A FRVITEFVLL AND BRIEFE DISCOVRSE IN TWO BOOKES THE ONE OF NATVRE THE OTHER OF GRACE WITH conuenient aunswer to the enemies of Grace vpon incident occasions offered by the late Rhemish notes in their new translation of the new Testament others Made by IOHN PRIME fellow of New Colledge in Oxford 1. Cor. 10.15 I speake as vnto them which haue vnderstanding iudge ye what I say Imprinted at London by Thomas Vautrollier for George Bishop 1583. TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE S. FRAVNCIS WALSINGHAM KNIGHT chiefe Secretarie to her Maiesty Chancellor of the order one of her highnesse priuye Counsell all grace and peace in Christ Iesus NOW a long time there hath bene no lesse learned then large writing in our English tong touching the iust confutatiō of sundrie pointes in poperie specially of their priuat Masse Praiers in a strāge language Transsubstantiation the real presence the Supremacie and the like But all this while concerning the Nature of man and of the Grace of God of Free will in nature of concupiscence in the regenerate of meritoriouse perfection faith works the whole substance of iustification the aduersaries haue brought vs hitherto no great matter Of late in their English Rhemish notes as the great mistresse and in M. Martins discouery as the handmaide therunto for so he tearmeth his book there is somwhat said shifts deuised The most of al that may seme materiall is borrowed of M. Stapletons dictates their controuersie reader at Doway In regard whereof in som other respects in this discours I haue dealt more with him then with any Latine writer else yet so that the greatest benefit therof may redound to thē that haue greatest neede and can not happily so well vnderstand the Latine tong from whence most of their slights are first deriued now put foorth into English scholies smal pamphlets Wherin if this my doing shall displease M. Stapleton more then he would or I wish as perhaps it maye may it please him for they of Rhemes are otherwise like to be occupied wast vagaries set apart euen as in the sight of God without fraud ambiguitie plainly directly and shortly to oppose as him liketh for more triall herein and he shall soone perceaue that the seruaunts of truth will not be ashamed in due sorte by replie to declare whose seruauntes they are The whole book of his lectures in conueniēt time shal be answered if God will by a most godly learned and painefull father In the meane season right honourable sir this present dutie which I haue performed without recitall of farther circunstances in many wordes alwayes troublesome to greater affaires I offer in most hūble maner I may to your honours fauourable experienced protection The Lord God blesse and preserue your honours person your vertuouse Ladie your godlie cares and counsels all in Christ Iesus alwayes Your honours most hūble and bounden IOHN PRIME THE CHIEFE POINTS HANDLED IN THE 1. BOOKE 1. Of the fall of Adam and of originall sinne in his posteritie pag. 1 2. Of the blindnesse of mans vnderstanding pag. 4 3. Of the frowardnesse of his will pag. 6 4. Of the sinne of concupiscence yet remaining euen in the regenerate pag. 9 5. At large of the whole question of free-will and of the naturall mans impossibilitie to obserue the Law pag. 15 THE PRINCIPAL MATTERS TREATED IN THE second booke 1. Of the freenesse of the Lords graciouse loue and fauour pag. 41 2. Against curiositie in the search of vnsearchable misteries pag. 43 3. Of election vocation and reprobation and of a contented knowledge therin pag. 46 4. Of iustification the fullnesse freenesse and comfort therof pag. 61 5. Of righteousnesse by imputation of inherent iustice pag. 64 6. Of the regenerate mans imperfection to fulfill the Lawe exactlie pag. 75 7. Of the question of merites and that there is no deseruing at Gods handes pag. 95 8. How onely faith doth iustifie pag. 115 9. Of the most comfortable doctrine of the certaintie of saluatiō by fayth and hope to be in euerie man particularly touching him selfe pag. 141 10. Of sanctification and the meanes therunto in this life pag. 176 11. Of glorification in the life to come and of due sobrietie in questions therin of some moued pag. 192 A SHORTE DISCOVRSE OF NATVRE AND GRACE AND FIRST OF NATVRE CORRVPTED LIBER I. IN the discourse of the qualities of humane nature corrupted Mans creation we can not but lay the falt in man where we find it and not in God where we finde it not For aboue all thinges it is a trueth most certaine Gen. 1 that in the beginning God created all things in their kinde good but man he made the perfection of all his workes and therfore most perfitly good in dignity litle inferiour to the Angels in authoritie Lord of the world by right the inheritour of life eternall in all resemblances of diuine properties in holinesse and righteousnesse like himself Thus he framed man at the first For only lo