the Forgivenesse of a sinne which shall never be forgiven For is there not a sinne against the Holy Ghost which shall never bee forgiven either in this world or in the world to come and so my Beleeving will prove a false Beliefe and deceive mee in the end It is true indeed that such a Sinne there is but is it not that the chiefest Ingredient of that sinne is the not-beleeving the Forgivenes of sinnes And therefore hee that truely beleeves this Article is never likely to commit that sinne seeing the beleeving being from the Holy Ghost the sinne against the Holy Ghost can never be committed But is this the uttermost of our beliefe to Beleeve the Forgivenesse of sinnes Is there no place for beleeving the Merit of Workes If there be why hath it not here a place in our Creed Indeede in the Pharisees Creed it might perhaps have a place but in the Penitent Publicanes Creed such as wee professe our selves to be what place can it have seeing all his beliefe is terminated in this O God be mercifull to me a sinner Indeed as Solon amongst all his Lawes made no Law against Parricides not that hee did not thinke them worthy of Punishment but because he thought there would never bee any so unnaturall and therefore thought it not needfull to make a Law against a Non futurum against a fault that was never like to be committed So in our Creede there is no Article of the Merit of good works Not that good works may not Merit but because such Meritorious works are never like to be done by any and therefore not fit to make an Article of a Non futurum of a thing though possible yet not likely or rather so farre from being likely as not being possible And indeed which of the Apostles can we thinke should have been the Author of such an Article Saint John we may be sure would not For he saith plainely If we say wee have no sinne there is no truth in us and where there is sinne there can be no Merit Saint Peter we may be sure would not for though there was a time when hee thought hee could doe wonders of good works and even dye with Christ yet when it cam to the point he was glad to bewaile his infirmitie with teares and to say to Christ when time was Depart from me for I am a sinfull man And Saint Paul wee may well thinke would not For hee professeth directly To glory and rejoyce in nothing but in the Crosse of Christ crucified And for what serves the Crosse of Christ but for the Forgivenesse of sinnes And by the judgement of these Apostles wee may judge of the rest and therefore no defect of our Creed in this but the uttermost bounds of our Beliefe in this point beyond which there is no Plus ultra goes no farther then this to Beleeve the Remission and forgivenesse of sins We may indeed labour we must labour to do good works the best we can but all the Merit of it is but this and it is a great Merit too that we cannot rightly beleeve the Forgivenesse of our sinnes if wee doe not labour not to sinne and doe our endeavour to doe good works O my soule all we have to trust too all we have to hold by is the Forgivenesse of sinnes For these are they that make God angry with us and these forgiven will reconcile him These are the causes why he turnes away his blessed face from us and these forgiven will make his couutenance to shine upon us all Merit must be ascribed to him onely in whom they are forgiven between whose Merit and his Fathers mercy I know not how to distinguish and therefore take them both but as one motive to make me Beleeve the Forgivenesse of sinnes All of us have onely sinne Christ onely hath Merit his Father onely hath Forgivenesse For with him there is mercy and plentious redemption But may not a sinne be forgiven and yet the Penalty be still in arere Was not the sinne of David with Bathsheba forgiven and yet punished afterward by the death of the child that was begotten of her It is true indeed the life of the Child was taken away indeed but this was not properly a punishment for the sinne but a castigation of the sinner to make him the better to resent his sin and to bee the more wary afterward of committing the like Besides it may be thought rather a favour then a punishment to David for in taking away the life of the Childe there was that taken from him which upon his repentance would have beene a perpetuall eye-sore to him if it had lived according to that of St. Paul What fruit have yee of those things whereof yee are now ashamed Withall it was not perhaps without Mystery to shew that the pleasures of sinne never beare but blasted fruits which fall off the tree before they come to ripenesse But at what time is it we beleeve that sinnes may bee forgiven Indeed at all times as long as sinnes may be committed which is all the time that wee are living in this world but if once we be dead as there will be then no more committing of sinne so neither will there be any more forgiving of sinne but where the tree falleth there it will lye But is there not a sinne of which it is said It shall never bee forgiven either in this world or in the world to come And why is this said but because a sinne may bee forgiven in the world to come though it be not forgiven in this world and this perhaps is a cause why some have conceived that in the world to come even the Divels themselves shall bee forgiven But is it not that the Not-forgiving of sins in the world to come is therefore mentioned because in the world to come shall be pronounced the sentence of Not-forgiving and so it is but as to say it