that the parts doe euer or at least should follow the nature and processe of the whole Our common Mother in and by whom we are all borne 〈◊〉 brought 〈◊〉 Christians challengeth our first seruice And because some of you as well as my selfe haue enioyed so excellent a Nurse and Foster mother cherishing and feeding vs with the purest and most pleasant liquor til we came to some full and perfect age wee should doe amisse if wee should forget her in the chiefest and noblest of our thoughts To you therefore I come as being sent from the brests of my Mother to giue you a taste of her milke Onely remember who it is that must giue the increase both to her in labouring and you in profiting Rebecca may Cooke the Venison but Isaack must giue the blessing We can but speake to the eare God must speake to the Conscience I wish we could condescend to the infancie of our Nurcelings and become all vnto all rather studying to make our people Schollers then to shew our selues Schollers vnto them When the Iewes heard Paul Act. 22.2 to speake in their mother tongue they both kept the more silence and gaue the better audidence Accept therefore the following Treatise as a due acknowledgement of my loue and thankefulnesse wishing not onely with Philosophers prosperitie Physitians health the common people ioy Romanes safetie S. Paul welfare but also with our blessed Sauiour Mar. 9.50 Peace powdred with pietie otherwise these congratulations of our ioy shall but aequalize a drunken Nabals Sheepe sheering or the fatting of some Epicurean hogges or the celebration of the festivall revels of the dissolute crue whose dyet and dainties are the Devils food Cleanse therefore the Augean stables of our drunken Tavernes and Tipling houses with all the blind vaults of professed filthinesse The Citie of Alexandria in Egypt nourished the great Bird Ibis to devoure the garbage and offall of it and to cleanse the streetes but he left of his owne filth and beastlinesse more noysome behinde him They are the Devils deputies not Gods who being set in their places like the Kites feed themselues with the offalls of the people I meane bribes to pervert the course of Iustice They who in reformation seeme to amend the exorbitances of their places and doe it not heartily imitate the Physitian who in an Hecticall body laboureth to kill the itch c. Rouze vp your spirits awaken your Christian courage and set your selues heartily against the crying sinnes of these times But I must take heed least I runne into the inconvenience obiected by that Spartane to the Athenians That wise men did consult and the ignorant giue sentence We may easily iudge our superiours consulting of remedies to be guilty of the increasing of the maladies and mischiefes of the State Drunkennesse and the nurseries of it vsurping Sobrieties kingdome as Adoniah did Salomons haue gotten so strong an head that they can hardly be resisted Onely let the Magistrate take to himselfe a firme forehead couragious heart busie hands and not partiall execute lawes with strictnesse and resolution and God shall blesse the same with happie successe If otherwise God will suffer wickednesse to punish it selfe and that no power can turne the streame because God will haue it carry the offenders headlong to their perpetuall ruine and his owne revenge yet must the good Magistrate even swimme against the tyde knowing that without conquest it is glorious to haue resisted in this alone he were an enemie if he should doe nothing because he sees so little good come of all his traveile Let but worthy Magistrates the endeuour be yours and you may with comfort leaue the successe to God and so I cease neuer ceasing to pray for you Yours in all Christian dutie and seruice IOHN YATES ⧠An advertisement to the READER THe truth and triall of this treatise carefull Reader may I hope the better be accepted without distrust or distaste because it hath passed thorow the fire fanne and furnace of two iudicious and learned Divines whom for honours sake I am bound to mention vnto thee The one is the Reverend and worshipfull Mr Tho Goad Dr of Divinitie by whose labour this worke is carefully corrected and iudiciously supplied where it might offend through want or weaknesse in any part or power of it his starres or his spits that I may vse Origens notes haue beene welcome to this my Tractate I expected his vnpartiall sentence and he hath done iustly to shut his friend out of doores while this worke was discussed Know therefore with me good Reader by whom thou hast profited and be thankfull The other is Mr Alexander Richardson now deceased to whom I haue done the office of a Christian brother in raysing vp seed to the dead to continue his name that his memory and worth might not be put out of Israel This skilfull Artist hath cast and coyned the heads and I would to God he had handled them before his death Some few specialties are vpon necessary cause altered but they are of so small moment that they make no great breach in the body neither in thy knowledge in viewing of the order and methode of Religion I know if the discourse as well as the heads had proceeded from the same hand they would haue beene more accurate and perfect A shaft shot by the hand of a Gyant and a childe differ much yet will I not in a fond admiration and apish imitation of any person make all his deeds and doctrines like the reflection of a looking glasse to frame all thoughts and things by his shadow This were but to catch Doterels and shew feats of actiuitie to deceiue the simple Againe if some little thing be censured in the first inventor I hope they that loue him will not thinke as good friends as they deale with him like Gnatts which after they haue made a sweete kinde of Musicke euermore sting before they depart I feare not thy profit in it if thou will submit both it and thy selfe to the true touch-stone I meane the sacred Scriptures otherwise with Perillus thou mayest perish in thy owne inventions and thine owne cunning at the last will fayle thee and leaue thee as Absolons Mule left his rebellious Master betweene heauen and earth Consider therefore what is said and the Lord giue thee vnderstanding in all things that thou mayest be no lesse wise then good Amen ¶ The Table of Religion containing the Creed the ten Commandements the Lords Prayer and the Sacraments Religion whose parts are Faith it selfe In God Which is euery mans owne I beleeve who is one in essence In three persons Father Almightie Maker of heauen earth Sonne who is by name Iesus Christ. that onely begotten our Lord. who humbled himselfe in Life by being both Conceived by the holy Ghost Borne of the Virgin Mary and by Suffering vnder Pontius Pilate being Crucified Death Dying and being buried descended into hell Exalted First by rising againe from the dead
it will be farre more easie to fill the belly of faith then the eye of reason That faith may therefore be as the elbow for a heauy Soule to leane on wee will vnder prop it with both these pillars I know that as the Sea receiueth all streames and yet hath proper water in farre greater abundance so in God there is a confluence of the perfections of all creatures and yet his owne perfection doth infinitely exceed them Wee are to meddle with the first with the presence whereof all the powers of the minde shall be filled all the senses of the body shall be satiated in so much as they shall neither in desire seeke nor in hope aspire nor in imagination faine any greater pleasure Q. What is God A. God is a spirit hauing life in himselfe or of himselfe He is as wee haue heard both being and Act Ioh. 4.24 With 5.26 2. Cor. 3.17 now wee see both in our definition not that hee is compounded of them but expressed by them In euery creature there is a composition of matter and forme out of which it hath his essence and action so in God spirit is as the matter life as the forme I say expressing not compounding his nature And the reason is liuely for God must be the most excellent nature and the most eminent act Spirit is the purest nature and life the quickest act Obserue but in nature and you shall find that much matter and little forme make things grosse and corporall much forme and little matter fine and spirituall Earth is more grosse