named together it is first named and hath the primacie and as it were the right hand of all the rest by faith Christ doth dwell in our hearts by whom God and all his blessings are made ours 2 Pet. 1. 5. 1. Thess 3. 6. Ephes 3. 17. 1 Cor. 3. 23. Faith saith Saint Austine is Christ in vs and that heauenly Sunne is impaired or increased according to our faith Aug. in Psal 1 2â— And againe Faith is the very soule of the soule and the life thereof Aug. in Ioh. hom 49. Because it ioineth vs to Christ the Author of life and bringeth with it all other diuine graces wherein our spirituall life consisteth Aug. de Praedest sanct cap. 7. And hence it is that the whole Law is said to appertaine to faith if a true faith be vnderstood Aug. de Fide Oper. cap. 22. And in this sense faith may be called our whole sanctification for that it worketh our whole sanctification as infidelitie is called the proper and after a sort the only sinne because it is the originall of all vnrighteousnesse Aug. cont Ep. Pelag. lib. 3. cap. 3. For what good thing is there that is not obtained by faith By faith we are iustified Rom. 5. 1. By faith we are saued Ephes 2. 8. By faith we are made the sonnes of God Gal 3. 26. By faith we are incorporated into the heauenly Ierusalem and by it as by a cognizance or badge we are distinguished from all other societies The Catholike Faith saith Saint Austine doth distinguish the iust from the vniust not by the Law of workes but of faith without the Aug. ad Bonif. lib. 3. cap. 5. which those very workes which seeme to be good are turned into sinne Now if it were but in these respects faith might challenge the chiefest place of precedency and honour in the assembly of all her princely Peeres but much more may she doe it for that in her owne proper worke she is imploied in beholding imbracing and magnnifying of all the diuine excellences and perfections that be in God wherein consisteth the most proper and peculiar glory and honour of God By workes saith Chrysostome we obey God but faith Chrysost hom 8. in â—p ad Rom. entertaineth a meet opinion of God and glorifieth him and maketh him much more to be admired then doth the shewing forth of good workes Works commend the doer but faith commendeth God only and what it is it is wholly his for it reioiceth in this that it conceiueth great things which redound to his glory Wherefore no maruell that the Lord himselfe hath such a respect to faith that all his gracious and glorious workes and wordes tend either to the begetting or strengthening of the same For why hath the Lord accomplished his most glorious workes of the Creation Redemption and sanctification but that they might be testimonies of his goodnesse mirrours of his mercy seales of his speciall Act. 14. 17. 2 Cor. 3. 18. Apoc 7. 2. Ephes 1. 14. Cant 1. 3. Hos 11. 4. 2 Pet. 1. 13. grace and fauour pawnes and pledges of his fatherly kindenesse and loue that so he might draw vs and binde vs vnto himselfe and cause vs to trust perfectly in this his fauour and grace which is thus and thus ratified and confirmed vnto vs So why did our most blessed Sauiour send forth his Apostles into the whole world to preach and publish to all creatures these so ioifull tidings of such inestimable fauours as are contained in the Gospell but that the whole world might be conuerted to the faith and might beleeue and to be saued As for the same end hath he caused the same to be penned for all posterities that thereby there might be wrought a sauing Marke 16. 16. Iohn 20. 31. faith in the hearts of all the children of God euen to the worlds end Wherefore without all doubt faith is a most singular gift of God seeing â—e hath ordained such singular meanes for the effecting and working thereof yea it is a most rare blessing and hardly gotten seeing where these singular meanes are best vsed euen there ofâ—ntimes appeareth little fruit When Esayas more like an Euangelist then a Prophet had published this doctrine of faith euen to the Lords own people what was his owne testimony concerning his successe thereof Esay 53. 1. but this Lord who hath beleeued our report to whomis the arme of the Lord renealed Nay when our blessed Sauiour himself came in his own person to preach these glad ridings of the Gospell euen with the mouth tongue of the Son of God after so wise and powerfull a manner that his very enemies did wonder at the gracious words that came out of his mouth and were forced to confesse That neuer man spake as he did Yea Luke 4 22. Ioh. 17. 46. after he had wrought many strange and wonderfull signes for the further confirmation thereof yet all this tooke so small effect that by the testimony of Saint Iohn being an eie witnesse of all these things then also was fulfilled the former prophesie Lord who hath beleeued our report Yea their infidelity Iohn 12. 37. Marke 6. 6. was so great that our Sauiour Christ maruelled thereat And yet behold a thing more to be maruelled at that the Apostles themselues who continually heard our Sauiours diuine and heauenly doctrine and daily saw his wonderfull workes were yet so hardly brought to the faith that our Sauiour after his resurrection forced to reprooue them most bitterly for it saying Oh ye fooles and slow of heart to beleeue all that the Prophets haue spoken No maruell then that albeit Luke 24. 25. the Gospel be published and reuiued in these last daies before the comming of Christ to iudgement by many singular and excellent instruments yet when the Sonne of man commeth he shall not finde faith on the earth Luke 18. 8. The truth is that it is an easie matter to beleeue lies because they are agreeable to our corrupt nature but the doctrine of truth teaching the assurance of Gods loue in Christ is a strange paradox contrary to the common opinion of men We saith the Apostle â—each Iesus Christ crucified a stumbling 1 Cor. 1. 23. blocke to the Iew and foolishnesse to the Grecian Or be it that a slender assent and a formall approbation of the doctrine of faith proceeding from some slight apprehension thereof may bee somewhat generall where it hath beene long time taught by the Preacher and commanded by the Prince yet a settled perswasion proceeding from a sure and sound apprehension is vndoubtedly a strange and wonderfull worke of God Without all controuersie saith the Apostle great is 1 Tim. 3. 16. this mystery of godlinesse God manifested in the flesh iustified in the Spirit seene of Angels preached vnto the Gentiles and beleeued on in the world yea the agreement of faith with the heart of man is esteemed by Saint Austine to
aeternall and vnchangeable righteousnesse it commandeth vs to loue the Lord with all our heart soule and strength and our neighbour as our selues which are duties most righteous and iust To the singular excellency of the which Law Moses the first pen-man thereof beareth witnesse saying What Nation is so great that hath Deut. 4. 8. Lawes and Ordinances so righteous as is all this Law that I set before you this day And to the righteousnesse that is obtayned by the perfect obseruation thereof he likewise beareth witnesse saying This shall be our righteousnesse euen before the Deut. 6. 25. Lord our God if we take heed to keepe all these Commandements which he hath commanded vs. As to the most ample reward obtained thereby not onely the Apostle beareth witnesse saying Doe this and thou shalt liue but also our Sauiour Christ Rom. 10 5. Matth. 19. 17. himselfe If thou wilt enter into life keepe the Commandements But this blessing is not promised but to the totall and continuall obseruation thereof seeing the failing in either bringeth Deut. 2. 29. Gal. 3. 10. the contrary curse Wherefore when all the Posterity of Adam was disabled by his fall fully to keepe all these Commandements Our most blessed Sauiour came in our nature to fulfill them for vs Gal 4 4. that so he might procure vnto vs righteousnesse and life And so our blessed Sauiour himselfe testifieth saying I came not to Matth 3 31. destroy the Law and the Prophets but to fulfill them For by the Gospell the Law is not made voyde but established For if our Rom 3 31. Sauiour Christ had not throughly fulfilled for vs that righteousnesse that is required in the Law vnto the which the promise is made he had not procured for vs righteousnesse and life Wherefore intollerable is the pride and presumption of the Founders of the Religious Orders of the Church of Rome which teach that their rules lay open a way to a more perfect righteousnesse then is contayned in the Law of God and that their superstitious Votaries can thereby not onely merit for themselues euerlasting life but also doe many workes of supererogation auaileable for the saluation of other men QVEST. VII We are not iustified by those workes of righteousnesse commanded in the Law of God which are wrought by our selues but by those which were wrought for vs by our Sauiour Christ in his owne person and are imputed to vs and made ours through faith Moses saith the Apostle describeth the righteousnesse that Arguments drawne from the formall cause is of the Law that the man that doth these things shall liue therein But the righteousnesse that is of faith speaketh on this manner Say not thou in thine heart who shall ascend it to heauen for that is to fetch Christ from aboue Or who shall descend into hell for that is to bring Christ from the dead but what saith it The Rom. 10. 5. word is neare thee euen in thy mouth and in thine heart and this is the word of Faith which we preach For if thou shalt confesse with thy mouth the Lord Iesus and beleeue in thine heart that God raised him from the dead thou shalt be saued For with the heart man beleeueth to righteousnesse and with the mouth he confesseth to saluation For the Scripture saith Whosoeuer beleeueth in him shall not be confounded In which words is set downe the diuersity that is betweene the Law and the Gospel in prescribing the meanes whereby we are deliuered from death and made partakers of euerlasting life Doe saith the Law that which is prescribed in me and thou shalt liue and doe it in that manner that thou neuer transgresse and then thou shalt be free from all feare of death Whereas the Gospell saith Beleeue that Christ dyed and descended into Hell for thee to assure thee of thy deliuerance and that he hauing performed all righteousnesse for thee ascended into Heauen the place where righteousnesse is rewarded and crowned to take possion thereof for thee and thou shalt be deliuered from the horrours of Heil and be made pertaker of the ioyes of heauen So when the Iaylor demanded of Paul and Silas what he should doe that he might be saued they answered Beleeue in the Act. 16. 