regenerate soul acteth all And whereas bonum is by Divines distinguished into verum apparens the true good and the appearing good the true good is that which hath order to the best end which is Gods glorie and our eternall good of this kinde are all holy habits qualities and good works commanded by God The appearing good is that which hath no order to the best end but is onely for this world and appeareth glorious to the naturall man And this is expressed by S. John in these three particulars the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life The lust of the flesh is fleshly concupiscence the lust of the eyes is covetousnesse and the pride of life is a mans animositie appearing in anger arrogancie and the like All these as S. John saith are not of the Father but of this world and are the devils baits to hook the unwise generation Lastly here may the question be moved Whether the goodnesse of substance in man be better then the goodnesse of qualitie To this I answer that the goodnesse of substance is de esse but the goodnesse of qualitie is de bene esse which is Gods grace qualifying substance and therefore the better For the souls of the damned have their esse in hell and are miserable but the souls of the Saints by Gods grace and the good qualitie are in heaven which is their chief good Grace and the good qualitie is the perfection and complement of substance A holy and a good man is better then a man because holinesse and goodnesse is the perfection of a man As the soul is the form of man so grace and goodnesse is the form of the soul it healeth nature it giveth to man quoddam supernaturale it is the root of vertues it is the greatest of gifts it is correspondent to eternall glorie by it the holy Ghost inhabiteth in us and therefore in this life this good is maximè appetibile Thus farre of the goodnesse of God in the state of grace but the greatest of his goodnes is to be seen in the state of glorie because the state of glorie is the end and perfection of the state of grace In this state his goodnesse consisteth of joy and glorie Joy is the crown of the heart and glorie is the crown of the head the one is the complement of the will and appetite the other of the minde and intellect The intellect shall there be filled with the vision of God the will and affections with the fruition of his love and the lower part of the soul with its proper objects And that this may the better be effected in that blessed estate God hath ordained certain means for the possessing of it which S. Thomas calleth dotes dowries and these are certain glorious habits or dispositions fitting the souls and bodies of the saints for the enjoying of eternall blisse because without means nothing may be applied And these dowries are three vision which answereth to faith in this life apprehension answering to hope and fruition answering to charitie Besides in that blessed estate there are degrees of joy and glorie insinuated by our Lord saying In my Fathers house are many mansions and by S. Paul comparing As one starre differeth from another in glorie so is the resurrection of the dead again by the parable of the seed sown in good ground which brought forth some an hundred-fold some sixty some thirty-fold To this agreeth S. Gregory Quia in hac vitanobis est discretio operum erit proculdubio in illa discretio dignitatum ut quo hîc alius alium merito superat illîc alius alium retributione transcendat So also hath S. Cyprian In pace coronam vincentibus candidam pro operibus dabit in persecutione purpuream pro passione geminabit further thus Certent nunc singuli ad utriusque honoris amplissimam dignitatem Accipiant coronas vel de operibus candidas vel de sanguine purpureas Here shineth Gods justice in distributing rewards according to the varietie of his own grace in this life bestowed and Christians works by their free-will to the best end employed And because there are certain excellencies of works in overcoming the greatest difficulties therefore the School after the former demonstration argueth certain priviledged crowns which they call aureolae to be due to them which have conquered best to Martyrs for overcoming persecutions to Virgins for conquering the flesh and to Doctours for putting the devil to flight from their flocks And this goodnesse of God is so great that in the kingdome of glorie he giveth not even rewards to any but exceeding to all according to his riches in the parable expressed Give and it shall be given to you good measure pressed down and shaken together and running over shall they give into your bosome Lastly so great is Gods goodnesse every way that it sustaineth even the worst things that is to say all evil for such an infirmitie is evil that it cannot exist except it lean upon some good as on a subject for there can be no sicknesse but in the bodie no blindnesse but in the eye no lamenesse but in the member no more can there be the evil of pain but in the organ of sense nor sinne which is the evil of blame but in the soul receding from grace for sinne in the action is nothing else but the leaving of the divine order to the good end The subject is good and the action as it is an action is good but the running of it without order to a wrong end that onely is evil and is no way to be righted and resisted but by the other evil which is the evil of pain but of the two the evil of blame is the worst and greatest because it is opposite to Gods goodnesse as the evil of pain is opposite to the creatures good Consectaries The profitable consectarie is that whereas all true good proceedeth from God as from the cause both efficient and appetible the one being the beginning and the other the end of all true delights therefore he above all things is to be desired of us as the most appetible but with this caveat that he can never be enjoyed of us except we first become good like unto him by divine charitie and further that as he is good to all by causing his sunne to shine and his rain to rain as well upon the bad as the good so should we be good to all in praying for our enemies in converting sinners and in shining upon all our poore distressed neighbours with the light of mercie and liberalitie Gods Life The fourth attribute is Gods Life from which in holy scripture he is called the living God By his life he is distinguished from idols images and statues which are dead gods wherefore to countenance the great idol Bel with this attribute his priests with their wives and children eat up for him
