but what Christ willeth And all this you shall do by Faith For unless you did believe you would not doe really 't is Faith by which men do all things Now we must understand what S. Paul meanes by that saying of his we must go from Faith to Faith There is a first and imperfect Faith whereby a man is driven to renounce himself This being encreased the man persevering becomes dayly greater till at length he comes to such perfection that he doth believe all Gods Words precepts promises threats as certainly as you believe it will be day after night Hence ariseth that Omnipotence whereby he removeth Mountains thus there is no pride so losty no avarice so great no luxury so vast briefly no vice at all of such a magnitude which this Faith cannot remove pull down and destroy But before a man can come to that compleat victory many sharp things are to be endured in the way in renouncing himself without which asperity there is no attaining of that virtue As a fig or a grape comes not to his sweetness but after sharpness Now Ludovic because I have not yet gotten the victory but sweat in the combat of renouncing my self and am yet far from the Crown I will say no more of the victory being a thing to me unknown But in the fight if you will be my fellow Soldier I will by Gods help give you the best assistance I can Lud. I truly though my Flesh trembles and is afraid am enclined by the Spirit of my mind and resolve to follow you For I see there is no other way of safety then for a man to go forth of his own Nature that he may put on the nature of Christ and to take care study contend and sweat that he may restore the image after which we were created Therefore to Gods glory be it and to my salvation at this instant I give up my self to be your companion in this way under the conduct of Almighty God Fed. And I give thanks to God for the good resolution he hath put into your heart praying him to finish the work he hath begun in you and bring you to this that as you have served unrighteousness so you may be henceforth the servant of righteousness Which he will do undoubtedly unless you grieve and by disobedience reject his Spirit Last of all I advise you to have a rich Faith being you believe in him who is rich in mercy Very often have men offended by too sparing and narrow a belief of Gods power and goodness Abraham and Sarah are reprehended for laughing as if it were ridiculous for God to promise them a Son being both aged and Sarah barren Zacharias the Father of John Baptist is struck dumb for a time because he believed not the Angels word We truly are more propense to imitate the weak Faith not to say incredulity of pious men then to believe with a rich Faith and compleat Why do we not rather follow them who dared to believe all things Elizaeus was bold to ask Elias Spirit to be doubled on him a great matter by the testimony of Elias himself yet he obtained it So sure it is no Faith can be so great but the benignity and power of God is greater All things saith he are possible to the believer And whatsoever ye shall ask believe you shall obtain and you shall obtain it Remember that saying of Elizaeus who bespeaks the poor Widow thus Go borrow vessels of thy neighbors as many as thou canst God will fill them all So let us Ludovic do our Endeavor and get a faith capable of all good things and let us confidently believe God is willing and able to make us love him with all our heart all our mind all our strength and will out of his goodness give us all things more abundantly then we can conceive in the name of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord To whom be all Honor and Glory and Dominion for ever and ever Lud. Amen Sebastianus Castellio TO Bonifacius Amerbachius A Famous Councillor BEing the admirable frame of Heaven and Earth and the perpetual vicissitude of Night and Day do continually set forth the Praises of God All-mighty and All-merciful nor is there any Nation of the World that doth not hear the Speech and Doctrine of them it followeth that the God who is Maker and Governor of this Vniverse ought to be Worshipped and Praised by all Men every where And had not men degenerated from that goodness of Nature wherein they were created they might have learned Piety and Religion from this making of the World and from so great and perpetual benefits of God towards them but because being corrupted by the transgression of the first man they run headlong into all Sin and so unto Death it pleased God in opposition to this license and mischief to deliver a Law of Holy living which whosoever would obey they might avoid the evil of Sin and punishment and attain unto a happy life Now because that Law neither was extant among all Nations nor was able through their obstinacy to retain the Israelites to whom was given within the compass of their duty God at last sent his Son into the World who might take away the Partition Wall and spred his Gospel amongst all Mankind and Redeem us by his Blood and by the instinct of his Divine Spirit sweetly draw us into the right and the good way and so conduct us to blessedness eternal Wherefore being obliged by so great beneficence of God 't is not only commendable but if we would be Saved neccssary for us to bear grateful Minds and to our power answer his benefits by doing our duty to him And our duty is as Christ our Master and Saviour hath taught us in Brief to love God with all our Heart with all our