In whome ye are also built togither to be the habitation of God by the spirit This albeit it be a most neere and reall vnion yet we must not thinke that it by touching mixture or as it were by souldring of one soule with another neither by a bare agreement of the soules among themselues but by the communion and operation of the same spirit which beeing by nature infinite is of sufficient abilitie to conioyne those things togither which are of themselues farre distant from each other the like we see in the soule of man which conioyneth the head with the foote Eph. 2.22 2. Pet. 1.4 Whereby most great and precious promises are giuen vnto vs that by them ye should be partakers of the godly nature in that ye flie the corruption which is in the world through lust Phil. 2.1 If there be any consolation in Christ if any comfort of loue if any fellowship of the spirit c. The things vnited In this vnion not our soule alone is vnited with Christs soule or our â—lesh with his flesh but the whole person of euery faithfull man is â—erely conioyned with the whol person of our Sauiour Christ God man The manner of their vnion is this A faithfull man first of all and immediatly is vnited to the flesh or humane nature of Christ afterward by reason of the humanitie to the Word it selfe or diuine nature For saluation and life dependeth on that fulnesse of the godhead which is in Christ yet it is not coÌ„municated vnto vs but in the flesh and by the flesh of Christ. Ioh. 6 5â— Except ye eate the flesh and drinke the blood of the Sonne of man ye haue no life in you 56. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him The bond of this vnion This vnion is made by the spirit of God applying Christ vnto vs and on our parts by faith receiuing Christ Iesus offered vnto vs. And for this cause is it tearmed a spirituall vnion Christ because he is the head of the faithfull is to be considered as a publike man sustaining the person of all the elect Hence is it that the faithfull are â—aid to be crucified with Christ and with him to die to be buried Rom. 6.4 5,6 to be quickened Eph. 2.5 to be raised vp and placed in heauen v. 6. Col. 3.1 the which is not onely in regard of the hope of the faithful but because they are accepted of God certainely to haue done all these things in Christ euen as in Adams first sinne all his posteritie afterward was tainted of sinne A member of Christ is diuersly distinguished and is so either before men or God Before meÌ„ they are the members of Christ who outwardly professing the faith are charitably reputed by the Church as true members But such deceiuing at length both themselues and the Church may be reprobates therefore in Gods presence they are no more true members then are the noxious humours in mans bodie or a woodden legge or other ioynt cunningly fastened to another part of the bodie Againe members before God they are such as either are decreed to be so or actually are so already Such as are decreed to be so are they who being elect from all eternitie are either as yet not borne or not called Ioh. 10. 16. Other sheepe haue I which are not of this fold them also must I bring Actuall members of Christ are either liuing or dying members An actuall liuing member of Christ is euery one elected which being engraffed by faith and the spirit into Christ doth feele and shewe forth the power of Christ in him An actuall dying or decaying member is euery one truely engraffed into Christ and yet hath no feeling of the power and efficacie of the quickening spirit in him He is like vnto a benummed legge without sense which indeede is a part of mans body and yet receiueth no nourishment such are those faithfull ones who for a time doe faint and are ouercome vnder the heauie burtheÌ„ of tentations and their sinnes such are also those excommunicate persons who in regard of their engraffing are true members howesoeuer in regard of the externall communion with the Church and efficacie of the spirit they are not members till such time as they being touched with repentance doe begin as it were to liue againe God executeth this effectuall calling by certaine meanes The first is the sauing hearing of the word of God which is when the said word outwardly is preached to such an one as is both dead in his sinnes and doth not so much as dreame of his saluation And first of all the Law shewing a man his sinne and the punishment thereof which is eternall death afterward the Gospel shewing saluation by Christ Iesus to such as beleeue And inwardly the eyes of the minde are enlightened the heart and eares opened that he may see heare and vnderstand the preaching of the word of God The second is the mollifying of the heart the which must be bruised in pieces that it may be fit to receiue Gods sauing grace offered vnto it Ezech. 11. 19. I will giue them one heart and I will put a new spirit within their bowels And I will take the stonie heart out of their bodies and will giue them an heart of flesh There are for the brusing of this stonie heart foure principal hammers The first is the knowledge of the law of God The second is the knowledge of sinne both originall and actuall and what punishment is due vnto them The third is compunction or pricking of the heart namely a sense and feeling of the wrath of God for the same sinnes The fourth is an holy desperation of a mans owne power in the obtaining of eternall life Act. 2.37 When they heard these things they were pricked in heart and said vnto Peter and the rest of the Apostles Men and brethren what shall we doe 38. Peter said vnto them Repent and be baptized euery one of you in the name of Iesus into the remission of sinnes and ye shall receiue the gift of the holy Ghost Luk. 15.17 Then he came to himselfe and said How many hired seruants at my fathers haue bread ynough and I die for hunger 18. I will rise and goe to my father and say vnto him Father I haue sinned against heauen and before thee 19. And am no more worthie to be called thy sonne make me as one of thy hired seruants c. Matth. 15. 24. He answered and said I am not sent but to the lost sheepe of Israel The third is faith which is a miraculous and supernaturall facultie of the heart apprehending Christ Iesus being applied by the operation of the holy Ghost and receiuing him to it selfe Ioh. 1.1,2,6.35 Iesus said vnto them I am the bread of life he that commeth vnto me shall neuer hunger and he that beleeueth in me shall neuer thirst Rom. 9.30 What shall we
this order touching man that what euill or defect soeuer he brought vpon himselfe he should deriue the same to euery one of his posteritie begotten of him and hereupon when any father begets his childe he is in the roome of Adam and conueies vnto it beside the nature of man the very guilt and corruption of nature Now for the preuenting of this euill in Christ God in great wisdome appointed that he should be conceiued by the holy Ghost without any manner of generation by man And by this meanes he takes substance from the Virgin without the guilt and corruption of the substance But it may further be obiected thus All that be in Adam haue sinned in him but Christ was in Adam as he is man therefore he sinned in him Ans. The proposition is false vnlesse it be expounded on this manner All that were in Adam haue sinned in him so be it they come of him by generation Paul saith not out of one man but by one man sinne entred into the world to shew that man propagates his corruption to no more then he begets Againe Christ is in Adam not simply as other men are but in some part namely in respect of substance which he took from him and not in respect of the propagation of the substance by ordinarie generation other men are both from Adam and by Adam but Christ is from him alone and not by him as a begetter or procreant cause The second part of sanctification is the infusion of all purenesse and holinesse into the manhoode of Christ so farre forth as was meete for the nature of a redeemer The duties to be learned hence are these First whereas Christ was sanctified in the wombe of the virgin Marie we likewise must labour to be sanctified in our selues following the commandement of God Be ye holy as I am holy S. Iohn saith that he which hath hope to be with Christ in glorie in heauen purifieth himselfe euen as he is pure no doubt setting before himselfe the example of Christ as a patterne to follow in all his waies And because our hearts are as it were seas of corruptions we must daily cleanse our selues of them by little little following the practise of the poore begger that is alwaies peecing and mending and day by day pulls away some ragges and puts better cloath in the roome And if we shall continually indeauour our selues to cast off the remnants of corruption that hang so fast on and make a supplie thereof by some new portions of Gods heauenly grace we shall be vessells of honour sanctified and meete for the Lord and prepared vnto euery good worke Christ could not haue beene a fit Sauiour for vs vnlesse he had first of all bin sanctified neither can we be fit members vnto him vnlesse we be purged of our sinnes and in some measure truly sanctified The comfort which Gods people may reape of the sanctification of Christs manhood is great For why was he sanctified Surely if we marke it well we shall finde it was for the good and benefit of his Elect. For Adam and Christ be two rootes as hath beene shewed Adam by creation first receiued Gods image and after lost the same for himselfe and his posteritie Now Christ to remooue the sinne of man is made the second Adam and the roote and very head of all the Elect. His manhood was filled with holinesse aboue measure that from thence as from a storehouse it might be deriued to all his members And therefore by his most holy conception our sinnefull birth and conception is sanctified and his holinesse serues as a couer to hide our manifolde corruptions from the eyes of God Yea it serues as a buckler to award the temptations of the deuill for when he shall say to our hearts on this manner no vncleane thing can enter into the kingdome of heauen but thou by reason of the remnants of originall sinne art vncleane therefore thou canst not enter into the kingdome of heauen we returne our answer saying that Christs righteousnesse is our righteousnesse seruing to make vs stand without blame or spot before God And as Iacob put on Esaus garments that he might get his fathers blessing so if by faith we doe put on the white garment of righteousnes of our elder brother Christ Iesus and present our selues in it vnto our heauenly father we shall obtaine his blessing which is eternall happines Now remaines the third and last part of the conception which is the Vnion of the godhead and the manhood cōcerning which many points are particularly to be handled The first is what kinde of Vnion this is Ans. In the Trinitie there be two sorts of vnions vnion in nature and vnion in person Vnion in nature is when two or moe things are ioyned and vnited into one nature as the Father the Sonne the holy Ghost beeing and remaining three distinct persons are one and the same in nature or Godhead Vnion in person is when two things are in that maner vnited that they make but one person or subsistance as a bodie created by God and a reasonable soule ioyned both togither make one particular man as Peter Paul Iohn c. And this second is the vnion whereof we intreat in this place by which the second person in Trinitie the sonne of God did vnite vnto himselfe the humane nature that is the bodie and soule of man so as the Godhead of the Sonne and the manhood concurring togither made but one person The second point is in what thing this vnion doth consist Answ. It consists in this that the second person the Sonne of God doth assume vnto it a manhood in such order that it beeing voide of all personall being in it selfe doth wholly and onely subsist in the same person As the plant called Missell or Misselto hauing no roote of his owne both growes and liues in the stocke or bodie of the Oke or some other tree so the humane nature hauing no proper substance is as it were ingrafted into the person of the sonne and is wholly supported and sustained by it so as it should not be at all if it were not sustained in that manner And for the better vnderstanding of this point we must consider that there be foure degrees of the presence of God in his creatures The first is his generall presence and it may be called the presence of his prouidence whereby he preserueth the substances of all creatures and giueth vnto them to liue mooue and haue beeing and this extendeth it selfe to all creatures good and bad The second degree is the presence of grace wherby he doth not onely preserue the substāces of all his creatures but also giueth grace vnto it this agreeth to the Church people of God vpon earth The third degree is the presence of glorie peculiar to the Saints and angels in heauen and this stands in three things for God not onely preserues their substances and giues
them plentie of his grace but also admits them into his glorious presence so as they may behold his maiestie face to face The fourth and last is that whereby the Godhead of the sonne is present and dwells with and in the manhood giuing vnto it in some part his owne subsistance Wherby it comes to passe that this manhood assumed is proper to the sonne and can not be the manhood of the Father or of the holy Ghost or of any creature whatsoeuer And this is a thing so admirable and so vnspeakable that among all the works of God there can not be found an other example hereof in all the world Hence it follows necessarily that the manhood of Christ consisting of bodie and reasonable soule is a nature onely and not a person because it doth not subsist alone as other men Peter Paul Iohn doe but wholly depends on the person of the word into the vnitie whereof it is receiued The third point is in what order the diuine and humane nature of Christ are vnited togither Ans. The common consent of Diuines is that albeit all the parts of the manhood and the godhead of Christ be vnited at one instant yet in respect of order he vnites vnto himselfe first and immediately the soule and by the soule the bodie And it seemes vnmeete that God beeing a most simple essence should immediately be ioyned to a compound bodie and therefore it may well be saide that he is vnited vnto it by the more simple part of man which is the soule Againe the manhood of Christ is first and immediately ioyned to the person of the sonne himselfe and by the person to the godhead of the sonne The fourth point is whether there remaine any difference or diuersitie of the two natures after that the vnion is made Answ. The two natures concurring make not the person of the sonne to be compounded properly but onely by analogie for as bodie and soule make one man so God and man make one Christ neither are they turned one into an other the godhead into the manhood or the manhood into the godhead as water was turned into wine at Cana in Galile neither are they confused and mingled togither as meates in the stomacke but they now are and so remaine without composition conuersion or confusion really distinct and that in three respects First in regard of essence For the godhead of Christ is the godhead and can not be the manhood and againe the manhood of Christ is the manhood and not the godhead Secondly they are distinguished in proprieties the godhead is most wise iust mercifull omnipotent yea wisdom iustice mercie and power it selfe and so is not the manhood neither can it be Againe Christ as he is God hath his will eternall and vncreated which is all one with the will of the father and the holy Ghost And as he is man he hath another will created in time placed in his reasonable soule this Christ signifieth when he saith Not my will but thy will be done Thirdly they are distinct in their actions or operations which though they goe togither inseparably in the worke of redemption yet they must in no wise be confounded but distinguished as the natures themselues are Christ saith of himselfe I haue power to lay downe my life and I haue power to take it vp againe and hereby he shewes the distinction of operations in his two natures For to lay downe his life is an action of the manhood because the Godhead can not die and to take it vp againe is the worke of the Godhead alone which reunites the soule to the bodie after death The fifth and last point is what ariseth of this vnion Ans. By reason of this hypostatical vnion though the godhead receiue nothing from the manhood yet the manhood it selfe which is assumed is thereby perfected and enriched with vnspeakable dignitie For first of all it is exalted aboue all creatures whatsoeuer euen angels themselues in that it hath subsistance in the second person in Trinitie Secondly togither with the godhead of the Sonne it is adored and worshipped with diuine honour as in like case the honour done to the King himselfe redoundes to the crowne on his head Thirdly by reason of this vnion the godhead of Christ workes all things in the matter of our redemption in and by the manhoode And hereupon the flesh of Christ though it profit nothing of it selfe yet by the vertue which it receiueth from that person to which it is ioyned it is quickning flesh and the bread of life Againe from this vnion of two natures into one person ariseth a kinde of speech or phrase peculiar to the Scriptures called the communication of proprieties when the propertie of one nature is attributed to the whole person or to the other nature as when Paul saith that God shed his blood that the Lord of glorie was crucified And when Christ saith that he talking with Nichodemus was then in heauen The vse of the personall vnion is threefold First it serues to shew the hainousnesse of our sinnes and the greatnesse of our miserie For it had not bene possible to make a satisfaction to Gods iustice in mans nature for the least offence vnlesse the same nature had first of all beene neerely ioyned to the godhead of the sonne that thereby it might be so farre forth supported and sustained that it might ouercome the wrath of God Secondly it sets forth vnto vs the endlesse loue of God to man For whereas by reason of Adams fall we were become the vilest of all creatures except the deuill and his angels by his mysticall coniunction our nature is exalted to such an estate and condition as is farre aboue all creatures euen the angels themselues Thirdly it is as it were the keye of all our comfort for all sound comfort stands in happines all happines is in fellowship with God all fellowship with God is by Christ who for this cause beeing very God became very man that he might reconcile man to God and God to man Thus much of the conception of Christ now followes his birth whereby in the ordinarie time of trauell according to the course of nature he was brought forth into the world by the virgin Marie And it was the will of God that Christ should not onely be conceiued but also borne and that after the manner of men that he might be knowne to be very man indeede In the birth we may consider foure things the time the place the manner the manifestation of it The time was in the last daies toward the end of the 70. weekes of Daniel which are to be accounted from the ende of the captiuitie of Babylon and make in all 490 yeares or more plainly 3900 yeares and more from the beginning of the world and as Paul saith in the fulnesse of time And the Euangelists haue noted of purpose the time to haue beene when Augustus Caesar taxed
into one whole Mystical bodie Now that we may the better cōceiue the nature of it sundrie questions are to be mooued The first what kinde of coniunction this is Ans. In the scripture we meete with three kinde of coniunctions The first is coniunction in nature when sundrie things are coupled by one and the same nature As the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost being three distinct subsistances are all one and therefore ioyned in one godhead or diuine nature Nowe Christ and the beleeuer are not ioyned in nature for thē they twaine should haue one bodie and soule The second coniunction is in person when things in nature different so concurre togither that they make but one person as the bodie and soule make one man and the godhead of the sonne with his manhood make but one Christ in whome there is an vnion of distinct natures with vnity of person Nowe Christ and a Christian are not ioyned in person for Christ is one person Peter a second and Paul a third distinct from thē both so many men as there bee so many seuerall persons The third coniunction is in spirit and this is the coniunction meant in this place whereby Christ and his Church are ioyned togither for the verie same spirit of God that dwelleth in the manhood of Christ and filleth it with all graces aboue measure is deriued thence and dwelleth in all the true members of the Church and filleth them with the like graces in measure and therefore S. Iohn saith Hereby wee knowe that we dwell in him and he in vs because he hath giuen vs of his spirit Hence it followes that the bond of this coniunction is one and the same spirit descending from Christ the head to all his members creating also in them the instrument of faith whereby they apprehend Christ and make him their owne The second is what are the things vnited Ans. Not the bodie of the beleeuer to the bodie of Christ or the soule to his soule but the whole person of the man to the whole person of Christ yet in this order we are first of al immediately ioyned to the manhood of Christ by the manhood to the godhead The third question is what is the manner of this coniunction Answ. Wee must not thinke that Christ and his Church are ioyned by imagination as the minde of man and the thing whereof he thinkes or by consent of heart as one friende is ioyned with another and as the Iewes conuerted were all of one heart and soule or by any abode in one place or by touching as sea and lande are both ioyned togither and make one globe or by any composition or cōmixtion of substances as when many ingredients are put togither to make one medicine But this coniunction is altogither spirituall as the former Giuing was and incomprehensible to mans reason and therefore wee must rather labour to feele it by experience in the heart then to conceiue it in the braine Yet neuerthelesse it shall not be amisse to consider a resemblance of it in this comparison Suppose a man hauing the parts of his bodie disioyned farre asunder his head lying in Italy one arme in Germanie the other in Spaine and his leggs with vs in England suppose further all these parts or quarters haue all one soule extending it selfe vnto them all and quickening each of them seuerally as though they were neerely ioyned togither and though the parts be seuered many hundred miles asunder yet the distance of place doth not hinder the coniunction considering one and the same soule doth inlarge it selfe and giue life vnto them all In the same manner the head of the Mysticall bodie Christ our Sauiour is nowe in heauen and some of his members in heauen with him and some in earth and of these some in England some in Germanie some in Italy some in Spaine distant many thousand miles asunder and the spirit of God is as it were the soule of this bodie which giueth spirituall life to all the members distance of place doth not hinder this coniunction because the holy Ghost which linketh all the partes togither is infinite The benefits which we receiue by this Mysticall vnion are manifold For it is the ground of the conueiance of all grace The first is that by means hereof euery Christian as he is a Christian or a man regenerate hath his beginning and being in Christ howesoeuer as he is a man hee hath his beeing and subsisting in himselfe as Paul saith Ye are of God in Christ. And We are members of his bodie of his flesh and of his bones Howe will some say can this be After this manner The comparison is taken from our first parents Eue was made of a rib taken out of Adams side he beeing cast into a slumber this beeing done Adam awaked and said This nowe is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh Christ was nailed on the crosse and his most pretious blood was shed and out of it arise and spring all true Christians that is out of the merit of Christs death passion whereby they become newe creatures Secondly euery one that beleeueth in Christ by reason of this vnion hath an vnspeakable prerogatiue for hereby he is first vnited to Christ and by reason thereof is also ioyned to the whole trinitie the father the sonne and the holy Ghost and shall haue eternall fellowship with them Thirdly sundrie men specially Papists deride the doctrine of iustification by imputed righteousnes thinking it as absurde that a man should be iust by that righteousnesse which is inherent in the person of Christ as if we should say that one man may liue by the soule of another or be learned by the learning of another But here we may see that it hath sufficient foundation For there is a most neere and strait vnion betweene Christ and all that beleeue in him and in this vnion Christ with all his benefits according to the tenour of the couenant of grace is made ours really therfore we may stande iust before God by his righteousnesse it beeing indeede his because it is in him as in a subiect yet so as it is also ours because it is giuen vnto vs of God Nowe there is no such vnion betweene man and man and for that cause one man can not liue by the soule of another or be learned by the learning of another Fourthly frō this fountaine springes our sanctificatiō wherby we die to sin and are renued in righteousnes and holines Wormes flies that haue lien dead al winter if they be laid in the sunne in the spring time begin to reuiue by vertue thereof euen so whē we are vnited to Christ are as it were laid in the beames of this blessed sonne of righteousnes vertue is deriued thence which warmeth our benummed hearts dead in sinne and reuiueth vs to newnes of life whereby we begin to affect and like good things and put in practise all
