The Autumn Part from the Twelfth Sunday after Trinity, Letter 3
The Epistle.
GALAT. 5. 16.
I say, walke in the spirit, and fulfill not the lusts of the flesh, &c.
THis Epistle may be diuided into two parts: a
Generall exhortation, to walke in the spirit; & that in respect of a double benefit: namely, because the spirit deliuereth vsus from the
Lusts of the flesh, vers. 16. Walke in the spirit, and yee shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. And ver. 24. They that are Christs, hauehave crucrucified the flesh, &c.
Lists of the Law, vers. 18. If yee be led of the spirit, then are yee not vnderunder the law.
Particular enumeration of the workes of the flesh, and fruits of the spirit.
In the be droll of vices obserue their
Condition: The deeds of the flesh are manifest.
Kinds: as being against
Faith,
Idolatrie.
Witchcraft.
Hercsie.
good manners, especially
Chastitie.
Adulterie.
Fornication.
Uncleannesse,
Wantonnesse, as the daughters of luxurie.
Gluttonie, Drunkennes, as the mother.
Charitie.
Hatred.
Uariance.
Zeale: or wicked emulation.
Wrath.
Strife.
Seditions.
Enuying.
Murder.
Punishment: They which commit such things, shall not be inheritors of the kingdome of God.
In the catalogue of vertues obserue likewise their
Propertie: Fruits of the spirit.
Kindes: quantum ad
intra: for the
doing of good: louelove, ioy, peace.
induring of euill: long suffering, gentlenes.
extra: respecting
God, faith.
our neighbors, goodnesse.
our selues, temperance.
Benefit: Against such there is no Law.
Concerning our Apostles exhortation: I hauehave shewed xEpist. Sund. 8. … T…nelse▪where what it is to fulfill the lusts of the flesh, as also what it is to walke in the spirit: and yEpist. Sund. af…er Christmas and Epist. 4. …un. … L…tthat all such as are led of the spirit, are not vnderunder the Law. Pardon …ee then in passing sicco calamo, from the first vntounto the second part.
Th… d…edes of the flesh are manifest] As being knowen to God: vntounto whom all things are zH…b. c. 13.naked, euen the secrets of our a…al. 7. 10.hearts a…d rei…es. And notorious in the sight of men: hatred appearing in open court; gluttony sitting in open Hall; drunkennesse reeling in open streete; murther swaggering open high-wey; seduions in open fi…lde; …mulation in open Schoole; worshiping of Images in open Temple; sects in open Pulpit. Adultery, fornication and other secret sinnes of the Chamber, albeit the night be neuer so darke, the curtaine neuer so close, the doore neuer so fast, are notwithstanding vsually brought to light also. Whereupon the Poets in old time painted Uenus the mother of wantonnesse, naked; bFulgentius …. l. 2. in f…bula Veneris.insinuating that this iniquity cannot be long couered. And manifest, cAretius in l…c.as being committed against conscience: for as an dTit. 3. 11.hereticke; so the drunkard, witch, adulterer is damned of his owne self… ▪ Yea the very Gentiles hauing not the Law, were notwithstanding in this respect a eRom. 2. 14.Law to themselues. fPerkins in loc.Hence wee may learne not to conceale, but freely to confesse our sinnes before God, and before men also when neede shall require. Whether a man acknowledge them or no, they be manifest, and the ingenuous vncouering of them is the way to couer them. Agnosce …, saith gSer. 88. de Temp.Augustine, & Deus ignoscit. I said I will confesse my wickednesse vntounto the Lord, and so thou forgauest the punishment of my sinne: Psalme 32. 6.
Adultery, fornication, vncleannesse, wantonnesse] These sinnes are named first, hMarlorat.because the fl…sh is most p…one to commit them. Old iA binuiqu…st. in G…n.Lot did burne with … of lust, whom all the fire that consumed Sodome could not once touch. kApolog. Da…id. cap. 4.Ambrose said of Sampson: Qui … etiam suis manibus strangulauit, amorem suum suffocare non potuit, &c. And a lO win Epigram.moderne Poet of Hercules:
Lenam non potuit, potuit superare leaenam:
Quem fera non valuit vincere, vicit hera.