his bountifulnesse and patience and long sufferance not knowing that the goodnesse of God leadeth thee to repentance Having spoken of Gods will as it is antecedent and of signe now it followeth to speak of it as it is of good pleasure and of consequent The will of Gods good pleasure is expressed in the 135 Psalme vers 6. Whatsoever the Lord pleased that did he in heaven and in earth in the seas and in all deep places This is Gods proper and essentiall will first because it is of the nature of the will to do of pleasure and next because it is most generall and not restrained to any place or person His will of signe is not alwaies done because it is his will for men and not for himself respectively Therefore his precepts are broken his prohibitions slighted his counsels not regarded but his will of good pleasure is above the law of the Medes and Persians this cannot be put by because it is divina 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lastly after that God hath shewed man all his favours by his will of signe and word revealed to which he addeth the effects of his grace expressed by S. Prosper in these seven particulars perswading by exhortations admonishing by examples terrifying by dangers inciting by miracles giving understanding inspiring counsel and lightning the heart with faiths affections When all these are despised and rejected then God proceedeth with his will consequent which is the will of his justice First he would have all men to be saved by his will antecedent but because all men will not consent to this therefore to maintain mans free-will God will not save all in effect but the same will turneth from mercie to justice which before turned from justice to mercie and saith Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels Neither is Gods will altered nor broken because it turneth from mercie to judgement for that it still retaineth its former mercie and man his former resistance to receive it How often saith our Saviour would I have gathered thy children together even as a hen gathereth her chickens but ye would not If God hath not bound man to one object but given him free-will to turn from object to object according to reasons rule then should God be bound and man free The will of God is wider then all wills all his divine attributes may rest in it his truth his wisdome his justice his mercie his power his pleasure and displeasure yea all the contraries that are in the world are within it and lie under it as life and death sicknesse and health good and evil salvation and damnation and without this there could be no world Notwithstanding though Gods will be never so wide and comprehensive yet it imposeth no necessitie upon mans will because all will by Gods creation is free and if it were not free it were no will Necessitie and will are incompatibilia they cannot stand together Nature and things without will are of a strait disposition therefore for them God hath ordained necessitie and determined them to one thing but mans will because it is the image of Gods will is wide and capacious and therefore he hath provided for it the ocean of contingencie He hath set fire and water before thee saith Ecclesiasticus stretch out thy hand unto which thou wilt Before man is life and death good and evil and whether him liketh shall be given him Now no man can justly complain while all things are set before him and he hath free choice to all Election expelleth necessitie and necessitie thrusteth out election If mans will were not free from necessitie then there could neither be merit nor demerit that is neither reward nor punishment and then the two great streams of Gods bountie and justice should be dried up but now he hath given to man free-will and to maintain this he hath ordained contingencie and added his grace to aid his will that there might be no defect on his part for freedome naturall to good Theologicall is not freedome but stubbornnesse without grace And this grace and goodnesse of God as it ordereth and aideth things naturall to their naturall ends so it ordereth and aideth man to his supernaturall end which is to live with his God in heaven And this goodnesse of grace is like to the vertuous magnet the most remarkable of all stones the guide of the diall and the direction for sea-travell for as the pin and needle of the diall being toucht with it the needle will stand no way but north and south so the heart of man being toucht with Gods grace in his regeneration will stand no way but to heaven-ward And this touch is that which Divines call the habit of charitie alwaies enclining and bending to heaven and heavenly things through all the rubs of the world Though the toucht needle for a while is shaken and justled from its former due station yet as soon as the shaking is over it returneth instantly to the same point right so though the heart be for a time justled either by the lust of the flesh or the lust of the eyes or the pride of life from its right standing yet as soon as the force is over presently it returneth to its former station to heaven-ward And the onely reason is the touch of Gods goodnesse in the regenerate soul to which above all things mans heart is beholding And this goodnesse proceedeth from the holy Ghost as truth proceedeth from the Sonne of God for as the Sonne is the Fathers essentiall truth so the holy Ghost is the Fathers and the Sonnes essentiall goodnesse And as the holy Ghost is the increate goodnesse of God in himself so love and charitie is the create goodnesse of the holy Ghost in man And untill this be wrought in us by the holy Spirit we may be men and true men but we cannot be good men nor for the kingdome of heaven Therefore S. Augustine saith Sola charitas dividit inter filios regni filios aeternae damnationis So excellent is charitie that God is called by it 1 John 4. 8. God is charitie And so good is it that Divines call it grace per Antonomasiam because it is the principall grace And S. Paul calleth it the greatest The greatest of these is charitie Yea so great is it that no good can be done without it because it is the cause impulsive of every good action You may beleeve without it but then your belief is not good because it wanteth his right end which must proceed from charities election and direction Therefore in this sense S. Paul gives faiths action to charitie It beleeveth all things it hopeth all things c. Why because it enliveneth faith and all other vertues by giving spirit unto them Faith is the candle to charitie and sheweth her light how to work according to Gods word but charitie being the impulse of the
