say the hauen is founde then farewell all daunger and hap-hazard being although not in full possession of happinesse in heauen yet past al peraduenture of perishing here on earth yet it commeth often to passe that such fearefull tempestes are raised by the malice of sathan the vnrulinesse of the flesh and the entismentes of the worlde that both the faithfull themselues and also others beholding them doe not without cause feare shipwracke of faith and of good conscience and so the losse of eternall saluation the which pretious iewell they cary in these weake vessels For as sometime they are by the grace of God and the powerfull workeing of his spirite euen lifted vp to heauen in the aboundaunce of spirituall graces and the great measure of santification wherewith they are endued so at other times they are by the frailtie of the fleshe plunged into grieuous sinnes and so in a manner cast downe into hel as men void of all goodnesse This commeth to passe first and cheifely by the will and pleasure of God withdrawing the assistaunce of his spirit from the faithfull man and so leauing him to the temptations of sathan and his owne flesh suffereth him to fall not to his destruction but for the encreasing of his holinesse For euen as a man by his intemperance or any other kinde of misgouerning his body falling into some daungerous sickenes hath after his recouery more perfect helth greater strength then he had before his sicknesse because he is now schooled taught by wofull experience to know his owne strength which he seeth now to be but weaknesse whereof he did presume so much be fore and whatsoeuer thing is of force either to preserue or to impaire his health and so to be carefull and diligent in vsing the one wary in auoiding the other so fareth it with a christian in regard of the spirituall health of his soule for he being now by the mercie of God raised vp from some grieuous fall receiueth a greate encrease of holines and of spirituall graces He seeth his own weaknes how vnable he is of himselfe to resist temptation or the corrupt motions of his owne flesh and so he is humbled both in respect of God and of his brethren which is a grace much esteemed in the eyes of God Further he becommeth more carefull in auoiding all occasions and prouocations of sinne and in vsing all holie exercises of hearing the word of praying and all other means whereby he may be strengthned and encrease in holinesse Hence is is that this decrease of holinesse is in a manner cōmon to all the faithful although not in the same measure For so it pleaseth God to leaue thē at one time or other to themselues and to the temptations of sathan that so he may both see what is in them as he did to Ezechias 2. Chro. 32. 31. and also shewe to them their greate weaknesse The means of this decrease is the crafty malitiousnes of that old serpēt who goeth about continually seeking which of the faithfull he may most hurt vsing al that liberty which God graunteth vnto him imploying his whol time about no other busines but in putting euill motions into the mindes and willes of men and in casting baites before their eyes and other senses wherewith to catch them Secondly this decrease commeth by reason of the reliques of sin which remaine in the faithfull as long as they remaine in the flesh and which doe continually send forth som sinne or other euen as the roote of a tree being left in the ground will sproute forth although the bodie of the tree be cut downe Hither we are to referre the manifould occasions of all manner of sinnes which doe offer them selues in the course of manslife and therefore it is no maruaile that there happen to a Christian manifould chaunges and decreases of godlinesse no more then it is that a man is wounded being in the midst of many malicious enimies that he is scorched who is forced to cary fier in his bosome or lastly that he is defiled who is alwayes among vessels ful of pitch But to declare this doctrine more particularly as the greate vse and necessitie of it doth require in that we speake of the decrease of renewed holinesse we suppose a certaine state and ripenesse which ought to be in all Christians and is to be seene in most of those men who are truely regenerate which is a holy and vnblamable life proceeding from a sanctified soule being endued in some good measure with all and euerie one of those partes of holynesse which haue beene described in the thirde sections of the first and second partes of this treatise This state may be called the ripe age of a Christian who as he doth from his infancie and childhoode whereof hereafter grow vp till he come to a ripe man in Christ so when he is come to this state he doth not there stand at a stay for there is not any setled estate in this life either of holinesse or of sin but somtimes groweth on to a greater measure of perfectiō wherof in the next chapter or else he decreaseth in holinesse and so groweth backward euen as we see it to come to passe in the bodies of men which being come to their ripnes do daily decrease in strength and vigour till at the length they become as weake impotent as they were in their first infancie This decrease is now to be considered in the diuerse kindes of it which are two Particular and Generall Particular decrease is when as some one part of holinesse is lost the other remaining for although no one part of holinesse can be wanting but the whole soule of man is the worse in that respect as we knowe that if any one member of the bodie be brused or maimed all the rest doe suffer with it yet one part either of bodie or soule may be out of order the whole being in the naturall disposition This particular decrease hath many degrees The first is when as the holinesse of a man regenerate doth faile in some outward action by giuing place vnto some euident and palpable sin For as for light small offences commited in thought inword and in some kindes of deeds these are not to be accounted any decrease of holines because they cannot be auoided but will alwaies be found euen in thē who are endued with the greatest measure of sanctification but great sins such as are murther adultery theft periurie or any other of that sort are seldome found in men truly regenerate and being founde they doe impaire the outward holinesse of their liues For no man doth account that life so holy wherein grosse sinnes are somtimes found as that which is without spot of grieuous sin This decrease doth often happen to the faithfull as we know Peter sinned by denying Christ Dauid by committing adulterie and murther Noah in drunkennes Lot in incestand many others in other kinds of
