OF the wound , & cure of sinne ; or rather of the death of sinne in the soale , & the life of righteousnesse by Iesus Christ , His Lordships Chaplaine that day preached of such matter . Iohn . 5.15 . we haue heard alreadie . Of the which our Sauiour saith in the 5. of Iohn , Verilie verilie I say vnto you , the houre shall come and now is , when the dead shal heare the voice of the son of God : and they that heare it shall liue . And wee haue heard , and beleeued , and liue in God . Of the course of which life in godlinesse , and the blessed benefite of the same , wee haue nowe to heare farther out of this sentence of the Apostle : which depending on the former , as a reason of his exhortation there vnto Godlinesse , containeth doctrine , & admonition : Doctrine , for the whole Church ; as admonition likewise for the same : but , properlie for Timothie ; a man , and a minister , young in yeares , but graue and austere in manners , verie much , if not too much : hauing alwaies before his eies that dutie , which this our Apostle himselfe otherwise embraced , 1. Cor. 9.27 . where hee saith , I beate downe my body , and bring into subiection , least by anye meanes when I haue preached vnto others , I my selfe should bee reiected . Yet missing the rule , of too much superstition , or too little descretion , in going too far , ( as Nimium , and Parum , Too much , & too litle , are still in our way for every godly duty : ) the Apostle calleth him back , as els where by special admonishment to look vnto his stomacke ; so here by these generall wordes , Bodily exercise profiteth litle : and lesse in deede he meaneth , then Timothy took it . Wherein to bleare his eies a litle , who stared to much on it , he setteth before him another obiect , so much more greate & excellent , that , because it swalloweth vp the first , wee also will stay our selues in the consideration of this , in these words , but godlinesse is profitable vnto all thinges , as having the promise of the life present , and of that that is to come . Wherein wee haue two pointes , a doctrine , and the same assured by a reason to vs : the doctrine , in these wordes , Godlinesse is profitable vnto all thinges : the Reason , in these , as having the promise of the life present , and of that that is to come .

Of the which wee may note , first , how the Apostle speaketh , which is , abstractive , as they say , in the Abstract , and not in the concrets ; schoole-rearmes , but of easie vnderstanding ; the one , noting the qualitie alone and by it selfe considered ; the other , the subiect , or person with the qualitie , or in whome is that qualitie . And this no doubt also but the Apostle meaneth , namelie , that the godlie person hath the promise ; and yet hee both not so speake , but saith , that Godlines hath the promise : and why ? because the godlie person , for his godlinesse , and not else ; but godlinesse , for it selfe ; it being such a thing , and so like vnto God himselfe , that hee cannot but blesse it , euen now in this life present , & especiallie in that that is to come ; and thereof hath made and given his promise to vs , that wee not onely shoulde haue it , and take it , when it commeth ; but also shoulde hope and waite for it ; even when we haue it not . From whence ariseth the truth of this sentence or proposition , that Godlinesse is profitable vnto all thinges , as that which giveth vs al thinges either in present possession , or expectation .

Many dispute many thinges ; & many desires , & purposes haue wee : but in nothing our mindes more corrupt & destitute of the truth , then in this , if without , or beside godlines , wee count any thing to be gaine or profite . Whose minds notwithstanding are so corrupt , & so destitute of the truth , that any thinge ( almost ) we account gaine & profite without godlines : or at the least all the godlines we haue or doe besire , is gaine & profite . For if other gaine we haue , we haue godlines enough , though we haue none in deede ; & yet haue as much , as wee desire . Men of this making altogether this out Apostle painteth out in the 6. Chap. of this Epist. the 5. & 6. verses ; whome he saith to bee men of corrupt mindes , 1. Tim. 6.5.6 . & destitute of the truth , which thinke gaine to be godlines . What is that ? in wit , this : their godlines , or al the godlines they care for , is gaine , according to their corrupte mindes , & destitute of the truth ; embracing any in the world , as good & profitable , and letting godlines alone : of which the passe not a pin , and care nothing of it , as nothing worth , if so they may attaine their other desires . And that this is the meaning , it is plaine , in that the Apostle contradicteth it in these wordes following , but , saith he , Godlines is greate gaine . Not onely gaine , but great gaine , and if we will haue that expounded too , the Apostle saith in our Text , that Godnes is profitable vnto all thinges .

