graces and giftes which as priest he hath obtained for it Ephe. 4.8 And as king he defendeth and protecteth it from all the enemies thereof Luke 1.17 78. And of this kingdome of his there is no end Luke 1.33 Now as he is priest he hath offered once for all such a sacrifice for the redemption of his Church that he needeth not any other priest to succeed him either to offer any other or that againe thus hauing obtained for vs eternall redemption and ascending into the heauens there he sits at the right hand of the father and appearing continually in his sight he maketh such continual intercessiō for vs that he is able perfectly to sane those that come vnto God by him Heb. 7.23.25 10. vers 12. 9.24 Finally as prophet and teacher of his Church Whatsoeuer be hath heard of his father cōming from his bosom he hath declared vnto vs Ioh. 1 18.8.26 And this hath he done most sufficiently as we haue often in our writings alreadie in print most plentifully proued in directing by his spirit as he hath done the writers of the canonicall scriptures therein to set downe al necessarie doctrine for our saluation And therefore besides or contrarie to that nothing is to be vrged vpon his Church or to be receiued thereby as necessarie to saluation All these thinges now rightlie vnderstoode and accordingly confessed and acknowledged to be true of Christ and thus to appertaine vnto him then and not before is he come vnto as heere in my text is required and commanded This doctrine of the person and office of Christ is the verie rocke and foundation whereupon the Church of Christ is built and whereupon it beeing built the gates of hell shall neuer preuaile against it Math. 16.18 An other foundation can no man lay but euen this Iesus Christ 1. Cor. 3.11 Yea this Iesus Christ is the foundation of the Apostles and prophets namely which they laide and the chiefe corner stone in whome al the building coupled togither groweth vnto an holie temple in the Lord as Paul speaketh to the Ephesians Cap. 2.20.21 Heereby then it is euident that not onely Turkes and Iewes and all such as are open enimies to Christ to this doctrine of him but also all those that would seeme to receiue him yet wil not thus in tertain him in their heartes and iudgementes as yet stand aloofe from him and dare not so much as come vnto him Amongst which latter sort we must needes muster our domesticall and next aduersaries the papistes For not onely as I haue alreadie shewed for the maintenance of their owne deuises haue they bene iustly found guilty therfore condēned of crossing the doctrin both of Christs person and office both generally and particularly in all the former branches thereof but also in the three last spoken of may they likewise be charged and adiudged and that most iustly For there is neyther his kingricke priesthood nor prophetship that they can finde in their hearts to leaue whole and entire vnto him For to the lawes and orders appointed by him as king for the good gouernment of his Church they adde detract and alter at their pleasures so that a man might easily make a huge and large booke of nothing else but a bare recitall of their additions thereunto takinges therefrom and alterations thereof as any man by comparing the recordes of the scriptures wherein his are set downe with their doctrine and practise may easily and soone perceiue And what can they worse abide then to allow Christ to be such a priest of the newe Testament as the gospell hath before described heere to bee For then their shauen priesthood the offering of Christ againe to his father as a propitiatorie sacrifice for the sins of quicke and dead and for what purpose soeuer they for their gaine list to intend it and their inuocation mediation of Saints and Angels shoulde all lie in the dust whereby they chiefly maintaine both their credit and wealth And their writing many treatises and large bookes to argue the canonicall scriptures of obscuritie to discourage the simple from reading of them or caring to haue them red and of insufficiencie to establish their vnwritten word of their owne traditions as the vndoubted word of God to what ende else tendes it then most openly to thrust Christ from his office of beeing the doctor prophet of his Church by opening his mouth so plentifully therein as he hath for the sufficient direction thereof that they taking that office vpon them vnder the title of the Churches practise and tradition may warrant all their fooleries and errours for the which the best of them sometimes haue confessed their chiefe ground comes from thence You may therefore most plainly see that howsoeuer in words they would seeme to giue him his due titles of God and man Christ Messiah