30. Lord Iesus that he fulfilled all righteousnesse both in suffering and obaying for the saluation of all that rightly beleeue and thou shalt be saued And verily whereas there is but one manner and forme of obtayning Iustification and Saluation for all that are iustified and saued seeing children dying in their Infancy and all such as are not effectually called vntill the end of their liues cannot be iustified and saued by the workes of righteousnesse wrought by themselues but by the righteousnâ—sse of Christ performed for them and imputed vnto them by a true faith therefore all the residue of the faithfull seruants of God are iustified and saued after the same manner And so our blessed Sauiour teacheth in the parable of the Husbandman that went Matth. 20. 9. out and sent labourers into his Vineyard whereof some were sent at the first houre some at the third some at the sixt and some at the last houre and yet they all receiued the same wages The which parable Saint Ambrose expounding saith Ambros de vocat Gent lib. 1. cap 5. that such as were hyred at the last houre represent such as are called to the Lords seruice at the end of their liues whom hee hath chosen without workes and vpon whom he doth rather powre forth the riches of his Grace then yeeld a reward vnto their labours that they also who haue laboured and sweat the whole day and continued their whole life in the seruice of God and yet receiue but their Penny with the other may thereby understand that they also rather receiue a gift of grace then a wages of hire due to their workes Now if it be replyed that Infants and such as are called at the end of their liues are iustified and saued for the workes they would haue done if that they had liued a longer time the answere is made by S. Austin that rewards and punishments Aug. de bono perseuerant cap. 9 cp 15. And de Praedestin Sanctorum cap. 12. are not rendred to workes that men would or could doe but to such as are actually done For otherwise Tire and Sidon yea all the damned should be saued seeing at the day of iudgement they would all repent if they might and if their repentance would then serue the turne Wherefore if we seeke for righteousnesse by the workes of the Law performed by our selues as the Iewes did and as the Romanists still doe we shall assuredly faile therein as they did but if with the Gentiles we imbrace righteousnesse and life by faith in Christ then vndoubtedly we shall attaine to both QVEST. VIII The forme and manner to attaine to Sanctification is not to receiue the holy Word of
with the note of aeternall infamy for that they tooke vpon them to name ouâ—r them that Acts 19. 13. had euill spirits the name of the Lord IESVS saying We adiure you by IESVS whom Paul preacheth As the Scribes and Pharisees are condemned of grosse and palpable superstition for that they did ascribe a sanctifying Mat. 23. 5. power vnto the Law of God written vpon their garments They did not vnderstand saith S. Ierome that these things are Ierom. in Mat. c. 23. to be carried in their hearts and not on their bodies seeing Libraries and chests haue the bookes but not the knowledge of God The like saith he doe euen now superstitious women amongst vs who haue a zeale of God but not according to knowledge in litle Gospels and in the wood of the Crosse and in other things of the like nature Neither was this superstition found only among some silly women but also among some of the Priests whom S. Chrysostome Chrâ—s in Mat. hom 43. sharply taxeth saying Tell me thou doating Priest is not the Gospell daily read and heard of men in the Church Whom then it doth not profit being receiued by the eares can it saue being hanged about their necks For wherein consisteth the vertue of the Gospell In the formes of the letters or in the vnderstanding of the sense If in the figures then dost thou wel to hang it about thy necke but if in the vnderstanding then would it doe the more good being placed in thine heart then hanged about thy necke Neither haue the Sacraments which are visible words any supernaturall grace annexed to the outward Elements but as Aug. in Joh. hom 89. 1 Cor. 11. 29. they represent vnto the mind an invisible grace and shadow out and suggest diuine things to the vnderstanding that so they may be viewed and reviewed againe and againe and that they being once rightly apprehended may be stil apprehended better and better How is it saith S. Austin that water doth touch the body and cleanse the soule but by the means of the word Aug. in Ioh hom 80. And that not because it is pronounced with the tongue but beleeued by the heart the right vse of the sacred signe being so Verba sunt signa rerum conceiued as it is opened and taught in the word And verily to what end were both Words and Sacraments Sacramentum est visibile signuÌ„ invisibilisgratie Aug. de doct Christian l. 4. 6. 8 ordained but that they being signes of things they might open vnto vs the things whereof they are signes Insomuch as S. Austin saith it skilleth not how polished the tongue bee that we speake in but how sit it be to make manifest our minde and meaning For that as a wooden key may steed vs more then a key of gold if it be more sit to open that which is shut so a base and simple language may doe vs more good then a learned and polished if that it make knowne vnto vs that which was vnknowne And therefore the diuine seruice of God that is to be performed by the people of God is to bee deliuered in their vulgar tongue that they may vnderstand what they doe The which thing is so behoofull and necessary that the Apostle commanded that such as vttered diuine mysteries in strange tongues which were giuen euen by the miraculous operation of the Holy Ghost should keep silence in the Church vnlesse the meaning of the speech were presently expounded 1 Cor. 14. 28. that so the hearers might receiue edification thereby For all things in the Church ought to be done to edification and no word ought especially there to be uttered idly or in vaine And Isai 45. 9 therefore whereas wordes vttered in an vnknowne language are without profit and vaine they are not to be vttered in the Church of God Yea albeit the words themselues be vnderstood Legere non intell gere est negligere yet if the sense and meaning of them be not rightly conceiued they are as our Sauiour saith as seed sowne by the Mat. 13. 9. high way side which can yeeld no manner of fruit And verily as not the words but the meaning of the Law is the Law so not the words but the meaning of the Gospell of Christ is the Gospell of Christ The Scripture saith S. Ierome consisteth not in the reading but in the vnderstanding And againe Hier. advers Luciferianos Hier. in cap. 1. eâ—ist ad Gal. saith he let vs not thinke that the Gospell consisteth in the words of the Scriptures but in the sense not in the outward shew but in the marrow not in the leaues of the language but in the root of the reason Wherefore Chrysostome's aduise is very behoofull that wee should diligently watch or rather saith he we haue need of Chrys in Ioh. hom 39 the grace of God that we insist not vpon the bare words seeing thereby heretickes fall into errour For as the right sense of the Word of God maketh it to be the true Word of God so a wrong sense forged by man maketh it to be the word of man yea a cursed gloze thereof made by the suggestion of that cursed serpent Satan cleane corrupteth the Text and maketh that which in the syllables and words is the very Word of God to be in the corrupt sense the very word of the Diuell And therefore such as be carefull not to fall into errour nor to turne the Word of God into the Word of the Diuell must Tertul. advers Prax. as Tertullian aduiseth exercise themselues to the sense of the matter and not to the sound of the words Yea if they will receiue any profit at all by the Word of God they must giue all diligence that they may attaine to the right sense and vnderstanding of the same For the word profiteth not vnlesse it bee Heb. 4. 2. mixed with Faith Now a right faith standeth vpon a true vnderstanding of that we beleeue For we cannot giue a right assent of faith to that which we doe not rightly vnderstand And therefore the weaker or stronger our apprehension of the mysteries of the Word of God is the weaker or stronger is our Faith As it appeareth in the very Apostles themselues who liuing with Christ himselfe and being oft taught by him the mysteries of godlines yet were a long time very weake in Faith for that they were very weake in knowledge But when our blessed Sauiour after his resurrection had opened their minds and had made them to vnderstand the sense of the Scriptures Luc. 24. 45 then they attained to a greater measure of Faith For growth in the right knowledge of the word of grace doth bring with 2 Pet. 3. 18. it growth in grace it selfe Wherefore it is no meane mercy when God doth bestow vpon any persons the true and certaine knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdome of God seeing it is a sure
signe that he Mat. 13. 11. hath admitted all such into the couenant of grace in whose hearts hee hath written his holy Lawes by giuing them the right vnderstanding of them For the soule of man is as a Table Ier. 31. 31. 2 Cor. 3 3. Prov. 7. 3. Apoc. 20. 12 board or as a register or a booke of records and the firme conceiuing of a thing in the minde and the sure laying vp thereof in the memory is as the drawing or grauing in a Table board or as the writing of it in a booke of record And therefore when the diuine doctrine of the Word of God is rightly apprehended by our vnderstanding and firmely layed vp and settled in our memory it is as it were printed and grauen in our soules so doth thereby assâ—re our Consciences that wee are the beloued people of God For giue in sincerity entertainment in the best roomes of thy soule to the Word of God and thou dost Ioh. 14. 23 Eph. 3. 