shall never be forgiven in this world upon private conviction nor in the world to come upon publicke condemnation For otherwise it is most evident if absolutely a sinne bee not forgiven in this world neither shall it ever bee forgiven in the world to come It is no small impediment to the beliefe of this Article that there are few who thinke they sinne at all but are of the Pharisees mind and their Consciences are as cleare as Chrystall and of those againe that thinke they sinne there are few that know the greatnesse of their sinne but they judge of their sin as of the Moone this little because farre from their sight that little because farre from their thought And of those againe that know the greatnesse of their sinne there are few that say with David I acknowledge my iniquity and my sinne is ever before me For sinne being an unpleasing sight they love not to look upon it more then needs they must while they looke not upon the discase they looke not after the
speech bee Metapâ—oricall and Figurative and is a Figurative speech fit to make the Article of a Creede What though to sit at the right hand of God be a Figurative speech and in the Creed Is it not a Figurative speech which custome hath made Litterall And is descending into Hell a speech made literall by any custome And if any man be doubtfull still whether this Article ought to be expounded literally or no he may doe well to aske counsell of the Article which saith He ascended into Heaven For both the Articles being exprest in a like phrase there seemes great reason to take them both in a like sense and seeing his Ascending into Heaven is certainly meant literally therefore certainely also meant literally his Descending into Hell But what Authorities have wee for this Interpretation Indeed Authorities most irrefragable First a generall consent of all the Ancient Fathers Then of all the learned Writers in the Ages following Then in our owne time of an infinite number wee may name these Alexander Gyll John Mayer Alexander Nowell the reverend Deane of Pauls and chiefely the learned Bishop of Winchester Thomas Bilson and which is more then all these and not slightly to be accounted of in the directing of our opinions The Tenet of our Church of England as Deane Nowell writeth in his Catechisme And as there hath been and still is great diversity of Opinions about his descending it selfe so there hath been and still is as great diversitie of opinions about the cause of his descending But though his descending into Hell be an Article of our Creed yet the cause for which he descended is none and therefore though we be tyed of necessity to beleeve that yet we are at our liberty for beleeving of this and need to beleeve no more of it then we see good reason to make it probable And why then should wee trouble our selves with debating of circumstances which doe but serve to breed debate Can wee not beleeve that Christ descended into Hell unlesse wee know the cause why he Descended Should the Israelites have done well to forbeare the obeying of Gods Commandement for wearing cloathes mixt of linnen and wollen untill they might know the cause why they should not weare them and doth any man know the true cause of it to this day Some indeed and of the highest ranke hold this opinion that the cause of Christs descending into Hell was onely to triumph but are there not other and those no meane ones neither that are of opinion he descended as wel to suffer as to triumph First to suffer to perfect our redemption and then to triumph to establish our security First to suffer if not the paines of hell at least some paines in hell thereby to pay the uttermost farthing that was due by us and then to triumph to receive the first earnest of reward that was due to himselfe If his descending into Hell say they were onely to subdue Satan and to triumph over him why is it spoken by David in the person of Christ as a favour of God unto him Thou wilt not leave my soule in Hell For what favour was it not to leave his soule there where it was in triumph It had beene certainly more favour to leave it there then to take it from thence It seemes therefore there was something which he suffered in Hell in which it was a favour of God not to leave him and might have been as mischieuous to his soule as corruption to his body if God should have left him in it They adde if Christ had descended into Hell and had not suffered some paines in Hell he had left undone his most meritorious worke and had given over meriting before it came to perfection For to be in Hell and not despair of Gods mercy to suffer paines in hell and perhaps of hell and not murmure at Gods justice are works which in making perfection of merit shew perfection of grace and as without Divine assistance they could not be suffered so without suffering they could not be done They adde farther it is true he was not thrust into Hell as the damned are who if they were not thrust into it would never come there but he descended into it and descending is a voluntary action he might have chosen but as he willingly submitted himselfe to the death of the Crosse in his bodie so he willingly submitted himselfe to the descent into Hell in his soule For till his soule descended into Hell it came not to the lowest degree of humiliation and till it came to the lowest degree of humiliation it could not come to the highest of perfection and to the highest of perfection it was to come before he could come to ascend