Wherfore we neede goe no further for weapons , to slay the madnes of Atheisme , that is , vngodlines it selfe , which setteth godlines at naught , and teacheth men to mocke at it , as a thing of nothing : and a thousand things we desire as good & profitable ; but godlines with thousandes is good for nothing . And Religion , though it selfe honourable , yet if , as it hath the nature , so the name of goodlines ( euen as this is her name also ; for what is religion , but godlines ; and what is godlines , but religion ? ) yet , in this other name of hers wee cannot abide her ; and religion in the name of godlinesse , is a derision . For I tell you , he hath a fine wit , and hitteth his neighbour home , as he thinketh , which can hang the lip , and say , O you are very godly , O tempora , ô mores , ô times ô manners , saith he , who saw the discipline of the city of Rome so weake , that one Catelin , a seditious rakehel , could sit , and be seene in the Senate amongst them . And we must swallow our griefe and say nothing , to see the Church of God defiled with thousandes of those , & sitting almost in the Senate , and chiefest roomes amongst vs , who not only secretly vndermine , but euen bid open battaile ( almost ) vnto the name of godlines : these being , I feare , the times , of which Peter by a special remembrance vnto the faithful , foretold , saying , 2. Pet. 3.3.4 This first vnderstand , that there shall come in the last daies mockers , walking after their owne lusts , and saying , when is the promise of his comming ? such , as even stowted the Lord , and grieued the godly , and gaue complainte before vnto the Prophet Malachie in the 3. Chapter : Your wordes haue beene stoute against me , saith the Lord : yet yee saie , Mal. 3.13.14.15 . what haue we spoken against thee ? ye haue saide , it is in vaine to serue God ; and what profit is it that we haue kept his commandement , and that we walked humbly before the Lord of hosts . Yea now we counte the prowde blessed : euen they that worke wickednes are set vp ; and they that tempt God , yea they are deliuered . And they had euen wearied the Lord herewith , as the Prophete complaineth in the former Chapter , Mal. 2.17 . Yee haue wearied the Lorde with your wordes , saith he , yet yee saie , wherein haue we wearied him ? in that yee say , euery one that doth euill , is good in the sight of the Lord , and hee delighteth in them : or , where is the God of iudgement ? and these haue euen wearied the Lord , and vs ; as many , as at this time embrace godlines : and yet they saie , wherin haue we wearied you ? in that ye say , and say lowdly , and lewdly , with the greatest skorne , we are foolish and busie fellowes .

But the vomit of these men is loathsome , and we will leaue it : and for the praise , and price of godlines , wil come to the proofe of that , which the Apostle hath saide of it , as we haue heard , namely , that Godlines is profitable vnto all things . And this proofe is contained in the words next following , implying a reason of the former speech or sentence in these words , as having the promise of the life present , and of that that is to come . And this reason is strong from a sufficient division of all thinges . For all thinges are contained in this life present , and in that that is to come . And therefore godlines must needs be profitable vnto al things , sith nothing , neither here , nor heereafter can be wished , which it bringes not with it . For though the Apostle only saieth , it hath the promise of this life , & that life , he meaneth , as also he speaketh in the 17 of the Actes , Life and breath , Acts 17.25 . and all things ; and as the Philosopher speaketh , all things ad benè beateque vivendum , to liue well and blessedly . For life else were nothing , if wee shoulde want those things that pertaine to blessednes . And though some maie thinke that the Apostle commeth short of the matter , & speaketh not home enough , saying , that godlines hath the promise , & not the thing ; yet this is al one in deede , considering who is the promiser , God that cannot lie , Tit. 1. ● . as other where he saith . And because wee cannot haue al our happines at once , but some is here in this life present , and more hereafter in the life to come ; for assurance of the whole we haue his promise , which is alwaies as good as performaunce it selfe . For whosoeuer , saith the sonne of Siracke , trusted in the Lord , and was confounded ? Eccle. 2.11 . O then , who is wise , & wil be rich , and honourable , and haue true strength , and beauty , and health , & peace , and blessednes with God ? euen the man , that is godly ; which walketh with God , yea and talketh with him : as it is saide of Henoch , Gen. 5.22 . & 6.9 . & 17.1 . Noah , and Abraham , that they were iust and vpright men in their time , and walked with God . Euen as this is the ende of our deliuerance , that we , Luke 1.74.75 . as Zacherie saith , being deliuered out of the hands of our enemies , might serue him without feare , in holines , & righteousnesse before him , or in his sight , all the daies of our life : that wee should walke , and talke with God ; and hauing our delighte in the lawe of the Lorde , Psal. 1.2 . shoulde meditate therein day and night ; that we should loue , feare , and honour him in all our waies , and so wante nothing , which we would & should haue , either in this life present , or in that that is to come .

