deserue it by our good workes no not by our faith but by reward is meant a frée gift or a gift due by couenant or promise For there is a double reward Due or vndue and frée the first properly the second improperly so called That which is due by order of iustice for the dignity of the worke is properly a debt or due Reward That also is so called which is due by fauour and by promise To our good workes is eternall life as a reward due not the first but the second way For God hath made himselfe our debter not by receiuing from vs but by promising to vs. So that if you take debt or reward properly we affirme that nothing is due to our best works for there are foure things necessary to make a worke meritorious in the first acception of debt First that the grace whereby we do it be our owne for if we receiue it from another it is against reason that he that giues should thereby be indebted to giue more 1. Cor. 4.7 But wee haue no grace but we haue receiued it Secondly it must not be due or duty to performe it for that is contrary to merit but all that we are able to doe if it were more is due in regard of Creation and Redemption Luk. 17.10 Thirdly it must be profitable to him to whom it is done But God is not benefited by vs. Psal 16.2 50.11.12 13. Rom. 8.18 Fourthly it must be proportionable to the reward but so are not our best workes Therefore it is well called of the Apostle A free gift of God Rom. 6.23 This further remember that we teach good workes to be necessary to saluation but not as causes thereof but as the way thereto as Bernard said Q. What is eternall life Ans Eternall life is that glorious and most happy estate Mat. 25.46 Ioh. 17.22.23.24 Rom. 2.10 1. Cor. 2.9 Ioh. 10.28 Heb. 13.14 1. Ioh. 2.25 in which the soules of the elect are in heauen after this life and in which their bodies and soules shall bee at the day of iudgement the contrary whereof is eternall death Q What is eternall death Ans Eternall death is the most horrible condition in which the Reprobate shall be for euer in Hell Luk. 16.22.23 Mat. 25.41 2. Tess 1.4 with the Diuell and his Angels in their soules presently after their bodily death and in body and soule together in the day of Iudgement Expli There are thrée kindes of life First Naturall of the body in the vnion of body and soule Secondly Spirituall of the soule in the vnion of it with God and Christ Gal. 2.20 Eph. 2.17 whereby Christ is said to liue in vs. Thirdly Eternall of body soule whereby the elect liue and reigne for euermore in the kingdome of Heauen The first is common to the Reprobates with the Elect the other two are proper to the Elect. Eternall death is also thrée-fold First naturall of the body in the separation of body and soule called naturall not that it doth properly procéed from nature for it is the effect of sinne but because it is according to corrupt nature by the iustice of God Secondly spirituall in the separation of the soule from God whereby sinne liues and reignes in the wicked being said also to be dead in sinne Thirdly Eternall whereby body and soule shall be for euer separated from God and Christ and liue with the Diuell in eternall torments which kinde of life is called death because it were ten thousand times better not to liue at all in respect of themselues then in such endlesse easlesse and remedilesse misery For eternall life may be considered either in respect of the creature as it is and continueth by the power of the Creator so the wicked shal liue eternally in hell or in respect of the adiuncts of life or the affection which the creature shal haue toward the Creator and the fauour of God in Christ and so the Elect shall only liue for euer In a word the happinesse of the one estate and the misery of the other is such as no tongue is able to expresse no heart able to conceiue Al the glory and splendor of this life being scarce a shadow of the glory to be reuealed the first fruits whereof are in this life in the peace and ioy of a good conscience Rom. 14.17 which though it be vnspeakeable and as a Heauen vpon Earth yet is no more nor so much to that which shall be then a handfull of corne is to a field of a thousand acres 1. Ioh. 3.1.2 So also the torments which we can any wayes deuise to bee inflicted vpon man in this world being but a flea-biting to Hell and a sparke of that flame which the damned there shall endure and yet when wicked men féele the flashings of it in their consciences in the middest of all their worldly pleasures they are horribly confounded as in the example of Caine Saul Balthasar Iudas Pro. 18.14 and as Salomon signifies As there are but two Estates so but two places Heauen and Hell As for a third place called Purgatory neither doth the Scripture mention it neither can the Deuisers and first Founders of it the Papists tell what to make of it and therefore wee acknowledge it not Vse 1. Séeing such torments remaine for them in Hell which repent not of their sins vse all possible care that thou come not there Helpe thy selfe against sin and all damnable security in it by thinking of the torment following In regard of thy selfe it had béene better thou hadst neuer béene borne then to haue thy abiding with those vgly Fiends in that