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[^HOOKER, RICHARD.
TWO SERMONS UPON PART OF S. JUDES
EPISTLE, 1614.
THE ENGLISH EXPERIENCE, 195.
AMSTERDAM: THEATRVM ORBIS TERRARVM
LTD. AND NEW YORK: DA CAPO PRESS,
1969 (FACSIMILE).
PP. 1.14 - 10.5     (SAMPLE 1)
PP. 36.1 - 45.5     (SAMPLE 2)^]

<S SAMPLE 1>
<P 1>
   The occasion wherevpon, together
with the ende wherefore,
this Epistle was written, is opened
in the front & entrie of the
same. There were then, as there
are now, many evill and wickedly
disposed persons, not of
the mysticall body, yet within the visible bounds of
the Church, men which were of old ordained to co~demnation,
vngodly men which turned the grace of
our God into wantonnesse and denied the Lord Iesus.
For this cause the spirit of the Lord is in the hand
of Iude, the servant of Iesus and brother of Iames, to
exhort them that are called, and sanctified of God the
father, that they would earnestly contend to maintaine
<P 2>
the faith; which was once delivered vnto the
Saints. Which faith because wee cannot maintaine
except wee knowe perfectly, first against whom, secondly
in what sort it must be maintained; therefore
in the former three verses of that parcell of Scripture
which I haue read, the enimies of the crosse of Christ
are plainely described; and in the later two, they that
loue the Lord Iesus haue a sweet lesson giuen them
how to strengthen & stablish themselues in the faith.
Let vs first therefore examin the description of these
reprobates concerning faith; and afterwards come
to the words of the exhortation; wherein Christians
are taught how to rest their hearts on Gods eternall
and everlasting truth. The description of these godlesse
persons is two fold; (^Generall^) and (^Speciall^) . The        #
(^generall^)
doth point them out and shew what manner
of men they should be. The (^particular^) pointeth at
them, and saith plainely these are they. In the (^generall^)
description we haue to consider of these things. (^First,
when^) they were described, (^they were told of before.         #
Secondly^) ,
the men by whom they were described, (^They
were spoken of by the Apostles of our Lord Iesus Christ.
Thirdly^) , the daies when they should bee manifested
vnto the world, they told you they (^should bee in the
last time. Fourthly^) , their disposition and whole demeanure,
(^mockers and walkers after their own vngodly lusts^) .
   2 In the third to the Philippians, the Apostle
describeth certaine. (^They are men^) , saith hee (^of whom I
haue told you often, and now with teares I tell you of them,
their God is their belly, their glorying and reioycing is in
<P 3>
their owne shame, they mind earthly things.^)
   These were enimies of the crosse of Christ, enimies
whom he saw, & his eies gusht out with teares
to behold them. But we are taught in this place, how
the Apostles spake also of enimies, whom as yet they
had not seen, described a family of me~ as yet vnheard
of, a generation reserved for the end of the world, &
for the last time, they had not onely declared what 
they heard and saw in the daies wherein they lived,
but they haue propheci'd also of me~ in time to come.
And (^you doe well^) , saith S. Peter, (^in that yee take       #
heed, to
the words of prophecie, so that yee first know this, that no
prophecie in the Scripture commeth of any mans owne
resolution^) . No prophecie in Scripture commeth of
any mans owne resolution. For all prophecy, which
is in Scripture, came by the secret inspiration of God.
But there are prophecies which are no scripture, yea
there are prophecies against the Scripture: my brethren
beware of such prophecies, and take heed you
heed them not. Remember the things that were spoken 
of before; but spoken of before by the Apostles
of our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ. Take heed to
prophecies, but to prophecies which are in scripture.
For both the manner and the matter of those prophecies
doth shew plainely that they are of God.
