Psal 38.5 They 〈…〉 in their Imagination h Rom. 1.22 They will not be knowen of their secret ignorance and by that meane they do depriue them selues of many an opportunity by which they might bee blinded vp in the sauing knowledge of Gods truth A froward Heart neuer findeth good i Pro. 17.20 This then let vs learne hence Thou whom God hath blessed with a faithfull pastor furnished with the Tongue of the Learned k Isa 50.4 and able to minister a word in time to him that is weary be not vnwilling to lay open to him the state of thy soule nor thinke it a wrong to be so communed with as may make way to thy further edifying in the mystery of Christ Our dayes are in as bad an extremity as were the dayes of popery Then the Priests had gotten such a tie vpon men by the so called Sacrament of confession that they diued further into mens secrets then was fit But now men are grown to as much strangenes and standing aloofe from their spirituall ouerseers so that he which attempts though in neuer so humble and respectiue maner to mooue a question to them or to feele their knowledge shall be requited as Lot when he gaue good counsell to the Sodomites Away hence l Gen. 19.9 or taken vp as Moses Who made thee a man of authority m Exod. 2.14 This is the currish disposition of vnregenerate men They are as thornes that cannot be taken with hands the man that would touch them must be defenced with yron or with the shaft of a speare n 2 Sam. 23.6.7 This maketh religion to grow so slowly as it doth either Philip doth not aske or the Eunuch will not answer Thus farre of the Eunuchs readinesse to giue account here was no disdaine no haughtinesse no stomacking of the matter to bee thus inquired into no shaking of the Demander with a crosse reply heere is meekenesse and calmenesse of spirit heere is a plaine and direct acknowledgement of what hee conceiues Happy was Philip to haue such a tractable scholar and happy the Aethiopian to haue such a searching Teacher God encrease the number of such Philips and make vs all such as the Eunuch was in this particular THE THIRD SERMON WE are now come to the Account it selfe and to the matter of the Eunuchs confession I beleeue that Iesus Christ is the sonne of God The plaine doctrine here is The 1. doct That the beleeuing of Iesus Christ be the sonne of God is the very substance of that Faith which is required to saluation This is plainly to be gathered hence The Eunuch desired Baptisme the badge of a Christian Philip enquireth of him whether hee haue that Faith which maketh a Christian he answereth I beleeue so This answer is approoued and taken for sufficient so that to beleeue that which this Eunuch heere acknowledgeth is the very life of sauing Faith it is the summe of all that is required to saluation and without it there is no saluation And this collection is iustifiable from hence so much the rather because the chiefe confessions and abridgements of the Christian faith which are in the new Testament consist vpon this point chiefly as that memorable one made by Peter in the name of the rest of the Apostles a Mat. 16.16 Thou art the Christ the sonne of the liuing God then that in Iohn which it may be is the same with the former in effect I am sure it differeth not We belieue and know that you are the Christ the sonne of the liuing God b Ioh. 6.69 thirdly that of the blind-man Doest thou beleeue in the sonne of God! Lord I beleeue c Ioh. 9.35.38 fourthly that of Martha I beleeue that you are the Christ the sonne of God that should come into the world d Ioh. 11.27 These solemne declarations of the Faith required to saluation doe all concurre in this one generall point Iesus Christ is the sonne of God The doctrine of the Scripture is called the word of Faith e Rom. 10.8 it is therefore committed to record that men might beleeue f Ioh. 20.31 Now the pith of the whole Scripture is Iesus Christ He is the end of the Law g Rom. 10.4 to him giue all the Prophets witnesse h Act. 10.43 and the summe of the Gospell is that whosoeuer beleeueth in him should not perish but haue life euerlasting i Ioh. 3.16 If then Christ be the substance of the Scripture needes must the building vpon him be the summe of Faith Faith goeth no further then the word and the word hath no more to teach but this that God hath giuen vnto vs eternal life and this life is in his sonne k 1. Ioh. 5.11 Thus for a generall opening of this doctrine To the end it may be the more profitable we must consider somewhat more exactly what it is to beleeue that Iesus Christ is the son of God First in general to beleeue betokeneth two things 1. To hold a matter to be a truth and so it is an action of the vnderstanding power 2. To trust to a thing or to relie vpon it and so it is an act of the will and issueth out of the former Secondly according to this to beleeue that Iesus Christ is the sonne of God comprehendeth two things 1. To apprehend this as a sound and vndeniable truth that Iesus Christ is the sonne of God 2. To conceiue it as a doctrine into which a mans selfe hath some interest and so to relie and rest thereupon for a future benefit