OF PRAYER.
my master, or my king, for hope of reward, or fear of pain, but for the love of Christ; for (the children of faith are under no law (as thou seest in the epistles to the Romans, to the
Galatians, in the first to Timothy), but are free. The Spirit of Christ hath written the lively law of love in their hearts; which driveth them to work of their own accord freely and [hemmlw. T.
willingly, for the great love's sake only which they see in
Christ, and therefore need they no law to compel them£j
Christ is all in all things to them that believe, and the cause your carnal or fleshly masters with fear and trembling, in antsisanderv"
singleness of your hearts, as unto Christ: not with eye-service, w.VT.Christ"
as men-pleasers, but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, even as though ye served the Lord, and not men. And remember, that whatsoever good thing any man doth, that shall he receive again of the Lord, whether he be bond or free." Christ thus is all in all things, and cause of all, to a Christian man. And Christ saith, Matt.
xxv. " Inasmuch as ye have done it to any the least of these Matt. xxv.
my brethren, ye have done it to me. And inasmuch as TJJ <j°j- love ye have not done it unto one of the least of these, ye have not done it to me." Here seest thou that we are Christ's brethren, and even Christ himself; and whatsoever we do one to another, that do we to Christ3. If we be in Christ, we work for no worldly purpose, but of love: as Paul saith, should say, We work not of a fleshly purpose:) "for" (saith he) " we know henceforth no man fleshly; no, though we once knew Christ fleshly, we do so now no more." We are otherwise minded than when Peter drew his sword to fight for Christ. We are now ready to suffer with Christ, and to lose life and all for our very enemies, to bring them unto
Christ. If we be in Christ, we are minded like unto Christ; Christ know- which knew nothing fleshly, or after the will of the flesh, as thou seest Matt. xii. when one said to him, " Lo, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee. He answered, Who is my mother, and who are my brethren? And stretched his hand over his disciples, saying, See, my mother and my brethren: for whosoever doth the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, my sister, and my mother." He knew not his mother in that she bare him, but in that she did the will of his Father in heaven. So now, as God the Father's will and commandment is all to Christ, even so Christ is all to a Christian man.
Christ is the cause why I love thee, why I am ready to do the uttermost of my power for thee, and why I pray for thee.
AS long as And as long as the cause abideth, so Ions; lasteth the effect: even
Ilohristiang as ^ *s alwajs ^aj so long as the sun shineth. Do therefore njanjoveth. £jie worst thou canst unto me, take away my goods, take away my good name; yet as long as Christ remaineth in my heart, so long I love thee not a whit the less, and so long art thou as dear unto me as mine own soul, and so long am I ready to do thee good for thine evil, and so long I pray for thee with all my heart: for Christ desireth it of me, and hath deserved it of me. Thine unkindness compared unto his kindness is nothing at all; yea, it is swallowed up as a little smoke of a mighty wind, and is no more seen or thought upon. More over that evil which thou didst to me, I receive not of thy hand, but of the hand of God, and as God's scourge to teach me patience, and to nurture me: and therefore have no cause to be angry with thee, more than the child hath to be angry with his father's rod; or a sick man with a sour or bitter medicine that healeth him, or a prisoner with his fetters, or he that is punished lawfully with the officer that punisheth him. Thus is Christ all, and the whole cause why Money bind- I love thee. And to all can nought be added. Therefore tjansto pray, cannot a little money make me love thee better, or more bound to pray for thee, nor make God's commandment greater. Last of all, if I be in Christ, then " the love of Christ compelleth me." And therefore I am ready to give thee mine, and not to take thine from thee. If I be able, I will do thee service freely: if not, then if thou minister to me again, that receive I of the hand of God, which minis- God careth tereth it to me by thee. For God careth for his, and minis- T> tereth all things unto them, and moveth Turks, and Saracens, and all manner infidels to do them good: as thou seest in
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and how God went with Joseph into Egypt, and gat him favour in the prison, and in every place; which favour Joseph received of the hand of God, and to God gave the thanks. Thus is God and Christ all in all; good and bad receive I of God. Them that are good I love, because they are in Christ; and the evil, to bring them to Christ. When any man doth well, I rejoice that God is honoured; and when any man doth evil, I sorrow because that God is dishonoured. Finally, inasmuch as God hath created all, and Christ bought all with his blood, therefore ought all to seek God and Christ in all, and else nothing.