   3 Touching the manner, how men by the spirit
of prophecie in holy Scripture haue spoken & written
of things to come, wee must vnderstand, that as
the knowledge of that they spake, so likewise the vtterance
of that they knewe came not by these vsuall
<P 4>
and ordinary meanes whereby we are brought to vnderstand
the mysteries of our salvation, and are wont
to instruct others in the same. For whatsoever wee
know, we haue it by the hands and ministrie of men,
which lead vs along like children from a letter to a
syllable, from a syllable to a word, from a word to a
line, from a line to a sentence, from a sentence to a 
side, and so turne over. But God himselfe was their
instructour, he himselfe taught the~ partly by dreames
and visions in the night, partly by revelations in the
daie, taking them aside from amongst their brethre~,
and talking with them, as a man would talke with his 
neighbour in the way. Thus they became acquainted
even with the secret and hidden counsels of God.
They saw things which themselues were not able to
vtter, they beheld that whereat men and Angels are 
astonished. They vnderstood in the beginning, what 
should come to passe in the last daies.
   4 God, which lightned thus the eies of their vnderstanding
giving them knowledge by vnvsuall and
extraordinarie meanes, did also miraculously himself
frame and fashion their wordes and writings, in so
much that a greater difference there seemeth not to
bee betweene the manner of their knowledge, then
there is between the manner of their speech & ours.
When we haue conceiued a thing in our hearts and
throughlie vnderstand it, as wee thinke within our 
selues, yet we can vtter it in such sort that our brethre~
may receaue instruction or comfort at our mouths,
how great, how long, how earnest meditation are 
<P 5>
we forced to vse? And after much travaile, and much
paines, when we open our lips to speake of the wonderfull
workes of God, our tongues doe faulter within
our mouthes, yea many times wee disgrace the 
dreadfull mysteries of our faith, and grieue the spirit
of our hearers by words vnsavory, and vnseemely
speeches. (^Shall a wise man fill his bellie with the easterne
wind^) , saith (^Eliphaz, shall a wise man dispute with words
not comely? or with talke that is not profitable^) ? Yet        #
behold,
even they that are wisest amongst us living, co~pared
with the Prophets, seem no otherwise to talke
of God, then as if the children which are caried in
armes should speake of the greatest matters of state.
They whose words doe most shew forth their wise
vnderstanding, and whose lips doe vtter the purest
knowledge, so as long as they vnderstand and speake as
men, are they not faine sundry waies to excuse themselues?
Sometimes acknowledging with the wise ma~,
(^hardly can we discerne the things that are on earth, and
with great labour finde wee out the things that are before
vs, who can then seeke out the things that are in heauen^) ?
Sometimes confessing with (^Iob^) the righteous, in treating
of things too wonderfull for vs, we haue spoke~
we wist not what. Sometimes ending their talke, as
doth the history of the Macchabees, if we haue done
wel, & as the cause required, it is that we desire, if we
haue spoke~ slenderly and barely, we haue done what
we could. But (^God hath made my mouth like a sword^) ,
saith (^Esay^) . And (^we haue received^) , saith the Apostle,  #
(^not
the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God, that
<P 6> 
wee might know the things, which are given to vs of God
which things also we speake, not in words, which mans wisdome
teacheth, but which the holy Ghost doth teach^) . This is
that which the Prophets mean by those books writte~
ful within, & without; which books were so often delivered
the~ to eat, not because God fed the~ with inke,
& paper, but to teach vs, that so oft as he employed
them in this heavenly worke, they neither spake, nor
wrote any word of their owne, but vttered sillable by 
sillable as the spirit put it into their mouths, no otherwise
then the Harp or the Lute doth giue a sound according
to the discretion of his hands that holdeth & 
striketh it with skill. The difference is only this. An
instrument whether it be a pipe or harpe maketh a distinction
in the times and sounds, which distinction is 
well perceived of the hearer, the instrumente it selfe
vnderstanding not what is piped or harped. The Prophets
and holy men of God not so. (^I opened my mouth^) ,
saith (^Ezechiel^) , and (^God reached me a scroule, saying,    #
son of
man cause thy belly to eat & fill thy bowels with this I giue
thee, I eate it, and it was sweet in my mouth as hony^) , saith
the Prophet. Yea sweeter, I am perswaded, then either
hony or the hony combe. For herein they were 
not like Harps or Lutes, but they felt, they felt the
power and strength of their owne words. Whe~ they
spake of our peace, every corner of their hearts, was 
filled with joy. Whe~ they prophecied of mournings,
lamentations, and woes, to fall vpon vs, they wept in
the bitternes and indignation of spirit, the arme of
the Lord being mighty and strong vpon them.
