the many excellent and heauenly graces wherewith the spirit of God beautifieth and enricheth the hearts of his Elect there is no one of more either necessity vnto saluation or importance for comfort and consolation then that of Iustifying Faith For as by the first Act of this faith our Iustification before God our peace with God our incorporation into the mysticall body of Christ Iesus our conuersion vnto God are first wrought and effected so by the consequent continued Acts of the same Fayth are wee being fallen dayly renewed and from both totall and finall falling away safely preserued and maintained This cōsidered me-thinkes no time can be better employed nor no paines more profitably taken then in the quest and enquiry of the true nature and definition of Iustifying Fayth And although I cannot deny but hee may haue fayth who cannot like a Logician define it and may haue the benefit of Iustification by it who cannot distinguinsh the nature of it yet this withall I boldly auerre that the ignorance hereof or a confused and indistinct apprehension of it disableth vs both from giuing and taking direct and euident comfort from it whereas a cleare and distinct knowledge thereof is able to satisfie and replenish with comfort any distressed or afflicted conscience For this cause haue I vndertaken so briefly and perspicuously as I can to set downe my opinion of the definition of Fayth perswading my selfe I doe not endeauouring at leastwise not to swarue from the wholesome doctrine of Christ and Gods word From the writings and doctrine of most learned and worthy Diuines peraduenture it doth and indeed it doth vary to whom although as farre farre inferior I owe all respect reuerence yet being Gods freeman I cannot endure to bee mans bond-man and sweare to all they say One Paphnutius sometime in the matter of Priests marriage preuailed against a whole Counsell of most learned and godly Bishops Socrat. l. 1. c. 8. and young Elihu may speake more oportunely pertinently then they that are much his Ancients Therefore as Nisus sayth in Virgill Neque hac nostris spectentur ab annis Aeneid l. 9. looke not how greene or how gray his head be that speaketh but let the touch of truth try all and what by it shall appeare to be base and counterfait refuse and reiect that which shall be found true and sound approue and embrace And that preiudice too strongly possesse thee not take my protestation that I neuer haue entertained this opinion rashly and inconsiderately but vpon mature aduise and deliberation nor broach it vpon a preposterous humour of nouelty or ambition to build vp mine owne credit existimation by the ruine and disparagement of so great Diuines for this were Subulâ leonem excipere to encounter a Lion with a bodkin as it is in the Prouerbe but vpon a sincere affection and desire to minister solid and found consolation to despayring and perplexed minds which as after shall appeare vpon this foundation may most firmely be raised And now trusting what I say shall be weighed in the ballance not of preiudice but vpright iudgement I leaue to preface any farther and come directly to the purprose Because I purpose not to raise my building very high I meane not to lay my foundation very deepe therefore neither will I play the Phylologer in shewing the diuers vses and acceptations of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Fides id est Faith or quote Ciceros Fiat quod dictum est or St. Augustines Fac quod dicis Offic. l. 1. to doe as a man sayes for the notation of Faith neither will I play the Phylosopher in discoursing of Physicall or Morall or Ciuill Faith wherein it were easie to wast much oile and paper nor lastly will I speake of that Theologicall Faith called Miraculous either in Agent or Patient which I take to bee none other then a diuine instinct for the working of a Miracle For albeit they who at the last day shall say Lord in thy name haue we not cast out Diuels may seeme to haue trusted in Miraculous Faith for Iustification Mat. 7.22.23 and acknowledgement of Christ yet notwithstanding neuer any controuersie about it hath exercised the Church of God To deferre your expectations therefore no farther three Faiths there seeme to be which lay claime and title to the priuiledge of justification giue me leaue to distinguish and denominate them according to their Obiects neither be offended if I handle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and giue new termes to old matters The first is Fides Historiae Historicall Faith which is an Assent of the mind vnto the truth of Gods word and specially the Gospell And this Faith whether it be according to the distinction of the Scoolemen Acquisite gotten by much hearing and experience without illumination or infused and reuealed by the spirit of illumination it hath no interest in the matter of Iustification For besides that it is absurd that so generall a Knowledge should iustify Acquisit Faith the Diuels haue according to that of St Iames Iam. 2. 19. The Diuels beleeue tremble Infused faith the Reprobates may haue as Balaam Iudas Magus Now the Scripture is plaine that justifying faith is propper and peculiar vnto the Elect and therefore Historicall faith cannot justifie The second is Fides Promissionum Faith of promises which is a Perswasion or Assurance that the promises of God made in Christ to wit Iustification Remission of sinnes Adoption Regeneration and finally Election it selfe and eternall Saluation doe particularly pertaine to me and are mine Now this although I deny not but in Scripture it is called faith and that euery Saint of God both may and ought to haue this particular perswasion and Assurance yet this I confidently deny that this perswasion is that which justifies a man before God and my reasons are these 1. If this were justifying Faith then whosoeuer liues and dyes without this particular Assurance he cannot be saued Heb. 11.6 Without faith it is impossible to please God But a man may be saued without it I instance in those our Brethren of Germanie who hold that faith may finally and totally fall away and consequently that there can be no certainty of Saluation whom yet the Church of God calleth and counteth brethren and it were vncharitable to censure of them otherwise Therefore or at leastwise probably Faith is not an Assurance 2. That which is in time after Iustifying Faith cannot be that faith This is vndeniable But this particular knowledge is in time after faith This I proue out of 1. Ioh. 5.13 These things haue I written vnto you that beleeue in the name of the Sonne of God that ye may know that ye haue eternall life Behold Beleeuing goes before and Knowledge comes after as for that which followeth in the same verse and that yee may beleeue I interpret it of Perseuerance growth in Faith Howsoeuer beleeuing Knowing are distinguished and
Saints with your niceties and falsities any longer for thus you reason No historicall Faith hath any interest in the matter of Iustification But firmely to belieue the truth of Gods Word and specially the Gospell is historicall Faith Therefore firmely to belieue the truth of Gods Word and specially the Gospell hath no interest in the matter of Iustification Good Sir I deny your Maior which you thus endeuour to proue ab absurdo enumeratione partium No generall knowledge shall haue any stroke in the matter of Iustification All historicall Faith is a generall knowledge Therefore no historicall Faith hath any interest in the matter of iustification Proue your Minor which I denie telling you moreouer that firmely to consent to the truth of Gods Word in genere and the Gospell in Specie is not a Generall knowledge but a Speciall knowledge and therefore I argue Such a speciall knowledge of the Gospell is the beginning of Faith Iustifying Mat. 13.11 Ioh. 17.3 Mat. 16.17 But firmely to consent to the truth of Gods Word and the Gospell is such a speciall knowledge ex confesso Therfore firmely to consent to the truth of Gods Word and especially the Gospell is the beginning of Iustifying Faith I. D. If you were as farre from hood-winking your owne eyes as I am from blearing the eies of others you might easily perceiue that now I deale against our common aduersaries the Papists and ouerthrow the iustification of their Historicall Faith by the chiefest arguments which Protestants vse But you after the manner of those Gladiators called Andabatae nor see nor care whom or what you strike and so mildly affected are you towards mee that so you may make some probable shew of endammaging or disaduantaging mee you reck not though through my sides you reach and wound the best Diuines of our Church yea and the common truth which wee all maintaine Neither doe I vse such circumguagues nor wiredraw my arguments into such a length as you beare vs in hand but hauing nakedly and plainely defined what Historicall Faith is I proue by two reasons that Faith so defined doth not iustifie the first whereof is this because it is absurd that so generall a Knowledge should iustifie So that your Ferio Syllogisme deserues a Ferula and vtterly to bee cashed as being no creature of mine but an idle figment of your owne and the next in Celarent for so you forme it although indeed it bee also in Ferio the Minor proposition and Conclusion notwithstanding your generall notes being but particular enuntiations is the onely Syllogisme intended by mee and including my first argument The Maior whereof it seemes you grant saying nothing vnto it and the Minor only you deny which I cannot but wonder at seeing both the Minor and Conclusion are vniuersally vouched by all the Diuines of our side The Conclusion is that Historicall Faith iustifies not So saith Hyperius De fide Hom. iustificandi There is a certaine Historicall Faith whereby those things which are propounded in holy writ are simply beleeued but yet is not applyed vnto Christ and the matter of our Saluation Loco de Fide The Minor is that Historicall Faith is a generall Knowledge So sayth Kemnitius There is a certaine generall Faith which vsually is tearmed Historicall and againe Historicall Faith is a generall assent holding in generall that the promise of the Gospell is true And M. Perkins Ser. caus c. 36. A generall Faith whereby they giue assent vnto the Gospell Neither doe I know any one of our Diuines that either in the Conclusion or the Minor doth gainsay them So that by the iudgement of these men both consenting to Gods Word in generall and to the Gospell in speciall is not a Speciall but Generall Knowledge and if the Speciality of the Gospell being but a part of the whole Scripture did specify Faith it would follow thereupon that there are as many Speciall Faiths as there are seuerall Articles of the Creed which were vnreasonable to imagine For that Faith which assenteth vnto the Gospell is no other then that which assenteth vnto the rest of holy Scripture and although it may principally respect that part of diuine truth yet doth it not only respect it nor is limited thereunto as vnto the proper adequate obiect thereof but vniuersally extendeth it selfe vnto all supernaturall reuealed verities whatsoeuer As for that Faith which our Diuines call Speciall is to be vnderstood of Faith of Promises wherby the Saints apply and appropriate them vnto themselues particularly and indiuidually assuring themselues of their present iustification and future saluation And the ignorance hereof as I ween is the cause why you turne generall into speciall and write of this matter so wildly and confusedly This notwithstanding very peremptorily you pronounce that Historiall Faith is a speciall Knowledge and thereupon Syllogistically inferre that it is the Beginning of Iustifying Faith to what end I wot not well vnlesse it bee to proue that it doth iustify because as you conclude it is the beginning of that Faith But whatsoeuer your intent bee your argument I answer by distinguishing of the word Beginning For if you vnderstand thereby a Pre-requisite or Preparatiue vnto iustifying Faith you doe but fight with a shadow for in that sence I grant the Conclusion neither doth such a beginning of Iustifying Faith iustify If you meane thereby that it is Iustifying Faith inchoat and in a remisser degree then I deny your Maior and say that such a knowledge call it as you please generall or speciall is not the beginning of iustifying Faith If it were then Diuels and Reprobates hauing it should haue iustifying Faith which Gods Word attributes vnto the Elect onely Tit. 1.1 And if it bee true that Faith of person is the consummation of Iustifying Faith as in the former section you say it cannot bee that such a knowledge should bee the Beginning thereof vnlesse you will say that Accidents may passe from one Subiect to another which is against all Philosophy For Historicall Faith is in the Vnderstanding and Faith of Person is in the Will and therefore Faith of Story beginning in the Mind can haue no subsistence elsewhere and iustifying Faith being perfected in the Will cannot bee begunne in any other Subiect The passages quoted in the margent though you should rack them till they rent asunder yet will they not confesse what you alledge them for For how I pray you hang these things together To you it is giuen to know the mysteries of the Kingdome of heauen This is life euerlasting to know thee Flesh and Bloud hath not reuealed this vnto thee but my Father Ergo Such a knowledge is iustifying Faith begun This is too violent astraining of Scripture and as Volusian speaketh is not a sucking of milke but drawing of bloud from the dugs of the Church Ep. 1. ad Nic. 1. As for the Minor I haue already sufficiently demonstrated the falshood thereof only
