plainly of it That it is the Euidence of things not seene that is by Faith wee see Spiritually things vnseene Carnally Now I hope where is sight and euidence there is not blindnesse and darknesse Againe when Peter confessed Iesus to be the Christ Christ tells him that flesh and bloud hath not reuealed it to him but his Father in Heauen and I trow had not Peter reason to beleeue in Christ when the Father in Heauen had reuealed him and haue the Artists any such euidences of the ground of their Arts. Againe Ioh. 17. This is life eternall to know thee to be very God and hee whom thou hast sent Christ Iesus So Christ must be knowen before he become our Life eternall And Ioh. 10. I know my sheepe and I am knowne of mine And 1. Cor. 2.10 The reason of this our Knowledge is shewed God hath reuealed to vs by his Spirit the things that hee hath prepared for vs. And ver 12. Wee haue receiued the Spirit of God by which wee know the things that are freely giuen vs of God And Vers. 15. A man made Spirituall discerneth all things and himselfe is iudged of no man that is not Spirituall for how can a blind man iudge the sight of a seer And therefore euen in this point which I now defend wee may well scorne to be iudged by blinde naturall Men that know not our fight and therefore know not the things which they gainsay but euen for that cause deny them to bee Furthermore Paul Eph. 1. speakes of the Spirit of Wisdome and Reuelation by which the eies of our vnderstandings may be inlightned to know the riches of our calling and the great Power of God in the resurrection of Christ. And to conclude excluding many more with an euident testimony let vs consider that of the second to the Cor. 3.18 We all with open Face beholding as in a Glasse the glory of the Lord are changed vnto the same Image from glory to glory as by the Spirit of the Lord which is presently followed in the next Chapter with these words That God who commanded Light to shine out of Darknesse hath shined in our hearts to giue the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the Face of Iesus Christ which indeed is but a Comentarie of Christs short words Ioh. 14.21 He that loues mee I will shew my selfe visibly vnto him Now if God haue so shined visibly in our hearts that by the beames of his light we haue a knowledge of his glorious worke of our Redemption in Christ Iesus yea if Christ hath shewed himselfe plainly to vs who can hinder vs to beleeue that wee know euen to beleeue in an all-sufficient Sauiour reuealed to vs by the transcendent Light of an omnipotent Creator Therfore will wee triumph in the reasonablenesse of our Beleefe wee will boldly tell the naturall Man Quod vidimus testamur and we worship that which we know We will answere with Peter Ioh. 8. Wee beleeue and know that thou art Christ the Sonne of the liuing God And let the heart of euery true Christian speake what it sees and it cannot but affirme that it seeth an admirable wisedome in the mysterie of Saluation it beholdeth Christ a most absolute Redeemer and Christ shines to him in an incomparable Beauty as the fayrest of Men And this euidence is not without a seale for hee feeles power accompanying Light A new Light hee hath which some yeeres before he had not and a new power hee hath felt to follow that Light The things which now seeme glorious to him and are his chiefest Treasures were before contemptible and holinesse which before was loathsome is now his chiefest delight And whence can such a change come that a man should be cleane turned out of himselfe but by a hand that turneth hearts as Riuers of waters Therefore truely may it be said that the Light of Faith is sealed by the Spirit of Promise Ephes. 1.13 So that we beleeue the Truth not only by a single promise but euen with a witnesse But the naturall Man will obiect two things First That this Sight of ours is but an Imagination and wee see only because we thinke we doe see but we answere first That he that denyes our sight is himselfe blind and therefore cannot see that wee doe not see Salomon sayth the Foole walketh in darknesse but a Wise man hath his eyes in his head Now Salomons Foole is a Naturall man and the Wise man is a man Sanctified and how can the Foole finde by his darknesse that the Wise man finds nothing by his Light It is no argument that I doe not see because his blindnesse cannot perceiue my Sight But he will haue mee prooue it to him that I see But I answere that though I should prooue it he cannot conceiue it For my selfe is Spirituall and he is Carnall and if I describe to him a Spirituall sight or obiect his carnalitie cannot conceiue a Spirituall kind of seeing but euen the sight of the Spirituall man is folly to the Carnall man If there were a people of perpetuall blindnesse and a seeing man should come among them and tell them what glory there is in the Sunne the Moone and the Starres I wonder by what Argument his sight can proue it to their