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church_n	earth_n	militant_a	triumphant_a	4,249	5	10.5933	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A09386	A C[hristian] and [plain]e treatise of the manner and order of predestination and of the largenes of Gods grace. First written in Latine by that reuerend and faithfull seruant of God, Master William Perkins, late preacher of the word in Cambridge. And carefully translated into English by Francis Cacot, and Thomas Tuke.; De prædestinationis modo et ordine. English	Perkins, William, 1558-1602.; Cacot, Francis.; Tuke, Thomas, d. 1657.	1606 (1606)	STC 19683; ESTC S103581	116,285	285

ashes but yet it continueth in the heart The fish may be in the water though she floate not alwayes aloft There is sap in the roote when the leaues are faine off and the top naked and in appearance withered So faith liueth though it haue lost some signes of life The S●●ne and the Moone may be indeed eclip●e●● euen so the eye of faith may be dimmed But as the Sun and Moone do not perish in their eclipses nor lose their light for euer euen so faith doth not perish when it is eclipsed It may indeede receiue a buff●t whereby it may as it were reele and stagger and fall to the ground and there for a time lye like a man in a ●woone or fit of the falling sicknes but it cannot dye because God the wel●p●ing as well of spirituall life as of naturall will neuer forsake it The Th●m●s may suffer an ebbe but it is not st●rke dry at any time so faith may come to a very low ebbe but yet it will haue water al●●yes in the bottome As a great riuer may befrozen ouer with hard ice for a time and so couered with snow as that it seemeth rather a Rock then a Riuer or like to other ground euen so faith may be as it were frozen ouer with thicke y●e and so hild with the snow of sinne as that it may not bee seene at all for a time But as there is water in the Riuer which is deepe notwithstanding the frost though it be not seene euen so there is life in faith though for a time it do not appeare But when the weather is broken when the holy Ghost begins to make a thawe with the fresh fire of his grace when the South wind blowes hard and when the Sunne of righteousnes hath melted the ice then Faith will appeare and flow amayne as a Riuer after rayne and as the waters do after a thawe Then grace which was couered before will shine bright and cleare as the Sunne doth after a showre as is euident by the repentance of Dauid and Peter Moreouer our Sauiour sayeth that his sheepe shall i Iohn 10. 28. neuer perish The k Isa. 40. 11. Lord sayth Esay shall feede his flock like a Shepheard he shall gather the Lambs with his arme and carry them in his bosome Hee l Psal. 23. 2. maketh them to rest in greene pastures and leadeth them by the still waters m Psa. 41 12. He vpholdeth them in their integrity and doth set them before his face for euer As n Zach. 4. 9. Zerubbabel layed the foundation of the Temple and did finish it so o Phil. 1. 6. God that hath begun his good worke in the temple of our hearts will finish it vnto the end They can not be taken from him by strong hand p Iohn 10 29 30. For hee is greater then all and his will to saue them is answerable to his power therefore hee sayth q Iohn 10 28. Hee giueth vnto them euerlasting life adding also that none shall pluck them out of his hands Master Tinda● sayth well Christ is thine and all his deeds are thy deeds neither canst thou be damned except he be damned with thee They cannot perish by seduction for the Elect cannot be r Mat. 24. 24. seduced Neither can they of themselues fall away For s Iere. 32. 40. God hath put his feare in their hearts that they shall not depart from him A man may for a time cease to laugh but he cannot lose the faculty of laughing The drunkard loseth sometimes the vse of reason but the faculty neuer so the graces of God may be crazed but yet they are not vtterly abolished Finally God forsaketh not them For his loue is t ●●re 31. 3. euerlasting those whom he loueth once he u Ioh. 13. 1. loueth to the end w Rom. 8. 39. Nothing can separate vs from hi● loue It is like the x Deut. 29. 〈◊〉 Israe●ites shooes which waxed not old It is like the tree of life he that once truly t●st●th of it shall not dye eternally As a Father doth not reiect his Child when he hath broken his face by falling but rather seekes a playster he will it may be lash him but he will not leaue to loue him Euen so our heauenly Father dealeth with his Children For he hath sayd that hee will y Iere. 32. 40. neuer depart from them to do them good hee z Heb. 13 6. will not faile them nor forsake them but a 1. Thess. 5. 23 24 will sa●ctifie them throughout and keepe them s●fe vnto the comming of Christ. Indeed our enemies may wound vs but they shall not win they may vex vs but they shall not vanquish they may perhaps presse vs but they shall not oppresse vs they may cut vs but they cannot kill vs. For GOD who is greater then all will not suffer vs to be 1. Cor. 10. 13. Psa 127 4. Priuil 30. Ioh. 1. 