that doth Charity Charity joynes us close to God unites us as it were and makes us one thing with him fixes upon God as God is in himselfe which neither Faith nor Hope in this life can doe For Faith fixes upon God indeed but as he is under the vaile of Revelation There lyes a cloud betwixt the eye of Faith and her Maker Hope fixed upon God as upon a thing at distance a thing that will be enjoyed heâ—caâ—er but is not yet There lyes an Intervallum a kind of long reach betwixt Hope and the object of it while we hope we have not yet attained But love fixeth immediately and totally and â—nâ—eâ—arably upon her object In my love God is present to me and with me and in me He in me and I in him and I am as it were in the joyes of Heaven already while I am in the act of love it twines about and imbraces and â—eaâ—es and unites us together with what wee love never to bee severed from it No wonder therefore that God and Charity are so nearely afsianced that one beareth the name of the other And much lesse wonder that Charity should be the greatest vertue drawing nearer to God then any perfection whatsoever Charity it is that makes us rightly Sonnes of God saith Haymo Sonnes of his love as God the Father of ours nay makes us as it were demy-Gods upon earth Light of Light Spirit of Spirit partakers in a manner of the divine nature saith St. Peter yea by the happy Incarnation of Christ Bone of his bone Flesh of his flesh the very Mysticall members of his Body saith Saint Paul For we are members of his Body of his Flesh and of his Bone All this Charity makes us What Grace or Vertue in the World therefore to compare with Charity Yes Faith you will say justifies us and onely Faith If onely Faith then not Charity And Faith is as it were the hand that layes hold of our salvation It is our Armour our Shield against all temptations the Shield of Faith Saint Paul calls it It is our victory whereby wee overcome the world Haecest victoria saith St. Iohn even even your faith It is that which first adopts us Sonnes of God by which wee are Regenerated For Faith is the beginning of all acceptance the Baptisme of Baptisme it selfe without which it is impossible to please God saith the Apostle Moreover Faith is the foundation of Charity the very cause and roote of Love Adde to this that Faith is in the understanding part which is the more nobleâ— but Charity in the will and affections which are more ignoble And therefore in all these respects Faith may doe well to challenge place of Charity at least march even with it not come behind it in so unseemely ranke as it were the Mother behind the Daughter To all which Objections the Commentators frame diverse answers To goe backward with them Whereas it is alleadged Charity is in the affective part the VVill which is the more ignoble but Faith in the intellectuall part viz. the understanding which is more excellent Aquinas answers well that the understanding is indeed more excellent then the VVill because it inlightens and directs the will but yet it followes not for all that but that the will may have a more excellent perfection belonging to it then any the understanding can have To which purpose note that things are in the understanding in a spirituall and resined way but the VVill fixes upon things as they are in themselves Consequently earthly things sensible objects are in a more excellent way in our understanding then they are in their owne natures saith Saint Austine but Divine and Heavenly things are more excellently in their owne nature then they are in our understandings Whereupon it followes that the knowledge of earthly matters and things below us is better then the love of them as the knowledge of pleasure and honour and riches better then the love of these things c. but the love of Heavenly matters and things above us is better then the knowledge So then Faith and Charity being about the most excellent of heavenly things viz. God himselfe it followes Charity which containes the love of God must needs be better then Faith which containes the knowledge of him onely To the next that Faith is the Mother of Charity It is true and yet Charity may be Proles major parente a Daughter greater then the Mother As the fruite is more excellent then the bough that beares it and as the House excells the foundation so doth Charity excell Faith Faith is the beginning of all acceptance it is right and that which first initiates us to bee Sonnes of God But not Faith without love that is certaine For in our Baptisine wee not onely professe our Faith but enter into Covenant with God that wee will forsake the Devill and keepe his Commandements That is Charity and never are wee Sonnes indeed till we love our Faither Faith is the shield of a Christian against temptations we grant it Put Charity is the very arme that beares this shield when Love is once planted in the Soule it moves and commands all other powers And Faith is the hand that layes hold of Christ but Charity is the very heart that gives life to this hand As for the point of Iustification that requires some more exact decision let us heare therefore learned Divines of both sides discusse that Faith onely justifies ergo not Charity Stay there saith Genevensis the Adverb onely may sometimes meane principally as onely vertue is true nobility it excludes not other kinds of nobility but onely puts them behind One thing have I desired of the Lord saith David one thing above other though many other besides Against thee onely have I sinned saith the same Prophet that is against thee principally though he sinned also against Bâ—hshabe and Vrâ—ah as well as God So Faith onely justifies that is Faith principally rather Faith then Charity because Faith goes before