but also that he hath supererogated thereby for the good of other Nay by murthering of Princes ouerthrowing of states euen against their oathes alleagiance they may not onely merit heauen but deserue happily if it so please the Pope the dignity thereof a Canonized Saint But to erect so great a building as is the assurance of our iustification and saluation vpon so weake and rotten foundations is in truth presumptuous and intollerable folly and madnesse For if we would respect I say not the workes of righteousnesse wrought wholly or in part by our owne free-will but the principall fruits of the Spirit of God and the best duties that the faithfull are enabled to performe thereby are not these Gods speciall gifts making vs indebted vnto God and therefore deseruing nothing much lesse iustification and saluation at Gods hands but if we would consider them as pledges and pawnes of Gods loue procured for vs by Christ Iesus and as the first fruites of that heauenly inheritance which he himselfe hath purchased for vs how can we but rest assured to be brought in the time appointed by the Lord to the possession of that whereof we haue so certaine an earnest and so sure a pledge In pasting ouer temporall Land from man to man we esteeme much of good securitie which highly commendeth euen an hard bargaine A sound title and a good conueyance from such and such persons to such and such other maketh the security to be sufficient The goodliest possession that can be passed ouer to any of the sonnes of men is the glorious manner of the coelestiall Paradise the true title thereunto is Christ and his righteousnesse the conueyance thereof is the Word and the Sacraments which giue Christ to all that beleeue and the sure and certaine earnest of the same is the first fruits of the Spirit But to our Romish Catholickes the righteousnesse of our blessed Sauiour Iesus Christ performed for vs in his owne person and imputed vnto vs by the Lords most free and vndeserued mercy is a meere nullity and new no iustice and the apprehension thereof by faith is a phantasticall apprehension of that which is not a false faith and an vntrue imputation as our masters of Rhemes haue taught For their Rhem. in c. 3. ad Rom. title to the heauenly Paradise is the merit of that righteousnes which is wrought by themselues and their conueyances are the Popes Indulgences and Pardons and their Priests Absolutions and Masses and the deuotions of the men of their Religious orders But what is their securitie for all this verily nono at all for they are commanded to liue still in feare and doubtfulnesse because they know not how much they faile in the measure and manner of the fulfilling of this righteousnesse and whether or no they shall be enabled to perseuere And verily no maruaile that their security for their heauenly happinesse is so small or none at all seeing their pay for the same is in such light and clipt money yea in such base and counterfeit coyne and their conueyance thereof so feeble and weake The faith of our Romish Catholicks as they themselues teach is such a faith as may be in the deuils and therefore no maruaile but as the deuils beleeue and tremble so they doe beleeue and Iac. 2. 19. tremble also but wheras the pay made for the purchase of the coelestiall Paradise vnto all faithfull Christians is the absolute and perfect rigteousnesse of Christ performed for them and the conueyauce thereof vnto them is the Lords gracious grant thereof set downe in the bookes of the Prophets and Apostles and sealed with the seales of the holy Sacraments both of the Old and New Testament therefore the true faithfull Christian needeth not to feare and to doubt of his saluation seeing he hath so good euidence for the same For seeing Christ hath deliuered them out of the hands of their enemies that they should serue the Lord without feare in holinesse and righteousnesse Luke 1. 74. all the dayes of their liues why should they feare or doubt to enioy the fruit of this deliuerance wrought by such a person and by such meanes Assuredly they doe not as the Apostle testifieth speaking in the name of all the faithfull Yee saith he haue not receiued Rom. 8. 