beleeueth in him is not ashamed but euery one that sinneth is ashamed therefore hee that falleth into the shame of sinne seemeth as yet not to beleeue Cyprian Cyprian singeth the same song where he saith Quomodo dixit se credere in Christum qui non facit quod Christus facere praecepit How doth hee say that hee beleeueth in Christ who doth not that which Christ hath commaunded him Ambrose is as peremptorie in the Point Amb. lib. 6. Epist 36. where he saith Vbi quis caeperit luxuriart incipit deuiare a vera fide Hee that swaggereth swarueth from the Fayth Aug. in Ioh. serm 61. Augustine hereunto performeth testimonie in sundry places as where hee sayth Qui fidem habet sine spe et dilectione Christum esse credit non in Christum credit Whosoeuer hath Fayth without Hope and Loue beleueth that Christ is but hee beleeueth not in Christ Aug. de fide et operib c. 23. Againe where he sayth Insoperabilis est bona vita a fide quae per dilectionem operatur immo ueró ipsa est bona vita Good life is not to be seuered from Fayth which worketh by Loue yea Fayth is of it selfe good life Wherefore the 12. Article of the Christian confession of the Church of England is most sound which professeth in this wise Good workes are the fruites of Iustifying fayth and doe necessarily spring and grow from thence Wherefore Fayth beeing the badge of the Elect and Workes inseparably being the effectes thereof the sequell must needes bee that Good workes must be also the Liuerie of the Elect whereby they may be knowne Which stoppeth the mouth of our carnall Epicures who vpon the foundation of Gods immutable decree of our election would lay the structure and composition of a dissolute conuersation while they reason thus Wee may liue as wee list because if wee be predestinated vnto life wee can not be lost But such are to know that the End and the Meanes that make to the end must needes goe togeather Fayth and Good Workes inseparably accompanie the worke of our Election God glorifieth not the Elect before hee hath Called and Iustified them yea before they Beleeue and declare by their Workes that they doe beleeue Ephes 2.10 Hence is it that the Apostle sayth Wee are created in Christ Iesu vnto good Workes which God hath ordained that wee should walke in them Ephes 1.4 And hereto serue these inferences of Saint Paul of Loue vnfaigned 1. Tim. 1.19 vnto whic h we are chosen and of a good Conscience which as an impartible companion is of the Fayth of the Elect. This endeauour to performe Good works is to all the Elect necessarie 2. Pet. 1.10 as Peter teacheth where he willeth vs that wee make sure our Election and Vocation by good workes as many Copies haue it not to God our vocation being certaine vnto him before the Worldes creation but to our selues to our neighboures This is one of the chiefest vses we make of Good workes that by them not as causes but effectes of our Election and Fayth wee our selues and our brethren are assured and secured of our saluation Where the mouthes of the Pelagians are stopped who make the foresight of our Fayth and Workes in God the cause of our Saluation when as of the quite contrary-side God hath predestinated vs to Fayth and Good workes because he hath chosen vs to eternall life 1. Cor. 7.25 Wherefore Paul speaketh cautelously where he sayth Jobtained mercy of the Lord to be faythfull he saith not Because I was to be faithfull As where he speaketh in the same manner thus That we should be vnblamable not because we were to bee such As againe where hee sayth Ephes 1.4 Wee are created in Christ Iesu vinto Good workes which God hath ordained that wee should walke in them not because wee did them As finally where he saith Tit. 2.11 The Grace of God hath appeared that wee should liue soberly righteously godly not because wee were so to doe It can not be rightly said that God first foreseeth that men are to beleeue and afterward predestinateth them to beleeue Because whom hee foreknew should beleeue therefore hee foreknew it Contra. Tryphon because hee decreed it Wherefore Iustine Martyr calleth them The Elect who are foreknowne that they should beleeue wherefore such as by Gods grace are delighted in Good workes in them there is a certaine signe and seale that they beleeue in Christ and so that they are elected in Christ vnto eternall life Fayth is of the nature of a Tree in operation which naturally of it selfe bringeth foorth fruites so that there is no need that the Tree be commaunded to yeeld her encrease So the faythfull man without coaction disposeth himselfe to be fruitfull in Good workes the Law of God being grafted in his heart so that his delight is dayly in the same So that of his owne accord he doth Good workes as of him selfe hee cateth hee drinketh seeth heareth and performeth such faculties as are incident to Nature As hee that is thirstie doth but stay vntill drinke come and as hee that is hungrie expecteth his meate and then willingly and naturally hee