allegation of scriptures with wisdome and ornament of speech with eminencie of miracles with promise of riches with terrour of threats with power and prosperitie with multitude of attendants All testimonies of scripture which prophesie of the Messias he shall apply to himself What man of the world would not be drawn with these enticing baits So great and so effectuall shall be his deceit that as our Saviour saith if it were possible the very elect should be beguiled with it For as Anselm upon this place of my text saith Illa Antichristi tentatio cunctis praeteritis major apparebit quando pius martyr corpus suum tormentis subjiciet tamen ante ejus oculos miracula tortor faciet Quis enim ad fidem convertatur incredulus cujus jam credentis non paveat concutiatur fides quando persecutor pietatis fiet etiam operator virtutis idémque ipse qui tormentis saeviet ut Christus negetur miraculis provocabit ut Antichristo credatur This triall of Antichrist shall seem greater then all former trials because when the godly martyr shall submit his bodie to torments even then he shall behold his tormentour to work miracles And again What unbeleever shall now be converted to the faith what beleevers faith shall not now be shaken when the persecutour of pietie is also a worker of vertue and the same man which is cruel with torments that Christ should be denied shall provoke with miracles that Antichrist should be beleeved Yet for all this he shall prevail onely as the Apostle saith in them that perish that is to say in the reprobates But as for Christs flock the gates of hell shall not prevail against it And our Saviour saith further My Father which gave them me is greater then all and none is able to take them out of my Fathers hand It is Christ which is dead which is risen again who is at the right hand of God who maketh request for us can Antichrist then carrie us away Who shall separate us from the love of Christ shall tribulation or anguish or persecution or famine or nakednesse or perill or sword As it is written For thy sake are we killed all the day long we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter Nay in all these things we are more then conquerers through him that loved us For if neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor the height of heaven nor the depth of hell nor any other creature were it more potent can remove us from the love of God in Christ as the Apostle there sheweth then shall Antichrist be confounded And when he hath spent all his cruelties when he is bankrupt in all his flatteries when he is at the ground sheaves of all his deceits stratagems and policies yet still there shall be a remnant which will not yeeld to him Antichrists nation Vers. 10. Because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved In the former part of this verse S. Paul shewed what kinde of people they were whom Antichrist should deceive that is the worser sort whose end is to perish and here in this second part is set down the reason why and that is because they received not the love of the truth that is of Christ who is the way and the truth and the life Hence is insinuated that the Jews are here especially meant because they above all other refused Christ when they cried Not this man but Barabbas And next this is manifest in Acts 13. 46. where S. Paul said thus to the Jews contradicting him and railing on him It was necessarie that the word of God should first have been spoken unto you but seeing ye put it from you and judge your selves unworthy of everlasting life lo we turn to the Gentiles These are they which beat away the Lord of the vineyards servants and killed his sonne and heir and cast him out of the vineyard And these are they of whom our Apostle in his second chapter of his former epistle to these Thessalonians saith Who both killed the Lord Jesus and their own prophets and have persecuted us and they please not God and are contrarie to all men and forbid us to preach to the Gentiles that they might be saved to fulfill their sinnes alwayes These therefore are they which had not received the love of the truth in S. Pauls time and to this day spurn against it expecting another Christ and therefore these he here intendeth because he speaks in the preterperfect tense then knew their aversion And as for the Gentiles they were then readie and willing to receive Christ therefore he excepteth the Thessalonians out of their number in the thirteenth verse of this chapter saying But we ought alwayes to give thanks to God for you brethren because that God from the beginning hath chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and the faith of truth But for the Jews which would not receive Christ when he came amongst them they are without excuse in that they looked for the Christ and the Gentiles looked for no Christ. And had their Christ whom they still look for come first and been born of a virgin according to the prophesie then might they with warrant reject him that should come after as the Antichrist for that there can be no Antichrist untill there be first a Christ in regard of the opposition but Christ is already come their own nation have preached him and the world have received him and therefore whosoever shall usurp this name after him he must of necessitie be either a false Christ or the Antichrist From hence by good consequence the Fathers have collected of what nation or kindred Antichrist shall be when he comes that is of the Jews For as they were the first that rejected Christ so in all reason they shall be the first that shall receive Antichrist because they to this day look for their Christ and they will admit none but of their own kindred in regard of the prophesie to this day observed of them in Deut. 18. 15. The Lord thy God will raise up to thee a Prophet like unto me from among you even of thy brethren unto him shall ye hearken Wherefore as Christ the true Messias was of the Jews so Antichrist the false Messias shall be of the Jews too and as Christ came first to the Jews of whom he was expected and after that adjoyned the Gentiles unto him so shall Antichrist come first to the Jews of whom he is looked for and after that he shall gather to him all other nations And that Antichrist shall be a Jew it is confirmed from his figure Antiochus Daniel 11. 21. And in his place shall stand up a vile person to whom they shall not give the honour of the kingdome but he shall come in peaceably and obtain the kingdome by flatteries Again
from the prophesie in Dan. 7. where he is compared to a little horn But it is known that the Jews are a vile kinde of people disperst like vagabonds amongst all nations having no kingdome nor kingly honour but are subject to the laws of other countreys among whom they dwell and among us Christians whom we detest we call a Jew Wherefore S. Hierome upon this place after he had first applied it to Antiochus saith thus But our men better and righter interpret that in the end of the world Antichrist shall do these things who is to rise from a small nation that is from the people of the Jews and he shall be so vile and despised that the kingly honour shall not be given him but by fraud and deceit he shall get the principalitie Again upon the 11 of Daniel he writeth No Jew without Antichrist shall at any time reigne over all the world These despised Jews when they shall get the day shall rage more terribly then any other according to the proverb Asperius nihil est humili cùm surgit in altum The basest ever is the most severe Once having gotten power to domineer Vers. 10. Because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved In that the Apostle joyneth love with the truth in the way to salvation this shews that none can either attain the truth or stand long in it without love which is the most sanctifying grace of the holy Ghost For so high are the mysteries of godlinesse and so contrarie to mans reason that none can apprehend them except divine love do bend his wits that way This appeareth from the scoffing anthem of the Arians in Socrates Scholasticus Where be these fellows who affirm three to be one Therefore then is mans understanding capable of divine truth when the holy Ghost who is Love goeth before Before love come we will dispute of the truth and with Pilate ask what is the truth though the truth stand before us as Christ stood before Pilate This is the reason why babes and fools of the world perceive that which the Scribe and the disputer cannot see And though they see it yet without love it is unsavourie to them they are not the better for it This S. Paul sheweth in 1. Cor. 13. 2. Though I had the gift of prophesie and knew all secrets and all knowledge and had all faith so that I could remove mountains and had not love I were nothing Wherefore where love and truth go hand in hand there is right faith and good life the two complements of our salvation But the principall of these two is love because love makes use of truth but truth without love is idle Vers. 11. