is joy in the presence of the Angels of God over one sinner that repents Luke 15.10 we cannot but suppose that so far as their own ability and the Laws of the invisible World will permit them they do promote and further our repentance since in so doing they contribute to their own joy and in a word since the Scripture assures us that the Angels are present in our holy Assemblies which that passage of S. Paul seems necessarily to imply 1 Cor. 11.10 For this cause ought the woman to have power over her head i. e. to be veiled in the sacred Assemblies because of the Angels or out of a decent respect and reverence to those blessed Spirits who are supposed to be present there since I say they are present in our Religious Assemblies we cannot reasonably suppose them to be present merely as Idle Auditors and Spectators who have nothing else to do but only to observe and gaze upon our holy solemnities and therefore must conclude that their great business there is to assist us in the performance of them to remove our indispositions and recollect our wandrings to fix our attention excite our affections and inflame our devotions for besides as they are the Ministers of the divine Providence they have many opportunities of presenting good objects to us and removing temptations from us of disciplining our natures with prosperities and afflictions and of so ordering and varying our outward Circumstances as to render our duty more facile and easie to us besides which I say as they are Spirits they have a very near and familiar access to our souls not that they can make any immediate impressions on our Vnderstanding or Will which are a sphere of light to which no created spirit can approach it being under the immediate Oeconomy of the Father of Spirits but yet being Spirits there is no doubt but they may and oftentimes do insinuate themselves into our fancies and mingle with the spirits and humours of our bodies and by that means never want opportunity both to suggest good thoughts to us and raise holy affections in us For that they can work upon our fancies is apparent else there could be neither Angelical nor Diabolical dreams and if they can so act upon our fancies as to excite new images and representations in them they may by this means communicate new thoughts to our understandiâ—g which naturally Prints off from the fancy those Ideas and Images which it there finds set and composed And as they can work upon our fancies so there is no doubt but they can influence our spirits and humours else they have not the power so much â—s to cure or inflict a disease and by thus working â—pon our spirits they can moderate as they please the violence of our passions which are nothing but the flowings and reflowings of our spirits to and fro from our hearts and by influencing our humours they can compose us when they please into such a sedate and serious temper as is most apt to receive religious impressions and to be influenced by the Heavenly motions of the Holy Ghost These things I doubt not the blessed Angels can and frequently do though we perceive it not and though by the Laws of the world of Spirits they may probably be restrained from doing their utmost for us that so we may still act with an uncontrouled freedom and be left under a necessity of a constant and diligent endeavour yet this we may be sure of that as the evil Angels are always busie to pervert and seduce us from our duty so the good are no less active to reduce us to and assist us in it VI. Another instance of the Ministry of Angels in the Kingdom of Christ is their conducting the separated Spirits of his faithful Subjects to the Mansions of Glory It was an ancient Tradition among the Jews that the Souls of the Faithful were conducted by Angels into Paradise of which the Chaldee Paraphrase makes mention on Cant. 4.12 and this Tradition of theirs is confirmed by our Saviour Luke 16.22 where he tells us that when Lazarus died he was carried by Angels into Abraham's bosom i. e. into that place of refreshment where the Soul of Abraham who was the Father of the Faithful dwells and in all probability that fiery Chariot and Horses wherein Elias was mounted up to Heaven 2 Kings 2.11 was nothing but a Convoy of Angels and accordingly Tertullian de anima c. 52. stiles the Angels Evocatores animarum i. e. the Messengers of God that call forth the lingring souls out of their bodies and shew them the Paraturam diversorii the preparation of those blessed Mansions where they are to abide till the Resurrection And this Office the good Angels do perform to the Souls of the faithful not meerly to congratulate their safe arrival into the world of blessedness though there is no doubt but that they who do so heartily rejoyce in the Conversion of sinners are ready enough to congratulate their Glorification but that which seems to be the great reason of this Ministration of theirs is to guard holy Souls when they leave their bodies through those lower Regions of the Air which are the Seat and Principality of the Apostate Angels who may therefore be very reasonably supposed to be continually lying in wait there like birds of prey to seize upon the Souls of men as soon as they are escaped out of the Cage of their bodies into the open Air and either to sâ—are and terrifie them in their passage to Heaven or to lead them away captive into their dark Prisons of endless horrour and despair and therefore to prevent their affrighting good souls which is all the hurt they can do them as they pass along through their Territories they are no sooner parted from their bodies but they are taken into the custody of some good Angel or Angels who guard them safe through the Enemies quarters and beat off those evil Spirits from them that would fain