16. the spirit of bondage to feare againe but yee haue receiued the spirit of adoption where by we cry Abba Father the same spirit beareth witnesse with our spirit that we are the Sonnes of God if we be children wee bee also heires of God and heires annexed with Christ This ioyfull and comfortable security of all true and faithfull Christians Saint Cyprian setteth Cypr contra Demetriadem downe after this manner There is saith he with vs strength of hope and stedfastnesse of faith amidst the ruines of a decaying world a couragious minde and a constant vertue and a patience alwayes ioyfull and a soule alwayes secure of God to be our God Thus doth both Scripture and Fathers set forth that comfortable security which GOD by his Spirit hath setled in the hearts of his faithfull seruants The security then which they condemne is that whereby men are made either awlâ—sse of falling into temptations or carelesse of vsing the meanes appointed by God to withstand tentations or bold of their own strength in vsing the meanes and so negligent therby to craue continuall aide and assistance from the Lord for if we fearing to fall into tentations vse carefully the meanes appointed by God to withstand the same and distrusting our owne strength call continually to God for his aide then as the Apostle himselfe commandeth we ought in all things to be secure or without feare being Phil. 4. 6. throughly perswaded of this that the euent of all things shall be happy and that God will turne all to our good Rom. 8. 26. And verily the true Christian faith driueth away distrustfull feare out of the soule of euery true sincere Christian maketh manifest vnto him the soundnes vprightnes of his own heart seeing otherwise it could neuer leade him to true happinesse Yea as the most learned Dr. Fotherby our late most Reuerend and most louing Diocesan Lord Bishop of Sarum lib. 1. Cap. 12. Fol. 1 22. Hath shewed out of diuers of the bookes of the wisest among the Heathen true happinesse hath bin esteemed for a man to haue his soule free froÌ„ terror fearefulnesse nay without this freedome and security it is most certaine that it cannot enioy so much as a shadow of any foelicity or any sound comfort and true contentment seeing true contentment and sound comfort and ioy is founded in a couragious confidence of the heart and in the quiet security and tranquillity of the mind To be full of feare and terrour is a property belonging to a 1 Ioh. 4. 18. slaue yea it is a bâ—senesle and slauishnesâ—e contrary to true confidence and courage Feare saith
the Church of England is agreeable to the coÌ„mon grounds and principles of our Christian Profession contained in the Articles of our Creede the Law of God the Lord's Prayer the doctrine of the Sacraments and in those other generall rules of holy Scripture wherein are set down all such circumstances as are requisite to euery good worke Now in this third part I endeauour to make it euident that the same doctrine is agreeable to all the rules of right reasoning therefore also is orthodoxe sound For the declaration and demonstration of the truth of euery thing is nothing els but a declaration and demonstration of a true definition and diuision thereof and of the causes and effects and of all other arguments that agree thereunto as I haue already proued in a little Treatise entituled The reasonablenesse of wise and holy Truth and The absurdity of wicked and foolish errour being the fore-runner of this large Volume Faith in holy Scripture is taken either for the quality and habit of Faith or for the doctrine of Faith The holy Scripture deciphereth the quality and habit of our Christian Faith by arguments taken out of all Logicake places as followeth The principall efficient cause of the quality or habit of Faith is God Phil. 1. 29. The instrumentall cause is the word of God Rom. 10. 17. The materiall cause is an assent vpon knowledge Iohn 6. 69. The formall cause is a sure and settled assent grounded vpon a sure settled kgowledge Iohn 17. 8. Col. 1. 6. The finall cause is the excluding of all glorying in our selues and the ascribing of all glory vnto God Eph. 2. 8. Rom. 3. 27. The effects of Faith are as all other diuine graces and fruits of the spirit Acts 26. 18. so an holy confidence and an assurance of God's loue and a comfortable boldnesse to come vnto God as vnto a gracious and louing Father Eph. 3. 12. 2 Pet. 1. 10. The subiect wherein it is seated is the mind For the mind is the eye of the soule and Faith is the true sight thereof Ioh. 8. 56. Acts. 26. 18. the obiect thereof is all diuine truths Rom. 15. 4. especially the Couenant of grace founded vpon Christ Ioh. 20. 