on high and to lead Captivity captive And these seeme to bee their reasons who are of opinion that Christ descended into Hell aswell to suffer as to triumph But may not these reasons bee easily made appeare to bee unreasonable For when David makes Christ to say Thou wilt not leave my soule in Hell was it because he suffered in Hell or was it not rather that though hee onely triumphed in Hell yet his joy of triumphing was not so great to make him forget by whose assistance hee triumphed and therefore to acknowledge that if God should leave him in Hell he should haue cause to leave triumphing And to say that if he had not suffered in Hell he had left undone his most meritorious worke Is it not directly to crosse Saint Paul where he saith That Christ pacified all things by the blood of his crosse by which it appeares that Christ suffered as much as was necessary for our salvation upon the Crosse and what need then of any more suffering by descending into Hell And for degrees of humiliation doe we reade of any lower can wee thinke of any lower then this that Exinanivit seipsum he emptied himselfe of all glory became of no reputation and humbled himselfe to the shamefull death of the bitter Crosse But besides these answers wee may not omit to observe heere a distinction which offers it selfe in the Articles concerning Christ and may seeme to give some light to the clearing of this Controversie For the five first Articles seeme to concerne Christ as onely a patient Conceived by the Holy Ghost Borne of the Virgin Mary Suffered under Pontius Pilate was Crucified Dead and Buried all Articles concerning him as a patient And in which he did nothing but onely suffered But the five later Articles concerne him onely as an agent He descended into Hell Hee rose the third day from the Dead Hee ascended into Heaven He sitteth at the right hand of his Father Hee shall come from thence to judge the quicke and the Dead all Articles concerning him as an agent and as in those of his suffering there is a plenitude of merit so in these of his action there is a plenitude of reward And now if wee keepe us well to this
MEDITATIONS AND Disquisitions UPON THE CREED BY Sr. RICHARD BAKER Knight LONDON Printed by IOHN DAVVSON for Francis Eglessield at the Marigold in Pauls Church-yard 1646. TO THE GENEROVS and worthy of much honour THOMAS BAKER of FREZINGFIELD in the County of Suffolke ESQVIRE Most honoured Cosin IT is not the propinquity of bloud that is between us It is not the great Obligation in which I stand bound unto you which yet were causes of themselves sufficient but it is the generousnesse of your minde that make me desirous to consecrate something t◠the memory of your Name for thoug◠your owne vertue will preserve it sufficiently yet my affection is not satisfied without bearing a part in it that being my selfe but a whithered bough may expresse my joy in so flourishing branch of our Family as your selfe is And now I know not whether I ma◠account you young in regard of your fer yeares or Old in regard of your muc◠experience having spent Twelve year together a longer time then Vlysses in travelling over the most flourishing parts of Christendome where having spent your time in so noble 〈◊〉 manner as Report delivers you cannot chuse but be returned home Vir pau◠corum hominum more compleat in good parts then to have man Peeres But to leave this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Having heretofore written Meditations upon the Lords Prayer J have now adventured to doe the like upon the Creede which Treatise as J Dedicate to your Name so my selfe to your Service and remaine Devoted to you in all true Love and Affection Richard Baker MEDITATIONS AND DISQVISITIONS Vpon the CREEDE IT seemes that in laying the Foundation of CHRISTS Church where many Proselytes were to be admitted this forme of Beliefe was first penned to the end that they which would be admitted into the Church should first professe the Beliefe of these Articles and these being beleeved were thought to bee sufficient to shew the professed Faith of an Orthodoxe Christian But whether the Apostles themselves were the Penners of it as some have thought or whether some other out of the Apostles Doctrine as the most conceive is not much materiall to be examined It is sufficient for us to know that it is received by a Generall consent of the whole Church And although the Article of Christs Descending into Hell hath for some time in some Churches not been received yet this is no more then hath befallen some parts of the holy Scripture it selfe For the Epistle to the Hebrewes and the Epistle of Saint Iude and some other now generally received have for some time in some Churches not beene admitted But howsoever former times have had some scruple about this Article yet wee must admit it now without scruple unlesse we will make scruple also to admit the Article of beleeving the Holy Catholike Church seeing the Holy Catholike Church hath long since admitted it into our Creede as an Article necessary to be beleeved of every Christian man And it seems to containe a Breviate of those things which of a Christian man are Credenda to be Beleeved as the Ten Commandements a Breviate of things that are Agenda to be done and the Lords Prayer a Breviat of things that are Oranda to be Prayed for which Three as they differ not much in the number of their Articles so they seeme to have a great coherence one with another For what wee Beleeve