3 The truth of his Speech , and asseveration thereof ; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , In veritate comperio .

4 His confidency , and apodeicticall knowledge of what he taught ; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , I plainely perceaue , or , am constantly perswaded .

5 The Speech it selfe ; God is no accepter of persons , &c. Wherein we may see ( as in the Vision of the Prophet Ezechiel ) rotam in rotâ , two propositions , one linked within the other , which cary with them much weight , and a glorious lustre of God's vnpartiall Iustice and Majesty .

The first is negatiue and generall ; God is no accepter , &c.

The second is affirmatiue , with a particular exception out of the generall negatiue . But in every nation , &c.

In the first God's Iustice overpoiseth his Mercy : in the second his Mercy is transcendent over his Iustice . In the first hee appeares a terrible Iudge to spare none : in the second a mercifull Father to spare all , that feare him , and worke righteousnes . For they are accepted of him , not by merit , but by favour , not by workes , ex condigno , but by mercy , and ex dono . These are the parts of my Text ; of which in their order .

Peter ] What Christ elsewhere promised here hee performed , & makes a poore Fisher-man , to become a fisher of men . The Sea wherin he fished is the Ocean of this World , swelling with pride , livid and blew with envy , boiling with wrath , deepe with covetousnes , foaming with luxury , swallowing all by oppression , dangerous for rockes of presumption and desperation , rising with waues of passion , ebbing and flowing with inconstancie , and last of all , Mare amarum , bitter with all kind of misery . The chiefe fish , which at this time came to his net , was Cornelius an Italian Centurion , and with him many other Gentiles . The Net , wherewith he fished and caught him and them , was the glad tidings of the Gospell , and Faith in Iesus Christ : which is compared in Scripture to a Net , and consisteth of manic Articles , as a Net of many threds . The casting of this net , was the vnfolding of the Word : Then Peter opened his mouth . The plummets that keepe such downe , as are taken in the Net , from presumption , are the threatnings of the Law , and the severe Iustice of God : God is no accepter of persons . The Corkes , that beare them vp in all the surges of this world , that they sinke not downe into the depth of despaire , are the promises of the Gospell , and the sweete mercies of Almighty God : But in every nation , &c.

This great Fisher of men St Peter , was naturâ Homo , gratiâ Christianus , abundantiore gratiâ vnus idemque primus Apostolus . He was by nature , saith St Austin , but a man , by grace a Christian man , by abundant grace not only one , but a cheife Apostle . He was the first , that confessed Christ to bee consubstantiall with his Father ; he was the first , that preacht Christ ; the first , that baptizeà in his name ; and stil the forwardst man , in the execution of his Apostolique function . He was with Christ , whil'st he liu'd on earth most familiar & conversant , with his secret counsailes best acquainted , most observant of his words and precepts : and because , saith Cyprian , vnit as ab exordio dependet , to preserue order & to avoid schisme amongst the guides of the Church , he was by Christ set before the rest , vnto whom all the rest of the same ranke and order in religious matters of importance should haue recourse , as to a person more honorable then the rest . Iohn indeed was that Apostle , whom Christ lou'd aboue the rest ; but St Peter was he , that lou'd Christ , more then Iohn or any of the Apostles . Ille melior qui plus diligit Christum ; illefeiicior , quem plus diligit Christus . In that S. Iohn was best belou'd of Christ , he was the happier man ; but in that S. Peter lou'd Christ better then they all , he was the better man . Better , not in commission , but in place , and order ; he was before him or the rest , not aboue him or any of the rest ; he was a chiefe Pecre of the Apostles , not their Prince ; he was in order their Superiour , not their Soueraigne ; he had a Primacy amongst them not a Supremacy ouer them ; he was not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , not a prince of the Apostles , but a fellow Elder , as he himselfe termes himselfe , 1. Pet. 5. 1.