Iesus Sauiour of the world King Priest and Prophet by their deedes in their ordinarie doctrine and practise they pull from him the force and power of the same againe For such a God and man he must be to serue their turne as vnder their hoste can and will lie hidde so quietlie that euery receiuer may eate him with his mouth how sinfull and faithlesse soeuer he be and such an one in his office for all his titles they giue him he must be content to bee as will suffer all the things persons which they haue imagined will serue to that purpose to ioyne with him in that high glorious worke of meriting and deseruing procuring and perfecting the worke of our saluation let him tell them neuer so plainely that his name is the Lord and that he is as his name is and that therefore he will not giue his honour eyther to any other person or thing Isa 42.8 Doubtlesse if any of the thinges they talk of in this case might ioyne with him his merits in this great and high worke of meriting or deseruing for man the kingdom of heauen good and holie workes done in grace and faith are most likely to be they that might partake with him therein But so farre off euen their great champion Bellarmine found it to be doe what he could to intitle these heereunto that when he had striuen with all the cunning and power he had to the end and so woulde faine shewe howe man to that purpose might thereupon ground his trust confidence he is driuen to confesse when all comes to all that the confidence that man can haue eyther by meanes of them or any way else of his saluation is but humane morall and coniecturall and no way such as certainty of faith requireth but as may and will haue with it still feare least it deceiue them in the end Yea after he hath a little wrestled with our obiection against iustification and comming to saluation by an inherent righteousnesse of our owne howsoeuer before he seemed to himselfe to run away with it as a
steede in this case and therefore marke it followeth in my text as saith the scripture which wordes if we referre as they may well and some interpreters haue vnto that which went before then they serue most plainely to teach vs that it is no other faith that eyther can or will serue our turne in this case but only that which is taught vs warranted to be sound right in the canonicall scriptures For they are the scriptures onely without all question that heere are spoken of But whether these words as saith the scripture here were added and vsed to this end or rather as some others take them as referred to the wordes following to teach vs to vnderstand the promise that followeth most certaine it is that the true ChristiaÌ„ faith wherby we must feede vpon Christ and make him with all his merits and graces our owne hath these canonicall scriptures of the olde and new Testament for the grounde and sufficient rule thereof For they onely are able to make a man wise to saluarion thorow the faith which is in Christ Iesus and are giuen by inspiration of God and are profitable to teach to conuince to correct and to instruct in righteousnesse that the man of God may be absolute beeing made perfect vnto all good workes 2. Tim. 3.15.16.17 And therefore for the right framing and setling vs in this faith these are to be studied and searched and most diligentlie to be mused and meditated vpon and heard red and preached by euery one that hath any care of his saluation as we may learne Deut. 17.18.19 Iosua 1.8 Psal 1.1 Io. 5.39 Act. 17.11 2. Tim. 3.15 in that in these places we shall finde men of all sorts taught eyther by plaine precept reason or example thus to occupie themselues heerein And this hath beene the ancient and sound iudgement with one consent of the Fathers for manie hundred yeares after Christ And therefore though Augustine confesse with the Euangelist that Christ said and did manie things which are not written yet saith he those things are chosen out to be written which seemed to be sufficient for the saluation of them that beleeue Tract 49. vpon Iohn and Cap. 11. And in his 19. booke of the citie of God cap. 18. to this purpose he writeth that the citie of God beleeueth the scriptures both olde and new which we cal Canonical Vnde fides ipsa concepta est ex qna iustus viuit From whence that faith whereby the iust liueth is conceiued yea none of vs can bee or is plainer in this point then hee For in his booke of christian doctrine Lib. 2. cap. 9. he saith there in those thinges quae aperte posita sunt in scriptura that is which plainely are set downe in the scriptures all those things are found which conteineth faith manners of liuing as namely hope and charitie And heerein he was so confident that in his third booke