teach the will doth euer follow the last iudgement and conclusion of the practicke reason and that which the minde by the aduise of reason iudgeth and determineth to be acted that must the will endeauour to act As if the minde resolue that our chiefest happines consisteth in the plentifull possession and fruition of all earthly profits and pleasures then will the will and affections be wholly set vpon earthly things but if it resolue that our highest happinesse and our chiefest good consisteth in our communion with God and in the cleere manifestation of his loue in Christ then will our hearts be lifted vp to God and fixed on Christ and settled vpon heauen and heauenly things For as Saint Austine saith free-will is a seruant to sinne or to grace An euill minde maketh an euill will a minde indued with grace communicateth grace to the will For doth folly set all things Mala mens malus animus out of frame and doth not wisedome frame and order all things aright Doth darknesse cause men to stumble and fall Iohn 11. 9. Heb. 3. 12. and doth not light keepe men vpright and preserue them from falling Doth infidelity withdraw mens hearts from God and corrupt their wils and affections and doth not faith ioyne men neerely vnto God and sanctifie their wils and affections with all manner of diuine and heauenly graces Wherefore as all carnall Gospellers and loose Libertines so our Romane Catholikes are greatly deceiued in that they thinke that a sauing and iustifying faith may stand with raigning sinnes for then should the selfe-same persons at the selfe-same time be the children of God in respect of their mindes sanctified with the knowledge of the truth and with sauing faith and the children of the Deuill in their wils being polluted with dominering sins but where sauing faith getteth the sure and safe possession of the minde it not only expelleth infidelity out of the castle of the vnderstanding but also casteth out all sinne and iniquity out of the forts of the will and affections that they shall no longer rule and raigne there For sauing faith doth regenerate vs and make vs the sons of God Gal. 3. 26. as the Apostle affirmeth and so reneweth vs to his image in holinesse and crue righteousnesse and therefore will not suffer vs to giue place to wilfull and raigning sinnes and presumptuous transgressions Whosoeuer saith Saint Iohn is borne 1 Iohn 3. 9. of God sinneth not for his seed remaineth in him neither can he sinne because he is borne of God that is whosoeuer is borne of God committeth no such sinnes whereby the Word of God is choaked and extinguished in him because it is an immortall seed which liueth and indureth for euer where it is 1 Pet. 1. 23. once rooted and settled neither can hee sinne because hee is borne of God That is sinne which is the worke of the Deuill cannot so farre forth preuaile as to annihilate his regeneration which is the worke of God because God is stronger then the Deuill and will maintaine his owne proper worke in his owne children against the malice and mischiefe of Satan For let the Deuill set his chiefest instruments on worke to draw Gods children from their faith and obedience to God yet they shall not finally preuaile against them So Saint Iohn Little children ye are of God and haue ouercome them for 1 Iohn 4. 4. greater is he that is in you then he that is in the world For albeit they be little and weake in themselues yet they are strong in the Lord and in the power of his might and are enabled thereby to stand against all the assaults of the Deuill Ephes 6. 10. And verily he that truly beholdeth and duly considereth what this great dignity is to be translated out of the bondage of Satan into the glorious liberty of the sonnes of God he cannot with purpose of heart serue sinne any longer and enthrall himselfe againe vnto the tyranny of Satan but he will resigne himselfe wholly ouer to God How can we saith the Aposte Rom. 6. 2. that are dead to sinne liue any longer therein When Ioseph that of a poore slaue being made chiefe ruler ouer all Gen. 39. 9. Fixum etenins quicu ique geret noâ— hunc â—go nolle crediderim Christo cum mâ—ricate mori Coster that great estate which his master was possessed withall was tempted by his lewd mistrisse to defile his masters bed How can I said he doe this wickednesse and sinne against God How much more then will all such as are indued with true Christian faith resolue and say when they duly consider their great dignity in that of the bondslaues of Satan they are made the sonnes of God and inheritours of the kingdome of heauen How can we giue ouer our selues to wilfull and presumptuous sinnes to the great dishonour of our louing and most gracious God who hath aduanced vs to so great dignity and honor Vndoubtedly they cannot but thus resolue with themselues their sure beleefe of so great a fauour throughly settled in their hearts will not suffer them to giue themselues ouer to the seruice of sinne but will cause them fully to resolue to continue and perseuere in constant and continuall obedience vnto God And in this respect the estate of all such as are reconciled vnto God by Christ albeit it be subiect to many infirmities is farre more happy then Adams was in his absolute and perfect purity For as Saint Austine saith the first liberty was a Aug. de corrept grat cap. 2. possibility not to sinne but ours is much greater being such as that we cannot possibly sinne that is giue our selues ouer to be bondslaues to raigning sinnes For to Adam was giuen grace to persist in grace if he would but to vs it is giuen that we be made willing and that by our will we conquer our concupiscence to him was giuen ability if he himselfe would haue vsed it but to vs is giuen not only to be able but also to be willing to vse our ability For the will of the Saints is so forcibly mooued by the Spirit of God that therefore they are able because they will and therefore they will because it is God that worketh in them that they be willing For if in so great infirmity wherein perfect vertue was requisite for the suppressing of pride they were left to their owne will that by the helpe of God they might persist if they would themselues and that God himselfe did not worke in them the very will that they would among so many and so great tentations the will by reason of her weaknesse would soone relent and giue ouer A remedy therefore was prouided for the infirmity of mans will that it should be so mooued by diuine grace that it should neuer decline or separate it selfe from the same and therefore albeit it were weake yet it should neuer vtterly faile Now that Saint Austine did
