afflicted for righteousness, and for the glory of the Lord, who bestoweth this great favour and grace upon them to be glorified in them. Farther if we consider of the estate of the church in her greatest afflictions, it is not so miserable as men think it is. For as the Apostle teacheth us, God is faithful, and never suffereth such as are his to be tried above that which they are able to bear, 1. Cor. 10.13. And therefore very true it is that we are pressed in every sort, but not crazed or broken, being in want and penury we are not destitute and distressed, being persecuted we are not forsaken, being beaten down we perish not, 2. Cor. 4.8. In a word if we ought to judge of the nature of things, according to their last effect and working, this brown or tanned colour is the means to come unto our true and perfect whiteness, the sufferings of this world being in no point comparable unto the glory which waiteth for us, 2. Cor. 4.17. the way unto which is the cross, or sufferings, I mean for righteousness and for jesus christ: Matt. 5.11. This is the comfort which we ought at this day to oppose against these Daughters of the terrestrial and earthly jerusalem, who think us so poor and miserable, not knowing what our riches are, & how yet at this day it is in Egypt that there is darkness, and light in the land of Gosen only. Let us give them leave therefore to judge of our colour black or brown, as they list; it sufficeth us that the spirit of God judgeth altogether otherwise, to whose judgement we appeal, being assured we shall get and win our cause.  
4 The third point of this advertisement or lesson, namely, that which the spouse addeth, That this brown colour of hers is happened her not from her birth, but by the means of the sons of her Mother, who drove her out of doors, and set her in the parching of the sun, being constrained to keep herself among strange vineyards, whereas she ought to have kept her own vineyard: this I say, containeth also an excellent doctrine and instruction. For the understanding whereof, we must first of all note, that by this natural beauty and fairness, with which this accident sunne-burning is contrary matched, is not understood or meant the quality or condition of the children of God in their first generation and birth, according to the which they are borne in themselves the children of wrath as are others, Eph. 2.3. and consequently are most foul, vile, and filthy: by reason whereof, the Church, which is the assembly of the faithful, is compared, in respect of her first estate, unto a foul and filthy maiden child coming out of the womb of her mother, Ezech. 16.6. but we must refer the original and beginning of this beauty, unto her free vocation and calling or spiritual newe-birth, joh. 3.6. and to that which followeth in Ezech. 16.4. and the other verses following. Hereunto accordeth that which is said of Abraham himself, josua 24.2. to that beauty, that is to say, to that happy estate compared to the marriage of the Lord and of his church, (of the fiansailes whereof the contract is already made & passed in most excellent magnificency in the mount of Sinai, then when the tabernacle with all the service thereof was established, the body whereof is our Lord jesus Christ, Col. 2.17. Heb. 9) to that beauty, I say, and brightness, which again showed itself yet greater, in the time of David and Solomon, (so long as he continued wise) this sunne-burnt hue of hers, which is here spoken of, is opposed: which may be understood after two sorts: namely, referring it either to the great and horrible confusion, which happened more than once after the death of josua, until the time of David (as is to be seen in the history of the judges) or else speaking of other most strange desolations, which happened both in juda, under the most part of the kings which were of the race of David, as also especially in the kingdom of Israel, until the time that the poor Church was exiled and banished among the barbarous and savage nations, yea and after the return from out of the captivity of Babylon, aswell under the empire of the Greeks as also the Romans, even to the coming and departure of jesus Christ, which confusions and desolations of the church we may say to have been in this place prophetically foretold by Solomon. And as for that which might here be replied, that mention is here by name made of that banishment and driving forth of hers which befell her, not by strangers, but by such as were within, whom the spouse calleth the sons of her mother: I answer first, that the most notorious desolations of the church, are not those which happened unto the church of the jews, both by the people bordering about them, & sowed and scattered among them (whom they should have rooted out and exterminated) and by those which were farther removed, I mean, the Assyrians, Chaldaeans, Egyptians & others, of whom the holy & sacred histories make mention: but those which happened by the negligence & wickedness of the governors & rulers, as is in the history of the judges expressly to be seen, and in the civil war, Chap. 12. yea under Samson himself, whose life doth very well declare, the little regard which the Levites than had of their duty. But this is especially to be seen in the story of the civil war against the Beniamites. As for the history of the wicked kings, this is yet more notably to be seen aswell in the kingdom of Israel, where the whole public service of God was overthrown and ruined, and the Levites themselves driven forth and expulsed, so far that the rest of the poor Prophets were constrained to be hidden in holes and dens, and that by the singular bounty and goodness of one man, there to be nourished and sustained with bread and water: 1. King. 18.13. as also in the kingdom of juda, in which the faithful servants of God had no worse nor no crueler enemies than the Kings and the Priests, namely under Achaz: 2. King. 16.12. and under Manasses: 2. King. 21.9. Secondly it is to be noted that when the Lord exercised his just judgements upon his people by strange nations near or far off, it was in manner always because of the outrages and enormities committed within, both by the priests, and by other the governors and officers, so that this poor desolate spouse doth justly and by good right impute all this mischief and misery which hath so disfigured and marred her favour, to the sons of her Mother, who drove her forth out of her own vineyard, and set her forth to the open parching of the sun, that is to all the injuries and contumelies which might happen to a poor vagabond subjecteth and made a slave to strangers her enemies.  
5 To go on, we are to observe that it is not in this place alone that the heritage and possession assigned and allotted to the Church of the jews (I mean the land of Chanaan) is compared to a vineyard well planted, well husbanded, environed and compassed about with good ditches for her defence and safeguard, and blessed most plentifully with all manner of blessings: but also Psal. 80. by Asaph in the time of David and Solomon, and afterward by Esay 5.1. jer. 2.21. Eze. 17. which was afterward most largely and amply expounded by the Lord himself: Mat. 21.33. Neither is it without most great and weighty reason that the holy Ghost useth this similitude as being marvelous apt & convenient, seeing there is no kind of possession more profitable and fruitful, or which requireth more care and diligence to be husbanded and trimmed. And because that as there is but one god, so there is but one faith & one Church, as also at that time there was but one only land consecrated and hallowed unto God, one only people comprised in the covenant, one only place established and consecrated in jerusalem for the outward ordinary service of the Lord: therefore the spouse speaketh here but of one vineyard in the singular number, to the which the strange vineyards are contrary opposed in the plural number, because false worships and religions, and false Churches are without number.  
6 She complaineth therefore that the sons of her mother, suffered her not to be maintained in the possession of her own vineyard where she might have been well brought up and preserved under covert, in her beauty. And if a man demand the question wherefore she called not rather them of whom she complaineth, sons of her father or her brethren, than sons of her mother; I answer, that this was therefore, because she meant by this means so to spare her mother and her half brethren, by a modesty very sitting and beseeming the person under which the true Church is here represented unto us, that notwithstanding she would not keep it silent, that her mother had forgotten herself, I mean this very same Church considered as it were in an other person, the mother of her, which here complaineth, to wit, in as much as she ordered and ruled herself well at the beginning, but after that she had brought forth this we here speak of unto the Lord, she was turned aside afterwards after strange gods in all manner of outrageous dissolution, as the Prophets so oft and in so many places upbraid her. She confesseth therefore that those of whom she complaineth, that is to say, the wicked governors and false pastors, are indeed issued and descended from her mother, but not in true and lawful wedlock, as is at large handled by Ezechiel in his 16. Chapter above alleged, and under the names of two sisters representing the two kingdoms of Israel and of juda, Chapter 23. and by the other Prophets. This is then as much, as if she called them in plain terms bastards, as in the Psalm 144.11. but that, as I said before, this manner of speaking is more mild and modest, which David also in the person of Christ useth, Psalm 69.8.  
7 And we must note well these words, That the sons of her mother were angry against this spouse. The cause hereof is elsewhere declared to be, because he which doth evil hateth the light, for that his works are by it reproved, joh. 3.19. and because also the Church is not of the world, the amity whereof is enmity with God, james 4.4. Behold then how the world useth itself, which being in the midst of the church of God hateth it without cause; who is angry also, but after an other fashion. For the Church is not angry with the persons, but with the sins of them who seek their own destruction, whom she also seeketh to draw thence by all means, requiting them with good for their evil. Besides, it is well to be noted, that these bastard brethren use not only mischievous counsel against their sister, but when it so pleaseth God, dispossess her for a time, and enjoy the vinyeard themselves until the Lord restore again the heritage to the right owner and possessor, Psal. 80. and Math. 20.  
8 This place therefore containeth a most excellent doctrine, and such, as is of all other most necessary for us in these days, to be a warning unto them, who in our time think it so strange a point of doctrine which we teach, and which is most clear and evident, namely that the desolation of the christian church is proceeded from those wicked vinekeepers, who have laid it so waste, that scarcely there remained any appearance of the vinyeard within these seventy years. This seemeth I say so strange a matter unto them, that this is at this day the point, whereon many do especially stand, and will not themselves acknowledge, or abide that others should confess the poor church was ever so black burnt, which recovereth notwithstanding by little and little her beautiful hue, and desireth to be repossessed in her vineyard (which is not at this day one only region and country, or one only city, but the whole universal world which ought to acknowledge his Lord and redeemer, the son of God) of all which country she hath been by little & little dispossessed, by those two Sees opposed to that of jesus Christ, the one in the East, the other in the West. We see how the same happened so oft in the church of the jews, that it may be said that amongst all those which ruled & governed it, we shall hardly find a dozen which were not rather destroyers than builders (as the sacred histories can witness) that being in the later times accomplished, especially against the proper person of the Lord, which was foretold Psal. 118.22. Esay. 28.6. Matth. 23.33. the city of Jerusalem being specially called the murdering city, Matth. 23.37. They must therefore now bring us forth some prophesy or pomise, by which the privilege may appear, which they say is granted unto the city and See of Rome, to be not only the mother city of the universal Church, as she was of the ancient Roman empire, but also to have this prerogative, that she can never err. But so far she is from being such, that contrariwise she is pointed out as it were by the finger to be the See of Apostasy, both by Saint Paul, 2. Thes. 2.3. and by Saint john in the Apocalyps, and by many ancient fathers both Greek and Latin, although they in their time saw not that which was already before their eyes. Neither is this come to pass only in this See which is the Image of the beast, namely of the Roman Empire which it succeeded, but also in other Churches of all the four corners and quarters of the world, being a thing easy to be shown, that according to that which S. Paul foretold, Act. 20.30. there is scant any heresy risen in the church, since the time of the Apostles, which was not either first forged, or afterward set forward and coloured, by false Bishops, Priests, or monks. And yet in our time behold those which hinder the work of the Lord, and will not suffer that the vinyeard, which they have so unhappily and pitifully handled, and as much as lay in them utterly destroyed and laid waist, be reestablished in the hands of faithful pastors, which notwithstanding the Lord of the vinyeard will do in his good time, having heard the sighs and lamentations of his poor desolate spouse, as it hath pleased him already to begin to do in some places of his great grace and mercy. Amen.  
According to this doctrine, etc.   

THE EIGHTH SERMON. Our help be in the name of God, etc. It is written as followeth in the first Chapter of the Canticle of Canticles, the seventh verse.  
7 O thou whom my soul loveth, show me where thou feedest and causest (thy flock) to rest at noon.  
1 Whence the reformation of the church is to be drawn: and the faults which have been, and yet are committed in this behalf.  
2 This reformation proceeding from the sole and only grace of God, aught to be sought after and desired with a singular and upright affection.  
3 The Bridegroom compared to a shepherd, & the Bride or spouse to a flock.  
4 The sheep which are scared must seek after the flock.  
5 Where there is rest to be found amidst the most violent tempests.  
6 A great fault of them who get them forth out of the place of rest, to cast themselves into the sea.  
7 This repose & rest is not found, but in the company which is fed by him, who is the true shepherd in name & in deed.  
8 The marcks of false shepherds & flocks which a man must take heed of.  
9 The Philosophers have in vain sought after repose and tranquillity in their Philosophy.  
10 There is a false Christianisme, & a false jesus Christ.  
11 Who is the true jesus Christ, & how we find in him alone, true repose & rest in our souls.  
12 What the parching of noon is, which is here mentioned.  
THE state and condition in which the Church is represented in the verse going before, teacheth us what that is she meaneth here to say, turning her speech unto her Bridegroom: which is this in sum, that being so driven from post to pillar, so tired & tormented by her bastard and degenerate brethren, and assuring herself of the dilection of her spouse, how black and sunburnt soever she be through this hard and ill usage and entertainment she hath had, she now beseecheth him to tell her, where she may find him, to be not only re-established in her former estate, but which is more, to come nearer unto him then ever she was, to the end she may be the more adorned & beautified by him. This is the sum of that which is taught us in this verse, containing a most excellent and most necessary doctrine, especially for this time wherein we now live, in which the question of the restablishment & reformation of this poor spouse so miserably disfigured by her pastors, is of all others most debated and handled. Now there is not a word in this place which hath not in it a marvelous weight. Let us therefore note, first of all, to whom she speaketh, and then with what a vehement affection she speaketh, and thirdly what she meaneth when she saith, O thou whom my soul loveth etc. She speaketh unto her Bridegroom, her beloved, our Lord jesus Christ, she protesteth that she speaketh unfeignedly and without hypocrisy, even with the whole affection of her heart: and to induce him to answer her, she maketh mention of her entire amity & love which she beareth him. First of all therefore let us learn here this lesson, that when the question is of returning and bringing back again the Church of God after these desolations, to her true beauty & brightness, we may not talk of seeking the manner and means to do this in our own brain, but we must have an eye unto God, to whom alone it appertaineth, to cloth and trim up his spouse after his own liking: and if we do otherwise, we go about nothing else but to disguise and disfigure her, sometime after one fashion, sometimes after another, as we see it hath happened heretofore in the Christian church, and is much to be feared lest it also happen and come to pass in our time. For from whence came this transformation of the christian church, but from this, that the successors of the first pastors established by the Apostles, in steed of keeping themselves to these simple and native ornaments, which the true Apostles had cut out, & provided & fitted this spouse withal, would needs set up a service of their own, with such fashions and manners of doing, as are some of them manifestly borrowed from judaisme, others taken from Paganism itself, others forged and invented according to the lust & fancy of certain bishops: & as some churches had authority & credit above others, so these ceremonies were accordingly received either more or less, until at the last they became catholic, that is to say, universal. I speak of nothing here which may not be shown in particular, & that by evident testimonies, if the time would suffer me. And how came these up? Under a shadow & colour of devotion forsooth, & of making the service of Christians more goodly & commendable. And what is come of this? Marry this, that our crafty & subtle enemy serving himself by little & little, even by them who thought to do the clean contrary, is at length come unto that he always aimed & shot at, which is to transform & change the pure and chaste spouse of the Lord into a painted & diapered harlot. So fell it out in the church of the Israelites, when in am of considering what Moses had said & taught them, & what himself had diligently & exactly observed, Heb. 3.5. namely that he did all things according to the model & pattern which he had seen in the mount, Exod. 25.40. with an express commandment unto the Israelits, not to add or diminish any thing from that, which the Lord had expressly ordained by his word, Deut. 4.2. they presumed to mingle with it their traditions & inventions, such as were not only vain & frustratory, as the lord speaketh of them, Esay. 29.13. but finally such as were abominable & directly opposed against the commandment of God, Mat. 15.6. Behold how men turning themselves aside by little & little from the word of god, do first build hay & stubble, holding notwithstanding the foundation, as the Apostle foresaw & foretold, 1. Cor. 3.12. & from thence, proceed to prescribe God himself a law, notwithstanding the admonitions & advertisements of the Apostle, 2. Tim. 3.1. & Coloss. 2.18. & the verses following. The question therefore being at this day of reforming the church, the day of the Lord being appeared aswell to consume & destroy this stubble & hay by that fiery flaming two edged sword, Apoc. 1.16, as also to destroy by spiritual arms & weapons every high thing which lifteth itself up against god, 2. Cor. 10.4. We are taught in this place to have our recourse to the only wisdom of God (which is so exactly set down & enregistered in his word) doing nothing of our own head, for fear ourselves offend in that which we would amend. And would to god many had had more regard hereunto at the beginning than they have had, whereas in many places some would needs moderate that which they should utterly have rooted out, retaining in churches & holy places made for devotion, images, crosses, albes, copes, with like trumpery, calling all these things, things indifferent, not regarding the decision which christ hath to the contrary in this behalf, speaking of the washing of the hands of the pharisees, Mar. 7.2. although washing of the hands be a thing in itself not only indifferent, but such as might well cover itself with the cloak of honesty & cleanliness. Others in am of contenting themselves with the vocations and callings ordained by the holy ghost for the government & administration of the church of god, following herein those among the kings of juda, have so reform the church, that notwithstanding they have left the high places to stand up still: in such sort that in the end if God provide not the better against it, they shall find they are fallen out of a cold ague into an hot fever. The lord of his mercy remedy it according as this spouse here teacheth us, & the answer which is made her afterwards by her bridegroom.  
2 It pertaineth therefore to god alone to teach us the form of reforming his building, which is for this cause called the building of God, 1 Cor. 3.9. whereunto we are yet farther to add, that it is belonging to him alone, even then when he hath adorned her, to give us eyes to know her to be such as she is, that so we may adjoin ourselves unto her. For otherwise, the gospel, which is the ornament of the church which beutifieth it, & discerneth & severeth it from the world (the appearance & show whereof doth deceive us) 1. Cor. 7.31. will be unto us either an offence, or a mockery, 1. Cor. 1.23. He must therefore give us eyes to see, Psal. 146.8. ears unto our heart to hear, Psal. 40.8. in a word, we must be taught of him: Esay 54.13. of him I say, who leadeth us into all truth: joh. 16.13. which the spouse in this place desireth, in this desolation of hers, wherein we see her to be at this day. For if this light is not then known of men, when it shineth most clearly, 2. Cor. 4.4. what might it be when God so long a time withdrew this light from the world? It is therefore to God that we must say, show me where thou feedest thy flock. But this is not yet enough to desire to learn this of him, but we must demand with a true & ardent desire, not bringing any thing else but a true and upright affection and desire of the advancing of the glory of God. And this is it which this spouse testifieth by these words, O thou whom my soul loveth, that is to say, O my Bridegroom and Saviour, unto whom I have dedicated and yielded up my whole affection. It is no marvel therefore, if we see at this day the work of God, instead of going forward to go backward; yea the darkness redoubled in many places, in the which the sun of truth began to shine very clearly: for experience hath proved unto us that there are but too many which have spoiled the harlot of her trinkets and jewels, not to do with them as Moses did with the golden calf, Exod. 32.20. or as Ezechias with the brazen serpent, 2. King. 18.4. as neither is it requisite we should always do the like, or that we may not turn that to good and holy uses which was before applied unto superstition, but (dare I speak it? Yea) but make their own state the mightier by that of another, leaving jesus Christ as the soldiers did which crucified him either stark naked, or at least but badly & soryly cladded, the effects whereof we see already, giving them occasion which are culpable of this evil to think upon it, & to them which have done better, to thank god therefore, & to take heed of it. For so to do is not to love God, but the goods of God, more than God and without God: whereas the true spouse protesteth here that she loveth and seeketh after her Bridegroom, with all the affection and desire she hath. That she therefore maketh protestation of this love of hers towards God, it is not to allege her own merit or deserving, as if God were therefore bound to grant her her request. For contrariwise sith the love which we bear unto our God is the free gift of him, who loved us first, 1. joh. 4.10. then when we were his enemies, Rom. 5.10. it followeth that if we love him, we are therefore beholding unto him and not he unto us; besides that our love importeth him nought at all. It is therefore an absurd thing and contrary to the grace of God, to think that this dilection or love is meritorious: but this letteth not but that we may and aught to make mention unto him of his own gifts, to the end it would please him to acknowledge us for his, and bless us for those marks wherewith it hath pleased him to mark us.  
3 Let us come now unto that which the spouse desireth to know of him, which is in sum, that it would please him to tell her the place, where he feedeth and causeth his flock to rest at noon: that is to say, in the heat of the day. This is a thing very common and accustomable in the Scripture, to attribute the name of Pastor or shepherd to our Lord jesus Christ, and the name of flock unto his church. Hence it followeth that by the pasture or food, we must understand the word of God, and by the pasturing places, those places where this word is sincerely taught and administered. This needeth no proof, because the whole scripture both of the old & of the new testament is full of proofs and testimonies hereof. Instead therefore of standing upon the reasons & grounds of this allegory, albeit they contain a goodly and excellent doctrine, we will first of all answer and resolve a doubt which may be made in this place. For if the church which is but one, is brought in, speaking in this place, and herself is the flock of Christ, what is this flock which she asketh and seeketh after? If hereupon some man reply and answer that it is true indeed, there is but one Church of God, but that this church is parted and divided as it were into two, namely, into that company which is already gathered up on high, which we commonly call the triumphant Church, composed and made of the spirits and souls of the just: whereof mention is made, Heb. 12.23. and that which is here below which we call the Church Militant, as Saint Paul also divideth this family into two, whereof the one part is in heaven, & the other in the earth, Ephes. 1.10. Coloss. 1.16. and 20. if a man I say so answer this doubt, although it be indeed in heaven that our true repose and rest lieth, yet is this nothing to the matter. For there is no parching of the noonday. Farther the verse going before, and the answer of the Bridegroom contained in the verse following showeth that the point in question here is of the comforting & re-establishing of the Church desolated and wasted by disorders and persecutions, as we have before at large handled.  
4 Albeit therefore there is but one Church, notwithstanding this letteth not but that it may be considered in more parts even in this world, whereof some being disfigured by persecution seek after other which are in peace. So we see by experience at this day that the Church of God being most cruelly persecuted and deprived of the public and pure exercise of religion in some places of the world, is relieved elsewhere and comforted, & enjoyeth by an especial grace and favour of God her liberty, who reserveth for his poor children some place of refuge and refreshing.  
5 But it seemeth that yet more properly to speak & more near to the point, the church being as it were universally persecuted and wonderfully disfigured demandeth here of her Bridegroom, how and by what means he is accustomed to maintain and nourish his Church with this pasture, against all the afflictions, storms and tempests of this world. And therefore is as much as if she should say, that though she be brought into poor estate, yet hath she not for all that lost any whit of her courage, or changed her affection at all, as it is said Psal. 44.18. and Psal. 89.39. but that amidst them, amongst whom she is, & in so troublesome a time she hath as it were lost the footing of the right way, as being brought into a desert & wilderness: which causeth her to desire her Bridegroom it may please him to direct her and to point her out which way she shall take to find and to come unto her true repose and rest. In a word to understand this place aright, let us set before us the state of the church of the Lord, in which it was but threescore or fourscoure years ago: when if a man had demanded what manner of book the Bible was or the new Testament, he should hardly have found one among a thousand of them which named themselves christians, which knew what it was, much less which understood what was meant by the law & the Gospel. Neither do we doubt, but that such as it pleased God to vouchsafe his grace to inquire after the right way, amidst such deserts, & to find it, to teach it us & to bring us thither by their holy labour & travel, did often make the same prayer unto God, which this spouse being in the like estate maketh here, without which prayer themselves & we should have perished with others, with the rest of the world. And yet at this day what do all the true faithful believers in those places and kingdoms where they mourn and languish, but pray unto the Lord to teach them the right way amidst those labyrinths in which they are, and to guide them to those places where God doth feed his sheep in all abundance and in exceeding great safety.  
6 Behold I say what the true children of God, having great want of that which we have in all abundance, desire of God every day with unspeakable sighings and tears, whilst we despise the bounty and liberality of the Lord, and turn upon our heads into just judgement, the grace and mercy of the gospel, by our wicked and dissolute living. And what shall we say of them, who enjoying the places of such a rest, seek after Sodom and Gomorra, departing as Lot did out of Abraham's house? Gen. 13.10. by reason whereof he found himself soon after in ill case. Gen. 14.12. yea with his whole family, Gen. 19 which was finally cursed of God and shut out and excluded from his people. I know what the replies of such men are, that the gospel is not enclosed & shut up within the walls of one city, which is very true. But notwithstanding the spouse demandeth in this place, where the place is that he feedeth and reposeth or resteth his sheep. Neither serveth the reply of such men to any purpose, namely, that in what place soever they be they will serve God; and if they cannot have the public exercise of the word of God, they will read the Scripture, and will pray in their houses. I answer that Lot also when he was in Sodom afflicted his soul, which they for the most keep themselves well from: 2. Pet. 2.8. and yet we see that neither he nor his Daughters learned any thing there which was aught worth: Gen. 19.8.16.31.  
7 The first point therefore of this demand is to know, whether we must retire ourselves, not to perish with the world, but to be fed to eternal life. This is meant by these words where thou feedest In which we are also to note that it is not said where men feed, but where thou feedest: whereby it is showed us that we must seek for this food elsewhere then in ourselves, to wit, in him of whom only it is said, that he hath life in himself, joh. 5.26. and who is the bread of life: joh. 6.35. and that we seek it no where else but there where he feedeth us, I mean, as Saint Peter testifieth, there where his word is announced and preached, when he saith: joh. 6.68. to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life, after that he had heard a little before of him, the words which I speak unto you are spirit and life. For which cause also, 1. joh. 1.1. he is called the word of life. This is then the only great pastor and shepherd of our souls, who feedeth his sheep, having spoken first of all unto the fathers in diverse sorts and at sundry times, and last of all having declared unto us in person all the will of his father, joh. 15.15. and consequently having given and giving every day pastors and teachers: Ephes. 4.11. of whom it is said As my father hath sent me, so send I you: joh. 20.21. not to add notwithstanding or to diminish any thing from the doctrine already preached by the master, but according to the tenor of their commission limited to that which they have heard and received: Matth. 28.20. and Act. 4.20.  
8 From thence also flow 2. other points of most necessary doctrine. First that the Church is not there where men do feed, that is to say, do teach their own inventions, whether they forge a doctrine altogether new, Esay 29.13. or whether they add, change or diminish any thing from the word first preached and afterward registered by the Prophets and Apostles, which the Lord calleth the leaven of the Pharisees: Mat. 16.11. & whereof the Apostle distinctly and expressly speaketh, Col. 2 from the 16. vers. unto the end of the Chapter. Secondly that as little ought every assembly to be called the church, in the which there is no feeding, but foding of the poor people with songs and right masquerades and mummeries, and that in an unknown language: among whom, even those which usurp the names of pastors are dumb dogs, devouring the sheep as it were bread, Psal. 14.4. in steed of feeding them, joh. 10.10. and not only ignorant, and utterly unable and unfit for their calling, but even unworthy of the name of Christians, having never learned, nay not so much as once thought upon indeed what christian religion meaneth, who neither enter in themselves into the kingdom of heaven, nor suffer others to enter thereinto, Luk. 11.52. that being truly fulfilled in them which was foretold by isaiah, 28.9. and so on. Now whether at this day and heretofore, the clergy of Rome, who attribute unto themselves the name of the Catholic Church, be such or no, the very children themselves can judge and perceive.  
9 The spouse addeth And where thou causest thy flock to rest at noon. Which is added to declare by this effect, the difference which is between this pasture and food, and all others besides. For if we shall consider in particular of all that which men have ever invented and forged to have rest in their mind and consciences, we shall find, that all is nought else but so many dreams and doting fancies. For if we speak of them whom men call and term Philosophers, they have indeed by common consent and accord said, that man can find no true repose or quiet but in that which is his sovereign good and happiness: wherein they say most true: but themselves never agreeing or according hereupon, what this sovereign good or happiness and felicity was, how could they show others the way to attain unto it? Some of them therefore (worthy rather to be called hogs than men) have sought after this felicity, in the pleasures of the body, others in the perfection of the soul, supposing that it consisted in the knowledge, which man by himself might attain unto, of divine and human things, which they called wisdom: others making a more exquisite anatomy of the parts of the soul, added hereunto many other virtues concerning the usage of this life, delivering forth hereupon many goodly sentences and sayings: but vanishing away in the end, both because they were ignorant of the true virtues indeed, which are no where else taught but in the school of the lord▪ as also because there was never yet found the man, in whom these virtues might be found in such sort, as themselves have described them. Others have gone yet farther, and babbled something of eternal life and of the conjunction of the soul of such as are virtuous with God. But what? Being ignorant of the true god, and knowing as little the way to come unto him, & farther, never so much as thinking upon the resurrection of the body, the same is happened unto them which S. Paul declared & showed them in Athens Act, 17.22. & which he hereof writeth, Ro. 1.21.  
10 As much may be said of them, who bearing the name of christians, are much abused, some not considering aright of that which is in man, I mean the Pelagians, taking utterly away the force of the supernatural grace of god, as do yet at this day the Demipelagians, who labour to agree fire & water together, that is to say, grace with natural free will & merits. Others, falsifying jesus Christ, either in that which concerneth his person, or in that which pertaineth unto his office of being our sovereign, perpetual, and alone mediator: all which how faierly soever they bestir themselves in seeking after a true repose and contentment, shall notwithstanding never find it there.  
11 We must therefore come to the true jesus Christ and to the true Christianisme, according to that of jesus Christ, That this is eternal and everlasting life, to know the father to be this true god, & him whom he hath sent jesus christ himself, joh. 17.3. who therefore crieth, Ma. 11.28.29. That it is he in whom we shall find rest, it is he which easeth & refresheth us of our travels & heavy burdens, for which cause he is called The Prince of peace, Esay 9.6. because our peace is upon him, Esay. 53.5. which now remaineth to be seen and declared more particularly. I say then that the conscience can never be surely & safely appeazed, until first, all that which troubleth it be put forth, & contrariwise all that which may assure and settle it, found to be in it. All that which troubleth it, is called in one word Sin, putting a division & separation, between God & man, Esay. 59.2. and what is sin? Saint john answereth, that it is all that which is contrary to the law or the will of god declared in his word, 1. joh. 3.4. which may and must be referred unto three points: the first comprehendeth all our thoughts, words and actions disagreeing never so little from the will of god, that is to say, which agree not with the entire and perfect reverence and duty which we own unto our God and to our neighbours: the second point consisteth in the root from whence all these stinking & infected fruits do proceed, I mean all that pollution & most stinking filthiness of man both within & without: by reason whereof it is said, that we are by nature the children of wrath: Eph. 2.3. that we are carrions dead in our sins: Ephes. 2.1. and 5. that we cannot so much as think of those things which are of God, 2. Cor. 3.5. that the wisdom of the flesh is enmity against God, Rom. 8.7. nothing being left unto us but that which maketh us altogether inexcusable, Rom. 1.20. beside infinite more the like sentences, scattered throughout the whole scripture, showing that man without excepting any thing in him whatsoever, is altogether subject & enthrawled to this corruption, which we call original sin: which though it hath not abolished in us the substance of the soul or of the body (farther then that thereby the body is made subject to corruption to return to dust & powder for a time) yet it hath changed the light of the understanding into darkness, the integrity & uprightness thereof into all wicked qualities, and to speak in a word, hath blotted out the Image of God, which shined before in the first creation of man. The third point lieth in this, that being taken for reasonable creatures, not only not to sin, but which is more, to conform our whole life to the will of God, the rule of all righteousness, we find that this third point is wanting in us with all the rest, to wit, the accomplishment of this obedience. Now there is no one of these three points which bindeth us not, without all manner of reply to the contrary, to eternal condemnation, God the Creator being a revenger of all sin, the wages of which sin is death: Rom. 6.23. who cannot suffer any manner of pollution, be it never so little, 2. Cor. 6.14. & who cannot, nor will not any way renounce his holiness & righteousness. Now let men seek how many remedies they will for these inevitable miseries of man, and they shall not find them in any other thing whatsoever, save only in Christ alone. For the question being here necessarily of bearing the burden of the wrath of God without being quelled & pressed down therewith, this force and power can be attributed to no creature, without it be made as strong, yea as I may so say, more strong than God, as was figured in the wrestling of jacob. And whereas the Angels themselves which remained in their first estate, joh. 8.44. could not bear this burden without being ruined & overwhelmed therewith, & that without any rising up again, jud. 6. & 2. Pet. 2.4. how could men, being but men, and borne detestable sinners, sustain such a weight? For want of which force, eternal fire is prepared for ever for the devil & the wicked, that is to say, for all them which are out of jesus Christ, being a thing utterly unpossible for them to sound the depth of the infinite malediction of God who is infinite. To whom then shall we have our recourse? To him who causeth such as be his to rest safely & surely at noon, to him I say, who being the eternal son of god, hath taken upon him the form of a servant, to be wholly & fully our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, conceived and borne of a virgin according unto the flesh without sin or spot at all: to the end that by his natural and perfect integrity, our original pollution and uncleanness should be covered, being made a worthy priest without spot or blame, and an entire & perfect oblation & sacrifice for us, bearing our sins upon the Cross in his own body, 1. Pet. 2.24. that is to say, having suffered in his body and in his soul with all rigour and severity all the pains due unto all the sins, of all the elect of God, from the beginning of the world, until the end thereof. For which cause Esay witnesseth that our chastisement was laid upon him, Esay. 53.5. and 6. etc. yea so far as to be made a curse for us, Gal. 3.13. to the end that we might be made blessed in him before God. There remaineth the remedy of the third mischief, I mean for default of the obedience which should be found in us, not only to escape everlasting death by the means which we have before said, but also instead thereof to obtain the crown of righteousness. This is then again in jesus Christ alone, that we find this full and perfect obedience opposed to the imperfection even of them which are most just and holy. It is he alone who hath clothed himself with our nature subjecteth to the Law to deliver those which are culpable from the transgression thereof, Gal. 4.4. being fully obedient unto God his father according to the first table of the Law, unto death, even to the death of the Cross. And touching the second table, he hath also given himself to death for his enemies: Rom. 5.8. yea having loved us above the commandment of the law, namely, not as much as himself, but more than himself: to the end that truly first of all we should be exempted from all condemnation, being united & coupled with him, Rom. 8.1. & then, which more is, be found adorned & beautified with his true and perfect righteousness, Phil. 3.9. to have a part in the life eternal. And all this of his mere gift & only grace & mercy, & not for any merit or any worthiness found in us, neither before nor after the communication of the gift of his grace with us: be it whether we consider what moved the father to give us his son, or whether we respect what moved jesus Christ to give himself for us, or whether we regard the mean by which we are made partakers of jesus christ & of his graces, I mean our conversion by faith, which are all the free gifts of god, je. 31.18. & 2. Tim. 2.25. joh. 6.44. Eph. 2.8. according also unto that goodly & precious general sentence of S. Paul, What hast thou, which thou hast not received? 1. Cor. 4.7.  
12 It is not therefore but upon great reason that the spouse here protesteth, that it is in her Bridegroom that we must seek after this true repose and rest, & this true peace which the world cannot give, joh. 14.27. especially at noon, that is, in the most grievous temptations and afflictions of all sorts, according to that of the Apostle, Rom. 5.3. that we glory ourselves even in oppressions, as being the pledges of our conformity with our head, Rom. 8.17. in such sort that he protesteth, proposing himself for an example unto us, that he will not glory but in his sufferings for jesus Christ, Gal. 6.14. this being also one of the greatest gifts of god, Phil. 1.29. This notwithstanding belongeth properly to the persecutions which hap unto us for righteousness sake, according to the advertisement of jesus Christ, that then we have especial occasion of rejoicing, Mat. 5.12. But what if by the just chastisement of God we be set abroad without covert at noon? Even then also being in the midst of this parching we shall find refreshing & rest in him, according to the doctrine of Saint Paul, 2. Cor. 6.9. & that which is taught us, Heb. 12.6. acknowledging thereby, that it is then that god presenteth himself unto us, as a good father unto his own children seeing, that there is no good father which sometimes punisheth not his children, as it is written in the 23. Psalm. According to this holy doctrine, etc.   

THE NINTH SERMON. Our help be in the name of God, etc. It is written as followeth in the first Chapter of the Canticle of Canticles, the seventh verse.  
For why should I be to the flocks of thy companions as one that should hide herself?  
1 The honour of the Bride toucheth the Bridegroom.  
2 In what sense Christ may be said to have companions.  
3 The Bridegroom can suffer no companion in the love which he beareth his bride, nor in the majesty of his kingdom.  
4 Nor in his prophetical dignity.  
5 Nor in his priesthood touching the redemption of his spouse.  
6 An answer to the objections made against his kindgome.  
7 Whether the Church may impose Laws to men's consciences.  
WE have before understood the ardent & fervent prayer of the Church being driven out of her vineyard, & requesting her bridegroom and pastor that she may draw near him, to be restored again into her possession: whereunto she now addeth a reason, alleging what a marvelous inconvenience would happen to her, if she should be denied her request, to wit, that by this means she should remain as it were utterly forlorn and undone, which thing would be no less dishonourable unto her Bridegroom, then if an husband should abondon and give over his wife unto his companions.  
2 Now for the better understanding of what weight this reason is, we must know what these companions are with their flocks. For may it be said that jesus Christ hath any companions? No: if we speak properly: which thing must be particularly handled, that we fall not into most great and dangerous errors. We have therefore to consider in our Lord jesus Christ two principal points, namely his person and his office of mediation. As touching his divinity there is no comparison betwixt him and any creature: and we must hold this general sentence without exception, that God will never give either in whole or in part, his honour unto an other: which doth fundamentally overthrow all kind of Idolatries whatsoever. As touching his humanity being distinctly and by itself considered, he is called indeed son of man, that is to say, true man in all and through all, of like nature in substance of body and of soul with us, being in this respect extracted & brought from Adam; as Luke witnesseth in his genealogy, Luk. 3.38. but as touching the qualities of the same nature, otherwise qualified altogether then they who are not regenerated by the spirit, between whom & him there is no more agreeableness then between light and darkness, 2. Cor. 6.14. And as touching them which are changed & renewed by his spirit, there is truly a very great agreeableness and accord, being guided and governed by the same spirit, enlightening their understanding, Ephes. 1.18. and creating in them both to will and to do, Phil. 2.13. to be followers of him, Ephes. 5.1. walking as he hath walked: 1. joh. 2.6. by reason of which conformity they are also called the children of God, joh. 1.12. and light, Ephes. 5.8. but the inequality is very great: first, because he is the essential fountain and spring of all grace, in as much as he is God. Secondly because he is as it were the channel and basin, touching his humanity, into which all graces in all perfection have been powered▪ I mean, out of his divinity and Godhead, into his humanity & manhood: to the end that all of us might draw from thence every one his measure, joh. 1.16. and 1. Cor. 12.11. not that he hath the less for all this, or that he hath one part, & we an other, but that his plenteousness and abundance overfloweth upon us, without diminishing of any whit thereof in him.  
3 It remaineth we speak of his office of mediatorshippe, whereupon we ought generally to note, that the son of god being come in flesh, to purchase this spouse by the blood of himself, he is so jealous of her, that he can never be brought to quit any one point of this amity and love of his to an other, nay he hath often taken her again unto him, how lewdly soever she had behaved herself, jerem. 3.1. The better to understand this, and that in the quality of his mediatorship, and of that which he hath done for his spouse, he hath no companion, we will, as the author of the epistle to the hebrews doth▪ refer the whole unto three points, namely to his dignity Royal, his state Prophetical, & his Priesthood: in respect of which three points we may and ought truly to say, that he hath, to speak properly, no companion, albeit he hath as it were his officers and servants, with whom in certain points and after a certain sort he serveth himself. In which thing many very great and pernicious abuses are committed, as we will by gods help afterwards declare. jesus Christ therefore is only king, not only in that he is creator and governor of the world in sovereign degree with God his father & with the holy ghost: but specially King of a Kingdoome, which is not of this world, concerning the conscience, being spiritual and eternal, in such sort, that unto him alone it appertaineth, to command and to forbid, joh. 13.13. to judge and to absolve, 1. Cor. 5.4. having the keys to open and to shut, Apocalyps 3.7. So that neither hath it been, nor is, nor may be lawful at any time for any beside, no, not for the Angels themselves, to make a Law to bind the conscience, nor to establish, in any point concerning the substance thereof, the government of the Church. The reason hereof is most just, and most evident. Most just, because sith this government surpasseth the order itself and nature of this world, there is none capable thereof but he which is true God, and together also man endued with a wisdom and power surpassing even that of the Angels. Most evident also, because that if it be forbidden to add to, or diminish any thing from the commandments of this lawgiver, Deutr. 4.2. and 12.32. much more is it inhibited to make new ordinances. And therefore it is said by Esay, Who required these things at your hands? Esay. 1.12. And all the commandments of man, in the matter of this spiritual kingdom are once for all declared to be nullities, Esay 29.13. Coloss. 2.8. and 22. and 1. Cor. 7.23. As touching this point therefore let this stand for a sure ground and agreed upon, that jesus Christ hath no companion in what sort soever in this kingdom, and that he alone in this respect is King and Lord of the universal Church, even unto the ends of the world & for ever. Psal. 2.8. and 110. as it also behoved the writing set over his head on the Cross should bear, Pilate not knowing what he did, how ever the jews were angry with it.  
4 Let us come now to the 2. point which we called his state & office of being a Prophet, taking this appellation not strictly as being given to certain personages to prophecy & foretell such things as should come to pass touching our Lord jesus Christ, & the particular application of the threats & promises of the law (such as were the 15. Prophets whose writings we have, & many others mentioned in the holy scriptures) but taking this word of prophet generally, for a declarer of the will of god touching our salvation, in which sense jesus Christ is called the Prophet whom we must hear under pain of extermination, Deut. 18.15. as the same is expounded, Act. 3.22. joh. 1.18. I say then that as jesus Christ alone is properly the foundation of the Church, 1. Cor. 3.11. And by the Lord himself, Esay. 28.16. as it is also in him alone, in whom the church was elected before the foundation of the world, Ephe, 1.4. so also it is he alone which hath been ordained from everlasting by the father to declare his will unto men. And that this is so, behold S. Paul who witnesseth in express terms, that it was he which guided the people in the desert, 1 Cor. 10.9. as also it was he whose glory Esay saw, joh. 1.41. In a word S. Peter speaking of the time itself of Noah, saith that it was he that came then in spirit & preached to the unbelievers of that time, 1. Pet. 3.19. finally it is he which came in flesh, to manifest the will of the father, & to make the world altogether inexcusable, joh. 15.22. & 18.37. yea so far as to be called the minister of the circumcision, Rom. 15.8. that is to say of the jews.  
5 Let us come unto the state of his priesthood, which consisteth in two points, namely in the expiation of our sins, & in his intercession for us towards God his father. As touching this expiation, we must first of all consider that this word importeth a full & entire payment of all which is due unto god, to the end he be altogether appeased & satisfied. Secondly that, that which is due is death according to the sentence given by God, Gen. 2.17. Rom 5.12. and 6.23. understanding by this word Death, not only the separation of the body and of the soul, whence there followeth in us the putrefaction of the body in the grave, Gen. 3.19. but also that which is called the second death, which is the more than terrible & frightful fire & malediction of god, revenging with all perpetuity sin in the body and in the soul of the sinner, the which horrible estate is eternal & everlasting in the Devil and all the damned. Thirdly we must consider in this matter, that the question is not of paying for one sinner, but for all sinners: nor for a certain number of sins, but for all sins, none excepted; I mean of all the elect of God which ever have been, or which are, or which shall be to the end and consummation of the world. Fourthly we are expressly to note, that it was necessary that this payment should be offered by one who in respect of himself was no way bound to this malediction, but should be a pledge and surety for all others, as our Lord jesus Christ is called, Heb. 7.22. The reason is, because that if he had been culpable in his own person, he had been a sinner, and consequently nothing could have proceeded from him, nor been received coming from him, which had not been unclean & defiled, & therefore had not appeased, but always augmented and sharpened the anger of God, which thing was figured in the Law, by forbidding to offer any thing leavened unto God: Leuit. 2.11. as the Apostle declareth the same: 1. Cor. 5.8. as also by forbidding of them which were unclean to enter into the house of God: Psal. 26.6. And farther because together with the payment due unto us by reason of our unrighteousness, it behoved, to make us worthy of eternal life, according to the agreement of God with us, Deut. 30.19. Mat. 19.17. that this reconciliator and priest, should be man entirely pure, without spot or blot in him whatsoever. Now all men are borne in sin, Psal. 51.5. as witnesseth the effect of sin, which is death, whereunto we are all of us subject: Hebr. 9.27. yea without excepting the smallest infants, which have notwithstanding committed no manner of actual sin: Rom. 5.14. There is none then but one alone jesus Christ man, to whom this right of eternal life, according to the covenant of the Law, doth properly appertain: seeing that in him alone among the sons of men, there is found this perfect purity of the human nature which the Law both requireth and presupposeth, in commanding a perfect love of God and our neighbour, being conceived and borne man of a virgin by the sole and only operation of the holy Ghost, Luk. 1.35. and not as all other men without exception, of whom it is said that that which is borne of flesh is flesh: joh. 3 6. but without sin, 2. Cor. 5.21. and which more is beside this natural integrity in which there is not the least point of imperfection, it is he alone which hath accomplished the whole Law in all perfection, having obeyed God his father, as touching the first commandment unto death, yea the death of the cross: Phil. 2.8. and touching the love of neighbour, having given his own life even for his enemies, which is more them to love his neighbour as himself: joh. 10.11. and Rom. 5.8. Whence it followeth that according unto the covenant of the Law promising life eternal unto him which shall entirely observe it, cursing him which shall fail in one point thereof, Gal. 3.10. jesus Christ alone hath merited for all such as believe, eternal felicity, which Priest was altogether necessary for us, for the avoiding of death and obtaining of life: Heb. 7.26. In this then more than in the rest, whereof we before spoke, he hath no companion. It remaineth to consider of the second point of his priesthood, namely, his intercession towards God his Father for us, which consisteth in two points. The first is the force and virtue of the death of him coming between God and us: for if the expiation and purging of our sins go not before, we cannot be but rejected of him, who hath no fellowship or communication with darkness. The second point consisteth in this, that as all our prayers ought to be made in his name, that is to say, desiring to be heard for the love of him, in whom alone the father is well pleased, so doth he appear as our elder brother before his father, not after the manner of men, who fall on their knees when they desire any thing of an earthly Prince, and bring their supplication in their hands: but as it were representing of us in his own person, and sanctifying our prayers, for which cause he is called our Advocate: 1. john. 2.1. and Hebr. 7.25. And we must take diligent heed in this matter, how we measure his intercession such as it is now in the Heavens, having now after his victory a name which is above every name: Philip. 2.9. with all power in Heaven and in earth: Matth. 28.18. with that which we read of his prayers in the days of his infirmity. For than not only to show us an example, but also because to overcome his enemies & ours, and not to yield under the burden of the pain due unto our sins, which were imputed unto him, as unto our pledge and surety, it behoved indeed that he should be borne up and sustained by the divine virtue and power, which though he had in himself in as much as he is God coeternal and coessential, he attributeth notwithstanding & demandeth it altogether of the person of the father, having respect unto the office of his Mediatorship, so as he is suppliant & that with tears, yea as it were altogether troubled and affrighted, both for himself: joh. 12.27. Mat. 26.39. Heb. 5.7. and also for us, as it is in special showed us throughout the whole Chapter, joh. 17. and elsewhere. But now that he hath led captivity captive: Ephes. 4.8. being sat at the right hand of the father crowned with glory and honour: Heb. 2.9. it is true indeed, that he yet suffereth, as we may so say, in his members: Act. 9.4. and Col. 1.24. as he will charge the wicked therewith at the latter day: Mat. 25.45. It is very true also, that he hath yet compassion of those which are his: Heb. 4.15. But all this must be understood of a celestial fashion & manner altogether unknown unto us, without imagining an intercession by prayers agreeable unto the state of this life▪ according unto which manner jesus Christ himself saith that being received up into heaven, he will not pray unto the father. I mean so, as before our reconciliation made & perfected, & before the glorification of our mediator: not that the effect of his sacrifice once made doth not always come between god & us, & that the father should not be called upon in the name of this mediator, in whom alone our prayers are acceptable unto him. Now by all this it appeareth that jesus Christ touching his priesthood hath no more a companion, then in respect of his state royal, & state prophetical, whereof the Apostle hath given the resolution in express terms, saying that there is but one mediator between god & man, the man jesus christ, 1. Tim. 2.5.  
6 Such then is the verity of god, neither is there any other foundation of our hope. But better yet to understand this matter being so necessary, we must mark 2. certain points which seem to contrary it, to the end that this being finally cleared & made plain, we may the better know and understand what these companions are of whom the Church here complaineth, and who are the true destroyers of it. First of all therefore unto all this above said may be opposed that which is written touching this very matter, and by the self same allegory, Psalm 45.7. where it is said that this king is perfumed above all his fellow companions named by the self same name, which Solomon in this place useth, as also in this very book, Chap. 8.13. Touching the first of these two places, it is not in the worse part or sense, as in this place which we now handle, it is, but in very good part, that mention is made of fellows and companions of jesus Christ, being very clearly and plainly declared unto us, in what sense jesus Christ hath fellows and companions, Heb. 2.11.14. to wit, in this respect, that having taken upon him our nature (howbeit without sin) he hath made us his brethren. But notwithstanding, saith the Psalmist, perfumed above his fellows, and not like to like. He calleth us his brethren, but he is the elder, Rom. 8.29. and so consequently lord of the house, Gen. 27.39. he is the only natural son of God, in as much as the humanity subsisteth in the person of the only son coeternal with God, and we are sons in him by adoption, joh. 1.12. he is only in his degree the heir and universal Lord of all these things: Heb. 1.2. and notwithstanding by grace he will make us coheirs in this glory with himself, without clipping or rebating any thing thereof in himself, joh. 17.22. and Rom. 8.17. Now as touching the second place drawn out of this book, Chap. 8.13. it is not there spoken of men as companions of jesus christ, but because all the faithful are united and joined together by unity of faith and of hope, Ephes. 4.4. and by the bond of charity, Act. 4.32. as shall be spoken in his due place. A man might also allege that he called his Disciples friends, and not, saith he, his servants. But this is in a certain respect namely, as himself expoundeth it, because he would in familiar sort declare unto them the whole secrets of the Gospel, Ioh 15.15. keeping notwithstanding unto himself the title of lord of the house, as pertaining only unto himself, joh. 13.13. and Heb. 3.6. There is greater difficulty touching the sovereign royalty which we attributed to the sole person of jesus Christ, whereas it is said that he hath made us kings, Apoc. 5.10. that we are a royal priesthood, 1. Pet. 2.9. or a priestly kingdom, Exod. 9.6. that a crown is prepared for us in heaven: 2. Tim. 4.8. & which is more than all this, whereas it is said, I appoint unto you a kingdom as my father hath appointed & disposed it unto me: Lu. 22.29. but god forbidden we should understand these things as if this monarchy of Christ's were divided or parted for all this: for contrariwise, there is no other thing meant by this royal dignity of ours, than first, the virtue & power of the holy ghost in us to overcome the devil, the flesh, the world, & ourselves: & secondly the participation of eternal glory. And as touching the Apostles of whom it is said, that as the father hath agreed with him of a kingdom, so he disposeth it & covenanteth it with them, & that they shall sit upon thrones & judge the twelve tribes of Israel: this is spoken in respect of this, that they have a measure of spirit from him, & particular authority to found the christian church, according to that which is written, Apoc. 21.14. But S. Paul expoundeth in what sense this is to be taken and understood, 1. Cor. 3.10. namely in as much as the Apostles were as it were the hand of God, laying the foundation of the Church which is but one, to wit, jesus Christ. In respect of which doctrine, and not that this authority appertaineth to any save unto jesus Christ alone the only son of God adored by the Angels themselves: Heb. 2.6. it is said of all the true faithful believers, that in the latter day they shall judge the Angels, that is, the Devil and his Angels, 1. Cor. 6.2. & shall sit on his right hand, Psal. 45.9. and Ephes. 2.6. A man might also allege touching this power and authority of making Laws to bind the conscience, & of the spiritual government, that it is said, that the Law was given and delivered by the Angels: Gal. 3.19. and by Moses: joh. 1.17. and Act. 7.38. But this difficulty or objection is easily answered both by that formal text where it is said that jesus Christ is the only Lawgiver: jam. 4.12. as also by that which is written of the authority of the Angels, & that which Moses & other faithful servants of the Lord have always done and practised. It is therefore said touching the Angels, that they are not masters, but ministering spirits: Psal. 103.21. Heb. 1.14. And as touching Moses it was at the request of the people, that he was not a Lawgiver, but a messenger to refer and report what was given him in commandment without adding to, or diminishing of any thing from it, Exod. 20.19. and Deut. 4. As himself also showeth how careful he was in taking heed of doing any thing at all upon his own head, in that himself would set down no Law concerning the punishment of blasphemers, and touching those which broke and violated the sabbath, but made his recourse for these causes unto the Lord, Leuit. 24.11. and Numb. 15.34. although the question was but of a civil punishment: so far it is that Moses or Aaron would take upon them to make any rules for the service of God, or impose a Law on the consciences of the people, contrary to that commandment which Moses had of doing and making all things according to the model and pattern of that which he had seen in the mountain, Exod. 25.40. And therefore under David also and Solomon the whole state of the Temple was set up and perfected, not by the advise of man, but according unto prophetical revelations, 2. Chron. 22.11. But yet a man might hereupon reply, that one of the principallest rights of regality and royalty is to show mercy and to pardon. Now the power of the keys of the kingdom of heaven, which consisteth in binding and losing, that is to say in condemning and absolving of sin, was in the person of Saint Peter & the other eleven Apostles given unto the Church, Mat. 16.19. & joh. 20.23. But whereas it is said elsewhere, that it pertaineth unto God alone to remit sins, Mar. 2.7. it is easy to be understood, that there is a great difference first between making of Laws and publishing or applying of them: and secondly between power to execute absolutely, and a commission limited and bounded. Therefore I say touching the spiritual kingdom concerning the conscience & salvation or damnation, that this power pertaineth to one only God in the person of his son, whom he hath from all time established and ordained head of this Empire. And as touching the execution of his Laws according to the exigence of cases, he hath set up and established his holy ministery in his Church, with a commission limited, that is to say with a charge to judge according unto the tenor of his Laws, and as it were representing the chief Lord, and lawgiver, and not otherwise under pain of nullity of their sentence: otherwise we must say that jesus Christ was justly condemned and excommunicated with his Disciples, joh. 9.22. and 16.2. instead of that which the Lord himself said of them, let them alone, they are blind, leaders of the blind. And indeed Saint Paul speaking in general of his whole preaching, calleth it the counsel of God, Act. 20.27. And to the end that no man should extend and stretch this to any inward and internal revelation without the Scripture, that which I ordain, saith he, (speaking of the institution of the holy Supper) that have I received of the Lord: and speaking of being unmarried he protesteth that he will not tie and entangle their consciences: as also Saint Peter admonisheth all pastors to take heed how they usurp a lordliness over their flocks, which he calleth the portion or the heritage of the Lord, 1. Pet. 5.3. And therefore these words of Saint Paul, 1. Cor. 7.12. But to the rest I speak and not the Lord, speaking of marriages contracted with an unbelieving party, ought not so to be understood as if the Apostle took upon him to command any thing of his own head & private authority, but he useth this manner of speech to distinguish that, for which he had the express and registered word of God, from that which was not in plain terms expressed, but correspondent notwithstanding and agreeing with that which was written: being a thing impossible that the Laws could contain every particular case which might happily fall out, as we have at large declared and expounded the same in handling of that Epistle.  
7 Finally there are which allege the authority which the Church had in the time of the Apostles to make ecclesiastical Laws and ordinances, and ring out as loud as they can this word of Apostolical traditions, Act. 15.28. and 16.4. 1. Cor. 11.2. and. 34. whereof they produce diverse examples scattered and sown here and there throughout Saint Paul's Epipistles, as of the vail of women, of the order of speaking and uttering the word of God in the assembly, of collections and gatherings for the poor, and of alms. This matter would require whole sermons, as we have also often occasion to speak thereof. But for this present, this may thus be answered in a word. It is then another thing to make laws to tie men's consciences, to say, look ye, this is good and pleasing unto God, this he commandeth you to do or believe: or contrariwise to say, look ye, this hath God forbidden, and this you may not do or believe. And again, see, these be the vocations and charges by which the son of God will have his Church to be ruled and governed: this I say is far another thing, then to have a respect unto that which is requisite for the use and practise aswell of the doctrine as also of the discipline which God the alone and only Lawgiver hath ordained: requisite I say according unto the time, persons, and place: which being subject to infinite varieties, yea sometimes contrarieties, the Lord under the new covenant hath not made, & as I may so say, could not make certain special & perpetual ordinances, seeing this policy is accidental, and not of the substance neither of doctrine nor of discipline. And therefore in respect of this point, he was content to give a general commandment, that whatsoever he ordained should be executed orderly and modestly in his house which the church, 1. Cor. 14.40. Ye see then the bounds which he is content to prescribe us. And that this is so, we see how these ordinances themselves of the Apostles which we have above specified vanished away by little and little, the times being changed, and the causes why they were made ceasing to be: which would not have been if they had concerned the substance of discipline and doctrine, which are perpetual and inviolably to be observed unto the end & consummation of the world. Contrariwise the Scribes and Pharisees not contenting themselves that they were placed in Moses chair, that is to say to declare the doctrine and discipline taught by the ministry of Moses (in which case the people were to do that which they taught, and not to follow their wicked life) would needs meddle with making of Laws to tie the consciences of men, and so to add somewhat of their own unto the service of God established by his Law, where it is said that the Lord had rather scandalise and offend them, then subject his Disciples unto them, Mar. 7.6. showing that he held not or accounted the usage of such traditions for a thing indifferent, but calleth them the abolishing and taking away of the commandments and ordinances of God, Mar. 7.13. and a leaven which he commandeth us to take heed of, Mat. 16.12. Now I thought good expressly to specify in this matter the time of the new covenant, because that under the old, the Church being enclosed within the limits of one people, of one country, of one holy place, and for a time only, the Lord declared and set down not only the doctrine which he would have to be taught, both of the service and government of his house: but also specified and particularized those ordinances according to the times, places, and persons, which he would have to be inviolably observed, without changing, adding, or diminishing any thing in them at all, Deu. 4.2. isaiah. 1.12. & 29.13. But under the new covenant which he contracted with all people and nations, and for so long time as the world should endure, it was necessary, he should leave it in the liberty of the Churches to appoint and establish whatsoever in special and particular concerneth the use and practise of the doctrine and discipline as touching order and edification according to the variety and difference of circumstances. And thus far of the sovereignty of of him which hath written in his thigh, The King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Apoc. 19.16. We will defer the rest which remaineth farther to be spoken, unto our next sermon: in the mean time let us pray unto the Lord that it will please him to give us the grace well to understand this holy doctrine, so necessary for these times we now live in, to discern his true Churches from those false masks thereof which present themselves to us on every side, to the end that having found it, we may continue firm and constant in the true doctrine of salvation, until the enjoying of the full conjunction of the members and the head together in the kingdom everlasting. And because that on the contraryside we have been hitherto and yet are so slothful in this behalf, and so unthankful, we will humble ourselves before the face of our good God and Father, to desire his grace and mercy as followeth.  
Almighty God etc.   

THE TENTH SERMON. Our help be in the name of God, etc. It is written as followeth in the first Chapter of the Canticle of Canticles, the seventh verse.  
7 For why should I be to the flocks of thy companions as one which should hide herself?  
1 A larger & ampler exposition, how jesus christ alone hath from all time had the authority of declaring the will of god his father for the salvation of such as are his.  
2 jesus Christ the only expiator and purger of our sins. An answer to the objection of the promises made to them who observe and keep the moral Law.  
3 An answer unto the objection, touching the promise made to them who shall live godly, without respect had to the full accomplishment of the Law moral.  
4 An answer touching the objection made upon the observation of the Law ceremonial.  
5 An answer touching the same point to them, who attribute to the sacraments, and the lords Supper, the virtue of expiation or purging of our sins.  
6 An answer unto them which yield unto servants the power which is reserved unto the Master, & unto imaginary merits of Martyrs.  
7 That jesus christ hath no companion in his intercession for us, which yet endureth.  
8 Who are the first false companions of whom the spouse in this place complaineth, namely those which make Laws to tie men's consciences.  
9 How by little and little Satan hath forged his Antichrist by means of the Popish Hierarchy, & first of the false degree Episcopal.  
10 Of false ancients and elders.  
11 Of false Deacons.  
12 Of false Doctors.  
13 A companion joined with jesus Christ in his dominion royal, and so far as to become master.  
14 Usurpation upon the state Prophetical of jesus Christ.  
15 Usurpation upon the sacrificeshippe or Priesthood of expiation.  
16 Usurpation upon the sacrificeshippe or Priesthood of intercession.  
17 The conclusion of this complaint of the Bride or Spouse.  
18 Of the poor & dangerous estate of the faithful mingled among the unbelieving and unfaithful.  
WE have spoken at large before of the regality of jesus Christ, wherein we have showed & declared that he hath no companion. The like may be said of his estate Prophetical, which appertaineth unto him, not only in respect of the time that he spoke in person, but in all times since the creation of the world. And this is it which Saint john writeth joh. 1.18. namely, That none hath seen the father at any time, but the only son which is in the bosom of the father hath revealed him. It is he therefore to whom properly from all times this dignity appertaineth: & as for others which are called Prophets, Apostles, Pastors and Doctors, this is attributed unto them in as much as the son hath served himself with their ministery, and yet doth serve, and shall use them even unto the end of the world for his heralds and ambassadors: not for any need he ever had of them, as those who have a charge among men, cannot be every where, nor do or speak every thing in person: but to accommodate and apply himself to the infirmity and weakness of men, by teaching them by men limited notwithstanding with certain conditions. For first until Moses time the patriarchs could not teach or set down any thing, besides that, which was revealed unto them by God, as we see it put in practice by Abraham a Prophet in his own family, Gen. 18.19. and 20.7. Besides that the doctrine received by the patriarchs from God, was kept and continued, as appeareth not only by the priesthood of Melchisedech, Gen. 14.18. and 25.22. but also by this, that it was not yet utterly abolished among the Canaanites themselves, Gen. 20.3. Afterwards when it pleased God to rule and govern his people issued and descended from Abraham, Moses was chosen, not only to receive from God after an extraordinary manner, the whole rule and order of the church, but also to put it in writing, but in every point, according unto that which the Lord appearing unto him first in the mount, and afterward in the tabernacle, commanded him to say, to do and to write, without adding thereto, or clipping therefrom, any thing at all, for which cause he was called A faithful servant in the house of God, Heb. 3.5. or without being after lawful to any man living To take away or add unto it any thing whatsoever, Deu. 12.32. In such wise did the true Prophet's order and govern themselves unto the time of john Baptist, having done nothing else but expound or apply the blessings or judgements of God, according to those special revelations they received from God in that behalf. After this time came this great son of God, who as chief master and Lord in his father's house, brought an end unto all those shadows of which himself was the body and substance. Coloss. 2.17. and as of full and plenary authority, Math. 7.29. hath fully taught the will of God his father touching the salvation of mankind first in his own person, Heb. 1.1. joh. 15.15. afterwards by his Apostles whom he appointed founders and builders of his house, as well in doctrine as in the establishment and order of the same, but according to that which they learned of their master, as their commission was limited: Mat. 28.20. being fully instructed by an extraordinary measure of the holy Ghost: which they also most diligently observed, Act. 20.27. & 1. Cor. 11.23. not being lawful to the Angels themselves, to teach or ordain any thing above & beside the doctrine of the gospel anounced & preached by the Apostles, Gal. 1.8. Finally after the Apostles, succeeded pastors & doctors not to found any thing anew, but to build good & solid instructions, exhortations, consolations, reprehensions upon the foundation of the Apostles. 1. Cor. 3.10. and Ephes. 4.11. & 2. Tim. 3.16. Secondly we are to note that all workmen as well before as after the coming of the master workman, had only charge of the work, touching that which might be outwardly done, causing the word which was committed unto them, to sound in the ears of the hearers, & presenting & applying outwardly the visible signs which we call Sacraments, together with the ceremonies instituted and ordained of the Lord in the administering of them. But as for the rest, the Lord reserved entirely unto himself the power of working inwardly and within, in preparing the hearts and minds to receive this precious seed, & to make it bud forth, increase & fructify by his holy spirit, 1. Cor. 3.7. as it appeareth also throughout the whole scripture, which teacheth us that our salvation is neither in whole nor in part of the willer or of the runner, that is to say, not of our will or of our endeavour, but of the sole and only mercy of God, Rom. 9.16. creating in us both to will and to do by his only grace, Phil. 2.13. which we have above more at large proved treating upon the fourth verse of this Canticle. It is therefore in this sense and not otherwise that the faithful ministers of the word of God are called by the Apostle joynt-woorkers with God, 1. Cor. 3.9. as the ordinary and usual preface also of the Prophets witnesseth, when they say, Thus saith the Lord. Whereas jesus Christ, as Lord and master in the house of his father, Heb. 3.6. (and by the spirit & commission of whom the Prophets spoke 1. Pet. 1.11. and 2. Pet. 1.21.) speaketh with all authority saying ordinarily, In truth in truth, I say unto you, Math. 5.18.  
2 It remaineth now that we speak of the Priesthood of jesus christ which consisteth first in the expiation & satisfaction once for all made by him, & in the intercession which yet endureth: whereupon we have at large declared before by most peremptory reasons, & taken out of the holy scripture, that it is impossible in reason, to attribute the least part in the world of these two points to any other, save unto jesus Christ alone. Whereunto if any man oppose the promises of salvation made unto them which observe the law, I answer that because they presuppose a perfect accomplishment & fulfilling of the law, which is not found, nor shall ever be found, save in jesus christ alone, seeing it is he only who is without sin: it followeth that they were never proposed unto us to justify us or to make our reconcilement unto God by ourselves: but contrariwise to condemn us in ourselves, to the end to bring and lead us unto him in whom alone all the said promises are ratified and performed, having himself alone most fully and most perfectly accomplished the Law for us, which embrace and take hold of him by faith, Rom. 3.30. Gal. 3.21.22. and 4.5.  
3 Likewise if any man allege the promises both of the present life and of the life to come, made unto them which live godly, 1. Tim. 4.8. although their works be full of defects and imperfections, I deny not but God hath promised and giveth also life everlasting to the repentant, and such as live in his fear (for to deny this were to deny the whole Scripture) but I say that there is a great difference betwixt these two questions, to wit, to whom eternal life and other God's blessings are given, and for what cause these are given unto him, on whom they are bestowed. Eternal life therefore is indeed prepared and given unto them who testify their repentance by the true fruits thereof, which are sometimes put off and differred unto the last moment of a man's life, whereof we have a singular example in that poor thief crucified with jesus Christ, Luk. 23.43. some being also called, at the eleventh hour, Matth. 20.9. but I add that this is not that by their works they have satisfied for their sins either in whole or in part, or that they deserve by the value of desert of them in any sort or manner whatsoever any blessing temporal or spiritual: but only because that good works being the testimony and effects inseparably following of faith, and that faith witnessing before God according unto the covenant of the Gospel, That whosoever shall believe in the Son shall be saved, That the true repentant have a part in the merit of jesus Christ and his righteousness, it pleaseth God of his great grace and only mercy to accept of them and to crown them in jesus Christ his Son, the only satisfier for our sins, and sole sacrifice expiatory, as the whole Scriptures and all the writings of the Prophets & Apostles do most plainly witness.  
4 As little can we help ourselves with the promises of remission and expiation of our sins which are added unto the legal ceremonies, & namely unto the sacrifices. For as the Apostle teacheth us, the blood of Goats and of Bulls could never appease the anger and wrath of God: but the only blood of jesus Christ sacramentally represented for a time by earthly things. Coloss. 2.17. Heb. 10.4. And therefore the promises of expiating or purging our sins were not added to the Levitical service, to attribute thereunto that which is proper to jesus Christ alone, but to distinguish these sacramental ceremonies from common things, and such as had not any spiritual use.  
5 I say the like of the Sacraments of the new covenant: as when the washing away of our sins is attributed unto the Sacrament of Baptism, and our incorporation in jesus Christ and union with him, from whence all those benefits and blessings proceed which we receive from him is attributed unto the holy Supper of the Lord. For the outward visible water of Baptism doth no more wash away our sins now, then did heretofore the water of purification, or blood of beasts. But hereby is showed us the difference between the water of Baptism and common water, not in respect of the substance or effect of the water considered in his own nature: but in this that common water doth nothing concern eternal life, and the water of Baptism is used and applied, to signify unto us effectually, if it be not long of ourselves, that which the spirit doth within us, defacing and putting forth our sins, and purging our natural corruption by the death and passion of Christ our Lord, being no other thing in the water but a power of signifying unto the believer that which faith is to apprehend, and which is applied by the force & power of the holy ghost working within, according unto the distinction of these two Baptisms spoken of in Mat. 3.11. and 1. Pet. 3.21. The like must be understood touching the other sacrament of Christian religion, namely the Lords Supper, wherein we ought to take diligent heed we attribute not unto the bread or wine, or unto the corporal receiving of them, that which is proper unto jesus Christ, and unto the spiritual apprehension and application of him by faith.  
6 Of as little force is that objection of them who allege these words of the Apostle, 1. Tim. 4.16. In doing this thou shalt save both thyself and those which hear thee. For there is but one jesus Christ, that is to say, one Saviour, Act. 4.12. who hath alone satisfied for our sins, joh. 1.29. and by whose obedience we are made just, Rom. 5.19. The Apostle therefore meaneth not in the person of Timothy to set the Pastors in the place and room of Christ: God forbidden; seeing himself declareth that he is not therefore justified before God, though he know nothing by himself, but hath performed his charge irreprehensible, 1. Cor. 4.4. but he speaketh so in respect of the office & duty of pastors which is to preach and announce the secrets of God: 1. Cor. 4.1. that is to say the word of reconciliation, 2. Cor. 5.19. and 20. which is the Gospel, for the salvation of all them which believe, Rom. 1.16. But they are of all others marvelous impudent, who to maintain their Idolatry or rather impiety, allege that which the Apostle saith of himself, Coloss. 1.24. namely, that he fulfilleth the surplusage of the afflictions of Christ in his flesh, for his body which is the Church, as though he were not alone omnisufficient to blot and put forth our sins, (a blasphemy most execrable) whereas the Apostle by these words meant to say no other thing, but that in the afflictions and sufferings of the Saints, jesus Christ, as a man would say, suffereth in their persons, because he accounteth himself as it were wounded in them, according unto that which he said unto the same Apostle, wherefore persecutest thou me, Act. 9.4. which thing returneth unto the great comfort and edifying of the whole Church greatly edified by the happy end and issue of them, Phil. 1.12. and 2. Cor. 1.4. and 2. Tim. 2.10.  
7 Now followeth the point of intercession, in which we have said that jesus Christ hath no more a companion, then in the redemption. Against this some oppose the mutual prayers of the Saints, praying unto God daily one for an other, yea for their very enemies. The answer is easy, that notwithstanding the faithful for all this are not therefore intercessors in any superior degree betwixt God and them, for whom they pray: but join equally together their mutual prayers, which are all of them referred unto this only intercessor between God and men, on whose alone intercession in all and through all dependeth the whole virtue of their prayers, whether they pray for an other or for themselves.  
8 These things being well considered and weighed as they deserve to be, show us most evidently and to the eye, who they are whom the spouse in this place calleth her husbands companions, whose company, and that worthily she liketh not, namely those who attribute unto themselves, that which is properly belonging unto the Bridegroom, as if some invited by the Bridegroom to bear him company at the time of his fiances or espousails, in steed of contenting themselves to bear him company & do him courtesy As friends to rejoice with him, joh. 3 29. should play him so lewd a prank as to go about to be master of the spouse, & to challenge her unto themselves, as Samsons companions served him, jud. 15.2. And who are those? Mary first of all those who take upon them to make new commandments for the church to bind the consciences of men contrary to that which S. Peter expressly forbiddeth, 1. Pet. 5.3. against the express commission delivered unto the Apostles, Mat, 28.20. against the express example of S. Paul, 1. Cor. 7.35. & therefore worthy in am of being obeyed to be held accursed and had in execration, by the ordinance of God, Deut. 18.20. & Gal. 1.8. though they should be the Angels of heaven themselves.  
9 As much is to be said of them who have been so bold & presumptuous as to forge new vocations and charges in the church of God, which they afterwards transfigured and changed into dignities, and finally into a tyranny truly Satanical, that is to say adverse, contrary and opposite directly unto the royalty and regality of jesus Christ, altogether following that which was expressly foretold by Saint john in the Apocalypse of the Image drawn and mouled on the pattern of the beast, which was the Roman empire, which was finally ruined and dissipated, as it is at this day, according unto the prophecy of Saint Paul, 2. Thess. 2.7. wherein Satan hath used a marvelous sleight in serving his own turn by abusing many good and holy personages, and those very learned otherwise, but not sufficient attentive to mark and consider how men abused the names of vocations established by the son of God, to turn them notwithstanding and to overthrow them: in such wise that by little and little he attained unto the end he desired, having set up instead of that goodly estate of the Church established in his perfection by the ministery of the Apostles this fall hierarchy, as they call it. Such are the reverend names of Bishop, Pastor, Elder or Ancient, Doctor & Deacon, * which they afterwards by little and little divided into many other degrees, * to hatch at the length an Ecumenical Bishop, that is to say, a Bishop of the universal world, to which for a full measure of all this disorder have been added the most reverent Seigneurs the Cardinals.  
10 As for the ancients and Elders they are become * Penitentiaries, * Proctor's in the court ecclesiastical, Dataries, Bullists, Copistes, & c. * & to make up & perfect this ruin, ordinary Creators and Sacrificers of a jesus Christ of dough, and all for what will you give me, and for ready money.  
11 As for Deacons, receivers and governors of the church-almes and goods according to the order and practise of the Apostles, to speak in a word, this is the state and calling of all this whole Hierarchy, if to be a Deacon, and Church-robber as judas, be all one. But the name only being left to serve for a part of the Masquerada of an high mass, it was requisite that Subdeacons should be added, to mock the poor seely sheep coming to offering.  
12 As for Doctors, it may be said in a word, that the Lord of his great mercy hath not permitted, that that which is as it were the nursery of the Church, I mean schools of good learning, should in such wise be utterly abolished & taken away, as the other parts of that which God would have established in his Church. But contrariwise it hath pleased him to stir up in sundry ages, Emperors and Kings, who have had a care of founding & erecting of them through a worthy & laudable instinct and purpose, and which a man may say to have been and yet to be the mean that God hath used to preserve and maintain the society of man, for the study and knowledge of liberal arts and sciences. But touching the principal part of this so great a benefit, which is the school of divinity, this is there where Satan hath served his turn with sugar to turn it into most bitter and deadly poison: having banished out of the school of divinity that which was the only subject thereof, I mean the reading and expounding of the text of holy Scripture, to thrust thereinto an abominable confusion of dreaming sophistications, some as vain as curious, others absurd, others full of impiety: in such sort, that to be a Doctor in such a thing, is no more but to be farther off from pure and sound doctrine, as the Apostle so diligently warneth us, 1. Tim. 1.4. and 4.7. while Satan goeth forward in the utter overthrow of all their Clergy having transformed them into shops & brothels of Sodomitry and instruments unto all sacrilege and simony.  
13 Finally to end and perfect the mystery of iniquity, the great Bishop hath parted the spoil with Kings and Princes, whom he hath enchanted and bewitched in abolishing utterly the Lawful order of ecclesiastical elections and vocations. And thus ye see unto what good pass the Church of the Lord hath been brought by them, who of servants have made themselves traitorous companions, called no better than thieves by the Lord, Mat. 21.13. If any man say that the Bridegroom, of whom mention is here made, spoke not of them which came so long after: I answer that the spirit of prophecy in this place doth not only lead us farther than unto the time of Solomon, but that a long time ago, after the time of josua, as the history of the judges doth plainly witness, horrible corruptions were already entered in among the people of god, which drove as it were this spouse out of her vineyard and possession. As for the rest, this word of Companion seemeth over gentle in this matter, the question being here not in this which we before said of taking unto a man's self some part of that which is properly belonging unto the Bridegroom, an outrageous crime notwithstanding of treason, but (that which is much worse & the capital point of this crime) is the taking to a man's self the person of this Bridegroom, and to put him forth to possess and occupy his place, and in the place of this chaste spouse, to substitute this abominable strumpet, which doth yet to this day seduce and bewitch the kings and princes of the earth by the cup of her abominations: and that with extreme impudency and shamelessness, in endeavouring to make men to believe that by such inventions he is honoured, from whom they hale and pull with all the main and might they have both the sceptre and the crown.  
14 In such sort deal they with the Prophetical dignity of our Lord jesus Christ, calling their own dreams and inventions, inspirations of the holy ghost: as if that which hath been declared by the Prophets and Apostles, touching our salvation, were not sufficient, or might happily be in some point corrected and amenced. In a word when they are come so far as to say, writ & maintain, that they, calling themselves the Church, cannot err in doctrine, that their Pope cannot be deceived, and that no man living may say unto the Pope though he should lead whole troops of souls unto hell, sir what do you? & when hereupon they cut and clip the doctrine of God as pleaseth them, is not this to overturn from the top to the bottom the Prophetical authority of the son of God, as much as in them lieth?  
15 As little have they left the Priesthood of jesus Christ whole and untouched, having added & annexed unto his expiation and satisfaction for our sins whatsoever came into their own brainsick fancy, as holy water chrism, oil, wax, spittle, beads, pilgrimages, & other such babbles they could think upon or devise. Briefly having gone so far as to forge a real and substantial oblation of jesus Christ by the hands of their Priests, for a satisfaction for the sins of the quick, & the dead, adding thereto notwithstanding the merits both of the living who are yet in the way, and of the dead comprised in their Litanies and Processions, unto whom they have attributed such store of merits, that there yet remain an infinite number of them to be sold and distributed for ready money to all such as have need of them: things so strange and abominable that it is marvelous how there is yet found any so very a beast as to give credit unto them, and any so shameless impudent, that he will maintain and defend such abomination.  
16 Now what shall we say of the Intercession of jesus Christ, unto whom they have added thousands of companions, though they place them in somewhat a lower and inferior degree? For they forge every day new patrons and Intercessors, giving to every one of them his state and charge of this or that. Nay they have done this dishonour unto the most blessed and holy Virgin Mary, as instead that herself calleth herself the Handmaiden of the Lord, to call her and cause her to be worshipped as Queen of heaven, our hope, our merciful Advocate, yea so far as to bid her to command her son by the right and authority of a mother: and all this with such unbridled boldness and desperate presumption, that they term this honouring of God in his Saints: not perceiving that every prayer made unto them who are out of this world placeth them in the room of God in attributing unto them of necessity that which is proper unto God, to wit the knowledge of our hearts and whatsoever we say or do here below, which to do is intolerable impiety: beside that not contenting themselves with jesus Christ alone for their intercessor, it must needs be that either they doubt of his power or of his will towards us, which incredulity being directly opposed unto faith (without which nothing can please God, nay whatsoever is without faith is sin, Heb. 11.6. Rom. 14.23.) cannot but make all such prayers unprofitable, though there were no other fault in them, jam. 1.6. In a word whosoever shall compare the ancient customs of Paynims with these devotions of the Church which calleth itself at this day Catholic, shall find from point to point no other difference between these two, save only the names, only that these who have so abused the silly world & so nuzzled it in their superstitions, calling darkness light: in falsifying the light of the Scripture, are a great deal more inexcusable than the poor Paynims, having abused nothing but the remnant of their natural light, as the Apostle speaketh of them, Act. 14 16. and Rom. 1.21.  
17 And thus you see who these companions are of whom this poor spouse in this place so bitterly complaineth, desiring to be drawn out from among them and to be brought unto the true flock, distinguished herein, from them which she calleth flocks in the plural number, because that indeed there is but one true Church and universal, whereas these traitorous companions have as many flocks as they have sects, according unto the saying of the Lord, That he which gathereth not with him, doth nothing else but scatter, Mat. 12.30.  
18 And as touching these words As she which covereth or hideth herself, they are expounded in diverse sorts. For there are some which refer it to the fashion which Thamar used to deceive juda her father in Law, Gen. 38.15. gathering from thence that the manner of harlots was to cover themselves: according unto which exposition this should be taken, as if the spouse did say, that keeping company with such kind of people, she should be thought to be never a whit better than they, as it commonly cometh to pass and doth still fall out, agreeable with the history of the Daughters of Lot. For it fareth with them who over familiarly and over long time haunt the company of the wicked and perverse, as with them who dwell among colliers and come too near them, according unto the lesson which the Apostle teacheth us, 1. Cor. 15.33. And this is the cause why the Lord under the Law was so careful to sever his people in every respect, yea as touching their very attire and apparel, from all other profane nations. We hear also the moans which David maketh during his flight, Psal. 42. & 120. and elsewhere: as also the Apostle exhorteth us to take heed with whom we company, 1. Cor. 5.11. And I would to God that many had thought better upon this point than they have done, who are at this day in a most wretched and miserable estate, having thrown themselves wittingly and willingly into the paws of the ravening and devouring lion. This is then a most wholesome and necessary doctrine, but notwithstanding such as hath no very sure ground & foundation touching this manner and form of speech, being a thing unlikely that they who prostitute their bodies, and consequently seek nothing else but to allure men to their destruction by their beauty, as such women are described by this same Solomon, Proverb. 6.25. and 7.10. should hide their faces: besides that if they should so do, it were an hard thing to discern an honest married wife veiled, from an harlot. Neither meant Moses in the history of Thamar to say, that she was therefore accounted an harlot, because she had covered her face, but that therefore juda knew her not to be his daughter in law, because she was attired like a widow, and had covered her face: whom notwithstanding he thought to be an harlot, seeing her set out in that sort and sitting alone in the high way. There are others therefore which expound this word As one which wandereth out of the way, because it is sometimes taken in this sense, in the tongue which Solomon useth: as if the spouse said that being among such lewd company, she must needs be as a poor wanderer and vagabond. But it is better to take it simply in this sense, that she cannot be among such wicked company, but to her great sorrow and grief, seeking for corners where to hide her head that she have no fellowship with them, or else being constrained to hide and cover her face, not to see such detestable things and to consent unto them so much as with her countenance, as David protesteth that he will not have so much as in his mouth the names of strange Gods, Psal. 16.4. The Apostle also warning us to take heed not only of evil, but also of every thing that hath so much as the appearance of evil, 1. Thess. 5.22. as also Saint Peter witnesseth that Just Lot (who notwithstanding had done better if he had never departed from Abraham, or returned again unto him) vexed and afflicted from day to day his innocent soul, hearing and seeing the wicked acts and deeds of them of Sodom. God give us grace to make our profit of this holy doctrine necessary for all times, but especially amidst these clouds and obscure darkness with which we see that Satan, with such efficacy of error, endeavoureth to obscure the clear light which God hath sent us as it were from heaven: to the end that they whose eyes he hath already opened, suffer not themselves to be blinded again, and that they who are yet in darkness and in the shadow of death may receive the gift of this light, and that contrariwise every tongue yield the Lord God his honour and glory in his true Church, by our only mediator our Lord jesus Christ: & because we have been hitherto so lose in this behalf, so unthankful & so forgetful, we will demand mercy as followeth.  
Almighty God etc.   

