free these miserable captiues out of that tyrant Pharaohs more then Aegyptian bondage Againe in the Acts of the Apostles where it is said that our hearts are purified by faith which some as Aquinas vnderstands of illuminating the vnderstanding by faith others of the purification of the soule and heart from sinne by faith as we are said also to be sanctified by faith that is in Christ. Now this faith is the first worke of Gods grace wrought in the heart that is in the whole soule in our first conuersion by which faith the vnderstanding is inlightned and with it the will and all the other faculties of the soule are sanctified For the heart in Scriptuee is taken oftentimes for the whole soule with all the faculties of it As Ephesians 1. 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the vulgar Latin renders it word for word Illuminatos oculis cordis vestri the eyes of your heart being illuminated that is the eyes of your vnderstanding And Math. 13. 15. Least they vnderstand with their heart So for â—â—e will Act. 7. 39. The Israelites in their hearts turned backe into Egypt that is in their wills So Acts 11. 23. Bernabas exhorts that with purpose of heart that is of will they would cleaue vnto the Lord. The heart is also taken for the memory as Luke 1. 66 All that heard laid vp those things in their hearts So Deut. 11. 18 Yee shall lay vp these my wordes in your hearts Sometime for the affections as loue feare and the like So Mat. 6. 21 Where your treasure is there will your heart be also your loue your ioy your hope yea and feare too And Psa. 62. 10 If riches increase set not your heart vpon them Thus wee vse to reduce all these streames of the soule to the heart as the prime fountaine as when we say an vnderstanding heart a wise heart a willing heart a valiant heart an humble heart a loving heart and the like Now the heart being taken for the soule and all the faculties of it and being the very seate and subiect wherein faith resides for with the heart man beleeveth to righteousnes and Christ dwelleth in our hearts by faith then the heart being purified being sanctified by faith consequently the whole soule with all the faculties the vnderstanding will memory affections are at the same instant with the heart purified and sanctified by faith as the first act and worke of Gods grace in vs. Hence it is euident that the prime worke of Gods grace in the conuersion of a sinner is not a slight and slender worke as a bare stirring mouing or helping of the will to prepare and dispose it selfe to receiue the grace of iustification but it is a mighty and powerfull worke so that thereby the stony heart harder and heauier then the hardest rocke or highest mountaine is remoued and a new heart a new vnderstanding a new will a new memory new affections all new in the qualities of them are put insteed thereof By this prime worke of grace that most excellent grace of faith is wrought in the heart whereby the whole man is sanctified Babylonius Sir by the way now you touch vpon a point which as I haue heard is much controuerted among Diuines namely about the subiect or seat of faith in what faculty or power of the soule it resideth some placeing it in the vnderstanding onely some in the will onely but few as you doe in the whole soule and euery power of it as the soule is said by the Philosopher to bee whole in the whole body and whole in euery part of it Orthodoxus And you giue a very pregnant example to illustrate this truth that faith doth so fill and quicken euery faculty of the soule as the soule doth the body And the comparison holds well for Saint Augustine calls faith the soule of the soule because it giues life to the whole soule as the soule to the whole body And the Scripture saith that wee liue by faith and faith by Christ as Gal. 2. 20. Indeede those of the Church of Rome are of different opinions in this point Dominicus Soto sets it downe as a definitiue decree of the Trent Councell It is decreed that the intellectuall power is the subiect or seat of saith And this suits well with Romes faith being historicall and so proper to the vnderstanding faculty Notwithstanding when they consider of the danger of placing faith in the vnderstanding least it should follow that therefore faith ought not to be an implicit and ignorant blind faith but a cleare and vnderstanding faith they fly to the will rather placing faith in that not for any good will but to suppresse the knowledge of faith which Romes Owle-eyed religion cannot brooke And therefore Bellarmine would haue faith to be defined rather from ignorance then from knowledge and so shuts it out of the vnderstanding and shuffels it into some blinde corner of the will But see the mischiefe of it while they would auoid the gulfe they fall vpon the rocke For if they place faith in the will they must of necessity allow it one speciall property of sauing faith namely assiance and considence in Gods promises in Christ a thing most hatefull to the Church of Rome therefore in conclusion of two euills chusing the lesse that they may rather exclude confidence from faith then science sith they can noe otherwise chuse they rather pitch vpon the vnderstanding then the will wherein to place their faith So that by their good wills they could be content for the auoiding of the inconueniences of an illuminate and confident faith to croud it into some corner of the inferiour part of the soule But for sure worke they haue