fitable to

whereof

ing divers questions, said: "Let not my Lord be grieved, Gen. xviii. if I yet once again ask my Lord, seeing I am earth and ashes." This should put us in remembrance, that is, as It is prooft as we hear this name Adam, that we are earth and remember ashes, and are come of the sinful seed of Adam our first we be. father, who was made of the earth, and for breaking God's commandment returned into earth again, from whence he came, as we shall all at our appointed time. If this were well considered, it would make our proud peacock's feathers to fall, when we remember from whence we come, and whither we shall, and how we be not able to think of ourselves a good thought; but that all our goodness is given us of God, and unto him we be traitors and thieves, if we be proud of his gifts, and give not him worthy thanks for them, but take the praise to ourselves.

Thus by degrees doth God increase his plagues and threatening; not destroying us at the first, but by laying on us one little rod at the first he biddeth and warneth us to beware of the next, for that will be greater if we amend not. This he doth by his other prophets also. In Osee Hosea v. he compares himself to the moth and lion in punishing: for the moth doth not eat up clothes hastily, but by leisure and by little and little; but the lion devoureth up all at once. So, saith God, I will be no more only as a moth in clothes, in punishing you so gently and by leisure; for by that gentle kind of punishing ye wax worse and worse: but I will come now as a lion, and destroy you quickly; for ye abuse my gentleness, and I cannot hold my hands any longer beside you.

Lord, soften our hard hearts, that where we be guilty in the same fault of negligent building thy house, we may hear and fear those great threatenings towards us; we may dread thee, and obtain mercy for our sins past, and hereafter be more diligent to serve thee.

v. 12. Then Zerubabel the son of Salathiel, and Josua the son The Text. of Jehozadac the high priest, and all the remnant of the people, gave ear unto the voice of the Lord their God, and unto the words of Aggeus the prophet, inasmuch that the Lord their God sent him: and the people were afraid in the sight of God.

Angel.

Matt. iii.

Rom. x.

Law.
Gospel.

Rom. iv.

13. And Aggeus, the messenger of the Lord, said in the messages of the Lord to the people, saying: I am with you, saith the Lord.

:

Hitherto from the beginning hath been nothing but chiding and threatening for their great negligence in building God's house now follows the profit and commodity that came by such a sharp kind of rebuking. They began to “give ear unto it," mark it, and were afraid to hear and consider those plagues, which yet hanged over their heads: they believed those sayings to be true, which Aggeus said unto them, and they feared God. This is the ordinary way that God useth to teach by, and which the scripture sets before us to learn to believe in God and fear him: first, to rebuke sin and declare the anger of God towards sinners, and preach repentance, as John Baptist and our Saviour Christ began to preach: "Repent; the kingdom of God is at hand." "Faith cometh by hearing," saith St Paul, "and hearing by the word of God:" therefore he that will believe, and have his faith increased, must be diligent in the scriptures, to hear sermons, and mark what God saith unto us there. What marvel is it if the papists have so little faith, seeing they read not the scripture, and hold opinion that it is not necessary, yea, not to be suffered that the scripture should be much read or taught, but the pope's laws, customs and decrees?

The whole scripture hath these two chief parts, into the which it is divided, the law and the gospel. The law contains properly the setting forth of sin, threatenings, curses, God's anger toward sin, remorse of conscience for the same, damnation, hell, despair: the gospel contains comfort, hope, forgiveness, mercies in Christ, heaven, salvation, agreement with God. Thus teaches St Paul, saying, "The law works anger" within a man in conscience towards himself, for displeasing his Lord God; and also declares what is sin, and the anger and just Rom. iii. judgment of God for sin. "By the law comes the knowledge of sin." Again he saith, "I had not known coveting, lusting, and desiring for any unlawful thing to have been sin, except the law had said, Thou shalt not lust nor covet." The gospel "is the power of God to save all that believe" in Christ, which saith, "Come to me, all ye that labour

Rom. vii.

Rom. i.

Matt. xi.

and are laden, and I will refresh you :" and, "Thus God John ii. loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son," &c. with many such like promises: as, "If any man sin, we have 1 John ii. an advocate with the Father," &c. This profit came here to this people, by preaching the law of God and threatenings unto them, that they which were afore so forgetful of their duties, now hearing the great anger and vengeance of God that hanged over their heads, ready to fall on them, it stirred them up to do their duties and fear God. Thus may we here see the fond and tender ears of them, which would not hear nor have the law preached, but altogether the sweet comfortable promises and mercies in Christ; nor cannot abide the anger of God and just judgment for sin to be taught, saying, It brings a man into despair, and that it is not now in the time of grace meet to be preached.

