the mercifull yea in this life with blessings favours and graces spirituall and temporall giving unto them a hundred times more then they have given to the poore and giving them consolation in their distresse as they also have suffered with their neighbour in his affliction But let us consider the third fruit of charitable workes which is the highest degree of honour unto which the mercifull shall ascend to wit eternall blessednesse and withall we will also examine the cause wherefore the faithfull receive graces spirituall temporall and eternall which doeth clearely enough appeare in our Text Blessed are the mercifull for they shall obtaine mercie The onely and perfect felicity of man both in this life and in that to come consisteth simply and soly in the possession of the favour of God which the wicked cruell and impious shall never be partakers of but only the Saints the bountifull and mercifull shall pitch their tents there the reason why the one are put backe from this infinite good and that the others shall bee received and cherished therein for ever is because the first have lived in crueltie rigour and tyrannie and shall therefore be thus punished but the second having beene gracious bountifuâ—l and meeke they shall obtaine mercy according to that saying of Christ With what measure you mete it shall be measured unto you againe In these words to obtaine mercie wee have many very remarkable circumstances for God will shew himselfe such unto us as wee shall shew our selues to our neighbours if wee give a crumme of bread to the poore languishing at our doores hee will call us into his royall Pallace hee will make us sit downe at his Table he will fill us with the dainties of his house and will make us drinke abundantly in the river of his delights if wee beare with griefe our neighbours affliction if wee dresse his wounds and powre oyle on them hee will comfort us in our sorrowes hee will wipe off the teares from our eyes and will fill our hearts with joy and gladnesse if wee forgive our brethren their offences when either maliciously or through infirmity they have offended us hee promiseth and assureth us to be so bountifull and mercifull to us that hee will drive our sinnes away from before his face hee will scatter our misdeedes like a cloud dispersed by the parching beames of the Sunne and in this part shall wee finde the center where the fulnesse of our felicitie resteth and resideth This forgivenesse of our sinnes is that which covereth us from the divine justice that giveth into our hands the shield of assurance which is impenetrable by the revenging shot of his just judgements that maketh us walke voyd of feare towards the throne of grace and that without the least doubting for since God is with us who shall be against us shall the world why it is vanquished shall hell why it is fettered and shackled Shall death why it is dead shall sinne why it is prevented and pardoned Finally shall the flesh why it is crucified Wee may therefore say and conclude with the Apostle Saint Paul O death where is thy sting O hell where is thy victory now thanks be to God that hath given us victory through his Sonne Iesus Christ From this word obtaine wee will also derive and draw this remarkable doctrine for he presupposeth asking seeing wee cannot obtaine a thing before wee have demaunded it which teacheth us our duties towards God acknowledging our selues poore weake and miserable both in body and soule subject in body to thousands of sicknesses weaknesses and necessities troubled in minde with a world of businesse crosses and afflictions and so laden in soule with sinnes misdeedes and iniquities that they are more in number then the sand that is on the Sea shore But the onely remedy to these sicknesses is to have our recourse to Gods mercie which is the sacred anchor of our hopes the haven of our salvation and the eternall residence of our incomparable and incomprehensible felicities Arid let us hold for certaine and infallible that wee shall never bee refused by his sacred goodnesse which calleth out aloud unto us Math. 11.28 Come unto me all ye that are troubled and heavie laden and I will ease you take my yoake upon you for it is light and ye shall finde rest to your soules his yoake is nothing else but the affliction weakenesse and necessity of the poore that is the yoake he commandeth us to beare that is to say we must take off the loade of misery and calamity from the poore to lade it upon our owne shoulders and wee shall finde that his yoake is easie and his burthen light because he will then augment our strength and will make us so able to beare it that we should be sorrowfull ever to cast it off againe As a King findeth the waight of a crowne but small when it is upon his head by reason of the wealth honour and power that follow the heavinesse of this burthen as hee would never leave his Kingdome his power and his Empire for the waight of a Scepter seeing they make him honourable to his Subjects and feared of Strangers so that faithfull man which hath compassed and environed his forehead with the crowne of love to his neighbour that hath adorned his hand with the Scepter of charity to the needy and miserable hee without doubt shall finde rest in his soule which is the fulnesse of all felicity Now since such great and admirable effects since so excellent profits and advantages proceede from our mercie charity and bounty to our neighbour since in the practise of it wee finde our felicity which consisteth in the love which God beareth unto us in