own Son? We are all miferable perfons, finful perfons, damnable perfons, juftly driven out of Paradife, juftly excluded from heaven, juftly condemned to hell-fire: and yet (fee a wonderful token of God's love) he gave us his only begotten Son, us I fay, that were his extreme and deadly enemies, that we, by virtue of his blood thed upon the crofs, might be clean purged from our fins, and made righteous again in his fight. Who can choose but marvel, to hear that God fhould fhew fuch unspeakable love towards us, that were his deadly enemies? Indeed, O mortal man, thou oughteft of right to marvel at it, and to acknowledge therein God's great goodness, and mercy towards mankind, which is fo wonderful, that no flesh, be it never fo worldly wife, may well conceive it, or exprefs it. For, as St. Paul teftifieth, God greatly commendeth Rom. v. and fetteth out his love towards us, in that be fent bis Son Chrift to die for us, when we were yet finners, and open enemies of bis name. If we had in any manner of wife deferved it at his hands, then had it been no marvel at all: but there was no defert on our part, wherefore he fhould do it. Therefore, thou finful creature, when thou heareft that God gave his Son to die for the fins of the world, think not he did it for any defert or goodness that was in thee, for thou waft then the bondslave of the devil: but fall down upon thy knees, and cry with the Prophet David, O Lord, what is man, that thou art so mind- Pfal. viii ful of bim; or the fon of man, that thou fo regardeft him? And feeing he hath fo greatly loved thee, endeavour thyfelf to love him again, with all thy heart, with all thy foul, and with all thy ftrength, that therein thou mayest appear not to be unworthy of his love. I report me to thine own confcience, whether thou wouldeft not think thy love ill bestowed upon him, that could not find in his heart to love thee again? If this be true, (as it is most true) then think how greatly it behoveth thee in duty to love God, which hath fo greatly loved thee, that he hath not fpared his own only Son from fo cruel and fhameful a death for thy fake. And hitherto concerning the caufe of Chrift's death and paffion, which as it was on our part moft horrible and grievous fin, fo on the other fide it was the free gift of God, proceeding of his mere and tender love towards mankind, without any merit or defert of our part. The Lord for his mercies fake grant that we never forget this great benefit of our falvation in Chrift Jefu, but that we always thew ourfelves thankful for it, abhorring all kind of wickedness and fin, and applying our minds

wholly

John iii.

Rom.x.

John xx.

wholly to the service of God, and the diligent keeping of his commandments.

Now it remaineth that I fhew unto you, how to apply Chrift's death and paffion to our comfort, as a medicine to our wounds, fo that it may work the fame effect in us wherefore it was given, namely, the health and falvation of our fouls. For as it profiteth a man nothing to have falve, unless it be well applied to the part infected; fo the death of Chrift fhall ftand us in no force, unlefs we apply it to ourselves in fuch fort as God hath appointed. Almighty God commonly worketh by means, and in this thing he hath alfo ordained a certain mean, whereby we may take fruit and profit to our fouls' health.

What mean is that? Forfooth it is faith. Not an unconftant or wavering faith, but a fure, steadfast, grounded, and unfeigned faith. God fent bis Son into the world, faith St. John. To what end? That whofoever believeth in bim fhould not perish, but have life everlasting. Mark these words, that whofoever believeth in him. Here is the mean whereby we must apply the fruits of Chrift's death unto our deadly wound. Here is the mean, whereby we must obtain eternal life; namely, faith. For, as St. Paul teacheth in his Epistle to the Romans, with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confeffion is made unto falvation. Paul being demanded of the keeper of the prison, Aas xvi. what he fhould do to be faved? made this anfwer: Believe in the Lord Jefus, fo fhalt thou and thine houfe both be faved. After the Evangelift had described and fet forth unto us at large the life and the death of the Lord Jefus, in the end he concludeth with these words: These things are written, that we may believe Jefus Chrift to be the Son of God, and through faith obtain eternal life. To conclude with the words of St. Paul, which are thefe: Christ is the end of the Law unto falvatio, for every one that doth believe. By this then you may well perceive, that the only mean and inftrument of falvation required of our parts is faith; that is to say, a fure truft and confidence in the mercies of God; whereby we perfuade ourselves, that God both hath, and will forgive our fins, that he hath accepted us again into his favour, that he hath released us from the bonds of damnation, and received us again into the number of his elect people, not for our merits or deferts, but only and folely for the merits of Chrift's death and paffion, who became man for our fakes, and humbled himself to fuftain the reproach of the crofs, that we thereby might be faved, and made inheritors of the kingdom of heaven. This faith is required