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion that they should beleeve a lie Here S. Paul sets down the just judgement of God against the receivers of Antichrist which is effascination or strong delusion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the power of errours working which the creature of it self is not able to resist Such was the working of Pharaohs inchanters that when he saw them to throw rods out of their hand and they turned into serpents therefore he would not beleeve Moses and his miracle though his rod devoured their rods before his eyes And so strong was the old prophets lie to the man of God that prophesied against the altar in Bethel that because he would not obey the revealed word of the Lord therefore the lie prevailed upon him to his destruction So will the devil fat men in a plerophorie of Antichrists false doctrine that they shall be so farre from doubting of it that they will exult and triumph in it But here may be demanded how God should be cleared from sinne when he sendeth such strong delusion which is the cause of sinne To this I answer that this is not here spoken of God properly but tropically Mittit non physicé sed permittendo deserendo He sendeth not delusion naturally but privatively by way of forsaking and suffering For when God upon just desert withdraws his grace from any then he gives the devil leave to go in and thus Gods forsaking is in place of sending because God knows that when he is departed the strong seducer will not be long absent And herein is God justified in that he never forsakes any untill he be forsaken of them according to the School-axiom Deus non deserit nisi priùs deseritur If the Jews would not have forsaken the true Christ they should not have been left to the lies of Antichrist God for his mercy sake grant to us Christians that we trust not so much to the strength of our own new phansies that we utterly abolish the ancient truth Antichrists doctrine Vers. 11. That they should beleeve a lie This is the summe of Antichrists doctrine it is a sermon yea a volume of lies A capite ad calcem from the head to the heel all is but a lie The Fathers have expressed some particulars as that he should command circumcision the Jews sabbath for our Sunday the temple at Jerusalem to be reedified the ceremonial rites to be observed and that he himself is to be worshiped above all gods Though Antichrists doctrine have many branches yet all is but a lie As a tree though it hath many arms and boughs yet it is but a tree and a body though it hath many members yet it is but a body so is Antichrists doctrine in all his parts and members but one main and continued lie Or els there shall be one masterlie which is that Christ is not Christ and all his other lies shall be of the familie of this And in regard of this his false doctrine he is called the false prophet in the 16 19 and 20 chapters of the Revelation as Christ is said to be the true Prophet in John 6. 14. This is of a truth the same Prophet that should come into the world Vers. 12. That all they might be damned which beleeved not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousnesse Here is the end of false faith and bad life which is to swimme in infidelity and the pleasures of sinne for a time and then in the end to reap eternall damnation For when the sinnes of Antichrist shall be ripe when his followers have suckt in all the delights of unrighteousnesse when they have fatted themselves to the day of slaughter when they have played their pageants and are in their full ruffe then of a sudden as our Apostle saith to these Thessalonians when they shall say Peace and safetie the skie shall alter and the weather shall change and then the signes and prodigies of the worlds end and Christs coming to judgement shall act their parts The signes and prodigies of the worlds end The first is the rising from death to life of the two witnesses after they have been dead three dayes and a half and their ascending up
world that we will stand up in the defence of it according to that of S. Paul Stand fast in the faith play the men and be strong The man that standeth is alwayes readie to resist his enemie but he that sitteth or lieth is a vantage to him according to the verse made of the devil Est leo si sedeat si stet quasi muscarecedit If man doth sit the devil will Lion be But if he stand the devil a Lion's he Standing therefore is the fittest and comeliest of all gestures for the professing of our faith and putting us in minde of being constant in it For as we stand in the faith so without the faith we cannot stand therefore the Apostle saith By faith ye stand Take away from man his faith and presently he falls Faith is a mans rock and as long as he stands upon it fall he cannot For this cause our Saviour called Simon Peter quasi Petra because his faith was his rock and against this he told him the gates of hell should not prevail Wherefore seeing our faith is so pleasing to God and so profitable to us we ought often to offer it to him in profession Next we shall do more reverently to stand up at the reading of the Psalmes before after and between the holy lessons and at Gloria Patri because in these we speak unto God and it is not good manners in a publick assembly to speak unto God sitting as if we were his fellows Lastly we are to stand up at the reading of the Gospel in regard of the authour of the speech which is our Lord Christ As also because they do alwaies historically declare something that our Saviour either spake did or suffered in his own person for us most miserable and wretched sinners Whereupon in token of greater reverence to our ever-blessed Redeemer it hath been the custome of Christian men and women to stand up and at the rehearsall of the Gospel to utter certain words of acclamation as Glorie be to thee O Lord and at the end thereof to say Thanks be to God for his glorious Gospel or the like But you will say You teach us to bowe to kneel and to stand up yet these are but outward ceremonies and humane civilities fitter for men then for Gods high holinesse of which you treat I answer that ceremonies and civilities to men when they are applied to God change their nature and become holinesse The reason whereof is because all actions are specified ab objecto fine as the School teacheth but in these acts of religion the object is God and his glorie their highest end next to which consequently follows mans reward Therefore it cannot be that these actions of the bodie accompanying those of the minde should from their end be otherwise then spirituall duties As S. Thomas of Aquine hath it Adoratio corporalis in spiritu fit in quantum à spirituali devotione procedit ad eam ordinatur quia per sensum Deum attingere non possumus per sensibilia tamen signa mens nostra provocatur in Deum ut tendat Bodily worship is performed in spirit inasmuch as it proceeds from spirituall devotion and is ordered to it And because by our sense we cannot attain unto God yet by sensible signes our minde is incited to tend towards him Thus you see these expressions be not onely outward but inward too For what makes thee to bowe to God in his Sanctuarie doth not thy soul set thy knee on work and what sets thy soul on work is it not faith and charitie the two principall graces of Gods Spirit How then should not this be holinesse which proceedeth from such holy roots The sixth office of holinesse is To come to the Sacrament with due preparation First in reconciling our selves to our neighbours where is cause of offence Secondly by coming in right faith with true understanding of the thing in discerning the Lords bodie Thirdly by coming in charitie because charitie is the life of our souls and the thing to be fed Fourthly to come fasting where men are able because S. Augustine saith Placet Spiritui sancto ut in honorem tanti Sacramenti priùs intret in os Christiani corpus Dominicum It pleaseth the holy Ghost that in honour of so great a Sacrament the Lords body should first enter into the mouth of a Christian. And S. Paul faulteth this among the Corinthians For every man when they should eat taketh his supper before and one is hungry and another is drunken He that was hungry was in good case but he that was drunken was not fit for the place Fifthly to receive it kneeling because to receive it sitting is to receive it as we receive our bodies supper yet is there a great difference between the one and the other the one being the food of our souls and received in the sanctuary and the other being the food of our bodies and eaten in private houses The 7 office of holinesse is To keep all the holy feasts of the Church and they which neglect this cut off a great part of Gods worship and lose all the holy lives and examples of the saints and divers mysteries of our