sins being thereto caried by the force of tēptation as in a great tempest by a mightie gale of winde before they could be thinke themselues what they were about to doe or what would be the issue of it Whereof it commeth that this decrease of holinesse staying it selfe in one or a few actions doth not necessarily argue any inward want of the contrarie grace or anie inward decrease of holinesse either going before or following after because a man may fall into it as of a sudden before he be aware and immediatly recouer his former station by true and vnfained repentance As we are not to iudg either Dauid voide of continencie for that adulterie committed with Berseba or Peter to haue wanted faith because he did at one time renounce the faith or Noah to haue beene an intemperate person because he was once drunke no more then we are to thinke him a weake man who stumbleth by chaunce at a blocke lying in his way and yet doth streight way saue himselfe from falling Yea sudden sinne may be with greater graces then they haue who are free from the aforesaide sinnes of Noah Lot Dauid Peter being farre inferior in holinesse to them Yet it is the dutie of all who professe themselues the seruāts of God to labour by all meanes to keepe themselues pure and free as from the least and most secret sin so especially from open grosse sins and that for these causes First because by them they dishonour God his religion worshippe and name opening the mouthes of Atheistes and infidels to blaspheme his holy name the which thing ought to be more grieuous and bitter vnto them then a thousand deathes and torments Secondly they prouoke God to lay some fearefull punishment vppon them who howsoeuer he suffereth the reprobate ones to goe on all their life time in sinne yet he neuer suffereth any notorious sinne of his seruantes to goe vnpunished Thirdly they wound their owne consciences by a feareful expectation of Gods heauie iudgmentes they grieue the holy spirite against whose will they commite that sinne they offend their brethren shewing themselues to be if not wholly destitute of that speciall grace wherewith they shoulde haue bene restrained from sinne yet but weake Christians in that respect as we may be bold to iudge that the faith of Peter the continency of Dauid the temperaunce of Noah were at the time of their falles but weake howsoeuer they were endued with a great measure of other graces Lastly one hainous sin is to be auoyded because vsually it draweth moe after it for when as a man hath once taken a tast of sinne and felt the sensuall sweetnes of it he is farre more easely drawen to it then he was before and so he goeth frō the first degree of the decrease of holynes to the second namely to an habit of some one sin or the want of some particular grace the which appeareth by the often committing and iterating of the same sinne yea after that the faithfull man hath often by repentaunce laboured to purge himselfe from that sinne and by prayer to obtaine the contrarie grace at the handes of God This decrease also hath somtimes place in a man truely regenerate especially in that kinde of sinne whereunto he is either by the naturall constitution of his body and minde or an euill custome gotten before his conuersion naturally enclined whether it be pride anger couetousnesse or any other sinne But as it is farre more grieuous then the first degree so it is with greater care to be avoyded for it doubleth and tripleth the wrath and heauy iudgementes of God the offence of the godly the reproach of the gospell the dishonour of God and the corsiue of a gnawing conscience and Lastly it maketh a ready way for higher degrees of decrease to wit the habites of diuers sinnes the want of many particular graces and so to the highest and most fearefull degree which is a generall decrease of holynesse which is nowe briefly to be declared Where first we are to put a difference betwixt a generall and a totall decrease A generall decrease is when all the partes of renewed holynesse and of spirituall graces receaued are diminished but a totall decrease is an vtter decay of holinesse as whereby nothing is left This can not happen to any one who is truely regenerate who in the greatest extremitie and depth of his fall retaineth some reliques of Gods spirite and of grace receaued yea somelife of faith whereby he liueth to God in christ howsoeuer he be to the eyes of all men and euen in his owne coscience a deade rotten stocke Euen as we know that the trees haue heate and life in their rootes in the middest of the coldest and sharpest winter yea as many beastes ly all the winter long in holes of the earth without eating drinking stirring or hauing any iotte of heate sense or life in any of their outwarde partes and yet there is a remnant of life and of heat lurking in the hearte which being in sommer stirred vppe doth reuine the beast so that it is able to go or runne vp and downe and to performe all naturall actions in the same manner as it did before This Christ doth plainely teache Ioh. 4. 14. saying Whosoeuer drinketh of the water which I shall giue him that is whosoeuer beleeueth in me as it is expounded Iohn 7. 38 shall neuer be more a thirst but the water that I will giue him shall be in him a well of water springing vp into euerlasting life and 1 Ioh. 3. 9. Whosoeuer is borne of God sinneth not totally for the seed of God remaineth in him and therefore he can not fall cleane away from God because he is borne of God yet a man regenerate may decrease not onely in one in a fewe or in many graces but also generally in all spirituall graces This decrease of renewed holynesse is of two kindes for as of bodilie diseases some begin at the hart which is the roote and fountaine of life in the body and so spreade themselues ouer all the members of the body others haue their beginning in some outwarde and inferiour partes and pierce in till that they come to the hearte so of these generall decreases of holynesse which are as grieuous diseases of the soule some begin at faith which is the roote and fountaine of spirituall life and so hauing stopt the fountaine doe easily drie vp the streames issuing from it others begin at the meaner and baser partes of sanctification and so first kill the fruite then the braunches and the body of the tree til at length they take hold of the roote it selfe Both these waies doth sathan vse to destroy this wounderfull worke of regeneration wrought in the faithfull by the spirite of God The first way is the nearest and readiest for if faith once faile all holinesse falleth to the grounde whereas faith may stand in some sorte although most of the
other partes of santification be wanting as the body may liue although it lacke the armes legges and other partes but if the heart be once wounded death is then hard at hand and therefore Sathan doth most of all and in the first place labour to ouerthrow the faith of the faithfull man desiring to strike through the hart at the first stroke that so as Abisai sayeth 1. Sam. 26. 8. he might saue the laboure of striking twise This Christ telleth Peter that sathan had desired to tempt him but he had praied for him that his faith whereat sathan woulde directly strike shoulde not faile The weapons wherwith he vseth to strike at faith are many and diuerse as namely these First the crosses and miseries of this present life which God layeth on his children for the triall of their faith 1 Pet. 1. 7. But they feeling them bitter and after a sorte intollerable to flesh and bloud labour by earnest and continuall prayer as also by all other meanes to be freede from them The which thinge when as they cannot bring to passe being suffered to languishe yea often to perishe outwardly in their troubles they straight way are moued by sathan to thinke that God hath forsaken them and that there is no helpe or good thing to be looked for at his handes This pollicie sathan himselfe doth bewray and confesse Iob. 1. 