and there 's the sea and yonder 's the Sun Moon and Stars sensibly pointing from one creature to another so it is with the believer when he is irradiated by the holy spirit he can look into his own heart and experimentally say this is the pretious faith and that is the love in incorruption and the other is the meekness of wisdom and so go over all the parts of the new creature formed within him or at least over such or so many of them as may assure him that he is in a state of grace This is the way of assurance first there is a constellation of faith and other graces in the heart then these graces irradiated by the holy spirit send forth a kind of splendor which the soul reflecting on it self taking up it comes to attain assurance well knowing that such and such things accompany salvation and import no less then a Divine favour notable is that of St. Paul in whom after ye believed ye were sealed with the holy spirit of promise Eph. 1.13 Mark after ye believed first there must be faith and the train of graces attend thereon and then comes the seal of the spirit of promise the same spirit which endited the promises in the word comes and seals them on the heart whereas in the word there are such promises made to faith and love and holiness the irradiating spirit plainly discovers that faith and that love and that holiness to be indeed in the heart and so seals up the promises to the believer in particular as if it had expresly said this or that promise belongs to thee Hence the believer so sealed may say of the promises as Origen did of those Scriptures which did much affect him haec est Scriptura mea this promise is mine and that promise is mine nay all the Land of promise as much as I can set my foot on is mine own There are three seals to the promises first God seals them for true in the blood of his own Son in whom all of them are Yea and Amen then man seals them for true by faith he that believeth sets to his seal that God is true and then again God seals them for true to the believer in particular by his irradiating spirit Faith then goes before all other graces but assurance comes after them as being no other then the clear evidence of their true existence in the soul Unless we allow this distinction we gratifie the Enthusiasts who declaim against all marks of grace as legal things and sandy foundations Sixthly Faith stands upon the word of God purely totally and entirely In point of expectation it will not look without a word of promise in point of obedience it will not stir a foot without a word of command in point of doctrine it will not lend an ear without a word of instruction Hence Reverend Calvin saith Inst l. 3. c. 2. Perpetuam esse fidei revelationem cum verbo nec magis ab eo posse divelli quà m radios à Sole unde oriuntur Faith hath a perpetual relation to the word and can no more be sundred from it then the beams from the Sun from whom they arise should it be sundred from it it would lose its nature and cease to be faith but assurance doth not stand so purely totally and entirely upon the word this is also manifest by the manner of attaining assurance that is not made axiomatically in an Enthusiastical way as if there were an inward voice saying thou art justified but discoursively and after some such manner as in this practical Syllogism Whosoever believeth his sins are forgiven but I believe Ergo my sins are forgiven Here the conclusion which imports assurance in it stands upon two propositions the Major is meerly grounded upon the word but the Minor stands upon spiritual sense and experience caused by the holy spirit irradiating the soul in its reflections upon its own estate therefore assurance which is comprized in the conclusion doth not stand so meerly upon the word as faith doth Thus the Learned Pemble speaking of that Syllogism saith the major is of faith the minor of sense and experience And the conclusion of both but chiefly of faith as it follows on the premises by infallible argumentation and partly of sense as it is founded on the inward experience of Gods grace working upon our souls What the doctrine of Faith is is to be sought in Bibles but whether there be a particular act of faith or not such as is comprized in the minor Com. R m. 8. cap. must be looked for in the heart Fides non creditur sed habetur sentitur in corde saith Learned Pareus Faith is not believed but had and felt in the heart Actus reflexivus in ipsam fidem quo credo me credere non est ipsa fides sed potiùs sensus fidei Loc. Com. 689. saith Maccovius The reflexive act whereby I know that I believe is not properly faith but the sense of it But you will say if the minor stands upon sense and experience how can the conclusion which imports assurance be de fide And Bellarmine argues thus D. justificat l. 3. c. 8. Nothing can be certain with a certainty of faith unless it be conteined in the word of God upon which if it lean not it is not faith but that such or such a man is justified in particular is not conteined in the word neither can it be deduced from thence for then I must argue thus the word saith All that truly turn to God shall find mercy but I do truly turn to him therefore I am sure of mercy in which the minor is not in the word By the way we may observe what an excellent foundation the Jesuite layes for his disputation Fides non est nisi verbi divini auctoritate nitatur that is not faith which is not bottomed on the authority of the divine word Oh rare if this were believed what would become of Popery What of all the hay and stubble of their vain Traditions Why do they play the wily Gibeonites with their old bottles and clowted shoes obtruding their unwritten verities and mouldy customs upon the Church of God I can be assured of no Religion which is not founded on Scripture But for answer The certainty of the Doctrine of Faith which respects the whole Church is to be found in the Scripture but the certainty of an act of Faith which is in a particular man is to be found in the heart by spiritual sense and experience and so in Bellarmines minor the certainty of my turning to God stands not upon the word but upon spiritual sense and experience yet nevertheless the conclusion which imports assurance is de fide for every conclusion is so which stands upon one proposition contained in Scripture and upon another gathered from sense or experience as the case is in all such practical Syllogisms yet withall as I said at first the
