affirme that We are justifyed only by faith in Christ we understand not saith the Book that this our own act to believe in Christ or this faith in Christ which is within us doth justifie us and deserve our justification unto us for that were to count our selves to be justifyed by â—ome act or vertue that is within our selves but that we must renounce the merit of faith hope charity and all other vertues as things that be far too weak imperfect and insufficient to deserve remission of sins and our justification and must trust only on Gods mercy in the bloud of Christ. Where plainly it is not the intent of the Book of Homilies to exclude the act of faith from being an externall and impulsive cause of our justification but from being the meritorious cause thereof in the sight of God from having any thing to do therein in the way of merit Or if they do relate to the act of faith it is not to the act of faith as the gift of God but as to somewhat which we call and accompt our own without acknowledging the same to be given by him And in that sense to say that we are justifyed by any thing within our selves which is so properly our own as not given by God is evidently opposite to that of the holy Scripture viz. By grace ye are saved through faith and not of your selves it is the gift of God that is to say that faith by which ye are saved is the gift of God And certainly it is no wonder if faith in Christ should be acknowledged and esteemed the gift of God considering that we have Christ himself no otherwise which is the object of our faith then by gift from God who did so love the world as our Saviour telleth us that he gave his only begotten Son to the end that whosoever believed in him should not perish but have life everlasting Of which great mercy of the Lord in giving his beloved Son and of the sufferings of that Son for our redemption I am next to speake THE SUMME OF Christian Theologie Positive Philological and Polemical CONTAINED IN THE Apostles CREED Or reducible to it The Second Part. By PETER HEYLYN 1 Tim. 3.16 Without controversie great is the Mysterie of godliness God manifested in the flesh justified in the Spirit seen of Angels preached unto the Gentiles believed on in the world received up into glorie LONDON Printed by E. Cotes for Henry Seile 1654. ARTICLE III. Of the Third ARTICLE OF THE CREED Ascribed to St. IAMES 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Credo et in Jesum Christum filium ejus unicum Dominum nostrum i. e. And in IESUS CHRIST his only Son our Lord. CHAP. VIII Nothing revealed to the Gentiles touching Christ to come The name of JESUS what it signifyeth and of bowing at it Of the name CHRIST and the offices therein included The name of Christians how given unto his Disciples THUS are we come to that part of the Christian Creed which doth concern the Worlds Redemption by our Lord and Saviour IESVS CHRIST A part to which we are not like to finde much credit from the stubborn and untractable Iews except it be to so much of it as concernes his sufferings under Pontius Pilate of which they made themselves the unhappy instruments and very little help for the proof thereof from any of the learned Gentiles who being taken up with high speculations would not vouchsafe to look so low as a crucifyed IESVS The preaching of Christ crucifyed as St. Paul hath told us as to the Iews who were a proud high-minded people it became a stumbling block so to the Greeks who boasted in the pride of learning and humane wisdome it was counted foolishness And if it were so counted a parte post when he that was the light to lighten the Gentiles had shined so visibly amongst them and countenanced the preaching of his holy Gospel by such signes and wonders as did in fine gain credit to it over all the world it is not to be thought that they had any clearer knowledge of salvation by him or by the preaching of his Gospel a parte ante The Iews indeed had many notable advantages which the Gentiles had not For unto them pertained the Adoption and the glory and the Covenants and the giving of the Law and the service of God and the promises They had moreover amongst them the Prophetical writings or as St. Peter cals it the sure word of Prophesie which like a light shining in a darke place might well have served to guide them in the way of truth to keep them in a constant expectation of their Saviours coming and when he came to entertain him with all joy and cheerfulness Yet when he came unto his own they received him not that miserable obduration being fallen upon them that seeing they did see and not perceive that hearing they did hear but not understand But on the other side the Gentiles wanted all those helpes to bring them to the knowledge of their promised Saviour which were so plentifully communicated to the house of Israel For though the Lord had signifyed by the prophet Isaiah saying There shall be a root of Jesse and he that shall rise to reigne over the Gentiles in him shall the Gentiles trust yet this was more then God had pleased to manifest to the Gentiles themselves till they were actually called to the knowledge of CHRIST by the ministery of St. Peter and the accomplishment of this prophesie made known unto them by the application of St. Paul The light of natural reason could instruct them in this general principle that there was a God for nulla gens tam barbara said the Latine Oratour never was man so brutish or nation so barbarous which in the works of nature could not read a Deity And the same light of natural reason could instruct them also that that God whosoever he was was to be served and worshipped by them with their best devotions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the first place to serve and reverence the Gods was one of the most special Rules which the Greek Oratour commended to his dear Demonicus But that it should please God in the fulnesse of time to send his son made of a woman made under the Law to redeem such as were under the Law that they might receive the Adoption of sons that CHRIST should come into the world to save sinners and breaking down the partition wall between Jew and Gentile make one Church of both neither the light of nature nor the rule of reason nor any industry in their studies could acquaint them with This St. Paul calleth a mystery not made known in other ages to the sons of men a mysterie hidden from the generations of preceding times and if a mystery a secret and an hidden mystery we should but lose time did we