11 Doth Iob feare God for nought thou hast blessed him in all thinges but lay thy hand vpon him in outward crosses and thou shalt see that he will be so farre off from trusting in thee that hee will curse thee to thy face The temptation is then most forceable when as the faithfull in their greatest miseries are exasperated and as it were haue their teeth set on edge by the great prosperity of the wicked insomuch that they often repent themselues that they haue not chosen that course manner of life whereby they see them to flourish But it is to be withstood by considering that God doth chastice his children and purge them in the furnace of afflictions that so he might make glorious and heauenly vessels of them whereas the wicked are as sheepe fed fat against the day of slaughter that they are by this meanes made conformable to Christ their head that the greatest afflictions of this world are not to be compared to the eternall happines of the life to come that â—s it is Luke 16. 25. as the wicked in this life haue pleasure and the godly paine so in the world to come the godly shall be comforted and the other tormented And therefore they are to be vndoubtedly perswaded of the trueth of that which we reade Eccles. 8. 12. Tho the wicked man doe euill an hundred times and yet prolong his daies yet I know that in the ende it will be wel with them that feare God and with no other Againe the faith of the godly is often tempted by consideration had of the impossibilities of the doctrine of the gospell as of the resurrection of dead bodies For so by measuring the trueth of God by their owne shallowe reason they stagger at it and sometimes fall flat downe 2. Tim. 2. 18. Hymeneus and Philetus taught that the resurrection mentioned in the scripture was already past and so they did subuert the faith of many but for this we are to knowe that nothing is impossible to God The thirde temptation is the obscure secret and hidden manner of Gods working in these last ages wherein he hauing reuealed himselfe fullie in his sonne and in the gospell doth hide himselfe from the eyes euen of the faithfull in that he doth not appeare so in visions reuelations dreames the giftes of miracles in temporall punishmentes and blessings oâ— in any other sensible manner but suffereth all thinges to goe on and worke after their owne inclinations as namely tyrants to rage and oppresse his Church to persecute his people to erect idolatrie to deface his worship to blaspheme his name so as if he had cleane cast off the care of all things here in this world But this ought not to trouble vs for sensible apparitions blessings and actions were for the infancie of the Church which now is come to her ripe age and yet the actions of God are no lesse wonderful then before yea they are as manifest to spirituall eyes as euer they were to the carnall eyes of men The last weapon wherwith Sathan striketh at faith is ministred vnto him by the faithfull themselues to wit their manifould and grieuous sins especially those whereinto they fall againe and againe hauing often repented them wherof they cannot by any meanes get the vpper hand Here Sathan thinketh that he hath as much aduantage against the faithfull as he himselfe desireth For in the other temptations he did feight against the word of God the which now he seemeth to haue on his side for whereas the scripture doth euerie-where teach that all who are iustified are sanctified from a sinfull life and haue power giuen them by the spirite of GOD to resist and mortifie sinne especially great and hainous sins hereof he inferreth after this manner thou hast no such power or grace to resist sinne thou canst not for thy life abstaine from committing it but doest adde one fal to another one sin to another euen against thine owne conscience therefore thy faith is nothing but eyther meere hypocrisie and vnbeleefe or at the most it is but some light shadowe of faith which may be found in many reprobates This argument is harde to be answered and therefore it driueth many faithfull men to their wittes end and euen to despaire of themselues and of the loue and mercy of God which is a most fearefull thing killing all holinesse euen at the roote and therefore to be auoyded by all meanes especially by learning if we be as yet ignorant how to answere this argument thus cunningly compacted by Sathan The best answere that can be made is that he who is thus tempted laboure by fasting prayer continuall reading meditating and hearing of the word of God by auoyding all occasions of sinne and diligent waying the nature and manifolde euils ensuing of it to purge himselfe of the sinne wherewith Sathan doth so buffet him and so to wring his weapon by force out of his hand But if this cannot be brought to passe as often the faithfull cannot get the maistery ouer their sinnes and the corrupt desires of the flesh then we must answere that a true and sauing faith may be at some time without some fruite as the trees are in the winter season as appeareth manifestly by the examples of diuerse faithfull men as namely in Dauid that notable man who did not onely commit adultery which is a most grieuous sinne the harme whereof cannot by any meanes be amended yea and added murther to it a more horrible sinne but also as may be probablie gathered seemeth to haue continued
separation hath tow parts Rebellion Deformity in the which tow thinges the whole sinfulnesse of man consisteth being nothing else but a defection from all subiection due to God and from that image of God wherein he was created Sect. 3. Of the renewed holinesse of man AS God hath in great mercy decreed that man should not vtterly perish by Adams fall but rather by his mercy recouer that happinesse which he both had and lost so he hath in wisdome and iustice appointed the same meanes of attaining it to wit the perfect holinesse of man without the which it is impossible that any creature shoulde see God And therefore as god did in the beginning create in man perfect holynesse as the meanes of attaining happinesse so he doth for the same end recreate holynesse in him This action of God is called in the Scripture regeneration and the holynesse it selfe the new man or the newe creature because the former holynesse is so cleane decayed and abolished no one parte of it remaining that the restoring of it againe doth make man to be a newe yea almost another creature working in him a totall chaunge of his nature and giuing him a newe minde a newe will new affections and a newe course of life not that this change is in the substance of the soule or bodie of the minde or will of a man for that is the same both in a carnall and in a regenerate man but onely in quality and cōdition and yet it is truely called a second creation because there is no roote left in man from the which holynesse might be produced no in clination to good whereby it might be furthered no facultie remaining in him whereby it might be effected For howsoeuer some do erroneously thinke and teach that some part of regeneration is to be ascribed to the naturall faculties of mans soule as if men did of themselues see choose embrace loue the truth yet the scripture teacheth vs to thinke farre otherwise to wit that man hath no hand in this worke but onely the spirite of God For euen as in the naturall generation of any liuing creature there must two thinges concurre first the agent or worker the which the philosophers call principium actiuum and it may be resembled to the workman in artificiall thinges the which giueth the forme and being to the creature secondly the matter whereof the thing is made and framed called principium passiuum the which cannot be saide to worke but onely to suffer the operation of the other so it is in regeneration First the spirite of God is the workman in it he is the begetter of this new-man the fashioner of this newe creature Secondly the minde and will of man are the matter whereof this newe creature is made not working together with the spirite of God but onely suffering the working of it For regeneration is nothing but a sanctified or renewed minde and will The begetter of this new man is God himselfe euen the holy spirite of God changing our minds and heartts and framing in them all holinesse Ioh. 3. 