Matt. xxviii.

Our Saviour Christ, after his ascension, sending his apostles into the whole world to preach and baptize, addeth no greater thing to comfort them withal in this great and dangerous enterprise, that so few unlearned men should conquer the whole world, but saith, "Behold, I am with you, even to the end of the world." What good success their preaching had, we at this present day yet feel and see: and also, how he is present always with his, even to the end; and John xvii. how true his prayer is, that he did not pray only for his apostles, but for all that should believe on him by their preachRom. viii. ing. When St Paul saith that he was persuaded, that neither nakedness, prison, hunger, persecution, nor life, neither death, angels, nor powers could pull him from the love in Christ Jesu; he had nothing to strengthen himself withal, Acts xxvii. but that God promised that he was with him, and then he boldly said, "If God be with us, who can be against us?" All be but dust, worms, and vileness in his sight: nothing can prevail against those, whom he doth assist with his grace.

The Text.

Therefore, when we doubt to take in hand any good work, which agrees with the word of God, for any worldly reasons or carnal fear; let us stir up our faith, and hear God speaking and saying unto us, "I am with you, be ye not afraid." If thy conscience bear thee sure witness, that thou seekest nothing but the glory of God, and the profit of his people; no doubt God will assist thee in such enterprises, and offers this his promise to thee also, saying, "I am with thee: be not afraid," but go on forwards, and I will bless thy doings, scem it never so hard or impossible to thee.

v. 14. The Lord waked up the spirit of Zerubabel, son of Salathiel, prince of Juda, and the spirit of Josua son of Josedec the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people: and they went and wrought in the house of the Lord of hosts, their God,

15. In the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month, in the second year of king Darius.

This is a notable metaphor, and worthily sets forth the nature of sin, in that he saith, "The Lord waked up the

sleep and

death of

the soul.

spirit of all this people:" for sin is a sleep of the soul, having no fear nor feeling of God, so long as a man lies in it. "It is now time," saith St Paul, "to awake out of Rom. xiii. sleep," meaning sin. God in his word by such outward Sin is a bodily things declares unto us the nature of spiritual things, both good and evil. As the dead body lies rotting and stinking in the grave, fearful to look on, and grievous to remember; so when we lie buried in sin, we stink in the sight of God; he cannot abide to look at us, nor will remember us. And as we, when the body lieth on sleep in the bed, which is an image of our grave, can neither see, feel, hear, taste, smell, understand, nor yet move out of the place, until we be awaked, nor can take any pleasure at all in any one creature of God; so when we lie wallowing in sin, we neither see the majesty of God with the eyes of our faith, nor feel his mercies offered unto us in his dear Son and our only Saviour Christ Jesus, nor yet can we taste at all how sweet the Lord is. Our ears are stopped from hearing good counsel; we perceive nothing at all of God's goodness towards us; his word is not savoury unto us, neither yet be we moved or stirred up to do any one good work of charity. But now it pleased the Lord, pitying their misery, to wake them up out of this dead sleep, and set them in hand with building of his house again.

kills, the

quickens.

But where he had preached to them both the law and the gospel, threatenings and comforts; with the plagues they were moved to nothing but fear, as is said in the verses before: but after they heard the glad tidings of the gospel, that God promised to be with them; then they were awaked out of their sleep, and wrought lustily. So it is the gospel that The law quickens and gives life; but the law kills, fears, and threatens. gospel For as after sleep the body being awaked, it is fresh, lusty, strong and courageous to do his work; so after the fearful threatenings of the law when we hear the glad tidings of the gospel, that God will be our Lord and dwell with us, the mind is comforted, strengthened, and moved up to do his duty. And as a man is judged to be waking when he can do the office of a man, as talk, work, write, or such like; so is man awaked out of the sleep of sins, when he lives in charity, fears God, and walks according to his law in his vocation.

Further, as when a man lies in his dead sleep, he cannot awake, except some noise awaken him, or some other call him; so can we not arise out of sin, except the Spirit of God, or his preacher, which is his watchman, with often crying unto us awake us. 66 "Cry" therefore "and cease not,” saith Isai. Iviii. Esay the prophet; "Lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and tell my people their wickedness." So that it is the trumpet of God's word continually sounding in our ears, which is the only way to awake us out of this sinful sleep. turn the order, and say, Cease and cry not;

is most

But the papists hold thy peace, and say nought; live in rest and be still; and so let all go to havoc and the people perish.

Thus we may learn here the necessity of preaching, and Prov. xxix. what inconvenience follows where it is not used. "Where preaching fails," saith Salomon, "the people perish:" therePreaching fore let every man keep himself in God's school house, and necessary. learn his lesson diligently; for as the body is nourished with meat, so is the soul with the word of God, as St Matthew saith: "A man doth not live by bread only, but in every word that comes from the mouth of God." This is then the ordinary way to keep us in the fear of God, and continual remembrance of the last day, often and diligently to read and hear God's word preached unto us: for that is it which doth Ecclus. vii. and will kill sin in us, as it is written, "Remember the last end, and thou wilt not sin.”