and sixt chapter against Petilean most boldly and plainly he saith if any either of Christ or of his Church or of any other thing whatsoeuer that appertaineth to faith and life I wil not say wee but as Paule said if an Angel from heauen should tell you any thing which you haue not receiued in the scriptures of the lawe and the Gospell accursed be hee And he was not alone of this minde for Athanasius before him in an oration of his against Idolaters had most plainely written that the holy scriptures enspired of God Sufficiunt ad omnem instructionem veritatis that is are sufficient to teach all trueth And Tertullian in his booke against Hermogenes sheweth that he was so resolute in this that he saith there that he did eueÌ„ adore the sufficiencie of the scriptures Basilius also in his sermon of the confession of faith saith that it is a plaine falling from the faith and the verie sin of pride either to refuse any thing heerein written or to bring in ouer and aboue any thing For Christs sheepe heare his voice a strangers they fly And in his Morais definition 72. he saith that the verie hearers must be learned in the scriptures that so they may try those things which are deliuered theÌ„ by their teachers that so they may receiue those things that are consonant to the scriptures reiect those that are not yea in the 80. definitioÌ„ he concludeth whatsoeuer is without the scripture because it caÌ„not be of faith which must come by the hearing of that which is taught in the scriptures as before he had proued must needs be sinne Cyrill Lib. â—2 in Ioannem cap. 69. with Augustine saith that though all things be not written that Christ did yet those thinges were writteÌ„ which the writers thought sufficient both for faith and manners Hierome also saith vppon the 23. of Mathew that which hath not authority froÌ„ the scriptures is as easily contemned as allowed And therfore Origine vpon the third of the Romains hath verie wel noted that the Apostle there giues other teachers in the Church an example that those thinges which they propounde to the people they should streng then and confirme not with their owne presumptions but with testimonies of the scripture For as he saith if such an Apostle thought that the authoritie of his sayinges was not sufficient vnlesse he shewed them to be written in the law and the Prophets how much more ought wee to think so of ours Hilarie also vpon the 118. Psalme notes it as a tricke of infidels and the irreligious to say that the scriptures want perfection of doctrine Seeing therefore it is most certaine and true that Irenaeus writeth in his third booke and first chapter that what the Apostles first preached after by the will of God they set downe in their writinges to be the ground and pillar of our faith and that in the canonicall scriptures of the olde and newe Testament we haue as Chrisostome aduoucheth vpon the second to the Corinthes Homilie 13. a most perfect and exact rule to followe set downe therefore with him and in his wordes immediately thereupon inferred I pray you all that you leaue that which seemeth good to this man or that Et de his Scripturis omma inquirite and of these Scriptures enquire all things that so we may all conclude with Damascene in this point in his first booke and first chapter de fide orthodoxa of sound faith all thinges that are deliuered by the lawe Prophets Apostles and Euangelistes Cognoscimus veneramur nihil vltrà perquirentes that is we acknowledge and reuerence seeking no further These things I haue the rather thus largely noted vnto you because notwithstanding the plain euidence of this vndoubted and ancient trueth our aduersaries the papistes are so farre off from yealding vnto the same that to discourage men from making this vse of the holy scriptures that so they may at their pleasures teach vs to build such a faith as seemeth good vnto them vpon their vnwritten word of God which
they hold to be the traditions of their Church yea nothing else in effect but their Popes pleasures the best learned amongst them are not ashamed to bestow great paines to accuse the scriptures of such insufficiencie and obscuritie to this purpose as that without the helpe of these their traditions the doctrine of faith and good manners could neither certainelie nor sufficientlie be learned at aâ—l Yea herein they haue some of them as to their perpetuall and euerlasting shame it is well knowen Andridius Ecchius Lindan Hosius Canisius Censura Colon. gone so farre in their writings as that they haue not blusht to set it downe as a catholicke trueth that the greatest part is left to be determined by their traditions that the scriptures were left rather to be vnder the Church then