of the doctrine of the Gospel worthie consideration on this manner There is a three-fold certentie the first is certentie of reason or of generall faith when a man by force of argument is conuicted of the certentie of the doctrine of the Bible This may be in the wicked and vngodly without faith in Christ. After this in the elect by a more speciall worke of Gods spirit followes a faith in Christ and the certentie of iustifying or speciall faith expressed in the conclusion of the former syllogisme Thirdly after this certentie of speciall faith followes an other experimental certentie of the truth of the Bible which also faith concludes on this manner That doctrine which assures vs to be Gods children is certenly of God But the doctrine of the Gospell beleeued or mingled with our faith assures vs to be Gods children Therefore it is of God The major is graunted of all the minor is in effect the conclusion of the former syllogisme and it is knowne by an experience of that spirituall comfort which the godly feele in their hearts The conclusion sets downe the certentie of the Bible vpon a further ground then any wit or learning of man can attaine vnto without the spirit of grace namely vpon an inward assurance of our reconciliation with God Of this certentie our Sauiour Christ speakes notably If any man will doe my fathers will that is beleeue it and subiect himselfe to it he shall know namely by that comfort which he shall feele vpon his subiection of the doctrine whether it be of God or whether I speake of my selfe And Paul saith that the spirituall man that is one regenerate by the spirit of God iudgeth all things Hence it followes that such as desire to be setled for their religion and such as desire to be good and profitable students in Diuinitie must first of all humble thēselues and indeauour in their hearts truly to beleeue in Christ. Because hence flowes the best experience of the certentie and consequently of the vnspeakable excellencie of the Bible Thus then we see how we are to receiue hold and inioy our Reconciliation with god in Christ by no other thing within vs but by meanes of our faith alone And therefore we must haue speciall care that we may by the vse of Gods meanes attaine to a liuely faith And for this cause we must do two things first we are to labour to be conuicted in conscience of the certentie of the word This done we must thē subiect our wils to the commandement of God that biddes vs beleeue in Christ we must bewaile our vnbeleefe we must striue against the same and pray vnto God to confirme and increase our faith by establishing our hearts in his loue The second part of spirituall life is Peace of conscience which is nothing else but a cōstant stable tranquilitie of minde when the cōscience doth not accuse but excuse and when neither hell death condemnation nor any danger is feared ouermuch This peace was in Dauid when he said I laid me down slept and rose againe in the middest of manifold daungers This peace is of great excellencie for it is the peace of God it is one part of the kingdome of God it passeth all vnderstanding it is in stead of a guard to keepe our hearts minds in Christ. Now this excellent peace springs out of our faith whereby we beleeue our reconciliation with god Rom. 5.1 Beeing iustified by faith we haue peace with God 1. Chron. 20.20 Trust in the Lord and ye shall be secure Yea as our faith is so is our peace no faith no peace liuely faith liuely peace constant faith constant peace faith in life peace in life faith in death peace in death so as we may say with Simeon Lord now lettest thou thy seruant depart in peace The third part of spirituall life is the ioy of the Holy Ghost and that is to reioyce in God because he is our God and in Christ because he is our Christ. And this kind of ioy is not taken from vs or abated in afflictions but rather increased Rom. 5.3 We reioyce in tribulatiōs And Hebr. 10.34 Ye endured the spoyling of your goods with ioy Now our faith in the promise of life is the mother and breeder of this ioy which ariseth of that happie and blessed conclusion that faith frames in the mind I beleeue therfore the blessings of God promised in the Gospel are mine Thus saith Saint Peter Beleeuing ye reioyce with ioy vnspeakable and glorious Again the continuance and increase of our faith is the increase of this ioy The last part of spirituall life is newnesse of life and conuersation whereby we are borne anew and made new creatures not because the substance of bodie and soule is changed but because the image of God is restored Now this change both for the whole and for the parts thereof is by faith Touching the whole Men as they are new creatures haue their beginning from the word of promise or from Christ crucified who is propounded in the promise and that as the said word or Christ is apprehended by faith Act. 15.9 Your hearts beeing purified by faith 1. Ioh. 3.3 He which hath this hope purifieth himselfe 1. Pet. 1.22 Your soules are purified in obeying the truth And again Being borne anew of the immortall seede of the word The parts of newnesse of life are specially three True wisedome good affections good workes True wisdome is to aduise of good things and to vse good meanes for the execution thereof This wisdome ariseth of our faith in the word of God Dauid saith he vvas vviser then his