yet in some respects they are sometimes appropriated more to One then to another heere therefore in speaking of Heaven and Earth the Originall of Creatures the making them is justly attributed to God the Father the originall Creator for otherwise it is so true that they all had a hand in making them that it is said of the Holy Ghost also that Spiritus Dei Incubabat the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters and what was this but a Fomenting the worke of the Father and the Sonne by the Bond of Concord the proper worke of the Holy Ghost From hence we may learne that the World hath not been from Everlasting For if God be Maker of Heaven and Earth then Heaven and Earth were made and if made then made in time and if made in time then there was a time when they were not made But how could this bee seeing there was no time till they were made But yet there was a space of Duration and that space had beene from Everlasting and being from Everlasting how could it ever come to have an ende and an End it must have before Time could come to have a Beginning O my Soule These are no Thoughts for thee thy wings are too weake to fly so high a pitch Thy Plummets are too short to sound so great a depth It may bee sufficient for thee to know that although God made not the World from Everlasting yet hee made it then when from Everlasting hee had Decreed to make it but how hee brought Time out of Eternity is a mystery thou shalt never attaine to know till thou come thy selfe to attaine Eternity Thus farre wee are brought by Beleeving in God the Father And in his onely Sonne Jesus Christ our Lord. but seeing Father is a Relative and every Relative imples a Correlative and the Correlative to Father is Sonne this brings my Beliefe a degree further to Beleeve in his onely Sonne Jesus Christ our Lord Not his Sonne by Adoption as we are nor his Son by Creation and Grace as Angels are but his Sonne by Generation as onely himselfe is and such a Sonne as the Father Proclaimes to be His and tels the day when he begot him Hodie genui te This day have I begotten thee But what day was this day Not such a day as our dayes are which follow one after another but a day in which there is nothing Before nor after but the Past and the Present are both at once the Past in Genui the Present in Hodie indeed a day Not of Time but of Eternity which makes him Co-eternall with his Father One good degree of Equality And as the day of his Begetting is not like ours So neither is the manner of his Begetting like ours For where our Begetting is a Third from Two his Begetting is a Second from One and therefore must needs bee of One substance Both and this makes him Consubstantiall with the Father another good degree of Equality which kind of Begetting though it exceede our capacity yet it exceeds not our Beliefe and therefore though our Inquisitive Thoughts would faine bee making further Querees about it yet Faith makes us contented to take this for an Answer Generationem ejus quis enarrabit Who shall declare his Generation If then the day of his Begetting make him Co-eternall with the Father and the manner of his Begetting make him Consubstantiall with the Father have we not as good ground for our Believing in him as in the Father And though it may be thought no Power is left for the Sonne the Father being Almighty yet all Power is given to the Sonne both in Heaven and Earth for though the Father bee Almighty yet Almighty but as God and therefore Almighty as due to the Sonne who is God with the Father and as just cause wee have to say to the Sonne as to the Father Wee praise thee O God wee knowledge thee to bee the Lord. But how can the Sonne that is begotten be Co-eternall with the Father who Begets Seeing that which Begets is alwaies before that which is Begotten But is not this a fallacie They being Relatives Seeing nothing can Beget but there must bee something Begotten there cannot bee a Father till there bee a Sonne and therefore if the Father bee from Everlasting the Sonne also is from Everlasting and so are Co-eternall But though the Sonne may bee Co-eternall with the Father yet how can he be Consubstantiall with the Father Seeing the Substance of every thing is proper to it selfe and cannot bee communicated to another This indeed were true if the Father and the Sonne were Aliud Aliud and not onely Alius Alius but now being Both One God and onely Two Persons Seeing the difference of Persons makes no difference of Substance they remaine of One Substance Both and so are Consubstantiall Thus farre reacheth our Beliefe in the Divinity of the Son but seeing we beleeve him to be both perfect God and perfect Man this leades our Beliefe a degree further To Beleeve in Jesus Christ our Lord Termes belonging to his Humanity Jesus a Name given him by an Angel when hee was yet in his Mothers womb Because hee should save his people from their sinnes Christ a Name given him from his Office As being a Priest after the Order of Melchisedech annointed with the oyle of gladnesse above his fellowes Lord a Name given him from his Dominion For of his Kingdome there shall be no end O Blessed Son of God Let mee enjoy the benefit of thy Name Jesus that I may bee saved from my sinnes Let me enjoy the benefit of thy Name Christ that I may bee partaker of the oyle of gladnesse with which thou wert Annointed Let me enjoy the benefit of thy being my Lord that being thy Servant I may have thy Protection and Thou my Obedience But how happens it that having said in the beginning of my Creede I Beleeve I now come to say Our Lord and so where I went single out am now suddenly fallen into company It is true indeed I sayd I Beleeve when I spake but as regarding my owne person but now that I speake as regarding the Communion of Saints I say Our Lord. For though Saint Thomas said My God and my Lord as though hee would claime CHRIST wholly to himselfe yet that seemes spoken but in passion and to make amends for his former doubting But now that I speak deliberatly I can say no lesse then Our Lord seeing as Christ is a Saviour not of me onely but of all mankinde so he is the Lord not of me onely but of all that serve him and thus Christ is that Lord in whom is expounded the Riddle of David The Lord said unto my Lord For if hee be Davids Lord how is hee his Sonne and if he bee his Sonne how is he his Lord Indeed Both his Son as concerning the Flesh but his Lord concerning Divine Generation and if Davids Lord
the first Gospell that was written of Christ was that of Saint Matthew which was not writteÌ„ til eight years after Christs death the other much later especially that of Saint John which was not written till thirty yeares after and therefore the Creede no doubt was delivered if not in forme as now it is at least in substance as now it is long before any Gospell was written And may it not bee further said that this Creed seemes to have been penned when Religion was first translated from Judaisme to Christianitie and therefore that there are no other Articles in it then such as are in opposition to the doctrine of the Jewes by introducing in their place the Christian beliefe For by the Article of beleeving in God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost we utterly renounce the doctrine of the Jewes who acknowledge no Trinity of Persons in the Deity By beleeving the Incarnation of the Sonne of God Christ Jesus and his passion under Pontius Pilate we renounce the doctrine of the Jewes who teach that the true Messias is not yet come By beleeving the Holy Catholike Church wee renounce the opinion of the Jewes who thought that the Church of God was bounded onely within Canaan and that no Church could be holy but that of Israel By beleeving the Communion of Saints we renounce the doctrine of the Jewes by which a Jew indeed would take no usury for money of a Jew but to any of another Nation they would use oppression to the very grinding of their faces By beleeving the forgivenesse of sinnes we renounce the Pharisees Justification by workes and sticke onely to the Publicanes Justification by Faith O God be mercifull to me a sinner By beleeving the Resurrection of the Body we renounce the errour of the Sadduces whom Christ confuted by this argument Have ye not read that which was spoken to you by God saying I am the God of Abraham the God of Isaak and the God of Jakob God is not the God of the dead but of the living By beleeving the life everlasting we renounce the opinion of the Jewes who depended onely upon temporall benefits and the blessings of this life and as for the life to come were as carelesse of it as ignorant And now seeing all the Articles of this Creed are in opposition to the doctrin of the Jewes what marveile that in it there is no Article for beleeving the Scriptures wheÌ„ as concerning the Scriptures that were then there was no opposition beweene the Christians and them It may with more reason bee demanded why in these Articles of beliefe there is no mention made of the Sacraments seeing Baptism and the Lords Supper were ordained by Christ himself and are things so necessary to be beleeved But is it not that of Baptisme Christ said Goe teach all Nations Baptizing them in the name of the Father of the Sonne and of the holy Ghost and of the Eucharist he said Doe this in remembrance of me and so both these are things of Action which wee must not onely beleeve but doe and therefore fitter placed Inter agenda amongst the records of things to be done then Inter credenda amongst the Articles of things to be beleeved The Catholike Church is no sooner founded The Communion of Saints but the Communion of Saints followes presently upon it as was seene at the Pentecost after Châ—ists Ascending when the Holy Ghost descended upon the Apostles in cloven Tongues for then were present