thus for knowing that none could call himself the proper and natural Son of God who must not assert himself likewise to be God and allowing him to be nothing more than a mere Man they again tax him with Blasphemy and go about to stone him I and my Father says our Lord are One. Then the Jews took up Sones again to stone him Jesus answer'd them Many good Works have I shew'd you from my Father for which of those Works do ye stone me The Jews answer'd him saying For a good work we stone thee not but for Blasphemy and because that thou being a Man makest thy self God The Jews I say in these places accuse him of calling himself the Son of God in the most proper Sense and consequently of making himself also very God And yet our Lord is so far from traversing the Indictment or reselling the Crimination that in Vers 38. he confirms their Logick and then leaves them in this Opinion which certainly he could never have done without infinite Derogation from the Honour of the Divine Majesty and downright blasphemy had he not really been what they apprehended he said he was the Proper Natural and Only Begotten Son of God Thus I say is the Divinity of our Lord put beyond all possibility of Distrust being preach'd to all the World by Angels Prophets and Apostles Proclaim'd more than once from Heaven by the God of all Truth the Eternal Father of Angels and men and also most positively asserted in a publick Assembly by our Lord himself who as the * 1 Pet. 2.22 Holy Ghost bears him witness did no Sin neither was guile found in his mouth What need we then My Brethren any farther witness Or how is it possible for any Man who rightly understands the weight of Divine Testimony to call it into Question Such Men as †Hist Eccles lib. 5. cap. 28. Eusebius has long since observ'd must be more wise than their Maker more knowing and more intelligent even than God that made them Those inspir'd and infallible Witnesses the Prophets and Apostles were not so knowing and the most intelligent of all the Heavenly Spirits the Cherubims themselves if compar'd to them are found wanting The Church of Christ in all Ages has unhappily been overspread with the thick uncomfortable darkness of Ignorance and Error and These Men alone have had the inestimable Privilege of enjoying the happy Goshen the Dwellings of Light the glorious Habitations of Wisdom and Knowledge For if after the complicated irrefragable Testimony of so many Infallible Witnesses the Belief and Confession of the Church be requir'd in this Matter She has in all Ages believ'd and confess'd it This is that Faith says the * Concil Paris tom 1. pag. 844. Synod of Antioch which we have receiv'd from the Beginning and which the holy Catholick Church preserves pure and undefil'd having deriv'd it by a constant and uninterrupted Succession even unto this Day from the Blessed Apostles themselves And †Videas Bulli Defensionem Fidei Nicenae Whitbit tractatum de verâ Christi Deitate sect 2. some truly excellent and Learned Divines of our own have shewn at large the Truth of this Assertion from the particular Writings and Monuments of the Primitive Fathers who as well before as after the Council of Nice with one Heart and one Voice confess and maintain the Divinity and Eternal Generation of the Son of God These well-grounded and pious Souls could not be laugh'd or ridicul'd by the Scoffs and Jeers the Taunts and Sarcasms of their Learned and witty Adversaries nor frighted by the severest Appearances of Torture and Persecution out of their Trust and Confidence in the Holy Jesus but notwithstanding all the Imputations of Folly and Madness from an invidious Trypho a scoffing Lucian a virulent Celsus and a malicious Julian they continually call'd upon him in the time of Trouble and as * Epist l. 10. Ep. 97. Pliny tells Trajan sang Praises to him as to the God of their Salvation Neither did they only thus bravely contend for the Faith against the violent Incursions of the wild Boar out of the Forest the Menaces and blasphemous Assaults of their profess'd Enemies the Jews and Gentiles but also were infinitely careful to secure it from the Wiles and Stratagems of the little Foxes those false Teachers that crept in amongst them and under the specious Pretences of Reason and Revelation continually endeavour'd to spoil the Lords Vineyard No sooner did any Heretick dare to impugn or invalidate this Doctrine but he was immediately disown'd by all the Faithful and Anathematiz'd or cast out of the Church as a ravenous Wolf who design'd only to devour and tear in pieces the Lord's Flock which is demonstratively Evident from that Class of Hereticks Ebion Theodotus Artemon Paulus Samosatenus and Photinus In short Socinus himself confesseth that the whole Stream of Antiquity runs against him and that of all the Primitive Fathers and Councils there is not so much as one that any way countenanceth his Opinion So that you see from all hands that unless with a truly Satanical Pride we exalt our selves above all that is called God and flatly give Heaven and Earth God Angels and pious Men the Lye to