entisements in all things Lastly as touching supplication which we make the third filial duty man is so wholly alienated from God that what necessitie soeuer do pinche him he hath not either the minde or the will and as we vse to speake neither the heart nor the face once to go to God by humble prayer for helpe He flyeth to worldly meanes as to his own wisdome strength riches and friendes and if all faile yet he will rather seeke for helpe by sorcery and witchcraft at the hands of his newe father the diuell then he will by prayer call vpon the name of God Thus are all vnregenerate men affected howsoeuer in a shew of religion or as a common prouerbe they will somtimes say God helpe me or God be mercifull to me whereas in trueth they being destitute of faith haue no confidence in God neither any hope of obtaining any thing at his hand Neither is there any cause why they shoulde thinke otherwise for God doth not heare and helpe but detest and plague vnbeleeuers Sect. 3. Of filiall subiection renewed THus we see how man is altogether spoiled by the malice of Sathan of this excellent dignitie of being the sonne of God but by the mercie of God he recouereth it in the state of regeneration in as ample manner as he had it in his first creation For as all naturall men are in Adam vngratious bastardes so they become the sonnes of God in Christ not by partaking his eternall and essentiall filiation whereof no creature is capable but by being renewed and made conformable to the holinesse of his humaine nature For as man lost this dignitie by loosing the image of God to wit his perfect holinesse by vertue whereof he onely of all earthly creatures was the sonne of God so being nowe by the spirite of God restored to the saide image of God he is together restored to the dignitie of being the sonne of God Ioh. 1. 12. As many as beleeued in him to those he gaue power to be the sonnes of God For as we read 2. Pet. 1. 4. We are made partakers of his diuine nature that is of the image or resemblaunce of the diuine nature in that we fly the corruption of lust which is in the world From this prerogatiue of being the sonnes of God the scripture speaking to men according to the manner of men whose sonnes do in time enioy their fathers possessions stirreth vp the faithfull to an vndoubted expectation of eternall glory Gal. 4. 7. We are no more seruantes but sonnes and the heires of God through Christ Rom. 8. 17. If we be sonnes then are we heires the heires truly of God and the fellow heires of Christ and 1. Iohn 3. 2. We are nowe the sonnes of God although our inheritaunce doth not appeare till Christ appeare Nowe to proceed As the faithfull are restored to this dignitie so they are indued by the spirite of God with the disposition belonging to it being so affected to God as children ought to be to their naturall fathers They reuerence him aboue al thinges in the worlde in worde and deed in minde harte and in all their behauiour The great securitie and certainty which they haue of their owne good estate doth not make them any way presumptuous neither doth the familiarity which God vouchsafeth to haue with them as with freindes Ioh. 15 15. Breed in them any contempt of God but they stand continually in awe of him and of his glorious presence yeelding to him his due honour both in word deed and affection whensoeuer they haue any occasion to deale with him This we may obserue as in the other seruants of God so especially in Abraham who although he was the friend of God as he is called Iam. 2. 23. And had familiar conuersation and talke with God as one friende vseth to haue with another yet he durst not speake the second time to God in the behalfe of the Sodomites without vsing some preface of reuerence saying Gen. 18. 27. Behold I haue taken vpon me to speake to God who am but dust and ashes And againe Vers. 30 let not my lord be angrie if I speake for them This affection of the faithfull is described Psal. 123 As the eyes of the seruant are vpon his lord and as the handmaid doth modestly waite in presence of her mistris so are we affected to God Likewise for the second duty which is Imitation the faithfull man endeuoureth by all meanes to conforme himselfe to the absolute puritie and holinesse of God Whereof the Apostle hauing wise consideration vseth the examples of Christes death and resurrection as most forcible argumentes to enforce the mortification of sinne and the viuification of all holynesse in vs Rom. 6. and Eph. 5. 1. Be ye followers of God as beloued children Lastly As a sonne being pinched with any griefe or want doth straight way run to his father for reliefe so doe the faithfull in the manifolde miseries and crosses of this present life seeke for helpe at the handes of their heauenly father For the which purpose they are indued with a notable gift of God called the spirit of prayer that is the grace ability or faculty of praying wrought in them by the holy spirite This grace of God is diligently to be declared and considered for that of all the partes of mans holinesse none is a more vnfallible signe of true regeneration then is this gift of prayer whereby a man is made able willing and ready to pray aright vnto God as the present occasion doth require For this gifte consisteth of many particular graces of Gods spirit the which are needfull for the right performance of this duety and cannot be founde in any carnall man First there is required the true knowledge of those things which belong vnto the good happy state of man which is not attained but by the worke of the holy spirite Rom. 8. 26. We know not for what to pray as we ought but the spirit helpeth our infirmity For all men generally and naturally feele their temporall wants as pouerty sicknesse shame and whatsoeuer belongeth to the maintenance of this present life but as for spirituall graces as the knowledge and feare of God faith loue patience and the rest which concerne their eternall saluation they neuer trouble themselues in seeking them or are greeued for the want of them nay for the most part they neuer thinke of any such matter or knowe what these thinges meane Besides none can pray aright yea although he be enlightned with some knowledge of the spirituall state of man and haue a glimmering of the thinges belonging vnto it as a carnal man may haue vnlesse he haue true faith wherby he may be assured that god both loueth him and wil graunt his requests Rom. 10. 14. The Apostle maketh it impossible for him who doth not beleeue in God to call vpon him But the
