Selected quad for the lemma: book_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	wound_v	write_v	year_n	15	3	3.7390	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A25404	The pattern of catechistical doctrine at large, or, A learned and pious exposition of the Ten Commandments with an introduction, containing the use and benefit of catechizing, the generall grounds of religion, and the truth of Christian religion in particular, proved against atheists, pagans, Jews, and Turks / by the Right Reverend Father in God Lancelot Andrews ... ; perfected according to the authors own copy and thereby purged from many thousands of errours, defects, and corruptions, which were in a rude imperfect draught formerly published, as appears in the preface to the reader.	Andrewes, Lancelot, 1555-1626.	1650 (1650)	Wing A3147; ESTC R7236	963,573	576

could be maintained among which this is one That there is a God and that he ought to worshipped And howsoever all other may fail yet this never as having taken deeper impression in mens mindes that are not come to the height of Atheisme then the rest Insomuch as the pride of mans nature which will stoop and yield to nothing else is content to submit to this and will rather worship a peece of red cloth then have no religion at all And this is so fast and deeply rooted in man that it cannot be removed unlesse you pluck out heart and all But then it is objected That if this Notion be so generall how comes it that there are so many Atheists To which may be answered 1. With Seneca Mentiuntur qui dicunt se non sentire esse Deum nam etsi tibi affirmant interdiu noctu tamen sibi dubitant they lie that say they do not think there is a God for though in the day time they tell thee so yet in the night they doubt of it within themselves 2. But a better answer may be framed to this objection A man may proceed to a great degree of hardnesse of heart and blinding himself yet this rule must be observed Specimen naturae cujuslibet a natura optima sumendum est the tryal or essay of every mans nature or inclination is ever to be taken from off the best parts and not of depraved nature And Tully saith If we will know what nature is most universal in man we must take our argument of what he is from the better sort of men now there are some sorts of men so addicted to the world and the flesh and the pleasures of them both that they are so loose and dissolute that you can no more judge what is naturally in them then of the taste of a sick man But yet though their hearts be fat and they besotted as the horse and mule yet if God put his bit into their mouthes those natural sparks we speak off will break forth and darknesse will not be able to obscure the light And this is to be seen in the worst of natures upon these occasions 1. If trouble and danger assail them then as the Persians in Aeschylus that were routed at the lake Strymon by their enemies and to avoid their fury must needs passe the ice ready to be thawed with the suns heat or staying be every one put to slaughter though before they held that there was no God yet then fell on their knees and prayed to God to let the ice bear them 2. If sicknesse lay hold on them then with Diogenes the Atheistical Philosopher being tormented with the strangury they will detest their former Atheisme 3. Or lastly if age come upon them then with Cephalus as Plato hath it they will say while I was young and was told of Styx and Acheron I scoffed at it and thought there were no such places now I am old I begin to doubt and say what if there be such So that we see that danger sicknesse and old age will drive men to confesse that there is a God But another main argument is this There are in us naturall notions of God and of his effence therefore we must of necessity believe that there is a God 1. There is a power in the soul which taketh notice of the difference between good and evil against Pyrrho who said that there was nothing in it self simply good or evil Cham though an ungodly man yet thought it an uncomely thing for his father to lye as he did there was a power in him to distinguish between decorum and indecorum good and evil The King of Sodom would recompence Abraham good for good Esau would not kill his brother Jacob while the dayes of mourning came namely while his father lived Absalom though in rebellion against his father yet rebuked the same wickednes in his friend Hushai And Judas though he would betray his Master yet would not do it in open manner but gave a privy token Quemcunque osculatus fuero whomsoever I shall kisse c. So then seeing the most wicked and evil are desirous to seem good and though being evil in themselves reprehend it in others itappears plainly that there are notions in our souls to distinguish between good and evil Now there must be a ground for this distinction and it is not of man as Pyrrho would have it for then every thing which is at mans appointment must be good or evill but it must be from a