before was not at all but rather by moouing transporting and applying natural things diuersly by causing a thinne body as the ayre to be thick and foggie also by bewitching the senses of men The foundation of Magique is a couenant with Satan A couenant with Satan is such a contract by which Magitians haue mutually to doe with the diuell In this obserue The originall of this mutuall contract I. Satan maketh choice of such men to be his seruants as are by nature either notorious badde persons or very sillie soules II. He offereth vnto them diuers meanes either by other Magitians or by some bookes written by such Satanicall meanes I call those which are vsed in the producing of such an effect to the which they neither by any expresse rule out of Gods word nor of their owne nature were euer ordained Such are concealed speeches wordes of the Scripture wrested and abused to the great contumelie and disgrace of the Lord God holy or rather vnholy water sieues seales glasses images bowings of the knee and such like diuers gestures III. When the wicked see these meanes offered vnto them they presently are not a little glad and assuredly beleeue that in those things there is vertue to worke wonders by IV. They declare this their satanicall confidence by their earnest desire practising and abusing the meanes V. Then the diuell is at their elbowes being thus affected that he may both assist them in them shew diuers trickes of his legerdemaine because he alone doth by meanes voide of all such vertue effect that which his wicked instrument intended Againe obserue Satans counterfeiting of God He is Gods Ape taketh vpon him as though he were God I. As God hath his word his Sacraments and faith due vnto hâ—mâ— so hath the diuell his Word and to seale it vnto the wicked he annexeth certaine signes namely characters gestures sacrifices c. as it were sacraments that both he may signfie his diuellish pleasure to his Magitians and they againe may testifie their satanicall both obedience and confidence to him IIâ— As God heareth such as call vpon trust in and obey him so the diuell is greatly delighted with magicall ceremonies and invocations because by them God is dishonoured and he magnified therefore if God cut him not short he is readie prest to assist such as shall vse such ceremonies or inuocations The couenant is either Secret or Expresse Secret or implicite when one doth not expresly compact with Satan yet in his heart aloweth of his meanes assuredly and vpon knowledge beleeuing that if such means were vsed there might indeed that great woÌ„der be wrought which he desired Expresse when one doth not onely put his confidence in Satan but couenanteth with him vpon conditions that he giuing himselfe wholly ouer to the diuell may againe by obseruing certaine ceremonies accomplish his desire Magique is either coniecturall or operatiue Coniecturall whereby things are by Satans direction prophesied of before Of prophesies some are done with meanes others without Prophesies done with meanes are these I. Soothsaying diuination by the flying of birds Deut. 18.11 II. The kind of diuination which is by looking into beasts entrals Ezech. 21.21 The king of Babel c consulted with idols and looked in the liuer III. Necromancie or coniuring by which the diuel in the forme of some dead man is sought vnto for counsell 1. Sam. 28. 11. Then said the woman Whome wilt thou I call vp vnto thee And â—e said Call vp Samuel vnto me vers 13. Then said he vnto her Feare not but what sawest thou And the woman saide vnto Saul I saw gods ascending out of the earth v. 14. Then said he vnto her What fashion is he of and she answered An old man commeth vp lapped in a mantle And Saul knewe that it was Samuel and he enclined his face to the ground and bowed himselfe And Samuel said to Saul why hast thou disquieted me to bring me vp TheÌ„ Saul answered I am in great distresse for the Philistiâ—â—s make warre against me c. This Samuel was not that true Prophet of God who annointed Saul King ouer Israel for 1. the soules of the Saints departed are farre from the diuels clawes and dominion 2. That good Samuel if it had beene he indeed would neuer haue permitted Saul to worship him 3. He faith to wicked Saul To morrow shalt thou be with me v. 14. Neither could this be a bare illusion and as I may say legerdemeine of the witch for he plainely foretolde Sauls destruction which an ignorant woman could not knowe much lesse durst she constantly auouch any such matter to the king It remaineth then that this Samuel was a meere illusion of Satan Diuining without meanes is when such as are possessed with an vncleane spirit vse immediatly the helpe of the same spirit to reueale secrets Act. 16. 16. A certaine maide hauing a spirit of diuination met vs which gate her master much vantage with diuining Esay 94.4 Thy voice shall be out of the grounde like him that hath a spirit of diuination and thy talking shall whisper out of the dust Magique operatiue hath two parts Iuggling and Inchantments Iuggling whereby through the diuels conueiance many great and very hard matters are in shew effected Exod. 7.10.11,12 Aaron cast forth his rod before Pharaoh and before his seruants and it was turned into a serpent then Pharaoh called also for the wise men and sorcerers and those charmers also of Egypt did in like manner with their enchantments for they cast downe euery man his rod and they were turned into serpents but Aarons rodde deuoured their rod. Enchantment or charming is that wherby beasts but especially yong children men of riper yeares are by Gods permission infected poisoned hurt bounden killed and otherwise molested or contrarily sometimes cured of Satan by mumbling vp some fewe wordes making certaine characters figures framing circles hanging amulets about the necke or other parts by hearbes medicines and such like trumperie that thereby the punishment of the faithles may be augmented in reposing their strength vpon such rotten staues and the faithfull may be tried whether they will commit the like abomination Psal. 18.4 Their poison is euen like the poison of a serpent like the deafe adder that stoppeth his eare which heare not the voice of the enchanter though he be most expert in charming Eccles. 10. 11. If the serpent bite when he is not charmed c. Thus haue we heard Magique described out of gods word the which how as yet common it is in those especially which are without God in the worlde whome Satan by all meanes strongly deludeth the lamentable experience which many men and most places haue thereof can sufficiently proue vnto vs. And surely if a man will but take a view of all poperie he shall easily see that the most part is meere Magique They which spread abroad by their writing or othewise that witches are nothing els but melancholike
custodie of God Fewe or none can practise this and therefore when any euill befalls them either in bodie or in goods or any other way whatsoeuer then they presently shewe them-selues rather beastes then men in impatience For in prosperitie they had no care to put their trust in God and therefore in aduersitie when crosses come they are void of comfort But when a man hath grace to beleeue and trust in God then he commits all into Gods handes and though all the world should perish yet he would not bee dismaied And vndoubtedly if a man will bee thankefull for the preseruation of his goods or of his life he must shewe the same by committing all he hath into God hands and suffer himselfe to be ruled by him Nowe followes the consolations and comforts which Gods Church and children reape hereby Hee that beleeues in God and takes God for his God may assure himselfe of saluation and of a happie deliuerance in all daungers and necessities When God threatned a plague vpon Israel for their idolatrie good King Iosiah humbled himselfe before the Lord his God and hee was safe all his daies And so King Hezekiah when Senacherib the King of Ashur offered to inuade Iudah hee trusted likewise in the Lord and praied vnto him and was deliuered Whereby wee see if a man puts his whole trust in God he shall haue securitie and quietnesse as Iehosaphat saide to the men of Iudah And our Sauiour Christ when hee was vpon the crosse and felt the whole burden of the terrible wrath of God vpon him cried My God my God why hast thou forsaken me And it appeareth in the Epistle to the Hebrewes that Christ was heard in that he feared whereby we are giuen to vnderstand that they shall neuer be vtterly forsaken that take God for their God And King Dauid hauing experience of this vseth most excellent speeches for this ende to shewe that the ground of his comfort was that God was his God And it is saide that Daniel had no manner of hurt in the Lyons denne because he trusted in the Lord his God And contrariwise such as distrust God are subiect to all miseries and iudgements The Israelites in the wildernesse beleeued not God and trusted not in his helpe therefore God was angrie and his fire was kindled in Iacob and wrath came vpon Israel God the Father Almightie Some haue thought that these words are to be coupled to the former without distinction as if the title of God had beene proper to the first person the Father and not common to the rest◠and thus haue some heretickes thought But in deede there must a pause or distinction be made that the name or title of God may bee set in the fore-front as common to all the three persons following For that is the very intent of the order of this Creede to teach vs to beleeue in one God who is distinct into three subsistances or persons called the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost And here offers it selfe to bee considered euen one of the greatest mysteries of our religion namely that God is the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost and againe that the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost are one and the same God Some at the first may possibly say that this cannot stande because it is against all reason that one should bee three or three one The aunswere is that indeede if one and the same respect bee kept it is not possible but in diuers considerations and respects it may And thus the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost are three namely in person and againe they three are one not in person but in nature By nature is meant a thing subsisting by it selfe that is common to many as the substance of man consisting of bodie and soule common to all men which wee call the humanitie of a man is the nature of man By person is meant a thing or essence subsisting by it selfe not common to many but incommunicable as among men these particulars Peter Iohn Paul are called persons And so in the mysterie of the Trinitie the diuine nature is the godhead it selfe simply and absolutely considered and a person is that which subsisteth in this Godhead as the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost Or againe a person is one and the same godhead not absolutely considered but in relation and as it were restrained by personall or caracteristicall proprieties as the godhead or God begetting is the Father God againe considered not simply but so farre foorth as hee is begotten is the Sonne and God proceeding of the Father and the Sonne the holy Ghost And if any man would conceiue in minde rightly the diuine nature hee must conceiue God or the godhead absolutely if any of the persons then hee must conceiue the same godhead relatiuely with personall proprieties Thus the godhead considered with the proprietie of fatherhoode or begetting is the father and conceiuing the same godhead with the proprietie of generation we conceiue the Sonne and the godhead with the proprietie of proceeding we conceiue the holy Ghost Neither must it seeme straunge to any that we vse the names of nature and person to set forth this mysterie by for they haue beene taken vp by common consent in the primitiue Church and that vpon weightie consideration to manifest the trueth and to stop the mouthes of hereticks and they are not vsed against the proper sense of the scriptures nay they are therein contained Thus wee see howe it comes to passe that the three things signified by these names Father Sonne holy Ghost are ech of them one and the same God And this mysterie may well be conceiued by a comparison borrowed from light The light of the sunne the light of the moone and the light of the aire for nature and substance are one and the same light and yet they are three distinct lights The light of the sunne beeing of it selfe and from none the light of the moone from the sunne and the light of the aire from them both So the diuine nature is one the persons are three subsisting after a diuers manner in one and the same nature And for the further clearing of this point we must yet further marke and remember two things namely the vnion and the distinction of the persons The vnion is whereby three persons are one not simply but one in nature that is coessentiall or cōsubstantiall hauing all one godhead For the Father is God the sonne is god and the holy ghost is god now there are not three distinct Gods but one God because there is one God and no more in nature considering that the thing which is infinite is but one and is not subiect to multiplication and the Father is this one God as also the Sonne and the holy Ghost And as these three persons are one in nature so whatsoeuer agrees to God simply considered agrees to them all
three They are all coequal and coeternall all most wise iust mercifull omnipotent by one and the same wisdome iustice mercie power And because they haue all one godhead therefore they are not onely one with another but also ech in other the Father in the Sonne and the Sonne in the Father and the holy Ghost in them both And we must not imagine that these three are one God as though the Father had one part of the Godhead the Sonne another part and the holy Ghost a third For that is most false because the infinite and the most simple godhead is not subiect to composition or diuision but euery person is whole god subsisting not in a part but in the whole godhead and the whole entire godhead is communicateâ— from the father to the sonneâ— from both father and sonne to the holy Ghost But some may yet say that this doctrine seemes to bee impossible because three creatures as for example Peter Paul Timothy beeing three persons and so remaining cannot haue one and the same nature that is the same body the same soule Answ. Three or moe men may haue the same nature in kind but the truth is they cannot possibly haue a nature which shal be one and the same in number in them all three For a man is a substance created and finite and the bodies of men are quantities and therefore diuisible and separable one from another Hereupon it comes that the persons of men are not only distinguished by proprieties but also diuided and sundered one from another And though Peter Paul Timothy haue all one common and vniuersall forme yet they three are not one man but three men Nowe it is otherwise with the diuine nature or godhead which is vncreated and infinite and therefore admits neither composition nor diuision but a distinction without any seperatioÌ„ so as the three persons subsisting in it shal not be three gods but one and the same God Yet further some wil obiect that it is truely said of the father that he is god but the same godhead is not in the sonne nor in the holy ghost for the sonne and the holy ghost haue their beginning from the father Ans. The sonne and the holy ghost haue not a beginning of their nature or of their godhead from the Father but of their person onely the person of the Sonne is from the Father and the person of the holy ghost is both from the father and from the Sonne but the godhead of all three persons is vncreate and vnbegotten and proceeding from none Yet some may say both the sonne and the holy ghost haue receiued from the Father al their attributes as wisdome knowledge power c. Nowe he that receiueth any thing from another is in that respect inferiour to him that giueth it and therefore the Sonne and the holy Ghost are not God as he is Ans. We must knowe that which the Sonne receiueth of the Father he receiueth it by nature and not by grace and he receiueth not a part but all that the father hath sauing the persoâ—all proprietie And the holy ghost receiueth from the Father and the Sonne by nature and not by grace and therefore though both the sonne and the holy Ghost receiue from the Father yet they are not inferiour to him but equall with him And thus much is both necessary and profitable to be learned of the vnion betweene the three persons in Trinitie whereby they beeing three haue all one and the same godhead The second point to be considered is that that though these three haue but one godhead and all make but one God yet they are distinguished one from another for the father is the father and not the sonne or the holy Ghost the sonne is the sonne and not the father nor the holy Ghost and the holy ghost is the holy ghost not the father nor the sonne This distinction of the persons is notably set forth vnto vs in the baptisme of our Sauiour Christ where it is said that vvhen Iesus was baptized he came out of the water there is the second person and the holy Ghost descended vpon him in the forme of a doue there is the third person and the father the first person pronounced from heauen that he was his onely beloued sonne in whome he was well pleased And wee must conceiue this distinction in such manner as though these three Father Sonne and holy Ghost were three names of one God For the three persons doe not in name or word but really in trueth distinctly subsist in the same diuine nature Neither must we imagine that the three persons are three formes or differences of one God as some hereticks haue dreamed who taught that the father alone is God and that he is called a father in one respect the sonne in another and the holy Ghost in a third For this were nothing els but to make the personall proprieties to be nothing but imaginarie accidents which indeede or at the least in mans conceit might come and goe and be either in the persons or forth of them For the personall râ—lations though in minde they may be distinguished from the diuine essence yet indeede they are one with it But some will say if they make this distinction there is rather a quaternitie then a trinitie for the godhead is one the father an other the sonne a third and the holy Ghost a fourth Thus some heretikes haue obiected against the distinction of the trinitie but it is vntrue which they say For the godhead must not be seuered from the Father nor from the Sonne nor from the holy Ghost for the father is God or the whole godhead so also is the sonne and the holy Ghost and the godhead likewise is in euery one of these three persons and euery one of them subsisting in the godhead and the godhead must be conceiued to be in them all and not as a fourth thing out of them And therefore we must still mâ—intaine that these three persons are distinguished and not deuided as three men are deuided in beeing and substance for this diuision can not be in them because all three haue one drâ—ine nature and one godhead This is the mysterie of all mysteries to be receiued of vs all namely the trinitie of the persons in the vnitie of the godhead This forme of doctrine must be retained and holden for these causes I. because by it we are able to distinguish this true God from all false gods and idols II. because among all other points of religion this is one of the chiefest beeing the very foundation thereof For it is not sufficient for vs to know God as we can conceiue of him in our owne imagination but we must know him as he hath reuealed himselfe in his word And it is not sufficient to saluation to beleeue in God confusedly but we must beleeue in one God distinct into three persons the Father the Sonne the holy
as it is absolutely considered but so farre forth as it is restrained and limited to the person of the sonne and to speake properly the godhead it selfe is not incarnate but the very person of the sonne subsisting in the Godhead And though all the persons be one and the same essence yet doe they really differ each from other in regard of the peculiar manner of subsisting and therefore mans nature may be assumed of the second person and be not assumed either of the father or of the holy Ghost as in the like case the soule of man is wholly in the head and wholly in the feete yea wholly in euery part and yet the soule can not be said to vse reason in the feete or in any other part but onely in the head Againe it may be alleadged that the incarnation beeing an outward action of God to the creature is not proper to the sonne For the rule is that all outward actions of God are common to all the persons in Trinitie equally Ans. The incarnation stands of two actions the first is the framing and creating of that manhood which was to be assumed by the Sonne or Word of the father and this action is common to all the three persons equally the second is the limiting or the receiuing of it into the vnitie of any person in respect of this action the worke of incarnation is peculiar to the Sonne To this purpose Augustine speaketh That creature saith he which the Virgin conceiued and brought forth though it appertaine to the person of the sonne alone yet was it made by the whole Trinitie as when three men weaue one and the same garment and the second onely weares it The second question is what manner of man the sonne of God was made Answ. He was made a proper or particular man and a perfect or a very man I say that he was a particular man to shew that he tooke not vnto him the generall forme or idea of mans nature conceiued onely in minde nor the common nature of man as it is existing in euery man but the whole nature of mā that is both a bodie and a resonable soule existing in one particular subiect I say further that he was and is a true and perfect man beeing in euerie thing that concernes mans nature like to Adam Abraham Dauid and all other men sauing onely in sinne For first of all he had the substance of a true body and of a reasonable soule secondly the properties of body and soule in the bodi◠length breadth thicknesse circumscription c. in the soule the faculties of vnderstanding both simply and compounde will affections as loue hatred desire ioy feare c. the powers also of hearing feeling seeing smelling tasting moouing growing eating digesting sleeping c. Thirdly hee tooke vnto him the infirmities of mans nature which are certaine naturall defects or passions in bodie or minde as to be hungrie thirstie wearie sadde and sorrowfull ignorant of some things angrie to increase in stature and wisdōe and knowledge c. yet this which I say must be vnderstood with two caueats The first is that infirmities be either certaine vnblameable passions or else such defects as are sinnes in themselues nowe Christ takes the first onely and not the second Secondly infirmities be either generall or personall generall◠which appertaine to the whole nature of man and are to be founde in euery man that comes of Adam as to be borne vnlearned and subiect to naturall affections as sorrow anger c Personall are such as appertaine to some particular men and not to all and arise of some priuate causes particular iudgements of God as to be borne a foole to bee sicke of an ague consumption dropsie plurisie and such like diseases Nowe the first sort bee in Christ and not the second for as he tooke not the person of any man◠but onely mans nature so was it sufficient for him to take vnto him the infirmities of mans nature though he tooke not the priuate infirmities of any mans person And the reason why Christ would put on not onely the substance and faculties of a true man but also his infirmities was that he might shewe himselfe to be very man indeede also that he might suffer for vs both in bodie and soule and that he might giue vs an example of patience in bearing all manner of euill for Gds glory and the good of our neighbour Nowe the things which may bee alleadged to the contrarie for the infringing of the trueth of Christs manhoode are of no moment As first because Christ appeared in the forme of a man in the olde testament beeing no man therfore he did so at his comming in the newe testament but the reason is not like For Christ in the olde testament as the angel of his father in some speciall affaires tooke vnto him the bodie of a man for some space of time but he did not receiue it into the vnitie of his person but laid it downe when the busines which he enterprised with men was ended Nowe in the fulnesse of time he came from heauen as the angel of the couenant and for that cause he was to vnite into his owne person the nature of man which thing was neuer done before And when as Paul saith that Christ came in the similitude of sinnefull flesh his meaning is not to signifie that he was a man onely in resemblance and shewe but to testifie that beeing a true man which was indeede void of sinne he was content to abase himselfe to that condition in which he became like to a miserable sinner in bearng the punishment for our sinne For Paul doth not say that hee tooke vpon him the similitude of flesh simply as it is flesh but of the flesh of sinne or sinnefull flesh The third question is why the sonne of God must become man Ans. There be sundrie reasons of this point and the most principall are these First of all it is a thing that greatly standes with the iustice of God that in that nature in which God was offended in the same should a satisfaction be made to God for sinne nowe sinne was committed in mans nature Adam sinned first and in him all his posteritie therefore it is very necessarie that in mans nature there should bee a satisfaction made to Gods iustice and for this cause the sonne of God must needes abase himselfe and become man for our sakes Secondly by the right of creation euery man is bound in conscience to fulfill euen the very rigour and extremitie of the morall lawe But considering man is nowe fallen from his first estate and condition therfore it was requisite that the Sonne of God should become man that in mans nature he might fulfill all righteousnesse which the lawe doth exact at our handes Thirdly hee that is our redeemer must die for our sinnes for there is no remission of sinnes without shedding
