therefore Charity take place of all the rest yet let it not be set above these Let Faith and Hope goe hand in hand with Charity at least Nay faith the Apostle The greatest of these is charity That is Faith and Hope must give place to Charity though all vertues else give place to them It is true they be all necessary and perpetuall in this life all three of them No Christian can be without every one of them it is granted All our labour tends to these three and these are the samme of whatsoever perfection can be named 〈…〉 now therefore they abide abid as it were at the foot of the 〈◊〉 having cast up all other miraculous gifts and graces here is the 〈◊〉 take all in a little it is but Faith Hope and Charity which all among to But even in this totall consisting as it were of three Figures mistake not the quantity Charity is the greatest of the three As all other things tend to the building up of these so two of these that is Faith and Hope it selfe tend to the building up of Charity and Charity is the top of the building Charity is the Crowne of all the â—est not only surmounting other Graces but these too Surmounting them and outlasting them for though Faith and Hope last and abide throughout all the course of this life as needfull as Charity yet in the next life onely Charity shall abide Faith and Hope shall then have no more place And therefore let not faith and hope how fundamentall soever dildaine to yeeld to Charity Charity is greater then Faith and Hope Charity is the highest of the three and if it bee so follow after charity what ever perfection else yee attaine let all serve to this and let love be the end and scope and measure of all This is the summe of the Apostles Doctrin and it is sure no impertinent one of ours for these times Wherein as if Charity were not the greatest vertue but the least of all every mans gifts and endowments tend to Charity in the last place each striving to reare up his owne glory or advance his owne profit every one looking on his owne things and not the things that are Jesus Christs Wherein above all other heavenly fires Charity is nearest to cinders zeale it may be burning and desire and courage and confidence all of a flame but the love of too many waxing cold Never more needfull sure for Charity to bee preached of the World being so full of rents and divisions the Church so distracted with factions and Schisme while few regard the publike so their private may be safe Faith and Hope much boasted of but little good Workes seene Knowledge and Revelation of the Spirit mightily talked of but little peace and amity one towards another If ever therefore it were seasonable to have Charity commended and pressed upon us I thinke never more then in these last and worst daies Heare therefore the judgement of St. Paul St. Paul as ful of miraculous gifts as ever any as zealous for the honour of faith as none more as paineful in his labours for the Gospell and as patient in hope as all the Apostles beside and yet preferring Charity above all Now abide these three faith hope and charity but the greatest of these is charity Two parts we find in the words one declarative touching the eminence of these three vertues Now abide faith hope and charity these three Another Comparative touching the preheminence of Charity or rather if you will both of them Comparative First these three preferred there all other vertues Now abide these three faith hope and charity And Secondly Charity preferred highest amongst them the greaâ—â—st of these is charity In the former of these yee may observe 〈◊〉 the vertues themselves and then what is affâ—d of them The vertues themselves are these Faith Hope and Charity Then it is affirmed of them that they are three and that they abide so Now abide these three c. We shall first God willing survey the vertues themselves what they are Secondly how they are three eminent above others and connected between themselves And Thirdly how Charity is preferred above the other two the greatest of these â—charity Web gin with the vertues themselves what they are Faith Hope and Charity For the first of them viz. Faith what that is Saint Paul himselfe saves us the labour and seemes to define that to our hands Heb. 11.1 Faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seene To understand which yee are to note the proper act of Faith and that is to beleeve Beleeving is as the Schoole-men define it an assent of the mind unto somewhat the truth of which is not clearely perceived but taken upon credit As that such and such Cities are in the World Rome Venice which perhaps we have had never seene such and such men have lived before our times Tully and Cato which wee have never knowne A great difference there is betwixt this and perfect science as betweene this and weake conjecture For perfect science is of things we either perceive by the sence as that Snow is white and Fire is hot and the like or else see clearely by the light of the understanding as that every part is lesse then the whole every whole double to its halfe Such things as these are more then beleeved they are perfectly knowne those onely are beleeved which are fully assented to and yet not perfectly known So in Christs healing the sick of the Palsic the Apostles and others that saw it done they had perfect knowledge Wee that have the story in the Gospell have onely the beleefe of it Infidels not so much as the beleefe I have insisted on this the rather to shew the meaning of the Apostle how faith is of things not seene For if wee have porfect knowledge that is full sight of what we beleeve our beleefe is at an end That is not faith but vision Faith then is a beleefe relying upon the credit of others concerning things we doe not perfectly know But all this comes not home to Divinity The faith the Apostle speaks of is concerning some speciall things and some speciall kind of credit and that is a religious beleefe of what God hath revealed and particularly of such things as concerne our salvation So that Divine faith is properly an assent to divine Revelation When we beleeve such and such things because God hath declared them and thus before any Scripture Abraham beleeved the promise of God concerning his Posterity and it was impated unto him for righteousnesse And Noah beleeved God fore-telling the Floud and prepared the Arke for safety of himselfe and his Houshold Thus faith is more antient then Scripture But since the Scriptures were written and the Canon finished and Revelation ceased in the mouthes of the Prophets and Apostles Now all Divine Revelation is confined within the Scriptures and the written Booke of the
