Part 11

To strength such faith withal, God promised this his Evangelion in the Old Testament by the prophets, as Paul saith (Rom. i.), how that he was chosen out to preach God’s Evangelion, which he before had promised by the prophets in the Scriptures, that treat of his Son which was born of the seed of David. In Gen. iii. God saith to the serpent, “I will put hatred between thee and the woman, between thy seed and her seed, that self seed shall tread thy head under foot.” Christ is this woman’s seed; he it is that hath trodden under foot the devil’s head; that is to say, sin, death, hell, and all his power. For without this seed can no man avoid sin, death, hell, and everlasting damnation.

Again (Gen. xxii.), God promised Abraham, saying, “In thy seed shall all the generations of the earth be blessed.” Christ is that seed of Abraham, saith St. Paul. (Gal. iii.) He hath blessed all the world through the gospel. For where Christ is not, there remaineth the curse that fell on Adam as soon as he had sinned, so that they are in bondage under the condemnation of sin, death, and hell. Against this curse blesseth now the gospel all the world, inasmuch as it crieth openly, saying, Whosoever believeth on the Seed of Abraham shall be blessed, that is, he shall be delivered from sin, death, and hell, and shall henceforth continue righteous, living and saved for ever, as Christ himself saith, in the eleventh of John, “He that believeth on me shall never more die.”

“The law,” saith the gospel of John in the first chapter, “was given by Moses: but grace and verity by Jesus Christ.” The law, whose minister is Moses, was given to bring us unto the knowledge of ourselves, that we might thereby feel and perceive what we are of nature. The law condemneth us and all our deeds, and is called of Paul in 2 Cor. iii. the ministration of death. For it killeth our consciences and driveth us to desperation, inasmuch as it requireth of us that which is impossible for us to do. It requireth of us the deeds of a whole man. It requireth perfect love from the low bottom and ground of the heart, as well in all things which we suffer, as in the things which we do. But, saith John, in the same place, “grace and verity is given us in Christ,” so that when the law hath passed upon us, and condemned us to death, which is its nature to do, then we have in Christ grace, that is to say, favour, promises of life, of mercy, of pardon, freely by the merits of Christ; and in Christ have we verity and truth, in that God fulfilleth all his promises to them that believe. Therefore is the gospel the ministration of life. Paul calleth it in the fore rehearsed place of 2 Cor. iii. the ministration of the Spirit and of righteousness.

In the gospel, when we believe the promises, we receive the Spirit of life, and are justified in the blood of Christ from all things whereof the law condemned us. Of Christ it is written in the fore rehearsed John i. This is He of whose abundance, or fulness, all we have received, grace for grace, or favour for favour. That is to say, for the favour that God hath to his Son Christ he giveth unto us his favour and good will, as a father to his sons. As affirmeth Paul, saying, “Which loved us in his Beloved before the creation of the world.” Christ is made Lord over all, and is called in scripture God’s mercy-stool; whosoever therefore flieth to Christ can neither hear nor receive of God any other thing save mercy.

In the Old Testament are many promises, which are nothing else but the Evangelion or gospel, to save those that believed them from the vengeance of the law. And in the New Testament is often made mention of the law, to condemn them which believe not the promises. Moreover the law and the gospel may never be separate; for the gospel and promises serve but for troubled consciences, which are brought to desperation, and feel the pains of hell and death under the law, and are in captivity and bondage under the law. In all my deeds I must have the law before me to condemn mine imperfectness. For all that I do, be I never so perfect, is yet damnable sin, when it is compared to the law, which requireth the ground and bottom of mine heart. I must therefore have always the law in my sight, that I may be meek in the spirit, and give God all the laud and praise, ascribing to him all righteousness, and to myself all unrighteousness and sin. I must also have the promises before mine eyes, that I despair not; in which promises I see the mercy, favour, and good will of God upon me, in the blood of his Son Christ, which hath made satisfaction for mine unperfectness, and fulfilled for me that which I could not do.

Here may ye perceive that two manner of people are sore deceived. First, they which justify themselves with outward deeds, in that they abstain outwardly from that which the law forbiddeth, and do outwardly that which the law commandeth. They compare themselves to open sinners; and in respect of them justify themselves, condemning the open sinners. They set a veil on Moses’ face, and see not how the law requireth love from the bottom of the heart. If they did they would not condemn their neighbours. “Love hideth the multitude of sins,” saith St. Peter, in his first epistle. For whom I love from the deep bottom and ground of mine heart, him condemn I not, neither reckon his sins, but suffer his weakness and infirmity, as a mother the weakness of her son, until he grow up unto a perfect man.