fire not Metaphorical but reall The Conclusion of all THe immortality of the soul asserted by the holy Scriptures denyed by some Heretical Christians abetted and defended generally by the learned Gentiles That the world shall have an end and that it shall have an end by fire proved by the old Poets and Philosophers A place of everlasting rest and happinesse designed by the learned both Greeks and Romans for the souls of just and vertuous men to inhabit in with a description of the place so by them designed That the Patriarchs and other holy men of God were nourished in the hopes of eternal life maintained by the Church of England and by the plain Texts of holy Scripture denyed by Servetus the whole Sect of the Anabaptists and by some of our great Masters in the Church of Rome Eternal life frequently promised in the new Testament to the true believer the severall names by which it is presented to us and the glories of it That the Saints shall have a full knowledge of one another in the state of glory proved by clear evidence of Scripture Severall estates of glory and degrees of happinesse amongst the Saints proved by the Scriptures and the Fathers The consideration of those glories of what great power and efficacy on a pious soul. Hell paines designed for the ungodly Of Hades Abyssus Tartarus and Gehenna by which names both the place and names of Hell are represented in the new Testament and what they do amount to being laid together That the Scriptures mentioning hell fire are literally not Metaphorically to be understood proved by the word it self by the authority of the Fathers and the light of Reason Arguments from the same topicks to prove the pains of hell to be everlasting contrary to the fancies of latter Hereticks The end of all FINIS Addend Fol. 453 lin 37. May believe in others Nor doth it any way disagree with the Analogy of Faith or the proceedings in like cases that it should be so that the confession of the Faith made by the sureties or sponsores the Godfathers and Godmothers as we call them now in the Infants name should be accepted by the Lord to the best advantage of the Infant for whom they stipulate Not to the Analogie of the faith for finde we not in the 7. Chapter of St. Luke that the Centurions sick Servant was healed by Christ of his bodily diseases upon the faith of his Master only And is it not expresly said Mat. 9.2 that Christ pronounced the forgivenesse of sins to the sick of the Palsie upon the faith of them that brought him which story we finde more at large Marke 2.3 Luke 5.18 but all concentring on this truth that it was not the faith of the sickman but of them that brought him which did procure the sentence of Absolution or Remission of sins from the hands of Christ. Not with proceedings in like cases for by the Laws the Stipulation made by Sureties or such as have the charge of Guardianship of Infants made in their name and to their advantage in the improvement or establishment of their Estates is taken for as good and valid as if it had been made by himself in his riper years And of this we have a fair example in King Iames the sixt of Scotland and the first Monarch of Great Britain who was crowned King of the Scots and received for such upon the Oath of some Noble men swearing and promising in his Name that he should govern that Realm and People according to the Laws established which I finde urged by that King in the conference at Hampton Court in justification of the Interrogatories proposed to Infants in their Baptism and of the Answers made thereto by the mouth of their Sureties And to say truth there is the same reason for them both the Infant in the one case which is that of Baptism being bound in conscience to perform that when he comes unto riper years which his God-fathers and God-mothers did vow and promise in his Name And in the other case which is that of civill contract or stipulation he is bound by law to make that good which in his name and for his benefit and advantage his Guardians or Curators had so undertaken ERRATA In the Epistle Dedicatory for already read clearly In that to the Reader fol. 2. f. subsequent r. subservient In the Prefaceâ—ol â—ol 11. f. calling in r. casting in f. creating r. preaching f. decurrisse r. decursu f. 21. f. moâ—e r. promote â— new opinions r. no opinions f. 21. f. consent r. consult In the Book it self f. 2. f. traditio r. tradito f. Evang r. â—xani f. 17. f. Eubemerus r. Eubemerus f. 20. f. fellows r. followers f. 27. f. Numens r. Nations f. 31. f. ne se r. ne sic f. 34. f. his land r. his hand f. 37. f. the name r. the means f. 39. f. godly r. goodly f. 41. f. compassion are r. compassionate f. 42. f. in time r. in fine f. 50. l. 52. f. powerful world r. powerful word f. 52. f. materials r. immaterials f. 73. f. Panaon r. Panarion f. 76. f. Gigamire r. Gigantine f 81. f. repertimes r. reperiemus f. 91. f. divinam r. divinatio f. not to make râ— not only to make f. 93. f. may acts r. many acts f. 95. f. justification r. institution f. 96. f. been r. had been f. 101. f. valendinem r. valeludinem f. 104. f Galcalus Martius r. Galeatius Martius f. 107. f. kindred r. children f. 122. f. internal r. infernal f. 139. f. suffered him r. suffered himself f. these lazie lives r. the lazie lives f. 152. f. doties r. does f. 157. f. his r. this f. 170. f. imuition r. intuition f. 180. f. blinde him r. blinde him f. 197. for which the speaks of r. for which the Gospel speaks of f. 200. f. skin r. shin f. 202. f. Arius r. Aerius f. 231. f. meuth r. meath f. 233. f. being then found out r. being not then found out f. 234. f. I must confess r. to which I must confess f. 240. f. by beleeving only r. by feeling only f. 241. f. moral r. mortal f. 246. f. descent r. desert f. 251. f. Kalender r. Kalends f. 269. f. how all this doctrine r. how ill this doctrine f. 275. f. more then in there vertues read more in their vertues f. 280. f. strongest r. strong f. 282. f. happiness r. holiness f. 294. f. the Priesthood r. the Priest stood f. 305. f. transubstiated r. transubstantiated f. on the r. in the. f. 308. f. certainly r. as certainly f. 310. f. nor new r. or new f. 314. f. gravora r. graviora f. to great r. to so great f. 315. f. any other sight r. any other light f. 315. f. day of days r. the days f. 322. f. Loyal r. Loyola f. 328. f. utraque r. utroque f. 374. f. now give r. not give del application f. 379. f. the same r. the name