source of all Rebellion and Disobedience N. B. Your Genus is that Faith iustifying is a Rest which is false when you speake more learnedly I will deigne you farther answer I. D. That Rest is not the Genus of Iustifying Faith I easily grant you for as appeares manifestly in my Treatise I make Affiance or which is all one Rest to bee the Act or Forme of Faith and not the Genus thereof If I had thought it fitting to haue troubled the Definition therewith I was not so ignorant but I could haue called it either an infused grace or a gratious habit or a Theologicall vertue but because the Philosopher taught me that Habits are sufficiently defined by their Acts in reference vnto their proper Obiects I held it needlesse to expresse it But suppose I had made it to be the right Genus how doe you disproue it Forsooth it is sufficient for such a Pythagoras as you are to say it is false an inexpiable wrong would it be to demand a reason of your sayings Onely you adde Plut. in vitâ Alex. that when I shall speake more learnedly you will deigne me farther answer Brauely againe spoken and Alexander-like for neither would hee being a King contend with any but Kings neither may you being so transcendent for your learning and surmounting the most of men as farre as the Sun doth the lesser lights without impeachment of honour vouchsafe disputation with any but your Peers much lesse with such a one as is scarce to bee found in any Predicament Yet seeing the Sunne so surpassing in glory is no way enuious of his light but imparteth bountifully of his beames to the enlightning of the rest of the starres it may please you also with whom wisdome must liue and dye Ioh. 12.2 out of your benignity to send forth some influence of your learning vpon mee that I may more cleerely discerne at least in this question betweene truth and that which is onely seeming so N. B. Shew mee for your warrant one place of Scripture that so tearmeth it any one Father of the Church old or new for these 1600. yeeres Greeks or Latins that will auouch it and I will yeeld to your Genus The Hebrew word for Faith and the Greek word whereof you haue heard before doe vtterly condemne you they both signifying a perswasion and an Assurance and neuer a Rest I maruell you will teach the Holy Ghost to speake and the Church now to vnderstand what Faith is and that by such a woodden Definition which may rather moue to choller then consent I. D. If by denying vnto mee the warrant of Scriptures of Fathers old and new Greeke and Latin for 1600. yeeres and of the Greeke and Hebrew words for Faith you intend to proue that Affiance or Rest is not the Genus of Faith it shall without more a-doo bee yeelded vnto you for as appeares in the former section I make it to bee not the Genus but the Act or Forme thereof But if you would thereby perswade that Rest or Affiance is not the Act of Faith I must tell you that these reasons are cleane out of date and that you doe too much abuse your Readers patience setting againe before him these Coleworts now more then twice sodden For both in the beginning of this disputation and in the last section saue two before this I haue throughly scanned cleered this businesse shewing that I am so farre from teaching the Holy Ghost to speake and the Church to vnderstand what Faith is as you vnchristianly lay vnto my charge that I vse no other tearme but that which the Spirit of God hath in Scripture sanctified to this purpose and the Holy Church hath euer spoken and vsed But because I am loth to pester my paper with so many Tautologies and needles repetitions as you vse to doe thither must I entreate the courteous Reader to repaire for satisfaction In the meane season seeing both by expresse testimony of Scripture and cleere euidence of reason I haue warranted euery part of my definition and yet you without disprouing the weakest of my proofes tauntingly call it a woodden Definition you must pardon mee if I tell you plainely that this wood-kinde of answering deserues to bee reformed with a little woodden correction But where you say my Definition may rather moue to choler then consent a man would thinke reading this your answer that either your principles were so incurably hurt or your braine dam'd and ram'd vp with such a deale of dull and tough flegme that it were as easy almost to remoue a mountaine as to moue you either to the one or the other And yet indeed I find you of a cleene contrary complexion euen the most pettish and waspish gentleman that euer I met withall euery small petty occasion stirs your choler and works you presently out of temper But because I see it is your impotency disease I beare with you the more praying you notwithstanding to haue as much patience as you may if at times for the purging of this humor I play the Physician and minister some small quantity of rheubarb vnto you N. B. For alas Master Downe what Rest can a man haue vpon Christ without Assurance to bee saued by his death and Passion and knowledge of his Lord and Sauiour A full assurance therefore as a cause worketh Rest vpon Christ as an effect and is therefore the Generall word in the Definition of Iustifying Faith I. D. Your argument if I mistake not standeth thus That which is an Effect of Assurance cannot be the Act of Faith But Resting vpon Christ is an Effect of Assurance Ergo it cannot bee the Act of Faith I distinguish of Assurance for it is either of the generall proposition or of the Speciall and indiuiduall of the Generall when wee are assured that Whosoeuer Belieueth on Christ shall bee iustified and saued of the Speciall when wee are certainly perswaded that We are iustified and shall bee saued If you meane the former then I deny the Maior for such Historicall Assurance is a necessary pre-requisite vnto Iustifying Faith and is the cause without which wee cannot belieue on Christ and therefore that which is such an effect of Assurance may bee the Act of Faith If you vnderstand the latter then doe I grant the Maior for if such Assurance be as I haue demonstratiuely proued it selfe the Effect of Faith it is more then manifest that That which is an effect of such Assurance cannot bee the Act of Faith But then I deny the Minor that Resting vpon Christ is an effect of such assurance affirming that contrarily Resting vpon Christ is the cause of such Assurance and Assurance is the Effect of that Resting But what rest say you can a man haue vpon Christ without Assurance to be saued by his Death Passion Surely vnlesse wee know his Death and Passion to bee the onely meanes of saluation wee cannot rest vpon him for it but to
which they are iustified and so come to eternall life But what say I vnto the Minor deliuered in other tearmes thus Knowledge of Christ apprehendeth eternall life I say first it is not the same Proposition because the tearmes are changed neither are they equipollent Secondly I grant it to bee true whether you meane by knowledge Dogmaticall Faith or Particular assurance for by the one doe we apprehend that there is an eternall life by the other that wee haue speciall interest in it Well then if it apprehendeth eternall life doth it not follow that therefore also it apprehendeth iustification No by no meanes for as wee haue aboue demonstrated it is not necessary that that which apprehendeth the latter should apprehend the former also And yet though I disallow the consequence the consequent I readily yeeld you that Particular knowledge apprehendeth iustification for so haue wee defined Faith of promise to be a perswasion or assurance that the promise of God made in Christ to wit iustification remission of sinnes adoption regeneration finally election it selfe and eternall saluation doe particularly pertaine vnto mee and are mine What gather you now of this Ergo say you it is iustifying Faith How so Because whatsoeuer apprehendeth iustification is iustifying Faith Nay contrarily whatsoeuer apprehendeth iustification it not iustifying Faith for apprehension followeth iustification no man apprehending himselfe to bee iustified vntill hee be iustified but Iustifying Faith is in nature before iustification that being the cause and this the effect And therefore vnlesse you will say that that which followeth is that which goeth before you cannot say that that which apprehendeth iustification is that which iustifieth To conclude therefore neither is Faith knowledge nor knowledge Faith but particular knowledge for ought you haue yet said or can say commeth in time after Faith But whereas finally you inferre that Faith is knowledge in the beginning knowledge in proceeding knowledge in the end besides that the foundation vpon which it is grounded is vntrue it is cleane contrary also to that which erewhile you affirmed that Faith is but one compounded of my three nice distinctions the first being the beginning the second the progresse the third the end For the third is Faith of Person and in the Will and is by your confession there the end of Faith yet here you say faith is knowledge in the end which things how they can stand together I see not vnlesse you will say that knowledge is in the Will and so confound the faculties and operations of the soule N. B. In Ioh. 1. Ep. c. 5. to 13. The place of Saint Iohn by you cited to proue your Minor in your argument maketh nothing for you because the Apostle speaketh of their increase of knowledge and not of the originall begetting of knowledge and so saith M. Caluin I. D. The text in the clearest tearmes that may bee distinguisheth betweene Belieuing and knowing and vnto that giueth the priority before this but your glosse confoundeth their natures and saith that the Apostle here speaketh onely of increase of knowledge Wo to the glosse that corrupteth the text for if this bee S. Iohns meaning it is as if hee should say I write vnto you that know that yee are iustified haue eternall life that yee may increase in knowing that yee haue eternall life and that yee may know yee are iustified and haue eternall life which how vnworthy it is the pen of an Apostle euery one easily seeth But Caluin you say interpreteth the place as you doe Bee it so yet is it not the name of Caluin how venerable soeuer that may sway this matter For seeing I professe to differ from him in the definition of Iustifying Faith hee defining it by knowledge I by Affiance you may not thinke it vnreasonable if in this point and the explication of such scriptures as may seeme to concerne it I desire rather to bee pressed with his reasons then borne downe with his authority But what saith Caluin Because there ought to bee dayly proceedings in Faith therefore he writes to them that belieue already that they may more firmely and certainly belieue Whereunto I willingly assent if you apply it as Beza in his annotations doth vnto the last clause of the verse and that yee may belieue for then the meaning without forcing or constraining the words will bee as if hee should say I write vnto you that belieue that belieuing yee may know yee haue eternall life knowing the same may constantly perseuere and proceed on in Belieuing For as the clouds poure downe raine to moisten the earth and the earth moistned sendeth vp vapours againe to make clouds so likewise Faith begets Assurance and Assurance being gotten doth againe confirme and strengthen faith And thus doe the Century-writers expound this place Cent. 1. l. 2. c. 4. p. 276. gathering from it that Cetainty of Saluation is an Effect of Faith and so euidently distinguishing knowledge from Faith Treatise 3. Arg. That which in nature comes after iustification cannot bee iustifying Faith This appeares because Faith is the Efficient Instrumentall cause of Iustification and euery Efficient by the rule of Logicke is in nature before the Effect But this knowledge or assurance is in nature after Iustification Ergo it is not Faith N. B. Your Minor is very false and so proued by my former arguments For particular knowledge and assurance of our saluation is not in nature after Faith but is Faith and wholy infused by the Spirit of God and begotten by hearing of the Word preached and commeth to act by degrees according to the measure of grace giuen of God For it is in Habitu sometime not in actu Faith habituall in power actuall in the deed of belieuing as when one sleepeth his beliefe is not in actu and yet hee liueth vnto God by his faith which liueth powerfully in him though not actually I. D. The Maior of my Syllogisme is vndeniable because as I haue said Faith is the cause of iustification For as D. Fulke saith vnto Bristow excluding it from Efficient causes Reioinder to Bristow p. 172. Seeing Scripture often affirmeth that God worketh in vs by Faith faith must needs be an instrumentall efficient when you haue said all that you can except you will teach vs new Grammar and Logicke The Minor therefore you say is very false and so proued by your former arguments But those arguments are already answered and thus I proue the Minor For as for the rest of your idle and wilde talke touching the infusion begetting degrees habit act of Faith I willingly passe ouer lest pursuing you in this course I seeme to run riot and play the wanton with you Treatise The truth of a Proposition is alwayes in nature before the knowledge of the truth for Propositions are not therefore true because they are knowne so but they are first true and knowne so Therefore this Proposition I know I am iustified spoken
they of whom I learned it seemed vnto me to bee no Papists and were commonly taken for very good Protestants Christ saith Beza Conf. c. 4. 9. 4. is offered vnto vs to be possessed of vs with this condition if we doe belieue in him On that condition saith Vrsinus In Catechismoq de Euang is Christs righteousnesse made ours if wee receiue it Now that receiuing is the worke and act of Faith alone The condition of Faith saith Hemingius Syntag. de Euang Art 30. Cent. 1. l. 1. c. 4. p. 93. is required that the benefit may be applied that is remission of sinnes The law say the Century-writers hath the Promise with condition of Doing and fulfilling it the Gospell hath the free Promise with condition of Belieuing and receiuing it by Faith That saith Master Foxe De Christo gratis iustif p. 237. 244. which properly wee inquire is for what cause or reason Saluation and Pardon of sinnes is promised whether vpon some condition or none at all And that the Promise is made vpon no condition no man I thinke will say wherefore it remaines of necessity wee acknowledge some condition and that is Faith In Camp 8. Rat. In the Law saith Whitaker the condition was hard which no man could satisfy but Christ propounds vnto vs a more easy condition Belieue and thou shalt bee saued Against Sanders cauils on the Lords supper p. 424. De iustif l. 1. c. 12. Ter. Eun. Act. 2. Sc. 11. Gods promises saith Fulke require the condition of Faith in them that shall obtaine them Finally Cardinall Bellarmine who hitherto hath euer been esteemed no meane Papist reports this to bee the confession of all his aduersaries and that they cannot deny it That remission of sinnes is promised vpon condition of Faith But Lord what ods and difference there is betweene simple folke and intelligent persons For vnlesse you had told it mee I had neuer knowne that Bellarmins aduersaries were Papists nor that these men whom I haue named had beene wolues in sheepskins Neither did I vntill now vnderstand what you meant when you charged mee with Popery and speaking pure Papist your meaning I see was that I spake right as Beza Vrsinus Hemingius the Century-Writers Foxe Whitaker Fulke and all the rest of that ranke vse to do For confirmation of my Minor and to proue Iustification to bee conditionall I bring as you say that place of Math. Be of good comfort Sonne thy sinnes bee forgiuen thee In handling whereof you tell mee farther first that I wrest the text and falsifie the meaning thereof then that I translate the Greeke falsly and contrary to the words themselues and all the world for 1600 yeeres lastly that most impudently and quite contrary to knowledge and conscience I adde vnto the Scripture Telling mee moreouer that I haue a mind to doe mischiefe but want power that I contemne all Grammar and parget a rotten cause with vntempered morter and therefore must needs incurre fearefull iudgement if in time I craue not mercy at the hand of God Thus Master Baxter like Saint George a horse backe you fight with a painted dragon and faining monsters to your selfe set vpon them with such Herculean impetuousnesse and fury as if you would amaze simple people with your great puissance powres and then as if you had flaild to powder your true aduersary as well as your imaginary and strawen enemy you giue foorth most terrible menaces and threats that folke henceforward may not dare to meddle with your mothers sonne more For where I pray you doe you finde this passage of S. Mathew quoted by me and vnlesse you had resolued by falshood and forgerie to maintaine this quarrell against mee with what face could you father the allegation of it vpon mee No Sir I did not so much as dreame of that place only I say in generall that the Scriptures make this to bee the tenor of the Euangelicall promise Belieue and thy sinnes shall be forgiuen thee Ioh. 3.10 little thinking that you who would bee counted a Master in Israel had beene ignorant of a doctrine so euident and fundamentall For that so it is let these few texts bee carefully considered Belieue in the Lord Iesus and thou shalt bee saued and thine houshold Act. 16.31 Act. 10.23 That through his Name all that belieue in him shall receiue remission of sinnes That whosoeuer belieueth in him should not perish but haue eternall life Ioh. 3.15.16 Rom. 10.9 Gal. 3.22 If thou belieue thou shalt bee saued That the promise of Iesus Christ should bee giuen to them that belieue To these few I might easily adde six hundred mo all which although not in precise forme of words yet in vertue and meaning are all one with this Belieue and thy sinnes shall be forgiuen thee and from them doe all Diuines gather that the Promise of the Gospell is not absolute but conditionall if we Belieue as is aboue plentifully declared Which being so you shew your selfe in this Thrasonicall and swaggering section to bee too-too base and recreant vtterly void both of forhead and conscience otherwise you would not first so palpably and desperately haue belied mee and then so impudently and vnciuilly reuell vpon mee Though you deserue it yet will I not cast backe the dirt you here throw at mee againe into your owne face I shall but defile my hands in so doing rather will I as Saint Bernard counselleth Breake the arrowes of contumely vpon the sheeld of Patience Ser. 40. de modo benè viuendi and hold forth the buckler of a good conscience against the sword of your malicious tongue But albeit I intended not nor aimed at this place of Mathew as being euery way vnsufficient to proue that iustification is promised vpon condition of Faith yet is it not so abhorring from my purpose but that it may affoard at least a probable proofe for my maine conclusion For. Beza in his annotations on Mark. 2.5 doth vs to wit that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may be translated imperatiuely thus Be thy sinnes pardoned as if it were in the third person plurall of the Coniunctiue mood which Diomedes called the Mandatiue mood for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Eustathius and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is vsed by Homer for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The reason why it may thus be turned is because the Scribes vnderstood Christ as if hee himselfe had actually forgiuen the Palsie-man his sins as appeareth in the sixt and seuenth verses which they could not so haue conceiued if hee had onely told him that his sinnes were forgiuen him Now if this bee the right translation what say you to this argument The Palsie-man first belieued for so it is said When Iesus saw their Faith meaning as well the Faith of the sicke man as of them that brought him and then after Christ forgaue his sins
