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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
ground_n	believe_v	faith_n	revelation_n	1,466	5	9.8611	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A20770	A treatise of the true nature and definition of justifying faith together with a defence of the same, against the answere of N. Baxter. By Iohn Downe B. in Divinity, and sometime fellow of Emanuel C. in Cambridge.; Selections	Downe, John, 1570?-1631.; Baxter, Nathaniel, fl. 1606.; Bayly, Mr., fl. 1635.; Muret, Marc-Antoine, 1526-1585. Institutio puerilis. English.	1635 (1635)	STC 7153; ESTC S109816	240,136	421

righteousnesse Rom. 3.28 Consider moreouer that Faith as a cause goeth before Iustification for wee are iustified by Faith and therefore if the Elect bee wicked before his iustification hee must needs much more bee wicked before the first act of his Belieuing In regard whereof Saint Augustin saith Enar. in Ps 311 Know thou that Faith when it was giuen thee found thee a sinner These things being so as without controuersie they are I then demand of you if Faith bee Assurance what ground hath the Elect for his Assurance in the first Act of his Faith more then the Reprobates and wicked haue Certainly vnlesse you will flye with the Anabaptists vnto I know not what Enthusiasms and sudden reuelations grounded vpon no arguments formerly by the Holy Ghost imprinted in the soule you cannot possibly shew any seeing before Faith they lie together in the same masse of corruption and are alike liable vnto eternall damnation Now vnto this argument thus enlarged and explaned let vs see what answer you returne When I can shew the man that died without Assurance and was saued and how I know at his death hee had no full Perswasion and can proue that there is at the houre of death in the Saints a Doubtfull Faith then you say you will answer mee What M. Baxter and not till then Suppose I cannot satisfy your demands as indeed who knoweth what is in the heart of man at the houre of his death shall my argument therefore for euer stand vnanswered Declar. of Spir. Desert And yet M. Perkins telleth you that When a Professor of the Gospell shall despaire at his end men are to leaue secret iudgements vnto God and charitably iudge the best of him and hee instanceth in one M. Chambers who in his sicknesse grieuously despaired and cried out that hee was damned yet saith hee it is not for any to note him with the blacke marke of a Reprobate The like censure elsewhere giueth he of Francis Spiera Yea further saith hee When a Professor of the Gospell shall make away himselfe though it bee a fearefull case yet still the same opinion must bee carried So that it seemes by this learned mans iudgement who for ought I know is not singular herein but followeth the common opinion of other Diuines that it is possible for a man to die in Faith and so to bee saued and yet to die in Despaire and so without Assurance whence it followeth necessarily that Faith is not Assurance But this answer of yours Antholog l. 2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 brings mee in minde of a pretie Epigram of Nicarchus which you may read in the Greeke anthologie A deafe man commences sute against another deafe man before a deafe iudge the plaintife pleads that the defendant owes him fiue months rent for his house the defendant answers for himselfe that hee had been grinding at mill all night the Iudge looking vpon them why contend yee thus good fellowes quoth hee is shee not mother to you both then keepe her both hardly Semblable hereunto is your answer for as if you were as blind as they were deafe and had not eyes in your head to read my writing when I speake of onions as it is in the Prouerbe you answer of garlicke and roue the whole heauen wide from the marke you should shoot at I say that the wicked may bee strongly perswaded and therefore Faith is not a Perswasion you like the deafe defendant reply that you haue beene grinding at mill all night telling mee I shall then receiue answer when I shew the man that died without Perswasion and yet was saued by Faith and other such stuffe of the same stampe Verily I am perswaded if old Sibyl or Oedipus or any other that hath anciently been esteemed for reading riddles should reuiue againe yet would they not bee able with all their cunning to deuise how to accommodate and fit this answer to any part of my argument For mine owne part I can make of it nor fish nor flesh nor good red herring and therefore not troubling my selfe with your follies here I leaue it as I found it vnkith vnkist as they say N. B. And in the meane time I will hasten to your Definition of Faith which you call the third kinde of Faith and onely Iustifying Faith I. D. Soft and faire no hast but good you post away so fast vnto the Definition that you leaue something behind you vnanswered which desires and deserues your further consideration For first I proue vnto you that Faith cannot be a full Perswasion certaine Assurance partly because it is not so much as Assurance partly because such Fulnes agrees not to little Faith and so makes the definition narrower and of lesse latitude then the definite and