moved on the Waters first Cherishing them to make them fruitfull secondly Ordering them to their places Gen. 1.2 His Power is not shortened nor straitned Mic. 2.6 It was his Power by which the Apostles preached and wrought their Miracles Rom. 15.19 Through mightie signes and wonders by the power of the Spirit of God If the Holy-Ghost were not a Person distinct from the Father but onely the Power by which he worketh what a vaine Tautologie would it be of the Apostle to say by the power of the Spirit which according to their interpretation should be by the Power of the Power of God Although the Father the Sonne and the Holy-Ghost are Almightie yet they are not three Almighties or Omnipotents but one Almightie or Omnipotent one in outward and essentiall Operations one likewise in Essence though three distinct Persons distinguished from each other by their Personall Properties and by their order and manner of working in regard of their externall and common workes Oh that we had in us the Divine Principles of Faith that we might flye unto him for succour in all our wants who is infinitely powerfull and might rest on him for helpe in all our distresses who is boundlessely gracious both in himselfe and towards us above all that we are able to aske or thinke Eph. 3. Then should we run with delight in the wayes of Gods Commandements and neither start aside through secret feare or fall back through open Apostasie CHAP. VI. The Father the Sonne and the Holy-Ghost are Omniscient OMnisciencie is an essentiall propertie of God There is not any creature that is not manifest in his sight Heb. 4.13 He seeth all our workes Psal 139.2 3. He heareth all our words Psal 139.2 and understandeth all our thoughts afarre off Psal 139.4 Yea the Psalmist doth not onely affirme but also prove this truth Psal 94.9 10 11. He that planted the eare shall not he heare God therefore taketh notice of our words He that formed the eye shall not he see the Lord therefore knoweth our works and as for our thoughts the Prophet addeth the Lord knoweth the thoughts of man that they are but vaine all Gods knowledge is wonderfull More particularly the Lords Omnisciencie appeareth in three particulars First in regard of the heart of man which he searcheth Secondly in regard of the works of men which he seeth Thirdly in regard of future events which he beholdeth and fore-sheweth First in regard of the heart of man The Lord seeth not as man seeth for man looketh on the outward appearance but the Lord looketh on the heart 1 Sam. 16.8 he knoweth the secrets thereof Psal 44.21 it is his prerogative to be the searcher of it Jer. 17.9 10. he onely knoweth the hearts of the children of men 1 Kin. 8.29 where First God the Father knoweth the heart and therefore Paul shewing that he truly gloried in his infirmities and afflictions appealeth to God the searcher of all hearts The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ knoweth that I lie not 2 Cor. 11.3 Secondly God the Sonne knoweth the heart Joh. 5.42 he professeth it and Luk. 11.39 he intimateth this truth to the Jewes Paul calleth him as a searcher of the heart to witnesse Rom. 9.1 he knoweth what is in man Joh. 2.25 he knew the Imaginations of the Jewes Joh. 5.42 Luk. 6.8 Joh. 6.15 Luk. 7.39 40. Mat. 22.18 Mat. 9.4 Mat. 12.25 Luk. 11.17 Mar. 2.4 Joh. 5.45 he knew the thoughts of his Disciples Mat. 16.8 Mat. 17.24 25. Luk. 9.47 Joh 6.61 64. Joh. 16.19 Joh. 1.47 he searcheth the heart and tryeth the reines Rev. 2.23 he knoweth the thoughts motions and inclinations thereof Thirdly God the Holy-Ghost searcheth the heart Wisd 1.5 6. Paul calleth him as a searcher of the heart to witnesse Rom. 9.1 he searcheth out the deepe things of God 1 Cor. 2.10 and therefore surely searcheth out the deepe things of man he knew the heart of Ananias why saith Peter hath Satan filled thy heart and why hast thou conceived this thing in thy heart Act. 5.3 4. How did Peter know the secret fraud of Ananias and of Satans lurking in his heart but by the Holy-Ghost who revealed it to him And therefore Peter demandeth how is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord Act. 5.9 Yea the Holy-Spirit of the Lord revealed to Elisha the thoughts of Gehazi 2 Kin. 5.26 and the secret Counsels of the King of Syria 2 Kin. 6.12 even the words that he spake in his Bed-chamber Secondly in regard of man and all Creatures the Lord knoweth all things all actions are manifest to him Heb. 4.13 he knoweth all the Fowles of the Mountaines and all the Beasts that feed thereon Psalm 50. 