did of my own Fed. Then if any ill happened to you you look't only to him Lud. I did so Fed. And if he promised you any thing you doubted not of his fidelity and performance Lud. No more than if I had the thing promised in my own possession Fed. You were then not follicitous about his Office but your own only Lud. You say true Fed. Moreover if he either commanded you any thing or did any thing himself whereof you being a Child knew not the reason or which seemed to you absurd nevertheless you did it and not doubtingly enquired into his doing Lud. It is so indeed For when at a time were brought fresh Grapes and he bad me tread them with my Feet it seemed to me absurd to tread upon such fair and good Grapes which I would rather have been preferred to eat But because it was my Father I thought he commanded not without a cause therefore I obeyed Also when my Father sometime pruned his Vines and Grafted Trees it seem'd absurd and unreasonable to me that the Branches were cut off which nature had made and which seemed fit to bring forth Fruit. But allways this thought was in my mind unless this were good my Father would not do it Fed. Now let us come to God You say you believe in God your Father and so you call upon him Our Father which art in Heaven It is right therefore that you should certainly depend no less on him than you depended on your Father Therefore if you want any thing do you fly to God alone nor doubt at all but he will bountifully supply you with all things Why do you stick at it Why do you not answer Ludovic Confess the truth nor let a vain carnal fear move you which is wont to keep men from confessing their faults because they are afraid least he to whom they are to be confessed be alienated in mind from them as vitious or have them in less esteem You are in no such danger with me For I cannot be alienated from any one for those vices which I see heretofore in my self and deplore them and I doubt not they are in others unless they have already gone through the way which certainly you and I have not gone through Neither will I esteem you the less if you confess with your mouth before a Friend what I know you confess in your mind already Lud. O my Federic I am asham'd to confess but shame is to be swallowed I truly am oft and very vehemently sollicitous and anxious about necessary things least Bread or Wine or other things faile me especially when I see I have little Money remaining and have no ready way to get more Money Fed. But if you have your Purse full or if you have any ready way of supply then you have no sollicitude at all or surely less Lud. It is so Fed. You trust therefore to your Money or to your Industry more than to God Lud. It is so certainly Fed. But when you were a child you trusted your Father only Lud. Yes Fed. You see now you do not believe in God but in your Money and in your industry I think these words seem to you violent that you can't deny and yet doubt or are ashamed so quickly to confess But compel your self Ludovic many things are to be learned which lye hid in our hearts and we must come to the very root unless that be plucked out we cannot be safe Let us proceed In adversity what say you Ludovic is not your mind somewhat troubled Lud. Yes very much I am not patient in adversity and turn my mind every way to all human remedies Fed. What do you concerning things promised God hath promised you that he will supply you with all necessaries for life If you first seek the Kingdom of God and his righteousness Do you certainly believe his promise so that you are no more doubtful of his truth than you were of your Fathers in your Childhood Lud. Truly I am very short of it Fed. But if Henricus Rotenfeldius your neighbor a Rich man and as he is accounted an honest man had promised you three hundred Growns you would for some years be freed from that sollicitude Lud. Yes Fed. Now God hath promised you not three hundred Crowns but all things necessary and you distrust and are sollicitous Lud. You say true Fed. Therefore you believe in God less than in I will not say your Father but Henrieus Rotenfeldius Lud. I am forced to confess the Truth Fed. And yet men may either through their falsehood or inability not stand to their promises neither of which falls upon God Wherefore by your distrust in God you falsly accuse him either of want of Truth or want of Power Lud. 'T is true Fed. But if you do not trust God for the food of your body who hath never yet failed you can you trust him for a blessed and Eternal life whereof as yet you have never tasted For weigh the matter thus If the King should now send a Messenger to you by whom he would adopt you to be his Son and you believed it in what manner would you behave your self Lud. Verily I should value all that I have as nothing and as here a stranger have my mind already at Court. For such a thing happened to me in my Youth Being in a very mean condition I was called into the Family of a certain Noble and Wealthy man Whereupon I found my mind so changed that I had no such thoughts as I had formerly nor was troubled with any such care and sollicitude as before yea when money was to be sent me from my Parents I sent them word they need not send