<P 7>
   5 On this manner were all the prophecies of holy
scripture. Which prophecies, although they containe
nothing which is not profitable for our instruction,
yet as one starre differeth from another in glory,
so every word of prophecy hath a treasure of matter
in it, but all matters are not of like importance, as
al treasures are not of equal price. The chiefe & principal
matter of prophecie is the promise of righteousnesse,
peace, holinesse, glory, victory, immortality
vnto every soule which beleeveth, that Iesus is
Christ, of the Iew first, and of the Gentile. Nowe
because the doctrine of salvation to bee looked
for by faith in him, who was in outward appearance
as it had beene a man forsaken of God, in him who
was numbred, Iudged, and condemned with the wicked,
in him whom men did see buffited on the face,
scoft at by Souldiers, scourged by tormentours, hanged
on the crosse, pearced to the heart, in him whom
the eies of many witnesses did behold, when the anguish
of his soule enforced him to roare as if his hart
had rent in sunder, (^O my God, my God why haste thou forsaken
me^) ? I say, because the doctrine of salvatio~ by him
is a thing improbable to a natural man, that whether
we preach it to the Gentile, or to the Iew, the one
condemneth our faith as madnes, the other as blasphemy,
therefore to establish and confirme the certainety
of this saving trueth in the harts of men; the
Lord togither, with their preachings, whom hee sent
immediatly from himselfe, to reveale these things vnto
the world, mingled prophecies of things both civill
<P 8>
and Ecclesiasticall, which were to come in everie
age from time to time, till the very last of the latter
daies; that by those things, wherein we see daily their
words fulfilled and done, we might haue strong consolation
in the hope of things which are not seene,
because they haue revealed as well the one as the other.
For when many things are spoken of before in
scripture, whereof we see first one thing accomplished,
and then another, and so a third, perceiue wee not
plainely, that God doeth nothing else but lead vs along
by the hand, til he haue setled vs vpon the rocke
of an assured hope, that no one iote or title of his
word shall passe till all be fulfilled? It is not therefore
saide in vaine, that these godlesse wicked ones were
(^spoken of before^) .
   6 But by whom? By them whose words, if men
or Angels from heauen gainesaie, they are accursed;
by them, whom whosoever despiseth, despiseth not
them, but me, saith Christ. If any man therefore doth
loue the Lord Iesus (and woe worth him that loueth
not the Lord Iesus!) hereby wee may know that hee
loveth him indeed, if hee despise not the things that
are spoken of by his Apostles; whom many haue despised
even for the basenesse and simplenesse of their
persons. For it is the propertie of fleshly and carnall
men, to honour and dishonour, credit, and discredit
the words and deeds of every man according to that
he wanteth or hath without. If a man with gorgeous
apparell come amongst vs, although he bee a theefe
or a murtherer (for there are theeues and murtherers
<P 9>
in gorgeous apparell) be his heart whatsoever, if his
coat be of purple, or velvet, or tissue, every one riseth
up, and all the reverent solemnities wee can vse, are
too little. But the man that serveth God, is contemned
and despised amongst vs for his povertie. (^Herod^)
speaketh in iudgement, and the people to cry out, (^The
voice of God and not of man. Paul^) preacheth Christ,
they tearme him a trifler. Harken beloued: hath not
God chosen the poore of this world, that they should
be rich in faith? hath hee not chosen the refuse of the
world to be heires of his kingdome, which hee hath
promised to them that loue him? hath he not chosen
the ofscowrings of men to be the lights of the world,
and the Apostles of Jesus Christ. Men vnlearned, yet
how fully replenished with vnderstanding? fewe in
number, yet how great in power? contemptible in
shew, yet in spirit how strong? how wonderfull? (^I
would faine learne the mysterie of the eternall generation
of the sonne of God^) , saith (^Hilary^) . Whom shall I seeke?