31. 1 Pet. 1. 21. the attributes are that it is sound orthodoxe and Catholicke that is one and the same in all the true seruants of God which haue bin are or shal be to the end of the world Heb. 11. 2. Eph. 4. 5. Things diuers are a sleight opinion Acts 26. 28. and a temporary Faith Mat. 13. 20. Things contrary are presumption fleshly security either bred by confidence in teÌ„porall prosperity Isay 28. 15. or in the outward pledges of God's loue Ierem. 7. 4. or in the outward shew of good workes Rom. 9. 32. 10. 3. Things priuatiuely opposite are ignorance Eph. 4. 18. a blind Faith Mat. 13. 19. and sophisticall infidelity 1 Cor. 1. 2â— That which is plaine contradictory is flat Atheisme Sap. 2. 1. Act. 23. 8 things like are a bodily eye Ioh. 9. 39. a bodily hand â— Tim. 6 12. a bodily mouth Ioh. 6. 53. a bodily foot 2 Cor. 5. 7. bodily wings Luke 17. 37. Things vnlike are vnstable childishnesse Eph. 4. 14 and wauering doubtfulnes Iac. 1. 6. The coniugates are to beleeue in God and in Christ Ioh. 14. 1 and to be one of the houshold of Faith Gal. 6. 10 the notation or interpretation of the name is a sure and Fides quia fiet quod dictum est certaine accomplishment of that which Faith beleeueth Math. 8. 8. The definition or description thereof is this Sauiâ—g Faith is diuine wisdome or a certain knowledge and a settled assent and adhaerence to all diuine verities necessary to saluatioÌ„ especially to the couenant of grace as to the meanes of the chiefest good and highest happines 2 Tim. 3. 15. the diuision thereof is into a weake and strong Faith Rom. 14. 2. The testimonies are the confessions of the Martyrs and Confessors that haue liued doe and shall liue to the end of the world Apocal. 7. 10. This is the delineation of the whole body of Faith as it is drawne out by the pensill of the Prophets and Apostles the parts members whereof which are most controuersed are further lightned and cleared in the first part of this Treatise As in the second part thereof the reasons and arguments produced to open and iustifie the seueral doctrines of Faith are referred to all the Topick places as being the rich mines out of which they are digged The doctrines of Faith set down in the bookes of the Prophets and Apostles are Logicall reasonable wise and the very first principles and grounds thereof are 1 Pet. 2. 2 without any mixture of sophisticall deceit The high Priests pectorall wherein the Vrim and Thummim was put and by the which God gaue answer vnto his people was called by the Hebrewes Hosen and by the Greekes See Alsted Praecog Theolog. fol. 230. Logeïon and by the Latines Rationale for that the Lord's doctrines had in them the most pure holines of most exact Logick or reason The Logick places which I follow in this Treatise are deliuered by Petrus Ramus who concerning the vse of Logick hath very much cleared the rules of Aristotle our grand Master The exemplifying of Logick places by the Theologicall positions I haue taken from Amandus Polanus but with this difference in that he setteth downe his arguments declaratiue and demonstratiue in bare sentences and propositions without further discourse whereas in this Treatise they are further opened by other arguments and reasons For as learned and iudicious Doctour Feild auouncheth in his Dedicatory Epistle to his first Booke of the Church the doctrines wherein we differ from the Church of Rome are grounded not only vpon the greatest authority that is but also vpon the most preuailing reasons that euer perswaded men And verily if that most famous Oratours iudgment be sound there is no reason to giue credit to that reason whereof there cannot bee yeelded a sufficient reason Cic. lib. 4. ad Herennium The great Antichrist of these last times as testifieth 2 Thess 2. 8. the Apostle which hath brought in a great Apostacy froÌ„ the Faith shal be consumed with the Spirit of the Lord's mouth and shal be abolished with the brightnesse of his comming and so shall his Armies also which as Chrysostome Chrys bom 49. in Mat. saith are impious Heresies For whereas the time of miracles is now long since expired whereby the Apostles and their successours in the Primitiue Church got credit to the diuine doctrine of the Gospel of Christ and Heb. 2. 4. â— Cor. 10. 4. made it most powerfull to the ouerthrowing of all Heathenish Idolatries and impious Heresies it remaineth now that the Professours of the Gospel by the glorious light of powerfull arguments taken out of God's booke and iustifiable by the exact rules of sound reason make Truth