one time or other they may be brought within the compasse thereof and so may be taken vp into Noah's Arke So then still it is the net of the Gospell and the hooke of the Word whereby men are taken and brought vnto God afflictions sent of God and penalties inflicted by the Magistrates are but the baites to make some bite at this hooke and poles to make them come within the compasse of this net Nay this worke of a mans vnfained conuersion to God cannot be wrought by the terrours of the Law of God For the Gal. 3. â— 2. Cor. 3. 6. spirit whereby we are begotten againe and made the children of God is not receiued by the preaching of the Law but by the hearing of faith The Law is the letter that condemneth and killeth causing a sinner to flie from God as from an angry and offended Iudge The Gospell is the ministery of righteousnesse and life reuealing the light of God's countenance shining in Hos 11. 4. Christ and opening his Fatherly affection and loue whereby he draweth his Elect vnto him The most that the Law of God can effect either by the aequity of the holy precepts thereof or by the seuerity of the threatnings denounced therein is happily for a time to stay sin vndoubtedly it hath not power enough to slay it it may stop for a while the current of sin cut down some of the boughs thereof but it cannot empty the fountaine of sin nor pluck it vp by the very rootes Much lesse can humane wisdome worke the reformation of sinfull men it may make them perhaps couer their sinnes but Humana sapientia ut plurimum efficiâ—t non abscindit vitia sed abscondit Lact. Inst l. 3. c. 26. cannot enable them to cast out their inbred corruptions The vttermost it can work as Lactantius testifieth is to driue corruption inward and to make it hide it selfe for a while but by making men outward conformitans it maketh them in truth no better then dissembling hypocrites For the reason and the wisedome of the naturall man could not finde out many particular transgressions committed against the Law of God nor sound the depth of his iudgments much lesse could it reach to the height of his mercies and the most strange and incredible expiation that the Lord appointed for sinne This Mystery required a supernaturall reuelation and could not be reuealed but by the doctrin of the Gospel Wherfore when the world by her wisedome knew not God in the wisedome of God it pleased God by the foolishnesse of preaching to saue them that belieue For the Gospell is the powerfull voice of our great Shepheard whereby he calleth and recalleth 1 Cor. 1. 21 Ioh. 10. 3. all his wandring sheepe and bringeth them home to his owne fold The Gospell is the banner of Christ whereby hee bringeth back his fugitiue souldiers and draweth them to his Can. 2. 4. Mar. 1. 17. owne colours The Gospell is the net which plucketh vs vp out of the Sea of our sinnes and pulleth vs into Christ's ship and waffeth vs along to the safe hauen of our euerlasting happines in the Kingdome of Heauen The Gospell is that voyce of Christ that raiseth vs vp out of the death of sinne to the life of Ioh. 6. 25. righteousnesse yea it is that aqua vitae that water of life that worketh in vs an holy life and quickneth vs to euerlasting Ioh. 4. 14 life The Gospell is that Zephyrus that life-breathing winde Cant. 4. 16. that blowing vpon Christ's Garden causeth the spices thereof to flow out The Gospell hath in it those sweet deawes and showers which dropping down vpon the dry grounds of our hearts causeth them to yeeld a plentifull haruest The doctrines Deut. 32. 2. of the Gospel are those good sciences that being grafted in our hearts make vs to become fruitfull trees meete to be planted in the Paradise of God Lastly the Gospell is that Iac. 1. 21. spirituall and heauenly enchantment that doth metamorphise and transforme vs being as beasts in qualities and conditions into the qualities conditioÌ„s of men yea of holy sanctified men For in it is drawn forth such a liuely picture of our own Isai P 1. 6. vilenes and of the excellencie of the Lord and of the strangenes of the remedy making manifest the greatnes of the malady that therein we all beholding as in a mirrour the glory of God with open face are changed into the same Image from 2 Cor. 3. 18 glory to glory as by the spirit of God Being thereby auerted from our selues conuerted to God weaned from our selues and won to God forced to leaue our selues and to cleaue to God yea to loath our selues and to loue God Wherefore let 2 Cor. 5. 14. Iew and Gentile and whatsoeuer Heretickes preach only or at least principally the Law of Moses or the Law of nature and Nations because they acknowledge not the imputed righteoousnes of Christ Iesus which is published in the Gospell but looke to be saued by their own workes But let the ministers of Christ which are the Ministers of the Gospell preach the Mar. 16. 