which I spake of before are in the Essence of God alone Now our spirituall consolation whereof the Holy-Ghost is said to be the Beginner is but an emanation or effluence from that Being which he himselfe is as the light of the Sun doth illuminate every bright body exposed to His light and yet imparteth not His being thereto You will againe object that Eternitie hath no beginning nor ending how then can Christ be both eternall and begun and how againe can He be equall to the Father whereas He being begotten of the Father the Father hath a prioritie before Him I answere that this beginning is that production or begetting which I before declared to have beene heretofore no other then it is now and shall be eternally as the Sun hath brought forth light since His creation and shall still bring forth light till the worlds dissolution For this action of God whereby He begetteth His Sonne is not a transient action to cause a passion in the subject and a repassion in the agent for in such the subject of necessitie should have beene existent before the action but this action is immanent and therefore of necessitie of the same nature with the same agent which agent because it is eternall therefore the production is also eternall and consequently the product and so of necessitie very God But you must ever remember what difference I made between the action of God infinite in power and therefore able to actuate the object and the immanent actions of our minde Now for the Prioritie or Posterioritie you may object I grant there is Prioritie among the Persons of the Godhead but of what kind not of Being for their Essence is one therein is none afore or after another neither is any one of the Trinitie more or lesse God then another not of time for they are all one Eternitie not of dignitie for they are all one Infinitie and the Sonne Himselfe being very God thinketh it no robberie to be equall with God But yet there is Prioritie and that of order onely for the Father is in order before the Sonne because the Sonne is begotten of the Father and the Sonne likewise is before the Holy-Ghost because the Holy-Ghost is the mutuall love betweene the Father and the Sonne and so proceeding from them both I will make a comparison unmeet for the matier of which I speak for to whom shall wee liken the Highest but yet meete to helpe your understanding When a man doth dreame and imagine things which are not there is you know the phantasie the phantasme or thing imagined or dreamed and the phansying or working of the phantasie about that object Now these three are all of one nature and are one after another onely in order and not in time For the particular phantasie of such an object is before the object and makes it to have an intentionall being then the object being the discourse of the phantasie followeth in order which neverthelesse was in time as soone as it obseruing ever the cautions that are to be obserued Thus have I very briefly showen not many reasons but rather how many reasons may be showen for this Christian assertion yet have I showen ynough to perswade any reasonable man to yeeld meekely unto the truth of that doctrine which is so evident both in the Booke of God and in every faithfull and true Christian mans confession and according to that discourse which is evident to every mans understanding Now give me leave to speake a little to those arguments which have throwen the most learned of the Iewes headlong to the feete of Christ to make them acknowledge that the Messiah must be both God and man I will not herein doe any thing contrary to that which in the beginning I protested that is not to compell you by authoritie of Scripture but to intreat you by reasonable perswasion to encline your eare to the truth But because I may not without injury to the cause leave altogether out such manifest proofe and without injurie also to your selfe who might thinke that I went about to sophisticate a true seeming untruth which would not abide the touch I will onely intend my finger to some very few of many thousands of axioms of the Scripture for this purpose and leave you to make the conclusion by your selfe hoping that the Iewes example may provoke you to follow them so far forth as they have followed the truth Exo. 13.21 it is said The Lord went before them c. Chap. 14.19 The Angel of God which went before them removed where Christ the Angel of the Covenant is called The Lord Iehovah Againe Exo. 15.3 The Lord is a man of warre His name is Iehovah therfore Christ is God and man who by this conflict upon the Crosse triumphed over Death and Hell as it is written in the Gospel The booke of the warres of the Lord. Againe Esay 9.6 Vnto us a childe is borne there is His Manhood and unto us a Sonne is given and they shall call His Name The mighty God And Esay 35. v. 4. Your God will come and save you Iere. 23.5 c. I will raise up unto David a righteous Branch and a King shall raigne and this is the Name whereby they shall call Him The Lord our righteousnesse And Ier. 33. v. 16. Iudah shall be saved and He that shall save her is the Lord our Righteousnesse Where the Name used is that great Name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iehovah which is never given to any creature Zac. 9.9 proves Him God and man What shall I cite unto you that of the 2. Psalme Thou art my Sonne this day have I begotten thee which place with many moe is brought in the Epistle to the Hebrewes to this purpose which is your question These authorities the Thalmudists who sticke onely to the killing letter and apparant sense of the law hold sufficient to put this matter out of doubt Now if leaving this outward sence of the Scripture wee should desire to know what is the quickening spirit thereof and should ransacke the treasuries of the Cabalists remembring that place of our Saviour Mat. 5.18 One jod or tittle of the Law shall not passe till all be fulfilled and should examine the question by the letters and pricks of the Scripture wee should more easily find an enterance then an end thereto Yet for a taste take onely the first three words of the Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bereshith bara elohim which may not unfitly be thus turned In the beginning they the mighty God created And of that againe take the first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bereshith and see what it may signifie by that part of the Cabala which they call Notariacon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 b. the first letter of ben signifieth the Sonne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r. the first of ruach signifies the Holy-Ghost 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a. the beginning of av is the Father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 s.
God spake in times past to the Fathers See Iacobi Brocardi praefat in interpretat Bib. fol. 25 26 c. if their doings and sufferings were not predictions of the sufferings of Christ and of the glories that should follow How much better was that saying of the father The new Testament is hidden in the old and the Old is manifest in the New But you say by these allegoricall and mysticall sences of Agar and Sinai and the like any forrein sence may be concluded I Answer The Scriptures being to give us hope and comfort in Christ there is one rule for their interpretation which out of Saint Peter I remembred even now that the interpretation be to manifest the sufferings of Christ and thereby our deliverance from the punishment of our sinne or the glory of Christ and therewith the hopes that are laid up for us in heaven And what allegoricall mysticall or anagogicall sence soever is brought in beside this rule the rule of our holy faith is as easily thrust out as it is brought in And this is the true Cabala of the Scripture both old and new Troubled with all kinde of heresies The heresies or errors abont this truth of our Lord Christ incarnate are in briefe of three kindes The first concerning the person who was this Christ the second concerning His nature and being the third concerning the attributes or proprieties of his being The most ancient heresie concerning the person of the Messiah was that of the Herodians of whom you reade in the Gospell Matth. 22.16 Marke 3.6 These as Epiphanius remembers Panarii lib. 1. held that Herod the sonne of Antipater the Idumean was the true Christ promised to the Fathers because the scepter did utterlie cease from Iuda in his time but the gathering of the nations was not to Herod as Iacob prophesied so their heresie vanished Hitherto you may bring all those false glosses of the Iewes who turne the prophecies fulfilled in Christ to other persons as to Ezechiah to Zorobabel to Nehemiah to Iehoshua and to others as they thinke fittest to mocke of the holy oracles from the true Messiah as you may reade in Pet. Galat. lib. 4. cap. 17. and in the note b above But their greatest mistaking was in their counterfeit Messiah who from Numb 24.17 called himselfe Barchochab that is the sonne of the Starre of whom they were foretold by our Lord himselfe Iohn 5.43 If another shall come in his owne name him ye will receive But it cost them the destruction of their citie by Titus and so many miseries as ensued thereon Such another Barchoziba they had in the dayes of Adrian by whom after the slaughter of innumerable * persons They cite the author of the booke Iuchâ—sia for twice so many as went out of Egypt Postel de orbe cond writes 600000. of both these you may reade Galatin lib. 4. Cap. 21. they were utterlie chased out of their countrie and not so much as the name of their citie from his owne name called Aelia left unto them and thus have they lived in banishment ever since But the lewdnesse and follie of other succeeding hereticks did equall this of the Iewes And first that of Simon the Witch who gave out himselfe to bee the Christ which though Augustine affirme in so many words yet Tertullian and Epiphanius have onelie so much in effect that hee was that virtue and great power of God as you reade Acts 8.10 How great then was his schollar Menander who to all the falshood of his Master added this that hee was greater than Simon Epiphanius in Pan. The hereticks called the Sethians held that Christ which was borne of the Virgin Mary was no other then Seth named Gen. 4. the sonne of Adam The Ophites held that the Serpent which deceived Eve was Christ as Augustine saith but neither Irenaeus Tertullian nor Epiphanius affirme it But Augustines authoritie alone is sufficient to make us thinke that the Maniches held that the Serpent which taught Eve knowledge and came in the last dayes to save the soules of men must needs bee Christ But these sotteries were so sencelesse as that they neither lasted long nor spread farre But the enemie of mankinde would not suffer the fountaine of life the sincere doctrine of Christ to bee untroubled and therefore beside these heresies concerning the person who was that Christ promised to the Fathers hee brought into this faith which wee hold concerning Christ the sonne of the Virgin Mary such confusion of opinions concerning his nature and properties for his offices are in question now that Mahumed Alcoran Cap. 20. rejoyced in himselfe that hee was delivered from the opinions of the Christians so monstrous in themselves so contrarie one to another that the verie enemies of these heresies were in confusion thereabout and as here and there contrary one to another so sometime to themselves You may reade if you will the stories of the hereticks in the Fathers Irenaeus Epiphanius Theodoret Isidore Eusebius Ruffinus and other historians of the Church and in briefe he that gathered from them all the commentator on Aug. de haer I for avoiding of confusion will remember as occasion is the heresies under the name or names of the most famoused authors or defenders therof and that without respect either of the time wherein they lived or other opinions which they held beside for I write not the historie of the wars but the triumph onely of the Christian faith 1. The Monophysitae or hereticks which held but one onely nature in Christ were of divers families for Eutiches while hee went about to refute Nestorius who held as two natures so two persons in Christ confessed that Christ was of two natures God and man before the uniting of them both but after the union of them they became as one person so one nature because the manly being was utterlie swallowed up of the Divine and changed thereinto as a drop of vineger in the Sea doth utterly loose both the taste and being of vineger This the Armenians and Iacobites heretofore have held but now they are returned to the true faith Mr. Brerewoods Enquirie pag. 154. and page 173. Euagrius hist Ecclesiast lib. 4. Cap. 9 10 11. charges Anthimus Bishop of Constant Theod sius Bishop of Alexandria and Severus to have taught one onely nature in Christ but what or how he shewes not But you may finde in Theodotus the Reader Collect. lib. 2. that their heresie was one with this of Eutyches 2. Apollinaris as others Apollinarius contrarily upon that text of Iohn 1.14 The word became flesh held that in Christ the flesh and the word were consubstantiate or made one substance so that somewhat of the word was turned into flesh not remembring the interpretation which followes in the same place that the word made his tabernacle or dwelling in us 3. The Timotheans said That of the two natures thus united in Christ a third thing must result which is neither very God
