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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A76812	The covenant sealed. Or, A treatise of the sacraments of both covenants, polemicall and practicall. Especially of the sacraments of the covenant of grace. In which, the nature of them is laid open, the adæquate subject is largely inquired into, respective to right and proper interest. to fitnesse for admission to actual participation. Their necessity is made known. Their whole use and efficacy is set forth. Their number in Old and New Testament-times is determined. With several necessary and useful corollaries. Together with a brief answer to Reverend Mr. Baxter's apology, in defence of the treatise of the covenant. / By Thomas Blake, M.A. pastor of Tamworth, in the counties of Stafford and Warwick.	Blake, Thomas, 1597?-1657.; Cartwright, Christopher, 1602-1658.	1655 (1655)	Wing B3144; Thomason E846_1; ESTC R4425	638,828	706

condescend to our weaknesse to answer what infirmity can expect or feeblenesse crave We might think that Gideon was exceeding bold with God to ask a double sign for the strengthening of his faith in the promise of God to save Israel by his hand yet we see God is pleased to gratify him Judg 6.39 40. yet God deales more abundantly with us not onely in a double but a multiplied confirmation to make good every truth which he hath been pleased to manifest And as he teacheth us by similitudes drawn from earthly things as we see in the Prophets and parables from our Saviours mouth so also to speak to our eyes in these signes and seales ratifying and confirming heavenly things unto us Those great mercies which no thought can reach are set out in so obvious a way that every eye doth behold and see That water which we employ for our common use and among other necessary services cleanses all filth that cleaves to us serves to set out that great mystery of the blood and Spirit of Christ taking away both guilt and filth of sin The bread which we have at our table the wine which we drink for our food and repast that sets out both the attonement and divine nourishment which our soules find in the flesh and blood of Christ crucified and dying for us There is abundant weaknesse and tottering in our faith that needs in this manner to be strengthened Abundance of sweet mercies in our God that will vouchsafe this to strengthen and support us Secondly If Christ thus condescends to our weaknesse Christs compassion towards us should move us to compassionate our selves in making provision of these helps let us learn to have compassion of our selves and not neglect or despise so great favours If Christ had judged us to have been of strength he had never tendred us this crutch and when he sees that we need it and therefore hath provided it let us see that we do not reject or despise it Is it not to imitate Ahaz in his obstinacy who when he could not believe the promise that God would deliver him and his people from the combined power of Israel and Syria that were then before Jerusalem and having a sign tendred him of God either in the depth beneath or the height above for his assurance in the thing he answers he will not desire a sign Isa 7.11 12. he will rather dwell in his unbelief and perish As that sign was to that promise so all Sacraments are to Gods great promise He that casts away Sacraments indulges unbelief and we may well fear that he shall dwell in it to destruction CHAP. XI SECT I. The whole of the work of Sacraments is by way of sign and seal THe next observation followes The whole office and use of Sacraments All that the Sacraments work on the soules of receivers is by way of sign and seal They have no immediate effects for the working of any inward graces or priviledges but as our understanding is exercised by them as Indicative signes and our faith as ratifications and seales of the promises The text that we have under our hand is abundantly full to his purpose Scarce any text holds out a truth I may say more clear and full then this text doth that which is here delivered if we take in the context with it The Context opened to which the copulative And leads The Apostle having in the former Chapter delivered the doctrine of justification by faith goes on here to make it good by the Example of Abraham and his argument rendred in syllogistical form appears to be this As Abraham the father of the faithful was justified so must all the faithful This is taken for granted as needing no proof But Abraham the father of the faithful was justified not by works but by faith The Assumption consists of two parts and the Apostle proves both 1. The negative that he was not justified by works this he proves by two arguments 1. If he were justified by works then he hath whereof to glory ver 2. But he hath not whereof to glory before God Ergo he was not justified by works 2. If he were justified by works the reward were reckoned not of grace but of debt ver 4. But the reward is not of debt but of grace Ergo. Which he further confirmes by the testimony