17. withall giue entertainment to Christ For Christ doth dwell in our hearts by Faith He is not receiued and eaten with our bodily mouthes because he is not our bodily food but with the mouthes of our soules when sweetly and profitably we lay vp in our memories that his flesh was wounded and pierced for Aug. de doct Christian l. 3. c. 10. Tertul. de resur carnis vs. So Tertullian Christ is deuoured by hearing chewed by vnderstanding and digested by beleeuing For reall things are not in our mindes by any corporall contiguity of their reall substances but by a spirituall participation of them by their Res non sunt in animis sed rerum notiones reall notions Neither doe our Sacraments auouch a mingling of persons or an vniting of substances but after a spirituall and a mysticall manner And therefore Christ's Body being not a bodily but a ghostly food is not receiued but by the powers of our soules being indued with a true Faith For the Lord doth bestow his seuerall gifts and blessings Cyp. de coena Dom. Quicquid recipitur ad modum recipientis recipitur vpon his seuerall creatures according vnto their seuerall natures and powers whereby he hath made them capable thereof causing them all to moue and to worke according to those powers and faculties where withall he hath indued them Hee nourisheth nourishable things by their nourishing powers doth minister many comforts to his creatures that haue sense and motion by causing them to apprehend the same by their sensitiue and motiue faculties So likewise doth he bestow his gifts proper to men which are reasonable creatures by making them knowne vnto them by the discourse of reason by causing them to apprehend and embrace the same by their vnderstandings and wils which are the proper faculties of reasonable creatures As for example the Lord worketh a care in many naturall men to lead a ciuill and a righteous life by causing them to apprehend and embrace those arguments and reasons which are of force to perswade to a ciuill and a righteous life As in like manner hee openeth the hearts of such as he calleth to the estate of grace by causing them carefully to attend to the diuine Acts 16. 14. doctrines of the Word of grace For the Spirit of God leadeth them not as blind men which are led by their guides in the way that they see not themselues but he openeth their eyes that they may turne from darknes to light from the power of Satan to God that they may receiue remission of sinnes inheritance among them that are sanctified by Faith in Christ Insomuch that the minds of the Faithfull are first sanctified Acts 26. 18. by a true and right apprehension of the loue of God in Christ made manifest vnto them by the light of the Gospell and their wills are inflamed with a seruent desire to be partakers thereof before they be made the sincere Seruants of Christ For as Austin Aug. de peccat merit remiss l. 2. cap. 3. Aug. hom 15. de verb. Apost saith God worketh our saluation in vs not as in stones that haue no sense or as in those creatures to whom he hath not given reason will For as the same Father also teachetb elsewhere He that made thee without thee doth not make thee Iust without thee He made thee not knowing what was done vnto thee but he maketh thee iust being willing and witting to that worke which is wrought in thee There are two parts of our saluation or deliuerance from sinne whereof the one is a deliuerance from the very being and Heb. 1. 3. 1. Pet. 2. 24 Isa 63. 3 1 Cor. 1. 13. Act. 20. 28 1 Pet. 1. 19 bondage of sinne and the other from the guilt and punishment thereof Now albeit concerning our deliuerance from the guilt punishment of sinne our most mighty Sauiour hath performed that alone by himselfe euen by the shedding of his owne most precious blood yet concerning that other part which consisteth in the dâ—liuerance from the being and bondage of sinne he doth effect it by diueâ—s motiues set downe in his holy Word whereby through the effectuall operation of his holy Spirit he doth make his Elect desirous and willing to cast off the grieuous yoake of Satan to haue all their very thoughts brought vnto obedience to the commandements of God Wherefore it was not without cause that the Prophet Daniel Dan. 4. 24. exhorted Nebuchadnezzar to redeeme his sins with righteousnes and his iniquities with mercy towards the poore that so there might be an healing of his errour For as hee that is ouercome of sinne is in bondage to sinne so he that breaketh 2 Pet. 2. 19. the bonds of sinne and casteth off the yoke thereof may rightly be said to redeeme and to saue himselfe from the same Take Redime to captum quam queas minimo 1 Tim. 4. 16. heed saith the Apostle to Timothy to thy selfe and to thy doctrine and continue therein for in so doing thou shalt saue thy selfe and them that heare thee Verily as sinne is the sicknes death of the soule so righteousnesse is the health and life thereof And therefore whereas contraries are cured by contraries Contraria curaÌ„â—ur contrarys by righteousnes our soules are cured of their sinnes As it is apparent by the words of Daniel before-mentioned Redeeme thy sinnes with righteousnes and thine iniquities with mercy towards the poore loe let there be an healing of thine errour by which words we are taught that by righteousnes our souls are healed of their sinnes Wherefore all such as hearken attentiuely to the doctrine of the Gospell and are thereby brought to saith and righteousnes Luc. 1. 17. whereby they are purged from their sinnes may rightly be said to worke out their owne saluation to redeeme and saue Phil. 2. 12. their owne soules for that they are instruments
vnder the grace of Christ for the effecting of this so worthy a worke And verily as the ignorance of the powerfull truths of the Gospell breedeth folly and folly leadeth into all iniquity and Eccl. 7. 27. is the porter that openeth the doore to all impiety so the true knowledge of the mysteries of godlines breedeth wisedome 2 Tim. 3. 15. wisedome deliuereth from the euill way and from the man that speaketh froward things and from them that leaue the Prov. 2. 10. wayes of righteousnes to walke in the wayes of darknes and so is an entrance and portall to piety and to all other diuine Prov. 4. 7. vertues So then in the worke of regeneration deliuerance from the being and bondage of sinne both the saithfull teacher of 1 Cor. 3. 9. 2 Cor. 6. 1 Phil. 2. 12. the Gospell and hearer also are co-workers with God and yet hereof they are not to be proud For what hast thou that 1 Cor. 4. 7 thou hast not receiued And if thou hast receiued it why gloriest thou as if thou hadst not receiued it Of our selues we are dead in our sinnes and altogether vnable to moue our selues to the working out of Faith and an holy life but are meerely passiue Eph 2. 1. Rom. 5. 6 in our spirituall resurrection vntill God by his Spirit put good thoughts into our mindes and holy desires into our hearts yet then we our selues beginne to thinke well and to desire that which is good albeit not of our selues but by the gracious working of God's most holy Spirit By the grace of God saith the Apostle I am that I am and his grace which is in me was not in vaine but I laboured more abundantly then 1 Cor. 15. 10. they all yet not I but the grace of God which is with me I laboured saith the Apostle more abundantly then they all in working out the worke of the saluation of many but yet not I as of my selfe or by any naturall power that was in me but by the worke of the grace of God which was with me For so he doth declare his meaning to be in the third chapter of his second Epistle where for that some among them called in question the truth of his Apostleship hee boldly auoucheth that their regeneration and conversion to God wrought by his ministery but by the power of Christ was a most euident demonstration thereof Such trust saith hee haue wee through Christ to God not that we are sufficient of our selues to thâ—nke any thing belonging to the worke of our owne saluation or to the saluation of any other as of our selues but 2 Cor. 3. 5 our sufficiency is of God The Faithfull then must haue an holy minde and an holy will before they can be the holy ones of God yet it is neither of these that they haue of themselues but of the pâ—werfull grace of God We will saith S. Austin but it is God that worketh in vs to will we worke but it is God that Aug. de gratiae libero arâ— c. 16 worketh in vs to worke and that of his owne good will Thus to beleeue and to professe is behâ—ofull and expedient for vs this is according to godlines and truth that an humble and lowly confession be made by vs and that all be giuen and ascribâ—d to God seeing our life is in greater security when we ascribe all to God and doe not commit our selues in part to our selues and in part to God So then it is a most certain truth that in our regeneration and deliuerance from the being and bondage of sinne it is God that worketh in vs euery good thought word and worke and also that herein we our selues are co-workers with God as it may appeare by this euen for that this worke proceedeth after so slow and slacke a manner Adam indeed was made perfectly holy and righteous and that in a moment euen at his first being and existing because the Lord Almighty and all-sufficient wrought himselfe and by himselfe that holinesse and righteousnesse that was in him but now the Faithfull are herein ioint-workers with God and therefore this worke goeth forward slowly because of the small measure of grace that is giuen to them the great power of the remnants of their inbred corruptions which continually striue against the worke of grace and hinder greatly the proceedings thereof The faithfull in diuers places of Scriptures are compared to starres in respect of their profitable and fruitfull vses but may they not also be likened vnto them in respect of their manifold imperfections and aberrations Their proper motions are but slow yea some of them very slow For some of them finish â—heir course in a yeare one in two yeare one in twelue yeare one in thirty yeare and all that be fixed in the fitmament in forty nine thousand yeares Neither keep they their right course always vnder the Ecliptick line but somtimes turne to one side thereof sometimes to the other neither are these their courses still direct and forward but also sometimes retrograde and backward in their cycles epcicycles towards their apogeïon and towards their perigeïon giuing sometimes a cheerefull aspect and sometimes an opposite and disastrous stowne So is it with the faithfull they are slow in the entire accomplishing of any one holy motion yet the motions of all the powers of their soules and bodies will not be made perfite vntill the glorious commâ—ng of Christ vnto iudgement Verily while they liue here in this world they follow not continually the streight course of Christ the Sunne of righteousnesse vnder the Eclipticke line of his holy Word but somettimes they turne to one side and sometimes to the other neither doe they alwayes keep a direct course and goe on forward in the way of godlines but sometimes they are retrograde and goe backward and sometimes running in a maze being doubtfull and vncertaine which way to take sometimes they are in their apogeion and sometimes in their perigeïon that is sometimes they are lifted vp with heauenly meditations and sometimes pressed downe with earthly cares and sometimes they giue a cheerefull aspect to the good proceedings of others and somtimes they become their cleane opposites and cast vpon them a disastrous frowne Wherefore it behooueth the faithfull to giue all diligence to worke out their saluation not only with hearts trembling at their owne imperfections but also by being fearefull to ascribe to themselues the glory of willing or working any thing that is good seeing as the Apostle adioyneth it is God that worketh Phil. 2. 13. in you the will and the deed and that of his own goodwill And yet they themselues must vnderstand desire and accomplish that which belongeth to the honour of God and to their owne and the Churches good if they will be the accepted seruants of God The Church of Rome doth lay this as an hainous offence vnto our charge that