quickened vnto an holy and heauenly life So Origen The testimony of the spirit Orig. in 8. Cap. ad â—om is an hability giuen by the Spirit not to doe all things for feare but for loue towards God So Ambrose also vpon the same words of the Apostle calleth it an hability giuen by the Spirit of God to leade a life fitting the name of the sonnes of God whereby our heauenly Fathers marke is seene in vs. And this these holy men learned of the holy Apostle Saint Peter Giue saith he all diligence to ioyne to your 2 Pet. 1. 10. faith vertue to your vertue knowledge to knowledge temperance to temperance patience to patience brotherly kindnesse to brotherly kindnesse loue c. and hereby make your calling and election sure for if you doe such things ye shall neuer fall For whereas God hath promised to be a gracious God and louing Father to all such as trust in him loue him and feare him and are carefull to obserue his Lawes and are truly sorrowfull for their daily transgressions and sinnes How can it otherwise be but that the faithfull hauing by their dutifull conuersing with God in the holy exercises of hearing his holy Word and of prayer obtained these graces in some sufficient measure How can it I say otherwise be but that thereby they should be certainly perswaded that God is their louing and gracious God and that they are his beloued people For it is impossible that the promises of God made to his people concerning this matter should be void and without effect Walke saith the Lord in my Statutes and keepe Ex. 20. 19. my iudgements and do them and sanctifie my Sabbaoths and they shall be a signe betweene me and you that ye may know that I am your God Of the certainty and euidency of the truth thereof the Apostle Saint Paul was so confident that he appealeth to euery faithfull mans experience among the Romans concerning the same saying Know ye not that to Rom. 6. 16. whomsoeuer ye giue your selues as seruants to obey his seruants ye are to whom ye obey whether it be of sinne vnto death or of obedience vnto righteousnesse The faithfull then being well witting to their own hearts that they haue giuen themselues to God and are carefull to performe the works of faith loue holinesse and righteousnesse according vnto the rule of Gods word in obedience vnto God doe so throughly know hereby that they do an acceptable seruice vnto God and that they are his obedient seruants that they doe greatly reioyce therein with the Apostle This is our reioycing euen the 2 Cor. 1. 12. testimony of our conscience that in simplicity and godly purenesse c. Now if it be obiected that the faithfull know not their owne hearts nor the true nature of these diuine graces nor the right notes and markes of the holy workes that proceed from them and therefore albeit they are indued with these graces and performe these works yet they cannot know that they are the seruants of God We answer first that that obiection is in direct tearmes flat contrary to the testimony of the Prophet before alleaged where the faithfull being commanded to do their works according to the rule of Gods Commandements being from their hearts made carefull thereof are thereby assured that they are the obedient seruants of the Lord. Secondly we answere that all men doe in part know their owne hearts and their thoughts words and workes and that the faithfull doe in some measure know the true nature of all heauenly graces and the right notes of their true fruits All men doe know themselues in part because God hath giuen to all a conscience to be a witnesse together with themselues not onely of their words and workes but also of the 1 Cor. 2. 11. very thoughts and purposes of their hearts as the names of conscience doe sufficiently declare For no man knoweth our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Conscientia hearts but God and our selues and therefore conscience is a knowledge that we haue of our owne wayes together with God Euery one then by the light of his conscience knoweth Mens non potest non intelligere quod intelligit Nemo nescit se velle quod vult Prou. 14. 