come from the dead that hath made proofe of this way and life and would speake of his own experience would we heare Behold Paul slaine by the Law reuiued by the Gospell what doe wee thinke of him Did he not from the time of his conuersion to the time of his dissolution enioy a constant tenour of ioy liue if euer any comfortably happily And doth not hee tell vs euen while he liued in the flesh that he liued by the Faith of our Lord Iesus Christ. Surely he must needs be blessed that liueth by the same faith with Bloffed Paul Come therefore you which desire to see good dayes and lay holde on the waies of life Beleeue and liue CHAP. II. Christ the Fountaine and Faith the meane of Life WHat then Commit we sacriledge against Christ in deifying of Faith Rob we the Lord to adorne the seruant with his diuine honours God forbid Let that be giuen to Christ which is Christs and that to Faith which is Faiths Let the power of life and death be intirely reserued euer ascribed to the Lord of life the well of life the light and life of the World the breath of our nosthrils the life of our liues Thy body oh man hath it soule which enliues it and so hath thy soule its soule whereby it liues and that is Christ the quickning spirit Take away the soule from the body and earth becomes earth seuer Christ and the soule what is it but a dead carrion Elementary bodies lighten and darken coole and warme die and reuiue as the Sunne presents or absents it selfe from them Christ is to our soules the Sunne of righteousnesse Sin parts vs Faith reunites vs And so wee liue primarily and properly by Christ as by the soule by Faith secondarily as by the spirits the bond of soule and body by a personall and speciall faith appropriating Christ to the beleeuer as the leg or arme liues by proper sinews arteries and nerues vniting it to the liuer heart and head such an one as Paul had in Christ that dyed for him whereby hee ingrosseth the common God to himselfe as if his and no bodies else Thus saith hee himselfe that is the Truth and the Life I am the Life and Resurrection of the World hee that beleeueth in mee though hee be dead yet shall he liue and not die And this is the testimony of those three heauenly and earthly witnesses God gaue life to the Sonne And he that hath the Sonne hath Life And he that hath Faith hath the Son So that whateuer we lend to Faith it redoundes to the honor of Christ neither haue we any sinister intent to praise the wombe or the paps of Faith but to cast all vpon Christ who giues and works this Faith in vs vivisies and nourishes it yea iustifies the imperfection thereof by the perfection of his merit Nay let Faith knowe that if shee should waxe arrogant towards her Lord or insolent ouer her fellow seruants she should Lucifer-like fall from her dignity and in so doing of the best of graces become the worst of vices Verily what hath the habite of Faith in it selfe considered better or equall with loue Is it not a poorer and meaner Act to beleeue then to loue more like a beggarly receiuing then a working and deseruing hand Haile then oh Faith freely graced graciously exalted aboue all Christs Handmaides Thy Lord hath looked vpon thy meane estate because that hauing nothing of thine owne as other Vertues haue whence thou mightest take occasion to reioyce thou mightest the better exclude that hatefull Law of boasting the more humbly and frankely reflect all vpon thy Lord who willingly emptied himselfe that he might fill thee with honour whiles hee sayes to the cured of the Palsey Goe thy way thy Faith hath saued thee Hence forth cals hee thee no more seruant or friend but stiles thee as Adam his Spouse Chauah the Mother of all Liuing Counts it no iniurie to diuide his praises with thee likes it well that thou which doest nothing but by him shouldest bee said to doe all things which he doth To purifie the heart to ouer come the world to saue men c. And è contra hee to doe nothing without thee which yet does all of himselfe Hee could worke no Miracles in Capernaum because they had no Faith So glorious and wonderfull things are spoken of thee I had almost said so omnipotent is thy strength which hast said to the Sunne and Moone Stand yee still yea if but as big as the least graine canst say to the greatest Mountaines Remoue What can God doe which Faith cannot doe if requisite to bee done Questionlesse Iustifying Faith is not beneath miraculous in the sphere of it owne actiuitie and where it hath the warrant of Gods Word It 's not a lesser power then these to say Thy Sinnes are forgiuen thee thy person is accepted of God what-euer thou askest thou shalt haue c. Wherefore we need not doubt vnder Christ without feare of Praemunire or offence to his Crowne and Dignity to affirme of Faith That it is Gods arme and power to the enliuing and sauing of euery beleeuer as it is written The Iust shall liue by Faith CHAP. III. The third kinde of the Life of Faith BVt least wee seeme to speake swelling thinges whiles we soare in the Cloud of generalities let vs descend to some solide particulars Three thinges there are whence commeth Death to the Soule of Man Sinne with the guilt thereof giues the first deadly blow exposing it to the wrath of God who is a Consuming fire