faith by calling it the knowledge of the Tit. 1. 1. 1 Tim. 3. 16. truth which is according to godlinesse for that it is the fruitfull mother thereof As he calleth the Diuine doctrine of the Gospell the mysterie of godlinesse because it is the powerfull instrument of God to procreate the same For it openeth the vnspeakable vnsearchable riches of the loue and goodnesse of God in Christ and giueth light and sight to apprehend the same and thereby begetteth true godlinesse The cause procreating and preseruing of all holinesse and happinesse both of Angels and men either in this life or in the life to come is the Vision contemplationâ— and Apprehension of the Lords vnspeakeable goodnesse and loue The plaine and euident revelation and manifestation thereof in the Gospell openeth the eyes of a blinded sinner and giueth to him the sight of a true Christian sauing saith whereby he turneth from darkenesse to light and from the power of Satan to God and Acts 26. 18. 2 Cor. 3. 18. worketh in him a reuerent feare to offend the Lord and a louing care to performe all duties that doe belong to piety and godlinesse Behold saith Saint Iohn what loue the Father hath shewed vs that we should be called the sonnes of God For this cause the world knoweth vs not because it knowoth not him Dearely beloued now we are the sonnes of God but yet it doth not appeare what we shall be but this we know that when he shall appeare we shall be like him for wee 1 Ioh. 3. 1. shall see him as hee is And euery one that hath this hope in him purgeth himselfe euen as he is pure In which words the Apostle auoucheth that the Lord making himselfe knowne by the doctrine of the Gospell not to the world but to his Elect and causing theÌ„ therby not onely faithfully to beleeue and embrace his great loue whereby hee hath adopted them for his sonnes in Christ but also by hope firmely to expect their full and finall glorification at his comming to iudgement doth thereby purge euery one of them from the pollutions of sinne and so doth reforme and renew them The which reformation because it doth begin in the minde and from thence proceedeth to the whole man is called a renewing or a changing of the minde and a returning to a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Resipiscentia wiser course For when the vnderstanding is truely rectified and reformed by the sure and certaine knowledge and apprehension of heauenly things it will master and ouer-rule the will and the affections and cause them to be imployed about Coll. 3. 2. heauenly actions The illumination of the minde saith a learned Author Morton of the three fold estate of man being the first part of regeneration is the cause of all the rest of that holinesse that is to be seene in the regenerate man euen as our Saviour Christ himselfe teacheth saying The light of the Mat. 6. 22. body is the eye if then thine eye be single thy whole body shall be light but if thine eye be wicked all thy bodie shall be darke So likewise if the minde which is the eye of the soule Coll. 3. 10. be truely sanctified and renewed with knowledge there followeth holinesse in all the faculties of the soule but if it be darkened with blindnesse and ignorance there is nothing but sinne in the whole man Neither can it be otherwise For as it is impossible that a man should either trust or hope in God loue feare and obey him or performe any other duty of holinesse to God whom hee doth not know in his loue mercy goodnesse power iustice and the rest of his attributes so it is no lesse impossible that a man should know and be fully perswaded that God is true in his promises mercifull gratious and iust and not be affected to him accordingly He that knoweth thee O God saith Austin loueth thee more then himselfe August soliloq cap. 1. and leaueth himselfe that he may come vnto thee and delight in thee Wherefore if any one make profession of true wisedome and Iac 3. 13. knowledge we may will him with Saint Iames to make demonstration thereof by his good conversation and by his workes performed in meeknesse of wisedome or which is all one if he make profession of the true Christian Faith we may say vnto him Shew mee thy faith by thy workes and I will Iac. 2. 26. shew thee my faith by my workes seeing that faith that is without workeâ— is not a liuing but a dead faith For a liuing faith doth engraffe vs into Christ and so maketh vs good trees Rom. 11. 19. which cannot be without good fruit And verily so farre forth Mat. 7. 17. Tantum possumus quantum credimus Cyp. ad Quirit Tantum diligimus quantum credimus Orig. in Eze. hâ—m 22. 1 Ioh 2. 4. Qui non facit bonum non credâ—t bonum Isa 11. 6. Pro. 2. 10. as the grace of God enableth vs to beleeue so farre it enableth vs also to worke and so farre forth as it enableth vs to apprehend Gods loue towards vs so farre forth it enableth vs to loue God and to make the same euident and manifest by our carefull endeauour to doe such things as are well pleasing in his sight He therefore that saith I know God and keepeth not his Commandements is a lyer and the truth is not in him For he that doth not well beleeueth not well and he whose knowledge bridleth not in some good measure his brutish affections he hath not attained to that wisedome and knowledge which the Spirit of God fore-told should be in all true and sincere Christians For when wisedome entreth into thine heart and knowledge delighteth thy soule then shall counsell preserue thee and vnderstanding shall keepe thee and deliuer thee from the euill way Of the infallible certainty and truth whereof Lactantius was so throughly perswaded that he was bold to make this challenge to any that would except against the same by instancing in the most vnbridled affections of all Giue me saith hee Lact. diuâ—n Instit l. 3. c. 26. a wrathfull man and a slanderer and one that is of vnbridled affections and with a few words of God I will make him as weake as a Lambe Giue me a greedy and a couetous pinch-penny and I will make him liberall giuing out his money with whole handfuls giue me one that is afraid of griefe and death and he shall presently contemne the Gallowes and the fire and the Bull of Phalaris also giue me a libidinous and an adulterous person and thou shalt see him straight way sober chast and continent giue me a cruell and a blood-thirsty person and presently his fury shall be turned into mercy giue me an vniust person and an vnwise and a sinner and by and by he shall be made iust prudent and innocent and with one washing all his sinfulnesse shall be
quickened vnto an holy and heauenly life So Origen The testimony of the spirit Orig. in 8. Cap. ad â—om is an hability giuen by the Spirit not to doe all things for feare but for loue towards God So Ambrose also vpon the same words of the Apostle calleth it an hability giuen by the Spirit of God to leade a life fitting the name of the sonnes of God whereby our heauenly Fathers marke is seene in vs. And this these holy men learned of the holy Apostle Saint Peter Giue saith he all diligence to ioyne to your 2 Pet. 1. 10. faith vertue to your vertue knowledge to knowledge temperance to temperance patience to patience brotherly kindnesse to brotherly kindnesse loue c. and hereby make your calling and election sure for if you doe such things ye shall neuer fall For whereas God hath promised to be a gracious God and louing Father to all such as trust in him loue him and feare him and are carefull to obserue his Lawes and are truly sorrowfull for their daily transgressions and sinnes How can it otherwise be but that the faithfull hauing by their dutifull conuersing with God in the holy exercises of hearing his holy Word and of prayer obtained these graces in some sufficient measure How can it I say otherwise be but that thereby they should be certainly perswaded that God is their louing and gracious God and that they are his beloued people For it is impossible that the promises of God made to his people concerning this matter should be void and without effect Walke saith the Lord in my Statutes and keepe Ex. 20. 19. my iudgements and do them and sanctifie my Sabbaoths and they shall be a signe betweene me and you that ye may know that I am your God Of the certainty and euidency of the truth thereof the Apostle Saint Paul was so confident that he appealeth to euery faithfull mans experience among the Romans concerning the same saying Know ye not that to Rom. 6. 16. whomsoeuer ye giue your selues as seruants to obey his seruants ye are to whom ye obey whether it be of sinne vnto death or of obedience vnto righteousnesse The faithfull then being well witting to their own hearts that they haue giuen themselues to God and are carefull to performe the works of faith loue holinesse and righteousnesse according vnto the rule of Gods word in obedience vnto God doe so throughly know hereby that they do an acceptable seruice vnto God and that they are his obedient seruants that they doe greatly reioyce therein with the Apostle This is our reioycing euen the 2 Cor. 1. 12. testimony of our conscience that in simplicity and godly purenesse c. Now if it be obiected that the faithfull know not their owne hearts nor the true nature of these diuine graces nor the right notes and markes of the holy workes that proceed from them and therefore albeit they are indued with these graces and performe these works yet they cannot know that they are the seruants of God We answer first that that obiection is in direct tearmes flat contrary to the testimony of the Prophet before alleaged where the faithfull being commanded to do their works according to the rule of Gods Commandements being from their hearts made carefull thereof are thereby assured that they are the obedient seruants of the Lord. Secondly we answere that all men doe in part know their owne hearts and their thoughts words and workes and that the faithfull doe in some measure know the true nature of all heauenly graces and the right notes of their true fruits All men doe know themselues in part because God hath giuen to all a conscience to be a witnesse together with themselues not onely of their words and workes but also of the 1 Cor. 2. 