DECLARING THE ARTICLE OF JUSTIFICATION. CHAPTER I What should be the study of man; and what man should do in time of tribulation. As desirous as the wild hart is, in the most burning heat and vehement drought, to seek the cold fountain or river of water, to refresh his thirst; so desirous should we be, O Lord God, to seek unto thee, our Creator and Maker, in all our troubles and afflictions; and say with the prophet David, Psal. xlii. xliii. Wherefore art thou sad or sorrowful, O thou my soul or spirit, and why troublest thou me? Believe and hope surely in God—that is, confide in his mercy, and call to remembrance the time by-past, how merciful, helpful, and propitious he hath been to the fathers, and delivered them of their troubles, Psal. lxxvi. xxii. civ. Even so shall he do to thee if thou believest unfeignedly in him, and seekest him in his word; not inquiring his name,* what they call him, nor what similitude, form, or shape he is of, for that is forbidden thee in his law. He is that he is; the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and the God of the fathers, to whom he made the promise of our redemption. He would show his name no other way to Moses, Exod. iii. but commanded him to pass to the people of Israel, and say unto them, He which is hath sent me to you that is my name from the beginning, and that is my memorial from one generation to another. CHAPTER II. How man comes to the knowledge of God. Where should man seek God, and how he should receive him. And by whom we should offer our petitions. By faith we are taught to know God the Father, Maker, and Creator of heaven, earth, and all creatures; whom we should believe to be almighty, of infinite power, mercy, justice, and goodness; and that he created, in the beginning, * That is, The manner how he will deliver.-Ed. 1584. These notes, it is supposed, were added by Knox. all things of nought, as the scripture teacheth us, Gen. i. And that, by the Word, that is, the Son of God, he made all things which are made: who is equal to the Father in divine nature and substance, without beginning, in the bosom of the Father, who was with God in the beginning, and was also God. And at the prefixed and preordinate time, by God the Father was sent into the world, and made man, taking our human nature, and clothing himself with the same, and dwelled among us, John i. And after long time conversing among us, teaching and preaching the realm of heaven, being exercised in all troubles and calamities, in the which this our mortal body is subject, except sin only; finally, for our sakes, suffered the most vile death for our redemption; and rose from the same the third day for our justification; and after forty days ascended to the heavens, and sitteth at the right hand of the Father, our Advocate, as testify the holy scriptures of him, Luke xxiv. Acts i. ii. And thereafter he sent the Holy Spirit to instruct his disciples of all verity, as he had promised before, John xiv. xv. xvi. who, proceeding from the Father and the Son, the third person of the Trinity, descended upon the disciples in a visible sign of fiery tongues: by whom all creatures are vivified and have life; are governed, ruled, sustained, and comforted, without which all creatures would turn to nought, Gen. vi. Psal. ciii. Of this manner know thy God, three Persons distinct in one substance of Godhead; confound not the persons, nor divide the Godhead. But believe firmly and undoubtedly as thou art taught in the creed of the apostles, and of the holy man Athanasius, confessed in the holy church of Christ. Ascend no higher in the speculation of the Trinity, than thou art taught in the scriptures of God. If thou wilt have knowledge of the Father, seek him at the Son;* if thou wilt know the Son, seek him at the Father. For none knoweth the Son but the Father, and none may come to the knowledge of the Father but by the Son. And also Christ, being desired of Philip, one of his apostles, to show them the Father, answered, This long time I have been with you, and ye have not known me, Philip, John xiv. He who hath seen me hath seen the Father:t believest thou not * That is, Give credit to the doctrine which Jesus the Son of God hath taught.-Ed. 1584. That is, Though my Father were present, no other works should he work than I have wrought in your presence: nor yet other doctrine should he teach to you than I have done.-Ed. 1584. that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? Therefore, whatever thou desirest which is good, seek the same at the Son; for the Father hath given all things in his power. For that cause Christ commandeth us all to come to him, Matt. xi. and seeing he hath all things given to him, and also commandeth us all to come to him, great fools we are which seek any other way, of the which we are uncertain, either in heaven or in earth; as concerning our salvation we are sure he loveth us, and will hear us, according to his promise. Greater love than this can no man show, but that he put his life for his friends. Yea, verily, we being his enemies, he willingly gave himself to the death to get us life, and to reconcile us to the Father. Therefore, if we will have our thirst and drought quenched and refreshed, seek unto Christ, who is the fountain of living water, John iv. of the which, whosoever drinketh, shall never thirst, but it shall be to him a fountain of running water to everlasting life. CHAPTER III. The fruit of tribulation unto the faithful. God is a peculiar Father unto the faithful. What care he takes of them, and wherefore. Tribulation the sign of God's love. The judgment of the wicked concerning tribulation; what they do, and why they despair therein. THIS vehement drought and