taken a safer course by excluding and banishing not onely from the soule or any faculty of it but out of the verge and lists of their Romane Catholicke Church and that with a direfull Anathema the true sauing and iustifying faith But whereas you say few Diuines place faith in the whole soule and in euery power of it they are neither few nor those of small authoritie The prouinciall Councell of Colen which was a little before the Councell of Trent although charged by Andreas Vega to speake too broad and too Protestant-like in the point of faith and iustification by imputation saith that true iustifying faith is seated not onely in the vnderstanding but also in the will The learned and ingenious Cardinall Contarenus about the same time writing of iustification saith that the first act or motion of faith begins at the will which obeying God and faith causeth the vnderstanding to assent to the things deliuered of God without doubting and so to trust in Gods promises and of them to conceiue a firme affiance which pertaines to the will and that this faith as it were in a circle begins at the will and ends in the will So that he confineth not faith to the
this cloud is ouer it sends forth new rayes of grace It is the soule of the soule which euen in the middest of extream fainting of the soule yet remaines intire without diminution by the aqua caelestis of Gods neuer failing mercy actuates euery faculty of the soule afresh to the atchieuing of greater workes It is the ship of good hope which when couered with waues sets prayers to awaken Christ asleepe in it who by and by stilleth the storme or sends his Angel as to Paul to assure him that none in this little barke of ours shall perish but safely arriue vpon the hony hauen of Melita euen that true hony-flowing land of Canaan It is a fire which while raked vp vnder the dead ashes of deepe contrition though it seeme dead yeelding neither light nor warmth to our weake senses yet it is but fostered for a new fire that though heauinesse for sinne may indure for a night yet ioy of faith commeth in the morning feeding it selfe with the fewell of new works of obedience flaming forth in a holy conuersation The faithfull man as Dauid as Peter may be ouertaken with a dead sleepe of faith but awakened by grace his soule is inlightned that hee sleepes not in death but as the Sunne arising reioyceth as a gyant to runne his course with greater alacritie and vigor Thus wee see the fruite of sauing faith may be for a time suppressed yet the roote not supplanted the act of it may be suspended yet the habit not lost it may be ecclipsed to our sense yet his light not lessened or his course stayed it may bee in a dead sleepe yet liue faint yet not faile sicke yet not to death weather beaton yet not wracked languish yet not perish Babylonins But the famous Schollar Doctor Ouerall alledged by the Authour late Deane of Pauls and Bishop of Norwich held that a man might fall from grace into the very state of damnation and so remaine vnder Gods wrath till hee did recouer Yea that he auouched this to his late Maiestie and what concertations hee had with other Doctors in the Vniuersitie about it Orthodoxus If we take vp all the Appealer faith vpon trust without further examination wee shall recken before our host for hee playes the shuffler egregiously Nor will he I perceiue to saue his owne stake sticke to pawne the best credit of the most famous of our Church for the security of his most shamelesse slaunders of the truth And if we had not all the better euidence to conuince him he would carry it away hand smooth with downe right daring Pardon my zeale hearein I cannot but be moued when not only Godscause and glory then which nothing ought to be more precious vnto vs but also the credit of our learned and reuerend Fathers is so traduced But the summe of the Conference before the Kings Maiestie at Hampton Court now newly published in print will tell vs the plaine truth of the matter And that we may not with the Appealer falsifie the truth in dealing by halfes I will giue you the intire words of that worthy Deane and reuerend Bishop as they are set downe in the 42 page of that booke Namely that whosoeuer although before iustified did commit any greeuous sin as adultery murther treason or the like did become ipso facto subiect to Gods wrath and guiltie of damnation or were in state of damnation quoad praesentem statum vntill they repented adding hereunto that those which were called iustified according to the purpose of Gods election howsoeuer they might and did sometime fall into greiuous sinnes and thereby into the present state of wrath and damnation yet did neuer fall either totally from all the graces of God to be vtterly destitute of all the parts and sccde thereof nor finally from iustification but were in time renued by Gods Spirit vnto a liuely faith and repentance and so iustified from those sinnes and the wrath curse and guilt annexed thereunto whereinto they are fallen and wherein they lay so long as they were without true repentance for the same Doe we not see plainely here how hee distinguisheth betweene a common iustification in regard of the externall and ordinary meanes of the Word and Sacraments and the true and reall iustification according to Gods purpose yet in the first he maketh no mention of a totall falling away Or if the Appealer will contend that so much is implyed we will not contend for that for such as are