before the beginning of time and shall be also as it is when time it self shall be no more In this regard he tels us also of himself that he is A and Ω or the first or the last which was and is and is to come still the same for ever And finally in this respect it is said by Tertullian Ante omnia Deus erat solus et erat sibi tempus mundus et omnia i. e. Before all things were God was and he was also to himself time the world and all things He was alone quia nil aliud extrinsecus praeter illum because there was not any thing without or besides him and yet not then alone if we weigh it rightly Habebat enim Deum quod habebat in semet ipso c. for he had alwayes with him that divine wisdome which he had alwayes in himself And so the old Philosophers are to be expoonded when they say of God that he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 immortal and eternal or everlasting that is to say not only a parte post as Angels and the souls of men are called mortal but also a parte ante which none was but God Which makes up that conclusion of the royal Psalmist Before the mountaines were brought forth or ever the earth and the world were made thou art God from everlasting and world without end world without end a parte post from everlasting also a parte ante but in both eternall Of the same nature is that infiniteness in Almighty God in respect of dimensions which by a name distinct may be called immensity whereby he is of infinite extension not circumscribed with any bounds filling all places whatsoever but contained of none Of this immensity or unmeasurableness doth the Prophet speak saying Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his Hand and meted out heaven with his span and comprehended the dust of the earth in his three fingers after such a manner as men take up a dust or sand and weighed the mountaines with scales and the hils in a balance Who taketh up the Isles as a very little thing before whom all nations are as nothing as the drop of a bucket This by an other name and in other respects is also called Vbiquity or Omnipresence by which our GOD is present in all places every where and confined to none but as a sphere as very understandingly said Trismegistus whose Center is every where his circumference no where In reference to this we finde it said by Moses of the Lord our God that he is God in Heaven above and in the earth below The very same with that of the royal Psalmist If I climb up into Heaven thou art there if I goe down into Hell thou art there also And so we have it both in Moses and in the Psalms In reference unto this it is said by Ieremy Do not I fill Heaven and Earth saith the Lord And Can any man hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him And so we have it in the Law and the Prophets too And though the Gentiles did exceedingly stomach at the primitive Christians for giving this Vbiquity or Omnipresence to their Lord and God Discurrentem scilicet illum volunt et ubique praesentem as Cecilius in the Dialogue did object against them yet did the Fathers of all times stand most stoutly to it and would not yeild a jot to their importunities For thus saith the renowned Augustine Deus meus ubique praesens ubique totus nusquam inclusus My GOD saith he is in all places present in all places wholly but so in all places as contained in none More fully Gregory the great Deus est intra omnia non inclusus extra omnia non exclusus supra omnia non elatus i. e. GOD is in all things but not inclosed he is without all things but not excluded he is above all things but not lifted up and finally beneath all things and yet not depressed And though it may be truly said of the sons of men Qui ubique est nusquam est he that is every where is no where that is to say he that ingageth himself in every business will goe thorow with none yet so it cannot be affirmed of the God of Heaven unlesse perhaps it be in a qualifyed sense interpreting nusquam esse by non includi And in that sense is that saying of St. Bernard exactly verifyed Nusquam est et ubique est i. e. He is no where because no place either reall or imaginary can comprehend or contain him and he is every where because no body no space nor spirituall substance can exclude his presence Proceed we next to the third species or kinde of infiniteness which we called the infinity of comprehensions by which all things whatsoever as well things future as things past are alike present to him and for ever before him by which he knoweth things that are not as if they were and doth accordingly decree and determine of them with as much perspicacity of wisdome and infallibility of judgment as if they were actually before his eyes For first God being of an infinite knowledge most perfectly and simply knoweth all things in himself which ever were or shall be in the times to come and then being of an infinite wisdome to dispose of all things as may conduce most to his honour and glory hath either given them bounds which they shall not passe or left them a dispositive power of their own occasions putting upon things necessary the law of necessity and leaving things contingent to the lot of contingency The due consideration of which weighty point brought the Apostle to cry out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O the depth of the riches of the wisdome and knowledge of God Which two though two distinct acts and attributes in our apprehension yet differ not in GOD as before was said nor perhaps very much in themselves at all For wisdome is but the excellency of knowledge consisting either in the dignity or usefulnesse of the matter known or the more perfect manner of discerning what they truely are And of this wisdome or more usefull kind of knowledge there are these two offices the one stedfastly to propose a right end the other to present a right choice of means for effecting thereof But being it is equally consonant to Gods infinite wisdome and not a whit derogatory to his infinite power that some things should be as truely contingent as other are really and truely necessary therefore hath God been pleased as well to decree contingency as to decree or fore-determine of necessity Hereupon it will follow by good rules of Logick that though there be an immutability in the counsails of God arising from the infiniteness of his knowledge and wisdome yet that there are some things which might not have been and that some things are not which yet might have been or might have been far
