come from the dead that hath made proofe of this way and life and would speake of his own experience would we heare Behold Paul slaine by the Law reuiued by the Gospell what doe wee thinke of him Did he not from the time of his conuersion to the time of his dissolution enioy a constant tenour of ioy liue if euer any comfortably happily And doth not hee tell vs euen while he liued in the flesh that he liued by the Faith of our Lord Iesus Christ. Surely he must needs be blessed that liueth by the same faith with Bloffed Paul Come therefore you which desire to see good dayes and lay holde on the waies of life Beleeue and liue CHAP. II. Christ the Fountaine and Faith the meane of Life WHat then Commit we sacriledge against Christ in deifying of Faith Rob we the Lord to adorne the seruant with his diuine honours God forbid Let that be giuen to Christ which is Christs and that to Faith which is Faiths Let the power of life and death be intirely reserued euer ascribed to the Lord of life the well of life the light and life of the World the breath of our nosthrils the life of our liues Thy body oh man hath it soule which enliues it and so hath thy soule its soule whereby it liues and that is Christ the quickning spirit Take away the soule from the body and earth becomes earth seuer Christ and the soule what is it but a dead carrion Elementary bodies lighten and darken coole and warme die and reuiue as the Sunne presents or absents it selfe from them Christ is to our soules the Sunne of righteousnesse Sin parts vs Faith reunites vs And so wee liue primarily and properly by Christ as by the soule by Faith secondarily as by the spirits the bond of soule and body by a personall and speciall faith appropriating Christ to the beleeuer as the leg or arme liues by proper sinews arteries and nerues vniting it to the liuer heart and head such an one as Paul had in Christ that dyed for him whereby hee ingrosseth the common God to himselfe as if his and no bodies else Thus saith hee himselfe that is the Truth and the Life I am the Life and Resurrection of the World hee that beleeueth in mee though hee be dead yet shall he liue and not die And this is the testimony of those three heauenly and earthly witnesses God gaue life to the Sonne And he that hath the Sonne hath Life And he that hath Faith hath the Son So that whateuer we lend to Faith it redoundes to the honor of Christ neither haue we any sinister intent to praise the wombe or the paps of Faith but to cast all vpon Christ who giues and works this Faith in vs vivisies and nourishes it yea iustifies the imperfection thereof by the perfection of his merit Nay let Faith knowe that if shee should waxe arrogant towards her Lord or insolent ouer her fellow seruants she should Lucifer-like fall from her dignity and in so doing of the best of graces become the worst of vices Verily what hath the habite of Faith in it selfe considered better or equall with loue Is it not a poorer and meaner Act to beleeue then to loue more like a beggarly receiuing then a working and deseruing hand Haile then oh Faith freely graced graciously exalted aboue all Christs Handmaides Thy Lord hath looked vpon thy meane estate because that hauing nothing of thine owne as other Vertues haue whence thou mightest take occasion to reioyce thou mightest the better exclude that hatefull Law of boasting the more humbly and frankely reflect all vpon thy Lord who willingly emptied himselfe that he might fill thee with honour whiles hee sayes to the cured of the Palsey Goe thy way thy Faith hath saued thee Hence forth cals hee thee no more seruant or friend but stiles thee as Adam his Spouse Chauah the Mother of all Liuing Counts it no iniurie to diuide his praises with thee likes it well that thou which doest nothing but by him shouldest bee said to doe all things which he doth To purifie the heart to ouer come the world to saue men c. And è contra hee to doe nothing without thee which yet does all of himselfe Hee could worke no Miracles in Capernaum because they had no Faith So glorious and wonderfull things are spoken of thee I had almost said so omnipotent is thy strength which hast said to the Sunne and Moone Stand yee still yea if but as big as the least graine canst say to the greatest Mountaines Remoue What can God doe which Faith cannot doe if requisite to bee done Questionlesse Iustifying Faith is not beneath miraculous in the sphere of it owne actiuitie and where it hath the warrant of Gods Word It 's not a lesser power then these to say Thy Sinnes are forgiuen thee thy person is accepted of God what-euer thou askest thou shalt haue c. Wherefore we need not doubt vnder Christ without feare of Praemunire or offence to his Crowne and Dignity to affirme of Faith That it is Gods arme and power to the enliuing and sauing of euery beleeuer as it is written The Iust shall liue by Faith CHAP. III. The third kinde of the Life of Faith BVt least wee seeme to speake swelling thinges whiles we soare in the Cloud of generalities let vs descend to some solide particulars Three thinges there are whence commeth Death to the Soule of Man Sinne with the guilt thereof giues the first deadly blow exposing it to the wrath of God who is a Consuming fire whose anger is the messenger of Death whence came the first Thunderbolt striking thorough the Soule that sentence of God to Adam Thou shalt dye And such as Nathans to Dauid Thou hast sinned and art the childe of Death The second is the spott and corruption of sinne deprauing yea deading all the faculties of man to spirituall actions which made Paul cry out That which I would doe I doe not And wretched man that I am who shall deliuer me from this body of Death Thirdly that swarme of plagues and army of punishments in the re-reward wherof comes first a second death All which made Iob cry out Why is light giuen to him that is in misery and life vnto the bitter in soule which long for death more then for treasures and ioy when they can finde the graue Were it not for these three man might liue fare and doe well but sin hauing entred into the World brought in Death with it which reigneth and triumpheth ouer the sonnes of Adam with this three-forked Scepter of Guilt of Corruption of Punishment Here comes in Faith with a three fould Antidote brings vs to the Tree of Life whose fruit and whose leaues heale vs of the sting and deadly poyson of Sinne working in vs a three-fold life opposite to the forenamed deaths The first is the life of righteousnesse discharging vs
from the sentence of death restoring the light of Gods countenance appeased in Christ our surty which made Dauid cry out Blessed is the man whose sinne is couered The second is the life of the Spirit or new life regenerating reuiuing euery faculty quickning vs to euery good worke which maks Paul glory that he is able to do al things through Christ inabling him The third is the life of ioy and comfort cheering the soule in the middest of all trials and tribulations which made Iob in the valley of death exult and trust in his liuing Redeemer and Paul insult ouer all kinde of Calamities as more then Conquerour Romaines 8. In these three being contained what-euer accomplisheth the life of the soule may not Faith well be said to supply abundantly all things pertaining to life and godlinesse But what doe I treating of the kindes of life what should I blot paper and tyre my Reader in writing of the kinds of Faith the degrees of Faith or any other motions of Faith things so well known of those that know any thing of Christ That nothing so much vexeth me to see so much spoken and written of faith so little done by it the Theory of it so throughly canuased and cleered in Controuersies and Sermons and the practise of it so obscured and disgraced in the liues of Christians CHAP. IIII. The vse of Faith OH Faith when I read of thee when I meditate of thee when I feele any part of thy vertue I finde thee to be a wonder-worker I conceiue nothing but high and stately things of thee When I looke into the World and vpon the liues euen of such as call themselues beleeuers especially of the common sort I begin to question my thoughts for dreames and to say Faith thou art but a name a sound a meere word no powerfull thing Why are many of thy followers so dead so mopish so melancholly why are worldly men as merry as iocund as they Yea why are many ciuill men as righteous as they whence should this wrong and disparagement proceed Is thy Vertue exhaust thy strength decayed in this old age of the World or is it because men know thee not verily neither of these No drugge no herbe so commonly extolled so famously knowne Paul of old Luther of late with infinite moe euery Catechisme haue blazoned the name described the nature set out the properties and effects to the full Only the miserie is the World either knowes not the vse or forgets the practise of it There wants a practicall Luther which should deale by Faith as Socrates by Phylosophie who brought it out of the Skies and Bookes into Cities and Houses taught and vrged the familiar and quotidian vse of it Doth not all the praise beautie and lustre of Faith as well or more then of other vertues consist in action and not in motion Is not the gaine and benefit of it in sense and feeling not in knowledge or discourse Is not the throne and seat of it rather in the heart then in the head Who knowes not there is a Doctrinall speculation and discourse of Faith easily by