world that we will stand up in the defence of it according to that of S. Paul Stand fast in the faith play the men and be strong The man that standeth is alwayes readie to resist his enemie but he that sitteth or lieth is a vantage to him according to the verse made of the devil Est leo si sedeat si stet quasi muscarecedit If man doth sit the devil will Lion be But if he stand the devil a Lion's he Standing therefore is the fittest and comeliest of all gestures for the professing of our faith and putting us in minde of being constant in it For as we stand in the faith so without the faith we cannot stand therefore the Apostle saith By faith ye stand Take away from man his faith and presently he falls Faith is a mans rock and as long as he stands upon it fall he cannot For this cause our Saviour called Simon Peter quasi Petra because his faith was his rock and against this he told him the gates of hell should not prevail Wherefore seeing our faith is so pleasing to God and so profitable to us we ought often to offer it to him in profession Next we shall do more reverently to stand up at the reading of the Psalmes before after and between the holy lessons and at Gloria Patri because in these we speak unto God and it is not good manners in a publick assembly to speak unto God sitting as if we were his fellows Lastly we are to stand up at the reading of the Gospel in regard of the authour of the speech which is our Lord Christ As also because they do alwaies historically declare something that our Saviour either spake did or suffered in his own person for us most miserable and wretched sinners Whereupon in token of greater reverence to our ever-blessed Redeemer it hath been the custome of Christian men and women to stand up and at the rehearsall of the Gospel to utter certain words of acclamation as Glorie be to thee O Lord and at the end thereof to say Thanks be to God for his glorious Gospel or the like But you will say You teach us to bowe to kneel and to stand up yet these are but outward ceremonies and humane civilities fitter for men then for Gods high holinesse of which you treat I answer that ceremonies and civilities to men when they are applied to God change their nature and become holinesse The reason whereof is because all actions are specified ab objecto fine as the School teacheth but in these acts of religion the object is God and his glorie their highest end next to which consequently follows mans reward Therefore it cannot be that these actions of the bodie accompanying those of the minde should from their end be otherwise then spirituall duties As S. Thomas of Aquine hath it Adoratio corporalis in spiritu fit in quantum à spirituali devotione procedit ad eam ordinatur quia per sensum Deum attingere non possumus per sensibilia tamen signa mens nostra provocatur in Deum ut tendat Bodily worship is performed in spirit inasmuch as it proceeds from spirituall devotion and is ordered to it And because by our sense we cannot attain unto God yet by sensible signes our minde is incited to tend towards him Thus you see these expressions be not onely outward but inward too For what makes thee to bowe to God in his Sanctuarie doth not thy soul set thy knee on work and what sets thy soul on work is it not faith and charitie the two principall graces of Gods Spirit How then should not this be holinesse which proceedeth from such holy roots The sixth office of holinesse is To come to the Sacrament with due preparation First in reconciling our selves to our neighbours where is cause of offence Secondly by coming in right faith with true understanding of the thing in discerning the Lords bodie Thirdly by coming in charitie because charitie is the life of our souls and the thing to be fed Fourthly to come fasting where men are able because S. Augustine saith Placet Spiritui sancto ut in honorem tanti Sacramenti priùs intret in os Christiani corpus Dominicum It pleaseth the holy Ghost that in honour of so great a Sacrament the Lords body should first enter into the mouth of a Christian. And S. Paul faulteth this among the Corinthians For every man when they should eat taketh his supper before and one is hungry and another is drunken He that was hungry was in good case but he that was drunken was not fit for the place Fifthly to receive it kneeling because to receive it sitting is to receive it as we receive our bodies supper yet is there a great difference between the one and the other the one being the food of our souls and received in the sanctuary and the other being the food of our bodies and eaten in private houses The 7 office of holinesse is To keep all the holy feasts of the Church and they which neglect this cut off a great part of Gods worship and lose all the holy lives and examples of the saints and divers mysteries of our salvation besides The lives of the saints are our looking glasses and the reason why we come so short of them in good life is because we do not see our sinnes in their lives and partake not of their holinesse For he which honoureth God with the saint is partaker of the saints holinesse So likewise they which come to Gods house upon the day of Christs nativity coming in faith and love as they ought are partakers of Christs birth they which come upon the day of his circumcision are with him circumcised from the dominion of the flesh they which come upon the day of purification are presented with him to his Father they which come upon Goodfriday are partakers of his precious death they which come upon Easter day are partakers of his glorious resurrection they which come upon Ascension day ascend with him in holy desires in present and hereafter shall ascend in person they which come upon Whitsunday shall partake of those white gifts that God bestowed upon his Church upon that day and they which come upon Trinity sunday shall enjoy the blessed Trinity of Father Sonne and holy Ghost So again they which come upon S. Stephens day are in affection partakers of his martyrdome and prepared for holy suffering they which come upon S. Johns day partake of S. Johns love and charity they which come upon Innocents day partake with them in their deaths for Christs cause they which come upon S. Michaels day shall enjoy the blessed Angels in their administration and they which come upon the day of All Saints shall be of that blessed number to stand with them on Christs right hand in the day of judgement and so of all the rest Thus in observing saints daies and in