There is , saith Almaine ( in his Tracte de Potestate Ecclesiasticâ ) a double Primacy ; there is Primatus Ordinis , and Primatus Iurisdictionis , a Primacy of Order , & a Primacy of Power and Iurisdiction ; the former is properly Primatus , the other Potestas . The first wee yeeld vnto Peter , & giue him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the first place , the first and best imployment , the sitting and speaking first , the moderation & direction of other mens speeches , the publishing and pronouncing of the Conclusion agreed vpon by the Synode of the Apostles : but Primatum Potestatis , a power to doe any ministeriall Act , which another hath not , a power to restraine others in the performance of their Acts of Ministery , such a Primacy wee denie vnto Peter ; th' Apostles all being , ( as Cyprian saith ) pari consortio praediti Potestatis , all ioynt Commissioners endued with equal power . This Primacy of Order , which wee ascribe vnto Peter , is the originall of all the Superioritie , that Archbishops & Metropolitans haue over the Bishops of their Provinces ; and the foundation , vpon which is built all the fabricke of Ecclesiasticke discipline , whereby the vnitie of the Church at this day remaines preserved .

If I were to dispute with a Papist , I would not be so troublesome vnto him , as to cause him to proue that Peter was ever at Rome , that hee sate Bishop there , that he died there , or that the Pope is his lineall Successour , ( which some of our Divines haue denied ; and to proue them all , it is impossible ) but yeelding that , yet tanquam datum , non concessum , nothing thence can be inferd , for the support of the Romane Supremacie , more then may be concluded for the Sea of Antioch , or the Bishop of Ierusalem . For at Antioch Peter first sate Bishop , & afterwards gouerned it by Evodius ; at Antioch the Professours of the Gospell were first called Christians , and the place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the City of God . And if St Peter's death , or Martyrdome , could adde such Soveraigntie to the place , where hee died ; then much juster claime may be laide to this Supremacie by the Bishop of Ierusalem , because Christ the great Pastor and Bishop of our soules did there suffer death for the Redemption of vniversall man . But nor the one , nor the other , is a sufficient foundation to raise vp this Edifice of the Popish Hierarchie . The Commission given to Peter was not singular , but to others common with him : the rest of the Apostles were authorized , as well as he , and that immediately from Christ ; their preheminence of binding and loosing as ample ; and as Christ was sent by his Father , so sent he them , & what he said to one , he said to all , Pasce oves , Feed my sheepe . For it was a thing in the Evangelicall story with Christ vsual , sometimes to direct his speech to one private man , and no more , as Arise and walke , Lazarus come forth ; sometimes to direct his speech to one in the person of al , as Vade & noli ampliùs peccare , Goe and sinne no more , and to Peter , Pasce oves ; Nam quod dicitur Petro , dicitur omnibus ; What was said to Peter , was said to all the Apostles , saith Austin , cap. 30. de Agone Christiano . Now the reasons , why Christ directed his speech to Peter in the behalfe of them all , were these ; vel quia aetate senior , vel charitate ardentior , velne videretur reliquis abiectior , quia negaver at Christum , saith Occham lib. 4. Dial. 1. Tract. 3. part . c. 3. Either because he was more ancient , or in charitie more ardent , then the rest , or else lest he should seeme to bee despised for the denyall of his Master . But the Pope ( the pretended Successour of this Peter ) will not content himselfe with this Prioritie ; he will not only haue a Cheiftie of Order , but of command , and Power : and because ( in all likelyhood ) Christ would haue his Church gouerned in the best forme of regiment that is , and that of all States the Monarchie is best ; hence Sanders , and after him Bellarmine lay it downe for a Praecognitum , that the Government of the Church must needs be Monarchicall ; that this was committed vnto Peter , and continued in his Successours ; whereby his Power is become illimited , his Iudgement infallible , and hee an Vniversall Bishop , whose Diocese is the whole World . The truth of this State-Maxime , on which they build the Pope so high a Throne , I will not dispute ; but keepe my selfe within the sphaere of mine owne Profession ; and , for an vncontroll'd Answere to them all , adde that limitation , which I finde in the fore-cited Occham ( 3. Part. Dial. l. 3. Tr. 1. c. 30. ) Status Monarchicus est omnium optimus populo simul moranti , non autem vni populo comprehendenti plures populos locis distantibus . That Government is best , where one beares Soveraigntie , not many , but so , that it be over but one nation , & not manie , or if over many , yet not farre disjoyned . Which limitation of Occham's I find strengthned with the authoritie of great St Austin ( lib. 4. de Civ . D. c. 15. ) Feliciores essent res humanae , si omnia regna essent parva , & concordi vicinitate laetantia . The estate of worldly things would bee much more happy , if the whole world were divided out into small Kingdomes , then if all should be sway'd by one supreme Commander . That forme therefore of Gouernement is not so expedient for the whole , as for each part , for large and disioyned Circuits , as for narrow bounds : and as it is impossible for one temporall Monarch to weeld the Empire of the whole world , either long , or well , so much more impossible it is for one man to manage all Ecclesiastique affaires and dispatch the weighty businesses of the Vniversall Church . Better therefore were it for Peter , or his Successours , to bee ( as St Austin tearmes him Tract. 13. in Ioh. ) Oculus in corpore , an Eye of the Church , then to be so vast a Head of a body so farre dissevered : lest that bee applied vnto him in the Comedy , Hic quidem fungino genere est , capite se totum tegit ; The Church of Rome is become a mushrome , or like a Toad-stoole , all Head , and no bodie .

