thy neighbour as thy self ye do well Here the text makes a manifest supposition of fulfilling Gâ—â—â—â— law in this life first it affirmeth this doctrine to be according to scripture next it sheweth how it is to be tried that is by the law in loving our neighbour as our selves and he that can do this there is no doubt but he loveth God above all because without God he could not do this Were Gods law not possible to be fulfilled the supposition should be idle unfit for Gods word and unbeseeming one writing by divine inspiration and then the twelve tribes might justly have returned this caption upon S. James You put upon us that which cannot be done But in this absurditie the Apostle could not be taken because he wrote by divine inspiration and sootheth the thing first by adding to his supposition this commendation Ye do well and secondly by fetching to this head all other parts of Gods law saying afterward For whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet fail in one point he is guiltie of all Here therefore is a generall and absolute fulfilling spoken of and here is implied that every one is bound to bring his obedience not to one or most but to every part of Gods law and so no starting hole is left for any one beloved sinne Secondly this supposition of S. James is confirmed by our Lords prayer Thy will be done in earth â—s it is in heaven If the law which is Gods will could not be fulfilled in earth then Christ obtained not what he would we daily pray in vain and Christ hath in vain commanded us to pray Thirdly this is confirmed by the liturgie of our Church in the collect upon the first Sunday after the Epiphanie in these words And grant that they may both perceive and know what things they ought to do and also have grace and power faithfully to fulfill the same through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Where we are taught by whose vertue men may fulfill Gods law that is by Jesus Christs grace and power Lastly this is taught by the prayer upon the ten commandments Lord have mercy upon us and encline our hearts to keep this law Where first we are taught to know our own miserie in that we are bound to keep Gods law with the penaltie of everlasting death and yet of our selves we have no power to perform it and therefore we pray God to be mercifull to us Next we pray that he would encline our hearts to keep his law where is shewed that God himself is the first mover and principall actour in this work that we do but run along with him and that of our selves we are so crooked and averse that if he do not encline and bend our hearts as the shipwright boweth his timber by his instruments the strength of his arms and the heat of his fire to make a ship we should never be able to sail to the kingdome of heaven Wherefore if we shall fail to joyn our hands to Gods hand when the principall acting is his the second and inferiour ours when he hath used all his means towards us his threatnings to terrifie us his exhortations to draw us his promises to entice us and propounded the end and reward of the work to be onely ours whereas the greatest merit is Christs if we now be defective and behinde on our part we shall be worthy of many hells To conclude in that we intreat God to enable us to keep his law hence appeareth the laws excellencie and mans benefit in observing it It is Gods image and similitude in which he made man therefore it hath relation to us and we to it it restoreth us to our first perfection and heavens felicitie it is the conformity between God and man it is that which maketh God and us one Therefore to the keeping of this we must strain soul and body we must put all that we can we must not fly to naked imputation where is required our conformation For whom he did foreknow he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Sonne His Sonne hath fulfilled the law and so must we too But here may be objected that they which are in Christ are delivered from the law Rom. 8. 2. For the law of the Spirit of life hath made me free from the law of sinne and of death Therefore we have nothing to do with the law I answer that in this place and in the chapter before by the law is understood concupiscence the law of the members which giveth precepts and motions onely for sinne and not the law of God which giveth precepts against sinne and for holinesse and righteousnesse Again it may be objected that we are not under the law therefore we have not to do with it Rom. 6. 14. Ye are not under the law but under grace It is answered Though we be not under the law to be condemned terrified and forced by it yet we are under the law to Christ that is to be guided by it as the Apostle testifieth of himself 1. Cor. 9. 21. Being not without the law to God but under the law to Christ Therefore if the very just shall transgresse while they are within the law they are bound to make satisfaction by holy penance which is secunda tabula post naufragium Lastly it may be objected that we are dead to the law and therefore we have no more to do with it Rom. 7. 