measures and degrees Now within these distances many causes of diversion or aversion may intervene which intercept or turn aside the affections but as there is no distance between a man and himself even so the love which a man bears to himself it immediately fastens to its object so that between the one and the other there is no place that can admit the interposition of any contrary cause the affection we bear to another moveth out of it self but that which each man hath to himself moveth as it were in a circle continually round about it self Why the older we grow the more we love our selves It is hard to beleeve that this natural love whâ—â—â— every one bears to himself and 〈…〉 born with us can receive any â—â—â—â—ment it is already great and of a high stature even when we are as yet in the Cradle some will say then that nothing can be added to such an affection seeing it is so great in its very beginning But on the other side it seemeth that it increaseth still and gathers strength and vigour as man increaseth in years in witness whereof we may alledge that ordinarily a father doth more love those children which are born to him in his old age then those he had before as Jacob was more tender over Benjamin then over the rest of his children I know other reasons may be given for this increase of affection but perhaps they proceed also from this cause Though all the children of one father are his flesh and blood yet notwithstanding the fathers affection towards himself being greater in his old age then before this descends also in a greater measure towards those children which he begets in that age But there is another probability that sheweth the increase of mens affections to themselves with the increase of their age as long familiarity increaseth the love that is between two persons so that man that hath been long conversant with himself hath had long experience of his own fidelity and confident in his own directions hath reason to love himself more then before seeing he was not then so well acquainted with himself VVhy we do not envy another mans goodness He that loves his neighbour as himself will never envy him for this vice is incompatible with love 1 Cor. 13.4 It may be asked then why men do envy the greatness riches knowledge ingenuity courage and other qualities of their neighbours but are never envious of their goodness and piety for some will envy a man because he is in honor or because he is rich or valiant or eloquent but they will never envy a man because he is good This proceeds from divers reasons either from the small esteem that men have of goodness in comparison of other things or from this that every one perswades himself that he can when he pleaseth be as good as another or from this that goodness is so opposite to envy formally that it cannot be envies object being so contrary to it we cannot envy that in another which we cannot desire for our selves Divers Duties of the Law A Conclusion of this Treatise Why Moses who wrought so great and many miracles never raised any from the dead HE that turned the waters into blood who made fire and storms fall upon Egypt who divided the sea and drew water out of the rocks who wrought so many miracles upon all the Elements yet never restored any dead to life If one ask the reason why this kinde of miracle was not found among these other supernatural acts which made the Lawgiver so famous It wil be answered by som that this question is either unanswerable or unprofitable notwithstanding it is considerable and the solution is sufficiently clear for this answereth the quality of the law which was given by Moses The Law considered without Christ is a letter that killeth and the ministry of Moses is the ministry of death 2 Cor. 3.6 7. his office was not to give life but on the contrary to take it a way in testimony of which and to shew that the life and resurection is to be sought for elsewhere then in the Mosaical Law Moses never received power to raise any from the dead although there wanted not occasions which seemed to invite him to produce this miracle The Law continued from Moses who had an impediment in his speech till John the son of Zachary which Zachary was speechless Luk. 16.16 It were needless to speak of that again which is so well known to wit in what regard the Law was abolished and in what respect it yet continues The Oeconomy of the Old Testament chiefly since Moses required the observation of the Law as a means to obtain justice and life by if men did fulfil it and notwithstanding it made them understand that by reason of their sins the Law could not pronounce them just being in this regard impotent and having its mouth stopped Rom. 8.3 This seems to have been mystically intimated as well in the beginning as towards the end of that legal Oeconomy to introduce the Law God made use of a man who had an impediment in his speech for when Moses was injoyned to go to Pharoah he excuseth himself by reason of his defect of speech Exodus 4.10 And to signifie the abolition of the Law then when its time was almost expired to make way for a more perfect Covenant God made the legal Priests dumb who last his speech in the very Temple and at the time he should have pronounced the blessing on the people Luke 1.20 21.22 thus the Law as well at its entry as at its departure hath shewed that it cannot bring us that great benefit of justification with a full mouth Why God in speaking to man useth more words then when he is represented speaking to the creatures which want understanding and why he useth so many words and repetitions to effect mans conversation seeing he can convert him with one word onely God hath somtimes spoken