to haue authoritie ouer her that it were a pittiful thing if the Church should be tied to the Canonicall scriptures in euerie thing to be ruled and oueruled thereby eye that it cannot noreuer will be well with the Church as long as the lay people are suffered to read them or to heare them red for they are so obscure and their sense is so flexible and heard to be found say they that thence all heresies are suckt and that their sense is as but a leaden rule or a nose of waxe vnlesse it be stifned streighted and kept euen by the helpe of their traditions Wherein most expresly they resemble the heretikes that Irenaeus describes in his third booke and second chapter who for traditions thus defaced the scriptures What greater blasphemies can be vttered against the maiestie of God the author of these scriptures For he hauing left them vnto his Church in his good prouidence by his penmen for hir better direction to know his will and then to beleeue and liue accordingly as out of all doubt he haith how may we thinke without doing of him the greatest wrong that may be that he hath left it therein no perfecter a rule then they hold to this end For were not this in effect to say that eyther he could not for lacke of power skill and wisedome or that else he would not for lacke of loue and care towardes it make it any sufficienter and certamer For what reason else can there be that he should vndertake begin goe forward as he hath with such a rule for the direction therof and yet leaue it when he hath done so maimed and so vnprofitable as they would make it Now to haue but eyther of these conceites of God were it not most absurde and iniurious vnto him For how can we spoile him either of infinite wisedome or of infinite and most perfect loue care to wardes his Church but withall we plainely denie him to be the true God Wherfore let vs whatfoeuer these men say to the coÌ„trary learne to beleeue as onely the canonical scriptures of God teach vs to that end purpose let vs now as briefly as we caÌ„ take a view what they do teach vs in this respect behalfe Concerning this point What faith the scripture heere requireth first it is out of doubt whatsoeuer the Lord hath taught or told for trueth in these canonicall scriptures we are most firmely by faith to aslent vnto to be so and therefore hereof howsoeuer to discredit vs withall the papistes would seeme to the contrary we neither make nor moue any coÌ„trouersie with them Yea we most heartily wish and pray that as they define faith to be a firme assent to the whole reuealed wil of God by his word that once it would please God to giue them but this faith to assent in deed without wauering to that which he hath taught in his written word in the canonicall scriptures for then all the controuersies betwixt them vs would streight be at an end But alas they enforce such a sense vpoÌ„ these scriptures so equal their vnwritteÌ„ word of traditions herwith that as long as they take this course there is no hope that euer they either can or wil haue this grace wherfore to leaue them a while grounded farre more vpoÌ„ their own vnwritten traditions then vpon the canonical scriptures for the substaÌ„ce of their faith the next thing that we are to vnderstand touching faith is that when it is spoken of as it is here in my text it importeth more then this general assent to al trueth taught in the canonical scriptures For that brings one no further then credere Deo Deum de Deo that is to beleeue or credit God to beleeue that he is what he is wheras here in my text expresly Christ saith he that beleeueth in me thereby requiring that we should not thinke it inough to beleeue him as a speaker alwaies of trueth or to beleeue that he is such a one in person office as I haue shewed him to be for both these he hath already sufficiently called for at our hands in bidding of vs come vnto him but that it is necessarie for vs if we would haue him to be our meat drinke indeed to goe yet further that is to beleue in him Which is indeed the former lessons being wel taken out therupon as vpon a most sound foundation to ground a most certaine trust confidence that in for through and by him whollie and solie freely sullie we shal be iustified heere and saued heere after To all the former degrees of faith the reprobate and such as are destitute fo the graces of regeneration sanctification yea the verie diuels may come namely to yeald that euery thing is as God hath said it to be in his written word to credit him bicause he is trueth it self to beleue that he is that he is also such a one as he therin sets forth himself to bee this may therfore make them to tremble as Iames saith 2.19 But this is not the faith of Gods