nature above man and so it leadeth us to God an unchangable nature Who told thee that thou wast naked faith God That there is a God may be found from a maine part of oursoul the Conscience which is called Gods deputy which never suffers the wicked to be at peace or quiet within themselves but they are ever troubled and tormented And if they say that Conscience thus vexeth them lest their fact be revealed and they thereby brought within the danger of the Law It may soon be answered For let one of these commit some great offence in the wildernesse or in the dark where no man sees them yet shall he never be at rest he shall have his surda verbera as Pliny calls them secret whips and wounds yea he shall be constrained to reveale it himself either in sleep or madnesse or as Plutarch speakes of Bessus he shall think that the fouls of the air will bewray it Religion then is not a devise as they hold or would have it neither shall it be so accounted as long as they have Gods deputy and vicegerent within them And our Saviour quoteth this Text out of the Prophet to condemn such Atheists 〈◊〉 corum non morietur Their worm dieth not Therefore there is a God 6. Lastly to end this point It is a manifest argument to prove that there is a God that even them which have denied this truth by their lives God hath confuted by their strang and remarkable ends so that some of them have bin forced to confesse him at their death As Pherecydes the Syrian being in his jollity at a banquet with his friends and boasting that he had lived long and yet had never sacrificed to any God within a short time after miserably ended his dayes devoured by lice So Diagoras the Philospher who for his impiety was called Atheos the Atheist was the ruin of his country Melos by the Athenians for maintaining this wicked opinion And Julian the Apostata being overcome by the Persians and wounded to death with an arrow plucked it out and his blood issued forth dying miserably was forced to confesse that he was overcome by his hand against whom he had formerly written blasphemous books and spoken Atheistically yet dying said Vicisti Galilee Lucian at the first a Christian and afterwards a blasphemous Apostata keeping a kennel of hounds for

through diverse hands already crept forth in Print to the great wrong both of the Living and the Dead and that the same is about to be reprinted it was therefore thought necessary in vindication of the Author and to disabuse the Reader to publish this Copy there being no other way to prevent the further mischiefs of that Edition then by another more perfect for though I deny not but that there are many good Materials in that indigested Chaos which is already set forth which an expert Builder may make good use of yet the Reader will finde the whole to be nothing else but a heap of broken rubbish the rudera of those stately structures which that skilful Architect had made which have been so mangled and defaced so scattered and dismembred like Medeas Absyrtus that they appear scarce shadows of themselves so that had the learned Author lived to see those partus ingenii those divine Issues of his brain so deformed he might well have called them not Benjamins sons of his right hand but Benonies sons of sorrow for I am confident there hath not been exposed to publick view a work of that bulk stuffed with so much nonsence so many Tautologies contradictions absurdities and incoherences since Printing was in use there is not a Page scarce a Paragraph seldome many lines together in the whole Book which contain perfect sence the Method quite lost in most places the whole Discourse like a body whose members are dislocated or out of joynt as if it had been tortured upon the rack or wheel so that the parts cohere like the Hammonian sands sometimes whole Paragraphs whole pages yea diverse sheets together are wanting as in the tenth Commandment where the one half is left out and half of the ninth is added to supply that defect and the whole work so corrupted mangled disjoynted falsified interpolated and the sence of the Author so perverted that the Author might well say of the Publisher with the Poet Quem recitas mens est c. At male dum recitas incipit esse tuus the Book was his at first but by this strange Metamorphosis the Publisher hath made his own That the world therefore may not be longer abused by a shadow obtruded for the substance here is presented the Authors own Copy revised and compared with diverse other manuscripts which though it were not perfected by himself nor intended for publick use yet being the onely Copy he had as is acknowledged under his hand in the beginning of the Book and containing many Marginal Notes and alterations throughout the whole made by himself in his latter years as it seems it may well be thought to contain the minde and sence of the Author more fully then any of those Copies in other hands This coming into the hands of one of those to whom the perusal of his papers were committed