4. Wherefore my brethren ye are also become dead to the law by the body of Christ that ye should be married to another even unto him that is raised up from the dead that ye should bring forth fruit unto God By the law here is not meant the law simply but the law and the flesh compounded together as appeareth in the sixth verse wherein we stood in bondage to both For the laws letter onely shewed us what we were to do but gave us no power to perform and with this the flesh and the old man went hand in hand for though the law gave us no power to perform yet the flesh gave us power to transgresse and sinne To this the Apostle sheweth that we are dead by the merit of the death of Christs body that we might be married to another that is to Christ in Baptisme by whose Spirit and grace we might be enabled to fulfill that which the law taught and commanded to bring forth fruit unto God and our own salvation And from hence it appeareth still that the law of it self is good and we have need of it though it be not sufficient for us because it is our school-master to shew us our sinnes and to bring us to Christ Gal. 3. 24. Rom. 7. 7. I had not known sinne but by the law Having made an end of confirming my first argument from the scriptures supposition and grant now I proceed to my second argument which is founded upon the efficacie and
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
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
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
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
we reade in the fifth and seventh verses of that chapter And this he doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before the first beast that is in his sight or right over against him Before the first beast be extinct he playes the tyrant for it is a thorn that pricks betimes But after that his short horns were grown of a lambe he became a ramme then he pushed more strongly in exercising the power of the first beast that is in speaking of great things and blasphemies in making warre with the saints and in having power over all kindreds tongues and nations The first of speaking great things and blasphemies is verified in the letters defiatorie of Achmeth to Sigismund the third king of Poland in the yeare 1612. AChmeth Soldan sonne of the most puissant and highest Emperour of the Turks King of Macedonia Arabia Samaria Grecia and little Egypt King above all kings that dwell upon the earth a King that dwelleth on the earthly Paradise an anointed Prince and sonne of Mahomet keeper of the lower Hungarie Prior of the earthly Paradise and keeper of the grave of thy God Lord of the tree of life and of the river Elisky Conquerer of the Macedonians borders of Hungaria and of the citie Bettune a great persecutour of his enemies a most perfect jewel of the blessed tree the chiefest keeper of the crucified God a Prince and Lord in whom the Pagans trust and a great persecutour of all Christians To Sigismund the third King of Poland our greeting if thou desirest our welfare and art friend to us and our Lieutenant generall of 〈◊〉 forces which we will send But thou hast long since broken and falsified our friendship and yet art neither ready nor fit to wage warre or to fight against us But thou hast some secret advice with other confederate kings to deliver thee out of our hands If therefore thou thus persevere to oppose thy self against us then fear for thy death and the death of all thy people is determined We tell thee we will overcome thee from the rising of the sunne to the going down thereof and we will shew our majestie in our own person and sight unto the uttermost parts of the earth Our very thoughts shall be a terrour to thee that we will perform all that which we have herein denounced and we will make known unto thee the powerfulnesse of our dominions And thou O king which puttest trust in strong forts and castles shalt have experience of my might and power I will root thee out altogether I will ruinate thee without any resistance I will destroy thy Craccaw in signe of triumph I will leave there my bloudie sword my belief shall be spread abroad through all thy dominions and I will utterly root out the very remembrance of thy crucified God Let thy God be angrie I care not he may then help thee Thy anointed Priests I will surely put to the plague wilde beasts and wolves shall suck the breasts of thy women Thou shalt forsake the religion which thou hast that which remaineth of all things shall be consumed with fire Herewith rest thou satisfied I do not tell thee what I will do or mean to do with thee Understand it if thou wilt or canst From our residence Constantinople most strongly guarded If this be not a forerunning of Antichrist and a greater opposition to Christ in open terms then ever hath been among the Christians let the equall-minded judge For the second point of making warre with the saints and overcoming them let men reade the historie of the Turks in the Acts and Monuments where they shall finde that the Ottomans have spoyled more then the third part of Christendome and that their cruelties against the Christians have exceeded all former cruelties either of Pharaoh in Egypt or of Nabuchodonosor in Babylon or of Antiochus in the time of the Maccabees See the storie of the ox drawing the foure quarters of the slain Christians together in which as in a glasse you may behold the unreasonable beast condemning the savagenesse of the