Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	believe_v	faith_n	know_v	6,721	5	4.2859	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A08318	The nevv Gospel, not the true Gospel. Or, A discovery of the life and death, doctrin, and doings of Mr. Iohn Traske, and the effects of all, in his followers Wherein a mysterie of iniquity is briefly disclosed, a seducer unmasked, and all warned to beware of imposters. As also a confutation of the uncomfortable error, of Mr. Boye, concerning the plague, out of Psal. 91. By Edvv. Norice.	Norris, Edward, 1584-1659.	1638 (1638)	STC 18645; ESTC S113242	39,058	60

all that concernes either soule or body this life or the next in all which men must be carelesse yea in respect of all sins and duties which is to be a wretchlesse person caring for nothing And whereas he sends us to the Scriptures for the warrant of his word which forbid al carefulnesse in any thing as Phil. 4.6 1 Pet. 5.7 to that I answer that the originall word in those places doth not signifie all care heedfulnesse or providence in any sense to condemne it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. but only a wringing perplexing and distrustfull care proceeding from unbeleefe the same that in Mat. 6.31 take no thought which is not opposed to carelesnesse but to that lawfull and provident care Pro. 6.8 Pro. 10.4 Phil. 2.12 Heb. 3.12 Heb. 12.15 commended in the Scriptures under the name of providence watchfulnes heed taking and diligence all which accompany faith as concurring with the promises and providence of God yet might an improper word have beene borne withall did not the rest of this mans rudiments give just occasion of suspecting his words especially being strange and affected Concerning his complaint that his words are not fully expressed I say they are so set down under his own hand as in the Assertion which is more than was at first as one of his followers told me that being only this carelesse Christians If he deny this it is but like all the. rest are the choisest beleevers but to leave this carelesse counsell with those choise beleevers and passe on to the next 14. ASSERTION To doubt of the favour of God after sinne committed is worse than the sin it selfe Explication THis Assertion is set down in his own words and yet he quarrells at it and tells us that in some other places these words are inserted nourished by true beleevers which are stollen out to expose his saying to derision to which I answer first that his Gospell grounds and other assertions are so full of variations and contradictions that nothing can be alleadged out of one place without some ground of cavilling from another which was his cunning to help out by shifts and evasions as need required but what need any man steale where there is such store of good stuffe as in his rudiments Secondly admit these words doubtings nourished c. yet doth it not help him that condemnes all doubtings in such simply without limitation as being the fruits of unbeleefe the greatest sin under the Gospell for the nourishing of doubtings doth but aggravate what in it selfe is evill To the point them I say that although doubtings proceeding from unbeleefe simply considered are great evills and to be striven against by true beleevers yet in such cases as we speak of revolts and relapses into foule and scandalous sins of the same or other kinds by such as professe themselves to be beleevers there is somewhat more to be considered for first as concerning the fact it selfe it is certaine the Lord doth not favour evill but abhorre it though in his own children 2 Sam. 11.27 2. For their owne parts they may well in such cases doubt and question their owne sincerity when their sins are scandalous and often committed seeing there is not faith nor grace sufficient to withstand their lusts but they live in them Rom. 6.18 1 Ioh. 3.9 3. They may well doubt and question the favour of God towards them if not in the main yet for the present in this particular of a scandalous sin till it be repented of and so forgiven Psa 6.1 Psa 32.3 Psa 38.3 so that in such cases some doubtings are not only lawfull but expedient and necessary our hearts being deceitfull but against all these considerations utterly to condemn all doubtings in the case of scandalous sinning without any limitation of the sins or time of continuance in them as he doth how dangerous a thing it is for hereby that may easily come to passe which the Lord so vehemently protested against in his people to swear falsly to steale murther cōmit adultery such like come into the house of God and say they are delivered to doe such abominations which are called lying words Ier. 7.8 as also that fearefull state of the presumptuous sinner described Deut 29.19 which comes by such flattering and blessing a mans selfe in his heart when his deeds are wicked ●ide Psal 36.2 whereunto this mans doctrine tendeth as the event also hath shewed in some of his followers standing more upon their mirth and confidence than any feare of sinne or care of obedience rejecting also all mourning and sorrow for sinnes committed as not agreeing with Christian profession But there is more following 15. ASSERTION It is as easie to beleeve remission of sins as to make confession of them Explication ALL is easie to this man who hath found out an easier way to heaven if wee may beleeve him than ever was knowne before or is safe to follow now It s as easie to beleeve remission of sinnes as to make confession of them But how doth he explaine this Oracle suspecting it seemes some flaw in the matter he hath altered the words