power onely to the Scriptures and therefore we must exclude all vnwritten Traditions or Decrées of men though neuer so holy and learned from being this Rule or any part thereof Therefore we are forbidden to adde Deut. 4.2 Reu. 22.18 19. or take from the written word of God Beléeuest thou the Scriptures They say thou shalt not adde to them And therefore Tertullian saith When we beléeue wée beléeue this first that there is nothing more which we ought to beléeue Vse 2. This bindeth all to all reuerence in reading Prou. 1.7 Psa 25.14 1. Pet. 4.11 speaking hearing of the word because of the Author which is God and to all care to know vnderstand beléeue and obey the same because to this purpose it is giuen vs as a most perfect Rule by God himselfe Q. The holy Scriptures are Diuine and Canonicall in themselues Esay 8.20 Deut. 5.32 Ioh. 5.39 2. Pet. 1.19 Gal. 6.16 2. Iohn 10 Iohn 7.17 1. Cor. 2.10.11.12 1. Ioh. 2.27 5.10 but how do we know that they be so Ans We know that they are so both by the testimony of themselues for so the old Testament testifieth of it selfe the new of the old and of it selfe and also by the witnesse of the Holy Ghost in our hearts Expli There are two principall arguments of the Diuinity of the Scriptures to vs 2. Sam. 23 2. Luk. 1.70 2 Tim. 3.16 2. Pet. 1.21 1. Cor. 2.13 the first is their owne voyce witnessing that they are of God as often this is repeated in the Prophets Thus saith the Lord. And this is the chiefest Argument euen the very voice of God himselfe of which we may safely collect thus If the Scriptures be true when they speake of things to come then also when they speake of things present The second argument is like vnto the first and it is the testimony of the Holy Ghost which as it inspired the holy men to write so also it teacheth the children of God to beléeue the Scriptures 2. Pet. 1.21 1. Cor. 2.10 for if faith be the gift of God as it is then also to beléeue the Scriptures to be the word of God The first of these is to perswade others and our selues the other chiefly to satisfie our our selues which also is alwaies agréeable to the Scriptures and is to be examined by the same Vnto these two you may adde also their miraculous preseruation notwithstanding the rage of all Iulians and Diuels the diuine vocation mission and life of the Writers the Maiesty of the stile the purity of the Doctrine their power vpon the conscience for the confounding and breaking of the stubborne and for the raising conuerting and comforting of the broken and such like Vse This serues to confute the Papists who hold that the only chiefe argument whereby we are perswaded of the authority of the Scriptures is the testimony of the Church we willingly acknowledge that the Church is a meanes whereby wee come to the knowledge of the Scriptures but not that for the which only we beléeue them to be diuine The Scriptures are a Rule 1. Tim. 3.15 the office of the Church is to keep to vse this Rule Now as the worke-man which vseth a Rule giues not that power to it wherby it iudgeth the dimensions but it hath it of its owne nature by an inward essentiall property as it is a Rule so also the Scriptures haue not this power of the Church though the Church haue power skill to vse the same And therfore our Sauiour when question was whether he were the Messiah or no resteth not on the witnesse of Iohn Iohn 5.36 Ibid. Vers 37. Verse 39. but vpon greater and better witnesse this witnesse was his workes the witnesse of his Father and of the holy Scriptures So when the Tessalonians receiued the preaching of Paul as the word of God 1. Thes 2.13 it was not the testimony of any Church nor the worthinesse of Paul a meane poore man but the very force of the word it selfe which bowed their hearts The testimony of the Church is to be reuerenced is good but not infallible The testimony of the Scriptures themselues is better and infallible The Church is to be proued by the Scriptures not the scriptures only by the Church Yea the Papists to proue the infallibility of the Church flie to the Scriptures And vniuersally Mat. 16.18 1. Tim. 3.15 the authority prouing is greater more certaine more knowne then the conclusion proued by the same Yea if we should belieue the Scriptures onely for the authority of the Church which is in conclusion the Pope his Prelates then first they should be Iudges in their own cause which is vnequall Secondly there could be no certainty of Faith or Religion because the Church hath varied diuersly in her iudgement of the Canon Thirdly why may not the Turkes perswade themselues that their testimony of their Alcoran is as sufficient as ours of the Scriptures Fourthly this is to subiect the Word of God to the will of Man yea God to man so that God shall not be beleeued to speake to vs nor we beleeue him when he speaks vnlesse it please the Church that is the Pope and his Prelates yea there shal be no more difference betweene God