15. Gospell to euery creature following herein not only the commandement but also the example of their heauenly Lord and Master who testifieth of himselfe on this manner saying The Spirit of the Lord is vpon me because he hath anointed mee Luc. 4 18. that I should preach the Gospell to the poore he hath sent me And verily not only blessed are the feet of them that bring Rom. 10. 15 glad tidings of those good things that God giueth to his by the preaching of the â—ospell but also blessed are the cares of Mat. 13. 16. all such as reuerently and religiously hearken thereunto seeing thereby they attaine this high priuiledge to be made the Elect Rom 3. 2 Eph. 2. 3. and chosen people of God For by nature all being borne in sinne the children of wrath and inheritours of destruction by preaching and hearing of the powerfull doctrine of the Gospell such as are of the number of the Elect and chosen people of God are borne againe as by an immortall seed are made the children of God and inheritours of the Kingdome of 1 Pet. 1. 23. Heauen CHAP. II QVAEST 2. The Word and the Sacraments doe not profite vnlesse the sense and vse of either be rightly apprehended and vnderstood THe power and efficacy of things consisteth not in the letters and wordes wherein they are expressed but in the things themselues being rightly applied to those vses where unto they are ordained by God To ascribe an operatiue and working power to bare letters or words hath bin condemned by all wise and religious persons not only in such as haue bin bewitched with diuelish forceâ—ies but also in such as haue bin blinded with grosse and palpable superstition The seuen sons of one Scaeva a Priest are branded
with the note of aeternall infamy for that they tooke vpon them to name ouâ—r them that Acts 19. 13. had euill spirits the name of the Lord IESVS saying We adiure you by IESVS whom Paul preacheth As the Scribes and Pharisees are condemned of grosse and palpable superstition for that they did ascribe a sanctifying Mat. 23. 5. power vnto the Law of God written vpon their garments They did not vnderstand saith S. Ierome that these things are Ierom. in Mat. c. 23. to be carried in their hearts and not on their bodies seeing Libraries and chests haue the bookes but not the knowledge of God The like saith he doe euen now superstitious women amongst vs who haue a zeale of God but not according to knowledge in litle Gospels and in the wood of the Crosse and in other things of the like nature Neither was this superstition found only among some silly women but also among some of the Priests whom S. Chrysostome Chrâ—s in Mat. hom 43. sharply taxeth saying Tell me thou doating Priest is not the Gospell daily read and heard of men in the Church Whom then it doth not profit being receiued by the eares can it saue being hanged about their necks For wherein consisteth the vertue of the Gospell In the formes of the letters or in the vnderstanding of the sense If in the figures then dost thou wel to hang it about thy necke but if in the vnderstanding then would it doe the more good being placed in thine heart then hanged about thy necke Neither haue the Sacraments which are visible words any supernaturall grace annexed to the outward Elements but as Aug. in Joh. hom 89. 1 Cor. 11. 29. they represent vnto the mind an invisible grace and shadow out and suggest diuine things to the vnderstanding that so they may be viewed and reviewed againe and againe and that they being once rightly apprehended may be stil apprehended better and better How is it saith S. Austin that water doth touch the body and cleanse the soule but by the means of the word Aug. in Ioh hom 80. And that not because it is pronounced with the tongue but beleeued by the heart the right vse of the sacred signe being so Verba sunt signa rerum conceiued as it is opened and taught in the word And verily to what end were both Words and Sacraments Sacramentum est visibile signuÌ„ invisibilisgratie Aug. de doct Christian l. 4. 6. 8 ordained but that they being signes of things they might open vnto vs the things whereof they are signes Insomuch as S. Austin saith it skilleth not how polished the tongue bee that we speake in but how sit it be to make manifest our minde and meaning For that as a wooden key may steed vs more then a key of gold if it be more sit to open that which is shut so a base and simple language may doe vs more good then a learned and polished if that it make knowne vnto vs that which was vnknowne And therefore the diuine seruice of God that is to be performed by the people of God is to bee deliuered in their vulgar tongue that they may vnderstand what they doe The which thing is so behoofull and necessary that the Apostle commanded that such as vttered diuine mysteries in strange tongues which were giuen euen by the miraculous operation of the Holy Ghost should keep silence in the Church vnlesse the meaning of the speech were presently expounded 1 Cor. 14. 28. that so the hearers might receiue edification thereby For all things in the Church ought to be done to edification and no word ought especially there to be uttered idly or in vaine And Isai 45. 9 therefore whereas wordes vttered in an vnknowne language are without profit and vaine they are not to be vttered in the Church of God Yea albeit the words themselues be vnderstood Legere non intell gere est negligere yet if the sense and meaning of them be not rightly conceiued they are as our Sauiour saith as seed sowne by the Mat. 13. 