6. That which is borne of the flesh is flesh and that which is borne of the spirit is spirite And that although by the ministerie of man and the preaching of the worde of God as it is 1. Pet. 1. 23. Being borne againe not of corruptible seede but of incorruptible euen of the worde of God which abideth for euer yet by a straunge and supernaturall worke which no witte eloquence deuise strength or power of man or Angell but onely the finger of GOD himselfe is able to bringe to passe Math. 19. 26. With man it is impossible but not with God it being not in the power of anie creature to chaunge in one moment the minde will affections and the whole nature of a man espceially to that state which is repugnant and cleane contrary to his naturall disposion as regeneration is to the nature of a carnall man for it is not so in this spirituall work as it is in the carnal generation wherein one thing begetteth another like to it selfe by a naturall vertue and power which God hath put into each liuing creature without any extraordinary worke or blessing from God And therefore it is able being in the naturall disposition whensoeuer it listeth to bring forth the effect without failing But no minister of the word although endewed with most excellent giftes can beget this new man by the sole vertue of his mimisterie for then regeneration woulde be a common and an ordinarie thing as is the preaching of the worde But we knowe it to be farre otherwise and that vsually of a hundred hearers there is scarce one truely conuerted So that in the begetting of this new man the ministery of the word is but the instrument whereby the spirit of God worketh without the which it is no more able to forme this newe creature then the tooles belonging to any worke are able to bring the same to passe without the hand of the artificer And therefore as the first creation so also the regeneration of mans holinesse ought to be acknowledged to be the hand and worke of God yea in trueth an immediate supernaturall and miraculous worke we say immeditate not that he vseth no meanes in regenerating the faithfull but for that the force vertue and abilitie of working is not any iot in the meanes but wholly and onely in GOD. Againe it is a supernaturall worke for euen as sinne yea the retayning exercising and increasing of it is naturall to man so the resisting renouncing and forsaking of it and especially the seeking attaining keeping exercising and encreasing of the contrarie holinesse is no lesse contrarie to the nature of man then it is for him to flie vp to heauen Hence it followeth that this regeneration is a miraculous worke for whatsoeuer is so contrary to the naturall disposition and ordinarie course of thinges as that the reason of man can not finde out and comprehende the cause of it that driueth men to admiration and astonishment and so becommeth a miracle vnto them If it be heere obiected that regeneration is an ordinarie matter which commeth to passe daily and vsually in the Church and hath done in all ages and therefore is no miracle we answere confessing that it is not so much wondred at as it ought to bee For carnall men doe not beleeue that there is any such matter as we may see in the example of Nicodemus Iohn 3. 4. Howe can a man be borne which is old can he enter into his mothers wombe againe and be borne And therefore doe not wonder but rather laugh at it and they who by experience know it are not for the most part so affected with the serious cogitation of it as they should be Yet this doth not chaunge the nature of it for if God should often raise vppe men from the dead men would at length cease from wondering at it But
of God for if man were accounted righteous for his holinesse or loue he might impute his saluation to his owne desert for perfect loue deserueth loue and holinesse will chalenge life as of due debt But affiance implieth a humble loyall and duetifull subiection acknowledging the vnworthines basenesse insufficiency and weakenesse of man and together the mercy goodnesse loue fauour bounty trueth and power of God This reason is vsed for this purpose Ro. 3. 27. what law or meanes of saluation doth take away all boasting from man and so giueth all the glory of our saluation to God not the law of workes or inherent holinesse but the law of faith yea of all the graces which are in man faith onely hath in it this naturall property to make a man partaker of Christes death and righteousnes and so of saluation For euen as a tennant inioyeth his house and landes not for that he loueth or feareth his lord or for any vertue wherwith he is indued but only because he doth depeÌ„d on his Lord and so doth purchase vnto him worship and honour by relying himselfe wholly vpon his loue fauor liberality constancy ability riches so standeth the case with man in respect of his saluation For no grace saue onely this affiance on God and on his mercy in Christ can conuey vnto vs remission of sinnes and eternall life In the which respect it is commonly said in holy scripture that faith doth iustifie not as it is a parte of mans holinesse whereof no one part no not all the partes of it if any one be wanting will serue to make a man righteous before God but as it hath in it this proper vertue to make the death of Christ the death of the beleeuer so the righteousnes arising of the said death the righteousnes of the beleuer For he that hath suffered death is iustisied from sin Thus much of the obiect nature attributes of euangelical faith It remaineth that before we proceed to the rest of the partes of mans holines we should declare the relatioÌ„ which is betwixt faith them It hath bene said of faith in general that it is as it were the root froÌ„ the which other graces do spring in that it tieth vs to God the fountain of al graces as to the only giuer of all happines the which thing is true of this euangelicall faith after a special manner For in that it ioineth vs to Christ it maketh vs partakers of the spirit of Christ or rather causeth an increase of all spirituall graces For regeneratioÌ„ is although not in time yet in nature before faith Therefore this faith is made the subiect of the spirituall life of the new man euen as the hart is in the body the fountaine of heat Gal. 2. 20. I liue yet not I but Christ liueth in me in that I now liue in the flesh I liue by the faith of the sonne of God who hath loued me and giuen his life for me And Act. 15. 9. Peter saith that God did purifie the hartes of the gentils that is as it is expounded verse 8. worke sanctification in them by faith In the which respect it is compared to the foundation of a house where vpon the whole buylding standeth and to the roote of a tree which giueth heate sappe and life to all the partes of it Coll. 1. 23. If ye continue founded and established in fayth and to a fountaine of liuing water Ioh. 7. 38. He that beleeueth in me out of his bellie shall flow riuers of the water of life And therfore it is put before all other graces 2. Pet. 1. 