then water water then ayre ayre then fire bodies then soules men then Angels Angels then God There is no creature free from matter for then should it be as spirituall as God He onely is without matter and therefore most spirituall and consequently most actiue as if he were all forme Hence he is stiled the liuing God Ier. 10.10 1. Tim. 4.10 Deut. 32.40 Iudg. 8.19 Ruth 3.13 Ezek. 33.11 Dan. 4.37 by whose life wee are to sweare as hauing most intelligence of the truth and greatest power to punish the liar Being a spirit hee must needs be strong and subtile to enter where he will being life it selfe he must needs quicken and quiet all desires and appetites Act. 17.28 Ioh. 1.4 And 5.21.26 Alas then how miserable are all those that want this God or haue prouoked him by their sinnes As one that floateth halfe choaked and wearied in the middest of the Sea ceaseth not to wrestle with the waues to cast forth his hands euery way although he graspeth nothing but thinne and weake water which continually deceiueth his paines so they that both swim and sinke in this depth of death shall alwayes striue and struggle therewith although they neither finde nor hope for any helpe O deadly life O immortall death if the paine were no greater then the stinging of Ants or of Fleas eternitie were enough to make it intolerable Ioh. 5.21.24 2 Cor. 4.11 Gal. 2.19.20 Lord quicken me from this death and make me by faith to passe from it vnto life purposed and promised in thine owne beloued Happie are all they that beleeue and in beleeuing serue this spirit of life in spirit and truth Ioh. 4.24 Luk. 1.75 all the dayes of their life Q. What are the attributes that shew vs who he is A. His essentiall properties And here the field is large for the describing of God Simonides being asked of Hiero the King what God was demanded a dayes respite then two dayes afterwards three and being asked the reason answered that the longer he thought what God should bee the lesse he vnderstood of him And another heathen said It is hard to find a God Plato but to vnderstand him impossible No wonder these men had but the light of Nature yet thus farre they aymed right Quò enim prius eo notius naturâ and shot neere that God the most intelligible was least vnderstood of vs and that the infinite vnderstanding was not within the compasse and fadome of the finite but in helping that default by their owne imaginations went themselues exceeding wide and came not neere the marke which I ascribe not to any defect of eye sight in those sharpe sighted Eagles of Nature but onely to the want of fixed contemplations in the book of the world and more especially their vtter ignorance of the word of God Wee therefore that enioy the sacred Scriptures may see farre further into this mystery Remembring alwayes that Divinitie as the Mistresse taketh vpon her to direct her hand-mayd and that the Bible is the best man of counsell for the greatest Clarke in the world containing more then all the Divines of the Heathen ever saw the shadow of All which will best appeare by the opening of this rich Cabinet of Gods Attributes and viewing the severall Iewels in it by this torch-light or rather Sunne of the little world And it should be a shame for Christians if it were not better knowne of them then Lipsius his Bee-hiue or Machiavels Spider-web about which many wits like a Dor end their flights in a Dung-hill Rom. 3.4 Exod. 23.19 Psal 46.1 With 70.5 Exod. 34.6 And here I might enter an ample harvest of properties affirmatiue negatiue proper and figuratiue absolute and Relatiue But here such properties are to be handled as appeare by themselues as no wayes flowing from the essence of the creatures as all negatiue figuratiue and relatiue properties doe Onely one thing I cannot but mention in admiration of Gods goodnesse vnto vs which is that God is content to take properties most improper as a body in respect of all the members of it head face eyes eye-lids apple of the eye mouth eares necke hand arme right hand fingers feete heart bowels c. Dan. 7.9 Exod. 33.20.23 2. Chron. 16.9 Psal 11.4 Deut. 32.10 Iosh 9.14 Psal 31.2 2. Sam. 22.9 Ier. 18.17 Act. 4.28 Exod. 6.6 and 15.6 and 31.18 Psal 110.1 1. Sam. 2.35 Ier. 31.20 So likewise a soule coupled with the body and members Isa 1.14 so the senses that rise from the vnion both inward and outward as memory forgetfulnesse hearing seeing smelling c. Psal 136.23 Isa 49.14 Psal 14.2 and 5.1.2 Gen. 8.21 In briefe he assumeth the very affections and passions of the soule as ioy sorrow anger zeale Ielousie c. Iudg. 9.13 Gen. 6.6 Rom. 1.18 Nay yet hee goes lower and by the wings of birds hornes of beasts the Sunne the light their very shadow the fire rockes and stones he speakes vnto vs. Psal 91.4.2 Sam. 22.3 Psal 84.11.1 Ioh. 1.5 Psal 91.1 Deut. 4.24 Psal 71.3 yea and to goe to the lowest by the works of mans hands as shields and bucklers c. Psal 2.3 and 144.2 yet we are to vnderstand that all these are attributed vnto God improperly and by way of his gracious condiscending vnto and sympathizing with mans nature because being literally taken they are derogatory vnto his
diligent and circumspect is nature to vnburden it selfe so conscience that from aboue would worke vpon the will affections being hindred gathers it selfe from below euen from hell it selfe and finding the sinner secure makes him miserable and leaues him desperate Goe too yee Miscreants of matchlesse mischiefe monsters of men and all ye brethren of the sword earue to your selues the largest morsels of sinnefull pleasures and with your most able gorges of Chiucrell consciences swallow and digest them yea with the same hands embrued in blood receiue the body of your Sauiour and make him bleed againe with your sinnes yet I beleeue all will be bitternesse in the end and howsoeuer you cheere vp your selues and satiate your mindes with these huskes of pleasure yea cry out we haue liued the onely royall and ioviall life in the world yet you shall neuer perswade me that your hearts do laugh with your faces Such vanities may shake the splene the conscience they cannot comfort be assured the kindest curtesies of sinne like a bemired dogge doe but defile you with fawning and leaue you worse for intermedling You say you are merry secure I heare you well But euery fowle that hath a seemely feather hath not the sweetest flesh nor euery tree that beareth a goodly leafe bringeth forth good fruit glasse giueth a cleerer sound then siluer many things glister besides gold a gorgeous chest is not alwayes the signe of a rich treasure nor a faire die of a fine threed nor a costly seabbard of a sure blade nor a merry countenance of a minde either pleasantly disposed or set at quiet Wee may be assured many a mans heart bleedeth when his face counterfeits a smile Wee see how some will laugh at the beating of their heads against stone-walles Yea but then they are mad you will say true but not so dangerously mad as they who will smoothly smile at the satisfiing of their sinnefull desires Glow-wormes in the night may make a fiery and lightsome shew and yet pressed are nothing but a lumpe of crude cold moy sture so the lampe of the wicked in the night of his ignorance may glister but it is soone put out by the pressing convulsions of a distempered conscience Doe your worst you desperate sinners peck out your eyes or suffer the Deuill to seize on them and you as Rauens doe on sicke sheepe that hauing plucked out their eyes deuoure their flesh yet your consciences shall not be shifted off You may runne from your selues and the soule may flie from your bodies but your consciences will not part from your soule not sinne from your consciences The mute dumbe and deafe Deuill charged by Christ found a tongue Mark 9. 