speake are either such as concerne Himselfe or us Himselfe as that in His being He is a Spirit Eternall infinite in Wisedome c. In essence one in Persons three in His dispensation towards us that in the fulnesse of time the Eternall Sonne should dwell in the Tabernacle of our flesh that in our nature and for us he might make satisfaction for our sinne that we might be restored againe to the favour of God which wee had lost by our transgression and so have hope of the full enjoying of those benefits which come unto us thereby as the resurrection of our bodies and eternall life both in body and soule And because it was impossible for us to understand those things except God Himselfe had revealed them unto us therfore it was necessary that He should vouchsafe the certaine and immutable knowledge of them by His Holy Word 5. No Kingdome can bee ordered according to Iustice wherein the Lawes are not manifest and to bee knowne of every subject that will know them But Christ is that King that is to raigne in iustice Esay 32.1 Therefore it was necessary that the lawes and ordinances of His Kingdome which peculiarly is His Church should be so published that every one both small and great might take knowledge of them 6. No punishment is due but for some offence and where no law is there is no transgression Rom. 4.15 So no reward is due but either in justice for some merit above dutie as the merit of Christ on our behalfe or else in mercie by promise for the carefull performance of that which is due But neither duty nor punishment nor merit nor mercie can either appeare or be such where no law is Therefore it was necessary that God by His Word should both shew what duty He did require of us and what punishment was due to the breakers of His law and what reward was due to the observers as the law declares And moreover because no man in this state of corruption by originall sinne is able to performe the law of God as he ought in perfect righteousnesse Therefore it was also necessary in this impossibilitie on our parts to make it knowne how wee might bee delivered from the punishment by the mediation of another as the Gospel shewes 7. And because so great a benefit as the deliverance of mankind from the thraldome of the devill was never to bee forgotten therefore it was necessary not onely that the Church should bee prepared unto the expectation thereof and dayly put in mind by such lively signes as the sacrifices were the true meaning of which they were taught by the Prophets but also when the time came that the promises should bee fulfilled that the Church should be throughly informed and confirmed in the trueth thereof by the powerfull doctrine and glorious miracles which were done both by the authour and finisher of our faith and by those who were eye-witresses of all things which they testified to the world Therefore it was necessary that both before the comming of Christ the Church should be catechised unto Christ by the doctrine of the Law and the Prophets and after His comming bee fully instructed by the Apostles and Evangelists the Holy-Ghost evermore working in the hearts of the elect that the things which were taught should be beleeved § 3. Hath it indeede beene the practise of the devill by his principall agents the persecuters of the Church to deface the Holy Scripture and to put out their remembrance among men Histories affirme it Neither can the Father of lies hate any thing so much as the trueth nor the enemie of man-kind endeavour any thing so earnestly as to defact that by the knowledge whereof man may find the way to eternall life yet great was the trueth and prevailed Then by hereticks he would corrupt it but yet the trueth prevailed Then hee would keepe it from us in an unknowne tongue but yet the trueth appeared and every man may reade in his owne tongue the wonderfull workes of God English and Germanes and French and the rest yet the devill had one tricke more in his budget that seeing hee could neither deface nor corrupt nor conceale the bookes of Holy Scripture in a forraine tongue whose vulgar use is vanish't among men he would shuffle in other bookes among them that so we might not discerne the true Mother from the false And if any question grew about the Child traditions which wee must receive with equall affection of piety must decide it Strange Divinitie Did the Church deale thus of ancient time For you onely are wise you onely will be the people Shew the custome of the Church you claime to Fathers shew it from them Saint Athanasius in Synops. divides the bookes of the Old-Testament as wee into Canonicall and not Canonicall The Canonicall he accounts all as wee save Esther the not Canonicall he accounts the booke of Wisdome Esther Iudith and Tobit The books of the New-Testament all Canonicall hee numbers as wee the foure Gospels the Actes the seven Catholike Epistles fourteene of Saint Paul among which following Saint Peter Second Epistle 3.15 he puts that to the Hebrewes and the Revelation Epiphanius also Lib. de Mens pond accounts the Canonicall bookes as Athanasius but puts Esther among them he accounts Wisedome and Ecclesiasticus to be apocryphal Ierom. in Prol. Gal. accounts the Canonicall bookes of the Old-Testament as Epiphanius and as the manner of the Hebrewes was of old they count the books according to the number of the Hebrew letters 22. as the knops nuts or almonds on the golden candlestick were 22. for the Lamentations was one book with the prophesie of Ieremiah and the 12. small prophets made but one Booke and as five of their bookes were double that is Iude and Ruth 2. of Samuel 2. of Kings and 2. of Chron. Ezra and Nehem. in one booke so are 5. of their letters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which in the end of words are thus written 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But in Summe they speake of their bookes altogether the Law and the Prophets as Luk. 16.29 and 31. and 24.27 Aces 24.14 and 26.22 and 28.23 And yet some-what more particularly the Law the Prophets and the Psalmes and this division of the bookes of the Holy Scripture our Lord also allowes Luke 24.44 But in this last division the bookes are numbred 24. first of Moses 2. Foure of the former Prophets as they call them Ioshua Iudges Samuel and Kings 3. Foure also of the later Prophets Esay Ieremie Ezechiel and the Booke of the 12. small Prophets 4. The Kethubim or holy writing contained 11. bookes the 5. Poeticall that is the Psalmes Proverbs Ecclesiastes Iob and the Canticles three which they called Megilloth volumes or rolles Ruth Lamentations and Esther among which the booke of Canticles is sometimes accounted and 2. halfe Chaldee which were last written Daniel Ezra with Nehemiah and the Chronicles And these holy writings they divided
word choraiham their dung hath the derivation of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chor that hole from which it comes out and the word Sheyenaiyehem their changes of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Shanah to change meanes their urine which they should drinke and pisse out and then drinke in againe whereby the railing Rab-scaeb would be as bitter as he could But for the first of these the margent hath a more mannerly word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dzoatham that which comes from them and for the second by way of exposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 meimei raghleihem the water at their feete and these are read for the words in the line Translators have little or nothing to doe with the Keries of the first kind in them of the last they usually take the word in the margent In the second kind they take the word in the line or that in the margent indifferently because the Keries or marginall words are both of the ancient Iewes and learned Christians held to be of divine authoritie as they in the text as you may see it made manifest by Henry Ainsworth's Aduertisement n. 7. where by sundry examples he shewes that the word which in one Prophet is put in the margent is by another put in the text Moreover the most ancient translators even from the 70. which were almost 300. yeeres before Christ if that which is now extant be any remnant of it and that Chaldee of Ionathan who is said to have beene the disciple of Hillel which lived as some write 100. yeeres before Christ and all that have followed after these have translated sometime after the margent somtime after the line often-times have noted both as you may see in many instances in the place cited And that which is above all the Pen-men of the new Testament use in some places the word of the margent for that in the line So that Galatinus with his late Rabbins may still sleepe upon the pillow of their owne dreame For nothing of the Talmud was gathered together till about the yeere of Christ 150. when one Rabbi Iudas compiled into one volume the expositions on the law and the Prophets which other Doctors had written some before some after Christ which Booke hee called Mishna a copie or second reading and divided it into Six Sedarim or orders Some 200. yeeres or more after him Rabbi Iohanan or Iohn gathered the Talmud or Doctrinall of Ierusalem out of the writings of such Rabbins as wrote after the other and this Talmud is but a commentary on the former Mishna After him likewise about the yeere of Christ 500. Rabbi Asse made a further collection of the Babylonian Talmud of speciall use among the Iewes Both these Talmuds are full of fables and idle fictions to the depravation of the trueth of God But about the yeere 1200. Rabbi Moses ben Maimon thence called Ra M Ba M and Maimoni gathered out that which was good and any way availeable for understanding the rites and ceremonies of the Law and left out those fooleries of which the Talmuds were full and therefore Postellus said rightly of him that hee is Instar omnium For further knowledge of which things you may read Galatinus H. Ainsworth Shickard P. Ricius and others Now if neither the Talmud nor the Mishna were extant of so long time after Christ how could the writings there cited being in private hands bring in any publike corruption into the text of the Scripture which long time before that had beene delivered safe and intire into the hands of the Church of the Gentiles But although it be yeelded unto that either the Masôrites or the Talmudists or the Cabalists by any private notes of theirs or their expositions have corrupted either the text or native meaning thereof yet doth it not therefore follow that the Nation of the Iewes have accepted these corruptions much lesse that they hold them of divine authoritie as they doe the marginall Keries and yet much lesse can it be made to appeare that the Translators of the Christians have at any time accepted of any such notes no more then we heretofore accounted the notes on the Geneva Bibles to bee Canonicall Scripture But you will aske when those Keries or marginall readings for they are alwayes read for the Cethib or word written in the text came to the Holy Scripture Answere The most voyces are for Ezra that he having care of the Ecclesiasticall policie and especially of the integritie of the Holy Scripture in conferring the copies and the differences among them noted such as hee thought fittest and that the Copies might not differ any more began that Masôreth of which I spake But Galatinus Lib. 1. Cap. 8. saith that this is a lewd lie of the later Iewes for then they should not have beene called corrections of the Scribes but of Ezra yet hee confesseth that they were long before the time of Christ seeing Ionathan the Author of the Chaldean translation doth often-times translate according to the margine yet will he not have Ezra the Author of them for then he durst not I thinke so saucily refuse them or for them the Cethib as errours and corruptions of the text as hee doth But Shikkard as he cites the common consent of the ancient Hebrewes puts it constantly upon Ezra That with much care and diligence he got divers copies of the Scripture compared them with those that were authenticall and noted them as you heard 1. But if there were any copies that were authenticall what needed this superfluous diligence 2. Beside what could 70. yeeres of the captivitie doe to corrupt so many copies when they had in the captivitie so many Prophets As Daniel Ezechiel Ezra beside so many worthies as you read of in Daniel and Ezra and Ieremiah among them that were left at home Especially seeing a copie may continue many seuenty of yeeres as you read in Rambam of one of 700. yeres in his time and Cunaeus cites the Chronicle called Iuchasin concerning a Bible written by Hillel betweene whose times were 900. yeeres and yet more the learned Patrick Young assures us of a beautifull Copie of the whole Scripture written by Tecla in the time of the first Councell of Nice at this time extant in his Majesties Library Praef. in epist. Clementis ad Curinthios 3. And that which is most of all to proove that Ezra was no Author of the Keries in the Bookes of the Scripture written before his time is this That as almost none of the Scripture written before him so none of the Bookes after the captivitie except perhaps Malachi are without them Did not Ezra Daniel Zachary Haggai know their owne meaning Were they not able to expresse it Yes You will say then what needed those Keries in their Bookes of the Chronicles and those that beare their owne names written by themselues I speake not this to uphold that fancie of Galatinus that these corruptions of the Scripture as he the admirer of himselfe
