Twenty-Seven Lectures Upon Hebrews, Lectures · Lecture 14
¶The fourteenth Lecture, vponupon the residue of the sixte verse.
6 But Christe is at the Sonne, ouer his owne house, whose house we are, if we holde fast that confidence and that reioycing of that hope vntounto the end.
AS the Apostle hath generally before exhorted them, to hearken vntounto Christe: the high Prieste and Apostle of our profession, shewing the necessitie of our so doing, because of the excellencie of Christ aboue all other, who were sent of God vntounto vsus: yea, aboue Moses himselfe: so now more particularly, he applieth this vntounto them, and sheweth that by necessity of their condition and calling, they are bound especially to this duetie: because they, euen they themselues are this house of God, whereof he speaketh, of which, Christ is the builder, and in whiche hee ruleth aboue all: so that they may be sure, it was all one to denie Christe to be their onelyonly Prophete, and to denie themselues to be the house of God. To this our purpose are these first wordes: Whose house we bee.
Another purpose of this speach, is, for their better instruction in the trueth of the gospel of Christ: that they should not, as their fathers did, holde their faith toward God with respect of the Temple, then commonly called the house of God: nor with any religion of all the ceremonies vsed in it: for all these things had an ende. God was nowe gone out of the sanctuarie, & dwelt no more betweene the Cherubims, but had made him a newe tabernacle to dwell in, which was the bodie of man: which tabernacle onelyonly we must hauehave care of, to keepe it pure from ye concupiscence of the fleshe, and to keepe it holie frō the vaine inuentions of our heart, & then the Lorde should be always with vsus, as with the people whom he had chosen, to make them an habitation for him selfe, and a tabernacle of his glorie.
To this end also the Apostle saith, Whose house we are: this wee must learne in all like places of scripture, where we are called by like name. Sainct Paule saith: Do you not know that you are the temple of God, & that the spirit of God dwelleth in you? And againe: Do you not know, that your bodie is the temple of the holie 1. Cor. 3. 16.ghost which is in you, and which you hauehave of God? And againe, 1. Cor. 6. 16.You are the temple of the liuing God, as God hathe said: I wil dwel in them, and I will walke in them, and they 2. Cor. 6. 16.shalbe my people, & I wilbe their God. And againe: We be no more straungers and forreiners, but fellow citizens with Ephe. 2. 19.the Saints, & of the familie of God. In these and all such places, we be taught, that ye temple which was once the house of God, is nowe taken away: and all the religiō of the temple, which was once the seruice of god, is now finished & hath his end: frō henceforth, there is neither circumcision nor vncircūcision, nether Iewe nor Gentile, but Christ is al in all: ye pure & chaste bodie is his holie tabernacle, & spirit and truth is his heauenly worship: thus much directlie ye apostle teacheth them in these words: whose house be we: & therfore called the house of God, because his holie spirite dwelleth in vsus, as appeareth in all the places before alledged out of Paule.
It followeth now: If we holde fast the confidence & reioycing of our hope vntounto the ende: these wordes he addeth, to teach them manifestly to know themselues, whether they be this house or no: for if they be, they do hold and shall holde the reioycing of their hope, constantly and faithfully vntounto the ende. These wordes (dearely beloued) let vsus marke them well, and learne them euerie iott and title, with a wise hart: for they conteine a blessed instruction, & most necessarie for our time. There is not this day any other thing, that holdeth backe a great number from the gospel of Christ, but only the ignorance of this one sentence: for what say al our aduersaries against vsus, but onelyonly this? Shal we leaue the Catholique Church, to beleeue a few new sproung vp? Shal we leaue the Church, & followe Luther or Zuinglius! The Church hath beleeued as we beleeue, ye Church hath taught as we teach, & in the Church we abide: thus, vnderunder the name of the church, the churche, the world is mocked, & as Paule saith, the hearts of manie men whiche are nor enill are seduced, so that though they hauehave no thing to blame in vsus, yet they dare not come vntounto vsus, least they should forsake the brotherhod in the Church of Christ. This generall plague is easily cured, and al the euil of it is soone remedied, if we can but holde our peace, and heare the Apostle speake for vsus all. This same verie question is here handled: the Iewes were now affeard to receiue Christ, they thought him a new doctour, they had Moses, the temple, the ceremonies, things ful of excellent glorie: and they were sure the church was heere, and these things were in the Church, to leaue them all soudenly, and cleaue to Christ alone, were to leaue the Church, and follow new doctrine. The Apostle to stop this offence, he setteth downe first this plaine doctrine without question, or cōtrouersie, that the church of God, or (to vse his own word) the house of God, is not any building of woode or stones, not any citie, or any material Temple, but man is ye house of God. Here first we learne one necessarie lesson. Wilt thou know the house of God, that is, his Church? Looke not at Ierusalem, nor at Mount Sion: for neither the Citie, nor the Temple in it, are nowe the house in whiche God dwelleth.