who was informed of the wrong done by that other Edition and that a more perfect one was intended and desired out of his love to the memory of the deceased Author and his eminent zeal for the publick good considering of how great use the work might be he was easily induced to part with it for so good a purpose whereupon by an able industrious and worthy Gentleman who hath otherwise deserved well of the publick and had some relation to the Author whilst he lived the work was taken in hand and revised the sence in many places restored defects supplied and the whole discourse brought into a far better form then that wherein it had formerly appeared But considering that to purge this Augaean stable and to restore a work so much corrupted and whose best Copies were imperfect was no easy work and that it contained such variety of all kinde of Learning both Divine and Humane that he who would revise it must not be a stranger to any and that many Eyes may see more then one such was his Ingenuity and Modesty that he was willing and desirous to have the whole again revised and brought to the touch by some other who as he conceived might have more leizure and abilities then himself whereupon it was again resumed and after much labor travail was at length brought to this form wherin it now appears wherein that the Reader may know what is performed in this Edition he shall finde 1. The true sence and meaning of the Author the chief thing to be looked after in the publishing of other mens works restored in many thousand places which were corrupted mistaken whereby the Author was made to speak contrary to what he thought as if he had seen some vision after his death to make him change his Judgement in his life time This as it was a work of much difficulty requiring both time and study by diligent comparing of places weighing of Antecedents and Consequents viewing several Copies and consulting with the Authors quoted c. so the Reader will finde no small benefit thereby arising from this Edition 2. The Method is here cleered which was in a manner quite lost in the former Edition and without which the Reader must needs be in a Maze or Labyrinth This being the chief help to memory conducing much to the understanding of the matter 3. Many Tautologies and needlesse Repetitions of the same thing are here cut off and those many great defects wherein diverse Paragraphs Pages and whole sheets were formerly wanting are supplyed and added 4. Whereas in some passages the sence of the Author might seem obscure or doubtful and not to agree so well with his iudgment expressed in his other works composed in his latter and riper years his meaning therefore is cleared and vindicated by adding his latter thoughts upon the same points which are either collected out of his other works which were perfected by himself or the Reader referred to those other places where he may be more fully satisfied And where some things are omitted or but briefly touched a supplement is made out of his other works or where it could not be had out of them there is added what was needful to be supplied without prejudice to the Author and what is conceived agreable to the declared Doctrine of the Catholike Church of Christ and of this Church in special which that the Reader may distinguish it from the words of the Author is put in a different Character save where by mistake the same letter is used And here as in some other points so in particular about the Sabbath wherein the Author might be mistaken by many of both sides out of his other works compared with this here is declared what his Opinion was in that Controversie and that it was no other then which I conceive to come neerest to the truth that as the symbolical rest proper to that Nation is abolisht so the substance of the Precept is moral and that the seventh day was hallowed by God for a time of publick worship from the beginning in memory of the

Interpretation and to be applied to perticulars Now if it be demanded where and whence this interpretation is to be had The resolution of this we have from Moses If there arise a matter too hard c Thou shalt come to the Priests and Levites c. and they shall shew thee c. And the Prophet Malachi tells us The Priests lips preserve knowledge and they must seek the Law at his mouth and the reason he gives for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts The Lord Treasurer to Candace Queen of Ethiopia could not go forward without Philips instruction How can I understand without a Guide But this may beget a second doubt which is Whether every thing they deliver be good or the interpretation they make of every thing be true and infallible To this we answer That there are rules to be observed in their interpretation And unlesse their interpretation be according to those rules it is neither good nor true and if it manifestly swerve from them ought not to be received Our Saviour Christ reprehended the Lawyers for not interpreting according