come from the dead that hath made proofe of this way and life and would speake of his own experience would we heare Behold Paul slaine by the Law reuiued by the Gospell what doe wee thinke of him Did he not from the time of his conuersion to the time of his dissolution enioy a constant tenour of ioy liue if euer any comfortably happily And doth not hee tell vs euen while he liued in the flesh that he liued by the Faith of our Lord Iesus Christ. Surely he must needs be blessed that liueth by the same faith with Bloffed Paul Come therefore you which desire to see good dayes and lay holde on the waies of life Beleeue and liue CHAP. II. Christ the Fountaine and Faith the meane of Life WHat then Commit we sacriledge against Christ in deifying of Faith Rob we the Lord to adorne the seruant with his diuine honours God forbid Let that be giuen to Christ which is Christs and that to Faith which is Faiths Let the power of life and death be intirely reserued euer ascribed to the Lord of life the well of life the light and life of the World the breath of our nosthrils the life of our liues Thy body oh man hath it soule which enliues it and so hath thy soule its soule whereby it liues and that is Christ the quickning spirit Take away the soule from the body and earth becomes earth seuer Christ and the soule what is it but a dead carrion Elementary bodies lighten and darken coole and warme die and reuiue as the Sunne presents or absents it selfe from them Christ is to our soules the Sunne of righteousnesse Sin parts vs Faith reunites vs And so wee liue primarily and properly by Christ as by the soule by Faith secondarily as by the spirits the bond of soule and body by a personall and speciall faith appropriating Christ to the beleeuer as the leg or arme liues by proper sinews arteries and nerues vniting it to the liuer heart and head such an one as Paul had in Christ that dyed for him whereby hee ingrosseth the common God to himselfe as if his and no bodies else Thus saith hee himselfe that is the Truth and the Life I am the Life and Resurrection of the World hee that beleeueth in mee though hee be dead yet shall he liue and not die And this is the testimony of those three heauenly and earthly witnesses God gaue life to the Sonne And he that hath the Sonne hath Life And he that hath Faith hath the Son So that whateuer we lend to Faith it redoundes to the honor of Christ neither haue we any sinister intent to praise the wombe or the paps of Faith but to cast all vpon Christ who giues and works this Faith in vs vivisies and nourishes it yea iustifies the imperfection thereof by the perfection of his merit Nay let Faith knowe that if shee should waxe arrogant towards her Lord or insolent ouer her fellow seruants she should Lucifer-like fall from her dignity and in so doing of the best of graces become the worst of vices Verily what hath the habite of Faith in it selfe considered better or equall with loue Is it not a poorer and meaner Act to beleeue then to loue more like a beggarly receiuing then a working and deseruing hand Haile then oh Faith freely graced graciously exalted aboue all Christs Handmaides Thy Lord hath looked vpon thy meane estate because that hauing nothing of thine owne as other Vertues haue whence thou mightest take occasion to reioyce thou mightest the better exclude that hatefull Law of boasting the more humbly and frankely reflect all vpon thy Lord who willingly emptied himselfe that he might fill thee with honour whiles hee sayes to the cured of the Palsey Goe thy way thy Faith hath saued thee Hence forth cals hee thee no more seruant or friend but stiles thee as Adam his Spouse Chauah the Mother of all Liuing Counts it no iniurie to diuide his praises with thee likes it well that thou which doest nothing but by him shouldest bee said to doe all things which he doth To purifie the heart to ouer come the world to saue men c. And è contra hee to doe nothing without thee which yet does all of himselfe Hee could worke no Miracles in Capernaum because they had no Faith So glorious and wonderfull things are spoken of thee I had almost said so omnipotent is thy strength which hast said to the Sunne and Moone Stand yee still yea if but as big as the least graine canst say to the greatest Mountaines Remoue What can God doe which Faith cannot doe if requisite to bee done Questionlesse Iustifying Faith is not beneath miraculous in the sphere of it owne actiuitie and where it hath the warrant of Gods Word It 's not a lesser power then these to say Thy Sinnes are forgiuen thee thy person is accepted of God what-euer thou askest thou shalt haue c. Wherefore we need not doubt vnder Christ without feare of Praemunire or offence to his Crowne and Dignity to affirme of Faith That it is Gods arme and power to the enliuing and sauing of euery beleeuer as it is written The Iust shall liue by Faith CHAP. III. The third kinde of the Life of