11. very thoughts and purposes of their hearts as the names of conscience doe sufficiently declare For no man knoweth our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Conscientia hearts but God and our selues and therefore conscience is a knowledge that we haue of our owne wayes together with God Euery one then by the light of his conscience knoweth Mens non potest non intelligere quod intelligit Nemo nescit se velle quod vult Prou. 14. 10. what he himselfe knoweth and vnderstandeth what he himselfe vnderstandeth and perceiueth what he himselfe thinketh desireth willeth speaketh or doeth Euery one knoweth saith Salomon for what his owne heart is sorrowfull and in what it reioyceth and none else but God onely Euen the very wicked by the meanes of their consciences are made witting to their owne wayes How much more are the faithfull by the light of the word For by the clearenesse of the heauenly doctrines their hearts are opened and they are enabled Act. 16. 14. in some good measure to know themselues and to know God Heb. 18. 11. Iohn 6. 45. Act. 2. 17. and to vnderstand what belongeth to a sound faith and to an holy and godly life For the faithfull know that such an apprehension and knowledge of Christ as causeth all things to be as dung to them in respect thereof is a sure signe of a sanctified minde lightened with the cleare sight of a true faith They know that to desire to inioy the loue of God aboue all other things whatsoeuer and to be willing and ready to conuerse with God and with Christ in the daily and religious exercises of the word of God and prayer and to loue the brethren because they loue God and are beloued of God are true tokens of true Christian loue They know also that to be truly sorrowfull for offending so louing and gracious a God as he hath declared himselfe to be in Christ and in that respect to feare to offend him and to be carefull to walke in all his righteous Lawes are sure signes of true repentance and of the right feare of God and of sincere holinesse and righteousnesse And they knowing in their owne consciences that they haue by the gracious worke of the Spirit of God such a faith loue repentance feare and righteousnesse know that they are in Gods fauour and loue and that they are his faithfull seruants We know saith St. Iohn speaking in the name of all the faithfull that we are of God 1 Iohn 5. 29. and that the whole world lieth in wickednesse We know that the Sonne of God is come and hath giuen vs a minde to know him which is true and we are in him that is true that is in his Sonne Iesus Christ this same is very God and eternall life And againe we know that we are translated from death 1 Iohn 3. 14. to life because we loue the brethren And that he speaketh thus in the name of all the faithfull we may vnderstand in that in the like asseueration he changeth the person saying If ye know that God is righteous know ye that he that doth righteousnesse is borne of
God by the which testimonies of the 1 Iohn 2. 29. Apostle it is manifest that the faithfull knowing that they are indued with the true knowledge of Christ and with true loue and with true righteousnesse know thereby that they are of God and that they are his elect and chosen children For as a true friend among men doth bestow such fauours and gifts vpon him whom he intirely and tenderly loueth as the receiuer vnderstandeth what they are and their worth also that so by manifesting his great kindnesse he may winne mutuall and reciprocall loue so God the friend of friends giueth his spirituall graces vnto all those whom he hath loued in Christ and chosen in him before the foundation of the world and maketh them to vnderstand what these his principall blessings are and the end why he giueth them euen to assure them of his fatherly fauour and loue Yea he maketh them sensible of this gracious worke of his Spirit in their owne hearts when he effecteth the same by the powerfull operation of his owne holy Spirit and worketh a true sense and feeling thereof in the receiuers themselues as it hath already beene declared in the opening of the second question of the first part of this treatise and shall bee further cleared also in the second part hereof For that the faithfull should not doubt of Gods loue toward themselues he giueth his owne sanctifying Spirit and their owne sanctified spirits to testifie the same that against the sufficiency of their testimonies no man can take any iust Rom. 8. 16. exception In the Law saith our Sauiour it is written that the testimony Iohn 8. 17. of two men is true Of what an vndoubted truth then is that thing which is witnessed by a sanctified conscience whereas the testimony of conscience without this qualification Conscientia mille testes is in stead of a thousand witnesses Now if the witnesse of a sanctified conscience be of such validity which yet is but an humane testimony what is the witnesse of God himselfe Now this is the witnesse of God saith the Apostle that not 1 Iohn 5. 9. onely he hath giuen vnto vs eternall life but also that he hath by his Spirit giuen vnto vs our faich to testifie the same to our owne soules and that to this end that we might know that we haue eternall life and that we might beleeue viz. by a faith daily growing stronger and stronger in the name of the Sonne of God The which thing cannot be but effectually wrought if the faithfull would daily and duly consider that the promise of blessednesse made by Christ to all that beleeue was by God deliuered not onely by word of mouth but also by an oath Iohn 5. 24. and after the same maner was redeliuered to Christ and that to this end that by two immutable things wherein it is impossible Heb. 6. 17. that God should lie we might haue strong consolation and not only so but also was set downe vnder his own hand againe and againe in all the bookes of the old and new Testament and further yet was ratified and confirmed by many feales of diuers Sacraments Wherefore no maruell though the faithfull in former ages haue often openly made profession of this their comfortable assurance of Gods loue publishing and proclaiming that God was their God and they his seruants and that Christ was their Christ in particular and that by his Bloud shed precisely for themselues they were iustified from all their sinnes O my soule saith Dauid thou hast said and said it againe and Psal 16. 2. againe vnto the Lord thou art my God for so it followeth in the same Psalme and in diuers others The Lord is the poâ—tion of mine inheritance and of my cup thou shalt maintaine my lot my lot is fallen vnto me in a very good ground I haue a goodly heritage So Psal 18. I will loue thee deerely O Lord my strength the Lord is my rocke and my fortresse and my deliuerer my God and my strength in whom I will trust my shield and the horne also of my saluation So Esay O Lord thou art my God So Thomas My Lord my God Esay 25. 1. Ioh. 20. 28. Hos 2. 23. So all the faithfull since the comming of Christ in the flesh I will say vnto them that were not my people thou art my people and they shall say thou art my God And verily as when Ahab said to Benhadads seruants Is my brother Benhadad yet 1 Kings 20. 33. aliue they tooke aduantage thereby saying thy brother Benhadad so whereas God calleth himselfe in particular the God of the faithfull and them in like manner his people and his seruants why may not the faithfull call not God only their God but themselues also his seruants after a speciall maner making thereby a thankfull confession of their own high dignity which the Lord their God hath bestowed vpon them It was not pride then and presumption but a thankfull and dutifull acknowledgement of Gods most singular goodnesse towards himselfe that made Dauid sound out with a loud voyce and double the same againe and againe Behold Lord I am thy seruant I am thy seruant and the sonne of thine handmaid thou hast broken my bonds that is thou hast deliuered me from the bondage of sinne and Satan and hast made me the seruant of righteousnesse and therefore I may safely assure my selfe that I am thy seruant So old Simeon Lord now lettest thou thy Luke 2. 29. seruant depart in peace according to thy word So Elias O Lord God of Abraham Isaac and Israel let it be knowne 1 Reg. 18. 36. this day that thou art the God of Israel and that I am thy seruant that I haue done al these things at thy commandement So the Apostles Simon Peter a seruant and an Apostle of Iesus 2 Pet. 1. 1. Iac 1. 1. Iude 1. Rom. 1. 1. Christ Iames a seruant of God and of the Lord Iesus Christ Iude a seruant of Iesus Christ Paul a seruant of Iesus Christ They knew that they serued Christ faithfully in the preaching of the Gospell and in all other duties inioyned to Act. 27. 23. them by Christ and therefore they were bold to publish and proclaime themselues to be his seruants and Christ himselfe to be their Lord. So Tertullian writing in the defence of the Tert. in Apol. Christian faith against the Gentiles The religious saith he among you seeke for safety where it cannot be had c. but I cannot pray for it but to him of whom I know that I shall obtaine it because it is hee that is able to doe it and I am the party to whom it is to be granted because I am his seruant and doe worship him alone Now as euery faithfull man knoweth that God is â—is God in particular and that he himselfe is Gods seruant so he knoweth the same blessing to be wrought