of David describing the blessednesse of man to whom the Lord imputeth righteousnesse without works saying Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sinnes are covered Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin ver 7 8. As David describes blessednesse that way man is blessed But David describes it to be by imputation of righteousnesse and not by works Ergo. The affirmative that Abraham was justified by faith he proves by a full testimony of Scripture Gen. 15.6 He believed in the Lord and he counted it to for him for righteousnesse Now it might be objected that this justification of Abraham and blessednesse that David speaks of was nothing to the Gentiles uncircumcised but to the Jewes in the state of Circumcision and so Circumcision may yet have an hand in justitification This the Apostle denies ver 10. and proves the contrary by the time of Abrahams justification which was in uncircumcision not in Circumcision If Abraham were justified in uncircumcision then Circumcision hath no hand in justification But Abraham was justified in uncircumcision Ergo But then the greatest question is to what end or purpose he was circumcised having already that righteousnesse which doth justify what needs more Circumcision then might have been let alone The Apostle answers that he was circumcised on a twofold account for a double reason The first is in reference to his own estate in faith which equally concerns all in his state of believing He received the sign of Circumcision a seal of the faith which he had being yet uncircumcised The second in reference to the whole Church that he might be the Father of all that believe in Circumcision or in uncircumcision so that we have both the Apostles authority and his argumentative discourse for confirmation of our point That the work and efficacy of Sacraments is by way of sign and seal We shall find Peter giving his vote with Paul in this thing where he enters a dispute about Baptisme as Paul here doth about Circumcision as you may find 1 Pet. 3.20 21. having mentioned Gods long suffering towards disobedient ones in the daies of Noah while the Ark was a preparing he saies Few that is eight soules were saved by water That element which as an executioner of divine vengeance destroyed the world of the ungodly as an instrument in the hand of God preserved Noah and his family It destroyed the world by overwhelming of them as after it did Pharaoh and his host It saved Noah and his household by keeping the Ark above trees rocks mountaines buildings or whatsoever might have been

Christ and several others If I will acknowledge this I shall be soon brought to yield up all Is all Adoption proper to the regenerate what shall we say then to that of the Apostle Rom. 9.4 To them pertained the Adoption Had the Apostle that heavinesse and continual sorrow of heart for Israel after the flesh and doth he yet give them that testimony that they are regenerate Gomarus on the place hath these words Lest any in this place should mistake Adoption and acceptation for sons in Scripture is twofold general and special General adoption is an outward destination or call into the visible Church and Company of the Sons of God upon which account many are said to be the Sonnes of God as opposite to the Sonnes of men that is aliens from the Church Gen. 6.2 And Israel this general way are called the sons of God not onely those that were elect to life eternall and regenerate but also those that were reprobate and meerly carnal and therefore the Jewes Sons of the kingdome or the Church of God are said to be cast into utter darknesse Matth. 8.12 And whether all union with Christ imply regeneration let John 15.2 be consulted where an union with Christ is cleerly held out yet Mr. Baxter brings that text among others to prove that there are some Saints that shall never be saved Mr. Hudson and Mr. Cobbet tell us at large that Christ is the head of the Church visible and hath many unfruitful members Other phrases are there brought or titles as proper to the regenerate which are well known in Scripture to be applyed to such as have Apostatized and are brought by Arminians to prove falling away and are answered by their adversaries Mr. Hudsons words are here worthy of consideration Onely the invisible company have internal spiritual communion and are elect many of those that have external communion and are visible members shall perish and yet by reason of their profession are said 2. Thes 1. 