It thou doubtest know it for a truth, that Ierusalō long since is troaden downe of the Gentiles: the Turke and Infidels hauehave defiled all the stones of i… & for ye temple, there are manie hundred yeres since the vncircumcised hauehave entred into it, and the abhomination of desolation hathe stoode in the holie place, that it might be fulfilled that was spoken by the Prophet Daniel.
This therefore learne for a trueth: The Church of God is not in any materiall Temple, not it is not knowen by any Citie or Countrie, Ierusalem, that for this cause, once was the glorie of the worlde, and the beautie of the whole earth, hathe no more this dignitie: neither shall it be giuen to any place for euer: but to finde the Church of God, seeke in the heart of man: for the Apostles hauehave all spoken plainely: We are his house. Now, let Rome goe and boast her selfe, and pronounce her proude decrees, that in her palaces the Churche of Christe doeth dwell: let all her louers striue for her, prayses, that shee is our mother: her we must serue, vppon her we must wayte, she cannot erre: against all these children of pride, we dare set out selues.
The house of God is neither in Rome, nor in the Capitol of Rome, no more then it is in Aegypt, or the high pinacled Churches in Aegypt: but in eueryevery nation and in euerie countrie, the men that feare God, and woorke righteousnesse, they are the church, and the house in which God doth dwel.
And as the Lord hath done to Ierusalem, and to the ruines thereof, that the place should not boast of the Oracles of God: so God hath done to Rome, to the idols thereof, that their boasting should bee in vaine of the church of God: for what was Rome, euen from her birth, but a Citie builte in parricide, then strengthened with robberie, and made a sanctuarie for murderers of all nations? What was it after, but a slaughter-house of the martyrs of God? And what is it in oures and our fathers dayes, but the Queene of pride, the nurse of idolatries, the mother of whoredomes, the sincke of iniquitie, out of which sorceries, witchcrafts, poysonings, adulteries, rebellions, and bloudie warres, hauehave ouerflowed the whole earth.
I lye not on them (dearely beloued,) neither they them selues can accuse mee, if any of them heare what I say.
A thousand testimonies I hauehave of this, out of their owne stories, and ten thousand ryming verses Citatur. Ca al test. ve…. to 535.hauehave beene made against them, for their greate iniquitie: by example of one, learne the residue.
A hundred and fourtie yeeres past, one sayth of Rome, and of the Pope thus:
Imatenet Iupiter, c…lum habet Pluto:
Et accedit dignitas animali bruto:
Tanquam gemma stercort aut pictura Iuto.
We hauehave brought GOD into Hell, and the diuel into heauen, dignitie is now added to a brute beast, as a pearle to a dounghil, or a faire picture to a peece of dyrt. Euen such as these are, and no better, a thousande testimonies are of the Church of Rome, all which, if we coulde not beleeue, yet let vsus beleeue our owne eyes: we hauehave seene his wicked dispensations, the brother to marrie his brothers wife, & the sister to marrie her sisters husbande, the vncle to marrie his neece, and the nephue to marrie his aunt. Wee hauehave seene his bulles to make the subiects rebell against their princes: we hauehave seene his stues in open & knowen places. The Turke hath no more defiled Ierusalem, then the Pope hath defiled Rome: and all the altars of Mahomet are not so vncleane, as the Popes reuerend altars, whiche serue for Sodomites: and as the Popes honourable churches, in which they nourish vp amorous boyes. Nulla hie arcana ro…elo, Mantuan saith: I speak no secrets, the world knoweth this wel enough. And yet, if they will boaste, The Church of Rome, the Church of Rome, shall wee still beleeue them? or shall we rather beleeue the Apostle: that ye church of God is not neither Rome, nor not Rome: but in Rome and out of Rome, the men that feare God are the Church of Christ.
And let this be our first lesson, heere taught vsus by the apostle, The church of God is not found by places and countries: it is but a foolish thing to say, Here is Christ, or there is Christ: he is in the desert, or he is in the towne: but as where the carcase is, there are the Eagles: so where are men that beleeue in Christ, there is his Church. This is the Apostles meaning, when he saith: Whose house are we.
Now as we hauehave learned to seeke the church, not in places, but in the harts of men, so in the words folowing, the men are also described, that by their marks we may know them from other men of the world, which are not of the house of God, but an assemblie of ye wicked. It followeth: If we hold stedfast the confidence and reioycing of our hope, vntill the end.