learn in these books what is good for thy bodie and not learn what is good for thy soul Open thy eyes wider and then thou shalt see that there could be no goodnesse in the creature except God had made it and that if the effect be good then the cause of this good must needs be infinitely more good and therefore he above all things is to be sought of us And this is so cleare a lesson that except a man will shut his eyes he must see it and understand it because the Apostle saith Rom. 1. 19 20. That which may be known of God is manifest in them For the invisible things of him that is his eternall power and Godhead are seen by the creation of the world being considered in his works that they should be without excuse And these preachers are of S. Paul acknowledged for preachers in the 10 chapter following and the 18 vers having relation to the 14 verse Have they not heard no doubt their sound went into all the earth and their words unto the ends of the world Secondly Gods Word is thy preacher And this is proved by the book of Solomon called Ecclesiastes for that book as the learned know signifieth a preacher Again turn to Acts 15. 21. and there the holy Ghost will tell thee that Moses was preached every day in the Synagogues while his words were read unto them If thou saist that Gods scriptures are too high for thy capacitie then what sayest thou to the 19 Psalm vers 7. which teacheth that the testimony of the Lord giveth wisdome to the simple And art thou so simple to think that when God gave his scriptures to the Church he gave them so darkly that men might not understand them then he might as well not have given them Thou wilt object that of the Eunuch in Acts 8. 30 31. where when Philip asked the Eunuch whether he understood what he read he answered How can I except I had a guide And I answer thee again that there is a great difference between the Eunuch and thee and this place of scripture which he read and the places of scripture which to thee are propounded for he was out of the Church which is the house of light and thou art in it Again that scripture was to him a mysterie but to thee it is no mysterie For in Isaiah no name is exprest but it is read He was led as a sheep to the slaughter but what he this was the articles of our faith expresse to the simplest that it was Jesus Christ the Messias of the world who was delivered by the Jews to Pontius Pilate to be slain for our redemption and therefore this excuse of darknesse is utterly taken from thee because the Gospel is the blazing of the Law and there is nothing so dark in one place but in some other it is so bright that the very blear-eied may see it Therefore Fulgentius saith In verbo Dei abundat quod perfectus comedat abundat etiam quod parvulus sugat Ibi est enim simul lacteus potus quo tenera fidelium nutriatur infantia solidus cibus quo robusta perfectorum juventus spiritalia sanctae virtutis accipiat incrementa In the word of God aboundeth that which the perfect man may eat and that which the little one may suck For there is both drink of milk whereby the tender infancy of the faithfull may be nourished and solid meat whereby the strong youth of the perfect may receive the spirituall increase of holy vertue Thirdly Gods holy Sacraments are our preachers while by visible and sensible signes they teach us what we are to beleeve for which they are of the learned called visibilia verba words visible Therefore when we see the water in Baptisme this bringeth to our remembrance the water and bloud which came out of our Saviours side and when we see the bread and wine this preacheth to us that his bodie was broken and his bloud shed for our sinnes as the water signifieth the washing away of our transgressions And these Sacraments do that for us that all the preachers of the land cannot do For they by their words can but onely teach us and enlighten our understanding but these preachers the Sacraments besides the light which they give to our understanding infuse through Christs power and effectuall ordinance grace into our souls and make us acceptable before God Yea so effectually do they this that they can never want grace after who rightly receive them and preserve the vertue of them Therefore our Lord said to the woman in John 4. 14. Whosoever shall drink of the water that I shall give him shall never be more athirst but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into eternall life This water is that grace which is bestowed upon us in Baptisme which after the Eunuch had received as we reade in Acts 8. 39. he went away rejoycing and we reade not that he heard any more sermons or received any other Sacraments for his well of water which he carried away with him into a farre heathen countrey was sufficient for him But oh the lamentation of our times Who shall make our people to beleeve that Christs Sacraments bestow grace they say they signifie onely and that faith cometh by hearing onely yet when they have heard what they can and beleeve what they will they shall never be saved without the grace of the Sacraments at least in desire I can shew you of some that are saved without the hearing of the word preached our baptized infants but I can shew you of none saved ordinarily without the Sacraments in regard of our Saviours exception in John 3. 5. Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdome of God Therefore the men which shut up all in the preaching of the word evacuate Christs Sacraments and do they know not what for preaching is but a preparation for the Sacraments and there the principall grace lies hid For this cause our Saviour said to his Apostles Matth. 28. 19. Go teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Sonne and of the holy Ghost For people must first be taught that God bestoweth grace in the Sacraments or els they will not receive them And the principall Sacrament is Baptisme because that onely bestoweth new life and the rest strengthen and preserve it Fourthly printed sermons are thy preachers For assoon as there is any rare sermon preached by and by it is put to print and from the presse it is disperst all the land over There is scarce a house in any town but one or other in it by reading can repeat it to thee Then how shouldest thou starve for want of preaching when the best preachers in the land such as thou never sawest nor they thee yet by this means continually preach unto thee Fifthly Gods Spirit
