required a double action of saith The first is to order our labours that they be done in good manner that is in obedience and to good endes that is to Gods glorie and to the good of men with whom we liue In this respect is Nohe said to build an Arke by faith and good princes to order their commō wealths in way of protection to make warre with their enemies and thus must euery man of euery office calling trade occupation doe his dutie by faith The second action of faith is in our daiely labours to restraine moderate our care Men commonly take vpon them a double care one is to doe the workes and labours of their callings the other is to procure a blessing good successe to their foresaide labours But faith in Gods word where it raignes it stirs vp the hearts of men onely to the first care which is in the performance of their painefull labours and duties and it restraines them from the second causing them to leaue it to God For when men haue done the dutie that appertaines vnto them thē faith makes them without any more adoe to waite for a blessing on god To this purpose the holy Ghost saith Cast thy burthen on the Lord and he shall nourish thee Againe Be nothing carefull but in all things let your requests be shewed vnto God in prayer and supplication with thanksgiuing Cast your care on God Now this faith wherby we depend on God for the successe of our labours hath an infallible ground namely That God best knowes our wants and he will giue vnto vs all things which he in his wisdome knows to be necessarie Christ saith Your heauēly father knoweth that you haue neede of these things that is food and rayment Againe He careth for you nothing shall be wanting vnto thē that feare God If men would by faith build on these promises they should not neede like drudges of the world to foyle and spend themselues the best part of their daies in worldly cares as they doe For they should haue a greater blessing of God with lesse care if they would trust him and they should haue farre more time then they haue to care for heauen and heauenly things Thirdly and lastly euery calling since the fall of Adam hath miserie and affliction to be his companion And for the quiet bearing of the miseries of euery calling faith is of great moment For it workes patience by perswading and setling our mindes in two things the first that God is well pleased with vs and that we are reconciled to God in Christ the second that all our miseries shall in the ende turne to our good euerlasting saluation And where these two perswasions take place there is contentation in any estate Thus much for the meaning of the text nowe followes the vse The first and principall vse concernes the information of our iudgement in the maine point of our saluation For hence Paul hath taught vs to gather that a sinner is iustified before God by his faith without the workes of the lawe And he disputes on this manner If a sinner be iustified by faith he is not iustified by the lawe but a sinner is iustified by faith therefore he is not iustified by the law The conclusion is propounded in the eleuen verse of the 3. chapter to the Galatians The major is confirmed in the 12. verse by the diuers manner of iustifying The law saith Paul iustifieth by doing not by beleeuing and faith iustifieth not by doing but by beleeuing The minor is confirmed in the 11. verse by the testimonie of the prophet Habacuk The iust shall liue by his faith And whereas the Papists of our time say that Paul in this argument disputes onely against such workes of the law as are done by nature but not by grace they erre and are deceiued For he opposeth not workes of nature and works of grace but workes and faith doing and beleeuing and the prophet saith very plainely and marke it that the iust man who is a doer of the workes of grace is iustified and liues not by his workes but by his faith Againe where they make a double iustification one whereby a sinner is made a iust man the other whereby a iust man is made more iust and teach that the first is by faith without works and the second by faith and workes they erre likewise For not onely a sinner vnconuerted but the iust man stands iust and is still iustified by his faith without his workes Paul when he alleadged this text knew but of one iustification whether we respect the beginning or the continuance and the accomplishment thereof Secondly hence may be learned the right way of reformation of our liues In this reformation two things are required an Examination and a change If we examine our liues by this text we shall finde two maine faults and aberrations in the liues of men The first is that they reiect put away the rule of direction that serues for the ordering of their liues And this they doe when they doe not beleeue and trust God in his word And we may not thinke that this our vnbeleefe is a small matter because it is a mother sinne of all other sinnes and it is the principall law of the kingdome of darknes not to beleeue God Hereupon our enemie Satan endeauoured by all meanes to imprint this lesson of vnbeleefe in the mindes of our first parents and hauing effected his purpose he euer since endeauoured to make this sinne to raigne in the liues of men It raignes commonly by seauen especiall fruits or sinnes The first is Atheisme when men denie God and his word Atheisme hath two parts Epicurisme and Temporising Epicurisme is when men contemning Gods commādements threatnings promises care for nothing but meat drinke and pleasures Temporising is when men imbrace religion on-so farre forth as they are forced by lawes and times and no otherwise These are the common sinnes of our daies The second fruite is Heresie and that is when men distrust God in some article of faith This fruit abounds in this last age of the world because in these times the deuill hath reuiued the heresies of the former ages The third fruit is Apostasie and that is when men chaunge their faith and religion And this change is made when the euill heart of vnbeleefe causeth them to depart from the liuing God This hath beene the fault of the people of this land in the daies of persecution The fourth fruit is Hypocrisie which is to make a shew and pretence of faith and to want the power of it in honest and godly conuersation or againe hypocrisie is nothing else but the vnbeleefe of the heart couered ouer with the false appearance of faith And it is the common sinne of these times in which a formall or ceremoniall faith and ceremonial repentance beare a great sway For mē make the
