of God for if man were accounted righteous for his holinesse or loue he might impute his saluation to his owne desert for perfect loue deserueth loue and holinesse will chalenge life as of due debt But affiance implieth a humble loyall and duetifull subiection acknowledging the vnworthines basenesse insufficiency and weakenesse of man and together the mercy goodnesse loue fauour bounty trueth and power of God This reason is vsed for this purpose Ro. 3. 27. what law or meanes of saluation doth take away all boasting from man and so giueth all the glory of our saluation to God not the law of workes or inherent holinesse but the law of faith yea of all the graces which are in man faith onely hath in it this naturall property to make a man partaker of Christes death and righteousnes and so of saluation For euen as a tennant inioyeth his house and landes not for that he loueth or feareth his lord or for any vertue wherwith he is indued but only because he doth depeÌ„d on his Lord and so doth purchase vnto him worship and honour by relying himselfe wholly vpon his loue fauor liberality constancy ability riches so standeth the case with man in respect of his saluation For no grace saue onely this affiance on God and on his mercy in Christ can conuey vnto vs remission of sinnes and eternall life In the which respect it is commonly said in holy scripture that faith doth iustifie not as it is a parte of mans holinesse whereof no one part no not all the partes of it if any one be wanting will serue to make a man righteous before God but as it hath in it this proper vertue to make the death of Christ the death of the beleeuer so the righteousnes arising of the said death the righteousnes of the beleuer For he that hath suffered death is iustisied from sin Thus much of the obiect nature attributes of euangelical faith It remaineth that before we proceed to the rest of the partes of mans holines we should declare the relatioÌ„ which is betwixt faith them It hath bene said of faith in general that it is as it were the root froÌ„ the which other graces do spring in that it tieth vs to God the fountain of al graces as to the only giuer of all happines the which thing is true of this euangelicall faith after a special manner For in that it ioineth vs to Christ it maketh vs partakers of the spirit of Christ or rather causeth an increase of all spirituall graces For regeneratioÌ„ is although not in time yet in nature before faith Therefore this faith is made the subiect of the spirituall life of the new man euen as the hart is in the body the fountaine of heat Gal. 2. 20. I liue yet not I but Christ liueth in me in that I now liue in the flesh I liue by the faith of the sonne of God who hath loued me and giuen his life for me And Act. 15. 9. Peter saith that God did purifie the hartes of the gentils that is as it is expounded verse 8. worke sanctification in them by faith In the which respect it is compared to the foundation of a house where vpon the whole buylding standeth and to the roote of a tree which giueth heate sappe and life to all the partes of it Coll. 1. 23. If ye continue founded and established in fayth and to a fountaine of liuing water Ioh. 7. 38. He that beleeueth in me out of his bellie shall flow riuers of the water of life And therfore it is put before all other graces 2. Pet. 1. 5. Ioyne to your fayth vertue and to your vertue knowledge temperance patience godlynes brotherly loue and kyndnes Hence it is that it is vsually distinguished from the rest of the partes of sanctification they being called by the name of loue or of the holy ghost 1 Tâ—ess 3. 6. Tymothie hath brought vs tydinges of your fayth and loue So it is saide Act. 6. 5. That Stephen was a man full of fayth and of the holy spirit not that faith it selfe is not a worke of the holy spirite and a parte of the spirituall holynesse of man but because it is the first worke of Gods spirite and the foundation of mans holinesse and saluation who must be by fayth freed from sinne and death before he can be endued with positiue holynesse and life Thus the Apostle doth often exhorte vs to fanctification and holynesse of life by an argument drawen from iustification which is the proper effect of faith as we may see Ro. 6. 14. sinne shall not haue dominion ouer you because you are not vnder the lawe but vnder grace But it may be asked how iustification doth bring foorth sanctification especially seing that to mans reason it is rather a motiue to a wicked and dissolute life that by the multitude and hainousnesse of our sinnes the mercy of God whereby they are pardoned might the more appeare Rom. 3. 7. and 6. 