Mind and with all our Strength and to love men as well as we love our selves And whereas it is the part of humane love to do good to all as you are able and to hurt none Divine love because we can do no good to God exacteth at our hands that every day we be employed in celebrating his goodness and Singing Praises to his Name Whosoever is endued with this Love is carried unto God with such a strong inclination and desire that he esteemeth Riches Honors Glory for which others do and suffer all things nothing worth and is so much delighted in God's Law that he Meditates upon it Day and Night thinking all time lost which is not bestowed upon him from whom all good things descend If this were deeply fixed in our minds surely we should not lay out so great a Portion of so short a life upon those Arts and Matters which do so little conduce either to the Glory of God or the profit of Mankind but not do it our selves wholly to this heavenly Philosophy or Sophy rather that is to Wisdom For indeed this Discipline is not as some imagine such as cannot be well learned without the aid of profane Letters It were absurd if not impious being profane Wits whose Authors were not only ignorant of God but most of them evil men can be without this Heavenly Doctrine to say the Christian Doctrine cannot consist without them whose Masters pronounceth St. Paul foolish and unlearned For as God would have nothing in the Sacred Books which is not pertinent to his Worship so is there nothing wanting which is pertinent We must not believe a Master infinitely perfect to have furnished us with maimed and imperfect instructions Yet I say not this as if I thought the use of profane Letters were to be laid aside for if one learn in them the Nature of things and the actions of men to this end that he may adore and Honor God the Author and Governor of them he does well in my judgment and seemeth to be conversant not in a profane but a Sacred work because he so follows that Study that it may not hinder but serve and advance Religion But to have good manners and the right way of life may be learned either from the trifles of Poets or from Sentences of Philosophers being uncertain and most part false and contrary each to other this were all one as if men since the Invention of Guns would Fight Battails with their Fists I conclude therefore my honour'd Amerbachius that the sacred Scriptures are to be turned and studied Night and Day so studied that both we our selves may frame our lives according to their prescripts and teach others committed to our trust to do likewise Basil Aug. 10. An. 1547. THE END
did of my own Fed. Then if any ill happened to you you look't only to him Lud. I did so Fed. And if he promised you any thing you doubted not of his fidelity and performance Lud. No more than if I had the thing promised in my own possession Fed. You were then not follicitous about his Office but your own only Lud. You say true Fed. Moreover if he either commanded you any thing or did any thing himself whereof you being a Child knew not the reason or which seemed to you absurd nevertheless you did it and not doubtingly enquired into his doing Lud. It is so indeed For when at a time were brought fresh Grapes and he bad me tread them with my Feet it seemed to me absurd to tread upon such fair and good Grapes which I would rather have been preferred to eat But because it was my Father I thought he commanded not without a cause therefore I obeyed Also when my Father sometime pruned his Vines and Grafted Trees it seem'd absurd and unreasonable to me that the Branches were cut off which nature had made and which seemed fit to bring forth Fruit. But allways this thought was in my mind unless this were good my Father would not do it Fed. Now let us come to God You say you believe in God your Father and so you call upon him Our Father which art in Heaven It is right therefore that you should certainly depend no less on him than you depended on your Father Therefore if you want any thing do you fly to God alone nor doubt at all but he will bountifully supply you with all things Why do you stick at it Why do you not answer Ludovic Confess the truth nor let a vain carnal fear move you which is wont to keep men from confessing their faults because they are afraid least he to whom they are to be confessed be alienated in mind from them as vitious or have them in less esteem You are in no such danger with me For I cannot be alienated from any one for those vices which I see heretofore in my self and deplore them and I doubt not they are in others unless they have already gone through the way which certainly you and I have not gone through Neither will I esteem you the less if you confess with your mouth before a Friend what I know you confess in your mind already Lud. O my Federic I am asham'd to confess but shame is to be swallowed I truly am oft and very vehemently sollicitous and anxious about necessary things least Bread or Wine or other things faile me especially when I see I have little Money remaining and have no ready way to get more Money Fed. But if you have your Purse full or if you have any ready way of supply then you have no sollicitude at all or surely less Lud. It is so Fed. You trust therefore to your Money or to your Industry more than to God Lud. It is so certainly Fed. But when you were a child you trusted your Father only Lud. Yes Fed. You see now you do not believe in