blindnesse for whatsoeuer his sight affirmeth their blindnesse will eyther doubt or deny And indeed except a man can communicate sight hee can hardly communicate an Image of his seeing And as a blind man on the one side cannot receiue vndenyable proofes of Light and sight but the beliefe thereof must bee fundamentally grounded vpon a trust of the Reporter and this indeed may be the blind belief which he meanes which is indeed the beliefe of the blind beleeuers and not of the seeing and therefore is not true beliefe So on the other side to proue the brightnesse and beauty of Light to one that sees is as friuolous and vaine as the other impossible If hee should come to a man of sight in a cleare and cloudlesse day and beginne with him thus Sr I assure you the Sunne shines and I can proue it by most euident reasons the hearer would doubt more of the Speakers discretion then of his assertion So it is among the Children of Light Christ Iesus the Sonne of Righteousnes the Obiect of their Faith shines on their hearts with an open face and for one of these to come to another and to tell him that Christ Iesus is the Sonne of God the head of the Church and the Sauiour of his body that in him are hid the treasures of true wisedome and happinesse he would answere as Elisha to the Prophets speaking of the translation of his Master I know it well hold you your peace And this was long agone prophesied that such Demonstrations should bee needlesse among the sonnes of GOD For it was foretold that true Beleeuers should be all taught of God and his teaching should saue the
to perish by it While thou fitst at thy wine the wine seemes to thee to be still the same because it is still of the same colour and the same taste and taken out of the same Vessell but I tell thee that the wine at the fourth or fifth draught is not the same that it was at the first or second The wine at the first or second draught perchance was comfortable or physicall but at the fourth or fifth it is furious and vnholsome It refresheth thy spirits at first but it destroyes them at last and so the same wine which was at first thy comfort is at last thy poison Therfore hold thy hand from wine when it beginnes to bee poyson know the time when it changeth and take heed thou keepe thy selfe on this side of the Change On this side thou art Master both of it thy selfe and thou mayst rule both thy selfe and it beyond the wine will be thy Master and thou shalt doe what it pleaseth Then shall thy mouth speake lewd things and by speaking or not speaking it shall proclayme thy shame Wherefore if thou loue thy liberty if thou loue the possession of thy selfe stop thy appetite betweene the wine that refresheth and the wine that destroyeth And that thou mayst bee the more strong in this power of Abstinence with a purified soule thirst after the wine of the Spirit with which they that thirst shall be filled and with which they that are filled doe scorne both the thirst and fulnesse especially the excesse of earthly wine Thus haue I made a Whip of a twice threefold Cord out of this exhortation of S. Paul there withall to whip these deuourers of drink not out of the Temple but into the Temple from the Chappels of Satan I wish they would in this point bee Papists and whip themselues also if not withall yet with some of these cords that so by such wholsome wounds their euill might be purged I confesse I haue left out one word of this verse which word seemes to be the occasion of the whole Verse and it is the word drunken I might say for an Answer that I wish it were wholly left out in deeds as it is heere in words but if that will not serue for an Answere Let it be this The matter of the word is the subiect of this Discourse and the word excesse reacheth close vnto it But for the word it selfe as I haue for the most part auoyded the lothsome naming of it So I desire that the lothsomenesse of the name may make the owners leaue it and intreat them to this end to preach sometimes to themselues and their Sermon shall bee only an houres repetition of this word Drunken I doubt not but the beastly sound of it in the eare the muddie cadence of it on the tongue will bee so fulsome so odious to them that in the vglinesse of the word beholding the lothsomenesse of the deed they will hate and anoyde the deed whereof the word is so abominable CHAP. XVII Certaine false Appetites that distaste the Food of life though drest in it owne kind if not drest to their owne minde THere are at this day many seuerall tastes that affect seuerall manners of deliuering the Word of God Some affect roughnesse some verball Rhetoricke some a short and sandy Eloquence The first pretends for himselfe that the profit of the Word consisteth in supernaturall power not in humane elocution and that the intising words of mans Wisdome rob that diuine power of the glory of conuersion But the man of the man of this opinion must know first that he findes no