reasonable beast For the third and last point in having power over all kindreds tongues and nations what man of reading seeing or hearing sees not this to be true both in the Turks dominions and in captiving some of all nations whereof he maketh some to be his slaves some to be his Janisaries some his Basshaws so that now his Empire is nothing else but a miscellaneum of all tongues and kindreds Further this fecond beast shall work miracles which the first could not do and cause fire to come down from heaven in the sight of men which was done partly by the necromancer Mahomet and more fully shall be done by the Man of sinne when he shall come He shall make an image to the first beast he shall pattern Nero and Maxentius in all their cruelties which Maxentius had the wound of a sword from Constantines hand And in this image he shall cause himself to be worshipped because of philautie And he shall make all both small and great bond and free to receive a mark in their right hand or in their forehead A mark in the right hand I once did see on the hand of an English man whose name was Bowin and it was Achmeth graven in a silver plate and fastened to his right hand And this being the name of the great Turk at that time as you have seen in his letters to Sigismund most fitly answereth to the print of the Beasts name in Revel 14. 11. and without this mark he told me that he could not passe the countrey to come home And the mark in the forehead as yet I cannot better understand then to be circumcision in the foreskinne of the flesh which is the most generall mark of the Beast And this is most Antichristian because S. Paul told the Galatians that if they were circumcised Christ should profit them nothing and that they should be abolished from Christ and fallen from grace Then who cannot but see that the great defection or falling away must be in the Turks empire where this mark is altogether used They that will receive neither of these being in this beasts dominions must neither buy nor sell but live as slaves For the number of the Beast resulting into the name of a man some say it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some one thing and some another but because the Apostle challengeth all that have wit to cast up this number therefore I dare not meddle with it Andreas Bishop of Cesaria upon this hath this observation from the ancient Si nomen Antichristi cognitu necessarium esset Spiritus sanctus proculdubio illud manifestaret ut veteres admonent tempus experientia viris prudentibus manifestabit hoc Were the name of Antichrist needfull to be known out of doubt the holy Ghost would have manifested it time and experience shall make it manifest to
7. And lastly it is more congruent and most for Christs honour that whereas Antichrist is Christs personall opposite therefore he should be suppressed by Christs personall presence Again it was a received thing in the primitive Church that Antichrists time and the end of the world shall coincidere fall in one as we reade 1. John 2. 18. Little children it is the last time and as ye have heard that Antichrist shall come even now there are many Antichrists whereby we know that it is the last time Thus by Antichrists time ye may know the last time and by the last time ye may know Antichrists time But here seems a difficultie in that S. John maketh the last time to be in his dayes I answer He speaketh this inchoativé to stirre up his children to watchfulnesse because then the last day was coming on and even then there were many Antichrists the forerunners of the main Antichrist that man of sinne Secondly Antichrist cannot be yet come by reason of the circumstances which holy Writ hath fastned to his time For in Antichrists time the daily sacrifice shall be taken away and the abomination of desolation shall be set up in place of it as appeareth Dan. 12. 11. and is confirmed by our Saviour Matth. 24. 15. For the abomination cannot be set up till the daily sacrifice be removed So in the figure after Antiochus had taken away the daily sacrifice from the Temple he set up in place of it the statue of Jupiter Olympius And this is further illustrated by the opposition between Christ and Antichrist For he that is Christs opposite cannot endure Christs service before his eyes but at this day neither is the daily sacrifice taken away nor the abomination of desolation set up for that no land of the Christians is yet divasted nor the temples of Papists or Protestants left desolate but the Christian world every where offer up their daily liturgies and the holy Eucharist Papists by themselves and Protestants by themselves without disturbance and therefore as yet that great Antichrist is not come who will take this away and set himself in place of it as S. Paul teacheth so that he doth sit as God in the temple of God which is the abomination and this abomination cannot be erected till Antichrist by his souldiers have made the temples of Christians desolate Therefore Beza translateth illam abominationem vastatricem the abomination making desolate and so our Church-Bible also translateth in Dan. 12. 