of God for if man were accounted righteous for his holinesse or loue he might impute his saluation to his owne desert for perfect loue deserueth loue and holinesse will chalenge life as of due debt But affiance implieth a humble loyall and duetifull subiection acknowledging the vnworthines basenesse insufficiency and weakenesse of man and together the mercy goodnesse loue fauour bounty trueth and power of God This reason is vsed for this purpose Ro. 3. 27. what law or meanes of saluation doth take away all boasting from man and so giueth all the glory of our saluation to God not the law of workes or inherent holinesse but the law of faith yea of all the graces which are in man faith onely hath in it this naturall property to make a man partaker of Christes death and righteousnes and so of saluation For euen as a tennant inioyeth his house and landes not for that he loueth or feareth his lord or for any vertue wherwith he is indued but only because he doth depeÌ„d on his Lord and so doth purchase vnto him worship and honour by relying himselfe wholly vpon his loue fauor liberality constancy ability riches so standeth the case with man in respect of his saluation For no grace saue onely this affiance on God and on his mercy in Christ can conuey vnto vs remission of sinnes and eternall life In the which respect it is commonly said in holy scripture that faith doth iustifie not as it is a parte of mans holinesse whereof no one part no not all the partes of it if any one be wanting will serue to make a man righteous before God but as it hath in it this proper vertue to make the death of Christ the death of the beleeuer so the righteousnes arising of the said death the righteousnes of the beleuer For he that hath suffered death is iustisied from sin Thus much of the obiect nature attributes of euangelical faith It remaineth that before we proceed to the rest of the partes of mans holines we should declare the relatioÌ„ which is betwixt faith them It hath bene said of faith in general that it is as it were the root froÌ„ the which other graces do spring in that it tieth vs to God the fountain of al graces as to the only giuer of all happines the which thing is true of this euangelicall faith after a special manner For in that it ioineth vs to Christ it maketh vs partakers of the spirit of Christ or rather causeth an increase of all spirituall graces For regeneratioÌ„ is although not in time yet in nature before faith Therefore this faith is made the subiect of the spirituall life of the new man euen as the hart is in the body the fountaine of heat Gal. 2. 20. I liue yet not I but Christ liueth in me in that I now liue in the flesh I liue by the faith of the sonne of God who hath loued me and giuen his life for me And Act. 15. 9. Peter saith that God did purifie the hartes of the gentils that is as it is expounded verse 8. worke sanctification in them by faith In the which respect it is compared to the foundation of a house where vpon the whole buylding standeth and to the roote of a tree which giueth heate sappe and life to all the partes of it Coll. 1. 23. If ye continue founded and established in fayth and to a fountaine of liuing water Ioh. 7. 38. He that beleeueth in me out of his bellie shall flow riuers of the water of life And therfore it is put before all other graces 2. Pet. 1. 5. Ioyne to your fayth vertue and to your vertue knowledge temperance patience godlynes brotherly loue and kyndnes Hence it is that it is vsually distinguished from the rest of the partes of sanctification they being called by the name of loue or of the holy ghost 1 Tâ—ess 3. 6. Tymothie hath brought vs tydinges of your fayth and loue So it is saide Act. 6. 5. That Stephen was a man full of fayth and of the holy spirit not that faith it selfe is not a worke of the holy spirite and a parte of the spirituall holynesse of man but because it is the first worke of Gods spirite and the foundation of mans holinesse and saluation who must be by fayth freed from sinne and death before he can be endued with positiue holynesse and life Thus the Apostle doth often exhorte vs to fanctification and holynesse of life by an argument drawen from iustification which is the proper effect of faith as we may see Ro. 6. 14. sinne shall not haue dominion ouer you because you are not vnder the lawe but vnder grace But it may be asked how iustification doth bring foorth sanctification especially seing that to mans reason it is rather a motiue to a wicked and dissolute life that by the multitude and hainousnesse of our sinnes the mercy of God whereby they are pardoned might the more appeare Rom. 3. 7. and 6. 1. We answere that iustification doth of necessitie bring foorth sanctification and that diuers wayes For first the sense of the vnspeakeable loue of God whereby we are deliuered from eternall damnation doth inflame the hart of the beleeuers with a greate loue of God the which cannot be shewed any other way then by keepeing his commaundementes and by laboring to glorifie his holy name by a holy life Secondly God doth saue the faythfull not as stockes or stones without requiring anie worke action or duety at their handes but so as that he maketh them to be his fellow workers not that man can do any thing of him selfe without the grace of God but that man being endued and renewed by grace doth after a sort worke his owne saluation not by any naturall vertue but by the power of Gods spirite and therefore as Christ taketh away the guilte of sinne being committed so the faythful ought to endeuor that sin be not coÌ„mited Otherwise if they shoulde still of set purpose committe sin they should crosse Christ in the worke of their owne redemption defiling theÌ„ selues with sin whom he hath clensed with his bloud yea they should crucifie him againe treade vnder foote his bloude as a vile thing Thirdly the faithfull doe labour for sanctification as for the onely testimony of the soundnesse of their fayth and of the truthe of their iustification For fayth without the other partes of holynesse is but adeade and vnprofitable fayth Lastly the faythfull man knoweth that fayth is not of it selfe without the rest of sanctification sufficient for the attaining of saluation For although it alone dothfully iustify that is bring perfect remission of all manner of sinne whatsoeuer yet before that a man can enter into the kingdome of heauen he must be endued with perfect positiue holinesse the which cannot be made perfect in the worlde to come vnlesse it be begun and carefullie sought after
