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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A14258	The hundred and ten considerations of Signior Iohn Valdesso treating of those things which are most profitable, most necessary, and most perfect in our Christian profession. Written in Spanish, brought out of Italy by Vergerius, and first set forth in Italian at Basil by Cœlius Secundus Curio, anno 1550. Afterward translated into French, and printed at Lions 1563. and again at Paris 1565. And now translated out of the Italian copy into English, with notes. Whereunto is added an epistle of the authors, or a preface to his divine commentary upon the Romans.; Consideraciones divinas. English	Valdés, Juan de, d. 1541.; Ferrar, Nicholas, 1592-1637.; Herbert, George, 1593-1633.	1638 (1638)	STC 24571; ESTC S119070	234,477	356

they should suffer when they suffer because they bee Saints just men he doth not consent that they should suffer for those things which indifferently be fall to men in this present life From all this which is spoken it may be gathered that a Christian person when he is evill entreated for his piety and justice rejoycing that in it and by it the name of God is illustrated he ought to remit himselfe wholly and altogether to God reducing his minde to content it selfe of that which God shall ordain and dispose of him and when he is evill entreated as a person of the world he ought to believe and hold for certain that God will draw him out of that affliction and out of that trouble with much satisfaction and his own content and hee ought to reduce his minde to content himselfe of that which God will doe And this truly is a Christian disposition of the soule which is only found in them that stand incorporated in Iesus Christ our Lord. CONSID. XVI That the promises of God belong to them who belieue them CHristian piety requires that a Christian man should hold certainly and firmly that God will maintaine him in this present life with his grace and in his grace that in the other life he will giue him immortality and glory Humane wisdome presuming or pretending piety perswades him that hee ought to hold for certain that God will deal thus with him but on condition that hee haue Faith Hope and Charity which are the gifts of God that giue life and being to a Christian. And in the mean while humane wisdome understands not that a man shall so far enjoy these three Graces as he shall abide certainly and firmly grounded in those other two things wherein Christian piety requires that a Christian man should abide firm and assure himselfe in For in these two things doth Faith and Hope consist from which Charity doth arise and proceed Whence it is well gathered that it belongs to a Christian to shut his eares to humane wisdome and to open them to the Promises of the holy spirit and so to attend to certifie himselfe and found himselfe in those two first things And as I understand the matter he shall then obtain and possesse these three Christian gifts of Faith Hope and Charity when he shall certainly and firmly belieue that God will maintain him in this present life with his grace and in his grace and that in the other life he will give him immortality and glory I know will the pious Christian say that God calls not unto him but those whom he hath first known and predestinate I know also that those whom he calls them hee iustifies and them he glorifies And I know certainly that he hath called me and thereby I assure my selfe that hee hath known and predestinated me and that he hath justified me and that he will glorifie me In this let him stand in this let him confirm himselfe without doubting in any manner For the promises of God are fulfilled with them That this is true may be proved by many authorities of holy Scripture But better it will be to say in this māner That the truth of this matter is not believed except it be experimented and the experience appertaines only to them that stand incorporated in Iesus Christ our Lord. CONSID. XVII In what manner a Man ought to resolue himself touching the world and touching himself that he may become a true Christian. ALL the Christian businesse consists in trusting believing and loving for all this is piety justice and holinesse for as much as a man having confidence gets piety believing gets justice and loving holinesse That a man may trust belieue and love it is necessary to apprehend to understand and know To apprehend in what thing he ought to haue confidence To understand in what it is cōvenient to believe And to know that which ought to be loved Of this wisdome cognition and intelligence a man is uncapable partly for the depravation that is naturall to him by reason of Originall sin and partly by reason of that which is acquired by evill custome worse exercises The Wise man meant this when he said That wisdome entreth not into a minde that is evill enclined nor abideth in a body subject unto sin Whereupon I understand that a man which desireth to trust belieue and loue that he may obtain piety justice and holinesse to such a one it appertaines to bee wise to know and to understand dispoilng his minde of all evill inclinations and estranging his body from all evill exercises and from every evill custome Together with this I understand that to the intent a man may dispoile his mind of every evill inclination it is meeter that a man should couragiously and generously resolve himselfe touching the world turning his back to all the honour thereof to all the glory thereof and to all the estimation thereof not pretending unto it not procuring it nor willing it in any thing nor in any manner putting an end to all kinds of ambition and self esteem Together with this I understand that to the intent a man may estrange his body from all