First that this proposition Iesus is the sonne of God is an absolute and vndeniable Truth it must be resolued It is the ground worke of Faith and the foundation without which it cannot stand It was the errand vpon which Iohn Baptist sent his disciples vnto Christ that they from his owne mouth might bee made sure that it was He that should come and no other to be looked for l Math. 11.3 The certainty herein is gotten by the Scripture and indeed to beleeue as it is an act of the vnderstanding Auctoritati debemus quod â—redimus Augustin is properly to assent vnto a matter and to take it as a truth vpon the report and credit of another So then a man must be possessed with this truth by the authority and testimony of the Scripture that he who is called Iesus Christ is the very son of God whom God of old promised to send being made of a woman to be the Prince of our saluation and to make peace betwixt God and man by his blood This is one necessary principle to be appehended vnto saluation neither can any report settle a mans knowledge in this but onely the report of God himselfe speaking to vs in his word Secondly this must also be laid hold on as a matter more particularly concerning the beleeuer For a bare assent vnto this proposition Iesus Christ
Certainely this is an argument of scanmes of grace amongst men There cannot but be a stomacke to the Sacrament where there is felt sweetnesse in the word And it is well knowne that in those prime daies when zeale was feruent the belieuers mette not together to heare but withall they did communicate and this vse continued many yeeres It was Popery that first brought in the seldomnes of this seruice and at last drew it to once a yeere making the people belieue that in respect of the difficultie to be well prepared it was better for them to communicate in heart with the Priest then to do it in act These dregs yet remaine among men and it is an vniustifiable error that they committe to passe ouer the Sacrament of the supper to some old people or women with child who must take it as was said in the daies of superstition for their viands Pro viatico being neerer in opinion and possibility to their last passage and themselues either to turne their backes or to sit by proclayming to the world their want of appetite to such an heauenly banquet I say the same reason is in both the Sacraments in regard of desiring comfort And therefore the doctrine is good hence that where grace is there is a desire of the Sacraments and a willingnesse to vse them according to the order of him that ordained them and where there is little respect to the seales surely there the couenant it selfe is not much esteemed A third doctrine out of this motion is The 3 doct That in whom there is any truth of Christianity in him there is also a desire to discover and to make it knowen to the world that he is a Christian I gather this out of the Eunuch his request to bee baptized which Sacrament his desire was to be partaker of not onely for the establishing of his heart and the confirming of his faith but withall that hee might haue vpon him the badge and cognizance of his new profession and might shew himselfe not to be ashamed of the name and title of a Christian And indeed it was an evidence of great resolution in this conuert that whereas it would not but breed him some question and trouble at his returne into his owne country to be fallen from the religion wherein he was borne and brought vp to be become one of that new Sect which was euery where spoken against f Act. 28 22. yet he fearing no hazard of his honour no losse of his office and dignity no incurring the hatred and censure of his country-men would needs be baptized and as it were enrouled and booked among Christians This is the nature of true conuersion albeit it may stirre but weakely at the first and seeme almost not to dare to shew it selfe as wee see in the case of Nicodemus and some other in our Sauiours time whom the opposition of the world made somewhat slow in the discovery of themselves yet when it is come to a fuller grouth so that a man is more then in the way to conversion and is indeed renued in the inner man then there will be a desire to make it knowen that he marcheth vnder the colours of the Lord Iesus and hath renounced all other wayes of saluation to rest onely vpon him So euen the same Nicodemus albeit in the beginning when he was but a beginner hee came to Iesus by night g Ioh 3.2 And after spake on his side at a Conuocation of the Pharisies but covertly and a farre-oft so that it could scarcely be smelt which way he did encline h Ioh. 7.50 Yet in time he grew to more opennesse as in joyning with Ioseph in the honourable interring of our Sauiour i Ioh. 19 39. And so much it seemeth to haue beene the purpose of the Holy Ghost to insinuate in the manner of reporting it Then came Nicodemus also which first came to Iesus by night c. As if he had sayd howsoeuer he was something timorous at the first yet now the fire was kindled and the light thereof brake forth more apparantly The same may besayd of Ioseph of Arimathea