1. to be in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ as Ames also confesseth Med. lib. 1. Cap. 32. art 9. Such was the Church off Corinth and Ephesus c. wherein all were not in Communion for life and of such Christ speaketh John 15.2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he takes away and verse 6. If a man abides not in me he is cast forth as a branch and is withered and men gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned These are said to be redeemed 2 Pet. 2.1 denying the Lord that bought them and sanctified Heb. 10.29 yet hath accounted the blood of the Covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing and much more to this purpose Vindi. pag. 5. And if the Apostle give Testimonies to whole Churches holding out what they ingage to be ought to be and professedly were this comes short of his purpose I find little or nothing in all the other Arguments but that which either looks not at all towards any thing that I hold Humane authorities vouched or else is already spoken to His last onely from humane authority is observable Our Divines against the Papists saith he do generally plead that Hypocrites are not true members of the universal Church but as a wooden leg is to the body I must tell him that if they be Members of a particular Church then they are true members of the Church universal Taking universal and particular in a Similar homogeneal way for the visible Church state as we must take them if we speak any thing to purpose That which is pars partis is pars totius if my finger be a part of my hand it is a part of my body and if Mr. Baxter be an Inhabitant of Kederminster then he is an Inhabitant of Worcestershire and if of Worcestershire then an Inhabitant of England and let us see what they say of the Church visible indefinitely Lord Duplesse in his Treatise of the Church pag. 3. saith The invisible Church conteineth none but the good the visible containeth both the good and the bad that onely the Elect this all those indifferently that are brought into her by the preaching of the truth e Visibilis Ecclesia est coetus communiter vocatotum tum electorum tum reproborum Wollebius saith pag. 194. the visible Church is a company joyntly called as well of Elect as Reprobate f Ecclesia visibilis constat non solum ex electis vere piis sed etiam ex reprobis Hypocritis Ravanellus in verb. Eccles The visible Church consists not onely of the Elect and truely Godly but also of reprobates and Hypocrites g Nostri Ecclesiam universalem non invisibilem quae solos electos vere fideles complect●tur de quae Christus loquitur Matth. 16. sed visibilem quae electis hypocritis constant intelligunt Gomarus Analysis in 2 Thes 2. Our Divines understand the Church universal not invisible which onely contains the elect and truely faithful of which Christ speaks Matth. 16. but the visible which consists of Elect and Reprobate Mr. Hudson Vindication pag. 7. In the same sense that a visible Church may be called a Mystical body of Christ Christ may be also called a Mysticall head thereof as Christ terms himself a Master so he hath evil slothfull servants and stewards as a King he hath rebells that will not have him to rule over them even in his Church Matth. 25.6 giving like instance as a shepherd as an householder as a bridegroom a husbandman a fisherman a vine adding Christ saith My people are foolish they have not known me sottish children c. h Alia est Ecclesia vocatorum promiscue bonis malis fidelibus hypocritis constans Alia est Ecclesia electorum vere fid lilium qui quidem in coetu vocatorum sunt Pareus Revelation 3.1 The Church of the called is one consisting promiscuously of good and bad faithful and hypocrites the Church of the elect is another consisting of Elect and truely faithful which indeed are of the same company of those that are called Ames Anti Bel. T. 2. lib. 2. Cap. 1. not 5. when Bellarmine had stated the controversy between his party and his adversaries Others he saies require inward virtues to make any a Church member i Nosautem ut aliquis aliquo modo dici possit pars verae Ecclesiae de qua Scripturae loquuntur non putamus requiri ullam inteman virtutem But we faith he do not think that any inward virtue is required to make a man in some sort a part of that true Church of which the Scripture speaks After discovery of his sophistry in the word after a sort positively answers k Falsum est internas virtutes requirui à nobis ut aliquis sit in Ecclesia quod visibilem ejus statum It is false that inward vertues are required of us to put a man into the Church according to

expresse words that he hath said it will it not be said on Mr. Baxters credit that I said it and wrong'd him in it But I desire the Reader to peruse the whole Chapter and in case he find not Mr. Baxters name there at all then he must needs conclude that this was spoken at least improvidè et inconsultè and some testimony of humane frailty given in it I recite indeed some passages of Mr. Baxters in that Chapter without his name being unwilling indeed to make it known that he was in any such opinion or that he had laid any such charge of intolerable ignorance upon learned Divines as there he does But of this he hath heard enough already from other hands How can he tell that I mean him in those passages seeing I never named him but that the words are his And when these words now in question produc'd at a good distance from the other are none of his who can say that I meant him much lesse can they say that I have expressely charged them uppon him If they be in any odde corner of his book as he saies he knows not but that they