he hath a true perswasion of the things of God but after Experience a Plerophory or full perswasion thereof Here I shall Instance in that one Fundamental Comprehensive Truth which is pregnant with all other viz. that the holy Scriptures are the very Word of God and so to be embraced by all Christians The Papists say That the Authority of the Scriptures depends at least quoad nos on the Definition of the Church and that upon that account chiefly it is to be beloved by us By the Church they mean the Church of Pastors and those gathered in a Council to desine the Canon of Scripture Saint Paul speaks of a Church which is The Pillar and Ground of the Truth 1 Tim. 3.15 But as our learned Whitaker hath observed That is not the Church of Pastors but of Believers and in truth the Word of Life is more purely held forth in the Lives and Experiences of Believers than in the Gifts of Pastors This Thesis some of their Grandees have prosecuted even to Blasphemy saying That without the Judgment of the Church they would give no more credit to Matthew than to Livy and value the Scriptures much as they do Esops Fables That this Opinion is false is as clear as the Light true Faith is a pure infusion which hangs on the irradiating Spirit as a Beam on the Sun and in Scripture sees with the credenda the reason of believing in the Divine Authority stamped thercon The Ministery used about it may be Mans but the Authority on which it leans must be Gods Theol. Nat. Tit. 209. Tota causa tota radix totum fundamentum credendi verbis Dei debet esse quia ipse dicit saith Raimundus De Sabunde Unless we believe God for himself our Faith is not Divine if the Fulciment of it be humane it is such it self Saint Paul would not have Our Faith stand in the wisdom of men Comment in Mich. 7. 1 Cor. 2.5 Saint Jerom saith In homine spes vana vera in Deo est and a little after Nolite credere in ducibus non in Episcopo non in Presbytero non in Diacono non in quâlibet hominum dignitate If Believers believe the Scriptures upon the Authority of Pastors Pastors believe them upon their own Or if they say that they have the Testimony of the Spirit all Believers may say the same and thereby believe as well as themselves and without their Authority The Thessalonians Received the Word as the Word of God without asking the Judgment of the Church 1 Thess 2.13 The Bercans Received it with all readiness and instead of consulting the Church Searched the Scriptures Acts 17.11 The true Church cannot be known but by the Scriptures De Uniâ—â—â— Feel caâ—â— 3. â—â— Thus Saint Austin writing against the Donatists saith Sunt certe libri Dominici quorum Autoritati utrique consentimus utrique credimus ibi queramus Eccl siam ibi discutiamus cansam And again Ecclesiam suam demonstrent si possunt non in sermonibus rumoribus Afrorum non in Conciliis Episcoporum non in literis disputatorum non in signis prodigiis fallacibus sed in preseriptâ— legis in Prophetarum praedactis in Psalmorum cantibus in ipsius Pastoris vocibus in Evangelistarum praedicationibus laboribus hoc est in omnibus Canonicis Sanctorum Librorum Autoritatibus And if I must know the Church by the Scripture I must in all reason own the Scripture before I own the Church or its Decisions The Church may bear witness to the Scripture but in a subordinate Ministerial way The supream adequate witness thereof is only that Spirit which outwardly indited it in the letter and inwardly imprints it on the Heart The Church may bear witness to the Scripture but it can add no Authority to it If the Church hath Authority to define the Canon it must have it from Scripture and then the Scripture must have Authority even quoad nos before that Definition unless they will absurdly distinguish and say That the scripture-Scripture-Authority before the Definition is only as to Pastors and not as to Believers till after it All the Churches Authority is from Scripture and How can the derivative Authority add to the Primitive The Scripture is Principium scientificum and therefore to be received by its light without a quare or reason why it is so the Scripture is a Foundation to the Church Eph. 2.20 and such a one that the Church is no further a Church than as it is built thereon and How can the Church be a Foundation to the Scripture The Scripture is a Law to the Church every Soul must be under it and How can the Subject-Church give Authority to the Law which it Self is under The Judgment of the Church hath been variable in the Council of Carthage under Cyprian it was Decreed that those which were baptized by Hereticks returning to the Church should be rebaptized the one Baptisin being only in the Church and none without it Vbi Ecclesia non est Baptisma non est Afterwards the first Council of Carthage called the First not as if it had been first in time but as omitting the first Cyprianical Council as antiquated enacted that Baptism made in the name of the Sacred Trinity should not be reiterated all crying out Absit against reiteration In the seventh General Council of Constantinople the 338 Bishops cried down Images might and main Quomodo Dei matrem quam obumbravit plenitudo Deitatis vulgaris Gentilium ars pingere audet non fas est Christianis qui spem Resurrectionis babent demonum culturae consuetudinibus uti flagitium est as Gregorius Theologus said Fidem habere in coloribus non in corde Quis gloriam splendorem Christi effigiare posset mortuis coloriius said Eusebius Pamphili in his Letter to the Empress Constantia One would have thought that the broken Images would never have been set together again but within less than half a Century comes the second Council of Nice and there the 350 Bishops bring in Images again under the wings of the old Cherubims and set them up upon Jacobs Pillar and back them with Fathers and Miracles They throw out Anathema's against the Iconoclasts and reject with a Curse the Books of Eusebius as a Man delivered over in reprobum sensum And are well perswaded that Angels are Corporeal and may be pictured A little after and within the same half-Century comes the Council of Francford halting between both the former speaking half in the Language of Ashdod and half in the pure Language allowing Images but denying any Worship to them And as touching the Canon it will afterwards appear how the Council of Laodicea differs about that from the third Council of Carthage and how the fixth Council of Constantinople in confirming them both varies from it self The Judgment of the Church hath been subject to Error the famous Council of Nice had two lapses in it in the twelfth
Canon it forbids Christians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to return to their Military Employment and in the Ninteenth it commands Rebaptization of such as were Baptized by Hereticks The Emperour Zeno being expulsed the Tyrant Basiliscus by the perswasion of Timotheus Aelurus wrote Letter in condemnation of the General Council of Chalcedon unto which as impious as they were no less than five hundred Bishops subscribed at the Tyrants Command And touching the Canon if the Council of Laodicea be right in it that of Carthage is not so and consequently that of Constantinople which takes in both must needs be in an Error These things premised Can the unvariable and infallible Scripture hang upon a variable and errable Authority such as Mans is May all the precious Promises of Life and Salvation be precarious and pendent on an Humane Arbitrium Tertullian in his Apology speaking of that old Decree among the Romans that no God should be consecrated without the approbation of the Senate saith Apud nos de humano arbitratu divinitas pensitatur nisi homini Deus placuerit Deus non erit If the Authority of Scripture depend on the Church then we may say Nisi homini Scriptura placuerit Scriptura non erit and by consequence all the Faith of the Saints must be pendulous and hanging on uncertainties If the Churches desinition be so momentous to Scripture let us see what the Church hath done in it Hath it collected the Canonical Books into a body 'T is probable Ezra collected the Books of the Old Testament into a body and so think many of the ancient Fathers And I suppose