Matt. iv.

Rom. x.

2 Sam. xi.

Faith is kept and increased by the same means that it is gotten it is gotten by hearing, and hearing comes of the word let us therefore hear and read it diligently. What is the cause that the papists lie so sound on sleep in their abominations, but that they care not for preaching, nor think it so necessary; and because they would not be told of their faults, that they might amend them? Where sin is not rebuked, it is not known to be sin: nor it will not be amended, without much crying on. David the good king and true prophet of God, after he had gotten with child Urias' wife, could not awake out of that sleep of sin, until he was warned by the prophet Nathan, notwithstanding all and singular such great gifts, which God hath endued him withal; but invented one policy after another to cloke his whoredom and naughtiness withal. First, he sendeth for

Urias home, being his faithful soldier in his wars, willing him to go home to his wife; thinking that, if he had lien by her, the child might have been called his. But when he saw that Urias would not go home to his wife, he devised to send him with letters unto Joab the captain, that he should be set in the fore front, when the town should be assaulted, and that his fellows should flee from him, that he might be slain. This policy David wrought so privily, that he thought no man should espy it: for who durst open the king's letters? But at length cometh Nathan the prophet, and telleth him a parable, how there was a rich man, that had many sheep, and a poor man his neighbour had but one, which he loved most dearly: the rich man took this one sheep from the poor man, and Nathan asked what this man had deserved. Then answered David in anger, and said, he deserved death: then said Nathan, Thou hast given a very good sentence: it is even thou thyself that hast done this deed; thou shalt die. For thou hast many wives, and couldest not be content with them, but hast taken thy poor neighbour's, Urias' wife." Then cried David, "I have sinned;" and made that worthy psalm fifty and one: "O God, have mercy on me according to thy great mercy, and according to thy many mercies wash away my wickedness. And yet more wash me from my wickedness, &c." But before Nathan came, he lay without feeling of his sin, or yet any remorse of conscience at all knowing that he had done evil.

So when the good king Ezechias, being restored to his for- 2 Kings xx. mer health, had letten the embassadors of the king of Babel, which came to rejoice for his recovery, see all his treasure and jewels, being very proud of them; Esay the prophet comes unto him, and asketh what they had seen: he told him: Well, saith Esay, even from thence a king shall come to rob and spoil all these treasures that thou hast been proud of. Then the king knowledged his fault, but not before he was rebuked by the prophet. Peter, until he was rebuked of Paul for his dissimulation with the gentiles, did not leave Gal. ii. it. Joas was a good king, as long as Jehoiada the high priest 2 Chron. lived; for he followed his good counsel: but after he fell from God, when he would hear no good counsel at all.

[PILKINGTON.]

8

xxiv.

To hear preaching all men ought.

Thus we see how necessary it is for us to be kept in God's school, and hear the trumpet of his word sounding continually in our ears, to awake us up out of this deadly sleep of sin, and stir us forward to a diligent doing of our duties. What a pride is this for us to think so highly of ourselves, that we be so far more holy, strong, wise, learned, more able to stand, than these good men were; and that we need not such continual teaching and counsel, but that we may well enough want it! These men fell when they heard not the voice of the prophets: and yet we, that are not so much worthy as once to be compared unto them in the gifts of God, think we shall stand of ourselves.

Many will say, What should I do at the sermon? I know as much before I go, as I shall learn there: I can read the scripture at home, and comfort myself sufficiently. These are better than they that will neither hear nor read, but say, I know there is no more but do well and have well: I know this is all that can be said, Love God above all things, and thy neighbour as thyself: I can say my pater noster and my creed as well as he; and further I know, that in the one is contained all things necessary to be asked at God's hand, and in the other all that is to be believed: and what can or should a man have more than this?-These sayings, although they be true, yet are they most brutish, and nothing else in very deed but naughty excuses to cloke our slothful wickedness withal; and signify plain that we would not in any wise have preaching, because we would not hear our faults rebuked, nor yet our minds exercised in meditation of God and his goodness, of our own sin and misery. St Paul to the Philippians saith, that he was not ashamed to write one thing often to them, and it was for their safety. The Matt. xxv. parable of the five foolish virgins and the five wise teacheth plainly, that both the wise and the foolish did both nap, slumber, yea, and fall hard on sleep; wherein is set before us all our natures, whether we be foolish or wise: we fall on sleep forgetting God, when we should watch for his coming, though we think never so highly of ourselves, if we have not the light and burning lamp of God's eternal word burning in our hearts.

Phil. iii.

What a foolishness is it to think that we can or shall