10. what he himselfe knoweth and vnderstandeth what he himselfe vnderstandeth and perceiueth what he himselfe thinketh desireth willeth speaketh or doeth Euery one knoweth saith Salomon for what his owne heart is sorrowfull and in what it reioyceth and none else but God onely Euen the very wicked by the meanes of their consciences are made witting to their owne wayes How much more are the faithfull by the light of the word For by the clearenesse of the heauenly doctrines their hearts are opened and they are enabled Act. 16. 14. in some good measure to know themselues and to know God Heb. 18. 11. Iohn 6. 45. Act. 2. 17. and to vnderstand what belongeth to a sound faith and to an holy and godly life For the faithfull know that such an apprehension and knowledge of Christ as causeth all things to be as dung to them in respect thereof is a sure signe of a sanctified minde lightened with the cleare sight of a true faith They know that to desire to inioy the loue of God aboue all other things whatsoeuer and to be willing and ready to conuerse with God and with Christ in the daily and religious exercises of the word of God and prayer and to loue the brethren because they loue God and are beloued of God are true tokens of true Christian loue They know also that to be truly sorrowfull for offending so louing and gracious a God as he hath declared himselfe to be in Christ and in that respect to feare to offend him and to be carefull to walke in all his righteous Lawes are sure signes of true repentance and of the right feare of God and of sincere holinesse and righteousnesse And they knowing in their owne consciences that they haue by the gracious worke of the Spirit of God such a faith loue repentance feare and righteousnesse know that they are in Gods fauour and loue and that they are his faithfull seruants We know saith St. Iohn speaking in the name of all the faithfull that we are of God 1 Iohn 5. 29. and that the whole world lieth in wickednesse We know that the Sonne of God is come and hath giuen vs a minde to know him which is true and we are in him that is true that is in his Sonne Iesus Christ this same is very God and eternall life And againe we know that we are translated from death 1 Iohn 3. 14. to life because we loue the brethren And that he speaketh thus in the name of all the faithfull we may vnderstand in that in the like asseueration he changeth the person saying If ye know that God is righteous know ye that he that doth righteousnesse is borne of
God and the Sacraments with our bodily senses but with the powers of our soules nor to trauaile farre and neare on pilgrimage to see or kisse holy reliques but to see and touch holy things with the inward faculties of our mindes which are the proper subiects of Sanctification Nothing can be in any respect profitable vnlesse it be applyed in that manner and to those vses whereunto it is profitable but the word of God is giuen vnto vs for this vse that it should open vnto vs the minde and will of God and as Aug. in quâ—st veteris noui Testamenti Saint Austin saith the visible Sacraments were ordayned for such as were enuironed with flesh that by the steps thereof they might ascend froÌ„ such things as are seene to such things as are vnderstood Wherefore the word of God hanged about our neckes or deliuered in wordes not vnderstood cannot 1 Cor. 14. 6. profit but is deliuered in vaine And so teacheth the Apostle And now my Brethren if I come vnto you speaking with tongues not vnderstood what shall I profite you Verely the word not vnderstood is an Oister whose shell is not opened and as a candle which is not lighted and as a Matth. 13. 19. lampe without oile and as seed sowne by the high way side In like manner the outward elements in the holy Sacraments being not applied to those vses whereunto they were ordained by the institution of Christ are but bare signes and emptie figures they are not instruments of spirituall grace but let the word come to the element and lay open the right vse of it then it becommeth a Sacrament and a feale of the righteousnesse Rom. 4. 11. that commeth by faith For as he is not a Iew that is one outward so neither is that Circumcision which is outward in the Rom. 2. 28. flesh but he is a Iew that is one within and the Circumcision of the heart in the spirit not in the letter is the true Circumcision whose praise is not of men but of God Sanctified meanes ordained by God to sanctifie the soule must bee apprehended Hag. 2. 