Deus inferiorum rerum curam gerere nolit a Dei natura alienum est nimis c. To say saith he that GOD refuseth to take care of inferiour things is too too much abhorrent from the nature of God or makes him lyable to the passions of an envious man And on the other side to say he could not do it were altogether as unworthy and to make him impotent neither of which by any means may be said of God And therefore we must needs determine that God is both willing and able to take care of all things which he hath made already or shall make hereafter And first the goodness of the Lord though indivisible in it self as all things in him hath been divided by the Schoolmen with very good propriety both of words and meaning into these kindes the one of which they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Original the other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 exemplified Illa in Deo existens haec in Creaturis expressa the first existing solely in the Lord our God the other manifested in his Creatures That which they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Original we may define to be an Everlasting and unalterable quality in the Lord our God qua modis omnibus summe bonus est by which he is supremely and entirely good In which regard the Divine Plato said of God that he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 good only in and of himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the only saving good the most desirable felicity as others of the Heathen called him And he that knew him best our most gracious Saviour hath given this to us for a Maxime Vnus est bonus DEVS that there is none good but only God so good that his most blessed vision is the summum bonum the highest and supremest good that any of the Saints and Angels can aspire unto The other species of goodness which the Schools call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Exemplified is that which God hath manifested on his Creatures and imparted to them and this they do again divide into general and special that being extended unto all his Creatures this more particularly restrained to his chosen servants His general goodness he hath shewn as before was noted in the continual preservation of the works of his hands clothing the hils with grass and the vales with corn feeding the Lyons and young Ravens when they call upon him apparelling the Lillies with a greater beauty then that of Solomon in his greatest glory making his Sun to shine and his rain to fall as well upon the sinner as the righteous person and in a word opening his hand and filling all things living with his plenteousness In which respect it is most truly said by the Royal Psalmist Repleta est Terra bonitate Domini the Earth is full of the goodness of the Lord Psal. 32.5 His special goodness he restraineth to his chosen servants to such as fear his name and observe his Precepts The Lord is good to Israel saith the Prophet David even unto all such as are of a clean heart And so the Prophet Ieremy in the Lamentations The Lord is good to them that wait for him to the soul that seeketh him This manifested in delivering them from the evils both of sin and punishment and in accumulating on them his sacred blessings both of Grace and Glory Goodness is graciousness in this sense and to be good is only to be kinde and gracious Sis bonus O felixque tuis in the Poets language And then we have it thus expressed in the words of David viz. The Lord is gracious and full of compassion slow to anger and of great mercy that is to say of great mercy in the pardon of our sins and wickednesses and gracious in the free collation of the gifts of the holy Spirit which therefore are called Graces quia gratis data By grace we are made fit for mercy by mercy capable of glory And by his grace and mercy on his chosen servants doth he preserve the world from those dreadful plagues which else would fall upon the wicked from whom he doth withhold his hand and keep off his vengeance out of that grace aud mercy to the righteous persons amongst whom they live For certainly it is most true which Ruffinus telleth us Mundum sanctorum meritis stare that the World hath hitherto been preserved by the prayers of the Saints And 't is as true which is affirmed by Stapleton a learned Papist Deum propter bonos sustinere malos that God gives many temporal blessings to ungodly men because they live so intermingled with his faithful servants and respites them sometimes from the hand of punishment not for their own but for the righteous persons sake amongst whom they dwell If Sodom stood so long unpunished it was because of righteous Lot who then dwelt amongst them And possibly it might have stood to this very day at least have scaped that fiery deluge which then fell upon it had it contained no more then teri righteous persons Far be it from the Lord our God to stay the godly with the wicked The Judge of all the World is more just then so When God raineth vengeance from above on the wicked man it cannot be but that the righteous must partake of the common miseries which do befall that State or Nation in the which he liveth as Abraham Isaac Iacob did of those several famines which God had sent upon their Neighbours There are not always such distinctions as was between the land of Goshen and the rest of Egypt God therefore sometimes holds his hands when the sins of wicked men cry loud for vengeance out of his grace and mercy to the righteous man or else abbreviates the time of their tribulation out of respect unto his chosen If they partake alike of the common miseries of Famine Pestilence War as sometimes they do it is because that even the best men have their imperfections and ever and anon commit some foul sinnes which God thinks fit to expiate with a temporal Purgatory But Iustice bears the greatest stroak in all Publick Governments Mercy and Grace although they be the fairest flowers in the Royal Diadem are used but at some times and on choyce occasions But Iustice is the standing and perpetual rule by which Kings reign and order the affairs of their several States And this the Civil Lawyers do define to be Perpetua constan◠voluntas jus suum cuique tribuendi a constant and perpetual purpose to give to every man his due Which definition well accordeth with that heavenly justice which is Original in God and essential to him since that the Will of God is the only Standard by which his justice is directed in the Government of the World and mankinde Norma justitiae divinae est voluntas Dei as the old Rule was a shadow of which Soveraign power we may behold in some of the