Charity in our Justification though Charity comes after and justifies more perfectly Yee may perceive by the sound of his Doctrine of what straine this man is Saint Paul saith plainely By saith we are justified and not by the workes of the Law that is not by Charity for what is Charity but keeping the Law And this man saith yes by the worke of the Law and by Faith both is not this plainely to give the Apostle the lye Much better answers Calvine Faith though it bee lesse then Charity in most regards yet in some respects it may be greater As a more ignoble matter may be fitter for some uses then a more precious Gold is better then Iron and yet to make a weapon of Iron is better then Gold A King is better then a Mariner and yet to guide a Ship a Marriner is better then a King A man is better then a House and yet to run a Race a Horse is better then a man Thus though
TWO SERMONS PREACHED IN The Parish Church of St. Giles in the Fields by way of preparative upon the Articles of the Creed By William Haywood Doctor of Divinity and Rector of the said Church Published at the request of divers the Inhabitants of the said Parish LONDON Printed by I. O. for Henry Seile and are to bee sold at his Shop in Fleet-street over against Saint Dunstanes Church-yard 1642. TO HIS VERY LOVING NEIGHBOVRS AND BREthren in CHRIST The Inhabitants of Saint Giles in the Fields WHat was by me intended onely for your bearing is now at the request of many of you exposed to publike reading Wherein as I have yeelded to satisfie your desire even against mine owne liking so I trust you will satisfie mine in testifying as occasion serves how unwillingly I was perswaded to it Not that I envie the publike benefit or hun to have knowne to all Congregations what I deliver in one but that so many excellent works in this kind already extant makes mee assured there is little need of mine nor can I thinke these poore weekly labours in any sort meet for so generall a view as they are now offered to nor can I see in them wherefore they should be preferred before other of their fellowes yet lest I should be wanting in any thing that might further your spirituall proficiencie I have denied mine own judgement to serve yours beseeching Almightie God it may do that good to you and all Readers which you beleâ—ve and I earnestly pray for Yours in Christ Iesus W. H. THE FIRST SERMON And now abideth Faith Hope Charity these three but the greatest of these is Charity HAving in an Annuall course gone through the severall Epistles and Gospells well nigh for every Sunday in the yeare I have thought it expedient this present yeare to change my course and to treat of the maine foundations of Religion consisting in the Articles of our Beleefe the Lords prayer and the ten Commandements An Argument necessary for the instruction of the more ignorant usefull to confirme the faith of the more knowing expedient to edifie and regulate the manners of all It hath bin said by great Divines of our own Church that numbers of our people reape not the benefit of our Preaching they might for want of due Catechizing and it hath bin observed that Catechizing where it hath bin too low and child-like without piercing the grounds of divine Mysteries without teaching the ordinary sort somewhat more then they know hath bin as much despised I shall therefore endeavour so to joyne preaching and Catechizing together that the simpler sort may not be neglected but perceive plainly the substance of what they are to learne nor yet the more knowing sort forgotten but instructed in things they ought ever to remember nor either sort left unedified by dealing onely with points of Doctrine and drawing nothing to application but that the mysteries of faith be so handled that walso still extract out of them Rules of good life and precepts of good life also accommodated that they may more and more serve to build us up in our most holy saith in which enterprise I shall desire the benefit of your Prayers to our heavenly Father to assist mine that I may goe through with this intendment profitably according to my desire At this time I have chosen by way of Preface to treat of the three great Vertues in common whereupon Religion is founded to wit Faith Hope and Charity Hereafter as God shall enable me in particular of the summe of our faith in the Creed the summe of our hope in the Lords prayer and the summe of our Charity in the ten Commandements But at present in generall onely that yee may understand how these three Vertues are connected together and in what order of estimation to bee accounted Now abide these three Faith Hope and Charity but the greatest of these is charity The whole Chapter out of which this Text is taken is nothing but a commendations of Charity from the beginning of it to the end And this Verse being the conclusion of the whole Chapter seems to the highest reach of commendations For after the Apostle had commended Charity from the necessity of it Though I speake with the tongue of men and Angels and have not charity I am nothing And then from the excellent properties of it Charity suffereth long and is kind c. And thirdly from the perpetuity of it Charity never fallcth away c. In the fourth and last place he compares it with the highest and most necessary graces belonging to a Christian viz. Faith and Hope which onely may seeme in any mans judgment to challenge equality with it And yet here in this Verse he gives the Crowne from them and puts it upon Charity alone It is true Faith Hope and Charity are all of a ranke heavenly Vertues all and all necessary to Christians which Tongues and Propheâ—ie and Miracies are not and yet even among these Charity hath the prcheminence These three indeed surmount all