If they erre from this rule they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 transgressions evill workes if they accord with the rule and are conformable to the morall Law they are so farre forth to be judged good workes Now in a good worke two things are remarkeable first as it is a worke secondly as it is good for as it is a worke it is from nature as it is good it is from grace and as it is a good worke both from nature and grace and all from God who is the onely author of nature and doner of grace God doth not onely giue us our being and preserue us in it but supports and sustaineth us by his concurrence in all our actions For he as universall and supreme agent hath his influence into all the actions and operations of inferiour agents so that in him we both liue and moue and haue our being and without him wee neither mooue nor worke wee can doe nothing yet in that by his concurrence wee immediatly doe this or that worke it is said to be from us but if it betruely good the goodnesse of it is immediatly from Gods grace working in us both to will it and to doe it of his good pleasure We must alwayes lay this for a ground that good workes must flow from the fountaine of faith without which it is impossible to please GOD Omne etenim pietatis opus Prosp in Epigram nisi semine recto exoritur fidei peccatum est Everie pious worke is sinne if it grow not out of the right seede of faith In the next place wee are to consider that the goodnesse of a morall act depends of two things First the object secondly the circumstances Pet. Soto de instit sac part 2◠lect 4◠The object is some dutie of obedience commanded in the Law the circumstances are the end time place c. but the chiefest is the end intended for this according to Aquinas doth qualifie and specifie the act for actus exterior saith he informatur ex voluntate Aqui. in Rom. ca. 14. lect 2◠Rom. 2.14 the outward act is formed by the will that is intending such an end Now when the Gentiles which haue not the Law doe by nature the things conteined in the Law their works are morally good in respect of the object But because they intend not Gods glorie but their owne they faile in the circumstance their intention is evill and consequently their workes Whereupon St. Augustine considering that they neither proceeded of faith nor aimed at the right end remoues all goodnesse from them saying Aug. praesas in Psal 31. Vbi fides non erat bonum opus non erat bonum enim opus intentio facit intentionem fides dirigit where there was no faith there was no good worke for intention makes the worke good and faith directs the intention And after Non valde aspicias quid facit homo sed quid cum facit aspiciat Doe not greatly obserue what a man doth but what he aimeth at when he doth it And indeed heathens and hypocrites doe good works quoad genus operis but not quoad intentionem mandantis they doe the worke conteined in the Law but not according to the intention of the Commander who intendeth his owne glorie And so their workes although they seeme glorious and specious to men yet are they but like an earthen pot guilded over which seemes gold and is not or like grapes curiously painted on the wall which the birds flie to but cannot feede on them Sunt opera saith St. Augustine Aug. in Ioan. tract 25. quae videntur bona sine fide Christi non sunt bona quia non referuntur ad eum finem ex quo sunt bona there be workes which seeme good without faith in Christ and are not good because they are not referred to that end whereby they are good Hence is it that according to that trite and usuall distinction both the works of pagans and hypocrites are deemed good sesundùm substantiam actus non secundùm modum requisitum in regard of the substance of the act but not in regard of the manner requisite to such an act For to honour their parents to relieue the poore and such like may be good in the substance of the act and yet come short in the circumstance and faile in the manner Whereas we know that God lookes not so much to our doing as to our well-doing and as it hath beene observed by Divines Flor. Granat parte 6. ca. 4. Deus non tam remunerat verba quà m adverbia God doth not so much reward verbs as adverbs not so much doing as well-doing Rom. 2.7 for as the Apostle saith He will render to them who by patient continuance in well-doing seeke for honour and glorie and immortalitie eternall life Moses said unto the house of Israell Deut. 6.25 it shall be our righteousnesse if we obserue to doe all these Commandements before the Lord our God as he hath commanded Not onely that which he hath commanded us but in such manner as he hath commanded For that which is good loseth the beautie and glory of the goodnesse of it when it is not done after a good manner Men spend a part of their life idely doing nothing another part carelesly in doing that which concernes them not and another part wickedly in doing ill But wee that are Christians must endeavour to spend all our dayes in doing well and striue to imitate our gracious Saviour of whom it is said Mark 7.37 He hath done all things well The sonne of Amos exhorteth us to learne this lesson saying Cease to doe evill learne to doe well Esa 1.16 17. And the Lord God himselfe in the beginning of times said unto Cain the second man in the world If thou doest well shalt not thou be accepted Gen. 4.7 if thou doest not well sinne lieth at the doore O let us then be diligent in well-doing painfull labourers in Christs Vineyard let us be fruitfull in good workes committing the keeping of our soules unto God in well-doing as unto a faithfull creatour CHAP. XXVI That no man by his owne righteousnesse keepeth the Law and is without sinne THe morall Law is a rule of obedience telling us what we ought to doe not teaching us what we are able to doe As long as wee are in this bodie of death the remainder of the old Adam the part unregenerate Galat. 