Those also are deceived which, without all fear of God, give themselves unto all manner vices with full consent, and full delectation, having no respect to the law of God (under whose vengeance they are locked up in captivity), but say, God is merciful and Christ died for us, supposing that such dreaming and imagination is that faith which is so greatly commended in holy scripture. Nay, that is not faith, but rather a foolish blind opinion springing of their own nature, and it is not given them of the Spirit of God; true faith is (as saith the apostle Paul) the gift of God, and is given to sinners after the law hath passed upon them, and hath brought their consciences unto the brink of desperation, and sorrows of hell.

They that have this right faith, consent to the law that it is righteous, and good, and justify God which made the law, and have delectation in the law, notwithstanding that they cannot fulfil it, for their weakness; and they abhor whatsoever the law forbiddeth, though they cannot avoid it. And their great sorrow is, because they cannot fulfil the will of God in the law; and the spirit that is in them crieth to God night and day for strength and help, with tears (as saith Paul) that cannot be expressed with tongue. Of which things the belief of our popish (or of their) father, whom they so magnify for his strong faith, hath none experience at all.

The first, that is to say, a justiciary, which justifieth himself with his outward deeds, consenteth not to the inward law, neither hath delectation therein: yea, he would rather that no such law were. So he justifieth not God, but hateth him as a tyrant, neither careth he for the promises, but will with his own strength be saviour of himself; no wise glorifieth he God, though he seem outward to do.

The second, that is to say, the sensual person, as a voluptuous swine, neither feareth God in his law, neither is thankful to him for his promises and mercy, which is set forth in Christ to all them that believe.

The right christian man consenteth to the law, that it is righteous, and justifieth God in the law; for he affirmeth that God is righteous and just, which is author of the law. He believeth the promises of God, and so justifieth God, judging him true, and believing that he will fulfil his promises. With the law he condemneth himself and all his deeds, and giveth all the praise to God. He believeth the promises, and ascribeth all truth to God: thus everywhere justifieth he God, and praiseth God.

By nature, through the fall of Adam are we the children of wrath, heirs of the vengeance of God by birth, yea, and from our conception. And we have our fellowship with the devils under the power of darkness and rule of Satan, while we are yet in our mothers’ wombs; and though we show not forth the fruits of sin, yet are we full of the natural poison whereof all sinful deeds spring, and cannot but sin outwardly, be we never so young, if occasion be given; for our nature is to do sin, as is the nature of a serpent to sting. And as a serpent yet young, or yet unbrought forth, is full of poison, and cannot afterward (when the time is come, and occasion given) but bring forth the fruits thereof; and as an adder, a toad, or a snake, is hated of man, not for the evil that it hath done, but for the poison that is in it and the hurt which it cannot but do; so are we hated of God for that natural poison which is conceived and born with us before we do any outward evil. And as the evil, which a venomous worm doeth, maketh it not a serpent; but because it is a venomous worm, therefore doth it evil and poisoneth; and as the fruit maketh not the tree evil, but because it is an evil tree, therefore it bringeth forth evil fruit, when the season of fruit is; even so do not our evil deeds make us evil; but because that of nature we are evil, therefore we both think and do evil, and are under vengeance under the law, convict to eternal damnation by the law, and are contrary to the will of God in all our will, and in all things consent to the will of the fiend.

By grace, that is to say by favour, we are plucked out of Adam, the ground of all evil, and graffed in Christ the root of all goodness. In Christ, God loved us, his elect and chosen, before the world began, and reserved us unto the knowledge of his Son and of his holy gospel; and when the gospel is preached to us, he openeth our hearts, and giveth us grace to believe, and putteth the Spirit of Christ in us, and we know him as our Father most merciful; and we consent to the law, and love it inwardly in our heart, and desire to fulfil it, and sorrow because we cannot; which will (sin we of frailty never so much) is sufficient till more strength be given us; the blood of Christ hath made satisfaction for the rest; the blood of Christ hath obtained all things for us of God. Christ is our satisfaction, Redeemer, Deliverer, Saviour, from vengeance and wrath. Observe and mark in Paul’s, Peter’s, and John’s epistles, and in the gospel, what Christ is unto us.

By faith are we saved only in believing the promises. And though faith be never without love and good works, yet is our saving imputed neither to love nor unto good works, but unto faith only. For love and works are under the law, which requireth perfection, and the ground and fountain of the heart, and damneth all imperfectness. Now is faith under the promises, which condemn not; but give all grace, mercy, favour, and whatsoever is contained in the promises.