True confession comprehends the other 1 Iohn 1.9 and insteed of confession hath put in truly asking forgivenesse thinking this will hold better giving his reason because both are the gifts of God truly to beleeve and truly to ask pardon but if there be no singular matter in it why doth he set it out as a Gospell ground and singular rudiment of his owne unlesse it be to make simple people beleeve that it is as easie for them to obtain remission of sinnes and to bee assured of it as to say Lord have mercy upon them on their death bedds Which they are too apt unto without his directions but for the point as he would hold it notwithstanding both those are the gifts of God and a like easie for him to effect yet in regard of our selves in whom these gifts must work I suppose it a farre harder matter truly to apply the promises and to beleeve that our sinnes are remitted than to confesse them and ask forgivenesse of them because in the former there is reason and all opposing but in the later the power of conscience the sense of wrath and feare of danger doe all concurre with the spirit in that act in so much as wee may read of some that have truly confessed their sinnes and craved pardon for them One desines faith to bee a wonderfull grace that yea could not presently beleeve nor bee assured in their hearts they were pardoned and remitted to them Ps 31.10 Psal 38.6 Ps 77.2 Psal 88.14 c. it being a speciall act of Gods spirit to perswade his people of their reconciliation and his love towards them in Christ therefore this conceit of the easinesse of faith doth seeme to be maintained by such as never had it nor knew truly what it is to be truly and comfortably perswaded

directions against it but why doth hee not name who they were that did so or why doth he not handle the point as other godly men have done but thus break out against the Law it selfe calling it a rule of the flesh to make it vile but all this is nothing else than meere deceit and collusion pretending a cause that never was in any of them at whom he aimeth no not to a thought upon which false supposition also it is that he reproacheth all other Ministers that make any use of the Law for Legalists and Iustitiaries as if they taught righteousnesse by works because they make the Law a rule of obedience which is common and I doubt wilfull calumny of all his followers who know well enough how farre they are from such doctrines and drifts whom they disclaime and decline 2. ASSERTION The Law is not to be preached to beleevers by Gospell Ministers Explication HIs meaning is that the Law is not to be preached at all in the Church of God neither to beleevers nor unbeleevers either for repentance or obedience and that his meaning is so his words declare which are these And why may it not be affirmed In his confirmation that seeing there is no Commission to preach the Law at all now under the Gospell and seeing the Gospell containes the whole mind and will of God and that the Apostles did never preach the Law at all but as subordinate to the Gospell and doth enjoyne Timothy to charge some that they teach no other Doctrine but the faith A clause added against the rest c. why may we not say that the Gospell only is to bee preached to all aswell as to beleevers except any can shew a larger Commission than Christ himselfe c. pag. 50. These words are plaine enough There is no Commission to preach the Law at all the Gospell is only to bee preached to all Generall and peremptory assertions without exception yet neverthelesse to hide his flat Antinomisme in his explanation he tells us that the Law as law is not to be preached to beleevers and afterwards demands Who ever denyed the Lawes use or excellency to discover sinne convict such as the Gospell shines not unto to be a ground for all humane Lawes the very rule of love a meanes to shew the greatnesse of sinne of very plentifull use to beleevers c. One would think that the same man could not own both these assertions at once and set them down both in the same Chapter What hath the Law so many excellentuses to beleevers and unbeleevers and yet is there no Commission at all to preach it doth it containe so many excellent truths and of that necessity in the Church and yet is it no part of the mind and will of God to bee revealed unto men Doctor Taylor his Regula vitae is very usefull for all these points how to make all this accord in any good construction I acknowledge to be past my skill or I suppose any mans else for take it according to his first words the Law as Law is not to bee preached but as subordinate to the Gospell yet then it must be preached howsoever and is within the Commission of a Gospell Minister which before he denyed either the Seducer wanted wit to see his own contradictions or else he was very wicked to speak against the truth and his own conscience together the later is most to be suspected but then they are men to be admired that will see neither of them 3. ASSERTION If repentance and faith bee wrought only by the Gospell then what doth the Law work in any mans conversion to God or conformity to Christ Explication THis demand hee acknowledgeth to be truly inferr'd by him upon the premisses of one of his then disciples according to the doctrin he had first taught him and yet lest he should lose his habit of rayling hee keeps the word * This is his Keax Slanderer on foot still although it be the truth under his own hand Concerning which point I will say no more but if the Law serve to discover sinne and to convince men as before he hath acknowledged and that this discovery and convincing