salvation besides The lives of the saints are our looking glasses and the reason why we come so short of them in good life is because we do not see our sinnes in their lives and partake not of their holinesse For he which honoureth God with the saint is partaker of the saints holinesse So likewise they which come to Gods house upon the day of Christs nativity coming in faith and love as they ought are partakers of Christs birth they which come upon the day of his circumcision are with him circumcised from the dominion of the flesh they which come upon the day of purification are presented with him to his Father they which come upon Goodfriday are partakers of his precious death they which come upon Easter day are partakers of his glorious resurrection they which come upon Ascension day ascend with him in holy desires in present and hereafter shall ascend in person they which come upon Whitsunday shall partake of those white gifts that God bestowed upon his Church upon that day and they which come upon Trinity sunday shall enjoy the blessed Trinity of Father Sonne and holy Ghost So again they which come upon S. Stephens day are in affection partakers of his martyrdome and prepared for holy suffering they which come upon S. Johns day partake of S. Johns love and charity they which come upon Innocents day partake with them in their deaths for Christs cause they which come upon S. Michaels day shall enjoy the blessed Angels in their administration and they which come upon the day of All Saints shall be of that blessed number to stand with them on Christs right hand in the day of judgement and so of all the rest Thus in observing saints daies and in
is alwaies before thee to behold and it makes deep penetration when it speaks in almes-deeds or benefits This I confirm to you by examples of instance In the second book of Eusebius his Ecclesiasticall Historie and the 9 chapter we reade that when he which drew S. James before the tribunall saw that he would suffer martyrdome willingly he was therewith so moved that he confessed himself to be a Christian so was beheaded together with him after S. James had forgiven him at his request and kissed him His words are these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Likewise this sermon of good life and conversation had so wonne Ruth to the true religion that when her mother in law Naomi was to return from the heathen countrey of Moab her two daughters in law Ruth and Orpah bearing her companie in the way at last Naomi spake thus unto them Turn again my daughters for there is no more hope of husbands for you by me Then Ruth thus replied Intreat me not to leave thee for whither thou goest I will go and where thou dwellest I will dwell thy people shall be my people and thy God shall be my God Where thou diest will I die and there will I be buried the Lord do so to me and more also if ought but death part thee and me Now if the life and conversation of simple women and illiterate be of such vertue to winne and turn people to God then shall the good life of thy Minister be nothing worth against whom thou canst prove nothing Some parishes as men say have good preachers but bad livers and some have mean preachers or readers but good livers which of these are best I say The good liver is the best preacher For the bad liver as fast as he buildeth with one hand pulls down again with the other but the good-living Minister what he buildeth by his reading of Gods word prayer and administring of the Sacraments pulls not down again but upholds all with his good life and therefore he is farre the best preacher The one builds in shew the other in substance This S. Hierome upon the 22 Psalme confirmeth Ille plus didicit qui plus facit c. He hath learned most that doth most If saith he that which thou hast learned I do my works do more hold the scriptures then thy sermon which makes a vain sound Eighthly parents are preachers to their children and servants The first world for more then two thousand yeares together untill the giving of the Law had no other preachers Then every private mans house was a church as it is in the epistle to Philemon vers 2. And to the church in thy house And according to this God said of Abraham Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do For I know that he will command his sonnes and his houshold after him that they keep the way of the Lord to do righteousnesse and judgement And this kinde of preaching was commanded by God in the Law Deut. 6. 7. And thou shalt rehearse them continually to thy children And Solomon Prov. 1. 8. thus beginneth his sermon to his sonne Roboam My sonne heare thy fathers instruction and forsake not thy mothers teaching For as the mothers milk is more nourishing to the infant then the milk of strangers so the instruction of parents is more acceptable to youth then the teaching of the learned My father and mother were the first that converted me to God by their example and teaching And this kinde of preaching was not onely before the Law and after the Law but it is continued also in the Gospel as we reade Ephes. 6. 4. Ye fathers provoke not your children to wrath but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. And this kinde of preaching is so needfull that the Church hath derived it from the naturall parents to the spirituall parents who are Gods Ministers in catechizing of youth And this kinde of preaching as the most ancient and effectuall is so highly commended of King James before all other that in his second direction to the Archbishop of Canterburie he giveth this charge That those preachers be most encouraged and approved of who spend the afternoon exercises in examining children in their Catechisme and in expounding the severall heads thereof which saith he is the most ancient and laudable custome of teaching in the Church of England But how is this regarded Preaching hath preacht away catechizing and the new preaching hath beat out the old Now adayes every mans own wit is best though it be the greenest and youngest A ninth kinde of preachers are thy Christian neighbours for they have not gone so long to church to sermons but they have learned something to speak of the knowledge of God and his laws in the way of good living And this duty S. Paul requireth of all in Coloss. 3. 16. Let the word of Christ dwell in you plentifully in all wisdome teaching and admonishing one another And thus sometime one neighbour admonisheth another of his faults sometime ancient kindred instruct their younger in the fear of the Lord and sometime servants give good advice to their masters and dames as the servants of Naaman the Syrian did The maid-servant perswaded her mistris that her lord should go to the prophet in Samaria and when that her lord was at a stand his men-servants gave him this good counsell as we reade in 2. Kings 5. 13. Father if the prophet had commanded thee a great thing wouldest thou not have done it how much rather then when he saith to thee Wash and be clean Tenthly Gods Minister is thy preacher and the divine Service in the Church-book is his sermon In this service and in this sermon is contained whatsoever is necessary to salvation But you will say How prove you that I say thus Whatsoever is necessary to salvation is contained in these foure points in true faith in good life in prayer and grace True faith is contained in the three Creeds of the Apostles of Nice and of Athanasius the two latter being the exposition of the former Good life is expressed in the ten commandments Prayer in the Lords prayer the Letanie and the rest and grace in the Sacraments You will say We plain people cannot understand these without some to explain them I answer Canst thou tell me of one man that can make them more plain to thee by his words then God himself and his blessed Apostles have done by their words But thou wilt say further that thou hast need of some bodie to stirre them up unto thee Hast thou not thy Minister to do this for thee every Sunday and holiday in catechizing But thou likest not of this because it is not a sermon How provest thou that Because it is not spoken out of the pulpit nor delivered out of a text I reply Are not the articles of the faith the Lords prayer and the Sacraments exprest in scripture are