Here the Apostle setteth downe three especiall marks and properties, by which the Churche and children of God are knowne: the first is the ioy of their hope, the seconde the assurance of it, the third the constancie and perseuerance vntounto the end. The ioy of our hope is, a present feelinge of immortalitie and the glorie of God, which the holie Ghost kindleth in our hearts, & filleth vsus with all heauenly gladnes, according to the promises preached in the worde of trueth, which is his Gospel.
And let vsus not thinke, but that God hathe done thus with vsus, whom he hath chosen to eternall life. He hath prepared our hearts to know and feele his vnspeakable gifte, which he hath giuen vsus: for if we should bestow any gifte vponupon men, we are not so vnwise to giuegive a precious thing vntounto him yt knows not what it is: we would not giuegive him a Diamond that would thinke it to be a piece of glasse: nor wee would not giuegive him a pearle, that would thinke it to be a graine of salt: for so we should leese both our labour and our thankes. And shal we thinke the Lord wil so bestow his heauenly blessings? will he giuegive his gifts to those that know them not, who can not giuegive him againe the praise of his goodnes? no, he will neuer do it, but as Peter sayth, he hath taken vsus for his owne people, to the ende we should shewe 1. Pet. 2. 9forth his vertues, that hath called vsus out of darknes into his maruelous light: & therefore, if we bee in the couenant of his grace, appointed to the inheritance of his glorie, it is impossible wee should not feele the comfort of it, and know the height & breadthe of his great merciemercy and grace. If there be a barren and fruitlesse man, that knoweth nothing of all this, in whose eares the sound of the name of God hath neither feare nor reuerence, and in whose heart his knowledge hath neither ioy nor gladnes, he is yet a straunger from the church of God, and cannot challenge anie part or fellowship of the Gospell of Christe: for while he can feele no greater pleasure then of bodily delite, his eye to see, his eare to heare, his mouth to taste, his skin to touch, why is not the oxe as good as he? for these thinges are vntounto the oxe as well as vntounto him: or if honour, riches, authoritie credite, fauour, be the things he louelove moste, and in which he hath greatest comfort: what is he better then the Paganes & infidels that were before him, in whome this desire was as much, and this delight muche more abounding then vntounto vsus? for we, in respecte of them are beggerly tenants: and they in respecte of vsus were monarches of the whole worlde. If these things coulde make the house of God: the house of God were among the beastes of the field, or among sauage people worse then beastes, whose desires, if they be our desires, and their delightes, if they be our delights, we shalbe of them, and they of vsus: but the house of God shalbe of neither of both: for in the house of God is this hope yt we speak of: a feeling (I say) of Gods glorie, in whiche we hauehave pleasure more then in all the worlde. Let vsus take an example of Paule in steede of manie, he protesteth thus: I accompt all the world to be losse vntounto mee: Phil. 3. 8.yea, I accompt it but as doung, to the ende I may winne Christe: hauehave thou this heart, and thou hast peace, and thou hast sealed it, that thou art of the house of God: and this is it that the Apostle teacheth vsus heere in these wordes: if we holde this reioycing of our hope stedfast vntounto the end.
Another thinge heere to be learned, if wee will knowe our selues to be this house and Churche of God, is that as we holde this hope, so we must hold it stedfast, and without wauering, vntounto the end: for so the Apostle sayth: We must hauehave stedfast assuraunce of our hope: he calleth it in the sixt chapter, A full persuasion of hope. Sainct Paule calleth it, His intentiue hope, a hope, in which he shall neuer bee frustrate. Ca. 6. 12. Phil. 1. 20.So that this assurance, and ful persuasion, is in a true and liuing hope, and it casteth out mistruste and wauering, euen as fayth doth: for fayth & hope cannot be separate, neither in nature nor propertie: but if you hauehave fayth, you hauehave hope: and as your faith is, so is your hope: a sure faith, a liuely hope: a wauering faith, a blinde hope: for our faith is a persuasion of ye louelove of God in Christ, & our hope is an apprehēsiō of ye glory which by yt louelove is giuē to vsus.