Adulterie, when both or one of the parties delinquent are married, as the notation of the word intimates, mIsiodor. Etym. lib. 5. cap. 26. Idem A…teinstaig. & alijadulterium, quasi ad alterius torum. Fornication, is betweene such as are single, so called à nIsiodor. Etym. lib. 10. & Ans…lm. in loe.fornicibus, of the place wherein common harlots vsed to prostitute their bodies. Uncleannesse, is incontinency against oAquin. Ca…etan.nature: pPerkins.where these sinnes were knowen, there they were named particularly by Paul: as among the Romans, Rom. 1. 37. and to the Corinthians, 1. Cor. 6. 9. but in Galatia where they were not known, they be mentioned in generall only, lest by naming of them he should after a sort teach them. Wontonnesse in qAretius.lasciuious attire, vnchast talke, petulant behauiour, is an rCaluin.instrument, and as it were the bellowes to blow the coles of lust in all.
Idolatry, witchcraft sLuther.It is plaine that Paul calleth here flesh whatsoeuer is in all the powers of an vnregenerate mans soule. The workes of the will that lusteth, are adultery, fornication, vncleannesse, and such like: the workes of the will inclined to wrath, are hatred, variance, seditions, enuying, &c. The workes of vnderstanding or reason, are Idolatry, witchcraft, heresie. The which are distinguished tAduanc. of learning, lib. 2. pag. pen…lt.thus: Heresie, when we serue the true God with a false worship. Idolatry, when we worship false gods, supposing them to be true. Witchcraft, when we adore false gods, knowing them to be wicked and false. For the ground of that black art is either an open or secret uAug. de doct. Christ. lib. 2. cap. 20. V…de Altenstag. ex. verb. ar… magica.league with Sathan the prince of darknesse, and so witchcraft (as our iudicious xLuther.Soueraigne well obserued) is the height of Idolatry.
Adultery, fornication, vncleannesse, gluttony, drunkennesse are manifestly knowen to be workes of the flesh, yHieron. in loc.euen to such as commit them: but Idolatry doth appeare so spirituall, zD…monalog. lib. 3. c. 6.as that it is manifest vntounto the faithfull onelyonly to bee a deed of the flesh. A Turke beleeues nothing lesse then that his Alcaron, his washings and other ceremonies are workes of the flesh. A popish Monke when hee leads a single life, saith Masse, prayeth on his beades, is so farre from holding himselfe an Idolater, or that hee fulfilleth any worke of the flesh; as hee that calles himselfe a spirituall man, and is assuredly perswaded that these things are spirituall meanes of his saluation. Hee talketh of the spirit, and thinketh hee walketh in the spirit. Nay the sinne of Idolatrie, though it bee more reprehended in Gods word, and more punished in his workes, then other vices: yet it cleaueth so fast vntounto flesh, aSee Arrow against Idolatrie, chap. 2.as that the best men in the world easily fall into it, and hauing once delighted therein, are most hardly drawen from it. Idols are called by the Prophet bChap. 44. 9Esay, cQuae maxin. è aman… Idololatr…. Vatabius ibid.del…ctable things. Ezechiel in the 23. chapter of his Prophecie compareth Idolaters vntounto a woman i…flamed with louelove toward some goodly yoong man, on whom shee hath cast her eyes, and fixt her affection, and forgetting all mod…stie, sendeth messengers for him, and bringeth him into the bed of louelove. Saint Iohn in his dChap. 17.Apocalypse accurately describes the superstitious and Idolatrous Church of Antichrist by a whore, whose doctrines, as the wine of her fornication, hath intoxicated the Kings and inhabitants of the earth; her cup is of gold, her selfe is araied with purple and scarlet, and guilded with gold, and pretious stones and pearles. Hereby counterfeiting the glorious ornaments of Christs owne spouse, the true Church: whose eReuelat. 21. 11. 13.shining is like to gold, and stones most cleere and pretious, her lips like fC…nt. 3. 10.skarlet, and her louelove much better then wine.
Let vsus then aboue all other works of carnalitie, take heed of Idolatrie, which is so secret a vice, that it is discouered of none but such as hauehave crucified the flesh, and are led of the spirit. And for this cause let vsus hauehave the commandement alwaies in our eye, thou shalt hauehave none oth…r gods but me. Forbidding foure things especially: first, the hauing of strange gods, and not the true: as had the gActs 14. 11. 12. 15.Gentiles. Secondly, the hauing of strange gods with the true: as the h2. King. 17. …3Samaritans had. Thirdly, the hauing of no gods at all, as the iPsal. 14. 1.foolish Atheists. Fourthly, the not hauing of the true God aright, according to his owne word and will, as the congregations of Heretikes and Antichrists.