1. We answere that iustification doth of necessitie bring foorth sanctification and that diuers wayes For first the sense of the vnspeakeable loue of God whereby we are deliuered from eternall damnation doth inflame the hart of the beleeuers with a greate loue of God the which cannot be shewed any other way then by keepeing his commaundementes and by laboring to glorifie his holy name by a holy life Secondly God doth saue the faythfull not as stockes or stones without requiring anie worke action or duety at their handes but so as that he maketh them to be his fellow workers not that man can do any thing of him selfe without the grace of God but that man being endued and renewed by grace doth after a sort worke his owne saluation not by any naturall vertue but by the power of Gods spirite and therefore as Christ taketh away the guilte of sinne being committed so the faythful ought to endeuor that sin be not coÌ„mited Otherwise if they shoulde still of set purpose committe sin they should crosse Christ in the worke of their owne redemption defiling theÌ„ selues with sin whom he hath clensed with his bloud yea they should crucifie him againe treade vnder foote his bloude as a vile thing Thirdly the faithfull doe labour for sanctification as for the onely testimony of the soundnesse of their fayth and of the truthe of their iustification For fayth without the other partes of holynesse is but adeade and vnprofitable fayth Lastly the faythfull man knoweth that fayth is not of it selfe without the rest of sanctification sufficient for the attaining of saluation For although it alone dothfully iustify that is bring perfect remission of all manner of sinne whatsoeuer yet before that a man can enter into the kingdome of heauen he must be endued with perfect positiue holinesse the which cannot be made perfect in the worlde to come vnlesse it be begun and carefullie sought after
power of God Againe some man may obiect if all thinges be infinite in God and finite in the creature there can be no proportion or similitude betwixt them We answerâ— that there may be tho no proportion yeâ— similitude betwixt an infinite and a finitâ— thing as for example one drop of water iâ— like to the great Ocean both being of thâ— same matter and of the same forme both being water and rounde Againe to take our first similitude the body of the sunne may be said to be of an infinite greatnesse although no creature be simplie infinite for philosophers doe teach that it is far greater then the whole earth and yet a man may see the likenesse image of it in a little dishfull of water Lastlie not all the attributes of God but onely some of them can be giuen to the creature for no creature is eternall infinite or existing of it selfe In the which respect we call this resemblance which the creature hath to God rather a likenesse then an image for we know that an image is like to the thing it selfe in euery respect as the image of a man seemeth to be a man the image of the sunne or moone in the water seemeth to be the sunne or moone it selfe But no creature seemeth to be God because it is vnlike to God in moe respects then it is like for a beast may be like a man in many respects as is an Ape yet we doe not say that it is the image of man because the vnlikenesse and difference is greater then the likenesse But to applie these thinges to the matter in hand It will be here said why then doth the scripture say that man was created according to the image of God we answere that the holy Ghost in enditing the scripture hath more regard to our capacitie then to the exact proprietie of speache and therefore calleth the likenesse of man to God by the name of Gods image that he might distinguish it as being farre greater from the likenesse which other creatures haue to God For as a man speaking of beastes may say that a horse or any other beast is like to a man because it hath a heade eyes mouth breast and bellie as a man hath but when he commeth to the Ape or to the Satyre there he findeth so great likenesse that he sticketh not to call it though vnproperly the verie image and picture of a man So the scripture sayeth that euerie thinge hath some likenesse to God For the starres are glorious the heauens are simple the fire is pure the ayer is subtill the thunder is fearefull the winde is mighty the raine is good the rockes and many other things in a manner eternall the birdes of the aire and the beastes of the field are carefull to preserue those which they bring into the worlde and are louing and pittifull towards them as God is affected towardes all his creatures and therefore euerie creature hath alikenes to God Whereof it commeth that God doth often in the scripture compare himselfe euen to his senslesse and brutish creatures as may be seene Esa. 5. 29. Hosea 5. 14. yea we read Gen. 1. 31. That God looking on his creatures saide That they were all good Whereof it followeth that they are all like to God who is goodnesse it selfe and is saide to be onely good Math. 19. 17. But when as the holie ghost in the scripture commeth to speake of a man being endued with reason vnderstanding knowledge wisdome and memory with iustice equitie courage temperance chastity loue pitty and all manner of holynesse with a beautifull proportion of body and excellent giftes of the minde yea with lordshippe and dominion ouer all these earthly creatures he sayeth of him that he is the very image of God as if he were a finite and a created God And yet he doth not meane that man is either a God or the image of God for there can be no image of God eyther found in any creature or imagined by the minde of any man or Angell onely Christ the eternall and essentiall sonne of God is the expresse character and engrauen forme of the father being so much more his image then any man or Angell is as a naturall sonne begotten of the body of his father being of the same substance flesh bloud bone stature colour and conditions with his father is more his image then is an ape horse or any other beast Thus we see that the image of God in man is that greate similitude which he hath to God whome he doth resemble not onely in one or in a fewe respectes as other creatures doe but in many yet not in all In this sense God after that he had made all other creatures saith Gen. 1. 