the verie receauing and vsage of them doth after a sort soile them so that there can be no claime of worthinesse by them at all Now as for seruāts to be profitable to thēselues is a strange shift and I wil not spend labor to confute that which common experiēce doth detest For who will count him a profitable seruaunte that is profitable to him selfe and not to his master It were better for man to enter low into him selfe and to common with his own soule in these and to common with his own soule in these cases especially that so nearly concerne the soule Iud. 16.5 and as Dalila relied in Samsons bosome to knowe where his strength lay euen so neuer to leaue of till he hath traced foūd out his own weaknes in good things his strength in sinne and then shall he the better be able to sit in iudgement and giue sentence vpon him selfe no dout against the merites of man with the mercie of God in whose sight otherwise no flesh euer shal be iustified or profitable vnto him selfe in that respect The Papistes do but daly and play with Gods iudgements The Prophet is plaine and speaketh from a conscience well enformed that in the sight of God none shal be iustified None that is to say none before grace saith a chiefe Papist But Hosius and out of him Stapleton and others like not that For Dauid a man according to Gods own harte and therfore in state of grace yet sayd he of himselfe and that none in the Lords sight shal be iustified For that which is right in the sight of man because his eyesight may be deceaued yet therein Gods sight can not be deceaued He seeth the inwards searcheth and soundeth the bottome of secreat 1. Ioh. 1.8 and vnknowen sinnes Wherein if flesh will flatter it selfe and lie and say it hath no sinne yet God hath an eye that perceth farther and a stretched out arme and he will reach his hand into the cocatrice nest and plucke thence and display abroade the serpent that lurketh and lodgeth in the den of a dead and rotten conscience that hath no feeling nor sence of stinging sins For in his sight hidden faultes shall not so scape and therefore it is good praying euer Clense vs O Lorde euē vs they people from our secrete offences we know confesse that no flesh can be iustified in thy sight But I know not what M. Sapleton and Hosius meane to labour to proue that this saying of Dauid Stapl. lib. 6. cap. 1. Hos lib. conf ca. 73. is spoken by waie of comparison and that in his sight is in cōparison of God him self For doth God in iudgemēt meane to compare vs to himselfe and so to condemne vs Yet what gaine they by this we confesse this is true whether it be the natural meaning of this text or no. For in comparison of the sunne in his strength what is a candle or a starre or all the starres of the skie in cōparison of the almighty what is man at his presence the mountaines melt the earth doth shake the verie Angels are not clean in his sight how much lesse flesh blood that dwelleth in houses of clay and whose foundation is but morter All this is true But one truth is not contrarie to an other None shal be iustified before grace It is true None shal be iustified in comparison of God it is true to And it is most true also that Dauid sayeth Ierome expoundeth that not onely in comparison Hierom. in Ier. 13. cap. VVhere he termeth this their exposition the expositiō of heretiques and of the patrons of heretiques but also in the knowledge of God in his sight no flesh shal be iustified And all these truthes proue this one truth that none shal be iustified by their merites neither before nor after grace but altogether by grace which worketh not onely at the first all and afterward somewhat but beginneth all continueth in all and endeth all in all if they wil be iustified in deede This is S. Pauls doctrine throughout all his Epistles who sheweth that God worketh in vs both to will and to worke to the ende that we may will effectually Phil. 2.13 and all for his owne good will he worketh in vs to will I aske then where is free will he worketh in vs to worke thē I aske where are merits he worketh in vs to will and to worke and all and thē I aske where is any thing in man It is not in the willer nor in the runner but of God that taketh mercie Rom. 9. It is not in the willer and then I aske once againe where is free will it is not in the runner and then where are workes and worthines of workes If it be replyed that therefore the Apostle saith it is not in the runner nor in the willer but in the mercie of God Rhem. not Rom. cap. 9.16 vers because it is not onely in either of both these but in them and withall in the mercie of God to then see if it be so the sentence will be true if we turne it backward thus by the same reason It is not in the mercie of God but in the runner and in the willer because as the Papist saith al is not in mercie but part in mercie and part in fee will part in workes part in merits and therefore they may aswell say it is not in mercie but in merits in workes will and well deseruing The aduersaries would seeme to fauour much catholicke wordes and catholicke manner of speaking Was there euer Catholicke or Christian vnder heauen that spake thus as they in effect doe that our saluation is not of God that taketh mercy but in deserts The name of merit in Canoni scripture is not only not cōmonly vsed as they now can say but no where found Rhem. not 1. Cor. 3.8 the nature of meriting is flat against all scriptures And must yet merits be set vp in euē place with mercy or rather displace mercy quit For S Paul teacheth Rom. 11. that works mercy cā not stand togeather in respect of glory trulie no more then could Dagon and the Arke in the temple of the Philistines Establish mercie and let fall I say not the vse but the glorie of workes set vp works what neede mercie set them vp I meane in the throne of meriting Austine mentioneth the name of merits Aug. epist 105. Barnard saith he is not without his merits but both in an other meaning thē the Papist meaneth For a merit with Augustine is no other matter thē good works meerly proceding from the spirit of God done in faith and onely accepted by mercie then rewarded and so crowned and neither as issuing out of free will nor as equall mate conioyned with grace neither in working perfite not in value deseruing Bernard saith that he hath merites Bar. in Ps Qui habitat de 14.
and that not onely in respecte of the ceremoniall Lawe which Maister Stapleton supposeth but rather in regard of the Law of deeds Lib. 6. cap. 6 For their ceremonies were neither so many in number nor in obseruation so harde and how troublesome soeuer they were to the priesthod notwithstāding generally to the people were they both very few very easie to speak of But yet becaus by the ceremonies as namely the circumcision if they trusted therin they were become debtors of the whole Law therefore was the Law an insupportable yoke and whereby possibly came no perfection in consideration whereof S. Peter preacheth in the Actes that by grace in Iesus Christ through beleefe saluation is attained The hande of fauour reacheth it furth the hand of faith receaueth it offred and the spirite of adoption reposeth it in the hartes of beleuers and sealeth it fast vp in the assurance of a certaine hope against the day of euerlasting redemption Herein we leane not to a broken reede neither feeke we for moisture Iob. 6.20 as they that went to Tema and Scheba in the wildernes where the waters were dried vp we look not to trie balme out of the hard flint For worldly promotion commeth neither from the West nor from the East much lesse eternall saluation Onely by grace we beleeue to be saued and neither in parte The meaning of these words saith alone doth saue expoūded neither in whole by any thing else And this is our meaning when we saie Faith alone doth saue and iustifie that is we are wholely saued and solely iustified by God alone in whom we beleeue and neither by the preparations of nature nor by the libertie of will or else by the worthynes of any deedes as parts causes of our iustification our whole repose is onely in the mercie of the father that gaue vs his sonne and in the merit of the sonne that laid down his life to saue vs then when we were his enemies much more no doubt now saueth he vs when we are his frindes Phil. 1.29 by faith in him and that not for the dignity of faith For the merite of saluation resteth still in him the Sauiour and not in vs the persons saued And faith it selfe although it be no cause of procuring but a meane of receauing saluation yet is it also the gift of God who knoweth onely as Augustine speaketh how to giue to and not to take of his creatures and therfore we trust in him and onely in him And this is the doctrine of faith of al the faithfull of all ages of all places that it is onely faith that receaueth saluatiō that is in effect that God alone only he doth all as the sole cause of sauing the faithfull that they may beleeue stedfastly in him in him alone A while in these latter dayes corrupt times when the ruines of true doctrine were gretest with bold faces a sort of ignorāt vnreaden scriblers bore the world in hād that Solafides only faith was a mōster neuer born nor heard of til Luther forged it first Since being compeld to lay aside a litle their schoole brablers to take in hand the ancient fathers and old doctors wherunto they were skilfully directed by the learned of this last age their outcries that those wordes only faith in good record can not be found are well slaked At length euen M. Stapleton him selfe can cite redily Stapl. lib. 8. cap. 35. Hylary Origen Chrisostō Basile Austine others and he quoteth places in plaine pregnāt words as clear as cristall that onely