other perfections none 〈◊〉 to the dignity of these and yet Charity carrieth away the dignity even among these Now abide 〈◊〉 hope and charity these three 〈◊〉 the greatest of these is charity In which words yee may note the proposition it selfe and the reference of it The Proposition is a definitive conclusion for the greatnesse of Charity above all other vertues whatsoever and the Reference is that which followes presenâ—ly after in the beginning of the next Chapter follow after Charity Which very well depends upon the end of the Chapter before for thereafter the Apostle had discoursed of severall gifts Mâ—râ—cles healings helpes governements diversities of Tongues he concludes Covet you earnestly the best gifts and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way That more excellent way is Charity which presently after followes in the beginning of this Chapter Follow Charity therefore rather then any for all other gifts whatsoever doe but serve to and under Charity They vanish and decay but Charity never fadeth whether it be Prophesies they shall faile or Tongues they shall cease or knowledge it shall vanish but love shall never fall away follow love therefore above all When the Apostle had thus preferred Charity above all the rest hee reflects in the last place upon those things that seeme of the same nature with it Faith and Hope appeare fully as necessary as Charity and as long lasting For though Prophecy and Tongues last not neither according to the act nor the habit but are infused rarely and particularly into some men not into others at some times and not at others yet Faith and Hope are at all times and in all Christian men alike None can be a member of Christ without these two any more then without Charity Nor can Charity consist without these two in this world so that take Faith away take away Hope and Charity falls to the ground and consequently all Christianity with them Though
therefore Charity take place of all the rest yet let it not be set above these Let Faith and Hope goe hand in hand with Charity at least Nay faith the Apostle The greatest of these is charity That is Faith and Hope must give place to Charity though all vertues else give place to them It is true they be all necessary and perpetuall in this life all three of them No Christian can be without every one of them it is granted All our labour tends to these three and these are the samme of whatsoever perfection can be named 〈…〉 now therefore they abide abid as it were at the foot of the 〈◊〉 having cast up all other miraculous gifts and graces here is the 〈◊〉 take all in a little it is but Faith Hope and Charity which all among to But even in this totall consisting as it were of three Figures mistake not the quantity Charity is the greatest of the three As all other things tend to the building up of these so two of these that is Faith and Hope it selfe tend to the building up of Charity and Charity is the top of the building Charity is the Crowne of all the â—est not only surmounting other Graces but these too Surmounting them and outlasting them for though Faith and Hope last and abide throughout all the course of this life as needfull as Charity yet in the next life onely Charity shall abide Faith and Hope shall then have no more place And therefore let not faith and hope how fundamentall soever dildaine to yeeld to Charity Charity is greater then Faith and Hope Charity is the highest of the three and if it bee so follow after charity what ever perfection else yee attaine let all serve to this and let love be the end and scope and measure of all This is the summe of the Apostles Doctrin and it is sure no impertinent one of ours for these times Wherein as if Charity were not the greatest vertue but the least of all every mans gifts and endowments tend to Charity in the last place each striving to reare up his owne glory or advance his owne profit every one looking on his owne things and not the things that are Jesus Christs Wherein above all other heavenly fires Charity is nearest to cinders zeale it may be burning and desire and courage and confidence all of a flame but the love of too many waxing cold Never more needfull sure for Charity to bee preached of the World being so full of rents and divisions the Church so distracted with factions and Schisme while few regard the publike so their private may be safe Faith and Hope much boasted of but little good Workes seene Knowledge and Revelation of the Spirit mightily talked of but little peace and amity one towards another If ever therefore it were seasonable to have Charity commended and pressed upon us I thinke never more then in these last and worst daies Heare therefore the judgement of St. Paul St. Paul as ful of miraculous gifts as ever any as zealous for the honour of faith as none more as paineful in his labours for the Gospell and as patient in hope as all the Apostles beside and yet preferring Charity above all Now abide these three faith hope and charity but the greatest of these is charity Two parts we find in the words one declarative touching the eminence of these three vertues Now abide faith hope and charity these three Another Comparative touching the preheminence of Charity or rather if you will both of them Comparative First these three preferred there all other vertues Now abide these three faith hope and charity And Secondly Charity preferred highest amongst them the greaâ—â—st of these is charity In the former of these yee may observe 〈◊〉 the vertues themselves and then what is affâ—d of them The vertues themselves are these Faith Hope and Charity Then it is affirmed of them that they are three and that they abide so Now abide these three c. We shall first God willing