the confirmation of the pardon for our offences since againe God assureth us that the charity which we give and exercise to our neighbours hee will accept as done to himselfe alas who would be so savage and hardened with rigour who would be so defiled with ingratitude that having received favours from a King would yet refuse to obey him and to serue him with all his power should not hee be worthy of the greatest torments of the most cruell punishments that have ever beene imagined would not the heaven the elements and all the creatures together rise up to judgement to aske punishment for so grievous a crime since it is most true that ingratitude is the basest and damnablest vice that can infect the soule of man Let us remember that we have nothing but what we haue received of our heavenly Father and if wee have received it from his favourable and fatherly hand why should wee be so ungratefull as to refuse him a small portion of it when hee asketh for it Now and at all times when we heare and see the poore praying and crying unto us in the streetes or at our doores it is the voyce of God himselfe that calleth us to acknowledge his benefits as often as wee see one afflicted
affection that so wee may come neare this burning bush this fearefull fire Gods divine justice The Oracle of Apollo being once enquired what was the most pleasingst thing of God after his ordinary manner hee answered ambiguously and obscurely Dimidium sphaerae sphaeram cum principe Româ— An answer most true though it came from the father of lies for a C is the halfe of a Sphere an O is a Sphere and the beginning of the word Rome is an R which letters put together make COR that is the heart and questionlesse it is the most pleasingst gift that can bee offered unto God and which no man can justly refuse him The poore may say I cannot give almes the sicke I cannot goe to Church I can neither watch nor pray but none can say I cannot love God for thy other defects may be excused by thy poverty or sicknesse but to refuse God with thy heart it cannot be excused but by malice as S. Augustine very learnedly saith Let us remember that how charitable so ever our actions be if our heart doe not goe before to enlighten them all of them will tumble downe together into the obscure darknesse of the deepe Our actions are of no value without the heart but the heart may bee good without the actions God had respect to Abel and afterwards to his offering the good Thiefe to obtaine mercy gave nothing but his heart Marie Magdalene but her teares and Saint Peter but sighes and lamentations proceeding from the depth of his soule Now that this heart may be pleasing and acceptable to God it must be cleare bright and shining to the end that as in a glasse God may see his owne image and likenesse after which he at the first created it and when it is once cleane and pure then right so and in that manner we must keepe it in the same glorious estate for Non minor est virtus quam quaerere parta tueri And to that end we must imitate the Bees which to hinder the drones and spiders from comming into their Hives to corrupt or devoure their honey stop the entries of them with bitter and stinging hearbs as good Husbandmen who enclose their grounds lest passengers or the wild beasts should spoile them Even so should wee alwayes keepe the passages of our senses of our hearts and of our thoughts fenced with the feare of God which is a bitter Rue and Wormwood that the devill cannot endure to tast or relish Marke and observe with me the care and diligence which is used to conserve Christall and China Dishes what paines are taken to keepe them cleane bright and shining because they are deare and rare And what can wee finde in this world more precious and rare then our heart then let us with a diligent care and carefull sollicitude seeke the cleanenesse and purity thereof following the Apostles counsell Let every one possesse his vessell with sanctification and honour 1. Thess 4.4 When a vessell is cleft or crack it is unfit to containe any liquid thing Now the wicked heart is a crackt vessell saith Eccles. chap. 21. A broken heart threatneth death to a living creature as a Ship split and torne with the violence of the waves threatneth undoubted death ruine and shipwrack so that heart that is not well united to God that is broken and shattered by the force of worldly affections threatneth and fore-telleth an infallible ruine and destruction To fill a vessell in a Well or in a Fountaine we must needs bend it downwards so must we humble our heart to fill it with heavenly graces I have enclined my care and I have received wisedome saith the wise man Sap. 61. Againe we know that none can fill a vessell with any good and wholesome liquor wherein there is some corrupted before he first empty it and make it very cleane If we desire to fill our hearts with the love and other graces of God wee must first expell and exempt the love and delights of this world that have beene so long resident there and then when wee have done those things we shall be sure fully to enjoy the inestimable effects of this divine promise Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see GOD. In this second part wee have demonstrated unto us the reason why Christ calleth the pure in heart Blessed it is saith he because they shall see GOD. This conjunction for joyning those two sentences sheweth and marketh out unto us the reason of this felicity and happinesse that cannot receive a name enough emphaticall and significant to represent to our senses and to