Selected quad for the lemma: heaven_n
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A29731
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An apologie for lay-mens writing in divinity with a short meditation upon the fall of Lucifer / written by Sr. Richard Baker, Knight.
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Baker, Richard, Sir, 1568-1645.
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1641
(1641)
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Wing B500; ESTC R9490
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28,497
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268
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adhere to him and this was plainly seene at the time of the great deluge For there entred then into the Arke but eight persons and all entred that were the servants of God all the rest of the World and the World was then as full of people as now were all for any thing appeares the servants of Lucifer But in what aire is it that Lucifer is a Prince Is it anywhere but in aery and inconstant minds caried about with every winde and in whom there is no stability of grace and to bee a Prince in such ayre what is it but to be an aery Prince without any solidnesse or substance in him all in phantasmes and shewes as he shewed Christ all the Kingdomes of the World but it was but a shew and he shewed Samuel to Saul but that but a shew too and his enchanters turned their rods into Serpents and that but a shew neither for indeed all the power he hath and all hee can doe as Prince of the Aire is but to make a shew great promises and great threatings but all vanish into Aire and therefore this but a poore amends for the misery of his fall seeing his Principalityâ— is but a seeming Dominion where his Fall is a sensible and reall servitude If you aske at what time it was that Lucifer fell there be some will tell you before the making of the World but this could not bee seeing there was neyther Vnde nor Quo neyther place from whence nor place whither he should fall till God had made the Heaven and the Earth Others there are will say Vpon the first day of the Creation because then God made the light and the Angells are sayd to bee Angells of light and if made then they also fell then for they sinned assoone as they were made and fell assoone as they sinned But most likely it is they fell upon the second day of Creation which therefore made Moses not to say of the worke of the second day that God saw It was good because in that day God saw something that was not good and nothing so likely as the pride of Lucifer and his fall But whensoever it was that he fell whether sooner or later It was too soone for us seeing hee was ready heere on Earth to seduce us assoone as we were made as hee had seduced others before in Heaven assoone as he was made himselfe to the end belike that none should be longer innocent then he himselfe had beene For Inveritate non stetit Hee stayed not one jot of time before he playd his prankes in Heaven He never stayed for Secundae cogitationes For if hee had stayed but so long as to bethink himselfe could hee have beene so blind not to see his errour or so improvident not to prevent his fall Oh the wonderfull dammage that is incurred by hastinesse and precipitancy Not Lucifer with all his giâ—ts but hastinesse brought upon him his miserable fall and utter ruine And as it is uncertaine at what time hee fell so it is as uncertaine to what place hee fell though no doubt into Hell if there be a Hell but if there bee none whither then and indeed where should any such place be we are sure Not in Heaven For then it should have beene no fall and besides Heaven and Hell are not onely asunder but opposite And wee may be sure not in the Sea For then there could be no Hell fire for water and besides Dives would never have made such moane for a drop of water to coole his tongue It might bee thought to bee in the Aire because hee is said to be the Prince that ruleth in the Aire but that when Corah and Dathan went downe quick into Hell they were swallowed up of the Earth and not of the Aire And yet neither can Hell be in the earth seeing the Earth is a solid body and not likely to have any cavity so large to make a Hell which must bee able to hold all the bodies of the damned that ever were or shall bee and indeed if there were any such place as Hell would Moses have omitted it in his catalogue of Creation and seeing he makes no mention of any such place we may well thinke there is no such place but that it is only a fiâ—tion of Poets of whom it is truly said Admiranda canunt sed non credenda Poetae Thus argue some infidell spirits that would be glad there were no such place as Hell and therefore speak as they would have it but the reasons of their infidelity may be easily confuted For why is there no such cavity in the earth to make a Hell when by evident demonstration it is prooved that the thicknesse of the Earth is no lesse then seaven thousand miles and may not so vaste a space afford roome sufficient for a Hell and for a Hell sufficient to hold all the soules of the damned that ever were or shall be when the body of one man was able to hold a legion which is at least six thousand devils and divells take up as much roome as soules For as for the bodies of the damned there needs no roome inâ— Hell for them unlesse now and then perhaps for two or three such as Korah and Dathan untill the day of judgement For bodies come not there till then and then there wil be a new Heaven and a new Earth and no doubt a new Hell too at least the old Hell so much enlarged as to be able to hold as well the bodies of the damned then as now the soules of which enlarging of Hell the Prophet Fsay sayth thus Hell hath enlarged her selfe and hath opened her mouth exceedingly as if it were the condition of Hell to grow alwayes greater with the occasion and therefore no neede to feare it will ever be too little And what though Moses make no mention of any such place as Hell doth it therefore follow there is no such place He makes no mention of Angells neither shall we therefore thinke there are no Angells But as he forbeares to speake of these persons so he â—orbeares to speake of this place and both perhaps for one reason because his purpose is to speake only of visible things of which neither of these is any But though Moses make no mention of any Hell yet there are others that doe and others as worthy to be credited as Moses And to goe no further then our Creed doth not an Apostle make it an article that Christ descended into Hell but descend into Hell he could not if there were not a Hell to descend into doth not the Prophet Ezekiel say The mighty sâ—all speake out of the midst of Hell but what midst of Hell if there be no Hell doth not the Prophet Amâ—s speake in the person of God Though they dig into Hell thence shall my â—and take them and dig into Hel they could not if there were not a Hell to dig into and that in the Earth too