5.17 the flesh fighteth against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh So that wee cannot doe what we would and consequently wee cannot keepe the Law as we would Upon this unavoidable Supposition I may conclude that it is a vaine and needlesse speculation to dispute of mans possibilitie to keepe the Law and so to be without sinne if he will And thus much St. Hierome intimates Hieron li. 1o. adv Pelag. Posse hominem esse sine peccato si velit aut verum est aut
had temperamentum absolutè temperatissimum a temperament absolutely most temperate such as none but he and the Second Adam are supposed to haue yet that was not sufficient to immortalitie And therefore by Gods gracious indulgence he might freely feede on the tree of life by meanes whereof he might be preserved from decaying by age or any other cause and that through some naturall vertue in the tree or rather Gods blessing or both And thus Adam was mortall Aug. ubi suprd conditione corporis animalis by the condition of a naturall body but immortall beneficie conditoris by the benefit of his creator as St. Augustine excellently explaineth it If so be that Adam had not sinned yet fuisset mortalis he should haue beene mortall neverthelesse if he had not sinned Valles sacra Philos c. 6. fuisset nunquam moriturus he should never haue died as Vallesius aptly noteth So then no sinne Rom. 5.12 no death By one man sinne entred into the world and death by sinne Contrary to the heresie of Pelagius and Augustinus Steuchus a Pontifician of later times Whitak de not eccl ca. 7. If Adam then had not sinned he had not died but should haue beene immortall Immortalitateminori in qua posset mori Aug. Ench. cap. 105. with a lesser immortalitie wherein he had a power to die saith St Augustine-Quamvis major futura sit in qua non possit mori although a greater immortalitie be to come wherein he cannot die And this must be in Heaven in the state of glory where is no disobedience or sinne and consequently no death Rom. 6.23 for as the Apostle saith the wages of sinne is death Christ Iesus is our life Col. 3.4 both here in the kingdome of grace and there in the kingdome of glorie For He as head and fountaine of life communicateth life to all the members of his mysticall body He being the last Adam who was made a quickening Spirit 1 Cor. 15.45 enlivening us not onely with naturall sensitiue and rationall life as our Creator but also with spirituall life as our Redeemer and eternall life as our Glorifier Augustus the Emperour in Romani nominis aeternitatem natus borne to eternize the Roman name Onuph de imperat Com. cap. 4. according to Onnphrius was wont many times as Suetonius writes in his life to pray for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sueton. in vita Augusti cap. 99. for his friends and himselfe not immortalitie but aneasie death without paine But our blessed Saviour did not onely pray for but doth also giue unto his friends his my sticall members 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 immortalitie for speaking of them his Sheepe Iohn 10.28 he saith I giue unto them eternall life and they shall never perish neither shall any man plucke them out of my hands Our life consists in the knowledge and loue of Christ saith Aquinas we know Him Aquin. in Colost cap. 3. lect 1. and loue Him in this world in part and it is our spirituall life we shall know him and loue him in the other world perfectly and that will be eternall life As the first Adam brought death into the world so the second Adam abolishing death 2 Tim. 1.10 hath brought life and immortalitie to light Aug. in Ioan. tract 22. Who according to St. Augustine speaketh on this wise to thee Wouldst thou not erre I am the way Wouldst thou not be deceived I am the truth Wouldst thou not die I am the life Iohn 14.6 I am the way the truth and the life So may I say unto thee Wouldst thou not haue thy body perpetually detained under the power of darknesse and dominion of the graue Iohn 11.25 Loe He saith I am the resurrection and the life Beleeue on me let me be thy spirituall foode feede on me by faith for He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my bloud bath eternall life and I will raise him up at the last day If Christ dwell in us now by faith spiritually Ephel 3.17 he will surely dwell in us hereafter by glory eternally and that after an admirable manner which now we know not 1 Iohn 3.2 For now we are sonnes of God saith St. Iohn but it doth not yet appeare what we shall