of the Doctrine whether you meane thereby either this Doctrine that God commands him to belieue or this that it is absurd hee should command him to bee assured I confesse indeed that neither is the cause why the Reprobate cannot belieue but that either of them is false you shall neuer bee able to shew and I haue sufficiently proued the contrary N. B. Ex. 14.4 Rom. 9. If you aske who hath hardned him I answer God who hath power ouer the vessels of his owne making to shew his Iustice or mercy vpon them as pleaseth his diuine Maiesty If you will demand the cause why God would not giue him a fleshly heart to belieue Ioh. 12.39.40 I answer I know not Est enim aliqua docta ignorantia there is a certaine learned ignorance as well teacheth Master Caluin neither can our shallow wits search out the cause of his doings But this I know that it is so and the cause thereof principally to be his good pleasure To conclude therefore this point this Doctrine bringeth no blasphemous absurdity as you impurely and impiously affirme neither is the Doctrine false or implieth contradictories though our blind natures cannot vnderstand the things that bee of God Of this matter and argument let these places bee well weighed and by you either answered or reuerenced Rom. 11.23 Gal. 3.22 Act. 13.48 2 Thess 3.2 Mat. 13.11 Prou. 16.4 Rom. 9 1â— 19 20. and from henceforth leaue off to greeue the Spirit of God wherewith the elect are sealed vnto the day of Redemption I. D. This is right that Sophysticall place which Aristotle in his Topicks calleth Apagogen Lib. 2. c. 5. See Muret. var. lect l. 7. c. 10. that is Abduction For whereas I goe about to proue that God commandeth not a Reprobate to bee assured because so doing hee should command him to belieue a manifest falshood which implieth contradiction and affirmeth errour to bee truth you not knowing what answer to make vnto the argument deriue the attention of the Reader another way and runne out into the common place of Gods secret counsels and the cause of Induration and the Reprobates inability to belieue discoursing too and fro of these things at pleasure hauing no other reason for so doing but onely because in my argument you read the word Reprobate and that I told you in this point you had no iust cause to say vnto mee as in our priuate conference you did who art thou that disputeth with God And yet as if all the while you had been in the very bowels of the cause and had not wandred so much as a haires breadth from it you conclude very soberly and sadly Therefore this Doctrine bringeth no absurdity neither is false nor implyeth contradiction But faine would I know what the Premisses are whereupon you inferre this Therefore or whether by the rules of your Logicke you may conclude without them Vnlesse this bee the sequele I know not what to make of it Our shallow wits cannot search out the cause of Gods works Ergo wee may not thinke it absurd that God shoulâ— command a Reprobate to belieue and assure himselfe of that which neither is nor neuer shall be true Vaine man proue once that God commandeth so and I will presently grant it is not absurd to thinke so Why dispute you so earnestly of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 why it is when I flatly deny the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it is And why doe you thus alwayes grate vpon the Conclusions and make so little reckoning to answer the proofes I bring for it Well not to wrestle with words any longer nor so fruitlesly to beate the aire because you thinke like the Cuttle-Fish to escape the net by casting about you a filthy inke of foule speeches telling me I speak impurely impiously and charging me with Presumption and Curiosity for inquiring into the Counsels of God giue mee leaue by distinguishing matters to cleare the water which you wittingly and purposely haue pudled and withall to let the Reader see how basely and cowardly you seeke out starting holes to shift your selfe aside from my arguments rather then Schollerly to answer them by some conuenient solutions Consider therefore I pray you these few Positions 1. The secret Counsels of God are those matters which hee hath treasured vp in the closet of his owne knowledge and doth not disclose vnto mankind but what truth soeuer it hath pleased him in wisdome to reueale vnto vs and hath registred in his Word is not to bee esteemed nor taken for a secret 2. As to search into the hidden and secret Counsels of God is damnable Presumption so not to search and inquire into his reuealed will is damnable Negligence For as Moyses saith The secret things belong vnto the Lord our God Deut. 29.29 but the things reuealed vnto vs and our children for euer De vocat Gent. l. 1. c. 7. Whereupon Prosper The things which God would haue hidden must not be searched and the things which hee hath made manifest must not bee neglected lest in them we be found vnlawfully curious and in these damnably vngratefull 3. They therefore that painfully and diligently trauell to find out such truths as are either expressed or infolded in the written word are not to bee tearmed Curious but Studious So distinguisheth Saint Augustin Although both De vâ—il credendi ca. 9. saith hee bee carried with a great desire of knowing yet the curious man inquireth those things which nothing concerne him and the Studious man contrarily inquireth those things which doe pertaine vnto him 4. This is a reuealed truth that There is no contradiction in God and that Hee cannot doe those things which imply contradiction 2 Cor. 1.17.18.19.20 Heb. 6.18 or are repugnant vnto the nature and definition of a thing For in God as saith S. Paul there is not yea and nay but yea and Amen neither is it possible that hee should lie or deny himselfe and it is rather impotency then Power so to bee able to doe whereas contrarily De Trin. l. 15. c. 14. as elegantly Saint Augustin saith Powerfully hath hee not power to doe this neither is it infirmity but firmity because that truth cannot bee false 5. These two Propositions are contradictory The Reprobate is iustified The Reprobate is not iustified and The Reprobate shall bee saued The Reprobate shall not bee saued God therefore cannot make that they should be true at once For as Saint Augustin saith Contrà Faustum Man l. 26. c. 5. Whosoeuer saith if God bee omnipotent let him make that those things which haue been haue not been sees not that he faith if God be omnipotent let him make that those things which are true in that they are true be false 6. One part of the Contradiction is necessarily false namely this The Reprobate is iustified Rom. 8.30 The Reprobate shall bee saued for they onely who are Predestinated vnto life are as Saint Paul
some safe place for shelter or harbor Iudg. 9.15 so is it vsed in sundry places 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Come saith the bramble in the booke of Iudges shelter or couer you vnder my shadow and the Prophet Dauid in the Psalmes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will retire mee vnder the shadow of thy wings And hence is it that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Noune Psal 57.1 deriued from this root signifieth a place of refuge or protection as where Dauid saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the rocks are refuge for the conies and Esay Psal 104.18 Thou hast been a fortresse to the poore a fortresse to the needy in his trouble 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a refuge from the storme or inundation Esa 4.6 So that this word referred vnto Christ betokeneth that Act whereby wee betake our selues vnto him as vnto the only Sanctuary where wee may bee preserued safe from the tempest of Gods displeasure which cannot be but by iustification from our sinnes according to that of the Psalmist Psal 2.12 If his wrath burne yea but a little 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 blessed are all they that retire themselues to him Vpon which place learned Iunius notes that that retiring vnto God which is there affirmed to be the cause of our blessednes is no other then sincere Faith The next word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth to Roll whence commeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Circle or Ring and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Spheare or Wheele because as the cube easily setleth and stayeth vpon one side so the Sphericall and round figure is euer subiect to rolling turning Being ioined with the Preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it signifies to Deuolue or Roll vpon a thing either to oppresse iâ— and beare it downe as where Iosephs brethren say We are brought hither 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to roll and cast himselfe vpon vs Gen. 43.18 Iob. 30.14 and Iob 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they roll themselues vpon mee or to bee supported and borne vp by it as in the place of Psalmes aboue cited Prou. 16.3 and that of the Prouerbs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Roll thy works vpon the Lord and thy thoughts shall bee established Agreeable whereunto is that of the Psalmist though vsing another word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cast thy burden vpon the Lord and hee shall sustaine thee Psal 55.23 hee will not suffer the righteous to bee moued for euer This then applied vnto Christ intimates vnto vs our fleeting vnsetled estate and the restlesnesse of our soules vntill wee come vnto him according to that of Saint Augustin Thou hast made vs for thy selfe and our hearts are vnquiet till they rest in thee and so imports that Act whereby being heauy loden with our sinnes and seeking to bee eased of them at length wee discharge our lode and rest our selues vpon him The third word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth to put confidence trust Affiance in or vpon a thing and as Mercer saith firmiter inniti In the saâ—o Pagn firmely to leane or rest vpon a thing Hereupon you shall oftentimes find it ioyned with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 properly signifying to leane on whence also commeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a staffe because men vse to leane on it and to support themselues by it as for example 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yee trust in fraud and stubbornesse saith Esay 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and leane vpon it and againe Esa 30.12 Esa 50.10 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let him trust on the Name of the Lord and leane vpon his God And to this word had I speciall regard when I defined Faith by Fiducia or Rest as appeareth by that in my Treatise I make the Act of Fiducia to be Inniti to leane vpon which yet I therefore rendred rest because in our English translations it is vsually so turned as for example that of the Prophet Hanani vnto King Asa 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Chron. 16.7 Vers 8. is thus englished Because thou hast rested vpon the King of Aram and not rested in the Lord thy God and againe in the next verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Because thou didst rest vpon the Lord. So then this word in the matter of Iustification designeth that Act whereby finding that wee are weake and feeble vnable to support our selues we make Iesus Christ our staffe staying and resting our selues vpon him Psal 18.19 according to that of Dauid 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lord was as a staffe vnto mee The last word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to Belieue in or vpon for as for that other of Hoping in because it may seeme to bee rather the Act of Hope then of Faith or but Catachrestically vsed when it is put for Belieuing in I vtterly omit it What is it then to belieue in or on Let the Holy Ghost whose phrase it is declare his owne meaning Behold saith the Apostle Peter out of the Prophet Esay I lay in Sion a cheefe corner-stone 1 Pet. 2.6 Esa 28.16 chosen and precious and he that belieueth thereon shall not bee ashamed To Belieue on a stone seemeth an insolent and vnusuall speech but it is no other then as the Apostle expresseth himselfe to come as liuing stones vnto the corner-stone 1 Pet. 2.4.5 and to lay and build our selues vpon it that wee may bee made a spirituall house which in effect is the same with that Retiring and Resting wee haue aboue spoken of as will yet farther appeare if wee compare this place with the like of the Prophet Dauid for whereas here it is said He that belieueth thereon shall not bee ashamed there the Psalmist deliuereth it thus Psal 33.5 They that looke vnto him and run vnto him their faces shall not bee ashamed But if you would yet more fully and plainely vnderstand what it is to Belieue in or vpon a thing then read and consider that most sweet and comfortable speech of Saint Iohn in his Gospell As many saith hee as receiued him to them hee gaue power to be the Sonnes of God Ioh. 1.12 that is to them that Belieue in his Name Lo to Belieue in Christ saith the holy Apostle is to receiue Christ and therefore if wee may know what it is to receiue Christ wee shall also know what it is to belieue in him Receiuing is a word of Relation and answereth vnto Offering for what is not offered is rather taken then receiued To offer Christ vnto any is the Act of God onely to receiue Christ is the Act onely of the Elect of God God offereth Christ vnto vs when either outwardly by the publike preaching of the Word or inwardly by the secret knocking of his spirit he counselleth and aduiseth vs to acknowledge that Iesus is the Mediator and to admit of him for our Mediator And wee againe receiue Christ so offered vnto vs when as being conuinced and perswaded by