himselfe there is no speech of him at all during our Sauiours life and the text saith too he was a secert disciple k ver 38. but then saith S. Marke he went in boldly vnto Pilate c l Mark 15.43 So yet although there bee much weakenesse and faintnesse at the first tasting of religion whiles a man is but yet as it were in the throwes of his new birth yet when the worke is accomplisht and one is become a Christian indeed there is a willingnesse to make it to appeare and a kinde of neglect of all other things in respect of this one that a man may be knowen to haue given his name vnto Christ Not that the children of God doe seeke applause but that it may be seene they are not ashamed and doe therefore shew themselues in their kinde yea though some outward inconuenience do befal them It is said of Paul that assoon as he had receiued direction from Ananias he straight way preached Christ in the sinagogues c m Act. 9 20. As who would say he did euen long vntill he had giuen some euidence to the World what he was and what change God had wrought in his heart Thus in the first times of the Apostles preachings notwithstanding the sharpe persecutions raised vp aginst the Truth yet the beleeuers trouped togethet and drew themselues into societies and ioyned themselues to the assemblies and had fellowshippe with those which were in Christ before them in those things by which it could not but be descryed what they were The text speaking of the conuersion of these three thousand saith they were added to the Church n Act. 2.41 which argueth that they not onely in heart embraced the Truth but withall disposed of themselues so that it was manifest to all to what number they belonged And the number of them that beleeued saith Luke grew more and more o Act. 5.14 which sheweth a visible adhering to the fellowship of professors The like is intended in that speaking Barnabas was a good man c. and much people ioyned themselues vnto the Lord p Act. 11.24 so it is sayd of the conuerts at Ephesus they came and confessed and shewed their workes q Act. 19.18 when Christ commended mutuall loue vnto his disciples By this said he shall all men know you are disciples r Ioh. 13.35 as if he had said If you be such as you should be you wilde fire to manifost your selues to be my disciples you wil be willing to haue it knowen what you are Now then behold a marke whereby the world shall discerne you What should I say more in this It is certaine he that rightly apprehends the good to be gotten by Christ and is sensible of some interest in it for his owne particular will
your Faith and your Faith by the fruits otherwise the water of your Baptisme shall not be able to quench the fire of that burning lake which is the second death The same must bee sayd of the other Sacrament thou saist to me againe Lo heere are Bread and wine what should let me to communicate I answer still as I am taught heere If thou beleeuest with all thy heart thou maist If thou come without Faith thou art no welcome guest to this banquet without it thou mayest eate the Lords bread Panem domini non panem dominum vt August de Inda but not that bread which is the Lord and thy receiuing shall be but a pledge of iudgement and vengeance to thy soule This point will be quickned by that which followeth touching the quality of Faith THE SECOND SERMON NExt to the requisitenes of Faith to the well pertaking of the Sacrament followeth the quality of that Faith which is required If thou belieuest with all thy heart c. The sence of the words heere handled as if it had beene said Thou desirest to bee baptized if thou doest belieue and that not formally alone and in shew but in sincerity and in truth of thy heart thou maiest this Sacrament shall returne to thy comfort and bee a pledge of grace vnto thy soule This thus opened doth afford two doctrines This is the first The 1. Doct. That there is a kind of Faith out of which there commeth no good vnto the soule of him that hath it This is insinuated in Philips speach For so much manifestly is intended that it was possible for the Eunuch to belieue after a sort and yet to remaine vncapable of the comfort and sweetnsse of the Sacrament Suppose thou belieuest yet if it be not with all thy heart by such a Faith thou art not one haires bredth neerer to saluation so that the very nature of the speach presupposeth an vnprofitable Faith a Faith which is of no vse vnlesse it bee to the encreasing of his damnation that professeth it This is also easily prooued by the Scripture Our Sauior in the parable of the Seed speaketh of a Faith and the same gotten by hearing which is also accompanied with a kind of flashing sodaine ioy but yet is but like seed among stones withering away for lacke of moisture a Luk. 8.6.13 This is that Faith which is called a temporall Faith or a Faith whose continuance is only for some little time Some such Faith may seeme to haue beene in those of whom it is said Many belieued c. when they saw his miracles But Iesus did not commit himselfe vnto them b Ioh. 2.23.24 There was a certaine yeelding wrought in their hearts by the power