be It is not here revealed unto us we are unworthy to know it we are unable to comprehend it Onely thus much we are taught out of the divine Oracles that in the stole of glorie we shall see God clearely face to face wee shall with unspeakeable joy and delight ever behold Him who is the blessed life of man saith St. Augustine Aug de civit Dei lib. 19. cap. 26. whom to behold is life and the life is eternall CHAP. XXXV Of different perfection in glorie SPirituall gifts and graces are diversly dispensed by Christ and given to the Saints on earth after a different manner For to every one is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ Ephes 4.7 Thus much the Apostle instancing in some particular graces insinuateth touching faith the prime cardinall vertue he saith Rom. 12.3 6. God dealeth to every man the measure of faith and a proportion of faith and entreating of chastitie and continency he said Every man hath his proper gift of God 1 Cor. 7.7 one after this manner and another after that When as the Apostles said to our Saviour if the case was such it was not good to marry He answered them all men cannot receiue this saying Math. 19.11 Ambr. de voc gent. li. 2. c. 3. saue they to whom it is given Hereupon St. Ambrose saith Multis modis innumer abilibus differentijs gratia opera dona variantur inque ipsis singulis generibus muneruns dissimiles sunt gradus impares quantitates The gifts and workes of grace are varied after many manners and innumerable differences and in the severall kindes of gifts there be unlike degrees and unequall quantities Now as there are many different degrees of grace in the militant Church so there be also many different degrees of glorie in the triumphant Church Ambr. de bon mort cap. 11. according to that of St. Ambrose Erit or do diversus claritatis gloria sicut erit meritorum There shall be a different order of excellency and glory as there shall be of merits Hence it was that St. Augustine upon those words of Christ Aug. in Ioan. cap. 14. v. 2. in my Fathers house are many mansions saith they are diversae meritorum in una vita aterna dignitates diverse dignities of merits in one eternall life And St. Hierome saith Multae sunt mansiones apud patrem Hieren advers Pelag. li. 1. quia merita diversa there are many mansions with the Father because there are diverse merits Here note by the way that St. Ambrose St. Augustine St. Hierome and other of the ancient Fathers by merits so frequētly
a spirituall not corporall manner after a supernaturall not after a naturall manner And therefore difficult to understand and hard to utter But by this union wee are in Christ and Christ in us we liue in Christ and Christ in us we are made one with Christ and Christ with us that so by degrees we may be conformed unto him first by grace after by glorie CHAP. XV. Of the knowledge of our selues necessary to perfection THe old precept in the schoole of the Grecian Philosophers may deserue a due place amongst us in the schoole of Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 know thy selfe For this knowledge is necessary unto perfection and directeth us to it Plin. Nat. Hist li. 2. cap. 1. Whereupon Plinie the Pagan cryes amaine Furor profectò furor egredi c. t is madnes t is madnes for a man to goe out of himselfe and as if he knew all within to prie and search into all things without as if he could measure any thing who knowes not how to measure himselfe Now if thou wouldest wisely measure thy selfe take St. Bernards counsell who adviseth thee seriously to consider three things Bern. de consid ad Eug. li. 2. cap. 4. first Quid sis secondly quis sis thirdly qualis sis first What thou art in regard of nature secondly who thou art in respect of thy person thirdly What an one thou art in regard of thy manners Wouldst thou know what thou art by nature I will not instruct thee out of the store-house of nature no let God himselfe teach thee let him instruct thee out of Paradise saying dust thou art and to dust shalt thou returne Here he who is α and â— tells thee thy beginning and thine ending 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all is dust earth the meanest the lowest the basest of all the elements is predominant in thoâ— thou commest into the world clad with clay with teares and weeping mournfully thou goest on with labour and shame irke somely thou goest our with paine and anguish dreadfully A wofull entrance a miserable continuance a searfull Caâ—astâ—ophe And wouldst thou further understand what thy life is here on earth Surely thy dayes are no better than Iacobs were few and evill Gen. 47. v. 9. And Ioh tells thee that thou art of short continuance and full of trouble The shortnes of thy life is such as David compares it to an hand bredth St. Iames to a vapour others to a shadow to a dreame or the dreame of a shadow and nothing can be found so transitory to be a perfect Embleme of our short continuance Wisd 5.9 As soone as wee were borne wee began to dram towards our end saith the Wiseman Ambr. de voc gent. li. 2. ca. 8. Nec priùs incipit augeri atas nostra quà m minui neither doth our age begin to increase before it begin to decrease saith St. Ambrose O then let us