reading and hearing attained such in one as Schollers that neuer went out of their Studies and schooles haue of remote Countries of their commodious situation pleasant riuers high mountains costly buildings rich mines iewels and al other commodities which what a frigid and ieiune contemplation is it in comparison of that delight and benefit which the Merchant and Trauiler enioyeth by a reall sight and fruition of them What is the notionall sweetnesse of honey or sugar to the experimentall taste of them And yet this Aery windie stuffe is all the World at this day cares for and hunts after The Schoole-men and Casuists what doe they but languish into vselesse needlesse and endlesse questions spending their thoughts about this magnificent vertue in cold and bloudlesse subtleties of the subiect obiect kindes c. Preachers for the most part inuring themselues to declaime in praise of some morall vertue and to inueigh against some vice of the times happily sometimes finde leisure to weaue a curious spiders webbe in commendation of Faith rarely shewing or pressing the life and vse of it In a word will you see the fashion of the World The Schooles disputes of it the Pulpit Preacheth of it Profession talkes of it prophane men sweare by it two or three few or none liue by it I met with a story of an ancient Hebrew a reuerend Rabby who that he might the more liuely conuince the people in his times of their neglect of practise of this excellent Grace put himself into the habit of a Mountebanke or trauelling Aqua-vitae-man and made Proclamation of a soueraigne cordiall Water of Life he had to sell being called in and demaunded the shew of it Turned them to the Bible the Fountaine of Life and to seuerall places of it as the thirtie foure Psalme c. intimating that if they would make vse and daily drinke of the water they had they might as it should seeme hee did liue farre better and more comfortably then vsually they did And indeede why is there such a price put into the hands of fooles that know not the worth and improuement of it As secrets and misteries in good Artisens that haue sometimes a faculty whereby they can earne tenne or twenty shillings the day and might liue as well as landed men but then they haue another boone withall they loue idlenesse pastime and good fellowship and so liue like beggars or as land and money in the hands of those whom we therefore aptly call misers to Haue and to Hold but neuer make good vse of it Who may well be said to vse the World as if they vsed it not for they put it foorth to vse or locke it from themselues and others goe basely fare hardly liue in debt to backe and belly as if they knew not it would buy them good meate and good cloathes and other necessaries and conueniences for their liues It is possible a man may haue a toole a medecine or an engine and not haue the skill or strength to vse it It is possible a man may haue a gift of God and not the gift to vse it throughly else needed not Paul call on Timothy to stirre vp the gift that was in him Among all the gifts of God there is none more vsefull then Faith others are profitable for some few things this is for this life and the life to come for all parts and purposes of our liues in the vse of it manifold and rich euery manner of way CHAP. V. The first vse of Faith to new-borne Babes AND first let me beginne with thee that art beginning to liue this life thou Embryo that art in hatching that hast so much life as to know thy selfe dead in sinne and to desire to liue in Christ for what should I cast away speech vpon scelets and skulles carnall men I meane
meere Strangers to this life of Faith I expect not reading should put life and spirit into them onely I pray for such that they may heare Gods voyce in the Ministerie and liue but as for thee whom the Law hath wounded and the Gospell is healing who art euen at the byrth and stickest betweene the knees onely wantest power to come into the light who liuest but feelest not thy life holdest Christ but with benummed hands beleeuest but canst not yet beleeue thou hast Faith What is the matter thou art still ensnarled in the cords of death Why loosest thou not thy handkerchiefes and commest out of thy Graue and walkest chearefully in the Land of the liuing Suffer Faith to doe her perfect worke in thee to forme Christ in thee suffer not thy selfe alwaies to bee detained in the throwes and throbs of feare and doubt The Common causes of this slownesse of beleefe and snares of Death I obserue in most to be one of these three First Immoderate aggrauation of sinne Secondly Foolish and proud humilitie Thirdly Preposterous desire of Sanctification before Iustification First Thou wouldest beleeue but thou hast beene a sinner