Yet hath the sweet desire of Ambition so enchanted the Chaire of the Scarlet Whore , that rather , then the Pope will loose this eminent Soveraigntie and command , he will become the Patrone and maintainer of most enormous offenders and their offences , thereby to procure support of his Antichristian Primacy . For the best stake in the Pope's hedge is his owne Authority , to maintaine his owne Infallibilitie , and is now become stript of all , saue the naked Decrees of Canonists , and the Dreames of wel-fed Monks : to which had he not of late annexed an omnipotent Power of Binding , and Loosing , of Approuing , and Dispensing with things repugnant to all Laws as wel Naturall as Divine ; I might by way of prediction say of the Pope's Arrogancie , that , which was said to the Troians of the Grecian Horse , — haec in vestros fabricata est Machina muros ; The Pope's Supremacy had long since beene the destruction of him , his Sea , and City . Hee is but a child and ignorant in the Histories of his owne times , that doth not know , that the cheefest proppe , whereon the Pope stands , and at this houre is sustained , is his correspondency with the Spanish King , and the House of Austria ; which hee first procured and now maintaineth by his dispensing and warranting of his incestuous and vnlawfull Mariages . So that if the Spaniard should revolt from the Sea of Rome , the Legitimation of his Successours would be questioned & his Signiories endangered . Which is the only reason of the consistencie of the Papacie , claimed vnder the title of S. Peter , which otherwise had ere this not beene at all , or else reduced into a narrowe Diocese .

Opened his mouth ] S. Peter spake not rashly , or without meditation making his words to breake the prison of his lips , before the doore of his mouth was opened ; but he taketh the keyes of knowledge and Meditation in hand , and therewith opened his mouth , and then spake . When I mused ( saith David ) there was a fire kindled , and then I spake . What was this Musing , but his Meditation ? What was this fire , but the light of God's Spirit ? What was the kindling therof , but the inflammation of his affections ? that so he might speake Ignita Dei eloquia , with a tongue toucht with a cole of Meditation from Gods holy Altar .

For by opening of the mouth in this place is not to be vnderstood a bare dissevering of the lips , but a preparation of the heart , out of the abundance of which the tongue should speake , and is indeed a pleonasme , or redundancy of the Hebrew tongue , signifying to begin to speak after long silence with Religion ; & in this sense our Church Liturgy prayeth , O Lord open thou our Lips . So that , as Moses first spake with God , before he spake to the people : so St Peter first speaketh with God's Spirit by Meditation , before hee delivered to Cornelius this Sermon , which is the subject of my Discourse . The greatest perfection of a man is his Wisedome , and the best herald to proclaime his wisedome is his Speech , and the richest treasure to adorne his speach is Meditation . Meditatio est quasi mentis ditatio , ( saith Bernard ) it is the enriching of the soule with the treasures of Wisedome : nay it is the chewing of the food of the Soule , which maketh it taste sweeter in the mouth , & digest better in the stomack ; and you know those beasts , that chewed not the cudde , are reckoned among the vncleane beasts in the Arke . I know no greater difference betweene a wise man and a foole , then that one speaketh all things rashly , the other all things maturely and advisedly : the one hath his tongue in his heart , the other hath his heart in his tongue , as the Wise man speaketh . For want of which serious consideration , of the Majestie of the person , of whom they speake , and of the holynes of the place , wherein they speake ; many bold and vnworthy speakers , contrary to the Law both of God and the Church , start vp into the Pulpit , and being dull and heavy bodies , contrary to the Law of Nature , they ascend vp to fill a vacuitie . These empty vessels make the greatest sound in many places of this City ; and like Vessels fill'd with new wine , they wil rather break then not vent , though it be but their owne Emptines and Ignorance ; their words are full of winde , and like Aeolus Windes ,