be infesting and assaulting them and it is not at all improbable but that by this very thing those evil Spirits do distinguish what Souls do belong to them from what do not viz. their being destitute of or attended with this holy Guard of Angels When they behold a separated Spirit under this Heavenly Convoy they fly away from it with infinite rage and envy to see it irrecoverably rescued out of their power to make it miserable but when they perceive one destitute and abandoned of this Angelick guard they immediately seize it as their own and so commit it to their Chains of darkness And as the good Angels do guard good Souls as they pass through the Air against the power and malice of the Prince of the power of the Air so they also conduct and guide them to their Mansions of blessedness For when the departed Soul is wafâ—ed through the Air into those immense tracts of Aether wherein the Sun and all the Heavenly bodies
our Advocate in Heaven yet we can never be so fond sure as to imagine that he loves us better than his own Father and if he doth not we may build upon it that he is as zealously concerned to assert his Authority as to prosecute our interest and to provide that he be obeyed or avenged as that we be pardoned and rewarded but for us to rely upon Christ as mediating for us without submitting to him as mediating for God is in effect to hope that he will be so exceeding gracious to us as to betray his Father's trust for our sake and sacrifice his authority to our safety For should he take our part with God and solicite him to favour us while we persist in our rebellions against him he would in effect abandon the cause and interest of God's Government and endeavour all that in him lay to expose his authority to the scorn and contâ—mpt of Mankind Whilst therefore we obstinately refuse to hearken to him in his Mediation for God that is to submit to his Laws and return to our duty and allegiance he will be so far from interceding for us in the vertue of his meritorious sacrifice that he will appear against us as an incensed Judge in the quarrel of his Father's Authority and dearly revenge upon our guilty heads all those shameless affronts and indignities we have offered it and by making us everlasting Monuments of his Vengeance convince us by woful experience that he is no less a just Mediator for God than a merciful Mediator for Men. So that by resolving to persist in our rebellion against God we do in effect renounce the Mediation of our Saviour and proclaim before God and Angels that we will not be beholden to the one and only Advocate of sinners And when we have flung our selves out of this Protection Lord whither shall we go for sanctuary from thy vengeance When there is but this one Mediator and he hath discarded me O my wretched Soul whither wilt thou betake thy self Call now and see if there be any will hear thee to which of all the Saints or Angels wilt thou turn thee What Favourite of Heaven will plead thy cause when the only Advocate of Souls hath rejected thee For if he who is my only Mediator be incensed against me who shall Mediate between me and him When God alone was angry with me there was some hope because my Saviour stands as a living Screen between me and his displeasure to guard and defend me from it but when that is kindled against me too what is there to interpose between me and the devouring flame Be wise therefore O ye sinners be instructed ye obstinate Rebels against God Kiss the Son lest he be angry and ye perish from the way for if his wrath be kindled but a little blessed are all they that put their trust in him but Wo be to them that provoke him Thus the Mediation of Christ addresses to our fear as well as hope in order to the subduing us to the Will of God and presses at once upon both these great Avenues of our Souls with the most irresistible Motives III. That this his Mediation proceeds upon certain terms and stipulations between God and Men which he obtained of God for us and in his name hath published and tendered to us For when Mankind by reason of the degeneracy of humane nature were cut off from all immediate intercourse with God and this most wise and holy Method of conversing with us by a Mediator was resolved on by the Divine Council God in consideration of what our Mediator had ingaged himself to suffer for us in the fulness of time granted to him in our behalf a most gracious and merciful Covenant whereby he ingaged himself to bestow his spirit upon us to inable us to repent and return to him upon condition that we should seek it and co-operate with it to pardon all our past sins upon condition that we should unfeignedly repent of them and to crown us with eternal life upon condition we should persevere to the end in well-doing This is the substance of that gracious Covenant which God hath granted to us for the sake of our Mediator who hath accordingly assured us from God that he will give his holy Spirit unto them that ask Luke 11.13 That if we will repent and be converted our sins shall be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord Acts 5.19 And that if we will be faithful to the death we shall receive a Crown of life Rev. 2.10 And upon this Covenant it is that our blessed Saviour proceeds in his Mediation between God and Men. For our Baptismal Vow is nothing else but only a solemn engagement of our selves to perform the condition of this Covenant upon which there results to us a conditional right to all that God hath promised in it and when by this federal solemnity of Baptism God and we have once obliged our selves to each other by mutual promises and engagements Christ's Office as Mediator between us is to solicite on both sides for mutual performance and accordingly in Mediating for God