God but in your Money and in your industry I think these words seem to you violent that you can't deny and yet doubt or are ashamed so quickly to confess But compel your self Ludovic many things are to be learned which lye hid in our hearts and we must come to the very root unless that be plucked out we cannot be safe Let us proceed In adversity what say you Ludovic is not your mind somewhat troubled Lud. Yes very much I am not patient in adversity and turn my mind every way to all human remedies Fed. What do you concerning things promised God hath promised you that he will supply you with all necessaries for life If you first seek the Kingdom of God and his righteousness Do you certainly believe his promise so that you are no more doubtful of his truth than you were of your Fathers in your Childhood Lud. Truly I am very short of it Fed. But if Henricus Rotenfeldius your neighbor a Rich man and as he is accounted an honest man had promised you three hundred Growns you would for some years be freed from that sollicitude Lud. Yes Fed. Now God hath promised you not three hundred Crowns but all things necessary and you distrust and are sollicitous Lud. You say true Fed. Therefore you believe in God less than in I will not say your Father but Henrieus Rotenfeldius Lud. I am forced to confess the Truth Fed. And yet men may either through their falsehood or inability not stand to their promises neither of which falls upon God Wherefore by your distrust in God you falsly accuse him either of want of Truth or want of Power Lud. 'T is true Fed. But if you do not trust God for the food of your body who hath never yet failed you can you trust him for a blessed and Eternal life whereof as yet you have never tasted For weigh the matter thus If the King should now send a Messenger to you by whom he would adopt you to be his Son and you believed it in what manner would you behave your self Lud. Verily I should value all that I have as nothing and as here a stranger have my mind already at Court. For such a thing happened to me in my Youth Being in a very mean condition I was called into the Family of a certain Noble and Wealthy man Whereupon I found my mind so changed that I had no such thoughts as I had formerly nor was troubled with any such care and sollicitude as before yea when money was to be sent me from my Parents I sent them word they need not send it for I should henceforth want no money In short I formed in my mind the bravery of the House and place and persons where I should dwell which yet I had never seen Fed. I believe you Ludovic for I have had the like experience in my self But what if you had not believed that messenger Lud. I had continued in the same state I was in Fed. And what if one had seen you remaining in that state would he not easily have affirmed you did not believe the Messenger Lud. Easily Fed. Now let us come to the purpose God hath promis'd to those that love Him such good things as neither Eye hath seen nor Ear heard nor the Heart of man comprehended Let us Ludovic confess the truth here also Should we not if we did verily believe this promise be so carried in our minds to Heav'n that no earthly care should trouble us no sollicitude or vexation touch us Lud. Yes certainly Fed. Now when we rejoyce in gain grieve in loss are sorely affected and dejected with disgrace exult and are glad of honor and pleasure all which are earthly things is not this a plain Argument that we do not believe Gods promises but cleave to an earthly inheritance Lud. It is Fed. What if God should
believe him and believing come into the rest of Canaan But they came not all thither though that was the mind of God for some of them hardened their hearts Which I would it were not so in Christ We see it is so and that it may not be so the Author of the Epistle to the Heb. admonisheth citing that of the Psalm To day if you will hear his voice harden not your hearts as your Fathers viz. hardned their hearts Therefore to return to our purpose whereas those things are by them so studiously selected to believe which God is to do and those refused which belong to the Duty of man I pray what a thing is this The beneficence and grace of God which bringeth salvation to all men hath appeared How gladly is this received But that which follows teaching us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously and Godly in this present world how few do embrace this Most men believe this is so performed by Christ that it is unnecessary for us to perform it Again Blessed is the man to whom the Lord doth not impute sin This all men easily believe But that which is subjoined and in whose Spirit there is no guile this they believe is not possible to be attained Again there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus This is pronounced with full mouth for 't is a most sweet sentence But that who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit is bitter and believed by very few Briefly men easily believe we shall mow with joy but if you say we most sow in tears this part they cast upon Christ Hence it is that false Prophets because they preach pleasing things and either feign pleasing promises of God or apply them to such to whom they do not belong easily find credit When the true Prophets because they urge the threats of God and teach the truth severely have place among the fewest as Esay exclaims Lord who hath believed our speech These things