St. John collected the Books of the New Testament together for he lived after all the other Apostles even unto the time of Trajan that by his vigilancy the Canon of the New Testament might be kept pure and unadulterate When after St. Pauls death there was a Book called Periodus Pauls Teclae spread abroad under the Name and Title of Paul St. John discovered it to be spurious insomuch that the Author of it confessed that he did it amore Pauli And I believe what was done in this collection of the Canon was not done by an ordinary Spirit but by a Prophetical Spirit in Ezra and an Apostolical one in St. John In the mean time it appears not to have been done by an act of the Church but leaving this particular When and how did the Church define the Canon Such a momentous thing should have been done by the Primo-primitive Church in the first Century whilest the Church of Christ was a pure Virgin as Egesippus said Lib. 3. Dist 21. Quest 1. Thus the School-man Durandus lays it down Hoc quod dictum est de approbatione Scripturae per Ecclesiam intelligitur solum de Ecclesiâ que fuit tempore Apostolorum qui suerunt repleti Spiritu sancto No Church so fit to do it as that which had so much of the holy Spirit but nothing was done in it in that Age. The so called Canons of the Apostles which in the 85th Canon take in three Books of Macchabees into the old Canon and the Constitutions and Epistles of Clement into the new are clearly adulterate these condemn second Marriages deprive not a Clergy-man of communion for Fornication or Perjury or Thest and speak of Altars Oblations Vessels of Gold and Silver sanctified Cantors and Lectors and many other such-like altogether unknown in those Apostolical times About these Canons Mirè inter se digladiantur Pontisicii saith one Gelasius in a Roman Synod of seventy Bishops declares them Apocryphal in toto Bellarmine rejects all but the first fifty and I think all the Romanists cast away the 85th Canon touching the Scripture as Supposititious The first Virgin-Century doing nothing in this grand matter one might have lookt for it in the second or third but there is no foot-step of it In the fourth Century about the year 320 came the famous Council of Nice and then it might have been expected as the aptest foundation for their Orthodox Conclusions against Arrius and withal for a stated Rule against all future Heresies but there is a failure also nothing was done in it And into what Heart can it enter that in all those 320 years there was no Canon no Authority of Scripture no foundation for the Primitive Christians to fix their Faith upon In those days Paganism was strong and Persecutions hot and Divine Cordials necessary and yet the Scripture for want of the Churches Definition was not of Authority as to the Christians then living I say according to the Popish Thesis it was not But to go on Afterwards about the year of our Lord 368 came the Council of Laodicea which in the 59th Canon orders That no Books should be read in the Church but the Canonical ones of the Old and New Testament and enumerates as Canonical such as are received in the Reformed Church only omitting the Apocalypse And now had not that Omission been and had this Council been a General one the work had been done But afterwards in this very Century about the year 398 the third Council of Carthage in its 47th Canon reckons up as Canonical Tobit Judith two Books of Macchabees and five Books of Solomon accounting Wisdom and Ecclesiastious to be two of them In this Council St. Austin was present who yet in his Book de Civitate Dei Lib. 17. cap. 20 saith That Wisdom and Ecclesiasticus in the judgment of the more learned were not Solomens and were chiefly received in the Western Church it seems the Eastern received them not In the end of the next Century about the year 494. Gelasius Bishop of Rome with seventy Bishops enumerates the same Books as Canonical which are reckoned so in the Council of Carthage save only that he omits the Book of Nehemiah and names but one of the Macchabees These particular Provincial Councils being of incompetent Authority to desine the Canon for the Universal Church and withal variant nay repugnant among themselves Whither must we go but to a General Council but Oh how late very late doth that come How long will the Authority of Scripture and Faith of Christians be suspended and to how little satisfaction will this desinition be About the year 682 was the sixth General Council of Constantinople in Trullo and as to this Point what did it It consirmed the Canons of the Apostles the Council of Laodicea and the Council of Carthage which three in this Point being totally inconsistent each with other every one by the leave of these Fathers who confirmed them all may chuse what Canonical Books he will have whether those in the Canons of the Apostles or those in the Council of Laodicea or those in that of Carthage and what pitiful incertainties are here And now it is to little purpose to fly over many Centuries more till we come to the Councils of Florence and Trent these are late ones and as our Learned Whitaker
saith Non legitima Christianorum Concilia sed Tyrannica Antichristi Conventicula ad oppugnandam Evangehi veritatem instituta and thus it appears even Historically that the Authority of Scripture depends not on the Church But waving this Popish Thesis in which I have by the way made this long Digression I proceed to the matter in hand True Faith being a beam or irradiation from the holy Spirit discovers That the Scriptures in general are the Word of God and which is to the Point in hand in its holy progress it arrives at an experimental knowledg thereof Peter Martyr wishes men to read the Bible seriously and adds Male sit mihi ita enim in tantâ causâ jurare ausim nisi tandem capiantur sentient denique quantum divina haec ab humanis distent Erasmus saith Expertus sum in meipso That there is little good in cursory reading it do it duly and you shall find the Divine efficacy That a Progressive Faith may attain an Experimental knowledg that the Scriptures are of God will appear by the ensuing Considerations One noble piece of Scripture is the Moral Law upon every apex of it hangs a mountain of Sence say the Rabbins every jot or tittle of it stands faster than Heaven and Earth saith our Saviour Mat. 5.18 This is the Summary of all Duties all the Moral Precepts in Scripture are but as so many Commentaries on it That this is of God Faith experiments several ways First Faith experiments it by the impresses and holy inclinations in the Believers heart answering truly though not persectly to the Law A Progressive Believer finds by reflection That the Law is written in his heart That his Heart is the very Epistle of Christ written by the holy Spirit And withal he knows that it was not always so Time was when there were no such characters or holy inclinations there his Heart was worse than a meer empty Table And hence he surely gathers that those characters or imprinted propensities are the writing of God himself and so comes experimentally to know the Epistle of God in Scripture by that in his Heart and the outward literal Edition of the Law by the inward Spiritual one which is a counterpane thereof and answers thereunto as the stamp to the Seal or one Tally to another The mutual