shall I get me to the schooles of the (^Grecians^) ? why? I
haue read, (\vbi sapiens? vbi scriba? vbi conquisitor huius
seculi\) ? These wise men in the world must needs bee
dumbe in this, because they haue reiected the wisdome
of God. Shall I beseech the Scribes and Interpreters
of the law, to become my teachers? how can 
they knowe this, sith they are offended at the crosse
of Christ? It is death for me to be ignorant of the             #
vnsearchable
misterie of the sonne of God: of which misterie
notwithstanding I should haue been ignorant,
but that a poore fisherman, vnknowne, vnlearned,
<P 10>
new come from his bote with his cloathes wringing
wet, hath opened his mouth and taught me, (^In the beginning
was the word, and the word was with God, & the word
was God^) . These poore sillie creatures haue made 
vs rich in the knowledge of the mysteries of Christ.

<S SAMPLE 2>

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<P 36>
   7 (^Edifie your selues.^) The speech is borrowed fro~
material builders, and must be spiritually vnderstood.
It appeareth in the 6. of (^S.Iohns^) gospel by the Iewes,
that their mouthes did water too much for bodilie 
food, (^Our Fathers^) , say they, (^did eate Manna in the       #
Desert,
as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to
eate; Lord, evermore giue vs of this bread^) ! Our Saviour,
to turne their appetite another way, maketh the this
answere, (^I am the bread of life, hee that co~meth to me shall
not hunger, and hee that beleeveth in mee, shall never
thirst^) .
   8 An vsuall practise it is of Satan to cast heapes
of worldly baggage in our way, that whilest we desire
to heape vp gold as dust, wee may be brought at the
length to esteeme vilely that spiritual blisse. Christ, in
the 6. of (^Matthew^) , to correct this evill affection,        #
putteth
vs in minde to lay vp treasure for our selues in 
heaven. The Apostle, (^1. Tim.3. chapt.^) misliking the         #
vanity
of those wome~, which attired themselues more 
costly, then beseemed the heavenly calling of such as
professed the fear of God, willeth them to cloath
themselues shamefastnes and modestie, and to
put on the apparel of good workes. (\Tabiter pigmentatae
Deum habebitis amatorem\) , saith (^Tertullian^) . Put on
righteousnesse as a garment: in steed of Civit haue
Faith, which may cause a favour of life to issue from
you, and God shall be enamoured, he shall be ravished
with your beauty. These are the ornaments, & bracelets,
and jewels, which inflame the loue of Christ, and
set his hart on fire vpon his spowse. We see, how he
<P 37>
breaketh out in the Canticles at the beholding of
this attire, How faire art thou, and how pleasant art
thou, O my loue, in these pleasures!