26. so shalt thou before thou be discharged of thy sinne Quench and quell the heart of thy heart roule vpon it the irremoueable stone of hardnesse of heart seale it vp in the graue of obliuion till with Lazarus Iob. 11.39 it be growne vnfauory and would stink with stirring Yet shalt thou not want a witnesse from the dead to tell thee of a iust God a holy Religion and a fear efull damnation euen in that thou knowest not wherefore thou wert borne 2. Thess 1.8 Oh then that it would please God to giue vs that true wisedome that hath both cleere eyes and right set that wee might see further then the dimme eyes of nature are able to reach that we might vnderstand wherefore we are borne and know that inuisible hand that by most happle rules directs all things to their ends Iust is it with thee O Lord to with hold what thou wouldest giue and curse that which thou bestowest because we abuse the very light of nature Rom. 1.24 yea trample vpon it with daily sins as men doe the engrauings of Monuments with durtie shoes till nothing be left legible We must not therefore presume much vpon an appeale to a blinded conscience onely it may force and fasten this vpon vs by way of conclusion first that man is made secondly made for an end thirdly an end better then himselfe fourthly which end in God fiftly which God he is to serue sixtly serue by a rule lastly which rule is Religion Q. But doth God require it A. Mal. 1.6 A some honoureth his father and a seruant his master if I therefore be a father where is my honour and if I be a master where is my feare Mic. 6.8 Hee hath shewed thee O man what is good and what the Lord requireth of thee c. Whatsoeuer then may be our leuell God must be our scope at whom in all our affaires we must chiefely ayme O then let not the thought of this last end bee the least end of our thoughts we must neuer thinke our selues in good case so long as we are vnwilling to thinke of our God who is infinitely good not onely comprehending but exceeding the perfections of all things and therewith also the last end of humane desires and perfect rest of the reasonable soule All the springs and brookes of our best affections must runne into this maine neither must we suffer the least riveret to be drayned another way onely this must be our care that neglecting the counsels of flesh bloud we learne to depend vpon the commission of our Maker not daring to attempt any action before we haue his warrant least it be said vnto vs who required these things at your hands Isa 1.12 No action is good without Faith and no faith is good without a word The Centurion when he would describe his good seruant in the Gospel sayes no more of him but this I bid him doe this and he doth it And the chosen vessell giues an euerlasting rule His seruants we are to whom wee obey Rom. 6.16 So that our seruice wee owe to our end is briefely nothing else but a readinesse to doe as we are bidden All arts serue but two ends immediately God and man and from them both take their denominations of Diuinitie and humanitie Say now to thy selfe how haue I liued or rather not liued consuming precious dayes in time eating vanities Thou art an exquisite humanist but such wise dome and knowledge will increase sorrow and griefe Eccl. 1.18 till thou come to the conclusion Eccl. 12.13 And if grace scorne not to learne of nature as Moser refused not the good counsell of a Midianite then as humane knowledg brings all things to thee so let diuine bring thee vnto God If God preserue all for thee for whom then doest thou reserue thy selfe What for gold or some Herodias Canst thou offer God or thy selfe a greater indignitie Are all Arts Philosophy bearing witnesse diuine or humane and the one subservient to the other How then can we make the creature our standing marke and not so much as roue at the Creator Shall humanitie teach thee what is good for thy selfe and not diuinitie how thou art good for God or else for nothing For shame reckon that the greatest
Diuinitie would haue our workes to vsher in our Iustification nay as parents to beget it Whereas they are in very deed the companions and pages or honorable attendants of faith and the righteousnesse it holdeth Faith is both the mindes testimony in regard of the word and the wills Amen in regard of the spirit Creed comes of credo which signifies to see a thing certainely and yeeld to it affiance It is compounded of cernere and dare Pro certo videre pro certo dare Hence Faiths motto Caco nulli By faith wee know whom wee haue beleeued 2. Tim. 1.12 And our Creed puts vs in mind of knowledge and affiance in faith so the word it selfe teacheth no lesse for Faith comes of Fides and fides of fiat dictum where we haue God to say the word and we say Amen vnto it The auncient Romanes at the very gate of their Pantheon pictured faith with two hands closed together intimating that there was no comming to God but by the hand of faith And Grace which scorneth not to learne of Nature any good though not Athens but Ierusalem must teach this lesson can take this advice as Moses heard the good counsell of a Midianite that he that commeth to God must beleeue that God is and that hee is a rewarder of all them that seeke him diligently Heb. 11.6 That faith is the first part is cleare Ier. 31.33.34 and 32.40 First God writes in vs this principle of life and then we obey him Ezek. 11.19.20 and 36.26 First he puts in his spirit and then causeth vs to walke in his statutes Such is the servile or rather bruitish nature of man that he can neither be stirred or stayed in any good course except there go a new forming of his heart before there be any reforming of his life As dead bodies are rubbed without heat so doe wee in vaine force vpon our selues an heartlesse Religion without faith all our life here is but a vitall death without it till wee liue that life wee doe but carry our carcasses vp and downe carelesly and doe nothing pleasing vnto God Heb. 11.6 secondly that faith is from knowledge appeares Ioh. 6.69 and 16.30 and 17.3 Heb. 11.1 and that with affiance in God Psal 40.4 Mark 11.22 hence faith is a confidence in God vpon a particular assurance from God that he is my God Mark 9.24 Rom. 4.20.21.2 Tim. 1.12 Faith layes not hold of God as we take hold of a tree or some such like sencelesse thing but as we vse to doe in our salutations when there is a mutuall imbracing and kissing of each other aspasamenoi Heb. 12.13 Q. Seeing faith solely rests vpon God what is God A. God in regard of himselfe onely knows himslefe as dwelling in the light vnaprochable whom neuer man saw neither can see 1. Tim. 6.16 Ioh. 1.18 1. Ioh. 4.12 The Sunne and the fire say of themselues come not too neere how much more the light which none can atraine vnto Here the well is not onely deepe but wee want a bucket to draw withall God to Moses Exod. 33.20 giues both the rule and the reason thou canst not see my face and liue for there shall none see me and liue I must contract my meditations least the Art grow too big with amplifications It would be an excellent worke to write a booke by it selfe of the knowledge of Iehovah Elohim It shall now be sufficient to lay downe the precepts with short expositions and as pregnant proofes as we can Q. What followes from hence A. That God is both incomprehensible by reason and vnnameable by words and consequently aboue all Arts for Grammar and Logicke are the most generall and goe before all other sciences nothing being to be conceiued without them Iob 11.7.8.9 God is not to be found out by reason therefore he cannot be measured by quantitie Iob 36.26 too great for the finite vnderstanding God being the first is most intelligible for prioritie of nature ever goes with perspicuitie of apprehension But this is in God himselfe who best knowes his owne being yea better then any thing beside it although man better knowes other things then himselfe Gen. 32.29 Iudg. 13.18 Gods name as his nature is secret and not be sought and this doth wonderfully strengthen faith for if God were not greater then our apprehension he could not helpe vs infinitely The holding of God by faith is better then our beholding him by reason Ephe. 3.20 God is able to doe exceeding abundantly aboue all we can aske by words or thinke by reason 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Q. May wee then inquire nothing A. Duet 29.29 Secret things belong to the Lord our God but things revealed belong to vs and our children for euer Exod 19.12 The people may not goe vp into the Mount yet may they stand at the foote to heare God speake vnto them Exod. 33.20.23 We may see Gods back-parts but not his face Rom. 1.19 that which may be knowne of God some-thing is not to be knowne as being too subtile for the eye of any creature The