totall falling away did not swallow him vp in the deepe but vpoÌ„ the planke of repentâ—nce he did swimme safe to shore And Saint Augustine saith of Dauids sinne In ista viâ—o 〈◊〉 Dauidâ— immoderata c. In this man iâ— Dauid there was not an abode but onely a passage of this inordinate lust And therefore the Prophet reprouing it called it a guest for he said not that he set before his King but before his guest his poore neighbors sheepe to feast withall so that thereby Augustine giues vs to vnderstand that Dauids inordinate lust was not as a King to raigne and to keep his Court of residence in his heart but onely as a guest comming accidentally and lodging with him for a night and so away The like he saith of Peters deniall Quis ita euanescat c. Who can be so vaine as to thinke the Apostle Peter had that in his heart which heâ— had in his mouth when he denied Christ surely in that deniall he retained the truth inwardly and outwardly vttered a lye For with his heart hee beleeued to righteousnesse but with his month he confessed not to saluation If therefore in Peters deniall his faith was not lost then certainly hee fell not totally away And that Peters faith was not then lost wee haue Christs testimony in his prayer for Peter But I haue prayed for thee that thy faith faile not This prayer of Christ was before Peters deniall of him yea Christs prayer did in particular point at Peters deniall which was that very night to preserue his faith from failing therein though his tongue did fouly faulter And who shall deny Christs prayer to be effectuall For the Father heareth him alwaies Ioh. 11. 42. and if it were effectuall Peters faith failed not no not in that his fearefull denyall and consequently his sinne was not a totall falling away from grace no not for an instant for his faith failed not nor finally nor totally nor at all St. Augustine saith Fides eius qui aedificatur super Petram c. His faith that is built vpon the rocke for which also Christ prayed that it should not faile doth not faile So that the faith of the elect faileth not no not in the degrees as we haue shewed Babylonius But admit 〈◊〉 faith did not faile yet others faith may for which Christ did not so particularly pray as for Peters saith Orthodoxus That which Christ prayed for Peter he did also in him pray for all the faith full Peter standing oftentimes for a type of the Church For Christ saith Lake 22. 31. calling Simon by name Simon Simon behold Sathan hath desired to haue you that he may sâ—fe you as wheat so that he speakes to Simon in the plurall number as including all his Disciples all his faithfull Sathan hath desired to haue you that he may 〈◊〉 YOV And in the next verse he addes But I haue prayed for THEE c. Where Christ doth more particularly apply his speech to Peter to arme him the better against his approaching deniall so that in Peter hee prayes for all his faithfull as Saint Augustine applies it Dicentâ— argo Christo Rogaâ—i pro te c. Christ saying I haue prayed for thee that thy faith faile not let vs vnderstand it to bee said to him that is built vpon the Rocke And againe more plainly in the plurall number Pro his interpellante Christo c. For these to wit the called according to his purpose Christ praying that their faith faile not without doubt it shall not faile vnto the end And as Saint Augustine in sundry places noteth Saint Peter beateth the person and figure of the Catholicke Church though he say not that Peter is the head of the Church so that oftentimes that which Christ speakes to Peter by name is extended to all the faithfull To conclude these fell not totally nor yet any of Gods elect sith the couenant betweene them and God stands firme and is neuer totally broken the couenant I meane made by and with Dauid in his Circumcision by and with Peter in his Baptisme Which couenant on our part is to beleeue in God and to serue him and to loue him with all our heart and with all our soule c. Now for Dauids and Peters faith that failed not as wee haue proued For their loue that was in the exercise of it defectiue for the time while the act of it was suspended so that they had made a partiall breach of their Couenant But totall it was not for the totall breach pertaines to that sinne which is impossible to be expiated by repentance described Heb. 6. as the sinne of Iudas of Iulian and the like But Dauid and Peters sinne was not committed out of a hatred of God much lesse a totall hatred of the whole soule minde and heart that is for Iudasses and Iulians and all Apostaticall Reprobates But the sinnes of Gods elect howsoeuer for the act they may be equall to the sinnes of the most reprobate yet in the affection they are not and so they make not a totall breach of their Couenant with God Againe the Couenant on Gods part is a Couenant of mercy as Roâ— 11. 27. as also Ier. 31. 