Their mouth , like the Cocke of a Conduit-pipe , if it be but once opened , will run out two Howre-glasses , and that twise or thrise a weeke . Before Ezechiel could haue his Commission to speake to the people , he was enioined , not to touch , to open , or to put into his mouth , but to eate the roule , Ezech. 3. 1. and to receiue the wordes into his heart , Ezech. 3. 10 ; but these men never doe so much as touch the Roule , or open the booke . They ran from the Seminaries of learning , like Lapwings from their nests , with their shels vpon their heads : the portion of learning they brought with them was like the bread & wine of the Gibeonites ; their bread was hot that day they departed , & therefore it was moulded and dry ; & their bottels because they were new , were rent , Iosh. 9. 13. These men need never feare to bee taken for Mercury with St Paule , because they seeke to vent their wares by number , never weighing them . Of these too hasty Pulpit men St Bernard saith wittyly , Quia nimis properè , minùs prosperè rem peragunt .

When the Materiall Temple was built , there was not so much as the noise of a hammer heard there , all things were so prepared before : but in the building of the Immateriall Temple of God , and edifying of mens soules in the faith of Christ , whose Temples we are , there is oft times amongst these extemporary preachers , ( who never prepare what to speake , but onely to open the mouth and speake ) such a stammering and hammering of words , such a rude noise of jarrings in sense , and construction ; that I hold it farre better for the Church they shoulde looke grauely and say nothing , then make so many shallow , frivolous , inconsequent discourses . And so I come from his Maner of speech , to his asseveration ; which is , In truth . ]

He was the Legate of the God of truth , the Apostle of him , in whose mouth there was found no guile ; and being by Cornelius required to speak only that which God had commanded , ( as it is in the verse before my text ) he could not but speake the truth ; and therefore doth adorne the forefront of his speech with this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Of a truth . This is the insoluble bond of Amity , the safest refuge of Innocency , the surest warrant of Fidelity , the strongest sinew of humane Societie , the authenticall evidence of Iustice , the ensigne of Christianity , the soveraigne influence of God , nay it is God himselfe , for God is truth .

Detestable therefore and more then Diabolicall is their doctrine and practise , who straine , and weaken this sinew , which holdeth peace and society together ; who cancell this bond , which being made in earth is registred in the high court of heaven , subscribed and signed by God himselfe ; who either vntie this everlasting knot of truth by cunning Aequivocation , or cut it asunder by Papall Dispensation . How can wee better argue , that the Pope is not Peters Successour , at least in doctrine , then by vrging this one argument here in my text ? Peter beginnes his Plat-forme of speech , Of a truth : but the Pope adviseth his Disciples oft times in their speech to vse a Mentall Reservation , which is in plaine tearmes a Lye ; and so to begin their speech , not with St Peter , Of a truth , but Of a lye . How could wee demonstrate the Pope to bee the man that exalteth himselfe aboue all that is called God , if hee sate not in the Temple of God , as Iudge of God's law , nay as God of GOD himselfe ; whose commands he controles , by adding to , taking from , and dispensing with them . Far be it therefore from vs to hold with him that breakes with God himselfe ; to joine with them in truth of doctrine , that maintaine Equivocating and forswearing ; to partake of that Religion , which taketh away all religious obligation . Is that the faith of a Christian , which alloweth , and in some cases commendeth Perfidio usnesse , and vnnaturall treasons ? Can their doctrine be truth , qui dogmatizant mendacium , who make an equivocating lye a doctrine , and that they may verifie this their lye , belie the truth it selfe , and make IESVS himselfe ( I tremble to speake it ) to become a Iesuite ? teaching by many arguments , that Christ himselfe vsed this kinde of Equivocation , both vnto the High Prtest , and his Disciples , and that all his speeches were not like vnto this of Peter's , Of a truth .