ignorantly termes them were made by the Iewes after Ezra and before the time of our Lord for could such treason be wrought against God and His trueth as to peruert His straight waies and His words and would not His Sonne who ever honoured the Father and did that which was pleasing in His sight so much as reprove it not once say sinne no more Nor doe I say it to contradict them who could find no Critick of the books of the Bible before Ezra but to justifie the trueth That the Prophets by the revelation of that Spirit by which they wrote were every one of them the authors of those Keries or notes in their owne bookes as the Doctors in Talmud Babeli in Nedarim or treaties of vowes Chap. 4. fol. 37. b. affirme The word read and not written that is the Keries which are read from the margine and not written in the text and written and not read are the tradition of Moses from mount Sinai and they explaine it so Moses received in Sinai and so delivered it to Israel An example or two by the way will guide us well It is said Gal. 3.19 That the Law was ordained by Angels as ministring Spirits by the divine appointment to Moses the Mediator of the old Covenant He received it by voice and although the eare doth judge of words as the mouth doth taste the meate yet where the meaning of the words was doubtfull there is was necessary for him so to write as in Exod. 21.8 the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lo not and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lo to himselfe have no difference at all in found but onely in sence Our last translation followes the margine If she please not her master who hath betrothed her unto himselfe others thus If shee be ill in the eyes of her master that he doth not betroth her c. The sence is every way excellent and the Law most just and who shall presume to understand the Law better than Gods owne Secretary that writ it or to alter that hee hath written So 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ieish in Gen. 36.5 and 14. is in the margin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ieush and is so written in the line verse 18. In verse 40. Duke Aluah is in 1. Chron. 1.51 Duke Aljah and Aluah in the margine I brought before the reasons which are alledged for the marginall readings and now you call for a reason of the difference in the text For if say you the text bee not faulty what needes the wordes in the margine If the margine bee right then mend the text Answere Neither the one nor the other is faulty but both of God and if matier of knowledge or instruction or comfort be in one which is not manifest in the other why should God want of His praise Or the Church be deprived of that benefit which it might receive by both when God shall vouchsafe to make the meaning of both to be fully knowne Moreover the letters of the Hebrew tongue are all numerall letters and He that in His infinite wisedome made all things in number waight and measure doth also governe all things in number waight and measure to bring forth every thing in their appointed times and places And seeing He doth nothing which he doth not reveile to His seruants the Prophets and that it is necessary that the Scripture be fulfilled in every perfection as of the things to bee done so of the numbers of times and persons whom they doe concerne Therefore although wee cannot yet see how these things should be yet when the time is come that every secret shall be knowne Matth. 10.26 Then shall the Church glorifie God in this behalfe The number of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is 390 of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 386. So the words with their consignificant numbers are taken into their places as they fit the prophecies there intended And for this cause as Menahem declares it it is not lawfull to write the bookes of the Law which are for the use of the Synagogue which with so great solemnitie are shewne to all the people on expiation-day with the vowels or pricks because all possibilitie of understanding and interpretation may bee conceived by the substantiall letters of the words which by the vowels might be tyed to one onely meaning If you see this explained by the Scripture it selfe you will both beleeve understand it better Take then that word of Ps 16.10 Thou shalt not give thine Holy one to see corruption which text in Act. 2.27 and else-where is brought to prove the resurrection of Christ before His body should be corrupted in the grave and is applied unto Him peculiarly as to the Prince of our peace and the Author of our full redemption from sinne and death and therefore is the word with the vowels onely of the singular number Yet because therein as Plantin and the best printed copies expresse it is a jod ◠which without the vowels may bee read as a plurall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chasideica thy holy ones for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chafideca thy holy one thereby is secretly a hope given to the faithfull that they shall not for ever dwell under corruption but that by the vertue of His resurrection they shall rise againe as Saint Paul saith Ephes 2.5 6. That God hath quickned us together with Christ and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Iesus And againe 1 Thes 4.14 If we beleeve that Iesus died and rose againe even so them also which sleepe in Iesus will God bring with Him For the dead in Christ shall rise first vers 16. but the rest of the dead in Saint Iohns vision Revel 20.5 lived not till the 1000. yeeres were finished And this I thinke is sufficient to shew that the Scriptures of the Old Testament are come unto us as they were at first delivered to the Church in the Hebrew tongue 8. Concerning the integrity of the New Testament lesse question will be if we shall first put that which must needs be yeelded unto that through the diversity of copies and carelessenesse of the writers divers differences are found But although in that booke set out in folio by Robert Stephan 1550. the differences I thinke are not fewer then the divers readings in the Old Testament yet are they not such as make any change of the sence at all except such as all will confesse to be the fault of the writer as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 12.11 and these are very seldome found Then concerning that which some others bring for the vulgar edition of the Latine to be authenticall if upon better view they will be content where it is faulty or doubtfull to examine and correct it by the Greeke copy we shall not need to spend any time about it So the onely opposition is from Mahumed who although he speakes more then can be look't for
since the Apostles we find the effect of our Mediators prayer that their writings have beene that Word by which the faithfull have beleeved on Him and so hath done and still doth that worke for which it was sent thereby are we sure that it is their word their owne word as they delivered it not corrupted or sophisticate by any device of man for any purpose or intent as that false prophet doth pretend And that you may see how great the trueth is and how it prevailes take out of Ficinus in the said 36. cap. what this Mahumed confesseth of himselfe whereby you may see how betweene his arrogance and his ignorance the trueth doth shew it selfe He confesseth that he neither had done any miracle nor none could doe That he was pure man and no more That he could give no pardon for sinne That he would not be call'd upon or worshipped And although in his madnesse he pretended himselfe to be a messenger sent from God and inspir'd by Him and that he was the Holy-Ghost yet when his raving fit was off hee confest that hee was ignorant of many things and that there were somethings in his bookes of the trueth of which there might be doubt and whosoever shall worship one God and live honestly whether he be Iew Christian or Sarazen shall have mercy from God What is then the preferment of his Alchoran before the holy Scriptures or why shall wee forsake our most holy guide whom he confesseth to be the breath and word of God and to have the next place unto God in heaven that we may become circumcised and abstaine from Swines-flesh and wine and enjoy fleshly pleasure with many wives if nothing of all this give us any furtherance to eternall life 10. To end this question I will bring this only argument which for substance is indifferent to both the Testaments the circumstances only differing If the writings of the holy Scriptures be corrupted either those corruptions must come in by little and little into the copies of the Scripture while they were dispersed by writing or else all at once If they came in by little and little then the books that had beene written without those faults might bee patternes to correct the fualty by and so the text might bee still preserved pure as wee find it was done when Printing flourished under the managing of learned men in those copies of the Greeke Testament printed at Compludo and at Paris To suppose they came in all at once is against all reason and possibilitie of experience I have shewed that till the time of Christ and his Apostles the Old-Testament was pure and can it be supposed that all the Churches of the Iewes in Pontus Galatia Cappadocia Asia and Bithinia 1. Pet. 1. nay all the twelue tribes in the Cities of the Medes in places so distant should conspire to such an act for which they were perswaded they should goe downe irrecoverably to hell Can the imputation of a base Iewe or two in a thing of so great importance to the disgrace of their owne Nation without any proofe of the thing naming of the place time or Persons against all possibilitie of trueth sticke so fast as that no nitre can be able to wash it off To say that the Christians of the Gentiles ever endeavoured to corrupt the Hebrew text hath yet more impossibilities For during the time of the gift of tongues no such crime might touch them and after that none among them no not the Fathers themselues except perhaps Origen or Hierom had so much skill in Hebrew as to be able to corrupt it Beside the whole nation of the Iewes would have opposed it and as they detest our religion and faith so had they had just cause to brand us with infamy for that endeavour and to proclaime our folly which should corrupt that in the sincerity of which alone is the assurance of our hope So the Hebrew text remaines intier And concerning the New-Testament written in Greeke it was so suddainely dispersed among the converts of the Gentiles and that while some of the Apostles were yet liuing that there could be no possibilitie of any corruption to come unto the text by any common consent And because that our Lord was to be made a light unto the Gentiles and a salvation unto the ends of the earth Actes 13.47 Therefore were the bookes of the New-Testament also Translated into many languages even in the birth and infancie of the Church of the Gentiles as you may read in Aug. de Doctr. Chr. lib. 2. Cap. 5. in Chrys hom 1. in Iohn who also translated the Scriptures for the Armenians as Hierom for the Dalmatians his countrey-men I said many languages because they name the Indian Ethiopian Persian Syrian Egyptian Sarmatian Scythian but Theodoret De Graec. affect cur lib. 5. saith into all languages which were in use And if it might be put that the Greeke copies were corrupted yet these Translations being our of them while they were intire would detect the corruption But all these Translations among the Christians though differing in some points one from another as the Nestorians Euticheans c. doe still agree in the substance of the meaning and shew the purity of that fountaine from whence they flowed And there is none of these translations or Fathers here named but were before Mahumed of a Christian became a renegado at least 200. yeeres All which things being put together it will be manifest that neither the falshood of the Iewes nor the forgery of Mahumed have any shew of trueth but that the Holy Scriptures both of the old and new Testament are still in their purity as the Church received them Of the Scriptures easinesse to bee understood § 6. THat comparison of the Prophet Psalme 36. that the judgements of God are like a great deepe was by a Father fitly and wittily applyed to the Scripture to bee as a sea in which the Elephant may swim but yet with Shallowes in which the Lambe may wade And although David prayed that God would teach him the wonderfull things of His Law yet hee honours it for this that it is perfect that it hath power to convert the soule that it is sure that it makes the simple wise Psal 19.7 And therefore are they not the messengers of Christ but rather the ministers of Satan who under any pretext of falling into heresie of hardnesse to be understood or the like with-hold the laytie from the reading of the Scriptures It is not denied but that many things therein are hard to be understood yet that one thing which is needfull Luk. 10.42 That mystery of the knowledge of Christ which was kept secret since the world began is now made manifest by the Scriptures of the Prophets to all Nations for the obedience of faith Rom. 16.25.26 1. For seeing the instruction of God must be of all such things as are above our knowledge and yet of such things as are most
