they ought to touch sinners to the quicke, that they may haue remorse of their sinnes, that they may crie to God for mercie & aske pardon ther∣of, that they may be sorie for thē, that they may mislike of themselues for them, that they may hate them, and vtterly forsake them. For when men are flattered in their vices: first they bee hardened in them, and take alwayes greater libertie to do euill: secondly they thinke not that euer they shal come to account before God: and [ 10] finally they neuer forsake the world that so they may glorifie God, & consider or feele how much they be bound & beholdē to him. By this means thē is Gods mercie defaced, & his grace slippeth away and is vtterly abolished. Besides this, there is yet a greater enormitie, namely that men goe on still from euil to worse, vntil they be falne in∣to vtter confusion. Now then for this cause it is the duetie of such as haue the bearing abrode of Gods word, to exhort their hearers continually [ 20] to consider their sins and to search thē through∣ly. And to what end? Not only to make them bare¦ly ashamed of them: but also to make them hūble themselues before God, & to goe forward conti∣nually in repentāce, yt so they may learne to mis∣like of their faults, & to glorifie God when they wholly repaire to him for refuge, by asking him forgiuenes of the offences that they haue com∣mitted. But what? There are very few that can a way with this order of teaching: for there is not [ 30] so wicked a man, but he would be flattered. And the world seeth that as soone as a man speaketh, some gnash their teeth & seeke nothing else but to bite him: and othersome though a man do but by the way glaunce at their faults which are too too farre out of al square, feare not to check him, or to stand with him face to face in the mainte∣nance therof. But yet for all that, the rule which God hath appointed vs, vs I say which haue the charge to beare abrode his word, is that we must [ 40] dayly labor in warning our hearers, to cal them∣selues to account, and to examine well their owne faults, that they may be sorie for them.
When as he speaketh of hearers: we our selues are comprehended in ye number: for we must not condemne others, & exempt our selues: but he yt speaketh to others, must first stick & look to him∣self & cite himself before God. But yet neuerthe∣lesse we must proceede in this order yt we must al of vs be summoned before God, & haue our in∣ditement [ 50] redy framed & made, and not tarie til God pronounce the sentence of condemnation vppon vs, but euery of vs play the iudge against himself, & that, not by saying in a word or two, I haue done amisse: but by being throughly woun∣ded within, so as we be ashamed of our misdeeds. After this fashion must wee deale. In the meane season if we perceiue yt the wicked cannot away with any correction, but conceiue rancor against Gods word, as we see these despisers of al religiō [ 60] do, who cannot abide that any mā should rebuke them, let vs not maruell at it, for if they bee pin∣ched, by & by they spit out their poison like toads as they be: But if we purpose to shewe our selues to be Gods children, let vs learne to suffer corre∣ction willingly, & to haue our sins laide afore vs, yt we may cōdemn them. For our acknowledging of thē, wilbe a mean to haue them buried before god. Thus ye se what we haue to note vpō yt text.
But now let vs come to Moseses chiefe intent which I haue touched afore. I shall not go into this good land, saith he. And therfore I warne ye continue stedfastly in the couenant of God, so as yee neuer forget it, to worship ydols in his steede, but serue him, seeing he hath once chosen you, & vouchsafed to shewe himselfe your god & father. Here we see yt Moses was not out of hart, though God chastised him roughly. And here we see how the faithful ought to behaue themselues. That is to say, if God pu∣nish them, yet must they not therefore cease to loue him, and to go forward in their course still, yea & to giue ouer themselues wholly vnto him. As soone as the wicked feele but one yirke of the rod with Gods hand, and by and by they kicke a∣gainst him, and if they may scape from him, they play the horse that hauing shaken of the bridle casteth his rider downe, & afterwards becōming as if he were mad, he stormeth as though no mā were able to lay hold on him, or to restrain him: Euen so play the wicked, which can neuer abide yt God shold chastise thē and tame them, to hold thē in obedience to him. If he make thē to feele their sins, they burst out into impatiēcie, & ther∣vpon fal by and by to rebellion & furie. But con∣trariwise, when our Lord visiteth vs with afflicti∣ons: we know it is not for vs to stray far from him, nor to take occasion to scape his hands: but ra∣ther to submit our selues quietly to his seruice, & to keepe our selues from these tentations yt run oftētimes in our heads. If we fal to scanning, so as we say to our selues, how now? must I for seruing of god haue so hard & cumbersome a condition? It should seeme yt he is minded to discorage me: Let vs beware of such conceits, & rather follow ye example of Moses. He saw himself bereft of ye in∣heritance yt had bin promised to ye whole people, he saw he had as it were a marke of reproch for euer, as though God had withered him: for wher¦as God had chosen him to bee the leader of his people, & to supplie his roome in bringing to thē that welfare that they had loked for so long time: now towards his death he must bee disgraded at Gods hand, and be banished from the possession that was as a pledge of the kingdome of heauen. True it is that Moses continued and doth conti∣nue still an heire of Gods kingdome: but he had not that earthly pledge of it, that was set before the people. He saw, that of six hundred thousand persons, (for the whole multitude was so manie) there was not one among them al that was wor∣thier to enter into the land than himselfe. Ther∣fore he might haue stormed thus with himselfe: Howe nowe? I see I haue taken great payn•• in leading this people, God hath wrought so manie miracles by my hand, I haue yet stil such zeale to the honor of God and to ye welfare of his people as I neuer cease to procure the same, & therwtall I may well say God hath granted me ye grace to walke more roundly than al ye rest: and yet notwt∣standing must I be barred out of ye land, & the re∣sidue enter into it, which haue not taken so much paine as I nothing neere? Moses might haue bin in a chafe & chawed vpon his bridle saying: wel,