Whom came Christ to saue but sinners And whom doth hee iustifie but the vngodly Oh! but thy sinnes are Scarlet crying scandalous sinnes Said I not all things are possible to Faith onely if thou canst beleeue Are not all faults easily pardonable to an infinite mercy which exceedes Mans as Heauen doth Earth which can redilier forgiue seuenfie then Man seuen offences Well did Marâ—â—â—s answere the Diuell himselfe obiecting his former life to him that euen his might bee pardoned if hee could beleeue Did not Christ take the flesh of Rahab and Bathsheba and did hee refuse to take their sinnes vpon him Did not his blood wash Dauids bloody sinne as white as snow Doth not he delight to forgiue much that hee may binde to loue much Shall not his fauour abound to the sense of thy Faith where sinne hath abounded to the wounding of thy heart But thou art an olde habituate sinner As if Christ came from Heauen to cure onely small fearres greene cuttes and not deepe inuetorate woundes diseases of eight of twelue of eight and thirty yeares olde to cast out single Diuels and not Legions also Oh then take heede thou adde not to thy great and many sinnes a greater then all Cains sinne which was greater in infidelitie then in fratricide All thy help is to looke of thy selfe an obiect of confusion and to looke vpon Christ an obiect of consolation And then how fiery and deadly so euer thy sting bee by meere looking a strange cure I confesse yet most approued that is by sole beleeuing thou shalt be cured and liue Secondly But forsooth thou wilt be more mannerly then so with Peter thou wilt not suffer Christs precious hands to wash thy foule feete Take heede thy modesty turne not into pertinacy lest he swear in his anger thou shalt haue no part in him if thou stubbornly refuse his gratious offer he liked well the humility of that Cananitish that bore the terme of dogge but better her confidence that would not be said nay of the crums of his table And shalt thou not tenne times more honour him and please him in trusting his mercy and sealing to his truth then in fearing his iustice and dreading his power Take heede of pride in the clothes of humilitie Bee not deceiued It is pride and high pride not to come when thou art called Faith is obedience and obedience is more acceptable then curtesie complement The sooner thou commest the better welcome It is rudenesse and not good manners not to do as thou art bidden to doe yea so often and earnestly charged to doe To doe the worke of God is to beleeue in him whom he hath fealed and sent to be thy Sauiour Thirdly Oh! but thou wouldest faine first repent amend and doe some good workes and then thou wouldest bee bold to come That is thou thinkest thou shalt not be welcome vnlesse thou come with thy cost Thou wouldest accept of a pardon if thou mightst pay for it but his are free and he bids thee come and buy without siluer or else he saies thou and thy money perish Thou wouldest goe the old and naturall way to worke What shall I doe to inherit euerlasting life but that is now farre-done and impassable through our infirmity Besides before thou canst walke or worke thou must be aliue Did Christ indent with Zacheus for Restitution and almes or Paul bid the Iaylour first repent become a new man and then beleeue No they knew that the one would voluntarily necessarily together immediately follow or rather accompany the other Wherefore swim out of these weedes lay hold on the Rocke and to facilitate thy birth by the Act of beleeuing set beefore thy eyes Christs freedome to all suitors in the time of his flesh repelling none that truely desired the price of his blood And especially Gods esteeme of Faith aboue all other Graces Deeds or Acts of thine Study striue endeauor to beleeue as thou doest in a difficult point to conceiue Pray for a faculty and for the act of beleeuing Be not euer beleeuing and neuer a beleeuer euer beginning to liue and neuer liuing Liue to day to day is Saluation offered steppe from death to life and write this day thy birth day and number from hence the dayes of thy life in which of a Childe of perdition thou are made the sonne of GOD through Faith and so made foreuer Doest thou beleeue this with thy whole heart Driue on the Charriot of thy life with ioy and reioycing till thou come to the marke But what signe shall I haue of the truth of my Faith May it not bee presumption if without repentance and sanctitie How shall I be sure it is not that vaine and dead Faith Saint Iames speaketh of At the first it shall suffice to finde and feele a change of the minde an vnfained purpose desire and resolution of new vniuersall obedience which is contemporary with Faith though the younger and a second brother in order