come from the dead that hath made proofe of this way and life and would speake of his own experience would we heare Behold Paul slaine by the Law reuiued by the Gospell what doe wee thinke of him Did he not from the time of his conuersion to the time of his dissolution enioy a constant tenour of ioy liue if euer any comfortably happily And doth not hee tell vs euen while he liued in the flesh that he liued by the Faith of our Lord Iesus Christ. Surely he must needs be blessed that liueth by the same faith with Bloffed Paul Come therefore you which desire to see good dayes and lay holde on the waies of life Beleeue and liue CHAP. II. Christ the Fountaine and Faith the meane of Life WHat then Commit we sacriledge against Christ in deifying of Faith Rob we the Lord to adorne the seruant with his diuine honours God forbid Let that be giuen to Christ which is Christs and that to Faith which is Faiths Let the power of life and death be intirely reserued euer ascribed to the Lord of life the well of life the light and life of the World the breath of our nosthrils the life of our liues Thy body oh man hath it soule which enliues it and so hath thy soule its soule whereby it liues and that is Christ the quickning spirit Take away the soule from the body and earth becomes earth seuer Christ and the soule what is it but a dead carrion Elementary bodies lighten and darken coole and warme die and reuiue as the Sunne presents or absents it selfe from them Christ is to our soules the Sunne of righteousnesse Sin parts vs Faith reunites vs And so wee liue primarily and properly by Christ as by the soule by Faith secondarily as by the spirits the bond of soule and body by a personall and speciall faith appropriating Christ to the beleeuer as the leg or arme liues by proper sinews arteries and nerues vniting it to the liuer heart and head such an one as Paul had in Christ that dyed for him whereby hee ingrosseth the common God to himselfe as if his and no bodies else Thus saith hee himselfe that is the Truth and the Life I am the Life and Resurrection of the World hee that beleeueth in mee though hee be dead yet shall he liue and not die And this is the testimony of those three heauenly and earthly witnesses God gaue life to the Sonne And he that hath the Sonne hath Life And he that hath Faith hath the Son So that whateuer we lend to Faith it redoundes to the honor of Christ neither haue we any sinister intent to praise the wombe or the paps of Faith but to cast all vpon Christ who giues and works this Faith in vs vivisies and nourishes it yea iustifies the imperfection thereof by the perfection of his merit Nay let Faith knowe that if shee should waxe arrogant towards her Lord or insolent ouer her fellow seruants she should Lucifer-like fall from her dignity and in so doing of the best of graces become the worst of vices Verily what hath the habite of Faith in it selfe considered better or equall with loue Is it not a poorer and meaner Act to beleeue then to loue more like a beggarly receiuing then a working and deseruing hand Haile then oh Faith freely graced graciously exalted aboue all Christs Handmaides Thy Lord hath looked vpon thy meane estate because that hauing nothing of thine owne as other Vertues haue whence thou mightest take occasion to reioyce thou mightest the better exclude that hatefull Law of boasting the more humbly and frankely reflect all vpon thy Lord who willingly emptied himselfe that he might fill thee with honour whiles hee sayes to the cured of the Palsey Goe thy way thy Faith hath saued thee Hence forth cals hee thee no more seruant or friend but stiles thee as Adam his Spouse Chauah the Mother of all Liuing Counts it no iniurie to diuide his praises with thee likes it well that thou which doest nothing but by him shouldest bee said to doe all things which he doth To purifie the heart to ouer come the world to saue men c. And è contra hee to doe nothing without thee which yet does all of himselfe Hee could worke no Miracles in Capernaum because they had no Faith So glorious and wonderfull things are spoken of thee I had almost said so omnipotent is thy strength which hast said to the Sunne and Moone Stand yee still yea if but as big as the least graine canst say to the greatest Mountaines Remoue What can God doe which Faith cannot doe if requisite to bee done Questionlesse Iustifying Faith is not beneath miraculous in the sphere of it owne actiuitie and where it hath the warrant of Gods Word It 's not a lesser power then these to say Thy Sinnes are forgiuen thee thy person is accepted of God what-euer thou askest thou shalt haue c. Wherefore we need not doubt vnder Christ without feare of Praemunire or offence to his Crowne and Dignity to affirme of Faith That it is Gods arme and power to the enliuing and sauing of euery beleeuer as it is written The Iust shall liue by Faith CHAP. III. The third kinde of the Life of Faith BVt least wee seeme to speake swelling thinges whiles we soare in the Cloud of generalities let vs descend to some solide particulars Three thinges there are whence commeth Death to the Soule of Man Sinne with the guilt thereof giues the first deadly blow exposing it to the wrath of God who is a Consuming fire whose anger is the messenger of Death whence came the first Thunderbolt