often to passe that the infirmities and sinnes appeareing in the life of a faithfull man make the sinceritie of his religion doubtfull to others yet he himselfe feeling the inwarde worke and motions of Gods spirite is vndoubtedly perswaded that he is the childe of God We confesse that a man truly regenerate may haue his faith sore shaken and the holinesse of his life greatly blemished by the force of temptation and so may for a time want in part or wholly this assurance of saluation Yet this doth not hinder him from hauing it at an other time yea all the daies of his life as may be seene in most of the faithfull Lastly we are not to thinke that this assurance of saluation is or can be to a faithfull man a motiue to sinne and dissolutenesse of life with the which it cannot stand For as it is gotten by holynesse whereby a man seeth that he is endued with the spirite of God and effectuallie called to beleeue the Gospell so it is lost by a sinfull and wicked life the which sheweth plainlie that a man is destitute of true faith and of Gods spirite for by the fruite the tree is knowen nay there is nothing of greater froce in restraining the faithfull from sinne then this that they knowe that the committing of any one wilfull sinne doth wound their owne consciences and diminish this notable treasure of assurance of saluation For as he that taketh one or a fewestones out of a wall although he doe not ouerthrow the building yet he maketh it the weaker so a fewe sinfull actions in the life of a faithfull man although they can not depriue him of this assuraunce it hauing bene gathered and as it were builded vp with the holinesse of many yeares yet they doe diminishe it and can not but trouble his conscience CHAP. IIII. Sect. 1. Of the created holinesse of mans memorie IT had bene little auailable for the holy and happie estate of man that he was endued with those notable faculties of conceauing vnderstanding and knowing Gods will and word when God did reueale himselfe vnto him if he had not bene made able to retaine the saide knowledge for the time following For otherwise God shoulde haue powred his graces into a bottomlesse or broken vessell which coulde not keepe or containe any thing and man shoulde haue reaped little profit by that which woulde be as soone lost as gotten For this cause God in great wisdome did endue the soule of man with a speciall facultie vsually called memory by vertue whereof man in this state of innocencie doth safelie keepe whatsoeuer the minde doth truely conceaue and so when occasion serueth doth giue the saide knowledge backe againe to the minde to be thought vpon meditated vttered in worde and followed in peed so that the memory is the storehouse of the soule wherin thinges both newe and old are carefully laide vp and faithfullie preserued and as it were the register of the minde taking a note of euery thing which commeth into it This facultie as all the other of mans soule was in the state of innocencie so perfect and of such strength as that by it man might at any time call to minde not euerie trifling thing which he had heard and seene a thousand yeares past for so his memorie shoulde haue bene confounded and in a manner infinite but whatsoeuer thing had at any time bene reuealed vnto him by God or was conceaued by his naturall faculties if so be it were a matter of any importance the knowing and remembring whereof might serue to some notable vse and profite vnto him As for other common matters of life which it was more gaine to loose then to keepe in these humaine infirmitie preuailed to forgetfulnesse For we are not to thinke that man was in this respect or any other as God is whose nature being euerie way infinite doth in one moment and with one motion of mind remember or rather knowe all particulars that haue bene done at any time For God doth thinke of all thinges together without confusion but the minde of man being not onely finite but also hauing in it a kinde of weaknesse if we compare him with the Angels can not thinke of many much lesse of infinite thinges at once but of one thing after an other and so doth the memorie remember those particulars which were committed to the custody of it letting goe matters of no vse that there may be place for thinges of importance as are the actions comaundementes apparitions reuelations and worde of God In the knoweing and remembring whereof the happinesse and holinesse of man did consist and therefore it stood him in hande to commit these thinges to sure custodie the which we are not to doubt but that he did so as that after many thousand yeares he was able to remember that which might any way serue for his good Neyther â—â—ede we maruaile thereat considering the frailtie of our owne memories which are neuer good when they are at the best and are soone cleane lost by sicknesse age or any such meanes For as is the strength of the bodie whereby as by an instrument the soule worketh so are the faculties of the minde and therefore as the body of man did continue in perfect vigour for many thousand yeares yea for euer so did his minde or memorie retaine the first vigour without being diminished Whereby we see that man in this facultie of memorie whereby his knowledge was made eternall did notablie resemble God whose nature is eternall Sect. 2. Of the sinfulnesse of mans memory AS in all other respectes so also in regard of this faculty man since the fall is so changed from his first estate that he scarse seemeth to be the same creature that he was hauing as wholly lost this faculty of a reasonable soule as if he had neuer beene endued with it For howsoeuer in regard of earthly worldlie and sensible things this faculty is after a sort remaining in man yet it hath no manner of force or power to retaine heauenlie and spirituall matters and the true knowledge of God and no maruaile for how shal the memory keepe when as the mind cannot conceiue it But mans corruption cannot so be cloaked in this behalf as if it it were wholly in the minde and not in this and other faculties For although the fountaine of it be in the minde which is the moouer and gouernour of the other faculties yet each faculty hath his peculiar fault the which may plainely be seene in the memory For suppose that which doth daily come to passe that a carnall man doth not onely heare the word of God for fashions sake but also marke and in some measure vnderstand it a man would thinke that all were safe and brought to a good passe the minde hath done his duety in conceiuing the trueth of the word as the body hath done in hearing so that now the word of God is come to the memory and