5. Ioyne to your fayth vertue and to your vertue knowledge temperance patience godlynes brotherly loue and kyndnes Hence it is that it is vsually distinguished from the rest of the partes of sanctification they being called by the name of loue or of the holy ghost 1 Tâ—ess 3. 6. Tymothie hath brought vs tydinges of your fayth and loue So it is saide Act. 6. 5. That Stephen was a man full of fayth and of the holy spirit not that faith it selfe is not a worke of the holy spirite and a parte of the spirituall holynesse of man but because it is the first worke of Gods spirite and the foundation of mans holinesse and saluation who must be by fayth freed from sinne and death before he can be endued with positiue holynesse and life Thus the Apostle doth often exhorte vs to fanctification and holynesse of life by an argument drawen from iustification which is the proper effect of faith as we may see Ro. 6. 14. sinne shall not haue dominion ouer you because you are not vnder the lawe but vnder grace But it may be asked how iustification doth bring foorth sanctification especially seing that to mans reason it is rather a motiue to a wicked and dissolute life that by the multitude and hainousnesse of our sinnes the mercy of God whereby they are pardoned might the more appeare Rom. 3. 7. and 6. 1. We answere that iustification doth of necessitie bring foorth sanctification and that diuers wayes For first the sense of the vnspeakeable loue of God whereby we are deliuered from eternall damnation doth inflame the hart of the beleeuers with a greate loue of God the which cannot be shewed any other way then by keepeing his commaundementes and by laboring to glorifie his holy name by a holy life Secondly God doth saue the faythfull not as stockes or stones without requiring anie worke action or duety at their handes but so as that he maketh them to be his fellow workers not that man can do any thing of him selfe without the grace of God but that man being endued and renewed by grace doth after a sort worke his owne saluation not by any naturall vertue but by the power of Gods spirite and therefore as Christ taketh away the guilte of sinne being committed so the faythful ought to endeuor that sin be not coÌ„mited Otherwise if they shoulde still of set purpose committe sin they should crosse Christ in the worke of their owne redemption defiling theÌ„ selues with sin whom he hath clensed with his bloud yea they should crucifie him againe treade vnder foote his bloude as a vile thing Thirdly the faithfull doe labour for sanctification as for the onely testimony of the soundnesse of their fayth and of the truthe of their iustification For fayth without the other partes of holynesse is but adeade and vnprofitable fayth Lastly the faythfull man knoweth that fayth is not of it selfe without the rest of sanctification sufficient for the attaining of saluation For although it alone dothfully iustify that is bring perfect remission of all manner of sinne whatsoeuer yet before that a man can enter into the kingdome of heauen he must be endued with perfect positiue holinesse the which cannot be made perfect in the worlde to come vnlesse it be begun and carefullie sought after
often to passe that the infirmities and sinnes appeareing in the life of a faithfull man make the sinceritie of his religion doubtfull to others yet he himselfe feeling the inwarde worke and motions of Gods spirite is vndoubtedly perswaded that he is the childe of God We confesse that a man truly regenerate may haue his faith sore shaken and the holinesse of his life greatly blemished by the force of temptation and so may for a time want in part or wholly this assurance of saluation Yet this doth not hinder him from hauing it at an other time yea all the daies of his life as may be seene in most of the faithfull Lastly we are not to thinke that this assurance of saluation is or can be to a faithfull man a motiue to sinne and dissolutenesse of life with the which it cannot stand For as it is gotten by holynesse whereby a man seeth that he is endued with the spirite of God and effectuallie called to beleeue the Gospell so it is lost by a sinfull and wicked life the which sheweth plainlie that a man is destitute of true faith and of Gods spirite for by the fruite the tree is knowen nay there is nothing of greater froce in restraining the faithfull from sinne then this that they knowe that the committing of any one wilfull sinne doth wound their owne consciences and diminish this notable treasure of assurance of saluation For as he that taketh one or a fewestones out of a wall although he doe not ouerthrow the building yet he maketh it the weaker so a fewe sinfull actions in the life of a faithfull man although they can not depriue him of this assuraunce it hauing bene gathered and as it were builded vp with the holinesse of many yeares yet they doe diminishe it and can not but trouble his conscience CHAP. IIII. Sect. 1. Of the created holinesse of mans memorie IT had bene little auailable for the holy and happie estate of man that he was endued with those notable faculties of conceauing vnderstanding and knowing Gods will and word when God did reueale himselfe vnto him if he had not bene made able to retaine the saide knowledge for the time following For otherwise God shoulde haue powred his graces into a bottomlesse or broken vessell which coulde not keepe or containe any thing and man shoulde haue reaped little profit by that which woulde be as soone lost as gotten For this cause God in great wisdome did endue the soule of man with a speciall facultie vsually called memory by vertue whereof man in this state of innocencie doth safelie keepe whatsoeuer the minde doth truely conceaue and so when occasion serueth doth giue the saide knowledge backe againe to the minde to be thought vpon meditated vttered in worde and followed in peed so that the memory is the storehouse of the soule wherin thinges both newe and old are carefully laide vp and faithfullie preserued and as it were the register of the minde taking a note of euery thing which commeth into it This facultie as all the other of mans soule was in the state of innocencie so perfect and of such strength as that by it man might at any time call to minde not euerie trifling thing which he had heard and seene a thousand yeares past for so his memorie shoulde haue bene confounded and in a manner infinite but whatsoeuer thing had at any time bene reuealed vnto him by God or was conceaued by his naturall faculties if so be it were a matter of any importance the knowing and remembring whereof might serue to some notable vse and profite vnto him As for other common matters of life which it was more gaine to loose then to keepe in these humaine infirmitie preuailed to forgetfulnesse For we are not to thinke that man was in this respect or any other as God is whose nature being euerie way infinite doth in one moment and with one motion of mind remember or rather knowe all particulars that haue bene done at any time For God doth thinke of all thinges together without confusion but the minde of man being not onely finite but also hauing in it a kinde of weaknesse if we compare him with the Angels can not thinke of many much lesse of infinite thinges at once but of one thing after an other and so doth the memorie remember those particulars which were committed to the custody of it letting goe matters of no vse that there may be place