10 11. his eyes are in every place Prov. 15.3 nothing can be hidden from him Job 42.2 First the Father knoweth all things he knoweth the wants of all Creatures Mat. 6.30 Where though the word Father is taken essentially and not Personally yet the Father with the Sonne and Holy-Ghost is necessarily understood The Father knoweth who are his electing them according to his fore-knowledge 1 Pet. 1.2 Secondly the Sonne knoweth all things Peter acknowledged it expressely Joh. 21.17 Lord thou knowest all shings yea all the Disciples confidently averre it Joh. 16.30 now we are sure thou knowest all things The Woman of Samaria calleth forth her Neighbours to Christ to see him that told her all that ever she did Joh. 4.29 he walketh in the midst of the seven Golden Candlesticks seeing their wayes and knowing their works approving them that were good and reproving them that were evill Rev. 2.1 2 9 13 19. Rev. 3.1 8 15. he knew the fruitlesse toyling of Peter and he could direct him where he should cast his Net which shall inclose a multitude of Fish so that their Net brake And he knew how to detaine the Fishes together till their partners came and helped them filling both their Vessels that they began to sinke Luk. 5.5 6 7. he knew from the beginning who believed not and who should betray him Joh. 6.64 Thirdly the Holy-Ghost knoweth all things Wis 1.6 7. he searcheth all things even the secret things of God 1 Cor. 2 10. If to know of himself the secrets of man is proper to God Jer. 17.9 10. much more to know the secrets of God is proper to God onely Thirdly in regard of the prediction or fore-shewing of future events It is proper to God alone certainely to know future events God challengeth the Heathenish vanities Isa 41.23 Shew the things that are to come hereafter that we may know ye are Gods and againe the things that are comming and shall come let them shew unto them Isai 44.7 Things in their causes may be fore-showne not onely by Satan but also by men Onely the Lord can shew what things necessarily shall be whose second causes are not Yea he can and onely doth produce the causes and alter them and their effects at
their Works both common and Essentiall as I have shewed to whom by so many wayes are we tyed to service and obedience but more especially are we bound to love him for he hath loved us first 1 Joh. 4.19 CHAP. V. We must love the Father the Sonne and the Holy-Ghost GOD is the onely proper Object of our love whom we must love for himselfe but our Brother in and for God He is to be loved with all our heart with all our soule and with all our might this is the first and treatest Commandement Mar. 12.30 He is one Lord Mar. 12.29 but three Persons the Father the Sonne and the Holy-Ghost who is thus to be loved First the Father is thus to be loved This the Apostle supposeth If any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him 2 John 2.15 Secondly the Sonne is thus to be loved This our Saviour enjoyneth us to love him above our Neighbour of what neere relation soever he be to us yea above our self and therefore with the love required in the first and great Commandement It being that love which is due to God alone Luke 14.26 If any man come to me and hate not his Father and Mother and Wife and Children and Brethren and Sisters yea and his owne life also he cannot be my Disciple The Father loveth them that love the Sonne John 14.24 And no marvell for the loving of the Sonne is the loving the Father and the hating of the Sonne is the hating of the Father also John 15.23 24. Three times did the Lord demand of Peter who had three times denyed his Lord. Simon sonne of Jonas lovest thou me John 21.15 16 17. yea the Apostle Paul commandeth 1 Cor. 16.22 If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be Anathema Maranatha accursed till the Lord commeth And surely the love of Christ to us was boundlesse Ephe. 3.19 our love to him must be so likewise if possibly we can he is the First and the Last Rev. 1.17 Rev. 2.8 The first good cause and the last good end he is the chiefe good to the soule and therefore to be loved above all by the soule Thirdly the Holy-Ghost is thus to be loved This the Apostle John supposeth Every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him 1 Joh. 5.1 We are begotten and regenerated of the Spirit John 3.5 6 8. whom we are to love above our Brother that is begotten of him for we are to love our Brother in him and for him Paul beseecheth the Romans by the love of the spirit Rom. 15.30 Not that love wherewith he loved us but wherewith we love him I beseech you saith he for the Lord Jesus sake and for the love of the spirit that ye strive together is your prayers to God for me But why saith he for the Lords sake and for the Spirits sake or for the love of the Spirit Surely it was to set forth unto them his vehement obtestation or greater desire There being a greater tye of love that we are bound withall to the Lord Jesus and to the