though the bodie rotte in the graue or be eaten of wormes or of fishes in the sea or burnt to ashes yet that will not be vnto vs a matter of discomfort if we doe well consider the ground of all grace namely our coniunction with Christ. It is indeede a spirituall and yet a most reall coniunction And we must not imagine that our soules alone are ioyned to the bodie or soule of Christ but the whole person of man both in bodie and soule is ioyned and vnited to whole Christ. And when we are once ioyned to Christ in this mortall life by the bond of the spirit we shall remaine and continue eternally ioyned with him and this vnion once truly made shall neuer be dissolued Hence it followes that although the bodie be seuered from the soule in death yet neither bodie nor soule are seuered from Christ but the very body rotting in the graue drowned in the sea burned to ashes abides still vnited to him and is as truly a member of Christ then as before This point we must remember as the foundation of all our comfort and hold it for euer as a truth For looke what was the condition of Christ in death the same or the like is the condition of al his mēbers Now the cōditiō of Christ was this though his body soule were seuered each frō other as far as heauen the graue yet neither of them were seuered frō the godhead of the Sonne but both did in death subsist in his person And therefore though our bodies and soules be pulled asunder by naturall or violent death yet neither of them no not the bodie it selfe shall be seuered and disioyned from Christ. It will be alleadged that if the bodie were then vnited to Christ it should liue and be quickned in the graue Ans. Not so when a mans arme or legge is taken with the dead palsie it receiues litle or no heat life sense or motion from the bodie and yet notwithstanding it remaines still a membrr of the bodie because the flesh and the bone of it remain ioined to the flesh and the bone of the bodie euen so may the body remaine a member of Christ though for some space of time it receiue neither sense nor motion nor life from the soule or from the spirit of Christ. Furthermore wee must remember that by the vertue of this coniunction shall the dead bodie be it rotten burned deuoured or howsoeuer consumed at the day of iudgement rise to eternal glorie In the winter season trees remain without fruit or leaues and beeing beaten with winde and weather appeare to the eye as if they were rotten trees yet when the spring time comes again they bring forth as before buddes and blossomes leaues and fruit the reason is because the bodie graines and armes of trees are all ioyned to the roote where lies the sappe in the winter season and whence by meanes of this coniunction it is deriued to all the parts of the tree in the spring time Euen so the bodies of men haue their winter also in which they are turned to dust and so remaine for the space of many thousand yeares yet in the day of iudgement by meanes of that mysticall coniunction with Christ shall diuine and quickning vertue streame thence to all the bodies of the Elect to cause them to liue againe and that to life eternall But some will say that the wicked also rise againe Answ. They doe so indeede but not by the same cause for they rise by the power of Christ as he is a iudge to condemne them whereas the godly rise againe by the vertue of Christs resurrection whereof they are partakers by meanes of that blessed and indissoluble coniunction which they haue with Christ. And the bodies of the Elect though they putrifie and consume neuer so much in the graue yet are they still in the fauour of God and in the couenant of grace to which because they haue right and title beeing dead they shall not remaine so for euer but shall rise to glorie at the last iudgement Therefore the rotting of the bodie is nothing in respect and the death of the bodie is no death And therefore also death in the olde and new Testament is made but a sleepe and the graue a bed whereof the like was neuer seene wherein a man may rest nothing at all troubled with dreames or fantasies and whence he shall rise no more subiect to weaknesse or sicknesse but presently be translated to eternall glorie By this then which hath bin said it appeares that the death of the righteous is a second degree to euerlasting happines Now then considering our coniunction with Christ is the foundation of all our ioy and comfort in life and death we are in the feare of God to learne this one lesson namely that while we haue time in this world we must labour to be vnited vnto Christ that we may be bone of his bone flesh of his flesh This very point is as it were a flaggon of wine to reuiue our soules when they be in a sowne at any instant And that we may be assured that we are certenly ioyned to Christ we must shew our selues to be members of his mystical bodie by the daily fruits of righteousnes and true repentance And beeing once certenly assured in conscience of our beeing in Christ let death come when it will and let it cruelly part asunder both bodie and soule yet shall they both remaine in the couenant and by meanes thereof be reunited and taken vp to life eternall Whereas on the contrarie if men be out of the couenant and die out of Christ their soules goe to hell and their bodies rotte for a time in the graue but afterwards they rise to endlesse perdition Wherefore I say againe and againe labour that your consciences by the holy Ghost may testifie that ye are huing stones in the Temple of God and braunches bearing fruit in the true vine and then ye shall feele by experience that the pangs of death shall be a further degree of happines then euer ye found in your liues euen then when ye are gasping and panting for breath Thus much of the meaning of the text now followes the vses and they are manifold The first and principall is this In that Salomon preferres the day of death before the day of birth he doth therein giue vs to vnderstand that there is a direct and certen way whereby a man may die well if it had beene otherwise he could not haue said that the day of death is better And whereas he auoucheth this he shewes withall that there is an infallible way whereby a man may make a blessed ende Therefore let vs now come to search out this way the knowledge and true vnderstanding whereof must not be fetched from the writings of men but from the word of God who hath the power of life and death in his owne hand Now that a man may die well Gods
is euident 1. by the course of nature 2. by the nature of the soule of man 3. by the distinction of things honest and dishonest 4. by the terrour of conscience 5. by the regiment of ciuill societies 6. the order of all causes hauing euer recourse to some former beginning 7. the determination of all things to their seuerall ends 8. the consent of all men well in their wits God is Iehouah Elohim Exod. 6.2 And Elohim spake vnto Moses and said vnto him I am Iehouah and I appeared vnto Abraham to Isaac and to Iacob by the name of God almightie but by my name Iehouah was I not knowne vnto them Exod 3.13 If they say vnto me What is his name What shall I say vnto them And God answered Moses I am that I am Also he said thus shalt thou say vnto the children of Israel I am hath sent me vnto you And God spake further to Moses Thus shalt thou say vnto the children of Israel Iehouah Elohim c. hath sent me vnto you In these wordes the first title of God declareth his Nature the second his Persons The Nature of God is his most liuely and most perfect essence The perfection of the nature of God is his absolute constitution by the which he is wholly complete within himselfe Exod. 3. 13. I am that I am Act. 17.24 God that made the world and all things that are therein seeing that he is the Lord of heauen and earth dwelleth not in temples made with hands neither is worshipped with mens hands as though he needed any thing seeing he giueth to all life and breath and all things The perfection of his Nature is either Simplenes or the Infinitenes therof The Simplenesse of his nature is that by which he is void of all Logical relation He hath not in him subiect or adiunct Ioh. 5.26 As the Father hath life in himselfe so hath he giuen to the Sonne to haue life in himselfe conferred with Ioh. 14.6 I am the way the truth and the life 1. Ioh. 1.7 But if we walke in light as he is in light conferred with v. 5. God is light and in him is no darkenesse Hence it is manifest that to haue Life and to be Life to be in Light and to be Light in God are all one Neither is God subiect to generalitie or specialtie whole or parts matter or that which is made of matter for so there should be in God diuers things and one more perfect then another Therefore whatsoeuer is in God is his essence and all that he is he is by essence The saying of Augustine in his 6. booke and 4. chap. of the Trinitie is fit to prooue this In God saith he to be and to be iust or mightie are all one but in the minde of man it is not all one to be and to be mightie or iust for the minde may be destitute of these vertues and yet a minde Hence it is manifest that the Nature of God is immutable and Spirituall Gods immutabilitie of nature is that by which he is void of all composition diuision and change Iam. 1. 17. With God there is no variablenesse nor shadowe of changing Mal. 3.6 I am the Lord and am not changed Where it is saide that God repenteth c. Gen. 6.6 the meaning is that God changeth the action as men doe that repent therefore repentance it signifieth not any mutation in God but in his actions and such things as are made and chaunged by him Gods Nature is spirituall in that it is incorporall and therefore inuisible Ioh. 4.24 God is a spirit 2. Cor. 3. 17. The Lord is the spirit 1. Tim. 1.17 To the King eternall immortall inuisible onely wise God be glorie and honour for euer and euer Col. 1.15 Who is the image of the inuisible God The infinitenesse of GOD is twofolde his Eternitie and Exceeding greatnesse Gods eternitie is that by which he is without beginning and ending Psal. 90. 2. Before the mountaines were made and before thou hadst formed the earth and the round world euen from euerlasting to euerlasting thou art our God Revel â— 8. I am Alpha and Omega that is the beginning and ending saith the Lord Which is Which was and Which is to come Gods exceeding greatnes is that by which his incomprehensible nature is euery where present both within and without the world Psal. 145.3 Great is the Lord and worthie to be praised and his greatnes is incomprehensible 1. King 8.27 Is it true indeede that God will dwell on the earth behold the heauens and the heauens of heauens are not able to containe thee how much lesse is this house that I haue built Ier. 23. 24. Doe not I fill the heauen and earth saith the Lord Hence it is plaine First that he is onely one and that indiuisible not many Eph. 4.5 One Lord one faith one Baptisme one God and Father of all Deut. 4. 35. Vnto thee it was shewed that thou mightest know that the Lord he is God and that there is none but he alone 1. Cor. 8.4 We know that an idoll is nothing in the world and that there is none other God but one And there can be but one thing infinite in nature Secondly that God is the knower of the heart For nothing is hidden from that nature which is within all things and without all things which is included in nothing nor excluded from any thing Because 1. King 8. 39. the Lord searcheth all hearts and vnderstandeth euery worke of the minde Psal. 139.1,2 Thou knowest my sitting downe and my rising vp thou vnderstandest my cogitation a farre off CHAP. 3. Of the life of God HItherto we haue spoken of the perfection of Gods nature Now followeth the life of God by which the Diuine Nature is in perpetuall action liuing and moouing in it selfe Psal. 42. 2. My soule thirsteth for God euen for the liuing God when shall I come and appeare before the presence of God Hebr. 3. 12. See that there be not at any time in any of you an euill heart to depart from the liuing God The diuine Nature is especially in perpetual operation by three attributes the which doe manifest the operation of God towards his creatures These are his Wisdome Will and Omnipotencie The wisdome or knowledge of God is that by the which God doth not by certaine notions abstracted from the things themselues but by his owne essence nor successiuely and by discourse of reason but by one eternall and immutable act of vnderstanding distinctly and perfectly know himselfe and all other things though infinite whether they haue beene or not Matth. 11.27 No man knoweth the Sonne but the Father nor the Father but the Sonne and he to whome the Sonne will reueale him Hebr. 4. 13. There is nothing created which is not manifest in his sight but all things are naked and open to his eyes with whome we haue to doe Psal. 147.5 His wisdome is infinite Gods wisdome hath these
forsaking Gods word and seeking other wisdome 4. Their pride in seeking to magnifie theÌ„selues and to become like God 5. Contempt of God in transgressing his commandements against their owne conscience 6. In that they preferre the diuell before God 7. Ingratitude who in as much as in them lieth expel Gods spirit dwelling in them and despise that blessed vnion 8. They murther both themselues and their progeniâ— III. The fruit or effects Out of this corrupt estate of our first parents arose the estate of infidelitie or vnbeleefe whereby God hath included all men vnder sinne that he might manifest his mercie in the saluation of some and his iustice in condemnation of others Rom. 11.32 God hath shut vp all men in vnbeleefe that he might haue mercie on all Gal. 3.22 The Scripture hath concluded all vnder sinne that the promise by the faith of Iesus Christ should be giuen to them that beleeue In this estate we must consider sinne and the punishment of sinne Sinne is threefold The first is the participation of Adams both transgression and guiltinesse whereby in his finne all his posteritie sinned Rom. 5. 12. As by one man sinne enered into the world and by sinne death so death entred vpon all men in that all men haue sinned The reason of this is ready Adam was not then a priuate man but represented all mankinde and therefore looke what good he receiued from God or euill elsewhere both were common to others with him 1. Cor. 15.22 As in Adam all men die so in Christ all men rise againe Againe when Adam offended his posteritie was in his loynes from whoÌ„ they should by the course of nature issue and therefore take part of the guiltines with him Hebr. 7.9,10 And to say as the thing is Levi c. paied tithes to Melchisedec for he was yet in the loynes of his father Abraham when Melchisedec met him CHAP. 12. Of Originall sinne OVt of the former transgression ariseth another namely Originall sinne which is corruption ingendred in our first conception whereby euery facultie of soule and bodie is prone and disposed to euil Psal. 1.1 I was borne in iniquitie and in sinne hath my mother conceiued me Gen. 6. 5. Tit. 33. We our selues were in times past vnwise disobedient deceiued seruing the lusts and diuerse pleasures liuing in maliciousnes and enuie hatefull and hating one another Hebr. 12.1 Let vs cast away euery thing that presseth downe and the sinne that hangeth so fast on By this we see that sinne is not a corruption of mans substance but onely of faculties otherwise neither could mens soules be immortal nor Christ take vpon him mans nature All Adams posteritie is equally partaker of this corruptioÌ„ the reason why it sheweth not it selfe equally in all is because some haue the spirit of sanctification some the spirit onely to bridle corruption some neither The propagation of sinne from the parents to the childreÌ„ is either because the soule is infected by the contagion of the body as a good ointment by a fustie vessell or because God in the very moment of creation and infusion of soules into infants doth vtterly forsake them For as Adam receiued the image of God both for himselfe and others so did he loose it from himselfe and others But whereas the propagation of sinne is as a common fire in a towne men are not so much to search howe it came as to bee carefull howe to extinguish it That wee may the better knowe originall sinne in the seuerall faculties of mans nature three circumstances must be considered 1. How much of Gods image we yet retaine 2. How much sinne man receiued from Adam 3. The increase thereof afterward I. In the minde The remnant of Gods image is certaine notions concerning good and euill as that there is a God and that the same God punisheth transgressions that there is an euerlasting life that we must reuerence our superiours not harme our neighbours But euen these notions they are both generall and corrupt and haue none other vse but to bereaue man of all excuse before Gods iudgement seat Rom. 1.19,20 That which may be known concerning God is manifest in them for God hath shewed it vnto them For the inuisible things of him that is his eternall power Godhead are seene by the creation of the world being considered in his works to the intent they should be without excuse Mens mindes receiued from Adam 1. IgnoraÌ„ce namely a want or rather a depriuation of knowledge in the things of God whether they concerne his sincere worship or eternall happines 1. Cor. 2.14 The naturall man perceiueth not the things of the spirit of God for they are foolishnes vnto him neither can hee know theÌ„ because they are spiritually discerned Rom. 8.7 The wisdome of the flesh is enimitie with God for it is not subiect to the law of God neither indeede can be II. Impotencie whereby the minde of it selfe is vnable to vnderstand spirituall things though they be taught Luk. 24.45 Then opened he their vnderstanding that they might vnderstand the Scriptures 2. Cor. 3.5 Not that we are sufficient of our selues to think any thing as of our selues but our sufficieÌ„cie is of God III. Vanitie in that the minde thinketh falsehood truth and trueth falsehood Eph. 4.7 Walke no more as other Gentiles in the vanitie of your vnderstanding 1. Cor. 1.21 It pleased God by the foolishnes of preaching to saue those which beleeue 23. We preach Christ crucified to the Iewes a stumbling blocke but to the Grecians foolishnes Prou. 14.12 There is a way which seemeth good in the eies of men but the end thereof is death IV. A naturall inclâ—nation onely to conceiue and deuise the thing which is euill Gen. 6.5 The Lord saw that the wickednes of man was great vpon earth all the imaginations of the thoughts of the heart were onâ—ly euill continually Iere. 4. 22. They are wise to doe euill but to do well they haue no knowledge Hence it is apparant that the originall and as I may say the matter of all heresies is naturally ingrafted in mans nature This is worthie the obseruation of students in diuinitie The increase of sin in the vnderstanding is 1. a reprobate sense when God withdraweth the light of nature Ioh. 12.40 He hath blinded their eies and hardened their harts least they should see with their eies vnderstaÌ„d with their harts and I should heale them and they be conuerted Rom. 1.28 As they regarded not to know God so God deliuered theÌ„ vp vnto a reprobate minde to do those things which are not conuenient 2. The spirit of slumber Rom. 11.8 God hath giuen them the spirit of slumber c. 3. A spirituall drunkennesse Esay 29.9 They are drunken but not with wine they stagger but not with strong drinke 4. Strong illusions 2. Thess. 2.11 God shall send them strong illusions they shall beleeue lies The remnant of Gods image in the conscience is an
Thou hast made him to haue dominion in the workes of thy handes and therefore God hauing created him in his image biddeth him rule ouer the fishes of the sea ouer the fowles of the heauen and ouer euery beast that mooueth vpon the earth afterward he brought them all to him as to a soueraigne lord and king to be named by him and answerably euery creature in his kind gaue reuerence and subiection vnto man before his fall as vnto their lord and king Where by the way we must remeÌ„ber that when we see any creature that is hurtfull and noysome vnto man and would rather deuoure then obey him it must put vs in minde of our sinne for by creation we were made lords and kings ouer all creatures and they durst not but reuerence and obey vs but the rebellion of man vnto God is the cause of the rebellion of the creatures vnto vs. The third part of mans dignitie by creation is that before his fall he had a wonderfull beautie and maiestie aboue all creatures in his bodie whereupon Dauid saith the Lord hath crowned him with glorie and worship And in the renuing of the couenant with Noe God saith that the dread and feare of man shall be vpon all creatures which nowe though it be but small yet doth it plainely shewe what was the glorie and maiestie of mans person at the first The fourth dignitie of mans estate in innocencie is that his labour was without paine or wearinesse if he had neuer fallen he should haue laboured in the garden but so as he should neuer haue beene wearied therewith For when Adam was fallen God said In the sâ—eate of thy face shalt thou eate thy bread now if the paine in labour come after as a curse vpon man for his transgression then before his fall man felt no paine in his affaires And in these foure things consisteth mans dignitie which he had in the creation Now in the third followeth mans calling before his fall which is twofold I. particular II. generall Mans particular calling was to come into the garden of Eden to keepe it and to dresse the trees and fruits thereof This shewes vnto vs a good lesson that euery man must haue a particular calling wherein he ought to walke and therefore such as spende their time idlely in gaming and vaine delights haue much to answer to God at the day of iudgement This will not excuse a man to say theÌ„ that he had land liuing to maintaine himselfe and therefore was to liue as he list for euen Adam in his innocencie had all things at his will wanted nothing yet euen then God imploied him in a calling therfore none must be exempted euery man both high low must walke in his proper calling AdaÌ„s general calling was to worship his Creatour to which he was bound by the right of creation considering the morall law was written in his heart by nature Which is signified in the Decalogue where the Lord requires worship and obedience of his people because he is Iehouah that is one which hath beeing in himselfe and giues beeing to all men by creation For the better vnderstanding of this point we are to consider three things I. The place where Adam did worshippe II. The time III. The sacraments For the first God euer since the beginning had a place where he would be worshipped and it is called Gods house which then was the garden of Eden For it was vnto Adam a place appointed by God for his worship as Church-assemblies are vnto vs where also the Lord at some time did in a speciall manner shew himselfe vnto his creature Touching the time of Gods worship it was the seuenth day from the beginning of the creation the Sabbath day And here we must note that the keeping of the Sabbath is morall Some indeede doe pleade that it is but a ceremonie yet falsly for it was ordained before the fall of man at which time Ceremonies signifying sanctification had no place Nay marke further Adam in his innocencie was not clogged with sinne as we are and yet then he had a set Sabbath to worship God his creatour and therefore much more neede hath euery one of vs of a sabbath day wherein we may seuer our selues from the workes of our callings and the workes of sinne to the worship of God in the exercise of religion and godly meditation of our creation This point must be learned of vs for when no occasion is offered of busines then men will formally seeme to keepe the sabbath but if there come occasion of breaking the sabbath as traffike gaming and vaine shewes then Sabbath farewell men will haue their pleasures let them worship God that will But let vs remember in the feare of God that whosoeuer continueth in the breach of this law beeing moral God will no lesse powre forth his punishments vpon them then for the breach of any other commaundement the consideration whereof must mooue euery man to a reuerent sanctifying of the Lords day Now for Adams sacraments they were two the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and euill these did serue to exercise Adam in obedience vnto God The tree of life was to signifie assurance of life for euer if he did keepe Gods commandements the tree of knowledge of good and euill was a sacrament to shew vnto him that if he did transgresse Gods coÌ„mandements he should die and it was so called because it did signifie that if he transgressed this law he should haue experience both of good and euill in himselfe Now in the fourth place followeth the ende of the creation of man which is twofold First that there might be a creature to whome God might make manifest himselfe who in a speciall maner should set forth and acknowledge his wisdome goodnesse mercie in the creation of heauen and earth and of things that are in them as also his prouidence in gouerning the same Secondly God hauing decreed to glorifie his name in shewing his mercie and iustice vpon his creature hereupon in time createth men to shew his mercie in the saluation of some and to shew his iustice in the iust and deserued damnation of other some And therfore he hath appointed the creation specially of man to be a meanes of manifestation and beginning of the execution of his eternal counsell Thus much concerning mans creation in generall The speciall parts of man are two bodie and soule And the reason why the Lord would haue him stand on these two parts is this Some creatures made before him were onely bodily as beasts fishes foules some spirituall as Angels now man is both spirituall in regard of his soule corporall and sensible in regard of his bodie that nothing might be wanting to the perfection of nature If it be alleadged that man consists of three parts bodie soule and spirit because Paul praies that the Thessalonians may be sanctified in bodie soule and