or caused speeches to be utterred to the creatures which want either understanding or ears He commanded the Sun and Moon to stand still the Sea and Windes to be quiet the Whale that it should disgorge Jonas and the Feavers that they should be gone to obtain obedience from them he spoke to them but one word and the effect was as ready as the command for Heaven Earth Elements Plants and the beasts know the voice of their Soveraign Lord and submit themselves to it without contradiction but whereas man is naturally refractory and opposeth himself to the will of God he is not content to speak to him in few words what his pleasure is but incourageth him with reasons which he cleareth and inculcateth and withal adjoyneth promises and menaces Surely God could effect by one word onely that for which he useth such long remonstrances he makes himself to be obeyed sometimes in saying onely fellow me but to make men know how far they are departed from him and how difficult their conversion is ordinarly he doth not make them draw nigh to him but by degrees slowly and after many summons VVhy the Scripture speaking of Vertue and Vice doth command or prohibit one oftner then another For Example it speaketh oftner against avarice then against prodigality though it condemneth both So against excessive care oftner then against negligence and so likewise it oftner recommends to us liberality then frugality though it mention both the reason is plain enough because avarice is more general then prodigality and on the other side there be more frugal then liberal men therefore the more common a vice is the oftner it should be cryed down on the contrary a vertue which is found but seldom ought to be the oftner recommended We could produce many other passages upon these Subjects of Vertue and Vice but seeing we have undertaken onely these observations which concern the Decalogue in general in each one of the Commandments I pass to these which I am to handle upon the Subject of Prayer FINIS
works Let us consider That at the day of judgement all will certainly crave mercy When all the kindreds of the earth shall lament before this Soveraign Judge what shall we hear men call for but mercy As then all men will crave that mercy may be shew'd them God will judge them according to the mercy they have shown or neglected Judgment that the wicked themselves shall be forced to approve For it is just that he should be denyed mercy that would use no mercy James 2.13 Saint Paul reckoning up the charitable offices Onesiphorus had done him in prison wisheth that he may finde mercy in that day 2 Tim. 1. that is to say he hath shewed mercy toward me the Lord shew it to him whereupon it is to be observed against the opinion of merit that even our mercy hath need of mercy Why God hath chosen Faith rather then any other Vertue to be the instrument of our Justification The difference between a miraculous Faith and a justifying There is no Vertue whereof man taketh not occasion to vant himself except Faith Man oftentimes boasteth of his Charity Patience Justice yea which is ridiculous many wax proud of their Humility But as touching justifying Faith none can brag of that Why This Fath hath for its object the mercy of God which presupposeth mans misery and his misery lies in that hee is culpable whereof it is impossible that he should ever vant himself On the contrary this Faith overthrows the pride of man There is indeed a sort of Faith from which men oftentimes have drawn matter of ostentation that is the faith of Miracles as they call it Divers have turn'd the gift of tongues to vanity as likewise the other miraculous effects which God wrought by their hands as is evident by the Apostles discourse 1 Cor. 13.14 We must mark here That the faith of miracles hath for its formall object the power of God which sometimes imployes man to be either the subject or instrument of his Marvels Now it may easily come to passe that man may abuse this honour But he cannot deal so by justifying Faith whose object is Gods mercy which excludes all mans vanting Rom. 3.26 Those that now adayes seek to be justified by works are more inexcusable then those that had this pretence before the death of Christ Although the doctrine that maintains that a sinner is justified by his works hath ever been vain and abusive yet is it become more odious since the bloud of Christ on which our justification is grounded was shed for our sins For as long as yet there was no payment made for the sin of men it was not so strange that many endeavored to give satisfaction therein every man for himself But after that Christ hath made actuall satisfaction therein we cannot undertake to pay without accusing him of insufficiency and charge our selves with an ingratitude more hainous then that of the old Pharisaisme Good WORKS the Effects of FAITH The strange reasons by which the Scripture inviteth us to good works with the method that it teacheth to make us capable of graces THe Vulgar think they are in the right whenas in stead of mysteries of Faith they cry out that Ministers ought to speak to the conscience preach good works and controll vice These people by prejudice that proceeds from common ignorance make void the first and chiefest part of Christianity and maintain many capitall errours An errour to imagine that good life consists not but in works as if to well living were not requisite right beleeving An errour to say that the hearing the mysterious points of Religion which are meerly speculative is of no force at all to make a man better So much say the Jews when they speak of the Gospel for they demand to what purpose 't is to be a good man to know that Jesus