striking thorough the Soule that sentence of God to Adam Thou shalt dye And such as Nathans to Dauid Thou hast sinned and art the childe of Death The second is the spott and corruption of sinne deprauing yea deading all the faculties of man to spirituall actions which made Paul cry out That which I would doe I doe not And wretched man that I am who shall deliuer me from this body of Death Thirdly that swarme of plagues and army of punishments in the re-reward wherof comes first a second death All which made Iob cry out Why is light giuen to him that is in misery and life vnto the bitter in soule which long for death more then for treasures and ioy when they can finde the graue Were it not for these three man might liue fare and doe well but sin hauing entred into the World brought in Death with it which reigneth and triumpheth ouer the sonnes of Adam with this three-forked Scepter of Guilt of Corruption of Punishment Here comes in Faith with a three fould Antidote brings vs to the Tree of Life whose fruit and whose leaues heale vs of the sting and deadly poyson of Sinne working in vs a three-fold life opposite to the forenamed deaths The first is the life of righteousnesse discharging vs
a sword souldier like by the side and not to draw it forth vpon an assault when a dump ouer-takes thee if thou wouldest say to thy soule in a word or two Soule why art thou disquieted know and consider in whom thou beleeuest would it not presently returne to it rest againe would not the Master rebuke the Windes and Stormes and calme thy minde presently Hath not euery man something or other wherewithall hee vseth to put away dumps to driue away the ill spirit as Dauid with his Harp some with merry company some with a cup of sack most with a pipe of Tobacco without which they scarce ride or goe if they misse it a day together they are troubled with rhumes dulnesse of spirits they that liue in Fennes and ill ayres dare not stirre out without a morning draught of some strong liquor Poore silly smoaky helps in comparison of the least taste but for dishonouring of Faith I would say whiffe or draught of Faith Oh! that wise Christians would as often take the one as idle Guls doe the other would not the drawing in of sweete ayer from the pretious promises breede excellent blood and cheerely spirits It is a mystery in bodily health that to keepe the arteries and the nosthrils veines and other passages to the head heart and liuer cleere and free from colds and obstructions maintaines a healthfull and cheerefull temper The Pipe of Faith is the same to the soule Hee that is Astmaticall narrow breathed or straight breasted in his Faith cannot bee but lumpish and melancholly Wherefore as thou louest thy mirth aboue all other tend this vitall artery aboue all keepings keepe thy Faith and it will keepe thy ioy It will keepe it an euen euerflowing current without ebbe and flowe clouds and eclipses turning euer vpon the hinges of heauenly and solid mirth And indeed how or why should it be otherwise Doe not Christians consider how vnseemely it is for them to goe drooping hanging the head Is any so simple to think because hee is a Christian that hee should affect a sad carriage a deiected look a demure countenance like an image Away with such Monkish hypocrisie How doth it become the Righteous to reioyce Do they not consider how they wrong themselues of the maine benefit of their Iustification what is a Christian but his mirth wherein doth the kingdom of Heauen consist but in Ioy Doe they not see how they offend standers by and beholders Is not heauinesse a check that driues away and mirth as a lure that wins to the liking of their profession Men wonder to see a rich man that hath the world at will all things at hearts desire to be but in a fit of heauinesse What say they should hee ayle The Irish aske such what they meane to die but I wonder a thousand times more to see one that hath Christ to friend that beleeues God to be his shepheard that knowes all must worke for the best to bee at any time out of tune or out of sorts For a Nâ—abal to be all a mort like a stone it is no newes to me but to see Nehemiahs countenance changed there must needs be some extraordinary cause should such a man as he feare or carke or grieue What if it doe not yet appeare what thou shalt bee Is a yong Ward prouder and gladder in his minority of an vncertaine reuersion then a yeoman of his present estate And is not Faith an Hypostasis and euidence to thee of an infallible inheritance Canst thou bee sad which mayest say not to thy belly but to thy soule Thou hast not many goods but fulnesse of all treasures layd vp not in the earth where moath and canker and theeues may come but in heauenly places out of the Deuils reach and that not for many yeares but for euer and euer neuer to bee taken from thy soule nor thy soule from them Oh thou vaine man shew mee thy Faith by thy ioy if thou liuest dumpishly and yet say thou liuest by Faith I wil as soone beleeue thee as him that shall say hee hath the Phylosophers stone and liues like a beggar If it were euer well with thy Faith could it euer bee amisse with thee should not the temper of thy body follow the temper of thy soule and the temper of thy soule the temper of thy Faith The body may incline thy soule but the soule commands