evill exercise and from all evill custome it is meet that a man should valorously resolve touching things which concern himselfe renouncing in good earnest all those things from which there doth come or may come any satisfaction or any corporall content putting an end to all estranging himselfe from it and abhorring it For doing in this manner he shall purifie his soule and his body and he shall make himselfe able God giving unto him that wisdome understanding and knowledge which he is capable of And so doing he shall come to obtain Confidence Faith and Loue and shall be Pious Iust and Holy and consequently he shall become a true Christian. Vnto this resolution I understand that Iesus Christ our Lord inviteth every one of us saying Hee that will come after me c. And as I understand it then a man is to be said to take his crosse upon him when willingly he suffers the martyrdome with which the men of the world will martyrize him whether it be of the body or of the soule That of the body the true Christians of the Primitiue Church did suffer when those which were open enemies of God and of Christ took away their lives because they believed in Christ That of the minde hath been suffered and is daily to be suffered by true Christians that haue followed the steps of the Ancient when they who are secret enemies of God of Christ doe despise them esteem them for vile and for nobody deprive them of honour and fame And as I understand it this is the most cruell and most terrible and most unsupportable martyrdome of all And a man that stands constant in this kind of martyrdome may well hold himselfe for a true martyr of Christ. Together with this I understand that to the resolutions

to giue me an abhorring of corporall things humane and of the world the which albeit I doe not altogether abhorre I am at least come to this that I doe not loue them I doe not procure them I doe not desire them as I was wont And in this manner by experience of mortification he shall confirme himselfe in the Christian truth Fiftly he shall think thus If I knew any other better thing then this or at least that were equall to this with which I might appeare before the iudgement of God I should indeed haue cause to doubt of the truth of this Now I knowing no other thing better nor other thing such as it is I haue no cause to doubt And in this manner he shall certifie himselfe that he is come upon the gaine and not on the losse and that in persevering in this Christian faith he cannot loose but gaine And if it shall come into his fancy to say that he might loose much in case that which the Gospell saith were not true in as much as hee should attribute that to Christ which were not due to him and it not being due to him hee should come to offend the glory and the maiestie of God he shall instantly haue recourse to experience and think thus After that I know my selfe pardoned through Christ and reconciled with God through Christ acknowledging my selfe dead with Christ and raised up with Christ and expecting my glorification with Christ I know and feel and finde in me the beginnings of mortification through the despisall of the world and of my selfe and I feele the beginnings of vivification through the loue and affection to God to the glory of God and to the will of God And these principles are good And it being true that from an evill cause never comes a good effect it is true also that the cause is good whence this effect is growne And therefore it is most certain and true that which the Gospell publisheth and affirmeth That God having put on Christ all our sins and having chastised them all in Christ he hath pardoned us all and hath reconciled us with himselfe by Christ which pardon and reconciliation all they which believe enioy Here the Christian person shall stay himselfe who willing to embrace himselfe with the iustice of Christ shall be disturbed with the perswasions which shall sollicite him to doubt and shutting the dore to them which may come shall recommend himselfe to God saying with Hezechias Lord I suffer violence answer for me Isaia 38. And let him be sure that God will help him fulfilling with him that which he promised by David where hee saith I am with him in trouble I will deliver him and bring him to Honour CONSID. CIV That Baptisme through the Faith of the Gospell is efficacious even in Children who dye before they come to the age to be able to approue their being Baptized TAking occasion from that which S. Peter saith That the Ark wherein Noah saved himselfe in the floud was a figure of our Christian Baptisme I haue considered that as Noah giving credit to the word of God did believe that the floud would come and did believe that himselfe and his should be saved in the Ark not by vertue of the Ark which could not naturally work this effect but by the will of God who used this Ark for an instrument of safety to him and his so we also giving credit to the Gospell of God believe that Christ shal come to iudge the quick and the dead and we believe that all our sinnes being chastised in Christ we and ours shall bee saved in that iudgement being Baptised not by vertue of the water which cannot naturally work this effect but by the will of God who useth the water for the meanes of our salvation God could well have saved Noah in the floud without the Ark and it seems hee took the Ark for the means to condescend unto the frailty of Noah who more easily believed that he should be saved in the Ark then he would have believed that he should haue been saved without the Ark. Albeit he did not trust in the Ark but in the word of God who promised to saue him in the Ark and so not the Ark but Faith was that which saved Noah with which he made the Ark and put himselfe in it In the selfe same manner God could well