beames of the Sunne are made visible by reflection and letters being refracted and broken in a paire of spectacles are made liable to a dimme eye so Almightie God by his word and workes shining in his creatures as in a glasse is seene of vs. Psal 19.1.7 104.24 and 119.105 Rom. 1.20 Iam. 1.23.25 but most of all by the eye of faith looking in both Heb. 11.3.27 Wee cannot looke vpon the body of the Sunne neither can we see at all without the light of it so as wee cannot looke vpon the face and essence of God so neither can we see any thing at all without him hee therefore must name himselfe and so describe himselfe as wee may apprehend him by his owne Logicke and Grammar It was well and modestly spoken by that Emperour to Ambrose Wee speake of these things not as wee ought but as wee can I haue euer thought with my selfe that here a foolish wisedome is better then a wise ignorance and that it is sufficient to be one of Gods Court though I may be none of his counsell I will labour to know all that I need and all that I may without prying into Gods Arke assuring my selfe that he that is thus content to dwell with his poore servants in these smoky cottages of their mortality where we through our vnquiet corruptions will not suffer our selues to haue the full fruition of him shall haue wonderfull happinesse in our dwellings with him in those eternall Tabernacles that are aboue Alas whiles the shadow of our sinfull masse hides his beautie from our eyes it is well if we can see any thing This earthly Moone of the Church hath her fulls and wainings and must haue so long as she wadeth in this planetary world It is enough when shee is fixed aboue to be in the full of her glory Here wee haue but the dim shadowes of our future blessednesse Onely at the
weake efficients that they faint in drinking the strongest liquor That make choyce of iron brasse gold silver wood c. as matter to matte the making of a God But aboue all let them consider whom neither the fumes of siery passion do mist nor sinister respects or preiudices sway downe on either side from the pitch of iust integritie how silly and idle a thing it is to forme a God after the image of man bird or best and that without the meanest life farre from any Deitie or Divinitie except it be by the late Masters of the Mint in the multitude of their moderne miracles but the Lord knowes that these coines and stampes are farre off the purest pathes of veritie Alas how doe they ray and robbe God of his excellencie whiles they robe him in these raggs of rotten relickes But this is the very hate of heauen and in effect the very gate or hie way to hell to giue our selues vnto it as our Summum Bomum or chiefe good Whiles Dagon stands the Philistimes fall downe but when Dagon was fallen before the Arke the Philistimes stood to lift him vp It is iust with God that those which want grace should want wit too it is the power of superstision to turne men into those stockes and stones which they worship Methinkes their vnderstandings and wits should haue waded further if Dagon fall how shall we stand by him If he cannot helpe himselfe what shall he profit vs Yet Idolatry and Superstition are not easily put out of countenance Dagon is vp againe and the next morning the fittest time for devotion the Philistimes hasten their speed and flocke to their Temple to see how Dagon had rested that night vnder his owne Roofe and now behold in kindnesse their God is come to meeto them in the way some peeces parted from the rest salute them vpon the threshold his head and his hands are over-runne their fellowes to tell them that neither his wit nor his power could stand before the true God And now whereas the threshold should haue beene hollowed to the Victor it is consecrated to their beaten God As if it had beene made more holy by his ruine then Gods revenge Therefore God strikes them in their bodies which could not feele themselues stricken in their Idoll Paine must humble them whom shame cannot And now they begin to confesse that Gods hand was sore vpon them and their God Yet they make account of confession as drunkards doe of vomiting the Arke of the God of Israel shall not abide with them Thus wicked men vpon all occasions are glad to bee rid of God but with no patience can part with their siunes And thus the Prophet by running through all the causes Isa 40.18 with 44.12 derides the Heathen by making their gods And then as if they were besotted askes them Haue yee not knowne Haue yee not heard Hath it not beene told you from the beginning Haue yee not vnderstood it from the foundations of the earth It is be that is God which is able to sit vpon he circle of the earth stretch the heavens as a Curtains and spread them as a Tert to dwell in Q. What followes from hence that God is without all causes A. First He is without an efficient or beginning Rev. 1.8 and 3.14 And from hence he is not subiect or obnoxious to the creation or annihilation of any other as are ll creatures yea the very Angels and therefore God is absolutely independent and supreame And here nature and good nature may bring vs to God Reason hath no where either bound or banke to restraine it but at this cause hither will it bring vs and here will it leaue vs. I am the beginning of the creatures sayth Christ therefore God goe by the creatures as workes and they will lead vs to their first efficient and beginning Secondly God is without all matter and therefore most spirituall the lesse matter and the more forme the creatures inioy the more spirituall it makes them By God therefore so pure a spirit are all things nourished with the onely dew of divine benediction but this high way is so plaine that a guide were needlesse Furthermore God being most spirituall is likewise most invisible and impalpable Too subtile for sinew or sight to sease vpon him Luk. 24.39.1 Tim. 1.17 It would present him for a furious and raving Bedlam that should once formalize God to his owne fancies Againe where matter is wanting there common nature is wanting for things communicate as they rise from some common stocke and stemme And because all specialls are contained vnder generalls God wants that too and therefore is properly neither essence or being but an Huperousios or super substantiall being by himselfe one onely in number neither dividing nor devided multiplying or multiplyed The wife is the husband devided and the childe is the father multiplied But God is neither so devided into three neither are three so multiplied from one He is if I may so speake with reverence without all stocke or kine Therefore when we say essence is common and person proper it must be receiued with a graine of salt For the common nature is not distributed into parts as into persons but as common to all so it is one individuall and singular essence in them all and that receiued of each person without parts or passions for matter is the ground of both and where that is wanting they are not to bee found I stay the longer vpon these Negatiues because we re not loosely lightly to slide over the things of God as if they were vulgar and triviall like our owne Thus farre you haue seene God out of the rode and reach of the efficient and matter see him now voyd of forme and end for in them likewise consists power to be The forme in going and comming is the cause of all generation and corruption God therefore being without it is incorruptible and therefore a God immortall and everlasting Psal 102.26.27 Iam. 1.17.1 Tim. 1.17 A choice and refined peece of high Quintessence of wit is that of Papists in their breaden god which yet never Church could distill out of her braines or aspire vnto besides their owne What generation and corruption doe they make of the everlasting bread of heauen Here perhaps might wee finde stuffe enough I will not say to lade an Argosie but to over lade any mans wit in the world to reply vnto It shall suffice vs to thinke of God as God and man as man Christ in heaven and Christ in the Sacrament Now if wee adde further without both matter and forme together then is God neither the whole nor the member of any thing or any wayes to be distributed or defined I meane with perfect definition because he hath no essence diverse from himselfe and therefore the definition and that which it defines are all one so that in God Thees and Theiotees God and the God-head are all one