whose anger is the messenger of Death whence came the first Thunderbolt striking thorough the Soule that sentence of God to Adam Thou shalt dye And such as Nathans to Dauid Thou hast sinned and art the childe of Death The second is the spott and corruption of sinne deprauing yea deading all the faculties of man to spirituall actions which made Paul cry out That which I would doe I doe not And wretched man that I am who shall deliuer me from this body of Death Thirdly that swarme of plagues and army of punishments in the re-reward wherof comes first a second death All which made Iob cry out Why is light giuen to him that is in misery and life vnto the bitter in soule which long for death more then for treasures and ioy when they can finde the graue Were it not for these three man might liue fare and doe well but sin hauing entred into the World brought in Death with it which reigneth and triumpheth ouer the sonnes of Adam with this three-forked Scepter of Guilt of Corruption of Punishment Here comes in Faith with a three fould Antidote brings vs to the Tree of Life whose fruit and whose leaues heale vs of the sting and deadly poyson of Sinne working in vs a three-fold life opposite to the forenamed deaths The first is the life of righteousnesse discharging vs
from the sentence of death restoring the light of Gods countenance appeased in Christ our surty which made Dauid cry out Blessed is the man whose sinne is couered The second is the life of the Spirit or new life regenerating reuiuing euery faculty quickning vs to euery good worke which maks Paul glory that he is able to do al things through Christ inabling him The third is the life of ioy and comfort cheering the soule in the middest of all trials and tribulations which made Iob in the valley of death exult and trust in his liuing Redeemer and Paul insult ouer all kinde of Calamities as more then Conquerour Romaines 8. In these three being contained what-euer accomplisheth the life of the soule may not Faith well be said to supply abundantly all things pertaining to life and godlinesse But what doe I treating of the kindes of life what should I blot paper and tyre my Reader in writing of the kinds of Faith the degrees of Faith or any other motions of Faith things so well known of those that know any thing of Christ That nothing so much vexeth me to see so much spoken and written of faith so little done by it the Theory of it so throughly canuased and cleered in Controuersies and Sermons and the practise of it so obscured and disgraced in the liues of Christians CHAP. IIII. The vse of Faith OH Faith when I read of thee when I meditate of thee when I feele any part of thy vertue I finde thee to be a wonder-worker I conceiue nothing but high and stately things of thee When I looke into the World and vpon the liues euen of such as call themselues beleeuers especially of the common sort I begin to question my thoughts for dreames and to say Faith thou art but a name a sound a meere word no powerfull thing Why are many of thy followers so dead so mopish so melancholly why are worldly men as merry as iocund as they Yea why are many ciuill men as righteous as they whence should this wrong and disparagement proceed Is thy Vertue exhaust thy strength decayed in this old age of the World or is it because men know thee not verily neither of these No drugge no herbe so commonly extolled so famously knowne Paul of old Luther of late with infinite moe euery Catechisme haue blazoned the name described the nature set out the properties and effects to the full Only the miserie is the World either knowes not the vse or forgets the practise of it There wants a practicall Luther which should deale by Faith as Socrates by Phylosophie who brought it out of the Skies and Bookes into Cities and Houses taught and vrged the familiar and quotidian vse of it Doth not all the praise beautie and lustre of Faith as well or more then of other vertues consist in action and not in motion Is not the gaine and benefit of it in sense and feeling not in knowledge or discourse Is not the throne and seat of it rather in the heart then in the head Who knowes not there is a Doctrinall speculation and discourse of Faith easily by reading and hearing attained such in one as Schollers that neuer went out of their Studies and schooles haue of remote Countries of their commodious situation pleasant riuers high mountains costly buildings rich mines iewels and al other commodities which what a frigid and ieiune contemplation is it in comparison of that delight and benefit which the Merchant and Trauiler enioyeth by a reall sight and fruition of them What is the notionall sweetnesse of honey or sugar to the experimentall taste of them And yet this Aery windie stuffe is all the World at this day cares for and hunts after The Schoole-men and Casuists what doe they but languish into vselesse needlesse and endlesse questions spending their thoughts about this magnificent vertue in cold and bloudlesse subtleties of the subiect obiect kindes c. Preachers for the most part inuring themselues to declaime in praise of some morall vertue and to inueigh against some vice of the times happily sometimes finde leisure to weaue a curious spiders webbe