same euerlasting Fire and Brimstone Let not therefore the bitter pleasures of sinne deceiue thée Knowest thou not it will be bitternesse in the end The end of thy Drunkennesse Whooredome Lying Pride Sabaoth-breaking Negligence in the seruice of God Contempt of the Gospell c. will be more bitter then Worme-wood or Gall when the very Dregges of the Wine of the fierce wrath of God shall be powred out against thée for those thy sinnes Is sinne swéete But death is bitter remember it Thy sinne and the pleasure of it is short but the shame and torment following is without end and that in Hell where one minute of torment shall swallow vp the very memory of all fore-past pleasures Labour to thinke often of Hell it will bée some meanes to kéepe thée from thence c. Vse 2. Is life Eternall such a happinesse then liue godly 1. Tim. 4.8 Rom. 2.7 for that is the way to it It is our duty to liue godly though no reward were propounded but when our endeuours which yet are weake shall bee so beyond all proportion rewarded with such an eternall weight of glory how should it whet on our care and spurre vs forward to please such a God who is so rich to them which feare him How should it prouoke
deliuered foin the power of darknesse where the word signifieth by fine force to deliuer or plucke away Euen as Dauid pulled the Lambe out of the Beares mouth so hath Christ by his Almighty power reskued vs out of the mouth of the Roaring Lyon So also hée hath destroyed the deuill Heb. 2.14 not by abolishing his substance but by weakening his power as the word there importeth Christ then payeth his Bloud as a price to his Father and so forcibly deliuereth vs from the deuill Who hath the power of death as the Hang-man hath the power of the Gallowes not absolute but by commission from God for the tormenting of the wicked This Redemption wée speake of is so the worke of God that wée exclude all creatures from any power or possibility of redéeming vs. Psal 49.7 And wée acknowledge it to bée the worke of the whole Trinity deliuering vs in the person of the Sonne who redéemeth vs by his Merite and by his Efficacy by his Merite deseruing Redemption for vs by his Efficacy effectually applying it vnto vs by his Spirit through Faith Vse First héere wée may sée the wonderfull misery in the which wée are all till wée haue our part in the Eternall Redemption purchased for vs by Iesus Christ For first we are vnder the power of sinne and the tiranny of the deuill very Bond-slaues more miserable then euer were the poore Iraelites in Egypt or now are the poore Christians vnder the Turke for the bondage of these is onely bodily ours more bodily and spirituall also our bodies and very Spirits being subiect to obey his filthy will in all things Ephe. 2.2 Secondly we are all our life time in feare of death euen as is the case of one condemned to the Gallowes hee alwaies trembles and quakes at the approach and remembrance of the houre of his execution So wee if God make vs sensible of our estate in regard of sinne are alwaies haunted with the terrours of an euill conscience as with Furies and Fiends of hel as Caine Saul Iudas Thurdly wee are fire-brands of hell subiect to eternall condemnation for our sinnes c. This is our misery which who so vnderstandeth not nor considereth he neuer esteemeth this wonderfull mercy of God in redeeming of vs as he ought For as hee that supposeth himselfe to bee mortally sicke highly reckoneth of the Phisition which cureth him and he which is troubled but with some light infirmity not so Euen so to him to him onely is the tydings of the Gospell welcome the Promise sweete the Bloud of Christ vnualuable the Loue of God vnspeakeable yea without measure and passing all knowledge which seeth his misery and seeleth his heart wrung with the fetters and bolts of sinne and which considereth of those eternall torments due to the same Vse 2. Here we ought also to consider of the Price whereby wee are ransomed and of the exceeding Loue of God For the Price it was neither gold nor siluer nor any corruptible thing but the pretious Bloud of the Lambe vnspotted Iesus Christ Marke thou which readest 1. Pet. 1.18 19. It cost the very Heart Bloud of Iesus the Sonne of God who was without sinne to saue thee a vile wretch from eternall damnation which thou deseruest by thy sinnes The Loue of God herein appeared to be most wonderfull in that he spared not his owne Sonne but gaue him to death euen for vs and in our stead who were not his friends but his very enemies See what loue the Father hath shewed Rom. 6.7.8 that thou an Imp of the deuill by sinne shouldst haue the Bloud of Gods owne Sonne shed to make thee his son or daughter Let me speake vnto thee in the words of Ezra Ez. 9.13.14 which words he spake from the occasion of a meaner deliuerance Seeing God hath kept thee from being beneath for thine iniquities and hath granted thee such deliuerance shouldst thou continue in sinne shouldst thou rebell and returne to breake the Commandement of such so mercifull a God by drunkennesse blasphemy lying pride whoredome or any profanenesse Shouldest thou despise the Saboaths Word Sacraments Bloud of such a Sauiour Shouldest thou refuse to sacrifice thy Body and Soule