Holy-Ghost then there is to any particular Brother or to the whole Church of God for these are equally to be loved with the Father Thus the Father the Sonne and the Holy-Ghost is that one Jehovah our God whom we must love with all our hearts with all our soules and with all our mights Deu. 6.4 5. where there is two causes imployed why we ought to love this one Lord First for his own Nature and being He is Jehovah who as he hath being of himself and giveth being to us so he is to be loved of himself and for himself but our Brother is to be loved in him and for him Secondly for his Covenant of grace which he made with his Church and people which brought Israel out of Egypt which gave his Law to Israel which was the Father the Sonne and the Holy-Ghost as I have shewed If therefore our love be free let us set it on him who is worthy to be loved but if our love be vendible who is fitter for it then God who hath paid so deare a price for it and so dearely bought it Let us give him our Mites who hath given us so many Talents Let us love him with all our hearts who hath loved us with such an infinite love Let our whole affection of love be wholly placed on him who is truly lovely who placed his love on us when there was nothing in us worthy of his love for he did not finde but did make us lovely Ezek. 16.6 CHAP. VI. We must heare the Father the Sonne and the Holy-Ghost AS we must give Divine Worship to God serve him and love him So must we like wise believe 〈◊〉 him who is the onely object of our Faith It is the honour of the true God to be believed on his Word but man who is subject to errour 1 Cor. 13.7 may not challenge this to himself The Lord can neither deceive nor be deceived but the best of Men may deceive and be deceived Gal. 2.13 1 King 13.18 we Therefore First Heare God Secondly Know God Thirdly Beleeve in God Fourthly Hope and trust in him First we must heare God He that is of God heareth God and his word John 8.41 It is the marke that Christ giveth to his Sheep that they will not heare the voyce of strangers John 10. yea hearing is the ordinary meanes of salvation Rom. 10.13 14. That which David called a boring of the eare Psal 40. the Apostle citing that place called it a fitting of the body of Christ Heb. 10.5 A body hast thou fitted me why because the eare was a principall member whereby he gave obedience to God his Father This duty we owe to God alone to whose Word we must yeild the obedience of faith Rom. 16.26 and therefore beleeve because he speaketh It is the Psalmist argument He that made the eare shall he not heare Psal 94. And surely we may likewise conclude He that made the eare shall not he be heard In regard therefore of creation we owe this duty to Father Sonne and Holy-Ghost First the Father is to be heard This Christ supposeth when that he saith Luke 10. He that heareth me heareth him that sent me Christ indeed as God and Man as he was the Minister of Circumcision Rom. 15.8 the great Doctor of the Church taught them from his Father John 12.49 He came in his Fathers Name John 5.43 and his Doctrine was his Fathers John 7.16 He did not speake of himself John 7.17 But as he is the Sonne of God equall with the Father so we are to heare him as we heare the Father thus he beareth witnesse of himself John 8.18 Secondly the Sonne is to be heard Ephes 4.21 So the Father commandeth Mat. 17.5 This is my well-beloved Sonne heare him The Sonne himselfe requireth it and promiseth eternall life to them that heare him John
there more loathsome blasphemies belched forth from the rotten hearts of his corrupt followers then in these latter dayes For now many in a preteÌ„ded zeale against the whore of Babel have joyned with the false prophet Mahomet and out of a seeming opposition to the Romanish Antichrist have imbraced the Turkish Antichrist whereby the hearts of sound professours have been sadded those who have been weake in the faith have had their faith shaken and others who before were wavering have been tossed to and fro with the stormy winds of erroneous Doctrine and have split themselves on the soule-destroying Rocks of Hereticall opinions miserably blaspheming God and deploredly making shipwrack of faith and a good conscience 1 Tim. 1.19 20. And surely it maketh my heart to melt and my soule to mourne in secret to see how greedily men such in this Antichristian poyson in stead of the pure milke of the Word poysoning thereby there owne soules and with their poysonous breath endangering if not infecting the soules of others making them to vilifie the Sonne of God and to doe despite to the spirit of Grace Now that which first revived this cursed Monster of opinion in our Fathers dayes was carnall policy For some Polonians Transylvanians and other Turkish