But contrariwise unto monks, friars, and to the other of our holy spiritualty, the belly is all in all, and cause of all love. Offer thereto; so art thou father, mother, sister, and brother spiritualty. unto them. Offer est thou not? so know they thee not; thou art neither father, mother, sister, brother, nor any kin at all to them. ' She is a sister of ours, he is a brother of ours,' say they; 'he is verily a good man, for he doth much for our religion: she is a mother to our convent; we be greatly bound to pray for them. And as for such and such, (say they,) we know not whether they be good or bad, or whether they be fish or flesh, for they do nought for us: we be more bound to pray for our benefactors (say they) and for them that give us, than for them that give us not.' For them that give little are they little bound, and them they love little: and for them that give much they are much bound, and them they love much: and for them that give nought are they nought bound, and them they love not at all. And as they love thee when thou givest, so hate they thee when thou takest away from them, and run all under a stool, and AH is of the curse thee as black as pitch. So is cloister-love belly-love; S&ngnof cloister-prayer, belly-prayer; and cloister-brotherhood, belly- w. T. brotherhood. Moreover, love that springeth of Christ seeketh i Cor. xiu. not her own self, 1 Cor. xiii., but forgetteth herself, and bestoweth her upon her neighbour's profit, as Christ sought our monks'iove profit, and not his own. lie sought not the favour of God for wejj,clly- himself, but for us; yea, he took the wrath and vengeance of
God from us unto himself, and bare it on his own back, to bring us unto favour. Likewise doth a Christian man give to his brethren, and robbeth them not, as friars and monks some good work to have wherewith to help the needy. They give not, but receive only. They labour not, but live idly of the sweat of the poor. There is none so poor a widow, though she have not to find herself and her children, nor any money to give, yet shall the friar snatch a cheese, or somewhat. They preach, sayest thou, and labour in the
Friars and word. First, I say, they are not called, and therefore ought not to preach, not: for it is the curate's1 office. The curate cannot, sayest thou. What doth the thief there then? Secondarily, a true preacher preacheth Christ's testament only; and maketh Christ the cause and reward of all our deeds; and teacheth every
Phii. iii. man to bear his cross willingly for Christ's sake. But these are enemies unto the cross of Christ, and preach their belly, which i Tim. vi. is their god, Eph. [Phil.] iii. and they think that lucre is the serving of God, 1 Tim. vi.: that is, they think them Christian only, which offer unto their bellies, which when thou hast filled, then spue they out prayers for thee, to be thy reward, and yet wot not what prayer meaneth. Prayer is the long ing for God's promises; which promises, as they preach them not, so long they not for them, nor wish them unto
Rom. xvi. any man. Their longing is to fill their paunch, whom they serve, and not Christ; and through sweet preaching, and flattering words, deceive the hearts of the simple and un
Christ is the Finally, as Christ is the whole cause why we do all wh?GodUse thing for our neighbour, even so is he the cause why God w. T. doth all thing for us, why he receiveth us into his holy testament, and maketh us heirs of all his promises, and poureth his Spirit into us, and maketh us his sons, and fashioneth us like unto Christ, and maketh us such as he would have us to be. The assurance that we are sons, be~ HOW to know loved, and heirs with Christ, and have God's Spirit in us, j God's sons, is the consent of our hearts unto the law of God. Which 1
The law is law is all perfection, and the mark whereat all we ought to ' toeuchionee sno0*' And he ^at hitteth that mark, so that he fulfilleth
LKe'hJw' and lust> without all let or resistance, is pure gold, and
Sep°ufged.e needeth not to be put any more in the fire: he is straight and right, and needeth to be no more shaven: he is full fashioned like Christ, and can have no more added unto him.