their face and side only with Jews Turks and Pagans we must acknowledge the Blessed Jesus to be in very deed no other than the Only-Begotten Son of the Most High the Maker of All things the King of Glory Alpha and Omega the First of Beings and the Last of Ends which is and which was and which is to come the Almighty Thus then does the Greatness of our Salvation appear from the Greatness and Majesty of the Person undertaking it It does so 2. From the Greatness and Unconceivableness of those Sufferings whereby he did accomplish it Some indeed lessen the Sufferings of our Lord by thinking he had the Comprehension of Blessedness the Supports of actual Glory in the midst of all his Torments that even then he did behold the Face of God and communicate in Glory But in answer to Men of these Thoughts I consider with the Excellent Bishop * Great Exemplar pag. 413 414. Taylor 1. That though the two Natures of Christ were knit by a mysterious Union into one Person yet the Natures still retain'd their incommunicable Properties so that as the Divine Nature could not by vertue of this Union derive upon it self the Infirmities of the Humane so neither did the Humane partake in all Instances of the Felicities of the Divine these indeed being essentially in God but to Man communicated without Necessity and by an arbitrary Dispensation Tho' therefore as God he is omniscient and knows every thing yet that as Man he was ignorant as many things seeking Fruit upon the Fig-tree when the time of Figs was not come and telling us himself that he knew not the Day nor the Hour when he should judge the World and therefore being said to have
Glorified Spirits to behold admire and praise his excellent Greatness and when our enlarged Souls shall fly away to the same blissful Mansions and be admitted to the Comprehensions of an intuitive Beatitude they shall with equal Satisfaction contemplate his Divine Beauty and as skilfully tune their Harps to his Praises as they Let us therefore in the mean time lay our Hand upon our Mouth and with all due Prostration both of Body and Mind adore this great Mystery of Goodness this astonishing Miracle of the Divine Mercy and Condescention which though above the adequate Comprehension of our Reason is put beyond all possibility of Distrust being most amply confirm'd to us by the concurrent and infallible Testimony of God Angels and Men. At his Baptism and Transfiguration you know he was proclaim'd by a Voice from Heaven to be the Beloved Son of God in whom he was well pleas'd And again when he bringeth in his First-begotten into the World he commands that this Exinanition of himself this Obscuration of his Essential Glory under the Veil of Humane Flesh may not diminish one Ray from the Honour of his Divine Majesty but that all the Potentates in Heaven and Earth fall down and worship him Worship him †Psal 97.7 says he all ye Gods all ye Angels and Thrones in Heaven all ye Kings and Judges of the Earth The holy Angels with their usual Chearfulness obey'd the Royal Orders They humbly ador'd the holy Child Jesus and stood ready through all the Periods of his Life to Serve and Worship him St. Peter though he saw him not so clearly as these Blessed Spirits generously confess'd that he was Christ the Son of the Living God and he receiv'd this Confirmation from the Mouth of our Lord himself That Flesh and Blood had not reveal'd it unto him but his Father only which is in Heaven Nay to the everlasting Shame and Confusion of the unbelieving Sons of Men the Devils themselves have ever subscrib'd to this Article They knew and confess'd him here on Earth and still believe and tremble The over-aw'd and trembling ‖ Vid. Suidam in August Oracle plainly confess'd to the Roman Emperour at his Birth that though he appear'd under all the disadvantageous Circumstances of Humanity and Weakness He was the Soveraign Lord and King of the blest Beings above * Luke 8.28 which was afterwards confirm'd by a whole Legion of unclean Spirits when in the Man possess'd they joyntly lifted up their Voices to him with a Jesus thou Son of God Most High But to what purpose I say was all this or why all this Noise and Ostentation had he not been the Son of God in another and more excellent manner than were any of the Sons of Men who either liv'd with him or that went before him had there not been something in it extraordinary that entitled him to so sublime and divine a Privilege Angels Kings and Prophets I confess are frequently call'd the Sons of God They have a larger Participation of his Power or a Communication of more special Grace than is indulg'd and granted to his other Children but yet their Honour and Dignity fall infinitely short of that of Jesus the Son of God For to which of the Angels said he at any time Thou art my Son this Day have I begotten thee Or who is he amongst all those exalted Sons of the Most High whom the Father advanc'd to sit at his own Right-hand till his Enemies are made his Footstool David you know was a King and yet he calls him Lord and John the Baptist though he was more than a Prophet