world first by conception in the wombe of a Mother and then by production and bringing forth from thence according to the time of life which the Lord hath appointed by his wise and all-guiding and governing providence and decree so he being to take our true and perfect humane nature and shape upon him that therein he might performe all that righteousnesse which the Law of God doth require at the hands of mankinde and so satisfie the rigour of the Law and the wrath of God in mans person for mans sins according to that first promise and prophecie of him The seed of the Woman shall breake the Serpents head Gen. 3.15 Therefore it was requisite that after the manner of all other persons and people whatsoever he should be propagated and produced into the world as well by conception as by birth that so the Enemie of mankinde might have nothing to object against the justice of God as if true and perfect man had not truly and perfectly fulfilled the whole Law and so quit himselfe from the danger of the breach of that first Command of the tree of knowledge of good and evill thou shalt not eat for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the death or surely die Gen. 2.17 Therefore I say our Saviour Christ being to become a perfect man it behoved him in all things sin only excepted to be made like man as well by conception as by birth from a carnall and naâ—urall Mother in regard whereof it is here said Hee was conceived by the Holy Ghost and borne of the Virgin Mary First of his conception He was conceived by the Holy Ghost for so the Angell Gabriel told Mary his Mother when she doubted and demanded saying How shall this thing be seeing I know not a man Luke 1.34 And the Angell answered in the next verse saying The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee therefore also that holy thing which shall be borne of thee shall be called the Son of God vers 35. And in S. Matthewes Gospell it is said Shee was found to be with Child of the Holy Ghost and that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost Matth. 1.18.20 That is saith S. Augustine Cujus conceptionis solus author fuit Spiritus Sanctus of whose conception the Holy Ghost only was the Author and yet not so the Author neither Vt caro ista formata sit citra interventum propriae essentiae Filii Dei as Athanasius speakes as if the flesh were formed without the intervention of the proper essence of the Son of God Absit ea enim est mens Pauli Samosatensis et reliquorum haereticorum as he goes on Farre be it from us so to imagine this being the minde and conceit of Paulus Samosatensis and other Heretikes but we beleeve and speake secundum orthodoxorum dogmatum rectitudinem according to the rectitude and straightnesse of the Catholike Tenets that the blessed Virgin was filled indeed with the power and vertue of the Holy Ghost Tum ut corpus ejus sanctificaretur tum ut salutarem illum foetum concipere possit as well for the sanctification of her body as the enabling of her to conceive that saving and life-bringing fruit in her wombe and so at the last after these fitting preparations the divine nature of the Word it selfe that is the second person in the sacred Trinitie descended Et ibi suum tabernaculum eligens in ea incarnationem assumpsit homo factus est as Athanasius still and choosing there the place of his residence for a time assumed his incarnation and manhood in her so that for us men and for our salvation himselfe came downe from heaven was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary and was made man as the Nicene Creed teacheth for by the salutation of an Angell saith S. Gregory the Word entred the wombe and streight the Word in the wombe by the working of the Holy Ghost became flesh for if shee had conceived by the ordinary way of propagating mankind i. e. by the carnall knowledge of man whether Joseph her husband or any other why then that which should have beene borne of her could not have beene without sinne and so not capable of the Mediatorship betwixt God and man nor of satisfying the Law and wrath of God for man but now being made man not after the ordinary course of nature but of the sanctified flesh and bloud of his Mother through the miraculous working of the Holy Ghost in her wombe he is capable of doing all that belongs unto our redemption for by his most holy conception our sinfull birth and conception is sanctified and his holinesse of life serves as a cover to hide our manifold actuall corruptions from the eyes of God For for their sakes saith Christ doe I sanctifie my selfe that they also may be sanctified through the truth Ioh. 17.19 which shewes that Christs holinesse is ours so that this is the name whereby wee may call him The Lord our righteousnesse saith Jeremie Chap. 23.6 Neither let it be incredible to any as S. Augustine speakes that he should take the whole and perfect nature of man only from his Mother