maketh a speidie gainfull and happie voiage howsoeuer if that she chaunce to meete with a rocke or to runne vpon some sand she is in greater danger then if she had made lesse hast and borne a lower saile So where the strength and force of these affections is wanting there is as lesse danger in respect of sudden falles so lesse abilitie of aspiring to any high degree of holines for that the graces of the holy spirit wanting their sailes or being be calmed for want of winde often lie floting vp and dowen and doe not make so euident or notable progresse in their course Of these renewed affections the most notable is called loue an affections so often commended vnto vs and so highly extolled in the scriripture as if it contained not one part onely but euen the wholle substance of created holinesse in the which respect it is saide to be The fulfilling of the lawe Math. 22 40. Rom. 13. 8. and the one halfe of renewed holinesse the which is vsually cōprised in these two words Faith and Loue which is sayde 1. Cor. 13. 13. To be greater then faith But that we giue neither more nor lesse to this affection then is due vnto it this is to be held that holinesse whether created or recreated doth not consist either in any one or in a fewe but in many graces amongest the which loue hath the first place assigned vnto it yea often the denomination either of the wholle holinesse of man or more commonly of the holinesse of all the practicall faculties Not as if it were the only grace for there are many distinct graces euen as many as there are distinct faculties of mans soule required in perfect holinesse or yet as if it were the chiefe grace for faith hath the first place although in nature it be not so excellent as loue which is an heroicall grace being the foundation and as it were the subiect and ground-worke not onely of loue but also of all other graces and of all holinesse whether created or renewed Why then is loue more spoken of and inculcated in the scripture then faith or any other grace We answere that the spirit of God hauing continually in enditing the scripture respect to the capacitie of men propoundeth and commendeth vnto them holinesse not so much in grosse and in generall as in some particulars which are more easely surely and certainly conceaued then the generall in the which respect loue is preferred before faith as being more euident apparant and sensible and therefore a more sure and infallible marke and note of generall holinesse The great appearance of loue ariseth of these two causes First because whereas faith hath relation to God onely loue extendeth it selfe both to God and men Secondly where as faith lieth hidden in the heart and minde loue is outward practical and therefore more apparant and sensible Againe loue is preferred before all other practicall graces because holinesse consisteth as partly in duties to be performed in respect of our selues so cheifely in duties to be perfourmed to others namely to God and to men the which a man cannot performe as he ought vnlesse he beare a loue and a harty desire of the good both of God and of man Thus much of loue in generall The particulars of it are these First the regenerate man loueth God aboue all the thinges in the worlde desiring his good in the aduancement of his glory much more then his owne saluation From the which fountaine of the loue of God springeth the loue of all men but especially of the Godly who are renewed according to the image of God in holinesse and iustice Psal. 16. 3. All my delite is in the holy ones which are here on earth and cheiflie in those which excell in vertue This loue of the saintes is an infallible signe of true regeneration and of the true loue of God namely whenas a man loueth an other hartelie and vehemently euen as it were his owne naturall sonne or brother for this cause onely he being otherwise astraunger vnto him for that he seeth in him manifest signes and argumentes of true and vnfained godlinesse 1. Ioh. 3. 14. We knowe that we are translated from death to life because we loue the brethren And Ioh. 13. 35. By this shall all men knowe that ye are my disciples if ye loue one another Nowe we come to the other fountaine of loue namely selfe-loue the which also hath place in the regenerate although in an other manner then in carnall men For they loue themselues yet so as that they loue God more by infinite degrees and their brethren as themselues Againe they doe not shewe or vse this selfe-loue in prouiding earthly and sensuall pleasures for their bodies but in procuring the eternall saluation of their soules and yet they doe and ought to loue themselues more then they doe any other yea to be more carefull for the good estate of their owne bodies and soules then of the bodies and soules of their brethren Yet this must be vnderstood in equall comparison for a faithfull man ought not to loue his owne bodie and to desire the safetie thereof more then the eternall saluation of his brother the which ought to be procured yea with the losse of our owne temporall liues Ioh. 3. 16. As Christ laide downe his life for vs so we ought to lay downe our liues for our brethren Yet a man neede not depriue himselfe of life for the safetie of the temporall life of his brother being a priuate man nor of eternall life for the procuring of his eternall saluation If any man doe here obiect the examples of Moses Paul of whom the one desired to haue his name blotted out of the booke of life and the other to be accursed from Christ for the good of the Iewes We āswere that the Iewes were then to be cōsidered not simplie as mē but as the whol visible church of God the confusion whereof coulde not but be a great hinderaunce to Gods glory the which ought to be procured euen with the eternall confusion of our owne soules if the case doe so require For so Moses alledgeth that if God did destroy his owne people the Egiptians who were spitefull enimies to God and his worshippe would laugh at their distruction and blaspheme God himselfe And so we cannot doubte but that the glory of God shall be wonderfully enlarged by the conuersion of the Iewes and therefore it may be more desired then our owne saluation From this fountaine of selfe loue flow the afore saide streames of speciall loue whereby the faithfull man is affected more to those who doe any way come neare himselfe then to those who are estraunged from him This partial loue is good and lawefull for why shoulde not man encline and cleaue more to those whom God hath ioyned more nearely vnto him Hence commeth the speciall loue due to parentes which cannot be wanting but in him