saue us in day of judgement without the water of Baptisme and it seemes he takes the water for the meanes to condescend unto our frailty which causeth that wee doe more easily believe to be saved by Baptisme then we should belieue to be saved without it albeit wee haue not confidence in the water but in the word of the Gospell of God which promiseth to saue us by Baptisme And so we shall be saved in the universall judgement not because we are Baptised but through the Faith with which we are Baptised Where I understand two things The one that to all of us who are Christians it appertaines to secure our selves in the iudgement of God with the remembrance that wee were baptised as Noah secured himselfe in the Floud with the remembrance of the Ark the Ark being to him that which Baptisme is to us The other that wee who are baptised being children are to assure our selves that we are then really and indeed baptised when the yeares of discretion being come and feeling by the will of God the voice of the Gospell we reioyce to be baptised in such sort that if so bee we were not baptised we would then be baptised That betiding tous which might haue befallen a man who had bin put into the Ark of Noah whilst he was asleep who being awaked and finding himselfe in the Ark would haue thanked Noah that had put him in the Ark affirming that if he had not been entered therein and could haue entered therein he would without all doubt haue entred therein In such sort that as that man being entered into the Ark not by his own proper faith but by the Faith of Noah should haue saved himselfe in the Ark by his own proper faith esteeming it good that hee had entered into the Ark So we who in out infancies were baptised having entred into Baptisme not through our own proper Faith but by the Faith of them who put us therein shall be saved in Baptisme by our own proper faith approving and holding it for good to be Baptised Another thing also may be said that as the Beasts which Noah put into the Ark entred in by the faith of Noah were saved in the Floud by the faith of Noah they having neither knowledge of good nor evill to enter into the Ark nor to approve their entring in but being put into it So the children of the first Christians who enter into Baptisme by the faith of their Parents and come not to the age to be able to approue or reprove that which their Fathers haue done they

who haue the spirit of Iesus Christ our Lord. CGNSID LXVIII That the desire of knowledge is Imperfection in a Man contrary to the judgement of Humane Wisdome HVmane wisdome judgeth that the desire to know is a great perfection in man And the holy spirit iudgeth that it is a great imperfection in a man Humane wisdom confirmes her opinion saying that it hath been seen by experience that in the world those men haue lived most virtuously who having the greatest desire to know haue most given themselves to indeavour to know and haue known most And here is alleaged a troup of Philosophers And the holy spirit on the contrary affirmes his sentence saying that through the desire of knowing sinne came into the world and through sin death and with it all the miseries and all the troubles whereunto wee stand subiect in this present life That this is true is proved by the perswasion of the Divell who said unto E●…e You shall be like Gods knowing good and evill Passing on farther the holy spirit faith that the desire of knowledge destroyed the Hebrews in as much as desiring to understand the prophecies that spake of the Messias and procuring to understand them by the way of wit and humane discourse they imagined to themselves and figured a M●…ssias so cōtrary to him whom God sent them as when they had him they knew him not and not knowing him they did not receaue him and from their not receauing him redownded not onely that they did not enioy him but it caused their ruine and perdition Passing on farther the holy Spirit saith that the Gentiles desiring to know the originall and the beginning of naturall things did procure to know them with their own wits and discourses whence comes to passe that which Saint Paul said They became vain in their imaginations and they worshipped the creatures and ran headlong into other absurd and bruitish inconveniences In the selfe same manner the holy spirit saith that many men desiring to know the things which appertain to Christian Religion and procuring it with naturall light haue made such strange conceits of God of Christ and of the Christian state and of the Christian living that a man may say with truth that of Christ they haue nothing but the name participating on one side of the inconvenience of the Hebrewes in as much as they read holy Scripture and desiring to understand it procuring this not with that spirituall light with which it was written but with naturall light they doe not understand it And participating on the other side of the inconvenience of the Gentiles in as much as desiring to know that which the Gentiles knew they read that which the Gentiles writ and they think as the Gentiles thought frame Gentiles mindes The holy spirit having proved his sentence against that desire of knowing which men haue saith further that that vertue which is got by desiring to know and knowing that which may be known with naturall light is rather a vice then a vertue in as much as it makes men presumptuous insolent and consequently impious incredulous That this is true appeares by this that the men that follow their proper naturall light by how much they are more vertuous according to the world by so much they haue lesse confidence in God and doe so much lesse belieue in Christ and therefore are so much more impious and more incredulous in such manner that it stands well to say that the desire to know is a great