to the rules the condition of a Law standing upon a more particular respect there must be more particular rules then the bare letter or sentence affordeth the interpretation must be to shew the compasse of the Law how far it extendeth and how far it restraineth so that to know the true meaning of every precept these two things are to be considered to which the rules of interpretation do referre And they are but two 1. Amplificatio the extent 2. Limitatio the exception or restraint The first rule is generall viz. Intentio ad scopum because the Law depends not meerly upon the letter but upon the meaning Certum est quod is committit in Legem qui Legis verba observans contra voluntatem Legislatoris facit it is without question that he offends against the Law that by observing the words of the Law goes against the will of the Law maker Now the purpose of the Law is best known by the intent of the Lawgiver Intentio Legislatoris voluntas Legis the intent of the Law-maker is the will of the Law for as the Law is regula mentis the rule to square the minde by so mens Legislatoris est regula Legis the minde of the Lawmaker is the rule of the Law The intent of the Lawgiver is known by his end for as bonitas Ethica so bonitas Theologica pendet a fine Divine as well as moral goodnesse depends upon the end therefore in our interpretation we must consider Gods end and make that ours The supream end of the Law is Gods glory as it is in the Prophet My glory will I not give to another and the subordinate end is vult omnes salvari he will have all men saved as the Apostle testifies But as is said before the best way to take our direction more particularly to know the meaning of a law is to consider these two the extent and restraint or limitation And first let us take a view of some rules concerning the first Of Extent And for direction in this the Jews have set down thirteen rules which may be reduced to these First as they say in every commandment there is praeceptum faciens non faciens if the commandment be affirmative it implyeth also the negative e contra according to the rules of Logique si 〈◊〉 est faciendum ejus contrarium fugiendum if this be to be done the contrary is to be avoided And to this purpose Eschew evil and do good saith the Psalmist there is the Rule The affirmatives of the Decalogue are but two which are the fourth and fifth The Rabbins finde in the books of Moses two hundred fourty eight affirmative commandments according to the number of the joynts in a mans body and the negatives in the five books of Moses three hundred sixty five according to the number of dayes in the year both which added make six hundred and thirteen according to the Hebrew letters in the ten commandments The second Rule is That wheresoever a thing is commanded or prohibited there all the homogenea or of the same kinde to it are forbidden or enjoyned The same may be seen in mans Lawes A Law is extended either Specifice or by Equipollens 1 Specifice is when a thing is done that is of the same kinde but by circumstance is diverse 2. By Equipollens the Rabbins call those by two names first when the ballance hangs equall the Logicians call it a pari as in the commandment against theft to set a mans house on fire is as evil as to steal Secondly when one is lighter or heavier then the other from the lesse to the greater a majori as they call it If one be bound to honour his Parents much more to honour God The third Rule is peculiar to the Law of God which is spiritual The last commandment forbidding the inward desires of the heart is added as a rule how to understand all the rest When you have extended them specifice and per equipollens then they must be extended to the Spirit Lex humana ligat manum lingua divina comprimit animam Mans Law binds onely the hands but Gods the soul. The true worship of God is in Spirit and the reason is good for the heart is the fountain of all evil Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts saith our Saviour This appeared by the dream of Polydorus in Plutarch de sera numinis vindicta that dreamed in the night that his heart came to him and said ego tibi omnium horum malorum sum author I am the cause of all these evils which have befallen thee The heart therefore is first to be cleansed by truely planting the fear and knowledge of God in it Plutarch saith that the Heathen would have restrained the heart if they could but because they could not they forbare it The Law of man faileth two wayes First for want of knowledge of the offender because they knew not the heart Secondly for want of power As when the number of offenders is so great or their power of such force as there is no resisting them tolleration must be Frst But though with men faults may be so closely carried as that it cannot be found where the fault is or how it may be remedied yet with God and his Lawes it cannot be so For the heart is deceitfull as the Prophet truely saith above all things and desperately wicked quis cognoscit idem who knows it but in the next verse he answereth himself that there is a quis a who he is that knoweth it I the Lord search the heart I try the reins There is no defect of knowledge in God Secondly neither can there be so many Offenders but God is able to destroy them It is his power by which he rules saith the Prophet Did not he in his