he is deceased Having thus took some pains concerning the time and place of this great action let us next proceed unto the manner from thence unto the method of it and so make an end And in the manner of his coming there are specially thâ—se three things to he considered viz. the sign of the Son of man the sound of the Trumpet and the Ministry of the blessed Angels in all of which we shall finde something worth our Observation Touching the sign of the Son of man which our Saviour speaks of as of a certain note and token of his coming to judgement it stands thus in Scripture Then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in Heaven and then shall all the tribes of the Earth mourn and they shall see the Son of man coming in the Clowds of Heaven with power and great glory Mat. 24.30 This sign then whatsoever it is is the prodromos or fore-runner of Christs coming to judgement of his second coming as was the Star which shined in the East of his birth or first coming into the world And this to make the Parallel more full and pertinent shall appear visibly in the East also if the Authors whom I have consulted do not much mistake it If you would know what sign this is I answer that it is the sign of the Cross a sign like that which Christ vouchsafed to shew from Heaven to the famous Constantine Of whom Eusebius hath reported from his own mouth too that being imbarked in a war against Maxentius and much perplexed in minde about that affair there shewed it self unto him in an afternoon the form of a Cross figured in the Ayr and therein these words written 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say in this sign thou shalt overcome He addes that after that Christ appeared to him in his sleep holding forth the very like sign unto him bidding him cause the like to be framed or fashioned in the Standard-Royal and it should give him victory over all his enemies Which apparition of the Cross or sign of the Son of man in the time of Constantine was a fore-runner as it were of that petit Sessions which Christ at that time held against the cruel Persecutors of his Church and people Diocletian Maximinus Maximianus Licinius and the aforesaid Maxentius all which in very little time were brought to most shameful ends And that the sign of the Son of man which our Saviour speaks of as the fore-runner of the great and general Sessions shall be no other then the sign of the Cross shining in the Ayr hath the approved authority of the Antient Fathers and the consent and testimony of the Western Church and of the Aethiopick also For if you ask St. Hierom what this sign shall be his answer is Signum hic Crucis intelligimus that it was to be understood of the sign of the Cross. St. Augustine also saith the same Quid est signum Christi nisi crux Christi what is the sign of Christ or the Son of man but the sign of the Cross Prudentius a Christian Poet of the Primitive times in an Hymne of his saith of this sign Iudaea tunc signum crucis experta that then the Iews shall have experience of the sign of the Cross. Our venerable Bede is of the same minde in this with the other Fathers Nor is it marvail that he was for it was grown by this time the received opinion of the Western Church as appears plainly by that Anthem in her publick Rituals viz. Hoc signum Crucis erit in Coelo c. This sign of the Cross shall be seen in Heaven at Christs coming to judgment So also for the Eastern Churches that it shall be the sign of the Cross S. Chrysostom affirms expressely saying withall that the light or lustre of it shall be so glorious that it shall darken and obscure the Sun Moon and Stars Euthymius and Theophylact say as much for the Greek Churches and so doth Ephrem Syrus for the Syrian also The Aethiopian Church is so peremptory in it that it it is put into the Articles of their Creed as their Zaba cited by Mr. Gregory doth affirm for certain And finally that it shall appear in the East is with no less certainty affirmed by Hippolytus Martyr a Bishop of the Primitive Ages whose words are these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i e. For a sign of the Cross shall rise up in the East and shine from East to West more gloriously then the Sun it self to give notice to the world that the Iudge is coming And to say truth there may be very good reason for this old Tradition of the Cross. For what can be more honourable to our Lord and Saviour or more full of terrour to his enemies then that the Cross of Christ which they counted foolishness and more then so esteemed the greatest obloquie and reproach of the Christian faith should at that day be made the Herald to proclaim his coming and call all Nations of the world to appear before him No wonder if the Tribes of the Earth did mourn when that so hated sign did appear in Heaven to call them to receive the sentence of their condemnation For the Trump next we finde it mentioned in all places almost in which we meet with any thing of the day of Iudgment Our Saviour telleth us of the coming of the Son of man that he shall send his Angels with a great sound of a Trumpet Matth. 24.31 St. Paul the like In a moment in the twinckling of an eye at the last trump for the Trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed 1 Cor. 15.52 And in another place more fully The Lord himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout with the voyce of the Arch-Angel and with the trump of Christ and the dead in Christ shall rise first 1 Thes. 4.16 Now that which Christ and his Apostle say of the time to come the same St. Iohn saith of it as of a thing done before his face speaking expressâ—ly of this trumpet both in the first chapter of his Revelation vers 10. and in the 4. chapter vers 1. So far it is agreed on without doubt or scruple But then the difference will be thus whether the speech be proper or only figurative whether it were a real Trumpet or but Metaphorical If figurative then the phrase doth signifie no more then this that Christ shall finde a means to call all the Nations of the world to appear before him as if it were with the sound of a trumpet the trumpet being used amongst the Iews by Gods own appointment for calling the Assembly and removing the camp of Israel If but a Metaphorical Trumpet then it may signifie no more then a mighty noise wherewith the dead shall be awakened from the sleep of the Grave such as that voyce spoken by