agreement between them once discerned is a practical proof that both are of God and written by one and the same holy hand But you will say there needs no Faith to make this experiment the very Gentiles have the Law written in their Heart their natural implanted Principles comprize both Tables the first in that they tell us that there is a God to be worshipped and reverenced The second in that they tell us That we must do as we would be done to which Alexander Severus much delighted in Unto which I answer That there is a vast disserence between the natural Writing the Law in the Heart and the gracious The first is a relique or broken fragment of the Divine Image its only or at least chief seat is in the Understanding and there it stands in the dark in an abyss of black Ignorance and in the mean while there is an hellish enmity in the carnal will against the Law of God But the other is a pure perfect thing which stands in both faculties being as an holy lamp in the Understanding and as a Divine inclination in the will to do the Commends of God Hence it appears That there is not that soundation for this experiment in the Natural Inscription of the Law as in the Gracious the Natural being to the Gracious but as a little glimmering is to splendor or as the broken pieces of a Picture are to the intire Image It is with a Believer in this case as it was with Bezalceel the Word of God came forth for making the Tabernacle but Bezaleel had a fractical proof of it in the spirit of Wisdom given him for the work Or as it was with Saul the Word came forth touching the Kingdom but Saul had a Practical proof of it in the spirit of Government vouchsafed unto him And so it is with the Believer The Divine Law is experimented in the spirit of obedience and each particular Command is proved by some inward aptness answering thereunto A notable instance of this Inscription we have in Maius the German Divine who in his extream sickness having Consolatory Scriptures recited to him bravely answered Tace tace omnia cordi meo insixa tenco hold your peace I have all in my heart Promises I suppose he meant and without dispute the Precepts were there also Secondly Faith experiments it by the Divine Presence helping and comforting the Believer in acts of Obedience The Rabbins say That if two sit together conserring of the Law the Shechimah is among them And without doubt if but one single Believer be not a talking meerly of the Law but a doing of it the Divine Presence is with him Thus the Prophet to Asa The Lord is with you whilest you be with him 2 Chron. 15.2 Thus our Saviour If a man love him and keep his words the Father and the Son will come and make their abode with such a one Joh. 14.23 Such an one hath a Temple and Shechinah in his Heart God will be there helping and comforting of him in his well-doing The Church prays for help from the Sanctuary Psal 20.2 because that was a Symbol of Gods Presence And the obeying Believer cannot want help because he hath a Sanctuary within him The way of the Lord is strength to him and waiting in it he renews strength and mounts up by Auxiliary Grace as upon Eagles-wings Whilest he is a doing the will of God strength comes in as it did to the Levites that bare the Ark 1 Chron. 15.26 and with strength holy comfort also in keeping the Commands he hath great reward inward peace and joy unspeakable some of the oyl of Joy which is upon Christ the great Doer of Gods Will drops down on the Believer in his sincere Obedience As all upright ones do he dwels in Gods Presence as if he were in the borders of Heaven already the light of Gods Countenance irradiates his Duties When therefore the Believer reflects on himself and considers what a dry Land rebellion dwells in and what rivers of Peace and Joy water Obedience how weak and foolish his heart was in doing his own will and how help and strength came upon him in doing Gods he comes experimentally to know the Command to be of God whose Presence gave him such comforts and assistances therein The good hand of God upon him is a proof that the way is right the Peace growing on his work shews the righteousness of it When in Elijahs time the question was whether God or Baal should be God the fire coming down from Heaven on the Sacrifice made the People fall down and confess The Lord he is the God the Lord he is the
Predicantici a nick-name for Preachers by Papists and some Protestants Pag. 376 Preaching its efficacy Pag. 379 380 381 Proving our estate not impossible therefore Assurance not impossible Pag. 402 Q Quakers Light within confuted Pag. 67 68 69 Quirinus Reuteras his saying on his Death-bed Pag. 249 R Rabbins saying of Grace and Judgment Pag. 319 Reason and Divine Mysteries compared together and how far these exceed that 50. It s fallibility compared with infallibility of the Scriptures Pag. 52 Remit whether God may remit Sin without a Satisfaction the Question may be spared 116. It is granted before assurance of it is manifested Pag. 139 Revelation to Apostles and Prophets and to ordinary Believers how differ Pag. 58 Resignation to Jesus Christ the third thing in Faith and what it is 79. Three things opened about it 81. Made to Christ as Mediator 82 83. To the whole Trinity 84. To the Word 85. What the purposes of it to 115. Adjuncis and properties of it to 131. In it is the Essential nature of Faith to 16. It is a middle thing between Faith and Assurance 149 to 155. How call'd in Old and New Testament 154. Acts of Resignation made by Faith Pag. 161 162 Righteousness imputative justified and vindicated Pag. 99 100 Dr. Rivets Death-bed Experiences Pag. 327 S Sacrament of the Supper set out livelily Pag. 375 376 Sacrifices by Gods appointment ever since the Fall 42. And foreshewed the Messiah Pag. 43 Samuel asked of and lent to God Pag. 373 School-Divinity censured 29. Schoolmens saying about Worship Pag. 124 Scripture inward marks whereby known to be the Word of God 32 to 36. Several Sectaries that reject it mentioned 55. Argued with to 64. Their Allegations refuted to 69. That it is a dead letter refuted 65. Discern'd by Faith without the Church 328 329. It is Principium scientificum Pag. 330 Seculum spiritus sancti refuted Pag. 66 Self-denial as it precedes a Believers Resignation consists in divers things 75 to 79. The Moralists and the Believers differ Pag. 161 162. Sick godly Woman would have God chuse health or sickness for her 183. Story of a sick-man to whom Satan appeared Pag. 432 Sin distinctions about it 154. Divers senses of Original Sin with the true 252 to 256. It hinders Faith 157. How far they do not hinder Resignation 155 to 161. Not Justification Pag. 221 Socinus and Servetus their blasphemy about the Trinity 357. Socinians mistake about Original Sin 6. The irrationality of their Faith 47. And nullity 53. Grace they speak of is a fancy Pag. 117 Sokneus his dying-saying Pag. 114 Son Natural and Adopted their resemblance Pag. 241 242 Spirit Word go together 52. To say the Spirits Testimony is dubious is blasphemy 408. It applys Promises 409. Abides for ever with a Believer two grounds of it Pag. 414 Sulpitius Severus his Loquacity Pag. 278 Sultan Achmet his proud arrogance Pag. 243 Synagogue their first use Pag. 376 T Talmud of the Jews magnified by them Pag. 93 Taught of God all ambitious of so great a privilege