was never by Angels Men or Devils acknowledg'd to be properly the Son of God no these are the high Prerogatives of our Lord Christ Jesus to him alone belong the most glorious and supereminent Titles of his own Son his only Son his only Begotten and the Heir of all things So that in all things I say he has the Preheminence But the Scriptures if possible speak plainer yet They not only instruct by natural and necessary Illations and Consequences but also to prevent all Cavils and Disputes are careful in many places to assert this Truth as clearly and as expresly as Words can speak * Joh. 20.28 29. St. Thomas believes and confesseth to him that he is his Lord and God and those who should afterwards inherit the same Faith are pronounced Blessed The Beloved †Joh. 1.1 Disciple is positive that the Word was God and in the Close of his first Epistle speaking of Jesus to shew against an Objection which he rightly foresaw would be afterwards urg'd against the Christians that they might safely worship him without any Fear or Danger of that Idolatry which the Heathens were guilty of in worshipping their Daemons This says he is not Deus factus a made God a God by Office not by Nature but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the True God The Learn'd * 1 Cor. 15.87 1 Tim. 3.16 Rom. 9.5 Apostle adds that this Second Man is the Lord from heaven and God manifested in the Flesh and again most blasphemously if not truly this being that particular Eulogy which is due only to Jehovah the one Supreme Eternal God of Israel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God over all Blessed for Ever and Ever Nay not to mention the many Repetitions of this most glorious Doxology to him in other places of Scripture This is that good Confession our Lord himself made before his Judge He had all along to the Rage and Amazement of his Enemies held his peace shewing by his Silence that he despis'd all their Accusations as certain and apparent Calumnies But no sooner is urg'd to determine this Point but he opens his Mouth and decides the matter I adjure thee by the living God * Mat. 26.63 64. says the High-Priest that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ the Son of God Jesus after their modest way of Affirmation saith unto him Thou hast said Or as St. Mark more positively Jesus said I am 'T is certain the High-Priest understood him not in that Vulgar Sense wherein Great and Righteous Persons Kings and Prophets are call'd the Sons of God but that he affirm'd himself to be so in the Literal Proper and Natural Signification of the words For otherwise he could not upon the account of this Confession have charg'd him with Blasphemy nor consequently the Council have voted him to be guilty of Death Thus too in the Fifth of St. John he tells the Jews plainly that God is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his own Father making himself thereby as they rightly concluded to be Equal with God And in another Conference with them in the Tenth of that Evangelist He not only owns himself to be the Christ and the Son of God in the most proper sence but adds farther that He and his Father are One One not in Will only but in Essence Glory Honour and Power I am sure the Jews understood him
greater was his Mercy so unwilling was he that they should perish that he promis'd the interceeding Patriarch that if he cou'd find but ten Righteous Persons amongst them he would save them all But not to multiply Instances which are numberless the liveliest and most breathing Image of the Divine Mercy and Pity the most glorious and ravishing Displays of his unbounded Compassions appears in the wonderful Contrivance of our Restitution the mysterious and Costly Redemption of Lapsed Man This is an Instance of Love so astonishing and unfathomable as will afford new matter through all the Ages of Eternity for the Contemplation and Praises of the Saints and Angels in Heaven Since 't is a Province too great for any Created Being the Son of God himself before whose insupportable Glories the Seraphims veil their faces graciously descends from the Celestial Paradise into the Wilderness of this World to seek his straying Creatures to restore the lost sheep of the House of Israel and with his own Voice to call them back to himself the great Shepherd and Bishop of their Souls He comes in his Father's Name to proclaim Pardon and Forgiveness to all that return to him to demonstrate his infinite Tenderness and Compassion for every Soul of the Sons of Adam that notwithstanding all their Sins he would not have any of them perish not the greatest not the oldest not the most presumptuous of Sinners but that all should come to the Knowledge of the Truth and be sav'd This is his Business This his Errand This the great End and Design of his Coming which having finish'd in all the Parts he undertook and to confirm our Faith seal'd his Letters of Invitation with his own Blood and being now to return to the Father he to the Everlasting Comfort and Joy of Repenting Sinners commands his Apostles to go forth and carry them into