thereof arose a proverb among them that if any of the Gentiles built a bare Temple it was called Templum Adriani Adrians Temple because it was inornate 1. Concerning the Fathers you may hear their opinions And first Ireneus doth utterly disallow the Images of Christ and the Apostles which Carpocras and the Gnostiques said they had from Pilate 2. Clemens Alexandrinus in his Paraenesis goeth further if not too far Nobis vetitum est fallacem hanc artem pingendi exercere He is so far from favouring Images that he would have the lawful use of the art of painting utterly taken away For his opinion he alledgeth this Commandment but doth not well to presse it against the lawful use of painting 3. Thirdly Tertullian saith Nos adoramus oculis in coelum sublatis non ad imagines picturas intentis we adore with our eyes fixt on heaven not bent upon images and pictures 4. Origen 〈◊〉 nobis 〈◊〉 quod non habemus altaria imagines profitemur Celsus objects gainst us that we have neither altars nor Images and we 〈◊〉 we have not 5. Fiftly Arnobius Objicis nobis imagines quid hae nisi vilissima fabrorum opera thou objectest against us images and what are they but the most base work of Artificers especially thus abused 6. Sixtly 〈◊〉 Non est dubium quin religio nulla sit ubi simulacrum est It is without doubt that where Images are there is no religion 7. Seventhly 〈◊〉 in a Panegyrck to Paulinus and an Epistle to Constantia the Empresse sets down in the second Ephesine Council That she must now require no Image of Christ as he is man because now as he is man his glory is much more then when he was in the Mount and yet there the Apostles were not able to behold him much lesse then can his glory as he is now be expressed And therefore the Fathers in the first Ephesine Council pronounce Anathema sit qui Christum ullo modo dividit let him be accursed that divides Christ. Now if they give unto Christ an image as he is man and not as he is God they divide him and as S. Augustine saith omnino errare meruerunt qui Christum non in divinis codicibus sed in pictis parictibus quaeri voluerunt they deserve to erre that will seek Christ not in books divinely inspired but on painted walls 8. Eightly Ambrose Nescit Ecclesia nostra inanes Ideas vanas 〈◊〉 figuras our Church knows no vain shapes or figures of Images 9. Jerome Nos unam tantam veneramur imaginem Jesum nempe Christum qui est Imago Dei Patris we worship one onely Image Jesus Christ who is the Image of his Father And hereupon it is that Erasmus saith that till Jerome was dead there was no images received 10. Epiphan is an author that they cannot abide because in an Epistle of his to John Bishop of Jerusalem he saith that coming into a temple that had an Image he rent the vail and pulled down the Image affirming that it was against Scripture 11. Augustine being told as it seemeth by the Manichees that some Christians began to worship Images answers Novi in Ecclesia nostra esse adoratores Imaginum sepulchrorum sed isti professionis suae vim nesciunt c. I know there are some in our Church that worship images and sepulchres but these men know not the strength and force of their profession And in another place speaking against those that said Christ wrote certain books of Magick when he was in Egypt he saith Sic enim errare meruerunt c. as before is mentioned After when the first five hundred years were expired there was some better hold for them but yet there were gain-sayers Cerenus the Bishop opposed them In the sixth and seventh centuries were the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Champions about Idols Combatants both for and against them and about anno 800. they got sure footing but were not generally received till the second Nicene Council for Clandius Bishop of Taurinum stood against them saying Amplexi sunt idolatriam permutatam that the Christians embraced the same Idolatry with the Gentiles but onely that it was changed somewhat in name But in these times Constantius Copronymus Leo the fourth and Philippicus the 〈◊〉 set themselves against them So that this worshipping of images had entrance about these times but never got sound footing till the second Council of Nice But we have diverse Councils for us The second Ephesine and those at Constantinople under Leo the 1. and Constantine the 2. At Eliberis where Osvis was President in which was one Canon Placuit picturas in Ecclesia esse non debere ne quod colitur aut adoratur in parietibus de pingatur that pictures ought not to be in the Church nor any thing be painted on the walls lest it be worshipped or adored The like at Carthage the 