may be he then may be yet charged with them and therefore injuriously complains of any injurious charge upon him But to return to what we have in hand Though in Mr. Baxters five first Reasons there is much very well worth animadversion yet seeng there is nothing but that which hath either already been spoken to or else that tends to the overthrow of that senselesse sottish tenent which I professe to abhorre I shall passe them by For his additionall 26. Arguments which he sets I know not for what reason at a great distance from the rest the greatest part of them are brought and mightily fortified to beat down that which I think never any but himselfe set up I think his misconceit first hatch't it and I am well content to stand by and see him murder it For so many of them as look at all in opposition to any thing that I hold I shall take them into consideration His two first arguments drawn from Authority Arguments bowrrowed from humane authority examined the first of the Assembly of Divines and others of a number of Fathers are brought to prove that the profession of a justifying faith is required to baptisme and what is that to me who never denyed it but in plain words have often affirmed it It is sufficiently implyed where I require a dogmatical faith to Baptisme A dogmatical faith assents to that of Apollos Jesus is the Christ and when I say that this entitles I cannot mean concealed or denyed but openly professed If I say that a man hath six pence in his purse may dine at such an ordinary I do not mean with six pance concealed or denyed but produced and payed Have I not both the words professing and profession both in the margent and in the Index seeing Mr. Baxter calls upon me to declare my self further in this thing I do believe and professe to hold that he that upon hearing the Gospell preacht and the truth of it published and opened shall professedly abjure all other opposite waies whatsoever and choose the Christian way for salvation promising to follow the rules of it is to be baptized and his seed and that upon a right not onely coram Ecclesia but coram Deo It being the mind of God that such should be admitted The authority of reverend Mr. Gataker against Dr. Ward is onely worthy enquiring into citing Luther Calvin Bucer Whitaker as Mr. Baxter observes But Mr. Gataker himself understands not as he saies what Dr. Ward means by the initial faith and repentance which in the judgement of the Apostles gave right to those that desired baptisme and upon that account I cannot directly tell what that is that Mr. Gataker opposeth The authorities quoted by him reach not the thing that we contend about Luther saies He meaning Philip will not baptize him unlesse he beleeve I say the same Neither Simon Magus nor any of the Samaritans men or women could have baptisme before they believed Calvin saies He had not baptized him without true faith which is doubtlesse to be understood of fides quam not quâ credimus as appears in his words before There is no doubt but Ananias had first faithfully instructed Paul in the principles of godlinesse A beliefe of such principles then Calvin meanes Bucer speakes onely of profession of faith and requiring of men to believe Neither is there any thing in Whitakers testimony that comes up to our purpose For Mr. Marshalls Sermon of unity that is added I have it not and there is nothing quoted out of it Whereas it is said that an hundred might easily and truly be cited to this purpose I say if it be but to this purpose it is not to our present purpose If they be brought to prove that justifying faith is required of men before baptisme they may well prove that but as I have said so I do say I think never man denyed it Dr. Ward I believe never opposed it If they be brought to prove that no faith that is short of that which is justifying gives title to baptisme and speak no more than those already quoted they speak not home to the purpose And in case there be any that have said that Baptisme still presupposeth regeneration and that we baptize infants or men of age onely upon this supposition as regenerate As Mr. Baxter Append. pag. 71. saies that Learned Divines have given Papists great advantage in mistaking the nature of justifying Faith thinking that it consists in a belief of the pardon of my own sins So I may say that those whosoever they are that have confounded Covenant-holinesse with that of regeneration and inherent sanctification have given as great advantage to others yea to the Papists themselves And as the former doctrine ha's perplexed many a weak soul being not able to make good their assurance they conclude thereupon their want of Faith so these as much perplex the consciences of those that administer this Ordinance which I had rather expresse in Mr. Baxters words then mine own Append pag. 70 71. No Minister can groundedly administer the Sacraments to any man but to himself because he can be certain of no mans justification being not certain of the sincerity of their faith And if he should adventure to administer upon probabilities or charitable conjectures then should he be guilty of profaning the Ordinance and every time he mistaketh he should set the seal of God to a lye And who then durst ever administer a Sacrament being never certain but that he shall thus abuse it adding further I confesse ingenuously to you that it was the ignorance of this one point which chiefly caused me to abstain from administring the Lords Supper for so many years And I confesse as ingenuously that in case he can work me to his opinion I stand resolved for present