12 Math. 14 31. Rom. 4. 20. 2. Cor. 5. 1. tempted aboue our power and is very vigilant for vs. For he that keepeth Israel neither slumbereth nor sleepeth The Elect may assuredly be perswaded in this life that they shall be saued in the life to come For a speciall and certaine perswasion of Gods mercy is the very heart and marow the life and soule of true faith Therefore Paul sayth We know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle be destroyed we haue a building of God that is an house not made with hands eternall in the heauens Furthermore if it be not possible for men to know that they shal be saued how could Saint Iohn say 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 To conclude if it were impossible for a man to be in his conscience assured that hee is the elect and faithfull seruant of God effectually called in time orde●ned to glory before time to what end should Dauid inquire who of all professors are the true mēbers Psal. 15. of the Church mili●āt on earth and shall be of the Church triumphant in the heauens and to what end shuld he set down y ● marks wherby they may be discerned And to what purpose should Paul exhort vs to prooue our selues whether we are in the faith Or why should he speake after this maner vnto vs Know ye not your owne selues how that Iesus Christ is in you 2. Cor. 13. 5. 2. Pe● 1. 10. except ye be reprobates And wherefore should Peter bid vs be diligent to make our calling election sure It remaineth therfore as an vndoubted truth that the elect may be truly assured of their election and may assuredly know without speciall reuelation that they shall be saued Now this is a very great prerogatiue and the greater first because it may be iuioyed to the end secondly because the longer it is inioyed

A C 〈◊〉 N AND 〈◊〉 E TREATISE OF THE manner and order of Predestination and of the largenes of Gods grace FIRST WRITTEN IN LATINE by that Reuerend and faithfull seruant of God Master William Perkins late Preacher of the Word in Cambridge AND CAREFVLLY TRANSLATED into English by FRANCIS CACOT and THOMAS TVKE Romanes 8. vers 29. 30. For those which he knew before he also predestinate to be made like to the image of his Sonne that he might be ●he first borne among many brethren Moreouer whom he predestinate them also he called and whom he called them also he iustified and whom he iustified them be also glorified AT LONDON Printed for WILLIAM WELEY and Martin Clarke 1606. To the Right VVorshipfull Sir Peter Buck Knight And to the vertuous Lady his Wife Grace and peace from God our Father and from our Lord Iesus Christ. RIght Worshipfull amongst the manifold points of Christian Religion the trueth of the Doctrine cōcerning Predestination is worthy serious and sober study for the sound vnderstanding thereof For first it is something difficult obscure Secondly because it is by some eagerly impugned as a friuolous and forged inuention of mans braine Thirdly diuers opinions haue passed from diuers mē diuersly about this one point whereas notwithstanding there is but one truth and one definite and constant sentence to be found in holy writ concerning it Fourthly this one doctrine doth giue very good euidence and an ample demonstration of Gods infinite mercie and exact iustice Fiftly it affordeth some taste of his profound and impenetrable counsell Sixtly it doth notably manifest his admirable wisdome and policie and the incorruptible purity of his nature who wisely disposeth all things and vseth euen euils without iniustice and the least receipt or infusion of corruption and all for the manifestation of the glory of his Name and of the splendour of his renowmed properties Seuenthly it confoundeth the common cauill of many desperate and infatuated Atheists who would make Gods predestination the pillar of their sensuall security and secure sensualitie Lastly it ministreth exceeding comfort vnto those who renouncing the kingdome of Sinne do liue like Saints in the kingdome of Grace First because it is not possible for any such to sinne with full consent of heart Secondly because no personall merits are required of them Thirdly because the Spirit of God abideth in them who is busy within the hiue of their hearts as a Bee and worketh them like waxe Fourthly because God hath eternally predestinated them to eternall ioyes and those also incomprehensible and ineffable Fiftly because God hath in abundance vouchsafed that to them being but an handfull which hee hath denyed to whole heapes besides Sixtly for that they being elected can in no wise perish for the counsell of the Lord shall stand for euer Psal. 33. 11. And hee loueth them with an euerlasting loue Ieremy 3. 4. Though a Mother should forget her Child yet he will not forget them for he hath grauen them vpon the palme of his hand Isay 49. 15 16. therefore hee will confirme them vnto the end 1. Cor. 1. 8. and by his power keepe them vnto saluation 1. Pet. 1. 5. He will loue them cōstantly though he visit their transgressions with rods Psal. 89. 