THE ELEVENTH SERMON. Our help be in the name of God, etc. It is written as followeth in the first Chapter of the Canticle of Canticles, the eighth verse.  
8 If thou know it not, O thou the fairest among women, get thee forth, & go & follow the trace of the flock, and feed thy kids by the tents or cabins of the shepherds.  
1 That Satan hath always disguise the marks of the Church.  
2 The true Church leaveth not therefore to be always fair and precious in the sight of God.  
3 Wherefore the Church, though she be in such estate, leaveth not for all that to be the Church, against the opinion of the Catharistes and Donatists.  
4 The West Babylon is nothing less than the Church, but how God hath drawn and yet draweth forth his always thence, by awakening them with his singular mildness and clemency.  
5 We must come forth out of Babylon if we will not perish with it, and how we must do it.  
6 The examples of joseph & of David and of Moses different and divers in this respect, applied unto our time.  
7 Changing of place is not going forth of Babylon.  
8 To become a Monk is nothing less than to go out of the world.  
9 An answer unto them who at this day seek to find an agreement between Babylon and the Church.  
10 It is another thing to make a new way, and to return unto the ancient and true way, and what this old and ancient way is.  
11 There are two sorts of ancient fathers, and many turnings on the right hand and on the left.  
12 The succession of Bishops in the west Babylon is of no sure ground.  
13 What the true Cabins and Tents are, unto which this spouse is sent.  
14 Wherefore Solomon maketh mention of Cabins and Shepherds.  
15 Touching the excess committed in buildings and other pomps, which have altogether transformed the Church into a shop of most abominable ambition and covetousness.  
16 The Cabins or Tents of the Church are portative, and the mean not to be deceived in them.  
17 A great fault to stand upon mere personal succession.  
18 A conclusion of the whole matter going before.  
THE knowledge of the truth being in all things the ready direction to follow the right way, and nothing being more precious than salvation which leadeth us farther than this life, there is nothing more pernicious and pestilent than the obscuring and darkening of the truth touching our salvation, & by consequent, than the disguizing of the true marks of the church of God, without the which there is neither truth nor salvation. This is it which the false Pastors would gladly make men to believe can never come to pass, to the end to draw men unto themselves, when it pleaseth God so to chasten and punish the contempt of his truth. Now that the marks of the Church be not always bright-shining and clear, it is apparent and manifest not only by the menaces and threats which the Lord hath made in this behalf, both by the Prophets in infinite many places, as Psal. 44. and 79, & 80. throughout, and Psal. 89.39. Esay 28.14. & elsewhere, as also under the new covenant the Lord foretold the same expressly, Mat. 24.24. and after him the Apostle, Act. 20.29. and 2. Tim. 3.12. and 2. Thess. 2.6. and 1. joh. 2.18. as it hath also been confirmed by many and sundry experiences in all times as before we have declared. This is then the state in which the poor Church is proposed unto us to be in the verse going before, not knowing in a manner on which side to turn itself in such an utter confusion.  
2 And therefore our duty is well and narrowly to consider the answer made unto the spouse by him himself, who alone, to speak properly, speaketh in verity & truth, seeing it is he who is truth itself, and who never forsaketh those who are his in their need. After a preface therefore first made, to encourage and to comfort her, calling her the fairest among women, he answereth his spouse in this sense, It is true indeed that thou art a poor wandering stray, and therefore black and sunne-burnt, but yet thou leavest not for all that to be fair and beautiful in mine eye, yea adorned with such a beauty as none besides thyself can vaunt and boast of. This is the very style which the Lord himself useth by his Prophets, adding always a consolation and comfort after his threats and judgements, as is expressly spoken and in the same sense by the Prophet isaiah saying, Come my people, enter into thy chambers, and shut the doors after thee, and hide thyself a little while until my anger be passed over. Esay 26.20. the Church having said before unto him in the eight verse, o Eternal we wait for thee in the way of thy judgements. Now the foundation of this comfort and consolation consisteth in two points: both of them grounded upon the singular mercy of God. The first is, that the Lord never suffereth the ground Articles and points of true religion to be abolished in his Church, though they be in divers sorts both within and without disguised and bastardized: and that sometimes this truth remain but among a few, as we see it came to pass in Israel in the time of Elias, in juda in the time of the captivity of Babylon, in jerusalem itself then when the Lord came in person. The other point is, that the Lord considereth not his Church simply according unto his graces and blessings which shine in her, which are sometimes most dark and obscure in the eyes of men, but respecteth her always in the truth of his covenant, and in him in whom she is indeed not only without spot or wrinkle, Coloss. 1.22. but which is more, clothed with the perfect righteousness of the reconciler, Phil. 3.9.  
3 Let us therefore know that the church leaveth not to be a church, though the true doctrine touching certain articles be therein debated, yea though it be touching the principal articles by some, as the weakness of some, and the wickedness of others is great, whereof the church of Corinth may be a witness in which the article of the resurrection was called by some into controversy, and the church of the Galathians so shaken, that in respect of the greatest part of the members thereof, it was utterly revolted, as the Apostle himself witnesseth, Gal. 1.6. who notwithstanding leaveth not to call them churches of jesus Christ which he also reform & restored, according unto that lesson which he taught others, Rom. 14.1. And therefore these fantastical Catharistes and Donatists of old, and those of our time of the sect of the Anabaptists, who seek after such a church in this world as should have no fault nor any thing amiss in it, are utterly to be rejected.  
4 But it is far an other thing to dispute and make a question of that which a man knoweth not, with a will and desire to learn and know it: and stubbornly to oppose a man's self against the truth, and finally to maintain and authorize a doctrine directly contrary unto the articles of our faith. And thus is it at length come to pass in the Romish church at this day, which for this cause doth no more deserve the name of a church then the kingdom of the ten tribes revolting with jeroboam the son of Nabath deserved the name of the people of God: albeit there were for a long time some of Gods elect among those revolters, whom the Lord according unto his good pleasure did miraculously preserve, until the day of the utter dissipation of them, which shall befall this West Babylon in his time. And therefore we protest that in the times of our fathers there was a Church, that is to say, a number of the children of God as it were secret and shut up, as may be proved by writings from age to age, that there were always some who opposed themselves against those superstitions and idolatries which by little and little got the upper hand in this Babylon, called three hundred years ago by one of their own Poets a Temple of heresy, in the which the Lord for this suffered not that Baptism should be utterly taken away and abolished, but not that this Sea or any affected thereunto being directly opposed unto the Church of God, was at any time the Church. We protest & confess farther, that even in our time, in which it hath pleased God to display the banner of his truth, there do still remain some of the elect, buried as it were in the midst of this Babylon, who in respect of the eternal purpose and counsel of God appertain at this present unto the true church: but by little and little as it pleaseth God to draw them out of this gulf, are actually made the members of this true Church, of which thing you to whom we speak, and ourselves who are by God's mercy come forth thereof, are good witnesses. This is then the comfort and consolation whereof mention is made in this place, and that which we must learn to answer them, who so impudently and shamelessly begin our churches, from those great personages the faithful servants of God, raised up of his great mercy and grace about seventy years ago, not to build a new Church, as they falsely call it, but to gather together the poor seely sheep which were strayed among the wolves, which the spouse calleth here false companions of jesus Christ, as we have above expounded the same: the Bridegroom therefore passing farther, addeth If thou knowest it not, as if he said, is it possible my spouse that thou hast utterly forgotten that which thou askest of me, namely where my pasturing place is, and where I cause my sheep to rest in the heat of the noon day? Which he speaketh not so much unto the spouse in way of reproach or to grieve her or make her sad, as to awaken her and to make her bethink herself better: as if to warn him who seemeth to have little courage, we should give him to understand, that if he think well on himself, he is stronger than he takes himself to be. We see here therefore the inestimable and admirable goodness of God towards his Church, teaching us, that we must take heed of two contrary extremes, namely that we presume not too much of our own forces as Saint Peter did who after found himself in very bad case thereby, and on the other side also that we consider well of the gifts we have received of God, that we make them profitable to ourselves and others by our courageous usage of them, as the Apostle most diligently warneth his Disciple Timothy, 1. Tim. 4.14. whereas it falleth out often, that for want of courage, which we think is not so, we suffer that to fall away which we have received, making ourselves in the end utterly unworthy thereof.  
5 After this preface the Bridegroom warneth his spouse first to go forth, as it was said at the beginning unto Abraham, get thee forth out of thy country and out of the land where thou wert borne, and out of thy father's house, Gen. 12.1. & afterward by the mouth of the Prophets, get you out of Babylon, fly out of Chaldaea, jer. 51.6. and afterward by the Angel, go ye out of her my people, Apoc. 18.4. And indeed the means to find the right way after that a man is gone astray, is not to tarry in the path in which he wandered, but a man must withdraw himself from it and return into the right assoon as he can. Now if hereupon a man demand, whether this retreat importeth always a changing of place, I answer that no. For the principal retire as touching doctrine lieth herein, to turn from falsehood to return into the way of truth, and as touching manners to withdraw ourselves from all kind of iniquity to give ourselves unto pureness of living, Psal 119.9. and .2. Tim. 2.19. which is meant in the Scripture by the word of conversion.  
6 But touching this the examples in Scriptures are not all of one sort. For we see, that joseph left not Egypt, neither did Daniel or his companions, as far as we read, depart out of Chaldea or Persia. Contrariwise look we upon Moses, & we shall see that he forsook Pharaoes' court; & as for the reckless and careless jews, who foreslowed their departure out of the captivity, the gate being thrice set open unto them, we know how dearly they bought it. What shall we then say hereupon? This doubt is easily resolved by them, who have a regard, without flattering of themselves any whit at all, aswell unto the glory of God as unto their own duty to discharge it well, as also to their own ability and means which they have to serve God aright. The scope therefore and ground of such a deliberation as this is, is, that what ever cometh, we must serve God in such sort as he hath appointed us to serve him, without looking either backward, or on the right hand or on the left. Thus much is presupposed, if a man live in such a place where he may hear the word of God sincerely preached, and may use the Sacraments ordained by God for an help & remedy of our wretched weakness. Yet for all that a man must according to the advertisement of Christ accounting his cost & taking a reckoning of his ability before he build or wage battle: Luk. 14.28. consider farther; first whether he feel himself strong enough by the aid & assistance of god both to sustain the hot assaults which by all likelihood shallbe given him, in making a pure and upright confession of the true religion among profane and superstitious livers, and also not to suffer himself to be seduced by such wicked examples, as shallbe every hour and every moment presented him in those places. If any man therefore find himself in such condition, I see not why he should lightly change the place he liveth in, but ought rather there to discharge his duty, and to shine as a clear flaming torch in the midst of the kingdom of darkness, Phil. 2.15. although it be not forbidden that he which findeth himself well enough touching the state of his conscience, in any place, may not seek still to be yet better if may be. And farther they who have any charge and vocation of God, especially an ecclesiastical charge in any place, aught to take heed how they take into their minds such an impression of dangers, as therefore to leave their charge, which ought to be more precious unto them than their own life, according unto the practice of all the faithful servants of God, examples whereof we have in joseph, & in Daniel. Now they are said to quit their charge who depart for the fear of men, or for their own particular respect; not considering that an assured vocation is the voice of god, which who so willingly obeyeth not, either to tarry, or to departed, is worthy to be discharged, or rather punished by his Captain. Abraham having received a commandment of the Lord, left forthwith his Country and his father's house. Briefly a lawful calling, and such a one as we are necessarily tied unto, is the voice of the Lord, whether it be to cause us to stay where we are, or to departed. We read not that Moses had any commandment by vision from God, as had Abraham, to departed out of Pharaoes' court, Heb. 11.24. but beside that he had no estate or calling which tied him to stay, but contrariwise was brought up after the Egyptian fashion: his intent & purpose approved by that which followed, showeth that he was guided and conducted by a singular motion and instinct of the holy ghost, as S. Stephen likewise declareth the same. Act. 7.22. As we need not also to doubt, but that Daniel, if he were not surprised by death in his old age, held himself in Persia by reason of his public vocation, in which he did god and his whole nation faithful service: as Esdras also and Nehemias stayed there a while after the edict, through the singular providence of God, who would have them left for a rear ward unto the people who drew themselves back by little and little, as on the contrariside those who tarried and shrouded themselves in filthiness and uncleanness of that profane people are by no means to be excused. In sum who so rightly and sincerely seeketh after the glory of God and the quiet of his conscience, shall soon know how to make in such a case an holy and a good resolution. Neither is this to tie the grace of God unto any one Province, or the walls of any one City, whereas God must be served in every place with lifting up of pure hands: 1. Tim. 2.8. but this is to teach men to set all things whatsoever without exception, after the duty which they own unto the Lord: whose promise is most liberal & bountiful unto them, who forsake for his sake houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands & possessions, how ever the world take and account them for fools and frantic.  
7 Neither serveth this lesson to teach us only that it is enough to departed out of those places where superstition or some what worse than that is. For it is to little purpose to change our place, if we change not our old skin: and if being come to another place to serve God better and with more freedom than before, we show it not indeed and effect when we are come thither. Which falleth not so truly out in all, as I must say it to my great grief, being but too too many found who in steed of changing themselves and their manners or profiting themselves better when they are come hither amongst us, become worse than before, so that being nothing else but an offence and stumbling block unto others, it were better both for us and them they had either never come here, or had returned straightway thither again from whence they came.  
8 And as this doctrine serveth not to this purpose, so neither tendeth it to the favouring of these hypocritical Moonkes who boast and brag they have forsaken the world, because they would feign be reckoned among the number of them who have left and forsaken all things for Christ's sake: which thing I shall then confess to be true, when they shall have proved jesus Christ to be the patron and founder of their order, and that to enter into a monastery, there to live at the cost and charges of another, and some of them to be changed into wild asses, others to get them fat paunches, others to grow up to mitres and cardinals hats, others to be the props and arch-pillers of falsehood and error, such as these of the latter crew are, who call themselves Capuchins & jesuits, false usurpers of the name of jesus, others to be saviours and meriters for themselves and for others who hire them for their imaginary works, in such sort as to hear them speak, it should seem that God oweth them somewhat upon a reckoning when they have passed a clear account with him: when I say they shall have showed that this doctrine is Prophetical and Apostolical, I will then confess their saying to be true and not before: no displeasure to one of the ancient fathers (a man otherwise endued with most excellent gifts, & who never heard of such, not monks, but monkeys as they afterward became to be) but so bewitched notwithstanding with the opinion of a monastical and solitary life, as that he sticked not to give one this counsel to run over the very belly of his own father, to enter into a monastery: so blind was the world even in those days.  
9 In a word therefore, the first point of returning unto the Church of God, is a resolution of quitting and forsaking the false Church, without any either chaffering and merchandizing or looking behind us, as we are warned, Luke 9.62. & Phil. 3.13. as this spouse also is expressly warned to forget her own people and her father's house, before the King can take pleasure in her beauty, Psal. 45.11. And this is a point which they above all others aught well to think upon, who at this day, when this point is handled and debated among us, mince out their way on both sides, thinking to agree fire and water together: calling them transformers of the Church, who would reform it exactly according unto the pattern of the word of God: men a great deal more dangerous than those who declare themselves utter enemies of the truth.  
10 But because to go out of a bad way to enter into an other as bad or else worse, doth little better the case of him who is wandered: therefore the spouse is here warned in going out of the ill way to follow the track of the flock, that is to say, of this true flock of sheep with whom they are to join themselves. For the understanding and practice of which lesson we are to note, that there is a difference between the opening of a new way, and the acknowledging of a way made long since, but for lack of using and frequenting grown waist and desolate. The question being therefore in this place, not of taking or making a new way, as if the Church had then took her beginning, but of finding again the true way laid in some sort waist & desert: for this cause the spouse is sent back as it were to find the tracks and footings of the old way. And this is it which the Prophets themselves have preached amidst the desolations of the Church in their times, sending back such as are wandered and gone astray unto the Law and unto the testimony, isaiah. 8.20. and elsewhere as Abraham also speaketh Luk. 16.29. They have, saith he, Moses and the Prophets, let them hear them: whereunto agreeth that of Saint Peter, 2. Pet. 1.20. not forgetting the words of his master, who directed those which were blind & knew him not, unto the Scriptures. Sound ye, saith he, and search the Scriptures, for they are they which speak of me, joh. 5.39. yea although then when the Lord spoke thus, the tract and footing of the true sheep of the former time was so clean put forth, amongst those who called themselves the people of God, that there needed miracles and other extraordinary means to make it known unto the silly wandering sheep, Mat. 9.36.  
11 Therefore when our adversaries would serve their turn with this place to teach us that without all distinction or exception we must keep us unto the way of the fathers: we must put them in mind of this word of Flock namely of the true flock of the true sheep. For there are two sorts of fathers. The one seducers & seduced, of whom the lord complaining in jeremy, they have forsaken, saith he, my law, which I set before them, & have not harkened unto my voice, neither walked thereafter, but have followed their own heart's lust, & the Baalims' which their fathers taught them, jer. 9.13. and 14 and in Ezechiel 20.24 their eyes are gone after the molten gods of their fathers. Such are the fathers from which we must turn, that we perish not with them, not deserving the name of ancestors, that is to say, of such sheep as hear and follow the voice of their shepherd, joh. 10.27. But as for true fathers, that is to say true ancestors, those are they indeed whose tract and footing we must know, that we turn not therefrom neither to the right hand nor to the left. As for example. There are in our time a great number of false sects & religions which all say they are the true Church▪ Behold on one side the jews, on another side the Turks who vaunt themselves, that they have the true religion. As for the Turks their Alcoran being newly forged, it cannot be the tract of this flock. The jews now and since the destruction of their Temple & policy have some fairer show, but it is on a false title they vaunt themselves to have on their side the God which Moses and the Prophets taught, seeing they acknowledge not but blaspheme him whom the Law and the Prophets lead us unto.  
12 We see on the other side how they of the Romish Church do at this day vaunt themselves & make great cracks of their antiquity and succession of Bishops, and of the Scriptures themselves, the book of the one and the other covenant. Unto whom we answer that the foundation of their hierarchy being in part forged upon an human invention which finally degenerated into an open tyranny: and their doctrine being directly and diametrally repugnant unto the Scriptures of the Prophets and Apostles, this cannot be the way trodden out by the ancient Church Apostolic, what continuance of years soever and names of successors they allege. as much is to be said concerning the Anabaptists and Libertines, placing in steed of the Scripture their revelations and dreams, as also all both old and new or renewed heretics have this in common, that they hold not themselves within the limits and bounds of the doctrine of the Apostles and Prophets perfectly comprised in the holy and canonical Scriptures, which ought to serve for the text and commentary of his wil  
13 And this is the cause why the Bridegroom addeth that the spouse to find the track of the true sheep after which she is sent, must seek after the cabins or tents of the shepherds: meaning by these words, the true Pastors of the Church whom we must discern from the false, by their words and writings, and by their cabins and tents, that is to say, the retiring and resting place of this true flock. For indeed there is but one catholickeflocke, that is, universally considered, be it great or little. But there are so many cabins for the retiring unto, and pasturing of it, as there are places in the which the voice of these true shepherds, Prophets and Apostles, do resound, and shall resound unto the end of the world, by the mouths of their faithful successors, to gather together and to conduct unto the only Pastor and shepherd which is this Bridegroom, the whole number and multitude of the sheep.  
14 And it may also be that Solomon had a particular respect to Abraham, Isaac, and jacob, who were indeed shepherds, as the most part of the ancient patriarchs, yea Moses himself among the Madianites, and David, Psal. 77.20. & 78.72. to the doctrine and family of whom the spouse in this place is sent back, being a thing without all doubt that they were indeed true Pastors & shepherds, their doctrine the true doctrine, & their house (excepting such as behaved themselves unworthily, and which were rather in the house then of the house, as Ishmael and Esaw) the true Church of God. And we may not forget that here is express mention made of cabins of shepherds, according unto the purport of the history itself, namely that these patriarchs did indeed dwell in tents, as wayfarers in this world, Heb. 11.9. We are therefore given to understand by this word that we may not seek after the Church in the outward shining of Towers & Steepls, nor other pomps and braveries of the world: the Church of God being rather composed of the small & contemptible things of the world, Luk. 14.21. and 1. Cor 1.26. as the head also thereof would be borne in a stable, and live poorly and slenderly. If on the contrary side any man object the rich ornaments of the tabernacle, the magnificence of the temple of Solomon, and the riches both of it as also of the people during his kingdom, in whose reign it is said, that men made no more reckoning of silver then of stones in jerusalem, 2. Chron. 9.27. I answer, as touching the ornaments of the levitical Priesthood and the riches of the Temple, that all this was a figure of the spiritual riches of the true Temple of God, namely of our lord jesus Christ under the pedagogy and A. B. C. of the Law, which is now ceased together with all that which depended thereon: and as for the other riches, I deny not but that the Lord honoured his people when it so pleased him, with the blessings and commodities of this life, Godliness having the promises both of the present life and of the life to come, 1. Tim. 4.8. I deny not also but that God hath called unto his Church, both rich and poor, such and so many as it pleaseth him, as the example of Abraham who was rich, in whose Bosom poor Lazarus was, may declare and witness, Luk. 16.23. but I say that in all times the hall where the banquet is kept, whereof mention is made in Luk. 14.13. hath always been filled rather with impotent folk, lame, and blind taken out of the midst of the street, then with the rich and pompous which are in kings houses, Mat. 11.8. I say farther that albeit neither riches nor poverty are proper and essential marks of the Church, yet so is it notwithstanding that smallness & baseness of condition according unto the woorld, yea the cross itself, (not the cross of gold or silver transformed into a most detestable Idol,) but the cross which burdeneth the shoulders, & which is an enemy unto the flesh, is the ordinary companion thereof. But I say also that the rich which were in the church, were not of the church in the quality of men rich with worldly corruptible riches, but in the quality of poor, in as much as they used their goods so as if they used them not at all, according unto the saying of the Apostle, 1. Cor. 7.31. and 1. Tim. 6.17. and became lean and thin to pass through the eye of the needle, Mat. 19.24. laying up their treasure in heaven, Mat. 6.20. according unto the example of David that good and truly rich king Psal. 16.5. Finally I say that the buildings and vessels of the Church ought to be agreeable with the doctrine taught in the true Christian Church, which condemneth all superfluity and worldly pomps, and apply the goods of the Church to the living stones thereof, as the practice was in the Apostles times, Act. 4.35. and in those times when the Pastors were of gold, and the Churches and the vessels thereof were of wood.  
15 This then hath been and yet is an enormous fault committed by the ancient fathers since the time of Constantine to suffer, and much greater to exhort Kings and Princes to found and build Churches with such excessive cost, serving for no other thing but to condemn both the doners and demaunders, pointing out as it were with the finger, the ambition of the one, and the covetousness of the other: whereupon hath entered this notorious transformation of the spiritual beauty of the Christian Church into a vanity and pomp not simply carnal and worldly, but truly Epicurian, how ever it be hid and covered under the cloak of devotion. Hereby appeareth the more than desperate impudency and shamelessness of them who by their goodly legends so false & sottish, as nothing can be more, in am of keeping themselves unto the history and doctrine contained in the second book of Saint Luke called the Acts of the Apostles expressly uttered to the pen by the holy Ghost, have not shamed to change and transform the holy Apostles of the Lord, into builders of Churches, devisers of crosses, forgers of holy water sprinkles etc. And what shall say of that most gross and enormous an impudent boldness of forging of Saint Peter's patrimony? Of that monster crowned with three crowns, carried and adored upon men's shoulders? Of such store of glittering pomps shining in every place, which are so many spoils of such Kings and Princes, as have been bewitched, and sacrilegious robberies of such goods as were vowed to the spiritual maintenance of the Church of the Lord? As it was so long ago foretold, yea painted out by the holy Ghost in the Apocalypse, so far as to name the place and the name of such a confusion. And who hath so expounded it? The ancient Greeks and Latins, whom the Pope himself liketh of and alloweth. What shall we say of the infinity of these goodly votaries of poverty, these honest wallet brethren, these good fathers besotted with the very stones and sumptuosities of their palaces wherein they dwell? What shall we say of these new locusts, and west Indie Popinjays already borne & to be bred, & specially of these lees & dregs of the filth and mud of the bottomless pit, open profaners of the name of jesus, disnesting the other ravening birds and cormorantes to lay their eggs where they had builded, and having within the compass of these few years gotten to themselves more goods, and built more goodly palaces, than the rest have done in five hundred years before. Which thing calleth to my remembrance that which the Philosophers say, That the Serpents become Dragons by eating of other little Serpents. As for us, contenting ourselves with our smallness, let us oppose unto all this stately Masquerada, with which the world feedeth itself the lodgings and cabins of the ancient true Pastors, there to seek after and to find the true church, and not in this glittering and profane riches, in which the prince of this world reigneth Mat. 11.8. borrowing the name of the Church: preferring on the contrariside with Moses the afflictions of the people of God, and the reproach of jesus Christ before all the treasures of Egypt, Heb 11.25. let us I say keep ourselves unto him who is our king, and so crowned with glory on high, that yet in his poor members he is crowned with thorns▪ Col. 1.24▪ and not unto them who part with others the spoil of jesus Christ.  
16 Moreover although this word which we have turned Cabins or Lodges, be taken sometimes in general for every place of dwelling or abiding, notwithstanding this word of Shepherds which is added, having, as I said, a respect unto the manner of living of Abraham, Isaac, and jacob, as also of Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, as it is spoken Psalm. 77.20. showeth that we must so take it, as we have said. And hereupon we ought also to be warned, that as the shepherds abid not still in one place, but had their portative tents and cabbines, as we see how the ancient patriarchs dwelled with their flocks here and there, the Church of God changing his place by this means together with them: so we must also take heed how we tie the name of the church so to any place, as to think that it never stirreth from any nation, people, city or town. But we must bear in mind the advertisement of Christ, who warneth us, that if a man tell us hear is Christ or there is Christ, we believe him not. And where is he then? there where, saith he the body is yea the carcase of the dead body, in which is life, there are the eagles, Matth. 24.23 & 28. that is to say, there where jesus Christ & no other is preached, I mean the true jesus christ, in whose only death we find life, and of whom the Apostle said▪ that he thought no other thing worthy of knowledge, but jesus Christ, and him crucified, 1. Cor. 2.2. and purely preached. There must the eagles gather themselves together, that is to say, seeking to be fed with no other than with him crucified. For there and no where else is the Church. And where shall this true jesus Christ be found? In the cabins and lodges of the shepherds, which are the writings of the Prophets and Apostles, upon which for this cause, and for that they lay this only foundation which is jesus Christ, 1. Cor. 3.11, it is said, that this Church is founded, Eph. 2.20. Apoc. 2.14. Yea but (reply our adversaries) if the question be of the interpretation of a place of the Scripture drawn to a contrary sense, to whom shall we have recourse, to discern the true sense from the false? Certes again to the cabins of the shepherds and pastors, the Church having none other true and certain light, than this written word, whereunto we are sent back, not only by the express commandment of the Lord, as we have before said, but also by his own example who thus refuted and beat back again the allegation of Satan, Mat. 4.7. as the weapons of the Apostles also were such, and that against them, who sat in the See of jerusalem, Act. 4.7. so far were they from aiding & defending themselves with any unwritten tradition, or with any authority attributed unto the See of jerusalem, seeing that was transformed into a den of thieves, Mat. 21.13. The like did the jews of Beroea, & found themselves in good case thereby, Act. 17.11. the consent notwithstanding & testimony of the true Church being not to be rejected but greatly to be esteemed of & regarded, which again ought to be discerned from the false, by the consent of their testimony with the Scriptures. And this is it which all the ancient fathers & lights of the old Church, have declared & protested must necessarily be done in the reading of their writings.  
17 This then hath been a very strange sleight and treachery of Satan to tie the spirit of truth to the persons of Pastors and shepherds without the examination of their doctrine by the scriptures: nay which more is, to subject the scripture to their opinions and decrees, as if the mason should order his plummet & rule by the wall, & not frame the building to the rightness of his line and level. We ought therefore to consider that the principal and chief stone jesus Christ & his doctrine, have been from all times in part not known, in part most wickedly rejected by the principal and chief builders, such I mean in name, but not indeed and effect, Psal. 118.22. Which was first verified by the experience the Prophets had thereof, Math. 23.37. And then in the person of jesus Christ himself, Act. 4.11. and foretold should come to pass expressly in the Christian church, Act. 20.29. as the event hath since plainly showed unto the eye, and still to this day proveth the same. And yet notwithstanding there was appearance & probability of holding ourselves, aswell in general unto that which was commonly received of this people, whom God had only chosen from out of all the nations of the world, as also in special of standing unto the advise and judgement of the Priests, appointed by God ordinary and sovereign judges, Deut. 17.9. Besides there is no man which knoweth not the authority of the See of jerusalem which was called the city of God. And yet notwithstanding of whom is it I pray you that the Lord saith, Let them alone, they are blind leaders of the blind, Matth. 15.14. and who excommunicated jesus Christ and his disciples? joh. 9.22. who constrained Pilate to crucify him? Mat. 27.20. who are those uncircumcised of heart, who were the first which embrewed their hands with the blood of the servants of God? Act. 7.52. There was then as I have said before, great appearance why we should follow without exception the most part of the people of the jews, and the Doctors of the law, sitting in Moses chair, that is to say, the successors of Moses by the ordinance & appointment of God, & yet notwithstanding these were they who fell into the pit together with those who followed them, Mat. 15.14. But in what place of the Scripture is it said that Rome shallbe the See of the catholic church? That the Bishop of Rome may be judged of no man, but is the head & chief of all? That he hath the power to open heaven & hell, nay to do whatsoever him listeth without controlment, & other such vile & filthy blasphemies & impieties? jesus Christ hath indeed said that he will be with us unto the end of the world, but it is not said that he will keep at Rome. Nay contrariwise he hath forewarned us by Saint john his well-beloved disciple, that it should be there where the great whore should sit, which should make drunk the Kings and Princes of the world. And we see the same at this day, yea which is a thing most strange to consider of, their amazedness only of spirit herein, the ancient fathers, who I say saw and wrote these things of this See, could not take heed notwithstanding of being deceived thereby, and causing others to be deceived.  
18 For conclusion therefore of this matter, the Lord hath his shepherds and cabins, which are the true testimonies of the truth unto which we must keep ourselves, I mean the Prophets and Apostles, whose doctrine is the touchstone to discern the true successors of them from the false, and by consequent the true spouse of jesus Christ by whom the young Kids must keep themselves to be well fed, from the wicked harlot, from whom they must fly that they perish not together with her.  
According therefore unto this holy doctrine let us beseech our Lord God, to look in mercy upon his poor Church troubled in such sort and laid so waste in so many places, that there appeareth neither way nor path thereof: that it will please him to defend her and guide her unto the true cabins and lodges of the Pastors thwart so many cruel and hideous deserts, sith it hath pleased him in our time to raise and lift up the banner of his holy Ministry, that he will oppose himself therefore against this Babylon, and overthrow the Apostolical See thereof by the wind of his mouth, giving unto his elect eyes to see the light of his holy gospel, and ears to hear the voice of that true and certain Pastor of Pastors the chief shepherd jesus Christ, and setting up again his cabins in the which his poor famished young Kids may be fed and pastured to his honour & glory. And because we for our own part have done our duty so little in seeking after and digesting this holy food and pasture, let us cry him mercy and crave of him grace and mercy as followeth.  
Almighty God etc.   

THE ELEVENTH SERMON. Our help be in the name of God, etc. It is written as followeth in the first Chapter of the Canticle of Canticles, the ninth verse.  
9 My Love, I compare thee unto my couple of horses of one of the coaches of Pharaoh.  
1 The happy estate of the Church re-established, opposed to her desolation, for which re-establishment every one ought to labour.  
2 In whom the fault lieth that the Church is not reform.  
3 The mask of false general counsels discovered.  
4 The duty of true Pastors and christian princes touching these delays: with an answer unto the slanders raised against those who have sought to discharge their duty in this behalf.  
5 A summary recital of the great defects committed in our time in this point of reformation.  
6 The ground of this similitude, taken from a couple of horses of one of the coaches of Pharaoh.  
7 How dear and precious this word of Love ought to be unto the spouse.  
8 In what sense this spouse is compared to a couple of goodly great horses in a coach.  
9 The cross is properly the triumphal chariot, which is here spoken of.  
10 The Gospel is then despised when men enjoy it with greatest freedom.  
11 An exhortation to do the contrary.  
12 Why the spouse is not compared to one horse, but to a couple.  
13 The false joint-couple opposed to this of the spouse.  
14 A reprehension of wild and dissolute livers, who cannot endure the check being coupled and yoked under the yoke of the Lord.  
WE have learned before a good lesson by the answer of the Bridegroom, namely, touching the certain and infallible marks of the true Church, to which we must order and keep ourselves, for to obtain salvation: and consequently the true and only means of reforming the church, being for a time by the negligence of some of the Pastors, and by the wickedness of false Doctors and teachers brought into very bad estate. After which reformation well and thoroughly practised, the goodly and triumphant condition of the Church set on foot again, is here in most excellent sort painted out unto us, which we are diligently and earnestly to consider of. This is then a point which men still at this day debate and dispute, and not without great reason, if we do but look on the extreme desolation whereunto the greatest part of Christendom is brought at this day.  
2 But what? Men dispute thereof, not to find any remedy for it, but clean contrary to hinder such as endeavour a reformation. For the false Pastors cannot abide that any man should touch this point, because of their particular interest: others have no great care of it, others indeed set their hands unto it, but instead of following after the track and footing of the true sheep, and the tents and tabernacles of the true Pastors well authorized, follow their own inventions, to make a medley of religions and disciplines after their own lust.  
3 As for the first, seeing they resemble the Pharisees and Scribes, nay are more out of the way than they, it is no marvel if they cannot abide to have their profaneness discovered: wherein they do their master faithful service, who by their means defendeth his hold and fortress, with all the might he may, Luk. 11.22. True it is they are constrained to avouch that there are many very great corruptions & abuses in their Church, and of this the preface unto their counsels always ringeth, yea sometimes their sermons also, and thereupon also ye shall have them make some statutes and ordinances of reformation. But what? First there is no speech to be made touching their doctrine, with which they ought to begin, but all the speech is of square caps, of shaving of beards, of their hair, it may be some points shall be farther added, touching the plurality of benefices and residency of prelate's, yea forsooth, as if they should take order that every Church-robber should have his part, and every these range in person in the walk of his forest. Many will say these words are very rough, and too injurious. But they who like them not, must reform the lords speech, Matt. 21.13. Ye have made, saith he, of my father's house a den of thieves. And albeit their rules of reformation were the best that might be in the world, yet who seethe not that it is but a mere mockery to make them, to the end their bulls and dispensations may have as many clauses derogatory against them? For example hereof look we to the pragmatical sanction of Basel, taken away by Pope Leo, and parted between him and kings more impudently a great deal, than the soldiers who executed pilate's judicial sentence against Christ, parted his garments amongst them. And this goodly council of Trent, such as it is, hath it hitherto in our days framed any bill of encitement against the authors themselves and founders thereof, culpable in points of their own reformation?  
4 And what shall the true pastors and christian magistrates do hereupon? They must wait, say these hick scorners, until such time, as the Pope and prelate's the Apostles successors forsooth remedy the matter, that is to say, until the whores reform the stews. As it is an usual thing throughout the Scripture to compare spiritual fornication and whoredom unto corporal whoredom. But jesus Christ giveth us a contrary lesson, Let them alone, saith he, they are blind leaders of the blind, Mat 15.14. nay which is more, he took a whip in his hand, and overturning the tables and money of the changers, drove them forth t 〈…〉 I'll out of the temple, joh. 2.15. and Luk. 19.45. So about three hundred years since, God hath chastised and scourged the East and the South, and some part also of the North with a terrible whip of his anger and wrath, I mean by the Turks, successors of the Sarracens, and hath in our memory given the City of Rome a shrewd lash with the whip. Contrariwise it is on us that he hath reached forth his great mercy, having raised up those chief servants of God, who took into their hands the true arms of Christians, 2. Cor. 10.4. I mean the spirit of the mouth of the Lord, 2. Thess. 2.8. otherwise called the two edged sword of the word, Psal 149.6. and Heb. 4.12. by which they cleansed the house of the Lord where we are now. It is replied hereupon that some have also resisted by way of arms. They which have been brought to this extremity, are sufficient to answer for themselves: and behold their answer which all the world might understand. We vouch say they the fact, yea and that Satan hath thrust and shoved in some of his thieves and robbers among us we confess, as David himself during the time of his persecution found himself much encumbered with those which joined themselves unto him. But notwithstanding for all this, considering when and why and by whose means the matter came to handie-blowes, it shall be found, that they who complain, are no more to be approved in their complaint, than they should be, who should complain they happened to meet in a forest, where they lay in ambush, certain passengers, who armed by the authority of the Laws, hindered in some part their wicked purpose.  
5 Ye see then how it hath pleased god in our time to exercise his poor children, and yet withal to take pity on them in some countries. But I must speak it to my great regret, that his grace appearing unto the woorld, men have been far from receiving of it and making their profit thereby, in such sort as they ought to have done. For some have yet left the high places standing, others have set up Gedeons' Ephod, judg. 8.27. others have ordered the rules of Ecclesiastical government, not according unto the true pattern of the ancient sheep, and cabins of the Pastors, in which we have heard how the Spouse is in this place commanded to feed her young kids, but according unto their own opinion or rather fancy: so that if God of his goodness remedy it not, it cannot be, but that by little and little the later state will come to be worse than the first, as is said, Matth. 12.45. and as is already come to pass in too many Churches and countries.  
6 God grant them who have the charge hereof his grace, to think better on it & to provide for it, that this spouse may be restored unto her perfect beauty, whereof the Bridegroom in this place speaketh, saying, that he compareth her unto the mounture of horses of one of the coaches of Pharaoh. Which similitude & comparison may seem very strange & yet notwithstanding is very significant & proper, if we consider the sense whereunto it is to be referred, without wresting or drawing it any farther. So is it said by a similitude (to show that the true Church keepeth herself to her head, in what place soever he be) that where a dead body is, there do the eagles gather themselves together. And yet this would be thought a thing very absurd, if a man therefore consequently would liken the children of God unto foul ravening birds, & jesus Christ, who is the holy of holies, unto a carrion. Semblably if a man would make jesus Christ like unto a thief, under this colour, that it is said, that he shall come as a thief, 1. Thess. 5.2. or unto a judge fearing neither God nor men, Luk. 18.2. So likewise in this place the spirit meaneth not to compare his church unto an horse or a mare. But because one of the principal beauties of a woman is this tall and straight feature of body, with a comely countenance, as it is also specified, Psal. 144.12. where the daughters are compared to high & strait pillars of great Palaces: the holy ghost meaning to represent unto us by these corporal things, the excellency of the church of the Lord when she keepeth herself to her true Pastors, hath chosen this similitude, in opposing it unto the former desolation, in the which the spouse went as it were hanging down her head. For as touching the mentioning of Pharaoh in this place, there is no farther reason or allegory to be sought thereof, but this, that among all the horses of those times they of Egypt were accounted the bravest and the best, as in many places of the Scripture it is witnessed unto us, and especially in the history of Solomon, 1. King. 10.28. as at this day men account of the horses of Spain and of Turkey.  
7 But above all other things this is especially to be noted, that the Bridegroom calling his spouse with his own mouth his love, testifieth unto us, that which the understanding of man is not able to conceive, I mean the unspeakable love and dilection which he beareth unto his Church, to the end we should learn, the most necessary point of our salvation, namely, that whatsoever she hath, proceedeth from the mere liberality and bounty of her Bridegroom, and that there is nothing in the whole world, either so fair, or so good, to speak properly, as are those jewels wherewith he adorneth his Church, waiting for the day of the full and perfect consummation of this marriage: a doctrine so ill known as nothing worse, whereby it is impossible that the judgement of God should be far off from us. For the greatest unthankfulness that can be found amongst men is this, to be persuaded that the friend to whom we own both ourselves and whatsoever we have, hath found I know not what in us, which hath moved him to choose us, or happily having found us so so, hath prevented us by his grace, to the end, that how ever it be, some thing might be found in us which meriteth and deserveth his grace and favour. To this we must oppose this word so often reiterated & repeated in this book, to wit, My well-beloved, or as we say in our common speech My love: which was after declared in his time by the Bridegroom himself coming in person to stipulate and covenant this marriage in more nearer manner: I call you not, saith he, my servants, but I call you my friends, (namely the friends of this Bridegroom, as is spoken, joh. 3.29. and 15.15) And wherefore friends & beloved? Because, saith he, I have loved you first, 1. joh. 4.10. & what shall we say? O Lord who are thus thy beloved? They are thy natural enemies, yea enemies by race and kind, and from father unto son. And wherefore then hast thou loved them? To cause mercy to abound above the excessiveness of sin. Rom. 5.20. finding the cause thereof no where else but in thy mere and only goodness and bounty. And how far hast thou loved them? Even so far as to lay down thy life for them, 1. joh. 3.16. Behold then a marvelous precious word and which discovereth unto us such a secret as none can sufficiently comprehend the length, the breadth, the depth thereof, Eph. 3.18. and 19 Let this word therefore my brethren, of well-beloved, be indeed so precious unto us, that the love of this woorld which is enmity with God, jam. 4.4. bewitch us not, that the love of deciveable and perishing riches possess not our hearts, that the false opinion and self-love of ourselves, make us not to lose this goodly treasure, that we deprive not ourselves of our blessing for a soup as did Esau, Heb. 12.16. but that this precious surname of well-beloved ring always in our ears and in our hearts by the holy Ghost who soundeth the very depths of God, 1. Cor. 2.10. namely the things which are given us of God: to the end that our whole life be a reciprocal & interchangeable love towards him who hath loved us so much.  
8 But let us speak now of the port and comely tall feature of this so goodly and fair a spouse. When the vigour and force of the soul lighteth on a body well disposed and ordered in all his members, without any either obstruction or other defect which hindereth the faculties and powers thereof from passing and spreading themselves throughout the whole body, then truly the effects thereof show themselves most evidently, from the very head unto the feet. Even so fareth it with this spouse, quickened, nourished and sustained by the spirit of her Bridegroom, & therefore showeth she herself most excellent and gallant through out: lifting up her head unto the heavens, treading under her feet Satan, the world, and sin, yea defiing death itself and hell, Ose. 13.14. & 1. Cor. 15.55. And therefore is she compared elsewhere unto goodly great & tall trees planted along the waters, from whom no stormy time or season taketh away either greennes or fruit, Psal. 1.3. and 92.12. and 13. True it is notwithstanding that this vineyard is sometimes browsed and marred by the vineyarders fault and negligence (as is at large declared, Psal. 80.) nay beaten with hail and tempest from above, as if the bridegroom had laid it as low as he had raised it high, and all by the spouses own fault. But therefore he beateth her down to raise and lift her up again and to show her how dearly he loveth her, and is jealous in chastising of her, isaiah. 49.21. making always a great difference between the destruction of Sodom, and the visitation of Zion, isaiah. 1.9. And though he correct us sometimes in his great wrath, yet doth he limit his displeasure, Psal.. 125.3. In a word the spouse is sometimes divorced for a time, as she was, scarce seventy years ago, but is afterward received again, jerem. 3.1. We are pressed on everyside, but not crazed & broke: in need, but not distressed: persecuted, but not forsaken: beaten down, but we perish not, 2. Cor. 4.8.  
9 But when was this spouse in this port and state? Certainly she was never more triumphant and glittering then in the time of the Apostles, the doctrine of salvation being never better taught, never better hearkened unto, never better practised. But, will some man say, the Church was never more miserable than it was then as the Apostle writeth, 1. Cor. 4.10. & the whole history of the Apostles in the Acts declareth. True; & this is the same which I meant to say, namely that the cross, is the chariot of triumph in which the Church the spouse triumpheth and rejoiceth in the Lord, Gal. 6.14. & 2. Cor. 4.10. And indeed when can we say for our own time that the word of God had his forth and course and showed his powerful force, but during the great fires? For than death itself was bidden defiance, men went an hundred miles to have a little crumb of this heavenly bread: the world and life itself were made no account of, men pressed and thronged to snatch the kingdom of heaven by violence.  
10 And now what? Edicts and Laws being established to this purpose, and some liberty and freedom offered and presented, men contemn that which is every day at their door. If we should be sent into the suburbs or fields after it, that were too far; if some money must be made for the relieving of the poor workmen, this costs too dear: in a word the Manna which was at the first so sweet in our mouths, hath now no relish: the Lord of his mercy remedy it, and give us a better mind. We desire peace and quietness, but it is for nothing else, but to be at our ease: and that is the cause that this benefit flieth from us, & God knoweth also that if we had it we would abuse it.  
11 Let us therefore rely ourselves on him who giveth us & our poor brethren peace, after so long & so rough storms, let us take heed we be not like horses fatted on the litter, & will afterward abide neither bridle nor saddle, but fling out with all four, and specially against their master: Deutr. 32.15. If on the contrariside he chastise us with any scourge it shall please him, let us show, that his power is made perfect by our weakness, 2. Cor 12.9. and rejoice that it is given us to be made conformable unto our head, Rom. 8.29. & Phil. 1.29. & Acts. 5.41. In a word let those combats which are given us, whet and sharpen the power which is given us from above. The world in the mean while will laugh us to scorn and will call us fools & frantic monarch, but it shall weep in his time, and we shall laugh in the Lord in that our season, when that which is given us already to be, shallbe revealed, 1. joh. 3.2.  
12 Moreover let us note that this spouse is compared unto a goodly horse, & to couples linked together, which is spoken by a most proper and fine similitude. For the church represented by this name of spouse (in as much as according unto the lords petition & request we are all of us one in him, joh. 17.11. and all members composing one and the same body, 1. Cor. 12.12.) what thing is it else but a company coupled and yoked, as a man would say, two by two under the yoke, saying one to the other, aswell by words as also by example, Come let us ascend up unto the mount of the Lord, Esay. 2.3. and with David, Psal. 22.2. I rejoiced when they said unto me, we will go into the house of the Lord, Psal. 122.1. Briefly the whole Scripture is full of such exhortations, that we should all jointly together tend unto the same mark, yea & that not only in going but in running, as I told you on the 4. verse, the stronger supporting the weaker which is coupled with him, Gal. 6.2. and 1. Thess. 5.14. And this is the cause why it was ordained in the law, that a man should not couple an Horse and an Ass to labour together, for fear the one should not draw the other under his feet, Deutr. 22.10. And thus you see what this holy assembly is whereof we have here a singular pattern, whereunto the holy ghost had respect in numbering of the Apostles by six couples, Mat. 10.2. & in sending them forth two and two, Mark. 6.7. not at adventures, but as it is likely, according as they were wont to follow their master by order & not by any degree, the one had above the other, as after it happened they disputed thereof more than once.  
13 But in am of holding themselves to the decision their master and ours hath made in this behalf, they who call themselves the Apostles successors (as a wicked man may well succeed a good man in what title soever) have changed this order into superiorities and prelateships, nay which more is, are gotten themselves up into the chariot, instead of drawing coupled in it, in which the chief conductor of this chariot being sitten, vaunteth himself & saith, that though he should drive it full of souls unto hell, yet is it not for any living creature to say unto him, Why dost thou so? These are the very words of one of these goodly successors of the Apostles in one of his Canons and Decrees. And do we marvel then if this chariot have gone so aside, nay if it hath been turned upside down, and not kept in the right pathway? As little are meant by these coupled horses, these wallet brethren, going by two & two or rather by troops, like locusts & caterpillars, browsing and devouring the wretched world.  
14 As little appertain these wild and dissolute livers to this joint coupling, who leave not to run wild over the fallows, until they have their necks broken: and who in am of subjecting them to this so sweet and so gracious a yoke of the Lord, Matth. 11.29. say they must cast away these bonds, Psalms 2.3. not considering that to serve the Lord is truly to reign, whereas themselves become more than miserable, being bondslaves of sin, joh. 8.34. and drawn under the Captivity of the enemy of our salvation as pleaseth him, 2. Timoth. 2.26. Let us on the contrary side hearken unto the Lord, warning us if we will be his true Disciples to bear his Cross after him, Matthew 16.24. having always our hams supple and ready Heb. 12.12. to follow on the course of our vocation unto the end.  
Almighty God etc.   

THE THIRTEENTH SERMON Our help be in the name of God, etc. It is written as followeth in the first Chapter of the Canticle of Canticles, the 10. and 11. verses.  
10 Thy cheeks are comely with borders of stones, and thy neck with chains.  
11 We will make thee borders of gold, with buttons of silver.  
1 The friendly caresses and loving entertainment of the bridegroom receiving his spouse, that is to say his Church, which was for a time in some sort strayed from him.  
2 We must make a distinction between the fiansailes, the spowsailes, and full consummation of this spiritual marriage.  
3 The borders of jewels and chains of this spouse serve little for defence & patronage of woman's excess & dissolution in apparel, defiling thereby the christian church, with answer to the contrary objections.  
4 The rule and measure which ought to be observed in the cost and bravery of apparel.  
5 Application of this doctrine to the Church of Geneva and others, aswell to men as to women.  
6 What the borders of stones & other jewels are, which are given to this spouse, by her Bridegroom.  
7 A complaint both touching the defect as also the abuse of these nuptial ornaments which God hath at this day bestowed upon his Church.  
8 In what sense express mention is made of the cheeks & of the neck of the spouse.  
9 The spouse doth yet look for more precious jewels in the day of the full consummation of this marriage.  
10 Wherefore the Bridegroom speaketh of himself in the plural number.  
THAT which we have to expound as also a great part of this Canticle is framed in manner of mutual caresses and lovely entertainment of the Bridegroom and the spouse reunited and joined again with her husband: under the allegory and figure of which is declared this infinite dilection and love wherewith jesus Christ loveth and chearisheth his Church, adorning and enriching it with most precious gifts: and on the other side also the reciprocal love of the spouse towards her Bridegroom, whose excellency and perfection she cannot sufficiently praise and commend, seeking in him alone her whole hearts desire and contentment.  
2 But for the understanding of all these things we must consider three degrees in this holy marriage, namely the fiansailes made by words of the future time under the ancient covenant: the espousailes by words of the present, which we must refer unto the coming of jesus Christ in person, and preaching of the Gospel, 2. Cor. 11.2. and the full consummation of this marriage which we look for, whereof mention is made in the parable of the virgins, Matth. 25. I say the full consummation, for we must always understand, that during the time of these fiansailes, and since, the spiritual virtue of jesus Christ is effectually powered into this spouse, to engender in her the fruits of righteousness, whereunto we ought to refer that which is said, Ezech. 16.8. and Rom. 7.4. and Eph. 5.30. but God is not yet all in all, nor shall be until the second coming, 1. Cor. 15.28. This therefore which is here said, is to be referred unto the time of the fiansailes, as the Bridegroom also declareth the same in express terms in the place of Ezechiel above alleged.  
3 But to go on, if any one allege this place for the maintenance of women's excess and dissolution in their apparel and other their superfluities: the answer thereunto is ready, that the holy Ghost speaketh far otherwise, 1. Pet. 3.4. and by Saint Paul, 1. Tim. 2.9. And if hereupon any man reply that then the Lord hath not always given one and the same rule, it is easily answered that we shall find the clean contrary, if we consider of things aright, namely that the holy Ghost is never contrary unto himself. Gold and silver are the good creatures of God, and we find by most certain examples of the holy fathers, that of a long time the use thereof hath been not only in buying and selling, but also in some sorts of ornaments and jewels. But first of all let us not think that curious workmanship and superfluities in this point were therefore rife and common among the holy fathers. Secondly the histories themselves testify unto us the simplicity they used in such ornaments, whereof among others the history written in Gen. 24.22. may be a sufficient witness where it is said, that Abraham's servant gave Rebecca jewels of gold, but of very little value: and to show us how far Rebecca was (notwithstanding she were a maiden of a very great and noble house, although after the manner of those times kings were shepherds, as we say in common proverb) from being nicely and daintily brought up, it is said, that she went to fetch water at the well with her pitcher upon her shoulder. And when mention is made of the Daughters of that mighty and exceeding rich king David, it is said only that they were clad with garments of diverse colours 2. Sam. 13.18. it may be like unto the Almain Maidens in these days. And what bravery think we was there in either gold or silver in salomon's time, when men made no more reckoning thereof, because of the plenty of it, than they did of lead or of stone, 2. Chron. 9.27. Thirdly and lastly as the Lord hath lifted up kings and other lords in authority, so no doubt but he would have persons and estates made the more honourable by some such marks, as we see it in the description of the magnificency of Solomon. Which thing notwithstanding proveth not an acception of persons with God.  
4 On the contrary we must call them, as they are indeed, fantastical men, who would have all the world apparelled after one manner & fashion, as also those who would bond & limit the use of such external things by necessity alone, as if it were not apparent & notorious that God himself hath bestowed upon men a thousand things more than necessity requireth. But hereby to think to excuse the intolerable daintiness & pomp of small and great, were nothing else but vilanouslie to abuse the word of God, to cloak and cover that which no man can sufficiently cry out upon and condemn. And indeed we see what vengeance God hath taken upon the Daughters of Zion for this cause, as is particularly described, isaiah. 3.16. And thus you see what we are to think of gold and silver & other things of like nature. But who can excuse this broidered and frizzled hair, this painting and sliking of faces, with other such filth? And therefore we need not marvel that the Apostles made the like reckoning of gold and silver and broidered hair, sorting them all in one rank. For in truth albeit the distinction which I have set down have his place, notwithstanding it is a marvelous hard thing to keep a measure. In somuch that even among them, for whom these things are not unlawful, they are wiser which use them little, and they are most wise of all, who to cause others of meaner quality to be ashamed to use them, and to give an example unto others to fly such vaninities, abstain from the use of them altogether: making themselves by this means more honourable in their persons and states, than those who witness to the woorld by that which is without them, what is within them.  
5 But above all, is not this a more than vile shame (although we see not these things in such excess as to see upon the head these golden cawls & such other superfluities, which our poverty rather keepeth us from, than any fear of God) that a man must notwithstanding in this place not only necessarily make such warnings, but which is worse, make them & make than again, and all in vain. For what are we, I pray you, whether we respect them of this place, or whether we consider of them who are come from other places and countries? It is true the Lord hath honoured this estate & commonweal with a sovereign liberty of jurisdiction. But are we therefore a kingdom, or a duchy, or a county, or any great thing above others? Nay on the contrary side, is not that verified of us which Saint Paul said of those boasters of Corinth, 1. Cor. 1.26. My brethren ye set your vocation, ye are not many wise according unto the flesh, nor many mighty, nor many noble. And as for us that have been received into this city, and who in steed of saying that we are come hither to make a pure profession of the Gospel, bring hither the filthy fashions and manners of the places whence we came, what are we according unto the world? Poor banished men, or at the least fugitives, and when all is said, a small handful of poor people. And yet we cannot hold ourselves in our own skins; our admonitions prevail nothing; the laws are openly violated & broken, as every one seethe save they who ought to be the first that should see & foresee it to remedy it. Dearth and famine, plague and pestilence, which are at our gates, war with his sword unsheathed, the misery and extremity whereunto so many Churches are brought, all these things which should cause us to mourn in sackcloth and ashes, seem to whet and sharpen our appetites and lusts to do much the worse. If there be any villainous and outrageous fashion in all France, this filth must be brought hither by and by to poison and infect this place, as these monstrous ruffs, these great villainous long bellies, these more than villainous fashions of women's gowns, the only name whereof showeth in what detestation they ought to be had of all honest women. And what shall I say of these vile and stinking Androgynes, that is to say, these men-weomen with their curled locks, their crisped and frizzled hair? Fie, fie, and fie again upon these stinking and filthy fashions, which savour of nothing less than of true christianity. It may please the Lord our god to take an order for it, seeing men make no account or reckoning of it: and truly I am certainly assured he wil  
6 To return unto our text: mention being made here of the church as of a queen in the most noblest and highest estate a man can imagine, there is speech of her costly & rich borders and chains, as she is in like manner painted out unto us, Psal. 45.10.14. and 15. and at large in Ezechiel the 16. being meant hereby inward and spirituaall gifts whereof S. Peter and Saint Paul in the places which I have alleged, do speak. And what are these gifts? to say it all in a word, it is the bridegroom himself, and all that he hath. Now he hath in himself the holy spirit and all the graces of him, not only because he is God coeternal and coessential with the father and the holy Ghost, but also in as much as he is man he received them not in part, 1. Cor. 12.8. but without number or measure, joh. 3.34. The divinity therefore of Christ is as it were the very wellspring of all grace, jam. 1.17. And the humanity of jesus Christ is as it were the basin or vessel receiving all this abundance of grace powered into it, joh. 1.14. Which thing was represented by the descending of the Dove at his Baptism, joh. 1.32. as is declared, isaiah. 11.2. And this not to the end that this should stay in his only person, but to the end that so much as it pleaseth him to bestow upon us for his glory might run down upon us, baptizing & bedewing us therewith within, as the same is represented unto us by outward baptism, joh. 1.33. For which cause the Angels announcing his birth unto the shepherds said not only A child is borne, but a child is borne unto you, Luk. 2.11. Now these gifts are not all of one sort & quality. For some of them are generally and universally bestowed on every christian, which are reduced unto four points by the Apostle, 1. Cor. 1.30. when he saith that jesus Christ is made unto us of the father, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. For all our knowledge touching the things we believe and our salvation, all our righteousness and integrity by virtue whereof we presume to call upon God, and to come before his throne in all holy boldness, all our change and newness of life also, whereby we begin to displease ourselves in doing of evil, and to take pleasure in well doing, and consequently this whole deliverance of ours, the perfect accomplishment whereof we wait for, proceed all from him, in whom are resiant all the treasures of knowledge and understanding, Col. 2, 3. in whom there is no sin, 2. Cor. 5.21. who hath borne our sins upon the Cross, 1. Pet. 2.24. by whose obedience we are declared righteous, Rom. 5.19. who createth in us both to will & to do. Phil. 2.13. in a word he who alone is our jesus, that is to say, Saviour and Redeemer, Mat. 1.21. & no other whatsoever, Act. 4.12. Besides these gifts, without the which no man can be of the church▪ there are an infinite number of other special graces which God bestoweth on such as are his▪ in such sort and so far as pleaseth him, according unto the divers vocations in which he will be served by them, whereof he is liberal sometimes towards them, who are never a whit the better by them, as we it see in Absalon, Achitophel, Saul, judas & others of whom it is spoken, Matth. 17.22. & therefore it is unto the former gifts we must keep ourselves. These are the jewels of inestimable value, which the spouse hath received of the liberality of her Bridegroom. For what have we which we have not received? 1. Cor. 4.7. and together with him all things are given us, Rom. 8.32. And these are the sapphires, and emerauds, and other precious stones and pearls with which that city is builded, Esay 54.11. Apoc. 21.18. which was figured under the Law by the stones which were called urim and Thumimm, that is to say glittering in perfection in the breastplate of the high priest, Exod. 28.17▪  
7 But alas are we this Church composed wholly of children of the light, and as it were shining lamps in the woorld, Phil. 2.15. Certainly on the lords part we may say, we I say: that he hath set up and lighted in the midst of us this flaming light of his most pure and sincere truth, Psal. 19.8. and 119.104. in such sort that the whole world hath an eye upon us. But whereto serveth the Sun to such as be blind? What availeth it to speak to such as are and will be deaf? To what purpose is the true light arisen and come unto them, who have loved darkness better than light? joh. 3.19. Alas than what shall I say hereupon, but that we are of all other the most wicked and unthankful in the whole world if we think not better on ourselves? For what work of the flesh reigneth in the world, wherewith we are not yet infected? So many warnings as have been made us by the pure word of God, so many good Laws and orders which the Lord hath established in this place against fornicators and adulterers, so many executions of men and women for this vice, have they been able to restrain and bridle our filthy lusts in this place? Alas no. Nay contrariwise there are too many who endeavour, if not utterly at once to take away, yet by little and little to destroy and abolish these good laws. Ye covetous miser's, ye extortioners, ye usurers, ye crafty espiers of the necessity of your poor brethren, to make your gain of their pain, your commodity of their calamity, worse than thieves & robbers, forgers of artificial famines and dearths, devourers of men's quick and live flesh, how long will you presume to appear in the church of God as if you were of it? Ye tavern haunters, ye drunkards & gluttons, will you never have other god than your belly? Ye engrossers and regraters, ye sellers with false weights & with false measures, adorers of your God Man mon, and worse than Idolaters, will ye never learn to content yourselves with honest and lawful gain? Ye sowers of mutinies, ye quarrelers and wrong doers, ye envious and deadly malicious, ye impleaders and action-threatners, how long shall the Lord suffer you in his house, in which dwelleth nothing but peace and charity? Ye bellows of hell-fire which live by setting others a pleading, & lengthen the parchment as much as you may, will you always profane and defile this holy and sacred name of justice? Ye dissolute, ye idle and do-nothings, coming to sermon for a show and countenance only, or to sleep when you are there, when will you learn why you came into the world before you go out of it? Ye gamesters and wasters both of your own & others, will you forget the sermon which some of your companions made on the scaffold not long ago? Briefly ye men will you always be men? children of that first Adam? Flesh of flesh? Instead of being regenerate of the second Adam author of everlasting life? What shall I say more? God give you grace and mercy, God give you grace to cast far from you these filthy rags, to be adorned with his jewels and chains received of him and before his face.  
8 But let us note also that albeit as we shall afterward see there be no part in this spouse from the head unto the feet which is not of a singular beauty, notwithstanding the spouse speaketh expressly in this place of the cheeks and of the neck, that is of the most sightly and apparent part in every person, and which indeed might grace and beautify the ilfavorednes of the rest. And this is to teach us this lesson, that albeit the graces which are here spoken off have their seat in the bottom of the heart, according unto the saying of the Apostle, Coloss. 3.16. & of the Lord himself, joh. 14.17. As it is also expressly said of this spouse, Psal. 45.13. Yet notwithstanding as the visage & the face is naturally as it were the looking-glass of the heart: so must the soul of a Christian testify his simplicity and chastity within, and whatsoever God hath set in his heart; that he show himself to be such as he is (reform I mean to the Image of God) by his look, by his countenance, by his port, briefly that nothing be seen or show itself in a Christian which edifieth not his neighbour, and which may hold in an amaze and reprove the infidel and unbelieving which looketh on him: whereas in men of our age and time nothing but vanity and all other kind of wickedness and dishonesty showeth itself from the crown of the head unto the sole of the feet.  
6 But what? Can the Bridegroom bestow more on the spouse than himself and all that he hath? no truly. But we are not able to receive all at once which he will give us; and if we received all at one time, we would not know from whence it cometh, nor esteem so much of it as it is worth. It is given us to know him, but yet but in part so long as we are here below, 1. Cor. 13.12. It is given us to believe. Eph. 2.8. But distrust doth still fight against faith, Mar. 9.94. It is given us to will and to do. But the Apostle himself crieth out, The good which I would do that do I not, and the evil which I would not do that do I. Rom. 7.19. We may not therefore content ourselves with that we have already received, much less be proud thereof, but forgetting that which is past and behind us, we must always endeavour and draw on farther, Phil. 3.13. yea we must run without ceasing, increasing more and more in the knowledge of God, Col. 2.19. Such are the exhortations which are made us through out the Scripture, which would be vain and of no effect, if this promise were not made us, namely that although the Lord hath already bound us unto him so many ways, he promiseth notwithstanding to give us still more gifts, and to water and increase the former every day, being rich and abounding with that treasure which can never be sounded & drawn dry. Behold what is promised unto all true believers. But this being referred unto the body of the whole Church, considered as it was under the pedagogy & schooling of the Law, this verse in which he promiseth other goodlier and richer jewels, containeth the promise of him whom the fathers saw not but a far off, & through the shadows of the law, Gal. 3.24. Col. 2.17. and Heb. 11.13. For which reason Simeon calleth him the light of the Gentiles and the glory of Israel, Luk. 2.32. This is therefore in sum the promise of that more excellent covenant promised unto the fathers, and ratified by the son himself in person, Heb. 1.2. and. 8.6. Whereby we see that the condition of the Christian Church, hath a special advantage and privilege above that of the fathers, before the coming of the Lord: albeit that both they & we do still wait for the full consummation of this marriage.  
10 But seeing there is but one only Bridegroom, wherefore faith he we will make thee in the plural number? A man might answer that kings and great princes are wont to speak thus. But all being well considered, we shall find the secret mystery of the three persons in one sole divinity, and the actions of them distinguished without any either multiplication or division of essence, in the work of our salvation, and all the graces which serve thereunto, to be here laid open and discovered. So then as the father hath given us his son, so the son also taking on him our flesh hath given himself, and the holy Ghost also doth give him us by applying him unto us by the gift of the enlightening of faith. So also it is the father, who sendeth woorkmen into his harvest, Matth. 9.38. It is the son which faith, As the father sent me, so I send you, joh. 20.21. & who giveth to his Church Pastors and Doctors, Ephes. 4.11. It is also the holy Ghost which establisheth and directeth them, Act. 13.2. and 20.28. Who then giveth us these graces and increaseth them? The father, having elected and called us in his well-beloved Son: the Son of whose fullness all this is drawn, the holy Ghost leading us into this truth, and distributing his gifts to whom and how he will, 1. Corint. 12.11. Whereunto also the form of our Baptism leadeth us, in which we are baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the holy Ghost, every one of them being this one God, who give us grace thoroughly to understand and meditate this most dear and precious doctrine to his honour and glory, and to our own salvation, as we will therefore beseech him saying.  
Almighty God etc.   