26. Let vs make man in our owne image according to our owne similitude Where we see that the image and similitude of God are all one both signifying the difference of excellencie which is betwixt man and other creatures there named In like manner if we compare man with the Angels we shall finde that as he doth farre exceede the other creatures so the Angels doe farre exceede him in bearing the image of God For they are indued with a greater measure of vnderstanding knowledge wisedome strength purity holinesse and of all goodnesse then any man is capable of and so they approach nearer to the nature of God and are liker to God then man is Againe of men they who haue a greater measure of the aforesaid attributes haue more of the image of God as the magistrate who hath greater power and authoritie then priuate men therefore are in the scripture called Gods the man who hath greater strength then the woman and therefore is said to be the image of God whereas the woman is made the image of the man 1. Cor. 11. 7. and so the rich noble learned wise aged man in respect of him who hath a smaller measure of these giftes may be called the image of God So that if we goe from the basest worme creeping on the earth to the most glorious Angell in heauen as each one is more excellent then other so it is liker to God yet the scripture vouchsafeth this title of Gods image to none saue onely to man and Angels This is the generall acception and in this sense the image of God is also vsually taken by diuines writing of mans holinesse Thirdly it may be vsed yet more specially to signifie not all the holinesse of man but onely that part of it whereby he resembleth God more notably then in the other for as touching all those partes of mans holinesse which haue beene declared in the first part of this treatise they cannot be properly said to be any part of the image of God because there is no such thing in God he being ouer all and therefore ackngwledging no manner of subiection to any neither any duety of subiection as affiance hope feare
wherein the happinesse of man doth wholly consist For this is eternall saluation to knowe God to wit the father creating vs according to his owne image in perfect puritie the sonne redeeming vs by his pretious bloud from sinne and miserie the holy spirite sanctifying and renewing vs by his grace to eternall glory In the which respect we haue thought that our time and laboure the which it hath pleased God in mercy to ty to the study of his holy word coulde not be better bestowed then in commending this sauing knowledge vnto others and that by this meanes which nowe we vse being thereunto moued by some vrgent reasons wherewith it is not needefull that either we shoulde trouble you or you your selfe Our purpose or rather our desire and endeauour is to make an anatomie of the soule of man to lay open before thy eyes the seuerall partes and faculties of it together with the naturall and supernaturall holinesse and sinfulnesse of them Wherein we haue endeuored to vse as great breuitie and plainnesse as we coulde and as the greate varietie and difficultie of the matter which often is verie intricate woulde permit auoyding both loathsome tediousnesse and vnprofitable obscuritie as thinkeing it much better not to speake then not to be vnderstoode and to lay open darke matter in rude and homelie tearmes then with enigmaticall parables to amaze and mocke the reader We haue rather applied our stile to the capacitie of the simple and the good of all by insisting most in those thinges whereby we may be edified in the knowledge and obedience of Christ then affected the curious scanning of subtile questions seruing rather for the whetting of the witt then the sauing of the soule And yet as they haue their vse which is not to be neglected so we do breifely touch them as occasion is offered Desiring the readers especially those who doe not professe learning to picke out of this treatise some matter of edification rather then of contention and with me to leaue needlesse controuersies to scholasticall exercises and men of nimble wites But what needeth all this will some man say this laboure might verie well haue bene spared and much better bestowed considering the abundance of knowledge the daily and continual preaching the superfluitie of bookes written of all argumentes both diuine and prophane in such swarmes and huge multitudes that men haue no leasure to looke on the faire inscriptions much lesse to peruse the tedious and irkesome bodyes of them Yea men are so cloyed and deceaued with vaine repetition of olde matter glosed ouer with new wordes and so amazed with straunge doctrines lately deuised that they haue in a manner giuen ouer the buying and reading of bookes esteeming it a fruitelesse and foolishe mispending of mony and time both which ought to be reserued for necessary vses and a needlesse disquieting of their mindes being already sufficiently grounded and settled in the trueth Howe iust and true this complainte is in some respect we are not nowe to discusse but for this matter whereof we speake it were to be wished if so it pleased God that it were true indeede and that we had as great plenty of the true knowledge of God and of sounde teachers of the trueth as of the stones in the streetes and in one worde that all the people of God did prophecy But is it so indeed doth knowledge religion godlinesse and all the meanes thereof or not rather palpable ignoraunce atheisme and superstition abounde in most places Yea surely the complainte of the Prophet Hos. 4. 