TWO SERMONS PREACHED IN The Parish Church of St. Giles in the Fields by way of preparative upon the Articles of the Creed By William Haywood Doctor of Divinity and Rector of the said Church Published at the request of divers the Inhabitants of the said Parish LONDON Printed by I. O. for Henry Seile and are to bee sold at his Shop in Fleet-street over against Saint Dunstanes Church-yard 1642. TO HIS VERY LOVING NEIGHBOVRS AND BREthren in CHRIST The Inhabitants of Saint Giles in the Fields WHat was by me intended onely for your bearing is now at the request of many of you exposed to publike reading Wherein as I have yeelded to satisfie your desire even against mine owne liking so I trust you will satisfie mine in testifying as occasion serves how unwillingly I was perswaded to it Not that I envie the publike benefit or hun to have knowne to all Congregations what I deliver in one but that so many excellent works in this kind already extant makes mee assured there is little need of mine nor can I thinke these poore weekly labours in any sort meet for so generall a view as they are now offered to nor can I see in them wherefore they should be preferred before other of their fellowes yet lest I should be wanting in any thing that might further your spirituall proficiencie I have denied mine own judgement to serve yours beseeching Almightie God it may do that good to you and all Readers which you beleâ—ve and I earnestly pray for Yours in Christ Iesus W. H. THE FIRST SERMON And now abideth Faith Hope Charity these three but the greatest of these is Charity HAving in an Annuall course gone through the severall Epistles and Gospells well nigh for every Sunday in the yeare I have thought it expedient this present yeare to change my course and to treat of the maine foundations of Religion consisting in the Articles of our Beleefe the Lords prayer and the ten Commandements An Argument necessary for the instruction of the more ignorant usefull to confirme the faith of the more knowing expedient to edifie and regulate the manners of all It hath bin said by great Divines of our own Church that numbers of our people reape not the benefit of our Preaching they might for want of due Catechizing and it hath bin observed that Catechizing where it hath bin too low and child-like without piercing the grounds of divine Mysteries without teaching the ordinary sort somewhat more then they know hath bin as much despised I shall therefore endeavour so to joyne preaching and Catechizing together that the simpler sort may not be neglected but perceive plainly the substance of what they are to learne nor yet the more knowing sort forgotten but instructed in things they ought ever to remember nor either sort left unedified by dealing onely with points of Doctrine and drawing nothing to application but that the mysteries of faith be so handled that walso still extract out of them Rules of good life and precepts of good life also accommodated that they may more and more serve to build us up in our most holy saith in which enterprise I shall desire the benefit of your Prayers to our heavenly Father to assist mine that I may goe through with this intendment profitably according to my desire At this time I have chosen by way of Preface to treat of the three great Vertues in common whereupon Religion is founded to wit Faith Hope and Charity Hereafter as God shall enable me in particular of the summe of our faith in the Creed the summe of our hope in the Lords prayer and the summe of our Charity in the ten Commandements But at present in generall onely that yee may understand how these three Vertues are connected together and in what order of estimation to bee accounted Now abide these three Faith Hope and Charity but the greatest of these is charity The whole Chapter out of which this Text is taken is nothing but a commendations of Charity from the beginning of it to the end And this Verse being the conclusion of the whole Chapter seems to the highest reach of commendations For after the Apostle had commended Charity from the necessity of it Though I speake with the tongue of men and Angels and have not charity I am nothing And then from the excellent properties of it Charity suffereth long and is kind c. And thirdly from the perpetuity of it Charity never fallcth away c. In the fourth and last place he compares it with the highest and most necessary graces belonging to a Christian viz. Faith and Hope which onely may seeme in any mans judgment to challenge equality with it And yet here in this Verse he gives the Crowne from them and puts it upon Charity alone It is true Faith Hope and Charity are all of a ranke heavenly Vertues all and all necessary to Christians which Tongues and Propheâ—ie and Miracies are not and yet even among these Charity hath the prcheminence These three indeed surmount all other perfections none 〈◊〉 to the dignity of these and yet Charity carrieth away the dignity even among these Now