Lgevertheless there is none so perfect in this life, that findeth not let and resistance by the reason of original siff*or birthpoison, that remaineth in himTfas thou mayest^ee in the our birth- lives of all the samts througnmit all the scripture, and in ranwnethu Paul, Rom. vii. " The will is present (saith he), but I find no J^8]^"1- means to perform that which is good. I do not that good Rom> viu thing which I would: but that evil do I, which I would not. I find by the law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. I delight in the law, as concerning the inner man; but I find another law in my members, rebelling against the law of my mind, and subduing me unto the law of sin." Which law of sin is nothing but a corrupt and a poisoned nature, which breaketh into evil lusts, and from evil lusts into wicked deeds, and must be purged with the true purga tory of the cross of Christ: that is, thou must hate it with ^5'sfht all thine heart, and desire God to take it from thee. And christ- w. x. then, whatsoever cross God putteth on thy back, bear it patiently, whether it be poverty, sickness, or persecution, or whatsoever it be, and take it for the right purgatory, and think that God hath nailed thee fast to it, to purge thee thereby. For he that loveth not the law and hateth his He that sin, and hath not professed in his heart to fight against it, and mourneth not to God to take it away and to purge him of it, the same hath no part with Christ.! If thou love the law, ^ Jj0 1 and findest that thou hast yet sin "Hanging on thee, whereof JJ^^JJJ?
thou sorrowest to be delivered and purged; as for an en- tualty- w- T- sample, thou hast a covetous mind, and rnistrustest God, and therefore art moved to beguile thy neighbour, and art unto him merciless, not caring whether he sink or swim, so thou mayest win by him, or get from him that he hath; then get thee to the Observant2, which is so purged from that sin, that he will not once handle a penny, and with that wile doth the subtle fox make the goose come flying into his hole, ready prepared for his mouth, without his labour or sweat: and buy of his merits, which he hath in store; and give thy money, not into his holy hands, but to offer him that he hath hired, either with part of his prayers or part of his prey, to take the sin upon him and to handle his money for him. In like manner, if any person that is under obedience unto God's ordinance (whether it be son, or daughter, servant, wife or subject) consent unto the ordinance, and yet find contrary motions, let him go also to them that have pro fessed an obedience of their own making, and buy part of andhmSeof their merits. If thy wife give thee nine words for three, go to the Charterhouse, and buy of their silence 1: and so, if the abstaining of the Observant from handling money heal eisenot?><in thine heart from desiring money, and the obedience of them that will obey nothing but their own ordinance heal thy disobedience to God's ordinance, and the silence of the Charterhouse monk tame thy wife's tongue; then believe that their prayers shall deliver thy soul from the pains of that terrible and fearful purgatory, which they have feigned to purge thy purse withal.
&^* The spiritualty increaseth daily. More prelates, more priests, more monks, friars, canons, nuns, and more heretics, (I would say heremites,) with like draff. Set before thee the increase of St Francis's disciples in so few years. Reckon how many thousands, yea, how many twenty thousands, not disciples only, but whole cloisters, are sprung out of hell of them in so little space. Pattering of prayers increaseth daily. Their service, as they call it, waxeth longer and longer, and the labour of their lips greater; new saints, new service, new feasts, and new holidays. What take all these away? Sin? Nay; for we see the contrary by experience, and that sin what the groweth as they grow. But they take away first God's taketlfaJay word, with faith, hope, peace, unity, love and concord; then house and land, rent and fee, tower and town, goods and cat- tie, and the very meat out of men's mouths. All these live by purgatory. When other weep for their friends, they sing when other merrily; when other lose their friends, they get friends. S? W
The pope, with all his pardons, is grounded on purgatory. ^g> th^ T Priests, monks, canons, friars, with all other swarms of hypo crites, do but empty purgatory, and fill hell. Every mass, AH is of pursay they, delivereth one soul out of purgatory. If that were physicians6"6 true, yea, if ten masses were enough for one soul, yet were °.ther medu the parish priests and curates of every parish sufficient to En[fa scour purgatory: all the other costly workmen might bo well spared.
The Four Senses of the Scripture.