thirst had David, the holy prophet, when he said, O God, thou art my God,* of most might and power; therefore I seek thee early in the morning; with most ardent desire my soul thirsteth after thee, and my flesh desires thee. Great and fervent was this desire of the holy man, as ye may read in the 62d Psalm, which teacheth us how profitable, wholesome, and commodious the troubles, afflictions, and incommodities of the world are to the faithful and godly men; insomuch that the flesh, which ever of its own nature is adversary and enemy to the spirit, Rom. viii. drawing and enticing the same from the true worshipping of God; with frequent troubles and calamities is so broken and debilitate, that it takes peace with the spirit, and altogether most fervently seeks God, saying, Better is thy goodness, mercy, and benignity, the which thou showest to thy faithful flock, than this corporeal life; therefore my lips shall never cease to * That is, Thou alone art sufficient to save, though all men be enemies.-Ed. 1584. praise thee. O happy is that trouble and affliction which teaches us this way to know our good God, and causes this thirst in our soul, that we may learn to cry unto God as the fathers did; O thou, my God! As Daniel and Paul say in divers places. I give thanks, saith Paul, to my God for you, my brethren, Rom. i. Howbeit he is God to all creatures by creation, yet to the faithful he is one special and peculiar God, Mal. iii. whose troubles and afflictions he seeth, and shall deliver them thereof, even as he did his people of Israel forth of the hands of Pharaoh, without all our deservings or merits, Exod. iii. Therefore let us not look upon our merits, worthiness or unworthiness, but only to his mercy and goodness, putting all our trust, hope, and belief into him, and into no other thing either in heaven or earth; and say with the prophet David, O Lord, my strength, I shall love thee. The Lord is my sureness, my refuge, and my deliverance. And after, Be unto me a God, defender, and a house of refuge, that thou mayest save me, for thou art my strength and for thy name's sake thou shalt lead me and nourish me, Psal. xviii. xxxi. lxxi. That is, I put no confidence in my own strength, wit, or manly power, but only into thy mercy and goodness, by the which I am defended and preserved from all evils, and led and kept in all goodness. For thou takest care upon me, and art my only refuge, and strength unwinnable in all my troubles and adversities, Psal. xlii. and cxliii. Therefore, my well beloved brethren, let us rejoice greatly of this our little trouble and afflictions, James i. and consider them to be good and not evil; the signs and tokens of the goodwill of God toward us, and not of ire nor wrath; and receive them forth of his hands, neither of chance, accident, nor fortune, but of his permission and certain purpose, to our weal, as the trial and exercise of our faith. And that he punisheth us, not that we be lost thereby, but to draw and provoke us to repentance, according to that saying, Ezek. xviii. I will not the death of a sinner, &c. In the time of tribulation he requireth of us obedience, faith, and calling upon his name, as the prophet David teacheth us, saying, Call upon me in the day of thy trouble, and I shall deliver thee, and thou shalt honour me, Psal. 1. That is, believe me ever present with them that unfeignedly call upon me, and I shall not abstract my * Jer. xxxi. Prov. iii. Heb. xii. Rev. iii. Psal. cxviii. Isa, xxvi. and xxviii. -Ed, 1581. favour, help, and supply from them; but shall so deliver them, that they may therefore give me great thanks and praise for I desire no other thing of man. This manner of trouble brings patience, and patience proof, and proof hope, which frustrates not, but greatly comforts the faithful, Rom. v. The world hath another judgment of this trouble, and the wicked man, when the same happeneth to him, he grudges and murmurs against God, saying, Why hath God punished me? What have I done to be punished of this manner? Then gathers he in his heart, Had I done this thing, or that thing, sought this remedy or that remedy, these things had not happened to me. And so he thinks that they are come to him either by chance or fortune, or by neglecting of manly wisdom. Thus he flees from God, and turns to the help of man, which is vain; in the which finding no remedy, finally in his wickedness, he despairs, for he can do no other thing, because all things wherein he put his trust and belief have left him, and so rests no consolation, Psal. lix. lxii. cix. CHAPTER IV. What the faithful do in time of tribulation. What we have of our own nature, and what of Jesus Christ. What Adam did after his transgression. The goodness of God shown unto Adam. What Adam wrought in his justification. To Abraham, being an idolater, was made the promise that he should be the father of many nations; and the conclusion thereupon. BUT the godly say, O my God, thanks and praise be to thee, who hast visited thy froward child and unprofitable servant, and hast not suffered me to run on in my wickedness, but hast called me to repentance. I know my offences: justly have I deserved this punishment, yea, and ten thousand times more for my sins, the which sorely repenteth me. Our wicked nature teaches us to fly from thee, to diffide or doubt of thy mercy and goodness. And to excuse in our selves our sin and vice, and to object the same in another, as our forefather Adam did; having no respect to person, or love of any creature more than he had; for against his own fellow, which was of his own flesh, he objected the crime, to excuse himself! Yea, and also against God, thinking that the good work of God, making the woman, and |