sacrae et ratter is Psal 87.1 Foundations as that it only is able only worthy to binde the conscience of a reasonable man whereas all other religions or rather false worships although examined in themselves onely by their owne principles are found to be false and against common sense what triumph is this of a Christian over all Heathens and misbeleevers that will they nill they if they will bee men and stand to reason they must confesse that the Christian religion is onely true And seeing the world hath beene called to the marriage of the Kings Son Luc. 14.16 c. First by the voyce of nature declaring the wisdome and power of God in the creature and that they that were so called would not come because their mindes were set on earthly things Secondly by the Law but the Iew who sought righteousnesse by the Law would try what his five yoke of oxen that is his keeping of the Ceremoniall Law contained in the five bookes of Moses could doe and so would be excused Thirdly by the Gospell but the carnall Gospeller and false Christian could not come because he is marryed to pleasure and worldly lusts what remaines but that they who are yet strangers and walke in the broad wayes of sinne and the by-paths of their owne inventions should by reason that servant of God bee compelled to come in And seeing the time cannot bee farre off that all the nations of the earth are to bee called to the knowledge of Christ For great shall his name be from the rising of the Sunne to the going downe of the same Psal 103.3 What hinders that the truth of Christ bee taught according to common reason whereto every man doth listen For it cannot bee but that all Idolatry and false worship all heresies and dissentions about Religion must then cease when the truth is taught in the evidence of that Spirit whereby every man is guided For as God made man reasonable so doth hee command nothing to bee done which in true reason is not the best nor require any thing to bee beleeved which in true reason is not most true You will say is there no difference then betweene faith and reason yes very great For Reason is busied in the proofe of some generall conclusion which is to bee held for a truth and so received of every man but faith is the application of that conclusion to a mans owne selfe As if it be concluded that because Christ being so conceived and so borne had no sin and therefore he suffered not death for himselfe but to save them that should beleeve on him faith applies this generall conclusion thus but I doe beleeve and therefore I shall be saved Now this application is not made by reason but by the speciall instruction of the Spirit of God in the heart of the beleever although it were inferred upon such a conclusion as was proved by reason I have not endevoured herein to heap up arguments by numbers but by weight and therfore have Ilet passe all reasons from forrein autority and all that were but likely onely and of small importance neither have I brought any one but such as seemed to mee sufficient of it selfe to confirme the question The reasons here used are for the most part from the goodnesse power wisdome and other dignities of God because the questions are concerning the things of God and no arguments can be of greater force and more immediate then such as are drawne from the verie being or immediate properties of the things in question they are handled by necessities and impossibilities to shew that all things that are and are not stand for the truth of the promises of God to us that by all meanes wee might have strong hope and comfort in Christ And though I sometimes bring one argument for divers conclusions yet it is not therefore of lesse force no more than a good toole is of lesse worth because it serves for divers uses I have studied for plainenes as much as I may and therfore have I sometimes handled the same reason both affirmatively and negatively that he that cannot take it with one hand might hold it with the other for that purpose also are divers reasons brought though all satisfying as I thinke yet perhaps all of every one not equally understood but he that understands all may upon these grounds or the like bring many other to the same purpose and give glorie to that infinite mercy which hath so fortified this glorious truth which hee hath bound us to beleeve with such walles bulwarkes ravelings and counterscarpes of reason that all the power of hell all the batterye of Atheists Turkes Iewes and other adversaries shall never bee able to overcome it And because a little light is soone lost if dispersed as in the Starres called Nebulosae and those of endlesse number and distance in the milkie way I have proposed the reasons together in as short and few words as I can that the light of the reason may more easilie appeare For oftentimes while men desire to enlarge themselves the reason vanishes into words The autorities of the sacred Text I bring as need is that the Christian may see whence the Article of faith in question is taken and whereon it is grounded and that in the proofe thereof I bring no other doctrine than the holy Scripture doth reach Let no man carrie my words or meaning awry for although in this search of causes and reasons other conclusions offered themselves yet I held it not meet to propose any other things than the holy Church of old thought fit to be held as sufficient for the saving faith of Christians conteined in the Creed which is called the Apostles as being gathered from their writings and that according to that order as it is therein delivered yet with such prefaces and notes as the necessitie of the things did drive me unto leaving those other things to the higher speculation of them whom God shall vouchsafe to enlighten for their further progresse from faith to faith from knowledge to knowledge till all the holie Church come to bee partakers of those things new and old that are kept for her in store when she shall come unto the fulnesse of the measure of the age of Christ that is the perfect knowledge of all those things which our Lord in his time taught his Disciples who were not able then to beare them till they had received the light of the holy Spirit from above If any man learned bee pleased to read in this booke let him forgive me the harshnesse of my speech being to teach the unlearned in English a language not taught that nicetie of words whereby to expresse the difference of things which I easilie hope he will doe because hee knowes that the infinite differences of things do much exceed the sharpnesse of our understanding and yet the subtiltie of mans understanding doth goe farre beyond the rudenesse and scarcitie of all words
is also the voice of heaven Revel 4.8 Holy holy Lord God Almighty Revel 15.3 Great and marvellous are thy workes Lord God Almighty Notes a IN respect of the Creature Rea 1. The first argument is the effect of those which Tho. Aquin. hath brought to this question in his second booke Cont. Gent. cap. 22. And although this infinite power bee one of the inward perfections of the being of God no lesse than His goodnesse eternity infinity c. which the Doctor saw well enough yet because hee could manifest it best by the effects in the Creation therefore hee deferred it to that place Yet by this meanes He left the question proved but in the smallest part because the infinity of Gods power though manifested in the Creation of a Million of worlds of which every one should be greater and better than this yet could they not way be an object answerable to his power to which nothing can bee equall but only Himselfe Wherefore the Doctor was compelled to adde hereto two chapters 23. 24. as certaine supplies That God wrought not the Creature by any necessity but according to the purpose of his owne will and wisdome yet would I not be thought to blame these or the like arguments though in effect only inductive For the Holy Scripture in infinite places uses the like And to this purpose principally as concerning the literall interpretation are all those reasons and instances which are brought in Iob from the beginning of the 37. chap. to the end of the 41. b If God be not Almighty then either that which is or that which is not R. 2. Many questions have beene moved and still are by idle and presuming Wits concerning the knowledge will and power of God In the will and foreknowledge of God is that great doubt which is about predestination and reprobation wherein I have said so much note a in the 5. chap. as may direct the honest minded who enquires thereinto not for controversies and disputations wherein the practice of godlinesse doth not at all consist Concerning the power of God some questions are moved meerely captious and idle some though unnecessarily yet more pardonablie but because that in every thing which wee know truely of God there is exceeding comfort it is not unfit to heare some of them and to give an answer First it is demanded If God be Almightie and all knowing whether he bee able to doe that which he knowes to be impossible to be done I answer That onely such things are utterlie impossible to be done whereof there is neither power nor knowledge neither doe they come into the account of things But possibilitie and impossibilitie are not to be measured by us for thought to man many things seeme impossible yet to God all things are possible Mar. 10.17 And this difference we our selves either out of our owne wits or in our best wits acknowledge when in suddaine or great dangers out of which we see no possible avoydance wee call upon God as acknowledging our escape possible to him 2. Whether God can call backe or undoe the things that have beene Salomon Eccles 1.9 10. saith That which hath beene is that which shall bee and there is no new thing under the Sunne Is there any thing new it hath beene already in the time that was before us But whereas Salomon speakes by way of comparison or likenesse or that things past may bee figures and prophecies of things to come I thinke you meane the same in number and that in respect of their being onely then I answer No. For that which hath beene is as necessarie to have beene as it is necessarie for that to be which is Now to be and not to be implies a contradiction or a saying and gainesaying of the same thing And that any thing be infolds necessarily the will and power of God thereto so that any thing should have beene and not have beene it must of necessitie enforce that God should both will and not will the same thing but to will and not to will proceeds from extreme weakenesse of foresight and want of judgement in the difference of things that are good and bad But nothing of weakenesse can belong to God as to be lesse then hee is in any of his dignities to cease to be or will that which is ill to be inglorious to forget to suffer violence to be weary sorrie angrie to denie himselfe 2. Tim. 2.13 as it is said Heb. 6.18 That by two immutable things a promise and an oath wherein it is impossible that God should lie we may have strong consolation which lay holde on the hope which is set before us Neither yet can that belong to God which is against the necessitie of being as because the being of God must of necessitie be independent therefore God cannot make another God besides himselfe which shall bee equall to himselfe and independent Neither yet in things being because all his works are done in truth and judgement Psal 111.7 is it possible to change them as that 2. and 3. should not bee 5. that a tryangle should not have three corners and therefore thirdly if it be questioned 3. Whether the same things which God hath wrought were possible to be done otherwise than they are done I answer The power of God in the creature is conformable to his will his will to his goodnesse his goodnesse to his wisdome So as God in his wisdome seeing what was good in the creature according to the pleasure of His will so framed the creature as it is said Psal 134.6 Whatsoever pleased the Lord that did he in heaven and in earth in the sea and in all deepe places Therefore supposing that it was His will so to worke in the creature as he hath framed it it was not possible to be done otherwise than it is For so his will should not be absolute and unchangeable nor yet his will and power should be convertible But yet seeing the creature is no way a proportionable object to his wisdome and his power if it had seemed good unto him Hee might have done the same things otherwise then hee hath in respect of any limitation which he found in the creature And may create other worlds and beings different from this according as it shall seeme good to His infinite wisdome Therefore all the possibilities mentioned before are in respect of the creature only not in respect of the infinite power of the Creator who by that which Hee hath wrought in the creature hath put an impossibility to change or undoe that which He hath done CHAP. VII 1. That the Will 2. the Truth 3. the Glory 4. And all the other dignities of God are Infinite 1. WHatsoever is equall to an infinite being must of necessity be infinite But the Will the truth the Glory of God and all his other dignities are equall to his infinite being Therefore they are infinite Concerning his Will it is apparent for every thing
be apprehended the Angels had beene created in vaine for neither had they enjoyed happinesse when they could have no sight of God in whom alone blessednesse is nor yet God had perfected his praise in them when they could not see and praise the Divine Majestie And againe to the same purpose pag. 118. Seeing mans understanding above all other things desires and searches the knowledge of the truth and that not onely in things below during this life but most of all being separate in the eternall and infinite goodnesse wisdome and other dignities of God wherein above all other things it takes most joy it is necessarie that it may come unto the knowledge of that truth by such a mean as is proportionable and fit thereto for otherwise the desire were in vaine if it could never bee brought to effect Therefore seeing our understanding cannot behold the infinite being it selfe it is necessarie that it behold it in the Mediatour a created being and proportionable to our understanding and this may seeme to bee that which our Lord saith of himselfe Iohn 14.6 No man commeth to the Father but by me See Iohn 1.18 and againe Luke 10.22 No man knoweth the Father but the Sonne and he to whom the Sonne will reveale him For answer to this doubt you must remember that which was said to the last objection concerning the being of things equivalently and eminently for your easier understanding I will cleere it further Things be they naturall or artificiall are either actually in that being which they have whether it be substantiall or accidentall as Plato to bee a man to bee a Philosopher this sword to bee of Steele well tempered two foot and nine inches long or else potentially and so they are in their proper principles and causes before they come to actuall being and these causes are either next as the Steele out of which the sword was forged the Smith that made it the fire that softned it the hammer the grindstone and such like instruments or else the causes are further and further off from the effect as iron which was fined to steele the stone out of which the yron was molten the quicksilver and Sulphure which were congealed into that stone the earth and water of which they had their beginning Postel put things potentially in the Angels but ill for they can be but in the order of efficients at most Thirdly things are said to be in their ideas or separate formes eminently as the model of a house in the minde of the builder or as the forme of the sword was in the minde or understanding of the Smith when he first purposed to make it Fourthly things are equivalently in that common cause wherein all other things of the same kinde may be as in an Organ or Virginall all manner of tunes all concords and discords are which are possible to bee made or conceived by any Musician so in the minde of the Smith all the objects of Smithery locks guns swords and the like are equivalently though as yet hee hath not thought or purposed any one in particular Now from these common things enlarge