that wee have reason to doe and what we are to doe that we have just cause to Pray for to be enabled to doe That whilst our Beleeving is manifested by our doing and our doing prospered by our Praying The man of God may bee made perfect in every good worke If wee should doe as much as wee are commanded to doe and not beleeve as much as we are taught to beleeve that doing would doe us little good and if wee should beleeve as much as wee are taught to beleeve and not doe as much as wee are commanded to doe that beleeving would doe us lesse good Then onely will the benefit of both of them accrew unto us when Beleefe is joyned with Action and Faith with good Workes without which conjunction there may be Leaves but there will bee no Fruit. For if we should do the Commandements and not beleeve this Creed our Profession would want the Basis and if beleeve this Creede and not doe the Commandements it would want the Coronis And so these Articles are the fundamentals of that which is to be beleeved of a Christian but the fundamentals of that which is to be done of a Christian are the Commandements in the Law and in the Gospell Both which Fundamentals must be joyned together to make up the building of our salvation And this summe or Breviate of beliefe which wee call our Creede consists of two parts Personae Res First the Persons in whom wee must beleeve and then the things which we must beleeve The persons in whom to beleeve are three God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost Three Persons and one God Blessed for ever The things which we are to beleeve are five of which the two first which are The holy Catholique Church and the Communion of Saints as they heere stand next to the Holy Ghost so most properly they relate to the Holy Ghost He being the fountaine of Sanctification of which these two are streames The next two which are the Forgivenesse of sinnes and the Resurrection of the Body seeme properly to referre to God the Sonne in whose merits as Man all sinnes are forgiven and by the power of whose Rising as God and man shall be our Resurrection And then the last which is the Life Everlasting most properly relates to God the Father He being the Author of Life In whom we al live move and have our being shal have our eternal being And this is the Coherence Personarum Rerū of the Persons in whom to beleeve and of the Things which we are to beleeve If wee should know in whom to beleeve and not know what to beleeve we should want our lesson and if we should know what to beleeve and not know in whom to beleeve we should want our Teacher and therefore to make both perfect both are heere exprest and exprest so punctually that nothing can be added either to make it plainer or to make it fuller And heere it may not be amisse for the credit of our Creede before we goe further to shew that all the Articles of it are contained in the holy Scripture and to bring some place of Scripture for a Testimoniall of each of them that it may appeare wee ground not our Beliefe upon Quagmires of uncertainetie but that wee have firme ground to stand upon and it will be a worke not long in doing The first Article is the subject of the whole Bible all tending to make us beleeve in God The next Article is the subject of the whole Gospell all tending to
cannot â—eleeve for me I must beleeve for â—y selfe another cannot I speak â—ot of Infants but of Adulti It â—s not here that Per alium is as good â—s Per se and therefore no such Tye â—or saying Wee Beleeve in making â—his Profession as for saying Our Father in making that Prayer I Beleeve But when I say I Beleeve Doe I well consider what it is I say a word indeed soone spoken but not a worke so easily done for we must not thinke to put it off with God as he did with men who said Iuravilingua mentem injuratam gero I swore with my tongue but I kept my heart unsworne For God is a searcher of the heart and lookes after that and as soone as wee say to him I Beleeve he seemes presently to say to us Then give me your heart for unlesse you give me your heart I will never beleeve you speake as you meane And thus my soule thou seest how deepely thou hast engaged thy selfe by saying I beleeve and yet thy engagement not so great but thy undertaking is greater For to Beleeve is no such easie matter as the World accounts it It is indeed more then of our selves we are able to doe For it is a worke of Faith and Faith is the gift of God and so we undertake to doe that to God which without Gods assistance we cannot doe as though wee had Gods assistance at command No my soule but wee must bee faine to helpe our selves with saying I beleeve O God helpe my unbeliefe But why am I so forward to Beleeve and doe not rather make a stand and doubt Seeing doubting is commonly safe where credulity runs headlong into danger Is it not that Beleeving is acceptable and hath reward For Abraham beleeved and it was counted to him for Righteousnesse where Not-Beleeving is distrustfull and hath not so much as Hope and againe Beleeving may make me of the number of the Faithfull where Not-Beleeving may make me an Infidell and though Beleeving may have lesse worldly providence yet certainely It may have more spirituall wisdome then Not-Beleeving and these are Reasons that make me so forward to Beleeve But what reason can I have to make me beleeve when I must not beleeve reason No doubt in matters of the world the Rule is good to beleeve no more then wee see good reason for and thereupon