childe Lord I beleeue helpe mine vnbeleefe Yea as Saint Austine admonisheth Tota opera nostra in hac vita est sanare oculum cordis vnde videtur Deus Aug. de verb. Dom. ser 18. Our whole worke in this life must be continually imploied about the cure of the eye of our heart whereby God is seene that is our faith The which lesson he learned of our Sauiour Christ who when the people demanded of him What they should doe that they might worke the workes of God Answered them saying This is the worke of God that ye beleeue Iohn 6. 26. on him whom he hath sent and so his beloued Disciple hath taught vs also This is the commandement of God 1 Iohn 3. 23. that ye beleeue in the name of the Sonne of God and loue one another as he gaue commandement Wherefore the calumination of the carnall professour and of the Romane Catholike made against the doctrine of the Gospell is vniust and vntrue which is that an easie way is laid open by the professours of the Gospell to life euerlasting and heauen set at a very small rate for that they teach that God so loued the world that he gaue his only begotten Sonne to the end that Ioh. 3. 16. whosoeuer beleeueth in him should not perish but haue life euerlasting Yea our Catholike Romanists may iustly bee challenged for doing great and intollerable wrong to our Christian â—aith in that they so viliâ—ie and debase the same that they make it common not onely to the reprobate but also to the very Deuils themselues whereas in Tit. 1. 1. Act. 13. 43. very truth it is proper and peculiar to Gods elect yea euen to such as are ordained to life euerlasting THE SECOND PART OF THEOLOGICALL LOGICKE The questions that are handled in this second part concerning the doctrines of faith and are cleered by arguments drawne from all Topicke places Are these QVEST. I. The Church is not alwayes glorious and notorious as a City seated vpon an high hill Arguments drawne from the efficient cause GOD would haue all men saued and come to the knowledge of the truth and by the voice of truth vttered by the Church 1 Tim. 2. 4. 1 Tim. 3. 15. the pillar and ground of truth he doth call to him such as are to be of the truth doth cause theÌ„ to hearken vnto the truth and to be led thereby into the euerlasting habitations Psal 43. 3. Now truth and falshood are nigh neighbours and dwell neere each to other for where God hath his Church the deuill hath his Chappell and their houses in outward shew differ little sauing that for the most part the fore-front of falshoodes habitation is gloriously set out garnished and trimmed whereas the doore of truth is plaine and homely Whereby it commeth to passe that falsehood hath many guests those also many times of the highest 1 Cor. 1. 27. esteeme wheras truth findeth few that will lodge with her and those most commonly of the meanest reputation Moreouer falshood teacheth doctrines more sutable to mens peruerse iudgements and more fauourable to their corrupt affections and thereby findeth kinde entertainment both with Obsequium amiâ—…s Veritas 〈◊〉 parâ—… great and small whereas truth crosseth the corrupt humours and opinions of all naturall men and that in plaine and direct manner for she is simple and plaine Tom-tell truth and therefore goeth commonly with a scracht face and is banished both from countrey and Court Yea she is oftentimes most shamefully slandered and grieously persecuted by those that Cant. 5. 7. call themselues the Patrons and Pillars of truth This was well knowne and acknowledged by the Heathen Veritas vbique est mater sâ—…ctâ—tatis Chrys hom 9 in Psal 118. Veritas temporis Filia Veritas in profundo demeâ—si themselues For their Poets faine that Truth the Mother of vertue and the daughter of time doth often and that for a long time lye hid in caueâ— and darke places vnderneath the earth and that she is hated of many and defaced with slaunders and oppressed with crosses and yet not so but that sometimes she doth arise and come into light And hence is it that they paint her naked flying out of a Caue by the helpe of Saturne and that vpon a sodaine that so it may appeare that shee is sent of God And verily with how great a mist throughout the whole world was truth darkened vntill the Incarnation of Christ Act. 17. 30. surely so long and so great was that darkenesse that the space there of is iustly called by the Apostle the time of Ignorance And hath not the like happened in these last times by Antichrists Apoc. 12. 6. driuing the Church into the Wildernesse that so hee might bring in a great Apostacy from the faith wherefore 2 Thes 2. 3. seeing the doctrine of the truth which is the pure seed whereby the Church doth bring forth her children to God is often Iac. 1. 18. darkened and obscured and after a sort a banished person here on earth it cannot be that the Church the professor of Truth should bee generally and for the most part bright and glorious and as a Citie or Tower seated vpon an hill QVEST. II. All the workes of the faithfull are stained with sinne and therefore no man in this life doth perfectly fulfill the Law of God No worke can exceed the skill and hability of the workeman happily it may be inferiour thereto but none of the faithfull are full and perfectly iust none of them are wholly renewed in this life none is come vnto perfection For the best Phil 3. 