your understanding to those respects that are fit to be betweene things sensible and the unsearchable Trinity All things are in God the Father equivalently because in that infinite being of his all the possibility of being is founded of all things I say that have beene or shall be eternally But because his being is actuall with all the dignities of being actually for other wise it were not infinite if it might be more excellent than it is therefore doth hee in his glorious Sonne understand both himselfe in his actuall being and actually all things that are by his being possible to bee so that the ideas or formes of all things are actually present with him eternally and actually understood as it is said Psal 139.16 In thy booke all my members were written when as yet there was none of them Wherefore it must follow that that Word which is the character or expresse image of the Father bee also the image of all other things whatsoever so that all the ideas of all things possible to be must bee in the Sonne eminently that is according to their ideas or particular formes understood and determined as the idea or imagination of the sword is in the minde of the Smith actually assoone as the Smith hath resolved to make it thus although the sword it selfe be not actually till it bee made And as these ideas are the first causes of things so by reason of the concurrence of the will with the understanding are they the most powerfull for the bringing of those things whose Ideas they are into effect for from that idea of the sword in the Smith it is that he kindles the fire softens his steele forges it grindes it forbushes it and makes it at last a perfect sword And therefore though it bee true That the Sonne doth nothing of himselfe saving what hee hath seene with the Father Iohn 5 19. Yet because the ideas of all things are actually in him it is as true that in him through him for him and by him are all things and in him all things consist See Chap. 13. § 9. eminently or in the cleere distinction of their severall formes for otherwise the wisdome were not infinite if the formes were in confusion and not eminent and apparent in their most cleare differences and determinations of the times and limits when and how the things themselves whose formes they are should actually be If then the ideas of all things be in the Sonne actually what necessitie is there of any created Mediatour when the Son of God might by any of these Ideas which are actually in him manifest himselfe either to Angels or to men was not then that image of the manly being in him in which he did delight to dwell with the sonnes of men Prov. 8.31 according to which he created Adam in which hee manifested himselfe to the Fathers to Abraham to Moses to the Prophets And although for sundrie purposes knowne to his wisdome he manifested himselfe in other formes of a smoking furace when hee entred into covenant with Abraham his friend Gen. 15.17 of a living fire that consumed not the bush to Moses Ex. 3.2.6 of a still soft voice to Eliah 1 King 19.12 or the like yet none of these formes were uncouth or forreine to him So that in what forme soever he vouchsafed to shew himselfe to the Angels in that might they behold the invisible God and be abundantly blessed thereby but since the time that the faithfull have beheld him with that Crowne wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his espousals the day of the joy and gladnesse of his heart Cant. 3.11 He is to be seene both of Angels and men eternally and onely in the Tabernacle of our flesh and the glory of God is manifest onely in the face of Iesus Christ And as this I thinke is
from heaven Yet this prooves not that the body of Christ was not taken from His mother but rather that as wee are stained with originall sinne by Adam so are wee washed and clensed by the blood of Christ for so it followes Verse 49. As we have borne the image of the earthly we shall also beare the image of the heavenly And although it be said The second man is the Lord from heaven yet prooves it not that He brought His body from heaven but rather because wee understand nothing of heavenly things but by bodily likenesses therefore is Hee called the man from heaven to signifie that new manner of being which God had with us in our nature and to assure us that Hee our Redeemer is our eternall God able to save us and man with us that doeth pitie our miseries 3. The Heresies of Apelles are refuted by Epiphanius Haer. 44. briefly and plainely but this which concernes the body of our Lord more fully by Tertullian in his Booke De carne Christi You shall have what I held fit to gather from both or to adde thereto The arguments of Apelles are in part all one with those of Valentin already answered The rest are these that follow 1. If the Angels appeared in flesh not taken from mankinde much more might Christ But the first is true therefore the later Answer The consequence in the Proposition is not good For the Angels came not to die therefore not to be borne as our Lord Hinselfe appeared to Abraham not borne of a woman because the time appointed that He should die was not yet But when the fulnesse of the time was come that He by His death should take away the sinnes of the world then God sent His Sonne made of a woman Besides this they are beside the question For to proove their Pofition that Christ tooke His body of the Starres and Elements they ought to proove that the Angels also tooke such bodies But that they cannot proove For if the Angels made themselves that which by nature they were not why might they not doe it by that which was not 2. It is said Matth. 12.48 Who is my mother and who are my brethren If then Christ had no mother or brethren but in that spirituall kindred of them which kept the word of God He had no body taken of the Virgin Answer No man would have told Him that His mother stood without which did not know that snee was His mother Therefore the circumstances and time of His speech must be observed He was now in the businesse of God His Father for whom all earthly parents must be denied as He also answered Luke 2.49 3. But the flesh of sinfull man was an unfit and unworthy dwelling for Him that came to destroy the workes of the devill Answer As sinne the worke of the devill was brought into mankinde by the body and the bodily sences as it appeares Gen. 3.6 The woman seeing that the fruit was good for food and pleasant to sight tooke and did eat it So was it necessary that sinne should be destroyed in the body of that flesh wherein sinne was conceived and wrought Moreover the difference not of the matter which must be one but of the Spirit of sanctification which was in Christ made His body a fit sacrifice for sinne But concerning this unworthinesse alleadged answere was made before Note a ob 1. 3. on Chap. 25. 4. But if He had flesh like ours Hee should have beene begotten like us Answer The consequence is not good as was shewed before Note a § 2. on Chap. 26. 5. If the flesh of Christ were the same with ours the common accidents of both should be alike so that our flesh should forthwith rise againe like His or His like ours bee resolved to dust Answer When our Lord had fully satisfied the Iustice of God for the sinne of mankinde it had beene agianst Iustice that He which had done no sinne should have still continued under the power of death and therefore impossible Act. 2.24 But our bodies doe therefore still rest in hope because all His enemies are not subjected unto Him among which the last is death 1. Cor. 15.26 Therefore for conclusion of this point over and above those reasons which you had in the twentieth Chapter and the authorities in the end of the three and twentieth Chapter and these which are heere already cited take that of Eph. 5.30 We are members of His body of His flesh and of His bones So that if we know or beleeve that we our selves have a body of flesh and bones we must also know that our Lord had a true naturall and humane body as one of us Which authority is yet of so much the greater regard because it was prophesied in Paradice Gen. 2.22 That our Redeemer should be incarnate that in the body of His flesh through death He might present us holy and unblameable Col. 2.22 For seeing the children are partakers of flesh and blood Hee also Himselfe likewise tooke part of the same that through death Hee might destroy him that had the power of death that is the devill Heb. 2.14 Reade the Chapter from verse 5. unto the end and see how many arguments you find to this purpose onely The fancies therefore of these Hereticks being lighter than vanity it will follow that all those opinions which might seeme to bee raised there-from were as false as foolish As first that of Celsas That the body of Christ was not subject to paine and griefe Against which Saint Origen disputes lib. 2. Cont. Cels For as for that Stoicall vnsufferance of His mind which Clemens Alex. Strom. lib. 7. thought not to bee subject either to joy or sorrow it was onely an over-sight in so learned a Writer and directly contrary to the Text of the Scripture Iohn 11.35 Matth. 26.38 where Iesus wept and was exceeding sorrowfull even unto death And concerning the joy of His Spirit See Luke 10.21 Secondly that of Saturnilus That Christ did suffer onely in shew Epiph. Haer. 23. Thirdly that of the neat-heard Basilides who taught that Simon of Cyrene was crucifyed in Christs stead Epiph. Har. 24. Of all which if any thing were true what thanks were due to Him from vs when He had suffered nothing for our sakes 2. How are wee freed from that damnation under which we were brought through the sinne of Adam while the Divine Iustice is yet unsatisfied 3. And if Christ have not suffered for vs what example hath He left unto vs that wee should follow his steps 4. Wee that are the Disciples should bee above our Master-our patience more then His our love to Him more then His to vs If wee for His sake should willingly suffer persecution shame losse imprisonment death which He Himselfe had not suffered for vs. And 5. It had been utterly to no end that He should have become man For as it had been in vaine for Him to have taken a
body which should againe have beene scattered into that from whence it was taken as Apelles affirmed so had it beene to no end to take a body and therein to suffer the darkning of His divine glory if by that body no benefit had redounded to the creature But if you desire moe reasons hereto they that are brought in the Chapter for His suffering crucifying death and buryall may give you full satisfaction So the â—rrours that are yet remaining about the suffering of Christ are two one of the Theopaschites who held that the God-head of Christ did suffer while His body was nayled on the Crosse Aug. de Haer. Cap. 73. The other of the Patrispassians such as Praxeas and Sabellius who because they thought that as the Father and the Son were but one substance so were they likewise but one Person and therefore they affirmed that God the Father was incarnate and suffered Aug. de Haer. Cap. 41. But the former of these is sufficiently reproved by the doctrine of the 9. Cha. For if God be not any kind of matier nor a compound nor a formed body nor subject to any accident but that His being be most simple and pure as was there shewed by every one of these circumstances it will follow necessarily that God cannot suffer The later is refuted by all the reasons of the 11. and 23. Chapters And if you hold not your selfe satisfied by that which is brought in those Chapters and the answeres to the reasons of Sabellius Note d on Chap. 11. You may doe well to read Epiph. Haer. 57. and Tertullian against Praxeas For this very question whether God the Father was incarnate and suffered is the Argument of that Booke b That by His partaking of our sufferings He might c. It may heere not vnsitly be demanded for what causes Christ the Holy one of God should die for vs and how that death becomes availeable to free vs from the power of sinne of death and hell For answere Wee must first put that which was the first and principall cause of our salvation the eternall purpose of God which He purposed in Iesus Christ our Lord Ephe. 3.11 See Actes 2.23 And this not for any graces or workes fore-seene in us But according to the good pleasure of His owne will Ephe. 1.5 For He hath saved us and called us with an Holy calling not according to our workes but according to His owne purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Iesus before the world began 2. Tim. 1.9 And he that puts any outward cause or good workes fore-seene in us whereby God might bee moved to chuse us takes away the chiefe glory of his grace and makes him to bee lesse good So then the first cause of all the causes and meanes of our salvation in Christ is the free mercy and purpose of God the Father which because it is the first it must needes also be the chiefe cause seeing all other cames worke to that end to which they are ordered and guided by the first And because the Son doth nothing of Himselfe but what things soever He seeth the Father doe those also doth the Sonne likewise Iohn 5.19 Therefore secondly did the Sonne according to that eternall purpose of the Father offer Himselfe vnto His Father for man as a ransome and satisfaction for their sinne as it is said Psal 40.7 Loe I come in the volume of the Booke it is written of mee to doe thy will O God Heb. 10.7 For in Him onely is God well pleased Matth. 