9. high way side which can yeeld no manner of fruit And verily as not the words but the meaning of the Law is the Law so not the words but the meaning of the Gospell of Christ is the Gospell of Christ The Scripture saith S. Ierome consisteth not in the reading but in the vnderstanding And againe Hier. advers Luciferianos Hier. in cap. 1. eâ—ist ad Gal. saith he let vs not thinke that the Gospell consisteth in the words of the Scriptures but in the sense not in the outward shew but in the marrow not in the leaues of the language but in the root of the reason Wherefore Chrysostome's aduise is very behoofull that wee should diligently watch or rather saith he we haue need of Chrys in Ioh. hom 39 the grace of God that we insist not vpon the bare words seeing thereby heretickes fall into errour For as the right sense of the Word of God maketh it to be the true Word of God so a wrong sense forged by man maketh it to be the word of man yea a cursed gloze thereof made by the suggestion of that cursed serpent Satan cleane corrupteth the Text and maketh that which in the syllables and words is the very Word of God to be in the corrupt sense the very word of the Diuell And therefore such as be carefull not to fall into errour nor to turne the Word of God into the Word of the Diuell must Tertul. advers Prax. as Tertullian aduiseth exercise themselues to the sense of the matter and not to the sound of the words Yea if they will receiue any profit at all by the Word of God they must giue all diligence that they may attaine to the right sense and vnderstanding of the same For the word profiteth not vnlesse it bee Heb. 4. 2. mixed with Faith Now a right faith standeth vpon a true vnderstanding of that we beleeue For we cannot giue a right assent of faith to that which we doe not rightly vnderstand And therefore the weaker or stronger our apprehension of the mysteries of the Word of God is the weaker or stronger is our Faith As it appeareth in the very Apostles themselues who liuing with Christ himselfe and being oft taught by him the mysteries of godlines yet were a long time very weake in Faith for that they were very weake in knowledge But when our blessed Sauiour after his resurrection had opened their minds and had made them to vnderstand the sense of the Scriptures Luc. 24. 45 then they attained to a greater measure of Faith For growth in the right knowledge of the word of grace doth bring with 2 Pet. 3. 18. it growth in grace it selfe Wherefore it is no meane mercy when God doth bestow vpon any persons the true and certaine knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdome of God seeing it is a sure
be new and strange to nature her selfe in her integrity but it can in no meanes be contrary therevnto Aug de Ciuit. Dei l. 22. c. 1. vnto So Saint Austin truth was perswaded new to custome but not contrary to reason Nay there is admirable consent and harmony as a learned Author testifieth betweene the naturall Amand. Pol. lib. 2 Log. fol. 213. parefactions of God and the supâ—rnaturall for from God is both reason and Scripture and reason being obsâ—ured by sinne and desiled with filthy errours the Spirit of God by the Scripture doth lighten againe and free her from her former aberrations So Saint Ambrose the light of nature being Am de suga seâ—uli cap. 3. dimmed was to be cleared by the Law To whom accordeth Saint Cyrill The law was giuen that thereby the light that Cyrill in Ioh. l. 1. c. 11. was in vs should be increased Wherefore let no reasonable man dispute against reason nor learned man against humane learning vnlesse he will indanger the reputation of his reason and of his learning also A stranger which was not of the kindred of Israel hauing shauen her selfe and cut of the haire of her eye-browes and of her head and hauing performed all other things ordained in the Law to that purpose might be ioyned to the people of God and be admitted into the Sanctuary So Phisâ—osophy and humane learning by her corrupt Doctrines a stranger to the seruice of God being pruned from them by the sharpe booke of the Scripture may yeeld some good timber to the Lords Spirituall buildâ—rs for the rearing vp and also for the beautifying of the Spirituall House and Temple of God Truth it is that the errours in Philosophy being wrongfully opposed against the truthes in Theology and stifly and obstinately maintained and defended haue made some of the Philosophers the Partriarches of Haeretickes and yet as true it is that the truthes thereof being diligently sought out by the studious haue had such as haue bin best instructed therein the chiefest Patrons of all Diuine verities and the strongest impugners of all Heathenish and Haereticall pranities And hereof it is that in all well-ordered Schooles and Vniversities yong Schollers are first trayned vp in the knowledge of the tongues and Arts before they be admitted to be students in Diuinity And doth not experience it selfe make this manifest that the siner the naturall wit of any student is and the more it is ripened with a greater measure of all manner of humane learning the fitter such an one is to vnderstand the heauenly doctrines of the diuine Scriptures and to diue into the profundity of the mysteries of Faith Po. as S. Austin saith grace doth not abolish Aug. in Ps 102. nature but make it perfect neither doth nature reiect but embrace grace Yea as Tertullian truely teacheth God sent first nature to be our Schoole-mistris being afterward to send prophesie that thou being first the disciple of nature mightst afterward be more easily induced to beleeue prophesie For the booke of Nature is as well the Lords booke as the booke of Scriptures and the truthes written in the one are as well the Lords truthes as they that are written in the other Neither is there as Nazianzene saith any knowledge of learning to be despised seeing all Science whatsoeuer is in the nature of good things Rather those that despise it we are to account sluggish and clownish who would be glad that all were ignorant that so their own ignoraÌ„ce might not be