Use 1. I will only make that use of it that a great scholar in his time once did upon the point, a noble earl of Mirandula (fj. If there be no calling these things into question, if they have been confirmed by so many miracles, as they have been in a strict sense, why then. How is it that men live as if they made no question of tJie falsehood of them ? What kind of men are those that live as if it were ' without controversy,' that Christian truths had no truth at all in them ? Men live so carelessly and profauel}', and slight and scorn these great mysteries, as if they made no question but they are false (g). The liv€S of men shew that they believe not this. That it is out of the question true : to give an instance or two. If a man were to go thi'ough a storm for some great matter, if he did believe he should have some great preferment, would he not adventure ? Certainly he would. Those, therefore, that will not venture anything for this excellent treasure, this unsearchable treasure, for his interest in the gospel, do they believe it ? He that will not part with a penny for the gaining of a thousand pounds, doth he believe that he shall have so much? Certainly he doth not. There is such a disproportion between that that he parts with, and that that is promised, that if he did believe it, his heart would yield and assent to it, he would redeem it with the loss of such a petty thing ; much more in this case, having such an excellent treasure propounded. Those, there- fore, that will deny themselves no lust, that will part with nothing for Christ's sake, do they believe these things that the apostle saith are ' without controversy' ? Certainly they do not ; for there is a less dispro- portion in the things I named before, than between any earthly thing and the great good things we have discovered here in the mysteries of salvation. Therefore, we may see by this, there is little faith in the icorhL
Use 2. Again, in that he saith, ' Without controversy,' or confessedly, ' great is the mystery of godliness :' here we may know then, icJtat truths are to be entertained as catlwUc universal truths, those that without question are received. Then, if the question be, which is the catholic truth — popery, or our rehgion — I say, not popery, but our religion. I prove it from hence. That which ' without controversy,' all churches have held from the apostles' time (yea, and the adversaries and opposites of the church), that is catholic. But it hath been in all times, and in all churches, even among the adversaries held, the positive points of our religion, that the Scripture is the word of God ; that it is to be read ; that Christ is the mediator ; that Christ hath reconciled God and man, &c., — all the positive parts of our religion have been confessed, * without controversy,' ever since the apostles' times, of all writers ; and are still, even among the papists themselves, for they hold all the positive points that we do : they hold the reading of the Scripture, but not in the mother tongue ; they hold that the Scripture is the word of God, but not alone, but traditions also ; that Christ is mediator, but not alone. So they add their part, but they hold the positive parts that we hold. Therefore I ground that from the text :
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that which ' without controversy' hath boon held in all times and ages of the church, and * without controversy' held by ourselves and the adver- saries, it is more catholic and general than tlioso things wherein they dis- sent from us, that wore neither held from the apostles' times (for they were the inventions of popes, one after another ; their fooleries, wherein they diil'er from us, they arc late inventions, and wo hold them not), they aro less catholic than that that they and wo and all Christians hold ever since the apostles' times. But to come to a use of practice.
Use 8. Therefore w^hen we have the truths of religion discovered to us by the ministry, or by reading, &c., when they are conveyed to our know- ledf^e by any sanctified means, let ns propound these (pieries to our own souls, Are these things so or no ? Yes. Do I believe them to be so or no ? Yes. If I do believe them, then consider what the affection and inward disposition is ; whether it be suitable to such things, and so work upon our hearts that our knowledge may be aflcctive knowledge, a knowledge with a taste, that sinks even to the very aficctions, that pierceth through the whole soul ; that the atfections may yield, as well as the understanding ; and let us never cease till there be a correspondence between the affection and the truth. Are they true ? Believe them. Are they good ? Embrace them. Let us never rest till our hearts embrace them, as our understanding con- ceives them. And let us think there is a defect in our apprehensions, that we call them into question, if the affections embrace them not ; for alway, answerable to the weight and the depth of the apprehension of the truth, is the afiection stirred up, and the will stirred up to embrace it. A man knows no more in religion than he loves and embraceth with the affections of his soul.