12.18 And this is that Eternall Gospel of the Lambe slaine from the foundation of the World Apoc. 13.8 For through the Eternall Spirit did He offer Himselfe without spot vnto God But if this offer of our Redeemer who offered Himselfe for vs had not beene accepted of His Father then had it beene of no availe for us Therefore in the third place it must appeare that God did accept this Sacrifice of His Sonne which is manifest first by this That it was the disposition and purpose of God Himselfe as was shewed in the first place and as it is said Heb. 10.10 By the will of God are wee sanctified through the offering of the body of Iesus Christ once for all Neither was God in this reconciliation of man-kind a willer or disposer onely but a worker also of our Redemption For God was in Christ reconciling the World vnto himselfe not imputing their trespasses vnto them 2. Cor. 5.19 If God then be for us who can be against us If He Iustifie who can condemne us who have the decree and will of God for our Iustification the offer and acceptance of Christ both God and man for our ransome and reconciliation and that offer was made by the eternall Spirit And this Spirit also beareth witnesse to our Spirit that wee are the sonnes of God Rom. 8.16 The second cause concernes the justice of God by which our Lord Christ died for vs. And it stond in this that He according to the will of His Father became our surety Hebr. 7.22 and bound Himselfe to make satisfaction for the sin of man which maâ— himselfe could not doe as it hath beene manifest before Chap. 19. Now iâ— this satisfaction of Christ the infinite Iustice was accorded with the infinite Love of God to the creature The infinite love appeared as was said before first in this that the Sonne was called and appointed to the performance of this glorious worke Hebr. 5. verse 4 5.10 Then in this that being performed it was accepted in our name and for our everlasting happinesse as it is said Iohn 3.16 God so loved the world that He gave His onely begotten Sonne that whosoever beleeveth Him should not perish but have everlasting life The infinite Iustice was manifest in this that the satisfaction of Christ was a full and perfect satisfaction according to the rigour of Iustice and that both in respect of the infinite value thereof and of the punishment which our Mediator endured The infinite value of the satisfaction was first in the Person that offered it For as the grieuousnesse of the injurie exceeded by the worthinesse of the Person of the Father that was offended So the value of the satisfaction exceeded by the worthinesse of the Sonne that maâ—e the amends And because the honour which was done to God herein is valued according to the worthinesse of the Person which worthinesse in Christ is essentiall unto him not accidentall as that of Aaron therfore the satisfaction also is essentially infinite and therefore abundantly sufficient in respect of the Person that did fulfill it For the satisfaction to an infinite Iustice was as fully made by the Person of the Sonne an infinite being than if the creature being finite even all Angels and men had suffered the torments of hell eternally Secondly the infinite value of the satisfaction appeares in the worthinesse of the thing that was offered For our Mediator having no greater nor better
1. Sect. 1 Concerning the first it is an irrefragable argument that the Scriptures were given of God because the Prophecies in them which were before-hand concerning things to come were such perfect declarations of them as that they may rather seeme to be Histories then Prophecies Take for instance that promise to Abraham that his seed should possesse Canaan after 430. yeeres and accordingly in the selfe same day Exod. 12.40 41. were they brought out of Egypt Or the promise of Iudahs Kingdome foretold by Iacob Gen. 49.8 9 10. Of Iosia and Cyrus prophecied by name the one above 300. yeeres the other above 100. yeeres before he was borne Of the captivity of that nation and destruction of Ierusalem foretold by Daniel For seeing God alone is infinite in His wisedome and that all His workes are foreknowne to Him alone therefore can He alone declare from the beginning what shall come to passe at the last as He saith of Himselfe Isa 42.9 whereas the Angels being finite both in their wisedome and knowledge know nothing of things to come but either by speciall revelation as Gabriel foretold the birth of Iohn Baptist or by the Prophecies of the Scripture or by observation of naturall causes in their long and subtile experiences And therefore it came to passe that all the devils that mocked the heathen by their Oracles were so uncertaine in their answeres except they were informed by some of the meanes spoken of As the devil gave a certaine answere to Alexander concerning his expedition against Darius because he knew what the Decree of God was by the Prophecie of Daniel Chap. 8. 2. Another Argument that the Scriptures were given by the Holy-Ghost is that admirable consent of all the Doctrines contained therein which are delivered with that certaintie of Truth and Knowledge with that authority and power over the soule of the faithfull Reader and that in so simple and plaine a manner of writing as no other whereas in mens writings the unsetlednesse of their judgement their ignorance and doubtfull suppositions especially when they speake of their owne as seldome they doe justifies the holy Text Rome 1.22 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 professing to teach they shew their folly 3. Moreover the Argument or things contained in the holy Scriptures doth manifest the Author thereof the Writers for the most part shewing their Commission Thus saith the Lord and Paul an Apostle not by man but by Iesus Christ and God the Father Then the purport or intent of the Commission We are Ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christs stead to be reconciled unto God And this under such conditions as none but God alone is able to performe of acceptance eternall life or refusall eternall fire 4. The glorious and mighty workes which Almighty God gave especially to the first Writers of the Law and of the Gospel to doe and those miracles whereby He continually justified the trueth thereof the wonderous preservation and deliverances of the professors as of Daniel c. And the balefull confusion of the adversaries of the Trueth contained in the Scriptures in all ages approve that God alone is the Author thereof 5. The hatred of the devil and his continuall endeavours either utterly to deface the Bookes of the holy Scripture or upon pretext of obscurity and danger of Heresie not to reade them And againe the providence of God in preserving those Bookes and the love and delight which He hath begotten in the hearts of His Saints to reade and understand them are no lesse proofe that these holy Scriptures are the Word of God and the Testimony of His eternall Truth 6. The extraordinary calling of many of the Pen-men of the holy Bookes and the enabling of them being simple and unlettered men to write and to preach those high Mysteries which none of the Princes of this world did understand as of Amos among the Herdmen of Peter Iames and Iohn and the other of the twelve Apostles shew that the Author of that Truth and their Bookes was God alone 7. The great 1. Antiquity of the Bookes of the Law preserved so long uncorrupted for in comparison of Moses almost all the writings of the heathen all their religions and many of their Gods are but upstarts and things of yesterday 2. The great simplieity and sincerity of the Writers who sought not their own praise nor concealed their owne faults and imperfections 3. The consent of the Church which receiued the Scriptures as the word of God 4. The consent of forraine Histories writing of the same things with such uncertaintie and untruth as time and heare-say use to bring into History as of Berosus Herodotus Strabo Trogus and others are a manifest proofe that the true records of the same things are the writings which God Himselfe did dictate to Moses and the Prophets which followed after him For none but God did truely know the creation of the world and none among men did certainely record the universall flood the Tower of Babel the actes of Abraham Iacob Ioseph Moses Ioshua and others So that if the devill might vaunt as he did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I did indite and Homer did write In the perfection of truth might the Holy Spirit of God say as it is recorded 2. Tim. 3.16 All Scripture is given by the inspiration of God And 1. Pet. 1.21 Prophecie came not in old time by the will of man but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy-Ghost 6. And if wee beleeve that the writings of Historians and Poets and other profane Authors are indeed theirs under whose names they goe shall wee not much rather beleeve that they are the writings of God Himselfe that goe under His Name especially seeing wee know that Hee is a jealous God and neither would suffer His authority to bee abused to falshood neither would Hee give His Church to bee ever seduced by lyars and false prophets § 2. Sect. 2 And these holy Oracles God of His Goodnesse and Mercy would have to bee written from whence by their excellencie above all other they are called Scriptures or Writings 1. First that wee through patience and comfort of these Scriptures might have firme and sure hope in God and His promises Rom. 15.4 2. Secondly that nothing through mans infirmity might be forgotten of all that which ought to be in continuall remembrance 3. Lest by the wickednesse of men and the subtilty of the devil inciting them thereto the holy Doctrine of God might be corrupted from the native and true meaning and so new Doctrines and new Religions brought in in stead of that Service which we owe onely to God and that according to His owne revealed Will and Word 4. No man knoweth the thoughts of a man but onely that spirit of a man which is within him much lesse can any know the things of God but onely the holy Spirit of God The things of God of which I
from the other prophecies because they were not given either by dreame or by vision or by hearing a voice or in any extasie but were inspired by the Holy-Ghost immediately And according to this order of the bookes of the Holy Scripture divers Hebrew Bibles have bin lately printed as one by Plantin in Oct. another by Hutterus in Folio and others Now concerning the bookes of the New-Testament Saint Ierom ad Paulin. reckons them as wee And are not these Aramites strucke with blindnesse that print the Bible the decree of Trent and those prologues of Ierom before it that it may appeare how they set the Fathers at naught But for the full decision of this question let us looke unto the undoubted truth of the Scripture by the Scripture it selfe let us learne what is Scripture or the word of God 1. Therfore concerning the books of the New-Testament M. Luther accounted the Epistle of S. Iames to bee aridam stramineam dry as a Kix and his followers give their reasons against it 1. the seeming opposition which is betweene him and S. Paul in the question of justification by faith and by works 2. because hee teacheth not but supposeth onely that which is the sum of the Gospel that is the redemption of the world by the death of Christ as some men speake for Athanasius concerning the booke of Esther that none of the names of God are mentioned therein to which others answere that the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mimmakom acher in Chap. 4. v. 14. is for sense in that place equivalent to any of the names of God which the prophet did there forbeare to remember because hee would not that any of the names of God should bee prophaned among the heathen with whom he lived So also Luther held the Revelation to be the writing of some well-meaning honest man but not Canonical Wherein I thinke the wonderfull wisdome and mercy of God appeared to hide the meaning of that booke from him lest he should be destroyed with pride when he should see himselfe and his ministery so alluded to therein But let Luther and his followers in this question thinke by themselues betweene us and the Church of Rome there is no difference both parties holding all the bookes of the New-Testament to be canonical The onely doubt is about the books which we call Apocryphal of unknowne and obscure Authors or strange doctrines delivered therein In which question the Canon or rule of the New-Testament is for us For concerning all the books of the Old-Testament the reason stands thus 1. All the oracles of God or Canonicall Scripture was received in the Church of the Iewes But none of the Apocryphall bookes were received in the Church of the Iewes Therefore none of the Apocryphall bookes are the Oracles of God The proposition is Saint Pauls and he accounts it as well hee may the first and chiefe preeminence of the Iew that unto them the Oracles of God were committed Rom. 3.2 The assumption is manifest for the Apocryphall bookes were extant onely in Greeke which language the Iewes never used in their holy seruices And although the booke of Ecclesiasticus were begun by the grand father in Hebrew yet was it augmented and finished in Greeke by the grand-child And although the first booke of the Maccabees were extant in Hebrew yet was it not therefore Canonicall no more than the second that was written in Greeke So the conclusion stands sure And if neither the Church before Christ received those Apocryphall bookes nor the ancient church since His suffering accounted them Canonicall for the Authour of the Sophisticate Cannons of the Apostles wee receive not upon what ground then should the Fathers of Trent presume to doe that which neither the Primitive Church or Fathers attempted before 2. Such another argument you have from Luke 24.27 where it is said that Christ beginning at Moses and all the Prophets expounded unto them all the Scriptures the things that were written concerning Himselfe So all the Scriptures are understood by the Law and the Prophets as I shewed before and yet for further explication it is added in verse 44. the Law the Prophets and the Psalmes For of all the Cethubim the booke of Psalmes was first and by a Synecdoche is put for all the rest Now to which of all these will you bring the Apocryphall bookes By the Law you understand the five Bookes of Moses which the Samaritanes and all the sects of the Iewish Religion except the hereticks called Nasacheans did receive The sects of the Sadduces and Samaritanes rejected the rest but the Church of the Iewes held all the Prophets both former and later with all the Kebuthim to bee holy Scripture but the Apocrypha are reckoned with none of these 3. A third argument from the holy Scripture against these apocryphals is from Revel 19.10 The testimony of Iesus is the Spirit of prophecie But in these apocryphals which the Iewes received not there is no prophecy no evident testimony of Iesus that was to come Therefore they are no witnesses of Him no word of His. And although in the fourth booke of that supposed Esdras there be mention of Iesus Christ Chap. 7.27 28. yet the false narration of things never done and other fictions See Master Brerew Enq. Chap. 13. have discredited those bookes so farre that the Papists themselves doe not mention them in their new Canon and vouchsafe them a place in the end of their Bibles onely lest they should be lost Object But the Fathers themselves call these bookes Canonicall Answer And our Church yeelds they are so in the meaning of the Fathers that is serving for rules of good life and vertue but not of faith as the holy Scriptures and that is the question betweene us and Trent § 4. Sect. 4 That the holy Scripture is abundantly sufficient to teach all things that belong to faith and godlinesse is manifest by the reasons brought for the proofe of the second question That it was necessary for us that God by His written Word should vouchsafe unto us the knowledge of His will 1. For how could either our hope and comfort in God be firme and sure if they were not grounded upon His holy promises that never faile 2. And if no man know the things of God but onely the Spirit of God how could we beleeve that which is to be beleeved of Him or hoped for our selues as the Trinity of Persons the Incarnation of the Son the resurrection of the body c. but by the instruction of His holy Word 3. How could we have the true knowledge of sinne and the punishment thereof but by His Law whereby He hath taught us what duty we owe to Him to our neighbour and to our selues And if the holy Scripture doth thorowly instruct us in all things that we ought to doe or to beleeve is not the sufficiency and perfection thereof able to teach us how to be perfect in every good