with us he requires nothing of us but what we promised to God and in mediating for us with God he claims nothing of God but what God promised to us And hence he is called The Mediator of this better Covenant Heb. 8.6 and The Mediator of the new Covenant Heb. 12.24 because he transacts between both Parties to solicite the performance of their mutual engagements For so the same Author in Heb. 9.14 15. seems to explain it How much more saith he having spoken before of the vertue of the bloud of Bulls and Goats shall the bloud of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God purge our Consciences from dead Works to serve the living God and for this cause he is the Mediator of the New Covenant that by means of death for the Redemption of transgressions c. they which are called might receive the promise of eternal Inheritance where those words and for this cause seem as well to refer to what went before as to what follows and then the sence will be this For this cause he is the Mediator of the New Covenant both that he might take care that our Consciences being purged from dead works we might serve the living God and that having redeemed us by his Death we might receive the promise of eternal Inheritance And accordingly he proceeds in his Mediation for in acting for God as his King or Vicegerent he hath enacted the conditions which this Covenant requires of us into the Laws of his Kingdom and exacts them of us under the fearful Penalty of eternal Damnation whereby he hath taken effectual care that we shall either perform these conditions or undergo a punishment as great as the guilt of our neglect and contempt of them and having thus tied them upon us by the
insinuating Orators before the Tribunals of their Enemies and there forced to answer for themselves Besides that they being to convert both Iews and Gentiles between whom there was an inveterate aversion and to unite them together into one communion it could not be otherwise expected but that great dissentions should arise among their own Converts as accordingly it hapned which if not managed with infinite prudence must needs give a great disturbance to them and interrupt the course and hinder the success of their Ministry And in such difficult circumstances it was almost impossible for them not to miscarry without being conducted by an infallible prudence and circumspection under all which exigencies the Holy Ghost served the primitive Church in the same capacity as the Vrim and Thummim did the ancient Iews i. e. as an Oracle to advise them in all cases of difficulty and direct them in the management of all their great and weighty affairs Thus in that difficult case which of the Apostles should be sent forth to the Gentiles the Holy Ghost either by a Bath Col i. e. Voice from Heaven or an immediate inspiration thus directs them Separate me Paul and Barnabas for the work whereunto I have called them Acts 13.2 and when they went forth among the Gentiles the Holy Ghost advises them where they should preach and where not Acts 16.6 and so also in the choice of their Bishops they had always the Direction of the Holy Ghost so in Acts 20.28 it is said that it was the Holy Ghost that set them over the Flock and S. Paul tells Timothy that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Episcopal Office wherewith he was invested was given him by Prophecy i. e. by the immediate direction of the Holy Ghost and S. Clemens who was a Disciple of the Apostles tells us that in those times they ordained Bishops 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 discerning by the Spirit who should be ordained and again that they did it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 having a perfect fore-knowledge who they should chuse And thus also for composing the differences which arose between their Iewish and Gentile Converts they had the immediate advice of the Holy Ghost who directed them to that wise expedient Acts 15.28 by which the peace of the Church was secured for the present and afterwards maintained in despite of all the attempts of seditious Incendiaries to break and divide it And thus having recourse upon all occasions to this infallible Guide they were never at a loss either what to say or how to behave themselves the Holy Ghost making good to them what our Saviour had promised them When they bring you before Magistrates take no thought what ye shall answer for the Holy Ghost shall teach you at the same hour what ye ought to say Luke 12.11 12. These are the extraordinary things which the Holy Ghost acted for and under Christ in order to the planting and propagating his Gospel through the World and which he continued to act so long as it was necessary for that end For as for the first the Gift of Tongues it seems to have been continued no longer than till the Gospel had been preached to and some Converts made in the several Nations the First-fruits of whom were always ordained to the work of the Ministry and when once the several Nations had Natives of their own to preach the Gospel to them in their own Languages there was no farther necessity of this miraculous Gift of Tongues And then as for the second the Gift of Revelation it seems to have been continued no longer than till the whole New Testament was revealed and the several parts of it were collected into one Volume and distributed to the several Churches after which there was no farther necessity of any new revelation But as for the third the Gift of Miracles it seems to have been continued much longer than either of the former as indeed there was longer occasion for it especially for that of ejecting evil Spirits who for many Ages had been the Gods of the World and detecting their frauds and impostures that so by beholding the