honour and all manner of worldly things such a one may become a vertuous and holy man but vsually he is so in euery respect that a man may see plainly in him a patterne of the encrease of naturall sinfulnesse Lastly spie out one of a gentle nature and ingenuous countenance vertuously brought vp from his first infancie hauing neuer vsed any euill companie but being continually giuen of himselfe to get learning and all manner of knowledge yea carefully inured by his parents tutors and teachers to the dayly practise and exercise of what soeuer thing is honest good right any way cōmendable lastly who hath no tru touch of religion is indued with a competent portion measure of the giftes of nature of fortune as they are ignorantly termed this man although he may by the peruersnesse of his corrupt nature treade all these things vnder his feete and become verie vitious yet vsually he may be an example of the decrease of naturall sinfulnesse These three men are all carnall and sinfull yet there is greate difference among them the which that it may the more plainly appeare we will compare them their diuers degrees of sinfulnesse together The first is the right naturall man The second is on his left hand hauing augmented his sinfulnesse The third on his right hand hauing diminished it The first is altogether ignorant of the true God and of his worship yet he thinketh that there is a God in heauen and doth worshipe his God verie diligently one way or other after his fashion The second is fully resolued in his mind by arguments inuented by him selfe and suggested by the deuill and other Atheists like to himselfe that there is no GOD and therefore that it is but follie to worship any The third man is persuaded by manie reasons that there is a God yea he knoweth the true God and performeth some parte of his true worshipe The first knoweth not what to thinke of God or to what thing to resemble him yet he thinketh him to be powerfull mightie and bountifull ascribing all his mishapes and his good lucke to his false God The second giueth all to blinde fortune wise counsell hardie aduentures yea he defieth God in his hart thinking that to trust in him is the next way to all mishap The third knoweth acknowledgeth that all thinges both good euill come from that only true GOD who is euery way infinite and incomprehensible yet knoweth not God in Christ as he ought to doe Likewise for the sinfulnesse of the will the mere naturall man cannot choose and incline himselfe to anie God religion or worshipe which is not sensible and therefore he cannot choose the true God and true holinesse the which are spirituall and contrarie to sense no not if these were propounded to his will either by his owne mind or by some other but chooseth for his part eating drinking sleeping ease pastime pleasure and voluptuousuesse The second man who is supernaturall in sinfulnesse detesteth and abhorreth the name of God and of any thing that is good but the third may haue an inclination to good Lastly the first man doth not in his life commit horrible sinnes such as are murther incest adulterie robberie or periurie being restrained euen by his owne conscience condemning these hainous sinnes and although he beare no loue to any but to himself to his owne yet he meaneth harme to no man As for the second he abstaineth from no sinne tho neuer so hainous wherevnto he is intised by any meanes Whereas the third man leadeth a life without all spot shew or suspition of any such matter yea he is good to euerie one as occasion is offered being farre from hurting any So that to be short the first man may be called a brute beast which is giuen to al sensualitie yet without either knowledge or practise of good or euill The second a deuil incarnate the third a carnall and sinfull saint Thus we see both by the naturall state of sinne as also by the increase of it what is the decrease of it Whereof we are to thinke and holde first that although it may be generall in any or in all the partes of mans sinfulnesse yet it can not be totall in any one much lesse in all for no part of it can be wholly diminished in an vnregenerate man Secondly this decrease doth take away the corruption of sinne more then it doth put the contrarie grace in the roome of it being in schoole termes rather pruatiue then positiue And therefore the carnall man in this decrease of sinfulnesse doth not so much knowe approue embrace and follow the true God and his worshippe as he knoweth all false gods to be no goddes condemning and detesting all idolatry And so in life although he can refraine himselfe from doing euil yet he is not able to performe the contrary Christian duties For the light of nature being increased by such meanes as a naturall man may vse will teach and may enable him to abstaine from grosse sinnes But the true knowledge and practise of good commeth onlie from the worke of gods spirite whereof it commeth that this decrease of sinfulnesse is not to be counted true holinesse neither any parte of it and so it is not effectuall to saluation Thus much in generall of the decrease of sinfulnesse nowe we come to the seuerall kindes of it the which are two in number naturall and supernaturall The first kinde whereof the third of the aforesaide carnall men may be a shadow we call naturall not that it is a naturall thing for a man to decrease in sinfulnesse in the which he groweth as naturally as the smoke goeth vpwarde and therefore it is a violent motion contrarie to his naturall inclination but because it may be attained by a naturall man in whom there is neither true regeneration nor any shadowe of it and that by naturall meanes without the worke of the holy spirite and therefore it may be seene not onely in carnall men liuing in the Church but also and that more plainly in many heathen and professed infidels who neuer heard tel of the true religion worshippe of God of whom many as it were laying violent handes on themselues and their naturall dispositions enclined to all vice and sinfulnesse haue gotten the habite that is the constant and permanent disposition of morall vertues as namely of iustice temperaunce sobriety and chastitie in somuch that they haue not onely led a life pure from the spottes of grosse sinnes but also haue after a sort chaunged their wils mindes and affections from an euil and vitious to a good and vertuous disposition This the Apostle witnesseth Rom. 2. 19. The gentils hauing not the written lawe of God doe by nature that is without spirituall grace the thinges contained in the lawe and so are a lawe vnto themselues Of this decrease we haue many and manifold examples euen some of all sortes of men