But here groweth a question : what it meaneth then , that euen vngodlinesse it selfe hath , or seemeth to haue our portion , at least in the things of this life present : of which Dauid in the seuenteenth Psalm speaking , maketh his praier , thus , Psal. 17.13.14 . Vppe Lord , saith he , disappoint him , cast him down : deliuer my soule from the wicked with thy sword : from men by thine hand O Lord , from men of the world , who haue their portion in this life , whose bellies thou fillest with thine hidde treasures : their children haue enough , and leaue the rest of their substance for their children . Where hee speaketh , as he meaneth , of the wicked , namelie , that they haue their portion in this life , and no where else ; and that they haue already , as much as they shal haue , in this life present : for in the life to come they haue no portion . Answerably vnto that that Christ also warned those good almes-men , forsooth , in the 6. of Matthew , which trumpetted the thing for the praise of men , Therefore , saith hee , when thou giuest thine almes , thou shalt not make a trumpet to be blown before thee , as the hypocrites do in the Synagogues , & in the streets to be praised of men . Verily I say vnto you , they haue their reward . That is , they haue already that they desired , to witte , the praise of men ; and this is all they shall haue : for besides this verilie they shall haue nothing . And what then shal it profite the vngodly that they were wise , and rich , and honourable , and had peace , and prosperitie in this life , when this life is gone , and their portion ended , & nothing remaineth for the life to come ? the bitternes of which estate answered his doubt , who in beholding the prosperitie of the wicked , had almost denied providence , till at the laste , in acknowledgement of that which here is taught , Claud. he saith , Tolluntur in altum , vt lapsu graviore ruant , They are lifted vppe aloft , to haue the greater fall . As Dauid , to expresse his greatest misery , saith , He taketh me vp , and casteth me downe againe . Psal. 102. Euen as that we lift vp to cast downe , we dash all in pieces . And the beggers wo is nothing to the Prince his want . But , as he saith , Sen. Theb. In servitutem cadere de regno graue est . Of king to become a caitife , that cuts the heart .