manifold Triumphs of Christ's power over them the Heathen might be at length convinced of the falseness of their own Religion and of the truth of Christ's and accordingly this gift as I shall shew hereafter was continued in the Church for above two hundred years together till it had wrought its designed effect i. e. had sufficiently detected the fraud and malice of those Idol Gods to the conviction of all that were convincible and then it was withdrawn as being no farther necessary And then as for the last viz. the Gift of Counsel and Direction it seems to have been continued no longer than till the Government of the Church was every where established and its Affairs reduced into a stated course and method by which sufficient provision being made against those emergent difficulties with which the state of Christianity was perplexed this Gift also ceased together with the reason and necessity of it Thus by these extraordinary Gifts and Operations the Holy Ghost continued to sollicite the cause of Christ and his Religion in the World till by their invincible evidence he had baffled the malice and prejudice of a deluded World and captivated Mankind into the belief and obedience of the Gospel and this being effected he discontinued those Extraordinaries and now proceeds to solicite the same cause in a more ordinary and standing way and method viz. by co-operating with mens minds and wills in a more humane and regular manner by joyning in with their Reason and thereby influencing their Wills and Affections which brings me to the 2. Second sort of the Holy Ghost's operations viz. that which he ordinarily doth and always hath done and will always continue to do For upon the cessation of these his miraculous operations the Holy Ghost did not wholly withdraw himself from mankind but he still continues Mediating with us under Christ in order to the reconciling our Wills and Affections to God and subduing that inveterate Malice and Enmity against him which our degenerate nature hath contracted For it is by this blessed Spirit that Christ hath promised to be with us to the end of the World Matth. 28.20 and Christ himself hath assured us that upon his Ascension into Heaven he would pray his Father and he should give us another Comforter meaning this Holy Ghost that he might abide with us for ever John 14.16 and accordingly the Holy Ghost is vitally united to the Church of Christ even as Souls are united to their bodies For as there is one body i. e. Church so there is one Spirit i. e. one Holy Ghost which animates that body Eph. 4.4 and hence the Unity of the Church is in the foregoing verse called the Vnity of the Spirit because as the soul by diffusing it self through all the parts of the body unites them together and keeps them from flying abroad and dispersing into
for our sakes or that God the Son will be unfaithful to the Father for our sakes both which suppositions are equally absurd and blasphemous Whilst therefore God proceeds with us in this established method of granting his mercy to us only through his Son and confining his Son to dispence it to us only upon the conditions of the New Covenant to flatter our selves with hopes of mercy while we continue impenitent is to presume both against reason and possibility IV. This way of God's communicating his Favours to us through the mediation of Christ is also most apt in it self to encourage us to approach him with Chearfulness and freedom For it is a natural effect of guilt to suggest to mens minds dreadful and anxious thoughts of God and whilst we are under such thoughts of him how is it possible for us to approach him immediately and without any Friend or Advocate to introduce and speak for us with any chearfulness or freedom For with what confidence can I address to an incensed and offended God purely upon my own fund or interest when I am conscious of a thousand times more evil in me to provoke him against me than of good to recommend me to his favour Unless therefore I am secured of some powerful friend in Heaven that is infinitely more acceptable to God than I can modestly hope to be and that will agitate for me and solicite my cause with all his power and interest my sense of the innumerable provocations I have given him to turn his back upon me must either render me quite desperate of success at the Throne of his grace or cause me to approach it with unspeakable horrour and confusion So that my intercourse with God must either be wholly interrupted or rendred very difficult and uneasie to me because my slavish dread of him must either chase me from his Altars or drag we to them with violence and reluctancy And hence it is that under the sense of our guilt we naturally fly to the Intercessions of others whom we believe to have more interest with God than our selves because we cannot modestly promise our selves a free admittance and access to him upon our own account Which probably was the Reason of the first institution of Demon-worship among the Heathens whose minds being stung with the sense of their own guilts they were not able to approach God without fearful despondence and anxiety whereupon they began to cast about as it is natural for guilty minds to do how they might procure some other Beings that were in great favour with God to interpose with him in their behalf and having learned by an universal Tradition that there was a sort of middle Beings called Angels or Demons between the Sovereign God and Men they began to address to these and to bribe them with Sacrifices and sacred honours to intercede with God in their behalf And hence Apuleius de Daemon Soc. calls these Demons Mediae potestates per quas desideria nostra merita ad Deos commeant inter terricolas coelicolasque vectores hinc precum inde