beleeueth in him is not ashamed but euery one that sinneth is ashamed therefore hee that falleth into the shame of sinne seemeth as yet not to beleeue Cyprian Cyprian singeth the same song where he saith Quomodo dixit se credere in Christum qui non facit quod Christus facere praecepit How doth hee say that hee beleeueth in Christ who doth not that which Christ hath commaunded him Ambrose is as peremptorie in the Point Amb. lib. 6. Epist 36. where he saith Vbi quis caeperit luxuriart incipit deuiare a vera fide Hee that swaggereth swarueth from the Fayth Aug. in Ioh. serm 61. Augustine hereunto performeth testimonie in sundry places as where hee sayth Qui fidem habet sine spe et dilectione Christum esse credit non in Christum credit Whosoeuer hath Fayth without Hope and Loue beleueth that Christ is but hee beleeueth not in Christ Aug. de fide et operib c. 23. Againe where he sayth Insoperabilis est bona vita a fide quae per dilectionem operatur immo ueró ipsa est bona vita Good life is not to be seuered from Fayth which worketh by Loue yea Fayth is of it selfe good life Wherefore the 12. Article of the Christian confession of the Church of England is most sound which professeth in this wise Good workes are the fruites of Iustifying fayth and doe necessarily spring and grow from thence Wherefore Fayth beeing the badge of the Elect and Workes inseparably being the effectes thereof the sequell must needes bee that Good workes must be also the Liuerie of the Elect whereby they may be knowne Which stoppeth the mouth of our carnall Epicures who vpon the foundation of Gods immutable decree of our election would lay the structure and composition of a dissolute conuersation while they reason thus Wee may liue as wee list because if wee be predestinated vnto life wee can not be lost But such are to know that the End and the Meanes that make to the end must needes goe togeather Fayth and Good Workes inseparably accompanie the worke of our Election God glorifieth not the Elect before hee hath Called and Iustified them yea before they Beleeue and declare by their Workes that they doe beleeue Ephes 2.10 Hence is it that the Apostle sayth Wee are created in Christ Iesu vnto good Workes which God hath ordained that wee should walke in them Ephes 1.4 And hereto serue these inferences of Saint Paul of Loue vnfaigned 1. Tim. 1.19 vnto whic h we are chosen and of a good Conscience which as an impartible companion is of the Fayth of the Elect. This endeauour to performe Good works is to all the Elect necessarie 2. Pet. 1.10 as Peter teacheth where he willeth vs that wee make sure our Election and Vocation by good workes as many Copies haue it not to God our vocation being certaine vnto him before the Worldes creation but to our selues to our neighboures This is one of the chiefest vses we make of Good workes that by them not as causes but effectes of our Election and Fayth wee our selues and our brethren are assured and secured of our saluation Where the mouthes of the Pelagians are stopped who make the foresight of our Fayth and Workes in God the cause of our Saluation when as of the quite contrary-side God hath predestinated vs to Fayth and Good workes because he hath chosen vs to eternall life 1. Cor. 7.25 Wherefore Paul speaketh cautelously where he sayth Jobtained mercy of the Lord to be faythfull he saith not Because I was to be faithfull As where he speaketh in the same manner thus That we should be vnblamable not because we were to bee such As againe where hee sayth Ephes 1.4 Wee are created in Christ Iesu vinto Good workes which God hath ordained that wee should walke in them not because wee did them As finally where he saith Tit. 2.11 The Grace of God hath appeared that wee should liue soberly righteously godly not because wee were so to doe It can not be rightly said that God first foreseeth that men are to beleeue and afterward predestinateth them to beleeue Because whom hee foreknew should beleeue therefore hee foreknew it Contra. Tryphon because hee decreed it Wherefore Iustine Martyr calleth them The Elect who are foreknowne that they should beleeue wherefore such as by Gods grace are delighted in Good workes in them there is a certaine signe and seale that they beleeue in Christ and so that they are elected in Christ vnto eternall life Fayth is of the nature of a Tree in operation which naturally of it selfe bringeth foorth fruites so that there is no need that the Tree be commaunded to yeeld her encrease So the faythfull man without coaction disposeth himselfe to be fruitfull in Good workes the Law of God being grafted in his heart so that his delight is dayly in the same So that of his owne accord he doth Good workes as of him selfe hee cateth hee drinketh seeth heareth and performeth such faculties as are incident to Nature As hee that is thirstie doth but stay vntill drinke come and as hee that is hungrie expecteth his meate and then willingly and naturally hee