the Virgin Nulla sementina carnis origine operante Without any operation or assistance of carnall seed seeing that the hand and power of God wrought and effected it quae primam mulierem potuit de costa formare which was able and did make the first woman that ever was only of a rib of the first man her husband And therefore he that was thus able to make a perfect and intire woman only out of the flesh of man without any other helpe or assistance let us not doubt but stedfastly beleeve that hee is as able to make a perfect and intire man only out of the flesh of woman so that he shall become as perfect God so likewise perfect man of a reasonable soule and humane flesh subsisting as Athanasius for if it be possible as S. Augustine saith for a worme to be ingendred and framed a living creature out of the mud or clay or dirt or dung and the like only by the Suns working heating and reflecting upon it then much more for the flesh of Christ to bee conceived of the Virgin Mary by the only overshadowing illustrating and sanctifying power of the Holy Ghost Hee was conceived of the Holy Ghost And here we may take notice of foure manner of births i. e. wayes or kindes of producing or bringing mankinde into the world The first Nec de viro nec de femina neither of man nor woman which was Adam made only by the Almightie hand and power of God out of the dust and clay of the earth Gen. 2.7 The second De viro sine muliere Of the man without the helpe of woman and this was Eve who was made only of the rib of man Gen. 2.22 The third De viro muliere Both of man
former times well observed that there be parts some revealed some secret Dr. Covell of that which yet is no more divers or many than it is possible for the essence of the Godhead to be more than one not that he is contrarie in his will but that his will as yet is not wholly revealed So farre hee 1 Sam. 6.19 Numb 4.20 Exod. 19.13 Now the first part of this will that is the secret and reserved part is shut up within the closet of Gods owne sacred bosome as the Ark that must not be pried into the mountaine that neither man nor beast may prefume to touch the brightsome Sunne that with the rayes of his glorious luster dazles the eyes of curious beholders the way of an Eagle in the aire Prov. 30.19 and the path of a ship in the waters whose track may not be espied nor enquired after but only admired and adored afarre off For of this hath God pronounced O homo in quis es Rom. 9.20 O man who art thou that doest that darest ransack the bowels of my privie Councels seeing my judgements are like a great deepe as Psal 36.6 that is so deepe so bottomlesse as that they are not to be sounded or fathomed by thy shallownesse The other part of Gods will is open and revealed divulged and proclaimed in a full Court and assembly of men and Angels to all the world and that is his will revealed in his Word And this challenges and exacts both a distinct knowledge and an entire obedience yea therefore our knowledge that it may be obeyed for as affected knowledge in the former is dangerous so affected ignorance in this latter is damnable Now then if we must doe this revealed will of God then likewise know it yea and know God too in and by it as well as by his attributes or any other his works whatsoever otherwise without this latter Epist 4. it is impossible to attaine unto the former For Qui Deum nescitis vias ejus quomodo novistis saith S. Ambrose If you doe not know God how can you either know the will or walk in the wayes of God And therefore God himselfe upon his reconciliation and promise of a new covenant with his people Israel tels them first that hee will put his Law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts and then as a confirmation of the said covenant hee addes That they should not need to bid one another to know the Lord For they shall all know me saith hee from the least of them to the greatest of them Ierem. 31.33 34. which is as much as if hee should have said That untill men know God they cannot have his Law written in their hearts and so neither submit their understanding to the beleefe and knowledge of it for matter of doctrine nor subject their wils and affections to the obedience and practice of it in their lives conversations And therefore for these reasons before expressed let us be perswaded to use our best diligence and endevour to attaine unto the knowledge of the three former circumstances concerning God For this is life eternall that men know thee the onely true God and whom thou hast sent Jesus Christ saith our Saviour himselfe Ioh. 17.3 From whence learned Zanchy our Protestant Schooleman inferres that if it be life to know God it must needs be no lesse than death not to know him or to be ignorant of him To conclude then as a curious searching into those secrets of God which are not revealed serveth but to breed a contempt of those things which are revealed unto us in regard whereof it is greater pietie to beleeve them than to strive to know them so on the other side to be absolutely either ignorant or carelesse of those things that concerne us and which God hath revealed unto us is a plaine evidence of our sloth and negligence of our owne salvation In the former whereof it is not so much to be lamented that wee search and cannot comprehend as that in the latter wee might comprehend if wee would but take the paines to search For Qui quaerunt invenient They that seeke shall finde Matth. 