survey the vertues themselves what they are Secondly how they are three eminent above others and connected between themselves And Thirdly how Charity is preferred above the other two the greatest of these â—charity Web gin with the vertues themselves what they are Faith Hope and Charity For the first of them viz. Faith what that is Saint Paul himselfe saves us the labour and seemes to define that to our hands Heb. 11.1 Faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seene To understand which yee are to note the proper act of Faith and that is to beleeve Beleeving is as the Schoole-men define it an assent of the mind unto somewhat the truth of which is not clearely perceived but taken upon credit As that such and such Cities are in the World Rome Venice which perhaps we have had never seene such and such men have lived before our times Tully and Cato which wee have never knowne A great difference there is betwixt this and perfect science as betweene this and weake conjecture For perfect science is of things we either perceive by the sence as that Snow is white and Fire is hot and the like or else see clearely by the light of the understanding as that every part is lesse then the whole every whole double to its halfe Such things as these are more then beleeved they are perfectly knowne those onely are beleeved which are fully assented to and yet not perfectly known So in Christs healing the sick of the Palsic the Apostles and others that saw it done they had perfect knowledge Wee that have the story in the Gospell have onely the beleefe of it Infidels not so much as the beleefe I have insisted on this the rather to shew the meaning of the Apostle how faith is of things not seene For if wee have porfect knowledge that is full sight of what we beleeve our beleefe is at an end That is not faith but vision Faith then is a beleefe relying upon the credit of others concerning things we doe not perfectly know But all this comes not home to Divinity The faith the Apostle speaks of is concerning some speciall things and some speciall kind of credit and that is a religious beleefe of what God hath revealed and particularly of such things as concerne our salvation So that Divine faith is properly an assent to divine Revelation When we beleeve such and such things because God hath declared them and thus before any Scripture Abraham beleeved the promise of God concerning his Posterity and it was impated unto him for righteousnesse And Noah beleeved God fore-telling the Floud and prepared the Arke for safety of himselfe and his Houshold Thus faith is more antient then Scripture But since the Scriptures were written and the Canon finished and Revelation ceased in the mouthes of the Prophets and Apostles Now all Divine Revelation is confined within the Scriptures and the written Booke of the
Bibles become now the adequate object of faith sith no divine Revelation we know in these daies any where save in Scripture And yet all things in Scripture doe not alike essent ally belong to our faith but chiefly those things that concerne our salvation for Faith saith St. Paul is the substance of things hoped for so that those eternall blessings wee expect and hope for in the world to come those are the principall matter of faith Hence comes the applying and particular faith whereby we beleeve our sins remitted our selves reconciled into Gods favour and all the promises made to the faithfull in Scripture particularly and personally belonging to us I know there are many cavils betwixt our Writers and the Romish about the true nature of Faith Bellarmine and his Crue would have Faith no more than a bare assent to Gods revealed Truth as that Christ is the true Son of God that he was made man that he suffered was buried rose againe and the like Calvin and those that follow him would have it more than a bare assent namely together with our assenting an applying all the benefit of what we beleeve to our selves as that Christ died and rose againe for me that my sins are remitted that I shall be glorified in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting But this is objected by Popish writers to belong to Hope So Lapide What is Hope saith he if this be Faith If I must beleeve my selfe in the number of the Elect that I shall persevere to the end and be saved Why Hope can doe no more To salve this doubt we must in the second place enquire into the nature of Hope and it is defined by the Schoole to be Expectatio boni ardui futuri An expectation of some great good to come Here we may observe immediately no small difference from faith for the act of faith is to beleeve the act of hope to expect or look for Faith beleeves things good and bad hell as well as heaven torments to come as well as blessednesse Hope fixes only upon that which is good we hope for no other things than those that concerne our happinesse Faith is also as well of things past as of things to come but Hope is only of things to come We beleeve that Christ died and rose againe by faith as well as that hee shall come to judgement wee cannot hope that Christ shall rise again as we hope he shal come to judgement So then as Hessusius Hessusius well notes there is no such confusion betwixt our Faith Hope as Lapide talks of for by faith we beleeve all manner of good things and evill things revealed in Gods word be they past present or to come But by Hope wee embrace only good things and those neither past nor present but to come and such as wee earnestly desire and wait for Consequently that my sins are remitted is not matter of Hope but of Faith for this is a thing presant That I am an elect child of God not matter of Hope neither but of Faith for it is a thing past our election