A man as he is made of body and soul, so hath he the law given him to beat down the lusts of the flesh, and Law. keep him in due fear to his Lord and God: and lest the soul should despair, when it considers the greatness of the sin which the flesh and mind draws him to, he hath the comfort of Christ offered unto him in the gospel. So, lest we be Gospel. proud and forget God, we have the law given to set before us the righteousness of those things which God requires of us, and our weak unableness to fulfil the same, and the righteous sentence of death and God's anger pronounced upon Galat. iii. all that fulfil not the same law. But lest we should despair, we have the unspeakable mercies of God offered unto us in his Son, which by his death hath conquered death, and paid the full price for the sins of the whole world. He biddeth us, when we feel our own weakness and unableness to fulfil his law, to come unto him, ask help and mercy at his hands, and doubt not thereof but it shall be granted. For as we see in judgments here amongst us, there is a royal seat set where the judge sits; he that is accused stands at the bar, holds up his hand, hears his indictment read, witness is brought in against him, and he justly condemned to death: so we shall see Jesus Christ, the righteous Judge of the world, that will not be bribed, sit in his seat of majesty at the last day, and all the company of angels about him; and we shall stand at the bar, as accused and indicted for breaking that righteous 7

[PILKINGTON.]

law of his word: the devil, which enticed us so to do, shall bear witness that to be true, yea, and our own conscience Matt. xxv. also: the fear of that fearful sentence, "Go, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, which is prepared for the devil and his angels," shall make us to tremble. And of mercy there is no hope at all, except we do as we read of a woman, which when she Alexander. stood before Alexander the Great, and was condemned, she said, "I appeal from thee, O king." Alexander wondering at her said, "Thou art a mad woman: dost thou not know that every appellation is from a lower judge to a higher? but who is above me?" Then said she, "I know thee to be above thy laws, and that thou may give pardon; and therefore I appeal from justice to mercy, and for my faults desire pardon." So we, when we look into the righteous law of God's word, and see him ready to condemn us, and our conscience witness that we have deserved death; we must appeal from justice and our deservings unto his pardon and forgiveness, and both call and trust to be partakers of that salvation, which he hath purchased and offered to the whole world. His mercies do pass all our miseries, as far as God is greater than man; and his pardon can forgive all that call on him.

rebuked in

This is not to be lightly considered, that it is said, "They heard the voice of the Lord their God, and the word of Aggeus the prophet." What needed both to have been written, seeing they were both one? for the words of Aggeus were the same that the Lord bad him speak, as he hath said divers times before. Here in this example we shall learn two good lessons; one for the preacher, and another for the hearer. Sin must be The preacher must not be afraid to rebuke sin in all sorts all estates. and degrees of men, as here Aggeus did rebuke both Zerubabel, the chief civil ruler in the commonwealth, and Josua the high priest and chief in religion, and also the whole people beside, and threatens the plagues indifferently to all without any flattery or respect of person. So do all the prophets, as Esay calls the rulers fellows with thieves, and princes of Sodom and Gomorrha, because they followed their wickedAnd when Achab a king asked Elias, whether it was he troubled all the country, (because it was so long a drought, for the space of three years and a half without any rain or

Isai. i.

1 Kings xvii. ness.

to hear and

simplest.

dew,) he answered the king boldly, and said, Nay, it is thou and thy father's house that hast pulled this righteous plague upon thee and thy whole realm. Where all have sinned, all must be rebuked for as God, a most righteous judge, will punish all sin, so must his preachers indifferently warn and rebuke all sorts of sinners; or else God will require their Ezek. iii. blood at their hands, if they perish without their warning, as Ezekiel saith. The hearer must not disdain to learn of Disdain not the simplest preacher that he heareth, as Josua the high learn of the priest here doth not disdain to hear the rebuking of Aggeus, being but a poor Levite and a simple man in comparison of him: no, nor yet Zerubabel, the chief ruler, and born of the stock of Judah, the king's stock, disdains him. If a preacher should rebuke the pope, a cardinal, an archbishop or bishop, a doctor, or a babbler in divinity, would they not disdain to hear such simple men? Would they not say, as hath been said of late to many, when they were examined before Annas and Caiphas, Becomes it thee to speak thus to my lord bishop? art thou wiser or better learned than he shall he become thy scholar? Was not the like said to our Saviour Christ, "Dost thou answer the high bishop so?" What John xviii. would the pope or cardinal say, if a man should threaten such vengeance of God towards him, as Aggeus doth here to the high priest? Paul, the second pope of that name, Paul II. when he had wrongfully taken lands and offices from divers, and cast them all in prison, and would not hear any suitors speak for them; at length by much ado when Platina himself came to him, and could get no help, at the last he required of the pope that he might be heard and judged by his own law. Then the pope looking cruelly on him said: "What tellest thou me of the law? Dost thou not know, that whatsoever I say is law? Am not I St Peter's vicar, and all laws are within my breast, and I cannot err whatsoever I say? Am I not pope, and may disannul the decrees of my predecessors, and do what me lust? Thus it shall be, thus I am determined'." Thus speak holy popes, when simple men ask their right, or tell them of any faults: their proud stomachs cannot abide to be rebuked of any man.

[The account is given by Platina himself, De Vitis Pontificum, p. 297, Colon. 1540. ED.]