13. by the powers of the soule Seeing holy things as saith the Prophet touched onely with our bodily senses doe nothing at all further the sanctitie of our spirits And heereof it was that our Sauiour himselfe forbade Mary to touch him with her bodily hands for that she esteemed Iohn 20. 17. too highly thereof But saith he goe to my brethren and say vnto them I ascend vnto my Father and your Father to my God and your God That is apprehend ye with the hands of your faith that by my meanes God is become your louing Father and gracious God and then ye haue apprehended me with a right hand So not by going a long iourney on pilgrimage we draw nigh vnto God but by praier proceeding Act. 10. 4. Precibus non gressibus itur ad Dâ—im Bern. Ep. 319. from an humble and faithfull minde For we clime vp to God by praiers and not by staires And therefore all that will shew themselues truly religious must as Bernard teacheth trauell on pilgrimage not towards the earthly but the heauenly Ierusalem and that not with their feet but with their affections QVEST. IX The manner of receiuing Christ in the Eucharist is not carnall but spirituall The faithfull that liued before the Incarnation of Christ as the Apostle saith sed vpon the same heauenly Manna and 1 Cor. 10. 3. bread of life as we now doe but they did not eate the flesh of Christ with their bodily mouthes neither then doe the faithfull so now And verily whereas by the ministery of the word and baptisme in our new birth and inchoation of our sanctification we receiue not Christ after a bodily manner but after a spirituall and yet are thereby regenerated and quickened to an holy life Why then is not the growth and increase of our sanctification by the ministery of the same word and Eucharist wrought and accomplished after the same manner Verily Saint Austine so thought and therefore said that Aug. in Iohn tract 26. man is inuisibly fed because he is inuisibly regenerated Hee is saith he inwardly a babe and inwardly renewed and in what part he is newly borne in that part he is also fed therefore exhorteth the faithful not to prepare their iawes but their hearts Yea saith he why preparest thou thy teeth and thy Aug. de verb. Dom secundum Luc Ser. 33. Aug. in Ioh. tract 25. De consecrat dist 2. belly Beleeue and thou hast eaten Nay it is not lawfull if their owne glosse say the truth to presle the body of Christ with our teeth and if we entertaine any such grosse conceit we erre more dangerously then euer Berengarius did And verily it was the common opinion of the ancient Fathers that Christ was not a bodily but a ghostly food So Chrysostome This food feedeth not the body but the soule Chrysost in Iob. hom 4. yea it is the proper nourishment of the soule And therefore saith he when we come to the Eucharist we whet not our teeth to bite but we breake the sanctified Bread with a sound faith So Saint Ambrose de ijs qui initiantur mysterijs cap. 9. And how can it be otherwise For seeing our coniunction with Christ is not carnall but spirituall our feeding vpon him cannot be carnall but spirituall Our coniunction with Christ saith Saint Cyprian doth not mingle persons nor vnite substances Cypr. de cana viz. After a bodily manner but it doth combine affections and conioyne wils with the affection saith Saint Bernard Christ is touched and not with the hand with the Bernard in Cant. serm 26. desire and not with the eye with faith and not with the senses So Saint Ambrose We touch not Christ by our bodily hands Ambros l. 10. in 24. Luc. de hora dominicae resurrectionis but by faith and therefore neither vpon the earth nor in the earth nor after the flesh ought we to seeke Christ if we will finde him And this very lesson hee learned of the Apostle For henceforth saith he know we Christ no more after the 2 Cor. 5. 16. flesh but if any man be in Christ let him be a new creature For by the qualities of the new creature planted in our hearts whereof faith is the principall we are ioyned vnto Christ and not after a bodily manner QVEST. X. Iustification and Saluation is wrought onely by Christ and not by any other whosoeuer Sacraments were ordayned to this end that by visible Arguments drawne from the finall cause signes apt to resemble inuisible graces a plaine and euident testimony might be giuen by the one vnto the other As in the Lords Supper by Bread and Wine being the aptest creatures to nourish vs in this temporall life this doctrine is cleared and confirmed vnto vs that iustification and life