imperfection in a man In this discourse I learne two things The one that humane wisdome hath no iurisdiction in judging of the perfection and imperfection of a man The other that it appertaines to every man who being called of God to the grace of the Gospell makes answer thereunto to mortifie and kill in himselfe the desire to know of what sort soever it be that he may not fall into the inconvenience of false Christians and of the Gentiles and of the Hebrews nor into that wherein our first Fathers fell and that they may come to the perfection whereunto S. Paul came not desiring nor procuring to know other then Christ and him crucified Which wisdome wee ought to desire and procure but with prayer to God we who having accepted the grace of the Gospell are true Christians incorporated in Iesus Christ our Lord. CONSID. LXIX That a man ought alwaies to acknowledge himselfe incredulous and defectiue in faith and that there is so much faith in a man as much as there is knowledge of God and Christ. VVHen I consider the great efficacy which Iesus Christ our Lord attributes unto Faith saying that with it how little soever it be we may remoue mountaines from one place to another returning upon my self and not finding my selfe with such an efficacious faith I know how weak and feeble my faith is and then I turne my minde to God saying with the Apostles Lord increase my faith and saying with the father of the Lunatique Lord help mine unbelief And understanding that my faith is to come through the guift of God and holding for certain that I shall haue so much of faith as I shall haue of the knowledge of God and of Christ for as much as men how ever good relation they haue of other men doe so much trust them as they know them I turn my selfe to pray God that he would let me know him and would let mee see him and that he would let me know and see Christ as much as may be in this present life to the intent that I may haue confidence and so my faith may be strong and efficacious Wherein I consider the craft of the enemy of mankinde and most full of enmity against Christ in as much as he understanding that the intent with which Christ did so much exaggerate the efficacy of Faith makes that men how much soever they believe and how much confidence soever they haue should alwaies judge themselves incredulous and defectiue in the Faith hath made that amongst men who doe approue the Gospell of Christ it should be an honourable thing to belieue and a shamefull thing not to belieue or to doubt to the intent that perswading themselves for their own honour sake that they doe believe they should not come to knowe themselues incredulous and defectiue in the faith and so they never come to get that which Christ pretends they should get that is the knowledge of God and of Christ by the knowledge Faith and by Faith iustification by justification glorification and eternall life And in very truth great is the blindnesse ignorance of men in every thing that see only with the eyes of humane wisdome very excessiue great in this that not admitting in humane matters one testimony that testifies only of heare-say except he speak of certain knowledge or proper experience it perswades it selfe by it selfe and by others that in divine matters it sufficeth to testifie

mortifie it whilst he liues And he mortifies it rather with the consideration then with outward effects And the consideration is of that which Christ suffered of the being dead on the Crosse with Christ and the being raised with Christ and that it is his intent to liue in life eternall with Christ which considerations are of such efficacy in a man that making him to loose the tast of all things of this present life it mortifies in him all that is flesh and all that is world albeit I doe not think that it dies altogether untill that a man dye indeed From all this is gathered that humane wisdome knows not what thing mortification is and that the law of Moses commanded it but did not giue it and that it is onely gotten through the incorpororation wherewith wee who believe are incorporated in Iesus Christ our Lord. CONSID. LXXXV Foure manners by which a Christian knowes God by meanes of Christ. HAving often spoken of the knowledge of God as of a most important thing and so much that in it felicity and eternall life consisteth And having said that there are three waies to know God One by the contemplation of the creatures which is proper to the Gentiles the other by reading of the holy Scriptures which was proper to the Hebrews and the other by Christ which is proper to Christians And having never remained satisfied in this third I would say in the manner of that understanding through the which we Christians know God by Christ after that I had well considered it I finde Foure manners by which we Christians know God by Christ. The first is by the Revelation of Christ The second is by the communication of the holy spirit The third is by christian Regeneration Renovation And the fourth is by a certain inward vision by revelation of Christ. I understand that a Christian knows God when Christ himselfe suffers himselfe to be known because wee then know God in him he being the expresse image of God conformable to that he saith to S. Philip He that sees mee he seeth my Father also Ioh. 14. And conformable to what S. Paul saith Colos. 