pert was the Emperours cook in S. Basils time whom he thus reprehended Tuum est jusculorum curare condimenta nam cùm aures habeas oppletas sordibus sacrosancta dogmata audire non potes It is thy dutie to season the pottage for having thy eares stopt with filth thou canst not heare divine precepts Knowledge puffeth up saith the Apostle They would be doctours of the law and yet understand not what they speak 1. Tim. 1. 7. S. Augustine disputing of knowledge in his 102 epistle to Euodius saith Si propter eos solos Christus natus est qui certâ intelligentiâ possunt ista discernere penè frustra in ecclesia laboramus If saith he Christ be born onely for them which can discern these things by their understanding we should almost labour in vain in the church But what will our Puritanes say If they cannot understand away with them draw the bridge let them not follow us The same S. Augustine in his book against the epistle of the foundation saith Turbam non intelligendi vivacitas sed credendi simplicitas tutissimam facit Not the quicknes of understanding but the simplenesse of beleeving makes the common people safest Canst thou by thy knowledge tell me how God should be but one substance and yet three persons thou mayst beleeve this but thou canst not readily understand it Therefore S. Augustine saith further in Enchirid ad Laurent Fides dicta est cognitio rerum quae non videntur Quamvìs quando se quisque non verbis non testibus non denique ullis argumentis sed praesentium rerum evidentiae dicit credidisse hoc est fidem accommodâsse non ità videtur absurdum ut rectè reprehendatur in verbo eique dicatur Vidisti ergò non credidisti Faith is said to be the knowledge of things not seen Although when every one saith he hath not beleeved that is not applied his faith to words nor witnesses nor lastly any arguments but to the evidence of things present it seemeth not absurd that he should in a word be reprehended and that it should be said to him Thou hast seen therefore thou hast not beleeved Doth not Christ say often in the Gospel Thy faith hath saved thee but he saith no where Thy knowledge or thy understanding saveth thee And our Apostle saith We are saved by faith and that not of our selves it is the gift of God Ephes. 2. 8. but of knowledge he saith Knowledge puffeth up This proud knowledge maketh some of you to say that your Minister is not worthy of his living because he preacheth not Had they as much knowledge as they would seem to have they would not say so because S. Paul saith to the contrarie If we have sown unto you spirituall things is it a great matter if we reap your carnall things Yes it is a great matter with some who prize their corn and their calves and their pigs above Gods service and his grace But will they say What is the service you so much stand upon the read service I have a boy at home will reade that as well as you I but can thy boy reade as a Minister and administer the Sacraments like a Minister Who called him to this when did God commit unto him the word of reconciliation when did God give him power to blesse in his name who laid his hands upon him Away with thy boy thou talkest like a profane fellow Thou mayst assoon make a new God as make unto him new ordinances The stranger in this place God threatned to be slain as we reade Numb 18. And Uzza being a lay-man was presently smitten of God by death for but touching the Ark with his hand to stay it up when it was like to fall But to return to thy Minister who is Gods officer When he by his holy Sacrament hath been the true mean to conferre new life to thy childe to make him a member of Christ and an heir to the kingdome of heaven in this one part of his office he hath performed a better work then all thy lands and goods are worth and this no king no noble-man no monarch can do for thee but onely Gods Minister But concerning the maintenance of Gods Ministers which is so much murmured at of many let us compare it with the Ministers livings of the old law and the worthinesse of their service with the worth of ours They had all the tithes in kinde given them by Gods law with divers other fees of sacrifices but our neighbours have so gelt them to us by customes and prescriptions that many of our brethren are not able to live of them and which is unworthy to be heard amongst us our greatest professours for the most part are the worst tithers And for the worthinesse of our service above theirs of the old law when neither prescription nor custome had any place 't is known that they ministred but about the bloud of beasts and types and figures which were but meer shadows of our service and which as S. Paul saith could never sanctifie the comers thereto but the Ministers of the Gospel serve about the bloud of Jesus Christ the benefit of which is bestowed in the Sacraments by our service and that so abundantly that S. John saith Of his fulnesse we have all received and grace for grace If this be thus then all they that envie the maintenance of Gods Ministers under the Gospell are very unthankfull and unworthy of Christs Gospell But now besides the ten kindes of preaching of which I have alreadie entreated and which are able to stop the mouthes of all discontented and itching-ear'd professours there is yet another kinde of preaching which is not fit for every Minister but for extraordinarie and excellent men called by God and the Church to reform errours and abuses or to promulge to the world new laws and canons And as this kinde is to be performed by extraordinary men so it is not alwaies so needfull but onely when necessitie requireth for when things are setled there needs no more setling but onely preserving We ought not to have many Moseses nor many Evangelists nor many Apostles According to this when idolatrie was spread over the land of Judah the good King Jehoshaphat sent his princes Ben-hail Obadiah Zechariah Nethaneel and Michaiah with the choise of the priests and Levites and with the book of the Law to recall the people from the worship of false Gods to the worship of the true God as you may reade in 2. Chron. 17. Thus again when the Scribes and Pharisees had corrupted the Law by their traditions then came the great Doctour of the Church Jesus Christ and purged it by his preaching upon the mount as you may reade in Matth. 5 6 and 7 chapters Again after our Saviour had finisht the great work of our redemption by his rising from the dead then he sent his twelve Apostles to preach the new law all the world over
nothing but winde in them the one lifteth up in nature the other lifteth up in God But here it may be objected What meaneth the Apostle thus to disable knowledge seeing by it we depart from evil and are informed to good and the prophet Isaiah saith in his 53 chapter vers 11. By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justifie many where knowledge is made the cause of our justification I answer that wheresoever knowledge in holy scripture is taken in a good sense there it is vox complexa as sapientia is by S. Bernard called sapida scientia savourie knowledge for in this knowledge charitie which is the extern form of knowledge is comprehended But here in this text of scripture Knowledge is vox incomplexa standing alone by it self and in opposition to Charitie and therefore here it produceth no good effect but onely pride which is enemie to goodnesse But charitie is the substance of Christianitie and therefore is called of the School Divines grace it self And this in the building of a Christian toward heaven is the master-builder for the more it worketh in us the better and bigger Christians we grow according to that of S. Augustine Charitas inchoata inchoata justitia est charitas provecta provecta justitia est charitas magna magna justitia est charitas perfecta perfecta justitia est Charitie begunne is righteousnesse begunne charitie increased is righteousnesse increased great charitie is great righteousnesse and perfect charitie is perfect righteousnesse And when this is come then there is no difference between God and man it is conformitie between God and man it is as S. Paul saith the fulfilling of the law further then this we cannot go Yea that which is the most comfortable and remarkable point in all Christianitie is the law of the Spirit of life which freeth from the law of sinne and of death and this is the main refuge to the distressed conscience There are in the best two laws ruling in them because the best are compounded of two the flesh and the spirit The law of the flesh is concupiscence which gives precepts onely for the flesh whose end is sinne and death and therefore it is called the law of sinne of death and the law of the spirit is charitie which gives precepts onely for holinesse and righteousnes and this is called the law of life because the end of it is life These two laws are ex diametro opposite one to the other in the regenerate because they be both of force in this life therefore the regenerate are carried both wayes sometimes to sinne and sometimes to holines and vertue But because charitie which is the root of all good desires is the more noble law as being the law of the spirit and is in all evil actions first or last or both opposite to them and never yeeldeth but during the violence of the passion which being over it immediately returneth to his former strength and vertue therefore this freeth from the other so that condemnation is never liable to them in whom this law is found Therefore when the blessed Apostle besought God that the prick in the flesh that is