the Diuel truth lying the sacred and diuine Scriptures and the Alcoran of the Turkes then the Church shall thinke fit which is most horrible blasphemy The Lord open the eies of our Aduersaries the Papists to consider it Q. How do these holy Scriptures set forth and describe God or what do you beleeue God to be according to the Scriptures Ans I beleeue by the Scriptures that God is a Spirit being of himselfe and giuing being to all things Infinite Eternall Almighty Knowing all things c. Wisedome Goodnesse Mercy Truth Iustice it selfe c. The Father the Son and the Holy Ghost The Creator and Preseruer of all things The Redeemer and Sanctifier of his Church Expl. None must imagine that I haue set downe all that can be said of God for there are many other particulars in the holy Scriptures but these are the heads neither can the knowledge of Men Angels expresse fully the amplitude of his essence and glory Though that so much as is auaileable for vs to know himselfe hath reuealed in his word for it is most true that a learned man said Ramus God cannot be defined without his owne logicke This is not a Definition but a Description taken out of the Scriptures consisting of thrée parts first of Attributes secondly of Relations and proprieties of persons Thirdly of Actions and Effects which are generall as Creation Prouidence speciall belonging only to his Church which are principally two Redemption and Sanctification Of these I purpose according as God enableth to enquire in order according to the Scriptures and first I will briefly expound the Atributes as they are alleaged We
as other beasts nor clad in apparrell as now but of a soft smooth skinne and naked yet they were not subiect to the iniuries of the wether as raine wind heat cold c. They were not ashamed Not as though any vndecent thing were spoken of them as now he is accounted a beast that is not ashamed of his nakednesse but first to shew that inwardly in their mindes did shine the Image of God that is Innocencie sanctity and Integritie c. in which if they had continued they should not haue néeded their figge-leaues nor any apparell Secōdly that outwardly in their bodies there was excéeding beautie and perfection of all parts so that there was no vncomelinesse no not in those members which after sinne natural shame for their deformity and vnséemlinesse teacheth vs to couer Thirdly that in the inferiour parts of the minde and body there was no inordinat motion or appetite all members of the body and inferiour desires being ruled and gouerned by the Inward grace of the minde So that if wée meditate of these things we can not but conceiue that the happinesse of our first parents was very great Now we are to consider of the conditions on which this happinesse did stand for they were created thus but mutable and changeable this state to continue and in the end to be translated to a celestiall life Ge. 2.16.17 if they kept the Commaundement of God otherwise not The Commandement was about one of the Trées which were in the middest of the Garden namely the Tree of Knowledge of good and euill which was so called not of the effect as though it had a quality to sharpen the wit but of the euent being a Sacrament of triall and admonition to them that if they did eate of it then they should haue wofull experience of the good they had lost and of the euil they had gotten they hauing before a speculatiue knowlege but not a practical experience hereof The other trée was called the trée of Life both because it had a power or vertue to preserue life and health and also more principally because it was to our first parents a Sacrament of the continuance of their life in Paradise and after of their translating vnto a heauenly life if they continued in obedience The Commaundement concerning the Trée of Knowledge contained a Prohibition which was this Verse 17. Of the Tree of knowledge of good and euil thou shalt not eate This Commaundement God inforceth by two reasons The first from the liberty God gaue them to all the rest of the Trées of the Garden Therefore he might wel abstaine from this one Verse 16. The other reason from the danger ensuing if he did eate Thou shalt die the death Verse 17. that is Thou shalt certainely die temporally here in the seperation of the soule from the body and spiritually in loosing the graces before spoken of and eternally in the seperation of Body and Soule from God This was mans happinesse and it stoode on this condition if he obserued the Positiue Lawe giuen him of God Vse 1. Death to speake properly is not naturall namely according to the nature of man in his Creation Rom. 5.12 but against nature comming in by sinne Adam being created to immortality that is in such an estate that if he had neuer sinned he should neuer haue died For although Adams body was mortall in it selfe could die yet it had a power not to die through the gift of the Creator namely if he continued