sayth the wiseman this haue I found out Eccles 7.31 that God made man righteouse That is sound of bodie sincere in soule and perfect in both And yet anon after this his so excellent a condition by creation there ensued a maruelouse alteration Mans fall Pet. Lomb li. 2. dist 25 both in his body subiected to corruption and also in his soule so strangely blasted that the better qualities therof all were quite rased out and cleane defaced The story is plaine and knowen in all the world how Satan assaulted Eue The propagatiō of sin Gen. 3 and Eue entised her husband to consent to eate who in disobedience did eate of the forbidden frute and thereby he being no priuat man Rom. 5.12 Concil An rasic Mileuit can 2 but the roote and head and first of all posteritie succeeding from race to race along in and from him though not personally then whē men yet were not yet properly enough in the guilte of sinne we all became sinners and nowe eche man in his owne person is polluted with the staine therof Eph. 2 3 Iob. 25.4 by a naturall and therefore by a most necessary propagation of sinne one from another For nature can not but necessarily worke alwayes after one the same fashion in all things naturally like cometh of like in qualities many times worse in kind alwayes the same insomuch that the children of Adam well may they be worse better then their father from whom they came they can not be Wherin for to view how bad we be making as it were an anatomy of our selues we may apart consider eche parte of the whole man seuerallie by it selfe Concerning the bodie first in generall Sin in the body and euery part therof Esay 1.6 may not the prophets words be auouched of the naturall man literally as they lie From the sole of the foot to the crown of the head there is no sound
their faces their eyes serued thē also for directing their feet otherwise so the onely eye of faith or onely faith as the eye of the soul beholdeth Christ of whom the serpent was but a figure therby only in him are we saued yet although in this regard alone it doth the deede yet is it not alone but continually accompanied with godlinesse all good woorks in so much that where we finde not good works it is bootlesse to seeke for faith for faith wil no where lodge or liue without works the mother cannot be without her daughers If you kill the children you kill the parent to So that chase away works faith will not tary after If a man wil say he retaineth her retaineth not her retinew well may he say so but in sooth veritie in steede of a iustifying faith he laieth hold on an vnprofitable deuelish faith a dead faith a verbal faith a shadow of faith a faith which he so calleth yet is not faith at all neither hath it any affinity with the iustifying faith which iustifieth alone yet is not alone as hath bene declared in manie wordes and happilie in mo then was needefull but onely for the simpler sort As there is a double taking of this word faith either true or verball so also is there a diuerse acception of this worde iustifying either for a beleeuing an apprehending the iustice of Christ imputed or for a declaration that we are such persons to the opinion of others by iust liuing which is a iustification before men Of the former meaning Sainct Paul doth argue the later sence S. Iames forceth and standeth most vpon For saith he I am a man and not God that seeth the heart I am but man shew me thy faith c. So that these Apostles Paule and Iames albeit they vse the same tearmes both of faith and iustifying yet because they treating in deede thinges diuerse they can not be sayde to varie when as they speake of sundrie matters and not both speciallie of one and the same thing though seeming so in tearmes For Sainct Paule treateth of one faith S. Iames of an other S. Paul of one iustification Sainct Iames of an other Sainct Paul vpon a certaine doctrine and Sainct Iames vppon a supposition If wee looke to heauen faith onely ascendeth thether or rather grace descendeth vnto faith in true maner of speaking Workes are left below who onely iustifie before men in earth For otherwise men can not tell who is iustified and who not but by workes But as onelie works do iustifie here so no doubt doth onely fayth there in respect of heauen The example of Abraham cleereth all Gen. 15.6 Rom. 4.5 Gal. 3.6 and giueth great light hereunto Abraham beleeued God and it was imputed vnto him for righteousnesse that is he was iustified before God by faith And then in offring his sonne was he called the friend of God and so iustified called and pronounced so And so was his iustice thoroughly completed and his faith in proofe perfited and allowed of In the former of imputation of righteousnesse Paule and Iames in expresse wordes both agree In the latter they disagree not For Paule speaketh not thereof but onelie Iames who vppon great occasions presseth the necessarie sequeles of a true