1. speaking of Christ who is the Image of the invisible God And that it is true that a Christian knows God by Revelation of Christ is manifest by that No man knows the Father but the Son and he to whom the Son will reveal him Mat. 11. This Revelation I understand is inward having nothing that is visible and so it appertaines to the inward eyes and not to the outward And this presupposeth the knowledge of Christ. I would say that to the knowledge of God by Revelation of Christ the knowledge of Christ proceeds which I understand consisteth in knowing his Divinity his Humanitie his being Divine and Humane his glory and his ignominy his dignity and his basenesse and so his omnipotency and his humility And it is certain that I knowing that Christ is the Image of God and seeing in him Omnipotency Iustice Truth and Fidelity I come to know not now by relation of holy Scripture but by the revelation of Christ himselfe that there is in God omnipotency justice and truth fidelity for as much as these things are in Christ and Christ is the Image of God In such manner as hee who in this manner knowes Christ not by relation of men but by inward revelation of Christ himself may say with truth that he knowes God in Christ As the man to whom S. Paul in whom was a great part of the image of Christ should haue discovered all his minde all his inward things might haue said with truth that hee knew Christ in S. Paul although this comparison serves not to ascertaine but to explain that which I would say By the communication of the holy spirit I understand the christian knowes God for I understand that the holy spirit is given to them that believe in Christ. And understanding by S. Paul that the spirit of God searcheth out the deep secrets of God I understand that we also know God himselfe and by Christ in as much as the holy spirit is given unto us by Christ Christ himselfe being he that gives it unto us by the will and ordinance of God even as by the selfe-same will and ordinance the light is given unto us by the sunne And it is certain that the holy spirit is efficacious in mee that am a christian to make mee know omnipotency in God through the great power which he shewes in mee mortifying me making mee alive to make mee know wisdome in God by the wisdome which I get through his holy spirit to make mee know justice in God because he justifies me in Christ to make me know truth in God because he keepes promise with me and to make me know goodnesse and mercy in God because he beares with my slothfulnesse and sinnes And so I come to know all these things in God not now by relation of Scriptures but by that which the holy spirit workes in me which is communicated to me through Christ. By the Christian Regeneration and Renovation I understand that a christian knowes God For I understand that he being regenerated and renewed by the holy spirit which is communicated unto us by Christ goes on leaving and renouncing the image of Adam which is proper unto us by the humane generation by which we are naturally the sons of wrath we are enemies of God impious rebells and infidels and goes on taking and recovering that image of God which is proper unto us by christian regeneration by which we are as it were naturally the sons of grace adopted sons of God we are the friends of God pious obedient and faithfull and so by litle and litle we come to know God in us knowing in us those divine perfections which the holy spirit attributes to God And getting the regeneration and the renovation through the holy spirit and the holy spirit through Christ it comes to be true that by Christ we know God in us And it is a cleare ease we should never know in God truth fidelity justice bounty were we not first true faithfull just good c. It being naturall of man to judge of others according to that which he knowes in himselfe By a certaine inward vision I understand that a christian knowes God after that he hath known him by the revelation of Christ by the communication of the holy spirit by the Christian regeneration And for as much as belongs to this knowledge I referre my selfe to that which I have said in another Consideration Wherein I have set certain comparisons by which a man that hath not attained to this knowledge of God may in some sort arrive to understand in what it doth consist And if he doe arrive I am sure that there will come upon him so great a desire of this knowledge that he will continually goe after God saying unto him these amorous words shew unto me thy

that if hee had never beene ashamed hee would never have gloried in not being ashamed In like manner I understand that none hath mortified the affection of the honour of the world and of his owne proper esteeme but hee that having beene sollicited thereunto and having combated is now no more sollicited This selfe same I understand of the affections of anger of envy of hatred and of revenge as I likewise understand it of the seusuall appetites Vnderstanding that none hath mortifi'd the carnall appetite but he that having beene sollicited by it and having combated with it is no more sollicited This selfe same I understand of that Appetite which delights to see things that please the eyes and to eate things that please the tast and to heare vaine things and matters of the world to smell delicate things understanding it that he only may say that he is mortified in these appetites who having beene sollicited and molested by them and having combated with them is is now reduced to such termes that either he feeles them not or is so much master of them that with ●…ase he overcomes them when ever they molest him And because none dyes but he that hath lived it being necessary that in them who are to be quickned all that which is according to the flesh should die as well touching affections as appetites I understand that all this being to die in the regenerated it is the worke of God that presently when a man sets himselfe to pietie he should bee molested and sollicited not only from those affections and appetites with which he was formerly sollicited but moreover with others which he never before felt being different yea and very strange ones to the intent that feeling them alive hee may kill them and killing