to his glory that refused not to sacrifice his precious life for thy Saluation Shouldest thou be a Niggard of thy duty to him yea of thy best bloud who was prodigall to expend and shed his Bloud to redeeme thee Now God forbid Luk. 1.74.75 Tit. 2.14.15 c. Nay this inexcusably bindeth vs all to all thankefulnesse and true obedience Quest But you said that Man was created according to the Image of God in a most holy and happy estate how then comes bee to stand in need of a Redeemer Ans I beleeue that Adam and Eue being created by God according to his Image in singular happinesse and placed in Paradise did notwithstanding willingly and by the enticement of the diuell fall away transgressing Gods commandement giuen vnto them and so made themselues and their posteritie Gen. chap. 2. and 3. subiect both to sinne and death the wages of the same Expli Though it be farre better to indeuoure to come out of the misery we are in then curiously to inquire how wée came into the same yet because many necessary points depend on this and wee neuer séeke the heauenly Physition till we vnderstand and féele our disease and the danger Therefore it is necessary that wee should haue some good measure of knowledge hereof Which we shall attaine if we consider these two things First what Adams state was in his Innocency and vpon what conditions it did stand Secondly the manner of his fall We will héere intreate of his happinesse Genes 3. and the conditions thereof The happines of our first parents may bee referred to these heads First that they were created in the Image of God together with the manner of their creation but of this before Secondly that they were placed in the Garden of Eden translated by the Septuagint Paradise and commonly so called because it was a place of singular delight and pleasure Gene. 2.9 to 15. a most pleasant place in regarde both of the variety of all pleasant fruits the Trées also of knowledge and life in the middest thereof and also in regard of the pretious riuers watering the same Vnto this our Sauiour alludeth when he saith to the Thiefe This day thou shalt be with me in Paradise not that Paradise wherein Adam was put which was defaced in the flood but Heauen so called for the happinesse ioy and riuers of pleasure which are there for euermore Thirdly the happines of our first parents is set downe from their fréedome from all things which might hurt their bodies or disturbe their mindes They were both naked and were not ashamed Gen. 2.25 They were naked Hereby is signified that their bodies had a kinde of Impassibilitie so that though they were neither hairy nor woolly
as other beasts nor clad in apparrell as now but of a soft smooth skinne and naked yet they were not subiect to the iniuries of the wether as raine wind heat cold c. They were not ashamed Not as though any vndecent thing were spoken of them as now he is accounted a beast that is not ashamed of his nakednesse but first to shew that inwardly in their mindes did shine the Image of God that is Innocencie sanctity and Integritie c. in which if they had continued they should not haue néeded their figge-leaues nor any apparell Secōdly that outwardly in their bodies there was excéeding beautie and perfection of all parts so that there was no vncomelinesse no not in those members which after sinne natural shame for their deformity and vnséemlinesse teacheth vs to couer Thirdly that in the inferiour parts of the minde and body there was no inordinat motion or appetite all members of the body and inferiour desires being ruled and gouerned by the Inward grace of the minde So that if wée meditate of these things we can not but conceiue that the happinesse of our first parents was very great Now we are to consider of the conditions on which this happinesse did stand for they were created thus but mutable and changeable this state to continue and in the end to be translated to a celestiall life Ge. 2.16.17 if they kept the Commaundement of God otherwise not The Commandement was about one of the Trées which were in the middest of the Garden namely the Tree of Knowledge of good and euill which was so called not of the effect as though it had a quality to sharpen the wit but of the euent being a Sacrament of triall and admonition to them that if they did eate of it then they should haue wofull experience of the good they had lost and of the euil they had gotten they hauing before a speculatiue knowlege but not a practical experience hereof The other trée was called the trée of Life both because it had a power or vertue to preserue life and health and also more principally because it was to our first parents a Sacrament of the continuance of their life in Paradise and after of their translating vnto a heauenly life if they continued in obedience The Commaundement concerning the Trée of Knowledge contained a Prohibition which was this Verse 17. Of the Tree of knowledge of good and euil thou shalt not eate This Commaundement God inforceth by two reasons The first from the liberty God gaue them to all the rest of the Trées of the Garden Therefore he might wel abstaine from this one Verse 16. The other reason from the danger ensuing if he did eate Thou shalt die the