is the counsell given 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Becarefull to bee mistrustfull but in matters Divine and belonging to God hee that beleeves no more then Reason warrants may justly be said not to Beleeve at all seeing Beliefe is a worke of Faith and Faith properly beginnes not her worke but when the Reason hath given over working There seeme to bee many inducements of Beliefe but specially two First the Testimony of the Sense For who will not beleeve that which hee sees with his eyes but this beliefe will not serve the turne For Faith is an evidence of things not seene and therefore wee must beleeve though wee doe not see Then the Testimony of Reason for who will not beleeve that for which hee sees apparent reason but neither will this Beliefe serve the turne for Faith is above Reason and Nisi Credideritis non Intelligetis Unlesse yee Beleeve yee shall not understand and so Beliefe must not alwaies stay for understanding but we must be faine to have recourse to this stil I beleeve O God helpe my unbeliefe Beliefe indeed is two fold Humane and Divine Humane Beliefe is alwaies grounded upon Sense or Reason but Divine Beliefe hath other grounds to stand upon either the ground of Abraham Qui in spe contra spem credidit Who contrary to hope Beleeved in hope or the ground of those whom Christ calls Blessed Blessed are they that have not seene and yet have beleeved For we must not alwaies looke for the favour of Saint Thomas to bee allowed to put our hands into Christs sides before wee beleeve but we must sometimes come with Faith without the concurrence of eternall Evidence and then indeed is Beliefe most kindly when it stands not upon the Prop of Sense and Reason which may be preparatives to Beliefe but it is Faith that gives the confirmation And as there are certaine inducements of Beliefe so there are certaine properties in Beliefe It must be steadfast without wavering assured without doubting confident without presuming but above all it must bee rightly applyed for without right application Beliefe is no better then Infidelity and then onely is Beliefe rightly applyed when it is applyed to God and this brings me to say I beleeve in God For now I am sure I take my ayme right and apply my Beliefe to the right Object If I should apply it to any but God it must be to some Creature and seeing every Creature is subject to a Higher Power what hope could I have to Beleeve in such a one who must himselfe Beleeve in another But when I apply my Beliefe to God not onely I may justly hope but I may securely be assured seeing God is a Power Supreme and hath no Equall to contest with him much lesse any Superiour to controule him If I should Beleeve in man I might feare that which David saith that All men are lyers but when I beleeve in God I am out of that feare seeing God is the Truth it selfe and cannot lye If I should Beleeve in Angels I know the Angels did once fall and what they did once they might doe againe if they were not upheld by a stronger Power and can it bee safe Beleeving in them who stand by the power of another and not by their owne But when I beleeve in God my Beliefe is built upon a sure Foundation seeing Heaven is Gods Throne and the Earth his Foot-stoole that he is neither capable of Rising nor subject to falling David would not put his trust in man pronouncing him accursed that should doe it and why should I Moses would not trust an Angell to be his guide though God himselfe offered him one and why should I No my soule but Adhaerere Deo bonum est It is good sticking to God and no assurance indeed of any good but onely in sticking to him and depending wholly upon him And as there are certaine properties of Beliefe to make it bee right so there are certaine degrees of Beliefe to make it perfect The first Degree is to Beleeve There is a God and this Degree is so sensible and plaine that he must be a Naturall foole that beleeves it not as David calls him The Foole hath said in his heart There is no God Another Degree is to Beleeve him in all he saith or promiseth which is in effect but to account him an Oracle Another Degree is to beleeve him to be a Rewarder of them that serve him an effect of his Justice and all these Degrees of Beliefe may be in a man and yet no true beleeving in God For these doe but amount to
the first Gospell that was written of Christ was that of Saint Matthew which was not writteÌ„ til eight years after Christs death the other much later especially that of Saint John which was not written till thirty yeares after and therefore the Creede no doubt was delivered if not in forme as now it is at least in substance as now it is long before any Gospell was written And may it not bee further said that this Creed seemes to have been penned when Religion was first translated from Judaisme to Christianitie and therefore that there are no other Articles in it then such as are in opposition to the doctrine of the Jewes by introducing in their place the Christian beliefe For by the Article of beleeving in God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost we utterly renounce the doctrine of the Jewes who acknowledge no Trinity of Persons in the Deity By beleeving the Incarnation of the Sonne of God Christ Jesus and his passion under Pontius Pilate we renounce the doctrine of the Jewes who teach that the true Messias is not yet come By beleeving the Holy Catholike Church wee renounce the opinion of the Jewes who thought