THEY divide the scripture into four senses, the literal, tropological, allegorical, and anagogical. The literal sense is become nothing at all: for the pope hath taken it clean away, and hath made it his possession2. He hath partly locked it up with the false and counterfeited keys of his traditions, ceremonies, and feigned lies; and partly driveth men from it with violence of sword: for no man dare abide by the literal sense of the text, but under a protestation, ' If it shall please the pope/ The tropological sense pertaineth to good manners (say they), and teacheth what we ought to do. The allegory is appropriate to faith; and the anagogical to hope, and things above. Tropological and anagogical are terms of their own feigning, and altogether unnecessary. For they are but allegories, both two of them; and this word allegory comprehendeth them both, and is enough. For tro- pological l is but an allegory of manners; and anagogical, an
Allegory, allegory of hope. And allegory is as much to say as strange mfieth. ' speaking, or borrowed speech: as when we say of a wanton child, ' This sheep hath magots in his tail, he must be anointed with birchen salve;' which speech I borrow of the shepherds.
The scripture Thou shalt understand, therefore, that the scripture hath sense, w. T. kut one sense, which is the literal sense. And that literal sense is the root and ground of all, and the anchor that never faileth, whereunto if thou cleave, thou canst never err or go out of the way. And if thou leave the literal sense, thou canst not but go out of the way. Neverthelater, the scripture useth proverbs, similitudes, riddles, or allegories, as all other speeches do; but that which the proverb, similitude, riddle, or allegory signifieth, is ever the literal sense, which thou must seek out diligently: as in the English we borrow words and sentences of one thing, and apply them unto ano ther, and give them new significations. We say, ' Let the sea swell and rise as high as he will, yet hath God appointed how far he shall go:' meaning that the tyrants shall not do what they would, but that only which God hath appointed them to do. ' Look ere thou leap:' whose literal sense is, ' Do nothing suddenly, or without advisement.' ' Cut not the bough that thou standest upon:' whose literal sense is, * Oppress not the commons;' and is borrowed of hewers.
Bon-owed When a thing speedeth not well, we borrow speech, and say, ' ' The bishop hath blessed it;' because that nothing speedeth well that they meddle withal. If the porridge be burned too, or the meat over roasted, we say, ' The bishop hath put his foot in the pot,' or, ' The bishop hath played the cook; ' because the bishops burn whom they lust, and whosoever displeaseth them. * He is a pontifical fellow;' that is, proud and stately. ' He is popish;' that is, superstitious and faith less. ' It is a pastime for a prelate.' ' It is a pleasure for a pope.' ' He would be free, and yet will not have his head shaven.' ' He would that no man should smite him, and yet hath not the pope's mark.' And of him that is be trayed, and wotteth not how, we say, ' He hath been at shrift.1 ' She is master parson's sister's daughter;' ' He is the bishop's sister's son;' ' He hath a cardinal to his uncle;' 'She is a spiritual whore;' 'It is the gentlewoman of the par sonage;' 'He gave me a Kyrie eleysori*.' And of her that answereth her husband six words for one, we say, ' She is a sister of the Charterhouse:' as who should say, ' She thinketh that she is not bound to keep silence; their silence shall be a satisfaction for her.' And of him that will not be saved by Christ's merits, but by the works of his own imagination, we say, ' It is a holy-work-man.' Thus borrow we, and feign new speech in every tongue. All fables, prophecies, and riddles, are allegories; as ^Esop's fables, and Merlin's prophecies; and the interpretation of them are the literal sense.
So in like manner the scripture borroweth words and sentences of all manner things, and maketh proverbs and similitudes, or allegories. As Christ saith, Luke iv. "Physician, heal thyself:" whose interpretation is, 'Do that at home, which thou dost in strange places;' and that is the literal sense. So when I say, ' Christ is a lamb;' I mean not a lamb that beareth wool, but a meek and a patient lamb, which is beaten for other men's faults. ' Christ is a vine;' not that beareth grapes; but out of whose root the branches that believe suck the Spirit of life, and mercy, and grace, and power to be the sons of God, and to do his will. The similitudes of the gos- The right use
£ories> pel are allegories, borrowed of worldly matters, to express w- T- spiritual things. The apocalypse, or revelations of John, are allegories whose literal sense is hard to find in many places.