Christ hath suffered under Pontius Pilate that he was crucified dead and buried An errour to think that the conscience hath not need of matters that are directed onely to the understanding as well as of those that onely concern the affections as if a man should not have need of his eys as well as his hands An errour to beleeve that Vertues must be taught onely by their proper descriptions and expresse precepts after the fashion of Moralists for that is to plant the tree by tops of the boughs in stead of planting it by the root Let us hence consider the motives which God himself maketh use of when he preacheth us good works The Scripture inviteth us to the practice of Vertues and hate of sins Forasmuch saith it as ye have been baptized into the death of Christ and buried with him forasmuch as hee that is our passover is offered up forasmuch as Christ is raised forasmuch as death hath no more dominion over him c. 1 Cor. 5.7 8. Rom. 6.4 What kind of arguments are these to induce us to good works he invites us to them by the Articles of our faith by matters very wide from the subject There is more yet For he summoneth us to the doing them by reasons which even seem to perswade the clean contrary Is this a reason that may put a man in fear to turn him from sin when one tels him that he is not under the law but under grace and that God hath ordained to save him Rom. 6.14 1 Thess 5.8 9. This believing seems it not more fit as some falsly have thought to bring in Libertinisme then the fear of sin But we must consider that which is seen even in Nature it self the root and the fruit for the most part are not alike neither in shape colour nor taste yea many times the fruit comes of a root altogether contrary in quality Let Ignorance judge of it as it will let the mysteries by which Faith is planted and watered seem to them unprofitable This Faith is the root of graces through it our works are purified and without it it is impossible to bring forth good fruit Why the common people love rather to hear speak of Charity then Faith of the Law then the Gospel It is well enough known that the common people are more satisfied with an Exhortation or a Discourse upon Alms or brotherly friendship or Temperance or some other Morality then with any rare observation on a Point of the Gospel Now see the reason of it The things of the Law are naturally written in our hearts at least in part so that they are familiar and intelligible to us as domestick Besides they are conformable to naturall Reason which is the noblest faculty of man But the matters of Faith which Nature knows not and which come from far and which are transmitted by another way then that of humane Reason are strangers to our understandings so that they are not received with so much welcome Thence it comes to passe that so many souls are found out of their element when one speaks to them of some mystery on which they
is believed that they perished as well as the Ark in which they were inclosed Now from the time that they were given by Moses untill that time they ceased that is to say the destruction of the Temple pass'd nine hundred yeers and something above Certain Chronologers reckon therein nine hundred and six others nine hundred and fifteen others nine hundred twenty seven others go to nine hundred and thirty Whereupon we may note that according to the exactest supputations the durance of the Tables of the Law past not the number of Adams yeers who having first received the Law written in the tables of his heart lived the age of nine hundred and thirty yeers At the least it is certain and seems very worthy of note That neither the durance of the Tables of the Law nor the life of any man have never attained the age of a thousand yeers The Law said Whosoever fulfilled it should live for ever but for want of fulfilling it the life of man never reach'd a thousand yeers And God in like manner would not that the Tables wherein he had renewed this Law that offered life should last a thousand yeers The reason why the Scripture shews which is the greatest Commandement and never which is the least Although there be a difference of degrees weight between the Commandements and that the Law-giver hath mark'd that which is the chiefest yea and the second likewise to which all the other are referred yet would hee never say which was the least of them all in the one or other Table His will is notwithstanding the inequality which is betwixt them that we consider them all as great seeing that in the Law there is nothing that is not great in effect Besides it is necessary to know which is the greatest Commandement in each of the two Tables because all the other are as it were inchaff'd into the greater But to know which is the least is in no wise necessary How one may judge of two diverse Commandements to know which is greater then the other Those that concern God and touch him nearest or that render man most like God those are the greatest Greater for example is that Commandment which immediately respects the service of God then that which hath other ends although subordinate So Mary had chosen the better part Greater is the spirituall service of God then the externall because it hath more correspondence with God who is a Spirit Charity is greater then Faith or Hope because Love is in God yea God himself is Love but neither Faith nor Hope can be in him For what should God either beleeve or hope for Greater is his work that saves a mans life then his that buries him dead because the living bears the image of God Upon this last example I will make a Digression yet not far from the matter Why by the Law it was pollution to touch the dead corps of a godly