partly because it is a most discomfortable doctrine to weake Christians who finding this strength of Assurance wanting in themselues may doubt whether they haue any Faith at all if Faith bee no other then a full Assurance and firme resolution Againe I answer certaine obiections the chiefest you can haue against mee and that with such generall solutions as will cut off almost any reason you can oppose vnto mee These things being of such importance and consequence should not thus haue beene balked and husht vp in silence for while they stand vnstirred and vntoucht you cannot reasonably bee thought either fully to haue satisfied my arguments or sufficiently to haue maintained your owne cause Out of doubt therefore it would haue been much better for your credit to haue made lesse hast and more good speed for tripping away so fast and leauing matters of such weight vtterly vnanswered all the Schollers in our Countrey to blow backe your owne scoffe into your owne face will thinke the worse of your haste so long as they liue for this tricke To conclude this point whereas there are two many faults as Simplicius saith too vsually committed in the disputation and determination of Questions it appeareth by what I haue now said that you haue hitherto grossely faulted in the former For you doe but reiect and deny my Conclusions without refuting the confirmations I bring for them and so if not altogether alienate from you yet leaue in suspence and doubt the mind euen of those who otherwise might bee of the same opinion with you Now if you offend likewise in the second and doe not in the remainder of your Reply vtterly raze and ouerthrow the foundations of my Doctrine but suffer them to stand vnshaken and vnmoued you shall both leaue the thirst of your readers expectation vnquenched and vnsatisfied and proue your selfe but a bragging and boasting Pyrgopolinices threatning much and performing nothing Let vs therefore take a view hereof and see what you haue to say against the definition which I giue to Iustifying Faith Treatise The third Faith is Faith of Person or Personall Merit and of this Faith I make the Obiect to bee Christ the Mediator meriting the

is conditionall you denyed in your answer to the former argument now also you deny that Belieuing is commanded Whereby you bewray how inexpert you are in the Word of righteousnesse as the Apostle speaketh and that whereas by office you are Heb. 5.12 13. and concerning the time ought to be a teacher yet haue you need your selfe to be taught the very elements of the Christian Religion That therefore the Promise is conditionall I haue in the due place demonstrated now that Belieuing is commanded remaineth to bee poued or rather it is already proued thus No condemnation but for breach of a Commandement Condemnation for vnbeliefe for for vnbeliefe the world shall bee condemned Ergo Beliefe commanded But this reason according to your wont you cunningly suppresse and hauing found out a new Art of disputation thinke it enough to scorne the premisses and with a bold face to deny the Conclusion Yet for your further confusion vnto necessary consequence I adde the expresse words of Scripture This saith Iohn is his commandement that wee belieue in the Name of his Sonne Iesus Christ 1 Ioh. 3.23 And vnto diuine authority I adde the humble consent of holy men of God Beza expoundeth that place of Saint Iohns Gospell Ioh. 6.29 This is the worke of God that yee belieue in me De gra vniuer De Praedest gratia on this wise This is that which God requireth of you that yee belieue in me The Lord commandeth saith Hemingius that we belieue Together with the Promise saith Master Perkins is conioined the Exhortation or Commandement to Belieue which is more generall then the Promise because the promise belongs only to Belieuers but the Cōmandement both to Belieuers vnbelieuers Harm Conf. Sax. of remission of sins iustif Finally the whole Church of Saxony thus confesseth It is the eternall immutable commandment of God that we should belieue in the Son of God according to this saying which is my very ground the Spirit shall conuince the world of sinne because they Belieue not in mee Nay see the lucke of it that which here you affirme to be an vntruth not many lines before you haue auowed to bee a truth saying God commandeth all to Belieue and therefore the Reprobates Yea doe you not in this place vnsay that which you say saying it is vntrue that God commandeth when hee biddeth a Reprobate to Belieue For hee that Biddeth in my vnderstanding commandeth vnlesse you that complaine of nice and subtle Distinctions in others haue learned of late by some new-found nicetie to distinguish there where the letters and syllables onely differing there is otherwise an identie of nature and definition A man would wonder how you could so soone forget your selfe but that it is commonly seene a liar hath seldome or neuer a good memory But to proue that God commands not a Reprobate to belieue you come vpon mee with a most mighty and insoluble Enthymem What is that I beseech you Marie this A Reprobate if he could belieue he should then without doubt bee saued Ergo God doth not command him to Belieue A desperate