A SERMON PREACHED AT SAINT MARIE spital April. 10. 1615.  
BY THOMAS ANYAN Doctor of Divinity, and Precedent of Corpus Christi College in Oxon.  
AT OXFORD, Printed by joseph Barnes, Printer to the University.   

HONORATISSIMO, ET ILLUSTRISSIMO VIRO, THOMae EGERTONO, MILITI AURATO, BARONI DE ELLESMERE, TOTIUS ANGLIAE, ET ACADEMIAE OXONIENSIS CANCELLARIO SUMMO ET INTEGERRIMO, MUSARUM GRATIARUMQVE PATRONO SINGULARI, SACRATAE REGIAE MAIESTATI A SECRETIS CONSILIIS INTER PRIMOS SPECTATISSIMO, DOMINOQVE SVO OMNI OBSERVANTIA COLENDISSIMO, LEVIDENSE HOC DEVOTISSIMI OBSEQVII TESTIMONIUM D. D. D.  
Capellanus Honori Tuo Devinctissimus T. A.   
ACT. 10. 34. 35. 
34 Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive, that God is no accepter of persons.  
35 But in every nation, he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.  
MY Text is the beginning of a Sermon, indited by Him, who at his Ascension inspired the Holy Ghost, preached by that great Apostle & glorious Martyr of jesus Christ St Peter, delivered at Caesarea a garrison town by the Sea-coast of Palaestina, occasioned by the strange and wonderful conversion of Cornelius an Italian Centurion; and is an evangelical Speech, well suiting so blest an occasion, so divine a Speaker. Wherein I observe,  
1 The Speaker of the Speech; Peter.  
2 The Manner of his Speech; which was, not by letters, but by words, not by writing, but by preaching, not by substitution or deputation, but by teaching himself in his own person.  
3 The truth of his Speech, and asseveration thereof; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, In veritate comperio.  
4 His confidency, and apodeictical knowledge of what he taught; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, I plainly perceive, or, am constantly persuaded.  
5 The Speech itself; God is no accepter of persons, etc. Wherein we may see (as in the Vision of the Prophet Ezechiel) rotam in rotâ, two propositions, one linked within the other, which carry with them much weight, and a glorious lustre of God's unpartial justice and Majesty.  
The first is negative and general; God is no accepter, etc.  
The second is affirmative, with a particular exception out of the general negative. But in every nation, etc.  
In the first God's justice overpoiseth his Mercy: in the second his Mercy is transcendent over his justice. In the first he appears a terrible judge to spare none: in the second a merciful Father to spare all, that fear him, and work righteousness. For they are accepted of him, not by merit, but by favour, not by works, ex condigno, but by mercy, and ex dono. These are the parts of my Text; of which in their order.  
Peter] What Christ elsewhere promised here he performed, & makes a poor Fisherman, to become a fisher of men. The Sea wherein he fished is the Ocean of this World, swelling with pride, livid and blew with envy, boiling with wrath, deep with covetousness, foaming with luxury, swallowing all by oppression, dangerous for rocks of presumption and desperation, rising with waves of passion, ebbing and flowing with inconstancy, and last of all, Mare amarum, bitter with all kind of misery. The chief fish, which at this time came to his net, was Cornelius an Italian Centurion, and with him many other Gentiles. The Net, wherewith he fished and caught him and them, was the glad tidings of the Gospel, and Faith in jesus Christ: which is compared in Scripture to a Net, and consisteth of manic Articles, as a Net of many threads. The casting of this net, was the unfolding of the Word: Then Peter opened his mouth. The plummets that keep such down, as are taken in the Net, from presumption, are the threatenings of the Law, and the severe justice of God: God is no accepter of persons. The Corks, that bear them up in all the surges of this world, that they sink not down into the depth of despair, are the promises of the Gospel, and the sweet mercies of Almighty God: But in every nation, etc.  
This great Fisher of men St Peter, was naturâ Homo, gratiâ Christianus, abundantiore gratiâ unus idemque primus Apostolus. He was by nature, saith St Austin, but a man, by grace a Christian man, by abundant grace not only one, but a chief Apostle. He was the first, that confessed Christ to be consubstantial with his Father; he was the first, that preached Christ; the first, that baptizeà in his name; and still the forwardst man, in the execution of his Apostolic function. He was with Christ, whilst he lived on earth most familiar & conversant, with his secret counsels best acquainted, most observant of his words and precepts: and because, saith Cyprian, unit as ab exordio dependet, to preserve order & to avoid schism amongst the guides of the Church, he was by Christ set before the rest, unto whom all the rest of the same rank and order in religious matters of importance should have recourse, as to a person more honourable than the rest. john indeed was that Apostle, whom Christ loved above the rest; but St Peter was he, that loved Christ, more than john or any of the Apostles. Ille melior qui plus diligit Christum; illefeiicior, quem plus diligit Christus. In that S. john was best beloved of Christ, he was the happier man; but in that S. Peter loved Christ better than they all, he was the better man. Better, not in commission, but in place, and order; he was before him or the rest, not above him or any of the rest; he was a chief Pecre of the Apostles, not their Prince; he was in order their Superior, not their Sovereign; he had a Primacy amongst them not a Supremacy over them; he was not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, not a prince of the Apostles, but a fellow Elder, as he himself terms himself, 1. Pet. 5. 1.  
There is, saith Almain (in his Tracte de Potestate Ecclesiasticâ) a double Primacy; there is Primatus Ordinis, and Primatus jurisdictionis, a Primacy of Order, & a Primacy of Power and jurisdiction; the former is properly Primatus, the other Potestas. The first we yield unto Peter, & give him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the first place, the first and best employment, the sitting and speaking first, the moderation & direction of other men's speeches, the publishing and pronouncing of the Conclusion agreed upon by the Synod of the Apostles: but Primatum Potestatis, a power to do any ministerial Act, which another hath not, a power to restrain others in the performance of their Acts of Ministry, such a Primacy we deny unto Peter; th' Apostles all being, (as Cyprian saith) pari consortio praediti Potestatis, all joint Commissioners endued with equal power. This Primacy of Order, which we ascribe unto Peter, is the original of all the Superiority, that Archbishops & Metropolitans have over the Bishops of their Provinces; and the foundation, upon which is built all the fabric of Ecclesiastic discipline, whereby the unity of the Church at this day remains preserved.  