them his regeneration should be made perfect as appertaines to them that are members of the Sonne of God Iesus Christ our Lord. CGNSID XLV Whence the feare of death proceeds in pious persons and that it is a signe of Predestination for a man to content himselfe that there should be another life VVIlling to understand whence it proceeds that many estranged from piety have voluntarily offered themselves unto Death and have willed and desired it and have themselves killed themselves And many pious are grieved and much resent the remembrance of Death not being able to reduce themselves to be content to die which according to humane reason ought to be cleane contrary In as much as they who are estranged from piety either doe not believe the other life or are doubtfull of it or doe not thinke to bee happy in it And in as much as they who are pious believe the other life and are very certaine of it and are assured that they shall be happy in it I come to thinke after this manner that amongst them who are estranged from piety some doe not feare death for some opinions whereof they are perswaded and others because they hold it for a point of valour not to feare it And others love death believing that they shall get fame by dying and others because it is troublesome and painefull unto them to live in necessity or in dishonour wherein they doe as the sick-patient that puts himselfe into hazard of running into a greater infirmity through desire of comming out of that lesse which he feeles In all these I consider their owne proper rashnesse their owne proper folly and their owne proper impatiency Moreover I thinke that amongst the pious that feare death some feare it because they are not throughly confirmed in piety nor throughly assured of that Iustice by which eternall life is obtained others feare it through naturall instinct it being Gods doing that men should feare Death and love life to the intent they may preserve themselves in life and others feare it in as much as it is given to men in punishment of their sinne it being Gods doing that a man should feel as a punishment that which is given him as a punishment by generall sentence which belongs to every man as indeede the evill of originall sinne belongs to every man In every of these I know pietie Iustice and holinesse albeit in the first I know weaknesse and infirmity as I also know in those pious persons who without feeling the inward Inspiration that God would have them to die doe desire and love Death For this desire is not free from some branch of impatiency like unto that of them who are strangers from piety Whence I take this resolution that for as much as in them who are strangers from pietie the not fearing of death and the loving it proceeds from rashnesse folly and impatiency and the fearing of death in the pious proceeds from pietie Iustice and holinesse that neither the stranger from piety hath cause to exalt himselfe when he feares not Death nor the pious hath cause to be sorrowfull when hee findes himselfe fearefull of Death knowthat the feare comes to him through weaknesse and infirmity for his small assurance and firmenes●…e in his confidence or it comes to him by naturall inclination or it comes to him through sence of the punishment of sinne which is effectuall in all them that appertaine to the people of God yea even when themselves thinke it not so Whereupon if a man shall say that Christ having satisfyed for originall sinne they who are his members ought not to feele the punishment or chastisement of death I shall say unto him that Christ did not revoke that sentence given against us whereby we are all obliged to Death but that he remedyed it by his resurrection in such sort as wee die by Adam and shall rise againe by Christ. I also take another resolution that is that a pious person doth then content himselfe of Death as pious when by his death the glory of God is illustrated as the Christian Martyrs did content themselves and when it is Gods will that he should die For then as I understand God gives him content in such sort as when a pious person feeles in himselfe a strong feare of Death not being able to bring himselfe to be content to die hee may hold for certaine that God will not at that time take him from this life And he ought to thinke that as long as he feares the naturall inclination and the chastizement of sinne worke their effects in him and so hee will not be grieved nor accompt himselfe Iesse in pietie for this matter They that are strangers from piety when they least feare Death and when they have most brought themselves to be contented with it if they wouid speake truth will confesse that if it were in their power they would not that their should be any other life for they are not certaine to be happy therein And they who are pious when they most feare Death speaking the truth will confesse that they would not be contented that there were no other life feeling within themselves that God hath not created