our understandings the least beame the least spark the least drop of that inexhaustible Ocean of that devouring fire of that Sunne of righteousnesse whose brightnesse if we should undertake to contemplate it would strike us blinde whose immense depth if wee should search it would swallow us up whose burning heat if wee approach it would convert us to ashes and would make us pay deere for our curiosity The Poets faine that the Giants attempting to clime up to heaven were thunder-stricken as they were heaping Olympus and Pelion upon Ossa one mountaine upon another A fable derived from that truth taught us in the Scripture touching the building of the Tower of Babell whose Builders were shamefully confounded the Allegorie of this truth the morality of this fable sets forth unto us the curiosity of them who thinking to pierce too farre into Gods secrets are cast downe into a deepe Abisse of confusion by their audacious presumption Empedocles desiring to know the cause why mount Aetna did cast forth such flames was swallowed and devoured by them God indeed depresseth and dejecteth the proud designes of those that are so rash as to discourse of that which is altogether ineffable and incomprehensible but yet is so gracious and favourable that he enlightneth and fortifieth those that with feare humility approach the greatnesse of his mysteries as David teacheth us Psalm 2.11 Serue the Lord in feare and reioyce with trembling And Solomon his sonne Those that trust in the Lord shall understand the truth and the faithfull shall know hit love Then with the spirit of feare and humility we are to seeke after this hidden glory and under the vayle of faith which teacheth us to beleeve the things which wee see not nor cannot be the object of our senses Hope will make us desire them Charity to love them and the gracious goodnesse of God will helpe us to attaine them O blessed them shall be the pure in heart for they shall see God St. Iohn Chap. 17. saith This is life eternall to know thee the onely true God and Iesus Christ whom thou hast sent And in the 1. Epist of Saint Iohn chap. 3. Beloved now we are the sonnes of God and it doth not yet appeare what we shall be but we know that when he shall appeare wee shall be like him for wee shall see him as he is And every man
it is peaceable and no way mooved by the windes of seditions nor of desperate passions Shee is like the Sea when it is calme and quiet there is nothing fairer to behold then the humid and serene plaines of it all seeming to be an entire piece of Christall And to prove that peace is nothing else but gentlenesse and courtesie let us heare the Apostle St. Paul Heb. 11.31 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By faith Rahab the harlot perished not with them that beleeved not when she had received the spies with peace which is gently and courteously so that she did them no harme nor suffered any to be done unto them any way at all So we read that Christ after his resurrection came among his Disciples saying unto them Peace be unto you We reade also in the 2. Chap. of Saint Luke ver 29. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word that is thou sufferest him to depart with happinesse and felicity since he hath seene thy face And in the 10. Chap. of Saint Math. ver 13. If the house be worthy to receive you let your peace come upon it but if the house be not worthy let your peace returne to you Where all interpreters agree that by this word peace Christ understandeth all things good and favourable all blessings and all graces Now that wee may the more delight in the description of this garden of peace let us therein imitate these Painters who intending to represent unto us some very excellent beauty use to draw and place close by it some black and ghastly picture that by the opposition of that deformity our eyes may take the more pleasure and delight in beholding that faire and beautifull face opposite to it according to the truth of the Latine Proverb Contraria contrarijs opposita mag is elucescunt One contrary appeareth better by the opposition of his contrary so the darknesse of the night makes us find the Sunnes light more pleasant the thornes embellish the Roses and the roughnesse of the black briers seeme to adde excellencie to the soft whitenesse of the Lillies Even so if wee speake a little of the mischiefes of warre we shall find the sweetnesse of peace farre the more excellent and without staying let us here say with Plutarch in the life of Fabius Maximus That warre is a time when neither right nor reason can finde place Caesar said that the time of warre and that of lawes were two It is a time when Iustice is trodden under feete when the time of ill doing is in season when unfaithfulnesse is taken for vertue O time pitifully miserable since force trampleth Iustice under foote when nothing is to be seene but fire slaughters treasons robberies cruelties tortures in a word all that fearefulnesse which hell can afford there you may see virgins ravished children hanging on their mothers breast slaine honest women mocked and abused by the insolent souldier Churches robbed houses pillaged there is nothing to be seene but burning but slaughtered bodies but blood nothing is to be heard but lamentable sighes cries and groanes in a word all humanity is banished from thence so that wee say that warre est bonorum mors omnium vero malorum fons scaturigo Warre is the death of goodnesse and the life and beginning of all evill Now is not this face at the first sight capable to make us