to say concupiscence the law of sinne and death might be removed from him he would not grant it but told him My grace shall be sufficient for thee and this is nothing else but charitie which freeth the compound from sinne and death because as S. Peter saith it covereth the multitude of sinnes it will not suffer them to appeare And the reason why God would not have the law of the flesh and of sinne to be outed from this holy man and from the regenerate was because he would have his grace to conflict with the flesh that after the conflict his grace might be victour For my power saith God is made perfect through weaknesse But there is no greater weaknesse in man then concupiscence the lust of the flesh which being overcome by charities desire Gods grace and power is advanced and perfected And this law of the spirit S. Paul opposeth to the law of the letter which is knowledge when it is separate from the spirit and this killeth as well in the ministerie of the Gospel as in the ministerie of the Law of Moses as S. Augustine teacheth lib. de spiritu litera because the more knowledge we have the greater shall be our condemnation if we want the spirit of charitie to put it in practise Will you know then what charitie is which is thus advanced above knowledge It is the most noble above all vertues as our Apostle teacheth 1. Cor. 13. 13. Now abideth faith hope and charitie but the greatest of these is charitie He saith not shall be as Calvin and Beza offer to evacuate the Apostles comparison commendation but is now Now abideth faith hope and charitie but the greatest of these is charitie This is the lust and desire of the spirit as concupiscence is the lust and desire of the flesh the one sanctifieth and justifieth the other damnifieth and condemneth Gal. 5. 17. As concupiscence is the root of all vices so this is the root of all vertues it is the souls sanctified appetite Every man that hath wit and discretion will make choice of the best and the fairest but charitie is the best of all Gods gifts above faith and hope and knowledge and therefore above all things I wish you to seek and follow that In the twelfth chapter before the Apostle sets down all the better sort of Gods gifts among which he placeth wisdome knowledge faith working of miracles and the rest and then willeth them to make choice of the best But saith he desire you the best gifts and when he had so said then he said further I will yet shew you a more excellent way as if he had said Now I will shew you of a gift that is above all gifts yea better then the best before-named such a gift that without it all other are worth nothing Though I speak with the tongues of men and angels and have not charitie I am as sounding brasse or a tinkling cymball And though I had the gift of prophesie and knew all secrets and all knowledge yea if I had all faith so that I could remove mountains and had not charitie I were nothing And though I feed the poore with all my goods and though I give my bodie that I be burned and have not charitie it profiteth me nothing Now if all be nothing without this then get this and get all But what is the reason why all other graces without this are worth nothing Because without charitie they are as a bodie without a soul. Hadst thou a bodie as well framed as Leanders and Hero's was yet if thou hadst not a spirit to move in it thou shouldest have but a dead bodie worth nothing as S. James teacheth of faith without charitie by the effect
of works As the bodie without the spirit is dead so faith without works is dead also for where no works are there is no charitie and where no charitie is there faith and works and all is dead Therefore the Apostle saith Though I feed the poore with all my goods and have not charitie it profiteth me nothing Why because without charitie works are dead as well as faith and knowledge and other graces And where there is charitie that is to say a divine love to God and all goodnesse there all things are alive and every grace working to salvation Faith beleeveth to salvation hope hopeth to salvation knowledge knoweth to salvation all work by charities spirit Hence the School calleth charitie the form of vertues But you may say How prove you that divine love and charitie is the spirit that giveth life and motion to all other graces Thus because faith which is the first grace worketh by it Gal. 5. 6. For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but faith which worketh by charitie Then as all the members of the bodie work by the power of the soul so faith and other graces in the spirituall body work by the power of charitie First because charitie is the impulse of the Christian soul. Neither can you with reason say that because faith is the first grace in spiritualitie therefore all animation and motion proceedeth from it because in generation the matter goeth before the form and in the body of man there is vegetation and animalitie common to other creatures before the reasonable soul come which is the sole beginning of actions reasonable Secondly I prove this because where is no charitie there all is dead as S. John sheweth He that loveth not his brother abideth in death Again We know that we are translated from death to life because we love the brethren Where love is there is life and where no love is there is no life Thirdly I prove this because God is our life but God is charitie as Saint John sheweth God is charitie and he that remaineth in charitie remaineth in God and God in him If God be charitie then charitie in the Christian must needs be his life because our charitie floweth from his charitie Fourthly I shew that charitie is the life of all vertues and graces because it is the root of the spirituall tree within us as S. Paul teacheth Ephes. 3. 17 18 19. That ye being rooted and grounded in charity may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge that ye may be filled with all the fulnesse of God Here ye see charitie to be the root therefore so long as the root lasteth no vertue or grace can wither in us but if the root die all die All comes from the root the leaves the blossoms the fruit If there be either ornament of vertue or fruit of grace in us all comes from the root of charitie Yea the life of vertue not onely comes from this root but there it is kept and preserved too for when winter and cold storms come then the sappe for shelter runnes down to the root and there it is preserved till the next spring so again when the winter of Gods wrath and storms of persecution assault the profession of the Gospel then by and by we retire to the root of charitie and there is our profession preserved till the storm be over Thus Peter denied his Master thrice when he was going to his death yet because he still loved his Master therefore his life remained in him in the time of persecution it lay hid in the root of charitie The Apostle goeth forward That ye may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the length and breadth and height and depth Charity breaks forth into all the dimensions of spirituall growth The prophet Isaiah rather then he would forsake his God was sawn asunder in the midst others were racked and would not be delivered they would not be delivered but held out to the death The blessed Marie Magdalene washt our Saviours feet with her tears and wiped them drie again with the hairs of her head Oh blessed charitie If thou hast this root in thee thou also shalt comprehend this breadth and length height and depth and thou shalt with these holy Saints say If I had been in their coats or had their occasions I would have done as they did This is that love of Christ which passeth knowledge and this is the fulnesse of God To proceed Charitie is the most excellent grace because it is the divine seed of a Christian by which we are born of God and freed from mortall sinne 1. John 3. 9. Whosoever is born of God sinneth not for his seed remaineth in him This seed S. Hierome in his 2 book against Jovinian and S. Austine in his 5 tract upon 1. John calleth charitie for in it is contained the beginning of our conversion to God which is a holy desire For no man desireth any thing untill he loves it but when he loves it then he desires it when he desires it then he seeks it after he hath sought it then he findes it according to that in the Gospel Seek and ye shall finde knock and it shall be opened and when a man hath found because he loves it entirely he will so cleave to it that he will not be removed from it So is it between the regenerate heart and God When God hath given a man a heart to love him then he beginnes to desire him when he desires him then he seeks him then he knocks at heaven gates by prayer and will not away till God open to him because his seed remaineth in him And after he hath found him then he so cleaves to him by hope and hangs so fast upon him that he will die before he leave him because faith hath perswaded him that God is his maker and redeemer and that he is moreover a rewarder of them that diligently seek him Heb. 11. 6. And how will he reward him not with gold and silver which are corruptible but with life everlasting and the joyes of heaven Oh here is enough we will seek no further Thus you see how love and charitie sets the soul to desire and seek God above all things and so charitie is the beginning of our conversion and after it hath begun it will never cease seeking untill it hath found and obtained Were a man by faith perswaded that God is the authour of all happinesse and that all the goods in heaven and earth lay in him treasured up yet if he should love the goods of the world more then God then he would never set his heart to seek and desire him But when faith hath enlightned the minde to know God then if the love of the heart will forsake the world and things