of all Nations under Heaven who it seemes made the representative body of the Catholike Church and then being all of one accord and having all things in common and distributing to every one as they had need they acted the Article we here beleeve If there were not a Communion of S t s the wicked should be more charitable then the godly for among the wicked there are leagues and confederacies and they hold together for the common good and oftentimes their lives are engaged for one another and if the wicked doe this the godly certainely will doe it much more and this makes me to beleeve assuredly The Communion of Saints But are there Saints then on earth Are not all men living sinners and can sinners be Saints Indeed not Saints by Canonization of men but by the Canonization of the Holy Spirit Not Saints in perfection but in Inchoation called Saints as Saint Paul saith because called to be Saints as having their Names written in the Booke of God in Heaven But we must here take heed of the Anabaptists Communion of Saints For by their Communion no man should have any thing in private but all should be in common and so none should be richer or poorer then another which would make Christs Praediction directly false where hee saith The poore yee shall have alwaies with you and would make all these exhortations voide Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorifie your Father which is in Heaven Charge them which are rich in this world that they be ready to give and glad to destribute Give Alme of thy goods and never turne thy face from any poore man But indeed this Communion is in part exprest by Saint Paul where he saith Doe good to all men but especially to those of the houshold of Faith For the being of one houshold implies plainely a common provision for al the house but implies withall a disparity of estates Indeede the first flowre that growes in the Garden of the Catholike Church is the Communion of Saints which as it begins in the Militant so it continues in the Triumphant Church Continues there when the other flowres are withered and gone For when Faith and Hope shall be no more yet Charity shall continue and not onely continue but be then most flourishing and if we did not beleeve the Communion of Saints wee could not truely say Our Father in the Lords Prayer for in saying Our Father wee professe this Communion But for the better understanding of this Article It may bee conceived that there are Saints on Earth and Saints in Heaven and this Article containes the Communion of them both both of the Saints on earth between themselves and of the Saints in Earth and Heaven with one another What though they bee farre distant and asunder Are not the feet so from the head are not the hands so from the heart Yet if there were not a relation and correspondencie betweene them neither the feet would bee able to move nor the hands to stirre and perhaps not the head in many things to doe his Office And this Communion consists either in Assistance or in Love but in Assistance for a time in Love for ever For as the Saints in Heaven assist us by praying that wee may so leade our lives in this life that we may come to bee admitted into their Societie in the next So we assist the Saints in Heaven by praying that the suite
then also of us all seeing of his Kingdome as there shall be no End so neither is there any limitation but it is as Universall as Eternall But though Christ bee the Sonne of God by Generation concerning his Divinity yet not by generation concerning his Humanity but I Beleeve Conceived by the Holy Ghost He was conceived by the Holy Ghost Not that the Holy Ghost was his Father For the Father contributes matter to the being of a Sonne but the Holy Ghost contributes no matter to the being of Christ doth nothing to supplere vicem Patris but onely to be supplementum Matris Indeed a Conception which passeth our conceiving That if Mary doubted how this should be seeing she knew not man we as well may doubt it seeing we know not the manner nor ever can know it but the answer which the Angels gave to satisfie Mary must serve also to satisfie us The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the Power of the Highest shall overshadow thee And here now comes in the great Mystery of the Incarnation of the Sonne of God to the Jewes a Scandall and a stumbling Blocke to the Gentiles and yet the Mystery not more hard to Beleeve then necessary to be Beleeved indeed so necessary that there is properly no Antichristian but hee that denyes it as Saint John saith Who is the Antichrist but hee that denies Christ to be come in the flesh But why was it necessary that the Sonne of God should bee Incarnate Indeed for many great reasons For his being Incarnate makes him the more to commiserate our infirmities his being Incarnate brings our Flesh againe within the Verge of Sanctification but chiefly his being Incarnate makes him