is from eternitie But that I shall persevere and be saved that is a matter as well of Hope as of Faith because it is a future good Herein only is the difference that by faith I beleeve my salvation to come and assent unto it as a sure thing but by Hope I long and wait for my salvation to come and wish and pray for it as a good thing So that faith is the ground of hope and hope the perfection of faith No such confusion therefore betwixt a justifying faith and a religious hope as our cavilling Romanists imagine By this you see how faith and hope differ we come in the next place to charitie which is defined by the learned to be Habitus quo diligitur Deus propter seipsum proximus propter Deum A vertue whereby wee love God for himselfe and our neighbour for Gods sake This appeares immediately distinguished from faith and hope for the act of faith is to beleeve of hope to expect but of charitie to love Againe faith beleeves things absent only and not seene but charitie loves as well what it sees as what it sees not And hope looks only for things to come but charitie loves things present likewise so that charitie is larger and fuller than either of the other Neverthelesse it cannot be denyed though charitie be larger yet it proceeds from the other for faith is the root both of charitie hope too He that comes to God must beleeve that God is saith St. Paul that he is a rewarder of them that seek him must beleeve first that God is there is faith then and faith first of all And secondly that he is a rewarder of them that seeke him there is the ground of hope suppose which and charitie will follow for if I hope for reward from God I cannot be so unnaturall as not to love him if it be but for the benefit sake I hope to receive from him Hope of earthly benefits begets love how much more hope of heavenly But untill faith and hope have gotten place I cannot love For before faith comes there is no knowledge of God at all and if no knowledge then sure no love for Ignoti nulla cupido We cannot love a thing we know not And though we know and beleeve there is a God yet untill wee find somewhat to hope for from this God we cannot love him Feare him we may indeed and admire him but not truly love him till wee find in our faith the substance of things hoped for that is some benefits received or expected from him and then comes in love which yet is no true love while it is but mercenarie while it loves God only for hires sake for those blessings it looks after from God for make the best of such a love it is but a meere concupiscentiall love such a love as a hungry man loves his meat with or a needy man his money Never is it right charitie indeed till it come to Amor amicitiae till we begin to love God as our selves nay not then neither is it right till wee have attained to prefer him above our selves to love of him better then when we have made God the ground and measure of our love so that we love him in the first place above all things else and our selves and other creatures in the second place in and for God then our charitie growes true and kindly indeed plant such a love in us once and all the Commandements of God will be easie then faith and hope wax strong and grow both the riper and the fairer by the heat of this love and so yee see in part what these three vertues are which is our first particular In the next place wee proceed to see what is affirmed of them Three things yee may here observe delivered of these three vertues in common First
delight which abide for ever in his presence hereafter Amen The end of the first Sermon THE SECOND SERMON Hebrews the 11. Chapter the 6. verse For he that commeth to God must beleeve that he is and and that he is a Rewarder of them that diligently seeke him BEing indebted by my promise to handle particularly the Articles of the Creed which is the summe of our Christian faith I have chosen this Scripture to begin with which is the summe of the whole Creed of all the Articles in it As Faith may bee called the Ground-worke of Religion whereupon Hope and Charity and all other Vertues are built So this Scripture containes the ground-worke of faith it self the very foundation of that on which all Christianity is founded For as no Christian can be saved without faith so no faith possible except wee bee perswaded of thus much before hand namely That God is and that he is a Rewarder of them that diligently seeke him Which sentence I deemed so much the more necessary to handle by way of preparative before the Articles of the Creed because it appeares of more antiquity and more universality then the Creed and all the Articles of it yea more ancient then Scripture it selfe out of which the Creed is taken For thus much before any Scripture was written was necessary for all men to beleeve as appeares by the Apostles instance in this place Saint Paul is discoursing here of the faith of the Patriarkes and particularly of Abel and Enochs faith Enoch saith he was translated that he should not see death And he was translated by faith By saith he was translated because he pleased God And without faith it is impossible to please God upon which conclusion if any shall demand what saith had Enoch or what faith Abel that lived so long before any Scripture was written why this faith they had faith Saint Paul this at least without which no saith is imaginable nor any comming to God possible namely that God is and that hee is a rewarder of them that seeke him This faith they had and this as it should seeme was enough to please God and to save them as the world went then but this is not enough for us now We have more Revelations from Heaven even aboundant ones in many ages and many successions in many writings of the Prophets and