spirit the answer is that the spirit signifies the minde whereby men conceiue and vnderstand such things as may be vnderstood and the soule is there taken for the will and affections and therefore these twaine are not two parts but onely two distinct faculties of one and the same soule The bodie of man at the first was formed by God of clay or of the dust of the earth not to be the graue of the bodie as Plato said but to be an excellent and most fit instrument to put in execution the powers and faculties of the soule And howsoeuer in it selfe considered it is mortall because it is compoūded of contrarie natures called Elements yet by the appointment and blessing of God in the creation it became immortall till the fall of man As for the soule it is no accidentarie qualitie but a spirituall and inuisible essence or nature subsisting by it selfe Which plainely appeares in that the soules of men haue beeing and continuance as well forth of the bodies of men as in the same and are as well subiect to torments as the bodie is And whereas we can and doe put in practise sundrie actions of life sense motion vnderstanding we doe it onely by the power and vertue of the soule Hence ariseth the difference betweene the soules of men and beasts The soules of men are substances but the soules of other creatures seeme not to be substances because they haue no beeing out of the bodies in which they are but rather they are certaine peculiar qualities arising of the matter of the bodie and vanishing with it And it may be for this cause that the soule of the beast is said to be in the blood whereas the like is not said of the soule of man And though mens soules be spirits as angels are yet a difference must be made For angels can not be vnited with bodies so as both shall make one whole and entire person whereas mens soules may yea the soule coupled with the bodie is not onely the moouer of the bodie but the principall cause that makes man to be a man The beginning of the soule is not of the essence of God vnlesse we will make euery mans soule to be God neither doth it spring of the soule of the parents for the soule can no more beget a soule then an angel can beget an angel And Adam is called a liuing soule and not a quickning soule And earthly fathers are called the fathers of our bodies and not of our soules It remaines therefore as beeing most agreeable to the Scriptures that the soules of men are then created by God of nothing when they are infused into the bodie And though the soule◠of men haue a beginning yet they haue no end but are eternall And when they are saide to die it is not because they cease at any time to subsist or haue beeing in nature but because they cease to be righteous or to haue fellowship with God Whereas our bodies are Gods workemanship we must glorifie him in our bodies and all the actions of bodie and soule our eating and drinking our liuing and dying must be referred to his glorie yea we must not hurt or abuse our bodies but present them as holy and liuing sacrifices vnto God And whereas God made vs of the dust of the earth we are not to glorie and boast our selues but rather to take occasion to praise the great goodnesse of God that hath vouchsafed to honour vs beeing but dust and ashes And after that man is created what is his life alas it is nothing but a little breath stoppe his mouth and his nostrells and he is but a dead man By this we are put in minde to consider of our fraile and vncerten estate and to lay aside all confidence in our selues and for this cause the Prophet Esay teacheth vs to haue no confidence in man because his breath is in his nostrills Againe let vs marke the frame and shape of mans bodie All other creatures goe with their bodies and eyes to the ground-ward but man was made to goe vpright and whereas all other creatures haue but foure muscles to turne their eyes round about man hath a fifth to pull his eyes vp to heauen-ward Now what doth this teach vs surely that howsoeuer we seeke for other things yet first of all and aboue all we should seeke for the kingdome of heauen and the righteousnesse thereof and that our whole desire should be set to enioy the blessed estate of Gods children in heauen Secondly it teacheth vs in receiuing Gods creatures to returne thankfulnes vnto God by lifting vp the heart to heauen for the same These are very needfull and profitable lessons in these daies for most men indeede goe vpright but looke into their liues and they might as well goe on all foure for in their conuersation they set their whole hearts vpon the earth as the beast doth and their eyes vpon the things of this world hereby they doe abase themselues and deface their bodies and beeing men make themselues as beasts we shall see great numbers of men that runne and ride from place to place to prouide for the bodie but to seeke the kingdome of heauen where their soules should dwell after this life in ioy for euer they wil not stirre one foote Thirdly mans bodie by creation was made a temple framed by Gods owne hands for himselfe to dwell in therefore our dutie is to keepe our bodies pure and cleane and not to suffer them to be instruments wherby to practise the sinne of the heart If a man had a faire house wherein he must entertaine a prince and should make hereof a swinestie or a stable would not all men say that he did greatly abuse both the house and the prince euen so mans bodie beeing at the first made a pallace for the euerliuing God if a man shall abuse it by drunkennesse swearing lying fornication or any vncleannesse he doth make it in stead of a temple for the holy Ghost to be a stie or stable for the deuill For the more filthie a mans bodie is the more fit it is to be a dwelling place for sinne and Sathan Fourthly man by creation was made a goodly creature in the blessed image of God but by Adams fall men lost the same and are now become the deformed children of wrath our dutie therefore is to labour to get againe our first image and indeauour our selues to become newe creatures If a noble man should staine his blood by treason after his death the posteritie will neuer be at rest till they haue got away that spot Man by Adams fall is become a limm of the deuill a rebell and traytor against Gods maiestie and this is the state of euery one of vs by nature we are at enmitie with God and therfore we ought to labour aboue all things in the world to be restored in Christ to our first estate and perfection that
as Adam was and therefore his sinne is personall whereas Adams is not Yet this which I say must not be vnderstood of all the sinnes of Adam but onely of the first From the fall of Adam springeth originall sinne so commonly called not onely as a fruit thereof but also as a iust punishment of it And after the foresaid fall it is in Adam and his posteritie as the mother and roote of all other sinne yet with this distinction that actuall sinne was first in Adam and then came originall but in vs first is originall sinne and then after followes actuall Originall sinne is tearmed diuersly in Scriptures as the flesh the old man because it is in vs before grace concupiscence sinne that is readie to compasse vs about the sinning sinne and it is tearmed originall because it hath beene in mans nature euer since the fall and because it is in euery man at the very instant of his conception and birth as Dauid plainely saith Behold I was borne in iniquitie and in sinne hath my mother conceiued me not meaning properly his parents sinne for he was borne in lawfull marriage but his owne hereditarie sinne whereof he was guiltie euen in his mothers wombe But let vs a little search the nature of it Considering it hath place in man it must be either the substance of bodie or soule or the faculties of the substance or the corruption of the faculties Now it cannot be the substance of man corrupted for then our Sauiour Christ in taking our nature vpon him should also take vpon him our sinnes and by that meanes should as well haue neede of a redeemer as other men and againe the soules of men should not be immortall Neither is it any one or all the faculties of man For euery one of them as namely the vnderstanding will affections and all other powers of bodie or soule were in man from the first creation whereas sinne was not before the fall Wherefore it remaines that originall sinne is nothing else but a disorder or euill disposition in all the faculties and inclinations of man whereby they are all caried inordinately against the law of God The subiect or place of this sinne is not any part of man but the whole bodie and soule For first of all the naturall appetite to meate and drinke and the power of nourishing is greatly corrupted as appeares by diseases aches surfets but specially by the abuse of meate and drinke Secondly the outward senses are as corrupt and that made Dauid to pray that God would turne his eyes from beholding of vanitie and Saint Iohn to say whatsoeuer is in the world is the lust of the flesh the lust of the eye and the pride of life Thirdly touching the vnderstanding the spirit of God saith that the frame of the heart of man is onely euill continually so as we are not able of our selues to thinke a good thought And therefore withall the will of man and his affections are answerably corrupt and hereupon the doctrine of Christ is that we must renounce our own wills Lastly all mans strength in good things is nothing out of Christ. The propagation of this sinne is the deriuing of it from Adam to all his posteritie whereby it runneth as a leprosie ouer all mankind But in what maner this propagation is made it is hard to define The common opinion of Diuines is that it may be done two waies The first is this God when he created Adam in the beginning set downe this appointment and order touching the estate of man that whatsoeuer Adam receiued of God he should reâ—â—iue it not onely for himselfe but for his posteritie and whatsoeuer grace of God he lost he should loose not onely to himselfe but to all his posteritie And hereupon Adam when he sinned he depriued first of all himself and then secondly all his posteritie of the image of God because all mankind was in â—is loines when he sinned Now then vpon the former appointment when the soules of men are created and placed in the bodie God forsakes them not in respect of the substance of the soule or the faculties but onely in respect of his owne image wherof the soules are depriued after which followes the defect or want of righteousnesse which is originall sinne And God in depriuing man of that which AdaÌ„ lost is not therefore to be thought to be the author or maintainer of sinne but a iust iudge For this depriuation of the image of God so farforth as it is inflicted by him vpon mankind it must be conceiued as a deserued punishment for the sinne of Adam and all men in him which punishment they pulled vpon themselues The second way is that the corruption of nature is deriued from the parents in generation by the bodie for as sweete oyle powred into a fustie vesâ—ell looseth his purenesse and is infected by the vessell so the soule created good put into the corrupt bodie receiues coÌ„tagion theÌ„ce And this coniunction of the pure soule with the corrupt bodie is not against the goodnes of God because it is a iust punishment of the sin of all men in AdaÌ„ It may be this which hath bin said wil not satisfie the minds of all yet if any will be curious to search further into this point let them know that there is an other matter which more concernes them to looke vnto When a mans house is on fire there is no time then to inquire how and which way and whence the fire came but our dutie is with all speed and expedition to vse all good means to stay it And so considering that our whole natures are really infected and poisoned with the loathsome contagion of originall sinne which is a weight sufficient to presse downe the soule to the gulfe of hell it standes vs in hand a thousand fold more to vse the meanes whereby it may be taken away then to dispute how it came Some may alleadge against the propagation of sinne that holy parents beget holy children which are void of originall sinne because it stands not with reason that parents should conuey that to their children which they theÌ„selues want namely the guilt and the punishment and the fault of sinne in part Answ. I. Men are not in this life perfectly holy For sanctification is but in part and therefore they can not possibly beget children pure from all sinne Secondly parents beget children as they are men and not as they are holy men and by generation they deriue vnto their children nature with the corruption thereof and not grace which is aboue nature Take any corne yea the finest wheate that euer was winow it as cleane as possibly may be afterward sow it weede it also when it is sowen and reape it in due time and carie it to the barne when it is thresht you shall finde as much chaffe in it as euer was before and why because God hath set this order in the
nothing regarded A blinde man neuer seeing the sunne is not brought to wonder at it and earthly minded men neither seeing nor feeling what an excellent thing it is to bee the childe of God cannot bee brought to seeke after it But let all such as feare God enter into a serious consideration of the vnspeakeable goodnesse of God comforting themselues in this that God the father hath vouchsafed by his owne sonne to make them of the vassals of satan to be his owne deere children Nowe followe the duties which are two First we beleeue that Iesus Christ who was to be the Sauiour of mankinde must needs be God what is the reason hereof surely because no creature no not all the creatures in heauen and earth were able to saue one man so vile wretched and miserable is our estate by Adams fall And therefore the sonne of God himselfe pitied our estate and beeing king of heauen and earth was faine to come from heauen and lay downe his crowne and become a seruant and taking vpon him our nature was also faine to take vpon him our case and condition and suffer death for our sinnes which otherwise euery one of vs should haue suffered both in bodie and soule world without ende To make this more plaine let vs suppose that some one hath committed an offence against a prince and the trespasse to be so grieuous that no man can appease the kings wrath saue only the kings onely sonne and which is more the kings sonne himselfe cannot release him vnlesse hee suffer the punishment for him in his owne person which is due vnto the malefactour Nowe what is to be thought of this mans estate surely all men will say that he is in a most miserable taking and that his trespasse is notorious and so it is with euery one of vs by nature whatsoeuer we are No man could saue our soules no not all the angels in heauen vnlesse the king of heauen and earth the onely sonne of God had come down from heauen and suffered for vs bearing our punishment Nowe the consideration of this must humble vs and make vs to cast downe our selues vnder the hand of God for our sinnes and pray continually that the Lord would send some Moses or other which might smite the rockes of our hearts that some teares of sorrowe and repentance might gush out for this our wofull miserie Secondly whereas God the Father of Christ gaue his onley sonne to be our Sauiour as we must be thankefull to God for all things so especially for this great and vnspeakable benefit Common blessings of God as meat drinke health wealth and libertie must at all times mooue vs to be thankeful but this that Christ Iesus the onely sonne of God redeemed vs beeing vtterly lost this I say must be the maine point of all our thankfulnes but alas mens hearts are so frozen in the dreggs of their sinnes that this dutie comes little in practise nowe adaies When our Sauiour Christ clensed ten lepers there was but one of them that returned to giue him thankes and this is as true in the leprosie of the soule for though saluation by Christ be offered vnto vs daily by Gods ministers yet not one of tenne nay scarse one of a thousand giues praise and thankes to God for it because men take no delight in things which concerne the kingdome of heauen they thinke not that they haue neede of saluation neither do they feele any want of a Sauiour But we for our parts must learne to say with Dauid What shall I render vnto the Lord for all his benefits yea we are to practise that which Salomon saith My sonne giue me thy heart for we should giue vnto God both bodie and soule in token of our thankefulnesse for this wonderful blessing that he hath giuen his onely sonne to bee our Sauiour and we are to hold this for trueth that they which are not thankfull for it let them say what they will they haue no soundnes of grace or power of religion at the heart And thus much of the third title The fourth and last title is in these wordes our Lord. Christ Iesus the onely sonne of God is our Lord three waies first by creation in that he made vs of nothing when we were not secondly he is our Lord in the right of redemption In former times the custome hath bin when one is taken prisoner in the field he that paies his raunsome shall becom alwaies after his Lord so Christ when we were bondslaues vnder hell death and condemnation paide the ransome of our redemption and freed vs from the bondage of sinne and satan and therfore in that respect he is our Lord. Thirdly he is the head of the Church as the husband is the wiues head to rule and gouerne the same by his word and spirit And therefore in that respect also Christ is our Lord. And thus much for the meaning Nowe followe the duties And first of al if Christ be our Soueraigne Lord we must performe absolute obedience vnto him that is whatsoeuer he commandes vs that must we doe And I say absolute obedience because Magistrates Masters Rulers and fathers may command and must bee obeyed yet not simply but so farre foorth as that which they command doth agree with the word and commandement of God but Christs will and word is righteousnesse it selfe and therfore it is a rule and direction of all our actions whatsoeuer and for this cause he must be absolutely obeyed Thus he requires the obedience of the morall lawe but why because he is the Lord our god And in Malachie he saith If I be your Lord where is my feare And againe we must resigne both bodie and soule heart mind wil affections and the course of our whole liues to be ruled by the will of Christ. He is Lord not onely of the bodie but of the spirit and soule of man he must therefore haue homage of both As wee adore him by the knee of the bodie so must the thoughts and the affections of our hearts haue their knees also to worship him and to shewe their subiection to his commandements As for such as doe hold him for their Lord in word but in the meane season will not indeauour to shewe their loyaltie in all manner of obedience they are indeede no better then starke rebels Secondly when by the hande of Christ straunge iudgements shall come to passe as it is vsuall in all places continually we must stay ourselues without murmuring or finding fault because he is an absolute Lorde ouer all his creatures all things are in his handes and hee may doe with his owne whatsoeuer he will and therefore wee must rather feare and tremble whensoeuer we see or heare of them so Dauid saith I was dumbe and opened not my mouth because thou didst it And againe My flesh trembleth for feare of thee and I am afraid of thy iudgements Thirdly before wee vse
which is done by giuing all the members of our bodies to be instruments of the seruice of God in righteosnesse and holinesse Secondly we must indeauour to keepe in the corruption of nature as it were choking and smothering it in the heart that by it neither the world nor the deuill preuaile against vs. And this must be done by hauing a narrowe regard vnto all the powers and faculties of bodie and soule setting a watch before our eies eares lippes and all other parts of the bodie that are in any action the instrumentes of the soule and aboue all as Salomon saith by countergarding the heart with all diligence By the outward senses of the bodie as through open windowes the deuill creeps into the heart and therefore our dutie is to stoppe all such waies of entrance Thirdly when original corruption begins to rebel either in the minde will or any of the affections then must we drawe out the sword of the spirit which is the word of God and incounter with that hydeous gyant laying loade vpon him by the iudgements and threatnings of the lawe and as it were beating him downe with clubbes as Paul speaketh And if it fall out that concupiscence begin to conceiue and bring forth any sinne we must cruise it in the head and dash it against the ground as a bird in the shell least it grow vp to our vtter confusion These are the duties which wee should learne by the passion of Christ. But lamentable are our daies in which all for the most part goes contrarie for commonly men are so farre from killing and subduing the rebellion of the naturall concupiscence that all their studie and care is howe they may feede and cherish it and make it stronger then the mightie Goliah But let vs for our parts be conformable to Christ in his passion suffering in our flesh as he suffered in bodie and soule for And let vs daily more and more by the hand of faith apprehend and apply to our hearts and consciences the passion of Christ that it may as a fretting corasiue eate out the poison of our sinfull natures and consume it Nowe followeth the second point concerning the passion of Christ which is vnder whome he suffered namely vnder Pontius Pilate And Christ may be saide to suffer vnder him in two respects First because he was then the president of Iurie For a little before the birth of Christ the kingdome of the Iewes was taken away by the Romane Emperour and reduced into a Prouince and Pontius Pilate was placed ouer the Iewes not as king but as the Romane Emperours deputie And this circumstance is noted in the history of the Gospell and here specified in the Creed to shewe that the Messias was exhibited in the time foretold by the Prophets Iacob foretold that Shilo must be borne after the scepter is remooued from Iudah Isaiah saith that the family of Ishai shall be worne as it were to the roote before Christ as a braunch shall spring out of it Againe Christ suffered vnder Pontius Pilate as he was a iudge whereby we are giuen to vnderstand of a wonder namely that Christ the sonne of God King of heauen and earth was arraigned at the barre of an earthly iudge and there condemned For thus much the words in meaning import that Pontius Pilate sate as iudge vpon Christ to examine him to arraigne him and giue sentence against him Wherefore before wee come to speake of the degrees of the passion of Christ we must needs intreat of his arraignment vpon earth In handling whereof we must generally consider these points First that when he was arraigned before Pilate he was not as a priuate man but as a pledge and surety that stood in the place and stead of vs miserable sinners as the Prophet Isaiah saith He bare our infirmities and carried our sorrowes and withall in him was mankind arraigned before God Secondly this arraignment was made not priuately in a corner but openly in the publike court and that in a great feast of the Iewes as it were in the hearing of the whole world Thirdly though Pilate in citing examining and condemning Christ intended not to worke any part of mans redemption yet was this wholly set downe in the counsell and good pleasure of God in whose roome Pilate sate and whose iudgement he exercised The generall vse of Christs arraignment is two-fold First it is a terrour to all impenitent sinners for there is no freedome or protection from the iudgement of God but by the arraignment of Christ and therefore such as in this life receiue him not by faith must at the ende of this world be brought out to the most terrible barre of the last iudgement there to be arraigned before the King of heauen and earth And marke the equitie hereof Christ himselfe could not haue beene our Sauiour and redeemer vnlesse he had bin brought out to the barre of an earthly iudge and arraigned as a guilty malefactour and therefore there is no man vpon earth that liues and dies out of Christ but he must whether he will or no hold vp his hand at the barre of the great iudge of all mankind where he shall see hell vnderneath him burning redde hotte and opening it selfe wide to swallow him vp and on the right hand of God standing all the Prophets Apostles and Saints of God giuing iudgement against him on the left hand the deuill and all his angels accusing him and within him a guilty conscience condemning him And thus one day shal the arraignment of those persons be that with full purpose of heart cleaue not to Christ and yet alas huge and infinite is the number of those which make more account of transitorie and earthly matters euen of their pigges with the Gaderens then of him and his benefits and such persons should rather be pitied then despised of vs all considering their estate is such that euery day they are going as traytours pinnioned to their owne iudgement that they may goe thence to eternall execution Secondly Christs arraignment is a comfort to the godly For he was arraigned before Pilate that all such as truly beleeue in him might not be arraigned before God at the day of the last iudgement he was accused before an earthly iudge that they might be cleared and excused before the heauenly iudge lastly he was here condemned on earth that we might receiue the sentence of absolution and be eternally saued in heauen The arraignment of Christ hath three parts his apprehension his accusation his condemnation In the apprehension we must consider two things the dealing of Christ and the dealing of Iudas and the Iewes The dealing and proceeding of Christ was this when he saw that the time of his apprehension and death was neere he solemnly prepared himselfe thereto And his example must teach euery one of vs who know not the shortnesse of our daies euery houre to prepare our selues against the day