taketh them both So the Faythfull man hungrie and thirstie of Righteousnesse taketh the aduantage of all occasions to doe the Workes thereof Although Fayth alone iustifieth and knitteth the Marriage knotte betweene the Soule Christ and is properly the Wedding garment and the signe Tau which must Protect vs from the power of the euill Angels yet Fayth is neuer seuered from Charitie Wherefore the Faythfull are resembled to Orchardes Vines and Trees that bring foorth Fruite in season The Church by Isaiah is resembled to a Vine Isai 5.7 furnished with a Wine-presse and Towre for the purpose wherefore Christ sayth Ioh. 15.1 I am the Vine and my Father is the Husbandman euery Branch that beareth not fruite in mee hee taketh away and euery one that beareth fruite he purgeth it that it may bring foorth more fruite Wherefore God is sayd to haue come downe to the Garden of Nuttes Cant. 6.10 to see the fruites of the Valley to see if the Vine budded and the Pomegranats flourished Moreouer we are to Bring foorth Fruites in patience For God Luk. 8.15 the Lord of the Vineyard commeth to his Vine with a pruning Knife in his hand to toppe and cutte off the luxurious Branches that we might bring foorth more Fruite and be in better liking Christians are Trees of righteousnesse Ezech. 47.4.12 grewing by the Riuers of the Sanctuarie But not such Trees as ours are for they take roote vpwarde in Heauen in Christ and their branches grow downeward and fructifie among men Wherefore theoricall Religion is not enough It serueth not our turnes to beare the name of Christians if wee liue not as Christians True Pietie challengeth a departure frō Iniquitie Jacobs smooth Voyce and Esaus rough
Apostles except Iudas was lost because he was so preordinated to be lost Whosoeuer therefore are truely giuen to Christ by the Father they are in such safe protection vnder Christ as they cannot perish because they are Elected that is Iohn 13.18 giuen to Christ Elsewhere foretelling vs that one of the Colledge of Apostles should betray him he prefaceth to the poynt in hand in this wise I speake not of you all J know whom J haue chosen but it is that the Scripture might be fulfilled Hee that eateth bread with me hath lift vp his heele against mee Hee giueth the cause to Gods eternall Election that none of the Apostles was to admit such a prodigious sinne of prodition but onely Iudas as proposed to perdition Thus hauing heard Christ him selfe speaking for vs what need wee more witnesses Rom. 8.30 Yet wee please to heare what Saint Paul can say for vs. In his golden Chaine twined with his foure indiuiduall linckes the person Predestinated is proclaymed at the Standard therewithall Called Iustified Glorified And hee is in his expostulatorie Scrutinie Inquirie after him that dare stand out aduersarie to this his positiue Diuinitie Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect It is God that Iustifieth who shall condemne As if he should haue disputed it thus They are Elected therefore can they not be Condemned Yea he prouoketh the proudest Enimie to the field for the triall of this trueth as Affliction Tribulation and all the vnited forces of Temptations telling vs how these when they haue done their worst can neuer be of power to raise our Foundation and to sunder vs from Christ Lastly he would haue vs beleeue this as a sure word of prophecie that neither Angels Dominations or Powers future nor present thinges altitudes or deapthes nor any thing else from the Center to the Circumference can vndoe this Foundation of our eternall and infallible Election Destroy this Foundation and all these rowes of spirituall Stones layde herevpon must needs come tumbling downe As this saying of Saint Paul Rom. 5.1 Being iustified by Fayth wee haue Peace towards God Which peace of conscience towards God we can not haue so long as we hoouer as the Rauen betweene Heauen and Earth and are in perplexitie about our Election As this other his ghostly Aphorisme Fayth maketh not ashamed Rom. 5.5 because the loue of God is shed abroad in our heartes by the holy Ghost which is giuen vs If fully and finally this loue may be lost of vs whereby we are couered with shame and confusion as it were with a Cloake As this his other peece of Lecture Rom. 8.16 The spirit of God witnesseth with our spirit that we are the children of God So be it that wee yeeld that the Spirit may be quite extinguished in vs. It is Saint Iohns assertion 1. Ioh. 2.19 and the marke indeed of those of reprobate condition They went from vs but they were not of vs for if they had been of vs they should haue continued with vs For it is flatte which Saint Paul sayth The giftes and calling of God are without repentance Rom. 11.29 and so by course of consequence he cannot repent that he hath predestinated vs. Thus doe our Popelinges fall before the Scriptures as Dagon before the Arke and the foundation of our Election standeth sure And now we will deale with them by dinte and force of reason and thus dispute for the soliditie of this our Foundation 1. First a posteriorj Gods purpose to saue the Elect in this world is absolutly constant Therefore he so Calleth Iustifieth Regenerateth them so qualifieth them with the Induments and Ornaments of his spirit so gouerneth them and giueth them the guift of perseuerance as he neuer repenteth himselfe of these collated benefites inasmuch as repentance cannot fall vpon him as Scripture before taught vs. God followeth his chosen with an indiuiduall vnwearisome and eternall loue So sayeth God in Jeremie Ierem. 