death Verse 17. that is Thou shalt certainely die temporally here in the seperation of the soule from the body and spiritually in loosing the graces before spoken of and eternally in the seperation of Body and Soule from God This was mans happinesse and it stoode on this condition if he obserued the Positiue Lawe giuen him of God Vse 1. Death to speake properly is not naturall namely according to the nature of man in his Creation Rom. 5.12 but against nature comming in by sinne Adam being created to immortality that is in such an estate that if he had neuer sinned he should neuer haue died For although Adams body was mortall in it selfe could die yet it had a power not to die through the gift of the Creator namely if he continued in his integrity So Adam in his state of innocencie was both mortal and immortal in diuers respects Immortall hauing not an impossibilitie of dying but a possibilitiy of not dying which possibility he lost by his sinne and instead thereof receiued a necessitie of dying Thou shalt die the death Hée was mortall not because he should haue actually died if he had not sinned but because if he sinned it was possible hée should or hée might die Death then commeth not from Nature but from Sinne. Vse 2. The remembrance of this happinesse of our first parents which they lost to themselues and to vs by their fall should moue vs euen with teares of bloud if it were possible to bewaile our present misery in which we are which is 〈◊〉 farre from that happinesse as the Earth nay as Hell is from Heauen Then Man was the Cedar of Paradise the Picture of Heauen the Glory of the Earth the Ruler of the World and Gods owne delight But now he is the Fire-brand of Hell the Picture of the Diuell more base then the basest creatures on the earth clothed with no lesse dishonour and shame then he was before crowned with honour and glory Not onely as Nebuchadnezzar trans-formed into a beast but being made of the Temple of God a Cage of vncleane Spirits yea the very habitation of the Diuell Wherefore let vs all take vp a grieuous lamentation when we looke backe to our first glory and to Paradise our antient right And if there be any sparke of Heauenly courage wisedme in our breasts let vs endeuour to recouer that by Christ which we haue lost in Adam Nay God offers in his beloued Sonne more glory better happinesse let vs not be so besotted as to suffer Sathan to deceiue and depriue vs of the Recouery of Gods fauour by our continuance in sinne which first he made vs loose by committing sinne c. Vse 3. Man in Paradise in the time of his Innocency might not be idle nor without a positiue law for obedience so that neither lobour in dressing the Garden nor to be tyed to speciall duty by the law was any impeachment of his happinesse Those therefore which place any pleasure or happines in idlenes or in desiring to liue as they list and to be lawlesse do excéedingly manifest the vile corruption of their hearts for idlenesse and lawlesse liberty was not permitted to Adam in Paradise Q. I something conceiue the happinesse of man in his creation and the conditions of the same Now I pray you shew me what was the manner of his fall Ans The fall of our first parents was their voluntary transgression of the commandement of God in eating of the fruit of the forbidden tree caused by the subtill malice of the Diuell and their owne infidelitie Gen. 3. through the whole chapter Expli Out of the third chapter of Genesis which is called of some The Patriarkes Catechisme we are taught of the fall and sin of man of the anger of God of the punishment of sinne and of the beginning of mans misery vnto the which he was not created but into the which he fell by the iustice of God through his sinne points hidden from the wise and reuealed by the word by which we come to know the cause of all the miseries which follow our nature which miseries the Philosophers saw and confessed but the wisest of them could neuer conceiue the cause thereof
not onely giuing the outward shape and beautifull colour of the skinne and outwardly distinguishing compacting in singular order and comelinesse the parts and lineaments of the body but framing giuing within Bowels Veines Arteries Nerues Muskles and Bones c. most wonderfully Now whether Iesus Christ by whom we beléeue all things were made did in the shape of man as he often so appeared to the Fathers with his hands frame and fashion the body of man as some affirme I leaue it as vncertaine Vse Did not God make mans body of nothing nor of gold or some heauenly and pretious matter but of dust Remember then thy beginning and be humble in as much as thou nay Kings Quéenes are framed of no better stuffe then the dust and dirt of the earth which themselues nay euen bruite beasts tread vnder their féete yea wée are below the beasts in this that they were but brought out of the earth as out of their originall place Man made of the earth as of a base and brittle matter Why art the proud of a péece of dirt so prankest vp thy painted sheath Let thine owne bosome teach thée humility for thou art dust and let it also teach thée thy frailty that thou must die Gen. 3.19 for to dust thou shalt returne Quest What is the Soule of man which