1. is more true There is no knowledge or feare of God in the land But what of this is this to be attributed to the want of bookes and other meanes of knowledge Surely there is no cause why either some places shoulde complaine of want or any loath their plenty in this behalfe We haue moe bookes learnedly and godlely written then we doe vse well and yet we might vse moe well then we haue There is and will be as long as the church remaineth here on earth a needfull vse of newe tracttates comments sermons catechismes and determinations as newe reasons illustrations and methodes are inuented as newe doubtes controuersies errours and hereses doe arise as this or that vice doth raigne and as men giue themselues diuersly to the studying of particular heades of doctrine and partes of the worde of God All is not to be expected at any one hand where one sleepeth another waketh one is concise and darke another large and plaine one drie and barren an other full and pithy Yea in diuers writers thou shalt see the admirable variety of spirituall giftes and so be stirred vp to praise the greate bounty of God towardes his church The doctrine accordinge to godlinesse as th' apostle defineth diuinitie is a large feilde wherein ten thousand may laboure continually and all haue elbow roome yea each one differ from the rest not onely in manner but also in matter and argument howsoeuer all doe handle the same doctrine in generall As for diuersitie of opinions in some cases it ought not any way to trouble or offend any man seing that it is the will of God that while we remaine here on earth we shoulde both knowe and prophecie whether by speaking or by writing not perfectly but onely in part A fewe contradictions doe not as it may seeme either impaire the credit of the teachers or shake the faith of the hearers of Gods worde but rather strengthen and vpholde both For hereby it appeareth that men doe not as the prophete compalineth Iere. 23. 30. steale the worde of God one from an other deliuering for sounde doctrine whatsoeuer the most doe holde and teach rather then what they themselues doe thinke and so conspiring together in a compact forme of doctrine are not many but onely one witnesse but are in their consciences before God perswaded of the trueth of the gospell of Christ which they professe and teach It is but folly to looke for in mortall and earthly men a heauenly and angelicall harmonie void of all iarring It is rather our partes to labour in repressing that pride and selfel-oue of our corrupt natures whereby men carnally minded and affected are made to swell in anger and hatred against those who doe not in euerie respect daunce after their pipe being more alienated from their brethren for some fewe contradictions then ioyned together in Christian loue by their consente in all the points of religion beside Milde and modest dissenting worketh out the trueth as the striking of flintes together doth sparkes of fier and that often commeth to passe errando via reperta Try all and keepe the best But we trust that no man will make these obiections which we imagine or thinke much lesse speake euil of that which is intended for his good That which one misliketh another perhaps will approue and if studentes waste their inke and we are their pens and printers venture their paines and
although he haue not as yet any supernaturall grace bestowed on him To this we answere confessing that the true illumination of the minde can not be seuered from freedome of will but yet that neither the one nor the other can be attained vnto by the naturall inclination of the will who although he may by naturall meanes get a superficiall and as it is vsually called an historicall knowledge of all the pointes of religion yet is it impossible for him to gette any such true knowledge as will be effectuall to moue his will in the choyse of good For howsoeuer many carnall men seeme to haue a great measure of diuine knowledge yet they are farre from being firmly grounded in the trueth but doe make a faire shew of religion faith and holinesse whenas their heartes are full of Atheisme vnbeleife and all sinfulnesse in the which for the most part they are more wilfull stubborne and desperate then they who are altogether voide of knowledge Neither indeede is it any maruaile that a naturall man should be vnable to resist and offer violence to his nature to denie himselfe and all worldly pleasures to forsake his sinnes which are more pleasant to him then life it selfe and all for hope of eternall saluation whereof he neither seeth any probability for the time present nor can haue any certainty