man that had been murdered and neverthelesse it was not pollution to touch the living Murderer We know that whosoever touched a dead body even for to bury it the Law declared him defiled So a godly man being slain all that touched him after his death fell into this ceremoniall irregularity But if they touched the murtherer though his hands as yet all gored in his bloud they endangered no uncleannesse This Law is strange and it seems hard to finde a reason of it We may answer notwithstanding That as there were divers causes of pollution that of a dead mans body proceeded from that he had lost the image of God the lineaments of which consist properly in the soul Now a living man though a murtherer carries notwithstanding in regard of the substance of his reasonable soul this image which the dead man hath no longer The Preface of the Decalogue Hearken Israel c. Degrees amongst Nations in regard of the love or hate that God bare to them TWo Nations have of old been famous for two contrary reasons One as being the most beloved of God to wit Israel the other the most hated viz. Amalek Amongst the people that God held in hatred the Idumean and Egyptian were lesse hated then the Moabite and Ammonite and these lesse then the Amalekite The Idumean and Egyptian were excluded the Congregation of the Lord to the third generation the Moabite and Ammonite entered not in thither till the tenth the Amalekite was not onely shut out thence for ever but also condemned to be totally rooted out from under heaven 'T is that onely Nation against whom God hath denounced immortall War that alone that ever he commanded wholly to suppresse The causes of the difference that God put between these infidel people are touched in Deuteronomie chap. 23. v. 1. c. and 25. v. 17 c. Wherefore is Nathaneel called an Israelite or childe of Israel rather then the childe of Jacob Joh. 1.47 'T is known that Israel and Jacob was but the same man and that his Posterity are sometimes called the children of Jacob and sometime of Israel Not that it is indifferent to call them by the one or the other name For there be reasons and circumstances for which they ought to be called rather by the one then the other name But passing over what the Learned have heretofore observed therupon I have one observation to produce hence The high Prophet speaking of Nathaneel saith that hee was verily an Israelite in whom there was no guile This man then is praised as sincere and that knew not what it was to circumvent any man In this quality he was none of Jacob's childe that had supplanted his brother stealing away his blessing by a false supposition Jacob had sometime been fraudulent but Israel was always sound For being as yet but Jacob he deceives both brother and father too but after he was honoured with the name of Israel his actions were ever without deceit On good reason then the name of Israelite is rather given to Nathaneel then the name of a childe of Jacob. And here as through the whole Scripture is seen the admirable stile of the Divine Wisdom to whom only it belongs to appropriate names unto their true natures God never works a Miracle to witnesse or prove that which a man may know naturally But why then did he cause so many Miracles to intervene at the publication of the Law seeing it is naturlaly known to men God doth nothing superfluous that 's the reason he never raised up Prophet or sent Angel to foretell Eclipses or other events that may be foreseen by ordinary wayes Was it necessary then that God should come down from heaven to earth with such a miraculous demonstration of his glory to come tell men that they must honour Father and Mother to give them to understand that they must not kill nor bear false witnesse I forbear to say that this Law that was published in Sinai contains points which a man cannot understand but by supernaturall
of the one and the other Among the miracles that God hath displayed by his servants we read that sometimes they have put some persons to death so Elijah made fire come down from heaven which consumed two Companies of fifty men a peece with their Captaines so Elisha caused Bears to come out of the Forrest which tore many of the Children of Bethel so St. Peter by his word onely smote with death Ananias and Sapphira These Executions could not be but just being done by a supernatural power notwithstanding God did not bestow this but on very few for since Moses though many have had the gift of miracles yet none have received this power of destroying men by miracles but these three Elijah Elisha and St. Peter neither would God have those in whom he had placed this miraculous power to make use thereof but very seldom therefore Christ did justly reprove the Apostles who would have imitated this Act of Elijah Luke 9.54 55. Moreover those whom God had employed to inflict death upon some he gave them power to bestow life upon others as Elijah on the Widows son of Sarepta Elisha on the Shunamites son and St. Peter on Tabitha as being an Act more glorious to bestow life on the dead then to take it from the living he would also shew that for the more full authorising of the calling of these great personages they were employed as well to give life as to destroy otherwise wicked men would have had some pretence in saying that their God had power to kill the living but not to restore the dead which blasphemy was prevented by the wisdome of God The plot of the Priests in consulting to put Lazarus to death Joh. 12.10 Murther is more or less enormous in divers respects now though the example which I set down here be extraordinary it will serve nevertheless to shew how far the furious spirit of murther extends