THE FOURTEENTH SERMON. Our help be in the name of God, etc. It is written as followeth in the first Chapter of the Canticle of Canticles, the 12.13. and 14. verses.  
12 The King being sat at his round table, my Spikenard giveth his smell.  
13 My well-beloved is unto me as a bundle of Myrrh, he is lodged in my bosom.  
14 My well-beloved is like a cluster of Copher in the vineyards of Engaddy.  
1 The happy estate of the spouse reunited again unto her Bridegroom declared by the similitude of a feast or banquet, figured by the levitical sacrifices both in the tabernacle, and after in the temple of Solomon.  
2 The round table declareth that this feast is referred unto the bridegrooms coming in person with whom the people of all the round woorld shall sit down, although the full celebration of this banquet be reserved unto the later day.  
3 In what place of the woorld this banquet is kept.  
4 With what meat it is furnished, by whom, and how.  
5 The excellency of the evangelical banquet above the levitical.  
6 Whence the allegory of the odour of the spouses spike-nard is taken.  
7 It is not enough to enter into the banquet or to sit down, but we must cause our odour to smell thereat.  
8 Why there is no mention made here of eating or drinking in this banquet.  
9 What the odour or smell of this spike-nard is.  
10 Application of this allegory to the present time.  
11 Satan's assaulting us in this point on the left hand.  
12 His assaulting of us on the right hand against merit-mongers.  
13 What this true spike-nard is, and his true smell.  
14 The Myrrh and the Copher of the Bridegroom maketh the spike-nard of the spouse to smell sweet.  
15 Whence this blessing cometh, and to whom it appertaineth.  
WE have understood before the kind caresses and loving entertainment of the Bridegroom at the meeting and taking again of his spouse: who now rejoicing in herself and being withal very desirous that every one should understand, what a benefit she hath received, declareth how she was invited unto the banquet of her Bridegroom, and how she behaved herself sitting by him, enjoying his presence with infinite contentment. This matter truly is most excellent being well understood and practised. For this is most certain, that there is no joy nor pleasure in the woorld to be compared in any sort with that repose and quiet, which every faithful soul feeleth, & by consequent, the whole Church, savouring & smelling the sweets of the Lord who comforteth her within: which thing is painted out unto us in a great part of the Psalms, and represented especially in that most excellent song of rejoicing of the virgin Mary. And this is it which is usually declared to us in the holy Scripture under the similitude of a banquet, not only because friendship and familiarity is testified by eating and drinking together, and that men are willingly disposed unto mirth at their repast and refection: but especially in respect of the banquets of the sacrifices which were made in the presence of the Lord, as if himself had had a room at the uppermost end, to wit at his altar, and there contenting himself with one part burnt on his altar, should distribute the rest of the sacrificed host unto the priests, and to the rest of them which brought the offering, whereof we have a goodly description in the history of samuel's mother, 1. Sa. 1.4. all of it representing this heavenly repast and true nourishment of our souls, as jesus Christ handleth this matter at large, Ioh 6. and the Prophets in many places speaking of spiritual blessings make mention of wine, of milk, of honey, of living water, which Christ followed and expounded speaking with the Samaritane woman, joh. 4.14. But besides all this Solomon hath in this place a special regard, to the restablishment or rather beutifieng of the service of God, when in steed of the tabernacle, after so many changes and interruptions which happened after the death of josua, & after under Saul, & during David's wars, that goodly temple should at the length be built, and the whole Ecclesiastical ministry erected and set up with an admirable magnificency, according unto the ordinance of the Lord declared by the Prophets of that time.  
2 Neither may we lightly pass over the word which Solomon useth, which we have translated, to be as it were at a round table, according as the custom of the ancient fathers was. For this kind of banqueting at a round table seemeth more friendly and familiar, then if the king should have his table apart, the upper end of the round table being known rather by the dignity of some one person, then by any place, by reason of the roundness: beside that there is great likelihood that Solomon by a Prophetical spirit (as all the legal service and ceremonies had) had respect unto jesus Christ, To whom the nations of the four quarters of the woorld were promised, as it is foretold, Psal. 2.8. Math. 8.11. This is therefore the banquet whereof the spouse hearespeaketh, glorying that she was brought in thereunto, And placed by her bridegrooms side, Psal. 45.10. What was then all that costly furniture and provision of the temple how rich & sumptuous so ever it were▪ in respect of the real and visible manifestation of this Bridegroom? In regard of the accomplishment and consummation of all that which was figured by the levitical Priesthood? In comparison of the full declaration of the gospel which is called The power of God unto salvation unto all them which believe, be he jew or Grecian▪ Rom. 1.16. It is then the Christian Church, that is to say, the Church considered since the coming of Christ, which can truly say that she hath been brought in unto this goodly banquet of the bridegroom, as himself declareth it, Matth. 22. and Luke the 14.16. which place may serve in steed of a commentary for the clearer opening of this place. But we must still understand that this banquet is but a preparative unto that which we look for, and which is prepared for us in heaven, of which mention is made Matth. 7.22. and 25.1. At which banquet we are not yet sat, but by hope, Eph. 2.6.  
3 Now then this banquet whereof mention is here made is kept in earth. And know you where? wheresoever, saith the Lord, there shall be two or three gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them, Mat. 18.20. Without seeking therefore of the place any farther, I say that it is here, it is here I say in this place that this banquet is kept, here is this holy table set, here the Bridegroom entertaineth his spouse, in the presence of all his Angels, as also in all other places and assemblies of the whole world, where his truth is purely preached, and his name, as it ought to be, called upon.  
4 And with what messes of meat are we here served? I dare tell you boldly, with him himself, who is the true bread of life which descended from heaven, and that true flesh, and that true blood whence we must draw everlasting life, joh. 6.50. a meat which is not eaten with bodily teeth, but with the mouth of faith: a meat not swallowed down so to be corrupted, but received to make us incorruptible: a meat provided once for all, and sacrificed on the cross and not by the hands or ministery of men, though we be dispensers of the holy mysteries and stewards as it were in this banquet: a meat served not in dishes of gold or silver, but in vessels spiritually appointed to this effect, namely first in the preaching of the word of god, which for this cause is often called by the name itself of spiritual food, not that it is so to speak properly, but because the true food jesus christ is therein comprised and contained: secondly in the administration of the 2. sacraments, namely of Baptism called for the same cause as above the washing of new birth, and of the holy Supper, in which by the same form of speech, the name of the body of jesus Christ is sacramentally given unto the bread, and the name of blood unto the wine.  
5 To understand therefore the better the excellency of the evangelical banquet, above the Levitical, I mean of the banquet under the gospel above the banquet under the law (whereunto this place is first of all referred) we may say that albeit the fathers, as they had one and the same faith with us, so consequently they did eat of the same meat, and drunk of the same drink with us, to wit of jesus Christ, without whom there is no life eternal, 1. Cor. 10.3. Yet notwithstanding considering the manner of banqueting, we may say that in the levitical banquet the spouse sat not so near her bridegroom: but in the evangelical banquet the Bridegroom looketh nearer on his spouse, and the spouse on her Bridegroom, insinuating themselves one in the other spiritually, that is to say, in a more powerful efficacy, by the most mighty working of the holy spirit and unto a spiritual end, Gal. 2.2. The spouse being more nearer bone of his bone & flesh of his flesh, a secret truly most great and wonderful, Ephes. 5.30. but most true, as the effect doth afterward declare it in all them who are fed therewith.  
6 But let us note that the spouse addeth, that being placed so near the Bridegroom in this banquet, her spike-narde gave his smell. The herb which we call spike-nard was had in singular recommendation in former time among the people of the east in the matter of their perfumes and ointmentes which specially they used in their banquets, as is expressly to be seen in the history of the gospel, Luk. 7.37. joh. 12.3. Where truly and visibly the church in the person of the Apostles and of Marie banqueted with her Bridegroom and perfumed or anointed him in such sort, that it might some way seem that Solomon spoke in this place thereof by way of prophesy.  
7 But this being more subtle than sure, we must understand this after an other sort to make our profit thereby. Let us therefore learn hence, that it is not enough to be called to this banquet, but we must enter in and sit down, otherwise this inviting serveth not but to our condemnation: as alas at this day more than ever, we see men so bewitched with the cares & vanities of this world, that there are very few which will think on this banquet, though they be bidden and invited every day. As neither shall it be for them, but it shall far with them as it is spoken, Mat. 22.7, 8. Again it sufficeth not to enter in and sit down, but our perfume also must give his smell.  
8 Yea but will some man say, we should rather eat and drink to be satisfied; & here is no mention of meat or drink. Let us therefore note that in this banquet there is no speech of refreshing and filling the belly which requireth meat and drink, but the question is here of spiritual life: and therefore mention is of the odor and smell of the spike-nard of the spouse, of Myrrh and clusters of Copher, namely because there is no sensible or material thing more fit or proper to signify unto us a spiritual thing, than the smell of sweet things, which is received into the brain after so subtle a manner as nothing more. And this exposition is neither far set or less certain: for this is the very style of the Scripture as we will anon declare. But by this reckoning the spouse should seem rather to have given the Bridegroom somewhat then to have received aught of him, objecting her smell of spike-nard. The answer is that it is clean contrary: for the spouse having declared at the beginning that she desired to be kissed and not vaunting of kissing of him, and demanding to be drawn of him to come unto him, with her companions, and to enjoy the odour of his perfumes, showeth sufficiently that she confesseth she bringeth nothing to her Bridegroom which smelleth sweet unto him, but that which she hath received of him to present him withal. And yet it is not to be said, that in the ancient sacrifices we spoke of before, there was neither bread, nor wine, nor flesh offered, or that men did not really and corporally eat or drink, as yet at this day we are really washed and sprinkled with water in Baptism, in the supper we do truly eat bread and drink wine which are there made sacraments, that is dedicated and Consecrated unto an holy and sacred use. But we must understand that in the ancient sacrifices, that which appeased God's wrath was not the flesh and the blood of goats and bulls which men brent. Heb. 10.4. but he which was sacramentally represented by the beast which was sacrificed I mean jesus Christ, who should in his time deliver up himself for us in oblation and sacrifice unto God his father, in an odour of a sweet smell, and that which the faithful sacrificer received unto salvation was not that which he ate with the teeth of his mouth, wherewith the body was nourished, but the remission of his sins by the blood of him who blotteth them out, Rom. 3.24. and 1. Pet. 1.19. as the lord also looked not properly unto the beast which was sacrificed, or unto other spiritual oblations, but to the right intent & affection of the heart of the sacrificer, as it is said, Psal. 50.8. and 14. and 51. and. 19 which is the spike-nard whereof the spouse here speaketh. Likewise in the sacraments of the christian Church the corporal and visible water is not that which washeth our consciences: but doth indeed signify and represent unto our outward senses that which washeth away our sins & which sanctifieth us being apprehended and received by faith, I mean the spiritual and invisible sprinkling of the blood of jesus Christ, 1. Pet. 1.2. and 3.21. So likewise in the Supper of the lord, that which we see, touch, eat, and drink, is not that which feedeth and nourisheth us unto eternal life, but that verily which is sacramentally represented unto our spirit and unto our faith by the bread and wine, namely the body which was delivered for us, and the blood which was shed for us: briefly jesus christ whole and entire, true God and true man, from whom being spiritually applied unto our soul by the virtue of the holy Ghost, by means of our faith, we draw remission of our sins, increase of our sanctification; and finally the juice of eternal life, both for our soul and also for our body. And therefore when in the old Testament the appeasing of the wrath of God is attributed unto the sacrifices, as also in the writings of the Apostles, these words of washing, and of communicating of the body and of the blood of the Lord, and of putting on of jesus Christ are attributed and given unto the visible and corporal signs▪ this is not to yield unto the signs that which is incommunicably proper & belonging unto the thing signified (for we know that water washeth not the soul, & that the soul neither eateth nor drinketh) but this is to show the difference between these things considered in the common usage of this life, and the self same things considered as sacraments, that is to say, as visible signs of that which the Lord there giveth us, and which he worketh invisibly in our soul: if the fault be not in ourselves, that is to say, if in steed of receiving by faith we reject them not by our incredulity.  
9 What is then the spike-nard whereof the spouse speaketh in this place, and the smell whereof is most liking and acceptable unto the Bridegroom? It is first an humble and contrite heart, Psal. 51.17. It is faith and an holy assurance in the grace and mercy of God by jesus Christ alone, without which it is impossible to please God, Heb. 11.6. It is true charity which we use towards our neighbours, Phil. 4.18. It is the sacrifice of giving of thanks, Col. 3.16. Gen. 8.21. In a word, it is truly the whole life of a christian, in which we seek according unto the measure of the spirit to please him in all things, Col. 1.10. consecrating unto him both our bodies and minds in all our actions, Rom. 12.1. and as a sweet smelling savour unto the Lord, every one following his vocation, 2. Cor. 2.15. Lo this is, this is the odour and perfume which we must bring unto this banquet, which is also signified by the marriage garment, Mat. 22.11. on pain of being cast, hands and feet bound, into outward darkness, where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.  
10 These things being well considered, what may I say or hope for of them who appear at this holy banquet at the sound of the bell, and in the mean time come and departed, alas not with this spike-nard, but contrariwise with all manner of stinkingness and infection, who are the cause that in steed that the world should be drawn to glorify God, seeing the fruits of his spirit in them as they be described by the Apostle, Gal. 5.22. men become stinking before God and man, being the cause that his holy name which is called upon of us is blasphemed among the unbelieving, Rom. 2.24. I pray you who would not be put out of all patience, that having called any one unto his table, the person so invited should present himself before him with some vile sluttish filthiness in a dish, or in his hands? And what other thing do they before God, who in steed of a contrite & humble heart crying with David, Create in me a new heart, Psal.. 51.10. and with the poor Publican, Luk. 18.10. God be appeased towards me poor sinner, bring him an heart full of adultery, fornication, pride, an heart committing Idolatry with the goods of this world, empoisoning the beholders with wanton looks, and all manner of wicked examples, full of enmity, debate, wrath, anger, despite, quarreling, division and partiality, of envy, drunkenness, and gluttony, and other infamous and shameful filthiness, which is yet too too rife in the midst of them, for whom god prepareth this banquet? Now therefore in the name of God, we say unto you, we cry unto you, we pray you, we exhort you, be ye reconciled unto God, amend your lives, mortify your members upon the earth, think not to deceive God, bring forth fruits worthy of repentance, for the axe is already laid unto the root of the tree, and every dry & rotten tree shallbe hewed down & cast into the fire.  
11 But let us take heed of Satan, my brethren, aswell on the right hand as on the left, being armed on the one side & on th'other, 2. Cor. 6.7. for the breach is made on both sides: and if it be not rampart up, we cannot but be surprised and destroyed. Being assaulted on the left hand, by our natural lusts and concupiscences, that if we give ground, the fire can no sooner take the powder of the Canon, but all will down without resistance. For as the water goeth naturally downward without any driving, so fareth it with us, by reason of our corruption, in such sort that the most regenerate can hardly resist the least assaults. This thing requireth no proof. For those who are best disposed do know by every days experience, that they need a wrench and pulley to draw them to think well, much more to do well. Thus you see the mighty assault of Satan which we must withstand, by which he laboureth to induce us not to care for being garnished and provided of the spikenard, as if we had the mercy of God in our sleeve, and as if everlasting life were prepared for mockers and heart hardened miscreants who say, Let us sin that mercy may abound, Rom. 6.1. under pretence of the great mercy and favour which God hath showed unto whom it pleased him.  
12 The other assault is no less easy unto our adversary aiding himself with our own disposition, by which we are naturally given to an opinion and overweening of ourselves, especially when it is made against them who have received some special graces of God, either within or without his church. So we see the best wits to come to nothing, or to become the most hurtful of all others, as all histories aswell sacred as profane, contain most heavy examples thereof, & we yet see it come to pass in our time. But above all the rest, from whence is proceeded this most false, most wicked, and most devilish doctrine of merits and satisfactions, but from this cursed opinion, that our nature, such as it is at this day, is something worth before god? Hence it is the Pelagians are come, setting on foot again the sect of the pharisees, called of Saint Paul, not without great cause, enemies of the Cross of jesus Christ, nothing being more contrary unto the grace of God, than the opinion of being able to do any thing which by the value thereof meriteth and deserveth any thing at God's hands. A thing so absurd, as nothing more. For besides that our conscience argueth and reproveth the holiest and best, that is to say, the least wickedest works we do of negligence, ignorance and great defect, witness that great and holy parsonage Saint Paul, who crieth with a loud and shrill voice saying, Alas the good which I would do, I do not: but that evil which I would not do, that do I, what madness is it to think (were we as holy as the Angels themselves) that any thing can part from us which of his own value can merit that God love us, and do somewhat for us? Now than this opinion of the heretics called Pelagians, denying original corruption in man since the fall of Adam being most eagerly condemned, Satan hath not left for all that or quitted his assault, but is only turned a toe-side, giving us to understand that indeed our natural light is darkened, and our will inclined to falsehood and wickedness, and that therefore our soul hath need of grace, first to aid our weakness, & correct our defect, & consequently which may make a supply to our good works, that they be not too nearly examined & sifted, the Lord contenting himself, and taking in payment of recompense and satisfaction, that which we present him of our endeavours, according as his grace hath prevented and accompanied us. Behold a goodly fair cloak of cozenage. For if this be true, what shall become of jesus Christ, he shall give us only the mean to become saviours of ourselves, if not in whole, yet in part, his bloodshed mingled with our works shall make them available unto salvation, being himself alone no more sufficient, than our works by themselves without him. And which worse is, this point being once won and gained by satan; then began he to show his horns openly. For thereupon men began to forge meritorious works at their pleasure, than they began to yield so much to the merits of them whom they pleased to thrust and crowd into paradise, and afterward into their Litany, that yet to this day the shop is full fraught with it for any man that hath a penny and will buy any merits. Finally to leave nothing to jesus christ but a phantasm & shadow of merit & satisfaction, purgatory was devised & set up to warrant & quit the dead from their sins, by certain merits & deserts of the living. And what can be more stinking & infectious than this? And yet behold the incense & meritorious odor of very smoke wherewith so many at this day do feed & please themselves. Hereunto let us oppose this pure, native, & sincere truth. Not unto us o Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name be the honour and glory, Psal. 115.1. Enter not into an account with thy servants, for before thee no man living shall be found righteous, Psal. 143.2. If Abraham were justified by his works, he hath whereof to boast, but not before God, Rom. 4.2. What have we then to boast of? Let the only cross therefore of jesus Christ be the whole and entire satisfaction for our sins, his only sufferances our merits, his only death and victory our life.  
13. In the mean time our spike-nard, I mean the virtue of the spirit of God, working in us freely as it is freely given & continued unto us, shall give his sweet and fragrant smell indeed. For they and no others are the children of God which are regenerate and borne a new by the spirit of God. Rom. 8.14. & we are freed from sin by the son as well as justified, joh. 8.36. But there is a great difference between these two questions. How and by whom we are made the children of God, and whereby a man knoweth whether we are the children of God or no. The first of these two questions inquireth after the cause, & the second speaketh of the effects. The only mere grace and favour of God therefore hath elected us, called us to salvation, and is the cause of our salvation, from the beginning unto the ending. For, that faith created in us by grace, apprehendeth and taketh hold of jesus Christ, and of life in him, it is because it hath pleased God so to ordain and appoint the causes, by the which he executeth his eternal counsel touching our election and salvation. But hereby a man knoweth the faithful and by consequent the elect to be glorified, that being by the free grace of God changed into newness of life, they depart from iniquity to follow after righteousness, according as it pleaseth God to work in them sooner or latter and in diverse measure. The faithful therefore are those who are known by their good works, and God crowneth them both in this world and in the other. But how? Of his mere gratuity and sole mercy, and not that there is in them any value which meriteth, or that they are accepted for satisfaction (seeing the only oblation of jesus Christ once made is more than sufficient in this behalf) or for that they are correspondent and answering unto the righteousness required by the Law, and which only meriteth and deserveth, according unto the tenor of the covenant, life everlasting; agreeable to this resolution, Do all these things and thou shalt live, and cursed is he which accomplisheth not all these things. In sum therefore it is in jesus Christ alone who hath perfectly accomplished and fulfilled all righteousness, that the promises of the Law are available unto us. Farther albeit we be neither stones nor blocks in well doing, notwithstanding seeing that to will well or to do well are not any way of our own nature, but created in us by grace only, the good works we do are rather his then ours, and therefore to speak properly indeed, he crowneth his works in us his unprofitable servants rather than ours, as if they proceeded from us. In a word that he accepteth of and crowneth the best works of the holiest as rightly good, and smelleth unto the odor of our spike-nard as savouring him and smelling well, proceedeth not of any sufficient quality of them which they have in themselves, but of this, that of his mere mercy he considereth them not rigorously, such as they are in themselves, but regardeth and esteemeth them in him in whom it hath pleased him to elect us, & in whom it pleaseth him so to look on us as to like both of us, and whatsoever is presented him by us. For examining in rigour of the Law the greatest godliness and charity which can be found in any of his Saints, it shall be found that in all of this there is so much soil and filth intermingled with that which is clean and neat, and so much bad among the good, such as it is, that not only it is without all value to be able to move the Lord to crown us with his glory, but contrariwise being nothing else but a polluting and defiling of his graces, deserveth nothing but condemnation if he judge of it according unto the merit thereof.  
14 And this is the cause why the spouse resteth not on her own spike-nard, but on her Bridegroom whom she compareth unto two sweet plants or young trees (for these names are not very welknown unto us) bearing a gum of most excellent sweet odour, namely to the Myrrh, and unto that which is called Copher, bearing a certain fruit or a flower in form of a cluster, whereof was great abundance in the vineplattes of Engaddi, a place renowned in sacred history by reason of his plenty and fertility. Let us therefore note in this place first the manner of speech, which showeth that the spouse and her spike-nard are two distinct things. But the Bridegroom is himself this Myrrh and this Copher. For touching the graces which we have and concerning the fruits of them, which are good works, all these are qualities not borne in us nor with us, but are come on us of the liberality of him, who createth and formeth in us both to will and to do: so that to speak properly, it is not we that smell sweet, but the gifts and graces of God wherewith he hath endued us, cause us to smell sweet. But it is the Bridegroom which hath all of himself, in as much as he is God, and giveth all unto himself, in as much as he is man. In a word it is he that is all perfection: and that hath it in him without mean or measure: but to impart and communicate it how and to whom it pleaseth him, as the fragrant flower keepeth not his sweet smell to itself, but poureth it forth and causeth it to be savoured and smelled of them which approach and come near it. And this is the cause why it is said elsewhere not only that this Bridegroom hath life in him: but that he is the life itself and the resurrection, and that he hath life in himself, yea saith he the spirit taketh of mine, joh. 16.14. as elsewhere he saith, that he hath power to lay down his soul, and to take it to himself again, joh. 10.18.  
15 And this is the reason also why he is not compared simply to one grain but to an handful or bundle of Myrrh, nor to one grain alone of Copher, but to a cluster of Copher, because that indeed he giveth of his spirit by measure, but he hath all in himself without measure. But alas it is not upon the woorld that he hath powered this odour. For neither doth this smell well unto it, neither doth it smell well unto the Bridegroom. Who is then quickened with this odour of life? 2. Cor 2.16. It is she who hath this bundle of Myrrh and cluster of Copher in her bosom, namely they who according unto the example of the blessed virgin Marie lay up and keep the words of eternal life, joh. 6.68. in their heart, Luk. 2.15. Who hear this word of the Lord and keep it, Luk. 11.28. and meditate therein day and night, Psal. 1.2. in whose hearts this word dwelleth plentifully, Col. 3.16. and by consequent jesus Christ together with his father, joh. 14.23. as also the holy Ghost, Gal. 4.6. to the end that our bodies also be his Temple, 1. Cor. 6.19. Let us therefore learn to discern the painted show of the world from the true beauty and bounty, and let us pray our good God it may please him to change us thoroughly, driving out of our understanding all filthiness of falsehood and ignorance and all infection of our affections, in am whereof having perfumed us within and without with the odour and sweet smell of his integrity and obedience, it will please him to reform us also in all pureness and holiness, to be unto him a sweet smelling savour by his holy grace and singular mercy. And because that hitherto we have abused these his graces, notwithstanding his so great patience, we will demand and crave mercy at his hands as followeth.  
Almighty God etc.   

THE FIFTEENTH SERMON. Our help be in the name of God, etc. It is written as followeth in the first Chapter of the Canticle of Canticles, the 15.16. and 17. verses.  
15 My Love, behold, thou art fair, behold thou art fair, thy eyes are like Pigeons eyes.  
16 My well-beloved, behold, thou art goodly and pleasant, our bed is of green leaves.  
17 The beams of our houses are of Cedars, and the galleries of Cypers.  
1 By the discourse at this banquet between the Bridegroom and the spouse we may understand and gather the unspeakable joy and pleasure which the faithful soul receiveth, hearing that which jesus Christ testifieth unto it.  
2 The exceeding beauty of the church, and wherein it consisteth.  
3 What is meant by the eyes of a Pigeon.  
4 What conveniency and what inequality there is between the dilection & love of this Bridegroom towards his spouse, & that of this spouse towards her Bridegroom.  
5 This spouse findeth herself no otherwise beautiful then by the beams of her bridegrooms beauty, contrary unto her, who pleaseth herself in herself.  
6 This spouse neither seeketh after, nor findeth any repose and rest but in the bed of her Bridegroom.  
7 What this bed is which is always green, and what the pillars thereof are, which are of perpetual continuance, opposed unto those which are of rotten wood.  
WE have hitherto as it were accompanied the Bridegroom & the spouse unto the feast & banquet of the fiansailes, now their holy discoursing & talking together, full of unspeakable comfort and consolation is here set down and declared. For who is he that can comprehend either the love which the bridegroom by inward effects testifieth unto his spouse, yea to every faithful & believing soul, or the joy & contentment, which the spouse thereby receiveth, considering aright and esteeming the price and value of that she receiveth, & the excellency of him who voutchsafeth her so great honour. Now seeing the consideration of so great a benefit constraineth such as are most ignorant to wish and desire it, and such as are most wicked to condemn themselves for despising and contemning of it, we must be so much the more diligent and attentive in heedful marking of these discourses of theirs, that so we may have our part therein.  
2 The Bridegroom therefore having called this spouse, his love, or well-beloved, testifieth unto her twice together, that she is fair, that she is fair. Let us therefore first consider the excellency of him who speaketh in this place. It is the everlasting son of God who is not deceived, to take that for fair which is foul, being abused with the form and fashion of this world, 1. Cor. 7 31. and who speaketh feignedly or dissemblingly, Mat. 22.16. Therefore we cannot any way doubt but that the church is truly and indeed fair (seeing he affirmeth the same twice) and therefore liking & pleasing unto God: which we gather, because that not only himself being beauty and bounty itself, loveth also that which hath any trace and mark thereof, as it is said in the story of the creation of the world, and Proverb. 8.30. but also because he expressly giveth unto this spouse the name of love, or well-beloved. But how can this be? For, he is light, and we are darkness, 2. Cor. 6.14. let us take heed of this tentation. We are indeed darkness by nature, and therefore children of wrath, Ephes. 2.3. but ye were so, faith the Apostle, but now ye are washed, 1. Cor. 6.11. But let us understand this sound and soberly, that we please not or flatter ourselves, as also that we despair not. Seeing therefore the Bridegroom is the fairest among men, perfumed above his companions, Psal. 45.7. crowned with honour and glory, Heb. 9 having a name above every name, Phil. 2.19. yea being the well-beloved son in whom the father hath been welpleased, Matth. 3.17. (for although in the time of Solomon, this was not accomplished in this Bridegroom according unto the flesh, yet was it accounted to be accomplished in respect of the virtue and efficacy of this mystery, Heb. 11.1.) how should not this spouse be fair and more than fair, being spiritually united with him, so far, as to become flesh of his flesh, & bone of his bones, Eph. 5.30? This Bridegroom therefore being made unto us of the father, our wisdom, our righteousness, our sanctification and redemption, how should not this Queen be beautiful and fair, yea every faithful soul? 1. Cor. 1.30. But besides that we are in him, and that he is the true and sovereign beauty of them who are by faith united with him: according unto the request which he made unto God his father, joh. 17.21. we have this spiritual new birth, by which we are one spirit with him, Eph. 4.4. and not only washed from our sins past, but also made new creatures, to bring forth fruits of righteousness according unto the measure of his grace. The spouse therefore is altogether fair in him, and by him is adorned and beautified in herself from day to day. And therefore let us advise ourselves to think thoroughly and in good earnest of his grace, making it available and profitable unto us in detesting the filth and pollution of this world, to be altogether dedicated and consecrated unto him, who calleth us out of such filthy and foul darkness, and guideth us more and more into this most clear and admirable light, 1. Pet. 2.9. And if no man can like to be smutted and blatched in his face, let us learn much more to detest the spots and blots of the soul. And if men do so greatly esteem the favour of kings and princes, let us much more esteem of the love of this great son of God, who calleth us his well-beloved, and who hath loved us so far as to bestow on us the proper glory of his kingdom, Math. 25.34. Luk. 22.29. Rom. 8.17.  
3 It followeth which the Bridegroom saith, namely That the eyes of his spouse are like Pigeons eyes. It is not without exceeding great reason that the Bridegroom marking forth unto us the beauty of his spouse speaketh specially of her eyes. For as the face and countenance of a man is the part whereby he is best known and judged of, in such sort that a fair face covereth all the imperfections of the rest of the body, and contrariwise nothing seemeth fair if the face be foul and ill favoured: so there is no part of the face more spartling and enticing then the eye; and especially in matter of love the eyes are the ordinary windows by which this affection entereth unto the bottom of the heart whether it be chaste, (example whereof is that which happened unto jacob touching Rachel) or whether it be unchaste, as it happened unto David, 2. Sam. 11.2. and as jesus Christ thereof speaketh, Mat. 5.28. but we must understand all this sound. We know that the Pigeon among all other birds is gentle and fearful, which appeareth specially in his eyes: in such sort that to show us the gentleness and mildness of our Lord jesus Christ the holy Ghost descended on him in the form of a Dove, Mat. 3.16. To show therefore the correspondency & aunswerablenesse which is between this Bridegroom and his spouse, as she which is guided by the same spirit, Rom. 8.14. he sendeth us unto the simplicity of the Dove, Matth. 10.16. which is opposed unto this doubling, dissembling and corrupt nature of ours until the holy Ghost make us true Israelites, joh. 1.47. as also the description of a true faithful man importeth, Psa. 15. To this virtue also is manifestly opposed the pride which appeareth in the eyes of them, who are haughty and highminded, as it is said by David, Psal. 101.5. and 131.1. yea directly opposed unto christian meekness, which teacheth us to contain ourselves within the limits of our vocation, 1. Cor. 7.20. that we desire to know no more than we ought to know. Rom. 12.3. to be lowly and meek in heart according unto the example of the Bridegroom himself, Mat 11.29. compared not without cause unto a Lamb, Esay. 53.7. We know also that an unclean heart is shown & betrayed by flyring and wanton eyes, whereof mention is made, 1. joh. 2.16. and 2. Pet. 2.14. envy also appeareth in a thwart look, Mat. 20.15. vices utterly repugnant unto pureness, modesty, meekness, and love, virtues required in all Christians, which thing is observed in these kind of birds, by those who have written of the nature of beasts. And therefore let every one here accuse himself, considering how far such are from having Pigeons eyes, who are given to craft and cozenage, to pride and contempt of God and men, adulterers, dissolute in behaviour, apparel and countenance, both men and women, envious, quarrelsome, devouring one another in pleas & actions. And where is this filthiness found? Even in the midst of us who call ourselves the reformed Church. Alas on what title, if a man look upon the life of a great part among us, which doubtless the Lord will do and not respect our false and vain show and appearance?  
4 But let us consequently hearken unto the answer of the spouse. My well-beloved, saith she. Behold, it seemeth here is a great familiarity used towards so great a Lord of heaven and of earth. It is true. But the mouth must speak of the abundance of the heart. I believed, saith David, and therefore I have spoken, Psal. 116.10. This love therefore is mutual and reciprocal: and seeing that such speech cannot proceed but from faith, 1. Cor. 12.3. it cannot be but acceptable unto God, who taketh pleasure to be loved and honoured of his. But notwithstanding there is great difference between the love of the Bridegroom towards his spouse, and that of the spouse towards the Bridegroom. The one is of mere gratuity, having no other fountain but the infinite goodness and compassion of God, so far to love this poor and miserable creature, joh. 3.16. & Rom. 5.8. The other is upon an infinite obligation, not only of the creature towards the creator, but which is more, of her which was so dearly ransomed from sin, death, and hell, towards her most bountiful and liberal Saviour. The one goeth before & presents itself first, the other followeth. The first proceeding from himself engendereth the other in us of mere grace. For our well-doing reacheth not unto god, Psal. 16.2. to whom nothing can be added, & from whom nothing can be taken. But all the good and profit which can proceed from the love that a faithful soul beareth unto his Saviour, returneth to itself, because it pleaseth God to honour them who honour him, Gen. 22.26. 1. Sam. 2.30. Psal. 91.14. And who will not cry out with the Prophet, saying; What is man that thou vouchsafest to know him, & the sons of men that thou wilt have care of them? Psal. 8.5. and. 144.3. And again, What shall I render unto the lord? Al his benefits surmount mine understanding, I will take the cup of acknowledgement of salvations, and I will praise his name, Psal. 116.12.  
5 The spouse addeth, Behold thou art goodly and pleasant. A most true speech. For what is there in respect of this great saviour so goodly or so pleasant? Of whom the Prophet speaking (who notwithstanding saw him not but a far off, Heb. 11.13. and through the shadows of the Law) I shall saith he, be satisfied when thy glory shall appear, Psal. 17.15. But besides this, we must note that she which speaketh here, is she only, who knowing what this beauty is, albeit herself were truly fair, & heard her beauty commended by her Bridegroom, stayeth not herself notwithstanding thereon, but seems she would say, that as for herself, all her beauty is nothing unto her, but that it is her Bridegroom who is indeed goodly and worthy to be looked on, as also hereon it is that she altogether resteth herself. The poor Paynims and not our wise Solomon only, Prou. 27.2. could tell well enough how to blame & dislike of them, who gaze on their own feathers, & praise themselves. And how may we call the assembly of them, the spouse of the Lord, that is to say, the true Church, who allege their virtues and merits, though they had an hundred times more than they attribute unto themselves? This say they, thinking thus to excuse the matter, proceedeth not only from ourselves, but from grace also, with the which if we were not prevented and accompanied, we could merit nothing at all. As much said the proud Pharisee, Luk. 8.11. as if that grace were therefore given us to save ourselves by the value of works mingled with the merit of jesus Christ. To let pass the other error of theirs altogether inexcusable, that they reckon their most manifest and notorious superstitions for merits also. On the contrariside what is the language of the true church of the Lord? Not unto us o lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give the glory for thy truth and bounties sake, Psal. 115.1. What am I, said David that great servant of god, & what is my father's house, that thou bringest me so far? 2. Sam. 7.18. And what saith the Apostle of Abraham the father of the believing? Truly, saith he, if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to boast, but not before God, Rom 4.2. And the children of God what answer do they return the Lord giving them testimony of their good life in the later day? lord, when saw we thee hungry & thirsty & c? Mat. 25.37. Let us therefore apply ourselves unto the study of good works, which are the beauty given unto the Church of God, and know we that God will begin them in us, as it is he who doth them in us, bestowing on us freely both the willing and the doing, Phil. 2.13. but by his only grace, freely bestowed in him in whom alone he accepteth of us, Ephes. 1.6. and not for any value or merit of them. For not only we have nothing but of free gift, 1. Cor 4.7. but also when we have done all, we shall be nothing but unprofitable servants to that master who hath nothing to do neither with us nor with our works, Luk. 17.10. as also the Apostle speaking of those who are most righteous saith, that everlasting life is the gift of God by jesus Christ, Rom. 7.23.  
6 Finally the spouse saith: Our bed is green, the beams of our houses are of Cedar, & our galleries of Cypers. As touching the bed, this may be meant not of a couch to sleep on, but of the manner they used of old in taking their repast, not sitting but half lying on cushions, as the proper signification of the word importeth which the spouse above used, Verse. 12. This may be also very well referred unto that which is said of the greens, namely, as if it were made of green grass. Notwithstanding there is nothing letteth why it may not be taken also for a couch or bed, whereon men repose & rest themselves. Now in what sort soever it be taken, the spouse doth rightly say that this bed is green, to show how pleasant that peace is which the world cannot give, joh. 14.27. neither yet take away, joh. 16.22. which repose is not found but in jesus Christ alone, Mat. 11.29. seeing there is no condemnation in them which are in him, Rom. 8.1. And this is the reason wherefore this spouse, yea every of the faithful is compared unto a goodly tree always green and bearing fruit, Psal. 1.3. & 92.15. And Saint Peter saith that our crown is incorruptible. That which is added, of beams of Cedar, & galleries of Cpyers or other such wood, having respect unto the buildings and palaces of kings covered flat with battlements and galleries on the top, tendeth unto the same end, namely, to show us by the similitude of these two sorts of odoriferous & not putrefying trees, that the joining and coupling of this Bridegroom with this spouse withdraweth us from the stench and corruption of the woorld, making of our souls & bodies so many Temples, distinctly considered, dedicated unto God, 2. Cor. 6.16. and joh. 14.23. as being joined together they are called living stones for the building of this one and spiritual Temple, namely of the church truly Catholic & universal, 1. Pet. 2.5.  
7 Neither must we forget that she maketh distinct mention first of the beams, and then of the galleries: naming the principal props and stays of this building, I mean the Prophets and Apostles, who yet to this day quicken & give life unto the Church of God, by their holy writings preached and expounded therein, Eph. 2.20. Such therefore is this house of the Lord and the habitation of the true Church, & not this lakes built upon men's traditions with mouldy and rotten wood which hath some fair show at the first blush, but being tried in the day of the Lord it is incontinently consumed like hay & stubble, 1. Cor. 3.13. before that consuming fire which is spoken of, Psal. 50.3. But to conclude, seeing the Cedar and the Cypers wood is such, as no continuance of time can assault with rottenness or corruption, what mean they to do, who have taken upon them to pull down these beams & galleries? What is this but to think to ruinated and overthrow that which is built upon the most highest, and whose kingdom is without end, as the Angel Gabriel witnesseth unto the blessed virgin Mary, Luk. 1.33. Now seeing it is in this house of Cedar, & of Cypers that he reigneth, namely in the true Zion which shall never be shaken or removed, the word of the Lord enduring for ever, 1. Pet. 1.25. God give us grace to be well seated for ever in this holy house, and pray we, it may please him to beautify us with his holy spirit more and more, that we may be unto him a sweet smell in our true Bridegroom, & finally may reign with him for ever: which thing we will crave at his hands, with a true confession & detestation of our faults, desiring him pardon and forgiveness as followeth.  
Almighty God, etc.  
THE END OF THE SERMONS UPON THE FIRST CHAPTER.   

SERMONS ON THE SECOND CHAPTER OF THE CANTICLE OF CANTICLES. THE SIXTEENTH SERMON. Our help be in the name of God etc. It is written as followeth in the second Chapter of the Canticle of Canticles, vers. 1. and 2.  
1 I am the rose of Saron, and the lily of the valleys.  
2 As the Lily among the thorns, such is my love among the daughters.  
1 The most happy estate and condition of the spouse consisteth herein, that she knoweth what the excellency of her Bridegroom is, who mutually declareth unto her, the good that he will do and hath done her.  
2 In what sort it is lawful to be a witness to ones self in his own praise, & that our salvation beginneth from that which God hath revealed us to know him by.  
3 The first testimony which God hath given us of himself by natural things.  
4 The second manifestation of gods good will towards men by the preaching of the gospel promised and figured unto the fathers, and finally really exhibited.  
5 Wherefore the Bridegroom made choice of the similitude of flowers.  
6 The allegory of the whiteness of the Lily, and the colour of the rose is most fitting and agreeable to represent unto us the qualities of this Bridegroom.  
7 Wherefore the spouse is compared unto a Lily aswell as the Bridegroom.  
8 The church here below is always environed and intermingled with thorns.  
9 That they deceive themselves and others who think to agree light and darkness together. And how we must behave ourselves among these thorns.  
THE wise man having showed us by his own experience in the book going before this, that there is nothing of this world in this woorld, whereon we ought to rest ourselves, therein to seek a contentment & assured felicity, but that we must mount a degree higher namely unto the creator of the world which is one only God, hath proposed us the practice hereof in the chapter going before of this Canticle in her who is called the fianced or spouse of the Bridegroom, I mean the church spiritually linked & knit with our Lord jesus Christ her head, in whom she seeketh and findeth whatsoever she can desire, though she yet in effect enjoyeth but a small portion of those benefits and blessings which are obtained her by this bond, the full consummation wherefore she expecteth and looketh after with a marvelous ardent longing and affection. And hitherto is it that this also tendeth which we are now to expound, as also all the rest of this Canticle or Song, in which under the figure of a marriage feast and banquet, and of mutual kind entertainment of the Bridegroom and the spouse each towards other, using in their discoursinge diverse singular similitudes, is represented unto us both the perfect excellency of this Bridegroom, as also the most happy estate and condition of this spouse, to form and breed in us a desire of preferring jesus christ & his kingdom before all things, being thoroughly incorporated into this church, which is the company of the faithful figured out & represented by this Queen. The Bridegroom therefore speaking here first of himself, compareth himself unto two most goodly and most odoriferous and sweet smelling flowers above all other, which are the Rose & the Lily, applying afterward unto his spouse the same similitude of the Rose. Which the spouse hearing compareth him first unto A goodly appletree full of most pleasant and exceeding sweet fruit.  
2 Now for the first we may not think it strange that the Bridegroom commendeth himself, contrary unto the lesson which Solomon himself hath given and set down, Prou. 72.2. As indeed we see how the Apostle being constrained to speak more magnificently of himself to establish his authority Apostolical, is fain to use a preface in that behalf, & complaineth that he is forced to do, as foolish men are wont to do, who preach their own praises. But it is another thing in God then in men. For men are naturally ambitious and can hardly praise & commend themselves, but they are straightway tickled with some opinion of themselves, attributing the whole or at least some part of the whole unto themselves, as if it waxed in their own garden, whereas they have nothing but of free gift, 1. Cor. 4.7. besides that they know not how to keep therein either rule or measure. And this is the cause why such as are wise are so far from praising and commending of themselves, that they cannot hear themselves praised in their own presence, but they must blush: and if it be so that they must needs speak of those graces which they have received of God, they do it always in such sort that they ever attribute the whole unto the giver, as Saint Paul is wont to do in most express terms, 1. Cor. 15.10. keeping therein a good measure, 1. Cor. 4.4. As likewise if they must commend another they fail not to add, that the praise thereof pertaineth unto God, a witness whereof may be the ordinary beginning the same Apostle useth in his Epistles, Rom. 1.8. 1. Cor. 1.4. Eph. 1.3. Phil. 1.3. Col. 1.3. 1. Thes. 1.2. and 2. Thes. 1.3. But when the lord commendeth himself, besides that he cannot say so much of himself but that there is still a great deal more remaining, which maketh his testimony of himself most certain & sure, joh. 8.14. he cannot also do it upon ambition. For all honour and glory is due to him alone, and nothing can be added unto or taken from him. Neither doth he this but to move us thereby and to draw us out of the world.  
3 But this he doth in two sorts opening his holy mouth to teach us. First to make us to understand the language of his visible and sensible creatures, which ought to be understood of every one, & is notwithstanding unknown unto the most part of men. For when he calleth himself Almighty and eternal Creator, most patiented, and yet notwithstanding most just and righteous, he doth as a master painter, who should paint certain figures in a table, not to stay his scholars in the outward view and contemplation of that which the painting doth outwardly figure & represent, but to make them thereby to know things greater and invisible by those visible representations & Images. For example, the picture whereof the world made afterwards a detestable Idol, called Saint Christopher, was never the picture or portrait of any man of that name: but was first invented to represent the condition and state of every christian called Christophorus, that is to say, bearing in effect the name of jesus Christ, namely the burden of his Cross, and passing as a mighty giant through the gulf of this world, with the rest and prop of faith, serving him as it were for a staff, being guided always by the means of the light of the word unto the haven. And thence it came to pass that because the Christians could never abide any Image or portrait to be brought into the assembly and congregation of Christians, these Saint Christopher's are yet remaining in the church porches: as also the figure of that, for which they have made their Saint George. But the devil found afterwards the mean to bring into the Church both these pictures, and a million of swarms of other Idols, even to put God and his truth out of doors. To return unto my matter, the frame of this world (as, besides that which the blind Paynims themselves have in this behalf observed, the whole Scripture teacheth us, Psal. 19 and 145. and elsewhere almost throughout, & namely the Apostle, Rom. 1. and Acts. 17. in that excellent Sermon of his which he made at Athens) is a plain and excellent preaching, of the eternal wisdom, power, and bounty of God. But when god speaking either unto his servants, or by his servants, declareth us the same, he is then as it were a verbal expositor of that which many (were it not for this) would never observe in the contemplation of the heavens, or of the earth, or of other the creatures of God. And hereunto we must refer a great number of places of the holy Scripture, which are as it were a gloss and commentary of that which the good and goodly creatures of God do testify unto us without speakeing.  
4 Secondly because this whole manifestation of Gods so great and magnificent majesty, could not but astonish us, nay condemn us, & make us altogether inexcusable, Rom. 1.20. Therefore hath God revealed and manifested from heaven an other more notable & excellent mystery, I mean the gospel, announcing and preaching unto us the free reconciliation of God with us, together with all the virtue of the spirit of God, to enlighten and to change our hearts: wherein God again useth the means of visible things, but yet after a manner and fashion somewhat diverse and different from the former. For as concerning the first point which we have touched, the lord maketh himself as it were the expounder of the book of nature. But in this second point he useth his creatures to a more excellent end, and such as passeth and goeth beyond the end of their creation, that is to wit, to aid and help us to conceive this high and supernatural secret of our salvation and of the author thereof the son of god, and of that which dependeth thereon, in as much as he taketh and draweth from these corporal & visible things, similitudes, aiding & helping greatly for the conceiving of things spiritual. This appeareth by infinite similitudes & parables or comparisons found in the holy Scriptures, and especially in the history of the gospel, which if we have well rooted and planted in our memory, there is nothing can present & offer itself unto our eyes which induceth us not to think on God to dedicate our whole life unto him.  
5 In this place therefore according unto this customable manner of doing, the Bridegroom which is jesus Christ, proposeth unto our understanding his beauty & excellency, comparing himself unto two flowers the Rose and the Lily, yea to a Rose of the fairest which were in all the country, being most likely that such were they of the champion of Saron, whereof mention is made, isaiah. 33.9 & 1. Chron. 27.29. and Act. 9.35. as if we being in France should say, a Rose of Province. Neither is it without cause that this comparison was chosen in this place by the holy Ghost. For if we consider well and narrowly of all sorts of flowers, we shall find that among all the creatures we see here below with our eyes, there is none more admirable, or which seemeth rather sent from heaven, then to come out of the earth, than a flower, how small so ever he be, whether we regard the pure and subtle matter it is composed of, or whether we consider the workmanship more than admirable which appeareth in them: or whether we respect the colours wherewith they are checked and diapered: or whether we stand on the sweet savour and smell which proceedeth from them, or finally whether we look unto the fruits and seeds which spring from them according unto their infinite diverse kinds. So that there needeth but the least flower that is to convict all the Atheists & mockers of the world of the infinite power & wisdom of God. And therefore it is not without cause that the Lord Luk. 12.27. saith, that all the glory & glittering of Solomon is not comparable to one blewed Lily of the field. True it is that flowers are of little continuance, for the which cause the Scripture doth often times represent and compare our poor and frail condition unto a flower, which is soon faded and withered, as, isaiah. 40.7. and job. 14.2. and 1. Pet. 1.24. but we must apply similitudes no farther then unto the end they are referred.  
6 I say therefore that this similitude taken from these two most fair and exceeding sweet flowers above all other, is marvelous fit and proper to represent this Bridegroom unto us, as it were in a glass of the most fair and beutifulst. There is nothing more white and neat then the whiteness of a Lily, otherwise called the Lily of the valleys, because it groweth especially in such places. And who is he that cometh near unto the purity and righteousness of him in whom there was never found any spot neither without, nor within, who is the holy of holies, the only righteousness and innocency of whom was able to appease the wrath of God? as much may be said of the white Rose. But if we list rather to compare this Bridegroom unto the damask or scarlet Rose, he shall be yet better represented unto us, not according unto that divine nature, invisible and incomprehensible, distinctly considered and by itself; but in as much as he is the son manifested (that is to say made visible & true man) in our bodily nature. For among all the colours of the woorld, as the die of the scarlet Rose is the most excellent that may be found, so there is none which doth more lively and naturally represent the colour of man's flesh quick and temperately coloured. What is then this scarlet or damask flesh colour Rose? It is the great secret of our religion, namely the true son of God, manifested in flesh, justified in spirit, seen of Angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, and received up into glory, 1. Tim. 3.16. this is that elder brother, Rom. 8.29. the fairest of all men Psal. 45.3. this is our sovereign high priest, holy, without spot of sin, separated from sinners, exalted above the heavens, Heb. 7.26. crowned with glory and honour, Heb. 2.9. who hath a name above all names, Phil. 2.9. But how is he ascended unto his degree? By the suffering of his death, even the death of the cross, Phil. 2.8. Behold then a gain a Rose not only in part died, but all red with that blood by the which our sins are washed. Such was he when Pilate having scourged him brought him forth unto the people & said, behold the man. Such was he when he was all bathed with his own blood on the cross beaten for our sins, wounded for our iniquities, torn and disfigured for our transgressions, Esaie. 53.5. And what was then the beauty of this Rose? Truly obscured, nay put out for a little time and defaced, Heb. 2.9. so far as that this Bridegroom became to be more vile than a worm of the earth, Psal. 22.6. But seeing obedience is always more fair and pleasant unto God then sacrifice, 1. Sam. 15.22. and there was never obedience like unto that of the cross, Phil. 2.8. it followeth that this Rose was even then before God in his perfectest gloss and beauty, albeit it was so died with blood, not which staineth and blotteth, but which doth away the stains and blots of the world. Which thing may seem to have been figured and represented (clean contrary to the meaning of Pilate and Herod) both by the purple rob wherewith Pilate clad him being altogether bloody, joh. 19.5. which is correspondent & answering to this scarlet Rose: as by the white rob which Herod put upon him to mock him withal, Luk. 23.7. which is and may be referred unto the similitude of the lily. Nay which more is, at this day, yea and before the act of this real and indeed bloody oblation, and in the act itself, and since unto the end and consummation of the woorld, yea unto all eternity, if this Rose had not appeared before God the father, and did not still appear, and should hereafter, to be seen and smelled of him; there had never been, nor should not now have been, or at any time hereafter any spouse of this Bridegroom, that is to say, neither Church nor eternal and everlasting happiness and felicity. For in whom is it (that is to say, in respect of whom is it) the father hath chosen his Church from everlasting? In jesus Christ who was to be that which he was made, and to do that which he hath done for his elect in his determinated and appointed time, Ephes. 2.4. and Gal. 4.4. in whom was he appeased from the beginning? In the Lamb, who in respect of the effect, was slain since the wound & sore was made, Apoc. 3.12. to whom had the Law respect? To this Bridegroom who should accomplish it and hath accomplished and fulfilled it in his time, Gal. 3.23. and who is the body and substance of the figures and shadows of the law ceremonial? Col. 2.17. In a word, although the act of this bloody sacrifice, and of this only oblation once for all made, Heb. 10, 14. be passed already, and that jesus christ liveth and reigneth as a victorious Lord over death, Rom. 6.9. having led his enemies captive in triumph, Ephes. 6.8. yet notwithstanding before the father, unto whom there is no difference of time past, present, or to come, the wounds of this Bridegroom, wherewith this Rose is bathed, do as I may so say, always bleed fresh and shall bleed for ever, holding still & appeasing the wrath & anger of God the father. And what do we every day, whether it be in hearing and receiving this word and giving him thanks, or whether it be specially in the celebration of the holy supper, but renew and refresh the memory of his death and passion, not to offer him up again in sacrifice (for this were to deny his real oblation once for all made, and for ever) but as it were to present him, being yet, as I may so say, every day sacrificed, and as it were still bloody, in as much as we set his death & passion between god & us, as the only foundation both of our faith as also of our hope. And therefore let us know that without we present unto the father this Rose throughout red, & this Lily altogether white & pure, neither we nor our prayers can be acceptable unto him: of the which flowers, if the colour, which is a witness of the obedience and satisfaction and innocency of this Bridegroom, be pleasing and acceptable unto god, the odour of them figured by the perfumes of the Law, as we have in our sermons going before at large declared, is much more sweet & pleasant unto him. And this is it which we have to consider in this Bridegroom to be thereby stirred up and moved to join ourselves every day nearer and nearer with him.  
7 Let us hear now what he saith of his spouse, to the end to make us the more desirous to enjoy her company. Like as the Lily, saith he, among the thorns, so is my love among the daughters. We have already spoken of this most excellent name and indeed precious of Love or Well-beloved, under which is comprised all manner of blessing, and the fountain and spring from whence it floweth, which is the merely free love of God towards them, who are by nature his enemies, joh. 3.16. and Rom. 6.10. and therefore without farther standing hereon, we will only consider the causes wherefore the spouse is here compared unto a Lily, and wherefore these words among the thorns are added. The faithful, (the assembly and company of whom in one mystical body of jesus Christ is called the Church) are compared sometimes to goodly trees bearing fruit at all times, Ps. 1. sometimes unto palm trees & Cedars of Libanus, Ps. 92.13. sometimes unto a fruitful vine, Psal. 80.9. in this place she is compared by her Bridegroom unto a Lily, as himself was also called a lily in the verse going next before, to show us the agreeableness and convenience between these two. Behold therefore two Lily plants, both of them most fair and most sweet. But the first is a Lily of himself and in himself, yea so perfect a one, as hath no fault or blemish in it. But this second being of itself a dead plant and infected, is made a Lily, by drawing of the nature and juice of the true Lily whereunto it is incorporated: clean contrary unto that which falleth out in graffs of men's planting, in which the graff remaining still in his own nature, the wild stock on which he was grafted, is altered and changed. Such are the faithful called goodly fruitful trees, but it is by virtue of the water, which is always at the foot of their root, Psal. 1.3. who are called Palms and Cedars, but it is because they are planted in the house of the Lord, Psal. 9.13. who are a fruitful vine, but transported and brought out of Egypt, and planted and husbanded by the hand of God, Psal. 80 9 whose field and husbandry it is called, 1. Cor. 3.9. Neither may we marvel that the name of Lily is given and communicated unto the Church, seeing she is sometimes called by the name of Christ her husband, 1. Cor. 12.12. in as much as she is made one with him. And indeed why should she not be called a Lily, aswell as her husband, seeing she is holy and righteous with the proper holiness & righteousness of him? 1. Cor. 1.30. and consequently of a most sweet savour in him? 2. Cor. 2.15. Such than is the true Church, through the only grace of god, in him who (being made true man in all and through all, sin only excepted) maketh her conformable unto himself, & by consequent every of the faithful, changing the flesh into spirit, that they may be all made one spirit in him, 1. Cor. 6.17. this is I say this true Lily, and therefore it followeth that we must hold her for a false and bastard plant, which savoureth not but of her wild and stinking nature: or happily thinketh to musk and perfume herself with that which she falsely calleth her merits, or the merits of Saints, Phil. 3.9. much less are they this Church who by their wicked and detestable life, are abominable before God and men, 1. Cor. 6.10. unto whom the Gospel is turned into the savour of death, 2. Cor. 2.16.  
8 But that which is after said, namely that this Lily is among thorns, giveth us to understand, what the condition of the Church here below is, to wit a lamp shining amidst the darkness of this world, Phil. 2.15. or as a sheep among the wolves, Mat. 10.16. in a word, as a flourishing plant in the deserts full of millions of crooked briars and thorns: being notwithstanding of a most sweet smell, amongst all stinking and venomous plants Neither are these thorns only round about this fair Lily, but thrust themselves into her, and seek to choke the Lily and her flowers. Nay which more is these thorns shall not be rooted up until the latter day, as is declared by the parable of the tars, Matt. 13.24. yea besides this, every one carrieth in his heart the remnant of these thorns, as incredulity, which seeketh to choked faith, distrust sighting against hope, in a word, the flesh resisting the spirit: in which combat we feel many great and grievous pricks, Matt. 13.22. Gal. 5 17. Rom. 8.23. Such therefore is the condition of the Church and of every member thereof, as continual experience witnesseth, whereof it was necessary we should be put in mind and warned, to the end we should not think that we can be the Lily which is liking and smelleth sweet unto the men of this world: but contrariwise that we should make our account betimes, that the more we be changed into true Lilies by the grace of God, the more we shall displease the hogs and dogs of this world, to whom nothing is sweet but that which is filthy and unclean, the enmity of God and the world being perpetual.  
9 Hereon ought amongst all others those sages and politic wise especially to think, who imagine they can find a means to agree light and darkness together. No, no, a man cannot faithfully serve two contrary masters. If thou wilt be this sweet Lily, thou must be assaulted with thorns, and never agreed and become one with them, except thou wilt be burned together with them. But what? The mists cannot hinder the sun from rising to make a distinction between day and night. Darkness cannot let the moon and the stars to continue such as they are, although sometimes the vapours be so thick & so gross, that they who are below are deprived of the sight of their clearness and brightness, even so must we be children of the light in the midst of the darkness of this woorld, as the land of Gosen enjoyed the light of the day, when the greatest part of Egypt was covered with thick and palpable darkness, Exod. 10.13. We must be children of the light to force the most wicked to acknowledge in us the father of light, Mat. 5.16. and to convict the froward and wicked woorld, Phil. 2.15. Let the world therefore continue & remain as long as it will a cursed ground, for which Christ prayeth not, joh. 17.9. full of briars and thorns, whereof we must take good heed that we be not pricked. But contrariwise though we are in the midst of it, let us not stand to communicate with his unfruitful works 1. Cor. 5.9. and Ephes. 5.11. but let us be and continue fruitful trees strong Palms, fragrant Cedars, smelling sweet and pleasing the Lord, increasing and flourishing from day to day unto the glory of God. Let us pray our good God and father of his great grace and mercy to perfect in us his holy work he hath begun, to the end we may seek for and find in him our whole repose and contentment, without being deceived and seduced by the vain show and appearance of this world, but that rather following the example of Moses the faithful servant of God, the reproach itself of Christ be more precious unto us, than all the riches and treasures of Egypt, Heb. 11.24. that in the midst of this stinking and contagious world we may bring forth fruits of a good and sweet smell unto him who hath transplanted us out of the world in his holy house. And because that hitherto contrary unto our duty we have been and yet are, negligent, forgetful and unthankful in this behalf, let us crave at his hands mercy and forgiveness as followeth.  
Almighty God etc.   