31.3 J haue loued thee with an euerlasting loue So sayeth Christ in John For as much as he loued his owne which were in the world vnto the end he loued them Iohn 13 1. But he willeth and worketh nothing now which was not willed and determined by him from all eternitie wherfore this foundation is of absolute stabilitie 2. A priorj we pleade thus Election is only in God and not in man in as much as Election was before the Creation and so before man Ephes 1.4 Wee were chosen saieth the Apostle before the worlds foundation Againe if Eection be a part of diuine Prouidence and Prouidence is Gods the Sequence is naturall that Election must be in God and no part thereof may cleaue to mans thumbes And hence also the deduction is as needfull that it is eternall and immutable as consisting in God onely in whom all thinges are according to his nature without variablenesse or shaddow of change Stood the Foundation of our Election vpon no surer ground then Man it would soone be turned vp For Euripus changeth not oftner then Man And what may Man doe simply by himselfe towards his owne saluation He that is a reprobate can lay to himselfe a sure Foundation wherevpon he may build his owne damnation in asmuch as not beeing sufficiently supported by the hand of God God not beeing bounde vnto him thereunto he simply can bring foorth nothing but fruites vnto death with willfullnesse enough and so vndoe himselfe But Election cannot so bee made sure of the part of the Elect as by nature mutable and as so continually and grieuously sinfull So as so farre as it layeth in them they quite strip themselues of the graces of God and if doome should be denounced according to their deedes there were no foundation made for them in Heauen The effects of Election are in the persons themselues that are elected as their vocation passiue and so their Iustification and regeneration in this sense also faith and the workes of faith and at last their glorification in like manner Wherefore these effects in vs that are of the Elect admitte an alteration in respect of our selues Wherevpon by nature faith and regeneration may be lost of vs and of righteous wee may become vnrighteous and so fall from grace and perish But in regard of predestination and diuine decree which is in God so immutable it can not be that these guiftes of God and these effectes of Predestination should be quite without effect and therefore hauing dependance on God our saluation is most safe Haue a view heereof in the course of the world led by the hand of heauenly prouidence For Saeculum Speculum The World is a Looking-glasse in this case For how is it that it is so well ordered so as the Heauens keepe their stations appointed thē the Sunne knoweth his vprising and the Moone her going downe the alternall entercourse of the day and the night is not to bee disturbed and all
yet there is as much life in the weake Flesh as in them The weakest Ioynt of the body so it be liuing is as liuing as the rest So this is the ordinaunce of Diuine prouidence in the body of the Church that euery one of the Elect the members thereof should haue so much Fayth measured out vnto them as might suffice to their saluation As hee that gathered much Manna had not the more and as hee that gathered lesse had not lesse but had enough as well as the other so it is with Fayth the food of the Soule hee that hath the least hath enough to saue his Soule in the day of the Lord as well as hee that hath the greatest measure thereof Thus Fayth is the Seale of our Predestination vnto life in asmuch as none are capable thereof but the sealed sort wherefore it is stiled T it 1.1 The Fayth of the elect Wherefore Luke speaking of the Gentiles who had been Paules auditors Act. 13.48 sayth As many as were ordayned vnto life beleeued In this respect Paul entituleth Fayth 1. Cor. 2.14 The earnest of our adoption and inheritaunce Men simply naturall perceiue not the thinges that are of God and so can not spanne or comprehend the Fayth To this Cum alibi rum in libro de bono perseuerāt giue all the Fathers consent that Fayth is the effect of Predestination So Augustine auoweth against the Pelagians in sundrie places Now whereas others are sayd to beleeue as the Deuils They beleeue and tremble as the temporizers of these dayes it is so abusiuely and improperly sayd of them It is as Augustine sayth