not truely and really iustified according to Gods purpose but onely according to the externall vocation no maruaile if they both totally and finally fall away But for those that are iustified according to Gods purpose to wit the elect and praedestenate vnto life he saith expresly that though they may and doe fall into greiuous sinnes yet they neuer fall either totally or much lesse finally from the grace of God but are in time renewed by Gods Sririt vnto a liuely faith and repentance A golden speech which all the Apealers chimicall counterfeit Philosophers stone cannot so easily transmute into his base copper alcumy coyne how brauely and boldly soeuer he braze it on according to his rule Caluâ—niare audacter aliquid barâ—bit To conolude this point of perseuerance in true grace it stands firmely built vpon sure grounds and euident reasons set downe in the Scriptures such as no wit of man or deuill can ouerthrow For the purpose one reason of the elects perseuerance in grace vnto glory is taken from the nature of that holy feare which God puts in the hearts of all his faithfull ones as Ier. 32. 39 40. where the Lord saith I will giue them one heart and one way that they may feare me for euer c. And I will make an euerlasting couenant with them that I will not turne away from them to doe them good but I will put my feare in their hearts that they shall not depart from me So here is a double reason of the Saints perseuerance first on Gods part He will not turne away from them to doe them good and that by an eternall couenant And secondly they shall not depart from him Vpon which words Saint Augustine saith Quod quid est aliud quam talis actantus erit timor meus quem dabo in cor coruÌ„ vt mihi perseueranter adhareant which what is it else but that my feare which I will put in their hearts shall bee such and so great that they shall perseueringly cleaue vnto me A second reason is alledged Ioh. 13. 1. drawne from the immutabilitie and eternity of Christs loue to his elect saying Hauing loued his owne which were in the world he loued them vnto the end * And as the Apostle saith The gifts and calling of God are without repentance A third reason of the Saints perseuerance is taken from the power of Christ and of the Father Ioh. 10. 28. where Christ saith I giue vnto
will in the state of nature hath such a vast disproportion to the grace of Christ as it hath no disposition at all vnto it This is a mystery hid from Nature a Transcendent far aboue the capacity of Natures reach To this grace nature is not bleareeyd but blinde not a sleepe but dead not lame but a senslesse stocke So that more then a slender mouing or stirring vp of I wot not what first grace I wot well no grace is requisite to set the will a foote to the setling of it in the state of grace of that grace I say of true iustification to which Romes first grace hath no more proportion then her free-will in her purâ—st naturalls But the grace whereof the Scripture speakes and the worke of it in mans conuersion is no such grace as Romes first grace for that is no other but the true and effectuall sauing iustifying and sanctifying grace of God the first act and worke whereof in the soules conuersion to God is not a faint and impotent mouing and stirring or awakening of the sleepy will which then begins to dispose it selfe to grace but it is a powerfull and effectuall worke vpon the will and the whole soule with euery faculty thereof and that not to the disposing vnto but to the present possessing of the state of grace and true iustification apprehended by sauing faith the free gift of this grace Besides this effectuall grace of God for mans conuersion the Scripture knows none Nor is the Scripture acquainted with such ieiune and faint termes as Rome vseth in setting forth the worke of grace in our conuersion The Scripture flyes in a more lofty stile to giue Gods grace the full prayse in the effectuall worke of our conuersion Ezech. 11. 19. I will giue them one heart and will put a new spirit within you I will take the stony heart out of their flesh and will giue them an heart of flesh that they may walke in my statutes So Ezech. 36. 26 A new heart also will I giue you and a new spirit will I put within you c. and cause you to walke in my statutes And this is as Augustine saith the taking away of our stony heart and the giuing of a heart of flesh when the Father is heard within and teacheth vs to come and draweth vs to his Sonne by giuing vs a sauing faith in Christ. By which places wee see what a noble and powerfull worke of grace is wrought in vs by Gods holy Spirit in our conuersion not a bare stirring vp or mouing or helping the old decrepit stiff-limd will of the naturall mans stony heart but a mighty remouing of it cleane away and insteed therof putting a new heart a heart of flesh a flexible and obedient heart and a new spirit into vs by the vertue and power whereof we are effectually inabled to walke in Gods statutes and to keepe them And this worke of grace where begins it but at the very first act of our effectuall calling and conuersion of our iustification and sanctification from our sinnes and against our sinnes As in the forecited place of Ezechiel Then will I sprinkle pure water vpon you and yee shall be cleane from all your filthinesse for a new heart will I giue you c so in Ieremy The Lord ioynes his grace and remission of sinnes together saying I will put my