our proceedings hauing learned by experience the wisedome and holinesse of our God It is for them to murmure and mutter that either know not God or know him displeased with them Alas foolish wormes what doe wee turning againe when hee â—eads vpon vs If we be his why pine we at that which is good for vs yea best for that must ever bee best to vs which he seeth best and that he sees best which he sendeth His will is the rule of his actions and his goodnesse of his will It is therefore our dutie to submit vnto him in all things If he strike the rod must be kissed in silence and glory giuen to the hand that rules it It is no small part of his rare vertues to worke our good by affliction and therefore wee may be incouraged to rest vpon him in all estates Q. What followes from hence A. Gods most absolute happinesse both in action and contemplation Whereby he is freed from all evill abounding with all good sufficiently contenting himselfe with himselfe and no wayes standing in need of any other 1. Tim. 1.11 and 6.15.1 Ioh. 1.5 Psal 16.2 vnd 50.7 to 14. Hag. 2.8 Behold now yee ambitious spirits how ye may truely rise to more then ever the sonnes of Zebedee desired to aspire vnto Waiting is the way to raigning serue him which is thus happy though without apparent wages he will pay sure if slow Liue well and thou mayest liue in expectation as those which after some terme of their cottage expired are assured they shall haue a marble palace built for them O let vs thinke that the dayes and moneths passe slowly away till then ever looking vp to him that is the finisher of our faith and remembring that for the new heavens our hearts must be made new before hand Let worldlings like a company of idle boyes scramble for the figges of this life it is for wise men to take them if they fall in their bosomes whose maine care is to be found acceptable in the day of the Lord. Worldly vanities which are alwayes ther owne cut-throats by their owne crossing and contrarietie are to be abandoned of Christians who casting away all weake diffidences know how to trust God with his owne Waite thou on the Lord and keepe his way and he shall exalt thee Psal 37.34 It is he that will fulfill all the good pleasure of his goodnesse and the worke of faith with power 2. Thess 1.11 O that hee would purge out of our minds and memories that ambition and vanitie which so bewitches them with the loue of pompes and glories of this perishing and ending world which in the breathing of a breath wee may loath loose leaue and despise as nothing and would graffe in them a pure and single eye to behold the eternall blisse which seene breedeth loue and loued conducts vs to heaven Here to as high a tide as wee shall rise in our desires of wealth and well-fare to as low an ebbe shall we fall in our hopes thereof Seeing then we looke for better things in the heavens let vs be diligent that we may be found of him in peace without spot and blamelesse 2. Pet. 3.14 Doe wee beleeue that all things shall be made new and our hearts onely remaine olde As if our blessed God intended nothing but our soules to be out of fashion Be assured that as no man puts new wine into olde vessels no more will God put the new wine of his glory into the olde veslels of our corruption Looke wee therefore to him that hath sayd he will giue vs new hearts Ezek. 11.19 And remember that all our glory begins in grace and that God will haue none to dwell with him in happinesse that will not vouchsafe him to dwell with them in holinesse Roote out deare God all gall and acerbitie amongst brethren and bend their hearts to charitie that being re-vnited in the pilgrimage of this life this country of our terrestriall bodies wee may after our service and course therein accomplished ascend vnder the conduct of our Sauiour before ascended to our everlasting rest in the countrey of our celestiall Soules there in societie and vnitie of Saints and Angels to enioy the happy vision of the all-glorious Deitie and to sing his prayse for ever CHAPTER VIII Of the Subsistences or three Persons Question HItherto of the essence what are the Subsistences Answere That one most pure essence with the relatiue properties Relation addes nothing to the divine essence but respect or mutuall affection God with the relation of begetting is the Father of begotten the Sonne of proceeding the Spirit One and the same essence hath all these respects but peradventure wee haue mis-taken our Cue for there is not so much in the divine essence as any inherent qualitie I answere I marvaile so learned a disputer should moote no better Qualitie and relation are distinct predicaments Wisedome and father-hood in the same man are not two qualities for the one because a qualitie is some thing in it selfe but the other because a relatiue is nothing without another A father is nothing without a sonne neither is the sonne in being without a father They are mutuall beings And yet one being may be mutually many of them as one and the selfe same man may be a father a master and a subiect so one pure God may be a father sonne and holy Ghost 1. Ioh. 5.7 Wee call them Subsistences because by their singular individuall and personall properties they subsist in one and the same essence Could we now but through a crevis or lettice see those things which the eye of faith seeth here with open face how would wee loath all Epicurisme and Atheisme in comparison of our Baptisme in the name of these three worthies Had we but tasted with the tip of our tongues these dainties we would pray with Dauid even against the worlds delicates Psal 141.4 Here shall wee not haue our liues composed of ieiune and emptie contemplations but so full of contentment that wee shall need to wish no other measure of pleasure then to be wholly taken vp with this divine taske Here is the exaltation of Isaacs delight in walking forth into the pleasant fields of sacred meditations on the blessed Trinitie O let our Soules haue two or three walkes a day vpon this mount Taber and with holy Moses conuerse with one God in three persons on the Horeb of both Testaments till wee haue found out vnto our selues the pure law of life As these three exhibite it vnto vs. And if the one brest let not downe this nourishing liquor so freely so easily as our strength will beare it then may we refresh our selues with the other and by such a small varietie wee shall finde them yeelde milke equally wholesome equally pleasant to vs weake Infants and nurselings If mount Sinai covered with darkenesse tremble the father being offended the Gospell calmes and lightens it presently the sonne hauing satisfied Ioh. 17.3
which is a kind of feeling for both must haue their obiects present Now it is made by the passing down of the sensitiue spirit from the brain to the tongue c. Sight is made by conveiance of sensitiue spirits to the eyes where they are met with the light without that first comes to the watery humor which is as lead to a looking glasse that stayes the light then it comes to the glassie humor and there is gathered together then it comes to the crystaline or clearest humor and is carried vp vnto the braine by the sensitiue spirit that meetes it Hence Hippocrates saies that these sensitiue Spirits are a drie brightnesse and that is because fire is here predominant as wee may see by a blow vpon the eye the Spirits redoubled are made visible as fire Those that haue the brightest eyes as Catts c. see better in darkenesse then other creatures and worse in the light because the greater light darkens the lesser Hearing is a fourth sense and meets with the noyse in the eares there it centers for noyse is made by a circle in the ayre not much vnlike vnto that which wee see in the water when wee cast a stone into it Hence it comes to passe as many as stand within the circle or circumference of the sound made in the ayre heare it and the reason is because any point or center within the circle of the sound is potentially in euery part of it one point is enough to bring it to our eares yet we cannot see so for when we but looke at a thing that is round wee cannot see it all at once But