consider let us seriously consider that this breve suspirium this short sigh this momentanie life is momentum illud unde pendet eternitas that moment whereon depends eternitie either eternall woe or everlasting felicitie O thou creator of men thou knowest our frame thou remembrest that we are but dust O teach us so to number our dayes that we may applie our hearts unto wisedome Our life for the quantitie is vaine and momentanie and for the qualitie thereof it is evill and full of trouble afflicted with many perturbations of minde wiâ—â— innumerable crosses from our selues and from others with infinte distractions and vexations of spirit So that Scaliger might well say Hominis vita non hac est sed via ad vitam this is not the life of man Scalig. exerc 205. Sect. 2. but the way unto life Here is nothing but labour and shame and sorrow So that our life is indeede 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a weake miserable life or rather no life no time thereof is truely pleasing and delight some to us Flor. Granat parre 1. cap. 15. Quod praeterijt dolet quod praesens est affligit quod futurum est turres We sigh and sorrow for that which is past we are afflicted and discontent with that which is present and we are afraid of that which is to come We are afraid to be unclothed to put off our tabernacle of clay to be resolved into dust Arist Eth. 3. cap. 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 death is a thing most fearfull saith Aristotle this nature cannot brooke abhorret à non esse shee abhorres a not being Grace may correct but not change and take away nature Hoc habet humanus affectus quoniam diligit vitam odit mortem Pet. Lombar sent 3. dist 17 mans affection is such that he loveth life and hateth death saith Peter Lombard Now consider how many distempers from the elements from our meats and drinkes are wee subject unto how many casuall accidents from evill Angells and men and other creatures are we daily exposed unto so that we haue cause perpetually to be in expectation of death yea to complaine and cry out with the chosen vessell of mercie O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death Who shall as Gorran glosseth upon it deliver me à corpore hoc mortifero samp mortali Gorran in Rom. 7.24 sub cujus dominio captivus sum in quo declino ad mortem naturae per quod inclinor ad mortem culpae in quo horreo montem Gehenna Who shall deliver mee from this mortiferous and mortall bodie under whose dominion I am held captiue wherein I decline to the death of nature by which I am inclined to the death of sinne wherein I abhorre the death of Hell Such so variable and mutable so transitorie and mortall is the state of man than whom as Plinie notes Plin. not hist 2.7 nothing is more proud and nothing more miserable CHAP. XVI Of the further knowledge of our selues HAving considered what thou art by nature if thou wilt goe on to perfection thou must also consider who thou art in person and what an one in qualitie After our generall calling of Christianitie there be many particular callings and states of men both in Church and Common-weale whereby they are distinguished one from another and hence ariseth the distinction and difference of the persons of men whereby they are obliged and bound to performe certmine offices services and ministeries for the good of others Now thou must consider what person thou art whether a King or a subordinate Magistrate or an inferiour subject whether a Bishop or a Priest or a lay man whether a Divine or a Physitian or a Lawyer whether a Souldier or a Merchant or an artificer or an husbandman or a labourer or whatsoever calling thou art of And herein thou must employ thy endeavours to the glory of God and the common good of men following that excellent rule of St. Augustine Aug. in Ioan. tract 10. Fac
crowne meete for your labour Perseverance immediately beginneth to attend on grace the mother of all vertues when it is first infused but is not compleate untill death untill the infusion of finall grace which perfectly extinguisheth all evill concupiscence and is the utter deletion or taking away of all sinne and sinfulnesse As the Crowne on the Kings head giveth an eminent splend our and luster to his royall robes and other 〈◊〉 ornaments so the grace of perseverance is the glorious complement crowne of all other vertues and is an infallible guide to leade us into the kingdome of glorie Therefore our Saviour saith not he that shall begin Math. 24.13 but he that shall endure unto the end shall be saved And to the Angell in the Church of Smyrna he saith Be thou faithfull unto death and I will giue thee a crowne of life Apoc. 2. â—0 We are now in our spirituall course and race we must so runne that we may obtaine wee are now in the combat we must so fight that we may over come Which that we may doe we are to implore and desire by fervent and incessant prayer that God would prevent and follow us with grace all the dayes of our life that so at the end of our dayes we may confidently and comfortably say with the chosen vessell of mercy I have fought a good fight 2 Tim. 4. v. 7 8. I haue finished my course I haue kept the faith Henceforth there is laid up for me a