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A00601 A second parallel together with a vvrit of error sued against the appealer. Featley, Daniel, 1582-1645. 1626 (1626) STC 10737; ESTC S101878 92,465 302

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that I might be graft in through infidelity they were broken off and thou standest by faith be not high minded but y feare Bert. pag. 33. I frame the fourth demonstration from the feare of the Saints Iohn 15. 6. If a man abide not in me he is cast z forth as a branch and withereth and men gather them and cast them into the fire APPEALER ANswer to Gag pag. 160. Matth. 24. 12. Because iniquitie shall abound the charity of many shall grow cold Surely it was hot that groweth cold and charitie enlarged is not but the fruit of a liuing faith which if it continued in statu quo the charity of many could not x wax cold therefore once had may bee lost Againe Rom. 11. 20. 21. Thou standest by faith bee not high minded but y feare and feare is not but where change may be Here change may be or why doth it follow Take heed lest he also spare not thee Ibid. pag. 160. Ioh. 15.2 Euery branch that beareth not fruit in me he taketh z away x To the place of Matth. 24. 12. we answer First that the loue of many may wax cold yet will it not thereupon follow that the loue of the regenerate and true beleeuers waxeth cold for the regenerate and true beleeuers are not meant by those Many True charitie is a fruit of faith and such as the faith is such is the charitie If it be a temporary faith the charity proceeding from it is but temporary and being so may not only wax cold but also be vtterly extinguished The root being rotten the fruit falls of it selfe But if the root of faith be sound charitie will neuer decay but abound more and more till the childe of God be filled with the fruits of righteousnesse Philip. 1. 9 11. Secondly the consequence is not good from a remission of some degree of charitie to the amission of the habit of it The Apostles themselues as they were not so strong in their faith so neither so hot in their loue toward our Sauiour at his Passion as before Their faith was shaken in that fearfull storme of temptation their confidence was small or none in appearance in their owne sense for in saying we trusted it had beene hee that should haue redeemed Israel Luke 24. they imply that his death had loosned the Anker of their hope and that both their heart and faith failed them for the time their loue also waxed cold if not freezed when they fled from him and forsooke him Yet no learned Diuine euer affirmed that their loue to our Sauiour was quite lost for as he loued them so they loued him to the end Thirdly this argument may be retorted against the Aduersaries thus If Christ doth here put a difference betweene those that are truly faithfull and hypocrites in this that the one Hypocrites to wit should in the latter dayes and perillous times be offended deceiued wax cold in charity but the other the truly faithfull should continue to the end then this place maketh not for but against the totall or finall falling away of true beleeuers But Christ in this place puts a difference between those that are truly faithfull and hypocrites in this that the one Hypocrites to wit should in the latter daies and perillous times be offended deceiued and wax cold in charity vers 10 11 12. but the other the truly faithfull should continue to the end vers 13. Therefore this place maketh not for but against the total or finall falling away of true beleeuers y To the place alledged Rom. 11. 19 20. we answer First that it is not meant of particular beleeuers and their danger of falling away from iustifying faith but of the people of the Gentiles in generall and their danger of being cut off from the true Oliue into which they were ingrafted that is from the outward profession of faith and communion of the Catholique Church into which they were admitted vpon the reiection of the Iewes The Gentiles therefore ought not to be high-minded against the Iewes but feare lest God who spared not the naturall branches should not spare them but cut them off also as he did the naturall branches if they should grow proud and presumptuously secure Now there is no question but that a Visible Church which at this time professeth the truth and is a member of the Catholike Church may fall away from the outward and publike profession of faith and cease to be a part of the Catholike visible Church as the most famous sometimes flourishing Churches of Greece and Asia planted by the Apostles themselues now ouer-run with Mahometanisme Idolatry and Heresie proue by their lamentable Apostasie and deplorate if not desperate estate But Bertius and the Appealer should haue had their eyes vpon the marke and point in question which is not of the doctrine of faith but the habit of faith not de fide quam credimus but de fide qua credimus not of the publique profession of a Church but of a particular affiance of euery true beleeuer in Christ. A member of the visible Church may be cut off but no member of the inuisible for Christ cannot haue damnata membra any members who shall not be saued as the Approuer of the Appealers booke rightly gathereth out of Saint Augustine in his Reply to Fisher. A Church or Kingdome generally may depart from the Christian faith or renounce the pure profession thereof in publique and yet no true beleeuer either totally or finally lose his faith but either secretly in that State or Kingdome or else-where openly he may retaine both faith it selfe and the profession thereof Secondly Gods threatnings haue their vse both in the Elect and Reprobate to make the one vnexcusable or to keepe them within some bounds of moderation and to keepe the other in an awfull reuerence filiall feare and spirituall watchfulnesse which are meanes of Perseuerance no arguments of Apostasie Feare is not but where a change may be to wit feare of a change but there may be a feare of offending God through high-mindednesse and presumption as was in the Apostles and is in all the Elect yet no change of their estate of grace could or can be by the confession of Arminius himselfe and the learned'st of all our Aduersaries Thirdly as the faithful ought to feare so they also might and de facto would fall away not only totally but finally if they were left to themselues and therefore in regard of the frailtie of their nature and mutabilitie of their owne will they haue iust cause to feare and doe still feare in themselues yet are still confident in God who is faithfull and will establish them and keepe them from euill 2 Thess. 3. 3. and shall confirme them vnto the end that they may be blamelesse in the day of our Lord Iesus Christ 1 Cor. 1. 8. Lastly this Obiection may be retorted against the Aduersarie thus That feare which God promiseth to put into the hearts