bee they goe to farre for if to die the first death bee to suffer a totall separation of bodie and soule then also to die the second death is wholly and euerie way to bee seuered from all fauour of God and at the least for a time to bee oppressed of the same death as the damned are Nowe this neuer befell Christ no not in the middest of his sufferinges considering that euen then he was able to call God his God Therefore the safest is to follow the meane namely that Christ died the first death in that his bodie and soule were really and wholly seuered yet without suffering any corruption in his bodie which is the effect and fruit of the same that withall he further suffered the extreame horrours and pangs of the second death not dying the same death nor being forsaken of God more then in his own apprehension or feeling For in the very middest of his sufferings the father was well pleased with him And this which I say doth not any whit lesson the sufficiencie of the merit of Christ for whereas he suffered truely the very wrath of God and the very torments of the damned in his soule it is as much as if all the men in the worlde had died the second death and had bin wholly cut off from God for euer and euer And no doubt Christ died the first death onely suffering the pangs of the second that the first death might be an entrance not to the second death which is eternall damnation but a passage to life eternall The benefits and comforts which arise by the death of Christ are specially foure The first is the change of our naturall death I say not the taking of it away for we must all die but whereas by nature death is a curse of God vpon man for eating the forbidden fruite by the death of Christ it is changed from a curse into a blessing and is made as it were a middle way and entrance to coÌ„uaigh men out of this worlde into the kingdome of glorie in heauen and therefore it is said Christ by his death hath deliuered them from the feare of death which all the daies of their liues were subiect to bondage A man that is to encounter with a scorpion if he knowe that it hath a sting he may be dismaied but beeing assured that the sting is taken away he neede not feare to encounter therewith Nowe death in his owne nature considered is this scorpion armed with a sting but Christ our Sauiour by his death hath pulled out the sting of our death and on the crosse triumphantly saith O death where is thy sting O graue where is thy victory and therefore euen then when wee feele the pangs of death approch wee should not feare but conceiue hope considering that our death is altered and changed by the vertue of the death of Christ. Secondly the death of Christ hath quite taken away the second death from those that are in Christ as Paul saith There is no no condemnation to them which are in Christ Iesus which walke not after the flesh but after the spirit Thirdly the death of Christ is a meanes to ratisie his last will and testament For this cause was Christ the Mediatour of the newe testament that through death which was for the redemption of the transgressions which were in the former testament they which were called might receiue the promise of the eternall inheritance For where a testament is there must be the death of him that made the testament for the testament is confirmed when men are dead for it is yet of no force as long as he is aliue that made it And therefore the death of Christ doth make his last wil and testament which is his couenant of grace authentical vnto vs. Fourthly the death of Christ doth serue to abolish the originall corruption of our sinnefull hearts As a strong corasiue laid to a sore eates out all the rotten and dead flesh euen so Christs death being applyed to the heart of a penitent sinner by faith weakens and consumes the sinne that cleaues so fast vnto our natures and dwells within vs. Some will say howe can Christs death which now is not because it is long agoe past and ended kill sinne in vs nowe Answ. Indeede if we regard the act of Christs death it is past but the vertue and power thereof endureth for euer And the power of Christs death is nothing els but the power of his Godhead which inabled him in his death to ouercome hell the graue death and condemnation and to disburden himselfe of our sinnes Nowe when we haue grace to denie our selues and to put our trust in Christ by faith are ioyned to him theÌ„ as Christ himselfe by the power of his godhead ouercame death hell and damnation in himselfe so shall wee by the same power of his godhead kill and crucifie sinne corruption in our selues Therefore seeing we reape such benefit by the death of Christ if wee will shewe our selues to bee Christians let vs reioyce in the death of Christ and if the question bee what is the chiefest thing wherein wee reioyce in this world we may answer the very crosse of Christ yea the verie least drop of his blood The duties to be learned by the death of Christ are two the first concernes all ignorant and impenâ—tent sinners Such men whatsoeuer they be by the death of Christ vpon the crosse must be mooued to turne from their sinnes and if the consideration hereof will not mooue them nothing in the world will By nature euery man is a vassall of sinne and a bondslaue of Satan the deuill raignes and rules in al men by nature and we our selues can do nothing but serue and obey him Nay which is more we liue vnder the fearefull curse of God for the least sinne Well now see the loue of the sonne of God that gaue himselfe willingly to death vpon the crosse for theeâ— that he might free thee from this most feareful bondage Wherfore let all those that liue in sin ignoraÌ„ce reason thus with theÌ„selues Hath Christ the son of god done this for vs and shal we yet liue in our sinnes hath he set open as it were the veâ—ie gates of hell and shall we yet lie weltring in our damnable waies and in the shadowe of death In the feare of God let the death of Christ be a meanes to turne vs to Christ if it can not mooue vs let vs be resolued that our case is dangerous To goe yet further in this point euery one of vs is by nature a sicke man wounded at the very heart by Satan though we feele it not yet we are deadly sicke and beholde Christ is the good phisitian of the soule and none in heauen or earth neither Saint angel nor man can heale this our spirituall wound but he alone who though he were equall with the Father yet he came downe from his
the vse was among the Iewes for they vsed embalming as a pledge and signe of the resurrection but now since Christs comming we haue a more certen pledge thereof euen the resurrection of Christ himselfe and therefore it is not requisite that we should vse embalming and washing as the Iewes did And the clause which is specified in Saint Matthew is not to be omitted that Ioseph wrapped Christs bodie in a cleane linnen cloath whereby we learne that howsoeuer the strange fashions fetcht from Spaine and Italie are monstrous and to be abhorred yet seeing the bodie of a man is the creature of God therefore it must be araied in cleanly manner and in holy comelines Paul requires that the minister of the Gospel in all things be seemely or comely and herein he ought to be a patterne of sobrietie vnto all men Thirdly after they haue wound the bodie of Christ they lay it in a tombe and lastly they make it sure closing it vp with a stone rolled ouer the mouth of it Also the Iewes request Pilate to seale it that none might presume to open it besides they set a band of souldiours to watch the tombe and to keepe it that his bodie be not stollen away Many reasons might be alleadged of this their dealing but principally it came to passe by the prouidence of God that hereby he might confirme the resurrection of Christ. For whereas the Iewes would neither be mooued by his doctrine nor by his works and miracles to beleeue he causeth this to be done that by the certentie of his resurrection he might conuince them of hardnesse of heart and prooue that he was the sonne of God Thus much of the manner of his buriall Now followes the place where Christ was buried In the place we are to marke three things first that Christ was laid in Iosephs tombe whereby we may gather the greatnes of Christs pouertie in that he had not so much ground as to make himselfe a graue in and this must be a comfort to the members of Christ that are in pouertie And it teacheth them if they haue no more but food and raiment to be therewith content knowing that Christ their head and king hath consecrated this very estate vnto them Secondly the tombe wherein Christ was laide was a new tombe wherein neuer any man lay before And it was the speciall appointment of Gods prouidence that it should be so because if any man had bin buried there aforetime the malitious Iewes would haue pleaded that it was not Christ that rose againe but some other Thirdly we must obserue that this tombe was in a garden as the fal of man was in a garden and as the apprehension of Christ in a garden beyond the brooke Cedron And here we must note the practise of a good man This garden was the place of Iosephs delight and holy recreation wherein he vsed to solace himselfe in beholding the good creatures of God yet in the same place doth he make his owne graue long before he died whereby it appeares that his recreation was ioyned with a meditation of his ende and his example must be followed of vs. True it is God hath giuen vs his creatures not onely for necessitie but also for our lawfull delight but yet our dutie is to mingle therewith serious meditation and consideration of our last end It is a brutish part to vse the blessings and creatures of God and not at all to be bettered in regard of our last end by a further vse thereof The time when Christ was buried was the euening wherein the Sabbath was to begin according to the manner of the Iewes which began their daies at sunne setting from euening to euening according to that in Genesis the euening and the morning was the first day Nowe Ioseph commeth a little before euening and beggeth the body of Christ and burieth it where note that howsoeuer we are not bounde to keepe the sabbath so strictly as the Iewes were yet when we haue any busines or worke to be done of our ordinarie calling wee must not take a part of the Lords sabbath to doe it in but preuent the time and doe it either before as Ioseph did or rather after the sabbath This is little practised in the worlde Men thinke if they goe to Church before and after noone to heare Gods worde then all the day after they may doe what they list and spend the rest of the time at their owne pleasure but the whole day is the Lords and therefore must be spent wholly in his seruice both by publike hearing of the word and also by priuate reading and meditation on the same To conclude the doctrine of Christs buriall Here it may bee demanded howe he was alwaies after his incarnation both God and man considering he was dead and buried and therfore bodie and soule were sundered and a dead man seemes to be no man Ans. A dead man in his kind is as true a man as a liuing man for though bodie and soule be not vnited by the bond of life yet are they vnited by a relation which the one hath to the other in the counsell good pleasure of god and that as truely as man and woman râ—maine coupled into one flesh by a couenant of marriage though afterward they be distant a thousand miles asunder And by vertue of this relation euery soule in the day of iudgement shall be reunited to his own bodie and euerie bodie to his own soule But there is yet a more straighter bond betweene the bodie and soule of Christ in his death and buriall For as when he was liuing his soule was a meane or bond to vnite his godhead and his bodie togither so when hee was dead his verie Godhead was a meane or middle bonde to vnite the bodie and soule and to say otherwise is to dissolue the hypostaticall vnion by vertue whereof Christs bodie and soule though seuered each from other yet both were still ioyned to the godhead of the sonne The vse and profit which may be made of Christs buriall is twofolde I. It serueth to worke in vs the buriall of all our sinnes Knowe ye not saith Paul that all who haue beene baptized into Christ haue beene baptized into his death are buried with him by baptisme into his death If any shall demaund howe any man is buried into the death of Christ the answere is this Euery Christian man and woman are by faith mystically vnited vnto Christ and made all members of one bodie whereof Christ is the head Nowe therefore as Christ by the power of his godhead when hee was dead and buried did ouercome the graue the power of death in his own person so by the very same power by meanes of his spirituall coniunction doth he worke in all his members a spirituall death and buriall of sinne and naturall corruption When the Israelites were in burying of a man for feare of
this temple and in three daies I will build it vp againe more plainly I haue saith he power to lay downe my life and I haue power to take it againe From whence we learne diuers instructions First whereas Christ raiseth himselfe from death to life it serueth to prooue that he was not onely man but also true God For the bodie beeing dead could not bring againe the soule and ioyne it selfe vnto the same and make it selfe aliue againe neither yet the soule that is departed from the bodie can returne againe and quicken the bodie and therefore there was some other nature in Christ namely his godhead which did revnite soule and bodie togither and thereâ—y quicken the manhood Secondly if Christ giue life to himselfe beeing dead in the graue then much more nowe beeing aliue and in heauen glorified is hee able to raise vp his members from death to life Wee are all by nature euen starke dead in sinne as the deade bodie rotten in the graue and therefore our duty is to come to Christ our Lord by humble prayer earnestly intreating him that he would raise vs vp euery day more and more from the graue of our sinnes to newnesse of life He can of men deade in their sinnes make vs aliue vnto himselfe to liue in righteousnes and true holines all the daies of our life The third thing is that Christ rose againe with an earthquake And this serueth to prooue that he lost nothing of his power by death but still remained the absolute Lord and King of heauen and earth to whome therefore the earth vnder his feete trembling doth him homage This also prooueth vnto vs that Christ which lay dead in the graue did raise himselfe againe by his owne almightie power Lastly it serueth to conuince the keepers of the graue the women which came to embalme him and the disciples which came to the sepulchre and would not yet beleeue that he was risen againe But how came this earthquake Ans. Saint Matthew saith there was a great earthquake For the Angel of the Lord descended from heauen c. This shewes that the power of angels is great in that they can mooue and stirre the earth Three angels destroied Sodom and Gomorrha An angel destroied the first borne of Egypt in one night In the hoast of Senacherib one angel slue in one night an hundreth fourescore and fiue thousand men Of like power is the deuill himselfe to shake the earth and to destroy vs all but that God of his goodnesse limits and restraines him of his libertie Well if one angel be able to shake the earth what then will Christ himselfe doe when he shall come to iudgement the second time with many thousand thousands of angels oh how terrible and fearefull will his comming be Not without cause saith the holy Ghost that the wicked at that day shall crie out wishing the hills to fall vpon them and the mountaines to couer them for feare of that great and terrible day of the Lord. The fourth thing is that an Angel ministred to Christ beeing to rise againe in that he came to the graue and rolled away the stone and sate vpon it Where obserue first how the angels of God minister vnto Christ though dead and buried whereby they acknowledge that his power maiestie and authoritie is not included within the bonds of the earth but extends it selfe euen to the heauens themselues and the hosts thereof and that according to his humanitie Wicked men for their parts laboured to close him vp in the earth as the basest of all creatures but the angels of heauen most readily accept him as their soueraigne Lord and king as in like manner they did in his temptation in the wildernes and in his agonie in the garden Secondly that the opinion of the Papists and others which thinke that the bodie of Christ went through the graue-stone when he rose againe is without warrant For the end no doubt why the angel rolled away the stone was that Christ might come forth And indeed it is against the order of nature that one body should passe through another without corruption or alteration of either considering that euery bodie occupies a place and two bodies at the same instant can not be in one proper place Furthermore it is saide that when the angel sate on the stone his countenance was like lightening and his rayment as white as snow and this serued to shew what was the glorie of Christ himselfe For if the seruant and minister be so glorious then endles is the glorie of the lord and master himselfe Lastly it is saide that for feare of the angel the watchmen were astonied and became as dead men which teacheth vs that what God would haue come to passe all the world can neuer hinder For though the Iewes had closed vp the graue with a stone and set a band of souldiours to watch least Christ should by any meanes be taken away yet all this auaileth nothing by an angel from heauen the seale is broken the stone is remooued and the watchmen at their wittes endes And this came to passe by the prouidence of God that after the watchmen had testified these things to the Iewes they might at length be conuicted that Christ whome they crucified was the Messias The fifth and last point is that Christ rose not alone but accompanied with others as S. Matthew saith that the graues opened and many bodies of the Saints which slept arose and came out of the graues and went into the holy citie and appeared vnto many after Christs resurrection And this came to passe that the church of God might know and consider that there is a reuiuing and quickning vertue in the resurrection of Christ wherby he is able not onely to raise our dead bodies vnto life but also when we are dead in sinne to raise vs vp to newnesse of life And in this very point stands a maine difference betweene the resurrection of Christ and the resurrection of any other man For the resurrection of Peter nothing auailes to the raising of Dauid or Paul but Christs resurrection auailes for all that haue beleeued in him by the very same power whereby he raised himselfe he raiseth all his members and therfore he is called a quickning spirit And let vs marke the order obserued in rising First Christ riseth and theÌ„ the Saints after him And this came to passe to verefie the Scripture which saith that Christ is the first borne of the dead Now he is the first borne of the deadâ— in that he hath this dignitie and priuiledge to rise to eternall life the first of all men It is true indeed that Lazarus and sundrie others in time rose before Christ but yet they rose to liue a mortall life and to die againe Christ he is the first of all that rose to life euerlasting and to glorie neuer any rose before Christ in this manner And the persons that
of God not only bridling sinne in vs but also mortifying and killing the same Indeed both of them are the good gifts of Gods spirit but yet the mortification of sinne is the chiefest being an effectuall signe of grace and proper to the elect The fifth grace and gift of the holy Ghost is to heare and receiue the word of God with ioy In the parable of the sower one kind of badde ground are they which when they haue heard receiue the worde with ioy And this is that which the authour of the Hebrues calls the the tasting of the good word of God and of the powers of the world to come We knowe that there is great difference betweene tasting of meate and eating of it They that sit down at the table do both tast and eate but they that dresse the meate do onely see and taste thereof so it is at the Lords table Many there be that haue this gift truely both to tast and eate of the bodie and blood of Christ offered in the word and Sacraments and some againe doe onely taste and feele the sweetnesse of them and reioice therein but yet are not indeede partakers thereof Nowe if this be so then all those which heare the word of God must take heede how they heare and labour to finde these two things in themselues by hearing I. that in heart and conscience they be throughly touched and humbled for their sinnes II. that they be certenly assured of the fauour and loue of God in Christ and that the sweete promises of the Gospel doe belong to them and in consideration hereof they must make conscience of all sinne both in thought worde and deed through the whole course of their liues And this kind of hearing bringeth that ioy which vanisheth not away Thus much of the benefits of the holy Ghost common to all men both good and badde nowe followe such as are proper to the elect all which may be reduced vnto one namely the inhabitation of the spirit whereby the elect are the temples of the holy Ghost who is said to dwell in men not in respect of substance for the whole nature of the holy Ghost cannot be comprised in the bodie or soule of man but in respect of a particular operation and this dwelling standes in two things The first that the holy Ghost doth abide in them not for a time onely but for euer for the word dwelling noteth perpetuitie Secondly that the holy Ghost hath the full disposition of the heart as whē a man commeth to dwell in an house whereof he is lord he hath libertie to gouerne it after his owne will Nowe this disposition of the hearts of the faithfull by the holy Ghost stands in fiue special and notable gifts euery one worthie our obseruation The first is a certen knowledge of a mans owne reconciliation to God in Christ. As it is said in Esai By his knowledge my righteous seruant shall iustifie many And Christ saith This is life eternall that they knowe thee to be the onely verie God and whome thou hast sent Iesus Christ. This knowledge is not generall for then the deuils might be saued but it is particular whereby a man knoweth God the father to be his father and Christ the redeemer to bee his redeemer and the holy Ghost to bee his sanctifier and comforter And it is a speciall worke of the holy Ghost as Paul saith The spirit of God beareth witnesse to our spirits that we are the children of God And we haue receiued the spirit which is of God that we might know the things that are giuen vnto vs of God The second gift is regeneration whereby a man of a limme of the deuill is made a member of Christ and of a child of Satan whome euery one of vs by nature doe as liuely resemble as any man doeth his owne parent is made the child of God Except a man saith our Sauiour Christ be borne againe by water and the spirit he cannot enter into the kingdome of heauen Iohn Baptist in saying that Christ baptized with the holy Ghost and fire compares the spirit of god to fire and water To fire for two causes I. as it is the nature of fire to warme the body that is benummed and frozen with colde so when a man is benummed and frozen in sinne yea when he is euen starke dead in sinne it is the property of the Holy Ghost to warme and quicken his heart and to reuiue him II. Fire doth purge and eate out the drosse from the good mettall now there is no drosse nor canker that hath so deepely eaten into any mettall as sinne into the nature of man and therefore the Holy Ghost is as fire to purge and eate out the hidden corruptions of sinne out of the rebellious heart of man Againe the holy Ghost is compared to cleare water for two causes I. man by nature is as drie wood without sappe and the property of the holy Ghost is as water to supple and to put sap of grace into the dead and rotten heart of man II. the propertie of water is to clense and purifie the filth of the bodie euen so the holy Ghost doth spiritually wash away our sinnes which are the filth of our nature and this is the second benefit of the Holy Ghost By this we are taught that he which would enter into the kingdome of God and haue the Holy Ghost to dwell in him must labour to feele the worke of regeneration by the same spirit and if a man would knowe whether hee haue this worke wrought in him or no let him marke what Saint Paul saith They that are of the spirit sauour the things that are of the spirit but they that liue after the flesh sauour the things of the flesh If therefore a man haue his heart continually affected with that which is truely good either more or lesse it is a certaine token that his wicked nature is changed and he regenerate but contrariwise if his heart be alwaies set on the pleasures of sinne and the things of this world hee may iustly suspect himselfe that he is not regenerated As for example if a man haue all his minde set vpon drinking and gulling in of wine and strong drink hauing little delight nor pleasure in any thing els it argues a carnall minde vnregenerate because it affects the things of the flesh and so of the rest And on the contrarie he that hath his minde affected with a desire to doe the will of God in practising the workes of charitie and religion he I say hath a spirituall and a renued heart and is regenerate by the holy Ghost The third worke of the holy Ghost is to gouerne the hearts of the elect this may be called spirituall regiment A man that dwelleth in a house of his owne orders and gouerns it according to his own will euen so the holy ghost gouerns all them in whome he dwelleth as Paul saith
