quo tellus ardeat A time shall come when Sea and earth and all the frame of this great World shall be consumed in flame 3. The Sybills grant this to which the Roman missal seems to allude joyning them with the Prophet David though I know not by what warrant Dies ira dies illa solvet saeculum in favilla teste David cum Sybilla A day of Wrath a day of fire So David with the Sybills doth conspire But to wave all these one Text of Scripture is to me more than all these 2 Pet. 3.10 The Heavens shall pass away with a great noise 2 Pet. 3.10 and the elements shall melt with fervent heat the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burnt up Hence all our Divines agree that a fire shall seaze on the Universe only some difference is amongst Divines whether the World shall be wholly annihilated or renewed by fire Jerome and Augustin and many after them say the end of this fire is for purifying and refining of the Heaven and Earth for all corruptible qualities shall be burnt out of them but they in their substance shall remain still if we ask them to what end shall this neather world be renewed some say for an habitacle of the restored Beasts others for a fitter accommodation of men †Mundus in melius immutatus aperte accommodabitur hominibus in melius immutatis August de civit Dei l. 20. c. 16. and the glorified Saints others for a perpetual Monument of God's Power and Glory Polanus and some of our Moderns are of Opinion that * Polan Syntag l. 6. c. 70. These Heavens and this Earth when purified with those fires and super-invested with new endowments they shall be the everlasting habitations of the blessed Saints But on the contrary others are of the other opinion that all the World with all the parts and works except Men Angles and Devils Heaven and Hell the two mansions for the saved and damned shall be totally and finally dissolved and annihilated And of this opinion were Hilary Clement and all the ancients before Jerome and of our Moderns not a few For my part I rather incline this way because of the many Scriptures that are so express I shall only mention these Job 14.12 Psal 102.25 26. Isa 34.4 Man lyeth down and riseth not till the heavens be no more Of old thou hast laid the foundations of the Earth and the Heavens are the works of thy hands they shall perish but thou shalt endure All the hosts of heaven shall be dissolved and the heaven shall be rolled together as a scroll and all the host shall fall down as the leaf falleth from the Vine Rev. 6.14 and as a falling fig from the fig-tree To which prophesie John seems to allude And the heavens departed as a scrowl when it is rolled together and every Mountain and Island were moved out of their places Again Mat. 24.36 2 Pet. 3.10 heaven and earth shall pass away saith Christ but my Word shall not pass away The day of the Lord will come as a Thief in the night in the which the Heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat the earth also and the works that are therein 1 John 2.17 shall be burnt up And the world passeth away and the lusts thereof but he that doth the will of God abideth for ever and I saw a great white Throne Rev. 20.11 and him that sate on it from whose face the earth and heaven fled away and they was found no place for them Now I would demand whether being no more as Job and perishing as David and rolling together and falling down like a withered leaf as Isay and passing away as our Saviour and Peter and flying away as John do not include to utter abolition If to these Scriptures I should add one reason I would argue from the end of the Worlds Creation was it not partly for the glory of God and partly for the use of man now for the glory of God the manifestation of it is occasioned by the manifestation of the world unto man if man therefore should be removed out of the world and no creature in it be capable of such a manifestation what would become of his glory And for the use of man that is either to supply his necessity in matter of dyet physick building apparel or for his instruction direction recreation comfort delight now when he shall attain that blessed estate of enjoying God and seeing God face to face these ends or the like must needs be frustrate This argument is weighty and we need no more Only we shall hear an Antagonist's objections and give them their answers and so conclude The Texts more especially objected against this opinion are two the first is that in Rom. 8.21 Rom. 8.21 The creature it self shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the Sons of God here say the◠is an earnest expectation attributed to brute Creatures that they shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the Children of God But I answer that no immortal being of the brute creatures is here promised but only a simple deliverance and dismission from the servitude they were in to ungrateful men The Birds Beasts and Fishes do now suffer for our dyet Horses Mules and beasts of that nature do now groan under the burthens of our pleasures or necessities their annihilation therefore to them must needs be a kind of deliverance and at last they shall be delivered at the time of the glorious liberty of the Sons of God the Text will bear it thus †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pro 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 10.2 as sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pro 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 4.11 1 Cor. 2.15 So Chrysostome expounds it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pro 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Creature shall be delivered by the glorious liberty of the Sons of God i.e. When such a deliverance comes to men these shall be freed from their servitude by being not at all having done all the business for which they were ordained or created The second Text is that in 2 Pet. 3.13 2 Pet 3.13 We look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth Righteousness These words say some imply a purging rather than abolishing a taking off the corrupt qualities only not the substance But I am of another mind and if I must give my sense of the place I say 1. Negatively that by new heavens and new earth is not meant renewed heavens and earth 2 Pet. 3.7 10 is it not punctually in the seventh verse that the heavens and the earth which are now are reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and doth he not descend unto particulars in the tenth verse that the heavens which are