law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts and will be their God and they shall bee my people For I will forgiue their iniquity and will remember their sinnes no more The Lord in the Gospell compares the state of a naturall man vnregenerate to a house possessed by a strong man This strong man is Satan the spirit that ruleth in the children of disobedience such as all vnregenerate are who in that state are dominered ouer and captiuated of the tyrant Diuel at his will Who then shall binde this strong man and dispossesse him of his house and strong hold euen the heart of a naturall man vnregenerate Surely none but a stronger then he euen Christ. And is this done so slightly as by stirring vp the will by some first grace No more but so The strong man will not so easily forgoe his hold He must bee driuen out by strong hand When the Disciples could not by all their delegated power Christ must be faine to put to his immediate power authority to driue the Diuel out A sinner vnregenerate is as Peter fast asleepe and fast chained in the dungeon And to free him did the Angel no more but with a iogge awake him How fell his chaines so easily of How came the prison dores open How the iron gate leading into the citie to open of it owne accord Surely here was no small power vsed Nay the vnregenerate is like Lazarus fast bound and lying dead in the graue And is it so easie a matter to raise him vp to giue him life and to free him from the bonds of death But you hath hee quickned who were dead in trespasses and sinnes wherein once yee walked according to the course of this world according to the Prince of the power of the ayre the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience among whom also wee had our conversation in time past in the lusts of our flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind c. Eph. 2. 1 c. Our will being then captiuated chained imprisoned in the dungeon of death kept and possessed by the strong man the Diuel are we so easily freed Saint Chrysostome amplifieth this by an excellent comparison or two All men saith hee before sinne as once in Adams loynes before his fall haue free will to follow the Diuels will or not but when once by sinne wee haue captiuated our selues to his workes wee cannot now free our selues But as a ship the rudder being broken is carried whither the tempest will so man having by sinne lost the helpe of divine Grace doth not that which himselfe willeth but which the Divell willeth and vnlesse God with a strong hand of mercy loose him hee shall abide in the bonds of his sinnes even vnto death And in the same place he compareth mans will before sinne namely in the state of Adams innocency to a free people or stare in whose power and election it is to chuse what King they will but hauing once chosen him whom they best like it is not now in their power vpon any dislike to depose him againe although hee tirannize ouer them neuer so much none can free them from this grieuous bondage but onely God So it being once in the power of mans will in the free state of innocency to chuse a King God or the Diuel hauing once by consent of sin made choise of the Prince of darknesse who tyrant-like ruleth in the children of disobedience it appertaines now onely to the mightie power and infinite goodnesse of God to set
on the contrary Gods knowing or foreknowledge of his is to elect them This is the foundation of God which stands sure and hath this seale The Lord knoweth them that are his I could be more copious to illustrate this but this may suffice to satisfie those that be not quarrellous Babylonius But Sir howsoeuer you may conclude that Gods Election is absolute without any respectiue foreknowledge of any good or grace in vs in accepting grace offered yet the same cannot so well be sayd of reprebation that God should reprobate any but with a respect and foreknowledge of their disobedience and infidelitie For else God should bee vniust to cast away and condemne any without iust cause in themselues Orthodoxus Sir there is the same reason of reprobation that is of Election for both were out of the corrupt mafle wherein all men were equally condemned whereof some God called and chose out to life the rest hee left as hee found them guiltie of eternall death and vpon whom the sentence of death had now passed seazed Gen. 2. 17 So that for God to leaue some whom he would wallowing in their blood it is an act of his justice as to free others an act of his mercie Which Saint Augustine very pregnantly exemplifieth by a Creditor in whose power it is to acquit some of his Debtors and to exact of the rest to the vttermost as we noted afore This is setforth also in the types of the elect and reprobate Iacob and Esau who being yet in the wombe before they had done good or euill that the purpose of God according to election might stand not of workes but of him that calleth It was said to her the elder shall serue the yonger As it is written Iacob haue I loued but Esau haue I hated Yet both Iacob and Esau were equally culpable in the wombe of originall sinne and so were children of death as all were in the wombe of our first Parents but the election comes and that makes a separation and puts a difference mercifully louing one and justly hating another and that before they had actually done good or euill that the purpose of God might stand according to election not of workes but of him that calleth So that the disproportion alledged by the