Hatred, variance] In this enumeration of sins against charitie, the first is, hatred, and the last, murther. kAquin.Quia ab hoc pervenitur ad illud. If we stop not hatred in the beginning, it will breake forth into contentious words, and brawling speeches, happily misled by distempered zeale, will grow to seditious and schismaticall actions, and these breed enuying, and enuie begets murther, according to that of lSer. de liuore & zelo.Cyprian: Inuidia fons cladium, after foreign there follow foreign. For this one fault is mHolcot.toxicum charitatis, & ostium iniquitatis. As it were the death of amitie, and doore of enimitie, the very nMateria cul…arum vti Cyp. vbi sup.matter of all mischiefe, and oA…amts.hell of the soule. Concerning gluttonie, see before Epist. 1. Sund. in Aduent: and of drunkennesse hereafter Epist. 20. Sund. after Trinitie.
And such like] Paul added this clause, pCaieta….lest any should imagine that there bee no more deeds of the flesh: as if hee should say, by qPrimasius.these yee may conceiue what the rest are, for it is rLuther.vnpossible to reckon vp all. If Paul numbring the sinnes of his time, was constrained to breake off his catalogue with an & caetera, how shall the Preachers at this day deliuer vp a true inuentorie? For, as now and then all humors of the whole bodie fall downe into the legges, and there make an issue: so the corruption of all ages past, hauehave slid downe into the present, to the choaking and annoyance of all that is good. The worlds end doth affoord the same faults and the like to them in the beginning, yea doubtlesse many monsters of sinne, which our forefathers of old could neuer parallel.
Of the which I tell you before, as I hauehave told you in times past] sCal…in.Hence Ministers are taught often to fore warne the people of the future iudgements of God for their sinnes: tPelican apud Marlorat.if present, by word: if absent, by writing: Esay 58. 1. Mich. 3. 8. When a man otherwise cannot hit the marke, hee must draw the bow to the eare and shoote home: little chiding and once rebuking will doe no good with such as hauehave stony hearts and brasen faces, it is our dutie therefore to threaten, yea thunder againe and againe, saying with Paul, as I told you before, so still I forewarne you uAnselme.while ye may take heed, repent and returne from your wicked course, That they which commit such things, shall not be inheritors of the Kingdome of God. Not all they which hauehave such impure motions arising in their minde: but they which commit such actions in their life, foreign, such as doe. Not all such as hauehave done those things once, twice, thrice: for xIames 3. 2.in many things we sinne all, and eueryevery age euen in the yLuther.faithfull hath his peculiar fault and folly. Lust assaults a man most in his youth, ambition in his middle age, and couetousnesse in his old age. zBullinger.Such then as hauehave done these things and after hauehave heartily repented, are not excluded from the Kingdome of God: but onelyonly such as doe, aPerkins.noting a present and a continued act of doing amisse. The bMarlorat.godly man often falles into the workes of the flesh, and being admonished thereof recouers himselfe, hee doth not cPsal. 1. 1.stand in the way of sinners, although he sometimes enter into it. On the contrary, sinners irrepentant and obstinate when they fall, lie still in the filthinesse of the flesh hating reformation, and heaping to themselues wrath against the day of wrath, Romans 2. 5. All they which doe this, and die thus without a liuely faith and vnfained repentance, shall not be inheritors of the kingdome of God.
The fruit of the spirit is] dO…cumen. Anselme. Aquin. Aretius.Interpretors obserue generally Pauls altering of his phrase; for whereas he called acts of sinne workes of the flesh, he termes vertue the fruit of the spirit. He speakes of the one plurally, The workes of the flesh are: but of the other singularly, The fruit of the spirit is. eCaietan.Ad significandum quod malum contingit ex singularibus defectibus, bonum autem ex integra causa. To signifie that good is the effect of an entire cause, whereas euill comes of defects in many particulars. Or happily to shew that our vices exceede in number our vertues.