32 33. He will neuer turne away from them though he Iere. 32. 40. Ioh. 16. 12. take them by the neck as Iob speaketh and beat them though he cut their reines and breake them and though he powreth their gall vpon the ground and runneth vpon them like a Gyant Ioseph did affect his brethren entirely though hee spake roughly to them Hee may also sometimes let them fall as a louing Nurse may her child but he will lift them vp againe therefore howsoeuer they may fall yet they shall not fall away Indeed Piptein they may leaue their first loue as the Ecpiptein Church of Ephesus did but they shall neuer leaue to loue at all if euer they loued Reu. 2. 4. truly For as Paul sayth Loue doth neuer fall away it may be lessened but it cannot 1. Cor. 13 8. be lost In like manner their faith may be couered as the Sunne with a duskie cloud in a gloomy day or as the trees are with snow sometimes in winter but yet it continueth firmely fixed though now and then eclipsed in the sphaere of the heart and keepeth sap in the roote For the righteous man is as a tree planted by the riuers of waters Psal. 1. 3. and is built by that great builder of heauen and earth vpon a rock Math. 16. 18. These comforts will this one doctrine affoord being throughly pondered and vnderstood And no doubt these and the like considerations mooued that holy and learned man of blessed memory to publish this present treatise for the benefit of the Church and the same haue also incited vs to turne it out of the toong wherein he wrote it into the English for their profit who are ignorant in the other and the rather because it is contriued and penned very plainely soundly and succinctly as the subiect will permit The which Right Worshipfull assuring our selues of your vnfeigned loue vnto the truth we do present and dedicate to you in token of deserued gratitude for vndeserued kindnesse not doubting of your courteous and kinde acceptance And thus we humbly take our leaues recommending you and all yours to the protection of Iehoua Rochester this 19. of February 1605. Your Worships in all dutie Francis Cacott and Thomas Tuke ¶ To the Right VVorshipfull Master Iohn Hayward Maior And the Worshipfull Iurates his Brethren And the whole Communalti● of the Towne and Libertie of Fauersham RIght Worshipfull as many other wholsome and heauenly doctrines grounded vpō the word of God haue beene and are to this day contradicted and impugned euen so it fareth with the diuine and deepe doctrine of Gods Predestination a doctrine not more heauenly then wholsome nor more commodious then comfortable yet as heauenly as commodions as any doctrine whatsoeuer which the Scriptures do affoord The Pelagians held that God predestinated men to life or death as he did foresee that they would by their naturall free will receiue or reiect grace offered They taught that it was in mans power to beleeue or not to beleeue they placed the causes of saluation in men themselues out of God and held that the Elect might fall from grace and perish Others hold that albeit the Lord electeth some of his meere mercy without respect of any thing in them that yet he reiecteth those which are reiected because he did foresee that they would reiect his grace offered vnto them in the Gospell Some Vbiquitaries hold that Adams fall came to passe without Gods decree or any ordination of 〈◊〉 secondly that no decree of God dependeth vpon his sample will concerning the saluation of the godly or the reiection of the Reprobate thirdly that God doth vtterly nill the reprobation of 〈◊〉 y

cause why he foreseeth faith in one man rather than in another but onely because it is his will to giue one man faith and not an other Lastly th● rule is vncertaine for faith as appeareth by this platforme may bee vtterly lost and therefore the thing ruled to wit predestination is made uncertaine This a certaine Author plainly confesseth in his exposition of the epistle to the Romanes where he teacheth vnaduisedly that Gods decree may be changed and that election and reprobation haue recourse one to another because as he saith they depend vpon the condition of faith and infidelitie Furthermore this platforme teacheth that true and sauing faith may perish and Error 〈◊〉 be lost either wholly or for euer which notwithstanding is not true Reason 1. Matth. 16. 18. Vpon this rock will I build my Church and the gates of hell shall not preuaile against it Here three questions must 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be asked what the rock is what is meant by building on the rocke and what is that which is promised to those which are built vpon it The rocke is either faith it self or Christ apprehended by faith Chrysostome Vpon this rocke that is saith he vpon the faith of confession Againe He setteth Homil. in Matth. 