espied Verily all such persoÌ„s are like the Painter who hauing drawne out the picture of Cockes after an vnseemly and euill fauoured fashion set his Boy to keepe away all liuing Cockes from his shoppe least by their comming neare his rudenesse and vnskilfulnesse might more euidently appeare Wherefore it may well beseeme the sauage Sarazons and the barbarous Turkes to beleeue Lud. viv l. 1. de veritate Religionis Christiane grosly in their false Prophet Mahomet and to haue no learning to be vnable to discourse of any point of their religion and well may the sword be the finall resolution of their sottish Alcharon an argument concluding in Ferio and taken out of the Butchers Shambles as best beseeming such beastly blood-suckers And let it also agree to Henry Nicholas Henry Nicholas in the Gospel of the Kingdome cap. 23. scrip â—…arij Father of the Familists to glory in the name of an vnlearned man and in a scoffe to tearme the skilfull in the Scriptures Scripture-wife or Scripture-men and to warne his Schollers to beware of such And let it agree to wicked Ieroboam that made Israel to sinne and to fall away from God to make the basest of the people being vnlettered persons to be his Priests as being in truth fitter guides to leade into all superstition and Idolatry then vnto the right worshippe and seruice of God So let it agre to the Priests and Prelates of the darke kingdome of Antichrist to be like my Lord of Dunkelden who knew neither old nor new Law and to their Doctors which taught that the Lords Prayer might be aswell to the Virgine Mary as vnto Christ and to one of the Founders of their superstitious orders viz. to Frier Francis who preached to the birds yea to the Popes themselues among whom some were so vnlettered as Alphonsus saith that they knew not Alphon. de castra lib. 1. ca 4 cont hares the very grounds of the Grammer And let these men be their supreame iudges in all controuersies who although they goe awry in the premises yet they cannot erre in the conclusion For belike albeit they take their aime neuer so much amisse and stand cleane contrary to shoot at the marke yet they cannot choose but hit the white And although they goe neuer so contrary a way all the day long yet such admirable and vnerring guides they are that at night they are still right and at the place where they should be But the Lord requireth of all such as should be pastours and feeders of his slocke and instructers and teachers of his people that they be not young nouices and raw schollers 1 Tim. 3. 6. but ancient Students and well grounded Diuines euen such as are able to teach truth and conuince errour they must be learned Scribes in the Kingdome of God able to bring out of their treasury both new and old Yea it is very fit and conuenient that they haue skill in prophane learning that they may wound the enemy with his own weapon cut off Goliahs head with his owne sword and build vp the Temple of God with some stuffe taken out of the ruines of Babylon For as Saint Austin saith it is no small praise and commendation to Aug. de doct Christiana lib. 2. cap. 40. rob the Aegyptians of their sumptuous vestments and of their siluer and gold and to bestow the same things vpon the adorning of the Lords Tabernacle which they
for parables are couerings vntill they be vnfolded and expounded but being expounded and laid open they make manifest and lay open vnto vs spirituall things Christ saith Chrsostome did set out his doctrine by parables that he might Chrys in Mat. hom 45. in Ioh. hom 33. speake more significantly and set it plainer before our eyes for by the resemblance of familiar things the minde is more stirred vp and doth apprehend the thing the better being set foorth as it were in a picture This kinde of opening things is most pleasing and sticketh faster for a similitude or relemblance if it be apt or sit doth shew forth much wisedome Yea no man doubteth as saith Saint Austine but by parables Aug. de doct Christiana lib. 2. cap. 6. things are more readily learned and being sought out with some difficulty are the more acceptable when they are found Wherefore our blessed Sauiour and his Apostles vsed often parables and resemblances taken from earthly things for the better manifesting of their heauenly doctrines and other like arguments also taken out of the booke of nature well knowne to euery intelligent man that is found and entire in his outward senses As when our blessed Sauiour appeared to his Disciples after his resurrection and they supposed that they had seene a spirit our Sauiour appealeth to the outward senses saying handle me and see me for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me to haue And when Thomas would Luke 24. 39. not yet beleeue the testimony of his fellow Apostles concerning the resurrection of Christ when he appeared vnto them againe he spake vnto Thomas saying put thy finger here and see my hands and stretch foorth thy hand and put it into my side and be not faithlesse but beleeue The which thing when Iohn 20. 28. Thomas had done he was so conuinced euen by the censure of his outward senses that immediatly he crieth out saying my Lord and my God So the Apostle Saint Paul to conuince the idolatrous Athenians of error for the worshipping of their gods with materiall images alleageth this naturall reason taken out of one of their Act. 17. 29. owne heathenish Poets saying Seeing we are the generation of God resembling God by our immortall spâ—rits which cannot be resembled by any materiall image much lesse can the immortall and incorruptible God be resembled by any such meanes So among the Corinthians when there was an abuse 1 Cor. 11. 