of those imperfections it may be said that then they are not raised in the self-same bodies To this we have the resolution of St. Augustine also affirming That in that glorious day the substance of their bodies shall continue as before it was but the deformities and imperfections shall be taken away Corporibus ergo istis naturae servabitur vitia autem detrahentur as the Father hath it A resolution which St. Paul doth seem to favor saying That the body shall be raised in glory though it be sown in dishonor as do his following words the former viz. Though it be sown in weakness in the weakness of old age or infancy shall be raised in power For neither is it likely that infancy being imperfection and old age corruption can stand with the estate of a glorified body or that our Lord which made the blinde to see and the lame to go which came to seek his grace on Earth will not much rather heal them of their imperfections whom he vouchsafeth to admit to the glories of Heaven A glorious place is fit for none but glorified bodies And so far glorified shall the bodies of Gods servants be as to be raised in power whereby they shall be freed from all wants and weaknesses in incorruption which shall make them free both from death and sickness in glory which shall make them shine with a greater splendor than any of the Stars of Heaven as did the face of Moses in the Book of Exodus and that of Stephen the Proto-martyr in the Book of the Acts and lastly in agility by which they shall be like the Angels mounting as on the wings of an Eagle to meet the Lord JESUS at his coming In reference unto these spiritual qualities St. Paul affirms That it was sown a natural body but shall be raised a spiritual body Natural for the substance still spiritual for the qualities and endowments of it Spiritualia post Resurrectionem erunt corpora non quia corpora esse desistunt sed quia spiritu vivificante subsistunt as St. Augustine hath it Another Quere yet remaineth which had been moved it seems in St. Augustines time by some whose curiosity did exceed their judgments The Question was Whether the woman should be raised to eternal glory in her own sex or the more noble sex of man Alas poor Souls what monstrous crime had they committed that they should be excluded from the Kingdom of Heaven Of what strange errors and mistakes must guilty-nature be accused when she framed that sex or rather God when he created it at first out of Adams side by which it is supposed uncapable of immortality Yes certainly say they for it seemeth to us that Christ hath so adjudged it saying That in the Resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage And if no marriage then no woman the woman being therefore made that she might be married Vain men why do they talk so idly in the things of God! Nuptias negavit dominus in resurrectione futuras non foeminas as St. Augustine noteth The Lord hath not excluded women from the Resurrection onely in answer to a captious Question which the Saduces made he returned them this That in that day there should be neither care nor notice taken of those worldly matters This is the sum and substance of our Saviours Answer and this is nothing to the prejudice of the Sex or Persons Nor need we doubt but as that Sex have done most acceptable service to the Lord their God either in keeping constantly the faith of wedlock or in preserving carefully an unspotted chastity or suffering resolutely for the testimony of the Faith and Gospel so shall they also in those bodies receive the crown reserved for so great obedience But what need more be said of this needless Quere which Christ our Saviour hath prevented and resolved already Who therefore first appeared to those of the Female Sex that making them the publishers of his Resurrection he might assure them of their own Qui ergo utrumque sexum instituit utrumque restituet God saith St. Augustine as he made both Sexes will restore both Sexes and raise up both in their own proper and original being unto Life eternal Other particulars of the manner of this Resurrection as the dreadful terror of the day the sounding of the Trump the conflagration of the world and the like to these have either been already handled or else will fall within the compass of the following Article That which remains to be considered at the present will be matters practical first in relation to our friends and then in reference to our selves and our own affairs First in relation to our Friends That we bemoan not their departure with too great extremity or sorrow for them without hope as if lost for ever Were it indeed so irrecoverable a losâ— that either their bodies were for ever banished from their souls or that their souls did die and perish with their bodies it were a misery to which no sorrow could be equal But being so assured of a Resurrection it is not to be supposed of them which die in the Lord that they are either lost to themselves or us They onely have withdrawn themselves for a certain season from the vanity and troubles of this present world and shall return at last unto life again both to our comfort and their glory In this respect it was the antient custom of the Church of Greece and is not yet worn out of use 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To set boyled Corn before the Singers of the holy Hymns which are accustomed to be sung at the commemoration of the dead who sleep in Christ. And this they do to manifest their hopes in the Resurrection of which the Corn is so significant an embleme as before was shewn And to say truth Death if considered rightly is the gate of life and of a life not to be shaken with adversities or subject unto change of fortune Hanc Deus fidei praestat gratiam ut mors quam vitae constat esse contrariam instrumentum foret per quod in vitam transiretur it is St. Augustines note But what need Augustine be alleged when we may hear the same of the antient Druides of whom the Poet tells us that they held this Paradox Longae canitis si cognita vitae Mors media est That death was but the middle way to a longer life If then our Ancestors in those dark times of ignorance when they knew not Christ conceived no otherwise of death and the terrors of it than as the way unto a life of more excellent nature then certainly a nobler and moâ—e chearful constancy must â—eeds be looked for at our hands who are not onely more assured of the immortality of the soul which they blindly guessed at but of the Resurrection of the Body also which they never heard of The next consideration doth concern
