everlasting and after preached by the Apostles both to Iew and Gentile was finally committed unto writing to this end and purpose that by reading it or hearing it read and declared by others we may believe that IESVS is the CHRIST the Son of God and that believing we may have life through his name as St. Iohn assures us And though this be affirmed by him of his Gospel only I mean that written by himself yet we may safely say the same of all the rest of the Apostolical and Evangelical writings as being dictated by the same Spirit writ by men equally inspired and all conducing to this end to teach us to know IESVS CHRIST and him crucifyed and to enable us to give a reason to all that aske of the faith that is in us But being the writings of the Evangelists and Apostles were of too great a bulk to be committed unto memory and that there were some things in them so obscure and difficult that many ignorant and unstable but well meaning men both might and did wrest them to their own destruction other things which related rather unto moral duties then to points faith it was thought fit by the Apostles to draw the points of saving faith such as were necessarily to be believed of all Christian people into a briefe and narrower compasse It was not for the ordinary sort of men to trouble themselves with doubtful disputations as St. Paul calleth them whereof many do occurre in his Epistles disputes of too great difficulty and sublime a nature for every man especially the weak in faith either to understand or conceive aright Nor was it possible that men of mean parts and laborious callings of which the Church consisted for the most part in the first beginning should either have so much leasure as to read over their writings or so much judgment as to gather and collect from thence what of necessity was to be believed that they might be saved what not or so much memory as to treasure up and repeat by heart the infinite treasures of divine knowledge which are comprehended in the same And if it were so as no doubt it was when the Apostles and Evangelists had left those excellent Monuments of themselves in writing which the Church hath ever since enjoyed to which men might resort as occasion was for their information and instruction how necessary then must we think it was for some such Summarie and Abstract of the Christian faith to be resolved upon amongst them which men of weak memories might repeat by heart and men of shallow comprehensions righly understand Those blessed souls knew well none better how to apply themselves to the capacities of the weakest men that there were many Babes in Christ who were to be fed with milk and not with meats and that if they became not all things unto all men they must resolve amongst themselves to save but few Upon this ground then which what juster could there be to induce them to it it is conceived they drew up that brief abstract of the Christian faith which we call the CREED and couched therein whatever point was necessary for all sorts of men in all times and all places of the world both to believe in their hearts as also to professe and confesse upon all occasions though to the apparent hazard of their lives and fortunes And why this might not be that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that form of sound words whereof St. Paul saith to Timothy Hold fast that form of sound words thou hast heard of me I must confesse that I could never yet see a convincing reason Certain I am that Irenaeus who lived very near the Apostles times hath said of this confession of the faith this Creed which hath so generally and unanimously been received over all the world Ecclesia per universum orbem usque ad fines terrae c. The Church saith he throughout the world even to the ends of the earth received from the Apostles and their Disciples that faith which believeth in one God the Father Almighty maker of heaven and earth c. and in IESVS CHRIST the Son of God incarnate for our salvation and in the holy Spirit which preached by the Prophets the dispensation and coming of God and the birth of CHRIST our Lord by the Virgin his passion resurrection and ascension with his flesh into heaven and his coming from heaven in the glory of his Father to raise up all flesh and to give just judgement unto all Which words lest possibly we might interpret of the doctrine of faith which questionlesse was alwayes one and the same over all the world and not of any summary or abstract which they had digested for the use and benefit of Gods people or think that they relate rather to the substance of faith then to any set and determinate form of words in which that substance was delivered let us behold what the same Father hath delivered in another place This faith saith he which the Church though dispersed through the world received from the Apostles and their Disciples yet notwithstanding doth it keep it as safe as if it dwelt within the wals of one house and as uniformly hold N. B. as if it had but one only heart and soul and this as consonantly it preacheth teacheth and delivereth as if but one tongue did speak for all He addes which makes the point more plain that though there be different languages in the world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet the effect and summe of the tradition i. e. the faith delivered in that forme is one and the same and I presume he means not by tradition those doctrines of faith which are delivered in the books and writings of the Evangelists and Apostles Finally he concludes with this expression and it is worthily worth our marking in the present case that he amongst the Governours of the Church who is best able to speak saith no more then this and no lesse then this the simplest and the most ignorant person which certainly he had not said but that there was one uniforme and determinate order of words which every one was bound to learn and adhere unto Tertullian he speaks plainer yet and affirmes expresly regulam fidei unam omnino esse solam immobilem et irreformabilem that there is but one rule of faith at all and that unmoveable and unalterable How could he say that there was but one rule of faith in the Church if every several Church had a several rule or that it was unmoveable and unalterable as he saith it was if there were no certain form of words prescribed which men were to keep to but every one might change and alter as he saw occasion So that I take it for a truth unquestionable that in the first ages nay the first beginnings of the Church of CHRIST there was a certain form of words prescribed for the ease and benefit of the Church a summarie or abstract of the Articles
the Apostles Creed it is said expresly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say I believe in the holy Catholick Church and in the Nicene Creed it was said of old 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Credo in unam Catholicam Ecclesiam as the Translator of Socrates where that Creed occurreth And though the same be not expressed in terminis in the Latine Creed yet in the Grammar of the words it is understood For where the Latine Creeds run thus Credo in Spiritum sanctum sanctam Catholicam Ecclesiam c. that is to say I believe in the holy Ghost the holy Catholick Church c. as the English hath it either the word Credo must be interposed as Credo in Spiritum sanctam credo sanctam Catholicam Ecclesiam i. e. I believe in the holy Ghost I believe the holy Catholick Church or else the Preposition In must relate to both as also to the rest that follow I know indeed that after Credere in Deum or in Iesum Christum was thought to be a different act and degree of faith from Credere Deo or Iesu Christo that men began to think it somewhat inconvenient to say as formerly Credo in sanctam Catholicam Ecclesiam or Credo in Mosen Prophetas I believe in the holy Catholick Church or I believe in Moses and the holy Prophets which have been since the world began And so we are to understand both Ruffin and Paschasius when they speak thereof both fitting their expressions to such forms of words as were then authorized in the Schools of CHRIST The like is to be said of St. Augustine also viz. Credimus Paulo non credimus in Paulum c. We believe Paul saith he we believe not in Paul and we believe Peter we believe not in Peter Where note the Father speaks not of the property but of the use of the phrase according to the language of the times he lived in for ab initio non fuit sic that it was otherwise intended at the first beginning we have shewn already Whether the phrase be so peculiar an expression of the holy Ghost as that it is not to be found in the old Greek Writers I will not meddle at the present though I conceive the holy Ghost did dictate nothing of the Scriptures but the matter only and left the language thereof to the sacred Pen-men But for the Septuagint although they do not use the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with the Preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 preceding an Accusative Case which is the singularity of expression so much insisted on in this business yet use they other words to the same effect For those which stand so highly on singularity cannot choose but grant that many times they use 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not seldom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and sometimes also though not often 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which whosoever should translate in the English tongue could not translate it otherwise then thus to believe in God So that whether it be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Credo in Deum or Credo in Deo it makes no difference in this case no more then that these words of the Evangelist 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by Beza are translated Crediderunt in nomen ejus but by the Author of the Vulgar in nomine ejus which come both to one This makes it evident in part that the said distinction between Credere Deo credere Deum stands not upon so sure a ground as was imagined but I must make it yet more evident that in the true intent and meaning of the sacred Pen-men there is no difference at all to be found between them For in the 16. chapter of the Acts the Iaylor did demand of Paul and Silas what it behoved him to do that be might be saved vers 30. to which they made this following answer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Crede in Dominum Iesum Christum c. believe on the Lord IESVS CHRIST and thou shalt be saved and thy house It followeth thereupon in the sacred story that being instructed in the Word and baptized with water he rejoyced greatly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Credens Deo as both Beza and the Vulgar read it Believing in God with all his house vers 34. where if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the 34. be not the same with that of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the 31 verse as to the act of faith which is one in both although the Object of this Act be given us in a different manner the Iaylor had fallen short of that way to Heaven and possibly might have been as far from the hopes of Salvation as when he first proposed the question And if they be the same as no doubt they be then Credere Deo Credere in Deum differ not at all and therefore neither the distinction nor the Explication so generally true and universally to be imbraced as hath been supposed which was the first thing to be proved The second was that howsoever Credere in Deum in some texts of Scripture may possibly admit that explication which is made thereof yet can it not be possisibly admitted in this place of the Creed My reason is because all Novices or Catechumeni which were to be admitted into the Church by the dore of Baptism all children formerly baptized which either came or were brought before the Bishop for Confirmation were first to give an account of their faith to make a publick profession or confession of it in the face of the Church according to the very words and Articles of this common Creed For which see proof sufficient in the former chapter Now if by Credere in Deum in Iesum Christum the Church intended such a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such an adhaesion unto God in IESVS CHRIST such an assurance and perswasion of our interest in him as the phrase is pretended to import the Church did very ill to exact it from the hands of Novices or from the mouths of babes in Christ considering how strong the meat was and how agreeable unto the stomach of the strongest faith My second reason is which before was touched at because if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to believe in God the Father Almighty in Iesus Christ his only Son and in the holy Ghost the Lord and giver of life import no less then such a dependence on them as is due from the Creature to his God and that too ex vi Phraseos out of the very prhase or form of speech in Deum credere the same dependence must all Christians have upon the Church the same on the Communion of Saints and the rest that follow Will you have a reason of this reason It is because the very same phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is extant still interminis in tearms exprest in all Greek copies of the Creed and necessarily implyed in the Latine
or bad The ill successe that followed the young Prodigals journey was no part of his fathers purpose of his will and absolute decree much lesse no nor so much as to be ascribed unto his permission which was but causa sine qua non as the Schooles call it if it were so much Only it gave the Father such an opportunity as Adams fall did GOD in the present case of entertaining him with joy at his coming home and killing the faâ—ted Calfe for his better welcome T is true that God to whose eternal eye all things are present and fore-seen as if done already did perfectly fore-know to what unhappy end this poor man would come how far he would abuse that natural liberty wherewith he had endowed him at his first Creation Praescivit peccaturum sed non praedestinavit ad peccatum said Fulgentius truly And upon this fore-knowledge what would follow on it he did withall provide such a soveraign remedy as should restore collapsed man to his primitive hopes of living in Gods fear departing hence in his favour and coming through faith in Christ unto life eternall if he were not wanting to himself in the Application For this is a faithfull saying and worthy of all acceptation that CHRIST IESVS came into the World to save sinners of whom every man may say as St. Paul once did that he is the chief And it is as worthy of acceptance which came though from the same Spirit from a worthier person that God so loved the World the whole world of mankinde that He sent his only begouten Son into the World to the intent that whosoever did believe in him should live though he dyed and whosoever liveth and believeth in him should not die for ever but have as in another place everlasting life But what it is to believe in him and what a Christian man is bound to believe of him as it is all the subject of the six next Articles so must it be the argument of another book this touching our belief in God the Father Almighty Maker of Heaven and Earth and all things therein with most of the material points which depend upon it beginning now to draw to a final period Chap. VI. What Faith it was which was required for Justification before and under the Law Of the knowledge which the Patriarchs and Prophets had touching Christ to come Touching the Sacrifices of the Jews the Salvation of the Gentiles and the Justifying power of Faith ANd yet before we pass to the following Articles there are some points to be disputed in reference to the several estates of the Church of God as it stood heretofore under the Law and since under the Gospel the influence which Faith had in their justification and the condition of those people which were Aliens to the law of Moses before Christs coming in the flesh For being that the Patriarchs before the time of Moses and those holy men of God that lived after him till the coming of Christ had not so clear and explicite a knowledge of the particulars of the Creed which concern our Saviour or the condition of the holy Catholick Church and the Members of it as hath been since revealed in the writings of the Evangelists and Apostles it cannot be supposed that they should have universally the same object of faith which we Christians have or were bound to believe all those things distinctly touching Christ our Saviour and the benefits by him redounding to the sons of men which all Christians must believe if they will be saved And then considering that there is almost nothing contained in Scripture touching God the Father his Divine Power and Attributes the making and government of the World and all things therein which was to be believed by those of the line of Abraham but what hath been avowed and testified by the learned Gentiles it will not be unworthy of our disquisition to see wherein the differences and advantages lay which the Patriarchs and those of Iudah had above the Nations or whether the same light of truth did not shine on both through divers Mediums for the better fitting and preparing of both people to receive the Gospel In sifting and discussing of which principal points we shall consider what it is in faith it self which is said to justifie of what effect the Sacrifices both before and under the Law were to the satisfying of Gods wrath and expiating of the sins of the people by whom they were offered to the Lord and the relation which they had to the death of Christ the Lamb of God which takes away the sins of the world and finally what is to be conceived of those eminent men amongst the Gentiles who not extinguishing that light of nature which was planted in them but regulating all their actions by the beams thereof came to be very eminent in all kindes of learning and in the exercise of Iustice Temperance Mercy Fortitude and other Acts of Moral vertue Some other things will fall in incidently on the by which need not be presented in this general view And the mature consideration of all these particulars I have reserved unto this place that being situate in the midst between the Faith we have in God the Father Almighty and the belief required of us in his Son Christ Iesus it may either serve for an Appendix to the former part or a Preamble to the second or be in stead of a bond or ligament for knitting all the joints of this body together in the stronger coherence of discourse And first Faith being as appeareth by the definition before delivered a firm assent to supernatural truths revealed we cannot but conceive in reason that the Object of it is to be commensurable to the proportion and degree of the Revelation For as our Saviour said in another case that to whom much is given of him the more shall be required so may we also say in this that to whom more divine supernatural truths have been revealed of him there is a greater measure of belief expected Till the unhappy fall of Adam there was no faith required but in God alone For without faith it is impossible to please God saith the Apostle which Adam by the Law of his Creation was obliged to endeavour Nor could he come before the Lord or seek for the continuance of his grace and favours had he not first been fitted and prepared by faith For he that cometh unto God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him as in the same text saith the same Apostle Which words we may not understand of Faith in Christ at least not primarily with respect to Adam of whom such faith was not required in the state of Innocency for where there was no sin there was no need of a Saviour but only of a faith in Almighty God the stedfast confession and acknowledgement of whose beeing and bounty was to speak
and reverent deportment of themselves in the act thereof St. Hierom who gives us a very good description of these Arreptitious or Extatical spirits affirming of them Nec tacere nec loqui in sua potestate habent that they could neither hold their peace nor speak when they would themselves but as they were compelled by the evil spirit hath given a different character of the holy Prophets Of whom he saith Intelligit quod videt nec ut amens loquitur he understands the Vision which he doth behold and speaks not like a madman one besides himself nor like the raving women of the sect of Montanus And in another place Non loquitur in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ut Montanus c. sed quod prophetat liber est Visionis intelligentis universa quae loquitur The Prophet of the Lord saith he speaketh not in a trance or besides himself as Montanus Prisca Maximilla spread abroad their dotages but that which he foretelleth is surnamed a Vision the Vision of the Prophet Nahum ch 1. because he understands what he doth deliver The like difference Epiphanius makes betwixt the Prophets of the Lord and those of Montanus against whom he purposely disputeth Haeres 48. And long before them it was said by Lactantius truly of the Prophets of God whom the Gentiles had been pleased to accuse of madness and called them Furiosi as they did their own that the accomplishment of their predictions their consonancy or unanimous consent in the things foretold and the coherency of their words and sentences did very sufficiently free them from that imputation Impleta in plerisque quotidie illorum vaticinia videmus in unam sententiam congruens divinam docet non fuisse furiosos Quis enim mentis emotae non modo futura praecinere sed etiam cohaerentia loqui possit as he most excellently answereth so foul a calumny So then the Prophets of the Lord having a true intention to foretel what should come to pass and being able not to make a good construction of what they spake but also to give assurance to the people in the name of God that every thing should come to pass which they had foretold were nothing like the Heathen Soothsayers who used to speak they knew not what in their Divinations And yet it will not follow upon this distinction that they did explicitely and distinctly comprehend the fulness of those holy mysteries which the holy Ghost was pleased to make known and fore-signifie by them the knowledge of which mysteries as St. Paul hath told us was not made known in other Ages to the sons of men as in his time it was revealed to the holy Apostles and Prophets by the self same Spirit Which being so and that the knowledge of CHRIST IESVS and him crucified was not communicated to the Iews which lived under the Law or the Patriarchs which did live before it in so distinct and clear a manner as it hath been since I dare not confidently say that any explicite faith in the death of CHRIST was required at their hands as necessary to their justification or that they actually did believe more in it then Gods general promise concerning the redemption and salvation of the world by the womans seed with some restrictions of that seed to the stock of Abraham and the house of David which had not been delivered in the first assurance Certain I am that of all the Clowd of witnesses mentioned by St. Paul amongst all those examples of faith and piety which he hath laid before us in the 11. to the Hebrews there is no mention made at all of faith in Christ nor any word so much as by intimation that Noah Abraham Moses or the rest there spoken of did look upon him as an object of their faith at all The total and adaequate object of their faith for ought I can finde was only God the Maker of Heaven and Earth on whose veracity and fidelity in making good his general and particular promise they did so rely as not to bring the same under any dispute For what faith else doth any Text of Scripture give to Abel or Enoch then that they did believe that there was a God and that he was a rewarder of all those that seek him What Faith else was it that saved Noah in the midst of the waters but that he did believe what God said unto him touching his intention of bringing a floud of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh and thereupon did build thn Ark as the Lord commanded Or what else was the faith of Isaac when he blessed Iacob and Esau or of Iacob when he blessed the sons of Ioseph or of Ioseph when he gave commandement as concerning his bones Heb. 11.21 22 23. but a reliance on the promise which God made to Abraham of giving to him and his seed the whole land of Canaan But because Abraham is proposed in the holy Scripture as the great example of the righteousness which comes by faith or of justification by faith call it which you will we will consider all those Texts which do look this way to see what was the object of that faith of Abraham to which the Scriptures do ascribe his justification Now the first act of Abrahams faith which stands commended to us in the Book of God is the belief he gave to the promise of God to bless him and make him a great Nation and his obedience thereupon unto Gods command in leaving his own Countrey and his Fathers house and go unto the land which the Lord should shew him Which promise being afterwards confirmed by God and believed by Abraham it is thus testified of him in the book of Genesis that he believed in the Lord and he that is to say the Lord counted it unto him for righteousness Here then we have the Iustification of our Father Abraham ascribed unto his Faith in the Lord IEHOVAH to faith in God as the proper and full object of it as the word is varyed by St. Paul Rom. 4.3 Thus also when the promise was made of the birth of Isaac without considering of the deadness of Sarahs womb or the estate of his own body then as good as dead he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief but faithfully believed that God was able to perform what he pleased to promise And this saith the Apostle was imputed to him for righteousness Of which of these two acts of faith the Apostle speaketh in the third of the Galatians where Abrahams faith is imputed to him also for righteousness it is hard to say but sure it is that there is no other faith there mentioned but his Faith in God For it is said Even as Abraham believed God c. And last of all as to the imputation of his faith for righteousness when God commanded him to offer up Isaac his onely begotten Sonne even him of whom it had been