teachers and vviser then the auncient and he renders the cause therof from the worke of his faith For thy testimonies are euer with me and they are my meditation Out of the same fountaine spring all good affections The loue wherby we loue God comes of our faith beleeuing the loue wherewith God loueth vs. The perswasion of the forgiuenesse of many sinnes in the woman that washed Christs feete with her teares caused her to shewe much loue to Christ. Godly sorrow when the heart is grieued properly for the offence of God ariseth of faith apprehending and beleeuing the mercie of God in Christ. And in euery good worke there is a threefold action of faith required First there is required an acte of generall faith which is to beleeue that the worke to be done in his kind pleaseth god Rom. 14.23 VVhatsoeuer is not of faith is sinne The second is an acte of iustifying faith which is to purge the heart and to cause it to bring foorth the good worke to be done Psal. 116.10 I beleeued therefore I spake The third is also an act of iustifying faith and that is when the worke is done to apprehend Christ who by his merit is to couer the defect of the worke because no work of ours can please God without
men of yeares who if they haue contrite and humbled hearts are little ones beleeuing in Christ. Againe children after some yeares by good education and instruction may attaine to some knowledge and consequently to faith Thus Timothie was brought vp in the Scripture of a childe The second opinion is that all places of Scripture intreating of faith are to be vnderstood of men of yeares and that children are saued by some other vnknown and vnspeakeable way without faith I somewhat doubt of this because it is said VVhosoeuer beleeueth not is alreadie condemned Againe VVithout faith it is impossible to please God The third opinion is that children haue faith after a sort because the parents according to the tenour of the couenant I will be thy God and the God of thy seede beleeue for themselues and their children and therefore their faith is not onely theirs but also the faith of their children Hence it is that the Scripture saith If the roote be holy the branches are holy and If ye beleeue your children are holy According to humane law the father and his heires are but one person the father couenanting for himselfe and his children what then should hinder that the father might not beleeue for his child and the child by the parents faith haue title to the couenant and the benefits thereof It is alleadged that by this meanes children shall be borne beleeuers and so be conceiued and borne without originall sinne I answer Beleeuing parents sustaine two persons one whereby they are men and thus they bring forth children hauing mans nature with all the corruptions of nature The other as they are holy men and beleeuers thus they bring forth infants that are not so much their children as the children of God And Infants are Gods children not by vertue of their birth but by meanes of parents faith which intitles them to all the blessings of the couenant Children proportionally sustain a double person If they be considered in and by theÌ„selues they are conceiued and borne in Originall sinne If they be considered as they are holy and beleeue by the faith which is both theirs and their parents faith and consequently haue by this means title to Christ and his benefits originall sinne is couered and remitted If it be said that by this meanes all children of beleeuing parents are the children of God I answer that we must presume that they are all so leauing secret iudgements to God To this third opinion I most incline because we are to iudge that infants of beleeuing parents in their infancie dying are iustified I find no iustification in Scripture without faith And this hath beene the iudgement of auncient fathers Aug. serm 14. of the words of the Apostle How saith he doe infants beleeue by the faith of the parents If by the faith of parents they be purged by parents sinne they are polluted The bodie of sinne in the first parents begot them sinners and the spirit of life in their latter parents did regenerate them to be beleeuers Bernard epist. 77. saith Among the nations as many as were faithfull if they were of yeares we beleeue that they were clensed by faith and the sacrifices and that the parents faith alone auaileth for children yea that it is sufficient for them Againe It is meete and for the honour of God that to whome age denies their owne faith grace should graunt to them a benefit by the faith of an other Thus then it is manifest that euery person must haue a faith of his owne Hence we learne that the doctors of the Romish Church erre and are deceiued when they teach that a man may rest himselfe in the faith of his teachers beleeuing in sundrie things only as the Church beleeues though he knew not distinctly what is the faith of the Church Againe here the Popes pardons fall to grouÌ„d For in vaine doth the Pope by the power of the keyes apply the meritorious works and the satisfactorie suffrings of one man to an other considering euery man is saued onely by his owne faith The wise virgins professed that they had oyle no more then serued their owne turnes They knew not the popish doctrine that men might haue good works enough for themselues and an ouerplus for others Hilarie gathereth