Christian vertues are fruits, fLuther. Ardens.as bringing with them excellent commodities, enriching such as hauehave them, and alluring other also by their example to receiue the Gospell and faith of Christ. And fruites of the spirit, as begun, continued, ended according to the motions and admonitions of the spirit: begun in faith, acted in obedience, ending in Gods honour. A good man is gPsal. 1. 3.like a Tree planted by the water side, that will bring forth his fruit in due time. The Church is the hCantic. 4. 12.Garden of God▪ Preachers are the planters, 1. Cor. 3. 6. 9 beleeuers are iEsay 61▪ 3.Trees of righteousnesse, the spirit of God is the sap and kGalat. 2. 20.life of them, and good workes are the fruites which they beare. From lPerkins.hence wee may learne to distinguish aptly betweene Christian vertues in professors of the Gospell, and ciuill vertues in heathen men. Ioseph is chast, and so was Xenocrates. In Ioseph it was an especiall fruite of the regenerating spirit, but in Xenocrates i… was a worke proceeding onelyonly from Gods generall prouidence. For there is a gift of regeneration able to mortifie corruption, and a gift of restraint which serues onelyonly to keepe in corruption.
LoueLove, ioy, peace, &c.] It had beene sufficient to hauehave named onelyonly louelove and no more: for as it is shewed, Epist. quinquages. Sund. charity doth extend it selfe vntounto all the fruites of the spirit, mLuther.notwithstanding our Apostle sets it heere by it selfe among other vertues, and in the first place, to signifie that it is the very nArdens. Anselm. Aretius.fountaine from which all the rest are deriued. And therefore that Christians ought before other things affectionatly tender the good of their brethren, oRom. 12. 10.Giuing honour one to another, euerie man esteeming better of another then of himselfe, and so pGalat. 5. 13.seruing one another in louelove. The world in this age wants exceedingly this one vertue: for among the roring Gentlemen it is but a word and a wound; among ciuill men, it is but a word and a writ. Yea that which is worst of all, among such as seeme saints of the greatest purity, there be so many sects and schismes euen about matters of Gods holy seruice; that if our Apostle were now liuing, he would censure them as he did the Corinthians in his time, q1. Cor. 3. 4.when one saith I am Pauls: and another, I am Apollos, are ye not carnall?
Against such there is no law] Against such vertues, and against persons indued with such vertues, there is no law: that is, no law to rRom. 8. 1.condemne, no law to s1. Tim. 1. 9. V…i Melanct. ibid.compell them. As if hee should say, Such as are led by the spirit are a free people, seruing the Lord without constraint. If there were no punishment in this life, nor hell in the next for adultery, drunkennesse, murther, gluttony, yet they would abstaine from these works of the flesh out of meere louelove to God and goodnesse. For they that are Christs, hauehave crucified the flesh. In this crucifying foure points are to be considered:
1. Attachment.
2. Arraignement.
3. Iudgement.
4. Execution.
First, wee must attach and bring our selues into Gods presence, saying with the tLuke 15. 18.prodigall sonne, I will goe to my father. Secondly, wee must indite our selues of our sinnes at the barre of Gods iudgement: I hauehave sinned against heauen, and before thee. Thirdly, wee must u1. Cor. 11. 31.iudge our selues, that wee be not iudged of the Lod: I am no more worthy to be called thy sonne. Fourthly, we proceed to the lawfull execution of the flesh, vsing the meanes for the crucifying of it, and they be principally xPerkins.three: The first is applying of Christ crucified, and that is to beleeue not onelyonly that Christ was crucified for vsus: but that we likewise were crucified with him.
The second is to beat downe the flesh by the sword of the spirit, propounding in our daily repentance the seuerall Commandements and threatnings of God against our seuerall affections and lusts. As it were slaying murther with commandement, Thou shalt not kill: and robbing the theefe with another arrow taken out of Gods quiuer, Thou shalt not steale.
The third is to cut off the first beginnings of euill, and to flie the present occasions of eueryevery sin. With these spirituall nailes (as yIn lot.Luther speakes) a Christian may fasten all carnall desires vntounto the Crosse; so that although the flesh be yet aliue, yet can it not performe that which it would doe, for as much as it is bound hand and foote, and made subiect to the spirit.
Almighty and euerlasting God, giuegive vntounto vsus increase of faith, hope, and charity: and that wee may obtaine that which thou doest promise, make vsus to louelove that which thou doest command, through Iesus Christ our Lord.