donorum qui ultro citroque portant hinc petitiones inde suppetias seu quidam utrumque interpretes salutigeri i. e. They are middle powers by whom our desires and merits are presented to the Gods they go between Heaven and Earth and carry from hence the Prayers of men and from thence the Gifts of God from Earth they go with Petitions and from Heaven they return with Supplies or they are the Interpreters of both Worlds that do continually carry and report the mutual salutations of both to each other By which it is evident that they thought it very necessary in order to God's accepting their addresses that they should be presented and recommended to him by some better Beings than themselves their guilty minds it seems suggesting to them that it would be high presumption for such great offenders as themselves to approach the divine Majesty without being introduced and Patronized by some more pure and holy Beings And I am very apt to think that the great cause of that Spirit of bondage which possessed the ancient Iews and rendred them so diffident and tremulous in all their approaches to God was their want of an explicite knowledge of the Mediator For what dismal and melancholy expostulations do we frequently meet with in their addresses to God such as Wilt thou be angry for ever Hast thou forgotten to be gracious Wilt thou remember thy loving kindness no more Which plainly shews that their guilt suggested to them such frightful apprehensions of God as did very much cramp their hope and confidence in him And hence the Apostle opposes this Spirit of bondage in them to that Christian Spirit of Adoption by which we cry Abba Father i. e. by which we approach God with great freedom and assurance and go to him as Children to a kind and merciful Father Rom. 8.15 Now if you would know from whence this Christian freedom and assurance proceeds the Author to the Hebrews will inform you Heb. 10.21 22. Having therefore an High-Priest over the houshold of God i. e. to mediate and intercede for us let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith and Heb. 4.14 15 16 the Apostle urges our having a compassionate High-Priest in Heaven to intercede for us as an argument to encourage us to come boldly to the Throne of grace And indeed what greater encouragement can we have to draw nigh unto God with an humble confidence than this consideration that the highest Favourite he hath in Heaven or Earth is our Advocate and that he is not only infinitely concerned for us as being akin to us by nature and having a compassionate sense of our infirmities that he doth not only imploy in our behalf all the favour and interest he hath with God as he is the Son of his Essence and the Object of his delight but that he ever intercedes for us in the right and vertue of that Meritorious Sacrifice with which he bought and purchased all those heavenly blessings he intercedes for So that now all we have to do is to return to God by an unfeigned repentance which if we do he stands engaged to undertake our cause and what may we not expect from the Patronage of so great and powerful a Mediator For how great soever our past sins are his interest in Heaven is far greater how loud and clamorous soever our past Provocations are his Bloud and Wounds are far louder and how importunately soever our past guilts may imprecate the divine Vengeance upon us his Intercessions do far more importunately and prevalently deprecate it So that now we cannot reasonably doubt of a free admission to God in any case whatsoever wherein our Saviour will make use of his interest for us with God and therefore since in all cases he doth continually imploy his interest for us but only in that of our impenitence every Penitent
Where it is plain he places the Bishops in the same rank with the Apostles so also in Ep. 1. ad Heliodor speaking of the Bishops of his time they stand saith he in the place of S. Paul and hold the place of S. Peter and in Psal. 45.16 Now because the Apostles are gone from the World thou hast instead of those their Sons the Bishops and these are thy Fathers because thou art Governed by 'em and Ep. ad Nepot What Aaron and his Sons were that we know the Bishops and the Presbyters are And therefore as Aaron by Divine Right was superiour to his Sons the Priests so is the Bishop above his Presbyters all which are as plain contradictions to that famous passage of his understanding it as the Presbyterians do as one proposition can be to another and whether is a man more to be credited when he speaks without Bias or Partiality or when he speaks in his own cause and under the influence of his own Interest VI. It is further to be considered that the Decree of which S. Ierom here speaks by which the Government of the Church was translated from a Common Council of Presbyters to a single Bishop must according to his own words be Apostolick and consequently much earlier than the Presbyterians will allow it for it was made at that time when it was said among the People I am of Paul and I am of Apollos and I of Cephas and this as S. Paul tells us was said in his time and therefore this Decree must be made in his time and that S. Ierome did mean so we are elsewhere assured from his own words for so in his Book de Eccles. Script he tells us that immediately after the ascension of our Lord S. James was Ordained by the Apostles to be Bishop of Jerusalem Timothy by S. Paul Bishop of Ephesus Titus Bishop of Crete and Polycarp by S. John Bishop of Smyrna So that either he must here expresly contradict himself or else the Decree of which he speaks must have been made immediately after the Ascension of our Lord and consequently be a Decree Apostolick V. It is yet farther to be considered that if any such Decree of changing the