it for I should henceforth want no money In short I formed in my mind the bravery of the House and place and persons where I should dwell which yet I had never seen Fed. I believe you Ludovic for I have had the like experience in my self But what if you had not believed that messenger Lud. I had continued in the same state I was in Fed. And what if one had seen you remaining in that state would he not easily have affirmed you did not believe the Messenger Lud. Easily Fed. Now let us come to the purpose God hath promis'd to those that love Him such good things as neither Eye hath seen nor Ear heard nor the Heart of man comprehended Let us Ludovic confess the truth here also Should we not if we did verily believe this promise be so carried in our minds to Heav'n that no earthly care should trouble us no sollicitude or vexation touch us Lud. Yes certainly Fed. Now when we rejoyce in gain grieve in loss are sorely affected and dejected with disgrace exult and are glad of honor and pleasure all which are earthly things is not this a plain Argument that we do not believe Gods promises but cleave to an earthly inheritance Lud. It is Fed. What if God should
A CONFERENCE OF FAITH Written in Latin by SEBASTIANUS CASTELLIO Now Translated into English Mark 9.23 All things are possible to him that believeth Phil. 4.13 I can do all things through Christ LONDON Printed by J. R. for John Barksdale at the Five Bells in New-street near Shooe-lane 1679. To his Friend D. of C. SIR I Confess I was glad when I heard you lately being with you in your well chosen Library Commend Castellio whose Dialogue De Fide I told you I had Translated and taught Ludovic and Federic to speak English I shall be willing as you mov'd me to do the rest if I see this does any good to the English Reader and serveth towards the plucking up of that vulgar noxious Error concerning Faith rooted in the hearts of our People so deep that there is need of more hands to joyn with yours for the Eradication thereof I commend your holy Studies to the Father of Lights Your Servant R. of N. Theodorus Zuingerus in Theatro vitae humanae p. 2808. SEBASTIANUS CASTELLIO a most Learned and most Holy man when he came from Geneva to Basil with his Wife was so pressed with poverty that he was near famishing unless JOANNES OPORINUS the Printer had sustained him by his Liberality and encouraged him to the Translation of the Bible Having then obtained the profession of the Greek Tongue he had greater relief of his poverty especially his Fame which yet he never affected as all good men can witness drew unto him Scholars from the remotest Nations At his death he left Riches worthy of a Christian man seeking his Treasure in Heaven Therefore his Scholars of Polonia were at the charge of his Funeral and they honored him with a fair Elogy He hath left ample matter for Pious and Learned men to exercise their liberality upon a good number of poor Children He deceased 4. Cal. Jan. An. Ch. 1563. Philip. Melanch to Castellio WHen I considered the Ornaments wherewith you are endowed I could not chuse but love you though we had no familiarity and here are many Witnesses of the honorable mention I do often make of you among my Friends A CONFERENCE OF FAITH The Persons LUDOVIC and FEDERIC The Argument What it is to believe in God What is the Vertue either of Worldly or of Divine Faith What are the Impediments of Faith By what means a man may be able to hate himself and to renounce himself by Faith and by the Spirit to kill the deeds of the Flesh In summ He that believeth in God and in his Son Jesus Christ is able by the Vertue of that Faith and by the Holy Spirit to mortifie his Flesh with the Lusts thereof and to serve God in Spirit and in Truth LUDOVIC I have willingly heard bost yesterday and to day your discourses Federic and I have learned out of them many things whereof I was Ignorant and that especially moved me which you shewed that God commands nothing which cannot be done For I was perswaded before as is it commonly heard and taught that we are not able to Obey God's Precepts which perswasion surely that I may confess the truth to you Federic made me slack in my obedience so that I never put my whole strength toward it FEDERIC And I have found the same by my Experience Ludovic nor could I apply my self truly and seriously to obey before I did believe it possible for us to obey Whence I learned the force and vertue of Faith For Faith drives a man to the study and resolution to obey To which study afterward when aid from Heaven is added a man is enabled to do what he believes possible to be done by him and so is saved by obeying as before he was lost by disobeying But 't is a small matter to believe obedience is possible unless you know also the way by which you may be able to obey without which obedience no man can be saved I would have you assure your self Ludovic ours and others Disputations are that I say no worse unprofitable except they bring us to obedience and to the new man Lud. These things are true Federic therefore to the End I may reap some profit from our Conference I entreat you shew me by what way I may be able to obey God since by this your Speech of the possibility of