Beyond all this, when we have found out the literal sense of the scripture by the process of the text, or by a like text of another place, then go we, and as the scripture borroweth similitudes of worldly things, even so we again borrow simi litudes or allegories of the scripture, and apply them to our purposes; which allegories are no sense of the scripture, but free things besides the scripture, and altogether in the liberty wri^tureof the Spirit. Which allegories I may not make at all the wild adventures; but must keep me within the compass of the faith, and ever apply mine allegory to Christ, and unto the faith. Take an ensample: thou hast the story of Peter, how he smote off Malchus's ear, and how Christ healed it again. There hast thou in the plain text great learning, great fruit, and great edifying, which I pass over because of tediousness. Then come I, when I preach of the law and the gospel, and borrow this ensample, to express the nature of the law and of the gospel, and to paint it unto thee before thine eyes. And of Peter and his sword make I the law, and of Christ the gospel; saying, ' As Peter's sword cutteth off the ear, so doth the law: the law damneth, the law killeth, and mangleth the conscience: there is no ear so righteous that can abide the hearing of the law: there is no deed so good but that the law damneth it1. But Christ, that is to say, the gospel, the promises and testament that God hath made in Christ, healeth the ear and conscience, which the law hath hurt. The gospel is life, mercy, and forgiveness freely, and altogether an healing plaister. And as Peter doth but hurt and make a wound, where was none before, even so doth the law: for when we think that we are holy and righteous, and full of good deeds; if the law be preached aright, our righteousness and good deeds vanish away, as smoke in the wind, and we are left damnable sinners only. And as thou seest how that Christ healeth not, till Peter had wounded; and as an healing plaister helpeth not, till the corrosive hath troubled the wound; even so the gospel helpeth not, but when the law hath wounded the conscience, and brought the Allegories sinner into the knowledge of his sin.' This allegory proveth thing, w. T. nothing, neither can do. For it is not the scripture, but an ensample or a similitude borrowed of the scripture, to declare a text or a conclusion of the scripture more expressly, and to root it and grave it in the heart. For a similitude, or an ensample, doth print a thing much deeper in the wits of a man than doth a plain speaking, and leaveth behind him as it were a sting to prick him forward, and to awake him if thou can- withal. Moreover, if I could not prove with an open text a!!elpen text* ^na* which the allegory doth express, then were the allegory dh'ct\in£falsl a tning to be jested at, and of no greater value than a tale of
Robin Hood. This allegory, as touching his first part, is
Rom. iv. vii. proved by Paul in the ivth chapter of his epistle to the Eo- mans, where he saith, " The law causeth wrath;" and in the viith chapter to the Romans, "When the law or commandment came, sin revived, and I became dead:" and in the iind 2 cor. in. epistle to the Corinthians, in the third chapter, the law is called " the minister of death and damnation," &c. And as concerning the second part, Paul saith to the Romans in the Rom. v. vth chapter, " In that we are justified by faith we are at peace with God." And in the iind epistle to the Corinthians, 2Cor,m. in the third [chapter], the gospel is called "the ministration of justifying and of the Spirit." And, Gal. iii. "The Spirit Gai. m. cometh by preaching of the faith," &c. Thus doth the literal The literal sense prove the allegory, and bear it, as the foundation the aiiegory. beareth the house. And because that allegories prove nothing, therefore are they to be used soberly and seldom, and only where the text oifereth thee an allegory.
And of this manner (as I above have done) doth Paul They that borrow a similitude, a ngure or allegory, oi Genesis, to express selves by the nature of the law and of the gospel; and by Agar and ^J^™1' her son declareth the property of the law, and of her bond- 2S.1 *!' children which will be justified by deeds; and by Sarah and her son declareth the property of the gospel, and of her free children which are justified by faith; and how the children of the law, which believe in their works, persecute the chil dren of the gospel, which believe in the mercy and truth of God and in the testament of his Son Jesus our Lord.
And likewise do we borrow likenesses or allegories of the scripture, as of Pharaoh and Herod, and of the scribes and Pharisees, to express our miserable captivity and persecution under antichrist the pope. The greatest cause of which cap- The faith was tivity and the decay of the faith, and this blindness wherein au we now are, sprang first of allegories. For Origen and the doctors of his time drew all the scripture unto allegories: whose ensample they that came after followed so long, till they at last forgot the order and process of the text, suppos ing that the scripture served but to feign allegories upon; insomuch that twenty doctors expound one text twenty ways, as children make descant upon plain song. Then came our sophisters with their anagogical and chopoiogicai sense, and with an antitheme of half an inch, out of which some of them w! T! er draw a thread of nine days long. Yea, thou shalt find enough that will preach Christ, and prove whatsoever point
Poetry is as good divinity as the scrip ture to our schoolmen.