being so it is manifest Ludovic that men are hindred from believing the truth by the love of themselves But if selflove were quitted they would believe nothing so easily as Truth being naturally enclined to truth and owning it presently as our ally if there be no impediment Wherefore 't is necessary Ludovic if you are willing truly to believe truth that is God you must lay aside self love or rather conceive the hatred of your self Lud. O Federic you perswade me thus but 't is no small matter to hate one self nor do I see the way to atain unto it nor know whether I can do it so much do I love my self Fed. I know Ludovic it is a very difficult matter and above humane strength but here we ought to remember what the Lord said of Sarah when she could not believe she should be great with Child is any thing to hard for the Lord What is impossible to man is possible to God and under his conduct nothing is to be dispaired of Lud. I beseech you therefore shew me the way whereby I may attain unto it Fed. I will do so if God please Lend me your ear If I had a servant most pleasant kind and officious and one who provided dainties for my pallate but mixed with poyson to take away my life and you knew it Ludovic who love me what would you do Lud. Verily I would with all speed and diligence advice you to take heed of tasting those dainties or loving that servant for he would secretly take away your life Fed. What if I should say I am delighted with the obsequiousness of my servant and the daintiness of the dish Lud. I would admonish you not to value so much the present pleasure as to loose your life for it Fed. What if your friend were in love with a flattering and painted harlot one infected with the French disease and you knew it what would you do Lud. I would tell him of the disease and as much as I am able dehort him from her company Fed. What if he said I am delighted with her Lud. I would answer Fishes also are delighted with the bait But 't is a folly to buy so little pleasure with so great pain or rather with death Fed. What if he say I cannot chuse but desire the pleasure Lud. I would admonish him that if he cannot as yet quench his lust he would at least resist it and not obey it Fed. What if he obeyed it Lud. Then truly I should think him more foolish then the bruits and worthy of any Evil. For Fishes Wolves Foxes Kites though very hungry yet if they either see or suspect a hook a snare a trap they abstain from the prey Fed. You say well Ludovic Thus then Every mans flesh is as it were a harlot and that painted which allures and delights him with her enticements and flatteries drives him to sin and detains him in sin and at last casts him headlong into the death of his soul Now man ignorant of the poyson embraceth pleasures and gives himself to them Then there comes upon him his friend truth minding him that the wages of sin is death and demonstrates the flesh which the man took for his friend to be his capital enemy Wherefore if you desire to be saved you must believe that you have no enemy so pern cious as your self that is your flesh which hitherto because pleasing you have favoured and obeyed you must henceforth because noxious and deadly hate and resist Now if you cannot presently drive away the enticements of it as indeed you cannot for they cleave fast truth says to you as of old to Moses Go into Egypt for thou canst I will be with thy mouth I wili enable thee to do what thou canst not So truth speaks now to you Ludovic do what you are able God will make thee do more then thou art able For example Thou sittest at a full Table and hast eaten enough to renew thy strength and to satisfie thy hunger Then comes in some dish more delicate made to provoke the appetite Here thy flesh instantly riseth up and suggesteth to thee such a thought It is a delicate mess if thou eat of it it will be pleasant But the Spirit opposes the Flesh and thus admonisheth Take heed Ludovic of indulging thy pleasure there is poyson in it For first it calleth off thy mind from God then which evil no evil can be greater for whereas no man can serve two Masters thou canst not serve God and pleasure because pleasure oppresseth the soul and draws it down to the Earth and separates it from God Next intemperance hurts the body so that if thou hadst no soul thou oughtest even for thy bodies sake to abstain from immoderate eating I do not now require thee not to be tempted with the allurements of the Flesh but not to obey them But if you deny your self to have power not to obey them you shall easily be
refused Suppose a man did give you one Floren to abstain from such a dish would you not abstain And will you not abstain for the truth Do not you shew truth is of less value with you then a peace of mony or suppose one threatned you with a blow on the face unless you forbear Sure you would forbear See God threatens to strike thy soul and dost thou not abstain Dost thou not herein more highly esteem thy soul then thy body I say the same of the rest Thou wouldst fornicate but because a Child is present thou dost not see God is present and thou dost it Surely thou hast not so must regard to the presence of God as of a little Child But if thou abstainest for fear of humane punishment and not of Divine doest thou not prefer men above God Thou art angry with one and wouldst beat him but darest not for fear of the magistrate why doth not the fear of God keep thee in awe If thou