all Parts of the World Go * Mark 16.15 says he and Preach the Gospel these glad Tidings of Reconciliation and Peace between God and Man to every Creature And accordingly too St. †2 Cor. 5.19 Paul tells us that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself not imputing to them their trespasses and sins The whole Tenour and Design you see of the Evangelical Dispensation is to bring Sinners to their Saviour to call them off from all their vain Confidences to believe and trust only in the Son of God to beseech them to come to Christ that they may be refresh'd and find Rest unto their Souls And so I am brought to the Second Thing observable in the Text viz. the Person to whom the Invitation is made To Me that is to our only Saviour and Redeemer the Lord Christ Jesus 2. We are not then to unfold our Necessities or to present our Supplications and Prayers to Saints or Martyrs to Patriarchs Prophets or Apostles no not to the Blessed Virgin Mother her self The Votaries indeed of this Glorious Saint in the Romish Church are as a Learned * See a Discourse of the due Praise and Honour of the Virgin Mary intituled Speculum Beatae Virginis Author of our own has shewn at large sufficiently extravagant in the Honours they pay to her They exalt her above the Thrones even of Cherubim and Seraphim array her in the brightest Robes of Majesty and Honour and most religiously and devoutly Romance her into a Deity Nay this is not the Practice only of her private Authors but the more Authentick Voice likewise of her publick Offices in which they frequently invoke her by the paramount Titles of Mother of Mercy Mother of Grace Sweet Parent of Mercy Queen of Heaven the Gate of the Great King the only Hope of Sinners and their most gracious Lady Now these I say are Rants and Excesses indeed Excesses which questionless if known would put the Modesty of this Blessed Virgin to a much greater Blush than did the Appearance and Complement of the Angel Gabriel We confess her Privileges and Prerogatives are singularly great He that is Mighty hath magnify'd her and Blessed is her Name We acknowledge her a most happy Instrument of our Good and therefore shall her Memory be always Dear to us Dear and Honour'd throughout all Generations Dear and Reverenc'd but not worshipp'd and ador'd In a word Her according to her own Prediction will we ever call Blessed but only amongst Women To Her will we ascribe Glory Honour and Praise But to her Son alone with the Father and the Holy Spirit Power Might Majesty and Dominion For to speak a little closer to this Point if the Saints in Heaven This Blessed Virgin and the Rest have no constant Knowledge of our Affairs here below then 't is the Inference of every Elementary Logician and the Concession of the greatest Champions of their own Party that 't is altogether in vain and to no purpose to Pray to them Si non cognoscant nostras orationes videtur otiosum supervacaneum ad ipsos orare are * De Relig tom 2. l. 1. c. 10. Suarez his own Words But that the Saints in Heaven this Blessed Virgin and the Rest have no constant Knowledge of our Affairs here below and consequently that 't is altogether in vain and to no purpose to Pray to them is evident from that of the Prophet †Cap. 63. v. 16. Isaiah Abraham is ignorant of us and Israel knows us not For certainly if Abraham and Israel were ignorant and know nothing of the Affairs of that very People which descended from their own Loins then we have all the Reason in the World to conclude that the Saints in Heaven have no constant Knowledge of us and of our Affairs who are perfect Strangers to their Blood and Families Our Adversaries I know will be here ready to Object That Abraham and Israel were rightly said by the Prophet to be ignorant and to know nothing in his Time of the Affairs of Mankind and consequently that then indeed 't was but in vain and to no purpose to pray to them because before the Resurrection of our Lord the Patriarchs were not admitted into Heaven but lay only in Limbo the Retir'd and Secret Caverns of the Earth where they were utterly excluded from the Vision of God and likewise from all Traffick and Commerce with Men. But that now the case is quite alter'd with them that they are all translated from those Regions of Darkness that State of Expectation those Tabernacles of Hope into the inmost Court of Heaven the Kingdom of their Father the Land of Fruition where their Understandings are so widen'd and enlarg'd that they have a particular entire and perfect Knowledge of all things that are done both in Heaven and Earth and consequently of all the Circumstances Concerns Occurrences and Affairs of every Man's Life so that now they are become the proper Objects of our Devotion being both privy to all our Necessities and also as Fellow-Members of the same Mystical Body most willing and