bee necessary to bring men to repentance seeing they cannot repent of what they know not how then is the Law wholly excluded from having any hand in the same at all was it not that and matter of that kind which S. Peter used to convince the Iewes withall Acts 2.37 and is it not that which discovers unto all men their own unrighteousnesse and misery that they may seek unto Christ for righteousnesse and mercy Rom. 3.19 doth not that regulate our love and so our conformity to Christ and his requirings John 13.34 but these matters of repentance humiliation for sin godly sorrow sanctification of spirit feare of God care of obedience and such like are all in too low a sphere for his sublimity and not in the compasse of his mounted speculations only faith and joy are the matters he is conversant in the other serve for poore Legalists to feed upon that know no better but it followes 4. ASSERTION The law did once discover sin it doth so no more nor yet for direction love herein transcends the law as far as life doth death Explication HIs meaning is that now in time of the Gospell the Law doth neither serve to discover sin nor yet to be a rule of obedience for it was alleadged by him in way of Answer to that of the Apostle By the law is the knowledge of finne Rom. 3.20 and Chap. 7. 7. to which he replyed that though it did so heretofore yet it doth not so now those times and that use of the Law are past and gone and so out of date the Gospell now doth all without the Law which is his spirituall sense and the mystery of his way but to colour the matter being foule in appearance hee tells us in his explanation that the Sacrifice of Christ doth better set forth the odiousnesse of sinne than the terrors of the Law which is no part of the point what doth most set out the odiousnesse of sinne Ignoratio ele nchis but what doth discover the sinnes themselves in their kinds and severall branches which must needs be the Law according to the Apostles testimony the very definition of sin being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the transgression of the Law 1. John 3.4 then is it to be preached with the Gospell for repentance Concerning the other branch about the directing use of the Law to justifie his deny all he gives us to understand as if none knew it before that the inward principle from which all true obedience proceeds is love which inward grace doth farre transcend the letter without as if that were the question from what inward principle true obedience proceeded and not rather by what Rule the same is regulated and ordered which is the Law of God discovering good and

as mingled with uncleannesse but as distinct absolutely from the flesh as being an other nature yea a participation of the Divine nature 2 Pet. 1.3.4 which though it make up one person yet is none at all of the old man nor of the old creation but it is that new Creation that new heart and that spirit of God which is bestowed upon us Ezek. 11.19 which yeeldeth no new habits in the flesh as if that were changed or renewed but is subsisting of it selfe that it is of power to manifest it selfe by acts of quickning and reviving and enabling this mortall flesh as the life of Iesus in it c. neither is it the sanctified person that hath any habit of grace in his flesh but the Lord Jesus dwelling in him doth put forth the bright beames of his glory in such vertues as do best fit the time and place in which he lives Rom. 8.9 2 Cor. 1.8 9. Here is his mysterie tending as much to the edification of the people as if he had read to them a Lecture of Arabick or cast dust in their eyes to make them see for first he denies sanctification to be by the spirit in ourselves then he grants it to be in our selves but not in the flesh then it is by the spirit as we understand it of his operations yet there are no new habits in the flesh as if that were changed at all but then that it doth quicken our mortall bodies and yet not as joyned with the flesh but absolutely distinct by it selfe it sendeth forth Acts as the life of Iesus in it wherin he utterly denyeth regeneration sanctification or any change of nature at all in the sanctified person who only is sanctified by the presence of Christ in him which hee calls his union with Christ but not by any reall work of the spirit in any faculty of the soule nor by any change at all wrought in the heart but it remaines as carnall and sensuall as it was before the spirits entrance a strange and monstrous peece of doctrin See the contrary in Mark 9.49 Iohn 3.8 Rom. 8.9 1 Cor. 6.11 1 Pet. 1.2 1 Thes 5.23 denying the very Articles of our Christian faith and one of the chiefest priviledges of a true Christian which is to be regenerate by the spirit of God affirming a man to bee sanctified without any grace or goodnesse but even as he was borne in puris naturalibus and in that state to have Christ living in him a pestilent and blasphemous opinion And that the Reader may see this to be his positive doctrin deliberately set down I think meet to lay before his eyes a short tract of this point made by him of purpose as it seemes to doctrinate his disciples withall wherin the marrow of this Seducers divinity is disclosed and it is this that followeth It s a thing to be considered what the new creature is A treatise of the old man and the new that new man that seed of God which is borne of the spirit it is not any renovation of the old man that which is borne of the flesh the fallen man for that 's from beneath this from above that 's from the earth this from heaven a new creation of nothing as in the creation of the world so