Faith BVt least wee seeme to speake swelling thinges whiles we soare in the Cloud of generalities let vs descend to some solide particulars Three thinges there are whence commeth Death to the Soule of Man Sinne with the guilt thereof giues the first deadly blow exposing it to the wrath of God who is a Consuming fire whose anger is the messenger of Death whence came the first Thunderbolt striking thorough the Soule that sentence of God to Adam Thou shalt dye And such as Nathans to Dauid Thou hast sinned and art the childe of Death The second is the spott and corruption of sinne deprauing yea deading all the faculties of man to spirituall actions which made Paul cry out That which I would doe I doe not And wretched man that I am who shall deliuer me from this body of Death Thirdly that swarme of plagues and army of punishments in the re-reward wherof comes first a second death All which made Iob cry out Why is light giuen to him that is in misery and life vnto the bitter in soule which long for death more then for treasures and ioy when they can finde the graue Were it not for these three man might liue fare and doe well but sin hauing entred into the World brought in Death with it which reigneth and triumpheth ouer the sonnes of Adam with this three-forked Scepter of Guilt of Corruption of Punishment Here comes in Faith with a three fould Antidote brings vs to the Tree of Life whose fruit and whose leaues heale vs of the sting and deadly poyson of Sinne working in vs a three-fold life opposite to the forenamed deaths The first is the life of righteousnesse discharging vs
Leaue tuggling and strugling with thy sinne and fall with Iacob to wrestle with Christ for a blessing and though thy selfe goe limping away yet shalt thou bee a Prince with God and bee deliuered from Esaus bondage Yea what if Satan what if Legions of Principalities and powers haue long held possession in some strong fort of thy heart beginne to pleade prescription scorning as the Iebusites to bee eiected out of their impregnable tower hast thou Faith and canst thou beleeue persist in resisting and hee shall flye and thou shalt see him fall like lightening before thee Christ raised from the dead not onely the daughter of Iairus which was yet within bed not layd forth nor the Sonne of the Widdow newely carryed out of the Gate to buriall but Lazarus that had foure daies lyen in the graue to that ende sayeth Augustine That such as haue long beene dead in sinne yea such as vpon whom Satan hath rowled the stone of Custome and such as stinke in the nostrilles of the world through putrified soares of sinnes should not yet despaire but know that which falles out in frequent experience Faith can cure diseases past all other cures and hopes Through Faith thou shalt roule away the stone from the Caue of Makpelah and take out the fiue Kings that haue domineered and tyrannized ouer thee set thy feete in the neckes of them and triumph ouer them CHAP. XI How Faith Viuifies ANd what is there yet further thou wouldest haue Faith doe for thee Oh sayest thou it is not enough to bee healed of the disease vnlesse thou mayest take vp thy bedde and walke yea leape and skippe as the Lame restored to his limmes Oh! that I could finde that life of Grace which I see in some that can make it their meate and drinke to doe the will of God Though I be not pestered and mastered with any reigning corruption yet I finde my selfe so dull and vntoward that I take no pleasure in my life Know also that this quickning power Faith only can helpe thee withall To pray to meditate to haue thy conuersation in heauen to keepe a Sabbath cherely is as easie to thee as to Iron to swimme and stones to ascend vpward but nothing is impossible to Faith it can naturalize these things vnto thee metamorphize thee make thee a new creature of a moule of the earth a soule of heauen of a snaile a dromedarie such a change as the Sunne workes in the vapour when of an earthy heauy substance it makes it light and aery apt to ascend into the middle Region Such a change Cyprian saith hee felt in his conuersion And how else came Dauid to that high delight in Gods seruice that he loued the Commandements of God more then thousands of gold and siluer the honey and the honey combe that hee rose at mid-night to meditate in them The selfe-same duties may be done by the Ciuill man and by the beleeuer for the outside and deede done both may goe to Church heare a Sermon reade a Chapter but the one goes as the Beare to the stake as a slaue to the mill and the dullard to schoole in comparison of the other who hath a different internall principle which is as a spring and oile to the wheeles that makes them goe smoothly and currantly makes the yoake light and easie They that trust in the Lord shall renue their strength lift vp the wing as the Eagle runne and not bee weary walke and not faint Faith it is that fetcheth sap from the roote Christ that makes euery tree bring forth fruite in it kinde euery Christian in his owne calling What else made Dauid so worthy a Souldier what taught his fingers to fight so that a bowe of steele was broken in his hand What made Paul an able Minister of the Gospell gaue him the doore of vtterance made his tongue as the penne of a readie writer Hee beleeued therefore hee spake What made Onesimus of a false eye-seruant trusty to his Master as to the Lord The like might bee said of all trades and sciences Looke what a full treasurie of all sorts of graces Christ hath stored vp in him Faith dreineth and deriueth them out of his fulnesse to the vse of euery seuerall Christian euen Grace for Grace Faith is the Conduit Cocke that watereth all the Herbes and flowres in the Garden All which the more I consider the more I pitty the preposterous care and vnhappy trauell of many well affected who study the practise of this and that vertue neglecting this cardinall and radicall vertue As if men should water all the branches of a Tree and not the roote Faine would they abound and shine in patience meeknesse zeale yet establish and roote not themselues in Faith that should maintaine all the rest are ambitious to doe good workes build Hospitalles giue Almes but study not to doe the worke of the Father And what is the worke of the Father but to beleeue in the Sonne whom hee hath sealed and sent into the world to bee relyed on for Saluation which worke is the gratefullest work that we can performe and which will make gratefull all that we doe besides without which all that we can doe will not please him What cares hee for thy thousands of Rammes thy Riuers of Oyle Hath he not shewed thee Oh man that he that trusteh in his Sonne honoureth him most of all in putting to his Seale that hee is true This honour if thou wouldest doe vnto him hee would honour thee with all other graces and withhold no ornament no good thing from thee if it be fit for thee Meeke thou shalt be as Moses patients as Iob zealous as Dauid thy soule and life embroadered with all kinde of shining Graces as the high Priests apparell with Iewels Wherefore adde this prescript to the former when thou art on the toppe of Mount Tabor solacing thy soule in thy Lord and his fauour through Faith feasting and banqueting with him as Ester with Ahasuerosh Bethinke thy selfe what suite thou hast to him what troublesome enemy thou wouldest bee ridde off suppose it bee some potent Haman of prid make but thy complaint and it shall bee executed and crucified before thine eyes Consider what grace thou standest in neede of and make thy petition as Achsah to Caleb And hee shall giue thee the springs aboue and the springs beneath This prescript if thou wilt dayly obserue some daies more largely and feruently as the Spirit that blowes how and where it lists shall assist and as occasion shall require but euery day some what more or lesse though I will not promise thee thou shalt attaine to perfection of degrees such as the perfected spirits of the Iust enioy in glory because here thou shalt euer beleeue but in part and therefore bee holy but in part yet this I dare promise as thou growest from Faith to faith so shalt thou grow from strength to strength in all other graces till by degrees
this was good for me I would not for any thing but I had borne the yoake in my youth that I may liue the more comfortably in age Considering that sicke thou art and that of many humours thy Father should not loue thee if he should feede thee with sweete meate and mingle no Aloes with them much folly is bound vp in thy back and if thy indulgent father should forbeare the rodde he should hate and not loue thee Fourthly Moreouer Faith will reminde thee of Christs partnership in thy affliction and of thy conformity with him the first borne onely begotten and entirely beloued sonne of God if hee that was without sinne yet was not without stripes wilt thou looke to bee a cockered Adoniah And what if the Crosse bee heauy and thou a weake Childe yet Christ a Gyant at one end beares part of it and makes it light and easie hee is quicke of feeling when Stephen is stoned saith Saul why persecutest thou mee Besides what more honourable Badge and Cognisance canst thou haue of thy Sonship then this resemblance of him not as now glorified in the heauens which thou must stay for till thou come there but as in the way to glory when hee despised the shame suffered the Crowne of thornes the Scepter of Reed the spittings buffetings mockes and mowes and all reproches of vile sinners the piercing of the Speare and shewed himselfe to be the Sonne of God not by descending from the Crosse but by enduring the Crosse And shall I not saith he drinke the Cup which my Father hath tempered and if thou wilt bee his Disciple the first lesson in his Schoole is Christs Crosse Deny thy selfe take it vp and follow him And glory with the Martyrs now am I