worketh eternall rest and peace But how doth this follow Faith is the cause of eternall quiet and resting from our labours in the Kingdome of Heauen Ergo it is the cause of Affiance and Resting vpon Christ here in this life for it is not necessary that that which causeth the one should also cause the other But if in your Conclusion when you say Faith is not a Rest you meane it is not that eternall rest what is that to mee who define not Faith by such a Rest So then your therefore either concluding beside the Question or being inferred vpon no Premisses deserueth of mee no answer at all Yet to take away all scruple let vs see what may be said for it Bellarmine to proue that Affiance is an Effect of Faith De iustif lib. 1. cap. 6. and consequently not Faith alledgeth and vrgeth three passages of Scripture but withall I must tell you that if hee dispute to the purpose hee must meane by Affiance no other then confident Perswasion or Assurance For his aduersaries as himselfe there saith defining Faith by Affiance vnderstand thereby that Speciall Faith whereby euery one applying to himselfe the diuine Promise belieueth or rather confidently trusteth that all his sins are forgiuen him by Christ So that if as he ought hee argue vnto the meaning of his aduersaries hee concludeth not against my Affiance but onely against your Perswasion or Assurance Neuerthelesse let vs examine those places seuerally and particularly The first is that of the Apostle to the Ephesians Eph. 3.12 In whom wee haue boldnesse and entrance with confidence by the Faith of him whence it followeth saith hee if confidence or Affiance be by Faith that Faith is not Affiance but the cause thereof for otherwise the sense would bee we haue entrance with confidence by confidence which is absurd To this I answer first that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Confidence oftentimes signifieth Perswasion or Assurance being deriued of a verbe that signifieth firmely to be Perswaded as where the Apostle saith Rom. 2.19 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thou strongly perswadest thy selfe that thou art a guide of the blind Phil. 1.25 and againe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this am I well assured of and therefore it is not necessary here to vnderstand it of my Affiance Secondly grant that by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this Affiance is meant yet doth it not follow that it is an effect of Iustifying Faith seeing by faith not Iustifying but Historicall Faith may bee vnderstood which is the meanes by which wee grow vnto Affiance Lastly let it be farther yeelded that both by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Affiance and by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 iustifying Faith are meant yet may Affiance this notwithstanding bee that Faith neither will any such absurdity ensue thereon For as when you say wee are assured by Faith you would thinke your selfe wronged if I should inferre thereupon that Faith is not Assurance but the cause thereof or that otherwise the sense would bee wee are assured by assurance so when the Apostle saith in Affiance by Faith why should he not also count himselfe as much abused if you gather from hence that Faith is not Affiance but the cause thereof or that else the speech would be absurd as if hee should say in Affiance by Affiance The reason of all in a word is because this forme of words may import that Affiance is the next and immediate Act of Iustifying Faith The second place is that saying of our Sauiour vnto the woman diseased with an issue of blood Mat. 9.22 Bee confident daughter thy Faith hath saued thee where saith hee Faith is againe in like sort distinguished from Affiance for the woman is moued to conceiue and entertaine Affiance who was already healed by Faith To this I answer that the word which our Sauiour vseth to the woman is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth to be bold or couragious whence commeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Boldnes courage Exerc. 317.4 which as Iulius Scaliger saith is the motion of Fortitude vnto some worke and is opposed vnto Timerousnesse or Fearefulnesse Neither was it without speciall reason that our Sauiour chose that word rather then any other for finding that vertue proceeded from him and demanding who had touched him Luc. 8.47 the woman seeing that shee could conceale it came vnto him trembling and fell at his feet and declared what shee had done whereupon hee said vnto her 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tremble not Daughter nor be dismay'd but cheere vp and bee of good courage for I assure thee thy Faith hath saued thee goe thy way in Peace Now this Boldnesse or courage I confesse is an effect of Faith nay oftentimes an effect of the effect of Faith namely Hope for as Despaire of victory causeth Fearefulnesse and deiection of Spirit so contrariwise Hope of victory maketh a man to bee bold and confident But vnlesse you can proue that this Boldnesse is the same with my Affiance which with all your skill you can neuer doe they being of so different natures you can neuer conclude from hence that Affiance is an effect of Faith The third and last place is that of the same Apostle vnto Timothy They which minister well shall get vnto themselues a good degree and much affiance in the Faith which is in Christ where saith hee 1 Tim. 3.13 Affiance is said to be acquired and gotten by Faith because Faith may bee without such Affiance Whereunto I answer that the word vsed in the originall is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which no way signifieth Affiance but libertie and freedome of speech whether wee vtter our mind vnto God by prayer as where the Apostle saith Heb. 4.16 Let vs come 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with boldnesse and freedome of Speech vnto the Throne of grace or make profession of our Faith before men as where the same Apostle saith Cast not away 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 your free profession Heb. 10.35 as Beza translateth it And because this libertie and freedome proceedeth from the testimony of a good conscience and assurance of the loue and fauour of God Heb. 3.6 therefore is it sometimes vsed for Assurance as where the Apostle saith Whose house wee are if wee hold fast 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that confidence and reioycing of Hope vnto the end meaning by Confidence saith Beza that most worthy effect of Faith whereby wee crye Abba Father Prou. 28.1 and sometimes for that Lion-like boldnesse which Salomon saith alwayes attendeth a good conscience and so doth the same Beza in this present place of Timothy vnderstand it Heb. 3.6 vide annot Tremel ad Heb. 4.16 And hence it is that the Syriacke oftentimes rendreth this word by Retection or Reuelation of the face because a good conscience lifteth vp the head and boldly sheweth the face whereas a guiltie minde hangeth downe the head and as one confounded and ashamed dares
definition this Relying vpon Christ is Iustifying Faith but that this Resting vpon Christ is vnto Faith as the fruite is to the tree proue it sufficiently and in Gods Name take the victory But you must not thinke that affirming is prouing or facing arguing and very meanely doe you conceiue of your Readers iudgement if you thinke that your weake asseuerations can more preuaile with them then the strength of my reasons For if by Rest you vnderstand as you should not Quiet and peace of Conscience which I confesse is not complete without Assurance but that Affiance by which wee stay our selues vpon Christ accepting him to bee our Mediator in such sort as is aboue described I haue both plainely and soundly demonstrated that Faith is such a Rest and such a Rest Faith and not the fruite of Faith N. B. And to be plaine with you when you say Iustifying Faith is not a Knowledge or an Assurance Tom. 3. de Iustif ca. 7. you speake pure Bellarmine as appeareth in his Booke de iustificatione I pray you therefore though you mislike M. Perkins turne not pure Papist I. D. And to bee plaine with you also if your kind of reasoning may passe for currant when you say Iustifying Faith is not a Rest or Affiance you speake pure Bellarmine Cap. 5.6.9 for in the same Booke by you quoted as hee denieth Faith to bee Assurance so hee denieth it also to be Affiance I pray you therefore though you mislike my Definition yet turne not pure Papist But Master Baxter you mistake the matter very much if you thinke all is Popish or erronious whatsoeuer either a member of the Church of Rome or the whole Church of Rome holdeth for by this rule wee should with the Arrians of Poleland renounce the very Faith of the Trinity as a branch of Antichrists Religion of whom it is reported that therefore and for this reason specially they hold the Pope to bee the misticall beast spoken of in the Reuelation and his triple Crowne a visible marke thereof because hee maintaineth the doctrine of the Trinity As therefore erewhile you said vnto mee Let vs not be bound to defend the errors of our Brethren so say I now vnto you Let vs not bee bound to reiect the truths of our aduersaries For truth is Gods wheresoeuer it bee found though it were in the mouth of him who is the father of lies and if Ticonius the Donatist speake with better reason then Cyprian an orthodox father Retract lib. 2. ca. 18. S. Augustin will not sticke therein to preferre the Hereticke before him that is Catholike But notwithstanding all this I would haue you to know that all the agreement betweene mee and Bellarmine is onely in this what Faith is not for in question what it is we differ the whole heauen one from another he defining it by Assent vnto diuine truths I by Affiance on the person of Christ N. B. Now Master Downe to make an end and returne to my other affaires from whence you haue vnkindly drawne mee I pray you read a few Positions to the which oppose what you can I. D. What your affaires are I am not well acquainted withall but what they should bee I wot full well Among the rest maintenance of Gods truth and conuincing of contrary errors are both by the rule of Christianity in generall and the office of the Ministry which you haue taken vpon you in particular required of you Wherein if you bee sure that all this while you haue beene employed you discredit your action exceedingly when you say you are vnkindly drawne from your other affaires vnto it Plut. Apophth Remember you not what the woman replied vnto Philip of Macedon denying to heare her sute because he was not at leisure Hast thou not quoth shee leisure to bee a King So say I vnto you either doe the worke if you will bee a Minister of Christs Gospell or else bee no Minister if you bee vnwilling to doe the worke To what end you should offer vnto me these Positions following requiring mee to oppose what I can against them I cannot well coniecture for what stuffe haue you here brought vs besides that which either is already sufficiently answered or whereof there is no question at all betwixt vs And therefore I see no cause why I should vouchsafe to bestow any time or labour about them Neuertheles to satisfy your request a word or two touching them N. B. True Iustifying Faith defined 1. Iustifying Faith is an assured knowledge or knowing assurance by the which euery one of the elected relieth vpon the Promises of the mercy of God in Christ Iesus firmely holding that Christ and eternall life together with all the merits of Christ are giuen to him to righteousnesse and eternall saluation Fides vnica indiuidua specie Haec Fides differt numero gradu 2. There is but one onely speciall iustifying Faith 3. This Faith differeth in number and degree 4. It is manifest there bee so many seuerall Faiths in number as there bee seuerall persons elected 5. One man is not saued by another mans Faith Mat. 26.74.75 17.17 Mat. 9.24 6. This Faith differeth in degrees small in one man and mighty in another Mat. 13.23 14.31 Act. 2.8 ca. 4. Mat. 15.28 Fides imperfecta Ad resistendum tamen diabolo sufficiens quare 7. The greatest Faith in this life is imperfect 1 Cor. 13.9 12. 8. Though it bee small and infirme yet it is sufficient to resist the Diuell by reason of the prayers and promises of Christ. 2 Cor. 5.1 Esa 53.11 Causa efficiens material 9. This Knowledge or Faith for they bee conuertible Ioh. 17.3 passeth all vnderstanding Eph. 3.14 c. 10. The Efficient cause of this Faith is the Spirit of God 11. The instrumentall ordinary cause is the preaching sincerely of the Word of God 12. God may worke extraordinarily Faith in the Elect without preaching by his Spirit Obiectum Fidei in genere specie 13. The obiect of Faith in generality is the whole Word of God in speciality the promises of God in Christ and his Merits 14. The formall cause is a confident relation to all the Word of God and certainty of saluation Formalis 15. The finall cause subordinate Finis subordinatus summus is the saluation of the Elect the chiefest end is the celebration of the mercy and iustice of God 16. The effects are concerning God our selues Effecta our neighbour God in truly seruing him our selues in wholy resting vpon him our neighbour in truly louing him 17. The subiect where Faith resteth is the heart Subiectum in quo residet Fides Adiuncta duo the vnderstanding and the will of man 18. The properties are two first that Faith bee aliue and not dead secondly that it bee perpetuall I. D. The first the thirteenth and the foureteenth I wholly and absolutely deny hauing fully
therefore are not one 3. That which in nature comes after Iustification cannot be Iustifying faith This appeares because Faith is the Efficient instrumentall cause of Iustification and euery Efficient by the rule of Logick is in nature before the Effect But this knowledge or Assurance is in nature after iustificatiō This I proue thus the truth of a proposition is alwayes in nature before the knowledge of the truth for Propositions are not therefore true because knowne so but they are first true and then knowne so Therefore this Proposition I know I am iustified spoken by on that is iustified must needs presuppose the partie before to be iustified Therefore this knowledge of Iustification in nature following Iustification it cannot be Iustifying faith 4. In conditionall promises there can be no Assurance of the thing promised before the performance of the condition V. G. This is a conditionall promise in the couenant of workes doe this and thou shalt liue life is promised but on condition of doing and therefore vntill we haue performed the condition we cannot nor may not looke that God should be reciprocall and giue vs life So in the couenant of grace iustification is promised but vpon condition of faith so sayth the Scripture beleeue and thy sinnes shall be forgiuen thee And therefore the condition of beleeuing must first be performed before we can assure our selues our sins are forgiuen If so then faith going before and Assurance following after Assurance cannot be justifying faith 5 That from whence followeth a blasphemous absurdity cannot be a truth for from truth nought but truth can be concluded But from this that faith is an Assurance such an absurdity doth follow What is that That God commands a man to know an vntruth to assure himselfe of that which neuer shall be For God being truth cannot command falshood to be taken for truth Nether tell me here for who art thou that disputest with God for this is a ruled case in diuinity God cānot doe things which imply contradiction and therefore not make vntruth to be truth or knowledge error Now that this absurdity followes from hence thus I demonstrate it God commands the Reprobate to beleeue For Ioh. 18.8.9 for vnbeleefe the world shall bee condemned but no condemnation but for breach of a commandement 1 Ioh. 3.4 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sinne is the transgression of the law and therefore they are commanded to beleeue I aske you then what it is to beleeue you will say to know to assure Therefore God commands the Reprobates to know and bee assured But this is a blasphemous absurdity therefore is your opinion absurd which infers it 6. That which the wicked may haue cannot be iustifying faith for it is Fides Electorum the faith of the Elect. But the wicked may haue this perswasion yea and many haue beene most confidently perswaded that they are in the fauour of God You will say it is no true perswasion but I say if forme