5. at which August was present And lastly at Frankfurt under Charles the great the Emperour So much for the controversy of Images Now for our Rules CHAP. IIII. The five Rules of extent for expounding this Commandment Of the affirmative part of it In Gods outward worship are two things 1. the substance 2. the ceremony The first consists of 1. Preaching Addition 15. How preaching is a part of Gods worship 2. Prayer 3. Sacraments Addition 16. The Eucharist considered as a Sacrament and a Sacrifice 4. Discipline THe first rule is That not onely that which is here expressed is forbidden but all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 things of the same nature and kinde also as our own inventions neglecting what God commands or being contrary thereto S. Jerome saith God saith well Quae fecerunt sibi non quae fecit Deus that which they themselves and not God made They received them not of God but they were forgers of them themselves And the rule of the Fathers is Idola Ethnicorum exceperunt hereses Christianorum the heresies of Christians which changed and innovated the outward worship of God succeeded or came in upon the Idols of the Pagans meaning the external worship of the Hereticks 2. The second rule reaches vsque ad cor looke to the fountain the heart that that be not infected The fancy must be restrained the conceits that rise in the brain concerning Gods substance unreverently attributing to it a bodily shape as Serapion the Monk did Reliquorum praeceptorum concupiscentiae sistendae in Corde hujus vero secundi in cerebro the lusts that breake the other Commandments are to be stopt and supprest in the heart but these in the brain 3. The third rule is that the means which bring in false worship are here forbidden and they are four whereof we have spoken formerly 4. The fourth rule is about the signes for if it be true as the Apostle hath it that we must hate even the garments that are spotted by idols no

witnes of the truth Sain Paul attributeth sanctification of every thing to prayer premised and therefore it is termed the preparative to all the duties of a Christian more plainly Our Saviour very early before day went out into a solitary place and there prayed and afterward came and preached in the Synagogue which is very probable to have been on the sabbath day whereby we may observe that Christ himself took prayer to be the first means of sanctification 1. Now for the times of this exercise of prayer on the Lords day they are two 1. Before the other publick duties and 2 After 1. That before is either private as of a master and his family 2. Or else in the congregation which is publick Both which the psalmist comprehendeth in one verse I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart secretly among the faithful there 's the first And in the congregation there 's the last 1. Concerning the first we see in the place before quoted that our Saviour went out into a solitary place as also elsewhere As soon as he had sent the multitude away he departed into a mountain to pray 2. For the other we may gather out of that place in the Acts that amongst the very Heathen the religious Hellinists which were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which were a kinde of proselytes that worshipped the God of Israel vsed to assemble themselves to pray by a rivers side But more plainly the Apostle saith that to the prayers of the congregation every one should joyn his own Amen Again prayer is to be vsed after For as we are not fit to receive any spiritual grace before without it so neither to keep it after the devil will take the word out of our hearts after we have heard it unlesse we desire of God that it may remain with us and seek his blessing that the seed may fructify And this was in the law to come from the Priests mouth The Lord blesse thee and keep thee By vertue whereof the devil wil lose his power in taking the word out of our hearts but it shall continue with us and fructifie in us 2. The second is the word which is magnified or sanctified by God for our sanctification for as the prophet saith God hath magnified the law that is his word and made it honorable and else where plainly the hearing of the word is made one end of publick assemblyes gather me the people together saith God and I will makethem hear my words Now the word upon the sabbath hath a double use 1. First as it is read and heard read onely 2. And secondly as it preached or heard preached 1. For the first the Church in great wisdome alwayes thought it most convenient and necessary that reading should precede preaching that when it should be preached it might not seem strange to them that heard it But as that is thought a thing fit by the Church so would it be no lesse expedient that before we come to church we would meditate on it yet such is our wretchlessenesse in matters spiritual that we think we have done enough if we can apprehend it when it is read whereas if we would meditate on it