Yea , but the wicked and vngodlie of the world haue wealth and welfare : and while they haue it , will some say , they are wel and happy . But this their happines , what euer they haue , in spite of all the wicked we deny , for first it should be knowen how they haue any thing . Not by promise : for that pertaineth vnto godlines , by testimony of our Text , which saith significantlie , that godlines hath the promise , and not vngodlines . How them ? without promise . O miserable theues & robbers , which haue an heape of goodes so ill gotten . Psal. 24. v. 1. For the earth is the Lords , & he hath promised the same vnto the godlie , and againe , Math. 5.5 . Blessed are the meeke , for they shall inherit the earth . And everie creature of God is good , 1. Tim. 4.5 . & nothing to be refused , if it be receaved with thanksgiving . For it is sanctified , saith the Apostle , by the worde of God , and prayer . But who giveth thankes , and who so receaueth the good creatures of God , as good and lawfull ; and … ome are they sanctified by the ordinance and will of God , but to those , as before he saith , which beleeue , and know the truth , that is , the godlie . For all the vngodlie of the world are yet in their pollution , and are deprived of all the creatures of the earth ; polluting to themselues everie good creature of God , in the abuse , liue in the verie vse of them ▪ and polluting themselues ▪ I say not now , because stricto iure , as they say , by direct law , they haue no right in them . So Naboths vinyard was good : 1. King . 21. Levit. 25.23 . & Num. 36.9 . & seq. & 1. King . 21. and Ahab had it . But , because he was not of the tribe , besides the intrusion , the forgerie , periurie , and murther committed , hee defiled himselfe in the vnlawfull vse of it . And this is the case of all the vngodlye : who , because they are not of his tribe , who hath the right of inheritance in all these thinges , besides the manifold abuses they put them vnto after , they euen defile themselues in the having of them . And so , not this , and that , as in the former division of the legal pollution , which taught vs that out right in all thinges through our attainder was so taken away , that by touching ; almost , and taking wee defiled our selues in them : but even the breath of their bodies , their life it selfe , & all things are defiled to them ? because , to speake the same thing againe , as light is come into the world , & men loue darkenesse , roote the light : Ioan. 3 19. so liberty is come into the world , and men loue bondage , more then it : and the grace of adoption , whereby we become sonnes ( and if sonnes , saith the Apostle from a ground of their law ; for in the Civell law of the Romans all the sonnes succeeded together ; then heyres , and heyres annexed with Iesus Christ ; ) is refused of the vngodlie and vnbeleevers : who if they haue no part in Christ , Heb. 1.2 . who is the heyre of al thinges , as the Apostle teacheth to the Hebrewes ; how woulde they haue right in any thing , and not still remaine as children , and heires of the first Adam , cast out of Paradise with his children , the verie blessing of the earth this day being turned into a curse vnto them , euen because they haue no part in the second Adam . Wherefore , let all the vngodlie of the world here learne to looke west vnto their theevish handes , & care how to haue their hartes purified by faith , Act. 15.9 . 2. Tim. 3.12 . & to liue godly in Iesus Christ ; that so they may be heires of the promise ; and that , in the rich vngodlie especiallie it may be seene for a wounder to the world how the camel creapeth through the needles eye , and that which is impossible with men , Psal. 22.30 . is yet possible with God , the prophesie of Davis in 22. Psalme beeing fulfilled in them . All the fat of the earth , & those that are filled with earthlie felicitie , shall eate , as being nourished in the Church , vers. 28. and shal bow themselues . As before hee saith , All the endes of the earth shall remember themselues and bee turned vnto the Lorde , & all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before him .

Which lowly submission vnto Iesus Christ , and to the septer of his worde in the kingdome of his Church , if once we might see in the greate vngodlye of the world , Lord , how manye sinnes also would so be cut of , which dailie are committed in the good thinges of God , through the manifold abuse of them vnto sinne and wickednes . And if wee see it not , as to seldome in deede is seene , so many sinnes remaine of this sort also , that better for them it were if beggers they had beene borne , and so had continued to their liues end , then to answere this account before the great Iudge ; the riches also of whose bountifulnes and patience they haue abused , not knowing , Rom. 2 4.5.6 . as the Apostle saith , that the bountifulnes of God leadeth them to repentance : but they after their hardnes , & hart that cannot repent , heape vnto themselues wrath against the daye of wrath , and declaration of the iust iudgment of God , who shall reward everie man according to his workes : open , or secret ; to himselfe , or others . And therefore then , and there also shall bee revealed touching their title of possession , how it faileth with God , which holdeth with men : which is a secret to the world , and to worldlie mans hartes , but knowen vnto Gods ; Rom. 2.16 . who shall iudge , as Paul saieth , the secrets of men by Iesus Christ according to my gospell . And therefore the good natured man also , and of greater ingenuitie , cannot escape with all his colours of naturall honestie and vertue , amiable in it selfe , and before the world , Mark . 