how great things they ascribe to the body of Christ received if no barre be put which they understand of the Sacramental bread is very well known But as some have observed where poyson growes providence takes care that there be antidotes found so none of these ever appeared in the Church but some by the good hand of God have stood up in opposition How mightily did the Prophet Jeremy oppose himself against that over-high opinion that the Jewes in his time had of Circumcision Jer. 9.25 26. As also Paul making use of his authority against the Jewes in his time and disputing at large against it Rom. 2. And the Apostle Peter foreseeing it seems that Baptisme would be set up as high among Christians as ever Circumcision was among the Jewes makes it his businesse to prevent it Having affirmed that Baptisme saves he is careful to let us know that it is not by its own power but by the resurrection of Christ that is Faith in the Resurrection and further explains himself that it is not the outward act alone but as answered with an inward work that hath that power as you have heard And Popish Schoolmen making it their work as we have heard to advance Sacraments to that height Protestant Writers in a sull stream have appeared to set them on their right bottome and to make it appear what it is that Scripture attributes to them and what in their right use may be expected from them Calvin's words lib. 4. instit cap. 14. Sect. 14. are high and notable having opposed the doctrine of nuda signa which makes Sacraments to be bare and naked signs On the other hand saith he b Rursum admonendi sumus ut isti vim Sacramentorum enervant usumq prorsus evertunt ita ab adversâ parte stare alios qui arcanas nescio quas virtures Sacramentis affingunt quae nusquam illis à Deo insitae leguntur Quo errore periculosè falluntur simpliciores et imperiti dum et Dei dona quaerere docentur ubi reperiri minime possunt et à Deo sensim abstrahuntur ut pro ejus veritate meram amplexentur vanitatem Magno enim consensu Sophisticae Scholae tradiderunt Sacramenta novae legis hoc est quae in usu nunc sunt Ecclesiae justificare et conferre gratiam modo non ponamus obicem peccati mortal●s Quae sententia dici non potest quàm sit exitialis et pestilens eoque magis quod multis ante saeculis magna Ecclesiae jactura in bonâ orbis parte obtinuit Planè certe diabolica est nam dum justitiam cirra fidem pollicetur animas in exitium praecipites agit deinde quia justitiae causam à Sacramentis ducit miseras hominum mentés in terram s● apte sponte plus satis inclinatas hâc superstitione illigat ut in spectaculo rei corpore ae potius quam in Deo ipso acquiescant we are to be advertis'd that as those weaken the efficacy of Sacraments and utterly overthrow their use so there are others on the other hand that assign I know not what vertue to them such that we never read that God ever put into them which errour saith he dangerously deceives the simple and unlearned Whilest they are taught to seek the gifts of God where they cannot be found they are by degrees drawn from God to imbrace meer vanity instead of truth For the Schooles of Sophisters with great consent have taught that the Sacraments of the new law that is those that are now in use among Christians do Justifie and confer grace provided that we put no barre of mortal sin Which opinion saith he hath been of more deadly danger than can be spoken and so much the more because for many Ages to the great losse of the Church it hath prevailed It is certainly saith he devillish for whilest it promiseth Justification without Faith it casts soules headlong to destruction And upon that account because they derive the cause of righteousnesse or Justification from the Sacraments by this superstition they so ensnare the poor soules of men over-much of their own accord inclined to earth that they had rather rest in a corporeall element than in God himself This is his entrance upon the dispute That which he hath further upon it in four whole Sections is very well worth the reading The consent of other Writers of his time and that have followed after him as a cloud of witnesses might be produced but this as the Reader hath heard is already done to my hand And when some of reverend esteem and singularly deserving in the Church of God have gone overmuch on this hand as soon as it was carried abroad in Manuscripts a learned Manuscript of Mr. Gatakers met with it and afterwards appearing in print as a Posthumous work this as soon as it came to the Authors cognizance