16. And since it is not another thing to say The Holy Ghost is the Spirit of the Father and the Son than that he is or proceeds from the Father and the Son in this they seem to agree with us in eandem fidei sententiam on the same doctrine of Faith though they differ in words Thus also Rob. Grosthead the learned and renowned Bishop of Lincoln as he is cited by Scotus a famous Schoolman delivereth his opinion touching this great Controversie The Grecians saith he are of opinion that the Holy Ghost is the Spirit of the Son but that he proceedeth not from the Son but from the Father onely yet by the Son which opinion seemeth to be contrary to ours But happily if two wise and understanding men the one of the Greek Church and the other of the Latine both lovers of the truth and not of their own expressions did meet to consider of this seeming contrariety it would in the end appear Ipsam contrarietatem non esse veraciter realem sicut est vocalis That the difference is not real but verbal onely Azorius the great Casuist goeth further yet and upon due examination of the state of the Question not onely freeth the Greeks from Heresie but from Schism also By consequence the Church of Rome hath run into the greater and more grievous error in condemning every Maundy Thursday in their Bulla Coenae the whole Eastern Churches which for ought any of her own more sober children are able to discern on deliberation are fully as Orthodox as her self in the truth of Doctrine and more agreeable to antiquity in their forms of Speech For if we please to look into the Antient Writers we shall finde Tertullian saying very positively Spiritum non aliunde quam à Patre per filium which is the very same with that of Damascen before delivered And Ierom though a stout maintainer of the Procession of the Holy Ghost from the Son also yet doth he sometimes fall upon this expression Spiritus à Patre egreditur propter naturae societatem à filio mittitur That he proceedeth from the Father and is sent by the Son which none of the Greek Church will deny But if we look upon the Fathers of the Eastern Churches we shall finde not onely private men as Basil Nazianzen Nyssen Cyril not to descend so low as Damascen to make no mention of the proceeding of the Holy Ghost from the Son at all but a whole Synod of 180 Prelates gathered together in the second General Council at Constantinople to be silent in it though purposely assembled to suppress the Heresie of Macedonius who had denied the Divinity of the Holy Ghost For in the Constantinopolitan Creed according as it stands in all old Records the Fathers having ratified the Nicene Creed added these words for the declaring of their Faith in the Holy Ghost viz. I believe in the Holy Ghost the Lord and giver of Life who proceedeth from the Father who together with the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified who spake by the Prophets No word in this of his proceeding from the Son And though this Creed was afterwards continued in the Council of Ephesus yet so far was that Council from altering any thing which had been formerly delivered as to this paâ—ticular that it imposed a curse on those who should adde unto it And so it stood a long time in the Christian Church possessing that part in the Publick Liturgies which it still retaineth But in some tract of time some Spanish Bishops in the eighth Council of Toledo added the clause à filioque and made it to run thus in their publick Formulas who proceedeth from the Father and the Son The French not long after followed their example but still the Church of Rome adhered to the old expression Whereupon Charls the Great commanded a Council of his Prelates to be held at Aken Aquisgranum it is called in Latine to consider somewhat better of this addition and caused some of them to be sent to Pope Leo the third to have his opinion in the matter who was so far from giving any allowance unto the addition that he perswaded them to leave it out by little and little And nor content to give this Counsel unto them for fear lest the addition might creep in at Rome he caused the Constantinopolitan Creed to be fairly written out on a Table of Silver and placed it behinde the Altar of St. Peter to the end it might remain unto posterity as a lasting Monument of the true Faith which he professed The like distast did Iohn the eighth declare against this addition in a Letter by him written unto Photius Patriark of Constantinople in which he gives him to understand not onely that they had no such addition in the Church of Rome but that he did condemn them who were Authors of it adding withal That as he was careful for his part to cause all the Bishops of the West to be so perswaded of it as he was himself so that he did not think it reasonable that any should be violently constrained to leave out the addition But after in the yeer 883 Pope Nicholas the first caused this clause à filioque to be added also to the Creed in all the Churches under the Command and Jurisdiction of the Popes of Rome and from thence-forwards did they brand the Greek Churches with the brand of Heresie for not admitting that clause to the Antient Creeds which they themselves had added of their own Authority without the consent of the Eastern Churches or so much as the pretence of a General Council But as my Lord of Canterbury hath right well observed in his learned Answer unto Fisher It is an hard thing to adde and anathematize too And yet to that height of uncharitableness did they come at last that whereas it was the miserable fortune of Constantinople to be taken by the Turks upon Whitsunday being the Festival of the coming of the Holy Ghost this was given out to be a just judgment on them from the Almighty for thinking so erroneously of his Blessed Spirit as if it might not be concluded in as good form of Logick That sure the Knights of Rhodes had in their lives and actions denied Christ who bought them because that Town and all the Iland was taken by the Turks upon Christmas-day or that the People of Chios had denied and abnegated the Resurrection of our Saviour who redeemed them because that Town and therewith all the Iland also was taken by the said Turks upon Easter-day I have now done with so much of the present Article as relates unto the Person of the Holy Ghost which is the first signification of the term or notion as it is taken personaliter and essentialiter We must next look upon the word as it is used to signifie in the Book of God the gifts and graces of the
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
was but weak and wavering and needed many signs and miracles to confirm the same Magna vero Christi indulgentia quod pro Discipulis habet in quibus tam pusilla est fides And this saith Calvin on the place declares the goodness and indulgence of our Saviour Christ who would admit such men to be his Disciples in whom there was so little faith And yet these men in whom there was so little faith are said in eum credere to believe in him because upon the sight of so great a miracle tunâ— demum se illi addicere coeperunt they first began to fasten a more close dependence on him The like is said of the Samaritans that on the same raised of our Saviour by the woman 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 multi in eum crediderunt many of them believed in him And this the holy Ghost hath reported of them before they heard our Saviour speak or had so much as seen his person believing in him at that time on no other ground then propter verbum mulieris for the saying of the woman only Now if the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of a Christian faith be so firmly grounded Vt non possit vel seductorum versutia vel Tyrannorum violentia vel ulla machinatione Diaboli expugnari that neither the fraud of Hereticks nor the violence of Tyrants nor all the machinations of the Devil can prevail against it as Bishop Davenant saith it is and exceeding rightly either it must have better grounds then the words of a woman a woman of an ill name and a scandalous life for such she is described to be vers 18. or else when the Samaritans are said to believe in Christ propter verbum mulieris only upon this womans words the phrase imports no such assurance no such strength of faith as hath been formerly supposed In the same Gospel of St. Iohn we finde it written also that many of the chief Rulers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 crediderunt in eum believed in him cap. 11. v. 42. but then it follows thereupon that because of the Pharisees they did not confess him lest they should be put out of the Synagogue Here is a Credere in eum accompanied with a very weak faith Quanta in illis fidei imbecilliâ—as as it is in Calvin a faith that durst not shew it self by any outward confession or look abroad into the world for fear of the Pharisees And therefore credere in eum in that place as in those before is no more but this as Calvin notes it Christo nâ—men dare doctrinam ejus amplexos esse to profess the faith of Christ and embrace his Gospel The like may be affirmed also of the blinde man in the 9. chapter of St. Iohn who was required to believe on the Son of God when he was fain to ask this question Quis est Domine ut credam in eum i e. Who is â—e Lord that I might believe on him vers 36. and of the Iayler in the Acts of which more anon Besides that which in all these places and in many others is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Châ—isâ—um credere in other places of the Scripture is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in nomen ejus credere As many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nempe iis qui credunt in nomen ejus even to them that believe in his Name that is to say to them that do believe on him And yet we finde it said of some when they saw his miracles that they believed on his Name in Nomine ejus or in Nomen ejus as Beza more neer unto the Greek whom yet our Saviour never held to be true Disciples pro germanis Discipulis non habuit as it is said by Calvin but slighted them as light and inconsiderable men And therefore it is said of them in the following words Non credebat eis semetipsum that he did not commit himself unto them because he knew the falshood and hypocrisie which was within them So that by looking over so many of those texts of Scripture in which this form of speech is used it is more then manifest that the Explication of the same before delivered is not so generally and universally true as hath been pretended Let us next see what ground there is for the distinction which is founded on it And first whereas it is affirmed of this form of speech that it is so peculiar unto God alone that it is not to be used of any creature neither of Moses nor the Prophets nor of men or Angels I hold this to be gratis dictum a building without good foundation Those which are learned in the Hebrew have long since noted that where the Affix 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Beth is added to the word which signifieth credere to believe it doth import as much as in and that whereas we read in all late Translations the people feared the Lord and believed the Lord and his servant Moses the words in the Original will bear this translation that they believed in the Lord and in Moses his servant Musculus doth acknowledge this and granteth that the words may be thus translated Et crediderunt in Dominum in Mosen servum ejus and that the words do bear this sense though Hierom as he saith haud inconsulto not without good reason and advice did thus change the same Et crediderunt Domino Moysi servo ejus which hath been since retained in the Latine Bibles and in all National Translations that I have met with So also when God said to Moses Loe I come unto thee in a thick cloud that the people may hear when I speak with thee and believe thee for ever the words in the Original as before they did do bear this construction and Musculus doth so translate them Et etiam in te credant in seculum that the people may for ever believe in thee But being after changed by Hierom because in aliquem credere much about his time began to be esteemed a solecism in the Christian Grammar in stead thereof we have Et credat tibi in perpetuum both in the Vulgar Bibles and all late Translations Conform unto which phrase in the Original Crediderunt in Dominum in Mosen St. Basil a most learned Father of the Greek Church speaking of the Iews saith that they were baptized in Moses or in the name of Moses and believed in Moses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as his own words are Baptizati sunt in Mosen crediderunt in illum as it is turned by his Translator Nor is this said of Moses only the principal Founder under God of the Iewish Church as a man more in grace with Almighty God then any of the sons of men since his time have been but of the Church of CHRIST in general For in the Greek copies of
said that in Isaac shall thy seed be called Abraham was ready to obey him upon this belief that God was able to raise him again from death to life and that Gods Word concerning him would not fall to ground What saith St. Iames to this great trial of the Patriarchs faith Abraham saith he believed God and it was imputed to him for righteousness In all those Texts where the Apostles speak of his Iustification or where the principal acts of his Faith are recited severally there is no intimation of his Faith in Christ nothing that seems to look that way more then that Gods first promise which was made in general to the Womans seed may seem to be restrained unto his particularly Whether these several imputations of the faith of Abraham do necessarily infer such an access of Iustification as is defended and maintained in the Schools of Rome I will not meddle for the present But in my minde Origen never spake more pertinently then where he gives this resolution of that doubt though not then proposed Quum multae fides Abrahae praecesserint in hoc nunc universa fides ejus collecta esse videtur ita in justitiam ei reputatur Whereas saith he many faiths of Abraham that is to say may acts of Abrahams faith had gone before now all his faith was recollected and summed up together and so accounted unto him for righteousness And if no other faith but a faith in God without any explicite relation to the death of CHRIST concurred unto the justification of the faithful Abraham the like may be concluded of the house of Israel that they were only bound to believe in God the Father Almighty till by Christs coming in the flesh and suffering death upon the Cross for the sins of man all that concerns his death and passions with all the other specialties in the present Creed made up together with our faith in God the Father the full and entire object of a Christian faith For this is life eternal saith our Lord and Saviour to know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent Not God alone but God and Iesus Christ together are since the Preaching of the Gospel made the object of faith So that it is not now sufficient to believe in God unless we also do believe in the Son of God whom God hath set forth to be a Propitiation through faith in his bloud to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins as St. Paul hath told us But here perhaps it will be said that though we do not read expressely in the holy Scriptures that the Patriarchs before Moses and the Fathers afterwards did believe in Christ yet that the same may be inferred by good and undeniable consequence out of the frequent Sacrifices before the Law and the Mosaical offerings which continued after it all which together with the rest of the Levitical Ordinances were but shadows of the things to come the body being only CHRIST That God instructed our first father Adam in the duty of Sacrifice I shall easily grant there being such early mention of them in the Book of God in the several and respective offerings of Cain and Abel And I shall grant as easily that GOD proposed some other end of them in that institution then to receive them as a Quit-rent from the hands of men in testimony that they held their estates from him as the Supreme Land-lord though by Rupertus this be made the chief end thereof Dignum sane est ut donis suis honoretur ipse qui dedit as that Author hath it which possibly may hold well enough in those kinde of Sacrifices which they called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gratulatory Eucharistical that is the Sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving for those signal benefits which GOD had graciously vouchsafed to bestow upon them But then there was another sort which they tearmed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 expiatory or propitiatory ordained by God himself as the Types and figures of that one only real and propitiatory sacrifice which was to be performed in the death of CHRIST who through the eternal Spirit was to offer up himself once without spot to God for the redemption of the world yet were they not bare Types and figures and had no efficacy in themselves as to the taking away of the filth of sin for the Apostle doth acknowledge that the bloud of Buls and of Goats and the ashes of an Heifer sprinkling the unclean did sanctifie as to the purifying of the flesh Heb. 9.13 but that such efficacy as they had was not natural to them but either in reference to the Sacrifice to be made of CHRIST or else extrinsecal and affixed by the divine Ordinance and institution of Almighty God And that they might be so in this last respect there want not very pregnant reasons in the Word of God For whereas God considered as the Supreme Law-giver had imposed a commandement on man under pain of death although it stood not with his wisdome to reverse the Law which with such infinite wisdome had been first ordained yet it seemed very sutable to his grace and goodness to commute the punishment and satisfie himself with the death of Beasts offered in sacrifice unto him by that sinful Creature Which kinde of Commutations are not rare in Scripture It pleased God to impose a command on Abraham to offer up his only son Isaac for a burnt offering to him upon one of the mountains and after to dispense with so great a rigour and in the stead of Isaac to send a Ram It pleased God to challenge to himself the first born of every creature both of man and beast but so that he was pleased in the way of exchange in stead of the first born of the sons of men to take a Lamb a pair of Turtle Doves or two young Pigeons Now that these commutations were allowed of also in the case of punishment is evident by many Texts of holy Writ And this not only in sins of ignorance the Expiation of the which is mentioned Levit. 5.17 18. but in those which were committed knowingly and with an high hand of presumptuous wickedness Lying and swearing falsely deceiving our neighbour and taking away his goods by violence are sins of high and dangerous nature against both Tables and therefore in themselves deserved no less punishment then eternal damnation yet was God pleased to accept of the bloud of Rams in commutation or exchange for the soul of man If a soul sin and commit a trespass against the Lord and lye unto his neighbour in that which was delivered him to keep or in fellowship or in a thing taken away by violence or hath deceived his neighbour or hath found that which was lost and lyeth concerning it and sweareth falsely in all these he doth sin and that greatly too there 's no question of it And yet of these it is
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
distinct natures in the Person of CHRIST and yet a communication of Properties or Idioms as they call them of the one nature to the other that CHRIST in one Person should have two distinct wils all who opined the contrary being branded and condemned by the name of Monothelites Not to say any thing in this place of those dark expressions in which the eternal generation of the Son of God and the nature of the Hypostatical Vnion have been delivered by some Writers of whom a man may say with a sober confidence that they hardly understood what they said themselves Assuredly that antient diverb Ingeniosa res est esse Christianum was not made for nought The best way therefore is to contain our selves within those bounds which are prescribed us in the Word of God in which though all things are not written which concern our Saviour yet those things which are written are sufficient doubtless to make us wise unto salvation that so we may believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that believing we may have life through his Name And now as far as I can go by the light of Scripture I should proceed unto the incarnation of the Son of God but that we must first behold him as he is our LORD which is the last of those two relations in which he is presented to us in this present Article Of this as it belongeth to God the Father we have already spoken in the first Article under the title of Iehovah the proper and peculiar name of the Lord our God a name so proper and peculiar to the Father of our Lord IESVS CHRIST that it is thought by very learned men not to be understood of the Son of God or of God the Son in the whole Old Testament who is most usually expressed by the name of Adonai Thus in that celebrated place of the Psalms of David whereas we read in English thus the Lord said unto my Lord it is in the Original thus Iehovah said to Adonai or the Lord Jehovah said unto my Lord Adonai Where clearly the name of Iehovah doth denote the Father as that of Adonai the Son though both be generally Englished by the name of Lord. Now the name Adonai is derived as before was noted from the Hebrew word Eden which signifieth the basis or foundation on which the whole building doth relie and therefore very fitly doth express his nature by whom as all things were created in the first beginning as St. Iohn telleth us in his Gospel so doth he still support the Earth and the pillars of it as it is told us in the Psalms But for the name or style of Lord both in Greek and Latine it seemed to be a title of such power and soveraignty that great Augustus though the Master of the Roman Empire did forbear to use it Nay which is more gravissimo corripuit edicto as Suetonius hath it he interdicted the applying of it to himself by a publick Edict The like by Dion is reported of Tiberius also a Prince who cherished flattery more then any vertue and in whose Court no men were more esteemed of then the basest sycophants This by the Statists of those times imputed to policy or Kings-craâ—t ne speciem Principatus in Regni formam converterent for fear they should be thought in that conjuncture of time when their affairs were yet unsetled to affect the title of Kings as they had the power which was most odious to the Romans But in my minde Orosius gives a better reason who thinks that this was rather done by Gods special Providence then on any foresight of those Princes His reason is because that Christ during the reign of those two Emperours had took our flesh upon him and did live amongst us Nor was it fit saith he that any man should take upon himself the name of LORD ex eo tempore quo verus totius geneâ—is humani Dominus inter nos homines natus esset whilest the undoubted Lord of all mankinde was conversant amongst us here upon the Earth And this we may the rather credit to have been done by Gods special providence because Caligula who next succeeded in the Empire our Saviour Christ having then withdrawn his bodily presence was not alone content to admit this Title but did command it to be given him by all the people Et primus Dominum se jussit appellari as it is in Victor But whether this observation of Orosius will hold good or not certain it is that from the time and instant of the Resurrection the style of LORD did properly belong unto CHRIST our Saviour Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesâ—s whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ Not made that is to say not declared LORD by his heavenly Father before that time when he had overcome the sharpness of death and trampled on the grave in his Resurrection though called so sometimes before in the way of Anticipation or of civil complement Then only called now made and publickly declared the Lord of all things And certainly it might seem to stand with reason that seeing all power was given to the man Christ Jesus both in heaven and earth for now we look upon him only in that capacity that with the power he also should partake of the highest title by which that power was usually expressed and signified From that time forwards unto this there is not any thing more ordinary in the Book of God or in the Liturgies of the Church or in the common speech of good Christian people then to entitle our Redeemer by the name of the LORD and to entitle him thereby in so clear a manner as to make it more peculiar to him then to God the Father So that in all the antient Liturgies both Greek and Latine when the name of God the Father and of God the Son occur in the same Prayer or Hymne as they often do the name of Lord is constantly appropriated unto God the Son And so we also finde it in our English Liturgie According to thy promises declared unto mankinde in Christ Jesu our Lord as in the general Confession Almighty God the Father of our Lord IESVS CHRIST in the Absolution through Jesus Christ our Lord who liveth and reigneth with thee and the holy Ghost as in some of the Collects And this the Church did learn no doubt from the like expression of St. Paul who thus gives the blessing The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and not of the Lord God and the fellowship of the holy Ghost and not of the Lord holy Ghost be with you all Amen And thus it also stands in the present Creed in which the title of Lord is appropriated only to the Son and neither added to the Father nor the holy Ghost Nor is he called LORD only in general tearms
transgression was an untouched Virgin a Virgin though betrothed to her husband Adam for she was a Virgin espoused from her first creation when she conceived sin and brought forth iniquity and Mary was an espoused Virgin espoused to a man whose name was Ioseph when she conceived the Son of righteousness and brought forth salvation And as the first woman conceived death by believing an evill Angel without consulting with her husband till the deed was done so the espoused Virgin of the present Article conceived in her body the Lord of life by believing the words and message of a good Angel her husband being not made privy to it till he perceived she was with child Some reasons then there were why it should be so why Christ our Saviour should be born of the purest Virgin though those reasons do not make it to be lesse a miracle for nothing but a miracle and the holy Ghost could have begotten such a child upon such a Mother That by this means the miserable fall of man was to be repaired it pleased God to declare unto our wretched Parents before they were exiled from the garden of Eden It was the first and greatest comfort which was given unto them that the seed of the woman should break the head of the serpent and that the serpent should but bruise the heel of the womans seed that is to say that there should one be born of the womans seed who by the sufferings of his body his inferiour part should overcome the powers of Hell and set man free from that captivity in which he was held bound by Satan And as it was the first in the generall promise so was it as I think the cleerest and most evident light to point us out to the particular of bringing this great work to passe by a Virgin-birth Though Adam was the root of mankinde and lost himself and his posterity by his disobedience yet was the promise made to Eve a Virgin and not to Adams seed at all nor any to be procreated from the seed of man It is a common resolution of the Schoolmen that if Eve only had transgressed Adamo in innocentia permanente Adam continuing still in his first integrity neither the souls of their posterity had been tainted with original sin nor their bodie made subject unto death It was in Adam that all die as St Paul hath told us It is in Adam that all die but 't was in Eve that all should be made alive not in Eves person but her seed The promise made to Eve a Virgin that her seed should break the serpents head fore-signifyed that our redeemer should be born of a Virgin Mother such as Eve was when this first publication of Gods will was made A clearer evidence then which as to this particular I think is hardly to be found in the book of God that so much celebrated place of the Prophet Isaiah Behold a Virgin shall conceive not being primarily intended of the birth of CHRIST though in his birth accomplished in a more excellent manner then first intended by the Prophet The estate of Ahaz King of Iudah at that time stood this A storme was threatned to his Kingdome from the joynt forces of Rezin King of Syria and Pekah King of Samaria which so dismaid the hearts of Ahaz and of all his people that they were as the trees of the wood moved with the wind as the text informes us not knowing upon what to fasten nor for what to hope In this great consternation comes Isaiah to them with a message from God assuring them of the speedy destruction of those Kings whom they so much feared But this when Ahaz durst not credit nor would be moved to aske a signe from God to confirme his faith and to assure himself of a quick deliverancâ— it pleased God to give him this by the mouth of the Prophet Behold a Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son and shall call his name Immanuel Butter and honey shall he eat that he may know to refuse the evill and choose the good For before the child shall know to refuse the evill and choose the good the Land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her Kings To say that this was literally and originally meant of the birth of CHRIST is not consistent with the case and circumstances of the present businesse The King and people were in danger of a present war and nothing but the hope of a present deliverance was able to revive their desparing hearts And what signe could it be to confirme that hope that after 700. years and upwards for so long time there was between the death of Ahaz and the birth of Christ a Virgin should conceive and bring forth a Son Cold comfort could there be in this to that generation who could not hope for so long life as to see the wonder So that the literal meaning of the Prophecie is most like to be that before some noted Virgin then of fame and credit or else within that space of time that any who was then a Virgin should conceive a child according to the ordinary course of nature and that that child should be of age to know good from evill the two Kings spoken of before should be both destroyed That so it is seemeth very evident to me by the successe of the businesse For in the next Chapter we find that Isaiah went unto the Prophetesse perhaps the Virgin spoken of in the former passages and she conceived and bare a Son whom the Lord commanded to be called Maher-shalal-hash-baz and gives this reason for the name being so unusuall that before the child shall have the knowledge to cry my Father and my Mother which is the same with that of refusing the evill and choosing the good the riches of Damascus and the spoyle of Samaria shall be taken away before the King of Assyria And so it proved in the event For before this Maher-shalal-hash-baz so conceived and born was able to distinguish of meats or know his Father and Mother from other people was the word fulfilled which God had spoken by the Prophet touching their deliverance Pekah being slain by Hoseah the son of Elah and Rezin by Tiglath-Pilesar the King of Assyria within two or three years after the said signe was given Of which see a King 16.5 6 7 c. Chron. 17.1 But then we must observe withall that this Prophecie being thus fulfilled in the literal sense according to the Prophets intent and purpose contained in it a more mystical meaning according to the secret purpose of Almighty God this temporal deliverance of Ahaz and the house of Iudah from the hands of two such potent enemies being a type or figure of that spiritual and eternal deliverance which he intended unto them and to all mankinde from the tyranny of sin and Satan Which secret will and purpose of Almighty God being made known to the Evangelist by the holy Ghost he might