dost esteem God as much as men why does the fear of God less prevail with thee then the fear of men Thou dost calumniate another God sees thy calumny and dost it thou If men did see thou wouldst not do it Run through all things Ludovic whosoever does more for the love or fear of men or of any other thing then of God he doth more believe in men then in God Lud. O my Federic my conscience witnesseth to me that the things you say are right and true and thence ariseth sorrow in my heart Fed. What when we conferred about predestination or free will did you feel any such sadness Lud. None at all Fed. I believe you Ludovic for science brings no sadness but rather gladness being that which leaves the old man unhurt For although you know all mysteries yet may you still serve the Devil Now when we treat of renouncing ones self the Flesh is sensible she must perish and she doth as harlots use to do when they are forsaken of young men they torment them with desire and by all meanes endeavor to retain them So that harlot the Flesh which hath bewitched all men with the cup of her impurity so often as she perceiveth a man willing to depart from her vexeth him with desire and leaveth nothing unassayed whereby she may hold him fast Hence ariseth grief as great as the love of the Flesh was So likewise if you must leave your country such as your love to your country was such will be your sorrow Sin is our country for in sin hath our mother conceived us which without sorrow cannot be renounced This sorrow is that cross of which he speaketh If any one will come after me let him deny himself and take up his Cross and follow me And if any man come unto me and hate not his Father and Mother and Wife and Children and Brethren and Sisters and his own Life also he cannot be my Disciple And he that beareth not his Cross and followeth me cannot be my Disciple That you may understand what the hatred of ones self is and what Cross it brings weigh it with the hatred of another If you Ludovic should have one in deadly hatred how would you be affected toward him or what would you do to him Lud. Truly I would heartily wish him all evil envy him all good grieve at his prosperity rejoyce at his adversity If one should tell me any ill news of him I should be glad and receive the Messenger curteously use him kindly and reward him Farther I would love and do good to my enemies enemies and I would hate and do ill to my enemies friends All the words and deeds of my enemy I would watch and carp and by all possible wayes and means yea often with my own harm would I hurt him Lastly I would kill him if I could not with an ordinary but most cruel death and blot out his memory from the Earth Fed. Now Ludovic turn this hatred upon your self For you are your own capital enemy and ought to bear a capital hatred against your self not against others who are not able to kill thee that is thy soul Wherefore you must wish to your self that is to your Flesh all evil even death it self and envy all good to it You must grieve at the welfare and rejoyce at the evil thereof If any one bring you ill news of the Flesh you must rejoyce in the Spirit and reward the messenger Further you must devise and act all things against your self which men use to do against such as they hate with an irreconcilable hatred and never rest till the Flesh be destroyed And because no man ever hated his own Flesh as S. Paul saith you must with all care make a divorce and put it from you that it may be no longer yours the Spirit being taken in the place which hath no more agreement with the Flesh than fire with water Lud. O my Federic let me confess the Truth you have seemed to me to speak stones Fed. I believe it Ludovic and it must needs be so But be of good cheer and now begin to love me in the Spirit because I am an enemy to your Flesh For this is for your good nor can you be safe while your Flesh is living Wherefore Ludovic take care as you tender your salvation to hate your self and renounce your Flesh And I will shew you an example of this renouncing If one deliver himself up to you to be your servant he renounceth himself that is his own liberty and will so that henceforth he serves not his own but your will and pleasure Often when he wouid sleep he must watch at his masters command he must stay within when he would go abroad work when he would play In a word he so looseth his own freedome that if he be asked what he is about to do or what is his will he answers what pleases the Master in whose power he is So it is with us Ludovic if we be Christ's who hath bought us with a great price we are not in our own power or at our own pleasure but Christ's Therefore we ought not to do what we please but what pleaseth him And justly For if he being the way the truth and the life submitted his will to the will of his Father so that he said not my will but thine be done what is it fit for us to do who are full of errors and mistakes Wherefore when you are ready to be angry without a cause restrain your anger at the command of Christ When you would indulge and give your self to pleasure you must abstain and bear grief If you would be revenged you must forgive if you would do evil to any one do him good You must weep when you would laugh fast when you would feast bear disgrace when you desire honor poverty when riches Lastly you must so depart from your own will that if you be asked what you would you may answer nothing