If I were to dispute with a Papist, I would not be so troublesome unto him, as to cause him to prove that Peter was ever at Rome, that he sat Bishop there, that he died there, or that the Pope is his lineal Successor, (which some of our Divines have denied; and to prove them all, it is impossible) but yielding that, yet tanquam datum, non concessum, nothing thence can be inferred, for the support of the Roman Supremacy, more than may be concluded for the Sea of Antioch, or the Bishop of jerusalem. For at Antioch Peter first sat Bishop, & afterwards governed it by Evodius; at Antioch the Professors of the Gospel were first called Christians, and the place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the City of God. And if St Peter's death, or Martyrdom, could add such Sovereignty to the place, where he died; then much juster claim may be laid to this Supremacy by the Bishop of jerusalem, because Christ the great Pastor and Bishop of our souls did there suffer death for the Redemption of universal man. But nor the one, nor the other, is a sufficient foundation to raise up this Edifice of the Popish Hierarchy. The Commission given to Peter was not singular, but to others common with him: the rest of the Apostles were authorized, as well as he, and that immediately from Christ; their pre-eminence of binding and losing as ample; and as Christ was sent by his Father, so sent he them, & what he said to one, he said to all, Pasce oves, Feed my sheep. For it was a thing in the evangelical story with Christ usual, sometimes to direct his speech to one private man, and no more, as Arise and walk, Lazarus come forth; sometimes to direct his speech to one in the person of all, as Vade & noli ampliùs peccare, Go and sin no more, and to Peter, Pasce oves; Nam quod dicitur Petro, dicitur omnibus; What was said to Peter, was said to all the Apostles, saith Austin, cap. 30. the Agone Christiano. Now the reasons, why Christ directed his speech to Peter in the behalf of them all, were these; vel quia aetate senior, vel charitate ardentior, velne videretur reliquis abiectior, quia negaver at Christum, saith Occam lib. 4. Dial. 1. Tract. 3. part. c. 3. Either because he was more ancient, or in charity more ardent, than the rest, or else lest he should seem to be despised for the denial of his Master. But the Pope (the pretended Successor of this Peter) will not content himself with this Priority; he will not only have a Cheiftie of Order, but of command, and Power: and because (in all likelihood) Christ would have his Church governed in the best form of regiment that is, and that of all States the Monarchy is best; hence Sanders, and after him Bellarmine lay it down for a Praecognitum, that the Government of the Church must needs be Monarchical; that this was committed unto Peter, and continued in his Successors; whereby his Power is become illimited, his judgement infallible, and he an Universal Bishop, whose Diocese is the whole World. The truth of this State-Maxime, on which they build the Pope so high a Throne, I will not dispute; but keep myself within the sphere of mine own Profession; and, for an uncontrolled Answer to them all, add that limitation, which I find in the forecited Occam (3. Part. Dial. l. 3. Tr. 1. c. 30.) Status Monarchicus est omnium optimus populo simul moranti, non autem uni populo comprehendenti plures populos locis distantibus. That Government is best, where one bears Sovereignty, not many, but so, that it be over but one nation, & not many, or if over many, yet not far disjoined. Which limitation of Occham's I find strengthened with the authority of great St Austin (lib. 4. de Civ. D. c. 15.) Feliciores essent res humanae, si omnia regna essent parva, & concordi vicinitate laetantia. The estate of worldly things would be much more happy, if the whole world were divided out into small Kingdoms, then if all should be swayed by one supreme Commander. That form therefore of Government is not so expedient for the whole, as for each part, for large and disjoined Circuits, as for narrow bounds: and as it is impossible for one temporal Monarch to wield the Empire of the whole world, either long, or well, so much more impossible it is for one man to manage all Ecclesiastic affairs and dispatch the weighty businesses of the Universal Church. Better therefore were it for Peter, or his Successors, to be (as St Austin terms him Tract. 13. in joh.) Oculus in corpore, an Eye of the Church, then to be so vast a Head of a body so far dissevered: lest that be applied unto him in the Comedy, Hic quidem fungino genere est, capite se totum tegit; The Church of Rome is become a mushroom, or like a Toadstool, all Head, and no body.  
Yet hath the sweet desire of Ambition so enchanted the Chair of the Scarlet Whore, that rather, than the Pope will lose this eminent Sovereignty and command, he will become the Patron and maintainer of most enormous offenders and their offences, thereby to procure support of his Antichristian Primacy. For the best stake in the Pope's hedge is his own Authority, to maintain his own Infallibility, and is now become stripped of all, save the naked Decrees of Canonists, and the Dreams of well-fed Monks: to which had he not of late annexed an omnipotent Power of Binding, and Losing, of Approving, and Dispensing with things repugnant to all Laws as well Natural as Divine; I might by way of prediction say of the Pope's Arrogancy, that, which was said to the Troyans' of the Grecian Horse, — haec in vestros fabricata est Machina muros; The Pope's Supremacy had long since been the destruction of him, his Sea, and City. He is but a child and ignorant in the Histories of his own times, that doth not know, that the chiefest prop, whereon the Pope stands, and at this hour is sustained, is his correspondency with the Spanish King, and the House of Austria; which he first procured and now maintaineth by his dispensing and warranting of his incestuous and unlawful Marriages. So that if the Spaniard should revolt from the Sea of Rome, the Legitimation of his Successors would be questioned & his Signiories endangered. Which is the only reason of the consistency of the Papacy, claimed under the title of S. Peter, which otherwise had ere this not been at all, or else reduced into a narrow Diocese.  
Opened his mouth] S. Peter spoke not rashly, or without meditation making his words to break the prison of his lips, before the door of his mouth was opened; but he taketh the keys of knowledge and Meditation in hand, and therewith opened his mouth, and then spoke. When I mused (saith David) there was a fire kindled, and then I spoke. What was this Musing, but his Meditation? What was this fire, but the light of God's Spirit? What was the kindling thereof, but the inflammation of his affections? that so he might speak Ignita Dei eloquia, with a tongue touched with a coal of Meditation from God's holy Altar.  
For by opening of the mouth in this place is not to be understood a bare dissevering of the lips, but a preparation of the heart, out of the abundance of which the tongue should speak, and is indeed a pleonasme, or redundancy of the Hebrew tongue, signifying to begin to speak after long silence with Religion; & in this sense our Church Liturgy prayeth, O Lord open thou our Lips. So that, as Moses first spoke with God, before he spoke to the people: so St Peter first speaketh with God's Spirit by Meditation, before he delivered to Cornelius this Sermon, which is the subject of my Discourse. The greatest perfection of a man is his Wisdom, and the best herald to proclaim his wisdom is his Speech, and the richest treasure to adorn his speech is Meditation. Meditatio est quasi mentis ditatio, (saith Bernard) it is the enriching of the soul with the treasures of Wisdom: nay it is the chewing of the food of the Soul, which maketh it taste sweeter in the mouth, & digest better in the stomach; and you know those beasts, that chewed not the cud, are reckoned among the unclean beasts in the Ark. I know no greater difference between a wise man and a fool, then that one speaketh all things rashly, the other all things maturely and advisedly: the one hath his tongue in his heart, the other hath his heart in his tongue, as the Wise man speaketh. For want of which serious consideration, of the Majesty of the person, of whom they speak, and of the holiness of the place, wherein they speak; many bold and unworthy speakers, contrary to the Law both of God and the Church, start up into the Pulpit, and being dull and heavy bodies, contrary to the Law of Nature, they ascend up to fill a vacuity. These empty vessels make the greatest sound in many places of this City; and like Vessels filled with new wine, they will rather break than not vent, though it be but their own Emptiness and Ignorance; their words are full of wind, and like Aeolus' Winds,  Quâ data porta ruunt, & turbas turbine perflant. 