faith doth iustifie But now when he hath foūd the words which were first found to his handes Rhem. not Iam. 2.24 both he out of him our M. of Rhemes reioine that the fathers neuer wrot thē in sensu Protestantum in the sence meaning that the Protestants take thē as if belike they were very like our Papists that somtime speake well and meane il not only of the Prince the laws in the common wealth but also of Christ of his grace of the scripture in the Church of God But cōcerning the point of this matter Only faith doth iustify So say we as sayd the fathers before vs many yeares ago their wordes be the same with ours and why not their sence First forsooth in saying that only faith doth iustifie is meant that the Lawe cannot iustifie without faith Doth then the Lawe iustifie with faith and faith togeather with the Lawe and doe the fathers meane so truely children woulde be more thē ashamed of such contradictions you let not most falsly to father vpon those good men fathers of reuerend and godly memory For if faith doe iustifie alone as say they saie trulie then doubtles without the law doth it iustifie or if not without the law or if the law with it then not alone For whosoeuer doth any thing alone he doth it without the helpe of any other Wherfore faith iustifying alone doth it without the law or any thing else except perchaunce alone signify not alone which may be true in Rhemes Doway verely we that tarie at home rome not abroad neuer harde the like interpretatiō in any of our scholes Again only faith they say excludeth the works of natur as the vertues of the Gētiles in case of necessity wher time wāteth onely faith is sufficient nether are externall works required as of the theef on the cros Farther onely faith is opposed either to the misbeleef of heretiks or vnto the vnbe lefe of infidels likewise is it set vp against the pride of vaunting Phariseis also against the fonde busie curiositie of vaine heades In these sences only is only faith meant taken in the fathers Well if this were so what of all this for the first of all these last answers heaped vp together be it agreed vpō that faith alone doth iustifie without natures worke at all For so vpon good occasiō warrāt out of the word of god haue the fathers spokē so you seem to agnize that they haue Wel then be it cōcluded as an euerlasting truth that in the case of iustifying nature hath not to do at all And will you graunt this no not so why not so because as you dream faith alone doth iustify is as much to say as natur doth not iustify without faith but with faith it doth This was the former starting hole where faith alon was faith the law here faith alone is faith nature Verily this is not faith alone but sport alone for Satā but to vs that morn thirst for your saluatiō what a singuler grief is it to cōsider how mē that beare the name of Christians will needes be thus wilfully deceaued dauncing skipping vp downe in the netts of their own deuising thinke no man discerneth The fathers intend by this worde onely faith to exclude both the Law of
were loue so noble so cōpendious so effectuall a dispositiō therūto Lib. 8. c. 30. as M. Stapletō beareth vs in hand it is in her was Many sins were for giuen her because she loued The Greeke word doth signify therfor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aswel as because But they vrge the word because as a precedent cause But se the like euen in the same word we say this apple tree is a good tree why because it beareth good frute Yet is not the frute cause of the tré nor the goodnes of the apple cause of the good tree but indeed because the tré is good therefore it bringeth fruit according to his kind this is the proper natural cause but we in cōmō speech say it is a good tree because we tast the goodnesse in the frute But this kinde of cause is an after cause a cause in reasoning but no making cause as nether was Maries loue of her sins remitted But therefore she loued not that the dignity of her loue was precedēt to the pardon of her sins but hauing receiued fauour pardō cōsequētly her dutiful loue ensued therupō This appereth by that saying inserted to whō lesse is forgiuen he loueth lesse to whō more he loueth more Mary had many sinnes forgiuē her therfore she loued accordingly therfore Christ said i. cōcluded many sins wer forgiuē because she loued much This obiectiō hath bin answerd more thē 1000. times In a word I will shew that nether did she nor could she loue loue so entirly before her sins wer remitted For beig not in the state of grace what could her loue be but lust and no loue fancy and no true dilection a notorious sinner shee was and therefore verie farre from louing and nothing neare louing much aright They that loue God keepe his commaundementes so do not sinners then did not she Calleth M. Stapleton this a noble disposition God be mercifull vnto vs as he was to Marie that we may shew tokens of a true loue as she did not before but after the multitude of all our sinnes pardoned and done away in Iesus Christ our onely Sauiour The fairest argument of all other to the shewe is a conclusiō that S. Iames maketh and at the first sight woulde make a man thinke greatly making against the doctrin of onely faith where he sayth ye see then how a man is iustified of workes not of faith onely wheras notwithstanding S. Paule euerie where inculcateth nothing more then faith without workes Doubtles these noble Apostles are not contrarie the one to the other neither are the Scripturs as a house deuided in it selfe God forbid they should S. Paule teaching that we are saued by grace and therefore not by workes yet for that there were certaine vaine persons crept in among them he exhorteth withal that they should not receaue the grace of God in vaine Likwise when he had shewed that life euerlasting was the gift of God and therefore no purchase of works yet withall also he warneth them that they beware also howe they tourne the grace of God into wantonnesse As Sainct Paule is vehement in this case so vpō greater occasion S. Iames was most worthelie as earnest as Sainct Paule For whilest some heard that faith without workes did iustifie vnstable and vnlearned minded men as they were peruerting that Scripture as also other Scriptures to their owne damnation they bade adieu to all good deedes saying in theyr foolish hearts if faith without workes can saue we can beleeue that there is a God if onely faith will serue we can beleeue and what neede more And thus contenting thēselues in a generalitie of their profession of faith falslie so called litle reckoning was made how bad soeuer their conuersation were For remedie whereof S. Iames asketh what such a faith could auaile them for either it was no faith and so nothing worth or a deuils faith so worse then nothing Yet lest any imagin that S. Iames plainly simply graunteth a deuils faith to be faith mark further how he doth not For when he speaketh of faith in deede and properly in the first chapter he saith it is no waue that is to say no trembling leafe no shiuering reede fully in S. Paules meaning that it is an euidēt probatiō a certain stable grounded strong thing Wherfore S. Iames whē he likeneth this supposed faith to the quaking faith of deuilles he speaketh not properly but by comparison and meaneth an other matter then either himselfe speaketh of in his first chapter or else S. Paule elsewhere in his Epistles For properly he tearmeth this maner of faith a dead faith that is no faith at al. And this he proueth by asimilitude that as a man may argue that a bodie is not quicke but dead without the spirit that is without all spirituall motions life sence so is faith without works For faith appeareth quicke and liuely in her operations and working Yet not as the Papist dreameth that works are the soule of faith but I say as the spirit and vital breath of faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wherin it liketh well and greatly deliteth and manifestly sheweth it selfe For if a man be a faithfull man verilie also that man will liue vprightly walk honestly and do workes worthy of his faith not that faith is made of works but that where faith goeth before works euer folow after In so much that a man may well conclude a faithful man ergo fruitfull a fruteles mā ergo faithles Thou wilt say thou hast faith that is a verball faith nothing els Faith is not made of words but shewed in deeds As the Sūne is not without his beames no more is faith without her bright shining woorkes Yet the Sunne is not made of beames no more is faith of workes Yet may I well argue thus If it haue no beams it is no Sunne and so faith if it haue no workes well it may be called faith of vain men in truth it is not For the Christian fayth of saued men worketh euer in time conuenient by charitie Gal. 5.6 can not be idle For as by it and by it alone wee haue accesse to God and trust in his promises without all wauering embracing the benefits of Christs death and passion which is the chiefe dutie of faith so also where it lacketh roote in the good ground of godly hearts it bringeth out breaketh foorth into other frutes And those of sundry sorts to the vse of men according to the diuerse duties of discretion and charitie But still before God in the actiō of iustifying wherof Paul disputeth most faith alone doth al or rather receaueth all of God that doeth all In other respects she neuer is without her traine and as the eye and only the eye in beholding the serpent in the wildernes recouered the children of Israell and yet their eyes were not without the rest of the parts of