11. Thirdly I shew this from the description of Antichrist which is this Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped But as yet no man hath done thus Therefore as yet that Antichrist is not come The assumption is proved from particulars of importance The first beast the Romane Cesars have acknowledged and adored the multitude of Gods as Jupiter Mercurie Diana Venus c. The second beast the Turk to this day worshippeth a supreme God as he saith which is neither the Father nor the Sonne nor the holy Ghost and that with great devotion as our own countrey travellers report Lastly the Pope acknowledgeth the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost as is manifest from the Apostles Creed the Nicene and Athanasian to this day used of him and from calling himself Christs vicar which is to say his substitute or vicegerent upon earth and from concluding all his prayers to God the Father per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum by our Lord Jesus Christ and from singing to the holy Trinitie Gloria Patri Filióque Spiritui sancto that is Glorie be to the Father to the Sonne and to the holy Ghost And that the Pope is not to be held for Antichrist I prove from S. Johns descriptions 1. Joh. 2. 22. Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is that Christ the same is that Antichrist that denieth the Father and the Sonne But the Pope denieth neither of both as is before declared and therefore he is not to be held for Antichrist A second description of Antichrist is in his fourth chapter of the same epistle in these words Every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God and this is that spirit of Antichrist From whence I thus reason Whosoever is not of Antichrists spirit cannot be Antichrist but the Pope is not of Antichrists spirit therefore he cannot be Antichrist The assumption is proved thus Antichrists spirit will not confesse that Christ is come in the flesh But the Pope confesseth that Christ is come in the flesh that he was born of the virgin Marie suffered death under Pontius Pilate for the sinnes of the world Therefore so long as the Pope holdeth this minde he cannot possibly be the Antichrist But Doctor Whitakers to crosse these two manifest demonstrations of Gods word affirmeth that though the Pope denieth not Christ to be come in the flesh verbo tenus and in the first yet that he denieth him in the second that is by consequent First saith he he denieth him to be the onely King Priest and Prophet of his Church and next in subjoyning to Christs merits and passion other subordinate means as the use of Sacraments penitentiall sorrow forgiving of injuries giving of almes the abundance of charitie and all the kindes of good works From whence it follows as Doctor Whitakers thinketh that where so many concurrent means are joyned to Christs death and merits there Christs coming and suffering in the flesh is in a manner or by consequence denied and diminished I reply that if we should understand Antichrists denying of Christ by such consequents and comments of our own brain then Luther should be the Antichrist who in his comment upon the epistle to the Galatians calleth Christ a sinner yea the greatest of all sinners by which blasphemie though Christs coming in the flesh is not absolutely denied yet his meriting in the flesh is absolutely denied by the former way of consequence because a sinner can make no satisfaction nor merit any thing Again by such sequence Calvine should be the Antichrist who absolutely denieth the sufficiencie of Christs bodily death and suffering for us thus writing Nihil actum erat si corporeâ tantùm morte defunctus fuisset Nothing had been done if Christ had died onely a bodily death Again Eam mortem pertulit quae sceleratis ab irato Deo infligitur He bore that death which is inflicted by the angrie God upon wicked men But if Christ were dead in soul and suffered hell-torments such as a damned man should do which are deprivation of grace and eternall torments then he could not have redeemed us as the worthy Doctor Bilson observeth upon this because he which is dead in soul can deserve nothing Yet God forbid I should put the term of Antichrist upon these my brethren because they opposed not Christ directé but indirectè obliqué
his law and in the end with much ado we overcome Thus stands the difference between men and angels travell toward the end the one had a short cut without difficulties the other hath a long race in many infirmities and miseries Therefore of these it is said Apoc. 7. 14. These are they which came out of many tribulations To return again to the laws possibilitie a fourth argument ariseth from the nature of a law For if God should give such a law which could not be kept of us then it could not binde us because by the rule of justice no man ought to be bound to that which is impossible for that were a wrong both to nature and grace Therefore the School verse saith Ultra posse viri non vult Deus ulla requiri A fifth argument is from the end of a law which is to be kept for if God should command things impossible then he should make a law not to be kept but to be broken which is contrarie to the right end of a law and of a lawgiver But God for his infinite wisdome will never give a law to a wrong end therefore he will never command things impossible But the adversaries to this truth will perchance object that when God