Their mouth, like the Cock of a Conduit-pipe, if it be but once opened, will run out two Howre-glasses, and that twice or thrice a week. Before Ezechiel could have his Commission to speak to the people, he was enjoined, not to touch, to open, or to put into his mouth, but to eat the roll, Ezech. 3. 1. and to receive the words into his heart, Ezech. 3. 10; but these men never do so much as touch the Roll, or open the book. They ran from the Seminaries of learning, like Lapwings from their nests, with their shells upon their heads: the portion of learning they brought with them was like the bread & wine of the Gibeonites; their bread was hot that day they departed, & therefore it was moulded and dry; & their bottles because they were new, were rend, Josh. 9 13. These men need never fear to be taken for Mercury with St Paul, because they seek to vent their wares by number, never weighing them. Of these too hasty Pulpit men St Bernard saith wittyly, Quia nimis properè, minùs prosperè rem peragunt.  
When the Material Temple was built, there was not so much as the noise of a hammer heard there, all things were so prepared before: but in the building of the Immaterial Temple of God, and edifying of men's souls in the faith of Christ, whose Temples we are, there is oft times amongst these extemporary preachers, (who never prepare what to speak, but only to open the mouth and speak) such a stammering and hammering of words, such a rude noise of jarrings in sense, and construction; that I hold it far better for the Church they should look gravely and say nothing, then make so many shallow, frivolous, inconsequent discourses. And so I come from his Manner of speech, to his asseveration; which is, In truth.]  
He was the Legate of the God of truth, the Apostle of him, in whose mouth there was found no guile; and being by Cornelius required to speak only that which God had commanded, (as it is in the verse before my text) he could not but speak the truth; and therefore doth adorn the forefront of his speech with this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Of a truth. This is the insoluble bond of Amity, the safest refuge of Innocency, the surest warrant of Fidelity, the strongest sinew of human Society, the authentical evidence of justice, the ensign of Christianity, the sovereign influence of God, nay it is God himself, for God is truth.  
Detestable therefore and more than Diabolical is their doctrine and practice, who strain, and weaken this sinew, which holdeth peace and society together; who cancel this bond, which being made in earth is registered in the high court of heaven, subscribed and signed by God himself; who either untie this everlasting knot of truth by cunning equivocation, or cut it asunder by Papal Dispensation. How can we better argue, that the Pope is not Peter's Successor, at least in doctrine, then by urging this one argument here in my text? Peter begins his Platform of speech, Of a truth: but the Pope adviseth his Disciples oft times in their speech to use a Mental Reservation, which is in plain terms a Lie; and so to begin their speech, not with St Peter, Of a truth, but Of a lie. How could we demonstrate the Pope to be the man that exalteth himself above all that is called God, if he sat not in the Temple of God, as judge of God's law, nay as God of GOD himself; whose commands he controls, by adding to, taking from, and dispensing with them. Far be it therefore from us to hold with him that breaks with God himself; to join with them in truth of doctrine, that maintain Equivocating and forswearing; to partake of that Religion, which taketh away all religious obligation. Is that the faith of a Christian, which alloweth, and in some cases commendeth Perfidio usnesse, and unnatural treasons? Can their doctrine be truth, qui dogmatizant mendacium, who make an equivocating lie a doctrine, and that they may verify this their lie, bely the truth itself, and make JESUS himself (I tremble to speak it) to become a jesuit? teaching by many arguments, that Christ himself used this kind of Equivocation, both unto the High Prtest, and his Disciples, and that all his speeches were not like unto this of Peter's, Of a truth.  Tantum relligio potuit suadere malorum? 
Of all beasts we have those in greatest detestation, which devour their own young. What are our Words & Promises, what are our Oaths, & Vows, but the issue of our mind, which they that resume, and recall, what do they else, but devour and eat their own offspring? The first that broke this bond of truth in earth was the Devil Gen. 3. whose scholars they show themselves, who teach, that Oaths, Vows, and Promises of truth are better broken then kept with Heretics, & that they may lawfully violate them at their pleasure; as julius 2. was not ashamed openly to profess, fides danda omnibus, servanda nemini. And of this profession was Alex. 6. and his son Borgia, of whom it is reported that the one would never speak what he meant to do, nor the other ever do, what he spoke. These were two of the greatest monsters which nature ever yet produced. For what monster can there be in nature more prodigious, than a Liar, or Equivocator, whose speech is not Of a truth? All other creatures in the world bring forth the same issue, which they conceive; but a Liar, or Equivocator bringeth forth of his mouth, that which he conceiveth not, or rather a contrary issue to that which he conceiveth. He conceiveth, or rather concealeth, the truth, and bringeth forth a lie, and so the issue of his mouth is contrary to the conception of his heart. The heathen Philosopher Zeno rather than he would be the Father to beget, or suffer his tongue to be the Mother to bring forth such a monster, bit of his tongue, and spit it in the face of the king of Cypress, who had a long time tortured him to tell a Lie. Pliny in his 37. Book of Natural History reporteth, that if a perjured person dip hand or foot into the river Olachas in Bythinia, he feeleth as great torments, as if he were thrown into a furnace of melting lead. And Solinus seconds this relation with the like of a river in Sardinia, Periuros furto facto, quos lumine coecat.  
And Philostratus telleth as strange a miracle of a river near Tiara; in which, if a perfidious person, that hath forsworn himself, do but bathe, the water sinketh into all parts of his body, and breedeth an incurable dropsy. But alas! what is Olachas in Bythinia, or any river in the earth, to that River of Brimstone in hell which boils with a continual fire, and much wood? In which, without long and bitter repentance they shall boil for ever, who make no conscience of making a lie, & breaking the truth. Great surely are the tortures, which Dives, and with him all the damned do, and must suffer in hell; yet no part of Dives body was so much tortured, as his Tongue. He was proud, and clad in fine linen; he was a Glutton, and fared deliciously every day, and therefore in all likelihood a wanton too, Nam epulas comitatur voluptas; he was uncharitable to the poor, and denied Lazarus the crumbs that fell from his table: yet none of these sins were punished so severely as the sins he committed with his tongue. Ex poena indicat culpam, quia illud membrum maximè omnium puniebatur; they are St Gregory's words l. 1. Mor. c. 5. and may teach us to put a watch before our lips, & to make a conscience of breaking the truth, which should be the cognizance of every Christian man's speech; as here it is placed in the frontispiece of St Peter, Of a truth.  