Church Government from Presbyterial to Episcopal had been made by the Apostles it is strange we should not find the least mention of it in Scripture and if it had been made after the Apostles about the year 140. it is as strange we should have no mention of it in Ecclesiastick Antiquity for an universal Change of the Government of the Church from one kind to another is a matter of such vast moment that had the Apostles made a Decree concerning it they would doubtless have been very solicitous to publish it through all the Churches and to have transmitted down to Posterity some standing record of it which yet they were so far from doing that they have not given us the least intimation of it in all their Writings And had it been made afterwards about the year 140. to be sure all Primitive Antiquity would have rung of such a publick and important alteration but on the contrary you see both Clemens and Ignatius who lived before that period testifie that the Church was not Governed in their time by a Common Council of Presbyters but by Bishops Hegesyppus Irenaeus and Dionysius of Corinth who lived in that period are so far from taking notice of any such Decree of alteration that they testifie the Government of the Church by an uninterrupted Succession of Bishops even from the Apostles themselves and as for Irenaeus who gives us an account of the Succession of the Roman Bishops from S. Peter down to the time when he himself was at Rome it was as easie for him to know who they were that succeeded from S. Peter as it is for us to know who succeeded from Arch-Bishop Whitgift in the Chair of Canterbury he being no farther distant from the one than we are from the other and though through the Ambiguity or defect of the Records of some Churches this succession be not equally clear in all yet in the most eminent Churches such as Ierusalem Rome Antioch and Alexandria the successions are as clear as any thing in Ecclesiastical History and is it not much more reasonable to conclude what was the Government of those Churches that are not known from what we find was the Government of those that are than to question those Ecclesiastical Records that are preserved because of the uncertainty of those that are not for though we do not find in all Churches an exact Catalogue of all their Bishops yet we cannot produce any one instance in any one ancient Church of any other form of Government than the Episcopal and therefore we may as well question whether ever there was any such thing as an ancient Monarchy in the World because many of the Histories of the Monarchs are defective as to their Names and the Order of their Succession as whether there was ever any such thing as a Primitive Episcopacy in the Church because the Records of several Churches are defective as to the Names and Successions of their Bishops Since therefore this Story of S. Ieroms universal Decree is not only altogether unattested but also directly contradictory to the concurrent Testimony of all Antiquity how can we reasonably look upon it otherwise than as a mere figment of his own fancy especially considering VI. And lastly How odiously this conceit of his reflects upon the Wisdom of our Saviour and his Apostles for the Apostles devolving the Government of the Church upon Common Councils of Presbyters was as he himself tells us the occasion of sundry Schisms and Divisions for the removal of which the Church afterwards found it necessary to dissolve those Presbyteries and introduce Episcopacy in their Room and this S. Ierom approves as a very wise and prudent action for saith he the safety of the Church depends upon the Authority of the High-Priest or Bishop to whom if there were not given by all supreme Authority there would be as many Schisms in the Churches as there are Priests So that according to him had the Church continued under that Government which the Apostles left in it it must unavoidably have been torn in pieces with endless Schisms and Divisions and if so either the Apostles were very imprudent in not foreseeing this or very neglective in not preventing it so that had not the after-age taken care to supply the defect of their Conduct by erecting a wiser-form of Government than they left the Church had infallibly run to ruin This is the unavoidable consequence of S. Ieroms Hypothesis which therefore I can look upon no otherwise than as a mere device of his own brain snatched up in hast to defend his Order against the Insolence of those Factious Deacons that flew in the face of the Presbytery This therefore being removed which is the main and indeed the only considerable Objection against the
consequently he was before all time and the most ancient of all things Again as they affirm of their word that it is not separated from the first Good or Father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. but of necessity is together with him being separatee from him only in personality Plot. En. 5. l. 1. c. 6. So S. Iohn affirms of his Word that it was with God from the beginning ver 2. that is in an inseparable union and conjunction for otherwise all other things were as much with God as he Again as they affirm of their Word that he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the cause or artificer of the World for so all the Platonick Schools frequently stile him and so Plato himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. which World the Word which of all things is the most divine framed and set in order Epinom and Philo call him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Instrument by whom God made the World Phil. lib. Chereb So S. Iohn affirms of his word that all things were made by him and without him was not any thing made that was made ver 3. Again as they affirm