nothing but winde in them the one lifteth up in nature the other lifteth up in God But here it may be objected What meaneth the Apostle thus to disable knowledge seeing by it we depart from evil and are informed to good and the prophet Isaiah saith in his 53 chapter vers 11. By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justifie many where knowledge is made the cause of our justification I answer that wheresoever knowledge in holy scripture is taken in a good sense there it is vox complexa as sapientia is by S. Bernard called sapida scientia savourie knowledge for in this knowledge charitie which is the extern form of knowledge is comprehended But here in this text of scripture Knowledge is vox incomplexa standing alone by it self and in opposition to Charitie and therefore here it produceth no good effect but onely pride which is enemie to goodnesse But charitie is the substance of Christianitie and therefore is called of the School Divines grace it self And this in the building of a Christian toward heaven is the master-builder for the more it worketh in us the better and bigger Christians we grow according to that of S. Augustine Charitas inchoata inchoata justitia est charitas provecta provecta justitia est charitas magna magna justitia est charitas perfecta perfecta justitia est Charitie begunne is righteousnesse begunne charitie increased is righteousnesse increased great charitie is great righteousnesse and perfect charitie is perfect righteousnesse And when this is come then there is no difference between God and man it is conformitie between God and man it is as S. Paul saith the fulfilling of the law further then this we cannot go Yea that which is the most comfortable and remarkable point in all Christianitie is the law of the Spirit of life which freeth from the law of sinne and of death and this is the main refuge to the distressed conscience There are in the best two laws ruling in them because the best are compounded of two the flesh and the spirit The law of the flesh is concupiscence which gives precepts onely for the flesh whose end is sinne and death and therefore it is called the law of sinne of death and the law of the spirit is charitie which gives precepts onely for holinesse and righteousnes and this is called the law of life because the end of it is life These two laws are ex diametro opposite one to the other in the regenerate because they be both of force in this life therefore the regenerate are carried both wayes sometimes to sinne and sometimes to holines and vertue But because charitie which is the root of all good desires is the more noble law as being the law of the spirit and is in all evil actions first or last or both opposite to them and never yeeldeth but during the violence of the passion which being over it immediately returneth to his former strength and vertue therefore this freeth from the other so that condemnation is never liable to them in whom this law is found Therefore when the blessed Apostle besought God that the prick in the flesh that is to say concupiscence the law of sinne and death might be removed from him he would not grant it but told him My grace shall be sufficient for thee and this is nothing else but charitie which freeth the compound from sinne and death because as S. Peter saith it covereth the multitude of sinnes it will not suffer them to appeare And the reason why God would not have the law of the flesh and of sinne to be outed from this holy man and from the regenerate was because he would have his grace to conflict with the flesh that after the conflict his grace might be victour For my power saith God is made perfect through weaknesse But there is no greater weaknesse in man then concupiscence the lust of the flesh which being overcome by charities desire Gods grace and power is advanced and perfected And this law of the spirit S. Paul opposeth to the law of the letter which is knowledge when it is separate from the spirit and this killeth as well in the ministerie of the Gospel as in the ministerie of the Law of Moses as S. Augustine teacheth lib. de spiritu litera because the more knowledge we have the greater shall be our condemnation if we want the spirit of charitie to put it in practise Will you know then what charitie is which is thus advanced above knowledge It is the most noble above all vertues as our Apostle teacheth 1. Cor. 13. 13. Now abideth faith hope and charitie but the greatest of these is charitie He saith not shall be as Calvin and Beza offer to evacuate the Apostles comparison commendation but is now Now abideth faith hope and charitie but the greatest of these is charitie This is the lust and desire of the spirit as concupiscence is the lust and desire of the flesh the one sanctifieth and justifieth the other damnifieth and condemneth Gal. 5. 17. As concupiscence is the root of all vices so this is the root of all vertues it is the souls sanctified appetite Every man that hath wit and discretion will make choice of the best and the fairest but charitie is the best of all Gods gifts above faith and hope and knowledge and therefore above all things I wish you to seek and follow that In the twelfth chapter before the Apostle sets down all the better sort of Gods gifts among which he placeth wisdome knowledge faith working of miracles and the rest and then willeth them to make choice of the best But saith he desire you the best gifts and when he had so said then he said further I will yet shew you a more excellent way as if he had said Now I will shew you of a gift that is above all gifts yea better then the best before-named such a gift that without it all other are worth nothing Though I speak with the tongues of men and angels and have not charitie I am as sounding brasse or a tinkling cymball And though I had the gift of prophesie and knew all secrets and all knowledge yea if I had all faith so that I could remove mountains and had not charitie I were nothing And though I feed the poore with all my goods and though I give my bodie that I be burned and have not charitie it profiteth me nothing Now if all be nothing without this then get this and get all But what is the reason why all other graces without this are worth nothing Because without charitie they are as a bodie without a soul. Hadst thou a bodie as well framed as Leanders and Hero's was yet if thou hadst not a spirit to move in it thou shouldest have but a dead bodie worth nothing as S. James teacheth of faith without charitie by the effect