the body and Faith is the Lord of them both According to thy Faith so be it vnto thee so will it be with thee Vse thy Faith and haue ioy encrease thy Faith encrease thy ioy CHAP. VIII The vse of Faith to a growne Christian. NAy Christian now I haue gotten thee hither I must draw thee yet a pegge higher and tel thee it is a small thing for thee to come to an ordinary pitch of cheerefulnesse except thy ioyes exceedes the mirth of a worldling yea of a professed Epicure in the qualitie and quantitie of it If thy mirth bee not a sweeter and more rauishing mirth of an higher kinde of a more pure defecate nature of a more constant tenure then any Carnall man what euer thou disparagest Faith thou art very little and yong in the Kingdome of Heauen which consists not in meates and drinkes but in ioy vnspeakeable and glorious in the ioy of the Holy Ghost And must not that needes bee another manner of ioy then euer entred into the heart of a naturall man then euer a Sardanapalus tasted of Yes vndoubtedly So must bee construed that text 1. Cor. 2. not of the ioyes of Heauen which here the spirituall man himselfe cannot tell what they shall be but of the Gospels ioy of the Wine and Fatlings already prepared and now reuealed to the beleeuer by the Spirit which if the carnall man scorne and scoffe at thou canst no more helpe him or prooue to him then a seeing man to a blinde man that hee sees orient rich colours It is enough for thee to secretly feele and enioy it Only it ought in thy life so to be expressed yea so to shine in thy forehead so to be read in the very face of thee that their teeth may be set on edge and that they may enquire what is thy beloued aboue other beloueds what is that makes this man thus merry in all estates Thus let them enuy at thine let not thy soule descend to theirs Are not the gleanings of Ephraim better then the vintage of Abiezer Shouldest thou that hast tasted of the grapes of Canaan long after the Onions and Garlick of Aegypt Is Pharphar like vnto Iordan hast not thou Riuers of water euer flowing out of thy belly and wilt thou stoope to their puddle waters to their stolne waters blousing carding dicing whoring c. which should not thy soule altogether lothe and abhor after the taste of Faiths Nectar and Ambrosia But euen their ordinary and lawfull delights the wine and oyle musicke hunting hawking c. to these God allowes thee
to stoope for thy bodies sake as the Eagle to the prey or as Gideous souldiers to soope thy handfull not to swill thy belly full If Plato could tell the Musitians that Phylosophers could dine and sup without them How much more easie is it for Saint Augustine to weane himselfe from the childish rattles and may games of carnall delights to bee merry without the Fiddle Good leaue hast thou yea right and title to vse all externall recreations wherof before thou wert but an vsurper but vse them aright as if thou vsedst them not knowing how to put thy knife to thy throat and how to be without them to bee as one that liueth not by them but by Faith Were it not odious to see a man that hath a spouse peerelesse for beautie to liue with a deformed blouse to see one professing some liberall Science to liue by some base manuall trade no better fight is it to see a Christian vpholding his ioy by course and earthly pleasures that hath more noble and generous yea Angelicall delights then which what hath heauen better but in degree only and manner of fruition what hath this world comparable Alas poore Phylosophers when I read your Treatises of Tranquillitie of mind of consolation of remedies against both Fortunes though in some things you come neere the kingdome of Heauen yet how dull are your comforts to one of ours the highest of yours to the lowest of ours Had you but through a creuis or Lettice seene the things which the eie of Faith seeth with open face how would you in comparison of Christianisme haue loathed your Stoicisme and Epicurisme Had you but with the tip of your tongue tasted of Faiths dainties how would you haue magnified Faith aboue all your Cardinall vertues you that so composed your liues by ieiune and empty contemplations of an autarky in vertue by the rules of nature what stately liues would you haue led and liued if the grace and hopes of the Gospel had appeared to you by the rules of Faith As for you Poets of the lighter and pleasanter veine when I read your oades and sonnets chaunting out your choice ioyes and loues your wishes and vowes framing a conceited happinesse to your selues as the highest you could imagine or desire what low streines and meane aire do I reckon them in comparison of our Christian and diuine hymnes what pittifull subiects for such sublimated wits what difference between your oaten pipes and our heauenly harpes Salomon that loued both these loues liued both liues and sung songs of both sorts when God raised his muse to an higher tune and taught it to sing the song of songs how despised he his former windy vanities in comparison of his new spirituall delicacies Wherefore O Christian that hast such transcendent obiects of thy thoughts aboue al other men why shouldest thou not euer keepe thy soule vpon the wing euer in a manner bee in the third heauens rowling and tumbling thy soule in these beds of roses I meane these meditations of thy Iustification