borderers out of sinister respects and base ends went about to reconcile God and Belial Christ and Mahomet Christianity and Turcisme together But that which hath since heightned their pride and made them bold to fight against the Lord Jesus and his holy Spirit and yet to promise themselves Victory beforehand in this their unequall combate is first their naturall blindnesse which maketh them to have the grosse conceits of God and of his simple Nature They conceiving him to be like some corporall Substance and therefore require alike instance in Nature in this mystery whereas the Lord is of a pure spirituall transcendent Nature Secondly Pride who although they cannot fully understand what their own soules are yet dare to think they can comprehend and bound the incomprehensible God in the narrow limits of corrupted reason and therefore as Peter prophesieth of them 2 Pet. 2.12 They speake evill of the things they understand not who therefore shall utterly perish in their own corruptions And as he sheweth 2 Pet. 2 1. By denying the Lord that bought them bring upon themselâ—es swift destruction Thirdly Giant-like ambition who thinke themselves able to resist truth though manned with a whole army of Martyrs confessours Fathers living in all Ages of the Church Fourthly Grosse Ignorance and false glosses of the Scripture which they wrest to their own destruction 2 Pet. 3. Fifthly the not considering of Gods wrath against them which have formerly undertaken this and the like cause as against Arrius Cerinthus Olympius Valens the Arrian Emperour Pope Anastatius 2. Julian and divers other as ye may see recorded in the Centurialists Ruffin Tripart Histor Platin. Cyril For that which Moses speaketh of Korah and his Companions was true in these Numb 16.29 They dyed not as every man dyeth neither were they visited after the visitation of all Arrius and Anastasius which went to ease Nature voided their own bowels into a Jakes Oerinthus killed with the fall of a House Olympius was slain with thunder and lightning Valens burnt in a Cottage Julian if not slain with a darte from Heaven yet with a Dart directed by a divine hand which being ready to give up the Ghost he took it out of his body and threw it towards Heaven and cryed out Thou hast overcome me O Galilean But haply some will object against me first why I should adventure to traffique in publike when others who have more and greater Talents yet desire to keep theirs private In briefe all that I shall say for my self is this An earnest desire of doing good hath put me on this labour and hath made me to seeme carelesly prodigall of my little Oh that it were as fervent in richer hearts and that they would traffique in the like kind How would the Church of God which is beautifull as Tirzech comely as Jerusalem be also then terrible to the enemies thereof as an Army with Banners Whereas yet me thinks I heare opposed truth cry aloud for helpe and doe see the languishing Church robbed of her Children with cheeks bedewed with teares bewailing her self and spreading her hands imploring aid of all her friends and crying out in the bitternesse of her soule to all that passe by Look away from me for I will weep bitterly labour not to comfort me because of the spoyling of the Daughter of my people Oh that all in their severall places would endeavour to quench these horrid flames of Doctrinall Errours and that to this end they would with the Children of Israel 1 Sam. 7.6 draw water out of their hearts and poure it out of their eyes before the Lord and beseech him to put to his hand because they have almost destroyed his truth by wickedly trampling under foot his Christ and by miserably blaspheming his holy Spirit Secondly others that are more learned will perhaps blame my plainenesse of Language and dislike my labour for want of elegant expressions and haply because I have not cited the Fathers that have copiously written of this subject But these I beseech that they would not dislike truth because she commeth plainly attyred nor disregard soâ—d Doctrine although she weareth a homely dresse The strength of the matter was the thing that I aimed at and not elegancy of words and the validity of the argument was more intended by me then any neatenesse of stile Besides I held it most fit to speake of the Lord in his own words and not in the wisedome of speech and I desired Gods holy Spirit rather then mans enticing words As touching the Fathers I have indeed seldome cited them not out of any dislike of them but because I know they are disliked slighted and contemned of the enemies of this truth And because the thing I proposed was the confirmation of this point by Scripture Where if I should have used Hamane Eloquence this Subjâ—ct of all other