worldly polices and shifts by the which a man flattereth himselfe in that palpable decrease as if he were in as good an estate as euer he was So that we may compaire the decrease of faith to a violent feuer the which as it may soone kill a man so it may soone be amended but this latter kinde is like vnto a lingering consumption wherein as a man pineth away by little and little not on a suddaine but liuing in it for the space of many yeares so he cannot be cured of it but in some longe space because it is so confirmed in all the members of his body Yet both these kindes of decreases are most fearefull conditions and those from the which it standeth euery Christian in hande dayly to desire the Lorde for his mercy sake in Christ to deliuer him and rather to take him out of this world being in the state of perfect godlinesse then to suffer him to fall so grieuously as no doubt he doth to many of his deare seruauntes Lastly it may here be asked what is the issue of these great falles which happen to the faithfull whether they continue in them till death or else recouer their former estate We aunswer that God as he doth for a time humble them vnder the tiranny of sinne Sathan and their owne corrupt fleshe so he doth in his good time shewe forth the powerfull and mighty vertue of his holy spirit which all this while lyeth lurking in the heartes of the faithfull being in the first moment of their regeneration giuen vnto them as an vnseparable guide and ruler to bring them through the manifolde temptations of Sathan and the hinderaunces of their saluation to the glorious presence of God in heauen By this meanes it commeth to passe that the faithful man doth after long struggling with his enimies yea after that he hath bene a long time in bondage vnder them yea cleane dead in outward appearaunce not onely recouer his former degree of holinesse but also become more strong in all spirituall graces then he was before as we reade Es. 40. 29. God will giue strength to him that is cleane wearied so that he shal goe from strength to strēgh renew his age as doth the eagle he shall bring fourth more fruite in his age and become more zealous in seruing God then he was at any time before Yet sometime it pleaseth God to make an end of these spirituall conflictes not by withdrawing the force of the temptation from the faithfull but by taking them frō it out of this worlde which is the kingdom of sathan to that state wherein they shall no more be troubled with any such temptation as may endaunger their saluation So that the faithfull doe sometimes departe this life as in the middest of temptation so in the decrease of holinesse Yet we are not to doubt of their saluation for he that is once engrafted and vnited to Christ by a true faith as all the regenerate are whether he dy in a holy life or in some sinne whether in repentaunce or in impenitency whether in full assuraunce of faith or in much doubting yea although he seeme to despaire of himselfe alwaies he dieth in Christ and therefore in the fauour of God and in the state of eternall life For in the greatest decrease of holinesse which can befall to a faithfull man there remaineth some sparkes of grace but especially the loue of God of his glory and of his children will shewe it selfe and also the roote of faith otherwise perhaps inuisible in the greatest agonie or tempest of temptation whatsoeuer CHAP. VIII Of the encrease of renewed holinesse AS in the naturall birth of man his body commeth into the worlde not so greate and strong as afterwarde it becommeth but little weake and impotent so in the spirituall birth of regeneration the soule of man is not in the first moment indued with perfection but with a small measure of renewed holinesse from the which it is to growe and goe on forwarde to a perfect estate For the first act of regeneration doth put into the faculties of the soule not the actuall habit of spirituall graces but the seedes and beginning of them which are continually to be increased by the worde and spirit of God Hence it is that the newe man in the faithfull hath his infancie wherein the graces of gods spirite are as yet in small measure In the which respect it is compared to a graine of mustard seede which being at the first the least of all seeds becommeth verie great and to leauen which at the first is in some one parte onely of the dowe but in time spreadeth it selfe ouer the whole lump This meannesse of spirituall strength appeareth euen in the Apostles themselues whome being as yet his disciples and schollers Christ doth often put in minde of the weakenesse of their faith Ioh. 6. 12. I haue many thinges to say vnto you but ye can not beare them now And Act. 19. 2. There were at Ephesus certaine beleeuing disciples who were so weake in knowledge that they were ignoraunt of the holy Ghost Likewise the Apostle writeth to the Corinthians 1. Cor. 3. 1. 2. That he coulde not speake vnto them but as vnto babes in Christ not in knowledge but in practise and there fore coulde not giue vnto them any stronge meate but onely milke to drinke Of this weakenesse in capacitie and knowledge there is mention made Gal. 4. 19. Rom. 6. 19. Hereof commeth weaknesse in faith Rom. 14. And also necessarily the weaknesse of all the other partes of holinesse wherein no Christian ought to rest as contenting himselfe with that small measure of grace but ought rather to be caried forwarde to perfection Especially seing that this state of spirituall infancy is easely ouerthrowne and brought to nothing by the malice of sathan it being weake and not able to resiste the force of temptation And therefore although some doe abide longe in this weake estate and perhaps end their dayes in it yet vsually God giueth to those who are truely regenerate a daily increase a newe supply of grace insomuch that in a competente time they become of ripe age and of perfect strength in Christ. Wherevnto a christian is then come when as he is not destitute of any grace needfull for the performance of any christian duty but leadeth a life in euery respect holie and vnblamable proceeding from those spirituall graces which haue bene described in the third Sections of the first and second partes of this treatise And yet this perfect estate of a christian is not the highest degree of grace which may be attained in this life for besides and beyond that measure of grace which the faithfull doe ordinarely attaine vnto it pleaseth God to endue some of his seruantes with a more plentifull abundaunce of all spirituall graces as he promiseth Math. 25. 29. That to him that hath there shall more be