It can not be that we should knowe the louelove and grace of God, which is our faith, but we must know the fruit of his louelove, that is, his glorie, & eternal life, which is our hope: if therfore we be sure, God doth louelove vsus in Iesu Christe, wee are also sure that God will glorifie vsus through Iesu Christe: and as our fayth reioyceth in Gods fauour, so our hope reioyceth in Gods glorie: and as our faith is sure that nothing shall separate the louelove of God from vsus, so our hope: longeth after the incorruptible inheritaunce which we feele and knowe is laide vpp in heauen. So this constancie and boldenes of our hope, without wauering, laid vp in our breastes, and crying stil within vsus, Come Lorde Iesu, this hope is our warrant we be the house of God. And all this I speake more plainely & in mo words, because there are so many which either cannot or will not vnderstande it: for they conceiue no other thinge when wee speake of hope, but a desire to hauehave a thing wherof we doubt, & if we aske of thē, whether they be sure to be saued through Christ, they will answer they can hauehave no assurance, for thē how could they hope? thus they make them a hope of their owne, a new hope which the Church of God knoweth not, a doubtfull desire of a thing they wishe, in steade of a present feelinge of the thing they long for. But let vsus be wise hearted, and knowe before the Lord (as the Apostle here plainely teacheth vsus) that we be the house of God, if wee holde the reioycing of our hope stedfast, and sure vntounto the ende: and if there bee an other people which hauehave cast their hope from them, and taken in stead of it a new fancie, worldly minded mē, which bring our worldly speeche to measure the trueth of God, because in worldly things, we say we hope of that which we can not surely tell whether we shall hauehave or no: therefore to make also the hope of saluation, a desire in vsus, whereof we are vncerteine: if (I say) there be any such people, let them boast they are the church, yet we know they are not ye church, but an absurde people: for let them aunswere mee but this one question. I aske of them whether they be sure they are the church of God or no? if they be not, sure they be blinde leaders of the blind: & shall we follow them who knowe not whether they go? If they be sure, doe they thinke the Church of God can perish? if it cannot, the hope of it is sure, and no man can come into it, but he must hauehave his portion in this assurance of hope. And al this I speake not as though Gods children are euerie one, and alwayes in this assurance, for sometime their faith is weake, and their hope is shadowed, that they might humble them selues vnderunder the hand of God, till they doe acknowledge their owne vnworthines: and hunger and thirst after the righteousnes of Christ: but in all their weakenesse, they wil confesse their sinne, and say, they ought more assuredly to holde their hope: onlie this I say, and this the Apostle sayth, this is the doctrine of the house of God, that they ought to holde the reioycing of their hope stedfast, and sure vntounto the ende: and this doctrine, that our hope is doubtfull, and can not hauehave anie assuraunce of the thing we hope for, this (I say) is not the doctrine of Christ, nor of the house yt he hath built, but of some other, an Idols house, & house of idolaters, y• either knowe not whether their God be faithful & iust, or but a deceiuer: or whether thēselues should beleeue his promises, or rather mistrust them. And thus farr of the church as here the Apostle hath described it.
Now, the third thing which we must here marke for our instruction, is perseuerance: for so he sayth: We m…st holde our reioycing continuall vntounto the ende. A most necessarie thing, and such as without which all our labour is lost: but a thing hard to atteine vntounto, & ful of difficultie: know it by the experience of it: for scarce one of a great many doth grow vp into seruēcie of zeale, & so cōtinueth vntounto the end. And therfore the more daunger is vntounto vsus in this behalfe, the more watchful we must be to auoyd the perill. Let vsus first know it, & persuade our selues in it, there is no pleasing of God, but in this perseuerāce vntounto the end: for euen as the prophet sayth, so we shal find it true: If ye righteous man of an hundred yere old shal forsake his righteousnes, ye Lord wil also forget al y• righteousnes y• he hath done: and a most iust cause why our sinnes should be imputed, if at any time we should faint & fall away: for he y• can measure his obedience to God by dayes & yeeres, & accompteth times how long he wil walke before the Lord, he is not worthie to be reckoned amonge his seruantes, nor to be one of Gods children: for God is not as men are, nor his rewardes are as the rewardes of princes: hee measureth not his giftes, by such skant accomptes of yeeres, and moneths, and times past, as though at last he could be enuious at our prosperitie, but he filleth his hande with blessing, and his louelove with immortalitie, neither is there any ende of his merciemercy: and if we shall come to such cold reckoning, to score vp our yeares and number our doings, like prentices or hired mē, let vsus go serue some God that againe scoreth vp his benefites, and with an euil eye loketh vppon his louers: let vsus worshippe with the papists al their abhominations: Saint Cornellis, who can only keepe vsus from the falling sicknes: S. Apolline, who wil helpe vsus of the toothache: or some other Gods of the mounteines, or Gods of the vallies: if thou hauehave suche a God, that can do so litle good, make thy bargeine therafter, and serue him, by times & moments. But if thou serue y• Lord God of hostes, whose merciemercy is ouer all his workes, and whose infinite goodnesse doth endure for euer, thou seruest a bountifull Lord, who giueth thee all things, & vpbraideth none: & thou maiest not be a nigardly seruant, to giuegive vntounto him either thy hand or thy foot, but all is of him, & withal y• must serue him. Thou seruest a louing lord, who wil not cha…g his fauour towards thee for euermore: & thou maist not serue him by account of days, but to ye last houre thou must euer be faithfull. A perfect God, a perfect seruant: an euerlasting God, a perpetuall seruant: if thou fall at the last, thou art fallen from him, and not he from thee: & thy condēnation is of thy self. Therfore our sauiour Christ hath giuen vsus a cleare warning: that He that setteth his hand… to the plowe Luke.and looketh backward, he is not meete for the kingdome of heauē: but thus his promise is vntounto vsus: He that persenereth Matth. 24.vntounto the ende, he shalbe safe: and in this assurance Sainct Paule helde the reioycing of his hope: I hauehave 1. Tim.strouen a good strise. I hauehave finished my course. I hauehave kept my faith. Now the crowne of righteousnes onelyonly is behinde, which he will giuegive mee, who is the righteous iudge. Euen …o (dearely beloued) let vsus be constant, let vsus cast away the burthen that presseth vsus downe, and this sinne which so easily compasseth vsus about, and let vsus runne with patience all out the race which is set before vsus: so we shalbe like vntounto our sauiour Christ, who for the ioye that was set before him, did despise the crosse, and is nowe the authour and finisher of our faith.