in his integrity So Adam in his state of innocencie was both mortal and immortal in diuers respects Immortall hauing not an impossibilitie of dying but a possibilitiy of not dying which possibility he lost by his sinne and instead thereof receiued a necessitie of dying Thou shalt die the death Hée was mortall not because he should haue actually died if he had not sinned but because if he sinned it was possible hée should or hée might die Death then commeth not from Nature but from Sinne. Vse 2. The remembrance of this happinesse of our first parents which they lost to themselues and to vs by their fall should moue vs euen with teares of bloud if it were possible to bewaile our present misery in which we are which is 〈◊〉 farre from that happinesse as the Earth nay as Hell is from Heauen Then Man was the Cedar of Paradise the Picture of Heauen the Glory of the Earth the Ruler of the World and Gods owne delight But now he is the Fire-brand of Hell the Picture of the Diuell more base then the basest creatures on the earth clothed with no lesse dishonour and shame then he was before crowned with honour and glory Not onely as Nebuchadnezzar trans-formed into a beast but being made of the Temple of God a Cage of vncleane Spirits yea the very habitation of the Diuell Wherefore let vs all take vp a grieuous lamentation when we looke backe to our first glory and to Paradise our antient right And if there be any sparke of Heauenly courage wisedme in our breasts let vs endeuour to recouer that by Christ which we haue lost in Adam Nay God offers in his beloued Sonne more glory better happinesse let vs not be so besotted as to suffer Sathan to deceiue and depriue vs of the Recouery of Gods fauour by our continuance in sinne which first he made vs loose by committing sinne c. Vse 3. Man in Paradise in the time of his Innocency might not be idle nor without a positiue law for obedience so that neither lobour in dressing the Garden nor to be tyed to speciall duty by the law was any impeachment of his happinesse Those therefore which place any pleasure or happines in idlenes or in desiring to liue as they list and to be lawlesse do excéedingly manifest the vile corruption of their hearts for idlenesse and lawlesse liberty was not permitted to Adam in Paradise Q. I something conceiue the happinesse of man in his creation and the conditions of the same Now I pray you shew me what was the manner of his fall Ans The fall of our first parents was their voluntary transgression of the commandement of God in eating of the fruit of the forbidden tree caused by the subtill malice of the Diuell and their owne infidelitie Gen. 3. through the whole chapter Expli Out of the third chapter of Genesis which is called of some The Patriarkes Catechisme we are taught of the fall and sin of man of the anger of God of the punishment of sinne and of the beginning of mans misery vnto the which he was not created but into the which he fell by the iustice of God through his sinne points hidden from the wise and reuealed by the word by which we come to know the cause of all the miseries which follow our nature which miseries the Philosophers saw and confessed but the wisest of them could neuer conceiue the cause thereof
which also afterwards will breake out into the second act in time to come Euen as therefore we kill an old Wolfe or Snake for the hurt it hath done or is ready now to do and also all the yong ones for the hurtfull nature they haue which in time will shew it selfe So God may iustly cast euen Infants into Hell for the corruption of their nature and will all such of them which he hath not by election of grace ordained to eternall life Vse 2. Seing there is in euery one an inclination through corruption vnto all sinne euen that vnpardonable one then if thou haue receiued grace and power to maister thy corruptions acknowledge him who hath discerned thée and when thou séest a Drunkard or any other sinner wallowing in his sinne praise God for thou art of the same Mould and Mettall and if thou doest not the like it is not the goodnesse of thy nature but the mercy of God restraining or sanctifying thy corrupt heart Also let it teach thée not to despaire of thy neighbour or rashly to condemne him that yet hath not obtained grace For as thou being by nature in the same condemnation hast obtained mercy so what knowest thou how God will deale with him Rather pray for him and endeuour to bring him to the partaking of that grace which thou hast receiued which is indéed a property of true grace Vse 3. This also teacheth a singular point of Wisedome namely in the practise of repentance to strike at the roote to crucifie the flesh and the affections and to destroy the body of Sinne As Physitions which in the curing of a disease remoue the cause or as a man that would destroy Wéeds pluckes them vp Roote and Rinde bend all thy force study and sorrow in repentance first this way