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
THE LIFE OF FAITH By SAMVEL WARD Preacher of Ipswich The second Edition corrected and amended LONDON Printed by Augustine Mathewes for Iohn Marriot and Iohn Grismand and are to be sold at their Shops in Saint Dunstons Church-yard and in Pauls Alley at the Signe of the Gunne 1621. TO THE HONOR AND VSE OF THE RIGHT HONORABLE THOMAS EARLE of Suffolke Lord of Walden Knight of the Honorable Order of the Garter one of his Maiesties most Honorable Priuy Counsell THis Manual I first consecrate to your Honor. The greatest greatnesse hath no greater honour belonging to it then to bee an Abrech to Persons Books and causes of this nature Such Cedars haue their spreadth and talenesse to shelter such Fowles of the Heauen vnder their shadowe And Faith is content in this vallie of vnbeliefe to receiue defence and countenance where it rather giueth both As Christ in that olde Allegorie of Christopher seemes to be supported by him whome in truth hee supporteth And verely such Bookes as haue life in them giue a longer life to their Patrons then the stateliest Buildings and largest Moniments Principally I Dedicate and Deuote it to your vse Charitie beganne at home I first meditated collected and scribled them for mine owne benefit carryed them about me with Antoninus his title 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Notes for my selfe That which with all my might in seeking I haue sought to attaine is the truth and effect of that which many thinges promise but Faith is only able to performe Fulnesse of ioy and constancie of content in the middest of the chaunges wane eclypses and fuls of all externall things and that one day aswell as another throughout the course of a mans life in that latitude and extent whereof this life is capable To cry out I haue found it I haue found it might sauour of vanity and arrogancy Altogether to deny it were an iniurie to the truth of Gods Spirit Word and Grace Such as haue found out Sayling by the Compasse the Art of Printing or should one man discouer a speedier passage to the Indies or meete with a speciall Cordiall in Physicke or any lesse profitable secret should he not iustly be sensured as enuious and iniurious to let such an one die with himselfe What a sacriledge were it then to engrosse such a true Elixar of Spirituall life as vpon some proofe I am sure these prescripts containe The substance therefore of them I imparted first ot my Flocke in Sermons Nextly considering how much I stood obliged to your Lordshippe and what speciall vse you might haue of them I translated and copied them out in the forme wherein now I humbly commend and earnestly recommend them to your serious perusall and thorow triall If vpon both good shall bee thought the better the more communicated others shall accompt themselues beholding to your Honor as the principall occasion of publication More I would say but I feare to spoile the elegancie of Augustine his Preface to Romanian by englishing of it Wherein is the summe of what I would say Whither referring your Lordship I rest and continue as euer I haue done since my reference without intermission publikely and priuatly to pray to the Lord of Lords that you may finde all fauour in the eyes of God and man and that all true happinesse may be multiplyed vpon you and yours in this life and a better Your Lordships in the Lord SAMVEL WARD The Contents of this BOOKE THe Iust shall liue by his Faith Page 1 Christ the Fountaine and Faith the meane of Life 6 The third kind of the Life of Faith page 12 The vse of Faith 16 The first vse of Faith ot new-borne Babes 24 The vse of Faith to young men in Christianity 34 An inforcement of the former vse with a reproofe of the neglect and disuse of Faith 43 The vse of Faith to a growne Christian 51 An obiection answered and passage made to the life of Sanctification 60 How Faith Sanctifies and Mortifies 67 How Faith Viuifies 78 How Faith vpholds life in Affliction 86 An Epistle to the Reader pressing the vse of Faith 100 THE LIFE OF FAITH CHAP. I. The Iust shall liue by his Faith THE basest life excels the best meere being as much as Adam the redde lumpe of earth whereof hee was made The liuing Dog the dead Lyon Betweene life and life what a breadth of difference is there from the Mushrome to the Angels how many kindes of life Yea in one and the same kind how many degrees The bondslaue hath a life as well as the King the sicke man as the whole but such as in comparison may rather bee termed a death One best there is in euery kind as it approcheth neerest to that Fountaine of Life and Being with whom to be and to be most happy is all one Poore Man hath or rather had a certaine pitch and period of happy life consisting in the Image and fauour of his Creator from which hauing once fallen it would pittie one to see how lamely and blindly he reaspires thereunto The most part groaping as the Sodomites after Lots dore the blinde misguiding the blinde in the common Labyrinth of error each one imagining he hath found the way and so tells his dreame to his neighbour for a truth The Couetous when he hath gotté goods as if he had gotten the true Good applaudes his soule as if it were the soule of some Swine Soule thou hast many goods now c. The Voluptuous when he hath satiate himselfe with the huske of pleasure cries out hee hath liued the onely royall and Iouiall life The Ambitious when hee hath climbed the pitch and slipperie hill of Honour builds his nest in the starres thinkes himselfe in the skie and highest sphere of happinesse Alas alas doe not all these know they are in the Chambers of death Dead whilest they are aliue no better then walking ghosts in the shapes of liuing men seeking and placing a spirituall and heauenly Iewell in earthly pelfe in watery Pleasures in ayerie Honours which being all dead cannot affoord that life which they haue not themselues Verily if one liue an hundreth yeeres beget children plant and build and see no other good but such as these the vntimely byrth is better then he What then Is this tree of life not to be recouered no where to be found againe yes doubtlesse though there be many by-pathes there is a Way though many errors there is a Truth though many deathes there is a Life And behold oh man that standest vpon the waies inquiring after life He that is the Way Truth and Life that came from heauen to vanquish death and by his death hath brought thee to life againe who onely hath the words of life Hee hath shewed thee the true way to life Hath he not twise or thrise shewed thee in this liuely Oracle of his The Iust shall liue by Faith Yea but if a man like to our selues might