this will nothing at all support those unwritten verities For it is utterly denyed and that according to reason and the word of God that any part of the holy Scripture is perished 1. For can we thinke that it stood with the goodnesse of God to give His Word to His Church for comfort and instruction and stood it not with His providence to preserue that Word that it should not perish but accomplish that thing for which it was sent Esay 55.11 But divers objections are brought hereto as you may see in the author G. Langf forenamed in the 4. § 1. The booke of the warres of IEHOVAH is mentioned Numb 21.14 but not extant Therefore some part of the holy Scripture is perished Answer It ought first to be manifest what this booke was but in briefe the bookes of the Chronicles of the Kings of Iudah and of the Kings of Israel are often mentioned in the bookes of Kings and Chronicles yet were not those bookes therefore holy Scripture written by the Prophets but rather by the Recorders or Secretaries of state appointed for that purpose as the histories of other kingdomes are or ought to be written and of this ranke may that booke mentioned by Moses seeme to be For it is not necessary that all writings mentioned in the holy Scripture should be holy Scripture For the Poets whose writings Saint Paul mentions were but Heathens and Iannes and Iambres as profane writers call him Mambres are no where mentioned in holy Scripture but onely 2 Tim. 3.8 2. A second doubt is from that which is in Ioshua 10.13 and 2 Sam. 1.18 where mention is made of the booke of Iasher whereto though some according to the interpretation of the word just or upright will have the sence of that text of Ioshua Is it not recorded by him whose writings are upright and true as it is said Iohn 21.24 This is the Disciple that testifieth these things and we know that his testimony is true yet because the booke is mentioned in times above 390. yeeres distant it seemes to me rather to be some Liger or booke of record wherein such memorable things were written by the appointment of their Synedrion as might serue for remembrance to future ages for that Synedrion or great Councill of 70. Elders instituted by God under Moses Numb 11. never failed so long as their state lasted 3. The writings of the Prophets themselues as of Nathan and Gad mentioned in 1 Chron. 29.29 of Ahia and Iddo 2 Chron. 9.29 of Iehu 2 Chron. 20.34 are utterly lost Answer Not so For as it is manifest that all the things written in the 2 of Sam. were done after his death so likewise may we very well thinke that both the bookes of Iudges and Ruth 2 of Samuel and the two bookes of Kings for some give the Chronicles wholly to Ezra were written by divers Prophets whom God raised up in all the ages of that Church to bee inditers of His Word and were as Saint Luke saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 eye-witnesses of the things which they recorded and these Prophets here mentioned with others were the Authors of those bookes 4. But some texts are cited in the new Testament which are 1. not found in the old as that in Matth. 2.23 Hee shall be a Nazarite or else are 2. not found in the Author cited by which we may thinke that some booke of his is lost as that which S. Matthew cites out of Ieremy Chap. 2.17 is not found in all that booke 3. Moreover S. Paul remembers the word of our Lord Actes 20.35 which is no where extant beside 5. And the Epistle to the Laodiceans mentioned Coloss 4.16 is utterly lost For that schedule which is found here and there is rejected by every one as unworthily to be remembred by the Apostle 5. Iude likewise cites the prophecie of Henoch which is not found except in the Talmud Answere 1. Some referre that of Matth. 2.23 to Esay 11.1 The Branch that should grow out of the roote of Iesse But it is more fully verefyed in that which is written Iud. 13.5 Where Sampson the Figure that should begin to save Israel is a Nazarite unto God and Hee much more which is separate from sinners and should perfect the deliverance of all the Israel of God and the text cited by the Evangelist may not onely intend both these but whatsoever else either the Law or the Prophets understand by the figurative snow-white puritie of the Nazarites Lam. 4.7 and is therefore cited in the name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of all the Prophets 2. The other citation in Saint Matthew where one Prophet is named by another doth not prove that any booke of Ieremiah is lost neither was it of any ignorance or forgetfulnesse in the Evangelist or yet mistaking of them that have copied out that booke but because that the seed of the Woman so long expected was now to come into the world it may be that Zachariah by interpretation Remember the Lord is now Ieremiah exalt the Lord who never ought to hee remembred without his praise especially in the performance of that inestimable benefit for man-kind 3. Concerning that which is cited by Saint Paul Actes 2.25 If he had that which he cites by the suggestion of the Holy-Ghost as wee may well thinke or that the saying of Christ was in fresh remembrance with them that heard it it is not therefore to bee concluded that S. Paul cites it out of any booke now lost seeing he might receive it from those Disciples which had heard it 4. And as to that Epistle to the Laodiceans it is but a common errour that S. Paul makes mention of any such but hee perswades the Colossians for the better understanding of some passages in the Epistle written to them to read the Epistle sent from Laodicea to him and that they of Laodicea should read that which he sent to the Colossians as containing doctrine and instruction fit for both the Churches to know and doe 5. And if Saint Iude were taught of God that Henoch had so prophecied though the prophecie were never written or if he cited it from any booke which went under the name of Henoch if nothing in the booke were Henoch's beside this prophecie Saint Iudes citing doth not make the booke Canonicall Scripture no more than S. Pauls citing the heathen Poets or if S. Iude had it onely by tradition that Henoch had so prophecied how doth it make for the question For it is not said that all things are false which are delivered by tradition but that in the matiers of the faith and doctrine of the Church those traditions have no force or credit which are contrary to the truth of God revealed in His Word 5. But it is yeelded that though some part of Scripture be lost yet that which remains is sufficient and containes all things necessary Answere Our Lord saith Luk. 10.42 That one thing is necessary which in Iohn 17.3 he
confesseth to bee this To know the Father the onely true God and Iesus Christ whom he hath sent and according to the necessitie of this one thing the 3. Chapter of Gen. with the 53. of Esay and any one of the Gospels might seeme sufficient And in this sufficiencie onely wee dwell hither-unto But because S. Peter saith 1. Epistle 1.11 that the inquest of the Prophets was not onely concerning the saluation of the soule but likewise what times and what manner of times they should be wherein the sufferings of Christ should bee fulfilled and the glories which should follow thereupon and because both the sufferings of Christ and his glories are to be accomplished not onely in Himselfe but also in His Church as they were prefigured in all the types that were of Him in the Church under the Law and that God the Lord doth nothing but He revealeth His secret unto His seruants the Prophets Amos 3.7 when wee shall grow past milke and be able to digest stronger meat when wee shall understand how the Law and the Prophets are to be fulfilled to every jod and title contained in them Matth. 5.17.18 when wee shall be able to apply every text to the proper time and meaning according to the perfection of the uttermost understanding thereof then shall we see that the Law of the Lord is a perfect Law and His Statutes and judgements are sweeter then honey and the honey combe then shall the Church see and know that nothing in the whole body of the Holy Scripture is either superfluous or that any word letter or prick therein might bee missing § 5. Sect. 5 That the Scriptures are come unto us as they were at first delivered to the Church by the Prophets and Apostles that were the Pen-men thereof it may be manifest by those reasons which are brought for proofe of the former question 1. For if God who is praysed for His trueth in that Hee hath magnified His Word above all His Name Psal 138.2 hath not preserved His Scripture intyer from the corruption of man from the alteration addition or taking away that they might make what comfort or certaine instruction can wee have thereby What assurance of hope by those promises of which wee are not sure whether they be the promises of God or the imaginations of men Thus the end for which God of His goodns gave those Scriptures should be frustrate and man in that incertainty nothing furthered toward eternall life Thus the Church should fayle in the duty and faithfull performance of that trust which she owes unto God in preserving that treasure which was committed to her charge and safe keeping But these things are not to be granted And therefore the Scriptures are come unto us in that integrity or purity in which they were at first delivered to the Church they of the old Testament in the Hebrew tongue they of the new in Greeke 2. The constant consent of all the doctrines and promises contained in the Scriptures the efficacie and power of that Spirit which is manifest in the deliverie thereof are evident proofes that the Scripture is still in that purity in which God gave it unto the Church And although God in those Scriptures have vouchsafed to apply Himselfe to our understanding and as a nurse to lisp with her infant yet so much is the foolishnesse of God wiser than man and the weaknesse of God stronger than men 1. Cor. 1.25 as that it is still manifest in the whole body of the holy writ that nothing of humane drosse is mixt there-with but that His Word is still as before pure as silver that hath beene tryed seven times in the fire 3. This fire is that dampish smother-fire of heresies which the devill did kindle among his brands among whom though some rejected the authority of sundry bookes of Holy Scripture as Marcion and others some corrupted the sence thereof by Allegories and forraine interpretations as the Origenists See Augustin de Gen. ad literam others by wresting it from the native sence to the supportance of their owne heresies yet the Church which continued faithfull in the doctrine of God constantly with-stood all these attempts and ever maintained the sincerity as of the doctrine so of the Holy Scripture on which it was founded And because the Scripture is either of the old or of the new Testament it is fit to speake to each of them in particular 4. And first concerning the old Testament it is manifest that the Church of Israel whose hope was set on that Messiah that was to come had no cause to corrupt the text of the holy writ but according to the promises which they had in the Law and in the Prophets the expositors thereof so to hope that He should be such a deliverer and Saviour as was promised by which hope they were bound to preserue the Scripture in all integrity that they might see the full accomplishment thereof when He was come 5. Beside the Priests whose lips should preserue knowledge and at whose mouth they should seeke the Law Mal. 2.7 there was from Samuel unto the dayes of Ezra a perpetuall succession of Prophets who could not in any wayes have endured so great a corruption uncontrouled as that the Word of the Lord should be changed or depraved And although the Scriptures before the time of Ezra had beene corrupted yet he being a Prophet a Priest and a perfect scribe of the Law of the Lord and of the Statutes of Israel that had prepared his heart to teach the Law of God and His statutes and judgements Ezra 7. who changed the forme of their Chaldean or Samaritane letters for those which are now in use hee I say would have taken away all such corruptions or changes as had come to the Holy Scripture if it might bee imagined that any could come in the time of the Prophets that were before as far as the diversitie of Copies gave them light Of the Israelites care in writing the Scriptures and of the Masôreth 6. MOreover that exceeding care and diligence which the Scribes were to use in writing is sufficient proofe that the bookes of the old Testament are come to us in that purity in which the Church received them which care how great it ought to bee you may see by that which their Doctors have recorded Henry Ainsworth Aduertisement n. 3. cites out of Rambam Sopher Torah Chap. 7. and 10. thus much If the booke of the Law doe want but one letter or have one letter too much if one letter touch another if the forme of any letter be corrupted if the word which is full be written defective or that full which is defective if the word of the margent be written in the line or that of the line in the margent the Booke is not allowable to bee read in the Synagogue neither hath it the holinesse of the Booke of the Law at all but is a booke on which Children may learne To this