10.21 . but despised of God , because it wanteth godlines . According as our Saviour saith in the sixteenth of Luke , namely , Luk. 15.16 . that that , which is loftie before men , is abhomination in the sight of God . And to say the verie truth , why should God esteeme them , or any thing in them , who never esteemed him , but them selues , in all their liues ? for looke we into these men with godlie wisedome , and whither shal we see al their desires , purposes counsailes , and endevours directed , but vnto themselues ; and to their owne pleasures , praise , and profit , or to the profit of men like vnto themselues . against whome , and whose workes , the former sentence of Christ is as good , as against the praiers and almes of painted hypocrites . Mat. 6.5 . Verilie I say vnto you they haue their reward : to wit , in this world , and with men ; and they are fowlie deceaved if they looke for more . Wherefore to conclude this point , if the wicked and vngodly , being empty and having nothing , haue no promise or hope of any things or having all thinges of the world , haue with God no lawful tenure and occupation of the same ; and farther , corrupting themselues in the greate abuse of them haue a heavier iudgment in time to come , the best of the vngodly not here excepted : what matterreth it what they haue , and what they are here for a while in this world , sith at the last they loose all , & themselues by a fearefull destruction ; and nothing in the ende is founde gaine , but godlinesse , which is profitable vnto all thinges , and at all times , as having the promise of this life present , and of that that is to come .

But here we must stay a little , at the least to examine this , how the promise holdeth with the godly for the things of of this life : for of the things of the life to come there is no question : the Apostle himselfe in the 15. of the first to the Corinthians vsing these words , 1. Cor. 25.29 . If in this life only we haue hope in Christ , wee are of al men the most miserable . Where albeit he gathereth a most sound conclusion for his present purpose , the handling of which I now omit , yet thus much he saieth withall by way of comparison betweene the godly and the vngodly , that we in this life are more miserable then they . And if we looke vpon the afflictions themselues in their own nature , & number , and see no more , I grant it too . And because the Saints themselues are weak-sighted herein , and tender vpon the sense of present sorrows , no chastising for the present , Heb. 12.11 . as saith the Apostle , seeming ioyous , but grieuous ; they speake sometimes in their hast they know not what ; as if they were miserable , Psal. 31.23 . & psal. 116.11 . and others blessed ; and they will reason this matter with God aboute the trueth of his promise . So Ieremie , but with leaue , and verie modestlie , in the 12 , O Lord , saith he , Ier. 12.1 . if I dispute with thee , thou art righteous : yet let me talke with thee of thy iudgements : Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper ? why are al they in wealth that rebelliously transgresse ? and Abacuk in the first Chapter , Abac. ca. 1. speaking vnto God , cannot tel how to set these togither , namely , the purity of Gods nature , the prosperity of transgressours , and the misery of the righteous . Thou art , saith he ; of pure eies , and canst not see euill : thou canst not beholde wickednes . Wherefore dost thou looke vpon the transgressours , vers. 13. and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous then he ? and Iob , and Dauid , two excellente personages , but much afflicted , were more impatient ; and Iob , euen terrified , in the 21 : Euen when I remember , saith he , I am afraide , and feare taketh holde on my flesh . Wherefore do the wicked liue , and waxe old , & grow in wealth ? Iob. 21.6 , & seq. their seede is established in their sight with them , and their generation before their eies : Their houses are peaceable without feare and the rod of God is not vpon them . And so foorth with a long and tedious narration vnto himselfe of the great prosperity of the wicked . And David pathetically and abruptlie , as newly delivered out of this temptation , beginneth his Psalme thus , Yet God is good to Israell , even vnto such as are of a cleane hart . Verily as for me my feete were almost gone ; Psal. 73. my treadings had well nigh slipt : and why ? I was grieved at the wicked ; I did see all the vngodly in such prosperitie . For there are not knots vnto their death : but they are lusty and strong . They are not in toile as other folke , neither are they plagued like other men . And then setting out more at large both their impiety and prosperity , as thinges not so agreeable in his iudgement , at the last he vseth this Acclamation , vers. 12. Lo , these are the vngodly , these prosper in the world , & these haue riches in possession . And then he sheweth how weake he was , and how ill at the first hee tooke this matter . vers. 13. And I saide , saith this good man , then haue I cleansed my heart in vaine , and washed my hands in innocencie . All the day long haue I beene punished , and chastened every morning . And so cleare is this thing , the godly , which haue the promise , sometime , & for the most part in such aduersitie ; and the vngodly , which haue no promise , in such prosperitie , that heereby they euen insult ouer God , and his children , as in the 15. verse , Ecce generationem filiorum tuorum : Behold the generation of thy children : as if they should say , who neede care much to be of the number , and their case no better . And yet stil , my brethren , we holde fast this trueth , which heere is taught vs , namely , that godlinesse hath the promise , not only of the life that is to come , but of this life present also . And the performance is good .