of true beleeuers to this end that they may not fall away from him is a certaine meanes to preserue true beleeuers in the faith else God should faile in his end But the feare here enioyned is that feare which God promiseth to put into the hearts of true beleeuers to this end that they may not fall away from him Ierem. 22. 40. Therefore the feare here inioyned is a certaine meanes to preserue true beleeuers in the faith and consequently a strong argument for the perseuerance of Saints in faith and grace as it is vrged by Saint Augustine in his booke de Perseuer Sanctorum cap. 2. I will put my feare in their hearts that they shall not depart from me What is it else then to say the feare shall be such and so great that they shall for euer cleaue vnto me z To the places alledged Iohn 15. 2 5. we answer First there is a double insition or ingraffing into Christ externall when a man is made a member of the visible Church by the hearing of the Word and participation of the Sacraments internall when a man by sanctifying grace and sauing faith is made a member of the inuisible Church They who haue the outward insition only into the true Vine Christ Iesus may be cut off but they which haue the inward as well as the outward insition cannot be cut off and wither as a branch for Non est corpus Christi reuerâ quod non er it in aeternum That is not Christs true body which shall not abide for euer neither by the like reason is that a true branch which abideth not for euer in the Vine August de Doct. Chri. lib. 3. cap. 32. Which reason of S. Augustine is confirmed by Saint Gregory in his description of the Church in his Comment on the Canticles Christus sanctam Ecclesiam de sanctis in aeternum permansuris extruxit Christ hath built his Church of Saints which shall for euer perseuere Secondly as there is a double insition into Christ so there is a double profession of faith a naked and bare profession without practise of a holy life or fruit of good workes or a profession ioyned with practise a faith working through loue bringing forth the fruits of the Spirit By the barren branches cut off and withered Theophylact on these words alledged vnderstandeth those who make a naked and bare profession Saint Cyril in his tenth booke vpon Iohn Those who haue faith without loue and good works such a faith S. Iames in his second Chap. calls a dead faith but the faith by which the iust man liueth is a liuing faith working by loue Galat. 5. 6. and bringing forth fruit with patience Luke 8. 15. Thirdly the words in me Iob. 15. 2. may be either referred to the word Vine and the meaning is euery branch existent or ingraffed in me that beareth no fruit but leaues only of a bare profession shall be taken away or the words in me may be referred to bearing of fruit and the meaning is euery professour of Religion or member of any Congregation that beleeueth not in me and beareth not fruit in me to wit the fruits of the Gospell by my grace shall be cast forth as a dead branch and wither for as it is in the fift verse Hee that abideth in mee and I in him the same bringeth forth fruit for without me yee can doe nothing If the words be taken in the former sense they are meant of Hypocrites within the Church if in the latter of Iewes or Pagans without the Church who beare fruit that is doe morally good workes or doe by nature the things contained in the Law Rom. 2. 14. but because they doe not these things in faith their good workes are no better than splendida peccata sins hauing a luster or shew of vertue as Saint Augustine Take the words in either sense they belong not to regenerate persons and true beleeuers who are so ingraffed into Christ that they abide in him by faith and beare fruit in him through faith Lastly this Obiection may be retorted against the Aduersarie thus No branch that beareth fruit in Christ shall be taken away but purged that it may bring forth more fruit as it followeth in the second verse vrged by the Aduersarie But euery true beleeuer is a branch that beareth fruit in Christ Matth. 13. 23. Rom 6. 22. Therefore no true beleeuer shall be taken away but purged that he may bring forth more fruit ARMINIANS BERTIVS pag. 26. Beleeuers may make shipwrake of faith 1 Tim. 1. 19. some hauing put away a good cōscience cōcerning a faith haue made shipwracke Ibid. 1 Tim. 4. 1. In the latter times some shall depart from the a faith giuing heed to seducing spirits APPEALER APPEALE pag. 160. 1 Tim. 1. 19. Holding faith and a good conscience which some hauing put away cōcerning a faith haue made shipwracke Ibid. Nor was it onely for those times but foretold of succeeding ages 1 Tim. 4. 1. In the latter daies some shall depart from the a faith a To the places alledged out of Timothy wee answer First that they are fully answered by the distinction aboue mentioned ad literam y namely of a two-fold signification of the word faith which is sometimes taken for the saith which we beleeue that is the word of faith or doctrine of the Gospell as Galath 1. 23. Now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed Rom. 10. 8. This is the word of faith which we preach the hearing of faith Galat. 3. 2. A great company of the Priests were obedient to the faith Act. 6. 7. And in this sense Oecumenius taketh the word faith in the first place aboue alledged 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by faith I vnderstand faith in doctrine by conscience a godly conuersation or a good life And that it is to be so taken in the latter place it is euident by the words following 1 Tim. 4. 1. Giuing heed to seducing spirits and doctrine of deuils Faith opposed to error and doctrine of deuils is the true doctrine of faith which we beleeue and preach Sometimes the word faith is taken in Scripture for the faith by which we beleeue that is the inward grace or habit of faith as Rom. 3. 28. Iustified by faith without the deeds of the Law And Rom. 4. 5. His faith is counted for righteousnesse Rom. 5. 1. Being iustified by faith we haue peace with God This distinction is not new coyned by nouelizing Puritans but stamped by the ancient Fathers and goes for current among the Schoole-men Saint Augustine in his thirteenth booke of the Trinity chap. 2. deliuers it in these very termes There is a difference betweene the faith quae creditur and quâ creditur And Lombard lib. 3. distinct 23. taketh the same from Saint Augustine saying Fides est interdumid quod credimus interdum estid quo credimus Secondly we answer that as there is a temporary faith so there may be a good conscience for