it I have conceived a desire of Obeying Fed. O my Ludovic would to God I my self were truly obedient that I might lead you to obedience as it were by the hand Now it cannot be that I should lead you further then I have gone my self Lud. Yet I believe and methinks I see it that you have made further progress than I wherefore pray shew me the way at least so far as you have proceeded Fed. I will gladly do it Ludovic as I am able God being my Guide But I fear least the difficulty and roughness of the way may deter you Lud. Be not afraid I hope I am ready for all things though difficult so that I may come whither I desire Fed. I pray God to confirm in you this Will and bring you to perfection To begin therefore Do you know what the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews hath Written That without Faith it is impossible to please God Lud. I know it Fed. Therefore it is first of all necessary that you believe in God if you will be saved Lud. Go on therefore Federic to other things for as to Faith I have ever from my Child-hood believed in God and truly I think there be very few if any at all which do not believe in God Fed. Indeed that is easie to be said and so they are commonly perswaded but I fear least it be said rather rashly and of custom than sincerely For I sometime also have believed the same both of my self and others but when I came to Examine I saw how far I was absent from it Lud. Do you think then that I have not Faith Fed. Ludovic I do not think that you have no Faith but I think you have so little that it cannot be truly called Faith or such as can save you And I pray be not offended For having said you are ready for all things though difficult it is fit you should suffer this first that I may shew you have not that wherewith you suppose your self to abound And indeed the first step to the knowledg of the Truth is to unlearn Error otherwise there will be no place for good Seed where all is full of Thorns Well then that we may examine your Faith When you were a Child Ludovic did you believe in your Father Lud. What do you mean by believing in my Father Fed. To have him truly for your Father and depend wholly upon him Lud. I did believe in him certainly Fed. Therefore if you had need of any thing as Shoes or Coat or Bread you did run to him alone and doubted not at all of his good Will toward you Lud. No more than I
but what Christ willeth And all this you shall do by Faith For unless you did believe you would not doe really 't is Faith by which men do all things Now we must understand what S. Paul meanes by that saying of his we must go from Faith to Faith There is a first and imperfect Faith whereby a man is driven to renounce himself This being encreased the man persevering becomes dayly greater till at length he comes to such perfection that he doth believe all Gods Words precepts promises threats as certainly as you believe it will be day after night Hence ariseth that Omnipotence whereby he removeth Mountains thus there is no pride so losty no avarice so great no luxury so vast briefly no vice at all of such a magnitude which this Faith cannot remove pull down and destroy But before a man can come to that compleat victory many sharp things are to be endured in the way in renouncing himself without which asperity there is no attaining of that virtue As a fig or a grape comes not to his sweetness but after sharpness Now Ludovic because I have not yet gotten the victory but sweat in the combat of renouncing my self and am yet far from the Crown I will say no more of the victory being a thing to me unknown But in the fight if you will be my fellow Soldier I will by Gods help give you the best assistance I can Lud. I truly though my Flesh trembles and is afraid am enclined by the Spirit of my mind and resolve to follow you For I see there is no other way of safety then for a man to go forth of his own Nature that he may put on the nature of Christ and to take care study contend and sweat that he may restore the image after which we were created Therefore to Gods glory be it and to my salvation at this instant I give up my self to be your companion in this way under the conduct of Almighty God Fed. And I give thanks to God for the good resolution he hath put into your heart praying him to finish the work he hath begun in you and bring you to this that as you have served unrighteousness so you may be henceforth the servant of righteousness Which he will do undoubtedly unless you grieve and by disobedience reject his Spirit Last of all I advise you to have a rich Faith being you believe in him who is rich in mercy Very often have men offended by too sparing and narrow a belief of Gods power and goodness Abraham and Sarah are reprehended for laughing as if it were ridiculous for God to promise them a Son being both aged and Sarah barren Zacharias the Father of John Baptist is struck dumb for a time because he believed not the Angels word We truly are more propense to imitate the weak Faith not to say incredulity of pious men then to believe with a rich Faith and compleat Why do we not rather follow them who dared to believe all things Elizaeus was bold to ask Elias Spirit to be doubled on him