that the inward or new man differ as much from the outward or old as the godly nature of Christ doth differ from his manly nature and both these natures together make but one person as in him this is the reason that he which is borne of God sinneth not nor can sin Note for it is a partaking of the godly nature and such are as perfect as ever they shall be although not in manifestation and yet the old man is as imperfect as ever it was for the new creature is not the mutation or change of the understanding from darknesse to light for then there should no darknesse remaine Sound reasoning à nen perfecto ad nihil nor a change of the will from crooked to streight for then should no perversenesse remaine nor any ordering of the same affections for so all disorder were put away nor yet a change of the memory for so were the memory without defect for this understanding will affections memory and the rest are gifts from heaven and must of necessity be perfect without any defect or superfluity for our first generation as borne of parents is totally fallen and cannot be recovered here but our regeneration is wholly perfect and can never be corrupted or sinne againe for take it in the parts what is repentance or faith or love or joy or any of the rest are they not the gifts of God and are not Gods gifts all perfect and without blemish But are they so in us These being distinct in our minds as the divine and humane natures of Christ in that one person we shall not impute * Yet David said I have sinned Psal 51. our sinnes to our selves nor yet our good so confusedly as in times past the flesh or old man shall have no glory of any good is done nor the spirit or new man any shame of the evill or sinne that the flesh commits it will nt only enable us to know our owne estates but the holy Scriptures and we shall see the vanity The best writers with vanity and folly in a ground of faith and folly of the most if not all writers who put all the work upon the change wrought in this flesh which can never bee changed So strange a piece of stuffe as I think need no further opening or confuting to them that have understanding but for such as are blinded with partiality I would propose but these few Quaeres to consider off and resolve by Scripture 1. Whether the Divine and humane natures of Christ be fit instances in this case seeing his divine nature contained the fulnesse of the God-head and his humane nature was perfect and without spot of sin Col. 2.9 1 Pet. 1.19 especially propounding it as he doth without exception or difference of nature or persons between him and us as if the case were in manner one and the resemblance in all things equall which may open a gap to many blasphemous errors about the union and the natures themselves 2. Whether the creation of the world of nothing be a resemblance in all things sutable as he also makes it to the work of regeneration seeing there was no praeexistent matter at all to work upon but the very substances were created here is matter praeexistent as the understanding will and affections only new qualities are created in them from what they had before by which meanes the same faculties are made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the weapons of righteousnesse to God Rom. 6.13 that were before only the weapons of unrighteousnesse to sinne and then are not the faculties themselves for substance sent new from heaven as he dreameth but only the old

THE NEVV GOSPEL NOT THE TRVE GOSPEL OR A discovery of the Life and Death Doctrin and Doings of Mr. Iohn Traske and the effects of all in his Followers Wherein a mysterie of iniquity is briefly disclosed a Seducer unmarked and all warned to beware of Impostors As also a Confutation of the uncomfortable error of Mr. Boye concerning the Plague out of Psal 91. Mat. 24.11 Many false prophets shall rise and shall deceive many By EDVV. NORICE LONDON Printed by R. Bishop for Henry Hood and are to be sold at his Shop in St. Dunstans Church-yard in Fleetstreet 1638. THE NEW GOSPEL NOT THE TRVE GOSPEL AS it was the care of our Lord Iesus Christ the great Shepheard of the Flock to forewarne the same in generall of all Wolves and false prophets that should arise especially in the later times and deceive many so is it a subordinate duty and no lesse needfull when such false prophets do arise in those times being espied to give particular notice of them and to point as it were with the finger unto them as St. Paul did of some such like 2 Tim. 4.15 This is hee beware of him The consideration whereof hath moved and thus farre enboldned me to tender unto publike view with submission unto allowance this briefe discovery as but the pointing with the finger of such a seducing Impostor and cunning Deceiver in our owne times I meane Mr. John Traske A man well knowne by common fame and yet not knowne according to his manifold deceits but of a few turning and winding himselfe like another Proteus into so many formes as that he could not easily be discerned to be the same individuall but descryed only by his unconstancy to be none other because therein he had not his like this man falling from one errour to another and pursuing all with equall vehemency at length fell upon a * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 13.9 new way of Evangelizing understanding the Gospell the Kingdome of Christ the state of Grace the nature of Faith as things utterly abstracted from all Law habits of Grace signes of Faith and sanctification it selfe setting up a conceited new Creature entire of himself as free from sinne as Iesus Christ to whom nothing