Of all beasts we haue those in greatest detestation , which devour their own young . What are our Words & Promises , what are our Oaths , & Vowes , but the issue of our mind , which they that resume , and recall , what doe they else , but devoure and eate their owne ofspring ? The first that brake this bond of truth in earth was the Divell Gen. 3. whose scholers they shew themselues , who teach , that Oathes , Vowes , and Promises of truth are better broken then kept with Heretikes , & that they may lawfully violate them at their pleasure ; as Iulius 2. was not ashamed openly to professe , fides danda omnibus , servanda nemini . And of this profession was Alex. 6. and his son Borgias , of whom it is reported that the one would never speake what he meant to doe , nor the other ever doe , what hee spake . These were two of the greatest monsters which nature ever yet produced . For what monster can there be in nature more prodigious , then a Liar , or Equivocator , whose speech is not Of a truth ? All other creatures in the world bring forth the same issue , which they conceaue ; but a Lyar , or Equivocator bringeth forth of his mouth , that which hee conceaueth not , or rather a contrary issue to that which he conceaueth . He conceaueth , or rather concealeth , the truth , and bringeth forth a lye , and so the issue of his mouth is contrary to the conception of his heart . The heathen Philosopher Zeno rather then hee would be the Father to beger , or suffer his tongue to bee the Mother to bring forth such a monster , bit of his tongue , and spit it in the face of the king of Cypres , who had a long time tortured him to tell a Lie . Pliny in his 37. Booke of Naturall History reporteth , that if a perjured person dip hand or foot into the river Olachas in Bithynia , hee feeleth as great torments , as if he were throwne into a fornace of melting lead . And Solinus seconds this relation with the like of a river in Sardinia , Periuros furto facto , quos lumine coecat .

And Philostratus telleth as strange a miracle of a river neere Tyara ; in which , if a perfidious person , that hath forsworne himselfe , doe but bath , the water sinketh into all parts of his body , and breedeth an incurable dropsie . But alas ! what is Olachas in Bithynia , or any river in the earth , to that River of Brimstone in hel which boyles with a continuall fire , and much wood ? In which , without long and bitter repentance they shall boyle for ever , who make no conscience of making a lye , & breaking the truth . Great surely are the tortures , which Dives , and with him all the damned doe , and must suffer in hell ; yet no part of Dives body was so much tortured , as his Tongue . He was prowd , and clad in fine linnen ; hee was a Glutton , and fared deliciously every day , and therefore in all likelyhood a wanton too , Nam epulas comitatur voluptas ; he was vncharitable to the poore , and denied Lazarus the crums that fell from his table : yet none of these sins were punished so severely as the sins hee committed with his tongue . Ex poena indicat culpam , quia illud membrum maximè omnium puniebatur ; they are St Gregories words l. 1. Mor. c. 5. and may teach vs to put a watche before our lips , & to make a conscience of breaking the truth , which should be the cognizance of euery Christian mans speech ; as here it is placed in the frontispice of St Peters , Of a truth .

I Perceaue ] St Peter was not till this time ignorant of God's vnpartiall Iustice to vniversal man ; but now he doth see that truth confirmed in particulars , which before he knewe in generall ; hee knewe it before , and now his knowledge was by a sensible probation more confirmed . Iob in his prosperity knewe , that God would not punish the innocent , yet hee would never acknowledge so much , till he had a sensible experience of it , Iob , 9. 28. The sincere affection , and filiall obedience of Abraham to God , could not bee hid from God himselfe , yet there was no evidence of it expressed by God , till he refused not to sacrifice his Sonne . Gen. 22. 12. And although the Apostle before this time had a notion of this truth , which here hee preacheth ; yet a manifest & experimentall overture he never learned , till he saw the gate of the Church now opened to the Gentiles also . The Mistresse of truth is Experience , & the best knowledge hath it's assurance from particulars . By a Generall knowledge we know , as he that had bin blind saw , confusedly , Men like trees : but by a collection of Particulars which are obvious to the sense ( especially in matters practike , & morall ) our mind rests assured without hesitation . The one I may call Notitia , th' other Fiducia , the one resides in the vnderstanding th' other in the will , th' one is Theoricall , th' other Practicall , the one consists in General notions , the other in Particular Experiments ; the one is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , by the one wee may knowe Good from Bad , by the other Better from Good . In the knowledge therefore of divine verities we must not content our selues with the first operations of the Spirit , which are but generall , but we must striue for particular directions , and assurances ; we must not only haue our harts disposed , but informed ; not only ploughed vp , but sowen . For as all other Sciences and Professions must needs savour of much rawnesse and imperfection , if they be studied only in passage , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , to gaine popular estimation , or to content the state in which we liue : So , & much more , is it with religious knowledge , if a man professe it only with relation , and fashion superficially , not syncerely , and exactly .