by his zeal to the truth followed it And let me here adde to that which hath been said that if nothing else yet experience might correct this over-high conceit of the work of Sacraments That which we evidently see is not wrought by Sacraments we cannot believe they are assign'd of God to work This Proposition hath certainly reason in it They certainly do that office which God hath assign'd and appointed them But we evidently see that they do not actually work all that they figure out even where according to these there is no bar put therefore there is no cause to believe that they are design'd of God for it Here I might instance in their failing in the work of remission of sin in Infants seeing when they come to growth we oft see them in that way of sin that stands not with actual forgivenesse But I know that many that here are adversaries confesse an intercision of Justification and therefore this is not against them and others that admit not that doctrine speak of a double Justification one for the state of Infancy another of those that are of growth upon their acceptation of Christ by faith and therefore though sins be remitted in Infancy and afterward upon their acting of sin charged here is no such intercision of justification which Arminians hold and their adversaries oppose I shall therefore wave this and instance in the failing of Baptisme in the work of regeneration which is as well figured out in Baptisme as that other of remission of sin Baptisme comes not alone to remove the guilt but also to correct the power of original corruption and so to work in us a freedome from the power of sin as well as the pardon of it And in case Baptisme effects this work how is it that sin in Infants is so apt to shew it self that as soon as they act they are so readily prone to act that which is evill When Saul said he had done the Commandment of the Lord Samuel had a confutation ready What means then sayes he this bleating of sheep and lowing of oxen in mine ears that

of it first a piece of a Concession Secondly a Simile The Concession is That the Gospel without the concomitance of faith doth not actually justifie else faith were no condition or causa sine qua non That faith should barely wait effecting nothing and gain no further honour then here is assigned will appear a strange assertion If it had its efficacy where it was in being in miraculous cures so that it was said Thy faith hath made thee whole I think it is much rather efficacious in justification there being so much spoken of justification by faith I desire Mr. Baxter to consider the words of his learned dying friend Mr. Gataker in his letter to him And surely faith as a medium seems to have a more peculiar office in the transaction of that main businesse of Justification then either repentance or any other grace as the love or fear of God and the like Which to me seems the more apparent because I find it so oft said in the Word that men are justified by faith but no where by repentance Albeit that also be as a condition thereunto required as also that form of speech 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fides or fiducia in sanguine seems to intimate and imply that this grace hath a more special reference then any other to the satisfaction made to Gods Justice for our sins by Christs sufferings which alone we can plead for our discharge of them at Gods Tribunal Much more followes worthy of Mr. Baxters consideration in laying so high a charge as he hath done on our Reformers in this particular There followes a Simile as full of obscurity as the earth is of darknesse and it were aesie so far as it is intelligible to make it appear how much it halteth but that I will not trouble the Reader with such impertinencies and I look for proofs rather then Similes and here is no proof at all I further infer in my Treatise Mr. Pemble therefore affirming the Word to be an instrument of Gods Spirit presently addes Now instruments are either cooperative or passive and the Word must be one of these two Cooperative he saith it is not and gives his reason It is therefore saith he a passive instrument working onely per modum objecti as it containes a declaration of the Divine will and it proposeth to the understanding and will the things to be known believed and practised Here many exceptions are taken Whether the Word be a passive instrument or cooperative with the Spirit First That Mr. Pemble speakes of the Word as the instrument of sanctification we speak of it as conveying right to Christ and as justifying Secondly That Mr. Pembles reason of the passive instrumentality of the Word is but this that it cannot be declared what operative force there should be in the bare declaration of Gods will Thirdly That himself will undertake to declare that an operation there is by the agency of this declaration though not punctually how it operates Fourthly That this passive instrumentality of the Word in sanctifying doth very ill agree with the language of Scripture which makes the Word to be mighty powerful