abhorre it even before we perceive the least lineament or the least draught or shadow of beauty which appeares in the face of his contrary that is of peace But let us see the effects of warre in the hearts where it is praedominant certainly ex malo coruo malum ovum ex malo ovo malum omen Of an ill Raven an ill egge of an ill egge and ill presage for as the Philosophers say Qualis causa talis effectus as is the cause so is the effect Eagles doe not bring forth Doves nor warre this horrible and fearefull monster any thing else but cruelty rigour and fiercenesse When man is possessed by any of these foolish passions daughters of disaster and mothers of misfortune then his reason is all disfigured by it the use of it is lost Denigrata est super carbones facies ejus The functions of his minde are turned upside downe they are like a broken clock wherein all is in disorder and to which there is no trusting The royall Prophet David sheweth us the effects of it in few words In mine anger saith he mine eye was troubled my soule and my belly were moved And indeed in that case man is quite perverted his functions depraved hee foames at the mouth his eyes glister he shaketh and sweateth all over his body Ora tument ira nigrescunt sanguine venae Lumina gorgoneo savius igne micant As in the clowds are formed all the meteors all the stormes thunders hayles mists raines fogges that trouble the ayre make the earth dirty and cause a thousand incommodities to the world even so in the microcosme or little world wrath confoundeth all and overthroweth all order But when that powerfull planet the sunne of reason hath dispell'd and scattered the mists of those confusions the clowds of so many disorders then his light pierceth and passeth through all those obscure darknesses to shine on the actions and to put the minde in her first station and temper A cholerick man maketh me remember the Bee that being troubled stingeth him that angereth her but in stinging leaveth her sting in the wound and with it her life Animasque in vulnere ponunt So the cholerick man thinking to wound others killeth his owne soule and murthereth it with his owne weapons patitur tâ—lis vulnera facta suis Salomon that wise King saith That the Kings wrath is like the roaring of a Lyon and against which who can subsist and that his mildnesse is like the morning dewe When the Sunne passeth through the Zodiack and is entered into the signe of Leo we endure unsufferable heat so when wrath is joyned with power and some likelihood of reason it produceth strange effects The Lyon is a beast of an exceeding hot complexion which causeth in his mouth so strong an infection and stinke that when hee hath devoured the halfe of his prey that which he leaveth is suddenly putrified and corrupted this eternall fire is so violent in this beast that it is commonly the cause of his death happening by the corruption of his bowels Is not this a lively Embleme and representation of the cholerick man whose slandering tongue is so venomous and stinking that it corrupteth and infecteth his neighbours good name if he touch it never so little in a word wrath is a black and burned humour that not onely corrupteth the body but also killeth the soule In the law of Moses those birds that had crooked clawes and lived by prey were not to be eaten nor sacrificed under the shadow of this figure let
puffed up with the winde of ambition and that is not infected with covetousnesse who laugheth at wrongs and careth not for revenge who goeth boldly every where and feareth nothing for he that is deepely in Gods favour should be afraid of nothing in a word a quiet and peaceable soule studieth and busieth her selfe about nothing but to love serue and honour her God shee is alwayes betweene love and feare love to please him feare of offending him a feare I say filiall but not seruile When I thinke upon this peace and tranquillity of the minde and soule I am like the needle of a Compasse that alwayes turnes towards the North of my desires towards my Iesus my Saviour and my God which is the excellentest and perfectest patterne of peace and mildnesse that I am able to chuse or propose in this behalfe and matter I am saith he by the mouth of the Prophet Isaiah the meeke Lambe he is brought as a Lambe to the slaughter and as a dumbe Sheepe before her shearers and hee opened not his mouth Isaiah 53.7 It is a thing very frequently and commonly knowne that the Panther smelleth so sweet that all other beasts come to smell to her Our sweet Iesus is represented by her both by her name and effects for in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth all as God was defined by Plato Iesus Christ breathes forth so sweet and fragrant a smell that it embalmeth the faithfulls soules so speaketh the Spouse in the Canticles The name of my beloved is like oyle shed therefore have the young maydens loved thee so dearely by these maydens wee must understand the virgins of sinne those that have not knowne iniquity that love peace and seeke after it after hee goeth on Chap 4.11 Thy lips O my Spouse drop as the hony combe hony and milke are under thy tongue and the smell of thy garments is like the smell of Lebanon Wee should passe too often over the same steps and path if we should here againe speake of the admirable and inimitable mildnesse and tranquillity of our good Master and Saviour Iesus Christ whose birth preacheth unto us humility his life peace and his death compassion Let us then strive to imitate him as much as wee can possible in our youth being very