Pag. 91 93 Trinity of persons and unity of essence the mystery of it not known by Human Reason 352 353. Acknowledged by Jewish Rabbins and Cabbalists with the Primitive Christians saying to them that doubt of it 354. Enemies of it 355. Worshipt by the Church in all Ages Pag. 356 Fruebern's Death-bed saying Pag. 126 V Vanity how described Pag. 183 Virgins a Play acted about the five wise five foolish Pag. 371 Vivification Faith yields up the Soul to Christ for it and how Pag. 105 106 107 Vnction Festival Pag. 378 Vnion Hypostatical and Mystical Pag. 241 Vniversal Promises and Threats include Particulars Pag. 394. Vprightness is Gospel-perfection 448. Vpright persons mentioned always with some mark of honour 419. How God is upright with the upright Pag. 453 W Walking in all Places as in Gods Presence Pag. 449 450 Will Christ as God and Man hath two Wills Pag. 392 Wisdom why Christ call'd the Wisdom of God 89. A great stir in the World about Wisdom Pag. 170 World Epicureans fancy of the making of it 383. The Believer understands better ibid. Z Zeal what 307. Examples of it for the truth Pag. 308 309 Zeno's Wife Ariadne would not suffer him to be taken up when buried in a sit of the Falling-sickness Pag. 167 Zuinglius his answer suggested in a Dream Pag. 94 Scriptures explained in this Treatise 1 Sam. 15.25 160 2 King 17.33 357 Job 19.25 26. 402 Psal 11.7 421 Psal 34.5 369 Psal 39.5 320 Psal 55.22 107 108 Psal 62.1 152 Psal 63.1 5. 459 Psal 119 160. 112 Prov. 3.21 24 25 9.1 2 3. 197 Cant. 4.9 453 Isa 57.17 18. 195 Ezek. 43.2 116 Dan. 4.27 277 Hos 2.13 14. 195 Mat. 15.26 27. 196 Mark 14.72 223 Luk. 9.55 61 Job 3.12 22 23. 14.23 359 16.14 120 Acts 5.41 273 26.7 350 1 Cor. 2.14 20 21 2 Cor. 9.6 454 Gal. 6.1 313 Ephes 1.13 144 5.10 107 Col. 2.5 28 324 1 Thess 1.5 445 Heb. 12.1 270 1 Job 2.4 25 1 Job 3.6 160 1 Job 5.5 7 8. 363 Books Sold by Tho. Cockerill at the Atlas in Cornhil near the Royal Exchange THe Morning-Exercise at Cripplegate or several Cases of Conscience practically resolved by sundry Ministers in 4 to The Supplement to the Morning Exercise at Cripplegate or several more Cases of Conscience practically resolved by sundry Ministers in 4 to Precious Faith considered in its Nature Working and Growth By Edward Polhill of Barwash in Sussex Esq in 8 o. The Faithfulness of God considered and clear'd in the great Events of his Word 8 o. The Nature Power Deceit and Prevalency of the remainder of In-dwelling-Sin in Believers together with the ways of its working and means of Prevention By John Owen D. D. in 8 o. An Antidote against Distraction or an endeavour to serve the Church in the daily Case of Wandring in the Worship of God By Richard Steel M. A. in 8 o. The Reuniting of Christianity or the Manner how to Rejoyn all Christians under one Confession of Faith in 8 o. God a Christians Choice compleated by particular Covenanting with God c. in pursuit of a Design proposed by Mr. R. A. in his Book Entituled The Vindication of Godliness And by Mr. Tho. Vincent in his Book called Words whereby we may be saved By Samuel Winney FINIS
preamble of faith Nay in the Apostle it is the first fundamental faith He that cometh to God must believe that he is Heb. 11.6 But you will say What need supernatural light for this Nature and Reason make this known and indeed they do so but so weakly as not to raise up any one faculty in fallen man unto God his Creator Never did natural light so shew a God as to raise up his love out of this vain world nor as to raise up his faith out of creature-confidences unto God Wherefore this first principle must be seen by a supernatural light which is indeed a middle kind of light between the light of glory above and the light of nature below It sees the invisible one not as the blessed Saints see him in the heavenly vision nor as the meer Naturalists see him by the glimmerings of reason but in a middle way of gracious illumination This our Saviour calls eternal life Joh. 17.3 heaven dawns in it and nature is illustrated by it Secondly As the first step of knowledge in order to faith is Deus est so the second is Deus verax God is true yea truth it self and the first archetypal truth his testimony is infallible and all his words Yea and Amen Unless this be known a man cannot believe him as a God the believer sets to his seal that God is true And if he did not know it his seal would be to a blank and though natural light reveal the truth and veracity of God yet as I said before weakly and therefore supernatural is required Thirdly The third step of knowledge in orâ—â—r to faith is Deus dixit seu revelavit God hath spoken or revealed himself in the Scriptures These are the very words and testimony of God himself If a man do know that God is and is true yet unless he know that God hath spoken in the word that there is his very testimony he cannot believe Should we ask a man why do you believe that Jesus Christ is the Redeemer of the world it would be no rational answer for him to say I believe it because God is true No though God be the first infinite truth yet unless he speak and testifie so much it cannot be believed upon his testimony or authority the only satisfactory answer is this I believe it because God who is true hath spoken and revealed it It is necessary to faith to know the holy Scriptures to be the word and testimony of God that God speaks and reveals himself in them and this cannot be known without supernatural light To explain which I shall lay down two things First There are in the holy Scriptures certain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or internal marks whereby it may be known that the Scriptures are the word and testimony of God Secondly These 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or internal marks cannot be known without supernatural light First There are in the holy Scriptures certain marks or characters whereby they reveal themselves to be the very word of God even as the Sun manifests it self by its own light There is a Majesty in the stile what book or writing ever run in such a strain as thus saith the Lord where before it was there ever any universal Law made unto all mankind Kings and beggars without distinction who ever before commanded obedience upon pain of eternal torments in another world or allured obedience with promises of everlasting glory there The fiery Law carries an awe with it as if the thunders and lightnings of Sinai were not yet over And in the Gospel the kingdom of heaven approaches and opens it self to believers as it were in sparkles of glory Again there is a treasure of Divine mysteries touching the sacred Trinity Nature is mute but Scripture speaks out Reason is but a little child and cannot pass this infinite Abyss unless Faith in the word take him upon his back and carry him over Touching that Incarnation of the Son of God never any natural man dreamed or so much as started a thought of it but in Scripture this and all the train of mysteries in our Redemption break forth in their glory That book which hath such and the like mysteries infinitely transcending all the thoughts and reasons of man doth by them shew that it came out of the bosom of God himself Again there is an unparallel'd purity in it such as is no where else to be found This Sun hath no spots in it this Diamond hath