Appealer was not betweene the elect and reprobate before the act of election but the election caused the disproportion not through any foreknowledge or foresight of any good or euill actually to bee done of either as the Appealer would inferre but Gods meere mercie on the one side and his justice on the other caused the disproportion And euen that place quoted by the Appealer out of Ezechiell makes altogether against himselfe though otherwise rightly alledged for if wee were in our blood if cast out if loathed if dead and yet if in this contemptible condition God saide vnto vs liue yea when wee were in our blood it is twice repeated ver 6. he faide vnto vs liue where is then that praescience of any good in vs moouing God to pull vs out of this miserable estate I am sure no mention of it is in Ezechiel no not in the whole Booke of God but the contrary as we haue proved no nor yet doth his pretended Goddesse indeede his nothing in the world the Church of England any where teach the same so nakedly yet shamlesly peremptory is this assertion of the Appealer hauing none to father his opinion vpon but Pelagius and his Disciples So weake and windy are his aspersions which he casteth vpon Caluin or vpon those whom hee calls Puritans for maintaining nothing but what the Scriptures plainely teach against his groundlesse and gracelesse opinion so that he fighteth against God and his truth against Gods glory and his grace against his Church yea the Church of England also Babylonius But Sir if the act of Election and Reprobation be without any respectiue foreknowledge in God of any actuall good or euill in man then what place is left for freewill or how can God bee just in punnishing the rebellious seeing he hath reiected them and denied them grace Orthodoxus Of freewill I suppose occasion will be giuen anon to speake of it by it selfe For the rebellious reprobate as he is justly reiected for his sinne in Adam so he is neuer but justly condemned and punished for all his actuall sinnes springing from that cursed roote Nor doth his reiection necessitate him to rebell the more against Cod his rebellion is from his owne peruerse will Nor is God bound to giue him grace But against all contentious quarrellers at the Doctrine of God wee cannot shape nor are we bound to giue a better answer melius enim non invenimus saith St. August many times against such cauellers for we finde not a better then that of the Apostle vpon the very same occasion Thou wile say then why doth he yet complaine for who hath resisted his will Nay but o man who art thou that replyest against God shall the thing formed say to him that formed it why hast thou made me thus Hath not the Potter power ouer the clay of the same lumpe to make one vessel vnto honour and another to dishonour c. The comparison is very pregnant God is the Potter wee the lumpe of filthy and foule clay cast out as the clay in the streetes yet if the Potter will may hee not take some of the clay and make of it vessels of honour and make of the rest foule and filthy as he finds it to dishonour seeing it was in his power to put the whole lumpe and that justly to baser vses But as the Apostle saith God makes some vessels of his mercy to make knowne the riches of his glory leauing the rest to be vessels of wrath sitted for destruction to make knowne his iustice and power In a word if Gods election be an act of meere mercy then it excludes all respect to any good that hee could foresee to be in vs for as the Apostle saith There is at this present a remuant according to the election of grace And if by grace then it is no more of workes otherwise grace is no more grace But if it be of workes then it is no more grace otherwise worke is no more worke What then Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for but the election hath obtained it and the rest were blinded I will conclude with Saint Aug. Non solùm c. Therefore by the preaching of Pradestination the Elect is not onely not hindered from this worke to wit of sanctification but also is furthered thereunto that when he glorieth he may glory in the Lord. The Pelagians could say Siâ—â—â— c. If yee will not haue the obedience to which you incite and inflame vs to freeze in our hearts doe not preach vnto vs that grace of God which we confesse God is the giuer of and which you exhort vs vnto But Saint Aug. meetes with
them Ego autem nolo c. I will not exaggerate the matter with my words but I rather leaue it to them to consider that they may see what that is which they haue perswaded themselues that by the preaching of praedestination the hearers are possessed rather with desperation then with exhortation for this is all one as to say that then a man despaireth of his saluation when he hath learned to put his hope not in himselfe but in God Whereas the Prophet proclameth Cursed is euery one that putteth his hope in man Miror saith he homines infirmitatis suae se malle committere quà m firmitati promissionis Dei I wonder that men had rather commit themselues to their owne infirmity then to the stability of Gods promise Therefore we must not measure the wisdome of God in his word by the last or model of our owne braine Indeede mans reason when it stands alone seemeth very selfe-wise But if it bee compared and set by Gods wisdome then the folly of it is by and by discouered The Pontificians haue a plausible reason for their iustification by workes because say they it is a meanes to