Demonstration I promise you for by the same reason you may conclude that God commands him not to obey the Precepts of the Morall law neither Because if hee could keepe them he should bee saued What you conceiue may bee the knot and sowlder as it were of this Consequence I cannot well imagine vnlesse it be one of two either this God promiseth the Reprobate hee shall bee saued if hee Belieue Ergo hee commandeth him not to Belieue or this The Reprobate cannot belieue Ergo God commandeth him not to Belieue for your words seeme to bee indifferent either way If you intend the former first you contradict your owne selfe for in your answer to the former argument you deny Iustification and Saluation to bee promised vpon condition of Faith Secondly euery Catechumenus and Nouice in Diuinity knowes that God vnto Commandement vsually annexeth Promise to draw on Obedience as in the Couenant of works first hee Commandeth Doe this and then Promiseth if thou doe it thou shalt liue and in the Couenant of Grace also first hee Commandeth Belieue and then addeth the Promise if thou belieue thou shalt bee saued So that Promise and Commandement exclude not one the other neither doth it follow Faith is the condition of a Promise Ergo it is not commanded If you vnderstand the latter then know that as Augustin and Barnard and all Diuines not infected with Pelagianisme say God commandeth some things which man cannot doe to the end that knowing his owne insufficiency hee may craue of him the helpe of grace that hee may doe them And if God doe command any supernaturall action vnto the Reprobate as without doubt hee doth then doth hee also command some thing aboue his power for being meerely naturall he cannot produce any supernaturall operation Whereupon it followeth euidently that although a Reprobate cannot belieue yet neuerthelesse hee may bee commanded to Belieue Well yet you will proue that a Reprobate cannot Belieue To what end for it is not denied and you should rather strengthen your Consequence and proue that therefore Faith is not commanded Notwithstanding let vs heare your reason for it seemeth to bee very remarkable That hee cannot Belieue say you the reason is Christ hath not washed him If you had said as followeth Christ hath not opened his heart to Belieue or it is to bee imputed to the hardnes of his owne heart and had stopt there I should easily haue yeelded vnto you but now that you say the reason is because Christ hath not washed him I must needs tell you it is vnreasonable reason for it implies that wee are first washed and then Belieue whereas both Scripture and the analogie of Faith teach vs that we first belieue and then afterward are washed Search the booke of God Rom. 3.28 Act. 15.9 Rom. 3.25 and there shall you read that wee are iustified by Faith that the heart is purified by Faith that God hath set forth Iesus Christ to bee a reconciliation through Faith in his Blood Which Blood although it haue in it sufficient vertue and force to cleanse vs from the leprosie of all our sinnes yet doth it not actually wash or purge any vnlesse it bee particularly applied and accepted by Faith Otherwise as Ambrose excellently speaketh if thou belieue not Christ descended not for thee Christ suffered not for thee De fide ad Gratian. Wherby it manifestly appeareth that Remission of sinnes is an effect or consequence of Faith and that therefore the reason of the Reprobates vnbeliefe is not because Christ hath not washt him but rather the reason why Christ hath not washed him is because hee doth not belieue nor hath by Faith applyed the blood of Christ to himselfe for the remission of his sinnes Where you adde negatiuely that the Reprobates vnbeliefe is not to bee imputed to the falsity

a true Body like vnto ours but that Body which you fancy to be in the Eucharist is not like vnto our bodies For in this Body there is no distance of one part from another as of eye from eye and head from feet neither hath it any dimensiue quantity and is all both in Heauen and here on earth in the Sacrament at once yet not in the middle region betweene nor separated from himselfe but nothing of this can bee affirmed of our bodies or of any other organicall body And if you say that you conceiue of Christs Body in the Sacrament as of a glorified Body the plaine Scripture is against you that when Christ spake these words This is my Body his Body was yet vncrucified and vnglorified Your exposition therefore crossing the Analogy cannot possibly bee good As for ours thus we shew it The text plainely saith that our blessed Sauiour in his last supper tooke Bread blessed it brake it and gaue it vnto his disciples saying This is my Body What This bread But this Proposition This Bread is my Body literally and properly is not true therefore is it figuratiuely to be vnderstood How so Thus. I looke into plaine Scripture and there I find that as the Euangelists call it Bread before Consecration so Saint Paul cals it Bread after Consecration 1. Cor. 11.26 Ib. v. 27. Ib. v. 28. As often saith he as yee shall eat this Bread and Whosoeuer shall eat this Bread vnworthily and Let a man examine himselfe and so eat of this Bread Whence I conclude that