ad prostituted by open writing to maintaine sinnefull lust The midwiues in Aegypt preserued the children of Israell Exod. 1.17 it was well done if the midwiues of Israell would destroy the children of Aegypt it were better and if the boÌ„d mother with her brats were quite cast out and banished it were best of all if God so would but concupiscence the mother and the first motions and peruerse will to sinne as twinnes that come of her together with froward mindes that foster vp both mother daughters can hardly or neuer be voyded in this vale of sinners proctors for sin yea the perfitest men are imperfit the cleanest vnclean vntil the euening Isych lib. 5. in Leuit. cap. 15. which as Isychiê° alludeth is till men in repentance agnize craue pardon for ther faults which shall be accomplished to the full in the euening that is in the end of the world Yet if in the meane season we suffer naturall corruptions coÌ„cupiscences to haue their motions Suddaine motions entangle a man before a man can deliberate vpon them Rhem. not 7. Rom. v. 15. motioÌ„s naturally moue their foote forwarde and cannot stand at a staie and will seeke incontineÌ„tly to prouoke coÌ„sent wil these once ioyning all in one the hole man is become bound head and hart hand and foote his head can not deuise his hart desire to doe or any member execute a good dutie And thus is man by these meanes subiected made a seruaunt captiued and kept prisoner and as a slaue solde vnto and vnder sinne The whole question of free will handeled at large THis being thus Osor de Iust lib. 7. we can not but maruaile what our aduersaries meane when they crie out amaine we are free we are free Are they mad or do they dreame thus of a freedome in so great subiection of libertie in the middest of captiuitie and extreame bondage As if a man could or would looke for health in sicknes for life in death Eph. 1.2 for the liuing amongst the dead For naturally we are not onely sicke but also dead buried in sin And I pray you what sense what abilitie what will is there in a dead man to perceiue desire or endeuour to be reuiued But stay are men blocks say they and stones yea a great deale worse For timber and stones lift not vppe themselues against the carpenter and mason but man though he be dead from righteousnes yet he liueth and is quicke and full of agilitie in all euill herein he hath a will free enough Fulgent de incar Chr. 19. cap. as it were a streame running downe an hill and yet not properly free being thrawled to sinne as Augustine vsing the word free seemeth to correct himselfe by and by vppon it Serm. 13. de verbis Ap. Male agimus libera voluÌ„tate quanquam non libera sed serua ad peccatum Conc. Aurasic can 7. For concerning godlines his will is wounded maimed it can neither looke vp lift vp haÌ„d or stirre foote to goodnes it was lost long agoe and is not now to be found Yet when God giueth grace and inspireth from aboue we are without comparison farre better then the senslesse matter but all this is else whence that we are thus enabled but to receiue the printe of his spirite I will take away your stonie harte saith the Lorde in his Prophetes Ezech. 36.26 first he taketh away that which is ours that he may giue that which is his Before this if a stone may boast of his softnes then may we if not the stone then neither we For our hartes are all of stone and ragge wherefore I will giue you a newe harte This is more then to renew the olde and this will he doe and wheÌ„ he hath done so then he will write his awe in our hartes and make vs to walke in his wayes Create within me a new hart Psal 51.11 The Prophet Dauid prayed and if he prayed a better prayer then the sonnes of Zebedy Marc. 10.38 that is he knew for what in truth and veritie and for the thing he wanted then is it plaine that our hart for this is not Dauids case alone must be created as if it were not at all And then obserue that that which is to be created is neither of counsell nor consent in a freenes of good will to the creator or in a willingnesse towards his own creation For how can it be before it be framed first and haue his being God often telleth vs and we ought alwayes to agnize that he doth all and we nothing in good things He it is that preuenteth with his grace prepareth by his word enclyneth vs by his spirite worketh both the beginning the ende and the continuance of our good conuersion at the first Obiections of the aduersaries aunswered and conuersation in his lawes euer afterwards notwithstanding all quarelings to the contrarie In the beginning say they when God had made maÌ„ Eccl. 15.14 Stapl. lib. 4. cap. 3. he left him in the hand of his counsell gaue him his commaundements precepts if thou wilt thou shalt obserue the commandements testifie thy good will Water and fire good and euil I life death are set before him he may stretch furth his hande to either as he list liketh best All this is true In the beginning the case was so But this is not the question what man in the beginning by creation could but what by nature now he can do He is a fonde Physition that to comfort his paciente can say nothing but this this man once had a sound body and a perfit constitution it was in him to haue liued long The diseased commeth to the art of Phisicke and seeketh helpe not because he was once whole but for that he is nowe sicke I will shew in a word or two by an easie similitude how sillely they conclude out of that place I haue this or that put into my hande I may holde it fast or let it go Here is a choice a free will but when once I haue let go mine holdfast or wilfully thrown away that which I held before shall I still say August de Natur. Gra. contra Pelag. cap. 53. my hands are full wheÌ„ I haue emptied them or when I haue wouÌ„ded mine owne armes and handes in such sort so that they are not able to reach furth themselues now being vnapt vnfit to apprehend or receiue any thing else but infirmities because these were otherwise therefore shall I presumptuously conclude they are so In Paradise it was so with vs ergo it is so also in other places What Logicke doth reason after this fashion it was ergo it is It was in Paradise ergo elsewhere God cast man out of Paradise Gen. 3.24 and at the east side of the garden of Eden he set the Cherubines his Angels with a shaking naked sword in terrible
matter and adoreth the Lords both certaine and secrete mercies and iustice herein and canst thou distinguish with ease Touching our vocation both inwardly by the finger of his spirite Vocation and externally by the outward deliuerie of his word effectually to certaine and not so to some certaine is no lesse plaine by our Sauiours prayer in S. Matthew Matth. 11.25 I giue thankes O father Lord of heauen and earth because thou hast hid these thinges from the wise and men of vnderstanding hast opened them to children It is so O father because thy good will is such Wherein I obserue three points first thanks to the father then for what things and thirdly why the father him selfe was induced or rather vouchsaued to bestowe his benefits vpon some why not in like sorte vpon all 1. I thanke thee O father or I confesse 1. Thankefulnes Serm. de diuersis 3. all is one For as Augustine sayeth they are very meanely learned that know not that there is a confession of prayse and thankesgiuing aswell as of sinnes Christ thanketh his father of whom Christians may learne to be thankeful for themselues for shall he pray for vs and not we for our selues or shall he be thankefull in our behalfe and shall not we also be thankefull in our owne cause If one grape waxe ripe and red Vuáque coÌ„specta liuorem ducit abvua they say that the grape ouer that doth ripen the faster and take colour the sooner It behoueth vs that are greene and sowre considering the example of Christ and his sweetenes to grow in grace like thankfulnes to our God confessing alwayes froÌ„ what spring are deriued our waters or rather from what sea they issue or rather from what heauen or rather how from the father of heauen and earth they descend vpon vs Gen. 18.27 which are but dust and ashes He giueth vs all that we haue onely he reserueth the prayse of all vnto him selfe Esa 42.8 He is the freest Landlorde that may be father of heauen and earth and Lord of all and we his seruauntes and the workemaÌ„ship of his handes Yet he suffreth vs to haue and enioy freely the frute and vse of all yeelding him and paying nothing but this that we acknowledge and confesse that we holde of him and that we are his tenantes 2. In speciall for what is our Sauiour thus thankefull vnto his father 2. For VVhat Because he had hid the secreats and treasures of the Gospell from the wise and learnedmen and had reuealed them vnto babes Consider your vocation saith S. Paul 1. Cor. 1.26 not many wise men after the flesh not many mightie not many noble are called I adde were chosen For whom he calleth in time those he forechoose before all times and whom he calleth not at al no maner of way those he neuer chose What then is all learning wisedom vtterly condemned hereby or are the baser and weaker sort onely called are women and weauers and beggers and yonge students to be admitted to the search and vnderstanding of holy writ We knowe professe that these haue soules to saue are bought with as deare a price as the best doctors and rich men are There is no kinde of good learning but we commend it in the highest degree of due commendation and yet withall we say Godlines is great learning Act. 18. â—4 Apollos was eloquent but his might was in the scriptures We dispise not the inferiour we preferre the greater gifts Notwithstanding both eloquence and all other whatsoeuer excellent qualities of either natures wisedome or good arts c. except the person qualified with them be also endued with faith from