Bibles become now the adequate object of faith sith no divine Revelation we know in these daies any where save in Scripture And yet all things in Scripture doe not alike essent ally belong to our faith but chiefly those things that concerne our salvation for Faith saith St. Paul is the substance of things hoped for so that those eternall blessings wee expect and hope for in the world to come those are the principall matter of faith Hence comes the applying and particular faith whereby we beleeve our sins remitted our selves reconciled into Gods favour and all the promises made to the faithfull in Scripture particularly and personally belonging to us I know there are many cavils betwixt our Writers and the Romish about the true nature of Faith Bellarmine and his Crue would have Faith no more than a bare assent to Gods revealed Truth as that Christ is the true Son of God that he was made man that he suffered was buried rose againe and the like Calvin and those that follow him would have it more than a bare assent namely together with our assenting an applying all the benefit of what we beleeve to our selves as that Christ died and rose againe for me that my sins are remitted that I shall be glorified in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting But this is objected by Popish writers to belong to Hope So Lapide What is Hope saith he if this be Faith If I must beleeve my selfe in the number of the Elect that I shall persevere to the end and be saved Why Hope can doe no more To salve this doubt we must in the second place enquire into the nature of Hope and it is defined by the Schoole to be Expectatio boni ardui futuri An expectation of some great good to come Here we may observe immediately no small difference from faith for the act of faith is to beleeve the act of hope to expect or look for Faith beleeves things good and bad hell as well as heaven torments to come as well as blessednesse Hope fixes only upon that which is good we hope for no other things than those that concerne our happinesse Faith is also as well of things past as of things to come but Hope is only of things to come We beleeve that Christ died and rose againe by faith as well as that hee shall come to judgement wee cannot hope that Christ shall rise again as we hope he shal come to judgement So then as Hessusius Hessusius well notes there is no such confusion betwixt our Faith Hope as Lapide talks of for by faith we beleeve all manner of good things and evill things revealed in Gods word be they past present or to come But by Hope wee embrace only good things and those neither past nor present but to come and such as wee earnestly desire and wait for Consequently that my sins are remitted is not matter of Hope but of Faith for this is a thing presant That I am an elect child of God not matter of Hope neither but of Faith for it is a thing past our election is from eternitie But that I shall persevere and be saved that is a matter as well of Hope as of Faith because it is a future good Herein only is the difference that by faith I beleeve my salvation to come and assent unto it as a sure thing but by Hope I long and wait for my salvation to come and wish and pray for it as a good thing So that faith is the ground of hope and hope the perfection of faith No such confusion therefore betwixt a justifying faith and a religious hope as our cavilling Romanists imagine By this you see how faith and hope differ we come in the next place to charitie which is defined by the learned to be Habitus quo diligitur Deus propter seipsum proximus propter Deum A vertue whereby wee love God for himselfe and our neighbour for Gods sake This appeares immediately distinguished from faith and hope for the act of faith is to beleeve of hope to expect but of charitie to love Againe faith beleeves things absent only and not seene but charitie loves as well what it sees as what it sees not And hope looks only for things to come but charitie loves things present likewise so that charitie is larger and fuller than either of the other Neverthelesse it cannot be denyed though charitie be larger yet it proceeds from the other for faith is the root both of charitie hope too He that comes to God must beleeve that God is saith St. Paul that he is a rewarder of them that seek him must beleeve first that God is there is faith then and faith first of all And secondly that he is a rewarder of them that seeke him there is the ground of hope suppose which and charitie will follow for if I hope for reward from God I cannot be so unnaturall as not to love him if it be but for the benefit sake I hope to receive from him Hope of earthly benefits begets love how much more hope of heavenly But untill faith and hope have gotten place I cannot love For before faith comes there is no knowledge of God at all and if no knowledge then sure no love for Ignoti nulla cupido We cannot love a thing we know not And though we know and beleeve there is a God yet untill wee find somewhat to hope for from this God we cannot love him Feare him we may indeed and admire him but not truly love him till wee find in our faith the substance of things hoped for that is some benefits received or expected from him and then comes in love which yet is no true love while it is but mercenarie while it loves God only for hires sake for those blessings it looks after from God for make the best of such a love it is but a meere concupiscentiall love such a love as a hungry man loves his meat with or a needy man his money Never is it right charitie indeed till it come to Amor amicitiae till we begin to love God as our selves nay not then neither is it right till wee have attained to prefer him above our selves to love of him better then when we have made God the ground and measure of our love so that we love him in the first place above all things else and our selves and other creatures in the second place in and for God then our charitie growes true and kindly indeed plant such a love in us once and all the Commandements of God will be easie then faith and hope wax strong and grow both the riper and the fairer by the heat of this love and so yee see in part what these three vertues are which is our first particular In the next place wee proceed to see what is affirmed of them Three things yee may here observe delivered of these three vertues in common First