The greatest enimie we hauehave to make vsus slumble and fall, that we should not holde this constancie, and perseuerance vntounto the ende, is, our owne fleshe. And if it may hauehave any rule in this worke, or if we consult with it in these heauenlie thinges, wee are vndone, and all our labour is lost: for our fleshe will like of nothing long. All delightes must hauehave their change, and the greater the pleasure is, the neerer is safetie, in any thing what so euer apperteineth vntounto the bodie. Wouldest thou neuer so faine sell thy selfe to serue any thing, thou shalt finde nothing that will giuegive thee a perpetual pleasure, to buy thy seruice: hunger & thirst are soone satisfied, the heauie cyclid is easily filled with sleepe, labour hath wearinesse, and rest is soone tedious: all play and pastim…, whiche so many make the crowne and garland of their life, this also is dullnesse in a little while, and this garlande is as withered hay: an other thinge must come to take this vp, or rather then this should be still, we would neuer play while we liued.
Thus, as the night doeth ouertake the day, and the day doth driue away the night; so our worldly pleasures runne one after an other, and the best of them all do not endure long. Euen as Solomō sayth, The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor ye eare with Eccle. 1. ….hearing: but be the tune neuer so sweete, at last wee desire another. This flesh and fleshly minde, if wee shall bring to our religion, can we (think you) perseuere in the profession of it? We cannot: no more then the Cat of the mounteine can change her spots, or the black Moore can change his colour. If therefore we will holde this excellent vertue of perseuerance vntounto the ende, let vsus make a good beginning: euen that God (who chaungeth not) with his holie spirite which neuer forsaketh vsus, may kindle our heartes with the louelove of his trueth, which shall nor be quenched for euermore.
This it is I say: let this be our comming vntounto the Gospel, in this preparation of our heart, that our heauenlie Father, the God of all grace, may giuegive vsus his spirite, that we may louelove his trueth vntounto eternall life, This beginning shall hauehave stil increase, and hauehave at the last a perfect worke: but if this bee not it, if the louelove of God be not all wee looke for, if ambition, authoritie, riches, prayse of men: if any fleshly affection be with vsus, when we hauehave our purpose, our woorke is at an ende. Or, if by occasion the Gospel shall hinder this purpose, our religion is at an ende, fare well the Gospel, Booke and all: wee beginne to sing, a new maister, a newe. But ô man blind and folish! What is thy glorie but in shame? and what is thy song but lamentations and mourning and woe? Thou hast gotten, in deede, a newe maister: for thou haste forsaken God, who is from the beginning: and seruest the croked serpent, who was an Apostata afore thee: and yet thou haste no newe maister, but whome before tho… seruedst in hypocrisie, him now thou seruest in vanitie, and he holdeth thee bound, euen as he will him selfe.
Let vsus take heede (dearely beloued) and neuer be ouertaken of such a shame. Let vsus feele our hope, reioyce in it, louelove the glorie that is set before vsus, inlarge our heartes to comprehend immortalitie, and with all our soule serue the God of glorie. Let vsus delight in his statutes, & iudgementes, and make them our songes in the night season: so we shall knowe we be the house of God: we shall hauehave this perseueraunce, whereof I hauehave spoken, and we shall not be confounded for euer. Now, let vsus pray &c.