aboue they rather be occasions of euill in him then otherwise greatly encreasing his greater condemnation If Agar can be content to obey Sara 1. Sam. 3.1 Reuel 4.10 if our wisedome can submit it selfe to the Lordes wisedome if our learning will serue as Samuel did in the temple if the potent and mightie man subiect his scepter and crowne if he can stoope and fall before the throne of God these former qualities are sanctified and God accepteth them in the persons whom he accepteth in faith Not many wise welthy or mighty the scripture saith not Not anie are called Because it is commonly seene that Agar will contend with her mistresse the Graecian presumeth of Learning the subtle head of his policies not meanely menaged therefore of the vsuall practise and not howe it goeth better in some specialities the scripture sheweth For God woulde haue all of all sortes saued 1. Tim. 2.4 and yet I say not all in generall without anie restraint For who then coulde resist his will if he will so haue it Or why are any daÌ„ned if he will haue all to be saued without exception The Lords mercie is aboue all his workes and the sinnefull workes of man can not be greater to his owne condemnation then the mercie of God to saluation if God would so haue it in all Notwithstanding the commaundementes are giuen forth in generall Likewise the exhortations are vttered to all grace openly offered and publickly proclaimed Many are called and yet few are choosen i. inwardly touched Matth. 20.16 and well accepted of the Lorde According to this generall offer there is somewhat that may be sayde for the iust and deserued commendation of many because al obey not their calling all receiue not their saluation profered And yet the conditionall will of God to haue all saued if all would is but a fancie For many seeke with endeuour which is more then a wil to enter the straight gate Luc. 13.24 shal not be able Truely none shal be saued but whom God will whom he will indurate his hart is hardned as Pharaoes was But most miserable were the condition of mans saluation if it hung vpon his owne mutable fraile and froward will Origen thinketh August de ciuit Dei lib. 21. cap. 17. perchaunce vpon occasion of this saying God will haue all saued that it will followe that all and euerie one whosoeuer euen the verie diuels finally and one day shall be saued in the ende Concerning Origen it is well sayed that where he wrote well no man wrote better and where euill and therefore not euer well and in this verie badlye no man writeth worse so manifestly against the Scriptures and so fondly beside the vniuersall catholike and Christian faith Epist ad Alexandr touching the euerlasting damnation of the damned either spirites or men in so much that him selfe else where was faine to excuse him selfe therein and likewise vtterly to detest the errour What sence then beareth that sentence God will haue all men saued The Apostles meaning is not hard God will haue all saued that is to say of all sortes some as I sayed before and therefore expressely by name he willeth that prayers be made for magistrates and for men in authoritie
as the Papist doth say God doth not commaund impossible things Yes sayth Augustine and sheweth the end why to hūble men to teach thē the goodnes of the forgiuer also their duty in crauing forgiuenesse of the Lorde The same Augustine some where doth also in as expresse words as may be Augustine auouch that the Lawe is possible True But withall it is woorth the laboure the while to obserue in so learned a doctour some certaine circumstances the better to attaine to the true meaning of his doctrine that the bare name of such a father cary no mā away If he did simply say so yet the foundation of our beleefe is not grounded on man Ep. ad Hier 19. ad Vincen Don. 48. as Augustine him selfe sheweth full well in nombers of places But concerning the present question Augustine was farre enough from a Papisticall pride in an imagined ability of humane perfection When his auditors waxed slack weary of well doing yet because sinne is neuer without a shift they vsed to say that they wold do this or that but could not do according to Augustins exhortations For example I can not loue mine enemies sayth one I can not refraine my selfe from drinking sayth an other I must needes be drunke especially when such or such a personage enforceth me Austin replieth Nolle in cul pa est nostra Serm. de Temp. 232 non posse praetenditur O sinfull man whē thou wilt not thou pretēdest that thou canst not do thy duety either in louing thy neighbour or in forgoing thy lusts God that giueth more grace then so to his children knoweth best what thou canst do and that so idle and friuolouse excuses wil not serue Neither doth Austin argue the plenarie fulfilling of the whole Law exactly in all points but onely endeuouring to perswade to charitable dealing sayth though thou canst not do this or that fast sell all c. Yet canst thou not loue canst thou not haue charitie whereby I gather as out of him so elsewhere out of other writers The Law is not impossible in part but in perfection that this word impossible is not taken for an impossibilitie in euerie kinde of degree which no wise man will yeeld vnto For albeit we can not possibly be so perfit in the same equality as is required yet a desire by imitation and in some degree by grace may be and is in vs Clem. Alex. poedag lib. 1 cap. 6 Virg. aen l. ◠as it is in the Poet of the sonne that followeth his father though he could not keepe pace with him Sequitúr que Patrem non passibus aequis we may follow though we can not or runne cheeke by cheeke as the prouerb is iumpe so fast or iust so farre as is commaunded yet no wise man dare call this that perfection that the Papist would haue But the nature of man is like the lazie houswife that when she had more to do thē she knew she cold wel dispatch taketh and sitteth her down letteth al vndone farther from meriting For imperfection meriteth nothing but craueth pardon because of default But we will go on in precise tearmes to speake of merites As grace is free can not stand with merits so merites deserue and need not grace if they be merits The East and west will sooner meete together then grace and merits wil meete together and agree in one in the saluation of man For if thou wilt be saued by the one thou canst not by the other Neither maist thou part stakes betwixt them both For the Apostle taketh away desert before he establisheth fauour and grace M. Stapleton singeth in a quite contrary tune to this Lib. 10. c. 2 and telleth vs in plaine and shrill wordes that the inheritance of saluation albeit the very word inheritance might haue taught him an other lesson is giuen to the sonnes of God not because they are sonnes freely by fauour but because they are his good children neither yet because they are good but withall because they are children and good As if partly we inherit by fayth wherby we are his children and partly by workes which must make vs good and whereby in great part we deserue which Austin sheweth to be no safe way I aske this question by the waie maie we be good yet not his children or can we be his children and yet consequentlie not good What God hath coupled why doeth M. Stapletons vaine strength endevour to hale and rent a sunder If wee be not sonnes then are we naught nether posibly can we be good by any working For all good works before they deserue the name of good are first halowed in Christ sprinkled with his bloud wrought by his Spirit and offred in his name vpon the alter of faith as proceeding from his deare children or else they be naught and being naught they can make nothing better Act. 15.9 But we be once his sonns by faith which pufieth the hart and indueth with his spirit which sanctifieth the soule how can we be but good And now being his sonnes by a vouchsafed priuiledge not of desert but of adoptiō thē ar we also heirs coheirs with Christ in this life here both to do wel that 〈◊〉 graciouse a father may be glorified in his children and many times to suffer euill 〈◊〉 the worlds hands Rhem. notes Rom. 8.17 that we may be glorified with Christ in heauen which is a condition expressed in S. Paule not as a cause precedent to make vs sonnes and so heirs but as a consequent of duetie because we are sonnes and heires that therfore we ow all duety and in reason must being members be correspondent aunswerable to the head that in the ende we may enioye most freely the performance of what so euer was in most free maner before promised For as the promis was fre at the first so the performance being greater and more comfortable in the effect can not be lesse free in the end then was the promise at the first offered The greatnesse of saluation in our state to be glorified after the consummation of all thinges cometh afterward in due place to be spokē of In the meane time to shew how litle such so infinit a blessing can be worthely and of desert attained vnto is thereby manifest because that glory is infinit and the desert if it were desert yet were it finit For the glorie is eternall and the merit temporall the one ended in a small momentary time the other euerlasting without end in so much that wheras there is with out all dout no proportiō nor comparison of equality betwixt the desert and the thing deserued who can auouch that he can deserue or who dare say I merit or I purchase with the rustie monie of mine owne fraile workes the glorious crown of euerlasting saluation euen as a hireling or a iourney man doth his wages As in bargains there is no euen buying or selling