But everie promise is kept , as it is made . And though this promise here is meant vnto the godlie , yet the same in precise tearmes is made vnto godlinesse , as at the first was noted . That so the godlie might bee taught to assure them selues of the truth hereof , onely with Quatenus , and clause of restraint , and no otherwise , to wit , thus , so far as the are godlie ; because the godlie do want of their godlines . And as Paul saith of knowledge , which is a part of godlines , our knowledge is in part : 1. Cor. 13.12 . so much more is it true of the whole , that our godlines is in part : & it were a dangerous dreame to thinke otherwise . Wherefore wee accuse not the purietie and sincerity , but the perfection of godlines : and the most godlie wee say againe doe want of then godlines . So far therefore as wee are godlie , and doe keepe with God , so far he keepeth with vs , but when we breake with him , as too often we do , this altereth the case with vs , but yet not with God . For then he taketh the rod in hand , which otherwise should lie long enough , but for very neede : and , so that godlines might go with all , his delighte is in the prosperitie of his servants . Oh , saith he , in the 48. of Esaie , Oh that thou hadest harkened to my commaundementes : Isa. 48.18 . then had thy prosperity bene as the floud , and thy righteousnes as the waues of the sea . That is , they should haue followed one vpon the other , as one waue of the sea followeth an other , and gone alonge together as companions vnseperable . And in the fourskore and first Psalme , Oh that my people had harkened vnto mee , and Israell had walked in my waies : I woulde soone haue humbled their enemies , and turned my hand against their adversaries : the haters of the Lorde shoulde haue beene subiect vnto him : but their time ( to wit , time of the prosperitye of his people ) this their time should haue endured for ever . And God would haue fed them with the fatte of wheate ; and with honey out of the rocke woulde I haue satisfied thee . But if wee harken not vnto God , & walke not in his waies , what then 〈◊〉 then thus , and it is inchided in the condition of the promise vnto David , and all the faithfull , in the fourskore and ninth Psalme , thus , But if his children forsake my law , and walke not in my iudgementes ; if they breake my statutes , and keepe not my commandements : dementes . I will visite their offences with the rodde , and their sinne with scourges . Neverthelesse my lovinge kindnes will I not vtterly take from him : not suffer my truth to faile . So that even hee , which also punisheth our vngodlinesse , is true in his promise , and his loving kindnesse remaineth still , with it , shall I say ? yea , in it . Heere is a mysterie : and yet no mysterie vnto the godlye ; which feele and finde their vngodlinesse so to bee chastened by the hande of God , with such a fatherlie good will and care of them , that hee turneth them hereby from their vngodlines , to stand fast in the covenant ; and al that furthereth this intent is therefore blessed . Blessed is the sickenesse , blessed are the sores , blessed are the woundes of such a friend , Prov. 27.6 . yea , better then the kisses of an enemie . This I take it is the meaninge of that league and Covenaunt in the second of Hosea , And in that day , saith the Lord , will I make a Covenant for them , Hos. 2.18 . with the wilde beastes , and with the fowles of the heauen , and with that that creepeth vpon the earth : and I will breake the bow , and the swoord , and the battail out of the earth , and will make them to sleepe safely . Not that there shall not bee annoyances to these confederates in heauen , & in earth , aboue , & below , & rounde about them ; nor that the sword shall not be whet , & bow bent , & the battail set against them in all the earth ; for who in the earth more afflicced then wee ? but , that the intent of the enemy shall be defeated , & these instruments of mischiefe , prepared for their hurt , shal be found in the end to