belongeth but joy tranquillity and triumph nor to that person in whom this new Creature is formed no not though hee fell into the foulest sinnes and perpetrated the grossest impieties as murthers or adulteries or such like because these were but acted by the flesh and not at all by the new Creature in him Familisme therfore is he never to mourne or grieve for any such thing but ever to rejoyce knowing that in this estate no sinne shall hurt him neither is he to question the favour of God whatsoever hee doth that being farre worse than the sinne he committeth but ever to bee confident Into which joyfull condition all are brought only by beleeving which faith is not to be tryed by any signes fruits or effects but only by the perswasion it selfe and all this effected not by any use of the Law in preaching but only the Gospell and promises applying the same to all that so do beleeve yet not as faith is a condition of the Covenant or an instrument of Iustification laying hold on Christ but only as a qualification in themselves Whereupon all such Preachers as made any use of the Law in their teaching or gave any signes for tryall of faith or grace motives or meanes to duties rules of obedience or such like were presently rejected as Legalists Iustitiaries messengers of Moses and silly naturalists that understand not the mysterie of the Gospell * They are his own words pag. 28. yea Iewes and worse than Iewes their congregations not true but pretended Christian assemblies thereupon also his followers sequestring themselves to such as were their owne way with a high disdaine of all others gave themselves to mirth and jollity such triumphing and glorying laughter and glee Iudges 12.6 as if it were the only Shibboleth whereby to bee discerned from the miserable Legalists that held mourning and sorrow for sinne care of dutyes towards God and endeavour for sanctification by his Spirit in themselves some of them proceeding so farre as disdainfully to aske R. O. A forge of fancies what that sanctification was we talked so much of for hee knew not what it meaned which we may easily beleeve yea and to demand whether God will not accept of our prayers without the mediation of his Sonne and some of them in the mean time falling into ingemniated adulteries to the great scandall of the truth they seemed to professe yet not shewing the least remorse for the same themselves nor others in their behalfe but with this come-off in a merry manner that if a man be in Christ no sinne shall hurt him I shame to relate these things but know them to be true Now these are the effects of this mans doctrin and of his new devised Gospell but the way and course hee took in venting the same was this first hee would in publike The methode of a Seducer wheresoever hee was admitted to preach deliver ordinary truths in a plaine way but with extraordinary shew of zeale and affection thus to gaine him credit and a good esteeme of all then if any were taken with him he would in private proceed further and doctrinate them in his mysteries if they consented they were his owne if not then would he deny what he had said and beare them downe with scoffs and derision which course he also took in his conferences and disputes denying and shifting any thing he had spoken or defended when it came to any publike dislike by which meanes none or very few that dealt with him Ministers or others could escape reproach so far as the credit of his tongue extended or yet of his followers who therein have shewed themselves many of them tam moribus similes quàm voce magistro like their master in a shamelesse and unreasonable manner a taste wherof both he and they not long since yeelded when at a conference having vented many foule and erroncous points and afterwards being taxed therewith they utterly denied that any such things though many were spoken in their hearings O this very practise Master Doctor Taylor complaines in his Regula vitae pag. 63. which he sithence hath yet acknowledged in print but with such constructions and new devised interpretations as were never thought on nor imagined there yea directly against his expresse Assertions in other places turning some of them into ridles and ambiguous enunciations like Apollo's Oracles to make an evasion as hereafter God willing shall be discovered And because in his late * Published since his death as it s suspected by Mr. Boye printed pamphlet he hath not only blended the truth with his cunning head but also blasted the names of all that oppose him with reproach especially my selfe for that small discovery I

evill But his practise in this is as if a man rejecting all directions for his way in a journey should give this for his reason that the principle of motion must be in himselfe Charitas continet in sese implicite observationem impletionem omnium Dei mandatorum Ames l. 2. c. 7. medull and not in such outward directions so doth this man but therein it is marvellous what a difference he makes betweene love and the law as if they were two contraries or at least not of the same kind when the Scriptures acknowledge them to be but one and the same love being the very summe and substance of the whole Law Matth. 