Rom. x.

required at our hands. And this if we keep steadfastly at our hearts, there is no doubt but we shall obtain falvation at God's hands, as did Abraham, Ifaac, and Jacob, Gen. xv. of whom the Scripture faith, that they believed, and it was Rom. vii. imputed unto them for righteoufness. Was it imputed unto them only? and fhall it not be imputed unto us alfo? Yes, if we have the fame faith as they had, it fhall be as truly imputed unto us for righteoufnefs, as it was unto them. For it is one faith that muft fave both us and them, even a fure and steadfast faith in Chrift Jefus ; who, as ye have heard, came into the world for this end, that whofoever believe in bim fhould not perish, but have life John iii. everlasting. But here we must take heed that we do not halt with God through an unconftant and wavering faith, but that it be ftrong and fteadfaft to our lives' end. He that James i. waveretb, faith St. James, is like a wave of the fea; neither let that man think that be shall obtain any thing at God's Matth. xiv, bands. Peter coming to Chrift upon the water, because he fainted in faith, was in danger of drowning. So we, if we begin to waver or doubt, it is to be feared left we fhall fink as Peter did; not into the water, but into the bottomlefs pit of hell-fire. Therefore I fay unto you, that we must apprehend the merits of Chrift's death and paffion by faith, and that with a strong and steadfast faith, nothing doubting, but that Chrift, by his own oblation and once offering of himself upon the crofs, hath taken away our fins, and hath reftored us again into God's favour, fo fully and perfectly, that no other facrifice for fin fhall hereafter be requifite or needful in all the world.

Thus have you heard in few words the mean, whereby we must apply the fruits and merits of Chrift's death unto us, fo that it may work the falvation of our fouls; namely, a fure, fteadfast, perfect and grounded faith. For as all they which beheld fteadfaftly the brazen ferpent were Num. xxi. healed and delivered, at the very fight thereof, from their John iii. corporal difeafes and bodily ftings; even fo all they which behold Christ crucified with a true and lively faith fhall undoubtedly be delivered from the grievous wounds of the foul, be they never fo deadly or many in number. Therefore, dearly beloved, if we chance at any time, through frailty of the flesh, to fall into fin, (as it cannot be chofen, but we must needs fall often) and if we feel the heavy burden thereof to prefs our fouls, tormenting us with the fear of death, hell, and damnation; let us then use that mean which God hath appointed in his word, to wit, the mean of faith, which is the only inftrument of falvation

now

now left unto us. Let us fteadfaftly behold Chrift crucified with the eyes of our heart. Let us only truft to be faved by his death and paffion, and to have our fins clean washed away through his moft precious blood, that in the end of the world, when he fhall come again to judge both the quick and the dead, he may receive us into his heavenly kingdom, and place us in the number of his elect and chofen people, there to be partakers of that immortal and everlafting life, which he hath purchased unto us by virtue of his bloody wounds: to him therefore, with the Fa ther and the Holy Ghoft, be all honour and glory, world without end. Amen.

AN

AN

HOMILY

OF THE

Refurrection of our Saviour Jefus Chrift.

FOR EASTER-DAY.

TF ever at any time the greatnefs or excellency of any matter, spiritual or temporal, hath ftirred up your minds to give diligent ear, good Chriftian people, and wellbeloved in our Lord and Saviour Jefus Christ, I doubt not but that I fhall have you now at this prefent feafon moft diligent and ready hearers of the matter which I have at this time to open unto you. For I come to declare that great and most comfortable article of our Christian religion and faith, the refurrection of our Lord Jefus.. So great furely is the matter of this article, and of so great weight and importance, that it was thought worthy to keep our faid Saviour ftill on earth forty days after he was rifen from death to life, to the confirmation and eftablishment thereof in the hearts of his Difciples. So that (as Luke clearly teftifieth in the firft chapter of the Acts of the Apostles) be was converfant with his Dif ciples by the space of forty days continually together, to the intent he would in his perfon, being now glorified, teach and inftruct them, which fhould be the teachers of other, fully and in moft abfolute and perfect wife the truth of this moft Chriftian article, which is the ground and foundation of our whole religion, before he would afcend up to his Father into the heavens, there to receive the glory of his moft triumphant conqueft and victory. Affuredly, fo highly comfortable is this article to our confciences, that it is even the very lock and key of all our Chriftian religion and faith. If it were not true, faith the

holy