that is begotten which brings forth a third person or subsistence which we call the Holy Ghost 1. For the thing it self it is Jesus Christ who must be considered two ways as he is a Son and as he is a God Now as he is a Son he is the thing begotten but not as he is a God As he is God he is of himself neither begotten nor proceeding the God-head of the Father and the God-head of the Son is but one and the same thing and therefore * Esientia filiis est a seipsa hac ratione dici potest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 essentia tamen siliis non est a seipso ideo sic non est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Son as he is God he is God of himself without beginning even as the Father but as he is a Son he is not of himself but the Son of the Father begotten of him and hereupon it follows that the Son is begotten of the Father as he is a Son but not as he is a God 2. For the time of this generation it hath neither beginning middle nor end and therefore it is eternal before all worlds this is one of the wonders of our Jesus that the Father begetting and the Son begotten are coeternal Wisdom in the book of Proverbs which with one consent of all Divines is said to be Christ affirmeth thus Prov 8.24.25 2â— 2â— When there was no depths I was brought forth When there were no fountains abounding with water before the Mountains were setled before the hills was I was brought forth while as yet he had not made the earth nor the fields nor the highest part of the dust of the world when he prepared the heavens I was there when he set a compass upon the face of the depth I was there And a little before â—rov 8.22 23 the Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way before his works of old I was set up from everlasting from the beginning or ever the world was that is to say from eternity for before the world was made there was nothing but eternity It may be alleaged to the contrary that the saying of God the Father thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee Psa 2.7 Acts 13.32 33 is expounded by Paul of the time of Christs resurrection And we declare unto you glad tydings saith Paul how that the promise which was made unto the fathers God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children in that he hath raised up Jesus again as it is also written in the second Psalm thou art my Son this â—ay have I begotten thee But we distinguish betwixt generation it self and the manifestation or declaration of it Jesus the Son of God from all eternity was begotten but when he was incarnate and especially when he was raised again from the dead then was he mightily declared to be Gods Son by nature And of this declaration or manifestation of his eternal generation is that of the Apostle understood 3. For the manner of this generation of Jesus the Son of God understand there be two manners of begetting the one is carnal and outward and this is subject to corruption alteration and time the other is spiritual and inward and such was the beginning of the Son of God of whose generation there is neither corruption alteration nor time Isa 53.8 Rom. 11.33 But alas how should we declare his generation O my soul here thou mayest admire and adore with Paul and David and cry out O the depths of the riches both â—f the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways pâ—â—â— finding out There is no searching for us into the secret counsels of God which he never revealed in his Word but so far as he hath revealed himself we shall in sobriety according to the light of the Scriptures endeavour a discovery of the manner of this spiritual generation of the Son of God as thus We must consider in God two things 1. That in God there is an understanding 2. That in God this understanding everlastingly acts or works For the first that God hath a most excellent understanding or that he is understanding it self in the highest degree is very clear for he that gives understanding to all his intelligible creatures must needs have it and be it most eminently in himself if fire be the cause of heat in other things it must needs be that fire is the hottest of any thing * Propter quod unum quodque tale illud est magis talâ— Job 12 13 Prov. 8.14 the axiome is common but the Scripture verifies it with God is wisdom and strength he hath counsel and understanding Nay that this understanding is his very being is very plain Counsel is mine and sound wisdom I am understanding and I am strength For the second that this understanding in God everlastingly acts or works is very clear for that understanding which is the nature essence and being of God is a meer act or the first act it is all one with the life of God now as all life is active in it self so the chief life such as in the highest degree is to be attributed to God must needs be active what is the life of God but an essential property whereby the Divine nature is in perpetual action living and moving in it self and hereof is that speech in Scripture so often used Jer. 4.2 Jer. 38.16 Numb 14.21 Rom. 14.21 the Lord liveth hereof likewise is that asseveration or oath so often used by God as the Lord liveth and As I Live saith the Lord well then the understanding of God being active or working from all eternity it must needs have some eternal object on which it acts or works every action requires a sutable object about which it must act or be exercised so then if Gods understanding act eternally it must have some eternal object and if Gods understanding act most perfectly it must have some most perfect object to act upon and what is that but onely God himself that Gods understanding should act out of himself would argue his understanding to act upon that which is finite and imperfect Certainly nothing is infinite eternal and perfect but onely himself and therefore if his understanding will act upon any sutable object he must act upon nothing but himself And now we come to the manner of this high mystical spiritual generation of Jesus the Son of God As the understanding of God doth act and reflect upon it self from all eternity so it works this effect that it understands and conceives it self it apprehends in the understanding an image of that Object which it looks upon and this very image is the Son of God This we shall lay out by some similitudes A mans soul we know doth sometimes muse and meditate on other things as it thinks of Heaven or it thinks of earth this we call a right or direct or emanant