for thinges of importance as are the actions comaundementes apparitions reuelations and worde of God In the knoweing and remembring whereof the happinesse and holinesse of man did consist and therefore it stood him in hande to commit these thinges to sure custodie the which we are not to doubt but that he did so as that after many thousand yeares he was able to remember that which might any way serue for his good Neyther â—â—ede we maruaile thereat considering the frailtie of our owne memories which are neuer good when they are at the best and are soone cleane lost by sicknesse age or any such meanes For as is the strength of the bodie whereby as by an instrument the soule worketh so are the faculties of the minde and therefore as the body of man did continue in perfect vigour for many thousand yeares yea for euer so did his minde or memorie retaine the first vigour without being diminished Whereby we see that man in this facultie of memorie whereby his knowledge was made eternall did notablie resemble God whose nature is eternall Sect. 2. Of the sinfulnesse of mans memory AS in all other respectes so also in regard of this faculty man since the fall is so changed from his first estate that he scarse seemeth to be the same creature that he was hauing as wholly lost this faculty of a reasonable soule as if he had neuer beene endued with it For howsoeuer in regard of earthly worldlie and sensible things this faculty is after a sort remaining in man yet it hath no manner of force or power to retaine heauenlie and spirituall matters and the true knowledge of God and no maruaile for how shal the memory keepe when as the mind cannot conceiue it But mans corruption cannot so be cloaked in this behalf as if it it were wholly in the minde and not in this and other faculties For although the fountaine of it be in the minde which is the moouer and gouernour of the other faculties yet each faculty hath his peculiar fault the which may plainely be seene in the memory For suppose that which doth daily come to passe that a carnall man doth not onely heare the word of God for fashions sake but also marke and in some measure vnderstand it a man would thinke that all were safe and brought to a good passe the minde hath done his duety in conceiuing the trueth of the word as the body hath done in hearing so that now the word of God is come to the memory and
but especially it appeareth in those who in old times professed themselues to be philosophers that is seekers and practisers of wisedome and vertue as namely Socrates Plato with many others as Aristides Cato Seneca whose vertues we can not thinke to haue bene mere hypocrisie it being well knowen that they were so affected inwardly in their mindes as they professed outwardly in their liues Yet we confesse that this decrease of sinfulnesse is not a like in all for in some it is inwarde and true as hath bene saide but in others yea most commonly it is onely in outward life For many doe leade an honest and irreproueable life being vitiously disposed in their mindes some for feare of ciuill punishment or of publike shame others for vaine glories sake as did the pharisies Againe this decrease is more generall in some who abstaine from many kindes of vices then it is in others who are faulty in many respectes And Lastly this decrease is more firme and permanent in some continuing the wholle time of their life but in others it hath place in their young yeares by force of good education but is afterwardes altogether forgotten and reiected In the heathen it is more in regarde of the duties of the second table the which are more easelie knowen then are the dueties belonging to the worship of God But in hypocriticall Christians the outwarde decrease of sinfulnesse is greater in the dueties of the first table For they will be verie deuout and diligent in the outwarde seruice of God and yet liue verie wickedly in regard of their brethren These and many other degrees and differences of this naturall decrease may easely be obserued in many both within and without the Church and also in all histories whether diuine or humaine but are too many to be handled in this short treatise CHAP. IIII. Of the supernaturall decrease of sinfulnesse AS the increase of light doth make a decrease of darkenes it being impossible that two thinges of contrarie natures sholude be together in one subiect the one not expelling the other either wholly or in part so the spirituall graces of God which are the matter of mans holinesse bestowed on vnregenerate men doe worke in them a decrease of sinfulnesse makeing them lesse sinfull then otherwise they woulde be and then vsually vnregenerate men are This decrease we call supernaturall because it cannot be attained vnto by those naturall meanes of diminishing sinne mentioned in the former chapter and therefore it is not to be found in the most innocent and vertuous pagan that euer liued but is to be accounted a worke of Gods spirite brought to passe by the ministrie of his worde sounding in the eares of those who are members of the visible church without the which this decrease of sinne is not ordinarily to be founde Nor yet in all the members of the church of whom many doe exceede the heathen in sinne but onely in those who doe yeelde obedience to the gospell although not in such manner as the faithfull doe yet in so greate measure that this decrease of sinne may very fitly be called a shadowe of true regeneration there being no grace effectually wrought in the faithfull whereof a resemblaunce may not be found in this sort of men For not onely their life is agreeable to the worde of God but also they are inwardly enlightned to see the trueth and are well affected towardes it and endued with a kinde of faith hope loue patience and all other graces and that not in hypocrisie though many doe make an outwarde shew and profession of those graces whereof there is not any shadowe in their heartes but in trueth As we read Heb. 6. 4. 5. It is impossible that they who were once enlightned and haue tasted of the heauenly gift of the good worde of God of the ioyes of the worlde to come and in generall were made partakers of the holy Ghost if they fall away c. If it be asked why God doth bestow these excellent graces on the reprobate as it were throwing pearles among swine we answere that he doth it especially for these three causes first for the setting forth of his owne glory For by this worke his loue mercy goodnesse wisedome and trueth appeareth euen to the reprobate on whom as he letteth the raine to fal and his sun to shine as wel as on the faithfull so he powreth foorth his graces as well on the one as on the other although not after the same manner for although the eternall loue of God which bringeth with it eternall saluation doth belong to the elect onely yet there is a generall and as we may terme it a temporary loue which God beareth to all his creatures and in them towardes all men both elect and reprobate Secondly this is done in regard of the elect for whose sake God blesseth the reprobate with whome they liue both in temporal and spirituall things and whose saluation is furthered and some time wrought by the giftes and ministery of these men Lastly God doth by this meanes make them who are indued with these graces the more inexcusable in that they contemne and treade vnder foote so great mercy Nowe we are to declare the difference which is betwixt true regeneration and this supernaturall decrease of sinne which is a shadowe of it First therefore true regeneration is generall stretching it selfe ouer all the faculties and partes of the soule and body and working an vniuersall holines as the leauen which being put into a greate lumpe of dow neuer ceaseth spreading it selfe abroad till the whole lumpe be seasoned Luke 13. 