fit to be a Mediator betweene God and us makes him fit to bee a Sacrifice for our sins and if it were not for his being Incarnate we should never have Accesse to the Throne of God O blessed Iesus what Infinite benefits doe we receive by thy being Incarnate but what benefit dost thou receive by it thy selfe Alas onely to make a purchase of a number of ungratefull wretches who little consider what great things thou hast done for us little consider what great sufferings thou hast endured for us little consider thy Love thy Patience thy Humilitie in taking our Flesh upon thee when yet but for thy taking it upon thee our Flesh should never have come to Inherit Heaven But why was the Sonne Incarnate and not as well the Father or the Holy Ghost Indeede for just cause For it was not fit the Father should bee Incarnate because the Incarnation was to pacifie the Father Nor was it not fit the Holy Ghost should be Incarnate because the Incarnation was to be the worke of the Holy Ghost onely the Son was fit to bee Incarnate because it was congruous that being the Sonne in the Trinitie hee should also bee the Sonne of the Woman So to make us the Sonnes of God without remooving out of his Spheare of Sonne-ship at all And heere begins the difference betweene the Humane nature of Christ and Ours For wee are all of us conceived in sinne as David saith of himselfe That he was conceived in sinne and as David so wee all but Christ was conceived by the Holy Ghost and therefore without sinne And as all the passages of our time esteemed are like our Beginning Conceived in sinne Borne in sinne Living in sinne and Dying in sinne So all the passages of Christs time afterward are like his Beginning Conceived without sinne Borne without sinne Living without sinne and Dying without sinne by which it was wrought that though he tooke upon him our whole nature became in al things like to us yet sinne was excepted And that which was conceived by the Holy Ghost did not prove we may be sure a false conception but prospered and proceeded to a perfect Birth therfore as I Beleeve he was conceived by the Holy Ghost So I Beleeve Borne of the Virgine MARIE hee was Borne of the Virgin Mary Conceived altogether Supernaturally in her but borne for the most part Naturally of her was nourished in her Wombe lay nine moneths enclosed in her Wombe came forth of her Wombe after the course of Nature and yet Borne Supernaturally of her too Supernaturally as of a Virgine though naturally as of a Woman For he was Natus ex Virgine Borne of a Virgine So he was Factus ex muliere made of a Woman Not made in her but made of her was Flesh of her Flesh and Bone of her Bone as truly as Eve of Adams It may well bee said hee was Borne Supernaturally of her For who ever heard of such a thing before a Virgine to bee the mother of a Childe But though it were never heard off before that such a thing was Yet it was heard before that such a thing should bee For the Prophet Esay long before had foretold A Virgin shall be with Childe and shall bring forth a Sonne and what marvell if there never were such a Mother before when there never was such a Childe before For this is that Childe of whom it is said This day is borne to you a Saviour which is Christ the Lord and a Saviour of whom No lesse then of all mankinde and this no lesse strange then his Birth A child to be a Saviour of men and One Childe of all mankinde fully as strange as to be Borne of a Virgin Indeed strange Both or rather Wonderfull Both yet as strange or wonderfull as they Both are we Beleeve them Both though but One of them be delivered heere for an Article of our Creede It is Recorded of many that they were Sanctified in their Mothers Wombe as amongst others of Jeremy the Prophet but never Recorded of any that he was Conceived by the Holy Ghost but onely of Christ and between being Sanctified and being conceived by the Holy Ghost there is very great oddes For to be Sanctified is only to have a measure of Holinesse but to bee conceived by the Holy Ghost is to have the whole Substance made Holy To be sanctified is onely to have Grace infused in the Soule but to be conceived by the Holy Ghost is to have both Body and Soule bee altogether Grace it selfe But though Christ were conceived without sinne because conceived by the Holy Ghost yet how could hee bee borne without sinne being borne of a sinnefull woman For though Mary were a Virgin yet no doubt shee was a sinner For why else should she need a Saviour as shee saith her selfe My spirit rejoyceth in God my Saviour and could Christ take flesh of a sinner and not with that flesh take sinne But is it not that the Holy Ghost is the Sanctifier and could aswell sanctifie the Flesh it selfe as the motions of the Flesh and therefore make him as well borne without sinne as conceived without sinne sinne not being able to enter where the Holy Ghost keeps possession But why is there