I Perceive] St Peter was not till this time ignorant of God's unpartial justice to universal man; but now he doth see that truth confirmed in particulars, which before he knew in general; he knew it before, and now his knowledge was by a sensible probation more confirmed. job in his prosperity knew, that God would not punish the innocent, yet he would never acknowledge so much, till he had a sensible experience of it, job, 9 28. The sincere affection, and filial obedience of Abraham to God, could not be hid from God himself, yet there was no evidence of it expressed by God, till he refused not to sacrifice his Son. Gen. 22. 12. And although the Apostle before this time had a notion of this truth, which here he preacheth; yet a manifest & experimental overture he never learned, till he saw the gate of the Church now opened to the Gentiles also. The Mistress of truth is Experience, & the best knowledge hath its assurance from particulars. By a General knowledge we know, as he that had been blind saw, confusedly, Men like trees: but by a collection of Particulars which are obvious to the sense (especially in matters practic, & moral) our mind rests assured without hesitation. The one I may call Notitia, th' other Fiducia, the one resides in the understanding th' other in the will, th' one is Theorical, th' other Practical, the one consists in General notions, the other in Particular Experiments; the one is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, by the one we may know Good from Bad, by the other Better from Good. In the knowledge therefore of divine verities we must not content ourselves with the first operations of the Spirit, which are but general, but we must strive for particular directions, and assurances; we must not only have our hearts disposed, but informed; not only ploughed up, but sown. For as all other Sciences and Professions must needs savour of much rawness and imperfection, if they be studied only in passage, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, to gain popular estimation, or to content the state in which we live: So, & much more, is it with religious knowledge, if a man profess it only with relation, and fashion superficially, not sincerely, and exactly.  
For though that a weak faith and confused knowledge of Divine things be of that admirable and working nature, that the very lest corn and grain of it, is able to effect the salvation of him in whom it is, & to lift him up to heaven, were he as gross and heavy as a mountain: yet nevertheless this must not content a Christian man; but he must make a continual progress from faith to faith, from knowledge to knowledge, till at length he be not only able in gross to know, but evidently to perceive the mysteries of religion and properties of God himself; whereof this is one, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that he is No accepter of persons.]  
God is an agent infinite, whose will is nothing else, but Deus volens, as St Austin saith, essentially God himself, without whom there is no moving or efficient cause of his operations: but his will is a law to himself, and to all things else whatsoever, & the only cause of what, and why he worketh. It was his pleasure to create this goodly fabric of the world we see in time, and not before. It was his pleasure to permit the lapse of the first created man, and his posterity, and being fallen, to sequester out of the corrupted mass some few, to be the inheritors of his kingdom, and to leave the major part in their deserved perdition. Beyond his pleasure to make a Quaere of his actions were saucy curiosity, and yet to think his will to be without reason were indign blasphemy. It is not the prescience of faith, or prevision of works, that can move the will of God, to choose one, and refuse the other, because they are not, (saith Aquinas part. 1. q. 23. a. 4.) the cause, but the effects of God's love. Praedestinatio est gratiae praeparatio, gratia verò praedestinationis effectus. Aug. c. 10. de praedestinatione sanctorum. Predestination is the harbinger of grace and grace the effect of God's love. He first created all things, and then saw they were good: the foresight of their goodness was no inducement to the work of their creation, but his creation gave them this eloge, Quaecunque fecit erant valdè bona. God chooseth none, because they are good, but men are good, because they are chosen. Gratia Dei non invenit eligendos, sed facit. Therefore St Paul (saith Austin) compared together the sons of Isaac, twins, uno etiam concubitu fusos in utero, both yet unborn, neither of them having done well or ill; Quod referendum est (saith the same Father) non ad dispensatoris iniustitiam, sed ad donantis misericordiam; which we must not impute to God's Injustice, or partiality, but to his good will and pleasure: which must be the last resolution of our inquiries; and whatsoever the event is, we must still say, as our Saviour did, Mat. 11. 25. Naepater, quia sic placuit tibi; Even so father, for it seemed good in thy sight. Could the master of the vineyard say, Anon possum facere de meo, quod volo? Is it not lawful for me to do with my own, what I will? And shall we deny to God the supreme cause of all things, the free disposition of any thing after his pleasure? Whose will is not only just and full of equity, but, as St Basil calls it, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the very oracle and rule of justice, who doth make things just and right, because he wills them. There is no man rejected by God without just cause and demerit, nor any saved but by his mercy & free pleasure. Now if it be asked, why God should thus be an accepter of people, & afford this mercy to some, and not to all: we must with a religious ignorance content ourselves, and stand amazed at the secret and inexplicable greatness of God, and satisfy ourselves with this, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, it was his pleasure so to dispose of his kingdom. This is the Nonultrà, beyond which we must not wade, but hither being come, we must make a stand, and with the blessed Apostle cry out, O altitudo divitiarum! O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God how unsearchable are his judgements, and his ways past finding out! Rom. 11. 33.  
But here we may not be so injurious to the Deity, as to conceive God in his Decrees to be tyrannical, as to say, Sic volo, sic jubeo, stat pro ratione voluntas; or that the will of God is moved 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, without reason: for although neither beauty of face, feature of body, honourable descent, wisdom, and the endowments of the mind, or any thing else without God, can move his will to Election, or make him to accept of one person before another; yet is there never wanting a most just cause, and sufficient reason of his purposes and Decrees. For although God worketh all things according to his will and pleasure; yet whatsoever he doth, he doth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with counsel and wise resolution. Eph. 1. 11. God doth order all things sweetly and profitably. Sap. 8. 1. Omnia fecisti in sapientiâ Domine. In wisdom hast thou done all thy works o God, Ps. 104. 24. And shall we think that this wise-creating God, who made all things for his glory, should without some proper reason determine of any thing which he hath made? The doctrine therefore of St Peter in my Text remains still true, & as firm as heaven, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, God is no accepter of persons: because when he determineth any thing he hath a sufficient reason, besides his Will and Pleasure to do what he doth. Which reason (saith the divine Author of the Ecclesiastical Policy) because we are not worthy or, able to apprehend, we must humbly & meckely adore. This secret and unknown reason of God's purposes is like himself, Eternal, before the foundations of the world were laid, and hath so effectually moved his Will, that now it can admit of no change or variation. That which God hath decreed, must still be like God, without change, who can as well deny himself to be God, as not perform, what he hath defined. Whom he loves, he loves unto the end; & to whom he gives the earnest of his spirit, they have a continual feeling in some measure more or less, of his gracious presence. For the love of God, it is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 variable like the gifts of temporal men, which may be granted to day and reversed to morrow, with a Non obstante priore concessione: but the love of God and the gifts of his holy Spirit they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and stand for ever without change, Rom. 11. 29. He is Triumphator Israëlis, the glory and strength of Israel, and will neither lie nor repent, nor yet can he in the mean time be termed injurious to any, or an accepter of persons (as Pelagius profanely sometime did object:) because God in giving his grace to some and denying it to others doth not proceed (sairh Alex-Hales) juxta dignitatem humanam, sed secundùm dignationem divinam, it is a donation of bounty, not a dotation according to the rules of justice. As God is in heaven, so should Gods Vicegerents be in earth; as they sit in his chair, so should they walk in his paths of justice. They should without respect of persons, as well hear the cause of poor Bartimaeus, as rich Zachaeus, as well the small, as the great, Deut. 1. 17. Their eyes must always be shut, that they be not drawn by favour, their ears always open, that they may hear both parties indifferently, & their hands must be fast clinched up, lest otherwise they be corrupted with bribes, quae excoecant prudentes, & subvertunt verba justorum, which blind the wise, and subvert the words of the righteous, Exod. 23. 8. It was a provident law enacted in the time of Rich. 2. and afterwards revived in the days of the last Henry (and would God till this day it had still been continued without violation) that no justice of Assize should ride his Circuit in that country, where either he was borne, or did live: that being unknown to all, they might accept of the persons of none, but be indifferent unto all; that so they might the more freely administer justice, and the more lively represent him, whose deputy Lieutenants they are; in being merciful, as he is merciful, holy, as he is holy, no respecters of persons, because with God there is no respect of persons.  