For though that a weake faith and confused knowledge of Divine things be of that admirable and working nature , that the very least corne and graine of it , is able to effect the salvation of him in whom it is , & to lift him vp to heaven , were he as grosse and heavy as a mountaine : yet neverthelesse this must not content a Christian man ; but hee must make a continuall progresse from faith to faith , from knowledge to knowledge , till at length he be not only able in grosse to knowe , but evidently to perceaue the mysteries of religion and properties of God himselfe ; whereof this is one , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , that hee is No accepter of persons . ]

God is an agent infinite , whose will is nothing else , but Deus volens , as St Austin saith , essentially God himselfe , without whom there is no mouing or efficient cause of his operations : but his will is a law to himselfe , and to all things else whatsoever , & the only cause of what , and why he worketh . It was his pleasure to create this goodly fabricke of the world wee see in time , and not before . It was his pleasure to permit the lapse of the first created man , and his posteritie , and being fallen , to sequester out of the corrupted masse some few , to bee the inheritors of his kingdome , and to leaue the major part in their deserved perdition . Beyond his pleasure to make a Quaere of his actions were saucie curiositie , and yet to thinke his will to be without reason were indigne blasphemy . It is not the prescience of faith , or prevision of workes , that can moue the will of God , to choose one , and refuse the other , because they are not , ( saith Aquinas part. 1. q. 23. a. 4. ) the cause , but the effects of Gods loue . Praedestinatio est gratiae praeparatio , gratia verò praedestinationis effectus . Aug. c. 10. de praedestinatione sanctorum . Predestination is the harbinger of grace and grace the effect of Gods loue . He first created all things , and then saw they were good : the foresight of their goodnesse was no inducement to the worke of their creation , but his creation gaue them this eloge , Quaecunque fecit erant valdè bona . God chooseth none , because they are good , but men are good , because they are chosen . Gratia Dei non invenit eligendos , sed facit . Therefore St Paul ( saith Austin ) compared together the sonnes of Isaac , twins , vno etiam concubitu fusos in vtero , both yet vnborne , neither of them hauing done well or ill ; Quod referendum est ( saith the same Father ) non ad dispensatoris iniustitiam , sed ad donantis misericordiam ; which wee must not impute to Gods Iniustice , or partialitie , but to his good will and pleasure : which must be the last resolution of our inquiries ; and whatsoever the event is , we must still say , as our Saviour did , Mat. 11. 25. Naepater , quia sic placuit tibi ; Even so father , for it seemed good in thy sight . Could the master of the vineyard say , Annon possum facere de meo , quod volo ? Is it not lawfull for me to doe with my owne , what I will ? And shall wee deny to God the supreme cause of all things , the free disposition of any thing after his pleasure ? Whose will is not only iust and full of equitie , but , as St Basil calls it , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the very oracle and rule of iustice , who doth make things iust and right , because he wils them . There is no man reiected by God without iust cause and demerit , nor any saved but by his mercy & free pleasure . Now if it be asked , why God should thus be an accepter of persons , & affoord this mercy to some , and not to all : we must with a religious ignorance content our selues , and stand amazed at the secret and inexplicable greatnesse of God , and satisfie our selues with this , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , it was his pleasure so to dispose of his kingdome . This is the Nonvltrà , beyond which wee must not wade , but hither being come , wee must make a stand , and with the blessed Apostle cry out , O altitudo divitiarum ! O the depth of the riches both of the wisdome and knowledge of God! how vnsearchable are his iudgements , and his waies past finding out ! Rom. 11. 33.