I must not play the Phylosopher too much it is my desire that God for his workes may haue the due glory Smelling is the last sense and serues wonderfully to refresh the braine The inward senses that looke through these outward are fancie cogitation and memory and they are a little resemblance of reason which comes in the last place For fancie hath in it a kind of invention cogitation of iudgement and memory of methode And this is the sensatiue life wherein God shewes his owne act more eminently Q. How many sorts of creatures liue by sense A. Two either such as liue by it onely or haue beside all these a reasonable life This onely passeth Elements both formall and materiall yet the finest Spirits serue to knit it with the rest and so wee handle that life amongst Elementaries otherwise it is angelicall and purely of nothing by the power of the Creator Q. How many kinds haue we of the first life A. Either fishes and foules or beasts All which were made according to their kinds and were mightily to increase through Gods blessing and to fill their places with daily of-spring Q. What is the creation of the fishes A. Whereby the Lord caused the waters to bring them forth in abundance wherein also they increase and multiplie and replenish the waters Gen. 1.20.21.22 Iob 40.20 41.1 Q. What is the creation of the fowles A. Whereby he made them to flie in the ayre and to multiplie vpon the earth Gen. 1.20 Q. When were the fish and fowle made A. In the sift day or 24. houres Gen 1.23 These were more imperfect then the beasts of the field and therefore conclude a dayes worke by themselues God willing vs to take notice how exact he was in ascending vp to mans perfection Q. What is the creation of the beasts A. Whereby he caused the earth to bring them forth after their kinds and they are either walkers or creepers walkers cattell and beasts that is wild and tame creatures Gen. 1.24.25 Thus God formed and filled that first matter and prepared it as an habitation for man who though hee came naked out of the wombe of the earth was even then so rich that all things were his heaven was his roofe earth his floare the Sea his pond the Sunne Moone his torches all creatures his vassalls They that looke into some great Pond may see the bankes full though they see not the severall springs whence the water riseth so wee may eye the world but can never come to see the excellencie of it much more of the maker himselfe Kings erect not cottages but set forth their magnificence in sumptuous buildings so God hath made a world to shew his admirable glory And if the lowest pauement of that third heaven be so glorious what shall wee finde within Who would thinke that all these should be made for one and that one well-neere the least of all Sure I am the last with him therefore let vs conclude this worke of Creation CHAPTER XV. Of Mans Creation Question VVHat is the creation of things with a reasonable life Answere Whereby he made them of a body and soule immortall Gen. 1.26 Other creatures were made by a simple command Man not without a divine consultation Others at once Man he did first forme then inspire others in severall shapes like to none but themselues Man after his owne image others with qualities fit for seruice Man for dominion His bodie and soule are both immortall for death is an enemie 1. Cor. 15.26 And therefore no consequent of nature but a companion of sinne yet this is true that euery elementary is corruptible and resoluble and so is the body of man being taken out of the dust but as it was made a companion of an immortall soule immediately made of nothing so is it fit that it should be aboue its own nature elevated to be one though not per vim contactus yet per vnionem personae immortall and eternall Almighty God after he had drawne the large and reall map of the world abridged it into this little table of Man as Dioptron Microcosmicum which alone consists of heaven and earth soule and body In his soule is the nature of Angels though not so extensiue and actiue as wee may see in a little and great man c. In his bodie are the foure elements the Meteors and Mineralls as may appeare both by vapours and fumes and spirits He liues the life of a Plant he hath the senses of beasts and aboue all the addition of reason His body is more exquisitely made then any other as may appeare by the nakednesse of it For others that are clothed with feathers and haires c. shew that they are fuller of excrements The Lord brought him vpon the stage fully prepared that he might be both an actor and a spectator He had a body with hands for action and an head for contemplation Q. How did God create him A. In his owne likenesse and image Gen. 1.26 Colos 3.10 And it is so called because man was furnished in euery point to resemble the wisedome holinesse and righteousnesse of God not onely in this frame and perfection of body and soule but also by his actions and government of the creatures and this was naturall vnto man The Papists thinke that this image was supernaturall
Hence Christ was not borne sinnefull because of the holy Ghosts separation not onely of the seed of Mary but likewise of Mary from Ioseph Mary her selfe could not be without sinne because propagated this is onely the priviledge of her sonne who of vnholy seed by the secret operation of the Spirit and separation of a part from the whole tooke that which was most pure and holy CHAPTER XXII Of Redemption Question HItherto of mans Apostasie what is mans Anastasie or returne to God againe Answ It is the ioyfull reduction or bringing of man againe into favour with God Rom. 5.8.9.10 1 Thess 5.9 Here we need not doubt vnder Christ without feare of premunire or offence to the crowne and dignitie of the iustice of God to affirme of faith in the merites of our Saviour that its Gods strong arme and power to the enliuing and sauing of euery soule So that now with a Non obstante we may looke vp to God in Christ and without the law of workes receiue a better estate by the Gospell then ever we inioyed Q. What are the parts of our rising againe A. Two Redemption and application Ioh. 3.14 There is a lifting vp of Christ on his Crosse and a beleeuing in him for life ver 16. Gods loue in giuing his sonne for vs and then application of him by the Spirit Q. What is Redemption A. A satisfaction made vnto the instice of God for man by a Redeemer Rom. 3.24.25.26 And here comes in the speciall worke of the second person thus farre wee haue gone with the Fathers worke both in Creation Providence and now in a speciall manner the Sonne doth manifest himselfe for the Father can goe no further without him How is it wrought A. By a Mediator who doth intercede betwixt God and man the Father is offended and cannot be reconciled without some mediation All was made vnholy when the first Adam sinned It is the second Adam that must rectifie all Moses the servant built the house with a partition wall in the midst Eph. 2.24 Christ the sonne pulled downe that Screene and cast all into one bringing both Iew and Gentile into favour with God The worke therefore is more properly a mediation then a redemption or a redemption by mediation 1 Tim. 2.5 Q. Who is the Mediator A. Iesus Christ both God and man who yesterday to day and for ever is the Saviour of mankinde They that were yesterday yea from the worlds beginning were saued by him alone so they that liue to day or shall come afterwards into the world doe all expect for salvation by him Heb. 13.8 He redeemes because we are captiues he mediates because there is a controversie betwixt God and vs and that continually because Gods wrath would ever be breaking forth except our Mediator stood in the gap for vs. Q. Why is Christ called Iesus A. Because the end of his mediation was to bring vs to saluation Moses brings the people into the wildernesse but Ioshna a type of Christ into Canaan Moses dies in the desert and sees not the promised land shewing plainely that the law can lead vs into desolation but Christ and the Gospell must bring vs out of it Zerubbabel a Captaine of Gods people and a type of the law carries them out of captivitie so the law when it sayth Doe and liue shewes plainely how man may be saued but Ioshua a priest or sacrificer must be ioyned with him