sanctification and saluation through Christ without which why should one day passe thee why any one part of a day why should not thy soule haue her due drinkes breakfasts meales vndermeales beuers and after-meales as well as thy body Thus to redeeme time thus to taske and tye thy soule to such heauenly round of worke would it not make the Mill of time pleasant the yoke of businesse easie would not pretious time glide swiftly and easily away like a boate with full winde and tide needing no oares or a free mettald horse needing no spurres needing no idle pastime to driue it before thee shall it not be a pleasure to thee to want other pleasures Thus mayest thou make all thy daies Christ-tides Easters Whitsundaies Birthdaies and Holydaies not enuying Foelix his felicitie Festus his festiuitie nor Diues his daily purple and delicious fare but liuing a life kingly and Angelicall in comparison of the vulgar sort CHAP. IX An obiection answered and passage made to the life of Sanctification HAppily thou replyest all this were possible and easie were it not for that euen amiddest this diligent practise of Faith euen in the stricktest watch in many things the best faileth many knowne frailties will escape and more escape vnknowne And how can mirth chuse but bee damped with frequent slips The answere is such an one as keepes the watch of his God and pretermits no day without the forementioned duties shall seldom or neuer fall into any foule slough and dash the ship of his Faith against any dangerous Rocke and if hee doe long hee cannot lye but his Faith will set him on worke to goe out weepe bitterly and make his peace presently with his Lord and Conscience that he may enioy his wonted repasts And for his ordinary infirmities it will daily fetch him out a pardon of course washing and scouring his soule euery morning and eueuing more duely then any Pharisie his face or hands and set him on worke euery day as hee runnes into arrerages to draw the redde lines of Christs Crosse ouer the blacke lines of Gods Debt Booke And what if as an All-seeing God hee sees our violation of his Lawe and knowes better then our owne Consciences euery peccant Act of ours in thought word or deed what if GOD looke vpon the Hand-writing against vs Doth hee not see the Billes cancelled with the Pretious Blood of his Sonne and our Suretie Which for matter of guilt defilement and punishment is all sufficient to expunge couer nullifie abolish and wholly to take away our sinnes in such sort that he neither sees will see nor can see them as sinnes and debts bearing action against vs obliging vs to any penalty no more then the Creditor who though hee sees the Items in his Booke and knowes what debts haue beene yet sees them crossed cleared And what thought then neede the Debtor take for such debts Why but is not this to make Faith a Pandar to sinne And to make good the Papists and Worldlings slander of Solifidians that make no more of it but drinke and take Tobacco sinne and beleeue get a pardon of the olde and a licence for the new Oh peeuish and froward Generation to whom it is not giuen to knowe the mysterie of Faith which is of the nature of Soueraigne mundifying waters which so wash off the corruption of the ulcer that they coole the heate and stay the spread of the infection and by degrees heale the same And of Cordials which so comfort and ease the heart as also they expell the noxious humours and strengthen nature against them These are ministred onely to prepared bodies these pearles are not for Swine this Diuinity wee Preach not in Gath and Askelon to vncircumcised prophane ones that will turne euery good thing to their owne destruction But this belongs to the sealed Fountaine to the Spouse of Christ alone which when shee hath washed her feete how loath is shee
to foule them againe When shee hath appeased her Beloued howe doth shee adiure her-selfe and others by the Hyndes and Roes not to awaken and offend him againe The Text sayeth Not euery hypocrite euery profligate professor of Faith that liues as hee listes shall liue by his Faith but the Iust or Righteous Which golden sentence is indeede ambiguously enunciated of purpose by the Holy Ghost that it may either way bee taken The Iust by his Faith shall liue Or The Iust shall liue by his Faith yet so as it hath but one right eare to bee holden by and that is onely for the hand of the Righteous man Implying that whosoeuer beleeues or liues by his Faith is also and must of necessity bee a righteous man a Iust man not onely imputatiuely but inherently in part such an one as vnfainedly loueth righteousnesse studieth the practise of it denieth and hateth all vnrighteousnesse endeuoureth euery day to bee more and more righteous and so deserueth the denomination of righteous So that looke how the rationall Soule includeth and implyeth the animall so doth Iustification Sanctification being indiuiduall CHAP. X. How Faith Sanctifies and Mortifies SO I slide into the second part or kinde of Christian life consisting in holinesse and righteousnesse which I shall easily demonstrate not onely to bee an indiuiduall companion but a naturall and necessary effect of Faith For looke how the strength of the heart breedes not onely cheerefulnesse but actiuenesse Motion as well as health whence it is that life