the Apostle hath Cura quasi cor vreas painefulnesse and it brâ—edeth that care that burneth and scorcheth the heart and â—ormenteth the soule and it hastneth those Apoc. 21. 8. that willingly entertaine it towards the horrours of hell and excludeth them from the ioyes of Heauen How then ought all the sincere Professors of the Gospell to be thankefull to God for that he hat sent his Gospell vnto them and hath opened theeir eyes thereby so to apprehend his vnspeakeable loue in Christ reuealed therein that therby they are effectually stirred vp to loue God especially seeing as the Apostle saith there is no feare in loue but perfect loue 1 Ioh. 4. 18. casteth out feare For as a chast spouse is not iealous of her kind husband and a dutiful sonne is not so fearefull as to think that his tender-hearted Father will withdraw his loue froÌ„ him so the true Church of Christ being his beloued Spouse and her legitimate children being the children of God will not be fearefull distrustfull whether God will change his kind affection towards them with-draw from them his tender loue Nay vndoubtedly the true Church is alwayes ready to professe and say My beloued is mine and I am his he is my beloued and still loueth me and therefore I will continually loue him and reioyce for euer in his constant loue And so vndoubtedly the legitimate children of the true Church are ready and willing to confesse with their elder brother Saint Paul We liue yet not we now but Christ liueâ—h in vs and in that we now liue in the flesh we liue by the faith of the Sonne of God who hath loued vs and giuen himselfe for vs. And verily such a confession is set downe by the Wiseman in the name of all the Saints Though we sinne say they all Sap 15. 2. yet we are thine for we know thy power but we sinne not knowing that we are thine In which words foure remarkeable points of doctrine are deliuâ—red vnto vs First that the Saints in this life auouch that they are the Lords in his fauour and in his loue and that we may vnderstand how certainly they are assured thereof they double the same asseueration saying that they doe not goe by guesse or stand vpon blinde hope but that they know indeed that they are the Lords Secondly the meanes are â—et downe whereby they know that they are Gods euen because he hath giuen to them a true knowledge of himselfe We are thine say they for we know thy power Thirdly they auouch that their sinnes of ignorance and infirmity doe not take from them this assurance of their faith For say they though we sinne yet are we thine Fourthly they auouch that this assurance of Gods loue is a most powerfull meanes to keepe them that they doe not willingly giue themselues ouer to sinne For say they we sinne not knowing that we are thine And therefore herein also the iudgement of the Church of Rome is contrary to the plaine and direct euidence giuen in by all the Saints in that they affirme that the assurance of Gods loue is a spurre to sinne whereas the Saints auouch and that no doubt vpon their owne experience that it is a bridle to restraine from the same Grace concealed from such as are left to their owne headstrong affections may be an occasion that many are carried headlong into sinne but grace reuealed giueth grace reuoketh from sinne and prouoketh vnto all good workes The grace of God saith the Apostle that bringeth Tit. 2. 11. saluation vnto all men hath appeared and teacheth vs that we should deny vngodlinesse and worldly lusts and that we should liue iustly and soberly and godly in this world Wherefore in that the Church of Rome not onely willeth coÌ„mandeth her followers to doubt of their saluation and to feare whether they be in the estate of grace but also disgraceth the security of saluation giuen to the faithfull by the Gospell of Christ being the powerfull instrument of God to worke faith grace it is euident that she is the mother of infidelity and not of faith and that she leadeth her disciples to hellish horrours and terrours the iust reward of fearefull infidelity and not to ioy vnspeakeable and glorious the happy fruit and 1 Pet. 1. 8. issue of a confident Christian faith as Saint Peter testifieth And thus haue I shewed in the clearing and demonstrating of these three last propositions what manner of knowledge that is which I affirme to be all one with sauing faith as first Phil. 1. 10. a wise discerning knowlege wher by we so apprehend Gods loue in Christ reuealed vnto vs in the Gospell as that we esteeme and embrace it as ouâ— highest happinesse and our chiefest good Secondly a sanctifying knowledge whereby we are not onely set in a right course but also are guided to walke constantly in all holy wayes that so we may be made Tit. 1. 1. meete to be partakers of Gods loue And thirdly a comforting and chearing knowledge whereby we haue a certaine assurance of Gods fatherly loue in this present life albeit not Rom. 8. 15. without many conflicts with distrustfull feares and shall at the last be brought to the quiet and peaceable possession 1 Ioh. 5. 19. thereof in the life to come CHAP. VII The vtility and dignity of faith and the great difficulty to attaine thereunto THe vtilitie and dignitie of faith doth hence appeare in that it causeth the faithfull to behold in Christ as in a miraculous mirrour of Gods matchlesse mercy an incomparable treasure of his vnspeakeable loue and to cleaue constantly to it as to their highest happinesse and chiefest good and maketh them desirous from the very bottome of their hearts to make manifest their thankfulnesse vnto him by their sincere obedience to all his Commandements and bringeth also peace of conscience vnto them by giuing them an assurance of the pardon of their sinnes and of their receiuing into grace and fauour with God And not only so but also for that it causeth them continually to fight against their spirituall enemies that would make them to breake their Couenant with God and in the end giueth them a full conquest ouer them al. This is saith the Apostle 1 Iohn 5. 4. speaking to the faithfull the victory that is the principall weapon whereby the victory is gotten and the world ouercome euen your faith And therefore it is not without cause that the Apostle Saint Paul exhorteth the faithfull that aboue all they should take vnto themselues the shield of faith because thereby they Ephes 6. 16. might quench all the fiery darts of the Deuill And verily faith is the first and the chiefest of all those diuine and heauenly graces that are wrought in the hearts of Gods children by the holy Ghost and it is the fountaine and root of all the rest and therefore in diuers places where they are
be one of the greatest miracles of our Christian profession And verily if either we looke vpon the prophane worldlings we shall see them scorning at the assurance of the faithfull Sap. 2. 13. which causeth them to glory that God is their Father and hath adopted them for his Sonnes Or if we cast our eyes vpon the faithfull seruant of God himselfe when he is in any great spirituall conflict we shall soone see how ready he is to let loose the sure hold of his hope and to plunge himselfe into the gulfe of despaire because he is guiltie to himselfe of offending so good and so gracious a God by his owne manifold and great iniquities and sinnes Wherefore albeit we haue attained to such a measure of faith as was giuen by Christ to his owne Apostles yet had Luke 17. 5. Marke 9 24. we need continually to pray O Lord increase our faith and to say with the Father of the possessed childe Lord I beleeue helpe mine vnbeleefe Yea as Saint Austine admonisheth Tota opera nostra in hac vita est sanare oculum cordis vnde videtur Deus Aug. de verb. Dom. ser 18. Our whole worke in this life must be continually imploied about the cure of the eye of our heart whereby God is seene that is our faith The which lesson he learned of our Sauiour Christ who when the people demanded of him What they should doe that they might worke the workes of God Answered them saying This is the worke of God that ye beleeue Iohn 6. 26. on him whom he hath sent and so his beloued Disciple hath taught vs also This is the commandement of God 1 Iohn 3. 23. that ye beleeue in the name of the Sonne of God and loue one another as he gaue commandement Wherefore the calumination of the carnall professour and of the Romane Catholike made against the doctrine of the Gospell is vniust and vntrue which is that an easie way is laid open by the professours of the Gospell to life euerlasting and heauen set at a very small rate for that they teach that God so loued the world that he gaue his only begotten Sonne to the end that Ioh. 3. 16. whosoeuer beleeueth in him should not perish but haue life euerlasting Yea our Catholike Romanists may iustly bee challenged for doing great and intollerable wrong to our Christian saith in that they so vilisie and debase the same that they make it common not onely to the reprobate but also to the very Deuils themselues whereas in Tit. 1. 1. Act. 13. 43. very truth it is proper and peculiar to Gods elect yea euen to such as are ordained to life euerlasting THE SECOND PART OF THEOLOGICALL LOGICKE The questions that are handled in this second part concerning the doctrines of faith and are cleered by arguments drawne from all Topicke places Are these QVEST. I. The Church is not alwayes glorious and notorious as a City seated vpon an high hill GOD would haue all men saued and come to the knowledge of the truth Arguments drawne from the efficient cause 1 Tim. 2. 4. 1 Tim. 3. 15. and by the voice of truth vttered by the Church the pillar and ground of truth he doth call to him such as are to be of the truth doth cause thē to hearken vnto the truth and to be led thereby into the euerlasting habitations Psal 43. 3. Now truth and falshood are nigh neighbours and dwell neere each to other for where God hath his Church the deuill hath his Chappell and their houses in outward shew differ little sauing that for the most part the fore-front of falshoodes habitation is gloriously set out garnished and trimmed whereas the doore of truth is plaine and homely Whereby it commeth to passe that falsehood in the right way of truth and righteousnesse the testimonies of the Lord are sure and giue wisedome to the simple For doth pure seed breed Tares or pure Corne And doth wholesome food breed noisome or wholesome humours Vndoubtedly light and sight preserue from stumbling and falling it is Ioh 11. 9. Matth. 22. 29. darkenesse and blindnesse that cause both Yee erre saith our blessed Sauiour to the seduced Sadduces not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God Euen as their seduced Fathers erred in their hearts because they knew not the Lords Psal 95. 10. Chrysost Hom. 3. de Lazaro wayes The ignorance of the Scripture saith Chrysostome brought in haeresies and a corrupt life and made a confusion of all things Wherefore it is a note of an euill person to hate the light Ioh. 3. 