it self The son of God had raised one that was dead the Priests endeavoured to bury this miracle willing to send back to the grave a man that had been thence taken out this was to commit a double murther upon the same person as God had given twice life to Lazarus the one at his nativity the other at his resurrection so this was as it were to make him die twice in taking from him the second life which he had re-established in the first A question If the punishment of a criminal being interrupted by some extraordinary accident intervening after the execution is begun is it just to discharge him of the punishment to which he was condemmed It hath hapned sometimes that malefactors have fallen down from the Gibet upon the breaking of the rope some have been taken down as dead who yet have lived a good while after some upon the Scaffold have had divers blowes in the neck by the sword and yet the head not cut off St. Ierem in his Epistle to Innocent mentions a strange example and in the former age one of our Martyrs being set upon the pile where they thought to have burnt him alive he died a natural and quiet death before the fire was kindled But if it happen that a Malefactor who hath passed through all the sorts of a mortal execution should be yet found alive by some means not thought on or foreseen by men ought he be again exposed to punishment The providence of God who hath rescued him seems to have given him letters of pardon Justice also which did not condemn him to die twice seems to have received the satisfaction which it required of him seeing he hath undergone if not death it self yet at least the impression of death In this case which may furnish matter for a fair debate I distingish thus there be some crimes so enormous that they deserve more deaths then one if a man could die oftner then once so murtherers sorcerers and others guilty of such hainous wickedness should be carried back again to punishment though they had been rescued by some interruption which might seem miraculous it is to be presumed that the justice of God did stay the course of execution to increase rather the pain of death then to remit the punishment but as for lesser faults chiefly those which Gods law hath not declared capital and yet are such by the civil law as theft it seems that the Malefactor hath sufficiently suffered pain if he hath tasted the half of death An allusion in the Apostles words who ordains that the Sun go not down upon our anger Ephes 4.26 The law commands that the Malefactors body put to death be buried the same day it is expresly forbid to let it hang all night on the Gallows Deut. 21.23 therefore as the Sun must not go down upon such a spectacle though it be the body of a Malefactor justly punished by death and whose punishment should serve for an example Even so our anger though it proceed from a just resent of some injury done to us yet it should never sleep with us to this it seems the Apostles words do allude The VII COMMANDMENT Thou shalt not commit Adultery Why God though he approves not Poligamy nor unlawful diverces which were freequent in the old Testament yet never forbad them but by the last of all the Prophets THE question is not why God tolerated these sins among the Israelites We know that the hardness of their hearts did as it were extort this licence Mat. 19.8 and for the same cause God did for a long time wink at this disorder which was so common For we do not read that he ever reproved any of those who had plurality of wives or who put them away without just cause onely in Malachi 2. v. 14 c. He censureth their Poligamy and unlawful divorces But why this custome which had been allowed by so long silence and prescription of so many ages was condemned at last Or why did he delay to censure this custome till the last of the Prophets for Malachi was the last of them all The purpose of God was that the Kingdom of Christ should be famous amongst other preheminences for its exact policy far exceeding that which went before for this end he suffered that of Moses to give way to some disorders such as were Poligamy and Divorces to make it known that the government of Christ which cut off this tolleration is more perfect then that of Moses So that this politick Law of Israel served to declare and advance that peece of holiness in Christ and to shew the perfection of his government then when he came to suppress the abuse which that ancient indulgence had supported Now as the time of his coming and of this reformation did approach God would prepare the hearts of men and whereas he was to put a period to the old Testament and meant not to send any more Prophets it was needful that the last of them should make this preparation So as for Poligamy and unjust Divorces God
mentioneth none of them by name On the other side when it names any that is dead in perdition yet it never saith punctually that he is in Hell after Iudas the Traitor had hanged himself the Holy Ghost who inspired the Apostles was not ignorant where the soul of that wicked wretch was yet he saith nothing else but that he was gone into his place Acts 1.25 Now if God himself who knows the names of those which are in Hell doth still forbear to utter them how much more careful should we be to refrain our selves in our verdicts when we speak of the state and condition of those who are dead although that his end may in some sort induce us to judge sinistrously How rash then are they who dare insert into a Catalogue the names of those who are damned The X. COMMANDMENT Thou shalt not covet c. A sin committed by rule and order is more enormous then that which is done in disorder and confusion A Sin that is committed