Sermon on 1 Corinthians 15:18-19, Title page – To the reader
A FRVITFVLL SERMON, ON 1 COR. 15. 18, 19.
VVritten By VVILLIAM PEMBLE of Magdalen Hall in Oxford.
LONDON, Printed by R. Y. for Iohn Bartlet at the signe of the gilt-Cup in Cheapeside. 1629.
To the Reader.
WEe doe finde (Christian Reader) great opposition made against our Faith, not only by our Affections, but chiefly by our Reason; for when our Faith is encountred by our Affections, wee doe gather many times some succour from our Reason; but when our Faith is layd at by our Reason, the tentation is not more strong than dangerous. For if our Reason get the better of our Faith in any particular, our Affections follow amaine: And such tentations, where they once take, doe shake and stagger the strongest Christians. Men, I know, are most an end wedded to their passions, and doe liue more after their *Arist. Eth. l. 10. c. 9.perturbations, than their reason: and therefore there is little good to bee done on the minde of a man till his aArist. Phys. 7. c. 13. &. Eth. l. 10. c. 9.perturbations bee at some quiet. Now where our Reason is guided by Faith and the Word, there it doth good vponupon our passions: but where our Reason goes by its owne principles, and not by the Word, there our affections are the worser for our Reason; and a man shall neuer come to deny all his Affections, till he hauehave first denied his Reason. But blessed be God, Faith is our b1 Iohn 5. 4.victory, and it doth not only quiet the Affections, but at last it doth so triumph ouer Reason it selfe, that men are willing to become c1 Cor. 3. 18.fooles that they may be wise. The dArist de interp. c. 3. part. 6.vnderstanding of a man rests not till it bee satisfied; and nothing can giuegive full and vltimate satisfaction to the intellect and mind of a man, till by Faith it be captiuated to the obedience of eVid. Aquin. 1. 2. q. 109. a 2. ad 1. Arist. ad Eudemum. l. 7. c. 14. text. 216.God, and f2 Cor. 10. 5.Christ: and when that is once done, then Reason followes the light of the Word, and the Affections follow the light of Reason. And hence it is, that our Faith doth adhere with most firmenesse to those Principles and Articles of our Creed, wherein Reason is quite at a stand. I will make my instance in the Article of our Resurrection; a Point, by the consent of all I know (but gPac. cōment. in Arist. de anima, cap. 5. sect. 5one) vtterly aboue the whole element of nature, reason in it selfe doth not onelyonly deny it, but deride it, aArt. 17. 32. Plin. l. 7. c. 55.Philosophers hisse at it. bLuke 24.The Apostles themselues in that their greatest tentation did for a time look somewhat strange vponupon it. But yet we see when their Reason was denied, and their Faith tooke place, cArt. 2. & passim.they were not more willing to liue and dye vponupon any Doctrine of Saluation, than vponupon this of the Resurrection; and to beleeue this, is a meer Act of Faith alone. dChrys. Quod Christus sit Deus. Aug. ep. 112. c. 3. Scot. in l. 3. Sent. d. 24. q. vnica sect. ad primum principium.One, perhaps two of the Apostles, saw his death, none his Resurrection: And tis obserued, that it was so ordered by the Prouidence of God, that this maine Point of Diuinity might bee beleeued by the Apostles, and deliuered ouer by them to the Church of the Gentiles, as a meer act of faith, and not of sight: Faith being the euidence of things not seene, and the iust liuing by faith, and not by sight. Faith then doth most in those Points of Diuinitie, wherein reason is most opposite. A proofe wherof the Lord gaue in the Author of this Sermon, who a few daies before his last sicknes, preached this Sermon as touching the Resurrection, by a sweet & secret prouidence of God, the better to fit himselfe for his last Enemy. He was a man full of wit, learning, & strength of reason; & yet against the worst that Satan could do, reason yeelded, his Faith wrought out all disputes, and he was so firme in this Point, that hee reioyced that his body should not wait so long for the Resurrection as do the bodies of the Patriarks. Reason said nothing, faith did all, and set him in that height & strength of beliefe, that he beleeued here without doubting: Albeit whilst wee liue here we do *1 Cor. 13. 9.know but in part; yet an imperfect faith may, and doth bring forth a aRom. 4. 21. Col. 2. 2.full assurance, sith faith is a grace giuen, because & only whilst wee are imperfect, and when once we are made compleate, then our faith b1 Cor. 13. vlt.doth cease. The cLib. 9. epist. fam. ep. 1.Orator blamed himselfe, for that when he was in trouble he did not walk by his own Principles: But this our Diuine, what he deliuered in this his last farewell, he fully beleeued in his sicknesse. Let vsus pray, that as he, so we may liue by faith, & not by reason, both whilst we liue, & when we dye: & then we shall finde the truth and comfort of this, That faith, when its once made strong, doubteth least of those things, against which our reason disputeth most. Blessed is hee that beleeues, and sees not.
Thine in Christ Iesus RICH. CAPEL,