THE SEVENTEENTH SERMON. Our help be in the name of God, etc. It is written as followeth in the second Chapter of the Canticle of Canticles, the 3. and 4. verses.  
3 As is the Apple tree among the trees of the forest, so is my Well-beloved among the young men. I have earnestly desired his shade, I sat down, and his fruit was sweet unto my mouth.  
4 He brought me into the place of the banquet, and his banner over me was Dilection or love.  
1 Wherefore the Bridegroom is likewise compared unto a tree which beareth fruit.  
2 What the forest of this world is since the Sin of man, and what difference there is between this tree and others.  
3 Whence the appetite we have of eating of the fruit of this tree, opposed to that tree whose fruit our first father was forbidden to eat, proceedeth.  
4 It is not enough to look on this tree and to account him fair: but we must also sit under the shadow of him.  
5 We must also eat of the fruit thereof, and this fruit is very sweet.  
6 The Bridegroom leadeth his spouse farther having eaten and relished this fruit into the hall where the banquet is, that all of us together be there fully fed and satisfied; which thing is at this day especially represented unto us in the banquet of the holy Supper.  
7 Where this banqueting hall is, and how we ought to behave ourselves therein being brought into it.  
8 A comparison of this banqueting hall, with the haunts of the false Church.  
9 A large & ample description of the banner of Dilection, under which the spouse resteth and reposeth.  
10 An exhortation to come unto this banquet.  
WE have understood in the two vers. going before what testimony the Bridegroom, who knoweth himself and his spouse best, hath given of that perfection which is in himself, & of that which it pleaseth him to like and accept of in his spouse. Followeth now what the spouse testifieth she hath found & received of the excellency of her Bridegroom, whom she compareth unto an apple tree full of most pleasant fruit and growing in the midst of a forest of wild trees and such as are utterly different in nature from this appletree: wherein are showed us great and high mysteries. For first of all it is true that in respect of the spiritual nourishment and life, the simple savour and smell of a Rose or some other flower doth best represent it unto us, and after a more spiritual manner then gross and material meat, as a Pear or other like fruit: but to assure us of that which we ought to seek after for the sustenance of the true life, the infirmity of our faith requireth that we should be taught according unto our rudeness and weakness. And this is the cause why, for that men live not by the odour and smell of flowers, but must eat and drink to be sustained: the holy ghost compareth and likeneth in this place this Bridegroom, whom he had before compared unto a Rose and a Lily, unto an appletree and other like fruitful tree. For the word which Solomon here useth, as also that of the latins which signifieth an apple, comprehendeth in general every fruitful tree men eat of, be it of apple, or nut. So we see that under the ancient covenant the Lord represented this Bridegroom and the life which we receive of him, by the sacrifices and oblations of creatures more corporal than this: and under the new covenant he would have water and bread and wine to be unto us sacramental signs of that which himself doth in us unto the end and consummation of the world.  
2 The Bridegroom therefore is compared by the spouse unto a fruitful tree, but planted in the midst of a forest, and amongst other trees which are nothing like unto him. Wherein we see what a correspondence there is between the Church, which is as a Rose among the thorns, and her Bridegroom being a fruitful tree planted among other wild trees. Before the sin and transgression of man it was not so, when there was nothing neither among the fruits of the earth, nor otherwise in all this whole world, which agreed not with God the Creator, and which was not answering unto the desire of man, whom God appointed to be ruler and governor of all these inferior creatures. But the sin of man having brought forth thorns and briars, Gen. 3.18. it is no marvel if this change and alteration be found: but this is rather to be wondered at, that it pleaseth the Lord of his infinite goodness to grub up in some part of the world these brambles and briars, and to plant himself there as a fruitful tree, to the end that some number, whom it hath pleased him to elect before the foundation of the world, might feed and be sustained under his shadow. We read in the prophecy of Daniel, Dan. 4.20. how that great monarch Nebuchadnetzer is compared unto a goodly great tree under which the greatest part of the woorld had a covert. But this implieth nothing but a temporal power, and such as continueth but a small time. And therefore all such trees are subject to be cut down, yea rooted up and consumed in their time, as it is written in that prophecy. But here mention is made of an appletree which representeth him whose kingdom is everlasting, as the father who planted it promised it should be: whereas contrariwise all wild plants shall one day be rooted up and cast into everlasting fire. This is then the imp which is sprouted out of the stock of isaiah, under whom all the nations of the earth should be gathered there to rest themselves, isaiah. 11.1.10. and this goodly tree of life figured by that in the garden of paradise, Gen. 2.9. Apoc. 2.7. of whom whosoever eateth he can never die. But let us note well that which the spouse addeth. For whereunto would this tree serve us if we applied him not to his right use? Happy is that womb which bore thee, said that woman of whom it is spoken, Luk. 11.27. and happy are the pops which gave thee suck. But the Lord answered that they were more happy who hear the word of the lord & keep it. Which is no other than this which the spouse here saith, namely, that she sat down under the shadow of this Appletree, & hath eaten of the fruit which she found most sweet and pleasant unto her taste. But let us set down and examine all the words which she here useth.  
3 I have, saith she, earnestly desired to be under thy shadow. We must therefore first of all have this hungry appetite, which we say in common speech, is a good sauce for all kind of meat. But alas have we it of ourselves? No. Experience showeth us we have it not. For the world is so far from seeking after this food, that contrariwise, albeit the Bridegroom hath so long a time cried by his Prophet, Come, come ye which are thirsty, come ye to the waters, and ye that have no silver, come take and eat, come I say take wine and milk without silver and without money. Wherefore lay you out your substance for food which is nought worth, and why employ you the travel for a thing which satisfieth you not? Hearken diligently unto me, and eat that which is good, and let your soul be merry with this fatness. Incline your ear & come unto me, & hearken unto me that your soulmate live, & that I may make an everlasting covenant with you, & may ratify my free & sure promises made unto David, Esa. 55.1. & cried yet again in person & that with a loud & shrill voice standing in the temple, saying: If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth in me, as saith the Scripture, out of his belly shall flow rivers of water of life, joh. 7.37.38. And in another place, Come, come ye unto me all that travel & are heavy laden, and I will refresh you, Mat. 11.28. although I say the Bridegroom crieth out in this sort, yet is there scarce one man to be found among a thousand, who hath notwithstanding ears to hear, feet to go after, hands to reach after and to receive this heavenly food and nourishment. Nay which is more, some being invited and called to the banquet refuse to come, others spit out again the food they there did eat, which they should have kept within them & digested, a thing verily most lamentable & pitiful to consider. Knowing therefore that we are so clean out of taste of this meat, that we have no appetite at all of our own nature to any thing save that which is hurtful and deadly, let us be careful and diligent to pray unto our good God, to form in us a contrary desire, to know and consider of the beauty & goodness of this fruit. We read how Eve our first mother, poisoned with the venom of that old serpent, had an appetite to the eating of that fruit which she was forbidden, because she saw it fair to see, and good to eat. In that she thought it to be fair and goodly to see, therein she deceiveth herself nothing at all, but (had not her understanding been utterly corrupted she would never have thought that that could be good to eat, the eating whereof she was forbidden by the mouth of her Creator himself. In such sort doth Satan deal with us every day, by the means of our concupiscences set on fire and enticed by the outward show and appearance of things, to bring us unto sin and transgression: and yet we do much worse and are more deceived a great deal then ever Eve was. For the tree which she took to be fair, was indeed fair and pleasant to behold, though it was not good to be eaten of. But as for us, besides that we abuse the beauty and goodness of the creatures of God as she did, we are so blind, that that which is most foul seemeth unto us most fair, and that most sweet which is indeed most bitter, until such time as it pleaseth God of his mercy to change our senses, and to enable them thoroughly to discern between that which is good & that which is evil, Heb. 5.14. In a word this tree whereof the spouse here speaketh, is that of which if we eat not, we can have no life in us, contrary to that tree, of which our first Parents were forbidden under pain of death to eat.  
4 And seeing the deadly taste of that forbidden tree hath caused us to lose all lust and appetite of eating and liking the fruit of the second, which is the only remedy we have against death, we are continually to pray unto God, that it will please him to make us to know the beauty and goodness of this fruit, to have a through appetite thereunto, to desire first to sit us under the shadow of it: which thing we are diligently to consider of. For among other commodities which trees have, in places of heat & of parching, their fresh & wholesome shade is not the least. And what heat or burning is greater than that of this world, seeing we bear beside within ourselves, as it were the suburbs of hell, where that fire is which is never quenched? True it is that according unto the example of the rich man▪ of whom mention is made, Luk. 15. the men of this world instead of perceiving this wretched and miserable estate, find therein a certain cool refreshing, & cannot abide them who would bring them thence unto this true refreshing shade, but in the end they feel it to their great & remediless sorrow; when they are fallen, as we say, out of a could fever into an hot ague, from whence they can never get out again. This shade therefore is the true repose & rest of a man's conscience, which is no where else to be found but under this tree, which we ought above all things to covet after, as himself also signifieth by that lesson which he teacheth us, Mat. 11.29. Let us add hereunto that which the spouse saith, namely, that she is sitten under this shade. For to what purpose were it to enter into a place of refreshing, & afterward to go out of it? And this is it which serveth as it were for an indictment against so many flying & giddy minds & spirits, who happily begin well, but end most il: some of them wavering now on oneside, & sometimes on an other, without resolving themselves any way, as Elias reproached them of his time, 1. King. 18.24. others whirling about like fanes and wethercockes with every wind, Ephes. 4.14. jam. 1.6. others turning themselves the clean contrary way, as an infinite number of lewd and wicked Apostates and revolters do at this day, for whom it would have been better they had never been borne. To all this sort of dealing is opposed that which the Spouse saith in this place, that she is sitten under the shade of this tree. Which serveth not only to the reproof and condemnation of those whom we have already spoken of, but also of a sort of curious companions who come near the tree, only to gaze on it and to look on them who sit under it; as also of those, who albeit they depart not from under the shade of this tree, but pretend to stay under it, notwithstanding are always gadding so after this and that, that they feel not the one half of this comfortable refreshing of this shade. Which thing is represented unto us in the person of Martha, preferring the desire she had of providing of corruptible food for her guest, the true & incorruptible life, so far as to take it ill that her sister Mary all that time sat still at jesus feet hearkening unto his word. But what did the Lord answer her? Martha, Martha, thou art careful and encombrest thyself after many things, but one thing is necessary, Mary hath chosen the better part, which shall never be taken from her. And would to God all of us had well & thoroughly learned this lesson. Which if we had, we should see no longer others walking up and down and telling of news, others sitting at their tables a making of good cheer, others in their shops marchandising and trafficking, others out of town to get in their debts, or rather their revenues, while the Lord inviteth us to be at his feet and under the cool shade of that incomparable sweet refreshing of his. We have a long time warned every one hereof, and we cry out for it in vain, but wisdom cannot be justified but by her children.  
5 The spouse therefore witnesseth unto us the contrary, that she is sitten under the shade, and which is more, she addeth that she was not idle neither. For she employed her time to feed herself with the fruit of this tree, whose excellent sweetness she highly commendeth. The house of god, which is the enclosure of this tree, and the harbour and dwelling place of the church, is not the enclosure of some precious and stately building, whereinto a man entereth to see the goodly workmanship of vaults or of pillars, the glittering of gold, and of silver, and of precious stones, nor a place into which a man goeth to hear the Choir or the Organs which fill the ears: but it is a place where the pure word of God is sincerely preached in the hearing and sight of every man, with exhortations, consolations, warnings and necessary reprehensions unto salvation, not to return thence but being fed with the true and solid food of inestimable sweetness to the souls of them who taste and savour it indeed. For this is indeed the food which caused Saint Peter and his companions to stay with jesus Christ their master, when others departed from him, at what time the same Saint Peter said unto his master, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life, joh. 6.68. as it is elsewhere said, that the doctrine of the eternal and everliving is the restority of the soul, that the testimony of the everliving is true, giving wisdom unto the ignorant, the commandments of the everliving are right, rejoicing the soul, & the doctrine of the everliving pure, enlightening the eyes, more to be desired then gold, yea then the finest gold, & more sweet than any honey, yea the honey comb. Psal. 19.8. etc.  
6 Now the spouse to show us that this Bridegroom of hers nourisheth her not by halves, but provideth her of drink aswell as of meat, addeth that the Bridegroom hath led her from under this tree, into a place appointed for the drinking of his wine, if we had not rather understand by these words which Solomon here useth the banqueting hall: wherein we are first to note that she saith not, that she went, but that the Bridegroom led her thither: to the end we always remember, that as grace beginneth in us our salvation, creating in us to will, so must the same grace guide and direct forward the same will which it gave us. For without this instead of making forward one pace, we shall fall flat to the ground. But as it is he which leadeth us, so we must follow him: and so by consequent it is not enough to have eaten of this fruit in our own home, but we must go in unto the banquet. We must I say join ourselves unto our brethren, & make a good confession of our faith altogether even before men also▪ as for this end, namely for this common banquet, the seventh day hath been from the beginning of the world separated from the other, and the three solemn feasts established under the Law. Such also were at the beginning of the Christian Church those common feasts of the Christians, whereof mention is made in the Acts of the Apostles, and 1. Cor. 11.20. and Jude 12. joined with the celebration of the holy Supper. Where are then the false Nicodemites of our days? Where are they who for fear of men keep themselves close, bearing themselves in hand that they need not to come in unto the banquet? No, no, the Lord will have indeed every man to meditate and pray by himself too sitting under the shade of this tree, but he will have also every one to enter in into this banqueting hall, and there to feast together, for which cause also christian assemblies have a special promise, Matth. 18.20. and 24.18. as there is a special warning also given us that we take heed how we despise such assemblies, Heb. 10.15. for which cause we see many horrible judgements fallen upon many. Let us also learn that grace is added unto grace unto him, unto whom it is given to use it well, as is showed in the parable of the talents, Matth. 25. which is here declared us by that which the spouse saith, namely, that being before as it were in the field, sat under this tree, and eating of the fruit thereof with a good stomach, she was afterwards led in farther into the hall of this great feast, where she was yet more abundantly fed, and that in such sort as that she confesseth that she fell into a sound, not being able to receive and conceive of such exceeding entertainment. Let us note in the third place which I have touched in one word, namely, that jesus Christ provideth us not only of meat, but also of drink too, that is to say, that in him alone we must wholly and entirely seek after and find our whole sustenance and spiritual nourishment. Which he would also show us visibly & sensibly in the bread of the holy Supper, which is a certain & sure testimony of the partaking of the body which was given for us: and in the wine which is the sacrament of the precious blood shed for us, not to be set before our visible eye (seeing it cannot now be seen but by the eyes of faith) but to be truly communicated after a spiritual fashion unto a spiritual and eternal life. The like is to be understood of the ordinary preaching and administration of the word, in which also jesus Christ presenteth himself wholly unto us, to be received as it were by the hand of faith.  
7 And therefore let us remember, my brethren, that this place, this place I say, wherein we are, as also all other assemblies of the faithful, were there but two or three gathered together, are this wine-cellar or banqueting hall of that great King of whom mention is made, Luk. 14.17. And who is he who being admitted into the house of some great Lord, to sit with him at his table, would willingly & wittingly bring thither with him any filthiness or villainy? Therefore always and as oft as we hear the trumpet of the Lord to sound, calling us into his house, I mean so oft as we hear the bell ringing unto a sermon, we ought not to go▪ but to run, nay to fly thither: & yet not so at random, but that we first prepare ourselves, through a true contrition, and consideration both of the death of him who inviteth us unto this banquet, preventing us by his great mercy, as also of the excellency of that treasure which he will there distribute unto us, that we bring thither a mind apt and ready to be taught, an heart full of appetite of this heavenly food: in a word, a most ardent desire of receiving, eating, liking and digesting so precious a meat, to show afterwards the fruits & effects thereof, within and without our house, at home and abroad, far and near, by all our actions aswell of the body as also of the mind. But what? It is no marvel though we have no taste and feeling of such a liberality of our God, seeing the most part contemn it, others eat of this food but for a fashion, and very few there be who digest it, to be sustained by it, a miserable and lamentable case, and for which we shall pay one day sweetly, if we think not betimes better upon it.  
8 But I pray you wherein do those pestilent harbours of Idols, which they call the books of the ignorant, resemble the hall of this banquet? Where instead of administering this precious liquor, men's ears are filled with howlings, and their hearts empoisoned with errors, where under shadow of devotion & bearing men in hand that they are fed by an attorney, they devour widows houses, yea King's Crowns and sceptres: where in am of the true jesus Christ, they feed the world with a jesus Christ of past, & for a full measure of all manner of sacrilege, they have utterly raked away one of the two sacraments of the holy supper. But if these be to be condemned, as sure they are, what shall become of them who come unto this banquet, otherwise well provided and administered, to their judgement and condemnation?  
9 Moreover we may not lightly pass over that which the spouse addeth, namely that the banner or standard, or ensign of her bridegroom which is upon her, that is to say, under which she marcheth, is called dilection or goodwill. For as in an army, the ensign is it, which distinguisheth every band and company under which every soldier is to march, so the love and goodwill which jesus Christ beareth us is that, which assembleth us together to compose this body which is called the Church: which linketh and keepeth us one to an other, which helpeth and aideth us in all the assaults and combats which we are to sustain. For what induced and persuaded this great God to make the world for man? Nothing but his good pleasure to make a creature, in which he would declare by effect his singular love and affection, that is to say, because he would make one creature whom he would indeed entirely love, so far as to make it governor & ruler of all the creatures else below, as if he had reserved for himself the place above, to commit unto him that below, Psal. 115.16. And now certainly this is exceeding much, nay so great, as no man is able to comprehend the infiniteness of such bounty towards the creature which was not yet in being: but what is this in comparison of that which is showed in the work of the redemption of this unthankful and traitorous creature? And that before the foundation of the world he provided for this, that man being thus justly condemned unto death, should not only not perish, but be exalted by means of his exceeding love into a degree above the Angels themselves? Ephes. 1.2. In such sort, as that a man may and ought to say, not praising the evil, but praising him who draweth light out of darkness: O happy fall which hath brought us higher: o most happy darkness without which this truly great light, had never appeared unto us. For man had he not falled, had continued a creature fashioned for his excellent qualities, to be as it were a visible portrait of the invisible creator: but the fall of his which made him like unto the brute beasts, served for an occasion unto the creator, not to be ashamed of him, but to join & unite man so near unto himself, that he and the eternal Son of God are but one person, Man-God, and God-man. And what moved God to do this admirable work? Certainly nothing but his infinite goodness & love, as the Prophet writeth, Psal. 8.5. and 144.3. And who can say the contrary? This counsel of his being once determined, what induced this great God to execute and perform it by so rare, so strange, so admirable a means, that the Angels themselves (according as it was figured in those two Cherubins having their face turned over the covering of the Ark of the covenant) do yet desire to comprehend it more & more, Exod. 25.10. and 1. Pet. 1.12. Certainly this cannot have proceeded but from the same fountain of his unspeakable dilection and love, through which he had accepted of us in his son, Ephes. 1.6. & joh. 3.16. And what moved this Bridegroom, the eternal of God, to choose unto himself this polluted maiden to make her his spouse? To bear with her for so many her adulteries? jer. 3.1. What more? To make himself subject unto the curse of the father, Gal. 3.13. to give his life for her, Ephes. 5.25. to carry her sins even upon the tree of his cross, 1. Pet. 2.24. Phi. 2.8. Certainly this love and goodwill of his, the depth whereof no man is able to sound, or measure the height, breadth, or length thereof, Eph. 3.18 And what is the ground and foundation of our faith, but this assurance, that we are loved with an unvariable and unchangeable Dilection? Rom. 8.38. And how could we hope in him, and how call upon him without the testimony of the holy Ghost, which teacheth us and sealeth it us in our hearts that he loveth us? Rom. 8.15. Ga. 4.6. 1. Cor. 2.12. jam. 1.6. This is it therefore in a word which the spouse would say in this place, that nothing else inviteth her to retire herself unto God, and to have her refuge unto him, nothing assureth and ascertaineth her, nothing else distinguisheth and maketh her different from the world, but the love which her Bridegroom beareth her, whereunto as unto her ensign she keepeth herself, to be covered therewith and as it it were wrapped in it. Neither may we think it strange that the name of Dilection or Love is given unto this standard, seeing that yet more significantly the name of Love or Dilection is attributed unto God himself, because that he is the fountain thereof from whence it floweth upon us, being his nature to love man▪ yea, such as he hath chosen, whom he justifieth and sanctifieth, and will finally glorify. And this Love engendereth, back again another love in us, being given us to love him, who hath loved us so much as is to be seen by this whole Canticle. And this is the cause why the spouse addeth that she soundeth with mutual Dilection which she beareth unto her well-beloved. The exposition whereof we will defer unto another time.  
10 Let us now take all heedful care to make our profit of this so excellent and precious a doctrine, suffering God to lead us into this great and goodly hall of the banquet, whereunto we are invited every day, let us forget whatsoever is without, to keep us unto this precious banquet, let us forget, I say, the love of this world and of ourselves, as if there were therein any commodity or happiness, whereas all this is nothing else but vanity of vanities: let us cheer ourselves in this feast with this true wine, quickening our spirits and eating of this sweet fruit of eternal life: and let our whole heart be on high, where he looketh for us and reacheth out his arms there to receive us, and to make us his coheirs & companions with him of the kingdom of heaven, with him, I say, who hath loved us so much and shall love us unto the end. And because that contrary unto our duty in this behalf, we have been, and yet are so slothful and so given unto the world, and unto ourselves, nay so rebellious towards him and unthankful, we will crave mercy at his hands as followeth.  
Almighty God etc.   

THE EIGHTEENTH SERMON. Our help be in the name of God, etc. It is written as followeth in the second Chapter of the Canticle of Canticles, the 5.6. and 7. verses.  
5 Cause my spirits to come unto me with those flagons: make me a bed with those Apples: for I faint (or sound) with love.  
6 Let his left hand be under my head, and let his right hand embrace me.  
7 Daughters of jerusalem, I charge you by the Roes and by the Hinds, that ye stir not up, nor waken my love, until she please.  
1 The most perfect are not capable of the sweetness of the meats of this banquet, but we may not have less appetite for all this.  
2 A complaint against the contempt of this sweet and wholesome nourishment.  
3 The difference between that wine which is drawn out of the true vessels, and that which is sour, musty, poisoned, as well old as new, and from what tree the true apples, which fetch our spirits again unto us, are gathered.  
4 The virtue and force which maketh our eating and drinking in this feast profitable unto us consisteth and resteth in God alone; and the great abuse committed both in this point as also in doctrine, and the sacraments.  
5 Wherefore the spouse is not contented to be held up with one of her bridegrooms hands only.  
6 We must by particular meditation digest the spiritual nourishment we receive in this banquet.  
7 Satan and his complices busy themselves in nothing more, then to hinder this digestion, but the Bridegroom holdeth them and bridleth them so far as pleaseth him.  
8 It is especially needful that God repress those who trouble the repose and quiet of his spouse within.  
9 God wanteth no executioners of his just judgements, especial against the perturbers and troublers of his spouses repose and peace.  
10 After meditation we must awake, and proceed to the practice of a christian life: and touching great abuse committed in this behalf.  
11 A conclusion touching the sum of that which is contained in this and in the sermon before.  
WE have left the spouse in the banqueting hall in the most wished estate she could desire, & now to hear her speak, it seemeth the clean contrary, seeing she speaketh as if she were quite out of heart, having lost all strength, & being brought as a man would say unto an utter extremity. We must therefore note that our infirmity and weakness is such and so great, that cannot in truth suffer either joy or sorrow, if the one, or the other surpass our capacity. In such sort that as a man may die by having his heart overstraitned and locked up with anguish and sorrow: so may the like also happen unto him, if his heart be overmuch opened and enlarged with a sudden and over great joy. The like we see to come to pass in many places of the holy and sacred history, that holy personages become for a time no better then dead men, if the Lord appear unto them in any unaccustomable majesty As the Apostle witnesseth & saith, that when it pleased God to make him to see things that cannot be told, he knew not whether it were himself, his spirit remaining within the body, or were otherwise ravished out of himself, 1. Cor. 12.2. Act. 22.17. And that the like happened also unto the prophets being filled with the spirit of God, appeareth by that we read, 1. Sam. 19.24. The spouse therefore in this place, being present at this banquet, saith that the apprehension & conceit of so great a favour, & as well the sweetness of the fruit of this Appletree, as also the savour of that drink she drank in this banquet, maketh her to sound, as being at the first not capable thereof. Not that therefore she had lost all appetite (for contrariwise she calleth for that wine and for those Apples) but as if she desired that she might have them in such sort, as that thereby she might be brought unto herself again, whereas she was not able to bear them in over great abundance. cause therefore, saith she, my spirit to come again unto me, by giving me of that wine, and making me as it were a bed of those Apples: by the odour whereof my spirits may be recreated as men are wont to do unto them who begin to faint at heart, to whom they give not any great quantity to eat or drink, but a drop or two of wine, or some other sweet thing to smell unto, to cause their spirits to come unto them.  
2 And what shall I say touching this point, but that it seemeth in a manner, that there is no longer any Church in the world? For even in our time, in which it hath pleased God not only to set up the hall of this banquet, but also to lead us in thither & to offer us this very same meat, & this very same drink, after the most requisite sort of provision that possibly may be made: where are those, who instead of apprehending so exceeding a bounty as to be therewith ravished, vouchsafe so much as to sit down at table? Or being sitten down, to eat and relish and to digest this meat with an eager stomach & hungry appetite? Nay rather on the contrary side, do we not as did the children of Israel, who fell some to loathing the Manna, which they could not at the first sufficiently praise & commend? The Lord therefore of his mercy sharpen our appetite, & correct our taste, & make us this true spouse, of whom it is here spoken.  
3 Let us note farther that it is not spoken here of all wine, but of the wine of those vessels saith the spouse. For there is a mingled wine, such as the pharisees gave the people to drink. There is also a vineger-wine, a dead and turned-wine, yea a poisoned wine, as is that with which the great whore of Rome hath poisoned the kings & nations, Apoc. 17.2. to make them to rave and to rage's, as jeremy also speaketh of that other Babylon, jer. 51.17. And therefore we must take diligent heed we be not herein deceived, the world being over full, and now more than ever, of such brewers and minglers of this wine, that is to say, of this word of God which ought to be sincerely and purely administered, as the Apostle warneth us, proposing himself for an example, 2. Cor. 2.17. warning elsewhere all the faithful, to prove all things and approve the good: 1. Thess. 5.21. We must therefore follow the example of them of Beroea, who, as it is written, Act. 17.11. before they would drink the wine which was presented them by the hand of the Apostle himself, a faithful servant of God, would first see and know whether it agreed with the wine of the old vessels or barrels, namely that which the Prophets gauged and drew: which when they had found, than they received it and drank thereof: as it is also said by the Lord, Mat. 13.52. that every scribe and doctor which is well taught in the kingdom of heaven, is like unto an householder which bringeth forth of his treasure things new and old. And here we must again take diligent heed of satins and his ministers subtlety, who would bear us in hand that all old wine is good, and must be received: which is most false. For there is aswell old wine mingled and poisoned, as new wine, which we must warily take heed of. The receipt therefore to preserve us therefrom, or if happily we have drunk of it, to vomit it up again, is first, to consider well whether it be drawn out of the true vessels of the lords seller, which are the writings of the Prophets and Apostles, otherwise called, the old & the new Testament, & so consequently reject and refuse without all exception whatsoever wine is drawn elsewhere. Again seeing the craft and subtlety of these lewd taverners & poisoners is such, that they infect & corrupt even the pure wine drawn out of the true vessels: we must in the second place consider of well, not only the colour, which they can well tell how to counterfeit, but especially the savour & the taste, before we swallow down one drop of it. as much is meant by that which the spouse saith afterward, not simply that they should make her a bed of apples, but of those apples, to wit, of those which are gathered from the true apple tree, which is the tree of life: of which whosoever eareth, he shall never see death, joh. 6.51.  
4 But yet this spouse is not so contented, if the Bridegroom hold not up her head with one hand & her body with the other, & that for two reasons. The first because the force and vigour of that wine, and of those apples, that is to say, of the preaching of the word of God which quicken our heart & cause our spirits to come again unto us, dependeth wholly and entirely upon the inward power and working of God, without which the word preached is no other thing then a sound which entereth in at the one ear, and goeth forth at the other: and the sacraments are nothing else but vain shows and representations of things terrestrial and common: save that the contempt, either of this word or of these sacraments condemneth the contemner & despiser of them before God. For it is for sorcerers, charmers, and enchanters, to attribute a power of working unto the bare and simple pronunciation of words, be they understood and liked of, or not: as also to attribute any kind of holiness or virtue of working in our soul unto the sign of the Sacrament, is not only superstition, but execrable and damnable Idolatry. For this is a thing denied unto the Angels themselves, this virtue being incommunicably proper and belonging unto God, signifying only by his word and by his sacraments, that which he doth truly work and effect within and in the heart and soul of every faithful by his only powerful working: which I will declare and make plain unto you by a familiar similitude, that we iut not any more and run a-shelfe on such Idolatry and very manifest sorcery. The question therefore being of corporal nourishment, because God hath so ordained it from the beginning, that the creatures should be sustained in their earthly and sensual life, as Saint Paul calleth it, by that which the earth bringeth forth and produceth, Gen. 1.29.30. It is certain that God hath withal given & as it were enclosed in the bread, that which the Prophet calleth the staff of bread, Ezech. 4.16. that is to say, a natural virtue and power to maintain the strength of body in him who eateth thereof and can digest it. Likewise he hath given unto the wine a natural and inward virtue and property to sustain and to cheer the heart of man which drinketh thereof competently and measurably: Psal. 104.15. The like is of other creatures created for the use of this corporal life with giving of thanks, 1. Tim. 4.3. as it cometh also to pass in many other creatures ordained for remedies of sicknesses and diseases, against which, we see that god hath inserted in them a certain proper and natural force and virtue, reserving still notwithstanding unto himself the right & power of making this virtue of theirs available, or not available in his creatures, according unto his good will & pleasure: so that it is on just cause, that we crave of him our daily bread, as confessing, that as he alone hath made the bread, so he hath compassed and limited the virtue and force thereof: in which respect we must avouch and confess, that himself is the first and true cause of our being and nourishment: but as for the life spiritual and eternal, that is in such sort resiant and abiding in the only person of jesus Christ, the true and only bread of life, that there never was, nor is, nor shallbe any creature whatsoever in heaven, or in earth, or below the earth, which hath in it any one dram, be it never so little, of this force & virtue, which truly quickeneth & liveth unto eternal life. For even as himself alone hath done all things which were requisite for our salvation: so the force & virtue both of disposing the soul of man to receive & apprehend that which he hath done for us, as also of applying this salvation, is no where else but in the sole person of jesus Christ, whence it must flow and be powered upon us by the virtue and power of the holy ghost, which is also the essential power of the father and the son: of whom for this cause jesus Christ hath said, he shall take of mine and shall show it unto you, joh. 16.14.15. What do the Angels then touching our salvation? They are ordained of God to oppose and set themselves against all adverse and contrary powers (as we see it verified in Daniel) being camped about the faithful, Gen. 32.2. Psal. 34.8. In a word, they are his messengers unto the saints, Act. 10.3. Heb. 1.14. but not that they have any virtue or power, either in whole or in any part whatsoever, to draw us unto God: to change our hearts of stone into hearts of flesh: to give us ears to hear: to open our heart, much less to justify and to sanctify us. For all this is properly appertaining unto God our father, by his holy spirit, in his son jesus Christ. And what is the power of men chosen and sent unto this purpose? To be the ambassadors of God, to announce and declare his will, to sow, to plant, to water the field into which they are sent, in as much as they preach the word & administer the sacramental signs: but who is it that disposeth and fitteth the land, which of itself is barren and stony, to receive the seed? Who maketh it to grow, to bud forth, to flourish, to bear fruit? The only son of righteousness, the only appointed Prince and Saviour to give repentance and remission of sins unto his Israel, Act. 5.31. What is then the use of the word? To signify unto the soul of man by the ears, that wherefore the words are in every language and tongue ordained, and nothing else: in such wise, that in respect of them who have not the understanding of the tongue in which a man speaketh, and of them which well understand the tongue, but have not received of God the capacity of understanding, to discern and like of that which soundeth in their ears, this word hath no more efficacy of working unto salvation, then if one should speak unto a dead man. And the sacraments what virtue have they? To represent unto the eyes that which the sacramental promise saith unto the ears, and nothing else. What doth then the water of Baptism do in the administration thereof? It testifieth unto the eyes and other the senses of him which is baptized being come unto age, that as the common water washeth away the filth and uncleanness of the body, so jesus Christ hath by his death and passion washed away and done forth all our sins, and purified and cleansed us from our corruption to glorify us one day in life eternal. This is it I say which it testifieth and witnesseth unto us, & not that it can cause any thing to be performed in us unto farther sanctification, or produce any thing in us in that behalf, as being therefore called sacred & holy, not that it hath any more purity or holiness in itself then common water: but only because it is appointed and dedicated unto this holy use, to be an holy, heavenly and spiritual testimony of our sanctification, by the ordinance of God. The like is to be said of the sacramental signs of the holy Supper of the Lord, to wit, that the bread and the wine are holy and sacred testimonies ordained of God to witness unto our eyes things invisible, and such as are effectuated and wrought in us by the only working and power of the holy Ghost, namely, that as receiving bread and wine corporally for the nourishment of the body and maintenance of this corporal life: so embracing by faith our Lord jesus Christ, true God and true man, he is made ours and we are made his most nearly and straightly by a spiritual communication which we have with him, and by the true juice of spiritual and eternal life and nourishment which we draw from him: to the end to live eternally in body and soul with him, when this blessed and happy day shall come. I say therefore again, that, to attribute any inward virtue and power unto the words, though the words be such as are ordained by God and pronounced in his name: semblaby to attribute any virtue unto the administrators of the word or of the sacraments: yea farther to attribute any spiritual force of working unto the sacramental signs, is a most open and detestable, not only superstition, but also Idolatry.  
5 To come now unto the speech of our spouse, knowing this, she desireth both hands, that is to say the power and virtue of her Bridegroom to make that wine and those Apples profitable to her, and by this means to cause her spirits to come again unto her. secondly she therefore desireth this, because she knoweth that if the second grace accompany not the first, and the third the second, and so on unto the end, nothing would be perfected and effected in us, and we would incontinently vomit up again the meat and drink we received, with how good an appetite so ever we first savoured and ate it: and so our latter estate and condition should be worse than the first, and from sounding we should fall into an utter fainting and giving up the ghost. And therefore if we will be this true Church, there is no thinking of ourselves proper and able men strait way, when we have received a little, and so content ourselves with that measure of faith we have, though we had an hundred thousand times more than we have: but we must have a perpetual appetite, desiring that which we have already, to the end it may be still continued & increased in us: craving of God new strength, and that it would please him not to lead us into tentation: but continue to sustain and hold up with one hand our weak and heavy head, & embracing with the other hand our heart and our will altogether fainting and languishing, nay for the most part of time, rebelling against him: to the end that being fortified in all the faculties and actions of the body and soul, and so strengthened throughlie in body and soul, we may end our course happily and receive the crown which he hath prepared for us.  
6 It followeth now to see how the spouse being by means of that wine, and those apples come unto herself, is in this place proposed unto us as it were in a deep rest, not of a sleep, which would bereave her of all manner of feeling of that good, which she receiveth in this feast, as we see how that natural sleep is no other unto us than the Image of death, hindering the actions of all our senses, albeit that God hath ordained it for the refreshing and strengthening of our poor body, which hath need of this comfort, and would not otherwise be able to endure & continue in his daily travel. But we must understand by this sleep of the spouse, that happy repose and contentment, which every faithful soul enjoyeth, being sequestered from all earthly cogitations and thoughts to be occupied only in the good digesting of that which it hath eaten in this feast, to be thereby nourished, that is to say, of that which she hath learned and received in the Church of the Lord, hearing his word and receiving his sacraments: even as after corporal repast, a man quitting and laying aside all his corporal actions, setteth himself to sleep, to digest that which he hath eaten and drunken, thereby to be preserved & sustained. This repose them is nothing else but that meditation whereof it is spoken, Psal. 1.2. and Psal. 16.17. And elsewhere in many other places, & whereof we have excellent examples, in the Canticles or songs of samuel's mother, 1. Sam. 2.1. and of David, 2. Sam. 7.18. of Zacharie, of the virgin Mary, of Simeon, Luk. 1. and 2. For so far is it that this sleep causeth the saints to lose their speech, that contrariwise it is it which openeth their mouth, not to talk as in a dream, but to speak as being ravished into heaven. This is it which we see happened unto Saint Peter, in the history of the transfiguration of the Lord, having his eyes dazzled with the appearance of his glory, Mar. 9.6.  
7 Now as it is not in the power of men to give unto us this repose and rest, joh. 14.27. so neither can they take it from us. True it is that Satan troubleth it, and cutteth it off so much as he can, and wanteth no helps, yea of our own selves in this behalf and to this purpose. But yet notwithstanding it is not in the power of any to trouble us, except when & how far it pleaseth God they shall do it. This is it which we are here to learn touching the express charge, the Bridegroom in this place giveth unto the daughters of jerusalem, that they trouble not this rest of his spouse, but suffer her to sleep quietly so long as she will. Wherein we have first to mark diligently, this continual & perpetual providence of him, of whom it is said, that he that keepeth Israel doth neither slumber nor sleep, Psal. 121.4. And therefore it is unto him we must make our only repair and refuge saying with the same David: I will lay me down to sleep & will not wake, for the eternal will defend me. Which he doth not only then, when in despite of the Devil & all his complices we have some rest, as we may say, that for these fifty years or thereabout, it hath pleased God to continue it unto us in this place, and as it is said, Psal. 23. to feed us in all abundance with his heavenly food, in the sight and view of all the enemies of his truth: but also principally in the most rough tempests of trials: that we might say with David: he hath hid me in his tabernacle in the time of adversity according unto those words with which the Lord comforteth his church, Esay. 26.20. Arise my people, enter into thy secret chambers and shut the door unto thee, & hide thyself for a little time, until the indignation be overpassed. It is the Lord then who giveth this true repose and rest unto his Church, and who defendeth it so far as seemeth expedient unto his blessed will.  
8 But what are these daughters of jerusalem which are thus adjured in this place? Some take them to be the damsels of the spouses train, as if a man should say unto the waiting gentlewomen of a Queen, take heed you awake not your Lady & Mistress. But it were needless to use so solemn a charge towards such persons: and it seemeth rather that this is spoken unto them who would not fail to trouble this repose and rest if so be they were not hindered. The Bridegroom therefore in this place calleth them daughters of jerusalem, whom the spouse before, Chap. 1.6. calleth not Her sisters, but Children of her mother: namely those, which are in the Church but not of the Church, as S. Paul putteth a great difference, between the circumcised without, & the circumcised within, Rom. 2.18. saying, that all are not the children of Abraham, which are of the posterity of Abraham, Rom. 9.7. These are therefore they unto whom the Bridegroom giveth this charge, as unto those, who are the nearest, & therefore the most dangerous enemies of the Church's rest, as experience hath daily showed, & yet every day still showeth them to be. For who are they who at this day do most hinder the advancement of the kingdom of God, and that the Church joyeth not in this rest? They are neither jews nor Turks which so much do it, in comparison of them, who call themselves the Catholic Church, nay the chief pillars thereof: together with certain cursed Apostates and heretics gone forth from us, because they were not indeed of us, 1. joh. 2.9. but what? God bridleth them notwithstanding then, & so far as is behooveful & expedient, as it is said in this place.  
9 As for the Roes and Hinds which are here taken to witness of this charge, besides that this manner of speech is agreeable to the whole tenor of this Canticle, in which this mutual discourse is represented to be had between those which are in the fields: it is no new thing that the Lord and his servants, take to witness against men all sorts of creatures: as the heavens and earth, Deut. 32.1. the oxen & the stars, isaiah. 1.2. the crane's, the storcks, and the swallows, jer. 8.7. yea the mountains & the foundations of the earth, Mich. 6.1. As in deed there is no creature high, middle, nor low which demandeth not vengeance of God, against such as are rebellious and disobedient unto his commandements, Rom. 8.21: Yea when it pleaseth God, he maketh them executioners of his judgements, as appeareth by the savage and cruel beasts, of which it is spoken, 1. King. 13.25. and 2. King. 17.25. even the very frogs and flies, as appeareth by the plagues of Egypt: so that it is verily a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living god. And with this are they especially threatened, who are the perturbers & troublers of the church, otherwise called the anointed of the Lord, Psalm, 105.15. and which are here named the bridegrooms love, a word most sweet, pleasant and amiable. O wretched and wretched again is he who refuseth to have his part therein, especially now when the son hath revealed unto us all the secrets of our salvation, as unto his friends, and not as unto his servants, joh. 15.15. yea, hath confirmed and ratified unto us this infinite Love and Dilection of his, by giving his life for us.  
10 But what mean these words which follow, until she will be awaked? For can the faithful soul be full of this sleep, and desire to be awaked out of it? Certainly Saint Peter had no such meaning in the history of the transfiguration, but rather desired, he might stay continually in the mountain. I confess therefore that such a meditation and as it were such a retired contemplation of every faithful soul, is a thing altogether incomparable in respect of any thing in this world beside: whereof David may be a witness Psal. 63.6.7. But notwithstanding seeing the members of the Church ought not only to receive this nourishment to be thereby sustained and nourished, but also to employ themselves to the use and service of the whole body, there is no talk of being always & continuing in this contemplation: but we must come also unto action and travail day and night, every man according unto his vocation. And therefore these good fathers, who so sequester themselves from the world, that in the end they have neither served to their own & others profit, have greatly abused themselves. So we read that jesus Christ, the true and perfect pattern of Christian life, withdrew himself aside at evening into some secret place: but he employed all the day in going up & down, in teaching and doing of miracles, yea busying himself so far as that he forgot his meat, Mark. 3.20. Saint Paul also knoweth not which of the two he should choose, namely, either to be dislodged out of this body, which he especially desired, or to remain in it, Phil. 3.23. and that to travel night and day, both publicly and in private houses, Act. 20.20. And this is the cause why the Bridegroom would have his spouse to take her rest and that soundly, and so far as to be satisfied therewith, and no man to trouble her repose, except the Bridegroom would so have it and appoint it. For it is for him alone to wake her, as he saith afterwards, and herself also desireth no more rest than it pleaseth her Bridegroom to grant her.  
11 And thus you see in sum what we are to learn out of this most excellent place of Scripture full of singular Doctrine, namely that it is in God alone in whom we must seek after our true felicity, hearing and meditating day and night his holy word, & depending on his providence & protection, until we be gathered together in his everlasting kingdom, where this holy and perpetual marriage shallbe consummated and ended. Let us now with heart and mouth pray unto him for his grace, saying as followeth.  
Almighty God, etc.   

THE NINETEENTH SERMON. Our help be in the name of God etc. It is written as followeth in the second Chapter of the Canticle of Canticles, the 8.9. and 10. verses.  
8 This is the voice of my well-beloved, behold he cometh leaping over the mountains and skipping over the hills.  
9 My well-beloved is like a Roe, and like an Hind-calfe. Behold he is behind our wall, looking through the window, and showing himself through the lattice.  
10 My well-beloved hath spoken unto me and said, Up arise my love, my fair one, and come thy way.  
1 Three great abuses committed in contemplative life falsely called religion.  
2 It is from the voice of the Bridegroom that this desire proceedeth of putting ourselves into the way and going forward in our vocation.  
3 Application of this doctrine unto the Church of Geneva.  
4 The more than marvelous diligence and carefulness of this Bridegroom, to run unto his spouse.  
5 A comparison of this diligence with our sluggishness.  
6 The first high mountains▪ which satan and his complices have reared to keep the spouse from her Bridegroom, which the Bridegroom mounteth readily over, without staying a moment.  
7 Other exceeding rough and craggy mountains of our sins and iniquities, traversed also over by the Bridegroom.  
8 The Bridegroom hath also taken upon himself the bottomless gulf of the curse of God his father, to run unto our delivery with this burden on his shoulders.  
9 The difference between the new and the old covenant, represented by the similitude of a wall, and of a grate or lattice.  
10 This Bridegroom hath never been dumb, and the abuse committed in this behalf in the false Church.  
11 The word of the Bridegroom serveth to no purpose, if men hearken not unto it, and if they awake not themselves in deed.  
12 Wherefore this spouse is called the fair one, opposed unto her which is nothing but painted.  
13 The true spouse is neither called nor goeth else whither, then unto her bridegroom only.  
14 The Bridegroom must come unto us to cause us to come unto him.  
15 The Bridegroom never came unto his spouse, or at this day presenteth himself unto her to stay her here below: but ever called & yet calleth her to heaven: & the great abuse of them which look for him at this day corporally in the earth.  
16 These words come thy way ought to serve us for a sum and abridgement of the whole doctrine of salvation, and to teach us the end of the whole life of a Christian.  
WE have left the spouse in the repose and rest of her meditation ravished as it were altogether in an ecstasy, out of which her repose, she is now awaked by the Bridegroom, notwithstanding not to trouble her, but to lead her as it were out of one pleasure into an other. The like cometh to pass after natural sleep, which being taken in sufficient measure refresheth a man, & raiseth, as a man would say, new forces in him: as contrariwise the same, if it pass & exceed a mean, breedeth first in a man a laziness & sluggishness, & finally draweth a man into a bad & naughty custom. So is it in this spiritual rest, which the soul being withdrawn aside by itself to meditate on the graces of God, and to be occupied in prayer in his secret chamber, Mat. 6.6. enjoyeth: be it by day or by night, according unto the example of David in many of his Psalms. But if of this meditation a man will make a contemplative life, faslly called Angelical, he committeth therein two notable faults, which by little and little come at the length to a third, which is utter perdition and destruction of himself. For first a man departeth & withdraweth himself from the principal duty of a Christian, which is to serve his neighbour according unto his vocation: which cannot be done if a man sequester himself from men and employ not his mind in any other actions than such, as are specially and particularly belonging unto himself, whereas we ought to apply all the knowledge we have in human or divine things unto the mutual profit and advancement of one an other. Secondly by such a kind of continual contemplation, it is unpossible but a man will become at the last sottish and fantastical, especially if unto it be added an austerity of life without mean and good measure: and at last after that a man hath besotted himself with such a dreaming and fantastical kind of life, he beginneth to persuade himself by little and little, not only in that false and damnable opinion of merit, but also finally, that he is arrived to the greatest perfection that may be, nay gone beyond Paradise itself. I let pass to speak of the notable hypocrisy, and other most stinking filthiness which is hidden under the cloak and colour of this kind of life, which falsely appropriateth to itself the name of Religion. For proof of this let us look no farther, than first unto the doting dreams which are found aswell in the legends of these holy fathers, as also in the writings of certain contemplative doctors: and after that, unto the abuses with which this kind of vermin hath filled the whole world, and poisoned especially all Christendom: in such sort that the Popes themselves have been forced and constrained to decree that there should be no more new orders of monks set up, as that decree made expressly to this purpose in that great Council of Lateran under Pope Innocent the third, An. 1215. may witness. And yet for all that, behold yet a new swarm of locusts, the order of the Capuchins, & of those shameless companions which attribute unto themselves the name of the company of jesus, which are within these forty years crauled out of the bottomless pit, to happer and swarm throughout the world, which indeed deserveth nothing else but to be browsed and bitten with such caterpillars.  
2 But let us go out of this sink, and return unto this spouse, who is now awaked by her Bridegroom, and invited and called unto the other part of Christian life, that is to say, the other kind of conversing with her Bridegroom, namely unto the practice of that which she hath learned and meditated. For what is this else, to rise and to take her way to come unto him, but to order and direct the course of her life according unto her vocation, conformably unto the commandments of God? Thy word, saith the Prophet, Psal. 119. v. 105. is a lantern unto my feet, and a light unto my going. And this is the reason why we are warned to walk in his ways, and wherefore jesus Christ said Walk while you have the light. But how shall they march forward and walk, who have no legs? Truly this must be by him and by no other, who giveth eyes unto the blind, and straightneth them whose limbs are crooked, Psal. 146.8. unto whom the Prophet said, Teach me thy right ways. And this is the very cause also why the spouse in this place confesseth that she was awakened by the voice of her Bridegroom, and not of herself. For if we cannot of ourselves pray as we ought, Rom. 8.26. how can it proceed of ourselves either to wil or to do? Phil. 2.13. But this voice must also be heard & received by his grace, who openeth the heart to hear well, Act. 16.14. as this spouse in this place witnesseth, showing that she is the true Church, according unto the saying of jesus Christ, that his sheep hear his voice, & not the voice of a stranger, joh. 10.3.5. In a word therefore, we would never come unto him, nay never so much as think to go unto him, if he came not first unto us, to warn us thereof, nay to form in us the desire of going unto him: and which more is, if he accompanied not this grace of going unto him, with a second grace of blessing and effecting in us this desire of going unto him to the end that that might be accomplished in us which he saith by his Prophet, I have made myself to be found of them who sought not after me, isaiah. 65.1.  
3 And need we go any farther than unto ourselves, who are here to verify this doctrine? Behold us a multitude assembled partly of originary inhabitants borne in this place; & partly also, and that too for the most part, gathered together out of many nations of the East, West, South, and North. Dare the borne-dwellers of this City say, that themselves did first seek after this bridegroom? Or not contrariwise, that he came and sought them? Nay must they not confess that the Bridegroom hath espoused them by plain miracle, bringing them an happy freedom both temporal and spiritual: wherein he still maintaineth them to the wonder and admiration of the whole world? And as for us who are here gathered together from out of all the quarters and corners of the world, if we consider every of us out of what bottomless gulf and dungeon he hath drawn us, and when, and how: must we not say unto him: Lord unto thee be glory, and not unto us? But alas what shall become of them who having heard his voice, and having given their word also they would go into the vineyard, nay have gone into it, have there become deaf, and wicked workers? Shall he not say unto them: Depart from me ye workers of iniquity, I know you not?  
4 Now though this be a benefit altogether inestimable, that it pleaseth the bridegroom to awaken his spouse, to the end himself might teach her, & make her a better housewife in the house of her Bridegroom▪ yet what is this in respect of the extreme carefulness and diligence which he useth in this behalf? He mounteth, saith the spouse, over the mountains, and skippeth over the hills like a Roe or an Hind calf. And what understanding of man is able to comprehend so great a love and goodwill? His sheep are wandered and strayed of themselves: and behold the shepherd who runneth after them, and there is neither rock, nor torrent, mountain, nor valley, which can stay him from passing over until he find them, to bring them back again unto the fold. And what manner of sheep I pray you? Marry such as are stubborn and rebellious, and seek themselves after the wolf, so little account make they of the shepherd. And of what shepherd? Of such a one as hath no need at all of the sheep, & who neither feedeth himself with the flesh, nor clotheth himself with the will of them, and which of themselves can bring no other thing unto their shepherd then all manner of filthiness & uncleanness, & yet are sought after of him notwithstanding over hill and dale, of him I say, who neither hath any need of them, neither can ever receive any commodity by them. For there is nothing letteth, but that this which is here spoken of this agility of the Bridegroom in hastening to waken his spouse being asleep, may not be understood of an other sleep then that, whereof we spoke before. In a word if the Lord made not haste to provide for us, who doubteth but that we should have perished a thousand times before we could have said unto him with the Prophet, O Lord think upon mine aid, o Lord make haste to succour me, Psal. 70.2. And therefore it is not without great reason that he upbraideth us with this slothfulness and recklessness of ours by his Prophet, saying, I have spoken continually unto you from the morning unto the evening, and you have not hearkened unto me: I have cried unto you, but you have not heard me, jer. 7.13. and 11.7.  
5 Alas, my brethren, it is of us that this complaint is made, unto whom the Lord for these eight and forty years hath not ceased to cry: but how many are there who instead of awaking, according unto the exhortation of the Apostle, Eph. 5.8. sleep not on still in their sins and vices, yea so far as that they have left no place more neither for the judgements of God, neither for the faithful and continual admonitions of his servants? And yet if we will be this true spouse of Christ, we should do that which is here said, I mean we should assoon as the Bridegroom hath spoken, say, behold the voice of the Bridegroom, we should go, nay we should run to meet him, with our lamps in our hands, to enter in unto the marriage feast, as it is spoken in the parable of the virgins, Mat. 25. before he swear that we shall not enter into his rest, Psal. 95.11.  
6 Now to make us the more ashamed of our slowness and sluggishness, we must consider of this similitude of the Roe or hind-calfe, unto which the Bridegroom is in this place compared, as unto beasts of great agility and nimbleness: especially if we take the word which Solomon here useth, not for a Roe, but for a chamoise or gemps, which is a beast more swift than the other without comparison, & of an incredible venterousnes and dexterity together to leap from cliff to cliff, as if it were a beast that rather flieth, as a man might say, then leapeth. Behold then why it is said that this Bridegroom running unto his spouse, quitteth the Mountains and the hills. And what are these mountains else, but that which putteth a mid-wall, as it were, between God and us, to hinder him if it might be, from coming unto us, and joining himself with us? Now there are two sorts of these mid-mountaines. For first of all Satan and his complices do what lieth in them to hinder that this bridegroom and this spouse should never see each the other, leaving no kind of cruelty unpractised, nor any kind of subtle & crafty sly means unattempted to work this division and divorce: the which thing is verified throughout the whole sacred history. But to go no farther for proof hereof, what hath been done in this behalf in our time by Kings and Emperors enchanted and bewitched by that whore of Rome, & by her slaves? And what doth the world still every day? Read we over all the histories of the ancient persecutions, no one excepted, shall we find the like unto that which hath been practised in our time? For there is neither fire, nor water, nor air, nor earth, which have not all of them been employed to suck the life of our poor brethren: there is no kind of cruel death through which they have not passed, neither have the hands of the hangmen only been wearied with their slaughter, but the people also have been employed to imbrue themselves with the blood of the poor, meek and innocent, without distinction of age▪ or difference of sex, or any privilege of nature whatsoever: & this licentiousness hath been permitted, to any that would die his hands red with innocent blood, not in time of war and hostility, but in the greatest appearance and confidence that might be of peace and friendship. As for all manner of sleights and wiles, hath there been any one unforgotten? But what? Can these impediments stay the Bridegroom, and shut him as it were up in heaven? No But he hath leapt over all this, and though he seemed to have abandoned and forsaken those who are his, yet was there never any tempest wherein he reached them not forth his hand, and whereof the end and issue both in respect of them whom he hath miraculously preserved and plucked forth out of the bloody hands of their enemies, as also in regard of them whom he hath vouchsafed this honour of finding their life before him, in losing of it before men) hath not finally turned unto the confusion of the persecutors themselves: some of them being presently punished, others being set as a spectacle of God's horrible judgements, not outwardly, which is a false mark & note, but inwardly, dying as wickedly as they lived▪ others living still to this day for no other end, but to be witnesses of gods infinite patience; who give them grace to acknowledge and amend their so great wickedness. Yea but will some of these mockers and scorners, of which the world is full fraught at this day, say; It is now too late. I answer, and that without all sophistication, taking the words as we ought to take them, that to come late is not to bestow a long time in coming, but more time than should be bestowed. The sun cometh not unto his point and period but after twelve months: shall we say that he is too late therefore in ruling the seasons of the year? Yea verily, if we will be wiser herein than God: but men of understanding and reason, and such as know that the Lord hath ordered and ruled the motions of the heavens with a wisdom in no point impeachable & such as preacheth the glory of God unto all the world, as it is declared in the 19 Psal. and elsewhere, judge otherwise. And who may then be suffered to say, that the Lord who hath made the times and seasons for the good & the bad, according as it is said, Genes. 8.22. hath not also bounded the government of his house and dwelling place, which is the Church? The Prophet is not of this opinion, Psal. 145.10. Let us therefore know and hold this for an irrefragable point and undeniable, and altogether resolved upon, according unto that which Saint Peter teacheth us, 2. Pet. 3.9. that the Lord is never late or slack in coming, that is to say faileth not to come at the point, yea and that leaping over all that which might seem to slack & stay his coming: but it is he which hath made the time, and who measureth it in such sort as it best appertaineth, which measuring of his a man can no more reasonably find fault withal, then if he should blame the sun for not rising at night or at noon.  
7 But all this which we have said touching these mountains & hills is not the principal, as being a thing easy to be understood, that there is neither force nor subtlety which can hinder or withhold the almighty so much as a moment of time. But know you what these great & terrible mountains are which stand so high between god & us? They are our sins, they are our iniquities, they are our wickednesses which indeed separate and divide us from God: Esaie. 59.2. And herein we must take heed how we flatter or soothe ourselves. For truly these sins of ours, these transgressions of ours, these wicked impieties of ours, are grown and heaped up from time to time into huge and great mountains before the face of the everliving. And what hath the Lord always done? Hath he not traversed these mountains to take pity upon his chosen and elect? What huge mountain was the sin of Adam? what mighty rock raised between God and the world, was that confusion which brought the deluge upon the woorld? If we pass farther in considering of the time under and after the law, what else shall we find, then that which Daniel in that most excellent prayer of his acknowledgeth and confesseth? Dan. 9.4. In the mean time what hath the Bridegroom done? Adam and Eve, in whom this spouse which was and shall be until the number of the elect be accomplished, was then wholly as it were comprised, had no sooner cast away & undone themselves, but this bridegroom hasted over the mountain to remedy the matter. The very night that the four hundred years were expired & ended he brought his people out of Egypt, shaking the heavens and the earth at their departure, Exod. 3.8. and 12.41. The like did he precisely at the end of seventy years, and stayed not a moment beyond to deliver his people out of the captivity of Babylon. For the Lord is true in his promises, not in part, but in all and through al. Are we assaulted of any enemy? He is strait way by us with arms in hand to defend us, Psal. 35. Have we provoked him to displeasure, & hath he taken the rod in hand to chastise and correct us? He knoweth whereof we be made, and is for the most part contented to have pulled us only by the ear: Psal. 103.9. If he be very angry, & will strike in earnest, yet behold how he preventeth his, healing them as it were, before he have hurt them. Go to, arise my people, enter into thy secret chambers (that is the captivity of Babylon) & shut the door upon thee, & hide thyself as it were for a small moment, until the indignation pass, Esay. 26.20. and 1. Pet. 2.24. nay which more is, where sin aboundeth, there doth his grace in the fullness of times overflow and superabound. And in our time, and in respect of us, what hath he done, and what doth he yet every day, every hour, every moment, but hast and run unto us, notwithstanding all these mighty rocks and mountains?  
8 And because that in the way he was to meet with that great & more than fearful bottomless pit of Gods most just curse & malediction upon us, how hath he wrought therein? O bounty of his, O love, O charity infinite and incomprehensible! He hath charged upon his back this mountain also of our sins and carried it even unto his cross, he hath entered & waded through the gulf of the malediction of that judge, so far as to cry: My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Being dead, he hath pursued death even unto his own home, which is the grave, & finally passing as a victorious conqueror through all this: he is come running unto this poor desolate spouse, & hath drawn her out of darkness into his most admirable light, 1. Pet. 2.9. and hath raised her from the bottom of hell to the highest top of the heavens. Ye see then how most true it is which the spouse here speaketh preaching unto us the unspeakable speed and readiness the Bridegroom useth to awaken her, to guide and help her at her need.  
9 But that which the spouse addeth, That the Bridegroom kept himself behind the wall, and caused himself to be seen only through the grate or lattice, ought well to be considered as putting a difference between the old and the new covenant. For it is true that there was never no other mediator between God and men, but this only Bridegroom of this only spouse, which is the Church. It is also most true, that in respect of the effect of his death, he hath suffered from the beginning of the world, Apoc. 13.8. and that consequently the faith of the ancient fathers and ours is all one faith, Heb. 11. But in respect of the manner & measure of the manifestation of this knowledge, there have been two covenants: the one new, the other old which hath an end, being ordained no longer then unto the real coming of the Saviour and full exhibiting and declaration of the doctrine of salvation, which is the gospel. Under the ancient covenant therefore the Lord hath spoken many times & in diverse sorts, not of another doctrine, but after another fashion, both unto the patriarchs before the Law, and afterward after another manner under the Law by the shadows & figures thereof: whereof jesus Christ was the body and substance, Heb. 1.1. &. 10.1. & Coloss. 2.17 &. 1. Cor. 10.4.11. & Gal. 4.24. but in the fullness of times God spoke by the mouth of his own son, who became our brother, & exhibited and accomplished really that which was before represented as it were a far off, through the shadows of the Law ceremonial, Heb. 11.13. The Bridegroom therefore came then unto the spouse, but not so near as to kiss her with the kisses of his own mouth, for the last pledge as it were of the consummation of this marriage: but kept himself aloof behind the wall, to say as it were unto his spouse, Lo behold me who forget you not, but will assuredly keep my promise with you in his time, without failing a jot with you, how many difficulties and hindrances so ever present themselves between us. Which thing is verified throughout the whole sacred history of the time which went before the coming of jesus Christ in flesh. By this wall therefore we must understand, first of all whatsoever was wanting in the ancient covenant being compared with the new, & this again in a double respect. For besides that the effect and end of the faith of the ancient fathers depended on that which was to be executed & performed, & which was really executed for our salvation by jesus christ come in the flesh, to the end that as it is said, Heb. 11.40. they should not be saved without us: this secret & mystery was shadowed forth unto them by diverse & sundry legal figures, which is compared unto a wall, which was first to be sallied over, before he & his spouse could see each other & be joined more nearer together. Moreover, as the same is most divinely handled by the Apostle in the Ep. to the Galathians, the accomplishment of all righteousness & the satisfaction for our sins being not yet actually come, although by faith the same were present before God & unto the eyes of the believing: yet was there still as it were a very thick wall between this Bridegroom & this spouse. Secondly the Lord having chosen unto himself that only people of the jews, separated all other people of the world from than in every kind of sort, whether we consider the principal point which was the covenant of salvation, or whether we have a regard unto all that which concerned the policy of Israel, Eph. 2.12. the which separation endured until the midwal was broken down, and the testament of jacob was accomplished, who calleth the Messiah (that is to say this Bridegroom) the expectation of the Gentiles in general as Simeon in his song expounded the same, Gen. 49.10. Luk. 2.32. conformably unto the whole Scripture. It is no marvel therefore if this spouse having regard unto her condition, such as then it was & should remain until the coming of this Bridegroom in flesh, maketh mention of this wall. Now she addeth this word of grates or lattice to show hereby that this wall is not of any thick or earthly matter, so that the Bridegroom might not be perceived through it any whit at all being on the other side: nor like unto those walls which separate the wicked from God. But such a wall as hath open windows in it, or as if it were pierced with grates & lattice. For such was the ancient covenant made with Abraham & afterward renewed under Moses with a thousand ceremonies, albeit obscure, yet such notwithstanding as that through them the ancient fathers beheld with Abraham the day of the Lord and rejoiced thereat, joh. 8.56. Neither may we doubt but that Solomon, who was the builder of the temple, used these manner of speeches, in respect of those walls, vails and bars, by which not only the common people were kept forth out of the court of the priests, but the inner court also of the Priests distinguished from the sanctuary, all which partitions were first broken down from the bottom unto the top at the death of the Lord, Mat. 27.31. to the end that all that, which declared that the promises were not yet really executed, being removed, the people of God should look for a better condition, Heb. 7.19. & that that which separated the people of Israel from other nations of the earth being beaten down, all people should be blessed being made the sons of Abraham, unto whom the promise was made, that he should be the father of blessing, to all the nations of the earth, as the Apostle declareth the same most amply and at large in the Epistles unto the Galathians and the Ephesians.  
10 It is said therefore that this beloved caused himself to be seen through the grates or lattice, but it is also added by and by that he spoke too. For the true jesus Christ is not a dumb Idol, nor a crucifix of stone or of wood, he is not this goodly breadden god closed in the Pixe, which cannot show himself, without he be carried about, and is dumb and can make no complaint though the mites or the mice eat him. But this is the true God which spoke then in the Temple by the figures of the law, and by the mouth of the Priests doing their duty, Mal. 2.7. and in the synagogues by the Levites and doctors of the law every sabbath Mat. 23.2. Act. 13.27. and 15.21. & in all places and every where by the Prophets, aswell by mouth as also by writing, Esay. 40.6. Zach. 1.14. jerem. 36.2. & 1. Pet. 1.11. In a word, wisdom did then cry in the streets, even by the mouth also of the penman of this Canticle, as all the rest of his writings do also witness, prover. 1.20. but never by Images or Idols, which were afterward called the books of the ignorant people indeed books to teach them all manner of falsehood, as the Prophets pronounce of them, and such as transform the worshippers also of them into Idols, Psal. 115.8. and 135.18. as indeed is come to pass, and is to be seen with the eye in every false Church of Idols. The true & only Church therefore is she, which alone may say, My well-beloved hath spoken unto me, which she could not say neither, if as the Bridegroom spoke, so she also did not hearken unto him, and retained that which she heard of him without blending any thing with it, or without adding aught thereto, or diminishing any thing from it. For the false Church vaunteth also that the Bridegroom hath spoken unto her too: but if a man demand what it is he said, then appeareth her shamelessness and forgery. For as for the common sort, whom they call the laity, it is heresy for them to read this word in the common & vulgar language: & as for those to whom they are to refer themselves, shall a man find one man among an hundred, who ever thought upon the holy Scriptures, nay hath seen so much as the cover of the books? Indeed certain wallet-brethrens there are, of whom some be chattering until their chaps be made up with the pray they sought after: others of them recommend their covent to the charity of devout people, and all of them together bestir themselves well in their business. But where is in the mean time the word of this Bridegroom? It either sleepeth, or is yelled & howled out, censed, adored, clouted & patched up in a strange language, and upon some solemn days sophisticated and quintessenced in a limbeck, to serve for a corrective in the poisoned drench of the whore. O most poor and miserable condition! But the world is worthy of such Prophets.  
11 I have said, that it is not enough that the Bridegroom speak, but we must hearken unto, know and practise that which he speaketh. That is not the true Church then which stayeth herself still here below, and consequently goeth no farther than herself, either in whole or in part, mingling her own merits with grace, according unto the example of the proud Pharisie, Luk. 18.11. and that much less, which either borroweth or buyeth the false merits of an other, which were never any: but she which seeketh after her whole righteousness & life, in the only free love and dilection of jesus Christ.  
12 He calleth her also his fair one, and that by great reason and on just cause. For the true Church is adorned and decked with the whole beauty of her Bridegroom, and therefore it is not that harlot painted with the painter's pot of those inventions whereof mention is made, Coloss. 2.22. as neither are those hypocrites the Church of God, who are like unto painted sepulchres, fair without, and full of all stench & rottenness within, Matth. 23.27. Neither those who are the reformed in name but more then deformed indeed, who have put off the Pope with his superstition, but yet have not put on jesus Christ and true godliness: have abolished and removed the visible Idols of wood and stone, but harbour still within themselves the invisible Idols, the more dangerous, whom they serve and honour day and night, I mean covetousness, gluttony and such other good goddesses.  
13 The Bride addeth and come thy way, namely unto me, and to no other neither in heaven nor in earth, yea and that without joining with him any companion or fellow collateral, as they do who worship and adore a strange Queen of heaven: much less making any his superior, as do those sacrilegious worshippers and adorers of the virgin Marie, who are so impudently presumptuous as to cry out in their dens of Idolatry, Roga patrem, iube natum: that is, pray the father, command the son: and jure matris impera, that is, command in the authority of a mother. For this Bridegroom is the only mediator between God and men, not only of Redemption, but also of Intercession, though the Saints which live do pray in common both for themselves and for their brethren. And this was the practice of the whole Church from the beginning of the world, until the time of the general revolt, when it came in by little and little under colour of devotion.  
14 But some man will happily demand, in what sort this is to be understood, that he which cometh himself to awake the spouse, inviteth her to come unto him? The answer is, that we would never come unto jesus Christ, either to hear him, or to practise his doctrine, if as he hath loved us first, so he came not also to summon and warn us first, to follow him. For if he came unto us to stay and abide here below with us, than were his kingdom of this world: but now he ceaseth not to cry after us to draw us from hence on high unto him, Coloss. 3.1.  
15 What did this Bridegroom then say by all the ancient prophecies and shadows of the Law, but this, Come unto me, and rest not yourselves on that which you here see with your eye, but hold yourselves unto him, who is to come in person? Which thing being not well considered by the hypocrites and ignorant, seeking after their salvation in the altars and sacrifices, we see how sharply and bitterly they are for that cause reprehended throughout the whole Scripture. Which more is, this Bridegroom being arrived in person, and making himself visible and palpable in flesh (which the Apostle justly calleth the great secret or mystery Eph. 5.32.) would not notwithstanding have us to stay ourselves on that corporal presence of his, but contrariwise it is expedient, saith he, that I go my ways, joh. 16.7. For, saith he, my father is greater than I. That is to say, so long as you shall see me in this humiliation and baseness of corporal presence in such an estate as you men are, you will never learn and know what the authority and power is which I have, and the possession whereof I shall then receive when I shall be entered into celestial glory with my father. And in another place, I go my way, saith he, to prepare a place, and lodging for you, joh. 14.2. yea in my father's house: and where is this house, seeing god is every where? It is true indeed that he is every where, because he is infinite. But he dwelleth not but in his Saints, & so consequently in his Church, being said to no other than unto his people, I will dwell among them. Yea so far is it that this Bridegroom dwelleth in the world: that contrariwise the Apostle desireth to be dislodged to be with him, Phil. 1.23. witnessing elsewhere that we are wayfarers and pilgrims here below, 2. Cor. 5.1. and therefore we sigh after his return, not to sojourn here, but to be caught up in the clouds with him, and to reign with him for ever in that habitation, whereunto he is first ascended, and whence he will one day come to carry us up above all the heavens, 1. Thess. 4.17. not to seek or inquire farther after this glory which surpasseth the reach of our understanding. Therefore when it is said, that he is with us unto the end and consummation of the world, this neither may nor ought to be understood of the presence or situation of his body here below, seeing he is truly ascended up into heaven and there shall remain until his returning again at the latter day, Act. 1.11. and 3.21. but in as much as he dwelleth in our hearts by his spirit, and that by his divine power he governeth and and preserveth his Church waiting her full victory. Otherwise if he were here by a real presence of his body, it should not be said that he is departed and gone, nor that he will return hither again: and we should say with Saint Peter dazzled with the glory he saw, & not then knowing what he said, It is good for us to tarry here still, let us make us tabernacles here, Luk. 9.33. And this is a wonderful thing that themselves yet maintaining, and holding others in this false and blockish opinion, by which the foundations of our salvation, I mean the articles of the true incarnation, ascension & returning of jesus Christ are notoriously overthrown: consider not what themselves cry in their mass, to wit, sursum corda, that is, lift up your hearts, which were very absurd to say, if we must look after him here below in the hands of him whom we see with our eyes.  
16 In sum, these few words, Come thy way, aught to serve us for a summary abridgement of the whole doctrine of salvation, consisting in these two points, that during this life, we should continually aspire on high, unto a far better life; & that to come thereunto, turning ourselves from all the enticements & allurements which stay us here below, & using this world so, as if we were not at all in it, 1. Cor. 7.31. and Gal. 6.14. every of us take our way right unto God according unto his vocation, practising and putting in ure his commanudements: and not, when he saith Come thy way, seeking after excuses such as are mentioned, Luk. 14.18. for unto such it shall not be said, Come ye my well-beloved, but go ye cursed: the Lord grant us to hear that so happy a word, and preserve us from this other so fearful and so horrible. Amen.  
Almighty God etc.   