abide 〈◊〉 hope and charity these three 〈◊〉 the greatest of these is charity In which words yee may note the proposition it selfe and the reference of it The Proposition is a definitive conclusion for the greatnesse of Charity above all other vertues whatsoever and the Reference is that which followes presenâ—ly after in the beginning of the next Chapter follow after Charity Which very well depends upon the end of the Chapter before for thereafter the Apostle had discoursed of severall gifts Mâ—râ—cles healings helpes governements diversities of Tongues he concludes Covet you earnestly the best gifts and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way That more excellent way is Charity which presently after followes in the beginning of this Chapter Follow Charity therefore rather then any for all other gifts whatsoever doe but serve to and under Charity They vanish and decay but Charity never fadeth whether it be Prophesies they shall faile or Tongues they shall cease or knowledge it shall vanish but love shall never fall away follow love therefore above all When the Apostle had thus preferred Charity above all the rest hee reflects in the last place upon those things that seeme of the same nature with it Faith and Hope appeare fully as necessary as Charity and as long lasting For though Prophecy and Tongues last not neither according to the act nor the habit but are infused rarely and particularly into some men not into others at some times and not at others yet Faith and Hope are at all times and in all Christian men alike None can be a member of Christ without these two any more then without Charity Nor can Charity consist without these two in this world so that take Faith away take away Hope and Charity falls to the ground and consequently all Christianity with them Though
delight which abide for ever in his presence hereafter Amen The end of the first Sermon THE SECOND SERMON Hebrews the 11. Chapter the 6. verse For he that commeth to God must beleeve that he is and and that he is a Rewarder of them that diligently seeke him BEing indebted by my promise to handle particularly the Articles of the Creed which is the summe of our Christian faith I have chosen this Scripture to begin with which is the summe of the whole Creed of all the Articles in it As Faith may bee called the Ground-worke of Religion whereupon Hope and Charity and all other Vertues are built So this Scripture containes the ground-worke of faith it self the very foundation of that on which all Christianity is founded For as no Christian can be saved without faith so no faith possible except wee bee perswaded of thus much before hand namely That God is and that he is a Rewarder of them that diligently seeke him Which sentence I deemed so much the more necessary to handle by way of preparative before the Articles of the Creed because it appeares of more antiquity and more universality then the Creed and all the Articles of it yea more ancient then Scripture it selfe out of which the Creed is taken For thus much before any Scripture was written was necessary for all men to beleeve as appeares by the Apostles instance in this place Saint Paul is discoursing here of the faith of the Patriarkes and particularly of Abel and Enochs faith Enoch saith he was translated that he should not see death And he was translated by faith By saith he was translated because he pleased God And without faith it is impossible to please God upon which conclusion if any shall demand what saith had Enoch or what faith Abel that lived so long before any Scripture was written why this faith they had faith Saint Paul this at least without which no saith is imaginable nor any comming to God possible namely that God is and that hee is a rewarder of them that seeke him This faith they had and this as it should seeme was enough to please God and to save them as the world went then but this is not enough for us now We have more Revelations from Heaven even aboundant ones in many ages and many successions in many writings of the Prophets and Apostles and all these are necessary for us to beleeve now Even all the written bookes of the Bible and every thing contained in them for we are to acknowledge them to be Gods Word and if Gods Word then to imbrace and beleeve them and to doubt of nothing in them So that the whole Scriptures are now become necessary for every Christian man of ripe reason on perill of salvation to beleeve To beleeve I say but not particularly to know or remember that is not necessary to salvation for that is businesse enough for a learned Divine that hath nothing else to doe to understand particulars of Scripture and remember them But all must bee beleeved though beleeve I by the most ignorant and all received upon the credit of Gods Spirit as Gods Word whether knowne particularly or no. And yet though all particulars neede not by men of meane capacity bee knowne some must some particulars of Scripture knowne explicitly