first gave his law to man it was possible to be kept the impossibilitie now proceeds onely from our selves because through our own default it is that we are disinabled and therefore God may justly still oblige us to it though impossible But to this it is answered that Christ hath made a full satisfaction for that default of ours and by this means discharged us of that obligation insomuch that God can no more in equitie now require impossibilities at our hands then he could at first at Adams Neither does he if we may beleeve S. Paul who saith I can do all things by Christ that strengtheneth me But it may be further urged that the law is still the same it was and therefore of it self doth oblige us now to as exact a performance as ever it did Adam though God for Christ his sake is pleased to remit from the rigour of it requiring sub poena no more of us then we being assisted by his grace are able to perform To this I answer that the law obliges us no further then the intent of the lawgiver was to extend it and therefore if God intends not now as questionlesse he doth not to exact of us the performance of the law as it stood in its rigour quoad omnes gradus neither does it in reason oblige us now to any such perfection And so by consequence the law as given to Adam is not the rule whereby we are to be judged but as it was given to us in Christ which every Christian ought and therefore may perform And here we may observe that it is most convenient to reason and justice that the law should be exacted so farre as the possibilitie of the obliged could reach and no further Adam in his integritie might have perfectly kept it if he would and therefore the fulfilling of it in rigour was expected sub poena of him and that justly we now fallen would perfectly fulfill it but cannot by reason of the punishment inflicted on us by our just judge and therefore durante poenâ he cannot in equitie now expect that perfection in keeping it which Adam had For to mutilate a runner or oppresse him with weights and then to command him to runne with that agilitie and speed he formerly could unlesse he were endued with his first integritie strength and libertie of limbes is absurd so to think our good God now in this our languour and reluctancy of nature will under pain of death tie us to absolute obedience and not restore us to the state of innocencie wherein 't was possible is altogether as senslesse and unreasonable A sixth argument is from the goodnesse of the lawgiver which is God If God should command things impossible then he should be more cruel then a tyrant who will not offer to ask of his subjects such a tribute which he knows cannot be paid nor make such a law which cannot be kept because this is against the common good of every state but God is good to all and no tyrant because his mercie is over all his works therefore he will not command any thing impossible And to this accordeth S. Augustine Deus nec impossibile aliquid potuit imperare quia justus est nec hominem damnaturus est pro eo quod non potuit vitare quia pius est God could not command any thing impossible because he is just neither will he damne a man for that he could not avoid because he is mercifull Now it is manifest that God gave his law in Moses time many hundred yeares after Adams fall and therefore he gave it to be kept according to the condition of mans present estate And in this estate it pleased the Almightie to make a league of friendship betwixt himself and mankinde whereupon Abraham who lived before the law was called the friend of God and holy David a man after his own heart Now let any man tell me how a father that hath received his prodigall sonne into his grace and favour and forgiven all can yet exact of his sonne without tyrannie or ridiculousnesse to perform as many acts of hospitalitie or otherwise now in the estate of his decocted patrimonie as in his full riches unlesse the father had restored him again unto as great an inheritance To confirm this answer take this argument A man can either do as much as Gods grace inables him or not If not how doth grace inable him If he can do all which Gods grace inableth him to do how is it possible for a most just and good God either to desire or at least require more then his own with all usury possible Secondly to impose on man his friend precepts impossible to be observed neither suiteth with the true rules of friendship neither is compatible with the majestie of so most just a Creator especially seeing he hath now supplied mans fall with his Sonnes grace which is farre greater and better then that in paradise for Adam demerited but one sinne to his posteritie viz. original which cannot be augmented but Christ hath poured out the abundance of his graces for our salvation as S. Paul speaketh Not as the offence so also is the free gift for if through the offence of one many be dead much more the grace of God and the gift by grace which is by one man Jesus Christ hath abounded unto many Valor meritorum satisfactionis Christi longè excedit demerita Adae idque non ex acceptatione divina sed ex rigida justitia valore ipsorum operum quem habebant ex dignitate personae operantis patientis so the School And S. Leo thus Ubi abundavit peccatum superabundavit gratia qui