55. Psal. 32. our feete vpon the rocke that is vpon faith for faith in Christ● may well be said to be that which cannot bee broken Againe Christ being wise hath built his house that is In com imperfect in Mat. cap. 7. his Church vpon a rocke that is vpon the fortitude of faith or a strong faith Now if faith be a rock it remaineth constant and immoueable To be built vpon the rock is to perceiue the doctrine of the Gospel to embrace Christ our Sauiour with a true faith and to cleaue fast to him with the heart For the Cori●thians are said to bee Pauls building because he brought them to the faith And the Ephesians are said to be built vpon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets because Paul came and preached vnto them the Gospell of peace The certaintie and firmnesse of the doctrine of the Gospell may also bee called a Rocke Epiphanius They shall not preuaile against the rocke that is Lib. haer 74. to say against the truth Hilarie This is thy blessed rocke of faith which Peter hath De Trin. l. 3 confessed with his mouth Augustine Vpon this rocke which thou hast confessed I will build my Church Now no man can be built vpon the confession and vpon the truth but by faith Hence I doe conclude thus Those that are built vpon the rocke cannot fall away vtterly but those which truely beleeue are built vpon the rocke therefore those which t●uly beleeue doe not vtterly and whollie fall away Thirdly the promise made to them that are built vpon the rocke is that the gates of hell shall not preuaile against them From hence it followeth necessarilie that the Diuels can but make a slorish and shew their strength and power against the faith and that they 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall neuer be able to ouercome and conquere Let vs here also weigh the iudgements of the fathers Cyprian Lord to whom shall we goe signifying that the Epist. 1. 3. Church which beleeueth in Christ and which kepeth that which it hath once knowne doth at no time altogether depart from him and that they are the Church who doe abide in Gods house But that they are not of God the fathers planting whom we doe see to be voyd of the stedfastnes and massie soundnes of corne and like to chaffe vanned or blowne about with the wind of the winnowing enemi● of whom also Iohn speaketh in his 1. Epistle saying They went out from vs but they were not 〈◊〉 Ioh. 2. 19. of vs for if they had bin of vs they had surely remained with vs. Augustine Loue which may be lost was neuer true Againe To beleeue Dec● de poe●it d. 2. c. 2. Tract 116. 〈◊〉 Ioh. truly is to beleeue constantly stedfastly valiantlie and firmely so as that thou maist not now returne vnto thine and forsake Christ. Againe Those which are truely saints being predestinated to reigne with God De cor grat c. 12. by his grace haue not onely giuen them now a power to pers●●ere if they wil but perseuerāce 〈◊〉 selfe Againe Hee which makes men good ●aketh them to perseuere in that which is good And againe The Church loseth none on the earth but those which are wicked Epist. 163. and admitteth none into heauen but those that are good Againe As the a●ke was Quaest. 52. ad O●osium built of foure-square timber so the Church is builte of saints for that which is foure-square will stand steddy on which side soeuer you set it And the saints continue stedfast in euery temptation Chrysostome This is the propertie of faith that howsoeuer Hom. 1 in 2. Tim. 1. things may fall out contrarie to the promises yet it neuer falleth away vtterly and is Penitus omninò neuer wholy confounded Againe Let vs keepe faith which is a firme and sure rocke for neither the floods nor the winds can do vs any hurt though they driue hard against vs because we stand stedf●st vpon a rocke so also if in this life we will choose that true foundation we shall abide without any detriment or losse Againe Thou canst not ouercome Hom. de expuls Chrys. one faithfull man O Diuel thou knowest not what the Martyre haue done vnto thee the flesh often fainteth in the torments and the strēgth of faith faileth not Hence it is that in y e same place he speaketh after this sort If thou makest warre with mā thou shalt it may bee ouercome or perhaps thou shalt bee ouercome but no might can ouercome the Church Furthermore The Church Hom. 25. in Gen. is farre stronger than the earth yea and stronger than heauen Againe Faith in God In 7. cap. Ioh is a certaine secure anchor Gregorie Because the light of the elect is not extinguished by temptation wee doe not say there is a night made but an euening namely because temptation doth oftentimes hide the light of righteousnesse in the hearts of the elect but it doth not put it quite out it makes it as it were twinkle and looke wanne but it doth not extinguish it Angelome The obseruation of Gods commandements being established In lib. 3. Reg. cap. 7. in the hearts of the elect by faith hope and loue of that heauenly recompence can by no let of temporall things bee dissolued Againe The hearts of the elect are compared Ibid. cap. 5. to a foure-square figure which haue learned so to remaine in the strength of faith that they cannot be remoued from the certaintie of their estate by any repugnancie of those things they meete with no not by death it selfe Andreas Those are found to be abortiue Epise Capp in