works But you may say It seemeth otherwise because the mansions there are already built and therefore they depend not upon our building and edifying Yes they depend upon our edifying in regard of the placing and bestowing because the better a man is edified in good life here the better building God will bestow upon him there he made the best for the best For thou rewardest every man according to his work Psal. 62. 12. Luke 6. 38. 1. Cor. 3. 8. 2. Cor. 9. 6. You may say again that heaven is but one house which is the Fathers house I reply As our Saviour in John calleth heaven a house so S. Paul Heb. 12. 22. calleth it a citie It is called a house because he is Father of the familie there and it is called a citie because he is King of the place Palaces have many rooms and chambers in excellency one above another so cities have many houses some more spacious some more costly and some more stately then others Why should it not be so too in the celestiall Jerusalem except we should think that God had some wants there There be degrees of edifying in us here therefore there are degrees of edifices for us there Charitie edifieth As charitie edifieth so it pulleth down too As the understanding builder when he sees something in his edifice amisse will not rest till it be demolisht and set up in a better manner so is it with the good Christian when he perceiveth some faults in his life he will not cease till they be removed And this part S. Paul also referreth to charitie 1. Cor. 13. 5. It doth no uncomely thing it seeketh not her own it is not provoked to anger it thinketh no evil Therefore if there be in thee any undecent lecherie or gaping covetousnesse or passions troublesome or any evil whatsoever if charitie be in thee it will seek and endeavour to remove all because they be uncomely for spirituall and Christian buildings And from this text S. Prosper inferreth that charitie is the death of vices and the life of vertues Charitie edifieth Lastly as charitie edifieth in a mans own self so it edifieth in others also If there be any infirmitie in neighbours it will beare with it and help to amend it Charitie suffereth long it boasteth not it self it is not puffed up There is no pride in charitie but it submitteth it self to all good ordinances both in Church and Commonwealth This will not flie out like the disobedient professour this will not runne from his neighbours this will not contemne his Ministers but this wil labour to uphold all This will say Come neighbours let us hold together we must be subject to our governours for conscience sake we may not do what we list we may not be our own judges we may not make our selves equal with Apostles and say in our own causes It is better to please God then men and then please neither for now it is not as it was in the Apostles dayes then were wicked governours now we have godly governours Thus charitie edifieth in our own selves and others but proud knowledge pulleth down and destroyeth And in this Predicament are they which make havock of Church-discipline they will not keep holy dayes though they be in honour of the Saviour of the world they will not observe Saints dayes though their examples in the Liturgie be the glasses of our lives to stand up in reverence when Gloria Patri Te Deum Benedictus and the rest are said wherein we speak to God with them is a needlesse ceremonie Confession and Absolution is flat Poperie and with such all is superstition save onely a sermon from the spirit without premeditation and a prayer ex tempore or of their own framing without authoritie Might these have their wills there should be no face of religion among us They professe themselves to be hearers but if you talk with them then they will be preachers Not need but pride not edifying but ambition makes them to amble about the countrey for choise hearing and precise fashions but the true speakers and true hearers are alwayes in charitie Ephes. 4. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will conclude all with the saying of Hugo de S. Victore lib. 6. Dilectio supereminet scientiae plus enim diligitur quà m intelligitur intrat dilectio ubi scientia foris est FINIS ¶ Almae Matris Academiae carmina Comitialia hanc veritatem attestantia Bona opera sunt efficaciter necessaria ad salutem VIrtutes Charitésque omnes redeatis ad astra Non audent vobis astra negare locum Ecce negant homines homines sine numine vestro Eximium fidei numen inesse putant Gratulor ô vobis homines hoc credere vestrum Quod coelo clivum non sinit esse suum Quantorum facitis compendia quanta laborum Credere justitia est omnis una salus At non sic olim tam mollis semita nunquam Heroum lassos duxit ad astra gradus Sed labor virtus sancta superbia dextra Non facili pennâ stravit in alta viam At neque tu matris fidei puer aure◠credas Coelis esse aliâ conditione fores Ni sit quae tibi summa procul spes sydera mōnstret Ni sit inocciduâ qui face flagret amor Ni non larga pius tibi pocula temperet usus Ni justam in trutinam pendeat aequa manus Ni vigili stet in arce memor mentisque pudicae Servet inaccessas sedula cura nives Tolle tuam nec enim fidei fiducia tanta est Improbe tolle tuam nomen inane fidem Vana fides ubi sola fides dilectio vera Spes viva accedant non aliunde salus His nisi sit formata fides est mortua plané Próque fide fidei triste cadaver habes Haec sunt quae sibi regna vocant aeterna nec unquam Coelorum retulit praemia sola fides ERGO Virtutum sancta speciosae caterva salutem Divino ex pacto quam meruêre dabunt A TREATISE Shewing That Gods Law now qualified by the Gospel of Christ is possible and ought to be fulfilled of us in this life TO shunne homonymie and to state the question that we might not fall to andabatisme we are to understand that as there be two kindes of perfection viae patriae one of our way the other of our countrey to which we are travelling so there are two kindes also of fulfilling Gods law one of this life the other of the next That of this life may stand with divers interruptions because here we are not confirmed in grace but that of the next which is in heaven will admit no interruption because there all are confirmed in grace and cannot sinne That there is a fulfilling of Gods law in this life the scripture admits where it saith in S. James If ye fulfill the royall law according to the scripture Thou shalt love
inward man This delight is the wills fulnesse often spoken of in the 119 Psalme O how I love thy law it is my meditation all the day long Again Therein is my delight I will observe it with my whole heart Now the whole is the fulnesse of a thing therefore there is an inward fulfilling of Gods will Notwithstanding we must not here rest but proceed to the outward also because the bodie is a part of the whole and so bound by the law to follow its inward principle By this outward fulfilling God is more glorified to the eye of the world and without the outward the inward is not seen wherefore upon every good opportunitie they ought to go both together But here we must take knowledge that the bodie in its own principle is so farre from fulfilling Gods law that it is a contrary law to it and is called of the Apostle the law of the members and the law of sinne and of death I see another law in my members warring against the law of my minde and leading me into captivitie to the law of sinne which is in my members That is to say as S. Augustine expoundeth it captivare conantem endeavouring to leade me into captivitie to the law of sinne in my members How may we be freed from this by another law that is the law of the minde called the law of the Spirit of life Rom. 8. 2. For the law of the Spirit of life which is in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sinne and of death Then the law of the members cannot hold us in captivitie Here therefore come to be considered of us three laws in Gods word expressed The first is that which is called the law of God and this is the glasse of our lives shewing what we should do and what we should not do The second is called the law of the members and the law of sinne and of death because it labours and endeavours to draw us to sinne and to death And this is concupiscence giving precepts and motions for sinne which in the unregenerate draweth death after it The third is the law of the minde called of S. Paul Rom. 8. 