and beleeved expresly or no salvation for men of ripe judgement possible And those are the heads of Christianity summed up in the Creed which is a short confession of our Faith comprised by the primitive Fathers of the Church to that end that every 〈◊〉 might have it ready as an abstract of all that was necessary And this they did not to make Lay-men carelesse or lazy that they should not care to know more but to direct yong beginners and to leave all of all sorts without excuse that would not know this Because saith Aquinas Faith is the substance of things hoped for And those things only belong essentially to saving faith which concern our Hope the means of salvation And because many things contained in Scripture pertaine not so directly to these as that Isaac had two sonnes that Iacob was in Aegypt and the like therefore are those points that directly concerne mens salvation and the meanes of it summod up in the Creed so that all men are now necessarily bound to know and beleeve thus much at least how much soever they know more Thus then the Scripture is now the rule of Faith and the Creed is the summe of Faith so much as is essentially necessary to every ones salvation But of old before the Scripture was written this ground-work sufficed This may be called Abels and Enochs Creed which is the preparative also to ours and all mens else namely that God is and that he is a Rewarder of them that seeke him The words being a conclusion by way of Analysis seeme to imply not onely the summe of our Faith but of our Hope and our Charity too that is the substance of all Religion For our Charity that yee have touched in the first words Hee that comes to God Comes to God that is desires to come neâ—re him to be joyned and united to him saith Estius and such a comming is the very act of love Then for our Hope that yee have in the last words namely that God is a Rewarder of them that seeke him that grounds our Hope For our Faith it is the very heart of the Text that which the Apostle would infer He that comes must beleeve beleeve that God is and that he is a Rewarder c. So that upon presupposall of the necessity of our love St. Paul here grounds our faith and our hope too or rather shewes that our love is to be grounded in faith and hope or else it can never be a right love Love is the top of the building as yee heard last Sunday Love the goodly Tarias the beauty the Crowne and superstructure of all Well but Cogitans â—dificium charitatis necesse est ponaâ— fundamentum fidei saith a Father He that would build up this goodly Tower of Charity must lay the foundation low and strong in a sure faith Oportet accedentem credere Hee that comes that is he that would draw nigh to God by his love must first approach by his faith He that commeth to God must beleeve that he is That the Apostles way of arguing is thus analyticall appeares by what goes before There St. Paul tels us of Enochs translation at the first verse translation to heaven that is glorification glorification presupposes sanctification Before hee was translated Enoch had this testimony that hee pleased God Please God how could he except hee came to him that is except hee loved him For as glorification is the end of our way and implyes an arrivall to and an union with God So Sanctification which is by Charity is the course of our way by which wee still get ground and come neerer and neerer Now impossible we
like But it is not any of Gods effects nay it is not all of them put together will make up a perfect demonstration of Gods essence to shew us what hee is but that he is That he hath a being that any of his effects will suffice to shew Thus therefore in the first place to be beleeved quia est Deus that God is And let us not make light of this saith Calvin because the matter seemes small a poore degree of faith to apprehend but this that God hath a being The smaller it is the more shame for their insidelitie that can stick at this for their impudence that dare call this in question saith he And let us learne thus much at least by it That even this fundamentall point touching Gods being it is a point of faith and comes from grace it is Gods gift and Gods mercie to us that wee beleeve thus much and did not his hand support us we should be quickly roady to douâ—t of this maine principle to overthrow the foundation of faith and to say in our hearts with the foole in the Psalme There is no God But it is not so small a matter neither saith Tena as one would think at first to beleeve that God is for wee must beleeve him rightly beleeve him a God at least that hee is before and beyond and above all other things and indeed the originall of all For to have a grosse conceit of God as the foolish Heathen to make an Idoll of him in our fancies to beleeve him any corporall mutable or passible thing is indeed to destroy his being anâ— to imply contradiction to make him bee and not to bee for that is not God which is not the perfectest of all things