make truth they are as formally and therefore as truly perswaded of it as the godly And therefore if the godly are therefore and for this cause iustified because cause they are strongly perswaded that they are iustified then why should not the wicked likewise be iustified by his strong perswasion But in truth these kind of speeches are vnreasonable and senselesse and so the opinion cannot be reasonable These sixe reasons shall suffice for the present although many more might be added only from hence I gather this Corollary that if iustifying Faith be not a Knowledge or Assurance much lesse is it a full knowledge or full Assurance Nay though we should graunt it to be a knowledge yet is it against Logick to define it by the perfection of knowledg For as there is a strong tree so there is a brused reed as there is a burning lamp so there is smoking flaxe as there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Faith come to full age and maturity so there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Faith in the nonage and minority So therefore to define it were to exclude the weake Faith and to make the Definition narrower and of lesse latitude then the definite Besides it is a most discomfortable doctrine vnto a troubled mind and leads the directest way to desperation for so the palsie hand of Faith should not receiue Christ And were not this to quench fire with oile and to adde Aloes to wormwood and might not hee that thus comforteth be counted one of Iobs miserable comforters Ob. The godly are said to know and to be perswaded yea the Prophet saith Io. 3.14 Ioh. 17.3 Esa 53.11 Heb. 11.1 By his knowledge shall my righteous seruant iustifie many and Faith is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Subsistence and Euidence Ans First I graunt the godly may and ought to know but the question is not of their duty but what it is which iustifies them 2 Secondly to know and so likewise the Verbs of Sence in the Hebrew tongue vsually signifieth not onely an act of the Minde or outward Sence but of the Will and affection also So in the Psalme 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psal 1.6 Mat. 7.13 The Lord knoweth the way of the Righteous and in the Gospell Depart I know you not and elsewhere I will not heare see c. that is God will not so know heare see c. as in fauour to loue or approue And so doe I interprete that of the Prophet Christ being so knowne as to bee embraced and rested vpon by the Will shall iustify many 3 Thirdly that Definition in the eleuenth to the Hebrewes I deny with Peter Martyr and the rest of our Diuines to bee perfect but rather by the Effects to describe it And as for that word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Subsistence whereon you seeme to stand take this first that the writers of the new Testament vse words in the same sence that the Seuentie Translators doe Secondly that that which in Hebrew is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Expectation that the Septuagint turne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as in Ruth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ruth 1.12 so that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Hebrewes shall not be Subsistence but expectation or desire of things that are hoped for But of this umpliandum censeo I pronounce nothing only I conclude his second Faith not to be Iustifying Faith And because you shall not count me singular or alone in this point read M. Foxe in his booke de Christo gratis iustificante and you shall find him earnest against this opinion The third faith is Fides Persone or Personalis meriti Faith of Person or of Personall merit and of this I make the Obiect to be Christ the Mediator meriting the Act of it Fiducia a Rest or Deuolution the Subiect of it the facultie of the Will and not the Vnderstanding the next End of it Iustification the remote End eternall Saluation And thus I
anon and anon by Gods help will I farther maintaine it against you In the meane season let vs see how skilfully you can vse your buckler hand and ward of those arguments I obiect against you And that the reader may more easily concerne the course of our disputation and how pertinently things are applyed as hitherto before my Reply I haue set downe the words of your Answer so henceforward before your Answer will I set downe the words also of the Treatise I sent you Treatise I will not play the Philologer in shewing the diuerse vse and acceptation of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Fides or quote Ciceros Fiat quod dictum est or Augustins Fac quod dicis for the Notation of it nor play the Philosopher in discoursing of Physicall or Morall or Ciuill Faith nor lastly will I speake of Theologicall Miraculous Faith N. B. No doubt but then we are like to heare good stuffe seeing at the first entrance into the lists you refuse to bee tried by those that best knew the meaning of the things which they would expresse Nomen quod rem notat quasi notamé nec aliter enunciari res possit nisi aliquo nomine Aug. de Gen. ad lit c. 7. lib. imperfecto Apoc. adu Gent. c. 46. Ib. ca. 3. and therefore found out names fit to note their natures But Tertullian could haue told you whose words you cite in your preface though falsly Sinominis inquit odium est quis nominum reatus quae nominum accusatio Nisi si aut barbarum sonat vox aliqua nominis aut infaustum aut maledicum aut impudicum If you find fault with the Word wherein doth the Word offend what can you say against it except the Word bee barbarous or ominous or slanderous or vnchast I. D. Stumbling at the threshold they say bodes no good and little hope doe you giue of honest and plaine dealing in the sequele that make your beginning with so fond and shamelesse a cauill For neither doe I refuse to be tried by those who found out the names of things neither doe my words import any disliking of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Fides only I omit to discourse of such things as are vulgarly knowne and not greatly materiall to my purpose Apolog. c. 2. 3. Tertullian indeed tels mee that the Gentiles sometimes hated the very name of Christian persecuting it with as much rigour in them that bare it as they did notorious wickednesse in others albeit the Name neither were barbarous nor ominous nor slanderous nor vnchast But what is this to the purpose vnlesse you say I am growne into as deep a detestation of the word Faith as Pagans were of the name of Christiā which none but an infidell can doe and no other then a Satanicall and diuellish spirit would obiect vnto mee For as the thing signified by the Word is that most noble grace of the Spirit of God which giueth the forme and being to a Christian man so the Word also I confesse hath from the beginning both beene sanctified by the Holy Ghost and religiously retained in the Church to signifie the same neither can it now without sacrilege and impiety either bee violated or disused It is not I therefore that finde fault or am offended with the Word it is you rather that offer open violence vnto the plainest sentence giuing withall strong suspicion that hauing once passed the bounds of modestie wilfully peruerting the state of the question you will hereafter steele your forehead and waxe rechlesse of saying any thing But I haue cited you say the words of Tertullian falsly Not so falsly as you haue cited him idly For wheras that Father saith Apol. c. 46. Philosophers player-like affect truth and affecting corrupt it as being ambitious of glory but Christians necessarily desire it and intirely practice it as being carefull of their saluation I report it somewhat more breefly thus Although Philosophers player-like affect the truth as being ambitious of glory yet Christians studiously follow it as being carefull of their Saluation So that omission of a word or twaine without any alteration of the sence in a matter neither hindering nor furthering the cause in hand or some such toy as Hierome speaketh Epist 101. ad Pammach is the crime you charge mee withall For the true meaning of the sentence I am sure I haue kept as for the words because I endited out of my memory being then in Bristol and vse not to cary my Library about with mee when I trauell abroad it was easie to mistake or forget some part of them N. B. But you knowing the very meaning of the Greeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 comming 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 persuasus sum vel fui I haue beene or am perswaded whereof commeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 persuadere to perswade would haue stayed you from condemning vs that say Faith is a full perswasion Besides the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 comming of that which a man simply is perswaded of Truth and the Greeke comming of the Passiue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to bee perswaded if you would might haue stayed you from incurring this infamy and me from this labour It had therefore as I thinke beene much better for you to haue been Philologos then Antipistos But let vs see how you proceed I. D. Kemnitius a graue and learned Diuine saith that so great a matter as is the Definition of iustifying Faith is not to bee committed only vnto Grammaticall disputations Loco de Iustif and yet so great store doe you make of one poore and naked Etymologie as if there need no more but the knowledge thereof to decide the controuersie For this you say if I would might haue stayed mee from condemning you and eased you from this labour Let vs therefore seeing you are so confident vpon it trie the strength of this Achilles Faith you say in the Greeke and Hebrew comes from a word signifying to bee perswaded Ergo Faith is a Perswasion Sir I deny your Consequence For first euery word beares not alwayes the signification of the primitiue from which it is deriued Arist 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ca. 1. partly because the number of words being certaine and definite but infinite of things one word of necessity must haue more then one meaning partly by vse which is the rule and warrant of speech they oftentimes degenerate from their natiue and first signification into a strange and farre different meaning So that if your kind of reasoning may passe for currant great danger and error must needs ensue vpon it For example Hypostasis if wee regard the first originall thereof signifieth Substance and so saith Hierome all schooles of humane learning vnderstand it Epist 57. ad Damas. yet were it horrible blasphemie thereupon to conclude Ergo in the matter of the Trinity it must signifie so too for what mouth saith the
things Hence the ancient Fathers inuented the word Trinity to signify the plurality of persons in one substance Homousios to expresse the consubstantiality of the Sonne with the Father Theotokos to maintaine the personall vnion of both natures in Christ and six hundred such like words vtterly vnknown vnto former ages Ibid. old matters as the same Athanasius saith Cap. 18. receiuing new names those new names couching vnder them no new meaning According whereunto Vincentius Lirinensis though he would not haue his Timothie to broach new things yet giueth him leaue to teach the same things he hath learned after a new manner Being therfore warrāted both by the precept practice of the Primitiue Church I see no cause but that euen in this point also I may be permitted to vse new tearmes Perhaps you will say that not only the tearme wherewith it is inuested but the matter hereof is also new for so much your questions out of Hierome and Tertullian and the floud of words following with not a drop of reason in them seeme to import Whereunto though I haue already sufficiently answered yet now I adde by way of surplus that many Truths lye a long time hidden in their principles and vnheeded of the wisest which being at length disclosed and brought to light are not therefore new in themselues but onely vnto vs comming newly vnto our knowledge euen as the countrey of America is called the new world not because it is of a latter creation then Europe Asia or Africa but only because it is of a later discouery These Conclusions vntill their dependency and coherence with the principles doe manifestly appeare vnto vs it sufficeth to beleeue them implicitly and in the preparation of the Minde but when they shall bee vnfolded out of their principles and clearly demonstrated vnto vs by necessary deduction from them we are bound to yeeld distinct and expresse assent vnto them And then as it would haue been great folly in the Spaniard to haue refused the gold and treasures of the new world because it was found out not by the old Argonauts but by Christopher Columbus a late sailer so would it bee great sinne in vs to disclaime and renounce the benefit of a truth because it is made known vnto vs not by an ancient Father but by a man of yesterday or to day Iam. 2.1 For this were to haue the faith of God in respect of persons as S. Iames saith and to restraine the gift of the Spirit of Wisdome and reuelation vnto the times of our predecessors as if they only had eyes giuen them to spie out truths and it were impossible for vs to see what they saw not although wee caried the Sunne in our hands as Lactantius speaketh Now then to apply this vnto the matter in hand if the point you quarell at bee not onely new vnto the present custome De Ciuit. Dei lib. 22. c. 7. as S. Augustin speaketh but also contrary vnto reason and the grounds of Faith I confesse it is erronious and iustly may you come vpon mee with your demaunds out of Hierome and Tertullian Ep. 23. ad Paulin. De veland virg cap. 1. who are you whence when that after 400. yeeres you should goe about to teach vs what wee knew not before But if it bee new only vnto vs and not in it selfe then doe I answer your Hierome with Hierome Weigh not truth by time and Tertullian with Tertullian Nor space of times nor patronage of persons nor priuiledge of places may prescribe against truth For that which is no otherwise new is true and as the truth of God is with all reuerence and submission to bee embraced Howbeit this I say not as if I would be thought to bee the first discouerer hereof or that it had laine hid as it were in the pit of Democritus vntill this time For that there is a Faith whose obiect is the Person of the Mediator was neuer yet vnknowne in the Church but hath euer beene manifest euen from the beginning Search the Scriptures and you shall find therein nothing more cleere then this For as in the treatise sent you I haue shewed the whole tenor of them runs thus Hee that beleeueth in mee shall not perish Ioh. 3.16 Ioh. 14.1 Ioh. 1.12 yee beleeue in God beleeue also in mee As many as receiued him to them hee gaue power to bee the Sonnes of God that is to them that beleeue in him c. Rom. 3.22.26 Gal. 2.16.3.22 Phil. 3.9 Iam. 2.1 Reu. 2.13.14.12 Whereunto I adde that in sundry places it is expresly called the Faith of Iesus Christ not because it inhereth in Christ as in a Subiect but for that it hath relation and respect vnto Christ as vnto the right Obiect And that at length it appeareth both that the matter is euery way old though the tearme bee new and that new tearmes may bee giuen to old matters euen of this kind so as they bee proper determined and adequated thereunto It remaineth onely to shew that such is the tearme which here I vse For proofe whereof I say no more but this that if our best Diuines haue conueniently distinguished other Faiths according to their obiects calling one Faith of story because Scripture story another Faith of Promise because the Euangelicall promise a third Faith of Miracles because miracles are the proper obiect of them I see no reason why I may not as freely and as fitly call that Faith of Person which hath for its Obiect the Person of Iesus Christ Neither can I conceiue if this bee an inkhorne tearme as it pleaseth your elegancy to tearme it why Faith of Story Faith of Promise Faith of Miracles should not bee inkhorne-tearmes also But you are a very nice and dainty man you can tast no wine how old or generous soeuer vnlesse the cup out of which you drinke it bee grauen by Myron or Polycletus N. B. But this hath beene the course of all fanaticall spirits in all ages moued with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phil 1.14 selfe-loue contention hypocrisie and couetousnesse De Haeresibus ad Quodvult Deum to condemne all others to set vp and stablish their owne fantasies Read Augustine yea see the Ecclesiasticall histories Eusebius Sozomen Euagrius Dorotheus Vincentius c. there shall you see whereupon these Schismes in the Church began Let mee therefore intreate you if you will needs deale in these graue causes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet that you will deale also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 well as becommeth a wise man For otherwise you shall bewray your mind desirous of nouelties hazard your credit offend the Church yea as hee saith take vpon you to glew an egge Diogenianus loosing your labour and making your selfe ridiculous to the best I. D. What hath beene the course of fanaticall spirits in all ages and whereupon they haue been moued to beginne their Schismes in the Church I am not now to learne