faith and iustification to ensue before men straight vppon a iustification praecedent beefore God Wherupon as it were word for word and in sence he reasoneth thus If thine offences were pardoned in Christ thie sinnes remitted and Christes righteousnesse imputed that is wearest thou iustified by fayth before God it would follow necessarilie that thy fayth would shewe it selfe and thy deedes without would declare what thou art within and therebie shouldest thou be reputed a iust man and so be iustified before men also But hee that wanteth the necessarie consequences of such a cause maie it not be concluded that hee wanteth the cause it selfe In the Gospell there were that boasted of the line and race of Abraham But the children of Abraham that are in deede his children are a posteritie according to faith and not after the flesh Mat. 3.9 Wherefore saith our Sauiour vnto them If ye were the children of Abraham by fayth ye would do the workes of Abrahā as Abraham did No workers ergo no faithful childrē of his for all their vaunting For though workes made them not his children but faith yet where such works lacked Christ therupon reasoneth the wanting of faith it selfe And it is true both in the nature of the thinges and in the iudgement of the world Yet all this doeth not disproue that faith alone doth iustifie before God nether doth it inferre that workes do otherwise iustifie thē onely before mē by the necessity of due consequēt to insue Works haue their vses though not that vse one key wil not serue for euerie lock They shew our faith to mē they ar no parts of faith to make it vp they are good duties that follow of faith and so they iustifie no otherwise in the eyes of men the behoulders I am ouer long herin Touching the other example of Rahab the harlot what were her works she receiued preserued Iosues messengers therby was she iustified that is so reputed in the cāp This one fact could not make her iust But being iustified no doubt before by beleeuing in God opportunitie seruinge well shee declared what she was in giuinge such entertainement to the Lords seruāts Which storie well sheweth that God hath his where a mā would litle thinke euen in that cursed city Let no man despaire Rahab an inhabitante of wicked Iericho and she sometime an harlot is accepted but see withall she changeth her former life and of an harlot became the hostesse of Gods seruants Wherin I note an harlot was far frō meriting therefore as afterwardes her good workes are recorded so yet is not her former fault omitted both to shew what she obtained first by fauour and pardon of her fault and then in dutie what shee did is spoken of wherby she became knowen to the Lords people and this was her iustification ensuing vpon a beleefe that went in fauour before Wherby it appeared how S. Iames in these examples forced the vse of good workes not to iustifie before God but in seruice dutie and opinion of and to men Greater amplificatiōs may be brought by the skilfull in these cases to this purpose In effect this is all that either the Apostle meaneth or I can say vpon his meaning so much is plainly meant that though in some functions they may be diuersly occupied yet true faith and good workes euer meete togeather and ioyntly rest in the iustified man But maruelous are the aduersaries in their conceits Rhem. not 1. Cor. 13.13 For they imagine a faithfull man to be without all faithfull and good dealing as if they coulde finde vs out great springs without the issue of many waters or much
water without any moisture or a burning fire without his heat We may distinguishe matters in their natures by teaching although we find them not sundred in the persons in whom we find them And we do vsually distinguish faith and works but in the faithfull they are neuer found apart therefore we do not separate them there So that contrary to that which somtimes we are charged withall we euer set forth a faith adorned with vertues and not make a naked faith stript out of her attire still we tell them faith neither is nor can be foūd alone in the man iustified as hath bene proued at large in the examination of the place of Iames. But they to disproue this labour by all meanes possibly Rhem. not 1. Cor. 13.13 in speciall they alleadg S. Paul to the Corinth in whom say they faith is seuered from loue and if from loue then from all good works true if frō loue For all good works are summarily comprehēded hēded in loue which therfore is said to be the fulfilling of the lawe because it is of a greater span cōtaining the works both of the first and secōd table in louing God aboue al things our neighbour as our self Then if faith be separated from loue thē also from other works Now that from loue it may be seuered S. Paul speaketh say they in his owne person If I had all faith and had not loue c. ergo all faith may be had without loue S. Paul as he had faith so was