or else in Canaan it selfe the people were to be cast out againe These were liuely types of Christ by whom alone wee are brought to heaven and confirmed in the happinesse of it Math. 1.21 1 Tim. 2.5.6 Q. Why Christ A. As Iesus is the proper name so this is the name of his office and it signifies his anointing Kings Priests and Prophets were all anointed as types of Christ to come Henee the name Messias in whom the materiall anointing ceaseth he receiued the thing signified by it aboue all his fellowes Psal 45.7 Luk. 4.18 Act. 4.27 and 10.38 Heb. 1.9 1 King 19.1 Lev. 8.12 1 King 19.16 Both the Testaments tell vs of Christ bequeathed and teach vs that hee was that Christ that is described in both hence in the old Testament we haue Priestly Princely and Propheticall Bookes so in the new the Gospels are regall shewing that Christ was that King of the Iewes The Epistles are more sacerdoticall beginning for the most part with prayers and supplications And the Revelation of Saint Iohn is meerely Propheticall And all these are necessary in Christ to make him a complete Saviour we stand in need of them all and of their daily exercise Q. Why should Christ be a Prophet A. That he might reveale vnto man the will of his Father and be the onely Doctor of the Church Luk. 4.18 Christ was anointed to preach the Gospell Deut. 18.15.18 Math. 21.11 Luk. 7.16 Q. Why a Priest A. That he might make a full ationement with the Father for man and reconcile vs daily vnto him both by his expiation and intercession Math. 20.28 Luk. 4.18 1 Ioh. 2.2 4.10 Psal 110.4 Zech. 6.13 Heb. 5.6 7.3 Q. Why a King A. That he might rule and governe them whom as a Prophet he had taught and as a Priest he had reconciled to his Father subduing his and their enemies and procuring them peace and prosperitie continually Psal 2.6 Math. 21.5 Rev. 17.14 19.16 Q. Why God and man A. That he might redeeme vs by paying a price sufficient as likewise being Mediator he might communicate with both natures which were by him to be reconciled that being inferior to his Father as touching his manhood and superior to man as touching his God-head he might the better bring both together againe Gal. 3.20 Phil. 2.6.7 1 Tim. 2.5 Heb. 8.6 and 9.15 and 12.24 Hence in Hebrew the name Immanuel and in Greeke Theanthroopos Isa 7.14 God-man or God with vs and in our flesh Q. What is here to be observed A. Two things The distinction of these two natures and their personall vnion Io. 1.1 The word was God v. 14 The word was made flesh Truely God truely man and yet but one Mediator Q. What is the distinction A. Whereby the two natures remaine distinct in him both in themselues and their properties Math. 28.20 Vbiquitie is proper to the divinitie of Christ and not his humanitie Ioh. 16.7 Absence proper to the humane nature 1 Tim. 3.16 God manifested in the flesh not confounded with it 1 Pet. 1.18 Dying and quickning are proper to the distinct natures of Christ Yet this we are to vnderstand that there is a tropicall communion of properties in regard of the whole wherein these parts are vnited as God dies that is he that is both God and man The people thought Christ did contradict himselfe and the Scriptures Ioh. 12.35 Messias abideth for ever and thou sayest he dieth c. Both these are true Messias liueth when he dieth and dyeth when he liueth There was never
beene the greatest Malefactor that ever was Math. 26.55 Q. What is the second degree A. His arraignment before the Ecclesiasticall and politicke Magistrate as if he had broken all lawes and deserued punishment at euery judgement seat And all this was done to shew vs what wretches wee were in Gods sight and how he should haue proceeded against vs who by meanes of his Sonne are pardoned that wee might never see our iust condemnation otherwise then wee see it acted in our Suretie he was posted from Caiaphas to Pilate from Pilate to Herod and backe againe from Herod to Pilate by whom he was both iustified and condemned God running along with the whole Tragedie and shewing plainely by Iudge Pilate that Christ was not to die for himselfe but for vs the iust suffering for the vniust Mat. 26.57 and 27. 2. Luk. 23.7.8 Math. 27.4.19.24 Q. What was the third degree A. The most miserable derision and whipping of him that ever was heard tell off he was to encounter both paine and scorne for vs. An ingenuous and noble nature can worse brooke this then the other any thing rather then disdainfulnesse imperious in sultation especially from so base enemies The Iewes the Souldiers yea the very theeues flouted and taunted him and triumph over his misery his blood cannot satisfie them without his reproch Math. 26.67.68 and 27.28.29.30.31 Oh that wee could imitate the Iewes in their custome concerning evill doers they had ever some malefactor brought forth to them in their great Feast which they dismissed with disgrace so it should bee the happiest peece of our triumph and solemnitie if wee could bring forth that wicked prophanenesse wherewith wee haue dishonoured God and blemisht his Gospell to be scourged and sent away with all holy indignitie See thy Sauiour scourged and beaten for thee and see if thou canst finde in thy heart to fauour or cheerish the least sinne Q. What is his crucifying A. After all these abuses he is put to the most accursed death of the Crosse a kind of punishment ioyntly with the other inflicted vpon none but such as were offenders in the highest degree and euery one was held most accursed that so died to shew that he suffered for offenders of the greatest staine and straine and so to beare our curse vpon him Phil. 2.8 Gal. 3.12.13 Deut. 21.23 Q. Did he suffer onely these outward afflictions A. He suffered these as iudgements for sinne therefore were they so much the more bitter and whiles he was on the crosse those three houres of darkenesse he was assayled with all the powers of darkenesse so that he felt in his soule and body vnvtterable anguishes even the effects or apprehension of the most feareful wrath of God so that it made him cry out My God my God c. and when that was over as hauing felt therein the most bitter paines of all his sufferings he said it was finished Math. 27.45.46 Ioh. 19.30 Q. What might this meane A. That he was for the time reputed as one separated from God which is the second death for as the first death is the reparation of the soule from the body the beginning of our naturall life so the second death is the separation of both body and soule from God the beginning of that spirituall life Isa 53.4.5.6.10 Christ was never a stranger to the life of God Eph. 4.18 and yet his Father did for a space seeme to estrange himselfe to his Sonne Oh beloued Saints of God let vs with that Disciple follow him a far off and passing over all his contemptuous vsage in the way see him thus brought to his Crosse and still the further wee looke the more wonders shall wee behold Euery thing addes to his ignominy of suffering and triumph of over-comming It was not done in a corner as Paul saith to Festus but in Ierusalem the eye the heart of the world and that without the gates in Calvary among the stinking bones of execrable Malefactors Before the glory of the place bred shame now the vilenesse of it Not a circumstance but argues the wonderfull humiliation of our Sauiour and still his paine and scorne increased till all was finished Q. Hitherto of his life what is his death A. The expiration and deliuering vp of his soule into the hands of his Father Math. 27.50 Luk. 23.46 Ioh. 19.30 When he had finished all and indured most exquisite torments he himselfe without all violence gaue vp the Ghost For he both cryed with a lowd voyce and bowed the head immediately before he yeelded his last breath whereas in mans death the spirits first faint and tyre and the head fals downe when they are expired but Christ being full of spirit able to hold vp his head bends the same downe-ward of his owne accord and then dies Oh yee sinners behold Christs head thus humbly bowed downe in a gracious respect to you his armes are stretched out louingly to embrace you yea his precious side is open to receiue you there is no more accusation iudgement death hell for you all these are no more to you then if they were not if yee can beleeue