water without any moisture or a burning fire without his heat We may distinguishe matters in their natures by teaching although we find them not sundred in the persons in whom we find them And we do vsually distinguish faith and works but in the faithfull they are neuer found apart therefore we do not separate them there So that contrary to that which somtimes we are charged withall we euer set forth a faith adorned with vertues and not make a naked faith stript out of her attire still we tell them faith neither is nor can be foūd alone in the man iustified as hath bene proued at large in the examination of the place of Iames. But they to disproue this labour by all meanes possibly Rhem. not 1. Cor. 13.13 in speciall they alleadg S. Paul to the Corinth in whom say they faith is seuered from loue and if from loue then from all good works true if frō loue For all good works are summarily comprehēded hēded in loue which therfore is said to be the fulfilling of the lawe because it is of a greater span cōtaining the works both of the first and secōd table in louing God aboue al things our neighbour as our self Then if faith be separated from loue thē also from other works Now that from loue it may be seuered S. Paul speaketh say they in his owne person If I had all faith and had not loue c. ergo all faith may be had without loue S. Paul as he had faith so was he not void of loue whose loue was so great that he had care of all cōgregatiōs 1. Cor. 11.28 Supposing doth not euer proue the thing supposed therefore he doth but onely put a case nether is it generally grāted that al faith doth signify all faith in al kindes but in some one kinde all the degrees of that faith And herein many iudge that S. Paul meaneth a miraculous faith not the iustifying because he saith If I had all faith so that I could remoue mountaines that is all such faith and yet had not loue c. But if this be the sense then doth it not import that the iustifying faith may lacke loue but the miraculous faith if yet it proue so much Whether S. Paul meane a miraculous faith or no or whether a miraculous faith let it be a faith can be seuered from the iustifying or no I will not greatlie striue There is no edificatiō in multiplying of impertinent questiōs This must be cōsidered wel that the Apostle sayth not down right he hath faith and that he hath not loue but If I had faith Nowe I trust they will not proue matters with ifs and ands Our Sauiour said touching the beloued Disciple what if he woulde that he shoulde tarie still till his comming Ioh. 21.23 vpon this conditionall if an error was straight spread abroad that Iohn shoulde not die In like manner S. Paul also saith If I spake with the tunges of men 1. Cor. 13.1 and of Angells c. You will not go about hereby I trust to proue that the Apostle had a verie Angels toūg or that Angels had tunges S. Paule maketh supposels and thereupon he setteth furth the excellent commendatiō of loue which verely in sundrie points is far more commēdable then faith it selfe in so much that a man may vse the Poets wordes in a better mater O matre pulchra filia pulchrior A beawtifull mother faith Horat. a fayrer daughter loue But S. Paule doth no where disioyne them but concluding the praises of loue saith there are three that remaine togeather Faith Hope Charitie faith beleeuing in the promises hope looking and longing for them charitie louing the promiset and in him and for his sake louing all that is to be beloued Of all these the last is the greatest what in iustifying no. S. Paul debateth the matter to the cōtrarie euerie where Wherein then in the multitude of other duties and for the euerlasting durance therof both in this world and also in the world to come For when knowledge shall cease faith shall haue his date and hope shal be expired in the lease of this life in the life to come remaineth loue And this is all that the Apostle meaneth which neither confuteth the adonnes of faith in her proper office of iustifying neither yet doth it any way cōfirme that in other respectes she can be alone in the man iustified And thus much of only faith and yet of faith that is neuer alone Of the certaintie of grace and saluation by faith hope in euerie particular man NOwe then being iustified by faith Rom. 5.1 we haue peace toward God through our Lord Iesus Christ For so the Apostle inferreth to the Romaines vpon former debating of the selfe same truth vpon the self same groundes of iustification whereof we spake last So that necessarily the man iustified by his faith by faith also hath he the good fruites that growe vp withall i. peace with his God quiet in his soule and firme possessiō of assured saluatiō in a certaine hope Whereof M. Stapletō speaking with the same spirite that Tertullus did in the Acts Act. 24.2 tearmeth this doctrine a pestilent a pernicious teaching tēding only to presumptiō pride security M. Stapl. you speake your pleasure out of the aboundance of a choloricke harte If we presume God be praised Presumere de gratia Christi non est arrogantia sed fides Aug. Serm. 28. de ver dom 2. Sam. 6.14 we presume not of our selues as you do and if we be proude of Gods euerlasting fauour it is a godly pride and in securitie thereof we leape and daunce with an holy ioy as Dauid did before the arke thogh you like Michaol deride vs as fooles reproch vs therfore Sir ill words do neither proue a good matter nor disproue a bad Wherfore to let passe the rage of your heate let vs a litle consider the weight of certaine reasons you would seeme to produce you say the certainty of saluation by faith is common to sundrie heretikes 1 Lib. 9. cap. 9. contrary to the feare of God 2 3 4 repugnant to the order of praying and against the nature of the Sacraments 1. The first of your foure allegations is that heretikes also assure them selues in a vaine perswasion that their opinions are most true that thereby they shal attaine euerlasting blis yet be deceaued ther fore that there is no certaine saluation by faith We speake of the faithfull you of heretiks we of faith you of fancie we of a verity the truth you of a pertinacy in pretēding truth And how then can you conclude from the one against the other notwithstāding The abuse of thinges doth not abolish the necessarie good vsage of thē if heretiks could be faithfull also heretikes which is impossble yet being by faith well perswaded suppose
Paule spake not of all the faithfull or not of euerie faith 2 3 or not of him selfe at all times 4 or but of him selfe with condition if he him selfe perseuered 1. Not of all the faithfull yes For those who were predestinate before all times called and iustified in time God also had glorified saith Paule wherupon I note both the word Those to comprehend al that shall be saued and glorified and then that the Apostle saith you hath God glorified vsing the preter tence because of the certaintie of that which shal folow as surely as if it were alreadie past And personally beginning with him selfe I am sure he endeth with shall seuer vs including others aswell as him selfe And elswhere he saith generallie writing to a whole church proue your selfe whether you be in faith or no 1. Cor. 13.5 Know you not that Christ is in you except ye be castawayes counting it a great absurdity in Christianitie not to be assured in particuler knowledge of euery mans own state 2. Secondly Paule speaketh not of euerie faith Doth he speake of a true faith of such a faith wee meane The pretiouse fayth of the Sainctes which is like in all But let vs agree vppon this that there is a certaintie by some fayth Wherein as you agree with vs meaning a good faith so yet you disagree both with the coūsel of Trēt and likewise with Lyndan a great stickler on your side who auoucheth that the certainetie of euerlasting life quae est ex fide which is by faith neuer happened Lind. panop lib. 3. ca. 21 non modo Christianis omnibus verè credentibus sed nec ipsis Apostolis in hac vita vnquam Not onely not to Christiās truly beleeuing but not to the Apostles themselues at any time in this life Yet wee had rather take Pigghius graūt being reasonably vnderstood so leaue Lindan to them that like him better 3. Thirdly Paul doth not speake of him selfe howe he felt him selfe at all times Perhaps so and yet no man knoweth what was in Paule but the spirit of Paule that was in him We denie not but that the degrees of faiths assurance may be variable not onely in diuerse men but in one the same man at diuers times Yet more or lesse in a degre doth not abolish the nature of faith nor quite extinguish her propernecessarie qualities wherof assurāce is the chief Which though it be eclipsed as it were by an interposition sometimes of grosse and heauie flesh which the best carie about with them yet in the end faith wil returne to her course shewe her face and breake out againe neither can she be euer frustrat of the effect of assurance For sorowe maie lodge with vs for a night but mirth will returne in the morning As the wicked may feele some ioye a while that they may haue a greater feeling of sorrowe in the end so sometimes the godlie maye suffer euen the anguish and terroures as it were of cast awayes therebie afterwardes to encrease their ioyes the more And this is a sure doctrine worthie to be embraced of all that albeit wee stumble yet he will not suffer his to fall or if to fall not finallie to fall awaye if God wound he will heale if he kill he will reuiue and if he breake downe the walles of thy faith that they seme to shake and totter and fall doubt not he wil build them vp he wil turne all to the good of his children and if he darken thine eye that is fixed vpon him selfe be assured he will not do it out neither will he take his holie spirit from the holy and faithfull as he did the Spirit of the