us out the way unto life eternal both by thy Doctrine and Example Conduct us we beseech thee in the pathes of righteousness suppress that itch of curiosity which hath not left one Article of the holy Faith without stain or censure and make us chearfully submit our Reason to the Rule of Faith And thou O God the Father Almighty Maker of Heaven and Earth send down thy holy Spirit into our hearts that by his Grace we may believe in thine onely begotten son JESUS CHRIST our Lord place all our hopes upon the merits of his most precious death and passion our comforts in his glorious Resurrection and Ascension That by his means and mediation we may be made true Members of thy Catholick Church enjoy a right Communion with thy blessed Saints and the remission of our sins in this present world That so we may be made partakers of the Resurrection unto Life eternal in the world to come So be it Amen FINIS Eccl. 12.12 Plautus Rom. 2.1 Eccl. 4.7 Tacit. Ann. Pag. 350. Pacian in Biblioth Patr. Whitac Contr. 2. q. 9. c. 8. Horat. de arte Poet. Ovid. Triâ—t Eleg. 1. Virg. Aen. l. 1. Ambros. in Hexaemer 1 Cor. 12.20 Ephes. 5.32 De Civit. dei l. 22. c. 17. Hos. 2.19 Eph. 5.30 Eph. 4.5 1 Cor. 12.13 Tacit. Annal. lib. 15. Joh. 3.16 Joh 20.31 2 Pet. 3.16 Rom. 14.1 Heb. 5 13 14. 2 Tim. 1.13 Iren. adv haeres l. 1. c. 2. Id. ibid. c. 3. Iren. adv haeâ—es l. 1. c. 3. Tertull. de veland Virgin Aug. Serm. de Temp. 115. Aug. de fide Symb. c. 1. Id. in Encheirid a Laur. Ruffin in Symbol Aug. Serm. 115. de Temp. Ambros. Serm. 38. Hieron Epist ad Pammach 61. Leo Epi. 13. ad Palcher De Eccl. Officiis l. 2 c. 3. Cap. 56. Terent. in Andria Aug. Encheir ad Laurent Id. lib. de fide Symb. c. 1. Epist. 61. ad Pammach c. 9. Lib. 1. c. 3. Tertul. adv Praxeam Ignat. Epist. ad Trallian Euseb. Hist. l. 1. c. ult Examen Concil Trident. sess 4. Articl of 1562. Art 134. Contra Donat. l. 4. c. 23. Field l. 4. c. 21. Vigilius contra Eutych l. 4. Hooker Eccles. Polit. l. 5. Apolog. pro Confess Remon Durand Rationale Divin Field of the Church l. 2. c. 1. Ruffinus in Exposit. Symb. Concil Agathens Can. 13. Aug. Homil 42. Conc. Foro-Iuliens Apud Binium Tom. 3. par 1. l. 1. p. 262. Durand Rational Divin Anast. apud Platinam in Collect. Concil Durand Rational Divin Baron Annal Eccl. A. 44. Perk. Exposition of the Creed Id. ibid. B. Bilsons Survey p. 664. August de doctr Christian. Id. de Civit. l. 11. c. 3. B Bilsons Survey p. 664. Binuis in Annot. in Concil Tolet. IV. Tom. Concil 2. part 2. Perk. Exposition of the Creed Mar. 16.15 Isocrat in Orat. ad Nicoclen Aristol Analytic prior Quintilian l. 2. cap. 13. Philo de vita Mofis l. 3. Iulii Etist decretal c. 8. Mat. 28 20. Paci Epist. 1. ad Symp. Downs of the Authors and Authority of the Creed Ruffinus in posit Symb. Lact. l. 2. c. 9. Act. 17.28 1 Cor. 15.33 Tit. 1.12 B. Iewels challenge Pet. Mart. de votis coelebat Chemnit Examen de Tradition c. 6. August Epist 19. Hieronyn ad Damas. Epist. 57. Vincent Lirin adv haeres c. 38. Id. ibid. c. 2. Augustin in Epist. 118. Id. contr Iulian. Pelagi l 2.9 Id. ibid. c. 10. Canon An. 1571. cap. de Concionator An. 1. Eliz. cap. 1. Saravia de divers ministerii gradibus Calvin Inst l. 2. c. 16. sect 1â— (b) Coke in Calvins case (c) Phocylid sentent (d) Rom. 8.38 (e) Philip. 1.6 (f) Valla in Annotat. in N. Test. (g) Zanch. de Natura Dei c. 3. (h) Melancht in Exam. Artic. de Iustificatione (i) Vrsin in Exposit. praecept 1. (k) Arist. in lib. Demonstrat (l) Joh. 4.39.41 42. (m) 2 Pet. 1.21 (n) 2 Thes. 2 10 11 12. (o) Heb. 11.1 (p) Beza in Heb. c. 11. v. 1. (q) Haymo in Heb. c. 11. v. 1. (r) 2 Tim. 2.18 (s) Haymo in Heb. c. 11. v. 1. (t) Heb. 3.14 (u) Budaeus in Comment Gr. Linguae (x) 2 Cor. 9.4 11.17 (y) Ephes. 6.12 (z) Haymo in Heb. 11. v. 1. (a) Id. ibid. (b) Rev. 1.20 (c) Beza in Heb. c. 11. v. 1. (d) August in Psalm 77. (e) Id. in Iohan tract 29. (f) Compend Theol. lib. 5. c. 21. (g) Zuinglius in Matth. 23.13 (h) Muscul. loci commun loco de Fide n. 3. (i) Wotton de Reconcil Peccat part 1. lib 2. c. 14. n. 3. (k) Mat. 8.26 (l) Mat. 28.2 c. (m) Calvin in Ioh. cap. 2. v. 11. (n) Joh. 4.39 (o) Davenant in Coloss. 2. v. 2. (p) Joh. 11.42 (q) Calvin in Ioh. cap. 11. v. 42. (r) Joh. 1.12 (s) Joh. 2.23 (t) Calv. in locum cap. 2. v. 23. (u) Joh. 2.24 (x) Muscul Loci commun de fide (y) Exod. 14. v. 31. (z) Muscul. ut supr (a) Exod. 19.9 (b) Basil. de sancto Spiritu c. 14. (c) Socrat. hist. Eccles. l. 1. c. 25. (d) Ruffin in Exposit. Symboli (e) Paschas de Spirit sancto lib. 1. (f) August in Ioh. tractat 29. (g) Wotton de Reconcil Peccat part 1. l. 2. c. 14. (h) Joh. 2.23 (i) Act. 16 31. (k) Hermes (l) Origen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in prooemio (m) Hilar. de Trinitate l. 10. (n) Symbol Caroli M. (o) Heb. 11.6 (p) Iewel Apol Eccles. Anglic (q) Act. 8.13 (r) Calvin Instit. l. 3. c. 2. â— 10. (s) Idem in Act. 8.13 (t) Act. 8.21 22. (u) Ignat. Epi. (x) 1 Tim. 1.19 20. 2 Tim. 2.17 18. (y) 1 Tim. 1.20 (z) Calvin Instit l. 3. c. 2. n. 11. (a) Rom. 6.22 (b) Act. 5.4 (c) Act. 8.23.21 (d) 1 Tim. 1.19 (e) Act. 8.22 (f) 1 Tim. 1.20 (g) 1 Cor. 5.4 (h) Rom. 1. 18.20 (i) Jude v. 6. (k) Mat. 25.30.1 (l) Mark 1.24 (m) Mat. 8.29 (n) Heb. 2.16 (o) Sect. 1. ch 2. (p) Vrsin Theses Theol. c. 13. (q) Id. ibid. (r) Iackson of justifying faith c. 2. (s) Vrsin Cutech part 2. qu. 21. n. 2. (t) Matth. 13.20 21. (u) Bucan Com. loc de Fide (x) Vrsin Catech part 2. qu. 21. (y) Mat. 17.20 (z) 1 Cor. 12.8 9 10. (a) Cicer. in Tusc. quaest l. 1. (b) Lactant. l. 3.8 (c) Act. 14.16 17. (d) Tacit. de mor. German (e) Lactant. l. 1.2 (f) Ap. Morâ— de vera Relig. (g) Lactant l. 1. c. 11.13 c. (h) Lucan Pharsal l. 10. (i) Lactant. l. 2. (k) Iuvenal Sat. 13. (l) August de civit Dei l. (n) Minut. Fel in Octavio (o) Lactant. l. 1.6 (p) Minut. Fel. in Octavio (r) Mereur Trism in Paeman c. 2 3 4 c. El in Asclep c. 6 7. (s) Lactant. l. 1.6 (t) Id. cap. 7. (u) Minut. Fel. in Octavio (x) Clem. Alexand in Proâ—rept (y) Laert. in vita Socrat. (z) Tertul. in Apolog. c. 46. (a) Laert. in vita Socr. (b) Plato in Epist. 13. ad
maxime that greater are the swarmes of writers then of flies in Summer And here I look it should be said that in those things wherein I thus judge others I condemn my self in doing the same things which I judge them for and so am rendred inexcusable for so great a folly And though it cannot be denyed but that I have been as great a Scribler as almost any other of my age and time yet thus much I must say in my own defence that except the first Essay and draught of my Geography digested for my private pleasure and Printed probably out of ambition and vain glory I never published any thing with or without my mane subscribed unto it but what was either by the strong hand of importunity extorted from me or else imposed by the appointment and command of the noblest power under which I lived Had I been troubled as some are with an itch of Printing or carryed on by a desire of being in action I could have offered to thy view some Pieces long before this time and those it may be not unworthy of thy consideration which hitherto I have kept by me and possibly shall do so still untill they may be found subsequent to the publick peace For that there is a time to keep silence as well as times for men to speak is as Canonical a line for a man to walke by in my poor opinion as to be instant in season and out of season is esteemed by others But the truth is I never voluntarily ingaged my self in any of those publick quarrels by which the unity and order of the Church of England hath been so miserably distracted in these latter times Nor have I ever loved to run before or against Authority but always took the just counsels and commands thereof for my ground and warrant which when I had received I could not think that there was any thing left on my part but obsequii gloria the honour of a cheerful and free obedience And in this part of my obedience it was my lot to be most commonly imployed in the Puritane controversies in managing whereof although I used all Equanimity and temper which reasonably could be expected the argument and persons against whom I writ being well considered yet I did thereby so exasperate that prevailing party that I became the greatest object of their spleen and fury Hardly a libell in those times which exercised the patience of the State for so long together in which my reputation was not blasted my good name traduced my Religion questioned and whether I would or not I must be a Papist or at the least an Under-factor for the Church of Rome But the best was I had the honour of good Company which made the burden pleasing to me not only the Bishops generally but some Particulars amongst them of most eminent note being traduced in the same Pasquils for carrying on a designe to bring in Popery the King himself given out witnesse the Popish royall Favorite amongst other Pamplets to be that way biassed And if they call the Master of the house by the name of Belzebub the servants must not look to finde better language And though I took all honest and ingenuous courses to wipe off this stain yet when the calumny once was up necesse est ut aliquid haereat it was impossible for me in a manner so to purge my self as not to suffer under the injustice of the imputation Concerning which I shall make bold to tell thee a remarkable passage which is briefly this It was about the time that my Lord of Canterbury had published his learned and laborious work against Fisher the Iesuite when I had preached some Sermons before the King upon the Parable of the Tares which Parable I had chosen for the constant argument of my Sermons intended for the Court of which some moderate and judicious men were pleased to say that in those Sermons I had pulled up Popery by the very roots and subverted the foundations of it to which it was replyed by some of those bitter spirits whether with more uncharitablenesse or imprudent zeal it is hard to say that the Arch-bishop might Print and Dr. Heylyn might Preach what they would against Popery but they should never believe them to be any thing the lâ—sse Papists for all that A censure of a very strange nature and so little savoring of Christianity that I believe it is not easie to be parrallel'd in the worst of times But from the envie hatred malice and uncharitablenesse of such kind of men no lesse then from plague pestilence and famine good Lord deliver us I could add much more not much short of this did I love to rub up these old sores as indeed I do not the clamour not being made lesse if it went not higher in the sitting of the late long Parliament though no complaint or information was made against me or if it were was thought considerable enough to be enquired into or took notice of Nor indeed had I said thus much but in compliance to the grave counsell of St. Hierome whose saying it was In suspicione hareseos se nolle quenquam fore patientem that for a man to keep silence when accused of Heresie was a selfe-conviction And yet I cannot choose but note the great and unprofitable paines which hath been taken by the Author of that Voluminous nothing entituled Canterburies Doom to finde me guilty of some points of supposed Popery only because in some particulars not determined by the Church of England I had adhered unto the words and tendries of the Antient Fathers or bound my self in matters publickly resolved on to vindicate this Church to her genuine tenents And to say truth the least endevour of this kinde was cause enough for any clamor or reproches which the tongues and pens of those bitter men could impose on them who did not stand as strongly in defence of Out-landish fancies as of the true and natural doctrines of the Church their mother Witnesse the fearfull outcry made against B. Bilson for preaching otherwise of Christs descending into hell and the great hubbub raised against Peter Baro for writing otherwise in the points of Predestination then had been taught by some of the Genevian Doctors though neither the one had Preached nor the other Printed but what was consonant to the Doctrine of approved Antiquity and to the true intent and meaning of the book of Articles here by Law established Private opinions especially if countenanced by some eminent name were looked on as the publick Resolutions of the Anglican Church and the poor Church condemned for teaching those opinions which by the artifice of some men had been fastened on her So that it was not without some ground that the Archbishop of Spalato being gone from hence did upbraid this Church in his Consilium redeundi for taking into her confession which he acknowledges of its self to be sound and profitable multa Calvini Lutheri
dogmata many strange Doctrines broached by Luther and held forth by Calvin To which when Dr. Crackanthorp was commanded to make an Answer he thought it neither safe nor seasonable to deny the charge or plead not guilty to the bill and therefore though he called his book Defensio Ecclesiae Anglicanae yet he chose rather to defend those Dogmata which had been charged upon this Church in the Bishops Pamphlet then to assert this Church to her genuine Doctrines They that went otherwise to work were like to speed no better in it or otherwise requited for their honest zeal then to be presently exposed to the publick envie and made the common subject of reproach and danger So that I must needs look upon it as a bold attempt though a most necessary piece of service as the times then were in B. Montague of Norwich in his answer to the Popish Gagger and the two Appellants to lay the saddle on the right horse as the saying is I mean to sever or discriminate the opinions of particular men from the received and authorized Doctrines of the Church of England to leave the one to be maintained by their private fautors and only to defend and maintain the other And certainly had he not been a man of a mighty spirit and one that easily could contemne the cries and clamors which were raised against him for so doing he could not but have sunk remedilesly under the burden of disgrace and the feares of ruin which that performance drew upon him To such an absolute authority were the names and writings of some men advanced by their diligent followers that not to yeeld obedience to their Ipse dixits was a crime unpardonable It is true King Iames observed the inconvenience and prescribed a remedy sending instructions to the Universities bearing date Ian. 18. Ann. 1616. which was eight years or thereabout before the coming out of the Bishops Gag wherein it was directed amongst other things that young students in Divinity should be excited to study such books as were most agreable in doctrine and discipline too the Church of England and to bestow their time in the Fathers and Councels Schoolmen Histories and Controversies and not to insist to long upon Compendiums and Abbreviators making them the grounds of their study And I conceive that from that time forwards the names and reputations of some leading men of the forain Churches which till then carryed all before them did begin to lessen Divines growing every day more willing to free themselves from that servitude and Vassalage to which the authority of those names had inslaved their judgements But so that no man had the courage to make such a general assault against the late received opinions as the Bishop did though many when the ice was broken followed gladly after him About those times it was that I began my studies in Divinity and thought no course so proper and expedient for me as the way commended by King Iames and opened at the charges of B. Montague though not then a Bishop For though I had a good respect both to the memory of Luther and the name of Calvin as those whose writings had awakened all these parts of Europe out of the ignorance and superstition under which they suffered yet I alwayes took them to be men Men as obnoxious unto error as subject unto humane frailty and as indulgent too to their own opinions as any others whatsoever The little knowledge I had gained in the course of Stories had preacquainted me with the fiery spirit of the one and the busie humour of the other thought thereupon unfit by Archbishop Cranmer and others the chief agents in the reformation of this Church to be employed as instruments in that weighty businesse Nor was I ignorant how much they differed from us in their Doctrinals and formes of Government And I was apt enough to thinke that they were no fit guides to direct my judgement in order to the Discipline and Doctrine of the Church of England to the establishing whereof they were held unusefull and who both by their practises and positions had declared themselves to be friends to neither Yet give me leave to say withall that I was never master of so little manners as to speak reproachfully of either or to detract from those just honours which they had acquired though it hath pleased the namelesse Author of the reply to my Lord of Canterburies Book against Fisher the Iesuit to tax me for giving unto Calvin in a book licenced by authority the opprobrious name of schismaticall Heretick Had he told either the parties name by whom it was licenced or named the Book it self in which those ill words escaped me I must have been necessitated to disprove or confesse the action But being as it is a bare denyall is enough for a groundlesse slander And so I leave my namelesse Author a Scot as I have been informed with these words of Cicero Quid minus est non dico Oratoris sed hominis quam id objicere Adversario quod si ille verbo negabit longius progredi non possis Pardon me Reader I beseech thee for laying my naked soul before thee for taking this present opportunity to acquit my self from those imputations which the uncharitablenesse of some men had aspersed me with I have long suffered under the reproaches of the publick Pamphleters not only charged with Popery and Heterodoxies in the point of faith but also as thou seest with incivilities in point of manners and I was much disquieted and perplexed in minde till I had given the world in thee a verball satisfaction at the least to these verball Calumnies How far I am really free from these criminations I hope this following work will shew thee So will the Sermons on the Tears preached in a time when the inclinations unto Popery were thought but falsely thought to be most predominant both in Court and Clergy if ever I shall be perswaded to present them to the open view In the mean time take here such testimonies both of my Orthodoxie and Candour as this work affords thee In which I have willingly pretermitted no just occasion of vindicating the Antient and Apostolical Religion established and maintained in the Church of England against Opponents of all sorts without respect to private persons or particular Churches And as old Pacian used to say Christianus mihi nomen est Catholicus cognomen so I desire it may be also said of me that Christian is my name and Catholick my surname A Catholick in that sense I am and shall desire by Gods grace to be alwayes such a true English Catholick And English Catholick I am sure is as good in Grammar and far more proper in the right meaning of the word then that of Roman Catholick is or can be possibly in any of the Popish party And as an English Catholick I have kept my selfe unto the Doctrines Rites and formes of Government established in the Church of
from the Virgin Mary The only Son and the best beloved Son equivalent in holy Scripture Christ why entituled the first born of every creature The rights of Primogeniture what they were and how vested in him CHRIST so to be accounted the Son of God as to be also God the Son That the Messiah was to come in the form of man The testimony given by Christ to his own Divinity cleared from all exceptions The story of Theodosius the Iew in Suidas touching Christ our Saviour justified The testimony given to Christs Divinity by the Heathen Oracles The falling of the Egyptian Idols the Poet Virgil and the Roman Centurion The Heresies of Ebion Artemon and Samosatenus in making Christ our Saviour a meer natural man briefly recited and condemned The perplexed niceties of the School avoided purposely by the Author The name of LORD appropriated in the Old Testament unto God the Father but more peculiar since the time of the Gospel to God the Son The title of LORD disclaimed by the first Roman Emperours and upon what reasons CHRIST made our LORD not only in the right of purchase but also by the law of Arms. CHAP. III. Of Gods free mercy in the Redemption of man the WORD why fitted to effect it The Incarnation of the Word why attributed to the holy Ghost the Miracle thereof made credible both to Jews and Gentiles THe controversie between Mercy Peace Truth and Iustice on the fall of man made up and reconciled by the oblation of Christ then designed and promised That God could have saved mankinde by some other means then by the Incarnation and death of Christ had he been so minded The Oblation of Christ rather a voluntary act of his own meer goodness then necessitated by imposition or decree Some reasons why the work of the Incarnation was to be acted chiefly by the holy Ghost The manner of the Incarnation with a more genuine explication of the Virgins answer The miraculous obumbration of the holy Ghost made more intelligible by two parallel cases The impure fancies of some Romish Votaries touching this Obumbration and the blessed Virgin The large faculties of Frier Tekell Sleidan corrupted by the Papists The strange conceit of Estius in making Christ the principal if not only Agent in the Incarnation The miracle of the Incarnation made perceptible to the natural man to the Iews and Gentiles The Virgins Faith a great facilitating to the Incarnation The Antiquity of the feasts of Annuntiation Christ why not called the Son of the holy Ghost The body of Christ not formed all at once as some Popishs writers doe affirm and the reasons why CHAP. IV. Of the birth of CHRIST the Feast of his Nativity Why born of a Virgin The Prophesie of Esaiah the Parentage and priviledges of the blessed Virgin NO cause for the WORD to be made flesh but mans Redemption Our Saviour Christ not only born but made of the Virgin Mary and the manner how That several Heresies in the Primitive times touching this particular The time and place made happy by our Saviours birth That Christ was born upon the five and twentyeth day of December proved by the general consent of all Christian Churches The high opinion of that day in the Primitive times The miracle of Christ being born of a Virgin Mother made perceptible by some like cases in the Book of God A parallel between Eve and the Virgin Mary The promise made by God to Eve The clearest Prophesie in Scripture that Christ our Saviour should be born of a Virgin-Mother That so much celebrated Prophesie Behold a Virgin shall conceive c. not meant originally and literally of the birth of Christ. The genuine meaning of the Text and how it was fulfilled in our Saviours birth Whether Christ were the direct heir of the house of David The Genealogie of Christ why laid down in such different wayes by the two Evangelists The perpetual Virginity of Christs Mother asserted against the Hereticks of former times defended on wrong grounds by the Pontificians The Virgin freed from Original sin by some zealous Papists and of the controversie raised about it in the Church of Rome What may be warrantably thought touching that particular The extreme errours of Helvidius and the Antidicomaritani in giving too little and of the Collyridians and the Papists on the other side in giving too great honour to the blessed Virgin Some strange extraâ—vigancies of the learned and vulgar Papists The moderation in that kinde of the Church of England The body of Christ a real not an imaginary substance and subject to the passions and infirmities of a natural body CHAP. V. Of the sufferings of our Saviour under Pontius Pilate and first of those temptations which he suffered at the hands of the Devil ANnas and Caiaphas why said to be High Priests at the self same time Of Pontius Pilate his barbarous and rigid nature and of the slaughter which he made of the Galileans By what SPIRIT for what reasons and into what part of the Wilderness Christ was led to be tempted A parallel between Christ and the Scape-goat Reasons for our Redeemers fast why neither more nor less then just forty days Of the Ember weeks The institution and antiquity of the Lenten fast and why first ordained St. Luke and St. Matthew reconciled A short view of the three temptations with a removal of some difficulties which concern the same How Satan could shew Christ our Saviour from the top of a mountain and in so short a space of time the Kingdomes of the earth and the glories of them In what respects it is said of Christ that he was or could be tempted of the Devil CHAP. VI. Of the afflictions which our Saviour suffered both in his soul and body under Pontius Pilate in the great work of MANS REDEMPTION THe heaviness which fel on Christ not so great and terrible as to deprive him of his senses In what respect it is said of Christ in his holy Gospel that his soul was sorrowful to the death The Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what it signifieth in the holy Penmen The meaning of our Saviours words Ioh. 12.27 No contrariety in Christs Prayer to the will of God Why death appeared so terrible in our Saviours eye The judgement of the Antients on that Prayer of Christ. The doctrine of the Schools touching the natural fear of death Why Christ desired not to receive that Cup from the hands of the Iews Of the comfort which the Angel brought unto our Saviour in the time of his heaviness A passage of St. Paul expounded Heb. 57. The meaning of the word Agony in the best Greek Writers and in the usual style of Scripture Christs Agony and bloudy sweat rather to be imputed unto a fervency of zeal then an extremity of pain The sentence put upon our Saviour in the High Priests Hall and at the Iudgement Seat of Pilate A brief survey of Christs sufferings both in soul and