But in every nation] Cornelius an alien from the common wealth of Israel is accepted with God, as well as Peter borne among God's own people, and trained up in Christ's own school; the poor Leper a jew, as well as the rich Centurion that built his nation a Synagogue; as well old Simeon in the temple, as young john in the womb; as well those that watched him under the Cross, as the Thief that hung with him on the Cross: for in Christ there is neither jew nor Grecian, neither bond nor free, Gal. 3. 28. but he that is Lord over all, is rich unto all, not only to some of all nations, but to all of all nations, that fear him and work righteousness. And if any man be not accepted of him, the fault is not in the sufficiency of God's grace, but in the defect of efficiency in us. Whereupon saith Calvine Com. in 10. Act. v. 33. the words before my text, Maceriâ i am dirutâ, Deus aequali amore omnes gentes complexus est; the partition Wall being now broken down, God embraceth all nations with an equal love. For the will of God toward, mankind is (if I may so speak) Orbicular, environing universal man, with Mercies and judgements, with Salvation, and Damnation: if with repentance and works of righteousness we turn to the right hand, we shall find a Merciful Father, and be accepted of him; but if we remain obdurate in our sin, and turn to the left hand, we shall see an Angry judge and rue the punishments of his wrath. Which change and alteration is in us, not in God; God doth not bow to man, but man doth come to God; nor doth God leave any man of any nation, but man doth revolt from his Creator. Not only the Schools, but Expositors both Orthodox & Romish, stand at this day much distracted, with a diversity, or at least a diverse conceit of the Will of God; of his Antecedent, and Consequent, Hidden and Revealed will, of his Absolute, and Conditional Will: whereas to speak properly, Gods Will is one and the same, nor can he be said to have two Wills, no more then to have two Wisdoms, two Mercies, two Goodnesses, or a diversity of other his Essential Attributes. But as the Wisdom of God (to instance in that Attribute) is by St Paul termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Eph. 3. 10. which some tender Multiformis, others Multis modis varia, and our English Manifold; which is yet but one: so the Will of God being one and the same in itself, may yet in respect of us, and the divers effects thereof, be termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Manifold, and Divers. The ground of all these Distinctions is taken out of Damascene, and by Damascene out of chrysostom, Hom. 1. in Epist. ad Eph. There is in God (saith he) a twofold Will, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. There is in God a twofold Will, a First and a Second; the first and principal will of God doth immediately proceed from God himself, whereby he desireth to do good unto all, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, & it is Voluntas simplicis complacentiae, and may be termed Voluntas benefaciendi. His secondary will doth proceed from contingent causes without God, and is occasioned by us, and it may be termed Voluntas justitiae, which doth arise from our sins, which God cannot but put in execution without prejudice to his justice. The first is the Will of God, wherein he taketh delight and pleasure, and is by the same Father termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the principal will of God. That which hath been spoken I thus bring home to my text. That it is the Will of God to leave many of most nations in the corrupt mass of perdition, I well know: but that it is his principal Will, his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, or Voluntas simplicis complacentiae, to decree the absolute reprobation of any man of any nation, I utterly deny. Deus non est prius ultor, quam homo est peccator, saith Aug. ep. 105. Man deserves his punishment, before he hath it, & God makes no man a reprobate without just cause. The word Reprobation or Reprobate is in Scripture seldom used to this purpose, & the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 will hardly carry it, signifying as well Improbus, or Reprehensione dignus, as a Reprobate, and therefore should be used more sparingly, and not so absolutely determined of. In the Fathers the opposite to Predestination to life eternal is Predestination to a second death; and to Election to grace, they oppose Dereliction in the Mass of perdition, seldom Reprobation. In those parts of St Austin, which I have read, I never met with the word Reprobus as opposite to Elect, but once; & whosoever hath spent most hours in reading the works of that judicious Father, did never in that sense read it twice. I will end this point (because I have 
* St mary's in Oxon.  elsewhere spoken of it more at large) with that of the Prophet, Perditio tua ex te o Israel; there is no man of any nation that falls, but by his own iniquity. Stygias ultrò quaerimus undas, we ferry ourselves over unto hell: and like the Ostrich in Pliny, Proprijs configimur pennis, we prick ourselves with our own feathers, & like desperate Mariners cause those ships to leak which should carry us safe to the fortunate port of heaven.  
He that feareth him] Fear is defined by the great Master of Art Aristotle, l. 2. Rhet. c. 11. to be nothing else, but a perturbation of the mind through an opinion of some imminent danger, threatening, if not the destruction, yet the annoyance of our nature, which to shun it doth contract and deject itself. For as the object of Hope is Bonum, something that is Good, so the object of Fear, Hopes opposite, must needs be Malum, something being or apprehended to be Evil. Yet not every evil, but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, such an evil as threateneth us with destruction or vexation, and that such as we have no ability to resist, nor yet are utterly disenabled to avoid. To fear that which we know ourselves able to withstand were cowardice; to withstand that, which we know ourselves unable to differ or eschew, were extreme folly. The proper object therefore of Fear, is an Evil in our persuasion unresistible when it comes, yet not utterly impossible for a time, either in whole or in part, to be declined. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: Fear always, saith the same Aristotle, hath some hope of escape annexed, & therefore doth cause us to consult and deliberate; which in matters past hope to do were mere madness. Neither doth our nature much shrink and deject itself, at such evils, except they be at the door, ready to enter in & rush upon us, or hanging over our heads ready to oppress us. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, dangers out of sight are seldom feared, nor, if they be near, do we fear them except we think them to be near. There is no man living but is assured, that once he must pay the tribute due unto nature, Death: but because most men put death è longinquo, far from them, and the eldest man that is, doth think he may live yet, yet a day longer, there is nothing in time of health less thought on them sickness, and throughout the whole course of our life less feared than death.  