of Nature which where it is sufficeth to warrant Faith and to embolden the confidence in the first act of conuersion Zacheus the Iaylor and all new Conuerts had not any more could haue no experience of amendment of life and yet relyed vpon the word Beleeue and thou shalt bee saued CHAP. VI. The vse of Faith to young men in Christianity PVT off now thy sackcloth and ashes put on the garments of ioy and gladnesse Let not white raiment be wanting nor oyle to thy head Liue I say liue to day liue to morrow liue oh Christian for euer Not for one or a fewe dayes But all the dayes of thy life This thou mayst doe if thou wilt learne to vse thy Faith not as men vse Wedding apparell for a weeke or two after Marriage and then lay it vp for high and solemne dayes onely
to foule them againe When shee hath appeased her Beloued howe doth shee adiure her-selfe and others by the Hyndes and Roes not to awaken and offend him againe The Text sayeth Not euery hypocrite euery profligate professor of Faith that liues as hee listes shall liue by his Faith but the Iust or Righteous Which golden sentence is indeede ambiguously enunciated of purpose by the Holy Ghost that it may either way bee taken The Iust by his Faith shall liue Or The Iust shall liue by his Faith yet so as it hath but one right eare to bee holden by and that is onely for the hand of the Righteous man Implying that whosoeuer beleeues or liues by his Faith is also and must of necessity bee a righteous man a Iust man not onely imputatiuely but inherently in part such an one as vnfainedly loueth righteousnesse studieth the practise of it denieth and hateth all vnrighteousnesse endeuoureth euery day to bee more and more righteous and so deserueth the denomination of righteous So that looke how the rationall Soule includeth and implyeth the animall so doth Iustification Sanctification being indiuiduall CHAP. X. How Faith Sanctifies and Mortifies SO I slide into the second part or kinde of Christian life consisting in holinesse and righteousnesse which I shall easily demonstrate not onely to bee an indiuiduall companion but a naturall and necessary effect of Faith For looke how the strength of the heart breedes not onely cheerefulnesse but actiuenesse Motion as well as health whence it is that life is put for liuelinesse and agility driues away all lassitude hebetude and indisposition brings in aptnesse and delight to stirre the like doth Faith in the soule which may as the former in the body for a time stand with some sleight distempers spots of the skinne atche of limbes but not long with deadly diseases either vanquishing them or vanquished by them This noble vse of Faith will excellently appeare in both the parts of this newe life Mortification and Viuification And in each of these two manner of wayes doth Faith produce this effect partly as a moouing partly as a procreant cause In the first kinde admirable is the Pitho Saada of Faith aboue all the Oratory in the World All the common incentiues taken from profitte pleasure and honour all the Topicke places of Logicke Figures of Rhetoricke what poore and weake engines are they to the irresistable peâ—arre of Faith which sayeth but Ephata and presently our Euerlasting Gates yeeld and stand open For thus it goes to worke with vs Hath Christ giuen himselfe for thee forgiuen thee so many debts conferred fauours of all kindes vpon thee and what hast thou to retribute If thou giue all thy goods to the poore thy body to the fire thy soule to his seruice yea were euery hayre of thine head a man or Angell were not all short of recompence Louest thou louest thou this Sauiour of thine and darest thou or wilt thou dare to venture vpon any thing displeasing him is there any thing too good too heard or deare for him Mary if thy teares will washe his feete wilt thou not poure them out Is thine haire too good to bee the towell Is there any Spicknard too costly for his head Ioseph the LORD requireth the handsell of thy Tombe and wilt thou deny him Zacheus louest thou thy wealth aboue his honour that hath saued thee Stephen louest thou thy life aboue thy Master Can or did any Beleeuer giue the nay to these melting commaundes or commaunding entreaties of Faith will it take the repulse Doth it not constraine and extort more then all rackes and strapadoes allure more then all wages and prizes Doth not this Magnes as easily drawe weighty yron as other Iet doth strawes So that when thou wouldest bee sure to speed and obtaine any thing of thine vntoward heart set Faith a worke to make the motion and that will be sure to speede not onely by this perswading facultie but also by a Diuine power secretly effecting what it requires conueying into the heart will and abilitie vnto