is put for liuelinesse and agility driues away all lassitude hebetude and indisposition brings in aptnesse and delight to stirre the like doth Faith in the soule which may as the former in the body for a time stand with some sleight distempers spots of the skinne atche of limbes but not long with deadly diseases either vanquishing them or vanquished by them This noble vse of Faith will excellently appeare in both the parts of this newe life Mortification and Viuification And in each of these two manner of wayes doth Faith produce this effect partly as a moouing partly as a procreant cause In the first kinde admirable is the Pitho Saada of Faith aboue all the Oratory in the World All the common incentiues taken from profitte pleasure and honour all the Topicke places of Logicke Figures of Rhetoricke what poore and weake engines are they to the irresistable peâ—arre of Faith which sayeth but Ephata and presently our Euerlasting Gates yeeld and stand open For thus it goes to worke with vs Hath Christ giuen himselfe for thee forgiuen thee so many debts conferred fauours of all kindes vpon thee and what hast thou to retribute If thou giue all thy goods to the poore thy body to the fire thy soule to his seruice yea were euery hayre of thine head a man or Angell were not all short of recompence Louest thou louest thou this Sauiour of thine and darest thou or wilt thou dare to venture vpon any thing displeasing him is there any thing too good too heard or deare for him Mary if thy teares will washe his feete wilt thou not poure them out Is thine haire too good to bee the towell Is there any Spicknard too costly for his head Ioseph the LORD requireth the handsell of thy Tombe and wilt thou deny him Zacheus louest thou thy wealth aboue his honour that hath saued thee Stephen louest thou thy life aboue thy Master Can or did any Beleeuer giue the nay to these melting commaundes or commaunding entreaties of Faith will it take the repulse Doth it not constraine and extort more then all rackes and strapadoes allure more then all wages and prizes Doth not this Magnes as easily drawe weighty yron as other Iet doth strawes So that when thou wouldest bee sure to speed and obtaine any thing of thine vntoward heart set Faith a worke to make the motion and that will be sure to speede not onely by this perswading facultie but also by a Diuine power secretly effecting what it requires conueying into the heart will and abilitie vnto the deede It stands not without doores as a Mendicant Flexanimous perswader but enters into the closets of the heart shootes the barres vnlocks the boults takes away all reluctation and redaction infuseth a plyable willingnesse of woluish and dogged makes the Will Lambe-like and Doue-like of wilde and haggard morigerous and mansuete No otherwise then the medicine curing the vicious stomacke and restoring it to health makes it long for wholesome meate as before for coales and ashes All this it doth by fetching supernaturall efficacie from the death and life of Christ yea part of that mighty power where by Christ raised himselfe from the dead cured all diseases and wrought all his miracles By the vertue whereof it metamorphizeth the heart of man creates and infuseth new principles of action Make triall of this in mortifying the flesh to sinne and quickning thy spirit to holinesse For example complainest thou of some preualent corruption some violent passion that oft carries thee headlong against thy desire and resolution as Castrusius to Hierom who shall helpe mee subdue Nebuzardan Goliah Holofernes my raging lustes that are too mighty for mee Answere thy selfe as Dauid himselfe to the like Through thee O Lord shall wee doe valiantly ouer Edom shall I cast my shooe c. yea when thou hast spent all thou hast vpon other Phisitions tried all morall conclusions of purposing promising resoluing vowing fasting watching selfe-reuenging yet get thee to Christ and with a finger of Faith touch but a hem of his garment and thou shalt feele vertue come from him to the curing of thy disease What if thou hast often encountred thy enemie and receiued the foyle relapsed after victorie yet cast not away the sheeld of Faith but with the Israelites against Beniamites the second and third time set a fresh in the name of the LORD and they shall flye before thee Complainest thou with Augustine of his in-bred hereditary habituall inueterate vices holding thee in the Adamantine chaines of custome against which thou hast often resolued and resolued modo modo now I will leaue them and now I will forsake them why should I not as well as such and such as Potitian and Victorinus and yet they keepe thee Prisoner still full against thy will and endeauours Find out the cause which hee had reuealed to him in te stas non stas Thou standest vpon thine owne feete and therefore fallest so foulely thou wilt like a childe goe alone and of thy selfe and therefore gettest so many knocks Dye to thy selfe renounce the broken reede of thine owne free-will which hath so often deceiued thee and put all thy trust in the grace of Christ And it will crucifie the olde man and giue him his Hoc habet his deathes wound pierce his sides and breake his knees in peeces Be weake in thy selfe and strong in the Lord and through Faith thou shalt bee more then Conquerour