The literal sense killeth, say sophisters. W. T.
• The letter killeth,' is expounded.
To love the law is right eousness.
of the faith that thou wilt, as well out of a fable of Ovid or any other poet, as out of St John's gospel or Paul's epistles. Yea, they are come unto such blindness, that they not only say the literal sense profiteth not, but also that it is hurtful, and noisome, and killeth the soul. Which damnable doctrine they prove by a text of Paul, 2 Cor. iii. where he saith, " The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life." Lo, say they, the literal sense killeth, and the spiritual sense giveth life. We must therefore, say they, seek out some chopological sense.
Here learn what sophistry is, and how blind they are, that thou mayest abhor them and spue them out of thy sto mach for ever. Paul by the letter meaneth Moses's law; which the process of the text following declareth more bright than the sun. But it is not their guise to look on the order of any text; but as they find it in their doctors, so allege they it, and so understand it. Paul maketh a comparison between the law and the gospel; and calleth the law the let ter, because it was but letters graven in two tables of cold stone: for the law doth but kill, and damn the consciences, as long as there is no lust in the heart to do that which the law commandeth. Contrariwise, he calleth the gospel the ad ministration of the Spirit and of righteousness or justifying. For when Christ is preached, and the promises which God hath made in Christ are believed, the Spirit entereth the heart, and looseth the heart, and giveth lust to do the law, and maketh the law a lively thing in the heart. Now as soon as the heart lusteth to do the law, then are we righteous before God, and our sins forgiven. Nevertheless the law of the letter graved in stone, and not in their hearts, was so glorious, and Moses's face shone so bright, that the children of Israel could not behold his face for brightness. It was also given in thunder and lightning and terrible signs; so that they for fear came to Moses, and desired him that he would speak to them, and let God speak no more; " Lest we die (said they) if we hear him any more:" as thou mayest see Exod. xx. Whereupon Paul maketh his comparison, say ing: " If the ministration of death through the letters figured in stones was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; why shall not the administration of the Spirit be glorious?"
And again: " If the administration of damnation be glorious, much more shall the administration of righteousness exceed in glory:" that is, if the law that killeth sinners, and helpeth them not, be glorious; then the gospel, which pardoneth sin ners, and giveth them power to be the sons of God and to overcome sin, is much more glorious.
And the text that goeth before is as clear. For the holy apostle Paul saith: " Ye Corinthians are our epistle, which is understand and read of all men, in that ye are known how that ye are the epistle of Christ ministered by us, and written, not with ink," (as Moses's law,) " but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone," (as the ten commandments,) " but in the fleshy tables of the heart:" as who should say, ' We write not a dead law with ink and in parchment, nor grave that which damned you in tables of stone; but preach you that which bringeth the Spirit of life unto your breasts, which Spirit writeth and graveth the law of love in your hearts, and giveth you lust to do the will of God.' And furthermore, saith he, " Our ableness cometh of God, which hath made us able to minister the new Testa ment, not of the letter," (that is to say, not of the law,) " but of the Spirit: for the letter" (that is to say, the law) " killeth; but the Spirit giveth life;" that is to say, the Spirit of God, which entereth your hearts when ye believe the glad tidings that are preached you in Christ, quickeneth your hearts, and giveth you life and lust, and maketh you to do of love and of your own accord, without compulsion, that which the law compelled you to do, and damned you because ye could not do with love and lust, and naturally. Thus seest thou that the letter signifieth not the literal sense, and the spirit the spiritual sense. And, Kom. ii. Paul useth this term Litera Rom. n. vii. for the law; and Rom. vii. where he setteth it so plain, that if the great wrath of God had not blinded them, they could never have stumbled at it.
God is a Spirit, and all his words are spiritual. His The literal literal sense is spiritual, and all his words are spiritual, tuai. w. x. When thou readest (Matt, i.), " She shall bear a son, and Matt. i. thou shalt call his name Jesus; for he shall save his peo ple from their sins:" this literal sense is spiritual, and ever lasting life unto as many as believe it. And the literal sense of these words, (Matt, v.) " Blessed are the merciful, for they Matt. v.
shall have mercy," are spiritual and life; whereby they that are merciful may of right, by the truth and promise of God, challenge mercy. And like is it of these words, Matt.