20. lest his deeds should be reproued as it is a badge of an haereticke to accuse the Scriptures of ambiguity and obscurity as Irenaeus affirmeth for that in truth they doe without ambiguity Iren. l 3. c. 2. and obscurity giue definitiue sentence against their haeresies From the which badge and cognizance if the Romish Church will be set free let her purge out of the bookes of her deare darlings the slanderous accusations of the Scriptures which are in them and let her giue a generall liberty to the lay people to haue the Scriptures in a knowne tongue that so they may the more easily attaine to knowledge and let her not any longer commend a blinde faith nor teach that faith consisteth rather in ignorance then in knowledge QVEST. IV. Not the sufferings or righteousnesse of any mere Man but onely of our blessed Sauiour both God and Man are of sufficient worthinesse to satisfie for sinne and to merit the inheritance of the Kingdome of Heauen As in Adam was the common nature of all men he being Arguments drawne from the materiall cause the roote all other the branches that so he might be a fit person with whom the legall Couenant might be made which was that if he would stand stedfast in obedience to the Law of God which was written in his heart and the which he was enabled to performe he should conueigh ouer his nature holy and pure to all his posterity and be translated from an earthly to an heauenly Paradise but if by his fall he stayned and polluted it he should conueigh it ouer to them stayned and polluted and make himselfe and all that by ordinary propagation came from him subiect to all miseries and woes So in Christ Iesus the second Adam was the common nature of man he being the roote and the faithfull the branches and vpon him Rom. 11. 17. Ioh. 15. 5. Gal. 3. 17. Act. 3. 26. was grounded the Euangelicall Couenant that the sufferings which he endured and the righteousnesse which he performed in our nature not for himselfe but for vs should be auaileable to all that are vnited vnto him by a true faith both for their deliuerance from that condemnation which was due vnto them in respect of their sinnes and for the purchasing vnto them of the glorious inheritance of the Kingdome of Heauen Vnto all
God and the Sacraments with our bodily senses but with the powers of our soules nor to trauaile farre and neare on pilgrimage to see or kisse holy reliques but to see and touch holy things with the inward faculties of our mindes which are the proper subiects of Sanctification Nothing can be in any respect profitable vnlesse it be applyed in that manner and to those vses whereunto it is profitable but the word of God is giuen vnto vs for this vse that it should open vnto vs the minde and will of God and as Aug. in quâ—st veteris noui Testamenti Saint Austin saith the visible Sacraments were ordayned for such as were enuironed with flesh that by the steps thereof they might ascend froÌ„ such things as are seene to such things as are vnderstood Wherefore the word of God hanged about our neckes or deliuered in wordes not vnderstood cannot 1 Cor. 14. 6. profit but is deliuered in vaine And so teacheth the Apostle And now my Brethren if I come vnto you speaking with tongues not vnderstood what shall I profite you Verely the word not vnderstood is an Oister whose shell is not opened and as a candle which is not lighted and as a Matth. 13. 19. lampe without oile and as seed sowne by the high way side In like manner the outward elements in the holy Sacraments being not applied to those vses whereunto they were ordained by the institution of Christ are but bare signes and emptie figures they are not instruments of spirituall grace but let the word come to the element and lay open the right vse of it then it becommeth a Sacrament and a feale of the righteousnesse Rom. 4. 11. that commeth by faith For as he is not a Iew that is one outward so neither is that Circumcision which is outward in the Rom. 2. 28. flesh but he is a Iew that is one within and the Circumcision of the heart in the spirit not in the letter is the true Circumcision whose praise is not of men but of God Sanctified meanes ordained by God to sanctifie the soule must bee apprehended Hag. 2. 13. by the powers of the soule Seeing holy things as saith the Prophet touched onely with our bodily senses doe nothing at all further the sanctitie of our spirits And heereof it was that our Sauiour himselfe forbade Mary to touch him with her bodily hands for that she esteemed Iohn 20. 17. too highly thereof But saith he goe to my brethren and say vnto them I ascend vnto my Father and your Father to my God and your God That is apprehend ye with the hands of your faith that by my meanes God is become your louing Father and gracious God and then ye haue apprehended me with a right hand So not by going a long iourney on pilgrimage we draw nigh vnto God but by praier proceeding Act. 10. 4. Precibus non gressibus itur ad Dâ—im Bern. Ep. 319. from an humble and faithfull minde For we clime vp to God by praiers and not by staires And therefore all that will shew themselues truly religious must as Bernard teacheth trauell on pilgrimage not towards the earthly but the heauenly Ierusalem and that not with their feet but with their affections QVEST. IX The manner of receiuing Christ in the Eucharist is not carnall but spirituall The faithfull that liued before the Incarnation of Christ as the Apostle saith sed vpon the same heauenly Manna and 1 Cor. 10. 3. bread of life as we now doe but they did not eate the flesh of Christ with their bodily mouthes neither then doe the faithfull so now And verily whereas by the ministery of the word and baptisme in our new birth and inchoation of our sanctification we receiue not Christ after a bodily manner but after a spirituall and yet are thereby regenerated and quickened to an holy life Why then is not the growth and increase of our sanctification by the ministery of the same word and Eucharist wrought and accomplished after the same manner Verily Saint Austine so thought and therefore said that Aug. in Iohn tract 26. man is inuisibly fed because he is inuisibly regenerated Hee is saith he inwardly a babe and inwardly renewed and in what part he is newly borne in that part he is also fed therefore exhorteth the faithful not to prepare their iawes but their hearts Yea saith he why preparest thou thy teeth and thy Aug. de verb. Dom secundum Luc Ser. 33. Aug. in Ioh. tract 25. De consecrat dist 2. belly Beleeue and thou hast eaten Nay it is not lawfull if their owne glosse say the truth to presle the body of Christ with our teeth and if we entertaine any such grosse conceit we erre more dangerously then euer Berengarius did And verily it was the common opinion of the ancient Fathers that Christ was not a bodily but a ghostly food So Chrysostome This food feedeth not the body but the soule Chrysost in Iob. hom 4. yea it is the proper nourishment of the soule And therefore saith he when we come to the Eucharist we whet not our teeth to bite but we breake the sanctified Bread with a sound faith So Saint Ambrose de ijs qui initiantur mysterijs cap. 9. And how can it be otherwise For seeing our coniunction with Christ is not carnall but spirituall our feeding vpon him cannot be carnall but spirituall Our coniunction with Christ saith Saint Cyprian doth not mingle persons nor vnite substances Cypr. de cana viz. After a bodily manner but it doth combine affections and conioyne wils with the affection saith Saint Bernard Christ is touched and not with the hand with the Bernard in Cant. serm 26. desire and not with the eye with faith and not with the senses So Saint Ambrose We touch not Christ by our bodily hands Ambros l. 10. in 24. Luc. de hora dominicae resurrectionis but by faith and therefore neither vpon the earth nor in the earth nor after the flesh ought we to seeke Christ if we will finde him And this very lesson hee learned of the Apostle For henceforth saith he know we Christ no more after the 2 Cor. 5. 16. flesh but if any man be in Christ let him be a new creature For by the qualities of the new creature planted in our hearts whereof faith is the principall we are ioyned vnto Christ and not after a bodily manner QVEST. X. Iustification and Saluation is wrought onely by Christ and not by any other whosoeuer Sacraments were ordayned to this end that by visible Arguments drawne from the finall cause signes apt to resemble inuisible graces a plaine and euident testimony might be giuen by the one vnto the other As in the Lords Supper by Bread and Wine being the aptest creatures to nourish vs in this temporall life this doctrine is cleared and confirmed vnto vs that iustification and life
your selues it is the gift of God not of workes lest any man should boast And againe All haue sinned and are depriued of the glory of God and are iustified freely by his Rom. 3. 24. grace through the redemption that is in Christ Iesus that our glorying in our owne workes should be vtterly excluded and that we should glory onely in Christ QVEST. XV. The faithfull after the end of this life are not punished in the fire of Purgatory The end that moueth a kind and a tender-hearted Father to chastise his deare child is his amendment insomuch that if hee Pro magno peccato paululum supplicij satis est Patri teri estri quanto magis Caelesti Esay 40. 2. Luke 15. 31. once perceiue that he is amended indeed then doth hee immediately cease from punishment but the deare children of God immediately vpon their deathes cease wholy from sinne and are throughly reformed therefore their heauenly Father which doth greatly reioyce euen at the first beginning of the amendment of his prodigall children here in this life doth not cause them when they are fully reformed after death to bee further grieued with the long induring of extreame torments in the fire of Purgatory For as Saint Bernard saith if all sinne be perfectly taken Bern. in Ps qui habitat Ser. 10. away which is the cause of all euill the effect that is the punishment thereof must needes cease In the Primitiue Church whē grieuous pennances were imposed vpō enormous sins by the Church Gouernours they were imposed to this end that therby the parties offending might be brought to true serious repentance Insomuch that when the offendor was found to be truely humbled for his sinne were it neuer so hainous none or very little pennance was imposed vpon him or if it were imposed it was soone released As it may appeare not onely by the Apostles readinesse to forgiue the incestuous Corinthian 2 Cor. 2. 4. vpon his serious repentance albeit his sinne was very haynous but also by the history of an incestuous woman who had bin brought with child by her owne sonne of whom it is recorded that she was so deepely displeased with her selfe for this her enormous and monstrous crime that taking in her armes the very child which was both the fruit and witnesse of her wickednesse she went openly to the Bishop as he passed along to the Church with a great traine and kneeling downe before him confessed her fact and craued for it at his hands condigne punishment The Bishop perceiuing by the outward demeanour of this paenitent person the great anguish of her heart for her great sinne inioyned her some abstinence for some forty dayes and so departed but the poore paenitent person thinking this paenance to be too too light for her so haynous and capitall a crime repaireth to the Bishop at another place and with bitter teares putteth him in minde againe of her most odious and enormous sinne and requireth at his hands a more heauy punishment but the Bishop well perceiuing her great sorrow and vnfained repentance lightneth the sentence of her former paenance and inioyneth her some abstinence for some three dayes How much more when we iudge our selues euen in this 1 Cor. 11. 