of Christs miracles that surely he was that Messias yet Christ did not hold them worth the trusting to In this present Chapter it is said Simon Magus belieued c Act. 8.13 We cannot thinke his Faith was that which for distinctions sake we terme a Sauing Faith He had as a learned man saith of him August quest in Leuitic the visible Baptisme but he wanted the inuisible sanctifying Saint Paul mentioneth a Faith which a man may haue and yet bee nothing d 1. Cor. 13.2 Iames giueth a kind of Faith euen to Diuells e Iam. 2.19 and speaketh of a Faith which he calleth a dead Faith f Ver. 26. These few testimonies are very pregnant Sathan knoweth how to transforme himselfe into an Angell of light g 2. Cor. 11.14 so that there is no good thing but he can counterfeit it and doth and by that meanes maketh many hypocrites to make a wonderfull shew Seeming to be as sincere and forward in religion as the best There is no grace which accompanieth saluation wherewith God is pleased to enrich and furnish his elect but he can frame some one or other of his limmes to a shadow of it yea and teach them to come so neere it as that for the present it shall be a very hard matter to discerne it There may be somewhat like praier which yet is not praier but lip-deuotion Something like repentance which yet is not repentance but worldly sorrow causing death r 2. Cor. 7.10 something like obedience which yet is not obedience but grosse hypocrisie and so in other particulars Felix trembled t Act 24.26 Ahab was humbled u 1. Kin. 21.27 Saul confessed his fault x 1. Sam. 26.11 Esau wept y Heb. 12 17. Iudas had a kinde of repenting z Math 27.3 Herod heard gladly a Mar. 6 20. Balaam desired to die the death of the righteous b Num. 23.10 The Apostle seemeth to acknowledge a taste of the good gift of God c. in some revolters that yet fall away beyond all possibility of repentance e Heb. 6.4.5 Thus still it appeares how neere a man may come to true religion and yet still be in the snare of the Diuell caried vp and downe as a Captiue at his will d 2. Tim. 2.26 He may carry the name of a belieuer and yet misse the end of Faith the saluation of his soule e 1. Pet. 1.9 The vse is to exhort vs all who thinke wee haue Faith The vse and boast of Faith and professe our selues to be belieuers to giue all deligence f 2. Pet. 1.5 and to prooue our selues with our best endeuour whether the faith which we thinke we haue be such as will not deceiue vs in the end Wee see by that which hath beene said that there is a thing which for the time is as like vnto Faith as one thing can bee to another The wit of man for the present can discerne no difference and yet the hauers of it shall not be saued How behoofull then is it for vs to follow the counsell of Paul to prooue our selues whether we are in the Faith or no g 2. Cor. 13.5 The life of a Christian is a continuall warfare we haue a strong and a dangerous enemy to grapell with and there are many particulars of spirituall armour necessarie for our defence among the rest there is a shield of Faith h Eph. 6.16 A carefull souldier will try his buckler whether it will keepe out shot or otherwise be free from being pierced by that kind of weapon against which it must be vsed Now if faith be a shield it must be tried that it may be a shield of proofe against the day of battell Faith is as I before said the Tenure of our Free-hold for by it we stand i â— Cor. 11.24 All the euidence we haue to shew for our inheritance in the kingdome of heauen is our Faith Now we know the care that men haue about their deeds and tenures they examine them to see whether they be sound they aske the counsell of this and the other Lawyer touching them Such yea and far greater care ought we to haue
desire nothing more then that he may shew himselfe to be his and to be reputed one of his followers and dependants yea though it be with some preiudice in the world yet he will acount it to be the greatest honour can befall him To returne home with the badge of a Christian out of all doubt the Eunuch valued it more then his office of Treasurer in the Kingdome and he chose rather to hazard both that and all other dignities then to goe into his country as a secret Christian The vse This deserues to be commended to the care of all that feare God that how soeuer the vaine applause of men be not to be hunted after and it be hipocriticall and pharisaicall to practise the duties of godlinesse to be seene Å¿ Math. 6.1 yet it is necessary that we should make it to appear what we are and yet we be not ashamed of that sincerity godly care which becommeth those that would be saued Will some man say vnto me this a needlesse exhortation vnto vs. For behold we haue done as much for the shewing of our selues to be Christians as this Eunuch did He was baptized in the name of the Lord Iesus so haue we beene euery one and therefore you may spare the labour of perswading that which wee haue already done I answere To receiue the Sacrament of Baptisme was to this man sufficient for the declaring of himselfe a Christian in his owne country where the name of Christ was either