the Bread is not changed but remaineth still Bread Then I consider further that our Sauiour now institutes a Sacrament and that in Sacramentall actions Sacramentall phrases are vsuall and the outward signe is called by the name of the thing signified as in the old Testament Gen. 7.10 Circumcision is called the Couenant and the Lambe the Passeouer and in the new Ex. 12.11 the Cup is called the new Testament or couenant Whereupon I inferre there being no reason to the contrary Luc. 22.20 that these words in like manner are to bee interpreted This is my Body that is This Bread is Sacramentally my Body or the Sacramentall signe of my Body And thus you see by clearing this one passage how other darker places also may receiue light from those that are plainer You will say this is to build vpon Consequences wherein it is possible to bee deceiued Whereunto I answer three things first that whatsoeuer may bee deduced out of the Word of God by euident Consequence is certaine euen by the certainty of Faith Bell. de Iust l. 3. c. 8. and this your owne greatest clarks doe grant Secondly to banish Consequences from Diuinity is to banish the vse of right reason and discourse also and that religion must needs bee driuen to narrow shifts which cannot subsist vnlesse men turne fooles or beasts Thirdly the necessity of a Consequence doth not any way depend vpon the person of him that inferreth it but onely vpon the mutuall relation and strait coniunction betweene the premisses and it so that by him who desires to bee satisfied in the truth not the person of him that deduceth it but the Consequence it selfe is to bee looked too whether it bee rightly deduced or no. But who shall iudge that will you say Indeed if you stand resolued vtterly to renounce all the helps and directions both of reason and art nor will yeeld to any Consequence of Scripture how cleere and euident soeuer but will only rely on the mouth and sentence of your humane externall Iudge I confesse I am at Dulkarnon to vse Chaucers phrase and you are past my skill infallibly to perswade you But if as wee haue shewed nor Scripture nor Fathers acknowledge such a Iudge if all whatsoeuer is necessary to saluation bee so plainely laid downe in Scripture as a man of meane capacity may vnderstand it if what is more obscurely deliuered in one place is more plainely expressed in another if God haue appointed that out of the plainer places wee should with study and industrie picke the meaning of those that are harder if hee haue promised that those that aske shall haue those that seeke shall find and to those that knocke it shall bee opened if finally though wee misse the true meaning of those harder places yet firmely adhering vnto the plainer wee are safe and out of danger then certainely the readiest and surest way to to interpret Scripture is by Scripture and there is no other way to determine controuersies and to satisfy the conscience but onely this If any notwithstanding this list still to bee contentious 1. Cor. 11. Wee saith S. Paul haue no such custome nor the Churches of God The rule it selfe is infallible and al-sufficient if wee either through ignorance cannot or through negligence doe not vse it as we ought the fault is not in God but in our selues neither doth hee faile in his prouidence but wee in our dutie Performe wee our duty obediently and hee will performe his promise faithfully In necessaries hee will neuer faile if in other things all be not of one mind yet let vs still proceed by the same rule and instruct one another in the spirit of meeknesse and God will reueale that also in due time And now M. Bayly you haue what I intended for the present it remaines that you peruse it attentiuely The summe is The Fathers may be Ministers by whom you belieue but their Consent is no ground of Faith Your externall humane Iudge is but a Chimera of mans braine and not an Officer of Gods making The onely al-sufficient infallible outward rule of Faith is Scripture in the plainer places which places also must interpret the difficulter Besides this albeit there may be a iurisdiction in the Church to order and controll the outer man yet to satisfy the Conscience and inner man there is no authority but this Which things being so let me entreat you and that in the bowels of Iesus Christ to remember from whence you are fallen and to cast about yet againe and by this rule to examine your new Faith It is not necessary for a man to be an Euclid or some cunning Mathematician to trie by a straight rule whether a line be straight or no. But you are a Scholler and a Minister and should bee able skilfully to apply the rule your selfe To trust anothers application of it for you and that in the point of saluation is not Christian modestie but meere childishnesse and foolish credulity Remember what Lactantius saith It behoueth a man Div. Instit l. 2. c. 8. specially in that thing wherein the state of our life consisteth to trust himselfe and to rely vpon his own iudgement and vnderstanding for finding out examining the truth rather then belieuing anothers errors to be deceiued as if himselfe were void of reason God hath giuen to all men some portion of wisedome whereby