pulling down strong-holds c. Fifthly That Mr. Pemble herein is single and singular To speak to these in order To the first I say Though Mr. Pemble gives an instance of the Words work in sanctification yet there is no reason to believe that he limits his whole discourse to it indefinitely affirming that it is a passive instrument and giving instance in one there is no imaginable reason that he can exclude the other For his second He lets his Reader know that he took an hasty view of Mr. Pemble when he said that this was all his reason he may see the thing fully argued by him mihi pag. 97 98 99 c in quarto which is too long to transcribe The work which is done upon the soul is wrought by the Spirit as the principal agent whether it be to regeneration progressive sanctification or in order to justification every previous work in tendency towards these is from the Spirit likewise as illumination conviction the beginning and whole progresse is by the Spirit The Word is no more then an instrument and all that the Word doth is by power from the Spirit and therefore said to be mighty through God 2 Cor. 10.5 Now the Spirit must work by way of power either on the Word or the soul as its object It must infuse power and strength into the one as the principal agent in the work Mr. Pemble denies that it works thus by an infusion of power into the Word and affirmes that the infusion of strength is into the soul and not into the Word which the Apostle confirmes Ephes 3.16 As for his third which he saies he will undertake to declare he brings nothing but bare authorities He faith he hath read many that say one thing and some that say another but himself is of Scotus his mind and we have not one syllable to induce any other to be of the same judgement His fourth Mr. Pemble answers and saith That all those phrases there reckoned up are to be understood by a metonymy which though they properly belong to the invisible power of the Holy Ghost giving effect unto his own Word yet are figuratively attributed unto the Word it self which he useth as his visible instrument explaining himself by several similitudes For his last If Mr. Pemble be thus sole and singular he was much mistaken Having fully spoke his judgement in this thing he addes pag. 99. And this is the sentence of the Orthodox Church touching the nature and distinction of these two callings Inward by the work of the Spirit outward by the voice of the Word The Arminians are of another opinion whose judgement saith he about this matter is thus c. At large laying down their doctrine And it were easy to multiply those testimonies that take all efficacy or energy from the Word to give it to the Spirit usually quoting 1 Cor. 3.6 7. 2 Cor. 3.6 2 Cor. 10.4 5. He tells me I doubt whether you believe him or your self throughly for if you did I think you would preach but coldly I am perswaded you look your preaching should operate actively And does he think Mr. Pemble did believe his own doctrine or was he a cold Preacher he delivers his doctrine with confidence and backes it with reasons and the workes that he hath left behind argue that he spake with some heat and fervour and I wish that I could gain more heat both in prayer and preaching and I do look that my preaching should operate actively but whether of it self or through the power of the Spirit there lyes the question He concludes If it were proved that there were an hundred passive instruments it would never be proved that faith is one as an instrument doth signifie an efficient cause of Gods work of justifying us neither really nor reputatively is

put in their lives about their health their estates the nature of their grounds or how to carry on their Trades besides those multiplyed ones of meer vanity and inconsiderable concernment they never had it in their thoughts to move a question of any concernment to their soules The young mans question the Jaylours question Peters hearers question never came into their heads I have seen little evidence of good in these and I see little ground to believe any thing of faith in their soules You may speak of some of these as of men of good dispositions of a fair nature and harmlesse life and course these may grow up in nature moralized and regulated when yet faith is far from them they may grow up high in profession but growing in the blade or leaf onely and not in the root they may justly be suspected Every tree that bears a fair leaf doth not bear good fruit and every apple of a fair colour is not to be desired for food Such fruit as this may take where faith will not grow The Prophets words then should be heeded Break up your fallow ground and sowe not amongst thornes this way must be taken for soul-humbling that men may be brought to believing The nature of faith wherein it consists A necessary prerequisite in faith 2. The next way of discovery is to take notice of the proper and true kind the genuine nature of this grace And here I hope the Christian Reader may reape a double advantage First to understand what faith is and the requisites