humble in our viril age peaceable and in our old age pitifull and in all the course of our life milde bountifull and loving following Davids counsell Love peace and seeke it for God with a favourable and gracious eye beholds him that is studious of peace and he heareth his most humble prayers in the time of his affliction Psalm 34.16 Behold great and divine profits faire and admirable rewards and recompences that the faithfull get by seeking after peace with God and by having procured all the meanes of agreement with their neighbours both in things that concerne them and in things needfull to the union and concord of all our brethren Let us now heare that gracious and favourable voyce shewing unto us the profit and recompence which wee must without doubt expect for having beene peacemakers it is Iesus Christ himselfe who is not a man that hee should lye nor the Sonne of man that he should repent when he saith in our text Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God He doth not onely say they shall be blessed after their death but they are so already because that he makes them know in their soules the delight he takes in it and the goods which they shall receive which is eternall peace Blessed then are the feete of those that bring tidings of peace Isaiah 52.7 This particle For sheweth the reason of their blessednesse and not the cause for if all the peacemakers were the children of God by consequence many Turkes and Pagans should be such because they are peacemakers But the tree must be first good before it can beare good fruit so wee must first be the children of God before wee can be true peacemakers for those that are peacemakers not being the children of God have already received their reward that is they have received the praise and applause of the world which they were peacemakers to obtaine but all that is nothing but a maske and false apparition of that true peace which God recommendeth unto us In this reason of Christs why the peacemakers shall be called the children of God wee must note and obserue a double Hebraisme the one in the word Children the other in the verbe they shall be called vocabuntur The first Hebraisme is in the word Filij Children which in the holy tongue signifieth conformee and like as Math. 5.44.45 Love your enemies blesse them that curse you doe good to them that hate you and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you that ye may be the children that is like to your Father which is in heaven The other Hebraisme is in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Kara that is erunt or vocabuntur they shall be called which is turned erunt they shall be where of wee have an example Genes 21.12 God speaking to Abraham saith In Isaac shall thy seede be called that is shall thy seede be Of which words Saint Paul is an irreprehensible interpreter Rom. 9.7.8 Neither because they are the seede of Abraham are they all children but in Isaac shall thy seede be called that is they which are the children of the flesh these are not the children of God but the children of the promise are counted for the seed The Prophet Isaiah 36.7 useth the same phrase My house shall be called an house of prayer for all people And Saint Luke interpreting these words chap. 19.46 saith It is written My house is the house of prayer but ye have made it a denne of theeves and indeede this word shall be called seemeth to mee much more emphaticall and comprehending more then the word to be onely because this to be called est in rerum natura is in the nature of the things and besides that it is knowne and published of every man therefore Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall not onely be the children of God but also shall be knowne and acknowledged for such even by their greatest enemies who before thought them to be foolish and pusillanimous but then they shall be forced to confesse that they are the true children of God and to speake like the wicked Wisedome the 5. Chap. Then saith she shall the just appeare in safety before the face of them that have tormented him and that shall have rejected his labours who seeing him shall be seased with horrible feare and shall bee frighted to see him beyond their expectation saved then changing their opinions sighing for griefe shall be in their hearts they will say among themselues Behold this is he of whom sometimes we laughed and made proverbs of dishonour We fooles thought his life madnesse and his death
infamie and how is hee counted among the children of God and hath his portion among the Saints Blessed then are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God This word Childe of God is diversly taken in Scripture and according to the Hebrew phrase this word Sonne signifieth him that is vowed and ordained to any thing so we reade Saint Math. 9.15 The children of the Bridechamber that is those that are ordained for the wedding cannot mourne as long as the Bridegroome is with them And Saint Iohn 17.12 While I was with them in the world I kept them in thy name those that thou gavest me I have kept and none of them is lost but the Sonne of perdition that is he that was ordained to destruction but this kind of speech toucheth not our text But let us say that this word Sonne of God is comonly attributed in Scripture either to Iesus Christ and being the naturall Sonne of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 consubstantiall and coeternall with his Father of the same will 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and same power with him