21. But the shadowe faileth for the most part in one point of holinesse or other yea often many partes of sanctification are wanting as the minde is often enlightned with the knowledge of the truth whenas the obedience of life and outward actions is wanting 1. Cor. 8. 1. We haue all knowledge knowledge puffeth vp but loue edifieth Againe there may be seene in them good affections without knowledge Rom. 6. I beare witnesse saith the Apostle that the Iewes haue the zeale of GOD yet not according to knowledge Yea often the minde is enlightned in part and in part remaineth in ignorance as in those who professing and holding in iudgement the trueth of the gospell to witte of the fund amental and chiefe doctrines of it doe together maintaine many errours and heresies We doe not deny but thaâ— one truely regenerate may be in some errors for we all knowe but in parte 1. Cor. 13. yet this is the force and propertie of a regenerate minde to be able to discerne the trueth from errour when as both are laide before it howsoeuer it did not see it before And therefore when as we see a man although endued with many giftes yet to be of a corrupt minde and vnsound iudgement enclining alwaies to the wrong part in matters of religion his regeneration may in that respect be
men outwardly and ciuilly honest may be reckoned yet there is no age country or story which doth not aford many examples of men who haue exceeded in impietie against God and in iniustice towarde men and in all manner of wicked behauiour the ordinarie and common sorte of sinfull men by manie degrees The cause of this encrease of sinne is the crooked and corrupt diposition of mans wil which is wholly bent and set vpon sinne and doth so greedely and insatiably pursue after it as that vnlesse it be restrained by some meanes it can not rest till it come to the highest degree of wickednes For the which purpose it imployeth all the partes and faculties of the body and soule yea all inwarde and outwarde blessings what soeuer it maketh the minde deuise newe wayes of commiting sinne newe excuses pretenses coulours and defences for it being commited so that the greater gifts of the minde and of body that a man hath ceaued the fitter instrumentes hath his will and his corrupt desires to encrease sinne Here of it commeth that not idiots simple and vnlearned men not the weakest in body or the basest in condition not the poorest nor the youngest but the most witty learned strong noble rich aged are these notorious wicked ones The most horrible monsters in all outrage of sinne which any story doth mention were greate Emperours and mighty men as Nero Caligula and such other and who are so wretched couetous worldly so peruerse and obstinate in ignoraunce superstition infidelitie yea in hatred of all goodnesse as are they who by yeares haue gotten wisedome experience riches and honour so that we may easely acknowledge the trueth of that the Apostle writeth 1. Cor. 1. 26 Not many noble wise riche or great men are called to the sincere obedience of the gospell Hence it is that sinne doth more abound in this last age of the worlde then it did in old times wherein men were more rude simple and ignoraunt then children are in these daies who are so soone ripe and expert in all wickednesse as if they had bene borne perfect men not weake infauntes and no maruaile seeing that this last age is as it were a common sinke wherein all the sinnes errours heresies superstitions all the shifts craft deceipte yea all the wicked inuentions and practises of all ages are gathered together And therefore it bringeth foorth so great multitudes of expert practitioners in sinne who besides that which their owne inuention doth afford are furnished with the examples tryed experiments of all ages This the spirit of God hath foretold in the scripture as we see it is come to passe Math. 24. 12. Because iniquity shall abound in the latter times the loue of many shall waxe colde 2. Tim. 3. 1. This knowe that in the last daies shall come perilous times for men shalbe louers of their owne selues coueteous proude cursed speakers disobedient to parentes vnthankefull vnholy without naturall affection truce breakers false accusers intemperate fierce hauing no loue to those who are good traitours headie high minded louers of pleasures more then of God hauing a shew of godlinesse but denying the power thereof And againe 2. Pet. 3. 3. This first vnderstand that in the latter daies shall come mockers walking after their owne lustes saying where is the promise of his comming In these and other places of scripture the spirite of God hath foretolde and euen painted out the great corruption and sinfulnesse of these daies that we might beware least that we be drawen away by the infidelity and other hainous sinnes which raigne euerywhere so saue our selues as out of the fyer from this froward godlesse generation wherein we liue Lastly as the excellencie of naturall giftes and outward blessings being abused is the meanes of the excessiuenesse of sinne not of it selfe but by the corrupt disposition of our nature so the spirituall graces of God bestowed vpon men liuing in the Church doe often by the iust iudgement of God worke the same effect and that in far greater measure For as it is impossible that among heathen men they who are of smal wit capacity knowledge strength and riches should be wicked in so high a degree as they who excell in the foresaid respectes so it is not possible that any who hath not receiued some of the spirituall graces of God shoulde come to so high a degree of sinne as they in whome it hath pleased God to worke that shadowe of regeneration which hath beene declared in the former chapter Hence it is that none can fall into that extreame impiety which is the highest degree of sinne euen the sinne of the deuill and his Angels called in scripture the sinne against the holy Ghost which can neuer be forgiuen but they who did sometime before receiue grace from God to see loue and obey the trueth Heb. 6. 5. It is impossible that they who were once made partakers of the holy Ghost if they fall namely into this sinne which is an open wilfull and desperate hatred of God of his glory of his religion of his feruants and of all good thinges as many of the hebrewes did to whome this was written should be renewed by repentance This excellency of spirituall graces abused was the meanes whereby the wicked Angels fell into that extreamitie of sinne wherein they are and so it commeth to passe in men in whom this sinne by reason of the monstrous hugenesse of it is rare and happeneth not but in those who for their cruell spitefull desperate and malitious hatred to God and to the godly are rather to be counted diuels incarnate then reasonable men For it is harde for a Christian who hath once knowen God to cast away all feare of God and shame of men and for to burst forth into such outrage Yet as the scripture hath not for nought taught vs it so it commeth to passe although seldom yet oftner then it is well marked This encrease of sinne called supernaturall because it cannot happen but in a man after a sorte regenerate is taught by christ in the parable of the euil spirite which retourning to the place out of the which he was cast goeth not alone but taketh with him seuen other wicked spirites euerie one worse then himselfe and so the ende of that man is worse that is farre more sinfull then the beginning Euen as we see it commeth to passe in naturall thinges as namely in water which after it hath bene a little warmed becommeth more colde then if it had neuer had any heate in it And so men who haue had some heate of religion kindled in their heartes by the spirite of God if they contemne and abuse the saide graces become more wicked and irreligious then they who neuer knewe what religion ment CHAPTER VII Of the decrease of renewed holinesse ALthough the faithfull man being nowe truely regenerate by the spirit of God may boldely boast and