sins being thereto caried by the force of tēptation as in a great tempest by a mightie gale of winde before they could be thinke themselues what they were about to doe or what would be the issue of it Whereof it commeth that this decrease of holinesse staying it selfe in one or a few actions doth not necessarily argue any inward want of the contrarie grace or anie inward decrease of holinesse either going before or following after because a man may fall into it as of a sudden before he be aware and immediatly recouer his former station by true and vnfained repentance As we are not to iudg either Dauid voide of continencie for that adulterie committed with Berseba or Peter to haue wanted faith because he did at one time renounce the faith or Noah to haue beene an intemperate person because he was once drunke no more then we are to thinke him a weake man who stumbleth by chaunce at a blocke lying in his way and yet doth streight way saue himselfe from falling Yea sudden sinne may be with greater graces then they haue who are free from the aforesaide sinnes of Noah Lot Dauid Peter being farre inferior in holinesse to them Yet it is the dutie of all who professe themselues the seruāts of God to labour by all meanes to keepe themselues pure and free as from the least and most secret sin so especially from open grosse sins and that for these causes First because by them they dishonour God his religion worshippe and name opening the mouthes of Atheistes and infidels to blaspheme his holy name the which thing ought to be more grieuous and bitter vnto them then a thousand deathes and torments Secondly they prouoke God to lay some fearefull punishment vppon them who howsoeuer he suffereth the reprobate ones to goe on all their life time in sinne yet he neuer suffereth any notorious sinne of his seruantes to goe vnpunished Thirdly they wound their owne consciences by a feareful expectation of Gods heauie iudgmentes they grieue the holy spirite against whose will they commite that sinne they offend their brethren shewing themselues to be if not wholly destitute of that speciall grace wherewith they shoulde haue bene restrained from sinne yet but weake Christians in that respect as we may be bold to iudge that the faith of Peter the continency of Dauid the temperaunce of Noah were at the time of their falles but weake howsoeuer they were endued with a great measure of other graces Lastly one hainous sin is to be auoyded because vsually it draweth moe after it for when as a man hath once taken a tast of sinne and felt the sensuall sweetnes of it he is farre more easely drawen to it then he was before and so he goeth frō the first degree of the decrease of holynes to the second namely to an habit of some one sin or the want of some particular grace the which appeareth by the often committing and iterating of the same sinne yea after that the faithfull man hath often by repentaunce laboured to purge himselfe from that sinne and by prayer to obtaine the contrarie grace at the handes of God This decrease also hath somtimes place in a man truely regenerate especially in that kinde of sinne whereunto he is either by the naturall constitution of his body and minde or an euill custome gotten before his conuersion naturally enclined whether it be pride anger couetousnesse or any other sinne But as it is farre more grieuous then the first degree so it is with greater care to be avoyded for it doubleth and tripleth the wrath and heauy iudgementes of God the offence of the godly the reproach of the gospell the dishonour of God and the corsiue of a gnawing conscience and Lastly it maketh a ready way for higher degrees of decrease to wit the habites of diuers sinnes the want of many particular graces and so to the highest and most fearefull degree which is a generall decrease of holynesse which is nowe briefly to be declared Where first we are to put a difference betwixt a generall and a totall decrease A generall decrease is when all the partes of renewed holynesse and of spirituall graces receaued are diminished but a totall decrease is an vtter decay of holinesse as whereby nothing is left This can not happen to any one who is truely regenerate who in the greatest extremitie and depth of his fall retaineth some reliques of Gods spirite and of grace receaued yea somelife of faith whereby he liueth to God in christ howsoeuer he be to the eyes of all men and euen in his owne coscience a deade rotten stocke Euen as we know that the trees haue heate and life in their rootes in the middest of the coldest and sharpest winter yea as many beastes ly all the winter long in holes of the earth without eating drinking stirring or hauing any iotte of heate sense or life in any of their outwarde partes and yet there is a remnant of life and of heat lurking in the hearte which being in sommer stirred vppe doth reuine the beast so that it is able to go or runne vp and downe and to performe all naturall actions in the same manner as it did before This Christ doth plainely teache Ioh. 4. 14. saying Whosoeuer drinketh of the water which I shall giue him that is whosoeuer beleeueth in me as it is expounded Iohn 7. 38 shall neuer be more a thirst but the water that I will giue him shall be in him a well of water springing vp into euerlasting life and 1 Ioh. 3. 9. Whosoeuer is borne of God sinneth not totally for the seed of God remaineth in him and therefore he can not fall cleane away from God because he is borne of God yet a man regenerate may decrease not onely in one in a fewe or in many graces but also generally in all spirituall graces This decrease of renewed holynesse is of two kindes for as of bodilie diseases some begin at the hart which is the roote and fountaine of life in the body and so spreade themselues ouer all the members of the body others haue their beginning in some outwarde and inferiour partes and pierce in till that they come to the hearte so of these generall decreases of holynesse which are as grieuous diseases of the soule some begin at faith which is the roote and fountaine of spirituall life and so hauing stopt the fountaine doe easily drie vp the streames issuing from it others begin at the meaner and baser partes of sanctification and so first kill the fruite then the braunches and the body of the tree til at length they take hold of the roote it selfe Both these waies doth sathan vse to destroy this wounderfull worke of regeneration wrought in the faithfull by the spirite of God The first way is the nearest and readiest for if faith once faile all holinesse falleth to the grounde whereas faith may stand in some sorte although most of the