that the Church of God was bounded onely within Canaan and that no Church could be holy but that of Israel By beleeving the Communion of Saints we renounce the doctrine of the Jewes by which a Jew indeed would take no usury for money of a Jew but to any of another Nation they would use oppression to the very grinding of their faces By beleeving the forgivenesse of sinnes we renounce the Pharisees Justification by workes and sticke onely to the Publicanes Justification by Faith O God be mercifull to me a sinner By beleeving the Resurrection of the Body we renounce the errour of the Sadduces whom Christ confuted by this argument Have ye not read that which was spoken to you by God saying I am the God of Abraham the God of Isaak and the God of Jakob God is not the God of the dead but of the living By beleeving the life everlasting we renounce the opinion of the Jewes who depended onely upon temporall benefits and the blessings of this life and as for the life to come were as carelesse of it as ignorant And now seeing all the Articles of this Creed are in opposition to the doctrin of the Jewes what marveile that in it there is no Article for beleeving the Scriptures wheÌ„ as concerning the Scriptures that were then there was no opposition beweene the Christians and them It may with more reason bee demanded why in these Articles of beliefe there is no mention made of the Sacraments seeing Baptism and the Lords Supper were ordained by Christ himself and are things so necessary to be beleeved But is it not that of Baptisme Christ said Goe teach all Nations Baptizing them in the name of the Father of the Sonne and of the holy Ghost and of the Eucharist he said Doe this in remembrance of me and so both these are things of Action which wee must not onely beleeve but doe and therefore fitter placed Inter agenda amongst the records of things to be done then Inter credenda amongst the Articles of things to be beleeved The Catholike Church is no sooner founded The Communion of Saints but the Communion of Saints followes presently upon it as was seene at the Pentecost after Châ—ists Ascending when the Holy Ghost descended upon the Apostles in cloven Tongues for then were present of all Nations under Heaven who it seemes made the representative body of the Catholike Church and then being all of one accord and having all things in common and distributing to every one as they had need they acted the Article we here beleeve If there were not a Communion of S t s the wicked should be more charitable then the godly for among the wicked there are leagues and confederacies and they hold together for the common good and oftentimes their lives are engaged for one another and if the wicked doe this the godly certainely will doe it much more and this makes me to beleeve assuredly The Communion of Saints But are there Saints then on earth Are not all men living sinners and can sinners be Saints Indeed not Saints by Canonization of men but by the Canonization of the Holy Spirit Not Saints in perfection but in Inchoation called Saints as Saint Paul saith because called to be Saints as having their Names written in the Booke of God in Heaven But we must here take heed of the Anabaptists Communion of Saints For by their Communion no man should have any thing in private but all should be in common and so none should be richer or poorer then another which would make Christs Praediction directly false where hee saith The poore yee shall have alwaies with you and would make all these exhortations voide Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorifie your Father which is in Heaven Charge them which are rich in this world that they be ready to give and glad to destribute Give Alme of thy goods and never turne thy face from any poore man But indeed this Communion is in part exprest by Saint Paul where he saith Doe good to all men but especially to those of the houshold of Faith For the being of one houshold implies plainely a common provision for al the house but implies withall a disparity of estates Indeede the first flowre that growes in the Garden of the Catholike Church is the Communion of Saints which as it begins in the Militant so it continues in the Triumphant Church Continues there when the other flowres are withered and gone For when Faith and Hope shall be no more yet Charity shall continue and not onely continue but be then most flourishing and if we did not beleeve the Communion of Saints wee could not truely say Our Father in the Lords Prayer for in saying Our Father wee professe this Communion But for the better understanding of this Article It may bee conceived that there are Saints on Earth and Saints in Heaven and this Article containes the Communion of them both both of the Saints on earth between themselves and of the Saints in Earth and Heaven with one another What though they bee farre distant and asunder Are not the feet so from the head are not the hands so from the heart Yet if there were not a relation and correspondencie betweene them neither the feet would bee able to move nor the hands to stirre and perhaps not the head in many things to doe his Office And this Communion consists either in Assistance or in Love but in Assistance for a time in Love for ever For as the Saints in Heaven assist us by praying that wee may so leade our lives in this life that we may come to bee admitted into their Societie in the next So we assist the Saints in Heaven by praying that the suite