2. the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus And this law is bestowed upon us habitually in baptisme and is nothing else but holy charitie which sanctifieth by the power of the holy Ghost and purifieth the minde before God and is opposite to concupiscence And because this is the strongest law and seated in the minde which is mans form and principle therefore this both freeth from the law of the members and of sinne also fulfilleth the law of God which is mans conformity with him And this is confirmed by that main conclusion Charitas est legis plenitudo Charitie is the fulnesse or fulfilling of the law Which is thus to be understood saith S. Augustine Diffunditur in corde charitas Dei unde fiat legis plenitudo non per vires arbitrii quod est in nobis sed per Spiritum sanctum qui datus est nobis The love of God is diffused in our hearts from whence proceeds the laws fulfilling not by the power of free-will which is in us but by the holy Ghost which is given to us It may be objected that the law of the members or concupiscence is imputed by God to the whole man being it is opposite and rebells against the law of the Spirit I answer that the sinne of the flesh is not imputed to the whole man because the flesh is not yet redeemed in execution according to that of the Apostle Rom. 8. 23. But we also which have the first-fruits of the Spirit that is the law of the Spirit of life in our mindes by which we are sanctified and consecrated to God even we do mourn in our selves waiting for the adoption the redemption of our bodies that is to say the deliverance of our bodies from concupiscence which is thus done saith S. Augustine Liberari à corpore mortis est omni sanato languore concupiscentiae carnis non ad poenam recipere corpus sed ad gloriam non enim à corpore mortis impii liberabuntur unquam quibus in resurrectione eadem corpora ad aeterna tormenta reddentur To be freed from this bodie of death is to heal all the languour or infirmitie of lust in the flesh and not to receive the bodie to pain but glory in the citie of God for the wicked shall never be freed from this bodie of death to whom the same bodies at the resurrection shall be restored to suffer everlasting torments And the reason why God hath not redeemed or delivered our bodies is because God hath ordained that man should not attain his end and perfection without difficultie or at one instant as the angels did but to go to heavens happinesse by much opposition and by many sighs and sorrows as our head hath done before us by many sufferings and that according to the difference of every ones conflict and striving they might be rewarded with the different orders of the glorious angels For which cause all they who have generous mindes according to the dispensation of grace must put on in the way of godlinesse the best that they can knowing with the Apostle that their labour shall not be in vain in the Lord. And from hence it will follow that whereas Christians have longer time and more difficulties to go to their end then the angels had therefore their rewards shall be greater and more then theirs though their grace be more and greater then that of Christians Wherefore when they both shall meet there shall be a blessed harmonie and sweet rejoycing in God together And to shew a little further the difference between the angels and mens travell toward the end this shall appeare from mans combate under the three laws warring one against another The law of the members challengeth the law of the minde and spirit and the law of the minde and spirit challengeth the law of the members and the law of God challengeth both saying Thou law of spirit and grace comest too short for mans salvation and thou law of members art out of measure sinfull and therefore killing What shall the distressed conscience now do when so many fists are one upon another in one man beside the unknown stratagems of the devil the multitude of the worlds incursions and the manifold falls into sinne O the fears the cares and the labours Is not here S. Pauls exclamation O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death At last comes in our captain to our comfort and then the Apostle saith I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Then take we heart and say further with the same Then I my self with the minde serve the law of God but with the flesh the law of sinne The Saviour of the world strikes in with
reade of a sabbath of yeares that so there might be a moneth of yeares too and then am I confined Otherwise they make rules out of their own brain and adde unto Gods word The third prophesie of the durance of Antichrists reigne is by dayes Revel 11. which dayes are there expressed to be 1260. and these dayes they turn into so many yeares to serve their own turn Here again I require their rule They offer Gods direction to Ezekiel I have appointed thee each day for a yeare I reply God did not appoint Ezekiel this rule to be a generall rule to number by but to lie and sleep upon his left side and upon his right For because it had been too long for him to lie and sleep openly for a signe to the Israelites three hundred and ninety yeares on his left side and again to lie fourtie yeares on his right to signifie so many yeares of punishment according to the yeares of their sleeping in sinne because I say this had been too long a time if not impossible for the Prophet to make this signe therefore God for his ease appointed him a day for a yeare And because these dayes were not given to Ezekiel to number by but to signifie by therefore both Tremellius and Junius and our Geneva translatours upon the 8 of Daniel and 14 vers do not take dayes for yeares as Moulin others would have us but for naturall dayes where when the question was asked how long the vision of taking away of the daily sacrifice and the desolation and treading down should continue it was answered Unto the evening and morning two thousand and three hundred that is unto two thousand and three hundred dayes as it is in the Church-bible agreeing to that Gen. 1. 5 And the morning and the evening were the first day Now if these two thousand and three hundred evenings and mornings which make two thousand and three hundred dayes should be taken for two thousand and three hundred yeares as these men would have it the Universitie of Divines would cry shame upon it because it is palpably known that Antiochus by whom this abomination of desolation was set up and the holy citie troden under foot did not live the tenth part of these yeares Therefore our Geneva note upon this text saith honestly and truly that is untill so many naturall dayes be past which make six yeares three moneths and an half and with this Tremellius and Junius do for the most part agree expounding thus annos sex tres menses dies ferme octodecim Again in the last chapter of Daniel where is prophesied not of the whole time of treading down of the holy people as before but onely of the taking away of the daily sacrifice and setting up of the abomination of desolation which was the statue of Jupiter Olympius as we reade in 2. Mac. 6. 2. there is put down in the text a thousand two hundred and ninety dayes this Tremellius and Junius interpret anni tres menses septem dies quasi tredecim that is three yeares seven moneths and as it were thirteen dayes But if you shall number the thousand two hundred and ninetie dayes for a thousand two hundred and ninetie yeares then nothing will fit and then you must extend the abomination and desolation many hundred yeares after the death of Antiochus the text in the next verse being against it saying Blessed is he which waiteth and cometh to the thousand three hundred and thirty five dayes that is to say to fourty five dayes after as Tremellius and Junius interpret because Antiochus Epiphanes should then be dead and then Antiochus Eupator his sonne granted to the Jews full peace and free libertie of their religion as you may reade in 2. Mac. 11. 22. Which thing was done the same yeare that his father died in From these two examples out of Daniel the numbring of dayes for yeares to crosse the Fathers and to serve their private desires is found to be very false and that Ezekiels rule was peculiar to himself And from the last prophesie to the comfort of Christs people I observe that when Antichrist shall come his time shall not be long as is before declared by S. Augustine because under Antiochus the temple was profaned but 1290 dayes and in the Apocalyps it is prophesied that under Antichrist the court of the temple and the holy citie should be troden under foot but 42 moneths which are 30 dayes fewer And here it is worth the observing how neare Antiochus time over the Synagogue Christs time over the Church and Antichrists time in the end of the world do conspire in one all being about three yeares and a half as Scriptures have expressed and the learned computed But against this computation it is objected that if it be admitted to stand so neare to Christs coming to destroy Antichrist as in 2. Thess. 