Apostles and all these are necessary for us to beleeve now Even all the written bookes of the Bible and every thing contained in them for we are to acknowledge them to be Gods Word and if Gods Word then to imbrace and beleeve them and to doubt of nothing in them So that the whole Scriptures are now become necessary for every Christian man of ripe reason on perill of salvation to beleeve To beleeve I say but not particularly to know or remember that is not necessary to salvation for that is businesse enough for a learned Divine that hath nothing else to doe to understand particulars of Scripture and remember them But all must bee beleeved though beleeve I by the most ignorant and all received upon the credit of Gods Spirit as Gods Word whether knowne particularly or no. And yet though all particulars neede not by men of meane capacity bee knowne some must some particulars of Scripture knowne explicitly and beleeved expresly or no salvation for men of ripe judgement possible And those are the heads of Christianity summed up in the Creed which is a short confession of our Faith comprised by the primitive Fathers of the Church to that end that every 〈◊〉 might have it ready as an abstract of all that was necessary And this they did not to make Lay-men carelesse or lazy that they should not care to know more but to direct yong beginners and to leave all of all sorts without excuse that would not know this Because saith Aquinas Faith is the substance of things hoped for And those things only belong essentially to saving faith which concern our Hope the means of salvation And because many things contained in Scripture pertaine not so directly to these as that Isaac had two sonnes that Iacob was in Aegypt and the like therefore are those points that directly concerne mens salvation and the meanes of it summod up in the Creed so that all men are now necessarily bound to know and beleeve thus much at least how much soever they know more Thus then the Scripture is now the rule of Faith and the Creed is the summe of Faith so much as is essentially necessary to every ones salvation But of old before the Scripture was written this ground-work sufficed This may be called Abels and Enochs Creed which is the preparative also to ours and all mens else namely that God is and that he is a Rewarder of them that seeke him The words being a conclusion by way of Analysis seeme to imply not onely the summe of our Faith but of our Hope and our Charity too that is the substance of all Religion For our Charity that yee have touched in the first words Hee that comes to God Comes to God that is desires to come neâ—re him to be joyned and united to him saith Estius and such a comming is the very act of love Then for our Hope that yee have in the last words namely that God is a Rewarder of them that seeke him that grounds our Hope For our Faith it is the very heart of the Text that which the Apostle would infer He that comes must beleeve beleeve that God is and that he is a Rewarder c. So that upon presupposall of the necessity of our love St. Paul here grounds our faith and our hope too or rather shewes that our love is to be grounded in faith and hope or else it can never be a right love Love is the top of the building as yee heard last Sunday Love the goodly Tarias the beauty the Crowne and superstructure of all Well but Cogitans â—dificium charitatis necesse est ponaâ— fundamentum fidei saith a Father He that would build up this goodly Tower of Charity must lay the foundation low and strong in a sure faith Oportet accedentem credere Hee that comes that is he that would draw nigh to God by his love must first approach by his faith He that commeth to God must beleeve that he is That the Apostles way of arguing is thus analyticall appeares by what goes before There St. Paul tels us of Enochs translation at the first verse translation to heaven that is glorification glorification presupposes sanctification Before hee was translated Enoch had this testimony that hee pleased God Please God how could he except hee came to him that is except hee loved him For as glorification is the end of our way and implyes an arrivall to and an union with God So Sanctification which is by Charity is the course of our way by which wee still get ground and come neerer and neerer Now impossible we
eternall portion in another life that is not as the giver of naturall only but supernaturall blessings It is but a vaine objection therefore God may bee knowne by Nature ergo no need of faith Nay sure to know the very being of God rightly we must be beholding to faith for naturall knowledge is full of errours our reason is dim and blind since our fall taken in Paradise and with much labour we do find out things before uâ— saith the wise man but the things that are in heaven who hath searched ouâ— If God himselfe reveale not such things to us we may grope long enough in the dark and find nothing Adde to this that admit of Natures knowledge yet what are most part of men the better for that It is so long in learning that not one of a thousand is the neerer for naturall knowledge How many yeares must be spent How many books turned before wee can attaine one poore Science And when wee have attained all wee are far enough yet from attaining the knowledge of God without a long circuit of demonstration So iâ—tricate are things divine saith one that in Natures search those principles stand last which in the Doctrine of Faith are the very first Besides what is it that Nature knowes That God is without beginning or ending the Maker of the world and the like why what is that to our faith Where is the apprehending of God as the Father of our Lord Ieâ—us Christ As our Father by adoption As our