elect that Paule speakes of to Titus cap. 1. nor that which he saith worketh by charitie Gal. 5.6 nor that which is said purifieth the heart Act. 15.9 nor that whereof it is so often and so vniuersally said Whosoeuer beleeueth in him shall not perish but hane eternall life Io. 3.15 c. Necessary it is that Gods elect haue all these degrees and branches of faith and the beleeuing thus farre is alwaies found in them before they can beleeue in Iesus Christ so as that through him they can haue any assurance of their saluation but if they will haue such a faith whereby in Christ Iesus they shall be iustied then they must nor stay in these generalities but they must set Christ with all his graces necessarie for either their iustification or saluation before them and by imbracing and applying him particularly vnto them all that euer he did for mans saluation as euen done particularly most certainly fortheÌ„ in him and by him so made theirs they are to be assured that God hath freely
that the same scriptures put a manifest difference betwixt this righteousnesse of the law that lies in doing and that which we haue to make vs righteous by by saith in Christ Iesus Rom. 10.5 c. and Gal. 3.12 And yet euen their great Doctor Bellarmine neither is nor will be ashamed of any of this their doctrine of faith and in this last point though he be enforced to graunt that we are first iustified freely without workes in Christ Iesus and that heauen also is Gods childrens by adoption and inheritance yet the formall cause of our iustification must be with him the infused habite of charitie and good workes after done must make vs to haue a second right vnto the kingdome of heauen and so to further degrees of glory there by the way of wages and iust debt Though for all this when he hath done his best for the maintenance of this second title and right thereunto he dare not teach any with any special assurance confidence that cannot deceiue them to trust thereunto Nay these things thus being most certainly held and taught by thē touching the nature of faith quite contrary to the scriptures I can neuer maruaile that by their faith there is bred no certainner hope or confidence in them of Gods mercie or of the forgiuenesse of their sinnes or of anie thing else that appertaines to saluation then as when they are at the best may finally deceiue them and in the meane time with much feare and doubting of their estate trouble them yea I rather wonder that in the iust iudgement of God they are not in continuall horrour and terrour of conscience and as it were compassed about euery houre with the verie tormentes of hell for that they will not be brought to seeke to come to the father onely by him but by whom as he himselfe hath taught vs none can euer come vnto him Io. 14.6 For whiles thus they pleade and stand vpon a wrong title and would also beare men in hand that a speciall ende and vse of Christes comming was not to procure them sufficient title and right to the kingdome of heauen in and by himselfe and thinges done and suffered by and in his owne person but to inable them by these meanes to make themselues to haue a second a better further title thereunto they are most worthy to loose al the comfort that they might haue if they would stand to the right and onely good title by and for Iesus Christes sake alone And doubtlesse as I haue shewed before if they repent not they will one day all the packe of them finde though too late that Paule hath pronounced sentence of them in the like case of the Galathians Cap. 5.4 saying Yee are abolished from Christ whosoeuer are iustified by the lawe yee are falne from grace God of his mercie therefore if it be his holy will open their eies in time that they may repent of all these their most dangerous errours and come with vs once to be content to beleeue in Christ Iesus as the Scriptures indeede teach vs. In the meane time let this that I haue said be a sufficient warning to vs as the adopted sonnes of God thorow faith in Christ Ioh. 1.12 to looke for heauen as an inheritance prepared for vs by our heauenly father before the foundations of the world were made Matt. 25.34 and now reserued for vs which are kept by the power of God thorow faith vnto saluation Pet. 1.4 5. that so heauen may be to vs as it is said to be indeed the free gift of God Rom. 6.23 through Iesus Christ our Lord. And let vs let thes hireling and mercenarie minded men alone that disdaine to haue heauen of Gods free almes and therefore will haue it eyther by their owne earninge and deseruing of it or else they will goe without it which they are most like to doe bicause they will haue it otherwise then God himselfe the owner therof hath couenanted