12. Viatores sumus non comprehensores quantum quid intelligitur tantum dilâ—gitur Aug in Ioh. tract 41. Aug de peccat mer. remiss lib. 2. cap. 7. are but trauellers towards it they are not as yet come to the end of their way We know but in part and therefore we loue but in part and therefore can but imperfectly bring forth the fruits of sincere loue We are sincere but in part seeing wee are still ready to be misled with some by and sinister respect or other There is in vs as Saint Austin saith freedome in part and bondage in part and not as yet a totall pure and perfect freedome Our inward man saith he is not throughly renewed and so farre forth as it is not renewed it remaineth still in it's olde estate Wherefore seeing in one man there is but one vnderstanding and one will from whence proceeds all his actions and seeing that this his vnderstanding and will is partly lightned and partly darkened partly new and partly Rom. 7. 14. Ioh. 13. 10. Ier. 17. 14. Cant. 1. 4. Gal. 5. 17. old partly bond and partly free partly washed and partly still to be washed partly whole and partly still to be healed partly faire and partly blacke partly flesh and partly spirit therefore we cannot performe
hearer also are co-workers with God and yet hereof they are not to be proud For what hast thou that 1 Cor. 4. 7 thou hast not receiued And if thou hast receiued it why gloriest thou as if thou hadst not receiued it Of our selues we are dead in our sinnes and altogether vnable to moue our selues to the working out of Faith and an holy life but are meerely passiue Eph 2. 1. Rom. 5. 6 in our spirituall resurrection vntill God by his Spirit put good thoughts into our mindes and holy desires into our hearts yet then we our selues beginne to thinke well and to desire that which is good albeit not of our selues but by the gracious working of God's most holy Spirit By the grace of God saith the Apostle I am that I am and his grace which is in me was not in vaine but I laboured more abundantly then 1 Cor. 15. 10. they all yet not I but the grace of God which is with me I laboured saith the Apostle more abundantly then they all in working out the worke of the saluation of many but yet not I as of my selfe or by any naturall power that was in me but by the worke of the grace of God which was with me For so he doth declare his meaning to be in the third chapter of his second Epistle where for that some among them called in question the truth of his Apostleship hee boldly aâ—oucheth that their regeneration and conversion to God wrought by his ministery but by the power of Christ was a most euident demonstration thereof Such trust saith hee haue wee through Christ to God not that we are sufficient of our selues to thâ—nke any thing belonging to the worke of our owne saluation or to the saluation of any other as of our selues but 2 Cor. 3. 5 our sufficiency is of God The Faithfull then must haue an holy minde and an holy will before they can be the holy ones of God yet it is neither of these that they haue of themselues but of the pâ—wâ—râ—ull grace of God We will saith S. Austin but it is God that worketh in vs to will we worke but it is God that Aug. de gratiâ— libero arâ— c. 16 worketh in vs to worke and that of his owne good will Thus to beleeue and to professe is behâ—ofull and expedient for vs this is according to godlines and truth that an humble and lowly confâ—ssion be made by vs and that all be giuen and ascribâ—d to God seeing our life is in greater security when we ascribe all to God and doe not commit our selues in part to our selues and in part to God So then it is a most certain truth that in our regeneration and deliuerance from the being and bondage of sinne it is God that worketh in vs euery good thought word and worke and also that herein we our selues are co-workers with God as it may appeare by this euen for that this worke proceedeth after so slow and slacke a manner Adam indeed was made perfectly holy and righteous and that in a moment euen at his first being and existing because the Lord Almighty and all-sufficient wrought himselfe and by himselfe that holinesse and righteousnesse that was in him but now the Faithfull are herein â—oint-workers with God and therefore this worke goeth forward slowly because of the small measure of grace that is giuen to them the great power of the remnants of their inbrâ—d corruptions which continually striue against the worke of grace and hinder greatly the proceedings thereof The faithfull in diuers places of Scriptures are compared to starres in respect of their profitable and fruitfull vses but may they not also be likened vnto them in respect of their manifold imperfections and aberrations Their proper motions are but slow yea some of them very slow For some of them finish â—heir couâ—se in a yeare one in two yeare one in twelue yeare one in thirty yeare and all that be fixed in the fitmament in forty nine thousand yeares Neither keep they their rightâ— curse always vnder the Ecliptick line but somtimes turne to one side thereof sometimes to the other neither are these their courses still direct and forward but also sometimes retrograde and backward in their cycles epcicycles towards their apogeïon and towards