how shall he not with him giue vs all things also And touching it sundrie points must be considered The first is what is meant by this giuing Ans. It is an action or worke of God the Father by the holy ghost whereby Christ as redeemer in the appointed time is really communicated to al ordained to saluation in such manner that they may truely say that Christ himselfe withall his benefits is theirs both in respect of right thereto and in respect of all fruit redounding thence and that as truely as any man may say that house and land giuen him of his ancetours is his owne both to possesse and to vse The second point is what is the very thing giuen Answ. Whole Christ God and man is giuen because his humanitie without his godhead or the godhead without the humanitie doth not reconcile vs to God Yet in this giuing there must be a diuers consideration had of the two natures of Christâ— for the communication of the godhead is merely energeticall that is onely in respect of operation in that it doth make the manhood personally vnited vnto it to be propitiatorie for our sinnes and meritorious of life eternall And to auouch any communication of the godhead in respect of essence were to bring in the heresie of the Maniches and to maintaine a composition and a commixtion of our natures with the nature of God Againe in the manhood of Christ wee must distinguish betweene the subiect it selfe the substance of body and soule and the blessings in the subiect which tend to our saluation And the communication of the aforsaid manhood is in respect of both without separation for no man can receiue sauing vertue from Christ vnlesse first of all he receiue Christ himselfe as no man can haue the treasure hid in the fielde vnlesse first of all he haue the fielde and no man can be nourished by meate and drinke vnlesse first of all he receiue the substance of both And this is the cause why not onely in the preaching of the worde but also in the institution of the Lords supper expresse mention is made not onely of Christs merit but also of his verie bodie and blood whereby the whole humanitie is signified as appeares by that place where it is said that the Word was made flesh And though the flesh of it selfe profit nothing as S. Iohn saith yet as it is ioyned to the godhead of the sonne and doth subsist in his person it receiueth thence quickening vertue to reuiue and renue all those to whome it shall be giuen Lastly among the blessings that are stored vp in the manhood of Christ for our saluation some are giuen vnto vs by imputation as when wee are iustified by the righteousnesse indeede inherent in his manhoode but imputed vnto vs some by infusion as when holinesse is wrought in our heartes by the spirit as a fruite of that holinesse which is in the manhood of Christ and deriued from it as the light of one candle from another The third point is in what manner Christ is giuen vnto vs. Ans. God the father giueth Christ vnto his Church not in any earthly or bodily manner as when a king bestoweth a gift with his owne hand and putteth it into the hand of his subiect but the manner is altogether celestiall and spirituall partly because it is brought to passe by the meere diuine operation of the holy Ghost partly because in respect of vs this gift is receiued by an instrument which is supernaturall namely faith whereby we lay hold on and applie vnto our selues the Euangelicall promises And this manner of giuing may be conceiued thus A man that neuer stirred foote out of England holds and enioyes land in Turkie but how comes it to be his Thus the Emperour was willing and content to bestow it and the man for his part as willing to accept and receiue it and by this meanes that which at the first was the Emperours by mutuall consent becomes the mans In the same manner God the Father hath made an Euangelicall couenant with his Church in which of his mercie he hath made a graunt of his owne sonne vnto vs with righteousnesse and life euerlasting in him and we againe by his grace accept of this graunt and receiue the same by faith thus by mutuall consent according to the tenour of the couenant any repentant sinner may truly say though I now haue mine aboad vpon earth and Christ in respect of his manhood be locally in heauen yet is he truly mine to haue and to enioy his bodie is mine his blood is mine As for the giuing receiuing of the bodie blood of Christ in bodily manner which the Papists maintaine in auouching the reall transubstantiation of bread and wine in the sacrament into the bodie and blood of Christ and the Lutherans also in teaching that his bodie and blood is substantially either in or with or vnder the bread and wine is an erroneous conceit flat opposite to sundrie points of the Cbristian faith For Christ to this very houre retaineth still the essence and essentiall properties of a true bodie and we beleeue that really and visibly he ascended into heauen and there abides till his second comming to the last iudgement who then hauing but common reason would imagine a communication of the bodie of Christ pent vp in the element of bread and conueyed into our bodies by the mouth and stomacke The third point is whether we are not lords of Christ he being thus giuen vnto vs. Ans. No for this donation is not single but mutuall As Christ is giuen to vs so we againe are giuen to Christ as he himselfe saith Those whome thou hast giuen me Father I haue kept And we are giuen vnto him in that our bodies and soules are made his not onely as he is God but also as he is our redeemer and our sinnes with the guilt thereof are made his by imputation and the punishment thereof is wholly laid vpon him This is all the dowrie which the Church beeing the spouse of Christ hath brought vnto him The fifth point is how any man in particular may know that Christ is giuen vnto him of the Father Ans. When God giues Christ to man he withall giues man grace and power to receiue Christ and to apprehend him with all his benefits and this we doe when we vtterly renounce our selues this world and all things therein bewaile our sinnes past resting on the death of Christ for the pardon of them al and as it were with both the armes of faith catching holde vpon him in all estates both in life and death When the heart of any man is truely disposed and inclined to doe these and the like things wee may truely say that God hath giuen him grace to receiue Christ. The second thing required to make vs one with Christ is the Mysticall vnion which is a Coniunction wherby Christ his Church are actually coupled
how are the members of the visible Church qualified and discerned the answer followeth in the definition professing the faith Whereby I meane the profession of that religion which hath bin taught from the beginning and is now recorded in the writings of the Prophets and Apostles And this profession is a signe and marke whereby a man is declared and made manifest to be a member of the Church Againe because the profession of the faith is otherwhiles true and syncere and otherwhiles onely in shewe therefore there be also two sorts of members of the visible church members before God and members before men A member of the church before God is he that beside the outward profession of the faith hath inwardly a pure heart good conscience and faith vnfained whereby he is indeede a true member of the church Members before men whome we may call reputed members are such as haue nothing else but the outward profession wanting the good conscience and the faith vnfained The reason why they are to be esteemed members of vs is because we are bound by the rule of charitie to thinke of men as they appeare vnto vs leauing secret iudgements vnto God I added in the last place that the Church is gathered by the word preached to shew that the cause whereby it is begunne and continued is the word which for that cause is called the immortall seede whereby we are borne anew and milke whereby we are fedde and cherished to life euerlasting And hence it followeth necessarily that the preaching of the doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles ioyned with any measure of faith and obedience is an vnfallible marke of a true church Indeede it is true there be three things required to the good estate of a church the preaching of the Gospell the administration of the Sacraments and due execution of Discipline according to the word yet if the two latter be wanting so be it there be preaching of the word with obedience in the people there is for substance a true church of God For it is the banner of Christ displaied vnder which all that warre against the flesh the deuill the world must range themselues As the Lord saith by the Prophet Esai I will lift vp my hand to the Gentiles and set vp my standard vnto the people and they shall bring their sonnes in their armes and their daughters shall be carried vpon their shoulders Hence it followeth that men which want the preaching of the Gospell must either procure the same vnto themselues or if that can not be because they liue in the middest of idolatrous nations as in Spaine and Italie it is requisite that they should ioyne themselues to those places where with libertie of conscience they may enioy this happie blessing Men are not to haue their hearts glued to the honours and riches of this world but they should be of Dauids minde and rather desire to be dorekeepers in the house of God then to dwell in the tents of vngodlines In the Canticles the spouse of Christ saith Shew me O thou whome my soule loueth where thou feedest where thou liest at noone for why should I be as shee that turneth aside to the flocks of thy companions To whome he answereth thus If thou know not O thou the fairest among women get thee forth by the steppes of the flocke and feede thy kids by the tents of the shepheards that is in those places where the doctrine of righteousnes and life euerlasting by the Messias is published When the Shunamites child was dead shee told her husband that shee would go to the man of God to whome he answered thus Why wilt thou goe to him to day it is neither new moone nor sabbath day whereby it is signified that when teaching was skarse in Israel the people did resort to the Prophets for instruction and consolation And Dauid saith that the people wheresoeuer there aboad was went from strength to strength till they appeared before God in Sion And oftentimes they beeing Proselytes there aboade must needes be out of the precincts of Iewrie Thus we see what the visible Church is now further concerning it three questions are to be skanned The first is how we may discerne whether particular men and particular Churches holding errours be found members of the Catholicke church or no. For the answering of this we must make a double distinction one of errours the other of persons that erre Of errours some are destroiers of the faith some onely weakners of it A destroier is that which ouerturneth any fundamentall point of religion which is of that nature that if it be denied religion it selfe is ouerturned as the deniall of the death of Christ and the immortalitie of the soule iustification by workes and such like and the summe of these fundamentall points is comprised in the Creede of the Apostles and the Decalogue A weakning errour is that the holding whereof doth not ouerturue any point in the foundation of saluation as the errour of freewill and sundrie such like This distinction is made by the holy Ghost who saith expressely that the doctrines of repentance and faith and baptismes and laying on of hands and the resurrection and the last iudgement are the foundation namely of religion and againe that Christ is the foundation and that other doctrines consonant to the word are as gold and siluer laid thereupon Secondly persons erring are of two sorts some erre of wâ—aknes beeing carried away by others or of simple ignorance not yet beeing conuicted and informed concerning the truth Some againe erre of obstinacie or affected ignorance which hauing bin admonished and conuicted still perseuere in their forged opinions This beeing saide wâ—e nowe come to the point If any man or Church shall hold an errour of the lighter kinde he still remaines a member of the Church of God and so must be reputed of vs. As when a Lutherane shall hold that images are still to be retained in the church that there is an Vniuersall Election of all men c. for these and such like opinions may be maintained the foundation of saluation vnrased This which I say is slatly auouched by Paul If any man saith he build on this foundation gold siluer pretious stones timber hay or stubble his worke shall be made manifest by the fire c. and if any mans worke burne he shall loose but yet he shall be safe himselfe And therefore the hay and stubble of mens errours that are beside the foundation on which they are laid doe not debarre them from beeing Christians or members of the church A man breaks downe the windows of his house the house stands he breakes downe the roofe or the walls the house yet stands though deformed he pulls vp the foundation the house it selfe falls and ceaseth to be an house Now religion which we professe is like an house or building and some points thereof are like windowes doores walls roofes
liuing in the yeare â—46 acknowledged Lotharius the Emperour for his prince 4 No Bishop may be called vniuersall 5 The Church of Rome hath no more authoritie ouer other Churches then other Churches ouer it 6 A Priest and a Bishop were in times past all one 7 The Pope hath no power to giue or sell pardons 8 There can be no merit by fasting or abstinence from flesh 9 The masse is nothing but the forme of diuine sacrificâ— By this which hath beene said it doth in part appeare that the religion of the Church of Rome is repugnant to it selfe and it could not so be if it were from the word of God A Corollarie gathered out of the former assertion 1. A man being indued with no more grace then that which hee may obtaine by the religion of the Church of Rome is still in the state of damnation A DIALOGVE CONTAINING THE CONFLICTS betweene Satan and the Christian. Sathan OVile helbound thou art my slaue and my vassall why then shakest thou off my yoke Christian. By nature I was thy vassal but Christ hath redeemed me Sathan Christ redeemeth no reprobates such as thou art Christian. I am no reprobate Sathan Thou art a reprobate for thou shalt be condemned Christian. Lucifer to pronounce damnation belongeth to God alone thou art no iudge it is sufficient for thee to be an accuser Sathan Though I cannot condemne thee yet I knowe God will condemne thee Christian. Yea but God will not condemne me Sathan Goe too let vs trie the matter Is not God a Lord and a King ouer thee and may he not therefore giue thee a lawe to keep and punish thee with hell fire if thou breake it Christian. Yes Sathan And hast thou kept the lawe of this thy Lord and King Christian. No. Sathan Let vs proceed further Is not the same Lord also a most righteous iudge And therefore a most sharp reuenger of sinne Christian. Yes truely Sathan Why then wilt thou flatter thy selfe thou hypocrite God cannot winke at thy sinnes except he should be vniust Wherefore there is no remedie thou art sure to be damned hel was prouided for thee and now it gapeth to deuoure thee Christian. There is remedie enough to deliuer me from condemnation For God is not onely as thou affirmest a Lord and a iudge but also a sauing and a most mercifull father Sathan But thou firebrand of hel fire and child of perdition looke for no mercie at Gods hands because thou art a most grieuous sinner for 1 Original sin runneth wholly ouer thee as a loathsome botch or leprosie 2 Thy mind knoweth not the things that be of God 3 In the law of God thou art stark blind sauing that thou hast a few principles of it to make thee inexcusable 4 The Gospel is foolishnes and madnes vnto thee thou makest no better account of it then of thine owne dreame 5 Thy conscience is corrupt because it flattereth thee and excuseth thy sinne 6 Thy memorie keepeth and remembreth nothing but that which is against Gods word but things abominable and wicked it keepeth long 7 Thy will hath no inclination to that which is good but onely to sinne and wickednes 8 Thy affections are set onely on wickednes they are as mightie gyants and princes in thee they haue thee at coÌ„mandement RemeÌ„ber that for very anger thou hast bin sicke that the lust of thy flesh hath driuen thee to madnes forget not thy Atheisme thy contempt of Gods word thy inward pride thy enuie hatred malice thy couetousnesse and infinit other wicked desires which haue led thee captiue and made thee outragious in all kind of naughtines 9 Thy actuall sinnes committed partly in secret partly in publike are most filthie and most infinite Remember how in such a place at such a time thou diddest commit fornication in another place thou diddest steale c. God saw this I warrant thee yea all thy sinnes are written in his booke wherefore thou cursed wretch all hope of mercie is cut off from thee Christian. But Gods mercie farre exceedeth all these my sinnes and I can not be so infinite in sinning as God is infinite in mercie and pardoning Sathan Darest thou presume to thinke of Gods mercie why the least of thy sinnes deserueth damnation Christian. None of my sinnes can feare me or dismay me Christ hath borne the full wrath and vengeance of his Father vpon the crosse euen for me that I might be deliuered from condemnation which was due vnto me Sathan If Gods purpose were not to condemne thee perswade thy selfe he would neuer lay so many afflictions and crosses on thee as he doth What is this want of good name this weaknesse and sicknesse of thy bodie these terrours of the minde this dulnesse and frowardnes of thy heart what are all these I say and many other euills but the beginnings and certaine flashings of the fire of hell Christian. Nay rather my afflictions are liuely testimonies of my saluation For God as a louing father partly by them as with scourges chasteneth my disobedience and bringeth me into order partly conformeth me vnto my Sauiour Christ and so by little and little laieth open to me mine owne sinnes that I may dislike my selfe and hate them and maketh me to renounce the world thy eldest sonne and stirreth me vp to call vpon him and to pray earnestly with grones sighes which I am not able to expresse with any words as I feele them Sathan Thy afflictions are heauie and comfortlesse therefore they can not be arguments of Gods fauour Christian. Indeede their nature is to bring griefe and heauines to the soule but I haue had ioy in the midst of my afflictions strength sufficient to beare them and after them haue bin many waies bettered which befalleth to none of the wicked and for that cause it is a great perswasion to me that I shall not be damned with the wicked world but in spite of all thy power passe from death to euerlasting life Sathan After these thy manifold afflictions thou must suffer death which is most terrible and a very entrance into hell Christian. Death hath lost his sting by Christs death and vnto me it shal be nothing els but a passage vnto euerlasting life Sathan Admit thou shalt be deliuered from hell by Christ what will this auaile thee considering that thou shalt neuer come to the kingdom of heauen for Christs death onely deliuereth thee from death eternall it cannot aduance thee to euerlasting life Christian. I am now at this time a member of Christs kingdome and after this life shall raigne with him for euer in his euerlasting kingdome Sathan Thou neuer didst fulfill the law therefore thou canst not come into the kingdome of heauen Christian. Christ hath perfectly fulfilled euery part of the law for me and by this his obedience imputed vnto me I my selfe doe keepe the
God a member of Christ in respect of coniunction with him and shall be restored to his former estate after serious repentance And God permits these foiles for weightie causes first that men might be abashed and confounded in themselues with the consideration of their vile natures and learne not to swell with pride because of Gods grace Paul â—aith thâ—t after he had beene rapt into the third heauen the angel Satan was sent to buâ—fet him and as we say to beate him blacke and blew that he might not be exalted out of measure The second that we may learne to denie our selues cleâ—ue vnto the Lord froÌ„ the bottom of our hearts Paul saith that he was sick to death that he might not trust in himselfe but in God who raiseth the dead Thus much of the manner of the combat now followes the cause of it The cause is the contrarietie that is betweene the flesh and the spirit As Paul saith The wisdome of the flesh is enmitie to God Hence we are taught that since the fall there is no free-will in man in spirituall matters concerning either the worship of God or life euerlasting For flesh is nothing else but our naturall disposition and man is nothing else but flesh by nature for the spirit comes afterward by grace and the flesh is flatte contrarie to the spirit which makes vs doe that which is pleasing vnto God Wherefore the will naturally is a flat bondslaue vnto sinne Againe hence we may learne that it is not an easie matter to practise religion which is to liue according to the spirit to which our naturall disposition is as contrarie as fire to water wherefore if we will obey God we must learne to force our natures to the duties of godlines yea euen sweate and take paines therein Lastly here we may learne the nature of sinne The spirit is not a substance but a qualitie and therefore the flesh which is nothing else but originall sinne and is contrarie to the spirit must also be a qualitie for such as the nature of one contrarie is such is the other There is in euery man the substance of bodie and soule this can not be sinne for then the spirit also should be the substance of man There is also in the substance the faculties of bodie and soule and they can not be sinne for then euery man should haue lost the faculties of his soule by Adams fall Lastly in the faculties there is a contagion or corruption which carieth them against the law and that is properly sinne and the flesh which is contrarie to the spirit The fourth point is touching the persons in whome this combate is Paul shewes who they are when he saith So that ye can not c. where it appeares that such as haue this combat in them must be as the Galatians men iustified and sanctified and yet not all such but onely they that be of yeares for the infants of the faithfull howsoeuer we must repute them to belong to the kingdome of heauen and therefore to be iustified and sanctified yet because they doe not commit actuall sinne they want this combat of the flesh and spirit which stands in action As for those which be vnregenerate they neuer felt this fight If any say that the worst man in the world when he is about to commit any sinne hath a strife and fight in him It is true indeede but that is an other kinde of combat which is betweene the conscience and the heart The conscience on the one part terrifying the man from sinne the will and the affections hailing and pulling him thereunto the will and the affections wishing and desiring that sinne were no sinne and Gods commandement abolished whereas contrariwise the conscience with a shrill voice proclaimes sinne to be sinne This fight was in Pilate who by the force of his conscience feared to condemne Christ and yet was willing and yeelded to condemne him that he might please the people Furthermore this combat is in the regenerate but during the time of this life For they which are perfectly sanctified feele no strife If any shall say that this combat was in Christ when he said Father if it be thy will let this cuppe passe from me yet not my will but thine be done Indeede here is a combat but of an other sort namely the fight of two diuerse desires the one was a desire to doe his fathers will in suffering the death of the crosse the other a naturall desire which was no sinne but a meere infirmitie of humane nature whereby he in his manhood desires as the manner of nature is to seeke the preseruation of it selfe to haue the cursed death of the crosâ—e remooued from him The fifth point is the effect of this combat which is to make the man regenerate that he can not doe the things which he would and this must be vnderstood in things both good and euill And first he can not doe the euill which he would for two causes First because he can not commit sinne at what time soeuer he would Saint Iohn saith He that is borne of God sinneth not neither can he sinne because he is borne of God that is he can not sinne at his pleasure or when he will Ioseph when he was assaulted by Putiphars wife to adulterie because the grace of God abounded in him whereby he answered her saying Shall I doe this and sinne against God he could not then sinne Lot because his righteous heart was grieued in seeing and hearing the abominations of Sodom could not then sinne as they of Sodom did Hence it appeares that such persons as liue in the daily practise of sinne against their own consciences though they be professours of the true religion of Christ haue no soundnes of grace in them Secondly the man regenerate can not sinne in what manner he would and there be two reasons thereof First he can not sinne with full consent of will or with all his heart because the will so farre forth as it is regenerate resisteth and and draweth backe yea euen then when a man is carried headlong by the passions of the flesh he feeles some contrarie motions of a regenerate conscience It is a rule that sinne doth not raigne in the regenerate For so much grace as is wrought in the minde will affections so much is abated proportionally of the strength of the flesh Wherefore when he commits any sinne he doth it partly willingly and partly against his will As the marriners in the tempest cast Ionas into the sea willingly for otherwise they had not done it and yet against their wills too which appeares because they praied and cast their goods out of the shippe and laboured in the rowing against the tempest and that very long before they cast him out And herein lies the difference betweene two men committing one and the same sinne the one of them beeing regenerate the other vnregenerate For the latter sinnes