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
this was good for me I would not for any thing but I had borne the yoake in my youth that I may liue the more comfortably in age Considering that sicke thou art and that of many humours thy Father should not loue thee if he should feede thee with sweete meate and mingle no Aloes with them much folly is bound vp in thy back and if thy indulgent father should forbeare the rodde he should hate and not loue thee Fourthly Moreouer Faith will reminde thee of Christs partnership in thy affliction and of thy conformity with him the first borne onely begotten and entirely beloued sonne of God if hee that was without sinne yet was not without stripes wilt thou looke to bee a cockered Adoniah And what if the Crosse bee heauy and thou a weake Childe yet Christ a Gyant at one end beares part of it and makes it light and easie hee is quicke of feeling when Stephen is stoned saith Saul why persecutest thou mee Besides what more honourable Badge and Cognisance canst thou haue of thy Sonship then this resemblance of him not as now glorified in the heauens which thou must stay for till thou come there but as in the way to glory when hee despised the shame suffered the Crowne of thornes the Scepter of Reed the spittings buffetings mockes and mowes and all reproches of vile sinners the piercing of the Speare and shewed himselfe to be the Sonne of God not by descending from the Crosse but by enduring the Crosse And shall I not saith he drinke the Cup which my Father hath tempered and if thou wilt bee his Disciple the first lesson in his Schoole is Christs Crosse Deny thy selfe take it vp and follow him And glory with the Martyrs now am I like my Lord and Master Lastly Faith will set before thee as before him the infinite recompence of rewarde not onely renowne in this World which yet by Faith the patience not onely of Iob but of all Martyrs haue obtained but that farre most excellent Hyperbolicall weight of glory Which Paul eying counted his afflictions which to vs would haue beene intollerable light and momentany not worthy the naming in comparison which made him not onely not weepe and howle but sing in the Dungeon and reckon it a speciall fauour and honour to be counted not onely a beleeuer but a sufferer for Christ. And God forbid that a beleeuer should glory in any thing so much as in the Crosse of Christ in his wounds and scarres for his Lord and Master As that worthy Vincentius sayd to the Tyrant Threaten these things to your Courtiers and Carpet Knights Rackes Strapadoes torments are but a play to vs we Souldiers chuse to bee in Christs Garrison rather then in the Court in the Field and fore-front of the battle then in the Pallaces of Princes The more hazard and perill the more glory and honour And what else desire wee but to dye dayly that the life in Christ may be manifested in vs Yea in the very instant of Death Faith helpes the beleeuer to liue so as he may be said not to see death neuer to dye but that requires a iust Treatise by it selfe Let all the complaints greeuances wants and miseries of the world be searched and gaged the bottome will bee found either to be want of Faith or of the vse and practise of Faith So that we may well say with Augustine to any christian sinking vnder his crosse or shrinking at his enemy Hast thou lost thy Faith And conclude with that worthy Ensigne-bearer of Christ Many are the troubles of the Righteous but by Faith wee stand by Faith we fight by Faith we ouercome CHAP. XIII An Epistle to the Reader pressing the vse of Faith NOw Reader for so I chuse to call thee in a Postcript whē thou hast reade the Booke rather then in a Preface when thou maist there leaue as many do Giue me now leaue to grapple with thee and minister to thee an Iutergatory or two How many doest thou knowe within thy conscience liue this life of Faith Many thou seest liue by their Lands by their wits by their shifts but how many by their Faith For the want of this vse of Faith Doe not many poore christians thinke and say of it as a poore labouring countrey-man sayd to his neighbour in serious priuate talke That he neuer beleeued there was any such summe as a thousand pounds of money but that onely rich men gaue it out so in boasting or pollicy to excite others to labour so saith the common Protestant out of doubt there is no such sweetnesse in the life of Faith for wee see not beleeuers so cheerefull and contented aboue other men If Attists and Trades-men did no more dayly and duely follow their worke then most Christians doe practise their Faith would they not be starke beggars But to aske thee a more profitable question Leaue iudgeing of others and answer mee in good serious sooth between God and thy soule Hast and doest thou thy selfe liue by thy Faith Let mee a little put thee to it prooue and examine thy selfe and take for instance this present weeke or day past wherein thou readest this little Manuell How hast thou and vsually doest thou spend the day what thought diddest thou awake withall what was thy morning draught for thy soule next thy heart what hath cheered and made thee merry in priuate and in company whether thy sports and meales more then thy heauenly ejaculations Deale plainely not with me and this booke which yet shall witnesse against thee if thou refuse to practise it when thou hast read it but with thy selfe Hast thou or hast thou not challenged some time more or lesse halfe or quarter of houre at the least for this exercise of thy Faith hast thou not troubled thy selfe about the many things that this one onely needefull hath beene forgotten that which only should be called worke and businesse hast thou not melted the day yea it may bee the weeke or moneth past and made thy soule wholly to fast and pine for want of these refeshings if so as I most iustly feare it in most of my Readers how much more in such as are vsually no readers why then let thy heart smite thee for thy folly smite thou thy selfe vpon the thigh and say how haue I liued or rather not liued but consumed precious dayes in time-eating Vanities How comes it about that the greatest part of my life is the least part wherein I haue liued Oh then recouer and recollect thy selfe before thou goe hence and be no more Wilt thou dy before thou hast liued as Boyes slubber out Bookes before they learne their lesson Oh learne to liue this life It is neuer too late it is neuer I am sure too soone it is no shame to learne it what age or condition soeuer thou bee of Bee thou Prince Potentate Nobleman or Gentleman though few such Readers I looke for remembring well what Bradford