the deede It stands not without doores as a Mendicant Flexanimous perswader but enters into the closets of the heart shootes the barres vnlocks the boults takes away all reluctation and redaction infuseth a plyable willingnesse of woluish and dogged makes the Will Lambe-like and Doue-like of wilde and haggard morigerous and mansuete No otherwise then the medicine curing the vicious stomacke and restoring it to health makes it long for wholesome meate as before for coales and ashes All this it doth by fetching supernaturall efficacie from the death and life of Christ yea part of that mighty power where by Christ raised himselfe from the dead cured all diseases and wrought all his miracles By the vertue whereof it metamorphizeth the heart of man creates and infuseth new principles of action Make triall of this in mortifying the flesh to sinne and quickning thy spirit to holinesse For example complainest thou of some preualent corruption some violent passion that oft carries thee headlong against thy desire and resolution as Castrusius to Hierom who shall helpe mee subdue Nebuzardan Goliah Holofernes my raging lustes that are too mighty for mee Answere thy selfe as Dauid himselfe to the like Through thee O Lord shall wee doe valiantly ouer Edom shall I cast my shooe c. yea when thou hast spent all thou hast vpon other Phisitions tried all morall conclusions of purposing promising resoluing vowing fasting watching selfe-reuenging yet get thee to Christ and with a finger of Faith touch but a hem of his garment and thou shalt feele vertue come from him to the curing of thy disease What if thou hast often encountred thy enemie and receiued the foyle relapsed after victorie yet cast not away the sheeld of Faith but with the Israelites against Beniamites the second and third time set a fresh in the name of the LORD and they shall flye before thee Complainest thou with Augustine of his in-bred hereditary habituall inueterate vices holding thee in the Adamantine chaines of custome against which thou hast often resolued and resolued modo modo now I will leaue them and now I will forsake them why should I not as well as such and such as Potitian and Victorinus and yet they keepe thee Prisoner still full against thy will and endeauours Find out the cause which hee had reuealed to him in te stas non stas Thou standest vpon thine owne feete and therefore fallest so foulely thou wilt like a childe goe alone and of thy selfe and therefore gettest so many knocks Dye to thy selfe renounce the broken reede of thine owne free-will which hath so often deceiued thee and put all thy trust in the grace of Christ And it will crucifie the olde man and giue him his Hoc habet his deathes wound pierce his sides and breake his knees in peeces Be weake in thy selfe and strong in the Lord and through Faith thou shalt bee more then Conquerour
Leaue tuggling and strugling with thy sinne and fall with Iacob to wrestle with Christ for a blessing and though thy selfe goe limping away yet shalt thou bee a Prince with God and bee deliuered from Esaus bondage Yea what if Satan what if Legions of Principalities and powers haue long held possession in some strong fort of thy heart beginne to pleade prescription scorning as the Iebusites to bee eiected out of their impregnable tower hast thou Faith and canst thou beleeue persist in resisting and hee shall flye and thou shalt see him fall like lightening before thee Christ raised from the dead not onely the daughter of Iairus which was yet within bed not layd forth nor the Sonne of the Widdow newely carryed out of the Gate to buriall but Lazarus that had foure daies lyen in the graue to that ende sayeth Augustine That such as haue long beene dead in sinne yea such as vpon whom Satan hath rowled the stone of Custome and such as stinke in the nostrilles of the world through putrified soares of sinnes should not yet despaire but know that which falles out in frequent experience Faith can cure diseases past all other cures and hopes Through Faith thou shalt roule away the stone from the Caue of Makpelah and take out the fiue Kings that haue domineered and tyrannized ouer thee set thy feete in the neckes of them and triumph ouer them CHAP. XI How Faith Viuifies ANd what is there yet further thou wouldest haue Faith doe for thee Oh sayest thou it is not enough to bee healed of the disease vnlesse thou mayest take vp thy bedde and walke yea leape and skippe as the Lame restored to his limmes Oh! that I could finde that life of Grace which I see in some that can make it their meate and drinke to doe the will of God Though I be not pestered and mastered with any reigning corruption yet I finde my selfe so dull and vntoward that I take no