other partes of santification be wanting as the body may liue although it lacke the armes legges and other partes but if the heart be once wounded death is then hard at hand and therefore Sathan doth most of all and in the first place labour to ouerthrow the faith of the faithfull man desiring to strike through the hart at the first stroke that so as Abisai sayeth 1. Sam. 26. 8. he might saue the laboure of striking twise This Christ telleth Peter that sathan had desired to tempt him but he had praied for him that his faith whereat sathan woulde directly strike shoulde not faile The weapons wherwith he vseth to strike at faith are many and diuerse as namely these First the crosses and miseries of this present life which God layeth on his children for the triall of their faith 1 Pet. 1. 7. But they feeling them bitter and after a sorte intollerable to flesh and bloud labour by earnest and continuall prayer as also by all other meanes to be freede from them The which thinge when as they cannot bring to passe being suffered to languishe yea often to perishe outwardly in their troubles they straight way are moued by sathan to thinke that God hath forsaken them and that there is no helpe or good thing to be looked for at his handes This pollicie sathan himselfe doth bewray and confesse Iob. 1. 11 Doth Iob feare God for nought thou hast blessed him in all thinges but lay thy hand vpon him in outward crosses and thou shalt see that he will be so farre off from trusting in thee that hee will curse thee to thy face The temptation is then most forceable when as the faithfull in their greatest miseries are exasperated and as it were haue their teeth set on edge by the great prosperity of the wicked insomuch that they often repent themselues that they haue not chosen that course manner of life whereby they see them to flourish But it is to be withstood by considering that God doth chastice his children and purge them in the furnace of afflictions that so he might make glorious and heauenly vessels of them whereas the wicked are as sheepe fed fat against the day of slaughter that they are by this meanes made conformable to Christ their head that the greatest afflictions of this world are not to be compared to the eternall happines of the life to come that â—s it is Luke 16. 25. as the wicked in this life haue pleasure and the godly paine so in the world to come the godly shall be comforted and the other tormented And therefore they are to be vndoubtedly perswaded of the trueth of that which we reade Eccles. 8. 12. Tho the wicked man doe euill an hundred times and yet prolong his daies yet I know that in the ende it will be wel with them that feare God and with no other Againe the faith of the godly is often tempted by consideration had of the impossibilities of the doctrine of the gospell as of the resurrection of dead bodies For so by measuring the trueth of God by their owne shallowe reason they stagger at it and sometimes fall flat downe 2. Tim. 2. 18. Hymeneus and Philetus taught that the resurrection mentioned in the scripture was already past and so they did subuert the faith of many but for this we are to knowe that nothing is impossible to God The thirde temptation is the obscure secret and hidden manner of Gods working in these last ages wherein he hauing reuealed himselfe fullie in his sonne and in the gospell doth hide himselfe from the eyes euen of the faithfull in that he doth not appeare so in visions reuelations dreames the giftes of miracles in temporall punishmentes and blessings oâ— in any other sensible manner but suffereth all thinges to goe on and worke after their owne inclinations as namely tyrants to rage and oppresse his Church to persecute his people to erect idolatrie to deface his worship to blaspheme his name so as if he had cleane cast off the care of all things here in this world But this ought not to trouble vs for sensible apparitions blessings and actions were for the infancie of the Church which now is come to her ripe age and yet the actions of God are no lesse wonderful then before yea they are as manifest to spirituall eyes as euer they were to the carnall eyes of men The last weapon wherwith Sathan striketh at faith is ministred vnto him by the faithfull themselues to wit their manifould and grieuous sins especially those whereinto they fall againe and againe hauing often repented them wherof they cannot by any meanes get the vpper hand Here Sathan thinketh that he hath as much aduantage against the faithfull as he himselfe desireth For in the other temptations he did feight against the word of God the which now he seemeth to haue on his side for whereas the scripture doth euerie-where teach that all who are iustified are sanctified from a sinfull life and haue power giuen them by the spirite of GOD to resist and mortifie sinne especially great and hainous sins hereof he inferreth after this manner thou hast no such power or grace to resist sinne thou canst not for thy life abstaine from committing it but doest adde one fal to another one sin to another euen against thine owne conscience therefore thy faith is nothing but eyther meere hypocrisie and vnbeleefe or at the most it is but some light shadowe of faith which may be found in many reprobates This argument is harde to be answered and therefore it driueth many faithfull men to their wittes end and euen to despaire of themselues and of the loue and mercy of God which is a most fearefull thing killing all holinesse euen at the roote and therefore to be auoyded by all meanes especially by learning if we be as yet ignorant how to answere this argument thus cunningly compacted by Sathan The best answere that can be made is that he who is thus tempted laboure by fasting prayer continuall reading meditating and hearing of the word of God by auoyding all occasions of sinne and diligent waying the nature and manifolde euils ensuing of it to purge himselfe of the sinne wherewith Sathan doth so buffet him and so to wring his weapon by force out of his hand But if this cannot be brought to passe as often the faithfull cannot get the maistery ouer their sinnes and the corrupt desires of the flesh then we must answere that a true and sauing faith may be at some time without some fruite as the trees are in the winter season as appeareth manifestly by the examples of diuerse faithfull men as namely in Dauid that notable man who did not onely commit adultery which is a most grieuous sinne the harme whereof cannot by any meanes be amended yea and added murther to it a more horrible sinne but also as may be probablie gathered seemeth to haue continued