happiness and Hope in the next life As the sole object of our worship As a Rewarder of those that seek him All this is far from Natures sight And therefore blessed be God for this help that hee hath given us the light of Faith to direct us and not laid it upon every one to know but to beleeve Hoe thnt commeth to God must beleeve that God is By this meanes now all of all sorts ignorant and skilfull learned and unlearned shall be delivered from all laborious search of this great principlt and have it ready to their hands saith Cajetane by this meanes none shall need stick at it or make any controversie about it now For Faith hath this advantage above Science saith he that of things which may be demonstrated by reason wee may venture to doubt and discourse But of things established by Faith no disputing no doubting Moreover let Science be never so cleare yet few men would venture their lives upon Science for it argues some presumption upon our owne skill but upon Faith it is glorious to jeopard our lives For the truth of God it is honourable to dye no pride in that but abundance of humility and selfe-denyall And therefore to make men couragious in defence of this maine truth and willing to dye in it let it be a matter of faith let it â—elve on Gods credit not on our reason let it bee not hee that comes must know but he that comes to God must beleeve that God is Yea but what shall he be the better for his beleefe yee will ask to what purpose is his comming To purpose enough it yee mark the next point and joyne that to it for that makes it a gainfull comming Then we come with hope and comfortable perswasion indeed when we come not only beleeving that God is but that he is a Rewarder of them that seeke him which is the fourth gradation and the last point of our Division We are now upon that which supports and strengthens the weight of all our labour without which our Faith would quickly hang downe her head and our knees be feeble For did we only beleeve that God is no more what are we the nearer The ninth sphere is too but so far from our reach that we cannot communicate with it Indeed supposing God the best of all things we might undertake to seeke him but finding no reward no advantage to be got by it we should quickly be weary of seeking Reward it is that animates all industry in the world that encourages all Trades nourishes all Sciences and holds up all Professions upon hope of reward all depend take which away and none will abide a fruitlesse paines long If the Husband-man plow not in hope and sow in hope if he expects to reap nothing yee need not perswade him to be still Reward it is that gives life to all endevours necessary therefore that hee that comes to God should beleeve this too as beleeve that God is without which he would never come so beleeve that God is a rewarder of them that seeke him without which he would soone be weary of comming Thiâ— part as I told you pertaines to Gods providence and it is that indeed which makes our faith truly saving For to beleeve only the being of God as some vaine Philosophers did and not to beleeve that he hath a care of humane affaires what can more tend to profanenesse and licentiousnesse Such men Iob describeth Iob 22.12 Is not God in the height of heaven And behold the stars how high they are and how then doth God know can hee judge thorow the dark clouds Thick clouds are a covering to him that hee sees not and he walks in the circuit of heaven What is the Almighty to us that wee should feare him And what profit is there if wee pray to him Iob 21.15 Whom David is faine to instruct better Take heed yee unwise among the people O yee fooles when will yee understand Psal 93.3 He that planted the care shall he not heare Or hee that made the eye shall hee not see It is heâ— that teacheth man knowledge shall he not know us seeing hee knowes all our wayes Thou art about my paâ—h and about my bed for lo there is not a word in my toâ—gue but thou O Lord knowest it altogether And as hee knowes soâ—ce tries so heâ— considerâ— and rewards His eyes behold the people and his eye-lids trieth the children of men that hee may reward the proud after their deservings that he may deliver the poor from him that is too strong for him I the Lord search the heart and trâ—e the reines that I may give to every one according to his works Jâ—râ—m 17. By this faith we learne to lay hold on God as the rock of our salvation to call on him to put our trust in him to love him to cleave to him without which no possible comming to him And therefore he thet commeth to God must beleeve this or he is never the better for beleeving that God is namely that God is also a Rewarder of them that seeke him But what kind of Rewarder yee will ask There bee those that think a Rewarder in a temporall way by secular good things will serve turne As God rewarded Abraham Isaac and Ioseph yea and Iehu and Cyrus too the reward of honour long life health posterity and the like These some think enough to entitle God a Rewarder and so they are but these