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Singular Number and he says with St. Paul That what the Heathens thus sacrific'd they sacrific'd to Devils and not to God From all which put together it evidently appears That the thinking Sages of the Heathen World had a clear and distinct Idea of the Malignity of some Evil Spirits which we Christians know to be Apostate or Fallen Angels 2. These wicked and malignant Daemons are permitted to wander up and down in the Earth Minut. Felix tells us of Hosthanes whom he calls the First of the Magi that he deliver'd a tradition of some malignant Daemons which wander to and fro in the Earth and are Enemies to Mankind and both the Jews with most of the * Vide eruditissimum illum virum Josephum Mede l. 1. serm 4. Fathers of the four first Centuries and also the Pythagoreans and Platonists and other Sects have carried the Notion yet higher affirming that not only the whole Circumference of this Lower World but that likewise the several Regions of the Air and all that Space above the Globe of the Earth to the Face of Heaven is full of Daemons or Evil Spirits who serve under their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Prince and are commission'd and sent out by him to inveigle undiscerning Mortals into Ruin and Destruction Thus the great * Sect. 4. cap. 13. Patron of the Egyptian Mysteries does not hesitate to assert 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that without all Controversie these Spirits have a vast and almost unlimited Power over the Affairs of Men and in the Government of this World and therefore †Sect. 2. cap. 3 7. he indifferently calls them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Governours Rulers of this World who manage all Sublunary things as they please And indeed he seems here to stretch himself much beyond his Measure and not to speak like an undisciplin'd unilluminated Philosopher For the Saviour of the World himself who best knew what Power he had given to this Enemy of Mankind * Joh. 12.31 stiles him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Prince of this World and the great Apostle of the Gentiles advanceth yet farther expresly †2 Cor. 4.4 calling him the God of this World both which mighty Denominations sufficiently indicate that the Devil is more than a petty Prince in this World Nay in the sixth Chapter of the Epistle to the Ephesians he delivers himself in such terms as seem to betray the Reading of the forecited Philosopher Put on says he the whole Armour of God that ye may be able to repell all the Temptations and Stratagems and to hold out against all the Assaults of your Adversaries for your Danger is great and your Enemies powerful you wrestle not against Flesh and Blood i. e. against any ordinary Human Enemies but against the several Ranks of Devils 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 against Principalities against Powers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 against the Rulers of the Darkness of this World against spiritual Wickedness or as the ‖ Grotium videas Hammondum Syriack reads wicked Spirits in high places Here as the Reverend and Learned Dr. Hammond observes Wicked Spirits in high places are distinguish'd from the Rulers of the Darkness of this World noting thereby several sorts of Devils either in respect of their Mansions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aerial or earthly Spirits or else of the Inclinations which they suggest The Earthly Devils suggesting grosser carnal Appetites the Filthiness of the Flesh the Aerial Pride Vain-glory Malice and such like the Filthiness of the Spirit But from the Consideration of the destructive and implacable Temper of these Spirits of Darkness the truly Philosophical and most Thinking Pagans follow'd herein by some eminent and ancient * Vide Hermae Pastorem lib 2. mandat 6. Edit Ox. Christians have been induc'd to believe that every individual Person is not only the common Scope of their Envy and Malice but that as the Poet sings Quisque suos patitur manes every Man has likewise his peculiar Evil Angel which constantly attends him curiously observing his Faults and endeavouring by all Arts and Stratagems to ruine and destroy him Thus every Pythagorean had two Genii a Good one and a bad one the latter of which Olympiodorus calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Daemon which hales the Soul to Judgment and which he says follows her into this World against her Will whereas she chooseth her Good Genius to be her Leader and Guardian and as Plato speaks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Accomplisher of all her Desires Mahomet has adopted the same Doctrine into his Religion telling us withal That they sit on Mens Shoulders with Table-Books in their Hands and that the one writes down all the Good the other all the Evil a Man does But whatever we think of this certain it is That the Evil Spirits are not only permitted sometimes to tempt Men to bring Mischief upon themselves but that many of the Disasters and Calamities which are brought upon the World may also be attributed to the same pernicious Agents Jamblicus was very sensible of this and therefore he * Sect. 2. c. 7. calls them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 punishing or revenging Daemons and for