2. 8. is expressed then the day of Christs coming to judgement may be known which in Matth. 24. 36. is denied I answer This consequent is not good First because we have no warrant in Gods word when this account of yeares moneths and dayes is to begin wherefore the beginning being but conjecturall the end can be but conjecturall too and so nothing certain Secondly no Scripture hath revealed that the day of Christs coming shall be tangent to these three yeares and half as if it were to follow the next day after because the Gospel hath interjected certain signes and prodigies between Antichrists persecution and the end of the world saying And immediately after the tribulation of those dayes the sunne shall be darkened and the moon shall not give her light and the starres shall fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken And then shall appeare the signe of the Sonne of man To return to the demonstration of Antichrist one man this is further proved from the name Antichrist which signifieth an opposite to Christ. Now a sect or kingdome is not so proper an opposite to Christ as one person is opposite to another Should the opposition be in a kingdome or sect then the Mahometicall kingdome and the sect of Arius should be the Antichrist because these principally oppose Christ in denying him to be God But the Fathers understand Antichrist of one man opposite to Christ in person and qualities in whom shall inhabit the devils malice and nature corporally as in Christ doth inhabit the Godhead corporally Thus properly shall person be opposite to person one Christ one Antichrist The description of Antichrist Vers. 3. And that man of sinne be revealed that sonne of perdition who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped so that he doth sit as God in the temple of God shewing himself that he is God These words are the description of Antichrist in which as in a table ye may see his stature complexion and portraiture
abode Sedulius saith Templum Hierosolymae reficere tentabit He shall go about to repair the temple at Hierusalem Hierome He shall sit in the temple of God either at Hierusalem as some think or in the Church as we more truely suppose S. Chrysostome to whom I attribute most saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. He shall command himself to be worshipped for God and to be placed in the temple not onely at Hierusalem but also in the Churches He shall seat himself in the temple to give satisfaction to the Jews his principall followers and he shall place himself in the Church to oppose the Christians to the one he shall counterfeit the Messias to the other he shall disclose himself to be the Antichrist And this sense doth Theodoret and Theophylact follow Lactantius saith In Antichrists time the chief kingdome shall be in Asia the east shall rule and the west shall obey And Irenaeus hath Antichrist on a sudden shall rush into divers kingdomes of the Romane empire to challenge a kingdome to himself Sibyl saith that the greatest terrour and furie of his kingdome shall be by the banks of Tybur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A king shall rise with whitish head and neighb'ring seas name bear Viewing the world with poyson'd foot obtaining gifts by fear All mysteries of magick arts he shall exactly know An infant god himself he 'l shew what 's worshipt here below He will deface and then begin his errours to unfold Then all shall mourn like turtle sole which do this beast behold Then fathers grave with children small shall direfull fates blaspheme Alas alas thus howl and curse on banks of Tyburs stream Thus farre of Antichrists seat and next follows his ostentation shewing himself that he is God Because he cannot be God in deed he will seek to be God in shew He shall be but an earthen God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as S. John describeth him Revel 11. 4. These are the two olive-trees and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth Beza translateth passively put before the God of the earth signifying that they are so placed by the true God against the false God thus agreeing with the adverb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 è regione vel ex adverso posita placed overthwart to him Wherefore for all his ruffe in his fourtie two moneths time yet he shall not have his full will and pleasure because Gods two witnesses shall interrupt him by prophesying against him and by vexing his earthen worshippers with plagues 1260 dayes which is the just time of his fourtie two moneths But here a great question ariseth Who shall be these two witnesses Our late Divines say The ordinarie Ministers of the Church for that time But the Fathers understand them to be Enoch and Elias Though there be no expresse warrant for either of these yet untill I understand better I follow the Fathers because their sense fitteth best with the circumstances of the text and the description of the persons And first because the persons are but two but the ordinarie Ministers are many And if it be said that the number of two is put for all the rest I reply that this is not agreeing with the scripture which in such cases useth numbers of perfection or numbers of allusion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The number of seven being a number of perfection is thus commonly used through this book of the Apocalyps as the seven starres are put for all the Ministers of Asia and the seven lamps for all the vertues of Gods Spirit and the number of twelve thousand for all them that were sealed of every of the twelve tribes But the number of two is no such number and therefore not fit to comprehend a whole Secondly for the word witnesses this is fit for Enoch in that he rebuked the first world and testified of Gods coming to judgement against them And this squareth as just with Elias in rebuking of sinne and testifying for God insomuch as John the Baptist the great reformer is prophesied to come in the spirit and power of Elias Thirdly it is said that if any man will hurt them fire proceedeth out of their mouth and devoureth their enemies And so again assoon as Elias opened his mouth to command fire to come down from heaven the fire fell and devoured two captains with their two fifties Fourthly it is said that these have power to shut heaven that it rain not in the dayes of their prophesying and this power had Elias and executed it as we reade in 1. Kin. 17. 1. Fifthly it is said that these two vexed them that dwelt on the earth and thus did Elias vex king Ahab when he said unto him Art thou he that troublest Israel and again when he provoked Baals prophets to cut themselves with knives and lancers Sixthly it is said that their enemie shall kill them and this is fit for Enoch and Elias because hitherto they have not tasted of death but one day they must die because the scripture saith It is appointed to men that they shall once die Their death therefore seemeth to be deferred to a more famous end to a congresse with the great Antichrist Seventhly and lastly it is said They shall ascend up to heaven and their enemies shall see them and so have Enoch and Elias alreadie done and therefore they know the way to do so again These two therefore be they who they may be may well be called Enoch and Elias because in their deeds they so resemble them as if they were themselves And these reasons I have for the reverend Fathers whose understanding and judgement I much regard And I see no reason why these two may not as well in the end of the world come to this service as Elias and Moses in Christs time came to him upon the mount upon the like service that is to testifie to his disciples that he was the true Messias and that he was to suffer death according to Moses law to make satisfaction for the sinnes of the people and therefore it is said in Luke 9. 31. that they spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem Elias before his translation testified for the true God against the false God after his translation he came again upon earth to testifie for Christ the true Messias then being thus his approved witnesse why may he not come once again in the end of the world to contest with Antichrist and his false prophets for the true Christ against that false Christ And if it be objected that Elias did not in substance come to Christ upon the mount but as a spectrum to such Calvin upon the place will give this honest