it follows that if the created similitudes be goods appetible then much more God the creatour of them must be good yea the chief good as the fountain of them Now there can be no better similitude for man the image to delight in then God his exemplar and his Sonne by flesh and bloud to him allied Therefore he above all things is of him to be desired Thus from these three great attributes we have the great and infinite God described who in English is called God of good From these three he expresseth himself in the creation of the world his image From his unitie in essence we have our essences to be individuals from his truth we have the perfection of our composition and from his goodnesse we have our end in desires which is the height of our growth so from the beginning we have our beginning and active principle from the truth we have our medium and way to our end and from goodnesse we have the complement of our desires in the end which the School calleth quies in bono Now to shew the good things of God for mans good created he in this life offers to the intellect the contemplation of things intellectuall mathematicall and materiall as the causes and reasons of things by which Solomon spake from the cedar that is in Lebanon to the hysope that springeth out of the wall Again he offers to the will the good divided into utile honestum delectabile Utile sheweth the means by which we tend toward things good honestum is that which is good of it self and delectabile is the rest and joy in the good obtained Lastly he offers to the senses their proper and desired objects as fair sights to the eyes harmonies to the eares sweet smells to the nostrills pleasant meats to the taste and smooth things to the touch But as the goodnesse of God thus sheweth it self in this life so it exceedeth all our expectation in the next life where is our last rest and chief good Eye hath not seen nor eare heard neither have entred into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him for some of Gods goods are so great and so good that this life though it be good is not capable of them Hitherto of the goodnesse of God in the state of nature now followeth the goodnesse of God in the state of grace And this is principally to be seen in his justice and mercie in redeeming mankinde The goodnesse of Gods justice appeareth in that no mercie could appeare without it for mercie presupposeth miserie and miserie is the pay of justice Where therefore there is no justice there can be no mercie Had not God permitted men and angels to fall neither angels nor men could have been sensible of Gods love the root of goodnesse in keeping some from falling and in saving others after the fall Therefore fit it was for God to make justice his way to shew his mercie by which above all his goodnesse is applauded And these two in the redemption of man the greatest of Gods works are to be observed wherein they met and saluted each other according to the Psalmist Mercie and truth are met together righteousnesse and peace have kissed each other He shewed his justice upon his own Sonne he shewed his mercie in ransoming all mankinde and here is verified Samsons riddle Out of the eater came meat out of the strong came sweetnesse What is more strong and devouring then justice and what is more sweet then mercie God gave his Sonne to death and by this he redeemed the world Mercie kissed justice and justice yeelded her right to mercie Mercie saith S. James rejoyceth or glorieth against judgement In the death of Gods Sonne mercie and justice contended mercie overcame and therefore she triumpheth Now therefore mercie hath the preeminence all the world over yet not without justice as they met at first lest man should runne out of mercies bounds and fall into relapse both therefore because we are saved by both and preserved by both are to be respected of us as our speciall good from God In the next place we are beholding to Gods goodnesse in the 3 graces Faith Hope and Charitie and the Sacraments by which Gods ransome is applied to us By faith God restoreth our understanding by hope he sanctifieth our affections and gives us state of the kingdome of heaven and by charitie he draws us out of our selves and taketh us into himself by making us partakers of the divine nature And the Sacraments are outward means by which God bestoweth on us his inward graces to teach us that grace is not bred in our selves but given to us forinsecus And this goodnesse of God natively proceedeth from his will as thought and truth proceedeth from his minde The one is immanent the other alwaies erumpent Goodnesse is known by its going forth Therefore we call him the good man not which is good to himself within but good to others without Wisdome and truth never come forth but in the companie of goodnesse Therefore the Psalmist saith Mercie and truth are met together When they meet mercie cometh out first and bringeth truth and wisdome with it Now the will of God because it is the supreme dispenser of all things as it is one so it is universall and because it is universall it containeth in it all wills and by consequent all things under it And thus it cometh that with one and the same will he permitteth things most contrarie to be willed and yet his will is still one and the same And it must be so because otherwise the wills of his creatures which are contrarie to his should not move under it but without it and above it and so God should not be omnipotent For though God did not positively or with pleasure will that men and angels should sinne and fall because the Psalmist saith Thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickednesse neither shall my evil dwell with thee yet per accidens permissivè according to his order or decree of contingencie he would leave men and angels to themselves to see what they would bring forth And rather then he would violate the order of nature in depriving men of the libertie of their wills which is essentiall to them it pleased his all-swaying providence to suffer evil to be done being he knew how to bring good out of it then to permit none at all And this is ratified from the words of S. Augustine Saluberrimè confitemur quod rectissimè credimus Deum Dominúmque rerum omnium qui creavit omnia bona valde mala ex bonis exoritura esse praescivit scivit magìs ad suam omnipotentissimam bonitatem pertinere etiam de malis benefacere quà m mala esse non sinere ut ostenderet primùm quid possit liberum arbitrium deinde quid possit gratiae suae beneficium justitiaeque judicium