Righteousness is divers; blind reason imagines many manner of righteousness. There is, in like manner, the justifying of ceremonies, some imagine them their own selves, some counterfeit other, saying, in their blind reason, Such holy persons did thus and thus, and they were holy men, therefore if I do so likewise I shall please God; but they have no answer of God that that pleaseth. The Jews seek righteousness in their ceremonies; which God gave unto them, not to justify, but to describe and paint Christ unto them; of which Jews testifieth Paul, saying how that they have affection to God, but not after knowledge; for they go about to stablish their own justice, and are not obedient to the justice of righteousness that cometh of God. The cause is verily that except a man cast away his own imagination and reason, he cannot perceive God, and understand the virtue and power of the blood of Christ. There is the righteousness of works, as I said before, when the heart is away and feeleth not how the law is spiritual and cannot be fulfilled, but from the bottom of the heart, as the just ministration of all manner of laws, and the observing of them, and moral virtues wherein philosophers put their felicity and blessedness--which all are nothing in the sight of God. There is a full righteousness, when the law is fulfilled from the ground of the heart. This had neither Peter nor Paul in this life perfectly, but sighed after it. They were so far forth blessed in Christ, that they hungered and thirsted after it. Paul had this thirst; he consented to the law of God, that it ought so to be, but he found another lust in his members, contrary to the lust and desire of his mind, and therefore cried out, saying, “Oh, wretched man that I am; who shall deliver me from this body of death? thanks be to God through Jesus Christ.” The righteousness that before God is of value, is to believe the promises of God, after the law hath confounded the conscience: as when the temporal law ofttimes condemneth the thief or murderer, and bringeth him to execution, so that he seeth nothing before him but present death, and then cometh good tidings, a charter from the king, and delivereth him. Likewise when God’s law hath brought the sinner into knowledge of himself, and hath confounded his conscience and opened unto him the wrath and vengeance of God; then cometh good tidings. The Evangelion showeth unto him the promises of God in Christ, and how Christ hath purchased pardon for him, hath satisfied the law for him, and appeased the wrath of God. And the poor sinner believeth, laudeth, and thanketh God through Christ, and breaketh out into exceeding inward joy and gladness, for that he hath escaped so great wrath, so heavy vengeance, so fearful and so everlasting a death. And he henceforth is an hungered and athirst after more righteousness, that he might fulfil the law; and mourneth continually, commending his weakness unto God in the blood of our Saviour, Christ Jesus.

Here shall ye see compendiously and plainly set out, the order and practice of every thing before rehearsed.

The fall of Adam hath made us heirs of the vengeance and wrath of God, and heirs of eternal damnation; and hath brought us into captivity and bondage under the devil. And the devil is our lord, and our ruler, our head, our governor, our prince, yea, and our god. And our will is locked and knit faster unto the will of the devil, than could a hundred thousand chains bind a man unto a post. Unto the devil’s will consent we with all our hearts, with all our minds, with all our might, power, strength, will, and lusts. With what poison, deadly and venomous hate, hateth a man his enemy! With how great malice of mind, inwardly, do we slay and murder! With what violence and rage, yea, and with how fervent lust, commit we advoutry, fornication, and such like uncleanness! With what pleasure and delectation inwardly serveth a glutton his belly! With what diligence deceive we! How busily seek we the things of this world! Whatsoever we do, think, or imagine, is abominable in the sight of God. And we are as it were asleep in so deep blindness, that we can neither see nor feel what misery, thraldom, and wretchedness we are in, till Moses come and wake us, and publish the law. When we hear the law truly preached, how that we ought to love and honour God with all our strength and might, from the low bottom of the heart; and our neighbours, yea, our enemies, as ourselves, inwardly, from the ground of the heart, and do whatsoever God biddeth, and abstain from whatsoever God forbiddeth, with all love and meekness, with a fervent and a burning lust from the centre of the heart, then beginneth the conscience to rage against the law, and against God. No sea, be it ever so great a tempest, is so unquiet. For it is not possible for a natural man to consent to the law, that it should be good, or that God should be righteous which maketh the law; his wit, reason, and will being so fast glued, yea, nailed and chained unto the will of the devil. Neither can any creature loose the bonds, save the blood of Christ.

