of thy Sonne in whom say vnto my Soule and seale it vnto mee by thy holy Spirit that thou art my Saluation Lord increase my faith and accept my Repentance MEDIT. IX Of Faith and Hope and the effects of them both and of the glorie to come FAITH HOPE the maine Pillars whervpō are builded all other Diuine Vertues are the meere gift of God without which I doe acknowledge I cannot be saued Saint Paul writing vnto the Hebrewes describes the faith whereby I beleeue in Christ not to be a dead but a working faith knowne by the effects whereof are many Examples Rom. 11. And whereby many most worthy men approued themselues to bee of God and to bee beloued of God who by their faith apprehended things absent and vnseene to their vnspeakable comfort as really and truly a◠if they had beene present and visible confirming thereby that faith is the ground of things which are hoped for and the euidence of things which are not seene By this our faithfull Fore-fathers saw Christ long before he came in the flesh and beleeued him to come to bee the Messiah Moses saith Christ saw my dayes So did the Prophets Dauid and many other who hoped for that which they saw not yet at length obtained the visible glorie of the same Sonne of God by whom and in whose bloud to bee shed they were saued Without faith howsoeuer a man may liue in a seeming sincere course of life before men though he bee obserued to doe no man wrong yet if hee take not hold of Christ by this liuely faith if hee imbrace not his Word lay it vp in his heart if he bring not forth fruits worthy amendment of life he pleaseth not God for in nothing is GOD pleased but in and by his Sonne and is delighted is none but in such as seeke him and serue him in and by his Sonne I cannot come vnto God without Christ nay I cannot beleeue that God is but by Christ. I cannot hope to receiue the good things of Heauen not with patience abide for them but that Christ hath purchased the same for me and promised the same vnto me And therefore I beleeue them to bee certaine and sure though yet but in expectation therefore I wait with patience The Husbandman wayteth for the Haruest many dayes after his chargeable and laborious committing the Seed vnto the earth if the Haruest were instant vpon the casting away of the Seed there were neither Patience nor Hope in the Seedes-man And if by experience hee found not that the Seed cast into the Earth would render recompence hee would either forbeare to cast it away or being sowne neuer hope for fruit So I wretched man though I deserue no other fruit to reape then I haue sowne namely of the flesh corruption yet I hope to reape what I haue not sowne namely of the Spirit euerlasting life and that through Iesus Christ who and not I hath cast the Seed of the Spirit into my Soule the fruit whereof I shall reape at the generall Haruest to mine owne euerlasting vse as if the Seed had beene mine owne for which I hope with patience in Faith As the Light followeth the Sunne so Hope followes Faith But if I beleeued not God in Christ and in him had assurance through Faith of the performance of his promise of future glorie I might well say with Saint Paul I were of all men most miserable for to endure here miseries crosses enemies labours anguishes and perplexities of bodie and minde and to bee also frustrate of future comfort my case were worse then the Bird in the Ayre the Fish in the Sea or the brute Beast of the Field But glorie bee to God in Christ who hath assured mee of a Kingdome to come an inheritance immortall Edifie your selues saith Saint Iude in your most holy Faith praying in the Holy Ghost and keep your selues in the loue of God looking for the Mercie of our Lord Iesus Christ vnto eternall life Eternall life then being the end of my Hope I will with patience abide it for comming I know it will come And the delay of mine enioying it is but the try all of my faith which yeeldeth me that assurance that to mee is much more precious then Gold that perisheth and shall bee found to my glorie at the appearing of Iesus Christ whom though I haue not seene yet I loue him beleeue and reioyce in him with ioy vnspeakeable and glorious and shall receiue the end of my Faith euen the saluation of my soule after this death It may bee demanded Is it so easie a matter to obtaine eternall life To beleeue onely no I beleeue not that simply to beleeue can obtaine saluation But if I confesse with my mouth the Lord Iesus and doe beleeue in my heart that God raysed him vp from the dead I shall bee saued It may bee againe obiected Here is yet but faith of the heart and confession of the mouth If this bee all that is required to saluation it is not so hard a thing as it is conceiued to obtaine it I hold in deed that the bare confession of Christ and to beleeue that Christ is though I beleeue him to bee the Sauiour of the World and