But when we apprehend a thing nocive, as nocive, a danger as a danger, ready at hand, for to assault us; then doth our dastard blood retire to the fountain of heat, and what we cannot forcibly withstand, that we seek warily to decline. Which eschewing of evil being a thing natural, and engrafted in the heart of every man, as he is a man, is in itself neither good nor bad, but good or bad according to the cause for which, or the measure by which it is entertained. Now because in divers Texts of Scripture we read this passion of Fear commended and enjoined, and else where forbidden and reproved: to reconcile this seeming opposition, we must know, that on the one side is commended a godly and religious fear, on the other is reproved a diffident and perplexed fear; the one is a remedy against desperation, the other against presumption; the one against diffidency, the other against security; the one reproves an anxious torturing fear, which is without hope, the other commends a cautelous and solicitous fear, in every man that stands, to take heed, lest he fall.  
And if here any Auditor should demand, how God can be feared, being not only good, but essentially Goodness itself; and that nothing can be feared but that which is evil or apprehended so to be? I answer with Aquinas 2a. 2. q. 19 a. 1. that as hope hath its double object, the one the good we pursue in expectation, and the other the auxiliary help, by which we hope to obtain this good: so fear hath its double object, the one is the evil which it eschews and dreads, the other is something from which this evil may proceed. Now although God everlasting and blessed for ever, cannot in the first sense be said to be feared, or to be the object of fear; yet in the second he may. For although he be goodness itself, yet something may be feared to proceed from him, which is evil; evil, not in its own nature, but evil in respect of him that fears; which is indeed malum poenae, not culpae, an evil of punishment, not of offence.  
And for our direction in this point, give me leave to note unto you (out of Aquinas) a fourfold fear, A Natural, a Worldly, a Servile, and a Filial fear. A natural fear is nothing else but a provident shunning of those dangers and mischiefs, with which we are not able to encounter. Which passion is entailed to all the sons of Adam, and made hereditary; nor from it was our Saviour himself freed, but as he was a man he feared, and therefore prayed, and that often, Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.  
The second is a worldly fear, when, for the safety of things temporal, we stick not to admit of things excluding from eternal; when we more fear them, that can kill the body only, then him that can cast both body and soul into eternal fire; when we startle at the least bluster of persecution, when we contract ourselves at the touch of a pin's point, being ready at the least assault to leave Christ for the love of the world.  
The servile fear is a slavish dread of the judgements of God, and his punishments for sin; when not for the love of heaven, but for fear of hell, we retain ourselves within the circle of God's Commandments.  
The last & best fear, is a filial, chaste, & loving fear, when we fear to commit sin, because it is sin, & do embrace virtue, as it is virtue; cum non delectaret iniquitas, quamvis proponeretur impunitas, saith Ambrose. Which fear is proper to Christ's flock; which who so hath is accepted with God and may be assured to live for ever. St Austin in his 120. Epist. ad Honoratum doth truly express and lively effigiate the nature and difference of these two fears, by the example of the two married women, th'one an adulteress, the other a chaste matron. These both fear their husbands, but after a different manner. The one fears the presence of her husband, least coming home he take her tardè, the other fears the absence of her husband, lest by his departure she be deprived of his much desired company. The one fears to commit adultery lest her husband catch her, her mind nevertheless is adulterous, & quod deest operi inest voluntati (saith Austin) what she wants in deed she perfourmes in desire: th'other fears her husband, but 'tis chastened & lovingly, nothing but his displeasure or absence; Nam amanti etiam absentia molesta est. So the wicked fear God with a base, servile fear, they fear him as a judge; the godly as a Father. The servile fear makes men to avoid sin, quia nocivum, the filial, quia prohibitum, only because it is forbidden, saith Almain in his Morals. He who hath a chaste, filtall fear, doth not only avoid the act of sin, but a desire to commit the act: but the servile fear restrains men only ab actu executorio (saith Aquinas,) and leaves behind, velle complacentiae, a desire to sin. In a word, the servile fear doth tie us unto God with clampers of iron and fetters of brass, the filial with bracelets of needle work and chains of gold; by the one we receive the spirit of adoption and cry Abba father; by the other the spirit of bondage again unto fear. The servile fear (saith Hales part. 3. q. 06.) respicit poenam aeternam, ut destructivam subiecti; the filial, tanquam separativam et privativam à Deo. By the one we fear the judgements of God and the pains of he●●, by the other the loss of his grace & the joys of heaven. The one is not Timor, but Terror, a passion mixed of horror and dismay; the other sweetly composed of love and an awful regard. The one is timor poenae, th'other culpae; the one the fear of the punishment, the other of the offence: th'one is the badge and brand of the reprobate; the other the proper and inseparable character of the elect; insomuch that jacob the religious Father of the patriarchs did call God nothing else, but the fear of his father Isaac. Gen. 31. 42.  
This fear of God should bind us hand and foot from sin, & make us think of that heavenly Vow of St Anselmes, Si hinc peccatum & illinc infernum viderem, ac uni eorum necessariò immergi deberem, prius me in infernum immergerem quam peccatum committerem. If sin (saith he) were on th'one side and hell on the other, I had rather plunge my soul into the depth of hell, then commit a voluntary sin. This fear of God and loss of his love, should serve, as a strong curb to retain us from sin; whensoever either by the corruption of our nature or allurements of the Devil we are tempted thereunto. When joseph was by his wanton mistress tempted to adultery, it was not the fear of temporal punishments, the loss of his service, or the discovery of the fact, that kept him from yielding to her unlawful desire, but the fear of offending God; How can I do this so great wickedness & sin against God? Gen. 39 9 But now sin hath clambered up to that height of impiety; that neither the fear of God (whose wrath is a consuming fire) nor the terror of punishment can restrain many from the frequent practice, scarce from the open profession of sin. There was a time, when Tamar was veiled and covered her face: but now she boldly walks unmasked in the broad eye of the multitude, enters the presence of the best, walks through the midst of the city, and makes public profession of her lust; & quod solet esse publicum incipit esse licitum, that which is done commonly by many, will ere long be thought lawful to be done by any. There was a time, when, those that were drunken, were drunken in the night, but now it is become a day work, or rather a daily work, and so obvious that a man can hardly baulk it in the street. There was a time, when an eye required an eye, and blood would call for blood again; but now murder is become the badge of manhood, and sin is made a mockery. As Abner called fight but a play or sport, 2. Sam. 2. which indeed procured a bloody battle (for every man killed his fellow) so Monomachies are now become but recreations, and the least but suspicion of disgrace is a just cause of a single combat. But this is madness not manliness; this kind of courage is in the head, not in the heart, it is not hardy valour, but a soft and moist enthusiasm of Bacchus, qui ad praelia trudit inermes. And therefore men should as well consider of the beginning, as fear the end of such contentions.  