the same Reason the †Gallaeum consulas ad calcem Orac. Sibyll Chaldaick Oracles stile them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Earthly Dogs and Executioners of Mankind ‖ De Abst l. 2 pag. 198 202. Porphyry is of the same Opinion ascribing the Miseries of Humane Life such as Plagues Famines Sterilities Earthquakes Droughts to no other Cause than the Malice of these Daemons and he is follow'd herein by Bodinus who attributes not only all prodigious Thunders Storms and Tempests but even your most ordinary Winds to Good or Bad Angels Now tho' I can by no means subscribe to him in this Latitude yet 't is sufficiently evident from the History of Job that as to the former Opinion both he and the other Philosophers are much in the right For * Cap. 1. there we find him both consuming the Good Man's Sheep and Servants with Lightning and also by a great and violent Wind from the Wilderness overturning the House upon his Sons and Daughters †Psal 78.49 Nay the Royal Psalmist puts the Case beyond all reasonable Doubt assuring us That the dreadful and tragical Scene of multiply'd Signs and Wonders in the Land of Egypt was acted by the Ministry of Evil Spirits He cast upon them says he the Fierceness of his Anger Wrath and Indignation and Trouble 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by sending Evil Angels among them And the Apostle seems to assert no less when he ‖ Eph. 2.2 calls the Devil the Prince of the Power of the Air. But as 't is certain that the Devil is permitted sometimes actually to tempt Men sometimes to amaze them only by the horrible Fragors of Storms and Tempests so likewise 't is evident that he is a Person capable of a
is so merciful that he will not suffer his Displeasure to arise but that he calls us daily importunes us incessantly and intreats us earnestly to return That he begs us not to ruin and destroy our selves opens his Arms to receive us tho' we have been never so ungrateful and promiseth Pardon for all that is past if we will but take care to be obedient for the future Lastly we know that if we will return and do Works meet for Repentance he will in due time take us from this Vale of Misery these Regions of Exile this State of our Pilgrimage into his Father's House there solemnly pronounce our Discharge before all his Saints and crown us with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory Now then to trespass against this great Friend and Benefactor whose wonderful Love even condescended to assume our Nature into his Divinity and so to exalt it above Cherubims and all the brightest Orders of Intelligences who in our Nature thus assum'd graciously embrac'd for our â—akes both the Miseries and Calamities of a distressed Life and also the Infamy and Tortures of an accursed Death who still notwithstanding all our disingenuous and most ungrateful Returns continues his Tenderness and Compassion for us even â—ayly offering his Grace and Pardon to the greatest of Sinners and by all the gentle Insinuations of an unwearied â—over endeavouring to allure and entice them into Happiness To trespass I say against this great Friend and Benefactor is certainly a Provocation of the most amazing Proportions a Sin of the deepest Dye the basest and soulest Ingratitude that can be imagined What then think you will be the Condition of such Sinners when God shall come to Judge the World When they shall see him whose infinite Love they have despised and rejected coming in the Clouds of Heaven and all his Holy Angels with him to reward every Man according to his Works Alas every Circumstance of this glorious Day will frightfully represent to their awak'ned Consciences the monstrous Aggravations of their unparallell'd Ingratitude This God who now comes in the Clouds with Vengeance is that very Saviour who dy'd to redeem them Those Emeralds or sparkling Jewels that shine so gloriously in his Body the deep and gastly Wounds he receiv'd 〈◊〉 their sakes Those glittering Attendantâ— and Myriads of holy Ones the Company he design'd for their Eternal Conversation and those bright Regions of Everlastâ—â—â— Day which appear over their Heads thâ— Place he so dearly purchas'd for their immortal Inheritance These things I say thus united and at once represented to their view will swell their Passions to that Height and Fullness as infinitely exceed the Measures of Mortality to conceive They will occasion such sharp such acute Reflections as like two-edged Swords will every way rend and tear and stab and gash their mollified Spirits with fresh incurable Wounds to all Eternity Their monstrous Ingratitude will then look them broad in the face and like frightful and terrible Gorgons or Furies possess their Souls with Horror and Trembling with ineffable Amazement and everlasting Confusion In a word The thorough and lively Apprehensions which they shall then have of their Sins and Follies will so incense and enrage them that they 'll be all in a flame with Fury and Indignation against themselves weeping and wailing and gnashing their Teeth always as it were uon a Rack without