yet doe not apply his merits and death vnto my selfe my Faith profits mee little and my Confession nothing at all Thou beleeuest saith Saint Iames that there is one God thou doest well the Deuils also beleeue and tremble and therefore barely to beleeue that there is a God and a Christ to confesse as much is no more then the Deuils doe Therefore this Faith and this Confession is not sufficient to my saluation for then should the Deuils that beleeue bee also saued but they beleeue and tremble I beleeue and hope desiring to shew my Faith by my workes Abraham indeed was iustified by his faith that before the attempting of the offering of his son But by the offering of his sonne hee shewed that his faith was not a naked and bare faith but a faith accompanied with obedience good Workes for his workes preceded not his iustification but beeing first iustified he beleeued and obeyed Abraham beleeued God and it was imputed to him for righteousnesse Faith being the gift of God brings forth good Works which in Abraham grew not by nature but by the free mercie of God wrought and working by the Holy Ghost whose fruits they were yet in Gods mercie imputed as the fruits of Abraham so what-soeuer good thing proceedeth of my faith in Christ I assume it not as mine though through Christ so imputed I beleeue that true and sauing Faith cannot bee without good Works for without good Works faith is dead And I also beleeue that there may bee works of themselues good and yet without true faith not onely not acceptable to God but rather condemned of him for
his Grace I could not but fall backe and runne the way wherein I walked before I was called and to that end Satan ceaseth not to apply all his malice and meanes to allure mee to doe those things I should not doe taking aduantage of my corrupt inclination and to hinder me from doing those things I should doe besetting mee with many feares as first of Death that is euery houre ready to seise vpon me Secondly by laying my sins before the eyes of my giltie conscience and lastly the darke and ougly graue that gapes to swallow vp my fleshly part But what of these should I be afraid of them no Satan himselfe I know is chained and the execution of his malice limited and beyond the compasse and extent of diuine permission hee can not doe And hee that keepeth the house of my soule is that absolute strong man that hath already conquered him in me and for mee and hath redeemed mee out of his power my ransome is paid and I am become a freeman in Christ who although he leaue me for a time here in a warfare against many enemies and many kinds of aduersaries of whom I may receiue some stripes sometimes wounds and many foyles yet shall I neuer be ouercome nor fall finally for he that fighteth for me hath chosen mee whose election is sure for whom he once receiueth hee loueth to the end And therefore I know that vnder his power and protection I shall maintaine that good fight of faith vntill I haue subiected all mine enemies and at length be renewed and enioy his full presence by whome I haue gotten the victorie Then who shall lay any thing to my charge Or who shall condemne me It is Christ which is dead yea rather which is risen againe who is also at the right hand of God and maketh request euen for me And where the iudge of Iudges iustifies no inferiour iudgement may condemne But I am so farre both from cause or conceit to iustifie my selfe as I acknowledge my sins so great and my wel-doing so weake as I vtterly condemne my self worthy not onely of infinite stripes but of eternall death yet I haue hope for hee that is Truth it selfe hath promised mercie to penitent sinners among whom I acknowledge my selfe the greatest Yet I know his mercie goodnesse to be greater whose manifold mercies shewed vnto others confirmeth my assurance that my sinnes great as they are are not onely pardonable but already pardoned in Christ his beloued my soules best beloued On him I fixe the eie of my soule in faith from his vertue I receiue the most salutarie oyle of grace whereby I am cured of all my death bringing diseases And from whom and by whom I haue tasted such an heauenly antidote that hereafter none of Satans poysonous confections shall re-inuenime my spirituall part Hee may take and tread on my heele But I shall trample on his head through the power of that great conqueror And therefore though his principall and chiefe Champion Death take me and bind me hand and foote I shall breake his cords as easily as Samson did his If he cast me bound into the graue couer me with dust and fill my mouth with clay shut mine eyes bereaue me of my sences and send mee into vtter obliuion out of the sight of all my naturall friends I shall rise come forth againe I shall see againe euen with these eyes and in despite of all his despite receiue a farre greater strength thē death