This is the captivity and bondage whence Christ delivered us, redeemed, and loosed us. His blood, his death, his patience in suffering rebukes and wrongs, his prayers and fastings, his meekness and fulfilling of the uttermost point of the law, appeased the wrath of God, brought the favour of God to us again, obtained that God should love us first, and be our Father, and that a merciful Father, that will consider our infirmities and weakness, and will give us his Spirit again (which was taken away in the fall of Adam) to rule, govern, and strength us, and to break the bonds of Satan, wherein we were so straight bound. When Christ is thuswise preached, and the promises rehearsed which are contained in the prophets, in the psalms, and in divers places of the five books of Moses, then the hearts of them which are elect and chosen, begin to wax soft and melt at the bounteous mercy of God, and kindness shewed of Christ. For when the Evangelion is preached, the Spirit of God entereth into them whom God hath ordained and appointed unto eternal life, and openeth their inward eyes, and worketh such belief in them. When the woful consciences feel and taste how sweet a thing the bitter death of Christ is, and how merciful and loving God is through Christ’s purchasing and merits, they begin to love again, and to consent to the law of God, that it is good and ought so to be, and that God is righteous which made it; and they desire to fulfil the law, even as the sick man desireth to be whole, and are an hungered and thirst after more righteousness and after more strength to fulfil the law more perfectly. And in all that they do, or omit and leave undone, they seek God’s honour and his will with meekness, ever condemning the imperfectness of their deeds by the law.

Now Christ standeth us in double stead, and us serveth in two manner wise: First, he is our Redeemer, Deliverer, Reconciler, Mediator, Intercessor, Advocate, Attorney, Solicitor, our Hope, Comfort, Shield, Protection, Defender, Strength, Health, Satisfaction, and Salvation. His blood, his death, all that he ever did, is ours. And Christ himself, with all that he is or can do, is ours. His blood-shedding and all that he did, doth me as good service as though I myself had done it. And God (as great as he is) is mine, with all that he hath, through Christ and his purchasing.

Secondarily, after that we be overcome with love and kindness, and now seek to do the will of God, which is a christian man’s nature, then have we Christ an example to counterfeit, as saith Christ himself in John, “I have given you an example.” And in another evangelist he saith, “He that will be great among you, shall be your servant and minister, as the Son of man came to minister and not to be ministered unto.” And Paul saith, “Counterfeit[140] Christ.” And Peter saith, “Christ died for you, and left you an example to follow his steps.” Whatsoever therefore faith hath received of God through Christ’s blood and deserving, that same must love shed out every whit, and bestow it on our neighbours unto their profit, yea, and that though they be our enemies. By faith we receive of God, and by love we shed out again. And that must we do freely after the example of Christ, without any other respect, save our neighbour’s wealth only, and neither look for reward in the earth, nor yet in heaven, for our deeds. But of pure love must we bestow ourselves, all that we have, and all that we are able to do, even on our enemies, to bring them to God, considering nothing but their wealth, as Christ did ours. Christ did not his deeds to obtain heaven thereby (that had been a madness), heaven was his already, he was heir thereof, it was his by inheritance; but did them freely for our sakes, considering nothing but our wealth, and to bring the favour of God to us again, and us to God. And no natural son that is his father’s heir, doth his father’s will because he would be heir; that he is already by birth, his father gave him that ere he was born, and is loather that he should go without it, than he himself hath wit to be; but out of pure love doth he that he doth. And ask him, Why he doth any thing that he doth? he answereth, My father bade, it is my father’s will, it pleaseth my father. Bond servants work for hire, children for love: for their father with all he hath, is theirs already. So a Christian man doth freely all that he doth, considereth nothing but the will of God, and his neighbour’s wealth only. If I live chaste, I do it not to obtain heaven thereby; for then should I do wrong to the blood of Christ; Christ’s blood has obtained me that; Christ’s merits have made me heir thereof; he is both door and way thitherwards: neither that I look for an higher room in heaven than they shall have which live in wedlock, other than a whore of the stews, if she repent; for that were the pride of Lucifer, but freely to wait on the evangelion; and to serve my brother withal; even as one hand helpeth another, or one member another, because one feeleth another’s grief, and the pain of the one is the pain of the other. Whatsoever is done to the least of us (whether it be good or bad), it is done to Christ; and whatsoever is done to my brother, if I be a christian man, that same is done to me. Neither doth my brother’s pain grieve me less than mine own: neither rejoice I less at his welfare than at mine own. If it were not so, how saith Paul? “Let him that rejoiceth, rejoice in the Lord,” that is to say, Christ, which is Lord over all creatures. If my merits obtained me heaven, or a higher room there, then had I wherein I might rejoice besides the Lord.