any Intermission of their Pains and Anguish distorted afflicted distracted confounded What then remains but that since these things are so we seriously take our Case into Consideration That since our Burden is lighter than that of Jews or Gentiles we run with greater Chearfulness the ways of God's Commandments That we grieve not the Holy Spirit nor turn the Grace of God into Lasciviousness but that the great extraordinary Assistances which we now enjoy under the Gospel influence our Wills direct our Choice and give Warmth and Vigour to our Affections That the certain Faith and Assurance which we have of a Future State and of its Rewards and Punishments work most powerfully upon our Minds to conquer all the Temptations of this Life to deterr us from doing any thing whereby we may forfeit our Crown and to render us stedfast immoveable always abounding in the Work of the Lord forasmuch as we know that our Labour will not be in vain in the Lord and since the greatest Punishments imaginable attend our Miscarriages that we lift up the hands that hang down and strengthen the feeble knees and run with patience the Race that is set before us Let us then look unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our Faith and follow his Example who for the Joy that was set before him endur'd the Cross despis'd the Shame and is therefore now sat down at the Right-hand of the Majesty on High Let us frequently contemplate his stupendious unfathomable Love in vouchsafing to assume our Nature that he who is Mighty should so debase himself to magnifie us and evermore say with the inflam'd and seraphick Virgin Holy and Blessed is his Name Let us with her Piety and Devotion view the Immaculate Lamb of God crown'd with Thorns upon the Cross Let us behold him there bleeding and dying for our Sins Let his unconceivable Agonies sink deep into our Hearts and make us to weep bitterly for those Sins which caus'd such Torments to our Dearest Lord. Let us beseech him by all that Anguish and Amazement his Soul endur'd for our sakes never to suffer us to crucifie him any more but that he would be pleas'd to come and take up his Lodging with us to drive out all those Usurpers the World with its Vanities to make an utter Destruction of every Amalakite and to take to himself the entire Possession of our Hearts Let us most passionately intreat him not to suffer our immortal Souls the price of his own Blood to perish but that he would be graciously pleas'd to wash away all their Stains to cloath them in his white Robe and so to present them spotless and unblameable to our Heavenly Father Lastly If the Author of Salvation and that Eternal too be worthy to be prais'd let us now begin these Songs upon Earth which will be our happy Employment and Business in Heaven with all those glorious Angels and Holy Ten Thousands that worship about the Throne saying Blessing and Honour and Glory and Power be unto him that fitteth upon the Throne and unto the Lamb for Ever and Ever Amen Amen Allelujah ECCLES ix v. 10. Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do do it with thy might WEre we to take the Measures of our most holy Profession as they are reach'd out to us in the Systems of some Christian Rabbins how prodigiously irrational and absurd an Institution would it appear to be An Institution both repugnant to the glorious Attributes of God and also destructive to the Welfare and Happiness of Mankind They pronounced it a state of absolute Liberty and Emancipation a perfect Discharge from
ready to here and assist us But I answer 1. That this Opinion of Abraham and Israel's being in Limbo only and not in Heaven it self before the Resurrection of our Lord is groundless and unwarrantable Elias we are sure was translated into Heaven and we know likewise that Moses came down with him from that place to commune with our Lord upon the Mount But if these his Sons were thought worthy before the Resurrection of our Lord to be admitted into those blissful Mansions why Abraham the Father of the Faithful and the Peculiar Friend of God Why Isaac and Israel and the other Patriarchs and Prophets who were all Heirs of the same most holy Faith should be excluded I know not But supposing this Opinion was really as true as they would have it and that we could not deny what you see we have all the Reason in the World to deny but that the Saints before the Resurrection of our Lord lay only in Limbo but are now in Heaven yet that being there they have a particular entire and perfect Knowledge of all things that are done in Heaven and Earth and consequently of all the Circumstances Concerns Occurrences and Affairs of every Man's Life and so are become the Objects of our Devotion is I answer in the 2. Place a most unphilosophical false and impious Assertion that has no Foundation in Scripture Reason or Antiquity 1. It has no Foundation in Scripture Now to pray after any other manner than what Christ himself hath taught us is not only Ignorance but Sin says * De Orat. Domin pag. 139. Ed. Oxon. St. Cyprian But what one place is there I ask in all