in commendation of Faith rarely shewing or pressing the life and vse of it In a word will you see the fashion of the World The Schooles disputes of it the Pulpit Preacheth of it Profession talkes of it prophane men sweare by it two or three few or none liue by it I met with a story of an ancient Hebrew a reuerend Rabby who that he might the more liuely conuince the people in his times of their neglect of practise of this excellent Grace put himself into the habit of a Mountebanke or trauelling Aqua-vitae-man and made Proclamation of a soueraigne cordiall Water of Life he had to sell being called in and demaunded the shew of it Turned them to the Bible the Fountaine of Life and to seuerall places of it as the thirtie foure Psalme c. intimating that if they would make vse and daily drinke of the water they had they might as it should seeme hee did liue farre better and more comfortably then vsually they did And indeede why is there such a price put into the hands of fooles that know not the worth and improuement of it As secrets and misteries in good Artisens that haue sometimes a faculty whereby they can earne tenne or twenty shillings the day and might liue as well as landed men but then they haue another boone withall they loue idlenesse pastime and good fellowship and so liue like beggars or as land and money in the hands of those whom we therefore aptly call misers to Haue and to Hold but neuer make good vse of it Who may well be said to vse the World as if they vsed it not for they put it foorth to vse or locke it from themselues and others goe basely fare hardly liue in debt to backe and belly as if they knew not it would buy them good meate and good cloathes and other necessaries and conueniences for their liues It is possible a man may haue a toole a medecine or an engine and not haue the skill or strength to vse it It is possible a man may haue a gift of God and not the gift to vse it throughly else needed not Paul call on Timothy to stirre vp the gift that was in him Among all the gifts of God there is none more vsefull then Faith others are profitable for some few things this is for this life and the life to come for all parts and purposes of our liues in the vse of it manifold and rich euery manner of way CHAP. V. The first vse of Faith to new-borne Babes AND first let me beginne with thee that art beginning to liue this life thou Embryo that art in hatching that hast so much life as to know thy selfe dead in sinne and to desire to liue in Christ for what should I cast away speech vpon scelets and skulles carnall men I meane
This indeed is the fashion of beleeuers at their first conuersion beeing iustified to haue peace and ioy in beleeuing the remission of their sinnes and for a while to bee glad of their estate but then to neglect and determinate the vse of Faith as if it had now done all it should or could doe except till they relapse againe into some foule sinne then to recouer life againe vsing it as Vsquebath and strong Waters for swones and heart qualmes onely not being acquainted with a dayly and quotidian improuement of it which ought to bee as constant and continuate as is the vse of Fire and Water of Salt of Bread or Wine or whateuer is more ordinary and necessary then other such as no part of our liues may well be without Serues Faith for entrance and beginnings and not for proceedings and encreasings Are we not nourished by the same Elements of which wee consist Is Faith the Midwife and breeder of ioy and peace and not the Nurse and Foster-mother of them Cherishing and feeding thee till thou come to a full and perfect age in Christ Is not the fruit of it sweeter in the eare then in the blade Hearken therefore to mee oh thou of little Faith and lesse vse of it Doest thou desire to haue a continuall feast to reioyce alwaies in the Lord I know thou desirest it with all thy soule Let me prescribe a Dyet a daily dyet without omission strictly to bee kept The Lord giue thee and mee grace to obserue it Looke how duly thou refreshest thy bodyly spirites by vse of repast or recreations so often at the least bee sure to cheere vp thy Soule by the vse of thy Faith Let thy soule haue two or three walkes a day vp to Mount Tabor that is into some retyred place of Meditation and Prayer such as Isaaks Field Gornelius his Leaded Dauids Closet c. But what is there to be done I answere Still make vse of thy Faith But what is that you call vsing of Faith I now come to the point to the chiefe misterie of Spirituall life Shore vp thy soule in this Mount to conuerse with Christ. Looke what promises and priuiledges thou doest habitually beleeue now actually think of them rowle them vnder thy tongue Chew on them till thou feele some sweetnesse in the palate of thy soule View them ioyusly seuerally Sometimes muse of one sometimes of another more deepely and lest as Patients oft doe in Physicions Billes thou still complaine of obscurity thus doe thinke with thy selfe how excellent a thing it is to haue all thy debts cancelled how sweet a thing to haue God appeased how glorious a thing to bee the sonne of God how happy and safe a condition for thee to bee sure thy perseuerance and saluation how pleasant a state to bee â—â—â—â—â— of the fiere