THE twentieth SERMON. Our help be in the name of God etc. It is written as followeth in the second Chapter of the Canticle of Canticles, the 11.12. and 13. verses.  
11 For behold the winter is passed, the rain is changed, it is gone away.  
12 The flowers appear in the earth, the time of singing (of the Birds) is come, the voice of the Turtle hath been heard in our country.  
13 The fig tree hath brought forth his young figs, & the vines with their grapes have cast forth their savour.  
1 How the harmony of the heavens & the elements, was put out of tune in the elementary part of the woorld, by the sin of man.  
2 The spiritual world, which is the Church, hath her four seasons also, according as the sun draweth near, or is farther off, but conducted by a secret direction of a special providence of God.  
3 Example of these seasons.  
4 After what sort the bridegroom having driven away the parching of the summer, and the rigour and sharpness of the winter, inviteth & leadeth his spouse unto the spring-time.  
5 A description of this spring-time.  
6 What the fair flowers of the church are in their season.  
7 The Lord planteth with these flowers the ground-plot of his Church, by his holy gardiner's.  
8 A comparison of these goodly flowers with the false gloss of the false Church.  
9 A complaint touching the sterility & scarcity of these flowers in all estates of Christians in our days.  
10 The sonnets and songs which ring in the true Church opposed to worldly poems, and unchaste and filthy ballads.  
11 The song of the Bridegroom inviting his spouse.  
12 The song of the spouse answering her Bridegroom.  
13 Together with the flowers are found likewise most pleasant fruits in the garden of the true spouse.  
14 A difference between the fruit of this garden, husbanded and trimmed by the bridegroom, and those virtues which men call moral.  
15 The garden of the Church is not replanted a new after the winter is past, but hath been & doth remain planted from the beginning: and how greatly they are abused who take that which is old for new, and that which is new for old.  
16 The young figs, must become perfect figs: and the young sour grapes, must ripen and become good raisins.  
17 An exhortation upon all that which went before, grounded upon the figtree which was cursed by the bridegroom.  
IF our first Parent had not gone beyond and transgrested the commandment of his Creator and maker, the temperature & mutual harmony of the heavens and the elements had remained and continued in such compass and measure, that in this life, which the Apostle Saint Paul, 1. Cor. 15.45. maketh to consist of a living soul, man had received, neither hurt, nor change, but had been maintained and continued therein so long as it had pleased God. But man having so wretchedly and carelessly offended God, did most justly enthrall and make himself subject unto death, Rom. 5.12. and thereupon have entered all the disorders and confusions, by which death hath been caused, aswell within men, as without: among the which we are to account among the principal causes, the changing of the seasons through which there happen these colds and heats, moistures and droughs, which are as it were so many preachers of the sins of man, and so many executioners of the just condemnation of him. This notwithstanding, it is a marvelous, nay an infinite grace & favour that the Lord hath so ruled this unruliness, & so ordered this disorder, signified by Moses, where he saith, that God being provoked by the sin of man, cursed the earth, Gen. 3.17. that for all this, the woorld is maintained and continued by a reciprocal and interchangeable succession of four seasons: which is reckoned up for a special favour unto mankind after the deluge Gen. 8.22. the sharpness of the winter, being bounded with the sweet and gracious spring-time, as if death were chased away by life: & the parching heat deadened by the temperature of the autumn-time, according as the sun accompanied with light and with heat, cometh near, or goeth farther from us, a work of God marvelously, nay infinitely admirable.  
2 Now if this visible world and which tendeth unto his end and term, be subject to such varieties of years, seasons, months and days, the other world which is spiritual, albeit it tend unto immortality, is yet more turning & wheeling, not on two stars, which the Astronomers call Poles, but upon the wheel of God's providence conducting this other woorld by the springs of a motion altogether secret and unknown unto us, except it be so far as it please God to make us more particularly to know and perceive them. I understand by this other world him, whose sins are taken away by the Lamb, joh. 1.29. him, for whom the father gave his son, joh. 3.16. and who is opposed unto him, for whom jesus Christ saith that he prayeth not, joh. 17.9. and, from whom also we are severed, joh. 17.16. In a word it is the Church that is here spoken of, and which hath, so long as it continueth here below, her spring-time, and her summer, her autumn & her winter, not ruled by the course of the stars, but, as I have said, by a special motion of him, who hath made the heavens and the earth, to begin and end, where, and how far, and in what sort it pleaseth God. Neither is it therefore to be said that the Church, being composed of men, passeth not through the cold and heat of this lower and elementary world, and by the effects which follow thereof, as are barrenness, famines, plagues, and other inconveniences, nay that sometimes it suffereth not in these things more than others, as this argument is handled at large, Ps. 73. yet notwithstanding, this natural disposition of seasons is not it whereby we must judge the seasons of the Church, because her spring time is often in the greatest and sharpest winter of others: and contrariwise that which is the spring-time to others, is unto her the most rough and tempestuous winter. For she hath her sun by herself, the approaching whereof with a mild and quickening heat, not parching or scorching, bringeth her always a most pleasant spring-time for her better sowing, budding, & flourishing: & afterward a temperate summer for the bringing forth of her fruit: after that a goodly autumn to gather it in his ripeness: & finally a good winter for the enjoying thereof, and preparing of another seed. Contrariwise when this sun withdraweth itself, or distributeth not the influence of his light and heat, as the necessities require, there are no good times of sowing, or of harvest, or of vintage, but a general barrainnes and mortal famine; in a word, a perpetual winter, that a man cannot see so much as one green leaf, though all the world beside be in great good health and tranquillity, with plenty and abundance of all dainties and delicacies. This sun is this Bridegroom: that sun of righteousness, who carrieth health upon his wings, Malac. 4.2. that branch of light or daie-spring from on high, Zach. 3.8. Luke. 1.78. lightenning them whom he found in the shadow of death, isaiah. 9.2. and shining on his jerusalem, Esaie. 60.1.2. And because that this is by the order which he hath established, that this world of his is governed, I mean by the sincere preaching of his word and the administration of his sacraments, accompanied with the efficacy of his holy spirit, according as the sun drawing near or going farther off, appeareth unto the world, we must necessarily conclude, that according as this holy ministery hath his force, or is deprived of it (whether it be for a time eclipsed, or whether it cast forth his beams mightily, but men love darkness still more than this light, in such sort that little effect thereof appeareth) it is upon this diversity and difference we must judge of the good and fair weather, or of the ill and hard time of the Church, & not according unto the outward either prosperity, or adversity of this world below. Notwithstanding when it so pleaseth God, the sun of the Church, and the sun of this world meet, to cherish it in all kind of sorts: as sometimes on the contrary, both of them are withdrawn together, to bring on it a marvelous rough and as it were a deadly winter.  
3 Examples hereof are sown throughout the sacred histories, and appear yet most clearly in our time: but I will content myself with the allegation of a few notable examples, unto the which Solomon himself might seem to have had an especial regard. I say then, that if ever the Church enjoyed a goodly and fair time of weather, it was under josua and the governors of that time, the people being planted together with the service of God, most triumphantly in the land of promise, as appeareth by that which is written in josu. 24.35. afterward, for all the time of the judges until Samuel, if it had one fair day, it had an whole year of stormy weather and tempests. And what a witnter was that time, in the which the Ark of the covenant was taken captive, Silo ruined, briefly all brought into an utter confusion? God drove away afterward this storm of fowl weather, by his Samuel, who also reform the schools of the Prophets. But this sunshine was scarcely appeared, when horrible darkness was brought in by Saul, the Priests themselves being massacred, sorcerers and soothsayers set up and restored, and the people exposed to ignominy among their enemies, being as a body without an head, until that David, not without grievous rough storms, being made king by the Lord, the goodly clear fair wether indeed began to arise, which continued as it were unto his full noon, under Solomon, who furnished the house of the Lord both within and without, with a most triumphant magnificency, at which time God granted so long a peace unto his Church with abundance and plenty of all temporal blessings: and it may be that the Bridegroom setteth before the eyes of his spouse, that happy change of the time, inviting & bidding her to awake to have the fruition thereof. As much may we and ought we to say, to have come to pass in the time begun, about these threescore years since, the lord having of his infinite bounty and mercy driven away out of a great part of Christendom, the horrible and deadly darkness of that Idolatry brought in by the false whore with such an efficacy of the spirit of error, that the greatest part of them who attribute unto themselves the name of great Catholics and Christians, are yet therewith unto this day enchanted and bewitched. This spring-time therefore was sent by the Lord from heaven, who raised up in our time these great and famous personages in the holy ministery of his word, and on the other side placed in the seats of magistrates, his Ezechiasses and josiasses, who mightily destroyed the new Baalimes and Astarothes.  
4 And what did they else but call and invite this spouse, being awaked, to come unto her Bridegroom, and to accompany him into those goodly gardens of true delights whereof the Prophet maketh mention, Psal. 22.36? And we which are succeeded after them, what other thing do we but cry in your ears, in the name of this Bridegroom, Arise, come, the winter is past, the goodly weather is come, the acceptable time, the day of Salvation, 2. Cor. 6.2. But alas, what shall I say? Every one playeth the deaf man, every one is asleep, every one is shrouded & nestled, in I know not what reckless security: against the which though we have long cried, yet we cry still in vain, so that the end is, we are likely to be shortly awaked, by other manner of messengers. In the mean time let us take a view of the excellent description of this goodly season, whereof mention is made by David, Psal. 118.24. to the end that they who have ears may hear what the Bridegroom here saith, and rejoice in this merry good morrow of his.  
5 The winter, saith the Bridegroom, is passed, the rain is past, it is gone away. We know that the winter is nothing else but the death as it were of the woorld, besides that the stormy cold and the obscurity and darkness of the air covered throughout with thick clouds, deprive men of the use both of the heat as also of the light of the sun. The Church on the contrary side is the kingdom of light, joh. 5.6. and 1. Thess. 5.5. And because that jesus Christ is the life, joh. 11.25. nay hath life in himself, Ioh 5.26. it followeth that the church only is in life, as the world is in death: and therefore is she also compared unto a forest of trees not dead, and such as are ready to be cut down, and cast into the fire, Mat. 3.10. but always green, flourishing, and laden with fruit, Psalm. 1.3. yea and that when they are extreme old, Psal. 92.14. The reason is added in that place, because they are planted by the rivers of running waters; and of what waters? Certainly of those which flow forth unto eternal life, joh. 4.14. not of that which is in ditches and wells, rising from out of the bowels of the earth, but of the water, saith this Bridegroom, which I give, which issueth from above, not which this sun draweth up from the earth, but sendeth down into the earth, as flowing & proceeding from him, as it is said, Psal. 110.3. that the Church is borne of the dew of this morning: and Matth. 5.45. being borne anew by the water which is from above, which is the spirit of God, joh. 3.15. much less that water, which is drawn out of some standing pool, or cistern: but that which is most pure, and most clean jer. 2.13. namely, not the water which men have digged in the earth, but which himself sendeth from heaven, and whereunto he calleth and inviteth all those who are his, Esay. 55.1. These things being well considered, teach us to know the true Church, from the false, I mean the living Church from the dead, Apoc. 5.1. the true word of God, powered from heaven upon the Prophets and Apostles, to carry abroad and disperse it through the whole woorld, Esay. 2.20. Apoc. 22.2. from the false proceeding from the earth, and out of men's brains, Esay. 29.13. and Coloss. 2.22. and consequently the true christian, from the superstitious and from the hypocrite.  
6 That which the Bridegroom addeth of flowers with which the earth is tapistred, is referred unto the same that that before, being meant hereby the efficacy and working of the holy ghost in the Church, when it pleaseth God to bless the labour of his ministers and servants, in such sort that the whole ground of the Lord is throughout plaited with flowers, which cast a sweet smell even unto heaven, being most pleasing unto the Lord, I mean, in jesus Christ, saith the Apostle, 2. Cor. 2.15. and not in themselves, that men forge not unto themselves merits out of the qualities of the fairest and sweetest flowers, which our garden can bring, though it be blessed from above: so far is it that that ground, on which the pestilent and contagious winds which come forth of the hollowness of the earth do blow, can produce these flowers which are here mentioned: how ever they smell sweet unto men, who bear themselves in hand, that the filth of their inventions, savour of musk before Lord. These flowers than are such as God soweth in his ground, 1. Cor. 3.9. namely by the ministery of such as he hath ordained to plant and to water, 1. Cor. 3.16. for which cause the Apostle calleth the Philippians his joy and crown, Philip. 4.1.  
7 For who else soweth these flowers but the Lord, who sendeth them from an high, by his most precious word, dispensed and administered by the order which he hath established? isaiah. 5.2. namely under the Law, in that magnificent temple together with all his furniture and provision, & by that so well ordered army of the Priests and Levites, in that magnificency, which is particularly painted out unto us, in the first of the Kings & the first of the Chronicles, whereunto we must adjoin the wisdom of Solomon, which gave his shining brightness unto the ends of the world, accompanied with all other blessings of God, by which his people became admirable & wondered to all the nations of the earth. But yet were all these flowers nothing in comparison of the ministry of the gospel, committed first unto the Apostles & Evangelists his most excellent and diligent planters and sowers, 1. Cor. 3.9. by whom the garden-plat as it were of this world being turned up a new, & transformed into a new terrestrial paradise was afterwards in his time not only simply checked and enamelled with flowers, but also enriched with the most precious treasures of that which is above the heavens, powered down first in all abundance and perfection upon the head of this Bridegroom, who afterward made an admirable and infinite largesse thereof on the day of Pentecost, as the Apostle maketh that goodly reckoning of them, 1. Cor. 2. and especially Ephes. 4.11. speaking of the vocations truly ecclesiastical, which are the true beauty and ornament of the Church, not accompanied with such temporal blessings, as was the Temple & kingdom of Solomon, but altogether spiritual and incomprehensible, and hath the cross itself for her garland, and as it were an especial mark that she is not of this world, but hated and persecuted of the world, as was her head, joh. 17.14.16. unto whom we must by this means be made conformable in death, to be also one day in life and in glory, Rom. 8.28. and 2. Tim. 2.1.  
8 The marks therefore of the true Christian Church are neither steeples, nor towers, nor other sumptuous & costly buildings, neither crosses, nor mitres of gold or of silver, nor clothes of gold, or precious stones, which had their place in the ancient temple to serve for the rudiments & principles of the world, & to be the figure of that whereof jesus Christ is the body, Col. 2.8.17. and Heb. 10.1. So that now all this pelf and trash is the ornament and decking of the whore, Apoc. 17.4. but the Churches true ornament and setting forth is, in respect of the Lord, the order of his holy ministery & service set up & established: & in respect of herself, the certainty of understanding and assured knowledge she hath of the secret of our salvation, Col. 2.2. and the fruits of the spirit, recited by the Apostle, Gal. 5.22. flowers truly pleasant and liking the Lord through his grace.  
9 But alas, as we have great occasion to magnify our good God and father for that which proceedeth from him: so what exceeding cause have we to humble and condemn ourselves before his face? For where shall these flowers be found among us? And if there be any, as the word of the Lord, is never without some effect, Esa. 55.11. shall we yet be able to find so many as may suffice to make a nosegay, to present our Bridegroom withal? I dare not say it standing here in the chair of truth, shall we find any of these flowers in the merchants shops? No, for there is nothing smelleth sweet unto them but gain. What? In the courts and tribunals of justice dispersed here and there through Christendom as it is called? Alas, not to speak of the negligence there committed, which displeaseth God so highly, and the acception of persons, a thing so stinking before him, is it possible to find any sweet smelling violet in the desert of extortion, of falsehood, of consciences set to sale, of desire of revenge, of making a trade and living in setting all the woorld a pleading? Go we to men of occupation, and what shall we find? Deceit and cousinage in some, idleness in others, yea in such as live by their days journey, and especially in the best woorkmen. I report me to the places hereaboutes so much used and haunted with their playing at keils both within & without the city. I report me to the taverners accounts, who live by the idleness of such people: to the tears and moanings of wives, who carry the marks of their idle and drunken husbands: and to their little children pining and languishing away, and ready to die with hunger. But peradventure you shall find some sweet flower among these great ones who live by their rent. Nothing less. But, what will will you give me is the first entrance unto your suit. I am content you have it keapes aloof. Wade you farther in it, you find nothing but double dealing and unsatiable covetousness: If you mean to renew your lease, speak to my dame, for she rules the house. And yet you must say grand-mercy, I thank you sir to the butcher that hath cut the purse, though the poor sheep can bleed no longer. It may be the women who make so much of garlands and nosegays, will furnish us with some of these flowers. Not a whit: for they are well agreed in this point, and Madam is as good as Mounsieur, and Mounsieur as Madam, master as mistress, and mistress as master: nay here it is and among these you shall find all stinking vanities and superfluities from the head to the feet, what ever laws the magistrates make to the contrary, what warnings so ever we make them in the name of God, what visitation so ever the Lord lay upon them. For what can all this do or profit?  
10 The Bridegroom addeth, that the time of the music of the birds is come, & that the turtle hath been heard. But what music is this? And what are these songs? Not these unchaste and filthy poems which men bring us even hither, so stinking that never came greater infection out of the dungeons of the most infamous brothelhouses that ever were: not such sounds as are cast into the air in a tongue unknown, both to the fingers themselves, and to such as hear them sing. 1. Cor. 14.15. Not these infamous hymns or proses full of Idolatry, which the Idolaters howl forth unto their dumb Idols, 1. King. 18.16. Not these cantels & morsels of scriptures warbled, quavered and, crochetted to give pleasure unto the ears: not these vain and sottish songs and ballads which the fildes' ring of all harvest and vintage time: but those, those songs, I say, which God teacheth unto the heart, & putteth in the mouth of those who are his, Psal. 40.4. Of which sort we have a great number made and uttered by the holy ghost. With this harmony therefore the Bridegroom tuneth his song, and inviteth his spouse to keep therein like time and accord with him.  
11 And what is this voice of the spouse but his holy word which hath tongue in the world, & hath in most divine sort charmed his Church, first of all by his prophets, afterwards in his time by himself in person, then by his Apostles, and yet in our days by his faithful Pastors and Doctors? I am thy God, and the God of thy posterity, sang he to Abraham, Gen. 17.7. and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, Gen. 26.4. which day of the Lord he saw and rejoiced therein, joh. 8.56. Up, arise, hath he said to jerusalem by Esay, be bright, for thy light is come, and the glory of the everliving is risen upon thee, Esay. 60.1. we bring you tidings of great joy, which shallbe unto all people, said the Angels unto the shepherds, Luk. 2.10. filling and replenishing the air afterwards with this divine Canticle and song, Glory be unto God in the highest heavens, & peace in earth towards men, Luk. 2.14. and his song or charge what is it? Come unto me all ye that are heavy laden and oppressed, and I will ease you, Math. 11.28. And what is that of the Apostle? Rejoice always, saith he, and again I say unto you rejoice, Philip. 4.4. And to the end we should not think, that the cross which is an inseparable companion of the gospel, hindereth any whit at all this joy, In as much, saith he by the mouth of Saint Peter, as you are partakers of Christ's sufferings rejoice ye, 1. Pet. 4.13. which lesson himself had learned of his master, Math. 5.12.  
12 Behold then the time whereof the Bridegroom here speaketh, behold the songs of this turtle which calleth her mate unto her, which faileth not to answer her with the like, as we see the examples thereof in the songs and Canticles of the Saints: whereunto the young birds also invite us, knowing the time of their chaste mating & coupling: for which cause we are to our great reproach & that justly sent back unto them by the Prophet, to learn our duty, jerem. 8.7. And let us note that when we speak of songs which ought to ring in the Church, the question is not so much of the voice, albeit the mouth must confess that which the heart believeth, Rom. 10.10. but the heart within and the mouth without must accord, that we be not touched with that reproach, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Esay. 29.13. And in an other place, what hast thou to do to recite my ordinances, and to make mention of my Law within thy mouth? Psal. 50.16. And therefore the Prophet saith not only that we must praise God, but that his praises are sitting unto them who walk uprightly, Psal. 33.1. Secondly the true faithful man is composed altogether of mouths and of tongues, neither thinking, nor saying, nor doing any thing, nor in a word having aught in himself, but that which declareth & testifieth the glory of him, whose new creature he is, created for his glory, Ephe. 1.12. and 1. Cor. 10 13. otherwise we know not what this spring-time meaneth. For how ever it be, the land of the Lord is of songs and thanksgivings, Psalm. 118.15.  
13 And this is cause why the spouse addeth for other marks of the spring-time, that the figtree hath yielded forth her young figs, & that the vines are shooting out their young grapes, to show us that in the Church of God grace is given us, not only to will which is as it were the flower, but also to do, which is the fruit, to wit, the effect of our will, Philip. 2.13. Eph. 2.2.  
14 And let us note that he speaketh of two kinds of fruit, the most delicate that be, to show us the difference, which is between the appearances of virtues, ordinarily called Moral virtues, (such as they are) which a man may meet withal in them who are not regenerate, in whom god doth in some sort repress that natural wickedness which is in all, whose works notwithstanding, are without either taste or savour, (according unto that which is said, that whatsoever is without faith is sin, Rom. 14.23. and that without jesus Christ there is nothing which can please God unto salvation) and the works of the children of God governed by the spirit of regeneration Rom. 8.9. For which cause it is also said that faith which is without works is but a dead thing. james. 2.26.  
15 Farther let us note that he speaketh in this place of the Church, not as of a ground planted altogether new, but as an ancient possession & heritage, which being for a time laid waste or fallow, hath been husbanded anew and manured. For as for the true Church of God, she shallbe always found to be more old and ancient, than the false, seeing that truth is before lying, and that which is sound and entire before that which is false and corrupted. So was Adam created after the Image of God, before he was deformed by sin: and after sin was entered, Adam and Eve believing the promise of salvation (for otherwise there should have been no Church in the world) the Church which is the city of God, had her beginning before the city of Satan, which began from Cain & his. But seeing that men have, time without mind, accustomed to set forth and commend themselves under the name of Antiquity, especially unto them who are ignorant, whose ignorance they abuse who live by this abuse: behold how it cometh to pass that they which will not suffer themselves to be better taught, take often times that which is new for old, and that which is old for new. Such are they of whom Saint Peter speaketh, who said of that time, when a man spoke unto them of the second coming of the son of God to judge the world, which we yet wait for, that all things were, as they are now, since the first fathers: which thing is false saith he. For they should know that the world was not created in such sort in the beginning as now it is, and that God hath already executed an horrible judgement on the corruption thereof. In this sort after the captivity they reproached jeremy, that he had marred all, and that then and before he mealed with preaching unto them, they and their fathers found themselves in good case by calling upon the Queen of heaven and burning incense unto her, jerem 44.17. nay which more is, when they heard jesus Christ himself to speak, they said, What kind of new doctrine is this? Mar. 1.27. But jesus Christ answered them, Search the scriptures for they speak of me, joh. 5.39. Now this Queen of heaven was the sun, as the phrase of the Hebrew tongue doth import, and in my time what other difference hath there been but this, that by the Queen of heaven, is meant not the sun but the Virgin Mary, as if there were a Queen mother in heaven? For it is certain that there is a Queen, the spouse of this Bridegroom which is already partly in heaven, and partly yet languishing here on earth, to wit, the Church being coheir with jesus Christ, as she is also called by this name of Queen. Psal. 45.10. but this is not because she should be adored. Not the whole church, I say, so far is that the blessed virgin ever required, or yet requireth that which is properly belonging unto her son, or that she allowed of (to admit that she could understand them) these titles full of most horrible and most execrable blasphemy, to be called a Mediatrix, mother of mercy, our life, our hope, having power to command her son. And yet to find fault with all this, were a point of greater impiety in the opinion of them, who call themselves chief Christians, then if a man had denied God, an hundred thousand times. For behold, say they, there was never yet any since Christ's time, that called not upon this Queen of heaven, & all the Saints, yea who gave not credit to all these things, which you call miserable abuses: as never yet the time that there was not Mass said, & a Pope to be gods vicar in earth. And what new gospel then I pray you is this of yours? Where was this new Church of yours I pray you fifty years ago? Behold their common language. But we will send them back unto this text, and will tell them with this Bridegroom, that this is that only vine which he transported out of Egypt, which hath been a long time in the hands of wicked, not vineyarders but destroyers, from whom it is now taken, to be restored and husbanded. The wild beasts have browsed it, but God hath made up the hedge thereof again, & set up his wine press in it, Psal. 80.15. & Mat. 21.33. they are the same fig trees which were before, but being become barren for want of careful trimming and looking too, they now bear little figs, as the vine beginneth to shoot forth her tender grapes. Such was the condition of the Church after the storms which fell in saul's time, which David by all means sought to remedy, but was not able notwithstanding entirely to perfect the service ceremonial, nor the temple, which Solomon afterward having compassed, he compareth this new restablishment & reformation unto a plat of ground where the fig trees are laden with young figs, and the vine beginneth to yield forth her small grapes, giving great hope of a goodly vintage.  
16 But what? These young figs, and these small grapes may not remain at one stay, but the young figs must become fair and good figs, and the small grapes must prove fair and goodly raisins. As the young child hangeth not always at the mother's breast to suck still, but liveth and is nourished with solid meat, after his sucking time is past, 1. Cor. 3.2. In a word we are regenerate and borne a new in jesus Christ, to increase in him by little and little, unto we be come until his full stature in us, Eph. 4.12. & we are entered the list, not to stand still in the midst of our race, but to run still on, until we seize upon the crown of eternal life, 1. Tim. 6.12.  
15 Behold, I say, what our duty is, that we be not that unhappy fig tree which represented the miserable nation of the jews, whose cutting off was near at hand, and whereof mention is made, Mat. 21.19. where it is said that the Lord finding on it nothing but leaves, cursed it, though the season did not serve for figs. And why so? To show the jews that the time of judgement was come, because they had let the time of grace and mercy to pass, as he before declared unto them, Luk. 13.6. and therefore, said he unto his Disciples, As you know that the summer is near when the fig tree shooteth forth his leaves: so when you see the signs of my coming, know you that I am hard at the door. And what shall we say hereupon, touching the time that we are in? Truly happy if we knew how to know the visitation from on high, Luk. 1.68.78, but more than thrice unhappy, through the hardness of heart, and rebellion of the world, isaiah. 5.24. For is it not in our time that the lord hath begun to raise up this vine which was laid waist, and to dig up the earth round about this figtree to mould it better? Is it not in our time that the fig trees have brought forth their young figs, and the vine her small grapes? Yea (I dare say it, and God be praised for it) there have been fair and good figs grown, goodly and pleasant grapes yielded. But alas, besides that the winds which have fell and the storms of hail, which we have brought upon us by our sins, have shaken the trees and the vine plants, and constrained the Lord of the vineyard to hasten his vintage, in what state is this ground and heritage at this day? Nay how many fig trees and vine plants see we plucked up by the roots? How many young figs and small grapes are fallen down? And what hope do the youth of our time yield us? Alas very little, the time being rather come whereof mention is made Esa. 5.2. the Lord complaining and saying, I looked for fruit of my vineyard, but it hath brought me nothing but wild grapes. What remaineth us then but that the withered branches of the vine, and the dead bows of the tree be cut off and cast into the fire? Mat. 3.3.10. joh. 15.6. And indeed are we so blind as not to see that this is come to pass in the East, West, North, and South: and so to continue more & more? Are we so deaf as not to hear the great blows of the hatchet & axe hewing down the goodly carved ceilings of the house of the Lord? Psal. 74.5. Do we not hear the Lion roar, and the waves of the Sea to make a noise? isaiah. 5.29. And if the Lord have not spared the natural branches, will he spare the small abortive suckers? Rom. 11.21. Let us therefore crave of our good God ears to hear, and pray him that he will give us the spirit of repentance and conversion, and preserve and bless the residue of this his vineyard, which he expecteth in great patience, that we should bring forth fruits of righteousness and of charity, which may be pleasing and acceptable unto him, unto his honour and glory, and unto our soul's health and salvation.  
Almighty God etc.   

THE XXI SERMON. Our help be in the name of God, etc. It is written as followeth in the second Chapter of the Canticle of Canticles, the 13. and 14. verses.  
13 Arise my Love, my fair one, and come away.  
14 My Dove which keepest thyself in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the ascent thereof, show me thy face, let me hear thy voice: for thy voice is sweet, and thy face is comely.  
1 The bridegrooms calling to awaken his spouse, so often reiterated, declareth what natural heaviness and drowsiness is in the best sort, which can be corrected by no other means, then by the voice of the Bridegroom only, who maketh himself to be heard.  
2 The spouse is sometimes made so wild and so hared, that she is forced to give place unto her persecutors: but yet remaineth a Dove still in her holy purity.  
3 Examples of this under the old covenant.  
4 Examples of the same under the new covenant, beginning from jesus Christ himself.  
5 The Romish puttock hath scared the Dove out of the plain: but the Bridegroom hath begun in our time to reclaim her.  
6 The spouse, the Dove thus scared, instead of stooping, skirreth aloft, where she findeth her sure rock to foot on.  
7 The spouse being brought down from the rock, where for a time she was hid and remained dumb, must make herself to be clearly seen and heard of her Bridegroom.  
8 An exhortation to put this doctrine throughlie in practice.  
9 A reprehension of the negligence of some, and the unthankfulness of others in this behalf.  
THE residue of this thirteenth verse which we have read unto you hath been before expounded, in the tenth verse. But it is not without cause here reiterated. For besides that by this recital again of the same thing, we are advertised, more nearly to consider of, and more often to weigh the contents and meaning thereof, for the excellency of the comfort and consolation therein comprised: ordinary and daily experience might be able to teach us, how by nature, yea and that after our regeneration, we are heavy and sleepy, and always drowsy and lazy, some of us standing stock still in the way we began to take, others trailing the wing, instead of flying on, others turning tail and going backward. And therefore it is more than necessary that we be daily warned and pricked forward, the Lord, by whose only voice and mercy we are awakened, showing herein as in all the rest, his more than admirable patience in this, that he ceaseth not to cry continually in our ears, to draw us unto himself, as it is said, not without great reproach unto them, that he bore forty years with the manners and conditions of his people, Act. 13.18. and Psal. 95.10. as the Lord also complaineth in Ezechiel 22.30. and is declared unto us at large under the similitude of the vineyard, Mat. 21.33. And what shall we need to go far for examples? What hath the Lord done for the space of these threescore years since he began as it were a new to open his mouth among us? And what doth he still every day, but cry, up arise, up arise, up arise, Eph. 5.14. but who is he that giveth ear unto him? Who is he that awaketh? Where is he that putteth himself in the way? Nay contrariwise see we not that the most part make a mockery of it? Some to say, hold thy peace, others to seek by all means of cruelty and subtle treachery to stop the lords mouth? See we not what swarms of Covetous men, Ambitious, Adulterers, Gluttons, Dissolute? In a word, who is he that answereth not, let me alone, I have somewhat else to do? Give me leave to take a reckoning of my money, to seek after my gain, ease, & preferment, to be merry & pass away the time, as others do: briefly to say, let me be damned, what need you to care, you shall not answer for me? And if any man happily answer, Lord I go my ways thither, is it not for the most part to do as he did, of whom it is spoken, Mat. 21.30. And what will follow of this in the end? Marry even that which is said in the same Psalm 95.11. I have sworn in my anger, if they shall ever enter into my rest, and that which is said, Sopho. 1.12. At that time I will search every corner in jerusalem with candles, and will visit those men which are frozen in their dregs and say, the eternal doth neither good nor harm. O wretched case, O miserable estate! And therefore for the honour of God, my brethren, let us be more careful for our salvation. Let us content us with that which is past, 1. Pet. 4.3. and let us not heap upon our heads the anger of God, against the day of wrath, Rom. 2.5. but seeing he saith again, up arise, let us do as our father Abraham did, who rose and departed out of his own land assoon as the Lord had said unto him. Get thee out of thy country, Heb. 11.8. & Gen 12.1. and as Matthew the publican, who being at the receipt of custom, so soon as the Lord had said unto him, follow me, stayed not to make up his books and to tell his money, but left all and followed him, Mat. 9.9. Moreover the only excellency, nay more than excellency of this speech of the Bridegrooms, should it not suffice to make the drousiest of us all to awake, to speak, to run? For what a thing is it, to be called the love or beloved of this great son of God, who hath loved us more than himself, by giving his own life for us to ransom & redeem us from death, joh. 10.15. & 1. Pet. 1.19. yea to make us coheirs with him, Rom. 8.17. and what beauty is comparable unto this glory which waiteth for us, 2. Cor. 4.17. and 1. Cor. 2.9. of which we have already the pledges, 2. Cor. 5.15. namely the knowledge of the deep things of God, 1. Cor. 2.10. & the work of sanctification which he hath begun in us, & which he will continue in us unto the end by his holy grace, 1. joh. 3.10. Fie therefore on the world, from out of which we are separated: fie on this soup of Esau for which he quitted and gave over the blessing, which he could never recover afterward, Gen. 26.32. and Heb. 12.15. Fie upon this vain appearance which passeth away as a dream, and coosineth us so easily as this same Solomon hath at large taught us in his book of the Preacher, & as the Apostle showeth us, 1. Cor. 7.31. And whither will he that we should go? Unto him, unto him, that is to say, unto this light of glory, 1. Pet. 2.9. unto this incorruptible inheritance, 1. Pet. 1.4. unto this kingdom which he hath prepared for us since the foundation of the world, Mat. 25.34. And who is then so wretched & unhappy as to desire to be still creeping here below, & who will not rather say with David, O how long & how tedious is this my abode unto me, with these inhabitants of Kedar and of Mesech? Psalm. 120.5. and with Saint Paul, I desire to be dissolved, and to be with Christ, Philip. 1.23. and, O miserable man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death? Rom. 7.24. Neither ought we to excuse ourselves hereupon that we are deaf by nature, and cannot hear. For as he calleth us, so he presenteth us ears to hear: and bidding us to come unto him he offereth us feet, and commanding us to look on him, he giveth us eyes, Psal. 40.7. and 146.8. And this is the cause why he beginneth here, with so gracious and sweet words, my well-beloved, to show us that all, namely to will and to do, proceedeth from him, and whatsoever else he demandeth of us cometh from his mere and free good will towards us, who were his enemies. But as our first Parent then, when as yet he was not corrupted but most sound and entire in that nature, which he received from his Creator, did voluntarily deprive and spoil himself of that light he had of understanding and uprightness of will, so his posterity for the most part, through natural wickedness which is now in them, refuseth, both the Physician who offereth himself and the physic.  
2 But let us hearken unto the residue of the bridegrooms speech, seeking after this spouse: My dove, saith he, which keepest thyself in the clefts of the rock, and in the secret places of the ascent thereof. And what are the great secrets which are comprised in these words? Let us pray unto God he will vouchsafe to teach them us thoroughly. We have said before, that the spouse, the Church, is brought in in this place and represented unto us, assisted by her Bridegroom in such sort, that sometimes she languisheth after him, sometimes she obtaineth as it were the fiansailes, sometimes she seemeth to be as it were a far off, sometimes as it were somewhat nearer, sometimes she is seeking as it were after him, sometimes she seemeth to be sought after: which thing we are necessarily to understand & diligently to consider, that we take heed the better of the mask of the false Church, which many paint forth and shape out unto themselves in their own brain, persuading themselves, that the Catholic Church continueth always in her apparent gloss and beauty: contrary unto that which is delivered throughout the whole sacred history, and the experience we have since had, and have until this day, thereof: wherein these so wretchedly abused resemble the Butterfly which flieth into the candle and burneth himself, and those simple silly birds which fly into the fire thinking they are in the warm sun. This is then a false opinion in which many do gladly please themselves, because they would have a gospel of ease and a Church all of velvet: whereas, it is in the cross, that the Bridegroom triumpheth, and he was crowned with a crown of thorns, and there is no reason the spouse be put in a better livery than her Bridegroom. We have therefore heard above in the 11. verse, how the Bridegroom made mention of the winter, bringing tidings unto his spouse of the sweet and pleasant spring-time. He speaketh therefore now unto her, as if she were frighted and scared as sometimes Pigeons are and driven from the dove house, and therefore flown to hide herself in some chinks and crevices of a rock, to have there some place of retire and rest. Where we are to note that it is properly in these and such like occurrences, that the faithful show themselves like Doves, not countermining deceit by deceit, but withstanding and fight against the sleights and crafts of the world by their meekness and simplicity, Luk. 16.18. and leave not, for all the hot assaults that are given them, to keep their conscience pure still and undefiled, as David so often both in word and deed professeth, which is the cause also why the Lord spareth them, when the rod of the wicked is upon them. Psal. 125.3. and 1. Cor. 10.13. but yielding unto the fury of their persecutors so much as they may, their only refuge they have is, to endure in silence, & patience, Luk. 21.19. It is this spouse therefore who being forced to shroud and to hide herself in the clefts and holes of the rocks, is now invited by her Bridegroom to come down again into the plain, the foul weather being overpassed and gone.  
3 Such was the state and condition of the Church many times under the judges, and especially in Helies' time, as when the ark was taken, there followed an horrible confusion. In the time of Samuel it had as it were some small refreshing under the beginning of saul's reign. But by and by after, and especially during the time of the persecution raised against David, the massacring of the Priests, the discomfiting of Saul, the civil war between David, & Iphiboseth, whither shall we say the small number of the true faithful were brought, so long as god exercised his just judgements upon the whole country? In what estate was then this dove-house, that is to say, the tabernacle & the whole service of God, Silo being destroyed, & the ark placed in a private man's house, to wit, Abinadabs', 1. Sa. 6.22. separated from the tabernacle which was in Nob, 1. Sam. 21.1. & from thence was brought unto Gibeon, 2. Chro. 1.3. And this separation of the Ark from the tabernacle dured until the time of Solomon, who (being a figure of this bridegroom) set up that goodly temple as it were a dove-house, whither he inviteth this dove in this place: whereunto it is no doubt, but this text ought to be referred, especially the same being twice specified in the history, 1. Sam. 7.1. &. 2. Sam. 6.3. namely that the house of Abinadab from whence the Ark was brought by David unto Jerusalem, was seated within an hill: which it may be Solomon meant expressly to note unto us, making mention of the clefts of the rock, whither this spouse retired herself during this tempest. But there is nothing letteth but that we may extend this yet farther. For during the kingdom of Solomon himself, was she not in part as it were driven from her dove-house by the Idols which Solomon set up? And what was she afterward? So that the condition of the Church is here represented unto us, not as it is once, or five, or six, or more times, but as being an ordinary and customary thing unto this spouse, whom notwithstanding her Bridegroom in his good time calleth down again into the plain. So then after Solomon, by the division of the ten tribes, how many dove-houses, I mean synagogues, were ruined & plucked down, to lodge jeroboams calves in? Whither was then the resort and repair of Levi, flying as it were in flocks with as many as feared the Lord into the rock of the temple of Jerusalem? 2. Chron. 11.14. But alas what was this nest, under the greatest part of the kings of juda, from Roboam unto Zedechias? A nest profaned villainously polluted with the dung of Idols, as the story witnesseth, and is especially most amply declared in Ezech. 16. What could then the poor children of God do but sigh & mourn like unto poor pigeons in their small holes? Such was the flight of the prophets into waist & desert places of Israel under Elias and Elizeus, 2. Kings 4.38. And yet was this poor culuer-house sorer shaken, and as it were utterly overturned by jesabel, insomuch that an hundred of the Prophets were hidden by a good man in two caves, and fed with bread and water, 1. King. 18.13. Behold also Elias himself brought unto that extremity, that he was feign to be fed in an hideous desert by two ravens, 1. King. 17.16, & by the ministry of an Angel, 1. King. 19.5.6. And during the captivity this poor dove being driven thrice away by that horrible northern wind which razed at length the dove-house & the City, did she not nest, and as it were hide her head in secret holes? For so is it said, Esay. 26.20. and under the horrible persecution of Antiochus, whither retired she herself with Mattathias? 1. Macab. 2.17.  
4 But what? Beginning with jesus Christ himself the Bridegroom which is here spoken of, was he not himself from the time of his nativity driven as it were out of the world? For in what place was he born in? In a stable, the lodging of beasts, for there was no other room for his mother, Luk. 2.17. from thence must he not fly into the deserts of Egypt? Math. 2.14. Where was he brought up and nourished? In a poor Carpenter's house, Mar. 6.3. in the city of Nazareth built also upon a rock, Luk. 4.29. a city of so small reckoning and account, that it is demanded whether any good thing can come from thence, joh. 1.4. driven thence whither must he retire himself? Unto the rock of Capernaum, Luk. 4.31. and 10.15. not having a place where to rest his head, Luk. 9.58. finally whither was he carried to be crucified? Unto the mount of skulls, otherwise called calvary. And where was he laid after his death? In a cave hewn out of a rock, Luk. 23.53. Thus you see how the Bridegroom himself, during the time of his life here below did nothing else, but fly as a man would say from rock to rock, until he were flown again into heaven. This is also the way which all the Apostles have walked, and the whole Church truly Apostolic, being in this world as wayfarers and wanderers hither and thither, 2. Cor. 6.5. and Heb. 11.38. the same being foretold, even unto the last time, Apoc. 12.14.  
5 Such was the condition of the ancient Church, & namely of that of Rome, until the time of Sylvester under Constantine the Great, since which time this dove, which kept herself before until this time in holes and corners, finding afterward the spring of the meadow, so pleasant and sweet, and so falling there asleep, the ravening and unclean birds are come & nestled in her place, and disguising themselves at first into Doves and pigeons, have so flattered and enchanted the Roman Eagle, that finally the great puttock of Rome hath seized on the eagle's crown, and charged himself with three, decking himself with the eagle's feathers, and namely with the capital city of the Empire, so that at this day the rest must do homage unto this beast. And this is the reason why this Image of the Roman Empire (which is the whore sitting upon the seven hills of Rome) succeeding this beast whose Image she is called, being of the same nature, tendeth unto the same end: using still the same trade of ruining the dove-houses and driving away the poor fearful doves of the Lord with fire & sword, yea thrusting the fire into their small culver holes, as she hath always done, and yet doth unto this day. But what? The Lord hath limited the seasons of the winter, as we see he hath done, by continual experience, yea breaketh off suddenly the course of the storms and tempests as it is said, Psal. 65.8. and as he practised the same sensibly, Matth. 8.26. I speak this especially for us in this place, which a man may truly call a small nest placed in these crags and mountains, which hath served and yet serveth for an harbour of poor fugitive doves, which hath been by a singular and more than admirable goodness and mercy of God preserved, and that by evident & apparent miracles, against all the enterprises which satan and his complices could hitherto devise: for which so great a benefit of his, God give us grace to be thankful, both in word and deed.  
6 But to go on let us note that this Bridegroom saith not that this Dove is retired into the holes of the rocks, but of the rock, as of a certain rock and no other. For it is for them of this woorld to retire themselves here and there at every iut they have in time of adversity, keeping neither way, nor footpath, as we see how the superstitious have every one his saint, and every one his devotion apart: but the children of God have but one rock and refuge, to which they wholly betake themselves, according unto the style which David customarily useth in his Psalms, and therefore fail not at any time to be in safety. Contrary the unfaithful ones and enemies of God find themselves deceived of their imagined helps, when the judgement of God falleth on them and pursueth them, and therefore cry in the day of wrath unto the hills and say, Fall upon us, and hide us from the face of him which sitteth upon the throne, Apocal. 6.15. So did the five kings of Canaan hide themselves in a cave, but it was to have their reward which they deserved, josua. 10.16. the Lord therefore who is on high in the heavens is the refuge & hiding place of his: & this spouse even here below on earth where she is yet a pilgrim & wanderer, findeth always some place of retire & harbour in the hardest times, in the assembly of saints wheresoever they keep, though they be but two or three, Mat. 18.20. Luk. 17. & 37. & how ever men seek to bring her low, yet she always lifteth up her head on high, not of pride, as did the Pharisee, Luk. 18.14 but of an assurance which is given her, by the means of that grace which is showed her, whereby she taketh courage and defieth all her adversaries, and whatsoever incomberaunces are laid before her, Rom. 8.30. and Heb 4 16. nay which is more, she taketh occasion by those assaults which are given her, to raise herself up unto God & to make her profit by them, Rom. 5.3. which the bridegrooms words do also show us, when he saith, that his Dove keepeth herself in the corners, not of the descent, but of the ascent and stairs of the rock, although that in diverse respects the side of a mountain hath his pitching mounting and descending.  
7 But let us hear what the Bridegroom doth farther demand. Show me here, saith he, thy face, and let me hear thy voice, that is to say, let me hear thee and see thee. And what meaneth this? The Lord who seethe all things, and knoweth the very thoughts and that before they are conceived, and who heareth the words before they be pronounced, Psal. 139.4. the only searcher of the heart, jer. 10. and whose eyes are specially upon this Dove, Psal. 34.6 is he absent from her? No, in no wise: but the Lord doth as a good workman, who having made some goodly and curious piece of work, although he that made it hath no need to inquire of what, or how it is made, taketh a pleasure notwithstanding to view and contemplate, yea to praise and admire it. And therefore it is also said in the history of the creation of the woorld, that the Creator took a view of his work, & finding it to be good, blessed it. Now is there a more goodly piece of work here below (after him who hath received the spirit without measure, and who is the head of his spouse) then is the Church regenerated and reform, and as it were fashioned anew upon the pattern itself the son of God, into which she is incorporated to be altogether spiritual in him: not to be a piece of work without sense or motion, but jesus Christ putting into her heart that which she ought to believe, and in her mouth that which she ought to speak, Phil. 1.19. Psal. 40.4. isaiah. 57.19. and Psal. 51.17. as this high mystery is most amply declared unto us by the Apostle in his Epistles, and namely, Rom. 6. and 7. and 8. Ephes. 5.30. Col. 3. and elsewhere.  
8 Every faithful soul therefore in the person of the spouse (by whom is understood all the company of the faithful,) being yet here below, having received the power to will & to do, is here invited to show himself, & to speak unto his Bridegroom, that is to say, to make the effects of his grace, which he hath received of his regenerator, to appear both within & without. This is that which was figured under the Law, by that commandment of God, that every male child should present himself before the Lord thrice a year at the least in the tabernacle, and afterward in the temple; as if God, who is every where and seethe all, had said unto them, you are dispersed here and there throughout the country and in your synagogues, & therefore are as it were absent from me, who have chosen this place, as it were for mine house and habitation. Now I would see you and hear you, and therefore you shall come and visit me and do me homage thrice a year, to the end that you may rejoice in my presence, and I with you. And whom would not the consideration of such kindness and bounty ravish & astonish, & cause him to say, O Lord, thou art not contented to have shown me so great favour, unto me I say altogether unworthy thereof, nay worthy of thy curse and malediction: but which more is, knowing my heaviness and laziness, and that if by adding grace upon grace, thou shouldest not form in me a desire and power to be thankful unto thee therefore, and to honour thee, I would continue groveling still on the ground & bury the memory of thy benefits, thou prickest me forward, and invitest me to present myself before thee, and to cause thee to see by effect what thou hast wrought in me, voutsafeing of a third grace of thine, to like and accept of my works, considering them not as they come from me, who am yet soiled with sin, but in as much as thou acknowledgest in me thy work and new creation. That than which the Bridegroom saith in this place is the same which is said, Psal. 50.23. And in deed, as David saith, Psal, 116.12. What can we render unto the Lord for so great benefits of his, but this reknowledgement, presenting ourselves before his face with the confession of the mouth, speaking of the abundance of the heart? Neither are we now to troth up and down hither & thither as these holy pilgrims of jerusalem, who go yet at this day to seek after jesus Christ in his sepulchre. For every land and country is now sanctified unto him, 1. Cor. 10.26. and he is near unto us in every place, and we must cause ourselves to be seen and heard, lifting up of pure hands, 1. Tim. 3.8. in all places, wheresoever it pleaseth him to lift up his banner. For the question is here of a public appearance & invocation, in respect whereof the Bridegroom leadeth his spouse down from the rock, & out of the desert into the plain, when he will have the fair weather return again: as he hath specially done since about these threescore years ago. But what do we all this while? The Lord hath proclaimed by so many trumpets the year of acceptation, and our true jubilee, renewing and as it were sending again into the world that which is said, isaiah. 61.2. and Luk. 4.18. & every day he still calleth unto us in this place, My dove come out of the desert, show me thy face, and let me hear thy voice, and I will take pleasure in it:  
9 But what? There was indeed at the beginning some zeal showed, and many came running from far to do their duty, as it is said of those which entered into Canaan with josua, & the governors of that time, Ios. 24.3. But these are now departed in peace and seem to have carried away all the zeal, & whatsoever good thing else was among us. The Bridegroom crieth by his servants, Come & see me, and let me hear your voice. Yet for all this some have no cares, others hear, but they hearken not unto it. Others, especially on those days which are specially ordained for this appearance and invocation of the name of God, had rather be a walking, playing, tippling, gathering in their debts, toying and sporting in the streets, and before their doors. Others there are who will appear in the place where the Lord is, but is it to cause their voice to be heard, that is, having diligently harkened unto the voice of the Bridegroom, & the prayer of their pastor, to answer with heart & with mouth the Amen of Christians, 1. Cor. 14.16. that is to say, to make a true and perpetual acknowledgement towards God, by true amendment of life? Alas no. For were it so, the effects thereof would appear: whereas now you shall have some sing the Psalms in deed, but their heart shall be far from that which they sing, Esay. 29.13. Others come to the Church to sleep, others will not vouchsafe to open their mouth or ears. If any man demand how we know this, I answer that we see part of it with our own eyes, the rest is made known and discovered by all the fruits of the flesh which are quoted & numbered up, Gal. 5.19. And thither it is I must send you, you hypocrites & contemners, adding for the reward which is reserved for you, if you change not yourselves & become new men, that which the eternal saith, Esa. 57.12. I will declare thy goodly righteousness & thy deeds which shall not help thee: & Ps. 50.21. these things thou hast done, & because I made as if I heard not, thou thoughtst that I was like unto thee. But I will reprove thee, & will set all these things before thine eyes. o what a terrible thing it is to fall into the hands of the living god when he is angry! And therefore for the honour of god let every one amend himself while it is time, let us consider of this great and endless bounty of our God, who hath retired and gathered together his poor doves out of the holes of the desert, out of the powers of those cruel beasts, & out of the jaws of the ravening Lion, inviting us still at this day to present ourselves before him with a true repentance, & that pleasant acceptable sacrifice unto him of a contrite heart and of thanksgiving, Psal. 51.19. and 19.32, to the end that receiving us to mercy and finding us fruitful trees indeed in his house, he may heap on us his blessings, according unto his holy promises.   

THE XXII SERMON. Our help be in the name of God etc. It is written as followeth in the second Chapter of the Canticle of Canticles, the 15.16. and 17. verses.  
15 Take us these foxes & these young cubs, which destroy the vines, while our vines bud forth.  
16 My beloved is mine, and I am his, he feedeth among the lilies.  
17 Until the wind of that day come, and the shadows flee away: return my beloved and be like a young Roe or Hind-calfe, upon the mountains of separation, the clefts of the mountains.  
1 The vineyard of the Bridegroom in danger to be wasted, by the foxes.  
2 Examples of these wastes made, both in the Church of the Israelites, as also in that of the Christians.  
3 How these become at the length Wolves and Lions, destroying the flocks and finally not sparing themselves.  
4 Examples of foxes broken in into the midst of the vineyard, begun to be husbanded in our time.  
5 The hunting of these foxes properly and directly committed unto the Pastors of the Church.  
6 secondly to the faithful magistrates, without confounding notwithstanding the Ecclesiastical ministery with civil jurisdiction.  
7 This vinyeard must continue always safe in the end, and the foxes must be taken.  
8 How inestimable, and for ever assured, that treasure, of the Church is, which she saith to be hers.  
9 This donation by reason of the marriage between the Bridegroom and the spouse is mutual and reciprocal.  
10 The Church of the Israelits and the Church of the Christians are one and the same spouse of the same Bridegroom, and how we ought to understand the shadows of the ancient covenant.  
11 How we ought to understand that wind which rose with the light of the gospel.  
12 How it is to be understood, that the Bridegroom returneth to his spouse, seeing he never forsaketh her.  
13 What the craggy mountains are, over which the spouse desireth her Bridegroom to come.  
14 An exhortation to practise this doctrine.  
IT appeareth by these words which we have to handle, that the Dove is flown unto her Bridegroom at his call, who hath gathered her with her company as we shall afterwards see, according unto the purport also of the history, that finally all the tribes put themselves in subjection unto the anointed of the Lord, I mean, unto David, & after unto Solomon, both which were figures of this true Bridegroom in this respect. But to the end that the spouse should not imagine, that this spring-time brought so perfect a peace, as that nothing should impair and disturb it she is in good time warned, that this vineyard having escaped the former storms and tempests, was not for all that, altogether freed from all kind of hurt. And this he warneth her of, not to affright or astonish her, but so as to make her full of consolation. For he saith not, there are foxes which waist and destroy our vineyards, but take us those foxes, as if he said. Indeed there are great and little ones, but I have taken order they shall be caught. Now to make our profit hereof, we must first of all learn that they abuse themselves much, who are so persuaded to see the Church in so good case as to be without her afflictions, either within or without, or both together within and without: the experience of all ages showeth us the contrary.  
2 Let us therefore note here in the first place, that there is no mention here of Tigers or Lions, which are open and declared persecutors of the church, as were sometimes against Israel, Edom, Moab, Ammon, and finally the Chaldeans and Babylonians: and in the time of the Christian Church, the Roman empire, the Sarracens & the Persians, & the Turcks, but of those which are ctept into the midst of the vineyard like crafty Foxes to keep back and hinder the vintage, which sort of beasts, the vineyard were it never so well planted and husbanded, never wanted. Such were in the time of Moses, Core, Dathan, and Abyron, who as it is written Numbers, 16. being in the very midst of this vineyard, sought subtly to undermine the foundation thereof, under colour, said they, because the whole people were the people of the Eternal, and hereupon pretending to overthrow the ministry of Moses and Aaron. Such were the false Prophets who lulled the people of Israel asleep, vaunting of their visions from God, against the true servants of the Eternal, as is especially seen in that miscreant Sedechias opposing himself against Michea, 1. King. 22. and in Hananias against jeremy, jer. 18. and by all the writings of the Prophets: unto whom, for the most part they always lent an helping hand who should have been the principal hunters of those foxes, to wit, the Priests, as is witnessed throughout the whole sacred history. And what foxes were the Pharisees, Sadduces, Scribes, Essenians, Herodians and others, who so craftily & so slily ventured to entrap the Lord himself of the vineyard, being descended from heaven expressly for this purpose, to take order for this vineyard, and traveled so thoroughly herein, that finally he thrust them out of possession of it, and transplanted his vineyard, as he had before threatened them he would do, Mat. 21.41. and planted it among a people, which before appertained nothing at all unto unto him, as he had menaced them by Osee 2.23. the execution of which threat is most largely set down Ephes. 2.11. And afterwards, though the chief and principal hunters of these foxes, travailed diligently to transplant and to husband this vineyard which had spread her branches from East to West, and had provided it of good labourers and husbandmen after them: notwithstanding their histories and their writings do witness that they had always more to do against such foxes, as the great shepherd forewarned them, Matth. 7.15. (though there they be called ravening wolves) then against all other open enemies within or without. Such were they who would needs mingle jesus Christ and Moses together, whose most pestilent and pernicious error is declared and condemned, Act. 15. against whom Saint Paul was yet afterwards constrained so long and so eagerly to fight. After these succeeded, as it were in great and mighty armies, heretics of all sorts: some of them assailing the divinity, others the humanity of the Lord of this vineyard: others confessing both the one and the other, but dividing jesus Christ into twain: others making a monster of him which should be neither God nor man: others degrading him from his office: others impugning other articles of our faith: others blending with the truth of Christian religion a million of errors not only utterly false, but altogether monstrous.  
3 But above all others the foxes which have succeeded certain faithful ancient pastors of the Church of Rome, have under the colour of the authority of the City of Rome, and because the Lord at the beginning caused the glory of his exceeding grace to shine forth, learned to play the part of a fox so slily and so wilily, that by little and little, & that (which is a thing of all others exceeding strange and wonderful) helping to hunt other foxes, they have brought all under their paws, and then stripping themselves out of their fox's case, (but yet so, as to slip it on again when need and occasion requireth) have taken unto themselves the Lion's skin, showed their talants, torn and devoured the poor flocks, so that they have wonderfully scared them. For this is a maxima and general rule in this matter, that if these cubs be let alone to become foxes they fail not in the end to become Tigers and Lions, such as Michea speaketh of, Mich. 3.5. For proof hereof we need no other witness together with the poor estate of Christendom then the legends of the Popes written by their own secretaries, among whom that monster Boniface the eight beareth the bell: of whom themselves give this testimony, That he entered like a fox, he reigned like a Lion, and died like a dog. And know you, that when I speak thus, I meddle not with their manners which are so infamous and detestable, that there is not a creature which demandeth not vengeance up on them of god: but I have principally respect unto their false & cursed doctrine: being no heresy concerning the office of our Lord jesus Christ (without the which truth, whatsoever they confess touching his person and the points concerning it in the Creed, serveth them to no other end, but to colour their lies & falsehoods which they cover with the cloak of this truth, according unto the example of satan their father, whom the lord put to silence, Luk. 4.34.) which is not covied, and afterward hatched, & still nourished and maintained yet in the school of these foxes, or rather these wolves, which are the talants & the teeth of that great monster of Rome, who hath left them to deal in the doctrine, wherein they have learned to acquit themselves so well, that every one hath his morsel of the pray: & hath snatched for himself together with his spiritualities, the sceptres and crowns of Princes. Such are among the rest these four sorts of wallet-breethrens declared sometimes by the Universities themselves to be the locusts issuing out of the bottomless pit, of whom mention is made in the Apocalyps. But what are all these foxes, which are become wolves, in comparison of that treacherous caravane hoard of those vermin, openly polluting the holy name of jesus, and selling their filthy trash and trumpery in such sort Gratis, to them that will feed themselves therewith, that they have so well grated, that in less than forty years, they have haled in and heaped up in their boroughs greater and richer spoils, than all the foxes & wolves beside could mountain up in five hundred years before, though the time served them as well as they could wish or desire. And herein I report me at the least to these other poor convents of Monks and of Friars, whom these new fresh gamesters have left only a poor cowl to shroud their bald heads in, and the tail of a white frock to trail after them: themselves being become as fat as bodie-lice by eating up the others brews: as the natural Philosophers say of the serpents, that they become in the end Dragons, by eating up other small serpents.  
4 But not to stand any longer on them who are now the firebrands & bellows of persecutions, nay persecutors themselves, how ever they shroud themselves under the mantle of devotion and religion, we ought to see and consider how the Lord had no sooner begun in our time, to take his vineyard into his own hands, but satan thrust in into it those foxes the Anabaptists and Libertines of many sorts, from whom sprang those vile & filthy heretics of the family of love, who shame not notwithstanding to cover themselves in speech with a more than Angelical perfection. On the other side, are crept into the world the Arrians, as men zealous of the unity of one only God: others who fear least the humanity & manhood of jesus Christ, should be kept as it were in prison in heaven, if we believe not that it is also really in his essence in earth with the bread and the wine of the holy Supper: and that the Sacrament would be annihilated and abolished, if we eat not the very flesh of jesus Christ also with our mouths and teeth. Others there are who are jealous of the humanity of jesus Christ, as they say: from whom notwithstanding are crept into the world, both Nestorians in severing of the two natures, and Eutychians in the confounding of the essential proprieties of them. In a word I know not whether there be at all any one old heresy which satan endeavoureth not to set a broach among us, or new yet to be invented which he hammereth not in the forge, so to break in upon this vineyard being yet young and tender, to hinder her fruit to come to maturity & ripeness.  
5 And what have we to do hereupon? Soothlie that which the Bridegroom here saith, & the Lord of the vineyard willeth us to do. Take us, saith he, those foxes & those cubs which wast the vines. But to whom speaketh he? Certainly to those to whom he hath given in charge to husband & look unto his vineyard, who should be watchful and diligent aswell to husband it, as also to fence and keep it from whatsoever may hurt it, arming themselves the better to do this with his authority and power, both in reproving the false doctrine by the true, and also in cutting off the dead and rotten members. For although themselves be also members of the Church, which is here generally represented in the person of the spouse, yet notwithstanding in respect of their particular calling and vocation, which is to provide for the purity and surety of the Church, they are particularly distinguished from the rest of the body, and in this regard they are here willed and commanded to take these foxes. Such have been, and yet are, and shall be unto the end of the world, those whose ministery and mouth the Bridegroom always useth to declare his holy will, and therefore they are called his mouth, because they speak being moved by the holy Ghost, 2. Pet. 1.21. which for this cause specially are called in the holy Scriptures by diverse names, to wit, Men of God, Seers, prophets, watchmen, builders of the house of God, pastors, doctors, ambassadors of God, the friends of the Bridegroom, and dealers in the marriage match between jesus Christ and his Church, keepers of the vineyard of the Lord, dispensers of the secrets of God, names and titles exceeding honourable before God, but despised of men: names, I say, of great honour, but of a marvelous, yea unsupportable charge, if we take them strictly, 2. Cor. 2.16. And this is the cause why the Apostle calleth not this charge a dignity, as they use to term it who have forged that goodly Apostatical Hierarchy, but he calleth it a work or a business, 1. Tim. 3.1. whose charge is understood oftentimes generally by the word of watching and feeding, sometimes more distinctly, by attending unto the word and unto prayers, Act. 6.4. sometimes by these words of teaching, improving, correcting and instructing, 2. Tim. 3.16. sometimes by these words of planting and watering, 1. Cor. 3.6. All which are concluded in these two points of advancing the good & hindering the ill, by a watchful, nay continual care and providence, handling the sword of the word of God with the right and the left hand as occasion requireth, as well in general unto the whole flock, as also by dividing it particularly to every one, as it is written Act. 21.31. and 2. Tim. 2.15. Go to then, saith the Bridegroom in this place, ye Gardiens & keepers of my vineyard, be you continual in chase of these hurtful beasts, and leave not until you have rid and freed my vineyard of them. And by what means? Marry setting the toils and pitching the hays of the word of God, to catch and entrap them therein, shutting them up in their dens and caves by this word also, compared unto fire consuming the chaff of falsehood and lies: and if they will not be taken and tamed and transformed into sheep, chase them away and driving them out of the flock, 1. Tim. 1.20. and so leaving them unto the judgement of him who judgeth those who are without: Tit. 3.20. and 1. Cor. 5.13. as much is to be said concerning other foxes, who by their scandalous manners & wicked examples, waist & destroy the vines in like manner, & especially the tender ones: which sort of foxes are otherwise called scabbed sheep, & compared unto leaven which soureth the whole lump, of which the Apostle giveth us a rule in the person of the incestuous, 1. Cor. 5.5.11. And these are the chief and principal hunters of these foxes and young cubbes. For it is properly by the spirit of the Lords mouth, that the vineyard of the Lord is planted, husbanded and preserved.  
6 But besides these unto whom properly this charge appertaineth, there are yet other hunters in the vineyard of the Lord, who ought to travel no less in this hunting, to wit, the magistrates aswell sovereign as other, called also servants of god, established in authority, & girded by him with a bawdrier, job. 12.18. Rom. 13.1. to the end they should maintain, not only honesty of life opposed unto all violence and dissolution, but to the end that God may be known and obeyed by the establishment and maintenance of the true service of God, which is called Piety or godliness, 1. Tim. 2.2. These are they therefore who should with all their power which God hath given them, uphold & maintain the holy ministry & service of God, as well in the purity of doctrine, as also in the discipline of the Church, each conformably unto the word of the Lord witnessed by the writings of his Prophets, without either adding any thing thereto, or diminishing aught therefrom, and consequently bridle as much as in them lieth, and also punish according unto the exigence of the case, the open and convicted wicked and incorrigible perturbers of that which is the true Archpiller and foundation of human society, namely the purity and exercise of true religion: and all this they should do by the order which God himself hath established, not meddling with that which appertaineth unto the pastors and ancients of the Church and the holy ministery, like unto Vzzias, 2. Chron. 26.19. Matth. 20.25. and Luk. 12.14. pertaining also as little and less a great deal to the pastors to intermeddle with civil jurisdiction and temporal as they call it, as unto the magistrates to administer in the Church the word and the sacraments. The magistrates on the other side must take heed how they make Laws to bind the conscience, or take upon them to set up a government of the house of God according unto their own wisdom and advice: which thing appertaineth unto God alone who hath ordained, delivered and enregistered his inviolable laws in his holy Scriptures, as well of the old covenant, which dured but a time, as of the new which shall continue and endure unto the end of the world. Which if it had been well observed, or if it might be redressed at this day, then verily we should see the Church of God so reform as it ought to be: as we see how the holy Kings governed themselves in this point, as David and Solomon: who ever took counsel of the mouth of the Lord, and did according thereunto, without passing of their bounds. The like did Asa, 2. Chron. 15.12. and josaphat 2. Chr. 17.7. and 19.11. and Ezechias and josias, as their history declareth.  
7 But will some man say, is this enough to say, Take us those foxes, seeing there are so and so many sorts of them, and that they who should be the hunters and takers of them, are often times themselves the most dangerous foxes and wolves of all? Mich. 3.3. Act. 20.29. I answer that it is enough to say, take them, seeing this word proceedeth out of his mouth, which in speaking giveth us the ability & efficacy of executing that which he commandeth, as experience hath always declared the same, being neither the wiliness of those foxes, nor the violence of those Lions & Tigers ever able to hinder the conservation or restoration of this vineyard, when the time thereof was come, this heritage & possession which reacheth from one end of the world unto an other, being given unto this Bridegroom for ever, Psal. 110. whose kingdom by consequent, which is this vineyard, remaineth for ever: although that until that later day, in the which the Angels shall rid this vineyard of brambles and briers, and shall faggot them up and cast them into everlasting fire, Matth. 13.41. when God shallbe all in all. 1. Cor. 15.25. it be in danger still to be thus assaulted: but yet so, that not one good and true plant of this vineyard can be taken away and rooted up, joh. 17.12. & 189.  
8 And this is the cause why the spouse addeth this verse full of incomprehensible comfort and consolation, saying, The Bridegroom is mine, and I am his. For what a treasure is this? This is the only son coessential and coeternal with God the father, in as much as he is God: and in as much as he is man, the perfect of perfits: he in whom the father is fully pleased & contented, in whom are all the treasures of knowledge and understanding, and who hath a name above all names, having power in heaven & in earth: and who is so good, so mighty, so rich as he? And we, what are we? conceived and born in sin: not able of ourselves to think on that which is of God in respect of our salvation, but culpable of just and eternal malediction. Who can therefore conceive of such a bounty & liberality, either in respect of the giver, or in regard of that which is given, or in respect of them unto whom it is given? He who is the giver thereof hath all the reason in the world, to hate him on whom he bestoweth this exceeding treasure: the gift is no worldes-good, but the giver himself: he on whom the gift is bestowed is not only unworthy thereof, but worthy of the clean contrary. All which circumstances being well considered aught so to move the senseless and hard hearted, as to be ravished with the admiration of this so bottomless a gulf of bounty and liberality: and make all them die for shame who are so wicked as to contemn such an exceeding grace, what allurement soever were presented them. For what is there to be compared with such a treasure most freely bestowed? And what recompense is a man able to give of his soul? Mat. 16.26. Desire we any good thing from an high, or from below? Who shall give it us but he who is the Lord of high and low? Wish we for any true commodity, within or without? Who shall give it us but he who made and preserveth the one and the other? And how shall he refuse to give it him, unto whom he hath given himself, and that by a donation utterly irrevocable? So that when we demand any of these blessings, and receive them not, let us know that this therefore happeneth, because he knoweth a great deal better than we ourselves what is for us, or because we do naughtily demand that which is good for us, or because it is good for us to have the denial for a time to sharpen and whet our appetite and desire, Psal. 40.1. for otherwise we should always find this promise infallibly true, Knock and it shall be opened unto you, ask, & it shall be given you. But we are to observe and retain one general rule in this matter, that is to say, that concerning temporal blessings, which have not a special promise (as David had a special promise of the kingdom, and therefore he specially craved it, & obtained it, Psal. 2.6. and .4.4. and elsewhere in many places: and Daniel after the 70. years accomplished and expired prayed specially for the return of the people, Dan. 9.2.) we may not demand them at God's hands but with these clauses, If it be good, if it be expedient, when, and in such sort as it shall please thee: but as for demanding grace at his hands by the remission of all our sins, bringing unto him an heart truly humble and contrite, we may and aught to crave, and demand this with all holy assurance grounded upon him, Heb. 4.16. and jam. 16. yea so far as to defy all our enemies, according to the example of the Apostle, Rom. 8.37. for, saith he, he which hath not spared his own son, but given him for us, how will he not give us all things with him? Let us therefore hearken unto this spouse, or let us be rather this spouse, which saith, My beloved is mine, and I am his. What shall Satan them be able to do against us, seeing this Bridegroom, together with all that he hath, is ours? Why should our sins appal and astonish us, seeing he hath carried them upon the wood of his cross? 1. Pet. 2.24. seeing he is the Lamb that taketh away the sins of the world, and that that which he hath suffered for us, is ours? Shall the want of righteousness, and the perfect accomplishment of all the Law of God which we ought to perform daunt us? Why? He hath accomplished the whole Law for us, and he is ours with all his obedience, Gal. 4.4. & Rom. 5.19. Shall our natural corruption affright & terrify us? Why? He, in whom it is fully & entirely repaired for us, is ours with all his integrity & holiness, Ro. 8.3. besides that this corruption beginneth already to die in us, so that we be no longer in subjection unto it, Rom. 7.18. Shall death hold us still chained & fettered with his bands? Why? He who is the life, & he that hath overcome death for us by his own death is ours. What thing then is able to trouble our repose or abate our assurance?  
9 And to the end we should be the more certain and assured, it is not only said that this beloved is ours, but also that we the beloved are his. The donation therefore is mutual and reciprocal. But alas what gift have we brought him and presented him withal, having nothing in us but wickedness and corruption? Yea verily, then when he took us unto himself with all our filthy defilements: not to defile himself with them, but to blot and wash them out, and in am of them to deck and adorn his spouse, with that purity and beauty, whereof we have before spoken, and shall hereafter be further occasioned to speak of, Ezech. 16. To say the truth then, we have given him nothing nor brought him any thing in respect of the first grace: but have done nothing but received by the hand of faith, which was freely given us to receive the other withal, Ephe. 2.8. Philip. 1.29. But this former grace being received, it hath been accompanied with other gifts, which we offer up unto him together with our own persons, Rom. 1.21. which he most graciously accepteth of, though he have no profit thereby, Psalm. 16.2. Luk. 17.19. but according unto his good pleasure only. In a word therefore, who can give any thing unto him, from whom alone whatsoever is good to be given, cometh and proceedeth? Rom. 11.35. & jam. 1.17. and if we present him any thing, it cometh all from him. We are therefore given unto him, because he hath given himself to us, & hath bought us with the price of himself, 1. Pet. 1.18. not as if we had bought and sold with him, to pay him or give him that which we have received of free gift. And yet we may not come with empty hands before the Lord, seeing he giveth us wherewith to make an offering, Exod. 23.15. Will we then have a part in this great & inestimable treasure? Let us give ourselves unto him and be his indeed, and let us not do as those two whoring sisters, of whom the same Prophet speaketh, Ezech. 23. for if we be, all is marred, and our later estate and condition will be worse than the former, 2. Pet. 2.2. This is the cause why it is added that this Bridegroom pastureth or feedeth, that is to say, maketh his abode and taketh his pleasure with his spouse, among the Lilies, that is, where virtue, purity, and sincerity is, being meant by these Lilies the fruits of the spirit, which the Apostle reckoneth up, Gal. 5.22. opposed unto the stinking, venomous and wicked plants growing up in our hearts, until God pluck them up by the roots, with which the whole world is so thick sown.  
10 But some man will say, this Bridegroom was not yet come, when this spouse spoke thus: but I answer that seeing faith cannot be without him unto whom it tendeth as unto her only end and scope, and which also hath her foundation in him who giveth it & formeth it in those who are his, (which is jesus Christ, true God and true man, and not God only or man only) and again seeing the Church cannot be without faith being the true and essential form thereof, if from the very promise made unto Adam, jesus Christ, true god and true man were not in the Church, than was there neither faith at all, nor any Church at al. And yet the humanity and manhood of Christ began not actually to be before then, that it was conceived by the virtue of the holy ghost in the womb of the most blessed virgin. This I confess to be most true: and yet I say with the Scripture, that jesus Christ (which name importeth together with the quality of an only mediator, that which is absolutely and necessarily required, namely that he be apprehended and considered by faith, true god and true man in one only person) not only was, but was also sacrificed from the beginning of the world, seeing that the Church, being from all eternity elected and chosen, was not saved but by him, Apoc. 13.8. And these things are easily agreed and accorded, if we consider diligently that which is said, Heb. 11.1. namely that faith that is to say, this gift of God, through which, every faithful one assureth himself of his salvation, by that only mediator jesus Christ true God & true man) causeth that, which the believer hath not yet but by hope, to be unto him already as it were present in being, and showeth him (I mean unto the spirit of the believer) that which he seethe not. The humanity therefore and manhood of jesus Christ (without the which he should not be our mediator, nor the object of our faith) was not in nature in salomon's time, nor many ages after, but yet notwithstanding was really & effectually present in respect of the eyes of faith, whereof Saint Paul is a witness (over and beside that invincible reason which I have before alleged) who calleth Christ him whom the fathers tempted in the desert, 1. Cor. 10.9. and saith that the father's being in the desert, did eat the same spiritual meat, and drank the same spiritual drink which we do, to wit, jesus Christ. Now jesus Christ to come, and jesus Christ come; which was to be borne and to accomplish whatsoever was absolutely requi●●●●nto our salvation, and which was borne and hath accomplished it in his time, are not two jesus Christ's: as also there never was nor ever shall be any more than one god, one faith, and one Church: the difference therefore consisteth in the diverse dispensing and manifesting of jesus Christ, and not in the essence of him: whereas Abraham could not see the day of this Bridegroom and Lord, but he saw it by the eyes of faith, though Christ were not yet actually in nature, joh. 8.56. This is it which the spouse meant in this latter verse praying this Bridegroom that he return until the wind of that day arise, and the shadows fly away, calling the condition in which they were, shadows, namely, during the time that this Bridegroom showed not himself, but under the shadows and figures of the Law ceremonial, Heb. 10.1. the substance of which, (to wit, jesus Christ, Col. 2.17) appeared not but afar off, Heb. 11.13. not that there was not light enough through this shadow, to conduct the Saints unto the light of glory, according unto their measure, seeing this light is called the bosom of Abraham, Luk. 16.22. but obscure in comparison of this great day which hath brought this spouse unto us coming in person and declaring unto us clearly and particularly, the whole counsel of God his father touching our salvation, joh. 15.15. & Mat. 13.17. as he did afterwards by his Apostles, & yet doth & shall do unto the end & consummation of the world, by his true pastors and Doctors, Eph. 4.11. in such sort that we must distinguish the shadow of this night, from that which is called the shadow of death, whereof mention is made isaiah. 9.2. wherein we are all of us borne, Eph. 2.1.  
11 And we must heedfully observe this manner of speech until the wind of that day arise, which is taken from that which naturally happeneth and cometh to pass; namely, that when the day beginneth to break, some small wind is wont to arise, which proceedeth and cometh from the beams of the Sun, beginning to chase and drive away before it the gross and thick vapours of the night: which wind is compared to this great and incomprehensible virtue and power of the holy Ghost which stirreth and as it were bloweth on the world, together with the light of the gospel, to enlighten, or rather to create the world anew, isaiah. 65.17. I mean by that wind which was sent unto the Apostles, & which shall never cease to blow unto the end and consummation of the world, Act. 2.2. Matt. 28.20. and Act. 20.28. So in the creation of this corruptible world it is said, that it stirred and moved itself upon the waters, as it were warming and cherishing them, to hatch as it were and breed thence the creatures which were after form of them, by the which virtue also they are yet maintained in their being, which either faileth or is renewed by the want and presence hereof, as it is said in the Psal. 104.29.30.  
12 But what is the cause the spouse useth here the word of returning? For this presupposeth some retire & withdrawing going before. And this is the reason, why some have taken this word as if return were as much as, forsake me not. But it is better we keep the signification of the word, notwithstanding with some declaration of it. For to say the tueth, the Bridegroom did never utterly forsake this spouse, no not when she for the most part forgot herself & her duty greatly: for which reason we shall ordinarily find in the Prophets, in one & the same prophesy, the wound of chastisement, and the medicine of grace, never befalling the like to Zion, as unto Sodom and Gomorrha, Esa. 1.9. But because he is never so near at one time, as at an other, not only when the drawing back is on the spouses side, jer. 2.3. but also when it pleaseth the Bridegroom so to prove his spouse, Psal. 44.1. & as the Lord hath thought it good to make his truth to shine in the world, more in one time then in an other, as it is to be seen in the ancient history, especially from josua until the time of David: this is the cause why the spouse beseecheth him to approach nearer and nearer: as also, how ever it be, the Lord for his part hath done, though the one half hath more & more abused this grace & favour of his. This is then that prayer which we in like manner should daily make, beseeching the Lord (who justly seemeth to draw himself from us by little & little, having verily taken out of the world within these few years, so many great and excellent lights of his Church, who might yet have continued, because we were not worthy of them) that it will please him to approach and draw nearer again unto us then ever before.  
13 Finally this surname or name of addition which she useth calling them craggy or cleffie Mountains as being full of downe-falles & hollow places, in which the chamoyse and other beasts of marvelous and almost incredible agility are mounting and skipping from cliff to cliff, this appellation, I say, together with the zeal, wherewith this spouse is moved, desiring there might be no difficulty which might hinder the arrival & coming of this Bridegroom more near unto us, doth represent unto us the heavens which she attendeth and looketh for: not so even and so fairly polished as they seem unto us in fair & clear weather, but as they show sometimes crancked and entercut with mighty heaps of clouds which a man would take to be so many mountains and rocks full of the strangest crags and downe-falles a man can imagine: in somuch as Esay seemeth to give us a most plain and clear exposition of this place when he saith, O that thou wouldst cleave the heavens and come down. The spouse therefore wisheth and desireth, that as these beasts are not hindered any whit at all by any crags or downe-falles of the rocks, to descend & go whither they will, the Bridegroom should also in like manner jump as it were, from cloud to cloud to approach near unto her. But particularly this exceeding great secret, & more than incomprehensible unto any creature whatsoever, namely that the son, who thought it no robbery to equal himself with the Father, being truly such as God is, to wit, very God; hath taken on him the form of a servant, and humbled himself to the death, even the death of the Cross: this, I say, is as it were indeed to cleave the heavens, to descend into the lowest parts of the earth, Philip. 2.6. Ephes. 4.9. and 5.32. And indeed a declaration thereof was given and represented unto john Baptist at the baptism of Christ, who law the heavens cleft and opened, and the spirit of God to descend in the form of a Dove upon jesus Christ. And if we had rather seek after these mountains and steep places here below, we may say, that seeing our sins are they which put a division between God and us, the spouse prayeth the Bridegroom in this place to draw the nearer unto us, not to respect these hindrances, which are as it were high Mountains, between him and us, but to do as these chamoyse and roebuckes do which vault and bound over the rocks how high soever they be.  
14 Now to conclude as the ancient Church having the gauges & pledges of this spiritual marriage whereby they were partakers of all his blessings, prayeth the Bridegroom and beseecheth him to approach yet nearer unto her, and in person, causing the shadows and figures of the ancient covenant to vanish away and departed, so we who are fallen into this happy time, in which this Bridegroom hath manifested himself in flesh, and most clearly revealed the light of salvation, respecting notwithstanding the full and entire effect and accomplishment of his promises unto his later coming, aught, the nearer we draw unto it, the more fervently and earnestly pray that his kingdom come quickly, & that in the mean time he kindle more & more in our hearts a true and ardent desire of yielding him all manner of obedience, inspiring most especially with his holy spirit, both the Magistrates and the ministers, courageously to proceed in that business which is committed unto them, to purge the vineyard of the Lord, and to rid it of all them who may in general or particular waist and destroy it, blessing us all more and more from an high to his honour and glory, Amen.  
THE END OF THE SERMONS UPON THE SECOND CHAPTER.   