their perigeïon giuing sometimes a cheerefull aspect and sometimes an opposite and disastrous stowne So is it with the faithfull they are slow in the entire accomplishing of any one â—oly motion yet the motions of all the powers of their soules and bodies will not be made perfite vntill the glorious commâ—ng of Christ vnto iudgement Verily while they liue here in this world they follow not continually the streight course of Christ the Sunne of righteousnesse vnder the Eclipticke line of his holy Word but sometimes they turne to one side and sometimes to the other neither doe they alwayes keep a direct course and goe on forward in the way of godlines but sometimes they are retrograde and goe backward and sometimes running in a maze being doubtfull and vncertaine which way to take sometimes they are in their apogeïon and sometimes in their perigeïon that is sometimes they are lifted vp with heauenly meditations and sometimes pressed downe with earthly cares and sometimes they giue a cheerefull aspect to the good proceedings of others and somtimes they become their cleane opposites and cast vpon them a disastrous frowne Wherefore it behooueth the faithfull to giue all diligence to worke out their saluation not only with hearts trembling at their owne imperfections but also by being fearefull to ascribe to themselues the glory of willing or working any thing that is good seeing as the Apostle adâ—oyneth it is God that worketh Phil. 2. 13. in you the will and the deed and that of his own goodwill And yet they themselues must vnderstand desire and accomplish that which belongeth to the honour of God and to their owne and the Churches good if they will be the accepted seruants of God The Church of Rome doth lay this as an hainous offence vnto our charge that by us the nature of man is greatly disgraced in that wee teach that men are become brutish without reason and as dead stocks and stones without sense and life because we teach that by nature they haue not liberty list nor life vnto any thing that is truly and religiously good And why doe they not bring in the same inditement against the bookes of the Canonicall Scriptures which teach that euery man is a beast in his owne knowledge and that our hearts are stony vntill Ier. 10. 14 Ezek. 36. 26. Eph. 2. 1. they be made flesh and that we are starke dead in trespasses and sinnes and therefore haue no sanctified will sense nor life vntill Christ doth quicken vs by his holy Spirit and raise vs vp to an holy life Our doctrine then herein is none other then the very doctrine of the Holy Ghost neither
enabled them to vse more diligence in their weaker meanes and thereby aduanced them to greater gifts Now if against these things which haue beene deliuered it be obiected that faith doth not produce her actions by meanes of discourse but by the immediate operation and reuelation of the Spirit of God albeit this hath beene most abundantly confuted in all the former part of this Chapter yet if it were not so this one reason is fully sufficient to conuince the same For where is faith is that to the minde which the eye is to the body then it followeth that as the eye doth not apprehend his obiect immediately but as it is made conspicuous by meanes of some bodily light so faith which is the sight of the soule doth not apprehend truth which is her generall obiect vnlesse it be made manifest by the light of reaâ—on and meanes of discourse The which is so sure and certaine a truth that the Apostles themselues who had the knowledge of all diuine and humane verities necessary for such as should be teachers and instructers of the whole world giuen vnto them not by their owne labours and studdy but by the immediate reuelation of the Spirit of God yet had not this their knowledge without discourse As it is manifest by manner of handling and deciding the question that was brought vnto them which was whether the workes of the Law were to be ioyned with faith in Christ in the case of iustification and saluation For it is recorded that after the question had beene debated among them with great disputation and discourse the Apostle Saint Peter determined the same and that not without the allegation Act. 15. 7. of many arguments and reasons As Saint Iames caused some clauses to be added thereto but not without the producing of iust grounds for the same So when the people of God were to be carried into captiuitie among the heathen how did the Lord fore-seeing that they should be intised to Idolatry strengthen them in the Faith and Seruice of the true God and arme them against all contrary perswasions but by deliuering vnto them such reasâ—ns as whereby they might be fully perswaded that their owne God was the onely true God Ier. 10. 11. and that the gods of the Heathen were but titularie gods that Isa 41. 