33 34. This is my couenant vnto them when I shall take away their sinnes so that Gods Couenant with vs is a Couenant of mercy and mercy implyeth misery yea sinne it selfe that if through humaine frailtie we fall into sinne as Dauid and Peter did there is mercy with God that hee may be feared who if he should be extreame to marke what is done amisse who could abide it yea to take the extreamitie were to breake his couenant with vs which is a couenant of mercy But hee is not as a strict and cruell Land-lord who will take the forfeiture of our lease vpon euery the least breach Neither is hee as a Iudge strictly to take away our inheritance from vs onely for some flaw in the conueyance No our inheritance is conueyed ouer vnto vs not according to forme of law or regall right but according to the couenant of the Gospell which is not forfaited for euery flaw or defect on our part Indeede in point of Gods strict law euery the least flaw forfeits all but not so according to the tenure of the Gospell For saith God I haue found Dauid my seruant c. It is spoken literally of Dauid typically and mystically of Christ for he is Gods first borne higher than the Kings of the earth Now of him of his seede to wit all his elect and regenerate he saith ver 28. My mercy will I keepe for him for euermore my couenant shall stand fast with him his seede also will I make to endure for euer c. But if they breake my statutes and keepe not my commandements thou will I visite their transgression with the rod and their iniquities with stripes Neuerthelesse my
free these miserable captiues out of that tyrant Pharaohs more then Aegyptian bondage Againe in the Acts of the Apostles where it is said that our hearts are purified by faith which some as Aquinas vnderstands of illuminating the vnderstanding by faith others of the purification of the soule and heart from sinne by faith as we are said also to be sanctified by faith that is in Christ. Now this faith is the first worke of Gods grace wrought in the heart that is in the whole soule in our first conuersion by which faith the vnderstanding is inlightned and with it the will and all the other faculties of the soule are sanctified For the heart in Scriptuee is taken oftentimes for the whole soule with all the faculties of it As Ephesians 1. 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the vulgar Latin renders it word for word Illuminatos oculis cordis vestri the eyes of your heart being illuminated that is the eyes of your vnderstanding And Math. 13. 15. Least they vnderstand with their heart So for â—â—e will Act. 7. 39. The Israelites in their hearts turned backe into Egypt that is in their wills So Acts 11. 23. Bernabas exhorts that with purpose of heart that is of will they would cleaue vnto the Lord. The heart is also taken for the memory as Luke 1. 66 All that heard laid vp those things in their hearts So Deut. 11. 18 Yee shall lay vp these my wordes in your hearts Sometime for the affections as loue feare and the like So Mat. 6. 21 Where your treasure is there will your heart be also your loue your ioy your hope yea and feare too And Psa. 62. 10 If riches increase set not your heart vpon them Thus wee vse to reduce all these streames of the soule to the heart as the prime fountaine as when we say an vnderstanding heart a wise heart a willing heart a valiant heart an humble heart a loving heart and the like Now the heart being taken for the soule and all the faculties of it and being the very seate and subiect wherein faith resides for with the heart man beleeveth to righteousnes and Christ dwelleth in our hearts by faith then the heart being purified being sanctified by faith consequently the whole soule with all the faculties the vnderstanding will memory affections are at the same instant with the heart purified and sanctified by faith as the first act and worke of Gods grace in vs. Hence it is euident that the prime worke of Gods grace in the conuersion of a sinner is not a slight and slender worke as a bare stirring mouing or helping of the will to prepare and dispose it selfe to receiue the grace of iustification but it is a mighty and powerfull worke so that thereby the stony heart harder and heauier then the hardest rocke or highest mountaine is remoued and a new heart a new vnderstanding a new will a new memory new affections all new in the qualities of them are put insteed thereof By this prime worke of grace that most excellent grace of faith is wrought in the heart whereby the whole man is sanctified Babylonius Sir by the way now you touch vpon a point which as I haue heard is much controuerted among Diuines namely about the subiect or seat of faith in what faculty or power of the soule it resideth some placeing it in the vnderstanding onely some in the will onely but few as you doe in the whole soule and euery power of it as the soule is said by the Philosopher to bee whole in the whole body and whole in euery part of it Orthodoxus And you giue a very pregnant example to illustrate this truth that faith doth so fill and quicken euery faculty of the soule as the soule doth the body And the comparison holds well for Saint Augustine calls faith the soule of the soule because it giues life to the whole soule as the soule to the whole body And the Scripture saith that wee liue by faith and faith by Christ as Gal. 2. 