For from whence are Drunkennesse Whooredome Idolatry Blasphemy Lying c. euen from this bitter root this vncleane fountaine of Originall sinne 2. Reg. 2.21 As therefore Elisha healed the bitter Waters by seasoning them at the Spring So he that would haue a sound and holy life must labour to be sound within and that his heart be truely seasoned with grace else all is to no purpose And here is the difference betwéen Hypocrites and such as are truly renewed they cut off the branches these the roote they reforme the action these the affection of sinne Therfore as Sara will haue Ismael put away and the Bond-woman his mother also so are we also to put from vs all euill actions and to mortifie euen the affection of sinning if we would soundly repent Q. You speake of Actuall and Originall sinne what is sinne Ans Sinne is the transgression of the Law 1. Ioh. 3.4 Q. What is the Law you speake of Ans The Law which I meane is the eternall Rule of Righteousnesse in God manifested to man first in the Creation afterward repeated by the voyce of God and written in two Tables of stone by the finger of God containing diuine precepts what we should be doe and leaue vndone requiring perfect obedience vnder the hope of life Esay 8.20 Exo. 20.1 c. Psal 19.11 119.105 Leui. 18.5 Deu. 27.27 and punishing the least disobedience with eternal death Exp. The law is taken sundry waies in the Scripture héere we take it for the Morall law contained in the ten Commandements we call it an eternall Rule of righteousnesse in God because it is a bright beame issuing from the Father of Lights containing the summe of his wil concerning his worshiip and the duety of man vnto him and to his neighbour For Gods wil is the rule of all righteousnesse the Law the Copy of it Math. 6.10 and 7.21 therefore obedience of workes is called diuerse times doing of Gods will in his word This Law is an eternall rule because it was alwayes in God and shall for euer continue euen vnto all eternity perfectly to be kept in heauen and also to distinguish it from the Ceremoniall and Iudiciall Lawes which are abrogated The Ceremoniall in regard of Vse and Obseruation and the Iudiciall in regarde of Obligation So that as wee may at no hand bring into vse the Leuiticall Ceremonies so we are not bound to the same forme of Lawes Politicall which were giuen to the Common-wealth of the Iewes And yet the generall equitie of both remaines of the Iudicialls that sinne is to be punished by the Magistrate of the Ceremonialls that God is to bee worshipped in the comelinesse himselfe hath commaunded besides the substance of these Ceremonies which remaines for euer Iesus Christ This Law was at the first printed in Adams heart the knowledge and loue thereof being a part of the Image of God in him A glimmering whereof God in his singular wisedome continued in the heart of man after the fall namely so much as might serue for the continuing of fellowship and society amongst men Rom. 1.19.2.15 and which might leaue them without excuse This remnant we vsually call the Law of Nature not that mans nature is the Author of it but because it is imprinted in the same Afterward the Lord repeated that Law on Mount Sinai and writ it in two tables of stone to conuince the stony hearts of men Quest What are the words of this Law Ans The words of this Law are these Then God spake all these words and said I am the Lord thy God which brought thee c. as it followeth in Exodus chap. 20. from the beginning of the first verse to the end of the sixteenth Expli These tenne Lawes or Lawe Sentences are the ground and rule of all righteousnesse with the which whatsoeuer agréeth is good Whatsoeuer disagréeth is euill containing the generall heads of al duties to God and man which can be required Diuided into two Tables the first containing our duety to God the summe where of is Thou shalt loue the Lord thy God with all thy heart c. The second our duety to our neighbour the summe whereof is Matth. 22.37 38 39. Thou shalt loue thy neighbour as thy selfe Also it is diuided into tenne Precepts The manner of giuing this law was very solemne and terrible Deut. 10.4 Exod. 19. worthy to be often read and marked of all For the meaning of these Commandements these generall Rules are to be obserued First they are to be vnderstood as the Prophets and Apostles haue expounded and taught them Secondly In all affirmatiue Precepts the negatiue and in all negatiue the affirmatiue are to be vnderstood Thirdly the maner of speach is to be obserued as first concerning persons by Thou shalt and shalt not is meant euery one none are exempted Secondly concerning things forbidden or commaunded vnder one particular named all of that nature and kind with the signes causes and effects are vnderstood Fourthly the Lawe is spirituall not onely brideling the hands but the heart and first motions thereof Fiftly No creature can fully sée into the depth of the doctrine and