brought to light then much more shall the workers of those iniquities be made known to the Saints their Judges for if the persons be not known where would be that confusion of the face which the Scriptures speak of which shall befall the wicked and impenitent sinner upon the manifestation of his deeds of darkness Many a malefactor hath been hanged more chearfully in places where we was not known where he could be no shame to his friends and kinred than if he had been executed in the sight of those who knew him and the parentage whence he came And to this purpose are the words of our blessed Saviour unto his Apostles when he informeth them That they should sit upon twelve seats judging the twelve Tribes of Israel By which it is apparent that they shall be known by the Tribes of Israel to be the poor despised Apostles of a more despised and persecuted Saviour It followeth consequently upon good deduction not onely that the twelve Apostles shall know those of the Tribes of Israel whom they are to judge but that they shall be also known of one another and of all the Saints who shall rejoyce in that preferment of their Chiefs and Leaders though raised unto an higher pitch and degree of glory than others of their Brethren are advanced unto For that in Heaven there shall be different degrees and estates of glory I take to be a point so clearly evidenced in holy Scripture that little disputation needs be raised about it Though some too much affected to a parity in this present life expect to finde it also in the life to come The Fathers I am sure did all look this way And so much Peter Martyr doth confess ingenuously although himself no friend unto their opinion De Patribus fatemur ingenuè quod praemiorum discrimina statuerunt which is plain enough And as he doth affirm this of the Fathers generally so he affirms particularly of St. Ierom that he was istarum differentiarum acer propugnator a great assertor of those different degrees and estates of glory as indeed he was And certainly they had good warrant to resolve so in it Daniel a Prophet of the Lord and one in more than ordinary favor with him hath assured us this That they which be wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament and they which turn many unto righteousness like the Stars for ever In which we see two different duties recommended to us to learn the rules of wisdom first to be wise our selves and then to teach them unto others to turn them to righteousness accordingly the rewards proportioned to shine like the brightness of the firmament like the stars of Heaven And who seeth not how much the splendor of the Stars exceeds the brightness of the Sky of the clearest Firmament The like St. Paul hath told us of the Resurrection That there shall be a difference in it that there is one glory of the Sun another glory of the Moon another glory of the Stars and of the Stars that one Star differeth from another Star in glory Now our Astronomy doth teach us upon very good inferences that the Sun is One hundred sixty and six times bigger than the Earthly Globe whereas the Moon hardly amounts unto a fortieth part thereof and that the fixed Stars of the first magnitude are found to be One hundred and seven times bigger than the Body of the Earth those of the least coming but to the sixth part of that proportion Which sheweth the difference in glory to be very great though possibly the Rules of that Art may fail us in the proportioning of that difference But whatsoever be the error in those Rules of Art assuredly there can be no etror in the words of Christ in whom the Prophets and Apostles do concenter and meet together And he hath told us in plain terms That in his Fathers house there are many mansions that is to say as Denys the Carthusian states it conform unto the minde and meaning of the antient Fathers Multi praemiorum gradus variae distinctiones many degrees of happiness and estates of glory though all most glorious in themselves According to which Rule of our Lord and Saviour we finde a difference made in his holy Gospel between those men which had been faithful over much and those which had been faithful over a little onely the one being made the Ruler of Ten Cities the other but of Five alone between the recompense and reward of a righteous person and that which is laid up by God for the reward of a Prophet He that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteoas mans reward And he that receiveth a Prophet in the name of a Prophet shall receive a Prophets reward saith our Lord and Saviour And to say truth besides the warrant and authority of the holy Scriptures that so it should be it stands with very good Reason that so it should be and is most consonant to the Rules of distributive Iustice that so it must be For if that faith in Christ and a conformity to the words of his holy Gospel be in the merciful construction of the Lord our God thought worthy of a crown of glory then certainly a greater and more lively faith and a more conscionable walking in the sight of God must be rewarded with a richer and more excellent Crown And so it also followeth by the rule of contraries For if he that knoweth the will of his Master and doth it not shall be beaten with more stripes than the ignorant man as the truth it self hath said he shall it must needs follow by that Rule that they which know Gods will exactly and conscionably apply themselves to observe the same shall be rewarded with more blessings at their Masters hands And so the old Carthusian whom before I spake of doth resolve the question Many saith he are raised above their brethren in the house of God Secundum quod aliqui ferventius Deum dilexerint as being far more zealous in their love to God more constant in pursute of their way to Heaven than others of their Brethren are which yet by Gods great mercy shall come thither also As therefore the Apostle advised those of Corinth so must I also counsel those which shall read these papers that they do covet earnestly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the best gifts and graces that so they may possess the most eminent places Or if they dare not look so high to be sure of this that they do so conform their lives unto Gods commandements that when their earthly Tabernacles are dissolved into dust and ashes their soules may be disposed of in the place of rest there to expect the Resurrection of their Bodys to Eternal life and lodged for ever in some one of those heavenly Mansions reserved for them in the Heavens And this indeed is that which we