hence that one mans good workes cannot be applied to an other Hierome saith Euery man shall receiue a reward for his owne workes and that one mans workes cannot couer another mans faults in the day of iudgement The speech of Leo may stoppe the mouths of all Papists Though saith he the death of the Saints be preticus in the sight of God yet the killing of no innocent is the reconciliation of the world The righteous haue receiued crowns but they haue not giuen crownes And the fortitude of beleeuers ministers examples of patience but not gifts of iustice For the deaths of them all were priuate or particular neither did any of them by his funerall discharge another mans debt considering among the sinnes of men Christ our Lord is onely found in whom all are crucified dead and buried and rise againe Paul indeede saith to the Corinthians that he desired to be bestowed for their soules and that he suffers all things for the elect but this he speakes in respect of his Apostolicall ministerie and not in respect of any workes of satisfaction performed by him in the behalfe of others Againe he saith I beare in mine owne body the remainders of the sufferings of Christ but these remainders are the sufferings which euery man must beare for himself For euery disciple of Christ must take vp his own crosse and so accomplish the sufferings of the whole mysticall bodie Thirdly by this we learne not to relie on the gifts suffrages and praiers of others but to seeke for a sufficient liuely faith of our owne The foolish virgins that supposed they might haue furnished theÌ„selues with sufficient oyle of the wise virgins were vtterly disappointed Therfore the speech of the Papists is to be detested namely that the suffrages of the liuing that is their fastings prayers almes masses c. do three waies helpe the dead by way of merit of coÌ„gruitie by way of intreatie and by way of satisfaction Lastly here we learne that faith and the iustice of good conscience must alwaies goe together And for this cause it is not said that man liues by faith but the iust man Let all protestants learne and remeÌ„ber this For it is Gods commandement that we should ioyntly keepe faith and good conscience And it is a common offence to Atheists papists worldlings that such as pretend faith faile in the righteousnesse of good conscience Some it may be will say that it shall suffice for theÌ„ to call vpon God when they are dying and to die by faith I answer that we must not onely die and be saued but also liue in this world by our faith FINIS Luk. 1. â— Iob 1. â— Rom. 1.17 Gal. 7.11 Gal. 1.20 Gal. 3.11 12. Eph. 1.18 Heb. 11.3 Psal. 56.4 Rom. 1.5 Math. 4.3 Rom. 4.18 Luk. 8.13 Ioh. 5.35 Iam. 1. â—â— Luk. 8.15 1. Tim. 1.19 Heb. 3.38 Heb. 10.38 Joh. 3.31 Rom. 3. â—â— 2. Cor. â—â— â— Ioh. 3.9 Heb. 1â— 7 Gen. 8.16 Psal. 119.11 Act. 16.31 Gen. 39.9 〈◊〉 â— 15 Psal. â—â— â— 1. Ioh. 3.23 Heb. 4.16 Isa. 26.3 1. Ioh. 5.4 Ioh. 7.17 1 Cor. 2.14 Psal. 3.5 Phil. 4.7 Rom. 4.17 Phil. 3.1 1. Pet. 1.8 Psal. 98.99 Luk. 7.47 Ioh. 8.56 Ioh. 20.25 Gen. 5. â—â— Isa. 16.28 Dan. 9. 2 3 Iob 4. 2. Sam. 15.26 Psal. 16.18 Heb. 11.27 â— Reg. 6.19 Eph. 6.16 1. Thest. 5.8 Act. 20.28 2 Cor â— 1â— 1 Tim. 4. Heb. 11.7 â—â—â— 33.34 Psal. 55.23 Phil. 4.6 â— Pet. 5.7 Math. 6.32 1. Pet. 5.7 Psal. 34.9 Gal. 3.11 12. Heb. 3.12 Gen. 19.4 Isa. 28.15 Math. 25.37 2. Cor 4.4 Math. 6.30 Rom. 8.5 1. Cor. 1.14 Heb. 6.2 1. Ioh. 2. â—â— Eph. 1.1 Tit. 1.15 Isa 7.9 Mark 6. â— Num. 20 1â— 2. King â— Luk 1. â—â— a Psal. 10.6.11.13 14. 2. Luk. 18.11 12. Apoc. 18.7 1. Cor. 2.14 Math. 12.24 Psal. 7.8 Isa. 28.15 Luk. 12.19.45 Num. 20.12 Psal. 52. 1.6 11. 73. 11 12. 1. Tim. 11.13 Heb. 4.12 2. Cor. 10. 1. King 13.2 Isa. 44. end 2. Ioh. 3.23 2. Cor. 1. â—â— Col. 3.27 Heb. 11.36 Psal. 119.49 Muk 16.16 Rom. 12. 1. Cor. 7 1â— a Bellaâ— l. 1 de bapt c 4. See further Iustin. 9.56 Aug epist. 23.57.105 de bapt l. 4. c. Bernar. ser. 66. in Cant. a Immanuel Sa. in Aphorismis coÌ„festatiorum upon Mat. 25. ibidem Serm. 12. de passione 2. Cor. 12.15 2. Tim. 2. Coloss. 3. â—ollar de Indulg c. 14. p. 85.
the creator Thus much of the conceiuing of faith now followes the Raigne of faith The raigne of faith is when it beares rule sway in heart and life For where faith is there neither thought will affection nor lust raigns but faith alone It raignes by two actions First of all it mooues makes vs to attend on the calling of God yeeld subiection to him in all his commandements Paul saith that faith establisheth the law and one reasō is because it makes vs doe that which the lawe prescribes Again Paul saith that his weapons are spirituall and mightie bringing euery thought in subiection to God Now these mightie weapons are the word of god preached and beleeued He that is borne of God can not sinne because the seede of God remaines in him that is the word mingled with faith Noah his faith made him build an Arke at Gods commaundement after it was made to enter into it and not to dare to come out of it till he had warrant from God Abrahams faith made him forsake his cuntrey and kindred at Gods commaundement and goe he knew not whether And that good obedience may be performed to euery commandement of God faith works two things in vs memorie attention Memorie whereby Gods word is laid vp in the heart that it may be drawne out to vse when occasion shall be offered Attention is when