no flaws in it there is nothing terrene or carnal in this heavenly piece as long as it hath stood in the world not a dust or a dreg can be found therein neither ever did or will it licence the least of erratas in man In its pure spiritualness it casts a chain upon the very thoughts and first motions of sin and traces up sin to the black nest of corruption in lapsed nature it calls for a pure heart made from heaven in regeneration and new-creation and the noblest births of Reason and Morality will not serve the turn Such things as these are not so much as named in the writings of the worlds Sophies Plato and Aristotle never arrived at such notions Moreover it hath a wonderful efficacy on the hearts of men it looks into the inmost closet and retiring room of the heart and like Christ it comes and stands in the midst of it when all the doors are shut by obstinacy and unbelief it awakens and alarums the sleeping sinner and makes such impressions and deep wounds in the conscience that it plainly appears no less then the arm of God was in it It Evangelizes the heart and turns it into its own nature that it may be a Temple for that spirit which breaths in the Gospel It comforts the heart and fills it with joy unspeakable and full of glory That place Rom. 1.17 was to Luther porta Paradisi the door of Paradice and that 1 Tim. 1.15 was a sea of sweetness to holy Bilney such activities as these are above the sphear of nature and speak no less then the divine extraction thereof Lastly to name no more the very plot and design of the Scriptures is transcendently divine all the holy lines run into that central divinity that God is to be exalted and man debased Oh! what manner of self-denial doth it call for how doth it labour to un-selve and as it were un-man us that God may be all in all There Reason as fair a Jewel as it is must vail its beauty in an acknowledgment of its own folly and yield up it self to be new lighted from heaven The Will as free an Empress as it is must lay by its Crown in a confession of its spiritual slavery and yield up it self to be made free by grace The Man must be no longer a man in himself but a man in Christ clothed in a better righteousness and acted by a higher spirit then his own And how doth it open the glory and blazon
the arms of God how admirably doth it set him forth in all his Attributes his eternity is the rock of ages his immutability an invariable and inconvertible Sun his righteousness like the great mountains his decrees and judgments a mighty deep his mercy a glory a mass of riches never to be told over his holiness as the pure unmixed light his justice as the devouring unquenchable fire In a word there all the glory of his Attributes pass before the believers eye such a book as this must needs be divine Secondly These marks or characters in Scripture cannot be known without supernatural light Meer reason receiveth them not like the child Samuel it hears a voice a sound of words but it knows not that it is the Lord insomuch that some have slighted the Scriptures Politianus said that he never spent time to less purpose then in reading them and Julian that there was as good stuff in Pindars Odes as in Davids Psalms Had they known the word or testimony of God in them they would not have crucified them by their wretched blasphemies But when the light of Faith comes the Scripture appears not in letters and words only but in the divine and heavenly characters and by these it bears witness to it self that it is the word of God There is a double cause of Faith an effective cause and an objective the effective cause is the holy spirit inlightning the understanding and moving the will and the objective is the Scripture it self by its own innate light and Majesty revealing its divinity to the inlightned soul Tertullian having this holy light in him adored the fullness of Scripture St. Austin seemeth to be taken to admiration with the purity of it as not admitting so much as an officious lyc Wheresoever the supernatural light comes the Scripture manifests it self to be divine Fourthly The fourth step of knowledge in order to Faith is Deus revelavit Evangelium God hath revealed a Gospel a way of salvation and eternal happiness Faith as I shall shew hereafter is not a meer belief of the divine testimony but a dependant resignation to God and Christ and to this resignation no man arrives unless he first see an overtopping superlative excellency in the Gospel outbidding the world and all the lusts thereof and verily believe that there and there only is the way of life and happiness And thus to see and believe is beyond the line of reason and all it s acquired notions The natural man in the midst of all his notions carries a false ballance in his heart which makes as if every trifling vanity did out-weigh God and Christ and heavenly things and whilest the ballance is thus he cannot resign and thus it will be till supernatural light come then and not till then doth the ballance turn by a right estimate of the Gospel and the promises thereof The spirit inlightning and not humane reason takes the things of Christ and shews them forth in their glory Joh. 16.14 And in this way God works the heart to resignation CHAP. III. Of the second part of Precious Faith the belief of the Testimony of God in the Scriptures What manner of belief it is and the consequents of it in order to an holy self-resignation THUS far of the first thing in Faith supernatural illumination I now proceed to the second A belief of the testimony of God in the Scriptures and here I need use no words to prove this belief an ingredient in Faith for faith in the Grammatical notion of it is nothing else but a belief of a Testimony and being applied to God it is a belief of his Testimony in Scripture Only I shall open two things first what manner of belief of the divine testimony in Scriptures this is and then what the consequents of it are in order to resignation First What manner of belief this is And this I shall explain in these particulars First This belief is divine and congruous to the divine testimony Such as the testimony is such must be the ratio credendi the Scriptures being a divine testimony must be believed for themselves because of the divine authority stamped upon them Thus the Thessalonians received the word not as the word of man but as it is in truth the word of God 1 Thess 2.13 they lodged the divine truth in a divine faith which was a suitable entertainment Humana omnia dicta testibus egent Dei autem sermo ipse sibi test is est saith Salvian humane words want witness but divine carry their own testimony in themselves To believe the Scriptures because God speaks in them is a divine faith but to believe them upon any other account is below their divine authority and but an humane faith For example to believe the Scriptures for the saying of the woman for the Churches testimony is but an humane faith for it stands on no higher fulciment then an humane testimony and therefore can be but an humane faith Here the subtile Jesuite would help out the Papist at a dead lift that faith saith he which is resolved into the Churches authority is neque purè divina neque purè humana sed quasi media inferioris cujusdam ordinis but what saith the learned Pemble to him Just so men use to speak when they