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
are not the rewards of his children these are not the things he hath taught us to build our faith upon it is not a Rewarder in this sense that the Apostle meanes him when hee saith He that comes must beleeve God a Rewarder for this is too unworthy a subject for faith to rest upon If faith be a divine and supernaturall thing saith Aquinas sure it must looke for more than earthly and naturall blessings And therefore though God be a Rewarder in this kind too as hee hath promised Reward to a cup of cold water yet this is not the principall reward in Saint Pauls intendment Not this for this way God rewards not those whom he loves best not those that seeke him most For who sees not how unequally temporall rewards are dealt The ungodly for his owne lust doth persecute the poore saith David they corrupt others and speake of wicked blasphemy and yet their eyes swell with faâ—nesse and they doe even what they list Lo these are the ungodly and these prosper in the world Psal 73. What shall wee say then If these were the rewards that faith looked after wee were in a poore case If in this life only we had hope in Christ we were of all men most miserable saith Saint Paul No it is the eternall and incomprehensible reward of the next life that is it wee are to look for and that is a thing worthy of our faith indeed and a thing alwayes rightly distributed None but those that seek God are so rewarded none are capable of that reward but such as come by a true faith to this Rewarder Such a Reward I say is worthy of our faith for this is no lesse nor no other than God himselfe As hunselfe saith to Abraham I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward The Lord is my pâ—râ—iun whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none on earth that I desire in comparison of thee Hee that gives the hire hee is himselfe the hire And that he is so appeares by the very last words of the Text for he is a Rewarder saith the Apostle of them that seeke him Seeke him why then he himselfe is the Reward they are to seeke for and so he is sure And that makes our faith truly divine that makes it a saving faith indeed for a saving faith is that that relyes upon God for our salvation saith Calvin Our salvation what is that or wherein lyes it but in God himselfe and the enjoying of him God is the end of our salvation and God is the meanes too for the very way to this salvation it is by God the Redeemer by him that is God and Man Christ Iesus And if we beleeve God a Rewarder and beleeve him so by faith we cannot leave Christ out saith Tena For he that hopes for reward from God must hope also for the removall of all impediments that make him uncapable of rewarding sin is the maine impediment and unlesse sin be removed no possible pleasing of God no possible expectation of reward Now sin it is taken away by none but God the Redeemer there is no other name given under heaven whereby wee may expect salvation but the name of Iesus Christ Consequently all that look for reward from God in and through him they must look for it and looking for it through him our faith taking Christ in thus it becomes a saving faith indeed thus it takes in the whole Creed both concerning the end and the means the Deitie and humanitie the essence and the providence of God the substance and the way of salvation And therefore no marvell the Apostle layes it downe for a strong conclusion that no comming to God but thus no arriving to him sure but by both these namely that by our faith we beleeve that God is and that hee is a Rewarder of them that seeke him And now to turne to a word of application and so conclude Three wayes we may make benefit of this Scripture toward a good life that is to say by way of admonition by way of reprehension and by way of consolation By way of admonition first here is a caveat for Hypocrites that boast only of their faith and have no care to shew it in their works The Apostle here in this Text aimes one would think at faith and faith only it is a kind of definition of faiths foundation this sentence and yet here in the very foundation of faith is an implication of good works For here is first Hee that comes to God and that comming is as I told you by charity and good life so beleefe is not enough there must be comming also And then here is seeking of God God is a Rewarder of none but them that seeke him it is not a Rewarder of them that beleeve in him only note that the reward belongs to seekers Seeke the Lord while he may be found Seeke the Lord and his strength Seeke his face for ever Psal 105. They seeke him that draw neare unto him in good life saith Anselme Nay it is more than seeking if yee note it The Translation hath it a Rewarder of them that diligently seeke him rightly answering the Originall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifie properly a studious and earnest enquiring and searching him ouâ— a searching for him as Salomon wishes the young man to search for wisdome If thou seeke for her as for silver and search for her as for hid creasure Prov 2 4. Sure it must be a seeking him and him for himselfe saith Lapide not a seeking God and other things or God for by-respects for temporall ends to serve our own turnes joyne these together with ouâ— beleefe namely a comming to God a seeking him a diligent seeking him a seeking God himselfe for hin selfe and not other things with him and then yee are in a faire way to your Reward then you may beleeve the Reward belongs to you Secondly for them that presume too much on their good works here is an admonition likewise The Papists they catch hold of 〈◊〉 Text to bolster out their opinions of merit by works Mark sâ— they God is a Rewarder of them that seeke him yea and all that come to God are bound to beleeve this Ergâ— God is a Rewarder of merit For seeking implyes merit and reward is a thing so properly belonging to merit that no merit and no reward The Reward and Desert are Correlatives say they Nay not so may there not be a reward of grace as well as of desert as God sends his raine upon the just and unjust and rewards many wicked men with good for evill yes douâ—lesse wee know finding of God is properly the reward of seeking him And yet the Prophet saith I was found of them that sought me not I was made manifest unto them thaâ— asked not after me This was a Reward of grace sure and not of â—esert and so may the Reward of our seeking be May nâ—y so it must