who shall condemne It is Christ which is dead Rom. 8.34 I know euery man is ready to reach forth his hand to this dole of grace and would be angry to be beaten from this doore of mercy surely there is no want in this Mossias looke that the want be not in thy selfe hee hath finished but thou beleeuest not thou repentest not all is in vaine to thee for all these thou maist be condemned What ever Christ is what art thou Here is the doubt Christ is a good shepherd and giues his life for his sheepe But what is this to thee that art secure prophane impenitent thou art a wolfe or a goat Christs sheepe heare his voyce but thou art a rebell to his law and therefore canst not hearken to his Gospell for mercie c. Q. What is his death to vs A. Christ was willingly content to indure the separation of his body and soule for a time which is the first death that hee might take away whatsoeuer is iudgement therein and sanctifie the same vnto vs. 1. Cor. 15.55.56.57 Wee were the authors of this death and our Saviour did alter it our disobedience made it bitter his mercy hath made it not to be evill vnto vs. Oh my Saviour how halt thou perfumed and softened this bed of my graue by dying How can it grieue mee to tread in thy steps to glory The worst peece of the horror of this death is the graue and that part which is corrupted feeles it not the other which is free from corruption feeles an abundant recompence and forefees a ioyfull reparation Wee carry heauen and earth wrapt vp in one compound it is but restitution when each part returnes homeward Q. What followed his death A. His buriall and abiding in the graue to the end that hee might sweeten the same for vs and whereas it was
3.16 The Prophet sheweth how his peace was wrought out of trouble Psal 126.5 Wee must sow in teares before wee can reape in ioy And wee care not if wee may haue a dry harvest after a wet seed time And thus farre haue wee shewed the preparation now let vs see the composition of grace Q. What is the infusion of faith A. It is a worke of the Spirit who infuseth faith into Infants immediately by his sole operation into men of riper yeares also by the externall ministery of the Word by which it receiueth further increase and augmentation for the word 1 Pet. 1.23 and 2.2 is both seed and food that as it serues to beget faith so it nourisheth the same Luk. 1.44 The babe leaped in the wombe of Elizabeth for ioy This motion was not naturall but spirituall and therefore Iohn was sanctified in his mothers wombe and did really reioyce at the presence of Christ in the Virgin Now sanctification presupposeth iustification and iustification faith yea this ioy was a true effect of faith in the Messias And therefore Infants are capable of faith and may be saued though they die in their mothers wombe As for the others faith it is out of doubt Rom. 10.17 Eph. 2.18.19 And here we are to take notice where that faith which is the first part of Divinitie is wrought in vs to wit in the application of the Spirit after preparation Faith in the rule is generall particular to euery one in the application Furthermore faith wrought by the Word hath two degrees the first is as a graine of mustard seed the second a Plerophorie or full perswasion Wee are at our first but as reeds feeble plants tossed and bowed with euery wind and with much agitation bruised loe yet we are in tender hands that never brake any whom their sinnes bruised never bruised any whom temptations haue bowed Wee are but flax and our best is not a flame but an obscure smoake of grace loe yet here is the Spirit as a soft winde not as cold water he will kindle never quench our little faith others are better growne and stand like strong Oakes vnshaken vnremoued Luk. 13.19 and 17.6 Rom. 4.18.19.20.21 Q. What followes from hence A. Either the insition grafting and sciencing of the prepared into Christ or else his vnion and coalition with Christ First the Spirit infuseth faith by that faith we are put into Christ being put into Christ we haue vnion and communion with him and by receiuing vertue from his fulnesse wee grow vp with him Ioh. 15.2.5 The branch abiding in Christ bringeth forth fruit Not such as are tyed to Christ by an outward threed of profession but such as haue this vitall ligament of faith to couple them with Christ Q. What is this insition A. When being cut off from the wild Oliue the Spirit of God by faith graffeth and scienceth vs into the true Oliue which is the Lord Christ If wee were left as we are cut off by the law wee should wither away and perish and therefore we are set in Christ that in him wee may grow Rom. 6.5 Wee are said to be planted into his life and death Q. How are wee put into Christ A. By our effectuall vocation when the voyce of God soundeth in our eares and in our hearts come and we answere againe as by a liuely Echo Lord we come Hence it is that all such as are prepared by the law are called by the Gospell to come vnto Christ Psal 40.7 Isa 55.1 Math. 11.28 Rom. 8.28 2 Tim. 2.9 Q. What are the degrees of our effectuall vocation A. First a meditation of the mercies of God in Christ and from hence that our sinnes are pardonable and that we haue need of the same mercy then of the meanes how wee may obtaine the same as deepe sighs to God for mercy 2 Sam. 12.13 Psal 52.5 Rom. 8.26 Heb. 4.16 Often praying by our selues and others Hos 14.2.3 Luk. 15.21 Act. 8.22 As also diligent hearing of the word of God read and preached and often frequenting of the Ministers and others for comfort All these further the meditations of the mercies of God to sinners The second degree is Gods gracious perforation or boaring of our eares that the comfortable invitation of comming to Christ the onely Physitian of our Soules may sound and ring in our eares and hearts Zech. 13.9 and wee resound againe we come Lord at thy call and so comming it pleaseth the Father to bestow his Sonne on vs and vs againe vpon his Sonne Psal 27.8 Isa 9.6 Ioh. 10.29 and 17.2.7 Rom. 8.37 And thus sanctified trouble at the last establisheth our peace and the shaking of the former windes makes the trees of Gods Eden take the deeper rooting Surely after the most toylesome labour is the sweetest sleepe and after the greatest tempestes the stillest calmes It is the blessed Lambe of God that carries all our sinnes into a wildernes of oblivion quite out of the remembrance of his Father And if Devils rend and rage in our Soules he presently by a word of his mouth can cast them out Never did Ionas so whist the waues of the Sea being cast into it as Christ cures the wounds of conscience being thereunto applied Here all our throbbing sores receiue their ease by breaking and even Sinai it selfe covered with clouds of Gods displeasure presently by his Gospell of peace is enlightened and the trembling Soule that stands at the foote of it comforted Thus it pleaseth the Father from Ebal the mount of curses to bring vs to Gerizzim the mount of blessings Deut. 27.12.13 And this wee shall finde most true that as in the Sea the lower the ebbe the higher the tide so the deeper we descend in humiliation the higher shall wee ascend in consolation c. Q. What is our vnion with Christ A. It is that whereby wee being graffed into Christ are made one with Christ our head and the Church his body There is no science put into a stocke but if it shall thriue it must first be vnited and become one with the stocke and then grow with it so it is with vs branches of the wilde Oliue wee must become one with Christ if wee desire to thriue in him Ioh. 17.21 with Ioh. 15.1.2 Eph. 2.20.22 and 5.30 Colos 2.7 Isa 61.3 Loe here is a growing temple in which whosoever is planted shall flourish in the Courts of God Psal 92.13 Gods house and the furniture thereof is built of greene growing timber Our bed is greene of liuing stones Cant. 1.16 1 Pet. 2.5 A spirituall house not onely inhabited but animated that shee may be the house of the liuing God 1 Tim. 3.15 Q. What followes from hence A. Our iustification Papists count it absurd for one man to be iust by another mans iustice or wise by another mans wisedome wherein they shew their grosse ignorance in this point of Divinitie for Christ and man being one haue all things in common our sinnes and punishments are