cannot tell what to say It is Quasi and Aliquomodo and Alicujus generis it is somewhat if they could tell what thus he 'T is undoubtedly clear that that faith which calls any man Master on earth and centers on an humane testimony such as that of the Church made up of men must needs be can be no other then humane Indeed the Churches testimony may be inter motiva fidei but if the faith be divine it cannot be inter formales rationes sidei A man in the dark labyrinth of nature may be led out by the Churches lamp but when he is out he sees the Sun by its own light he believes the Scriptures for their own divinity though per ministerium Ecclesiae yet not propter authoritatem Ecclesiae Divine faith hath its Master in heaven and its record on high Secondly Which follows on the other this belief is a firm and stable thing because built on the divine authority of Scripture we believe and are sure saith Peter Joh. 6.69 Nothing on earth can so ascertain things unto us as faith in the divine testimony Julian the Apostate glorying in the Pagan learning jeered at the Christians because all their wisdom was but in that one word Credo I believe but divine faith for all his prophane taunt hath more firmness and real certainty in it then all the Sciences in the world for it sees things in lumine veritatis primae in the light of the first truth and sits even in the infallible chair so that non potest subesse falsum a lye cannot sit under it and glues the heart to the truth in that manner Eonav l. 3 disi 23. quest 4. that
divided Christ as this is is not the Christ of God but a Christ of his own fancy one that will save him in his sins and justifie him in his ungodliness he that believes in such a Christ doth at once miserably cheat his own soul and as much as in him lieth profanely trample on the blood of Christ as if it were shed on purpose that sinful men might have the reins laid down on their necks to riot in their cursed lusts with all impunity Moreover as to the word of God the believer is for all of it he is not only for cordials and pots of Manna and distillations of grace in the promises but for precepts also his meat and his drink is to do the will of his Father in heaven whilest his eyes are on the Land of promise his feet are in the Land of uprightness Antinomians boast themselves to be above the Law and as free as if they were in heaven and that their sins are but seeming sins sins to sense and to the world outwardly but no sins to faith and before God who seeth no sin in them But alass these are but swelling words of vanity to be above the Law is Antichrist-like to be above God himself whose Majesty and holiness break forth in it and if sins be but seeming sins the Law is but a seeming Law and God whose authority and sanctity shine forth in it is but a seeming God Promises and Precepts run together in the Scripture and must be taken together into the heart by faith Promises are effluxes out of Gods grace and faith takes them in by recumbency Precepts are effluxes out of Gods holiness and faith takes them in by obediential subjection both must continue and be owned by faith as long as there are grace and holiness in God The true believer neither with the Antinomian picks out the promises from the precepts nor yet with the Hypocrite doth he pick out only such commands as do not cross his beloved lusts as the Papists have razed out the second Commandement in some of their Catechisms because of their outward images so the Hypocrite razes out the displeasing Commandements in his practice because of the Idol-lusts in his heart but the true believer as David is for all the wills of God without any salvoes because without any indulged lusts Thirdly This resignation is made purely upon a Scriptural warrant There may be hay and stubble in the believer but there is none in his faith which so far as it is faith stands only upon holy ground All faiths assents stand upon Scripture-propositions all its affiances upon Scripture-promises and all its obedience upon Scripture-precepts What Balaam said by an over-ruling providence that saith the believer by the instinct of faith I cannot go beyond the word of the Lord to do less or more Num. 22.18 he would not as to doctrinals be wise above what is written nor as to worship be religious above what is written nor as to mercies and comforts be an expectant above what is written He would not as to doctrinals be wise above what is written when the Lutherans and Papists met at Ratisbon the Papists would first dispute about the Canon of Faith the Lutherans replyed that the Scriptures were the only rule at which the Papists cried out that it was very unequal to tye them to one kind of weapon only but faith is content with Scriptural doctrines only There is one Mediator in Scripture and faith dares not multiply them there is one Scripture purgatory in Christs blood and faith will not invent another there is one propitiatory sacrifice offered up once for all upon the Cross and faith will not seek after any more All the points in Popery are but so many additions to the word and upon that account insignificant to faith The first error in the first sin was an addition to the word the woman saying ye shall not touch it Gen. 3.3 whereas Gods word only was ye shall not eat of it Gen. 2.17 and the first and primordial error which hath ushered in all the Romish doctrines into the Church hath been the very same thing and because they are additions faith cannot own them no not faith in a Papist opinion may own them but faith cannot for it is but the souls Eccho to the voice of God in Scripture and where there is no voice there can be no return humane doctrines found not at all to faith Scripture is all Bishop Fisher a little before his suffering lighting on that one sweet passage this is life eternal to know thee and Jesus Christ Joh. 17.3 brake out into these words here 's learning enough for me the believer who hath the whole Scripture before him may well say here 's doctrine enough for me faith will not turn vagrant and lye about at humane doors for doctrines there is enough in the word Again the believer would not as to worship be religious above what is written that of the Schoolmen cultus est à naturâ modus à lege virtus à gratiâ worship is from nature the manner from the Law the power from grace is very excellent The very light of nature saith God is to be worshipped but faith goes to the word for the manner and to free-grace for the power God in the second Commandement forbids graven Images not as false objects of worship which are forbidden in the first Commadement but as false means and manner of worship and under graven Images as being the chiefest and groffest kind of false worship God doth forbid all other false worship humanely devised such as these were hence true faith looks on all humanely devised worships as so many graven Images a kind of Teraphim expressing though not as they did an humane shape yet an humane devise and invention things void of God without institution and without benediction That of the Prophet who hath required this at your hand Isa 1.12 falls like thunder on all the imagery of humane inventions dashing them to pieces in a moment Quintinus the Libertine being present at a solemn Mass with a Cardinal boasted that he saw the glory of God I suppose according to his loose principles of being under no outward Law he would have said as much if he had been among Pagans at their Idolatrous worship but the true believer looks for that glory only in the Sanctuary of Divine Institutions there and there only God records his Name and commands the blessing even life for evermore Moreover the believer as to mercies and comforts would not be an expectant above what is written 'T is said of Moses that he died according to the word of the Lord Deut. 38.5 or as the Original may be read he died upon the mouth of the Lord the believer loves to live and dye upon Gods mouth in the promises there watching for the sweet words of grace dropping from him he walks among the Promises as the Physitian among his herbs and by a divine