14. in some of them in wearing long haire the Apostle to redresse the same appealeth to the iudgment of nature it selfe saying What doth not nature it selfe teach you that it is a shame for a man to haue long haire So our blessed Sauiour to perswade his Disciples to doe good to their very enemies saith that nature doth teach the Gentiles themselues to be good to their friends and that Christians being aduanced aboue them by Matth. 5. 45. grace should learne thereby to doe good to their enemies especially seeing that sense and experience did plainly teach them that God maketh his Sunne to rise on the euill and on the good and his raine to fall on the iust and vniust Wherefore errours may be confuted and faith and piety perswaded not onely by arguments taken out of the booke of grace but also out of the booke of nature For neither sense nor reason are contrary to religion or enemies to faith nay rather right reason is a most fast friend to faith and a most valiant Champion for true Religion But yet here this most reasonable caution must be added that when question is of the extraordinary and supernaturall workes of God we take not vpon vâ— to measure them with the short line of naturall reason seeing that is not able to reach vnto the height or to found the depth thereof And therefore Sarah and Zachary cannot be excused in that when a childe Gen. 18. 11. was promiâ—ed to each of them by the Lord almighty at that time when by the course of nature it was vnlikely if not impossible Luke 1. 18. that they should haue had any they cast their eyes vpon the disabled power of nature and not vpon the almighty power of God and thereby offended through vnbeleefe Whereas the blessed Virgin Mary in a case more improbable cast her eyes vpon the power of the promiser and so sanctified Luke 1. 49. his holy name As Abraham also in the former case doubting not through vnbeleefe but resting fully assured that he that promised him a childe would and could performe it glorified God aboue that hope that nature could yeeld but vnder that hope that God which is supernaturall is able to satisfie Rom. 4. 19. to the full Wherefore it is not impossible by reason to ascend aboue reason and by the principles of an higher science to haue that selfe-same thing confirmed for a truth which by the grounds of an inferiour Art cannot be proued Neither is faith it selfe then most commendable when she hath fewest reasons to assist her for then the Colliers faith were â—…taine and an vndoubted a truth that if any instance may bee giuen against the same in any singular person that liued vnder the Synagogue as in Abraham Moses Dauid and the like we may be bold to stand to this resolution that if in these persons there was any eminency of faith aboue that which is to be found in such as liue vnder the Gospell the cause thereof was in the extraordinary working of the Spirit of God which enabled them to vse more diligence in their weaker meanes and thereby aduanced them to greater gifts Now if against these things which haue beene deliuered it be obiected that faith doth not produce her actions by meanes of discourse but by the immediate operation and reuelation of the Spirit of God albeit this hath beene most abundantly confuted in all the former part of this Chapter yet if it were not so this one reason is fully sufficient to conuince the same For where is faith is that to the minde which the eye is to the body then it followeth that as the eye doth not apprehend his obiect immediately but as it is made conspicuous by meanes of some bodily light so faith which is the sight of the soule doth not apprehend truth which is her generall obiect vnlesse it be made manifest by the light of reason and meanes of discourse The which is so sure and certaine a truth that the Apostles themselues who had the knowledge of all diuine and humane verities necessary for such as should be teachers and instructers of the whole world giuen vnto them not by their owne labours and studdy but by the immediate reuelation of the Spirit of God yet had not this their knowledge without discourse As it is manifest by manner of handling and deciding the question that was brought vnto them which was whether the workes of the Law were to be ioyned with faith in Christ in
God by the which testimonies of the 1 Iohn 2. 29. Apostle it is manifest that the faithfull knowing that they are indued with the true knowledge of Christ and with true loue and with true righteousnesse know thereby that they are of God and that they are his elect and chosen children For as a true friend among men doth bestow such fauours and gifts vpon him whom he intirely and tenderly loueth as the receiuer vnderstandeth what they are and their worth also that so by manifesting his great kindnesse he may winne mutuall and reciprocall loue so God the friend of friends giueth his spirituall graces vnto all those whom he hath loued in Christ and chosen in him before the foundation of the world and maketh them to vnderstand what these his principall blessings are and the end why he giueth them euen to assure them of his fatherly fauour and loue Yea he maketh them sensible of this gracious worke of his Spirit in their owne hearts when he effecteth the same by the powerfull operation of his owne holy Spirit and worketh a true sense and feeling thereof in the receiuers themselues as it hath already beene declared in the opening of the second question of the first part of this treatise and shall bee further cleared also in the second part hereof For that the faithfull should not doubt of Gods loue toward themselues he giueth his owne sanctifying Spirit and their owne sanctified spirits to testifie the same that against the sufficiency of their testimonies no man can take any iust Rom. 8. 16. exception In the Law saith our Sauiour it is written that the testimony Iohn 8. 