20. Indeede those of the Church of Rome are of different opinions in this point Dominicus Soto sets it downe as a definitiue decree of the Trent Councell It is decreed that the intellectuall power is the subiect or seat of saith And this suits well with Romes faith being historicall and so proper to the vnderstanding faculty Notwithstanding when they consider of the danger of placing faith in the vnderstanding least it should follow that therefore faith ought not to be an implicit and ignorant blind faith but a cleare and vnderstanding faith they fly to the will rather placing faith in that not for any good will but to suppresse the knowledge of faith which Romes Owle-eyed religion cannot brooke And therefore Bellarmine would haue faith to be defined rather from ignorance then from knowledge and so shuts it out of the vnderstanding and shuffels it into some blinde corner of the will But see the mischiefe of it while they would auoid the gulfe they fall vpon the rocke For if they place faith in the will they must of necessity allow it one speciall property of sauing faith namely assiance and considence in Gods promises in Christ a thing most hatefull to the Church of Rome therefore in conclusion of two euills chusing the lesse that they may rather exclude confidence from faith then science sith they can noe otherwise chuse they rather pitch vpon the vnderstanding then the will wherein to place their faith So that by their good wills they could be content for the auoiding of the inconueniences of an illuminate and confident faith to croud it into some corner of the inferiour part of the soule But for sure worke they haue taken a safer course by excluding and banishing not onely from the soule or any faculty of it but out of the verge and lists of their Romane Catholicke Church and that with a direfull Anathema the true sauing and iustifying faith But whereas you say few Diuines place faith in the whole soule and in euery power of it they are neither few nor those of small authoritie The prouinciall Councell of Colen which was a little before the Councell of Trent although charged by Andreas Vega to speake too broad and too Protestant-like in the point of faith and iustification by imputation saith that true iustifying faith is seated not onely in the vnderstanding but also in the will The learned and ingenious Cardinall Contarenus about the same time writing of iustification saith that the first act or motion of faith begins at the will which obeying God and faith causeth the vnderstanding to assent to the things deliuered of God without doubting and so to trust in Gods promises and of them to conceiue a firme affiance which pertaines to the will and that this faith as it were in a circle begins at the will and ends in the will So that he confineth not faith to the
side without remorse but a Samaritan seeing him comes to him takes compassion on him bindes vp his wounds powers in oyle and wine lifts him vp on his Beast and prouides all things necessary for him The case is ours Totum geuus humanum est homo ille qui iacet in via seminivus c. saith August All mankinde is that man which lyeth in the way halfe dead and though Christ the good Samaritan come and take compassion of vs and bring oyle and wine to heale our wounds yet vnlesse his compassion extend it selfe to apply them we should still be wallowing in our blood and so perish Yet as Saint Augustine saith Sunt homines iugrati gratiae multum tribuentes inopi sauciaeque naturae Men are vngratefull to grace attributing much to poore and wounded nature Verum est magnas arbitrij liberi vires homo cùm conderetur accepit sed peccando amisit True it is Man when he was created receaued a greater power of freewill but by sinning lost it And this doth St. Augustine apply to the man fallen among theeues helped and healed by the mercifull Samaritan Well how then come wee to bee made partakers of Christ Namely by the free gift of Christ. It is of Gods free fauour and mercy that Christ is giuen not onely for vs but to vs that Christ is not onely appointed of the Father to be a glorious garment to couer our shame but also the hand of faith is giuen vs by the same grace of God whereby we put him on as the Father in the Gospell commanded the best robe to be fecht and to bee put vpon his conuert prodigall sonne by the same grace our eyes are opened to behold the glorious sonne of righteousnesse