   9 And perhaps (^S. Iude^) exhorteth vs here not to
build our houses but our selues, foreseeing by the spirit
of the Almighty, which was with him, that there
should be men in the last daies like to those in the first,
which should encourage and stirre vp each other to
make bricke & to burne it in the fire, to build houses
huge as cities, and towers as high as heaven, thereby
to get them a name vpon earth; men that shoulde
turne out the poore, and the fartherlesse, and the widdow
to build places of rest for dogs & swine in their 
roomes; men that should lay houses of praier even
with ground, and make the~ stables where Gods people
haue worshipped before the Lord. Surely this is a
vanity of all vanities, and it is much amongst men, a
speciall sicknesse of this age. What it should meane, I
know not, except God haue set the~ on worke to provide
sewel against that day, when the Lord Iesus shal
show himselfe from heaven with his mighty angels
in flaming fire. What good commeth vnto the owners
of these things, saith (^Solomon^) , but only the beholding
thereof with their eies? (^Martha, Martha, thou
busiest thy selfe about many things, One thing is necessarie.^)
Yee are too busie, my brethren, with timber, and
bricke; They haue chosen the better part, they haue
taken a better course, that build themselues. Yee are
the Temples of the living God; as God hath said, I
wil dwel in them, and will walke in them, & they shal
<P 38>
be my people, and I wil be their God.
   10 Which of you wil gladly remaine, or abide
in a mishapen, a ruinous, or a broken house? And shal
we suffer sinne, and vanity to drop in at our eies, and 
at our eares, at every corner of our bodies, & of our 
soules, knowing that we are the Temples of the holy
Ghost? Which of you receiveth a guest, whom he
honoureth, or whom he loveth, and doth not sweepe
his chamber against his comming? And shal we suffer
the chamber of our hearts and consciences to lie
full of vomiting, full of filth, ful of garbidge, knowing
that Christ hath said, I, and my Father will come, and 
dwell with you? Is it meete for your Oxen to lay in
parlours, and your selues to lodge in cribs? Or is it
seemely for your selues to dwell in your setled houses
and the house of the Almighty to lie wast, whose
house yee are your selues? Do not our eies behold,
how God every day overtaketh the wicked in their
iourneies, how suddenly they pop downe into the
pit? how Gods iudgements for their times come so
swiftly vpon them, that they haue not the leasure to
crie, Alas? how their life is cut off like a threed in a
moment? how they passe like a shadow? how they open
their mouthes to speake, and God taketh them
even in the midst of a vaine or an idle word? And dare
we for all this lay downe, take our rest, eate our meat
securely and carelessly in the midst of so great and so
many ruines? Blessed and praised for ever and ever be
his name, who perceiuing of how senselesse & heavy
mettall we are made, hath instituted in his Church a
<P 39>
spirituall supper, and an holy communion, to be celebrated 
often, that we might thereby bee occasioned
often to examine these buildings of ours, in what case 
they stand. For sith God doth not dwell in Temples
which are vncleane, sith a shrine cannot be a sanctuary
vnto him; and this supper is receaued as a seale vnto
vs, that we are his house and his sanctuarie, that his
Christ is as truly vnited to me, and I to him, as my
arme is united and knit vnto my shoulder, that hee
dwelleth in me as verily as the elements of bread and
wine abide within me, which perswasion, by receiving 
these dreadfull mysteries, we professe our selues
to haue; a due comfort, if truly, and if in hypocrisie
then woe worth vs. Therefore ere wee put forth our
hands to take this blessed Sacrament, we are charged
to examine, and to trie our hearts whether God bee
in vs of a truth or no: and if by faith and loue vnfained
we be found the temples of the holy Ghost, then
to iudge, whether we haue had such regard every one
to our building, that the spirit which dwelleth in vs
hath no way beene vexed, molested, and grieued. Or
if it haue, as no doubt sometimes it hath by incredulitie,
sometimes by breach of charitie, sometimes by
want of zeale, sometimes by spots of life, even in the
best and most perfect amongst vs, (for who can say,
his heart is cleane?) O then to fly vnto God by vnfained
repentance, to fall downe before him in the humilitie
of our soules, begging of him whatsoever is
needfull to repaire our decaies, before wee fall into
that desolation, whereof the Prophet speaketh, saying 
<P 40>
(^Thy breach is great like the sea, who can heale thee^) ?
   11 Receiving the sacrament of the Supper of
the Lord, after this sort (you that are spiritual, iudge
what I speake) is not all other wine like the water of
(^Marah^) , being compared to the cup, which we blesse?