But if we will neither believe Apostles nor Prophets at least we will not refuse to believe Christ and Christ sayth thus whosoever shall say to his brother Thou foole shall be in danger of Hell sire but what danger of Hell sire if there be no Hell and againe Feare not them that can kill the body but cannot kill the soule but â—eare him that can cast both body and soule into Hell â—ire but cast them into Hell fire he could not if there were no Hell â—ire to be cast into And indeed if there were not a Hell Gods Kingdom would be defective in the coercive part there would want a fit place for execution of malefactours and for imprisonment of offendours In which point God hath been so provident that although the Devill sinned from the beginning yet before that beginning he had made ready a prison to hold him if he should offend and all other that should be his adherents as appeares by the words of Christ Goe yee cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devill and his angells Wherfore O my soule be most assured that there is a Hell sire the place into which Lucifer and his angells fell and in which both he and all that be his adherents which are all impenitent sinners shall everlastingly be detained and everlastingly be tormented but where or how it is who can tell or how should we know when it is not revealed But in what was it that Lucifer shewed his pride towards God was it in contesting with him about his soveraignty Or was it in finding fault with his Creation of the World or with his government in the administration of his Creatures and then was it in word or in deed or but in thought only som indeed have thought but only in thought but this is not likely for could he by only thinking have drawn such multitudes of Angels as he did into his faction some againe have thought he tooke it in skorn at Gods Hands that his Son should take upon him the nature of man and not of Angells wherein hee thought himselfe disparaged and thereupon grew murmuring and rebellious against God but neitheâ— is this likely for that secret of Christs incarnation was not perhaps as yet discovered when Lucifer offered his affront to God Whatsoever it was It was sufficient that God saw in him an insolent and rebellious disposition with which by communication he had infected many and who knowes to what it might have grown if God had suffered him never so little to have stayd in Heaven But how should Lucifer come to sin being created in so great Holinesse as no doubt he was was it not that seeing himselfe in state of immortality he knew he could never perish and the knowing he could not perish made him stand upon himselfe and admiring his own gifts neglect the giver For otherwise it is as impossible to conceave how he should ever come to coÌ„mit sin being created in such holinesse as to conceave how there should be sin for him to commit when there was no such thing as sin created It seems therfore he created it himâ—â—â—fe which perhaps Christ meant when he said Diabolus est mendax Pater ejus the Devill is a lier and the Father creatour of lies For he seeing God to be a creatour and knowing himselfe made Ad similitudinem Dei after Gods likenesse thought perhaps he might lawfully doe as he saw God doe and be a creatour as well as he And why not bee Similis Altissimo like to the most high being made Ad similitudinem Altissimi after the likenesse of the most High upon which false ground seeking to bee like God in soveraignty where he should have sought to be like him in holinesse he became as it were the creatour of sinne For alas what other creature â—ould he make if hee would needs be making creatures being a Creature himselfe but onely sinne that now as God sayd afterward of Adam as it were in skorn Man is become like one of us knowing good and evill so of Lucifer he might say in skorn Lucifer is become like one of us being a soveraigne and a maker of Creatures But as sin was at first as it were the Creature of Lucifer so Lucifer is now as it were the Creature of sin for what is there in him which siâ— hath not made all that God made in him being utterly defaced and this was a greater fall then that which was locall for that though from the highest to the lowest was yet but a finite â—all where this from â—race to sin from being a Creature of God to be a Creature of sin was a fall as Infinite as sinne it selfe which next to the infinitnesse of him that is infinitnesse it selfe is infinite But why would God so severely punish a first offence and of a first offendour and of one that knew not what punishment meant and had never had example to make him take heed was it not that this first sinne should not have beene the last if the offendour had been suffered to scape unpunished and therefore was not more a punishment then a prevention And could any severity be too great in punishing an offence so insolent an offendour to impenitent For doe â—e thinke he would not doe it if it were to doe again no doubt he would he could no more leave off his pride then the Leopard can leave off her spots the greatnesse of his gifts was all imployed to make great his sin or rather indeed was great with sin and hee could no more containe himselfe from bringing forth sin then a woman can containe her selfe from bringing forth the fruite of her body and aâ— no woman ever hated her own flesh so Lucifeâ— could never come to hatâ— sin which was his owne issue and we may know the continuance of hiâ— ambitious aspiring by this that notwithstanding his fall notwithstanding the servitude by his 〈◊〉 notwithstanding the â—orments in his servitude â—otwithstanding the bitâ—â—rnesse of his torments â—et amidst all these affliâ—â—ions his minde ran still â—pon the satisfying of his â—mbition and in so high a â—â—gree that nothing â—ould serve his turn but 〈◊〉 have the Son of God 〈◊〉 doe him homage and 〈◊〉 fall down and worship 〈◊〉 therein exercising his ambition no lesse iâ— Earth then he had donâ— before in Heaven But why doe we call 〈◊〉 the fall of Lucifer anâ— not rather the ejectmenâ— or the banishment or the expulsion or some sucâ— word as might expresâ— some angry act of God 〈◊〉 repressing his insolence and punishing his pride indeed because it is the fittest word for if wâ—â—â—â—ld call it by any of 〈◊〉 other termes it â—â—ght seeme to intimate 〈◊〉 if it put God to some â—â—â—at businesse to rid his â—â—nds of him and to reâ—oove him out of Heaâ—en when alas God â—ouchafed him not the â—onour so much as to â—â—ave any hand at all in his fall but only left him â—o himselfe and there