risen in our horison bringing life and health vnto vs. And as Christ came vnto vs so wee must come vnto him But how by the same grace and mercy that he came vnto vs wee come vnto him So Christ saith No man can come vnto me except the Father which hath sent me draw him and ver 45. And they shall all be taught of God Euery man therefore that hath board and hath learned of the Father commeth vnto me And ver 65. No man can come vnto me except it were giuen vnto him of my Father vpon which wordes St. Augustine saith Trahi a Patre ad Christum c. For a man to be drawne by the Father to Christ and to heare and learne of the Father that he may come to Christ is no other then to receiue a gift of the Father whereby he beleeueth in Christ. And againe Quando Pater intus anditur c. When the Father is inwardly heard and teacheth men to come to his Sonne he takes away their stony heart and giues them a heart of flesh For so he maketh the sonnes of promise and vessels of mercy which he hath prepared vnto glory Why then doth he not teach all that they may come to Christ but that because all whom he teacheth in mercy he teacheth and whom he teacheth not in iudgment he teacheth not because he sheweth mercy on whom he will and whom he will he hardneth but he sheweth mercy bestowing that which is good he hardneth recompensing that which is due whereupon he concludes Hâ—nc est quòd verbum crucis pereuntibus stulitia est his autem qui salui flunt virtus Dei est Hence it is that the preaching of the Crosse is to them that perish folishnesse but to them which are saued it is the power of God This truth is so cleare it needes no further testimonie So that to ascribe part of our saluation to God and part to man is artificially to rob God of his glory and man of saluation seeing not onely for the Father to appoint his Sonnes to be the Mediatour and Redeemer of mankinde but also effectually to giue him to all his elect giuing them grace and faith whereby to receiue him are two noble inseparable branches growing from one and the same roote of Gods free mercy Neither can the one stand without the other for take away this latter act of Gods mercy inabling vs to receiue Christ and the former of appointing Christ to bee the deliuerer would be altogether frustrate as depending vpon mans will to receiue or reiect him as the Vniuersalists falsly affirme Therefore giue God his whole glory or else yee rob and strip him of all So that I may say of the Appealers dealing herein as our learned Master Hooker in his tract of Iustification saith of the Romish Church in the matter of our Redemption by Christ. They grant saith he that Christ alone hath performed the worke of Redemption sufficiently for the saluation of the whole world but in the application of this inestimable treasure that it may be effectuall to their saluation how demurely soeuer they confesse that they seeke remission of sins no otherwise then by the blood of Christ vsing humbly the meanes appointed by him to apply the benefit of holy blood they teach indeede so many things pernicious in Christian faith in setting downe the meanes whereof they speake that the very foundation of faith which they hold is thereby plainely ouerthrowne and the force of the blood of Iesus Christ extinguished So he The very like may be applyed to the Appealer For he with his Arminians howsoeuer they acknowledge the meere mercy of God in prouiding such an all-sufficient Sauiour to redeeme mankinde yet they marre all in their applying this plaister of mercy while they would doe it with the hand of freewill the foresight whereof was forsooth the first mouer of Gods meere mercy Sure if so they must needes abate no small part from meere mercy For how is it meere mercy if any good in vs foreseene first caused it that it should offer a Sauiour to vs Babylonius Now see you seeme to touch vpon the point of Freewill which my Authour treateth of in the next Chapters the 8 9 and 10. following in order that which hath hitherto beene discussed And to my simple vnderstanding that which he writes of it is very Catholicke and such as wherein he ascribeth the receiuing of grace offered not simply to Freewill but primarily to Gods grace preparing and stirring vp the will vnto it But I desire to heare your opinion of this point also as he hath handled it Orthodoxus With a good will But for as much as by the Authours owne words it is accounted a Question of perplexed obscurity I purpose not to tread the whole maze wherein the versatilous wit of man hath made infinite windings I will be very briefe omitting his various and copious allegations of Authours opinions So that passing by the eighth Chapter as empty the ninth also as full of quotations I will touch onely one or two passages in his tenth Chapter In the second page whereof whereas he saith that in Adam and through his fall we haue not