he not void of loue whose loue was so great that he had care of all cōgregatiōs 1. Cor. 11.28 Supposing doth not euer proue the thing supposed therefore he doth but onely put a case nether is it generally grāted that al faith doth signify all faith in al kindes but in some one kinde all the degrees of that faith And herein many iudge that S. Paul meaneth a miraculous faith not the iustifying because he saith If I had all faith so that I could remoue mountaines that is all such faith and yet had not loue c. But if this be the sense then doth it not import that the iustifying faith may lacke loue but the miraculous faith if yet it proue so much Whether S. Paul meane a miraculous faith or no or whether a miraculous faith let it be a faith can be seuered from the iustifying or no I will not greatlie striue There is no edificatiō in multiplying of impertinent questiōs This must be cōsidered wel that the Apostle sayth not down right he hath faith and that he hath not loue but If I had faith Nowe I trust they will not proue matters with ifs and ands Our Sauiour said touching the beloued Disciple what if he woulde that he shoulde tarie still till his comming Ioh. 21.23 vpon this conditionall if an error was straight spread abroad that Iohn shoulde not die In like manner S. Paul also saith If I spake with the tunges of men 1. Cor. 13.1 and of Angells c. You will not go about hereby I trust to proue that the Apostle had a verie Angels toūg or that Angels had tunges S. Paule maketh supposels and thereupon he setteth furth the excellent commendatiō of loue which verely in sundrie points is far more commēdable then faith it selfe in so much that a man may vse the Poets wordes in a better mater O matre pulchra filia pulchrior A beawtifull mother faith Horat. a fayrer daughter loue But S. Paule doth no where disioyne them but concluding the praises of loue saith there are three that remaine togeather Faith Hope Charitie faith beleeuing in the promises hope looking and longing for them charitie louing the promiset and in him and for his sake louing all that is to be beloued Of all these the last is the greatest what in iustifying no. S. Paul debateth the matter to the cōtrarie euerie where Wherein then in the multitude of other duties and for the euerlasting durance therof both in this world and also in the world to come For when knowledge shall cease faith shall haue his date and hope shal be expired in the lease of this life in the life to come remaineth loue And this is all that the Apostle meaneth which neither confuteth the adonnes of faith in her proper office of iustifying neither yet doth it any way cōfirme that in other respectes she can be alone in the man iustified And thus much of only faith and yet of faith that is neuer alone Of the certaintie of grace and saluation by faith hope in euerie particular man NOwe then being iustified by faith Rom. 5.1 we haue peace toward God through our Lord Iesus Christ For so the Apostle inferreth to the Romaines vpon former debating of the selfe same truth vpon the self same groundes of iustification whereof we spake last So that necessarily the man iustified by his faith by faith also hath he the good fruites that growe vp withall i. peace with his God quiet in his soule and firme possessiō of assured saluatiō in a certaine hope Whereof M. Stapletō speaking with the same spirite that Tertullus did in the Acts Act. 24.2 tearmeth this doctrine a pestilent a pernicious teaching tēding only to presumptiō pride security M. Stapl. you speake your pleasure out of the aboundance of a choloricke harte If we presume God be praised Presumere de gratia Christi non est arrogantia sed fides Aug. Serm. 28. de ver dom 2. Sam. 6.14 we presume not of our selues as you do and if we be proude of Gods euerlasting fauour it is a godly pride and in securitie thereof we leape and daunce with an holy ioy as Dauid did before the arke thogh you like Michaol deride vs as fooles reproch vs therfore Sir ill words do neither proue a good matter nor disproue a bad Wherfore to let passe the rage of your heate let vs a litle consider the weight of certaine reasons you would seeme to produce you say the certainty of saluation by faith is common to sundrie heretikes 1 Lib. 9. cap. 9. contrary to the feare of God 2 3 4 repugnant to the order of praying and against the nature of the Sacraments 1. The first of your foure allegations is that heretikes also assure them selues in a vaine perswasion that their opinions are most true that thereby they shal attaine euerlasting blis yet be deceaued ther fore that there is no certaine saluation by faith We speake of the faithfull you of heretiks we of faith you of fancie we of a verity the truth you of a pertinacy in pretēding truth And how then can you conclude from the one against the other notwithstāding The abuse of thinges doth not abolish the necessarie good vsage of thē if heretiks could be faithfull also heretikes which is impossble yet being by faith well perswaded suppose