taketh them both So the Faythfull man hungrie and thirstie of Righteousnesse taketh the aduantage of all occasions to doe the Workes thereof Although Fayth alone iustifieth and knitteth the Marriage knotte betweene the Soule Christ and is properly the Wedding garment and the signe Tau which must Protect vs from the power of the euill Angels yet Fayth is neuer seuered from Charitie Wherefore the Faythfull are resembled to Orchardes Vines and Trees that bring foorth Fruite in season The Church by Isaiah is resembled to a Vine Isai 5.7 furnished with a Wine-presse and Towre for the purpose wherefore Christ sayth Ioh. 15.1 I am the Vine and my Father is the Husbandman euery Branch that beareth not fruite in mee hee taketh away and euery one that beareth fruite he purgeth it that it may bring foorth more fruite Wherefore God is sayd to haue come downe to the Garden of Nuttes Cant. 6.10 to see the fruites of the Valley to see if the Vine budded and the Pomegranats flourished Moreouer we are to Bring foorth Fruites in patience For God Luk. 8.15 the Lord of the Vineyard commeth to his Vine with a pruning Knife in his hand to toppe and cutte off the luxurious Branches that we might bring foorth more Fruite and be in better liking Christians are Trees of righteousnesse Ezech. 47.4.12 grewing by the Riuers of the Sanctuarie But not such Trees as ours are for they take roote vpwarde in Heauen in Christ and their branches grow downeward and fructifie among men Wherefore theoricall Religion is not enough It serueth not our turnes to beare the name of Christians if wee liue not as Christians True Pietie challengeth a departure frō Iniquitie Jacobs smooth Voyce and Esaus rough
thinges execute their offices in their natures in their seuerall ranckes and classes wherin they were first placed It is because Pouidence that vsshereth the World is not in the Creature no not in the hand of Man or of Angell but in the sole power of the vnchaunging God that holdeth the ball of the World in his hand and so is vnchangeable And hence is it that the execution of supreme prouidence in like sort all the effects thereof hold on so set and setled a tenor and haue so good successe And heere followeth the assurance of predestination as founded vpon the certaine foundation of Gods eternall counsaile Wherefore well saieth Saint Augustine Turiores erimus si totum Deo demus It shall be safest for vs to hold all in Capite and to giue all to God 3. Our next reason is of this fashion The decree of Election as of Reprobation is eternall The Scriptures make this good But whatsoeuer is eternall is inuariable for wee call that Eternall which is without either beginning or ending and not subiect vnto changing 4. Wee further vrge the present cause thus Election is only in the will of God and hath no copartner-ship with workes foreseene either good or euill as in some sort we will prooue towardes the end Now that which is independant of it selfe hath no other proceeding then frō the will of God can by no other by-meanes beside God be dashed or made voyde Now in God himselfe there is nothing at oddes with his Will whereby it commeth to passe that the Will which is in God which we tearme the absolute and the secret Will is euermore the same 5. Moreouer we tender this argument vnto them Election is not without foreknowledge For God hath foreknowne such as shal be saued but Gods foreknowledge is vnerring and so sure as in the sequell of this text we shall shew and so the state of our Election standeth sure 6. I say further let them checke what is said if they can that so many so maine are the meanes that are prepared and set out by God for the common saluation of the Church as they can not possibly passe the handes of God but needes they must be saued 7. Beside all this Gods Will is a worke Psal 115.3 as it is in Psalmodie Our God is in heauen he hath done whatsoeuer it pleased him But it is his flatte Will the Elect should be saued it must therefore needes be so 8. Adde hitherto that he that transposeth his Will is ledde therevnto either out of the prospect to a better prouision by a second wisedome or out of the sense of his insufficiencie for the execution of his primatiue intention Wherefore there is no other shift but when we can not what we would we will what we can But neither of these may be spoken of God for being only wise a better counsaile cannot be conceiued then was first from all eternitie considered of And being omnipotent his armes as Sampsons are not to be manacled but whatsoeuer he proiecteth hee perfourmeth 9. Finallie all thinges worke to the wicked to the worst through their owne wickednesse yea the good things of God as his grace and the graces of his holy Spirit 1. Pet. 2.7 Luk. 2.3 4. 