himselfe as hee testifieth of himselfe in the prophet Esai I make peace and create euill Nowe euill is of three sortes naturall morall materiall Naturall euill is the destruction of that order which God set in euery creature by the creation Morall euill is the want of that righteousnesse and vertue which the lawe requires at mans hand and that is called sinne Materiall euill is any matter or thing which in it selfe is a good creature of God yet so as by reason of mans fall it is hurtfull to the health and life of man as henbane wolfebane hemlocke and all other poisons areâ— Nowe this saying of Esai must not be vnderstood of morall euills but of such as are either materiall or natural to the latter of which death is to be referred which is the destruction or abolishment of mans nature created The procurer of death is man not God in that man by his sinne and disobedience did pull vpon himselfe this punishment Therefore the Lord in Oseah O Israel one hath destroyed thee but in me is thine helpe Against this it may bee obiected that man was mortall in the estate of innocency before the fall Answere The frame and composition of mans bodie considered in it selfe was mortall because it was made of water and earth and other elements which are of themselues alterable and changeable yet if wee respect that grace and blessing which God did vouchsafe mans bodie in his creation it was vnchangeable and immortall and so by the same blessing should haue continued if man had not fallen and man by his fall depriuing himselfe of this gift and blessing became euery way mortall Thus it appeares in part what death is yet for the better clearing of this point we are to consider the difference of the death of a man and of a beast The death of a beast is the totall and finall abolishment of the whole creature for the bodie is resolued to his first matter and the soule arising of the temperature of the bodie vanisheth to nothing But in the death of man it is otherwise For though the bodie for a time be resolued to dust yet must it rise againe in the last iudgement and become immortall and as for the soule it subsisteth by it selfe out of the bodie and is immortall And this beeing so it may be demaunded how the soule can die the second death Answ. The soule dies not because it is vtterly abolished but because it is as though it were not and it ceaseth to be in respect of righteousnesse and fellowship with God And indeede this is the death of all deaths when the creature hath subsisting and beeing and yet for all that is depriued of all comfortable fellowship with God The reason of this difference is because the soule of a man is a spirit or spirituall substance whereas the soule of a beast is no substance but a naturall vigour or qualitie and hath no beeing in it selfe without the bodie on which it wholly dependeth The soule of man contrariwise beeing created of nothing and breathed into the bodie and as well subsisting forth of it as in it The kindes of death are two as the kindes of life are bodily and spirituall Bodily death is nothing else but the separation of the soule from the bodie as bodily life is the coniunction of bodie and soule and this death is called the first because in respect of time it goes before the second Spirituall death is the separation of the whole man both in bodie and soule from the gracious fellowship of God Of these twaine the first is but an entrance to death and the second is the accomplishment of it For as the soule is the life of the bodie so God is the life of the soule and his spirit is the soule of our soules and the want of fellowship with him brings nothing but the endlesse and vnspeakable horrours and pangs of death Againe spirituall death hath three distinct and seuerall degrees The first is when a man that is aliue in respect of temporall life lies dead in sinne Of this degree Paul speakes when he saith But shee that liueth in pleasure is dead while shee liueth And this is the case of all men by nature who are children of wrath and dead in sinnes and trespasses The second degree is the very ende of this life when the bodie is laid in the earth and the soule descends to the place of torment The third degree is in the day of iudgement when the bodie and soule meete againe and goe both to the place of the damned there to be tormented for euer and euer Hauing thus found the nature and differences and kinds of death it is more then manifest that the text in hand is to be vnderstood not of the spirituall but of the bodily death because it is opposed to the birth or natiuitie of man The words then must carrie this sense The time of bodily death in which the bodie and soule of man are seuered asunder it is better then the time in which one is brought into the world Thus much of the first point nowe followeth the second and that is howe this can be true which Salomon saith that the day of death is better then the daie of birth I make not this question to call the Scriptures into controuersie which are the trueth it selfe but I doe it for this ende that wee might without wauering bee resolued of this which Salomon auoucheth For there may be sundrie reasons brought to the contrarie Therefore let vs handle the question the reasons or obiections which may be alleadged to the contrarie may all bee reduced to sixe heades The first is taken from the opinion of wise men who thinke it the best thing of all neuer to be borne and the next best to die quickely Nowe if it bee the best thing in the worlde not to bee borne at all then it is the worst thing that can bee to die after a man is borne Answere There bee two sortes of men one that liue and die in their sinnes without repentance the other which vnfamedly repent and beleeue in Christ. Nowe this sentence may bee truely auouched of the first of whome wee may say as Christ said of Iudas It had beene good for him that hee had neuer beene borne But the saying applied to the second sort of men is false For to them that in this life turne to God by repentance the best thing of all is to be borne because their birth is a degree of preparation to happinesse and the next best is to die quickly because by death they enter into possession of the same their happinesse For this cause Balaam desired to die the death of the righteous Salomon in this place preferres the daie of death before the day of birth vnderstanding that death which is ioined with godly life or the death of the righteouâ— The second obiection is taken from the testimonies of Scripture Death is
when hee had confirmed this by testimonie of Scripturâ— he added This is my faith in which I will die and God will destroy them that teach otherwise This done he shooke hands with all and said Farewell my brethren and deare friends It were easie to quote more examples but these few may be in stead of many and the summe of all that godly men speake is this Some inlightened with a propheticall spirit foretell things to come as the Patriarkes Iacob and Ioseph did and there haue bin some which by name haue testified who should verie shortly come after them and who should remaine aliue and what should be their condition some haue shewed a wonderfull memorie of things past as of their former life and of the benefits of God and no doubt it was giuen them to stirre vp holy affections and thanksgiuing to God some againe rightly iudging of the change of their present estate for a better doe reioyce exceedingly that they must be translated from earth to paradise as Babylas Martyr of Antioch when his head was to be chopped off Returne saith he O my soule vnto thy rest because the Lord hath blessed thee because thou hast deliuered my soule from death mine eies from teares and my foote from falling I shall walke before thee Iehoua in the land of the liuing And some others speake of the vanitie of this life of the imagination of the sorrowes of death of the beginnings of eternall life of the comfort of the holy Ghost which they feele of their departure vnto Christ. Quest. What must we thinke if in the time of death such speeches be wanting and in the stead thereof idle talke be vsed Ans. Wee must consider the kind of sicknes whereof men die whether it be more easie or violent for violent sicknes is vsually accompanied with frensies and with vnseemely motions and gestures which wee are to take in good part euen in this regard because we our selues may be in the like case Thus much of the first dutie which is to die in faith the second is to die in obedience otherwise our death cannot bee aceeptable to God because wee seeme to come vnto God of feare and constraint as slaues to a master not of loue as children to a father Nowe to die in obedience is when a man willing and readie and desirous to goe out of this worlde whensoeuer God shall call him and that without murmuring or repining at what time where and wheÌ„ it shall please god Whether we liue or die saith Paul we do it not to our selues but vnto God and therefore mans dutie is to bee obedient to God in death as in life Christ is our example in this case who in his agonie praied Father let this cup passe from me yet with a submission not my will but thy will be done teaching vs in the very pangs of death to resigne our selues to the good pleasure of God When the prophet told king Ezechiah of death presently without all manner of grudging or repining he addressed himselfe to praier We are commanded to present our selues vnto God as free-will offerings without any limitation of time and therefore as well in death as in life I conclude then that we are to make as much conscience in performing obedience to God in suffering death as we do of any coÌ„scieÌ„ce in the course of our liues The third dutie is to render vp our soules into the handes of God as the most faithfull keeper of all This is the last dutie of a Christian and it is prescribed vnto vs in the example of Christ vpon the crosse who in the very pangs of death when the dissolution of bodie and soule drew on said Father into thy hands I commend my spirit and so gaue vp the ghost The like was done by Steuen who when he was stoned to death said Lord Iesus receiue my spirit And Dauid in his life time being in danger of death vsed the very same words that Christ vttered Thus we see what be the duties which we are to performe in the very paÌ„gs of death that we may come to eternall life Some man will happily say if this be all to die in faith and obedience and to surrender our soules into Gods haÌ„d we will not greatly care for any preparation before hand nor trouble our selues much about the right manner of dying well for we doubt not but that when death shall come we shall be able to perform all the former duties with ease Ans. Let no man deceiue himselfe by any false perswasion thinking with himselfe that the practise of the foresaid duties is a matter of ease for ordinarily they are not neither can they be performed in death vnles there bee much preparation in the life before Hee that will die in faith must first of all liue by faith and there is but one example in all the bible of a man dying in faith that liued without faith namely the theife vpon the crosse The seruants of God that are endued with great measure of grace doe very hardly beleeue in the time of affliction Indeede when Iob was afflicted he said Though the Lord kill me yet will I trust in him yet afterward his faith being ouercast with a cloud he saith that God was become his enemie and that he had set him as a marke to shoot at and sundry times his faith was oppressed with doubting and distrust How then shall they that neuer liued by faith nor inured themselues to beleeue bee able in the pang of death to rest vpon the mercie of God Againe hee that would die in obedience must first of all lead his life in obedience he that hath liued in disobedience can not willingly and in obedience appeare before the iudge when he is cited by death the sergeant of the Lord he dies indeede but that is vpon necesâ—itie because hee must yeelde to the order and course of nature as other creatures do Thirdly he that would surrender his soule into the hands of God must be resolued of two things the one is that God can the other is that God will receiue his soule into heauen and there preserue it till the last iudgement And none can be resolued of this except he haue the spirit of God to certifie his conscience that hee is redeemed iustified sanctified by Christ and shall be glorified He that is not thus perswaded dare not render vp and present his soule vnto God When Dauid said Lord into thy hands I commend my spirit what was the reason of this boldnesse in him surely nothing els but the perswasion of faith as the next words import for thou hast redeemed mee O Lord God of trueth And thus it is manifest that no man ordinarily can performe these duties dying that hath not performed them liuing This beeing so I doe againe renewe my former exhortation beseeching you that ye would practise the duties of preparatioÌ„ in the course of your liues leading
most notable meanes to breede repentance and reformation of life in time to come For when wee begin to thinke that Christ crucified by suffering the first and second death hath procured vnto vs remission of all our sinnes past and freed vs from hellâ— death and damnation then if there be but a sparke of grace in vs we begin to be of another mind and to reason thus with our selues What hath the Lord bin thus mercifull vnto me that am in my selfe but a firebrand of hell as to free me from deserued destruction to receiue me to fauour in Christ yea no doubt he hath his name be blessed therefore I will not therefore sinne any more as I haue done but rather indeauour hereafter to keep my selfe from euery euill way And thus faith purifies both heart and life Thirdly when thou art in any paine of bodie or sickenes thinke how light these are compared to the agonie and bloodie sweat to the crown of thornes and nailes of Christ. When thou art wronged in worde or deede by any man turne thine eie to the crosse consider howe meekely he suffered all abuses for the most part in silence praied for them that crucified him When thou art tempted with pride or vaine-glorie consider how for thy proper sins Christ was despised and mocked and condemned among theeues When anger and desire of reuenge inflame thine heart think how Christ gaue himself to death to saue his enemies euen then when they did most cruelly intreat him shed his blood and by these meditations specially if they be mingled with faith thy minde shall be eased Thus we see how Christ crucified is to be known and hence ariseth a threefold knowledge one of God the second of our neighbours the third of our selues Touching the first if we would know the true God aright and know him to our sahiation we must knowe him only in Christ crucified God in himselfe and his owne maiestie is inuisible not onely to the eies of the bodie but also to the vere minds of men and he is reuealed to vs only in Christ in whom he is to be seene as in a glasse For in Christ he setteth forth and giues his iustice goodnes wisdome and himselfe wholly vnto vs. For this cause he is called the brightnes of the glorie and the ingrauen forme of the person of the father Heb. 1. 3. and the image of the inuisible God Coloss. 1.15 Therfore we must not know god and seeke him any where else but in Christ and whatsoeuer out of Christ comes vnto vs in the name of God is a flat idol of mans braine As for our neighbours those especially that are of Christs Church they are to be known of vs on this manner When we are to doâ— any dutie vnto them we must not barely respect their persons but Christ crucified in them them in Christ. When Paul persecuted such as called on the name of Christ he theÌ„ fâ—om heaueÌ„ cried Saul Saul why persecutest thou me Here then let this be marked that when the poore comes to vs for releefe it is Christ that comes to our dores and saith I am hungrie I am thirstie I am naked and let the bowels of compassion be in vs towards them as towards Christ vnles we wil heare that fearefull sentence in the day of iudgement Go ye cursed into hell c. I was hungrie and ye fed me not I was naked and ye did not cloath me c. Thirdly the right knowledge of our selues ariseth of the knowledge of Christ crucified in whom and by whome we come to know fiue speciall things of our selues The first how grieuous our sinnes are and therefore howe miserable we are in regard of them If we consider our offences in themselues as they are in vs we may soone be deceiued because the conscience being corrupted often erreth in giuing testimonie and by that meanes maketh sinne to appeare lesse then it is indeede But if sinne be considered in the death passion of Christ whereof it was the cause and the vilenes thereof measured by the vnspeakable torments endured by the sonne of God and if the greatnesse of the offence of man be esteemed by the endlesse satisfaction made to the iustice of God the least sinne that is will appeare to bee a sinne indeed and that most grieuous and ougly Therefore Christ crucified must bee vsed of vs as a myrrour or looking glasse in which we may fully take a view of our wretchednes and miserie and what we are by nature For such as the passion of Christ was in the eies of men such is our passion or condition in the eies of God and that which wicked men did to Christ the same doeth sinne and Satan to our very soules The second point is that men beleeuing in Christ are not their owne or lords of themselues but wholly both bodie and soule belong to Christ in that they were giuen to him of God the father and he hath purchased them with his owne blood 1. Cor. 3. Ye are Christs and Christs Gods Hence it commeth to passe which is not to be forgotten that Christ esteemeth all the crosses and afflictions of his people as his own proper afflictions Hence againe we must learne to giue vp our selues both in body and soule to the honour and seruice of Christ whose we are The third is that euery true beleeuer not as he is a man but as hee is a newe man or a Christian hath his being and subsisting from Christ We are members of his bodie of his flesh and of his bone Eph. 5.30 In which words Paul alludes to the speech of Adam Gen. 3. Thou art bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh thereby he teacheth that as Eue was made of a ribbe taken out of the side of Adam so doeth the whole church of God and euery man regenerate spring and arise out of the blood that streamed from the heart and side of Christ crucified The fourth is that all good workes done of vs proceede from the vertue and merit of Christ crucified he is the cause of them in vs and we are the causes of them in and by him Without me saith he ye can do nothing and Euery branch that beareth no fruite in me marke well he saith in me he taketh away Ioh. 15.2 The fift point is that we owe vnto Christ an endles debt For he was crucified onely as our suretie and pledge in the spectacle of his passion we must consider our selues as the chiefe debters and that the very discharge of our debt that is the sinnes which are inherent in vs were the proper cause of all the endles paines and torments that Christ endured that he might set vs most miserable bankrupts at libertie from hell death and damnation For this his vnspeakable goodnes if we doe but once thinke of it seriously we must needs confesse that we owe our selues our soules and bodies and all that we haue as a
worship God in by or at any image for this is the thing which as I haue prooued before the second commandement forbiddeth And the fact of the Israelites Exod. 32. in worshipping the golden calfe is condemned as flat idolatrie albeit they worshipped not the calfe but God in the calfe for v. 5. Aaron saith Tomorrow shall bee the solemnitie of Iehouah whereby he doth giue vs to vnderstand that the calfe was but a signe of Iehouah whome they worshipped Obiect It seemes the Israelites worshipped the calfe For Aaron saith v. 4. These bee thy Gods O Israel that brought thee out of Egypt Ans. Aarons meaning is nothing else but that the golden calfe was a signe of the presence of the true God And the name of the thing signified is giuen to the signe as vpon a stage he is called a king that represents the king And Augustine saith that images are woont to be called by the names of things whereof they are images as the counterfeit of Samuel is called Samuel And we must not esteeme them all as madde men to thinke that a calfe made of their earings beeing but one or two daies old should bee the God that brought them out of Egypt with a mightie hand many daies before And these are the points of difference touching images wherein we must stand at variance for euer with the Church of Rome For they â—rre in the foundation of religion making indeed an idol of the true God and worshipping another Christ then we doe vnder new tearmes maintaining the idolatrie of the heathen And therefore haue we departed from them and so must we still doe because they are Idolaters as I haue prooued The X. point Of reall presence Our Consent I. We hold and beleeue a presence of Christs bodie and blood in the sacrament of the Lords supper and that no fained but a true and reall presence which must be considered two waies first in respect of the signes secondly in respect of the communicants For the first we hold and teach that Christs bodie and blood are truely present with the bread and wine beeing signes in the Sacrament but how not in respect of place or coexistence but by sacramentall relation on this manner When a word is vttered the sound comes to the eare and at the same instant the thing signified comes to the mind and thus by relation the word and the thing spoken of are both present togither Euen so at the Lords table bread and wine must not be considered barely as subsistaÌ„ces and creatures but as outward signes in relation to the bodie and blood of Christ and this relation arising from the very institution of the Sacrament standes in this that when the elements of bread and wine are present to the hand and to the mouth of the receiuer at the very same time the bodie and blood of Christ are presented to the minde thus and no otherwise is Christ truely present with the signes The second presence is in respect of the communicants to whose beleeuing hearts he is also really present It will bee said what kind of presence is this Ans. Such as the communion in the sacrament is â—uch is the presence and by the communion must we iudge of the presence Nowe the communion is on this manner God the father according to the tenour of the Euangelicall couenant gives Christ in this sacrament as really and truely as any thing can bee giuen to man not by part and peecemeale as wee say but whole Christ God and man on this sort In Christ there be two natures the godheadâ— manhood The godhead is not giuen in regard of substance or essence but only in regard of efficacie merits operatioÌ„ coÌ„ceiued thence to the manhood And further in this sacrament Christs whole manhood is giuen both bodie and soule in this order First of all is giuen the very manhood in respect of substance and that really secondly the merits and benefits thereof as namely the satisfaction performed by and in the manhood to the iustice of God And thus the intire manhood with the benefits thereof are giuen wholly and ioyntly togither For the two dislinct signes of bread and wine signifie not two distinct giuings of the bodie apart and the blood apart but the full and perfect nourishment of our soules Againe the benefits of Christs manhood are diuersly giuen some by imputation which is an action of God accepting that which is done by Christ as done by vs and thus it hath pleased God to giue the passion of Christ and his obedience Some againe are giuen by a kind of propagation which I cannot fitly expresse in tearmes but I resemble it thus As one candle is lighted by another and one torch or candle-light is conueied to twentie candles euen so the inherent righteousnes of euery beleeuer is deriued from the storehouse of righteousnesse which is in the manhood of Christ for the righteousnes of all the members is but the fruit thereof euen as the naturall corruption in all mankinde is but a fruit of that originall sinne which was in Adam Thus we see howe God for his part giues Christ and that really To proceede when God giues Christ he giues withall at the same time the spirit of Christ which spirit creates in the heart of the receiuer the instrument of true faith by which the heart doeth really receiue Christ giuen of God by resting vpon the promise which God hath made that he will giue Christ and his righteousnesse to euery true beleeuer Now then when God giues Christ with his benefits man for his part by faith receiues the same as they are giuen there riseth that vnion which is betweene euery good receiuer and Christ himselfe Which vnioÌ„ is not forged but a reall true and neere coniunction nearer then which none is or can be because it is made by a solemne giuing and receiuing that passeth betweene God and man as also by the bond of one and the same spirit To come then to the point considering there is a reall vnion and consequently a reall communion betweene vs and Christ as I haue prooued there must needes bee such a kind of presence wherein Christ is truely and really present to the heart of him that receiues the sacrament in faith And thus farre doe wee consent with the Romish Church touching reall presence The dissent We differ not touching the presence it selfe but onely in the maner of presence For though we hold a reall presence of Christs bodie and blood in the sacrament yet doe we not take it to be locall bodily or substantiall but spirituall and mysticall to the signes by sacramentall relation and to the communicants by faith alone On the contrarie the Church of Rome maintaines transubstantiation that is a locall bodily and substantiall presence of Christs bodie and blood by a change and conuersion of the bread and wine into the said bodie and blood Our reasons I. This corporall presence ouerturnes sundrie articles