and appointed that euer anie shall come by it I know they haue their colours and sophistical deuises to giue yet such a glosse and faire shewe to this their dealing as though for all this all were very well of their sides but all they can gaine therby is this that so much the more they proue their religion to be aptlie and worthily tearmed by the Apostle the mistrie of iniquitie 2. Thess 2.7 and that the proud and pompeous whore of Babylon shoulde haue that worde Mysterie set for her very brand and marke in her forehead and that she should yet carie al her abhominations and fornications wherewith she shoulde make the inhabitantes of the world drunken in a golden cup the sooner to entise them to drinke deepely thereof For indeede and trueth as I haue shewed before and elsewhere they can stand them in no better steede eyther before God or before any that are wise than Adam and Eues fig leaues did them to hide their nakednes from the eies of God For how can they be so sillie and simple as to imagine indeede that in this great light any can wil be so foolish as hearing what they doe so plainelie and plentifully set downe euerie where in the doctrine of the gospell that Christ went thorow effectually in his owne person with the worke of our redemption and saluation as once to be drawne by their sophisticall perswasions that yet what he hath done serueth especially but to merit that chantie first should be bestowed vpon vs and then that thereunto to our good workes proceeding therefrom should be conuaied from his merits a dignitie and power first formally to iustifie vs by the one which we could not bee by the application of him and his merites vnto vs thorow faith and then after to earne and merite more surelie for vs by the other the kingdom of heauen then he had done For they may prate and brag that whiles they thus say and teach they attribute more to the merits of Christ than we doe that both for our iustification and saluation trust onelie thereunto but euerie man for all that vnder these fayre wordes may plainely see that in verie deede they heereby most grosselie woulde make him as I saide before the verie principall in the robbing of himselfe of that speciall honor that is his to be a full and a perfect Sauiour in and by himselfe This faith is wrought by the spirite But inoug his said of this point Howbeit this further touching this faith whereby we eate and drinke Christ and make him our owne welbeloued I would haue you to vnderstand that it is not to be attained vnto by any power or strength of flesh and blood but it is the speciall worke and fruite of the Spirit of God For immediately after Iohn had tolde vs that they that beleeue in Christ at they that receiue him whereby they are made the sonnes of God he saith that such are borne not of bloode nor of the
therefore it is the fashion of the scriptures after hard things to ioyne other that be plaine Origen also in his first Homilie of Hierimie and Chrysostome in diuers places namely writing of the holy Ghost and in his 12. Homtlie vpon Genesis are most pregnant in this point the one reiecting all sences and interpretations as of no credit without warrant from other scriptures and the other affirming plainely that the scriptures so expounde themselues that they suffer not the Reader to erre Whereupon no man no not amongst vs is more earnest to vrge all sortes of men to read the scriptures than Chrysostome as any man may see in his 9. Homilie vpon the Collossians in his third vpon Matthew Let vs therefore in this case take triall of this rule that so we may learne what we are to vnderstande by these riuers of water heere spoken of and promised And for as much as when these wordes were first vttered by Christ then the Canonicall scriptures onely of the olde Testament were written it shal be most fit to looke into them for this purpose Wherein to this end verie pertinent it is that the blessed man which doubtlesse he is that commeth vnto Christ and drinketh of him aright is described in the first Psalme to be like a tree planted by the riuers of waters that will bring forth his fruite in due season and whose leafe shall not fade but whatsoeuer he doth it shall prosper Vers 3. But that in the fiue and fiftie of the prophesie of Esay vers 1. c. in my iudgement and in my opinion best agreeth with this and appertaineth hereunto For there after that the thirsty are solemnly as it were by way of proclamation called and allured to come to the waters and so freely being come to drinke wine and to cate milke and that which was fatte and good a promise is made them if they would so do that they should liue and enioy the sure mercies of Dauid That also Esay 59.20.21 