excellent sentence full of cōfort and speciall confidence M. Stapleton would qualifie it but can not therfore thought it better to misreporte it otherwise then he found it in Bernard him selfe Lib. 9.14 and first of all he misquoteth the place 6. for 61. but that may be the negligence of his Printer and so woulde I easily thinke if there were no ill dealing otherwise Secondly he sayth this confidence is taken not for a confidence but so farre furth as it is opposed to an astonishment as if when I did a thing confidently I did it only not with astonishmēt Wheras a man astonished is past doing but doing confidentlie is doing and doing with great boldnes Thirdly for fidenter he saith fideliter changing Bernardes worde and fourthly he saith fideliter-dico as if Bernard spake of faithfull speaking and not of cōfident vsurping and taking specially in the singuler number ego I and properly mihi to my selfe take from the bowels of Christ what is wanting to my selfe The reasons of this his assurance Bernard yeldeth elswhere Serm. 3. de frag septē vpon three strōg cōsideratiōs of the loue of Gods adoptiō the truth of his promisse and abilitie to performe and thē he pronounceth that he knoweth whom to beleeue in beleeuing how to be assured In truth if we either rest or reckon of your selues so as M. Stapleton requireth we cast the anker of our hope in an vnstable place and not vpward into heauen as the Apostle teacheth and then no meruaile if hope be no hope fayth not faith For what scripture euer teacheth vs to hope or beleeue in our selues Accursed is he that maketh flesh his arme or putteth his trust in man either in himselfe or in an other man in him selfe for that is a daungerous pride in an other that is as Augustines word is an inordinate humilitie inordinate humilis non leuatur Hom. 84. de temp periculose superbus praecipitatur The proude man wil hurle down himselfe hedlong but the inordinate humble no man can hold vppe Wherefore pride dispaire and folly be far from vs. Our hope faith and helpe is only in the name of the Lorde We are ashamed of our selues of men like our selues but not of the hope which is in vs toward him The matter is weightie yet would I be loth to be ouer long I will ende with remembrance of a storie out of the booke of Nombers Numb 13. where Iosue sent certaine to suruaie the lande of Chanaan who vpon their returne reported of the goodnes of the lande much but more of the strength of the people of the crueltie of the inhabitants of their stature like giāts and in comparison that Israell were but grashoppers their towns meruelously defensed and that euerie way it was impossible to goe vp and preuaile against it But Caleb whom the Lorde had indued with a better spirite comforted the people on the contrarie side and saide cheerfullie Come let vs go vppe vndoubtedlie we shall possesse it litle considering the strength of the people or their crueltie or the wals of ther cities but onely rested vpon the promises of God and therein he stayed him selfe and would oft haue stilled Israell Semblably notwithstāding the force of all the worlde the difficulties of flesh and bloude the subtelties of sinne the arguments that certaine aduersaries like Iosues spies make against vs yet if we haue Iosues faith we must relie vpon the Lorde and in the ende we shall obtaine a better land then the land of Chanaan euen the land of the liuing with the liuing God He that somtime doubteth may remēber he is a mā but because he is also a faith full man he must not cōtinue therein but shake away distrust cōquere al doubts be well armed with the shild of faith against all assalts The faithles they are at an other pointe they ame vncertainly without a marke beat the aire bath themselues in the pleasures of the worlde for a while in the end they dy as they liued they liued without hope perish euerlastingly But we who are beleuers know we ar beleuers as August speaketh For faith is no fancy as we are risen againe in newnes of life in this life so shall we be receaued againe to life eternall in the life to come our conuersation and trafficke is aboue our hartes are set on heauen heauenlie thinges we are frindes with God distance of place diuersities of periles and doubtes of daungers can not disioyne or cause distrust for we also shall finally dye as we liued we liued in his feare and reuerence we dye in his faith he is our God God and therefore able our God and therefore willing to bring his promises all to passe one daie and in the meane season there can happen nothing neither inwardly nor outwardely but it may be patientlie borne quietly disgested and with suffrance passed ouer knowing alwayes as the Prophet saith that the time shall come either in this worlde or in the worlde to come when all