seen Antichrists description and his warres and now we are to behold his furniture and setting forth He is furnished with all the devils power and therefore his marching shall be like the marching of Jehu the sonne of Nimshi who marched furiously But here we must observe with Carthusianus that Antichrists coming is twofold the one secret the other open His secret coming belongs to his breeding of which I have alreadie spoken in the apostasie and his open coming belongs to his preaching and progresse in conquering when he shall shew himself to the world in the person of Christ and in the form of God secundum operationem Satanae according to the working of Satan And how is that That is as Anselm interpreteth diabolo instigante the devil inciting him He shall be possest with a devil and at his instigation he shall do all things not like a phrentick without sense but with forecast and deliberation He shall put his will to the devils cunning and the devil shall put his cunning to his will The one shall devise and plot and the other shall perform and effect As God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself so the devil shall be in Antichrist seducing the world from God to himself And as Christ saith in John 14. 10. The Father which remaineth in me he doth the works so the devil dwelling in Antichrist he shall do all that he doth too Thus they shall conferre their forces that they may do the more hurt according to the proverb Vis unita fortior United force is the stronger With all power and signes and lying wonders Because Antichrist hath two ends the one to be honoured as a king the other to be worshipped as a God therefore he shall come instructed and furnished with full means with all power of mans arm to throw down and to enthrone and with all signes and lying wonders to prepare faith for him With the first agrees the type with the second the antithesis accords Of the type it is said in Daniel The prince that shall come shall destroy the citie and the sanctuarie and the end thereof shall be with a floud and unto the end of the battel it shall be destroyed by desolations So when Antichrist comes he shall spread the breadth of the earth with his armies as a floud covers the drie land For the antithesis look how Christ wonne the world to his faith by true signes and miracles so shall Antichrist prevail with the reprobate by his false signes and lying wonders And as when Christ came not he onely wrought miracles but his disciples also did the like so when Antichrist shall come his ministers shall work as false miracles as their master Therefore it is said in Matth. 24. 24. that the false prophets shall shew signes and wonders as well as the false Christs Hitherto there have been many false Christs and many false prophets as we reade in storie but the last false Christ and the last false prophets which are Antichrists false prophets shall outgo the rest for they shall mork miracles which the former could not do for they shall cause fire to come down from heaven in the sight of men as it is Revel 13. 13. because at that time Satan shall be loosed and they shall have all his power And these miracles of theirs are said to be lying wonders in respect of all the causes matter form efficient and end In respect of the matter because many of them shall be phantastick deceiving the eye like the tricks of juglers Such were the rods and serpents of Pharaohs inchanters which were devoured of Aarons rod because they were but shadows and his was a substance In respect of the form because though they have a matter yet they shall not exceed the force of nature And such are the prodigies of Necromancers while by the help of the devil they conjoyn naturall causes to the producing of some strange effect beyond the ordinary course of nature And thus they may cause fire to fall down from heaven for that in the aire there is the element of fire and the fuell of exhalations for the fire to feed upon But true miracles have no naturall causes and therefore they are miracles not onely in the sight of men but also in the sight of devils and angels These are competent to God onely as it is Psal. 72. 18. Benedictus Dominus Deus Israel qui facit mirabilia solus Blessed be the Lord God of Israel who alone doth wondrous things And our Lord Christ saith Joh. 15. 24. If I had not done among them the works which no other did they had not had sinne Again in regard of the efficient they are lying miracles because the devil the father of lies shall be the principall agent whose coming is after the working of Satan Therefore the Fathers affirm that Antichrist shall be a notable witch and that the devil shall inhabit him from his conception or at least from his cradle Lastly they shall be lying signes in regard of their end because they shall tend to shew that Antichrist is God and the Messias which is a Jewish and devilish lie For as Christ by his true miracles proved his divinitie so shall Antichrist by his false miracles labour to do the like but all in vain because lying miracles are but idols and prove nothing And for this cause miracles are called signes for that they signifie to the world some strange and wonderfull thing Vers. 10. And with all deceiveablenesse of unrighteousnesse in them that perish In these words is expressed a second member of Antichrists provision to obtain his purpose which is his hypocrisie and dissembling His life in outward shew is righteousnesse but inwardly it is unrighteousnes therefore to such as cannot unmask it it is deceiveablenesse He shall feigne notable justice to give all the world content his forehead shall be made of equitie but his intralls shall be fraught with iniquitie Therefore he shall be the arch-hypocrite Ephrem Syrus in his sermon of Antichrist hath these words Ut omnes fallere possit falsus atque falsiloquus humilem se simulabit blandum c. That he might deceive all he being false and a false speaker shall counterfeit himself humble and fair-spoken despising injustice preferring pietie gentle poore studious beautifull beyond all admiration pleasing cheerfull to all he shall endeavour to please all that he might soon be sought of the people and be beloved The books of this Ephrem were thought so notable that they were read in the Church as S. Hierome testifieth To proceed Carthusianus upon this text saith Variis modis Antichristus decipiet mundum videlicet simulatione sanctitatis scripturarum allegationibus sapientiâ ornatu sermonis eminentiâ miraculorum promissione divitiarum terrore minarum potestate prosperitate ac multitudine ministrorum suorum Antichrist shall divers wayes deceive the world with counterfeit holinesse with