reasons for Other writers saith hee I so read that how much soeuer they excell in holinesse and learning Ep. 19. ad Hieron I doe not therfore thinke any thing to be true because they iudge so but because they perswade me either by those Canonicall Authors or by probable reason not abhorring from truth Bellarmine vpbraiding Illyricus for his Coniectures is thus answered by learned Iunius Contrà Bell. de transl impl 1. c. 11. Bee not so hot I pray you against humane coniectures In a word whether wee would modestly shew our owne opinion or refell anothers wee deale humanely saying it is a coniecture but to vpbraid humane coniectures is meere inhumanity Dan. Cham. de oecum Pont. Nay Daniel Chamier a very learned late writer in his booke de oecumenico Pontifice doth professedly distinguish his arguments into Scripture Coniecture and Testimony and will you therefore say of him as you doe vnto mee that hee doubted of the truth of his cause determined to ensnare poore silly Readers and walked not recto pectore with an vpright conscience Reioinder to Brist reply But so it is I vse the very words of D. Fulk being almost in the same tearmes cauilled withall by blundering Bristow When you can say nothing against my assertion your selfe you would make mee vncertaine of it and say that it is but a light suspicion of mine because in one place before I come to the sound proofe of it I say it is a probable coniecture And doth it follow therefore that I doubt of it because I offer a probable coniecture vnto other mens vnderstanding before by order of discourse I am brought to the manifest probation of it Well yet if Probable like you not those that follow are Necessary and I feare mee you will bee able to say little to them that leaue this without answer and the weaker the argument the more disgrace to bee graueld by it But my purpose in vsing both was for the more strength and perswasion for as Pindar saith It is the surest and safest way in a tempestuous night to cast out of the ship two ankers Olymp. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 6. Treatise 2. Arg. That which is in time after iustifying Faith cannot bee that Faith This is vndeniable But this Particular knowledge is in time after that Faith This I proue out of 1 Ioh. 5.13 These things haue I written vnto you that belieue in the name of the Sonne of God that yee may know that yee haue Eternall life Behold Belieuing goes before and Knowledge comes after As for that which followeth in the same verse and that yee may belieue I interprete it of Perseuerance and growth in Faith Howsoeuer Belieuing and Knowing are here distinguished and therefore are not all one N. B. I deny your Minor neither doth that place of S. Iohn helpe you ought as wee shall see anon I tell you that iustifying Faith is a Particular Knowledge though in other tearmes by vs vsed and by the Scripture set downe So that where you say a man first belieueth and then knoweth wee say hee beleeueth that is hee particularly knoweth apprehendeth and applieth Christ to himselfe perpetually and liuely to his saluation So that Belieuing and particular knowing himselfe to bee elected are one and that it is this knowledge thus I argue I. D. Before you come to bestow a word or two vpon the Minor which you deny you thinke it good like a cunning and subtle disputer flatly to deny the Conclusion and peremptorily to auouch the Contradictory vnto it then very prodigally to wast a multitude of words in the proofe thereof A maruelous policy I promise you vtterly disabling me from farther replying for as much as Logicke it selfe giues no precept how a man may reply vpon him who denies the Conclusion and taking the Contradictory thereof as granted goes about thereby to disproue the Premises For so doe you when you say Faith is a knowledge and therefore goes not afore knowledge my reason being contrarily framed thus Faith goes before knowledge therefore is not knowledge Doubtles had you not had the heart of Zenodotus Martial and the liuer of Crates as the Poet saith you could neuer haue stumbled vpon so politicke a deuise But let vs heare your reasons N. B. What soeuer iustifieth a man is Faith Darij Esa 53.11 But particular knowledge iustifieth a man Therfore particular knowledge is Faith I proue the Minor out of the Scripture By the knowledge of himselfe saith the Lord shall my righteous seruant justify many Lo M. Downe here the knowledge of Christ iustifieth a man and is the same in effect and working that Faith is and therefore are they both one which you make to bee twaine by distinction and originall Your speech helpeth Bellarmine that saith Faith may bee rather in ignorantiá implicitâ in an ignorance couched then in explicitâ cognitione a discouered knowledge Tom. 3. de iustif l. 5. c. 7. I. D. Iud. 14.18 Seeing here you plow with my heifer as Samson sometime said vnto the Philistines how is it that you read not my riddle also I meane hauing borrowed this Obiection from my Treatise why take you not from thence the answer also Surely that you vrge the one so eagerly and so diligently suppresse the other I know no cause but this you knew not how to reply vnto it and therefore I will by your fauor repeate the same againe vntil you find out some forcible reason to driue me from it The verbs of vnder standing and sence in the Hebrew tongue signifie not onely the acts of them but of the will and affections also So Psal 1.6 the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous And Depart I know you not And I will not heare see c. that is God will not so know heare see as to loue and approue And so may I interpret that of the Prophet Christ being so knowne as to bee embraced and rested on by the will shall iustifie many Adde now that it is neither necessary nor likely your Particular knowledge should bee here ment for the Obiect of the Prophets knowledge is no other then Christ but the Obiect of your knowledge is your owne selfe or your present state in grace and future Saluation And what a senselesse speech doe you put into the mouth of the Prophet for by your glosse it is as if hee should say My righteous seruant by making many to know that they are already iustified shall bring many vnto that which already they haue namely iustification But Esay had in him both the Spirit of Wisdome and the Tongue of Eloquence and therefore pardon me if I cannot thinke he vsed to speake non-sense like you Where you say my speech helpeth Bellarmine who saith Faith may bee rather in ignorantiâ implicitâ in an ignorance couched then in explicitâ cognitione a discouered knowledge First Bellarmine hath no such words neither I thinke did hee euer dreame
of an implicit or couched ignorance Of an implicit Faith we haue often heard and of a rude and confused apprehension the Iesuit in the place by you quoted speaketh but an implicit ignorance was neuer yet heard of and what meaning it may haue for my part I cannot see De iustif lib. 1. ca. 7. Bellarmines right words are these Faith is better defined by ignorance then knowledge which saying of his how my speech helpeth I would you had taken a little more paines to make it manifest For whence and how you should collect it I cannot tell except perhaps it bee thus I say that Faith is not a knowledge Ergo I say also it is an ignorance I answer therefore secondly that Bellarmine and I speake not of the same Faith for hee speaketh of Faith of Story and I of Faith of Person so that when I say Faith of Person is not a knowledge I cannot help him who saith Faith of Story is not a knowledge For as for Faith of Story you cannot bee ignorant that contrary vnto Bellarmine in my Treatise I haue called it a Generall knowledge so farre am I from defining it by ignorance with him And yet I would haue you to know also that when I say Faith of Story is a knowledge I meane not thereby Science of Conclusions acquired and gotten by demonstratiue proofe out of such principles as are of themselues knowne and euident For how can a man by the light of naturall reason aspire to the knowledge of that which is supernaturall and aboue reason But I vnderstand an explicit and distinct apprehension of the necessary Articles of Faith opposite vnto that brutish ignorance which Papists call implicite Faith and Blind obedience which distinct apprehension Bellarmine in the place before alledged denieth necessarily to bee required vnto Faith Farthermore I would faine know how this followes Faith is not knowledge Ergo it is Ignorance for by the same reason you may conclude Faith is not Hope Ergo it is Despaire or thus Earth is not fire Ergo it is water and so by your creation all things in the world shall bee one of two fire or water Metaph. 12. But you should remember that simple negation is positiue of nothing and that Priuations are reduced vnto that subiect whereunto their Habits doe belong whence it followeth that denying Faith to be in the Vnderstanding and so to be knowledge I deny it also to bee Ignorance N. B. Againe whatsoeuer bringeth life eternall bringeth iustification and is Faith But true knowledge of Iesus Christ bringeth life eternall Therefore true knowledge of Iesus Christ bringeth iustification and is Faith The Minor I proue out of the Words of Christ in S. Iohn Ioh. 17.3 Mel. Pez Arg. Theol. p. 3. notitia Es. 53. significat non solum agnitionem personae beneficiorum Christised etiam fiduciam quiescentem in Christo sicuti Ioh. 17. This is life eternall to know thee to bee the onely true Lord and him to bee Iesus Christ whom thou hast sent into the world The Maior is plaine whatsoeuer apprehendeth that last which is life Eternall apprehendeth the former as election and iustification c. But the knowledge of Christ apprehendeth eternall life Therefore it apprehendeth iustification But hence it followeth whatsoeuer apprehendeth iustification is Faith True knowledge of Jesus Christ apprehendeth iustification Therefore true knowledge of Christ is Faith and so consequently and conuersiuely Faith is knowledge and this knowledge is Faith Ioh. 19.25 Eph. 3.14.15.16.17.18 1 Cor. 13. And by this meanes Particular knowledge commeth not in time after faith but is Faith and is knowledge in the beginning in proceeding is knowledge and in the end is knowledge I. D. The Maior of your first Syllogisme that whatsoeuer bringeth life eternall bringeth iustification I deny You say it is plaine because whatsoeuer apprehendeth the last such as is eternall life apprehendeth the former also which is iustification But first what rule of Logicke allowes you thus to shift tearmes and to turne bringing of life and iustification into apprehending life and iustification For howsoeuer you seeme to vse them indifferently yet are they words of different significations and therefore confounding them thus you make not so much the truth of the Maior plaine as obscure the meaning thereof Againe chuse whether of these tearmes you please yet is it palpably false that Whatsoeuer bringeth or apprehendeth the last bringeth and apprehendeth also the former Rhetoricke brings a man to speake eloquently which is the latter yet it is Grammar not Rhetoricke that brings a man to speake congruè which is the former Physicke brings a man to the faculty of curing diseases which is the latter yet brings not to the knowledge of the nature of things for that belongs vnto the naturall Philosopher and according to the old saying where the Physiologer ends there the Physician begins So also in diuine matters Hope apprehends eternall life which is the latter for it is the proper obiect about which it is occupied it apprehendeth not iustification which is the former for then by your rule it should bee Faith it selfe that being faith as you say which apprehends iustification As therfore when diuerse needles are by the Loadstone trained one after another the vertue of the stone moueth the first the first the second and so of the rest but the third or second is no way the cause of the dependency of the first so in the concatenation of the causes of our saluation reckoned vp by the Apostle to wit Election Rom. 8.30 Vocation Iustification Glorification the former are mouers as it were vnto the latter but not the latter vnto the former The reason of all in a word is this because as I haue already shewed more is required vnto the maine end then vnto the subordinate meanes and therefore seeing saluation is the end Iustification the meanes not whatsoeuer is requisite vnto that is presently necessary vnto this The Minor that true knowledge of Iesus Christ bringeth eternall life I also deny For Particular assurance which is the knowledge you must here vnderstand or else you conclude not to the purpose bringeth not eternall life in as much as a man may be saued without it as we haue already sufficiently proued Neither doe the words of Christ in S. Iohn verify your Minor Ioh. 17.3 for by knowledge there he meaneth not your particular assurance and perswasion by which a man knowes he is iustified shall be saued but such a knowledge of Christ and his Gospell as is mingled with faith and worketh our wils to accept of Iesus Christ for our onely mediator And this knowledge is said to bee eternall life not because euery one that barely and nakedly knowes liues eternally for as wee haue shewed Reprobates and Diuels haue Historicall Faith but partly because no man can liue without it partly because by it the Spirit of God worketh in the Elect that Faith by