can bereaue mee of here am assured that neither death nor the graue shall retaine me vnder their power for euer But as there is a sowing time of bodies in the earth so shall there come a reaping of them when they shall be carried into the Garner of euerlasting glorie Therefore I doe not only not feare this death this bodies dissolution but desire it rather when it shall please him that gaue mee my life to take it againe For I am not ignorant that it was but lent me at the first as a pledge of a better life after this death And therefore shall I most willingly restore it when it shall bee required Christ my Sauiour was once among the dead But his death is my life as to all also that beleeue By his death hee conquered death And by his rising againe made way for mee and them also to ascend where hee is ascended namely into the highest heauens into the bosome of his Father and my Father and their Father and there remaineth in our flesh glorified holding the possession of that heauenly Kingdome in the name of and for all his members Should I then or neede I to be afraid to lay downe this my mortall body also among the dead for a time My Sauior lay three dayes in the Graue and rose the third If I lie three thousand yeers it is but as three dayes for with him a thousand yeeres are but as one day And therefore as sure as hee rose in three dayes So in time though it bee according to the Suns reuolutiō after many yeeres yet I shall find no tedious tarying for the accomplishment of his promise touching my resurrection for the vttermost of this temporall death is but the separation of the soule from the body which lasteth but for a season finite and after they shall meete againe for a time infinite and without time And what is the Graue but a bed to rest me in A place of protection as it were to free my mortall body from danger from sicknesse from labour and carke and care and feare and griefe and enuies and crosses and sinne Blessed are they that die in the Lord for they rest from their labours and all inconueniences It is not so with all such as die not so with them that die but not in Christ whose labours doe then but beginne What then is death but a sleepe out of which I know I shall awake againe in the most glorious morning of the most ioyfull appearing of my Redeemer in the clouds This death then carryes a name farre more fearfull and more terrible then indeede it is rather to bee desired and willingly to be imbraced then to bee feared or fled from especially of them that truely vnderstand the benefit it bringeth and the discommodities that accompanie men in this life especially liuing after the flesh and not after the Spirit As there is a naturall and a Spirituall death so is there a Spirituall life and a carnall life and that in this Pilgrimage or Passage frō birth to buryall the first cannot bee properly called a naturall but a spirituall life though it partake of both The Bond-woman and her seed must awhile remayne with the Free-woman and her sonne the earthly body and the corruption thereof with the heauenly soule Though the fleshly part bee here maintayned by naturall
should I fulfill the desires and vaine delights of my corrupt heart Why should I sweeten and perfume my out-part to make it odoriferous to others mine inward part resting yet odious to God This superfluous care of my bodies vanities would not only make mee the more sweet and pleasing but farre the more hatefull to God and godly men therefore shall my desire and practice bee by the grace of God during the short remaining part of this my miserable life to couer my nakednesse with apparell meerely needfull and seeke to maintaine it with food such as it shall please my God to blesse vnto mee and through the same grace my hearts delight shall bee in the continuall true seruice of my heauenly Father hauing euer an eye vnto and desiring that time when and that place wherein I shall need neither rayment nor food and where I shall be onely delighted with the glorie wherewith I shall bee filled after this bodies death which although it perish for a time my soule resteth euer immortall God being the God not onely of mine immortall soule but of my mortall bodie also And I beleeue that hee will not lose one haire of mine head nor the smallest dust that shall come of my putrified carcasse nor one bone of my rotten and consumed bodie and that hee will rayse my mortall part in all fulnesse of all the parts and make them all ioynt-partakers of eternall glorie in Heauen in the Day of Christs second appearing in what manner soeuer it bee dissolued burnt in the fire drowned in the Sea deuoured by wilde Beasts or by any other meane whatsoeuer I heare naturall reason say It is an easie matter to beleeue that I shall dye experience makes it so common But to beleeue that this my bodie when it shall bee rotten and