2. Cor. 2.16 Rom. 2.4 Gal. 5.13 1. Cor. 11.27 for Christ is to them A Rocke of offence and a stone to stumble at appointed for the ruine and fall of many The Gospell is a sauor of death vnto death The long sufferance of God that citeth them to repentance through the iniurie they offer it serueth to the enlargement of the hardenesse of their heartes Their Christian libertie is to them an occasion to liue licentiously The Supper of the Lord their spirituall refection becommeth their poyson Wherfore contrariwise all things sort out for the best to the elect as Paul saith yea their very sinnes themselues as rightly Augustine sayth To graunt a mutabilitie in God is to bring in these absurdities with a strong hande that Gods will may be chaunged his foreknowledge deceiued His illimited power restrained His action hindred which to graunt is to denie him to be God for hee is a goodly God indeede whose knowlede may be blemished with errour his will with variablenesse his power with weakenesse his action with frustration But what say wee all this while to our sinnes do not these driue at the very foundation and serue to vndermine it truly there is nothing that put so forcibly therevnto as they So that name these and name al Exod. 32 33. according to this denuntiation of iudgement Who so euer haue sinned against mee J will put him out of my Booke But bee yee not dismaide The hand of that Scripture setteth the Axe only at the roote of presumptuous and malicious sinnes continued to the death Heb. 6.6 such as is our obdurate rebellion against Christ wrought in a very wilfulnesse accompanied with a final impenitence Our daily falles enforced through the infirmitie of the Fayth in vs as beeing but in Herba et non in Spica In the Grasse and not in the Eare in Inchoation not in Perfection will not doe the deede I denie not that our sinnes deserue so much and that they draw out the sword of Gods vengeaunce out of the scabberd of his patience to strike vs both wayes inwardly and outwardly as he dealt with Dauid But withall mindfull of his trueth and goodnesse and for the obedience sake of his sonne Christ his decree of sauing vs which is our Foundation is sure on our side for our sinnes are cancelled that is they are not to death imputed He endueth vs with Fayth Repentance whereby we are raysed set vpon our feete The cause hereof is for that as he hath chosen vs vnto life so he hath withall ministred the meanes of Fayth and Compunction that bring vs vnto this life Wherefore as we haue a feeling in our selues of Fayth and conuersion so of our assured Predestination vnto Glorie let vs make no further question For if our sinnes into which by ineuitable necessitie of nature we were to fall God foresaw the same were not able to make stoppage of the course of Gods purpose of predestinating vs to eternall life in his sonne Iesus Christ as a woorke of his free grace surely after our his falles into them this eternall gratious stedfast election can neuer be voided By grace our names had first enrolement in Gods register So by grace they there stand still I say further because wee are separated to saluation by Gods grace it is that we are kept from those sins of contumacie and impenitencie for which the Reprobate which were neuer there written are said to haue the wipe-out of the Booke of life when as what they are by degrees they are manifested that is to say such as neuer had been enrolled Dauid neuer despaired of his recouerie for his adulterie and murther Nor Peter for
THE FOVNDATION of the Faythfull In a Sermon deliuered at Paules Crosse the 17. of Ianuarie 1610. By SAMVEL GARDINER Doctor of Diuinitie 2. Tim. 2.19 The Foundation of the Lord remayneth sure and hath this seale The Lord knoweth who are his And let euery one that calleth vpon the Name of the Lord depart from Iniquitie Imprinted at London by W.W. for T. Manne 1611. The Foundation of the Faythfull 2. Tim. 2.19 The foundation of the Lord remayneth sure and hath this seale The Lord knoweth who are his And let euery one that calleth vpon the Name of the Lord depart from Iniquitie THE estate of Mans life chiefely of the Christians holdeth comparison thorowout with the Seafaring condition So the writer to the Hebrewes insinuateth our Fayth Heb. 6.19 which is the hand that holdeth vp our head while we are floating ouer the Sea of this world being sirnamed by him The Ancre of the Soule The World is this ebbing and flowing Sea in the successiue surges thereof very much vnquiet Mankind while we heere liue are the Saylers on this Sea by sirtes by sandes by diuers dreadfull dangers The Key-side or Shore from whence we launch into the Maine is our Birth into this world The Port and Landing place to which we driue is the Land of the liuing the life that is to come The whole Time spent from our Birth to our Death is our Seafaring season Our Shipmaister is our Sauiour who by his Word and Spirit saueth the Church which is his Shippe from perill of drowning leading it safely to the Hauen of happinesse Now heere the Apostle would haue vs edific our selues is this holy Fayth and to build vpon this as on a sure foundation that howsoeuer wee finde our selues