THE XXIII SERMON. Our help be in the name of God etc. It is written as followeth in the third Chapter of the Canticle of Canticles, the first verse.  
1 By night in my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not.  
1 The spouse by falling asleep in her chiefest peace & tranquillity is the cause of her own desolation.  
2 The Bridegroom notwithstanding leaveth not to awake her in his time, and the great difference which is between this awaking and that which proceedeth from the biting of sin.  
3 The faults committed in the seeking after the Bridegroom, which is the cause why he is not found by such seeking after.  
4 The greatest blessings of God both temporal and spiritual, by ill using of them, become the instruments of man's ruin and destruction.  
5 Application of this doctrine to such as are asleep in our time.  
6 An other kind of sleep which turneth often times into an incurable lethargy.  
7 The resolution we ought to make touching the points which are at this day controversed in Christendom, in the matter of religion.  
8 An answer unto them, who say that we sell Paradise very good cheap.  
9 We must rise out of our bed to find this Bridegroom.  
10 The conclusion of this matter, with an exhortation for the through practice of this doctrine.  
WE have in the Chapter going before understood and seen the sweet and gracious behaviour of the Bridegroom in caressing and entertaining of his spouse, and reposing of her in a most happy rest, looking for still notwithstanding and expecting another more near arrival & coming of his, namely then, when he should come as the Sun rising from on high to give light unto the woorld, and when the figures and shadows of the Law should have an end, as it is said, isaiah. 9.2. and by Zacharie yet more expressly in that excellent Canticle or Song of his. It seemed then that all went the best that might be in the woorld, the temple of the Lord being perfected and ended with so great magnificency, all that service so well established, and the state of the kingdom so wisely governed and administered by Solomon. And indeed, we may and aught to say, that the Church was then marvelous goodly and glittering, and all the people in exceeding great quiet and peace. The same may likewise be said of the estate of the Church in the time of josua, the people being brought as it were into the rest of the Lord, as himself speaketh, Psal. 95.11. But what? This endured not long, as it was also foretold by Moses, Deut. 32.15. which thing is here in this place described, or rather most divinely painted forth unto us, containing doctrine altogether necessary for our time, that we be not deceived to the endamaging of our own salvation. For the church of god is fallen from age to age into that miserable estate whereof mention is made, Mat. 13.13.25. by being by little & little brought into an heavy slumber, by her over great ease, in such sort that while she is asleep the enemy hath set up his seat and prepared it as he would in the very midst of the house of God, as the Apostle foretold it, 2. Thess. 2.4.5. and so on. And when at this day the Lord would awake her, the most part have such blear eyes that they cannot nor will not open them: others are in so deep a slumber that though they be waked with never so great strokes of the whip, yet they lay their head down again upon the pillow: but in general there where the pot seethes is our holy mother the Church. In a word if you will believe them the gilden steeple of S. Peter at Rome, & the chair wherein they say he sat, are the essential, immutable, necessary, & infallible visible marks of the true religion & of the Church which they call Roman & Catholic▪ that is, particular & universal both together. All this founded, if you will have me say that which is, upon this repose of too great an ease. But to bring farther asleep those who are already brought asleep, there are no fair pretences wanting, of the excellency of S. Peter among the rest of the Apostles, which they turn into a principality: afterwards for that Saint Paul so highly commendeth the faith of the Romans of his time, as if their successors were like unto them. Besides this they allege the pre-eminency which the Bishops of Rome had above others, which we know well enough, proceeded partly upon the authority of that City, as being the head city of the whole Empire▪ which pre-eminency was also maintained by the godliness and constancy of the Bishops there & the notable examples of their martyrdoms: partly also being afterward authorized by the first council of Nice, until such time as the persecutions ceasing, and ambition together with wealth & riches increasing, every one sleeping sound in their peace, entered in place of doctrine doting dreams, so that finally the poor spouse at her awaking found herself in a most wretched & miserable estate, in which she yet continueth to this day, persecuted in so grievous manner as she is, by the officers of the whore, who hath taken her place while she slept so quietly, as it was also expressly foretold of the Church of Rome, both by Saint Paul, and also by Saint john in his Apocalyps, if we will credit in this behalf the most ancient expositors, Greeks and Latins. And (as it is come to pass by a more than admirable providence of God herein) the Italians themselves, whose poems & rhymes are at this day printed & sung in Rome, call her Babylon full of covetousness & impiety, the harbour of the wrath of God, & the temple of heresy, besides that common experience maketh the same most plain & evident unto the eye of those, who are not utterly blind. Neither is it in our time, or our father's time only, that satan hath first begun to deal in this sort. For behold how the governors of the Church & successors of Aaron together with the people bewitched in like manner and enchanted, replied unto the servants of God, reprehending their falsehood in doctrine, and corruption in manners; the Temple, the Temple, the Temple of God, jerem. 7.4. & that with as loud a cry, as that seditious Demetrius cried, & caused to be cried in Ephesus, the Temple of the great goddess of Diana, of the Ephesians yea carried headlong with the same lying and murdering spirit, being no other difference at all between them then this, that the jews abused a good ground and principle, for indeed the Temple of jerusalem was built by the commandment of the Lord, and unto the Lord, which could not be said of the Temple of Diana, built by the suggestion of Satan unto a false goddess: all coming notwithstanding to one end, seeing the Temple built & consecrated unto God, was become the place where his holy name was most villainously polluted and abused. This is it which we are taught in this place by the very confession of the spouse herself, seeking after her Bridegroom, and not finding him in her bed, where the Bridegroom, without going far from her, had laid her, as we have seen in the Chapter going before. And how came this to pass? Upon no other thing, but that the spouse fell asleep in this bed, on which notwithstanding she was laid down, not to sleep, but only to rest herself, and that continuing still watching. And yet neither if we continue so, can we deal so well and so diligently, that there be no default, as we shall afterwards see. What other thing than can happen, but an extreme desolation, when men fall asleep upon their ease and quiet, and especially when they of all other are the fastest asleep, who should watch for themselves and for others? Matth. 13.25. But from whence is the fault? Not on the lords side, but on the wretchedness of man, who cannot order himself aright, neither in prosperity nor in adversity, not in poverty nor in wealth & abundance. And if we compare both these extremities together, we shall find both by reason and by experience, that the way of peace and rest, accompanied with prosperity & abundance, is the more dangerous. For adversity and need stirreth up and awaketh the most senseless and sluggish, to think on the remedies thereof, whence it is said that Necessity hath been the occasion that arts and sciences were found out and invented: but prosperity and abundance bring the best asleep, witnesses whereof may be Adam and Eve before their miserable fall, and Solomon who was so wise: in a word the whole history of the Church truly Christian, Apostolical and Catholic, which flourished under Saint Peter, and Saint john, who had neither gold nor silver, Act. 3.6. but distributed unto others in midst of their poverty from the break of day until night, the true riches which God had committed unto them, Act. 5.21. & under S. Paul who lived and nourished others by the labour of his hands, preaching unto them day and night, and that with tears, Act. 20.31.34: whereas afterward upon the peace which Constantine granted it, accompanied with wealth and abundance, the mother of ambition and dissolution, it never ceased until this day to decline touching heavenly & celestial things, though in respect of the world it have grown great and mighty. For how can the kingdom of God and the kingdom of the world agree together? Luk. 18.36. Things so contrary one unto the other, jam. 4.4. Thus you see then in what sort a sweet repose and rest bringeth asleep not this man or that man, but the whole Church considered in a generality, that in less than a turn is she turned and wandered away from her Bridegroom.  
2 But the Bridegroom who can never utterly forget his spouse, no not when he hath for a time in his just judgements cast her off & left her as it were to the wide world: findeth always means to awaken her, & to form in her a desire of returning again to find him, as it is said, Deu. 32.37. & 1. King. 8.46. which is here declared us by the spouse saying, that she sought him. And how could this be if she were not first gone from him, & afterward come again unto herself to think to seek after him? And that by his means who speaketh within, and saith, Awake thou which sleepest, Eph. 5.14. and isaiah. 26.19. And here we must put a great difference between that sort of waking which is proper unto Gods elect, and which proceedeth from his mere grace (as he also causeth us to find the way out of which we are wandered and strayed) and that waking & good morrow of sin which the wicked have, which leadeth such as are reprobate into despair, according unto that which is said, that there is no peace unto the wicked, isaiah. 48.22. and as is to be seen in that horrible example of judas the traitor, Matth. 27.4. For this awaking proceeding from the prick of sin, maketh the sinner to fly before the face of the judge, according unto the example of Adam, Genes. 3.8. but that awaking which proceedeth from grace, & from an heart truly contrite, createth in a man an ardent desire of returning unto his Saviour: for which reason the spouse here saith, that when she awoke she sought him.  
3 But what meaneth that which afterwards is added by her, namely, that she found him not? And how agreeth this with that promise of Christ verified by so many experiences, knock and it shall be opened unto you, seek and you shall find? Matth. 7.7. and Luk. 11.9.10. And if the Lord hath caused himself to be found of those who sought him not, Esa. 65.1. (for it is the shepherd which seeketh after the stray sheep, and not the sheep the shepherd, Matt. 18.12) how is it possible that this spouse found him not? I answer that the spouse saith not, that she could never find him, which should contrary the promise above: but that seeking after him in her bed, she found him not. True, in her bed, for there he was not. To find him therefore, it is not enough to seek him, but we must seek where he is to be sought: & therefore it is no marvel though the spouse found not her Bridegroom in her bed, for he was not there. Moreover we must seek him in a fit and convenient time if we will find him, namely when the time is of setting the door open▪ otherwise we lose but our pains to seek him, isaiah. 55.6. and we must knock at the door, before it be bolted on the innerside, Mat. 25.12. Farther we must ask of him, of whom we ought to ask, and who will not be mocked 1. King. 18.27. and then, that which we ought to ask, Mat. 20.21. and again, in such a sort as we ought to ask, jam. 1.7. and finally, unto the end which we ought to ask it. We may not therefore wonder, or take on with God, but with ourselves, if for the most part we find not that which we seek after. For the fault is in us. And though we failed in no one point of those which I have above set down yet we must do God this honour to give him leave to choose the time and the means, to grant us that which he will give us, when we have demanded it as he hath given us our rule. Abraham believed and obtained the child which was promised him, but it was five and thirty years after the promise was made. David obtained the kingdom: but it was after he had waited in waiting, Psal. 40.1. yea until his eyes were dim and failed in looking and waiting after it, Psal. 119.82. and that he was hoarse with crying, Psal. 69.3. not that the Lord is not without all comparison more ready to hear than we are to pray, seeing it is he who formeth in us the desire of praying, and who teacheth us how we ought to pray, Rom. 8.26. and it is he who must open our lips that they may show forth his praise, Psal. 51.17. But it is expedient and profitable for us to be so delayed, because we are wont to make light of that which we come lightly by: in a word how ever it be, it is he who hath the times and seasons in his hand, Act. 1.7.  
4 But here the spouse seeketh after him whom she ought to seek, & faileth not in any thing save this, that she seeketh him of error there where he is not: and where is that? In her bed. And yet who gave her this bed, and who laid her there? Her Bridegroom, having so expressly invited her, and so amiably and kindly entertained her, as we have seen in the chapter going before, and especially in the tenth verse, and in the verses following. What is the reason then, why he could not be found, as if he had parted clean away? Because the spouse falling asleep, made more of the gift, then of the giver, that is to say, gave herself so far over unto this rest and ease, that she continued to be heavy and drowsy still. So cometh it to pass in all other temporal and spiritual blessings, when we stay and settle our hearts and minds wholly upon them. Life itself is an especial gift and blessing of God, in whom we are, we move, and we live. Act. 17.28. But say we once with the children of this world, There is nothing more to be desired then to live? We are dead whilst we live, 1. Tim. 5.6. as much is to be said of all the commodities and blessings of this life, albeit they be the blessings of God, unto them on whom the gift is bestowed of using them well, as on Abraham & on job, job. 31. and on a very few others. But what do the most part of the world desire? Marry they would find Paradise in their bed, that is to say, they would have a peaceable gospel, that they might lie down softly and sleep, & pass their time of life with others in rest and security. I speak not yet of them, who lose the rains to all sorts of pleasures, and give themselves over to their unmeasured lusts: but of those who would content themselves with a measure. Notwithstanding if we settle & rest ourselves hereon, as if we were to find herein our only felicity, we shall find ourselves deceived, and deprive ourselves of the principal use of these benefits and blessings, which is to handle them so as if we handled thorns, Mat. 13.22. & to be more careful in the well disposing our expense, then in the increasing of our receipt, 1. Tim. 6.18. in a word to follow the protestation of David, Psal. 16.5.  
5 For example we may and aught to say that God hath at this day prepared us a goodly soft bed, and given us rest both here & in many other places, whether we respect that which is the principal, I mean, the purity of doctrine, & some kind of order in the Church together with the means of being instructed in learning and good letters, or whether we regard our civil liberty and freedom opposed to the miserable condition of a great part of the world beside. This is a goodly bed which God hath himself made us by little and little in this world, & which he hath curtained and kept close for us about these 60. years, notwithstanding the infinite resistances of our enemies to the contrary, which is as much as if he should have built his nest in the midst of the impetuous waves of the main Ocean. If hereupon every man fall asleep in his bed, and let the preachers preach what they list, they will care for nothing but for their temporal profits and commodities: briefly, if we make but an accessary or a bywoorke of that which should be the principal, what will come thereof in the end but this, that at length the principal will be clean neglected and forgotten? And this is the cause why God hath given us some small lashes with his rod, and namely the last year, to awaken us thereby: but who hath been the better by them? And therefore let us take heed he lay not down his rod and take up a whip, and in the end a bar of iron, not to awake, but to quell them who are so fast and so heavy asleep in time of their peace and quiet. Now if but to occupy our minds a little in those commodities which the Lord granteth us, be a thing so dangerous, as it became to be to Solomon himself, what shall become of them who have settled their minds so far on them, as that they utterly forget the giver? What shall I say then unto you ye rich-misers, who either have inherited houses full of wealth, or whose labours God hath so plentifully blessed, to you I speak, who put your confidence in your riches and think on nothing else, but how to pintch and spare and scrape and scratch together, and never make any reckoning how or where to employ them well, you I say, who have no other god but your belly: in a word all you who have received such a largesse of gods blessings, and think on nothing less than how to use them to his honour and glory. What shall I say unto you? Will you never bethink yourselves of so great an abuse? Never consider of so great a disorder, fear ye not to be forsaken of him, whose blessings you so wickedly, so wretchedly abuse?  
6 But what shall become of them who sleep not in that bed which God laid them in, or enjoy that rest & quiet which God bestowed on them, but in that which their own lusts, & their wicked practices have purchased them? As some plenty of riches, and goods il gotten, or some other show and appearance of credit and quiet, redeemed and purchased with the loss of their conscience: as also when any are asleep in a lewd course and train of life, whether it be in whoredom (whereof we have a strange example in David himself, who of an adulterer became a traitor and a murderer, by falling asleep in his sin) or whether it be in gluttony, as we see it to be the trade of these gamesters, tipplers, tavern-haunters, & other such dissolute people, who end their days in misery and commonly on the gallows: for few of them have that grace given them which is mentioned in the parable of the prodigal son. But O poor and wretched bed, not of feathers, but of thorns and briars, full of deadly pricking! O miserable & unhappy prosperity which bringest with thee perpetual and remediless calamity! O sleep, not sleep, but a plain lethargy of the soul deprived of all true sense and motion!  
7 But to apply this doctrine yet more nearer unto our use, when we see at this day such differents and controversies in Christendom, it is not for us to say, Let all be as be may, we will meddle with none of them▪ as these good fellows do, who depart out of the world, before they knew wherefore they came into it (a most wretched & miserable condition) but we must follow the example of this spouse, who in the midst of her ease fell not so asleep, as not to wake again to seek after her Bridegroom, that is to say, to be thoroughly resolved where he was, and to join herself unto him. Behold the first point. The second is, that to know where this Bridegroom is, & consequently the true doctrine of salvation, we may not look where the greatest ease is, where the greatest number, and on which side the greatest honours and promotions are to be found, as we see the manner of the world to be at this day, siding & sorting themselves with them, who seem the stronger & the more eminent men in their eyes. For contrariwise, if you were of the world, the world would love you, saith the Lord, joh. 15.19. And this worldly blessedness & happiness is not among them which Christ reckoneth up, Mat. 5. Luk. 6. Nay contrariwise, if a man be waxed fat and rich, he must become lean & slender to be able to pass through the eye of the needle, Luk. 18.28. which is the straight way which leadeth unto salvation. Let us therefore remember that the spouse having sought the Bridegroom in this bed, found him not.  
8 Now our adversaries hereupon will say, that this gear toucheth us near, who hold with, say they, and maintain the broad way, seeking after nothing else but our carnal liberty, having taken away the time of Lent, & finding fault with fastings and pilgrimages: and what else? Promising salvation unto all the world without any good works. And they, what do they? They eat no flesh a great part of the year, they fast, they labour and take pains without ceasing to win paradise: all their clergy voweth virginity: so many good men of theirs have as straight rules of life, as none can be more. Some of them never eat any flesh: others go wolward and in hair: others whip themselves a-vie who shall whip most. Ye hypocrites, ye whited walls and painted sepulchres, ye meal-mouthed counterfeits, ye devourers of widows, and eaters up of orphans, ye vowers of poverty to nestle and dwell in palaces, and there to live and feed yourselves fat at the costs & charges of others, seek you your answer in the 53. Chap. of Esay, and in the 23. Chapter of Saint Matthew. As for those who are wretchedly bewitched and seek to win paradise by their own travail, to them I say, how long will you seek the kingdom of God in meat and drink? How long will you continue to seek paradise in the broken and stinking cisterns of your own imaginations and traditions? How long will you be ignorant, that it is the blood of jesus christ which hath saved the true martyrs themselves, and not their own blood? Now is this I pray you to set a cheap price upon paradise, to call and settle the consciences of men upon him who hath redeemed them with so great a price, as Saint Peter saith, 1. Pet. 1.18. and not on charmed water, or the pardons of his false successors? Do we sever and disjoin true amendment of life from remission and forgiveness of sin? Cry we not out daily against all manner excess, riot and dissolution? Do we not commend and recommend unto all men, all inward integrity and uprightness? All sobriety? All kind of mutual edification? But it would be too long to make a particular reply unto every point. Let it be answered them in a word, that touching their doctrine compared with ours, we have always made, & still will make him the judge, who shall judge us all by his holy word: & as touching their life & ours, we confess that as for us we have but too great occasion to hang down our heads: as for them, the heaven and the earth knoweth too well what their merits are.  
9 The spouse addeth that which is properly belonging unto this matter, saying, that when she found not her Bridegroom in this bed where she sought him, she rose to seek him whom she so heartily loveth, where ever he were. Now to creep into her bed and there to lie groveling, and to rise, are things clean contrary, the one to the other: and indeed it is not enough to condemn that which is ill, but we must like and approve that which is good and practise it. What is then to rise out of her bed? It is to quit and forsake all things without exception, together with which we cannot enjoy jesus Christ, that is to say, to renounce a man's self, which is the A.B.C. of Christians, Matth. 16.24. It is to put out one eye, and to cut off one arm, to enter rather one-eied & maimed into the kingdom of this Bridegroom, then having two eyes & two arms to be cast into hell fire, Mat. 5.29.30. it is to leave all things to follow after this Bridegroom, according unto the example of his true disciples, Mat. 19.27. it is to follow the example of that thrice happy merchant, who sold all that he had to buy the pearl be found, Mat. 13.46. it is to be ready in the banqueting hall, and not to be hindered and kept thence either by farm, or tillage, or marriage, Luk. 14.16. it is to to love neither father, nor mother, nor country, nor kindred so much, or more than God, Gen. 11.33. &. Deu. 33.9. and not to become a monk (as some one of the ancient not so advisedly said, although the monkeries then, were as far distant from those of our days, as the Moon is distant from the earth, though they were even then, to say the truth, in some point lunatic and fantastical) but to follow jesus Christ, that is to say to stick unto this Bridegroom, in exercising every man his lawful calling in all honesty and holiness. To rise then out of bed, is not simply to change our place, but it is as I have said to quit and forsake all things, which may let and hinder us from that which concerneth the peace of our consciences, & so consequently our salvation, to keep on in the right way if we be once in it, and to find it out if we be strayed from it, and that not only to follow in general the vocation common unto all Christians most excellently described among other places, Phil. 2.1. but to the end that every one in special follow his vocation as we have an express commandment to that purpose, 1. Cor. 7.20. and according unto the example of David who having this in particular charge to find and assign the place for the building of the Temple, God punish me so and so, saith he, if ever I enter under the roof of my house, or ascend up into my bed, if I suffer mine eyes to sleep, or shut the lids of mine eyes before I find out a place for the Eternal, an habitation for the mighty one of jacob, Psal. 132.  
10 Let all the elect therefore of God, as many, I mean, as he hath created in, a desire of finding him, when they are asleep in this peace of the false Church, learn of this spouse to say truly, and indeed, that there is no commodity nor appearance of ease shall stay me, but I will leave them, and get me out of my bed to find him, on whom my heart is settled and planted. And let those who have found him take heed how they set their minds upon temporal blessings, though godliness have the promise of them also, 1. Timoth. 4.6. or to make their account that things once well ordered shall so continue still in the Church, or discern the true Church from the false by an outward show of some great estate never so well underpropped in the opinion of men, but take heed betimes unto themselves, that this Bridegroom in whom consisteth the true peace, Matth. 12.29. never leave them, but that they continue still members of that true Church, of which it is said, That happy is the people, whose God the eternal is, Psalm. 44.15. To the attaining whereof, confessing before the Lord our too continual negligence, unthankfulness, and rebellion, we will crave pardon and mercy at his hands as followeth,  
Almighty God, etc.   

THE XXIIII SERMON. Our help be in the name of God etc. It is written as followeth in the third Chapter of the Canticle of Canticles, the 2. and 3. verses.  
2 I will rise therefore said I, and will go about the City, through the streets, & through the greater places, & will seek him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I could not find him.  
3 The watch which go about the city found me, & I said, saw you him whom my soul loveth?  
1 That the Lord suffereth not himself to be found incontinently of his, amidst the confusions and desolations of the Church, is for no other cause, but to make himself to be so much the more ardently and earnestly sought after.  
2 It is neither to the greater number, nor unto that which is most commonly received, that we are to keep ourselves, to find the true Church.  
3 The certain, infallible, and perpetual mark of the true Church is the doctrine registered by the Prophets and Apostles.  
4 The truth continueth firm and stable in the true Catholic Church opposed unto the Heretical: but it shineth not always alike, nor is alike known.  
5 The doctrine of the Apostles and the Catholic Church are unseparable, and is a testimony one unto the other.  
6 The holy scripture ought to serve for text and interpretation.  
7 The spirit of truth was never tied, without any exception, unto the levitical ministery.  
8 Wherefore the spouse went her way farther without staying the watches answer.  
9 The spirit of truth is not tied to them without exception who sit in the chair of the ministery of the gospel.  
10 The holy scriptures are in all times irreprovable judges of the true Christian doctrine, as it appeareth by the testimony of jesus Christ himself and his Apostles.  
11 Bare personal succession is not to be stood on, though the outward form be therein observed.  
12 This doctrine being well practised breedeth no confusion in the Church.  
13 The horrible disorder brought in & confirmed in the Church by the Apostatical See of Rome, & that they are neither heretics nor Schismatics who have severed themselves from it by extraordinary means sent of God.  
14 The conclusion showing how we ought to behave ourselves in this behalf.  
UPON Thursday last we learned how the spouse awaked by the spirit of god, who formed in her an holy desire of seeking him again, seeing him not in the bed where she slept, was not therefore clean out of heart, but getting herself up showeth, that because she found him not, her desire of seeking after him was so much the more augmented. And indeed as we said the last day, this is the means by which the Lord not suffering himself to be always found at the first, sharpeneth the faith and hope, and fortifieth the patience of his, as we see it by infinite many of examples of the holy Scripture. So the people served as a stranger four hundred years, in the land of Chanaan and of Egypt, and forty years in the desert, and seventy years in Babylon. So did joseph endure much in prison, and David during his flight, saying in the 40. Psal.. I waited and waited for the Lord, and he heard me. According therefore unto these examples if in diverse difficulties and distresses touching our conscience, either in perils or adversities, it seemeth, that the Lord, as I may so say, flieth from us, let us run courageously after him, until he suffer himself to be taken of us. But who shall continue unto us this vigour and courage? He who for the love which he beareth us first, formeth in us the love whereby we love him reciprocally, as the spouse doth thrice here reiterate it: that is to say, not feignedly as hypocrites do: nor so so, as they who are neither hot nor cold, nor seething, but lukewarm: and therefore are by and by vomited up. Apoc. 3.16. whereas they who are violent and importune, catch the kingdom of heaven away by an holy importunity, Matth. 11.12. Luke. 18.2.  
2 But we must especially consider that which the spouse saith in this place, namely, that she diligently sought after her Bridegroom, by the open places, and went round about the City and found him not. For contrariwise in the parable of the banquet, Luk. 14.21. the servants are commanded upon the refusal which the greater sort and the rich made, to go unto the open places & streets of the City, to bring together those which were poor & impotent, lame and blind. But this similitude tendeth to another purpose then this of the spouse, to wit, to show us that they are no members of the Church, or (if they were before) leave to be, who make more reckoning of their woorldly ease and other their commodities and affairs of this world, than they do of their conscience: in whose places God doth often choose the poor and contemptible of the world, as it is said in the Canticle of the blessed virgin, Luk. 1.52.53. We read also, Pro. 1.20. that Wisdom maketh her voice to ring in the streets and open places: but it is not said that she was hearkened unto or received there: yea contrariwise, Wisdom lamenteth and bewaileth the disorders which do there reign. There is likewise speech in the parable of the sour of seed which fell in the way, which because it pierced not into, and entered the earth, it was incontinently eaten up by the birds. These two places may serve us for the interpretation of this, in which we understand by the open places and the circuit of the City, that which is commonly received & beareth sway among men. And to say all in one word, it is that mask which is called at this day by the name of the Catholic Church, not that Catholic Church which we mention in our Creed, but that monster which the efficacy of error hath engendered by her, who hath bewitched the kings and nations of the earth, as it hath been before prophesied and foretold.  
3 To answer therefore this matter, which is the last refuge of our adversaries, what is that the spouse here saith, being so affrighted & hared, for that her Bridegroom is departed from her, while she was asleep in her bed? It is this, which I say & repeat again, that she thought, that he whom she sought, and so consequently the truth, and her salvation, were to be found in the religion which was commonly received among the people. And what induced her to think so? The promises made unto that people and to no other, before the coming of the Bridegroom in flesh, Act. 3.25. as at this day, the Church, say they, cannot err, hereupon to ground all their errors. Wherein then did this spouse deceive herself? Even with that which was answered, jer. 18.18. and presupposing (as they would gladly make us to believe at this day of Saint Peter's steeple at Rome) that religion was nailed as it were with a tennepenie nail, unto Abraham's race, without distinguishing the true Israelites from the false, as Saint john Baptist reproached them in his time: she judged of true religion according unto that which was brought in when she was asleep, & of a long time received of great & small, whereas she should have sought after that which was proposed and commanded for a rule unto the people, that is to say, in the law and in the testimony, as it is said, Esa. 8.20. For seeing that the true Church judgeth not the the controversies of religion, but so far as to refer herself wholly unto that which the Bridegroom hath thereof determined, by the mouth of his Prophets & Apostles, it followeth that it is neither unto that which is commonly received and maintained, nor unto the greater number that we are to refer ourselves to be resolved, seeing that even in the affairs of this world there be more fools than wisemen, and more wicked men then good: but we must refer ourselves unto the Bridegroom himself, who is judge both of the one and of the other. Yea, but where shall a man find him? We must not say, (saith the Apostle after Moses) we will ascend up into heaven to find him there, or pass the Sea to seek him. But the word is in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that is to say, this word of faith which we preach, Rom. 10.8. And this is it by which we must discern the true Catholic Church from the false.  
4 What is then, you will say, this Catholic Church, in the which no where else, jesus Christ is found, & out of which there is no salvation? It is the assembly of all the true elect and faithful, gathered out of all people and nations in unity of the Prophetical and Apostolical doctrine considered in her generality, in which assembly truly the light of the truth can never be put out, albeit in the parts and members of the body distinctly & severally considered, there may be some defects, doubts, & ignorances, as the history of all times declareth the same. To this Church thus universally considered, is opposed the generality of all companies beside, which are also called Christian, and which keep the mark of Baptism, but have forged unto themselves a religion, according unto their own lust and fancy, whether they cover themselves with the name & writings of the Prophets & Apostles il interpreted, or whether they invent a doctrine altogether new according unto their own pleasure, for which cause such a church is called heretical, that is to say, grounded upon a doctrine which a man hath chosen and taken unto himself, and which agreeth neither with that which is Catholic, nor with itself, but is often times divided into so many pieces as there are brains given unto their own private and particular sense, having all of them this in common, that they go astray and wander from the Prophetical and Apostolical truth. I know that all this is applied against us by the adversaries of our time, who for this cause call our Church new, and give us such titles as like themselves best, not perceiving how themselves cut their own throats calling their Church the Catholic Church, except they can show us that Rome and the whole world are all one: but the controversy would be soon ended if men would but hearken unto reason. I say therefore that accordingly as it pleaseth God to show his judgements upon the unthankfulness of the world, or of his mercy to spare mankind, the true Catholic Church hath sometimes shined forth and appeared in her beauty, but not always above the false and heretical: the painted & disguised strumpet, counterfeiting the chaste spouse of jesus Christ so well, and displaying the beams of her outward beauty so magnificently for the most part, that all both great and small take her to be the true, & thereupon the poor spouse, which is the true spouse indeed, is forced to retire into the deserts, until the time of indignation be past, Esay. 26.20. Apo. 17.14. That this is so it cannot be denied, but that a man shallbe convicted by the whole history of the Church, and by that which we see at this day with our eyes. Thence I conclude that the multitude and the greatest and apparent number is a most false mark of the true church: but without standing either on few or more, we must keep us unto this infallible point, that the true Church and worthy of the name of Catholic and universal is that, which maketh a true profession of the doctrine preached & entirely registered by the Apostles to be the only rule of truth unto the whole company of the elect.  
5 These two names therefore of Apostolical doctrine and Catholic Church, are both of them so inseparable & agree in such sort, that the true Church is by this true and essential mark distinguished from the false: & again the true church beareth certain marks of the seed whence she was conceived, 1. Pet. 1.25.  
6 And to the end that they reply not hereupon that the one and the other assembly may allege the same text of the bible: I answer, first, that the false Church maketh no reckoning of keeping herself wholly to the holy Scriptures: secondly, that the Scripture ought aswell to be the commentary as the Text, and that all interpretation of Scripture being referred unto the articles of faith, as unto a certain and infallible rule to discern that which is true from that which is false, as being the abridgement of the whole Scripture, it will be always easy not to be deceived, except a man will himself. Thus you see what we are to think of the communality of the greater number, which cried in Christ's time, away with him, away with him, crucify him, which is opposed unto that which jesus Christ calleth little flock, Luke, 12.32. But let us see whether the spouse have any better direction.  
7 She saith then in sum that going so through the City she was found by the watch, & she asked them, if they could tell her any tidings of this Bridegroom, and saith not what answer she had of them: but it appeareth sufficiently by that which followeth, either that they answered her nothing, or that without staying their answer she went her way farther. Now who are they, I pray you, of the watch, but those who have the charge of watching over the City of God? And is it not expressly said, that the lips of the Priest, are the keepers of wisdom, because he is the messenger of god, Mal. 2.7. And unto whom did the Lord command his people to resort to be resolved in a case of difficulty touching the interpretation of the Law, but unto the Priests, Deut. 17.8. yea, to answer unto it according unto the Law which they might not add unto, nor diminish. Notwithstanding we see here that the spouse found her Bridegroom no more among these then in the open places & streets of the city▪ the reasons this, that there is great difference, between considering of a charge such as it is in itself, and considering of it as they discharge it, on whom it is imposed. Moreover albeit the Lord hath established an order wherein he declareth his blessing: yet notwithstanding we may not tie the holy Ghost entirely unto them, either who are called by an ordinary vocation, or unto them who have the place thereof, because that as the Lord in his mercy giveth true pastors and teachers, for the gathering together of the saints, and for the work of the ministery, to the building of the body of jesus Christ, Eph. 3.12. so doth he also in his anger give false Pastors with strong delusion and the efficacy of the spirit of error, 2. Thess. 2.11. punishing by that means the contempt of his holy word. As in that which concerneth the society of men in this world, God giveth good princes and governors, 1. Timot. 2.2. and Psal. 72. and on the other side he punisheth and chastiseth the people, taking his spirit from their princes and governors, Psal. 76.13. this holy ministry notwithstanding (considered in itself) remaining in that estate and form in the which God established it; as also the estate of Kings and of other Magistrates, although the tyrants abuse it, isaiah. 3.4. and 56.10. Osee. 13.12. jer. 23.11.14.15. Briefly the whole Scripture is full of such testimonies of Kings and reproaches of Prophets and Priests. And if we come to the proof hereof by experience, who were the greatest adversaries of the true Prophets, jer. 26.7. who conspired against God, profaned the Law, covered and maintained the sins and iniquities of Princes? Ezechiel saith they were the Prophets & Priests, Ezec. 22.25.26.28. Now let us take an account of the Priests which built, and how many pullers down and destroyers shall we find for one builder? In a word, by whom was the corner stone rejected? By them which are called builders, not that they were such but they should have been, Psal. 118.22. Matth. 21.42. Who interdicted the Apostles the preaching of the gospel, opposing themselves directly against God? Act. 4.5. and 5.21. In sum the spouse speaketh here of wicked husbandmen of the vinyeard, who after they had killed the servants of the Lord, in the end slew the heir also.  
8 We may not marvel then that the spouse found as little comfort by the watch, as she did in the open places of the City: being a thing most certain and assured, that if the poor Church of God, having, amidst these straits of hers, lost the sight of her Bridegroom when she looked so ill unto him, had referred herself to this goodly watch to have her resolution of them, she had but lost her pains, this watch being set rather to turn aside & to scare these poor affrighted sheep, then to bring them again into the right way. God therefore himself was aiding unto his spouse in this, that she passed farther, without staying for an answer from them, according unto that which the Lord in his time speaking of such saith, Let them alone, for they are blind leaders of the blind. For we shall see afterwards that she was beaten of the watch.  
9 But let us see whether this doctrine, which we have more need of now then ever, extend itself unto the time of the new covenant: for behold the point wherein Satan at this day employeth his whole forces, namely to persuade men that neither can it nor may it ever happen, that they whom they call the Church representative (the titles whereof they afterwards either shorten or lengthen as please them, calling it sometimes the Roman Church, sometimes the Roman Catholic Church, & sometimes the Catholic Apostolical Roman Church, that this company I say, either hath or can ever be so forsaken of God, that it may for the most part be either itself apparently deceived, or deceive others. If a man ask why, seeing this came notoriously to pass in the ancient Church, behold their answer is ready. It was said unto Saint Peter, I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not. Now that Saint Peter's faith were not at one time greatly shaken it cannot be denied. And therefore they must needs confess, that if their representative Church have no more force than he whom they of a notable abuse take for their foundation, it may at least for one time be so shaken, as to deny jesus Christ three times and that with an oath and execration. And I would to God the like had happened to them but thrice. But to let this pass, what manner of conclusion, I pray you, is this? The Lord by a singular grace of his, raised up and comforted his disciple in such sort that he acknowledged his fault without drowning himself any farther therein, & which more is, he used him afterward to encourage and strengthen others, I pray you, what doth this appertain unto the City of Rome, or unto the See afterwards erected there? Save that I confess (and I say it after one of their principal Poets whose verses themselves yet print and sing every day) that many ages ago this Papal See having put out and defaced the ancient Apostolic Church of Rome, is become The temple of heresy in doctrine, and an other Sodom in manners. But what allege they farther? jesus Christ said thrice unto Peter, feed my sheep. The Pope therefore, and that Church which acknowledgeth the Pope for their head cannot err: no though he should drive whole cartloades of souls unto hell, no man may say unto him, sir what do you? O God, what impudent shamelessness is this! As if Saint Peter, the See of Rome, and they who sit in it were all one. Yet this I will well confess notwithstanding, that since the time of many ages they who have sat in this See, and have made a throne thereof and exalted it as much as lay in them, above that of God himself (in that they attribute unto themselves the power to dispense with the Law of God, and the authority not to be judged of any man living, yea to have power to command the Angels) that they, I say, are not fallen from the faith which they never had nor never cared after or took thought for: I let pass other allegations of theirs, which how frivolous and foolish they be the very little children are able to judge. And what hath come to pass in this behalf which was not expressly foretold by jesus Christ and his Apostles, and found true by the experience of our time? Matt. 7.15. Luk. 21.8. joh. 5.43. Act. 20.30. Rom. 16.17. Philip. 3.2. and 2. Thess. 2.4. and 1. Tim. 4.1. and 6.3. and 2. Tim. 3.1. and 2. Pet. 2.1. and 3.16. and 1. joh. 2.18. Now if these so express predictions and prophecies suffice not, and that the whole ecclesiastical story cannot serve for sufficient proof, at least let a man now open his eyes and see the effects thereof more apparent and great then great and mighty mountains, I mean the effects thereof in all the ground articles of Christian Catholic doctrine, that is to say, the doctrine which God hath delivered unto his whole Church at the beginning, to remain and continue unto the end and consummation thereof. For at the least it appeareth by that we have above said, and followeth upon necessary consequence, that seeing they who ought to be the eyes of the flock are subject not only to be blind, but leaders also of the blind to fall both together into the ditch, Matt. 15.14. and that they who ought to have the key of knowledge, may keep it back, & indeed have often kept it back, not only not to enter in themselves into the kingdom of heaven, but also to keep others out, Luk. 11.52. it is an over manifest falsehood to conclude, that without all manner of reply and gainsaying, we must in matter of conscience & religion, hold ourselves unto that which they, who call themselves the succeeding Church of the Apostles, and especially that goodly Apostle of Rome, who may be judged of no man living, commandeth us to believe.  
10 Nay albeit we granted them that their original & beginning were as Apostolical, as it is Apostatical, jesus Christ who is the truth itself might well have made after Saint john Baptist this conclusion for himself absolutely, joh. 3.33. and yet he notwithstanding suffered & commanded also that his doctrine should be examined by the scriptures, joh. 5.39. The Apostles also though their doctrine were ungainsayable (considering the measure of the spirit which they had) yet they came under this examen, Act. 17.11. and practised it themselves, Act. 15. and recommended the same expressly unto others. For it is by the doctrine of the Apostles expounded by itself, that we must discern the Apostolic Church, to which we are to join ourselves: from the false, which we must turn from and avoid: and therefore our adversaries could by no means better show by what spirit they are led, and that they are not successors, but usurpers & unjust possessors, since they refuse this examen and trial, unto which they have been and yet are every day called but in vain, except they will be both judges & parties, but it is thou o eternal God who shalt judge of all this matter in convenient time.  
11 Why then, will some reply, what manner of Church will this be if the prelate's be not the judges of errors, and if other keep them not to their sentence and resolution? Truly I confess that all things ought to be orderly done in the house of God, Cor. 14.4. but what is this order? Even that which the Lord of the house hath established by his Apostles. Let us then first of all keep and observe this, and hold all that for disorder which shallbe farther added, diminished or changed: (I mean in the substance of doctrine) so that whosoever opposeth himself against this disorder, whensoever it slideth into the Church, may not be justly held for author of confusion, but ought rather to be praised & hearkened unto, as the setter up again & reestablisher of that order, which the son of God established in his house. Secondly although the form of outward order be observed, yet we may not tie the holy spirit to persons without exception, for those reasons which I have proved, & because that in many those things wherein they offend go not before but follow their vocation, as the Apostle warneth us, 1. Tim. 5.24. in whom the Church findeth afterward that she hath been deceived, as all the ancient heretics and the greatest part of them of our time may sufficiently witness. But we are to follow the rule which the Lord gave, and which he also confirmed by his own example. The Scribes and Pharisees, saith he, sit in Moses Chair, do ye that which they say, but do not that which they do, that is to say, so far as, according unto the order of God established by the ministry of Moses, they preach the truth in the Synagogues, their hypocrisy and wicked life otherwise, may not hinder you from receiving and practising that which they teach, for the truth dependeth not on the person of him which teacheth, either in doctrine or in the sacraments. But what saith Christ in an other place? Matth. 16.6. Take heed of the leaven of the Pharisees: and in an other place, Let them alone, they are blind, and leaders of the blind, Mat. 15.14. And indeed himself openly condemned their false interpretations of the Law: Matth. 5.6. and Mark. 7.8. and cared as little for their excommunications, joh. 12.42.44. What are we to do then in such a case? We must, saith the beloved disciple, prove the spirits whether they be of God, 1 joh. 4.1. and Saint Paul, we must try all things and keep that which is good, 1. Thess. 5.21. & unto whom is this said? Unto every Christian who will not willingly and wittingly be deceived, as well young as old, men as women, Gal. 3.28.  
12 Neither doth there ensue hereupon any disorder or confusion at all, for it is an other thing not to suffer a man's self to be deceived, and to take upon him the office and charge of teaching in the Church, pretending that all are Prophets or Apostles, or Doctors and teachers, a thing utterly false and intolerable: as appeareth, 1. Cor. 12.29. For the son of God himself, in as much as he was the minister of God his father, for the preaching of his will unto the nation of the jews, Rom. 11.18. he thrust not himself in into this charge, Heb. 5.5. Such is then the duty of every faithful man in all times, and principally in such a time as there is a medley made of all things, and when the light is smothered and darkened, neither to believe every thing upon the credit of an other, neither also to set up a new religion unto himself apart.  
13 But what shall we say of them, among whom there is not only no order, but (which is worse) though all things be turned upsidedown, notwithstanding with a desperate impudency they attribute all this while unto themselves the precious name of the catholic church? Among whom the vocations ordained by the son of God, for the service of his house, are all of them mowled upon the Image of the beast, the ancient Roman Empire? Where to be called, is nothing else but to have posted best and to be first in dated? Where there remain nothing save the simple & bare names of charges and vocations of the holy & sacred ministry? Where the entrance into the house of god (I mean the scripture in which he hath placed his truth) is interdicted & forbidden the people? Where the house of prayer is not only turned into an harbour of them who make merchandise of souls, but is changed into a shop of all falsehood and Idolatry, yea of more abominable Idolatry than all the Idols of the Paynims and heathen? Where jesus Christ is changed into a dead and senseless thing, which hath neither head nor feet, nay which cannot keep himself from the talons of thieves, nor the teeth of rats and of mice, and which perisheth of himself if he be not the sooner devoured? In such a case, should the poor famished sheep, I pray you, go unto the wolves and say, cut our throats and devour us? Should the consciences of men go unto them to be resolved, who maintain themselves by devouring of them quick and dead? Should they to purge & cleanse themselves, shove themselves farther and farther into such dirty miry places? Should men expect and wait until the hogs resolve themselves to live neetely and cleanly, or until the whoremasters and whores take order for the stews? Nay contrariwise the whole church warneth & enjoineth us, as touching doctrine, to take heed of false Prophets, & to fly not only Idolaters but Idols also, 1. joh. 5.21. So did the Levites and the Priests, retire themselves out of the kingdom of Israel, when all things were there in utter overthrow and confusion. There continued notwithstanding an assembly of Prophets which communicated not at all with the Baalims', nor with such as assembled themselves there, 2. Chr. 11.14. & 2. King. 4.38.42. And the Lord himself saith, Let them alone, they are blind, leaders of the blind. Matth. 15.14. but say our adversaries, he went unto jerusalem, he came into the Temple as others did, yea into the Synagogues also. I grant, but I answer that first there was but one jerusalem, where the public outward service was administered according unto the word of God: the priesthood was yet on foot: Moses & the Prophets were all of them in the Synagogues: and albeit the doctrine was mingled with much leaven, yet the true dough remained still notwithstanding, and the ceremonial service continued in his entire estate. Secondly it was to drive out of the Temple with the whip the buyers and sellers whom he found in the Temple, crying out full loud and full shrill against the leaven of the Pharisees, Sadduces, Herodians and others, as likewise he did in the Synagogues. But if the Temple had been brought to that pass, as it was at that time when the altar was made in all points like unto that which Achas the king sent from Damascus, 2. King. 16.11. and 2. Chronic. 28.23. who will persuade us he would have entered in thither to communicate there with them? And when he was demanded by what authority he did these things, did he allege unto them Cayphas or the great counsel of jerusalem? Nothing less, for this had been nothing else but to make satan judge of the truth. But he saith, Search the scriptures, joh. 5.39. credit the testimony of john, or show wherein it is false, Mat. 21.25. which thing we have done and counseled others to do at this day, not to erect and set up altar against altar, as they falsely slander us: but to set up the altar of the Lord, that is his holy ministry against the altar of Damascus: for the performance whereof the Lord having aided with his grace many princes and potentates, to follow the example of that good and holy king Ezechias, the Lord having likewise raised up in our time Eliasses and Eliseusses, what should they else do but separate themselves from such pollutions, and betake themselves under covert, who are not among the pharisaical leaven simply, but in the fair midst of the confusion of Babylon, as this name was given the City of Rome in Saint Peter's time if we will believe the ancient expositors, on that of Saint Peter, 1. Pet. 5.13. and which name many of the ancients after Saint john have most clearly applied unto the Church of Rome in their time? For I pray you, if the Prophetical scriptures were sufficient in the time of jesus Christ, to make him thoroughly to be known, and to cause all contrary doctrine to fall and vanish away, the Apostolical writings and scriptures have they impaired and diminished this clearness, or have they not rather been as the sun rising, after day break? If the Baptism of john which was nothing else but the days morning, was sufficient to direct them whom Christ sent back thither, Mat. 21.25. and Act. 19.30. ought we now to seek any other text or gloss, than so authentic a testimony, sealed by so many miracles, and so faithfully registered in those writings which we call the new Testament?  
14 In a word therefore, in a time of such horrible darkness, it is not unto these false leaders, that he must seek who will not be deceived, but he must go farther and seek, being destitute as it were of all ordinary means, unto the Lord himself, to be nourished as it were in a desert. And this we are taught in the history of Elias, who was nourished all the time of the first year of droughts by a Raven, 1. King. 17.4. and afterward by a poor Sydonian widow. 1. King. 17.8. and who afterwards by the strength of one meal walked forty days and forty nights, 1. King. 19.8. By which example it is shown us that the Lord in such and so lamentable a time, nourisheth those who are his, though they be sometimes so scattered here and there, that they cannot know one another, 1. King. 18.13. and 19.10.18. that is to say, he nourisheth his Church in that little harbour of his until the time of his indignation be overpast, isaiah. 26.20. when the ordinary minister is cut off, as it came to pass in the time of our fathers in the East and West Church, until such time as it pleased the Lord to awake his spouse and to show what difference there is between the utter extermination of Sodom, and the visitation of Zion, Esa. 1.9. pitying the ruins thereof, & building it up again, Ps. 102.14. Which thing our time might have taught us and doth yet teach us every day, to the end we acknowledge the great & wondered miracles of God which have happened since within these 60. years only, and to pray unto him day and night, to perfect this deliverance of his people, for the love of his holy name, to whom be all honour and glory for ever. According unto this holy doctrine we will demand of him grace and mercy as followeth saying.  
Almighty God, etc.   

THE XXV SERMON. Our help be in the name of God etc. It is written as followeth in the third Chapter of the Canticle of Canticles, the fourth verse.  
4 When I had past a little from them, than I found him whom my soul loveth, I took hold of him and left him not, till I had brought him into my mother's house, into the chamber of her that conceived me.  
1 They who call themselves the watch, and watch, are not good watchmen for all that.  
2 The Bridegroom causeth himself to be the better sought after, by not suffering himself to be found at the first.  
3 An answer unto diverse temporisers or time-servers opposed unto the diligence of this spouse: and what we ought to answer them who object the different opinions and diverse interpretations of the Scripture.  
4 It is not enough to find that we seek after, but we seize and lay hold on it, & hold it fast: wherein have been diverse faults heretofore and yet are committed.  
5 The love of the Bridegroom guideth the spouse to seek after him and to find him.  
6 True faith is the only hand which reacheth after the spouse and seizeth on him.  
7 In what sense it is said that the spouse hath a mother, unto whose house she retireth herself with her Bridegroom.  
8 An application of this doctrine to the controversies of our time.  
9 In what sort the Bridegroom is found of the spouse out of this house.  
10 In what sense it is said, that the spouse brought in her Bridegroom into the house of her mother.  
11 How we must first necessarily enter into the house, and afterward into the Chamber of this Mother.  
12 An exhortation for the through practising of this doctrine.  
IT hath been showed in the Sermon before what diligence the spouse used in seeking after this Bridegroom of hers, who seemed for her, to be lost: and how she found him not in the open places, nor could hear any tidings at all of him of the watch: whereof we have largely entreated. There remaineth notwithstanding one difficulty more, in that we said that by this watch were meant the false Pastors of the City of God which is the house of this spouse, namely, the Church: whereunto it seemeth that this which is here said is directly contrary, to wit, that this watch was not asleep in their private houses (for had it been so, the spouse had not met with them, as neither would she have made this demand unto those which had been asleep) but that she found it where it should be to guard & defend the City round about: which thing the false Pastors are not wont to do, whom a man shall find rather in their beds, or at table, or in the stews or any where else then in their corpse degard. I answer that there are in general two sorts of these false Pastors: for some of them are more shameful and detestable in their whole life, and making their vices the only trade of their life they show themselves publicly and openly for such as they be: others there be (to wit such are of the richest and wealthiest sort) who are Church-robbers, haukers and hunters, drunkards, fornicators, adulterers, having no other god but their belly, briefly such as Bernard describeth the court of Pope Eugenius which is since nothing mended, but hath sowed and increased her filthy manners in all the quarters of the world: others (of which sort are these masse-mungers, confessors, grand amners,) make open profession of being bawds, stewards of the house, clerks of the kitchen, yeomen of the horse, to have a soup at their masters broth & brews. In the mean time the poor vicar's must trudge about and watch, that is to say, must bark & bay day and night at the parchment, and make sale of their merchandise for the quick and the dead which they have taken to farm, to sell again (as well as they may to be saviours themselves, how ever the poor sheep pay for it) to him that offereth most and out-biddeth the rest: paying the woorld again with Christmas-carols, and providing especially for this, that no other wolue catch their sheep. And thus you see how the Lords sheepfold is guided by them who call themselves the chief pillars of the Catholic Church, and maintainers of divine service. For which things I report me to that which heaven and the very conscience of every one which hath any at all can witness, to judge whether I slander them in speaking thus of them or no. Others are after another sort disguise, all of them having this one thing in common, that they are nothing less than that they appear without for to be, I mean, true Pastors, but deceive, after diverse sorts, both themselves and others. Some make nothing else but a mockery of them who make reckoning of them, being no other within then mere Atheists: others are poor superstitious ones, abused & abusing others, thinking to appease the fire of the wrath of god by their inventions & devotions, sparing neither body nor soul which they torment not, of whom the Apostle speaketh, Coloss. 2.22.23. And this is properly of those two last sorts of gardiens that the spouse here speaketh, whom a man shall find to busy from matins to vespers a mumbling their crucifix, besides their ordinary devotions: some of them of a mere hypocrisy: others of zeal without knowledge: albeit, when there is any question of persecuting the Church, we may then truly say, that there is never a one of these asleep, but they all forget for a time their ordinary train altogether, to catch and entrap as many silly sheep as seek to fly and escape their talants: as did the great council of jerusalem who watched all night long, to take jesus Christ, and to frame his inditement, when Saint Peter himself and his companions could not keep themselves waking. This is not all then to watch, for the Devil watcheth also, as do they also whom he setteth a work. But we must keep watch and ward to a good end, for they are of all others the most dangerous, who are most diligent and expert men to do evil.  
2 But let us leave these merchandizers of souls, and such as make traffic of poor silly consciences, and come we now unto that which the spouse here saith. Which is in sum thus much, that being past a little this watch she found her beloved whom she never left until she had brought him home to her mother's house, yea to her mothers own chamber: whereupon we are to reiterate that which we have above already noted, namely that when the Lord maketh us to seek him by recoiling as it were and drawing back from us, he doth it not therefore that he would frustrate that desire which he first formed in the hearts of such as are his: but because he would by that means sharpen their diligence, and cause us to esteem so much the more of him when we have found him: being an ordinary thing with men to contemn that which they came light by, whereof we have still daily experience. For if himself seeketh after the sheep which is strayed, Psal. 119.176. Luk. 15.4. if he ran after Adam when Adam fled, Gen. 3.9. if he cause himself to be found of them which seek him not, isaiah. 65. how will he neglect the perseverance of them, who seek after him?  
3 What excuse then shall our temporizers at this day have, who albeit they be in their consciences convicted, expect notwithstanding some of them the resolution and determination of a general council to be resolved: others some assurance of peace, before they will show themselves and return unto the flock? But if the door be shut in the mean time, who will open it? Mat. 25.10. Esa. 22.2. If the time which served to find him be lost, who will assure us we shall find him again? Matth. 25.10. joh. 12.10. isaiah. 55.6. But say these kinds of people; some, I am no clerk. Desire therefore and labour to be one. For why hath God bestowed a reasonable soul & understanding upon thee? Come thou therefore unto him who hath made the eyes, & who giveth eyes unto them which have none, Psa. 140.8. know that thou art blind, & thou hast already received a good beginning of light, joh. 9.39. Others say they cannot tell what to do, there are so many contrary opinions among the Doctors and teachers themselves. The like mought they have said who followed jesus Christ when the people were divided into Pharisees, Sadduces, Essenians, Nazarites, Herodians, Samaritans. What must we do then? That which the spouse here teacheth us. We must take a good and holy courage unto us, and go farther. For in the end we shall meet with jesus Christ. But will he descend visible from heaven to make himself to be seen? No, for he hath already descended, and hath withdrawn himself up again into heaven until the latter day, in respect of his corporal presence, yet notwithstanding he continueth with his by his quickening power to the end and consummation of the world. But where is he in a word? Verily there whither he sendeth us, namely in his scriptures, as we declared at large the last thursday, which answer Abraham also made unto that rich damned wretch, Luk. 16.29. And we must truly confess that we have herein a great advantage above this spouse considering the time when she spoke thus: the light of the Scriptures or writings of the Apostles, being far greater without comparison then that of the Prophets, as is most amply set down unto us and declared, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, and by the similitude of the body, and of the shadow which the Apostle useth, Coloss. 2.17. But they reply again & say, every one we hear dispute, allegeth the Scriptures for himself: what shall we then do hereupon? Mary first look diligently unto this, whether it be true that every one allegeth the Scriptures. For if I should say that a great number of lies & forgeries may be found in the writings of our adversaries, alleging most falsely for Scripture that which is no more found in any book of the Bible, than Paradise is in Hell, I should not lie at all. Secondly we must note that they are no less false-saiers than the rest, who for proof of their doctrine, allege any other testimonies, over and beside the above named scriptures and writings of the Prophets and Apostles, unto whom we are no less forbidden to add, then to change and diminish, seeing they contain the whole Counsel of God touching our salvation joh. 15.15. and Act. 20.27. And to the end no man reply, that all was not written which the Apostles taught: let us answer this lie first with that which is said, 2. Tim. 2.17. where Saint Paul requireth nothing, besides the scripture, to make the man of God perfect & complete. Secondly let these goodly unwritten doctrines and verities forsooth be compared with the scriptures, and the day will condemn this darkness. Thirdly, always and as often as there are diverse interpretations found of one and the same place, let us know that this cometh to pass, partly because every one hath not one and the same measure of understanding, and partly because the scripture is so plentiful in all truth, that of one and from one only place, a man may draw diverse expositions, which may be all of them notwithstanding conformable unto the truth of edification, & every of which may as occasion serveth be profitable. But when the interpretations are so repugnant, that it must needs be that one or more of them be false, then if we confer other places therewith, & so expound Scripture by Scripture, as jesus Christ teacheth us by his own example, Mat. 4.6.7. & as the ancient Counsels have done (having by this only most true and most assured means convinced all sorts of false allegations of heretics) & if withal we refer the whole unto the correspondency of the articles of our faith, which we call our Creed, the summary abridgement of every fundamental point of Christian doctrine & religion, there is no man can be deceived, no not the simplest Idiots of all, except they will needs deceive themselves: I mean if so be they bring with them a docible and teacheable mind, and a desire to be taught in all humility, according unto that which is said of the written word of God, Ps. 119.8. & Esa. 55.1. And thus you see how following the example of the true Spouse, that is, searching jesus Christ in his own home, we shall find him, & never be deceived.  
4 But what is it to find him if a man seize not on him? And what is it to seize on him if a man hold him not fast to enjoy him? Verily no more to purpose, then if a man should find good meat, and not touch it: or put it in his mouth, and not swallow it: or swallow it, and not digest it. And alas how many such guests are there in the world? For to let pass those who vouchsafe not to come unto this banquet, and those also who not only enter not themselves into it but hinder also others from entering in and that by all manner not only craftiness but violence also: letting I say, these go who are without, let us speak of them who enter in, who see & hear him who is both the banquet, and the banquet maker, I mean our Lord jesus Christ, & yet notwithstanding do neither sit down, nor vouchsafe to eat, nay not so much as to open their mouths to chew the morsels already cut & provided for them? How many contemners & mockers are there? How many that swallow the meat down but are fed never a whit with it, & therefore grow nothing at all in this inward man, showing by the course of their whole life, that they as yet have not any sense or feeling of the spirit of him, in whom all true Christians do live, as he also liveth in them, Ga. 2.20. Behold the ruin of Israel & juda, which we yet see to continue before our eyes, behold what hath caused the Candlesticks of the Churches of Asia to be removed, according unto the threatening contained in the Apocalyps, and which in the end brought in the deluge of Mahomet & of his companion upon the four ends & quarters of the world. We see it with our eyes, & who taketh it to heart? Who thinketh on that which the Apostle foretelleth of the fullness of us the Gentiles? Ro. 11.15. in such sort that it will hap unto us as in the days of Noah, Mat. 24.37. Let us look unto ourselves my brethren, that we be not found asleep, Lu. 12.37. much-less cast out of the banquet into outward darkness, Matth. 21.22. & finally cast forth of the temple of God as filth and dung.  
5 But we must yet better examine all the words of this so true and faithful a spouse. I found him, saith she, whom my soul loveth; yea, because he made himself to be found, and for that the true love of the Bridegroom served for a guide to direct this spouse, whom himself loved first.  
6 I seized or laid hold on him. And with what arm? Verily with that of faith, for this is the only vessel to receive him in, this is the only hand to take hold of him, Rom. 9.30. But this faith must be firm & steadfast to hold him without letting of him go, otherwise this is not that true faith which is the gift of god, properly belonging unto the elect & irrevocable, Rom. 12.29. but an opinion which vanisheth away, with the first wind that bloweth: which maketh us in some sort to taste the good gift of god, not to swallow it down & digest it, Heb. 6.5. Mat. 13.21.  
7 And how is this faith and by it jesus Christ continued & maintained in us? The spouse declareth us in one word when she saith, that she brought this Bridegroom into the house, nay into the secret chamber of her mother which conceived her. Now to understand this matter the better, we must note that the Church is diversly considered: somteimes as being joined & united together & making one mystical body with her head: so that sometimes it is called jesus christ himself altogether whole & entire, 1. Cor. 12.12. as if without her he should be an head without a body, Ephes. 1.23. and in this sense she hath no Mother, but one heavenly father alone. Sometimes she is also considered in her generality without any respect of times or places, notwithstanding distinguished from jesus Christ, in which consideration she hath also no Mother, but one heavenly Father alone, together with a brother & Bridegroom: sometimes also she is considered with distinction & diversity of time, for which respect S. Paul saith, he hath begotten the Church of the Galathians, & calleth himself the father of the Corinthians in regard of his ministry, Gal. 4.19. & 1. Cor. 4.15. In which sense a man may say that the Church of jerusalem (& not that of Rome) hath brought forth all the churches: the word of god (which is the incorruptible seed, 1. Pet. 1.23.) proceeding and coming from her, Esa. 2.3. According unto this sense also is it, that this spouse which is but one & perpetual in her generality, is (according as the one engendereth the other unto the Lord) distinguished into an ancient church under the law, & into a christian church which succeeded it: & according unto this manner of speaking, the church of our time hath for her Mother the church which we call Primitive. What is it then which this spouse, considered as it were in the time of David, meant to say and to teach us in this place? Namely this, that after those troubles & disorders which happened so many times in the time of the judges & of Saul, she hath as it were found her bridegroom & is most happily retired with him unto her mother's house, that is to say, hath now the full knowledge and enjoying of her Bridegroom, by conforming herself unto the true ancient Church of the patriarchs, ruled & ordered afterward by the Law, and which engendered her unto the Lord. For it is in the church of God that this Bridegroom doth reign & that we enjoy his graces and blessings, the greatest part of the world remaining under the tyranny of him who is called the Prince of darkness & cursedness.  
8 Let our adversaries then & gainsayers reproach us no longer that we attribute nothing unto the church. For contrariwise we avow & protest that the Apostolic church is our mother, in the which the holy ghost hath in his time begotten us & nursed us, as he yet nourisheth us. The controversy then between them and us lieth not in this point, whether there be any salvation without the Church, and whether the Church be our mother in whose chamber we must live and abide as her true children: for hereof we make no doubt. But this is the whole controversy, namely, whether they be the true Church, or rather the clean contrary a false strumpet, which hath driven the true mother out of doors into the deserts, and bereaved her of her children, which she demandeth of her again, and which this true spouses Bridegroom maketh her to restore and deliver every day.  
9 But yet there ariseth one, nay two difficulties more upon this matter. For first if this Bridegroom be found no where but in his Church, and this Church is our mother, how can it be that this spouse found him without? For how may it be said that she brought him in into this house, if he were there already and that she found him there? The answer is, that it is true indeed, that this Bridegroom dwelleth, that is to say, declareth his virtue and healthful power in this house. But it followeth not thereupon that he goeth not forth, as I may say, until he find his children even in the bosom of this backsliding whore (as in our time he hath fetched them and yet fetcheth them every day, out of these sinks of monasteries) to bring them into his house. So he went out of jerusalem, and sent into the East and West to call us, to make us to draw near unto him, us, I say, which were poor Gentiles and nothing less than his people, to bring us into his admirable light, Ephes. 12.12. And thus you see how this spouse found her Bridegroom abroad, from whom she was, as we have most amply declared before, strayed aside and wandered.  
10 The other difficulty ariseth upon this manner of speech that the spouse caused her Bridegroom to enter into her mother's house, seeing on the contrary side, it is the Bridegroom, who seeketh after us and findeth us, and bringeth us in into his house. This is most true, and we must do God this honour, to confess that it is he, who according unto his infinite goodness, as he hath destinated us unto salvation in his son before the foundation of the world, so doth he in his time prevent us, seeking after us all when we are strayed, & finding us when we are fled from him, and bringing us into his house, which is also the dwelling place and habitation of our good and holy Mother. But this is after such a manner notwithstanding, that we are not all this while like blocks and tronckes, which a man findeth & carrieth whither he will, without any feeling or motion in themselves. God then seeketh after us, forming in us the desire to seek after him: he findeth us giving us the means & the power to find him: we take hold of him and embrace him meeting with him, because he createth in us the faith which taketh hold of him: he bringeth us into the house of our mother, bestowing on us the grace of desiring to join ourselves unto the company of the true church never to stir or departed from it. These two things than agree very well together, provided, that we add this, that as God produceth in us natural effects by natural causes which he hath created in us: so, if the question be of these graces which are merely supernatural (seeing flesh and blood reveal not these things unto us, Matth. 16.17. nay our natural wisdom is enmitte unto God, Rom. 8) we must voutch and confess that the purity of understanding and uprightness of will are the mere free gifts and graces of him who enlighteneth the eyes of our understanding, Ephesi. 1.8. and createth in us both to will and to do, Philip. 2.13. So that if this proposition and sentence be true, when we speak of the creation of the world, that it made not itself, and that a dead body raiseth not himself: so is it as true, the question being of the light of the soul, be it in the understanding or uprightness of will, that we are truly the workmanship of God by his mere and only grace, Ephes. 2.1.5.10.  
11 There remaineth yet one point more to be handled touching this place, namely, concerning that which is here said, both of the house, as also of the chamber of this mother, a thing which ought to be well and thoroughly weighed of them who despise the holy public assembly established from all time by the Lord in his Church, and without the which, as I may so say, the Church (which is as much to say as an assembly called together out of the woorld) is no Church: as a flock hath no apparent form of a flock, if the sheep remain scattered one from another. I speak here of the contemners of congregations and assemblies, as we have among us Sunday and Thursday Christians, nay some from Communion to Communion: & others which make no reckoning at all of them, wicked wretches and utterly inexcusable before God and before men. There are others and too too many, some of them making no conscience to betake themselves into the midst of Idolaters, following herein Lot's fault: others who never come forth, & being reprehended & accused for not giving testimony of their Christianity, instead of confessing their weakness and infirmity, or their distrust and covetousness, bear themselves in hand they do well enough in reading at home in their house & praying a part by themselves. But the Apostle exhorteth them in another language, forsake not, saith he, our assembly as the manner of some is, Heb. 10.25. And indeed if this pretence might take place, must we not condemn the Prophets, Apostles, & other martyrs of the lord for madmen & senseless? But behold how wily satan is to divide this body in pieces, which can never be joined enough together & united. And indeed the end of such goodly private christians maketh us at the last to know their fair domestical exercise they practise at home: which we need not to marvel at, seeing that even those who are most diligent to frequent the assemblies & congregations, where they are reproved, admonished, comforted, taught, stirred up & heated every day, leave not for all that to be cold, lazy, & negligent in their duty. Let us therefore note here, my brethren, in God's name, that the spouse protesteth she came with her Bridegroom not only into the house, but which is more, into the Chamber of her Mother. What shall we say then of those who will not set foot into this house, and think to keep themselves without with jesus Christ? But yet it is not enough to be in the house, but we must enter into the privy Chamber & wardrobe of this spouse. For such a one may be in the house which is not in it, and who entered not in, but to come forth strait ways again. But to enter into the chamber of this mother, is to be in the place of her rest, and where she causeth herself to be seen and heard, nourishing there her children with the bread of life.  
12 Now sith our good God amidst so many tempests, which have overwhelmed and destroyed the woorld, & which have within these few years borne and beaten down so many goodly Churches, the mother and her children being so cruelly driven forth, hath vouchsafed us so great and singular a benefit, to preserve unto us this little cabin, assaulted with so many wild & cruel beasts, shall we always contemn so great a grace and blessing and so long a patience of his? God forbidden my brethren: but let us beseech him he would rather heat such as are a cold, thrust forward those who recoil, hasten the slow, fortify the weak, and in general give us the grace that his word may dwell plentifully among us, according unto the exhortation of the Apostle, Coloss. 3.26. and that we may be fair and fruitful trees in his courts, to departed from this house here below, unto that everlasting palace where we shall reign eternally with him: wherein having hitherunto so notably failed, let us crave his grace and mercy as followeth.  
Almighty God, etc.   