Matt. vi. vi. " If you forgive other men their sins, your heavenly Father shall forgive you yours." And so is it of all the promises of God. Finally, all God's words are spiritual, if thou have eyes of God to see the right meaning of the text, and whereunto the scripture pertaineth, and the final end and cause thereof.
what is to All the scripture is either the promises and testament of anedTnrithere ^0(^ m Christ, and stories pertaining thereunto, to strength w!™! sense' thy foith; either the law, and stories pertaining thereto, to fear thee from evil doing. There is no story nor gest, seem it never so simple or so vile unto the world, but that thou shalt find therein spirit and life and edifying in the literal sense: for it is God's scripture, written for thy learning and comfort. There is no clout or rag there, that hath not pre cious relics wrapt therein of faith, hope, patience and long suffering, and of the truth of God, and also of his righteous- The story of ness. Set before thee the story of Reuben, which defiled his w- T- father's bed. Mark what a cross God suffered to fall on the neck of his elect Jacob. Consider first the shame among the heathen, when as yet there was no more of the whole world witnm the testament of God, but he and his household. I ren5teireardythtoy Por<: me *° our prelates, which swear by their honour, whefofchriS?6 ther it were a cross or no. Seest thou not how our wicked ake. w. T. j^^ers rage, because they see their buildings burn, now they are tried by the fire of God's word; and how they stir up the whole world, to quench the word of God, for fear of losing their honour? Then what business l had he to pacify his children! Look what ado he had at the defiling of his daughter Dinah. And be thou sure that the brethren there were no more furious for the defiling of their sister, than the sons here for defiling of their mother. Mark what followed Reuben, to fear other, that they shame not their fathers and mothers. He was cursed, and lost the kingdom, and also the priestdom, and his tribe or generation was ever few in num ber, as it appeareth in the stories of the bible.
S1 n^iitery The adultery of David with Bathsheba is an ensample, not to move us to evil; but, if (while we follow the way of [! That is, toil, trouble.]
righteousness) any chance drive us aside, that we despair not. For if we saw not such infirmities in God's elect, we, which are so weak and fall so oft, should utterly despair, and think that God had clean forsaken us. It is therefore*!
a sure and an undoubted conclusion, whether we be holy or unholy, we are all sinners. But the difference is, that God's sinners consent not to their sin. They consent unto the law an<uhenners that is both holy and righteous, and mourn to have their devils> WtT sin taken away. But the devil's sinners consent unto their sin, and would have the law and hell taken away, and arc enemies unto the righteousness of God. *J
Likewise in the homely gest2 of Noe, when he was N°a»- W.T. drunk, and lay in his tent with his privy members open, hast thou great edifying in the literal sense. Thou seest what became of the cursed children of wicked Ham, which saw his father's privy members, and jested thereof unto his brethren. Thou seest also what blessing fell on Shem and Japhet, which went backward and covered their father's members, and saw them not. And thirdly, thou seest what infirmity accompanieth God's elect, be they never so holy, which yet is not imputed unto them: for the faith and trust they have in God swalloweth up all their sins.
Notwithstanding, this text offers us an apt and an hand- jTJ® p°fte IS some allegory or similitude to describe our wicked Ham, H:*m- W.T. antichrist the pope, which many hundred years hath done all the shame that heart can think unto the word of promise, or the word of faith, as Paul calleth it, Rom. x.; and the gospel Rom- *• and testament of Christ, wherewith we are begotten; as thou seest, 1 Pet. i. and James i. And as the cursed children of l pet. i.
Ham grew into giants, so mighty and great that the chil dren of Israel seemed but grasshoppers in respect of them; so the cursed sons of our Ham, the pope, his cardinals, bishops, abbots, monks, and friars, are become mighty giants above all power and authority; so that the children of faith, in respect of them, are much less than grasshoppers. They They win to heap mountain upon mountain, and will to heaven by their way of their own strength, by a way of their own making, and not by w- Tthe way Christ. Neverthelater, those giants, for the wick edness and abominations which they had wrought, did God utterly destroy, part of them by the children of Lot, and