been given to any humane rule or form in the primitive times not coming from the Lords Apostles nor had it been a plant of so long continuance had it not been both sowen and watered by those heavenly hands God himself giving the encrease But being reasons of this nature are not so prevalent with some men as those which are derived from testimony and the consent and general agreement of the antient writers who may best be credited in matters done so long agoe we will now shew what was conceived in the best and purest times of Christianity touching the Authors and occasion of this Creed or Symbol The story whereof is thus delivered by Ruffinus according unto that tradition which was then generally received in the Christian Church Tradunt Majores nostri c. Our Ancestors saith he have delivered to us by tradition that when fiery tongues had fallen upon all the Apostles after CHRISTS Ascension by the coming of the holy Ghost so that they could speak in several languages and that there was no tongue so barbarous which they understood not they received commandement from above to travell every one into severall nations for the preaching and promulgating of the Gospell Being therefore forthwith to depart from one another they did agree upon a certain form of words to be the rule and square of their future preachings lest being separated far asunder any the the least difference should appear amongst them in those things which were to be communicated unto them whom they invited to the knowledge of eternal life Omnes igitur in uno positi sancto Spiritu repleti c. To this end being all together with one accord and all filled with the holy Spirit they drew up a short Rule or form whereby to regulate their doctrine as before was said which they composed by casting in every one his part as in a common shot or reckoning and so agreed to give it for a rule unto all beleevers And this saith he they called by the name of Symbolum not without good reason For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greek doth signifie both a sign or cognizance and a contributing or conferring of many things together to make up one And they had framed this Abstract of the Faith to this end and purpose that it might serve both for a character or mark whereby the people might distinguish those false Apostles which then began to scatter their pernicious doctrines in the Church of Christ from such as preached the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour with an upright heart as also for a sign or watch-word to be kept amongst them such as they had observed that Officers and Commanders in the wars did give unto their souldiers under their command that being asked the word they might know the better whether the man they met with were a friend or enemy And to the same intent and purpose they thought it best not to commit the same to writing but only to imprint it in the hearts of the true beleevers lest otherwise it might haply fall into the hands of unbeleevers that no man might pretend to have learned it otherwise but only ex traditione Apostolorum from the Tradition of the Apostles Thus or to this effect Ruffinus And to this relation we might adde St. Austins who doth not only say as Ruffinus doth that the Creed was made by the Apostles every one casting in his shot or Symbolum whence it had that name but doth assign to every one his several Article according to that form and order which we have presented in the beginning of this Tractate and therefore for avoiding needless repetitions shall omit it here And though perhaps that Sermon may be none of Augustines as indeed many of those de Tempore have been suspected to belong to some other Author yet the Author whosoever he was was of good Antiquity and saith no more then what agreeth to that Tradition which hath been generally received in these Western Churches And now I would fain know what one thing there is in this Narration of Ruffinus to which the Writers of most fame and credit in the Primitive times do not give countenance Is it that the Creed was made by all the twelve Apostles as he saith it was S. Ambrose saith the same expresly Duodecem Apostolorum Symbolo fides sancta concepta est the holy Faith saith he is conceived or comprehended in the Symbol of the twelve Apostles St. Hierome though a bitter enemy to Ruffinus and a man too indulgent to his own affections yet notwithstanding that doth affirm the Creed to have been made by the Apostles and cals it Symbolum fidei ab Apostolis traditum in which after the confession of the holy Trinity and unity of the Catholick Church all the mysteries of Religion are closed up with the Resurrection of the flesh to eternal life Pope Leo no worse man because Pope of Rome comes more home to Ruffin Catholici Symboli brevis perfecta Confessio duodecem Apostolorum totidem est signata sententiis that is to say the short but full confession of the Catholick Creed was made up of twelve sentences of the twelve Apostles Is it that the Creed was not made upon that occasion of the Apostles being to depart from one another as he saith it was but rather in some time ensuing St. Isidore of Sivil saith as much as he Discessuri ab invicem normam prius sibi futurae praedicationis in commune constituunt that being ready to depart from one another they agreed first together on a certain form to be observed in that which they should after preach in all parts of the world to the end that nothing should be preached or proposed to those whom they brought unto the Faith of CHRIST wherein was any difference to be found at all so much as in appearance only Rabanus Maurus a man of good esteem for the times he lived in in his second Book de institutione Clericorum doth affirm the same Or is it that it had the name of Symbolum from such a casting in of their several parts as Ruffinus intimates The word imports no less both in Greek and Latine and every School-boy can inform us that Symbolum dare in the Comedie is to pay ones shot as at an Ordinary or other meeting of good fellowship And so the Author of 115. Sermon de Tempore inscribed to St. Augustine if it be not his as for ought I can see it may be Quod Graece Symbolum Latine Collatio nominatur That saith he which is called Symbolum in Greek is called Collatio in the Latine that is to say a contribution or casting in of many things together to make up one by reason that the sum and substance of the whole Catholick Faith is contained therein every Apostle casting in his Article in this manner following Or is it that it was intended for a mark or character by which to know an Heretick from a true Believer Remember what
man can say that there was never any exact forme of the Nicene Creed commended by that Councell to the use of the Church because that in the Councell of Chalcedon and in the works of Athanasius and St. Basil it is presented to us with some difference of the words and phrases Of which the most that can be said must be that of Binius idem est plane sensus sed sermo discrepans i. e. that the sense is every where the same though the words do differ In the third place it is objected that the Creed could not be written by the Apostles because there are therein certain words and phrases which were not used in their times and for the proof of this they instance in these two particulars first in our Saviours descent into hell which words they say are not to be found in all the Apostolical Scriptures and secondly in that of the Catholick Church which was a word or phrase not used till the Apostles had dispersed the Gospell over all the world And first in answer to the first we need say but this that though these words of Christ descended into hell be not in terminis in the Scriptures yet the Doctrine is which we shall very evidently evince and prove when we are come unto the handling of that Article And if we finde the doctrine in the book of God I hope it will conclude no more against the authority and antiquity of the Creed we speak of then that the word Homousion in the Nicene Creed did or might do against the authority of that Creed or Symbole because that word could not be found in all the Scriptures as was objected by the Arians in the former times And for the second instance in the word Catholica there is less ground of truth therein then in that before But yet because it hath a little shew of learning and doth pretend unto antiquity we will take some more pains then needed to manifest and discover the condition of it Know then that the Apostles might bestow upon the Church the adjunct of Catholick before they went abroad into several Countries to preach the Gospel not in regard that it was actually diffused over all the world according as it hath bin since in these later Ages but in regard that so it was potentially according to the will and pleasure of their Lord and Saviour by whom the bar was broken down which formerly had made a separation between Iew and Gentile and the Commission given of Ite praedicate to go and preach the Gospel unto every creature Catholick is no more then universal The smallest smatterer in the Greek can assure us that And universal questionless the Church was then at least intentionaliter potentialiter when the Apostles knew from the Lords own mouth that it should no longer be imprisoned within the narrow limits of the land of Iewry but that the Gentiles should be called to eternal life Without this limitation of the word I can hardly see how the Church should be called Catholick in her largest circuit there being many Nations and large Dominions which are not actually comprehended within the Pale of the Church to this very day I hope their meaning is not this that there was no such word as Catholick when the Apostles lived and composed the body of the New Testament If so they mean although they put us for the present to a needless search yet they betray therein a gross peece of ignorance For the discovery whereof we may please to know that the word Catholick is derived from the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth in universum as that from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is totum all as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. that I may sum up all in brief And so the word is used by Isocrates that famous Oratour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say generally or in a word I shall endeavour to declare what studies it were fittest for you to incline unto But the proper signification of it is in that of Aristotle where he opposeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a general or universal demonstration to that which he calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which is partial only or particular Hence comes the adjective 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. universal and so the word is taken by Quintilian saying Propter quae mihi semper moris fuit quam minimum me alligare ad praecepta quae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vocant i. e. ut dicamus quomodo possumus universalia vel perpetualia Thus read we in Hermogenes an old Rhetorician 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of usual and general forms of speech and thus in Philo speaking of the laws of Moses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he ordained a general perpetual law for succession into mens inheritances Take which of these three senses they best like themselves and they will finde at last it comes all to one If the word Catholick do signifie the same with universal it also signified the same in and before the times the Apostles lived in and how the Church might then be called universal we have shewn already If they desire rather to translate it general Pope Iulius will tell us how the Church might be called General in the first days and hours thereof Quia sc. generalis est in eadem doctrina ad instructionem because it generally proposeth the same doctrine for edification or if by that of perpetual rather there is no question to be made but that our Saviours promise to be with them to the end of the world did most sufficiently declare unto them that the Church which they were to plant was to be perpetual There is another meaning of the word Catholicus as it denotes an Orthodox and right believer which whether it were used in the Apostles times may be doubted of it being half granted by Pacianus an antient writer sub Apostolis CHRISTIANOS non vocari Catholicos that Christians were not then called Catholicks But this at best being not the natural but an adventitious meaning of the word according to a borrowed metaphorical sense it neither helps nor hinders in the present business and in this sense we shall speak more of it hereafter when we are come unto the Article of the Catholick Church One more objection there remains and but one more which is worth the answering and is that which is much pressed by Downes namely that to affirm as Ruffinus doth that the Apostles did compose the Creed to be the rule or square of their true preaching lest being separated from one another there should be any difference amongst them in matters which pertain to eternal life were to suppose them to be guided by a fallible spirit and consequently subject unto Errour For answer whereunto we need say but this that the difference which Ruffinns speaks of and which he saith the Apostles laboured to avoid by their agreement on this sum or abstract of the Christian
praeterpluperfect tense of the passive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth to be perswaded to be taught to be induced to give assent unto such propositions as are made unto us Thus is the word used by the great Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. For I am perswaded that neither life nor death c. shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Iesus our Lord. And again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Being confident of this very thing Persuasum habens hoc ipsum as Beza very properly doth translate the word That he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it till the day of Iesus Christ. So that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we render faith being hence derived may not unfitly be construed a perswasion or a firm assent persuasionem seu firmam assensionem as the learned Valla hath observed and then the verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being brought from thence will signifie in the true and proper notion of it I am perswaded verily of the truth of that which so many godly and religious men have related to me and give as full and firm an assent unto it as if I had been present when the deed was done Thus also for the Latine word Fides the Etymologie thereof is drawn from fio from the doing or performance of those things which are said or promised Fides enim dicitur saith Cicero eo quod fiat quod dictum est And therefore faith or fides call it which you will as it relates unto the promises of God is defined by Zanchius to be firma certa persuasio de promissionibus dei a strong and confident perswasion that God will graciously fulfil those promises which he hath pleased to make unto us And therefore I shall fix upon that definition of the thing it self which I finde amongst the Antient Schoolmen affirming it to be a firm assent to supernatural truths revealed Which definition lest it should fare the worse for the Authors sake is backed and seconded by so many learned men both of the Protestant and Reformed Churches as may well serve to set it free from all further cavils For thus Melanchthon for the Protestant or Lutheran Churches Fides est assensus omni verbo Dei nobis tradito Faith saith he is an assent to the veracity or â—ruth of the whole Word of God delivered to us And so saith Vrsin for the Doctors of the French or Calvinian party defining it almost in the self same words to be Vera persuasio qua assentimur omni verbo Dei nobis traditâ—o With these agree Chemnitius in Evan. Concil Trident. cap. de Iustificatione Pet. Martyr ad Rom. 3. v. 12. Polanus Partit Theolog. lib. 2. pag. 368. besides divers others Which being the true and proper definition of belief or faith according to the natural meaning of the word both in Greek and Latine I may conclude from hence without further trouble that to believe according as the word here stands in the front of the Creed is only to be verily perswaded of the truth of all those points and articles which are delivered in the same and to give a firm assent unto them agreeable unto the measure of our understanding Faith thus defined differeth not only from experience knowledge and opinion all which do come within the compass of Assents in general but from all other things whatsoever which come within the compass of our belief When we assent unto the truth of such things or matters as are discernible by sense we may call it perception or experience as when a man assents to this proposition that ice is cold or that fire is hot because he feels it to be so by his outward senses If our assent be weak unsetled or grounded only upon probabilities we then call it opinion in matters of which nature men are for the most part left at liberty their understandings being neither convinced by the power of a superior truth nor setled and confirmed by demonstrative proofs This though it be an assent is no firm assent and therefore nothing less then Faith If our assent be grounded on demonstrative proofs and built upon the knowledge of natural causes it is then tearmed Science or knowledge properly so called for Scire est per causas scire said the great Philosopher But he that gives assent unto any truth only because of the authority of the man that speaks it neither examining his proofs nor searching into the probabilty or possibility of the thing related that man in true propriety of speech is said to believe and to believe we know is the act of faith Thus it is said of the Samaritans that many of them believed on him for the saying of the woman which testified thus of him viz. He told me all that ever I did but more believed because of his own words when they had heard him speak and observed his doctrine And yet not every truth believed on the speakers credit is the proper object of belief or faith according as we use the word in the Schools of Christ but only supernatural truths such truths as our depraved nature could not reach unto without revelation from above by consequence not the authority of every speaker but only of such holy men of God who spake as they were moved by the holy Ghost is the foundation of this faith which we here define I give belief unto the Histories of Xenophon Thucydides Polybius and Corn. Tacitus because I hold a good opinion of the men that writ them And I believe that Edward the Black Prince wonne the battel of Crecie being then but 18 years of age and that King Henry the fifth subdued the greatest part of France within five or six years because I finde it so related without contradiction both by our English Chroniclers and the French Historians But I rely on no humane authority how great soever it be for a rule of Faith which as it hath truths only supernatural for the object of it so have those truths or the revelation rather of those truths no other Author then the Spirit of God So then faith is a firm assent which makes it differ from opinion which may be called an assent also but weak and wavering It is a firm assent to truths for to believe in lyes is not faith but folly A brand or character set on those by Almighty God who seeing they would not receive the love of the truth that they might be saved have been and are given over unto strong delusions and to believe in lyes that they should be damned 'T is an assent to truths revealed not grounded on demonstrative proofs or the disquisition of natural causes or the experiment of sense but only on the authority of him who reveals it to us which differenceth it most clearly both from experience and from knowledge which have surer grounds
first Article I believe in God the Father Almighty that is to say I believe that there is one Immoratal and Eternal Spirit of great both Majesty and Power which we call God and that this God is the Father Almighty the Father both of Iesus Christ and of all mankinde who as a Father hath not only brought us into the world but hath provided us of all things necessary both for body and soul protecting us by his mighty power and governing us and our affairs by his infinite wisdom This is the sum of that which is to be conceived of this present Article of our belief in God the Father Almighty I know the Schoolmen do distinguish very frequently between Credere Deum Credere Deo Credere in Deum the first whereof they make to be a general belief of the beeing of God that is to say that God is that there is a God the second an affiance or relying on the veracity or truth of that which he hath pleased to impart to us in the holy Scriptures the last which is the phrase here used a confidence which we have in his grace and goodness a casting of our selves entirely into his mercy and protection For thus the Master of the Sentences lib. 3. distinct 23. cap. illud est Thomas Aquinas 2.2 qu. 2. Ant. 2. ad 1. 4. the Author of the Ordinary Gloss. Rom. 4.5 Durandus in Rationale divin cap. de Symbol and indeed who not And I know also that this nicety is generally fathered on Augustine who indeed makes a signal difference between credere Deo credere in Deum Credere in Deumutique plus est quam credere Deo to believe in God is more saith he then to believe that which the Lord hath spoken Of which he gives this instance in another place Nam daemones credebant ei at non credebant in eum for the Devils do believe what God saith unto them who cannot for all that be said to believe in God And finally he concludeth or the Schoolmen from him that when we say I believe in God we do not only say I believe God is or I give credit to his words but me ipsum amare credendo in eum ire membris ejus incorporari by believing to love him by believing as it were to grow into him and be incorporate with his members The Protestant Doctors many of them go the same way also making the Credo of this place to be the same with Fiduciam in Deo colloco the placing of our whole trust and confidence in God Almighty which are Zuinglius words with whom agree as to the meaning of the phrase P. Ramus de Relig. l. 1. c. 2. Zanch. de tribus Elohim part 1. lib. 4. cap. 7. lib. 5. c. 2. Amesius in Medull Theol. lib. 1. cap. 3. num 15. besides diverse others whose names it were impertinent to remember here By these in Deum credere to believe in God is made the highest and most excellent act or degree of faith the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or full assurance of the understanding which St. Paul speaks of Coloss. 2.2 higher then which a Christian cannot go in this present life Tertia fidei pars vel gradus as we read in Musculus non modo de Deo Deo sed in Deum credere And this he doth define to be Spem omnen in Deum dirigere firmaque fiducia ab illius bonitate pendere making it so peculiar unto God alone ut nec Moysi nec Prophetis nec Apostolis imo ne Angelis quidem debeat accommodari that it is neither to be used when we speak of Moses or of the Prophets or Apostles no nor of any of the Angels Finally for the phrase it self 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Apostles have made use of in this place of the Creed and in other parts of Divine Writ they make it an expression or form of speech so proper to the holy Ghost that neither the Septuagint in their Translation nor any learned Author amongst the Graecians ever used the same Which notwithstanding I am yet unsatisfied in the solidity and truth of the said distinction and also of the explication of the phrase here used And therefore with the leave of the learned Reader and with all due respect to those Reverend men who have transmitted them unto us I shall endevour to evince these two conclusions first that the phrase in Deum or in Christum â—redere the explication of the phrase in Deum credere and the distinction thereon founded is not so generally and universally true as it is pretended And 2. that howsoever it may be admitted in some texts of Scripture in which that phrase is used by the holy Ghost it can by no means be admitted in this place of the Creed First for the phrase in Deum or in Christum credere they make it signifie as before I said that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or full assurance which a Christian hath of the love of God the confidence which we have in his love and goodness the casting of our selves entirely into his goodness and protection which I conceive is more then the phrase importeth or was intended by it in the holy Ghost The only place in which we finde this form of speech in St. Matthews Gospel is in the 18. chap. vers 6. where it is said Whosoever offendeth any of these little ones 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 qui credunt in me which believe in me it were better that a mil-stone were hung about his neck c. In which place by those little ones or pusilli which our Saviour speaks of he neither meaneth little children nor men small in stature they must needs wrest the words too far who do so expound them but men weak in faith such as he elsewhere calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 men of little faith And certainly a weak faith or a little faith cannot consist with that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that full assurance and perswasion which is by them intended in the phrase in question Or if they mean it literally of little children because they finde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 parvulum a little childe to be a great part of the argument of that discourse either they must mean somewhat else by in Christum credere then their explication of the phrase admits of or else confess that little children are endued with that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that confidence in the love and goodness of Almighty God in Iesus Christ which is the highest pitch and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the strongest faith which I think no wife man will affirm Thus is it said of the Disciples in the second chapter of St. Iohn that when they had seen the miracle which Iesus did in Cana of Galilee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 crediderunt in eum they believed on him ver 11. Assuredly the faith of the Disciples at this time
he only made a shew of faith which he never had Why so Quia Lucas aperte testatur eum credidisse because S. Luke affirms that he did believe being convinced by the signs and miracles which S. Philip wrought as many others of Samaria at the same time were And yet no doubt but Simon Magus was a Reprobate a man rejected by the Lord in regard of his wickedness and that his heart was not right in the sight of God and afterwards an author of such mischief in the Church of God that Ignatius who lived neer those times very rightly cals him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first begotten of the Devil The like mâ—y be affirmed also of Alexander Hymeneus and Philetus who had been made partakers of the Faith of CHRIST and were zealous in it for the time but afterwards made shipwrack of it denying amongst other Articles of the Christian faith that of the resurrection of the dead and thereby overthrowing the faith of some Men questionless given over to a reprobate sense or else we may be well assured St. Paul had never given them over to the hands of Satan as it is plain he did But what need search be made into these particulars when Calvin himself affirms in general Reprobis fidem tribui eosdem interdum simili fere sensu atque Electos affici eosque merito dici Deum sibi propitium credere c. that Faith is given unto the Reprobate that sometimes they are touched with the like sense of Gods grace as the Elect ones are and may deservedly be said to believe that God is favourable and propitious to them God sometimes makes the Sun of Righteousness as well as the Sun of Heaven to shine on the evil and on the good Which notwithstanding Faith is called and that most properly Fides Electorum the Faith of Gods Elect in that and other places of the Book of God because the fruits thereof are in them more visible the confession of the same more fervent the seeds thereof more fastly rooted and the fruit more durable For which cause possibly the Apostle doth there join together the faith of Gods Elect and the knowledge of the truth which is after godliness Which is indeed the special difference which is between the faith of the Elect and the faith of the Reprobates For if the fruit be unto holiness no question but the end thereof will be life everlasting It is not then the weakness or the want of faith which doth alone exclude the Reprobate from the Kingdom of Heaven and make him finally uncapable of the grace and favour of the Lord in the day of judgement but the want of a good conscience in the sight of God And therefore if we mark it well St. Peter did not charge it upon Simon Magus that he wanted faith or that his faith was only a dissembled hypocritical faith upbraiding him as formerly Ananias in another case that he had not only lyed unto men but unto God but that he was in the gall of bitterness and in the bonds of iniquity not having his heart right in the sight of God Nor did St. Paul accuse the said three Apostates that they never had received the faith or that the faith which they received was not true and real but that first having put away a good conscience they afterwards made shipwrack of the faith also blaspheming God and scattering abroad their dangerous errours to the seducing of their brethren If Simon had repented of his wickedness as St. Peter advised it may be charitably supposed that the thoughts of his heart had been forgiven him And Hymeneus and Alexander if they had made good use of the Apostles censure when he delivered them unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh no question but their spirits might have been saved in the day of the Lord IESUS Which may suffice for answer to the first objection touching the faith of reprobates as they use to call them whose firm assent to supernatural truths revealed makes them not inheritable to the Kingdom of Heaven because they hold the truth revealed in unrighteousness and so become without excuse as St. Paul tels us in another case of the antient Gentiles The next Objection is that if this phrase in Deum credere import no more then this that there is a God and that all his words are Divine truths and all the world the workmanship of his hands alone the Devils do belieue as much as St. Iames assures us Thou believest saith he that there is one God thou dost well the Devils also believe and tremble Iam. 1.19 The answer unto this is easie St. Iames assures us of the Devils that they believe there is one God but doth withall assure us this that this belief of theirs confirms them in the certainty and foreknowledge of their everlasting damnation the apprehension of the which produceth nothing in them but fear and horrour The Devils do believe that there is a God and that this God is just in all his actions and righteous in all his ways unchangeable in his Decrees Yesterday and to day and the same for ever What other comfort can they reap from this faith of theirs but that being once condemned by God to eternal fire they are reserved in everlasting chains under darkness to the judgement of the great and terrible day For knowing that the judgements of the Lord are just and his doom unchangeable they must needs know withall the certainty of their own damnation or else they cannot properly be affirmed to believe this truth that there is a God And as they do believe that there is a God so they believe also that he is the Maker of heaven and earth For being at the first created by Almighty God with so great perspicacity and clearness of the understanding they could not choose but know the hand that made them and consequently believe that he made all those things which are ascribed to God in the holy Scripture Though by their fall they lost the favour of the Lord their first estate in which they were created by Almighty God the grace by which they stood and the glories which they did possess yet lost they not that quickness and agility of motion that perspicacity and clearness of the understanding wherewith they were endowed by God at their first Creation But what makes this unto their comfort when the same knowledge or belief call it which you will by which they are assured that God made the Heavens and the Earth and all the things therein contained will keep them always in remembrance of this most sad truth that he also made an Hell of fire where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth prepared for the Devill and his Angels To go a little farther yet the Devils did not only believe long since that CHRIST was come in the flesh but publickly proclaimed him in the open