17. of two men is true Of what an vndoubted truth then is that thing which is witnessed by a sanctified conscience whereas the testimony of conscience without this qualification Conscientia mille testes is in stead of a thousand witnesses Now if the witnesse of a sanctified conscience be of such validity which yet is but an humane testimony what is the witnesse of God himselfe Now this is the witnesse of God saith the Apostle that not 1 Iohn 5. 9. onely he hath giuen vnto vs eternall life but also that he hath by his Spirit giuen vnto vs our faich to testifie the same to our owne soules and that to this end that we might know that we haue eternall life and that we might beleeue viz. by a faith daily growing stronger and stronger in the name of the Sonne of God The which thing cannot be but effectually wrought if the faithfull would daily and duly consider that the promise of blessednesse made by Christ to all that beleeue was by God deliuered not onely by word of mouth but also by an oath Iohn 5. 24. and after the same maner was redeliuered to Christ and that to this end that by two immutable things wherein it is impossible Heb. 6. 17. that God should lie we might haue strong consolation and not only so but also was set downe vnder his own hand againe and againe in all the bookes of the old and new Testament and further yet was ratified and confirmed by many feales of diuers Sacraments Wherefore no maruell though the faithfull in former ages haue often openly made profession of this their comfortable assurance of Gods loue publishing and proclaiming that God was their God and they his seruants and that Christ was their Christ in particular and that by his Bloud shed precisely for themselues they were iustified from all their sinnes O my soule saith Dauid thou hast said and said it againe and Psal 16. 2. againe vnto the Lord thou art my God for so it followeth in the same Psalme and in diuers others The Lord is the poâ—tion of mine inheritance and of my cup thou shalt maintaine my lot my lot is fallen vnto me in a very good ground I haue a goodly heritage So Psal 18. I will loue thee deerely O Lord my strength the Lord is my rocke and my fortresse and my deliuerer my God and my strength in whom I will trust my shield and the horne also of my saluation So Esay O Lord thou art my God So Thomas My Lord my God Esay 25. 1. Ioh. 20. 28. Hos 2. 23. So all the faithfull since the comming of Christ in the flesh I will say vnto them that were not my people thou art my people and they shall say thou art my God And verily as when Ahab said to Benhadads seruants Is my brother Benhadad yet 1 Kings 20. 33. aliue they tooke aduantage thereby saying thy brother Benhadad so whereas God calleth himselfe in particular the God of the faithfull and them in like manner his people and his seruants why may not the faithfull call not God only their God but themselues also his seruants after a speciall maner making thereby a thankfull confession of their own high dignity which the Lord their God hath bestowed vpon them It was not pride then and presumption but a thankfull and dutifull acknowledgement of Gods most singular goodnesse towards himselfe that made Dauid sound out with a loud voyce and double the same againe and againe Behold Lord I am thy seruant I am thy seruant and the sonne of thine handmaid thou hast broken my bonds that is thou hast deliuered me from the bondage of sinne and Satan and hast made me the seruant of righteousnesse and therefore I may safely assure my selfe that I am thy seruant So old Simeon Lord now lettest thou thy Luke 2. 29. seruant depart in peace according to thy word So Elias O Lord God of Abraham Isaac and Israel let it be knowne 1 Reg. 18. 36. this day that thou art the God of Israel and that I am thy seruant that I haue done al these things at thy commandement So the Apostles Simon Peter a seruant and an Apostle of Iesus 2 Pet. 1. 1. Iac 1. 1. Iude 1. Rom. 1. 1. Christ Iames a seruant of God and of the Lord Iesus Christ Iude a seruant of Iesus Christ Paul a seruant of Iesus Christ They knew that they serued Christ faithfully in the preaching of the Gospell and in all other duties inioyned to Act. 27. 23. them by Christ and therefore they were bold to publish and proclaime themselues to be his seruants and Christ himselfe to be their Lord. So Tertullian writing in the defence of the Tert. in Apol. Christian faith against the Gentiles The religious saith he among you seeke for safety where it cannot be had c. but I cannot pray for it but to him of whom I know that I shall obtaine it because it is hee that is able to doe it and I am the party to whom it is to be granted because I am his seruant and doe worship him alone Now as euery faithfull man knoweth that God is â—is God in particular and that he himselfe is Gods seruant so he knoweth the same blessing to be wrought
seeing they haue turned the Bread into the Body of Christ and are able to offer him vp in their Masse as a propitiatory sacrifice for the sins of quicke and dead the which thing cannot be but much auaileable to themselues which are sure to be well payed for their paynes QVEST. XVII Concupiscence is sinne euen in the Regenerate themselues Why is the liuing man sorrowfull Man suffereth for his sinne So the Apostle By sinne death entred into the world and Lam. 3. 37. Rom. 5. 