is most unfitting There being nothing in which want of words doth more wrong us or can more grieve us then in the discussing of this misterious truth Where many things may be adored which we cannot search into many things may be searched in which we cannot conceive and many things be conceiued which we cannot utter The path of this truth is narrow slippery steep and therefore it will not admit of a stragler to rove up and down in a wandring discourse Thirdly Some there be that may carp at the word Essence Trinity and Persons which I have used To these I answer first in every Art this liberty is granted to use termes of Art which haply are no wayes used but in that Art and why should Divinity which is more excellent then all Arts and Sciences be debarred that common priviledge which every inferiour Art and Science
Persons in these Workes which concerne Christ the Head of the Church and as they are one Essence so they are one and the same cause of effecting them Oh that we could by the eye of faith see Christ ascended into Heaven and placed on the right hand of his Father then might we at once thereby behold our Saviours honour and our owne happinesse It was expedient for him for his owne honour to ascend into Heaven and to lead Captivitie captive Eph. 4.8 and to have Angels and Authorities and Powers made subject to him 1 Pet. 3.22 in regard of us it was expedient Joh. 16.7 for our eternall safetie for he is gone to prepare a place for us Joh. 14.2 He is entred into heaven to appeare in the presence of God for us Heb. 9.24 and is at the right hand of God and maketh intercession for us Rom. 8.34 Heb. 7.25 The third Section CHAP. I. The Workes of God which concerne the Church in generall are the Common Workes of the Father the Sonne and the Holy-Ghost AS the Father the Sonne and the Holy-Ghost doe Co-operate in these Workes which doe concerne Christ the Head of the Church so they likewise effect these Workes which doe concerne the bodie of Christ the Church of God which works concerne either First the Church in generall or Secondly the faithfull in particular First these Workes which concerne the Church in generall First Gods covenanting with his people Secondly his delivering Israel out of Egypt Thirdly his sending Angels on any extraordinary message to his Church Fourthly his sending Prophets under the Law Fifthly his sending Apostles Sixtly appointing them to preach in some places and not in others Seventhly his speaking in and by the Prophets and Apostles Eighthly his strengthening them in their callings Ninthly his sending Pastors and Teachers Tenthly his giving Lawes to his Church Eleventhly his giving more particularly the Law unto Mount Sinai Twelfthly the transgression whereof is an offence committed against him and Thirteenthly provoketh him to wrath grieveth him Fouretenthly his wonders Fifthteenthly his gifts of Miracles Sixteenthly his building the Church Seventeenthly his raising the dead These Workes are wrought by the Father the Sonne and the Holy-Ghost The Scriptures doe manifest the Sonne and Holy-Ghost to be God equall with the Father by ascribing to them these Workes equally with the Father CHAP. II. The making of a Covenant with the Church was a Worke of the Father and of the Sonne and of the Holy-Ghost THe Lords Covenanting with his Church and people is a Worke of God alone There is not any Dayes-man betwixt them that can lay his hand upon them both Joh. 9.33 that should or could Vmpire for them onely the Majestie of Heaven is pleased so farre to abase himselfe as to Covenant with us for whenas there was such an infinite distance between heaven and earth God and man that man could never have enjoyed Ged as his never-failing blessednesse or have had communion with him as his soule-filling happinesse but by the Lords voluntary condescention to us which he expresseth by way of Covenant it was out of the riches of his grace to us in Christ that his infinite Majestie humbled himselfe to Covenant with us that he would be our God and that we should be his people in this worke the Sonne and the Holy-Ghost have an equall share with the Father or rather they Co-worke First the Father Covenanted with us in Christ Hag. 2.5 According to the word that I coveâ—anted with you when ye came out of Aegipt he covenanted with them First that he would be their God Secondly that they should be his People Ezek 36.28 And thus Christ calleth the Father The Apostles God and Faâ—her Ioh. 20.17 who Thirdly suffereth in all the afflictions of his Church and People for so Esay telleth us In all their afflictions he is afflicted Esay 63.9 Secondly the Word who being made flesh is the Mediator of the Covenant Heb 8.6 1 Tim. 2.5 Mal. 3.1 Yet he being the second Person of the