with judgment order and formality is so much the more detestible He that kills in cold blood at leisure and with Ceremony is more blamable then he that kills raishly and without formality the reason is because in the one the understanding which is mans Counsellor acteth with complacency but in him who is transported with passion it hath small power as then man is not man without understanding so it seems that he who offendeth without the concurrence of the intellect should not have his offence in so high a degree imputed to him hence it is that we excuse mad men when in their frantick fits they commit any outrage Briefly the more understanding there is in any crime the more enormous it is and a sin done orderly is the more irregular The diversity of conflicts in man against himself That which I am to speak here is known sufficiently touching the divers conflicts that be within man but after the descriptions which have been given by divers and will be material to reduce them into a brief summary now the chief combats we are to speak of be these Between one Passion and another as sometimes fear is opposite to covetousness and so one vice is encountred by another as ambition is sometimes restrained by avarice or pleasure Between reason and the passions as we have a thousand examples for this Between reason and natural sence so some will be content to lose an arm for the preservation of the whole body so David abstained from drinking the water of Bethlem although he was pinched with great heat and thurst 2 Sam. 23.16 17. Between the conscience and the will as oftentimes the one of these two resists the other Between the memory and the will as sometimes we remember that which troubles us and which we would willingly forget Between reason and reason it self that is one reason against another as St. Paul was inclosed on both sides having causes which obliged him to desire a continuance of his life and other reasons which made him willing to forsake the world and to be dissolved Phil 1.22 c. Between sense and faith as David having judged of things according to appearance concluded that in vain he had wasted his heart but faith made him retract his words and use a language quite contrary Psal 73.13 c. Between natural sense and godliness as the Martyrs which naturally abhor death yet they received it with much alacrity and as our Saviour expressing this reluctancy saith to St. Peter They will lead thee whither thou wouldst not John 21.18 Between the conscience and faith the one casts us down by setting our sins before us the other raiseth us up by the consideration of Gods mercy And lastly between the flesh and the spirit that is between corrupted nature and grace which do strive against each other in all the faculties of the soul as truth and falsehood justice and injustice purity and impurity This this is that intestine war which sets at variance the understanding will and affections and indeed the whole man against himself Rom. 7.15 c. Why some see more easily the defects of the memory and of other faculties of the soul then the defects of their judgment All unlawful desire presupposeth a corruption of judgment if reason which is the eye of the soul were clear all the other faculties would be pure Matthew 6.22 but its hard for man to know when his judgment destroys him or when it is deceived if our memory fail in any point we presently take notice of this defect and likewise if our affections be faulty but if our judgment miscarry it is a hard matter to find it The reason of this difference is because it is with the judgment as with the eye which seeeth all things except it self our judgment judgeth of the defects which be in the other faculties of the soul this is it which seeth and discerneth them but it seeth not its own defects except by a kinde of reflection which is very weak and feeble so that it can with facility judge of the other powers and qualities which are with it in man but it can hardly judge of it self whence it comes that a fool seeth not his folly though he seeth the other faults that are in him Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart c. The correspondency that is between the two Tables of the Law THE first begins with the honour due to God from whom we have our being The second begins at the honour due to our parents by whom God hath given us being The first forbids to make any image of God The second forbids to deface the image of God that is to kill men The first prohibits spiritual adultry saying that God is jealous The second inhibits corporal adultery The first forbids to take Gods name in vain The second to bear false witness The first commands us to labour six daies that we may live onely upon our own The second prohibits to take the goods of another The first commands a Sabbath or corporal rest for our selves servants and cattle The second commands a rest and contentment of spirit forbidding us to covet our neighbours house servants and cattle And lastly the scope of the first is that we love God Of the second that we love our neighbour All these correspondencies proceed from that which is between God and man whence arise those relations resemblances which we finde between the Commandments of the first and second Tables There is love in God but not Faith and Hope Amongst the Prerogatives of love above these other two the Logical vertues this is considerable that God loveth but he doth not beleeve nor hope for to beleeve is an act of Faith which is of things unseen But what is ther that God seeth not and besides what can be wanting to him that he should stand in need of hope these two vertues are imcompatible with an infinite perfection This is