But here we may not be so injurious to the Deitie , as to conceaue God in his Decrees to be tyrannicall , as to say , Sic volo , sic iubeo , stat pro ratione voluntas ; or that the will of God is moued 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , without reason : for although neither beautie of face , feature of body , honourable descent , wisdome , and the endowments of the mind , or any thing else without God , can moue his will to Election , or make him to accept of one person before another ; yet is there never wanting a most iust cause , and sufficient reason of his purposes and Decrees . For although God worketh all things according to his will and pleasure ; yet whatsoever he doth , he doth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with counsell and wise resolution . Eph. 1. 11. God doth order all things sweetly and profitably . Sap. 8. 1. Omnia fecisti in sapientiâ Domine . In wisdome hast thou done all thy workes ô God , Ps. 104. 24. And shall wee thinke that this wise-creating God , who made all things for his glory , should without some proper reason determine of any thing which hee hath made ? The doctrine therefore of St Peter in my Text remaines still true , & as firme as heaven , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , God is no accepter of persons : because when hee determineth any thing hee hath a sufficient reason , besides his Will and Pleasure to doe what he doth . Which reason ( saith the divine Author of the Ecclesiastical Policie ) because we are not worthy or , able to apprehend , we must humbly & meckely adore . This secret and vnknown reason of Gods purposes is like himselfe , Eternall , before the foundations of the world were layd , and hath so effectually moved his Will , that now it can admit of no change or variation . That which God hath decreed , must still bee like God , without change , who can as well deny himselfe to be God , as not performe , what hee hath defined . Whom he loues , he loues vnto the end ; & to whom he giues the earnest of his spirit , they haue a continual feeling in some measure more or lesse , of his gracious presence . For the loue of God , it is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 variable like the gifts of temporall men , which may bee granted to day and reversed to morrow , with a Non obstante priore concessione : but the loue of God and the gifts of his holy Spirit they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and stand for ever without change , Rom. 11. 29. He is Triumphator Israëlis , the glory and strength of Israel , and will neither lie nor repent , nor yet can hee in the meane time be tearmed injurious to any , or an accepter of persons ( as Pelagius prophanely somtime did object : ) because God in giuing his grace to some and denying it to others doth not proceed ( sairh Alex-Hales ) iuxta dignitatem humanam , sed secundùm dignationem divinam , it is a donation of bounty , not a dotation according to the rules of Iustice . As God is in heaven , so should Gods Vicegerents bee in earth ; as they sit in his chaire , so should they walke in his paths of Iustice . They should without respect of persons , as well heare the cause of poore Bartimaeus , as rich Zachaeus , as well the small , as the great , Deut. 1. 17. Their eies must alwaies be shut , that they be not drawn by favour , their eares alwaies open , that they may heare both parties indifferently , & their hands must be fast clinched vp , least otherwise they be corrupted with bribes , quae excoecant prudentes , & subvertunt verba iustorum , which blind the wise , and subvert the words of the righteous , Exod. 23. 8. It was a provident law enacted in the time of Rich. 2. and afterwardes revived in the daies of the last Henry ( and woulde God till this day it had still beene continued without violation ) that no Iustice of Assize should ride his Circuit in that country , where either he was borne , or did liue : that being vnknowne to all , they might accept of the persons of none , but be indifferent vnto al ; that so they might the more freely administer justice , and the more liuely represent him , whose deputy Lieutenants they are ; in being merciful , as he is mercifull , holy , as he is holie , no respecters of persons , because with God there is no respect of persons .