purpose you may take that which you read in Shickard Prodrom in Bechinah happerushim Disp 1. cited out of the booke Sopherim Chap. 1. Halach 1.4 5. by which you may see with what a superstitious care if any care could be too much they regarded the writing of the Booke of the Law wherein nothing might bee blotted nothing scrap't out neither might they write it in any Parchment or Velam but such as was of the skinnes of cleane beasts in Parchment one the fleshie side in Velam on that side which had the haire And if this ordinance were changed they read not in it And this was the manner Because the lines being written in length according to the bredth of the skinne as in an Indenture might bee troubleous to finde they divide the skinne into certaine pages which in Iere. 30.23 are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dlathoth which wee interpret leaves because they were like the leaves of a doore and may fitly bee termed pages neither was it lawfull to write it with a coale or with Inke wherein was either Gum or Coperas and all this say they by the Tradition of Moses on mount Sin ai Then with what respect they used the Booke being written you may see in Oseh Torah Chap. 3. Halach 10. and in Anthony Margaritha a converted Iew in his booke of the Iewish faith and others They touch it not but with washed hands neither doe they take the rolle by the midst but by the margent and that onely with the right hand for which they bring Deut. 33.2 At His right hand was a fiery Law No man may lay it on His knees nor leane upon it when he reads nor read it as other writings c. lest the holy Bookes grow into contempt no man may sit upon the fourme or bed on which it lyes nor lay it towards the beds feet nor lay other bookes upon it and their reason for that the whole Law is holy and that every letter therein containes infinite wisdome and that God hath more care of the Letters and Syllables of the Law then of the starres of heaven And that this care was not onely of the bookes of the Law but likewise of all the holy Scripture of the old Testament indifferently you may know by that infinite diligence of the Masôrites who to the intent that the purity of all the holy Text might be preserued intier numbred in the whole Bible the Verses the Words the Letters and of them the common and the finall and what verse what word and letter was the midst of every booke and among the Letters they noted how many times every one was found in every booke if any one were bigger or lesse then the due proportion or higher then the rest or pointed extraordinarily what holem was with vau and what without it what hirick was written with jod and what not what space was more what lesse betweene the paragraphs when two words were to be read as one when one as two when the letters in the midst of a word should be transposed and that which was in the end of one word to be put to the beginning of another with many such obseruations which you may read in Shickard cited before De Masôreth pag. 45. c. So that no corruption or alteration could come into the text of the old Testament but by these rules of the Masôreth it might be easily detected Neither is this Masôreth wonderfull onely for the infinite diligence and paines that was used in the compiling thereof but also venerable for the Authors which by the authorities of the Hebrewes were Ezra and the Prophets of his time which were called the men of the great Synagogue or more truely the great men of the Synagogue Haggai Zachary Malachy Daniel Hananiah Misheel Azariah Nehemiah Mardoche Zorobabel and of the most wise and learned among the rest to the number of 120. For this could not be the worke of one man or of one age And although the succession of the Synagogue still continued in some sort yet by reason of the many warres and troubles after their returne from Babylon even untill the last ruine of their nation by Adrian about the yeere after the death of Christ one hundred this worke was often at a stand and not fully finished till about the yeere five hundred and tenne after the Incarnation Whereupon those Masôrites are by some unduely thought to bee the first Authors of that worke 6. Also the whole Art of the Kabalists in high esteeme among the Hebrewes above all others without this purity of the holy Text were either nothing worth or rather in it selfe nothing at all But the argument from hence to proove the purity of the Scripture among the common sort for whom I write would not be easie to be understood Therefore I referre them that are desirous to know further hereof to the author forenamed pag. 60. c. to Iohn Reuchlin and others that have written of that Art For by this which I have already said I thinke it is cleare to him that is not wilfully blind how farre it was from the Church of the Iewes to offer any sacriledge to the Booke of God who with such infinite paines and care have wall'd in that holy ground lest beasts should breake into it 7. 1. And for further proofe that the Hebrewes were the faithfull Library keepers of that booke as Saint Augustine calls them you may take the testimony of Saint Paul 1 Tim. 3.15 where hee calls the Church the pillar and stay of Faith not that in an implicite and ignorant faith we should hold it sufficient to beleeve as the Church beleeves but because the Church had evermore truely and faithfully preserued and followed the trueth of God revealed in His Word as it had received it from Him at the first And if this be true of the Church in generall it must needs be most true of that most ancient and publike Church first chosen from all nations by whom the Name of the Lord should be called upon from whom the word of the Lord was to proceed to other nations Esay 2.3 whereas the Church of the Gentiles was then so lately called as that it could give no proofe of it selfe to be worthy of such honourable titles 2. Moreover in the second Epistle to Tim. 3.15 he saith That the Scriptures are able to make a man wise unto saluation through the faith which is in Christ But how shall we be assured of this if we be not first perswaded that they are free from corruption 3. And why should our Lord send us to search the Scriptures which were then onely the Old Testament there to find eternall life if in stead of the trueth of God we should there find the falshood of men See Luke 16.29 31. and Iohn 5.39 4. And that which is above all proofe is that testimony which our Lord Himselfe gave to the teachers of that people who are accused of such treason against God For
truenesse of his Religion because he finds no familiar reason to perswade but onely the racke of authorities to constraine him to acknowledge it may perhaps bee hereby satisfied and finde comfort and that they who are already strong may by this overplus triumph in the goodnesse of God who requires them to beleeve no more then they may by that understanding which hee hath given them bee perswaded of I have for their sakes who may reape benefit thereby neglected all froward Censurers not guilty unto my selfe of any offence which I can commit in making it publike Such as it is accept kinde Sir as a parcell of that assertion which may hereafter follow of every Article of our Christian faith if God shall vouchsafe me understanding leisure and maintenance thereto I therefore offer it unto you both because I know you are diligent in reading of bookes of good argument and because I have none other meanes whereby to shew my selfe thankefull for your manifold kindnesses and your love London this 20. of April 1601. Your loving and assured friend A. G. THE TREATISE THough many things discouraged mee to write unto you of this Argument in such sort as I intend considering that neither your daily reading of the Scripture neither the perswasion of learned Divines can moove you to accord unto the truth though by manifest testimony of Scripture they conuince your heresie and most of all that God hath left you to beleeve that lying spirit of Antichrist who denyeth that Iesus is that Christ Yet neverthelesse having some hope that God of His goodnesse will at last pull you as a brand out of the fire and quench you with the dew of His grace that you may grow in the knowledge of His Sonne I will as briefly as I can lay downe some few reasons of that faith which every one that will be saved must hold Whereby if I perswade you nothing yet shall I obtain thus much that you who neither beleeved His word nor yet opened your eyes to see the light of reasonable understanding shall at last confesse that His word and judgments are holy and true But before I come to the point let me first perswade you that although the knowledge of the holy Trinity be one of the most high mysteries which can be knowne or beleeved and that it is the only worke of the Holy-Ghost to worke this faith and knowledge in the heart of man yet neverthelesse God hath not left us destitute of meanes whereby to come to this faith and knowledge but hath also with His word given us a reasonable soule and understanding whereby to grow in the knowledge of Himselfe and His will For when Adam was created he had given unto him all perfect knowledge meete for him Now God who created the world for no other purpose then the manifestation of His owne glory might not leave that creature without understanding of the Godhead who being by nature and creation the most excellent in this visible world was made for that purpose especially above all other to set foorth His praise and to call on Him Now how could he doe this if he knew Him not But I thinke that seeing it is said that man was created in the jmage of God you will not deny that man before his fall had much more perfect understanding of the Godhead then it is possible for him to have till he come to know even as he is known but that by sin you may say this knowledge was lost not lost but corrupted only even as mans will For then it should follow that we were inferior to bruit beasts who have in them a sensible knowledge meete for that end whereto they were created Furthermore it is not possible that mans sinne should frustrate the end which God intended in His creation but it is manifest that man was created to know and honour the Creator Againe seeing in Christ all things consist he being ordained of the Father before all worlds in whom the world should be both created and restored It is plaine that this light of our understanding both proceedeth from Him and is restored in Him as it is said Iohn 1. He is that light that lightneth euery man that cometh into the world not onely His chosen with knowledge of His saving trueth but even generally every man with reasonable understanding whereby we may know whatsoever is to bee knowne of God and how even by the workes of God as it is plainely concluded Rom. 1 19 20. Therefore are they not to bee heard who hold any thing without the compasse of Faith which is without the compasse of Knowledge For Faith ought so to be grounded on Knowledge as Hope is grounded upon Faith So that as Faith Hebr. 11.1 is said to bee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an eviction or proofe of things hoped for though they be not seene so may I say that Knowledge is the proofe of things which are beleeved For Faith is nothing else but the Conclusion of a particular Syllogisme drawne from the Conclusion of an universall which the knowledge of God had concluded as it is manifest Iam. 2.19 and Hebr. 11.3 By conference of which two places it appeareth that this knowledge of which I speake this Historicall Faith as to beleeve that there is one God which made all things of nought is onely such a knowledge as the devils and wicked men have but to beleeve and have confidence in this God is that particular conclusion and that faith which causeth us to have hope in His promises Therefore said Christ Have Faith in God that is strive to know God that knowing you may have faith and beleeve in Him And wee see that in these things where a bare faith without knowledge might seeme to be most required because as a man would thinke there were no reason to be given of them namely concerning the maintenance of this life and the resurrection to the life to come both Christ and His Apostles use no other reasons but such as every reasonable man may easily bee perswaded by though authorities of Scripture were not wanting to both purposes as it is manifest Matth. 6. and 1. Cor. 15. Yea Paul at Athens or wheresoever hee perswaded the worship of the true God among the Gentiles hee perswaded not by authoritie of Scripture which amongst them had beene very weake but by such arguments as they knew to bee sufficient even in themselues If these things were not so how then could the Gentiles which knew not the Scriptures be without excuse for their ignorance of God Therefore I conclude that there is nothing which is beleeved but it may also be knowen Now knowledge we know is ingendered by such principles as have trueth in them the which is evident of it selfe So that by plaine and reasonable understanding a man may know whatsoever he beleeveth You will say To what purpose then serue the Scriptures I answere That God infinite in goodnesse hath together with this