you spake of Ans The Soule of man is a Spirituall substance Ecc. 12.7 Heb. 12.7 Mat. 10.28 Psa 103.2 Zach. 12.1 Gen. 2.7 1. Cor. 15.45 Immortall endued with Vnderstanding Memory Conscience and Will Created in the Humane Body to make the Person of Man and to enable Man to know and worshippe his Creator Expl. Euery man hath a Soule the originall whereof is of nothing and it is the better part of man without the which the body is a dead lump of the earth the Immortality whereof is to be beléeued against all Epicures or else all Religion Piety vanisheth Though therefore the body die yet the Soule existeth being dissolued from the body being so farre from death that it neuer falleth a sléepe Mat. 10.28 Mat. 22.32.33 Luk. 16.29 Phil. 1.23 c. which is the image of death The immortality of the Soule might be made manifest by reason but Scriptures to proue it for I write to Christians are When Moses speaketh of the creation of the Soule and the infusing of it into the body hee saith God breathed into his face the breath of life Which must not bée vnderstood as though God had any mouth to breath but that God by his omnipotent power made the man to breath and yet héereby wée may perceiue that that which was thus created is a Spirit not drawne out of the matter but immediatly procéeding as out of the mouth of God Psa 33.15 Zach. 12.1 Iob. 33.4 Ezech. 12.7 Heb. 12.9 And if any shall aske how our soules are now created and whether wée receiue them as our bodies from our parents or no The answere is that we receiue onely our bodies from our parents our soules still immediately from God God is called the Father of the Spirits of men because though hee bée the Authour of their bodies also yet of these by meanes of them immediately And whereas some might thinke that héereby God might bée in danger to be made guilty of the sinne of man when hée putteth a soule into the body begotten by vnlawfull copulation It is answered that God is no more héereby guilty then hée is pertaker of the fault of the Théefe when hée causeth stollen corne to grow as well as that which is truely bought These things being to bée considered not Morally but Naturally in regard of their Being And because the guiltinesse wée receiued from Adam may séeme to approue that our Soules come from Adam also else how should they bée guilty Wée are to vnderstand that the sinne and guiltinesse is not in the Soule alone or in the Body alone but in the whole Man consisting of Body and Soule so the Soule is infused of God voide of sinne Though euen then when it is put into the Body it bée guilty of owing though not of doing euen as the debt of the Father is to bée paid by the Heire and hée lyable thereunto Thus is the Soule subiect to guilt so also is it faulty not as it is created of God for so it is pure nor as it is reasonable but as it is ioyned to the Body making the person of a Man who hath not the Image of GOD which hee should haue but the corrupt image of Adam which hée should not haue This Soule is the forme of Man by the which wee Vnderstand Remember Will Discourse by the which wée differ from the beasts being wonderfully ioyned to the body A Spirituall Essence to a Bodily without any thing to hold the same but the onely commandement of God Being not in one part of the body in regard of the Essence and in another in regard of the Faculties but being after a wonderfull manner wholy in euery part yea all the Faculties of the Soule being wholly in euery part in regard of their originall though not in regard of their proper subiect Vse 1. Thou hast a Soule which is endued with Vnderstanding and Will the proper obiect of thy Vnderstanding is Truth of thy Will Goodnesse If thou béest a man then all thy labour should bée to increase in the knowledge of the Truth and in the approbation election and practise of that which is Good Vse 2. Remember thou hast an immortall part which is thy Soule bée carefull then so to adorne it with grace and vertue that thou maist liue immortally in ioy and happinesse and not in misery and paine Many will say they haue Soules to saue so haue they Soules giuen them to know God and to worship him according to his Word But as the most part haue no care to glorifie God in and with their Soules so whatsoeuer they say they shew by their liues they haue Soules to bée damned rather then saued For as saluation is promised to them which beléeue and obey God so to them which do not is damnation denounced by the word of God Quest You said that Conscience is a Faculty of the Soule declare further what Conscience is Ans Conscience is a Faculty of the Soule taking notice of all that is in Man Eccl. 7.24 1. Cor. 2.11 Rom. 2.15 or that passeth through his whole life and so determining thereof accusing or excusing before God Ex. All men haue Conscience which is proper to euery reasonable creatures yea euery seuerall man or woman hath his or her owne seuerall Conscience within them which is a Naturall Faculty or Created Quality in the Minde borne with vs And whereas wée vse to say that some are men of no Conscience or haue no Conscience the meaning is not that they haue no conscience at all but no good Conscience Conscience is diuersly distinguished In regard of the