and assuraunce for the time to come If it be here asked what shoulde be the hinderaunce why man being now sinfull cannot as well enclinâ— himselfe to good as he being innocent did choose euill and so returne to his first state by the same way whereby he fell from it We answere that as a man hauing his sight and life hath in his owne power either to keepe them or to spoile himselfe of them by putting out his eyes and by killing himselfe yet after that he is blinde and deade he is not able to take againe vnto himselfe his sight and life so man being in his innocency endued with spirituall life and a ready inclination to all good had power to continue in that estate if he had so thought good but after that he had once by freedome of will lost the goodnesse of his will and wholly depriued himselfe of the spirituall life of holinesse he coulde not being nowe deade in sinne restore himselfe to the state of life And therefore he hath no more power of choosing good then a dead man wanting the fountaine of motion is able to mooue himselfe about any businesse If it be further asked why the word of God biddeth men beleeue forsake their sinnes turne themselues to God repent be holy refuse euill and choose the good if so be they are by nature altogether vnable to do any of these things or how that men can be iustly blamed or condemned for not doing that which is not incident into their nature neither possible to be performed by any naturall man and lastly why men shoulde trouble themselues in vsing the meanes of attaining to regeneration saluation seeing that all their labour is in vaine without the supernaturall worke of God and not rather sit still and expect the time wherein the Lord wil change their natures make them capable of holinesse We answere in one word to all these doubtes that the scripture bidding men to choose good and become holy doth commaund nothing but that which is in their power to do and therefore doth not meane that men should goe about to change their owne corrupt natures and indue themselues with spirituall graces but onely that they should be carefull in vsing the meanes of holinesse as namely the abstaining from those sinnes whereunto they are giuen the auoyding of the occasions of them the hearing of the word of God the doing of whatsoeuer is effectuall for this purpose and may be done by an vnregenerate man but whenas men are altogether carelesse of their owne saluation contemning the word of God and all other meanes of it yea adding one measure of sinfulnesse to an other who can deny but that they make themselues subiect to the iust sentence of eternall damnation And therefore this naturall impotency of will which is in man ought not to make any man cease from vsing the meanes of saluation for howsoeuer it be impossible for him or any other creature to change his owne heart and nature yet he shall finde God to be ready and neare at hand to all those that call vpon him and neuer to be wanting for his part It remaineth that we doe briefly shewe what liberty and ability of will is remaining in man in this corrupt state wherein if he haue no will he hath not in him the whole fountaine of life motion and so he is no man yea in truth worse then any brute beast if he haue a will it is eyther a free will or else no will yet this freedome of will is not indefinite neyther doth it make him omnipotent therefore we are to see how farre it reacheth For the knowledge whereof we are to distinguish betwixt the natures of thinges indifferent and of those which are simplie good or euill In the first kinde we are to recken all common actions as to eat to drinke to mary to sleepe to build to plough to learne to teach to study to speake to thinke and all other thinges of the same kind which are neither commanded nor forbidden in the word of God In all these man hath freewill being able of himselfe to incline himselfe to the doing or not doing of any of them as daily experience doth plainely prooue But it is not so with him in the other kinde of thinges eyther in choosing good or in reiecting euill yet he hath some freedome in these thinges also first of good then of euill In the good thinges we are to consider the outward action and the inward grace in the outward action a carnall man hath free-will being able to encline himselfe to the doing or not doing of it For example a carnall man may heare the word of God or not heare worship God or not worshippe him relieue the necessities of the Church or not doe it suffer martyrdome for the profession of the gospell or performe the outward action of any christian duety but as touching the inward grace it is not in his power to get it but only to leaue it As he cannot indue his owne mind with the true knowledge of God with the feare of God with the loue of the godly and therefore his outward action is but a painted sheath or sepulcher not effectuall to his owne saluation yea in trueth not to be esteemed good Againe an vnregenerate man may of himselfe seeke and get inward graces as some knowledge of God iustice temperance chastity patience and such other Yet this doth not make him to haue freewil to good for first in the question of freewill this word Good signifieth not any one or a fewe particular graces or actions but a generall holinesse