hand depart from me ye cursed into euerlasting fire which is prepared for the deuill and his angels The Scriptures for proofe were onely quoted by the author to moue thee to search them the wordes themâ—elues I haue expressed at the earnest request of many that thou maiest more easily learne them if yet thou wilt be ignoraÌ„t thy malice is euident if thou gaynest knowledge giue God the glorie in doing of his will Thine T. S. THE EXPOSITION OF THE PRINCIPLES The first Principle expounded Question WHat is God A. God is a spirit or a spirituall substance most wise most holy eternall infinite Q. How doe you perswade your selfe that there is such a God A. Besides the testimonie of the Scriptures plaine reason will shew it Q. What is one reason A. When I consider the wonderfull frame of the world me thinks the silly creatures that be in it could neuer make it neither could it make it selfe and therefore besides all these the maker of it must needes be God Euen as when a man comes into a strange country and sees faire and sumptuous buildings and yet findes no liuing creatures there besides birds and beasts he will not imagine that either birdes or beasts reared those buildings but he presently conceiues that some men either were or haue beene there Q. What other reason haue you A. A man that commits any sinne as murder fornication adulterie blasphemie c. albeit he doth so conceale the matter that no man liuing know of it yet oftentimes he hath a griping in his conscience and feeles the very flashing of hell fire which is a strong reason to shew that there is a God before whose iudgement seat he must answer for this fact Q. How many Gods are there A. No more but one Q. How doe you conceiue this one God in your minde A. Not by framing any image of him in my minde as ignorant folks doe that thinke him to be an old man sitting in heauen but I conceiue him by his properties and workes Q. What be his chiefe properties A. First he is most wise vnderstanding all things aright and knowing the reason of them Secondly he is most holy which appeareth in that he is most iust and mercifull vnto his creatures Thirdly he is eternall without either beginning or ende of daies Lastly he is infinite both because he is present in all places and because he is of power sufficient to doe whatsoeuer he will Q. What be the workes of God A. The creation of the world and of euery thing therein and the preseruation of them beeing created by his speciall prouidence Q. How know you that God gouerneth euery particular thing in the world by his speciall prouidence A. To omit the Scriptures I see it by experience Meate Drinke and clothing beeing void of heate and life could not preserue the life of man vnlesse there were a speciall prouidence of God to giue vertue vnto them Q. How is this one God distinguished A. Into the Father which begetteth the Sonne into the Sonne who is begotten of the Father into the holy Ghost who proceedeth from the Father the Sonne The second Principle expounded Q. Let vs nowe come to ours selues and first tell me what is the naturall estate of man A. Euery man is by nature dead in sin as a loathsome carrion or as a dead corps lyeth rotting and stincking in the graue hauing in him the seede of all sinnes Q. What is sinne A. Any breach of the Lawe of God if it be no more but the least want of that which the Lord requireth Q. Howe many sortes of sinne are there A. Sinne is either the corruption of nature or any euill actions that proceede of it as fruites therof Q. In whome is the corruption of nature A. In all men none excepted Q. In what part of man is it A. In euery part both of body and soule like as a leprosie that runneth from the crowne of the head to the sole of the foote Q. Shew me howe euery part of man is corrupted with sinne A. First in the minde there is nothing but ignorance and blindenes concerning heauenly matters Secondly the conscience is defiled being alwaies either benummed with sinne or else turmoyled with inward accusations and terrors Thirdly the will of man onely willeth and lusteth after euil Fourthly the affections of the heart as loue ioy hope desire c. are mooued and stirred to that which is euill to imbrace it and they are neuer stirred vnto that which is good vnlesse it be to eschewe it Lastly the members of the body are the instruments and tooles of the mind for the execution of sinne Q. What be those euill actions that are the fruites of this corruption A. Euill thoughts in the minde which come either by a mans owne conceiuing or by the suggestion of the deuill euill motions and lusts stirring in the heart and froÌ„ these arise euill words and deeds when any occasion is giueÌ„ Q. Howe commeth it to passe that all men are thus defiled with sinne A. By Adams infidelitie and disobedience in eating the forbidden fruite euen as we see great personages by treason doe not only hurt themselues but also staine their blood and disgrace their posteritie Q. What hurt comes to man by his sinne A. He is continually subiect to the curse of God in his life time in the end of his life and after this life Q. VVhat is the curse of God in this life A. In the bodie diseases aches paines in the soule blindnesse hardnesse of heart horrour of conscience in goods hinderances and losses in name ignominie and reproach lastly in the whole man bondage vnder Sathan the prince of darkenes Q. VVhat manner of bondage is this A. This bondage is when a man is the â—laue of the deuill and hath him to raigne in his heart as his God Q. How may a man know whether Sathan be his God or not A. He may knowe it by this if he giue obedience to him in his heart expresse it in his conuersation Q. And howe shall a man perceiue this obedience A. If he take delight in the euill motions that Sathan puts into his heart doe fulfill the lusts of the deuill Q. What is the curse due to man in the ende of this life A. Death which is the seperation of bodie and soule Q. What is the curse after this life A. Eternal damnation in hel fire whereof euery man is guiltie and is in as great danger of it as the traitour apprehended is in danger of hanging drawing and quartering The third principle expounded Q. If damnation be the reward of sinne then is a man of all creatures most miserable A dog or a toade when they die all their miserie is ended but wheÌ„ a man dieth there is the beginning of
sentence of damnation against vnbeleeuers and reprobates Q. What state shall the godly be in after the day of iudgement A. They shall continue for euer in the highest heauen in the presence of God hauing fellowship with Christ Iesus and raigning with him for euer Q. What state shall the wicked be in after the day of iudgement A. In eternall perdition and destruction in hell fire Q. What is that A. It stands in three things especially first a perpetuall separation â—rom Gods comfortable presence 2. fellowship with the deuill and his angels 3. an horrible pang and torment both of bodie and soule arising of the feeling of the whole wrath of God powred forth on the wicked for euer world without ende and if the paine of one tooth for one day be so great endelesse shall be the paine of the whole man bodie and soule for euer and euer FINIS A GRAINE of Musterd-seede OR The least measure of grace that is or can be effectuall to saluation Printed for Ralph Iackson 1600. TO THE RIHGT HONOVrable and vertuous Ladie the Ladie Margaret Countesse of Cumberland Grace and peace RIght Honourable the kingdome of heauen of which the Scripture speaketh so oft is properly a certaine state or coÌ„dition wherby we stand in the fauour and loue of God in and by Christ. And this kingdome is compared to a graine of Musterd-seede to teach vs that a man is euen at that instant alreadie entered into the kingdome of heauen when the Lord that good husband-man hath cast but some little portion of faith or repentance into the ground of the heart yea though it be but as one graine of musterd-seed Of this little graine I haue penned this little treatise in quantitie answerable thereto and now I present the same to your Laâ—â—ship not to supplie your want for I hope you are stored with more graines of this kinde but to performe some dutie on my part Hoping therefore that your Ladiship will read and accept the same I take my leaue commending you to the blessing and protection of the Almightie Your H. to command William Perkins A Graine of Musterd-seede or the least measure of grace that is or can be effectuall to saluation IT is a very necessarie point to be knowne what is the least measure of grace that can befall the true child of God lesser theÌ„ which there is no grace effectuall to saluation For first of all the right vnderstanding of this is the very foundation of true comfort vnto all troubled and touched consciences Secondly it is a notable meanes to stirre vp thankfulnes in them that haue any grace at all when they shall in examination of themselues consider that they haue receiued of God the least measure of grace or more Thirdly it will be an inducement and a â—purre to many carelesse and vnrepentant persons to imbrace the Gospel and to beginne repentance for their sinnes when they shall perceiue and that by the word of God that God accepts the very seeds and rudiments of faith and repentance at the first though they be but in measure as a graine of musterd-seede Now then for the opening and clearing of this point I will set downe sixe seuerall conclusions in such order as one shall confirme and explaine the other and one depend vpon the other I. Conclusion A man that doth but begin to be conuerted is euen at that instant the very child of God though inwardly he be more carnall then spirituall The Exposition IN a man there must be considered three things the substance of the bodie and soule whereof a man is said to consist the faculties placed in the soule and exercised in the bodie as vnderstanding will affections the integritie and puritie of the faculties wherby they are conformable to the will of God and beare his Image And since the fall of Adam man is not depriued of his substance or of the powers and faculties of his soule but onely of the third which is the puritie of nature and therefore the conuersion of a sinner whereof the conclusion speaketh is not the change of the substance of man or the faculties of the soule but a renewing and restoring of that puritie and holinesse which was lost by mans fall with the abolishment of that naturall corruption that is in all the powers of the soule This is the worke of God and of God alone and that on this manner First of all when it pleaseth God to worke a chaunge in any he doth it not first in one part then in an other as hee that repaires a decaied house by peece-meale but the worke both for the beginning continuance and accomplishment is the whole man and euery part at once specially in the minde and conscience will and affection as on the contrary when Adam lost the image of God he lost it in euery part Secondly the conuersion of a sinner is not wrought all at one instant but in continuance of time and that by certaine measures and degrees And a man is in the first degree of his conuersioÌ„ when the holy ghost by the means of the word inspires him with some spirituall motions and begins to regenerate and renewe the inward powers of the soule And he may in this case very fitly be coÌ„pared to the night in the first dawning of the day in which though the darknesse remaine and be more in quantitie then the light yet the Sunne hath alreadie cast some beames of light into the aire whereupon we tearme it the breaking of the daie Nowe then the very point which I touch is that a man at this instant and in this very state God as yet hauing but laid certaine beginnings of true conuersion in his heart is the very child of God and that not onely in the eternall purpose of God as all the elect are but indeede by actuall adoption and this is plaine by a manifest reason There bee foure speciall workes of grace in euery childe of God his vnion with Christ his adoption iustification and conuersion and these foure are wrought all at one instant so as for order of time neither goes before nor after other and yet in regard of order of nature vnion with Christ Iustification and adoption goe before the inward conuersion of a sinner it beeing the fruite and effect of theÌ„ all Vpon this it followeth necessarily that a sinner in the very first act of his conuersion is iustified adopted and incorporated into the 〈◊〉 caâ—â— body of Christ. In the parable of the prodigall sonne the father with ioy receiues his wicked child but whenâ— surely when he sawe him comming a farre off and when as yet he had made no confession or humiliation to his father but onely had conceiued with himselfe a purpose to returne and to say Father I haue sinned against heauen and against thee c. And Paul saieth of many of the Corinthians that he could not speake vnto them as spirituall men but as carnall euen babes in
mysticall vnion pag. 483 The communion of Saints pag. 500 The forgiuenes of sinnes pag. 506 The Resurrection of the bodie pag. 509 Life euerlasting pag. 516 AN EXPOSITION OF THE LORDS PRAIER THE CONTENTS The exposition of the Lords prayer pag. 525 The vse of the Lords prayer pag. 561 Of the circumstances of praying pag. 562 Of Gods hearing our prayers pag. 563 The prayers of Paul pag. 564 A TREATISE TENDING VNTO a declaration whether a man be in the estate of damnation or in the estate of grace THE CONTENTS 1 How farre a Reprobate may goe in Christian religion pag. 574 2 The estate of a true Christian in this life which also sheweth how farre the Elect beeing called goe beyond all reprobates in Christianitie pag. 584 3 A Dialogue to the same purpose gathered out of the sauorie writings of M. Tyndal and Bradford pag. 617 4 How a Reprobate may performe all the religion of the church of Rome pag. 642 5 The conflicts of Sathan with a Christian pag. 756 6 How the word of God is to be applied aright vnto the conscience pag. 663 7 Consolations for the troubled consciences of weake Christians pag. 666 8 A Declaration of certaine spiritual Desertions pag. 674 A case of Conscience THE CONTENTS A case of conscience resolued out of the word of God How a man may know whether he be the child of God or no. pag. 685 A Discourse taken out of the writings of Hier. Zanchius wherein the aforesaid Case of conscience is disputed and resolued A Direction for the gouernment of the tongue according to Gods word THE CONTENTS 1 The generall meanes of ruling the tongue pag. 713 2 The matter of our speech pag. 714 3 The manner of our speech what must be done before our speech pag. 716 4 What is to be done in speaking and of wisdome ibid. 5 Of trueth and reuerence in speech pag. 718 6 Of modestie and meekenes pag. 722 7 Of sobrietie vrbanitie fidelitie and care of others good name pag. 725 8 Of the bonds of trueth pag. 729 9 What is to bee done when wee haue spoken pag. 730 10 Of writing ibid. 11 Of silence pag. 731 12 An exhortation to keepe the tongue TWO TREATISES I. Of the nature and practise of Repentance THE CONTENTS 1 What Repentance is pag. 738 2 Of the causes of Repentance pag. 740 3 How Repâ—ntance is wrought pag. 741 4 Of the partes of Repentance pag. 742 5 Of the degrees of Repentance pag. 743 6 Of the persons which must repent ibid. 7 Of the practise of repentance ibid. 8 Of lâ—gall motiues to Repentance pag. 752 9 Of motiues Euangelicall pag. 755 10 Of the time of Repentance pag. 756 11 Of câ—rtaine cases in repentance pag. 758 12 Of the contraries to repeÌ„tance pag. 757 13 Of corruptions in the doctrine of repentance pag. 761 II. Of the combat of the flesh and Spirit pag. 762 The treatise of Dying well p. 773. The treatise of the right knowledge of Christ crucified p. 815. A Discourse of Conscience THE CONTENTS 1 What conscience is pag. 831 2 The actions or duties of conscience where the point is handled Howe any thing is saide to binde the conscience pag. 832 3 The kinds and differences of conscience where is handled libertie of conscience and the question disputed whether a man may in conscience bee vnfallibly certain of his saluation pag. 867 4 Mans duty touching conscience which is to get and keepe it pag. 900 A Reformed Catholike OR A DECLARATION SHEWing how neare we may come to the present Church of Rome in sundrie points of Religion and wherein we must for euer depart from them THE CONTENTS 1 Of free will pag. 910 2 Of Originall sinne pag. 915 3 Assurance of saluation pag. 918 4 Iustification of a sinner pag. 925 5 Of merits pag. 940 6 Of satisfactions for sinne pag. 945 7 Of Traditions pag. 950 8 Of Vowes pag. 955 9 Of Images pag. 961 10 Of reall presence pag. 966 11 The sacrifice of the Masse pag. 972 12 Of Fasting pag. 977 13 Of the state of perfection pag. 980 13 Of the worshipping of saints departed pag. 985 15 Of Implicite faith pag. 991 16 Of Purgatorie pag. 995 17 Of the supremacie pag. 996 18 Of the efficacie of the sacraments pag. 1000 19 Of Faith pag. 1003 20 Of Repentance pag. 1006 21 The sinnes of the Romane Church pag. 1014 An aduertisement to Romane Catholikes pag. 1018 The foundation of Christian Religion gathered into sixe principles p. 1029. A Graine of Musterd-seede THE CONTENTS A man that doth but beginne to be conuerted is euen at that instant the very child of God though inwardly hee be more carnall then spirituall pag. 1046 2. Conclusion The first materiall beginning of the conuersion of a sinner or the smallest measure of renewing grace haue the promises of this life and the life to come pag. 1047 3. Conclusion A constant and earnest desire to be reconciled to God to beleeue and to repent if it bee in a troubled heart is in acceptation with God as reconciliation faith repentance it selfe pag. 1048 4. Conclusion To see and feele in our selues the want of any grace and to be grieued therfore is the grace it selfe pag. 1053 5. Conclusion He that hath begunne to subiect himselfe to Christ and his word though as yet hee be ignorant in most points of religion yet if he haue care to increase in knowledge and to practise that which he knoweth hee is accepted of God as a true beleeuer pag. 1053 6. Conclusion The aforsaide beginnings of grace are counterfeite vnlesse they encrease pag. 1054 The bodie of holy Scripture is distinguished into sacred sciences whereof One is principall Theologie is a science of liuing well and blessedly for euer Other attendants or handmaids I. Ethiques a doctrine of liuing honestly and ciuilly II. Oeconomickes a doctrine of gouerning a familie well III. Politiques a doctrine of the right administration of a common weale IIII. Ecclesiasticall discipline a doctrine of well ordering the Church V. The Iewes commonweale In as much as it differeth from Church gouernement VII Academie the doctrine of gouerning Schooles well especially those of the Prophets CHAP. 1. Of the bodie of Scripture and Theologie THe bodie of Scripture is a doctrine sufficient to liue well It comprehendeth many holy sciences whereof one is principall others are handmaids or retainers The principall science is Theologie Theologie is the science of liuing blessedly for euer Blessed life consisteth in the knowledge of God Ioh. 17 3. This is life eternall that they know thee to be the onely very God and whome thou hast sent Christ Iesus Esai 53.11 By his knowledge shall my righteous seruant viz. Christ iustifie many And therefore it consisteth likewise in the knowledge of our selues because we know God by looking into our selues Theologie hath two parts the first of God the second of his workes CHAP. 2. Of God and the nature of God THat there is a God it
betweene them for when the beast dieth his soule dieth also but the soule of man is immortall The consideration whereof must moooue euery man aboue all things in this world to be careful for his soule if it were to vanish away at the day of death as the soule of beasts doe the neglect thereof were no great matter but seeing it must liue for euer either in eternall ioy or else in endlesse paines and torments it stands vs vpon euery man for himselfe so to prouide for his soule in this life that at the day of death when it shall depart from his bodie it may liue in eternall ioy and happinesse The second that there is an especiall and particular prouidence of God because the particular soule of Christ is committed into the hands of his father and so answerably the soules of euery one of the faithfull are The third that euery one which beleeues himselfe to be a member of Christ must be willing to die when God shall call him thereunto For when we die in Christ the bodie is but laid asleepe and the soule is receiued into the hands of a most loâ—ing God and mercifull father as the soule of Christ was Lastly whereas Christ surrendring his soule into his fathers hands calls it a spirit we note that the soule of man is a spirit that is a spirituall inuisible simple essence without composition created as the angels of God are The question whether the soule of a childe come from the soule of the parents as the bodie doth come from their bodies may easily be resolued For the soule of man beeing a spirit can not beget another spirit as the angels beeing spirituall doe not beget angels for one spirit begetteth not an other Nay which is more one simple element begetteth not an other as the water begetteth not water nor aire begetteth aire and therefore much lesse can one soule beget an other Againe if the soule of the child come from the soule of the parents then there is a propagation of the whole soule of the parent or of some part thereof If it be saide that the whole soule of the parents is propagated then the parents should want their owne soules and could not liue If it be said that a part of the parents soule is propagated I answereâ— that the soule being a spirit or a simple substance cannot be parted and therefore it is the safest to conclude that the bodie indeede is of the bodie of the pâ—rents and that the soule of man while the bodie is in making is created of nothing and for this very cause God is called the father of spirits Thus much of the crucifying of Christ nowe followeth his death For hauing laid downe his soule into the hands of his father the holy Ghost saith he gaue vp the ghost to giue vs to vnderstand that his death was no fantasticall but a reall death in that his bodie and soule were â—euered as truely as when any of vs die In treating of Christs death we must consider many points The first that it was needfull that he should die and that for two causes First to satisfie Gods iustice for sinne is fo odious a thing in Gods sight that he will punish it with an extreame punishment therefore Christ standing in our roome must not onely suffer the miâ—eries of this life but also die on the crosse that the very extremitie of punishment which wee should haue borne might bee laid on him and so we in Christ might fully satisfie Gods iustice for the wages of sinne is death Secondly Christ died that he might fulfill the trueth of Gods word which had said that man for eating the forbidden fruit should die the death The properties of Christs death are two the first that it was a voluÌ„tarie and willing death the second that it was a cursed death For the first whereas I say Christs death was voluntarie I meane that Christ died willingly and of his owne free accord gaue vp himselfe to suffer vpon the crosse Howsoeuer the Iewes did arraigne and condemne and crucifie him yet if hee had not willed his own death and of his free accord giuen himselfe to die not the Iewes nor all the whole worlde could euer haue taken away his life from him He died not by constraint or compulsion but most willingly and therefore hee saith No man taketh my life from me but I saith he lay it downe of my selfe I haue power to lay it downe and haue power to take it againe And our Sauiour Christ gaue euident tokens hereof in his death for then Iesus cried with a loud voice and gaue vp the ghost Ordinarily men that die on the crosse laÌ„guish away by little little before they come to yeeld vp their liues they loose their speech and onely rattle or make a noise in the throate but Christ at that very instant when he was to giue vp the ghost cried with a loud voice which sheweth plainely that he in his death was more then a conquerour ouer death And therefore to giue all men a token of his power and to shewe that he died voluntarily it pleased him to crie with a loud voice And this made the Centurion to say that he was the Sonne of God Againe Christ died not as other men doe because they first giue vp the ghost and then lay their heads aside but he in token that his death was voluntarie first laies his head aside after the manner of a dead man and then afterward giues vp the ghost Lastly Christ died sooner then men are wont to doe vpon the crosse and this was the cause that made Pilate wonder that he was so soone dead Now this came to passe not because he was loath to suffer the extremitie of death but because he would make it manifest to all men that he had power to die or not to die And indeede this is our comfort that Christ died not for vs by constraint but willingly of his owne accord And as Christs death was voluntarie so was it also an accursed death and therefore it is called the death of the crosse And it containeth the first and the second death the first is the separation of the bodie from the soule the second is the separation of bodie and soule from God and both were in Christ for beside the bodily death hee did in soule apprehend the wrath of God due to man for sinne and that made him crie My God my God why hast thou forsaken me And here wee must not omitte a necessarie point namely how farre foorth Christ suffered death Answere Some thinke that hee suffered onely a bodily death and such paines as followe the dissolution of nature but they no doubt come to short for why should Christ haue feared death so greatly if it had beene nothing but the dissolution of nature Some againe thinke that he died not onely the first but also the second death but it may