should liue by faith Because this last point is of great moment I will spend some time in the explaning of it That a man then may liue by his faith two things are required the first that faith be rightly conceiued grounded in the heart the second that after it is once conceiued it Raigne and rule in the heart That faith may rightly be conceiued two things are required The first is the knowledge of the word of God for faith stands in relation to the word the word alone is the foūdation of our faith Hereupon the word is called the foundation of the Prophets Apostles By light of naturall reason we vnderstand that the world had a beginning and was made of God Yet cānot reason breed in vs a certen perswasion of this point but onely the testimonie of the word of God and therefore it is saide By faith we vnderstand that the world was ordained by God And this made Dauid say In God I wil praise his word Furthermore in the Word three things are to be knowne precepts or commaundements because they teach obediēce threatnings because they restraine disobedience promises because they serue to confirme vs in our obedience Againe promises are either principall or lesse-principall The maine or principal promise is that in which God offereth and reuealeth righteousnesse and life euerlasting by Christ. Within this promise is contained the graunt of remission of our sinnes of necessarie patience of the assistāce of the spirit of God and of all gifts that are inseparably ioyned with faith Promises lesse-principall are concerning deliuerances in temptations safetie in daungers health wealth libertie peace c. And these must all be vnderstoode with an exception of the crosse and correction and they shal so farre forth be accomplished as they serue for Gods glorie and the good of them that beleeue Now all these heads points of the word of God must be knowne and that in some particular sort that a man may liue by his faith The second thing required for the right conceiuing of faith is after the word of God is once known To trust God vpon his word yea to depend vpon it to build vpon it This is the first principall worke of true faith it is called by Paul the obedience of faith and it is made the end and scope of the preaching of the Gospell and not without cause For this is the first and principal honour of god to beleeue him vpon his bare worde and thereby to make a cōfession of the truth of God This the deuill knew right well and therefore the first thing that he sought to ouerthrow in Adam was his faith in the word of God and the scope of the first temptation wherby he assaulted our Sauiour Christ was to ouerthrow that faith confidēce he had in his father saying if thou be the sonne of God commaund that these stones be made bread but this thou canst not doe therefore thou art not the sonne of God That this obedience which we giue to God by trusting his very word may be right obedience it must haue sixe conditions First of al it must be absolute for we must as it were shut vp our owne eyes and simply without any more ado trust god vpō his bare naked word and suffer our selues to be ledde by it In naturall things experience is first and then faith comes afterward And Thomas following nature desired first to feele before he would beleeue But God must be trusted though that which he saith be against reason and experience Thus Abraham beleeued God against all humane hope The secōd cōdition is that this obediēce must be sincere For we must trust Gods word for it selfe because it is Gods word all by-respects set apart They which are as the stony groūd receiue Gods word and reioyce in it and yet afterward in time of temptation goe awrie The reason is because they receiue the word reioyce in it not properly for it self but in respect of honour profite or pleasure which they looke to reape thereby Iohn the Baptist was a burning candle and the Iewes reioyced in his light onely in respect of the noualtie of it and therefore the holy ghost saith they reioyced in it but for a season The third condition is that we must trust God not in a part but in his whole word and therefore many faile in their faith that are cōtent to trust him in his promises of mercie saluation but list not to beleeue him in his commaundements and threats The fourth condition is that we must trust God in his word with al our hearts that it may take deepe roote and be an ingrafted word It is not sufficient for vs to haue a taste of the good word of God and to receiue it with ioy vnles we thoroughly and soundly build and relie our selues vpon it The fifth condition is that this trusting of God must be with an honest heart that is with an heart in which there is a distinct and setled purpose not to sinne but in all things to doe the will of God The good hearers are they which receiue the word with an honest and good heart Without this can no man possibly liue by faith He that puts away his good conscience makes shipwrack of his faith It is godlinesse alone that hath the promises of this life and the life to come And none can liue the life of faith but he that is a iust man After that men haue made some good proceedings and doe know the word receiue it reioyce in it bring forth some fruit if the heart for all this be euill it will cause them at length to depart frō God by distrusting or by denying credence to his word The sixth condition is that the obedience of faith must be stable and constant The Lord saith my soule hath no pleasure in them that withdraw themselues that is which for a time beleeue God and afterward pull backe their foot and goe backe from their faith Seeing this is the right way to cōceiue faith to know the word of god and to trust him vpon the same word all such as would liue by faith must haue their harts kindled with a desire to doe the things before named specially to giue credence to euery word of God We may not forsake God for any creature now we forsake him when we distrust him in his word Againe not to beleeue God is very Atheisme For by this meanes God is made a lyar and his glorie and maiestie is abolished It is the greatest part of our glorie to beleeue God as Christ saith He that receiues his testimonie puts to his seale that God is true that is giues vnto God as it were a testimonial of his truth and thereto puts his hand and seale And what greater honour can there be then this that the creature should giue testimonie to