shall confesse verily of a truth there is frute for the righteous doubtles there is a God Psal 58.11 that iudgeth the earth The teeth of the cruell the iawes of the Lion the arrowes and all the argumentes of proude imaginations shall come to nothing we shal certainely be saued Of sanctification in this life and the meanes of direction therein ACcording to the order which I proposed to my self to shew furth the frenes of Gods grace and fauour it remaineeth in this place next to speake of sanctification For albeit S. Paul maketh it no expresse linke of that chaine wherein God doth all in all and wherewith out of al cōtrouersie there can be nothing in man yet where he speaketh of mās duty to God he shewethe euer necessarilie that they who are iustified by faith in Christ are likewise sanctified by his spirite For being manumitted or freed from sinn by Christ we are there withall made the seruaunts of God to bring furth fruts vnto sanctificatiō Their owne Roffensis saw somewhat when he sayde fides iustificat ante partum Stapl. lib. 8. cap. 31. Illyr in cla par 2. tract 6. Faith is the mother works of sanctificatiō are the children The mother doth iustifie in order before the children be borne and then shee bringeth furth a godly ofspring who like good childrē cherish their mother and comfort her with naturall respect againe That no man mistake me it woulde be obserued that the word sanctification is taken either for iustification in Christ who is our wisedome our righteousnes sanctification or else for holynes of life in Christiās who hauing receaued the spirit of adoption a measure of grace are sanctified renued in their minds reformed in their liues dying to the world liuing vnto God Both these sanctificatiōs ar ours For Christ is ours therfore his holines his righteousnes are ours also But there is a
differēce betwixt that which is in Christ being perfit in nature precedēt in order made ours but by imputation and betweene our sanctification which is imperfit in it selfe issuing from his goodnes and really inherent in our selues The one is receaued by faith the other cōsisteth in good works as of piety toward God of vp right dealing with mē of tēperate vsage of our own persons of faith in Gods promises of hope in his mercies of louing his goodnes of zeale in religion of praysing his name of cōtinuance in prayers of confession of sinnes of seuerity against vice of encrease in vertues of paciēce in troubles of goodnes towards al men of meditation of death of spirituall ioy intentiue expectation of the ioyes to come I am not to debate particulars with intēt to dilate any thing For that is not my purpose and the rather because looke what hath bene spoken of many the former matters may with ease or else without great labour be applied to this present argument Philosophers make a differēce of bodies it is euident in sense howe some bodies are grosse darke as wood stone some cleare and lightsome perspicuous that a mā may see through them of which sort are the aire fire christall common glasse oyld paper and the like Whereunto I may resemble the outward actions of man either his words or deeds For through these a mā doth as it wer through a glas window look into a mans minde frō whence as frō a spring both words deeds do issue I beleeue therefore I spake saith Dauid Will you know a iustified man look whether he be sanctified holy according to so holy a calling will you know the goodnes of the tree trie whether he bring furth according to his kinde as it is in Moses In the second of Kings Genes 1.2 Reg. 1. king Ahaziah fel through a lettasse window from his vpper chamber therby fel into an extream sicknes He calleth for his seruāts sendeth certaine of them to go enquire of Beelzebub the idole of the Ekron concerning the recouery and euent of his disease Vpō this the Angel of the Lord appeareth vnto the Prophet Elias and willeth him to goe and to meete Ahazias seruaunts to say vnto thē Is it not because there is no God in Israell that he seeketh to belzebub c. Wherefore of Ahaziah the Lord saith He shall not come down from the bed that he went vp into but shall die the death Elias doth the message to the seruauntes the seruauntes returne to their king he museth at their suddaine returne declaration is made what befell The king demaundeth what maner of man it was that met them they shew him that he was an hearie man girded with lether Then saide he straight It is Helias the Thesbite Out of this story sundry instructiōs may be gathered First that as the oxe doth eat vppe the thistle so may the axe ouerthrow the oke i. as the poore sinfull people shall surely be punished so the vnsanctified mightie man shall not euer escape Againe in destresses sinnefull men seeke for simple helps and not vnto God the God of help al to no purpose but to their greater hurt Where as the holy man knoweth that our very heares our