a great matter by the testimony of Elias himself yet he obtained it So sure it is no Faith can be so great but the benignity and power of God is greater All things saith he are possible to the believer And whatsoever ye shall ask believe you shall obtain and you shall obtain it Remember that saying of Elizaeus who bespeaks the poor Widow thus Go borrow vessels of thy neighbors as many as thou canst God will fill them all So let us Ludovic do our Endeavor and get a faith capable of all good things and let us confidently believe God is willing and able to make us love him with all our heart all our mind all our strength and will out of his goodness give us all things more abundantly then we can conceive in the name of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord To whom be all Honor and Glory and Dominion for ever and ever Lud. Amen Sebastianus Castellio TO Bonifacius Amerbachius A Famous Councillor BEing the admirable frame of Heaven and Earth and the perpetual vicissitude of Night and Day do continually set forth the Praises of God All-mighty and All-merciful nor is there any Nation of the World that doth not hear the Speech and Doctrine of them it followeth that the God who is Maker and Governor of this Vniverse ought to be Worshipped and Praised by all Men every where And had not men degenerated from that goodness of Nature wherein they were created they might have learned Piety and Religion from this making of the World and from so great and perpetual benefits of God towards them but because being corrupted by the transgression of the first man they run headlong into all Sin and so unto Death it pleased God in opposition to this license and mischief to deliver a Law of Holy living which whosoever would obey they might avoid the evil of Sin and punishment and attain unto a happy life Now because that Law neither was extant among all Nations nor was able through their obstinacy to retain the Israelites to whom was given within the compass of their duty God at last sent his Son into the World who might take away the Partition Wall and spred his Gospel amongst all Mankind and Redeem us by his Blood and by the instinct of his Divine Spirit sweetly draw us into the right and the good way and so conduct us to blessedness eternal Wherefore being obliged by so great beneficence of God 't is not only commendable but if we would be Saved neccssary for us to bear grateful Minds and to our power answer his benefits by doing our duty to him And our duty is as Christ our Master and Saviour hath taught us in Brief to love God with all our Heart with all our Mind and with all our Strength and to love men as well as we love our selves And whereas it is the part of humane love to do good to all as you are able and to hurt none Divine love because we can do no good to God exacteth at our hands that every day we be employed in celebrating his goodness and Singing Praises to his Name Whosoever is endued with this Love is carried unto God with such a strong inclination and desire that he esteemeth Riches Honors Glory for which others do and suffer all things nothing worth and is so much delighted in God's Law that he Meditates upon it Day and Night thinking all time lost which is not bestowed upon him from whom all good things descend If this were deeply fixed in our minds surely we should not lay out so great a Portion of so short a life upon those Arts and Matters which do so little conduce either to the Glory of God or the profit of Mankind but not do it our selves wholly to this heavenly Philosophy or Sophy rather that is to Wisdom For indeed this Discipline is not as some imagine such as cannot be well learned without the aid of profane Letters It were absurd if not impious being profane Wits whose Authors were not only ignorant of God but most of them evil men can be without this Heavenly Doctrine to say the Christian Doctrine cannot consist without them whose Masters pronounceth St. Paul foolish and unlearned For as God would have nothing in the Sacred Books which is not pertinent to his Worship so is there nothing wanting which is pertinent We must not believe a Master infinitely perfect to have furnished us with maimed and imperfect instructions Yet I say not this as if I thought the use of profane Letters were to be laid aside for if one learn in them the Nature of things and the actions of men to this end that he may adore and Honor God the Author and Governor of them he does well in my judgment and seemeth to be conversant not in a profane but a Sacred work because he so follows that Study that it may not hinder but serve and advance Religion But to have good manners and the right way of life may be learned either from the trifles of Poets or from Sentences of Philosophers being uncertain and most part false and contrary each to other this were all one as if men since the Invention of Guns would Fight Battails with their Fists I conclude therefore my honour'd Amerbachius that the sacred Scriptures are to be turned and studied Night and Day so studied that both we our selves may frame our lives according to their prescripts and teach others committed to our trust to do likewise Basil Aug. 10. An. 1547. THE END