before hand we might make the better 〈◊〉 of it when it is read and be the better confirmed in what we hear preached The Jews had their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the preparation to the sabbath and about the ninth houre of it which is our three of the clock in the after-noon they usually met and spent their time in reading of the scriptures that they might be the better fitted against the sabbath The publick reading of the word in the congregation on the sabbath day is warranted by diverse passages in holy writ as by that in the Acts of the Apostles where it is said that when Paul and his company came into the synagogue at Antioch on the sabbath day the rulers of the Synagogue after the 〈◊〉 of the Law and the Prophets sent to them saying ye men and brethren if ye have any word of exhortation say on And by another passage in the same Chapter where it is said that the Prophets were read every sabbath day And by another a little after which saith thus that Moses that is the law was read in the Synagogue every sabbath day And lastly Saint Paul gives a special charge by the Lord to the Thessalonians thathis Epistle to them be read unto all the holy brethren There is a vse also of private reading and that of great consequence for Christ saith plainly that his witnesses be the Scriptures and therefore will he have them searched because they testified and prophecied of him That this exercise is profitable the prophet maketh plain by a question Should not a people enquire at their God which he explains in the next verse by seeking To the law and to the Testimony And again Seek in the book of the Law and read And therefore we see that the Bereans were much commended and storied for wiser and nobler 〈◊〉 other people why because they searched the Scriptures daily to confirm their faith in the points preached to them There are other vses also in reading In the Revelation there is a blessing pronounced to those that read or heare the words of that prophecy because it might excite men to praise God when they see all fulfilled Man seeing the prophecies fulfilled may thereby give him praise And for this cause there were anciently Monuments kept in Churches which preserved and set forth the accomplishing of Gods promises or threatnings As the memorials of the warres of God on the behalf of the Israelites which was called liber bellorum Dei the book of the battels of the Lord and their verba 〈◊〉 or Chronicl es of Nathan Gad Shemaiah c. these they permitted in a holy use to be privately read that seeing his promises and his threatning denounced in them to have been fulfilled men might the better be stirred up to the praise and fear of God 2. Another use was the understanding of hard places in the Scripture It is recorded of Daniel that while hs was reading the book of 〈◊〉 about the accomplishment of the number of the 70 years captivity mentioned by the same prophet God sent an Angel to him to informe him in that great 〈◊〉 about the time of Christs sufferings So the Eunuch while he was reading in the book of Esay had the exposition of Christs sufferings from the Apostle Philip sent for that purpose by God and because God doth not now by such extraordinary means informe us in the true sence of Scriptures therefore we are to read such as have written 〈◊〉 upon such places and so no doubt but if Philip had written any thing at that time upon Esay that the Eunuch would have read it and made use of

his recreation shut them up and went abroad to supper where he uttered many blasphemies against God and at his return meeting his dogs mad died miserably being torn in pieces by them Apion against whom Josephus wrote scoffing at the Old Testament and especially against circumcision was at the same time stricken by God and in the same place with an ulcer and was made a spectacle for all such as in after times should follow his example And lastly to omit others Machiavel rotted in the prison at Florence as the Italian histories testifie These and many other Atheists though they denyed God in their life time yet at their death were forced to acknowledge and confesse him And therefore as it was written upon Zenacheribs tomb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he that beholds me let him be religious and acknowledge Gods hand So may we say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 look upon these men and their end and learn to stand in aw of God CHAP. VII The fourth step That God hath a providence over man Reasons against divine providence answerd why God permitts evil general reasons for a providence particular reasons from all sorts of creatures That second causes work not nor produce their effects of themselves without God That Gods providence 〈◊〉 to particulars That God is to be sought and that he rewards them that seek him Gods care of mankinde The next station is That God hath a care of men to reward the good For it is not sufficient to know God in his Essence onely