teares our names ar in accoūpt with our almighty Iehouah our heares are in his register our teares in his bottle our names in his kooke But the purpose why I record the story principally is to shew howe readily Ahaziah did gesse by the Prophets attire that it was Elias therby by this exāple to declare not that the hearines of our apparell because happily therwas some singuler thing in Elias attire as likwise in Iohn Bapt. apparel which was an other Elias but that our attire apparell in most modest maner generally be seemely that all our behauiour be such either in gate words or deeds that whē report is made therof a man may straight auouch verily there is a Christian There is no doubt but dissimulation is spun now adayes of so fine a thread that it is hard to discerne who is who Gardiner could make a booke of true obedience Bōner made the preface therto now we lack not if time serued as God forbid we should haue experience that we want nether subtle Gardiners nor cruel Bonars But because some can semble to be that they are not dissemble to seeme to be what they are therefore yet may not the godly cease both to be in deede and professe to be also true professors Coloures can not long cōtinue A grape may ketch or hang vpon a brier it groweth onely naturally vpon the vine Dissimulation is like Hermogines learning Volater lib. 15. very towardly to shew a while but after a while it becam flush and flue away wheras the sincere holy man groweth still from faith to faith frō strength to strength from vertue to vertue till he become a perfit man in Christ Iesus knowing that this is the will of God euen his sanctification 2. Thes 4.3 And were there nothing else but the wil of God his cōmandemēt in this behalf yet were this alone cause sufficient that we offer vp the sacrifice of our obedience to our God we should be holy because he is holy who hath commanded vs so to be Ier. 35.14 euen as the children of Ionadab the sonne of Rechab obeyed their father and abstained from wine because their father so commaunded them but infinite are the reasons that should moue vs to a godly life as not only his commandements therunto but the inhibitiō of the cōtrary denūtiatiō of penalty if we liue ill or promise of reward if we liue well the hindrāce of Gods glory the hurt to common weals by the one the edification of many by the other Exāples of good mē to be followed who were honorable mē in their generatiōs wel reported in their times as Enoch Noe Abraham and many moe or the effect of sinne vpon sinners that threw Adam out of paradise turned Nebuchadnezzer into a beast and Iudas into a Diuel slue kings ouerthrew thousandes swallowed vp rebels drowned Pharao all his host burnt vp whole cities and wasted nations But what shall I stand to reckon vp reasons to proue that day hath light that the night is darke that vertue is good and vice is naught or that the one ought to be embraced and the other auoided For he is farre gone and past cōmon sense that wil not confesse all this Howbeit in the practise of doing it falleth out cleane contrarie And the reason thereof I take to be in them that haue any knowledge for to speake of the wilfull ignorant it is bootlesse because their knowledge occupieth onely some small roome in their braines but hath no firme possession of the harte My sonne giue me thy hart saith God by the pen of Solomon Keepe it not
and the like are but miserable comforts in the day of death or iudgment One sanctified soule then will be more worth then innumerable sinners O Lorde sanctifie them and vs with a liuely vnderstanding of thy trueth Thy word is the truth teach vs O Lorde good wayes therin that we may know do thy will I will record a storie Dauid being certified of Saules death among his lamentations he breaketh foorth on this wise 2. Sam. 1 O tell it not in Gath publish it not in the streetes of Ascalō lest the daughters of the Philistines reioyce lest the children of the vncircumcised triumph Gath and Askalō were of the chiefe cities of the vncircumcised Dauid wisheth that Saules death might be concealed from them that it might not be told to the enemies of Saul and of God With like affection it is to be desired that ether there wer no Sauls at al or that they might die either obscurely or liue otherwise then to the slaunder of the profession they seeme to be of but in truth are not They that haue dwelt or dwell in Gath Askalon in Louain Doway Rōe or Rhemes the enemies of vs of our Land and of our God wil be glad to hear that he which is reckoned a iustified man by faith were yet a prophane person like Esau in the race of his life The streame of sinne is strong and carieth the world with it but he that thinketh he standeth let him take heede he fall not If a piller fall the house is in daunger if a mightie tree fall it beareth downe manie bowes and sprigges with it O what a shame were it for anie that haue