precept of rusticitie harshnesse or roughnesse of speech in the Scripture Secondly on the contrary hee shall find in the Preacher Prophets and Apostles yea in Christ himself pleasant words delightfull comparisons perswasiue exhortations often very eloquent and moouing expressions Thirdly God speaking by man vnto man though the power of God be the very effectuall cause of conuersion only baptiseth with fire yet the outward powerful expression ioyning and conspiring with the inward conuerting power may giue a degree thought not a being and may blow the fire which the Spirit kindles The Spirit in the speaker or writer according to his degree commonly stirreth inflameth and exalteth the Spirit in the hearer and that so much the more strongly by how much more swift forcible penetratiō ithath through the outward man into the inward Now a cleere sound and masculine expression openeth wide the doore of the vtter man so that the spirituall meaning contayned in the words passeth in fully strongly and swiftly And so the actiue vehemence thereof doth as it were struck hard on the soule and leaues a print thereon The Word is the Looking-glasse bearing the Image of the Spirit that speaketh and therin is the Spirit speaking discerned by the Spirit hearing The more this spirit is discerned the more beauty and so the more loue and so the more power Now the cleerer the Glasse is the more discerning therefore the spirit made more excellent in an euident word is more louely and more powerfull Surely if we could see spirituall thoughts in their Primitiue beauty without the grosse mediation of words their excellence would rauish vs their glory would command and master vs. But now thoughts shining to vs thorow the Lanthorne of words the cleerer the Lanthorne is the more bright and cheerfull is the Light and the thicker it is the lesse doth it direct and the lesse doth it comfort Fourthly besides the benefit of euidence handsome expression helpes the memorie and God speaking to man by man no doubt well knowes their mould to whome hee speakes and is willing that all fauour especially by the Ministerie of man Rom. 6.19 should be done vnto man and that words should be fitted to the best aduantage of Nature A Parable of Christ a tuned and proportioned Psalme of Dauid a Prouerbe of Salomon yea one of the Fathers harmonious Sentences sometime take more hold of the memory then a rough and ragged exhortation Yet I speake not this that I may vse Pauls words to shame them that haue not to condemne Moses Exod. 4.10 for want of vtterance but to exhort others from condemning and that they doe not condemne but desire the more excellent gifts for God gaue Moses Aaron euen to diuine knowledge an eloquent vtterance God hath giuen diuers gifts vnto men all to edification now all together shall edifie most if the higher imploy their Talents not condemning but incouraging the lower if the lower exercise their gifts rather imitating thē enuying the higher But in imitation let euery Man hold this Rule That he imitate no further then his strength will make it good Otherwise while he seekes to be another and leaues to be himselfe being short of the other he loseth both himselfe and the other euen what he would be and what he might be The second is a hunter of meere
we say that we see Christ Iesus sitting at the right hand of God the blinde Wizards are ready to throw stones at vs for confessing what we see or for seeing that which is hid from them But though our Reasons cannot open their eyes yet God who brought Light out of Darknesse can doe it and therefore wee pray vnto him with the Prophet for his Seruant Lord open their eyes and then with Balaam that illuminated Wizard falling into a trance with their eyes opened they may vtter their Parable There comes a Starre out of Iacob and a Scepter out of Israel out of Iacob shall he come that shall haue Dominion CHAP. VII Aphorismes of Predestination THE root of Predestination is vnsearchable the wit of man is shorâ— and shallow contentiousnesse is endlesse because doubts are manifold and humours incompatible therefore I thinke it best in a perplexed matter to set downe short and euident Truâ—hes by light to chase away the errours of those that deceiue beeing deceiued and by breuitie to make knowledge portable so eyther easie or pleasant to the knower First it is fit for man to know That no man doth know the secrets of God but by the Reuelation of GOD. Therefore iust as they are reuealed so they are to bee conceiued and beleeued The reuelation of Gods secrets must informe and teach our vnderstandings iudgements what they are but our vnderstandings or iudgements must not tell themselues what these secrets are so we must be passiue in a submissiue receiuing them not actiue in an inuentiue contriuing of them Therefore mans reason must lye still and meerly suffer when the highest Reason and Wisdome speaketh vndiscouerable Mysteries it must heare and beleeue