Is not (^Manna^) like to gall, and our bread like to            #
(^Manna^) ?
Is there not a tast, a tast of Christ Iesus in the hart
of him that eateth? Doth not hee which drinketh, behold
plainely in this cup, that his soul is bathed in the
blood of the lambe? O beloued in our Lord and Saviour
Iesus Christ, if yee will tast how sweet the Lord
is, if yee will receaue the king of glory, (^Build your
selues^) .
   12 (^Young men^) , I speake this to you, for yee are
his house, because by faith, yee are conquerers over
(^Satan^) , and haue overcome that evill. (^Fathers^) , I       #
speake
it also to you, yee are his house, because yee haue
knowne him, which is from the beginning. Sweete
(^Babes^) , I speake it even to you also; yee are his house,
because your sinnes are forgiven you for his namesake.
(^Matrons^) and (^Sisters^) , I may not hold it from you,
yee are also the Lords building, and, as S. (^Peter^) speaketh,
heires of the grace of life as well as we. Though
it be forbidden you to open your mouthes in publike
assemblies, yet yee must bee inquisitiue in things concerning
this building, which is of God, with your husbands
and friends at home, not as (^Dalila^) with (^Sampson^) ,
but as (^Sara^) with (^Abraham^) , whose daughters yee
are, whilst yee doe well, and build your selues.
   13 Having spoken thus farre of the exhortation,
<P 41>
as whereby we are called vpon to edifie and build
our selues. It remaineth now, that wee consider the
thing prescribed, namely wherein we must bee built.
This pr.scription standeth also vpon two points, the
(^thing^) prescribed, and the (^adiuncts^) of the (^thing^) .   #
And
that is our most pure, and (^holy faith^) .
   14 The thing prescribed is (^Faith^) . For as in a
chaine, which is made of many linkes, if you pull the
first, you drawe the rest; and as in a ladder of many
staues, if you take away the lowest, all hope of ascending
to the highest will be remoued, So because all
the precepts and promises in the law and in the Gospell
doe hang vpon this, (^Beleeue^) ; and because the last
of the graces of God doth so follow the first, that he
glorifieth none, but whom he hath iustified, nor iustifieth
any, but whom he hath called to a true, effectual,
and liuely faith in Christ Iesus, therefore S (^Iude^)          #
exhorting
us to (^build our selues^) , mentioneth here expresly
only faith, as the thing wherein we must be edified,
for that faith is the ground and the glorie of all the
welfare of this building.
   15 (^Yee are not strangers & forrainers, but citizens
with the Saints, and of the houshold of God^) , saith the       #
Apostle, 
(^and are built vpon the foundation of the Prophets & 
Apostles, Iesus Christ himselfe being the cheefe corner
stone, in whom all the building being coupled together,
groweth vnto an holy Temple in the Lord, in whom we
also are built together to be the habitation of God by the
spirit^) . And we are the habitation of God by the spirit,
if we beleeue. For it is written, whosoever confesseth
<P 42>
that Iesus is the sonne of God, in him God dwelleth,
and he in God. The strength of this habitatio~ is great;
it prevaileth against Satan; it conquereth sinne; it hath
death in derision; neither principalities, nor powers
can throwe it downe; it leadeth the world captiue, &
bringeth every enimie, that riseth vp against it, to co~fusion
and shame, and all by faith; for this is the victorie
that overcommeth the world, even our faith.
Who is it that overco~meth the world, but hee which
beleeueth, that Iesus is the sonne of God?