do them good . O Ashur , the rod of my wrath , saith the Lord by the Prophet , and the staffe in their handes is mine indignation . Isa. 10.5.6.7 . I will sende him to a dissembling nation , and I will giue him a charge , against the people of my wrath , to take the spoile , and to take the pray , & to tread them vnder feete , as the mire in the streete . But he thinketh not so : but hee imagineth to destroy and to cut of not a few nations . The purpose of the Lord , & his worke was , by the rod of the Assirians in iustice , & iudgement , to punish the sinnes of Ierusalem & Iuda for their amendment : as Ieremie saith , Let thine owne wicked . correct thee , Ierem. 2.19 . and thy turninges back reprooue thee ; know therefore , & behold that it is an evill thing and bitter that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God and that my feare is not in thee , saith the Lord God of hostes . But the bent of the Assirian was barely to destroy , and to set vp his great name by mighty destructions . Thus the enimies shall whet their swoord , and bend their bow , & make readie the battail for our destruction ; they shall kill , and leade captiue , & devide the spoiles ; & yet no harme doone : for the Prophecie of Esaias shall be fulfilled , Isa. 11.9 . They shall not hurt , nor destroy in al the mountaine of my holines . The reason , For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord , as the waters that couer the sea . This plentifull knowledge doth keepe all safe . Which Paul also ascribeth to our loue of God ; who cannot but loue him , after that we haue knowen him , and his loue towardes vs ; according as hee hath chosen vs before , and called vs with an holy calling , ● . Tim. 1.9 . to know , loue , and honour him in all true holines . Wherefore in the 8. to the Romans most comfortablie & most plainely to this purpose he saieth , Also we know that all thinges worke together for the best vnto them that loue God , Rom. 8.28 . euen to them that are called of purpose . Where doubtlesse the Apostle meaneth not so chiefelie of the thinges which properlie are good , as of those , which might be hurtfull , if the purpose of men , and the nature of the things should be respected . But such is the worke of godlines , or rather of God for the godly , whome he hath loued , & called according to purpose ; & they know him , & loue him , & serue him in holines ; that for their sakes according to the warking , as the Apostle saith , Philip. 3.21 . whereby he is able to subdue all things vnto himselfe ; & to comaund the light to shine out of darkenes , 2. Cor. 4.6 . he also subdueth vnto himselfe , & his , the nature of these evill thinges , and turneth them vnto their good , so bringing light out of darknes , ioy out of griefe , grace out of sin , deliverance out of destruction , & life out of death it selfe : that the true cause of our rejoycing may so appeare , as Paul in the third of the first to the Corinthians sheweth , 1. Cor. 3.21.22 . Therefore saith he ; let no man reioyce in men : for all thinges are yours : whether it be Paul , or Apollos , or Cephas , or the world : or life or death ; whether they be things present , or things to come , all are yours , & yee are Christes , & Christ is Gods . Wherefore , my deare brethren , let vs be Christs , as Christ is Gods ; that is , Christians in deede , as in name we are , & all things are ours , to serue vs , Psal. 91.13 . & to minister vnto our good , & nothing shall hurt vs : we shall walke , as he saieth , vpon the lion & aspe , the young lion & the dragon shall he treade vnder feete ; & this miracle in a sort shal stil be seene & felt of vs , of which out saviour saith , They shall take away serpents , Mark . 16.19 . & if they shall drinke of any deadly thing , if shall not hurt them . And such reioicing hath godlines . And why then should we fear a flout , to be called godly of the vngodly , beggers brats , & no better , which haue nothing , or the promise of nothing : neither in this life , nor in the life to come .