not heard of or not liked of and where the Sacrament of Baptisme was a thing strange and vtterly vnknowen but the case is not so with vs. For with vs neither the bearing the name of a Christian nor an admittance by the Sacrament of Baptisme into the society of Gods people is enough to prooue a man to be a Christian indeed because these things are common to many hypocrites with the best professours So that albeit Baptisme might be a witnesse of this mans Christianity among a people either hating it or not esteeming it yet it cannot be so with vs but some further thing is necessary to the end our sincerity of religion and Christianity may appeare There be some things as hatefull among the men of this generation as the name of a Christian was or could be among the Ethiopians as namely for a man to make conscience of his wayes to binde himselfe to a kinde of circumspect walking to shew himselfe fearefull to offend and loth to doe any thing displeasing to the maiesty of God to follow after holinesse with a kinde of striuing to be strait in those things wherin men generally take a kinde of liberty to themselues and to seeme not to dare to doe diuers things which the world makes no question of these and the like I say are as strange as harsh as displeasing as much subiect to censure and hate in these our dayes as euer was the name of Christianity among the heathen which knew not God And therefore if we that professe godlinesse can frame our selues hereunto not regarding what we may lose in credit in estimation in rising to preferment in the world thereby not reckoning of the reproaches and euill speeches and scorne that may be cast vpon vs this will testifie that wee be Christians indeed When we be not backward in those things which are like to bring vs vpon the stage and to make vs a matter of note and spectacle vnto others It was a notable euidence of the Eunuch his faith and piety that albeit he knew well that after his returne the kingdome would be filled with the newes of his conuersion and he was like to come to an account to his Queene and the rest of the state for his religion yet baptized he would needs be it should be his glory to be knowen to be a dependant vpon Christ crucified It vtterly condemneth that spirit of cowardize which possesseth many who are loth to doe ought appertaining to religion that might single them out from the multitude or make them to bee noted amongst men Thinke not I would giue countenance to that vaine singularity which leadeth some who take a kind of pride if they can once bring themselues to be talked of and so runne themselues out of breath in a kinde of violent and head-stronge zeale hauing too much of that pharisaical disease of despising others t Luk. 18.9 and being as Solomon saith pure in their owne conceipt though they bee not washed from their filthinesse n Pro. 30.12 I say my purpose is not to giue allowance to any of any such spirit but I labour against that faint heartednesse of men reasonably well affected it may be and yet loth to be too forward for feare of espying and forbearing to doe those things which are meete to be done lest they should incurre some disgrace or hazard somewhat which they are loth to lose For a man to cast himselfe into perill is rashnesse and folly and more then there is any warrant for so for a man to desire to bee noted and to affect a name of somewhat more then ordinary that is vanity but for a man to consider what his profession binds him to and to giue euidence to the world that he respects the doing thereof more then any worldly circumstance and would faine shew himselfe not to bee ashamed of his Sauiour and of his words before men that is true Christianity and the thing which I labor out of the Eunuch his practize here in this place The Law of gouerning the antient Roman army was drawen to two heades 1 Non sequi not to make any rash pursuit against the enimy wherby to runne into needlesse danger 2 non fugere not to flie before the enemy whereby to betray the common cause into his hands So it must be in this Neither is trouble to be sought neither yet to be declined when it commeth The Eunuch was willing the world might know he had renounced Idolatry and had giuen his name to Christ as the Prince of his saluation He thought it not fit though it might bee for the safety of his outward honor to smother his profession and to frame to the times keeping his beliefe in secret to himselfe So far of the Eunuch his motion A true conuert hath euer a loue and a desire to the Sacrament and a care to giue euidence to the World that hee hath learned better things then he sometimes knew The 2 part of the whole text Now followeth Philips condescending to the Eunuchs motion where we haue three things to treate of 1 A condition propounded by Philip to the Eunuch vpon which it might be lawfull for him to receiue Baptisme The particulars of it If thou beleeuest with all thy heart c. 2 The Eunuchs entertaining the condition I beleeue c. 3 The Baptisme it selfe with the circumstances Then he commanded the charet c. In the first of these two particulars