Trinitie is the Testator and Covenanter of his Church For if Christ be not a Testator whereunto tendeth the Apostles reasoning Heb. 9.16 Where a Testament is there must of necessitie be the death of a Testator First it was the Lord Jesus that dyed he is therefore the Testator or Covenanter secondly the Church of God are his people Mat. 1.21 Luk. 1.77 Zach. 2.11 Mat. 16.18 Through him and in him God is ours and we are his Cant. 6.2 who thirdly suffereth in the afflictions of his people Act. 9.4 The persecuted members suffer on earth and the Lord Jesus the Head complaineth from heaven Saul Saul why persecutest thou me Thirdly the Holy-Ghost is the Author of this Covenant So the Apostle sheweth Heb. 10.15 16. The Holy-Ghost also is a witnesse to us for after he had said before This is the Covenant that I will make with them c. And surely there cannot be a better interpreter of the Leviticall Rites then the Apostle who having spoken of the first Covenant and of Divine Ordinances pertaining to it Heb. 9.18 which God had commanded Exod. 26. Lev. 16. and comming to shew their signification which was intended in them by God that ordained them he saith Heb. 9.8 The Holy-Ghost this signifying that the way out of the Holyest was not yet made manifest while as the first Tabernacle was yet standing as if he had said the Holy-Ghost in giving these ceremoniall lawes intended to shew that the way to Heaven was not so wide not so common not so open as it should be when Christ abolished in his flesh the Law of Commandements contained in Ordinances Eph. 2.15 And blotted out the hand-writing that was against us Col. 2.14 Secondly the Church of God are his People So the Apostle sheweth 2. Cor. 6.16 that this was the Holy-Ghost appeareth by comparing this verse with 1. Cor. 6.19 for we are the People of God who dwelleth in us and whose Temples we are but we are the Temples of the Holy-Ghost 1. Cor. 6.19 1. Cor. 3.16 and he dwelleth in us Rom. 8.11 And Thirdly he suffereth in the persecutions of his people and the persecutors doe resist him Act. 7.51 and doe despite to the Spirit of Grace Heb. 10.29 Thus the Father the Word and the Spirit are one God in Essence and have one common and essentiall operation and are one and the same author of the Covenant with the Church though in respect of the order of their Relations and their personall manner of working there is in this and in all their workes a distinct order Thus the Father maketh a Covenant with his Church by his Sonne who is the Mediator 1. Tim. 2.5 and through his Spirit who is the earnest of our inheritance Eph. 1.14 Which sheweth no inequalitie in the Persons but onely the voluntarie dispensation of this and other Divine Actions which God in his infinite Wisedome is pleased to use CHAP. III. The delivering of Israel out
his pleasure So true is that of Tertullian Testimonium Divinitatis est veritas divinationis The Lord onely to whom all things are present knoweth these things that are future in respect of us and doth reveale them to us when the knowledge of them is for our good and so First the Father doth reveale and keep secret future things according to his holy will and Divine pleasure And therefore our Saviour checking the curiositie of the Disciples demanding the time of his restoring the Kingdome to Israel saith Act. 1.7 It is not for you to know the times and seasons which the Father hath put in his owne power Secondly the Sonne revealeth future things Mar. 13.23 he fore-told his Disciples all things he fore-shewed the destruction of the Citie and Temple of Jerusalem and the manner of it fortie yeares before it was accomplished Mat. 24.25 Luk. 19. the Lord Jesus who is the Lambe in the midst of the Throne can alone open the Book with seven seales Rev. 5. which can manifest what shall be to the end of the World and can reveale it to his Church He knew all the answers and passages that men should give to his Disciples and they should meet withall when he sent them Mat. 21.2 3 Mar. 14.13 14. Luk. 22.10 11 12 13. he saw what should happen to himselfe Joh. 18.4 who should betray him Joh. 13. Joh. 6.64 the houre of his death Joh. 2. Joh. 19.28 30. yea for this end he telleth it to them as he saith Joh. 13.19 that ye may know that I am a Name peculiar to God Exod. 3.14 he testified what was fore-told in the Revelations Rev. 22.16 Prophesies which many of them were not accomplished a thousand years after as God he knew all things although as man he was ignorant of the day and houre of judgement Mar. 13.32 Thirdly the Holy-Ghost revealeth future things The things that David spake before of were spoken by the Holy-Ghost Act. 1.16 he fore-told the generall famine Act. 11.28 as also the binding of Paul and the place where it must be done although Paul was many hundred miles distant from that place and much disswaded from going thither Act. 21.11 Act. 20.23 he it was that revealed to Simeon that he should not see death till he had seen the Lord Christ Luke 2.27 he fore-sheweth the departure from the faith in the latter dayes 1 Tim. 4.1 he testified before the sufferings of Christ 1 Pet. 1.11 in the Old Testament he told the Jewes and divers other Nations what should happen to them Nehem. 