of death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 how 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of glory Feastmakers in ancient time had speciall officers that cheered vp their guests they thought it not enough to set store of meate beefore them but one must come in and say Fall too and be merry Let vs eate and drinke It is a good time c. Thus say thou to thy selfe as Paul to the Corinths 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let us feast and bee merry Christ hath made vs Holy-dayes our Paschall Lambe is slaine Haue any more cause to bee merry With these Soliloquies mingle some Eiaculations to heauen for grace and ayde And leaue not descend not this Mount till thou findest and feelest thy soule in some cheerely plight reuiued and warmed with these spirituall Flagons of Wine in the strength whereof thou mayest walke all the day following This is that which the Spâ—â—se calles Walking into the Gardens and eating of the fruits c. which in plaine termes I call vsing of Faith and liuing by Faith Which if thou wilt duely inure thy selfe vnto thou wilt not maruell why I called it Ascending Mount Tabor thou wilt say thy selfe vpon good proofe It is good to be here dayly to be here often to come hither This is that exercise of Faith which paul inioynes Timothy and calles stirring vp or in kindling Fire in the Embers vnstirred glowes not heats not the house Sugar in the cup vnstirred sweetens not the Wine And in such it is all one not to haue Faith and not to vse it It may well bee said of Money-hoorders they haue no quicksiluer no currant money they haue no more that which they haue then that which they haue not And so of such beleeuers as doe not thus vse their Faith they haue no liuely Faith They were almost for matter of feeling and for present benefit and comfort be without Faith A man is little the better for a sleeping habit It is a rare portion saith Salomon and that which GOD giues onely to such as are good in his eyes to make vse of wealth to eate drinke and bee merry it is a much rarer to vse Faith What is a man the better for a Locke if he haue not the Key to vse it withall It is not a Trade but a Trade well followed It is not Land but Land well tilled that maintaines men Oh that this did as clearely appeare to the world in the matter of Faith as it doth in all other habits graces giftes vertues and good things whatsoeuer that the principall beauty and benefit of them consists in vse fruition and action not the bare profession yea the very increase and perfection of them Vse limbes and haue limbes the more thou doest the more thou mayest The oftner the liberall man giues Almes and does good turnes the more his liberality growes and shines Vse will breed perfectnesse and through disuse things perish and come to nothing as the Plowsheare laid vp rusts and consumes imployed glisters doth good and lasts the longer Let any man diligently and throughly improue and great will be his faith and great the ioy it will bring in CHAP. VII An inforcement of the former vse with a reproofe of the neglect and disuse of Faith WHerefore I say again Liue by Faith againe I say alwaies liue by it reioyce alwaies through Faith in the Lord. I dare boldly say It is thy fault and neglect of this exercise if thou suffer either thy own melancholly humor or Satan to interrupt thy mirth and spirituall alacritie and to detaine thee in dumps and pensiuenesse at any time What if thou beest of a sad constitution of a darke complexion Is not Faith able to rectifie nature is it not stronger then any ellebore Doth not an experienced both Diuine and Phisition worthily preferre one dramme of it before all the Drugges in the Apothecaries shop for this effect Hath it not soueraigne vertue in it to excerebrate all cares expectorate all feares and griefes euacuate the minde of all ill thoughts and passions to exhilerate the whose man But what good doth it any to haue a Cordiall by him if he vse it not to weare
a sword souldier like by the side and not to draw it forth vpon an assault when a dump ouer-takes thee if thou wouldest say to thy soule in a word or two Soule why art thou disquieted know and consider in whom thou beleeuest would it not presently returne to it rest againe would not the Master rebuke the Windes and Stormes and calme thy minde presently Hath not euery man something or other wherewithall hee vseth to put away dumps to driue away the ill spirit as Dauid with his Harp some with merry company some with a cup of sack most with a pipe of Tobacco without which they scarce ride or goe if they misse it a day together they are troubled with rhumes dulnesse of spirits they that liue in Fennes and ill ayres dare not stirre out without a morning draught of some strong liquor Poore silly smoaky helps in comparison of the least taste but for dishonouring of Faith I would say whiffe or draught of Faith Oh! that wise Christians would as often take the one as idle Guls doe the other would not the drawing in of sweete ayer from the pretious promises breede excellent blood and cheerely spirits It is a mystery in bodily health that to keepe the arteries and the nosthrils veines and other passages to the head heart and liuer cleere and free