as a Learner and not instruct as a Teacher For who hath knowne by his owne wit the inward minde of the Lord for his secrets are only known to his own Spirit and to those to whom that Spirit reueales them Therefore iust as the Scriptures speake let vs heare and learne this secret of Predestination especially where it is handled ex proposito for in such places good Teachers set downe plainly the state of the Question and an especiall place of that kind is the 9. and the 11. to the Romanes Secondly I affirme or rather the Scripture before me that though God discouers to vs that hee chuseth some and leaueth others yet the reason of Gods will in chusing or leauing is hidden from vs. Paul cryes out O depth and how vnsearchable are his counsels and his wayes past finding out And againe he worketh all according to the pleasure of his owne will which indeed be the very words of one that hides his reasons of doing referring vs only the knowledge of his pleasure Againe Where he will he hardeneth where hee will he sheweth mercie So his wil is the Horizon and vtmost extent of our reuealed knowledge in this point Thirdly the will of God hath euer ioyned with it Wisdome and Iustice it is not a rash Will without Knowledge but whom he knew before those he predestinated Pharaoh is hardened not without aduice but that God may get glory vpon him and Paul thus expresseth the wisedome of this businesse in generall To shew the riches of his mercy on some and the seuerity of his wrath on others Againe His will is iust for else how should God iudge the World for how can the Iudge of the World but doe iustly but I say some part of Gods Iustice is to man in this life vnsoundable and is kept for the day of the declaration of the iust Iudgement of God and yet some part of his wayes in this are discernable to haue euident Iustice. Fourthly the Iustice of God is thus far euident That man being made righteous freely falling and in his fall ruining corrupting his whole House Family and Posterity God who by mans free falling is free from the fault of his falling hath power to punish sinne in all men in whom hee finds it As sinne it is contrary to him and so punishable as sin contracted by mans free-will without Gods inforcement or cooperation quatenus sin God is left free to bee a Iudge and not to be excepted at as a party Fiftly Man being in this state of misery corruption without Gods fault or partaking and God knowing that it would bee so euen before the foundations of the World before the same foundations of the World might wel and iustly resolue to leaue some part of man in this selfe-purchased misery who cannot clayme any right or merit of restoring and hee might chuse another part to Mercie God being by mans free act of sinning left free eyther to Iustice or Mercie to leauing or chusing And being free he chuseth or leaueth as in his secret Wisdome he knowes most aduantagable to his glory Sixthly true it is that God fore-appointed Christ Iesus to be the Sauiour of his Elect his Elect to be saued by Christ Iesus and all these from eternitie Christ was a Lambe flaine before the beginning of World and the Elect were chosen to Saluation before the beginning of the World though the Election purposed to execute it selfe by Adams fall yet the fall of Adam in it selfe was voluntary and not necessary I say in it selfe it was not necessary for the certaintie of Gods Decree did not lay any necessitie on the freedome of Adams will and yet neyther did the freedome of Adams will in danger the certaintie of the Decree yea the freedome of Adams will both cleares God from necessitating it and yet certainly and infallibly effects Gods Decree For in that Adams will is free God doth not incline it to fall and so therein is God cleared from inforcing his sinne And in that Adams will is free Adam will certainly fall and certainly effect the Diuine Decree Adam left to himselfe cannot accuse God for mouing him to sinne Sure God is the stability of all his Creatures particularly of mans will and if God purpose to get himselfe glory on mans fall hee need no other meanes to bring it to effect but by giuing him free will For the will left free to it selfe as it is â—ree from God tempting so it is free from God supporting wher God doth not support though the will might make man to stand if it would yet it will not do it though it might Therefore when Adam by his free-will will certainly fall we ought rather to speake of a voluntary certainty then an inward necessitie And indeed Gods Decree hath as cleare sure a passage to his marke by a voluntary certainty as by a a necessity yea by coaction it selfe For where God leaues the will free this free-will will freely but certainly fall and where it will certainly fall by that certainty the certaintie of the Decree passeth safely to his assured marke So likewise to doe right to Gods purity and that he is not the author of sin it sufficeth that we find the fal