of their word that he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. if I may coin a word the Be-er and that this Be-er 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. is not a dead Be-er that is neither life nor mind but that mind and life and Be-er are the same thing Plotin Enn. 5. lib. 1. c. 2. So S. Iohn affirms of his word that in him was life ver 4. As they affirm that the life or being of their Word was knowledge or understanding 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. neither is this Mind or Word in Potentia neither is it self one thing and its knowledge another but its knowledge is it self or its own being ibid. lib. 3. c. 5. So S. Iohn affirms of his Word that his life was the light of men i. e. that it consisted of knowledge which is the light of human minds ver 4. as they affirm that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Intelligible light proceeded 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the word Phil. de Opif. mund and that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. that all light is from this word or wisdom Aristâ—b apud Euseb. praepar p. 324. So S. Iohn tells us of his Word that he was the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world ver 9. In short as they stile their word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. the Son of God Plot. Enn. 5. l. 8 c 5 And again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. the Son or Child of God the full beautiful mind even the mind that is full of God as also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. the most ancient Son of the Father of the Universe Phil. lib. cui Tit. Deterius perfâ—ctiori semper infestum esse And also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. the first born Son of God Ibid. lib. 1. de Agricuâ—t So S. Iohn stiles his Word the only begotten Son of the Father ver 14.18 Thus from first to last S. Iohn discourses of his Word and in the same Phrase and Language gives the same account of him as the Jewish and Gentile Divines did of theirs so that he must be supposed either to mean the same thing by him viz. a divine eternal Person or to design to make the World believe he meant so for he who speaks or writes must either equivocate and dissemble his meaning or mean according to the vulgar acceptation of the words and phrases he speaks or writes so that supposing S. Iohn doth here sincerely express his own meaning no man that understands the common use and acceptation of his phrases can reasonably understand them any otherwise than of a divine Person and whether this were not his meaning at least in all appearance I appeal to a very indifferent Judge viz. Amelius a Pagan Philosopher who very well understood the Language and Doctrine of the Gentile Schools concerning the divine Legos or Word so often mentioned in their Writings and who casting his eyes upon this discourse of S. Iohn doth with all confidence pronounce this to be the sense of them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. this was that Word who according to Heraclitus existed from Eternity and made all things and whom by Iupiter the Barbarian places in the order and dignity of a Principal declaring him to have been with God and to be God and that all things were made by him and that in him all things that were had life and being Vid. Euseb Praep. Evan. 540. Page 51. Line 3. d For thus Porphyry as S. Cyril quotes him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. the divine essence extends it self to three persons whereof the highest God is the Good after him the second is the Maker of the World and the third is the Soul of the World for to this Soul the Divine Essence extends it self And of these three divine persons Plotinus hath treated at large whom he expresly calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 three persons that are principles viz. the Good or the One the Mind and the Soul assuring us that these Doctrines concerning this divine Trinity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. that they were no new or of yeâ—terday but were anciently though obscurely taught and that what is now discoursed concerning them is only a farther explication of them but we have faithful Witnesses that these Doctrines were taught of old and particularly in the Writings of Plato himself before whom also Parmenides delivered them And indeed Plato very frequently mentions these three divine Persons particularly Phileb p. 30. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. but Wisdom and Mind can never be or act without Soul wherefore in the Nature of God there is a Kingly Soul and a Kingly Mind And indeed so ancient is this Doctrine of three divine Persons subsisting in the Godhead that Proclus calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Tradition of the three Gods in Timae Plat. p. 93. for so they sometimes call these three Persons three Gods though as themselves elsewhere explain it they are only three subsistences in the same divine indivisible Essence And the same Proclus calls this Doctrine of the Trinity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. the divinely inspired or delivered Theology which teaches that this World was compleated by these three By these and sundry other testimonies that might be produced it is evident that the ancient Divines of the Gentiles acknowledged a Trinity of Persons in the Godhead the last of which they called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Soul for so thee Chaldee Oracle quoted by the above-named Proclus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. after the Paternal mind which in our Language is God the Son I Psyche or Soul dwell and this Psyche or as our Scriptures phrase it Holy