from the prophesie in Dan. 7. where he is compared to a little horn But it is known that the Jews are a vile kinde of people disperst like vagabonds amongst all nations having no kingdome nor kingly honour but are subject to the laws of other countreys among whom they dwell and among us Christians whom we detest we call a Jew Wherefore S. Hierome upon this place after he had first applied it to Antiochus saith thus But our men better and righter interpret that in the end of the world Antichrist shall do these things who is to rise from a small nation that is from the people of the Jews and he shall be so vile and despised that the kingly honour shall not be given him but by fraud and deceit he shall get the principalitie Again upon the 11 of Daniel he writeth No Jew without Antichrist shall at any time reigne over all the world These despised Jews when they shall get the day shall rage more terribly then any other according to the proverb Asperius nihil est humili cùm surgit in altum The basest ever is the most severe Once having gotten power to domineer Vers. 10. Because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved In that the Apostle joyneth love with the truth in the way to salvation this shews that none can either attain the truth or stand long in it without love which is the most sanctifying grace of the holy Ghost For so high are the mysteries of godlinesse and so contrarie to mans reason that none can apprehend them except divine love do bend his wits that way This appeareth from the scoffing anthem of the Arians in Socrates Scholasticus Where be these fellows who affirm three to be one Therefore then is mans understanding capable of divine truth when the holy Ghost who is Love goeth before Before love come we will dispute of the truth and with Pilate ask what is the truth though the truth stand before us as Christ stood before Pilate This is the reason why babes and fools of the world perceive that which the Scribe and the disputer cannot see And though they see it yet without love it is unsavourie to them they are not the better for it This S. Paul sheweth in 1. Cor. 13. 2. Though I had the gift of prophesie and knew all secrets and all knowledge and had all faith so that I could remove mountains and had not love I were nothing Wherefore where love and truth go hand in hand there is right faith and good life the two complements of our salvation But the principall of these two is love because love makes use of truth but truth without love is idle Vers. 11. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion that they should beleeve a lie Here S. Paul sets down the just judgement of God against the receivers of Antichrist which is effascination or strong delusion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the power of errours working which the creature of it self is not able to resist Such was the working of Pharaohs inchanters that when he saw them to throw rods out of their hand and they turned into serpents therefore he would not beleeve Moses and his miracle though his rod devoured their rods before his eyes And so strong was the old prophets lie to the man of God that prophesied against the altar in Bethel that because he would not obey the revealed word of the Lord therefore the lie prevailed upon him to his destruction So will the devil fat men in a plerophorie of Antichrists false doctrine that they shall be so farre from doubting of it that they will exult and triumph in it But here may be demanded how God should be cleared from sinne when he sendeth such strong delusion which is the cause of sinne To this I answer that this is not here spoken of God properly but tropically Mittit non physicé sed permittendo deserendo He sendeth not delusion naturally but privatively by way of forsaking and suffering For when God upon just desert withdraws his grace from any then he gives the devil leave to go in and thus Gods forsaking is in place of sending because God knows that when he is departed the strong seducer will not be long absent And herein is God justified in that he never forsakes any untill he be forsaken of them according to the School-axiom Deus non deserit nisi priùs deseritur If the Jews would not have forsaken the true Christ they should not have been left to the lies of Antichrist God for his mercy sake grant to us Christians that we trust not so much to the strength of our own new phansies that we utterly abolish the ancient truth Antichrists doctrine Vers. 11. That they should beleeve a lie This is the summe of Antichrists doctrine it is a sermon yea a volume of lies A capite ad calcem from the head to the heel all is but a lie The Fathers have expressed some particulars as that he should command circumcision the Jews sabbath for our Sunday the temple at Jerusalem to be reedified the ceremonial rites to be observed and that he himself is to be worshiped above all gods Though Antichrists doctrine have many branches yet all is but a lie As a tree though it hath many arms and boughs yet it is but a tree and a body though it hath many members yet it is but a body so is Antichrists doctrine in all his parts and members but one main and continued lie Or els there shall be one masterlie which is that Christ is not Christ and all his other lies shall be of the familie of this And in regard of this his false doctrine he is called the false prophet in the 16 19 and 20 chapters of the Revelation as Christ is said to be the true Prophet in John 6. 14. This is of a truth the same Prophet that should come into the world Vers. 12. That all they might be damned which beleeved not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousnesse Here is the end of false faith and bad life which is to swimme in infidelity and the pleasures of sinne for a time and then in the end to reap eternall damnation For when the sinnes of Antichrist shall be ripe when his followers have suckt in all the delights of unrighteousnesse when they have fatted themselves to the day of slaughter when they have played their pageants and are in their full ruffe then of a sudden as our Apostle saith to these Thessalonians when they shall say Peace and safetie the skie shall alter and the weather shall change and then the signes and prodigies of the worlds end and Christs coming to judgement shall act their parts The signes and prodigies of the worlds end The first is the rising from death to life of the two witnesses after they have been dead three dayes and a half and their ascending up