else yea which is not perfection it selfe saith hee So that in this point of Gods being there is included in a manner Gods eternitie and Oâ—nnipâ—tence so Aquinas That God is and most truly is is before all things olse and all other things are because he is Briefly foure differences as Tena notes there are betwixt Gods being and the creatures which unlesse we apprehend rightly concerning God we doe not beleeve that he is First where is the creature had first non esse and then esse first was not and then at Gods pleasure began to be God is from all eternitie never can wee imagine time wheâ—in God was not Secondly whereas the creature depends in his being upon such and such causes that produce it upon such and such helps that suâ—â—aine it God is altogether independent and absolute beholding to no other cause sustained by no other help Himselfe the cause of all causes Thirdly whereas all creatures are variable either in whole or in parâ— the very Heavens themselves subject comâ—tion and not in the same posture to day that they were yesterday God is yesterday today and the same for ever subject to no motion lyâ—le to no alteration in whom iâ— neither variablenes nor shadow of change saith St. Iames. Fourthly whereas eveâ—ie creature hath more in it of non Entitie than of Entitie It is in it selfe this or that but it is no other thing God is the fulnesse of all Entitie hath the being of all other hings united and comprehended in himselfe but in a more excellent manner so that what ever being or goodnesse is in the creature the same is transcendently in God and better in God than in the creature Adde to this that though some creatures remaine for ever yet it is possible they should not be at least suppose them taken away yet the rest of the creation might stand without them but God yee cannot take him away but yee must take all things with him All things in him live and have their being all things depend on his goodnesse so that remove that and remove all the world Nay let the world and all be removed yet the being of God remaines still God can be well enough without his creatures as he is before them So truly he is that he is what he is Exod. 3.11 is was and shall be for evermore Nay is at all times in the Present Tense neither was nor shall bâ— properly but only is what he is without beginning or enâ—ng Indeed one and the same thing with his owne essence to whom esse and existere to be and to manifest being to subsist and to continue his subsistence are the same All this whosoever beleeves that God is ought to beleeve too if not explicitely yet vertually or he knowes not what he beleeves because hee doth not beleeve God rightly distinguished from all his creatures But here arises small objection All this in a manner may be found out by naturall reason If by naturall reason what need is there of faith How saith the Apostle Hee that commeth must beleeve that God is when it is possible by argument to demonstrate him beleefe prâ—suppose want of knowledge we cannot know and beleeveâ— oth at one time that God is To this Commentators frame divers answers as namely that beleefe may stand with some kind of knowledge if it be but knowledge à pâ—sterini from the effects as the knowledge of God is so Sam â—on Others that the Apostle lives the necessitie of beleeving not so much upon this point that God is as upon the lâ—tter that God is a Rewarder of them that seeke him because that is harder to demonstrate Others that the Apostle supposes not the beleefe of this necessarie to all men but only to beginners for it is hee that commeth to God must beleeve that is in his first comming before hee be able to prove it and others that he must beleeve habitually that is have the habit of faith to beleeve Gods being though hee had gotten the knowledge too As the Disciples which saw Christ crucified before their eyes and so had perfect knowledge of his passion yet might have habituall faith of it likewise that is roady to beleeve this Article also if they did not know it â—s we at this day beleeve it To leave these devices let us hearkeâ— to Saint Augustine who in my mind gives the true answer telling us that though there be a naturall knowledge touching this point that God is yet it is far from a right knowledge Nature can never attaine to a perfect apprehension of this without faith for nature can go no further than nature to shew God the Author of naturall good things and consequently naturall blessings and no other to be expected from him but that is the least part of saving knowledge to apprehend onely that God will be sought and acknowledged by us Author of naturall blessings Nâ— wee must conceive him the fountaine of supernaturall and eternall blessings and not of temporall onely which is a thing beyond Natures skill to teach us Nature knowes no other life but this and perceives neither reward nor punishment after death But faith teacheth us this in the first place and to looke upon God as our