throwne as it were into the midst of this Sea and that all the contrary Waues and Windes bende and bande themselues against vs corporally by crosses spiritually by our sinnes by the feind and the flesh inflicted vpon vs that we cannot miscarrie But that we shall arriue happily at the Hauen of Heauen aswell in respect of the Decree of God eternall inuariable as in regard of Christ the Maister of the cordage and tackle whom Windes and Waues are forced to obey as the Seruant his Maister The summe and issue of these words is this That the state of our saluation is sure as seated vpon the decree of God a foundation which is sure For our securitie a double Seale is sette 1. One in respect of God with this Image superscriptiō vpon it The Lord knoweth who are his 2. The other touching our selues with this writing in the Ring Circle of it Leteuery one that calleth vpō the name of Christ depart c. The Foundation of the Lord remaineth sure This Metophor set vpon the Forehead of the Text is to haue application vnto the eternall counsaile of God touching our election not by any opposite machination lyable to frustration For it is of the nature of the foundation of an House whose vppermost structure and composition may be shaken but the foundation standeth sure Foundations of ordinary sort and condition layde by Mens hands remaine sure a long season Most sure therefore must that Foundation bee whose builder and maker is God Now such is the foundation of our Election it is vpon the holy Hilles vpon the Hill of Sion which is Gods hill which cannot be remooued but standeth fast for euer Ephes 2.20 Wee are built vpon the Foundation of the Prophets Apostles Jesus Christ himselfe being the chiefe Corner-stone Jn whom all the building coupled together groweth vnto an holy Temple vnto the Lord. The Schoole of Rome would teach vs otherwise Namely That God his predestination is chaungeable and that hee that is predestinated is contingently or casually predestinated that is by hap-hazard or chaunce-medly as we may so say A Proposition naturally begetting very strange conclusions as That hee that is ordained vnto life may be damned And that hee that is determined to Damnation may be saued Which is nothing else but of a sure to make an vnsure Foundation to turne it vpside downe But wee haue not so learned Christ but beleeue as hee hath taught vs by the mouth of his Prophets euer since the World beganne that hee whose name is once noted in Gods Booke and set downe in the writinges of the house of Jsrael is written downe neuer to be wiped out and is seated vpon an euer enduring Foundation This is the reason of this illation of our Sauiour Math. 24.24 If it were possible the very Elect should bee deceiued This If excluding all meanes of possibilitie of preiudicing the setled estate of the Elect. But the cause of this impossible matter of the seducement of the Elect Totally and Finally layeth in the course that God hath taken for them of their continuance in the faith for which cause else where hee saieth Math. 25.34 That a Kingdome is prepared for vs from the beginning of the World that wee might ascertaine our selues that when the time commeth wee shall be absolute owners and possessors of that Kingdome Hence is it that hee would haue vs shake off the feare that misfashioned Fancie feedeth on Luke 12.32 Feare not little Flocke for it is your Fathers pleasure to giue you the Kingdome Wherefore it is that we heare of this ioy and gladnesse that the boanes which our sinnes haue broken may reioyce Reioyce Luke 10.20 because your Names are written in heauen Wherefore doth he tell vs that our Names are written downe by the Finger of Gods hand in Magna Charta in the great Doomesday booke of heauen truely to make vs throughly perswaded that wee shall one day come to Heauen But this a luculent instance for the nonce this solemne and serious asseueration of our Sauiour Ioh. 6.37 All that the Father giueth mee that is by decree of Predestination in his minde shall come to mee that is by the steppes and feete of Fayth and him that commeth to me I cast not away They come to Christ who are giuen by Predestination by the Father vnto Christ which is the cause they cannot become castawayes Also of his Sheepe that is to meane of his Elect our Lord Iesus speaketh thus Ioh. 10.28 I giue vnto them eternall life they shall neuer perish neither shall any plucke them out of mine handes The reason thereof followeth My Father which gaue them mee is greater then all But he gaue them by predestinating them For then are all the Elect giuen vnto Christ to be gouerned and preserued when God hath chosen vs in Christ as in the head to whom it necessarily belongeth to saue the ioyntes of his body Sutable hereto is this his other saying Those that thou gauest me Ioh. 17.12 haue I kept and none of them is lost but the child of perdition Where hee teacheth that the Elect were truely giuen him of his Father so that none of the