faith makes vs seriously to consider and to beleeue that the commandement of God is a cōmandement not for forme but in truth and that it doth indeede pertaine to vs. An example of both these actions of faith we haue in Ioseph who whē he was tempted to folly of Potiphars wife answered Shal I doe this wickednes AND SINNE AGAINST GOD. Marke here how his mind was filled and possessed with a thought and consideration of Gods commandement The second action of faith wherby it raignes in the heart is to establish and confirme them that beleeue in their obedience and subiection to God And this it doth by presenting Gods promises to the minde For by meanes of them it worketh foure actions in the heart First of all it makes vs flie vnto the true God alone whose the promises are Secondly it makes vs to beleeue that God both can and will helpe vs according to our neede Thirdly it makes vs to hope for his helpe that is for good successe in prosperitie and deliuerance or some mitigation of our euills in aduersitie according to the tenour of his promises Lastly though tēporall blessings faile it makes vs still to rest on God for mercie and for life euerlasting And thus at all times it makes God to be our Refuge our castle our rocke and tower of defence Thus we see generally how faith raignes To proceede further the iust man liues a double life namely a spirituall life and a temporall and both of them are led by faith as I wil plainly manifest Spirituall life which is the beginning of eternall life stands specially in foure things Reconciliation with God peace of conscience ioy of the holy Ghost and newnes of life Touching reconciliation with God in Christ it is reuealed offered and giuen vnto vs in the maine promises of the Gospel and in the Sacraments and it is no way in this world made ours and holden of vs but by our faith And in the case of our reconciliation with God faith hath two actions one to receiue it the other to assure vs of it Touching the first faith apprehends and receiues reconciliation on this manner First of all the spirit of God works in men a gēnerall faith of the law and the threatnings thereof and it is called the spirit of bondage to feare Because it causeth in vs a sight of our sinnes an apprehension of Gods anger feare of due and deserued condemnation despaire of our selues in respect of our selues This beeing done the same spirit worketh in vs an other faith called sauing or iustifying faith and it apprehendeth or receiueth Christ with his benefites by certaine steppes and degrees and they are specially three For first of all vpon a thorough touch and liuely sense of our miserie there ariseth in the minde an earnest and serious meditatiō of the promise of mercie and the benefites therein offered and it is called the opening or pearcing of the eare Then in the second place there followes a purpose will desire and indeauour to beleeue vpon consideration of the commaundement of God that biddes vs to beleeue and apply the promise to our selues And further this will and desire shewes it selfe by instant and serious inuocation which is nothing else but a flying from the condemning sentence of the lawe to the throne of grace for mercie Thirdly after this there followes in processe of time a setling and quieting of the minde touching Christ and his benefits vpon some assurance thereof wrought and conceiued in the minde by the spirit of God And this third degree is called a stablished thought On this manner come we by degrees to receiue Christ for our full reconciliation with God For when vpon the commandement to beleeue we doe in any measure beleeue Christ to be our Christ he is our Christ indeede according to the tenour of the Euangelicall couenant Thus faith apprehending Christ for our reconciliation with God becomes a victorious conquerour preuailes against the Law Satan hell death condemnation and all our spirituall enemies and thus euery beleeuer is aboue the Law sinne hell death euen in this life The second action of faith in the case of our reconciliation with God is to certifie and assure vs in conscience thereof and that is done by a practicall syllogisme which faith frames in the minde on this manner He that beleeues the gospel shall haue all the benefits and blessing of God promised therein But I beleeue the Gospell and I beleeue in Christ Therefore the benefits promised therein are mine The major or first part of this reason is the voice of the Gospel the minor or the second part is the voice of the beleeuing heart which subiecteth it selfe in wil and affection to the commandement which biddes vs beleeue in Christ and this is the acte of speciall faith And we may not thinke that this voice of the beleeuing heart is a false alarum For he that truly beleeues hath his minde and conscience supernaturally inlightened to discerne that he beleeues The third part or the conclusion is the foundation of all our ioy and spirituall comfort For it containes in it the chiefest certentie of our adoption and saluation that can be had in this life namely the certentie of faith whence followes in a lower degree in the second place the certentie that is by workes And thus doth faith certifie all such as truely beleeue that they are the children of God Out of the former conclusion or out of the certentie which is by faith followes a full and liuely certentie