may well be as a Commentarie vpon this where after that it is said that the redeemer shall come vnto Sion it is saide that this couenant shal be made with them that turne from iniquitie in Iacob that his spirite and word shoulde neuer departe from them nor from their seede after them which couenante or promise is more fully opened Ieremie 31.33.34 vnto which time of the comming of the Messiah and the performance of this promise then Ioell hauing an eye he bringeth in GOD promising then that he woulde poure out his spirite vpon all sortes olde and yong men and women Cap. 2. vers 28. whereunto in my opinion it seemeth that Iohn thought that Christ had relation in this promise-making heere in that in plaine termes he telleth vs that this he spake of the Spirite which they should receiue that beleeued in him for saith he the holy Ghost was not yet bycause that Iesus was not yet glorified This therefore is euen sufficient to teach vs in what sence the scripture woulde haue vs to vnderstand that riuers of waters of life shall flowe out of the bellies of such as will come vnto him drinke of him and beleeue in him as we haue heard namely euen of the plentifull giftes and graces of the spirite that vndoubtedly he woulde bestowe and continue in such And let it not seeme strange vnto any man thus to heare the spirite of God watering and moystening the house of God and washing and softning the heartes of those that be in neede therof compared vnto waters for it is very vsuall in the scriptures For not onely Psal 1.3 Esay 55.1 c. as I haue noted before by riuers of water waters we cā vnderstād nothing so fitly as the most plentifull rich graces of God in Christ but also elsewhere often both in the olde Testament and in the new the same or like speeches are vsed whereby we can vnderstand nothing else For after that God to perswade Iacob not to feare had said I will powre water vpon the thirstie and floudes vpon the drie ground to make it plaine that he vnderstoode nothing else thereby immmediatly he addeth I will powre out my spirite vpon thy seede and my blessing vpon thy buddes and they shall growe as amongest the grasse and as the willowes by the riuers of waters Esay 44.2.3.4 And what else could or did Ezechiell vnderstande Cap. 47.1 c. by the vision of waters flowing out of the Lordes house in such a plentifull manner that they were first ancle deepe then thigh deepe then vnpassageable on euerie side whereof growe all fruitfull trees whose leafe shoulde not fall and that monethly should bring forth fruite and that wholesome and medicinable And we beleeuing as we doe that the holy Ghost proceedeth from the Father and the Sonne as both the scriptures and all sound confessions of the Catholicke and Christian faith teach what can we more fitly vnderstand by that pure riuer of water of life cleare as chryst all that Iohn saw proceeding out of the throne of God the Lambe c. Reuel 22. Vers 1. than the holy Ghost proceeding and flowing from the father and the sonne to cheere and to make fruitful the Citizens of the heauenly Hierusalem And by that water of life which Christ taught the woman of Samaria to aske of him whereof if a man drinke he saide he should neuer thirst againe for that it should be in him a well of water springing vp to euerlasting life noe doubt of it he vnderstoode nothing else but the Spirit which he would bestow vpon all his to regenerate and sanctifie them effectually withall Hereby then you may see not only this interpretation iustified that by riuers of water of life flowing out of the bellies of such as come vnto Christ and rightly make him their owne by drinking of him we are to vnderstand the Spirit of God and the plentifull graces thereof promised to the faithfull but also that this is a Metaphore very fit apt to expresse the same or else that God woulde neuer haue so much delighted therein as thus by the often vsing it he sheweth he hath done Howbeit before we proceede any further to confider of the ground why this Metaphor should be counted so apt and so much to this purpose delighted in we are first to vnderst and that by the belly frō whence these riuers of water of life shoulde flowe is meant the soule heart and good conscience by faith purified in the beleeuers Actes 15. Ver. 9. For the end of the commaundement and so the shew of all the good fruites of the Spirit in Gods children commeth from a pure conscience and both them from faith vnfained as Paule testifieth 1. Tim. 1. Ver. 5. The bellie and bowels are no seate or fountaine from whence such things issue or flowe Then whereas Iohn saith the holy Ghost was not yet whereof he telleth vs we are to vnderstande Christes promises we must take heede