him count the whole World dross and dung for him espouse him in the dearest and sweetest affections Again set thy heart upon Heaven call back thy Affections from this vain World where they have been scattered a-gathering up stubble unto Heaven thy native Country that thou maist have a pregnant proof in thy self that thou art born from thence and a-going thither Follow those attractions which Heaven the great Center of Grace and Holiness put upon thy Faith and Love to draw thee up to it self Long to be up in that pure region of Bliss where God is All in All There are sinless Perfections and tearless Comforts rivers of Pleasures and plenitudes of Joy for ever Thou maist there read all Truths in the Original and satiate thy self at the fountain of Goodness Have thy Conversation above drive on a constant trade there by Prayers and good Works that thou maist have rich returns of Grace and Love from thence This is the true way to Assurance A notable instance we have in the Psalmist O God thou art my God early will I seek thee my soul thirsteth for thee my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is Psal 63.1 and what is the issue of it his Soul which had so emptied out it self in holy Pantings and Anhelations after God was soon satisfied with the marrow and fatness of his love ver 5. No sooner was the Spouse sick of love to Christ Cant. 2.5 but his left hand is under her head in Supports and his right hand embraces her in the sweet manifestations of his Love to her ver 6. The more Heavenly the Believer is the sitter he is for Assurance which serves as a lesser Heaven for him till he come to the great one which is above Thus much touching the second thing the ways in which Assurance is attained To conclude all the Believer having arrived at Assurance which is the highest step on this side Heaven may sit down with joy upon his head and begin that Song of Free-grace and the Lamb which is sung above though in an higher tune in the Heavenly quire of Angels and glorified Saints for ever and ever Well may he say Oh! what hath God wrought what was he a lump of dust and sin to be brought hither How did he lie in blood and death till Grace came by and put in the breath of Spiritual life into him Was not his Reason the lightest part in him veiled and covered over with gross darkness when the rosie morn and day-spring of Grace first broke out upon him in Spiritual illuminations Was not his Will though a free Principle fast shut up in Hardness and Unbelief when Grace opened the Iron-gate and made him free to his own Happiness What a poor broken Man and under what innumerable debts was he when Grace came and paid off all by the Blood of the Covenant How much of Earth and Hell was upon him before Grace made him a Son and limmed out the Divine Image upon his Heart What swarms and legions of Lusts kept possession in his Heart when Grace set up its standard and drove them out to make room for the holy seed there And after he became a Saint what an hand had Grace with him to cure his many weaknesses and nurse up his infant-Graces What a vast charge was it at in fresh anointings and supplies of the Spirit to keep the holy lamp and fire from going out And at last how rich and glorious is Grace towards him when it carries him up into the mount of Assurance and there shews him the great things which it hath done and will do for him the true Graces and blossoms of Glory in his Heart and a fair Heaven that lies beyond them where Crowns and Robes of Happiness wait for his coming Oh! Grace infinite Grace thou art the Origine of all Graces and Center of all Praises All the Saints owe their birth and safe conduct to Heaven to thee and to every step of thine from the first beams and drops of Mercy to the Bliss-making Vision and rivers of Pleasures above Hosannabs and Halielujahs must be sung for ever and ever FINIS The TABLE A ADam Preacht of Christ Pag. 376 Adoption a fruit of Faith 241. It s Priviledg 242 to 249 hereby a greater Glory than in Adam Pag. 244 Adriatick Sea a Popish Fable about the calming of it Pag. 104 105. Albertus Magnus his Statue speaking articulately Pag. 164 Ambrose's saying of Cain and Abel Pag. 367 Armas Burgus his Prayer at his Martyrdom 176 His Patience Pag. 318 Andelots brave answer when questioned to Henry 2d of France Pag. 315 Anselm's Interrogatory and Counsel to a Man at the point of death Pag. 80 Antinomians Error about Sin the Law Pag. 121 Assurance and Faith how differ 137 to 149 That it is attainable 397. Of our good estate is attainable 387. Names given to Faith shew it 399 410. Another ground 404. Examples of it 403 Popish errour about it 388. Like the Sceptick Philosophers herein 389. It puffs not up 395 396 Assurance of Pardon 397. Of Perseverance 412. Ways by which it is attained 424. It begins the Song of Free-Grace here Pag. 460 Athanasius his saying when Banished by the Emperour Pag. 198 Augustin's mistake about Faith retracted 6 Strugling against Sin in his own strength he heard a voice 279. His Spiritual application of Christs raising up three from the dead Pag. 385 386 B Baptism several Names given it by the Ancients 371. How a Jewish Custom then a Divine Ordinance 372. Though received in Infancy yet hath a bond on Conscience ibid. 373. One confirmed in Martyrdom by it by his Mother ibid. Burgundians Baptism Pag. 374 Bellarmine died in doubt Pag. 426 427 Belief of the Divine Authority of the Scriptures of what kind 37 to 41. What the consequences of it in order to Resignation 69 to 75. A Believer keeps to the Written Word in all things 122 to 126. The only wise man 170. His knowledg of the Invisible God 171 172. The Presentiality of Things future 186. Vnderstands seeming Contradictions 187. It s spiritual extraction the best Chymist 192 to 201. What he desires to know of himself Pag. 381 Belial a son of Belial what it imports Pag. 160 Bernards reflection on himself when he saw another Sin Pag. 313 Bishop no non-preaching Bishops of old Pag. 377 378 Blessing of Jacob and Esan differ 344. Promise of Temporal Blessings not absolute Pag. 345 Blood a little drop given out to be the Blood of Jesus Christ Pag. 364 365 C Cardinal Cajetan's Commentaries on the Master of the Sentences extold by Papists above Luther yet 200 Errors in it Pag. 156 Christ earthly things often in competition 159 His Conception in the Womb and the Heart compared 288 361 362. He is the Samplar of our Graces 291. How he died in his person and in the Believer Pag. 373 Conditions of the Promises really in Believers Pag.