begun in the spirit to ende in the flesh to reioyce in the light and afterward to loue darknes more then light to receiue as it were a portion of faith and then to mispend it The children of the vncircumcised will make great triumphes when they shall heare hereof supposing they haue gayned much when they can finde a man that hath fallen from his God but to the godlie what sorrowe is like to this where such euentes are found Wherefore let euerie man looke to his wayes stand to his watch that he offend not God neither that he giue place to Sathan cause of ioy to the aduersarie or of griefe to the godly that he defile not him selfe driue away the spirit receaue the word in vaine stayne his profession and that he be not like the Asse and Mule that carieth on his backe wheate or breade or wine and yet eateth onelie chaffe and drinketh nothing but water To carie the name of a Christian is little woorth except you feede on the properties of Christianity expresse them in a good life For not to talke of Christ but to liue in Christ is indeede to be a Christian vnto whom it may shold be said as it was vnto Mary thou shalt beare a sonne and thou shalt call his name Iesus For they that heare Goddes word with pure affection Luc. 8.22 and bring foorth the frutes of the spirit they are as it were Christes brethren and as deare as his mother and after a sort his verie mother as in the wōb of whose faith Christ is conceiued and in whose holie life Christ is spiritually born into the world dayly And this is true sanctification allwayes to be perfourmed in vs taught in the word imprinted by the Spirit graūted of God through the merites of Christ in whose name we pray euer to be sanctified more and more continually And euē as Anna praied that God would giue her a man child and she would giue him the Lord againe so wee pray that God will make vs his holy adopted children But the benefit of this holinesse and of this adoption as likewise of our creation when we were not of our iustification when we were naught and of all things else as he giueth them vs so we must giue them him againe render all the praise to him alone the onely giuer of all good giftes who is to be blessed for euer both for all and of all So be it Of Glorification in the life to come and of sobriety in certaine questions that are moued therein WHen sanctification endeth in this life then glorification entreth taketh his beginning for the life to come And then when we shall haue escaped all the ginnes of mortalitie when the times of temptation shall be passed ouer when the streame of this world shall haue quite rūne out his course then this corruption of ours shal be endued with incorruption the olde Phoenix shall be renewed and euen as Moses did put his leprouse hande into his bosome Exod. 4.7 and pulleth it foorth a cleane and a sound hande so this fraile flesh of ours that is sowen in dishonour 1. Cor. 15 and must rotte in the mould of the earth shall yet rise againe in honour with great perfectiō in that gloriouse day Sainct Paul sheweth that there were amongst the Philippians Phil. 3 that walked much amisse in number manie in conditions earthly minded men seruants to their bellie and enemies to the crosse of Christ therfore in fine whose iust end was to haue an heauie doome a deserued damnation But speaking of him selfe and of the godlie he saith our consolation is in heauen from whence we looke for a Sauiour euen the Lord Iesus who shall change our vile bodies that they maie be like his gloriouse bodie according to the working wherebie he is able to subdue all thinges vnto him selfe Wherein these four points are expressely set downe the conuersation of Christians to be heauēlie their expectation to be of Christes appearing in the cloudes the glorification to be euen of our verie bodies and because no man should doubt of the issue thereof after he had set downe the former three in the fourth place mencion is made of the omnipotent power of God Reu. 14.13 Wherefore without all question as the spirit saith in the reuelation Blessed are they that die in the Lorde for they neither frie nor freese as the Papistes suppose in purgatorie but rest from their labours Nowe to die in the Lorde is to die either in his cause quarell for righteousnesse sake or otherwise in his faith and feare and in the course of their calling And to die is to be dissolued Eccl. 12.7 the bodie to the earth from whence it was taken and the soule to be rendred into the hands of God that gaue it Thy dead saith Esay Esay 26 O Lorde shall liue euen as my body shal they rise againe Awake and sing ye that dwell in the dust For thy dewe is as the dewe of herbs and the earth shall cast vp her dead Not that all the dead but that the Lords dead shall liue the second life And not who dye in their sinnes and in olde Adam but who die in the Lorde and who liued in Christ and Christ in them and