of god which otherwise we might enioy If ye beleeue not ye shall not be established saith the Prophet In Capernaum Christ could doe no great wonders by reason of their vnbeleefe Lastly vnbeleefe plucks downe vpon men the plagues iudgements of God Moses and Aaron were barred the land of Canaan for their vnbeleefe A certaine prince was troden to death in the gates of Samaria because he would not beleeue the word of the Lord by the mouth of Elisha Zacharie was dumbe for a time because he would not beleeue the message of the angel Many at this day when the iudgements of God lie heauie on them say presently they are fore spoken and they crie out on this or that suspected witch But such persons are often deceiued For the great witch that doth them all the hurt is the vnbeleefe of their hearts whereby they distrust God in his word and this sinne alone if there were no witches in the world is sufficient alone to prouoke God to plague and punish vs sundrie waies and that grieuously Therfore let vs with bitternes of heart bewaile our vnbeleefe and the rather because it is a steppe to faith to acknowledge the want of faith The second thing to be done is to make examination whether we be in conscience conuicted of the certentie of the word or no. If we be not we must labour to be cōuinced Because that naturall atheisme whereby we doubt whether the bookes of the Prophets and Apostles be the word of God or no hinders the certentie of faith For the setling of the conscience in this point these arguments may be vsed The first it is a principle in nature that there is a God if there be a God nature can say he is to be worshipped if he be to be worshipped he hath reuealed himselfe and his will to man for otherwise he cannot be worshipped And this reuelation is to be found in the writings of the Prophets and Apostles and in no other writings of men because we finde the doctrine of Scriptures to be agreeable to the very nature and maiestie of God and so is no other doctrine or learning whatsoeuer For it is the most auncient and all other religions come far short of it It is one and the same euermore consenting with it selfe without chaunge or alteration The Apostles agree with the prophets the Prophets with Moses and all with the first reuelation made at the creation Againe it discouers and reueales the secret thoughts of men that no art or learning can discouer and this argues that it was penned by him who is the searcher of all hearts The second argument is a wonderfull Euidence of the truth not to be found in any other writings in the world This euidence stands specially in eight things The first is that the writers of Scriptures fully and plainely set downe their owne faults yea their chiefest faults not sparing to shame themselues in mans reason and this argues that in writing they were guided by the spirit of trueth The second is that the books of Scriptures containe many mysteries aboue the reach of mans reason yet not against reason because we may discerne a truth in them and that by grounds principles of reason The third that the speeches of Scripture aime not at by-respects but simply and absolutely giue and ascribe all glorie to God alone The fourth is that the Scriptures containe full and perfect doctrine for the pacifying setling and directing of the conscience in all things The fifth is the holinesse and puritie of the law of Moses in that it accuseth and condemneth all men of sinne and prescribeth perfect righteousnes Herein it surpasseth the laws of all countries common-wealths kingdomes whatsoeuer The sixth is the wisdome that appeares in the pollicie or gouernment of the common-wealth of the Iewes set downe by Moses The seuenth is a reconciliation of iustice and mercie propounded in the Gospel For in Christ iustice and mercie meete and iustice after a sort giues place to mercie The eight thing wherein this euidence of trueth appeares is the consent of Scripture with it selfe for doctrine agrees with historie and euery part with euery part This manifold euidence of truth shewes that scripture is from the god of truth If any say that they finde no such euidence in Scripture I answer it is their owne fault for if they would seriously read the Scriptures with praier to God it would appeare The third argument is the Efficacie of the word which appeares on this manner Gods word is flat contrarie to the nature and corrupt disposition of man and yet for all this when being preached it conuinceth and condemneth men of sinne it turneth and conuerteth them to it selfe and causeth them to liue and die in the loue and obedience therof This could it neuer doe vnlesse it were of diuine operation The fourth argument is that the Prophets and Apostles wrought miracles for the ratifying and confirming of their doctrine Now these miracles surpasse the strēgth of nature and were immediately from God and therefore the doctrine thereby confirmed was also of God The fifth and last is that the writings of the prophets and Apostles containe many prophecies or predictions of things to come that none could foresee or foretell but God The name of Iosias his doings are foretold 330. yeares before he was borne Cyrus his doings are mentioned more then an 100. yeares before his birth now these and the like prophecies argue that the whole doctrine is of God By these and like arguments are all that inwardly doubt of the word of God to settle and stablish their consciences This done then followes the third point and that is that we must search and inquire what is the substance and scope of the worde of god The scope of the whole Bible is Christ with his benefits and he is reuealed propounded and offered vnto vs in the maine promise of the word the tenour whereof is That God will giue remission of sinnes and life euerlasting to such as will beleeue in Christ. To this main promise God hath added a maine commaundement which biddes vs to beleeue the said promise or to applie Christ with his benefits vnto our selues Now then our third dutie is to subiect our hearts and wills to this commaundement that biddes vs beleeue in Christ. This is the subiection of faith of which two things must be obserued One is that this is the first subiection that we can giue to God to trust him vpon his promise for the pardon of our sinnes and for life eternall And from this subiection of faith ariseth our subiection to the whole word In Christ are all the promises of God yea and amen the law and the obedience of all the commaundements thereof is established by faith without Christ no good thing can be done The second point is that this subiection is easie in respect of that subiection