like my Lord and Master Lastly Faith will set before thee as before him the infinite recompence of rewarde not onely renowne in this World which yet by Faith the patience not onely of Iob but of all Martyrs haue obtained but that farre most excellent Hyperbolicall weight of glory Which Paul eying counted his afflictions which to vs would haue beene intollerable light and momentany not worthy the naming in comparison which made him not onely not weepe and howle but sing in the Dungeon and reckon it a speciall fauour and honour to be counted not onely a beleeuer but a sufferer for Christ. And God forbid that a beleeuer should glory in any thing so much as in the Crosse of Christ in his wounds and scarres for his Lord and Master As that worthy Vincentius sayd to the Tyrant Threaten these things to your Courtiers and Carpet Knights Rackes Strapadoes torments are but a play to vs we Souldiers chuse to bee in Christs Garrison rather then in the Court in the Field and fore-front of the battle then in the Pallaces of Princes The more hazard and perill the more glory and honour And what else desire wee but to dye dayly that the life in Christ may be manifested in vs Yea in the very instant of Death Faith helpes the beleeuer to liue so as he may be said not to see death neuer to dye but that requires a iust Treatise by it selfe Let all the complaints greeuances wants and miseries of the world be searched and gaged the bottome will bee found either to be want of Faith or of the vse and practise of Faith So that we may well say with Augustine to any christian sinking vnder his crosse or shrinking at his enemy Hast thou lost thy Faith And conclude with that worthy Ensigne-bearer of Christ Many are the troubles of the Righteous but by Faith wee stand by Faith we fight by Faith we ouercome CHAP. XIII An Epistle to the Reader pressing the vse of Faith NOw Reader for so I chuse to call thee in a Postcript whē thou hast reade the Booke rather then in a Preface when thou maist there leaue as many do Giue me now leaue to grapple with thee and minister to thee an Iutergatory or two How many doest thou knowe within thy conscience liue this life of Faith Many thou seest liue by their Lands by their wits by their shifts but how many by their Faith For the want of this vse of Faith Doe not many poore christians thinke and say of it as a poore labouring countrey-man sayd to his neighbour in serious priuate talke That he neuer beleeued there was any such summe as a thousand pounds of money but that onely rich men gaue it out so in boasting or pollicy to excite others to labour so saith the common Protestant out of doubt there is no such sweetnesse in the life of Faith for wee see not beleeuers so cheerefull and contented aboue other men If Attists and Trades-men did no more dayly and duely follow their worke then most Christians doe practise their Faith would they not be starke beggars But to aske thee a more profitable question Leaue iudgeing of others and answer mee in good serious sooth between God and thy soule Hast and doest thou thy selfe liue by thy Faith Let mee a little put thee to it prooue and examine thy selfe and take for instance this present weeke or day past wherein thou readest this little Manuell How hast thou and vsually doest thou spend the day what thought diddest thou awake withall what was thy morning draught for thy soule next thy heart what hath cheered and made thee merry in priuate and in company whether thy sports and meales more then thy heauenly ejaculations Deale plainely not with me and this booke which yet shall witnesse against thee if thou refuse to practise it when thou hast read it but with thy selfe Hast thou or hast thou not challenged some time more or lesse halfe or quarter of houre at the least for this exercise of thy Faith hast thou not troubled thy selfe about the many things that this one onely needefull hath beene forgotten that which only should be called worke and businesse hast thou not melted the day yea it may bee the weeke or moneth past and made thy soule wholly to fast and pine for want of these refeshings if so as I most iustly feare it in most of my Readers how much more in such as are vsually no readers why then let thy heart smite thee for thy folly smite thou thy selfe vpon the thigh and say how haue I liued or rather not liued but consumed precious dayes in time-eating Vanities How comes it about that the greatest part of my life is the least part wherein I haue liued Oh then recouer and recollect thy selfe before thou goe hence and be no more Wilt thou dy before thou hast liued as Boyes slubber out Bookes before they learne their lesson Oh learne to liue this life It is neuer too late it is neuer I am sure too soone it is no shame to learne it what age or condition soeuer thou bee of Bee thou Prince Potentate Nobleman or Gentleman though few such Readers I looke for remembring well what Bradford