worldly polices and shifts by the which a man flattereth himselfe in that palpable decrease as if he were in as good an estate as euer he was So that we may compaire the decrease of faith to a violent feuer the which as it may soone kill a man so it may soone be amended but this latter kinde is like vnto a lingering consumption wherein as a man pineth away by little and little not on a suddaine but liuing in it for the space of many yeares so he cannot be cured of it but in some longe space because it is so confirmed in all the members of his body Yet both these kindes of decreases are most fearefull conditions and those from the which it standeth euery Christian in hande dayly to desire the Lorde for his mercy sake in Christ to deliuer him and rather to take him out of this world being in the state of perfect godlinesse then to suffer him to fall so grieuously as no doubt he doth to many of his deare seruauntes Lastly it may here be asked what is the issue of these great falles which happen to the faithfull whether they continue in them till death or else recouer their former estate We aunswer that God as he doth for a time humble them vnder the tiranny of sinne Sathan and their owne corrupt fleshe so he doth in his good time shewe forth the powerfull and mighty vertue of his holy spirit which all this while lyeth lurking in the heartes of the faithfull being in the first moment of their regeneration giuen vnto them as an vnseparable guide and ruler to bring them through the manifolde temptations of Sathan and the hinderaunces of their saluation to the glorious presence of God in heauen By this meanes it commeth to passe that the faithful man doth after long struggling with his enimies yea after that he hath bene a long time in bondage vnder them yea cleane dead in outward appearaunce not onely recouer his former degree of holinesse but also become more strong in all spirituall graces then he was before as we reade Es. 40. 29. God will giue strength to him that is cleane wearied so that he shal goe from strength to strēgh renew his age as doth the eagle he shall bring fourth more fruite in his age and become more zealous in seruing God then he was at any time before Yet sometime it pleaseth God to make an end of these spirituall conflictes not by withdrawing the force of the temptation from the faithfull but by taking them frō it out of this worlde which is the kingdom of sathan to that state wherein they shall no more be troubled with any such temptation as may endaunger their saluation So that the faithfull doe sometimes departe this life as in the middest of temptation so in the decrease of holinesse Yet we are not to doubt of their saluation for he that is once engrafted and vnited to Christ by a true faith as all the regenerate are whether he dy in a holy life or in some sinne whether in repentaunce or in impenitency whether in full assuraunce of faith or in much doubting yea although he seeme to despaire of himselfe alwaies he dieth in Christ and therefore in the fauour of God and in the state of eternall life For in the greatest decrease of holinesse which can befall to a faithfull man there remaineth some sparkes of grace but especially the loue of God of his glory and of his children will shewe it selfe and also the roote of faith otherwise perhaps inuisible in the greatest agonie or tempest of temptation whatsoeuer CHAP. VIII Of the encrease of renewed holinesse AS in the naturall birth of man his body commeth into the worlde not so greate and strong as afterwarde it becommeth but little weake and impotent so in the spirituall birth of regeneration the soule of man is not in the first moment indued with perfection but with a small measure of renewed holinesse from the which it is to growe and goe on forwarde to a perfect estate For the first act of regeneration doth put into the faculties of the soule not the actuall habit of spirituall graces but the seedes and beginning of them which are continually to be increased by the worde and spirit of God Hence it is that the newe man in the faithfull hath his infancie wherein the graces of gods spirite are as yet in small measure In the which respect it is compared to a graine of mustard seede which being at the first the least of all seeds becommeth verie great and to leauen which at the first is in some one parte onely of the dowe but in time spreadeth it selfe ouer the whole lump This meannesse of spirituall strength appeareth euen in the Apostles themselues whome being as yet his disciples and schollers Christ doth often put in minde of the weakenesse of their faith Ioh. 6. 12. I haue many thinges to say vnto you but ye can not beare them now And Act. 19. 2. There were at Ephesus certaine beleeuing disciples who were so weake in knowledge that they were ignoraunt of the holy Ghost Likewise the Apostle writeth to the Corinthians 1. Cor. 3. 1. 2. That he coulde not speake vnto them but as vnto babes in Christ not in knowledge but in practise and there fore coulde not giue vnto them any stronge meate but onely milke to drinke Of this weakenesse in capacitie and knowledge there is mention made Gal. 4. 19. Rom. 6. 19. Hereof commeth weaknesse in faith Rom. 14. And also necessarily the weaknesse of all the other partes of holinesse wherein no Christian ought to rest as contenting himselfe with that small measure of grace but ought rather to be caried forwarde to perfection Especially seing that this state of spirituall infancy is easely ouerthrowne and brought to nothing by the malice of sathan it being weake and not able to resiste the force of temptation And therefore although some doe abide longe in this weake estate and perhaps end their dayes in it yet vsually God giueth to those who are truely regenerate a daily increase a newe supply of grace insomuch that in a competente time they become of ripe age and of perfect strength in Christ. Wherevnto a christian is then come when as he is not destitute of any grace needfull for the performance of any christian duty but leadeth a life in euery respect holie and vnblamable proceeding from those spirituall graces which haue bene described in the third Sections of the first and second partes of this treatise And yet this perfect estate of a christian is not the highest degree of grace which may be attained in this life for besides and beyond that measure of grace which the faithfull doe ordinarely attaine vnto it pleaseth God to endue some of his seruantes with a more plentifull abundaunce of all spirituall graces as he promiseth Math. 25. 29. That to him that hath there shall more be