Seven godly and learned sermons preachedSeuen godly and learned sermons preached

Saint Paul goeth further and saith, It is not sufficient to be called Servants, to be called Ministers, to be called stewards of Gods secrets, but it is further required at the Stewards hand, that he be found faithful. In this world the Master committeth the order of his house to the governance of his Steward; the disposing of his whole living, & order of all other things, he committeth only to his Stewards wisdom: & he looketh that he be found faithful in all his doings. And if this be in worldly things, if the Master here in this world will look for, & require faithful dealings at his Stewards hands, in such things as are but transitory, & of little value: how much more then will God require faithfulness in his Stewards, as touching things Eternal, things Heavenly, and the disposing of his secrets. But from the beginning, even from the first beginning of the world, there ⟨image 13⟩have been always untrusty and wicked Stewards. For, at what time God framed man, and placed him in Paradise in great joy and pleasure, the Devil envying this his felicity, became a wicked Steward, and said unto Adam, Tush, ye shall not dye, eat of this fruit,¹ ye shall not dye, God doth but mock with you: for he doth know that in what ever hour ye eat of it, your eyes shall be opened, & ye shall be as God, knowing both good & evil. And thus he became a most wicked Steward. Jeremiah also the prophet saith, that in his time there were wicked and untrusty Stewards: Currunt saith he, at ego non misi, loquuntur, at ego non sum loquutus illis, ²They run, saith God, but I sent them not, they have spoken, but I spake not unto them. So Christ himself said, that in the later days there should come false Stewards, false Prophets, false Preachers, and say,³ Hic est Christus, illic est Christus, Lo, here is Christ, there is Christ; and should do great wonders and tokens, in so much that, if it were possible, the ⟨image 14⟩very chosen should be brought into error also. Antichrist in likewise shall come saith Paul, The man of sin, the son of perdition, ⁴