Regiment and fortitude from Saule No though he bring thee to hell he will not leaue thee there Why then What if faith be much assaulted and sometimes brought into narrower straightes then some God knoweth best howe long it is best to hold his own vppon the rack it is the teachers dutie and it is Sainct Paules endeuour thereby to giue out doctrine of comfort and not therebie to empaire the faithfull mans assurance as Pigghius doth 4. Fourthly he saith Sainct Paules faith confidēce is with condition of his owne perseuering to the end if he perseuered No For without ifs as of douting though not without condition of duetie the Apostle proueth that God will not alter nor discōtinue his euerlasting fauour to his dear children and in the recitall of sundry thinges he saith that neither thinges present nor things to come would disioyne Gods loue Wherefore in respect of the future time to come he religiouslie is most confident of Gods goodnesse and his own finall saluatiō Wherin to end thus brieflie we se Pigghius obiections are litle worth Now let vs heare how Master Stapletō can helpe out the matter Lib. 9. c. 13 Who being instructed of the Colonistes saith that when Sainct Paul said he was sure for that place troubleth them much and if they coulde answer that they would wrangle in like maner with other scriptures as they could by his assurance he meaneth a certain kind of hope not certaine any otherwise thē but as a charitable man may and must morally conceaue one of an other as Paul himselfe did of Timothie and of the Romans This is straunge and inopinable For did not Paule know him selfe better then he knew others or if he did as do doubt he did did not his greater knowledg therin assure him selfe more of him selfe then of others Rhem. not Rom. 8.38 The men of Rhemes to perswade vs herein say the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth import only a probable perswasion yet they could not but fumble in their tale adde withal that which they foūd in Hosius that the Apostle might haue some speciall extraordinary reuelation but they see euidently that the Apostle in that place speaketh of no reuelations but of ordinarie doctrine to the Romanes or if he had a reuelation special it maketh more for his owne assuraunce and nothing against the assuraunce of others Wherefore they seeme to fancie the other opinion more that Sainct Paule was but probablie perswaded and vncertainly certaine I might alleadg that where their vulgar Latin is certus sum I am sure or certaine Hierom vseth I am confident Gr. Mar. di seo cap. 12 For that this assurance was not a probabilitie but a certaintie and a confidence which is more But let vs rather reason the matter Is Paule perswaded and but probably perswaded A man would thinke the Apostles perswasiō in such a case were sure enough a very standing light no fading flash as it were of lightning Yong scholers are taught and it is true that there are probabilities of sundry sorts either wherunto a man may answer indifferentlie yea or no because of the vnaparent notice of them for they may be or theye may not be and whether parte a man holdeth it skilleth litle
excellent sentence full of cōfort and speciall confidence M. Stapleton would qualifie it but can not therfore thought it better to misreporte it otherwise then he found it in Bernard him selfe Lib. 9.14 and first of all he misquoteth the place 6. for 61. but that may be the negligence of his Printer and so woulde I easily thinke if there were no ill dealing otherwise Secondly he sayth this confidence is taken not for a confidence but so farre furth as it is opposed to an astonishment as if when I did a thing confidently I did it only not with astonishmēt Wheras a man astonished is past doing but doing confidentlie is doing and doing with great boldnes Thirdly for fidenter he saith fideliter changing Bernardes worde and fourthly he saith fideliter-dico as if Bernard spake of faithfull speaking and not of cōfident vsurping and taking specially in the singuler number ego I and properly mihi to my selfe take from the bowels of Christ what is wanting to my selfe The reasons of this his assurance Bernard yeldeth elswhere Serm. 3. de frag septē vpon three strōg cōsideratiōs of the loue of Gods adoptiō the truth of his promisse and abilitie to performe and thē he pronounceth that he knoweth whom to beleeue in beleeuing how to be assured In truth if we either rest or reckon of your selues so as M. Stapleton requireth we cast the anker of our hope in an vnstable place and not vpward into heauen as the Apostle teacheth and then no meruaile if hope be no hope fayth not faith For what scripture euer teacheth vs to hope or beleeue in our selues Accursed is he that maketh flesh his arme or putteth his trust in man either in himselfe or in an other man in him selfe for that is a daungerous pride in an other that is as Augustines word is an inordinate humilitie inordinate humilis non leuatur Hom. 84. de temp periculose superbus praecipitatur The proude man wil hurle down himselfe hedlong but the inordinate humble no man can hold vppe Wherefore pride dispaire and folly be far from vs. Our hope faith and helpe is only in the name of the Lorde We are ashamed of our selues of men like our selues but not of the hope which is in vs toward him The matter is weightie yet would I be loth to be ouer long I will ende with remembrance of a storie out of the booke of Nombers Numb 13. where Iosue sent certaine to suruaie the lande of Chanaan who vpon their returne reported of the goodnes of the lande much but more of the strength of the people of the crueltie of the inhabitants of their stature like giāts and in comparison that Israell were but grashoppers their towns meruelously defensed and that euerie way it was impossible to goe vp and preuaile against it But Caleb whom the Lorde had indued with a better spirite comforted the people on the contrarie side and saide cheerfullie Come let vs go vppe vndoubtedlie we shall possesse it litle considering the strength of the people or their crueltie or the wals of ther cities but onely rested vpon the promises of God and therein he stayed him selfe and would oft haue stilled Israell Semblably notwithstāding the force of all the worlde the difficulties of flesh and bloude the subtelties of sinne the arguments that certaine aduersaries like Iosues spies make against vs yet if we haue Iosues faith we must relie vpon the Lorde and in the ende we shall obtaine a better land then the land of Chanaan euen the land of the liuing with the liuing God He that somtime doubteth may remēber he is a mā but because he is also a faith full man he must not cōtinue therein but shake away distrust cōquere al doubts be well armed with the shild of faith against all assalts The faithles they are at an other pointe they ame vncertainly without a marke beat the aire bath themselues in the pleasures of the worlde for a while in the end they dy as they liued they liued without hope perish euerlastingly But we who are beleuers know we ar beleuers as August speaketh For faith is no fancy as we are risen againe in newnes of life in this life so shall we be receaued againe to life eternall in the life to come our conuersation and trafficke is aboue our hartes are set on heauen heauenlie thinges we are frindes with God distance of place diuersities of periles and doubtes of daungers can not disioyne or cause distrust for we also shall finally dye as we liued we liued in his feare and reuerence we dye in his faith he is our God God and therefore able our God and therefore willing to bring his promises all to passe one daie and in the meane season there can happen nothing neither inwardly nor outwardely but it may be patientlie borne quietly disgested and with suffrance passed ouer knowing alwayes as the Prophet saith that the time shall come either in this worlde or in the worlde to come when all shall confesse verily of a truth there is frute for the righteous doubtles there is a God Psal 58.11 that iudgeth the earth The teeth of the cruell the iawes of the Lion the arrowes and all the argumentes of proude imaginations shall come to nothing we shal certainely be saued Of sanctification in this life and the meanes of direction therein ACcording to the order which I proposed to my self to shew furth the frenes of Gods grace and fauour it remaineeth in this place next to speake of sanctification For albeit S. Paul maketh it no expresse linke of that chaine wherein God doth all in all and wherewith out of al cōtrouersie there can be nothing in man yet where he speaketh of mās duty to God he shewethe euer necessarilie that they who are iustified by faith in Christ are likewise sanctified by his spirite For being manumitted or freed from sinn by Christ we are there withall made the seruaunts of God to bring furth fruts vnto sanctificatiō Their owne Roffensis saw somewhat when he sayde fides iustificat ante partum Stapl. lib. 8. cap. 31. Illyr in cla par 2. tract 6. Faith is the mother works of sanctificatiō are the children The mother doth iustifie in order before the children be borne and then shee bringeth furth a godly ofspring who like good childrē cherish their mother and comfort her with naturall respect againe That no man mistake me it woulde be obserued that the word sanctification is taken either for iustification in Christ who is our wisedome our righteousnes sanctification or else for holynes of life in Christiās who hauing receaued the spirit of adoption a measure of grace are sanctified renued in their minds reformed in their liues dying to the world liuing vnto God Both these sanctificatiōs ar ours For Christ is ours therfore his holines his righteousnes are ours also But there is a