But such men the fear of God in my Text cannot retain, the goodness of God cannot allure; nothing but his judgements & terrors can prevail with them. Let the first call to mind the fearful end of Zimbri and Cozbi in the very act of Incontinency; that God sent fire and brimstone, even Hell from Heaven, to consume the people for their uncleanness; & that most times than punishment in this life is shame and penury, and in the other perpetual torments, and extremest misery. Momentaneum est quod delectat, aeternum quod cruciat: an Ocean of torture for a drop of pleasure. Let the other know, that though the wine be red, & goeth down pleasantly, yet in the end it will bite like a Serpent and hurt like a Cockatrice: and wine in the conveyance is most like the poison of Serpents, whose teeth are hollow (saith Pliny) like pipes, that with more secret speed they may convey their poison. Last of all, let the other know, that Clamitat in coelum vox sanguinis, the voice of blood is loud, it pierceth the clouds, it knocks at heaven gates, and enters into the ears of the Lord of Hosts. And so I go on.  
And worketh righteousness] It is the note of Calvine upon my Text; who by the fear of God understandeth the observation of all the Commandments of the first Table, and by working of righteousness, all the Commandments of the second Table; by the one we are just, and righteous before God, by the other before men; the one is necessary, but not sufficient, the other is acceptable, but not perfect. Which exposition of his will serve to strike off all the holdfast of the Divines of Rome from this place; who hence infer the Merit of Works, and the favour they procure us with God: for if by working of righteousness be understood, only the observation of the Commandments of the second Table; then doubtless are they not sufficiently able to make us acceptable with God. Yet Bellarmine falls upon this Text of Scripture, & hence infers an ability in man to make himself acceptable with God. I am in the Pulpit, not in the School; and therefore will not trouble you with the Subtleties of the Question: which as well in this, as other cases, are oft times made too common to the multitude.  
The property of Faith is to receive and apprehend; the nature of Charity is to diffuse & impart to others. Faith alone is the justifying instrument, whereby we apprehend and apply Christ's merits unto us: but we cannot make any discovery or manifestation thereof unto others, except there be joined to our Faith the Works of righteousness. So the inward work of justification we ascribe to Faith only, but the righteousness of Sanctification, we ascribe unto good Works, which are by jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God. For the more clear understanding whereof, we must observe, that our Works are of two sorts; either Intrinsical and infused, as Faith, Hope, etc. or extrinsical and acquisite; such are Almsdeeds & Works of Charity. Our intrinsical Works, they are, as it were, the Principal, and our extrinsical or outward works they are the Interest, which God expects as due unto him; as may well appear by the Parable of the Servants in the Gospel, to whom the Talents were concredited.  
Now we shallbe rewarded by God, not according to our intrinsical Habits, but extrinsical Works; not because we had a strong faith, or great hope, but for relieving the poor, visiting the sick, and performance of other works of that quality, and nature. But the Church of Rome, proceedeth further, and doth not only make them the rule according to which, but the cause for which we are justified. They make them Merita, we Debita, they the Cause of our salvation, and à Priori, we the Consequent, and à Posteriori; as fruit makes not the tree to be good, but only shows it to be so. Non praecedunt iustificandum, sed sequuntur justificatum: they are the Signs of our Sanctification, not the Causes of our justification. For Faith doth not spring out of Charity, (as Bellarmine falsely avers;) but true Charity is the offspring of Faith; whereupon it is by St Paul termed 
De just. l. 1. c. 4.  〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the ground of things hoped for, and the foundation on which all other Theological virtues are erected. Credendo fundamur sperando erigimur, diligendo perficimur. By Faith (saith Austin) we are engrafted, by Hope we are improved, & by Charity we are made perfect, God working in us, and with us. For our righteousness is rather passive then active: justitia nostra non est in nobis, sed extra nos, saith Doctor Luther. Yet although our Works are not the cause of our justification, yet are they the perfection of our faith and a demonstrative assurance, that we are justified. And although it be true that sola fides justificat, faith only justifies, yet fides quae est sola non justificat, that faith which is alone doth not justify. And although it do justify alone, yet doth it not save alone; for it is one thing to be saved, and another thing to be justified. They who expect to be the sons of God must be legitimate both by the Fathers & the Mother's side, and as they must be begotten of Abraham who was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the father of the faithful, Rom. 4. 11. so they must have Sarah the free woman to be their mother, who was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the mother of all that do well, 1. Pet. 3. 6. Besides the State in fide, there must be an Ambulate in dilectione: & although the crown of glory be not given bonis operibus, yet is it given benè operantibus, not for the work, yet to the workers, for Christ's sake, in whose name the work is done.  
Aristotle (l. 2. Eth.) requires in his perfect Moralist, besides knowledge and a will to work, an actual practice, wherein consists the life of virtue: and in every scholar in Christ's school, besides the theory of faith & speculation of theological verities, or with these a desire to do good, there must be an actual performance, we must work out our salvation, and thereby make our election sure. The fountain of saving grace I know is set wide open unto us all by Christ; and by the hallowed waters of Baptism, as by the waters of jordan, we are cleansed from the leprosy of sin. But yet this means alone without Works and industrious labours, without fights, races, crosses, and strict examination of Talents, will never present us, as amiable spectacles, in the sight of God and heavenly spirits. We must not think that it is the Church's office to absolve that the Spirit must cleanse, Christ must suffer, God must save, and that We must either sit still or sin still, all the while relying upon this, I believe, and therefore I shall live. It is a reason without reason to infer, that sith God saves little ones because they cannot work righteousness, therefore also he must save great ones without works, because they will not work. But this must be our rule for direction; that God hath proposed both himself and his kingdom unto us under a double title, the one of Inheritance, the other of Reward; an inheritance to sons, a reward to servants. For to inherit, it sufficeth to be sons; but reward presupposeth service, which must expect it. Every man shall receive his reward according to his labour. The first years of man, through the unaptness of the reasonable powers of his soul for action, allow him not to expect God or heaven as a reward, which yet as his inheritance even Baptism doth impart unto him. But when years increase, and with years reason groweth active, it will not suffice to plead for our inheritance, as sons, except we also endeavour for our reward as servants. God will be Abraham's reward; but Abraham must walk for it: Ambula coram me, Walk before me. And it is not said, Euge fili bone! Well done good son (though none but good sons shall enter;) but they must be good servants too, Euge serve bone! intra; Well done good servant! enter into thy master's joy.  
It is therefore a slanderous imputation cast by Bellarmine upon the Reformed Churches, that their Gospel is carnal, and the high way to Epicurism; that they inveigh against Good Works, and by a bare and naked faith do expect to soar up to heaven. To which my answer is, that of St Augustine's in another case Ep. 86. Nemo nos ita intelligit, nisi qui seipsum non intelligit. There is no man that understands himself, or any thing else, that can so understand us. We make the one the tree, the other the fruit, and do profess, with the same Father in another place, Inseparabilis est hona vita à fide, imò ea ipsa est bona vita: A good life is the inseparable companion of Faith, nay, a living Faith is itself a good life.  