his Scriptures that demands this of us which of all his Apostles Evangelists or Prophets doth allow that any of the Saints departed should be invok'd by us Bannes a Learned Dominican ingenuously confesseth that he knows not of any His Words are as express and full as can be Orationes ad Sanctos faciendas nequè etià m expressè nequè involute Scripturae docent i. e. that 't is our Duty to Pray to the Saints the Scriptures do neither explicitely nor implicitely inform us And those of his own Profession have never yet been able to shew that he is in an Errour 2. This Assertion has no Foundation in Reason For if the Saints in Heaven have a particular entire and perfect Knowledge of all things that are done in Heaven and Earth and consequently of all the Circumstances Concerns Occurrences and Affairs of every Man's Life and so are become the Objects of our Devotion then this Knowledge of theirs is owing either 1. To their own Ubiquitary Presence by vertue of which they see and hear all our Words and Actions as some of our Adversaries affirm Or 2. As others with the like Boldness To their Perspicacity and Clear-sightedness whereby they are able to discern our very Thoughts and Intentions Or 3. To the constant and faithful Relations of daily-ascending Saints and Angels as a Third more modestly Or 4. As most To the Vision of the Divine Essence which they call Speculum Trinitatis But all these ways are ridiculous and absurd and some of them impious For 1. The Saints in Heaven have not a particular entire and perfect Knowledge of all things that are done in Heaven and Earth and consequently of all the Circumstances Concerns Occurrences and Affairs of every Man's Life and so are become the Objects of our Devotion because they are every where present and so see and hear all our Words and Actions Heaven indeed is God's Throne and the Earth is his Foot-stool The Heaven of Heavens cannot contain him but he fills all Places both in Heaven and Earth and the imaginary Space too beyond the Limits of Both he is a God near at hand to us all to those that abide in the Continent and that remain in the broad Sea and also that live afar off in the Ends of all the Earth In a word tho' he cannot be circumscrib'd or included in any Place yet by his Immensity he is so every where present as not to be excluded out of any so that we may all of us at one and the same time pour out our Prayers before him with full Assurance of being heard But now 't is quite otherwise with all Created Beings Creation necessarily implies Limitation so that 't is as great a Contradiction to say That the Essence or Virtue of a Created Being can be Boundless or Infinite as that a Self-Existent Independent Being can be Finite Every Abstracted Spirit therefore since Created tho' rais'd to the utmost degree of its Perfection is but Finite and consequently as that great Patriarch of the Roman Schools * Sum. Part. prim Quaest 52. Art 2. Aquinas himself confesseth non se extendit ad omnia sed ad aliquid unum determinatum tho' it may as it pleaseth be sometimes in a greater sometimes in a lesser place yet it is so far from being able to extend it self to all places that 't is always necessarily and unavoidably but in one Non est ubique nec in pluribus locis sed in uno loco tantùm as he speaks again in the same Paragraph Great then only is the Lord and greatly to be praised because there is no End of his Greatness 2. The Saints in Heaven have not a particular entire and perfect Knowledge of all things that are done in Heaven and Earth and consequently of all the Circumstances Concerns Occurrences and Affairs of every Man's Life and so are become the Objects of our Devotion from their Perspicacity or Clear-sightedness whereby they are able to discern our very Thought and Intentions This is plain from the Argument immediately foregoing For since according to the Laws of Creation the Saints are all limited and circumscrib'd in their Essences and Perfections it must necessarily be granted that they are likewise limited and circumscrib'd in their Science or Knowledge it being impossible for any Being but such as is Immense and fills all Places to know the different Concerns of all the several Beings residing and acting in those different Places God then alone since it appears that he only is Omnipresent must be acknowledg'd to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Searcher of the Hearts In him indeed do our Souls and Bodies live move and have their Beings He understands our Constitution knows whereof we are made the Composition as I may so say of our very Essences and therefore discerns all the Motions and Operations of our Souls In short 'T is his Prerogative alone to be about our Paths and about our Beds in our Hearts and in our Spirits and consequently to spy out all our Ways Whence it likewise appears in the 3. Place That the Saints in Heaven have not a particular entire and perfect Knowledge of all things that are done in Heaven and Earth and consequently of all the Circumstances Concerns Occurrences and Affairs of every Man's Life and