the name IEHOVAH as the Greeks by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as he telleth us there In this regard if possible there had been no other reason it was a name or Attribute call it which we will which was not fit to be communicated unto any creatures as many other of his names and Attributes have used to be And this the Iews so stood on in their later times of that State that they would by no means give it to an earthly Prince Iosephus the Historian telling us of some amongst them whom no extremity of torment could enforce to conferre this title on any of the Roman Emperours though at that time they had their Countrey in subjection and did Lord it over them Had they stayed here it had been well No body could have grudged or murmurred that GOD should have a name peculiar to himself alone or that his name should not be mentioned otherwise then with fear and reverence But afterwards it gave occasion to such superstitions as made them subject to the scorn and censure of all other people the use of that most sacred Name being forbad at all times upon pain of death for fear â—orsooth Ne quotidiano usu vilesceret lest the promiscuous use thereof should bring it into disesteem amongst the Vulgar The very same reason if you mark it for which the Massing-Priest in the Church of Rome is bound to speak the words of Consecration in so low a voyce that the next stander by cannot hear a syllable Ne se. vilescerent sacrosancta verba lest they should grow into contempt with the common people The second name which doth occur of GOD in the holy Scripture for of Elijah which proceedeth from the same root I forbear to speak is that of Eloah in the singular but most frequently that of Elohim in the plural number It sigfieth the mighty Iudges and is derived from Alah which is to swear because that in all weighty causes when necessity requires an Oath to finde out the truth we are to swear only by the name of God who is the righteous Iudge both of Heaven and Earth For the most part it is rendred by the English GOD and is first used by Moses in the first words of Genesis Bereshith bara Elohim saith the Hebrew Text In principio creavit Deus saith the Vulgar Latine in the beginning God created saith the Modern English Where Elohim a Nown of the plural number is joined with Bara being a Verb of the singular number to signifie the Mysterie of the glorious Trinity as many of our late Divines have been pleased to note though neither any of the old Translations which have been formerly in use in the Christian Church did take notice of it nor are constructions of that kinde such strangers in the Hebrew tongue as other learned men have noted as that so high a mystery of the Christian faith should have no better grounds to stand on then so weak a Criticism This name is generally rendred in Greek by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whence the Latine Deus and in English GOD and is not so peculiar to the heavenly Majesty as not to be communicated sometimes to the creature also For thus the Lord to Moses in the Book of Exodus Ego constitui te Deum Pharaonis the word is Elohim in the Hebrew I have made thee a God unto Pharaoh that is to say I have made thee as a God unto him to be the internuncio or Embassadour betwixt me and him And in this sense it is applyable also unto Kings and Princes as Ego dixi Dii estis I have said yee are Gods Psal. 82. because they do participate of his Supreme Power and are his Substitutes and Vicegerents here upon the Earth in which respect they are called Potestates Powers in the very Abstract The Powers that be saith the Apostle are ordained of GOD And for the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whence the Latine Deus there are given us three Originations of it all serviceable to set forth the nature of the glorious Godhead For first it is derived 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies to run because of that swift motion which he seemeth to have by being present in all places those which conceived not the miracle of his Omnipresence conjecturing at him by the swiftness and agility of motion According unto that of Virgil Deum ire per omnes Terrasq tractusque maris Coelumque profundum The very same with that of David If I climbe up into Heaven thou art there if I go down into Hell thou art there also A thing objected by Cecilius against the Christians who had been well enough contented if they had only given him a Supreme direction over all wordly affairs Sed quod loc is omnibus inter erret but that he should be present in all places also that was conceived to be too great a prejudice to those many Gods whom the Gentiles worshipped and shut up in their several Temples But of this more anon in a place more proper The second Etymon of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is to see according to another passage of the Prophet Ieremie Can any man hide himself in secret places so that I shall not see him saith the Lord In this respect the good old Father Irenaeus hath affirmed of God that he is totus oculus totum lumen all eye all light and Orpheus an old Heathen Poet tels us also of him that though he be invisible yet he seeth all things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Clemens citeth him in his Protrepticon or Exhortation The third and last is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to inflame or kindle because that by the vertue of his heavenly power he doth inflame our souls with the fire of zeal and kindle a right spirit within us Est deus in nobis agitante calescimus illo as in another case said the Heathen Poet. But leaving these Grammatical observations on the name of GOD pass we on forwards to those other titles by which he is presented to us in the holy Scripture which are El Helion Adonai Of these the first is El and signifieth as much as the strong God GOD being not only strong in his own Essence but giving strength and fortitude to all the creatures according to their several natures By this name Christ invoketh the assistance of his heavenly Father saying Eli Eli or Eloi Eloi in the Syriack My God my God why hast thou forsaken me and by the same is called himself in the Prophet El Gibber or the strong and most mighty GOD Esa. 9.6 The next is Helion the most high Altissimus a name ascribed to God in both the Testaments Pay thy vows to the most High Psal. 50.14 the power of the most High Luk. 50.32 the Son of the most High Luk. 8.28 Most high not only in respect of his habitation because he
hath his dwelling on High Psal. 113. in which respect the Heathen Poets said of their Idol-Iupiter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he dwelleth in the Highest Heavens but in relation to his Essence by which he infinitely exceeds all creatures both in Heaven and Earth who in comparison of him are but toys and trifles So little reason have we to be proud of our earthly fortunes or of our natural parts and graces that rather looking whence we are made of dust and ashes the thought thereof should humble us in the sight of God and make us have recourse to him to obtain perfection The last we meet with in this kinde for still we are upon those Names or Attributes which are both absolute in God and Essential to him is that of Adonai or my Lord. A name as it is noted in the Mazoreth found of it self no more then 134 times in all the Old Testament but substituted by the Modern superstitious Iews in the place of Iehovah as often as they meet that word in the course of the Text. A name derived by the learned from the Hebrew Eden which signifieth a Basis or foundation on which the whole building doth relie and therefore very fitly chosen to express his nature who beareth up the pillars of the Earth as the Psalmist hath it by whom the whole fabrick of the Universe is preserved in being These are the names or Titles of Almighty God by which he hath made known himself to his chosen servants all of them absolutely his without relation to the creature and such as rather serve to declare his Essence then set forth his office for Deus est nomen naturae non officii as St. Ambrose hath it All of them laid together teach us this of GOD that he is of a self-existing of infinite power of incomprehensible strength and unspeakable Majesty and that as he hath all this of himself alone so like an Universal Parent he communicates a beeing to all the creatures and doth endue them with so much of his power and wisdom of his strength and Majesty as shall suffice to every one in their several places Not that the creature doth partake of his heavenly Essence we conceive not so but that he is the principal and Original cause by which all creatures have an Essence non ut de essentia ejus sed ut causa essendi as Aquinas stateth it and that having thus received an essence or a being from him we receive also out of his abundance all additaments of what sort soever which are expedient for us in our severall callings For out of his fulnesse we have all received as we are told by the Apostle Now by the knowledge of these names or rather of the nature of God represented in them we come unto the knowledge of those reall attributes which are so proper and peculiar to the Lord our God as not to be communicated unto any creature of which we must first speak a little in the way of groundwork or foundation before we can behold him as the Father Almighty And these are principally two simplicitas and infinitas Simplicitas or the simpleness of God if we may so call it is that whereby he is void of all composition either of matter and forme or parts and accidents compounding whether they be sensible or intelligible only For whereas all corporall substances are compounded of matter and forme and the angelicall natures of a potentia and an actus as the School-men phrase it GOD being incorporeal hath no matter of forme and being wholly existing all at once together must be purus actus not having any thing in potentia which at first he had not For if GOD were compounded of matter and form there must be some pre-existent matter out of which he was made and if he be compounded of potentia and actus he must and may be somewhat which at first he was not both which are so destructive of the nature of GOD as being once admitted he is God no longer And therefore in my minde the judicious Scaliger hath very well determined of it in these following words Intelligentiae habent aliquid simile materiae aliquid simile formae Solus Deus simplex est in quo nihil in potentia sed in actu omnia imo ipse purus primus medius ultimus actus that is to say The Angels or Intelligences have something proportionable unto matter and something which resembleth form God only is a simple uncompounded essence in whom there is nothing in potentia but all things in act he being a pure act himself and the first intervenient and last act of all God then is in the first place a simple or uncompounded essence without parts or accidents his attributes not differing from his essence at all but being of his very essence for in Deo non est nisi Deus as the old rule was nor differing essentially from one another but only in regard of our weak understanding which being not able to know or comprehend the earthly things by one single act must of necessity have many distinct acts and notions to comprehend the nature of the incomprehensible God And being such a simple uncompounded essence without parts or accidents he is both great without quantity and good without quality mercifull without passion every where without motion in heaven without a place or ubi The second Attribute of God which before we spake of is that of Infinitenesse by which God is absolutely and actually infinite in his acts and essence And this infinite or infinitenesse is defined to be that without which nothing is or can be Infinitum est extra quod nihil est said the old Philosophers so that it is impossible for any thing to be without or besides that before or after that in which all possible being is comprehended And this infinity doth branch it self into these four species that is to say Infinity in regard of duration which we call Eternity 2. Infinity in regard of dimensions which we call Immensity 3. Infinity in regard of comprehensions by which we say that God is of infinite wisdome and of infinite knowledge And last of all Infinity in regard of power which we call Omnipotence And first Infinity in regard of duration which we call Eternity is that attribute of the Lord our God by which he is without beginning or end without beginning of dayes or end of time without succession or precession if I may so speak Or else we may define it with Boetius to be the entire or totall possession of interminable life all at once together or otherwise thus to be a circular duration whose instants are alwayes and whose terminations of extremities never were nor shall be which are the words of Trismegistus with some little change In this respect God took unto himself this name I AM or I AM THAT I AM all time being present unto God as is also that infinity which was
sheweth the work of the law written in their hearts their conscience also bearing witness aud their thoughts excusing or accusing one another By means whereof such of them as were careful to conform their lives unto that law and put not out that light which did shine within them attained unto an eminent height in all moral virtues 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it is in Naziazen Which moral piety of theirs if not directed to the glory of GOD as it ought to be but either to advance their projects or else to gain opinion and be seen of men may perhaps mitigate their torments but not advance them to the glories of eternal life Nec vitae aeiernae veros acquirere fructus De falsa virtute potest as Prosper hath it Not that those actions in themselves were not good and commendable and might deserve some more then ordinary blessings at the hands of GOD but that those men being so far instructed and illuminated they desisted there holding the truth as St. Paul telleth us in unrighteousness and so became without excuse But of this more hereafter in another place And if the Lord hath been so gracious to the antient Gentiles and still is to the Turks and Pagans of the present ages which are his children only by the right of Creation no question but he doth instruct whom he hath adopted after a more peculiar manner He shewed his word unto Jacob his statutes and his Ordinances unto Israel saith the Prophet David of the Iews And as for us which have the happiness to live under the Gospel the Lord himself hath said by the Prophet Ieremie that he would write his law in their hearts and put it in our inward parts and by another of his Prophets that our sons and daughters should prophecy and that we should be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or taught of God If after so much care on the part of God if after all this done by our Heavenly Father we still continue ignorant of his will or shut our eyes against that light which doth shine upon us and stop our ears against the voyce of the Charmer charm he never so sweetly no wonder if he draw his sword and either cut us off by a temporal death or publickly expose us unto shame and misery For sure it cannot be denyed but that the Lord our heavenly Father hath potestatem vitae necis the power of life and death over all his children The Lord hath power of life and death as the wise man hath it he leadeth to the gates of Hell and brings back again Wisd. 16.13 But this a severity which God reserves unto the last as the utmost remedy inflicting in the mean time moderate chastisements on his wilful children in hope by that means to reclaim them Which if they do not take effect he then proceeds unto the woful sentence of disinheritance expungeth them out of the Catalogue of his Elect razeth their names out of the sacred Book of life and leaves them no inheritance in the house of Jesse or any portion at all in the son of David So excellently true is that of Lactantius Deus ut erga bonos indulgentissimus Pater ita adversus improbos justissimus Iudex God saith he as he is a loving and indulgent Father towards his good and godly children so towards those who are past hope of reformation he will become as terrible and severe a Iudge so he Institut tut l. 1. cap. 1. And certainly it doth concern us in an high degree to keep the love and good opinion of our heavenly Father who is not only able to chastise us with such light corrections as are inflicted on us by our earthly Parents but to arm all the hosts of Heaven and all the creatures of the Earth against us as once he did against Pharaoh and the land of Egypt GOD is not here represented to us by the name of a Father only but by the name of a Father Almighty The title of Omnipotent makes a different case and may be our Remembrancer upon all occasions to keep us from incurring his just displeasure and drawing down his vengeance on our guilty heads This is that infinitie or infiniteness of power which before I spake of and is so proper unto God that it is not to be communicated unto any creature no not unto the man CHRIST IESVS The Roman Emperours indeed in the times of their greatest flourish did take unto themselves the style of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereby they gave the world to understand that they were absolute and independent not tyed to the observance of any laws or bound by the Decrees of Senate but that of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Omnipotent was never challenged by the proudest nor given unto them by the grossest of their many Parasites Now GOD is said to be Almighty because that he is able to do and doth upon occasion also whatsoever pleaseth him both in Heaven and Earth as the Psalmist hath it For with God nothing is impossible saith the holy Angel And though some things may seeme impossible in the eyes of men yet apud Deum omnia sunt possibilia all things are possible to God saith CHRIST our Saviour yet still observe the words of David before mentioned which is the Rule or Standard if I may so call it by which not only possibility and impossibility but even Omnipotencie it self is to be measured and David saith not of the Lord that he can do all things but whatsoever pleaseth him be it what it will For therefore God the Father is said to be Almighty or Omnipotent not that he can do every thing whatsoever it be and will do all things that he can but because he can do all things that he plaaseth all that can be done Because he can doe all things whatsoever he pleaseth For as S. Augustine well observeth nec ob aliud vocatur Omnipotens nisi quia quicquid vult potest Because he can do all things which can be done For some things are not denyed to be impossible even to God himself as namely such as do imply a contradiction and so the dictate of Aquinas is exceeding true Deus omnia potest quae contradictionem non implicant Nor can he do such things as may argue him to be capable of any defect as namely to be unjust to lie to be confined to place or to change his beeing according to another rule of the same Aquinas i. e. Omnipotentia excludit defectus omnes qui sunt impotentia ceu posse mentiri mori peccare c. The reasons are first because those things in themselves would make him lyable to impotency wants and weakness and utterly deprive him of the title of a Father Almighty Nam si haec ei acciderent non esset Omnipotens as most excellently it is said by Augustine Secondly actions of that nature are in themselves so contrary
from the sight of men And if the wise Gentile could affirme so sadly nunquam minus solum esse quam cum solus esset that he was never lesse alone then when he was by himself what need can any rational man suppose in Almighty God of having more company then himself in If this suffice not for an answer to that needlesse demand What God did before he made the World let him take that of Augustine on the like occasion who being troubbled with this curious and impertinent question is said to have returned this answer Curiosis fabricare inferos that he made Hell for all such troublesome and idle Questionists But it pleased God at last when it seemed best unto his infinite and eternal wisdome to create the World and all things visible and invisible in the same contained A point so clear and evident in the Book of God that he must needs reject the Scripture who makes question of it And as the Scripture tels us that God made the World so do they also tell us this that because he made the World he is therefore God For thus saith David in the Psalms The Lord is great and very greatly to be praised he is to be feared above all Gods As for the Gods of the Heathen they are but Idols but it is the Lord which made the Heavens Where plainly the strength of Davids argument to prove the Lord to be God doth consist in this because it was he only not the gods of the Heathen which created the World The like we also finde in the Prophet Ieremy The Lord saith he is the true God he is the living God and an everlasting King and the Nations shall not be able to abide his indignation Thus shall ye say unto them The Gods that have not made the Heavens and the Earth even they shall perish from the Earth and from under these Heavens He hath made the Earth by his power and established the World by his wisdome and hath stretched out the Heavens by his discretion In which two verses of the Prophet we have proof sufficient first that God made the World by his power and wisdome and secondly that this making of the World by his power and wisdome doth difference or distinguish him from the gods of the Heathen of whom it is affirmed expressely that they were so far from being able to make Heaven and Earth that they should perish from the Earth and from under Heaven But what need Scripture be produced to assert that truth which is so backed by the authority of the Learned Gentiles whose understandings were so fully convinced by the inspection of the Book of nature especially by that part of it which did acquaint them with the nature of the Heavenly Bodies that they concluded to themselves without further evidence that the Authour of this great Book was the only God and that he only was that great invisible power which did deserve that Soveraign title And this Pythagoras one of the first founders of Philosopie amongst the Grecians who in all probability had never seen the works of Moses as Plato and those that followed after are supposed to have done doth most significantly averre in these following verses which are preserved in Iustin Martyr 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which may be thus paraphased in our English tongue He that will say I am a Power divine A God besides that one let him first make A world like this and say that this is mine Before he to himself that title take For the next point that God the Father Almighty did create the World it is a truth so clear and evident in the Book of God that he must needs reject the Scripture who makes question of it it being not only told us in the holy Scriptures that God made the World but also when he made it and upon what reasons with all the other circumstances which concern the same The very first words of Gods book if we look no further are in themselves sufficient to confirme this point In the beginning saith the Text God created the Heaven and the Earth As Moses so the royal Psalmist He laid the foundations of the Earth and covered it with the deep as it were with a garment and spreadeth out the Heavens like a curtain He made Heaven and Earth the Sea and all that therein is And so the whole Colledge of the Apostles when they were joyned together in their prayers to God Lord said they thou art God which made Heaven and Earth the Sea and all that in them is Made it but how not with his hands assuredly there is no such matter The whole World though it be an house and the house of God cum Deo totus mundus sit und domus said the Christian Oratour yet it is properly to be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an house not made with hands How then He made it only by his word Dixit et facta sunt He spake the word and they were made saith the sweet finger of Israel There went no greater paines to the Worlds creation then a Dixit Deus And this not only said by Moses but by David too Verbo Domini coeli firmatī sunt et spiritu oris ejus omnis virtus eorum i. e. By the word of the Lord were the Heavens made and all the hosts of them by the breath of his mouth In which it is to be observed that though the creation of the World be generally ascribed unto God the Father yet both the Son and the holy Ghost had their parts therein Verbo Domini by the word of the Lord were the Heavens made saith the Prophet David In the beginning was the Word All things were made by him and without him was nothing made saith St. Iohn the Apostle The Spirit of God moved upon the waters saith Moses in the Book of the Law and Spiritu oris ejus by breath of his mouth were all the hosts of Heaven created saith David in the book of Psalmes Made by his word but yet not made together in one instant of time to teach us men deliberation in our words and actions and to set forth unto us both his power and wisdome His power he manifested in the Method of the worlds creat on in that he did produce what effects he pleased without the help of natural causes in giving light unto the World before he had created the Sun and Moon making the earth fruitfull and to bring forth plants without the motion or influence of the Heavenly bodies And for his wisdome he expressed in as high a degree in that he did not create the Beasts of the field before he had provided them of fodder and sufficient herbage nor made man after his own image before he had finished his whole work filled his house and furnished it with all things necessary both for life and pleasures