crowne of righteousnesse which the Lord the righteous Iudge shall giue me at that day and not unto me onely but unto them also which loue his appearing CHAP. XXXIII Of perfection in glorie SAint Paul the chosen vessell of mercy and trumpet of grace Rom. 8.30 uniteth and maketh up the golden chaine of our salvation with foure linkes First Predestination secondly Vocation thirdly Iustification fourthly Glorification Where hee expresseth not our sanctification as being included in our glorification according to the exposition of Aquinas Aquin. in cp ad Rom. cap. 8. saying Glorificamur in hac vita per prefectune virturis gratia in futura per exaltationem gloria We are glorified in this life by proficiency of vertue and grace in the life to come by exaltation of glory And indeed grace is glorie inchoate or begun glorie is grace consummate and perfected and our imperfect perfection by grace here is a previous preparing and disposing of us unto that absolute perfection which wee shall haue being cloathed and adorned with the stole of glorie For even in this life wee are freed in part from those foure evills which are maine impediments to our absolute perfection and this freedome is meerely from grace in Christ Iesus The first evill hindering our perfection is error in the understanding from which we are freed in part by the Spirit of grace leading of us into all truth and teaching us all things necessary unto salvation The second evill a let to perfection is sinne in the will from which wee are also partly freed by grace in Christ and that two wayes First Rom. 6.14 from the dominion of it For sinne shall not haue dominion over you because yee are not under the Law but under grace saith the Apostle secondly from the condemnation of sinne seeing Rom. 8.1 there is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Iesus which walke not after the flesh but after the Spirit The third evill hindrance of our perfection is misery and afflictions from which by faith and spirituall fortitude we are freed in part that they may not swallow us up that the flouds of great waters the over-flowings of feare and despaire may never prevaile against us never over whelme us In the world you shall haue tribulation but be of good cheare saith Christ I haue overcome the world The last evill letting our perfection is death And from this also we are freed in part by grace not onely from spirituall and eternall death but even from corporall in two respects First from the sting thereof 1 Iohn 1. v. 7. which is sinne 1 Cor. 15.56 for by the bloud of Christ wee are cleansed from all sinne Secondly in regard of dominion for death shall not tyrannize over us for ever for in the resurrection at the sound of the Trumpet 1 Cor. 15.52 wee shall be raised incorruptible and never die any more Whereas the bodies of the unjust shall rise but from corporall to eternall death wherein they shall be ever dying but never dead which moved holy Bernard to cry out Bern. de consid li. 5. ca. 12. Alas saith he quis det illis semel mori ut non moriantur in aternum who might grant them once to die that so they might not die for ever Thus are we freed in part by grace from these foure evill impediments of perfection But in the stare of glorie we shall be wholy and entirely exempted from the in for then shall we be free from all darknesse of error obliquitie of sinne from all of stictive misery and destroying death Yea we shall be free from them after a more excellent mother than Adam was in Paradise in the state of innocency For it pleased the omnipotent goodnesse and wisedome who bringeth light out of darknesse life out of death and good out of evill even by the fall of man to raise him up in Christ to a more eminent and high state of perfection It is true that Adam in his integritie had power not to erre not to sinne not to suffer misery not to die but it is also true that he had power to erre to sinne to suffer misery to die which by wofull experiment he brought into act by disobeying the command of his creator Ever since the poison and contagion of disobedience hath tainted and corrupted all the veines of his rebellious children and miserable posteritie Now in the state of glory in that heavenly Paradise we shall obtaine such a transcendent degree of perfection as that we shall haue no power in our understanding to erre in our will to sinne no power to suffer misery and devouring death In that ineffable glorie wee being perfectly changed into the image of the Lord the knowledge of all things shall be seene of us not by parts but wholly and at once as St. Prosper saith Prosp de vita contemplat li. 1. cap. 6. We shall see all things clearely without error by beholding him who is all truth Now wee see through a glasse darkly that incomprehensible light we behold him now through a three-fold glasse First of the creatures secondly of his workes of justice and mercie thirdly of the holy Scriptures But then we shall see him perfectly clearely face to face with unspeakeable joy and delight and herein confists our essentiall alsufficient blessednesse therefore Philip said unto Christ Lord shew us the Father and it sufficeth Iohn 14.8 Now we know God but imperfectly