in it Secondly helps for proof of themselves whether they be in the faith And here we may observe First a necessary prerequisite of faith Secondly the essential parts of it The prerequisite to it is knowledge which some indeed make a part of faith but faith I suppose rather presupposeth it then is made up of it The essential parts are either in the understanding or in the will or affections for faith is an act of the soul and the whole soul is implyed in it First then of that which I make a prerequisite Knowledge is in that way required to the making up of faith that is often put for faith as Isai 53.11 And when God works to faith he is said to open the eyes or to work to knowledge or light Heb. 10.32 Act. 26.18 We come to faith by hearing we must therefore hear and know before we can believe Knowledge is the first act or work of the soul that conducerh towards faith in the heart Now knowledge is threefold First of sense we know what we see Thomas knew Christ that is the person of Christ when he had seen his wounds and put his finger into them This knowledg is not necessarily required in faith Christ there saith Blessed is he that seeth not and believeth John 20.23 And the Apostle saith that faith is the evidence of things not seen Secondly of reason we know those things which our reason is able to reach This knowledge runs through all sciences in which we attain knowledge by discourse and the clearer head the better Artist and the more of knowledge This we do not require to the being of faith though faith be not alwaies against yet it is oft above all our reasonings yea our reasonings and hammering out conclusions are oftentimes against faith The word of faith beats down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth it self against the knowledg of God and brings into captivity every thought 2. Cor. 10.5 Our Notionalists are indeed men of sublimated understandings in case they can alwaies reach unto that which according to the Gospell they are to believe Thirdly of authority we judge our selves to know a thing which men worthy of credit do make known and if we receive the witnesse of men saith the Apostle the witnesse of God is greater 1. John 5.9 The testimony of man gives a morall certainty and such that we will not question The multiplication of witnesses renders our knowledge grounded on such authority more firm and therefore the proverb in a well qualified sense is at least near to truth Vox populi vox Dei The voice of the peop●● unanimously witnessing is as the voice of God We do no m●re doubt that there was a massacre of Protestants in Ireland about the year 41. then we do that there was one resolved upon at Shushan in the reign of Ahashuerus Esth 3. The testimony of God is alwaies of infallible truth as to the substance so to every circumstance of it many passages about that massacre we may justly question so we must not any thing which divine verity hath made known This knowledge we require in faith and know it to be necessary to the being of faith we must know that God hath revealed in his Word a Trinity of Persons or else we shall believe no such thing as three distinct subsistences in God that the holy Ghost is God that Christ is God and man in one person or else we shall believe no such doctrine We must know the creation from the Scriptures or else we shall not believe a creation but run into that opinion that all things have ever been as they are We must know the offices of Christ or else we shall not believe that any such office was undertaken by him The same we may say of every doctrine of faith perhaps without Scripture we might have known somewhat confusedly of some of them as that there is a God and that the world had a beginning but we should have known nothing at all of many of them and nothing distinctly of any of them These we must know and from the Scriptures of God know or else we cannot believe we may as easily see where nothing is to be seen as believe where that is not known which is to be believed Ignorant persons therefore that know not the right hand from the left in religion and are to seek in the very first principles of the Oracles of God in the very beginnings of the doctrine of Christ that either come not to hear that they may learn or that learn nothing at all by hearing ever learning and never coming to the knowledge of the truth are in an incapacity of faith Men weak in knowledg can hardly make proof of their faith they do not well know the nature or lively workings of it so want the comfort but not the thing Men without knowledge are without faith have not gone the first step towards it The essential parts of faith The essentiall parts of it are as we have said in the understanding will and affections In the understanding there is an assent to that which is revealed upon the authority of him that doth reveal it 1. In the understanding An assent When we believe any thing upon that account that we suppose we see a reason of it as that the middle region of the ayr is coldest or that the Sun is in many degrees