time to enquire any further after the beginnings of things who made them and did first extract them out of the common masse or Chaos where before they lay Quid quaeâ—am saith he quae sint initia universorum quis rerum formator qui omnia in uno mersa et materia inerti convoluta disâ—reverit Macrobius speaks more plainly yet although he somewhat failed in his computation affirming that the World must be lately made Cujus cognitio bis mille annos non excedat considering that there was no monument or record thereof which could entitle it to the age of two thousand years The like may be affirmed of the Poets who do ascribe the glory of the Worlds Creation unto God alone Ovid in plain significant termes Sine ulla nominis dissimulatione as Lactantius hath it without boggling or scrupling at the name of God Virgil more covertly under the names of Mens and Spiritus under the which names the old Philosopers used to mask him For Ovid having before described the general Chaos then addes Hanc Deus et melior litem natura diremit Nam Coelo terras et terris abscidit undas That is to say But God the better nature this decides Who Earth from Heaven the Sea from Earth divides And shortly after speaking of the Creation of Man he gives God these most honourable titles the Maker of all things the Authour of a better World or Ille opifex rerum mundi melioris origo in his proper language Virgil although he speaks more covertly as before was said yet he ascribeth that to his Mens or Spiritus which Ovid in more plain terms doth assigne to God and so coâ—es somewhat near the truth Non longe fuit a veritate as Lactantius noteth For in his Aeneads thus he tels us Principio Coelum et Terras camposque liquentes Lucentemque globum Lunae Titaniaque Astra Spiritus intus alit totamque infusa per artus Mens agitat molem et magno se â—orpore miscet Which may be Englished thus in brief Heaven Earth and Seas the Sun and Moons bright sphere In the beginning by some Spirit were Divinely cherish'd which diffus'd through all Did like the Soul quicken this massie Ball. In which we have not only intimated the powerfull influence of the Spirit but the words In principio which are used by Moses But to returne again to the Word of God we finde not only there that God made the World and that he made it in such time as himself best pleased but also the course and method which he used in so great a work A work which took up six whole dayes as before was said God taking a delight as it were in his own productions and giving them the commendation of good as they were created or pretermitting that commendation as sometimes he did when any thing was wanting unto that perfection which was after added For in the work of the second day wherein God did divide the waters above the firmament from those which were disposed beneath it we do not finde this approbation et vidit Deus quod esset bonum because that did not bring the waters to that use and perfection which after they received when they were separated from the Earth and gathered together into one body which he called the Sea And this consideration is alone sufficient to consute a strange conceipt of some late Divines Who on pretence of some authority out of Augustines works have told us that all things were created at once by the power of God and that not only in one day sed in eodem momento or eodem nunc as Vallesius phraseth it the distinction of six days being made by Moses the better to complie with our incapacities For questionlesse there cannot be a better reason why God should passe no approbation on the second days work and double it upon the third but that the separation of the Waters not being fully perfected till the said third day required one special approbation from the mouth of God as the production of the earth and the fruits thereof which was the work of that day also did require another But here a question may be made concerning those waters which are said to be above the firmament or rather of the firmament which is said to divide them I know the general opinion of most writers is that by the Firmament in that place we are to understand the Air as being interposed inter aquosam et humidam superioris Regionis molem etâ— aquas marium fluminumque between the waters of the upper Regions and that which is dispersed in the Seas and Rivers So Iunius for the Protestant Doctors and Estius for those of the Church of Rome do expound that Text and for my part I have not been unwilling to conforme to that in which both parties are agreed But I have met of late with the Observations of a right learned man upon some passages of Scripture in which I finde some strong presumptions that an Abysse of Waters must needs be granted to be above the highest Orbe whose Arguments I shall lay down as I finde them there and so refer the matter wholly to the Readers judgment For first he saith and I think very truly that the Waters above the Heavens called upon by David and the three Children in their Song to praise the Lord cannot be taken for the watery Region of the Air because in the same Canticle by an expresse enumeration of all the Meteors this Region is invited to the like celebration O every showres and dew blesse ye the Lord and magnifie his name for ever saith the Benedicite Fire and hail snow and vapour winde and storm fulfilling his word saith the book of Psalmes Psal. 148. He telleth us secondly that in the separation of the waters spoken of by Moses the waters below the firmament were gathered together into that Receptacle which he called the Sea and that in the space above the firmament he laid up the rest of the deep as in a store-house Psal. 33.7 From whence when he uttered his voice as at the flood there was a multitude or noise of waters in the Heavens Ier. 10.13 Which lest it might be gratis dictum he proves it by the story of the generall Deluge in which the waters being said to prevail at least 15. cubits above the top of the highest mountains must needs have more time then 40. days and 40. nights for their falling down according to the course of nature unlesse there had been some supply from this great Abysse and that God by an high hand had forced down those waters which he had laid up there as in a store-house And that there was such a supplie from this infinite and inexhaustible store-house he shewes out of those words of the 7. of Genesis where it is said that the fountains of the great deep or as the Angell calleth them in the Book of
Esdras the springs above the firmament were broken up which on the abatement of the waters are said to have been stopped or shut up again Gen. 8.2 A thing saith he not to be understood of any subterraneous Abysse without an open defiance to the common principles of nature Besides it doth appear from the Text it self that at the first God had not caused it to rain on the earth at all perhaps not till those times of Noah but that a moysture went up and watered the whole face of the ground Gen. 2.5.6 as still it is observed of the land of Egypt And that it did continue thus till the days of Noah may be collected from the bow which God set in the Clouds which otherwise as Porphyrie did shrewdly gather had been there before and if no clouds nor rain in the times before the Cataracts of heaven spoken of Gen. 7. 11. 8.2 must have some other exposition then they have had formerly Nay he collects and indeed probably enough from his former principles that this aboundance of waters falling then from those heavenly treasuries and sunke into the secret receptacles of the earth have been the matter of those clouds which are and have been since occasioned and called forth by the heat and influence of the Sun and others of the stars and celestiall bodies These are the principall reasons he insists upon And unto those me thinks the Philosophical tradition of a Crystalline heaven the watery Firmament we may call it doth seem to add some strength or moment which hath been therefore interposed between the eighth sphere and the primum mobile that by the natural coolness and complexion of it it might repress and moderate the fervour of the primum mobile which otherwise by its violent and rapid motion might suddenly put all the world in a conflagration For though perhaps there may be no such thing in nature as this Crystalline heaven yet I am very apt to perswade my self that the opinion was first grounded on this Text of Moses where we are told of Waters above the Firmament but whether rightly understood I determine not But I desire to be excused for this excursion though pertinent enough to the point in hand which was to shew the power and wisdome of Almighty God in ordering the whole work of the Worlds Creation To proceed therefore where we left As we are told in holy Scripture that God made the World and of the time when and the manner how he did first create it so finde we there the speciall motions which induced him to it Of these the chief and ultimate is the glory of God which not only Men and Angels do dayly celebrate but all the Creatures else set forth in their severall kindes The Heavens declare the glory of God and the Firmament sheweth his handy work saith the royall Psalmist And Benedicite domino opera ejus O blesse the Lord saith he all ye works of his Psal. 103.22 The second was to manifest his great power and wisdome which doth most clearly shew it self in the works of his hands there being no creature in the world no not the most contemptible and inconsiderable of all the rest in making or preserving which we do not finde a character of Gods power and goodness For not the Angels only and the Sun and Moon nor Dragons only and the Beasts of more noble nature but even the very worms are called on to extol Gods name All come within the compass of laudate Dominum and that upon this reason only He spake the word and they were made he commanded and they were created In the third place comes in the Creation of Angels and men that as the inanimate and irrational creatures do afford sufficient matter to set forth Gods goodness so there might be some creatures of more excellent nature which might take all occasions to express the same who therefore are more frequently and more especially required to perform this duty Benedicite Domino omnes Angeli ejus O praise the Lord all ye Angels of his ye that excel in strength ye that fulfil his commandements for the Angels are but ministring spirits Psal. 104.4 and hearken to the voyce of his words And as for men he cals upon them four times in one only Psalm to discharge this Office which sheweth how earnestly he expecteth it from them O that men would therefore praise the LORD for his goodness and declare the wonders which he doth to the children of men Then follows his selecting of some men out of all the rest into that sacred body which we call the Church whom he hath therefore saved from the hands of their enemies that they might serve him without fear in righteousness and holiness all the days of their lives And therefore David doth not only call upon mankinde generally to set forth the goodness of the Lord but particularly on the Church Praise the Lord O Hierusalem Praise thy God O Sion And that not only with and amongst the rest but more then any other of the sons of men How so because he sheweth his word unto Jacob his statutes and his Ordinances unto Israel A favour not vouchsafed to other Nations nor have the Heathen knowledge of his laws for so it followeth in that Psalm v. 19 20. The Church then because most obliged is most bound to praise him according to that divine rule of eternal justice that unto whomsoever more is given of him the more shall be required And last of all the Lord did therefore in the time when it seemed best to him accomplish this great work of the Worlds Creation that as his infinite power was manifested in the very making so he might exercise his Providence and shew his most incomprehensible wisdome in the continual preservation and support thereof And certainly it is not easie to determine whether his Power were greater in the first Creation or his Providence more wonderful and of greater consequence in the continual goverance of the World so made which questionless had long before this time relapsed to its primitive nothing had he not hitherto supported it by his mighty hand For not alone these sublunary creatures which we daily see nor yet the heavenly bodies which we look on with such admiration but even the Heaven of Heavens and the Hosts thereof Archangels Angels Principalities Powers or by what name soever they are called in Scripture enjoy their actual existence and continual beeing not from their own nature or their proper Essence but from the goodness of their Maker For he it is as St. Paul telleth us in the Acts who hath not only made the World and all things therein but still gives life and breath unto every creature and hath determined of the times before appointed and also of the bounds of their habitation And so much Seneca Pauls dear friend if there be any truth in those letters which do bear their names hath affirmed also
Manent cuncta non quia aeterna sunt sed quia defenduntur cura Regentis Immortalia tutore non egent Haec autem conservat Artifex fragilitatem materiae vi sua vincens All things saith he continue in beeing as at first they were not because they are eternal in their own nature but because they be defended by the Providence of their Governour Things in themselves Immortal have no need of a guardian But those things are preserved by the power of their Maker which over-ruleth the weakness of the matter out of which they are made So that it seems by the Philosophie of this learned man that the creature is preserved from perishing not by any power which it hath in it self but by the power and providence of its Heavenly Maker And this no less true in the Divinity of the holy Scriptures How long before this present time had the unbridled Ocean overwhelmed the land had not God set bounds unto it which it shall not pass nor turn again to cover the earth What a combustion had the World been brought into long before this time by the perpetual jarring of contrary Elements had not GOD so disposed it by his heavenly Providence as to interpose this vast airy Firmament betwixt the Elements of fire and water and so to temper drought with moisture that neither should be able to consume the other How long before this time had those many millions of men which possess the World perished for want of food and devoured one another had not he opened his hand and filled all things living with plenteousness did not he give the former and the latter rain making the Valleys fruitful and so full of corn that they do seem to laugh and sing in the Psalmists language How long before this time had the race of mankinde been utterly exterminated out of all the world by those violent and consuming Wars which have raged in every part thereof since the times of Nimrod since men began to hunt after one another and made the sword the instrument of their lusts and cruelties did not he keep unto himself the Soveraign power of making wars to cease whensoever he pleaseth and sending Peace into our borders when we look not for it Finally not to instance in more particulars how long before this time had the World been emptied of Inhabitants and no place peopled but the Graves by the continual prevalencie of Plagues and Leprosies and other pestilent diseases which the intemperance of diet or the malignant influences of the heavenly bodies have so oft produced had not he given a Medicinal vertue unto hearbs and plants for cure of ordinary but contagious sicknesses and say to his destroying Angel that it is enough when the devouring Plagues do most fiercely rage That Pestilence which cut off seventy thousand men in less space then a day must needs have utterly destroyed all mankinde in less space then a year had not the Lord restrained the fury of it by his grace and goodness Look where we will cast we our eyes on every side upon all the creatures and we shall finde as much of Gods wonderful Providence in their preservation as of his mighty Power in the first Creation That he spake the word and they were made that he commanded only and they were created is the most notable effect of his mighty Power But that he made them fast even for ever and ever and gave them such a law for their rule and governance as shall not be broken is a more admirable effect of his singular Providence When therefore it is said in the holy Scriptures that God rested on the seventh day from all the works which he had made we are to understand it thus that he desisted then from adding any thing unto the work of his hands which he had finished and made perfect the six days before but not from ordering and disposing of it as he sees occasion which is a work as highly to be prized as the first Creation and from the which God never resteth no not on the Sabbath Sempër videmus Deum operari Sabbatum nullum est in quo non operetur in quo non producat solem suum super bonos malos Sabbaths and all days are alike in regard of Providence in reference to the universal government of the World and Nature Nor is there any day saith Origen whereon God doth rest from the Administration of the World by him created on which he doth not make his Sun to shine both on good and bad and makes his rain to fall on the just and wicked Pater meus usque modo operatur saith CHRIST our Saviour I work saith he and my Father also worketh to this very time By which our Saviour meaneth as S. Augustine notes that God rested not from ordering the things which he had created Nec ullam sibi cessationis statuisse diem and that there was no day whatsoever it was in which he tended not the preservation of the creature and therefore for his own part that he would not cease from doing the will of him that sent him Ne Sabbatis quidem no not so much as on the Sabbath It was the folly or the frenzy of the Epicureans that they robbed God of his Providence and made him nothing but a dull Spectator an idle and unnecessary looker on letting all worldly matters go as they would themselves Et Deos aut otiosos finxit aut nullos said the Christian Advocate The Stoicks saw this Error and took care to avoid it but then they fell upon as bad appointing that which they called Fate in the place of Providence and by that Fate so tying up the hands of GOD that he could do nothing but what was formerly decreed and resolved upon Which were it so Cur non illae potius regnare dicantur as wittily Lactantius scoffeth it why was not Fate and Destiny put in the place of God which even the Gods themselves are compelled to obey The Peripateticks therefore thought it to be better Divinity to grant to GOD the over-sight and super-inspection of all but yet ascribed so much unto second causes that they left little more to be done by GOD then to set the first wheel as it were on going and leave the rest to move in their course and order Which though it came more neer the truth yet it comes not home the Providence of God being so particular that the very hairs of our head are said to be numbred and that a Sparrow doth not fall to the ground without his knowledge and permission But leaving this discourse of Gods general Providence we will consider it at the present in these principal parts his goodness towards all his creatures his Iustice in the governance of humane affairs concluding this with that of Alexander Aphrodiseus a great Aristotelean who pleads thus in behalf of this general Providence Quod
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
Roman Emperours who though they ruled the people by the advice of the Senate yet ruled the Senate as they pleased and made the intimation of their own will and pleasure to pass as currant as Law Quod Principi placuerit Legis habet valorem saith the book of Institutes And such almost is the conclusion of those Royal Edicts which daily is set out by the French Kings which generally ends with these formal words Car tel est nostre plaisir for such is our pleasure But this in these and other Princes of the like authority is rather a character of power then a Rule of justice the Rule of justice being to be straight and even and always constant to it self not alterable on occasions or turned aside by passions and humane affections The will of God is subject to no such vicissitudes to such turns and changes as the wils of men but an unalterable and most constant rule without variation such as the rule of equal and impartial justice is of right to be And by this rule it is that the Lord proceedeth in executing justice over all the World Which justice either doth consist in the performance of his promises for even a just and righteous man is as good as his word and then it may be called veracitas and is a species or kinde of Commutative justice or else in punishing or rewarding the sons of men according to the exigence of their several works and then it hath the name of distributiva or distributive justice That part thereof which doth consist in the performance of his promises and is called Veracitas may be defined to be a constant and unalterable purpose in Almighty God of bringing every thing to pass which he hath either promised to the sons of men or spoke concerning them by his holy Prophets which have been since the World began In the first sense it is said so often of him in the holy Scipture that he remembred the Covenant made with Abraham Isaac and Iacob performing to their seed and their children after them whatsoever he was pleased to promise more generally by the Royal Psalmist Custodit veritatem in seculum that he keepeth his promise for ever Psal. 146.6 And in the other sense it was said unto the Virgin Mary by her Cousin Elizabeth that there should be a performance of all those things which had been told her by the Lord Luk. 1.45 by the Apostle that all the Promises of God in Christ Jesus are yea and Amen 2 Cor. 1.20 by CHRIST himself that Heaven and earth should pass away but that there was not one Iod or title in the Word of God which in due time should not be accomplished If it consist in punishing the impenitent sinner or chastising his own dear children for their wilful follies we then call it punitive and so it comes within the compass of Gods heavenly anger which as St. Augustine doth define it non aliud est quam voluntas puniendi is nothing but the will of God to punish such as do offend against his Commandements If in rewarding those who conform themselves as far as humane frailty will permit to his laws and precepts it is called Remunerative and hath a great admixture in it both of love and mercy in passing by our faults to reward our faith that saying of St. Bernard being always true Semper invenies Deum benigniorem quam te culpabilem Nay even his anger or his punitive justice is so mixt with goodness that in the midst of judgement he remembreth mercy and dealeth not so extremely with us as we have deserved it being as true which I finde noted by Nicephorus Deum vindictae gladium oleo misericordiae semper acuere that God doth always scour the sword of his vengeance with the oyl of his mercy The World had been reduced by this time to its former nothing had not he sweetned the severity of his judgements by the balm of his mercies and grown into a Wilderness or vast confusion had he not held in by his Iustice the exorbitant power of those who make their lusts and their wils a Law And certainly if we consult the Monuments and Records of former times we shall finde no Age nor State of men or Nations which do not give us evident and plain examples of Gods proccedings in this kinde when the necessities of his Church or the sins of men do require it of him The subtle tyrannie of the Egyptians had not only taught them to oppress Gods people for the present but to extinguish the whole race of them for the time to come and therefore a command was given to the Midwives of Egypt to murder all the Male Children which were born to Israel Did not God scourge them with their own rod and pay them in their own coin as we use to say when he slew all the first-born in the land of Egypt And possibly the piety compassion of the Midwives of Egypt in sparing many of the Male children whom they might have murdered occasioned God to lay the fury of his vengeance on the first-born Male not on any of the Females throughout the Countrey When David surfeiting on plenty and the sweets of power not only had defiled the wife but destroyed the husband how fitly did God square the punishment unto the offence For presently a violent mixture of rape and incest is committed by one of his own sons on his daughter Tamar that rape revenged not long after in the death of the Ravisher the Murderer getting in short time such a potent party as to drive his Father out of Hierusalem and to defile his Wives and Concubines in the fight of the people When David was restored to his Crown again and growing vain in conceit of his own great power must needs command a general muster to be made of all his subjects that all the World might see of what strength he was and stand in fear of his displeasure how justly did God punish him and take down his pride in cutting off so many thousands of his people in whose strength he trusted and bringing him to this confession that all his strength and power was from God alone The loss of so many of his subjects was a loss to David the glory of a King consisting in the multitude of his subjects as the Wise-man tels us And though David interceded for them and took all the fault upon himself saying in the affliction of a troubled soul At oves istae quid fecerunt what had those sheep done yet was there none at all of that seventy thousand who had not many ways offended against Gods Commandements and therefore had deserved death as the wages of sin How patiently did God bear with the house of Iudah in their Idolatries and apostasie from his Laws and Precepts how frequently did he command them to rely on him in all times of danger By consequence how justly did
for God had sent him into Egypt before hand for their preservation So also in the case of our blessed Saviour of whom Ioseph was a Type or figure the Lord determined out of his counsel and fore-knowledge as St. Peter telleth us that he should be the Propitiation for the sins of the world and in due time he made the avarice of Iudas and the malice of the Scribes and Pharisees his means and instruments that by their wicked hands and obdurate hearts he might be crucified and slain So used he the ambition of the Kings of Babylon to punish and chastise his people of the house of Iudah and the desire of glory which he found in Titus for the subversion of that wicked and perverse generation who had not only made themselves drunk with the bloud of the Prophets but against all rules of Law and Iustice had filled themselves with the bloud of the Son of God Thus when he had a minde to assay Iobs patience he used the Chaldees and wilde Arabs who did trade in theevery to fall upon the heards of his Kine and Camels and was content the Devil should try some experiments on his body also to leave the fairer pattern of unconquered patience for the times to come And though in these and other occasions of this nature he make use of the wicked to effect his purposes yet he rewardeth them answerably to their deservings proportioning their Wages to their own intentions and not according unto that effect which he works out of them Recipient vero non pro eo quod Deus bene usus est eorum operibus malis sed quod ipsi male usi sunt Dei operibus bonis said Fulgentius truly And though some of them have the hap or the seeming happiness to go down into the grave in peace and carry the reputation with them of successeful wickedness yet God will finde them out at last and meet with these sowre grapes in his general Vintage and tread them in the Wine-press of his indignation And to say truth there are as great and weighty reasons why some mens punishments should follow after them as that the rest should have a triall and essay of their future miseries by those which they endure in this present life For as St. Augustine well observeth if all mens sins were punished in this present world Nihil ultimo judicio reservari putaretur it would occasion some to think that there were no necessity nor use of the general judgement and on the other side if none Nulla esse divina providentia crederetur others would be too apt to think that there were no Providence and say with him in Davids Psalms Tush God doth not see it God therefore doth so order the affairs of this present life as may be most subservient unto that to come not giving such success to the prayers of his servants as they think most conducible unto their estates but as he thinks most expedient for them in reference to a better life then what here they have And if he do not always give the victory to the justest cause but that the good man may complain as once Cato did Victrix causa placet superis sed victa Catoni that the worst cause sped best in the chance of war that also is a special testimony of his heavenly Providence For either they which seem to have the justest cause may manage it by wicked and ungodly instruments or else relye too much on the Arm of flesh or God may possibly foresee that they will use the Victory unto his dishonour or grow secure and negligent of all pious duties upon the strength of that success In all which cases if God give them over to the hands of their enemies they have no reason to complain of Almighty God as if he either were not just in his distributions or that his Providence were asleep or too highly busied to look upon such passages as are here beneath God doth that which is most agreeable to his heavenly justice in punishing the sins of those whom he loves most tenderly with some temporal punishments that they may scape the wrath of the day to come and lets the wicked man go on with success and glory until he hath made up the measure of his sins and wickednesses and so is fitted and prepared for the day of slaughter But of this Argument it is enough to have said a little the Providence of God in governing the affaires of the present world being a point so generally granted by the sober Heathens that Aristotle being asked what answer should be given to those who made question of it is said to have replyed The whip His meaning was that they who ware so irreligious as to make any doubt of Gods heavenly providence were rather to be answered with stripes then with demonstrations And with this resolution I conclude this Chapter and the point together CHAP. V. Of the Creation of Angels the ministry and office of the good the fall and punishment of the evill Angels And also of the Creation and fall of Man OF the Creation of the World we have spoken before and are now come to speak of the creation of Angels and Men as the more noble parts thereof These though included in those words of Heaven and Earth according as they stand in the Creed are more significantly expressed by the Nicene Fathers who to those words of Heaven and Earth have added as by way of Glosse or Commentary and of all things visible and invisible That under the notion of things visible they intended Man as well as any other visible work of the whole Creation is a thing past question And that by things invisible they did mean the Angels will prove to be as clear as that and testifyed by St. Paul expressely saying that By him all things were created whether in Heaven or Earth visible or invisible whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers all things were created by him and for him In which we have not only the Apostles testimony that by the things invisible are meant the Angels but an enumeration of the severall rankes and degrees of Angels which were created by the power of the Lord our God Of these degrees and ranks we shall speak anon having prepared our way unto that discourse by taking first a short survey of the angelical nature For the quid nominis to begin first with that it is meerly Greek and English word Angel and the Latine Angelus being the same in sound and sense with the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that derived from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nuntio which is to carry a message or to go of an errand Angelus then is no more then nuncius an Angel but a messenger in our English language And so it it expressed by Lactantius saying Habe◠enim Ministros quos vocamus nuncios This as it notifyeth their name and the reason of