Ergo Faith goes before Remission But Assurance as wee haue shewed followes after Remission Ergo it is not Faith But you will follow the ordinary translation I giue you good leaue for I take it to bee the truest yet from thence also thus I argue The Palsie man belieued yet was not assured his sinnes were forgiuen him till Christ told him so much for otherwise what needed Christ to tell him what hee knew already Ergo Assurance is not Faith Treatise That from whence followes a blasphemous absurditie cannot bee a truth for from truth nought but truth can bee concluded But from this that Faith is Assurance such an absurditie doth follow What is that That God commands to Belieue an vntruth and to bee assured of that which neuer shall bee For God being truth cannot command falshood to bee taken for truth Neither tell mee here of who art thou that disputest with God For this is a ruled case in Diuinity God cannot doe things which imply contradiction and therefore not make vntruth to bee truth or knowledge errour Now that this absurdity followes from thence thus I demonstrate God commands the Reprobate to belieue for for vnbeliefe the world shall bee condemned But no condemnation but for breach of a commandement for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and therefore they are commanded to Belieue I aske you then what it is to belieue You will say to know to bee assured Therefore God commands the Reprobates to know and to bee assured But this is a blasphemous absurdity therefore is your opinion absurd which infers it N. B. Two things in this argument are betweene vs to be discussed First whether it bee a blasphemous absurdity to hold that God commandeth a reprobate to belieue that hee shall bee saued You affirme it I deny it Secondly whether in this point God commandeth a Reprobate to belieue an vntruth when hee commandeth a reprobate to belieue and hee shall be saued You affirme it I deny it I. D. That it is a blasphemous absurdity to say that God commands Reprobates to know and to bee assured that they are already iustified and shall bee saued I haue indeed affirmed and I thinke haue also sufficiently confirmed But that God should commaund a Reprobate to belieue an vntruth if hee command him to belieue and hee shall bee saued I neuer yet affirmed What then This that He should command him to belieue an vntruth if hee command him to belieue that hee is iustified and shall bee saued A small difference will you say betweene And and That So was there betwixt Shibboleth and Sibboleth Iude. 12.6 yet enough to discerne an enemy from a friend For this proposition Belieue and thou shalt bee saued is Hypotheticall and Conditionall as if it were said in other tearmes If thou belieue thou shalt bee saued But this Belieue and assure thy selfe that thou shalt bee saued is Categoricall and Absolute excluding all Condition Now that God commands all both Elect and Reprobate to Belieue in the Lord Iesus and promises vnto them Iustification and Saluation conditionally if they Belieue I grant but that hee commands the Reprobate absolutely to know and assure himselfe that hee is already iustified and shall hereafter bee saued and glorified I constantly deny Which yet your opinion that Faith is an Assurance necessarily infers and therefore cannot bee true This matter being thus cleared let vs now bring your answers to the ballance and weigh them N. B. First therefore I answer Mat. 16.15.16 God cammandeth all men to Belieue the Gospell to bee saued and therefore the Reprobates If you demaund why hee commandeth them to belieue that which neuer shall be I answer So it pleased him So answereth Iesus Christ the Sonne of God Math. 11. v. 26. Now goe Master Downe and dispute with Iesus Christ and tell him that his Father deliuereth a blsphemous absurdity Search not too farre into the counsels of God lest you bee ouerwhelmed of his Maiesty reuerence his doctrine if you cannot vnderstand it for who is able to search out the reason of his wayes and counsels Rom. 11. seeing they bee like a great deep I. D. No Master Baxter it is not for dust and ashes to contend with the Creator of all things nor for base clay to enter disputation with so glorious a Maiestie Whatsoeuer that eternall truth speaketh I reuerence and adore and dare not presume to search a higher reason of his actions then his will knowing full well that his will is the prime rule and cause of Iustice and therefore that it is both folly to seeke a former then the first and impiety to subiect Gods will vnto some extrinsecall director But yet with you who as I take it are made of no better moulds then my selfe and are not exempted from those humane infirmities whereunto the rest of your brethren are subiect I hope I may bee bold to enter argument and to hold disputation as in other matters so touching this present question also To you therefore this I say that God doth indeed command the reprobate to belieue vnto saluation and yet neuer shall he belieue nor bee saued The cause hereof I know to bee Gods will and am content with all lowlinesse and humility to say with Christ Mat. 11.26 Euen so O Father because thy good pleasure was such But what is this to our purpose For it is one thing to command a Reprobate to belieue the Gospell another thing to command him to know and assure himselfe that hee is already iustified and shall bee saued for to Belieue the Gospell is to assent vnto an infallible truth but to bee perswaded of the other is to yeeld to that which neither is nor euer shall bee true You should therefore euidently demonstrate out of the Scriptures that God commands a Reprobate so to bee assured and perswaded and then if I rested not satisfied with Gods reuealed will you might iustly bid mee goe and dispute with Christ and forbid to search into the counsels of God lest I be ouerwhelmed with his Maiesty But if in Gods booke you cannot shew it I hold it a humane fancy rather then a diuine truth and therefore though I may not curiously prie into the secrets of God yet may I freely trie and examine the ground of mens opinions N. B. Againe it is an vntruth that God commandeth when he biddeth a Reprobate to belieue and hee shall bee saued For if hee could belieue he should then be saued without doubt Ioh. 11. That hee cannot belieue the reason is Christ hath not washed him Io. 13.8 neither hath opened his heart to belieue So that if hee could haue belieued hee should haue this doctrine effectuall vnto him to saluation That he therefore could not belieue is not to bee imputed to the falsity of the doctrine but to the hardnesse of his owne heart I. D. The commandement of God is absolute Belieue the promise of Saluation is conditionall if we Belieue That the Promise
saith effectually called and they onely who are effectually called are iustified and shall bee glorified And if it were possible that they should bee saued then were there change in the vnchangeable decree of God which hath finally reiected them which is impossible 7. Hee that commands a Reprobate that is not iustified and shall neuer bee saued to belieue that hee is iustified and shall be saued implieth a Contradiction therein and makes Falshood to bee Truth and Faith errour For according to that infallible maxime Falshood is not vnder Faith and therefore if the Obiect bee Falshood it is not Faith which apprehendeth it for true if it bee Faith Falshood is not the Obiect thereof So that hee which commands that false Proposition to bee belieued makes that to bee Faith which cannot beare the definition of Faith and that to bee the Obiect which is not the Obiect thereof that is as I said makes Faith to bee error and Falshood Truth which are contradictories 8. God therefore neither doth nor can so command neither is it impure or impious to affirme so much being in the Word of God so manifestly reuealed Impious rather and blasphemous is it to say the contrary for it imputes impotency and weaknes vnto God making him to say Yea and Nay and to auouch that for truth which is euidently false 9. But this opinion that Faith is an Assurance infers this blasphemous absurdity For as I haue shewed God cōmands all men euen Reprobates to belieue now to belieue as you say is to bee assured of iustification and Saluation Ergo God commands the Reprobate to be assured of his Iustification and Saluation which is absurd 10. Absurd therefore is that opinion that Faith is Assurance which infers it For from truth no absurdity or blasphemie but onely truth can follow These few Positions I pray thee Gentle Reader consider diligently and compare Master Baxters reply with them and then bee iudge whether hee paint not gourds as it is in the Prouerbe and talke cleane beside the purpose Those places of Scripture which you desire may bee well waighed and then by mee either answered or reuerenced I haue according to your desire duly examined and doe from my heart adore them as being the words of the Eternall Verity and this answer doe I giue vnto them that not one of them touches the question in debate betwixt vs. Rom. 11.23 The first telleth vs that the Iewes if they persist not in infidelity shall againe by the power of God bee ingrafted Gal. 3.22 the second that the Scripture hath concluded all vnder sinne that the promise by the Faith of Iesus Christ might bee giuen to them that Belieue both which argue against your selfe that Faith is the condition of the Promise the third saith that as many as were ordained vnto eternall life belieued Act. 13.48 2. Thess 3.2 Mat. 13.11 the fourth that euery man hath not Faith the fift that to know the mysteries of the kingdome of Heauen is giuen to some and denied to other some by which three it is cleere that Reprobates doe not belieue Prou. 16.4 Rom. 9.18.19.20 but the Elect onely the sixt affirmeth that God made the wicked for the euill day the last that God sheweth mercy vpon whome hee will and hardneth also whome he will and that in this point there is no disputing with God intimating therein that there is both an Election and Reprobation and that both depend vpon the good pleasure of God But not one of them proueth that God commandeth a Reprobate to assure himselfe of his present iustification and future Saluation which is the matter in question and therefore I hope I may notwithstanding them all freely conclude that as God cannot command to doe that which is vniust because hee is iustice it selfe so he cannot command to belieue that which is vntrue because hee is truth it selfe Neither doe I I trust so concluding grieue the Spirit of God although perhaps therein I greeue your stubborne spirit which hath I feare me throughout this reply too much rebelled against the light and therefore take heed lest you your selfe greeue the Spirit of God Eph. 4.30 wherewith the elect are sealed vnto the day of Redemption Treatise Arg. 6. That which the wicked may haue cannot bee iustifying Faith for it is The Faith of the Elect But the wicked may haue this Perswasion yea and many haue beene most confidently perswaded that they are in the fauour of God You will say it is true Perswasion But I say if forme make truth they are as formally and therefore as truly perswaded of it as the godly If the Godly then are therefore and for this cause iustified because they are strongly perswaded they are Iustified then why should not the wicked likewise bee iustified by his strong Perswasion But in truth these kind of speeches are vnreasonable and senselesse and so that opinion cannot be reasonable N. B. Many die and are saued that haue not a full Perswasion and assurance of their Saluation yet are saued by Faith I will answer you when you shew mee the man that so did die and was saued and How you know that hee had at his death no full Assurance of his Saluation in Christ Iesu and yet had Faith and when you proue that there is at the houre of death when the elect are made without spot or wrinkle in the Saints of God a doubtfull Faith I. D. That many Reprobates and wicked men are strongly perswaded they are in the grace and fauor of God nothing is more cleere and manifest Prou. 30.12 There is a generation saith Salomon that are cleane in their owne eyes and yet are not washed from their filthinesse Reu. 3.17 And the Angell of the Church of Laodicea saith of himselfe that hee is rich and growne to great wealth and had need of nothing Vers 14. Vers 17. and yet in the iudgement of him that is Amen the faithfull and true witnesse was wretched and miserable Inst l. 3. c. 2. §. 11. and poore and blind and naked Yea Experience it selfe saith Caluin sheweth that Reprobates sometime are affected with the like feeling almost that the elect are that in their owne iudgement they differ nothing at all from the Elect. Such is the deceitfulnesse of mans heart and the blindnesse of his selfe-loue that it makes him easily ouerweene himselfe and to promise peace vnto his soule when hee is in the ready way vnto destruction You will say that the Perswasion of the Reprobate and wicked is built vpon a false and erronious ground and therfore is Presumption rather then true Assurance For answer hereunto consider that the Elect of God before his Iustification is but a wicked man whence Diuines vse to call it The Iustification of the wicked warranted therein by that of Saint Paul Rom. 4.5 To him that worketh not but belieueth in him that iustifieth the wicked his faith is imputed vnto
righteousnesse Rom. 3.28 Consider moreouer that Faith as a cause goeth before Iustification for wee are iustified by Faith and therefore if the Elect bee wicked before his iustification hee must needs much more bee wicked before the first act of his Belieuing In regard whereof Saint Augustin saith Enar. in Ps 311 Know thou that Faith when it was giuen thee found thee a sinner These things being so as without controuersie they are I then demand of you if Faith bee Assurance what ground hath the Elect for his Assurance in the first Act of his Faith more then the Reprobates and wicked haue Certainly vnlesse you will flye with the Anabaptists vnto I know not what Enthusiasms and sudden reuelations grounded vpon no arguments formerly by the Holy Ghost imprinted in the soule you cannot possibly shew any seeing before Faith they lie together in the same masse of corruption and are alike liable vnto eternall damnation Now vnto this argument thus enlarged and explaned let vs see what answer you returne When I can shew the man that died without Assurance and was saued and how I know at his death hee had no full Perswasion and can proue that there is at the houre of death in the Saints a Doubtfull Faith then you say you will answer mee What M. Baxter and not till then Suppose I cannot satisfy your demands as indeed who knoweth what is in the heart of man at the houre of his death shall my argument therefore for euer stand vnanswered Declar. of Spir. Desert And yet M. Perkins telleth you that When a Professor of the Gospell shall despaire at his end men are to leaue secret iudgements vnto God and charitably iudge the best of him and hee instanceth in one M. Chambers who in his sicknesse grieuously despaired and cried out that hee was damned yet saith hee it is not for any to note him with the blacke marke of a Reprobate The like censure elsewhere giueth he of Francis Spiera Yea further saith hee When a Professor of the Gospell shall make away himselfe though it bee a fearefull case yet still the same opinion must bee carried So that it seemes by this learned mans iudgement who for ought I know is not singular herein but followeth the common opinion of other Diuines that it is possible for a man to die in Faith and so to bee saued and yet to die in Despaire and so without Assurance whence it followeth necessarily that Faith is not Assurance But this answer of yours Antholog l. 2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 brings mee in minde of a pretie Epigram of Nicarchus which you may read in the Greeke anthologie A deafe man commences sute against another deafe man before a deafe iudge the plaintife pleads that the defendant owes him fiue months rent for his house the defendant answers for himselfe that hee had been grinding at mill all night the Iudge looking vpon them why contend yee thus good fellowes quoth hee is shee not mother to you both then keepe her both hardly Semblable hereunto is your answer for as if you were as blind as they were deafe and had not eyes in your head to read my writing when I speake of onions as it is in the Prouerbe you answer of garlicke and roue the whole heauen wide from the marke you should shoot at I say that the wicked may bee strongly perswaded and therefore Faith is not a Perswasion you like the deafe defendant reply that you haue beene grinding at mill all night telling mee I shall then receiue answer when I shew the man that died without Perswasion and yet was saued by Faith and other such stuffe of the same stampe Verily I am perswaded if old Sibyl or Oedipus or any other that hath anciently been esteemed for reading riddles should reuiue againe yet would they not bee able with all their cunning to deuise how to accommodate and fit this answer to any part of my argument For mine owne part I can make of it nor fish nor flesh nor good red herring and therefore not troubling my selfe with your follies here I leaue it as I