7.7 even the knowledge of the true God and of his wayes Now then God hath revealed and made himselfe knowne to his Church and children after a three-fold manner viz. Operando Loquendo Spirando that is by his works words and Spirit by his works in the creation and conservation of the world by his Word in his holy Scriptures by his holy Spirit in testifying to our spirit by his secret working and inspiration in our hearts and soules not onely that hee is God but that he is our God also in particular so that wee may and must relye and depend upon him and none but him upon all occasions whatsoever Now these heads are too large and long to be handled to the full by way of Catechisme and therefore for this time you must be satisfied with that which the words of our Creed testifie and declare concerning him that is That he is the Father Almightie Maker of Heaven Earth Vide Act. 17.24 And here you see that the first attribute or title that is given unto God is that he is called Father I beleeve in God the Father c. And that may be in this place in a two-fold respect First in respect of creation and so he is the Father of the world and all that is therein and therefore here is subjoyned Maker of Heaven and Earth Secondly in respect of naturall generation and so hee is the father of Jesus Christ alone And therefore followes that And in Iesus Christ his onely Sonne Concerning the first it is said by the Prophet Have we not all one Father hath not one God created uâ— Mal. 2.10 And againe Is not hee thy Father that hath made thee Deut. 32.6 And not onely of man but of all other things he is said to be the Father by creation as in the booke of Iob Who is the father of the raine or who hath begotten the drops of dew out of whose wombe came the ice or who hath ingrendred the frâ—st of Heaven Iâ—b 38.28 29. thereby insinuating that God only is the father of these things and therefore well may wee say I beleeve in God the Father But most especially in regard of his naturall fatherhood to his Sonne and our Saviour Jesus Christ whom he did beget in the womb of eternitie before all worlds according to that of the Psalmist Ex utero ante luciferum genui te as the Vulgar Latine reads it Psal 110.3 that is I have begotten thee in my womb before the morning light or in the words of Esay Before the day was I am To which purpose S. Augustine doth here take occasion wittily to observe against the Arrians Quod cum Dei Patris nomen in confessione conjungitur That when the name of Father is in this Creed and Confession of faith joyned
reside onely and to keep his Court therefore is Jerusalem called the Citie of the great King so that in Jewrie onely is God truly knowne and worshipped at Salem was his Tabernacle and his dwelling at Sion the place which he had chosen to put his name there during all which time the Gentiles that is all nations except the foresaid Jewes or Israelites were not in any generall account the people of God but were parted from them with a wall of separation strangers aliens from the Common-wealth of Israel and Covenants of Grace made with Abraham onely and his seed suffered to live in the sinfull state of their inbred corruptions to walke in the blindnesse of their darkened understandings without the knowledge of his Law without all saving knowledge of himselfe without Christ the ground of hope out of the Church the place of hope without the Covenant the reason also of all our hope and beleeving 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in hoc mundo without God in this present world barbarous and bruitish both in their minds and manners as the Apostle drawes their character Ephes 2.12 But Beloved there was a fulnesse of time set in the determined counsell of God when this partition-wall should be broken downe and they should againe become utraque unum both Nations should be made one and the despised Gentiles as well as the Jewes be received into grace and mercie by a new Covenant For I will call them my people which were not my people and her beloved which was not beloved saith God by his Prophet Hos 2.23 Yea the people that walked in darknesse have seene a great light they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death upon them hath the light shined saith another Prophet viz. Esay 9.2 and to shew what light hee meanes he subjoynes within a few verses after To us a child