it so doth it signifie their office for Angelus nomen est officii non naturae as the Fathers tell us which is to be the messengers from God to Man as oft as there is any important businesse which requires it of them to be the Nuncios as it were from Gods supreme holiness to manage his affaires with the sons of men And unto this the Apostle also doth agree telling us that they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or ministring Spirits sent forth to minister unto them that shall be heires of Salvation Spirits they are according to the nature in which they were made and Ministring Spirits or Ministers as he calleth them out of David v. 7. with reference to the office unto which designed We have their nature in the word Spirits which sheweth them to be pure incorporeal substances not made of any corrupt matter as the bodies of men and so not having any internall principle of being they can have none neither of dissolution and yet as Creatures made by the hand of God they are reducible to nothing by the hand that made them although they have not in themselves any passive principle to make them naturally moral It is the priviledge or prerogative of Almighty God to be purely Simple without composition parts or passion The Angels though they come most near him yet fall short of this Who though they are not made of a matter and forme and so not naturally subject to the law of corruption yet are they made up or compounded of Act and Power or Actus aud Potentia in the School-mens language an Act by which they are a Power into which they may be reduced And being so made up of an Act of being and a Power of not being though probably that Power shall never be reduced into Act they fall exceeding short of the nature of GOD whose name is I AM and is so that it is impossible that he should not be or be any other then he is God being as uncapable of change as of composition Nay so great is the difference betwixt their nature and the nature of God so infinitely do they fall short of his incomprehensible and unspeakable Purity that though in comparison of Men as well as in themselves they are truly Spirits yet in comparison of GOD we may call them bodies But whatsoever their condition and ingredients be they owe not only unto God their continuall being by whom they are so made as to be free from corruption but unto him they are indebted for their first original without which they had not been at all St. Paul we see doth reckon them amongst things created and so doth David too in the Book of Psalmes Where calling upon all the Creatures to set forth Gods praises he first brings in the Angels to performe that office and then descends unto the Heavens and the other Creatures O praise the Lord of Heaven saith he praise him in the height Praise him all ye Angels of his praise him all his Hostes Praise him Sun and Moon c. Then addes of these and all the rest of the hosts of heaven He spake the word and they were made he commanded and they were created This with that passage of St. Paul before mentioned make it plain enough that the Angels were created by Almighty God And to this truth all sorts of writers whatsoever which do allow the being of Angels do attest unanimously Apollo in the Oracles ascribed unto him having laid down the incommunicable Attributes of God concludes it thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that such is God of whom the Angels are but the smallest portion Where though Apollo or the Devil in Apollo's statua would fain be thought to be an Angel and as an Angel would be thought to have somewhat in him which might entitle him to be a Godhead yet he confesseth plainly that he owed his being to the power of God and was to be obedient unto his commands Hosthanes one of the chief of the Eastern Magi not only did allow of Angels as the Ministers aud messengers of the only God but made them so subservient to his will and power ut vultu Domini territi contremiscant that they could not look upon him without fear and trembling A Creature therefore doubtlesse not of self-existence and a Creature of Gods making too or else what need they tremble when they look upon him Of Plato it is said by Tertullian briefly Angelos Plato non negavit but by Minutius more expressely that he did not only believe that there were Angels but came so near the knowledge of their constitution as to affirme that they were inter mortalem et immortalem mediam substantiam a substance of a middle nature betwixt immortall and mortall that is to say not so eternally immortall as Almighty God nor yet so subject to mortality as the children of men And herein Aristotle comes up close to his Master Plato affirming more like a Divine then a Philosopher that to the perfection of the World there were required three sorts of substances the first wholly invisible which must be the Angels the second wholly visible as the Heaven and Earth and the third partly visible and invisible partly or made up of both And this saith he is none but man compounded of a visible body and an invisible soul. The Angels then though reckoned amongst things invisible yet being reckoned amongst such things as necessarily concurred to the Worlds perfection must have the same Creator which first made the World and made it in that full perfection which it still enjoyeth and such as hath before been proved could be none but GOD. The matter in dispute amongst learned men is not about the Power by which but the time when they were created In which as in a matter undetermined by the word of God every man takes the liberty of his own opinion and for me they may Some think that their Creation is included in the first words of Genesis where God is said to have created the Heaven and the Earth others when God said Fiat lux Let there be light and that from thence they have the title of the Angels of light Some will not have them made till the fourth day when the Sun and Moon and others of the Stars were made whose Orbes they say are whirled about by these Intelligences Cum ab omnibus receptum sit ab illis Coelos torqueri saith Peter Martyr But that they were created in one of the six dayes is the received opinion of all late Divines whether they be of the Pontifician or the Protestant party If so I would fain know the reason why Moses writing purposely of the Worlds Creation should pretermit the Master-peece of that wondrous work and not as well take notice of the Creation of the Angels as of the making of the Heavens and the Sun and Moon or of the Earth and other sublunary Creatures I know the common
hath it that if he would he might continue in Gods grace and favour and attain all the blessedness which he could desire or otherwise might fall from both and so deprive himself of that sweet contentment which is not any where to be found but in God alone A greater liberty then this he had not given unto the Angels a more glorious creature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Iustin Martyr And he as some of them before abused this liberty so given to his own destruction For being placed by God in the garden of Eden in Paradiso voluptatis as the vulgar reades it he had free power to eat of every tree but one in that glorious place and that tree only interdicted that God might have some tryall of his free obedience the interdiction being seconded with this commination that whensoever he did eat of it he should surely die What lesse could God have laid upon him unlesse he had discharged him of all obedience to his will and pleasure and left him independent of his supreme Power Father said the wise servant unto Naaman if the Prophet had commanded thee a great thing wouldst thou not have done it how much more then when all he saith unto thee is no more then this that thou shouldest wash and be clean Had God commanded Adam some impossible matter he might have been excused from the undertaking because it was a matter of impossibility Or had God bound him to the fruit of one tree alone and debarred him from the tast of all the rest he might have had some more excusable pretence for his flying out and giving satisfaction to a straitned appetite But the commandement being small makes his fault the greater the easiness of the one much aggravating the offence of the other For so it was that either out of unbelief as if God did not mean to sue him for so small a trespasse or that he had a proud ambition to be like to God or yeelded to the lusts of intemperate appetite or that he was not willing to offend his wife by whom he was invited to that deadly banquet he took the forbidden fruit into his mouth and greedily devoured his own destruction and so destroyed himself and his race for ever Not himselfe only but his race even his whole posterity For being the root and stock of mankinde in general which is descended from the loynes of this wretched man what he received of God in his first creation he received both for himself and them who descended from him and what he lost he lost like an unthrifty Father for the childe unborn And as the Scriptures say of Levi that he payed tithes in Abraham to Melchisedech because he was in the loynes of his father Abraham when Melchisedech met him so may we say of the posterity of this prodigal father that they were all undone by his great unthriftiness because they were all of them in his loynes when he lost Gods favour when he drew sin upon them all and consequently death the just wages of it And so saith Gregory Nazianzen surnamed the Divine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. We were so made saith he that we might be happy and such we were being made when first placed in Paradise in which we might have had the fruition of all kinds of happiness but forfeited the same by our own transgression If any aske St. Augustine makes the question and the answer too what death God threatned unto man on his disobedience whether the death of the body or of the soul or of the wholeman which is called the second death we must answer All For if saith he we understand that death only by which the soul is forsaken of God surely in that all other kinde of deaths were meant which without question were to follow For in that a disobedient motion rose in the flesh for which they covered their privy parts one death was perceived in which God did forsake the soul. And when the soul forsook the body now corrupted with time and wasted by the decaies of age another death was found by experience to ensue upon it that by these two deaths that first death of the whole man might be accomplished which the second death at last doth follow except Man be delivered by the grace of God And by the grace of God was poor man delivered from this body of death For as there is no deep valley but near so me high hill so near this vale of misery this valley of the shadow of death as the Psalmist calleth it was an hill of mercy a remedy proposed in the promised seed to Adam and the sons of Adam if with unfained faith they lay hold upon it God looketh upon them all at once in that wofull plight and when he saw them in their bloud had compassion on them and out of his meer love and mercy without other motives offered them all deliverance in a Mediator in the man CHRIST IESVS and that too on conditions far more easie then that of workes the condition and reward being this in brief that whosoever did believe in him should not perish but have life everlasting And this I take to be the method of Election unto life eternal through CHRIST IESVS our Lord. For although there be neither Prius or Posterius in the will of God who sees all things at once together and willeth at the first sight without more delay yet to apply his acts unto our capacities as were the acts of God in their right production so were they primitively in his intention But Creation without peradventure did foregoe the fall and the disease or death which ensued upon it was of necessity to be before there could a course be taken to prescribe the cure and the prescribing of the cure must first be finished before it could be fitted to particular persons And for the Fall which was the medium as it were between life and death the great occasion of mans misery and Gods infinite mercy God neither did decree it as a meanes or method of which he might make use to set forth his power in the immortal misery of a mortal creature nor did he so much as permit it in the strict sense of the word in which it differeth little from a plain command Quam longe quaeso est a jubente permittens How little differeth permitting from commanding saith devout Salvian considering he that which doth permit having power to hinder is guilty of the evill which doth follow on it God did not then permit the fall of unwary man as Moses did permit the Israelites a bill of divorce which manner of permission carryeth an allowance with it or a toleration at the least but so permit it only as the father in our Saviours parable permitted his younger Son to see strange Countries and having furnished him with a stock on which to traffick suffered him to depart and make up his fortunes whether good
properly the fundamental act and radical qualification of the faith of Adam But after he had fallen from his first integrity and that the Lord out of meer pity to his frail perishing creature was pleased to promise him some measure of reparation in the womans seed then did the bruising of the Serpents head by the seed of the woman become a partial object of the faith of Adam and of all those who afterwards descended of him in the line of Grace And yet this was but in a general apprehension of the mercies of God and of his constancy and veracity in fulfilling his word no distinct Revelation being made till the time of Abraham so much as from what branch of the root of Adam this promised blessing was to come A pregnant argument whereof I think is offered to us in the errour of our Grandam Eve who on the birth of Cain her first-born but most wicked son conceived that he should be the man in whom the promise made by God was to be fulfilled and therefore said I have gotten a man from the Lord as our English reads it but rather possedi virum ipsum IEHOVAH I have gotten a man even the Lord IEHOVAH as Paulus Phagius a very learned Hebritian doth correct that reading And as for Abraham himself though it pleased God to tell him more particularly then before was intimated that in his seed should all the families of the Earth be blessed yet so unsatisfied was he as concerning Sarah or that this general blessing was to come of a son by her that when GOD promised such a son from that barren womb by whom she was to be a Mother of Kings and Nations instead of giving thanks to God he returned this answer O that Ishmael might live before thee And though upon the duplicate of this gracious promise that in Isaac should his seed be called he was sufficiently instructed and believed accordingly that the great mercy which God promised to our Father Adam was to descend in time from the loyns of Isaac yet that he should be born of an imaculate Virgin that he should suffer such and so many indignities and at the last a bitter and most shameful death by the hands of those who seemed to boast so much in nothing as that they were the children of this faithful Abraham as it was never that we read of revealed unto him so have we no reason to believe that it was any part or object of his faith at all The like may be affirmed in general of the house of Israel till God was pleased to speak more plainly and significantly to them by the mouth of his Prophets then he had done unto their Fathers in dreams and visions For having nothing further revealed unto them touching Christ to come then what was intimated first in generals to our Father Adam and more particularly specified to their Father Abraham the primary and principal Object of their faith was God alone conceive me still of God the Father Almighty in whom they looked for the performance of those gracious promises which he had made unto their Fathers though of the time when the manner how and other the material points which the Creed contains they were utterly ignorant and consequently could not ground any faith upon them In after times as GOD imparted clearer light to the house of Iacob for the neerer we are to the Sun-rising the more day appeareth so were they bound to give belief to such Revelations or supernatural truths revealed call them which you will which he vouchsafed to make unto them by his holy Prophets Which howsoever they contained in them a sufficient light to guide them to the knowledge of many particular points and circumstances which were to be accomplished in the time and place of Christs Nativity his course of life and sufferings and most shameful death which every one could see when they came to pass that whatsoever had been done by or concerning him did come to pass according as had been sore-signified in the holy Scriptures yet this great light of prophesie which did shine amongst them was but like a Candle in a dark Lanthorn or hid under a bushel and rather served to convince them of incredulity when he was ascended then to prepare them to receive him when he came unto them He came unto his own and his own received him not saith St. Iohn expressely And for the Prophets themselves 't is true that they have in them many positive and plain predictions of the Incarnation Nativity and Circumcision of Christ of his Passion Resurrection and Ascension as also of the most remarkable passages and occurrences in the whole course of his life And yet a question hath been made amongst learned men whether they did always distinctly foresee or explicitely believe whatsoever they did fore-tell or fore-signifie concerning Christ. Nor can I finde but that this question is resolved to this effect that though they had a right apprehension of the truths by them delivered and a foresight of all those future events of which they prophesied according to the accomplishment and sense thereof by themselves intended yet that this foresight of theirs extended not to all branches of divine truth contained in their writings or to that use and application which was after made of them by CHRIST himself and his Evangelists and Apostles with this mark of reference that such and such things came to pass that the sayings of the Prophets might be fulfilled For many things are extant in the Prophetical writings either by way of Typical prefigurations or positive and plain predictions applyable to the life and actions of our Lord and Saviour and the success and fortunes of his holy Church which in all probability was never so intended by those sacred Pen-men For who can reasonably conceive that Moses in the story of the commanded offering up of Isaac the only son of his Father intended to typifie or fore-shadow the real offering up of CHRIST the only begotten Son of God neer the self same place or that this Ceremony in the ordering of the Paschal Lamb ye shall not break a bone thereof did look so far in the first institution of it as to the not breaking of our Saviours legs in the time of his passion or that the setting up of the Brazen Serpent was by him meant to signifie and foreshew the lifting up of the Son of God upon the Cross to the end that whosoever believed in him should not perish but have eternal life as himself applyes it in St. Iohn The like may be affirmed of David to whom the Lord had promised that of the fruit of his body there should one sit upon his Throne for evermore Psal. 132. that God would set his King upon his holy hill of Sion Psal. 2. with many other predictions to the same effect And yet it may be questioned upon very good reason whether he understood
the children of Infidels are saved partly by vertue of the Covenant and partly by Gods Election By vertue of the Covenant in regard they are descended of such Ancestors as were themselves within the Covenant though it be long since and that there be some interruption in the whole succession Gods mercy reaching as he tels us Exod. 20. unto a thousand generations By Election because God hath not barred himself from a power and right to communicate his Grace to those whose Ancestors were not of the Covenant For if he called those Adulti men of riper years to be partakers of the Covenant who were not within the same before why may he not in like manner if he please elect children also Finally as he doth believe that all who are elected or within the Covenant shall most undoubtedly be saved so he doth charitably conceive that those whom God takes out of this world in the state of infancy servari potius secundum electionem providentiam ipsius paternam quam a regno Coelorum abdicari are rather saved by Gods election and paternal providence then utterly excluded out of the Kingdom of Heaven If the same charity make me hope the like of those famous men among the Gentiles who were not wanting to the grace of God which was given unto them why should I fear worse fortune then was found by Iunius who never yet was censured for ought I have read for that so charitable resolution in the case of Infants no not by those of the Reformed who differ in opinion from him as to that particular And so far I conceive I may go with safety without opposing any text of holy Scripture or any publick tendry of the Church of England 'T is true St. Peter telleth us in the 4. of the Acts that there is no name under Heaven given among men whereby they be saved but that of our Lord and Saviour IESVS CHRIST v. 12. But this is spoken with relation to the times of the Gospel when CHRIST had broken down the partition wall and that the Gentiles were admitted to the knowledge of the word of life a general command being laid by CHRIST on his Apostles to preach the Gospel to all Nations After this time the case was altered and the Gentiles altogether left without excuse if they embraced not the ordinary meanes of their salvation which by the universall preaching of Christ crucifyed had been offered to them And so I understand that Article of the Church of England by which all they are to be accursed who presume to say that every man shall be saved by the Law or Sect that he professeth so that he be diligent to frame his life according to that Law and the light of nature Act. 18. For certainly the Article relates not to the times before Christs coming or the condition of the Gentiles in those elder dayes but only to the present condition of the Church of Christ as it now stands and hath stood since his death and passion in opposition both to Iewes and Gentiles unto Turkes and Saracens with reference to the Familists and such modern Sectaries who made the external profession of the faith of Christ but a thing indifferent so they conformed themselves by the light of nature Of which opinion one Galcalus Martius also is affirmed to be by Paulus Iovius in his Elog. doct virorum So that for ought appeares from that place of the Acts and from this Article of the Church we may conceive the charitable hope of the salvation of some of the more noble Gentiles the great example of whose vertues is transmitted to us in Classical and approved Authors But this was only in some extraordinary and especial cases some Casus reservati as the Lawyers call them which God reserved to his own Power and dispensation and not of any ordinary and common right For generally the Heathen people as they knew not God having extinguished that light of nature which was given unto them so having their understanding darkned and that light put out their will forthwith became depraved the affections of their hearts corrupted and their lusts exorbitant And as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge so did God give them over to a reprobate minde to do those things which are not convenient dishonouring their owne bodies amongst themselves and being filled with all unrighteousnesse and uncleannesse Nay even their greatest Clerks men of wit and learning professing themselves wise did become fooles in that they sought not after God the true fountain of wisdome and holding the truth which was revealed to them in unrighteousnesse as St. Paul saith of them were thereby made without excuse And as the light of nature was thus generally extinguished amongst the Gentiles so was the light of Prophecie as much neglected amongst the Iewes who though they were Gods chosen and peculiar people had so degenerated from the piety of their Predecessors that there was hardly either faith or charity to be found amongst them Insomuch as all the world was now of the same condition in which it was before the flood Of which God said that all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth the wickedness of man grown great and all the imaginations of the thoughts of his heart continually and only evill Nothing could have prevented a second deluge but Gods gratious promise that there should never more be a flood to destroy the Earth nothing have respited the World from more grievous punishment had not Christ come into the World and by his suffering on the Crosse for the sinne of Man appeased Gods anger for the present and caused his Gospell to be preached unto every nation that so they might escape the wrath of the time to come Nothing required by him for so great a mercy but that we would believe in him that to the faith which every man was bound before to have in God the Father Almighty by whom we were created when we were just nothing there might be added a beliefe in IESVS CHRIST his only Sonne by whom we were redeemed being worse then nothing He knew the frailty of our nature that we were but dust that we were utterly unable to observe the Law which Adam either could not or would not keep in the state of innocency and therefore did not look so far as to the Covenant of works to require them of us but to the Covenant of faith as the easier duty God in the Covenant of works required of every man for his justification an absolute and entire obedience to the Law which he had prescribed and that obedience to the Law had it been performed had justifyed the performance of it in the sight of God But finding man unable to fulfill the Law he made a second Covenant with that sinfull Creature and required nothing of him for his justification but only faith in God and his gracious promises for the redemption of the world