of greater place and calling whether it did not savour of sedition and disturbance of the State to lead about such a Crew of Disciples and followers after him and what was the reason of their flight whether it were not a token of their guiltiness of some disorder or of riotous practises It is not for me to speak how many Queries the High Priest might make to tempt Jesus but certainly he was sifted to the Bran examined to the full of all such circumstances as either might trap Christ or in the least degree advance and help forward his Condemnation to this question concerning his Disciples our Saviour answered nothing alas he knew the frailty of his followers he might have said For my Disciples you see one hath betrayed me and another will anon forswear me he stayes but for the crowing of the Cock and then you shall hear him curse and swear that he never knew me and for all the rest a pannick fear hath seized upon their hearts and they are fled and have left me alone to tread the Wine-press Ah no he will not speak evil of the Teachers of his people it was grief to him and added to his sufferings John 6.67 68 69. that all had forsaken him once before this many of his Disciples went back and walked no more with him which occasioned Jesus to say to the twelve will ye also go why no said Peter then Lord whether shall we go thou hast the words of Eternal Life and we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ the Son of the Living God Oh Peter what a strong Faith was that We believe and we are sure but how is it now that ye have no faith or why are ye so fearful O ye of little Faith I believe this sate upon the heart of Christ and yet he would not accuse them who now stood in their places and was accused for them and for us all and therefore to that question of his Disciples he answered nothing 2. He asked him of his Doctrine what his questions were of that are not set down neither but probably they might be such as these Who was his Master or instructer in that new Doctrine he had lately broached why he did seek to innovate and alter their long practised and accustomed Rites and what ground had he to bring in his own devices in their steads as Baptism for Circumcision the Lords Supper for the Passover himself and his Apostles for the high Priests and Levites when neither he nor most of them were of that Tribe why he was so bold and saucy being but three and thirty years of age to declame so bitterly and satyrically against the Pharisees and Sadduces and Scribes and Priests and Elders of the People Much of this stuffe he might bring out in his Interrogatories that so by his questioning him in many things he might trap him in something to his confusion and destruction And to this question our Saviour answers John 18.20 21. but Oh how wisely I spake openly to the World saith he I ever taught in the Synagogue and in the Temple whither the Jews alwayes resorted and in secret have I said nothing why askest thou me ask them which heard me what I said unto them behold they know what I said q. d. I appeal to the testimony of the very enemies themselves thou suspectest me to be a seditious person and one that plots mischief against the State in secret I tell thee truth I speak nothing in secret i.e. nothing in the least manner tending to sedition my Doctrine I brought with me from the bosom of my Father it is the everlasting Gospel and not of yesterday and it containes nothing in it of Sedition Faction Rebellion Treason ask these mine Enemies these who have apprehended and bound me and brought me hither they know what I said let them speak if they can wherein I have transgressed the Law 2. For the stroke given Christ by that base servant one of the Officers which stood by stroke Jesus with the palm of his hand saying answerest thou the High Priest so John 18.22 That holy face which was designed to be the object of Heaven in the beholding of which much of the celestial glory doth consist that face which the Angels stare upon with wonder like Infants at a bright Sun-beam was now smitten by a base varlet in the presence of a Judge and howsoever the Assembly was full yet not one amongst them all reproved the fact or spake a word for Christ nay in this the injury was heightned because the blow was said to be given by Malchus an Idumean Slave it was he Chrys hom 82. in Joh. whose ear was cut off by Peter and cured by Christ and thus he requites him for his Miracle Amongst all the sufferings of Christ one would think this were but little and yet when I look into Scriptures I find it much Thus Jeremy He giveth his cheeks to him that smiteth him he is filled full with reproach Thus Micah Lam. 3.30 Mich. 5.1 speaking of Christ They shall smite the Judge of Israel with a Rod upon the Cheek there was in it a world of shame 2 Cor. 11.30 the Apostle layes it down as a sign of suffering and reproach if a man smite you on the face Nothing more disgraceful saith Chrysostom Chrys hom 82. in Joh. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 virgam crepidam significat Lei. Crit. Sacr. than to be smitten on the Cheek the diverse reading of the word speaks it out further he stroke him with a Rod or he stroke him with the palm of his hand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 say some refers to his striking with a rod or club or shoe or pantoffle or as others it refers to his striking with the palm of his hand of the two the palm of the hand is judged more disgraceful than either rod or shoe and therefore in the Text we translate it with the palm of the hand he struck at Jesus i.e. with open hand with his hand †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pugno 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 palmi Idem Chrys hom 81. in Joh. c. 18. stretched out The Antients commenting on this Cuff Let the Heavens be afraid saith one and let the Earth tremble at Christ's patience and this Servant's impudence O ye Angels how were ye silent how could you contain your hands when you saw his hand striking at God If we consider saith another who took the blow was not he that struck him Aug. in Tract 113. worthy to be consumed of fire or to be swallowed up of earth or to be given up to Satan and thrown down into Hell If a Subject should but lift up his hand against the Son of an earthly Soveraign would he not be accounted worthy of punishment how much more in this case when the hand is lifted up against the King of Kings and Lord of Lords