they selfe but giue it me Prouer. 23. bestowe it not vpon pleasures which fester nor vpon meates wherin is excesse nor vpon riches which will take the wings of the eagle soone fly away nor in honours which man enioying becam a beast nor in any corruptible vain thing vnder heauen Giue me thy harte sayth the wisedome of God and he will teach thee to vnderstand and follow righteousnes and iudgement and equitie euerie good path And as for riches honor pleasures c. know this godlines is great riches and as the highest honor as the true and perfit pleasure what not that good is Direction in the way of sanctification out of the word of God and by his spirite And now for directiō herein in the way of godlynes whō should we rather follow then God him selfe c. not the vaine wordes of others but as the Apostle aduiseth walking as the children of the light bringing furth the fruites of the spirite Wherin we may note that to vaine words we must oppose the worde of God and that the fruites of the spirite are specified to be good works to teach vs from whēce good workes come The one sometimes is distinguished frō somtimes conteined vnder the other The word serueth to direct in the right way and whereby we discern who are out of the right way The spirit is Christes vicar on earth and as Christ him selfe the sonne of righteousnes and the day star in our hartes a consuming fire of all distrust and burning vp the very rootes of disobedience and of all the stumbling blockes in the world The one of these lightly is neuer receaued without the other For the worde is vnprofitable without the Spirit The Spirit of God leadeth into all truth The things of God no man knoweth but the Spirit of God But yet the Spirit of Christ to them that haue age and opportunitie neuer commeth but with the word The Anabaptist The Atheist The Papist There are three especial enemies of this word of God and therfore enemies to the rule of goodnesse and to the leuell of all sanctimonie The first is the fantasticall Anabaptist that dreameth of Reuelations the second is the wilfull Atheist that thinketh the worde of God to be to troublesome it hindreth his fancies it forbiddeth his delightes and stoppeth all the bathes of his vaine pleasure it talketh to much of sanctification The third enemie is the wilie Papist subtiller then all the beasts of the earth beside he knoweth his coine is adulterate and therefore he feareth the touchstone his chaffe wolde not be winnowed And no maruaile For wold false prophets be sifted or vaine spirites be brought to their triall Wherefore the man of sinne goeth about to disswade mē from hearing and reading this worke of God and in steede of the waters of the Scriptures they haue digged vp puddles of wilworshiping and such like mud fitter for the horse and camel then for Christian souls in roome of the light of Gods word they haue substituted false mocklights of their owne in place of virgin wax they haue giuen vs tallow in roome of a candle they haue reached vs a snuffe the candle of the Lords word they haue detained vnder a bed or a bushell that the faithfull men might neuer knowe what they did nor discerne what they beleeued As if to beleue well were to beleue a mā knew not what or to liue wel were to liue in ignorance and to do the works of darknesse And yet they pretend great reason for all this and so did he that said of one that could be mad with reason I can not debate the controuersie I shall but touch a reason or two The worde is vncertaine the worde is obscure ergo not to be read and heard absolutely of all c. Vncertaine I know not what is blasphemie if this be not Where in what place dare they thus speake in the Church of God before whome before the Congregation of Saintes The word is as a candle which giueth light both to the house and sheweth withall what it selfe is is it then vncertaine but it is obscure So you saie We aske to whom we aunswere to them that perish It is harder somwhere then in some to stir vp thine attention therfore it is commaunded Search the Scriptur dig for wisedome seek for knowledge as after siluer and gold Be it that it be obscure Yet as that saying in great part is most false so is the reason most faultie The candle burneth dimme therfore toppe it It is a good argument There is a knotte in the weeke therfore open it that the light may haue easier entrance It is a fit reason But the candle burneth obscurely therefore put it out or throw it away or anie such like cōclusion is starke naught Yea the more obscure the Scripture is the more it must be laboured the more incessantlie studied because it is that wherein we knowe is life euerlasting and the way of life which is sanctification To let go them that will not heare vs seeke after this waye there are of those that seeke sundrie sortes Some seeke onlie to the end they maie be knowen to be verie skilfull men in good thinges this is an ambitiouse vanitie some only to know this is fond curiositie some to enstruct them selues this is true wisedome and some to edifie others and this is perfit charitie The two former sorts are naught the two later holy and good For true religion and perfit holinesse is made neither of bragging wordes or peeuish fancies but this is true deuotion to visit the sicke the widow the fatherlesse to keepe a mans selfe blameles from the soile of the world He that neuer saw hony may talke think how sweete a thing it is but he that tasteth therof can better tell what a gratious tast it hath in deede Again there ar others that though they cared litle for seeking them selues yet are they content to let others alone with such matters But all their care is as they are caried awaye with some conceit or other They rise vp early in the morning and go to bed late and eate their bread in great care to compasse purposes But alas what meane they Suppose thou be a Monarch a noble a marchant man or what thou wilt if thou gaine all and lose a good conscience and thereby thy soule thy losse is greater then thy gaine Thou art a iollie fellow in thy countrie a king of a welthie land a peere in a Realme thou canst preuent foes ioyne in with mighty friends al the sheaues of the field must bow to thé the Sunne and the Moone must stoupe at thie presence or if thou be a meaner man as of a towne and corporation thou canst cudgell and compasse matters conuey things at pleasure or if thou be a priuate occupier or a man of trade thou canst buy cheape and sell deare all these
and the like are but miserable comforts in the day of death or iudgment One sanctified soule then will be more worth then innumerable sinners O Lorde sanctifie them and vs with a liuely vnderstanding of thy trueth Thy word is the truth teach vs O Lorde good wayes therin that we may know do thy will I will record a storie Dauid being certified of Saules death among his lamentations he breaketh foorth on this wise 2. Sam. 1 O tell it not in Gath publish it not in the streetes of Ascalō lest the daughters of the Philistines reioyce lest the children of the vncircumcised triumph Gath and Askalō were of the chiefe cities of the vncircumcised Dauid wisheth that Saules death might be concealed from them that it might not be told to the enemies of Saul and of God With like affection it is to be desired that ether there wer no Sauls at al or that they might die either obscurely or liue otherwise then to the slaunder of the profession they seeme to be of but in truth are not They that haue dwelt or dwell in Gath Askalon in Louain Doway Rōe or Rhemes the enemies of vs of our Land and of our God wil be glad to hear that he which is reckoned a iustified man by faith were yet a prophane person like Esau in the race of his life The streame of sinne is strong and carieth the world with it but he that thinketh he standeth let him take heede he fall not If a piller fall the house is in daunger if a mightie tree fall it beareth downe manie bowes and sprigges with it O what a shame were it for anie that haue begun in the spirit to ende in the flesh to reioyce in the light and afterward to loue darknes more then light to receiue as it were a portion of faith and then to mispend it The children of the vncircumcised will make great triumphes when they shall heare hereof supposing they haue gayned much when they can finde a man that hath fallen from his God but to the godlie what sorrowe is like to this where such euentes are found Wherefore let euerie man looke to his wayes stand to his watch that he offend not God neither that he giue place to Sathan cause of ioy to the aduersarie or of griefe to the godly that he defile not him selfe driue away the spirit receaue the word in vaine stayne his profession and that he be not like the Asse and Mule that carieth on his backe wheate or breade or wine and yet eateth onelie chaffe and drinketh nothing but water To carie the name of a Christian is little woorth except you feede on the properties of Christianity expresse them in a good life For not to talke of Christ but to liue in Christ is indeede to be a Christian vnto whom it may shold be said as it was vnto Mary thou shalt beare a sonne and thou shalt call his name Iesus For they that heare Goddes word with pure affection Luc. 8.22 and bring foorth the frutes of the spirit they are as it were Christes brethren and as deare as his mother and after a sort his verie mother as in the wōb of whose faith Christ is conceiued and in whose holie life Christ is spiritually born into the world dayly And this is true sanctification allwayes to be perfourmed in vs taught in the word imprinted by the Spirit graūted of God through the merites of Christ in whose name