22.40 Gal. 5.14 But there is yet a more dangerous and suspitious passage following where he stands to maintaine that love hath no rules because God is love who being infinite is not to be limited by any law as if there were no odds betweene the Deity it selfe and a created quality in the hearts of men of which wee speak which Assertion of his therefore savours strongly of Familisme who blasphemously say H N. In his Evangelium Regni that God is manned and man is Godded with such like making no difference betweene the essentiall attributes of the Almighty and the workes and effects of his Spirit in men so this man will admit no rules for love in us because God is unlimitted but to proceed 5. ASSERTION The new covenant hath no condition at all faith is not the condition of the Gospels promises but only a qualification in us Explication TO all this he saith nothing but that the condition required is freely promised in the new Covenant it selfe to be given so leaving all the rest to stand as it did which is as much as if he had said nothing at all for the question was never whence the power came to performe the condition of the covenant but whether there be any at all required to make us partakers of the same which by his words he utterly denyeth excluding saith by name to beany condition of the Gospells promises Fide justificamur instrumentaliter Vrs pag. 343. or any instrument laying hold on Christ but only a qualification By which very ground he hath utterly ungrounded and overthrown the maine foundation of our justification by faith in Christ the condition of the covenant of grace in regard of us and of all the Gospels promises a most pernitious and pestilent opinion directly against the truth of the Gospell Novum soedus non antecedentem sed subsequentem conditionem requirit Ames and the doctrin received in the Churches of Christ and sufficient if there were none other to discover him to be a Seducer and his doctrine not to be the truth but a new Gospell of his owne devising for the promises of the Gospell of Christ pertain only to beleevers and that by reason of their faith in him as appears by Mark. 16.16 Ioh. 3.36 Rom. 10.9 Heb. 3.14 Heb. 4.23 c. else might Infidels and all sorts of wretched and ungodly persons claime right unto all the priviledges of the Gospell and benefits of the new Covenant as farre as the faithfull themselves and that so continuing it followes 6. ASSERTION The Gospel was in mans nature before the fall Explication THis assertion only he disclaimes as none of his no not in any sense throwing thereupon his wonted filth into the face of him that objects it to him and yet immediately after he confesseth some such words in a letter but in another sense which sense he doth not yet declare to cleare himselfe withall as no doubt the witty man would have done had he knowne how But it seemes hee had forgotten how he confessed the words to me himselfe at the conference to this purpose that in potentiâ it was there that is that mans nature was capable of it when it should be revealed a deep speculation and of as worthy consequence as true for if he understand it of nature corrupted the Scriptures testifie that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the naturall man comprehendeth not the things of the spirit speaking of the Gospell 1 Cor. 2.14 untill hee bee enlightned by the spirit of God But the mystery of the matter it seemes is that he would pursue the Law to the utmost even into Paradise it selfe and chase it out of the heart of Adam as that which never had any lawfull being any where so bitter was this Antinomian against the holy Law of God a fearefull mind but to proceed 7. ASSERTION Faith is not to be tryed by any fruits or effects but only by the perswasion it selfe Explication THis he confesseth to be his owne and explaineth himselfe in this manner that fruits and effects do not infallibly demonstrateth faith to any mans owne soule but faith only demonstrates them to be the fruits and effects that attend it selfe for how can any know that faith hath such fruits and effects but by the word and how can we know the word is truth but by faith only thus he wherein there is need of an other explanation to expound this such are the mazes of this mans mysteries for first the question is concerning justifying faith whether it hath any fruits or effects to be known by the answer is given out of an historicall faith in beleeving the truth of the Scriptures the former concernes particular assurance of faith and grace the later only the generall testimony of the word concerning such things wherein there is great difference for many are perswaded of the truth of the Scriptures that have no assurance at all of their own salvation yea the very Devills beleeve and tremble Jam. 2.19 the one is not by grace but by the evidence of truth which they cannot withstand the other is by a speciall work of the holy spirit but here in this reason of his is layd a false supposition for a ground viz. that as by a bare perswasion we beleeve the contents of the Scriptures to be true so by a bare perswasion we are assured of the truenesse of our faith and our owne salvation Vide Bucan de Scripturâ p. 4. Whereas there are many strong and sufficient arguments and grounds to prove the truth of the holy Scriptures besides a bare perswasion or conceit so likewise are there many evidences and signes of faith in true beleevers whereby it may bee knowne and not by a bare perswasion only For albeit we grant a certain reflect act of saving faith in the true beleever whereby he is oftentimes fully perswaded of his standing in the state of grace yet withall we affirme that this perswasion is not * See righteous mans assurance by Mr. Rogers fully of this point pag. 17.18 c. alone but hath certaine effects and concommitants proper to it selfe wherby it may be knowne and distinguished or discerned from a groundlesse presumption and bare conceit else may the most carnall persons yea the vilest men perswade themselves as