THE XXVI SERMON. Our help be in the name of God etc. It is written as followeth in the third Chapter of the Canticle of Canticles, the 5.6.7. and 8. verses.  
5 I charge you ye daughters of jerusalem, by the Roes & by the Hinds of the field, if you wake, waken not my Love until he please.  
6 Who is she that mounteth up out of the desert like palms of smoke, perfumed with myrrh & incense, & with every sort of perfume?  
7 Behold his bed which is salomon's, about the which are threescore valiant men, of the prows of Israel.  
8 They all handle the sword & are expert in war, every one having his sword upon his thigh, for the frights by night.  
1 The spouse is so authorized by her Bridegroom, that none ever set on her who had not the worst.  
2 This authority pertaineth nothing at all unto the false Church.  
3 Wherefore this spouse is compared unto a cloud, resembling an high and a straight pillar.  
4 What the desert or wilderness is from which this pillar cometh.  
5 We must come forth out of this desert & not fall out of one desert into another.  
6 The deserts of the ancient monks compared with the palaces of these goodly fathers, and false religions of our time.  
7 Wherefore the spouse is compared unto a palm or date tree.  
8 What the excellent perfumes of this spouse are, and whence they come.  
9 The spouse instead of resting on the praises which are attributed unto her, how true soever they be, employeth herself the rather to praise the Bridegroom & to make him known unto every one.  
10 What this bed was of Solomon the figure of this true Solomon who is full of peace.  
11 How safe this bed is where the true repose and rest is found.  
14 Wherefore Solomon speaketh here of threescore men of guard about his bed.  
13 Who are the true guard and defenders of the salvation of the faithful, especially against all invisible enemies.  
14 A conclusion touching the use of this doctrine.  
THE spouse traveling painfully to find her Bridegroom, and having at the length found him, seized on him and brought him home to her Mother, rejoiceth now and is exceeding merry and glad of this happy estate and condition of hers, charging those about her not to waken her Bridegroom: not that he sleepeth; for, he that keepeth Israel doth never slumber nor sleep, Psalm. 121.4. But because his rest is the rest of his spouse, holding and keeping him in the privy Chamber of her heart. Rom. 5.1. and therefore knowing that this rest & quiet is never without such as envy it, for whom they need seek no farther then in the midst of jerusalem, that is to say, of them themselves who will brag & vaunt, that they are the principal members of the Church, she chargeth them here under the name of daughters of jerusalem, & that with menaces & threats, that they presume not to trouble this rest of her Bridegroom with her: as if she should say, that she is able to make them repent it, if they be so bold as to do it. But touching this rest & this manner of charge, we have spoken above at large Chap. 2. vers. 7. where the Bridegroom giveth the like charge that they trouble not the repose & rest of his spouse: & therefore we will refer ourselves unto that which hath been said thereof: but there is notwithstanding a particular consideration offered in this place. For it seemeth the spouse speaketh very boldly, such a charge beseeming rather the Bridegroom, who hath all authority, them the spouse, who ought to refer her whole guarding and safe keeping unto the Bridegroom. I confess indeed that the spouse speaketh here very loftily & gallantly. And why should she not? For seeing she hath for her, & with her, yea within her this great & mighty king: what is he that standeth against her, whom she may not and ought not to defy? We have hereof infinite examples, and those also joined with their effects. josua commandeth the Sun to stand still, and he obeyeth, josu. 10.13. And we know what the Lord promiseth unto his, Mat. 17.20. not to establish thereby the gift of doing of miracles as perpetual in the Church, but to show that this spouse threateneth the perturbers of this peace which the Bridegroom giveth her, seeing she hath in her hand his authority & power, & can say that her Bridegroom is hers, and therefore by consequent she may boast of the effects of this fellowship and society with him. Now the temporal gifts & blessings, which god bestoweth upon his Church, are a small thing in comparison of the spiritual treasure which is proper unto her, although whosoever offendeth the children of God even in these, they shall have the worst, the Lord himself having given this charge, Touch not mine anointed, Psalm. 105.15. So that no sacrilegious person, no not among the Paynims and worshippers of false Gods had ever his wickedness unrevenged: and Egypt and Babylon carried not far the outrages they committed against the people of God. In a word, it is not without cause that the head speaking of his members cried from heaven, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? Act. 9.4. But here the matter concerneth spiritual blessings, and the proper and peculiar treasure of the Church, namely, the enjoying of the Bridegroom in his word, and the government of his house. Pharaoh would needs seek to hinder the children of Israel from this blessing, first simply, afterward by certain conditions. We see what it cost him. The Assyrians and Chaldaeans, who ruined the Temple, and destroyed the City, fared no better. So sped the Kings of Persia who hindered the building of the Temple. Contrariwise God blessed in carnal and woorldly things Alexander the great, who bore himself otherwise, how ambitious a Paynim so ever he were. His successors the Kings both of Syria and of Egypt, may serve us for example herein both on the one side and on the other, according as they favoured with all peace and tranquillity this mutual repose of this Bridegroom and spouse, or otherwise endeavoured to hinder it. Those two Roman Captains, Crassus and Pompee, who were the first which spoiled the Temple of God (although it were then most vilanouslie polluted by the gardiens and keepers of it themselves) perished so exemplarilie and wretchedly, that he is blind who perceiveth it not. The third who was Titus escaped no better. And the Roman empire, when God had served himself with it to revenge the unthankfulness of his people, making war against this spouse, never ceased since to be the executioner and hangman of itself, until it fell in pieces.  
2 The beast mowled and fashioned upon this Empire, against which monster we are still in combat at this day, will say as much against us, putting herself in the place of this spouse. But we have two peremptory replies against them. The one, that all histories make contrary proof hereof, if we judge thereof not by the beginning of a false prosperity, but by the issue and end of houses and families which have favoured this beast, on whom the horrible judgement of god hath finally been brought. The other, that by the just permission of God the prince of this world must keep some promise with his servants, whom he telleth every day showing them the kingdoms of this world, All these will I give you if you will fall down and worship me: and therefore they, contrary to that which Christ answered him, Matth. 4.9. take him at his word, and become his servants. But such a master faileth not in the end to pay such servants their wages. And if we have but eyes to see the examples of our time which have been showed upon the greatest of Christendom both in the East, West, North, and South, we shall not need to search any ancient records for this matter. Such is then this gallant and holy confidence of the spouse to brave her enemies, in whose person the Apostle speaking, we see how he dealt with Elymas, Act. 13.10. how he defieth all creatures, high, middle, low, Rom. 8.37. how he beareth down every high thing which presumeth to make head against God, 2. Corinth. 10.5. And indeed what power is there of any monarch whatsoever which can vaunt of this promise: Whatsoever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven? Matth. 6.19. Understand it not of one alone, no not of Saint Peter himself, but of the Church, Matth. 18.17. and 1. Corinth. 5.4. and of the true Church, not exceeding the limits of her commission, and established by him who is her garder and defender.  
3 It followeth in our text, What is she that mounteth up out of the desert like palms of smoke? Whereupon a man may first of all demand, what parsonage is brought in in this place. Some think that these are the Daughters of jerusalem, unto whom this charge was given: but there is no reason of this. It is therefore the Bridegroom which speaketh, discoursing and talking with his spouse in her Mother's Chamber, and magnifying with her the graces and blessings which himself had bestowed on her. And this very changing of the person (namely that he turneth his speech so, as if he spoke to a third person although he spoke to her herself) hath a marvelous grace. Neither must we take this for a question or demand, as if the Bridegroom asked and inquired after one which he knew not: but we must take it as a kind of admiration, touching the goodly comeliness and grace of this spouse. He compareth her therefore unto a pillar which is high and straight as were the palms or date trees of that country: a pillar, isaiah, of a vapour or fume mounting countermount from the mountains of the desert or wilderness, which vapour he also saith to proceed from hence, that the spouse is so perfumed with all sorts of excellent odours, that the fume thereof mounteth, as I may say up unto heaven, whereof we shall speak anon. Such then is this comparison, which seemeth to have been borrowed from this, that a multitude marching together and coming from any place resembleth as it were a cloud, as the Apostle speaketh, Heb. 12.1. For how ever this spouse be brought in, speaking in this Canticle as it were one person only, it hindereth not for all that, but that the whole company of the faithful and believing be understood by her person, joined together notwithstanding in one body, and quickened by one and the same spirit, as it is described unto us, Act. 4.32.  
4 And if hereupon any man demand wherefore there is here mention made of the desert, I answer that it is in respect of the first beginning of this people, which before their journeying into the desert, was but one family, and began first to be a people in the wilderness, where god ordained them a manner of policy and commonweal and gave them a form of a people: neither are we to stay ourselves on this desert of Arabia, & namely that of Sinai and Pharan. For to speak in a more generality, the Church being chosen out of the midst of the world, not only in respect of that time, but from age to age, according as some die and others succeed them, she was indeed drawn, and is yet every day drawn out of the most horrible & hideous deserts, that can be in nature: in consideration whereof josua warneth the people to remember that Abraham himself & There were taken & drawn out of the desert of Idolatry, josu. 24.2. which the head of every family in Israel was in express terms as it were to acknowledge and confess in doing fealty & homage by his first-fruits, Deu. 26.5. This is it whereunto also the lord had regard, when he saith, that instead of hearts of stone (which is the desert in which he findeth us) he will give us an heart of flesh, Ezech. 36.26. that is to say, of a soft & tender matter, easily to receive that which his spirit writeth therein, according unto the tenor of the new covenant, jer. 31.33. Esay. 54.13.  
5 The most part of us who are in this place may and aught to give true testimony hereof, having been by an infinite mercy of God drawn forth of this horrible desert & dungeon of Idolatry and superstition wherein our fathers & we were for so long a time plunged. But alas how many are there who are not ascended out of the desert, but are entered out of one desert into an other? Not, god be thanked, that this place where it hath pleased God to gather us together, is a desert and wilderness in respect of the graces and blessings which god hath here planted & sowed, having rid it of most pestilent bushes & woods by most painful and diligent husbandmen: but because that the desert out of which we are to ascend to be comprised in this spouse, is that in which we are born, & which we carry within ourselves, where ever we be or go, receiving there, & there entertaining that wicked spirit, of who it is said, Mat. 12.43. that he seeketh after dry places & deserts. Let those then who out of the desert of superstition and Idolatry are fallen into the dungeon of impiety: & out of the desert of a wretched conscience which utterly frighted & amazed them with fear, into that horrible gulf of a rotten and senseless conscience: & out of the desert of riotous dissolution into the pit of miserable covetousness: in a word, who out of sottishness have cast themselves headlong into wickedness: let those, I say, know that they have nothing to do with her of whom it is thus said, that she ascendeth out of the desert.  
6 And therefore neither these goodly father Eremites, nor these cloistered Monks, nor these rabble's of religions which pester & fill every city, may help themselves with this place. For if we speak of ancient eremites (that is to say, inhabitants of deserts) there is great difference between those and these which are now. For some of them were constrained by persecutions to seek after woods & rocks, as did Elias & Elizeus, where they abode, as we see by their pains & labours, nothing less than idle, or spending their time in dreaming and doting contemplation. Others withdrew themselves aside for a time, for quiet-sake, the better to prepare themselves to all good exercises of study, and of prayers, and of serving the Churches whereunto they should be called. And yet we must confess that many even among these, keeping no mean or measure, neither in their solitude, nor in their austerity of life, did both themselves and the Churches great wrong. But wherein do these sinks of Sodom and of Gomorrha resemble this desert? These plaunches and sties of superstition and impiety? These harbours and lurking-holes of all cursed idleness, the stinking vapours whereof infect both the heaven and the earth? But what mean we to speak here of the deserts of these holy fathers? Let a man but look upon their steeples, their towers, their cloisters, their oratory's and dormitories, their garden-plots and orchards, and especially of these of the latter crew, these who spoil all men beside of the name of jesuits, which is as much to say, as Christians, to appropriate the title thereof unto themselves, and what royal palace shall a man find comparable unto their deserts? What man is there who by his honest pain and travel for the benefit of this Church and common weal, in what vocation of his soever, hath gotten in all his life the hundredth part of that which these honest vowers of poverty have raked and yet rake together every day, by doing all things as they say Gratis, and for God's sake?  
7 But leave we these soule-slears & soule-robbers in their dens & deserts, & let us pray unto God to keep all passengers from them: & come we unto this spouse which mounteth up out of the desert like unto a palm or date-tree, in such sort, that she maketh herself to be seen & appeareth above all the trees of the desert. Such a one was john Baptist, drawing all the inhabitants of the cities, yea of jerusalem itself after him. And this is the nature of the palm, the more it is pressed down, the straighter and violenter it riseth and swayeth upward, Psa. 92.13. even so doth the virtue of the Lord declare itself more and more towards his church, then when she is in most weak and feeble estate, 2. Cor. 12.9. yea so far as that she becometh able to say, I can do all things in him which fortifieth me, Phil. 4.13. For whether doth not this true spouse raise herself by the virtue and strength of her Bridegroom? Her conversation is in heaven, Phil. 3.6. she is already seated in heavenly places, Ephes. 2.6. she is already transported into the kingdom of the well-beloved son her Bridegroom, Coloss. 1.13. A great miracle of God in truth, as the Apostle speaketh, Eph. 15.32. and therefore is the Bridegroom brought in here himself wondering at the excellency of his own workmanship as the Apostle calleth this spouse, 1. Cor. 3.9.  
8 And to the end we should know that this excellency of hers is testified & declared by most certain effects, he addeth that this spouse is perfumed with all sorts of excellent perfumes, yea such as cast forth a cloud of most sweet odours. Now we know that both the outward heat of the sun, as also that inward heat which is in the earth, to temper together with moisture the seeds of whatsoever the earth bringeth forth and produceth, is it which draweth up these vapours, to be made more subtle, and distilled as it were in a limbeck, and finally to serve instead of leaven unto the element of the earth, as that most excellent natural Philosopher painteth forth the same unto us, Psal. 65. Which thing may serve us for a most lively & express similitude and resemblance of this, which the spirit of God ordereth, prepareth & doth in the understanding & heart of the elect in our time, to cause it there to bud, & finally to bring forth fruits of true knowledge, which are, giving of thanks, prayers, and works of charity which ascend up even to God, Act. 10.4. Apoc. 5.8. and 8.3. Phi. 4.18. First therefore it is through the grace of the holy ghost, that the matter of these perfumes is given us, being a thing which waxeth not in our garden. Secondly it is by the same virtue that they are kindled and caused to fume. Thirdly as the fume and smoke of the fat of the beasts which were sacrificed, which could not be of itself but stinking, was made to be of a most sweet odor, by the precious perfume which was made upon the golden altar: so the best motions, and the most excellent actions which can part & proceed from us, how sanctified so ever we be by the holy ghost in this life, being considered according unto their value, there is found nothing in them which is aught worth, or which deserveth any blessing whatsoever, & yet they leave not to be liking & acceptable unto the Lord, & are finally crowned by him with a crown of Glory, in as much as it pleaseth God to consider of us & our actions unto which he hath fashioned & prepared us, not in us but in him, in whom alone he accepteth of us: Eph. 1.9. who hath given himself for us in oblation and sacrifice unto God an odour of a sweet smell, Eph. 5.2.  
9 The spouse hereupon instead of standing on those praises which are attributed unto her, describeth unto us the estate & effects of him in the government of his, first under the similitude of a bed, afterward of a coach, turning her speech unto the daughters of jerusalem as it is set down in the last verse of this chapter, that is to say, unto the nation which God had chosen to have a part in his covenant, who had yet good need to be better instructed in the knowledge of the truth, amidst the corruptions, from which the church is never so freed, but there hath been still some defect or other on the behalf of many, as the histories & writings of the Prophets do testify & declare the same: beside, that how ever it be, to be a true member of the church it sufficeth not when a man is come unto age, to be born in the church, but he must be instructed & there learn & give himself wholly to the doctrine of truth which is there preached.  
10 The spouse therefore speaking unto these, proposeth unto them first an allegorical description of the magnificent bed of this king, which is as it were the Bridebed prepared for this king and this queen which here speaketh. By this bed therefore we will understand generally & first of all the whole country of Chanaan where it then pleased God to make as it were his residence and abode, having as it were abandoned and given over the rest of the world for a time unto perdition & destruction, Act. 14.16. and particularly we will here understand, the temple, the city of jerusalem, the synagogues, cities & towns of the whole territory & country, yea every one of the faithful, in as much as the Lord dwelleth in them by his spirit: on the other side, by Solomon is meant, not only this name, which is as much to say as peaceable, but also the promise made unto David of this son an eternal successor, couched in such terms that it comprehendeth all in one, both the figure which is this son of David: as also the truth and reality figured by him, which is jesus Christ, 2. Sam. 7.13. & 1. Chron. 17.12. Solomon therefore in this place representeth unto us this Bridegroom, the true and only peacemaker between god & his beloved as he is expressly called the prince of peace, Esa. 9.6. & his bed at this day is the whole universal world wheresoever he is known & acknowledged of the elect gathered out of the four corners of world, as the same was declared unto S. Pet. by that sheet which descended from heaven and was tied at the four ends, Act. 10.11.  
11 The spouse after this, to show us that it is there and no where else that we must seek after and find the true repose & rest, as it is declared unto us, Matth. 11.29. & that there is nothing more safe & assured then this rest, addeth that this bed is environed & compassed with 60. valiant men of Israel: and who besides their prows and courage have also experience, to hinder that nothing fall out by night, which may hinder the fruit of this rest. Now that which we try & experience every day showeth us, how not only profitable, but altogether necessary this doctrine is. For what is one of the chief and principal causes of this, that so few men give themselves unto this rest, and that so few continue in it? Is it not because that this bed seemeth to be but sorily guarded, and badly defended, & therefore they fear lest they should be easily surpressed & have their throats cut. But let us know that these carnal caitiffs', do as the foolish birds do, who so soon as they see the cat, instead of keeping themselves on their perch, throw themselves into the talants of the enemy. For he that goeth forth of the Church, casteth himself undoubtedly into the paws of the ravening lion, 1. Pet. 5.8. The fault therefore hereof proceedeth from hence, that men having no other eyes then those of their head, & not those of faith, believe only that which they see, & persuade themselves of that which cannot be seen, but by the eyes of the spirit which see that which is invisible, Heb. 11.27. and Ephes. 2.18. except it be when God bestoweth some special privilege upon some, as he did on jacob, Gen. 32.2. and on the servant of the Prophet, 2. King. 6.17. But what saith the Lord? Thomas, because thou hast seen, thou hast believed: but blessed are they who have not seen, and yet have believed. joh. 20.29. In the mean while we do all confess that God alone is almighty, yea that none hath any power but of him, as himself said unto Pilate, joh. 19.11. But why do we not add, that it is in his Church that he truly displaieth and showeth forth indeed and most mightily this power of his? Because there are very few which have learned thoroughly to believe that God is almighty, a friend and preserver of such as be his, and that it cannot be that the Bridegroom suffer any one of them to perish, whom the father hath given him, joh. 8.9.  
12 Now touching this number of 60. we are not scrupulously to stand upon it, albeit that they who have written of numbers observe in this number a special perfection, for which cause the Astrologers did especially choose it for the easier & readier calculating their degrees & minutes: seeing a man may find in it without any fraction or broken number a moiety or half, which is thirty, a third which is twenty, a fourth which is fifteen, a fifth which is twelve, a sixth which is ten: all which numbers are found quoted in that material Temple built by Solomon, except the fifth which is the number of twelve. Besides this if we reckon in particular, all the Canonical books aswell of the old as of the new testament, excluding the two latter Epistles attributed unto S. john, which are indeed as it were private letters, we shall find they make justly the number of 60. & those are in truth as it were, the true guard of this true Solomon, as shall be told you anon. But to take this more simply, it is likely that this was the ordinary number of the guard who watched by night, & were the nearest about the bed of Solomon.  
13 But what are these of the guard? They are first of all the Angels which pitch their camp about all those who fear God, Psal. 34.8. After them are all the creatures which it pleaseth him to use for the defence of his against their enemies, as we see in the story of Pharaoh, that the frogs, the flies, and the louse, maintained the quarrel of this spouse, and stayed the rage of that tyrant. And how often did the Philistines themselves rescue as it were and defend David from the force of Saul? But especially because our chiefest enemies, are not flesh and blood, as the Apostle speaketh, Ephes. 6.12. that is to say visible enemies, but that great lion which seeketh to devour us, 1. Pet. 5.8. and so many wicked and damnable affections, which are bred and borne with us: and because we are to fight every hour and every moment by the virtue of the spirit of God, to come unto this eternal rest which is here represented us by this bed, which we yet possess not but by hope: therefore it is against these especially that we are to be assisted and aided with our spiritual & invincible armour & weapons. Who are then these threescore soldiers, in this respect? They are truly these courageous and valiant rutters and old soldiers, renowned for their infinite victories against Satan and his angels, having all of them his sword upon his thigh, nay already drawn in his hand, to frustrate and break whatsoever the enemies of our salvation can enterprise or take in hand. Such were Abraham, Isaac, and jacob, and so many legions of brave and valiant soldiers, whose valiant acts are registered and recited, Heb. 11. Such were those so many faithful and trusty Captains, whom neither Satan, nor any counterfeit show of false wisdom whatsoever, nor any wiles, nor any cruelty of all the world could withstand or hinder from erecting and setting up their trophies and signs of victory throughout the world: and building this holy City the foundation whereof they have laid prepared by the Prophet's 1. Cor. 3.10. Ephes. 2.20. But some man will say: these are dead a great while since, and how then shall they be able to defend us at this day? Exceeding well and most assuredly, not by their merits (for as a good ancient father, and he a very learned Bishop of Rome hath very well said, The Saints gave not, but received crowns of righteousness) nor by their intercessions in heaven. For we have there one only mediator both of redemption and of intercession, which is our Lord jesus Christ, 1. Tim. 2.5. Heb. 1.25. 1. joh. 2.1. And all these merits and prayers whereof the false Pastors make themselves treasurers, and dispensers of them for ready money, are nothing else but so many buyinge and sellings of souls: a merchandise most abominable before the Lord. But behold how these valiant captains are yet at this day our defenders. First by their examples, Rom. 15.4. Heb. 12.1. And therefore one among them and he of the most valiantest and trusty soldiers was bold to say, Be ye followers of me as I am of jesus Christ, 1. Cor. 11.1. Secondly▪ and principally we understand by these threescore men of guard, those whose ministry God hath used for the building of that arsenal and artillery house from whence we are to take all those our spiritual weapons with which the Apostle armeth his spiritual ritter, Ephes. 6.13. I mean the holy scriptures uttered to the pen of the Prophets by the holy Ghost, 2. Pet. 1.21. and yet in more greater abundance and with greater efficacy delivered unto the Apostles, in whose writings are to be found all these weapons set in order and prepared for every one that will use them, taking them & learning the use of them, from the hands of the true Pastors and dispensers of them. Ye see what these guard are, yea see what these weapons are, with which whosoever armeth and aideth himself cannot choose but see Satan, the world, the flesh, and sin cast down and trampled under his feet.  
14 But above all let us seek after our strength and force where it is, to wit, in that great Solomon, of whom all the rest is but an instrument: who being come, and having made the combat, and vanquished all his enemies by his sufferings in respect of the assault which was given him, in as much as he entered the combat for us: and mastering in us from day to day by his holy spirit these same enemies which are still stirring within us, what have we longer to fear, to be there with affrighted? Where is then our strong hold, whither we are at all times to fly and retire ourselves? Verily in the strength of the Bridegroom, of whom David speaking, In thee have I trusted, saith he, I shall never be confounded, Psal. 31. And in another place, I will not fear though thousands of enemies be camped against me, Psal. 3.7. And in another place, The Eternal is my light & my salvation, of whom shall I be afraid, Psal. 27.1. This is he then which is the strong and mighty one, on whose side we must keep us. For even those who die in this combat are of all others the most victorious. Now it may please the Lord who hath drawn us out of darkness into this light of his truth, and hath placed and preserved us most miraculously hitherunto in this holy rest and peace of conscience, waiting for the full accomplishment of his promises, to settle and engrate in our minds this holy assurance of his mighty power in good will towards us, that we be never astonished by the assaults of Satan, and of such his adherentes as he emploieth and useth against us: but that contrariwise we persevere and continue in this holy profession of his truth, as well by mouth, as also by an holy & christian life, until we come unto the real enjoying of all that, which he hath made us to believe and hope for, according to his most holy and most assured promises: conformably unto which doctrine acknowledging our over great negligence hitherunto and laziness in our duty, with other infinite faults and offences of ours, we will crave mercy at his hands, saying.  
Almighty God, etc.   

THE XXVII SERMON. Our help be in the name of God etc. It is written as followeth in the third Chapter of the Canticle of Canticles, the 9 and 10. verses.  
9 King Solomon made himself a Coach of the wood of Libanon.  
10 He made the pillars thereof of silver, and the bottom of goold, and the covering of purple, and the inside was adorned with the dilections of the Daughters of jerusalem.  
1 The Coach which is here adjoined unto salomon's bed signifieth unto us, how the Church hath never had any place of certain residency and abode on earth, there to be tied without exception.  
2 The King himself hath built this Coach aswell under the old as the new covenant by those chosen woorkmen of his, without being ever lawful for men to add thereto, or change any thing, or else to take away any thing in respect of the body of this Coach, which is the doctrine.  
3 Neither in respect of the charges thereunto belonging, neither in regard of the manner of guiding and conducting it.  
4 A more ample declaration, that God never gave over the universal government of this Coach to any one certain place, no not to jerusalem itself without exception.  
5 The tyranny of the false Church of Rome over all Christendom.  
6 The Cedar wherewith this Coach is built representeth the sure continuance thereof against all the storms and tempests of the world.  
7 The Prophets and Apostles are the pillars of silver of this Coach maintained and preserved by the faithful Doctors and Pastors their successors, and in what sense this word of foundation is attributed unto them.  
8 jesus Christ is the bottom of gold of this Coach, bearing up and sustaining the pillars themselves.  
9 The covering of purple of this Coach, is the heavenly power of God, who covereth it and defendeth it from above.  
10 A reprehension of them who have their recourse to any thing beside.  
11 The testimonies of God's love and dilection contained in the sacred histories are the ornaments and picture tables of the inside of this Coach on every side.  
OF the bed of the Bridegroom we have already spoken, now there is here made a most magnificent description of his Coach, according unto the whole frame and building thereof: whereas concerning the bed there is no speech but in general, and of the guard about it. The reason thereof is, because that to say the truth that repose & rest which is figured unto us by that bed, in which the Bridegroom doth yet stay for & expect his spouse, there to rest with him for ever in perpetual bliss & felicity, 1 Thess. 4.17. is yet unknown unto us, nay is incomprehensible, having received nothing yet but the pledges thereof: but the Coach representing unto us the holy ministry of the word of truth and of life, aught to be perfectly known unto us, that it may be set up and used among us. Moreover in that the Coach is added unto the bed, it showeth us, if we consider of the ancient covenant, that the bridegroom had in such sort erected and set up his bed in that Temple, and the seat of his kingdom in jerusalem, where he said he made his dwelling place, Psal. 132.13.14. that notwithstanding he would make, as it were, his progress throughout the whole country, for which cause not only the Cities of the Priests, but the families also of the Levites, were dispersed here and there throughout the whole country, as the sacred history showeth us. But it was indeed especially under the new covenant ratified by the coming of the Bridegroom, that he indeed walked and made his progress▪ first in person throughout the whole country, ceasing neither day nor night, preaching unto the woorld the joyful tidings of the performance and accomplishment of the promises, Act. 10.38. and the true year of jubilee to be put in the possession of our true heritage, isaiah, 61. and sending after his ascending above the heavens his Apostles, and after them Pastors and Doctors for the gathering together of his elect from all the four corners of the world, Eph. 4.11. But this ministry being in such sort polluted by little and little for many hundreds of years, that in the end this Coach of the Bridegroom was made the throne of the whore which sitteth upon the seven hills, the Bridegroom hath in our time after so long an interruption restored it again & having harnished it anew & joined his horses unto it, hath traversed a great part of the world in it, to enlighten the eyes of the blind, as the Poets feign that the sun guiding his chariot from East to west giveth his shining light unto the world. Such is then this Coach, the description whereof, we are more nearly, and more particularly to consider of.  
2 First therefore it is said that Solomon himself made himself this Coach, to teach us, that whether we consider the doctrine of truth, for the publishing & making known whereof this Coach was made: or whether we regard the whole furniture and direction thereof, it is he that must set down the order, and as I may say the Carpentership: he must pin it and fit it throughout, and he must after teach the Cochemen the manner and order how he will have it ruled and governed. Wherein there is a double fault committed. The first is in them, who will build & frame this Coach after their own fancy and appetite, keeping themselves no farther then liketh them unto the ordinances and prescriptions of the bridegroom: the other is in them, who confess indeed that as for the manner and fashion of this Coach in general considered, there must be nothing but that which is correspondent unto the pattern which the bridegroom himself hath left us, not in chalk only, but in lively picture and pourtraite in his holy scriptures. But for the direction of this Coach, some are of opinion that they must follow the ancient customs of the fathers, taking away only such abuses as afterwards came in: others think that because of the contrariety of circumstances of places, times, and persons, God hath left it in the power and liberty of the Churches to appoint and ordain the whole ordering, according as they judge it to be expedient: provided always they tend unto the right end and mark they ought. And the ground of all this is that God doth it as it were by himself which he doth by the ministery of them whom he setteth a work in his name, whether they be Pastors, or christian Magistrates. I allow well of this ground, for otherwise what shall be said of the ancient Church which went before the coming of the Bridegroom in person, and of the Church, which followed the ascension of the Lord into heaven, & which shall continue unto his second coming in person? And he that would gainsay, & contradict this, should find himself convinced by the whole scripture: but I deny the consequences which are drawn from hence. Now to answer distinctly of both these points, I mean, that of doctrine, and afterward that concerning the government of the Church: I say touching the first, that being a thing most notorious that flesh and blood, Mat. 16.17. (that is to say, the spirit of man such as it cometh into this world, as the Apostle speaketh, 1. Cor. 2.4.) cannot revaile or comprehend that which is the only and true foundation of the doctrine of salvation, that is to say, of that which is necessarily, & absolutely necessary unto the salvation of all such as are of years of discretion, as the Creed of Athanasius doth witness, and the articles also of our Creed called the Apostles Creed, because it is the summary abridgement of the whole doctrine taught by the Apostles: it followeth that we must draw all this truth from the mouth of the Lord himself, who having spoken unto the fathers in a certain measure, Heb. 1.1. hath finally declared unto the whole world whatsoever is requisite unto our salvation, joh. 15.15. First by the preaching of his Apostles, who were most faithfully & perfectly taught, yea extraordinarily, & who have with like faithfulness executed their charge, not only in speaking, but also in writing, in such sort that it is a mere phreasy to imagine that they have omitted to preach by mouth, or to set down in writing any one point of the doctrine of salvation. Our adversaries reply at this day hereupon & say, that though happily the Apostles have taught all, yet have they not written all. But when we demand them what the points than are of doctrine which they have omitted in their writings, they stick fast as a man would say in the glue-pot. For either nothing of that which they allege appertaineth unto doctrine & the articles of faith: or else it is such as maybe proved to have been forged by this man or by that man, being a thing easy to quote the inventors thereof & the beginning: or else it shallbe found to agree no better with the articles of our faith which are the extract of the whole essential doctrine of the Apostles, then light with darkness, falsehood with truth. I know they are too wise to confess thus much. But besides that these things have been so often disputed and clearly proved, that we may say with saint Paul, 2. Cor. 4.3. that if they be obscure and hidden, it is unto them who will not hear them spoken of, or whose eyes the prince of this world hath blinded: we have always offered and do still offer to show and prove them to the eye before a true and Christian council.  
3 I say the same touching the whole estate of the house of the bridegroom, namely, that by these same Apostles he hath fully set up & appointed both the vocations & charges thereto belonging, as also the exercise of them in that which concerneth the substance of the government of his family: in such sort that it is more lawful to change, diminish, or add any thing in these vocations then in the doctrine, the application & execution only of the said charges and vocations, being only left free, according unto the circumstance of places, times & persons, which cannot be ordered always after one fashion, because of the necessary diversity of them. So did Moses order himself as a faithful servant in the house of God, having done nothing but according to the pattern which he had seen in the mount, Heb. 3.2. & 8.5. In which afterward nothing was changed or taken away by the true Prophets, but when it pleased god to erect his temple, & to set up the whole building & ordering of the ecclesiastical charges thereof: which was ordained by the Lord by the mouth of David & effected by Solomon, & yet this estate was not to endure, but until the coming of the Lord & master of the house, Heb. 3.6. who afterward by his holy spirit led his Apostles into all truth, joh. 16.7. who withhold & hide nothing thereof, but have declared and opened all the counsel of God, Act. 20.27. yea left in writing to continue unto the end and consummation of the world. Whereupon it followeth, that that which is customarily, and commonly alleged, to wit, that the master holdeth it for done, which is done by his workmen, cannot have any place in this matter, I mean, neither in the doctrine, nor in the general, and fundamental estate of the house of God, to attribute thereby unto the successors of the Apostles, any power and authority, of changing, adding unto, or diminishing any thing, either in the one, or in the other. The reason is, because the Apostles have left nothing to be set up by their successors, but have themselves taught and established all things, having left nothing to the Pastors, Doctors, Elders, Deacons, but to govern themselves, and their flocks, according unto this rule and foundation, 1. Cor. 3.11. without adding to any new thing, or clipping therefrom, or changing aught, the Coach, God be thanked, of this bridegroom being of an other building then is saint Peter's Church at Rome, a true figure of false religion, in which there is always some thing to be amended, added, or changed. And therefore they who began first not to content themselves with such ordinances, as were truly Apostolical, witnessed by their writings, what end thereof so ever they had, and what occasion so ever they pretended, opened the gap to all that confusion & desolation, whereunto the Church of God was by little & little most pitifully brought. So them to conclude this point, it is the bridegroom himself, & our only & true Solomon, who hath devised & built this Coach by his trusty & faithful Cochwrights, & Carpenters.  
4 But why is this house which is so strong and stable, that it prevaileth against helgates itself, Math. 16.18. compared here unto a Coach which is made to go from place to place? We have already yielded the reason thereof, to which ye shall add this which I will farther tell you. It is to show us how shamefully and wittingly they abuse themselves, who dream that God hath tied his truth unto one sole place, or See, which men in our time have persuaded themselves to be the See of Rome: in so much that some are become so blockish blind as to think that the Catholic & Apostolic Church, & the Roman Church is all one, adding this word unto the Apostles & Nicene Creed: a thing as improper & absurd, what reply soever be made to the contrary, as if a man should say, that the head of a man, & a man were all one: though we should grant them that the See of Rome, such as it is at this day, were not only the true Church, but which is more, the head of all particular Churches. Let us therefore note that this true Coach is there found, where this Bridegroom is purely preached, both in respect of his person, and in regard of his office: without matching him or over-matching him with a companion either superior, as they do who pray the virgin Mary to command her son: or collateral, as they do who call the same virgin their aid and their hope: or else inferior, as they do who call upon the Saints absent, or upon the dead. But some man will say, Is there then no certain visible place, on which the Christians ought to depend & stay themselves, to say, we must believe and do that which is taught and commanded in such a place? jesus Christ being asked the same question, answereth not, that it is Rome,, or any other place. But, saith he, where the dead body is, there the eagles gather themselves together, Luk. 17.37. And what is this dead body? It is saith Saint Paul, jesus Christ, & he crucified, besides which I will know nothing, understanding by the name of Christ the person, and by the word of crucified, all that which he hath done for us, even unto that last cry of his which shaked both the heaven and the earth, saying, All is finished. And thus much touching the Doctrine. As for the outward service, himself speaking to that woman of Samaria, which demanded of him, whether they should worship in the Temple of the Samaritans or of the jews, confessed indeed, that for a time, it was the Temple of jerusalem and no other which God had chosen there to be worshipped. But saith he, the time is come that men shall worship neither in this mountain, nor in jerusalem, but the true worshippers shall worship in spirit & in truth, joh. 4.21.24. that is to say, without distinction of place, they shall serve God with a pure spiritual service, not with altar or sacrifice, but with a contrite and humble heart, Psal. 51.19. and with the fruits of righteousness, Psa. 50.23. Ro. 12.1. & with the calves of their lips, Ose. 14.3. Moreover if we respect the former time, we shall find that it is true indeed that the covenant was resident, first in the house of Abraham, them in the house of Isaac, afterward in the house of jacob. But how was this house walked & carried up & down? Go we farther, we shall find, that traversing the desert it made 42. stations, Nu. 33. being come into the land of Canaan the tabernacle unto which the lord had as it were tied the seat of his covenant, both in respect of the doctrine & the outward service changed from place to place, & was in the end separated from his Ark being taken prisoner among the Philistines, on whom having wreked herself, she reunited not herself unto the tabernacle where the ordinary service was kept. Finally behold the temple built as a permanent & standing place, & jerusalem the capital city both of the realm, & of the priesthood. But how many breaches & interruptions were there, in such sort that the temple was shut up, & finally razed, afterwards repaired, after that most villainously polluted & defiled? I demand therefore, where was then this catholic See, yea & whilst it stood were we to conclude as they do at this day who call themselves Catholic Romans, the high-Priest is the successor of Aaron, & therefore he camnoter, & we must believe & do whatsoever is taught & commanded by the catholic church of jerusalem? I report me unto all the Prophets, whether they either made or taught others to make such a conclusion? Nay did not contrariwise cry out, both against the Priests, & against the temple itself for those abuses which were by them & there committed? And indeed where, & by whom was jesus Christ judged worthy of death, as being a blasphemer against God & against the temple? Where, & by whom was his doctrine condemned of impiety? Where, & by whom were the Apostles forbidden to preach the gospel? Where, by whom, & for what cause was Steven accused, & stoned to death? It is then a mere bewitchednesse & frenzy to tie the holy ghost unto one place whatsoever it be, or to any certain estate of men to ground on them the rule of a man's faith without exception: seeing that under the ancient people themselves, among whom jerusalem was the place which the Lord had chosen for his house & habitation, there were none more deceived than they, who without any exception or limitation rested & grounded themselves on that temple, & on the personal succession of Aaron, jerusalem being often the seat and See not of Truth, but of Murdering of the Preachers of the Truth, & the nest of the Baalims'.  
5 But can it be shown by the Scripture or by any testimony worthy of credit that jesus Christ hath established in the world one certain place or catholic See, that is to say, where an head should be seated having authority over all the particular churches of the world? And if it were lawful for men to constitute & appoint themselves one, why should Rome rather be chosen then jerusalem the first & the ancient of all the Churches? Called of the Prophets the City of God? From whence the word of God should go forth into all the world? And founded notoriously by S. Peter & the rest of the Apostles? Or rather than Antioch where were named the first christians? & where it is notorious that S. Pet. & S. Paul lived? But in sum, what reasonable man can be ignorant what is to be judged of the See of Rome, seeing that Daniel speaking clearly & plainly of that God on earth calleth him by his name the God Maozzim: which is as much to say in the languange of the Prophet, as the God of Rome, or the God of the Romans, Dan. 11.38. For it is evident that this word of Rome, in the greek tongue, which was then used in that country where this city was first built & named, signifieth as much as the Hebrew word which the Prophet useth. And S. Paul speaking of him which reigned in his time, I mean the Emperor of Rome, saith expressly that of the destruction of him should be borne the child of perdition, 2. Thess. 2.7. and when Saint john nameth expressly the City of seven hills, Apoc. 17.9. In a word therefore as it is the Lord which hath of his great grace built his Coach where it pleaseth him, never using the help of any for the inventing the plat and model thereof, but using indeed the ministry of certain his faithful servants, all of them immediately chosen, as was Moses, & after him the Apostles, for the setting up of it according unto the form and pattern which himself & no other hath devised: & giving the name of Coach unto this ecclesiastical government, he hath declared that he would not make it abiding for ever in one place, but hath used and doth use, & shall use it unto the end of the world, transporting it according unto his good and holy will & pleasure, 1. Cor. 12.  
6 It remaineth we consider by piece-meal the building of this Coach, according as the pieces thereof are set down unto us in this place. This description therefore beginneth first with the matter wherewith the body of the Coach is built, namely of the wood of Liban, that is to say of Cedar, this tree having this property, that it is as a man would say incorruptible. This is it which I have already declared upon the last verse of the first Chapter, to wit, that thereby thus much is declared unto us, that this holy and sacred government is invincible, both in respect of time and of men. The reason is if we consider the generality of the Church, because the kingdom of this Bridegroom is everlasting, as the father promised him, Dan. 7.14. and Luk. 1.33. reaching itself and as it were walking from one end of the world unto the other, Ps. 2.8. & lifting itself up in the end above the heavens, joh. 14.2. As also if we consider of every member of the church, which are as it were so many persons placed and conducted in this Coach, not one of them can perish, joh. 6.39. & 18.9. What do you then shall I say men or devils, who seek to overturn this Coach? Who endeavour to hinder it in his course? Nay, who devise by all means to pull it in pieces? Alas poor caitiffs, it is of the wood of Liban, which resisteth all assaults. You do nothing but run your heads against the mountain, and are no wiser than your predecessors, who are dashed in pieces, and yet the mountain continueth still firm and stable. This Coach resisteth iron, and therefore will turn the edge of your sword. The fire cannot consume it, but purgeth it and maketh it more bright and glittering. This Coach floateth upon the water, and never goeth so under but that it cometh up again upon the water. Neither can death or time set-tooth in it, and how can the earth consume us, seeing the grave doth nothing else but refine our bodies, to be afterward clad with incorruption, 1. Cor. 15.42. Where shall then our place of refuge be in a time of so great & so rough storms? In this Coach, my brethren, in this Coach under the wing and protection of the mightiest of mighties, and no where else.  
7 The spouse having spoken of the matter of this Coach, cometh unto the Pillars which he saith, are of silver, and made by this King Solomon. And what are these Pillars else but such as God hath chosen and given to be the principal pieces of the Coach, and whose ministry he useth for maintaining and preserving of it, as the Pillars underprop and stay up the building? I mean the Prophets and Apostles as the principal master-builders, and as it were the hand of this king to put this Coach in readiness: as the Pastors and Doctors finding it ready made, as we have above declared, are put in trust to maintain and keep it whole in all his parts and pieces, 1. Cor. 12.28. Ephe. 41. And this is the cause why the Apostle saith, that the Church is foundded upon the Prophets and Apostles, Ephe. 2.20. because the Apostles received this grace to have ended that which the Prophets had as it were hewed out and squared: as it is said, that the wall of the City descending from heaven had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve Apostles, Apoc. 21.14. & how is this, but that yet at this day the true Church hath no other object of her faith then the doctrine taught by the faithful Apostles of the Lord? Ephes. 3.12. But, some man will say, is there then any more than one foundation of the church and the government thereof? No truly. But there are more laiers of the foundation, but there is but one foundation only. If we respect then the work of every foundation-laier, we shall find, that there are so many foundations, that is to say, so many foundation works as there are foundation-laiers, one working here, & an other there: as in the restoration and building up again of the City of the terrestrial jerusalem, every one wrought in his quarter but all was one and the same wall upon the old foundation, Nehem. 2. and 3. Here we have then the definition of the truly Catholic Church, namely that it is it for the building whereof every Apostle hath built for his part, by one & the same doctrine founded upon one sole foundation, one and the same Church: none of the builders being master above his felowe-builder, although Nehemiah as Lieutenant of the king governed the whole, as a faithful magistrate ought to procure above all things, that God reign and bear rule in the midst of the people whom he hath committed unto his charge. And therefore here was no principality which men have falsely attributed & given unto S. Pet. but he wrought mightily as the others did in his charge and quarter. In this sense therefore it is that we must understand these twelve foundations, and foundation-layers: only we must take heed how we say that S. Paul, who notwithstanding built more than any other, 1. Cor. 15.10. & Barnabas were forgotten in the vision of S. john. For the whole book of the Apocalypse declareth that the forms there of speaking are applied & fitted to the manner of the judaical commonweal: in which because there were 12. tribes, mention is made of 12. gates, and 12. foundation-laiers only.  
8 And to the end that this may more clearly appear in this allegorical description, let us note that these Pillars have two ends or extremes, the one below, the other above. The base or lower end is sustained by the bottom of the Coach, the top or upper end by the vault of the covering. These pillars therefore are not they properly which hold and bear up the covering, but only because themselves have their bases, and are sustained upon the bottom. And this is also the cause why it is said, that they are of silver: but the bottom is of gold. First, because jesus Christ is truly the only foundation stone, 1. Cor. 3.11. Esa. 28.16. sustaining and bearing up the whole by his only force and power, and therefore most rightly compared to the most fair, precious, & firm metal. Secondly because it pleaseth him of his good will, and not of any need he hath of them to serve himself with these pillars of silver, in as much as he hath given an efficacy unto their ministry, and doth yet sustain at this day his Coach, I mean, the gathering together of his Saints by the vigour of his spirit which he layeth open in the heart of his, Eph. 4.11.12. their writings being preached in all these places, whither it pleaseth him to guide and conduct his Coach, retaining always this principle & maxima, that he which planteth, & he which watereth, (which are these pillars of silver) are nothing, to wit, beside the planting & watering, according unto the force which is given them to plant & to water: but he is all in all who giveth the increase, to wit, the bottom and ground of gold, to those who are well planted and watered upon him, 1. Cor. 3.7.  
9 The covering of this Coach, saith the spouse, was made of purple by this King Solomon, which showeth unto us the proceeding & power of God, covering from his heaven & azured throne his poor children, exposed otherwise unto all injuries of weather, storms and tempests. And this is a lesson infinite many times repeated & reiterated in the Scripture: & namely, Ps. 91.1. where it is said, that, who so dwelleth in the secret of the most high, shall abide under the shadow of the almighty. And Psal. 34.15. The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, & his ears are attentive unto their cry. And Psal. 121.4. The guard and watchman of Israel will never slumber nor sleep. The sun shall not burn thee by day, nor the moon by night. Which thing the children of Israel did visibly experience, being defended by day by the cloud in the scorching desert, & by night by the pillar of fire. And Psal. 125.1. He that trusteth in the Lord, standeth fast and is for ever assured, as the mount Zion, which shaketh not. In a word the whole Scripture is full of such sentences. And besides the Scriptures we have thereof continual experience, seeing that even those whom a man would take to be utterly forsaken are the first & the best provided for & assured. But this covering is not seen but with the eyes of faith, as it is said of Moses, that he saw him which was invisible, Herald 11.27. Albeit these visible heavens might serve us thereunto, sith their continued stability & so well ordered course are as it were engraved testimonies, of the infinite might & unspeakable assurance of the lord, as it is said, Ps. 19.1. & 119.89.  
10 But alas behold for a certain our judgement & condemnation, namely that the most part of us, who vaunt ourselves to be the reformed Church, that is to say, received into and conducted by this Coach into paradise, believe not neither the pillars, nor the bottom, nor the covering thereof. For if it be true that the doctrine, which we (who are chosen by the great mercy of the Lord for the doing of this) preach unto you, is the only & true object of faith, why are we not believed, either when we teach, or when we comfort, or when we reprehend? If we be believed, wherefore doth every one make unto himself his particular ground & resting staff? And how so will some man say? For this were to play the parts of Idolaters and superstitious men. And are not you such ye covetous miser's, who have nothing before your eyes but gain? I speak unto you merchants, who know so well to make your commodity by the rising & falling of crowns to the loss of your poor neighbours▪ who know your cabala so well to make your profit rather by selling for time, then for ready money, making 9 pecks of 1. bushel. I speak unto you usurers & white wolves (though there be some who begin very young) who under colour of aiding & helping your neighbour make it your trade to live by, & to enrich yourselves by the necessity of another. Out upon you caitiffs', will you be always with us as it were in this Coach, to overturn not only the Coach, but yourselves & us too? To say it in a word, so many tricks of close conveyance & deceit, so many left & sinister means reigning & swaying in the midst of us, how loud so ever we cry out against them in the pulpit, and what Laws soever be provided and established to the contrary, are sufficient testimonies that we yet believe not neither bottom nor covering of this Coach: as if we never had yet heard any speech thereof. And what shall I say of so many renegants & Apostates, some upon a jollity of mind, others upon fear, who have finally hardened themselves so far as to put out both their own and others eyes? Let us here remember the net which gathereth the good and bad fish, Matth. 13.27. which appertaineth also unto this Coach: as also him who was found at the marriage feast without his marriage garment. The scandal is great, yet so it must be, but cursed be they who are guilty thereof. Matth. 11.8. There must also be heresies, that they which are currant may be known, 1. Cor. 11.19. But let us preach God that we be not of this number, being upheld & stayed upright by his mercy, and that looking down we stay ourselves upon this bottom and ground of pure gold, which is our only foundation, and looking up we must cast our ancre on that throne where the same Lord and master of ours doth sit diversly considered, I mean, as he sustaineth us below to lift us up together unto himself in everlasting life, and preserving from above that which is here below for a time.  
11 There remaineth the ornament of the inside of this Coach which the spouse saith to be adorned, that is as a man would say, tapistred with the dilection of the Daughters of jerusalem: that is to say with histories painted, or rather engraved in the holy scriptures, which testify unto us the infinite dilection which this true Solomon bore unto his jerusalem. This allegory is founded hereupon, that from all times great Lords and Ladies are wont to adorn the hals of their house, and their coaches and horselitters with clothes of tapestry, or paintings, or or carved histories, as also their sepulchres and monuments. But especially men are desirous to have and see the pourtraits of such personages as they bear affection unto. After this sort is that spiritual Coach of our Solomon the friend of jerusalem described in the Gospel, in so much that he wept over it when he went thither there to be condemned and crucified, Luc. 19.41. And what shall we say hereupon? And who is able to conceive on the one side so many the bounties of the Lord or acknowledge on the other side so many our ingratitudes? Let us therefore pray the Lord that he will open and enlarge our understanding to conceive at the least in some measure both the one and the other, and give us grace that adoring and magnifying the one, & abhorring and detesting the other: we may be made worthy to consider & understand the contents of these so goodly and lively pictures, I mean the sacred histories, which are so many infallible testimonies, of those more than infinite & incomprehensible compassions of this Bridegroom towards his jerusalem, Ephes. 3.19. & 5.25. namely towards the assembly of his elect, both before and during and after the terrestrial jerusalem, tapistred I say, & carved in this Coach into which he causeth us to ascend & seateth us therein to contemplate it on all sides, according unto the example of David, Psal. 27.4. as in the terrestrial jerusalem this was figured by the precious ceilings and other rich ornaments of the same, to the which God be all honour and glory now and for ever, Amen.  
Almighty God, etc.   

THE XXVIII. SERMON. Our help be in the name of God etc. It is written as followeth in the third Chapter of the Canticle of Canticles, the 9 and 10. verses.  
9 King Solomon made himself a Coach of the wood of Lebanon.  
10 He made the pillars thereof of silver, and his bottom of gold, & the covering of purple, and the inside was adorned with the dilections of the daughters of jerusalem.  
1 The shogs and iuttes of this Coach hinder not the repose & rest of them who are in it, and there is nothing to be compared unto their happy estate.  
2 A large description of the great travails of the Clergy of Rome for their feigned mother Church.  
3 What the merits of the superstitious are.  
4 The Coach is conducted by the wind and secret spring of the sole providence of God, without any either wheels of Coch-horses: the holy ministery notwithstanding for all this established in the Church not excluded.  
5 A description of the most memorable histories carved in the inside of the Coach, from the creation of the world until salomon's time.  
6 How this Coach hath always passed victoriously, and triumphantly through the midst of all tempests unto the coming of the true Solomon into the earth.  
7 How this king descended down on earth hath see up his Coach in a far greater magnificent estate then ever before, & hath conducted it by a marvelous swiftness from East unto west, having finally overturned the Roman Empire, stubbornly set to hinder his course.  
AN application of this dilection and power of God unto this, that he hath already begun in our time, harnishing again and putting in frame his Coach which was plucked in pieces by evil Cochers. We have already spoken very much of that which is contained in this text so full of doctrine and consolation, that the more a man considereth of it, the more he findeth in it to profit himself thereby, as in truth it is not without cause that this canticle or song is named the Canticle of Canticles, or song of songs. Besides that therefore which we have already drawn from this text, I say that it is not without great cause that the Lord speaketh in this place of a Coach or horselitter, which serveth unto two uses, namely to rest in & to travail in both together. Albeit therefore that the children of this world judge us to be as they suppose in the most tickle & uncertain state in the world, as being in continual motion & agitation, & (as the Apostle saith 1. Cor. 4.11.) vagabonds, having no certain place of dwelling: notwithstanding we travail in a Coach of gold, borne up with pillars of silver, covered with purple, & with infinite matters of pleasure & recreation carved & engraven in this Coach, which can neither be overturned, nor stopped, or stayed for one minute of time, what ruts soever or hinderances men lay in the way of it within or without, although it make not always the like journeys. For proof hereof I take the saying of the Lord. Rejoice, saith he, and be glad when men revile you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you for my name's sake, falsely. Math. 5.11. For when are we shocked and mightily tossed if not then? But in the mean time we are so conducted in this Coach that these shocks & shakings, which seem to them without to menace our overturning, are unto us within no other than as a man would say, a dancing & pleasant rocking, to the utter despiting of all those who laugh at that which cannot come to pass, to wit, our ruin and downfall: and they themselves while they laugh at us, fall into the ditch they digged for us, as we see how the Prophet taketh up an holy laughter upon them: Psa. 9.25.16. And the Apostle is bold to defy all those which assault him, be they on high or below: Rom. 8.38.39. who was no frantic when he said, teaching us to say the like with him, that he thought he never had occasion of rejoicing & vaunting himself, but in the cross of jesus Christ, by which, saith he, I am crucified unto the world, Ga. 6.14. This Coach than is such as wherein we may travail on still and take our rest: but yet not without some agitation. For this Coach is driven through the mountains down a thousand downfalles of the world. They, saith the Lord, who are in kings houses and palaces wear soft clothing: Math. 11.8. Let them therefore being cambericke clad and feather laid, go fair and softly down to hell, if they will take no other way then that. But as for us, let us suffer ourselves to be carried into Paradise with all the jumps & iolting it shall please God, so we arrive at the end we tend unto, by the way which our head & chief Captain is gone, Rom. 8.17. Heb. 10.20.  
2 True it is that the chiefest of them, of whose case I speak, allege the contrary, and say that they are the men who keep the strait and narrow way, who bear the brunt of the ill weather: whereas we seek after nothing else but the liberty of the flesh. For they abstain from marriage, but we have wives. chaste men good Lord & continent: if you believe not me, let their courtisanes, their concubines, their stews & brothelhouses, their Sodom and Gomorrha which infect the heaven and the earth, be witnesses. And to the end they allege not that they approve not these things, but condemn them as deeply as we do: let them show me what they endeavour to the contrary, they I say, who have both the spiritual & the temporal sword, & should take order against such shameful filthiness, either by ecclesiastical censures, according unto the holy Ghost speaking by the mouth of Saint Paul, which ought to serve for an inviolable rule, or at the least according unto the canons, how ever they dispense with gods Law, which is a thing utterly intolerable, either by such punishments at the least as the civil laws of the Paynims themselves have appointed, seeing they occupy the places of temporal estates & signories. And seeing their head hath power, as he pretendeth he hath, over Emperors and Kings themselves, why doth he not execute it against those who govern their people and subjects so il? Because, his subjects would tell him, you must first begin with yourselves, with your clergy, & your Sodom. They fast & abstain from eating of flesh a great part of the year. And what do we? We have taken away the Lent, & eat every day indifferently fish or flesh, or both. We call to witness of their fastings, & great pains they take for the Church, their faces and their bellies, their Katers, Butlers & Cooks, & how many millions of flagans & bottles? They sing Matins, many Masses, little and great: they have their hours, first, third, sixth, ninth, their Vespers, Complins & Salutations. And what do we? We do nothing but preach. It is true, & I confess it, that all their business consisteth in chanting & thrush-warbling. And what pains think we doth that good holy father take to be carried upon men's shoulders, to lift up his foot so oft to have his pantofle kissed, to tell over so many millions of Crowns which come flowing in unto him on all sides, besides the fatherly and continual care he taketh to have the booty and spoil of so many souls, and bodies, so lamentably bewitched to their own sight and knowledge? Goodly marks doubtless of the true Catholic Church, and perpetual enemy of the world, jam. 44. to see Meffiers the reverendissimies have their long tails carried up by their trainebearers, afterward trained up and down in their Coaches with their courtesans, to make the very Sun to blush at their impudent shamelessness: & yet these are the Nursery of that Ecumenical See. What shall I say of them who are gaping after these Cardinal's hats? what of these goodly gardiatane bishops, of these bishop's titulary, & portative, of Abbots, Priors, and the like, with whom we may justly suppose that the devil himself maketh himself sport, though all of them serve him in good earnest, except it be such as openly both by their words, and all their horrible dissolutions show that they believe neither in God nor in the devil. For behold to what point the world is come. And as for these great religious men who merit both for themselves & others, alack how ill they be lodged in their royal and more than royal palaces: alack poor men how they are famished, when the world fighteth who shall bestow most upon them, and their own mouth is never stopped not to demand, or their hands so troubled with the gout, not to take and receive whatsoever comes. O the small warmth they have in their jacobine chambers! o how ill they are clothed in their frocks and other their habits, which have no fault in them neither winter nor summer! o the hard penance discipline they bear at their girdle! o the poor fraternity of jesus, who have gotten within the compass of thirty years more by their charitable gratuity, than all the rest of the monks in five hundred years before them!  
3 If hereupon it be replied that there are some truly religious who go wolward and in hair, live hardly and austerely, whip and scourge themselves in good earnest: though we granted them all this, and that they did an hundred times more than is reported of them, yet come they nothing near Baal's priests who cut and sliced themselves with razors having crien out from morning until noon, whom Elias notwithstanding with full mouth mocketh 3. Kings. 18.27. or the religious Mahometans of divers sorts and fashions. And how ever it be, if austerity of life were an essential mark of true religion & holiness▪ (as the poor & simple people bear themselves in hand it is) then were saint john Baptist to be preferred before Christ Math. 3.4. not that we blame or discommend temperancy, as neither the exercise required to tame and subdue this body of ours which rebelleth against the spirit. But contrariwise we say, that such aught the life of every Christian to be, and we confess that we fail in the other extreme, as if having taken away the superstitious distinction of days and meats, we had forbidden men to fast, to give themselves to prayer and all holy exercises: not as if we had commanded every day to eat fish and flesh. We say therefore in sum, that for a man to feed his horse moderately, yea to make him to fast, when, and so as need requireth (for fearing least fatted at too much ease, he wax headstrong and fall to kicking and flinging, in steed of carrying his rider well and quietly) is far an other thing, then by hard and evil handling of him to make him utterly unprofitable, in such sort that he fainteth & falleth flat under a man, or cannot but with much ado, set one foot before an other, when a man would use him. Moreover we add that it is an unjust and intolerable thing to make the rules of such exercises certain and general, which thing was never appointed by the word of God, nor practised in the christian Church so long as it continued in her purity, seeing that under the yoke of the law itself there was but one fasting day appointed generally to be observed every year. I add further, that whereas the best & the most excellentest works which the holy Ghost worketh in those who are most holy, cannot be taken in account for satisfaction of our gilt, or payment of our sins before God: it is a most abominable error to think to gain paradise by eating or not eating by marrying or not marrying, by eating flesh or eating fish. But I confess I do the world great wrong to enter into dispute of such things against them, against whose unchaste & gluttonous Epicurian life the heaven and the earth demand justice at God's hand. Leaving them therefore to be carried in their Coach in full gallop to the place assigned them, I refer them by the way unto that which all the Prophets have written against the hypocrites and traditionaries of their time, and unto that which the Lord himself saith in so many places of the Evangelists, and saint Paul expressly Rom. 14.17. speaking of that which was for a time forbidden by the commandment of God himself, who hath not buried Moses to make place for human traditions, Coloss. 2.23. 1. Timot. 4.3.8.  
4 Let us now return to this Coach of the bridegroom, prepared by him therein to receive his spouse. A man may therefore marvel why there is here no mention made of wheels or of Coch-horses: things which seem altogether necessary to make this Coach to go. But the reason is evident, namely because this Coach moveth not properly by any humane art & industry, but by the sole virtue & power of him who made the Coach and conducteth it after a most especial and divine manner. And yet this is not therefore to exclude the ministry, either of Angels, which thing is represented unto us in that heavenly chariot which Ezechiel saw with his wheels: Ezech. 1.5. or that of men, seeing that before the spouse was compared unto the Coch-horses of Pharaoh, as also Elizeus said seeing Elias carried up on high, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof, 2. King. 2.11. or natural causes, whereof mention is made Exod. 1.10.13. & 14.21. & Psal. 18.11. but to show us that all the second causes (the question being of that which concerneth the kingdom of God) do work always in such sort, that God reserveth unto himself the glory of the effect of them, according unto that which the Apostle saith even of his own ministery, that he which planteth and he which watereth is nothing (I mean in respect of the inner working) but God is all who giveth the increase, 1. Cor. 3.7. So far is it then that any man, nay any Angel of heaven can guide the course of this spiritual Coach, that contrariwise themselves must be guided & conducted in this Coach by the wheels of his only providence who hath made it & conducteth it, & that by such carriers, mountains & valleys incomprehensible unto any creature. Notwithstanding the holy ministry was not omitted in the description of this Coach, in which they were represented by the pillars of silver as we declared this day eight days  
5 Besides all this, the inside of this Coach being richly and costly carved for a testimony of the dilections of this Bridegroom toward the daughters of jerusalem, ought not to be lightly passed over. And what is all this else, but that which is comprised in the sacred books of the Scripture filled with an infinite number, not of dead pictures, or such as are of human woorkmanshippe, but of memorable stories, penned and uttered by the holy Ghost. Let us therefore now, my brethren, enter into this Coach, & let us see whether it be possible to see and behold any thing in heaven or in earth, which may be compared unto these carvings and engraving. There we see first, this great woorkemaster, making all of nothing, all things appearing suddenly at the sound of his word, and this goodly principal piece of work of man, mouled as it were upon the pattern of the Divinity itself, Genes. 1.26. There we see afterward this mighty Creator in the person of him who was after made our deliverer and redeemer in person, running after those two forlorn children, applying unto that deadly wound, so soon as it was made the remedy of an immortality far more excellent than that whereof our first parent had deprived himself, and us all his posterity, Genes. 3.1. Go we farther & behold the Bow of the Lord engraving in heaven the patience of the Creator which endureth still unto this day, Gen. 8.13. notwithstanding our rebellion continued almost four thousand years after the flood. Look we farther, and with what pleasure do we behold Abraham, Isaac, and jacob, walking through infinite by-ways & dangerous, and in the space of four hundred years their race, amidst most profane people, full of unthankfulness & desperate rage, multiplied unto the number of six hundred thousand persons, besides the women and little children. Behold a little farther the undauntable insolency of Pharaoh minding to stay the course of this Coach beaten and vanquished, by frogs, by flies, by louse, at the shaking only of the rod of one of the servants of this great king. Behold after this the Coach charged with so great a multitude passing on dry land through the midst of the sea, which swallowed up all the enemies which pursued it: behold the bread sent from heaven, behold with one stroke of a small rod the most hard rocks cleft, to water almost 40. years long all this multitude. Behold the Coach, arrived at the river of jordan after it had beaten down & battered two mighty kings, passing the river on dry ground, making the high walls of jericho to moulder and fall to ground before it. Behold this Coach battering down, trampling under, dashing in pieces thirty kings beyond jordan. Behold the people in this Chariot of triumph, victoriously placed in the land of promise, where they are so chastised for their faults, that notwithstanding they obtain in the end, so many miraculous trophies as this Coach sustained assaults, yea beating down their enemies sometimes with pitchers, jud. 7. sometimes with an Oxe-goade, jud. 3.31. though for one time he suffered his Ark, which was as it were his seat in the conducting of his Coach, to be taken as it were prisoner: but what? This was to cut off Dagons' legs and arms, 1. Sam. 5.4. to strike his enemies on the hinder parts, & by lashing them with the whip to make them serve him for horses & thillers to bring his Coach whither pleased him. There follow after this, lamentable & heavy things, but the Coach remaining selfe-upright, only discharging itself of many which had shoved themselves into it, & became unworthy to abide in it. Such was amongst others that caitiff Saul, having imbrued himself with the blood of one of the principal pillars of this Coach, 1. Sam. 22.16. and it seemed that then, and after that, this Coach was overturned, or altogether stayed. But God did speedily provide for it, having razed a faithful Cocher representing himself, I mean David that great Prophet and king, who having conquered and afterward prepared Jerusalem, raised up to honour, and so far favoured of God as to be called his City, his House, his Rest, and having finally provided & disposed all the furniture of this Coach, repaired as it were all anew, he left for successor the chief builder thereof, namely his son Solomon, who brought this excellent work unto an end with such direction, wisdom, and magnificency, that there was never seen among the Kings of this world the like thing, being in this respect the figure of the true Solomon, King of peace, and Lord and eternal son of David. Lo these are the pictures of the inside of this Coach of which the Spouse speaketh in this place, as being engraven and carved in the inside thereof.  
6 And if a man will pass beyond the time of Solomon, as the holy Ghost intending prophetically to bring forth testimonies of the dilections of this bridegroom until his coming in person, yea even unto the end and consummation of the world, we shall find that the nearer the time and term appointed of God approacheth for the real execution of his promises, the more evidently did the ardent affection of this bridegroom show itself towards his jerusalem, how perverse and unthankful so ever she showed herself. But some man might think that this Coach was then at the least somewhat evil affected, when of 12. tribes 10. were cast out of this Coach under Roboam. But this is clean contrary. For as a family of 12. persons, whereof ten should be found traitors and such as had conspired the death of their mother, is never a whit endamaged by the casting of those ten rebellious and disloyal persons out of doors, but rather eased and purged of great filth: so did the Lord by throwing out of his Coach such caitiffs and miscreaunts. And as for the remnant which remained in this Coach if the king again take a view many times of the estate of his house, what hath followed thereof but which happeneth unto barns and garners, namely that the corn is the purer and cleaner the oftener it is winnowed and sifted? It is true it might seem that finally this Coach being most miserably guided by them unto whom this King had given the charged thereof, was not only overturned but broken into a million of pieces, nay turned utterly into dust and powder, though it often resisted, and namely under josaphat and Ezechias. But what? If we consider well of all we shall find the clean contrary. For so far is it that they who seem to have had this advantage might vaunt themselves of those victories, that contrariwise it is the King himself who led and conducted and set himself his enemies a work, not to overthrow and ruinated his Coach, but first to discharge it of that great number of villainous and profane persons gotten into it, and afterward to unharnish it: and thirdly because it had a long journey to make, namely as far as Babel over so many rivers and troublesome ways, and minding also as it were to unthawe his people waxed stiff and benommed with overmuch ease they sat at, it pleased him to guide them on foot even into Chaldea, using the Chaldeans as his Sompters, to carry his vessel of gold and of silver, which he delivered them as it were in keeping. And as for his Coach, seeing it so villainously used and so il handled as it was, he would not only have it to be unharnished as I said before, but also unpinned, disjointed and pulled asunder; but yet so that the pieces remained sound & good, as indeed in his good time he set it together again, & that by the appointment & ordinance of the Kings themselves otherwise his enemies and successors of them who had pulled it in pieces. If hereupon a man reply unto me the servitude of the people of God, I confess it, for they had well deserved it: but I add that during this very captivity, behold the people how captive and prisoner-like soever they were, governor of Babylon in great authority in the person of Daniel, behold the royal edicts for the worshipping of the God of Daniel, behold the tyrant himself brought to feed among the brute beasts, behold Babylon itself captive, and the people of god restored & reestablished with great privileges, & restitution of their holy vessels. And what afterward? Is not this that King who beat down the Kings of Syria and of Egypt, though sometime he had given them an entrance even into his house there to take them and entrap them?  
7 And if we pass yet farther we shall see that it was then, than I say indeed, that this great King showed his infinite dilection and love towards his jerusalem (that which went before being nothing else but the pledges as it were of the fiansailes) when he set up this Coach of his in jerusalem which with an incredible swiftness passed from East to West, and from North to South by the mighty and impetuous wind of his mouth, represented on the day of Pentecost by two things most swift and light, and of most sudden effect, namely by a mighty and violent rushing wind, and by fire in the similitude and likeness of tongues. And this is indeed the time when both the mighty power and more than cordial affection of the King of this Coach trained indeed upon the wings of the four winds, appeared; having beaten down that great mount of the Roman Monarchy, and blowing now to ruin and overthrow the beast moulded upon this pattern and seated in the Temple of God upon the very same seven hills. For the declaring of which things in particular it is not one sermon, nay the life of many men one after another can serve.  
8 Only I will say that this second Coach not new in itself, but spiritual in as much as it was figured by the first being external and gross according unto the time, being fallen after certain ages into most wicked hands, and most wickedly and vilely conducted, hath been harnished again in our time, and restored unto his former estate, having traversed, as still it doth traverse a great part of the world, with terrible iuts, but so guided by him which is in heaven and keepeth up the wheels thereof without forsaking them, that God be thanked therefore, the greatest & mightiest who endeavoured with all their force to stay the course of it, have served for litter, being beaten down and trampled under it: and if there have been any who through the violence of such shogginges are leapt out of the Coach, it hath been to fly up on high, whither this Coach leadeth all it carrieth, causing them to leave only their case on earth, aswell to serve for a reproach and perpetual remorse of conscience unto some, as to leave unto others an example of firm and invincible constancy. And seeing that God hath bestowed this grace upon us, my brethren, yea continued so long a time, as to have set up his Coach amongst us also, & to have received us into it as it were out of all the countries of the woorld, let us be heedful to behave ourselves as it becometh us, that we be never cast out of it, and to pray unto God with David, Psal. 23.6. and 27 4. that we may continue in it all the time of our life, and that he will there entertain us with his favour, until that latter day in which we shall be carried up on high, there to reign with him eternally, 1. Thess. 4.17. Amen.  
Almighty God, etc.   