21. is gods in name and not in deed It is a truth confessed euen by some of the chiefe pillars of the Church of Rome that all the greatest mysteries of Faith that are necessary to saluation are plainely set down in the Canonicall Scriptures Now I would demand whether these doctrines there deliuered are treated and discoursed of there verbally and in bare words onely or really with sufficient waight of sound reason And verily how can any one reason without reason and discourse without discourse That there is but one true God euen the God of Abraham Isaac and Israel the Prophets Isay and Ieremy proue by most sound and sufficient arguments in the places cited a little before That this one God is distinguished into three persons The Father the Sonne and the Holy Ghost why may it not be both iustified and illustrated and made euident by sound and sufficient arguments and reasons For whereas God is essentially good yea goodnesse it selfe seeing it is the property of that which is good to communicate it selfe to other why Bonum est sui communicativum Pro. 8. 22. Ioh. 5. 26. Ioh 16. 15. Ioh 15. 26. may it not be beleeued as an vndoubted truth that God the Father gaue his aeternall essence to God the Sonne begotten of him before all worlds and that God the Father and the Sonne gaue their aeternall essence to God the Holy Ghost proceeding from them both from all aeternity Hath God giuen to some of his mortall creatures power to beget things of the same essence and substance with themselues And may not the aeternall God beget an aeternall Sonne of the very selfe-same essence and substance with himselfe And hath God giuen to some other of his creatures as to graine of all sorts this power that things of the same essence and substance doe proceed from them And hath not the aeternall Father and the Sonne power that an aeternall Spirit of the same essence and substance should proceed from them both from all aeternity Is not this world with the creatures therein contained a most liuely glasse wherein the most glorious Creator is shadowed out vnto vs And euery good thing that hath a reall and an absolute being in the creature hath it not a reall existence in God For God is most absolutely and fully perfect and therefore the perfection of all good things is in God in the highest degâ—ee of absolute and full perfection And therefore seeing that paternitie and siliation and procession are good things in the creature why may they not rightly be 〈◊〉 to be in God in whom is the fulnesse of all good things Of all the creatures of this inferiour world the soule of man is most principall as the Sunne is the chiefest of all those goodly lights that are planâ—ed aboue in the heauenly spheâ—…es and therefore they are the fittest among all the noble creatures in some sort to resemble vnto vs the glorious Trinâ—tie The reasonable soule of man hath a reasonable substance which be â—etteth a reasonable vnderstanding from which proceedeth a reasonable will and yâ—t this is but one soule So Anima mundi est Deus God the soule of the world and the life of all things being aeternall begate his aeternall vnderstanding and wisedome before all worlds from whom proceedeth from all aeternity the holy Spirit with whom and by whom they will and worke all things and this aeternall soule wisedome and will is but one God So in the Sunne there is a most singular pure substance and a most excellent lustre and brightnesse begotten thereof and residing in the same and glorious beames issuing from both So in the most glorious Deity wee may behold God the Father the Father of Light God the Sonne the Iac. 1. 17. brightnesse of his Fathers glory God the Holy Ghost by whose beames the Light of the Gospell is made manifest Heb 1 3. vnto vs and yet this Father of Light this brightnesse of his Fathers glory and this glorious beame issuing out of both 1 Cor. 2. 10. is but one and the selfe-same God This euen the greatest mystery of our Christian profession was in part knowne vnto very Heathens themselues For they auerred that Minerua the Goddesse of Wisedome was begotten of their great God Iupiter without the helpe of Iuno which came in all likelihood from this vndoubted truth that the second person of the Trinity the essentiall wisedome of God was begotten of the true Iehovah before all worlds Now if any one being of a moâ—e metaphysicall apprehension desireth to see concerning that high mysterie other reasons that are more metaphysicall let him repaire to the
dreadfull execution of Gods vengeance due to the same Our conscience saith Saint Cyprian would be afraid if it did beleeue but because it Cypr. de simpl Praelatorum beleeueth not therefore it feareth not If it did beleeue it would take heed and if it did take heed it would auoid both the euill of sinne and the punishment thereof Wherefore as saith Saint Ambrose the wicked goe hence to hell that there they Am. in 1. ep ad Thess cap. 4. may learne that to be true which here they would not The persons indued with a temporary faith draw nearest to such as haue obtained a true sauing and iustifying faith For they come gladly vnto the holy assemblies and heare the word willingly and incontinently with ioy receiue the same but this they doe vpon some sinister respect as for curiosity of knowledge or for vaine-glory or for profit and preferment and while they obtaine thereby their desires they will seeme to be zealous and â—eruent professors but when they are crossed in their purposes then their zeale draweth cold and the heat thereof is vtterly extingnished whereas they that are endued Luke 8. 