stirre vp men to good workes The Vniuersalists haue their plausible reason also for their vniuersality of grace as indifferenly offered to all men alike if they will but receiue it because say they all men may hereby bee won to imbrace the grace offered and so be saued But we know that neither the externall ordinary meanes are equally offered to all For many thousands haue not the meanes at all much lesse in an equall measure Againe the ordinary meanes doe of themselues worke no more but ordinary grace as illumination and temporary faith c. But the effectual sauing grace though it be not wrought simply by the ordinary meanes but by the especiall efworke of Gods Spirit in and by the meanes yet we know that the ordinary meanes are to bee diligently and reuerently attended of all men wheresoeuer God affordeth them Howsoeuer in all this generalitie Gods purpose and grace remaines firme to all the seede onely this is Gods wisdome Therefore if Gods worde satisfie not our carnall reason but crosse it rather shall wee presume by straining and wresting to fit it to our owne fancy and not rather submit all our humaine wisdome vnto it Euen Heathen Cato following Pompeis part against Caesar because he tooke it to be the juster and seeing Pompeis side declining and Pompey himselfe at last beaten out of the fielde hee looked vp to heauen and cryed In rebus diuinis magnam esse Caliginem that in diuine things there was a great deale of darknesse which mans wit could not discouer As St. Augustine in his answere to the Pelagians cauill in quarrelling the Scriptures about the imputation of sinne saith Quid si ego essem hebetior nec statim possem has rationes diluere an propterea minus deberem diuinae Scripturae credere Imò mullo magis conuenit vt ego ruditatem meam agnoscam quà m vt falsitatem sacris literis impingam What if my dulnesse were such as I could not by and by disproue these reasons must I therefore not beleeue the diuine Scripture Nay so much the rather ought I to acknowledge mine owne ignorance then to impute falshood to Gods holy word A rare humility and candid ingenuitie of this holy man captiuating all his carnall reason to Gods profound wisdome in the holy Scriptures Babylonius But Sir giue me leaue a little to apologise in the Appealers behalfe You say his opinion is impious as impugning the glory and mercy of God But doth he not say in expresse words that God did out of his mercy in his loue motu mero they be his owne wordes and not otherwise stretch out to mankinde lying in their blood in Adams corrupt loynes deliuerance in a Mediatour the Man Iesus Christ and drew them out that tooke hold of mercy c so that you see the Authour doth ascribe our deliuerance to the mercy and meere motion of Gods loue to mankinde Therefore this his opinion is not so impious as you would make it as if guilty of high sacriledge against Gods glory and grace Orthodoxus Indeede Sir you say something for him as he doth for himselfe but that is said is so far from acquiting as it doth deepely accuse the Authour of high treason against the Maiestie of God and the throne of his grace True it is indeede that it was Gods incomprehensible loue to mankinde to ordaine for him such a Redeemer as was his owne and onely Sonne to assume our base nature and therein to liue and dye contemtibly An exceding great fauour of God towards man to shape make and fit his Sonne Iesus Christ as a most glorious robe to couer our nakednesse as some of this Pelagian race teachers of vniuersall grace make the comparison All this is well thus farre But is this all If Gods mercy and grace stinte here and goe no further farewell deliuerance we may wallow in our blood still we may weare our filthy nakednesse as our best garment still In vaine Gods mercy in vaine Christs death while it is left to vs to receiue and accept this grace In vaine doth a man tell a blinde man of a glorious sunne in the firmament which he wanteth eyes to see or a maimed man without hands of a goodly garment made vp for him vpon condition that none but himselfe must put it on such is our condition by nature we perceiue not we receiue not the things of the Spirit of God concerning Christ. Tell vs of the glorious sunne of righteousnesse risen who hath healing vnder his wings we are blinde we apprehend it not we are not affected with it as not sensible of our spirituall diseases Tell vs of the Robe of Christs righteousnesse dipped and dyed in his blood wee want the hand of faith to put it on yea we cannot duely prize it we disesteeme it we count it no better then that poore coare of his which the Souldiers cast lots for yea wee hide our faces from him hee was despised and wee esteemed him not saith Esay Yea we are by nature like those Lâ—odiceans we say wee are rich and increased in goods and haue neede of nothing and know not that we are wretched miserable and poore and blind and naked Reu 3. 17. But as God is the good Physician who of his meere grace and fauour prepares and prouides a remedie for our dead-sicke soules so he alone out of his free mercy must apply this remedy else wee can reape no more benefit by it then a sicke Patient of a soueraigne Cordiall while it is close kept in the Apothecaries box whereof he seeth the inscription and title onely We haue a pregnant example hereof in that man that fell among theeues who stript wounded and left him halfe dead vnable to helpe himselfe whom the Priest and Leuite passe by on each