12. therefore all sickenesse and other miseries that lead thereunto Vnto the which seeing euen sanctified Infants which haue receiued the Sacrament of regeneration and are free from all actuall sinne are subiect therefore concupiscence in sanctified infants is sinne vnlesse we will lay to the charge of the most righteous Iudge of the whole world that he punisheth such persons that are without all fault Yea whereas infants giue no consent to their naturall corruptions and yet are punished for them therefore concupiscence is sinne albeit consent is not giuen to it See S. Aug. Serm. de Temp. 45. QVEST. XVIII Faith repentance and loue with all holy workes proceeding from them doe not deserue any thing at all at Gods hands but make the faithfull endebted to God for the same If Abraham saith the Apostle were iustified by workes hee Rom. 4. 2. hath wherein to reioyce but not before God For gifts and benefits doe not make the doner any whit endebted to the receiuer but they deserue at the hands of the receiuer and make him endebted vnto the doner But faith repentance and loue Phil. 1. 29. and all holy workes proceeding from them are the free gifts and blessings of God wrought in them by the operation of 1 Cor. 12. 11. the holy Ghost and therefore are called the fruits of the Gal. 5. 22. Spirit Wherefore hereby the faithfull deserue nothing at Gods hand but are made the more indebted to God So reasoneth Saint Bernard None by good workes can deserue eternall life Bern. Ser. 1. de 〈◊〉 at Gods hands seeing all the afflictions of this life are not worthy of the glory that shall be reuealed albeit one person could indure them all The merits of men are not such as vnto the which eternall life is by iustice due and that God should doe wrong to them if he did not reward them there with For that I may not let passe that all merits are Gods gifts and that man is thereby rather made a debter to God then God to man what are all merits being compared to so great glory And therefore Dauid cryed out Enter not into iudgement with thy seruant O Lord for in thy sight shall no man liuing be iustified QVEST. XIX The workes of God reuealed in the Scriptures doe manifestly declare them to be the word of God especially the worke of regeneration wrought by the Diuine and powerfull doctrines thereof in the hearts of all such as faithfully and sincerely embrace the same and therefore they are not to be receiued as such onely vpon the testimony of the Church Knowne vnto God are all his workes from the beginning Act. 15. 18. 1 Cor. 2. 11. of the world and to none other besides himselfe and therefore he onely is able to reueale them Wherefore seeing the works of the creation redemption and Sanctification which are the most gracious and glorious workes of God are plainely reuealed in the bookes of the Holy Scriptures therefore the doctrines of the holy bookes are faithfully to be embraced as vndoubtedly proceeding from diuine reuelation And verily who could so distinctly and particularly set downe the manner of the creation of man and of all the rest of the creatures but he that hauing the fulnesse of being in himselfe could giue such a manner and measure of being to them all as should manifest his great power wisedome and goodnesse towards man for whose sake principally the world was made And who could lay open the fall of man from his estate of holinesse and happinesse wherein he was created and the manner thereof but he onely from whose obedience albeit man could depart yet he could not depart from his presence nor so much as dazle his sharpe and cleare eyes albeit he could cleane put out his owne but who could open a meanes of mans recouery from this his miserable and wretched estate whereinto he is fallen by his owne folly but he that was onely able to worke his recouery It is euident that sinne being an offence committed against the infinite Maiesty of the most glorious Deity requireth a satisfaction no lesse then infinite Now who could so much as imagine that God being so grieuously prouoked and so highly offended with man should send his owne Sonne to become man that in mans nature he might suffer death for mans deliuery from death and condemnation For doubtlesse one will scarce die for a righteous man for a good Rom. 5. 7. man it may be that one dare dye that then such a person who when he was in the forme of God thought it no robbery to be equall with God should die for such persons as were not onely neither righteous nor good but aboue measure vnrighteous and euill and that he should die such a death as proceeded from the intollerable wrath of so highly incensed a God against most execrable and cursed sinnes Who hath beleeued our report and to whom is the arme of the Lord reuealed Isay 53. 1. Surely the Gospell wherein this worke is reuealed is Diuine and supernaturall exceeding all humane and naturall apprehension and could not be reuealed but by him that could worke beyond the power of nature The which thing doth more euidently appeare hereby in that wheresoeuer it is plainely reuealed and sincerely imbraced it doth deliuer all such from the most grieuous bondage of sinne and Satan and doth most effectually bring them backe againe vnto God For as Lactantius saith Let humane wisedome stretch it selfe to the vttermost yet it can but cause men to couer their sinnes it cannot enable them to cast them out whereas the Gospell which is the Law of the Spirit of Life not onely freed Saint Paul from the Law of sinne and death but also conuerted Rom. 8. 2. the world and that in short time from infidelity to faith from sinne to righteousnesse from Satan to God albeit it was most mightily resisted not onely with all the wisedome and learning but also with all the power and authority of all the wisest and greatest men of the world and therefore it cannot be denyed but that it is the most mighty and powerfull word of the most mighty and powerfull God The heauens declare themselues to be the workes of God in that they cause the earth which is so bare and barren at Winter to be cloathed in Summer with all manner of hearbes flowers and graine and to abound with all variety of fruit and doth not the doctrine