31. life we shall not be iudged of the Lord but when wee cease from sinning the Lord will cease from punishing Wherefore if in this life when other may take encouragement to sinne by the impunity of others and besides the most paenitent sinner that is doth not wholly and fully cease from all sinne yet God and his Ecclesiasticall Ministers doe remit both sinne and punishment vpon the sight of the sinners vnfained repentance and amendment of life without all doubt the Lord of all mercy will much more doe the same in the life to come and not extreamely torment his owne seruants in Purgatory fire QVEST. XVI The carnall eating of Christs Body is nothing auaileable to eternall life but the spirituall When our blessed Sauiour had taught his Auditors that Arguments drawne from the effects vnlesse they did eate his flesh and drinke his bloud they could haue no life in them and the carnall Capernaits were greatly offended therewith because they thought that he had commended vnto them a bodily and a carnall eating of his flesh he answered It is the spirit that quickneth the flesh profiteth nothing Ioh. 6. 63. not intending hereby to recall his former words My Flesh is meate indeed and my Bloud is drinke indeed but to giue them to vnderstand that it is a spirituall eating of his flesh that is auaileable to euerlasting life and not a carnall seeing that profiteth nothing And verily it is not the bodily seeing touching or eating of Christ that can doe vs any good but the spirituall seeing touching or eating of him by faith which is the eye the hand and the mouth of the soule For when a woman hauing an issue of bloud came behinde Christ and touched the hemme of his Luke 8. 49. garment and was immediately healed of her issue at that very time the people thronged him and trod vpon him and receiued no benefit thereby And why the woman touched him with the hand of her faith and was healed thereby as our Sauiour testified saying Oh womā great is thy faith be it vnto thee euen as thou wilt but the people were maimed and lacked that hand And so Saint Ambrose vnderstood our Sauiours words Christ saith he healed them that touched him by faith Amb. in Luc. l. 6. cap. 8. whereas to them that wanted faith the touching of Christ or his garments was no benefit at all Yea the blessed Virgine her selfe was more happy in conceauing the faith of Christ in her heart then in conceauing his flesh in her wombe as Austin saith And so he had learned of our blessed Sauiour himselfe Aug. de sancta Virgine cap. 3. Luke 11. 27. for when it was said vnto Christ Blessed is the wombe that bare thee and the Pappes that thou hast sucked Nay rather said he Blessed is he that heareth the word of God and keepeth it For by the Word reuerently receiued we obtaine faith and by faith Christ is receiued into our hearts and taketh Apoc. 3. 20. vp his habitation there Now if by our bodily mouthes to receiue Christ into our bodies be a thing altogether vnprofitable then our most wise Sauiour commanded it not to be done at the celebration of the holy Eucharist for he commandeth nothing to be done in the Lords seruice that is vnprofitable Why then doth the Church of Rome so eagerly contend for their transubstantiating of Bread into the Body of Christ and receiuing of it into their bodies by their bodily mouthes but for that albeit this thing be vnprofitable to Gods seruants yet it is not vnprofitable to them not onely by magnifying of their power for that they are able to create their Creator but also by enlarging their reuennewes
our blessed Sauiours meaning in these words was that all things were foretold by the Prophets that should be done vnto the Messiah before his death were done vnto him and so finished excepting this one They gaue me gall to eate and when I was thirsty they gaue me vineger to drinke and therefore that this Prophesie might also be fulfilled he said I thirst Whereupon when they had giuen him vineger mingled with gall and hee had tasted thereof he said All things are finished that is all things that were to be done to the Messiah before his death euen all these things saith our blessed Sauiour are done now to me And verily it is most euident and plaine that the principall drift and scope of the Euangelists is to demonstrate and to make euident that all things that were foretold by all the Prophets concerning the true Messiah were fulfilled in our most blessed Sauiour Iesus Christ Ioh. 20. 31. and therefore that he was the true Messiah QVEST. XXI Fasting or any outward thing doth not sanctifie any but onely the inward graces of the Spâ—rit and all such things as do enter into the heart of man That which goeth into the mouth defileth not the man but Arguments drawne from the subiect Matth. 15. 11. that which commeth out of the mouth defileth the man For whatsoeuer goeth into the mouth goeth into the belly and is cast out into the draught but those things that come out of the mouth proceed from the heart and they defile a man For out of the heart proceed euill thoughts murders adulteries fornications thefts false witnessing slanders and the like and these are the things that defile a man Hence we thus reason that as meates doe not defile a man because they enter not into the soule but sinnes that enter in and dwell there and there contriue all their euill designes so meates nor any other such outward thing doth sanctifie the heart because they enter not in there but onely the diuine graces of Gods Spirit and the spirituall meanes appointed by God for the effecting of these holy and heauenly graces QVEST. XXII There is no such place appointed to the faithfull after this life as Purgatory is saiâ— to be The faithfull are pilgrimes here in this world and haue 2 Cor 5. 6. heauen for their home and countrey whether they come when their pilgrimage here in this world with their liues commeth to an end they passe not then from hence to Purgatory but to Heauen as it may appeare by the history of Lazarus and Luke 16. 22 23 43. of the penitent thiefe And of the comfortable assurance hereof are all the faithfull partakers as the Apostle testifieth speaking in the name of them all and saying Wee know that if our 2 Cor. 5 1. earthly house of this Tabernacle be destroyed we haue a building Heb. 11. 10. giuen of God that is not an house made with hands but eternall in heauen And verily our most blessed Sauiour at his departure out of this world ascended vp into heauen there to prepare a place for all the faithfull For he did not this for the Apostles Ioh. 14. 2. onely as he prayed not for them alone but also for all such as should beleeue in him through their word Where he further Ioh. 17. 20. testifieth that his will was that they all should be with him euen where he himselfe is and that they might see his glory which cannot be meant but of the place of glory QVEST. XXIII Our blessed Sauiour is not corporally present in the Eucharist but in Heauen When some of our Sauiours owne Disciples were offended at those words of his Except ye eat the flesh of the Sonne of man and drinke his bloud yee haue no life in you thinking that he had spoken of a grosse and carnall eating of his flesh with their bodily mouthes Iesus said vnto them Doth this offend you what then if yee should see the Sonne of man ascend vp where Ioh. 6. 62. he was before By which words he gaue them to vnderstand that his carrying of his body at his Ascension into Heauen would teach them if they were Eagles with the mouthes of faith to mount vp thither and there to feed vpon him with the Luke 17. 37. mouthes of their mindes and not to dreame of a grosse and carnall feeding vpon his flesh with their bodily mouthes So reasoneth Saint Austin when ye shall see the Sonne of man Aug. in Ioh. tract 27. ascending were he was before then verily ye shall perceiue that he giueth not his body to be eaten after that manner as yee conceiue Then verily ye shall vnderstand that the grace of Christ is not consumed by chewing it in the mouth So likewise Athâ—n in illud quicu quâ— dixerit vâ—rbum c. Athanasius saith that Christ for this end warned them of his ascension into Heauen that he might draw them from thinking vpon his Body and that they might thereby learne that the flesh which he spake of was a caelestiall meat from aboue and a spirituall nourishment to be giuen by him The words which I speake vnto you are spirit and life the which saith he is as much as if he had said This Body which is in your sight and is to be deliuered to death for the world shall be giuen you for meat that it may be spiritually distributed to euery one of you and be an assurance and a preseruatiue to raise you vp to eternall life QVEST. XXIIII The Citie of Rome is the mysticall Babylon and the pretended titulary Romane Church is the most certaine seate of the great Antichrist of these last times The Apostle Saint Iohn describing in her colours that Babylon Apoc. 17. 18. which was to be the certaine seat of the great Antichrist of these last times auoucheth in plaine words that it is the very Citie that in his time raigned ouer the Kings of the earth the which was the Citie of Rome The truth whereof is so euident that our Rhemists themselues in their notes vpon that Chapter doe subscribe thereunto but they thinke to helpe the matter by excepting that Rome was Babylon vnder the gouernment of the persecuting Emperours but that exception will not serue their turne for by the plaine censure of Saint Iohn Rome must be the Royall Seat of the great Antichrist of these last times Wherefore they except in the second place that albeit the great Antichrist of these last times shall sit at Rome yet he may sit there in the Princes throne and not in the Priests chaire But Chrysostome precisely affirmeth that Antichrist shall Chrysost in 2. Ep ad Thess cap. 2. take vpon him the Empire both of God and men and therefore shall sit in the Priests chaire as well as in the Princes throne And so it was signified by his two bornes like to the Lambes Apoc. 13. 11. and so it is claimed by themselues by their