   16 The strength of every building, which is of 
God, standeth not in any mans armes or legs: it is only
in our faith, as the valour of (^Sampson^) lay only in his
haire. This is the reason, why wee are so earnestly called 
vpon to (^edifie our selues in faith^) . Not as if this bare
action of our minds, whereby wee beleeue the Gospel
of Christ, were able in it selfe, as of it selfe, to make
vs vnconquerable and invincible, like stones, which abide
in the building for ever and fall not out. No, it is
not the worthinesse of our beleeuing, it is the vertue
of him in whom we beleeue, by which we stand sure 
as houses that are builded vpon a rocke. He is a wise
man, which hath builded his house vpon a rocke; for 
he hath chosen a good foundation, and no doubt his
house will stand. But how shall it stand? verily by the 
strength of the rocke which beareth it, & by nothing
else. Our fathers, whom God delivered out of the
land of Egypt, were a people, that had no peeres amongst
the nations of the earth, because they were
built by faith vpon the rocke, which rocke is Christ.
<P 43>
(^And the rocke^) , saith the Apostle in the first to the       #
(^Corinthians^) ,
the tenth Chapter, (^did follow him^) . Whereby
we learne not only this, that being built by faith on
Christ as on a rocke, and grafted into him as into an
Oliue, wee receiue all our strength and fatnesse from 
him, but also that this strength and fatnesse of ours
ought to be no cause why we should be high minded
and not worke out our salvation with a reverent, tre~bling,
and holy feare. For if thou boastest thy selfe of
thy faith, knowe this that Christ chose his Apostles, 
his Apostles chose not him; that Israel followed not
the rocke, but the rocke followed Israel, and that thou
bearest not the roote, but the root thee. So that every
heart must this thinke, and every tongue must 
thus speake, (^Not vnto vs, O Lord, not vnto vs^) , nor vnto
any thing which is within vs, but vnto thy name
onely, only to thy name belongeth all the praise of al
the treasures and riches of every Temple which is of
God. This excludeth al boasting and vaunting of our 
faith.
   17 But this must not make vs carelesse to edifie
our selues in faith. It is the Lord that delivereth mens
soules from death, but not except they put their trust
in his mercy. It is God that hath given vs eternall life,
but no otherwise then thus, If wee beleeue in the
name of the sonne of God; for hee that hath not the
sonne of God hath not life. It was the spirit of the 
Lord which came vpon (^Sampson^) , & made him strong
to teare a lion as a man would rent a kid: but his
strength forsooke him, and he became like other men
<P 44>
when the razer had touched his head. It is the power
of God whereby the faithfull haue subdued kingdomes,
wrought righteousnesse, obtained the promises,
stopped the mouthes of Lions, quenched the violence
of fire, escaped the edge of the sword: But take
away their faith, and doth not their strength forsake
them? are they not like vnto other men?
   18 If yee desire yet farther to knowe how necessarie
and needfull it is, that we edifie and build vp our
selues in faith, marke the words of the blessed Apostles,
(^without faith it is impossible to please God^) . If I offer
vnto God all the sheepe and oxen, that are in the
world, if all the Temples, that were builded since the
dayes of (^Adam^) till this houre, were of my foundation,
if I breake my very heart with calling vpon God,
and weare out my tongue with preaching, if I sacrifice
my body and my soule vnto him, (^and haue no faith^)
all this availeth nothing. (^Without faith it is impossible
to please God.^) Our Lord and Saviour therefore being
asked in the sixt of S. (^Iohns^) Gospell, (^What shall we doe
that we might worke the workes of God^) , maketh answer,
(^This is the worke of God, that yee beleeue in him, whom hee
hath sent^) . 
   19 That no worke of ours, no building of our
selues in any thing can be available or profitable vnto
vs, except we be edified & built in faith, what need
we to seeke about for long proofe? looke vpon Israel
once the very chosen and peculiar to God, to whom
the adoption of the faithfull, and the glory of Cherubins,
and the covenants of mercy, and the lawe of
<P 45>
(^Moses^) , and the service of God, and the promises of
Christ were made impropriate, who not onely were
the ofspring of (^Abraham^) , father vnto all them which
doe beleeue, but Christ their ofspring, which is God
to be blessed for evermore.