THE XXIX SERMON. Our help be in the name of God etc. It is written as followeth in the third Chapter of the Canticle of Canticles, the 11. verse.  
11 Daughters of Zion, come forth and behold this King Solomon with the crown with which his mother crowned him in the day of his espousailes and the gladness of his heart.  
1 The knowledge of the true jesus Christ, and of the true Church is requisite unto salvation, and the one must teach us the other.  
2 The true Church instead of busieng her mind on herself, giveth herself wholly to the praising of her Bridegroom to lead all the world unto him.  
3 All they which are in the Church are not therefore of the Church, and there is found a false Catholic Church too in the midst of the true.  
4 A man must first go out of himself to contemplate this King.  
5 secondly he must go out of Zion itself when the King is parted thence, & that Babylon hath there set up her banner.  
6 A man must go forth, but it is to find and contemplate this King.  
7 It is another thing to contemplate this King then simply to look on and behold him: and how this contemplation hath been always entirely spiritual, the spirit notwithstanding being instructed, by the hearing of the word, and by the sight of the Sacraments.  
8 Whereunto and to whom the sensual contemplation of the presence of this king being in the world serveth.  
9 Certain testimonies that we should not nor must not seek after the bodily presence of this King on earth, since the time he is ascended the heavens.  
10 A conclusion of this doctrine teaching us where and how we must contemplate this King.  
11 An opposition and refutation of the doctrine contrary to this truth.  
12 An exhortation better to contemplate and serve this King than men have done.  
13 This King is sovereign, spiritual, & eternal, delivering over to no creature the authority of imposing Laws on the conscience, nor to noting that which men are to do concerning his service, nor touching that which we must believe unto salvation.  
14 What the commission is both of the spiritual officers and Christian Magistrates of this King.  
15 High treason committed against this King, with answer to the objections of the same.  
16 An exhortation to contemplate and know this great King and Saviour.  
THAT which we have already learned as well of the matter as of the building and adorning of the Coach Royal, aught to cause us to acknowledge the excellency thereof. But yet we must confess that that which is within is a great deal more fair, I mean first of all this King, and afterward the Queen, the excellency of whom is painted forth unto us, namely that of the King by the mouth of the Queen, and that of the Queen by the mouth of the King, both of them good and certain witnesses one unto the other; a doctrine of all others especial and necessary. For first seeing eternal life consisteth in the knowledge of the father in his son whom he hath given us, joh. 17.3. & Satan ceaseth not to present unto the world counterfeit jesusses, Matth. 24.5. & so by consequent false Churches, there is nothing more necessary then thoroughly to know and take marks of the true jesus Christ, and his true spouse. Secondly there are not a few men who care neither for jesus Christ nor the Church as they ought to care for and esteem them, because they do not thoroughly know of what value the one and the other is: in such sort that such manner of people are easily enticed an other way by the vain appearance of the world dazzling them some after one sort, others after an other, 1. Cor. 7.31. besides that this King and this Queen considered with the eyes of flesh seem so foul and evil favoured, men are loath to come too near them, so far are they from being willing to keep themselves unto them, Esay. 53.2.3. & 1. Cor. 4.9.13. And therefore it is not without cause that Psal. 45.14. it is said, that this beauty is within, which thing we are diligently and particularly to consider. Let us therefore consider first the person which speaketh, then to whom she speaketh, and afterward how and whereof she speaketh, to the end we may make our profit the better by it. For this was not written for one day, but that this voice should ring night & day in our ears, piercing even unto the division of the soul and of the spirit: Heb. 4.12. It is therefore the spouse which speaketh and which ought to be heard of us under pain of being reckoned & accounted among profane persons and publicans, Math. 18.17 & Luke 10.16.  
2 But because this authority of the true Church hath served Satan's turn at all times, in transferring it unto the false, we must therefore withal consider what this true spouse is, to take heed the better of her which borroweth her name. It is therefore she not which enticeth men unto herself, as harlots do, but inciteth them to contemplate her Bridegroom, yea and that crowned, as anon by God's grace we will handle.  
3 She speaketh unto the daughters of Zion, that is to say, unto them whom God hath vouchsafed this favour to send unto them the message of salvation, whether they receive it as they ought, to become as it were members of this spouse who calleth them, which is the assembly and mystical body of the believing: or whether they make themselves unworthy of the grace which God offereth them. This is signified unto us in the parable of the banquet, Luk. 14.14. in which we must note that which is there said that all they who were invited began with one accord to excuse themselves, though they took diverse excuses, to show us that there is also aswell a false Catholic Church, that is to say a Church general agreeing in that which is ill, though they be divided in opinions, as there is one true and only Catholic Church, hearkening unto with one accord this only & true bridegroom. And this is the cause why I said before that there are two sorts of daughters of Zion, so called because the terrestrial jerusalem was the mother City of the people of God. The one sort therefore were as it were the waiting gentlewomen of this spouse, to enter in after her by order, and together in company unto the marriage banquet, as it is said, Ps. 45.15. The other were in the church but not of the church, & being there as it were only to behold what was done there, or otherwise to do their own business, of which sort I would to God we saw not so many of the like examples amongst us.  
4 Now to come unto the third point, namely the better to understand of whom, and how this spouse speaketh, we must especially weigh & consider her words. Come forth saith she. And how so? For if Zion be the habitation of the Church, why should a man come forth of it to behold the King who notwithstanding hath there chosen himself his habitation? Psal. 87.2. & 132.15. I answer that this serveth not but for a sharper condemnation, to be corporally in Zion, if our affection be not there also, and that to have our affection there is to go forth of ourselves, to say with the Apostle Gal. 2.20. I live, howbeit no longer I, but Christ liveth in me.  
5 Moreover when as jerusalem itself is for the most part polluted and defiled, & the king is in this respect driven forth and chased thence, a man must go forth if he will contemplate him, as in deed this King went forth, and hath ransomed and redeemed us, being crucified without the terrestrial jerusalem, where we must also go forth after him, as the Apostle warneth us, Heb. 13.12. So this is then an other reason why we should go forth, whereof the spouse in this place speaketh, and this pollution is showed us by many examples. Pilate was within jerusalem as was also Herode, and yet so far were they from knowing of jesus Christ though he were before their eyes together with the justice of his cause, that contrariwise the one condemned him against his own conscience, the other sent him away with ignominy. Yea the very troops and companies who the day of his entrance cried so loud, Hosanna, ceased not to cry the friday following, away with him▪ away with him, crucify him. It is not therefore without cause, that it is said unto the daughters of Zion that they must come forth to contemplate this King crowned. And we have at this day more need than ever of this advertisement, the same belonging properly unto us which was said unto this spouse herself Psal. 45.11. who now teacheth her daughters the same lesson, Forget thy people and thy father's house, as we are also bidden to do: Luk. 14.26. And in what state was Zion then when Babylon had planted her banners in the very midst of Zion, as it happened to the people, when Bethel was turned into Bethaven, that is to say, the house of God into the house of iniquity, according unto that which was foretold by David Psal. 118.22. by Esay. 28. by jerem. 14.14. by Ezechiel in his whole 13. Chapter, by jesus Christ the master, Matth. 23.38. having driven and that at two sundry times out of the house of his father those whom he calleth thieves, Luk. 19.46. together with the buyers & sellers, joh. 2.14. Math. 21.12. and who finally set fire in it & left not a stone upon a stone Math. 24.2. Now who can say that this visible company was then the true Church and not rather directly opposed unto it? And which therefore was not to be forsaken according unto the commandment of the Lord, Math. 15.14. To departed with the Eagles thither, where the dead body was, Luk. 17.37. Now that the like should come to pass in the christian Church, and especially in that of Rome, the Apostles have most clearly foretold us, namely saint Paul, Act. 20.30. 1. Tim. 4.2. & 2. Thess. 2.4. & S. john in the Apocalyps. according unto the exposition of the greek and latin authors. Who can doubt therefore, but the same being come to pass in our time in the West and East Christendom as it is apparent unto the eye unto such as are not altogether blind, we ought to come forth out of that Zion polluted and transformed into Babylon, & follow the example of the Levites under jeroboam, 2. Chr. 11.13. and the saying of the Lord, Mat. 15.14. & the practice of the Apostle, Act. 19.9. So have we done in our time, & so do, & will do always in such a case all the true children of God, withdrawing themselves from this West Babylon that they perish not with it, but know and contemplate this king crowned, to join themselves unto him, leaving the crest of her which is seated upon the seven mountains, until God in his time send her into the lake of fire and brimstone, Apoc. 20.10. In a word, because it is a thing unpossible to serve jesus Christ and Baal, and there is no communion between light and darkness, 2. Cor. 6.14. we must abandon & forsake the kingdom of darkness if we will see unto salvation this king of light.  
6 Come forth therefore saith this Queen unto her daughters. But what to do? For it is an easy thing to go, nay to leap out of one mischief into another. And we see at this day (alas a most miserable case) where many forsake superstition to cast themselves headlong into impiety, and as it is said, Luk. 11.26. change one devil into seven others worse than he was.  
7 Behold therefore the reason why this Queen addeth, and contemplate the King Solomon. But we must know what it is to contemplate. It is not simply to look upon a thing, as at the entrances of kings every man getteth him up into a window, or goeth out into the street to see him pass by, and after that there is an end. But to contemplate is rather an action of the mind then of the eyes, when to take the thorough view of a thing & perfectly to know it, a man looketh round about it & peereth to the very bottom: which is said of S. Peter when he came unto the Sepulchre, and leaned his body down into it to see thoroughly whether the body of the Lord were there or no, Luk. 24.12. Yea but will some man say, when these things were written, the king figured by Solomon was not yet visible, seeing he had not yet put on him our flesh, & yet still at this day, having withdrawn himself so far from us shall not be seen until his latter coming. I confess all this, & I say farther that even so long as he was in this world truly visible and in sensible and palpable flesh, yea after his resurrection, Luk. 24.39. so far is it notwithstanding, that this visible nature caused him to be known, that contrariwise to see him man as others, and so vile and contemptible without, was as it were a vail over the eyes of the beholders, hindering not only such as were carnal, as they who called him Nazaren, joh. 1.47. and Carpenter the son of a Carpenter, Mar. 6.3. and Herod who did nothing but mock him, Luk. 23.11. but his disciples also to see and apprehend either his majesty, or that which we ought principally to seek after for our salvation, albeit his glory shined in his words and in his works. And this is the cause why jesus Christ answered Philip, requesting him that he would show him his father, joh. 14.9. that it was expedient that he should departed, joh. 16.7. It is therefore for the eyes of the understanding enlightened by the spirit of God to found the secrets of God, which are revealed to make this King contemplated and known. But our outward senses serve they to no purpose? I say contrariwise (setting a part that which God can do, and which he hath extraordinarily done in some, when it seemed good unto him to do this miracle) that two outward senses of ours are thereunto not only profitable, but ordinarily altogether necessary, to wit the hearing especially, and after that the eyes: not that we see or hear this King in person, but because that by this means he informeth our understanding to contemplate and to know him. For if he be known and conceived by faith, and faith is bred in us by the hearing of the word, by the which he manifesteth himself unto us, Rom 10.7 it followeth necessarily that it is in the word of this king that we must seek after him and know him, who and what he is. And consequently if faith be a virtue which hath his seat in the understanding, being there created by the virtue of the holy Ghost, and afterward maintained and increased by the use of the visible sacraments, in which the understanding seethe and considereth that which is signified and presented unto it▪ it followeth that this apprehension and consideration or contemplation be spiritual and not corporal, although the understanding be informed by that which it heareth in the word and seethe in the sacraments. For if it were otherwise, what should the faith of the fathers be, who went before his coming in the flesh, who notwithstanding did so thoroughly contemplate him, that under other sacraments they did eat the same meat, and drank the same drink with us, being made partakers of this true king Solomon, without whom there is neither faith nor eternal life, 1. Cor. 10.3.4. So did our father Abraham see him in the circumcision, which was unto him a sign and seal of his justification by faith, Rom. 4.11. because he embraced the word when he was yet uncircumcised, Rom. 4.3.10. So did the holy fathers see him & embrace him both in the promises heard and received by faith, Heb. 11. and in the shadows of the ceremonial Law, of which this true Solomon was the substance, Col. 2.17. So the blessed virgin Marie before she conceived him essentially in her virginal womb, conceived him by the ear, receiving by a true faith the word of the Angel, Luk. 1.38. as Elizabeth knew it by a Prophetical spirit, and praised her greatly for it, Luke. 1.45.  
8 This doth not hinder notwithstanding but that they who lived in the time of his conversation among men, & whose eyes of their understanding the spirit did withal enlighten, Ephe. 1.18. and opened the ears of their heart, Heb. 16.14. were not aided and helped to believe at the beginning, and afterward confirmed in that which they already believed, by that which they saw, heard, & touched with the hand, as we see the same in Simeon, Luk. 2.28. in Anna the Prophetess, Luk. 2.38. in the Samaritans of Sicher, joh. 4 42. and in the Apostles, Mat. 13.16. joh. 1.14. and 2.22. and 1. joh. 1.1. yet that which causeth faith to be bred in the understanding of the seers and hearers, is not the sight nor the hearing of the body, but the action of the mind enlightened by the holy Ghost. And therefore said the Apostle unto the Ephesians (who notwithstanding never saw with their eyes, or heard with their ears jesus Christ in person) Christ dwelleth in your hearts by faith: & again Eph. 4.20.21. speaking of the hearing touching the word which he had preached unto them, ye have not saith he so learned jesus Christ, if so be ye have heard him, and have been taught by him.  
9 Now to show that this corporal sight was not ordained to be always the mean to know this king, but only for that time he conversed among men in that visible flesh which he carried up into heaven, it appeareth both by many express texts of the Scripture, as also by necessary consequences following thereupon, so we presuppose and agree upon these three points. First that the question be in this place of his body and not of his divinity in itself, which hath always been, is and shall be invisible: secondly that jesus Christ hath taken unto himself from the beginning and for ever an human body with all his proprieties, without which no body can be a body: and thirdly that the eyes have an action bounded and limited by which they cannot see (except it be by way of miracle) that which is not present, or which is over far removed from them. Behold therefore jesus Christ who saith expressly, reprehending and blaming the incredulity of Thomas, Happy are they which have not seen and have believed, joh. 20.29. And in another place, ye shall not always have me, Mat. 26.11. joh. 12.8. And Saint Paul, 2. Cor. 5.6. While we are strangers saith he in this body, we are absent from the lord. And Phil. 1.2. I desire to be dislodged and to be with Christ. And Coloss. 3.1. Seek ye the things which are above where christ sitteth at the right hand of God. And Saint Peter, Act. 3.21. the heavens must contain him until all things be restored. In a word, as oft as it is said that he goeth unto the father (this being understood of the departure of his humanity) so oft doth he witness his absence, as also so oft as he saith that he wilcome. For no man is said to come unto a place where he is already. And to think that the true body of this king is in his essence in any part without possessing a place and being visible in himself, can be no more done without transforming the body of jesus Christ into a spiritual essence, than it may be said that his divinity is circumscribed within space of place without transforming it into a corporal essence and being.  
10 Let us conclude therefore that this true Solomon in respect of his divinity cannot be seen with the eyes, though he be every where essentially, and especially in this humanity which he hath united personally, unto himself. And as touching his humanity, it can at this day be no more seen of us by our eyes then his divinity, not that it is in itself invisible (seeing that the celestial glory hath not abolished his corporal nature, corporal and therefore material, visible, and measured according unto his dimensions) but because he hath withdrawn it from us above the heavens truly and properly until his return in the later day. And therefore it is unto the contemplation of the understanding enlightened by the holy spirit, and unto faith (by which Saint Paul saith, he dwelleth in our hearts) and unto the inward eyes, before which it is said that this king is painted forth unto us, Galat. 3.1. that we must refer this advertisement and warning of the spouse, Come forth and behold this King, to wit, in his word purely preached, of which the Apostle speaking said unto the Corinthians, 1. Cor. 4.15. I have begotten you in the Lord; and to the Galathians 4.19. I travel again to bring you forth, until Christ be form in you. And according unto this sense also is it that it is said of the sacraments, that is to say, of the visible signs adjoined unto the word, touching Baptism that we put off the old man to put on jesus Christ in whom we are made new men, Galat. 3.17. and Coloss 3.9.10. and as touching his holy supper, that we eat his flesh, and drink his blood.  
11 Now this truth cannot be better understood & known then by comparing it unto the language of the Church of Rome at this day, which usurpeth the name of this spouse, & inviteth also her companions to contemplate jesus, but God knoweth what jesus Christ, whereof we will speak anon. But where to contemplate him? In a painted and material Image of wood or of stone. And what shall I there see? His remembrance say these deep contemplators. For that Image will tell you that he was crucified for sinners. just. But first this manner of teaching is forbidden expressly by God in the second commandment, & elsewhere in infinite many places, and is such as in the time of saint Jerome himself was accounted execrable, as the Epistle of Epiphanius Bishop of Cipers which he took pains to translate out of greek into latin, to this effect, declareth. Farther, what shall it prevail me to know and remember that jesus Christ was crucified, if I know not what was the true cause of his death, the good that returneth to me thereby, and the mean to attain unto it? Now what can this crucifix teach me of all this? For besides the form which is but a vain appearance, this crucifix is nothing else but a dead and corruptible matter. But say they this is taught by word of mouth. Nothing less. For if we consider but of their Curates, Vicars, Priors, or Abbots, Bishops, Archbishops, Primates, Cardinals, & especially their chief head, every one knoweth that not one among an hundred of them knoweth any more than doth the crucifix of wood or stone. And they who know any thing what account make they of preaching? On the other side if we consider of their service, as they call it, what is the people taught by it, sith it consists of nothing but of songs in an unknown tongue, beside the Idolatries & mere mockeries of God therein committed? For the rest, if happily some uva let-brother open his mouth sometimes in advent or in Lent, what is their doctrine else as we have already many times showed in the exposition of this same Canticle, but so many blasphemies against all the parts of the office of jesus Christ crucified? But besides this, what thing is it else but to mock God and all Christendom, to say that they teach these things as they ought, and yet do forbid the holy Scripture to be interpreted or red in the vulgar tongue, and such as all Christians understand? But there is yet more, for they teach that it is sufficient unto salvation to know that which their Church believeth, without any farther inquiring or knowing what it is. And what meditation, I pray you, or contemplation can a man have of that, of which he knoweth nothing, & of which he is no whit bound to know any thing in special? But provided a man have a good meaning and refer himself to the articles of their faith, be it as be may, and kneel himself down before a Crucifix, or sometimes seek a great way for one when he hath one hard by, or be as ready to say an ave Maria, as a Pater noster (for indeed the one in this case is as good as the other, being as little understood of him that saith it, as it is heard of the Image before which he prayeth) behold a merit by and by achieved, behold the wrath of God very well appeazed. And how so? Is this to pray unto God in spirit and truth, joh. 4.24. to present ourselves before him in faith, without the which a man cannot please God, Heb. 11.6. To believe & to be ignorant of a thing is this all one? Is this this faith by which we stand? 1. Cor. 16.13. by which we beat back the fiery darts of our enemy? Eph. 6.16. 1. Pet. 3.9. in which we ought to continue grounded and established? Coloss. 1.23. Is this that doctrine which we must meditate day and night, without enquiring after it or knowing it? Psal. 1.2. And if this be it, how shall we be ready to yield a reason thereof, according unto the ordinance of the Apostle, when we never knew what it meant? That is to say, how can we give an account of that, for which we never made either spent or received? And who teacheth this lesson? That doth saint Peter, 1. Pet. 3.15. And how is he the true successor of saint Peter who not only knoweth aught himself, but forbiddeth also and taketh from others the only mean of executing that which S. Peter requireth? Are not these sort of men rather those of whom jesus Christ said, that they neither enter into the kingdom of heaven themselves, nor suffer others to enter thereinto, Math. 23.13. in such sort that truly it may truly be said, that their grand Porter carrieth not without cause two keys, the one to shut up Paradise as much as lieth in him, and the other to open hell unto every one that will go thither? But let us leave these preachers of wood and of stone, dead and dumb as they be, which themselves will have called the preachers of Idiots: and let us come unto him whom they pretend to be personally and really this very king, as big and as great as he was hanging on the Cross. And what doth he say? Doth he teach? Doth he exhort? Doth he reprove? Less a great deal then the other, which seemeth to be that which he is not, where as this neither is, nor seemeth to be he, & in deed if we believe them themselves who make him, and who are so shameless in their writings as to call themselves the creators of their Creator, he is not there to preach but to be sacrificed & offered, not without exceeding mockery, because that he which offereth him doth eat him, and drink him, leaving nothing at all unto him, unto whom he saith that he doth indeed and really offer him. And yet this is the main ground, chief point and sum of their divine service, and this is their own language to lift up God in respect of the actor, the priest: and to see God in respect of the looker on the people, or at least to speak more pertinently which they say, to lift up jesus Christ and to see jesus Christ. But they must show that which they do both in words and in deed  
12 But let us get us out of this mire, and praise God that he hath pulled us out of it. And on the otherside let us employ diligently all our mind thoroughly to know, and as thoroughly to serve him who hath opened the eyes of our mind & our heart unto this effect, that we fall not into greater reproof than they who fail in this point either of ignorance or of superstition; whereas the covetous contemplate nothing else with their mind and eyes but their riches, the fornicators are given utterly over unto their uncleanness and wantonness, having their eyes full of adulteries and other infamous villainies, the gluttons think on nothing else but their good-cheare, the ambitious nothing but on their pomp and vanities: and so on in the rest: whereas all things which presents itself before our eyes, aught to draw us rather unto that which all the world preacheth unto us, namely to consider the wisdom, power, and infinite bounty of such a workman, and to dedicate and consecrate unto him both our soul and body in an acceptable sacrifice, Rom. 12.1. It is not enough therefore to contemplate him, but we must acknowledge him for such a one as he is, which is the end and scope whereunto all this contemplation ought to be referred. In a word we ought to confess & adore this King Solomon and that crowned. And with what crown? With that which his mother crowned him withal. And when? In the day of his fiansailes & mirth. Let us therefore consider again all these points directly.  
13 We know well enough what this word of king importeth, namely a sovereign power over his subjects ordered with reason. And thus it is, that it is taken in this place, but yet with the differences which are between this king and all others which have been, are, or shallbe ever in the world. All the other kings therefore except this, are in such sort sovereign over their subjects, that their countries are limited, the time of their dominion bounded, their power reacheth no farther than the body and goods, and all this with a charge and condition to yield an account one day to him on high, who hath established them in their thrones here below. But this king, to the knowing and contemplating of whom we are in this place invited, hath all power in heaven and in earth, not only because he is god coeternal & coessential with his father, but also in as much as he is man, unto whom all government is given over all creatures be they high, middle, or low, Math. 20.18. joh. 5.27.1. Cor. 15.27. Philip. 2.9. and that for all eternity Luk. 1.33. Esay. 9.6. And not only over the bodies, but over the souls also of his friends and true subjects to defend them unto the end of the world, Math. 28.20. And finally to make them really his coheirs in the everlasting kingdom, Rom. 8.17. Heb. 2.10. And likewise over his enemies in the midst of whom he reigneth, Psal. 110. Repressing them, chastising, destroying, according as he knoweth to be expedient for his glory and for the salvation of his, as the whole sacred history doth witness, waiting for his full victory and dominion which is promised him of the father, 1. Cor. 15.28. It is therefore very true that this king in as much as he is God with his father, hath altogether with him all power and all empire, yea over every temporal estate of this world, sitting in the midst of Magistrates Psal. 182. losing and girding the collar and girdle of Princes, job. 12.18. As he also demandeth them an account of their government, Psal. 58.1. But here is mention made of a kingdom which is not like unto them of this world, as the king hath himself declared it, joh. 18.36. the one concerneth all men, the greatest part whereof shall perish by their own fault, Math. 7.13. the other concerneth them who are especially called the house of God, although there be more which are called then chosen, Math. 20.16. In the one the question is of the government here below which passeth no farther, in the other the case is of the government of the conscience, reaching farther than this life. The one is temporal, the other is eternal: the one is sensual, the other is spiritual: and if there be any thing visibly and corporally administered, it is to lead us farther and beyond this world: the one is administered of God by the Magistrates whom he appointeth with power & authority to make laws and politic statutes according unto that natural equity which he giveth them: in the other which concerneth the dominion over souls, this authority is more high than that it may be communicated unto Angels themselves. This King therefore hath always been, is, and shallbe he, who bindeth the souls and consciences, having reserved this only right unto himself: in so much that if an Angel from heaven should say, I will have this to be law to bind the conscience, we ought to have him in execration, as attributing unto himself the power of God alone, seeking to reign over his son our mediator, Gal. 1.8.  
14 And in this point is it also that the difference of these two kingdoms consisteth. For as for the affairs of this world, whereas all may be understood & governed by this light of natural understanding & wisdom it hath pleased God to leave unto men, according as it pleaseth him of his bounty to dispense it, they may ordain laws & statutes either to command or to forbid, & impose temporal pains on the transgressors of them: but so, that they must one day yield an account unto the king of kings. But as touching this spiritual regiment, the officers of this king have no other power nor authority, but to declare and publish the ordinances which he hath made, adjoining unto them the promises and threats such as he hath delivered unto them and left in writing, with the execution, either of absolution towards the repentant, or of condemnation towards the incorrigible rebels: but, in the name of this king according unto the tenor of the commission he delivered them, under pain of Nullity, Mat. 28.18. and all after a spiritual kind of proceeding, exhorting and reproving by the word, and binding and losing by the same and no otherwise. And as touching christian magistrates they being also commanded to do homage unto this king, Psa. 2.12. they are also officers truly of this spiritual kingdom, yea principal ones, but not to approach unto the altar, as that proveth which happened to Vzziah otherwise a good king and zealous, 2. Chron. 26.16. but to arm with their authority the spiritual ordinances of this king, as did David, Solomon, and their good successors, and to repress in due sort such as not willing to order themselves unto this king, & despising his spiritual officers, seek to overthrow the true service of the Lord, Deut. 13. As we shall find that neither any true Prophet usurped this authority, but always used this true preface, So hath the Lord said. And when some would have lifted up john Baptist unto this degree, he answered contrariwise and said, I am not worthy to unloose the shoes of his feet, joh. 1.27. & Moses contented himself to be a faithful servant in God's house, Hebre. 3.6. having made all things according unto the model which was shown him in the mount, Heb. 8.3. and having expressly forbidden to add or to diminish aught from that which God had ordained by him, Deut. 4.2. & 12.32. In a word this is a thing never yet heard that the Prophets added any thing unto the commandments of God, or made any law to bind the conscience. Contrariwise the lord speaking by the mouth of Esay expressly condemneth every Doctrine invented by men, Esay. 1.12. and 29.13. which jesus christ calleth Pharisaical leaven, of which he willeth us to take heed, Mat. 16.11. And if this have place in that which concerneth the will of this King touching that which he will have us do in this life to conform ourselves unto his will, aswell towards him, as towards our neighbours, what shall we say touching the doctrine of the Gospel, that is to say, touching that which we ought to believe of God unto salvation, as it is spoken, Luk. 1.77. Act. 20.17. What blasphemy is this then to bely the son of God, witnessing that he hath declared unto his Apostles as unto his friends whatsoever he received from God his father? And what shall we say of the Apostles? That they added, changed, or clipped anything from the tenor of their commission, bearing these words, go, teach them to keep all those things which I have commanded you? Shall we say also that touching the substance of the ecclesiastical discipline and substantial exercise of the holy ministry, by the which the son of God will have his house to be governed until his latter coming, that the holy Ghost taught not the Apostles all, or that they did not acquit themselves faithfully of all, without omitting of any thing? At the least let us believe S. Paul, 1. Cor. 11.23. though it be there especially spoken of the administration of the holy Supper, & Coloss. 2.16. & the verses following in which is contained whatsoever may be said of this matter. Let us believe Saint Peter also advertising the pastors expressly (unto the company of whom he joineth himself not as a prelate, but as a companion, in the same ministry) to feed every one his flock, not as having a lordship over the lords heritage, but that they be ensamples to the flock, 1. Pet. 5.1. Whereunto S. Paul agreeing, 1. Cor. 7.35. protesteth that he will not tie and entangle any man. And thus you see what this name of king importeth in this place, joined also with the name of Solomon, which signifieth as much as peaceable, & is meant of the exercise of this kingdom in regard of this spouse which is his Church, over which himself alone hath power, quickening, justifying and saving it, as it is he also alone unto whom she yieldeth all obedience in that which concerneth this spiritual kingdom. It remaineth we consider whether this king be taken for such a one as he is among them, from whom we have separated ourselves. Alas nothing less. For he is no otherwise called King among them, than he was of those who whipped him in pilate's iudgement-hal: not that I will say that an infinite number of poor people who wander without a shepherd have the same meaning which they had, but because that in effect it cometh all to one end. And to prove that this is so, let us see whether they leave unto this king one sole point of his royalty and regality, which is not violated by their doctrine. First they say they have a King Lieutenant Catholic and universal. Ask them who this is, & they will answer you, he which sitteth in the See of Rome. If you ask on what right: they aleage that for his right possessory, there are so & so many ages that they have been in this possession: as for their right petitorie, it is that same which was granted by the Lord unto S. Peter. Now if we would but debate these allegations, it were an easy matter to show that there was never such impudency either seen or heard to propose such things. But though we presupposed all this, that is to say, that darkness were light, I demand of them whether a lieutenant of a king hath more authority than he who sent him to keep his place: & if he have not or cannot have, I demand, whether shrouding himself in this lieutenauntship with all manner violence and unlawful practice, and being so desperate & presumptuous that there is no manner falsifying of the will of his king which he committeth not openly, he may be tolerated as lieutenant of the king, or whether he ought not to be charged of high treason against his head. Now, that he of whom we speak is such a one, it appeareth first by this that it shall never be found that the degree Episcopal is of the law divine, but of the law positive, as we term it, besides that a man may point out the beginning of it, so far is it that jesus Christ or his Apostles set up an Episcopalitie universal. And hereof I call him whom they call the chief of the four Doctors, for a formal witness after the holy scripture. Secondly if we will decide this matter by the ancient Canons which meant to bridle this degree Episcopal, we shall find (I speak it before God and men) that there is neither Pope, nor any conventicle or degree of that hieratical clergy, which is not excommunicated and degraded by their own Canons. But let us come unto that which is done. Can any one deny me this, that this lieutenant attributeth unto himself this authority to be judged of no man, though he should carry whole cart-loades of souls unto hell? If this be denied, shall not a man find it in the very words of their decrees? But you who say you have succeeded Saint Peter in his Lievetenauntship, ought you to be ignorant that he was reprehended and reproved by Saint Paul in Antioch, and that publicly in a matter concerning his Apostolic charge? Yea saith S. Paul, Gal. 2.11. Because he was to be reprehended, and that he walked not with an upright foot? Have you also forgotten, or do you dissemble that which the same S. Peter warneth the Pastors not to bear rule over their flocks, because they appertain unto the master and not unto the servants whose charge is limited? Pass we farther. Truly he whose lieutenant this man saith he is, hath without reply to the contrary all power both in heaven and in earth & that by good right. For he cannot err, neither in as much as he is God, nor in as much as he is man altogether perfect. And who can challenge unto himself this perfect knowledge and uprightness, but he must make himself equal with God? But pass we yet farther. These two points are most notable and clear & certain, namely, that the law moral, which is nothing but a refreshing and renewing of the law natural, which sin could not utterly destroy out of the heart of man, Rom. 2.14. and likewise the new covenant ratified in and by our Lord jesus Christ, aught to be kept inviolable unto the end & consummation of the world. How then would this king establish a lieutenant in the world utterly to abolish both the one and the other? But because this matter requireth a more ample discourse, we will refer the surplusage until the next week.  
16 Be we therefore heedful, my brethren, to have always this voice of the true Church in our ears, Come forth ye daughters of Zion, and contemplate this king Solomon, and let us consider that we are not here to rest ourselves upon these base and corruptible things, but to this end, that acknowledging this King, we consecrate both soul and body unto his service, and tend wholly unto this end, praising him for that great grace he hath vouchsafed us to drive us out of this thick and palpable darkness to behold him in his holy word: and let us make this grace of his available unto us to his honour and glory, waiting for the nearer and clearer sight of him in that heavenly kingdom, which he hath prepared for us before the foundation of the world. So be it.   

THE XXX SERMON. Our help be in the name of God etc. It is written as followeth in the third Chapter of the Canticle of Canticles, the 11. verse.  
11 Daughters of Zion come forth & contemplate this King Solomon with the Crown with which his mother crowned him in the day of the fiansailes, and in the day of the gladness of his heart.  
1 He who falsely saith he is Lieutenant general of this King on earth, falsifieth herein his ordinances by all kind of falsehood: and first of that which is in the law moral touching the first commandment.  
2 Touching the second.  
3 The third.  
4 The fourth.  
5 The fifth.  
6 The sixth.  
7 The seventh.  
8 The eighth.  
9 The ninth.  
10 The tenth.  
11 Another sort of abominable falsification in the Law ceremonial.  
12 A strange abuse by which the Law is confounded with the gospel, & men sent to seek after their salvation in that which serveth for an inditement against them.  
13 A exhortation to condemn this so false a doctrine.  
WE stood the last thursday upon this point, namely whether he, who some ages since, calleth himself supreme head of the universal Church, as Lieutenant of that king of whom mention is here made, be not rather guilty of high treason against his divine majesty, though we should grant him his Livetenantship he pretendeth to have, and that because he hath deserved to be utterly degraded, seeing it cannot be that this sovereign king ever gave any man authority to falsify in any sort that which he ordained to be stable & perpetual unto the end and consummation of the world: and this is it which we are now again to prove and handle. I say therefore that there are three ways of falsifying an instrument, namely by adding, by clipping away, or by changing, in such sort that the instrument of the truth, whereof the question is, receiveth thereby an alteration. Let us then see now whether all these sorts of falsification have not been and yet are committed by him of whom we spoke, and let us begin with the Law moral. The first commandment forbiddeth us to have any other God than the only sovereign father, son, and holy Ghost. Now what is it to have any other thing for a man's God, but to attribute unto it that which is properly belonging unto this only God, whether a man conceive this opinion within himself, which is inward Idolatry, or whether a man yield it any outward service appertaining unto God alone, which is outward Idolatry, both these two being abominable before God? Now then is not this to make of a creature, nay of a demi-creature a God, to persuade a man's self that it heareth and understandeth the words and thoughts of men, absent, from as far as that which is above the highest heavens is removed from the earth, and which is more, speaking and thinking in one instant in an hundred thousand divers places? This property I say, of being every where, and of knowing the thoughts, is it not properly belonging unto the divine essence alone? Their reply is that this were indeed to make gods of creatures, if they said that these creatures did hear and understand of themselves that which is said and done in an instant in their absence, in so many diverse places, and by so many diverse persons: but that this is given by Revelation unto the Saints which are dead: as we see how Elizeus by Revelation of Prophetical spirit, knew and saw and heard in his absence, what his servant Gehezi said and did with Naaman the Syrian, 2. King. 5.26. And it seemeth that the like may be said of Saint Peter in that which he discovered of Ananias & Saphira, Act. 5.4. And thereupon they say, that if God vouchsafed his servants this grace, remaining yet here below in the infirmity of their flesh, how should he not bestow much greater upon them now when they are with him in glory? And thus you see how the people's eyes be at this day bleared, being not able to consider that this whole reply is grounded upon an imaginary & fantastical presupposal. For as touching the means it pleaseth God to use here below for the edification and preservation of his Church, his word assureth it us not only in general but also in special by the whole course of the sacred history: namely that it pleaseth him to use the ministry of men as an ordinary means and of Angels themselves by visions and commissions extraordinary. And therefore it pleased him during the ABC of the law, as the Apostle speaketh unto the Galathians, Gal. 4. to reveal unto his servants not only that which was said and done here & there, but also things to come so far as he would use them in their charge & vocation: but not that he ever gave them simply to know or understand either thoughts or all things present done & said in their absence, but only then & so far as he would employ them. And so it is that that excellent prophet Elizeus speaketh, 2. Ki. 4.29. which thing we see to have happened unto Nathan who was constrained, for going too far, to unsay that which he had said, 2. Sam. 7.3.5. And when Elias thought that all was lost in Israel, did he not show that God revealed him not all things? 1. King. 19.10.18. But if we speak of the heavenly government, in what place of Scripture, by what example of sacred history, shall we find this imaginary commerce & dealing of the living, with the spirits of the saints departed this world, having finished their course? For as touching the blessed Angels, we are taught that their charge hath been and so continueth still, to be sent and employed for those effects and purposes it pleaseth God: but it followeth not therefore that they hear or know all things, neither shall we ever find either commandment to call upon them, or any example in the Scripture that ever they were called upon by any servant of God, no not when they appeared unto him. But we shall well find that it is not so lately that the Invocation of angels was reprehended by the Apostle expressly, Col. 2.18. Moreover let us see what is the original of this Invocation of the Saints departed, so il grounded. The ground therefore of it in a word is double, to wit, their Merits, & their Intercession. Of their Intercession we will afterwards speak by itself. As for their Merits, whence are they drawn? Not from the holy scriptures which oppose them directly unto Grace, Rom. 4.1. But though a man should grant them this, and that there had been in those personages a perfect observation of the Law without any defect, those who merit are they not sufficiently satisfied and contented with the payment they have received, to wit, with eternal life, according unto the tenor of the legal covenant, do all these things and thou shalt live? Whence cometh them the rest of the merits which they call the treasure of the Church, and of which they make every day so great a merchandise and yet it is not exhausted and spent? And if the Saints, as they call them, have had so many and such plenty of merits that there is an infinite surplusage of them, what need had they of those of jesus Christ? Besides this unto whom have they given that charge of distributing of them? Where and when and who passed the covenants of this bargains? Besides all this if it be true which is taught in the schools, as it is most true that the merit of our Lord jesus Christ, which we only approve, draweth his infinite virtue from the divinity in which his humanity is personally subsisting, how can this same virtue be attributed to those merits of Saints, though they rebate never so much from them, without attributing unto them also some divine nature? And what is it else but to adore the creatures to attribute unto them an heavenly and divine virtue and power? As the power to preserve the soul or the body, to sanctify the spirit, nay to do forth sins which the jews being more blind a great deal, knew to say that it appertained unto God alone, Luk. 5.21. What shall we then say of their holy water, spittle, holy wax, holy bread, & of their Agnus Dei, & other their trash? Finally who will excuse the adoration of the Chrism or holy oil so many times and so expressly reiterated in their Ceremonies? Who will not marvel at their blasphemy, that kneeling down on their knees before a cross of wood or other such matter, they salute it and call it their only hope? Neither will any gloze serve here, that this is not said unto the cross, but unto jesus Christ who is represented crucified there. For the clean contrary appeareth by their own words, which are these, O Cross all hail, our only hope in this time of the passion, the gibbet on which was hanged in flesh the Creator of flesh. And what more? Can the blessed virgin Mary be called Queen of heaven, without parting this kingdom? Our Lady, without matching a companion with the only Lord? Our life, our hope, our sweetness, without placing her manifestly in the throne of the godhead? But (o most horrible blasphemy that ever was spewed forth!) can a man request her, without degrading of jesus Christ, that in respect of the person of the father, she pray: but in respect of jesus Christ his son, that she command him of her motherly power and authority? And yet notwithstanding this is not only said, but song and howled forth in their temples: and who so findeth fault with this, he is an heretic. I conclude therefore, that there are in this church so many false gods as there be creatures called upon & served with a religious adoration, that is to say concerning directly the conscience, and the divine service dew to one only God the father, son, and holy ghost: and as many as there be temples and altars consecrated and dedicated unto creatures: and how then can that Church be the true and only universal Church?  
2 This first commandment which is the ground & foundation of all the rest being overthrown, what may a man conclude of the rest? As for the second, containing two principal points, namely an express forbidding to make any likeness of any creature high, middle, or low in the cause of religion, or to do any reverence to them, I will not say of this commandment as of the other. For they have gone a great deal farther in this then in the first, which albeit in effect they have violated and broken, yet have they left him written as he was by the hand of God. But as for this second, seeing that if he remained there, painted Images and Statues must fall to ground, they have so entangled it with the first, that they have finally eclipsed it altogether: a most intolerable presumption, and inexcusably execrable, seeing that the Lord who engraved it as it were with his own hand and without the ministery of man, declareth that not one sole little letter of the law may not be blotted out Math. 5.18. So then already this fault, I mean this eclipsing of this commandment by those of whom we speak is without all excuse. But how on the other side may the transgression thereof be excused, when in their churches, chapels, streets, great places, in cities and in fields there are found so many nests of statues and all sorts of Images? We know well their goodly replies, which yet are such as vanish away like smoke at the least word of this commandment. The true sense thereof besides that it is most clear in itself, whence may it be better gathered then by that which hath been generally observed in the christian Church for more than three hundred years together? Images, say they, are the books of the common people. And what can such dumb doctors teach, set up and established against the express commandment of God, who hath not only forbidden to adore and worship them, but to make them, I mean to have them used in the matter of religion? And experience hath finally showed why the Lord distinguished this commandment into two principal heads, to wit, first forbidding to make them, and after that to worship them. And indeed since the first entering of Images into the Church, men have for a long time confessed that there was no honour due unto them, but when Idolatry was once entered, than they said that this honour was not done unto the statue or Image, but unto him which was represented by the Image. A most false excuse. For if it were so, why should a man use more devotion to one Image of the same saint, then unto an other? And if this were the meaning of these worshippers of Images, as they say it is, what other thing is this than to answer, that a man playeth not the Idolater with the Image, but with him whom the Image doth represent? I speak in respect of the Images of he & she saints as they call them. For who will dare to say (but he shallbe convicted by the whole scriptures) that if the virgin Mary, or the Apostles, & by consequent other true Saints were alive at this day on earth, that they could suffer that men should kneel unto them? That they should offer up candles unto them, that they should present incense before them, that they should preach of their merits? Their whole doctrine and their whole life being clear contrary unto it. I let pass to speak of their setting out of these goodly statues & pictures of their our Ladies as they call them, clad in their summer and winter garments, of their virgins attired like shameless strumpets, of horses, asses, dogs and swine which charge their altars among their saints, of their tapers and lamps burning before their blind statues, and other such mere and inexcusable Idolatries, all which notwithstanding is covered with the goodly name of devotion. Alas o Lord how long?  
3 As for the third commandment an oath being the true fealty and homage which the conscience oweth unto God his only Lord, not only as present, and knowing the things which are most secret & hid, but also as judge and revenger of all falsehood, the great & only living God being as it were set & placed in his throne to be made judge of the truth unknown unto men: can it be denied but there are so many felonies, so many idolatries, so many degradations of the true and only divinity, as there be oaths made by the creatures, high, middle, low, or by other fancies which men do forge & devise? For to swear is not only to take unto us a witness in general, as a man may do unto the very insensible creatures, Deut. 3.1. & isaiah. 1.2. but it is to take him whom we swear by to be a witness of our conscience, which thing appertaineth unto god alone.  
4 As for the fourth commandment, every christian ought to know that so far as it was ceremonial it hath an end, not that in am of the seventh day called the Sabbat, we should judaize the Sunday (for this were not to impose an end unto the figures, by the real coming of the truth Coloss. 2.16. but only to change the day) but to the end that according unto the ordinance of the Apostle which may be gathered evidently, 1. Cor. 16.2. and Apoc. 1. as the memory of the creation of the world in six days was celebrated in the sanctification of the seventh day (& that notwithstanding in the deliverance of Egypt, the order of the months and the beginning of the year were changed) so by the new creation of the second world, which the Prophets call a new heaven and a new earth, isaiah. 61.17. and 66.22. appearing by the resurrection of the Lord, the true light of this new world ought to be renewed and celebrated the day which we call the Sunday, that is to say, the day of the Lord, after a special fashion, and such a one as distinguisheth this day from other in respect of the principal use: as in the time of the Apostles themselves this day was celebrated by a more special assembly of the faithful. But that the Christians should otherwise abstain from their work without it were for that time which was requisite for their assembly: this was never commanded nor observed, until that Christian Emperors made an ordinance for it: indeed most commendable, to the end we should not be otherwise distracted: to give ourselves over the more to all holy things. But what? All this is now become with them a very judaisme, in such sort that to open a shop window, or to give one blow with the hammer, is such a sin, as should raise an whole city in a commotion: but not to game, to go to the tavern, to play the whoremaster. For this is now grown into a custom. And as if the exercise of a Christian were to do nothing, under a colour of devotion, they could not content themselves with two and fifty sundays, but they must have so many holidays added, that almost the third part of the year is passed away in such idle festival days. And though we grant them all this time, to sanctify the name of God, be it on the sunday or on other holidays, or to celebrate the memory of great and holy personages (not to speak any thing of a great part of them which are in their calendars) what is it else with them but to blaspheme and to commit Idolatry, as all their divine service is notably patched up and clouted therewith?  
5 As for the commandment of honouring of father and mother, under the name of whom is comprised all lawful superiority: dare they deny that the pharisaical traditions, by which the Lord declareth that this commandment was so shamelessly broken, is not the fetch they have used to snare within their net Duchies, Earldoms, & other Lordships? The foundation of their great towers & steeples, the pretence of the destruction of families by millions? If a man will not seek far after Antiquity, at least let the Gratis of these last comers, who attribute unto themselves the name of jesus, common unto all true Christians, open the eyes of such as are blindest, who have gotten by their serviceable gratuities more goods and revenues, than a good part of all the hospitals in France have. And what shall we say of their exemptions from ordinary justice, of the superiority usurped by Bishops, abbots, Priors, Curates over the justice of kings, & especially by that goodly universal Bishop over Emperors, Kings, & Princes, so far is it that he payeth tribute unto whom tribute is due, according unto the example of jesus Christ himself, & of him, whose successor notwithstanding he saith he is, not shaming to call a good part of Italy and the Capital City of the Roman Empire the patrimony of him who testifieth of himself that he had neither gold nor silver, Act. 3.6.  
6 Now if we speak of the sixth commandment touching murders, how can it be more evidently transgressed than by their liberties & privileges of granting mercy to the greatest Criminals, & that horrible abuse of Clergy? Moreover let a man but consider the taxes of the Chancery of Rome, he shall find at how many thousand ducats the murder of father & mother is taxed. Demand the reason of all this: & it is that, which they taught them who constrained Pilate to crucify this King of whom we speak (as they yet at this day persuade Kings and Potentates to crucify him in his poor members) namely this, Nobis non licet interficere quenquam, that is to say, It is not lawful for us to put any man to death. And indeed I confess that neither civil nor criminal justice pertaineth unto them, being as it is distinguished from the ministry of the word, Lu. 12.14. & 22.25. and john. 8.10. and 2. Timot. 2.4.  
7 As for the seventh commandment concerning the observation of holy marriage I will not stay in this horrible filthy stench which neither the sun can abide to see, nor the darkness of the night cover, nor the earth bear and endure, all of these demanding vengeance at God's hands who shall hear them in his time. But they will reply against me that their doctrine doth not approve this. But who knoweth not, who seethe not, who acknowledgeth not, who feeleth not all that stinking filthiness, the like whereof neither was, nor ever could be in the world, which entered in floodwise into the Church by the gate of that goodly vow of single life, called not without cause by the Apostle a doctrine of devils, 1. Tim. 4.2. I know well their replies. But o heaven, o earth, o hundred thousand millions of rapes, fornications, adulteries, incests, overthrowinge of Gods and man's law, testified before God and men, and demanding vengeance of such desperate & so long a time continued enormities. But farther though all this were nothing, what is this abomination so shamelessly practised in our time of dispensing with the marriage of Uncles and Nieces in degree of consanguinity? A thing not only condemned by God's law in the case itself of affinity only, levit. 18.14. but detested so expressly by the poor Paynims themselves, who have blushed at such a case as the Roman histories can witness. And yet for all this, when it so pleaseth them, marriage is forbidden unto the seventh degree of such as be collateral. Alas o Lord how long?  
8 As for the commandment which concerneth thefts, it were wonder a man would say it might be maintained by them, who live not but by sacrilege, to wit, with the goods belonging unto the poor, of which they make themselves the receivers without yielding any account.  
9 I say the like of the last commandment save one, speaking of false witness, being in no point more damnably violated then in the overthrowing of the witnessings and testimonies of the Prophets and Apostles irreprovable witnesses. Finally the last commandment passing even unto the root of the evil which is in us, and without the which the Apostle witnesseth that he had never known in deed what sin meant, Rom. 7.7. is it not as much or more openly violated then any of the rest by their doctrine, when they teach that neither the understanding nor the will of man are wholly and entirely subjecteth unto sin and death by original sin: but that there still remaineth a certain disposition and inclination unto that which is true and good: whence they draw their merits of congruity & preparation? Afterwards when they teach that by the very action of baptism, yea by the virtue of the water, original sin is (if not altogether) yet in part so done away, that the child of a Turk or jew being baptised & dying before the age of discretion goeth into paradise, and as for those who come unto age, that that corruption which resteth in them is not sin, but only a little spark of fire under the hot ashes to exercise us.  
10 As for the other kind of the law concerning the outward divine service, the spirit of error hath done the clean contrary, tending notwithstanding unto the same end. For having abolished the Law moral which should notwithstanding be perpetual, he hath clean contrary found the means to establish the Law ceremonial, knowing that jesus Christ had imposed an end unto it: and this dessein of his hath he executed by a marvelous sleight, which hath deceived those of the better sort. For if he would have persuaded them that he would set judaisme up again, or retained Paganism, men would have openly withstood him. And therefore he objected that the great simplicity of the outward service of God both in the ministery of the word & in the administration of the sacraments would breed a contempt, and therefore it would be good to have some petite matters beside, not that this should be of the substance of the doctrine or of the sacraments, but to make the things more commendable, and men more attentive and devout. This being once thought to be good by an efficacy of error, he added, that using withal some ceremonies of the Law not to judaize but to turn them unto a a good use, & doing the same soberly in certain points like others without superstition or Idolatry, would be a mean to win the jews and the Idolaters the easier unto the true religion. Thence came holy-Water, square-Caps, Surplices, hoods, bald crowns, chanting of pricksong, altars, distinction of days and of meats, with the rest of the furniture of all that goodly ceremonial service, as if God had imposed an end unto the legal ceremonies, of which himself was the author, to give authority, not unto the Apostles (who never ordained, nor practised such things, nay contrariwise established and recommended the true and pure simplicity aswell of doctrine as of ecclesiastical government) but unto them who should come after them, to cut and clip off all at their pleasure. If any man will deny this, the sight thereof discovereth the fact, if we confer their inventions with Moses and with profane histories. True it is that touching this point they want no allegations of certain books forged at pleasure, but so doltishlie written, that a man need go no farther for proof of such forgeries. And thus you see how the spirit of error by a just judgement of God hath served his turn with the holy Law of God, for the destruction of men, and all under the shadow of establishing of it and teaching the right use thereof: a thing most miraculous and wonderful, how men could become so brutish as not to suffer a man to touch their sore, so far are they from seeking after or desiring to find or receive a remedy.  
12 But touching the law moral the abuse there of appeareth most strange in this, that there is no one special commandment, which hath not been more openly overturned in Christendom then ever it happened in the synagogue of the jews, as the reprehension which the lawgiver himself maketh, doth witness of them from point to point in saint Matthew chap. 5.6.7. But the fault is yet more dangerous in that, that the use and scope there of is turned upside down. Which thing hath been so much handled by saint Paul, especially in the epistle to the Romans and to the Galathians, that it cannot be but an inexcusable reproach unto them who call themselves Christians to dispute of this point any more. In sum, the law showeth us, will we or nil we, what we own unto God and neighbour, and that no man neither dischargeth, nor is able to discharge his debt in this behalf, being utterly undone and made unpayable by the natural corruption of mankind, which thing notwithstanding neither exempteth him out of debt, nor from the penalty adjoined unto the contract, which is everlasting death. For to think that God renounceth his debt without entire payment made, is to transform God into man. This is then an inexcusable folly to seek after the salvation of the soul by the obligation of death, that is to say in the law moral, which argueth our condemnation, and which can use no other language unto us than his tenor importeth. And yet notwithstanding this is the foundation of the hope given of finding in a man's own merits, or those of an other, (whereof a man may furnish himself for ready money unto the distributer) that which is found, as we will anon declare, in jesus Christ alone, having satisfied for us, in carrying our sins upon the tree, 1. Pet. 2.24. and accomplished all righteousness for us, Mat. 3.15. Gal. 3.13. and 4.4. and yet notwithstanding behold the matter, behold the end and whole substance of the Church of Rome's divinity at this day touching our salvation.  
13 It remaineth to declare the falsification committed in the other part of the word of God, which is our sovereign happiness, I mean the covenant of salvation in jesus Christ alone, promised unto the Fathers, and finally sent into the world, namely into judea in proper person, and after unto all nations by the ministry of the Apostles and others sent hither and thither by them, which is that which we call the Gospel, Tit. 1.2.3. that is to say, the good & true healthful news. But we will differ this point unto an other time, thanking in the mean time our good God and Father, that it hath pleased him of his singular mercy and grace, to have opened our eyes to know and detest such abuses, desiring him to give us farther grace so to use his truth, that we witness by our good life and conversation, that his spirit hath not only wrought in our understanding, but also form our affections unto his obedience, that we be not the more inexcusable before him, the more graces and blessings we have received. Amen. And because we have been hitherunto so unthankful for so great a benefit, let us demand of him favour & mercy with heart & with mouth as followeth.  
Almighty God, etc.   

THE XXXI. SERMON. Our help be in the name of God etc. It is written as followeth in the third Chapter of the Canticle of Canticles, the 11. verse.  
11 Daughters of Zion come forth & contemplate the King Solomon with the Crown with which his mother crowned him in the day of his espousailes and the gladness of his heart.  
1 How this King is degraded of all his degrees in the Apostatical Church of Rome at this day.  
2 First of his dignity Royal.  
3 Secondly of his state Prophetical.  
4 Thirdly of his Priesthood.  
5 A false distinction between venial and mortal sins.  
6 An other false Doctrine touching the guilt of sin, & the punishment, & of the sins committed before and after Baptism.  
7 How our sanctification is by their Doctrine falsified.  
8 How the Intercession of one mediator alone is taken-awaie & abolished.  
9 A conclusion of all this matter.  
10 Who the mother is who hath crowned this King.  
11 What the time of his fiansailes is.  
12 Wherefore this day is called the day of the gladness of this King.  
13 An exhortation to embrace the grace of this king, and to make it available unto us.  
WE have yet one point more to handle upon that which I began to show on thursday last, to wit, how this king is spoiled at this day of his glory in that which is the principal part of his diadem royal, I mean touching that which concerneth the office of his mediatorshippe, witnessed by the Gospel called the power of God unto salvation unto every one that believeth, Rom. 1.16. and by isaiah the Arm of the Lord, isaiah. 53.1. A matter of so great consequence, that there cannot fall out any different or controversy among men, which is more nearer to be looked unto. I say then that this dignity or rather majesty of this king, mediator between God and his Church, consisteth in three points, namely in his royal dominion, spiritual, and sovereign in his kingdom, yea over sin itself and over death: afterwards in the office and charge which he received, to be the true, and to speak properly, the only Prophet and declarer of the counsel of God touching the salvation of mankind: and thirdly in his eternal priesthood. Now not any one of these three points remaineth in his entire in the Church of Rome at this day, which by consequent is nothing less than the true and only spouse of this king. Which thing we will endeavour to open & make plain unto you, howbeit summarily, because the same hath been already handled at large by us upon the first chapter of this Canticle.  
2 But these words of the king crowned, leading us again unto it, and for that this point can never be too oft declared and handled, we will enter again most willingly into it. In sum therefore I say that a man could not more openly have encroached upon this royalty and prerogative of his, then by ordering the estate of the house of this king beside and contrary unto his express will, in eclipsing of some of his laws, and establishing of others altogether anew: and as for such as were ordinary, retained for the ordering of the government established by the sovereign prince (to wit by the son Heb. 1.2. and 3.6. and Apocal. 13.17.) in cutting & clipping them at his pleasure, not suffering himself to be reprehended of any man, to dispense, to bind, to lose against all law of God & man. As for his prophetical sovereign authority, by the spirit of whom all the ancient prophets spoke, 1. Pet. 1.11. & who afterward himself in person declared all the will of God his father, without keeping back any thing thereof, joh. 15.15. and hath since his ascending up into heaven until he return not to teach, but to judge, continued to declare the same unto the world by his faithful Apostles enlightened with a particular virtue and power of the holy ghost, joh. 16.3. Act. 20.27. Gal. 1.8. Eph. 4.11. 1. Pet. 1.12. How could a man degrade jesus Christ of this dignity more openly then by falsifying of all that which he preached both by adding to & clipping from, & by turning white into black, and light into darkness, as is in isaiah. 5.20. Yea so far, as notoriously to forbid this declaration of his to be read through all nations and peoples in a known and intelligible language, fearing, say they, lest men should become heretics, that is to say, fearing lest the light should engender darkness, and the truth lying. And what is this else, then neither to enter into the kingdom of heaven, nor to suffer others to enter in, Math. 23.13. then to hide the light under a bushel, Math. 5.11. There remaineth the third point of his office of Mediator, namely his eternal priesthood, which consisteth in two chief points: in our redemption, and in his intercession: the which redemption hath two parts, the expiation of our sins, and our sanctification, which we will handle from point to point distinctly. First therefore there is that which we call original sin, which ought to be considered of in two divers respects, namely touching the corruption of the whole man, which is as it were the essence of this sin, (whereof we shall afterwards speak in handling the point of sanctification) and touching that which followeth it, namely that which maketh us guilty, and children of wrath worthy of the curse of God from our conception, Psal. 51.7. Rom. 5.14.18. Eph. 2.3. There are afterwards the fruits proceeding from this cursed root, which bind us specially unto eternal death: which root of sin, albeit it be so deadened by the holy spirit in those who are regenerate, whereof we will afterwards speak, notwithstanding it leaveth not to bud forth, though it be not with such a final effect as before, being a perpetual war between this flesh, that is to say the remnant of original sin, & the spirit, that is to say the power of god, & his effect in us. Gal. 5.17. which combat is most lively described & painted forth unto us by the Apostle, Ro. 7. proposing himself for an example.  
5 If therefore we demand these goodly Doctors and teachers of theirs, how the fruits of this vice are pardoned us, they will answer with us that it is by the death and passion of our Lord jesus Christ. But if we desire to have a farther declaration of this answer, than Satan, who was before disguised, beginneth to show his horns. For it is he in deed who hath learned them certain distinctions, by which this goodly first answer of theirs vanisheth away as smoke, namely the distinction, first between mortal and vemall sins, which deserve (say they) nothing but temporal punishment, whereof a man is purged by some displeasance and remorse of them, with one Asperges of holy water, one bishops blessing, and other such inventions. Whence it would follow in sound logic, that such sins have nothing at all to do with the death and passion of the Lord, seeing the evil requireth no such pain in him who committeth it. Thus you see how these good Physicians in steed of using one purgative remedy only, and without which every sin becometh deadly, cast the poor consciences of men in a sleep (as the empeirall practics use the medicines which they call narcoticall, that is to say such as benowme and ded the diseased) until at the length they become senseless and past feeling in all sin and wickedness, Ephes. 4.19. and swollen and puffed up until they be ready to break again with the false opinion of their satisfactions and merits. Now in place of this we are taught by the holy scriptures, that it is true in deed that all sins are not equal in quality, joh. 19.11. But as touching the effect generally considered, every offence against God, yea both our perverse nature & every motion thereof, be it never so small, & depart it never so little aside from the commandments of the law, which is spiritual (that is to say, respecteth principally that within, although no consent, nor any effect of deed or of word do follow, Rom. 5.12.14. and 7.14,) is worthy of death, yea of everlasting death, Rom. 6.23. As this Priest is he alone, who by means of the payment which he hath made for the malediction and curse which was due unto us, and he alone without exception which taketh away the sins of the world, joh. 1.29. is the propitiation for our sins, Rom. 3.23. which he hath borne upon the tree in his own person, 1. Pet. 2.24. namely for them, unto whom it is given to repent, 2. Tim. 2.26. and to believe, joh. 6.44.45. not that Repentance or Faith itself merit salvation any way, or have any place of satisfaction towards God (seeing eternal life is of free gift, Rom. 6.23) but because that god hath appointed and given true Repentance, as a good way to be prepared to receive pardon, Psal. 51.12.19. and Faith, to apprehend him and to apply him unto us unto eternal life, joh. 3.16. In a word therefore, all sin in his own nature is mortal and deadly, and contrariwise all sin (except it be the sin against the holy ghost which is unpardonable) is pardoned the believing by the only oblation of our eternal Priest once made, Hebrew. 10.10. and Rom. 5.1.  
6 Their other distinction is double, namely between the guilt and the pain satisfactory, separating the one from the other: and between the sins going before Baptism and those which are committed after, and all to bring the satisfaction of jesus Christ unto this point, to make that which proceedeth from us of some worthiness & merit, which they call condignly meritorious, an abuse which can in no sort agree with the priesthood of jesus Christ, the sole and immediate cause of the Remission of our sins, and so by consequent of our salvation in this respect, Psal. 32.1. These good Doctors & teachers therefore, as touching the sins which go before Baptism, grant indeed that they are entirely pardoned both in respect of the guilt, and in respect of the pain, and that by the means of some virtue of the sacred water, with the action itself of Baptism, reserving notwithstanding for the young Infants which die before they come unto the age of discretion, a certain place, which they call Limbus, where they are in some small enjoying of the joys of paradise, as are those infants which are dead when they are borne, or die before they be baptised. But as for the sins which are committed after Baptism, the guilt and trespass only pardoned, there remaineth the satisfactory pain to be paid as they say: and in what money? By Fastings, Alms, paternosters and Aves, Pilgrimages, Foundations, and other pains and penances imposed in Auricular confession. And hereunto you must add Pardons, Indulgences, and the merits of saints. But yet is a man freed and quited of all when he is dead? No. But he must go and pay the rest in an other world, in the fire of Purgatory. But they say that he which is there can merit no longer, & therefore he must come out of this fire by the prayers and good works of the living, and especially by a number of Masses, Obits, Requiems, Holy-water, & other like devotions. But what, shall he come forth? Nay that they cannot tell, though they tax every mortal sin at a certain number of days and of years. But put case one for whom we still pray at all adventures, be come forth already long since? Marry this shall be set of upon the tail of another score, to be allowed other. And whereto then shall the satisfaction of jesus Christ serve? Forsooth to make all this available, and to send you into the fire of Purgatory for a certain time, whereas otherwise you should have gone into hell fire for ever. And yet, when it so pleaseth the merchant royal of Pardons, he doth more than jesus Christ himself. For he absolveth à culpa & pana, that is quitteth both the sin and punishment thereof, and commandeth the Angels to draw what souls it pleaseth him out of Purgatory. And is there any thing he can do more contrary unto the effect of that oblation which jesus Christ himself hath made of himself upon the cross? Yea the spirit of lying, by the just judgement of God hath passed yet farther upon those which have loved and do still love darkness better than light, joh. 3.19. according unto the Prophecy of Esay, isaiah. 29.10. and that of the Apostle, 2. Thess. 2.11. and 2. Tim. 3.13. For he hath so controlled and countermanded the oblation once made for all by jesus Christ himself, that he hath borne men in hand and persuaded them, that they must every day really and actually reiterate the same: and whereas the holy supper of the Lord was properly and peculiarly ordained and established, that we should be made partakers more and more of that mystical union of jesus Christ together with all his merits unto eternal salvation, 1. Cor. 10.16. and secondly to celebrate in solemn wise the memory of his holy and only sacrifice once for all made with solemn thanksgiving, they have converted the same into a daily sacrifice actual and real of the very and true body of jesus Christ unto God his father, by an Highpriest anointed and shaven to this end and purpose, and that with a greater efficacy than the first, which jesus Christ that perfect and only Priest & sacrificer of himself, made upon the cross: seeing that according unto their own saying, this of his reserveth still the satisfactory pain, but this which is made by their priests maketh an entire satisfaction, yea say they both for the quick & the dead. And this is it which they call their Mass, the which is so rooted in the hearts of the abused and abusers, that there was never a more execrable blasphemy in the world, nor more directly contrary unto the priesthood and sacrifice of the Lord, nor more stubbornly and cruelly maintained and defended.  
7 There followeth the second point of our Redemption, namely that which is called sanctification, because that by it being drawn out of our natural pollution we begin to be cleansed and framed unto justice and uprightness. It is also called Regeneration or Newe-birth, joh. 3.3. because that by it we become new men as touching the qualities of the school, our understanding being enlightened to know and embrace the truth of God, Ephe. 1.18. and 4.24. and Coloss. 3.10. As therefore man made not himself, but the only power and bounty of god created the world, Psal. 100.3. so must we confess that this very grace and power alone maketh us new creatures in respect of the qualities which are within us, in him who is made unto us also Sanctification, 1. Cor. 1.30. For the effecting whereof, first all the pollution and filthiness of the nature of man in the first Adam, was abolished in the flesh of this Highpriest our second Adam, conceived in the womb of the virgin by the holy Ghost: to the end that we being united by faith with him we should be found in him with that uprightness which the Law requireth of man, Rom. 8.4. I mean by merely free Imputation. Secondly this same jesus Christ, drawing us unto himself by his holy spirit formeth in us both to will and to do, Philip. 2.13. being made and created anew in him unto good works which he hath prepared to the end that we should walk in them, Ephes. 2.10. It is then this only Priest apprehended by faith, in whom we find such and so perfect a cleansing of this original stain, the same being imputed unto us, that the mortifying of this same corruption in us, and the spiritual virtue & power fight in us are at a combat within us against the relics of our pollution whilst we wait for our full incorruption & glory in body and in soul until the latter coming of the lord, Rom. 1.24. Gal. 5.17. 1. Cor. 15.28. when he shall crown of his grace & mercy his works in us, 1. Cor. 15.58. 2. Tim. 4.8. This is then the sum of the Article of our Sanctification whereof we have the seal in holy Baptism, in which the water representeth unto us the blood which was shed for the remission of all our sins, together with the virtue of the holy ghost abolishing & burying the old man corrupted, and forming in us that new man, to increase in us from day to day, Rom. 3.4. Gal. 3.27. Coloss. 2.12. 1. Cor. 3.21. Clean contrary unto all this, our adversaries teach us, first of all the merits of preparation, & say grace must prevent the remnant of our nature not altogether slaved unto sin: but only feebled, and yet still in some sort free, so that there is a concurrence of this nature & of grace, and thence they draw an heap of those goodly merits whereof they have a storehouse full, to sell to every one that will buy. Farther they say that original sin is really abolished by the water of outward Baptism, and by the virtue of the words pronounced together with their Chrism and other ceremonies: as much say they of all actual sins going before Baptism▪ in those which are baptized at years of discretion, whether he which is baptized believe or understand what baptism meaneth, or not: provided only they be not in mortal sin, as they call it. And thus you see how these brave doctors fail most absurdly & blockishly in this so necessary an article, first in being ignorant how great and deadly our original malady and sickness is: secondly sophisticating & corrupting the sole and only remedy against it, both in blending with it that which is naturally in man, and in attributing unto the water, to the sound of words, and finally to their own inventions that which cannot be given unto the Angels themselves, but we must substitute and place them in the seat and room of this only highpriest.  
8 There remaineth the point of Intercession, which is as much to say, as Intervention, or a coming between, to put himself between God his father & them who call upon him in spirit and in truth, which these goodly doctors do so expound, as if jesus Christ were upon his knees, before his father, receiving our requests and supplications according unto the manner & fashion of the princes of this world, who have their Referendaries or masters of Request, contrarying herein themselves, who in their Litany say not unto jesus Christ, Pray for us, as they crave of their saints departed this mortality, but have mercy upon us. And that upon great right. For jesus christ having in the execution of his priesthood here below, prayed so earnestly and fervently for us, and for the whole Church unto the end of the world, as we see him to have done, especially, joh. 17. and having been without doubt heard for ever (mediating the oblation once made afterward by him for the full abolishing of that which put a division between God and us) hath no need any more to make new prayers for us, seeing he hath now all power of the father to govern us & to grant us all things we require: but it is said that he maketh still Intercession for us, because the virtue and force of his oblation is always present before God, as also because all the prayers of the Church which is yet here below are made in his name, in whom alone also they be received and sanctified by his mediation and Intervention between the father and us. Now in am of this Doctrine testified and verified throughout the Scripture, having made notwithstanding a Referendary and master of Requests, turning themselves suddenly clean backward, and considering of his majesty & glory, they teach that it were marvelous presumption to go directly unto so great a Lord of Lords, and King of Kings: and therefore say they, we must first speak unto others to have access unto him, as a man that will have access unto a King, will speak first with the Ushers of his presence, or with the groom of his chamber, or other his favourits. And who are they? Here now every man according unto his private devotion hath power to choose himself a particular patron, beside the general, amongst which they attribute the sovereign place unto the blessed virgin, & that by her motherly authority to command. And here every ones merits are proposed and their particular commissions of healing this or that disease. And whereupon I pray you are all these Intercessions grounded? Not upon any word of God, not upon any example of the Prophets, or Apostles, or any other of their time: not upon reason, seeing this cannot be done but we must attribute unto these Intercessors, that which is entirely proper and belonging unto the divinity and Godhead alone, without which jesus Christ himself should be ill & in vain called upon as we have before showed: all this notwithstanding, this hath by little and little slipped into the Church by the efficacy of that spirit of error which they used who resisted jeremy, keeping themselves to their queen of heaven, jer. 44.17. as they of whom we now speak hold themselves to theirs. And what I pray you hath brought in this cursed overthrow of the true invocation of God in Christendom but the distrustfulness of the favour and good will of our Mediator towards us? And yet what shall we find either in heaven or in earth which hath given us or could ever give us such assured testimonies of his love and dilection? For we cannot so much as pray as we ought, without he do first prevent us by his holy spirit, Rom. 8.25. so far is it that there can be any more prompt and ready than he to help us. Now no prayer proceeding from distrust, or from our only imagination, be it forged anew or retained by an evil custom, can be acceptable unto God, jam. 1.6. and joh. 4.22. and therefore above all things is this holy assurance upon the only truth, love and power of the only mediator recommended unto us, Heb. 10.19. 1. joh. 2.1. bereaving us by consequent of all presumption of ourselves. Why but, say they, we pray one for an other, and do also crave the prayers one of an other without any derogation at all unto the authority or office of jesus Christ who is our sole mediator: true, we use the mutual prayers of one an other as being environed all of us with the like necessities, to the mutual participation of which, charity doth bind us, & which we may and aught to cause to be understood of one an other, according to the word of God and the examples of the holy Prophets and Apostles. And what is this to the invocation and praying unto of saints, the spirits of whom are in heaven in their rest not able to be conceived of us, & their bodies are in the dust waiting together with us for the latter day? Therefore when such as are yet living demand & crave the mutual prayers of their brethren, this is not to make them Intercessors, or to adjoin them for companions unto jesus Christ, or as subordinate mediators between jesus Christ and us, to rank them and cause them to march in procession as they do in their Litanies. But this is to join ourselves and them together, to address and direct ourselves to one and the self same God and father in the name of this sole and only mediator aswell of Intercession as also of Redemption, which are two points altogether unseparable, as saint john witnesseth calling jesus Christ our Advocate in the same sense that he called him our propitiation meaning to exclude all other Advocates and all other propitiators towards God. 1. john. 2.1.2. being none besides him in whom our prayers, or other works whatsoever are acceptable. Hereupon they reply again that so they also add, Per Christum Dominum nostrum, that is to say, through jesus Christ our Lord. Yea but this is after they have joined with him subordinate companions, both in the merits of these and those, as also in pardons and whatsoever else cometh into their thought (which is nothing else but to derogate as much from the mediation of Redemption) and beside in the Intercession of others towards him: yea with their motherly authority, falsely attributed unto her, who never thought upon any such usurpation. In a word therefore this is nothing else but to do as they did who in pilate's house called jesus Christ by the name of Prophet and king: but it was when they buffeted and scourged him, joh. 19.1.2.  
9 Thus you see my brethren, what the jesus Christ of this false Church is, from which the mercy of God hath withdrawn us, to know and to serve the true & only jesus Christ, true God and true man, having a name above every creature high, middle or low, in his celestial and eternal Empire, who hath declared unto us all the counsel of God touching our salvation by the contents of the writings of his faithful Prophets & Apostles, being the only eternal priest & by virtue of this Priesthood our sole & only mediator aswell of Redemption as also of Intercession between the father and us unto eternal life, in the which faith the Lord give us grace to live and die to enjoy one day on high eternally with him the glory which he hath purchased by the price of himself.  
10 It remaineth now we consider of what manner of Crown this spouse here speaketh, and who this Mother is who hath crowned him therewith. Now then by the Crown, that Majesty and power more than Royal is meant, with which our head is crowned, as it is said Psal. 8.6. and is expounded Heb. 2.9. and Math. 28.18. But who may this mother be, who hath crowned him therewith, seeing it is of the father only that he craveth it, both in respect that his divine majesty was as it were abased in the infirmity of the flesh for a time, joh. 17.5. as in respect of the superiority over all the world promised unto him in regard of his humanity, Psal. 2.8. & Psal. 110.1. expounded by the Apostle, 1. Cor. 15.24. Ephes. 4.11. and Philipp. 2.9. This place therefore hath diverse interpretations. To let pass therefore the interpretation of certain contemplative, or rather of dreaming and doting Doctors, who have appropriated not only this place, but almost all that is said of the Church in this Canticle unto the person of the virgin Mary, who was truly blessed among all faithful women, but not therefore as these foolish superstitious have imagined, as if jesus christ did hold of his mother the crown of his Empire: whereas it is his mere gracious bounty which made her his mother, inasmuch as he took our flesh in her virginal womb, & who hath crowned her with such measure of glory as pleased him. Others have understood by this word of mother the humanity of jesus Christ, which contrariwise is crowned in him & by him, who hath honoured it so far with his personal union. It seemeth unto me that by this word of Mother a man may more rightly understand in this place the City of jerusasalem, as being the capital City of the kingdom, and so consequently the mother of all such as are borne there, and namely in respect of Solomon who was there born, and was there crowned, and so also in regard of him of whom he was the figure. For albeit jesus Christ was not borne in Jerusalem according unto the flesh, notwithstanding he there took his crown, Psal. 2.6. and that by the testimony of Pilate who knew not what he did, joh. 19.19.22. as it was also said by Esa. 2.3. and Mich. 4.2. that he should come forth of Jerusalem, that is to say that he should there be borne, in respect of the quality of his celestial kingdom, which consisteth in the setting up and government of his Church, as it came to pass by express commandment, Act. 1.4.12. This exposition, besides the foundation which it hath, serveth unto great edification, this coronation and this Crown being diversely considered: in as much as Jerusalem a figure of the Church in her estate here below is sometimes restricted unto the elect, and sometimes also comprehendeth all those who say they are of this company, of which notwithstanding some of them are not known, as S. Paul before his coversion was among the Pharisees, others are like darnel among the good corn until such time as God thresh it out. This is then the cause wherefore the true spouse desiring, according as this spiritual marriage implieth it, that all the world if it might be were joined with her in one body under this head and Bridegroom, inviteth the other Daughters of Jerusalem, to come in good earnest and not for fashion sake or outward appearance and profession only, to contemplate the true king of peace in this royal majesty of his, wherewith their common mother, to wit Jerusalem, had crowned him, I mean so far as that earthly Solomon was the figure of this true king and Bridegroom, & not that the majesty of this Solomon proceedeth from his spouse, but from the eternal father, as also by a correspondence the coronation of the terrestrial Solomon celebrated by those of jerusalem, proceeded not of them of the City but from the ordinance and commandment of David, which the city accepted of. But it may be together with this, that the holy ghost speaking by the mouth of the spouse to the disloyal of jerusalem in particular, would in this place upbraid them the same with which S. Peter did, Act. 2.23.24. & 3.13.14. & Saint Stephen, Act. 7.52. conformably unto that which was foretold, Zach. 12.10. and Mat. 26.64. as if she said. Behold indeed the true king of peace accepted and crowned with all majesty of jerusalem. Come and see him you who desire your own welfare and salvation: as for you the contemners and persecutors of him, look upon him hardly unto your confusion. You have bought him of a traitor, and condemned him by false suborned witnesses. It was through your cryings that Pilate scourged him, that he crowned him with thorns, that he crucified him. You have denied him to be your king, and have sought to put forth the title of his royalty, yea you mocked him on his cross, you shut up and sealed his sepulchre to hinder his victory, and yet lo he is a king maugre your despite, having vanquished all his enemies upon the Cross, even unto Satan, sin and death. Behold how he sitteth above every creature at the right hand of the father, and thence it is he shall come to condemn all his enemies, and to absolve those who are his for ever. There it is you shall see him unto your condemnation. Yea the sufferings which you caused him to endure were the way by which he is entered into his glory, Luc. 24.46. Behold I say in what sort this spouse might by a Prophetical spirit reproach the Daughters of jerusalem. But besides all this to express yet more clearly this name of Mother, I say, that this which is here said of this coronation of Solomon by his Mother may be also referred unto that which is in his history, namely unto that, that the crowning of him came to pass by his Mother, in as much as she by the suggestion of Nathan put David in mind in good time of his promise which he had made of leaving the crown unto Solomon and not unto Adonias. Which being referred unto the true Solomon, we must attribute the crowning of him unto the heavenly father which is somewhat referred unto the Mother in respect of him which was the figure of him: seeing in similitudes it is not necessary that all the parts thereof agree throughout.  
11 It remaineth yet we expound what this day of the espousailes is, and of the great joy of this king. Whereupon we must call to remembrance that which I have already more than once reiterated upon this Canticle, namely that in this spiritual marriage, which is here mentioned, there are so many degrees to be considered as there be approching of the Messiah near his Church by the manifestation of his will. Until the time of the Law therefore there was the treaty as it were of these fiansailes, and the time after the Law (which was as it were the chalking forth of this Bridegroom) shall be accounted as it were the solemnizing of the fiansailes, especially in the building of the Temple, & in that so magnificent establishing of the Levitical priesthood. Afterward at the coming of the Lord in flesh this marriage was really contracted by words of the present, according unto that which the Apostle expressly teacheth us, Ephes. 5.25.29. the contract of the new covenant being ratified and confirmed by the new seal of the holy Supper, as appeareth by the tenor of the institution of it, and by the scope and end whereunto it tendeth, namely, to the communion of body and goods with this Bridegroom 1. Cor. 1.30. and 10.16. in such sort notwithstanding, that the full and perfectly real consummation of this marriage, appertaining unto the enjoying of eternal life, 1. Cor. 15.28.54. is differred unto the day of his glorious appearance, 1. Thess. 4.16.17. and elsewhere in many places. As this is also the end and hope of this spouse waiting for now with no less devotion this second coming, whereof she hath the pledges, than she did sometimes upon other pledges expect his first. Unto what time therefore shall we refer these espousailes and this joy and gladness? Solomon the son of David being set before us in this place as a figure of the true Solomon, and his coronation in jerusalem here below being represented unto us as no vain figure of the real taking of possession of the true Solomon in the heavenly jerusalem: it seemeth that it is not to be doubted, but that according unto the ordinary style of the Prophets, the time of the solennizing of the fiansailes, under the which this Canticle was written, is properly mentioned in this place: but yet so, that it is joined with that which is figured, that is, with the solemnizing of the espousailes, as if it were one and the same time. And indeed this hath been always the right manner of speaking of the figures & shadows of the Law ceremonial, that the people was always led unto the substance & body of them, which is our Lord jesus Christ, Col. 2.17. & throughout the whole Ep. to the hebrews, in such sort, that for want of observing of this method those abuses have been engendered which are reproved, Psal. 50. & so oft by all the Prophets, & finally the pharisaisme reprehended by our Lord jesus Christ, & afterwards by the apostles. And yet at this day the self-same fault is still committed by them, in the Sacraments ordained by jesus Christ, & in others forged by men. Briefly Solomon hath in this place declared by this divine medley of himself crowned in his fiansailes in his jerusalem, with the espousailes of the true Solomon in his celestial jerusalem which was to be gathered out of all nations of the world, that he had not forgotten, that the promise made concerning him to David his father, had in such sort linked him with the other son of David, of which himself was only the figure & shadow, that it might seem at first sight that the Lord spoke of one only person and of one only eternal kingdom, 2. Sam. 7.14. & 1. Chron. 17.13.  
12 Now that it is not without great cause that the spouse calleth this day the day of the gladness of the heart of this bridegroom, appeareth by the more than marvelous effects. For if this bridegroom had not taken an unspeakable pleasure, to make his very enemies his spouse, how would he have given his life for the winning of her, joh. 15.13. and Rom. 5.8. How would he have objected himself unto the horrible wrath of God for us? Gal. 3.13. How going unto death would he have prayed so fervently for us, joh. 17.20. How would he have protested, that he desired nothing more than this oblation of himself to carry our sins upon the tree, which is the principal article of the contract of this marriage? Luke 12.50. How would he have protested of that singular desire he had to celebrate that last supper with his disciples, Luk. 22.15. How in the anguishs of death which were more horrible a great deal in his soul then in his body, as that frightful cry of his which obscured the sun, shook the earth, & clave the stones, namely that, My God, my God why hast thou forsaken me, declareth, would he have prayed for them who crucified him? Lu. 23.30. on whom also afterwards he showed mercy, Act. 3.17. which he yet continueth to do at this day towards us so unworthy of so great and incomprehensible favour.  
13 Go too then (my brethren) unto whom in our time this king is as it were again appeared, to cause us to see the brightness of his crown buried as it were before in such thick darkness of ignorance and superstition, which were covered with the name of Christianity and true devotion, let us pray him, with all our heart, that this infinite love & charity of his which showeth us from on high the flowers of his crown, to cause the glory of that kingdom which was prepared for us before the foundation of the world, Math. 25.34. to be poured down upon us: Let these things (I say) pierce our hearts to cause us to go forth of ourselves, to the end that we may thoroughly contemplate this king there where he causeth himself to be seen of us, let us know him, love him, follow him through all the path-ways it shall please him to conduct us, until we arrive unto the full consummation of this most holy conjunction in the which he shallbe all in all in his: Amen. And because that having hitherto done the clean contrary, we have so oft and so greatly offended him, let us crave grace & mercy at his hands as followeth.  
Almighty God, etc.  
THE END OF THE SERMONS UPON THE THIRD CHAPTER OF THE CANTICLE OF CANTICLES.