13. with a true â—aith receiue the word with a simple honest and good heart and in all sincerity imbrace the Gospel for the Gospels sake euen because it openeth the way to true happinesse The Temporisers happinesse whatsoeuer outward profession he maketh to the contrary is to enioy earthly things and therefore he will forsake faith and a good conscience and God also rather then he will forsake them but such as be faithfull men indeed will not leaue the grant of Gods endlesse loue in Christ made ouer to them in the Gospell no not to gaine a vast world of glorie or to escape a whole hell of miserie And this commeth to passe for that the word of God is of the one but superficially receiued and therefore at the last withereth and dieth Whereas in the other it taketh deepe roote and therefore liueth and flourisheth in them continually In the one it possesseth as it were the vnfensed suburbes of their senses and the weake sconses of their phantasies but in the other it seateth it selfe in the well-defenced Cities of their soules and in the vnconquerable Castle of a good conscience In the one it is entertained as a passenger for a night or as a soiourner Acts 8. 37. Coll. 3. 16. for a season In the other it is receiued as an inhabitant and as an owner in his owne home In the one it is as the Ioh. 2. ep 3. Iude v. 13. Pro. 4. 18. 2 Pet. 1. 9. Ioh. 9. 39. Heb. 6. 3. Ioh. 6. 35. flashing of a falling Starre in the other it is as the light of the Sunne which shineth more and more vntill the perfect day In the one it is as the darke glimpse of a purblind eye in the other it is as the sight of the eye that is begun to be well cleared in good part made sound and whole Lastly in the one it is as the dainty dishes of a sumptuous feast tasted of but a little in the other it is as food so well chewed ruminated and digested that they which eate thereof neuer hunger after any other food of their soules but content themselues with this only And verily he that hath once found this pretious pearle Mat. 13. 46. Gen. 15. 1. will be ready to sell all to buy the same he will with Abraham the Father of the faithfull leaue his Countrey and kindred and all things else that he may haue God his buckler and his exceeding great reward yea in respect of the invaluable recompence of this inestimable reward he will with Moses refuse to be called the sonne of Pharaoh's daughter and chose Heb. 11. 24. rather to suffer adversity with the people of God then to enioy the pleasures of sinne for a season and will esteeme the very rebuke of Christ greater riches then the treasures of Aegypt It is then a sound and certaine knowledge of the Gospell that breedeth a stable and a setled faith it is such a receiuing of the words of Christ as whereby we surely know that Ioh. 17. 18. Col. 3. 6. hee came from God and so beleeue that he was sent from him And hereof it is that as vnstaiednesse and instability is set Iac. 1. 6. 2 Pet. 3. 10. Rom. 14. 22. Col. 2. 5. 2 Pet 3. 15. Col. 2. 7. Eph. 2. 20. Heb. 6. 18. Eph. 6. 13. Gal 5. 1. 1 Cor. 15. 58. 16. 13. 1 Pet. 5. 9. Psal 81. 12. downe by the Spirit of God as a true note of an vnsound Faith so stability and stedfastnesse is deliuered as a sure token of a sound beliefe And therefore it is not without cause that the faithfull are so often exhorted to labour to be rooted and built vpon Christ and to lay sure Anchor-hold vpon him and to be stedfast and to stand fast in faith and to seeke to be established therein by the which so often inculcating of one and the same exhortation the Spirit of God laboureth to beat in throughly into our hearts this perswasion that a sure knowledge and a resolute assent to the doctrines of Faith maketh a true faithfull Christian Wherefore seeing the true Christian faith is a setled and stedfast assent to all diuine verities necessary to saluation proceeding from a right and wise apprehension of the arguments and reasons whereon they are grounded then the implicite vailed and blinde faith commended so highly by the Church of Rome is not the true Christian faith that proceedeth from God the Father of Light but Ioh. 11. 9. from the Diuell the Prince of darkenesse because it maketh men to fall into the pit of errour and sinne and so casteth Ioh. 12 35. them downe headlong into the dungeon of destruction CHAP. V. A sauing Faith is alwayes accompanied with all other sanctifying graces and namely with constancy and perseuerance as being the fruitfull mother and continuall nurse of them all THe blessed Apostle S. Paul describeth the faith of Gods Elect or sauing faith by calling it the knowledge of the Tit. 1. 1. 1 Tim. 3. 16. truth which is according to godlinesse for that it is the fruitfull mother thereof As he calleth the Diuine doctrine of the Gospell the mysterie of godlinesse because it is the powerfull instrument of God to procreate the same For it openeth the vnspeakable vnsearchable riches of the loue and goodnesse of God in Christ and giueth light and sight to apprehend the same and thereby begetteth true godlinesse The cause procreating and preseruing of all holinesse and happinesse both of Angels and men either in this life or in the life to come is the Vision contemplationâ— and Apprehension of the Lords vnspeakeable goodnesse and loue The plaine and euident revelation and manifestation thereof in the Gospell openeth the eyes of a blinded sinner and giueth to him the sight of a true