The preaching of which doctrine in our English Church warranted by the Word of God hath taken so deep root, and brought forth so good fruit, that since the first year of our late Sovereign Queen of pious memory there have been more Hospitals, Public Schools, Libraries, Colleges, and Places for learning, built, adorned, and now in building, then ever were before in any one 60. years. Many of which public Monuments of Religion have received their first erection and chiefest endowments from the Heroical liberality of those, whose Successors diverse here present are in Office and Dignity. Be not, I beseech you (R. H.) their successors only in Place, but in Piety; pass not through this world, like an arrow in the air, or ship in the sea, that leave no impression behind them. As God hath given you means and hands to effect, so should you have hearts to affect that which is good; & if not to found, yet to further & finish Good works for public benefit: whereby your righteousness shall be recorded in heaven, and your Names preserved from rottenness on earth.  
And if your Charity wants a fit object for her practice, than cast your eyes upon the bare Habitations of the Muses: hearken after the SCHOOLS of sciences and learning, which by the beneficency and prensation of many, especially of that worthy 
* Sr john Benet.  Knight the Patron of the work, (whose name shall for ever be to us as a sweet ointment powered out) have crept out of the ground, and now deserve to be covered by the Charity of all that love either learning, or learned men. This is a work in which the Elephant may wade, as well as the Lamb, the rich man's gift shall be welcome, & the meaner mite not refused: & a concurrency of so many founders to a work of that incomparable benefit, will doubtless make a glorious constellation of blessed stars, whereof some shallbe greater, others less, but all shining in the highest heavens. And if that be true which the Wise man saith, Eccl. 40. 19 that the Building of a City will make a man immortal; then much more the erection of a Work of this infinite benefit which shall remain longer, than any City. For when the stones shall by time and long continuance be decayed, yet justitia manet in aeternum, the Founders & Benefactors (especially with us of that University) shall be in everlasting remembrance. Solaque non nôrunt haec monumenta mori. Of this assured I am, that neither the Plantation of Ulster in Ireland, nor the Contribution to Prage in Bohemia may stand comparison with this Monument of all Arts and learning: of whose benefit, not only our own nation, but the remotest kingdoms of the Christian world shall have a taste. It disquieted the Wisest man, that ever was to think, that he should leave his goods he knew not to whom, peradventure Homini otioso, to one that would spend all, Eccles. 2. 19 And let it not be your sole care to leave All to your riotous Executors, who peradventure in few years will consume that estate, which with much care & in many years you have gathered together. You must purchase something, Alteri seculo, for the world to come: you must make your eyes in this life the overseers of some good works; you must imitate jacob, who to pacify his brother Esau, sent a Present before, Gen. 32. 20. and before Cornelius could have Peter sent unto him, he sent his Alms deeds to usher him up the way into heaven. And therefore it is not said in my Text, he who hath, or hereafter will work righteousness, but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, he that actually doth work righteousness.  
That new convert Zacheus did not say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the half of my goods I will give unto the poor when I am dead: but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, I now presently give. Such as defer the performance of the works of righteousness, till the end of their days, are like those that carry candles in Lanterns behind them in a dark night; whereby they direct others, and themselves in the mean time fall into the ditch. It is not for men to be like swine, good for nothing till they be dead; or like Christmas-boxes, that will afford nothing, till they be broken. Let us rather imitate the example of the forenamed Zacheus, who gave in the present tense, and that no small driblet, but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, even the half of his goods and substance; and that not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, not to one poor man, but to many; yea and maketh proclamation, that if by forged cavillation he had wronged any man, he would restore him fourfold. Surely had Zacheus lived in these our days, he had been an honest Master of the Custom house. For if this or the like proclamation should be made among us by all of his profession, how many are there in this City, now in great reputation and esteem, that would have scarce sufficient left them in this life to maintain their families, and being dead to defray the expense of an ordinary Funeral! And yet these men too to sweeten the mouth of the poor, and to stop the ears of the multitude will clad some few in freeze, & when they die bequeath a solemn Potation to their adjoining friends, thinking by these petty posthume works of righteousness to make themselves acceptable with God. Such men I can compare to nothing more fitly, then to the Lion, which Samson killed; which in his life time was ravenous and devoured all, and being dead was found to have some little honey in his mouth. judg. 14.  
And as we are to work righteousness, whilst we have time, or rather continually, so we must work our own, not other men's; we must not like Simon of Cyrene carry other men's crosses: we must not be busy Bishops in other men's Dioceses, but stand in that station, whereunto we are called; and not think it sufficient in some respect to be good & in other bad, to bring forth with one branch sound fruit, and with the other rotten, but to work righteousness in every respect. It is not sufficient for the inferior to be a good man, but to be a good servingman, for the superior to be a good Master, but a good Magistrate. It is not sufficient to be a good Preacher, but a good Bishop; and not only a learned Lawyer, but an upright judge. For unless in all respects we be quadrate and perfect, we shall not be accepted with God: which is the end of my Text, & shall be the end of my speech.  
Is accepted with God] Not in strict legal rigour, but in evangelical mitigation, not, because we can perform exact obedience to the Law of God, or work perfect righteousness: but because we love, purpose, desire, endeavour, and in some measure perform obedience to the Law of God; and where we are deficient we sigh and groan for our defects, which at the Chancery bar of God's mercy is acceptable performance. Acceptable, not for our observing what the law requires, but for our sincere desire to perform it: because, as Saint Paul saith, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the ready mind is accepted with God.  
The benefits (saith Aristotle lib. 1. Eth. c. 14.) which men receive from God & their Parents are of that infinite worth and transcendent value, that we are not able to return for them any correspondency of desert, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. The reason is, because the gifts of God and his acceptation is infinite, but the actions of man finite and determinate; the best whereof hath many stains and imperfections. For the immediate and next causes of our works are not altogether spiritual, and totally regenerate, because there dwells yet the jebusite in jerusalem with the Israelites: the soul of man hath her inmates, the Old man coinhabiting with the New, the flesh with the spirit, the law of sin, with the law of the mind. Insomuch that the best of men cannot climb up to heaven without Jacob's ladder, the merit of Christ, and the gift of God.  
I have wearied myself & am sure have tired you. I will therefore end all with that devout prayer of Archbishop Anselm; Recognosce Domine quod tuum est, & absterge quod meum, ne per dat mea iniquit as quod fecit tua bonitas. Accept (O God) of what is thine own in us; and let not our iniquity eclipse thy gracious mercy. Meritum no strum, miseratio Domint; our Merit is thy Mercy & gracious acceptation; in which we repose our whole assurance. We acknowledge ourselves to be naked of all righteousness, beseeching thee to clothe us; to be lame and impotent in the performance of any Good work, desiring thee to strengthen us; to be blind in our understanding, desiring thee to enlighten us; to be servants to sin desiring thee to free us: and we ascribe all glory unto thee in this world, praying to be glorified of thee in the world to come.  
FINIS.