we pray euer to be sanctified more and more continually And euē as Anna praied that God would giue her a man child and she would giue him the Lord againe so wee pray that God will make vs his holy adopted children But the benefit of this holinesse and of this adoption as likewise of our creation when we were not of our iustification when we were naught and of all things else as he giueth them vs so we must giue them him againe render all the praise to him alone the onely giuer of all good giftes who is to be blessed for euer both for all and of all So be it Of Glorification in the life to come and of sobriety in certaine questions that are moued therein WHen sanctification endeth in this life then glorification entreth taketh his beginning for the life to come And then when we shall haue escaped all the ginnes of mortalitie when the times of temptation shall be passed ouer when the streame of this world shall haue quite rūne out his course then this corruption of ours shal be endued with incorruption the olde Phoenix shall be renewed and euen as Moses did put his leprouse hande into his bosome Exod. 4.7 and pulleth it foorth a cleane and a sound hande so this fraile flesh of ours that is sowen in dishonour 1. Cor. 15 and must rotte in the mould of the earth shall yet rise againe in honour with great perfectiō in that gloriouse day Sainct Paul sheweth that there were amongst the Philippians Phil. 3 that walked much amisse in number manie in conditions earthly minded men seruants to their bellie and enemies to the crosse of Christ therfore in fine whose iust end was to haue an heauie doome a deserued damnation But speaking of him selfe and of the godlie he saith our consolation is in heauen from whence we looke for a Sauiour euen the Lord Iesus who shall change our vile bodies that they maie be like his gloriouse bodie according to the working wherebie he is able to subdue all thinges vnto him selfe Wherein these four points are expressely set downe the conuersation of Christians to be heauēlie their expectation to be of Christes appearing in the cloudes the glorification to be euen of our verie bodies and because no man should doubt of the issue thereof after he had set downe the former three in the fourth place mencion is made of the omnipotent power of God Reu. 14.13 Wherefore without all question as the spirit saith in the reuelation Blessed are they that die in the Lorde for they neither frie nor freese as the Papistes suppose in purgatorie but rest from their labours Nowe to die in the Lorde is to die either in his cause quarell for righteousnesse sake or otherwise in his faith and feare and in the course of their calling And to die is to be dissolued Eccl. 12.7 the bodie to the earth from whence it was taken and the soule to be rendred into the hands of God that gaue it Thy dead saith Esay Esay 26 O Lorde shall liue euen as my body shal they rise againe Awake and sing ye that dwell in the dust For thy dewe is as the dewe of herbs and the earth shall cast vp her dead Not that all the dead but that the Lords dead shall liue the second life And not who dye in their sinnes and in olde Adam but who die in the Lorde and who liued in Christ and Christ in them and
die in Christ Mar. 12.24 Mat. 22.29 and in the Lord They shall rise in glorie Let no man be deceaued as were the Sadduceis and Libertines and as nowe is the whole familie of loue The dewe of Gods power is as the dewe of herbes Herbes appeare not in winter time The dewe from heauen softeneth the ground doth awaie the frost openeth the earth the herbs spring againe and flourish a fresh Likewise the moisture of Gods omnipotencie and power diuine will cause commaūd the earth to giue an account of her dead to yeild foorth the bodies of his Saincts that they may liue Euen as my bodie saith the Prophet and putteth the matter out of doubt pointeth to his owne bodie proueth the restitution of Gods people from banishment by this infallible argument teaching that because they doubted not of this the greater they should beleeue the lesse which was their restitution So in Ezechiell the people seemed to be in a dead and desperate case Ezech. 37 as if their verie bones were dryed vp their hope gone and them selues cleane out of God sheweth in a vision to the Prophet a plaine fielde full of dead bones hee will giue them senewes flesh shall growe ouer them and he will call the dead out of their sepulchers And by this god meaneth that he will restore his people and conuey them home euen as if they were taught well knew he would reuiue the dead The Articles of our Crede touching the resurrection and life eternall is most largely proued by Sainct Paule to the Corinthians 1. Cor. 15 But Christ confuteth the Saduceis sufficientlie with this Mat. 22.32 Mar. 12.26 that God is the God of Abraham Isaak and Iacob And that God is the God of the liuing and not of the dead Of them that liue and therefore are and not of them that liue not and therefore are not and of them that shall liue in whole and not onelie in part And it is spoken in the present tence of the liuing as well for the certaintie of the bodies rising as for the assured being of the soule in the meane season in the handes of God And herein concerning the soule for of the bodie I haue said sufficiently what becommeth of it when man is dissolued I can not but maruel what M. Bristow meaneth to mencion Reply to D. Fulk cap. 8 part 2 that there be many texts to make it probable that not any one entreth into heauē no not since Christs time till the generall resurrection Bez. li. Theol Epist 2 Epist Al these probabilities are aunswered by a learned man of our own age in perfit maner particulerly vpon occasion heare I reade it needlesse to trouble the simple with impertinent disputes Immediatly vpō the departure out of this mortalitie the soule is receaued into the ioyes of heauen Luc. 23.43 2. Cor. 12.2 It may suffise them to know that while we are in this bodie we are pilgrimes from the Lorde ergo not so when the tabernacle therof shall be layed aside But then we shall be as it was saide to the theefe euen in the day therof with Christ in Paradise And what is Paradise but heauen for so Sainct Paule when he talketh that he was taken vp into Paradise he tearmeth it the thirde heauen Euerie man sayth Austine sleepeth with his cause and shall rise with his cause But in the middle time as in our common sleeping some sleepe quietly some haue heauy and sorrowfull dreames so when we go into the common bed of the earth with our bodies yet our soul hath her rest with a sense of ioye or hath a feeling of sorrowefull paines Habent omnes animae Tract in Iohn 49 quum de seculo hoc exierint c. All soules when they depart out of this worlde straight they haue their diuerse places of receipt if they be good they haue ioy if they bee naught they haue torment and when the generall resurrection shall be the ioye of the good shall be more ample and the torments of the wicked more grieuouse when with their bodies also they shall be tormented and this is onelie the differēce Wherfore in the hour of death let no faith full man doubt but that he hath a present entrance into heauen and that he shall be with Christ there and that he may praie looking vpward into heauen both with Christ and with Steeuen Into thy handes O God I commend my spirit O Lorde Iesus receaue my spirit And this is a kinde of glorification which shall be consummated after the consumption of all thinges In the meane time while wee yet remaine in this world there are dueties to be done and euerie man hath his talentes fewe or manie or at least one Mat. 25.14 and that one he may not hide in a napkin like the idle man nor digge it in the earth where it may rust much lesse throwe it to the dunghill that is bestow it vpon bad and vile vses The noble man is gone into a farre countrey the maister to a wedding but they will certainelie returne againe but when that is vncertaine whether at the first seconde thirde or fourth watche VVhy the comming of Christ is not specially in the circumstances of time certainely known whether in the euening or at the dawning of the day and therefore is so vncertaine the rather to excite thy care and stirre vp thy diligence to prouoke thy watchfulnesse to set thee alwayes in a continuall expectation both of his comming particulerlie to thee and in generall to iudge the world But if thou like the euill seruaunt saye tushe the Lorde differreth to come and being absent can not see what is done amisse and cruelly shalt misuse thy fellow seruauntes or riotouslie mispend thy maisters substance wasting all in wantonnesse and excesse liuing in pleasure and fatting thy selfe as in the day of great slaughter and much feasting shall common with thy soule after this maner O my soul take thy rest this iolitie will not faile this case on earth is euerlasting behold suddenlie when thou thinkest least Luc. 12.46 this night before euer the morning can come death is at thy doore thie dayes are numbred thy deeds are waighed thy doom is come and thy soule shall departe not onely this life and so an end but shal be sundred from the nomber of the liuing with God and shall liue in torments euerlastinglie with Satan and his angels without end Nay rather let vs imitate the faithfulnesse of Sainct Paule who in respect of others namely of his brethrē the Iewes what a continuall sorrowe conceaued he howe hartie was his desire howe feruent his prayers in their behalfe Yea he had care of all congregations Who is weake and I am not affected Who is offended and I not grieued And in respect of him selfe he ranne his race he kept the faith he fought a good fight knew that there was a