from colds and obstructions maintaines a healthfull and cheerefull temper The Pipe of Faith is the same to the soule Hee that is Astmaticall narrow breathed or straight breasted in his Faith cannot bee but lumpish and melancholly Wherefore as thou louest thy mirth aboue all other tend this vitall artery aboue all keepings keepe thy Faith and it will keepe thy ioy It will keepe it an euen euerflowing current without ebbe and flowe clouds and eclipses turning euer vpon the hinges of heauenly and solid mirth And indeed how or why should it be otherwise Doe not Christians consider how vnseemely it is for them to goe drooping hanging the head Is any so simple to think because hee is a Christian that hee should affect a sad carriage a deiected look a demure countenance like an image Away with such Monkish hypocrisie How doth it become the Righteous to reioyce Do they not consider how they wrong themselues of the maine benefit of their Iustification what is a Christian but his mirth wherein doth the kingdom of Heauen consist but in Ioy Doe they not see how they offend standers by and beholders Is not heauinesse a check that driues away and mirth as a lure that wins to the liking of their profession Men wonder to see a rich man that hath the world at will all things at hearts desire to be but in a fit of heauinesse What say they should hee ayle The Irish aske such what they meane to die but I wonder a thousand times more to see one that hath Christ to friend that beleeues God to be his shepheard that knowes all must worke for the best to bee at any time out of tune or out of sorts For a Nâ—abal to be all a mort like a stone it is no newes to me but to see Nehemiahs countenance changed there must needs be some extraordinary cause should such a man as he feare or carke or grieue What if it doe not yet appeare what thou shalt bee Is a yong Ward prouder and gladder in his minority of an vncertaine reuersion then a yeoman of his present estate And is not Faith an Hypostasis and euidence to thee of an infallible inheritance Canst thou bee sad which mayest say not to thy belly but to thy soule Thou hast not many goods but fulnesse of all treasures layd vp not in the earth where moath and canker and theeues may come but in heauenly places out of the Deuils reach and that not for many yeares but for euer and euer neuer to bee taken from thy soule nor thy soule from them Oh thou vaine man shew mee thy Faith by thy ioy if thou liuest dumpishly and yet say thou liuest by Faith I wil as soone beleeue thee as him that shall say hee hath the Phylosophers stone and liues like a beggar If it were euer well with thy Faith could it euer bee amisse with thee should not the temper of thy body follow the temper of thy soule and the temper of thy soule the temper of thy Faith The body may incline thy soule but the soule commands the body and Faith is the Lord of them both According to thy Faith so be it vnto thee so will it be with thee Vse thy Faith and haue ioy encrease thy Faith encrease thy ioy CHAP. VIII The vse of Faith to a growne Christian. NAy Christian now I haue gotten thee hither I must draw thee yet a pegge higher and tel thee it is a small thing for thee to come to an ordinary pitch of cheerefulnesse except thy ioyes exceedes the mirth of a worldling yea of a professed Epicure in the qualitie and quantitie of it If thy mirth bee not a sweeter and more rauishing mirth of an higher kinde of a more pure defecate nature of a more constant tenure then any Carnall man what euer thou disparagest Faith thou art very little and yong in the Kingdome of Heauen which consists not in meates and drinkes but in ioy vnspeakeable and glorious in the ioy of the Holy Ghost And must not that needes bee another manner of ioy then euer entred into the heart of a naturall man then euer a Sardanapalus tasted of Yes vndoubtedly So must bee construed that text 1. Cor. 2. not of the ioyes of Heauen which here the spirituall man himselfe cannot tell what they shall be but of the Gospels ioy of the Wine and Fatlings already prepared and now reuealed to the beleeuer by the Spirit which if the carnall man scorne and scoffe at thou canst no more helpe him or prooue to him then a seeing man to a blinde man that hee sees orient rich colours It is enough for thee to secretly feele and enioy it Only it ought in thy life so to be expressed yea so to shine in thy forehead so to be read in the very face of thee that their teeth may be set on edge and that they may enquire what is thy beloued aboue other beloueds what is that makes this man thus merry in all estates Thus let them enuy at thine let not thy soule descend to theirs Are not the gleanings of Ephraim better then the vintage of Abiezer Shouldest thou that hast tasted of the grapes of Canaan long after the Onions and Garlick of Aegypt Is Pharphar like vnto Iordan hast not thou Riuers of water euer flowing out of thy belly and wilt thou stoope to their puddle waters to their stolne waters blousing carding dicing whoring c. which should not thy soule altogether lothe and abhor after the taste of Faiths Nectar and Ambrosia But euen their ordinary and lawfull delights the wine and oyle musicke hunting hawking c. to these God allowes thee