is borne to us a Sonne is given c. vers 6. So that this was from everlasting decreed that as God divided all Nations out of one root the first Adam so to gather them againe under one head Christ the second Adam that as by that one man came death over all by a naturall propagation so by this one life and righteousnesse might abound to all by a spirituall regeneration And the accomplishment of this decree is now in these dayes and times of the Gospell wherein our Jesus Christ hath beene conceived of the Holy Ghost and borne of the Virgin Marie for now as the former Prophet Esay foretold may the Gentiles flock and gather unto God from all Coasts and Nations be they never so barbarous never so savage the flocks of Kedar the Rams of Nebayoth the Iles and ships of the Ocean shall bring their sonnes and daughters from farre and they shall come night and day thick as a cloud and as Pigeons about their windowes Esay 60. For behold now the holy Citie new Jerusalem is come downe out of Heaven and the Tabernacle of God is with men men in generall and he will dwell with them Revel 21.2 3. and heaven is after a sort on earth by the presence of God in his Church in the ministerie of the Gospell And this Citie of God is built fouresquare where the great King keepeth his Court of grace with open gates night and day towards the foure coasts corners of the world holding forth the golden scepter daily to invite all that will come welcome all that doe come of all kindreds of all nations whatsoever Which latitude and extent of Christs saving grace as it was well and wittily observed by S. Cyprian to be implyed in his name of the second Adam the Greeke letters whereof doe severally signifie all the quarters of the earth as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the East 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the West 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the North 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the South so likewise may it be raised and that not unfittingly neither from his two usuall and ordinarie names here spoken of in the Creed Iesus Christ Iesus speaking him a Saviour to the Jewes and Christ Anoynted also for the Gentiles Well then to draw towards an end of this point let us now behold how true it is yea and ever was but yet now it appeareth more than ever that there is no respect of persons with God but in everie nation they that feare him and worke righteousnesse are accepted with him as S. Peter said Acts 10.34 35. for in Jesus Christ neither circumcision nor uncircumcision availeth any thing but a new creature Tros Ticiusque mihi nullo discrimine agetur saith the Poet. Neither Jew nor Grecian bond nor free male nor female Barbarian nor Scythian but they are all one in Christ Jesus as S. Paul saith Gal. 3.28 As the river Nilus running but within his owne seven channels moystens but his owne banks and the things that grow thereon but overflowing the countrey at certaine seasons makes the whole land of Aegypt fruitfull as the garden of God so the flouds of grace once flowing especially within the land of Canaan made that onely the fruitfull land flowing with milke and honey as the Scripture speaketh of it But as God once in severe judgement and truth opened the windowes of Heaven and rained downe a floud that drowned and destroyed the whole world except eight persons Noah and his family so in this last age wherein the everlasting Gospell is sent to all nations God hath in mercie and truth opened the windowes of Heaven once more to raine downe that showre of grace that shall save all the world except such as have built themselves a Babel and enclosed themselves wilfully within the wals of their owne works that these waters of grace may not come at them for surely there is salvation neare all them that feare him saith the Scripture that salvation may dwell in our land yea in all lands that this wide world containes Was there ever then such a golden age and world as the Poets conceited and described Flumina jam lactis jam flumina Nectaris ibant Flavaque de viridi stillabant ilice mella When as flouds of milke and Nectar flowed in everie street in everie channell Why surely such have beene the poeticall fictions and conceits whereas we have Propheticall truths fore-speaking far greater happinesse under the Gospell of God and the Kingdome of Christ when Christ himselfe shall be the Shepherd of his people to lead them in the paths of righteousnesse that he may make them rest in the fresh pastures by the still waters Psal 23.1 2. Yea when with joy all nations shall draw water out of the wels of salvation as Esay 12.3 And therefore for use and conclusion Be joyfull in the Lord all yee lands serve him with gladnesse and come before his presence with a song Psal 100.1 For now we that were no better than dogs before may at the last feed on the crums that fall from our Masters table