consumed to dust eaten with fishes deuoured and digested by wilde beasts or burnt to ashes or bee vtterly otherwise consumed that it shall rise againe to glorie is not so easily apprehended no experience teaching it but the resurrection of Christ which I haue not seene I disclaime in this point all naturall reason and doe faithfully beleeue that as my Redeemer Iesus Christ dyed and rose againe So after my death I shall by the vertue of his Resurrection rise againe to eternal life Iob prophesied of the Resurrection of humane dead bodies and affirmeth that hee knew that his Redeemer liued and that though after his death the wormes should deuoure his flesh yet in the same flesh he should see God looke vpon him and behold him and that with his owne namely with the eyes that then hee had And the Prophet Esay affirmeth that the dead bodies in the graue shall rise againe some to glorie some to torment The dead men saith hee shall liue euen with their bodies shall they rise Christ saith maruell not at this The houre shall come when all that are in the Graues shall heare his voyce and shall come forth they that haue done good vnto the Resurrection of life but they that haue done euill vnto the Resurrection of condemnation Christ also affirmeth that it is his Fathers will that sent him that hee shall lose nothing of that he hath giuen him but that hee shall raise it vp at the last Day They that sleepe in the dust shall awake Infinite are the proofes of the Resurrection of humane bodies in the Scriptures both of the iust and of the vniust of the godly and the wicked but to two contrarie final effects The godly shall rise to euerlasting life euer to remayne with the Lord the vngodly shall rise to euerlasting punishment to bee tormented for euer with the Deuill and his Angels in continuall horrour weeping and gnashing of teeth Here is matter of Meditation hence ariseth hope and horrour comfort and calamitie There are but two ends of the Resurrection life and death and both perpetuall And these succeed the death of the bodie Shuld I then be so iniurious vnto my silly soule that dwelleth in my mortall bodie as to forget that it shall come into iudgement in a time comming and at hand and that this bodie this fleshly and corrupted part shall againe bee raised to glorie or shame to partake of eyther with the soule were it not as if I should say in my heart there were no God no Heauen to glorifie or Hell to torment perswading my selfe that either after death there remaineth neither euill nor good but that I should goe into vtter obliuion to an eternall sleepe neuer to returne into any second existence or that GOD were a God onely of the immortall soule and not of the mortall bodie or a God of Mercie and not of Iustice Should I thus foolishly for lesse then a messe of Pottage sell my Birth-right in Heauen for a graine of temporarie vanitie sell a Crowne of perpetuall glorie Farre bee it from me for a Kingdome I know is prepared for me and a Kingdome I seeke waiting for it vntill it fall vnto mee as mine Inheritance through Christ who hath purchased the same by his bloud In the meane time I must taste and vndergoe many troubles afflictions pouertie want enemies and the scorne of the World Doth GOD suffer his owne Children to be afflicted in this life how can hee then bee said a louing Father vnto them Doth not that worthy Prophet King Dauid affirme that they that loue his Law shall haue great prosperitie and no hurt befall them How then comes the cōtrary to passe The Answere The Spirit of God that spake thus by the mouth and pen of Dauid lyeth not for the afflictions that I feele and the crosses that I haue proceede from the loue of God and hinder not but rather doe much further my spirituall prosperitie For whom the Lord loueth hee chasteneth and scourgeth euery sonne that he receiueth If therefore I patiently endure chastening God offereth himselfe vnto mee as to a sonne If I were without correction whereof all Gods Children are partakers I were a bastard and no sonne Blessed is the man saith Iob whom God correcteth therefore will not I refuse the chastening of the Almightie let him therefore deale with mee according to his owne will in giuing me what he will health or sicknesse wealth or want prosperitie or aduersitie for I know that all things worke together for the best to them that loue God he may make a wound but he will bind it vp againe he may smite but his hands make whole againe hee giueth alwaies the issue with the temptation GOD forbid therefore that I should entertaine the least thought in my heart that whatsoeuer crosse or affliction befals me were in GODS indignatiō but onely in loue I doe acknowledge that sinne is the cause of all the crosses calamities afflictions miseries that I endure if God should deale with me answerable to what I haue done I could not beare his