be for impossible we should seeke God without his grace impossible we should offer to come to him unlesse he give us the will For we are not able to thinke any thing as of our selves saith Saint Paul As God therefore gives reward to them but seeke him so hee had need give power likewise to seeke that he may have whom to reward for except he given us we cannot seeke It is well observed therefore by one that the words are not God is a Rewarder of men propter quarendum for their seeking but God is a Rewarder quarentium of them that seeke Seeke we may and by his grace only and his help seek why not and so God be a Rewarder not of our deserts but of his owne girts in our seeking This for admonition For reprehension many kind of offenders we may take good occasion to taxe To let goe those incredulous wretches that dare call these great principles in question and doubt whether there be a God or no or whether he bee Rewarder of those that seeke him I suppose many others that professe these points with their mouths may be justly blamed as disagreeing from them in their lives And if it bee the lives of men must prove their faith I pray how doe they prove their faith of Gods being that yeeld him no manner of reverence in his House nor any where else That set light by his Word by his Ministers by his Sabbaths by his Service If they did beleeve there were no God at all could they doe more to confirme it to the World could they bee more prophane then many now adaies are If I be a Father saith God where is my honour If I be a Master where is my feare If there be a God where is our outward acknowledgement of this God in our Worship in our Reverence in our respect to his Ministers in our Tithes and Ofterings and the like To let goe these What say yee to those men that come to Church sometimes and yet live worse then Insidels lye defraud steale forsweare privily consume and devoure their Brethren Doe these beleeve that God is think yee They doe not live as if they did sure In the third place set your presumptuous insolent young Gallant that scornes all Lawes despises all government makes a mock of all wholsome order and triumphs in the contempt of all as if hee knew none above him How neare is this man in his life to saying there is no God In the fourth place yee may set the curious disputer he that will measure all grounds of faith by his reason and beleeve no more then can be proved by demonstration Let him remember that St. Paul here requires this evident principle so often proved among Philosophers by reason viz. that God is to be imbraced of us Christians by faith and not by science he that comes to God must beleeve this It is not expected he should prove it And this for oftenders against the first point touching Gods essence Against the second touching his Providence That God is a Rewarder how many more seeme delinquents and in their example appeare too much to forget this First murmurers and repiners so much blamed Psal 37. that grieve at the prosperity of the wicked that fret to see the unequall distributions of things Temporall as if God had no better blessings then these doe not these seeme to charge the Justice and Providence of God as if he had forgotten to reward them that seeke him Next unto whom yee may joyne the backslider he that begins to doe well and then gives over as if his labour were not enough considered As if he should say What prosit is there in serving God Sure I have cleansed my heart in vaine c. Nor may wee omit the politick worldling he that thinkes to contrive all events whatsoever and bring things to passe by his owne wits as if there were no providence to be acknowledged And the miserable niggard hee that will not part with any thing to the poore that is will not trust God with a halfe penny Is it likely these beleeve God a Rewarder of them that seeke him Nay sure if they did they would be more liberall and more pious In the last place set the lazy Christian that seekes after nothing at all but loyters and lyes abed trisles out his time and takes his case Doth this man thinke you perswade himselfe there is a Reward belonging to seekers that will not take the paines to seeke any thing for his soules health nor his bodies neither That seldome or never praies never reads nor meditates nor thinks on God Nay sure if this man beleeve any reward from God it is a doubt but it is certaine he doth not greatly desire it Last of all for consolation very fruitfull both Doctrines are First that God is it ministers aboundant comfort to us in all the chances and changes in all the distresses and troubles of our life that however other things vary and change God varies not How ever other helps other friends decay and perish yet God abides still Not so any comforts besides him Riches are now but shortly they will not be Health is here to day but happily gone to morrow Thy Father and thy Mother thy Husband thy Patron are but for a time shortly there will bee a time when thou maist say of these things they are â—ot But God though all other things vanish and perish yet he is still Hee is a sure friend an everlasting comfort There is our joy that though all other helpes bee taken away God can never bâ— taken away He is still where hee was Nay though ourselves be taken away yet he is our hope even in the midst of death In him we lâ—ve we move 〈◊〉 are stâ—ll even when we are not Secondly from his providence aboundanâ— comforts more That though none else regard our godly living our patient and painefull working yet God will not forget it we have a sinâ— rewarder of him God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love c. And yet though we be not by and by rewarded or reconâ—sed in these temporall things let us not grieve as if we were unrespected For it is Estius his note the word here signifies rather future then present not so much that God is as that he will be a Rewarder Though he tarry therfore wait for him For certainely God will not forget his promise And though he recompence not in temporall good things yet remember he hath better Rewards in store for us and such as are worthy our faith indeed such as he hath chiesly taught us to expect from him That Reward is his owne selfe which how ever other things may faile us shall be sure in the last place not to faile us but to make us blessed for ever in the vision and fruition of him who is for ever To which blessed vision and fruition c. FINIS