all must aim at if we have any of that zeal to the Kingdom of Heaven which was so eminent in the Patriachs Apostles Martyrs Confessors as to be left upon record for our instruction Of Abraham it is written in the Book of God that he left his own Country and all his kindred in search of a far better Country that is an Heavenly that he left Vr one of the chief Cities of the Chaldeans but one made with hands to look for an house not made with hands whose builder and maker is the Lord. David preferred one day in the house of God before a Thousand years consumed in his earthly Palaces yea though he were advanced no higher in that House of God than to be a door-keeper St. Peter was so rapt with the sight of those Heavenly glories in which he did behold our Saviour in his transfiguration that he set up his resolution with Bonum est nobis esse hic that it was best for him to abide there alwaies And when St. Paul had seen a glimpse of the joyes of Paradise to which he had been taken up in an heavenly rapture how willingly did he indure the cross and despise the shame in reference to the joy which was set before him how earnestly did he come out with his cupio dissolvi that he desired to be dissolved and to live with Christ With what a gallant zeal did the old Father Ignatius contemn the fire Gallows fury of wild Beasts the breaking of his bones quartering of his members and the crushing of his body into peeces tota Diaboli tormenta nay all the torments of the Devil and Hell onely upon this bare hope ut Christo fruar That he might come at last to injoy his Saviour Such an Heroick zeal was that of the good Father St. Augustine who declared himself to be contended to indure the torments of Hell so he might thereby gain the joys of Heaven rather than lose the same for want of those dreadful sufferings And not much short of this was the resolution wherewith St. Basil answered his Persecutors when they did think to terrifie him with the fear of death I will not fear that death saith he which can do no more than restore me unto him that made me Infinite more of these examples might be laid before us were not these sufficient to let us see how high a price they set on the joyes of Heaven the glories of this Life eternal of which they had no more assurance than what was made unto them by the Word of God which Word of God we have for our assurance and comfort also besides the conduct and authority of their good example Of such inestimable nature are the glories of Eternal Life which are prepared by God for all them that love him and carefully pursue those waies which do lead them thither But so it is not with those men who either wilfully shut their eyes against the knowledge of God or who confess him with their mouths but scornfully deny him in their words and actions leading a life conform to their sensual appetite There is another habitation reserved for them even that prepared for the devil and his angels the house of everlasting torments and unquenchable flames The knowledge and belief of which doleful state pertains no less unto a Christian than that of everlasting life in eternal glory The wicked and impenitent soul being again united to her sinful body shall finde an everlasting life but in endless torments Which though it be not said expresly in the Apostles Creed is yet contained by consequence and in the way of reduction in the present Article but more particularly and in terminis expressed in the Creed or Symbol of St. Athanasius There it is said to be necessary to everlasting salvation to believe this amongst other things of our Lord and Saviour IESUS CHRIST That at his coming unto judgment all men shall rise again with their bodies and shall give accompt for their own works and they that have done good shall go into life everlasting and they that have done evil into everlasting fire Which is no more than what our Saviour Christ hath told us though in other words and every word of his is to be believed where it is said That the hour is coming in which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice And shall come forth they that have done good to the Resurrection of life and they that have done evil to the Resurrection of damnation Being therefore in this place to speak of the pains of Hell and such considerable circumstances as conduce to the knowledge of them I will begin first with the Quid nominis the names by which it is made known in the writings of the Evangelists and Apostles and other creditable Authors in the Christian Church and so descend to the Quid rei or the thing it self First then the names by which it hath been delivered and made known unto us by the sacred Penmen are these four especially that is to say Hades Abyssus Tartarus and Gehenna of which the three first are meerly Greek and the last an off-spring of the Hebrews Of Hades we have spoke already in the Article of Christs descent into Hell as also of the Latine Inferi or infernum which they use to express it and shall not here repeat what was there delivered By that which was delivered there it appears to be a dark and disconsolate place in the deeps of the Earth a place appointed for the punishment of ungodly men not onely in the judgment of the sacred Penmen and the old Ecclesiastical writers in the Church of Christ but also of all learned men amongst the Gentiles whether Greeks or Latines The same is signified as plainly in the name of Abyssus which is thrice used by St. Iohn in the Revelation to signifie the bottomless pit or the pit of torments from whence the smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace Chap. 9.2 from whence the Beasts ascended to make war against the Two Witnesses of the Lord Chap. 11.7 from whence that Beast ascended also to his just perdition on which the woman sate which made her self drunk with the blood of the Saints Chap. 17.8 And is indeed no other than that Stagnum ignis sulphuris that lake of fire and brimstone mentioned in the twentieth Chapter Nor is the word used onely in the Revelation to signifie Hell or the place of torments but in St. Pauls Epistle to the Romans also where it is said Say not in thine heart who shall ascend up into Heaven That is to bring Christ down from above Aut quis descendet in Abyssum or who shall descend into the deep That is to bring up Christ again from the dead Where by Abyssus which is rendred by this word the deep is meant no other place but Hell Inferi or infernum as saith Martin Bucer by whom the