Alij cogitant pij credunt The Godly beleeue others doe but thinke The Fayth is not in them but a kinde of Fancie onely This Fayth is a harder matter then the Schoole of Rome conceiueth who recke no more of it then of an ordinarie gift of God of a certaine light of the minde by which one assenteth to the word of God Canis op ca. pa. Rhem. test in 2. Cor. 15.5 as Canisius hath excogitated then of an actiō of the vnderstanding as the Rhemistes would haue it to be onely occupied in generalities and neuer to descende to application in particular Heb. 6.5 Luk. 8.13 Iam. 2.19 as Andradius dreameth For such a Fayth the verie Reprobates may be owners of for their mindes may be illuminated in the knowledge of the trueth and they may bee throughly perswaded of it And therefore they haue this action of vnderstanding And this is the generall Fayth that taketh vp thinges in grosse which the Deuilles themselues haue Wee teach and prooue that Fayth consisteth in a facultie of apprehending and applying Christ that to Beleeue Apprehend and to Receiue Christ are all one Thus Saint John compoundeth and confoundeth them Iohn 1.12 where he sayth As many as receiued him to them he gaue power to be the Sounes of God euen to them that beleeue in his Name Thus is Faith an application of Christ in speciall to it selfe as a poore man when an almes is giuen him he doth put foorth his hand and draw it in againe vnto himselfe and maketh the almes his owne Gal. 3.27 This is the reason of the Metaphor of Putting on of Christ taken vp by the Apostle where hee entreateth of the nature of Fayth But Christ is onely Put on by way of application in particular of his righteousnesse laide to our heartes as the Garment is applyed vnto the backe when it is put vpon it Hitherto hath reference the manducation and potation of Christ which is by Fayth Ioh. 6.35 Now the meate and drinke that wee take downe to doe vs good must be tasted minced by the Teeth conueyed into the Stomacke digested and after all these be particularly applyed to their seuerall partes that are to be nourished by them Hence it is that Saint Paul prayeth for the Ephesians Ephes 3.17 That Christ may dwell in their heartes by fayth Which can not be without the apprehension of him He therefore may properly be sayd to beleeue that can distinctly and truely say of himselfe that he is throughly perswaded in his conscience that he is reconciled vnto God for all his sinnes and is accepted vnto eternall life in him Thus Paul teacheth both by practise and precept as where hauing first set downe the generall Proposition Gal. 2.16 A man is not iustified by the workes of the Law but by Faith in Christ Iesu Hee immediatly inferreth the Application of it to himfelfe in particular Wee haue beleeued in Iesu Christ that wee might be iustified by the Fayth of Christ And beneath in the 20. verse more specially he maketh vse thereof thus vnto himselfe I liue by faith in the Sonne of God who hath loued mee and giuen himselfe for mee Ney ther doth Paule take this as his prerogatiue or peculiar aboue others but only setteth out himselfe for an example vnto vs that wee should so instruct and comfort our selues Wherefore else where he sayeth 1. Tim. 1.16 For this cause was J receiued vnto mercie that Iesus Christ should first shew on mee all long suffring vnto the ensample of them which shall in time to come beleeue in him vnto eternall life And how this is incident to all beleeuers in an other place he telleth vs where hauing thus said cōcerning himselfe I Iudge all thinges but doung Psal 3.8 that I might win Christ and might be found in him not hauing mine owne righteousnesse which is of the Lawe but that which is through the faith of Christ euen the righteousnes which is of God through faith He teacheth vs that this is direction for vs Vers 15. and the inherent condition of Fayth Let as many as be perfect be thus minded Thus Fayth liueih not in suspense betwixt Hope and Feare as the Crow that flyeth betweene Heauen and Earth but nestleth herselfe in the Woundes of Christ as Doues in the cliftes and holes of Rockes By this Wee stand sayth Saint Paul nay 2. Cor. 1. by this Wee liue sayth the Prophet Abacuc Abac. 2. Fayth is the Spirit and Soule of the Newman Wee haue the name that we liue but indeed we are dead towardes God if wee beleeue not If Peraduenture are not wordes that proceed from the mouth of Fayth but it is the pronuntiation of Babylon Ierom. 51.8 as it is thus written Bring Balme for her Sore Jf she may he healed Peraduenture is a Plaister to be set on the Sore and side of Simon Magus whom Simon Peter summoning to repentance Act. 8.22 saith Pray to God that if it be possible the thoughtes of thine heart may be forgiuen thee Wherefore make wee not our case like the case of the Elephant who lyeth downe and cannot rise againe Let vs not so farre bend the Bowe as to breake it But in the cause of Faith let vs take vp Peters Text Maister it is good for