but in his Providence also For as to deny that God is is Atheisme so the doubting of his Providence and care over the Creatures is Semi-Atheisme Nay if we look at the moral effect which the perswasion of a Deity works among men it is all one to deny his Providence and to deny that he is And this was the Epicures error who though they were forced by reason to know that there was a God yet they held That God had no care of man Now of Gods providence there are four opinions 1. That God hath no entercourse with man but hath drawn the Heauens as a Curtain between him and us that we should not know or see what he doth nor he what we doe 2. That there is a providence but that it extendeth onely to general things and so is a general providence setting in order second causes but reacheth not to every perticular individual thing 3. Another opinion granteth a providence as well of particulars as generals but that it is idle as a spectator only that beholds men act upon a stage and neither rewardeth nor punisheth 4. The last 〈◊〉 that as he hath providence over both sorts as well particular as 〈◊〉 neral so he doth not onely behold but reward the good and punish the evill And this is the truth which Christans hold The chief reasons which they use to alledg in maintaining that there is no providence at all are cheifly three 1 The adversity of the good and the prosperity of the wicked For say they 〈◊〉 vlla esset providentia bonis bene esset malis male if there were any providence it would goe well with the good and ill with the bad 2. That although many abuse the gifts of God yet he giveth them promiscuously And therefore if there were a providence the use of the gift would have been given with it and no gifts would have been given to them that should abuse them 3. That the manifold 〈◊〉 and evill effects in morral and natural things shew that if there were a Providence God would not suffer so many in either 1. To the first we answer If a man were absolutely good no adversity would betide him and if absolutely evil no prosperity but no man in this life is absolutely good or evil but as the best are not without some evil so the worst not without some good And therefore it stands with the justice of God to punish that evil which is in the good with temporal punishments in this life and to reward the good which is in the wicked with temporal blessings that he may reward the one and punish the other in the other life Hence it is that saint Augustine saith Domine hic secabic vre modo ibi parca Lord cut and burn afflict me here so thou spare me hereafter We know what the Devil said to God in Jobs case Doth Job serve God for nought Therefore God to stop the mouths of the wicked and Sathan punisheth the Godly here And hence it is that if good men live in prosperity the Devil is ready to object that their acts are but hypocritical therefore God to make it appeare that the Godly serve him not in respect of temporal blessings and that vertue in them is not mercenary but free he oft times layes afflictions on his children which they beare willingly 2 The former answer might have served to confut this second reason for as in onely the first if it had been bonis bene well to the good the Devill had well said Doth Job serve God for nought so in this case If God had given the use of the gifts with the giftes themselves to every one the Devil would have said Job can doe no other but serve God He is not left to his own election God hath in a mnaner enforced him to it and so his actions are not praise worthy nor deserve any reward For what extraordinary matter is it for fire to burn since it is its nature and property But when some of the wicked have as excellent gifts bestowed on them as the godly have and yet they abuse them it takes away all cavils and exceptions from 〈◊〉 and maketh much for the commendation of the Godly and for the just reprofe and punishment of the wicked 3. To the third we say that though there be defects and evil effects yet God is not the cause of them he hath no part either in the evil action or with the evil doer Omnis actionis imperfectio non a Deo sed a male se habente instrumento the imperfection of every action is not of God but from the indisposition or perversenesse of the instrument In a Creple the soul is the cause of motion and is in no fault but the distortion of the body which is the instrument of the soul. So every action is from God but if it have any deformity it is of the crookednesse of the instrument Now God 〈◊〉 evil in these respects 1. Per privationem gratiae by justly for sin depriving men of his grace and thereupon followeth a defect of good for if there were no defect his infinite goodnesse could not have been so cleerly seen nor would there have been any variety of good things but one good onely 2. If there were no defect there would have been no order or degrees in things 3. Many vertues would have been superfluous as Justice Temperance c. 4. Because it is necessary that