them for this but for another And for a man to be thus not contented of this life only as I understand it is a great countersigne for a man to bee assured of his piety and of his Predestination For I hold for certaine that to them to whom God meanes to give eternall life hee doth also put a great love and great affection of it in such sort that hee who shall finde in his minde a desire that there were no other life let him hold himselfe impious although hee would choose to die and let him not despaire For albeit he be out of piety hee ought to thinke that God is able to draw him out of it as he hath drawn and doth draw all them that have beene and are in it And hee who shall finde in his minde a love of eternall life not contenting himselfe with ●…his present may hold himselfe for pious and for predestinated unto life everlasting although he feare death considering all this which hath beene said and above all that even the only Begotten Sonne of God feared Death Iesus Christ our Lord. CONSID. XLVI That they who walke through the Christian path without the inward light of the holy Spirit are like unto them that walke in the night without the light of the Sunne ALL they who being guided only by their naturall light and by humane wisdome presume to understand the things that are of the Spirit of God to walk in the Christian way that is to live Christianly I liken them to a man that goes by night with the light only of his own eyes through a way that is full of dangers and inconveniencies And it seemes to me that as to such a one sometimes a piece of wood will seeme a thiefe and a stone an armed man and thereupon he will fly and be afraid and another time the water will seeme a stone and he will wet himselfe and the shadow will seeme to him a tree and thinking to leane to it he will fall on the ground Even so neither more nor lesse hee that walkes Gods way being guided by his naturall light is sometimes affrighted by those things which ought not to affright him and is sometimes secured and reposeth himselfe on those things on which he ought not to secure nor repose And so going hee goes on groping like a man amazed and without knowing what he doth Hee that walkes by the light of the holy Scripture and by the examples of Saints but without the Spirit I liken him unto one that walkes by night carying a candle in his hand and goes not altogether in the darke but yet notwitstanding he goes not without feare nor hee goes not secure in his minde nor certaine not to fall into many inconveniences Whereupon I understand that as to the traveller of whome I have spoken that travels by night by the light of his owne eyes only the best and most wholesome counsell that could be given him were that hee should stay in his journey whilst the night lasteth untill such time as the ●…unne were risen and would shew him the way and the things that are in it and he might travell being helped by the light of his own eyes Even so to him that walkes Gods way only with his naturall light with the testimony of Scriptures and with the example of Saints the best and most wholesome counsell that could be given him is that he should firme himselfe in his journey whilst the night of his owne proper blindnesse continueth untill such time that God send him his spirit by meanes whereof with his naturall light●… and with his wisedome hee may be able well to understand the journee and to see all that is therein And if any person shall demand me saying How shall I doe to firme my selfe in this journey I will answer him Exercise not thy selfe in any thing pretending Iustification thereby nor Religion of any sort nor of any quality and pray God affectionately that hee would send thee his Spirit which may be unto thee as a Sunne in this journey wherein by thine owne wisedome thou neither knowest nor canst travell and stand attentive all the time that God shall deferre to send unto thee his Spirit applying thy selfe to all those things which offer themselves to thee in which thou knowest true piety without any mixture of superstition and content thy selfe of whatsoever God doth and be discontented of all whatever thou dost thy selfe This is that which I should say unto him And I understand that as if the sunne should breake forth altogether with all his splendor it would in such sort blind the eyes of the Traveller of whom I have spoken that he would not be able to make any more use of them then as if it were night Even so in like manner if the Spirit of God should at once give unto a person all that knowledge which he gives in lengh of time it would blind him and put him in greater inconvenience then at first And because this is true I understand that our God rich in liberality and in mercy gives unto us his spirit and he gives it unto us in such manner as it may helpe and not harme us not according to our appetites but according to his eternall wisedome by which as a good Father he governeth them who are his sonnes remaining incorporated in his only Sonne Iesus Christ our Lord. CONSID. XLVII Foure Counter-signes to know them by who pretend piety and the spirit not having either the one or the other VNderstanding that the false Prophets of whom our Lord Iesus Christ counselleth us to beware because they shew themselves as Sheep and are Wolves are properly those who having entred themselves into Christian piety pretending by their own exercises and by their own industry to obtain the spirit of God and to become spirituall and not being able to compasse their intent remain alwaies impious in their minds although they dissemble and feigne piety as much as it may bee feigned with strange superstitiōns and other ceremonies which haue an appearance of piety understanding likewise that the cause why Iesus Christ our Lord ●…aith unto us That we should beware of them is because they are the most pernitious pestilence that can be for them who attend unto piety in as much as having ●…ost the shame of the world and having renounced honour and outward reputation and having lost the respect unto God and to all religion they doe only attend to doe all the dammage that they can to piety and to those persons that attend unto it finding the dore open thereunto by the communication and conversation that they haue with such persons Now desiring that pious and spirituall persons should know these kinds of Wolves that make themselus Sheep and knowing them should beware to converse and deale with them with that dove-like simplicity which they haue obtained through the holy Spirit using that serpentine wisdome which is naturall unto them I haue