being both true God and true man the divine nature neither confounding nor destroying the humane and the humanity not being mingled and changed into the Godhead both natures remaining entire and perfect make but one person He I say is called the Sonne of God by the acknowledgement and confession of the Father himselfe Math. 17.5 When Iesus Christ tooke with him Peter Iames and Iohn and brought them up into an high mountain and being transfigured before them they heard a voyce from heaven saying This is my beloved Sonne in whom I am well pleased heare him We read also the same words in the 3. Chap. 17. ver of the same Evangelist The Father and the Sonne sunt relata say the Philosophers are relatives that is are referred the one to the other for there is no Father but there must likewise be a Sonne whence I draw this conclusion That God the Father being such that is having that title and quality before the Creation of the world consequently Iesus Christ was before it also his generation then is immediatly from the Father as being begotten of him from all eternity by a way incomprehensible to us for In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God the same was in the beginning with God Iohn 1.1 And in the 1. Chap. to the Heb. ver 5. unto which of the Angels saith he at any time Thou art my Sonne this day have I begotten thee And againe I will be to him a Father and hee shall be to me a Sonne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hee is not then called Sonne by adoption or for respects of love or for any consideration but onely because hee is begotten of the Father before the Creation of all things as wee reade Coloss 1.15 He is the Image of the inuisible God the first borne of every creature which is prooved againe out of the 1. Chap. of Saint Iohn ver 18. No man hath seene God at any time the onely begotten Sonne which is in the bosome of the Father hee hath declared him Vpon this place Hilarius li. 6. saith that Hoc nomine vnigeniti adoptio de trinitate excluditur natura magis asseritur By this word onely begotten adoption is excluded from the Trinitie and nature the more confirmed And Saint Chrysostome very subtilly Christum non eodem modo quo caeteri homines unigenitum dici nam caeteros quidem quod soli ex parentibus nati sint unigenitos dici Christum non solum quod solus ex patre sed etiam quod singulari ineffabili modo natus est unigenitum appellari Christ is not called the onely Sonne after the sort of other men who are called such because they are borne alone to their Parents now Christ is not called the onely Sonne in that respect alone that he is the onely naturall Sonne of his Father but also because he hath beene begotten by a speciall and ineffable way But whither doth the winde of our discourse carrie us why doe we touch this divine subject more worthy of admiration then capable of description wee shall more lively describe it by our silence then by our obscure representations Neverthelesse for satisfaction to our curiosity which is never contented with reason and that will not be contained within the limits of civility and modesty let us bring one onely comparison to give us some sparke of knowledge of this ineffable generation of the Sonne of God When a man seeth himselfe in a well polished glasse he presently seeth his image and the figure of himselfe having the same markes and motions with his which is caused by the reflection of the species within the eye and there is so great a relation betweene the species and the image that one cannot be taken away without annihilating the other and although both the sight and reason make us see that they are severall things truth also and experience makes us know that those two things subsist by one onely Essence and that both have but one and the same subsistance to wit that of the species opposite to the glasse So God from all Eternity contemplating his divine Essence made such a reflection upon his person that of this reflection hee produced and begot that eternall Wisedome which is the Saviour and Redeemer of our soules the sooner we can goe from this matter is our best for wee should be like them that will paint and represent the Sunne with a coale And indeede how should it be possible that we that are poore Owles and Batts should behold so great a light how should wee that are poore Pismires stirre so great mountaines We shall sooner put the whole sea in the palme of our hands then wee can any way comprehend this large and spatious ocean of the divine generation within the little compasse of our understanding Since then that we cannot ascend so high let us stop and stay our contemplation upon our selues where we shall have a more free accesse and continuing our first discourse let us remember that we may be called the children of God three wayes 1. First the Scripture maketh mention of the naturall generation of Christ individuall and incommunicable to any other but to him onely There is a filiation or not to speake barbarously with the Schoolemen the Scripture giveth this title of Sonne of God to the Angels and Princes of the earth which is a title of honour and affection as wee read Iob 1.6 Now there was a day when the sonnes of God that is the Angels came to present themselues before the Lord and Satan came also among them And Genes 6.4 When the sonnes of God came in unto the daughters of men The seaventy Interpreters by the sonnes of God here understand the Angels but Saint Augustine in the Citie of God by the sonnes of God understandeth the children of Seth which