But in every nation ] Cornelius an alien from the common wealth of Israel is accepted with God , as well as Peter borne among God's owne people , and trained vp in Christs owne schoole ; the poore Leper a Iew , as well as the rich Centurion that built his nation a Synagogue ; as well old Simeon in the temple , as young Iohn in the womb ; as wel those that watcht him vnder the Crosse , as the Theefe that hung with him on the Crosse : for in Christ there is neither Iew nor Grecian , neither bond nor free , Gal. 3. 28. but he that is Lord over all , is rich vnto all , not onely to some of all nations , but to all of all nations , that feare him and worke righteousnes . And if any man be not accepted of him , the fault is not in the sufficiencie of God's grace , but in the defect of efficiencie in vs . Wherevpon saith Calvine Com. in 10. Act. v. 33. the words before my text , Maceriâ i am dirutâ , Deus aequali amore omnes gentes complexus est ; the partition Wall being now broken downe , God embraceth all nations with an equall loue . For the will of God toward , mankinde is ( if I may so speake ) Orbicular , environing vniversall man , with Mercies and Iudgements , with Salvation , and Damnation : if with repentaunce and workes of righteousnesse we turne to the right hand , we shall finde a Mercifull Father , and be accepted of him ; but if we remaine obdurate in our sin , and turne to the left hand , we shall see an Angry Iudge and rue the punishments of his wrath . Which change and alteration is in vs , not in God ; God doth not bow to man , but man doth come to God ; nor doth God leaue any man of any nation , but man doth revolt from his Creatour . Not onely the Schooles , but Expositors both Orthodoxe & Romish , stand at this day much distracted , with a diversity , or at least a divers conceit of the Will of God ; of his Antecedent , and Consequent , Hidden and Revealed will , of his Absolute , and Conditionall Will : whereas to speake properly , Gods Wil is one and the same , nor can he be said to haue two Wils , no more then to haue two Wisedomes , two Mercies , two Goodnesses , or a diversity of other his Essentiall Attributes . But as the Wisedome of God ( to instance in that Attribute ) is by St Paule tearmed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Eph. 3. 10. which some render Multiformis , others Multis modis varia , and our English Manifold ; which is yet but one : so the Will of God being one and the same in it selfe , may yet in respect of vs , and the diverse effectes thereof , bee tearmed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Manifold , and Divers . The ground of all these Distinctions is taken out of Damascene , and by Damascene out of Chrysostome , Hom. 1. in Epist. ad Eph. There is in God ( saith hee ) a two-fold Will , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . There is in God a twofold Will , a First and a Second ; the first and principall will of God doth immediately proceede from God himselfe , whereby hee desireth to doe good vnto all , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , & it is Voluntas simplicis complacentiae , and may be tearmed Voluntas benefaciendi . His secondary will doth proceede from contingent causes without God , and is occasioned by vs , and it may be tearmed Voluntas Iustitiae , which doth arise from our sinnes , which God cannot but put in execution without prejudice to his Iustice . The first is the Will of God , wherein he taketh delight and pleasure , and is by the same Father tearmed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the principall will of God . That which hath beene spoken I thus bring home to my text . That it is the Will of God to leaue many of most nations in the corrupt masse of perdition , I well know : but that it is his principall Will , his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or Voluntas simplicis complacentiae , to decree the absolute reprobation of any man of any nation , I vtterly deny . Deus non est priùs vltor , quàm homo est peccator , saith Aug. ep. 105. Man deserues his punishment , before he hath it , & God makes no man a reprobate without just cause . The word Reprobation or Reprobate is in Scripture seldome vsed to this purpose , & the Greeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 will hardly cary it , signifying as well Improbus , or Reprehensione dignus , as a Reprobate , and therefore should bee vsed more sparingly , and not so absolutely determined of . In the Fathers the opposite to Predestination to life eternal is Predestination to a second death ; and to Election to grace , they oppose Dereliction in the Masse of perdition , seldome Reprobation . In those parts of St Austin , which I haue read , I never met with the word Reprobus as opposite to Elect , but once ; & whosoever hath spent most houres in reading the works of that Iudicious Father , did never in that sense read it twise . I wil end this point ( because I haue * * St Maries in Oxon. elsewhere spoken of it more at large ) with that of the Prophet , Perditio tua ex te ô Israel ; there is no man of any nation that fals , but by his owne iniquitie . Stygias vltrò quaerimus vndas , we ferry our selues over vnto hell : and like the Ostrich in Pliny , Proprijs configimur pennis , wee pricke our selues with our owne feathers , & like desperate Marriners cause those ships to leake which should cary vs safe to the fortunate port of heauen .