pleasure in my life Know also that this quickning power Faith only can helpe thee withall To pray to meditate to haue thy conuersation in heauen to keepe a Sabbath cherely is as easie to thee as to Iron to swimme and stones to ascend vpward but nothing is impossible to Faith it can naturalize these things vnto thee metamorphize thee make thee a new creature of a moule of the earth a soule of heauen of a snaile a dromedarie such a change as the Sunne workes in the vapour when of an earthy heauy substance it makes it light and aery apt to ascend into the middle Region Such a change Cyprian saith hee felt in his conuersion And how else came Dauid to that high delight in Gods seruice that he loued the Commandements of God more then thousands of gold and siluer the honey and the honey combe that hee rose at mid-night to meditate in them The selfe-same duties may be done by the Ciuill man and by the beleeuer for the outside and deede done both may goe to Church heare a Sermon reade a Chapter but the one goes as the Beare to the stake as a slaue to the mill and the dullard to schoole in comparison of the other who hath a different internall principle which is as a spring and oile to the wheeles that makes them goe smoothly and currantly makes the yoake light and easie They that trust in the Lord shall renue their strength lift vp the wing as the Eagle runne and not bee weary walke and not faint Faith it is that fetcheth sap from the roote Christ that makes euery tree bring forth fruite in it kinde euery Christian in his owne calling What else made Dauid so worthy a Souldier what taught his fingers to fight so that a bowe of steele was broken in his hand What made Paul an able Minister of the Gospell gaue him the doore of vtterance made his tongue as the penne of a readie writer Hee beleeued therefore hee spake What made Onesimus of a false eye-seruant trusty to his Master as to the Lord The like might bee said of all trades and sciences Looke what a full treasurie of all sorts of graces Christ hath stored vp in him Faith dreineth and deriueth them out of his fulnesse to the vse of euery seuerall Christian euen Grace for Grace Faith is the Conduit Cocke that watereth all the Herbes and flowres in the Garden All which the more I consider the more I pitty the preposterous care and vnhappy trauell of many well affected who study the practise of this and that vertue neglecting this cardinall and radicall vertue As if men should water all the branches of a Tree and not the roote Faine would they abound and shine in patience meeknesse zeale yet establish and roote not themselues in Faith that should maintaine all the rest are ambitious to doe good workes build Hospitalles giue Almes but study not to doe the worke of the Father And what is the worke of the Father but to beleeue in the Sonne whom hee hath sealed and sent into the world to bee relyed on for Saluation which worke is the gratefullest work that we can performe and which will make gratefull all that we doe besides without which all that we can doe will not please him What cares hee for thy thousands of Rammes thy Riuers of Oyle Hath he not shewed thee Oh man that he that trusteh in his Sonne honoureth him most of all in putting to his Seale that hee is true This honour if thou wouldest doe vnto him hee would honour thee with all other graces and withhold no ornament no good thing from thee if it be fit for thee Meeke thou shalt be as Moses patients as Iob zealous as Dauid thy soule and life embroadered with all kinde of shining Graces as the high Priests apparell with Iewels Wherefore adde this prescript to the former when thou art on the toppe of Mount Tabor solacing thy soule in thy Lord and his fauour through Faith feasting and banqueting with him as Ester with Ahasuerosh Bethinke thy selfe what suite thou hast to him what troublesome enemy thou wouldest bee ridde off suppose it bee some potent Haman of prid make but thy complaint and it shall bee executed and crucified before thine eyes Consider what grace thou standest in neede of and make thy petition as Achsah to Caleb And hee shall giue thee the springs aboue and the springs beneath This prescript if thou wilt dayly obserue some daies more largely and feruently as the Spirit that blowes how and where it lists shall assist and as occasion shall require but euery day some what more or lesse though I will not promise thee thou shalt attaine to perfection of degrees such as the perfected spirits of the Iust enioy in glory because here thou shalt euer beleeue but in part and therefore bee holy but in part yet this I dare promise as thou growest from Faith to faith so shalt thou grow from strength to strength in all other graces till by degrees