9.30 2 Pet. 1.21 and in the New did shew all things to the Apostles what should come Joh. 16.13 Thus Father Sonne and Holy-Ghost First doe know the thoughts and hearts of men Secondly doe know all the wayes and works of men and of all creatures Thirdly doe know all things that are to come and are one Omniscient Lord God equall in essence and Omnisciencie Therefore as the eye of the Lord is on us so likewise let the eye of our soules be ever fixed on him for our comfort and for our direction And let us pray that he would guide us with his eye Psalm 32.8 his eye directeth men when no eye beholdeth them his eye oft terrifieth them when no eye seeth them his eye comforteth them when no eye looketh on them and his eye counselleth them when no other eye is nigh them CHAP. VII The knowledge of the Father Sonne and Holy-Ghost is incomprehensible and unsearchable GOD is incomprehensible comprehending all things not being comprehended himselfe Well might Zophar demand Canst thou by searching find out God canst thou find out the Almightie to perfection it is as high as heaven what canst thou doe it is deeper then hell what canst thou know the measure thereof is longer then the earth and broader then the Sea Job 11.7 8 9. he sheweth the infinitenesse of Gods knowledge to be every way past finding out Yea the Apostle that could sound as deepe as any man yet findeth this bottomelesse depth to be infinitely beyond his reach and therefore breaketh out into an admiration Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisedome and of the knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgements and his wayes past finding out Rom. 11.33 Job is driven to acknowledge his ignorance and to confesse his errour that he uttered things that he understood not things too wonderfull for him Job 42.3 and David doth tell us that the Lords greatnesse is unsearchable Psal 145.3 and his knowledge too wonderfull for him Psal 139.6 his Majestie is infinitely transcending our knowledge for we are rather knowne of God then doe truly know God Gal. 4.9 First the knowledge of the Father is unsearchable Agur putteth this as an unanswerable question to all unbeleevers Prov. 30.4 What is his Name if thou canst tell there being nothing but the nature and essence of God but may be comprehended and explained by some Name No man knoweth the Father but the Sonne and them to whom the Sonne will reveale him which excludeth not the Holy Spirit of God for he searcheth out the deep things of God 1 Cor. 2.10 but creatures onely Mat. 11.27 Luk. 10.23 Joh. 1.18 yet the Disciples of the Lord and all true Beleevers see him and know him Joh. 14.7 Joh. 6.46 Joh. 14.9 Secondly the knowledge of the Sonne is unsearchable Agur likewise putteth this as an unanswerable question to all unbeleevers Prov. 30.4 What is his Sonnes Name if thou canst tell he hath a Name which no man knoweth but himself Rev. 19.12 and those which have this knowledge revealed of the Father Mat. 16.17 None knoweth the Sonne but the Father Luke 10.23 Mat. 11.27 whose love is described to his Church to be passing all knowledge Ephes 3.18 19. who is yet according to that measure of grace given them of God both seen and known of them Joh. 14.9 Joh. 10.14 and who are to grow in the knowledge of him as they grow in grace 2 Pet. 3.18 Thirdly the knowledge of the Holy-Ghost is unsearchable he is unknown to the men of this world who are out of Christ Joh. 14.17 but he revealeth himselfe to his Church 1 Cor. 2.12 who both see him and know him John 14.17 and God by him 1 Cor. 2.12 Thus Father Sonne and Holy-Ghost is one incomprehensible Lord God whose incomprehensible Majestie can be no otherwaies knowne of us but as in his Divine pleasure he hath manifested himself in his Word Oh that men would therefore submit their reason to the Scripture and beleeve these Divine truths of the incomprehensible God which are discovered to them by the Word although the things which are there laid down are not onely beyond their apprehensions but seemingly contrary to their corrupted reasons then would not men wilfully oppose truth which they are willingly ignorant of but would amongst other truths see Father Sonne and Holy-Ghost to be equall in the Incomprehensibilitie of their Majestie and glorie CHAP. VIII The