found it vnkith vnkist as they say N. B. And in the meane time I will hasten to your Definition of Faith which you call the third kinde of Faith and onely Iustifying Faith I. D. Soft and faire no hast but good you post away so fast vnto the Definition that you leaue something behind you vnanswered which desires and deserues your further consideration For first I proue vnto you that Faith cannot be a full Perswasion certaine Assurance partly because it is not so much as Assurance partly because such Fulnes agrees not to little Faith and so makes the definition narrower and of lesse latitude then the definite and partly because it is a most discomfortable doctrine to weake Christians who finding this strength of Assurance wanting in themselues may doubt whether they haue any Faith at all if Faith bee no other then a full Assurance and firme resolution Againe I answer certaine obiections the chiefest you can haue against mee and that with such generall solutions as will cut off almost any reason you can oppose vnto mee These things being of such importance and consequence should not thus haue beene balked and husht vp in silence for while they stand vnstirred and vntoucht you cannot reasonably bee thought either fully to haue satisfied my arguments or sufficiently to haue maintained your owne cause Out of doubt therefore it would haue been much better for your credit to haue made lesse hast and more good speed for tripping away so fast and leauing matters of such weight vtterly vnanswered all the Schollers in our Countrey to blow backe your owne scoffe into your owne face will thinke the worse of your haste so long as they liue for this tricke To conclude this point whereas there are two many faults as Simplicius saith too vsually committed in the disputation and determination of Questions it appeareth by what I haue now said that you haue hitherto grossely faulted in the former For you doe but reiect and deny my Conclusions without refuting the confirmations I bring for them and so if not altogether alienate from you yet leaue in suspence and doubt the mind euen of those who otherwise might bee of the same opinion with you Now if you offend likewise in the second and doe not in the remainder of your Reply vtterly raze and ouerthrow the foundations of my Doctrine but suffer them to stand vnshaken and vnmoued you shall both leaue the thirst of your readers expectation vnquenched and vnsatisfied and proue your selfe but a bragging and boasting Pyrgopolinices threatning much and performing nothing Let vs therefore take a view hereof and see what you haue to say against the definition which I giue to Iustifying Faith Treatise The third Faith is Faith of Person or Personall Merit and of this Faith I make the Obiect to bee Christ the Mediator meriting the
purchased vnto vs Rom. 14.14.20 Tit. 1.15 Gal. 5.1 who vnto the cleane as the Apostle saith hath made all things cleane 6 In this Liberty so deerely bought we are commanded to stand fast and not to suffer our selues againe to be entangled with the yoke of bondage We entangle our selues if now we place any holynes or religion in abstinence from some kind of meats or if we abstaine to the end wee may satisfy for our sins or thereby merit vnto our selues euerlasting life 1. Cor. 8.8 For Meat as S. Paul saith maketh vs not acceptable vnto God and againe The Kingdome of God is not meate or drinke but righteousnes and peace and ioy in the holy Ghost Rom. 14.17 Heb. 13.9 And yet againe It is a good thing that the hart bee stablished with grace and not with meats which haue not profited them that haue beene occupied therein 7. The Church of Rome therefore commanding abstinence from some kinds of meats to the same ends and as a part of diuine worship is guilty of horrible sacriledge and cruell tyranny For she robbeth the Church of her Liberty and imposeth vpon her that heauy yoke which Christ himselfe had taken off her necke To what end hath Christ freed our consciences if Rome may againe enthrall them and how easie a matter is it to auoid punishment and to win heauen if abstinence from flesh and egges will worke it 8. As wee must stand fast in this libertie so must we take heed that we abuse not our Liberty making it as S. Peter speaketh a cloake for our naughtines or 2. Pet. 2.16 Gal. 5.13 1. Cor. 10.23 as S. Paul saith vsing it as an occasion to the flesh For though all things that is all indifferent things bee lawfull yet are they not alwayes expedient and therefore are not alwayes indifferently to bee vsed or not vsed but as they are conuenient and wee find them tend either to edification or destruction 9. They are conuenient and destroy not when they are regulated and guided by Charity Temperance Piety and Loyalty First by Charity 1. Cor. 8.9 Rom. 14.15 V. 20.21 For wee may not by eating giue occasion of falling to them that are weake So doing wee should not walke charitably but destroy with our meats him for whom Christ died Though all things be pure yet is it euill to eat with offence When wee so sin against the Brethren and wound their weake conscience we sinne against Christ 1. Cor. 8.13.14 Wherefore S. Paul resolued rather then by eating he would offend his brother he would not eat flesh while the world standeth 10. Secondly by Temperance and Sobriety For repletion and fulnesse nourish in vs our inordinate lusts and make vs like pampered horses grow head-strong and vnruly Rom. 13.13 Wee may not therefore abuse our liberty vnto surfetting and drunkennesse yea if wee find that some meats or drinks though not excessiuely taken doe inflame our lusts wee must abstaine And this was the cause 2. Cor. 6.6 as I suppose why the Apostle Saint Paul knits these two together in Fasting in Chastity For according to the old saying Sine Cerere Baccho friget Venus without bread and wine venery and lust waxeth cold 11. And here I cannot but wonder at the vanity and peruersnesse of Romanists who for the subduing and taming of the flesh at times forbid the eating of flesh but in the meane season giue leaue to feed on all sorts of fishes marmelades and conserues and to drinke the strongest and choicest wines which without question prouoke and stirre vp lust as well as flesh As if to eat a bit of course flesh vpon a prohibited day were gluttony but to cram our selues with all other delicates were abstinence and fasting O blindnesse O stupidity 12 Thirdly by Piety and Religion For although Abstinence as Hierome saith bee not in it selfe a vertue nor any part of Diuine worship yet is it an instrument help and furtherance thereunto And therefore if wee would humble ourselues by repentance or pray vnto God with feruency for the auerting of dangers imminent or calamities incumbent vpon vs we are then by fasting to testify our humiliation and to quicken our deuotion as wee read the faithfull both vnder the Law and Gospell were euer wont to doe 13. Lastly by Loialtie and Dutifull subiection For if the Magistrate either for a publick ciuill good shall at times forbid the vse of some meats as of flesh on fridayes saturdayes emberweeks lent and the like or for the pacifying of Gods wrath in the common calamity of the state shall command a generall Fast wee are accordingly to abstaine Rom. 13.6 and to yeeld obedience vnto the Magistrate not only for feare but also for Conscience sake 14. Thus then first you haue Libertie by Christ to eate of all kind of meats secondly you are bound to stand fast in your Liberty and not to put your selfe vnder bondage againe thirdly you may not wantonlie abuse you liberty by doing such things as are inconuenient and hurt rather then edifie lastly our vse thereof must be moderated and directed by Charity Temperance Piety and Loyalty This if you know and thus if you doe you cannot erre nor doe amisse 15. Which that you may both know and doe you are to pray him that is the donor and giuer of all good things to make you both wise and prudent Wise in the knowledge and practice of whatsoeuer is of absolute nenessity vnto saluation prudent in the discretion and right vse of things indifferent This God grant you for his Christs sake Amen AN ANSWER VNTO CERTAINE REASONS FOR SEPARATION I Could haue wished withall my hart that in this particular I might haue proued a false prophet and that my feares concerning you though they were not without cause yet might haue been without effect But now I plainly perceiue that my words were no lesse then oracle and what I feared is accordingly come to passe For as I foretold you from strayning at gnats you are fallen to swallowing of Camels that is from scrupulousnes and nicenes in Kneeling at the Communion and other such like indifferent ceremonies you haue head-longly cast your selfe into the gulfe of Schisme and Separation In regard whereof hauing heretofore in the matter of Kneeling bestowed my labour in vaine vpon you I feare now that you are thus farre proceeded and setled as it were on your lees I shall much lesse preuayle with you Neuertheles because it pleased you to send me in writing the reasons of your Separation promising to returne with all speed if they were sufficiently answered I may not vnlesse I will betray the truth and faile in the duties of Charity refuse to take a little further paines with you Here therefore I send you this short and as I conceiue full answer the perusall whereof I leaue vnto you the censure vnto Gods Church and the issue vnto God himselfe Whom I humbly beseech of
thou shouldst me reiect And yet I claime the crowne of thine elect Alas how may so bold a sute be heard And sinfull wretch obtaine a Saints reward Nay shall I not thy kindled wrath inflame Crauing all good deseruing nought but shame Sin bids me feare yet still I hope for grace Grace bids me hope yet still I feare disgrace While feare doth hope and hope doth feare restraine 'Twixt feare and hope my heart is rent in twaine Wilt thou sweet Iesus plead my cause for me Alas my bare estate affoords no fee Yet if in forme of poore to thee I flie Thy word is past thou canst me not deny Thee then mine aduocate I entertaine By thee an easy sute I shall obtaine So double comfort shall my heart enioy Of present grace and hope of future ioy Hope of Pardon SHould I O Lord excuse or cloake my sin Are thine eyes so dim that thou canst not see Can guilty soule thy gracious fauour win Or by righteous doome iust reputed be Thy crystall eyes my secret thoughts behold Yea thou knowst them long ere they be conceiued Thou art not man to be corrupt with gold Not by vaine excuse canst thou be deceiued Yet will I not despaire to gaine Pardon for my great offences Though iustice doome eternall paine With iustice mercy still dispences When shall I then to those high ioyes aspire Which in heauen aboue thou reserust for me Mount vp my soule with wings of high desire Till thou heauen enioy what ioy can there be On barren earth sin is the seed we sow And the crop we reape is but sorrowes gaine And if sometime from sin short pleasures grow Sinfull pleasures end in the eternall paine Then sith on earth we reape no graine But short ioyes long sorrowes bringing O let me liue where Angels raigne Then endles Alleluiah singing The Epicure and Christian Time doth haste Life as a shadow flies Breath as a vapor soone doth wast And none returns that dies Come let vs banish woes And liue while life doth last Crowne we our heads with budding rose And of each pleasure tast What though precise fooles do vs blame Shall wee forgoe content Pleasure is substance vertue name And life will soone be spent Time shall cease Archangels tromp shall sing Death shall his prisoners all release And them to iudgement bring Then shall these sinfull ioyes To endles wayling turne And they that scorned vertues choice In brimstone flames shall burne Then they that erst fond Stoicks Shall wisedomes children proue When they among the Saints esteemed Shall raigne with Christ aboue A Sinners appeale from Iustice to Mercy AY me from me my wonted ioyes are fled And saddest greefe on my poore hart hath seazd Thy mortall sting ô sin this wo hath bred And dreadfull wrath of my deare Lord displeased I see his sword vpreard me to confound And guilty soule attends her deadly wound Oh then my soule where canst thou rest secure Where wilt thou flie from his reuenging ire If vp heauen there enters nought impure If downe to hell there flames eternall fire Nor deepest sea nor shade of darkest night Can secret thee from his al-seeing spright Yet from thy selfe thy selfe a refuge art When from thy iustice to thy grace we flie O gracious Lord to thee my pensiue heart With teares of true remorse for grace doth crie Thy mercy Lord my soule from death may saue O rid my dying soule from lowest graue A Caroll for the Natiuity A Wonder strange this day was wrought Exceeding mans and Angels thought Though domb haue spoke and blind haue seene And they reuiu'd who dead haue beene Yet neuer vertue like to this Whereby was wrought mans endlesse blisse Behold then and amazed stand This is the finger of Gods hand A virgin pure without mans aide Hath borne a child yet still a maide Which babe this day began to be Yet was from all eternity A King of Kings and yet a thrall Possessing nought yet Lord of all Creator yet a creature Light of the world and yet obscure Most beauteous and yet without forme Ador'd of Angels yet a worme Omnipotent yet fraile and weake Th' eternall Word yet could not speake Most quiet calme yet without rest The food of Saints yet suckt the brest Embracing all yet but a span Immortall life yet mortall man Man yet in God subsisting aye God yet confined to case of clay Both God and man 'twixt both to treat And firmest league 'twixt them to set That mercy might with iustice meet And peace and truth each other greet O blessed dame whose lips might kisse whose paps did nurse this babe of blisse O blessed babe whose ioyfull birth Hath chang'd our sighs to tunes of mirth Who now thy sweets may tast and proue By faith on earth in heauen by loue Christ comforting a distressed soule SIgh no more soule oh sigh no more Despaire not thou thus euer Thy God hath grace for thee in store His mercy faileth neuer Then sigh not so Let sorrowes go Sing in the highest Hosanna And change thy dolefull sounds of woe Into Halleluiah Manifold are thy sins I know And deep in crimson died Yet whiter shalt thou bee then snow In my blood purified Then sigh not so c. Heauen against thee shut by sin Haue I for thee vnlocked Since thou so kindly letst me in When at thy heart I knocked Then sigh not so c. Come to me lo thy Sauiour cryes Thou canst not be refused For neuer did I yet despise A broken heart and bruised Then sigh not so c. There in peace shalt thou liue and raigne And neuer more be sory Aboue the measure of thy paine Shall bee thy weight of glory Then sigh not so Let sorrowes go Sing in the highest Hosanna And change thy dolefull sounds of woe Into Halleluiah THE FIRST PSALME BLessed yea thrice blest are they That lewd counsels haue not traced Nor haue stood in sinners way Nor in scorners chaire are placed But in Gods lawes they delight Them they study day and night These like trees stand euermore By the riuers freshly springing Pleasant fruit in plenteous store Duly in their season bringing Neuer shall their leafe decay What they doe shall prosper aye But the wicked are like dust To and fro with tempest driuen Neither shall they with the iust Stand when iudgement shall be giuen For God knowes the iust mans way And them stroyes that from him stray Psalme 12. SIth on earth all friends doe faile Prouing faythlesse and vnkind Sith now euery where preuaile Flattring lips and double mind Lord send help from heauen aboue Who alone art perfect loue But these false dissembling tongues God eftsoones will root them out Those that triumph in their wrongs Vttering proud words and stout Who shall curb our tongues say they Ours they are and they shall swayâ—s For when once the poore doth crie And to God his vowes addresse Now saith God arise will I Him to saue them to