now sitteth and shall sit till all things be fully perfected We believe also that from that place he shall come again to execute that general Iudgement as well of them whom he shall then finde alive in the body as of them that shall be already dead This is the main of that which is to be believed touching CHRIST IESVS our Lord but so that we divide not the man CHRIST IESVS from IESVS CHRIST the Son of God For though that note of Estius be exceeding true that all things contained in the Creed concerning Christ from his conception in the womb of the Virgin to his last coming unto judgement inclusively de Christo dicuntur secundum humanam naturam are verified and affirmed of him in his humane nature yet are we also bound to believe this of him that he was so truly and indissolubly the Son of God according to the Tenor of this present Article that whilest this man was born of the Virgin Mary the Son of God was also born of the self same Virgin whilest the man CHRIST IESVS suffered under Pontius Pilate the Son of God was also crucified dead and buried Et sic de caeteris For otherwise Tacitus who reporteth his sufferings under Pontius Pilate and Pontius Pilate who gave testimony to his Resurrection in a Letter writ on that occasion to Tiberius Caesar or Nicolas one of the Seven the Founder of the Sect of the Nicolaitans who beheld him at the instant of his Ascension might pass for Orthodox professors of the Christian Faith Besides a partial assent to one or to some only of the Articles which relate to CHRIST is not enough to give denomination to a true believer It must be uniform and alike sincere unto every truth recorded of him in the Scriptures or summarily comprehended in the present Creed which qualifieth a man a right to deserve that title So that unless we fix our selves upon this Principle that IESVS CHRIST our Lord is the Son of God the only begotten Son of God as the Nicene hath it and carry the same with us through every Article which hath relation to his Person our Faith being partial only to some matters of fact and not compleat and perfect in each several lineament fals short of that assent to the Word of God and all those supernatural truths revealed in it which is required unto the constitution of salvifical faâ—th Now for the better understanding of the present Article which is so operative and influential over all the rest we will resolve it first into this Proposition that IESVS CHRIST our Lord is the Son of God the only begotten Son of God as before we had it from the Nicene And having so resolved it into this Proposition will take a view thereof in its several parts and look upon our Saviour Christ first in his Person and his Office next in his several relations unto God and man His Person we finde represented in the name of IESVS his Offices in that of CHRIST his reference or relation to Almighty God as he is his Son his only Son to man as he is made our Lord. First for his person or his nature we finde it represented in the name of IESVS for Christus nomen est officii Jesus naturae personae as the learned note and that originally Hebrew derived from the future tense of the verb Iashang which signifieth Salvavit i. e. he hath saved or from the substantive Isshagnah which is as much as salus ipsa or salvation it self If from the first it is the very same in Hebrew with that of Iehoshua or Ioshua as our English reads it the son of Nun who by St. Luke Act. 7.45 and by St. Paul Heb. 4.8 is called plainly Iesus and then the difference betwixt him and the son of Nun will consist rather in the manner of the salvation which he hath bestowed then in the property of the name If from the second we finde more in old Simeons Nunc dimittis then hath been generally observed who did not only praise the Lord because his eyes had seen his Saviour but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the salvation of God And then those Texts of holy Scripture which speak so clearly of the Salvation of God or where God is called our Salvation as Exod. 15.2 Esa. 12.1 2 3. 49.6 52.10 56.1 and also Habak 3.18 may possibly be intended of CHRIST our Saviour But whether this be so or not it can be no disparagement to the Son of God to have his name derived from the same Original with Ioshua the son of Nun who was so clear a type of the Lord himself that scarce a clearer doth occur in the book of God For as Moses the Law-giver of the Iews though he did bring that people out of the land of Egypt was not so happy as to settle them in the land of Canaan but left that work to be performed by the hand of Iesus the Son of Nun so neither could the Law which was the School-mistris unto CHRIST though it dispelled the clowds of Egyptian darkness bring them that did live under it into the Sanctum Sanctorum but left the honour of the work to IESVS the Son of God And as Ioshua or Iesus the son of Nun having subdued the heathenish Princes who possessed the land estated the whole house of Iacob in possession of it so IESVS CHRIST the Son of the living God having subdued Sin Hell and Satan who held the whole world of mankinde under their subjection brought those who are the children of Abrahams faith into a peaceable fruition of the land of Promise whereof the land of Canaan was a Type or figure The difference as unto the name was in this especially that Ioshua the son of Nun was at first called Oshea Numb 13.9 and had his name changed afterwards by Moses vers 16. on some presage perhaps of his future greatness but IESVS CHRIST the Son of God received that name from God himself in his first conception For thus the Angel Gabriel to the blessed Virgin Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a Son and shalt call his name IESVS The reason of which choyce or appellation is by another Angel thus given to Ioseph Ipse enim salvum faciet populum suum c. i. e. for he shall save his people from all their sins Here then we have a salvabit or a salvum faciet to manifest the true interpretation of this blessed name and therewithall the nature of a more blessed Person And so Ruffinus doth resolve it IESVS Hebraei vocabuli nomen est quod apud nos Salvator dicitur IESVS saith he is an Hebrew name and signifieth as much as Saviour Where we may note that the old Author keeps himself to the old Ecclesiastical word Salvator and was not so in love with the Roman elegancies as Beza for the most part is in his translation as to obtrude
Servator on us in the place thereof Concerning which St. Augustine hath this observation that antiently Salvator was no Latine word but was first devised by the Christians to express the greatness of the mercies which they had in Christ. For thus the Father Qui est Hebraice JESUS Graece 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nostra autem locutione Salvator Quod verbum Latina lingua non habebat sed habere poterat sicut potuit quando voluit Nay Cicero the great Master of the Roman elegancies doth himself confess that the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a word of too high a nature to be expressed by any one word of the Latine tongue For shewing how that Verres being Praetor in Syracusa the chief town in Sicily had caused himself to be entituled by the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he addes immediately hoc ita magnum est ut Latino uno verbo exprimi non possit And thereupon he is compelled to use this Paraphrase or circumlocution Is est nimirum Soter qui salutem dedit i. e. He properly may be called Soter who is giver of health So that the Latine word Servator being insufficient to express the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and consequently the Hebrew IESVS the Christians of the first times were necessitated to devise some other and at last pitched upon Salvator which to this purpose hath been used by Arnobius l. 1. adv Gentes Ambros. in Luk. c. 2. Hieron in Ezek. c. 40. August de doctr Chr. l. 2. c. 13. contr Crescon l. 2. c. 1. besides the passages from Ruffinus and the same St. Augustine before alleadged So then the name of Iesus doth import a Saviour and the name of IESVS given to the Son of God intimates or implieth rather such a Saviour as shall save his people from their sins This differenceth IESVS our most blessed Saviour from all which bare that name in the times foregoing Iesus or Ioshua the son of Nun did only save the people from their temporal enemies but IESVS CHRIST the Son of the living God doth save us from the bonds of sin from our ghostly enemies IESVS the son of Iosedech the Priest of the Order of Aaron did only build up the material Altar in the holy Temple but IESVS the High Priest for ever after the Order of Melchisedech not only buildeth up the spiritual Temple but is himself the very Altar which sanctifieth all those oblations which we make to God Iesus the son of Sirach hath no higher honour but that he was Author of the book called Ecclesiasticus a book not reckoned in the Canon of the holy Scripture but IESVS CHRIST the Son of God and the Virgin Mary not only is the subject of a great part of Scripture but even the Word it self and the very Canon by which we are to square all our lives and actions I am the way the truth and the life as himself telleth us in St. Iohn Look on him in all these capacities he is still a IESVS a Saviour of his people from their sins and wickednesses a builder of them up to a holy Temple fit for the habitation of the holy Ghost a bringer of them by the truth and way of righteousness unto the gates of life eternal a true IESVS still So properly a IESVS and so perfectly a Saviour to us that there is no salvation to be found in any other nor is there any other name under Heaven given amongst men whereby they must be saved but this name of IESVS Aâ— name if rightly pondered above every name and given him to this end by Almighty God that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow of those in Heaven and earth and under the earth And there may be good reason besides Gods appointment why such a sign of reverence should be given to the very name not only a name above other names and therefore to be reverenced with the greater piety but as a pregnant testimony of that exaltation to which God hath advanced him above all other persons We bow the knee unto the persons of Kings and Princes And therefore Pharaoh when he purposed to honour Ioseph above all the Egyptians appointed certain Officers to cry before him saying bow the knee CHRIST had not been exalted more then Ioseph was had bowing of the knee been required to his Person only and therefore that there might appear some difference betwixt him and others the Lord requires it at his name And though the Angels in the heavens and the Spirits beneath have no knees to bow which is the principal objection of our Innovators against the reverent use of bowing at the Name of Iesus used and enjoyned to be used in the Church of England yet out of doubt the spirits of both kindes both in Heaven and Hell as they acknowledge a subjection to his Throne and Scepter so have they their peculiar ways such as are most agreeable to their several natures of yeilding the commanded reverence to his very Name Certain I am St. Ambrose understood the words in the literal sense where speaking of the several parts of the body of man he maketh the bowing at the name of JESUS the use and duty of the knee Flexibile genu quo prae caeteris Domini mitigatur offensa gratia provocatur Hoc enim patris summi erga filium donum est ut in nomine JESU omne genu curvetur The knee is flexible faith the Father whereby the anger of the Lord is mitigated and his grace obtained And with this gift did God the Father gratifie his beloved Son that at the Name of JESUS every knee should bow Nor did St. Ambrose only so expound the Text and take it in the literal sense as the words import but as it is affirmed by our Reverend Andrews there is no antient Writer upon the place save he that turned all into Allegories but literally understands it and liketh well enough that we should actually perform it Conform unto which Exposition of the Antient Writers and the received usâ—ge of the Church of Christ it was religiously ordained by our first Reformers that Whensoever the Name of IESVS shall be pronounced in any Lesson Sermon or otherwise in the Church due reverence be made of all persons young and old with lowness of curâ—esie and uncovering of the heads of the mankinde as thereunto doth necesâ—aâ—ily belong and heretofore hath been accustomed Which being first established by the Queens Injunctions in the yeer 1559. was afterwards incorporated into the Canons of King Iames his reign And if of so long standing in the Church of England then sure no Innovation or new fancy taken up of late and bâ—t of laâ—e obtruded on the Church by some Popish Bishops as the Novators and Novatians of this present age the Enemies of Iesu-Worship as they idlely call it have been pleased to say And should we grant that this were no duty of
least some secret influence in the work if not a publick and Oracular admonition And that it was not done but upon serious consultation had amongst themselves and a devout invocation of the name of God the greatness of the business the piety of the first Professors and other good authorities do most strongly assure For if upon the naming of Iohn the Baptist there was not only a consultation held by the friends and mother but the dumb father called to advise about it and if we use not to admit the poorest childe of the parish into the Congregation of Christs Church by the dore of Baptism but by joint invocation of the Name of God for his blessings in it with how much more regard of ceremony and solemnity may we conceive that the whole body of Christs people were baptized into the name of Christians But besides this we have an evidence or record sufficient to confirm the truth of our affirmation For Suidas and before him Iohannes Antiochenus an old Cosmographer first tels us that in the reign of Claudius Caesar ten years after the Ascension of our Lord into Heaven Euodius received Episcopal consecration and was made Patriarch of Antioch the great in Syria succeeding immediately to St. Peter the Apostle And then he addes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. i. e. And at this time the Disciples were first called Christians Euodius calling them to a solemn conference and putting this new name upon them For before they were called Nazarites and Galileans Some of the Heathens not knowing the Etymon of the name called them Chrestiant and our most blessed Saviour by the name of Chrestos For thus Tertullian of the Christians perperam a vobis Christianus appellatur and thus Lactantius for our Saviour qui eum immutata litera 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 solent dicere But this was only on mistake not on studyed malice Et propter ignorantium errorem as Lactantius hath it the very name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Chrestianus intimating nothing else but meekness and sweetness as Tertullian very well observeth And though Suetonius following the errours of the times calleth our Saviour CHRIST by the name of Chrestos yet Tacitus who lived in the same age with him hits right as well on Christus as on Christianus Quos vulgo Chrestianos appellabat And then he addeth Auctor nominis ejus Christus qui Tiberio imperitante per Procuratorem Pontium Pilatum supplicio affectus erat Having thus rectified the name and asserted it to its true Original we may do well to have a care that we disgrace not the dignity of so high a calling by the unworthiness and uncleanness of our lives and actions In nobis patitur Christus opprobrium in nobis patitur lex Christiana maledictum that Christ and Christianity were ill spoken of by reason of the wicked lives of Christian people was the complaint of Salvians time God grant it be not so in ours And God grant too that as we take our name from CHRIST so the like minde may be in us as was also in him that is to say that we be as willing to lay down our lives for the brethren especially in giving testimony to his Faith and Gospel as he was willing to lay down his life for us and that as his Fathers love to him brought forth in him the like affections towards us and to his Commandements so his affection unto us may work in us the like love towards our brethren and to all his precepts For hereby shall men know we are his Disciples if we abide in his love and keep his Commandements as he hath kept his Fathers Commandements and abide in his love But see how I am carried to these practical matters if not against my will yet besides my purpose I proceed now to that which followeth ARTICVLI 3. Pars 2da 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Filium ejus unicum Dominum nostrum i. e. His only Son our Lord. CHAP. II. That JESUS CHRIST is the Son of God why called his only or his only begotten Son Proofs for the God-head of our Saviour Of the title of Lord. THat which next followeth is the first of those two Relations in which we do behold our Saviour in this present Article his only Son i. e. the only Son of God the Father Almighty whom we found spoken of before That God had other sons in another sense there is no question to be made All mankinde in some sense may be called his sons The workmanship of his creation Have we not all one Father hath not one God created us saith the Prophet Malachi in the Old Testament Our Father which art in Heaven saith Christ our Saviour for the New The Saints and holy men of God are called his sons also in the more peculiar title of adoption For who else were the sons of God in the 6. of Genesis who are said to take them wives of the daughters of men but the posterity of Seth the righteous seed by and amongst whom hitherto the true worship of the Lord had been preserved More clearly the Evangelist in the holy Gospel To as many as received him gave he power to become the sons of God even to them which believed in his Name Most plainly the Apostle saying As many as are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God having received the Spirit of Adoption whereby they cry to him Abba Father And in this sense must we understand those passages of holy Scripture where such as are regenerate and made the children of God by adoption of grace are said to be born of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Iohns phrase is both in his Gospel and Epistle Not that they have the Lord God for their natural Father for so he is the Father only of our Lord Iesus Christ but because being begotten by immortal seed the seed of his most holy Word they are regenerate and born again unto life eternal This is the seed of God spoken of by St. Iohn which remaineth in us by which we are begotten to an inheritance immortal undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved for us in the Heavens as St. Peter tels us In neither of these two respects can we consider Christ as the Son of God For if he were the Son of God in no other respect then either in regard of Creation or Adoption only he could not possibly be called Gods only Son or his only begotten Son but at the best multis e millibus unus one of the many thousands of the sons of God There is a more particular title by which some more selected vessels both of grace and glory have gained the honourable appellation of the sons of God that is to say by being admitted to a clearer participation and fruition of eternal blisse or made more intimately acquainted with his secret will In the
first of these respects the blessed Angels have the title of the sons of God Where wast thou saith the Lord in the book of Iob when I laid the foundation of the earth when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy The sons of God that is to say the holy Angels Per filios Dei Angeli intelliguntur saith the learned Estius on the place And so St. Augustine doth determine who hereupon inferreth that the Angels were created before the stars and not after the six days were finished as some it seems had taught in the times before him Iam ergo erant Angeli quando facta sunt sydera facta sunt autem sydera die quarto as he most rationally concludes from this very text In this respect also the Saints in glory are called the sons or children of God and said to be equall to the Angels in St. Lukes Gospell not that they have all the prerogatives and properties which the Angels have sed quod mori non possunt saith the text but because they are become immortall and no longer subject as before to the stroke of death In the last meaning of the word though all the Saints and holy men of God may be called his children because they are adopted to the right of sons and made co-heires with CHRIST their most blessed Saviour yet is the title more appliable to the Prophets of God at least appliable unto them after a more peculiar manner then unto any others of the children of men I have said saith David ye are Gods and ye are all the children of the most High Of whom here speaks the Psalmist of Gods people generally or only of some chosen and select vessels Not of Gods people generally there 's no doubt of that though both St. Augustine and St. Cyril seem to look that way but of some few particulars only as Euthymius and some others with more reason thinke And those particulars must either be the Princes and Judges of the earth who are called Gods by way of participation because they do participate of his power in government or else the Prophets of the Lord who are called Gods and the sons or children of the most High by way of communication because God doth communicate and impart to them his more secret purposes that they might make them known to the sons of men Them he called Gods as Christ our Saviour doth expound it then whom none better understood the meaning of the royal Psalmist ad quos sermo dei factus est i. e. to whom the word of the Lord came as our English reads it And what more common in the Scripture then this forme of speech factum est verbum Domini c. The word of the Lord came to Isaiah Isa. 38.4 The word of the Lord came to Ieremiah Ier. 1.2 The word of the Lord came to Ezekiel Ezek. 1.3 et sie de caeteris If then such men to whom the word of the Lord came might justly be entituled by the name of Gods and called the sons of the most High assuredly there was not any of the children of men which could with greater reason look to be so called then the holy Prophets And yet in none of these respects abstracted from an higher consideration is CHRIST our Saviour here called by the name of the Son of God or so intended in this Creed For Angel he was none in the proper signification of the word though called the Angel of the Covenant in the way of Metaphore Nor did he take the nature of Angels but the seed of Abraham as St. Paul tels us to the Hebrews We may not think so meanly of him as to ranke him only in the list of the Saints departed it being through the merits of his death and passion that the Saints are made partakers of the glories of heaven and put into an estate of immortality T is true indeed he was a Prophet the Prophet promised to succeed in the place of Moses that Prophet in the way of excellence in the first of Iohn v. 21 25. But then withall as himself telleth us of Iohn the Baptist he was more then a Prophet that word which came unto the Prophets in the times of old and to whom all the Prophets did bear witness for the times to come A King indeed he is even the King of Kings though not considered in that notion here upon the earth nor looked on in that title in the present Article Or if we could reduce him unto any of these yet take him as an Angel or a Saint departed or a King or Prophet every of which have the name of Sons in the book of God he could not be his only Son the only begotten Son of God the Father Almighty who hath so many Saints and Angels so many Kings and Prophets which are called his Sons It must needs follow hereupon that IESVS CHRIST our Lord is the Son of God by a more divine and near relation then hath been hitherto delivered And hereunto both God and Man the Angels and internal spirits give sufficient testimony The Lord from heaven procliamed him at his Baptisme and Transfiguration to be his well beloved Son in whom he was well pleased And Peter on the earth having made this acknowledgement and confession saying Thou art Christ the Son of the living God received this confirmation from our Saviours mouth that flesh and bloud had not revealed it unto him but that it came from God the Father which is in Heaven The Angel Gabriel when he brought the newes of his incarnation foretold his mother that he should be called the Son of God the Son of the most High in a former verse And a whole Legion of unclean Spirits in the man possessed joynes both of these together in this compellation IESVS thou Son of God most high A thing not worthy so much noise and ostentation had he not been the Son of God in another and more excellent manner then any of the sons of men who either lived with him or had gone before him had there not been something in it extraordinary which might entitle him unto so sublime and divine a priviledge Though Iohn the Baptist were a Prophet yea and more then a Prophet yet we do not finde that the Devils stood in awe of him for Iohn the Baptist did no miracles or looked upon him in the wilderness as the Son of God To which of all the holy Angels as St. Paul disputes it did the Lord say at any time Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee And who can shew us any King but him that was the Son of God as well as of David whom God the Lord advanced to so high an honour as to cause him to sit down at his own right hand till his enemies were made his footstoole Though Angels Kings and Prophets were the sons
but Dominus nosier our Lord the Lord of all that doe confess his holy Name and agree in the truth of his holy Word A title which accreweth to him in many respects as first in regard of our Creation For if all things were made by him and without him was nothing made that was made as St. Iohn affirmeth If by him all things were created both in Heaven and Earth visible and invisible as St. Paul informs us good reason that he should have the Dominion over the work of his own hands and that we should acknowledge him for the Lord our Maker In the next place he is our Lord in jure Redemptionis in the right of Redemption Concerning which we must take notice as before was said that man was made by God in his first Creation just righteous and devoide of malice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the words of Damascen Created to this purpose after Gods own Image Vt imitator sui autoris esset that so he might more perfectly imitate his Creators goodness But falling from this happiness in which he might have served the Lord with perfect innocency he made a new contract with the Devil and became his servant and put himself directly under his dominion Do ye not know saith the Apostle that unto whom you yeild your selves servants to obey his servants ye are whom ye obey If then they were the Devils servants the Devil of necessity was their Lord and Master for Dominus servus sunt relata as our Logick teacheth us A miserable and most wretched thraldome from which there was no other way to set mankinde free but by the death and passion of our Saviour CHRIST which he being willing for our sakes to undergo did by the offering of himself once for all become the propitiation for our sins and obtain eternal redemption for us cancelling the bond or obligation which was against us and nayling it to his Cross for ever Nor were poor mankinde only servants to this dreadful Tyrant but for the most part they had listed themselves under him and became his souldiers fighting with an high hand of presumptuous wickedness against the Lord God and the Hosts of Heaven And they continued in that service taking part with the Devil upon all occasions till he received his final overthrow at the hands of our Saviour who by his death overcame him who had the power of death which is the Devil and having spoiled principalities and powers made a shew of them openly and triumphed over them By means whereof another title did accrew unto him of being the sole Lord over all mankinde and that is jure belli by the laws of war that rule of Aristotle being most unquestionably true 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say those which are taken in the wars are in the power and at the disposal of the Conquerour And by the same right also of successful war men became servants unto him whose service as our Church hath taught us is perfect freedome For Servi are so called a servando from being saved and preserved in the day of battail Vocabuli origo inde ducta creditur quod ii qui jure belli possint occidi a victoribus conservabantur as St. Augustine from the Lawyers hath it because although they might be slain by the Law of Armes yet by the clemency of the Victor they were saved from slaughter and so made servants to the Conquerour And last of all he is our Lord jure Promotionis by the right of promotion because we hold of him all those temporal and eternal blessings which we enjoy in this life and expect in that which is to come He is the Lord of Life as St. Peter telleth us Act. 3.15 the Lord of glory saith S. Paul 1 Cor. 2.8 the Lord of joy Enter into the joy of the Lord as St. Matthew hath it 25.21 And he conferreth on us his servants life joy and glory out of the abundant riches of his mercy towards us and whatsoever else is his within the title and power of Lord. For having thereto a double right first by inheritance as the Son whom God appointed heir of all things Heb. 1.2 and then by purchase as a Redeemer for therefore he dyed and rose again that he might be Lord of all Rom. 14.9 contenting himself with the first alone he is well pleased to set over the latter unto us and to advance us to an estate of joynt-purchase in Heaven of life joy and glory and whatsoever else he is owner of For to that end it pleased him to come down from Heaven and be made man and be incarnate by the holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary which is the first of those great works which were performed by him in order to our Redemption and next in order of the Creed ARTICLE IV. Of the Fourth ARTICLE OF THE CREED Ascribed to St. ANDREW 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Qui conceptus est de Spiritu sancto natus ex Virgine Maria. i. e. Which was conceived by the holy Ghost born of the Virgin Mary CHAP. III. Of Gods free mercy in the Redemption of Man The Word why fittest to effect it The Incarnation of the Word why attributed to the holy Ghost The miracle thereof made credible both to Iews and Gentiles IT is a very ingenious conceit of Cameracensis that when God first created Adam he gave him all precious and excellent endowments as truth to instruct him justice to direct him mercy to preserve him and peace to delight him but that when he was fallen from God and forgot all the good which the Lord had done for him they returned back to him that gave them making report of that which had happened on the earth and earnestly moving the Almighty but with different purposes concerning this forlorn and unhappy creature For Iustice pleaded for his condemnation and called earnestly for the punishment which he had deserved Truth pressing for the execution of that which God had threatned on his disobedience But on the other side Mercy intreated for poor miserable man made out of the dust of the earth seduced by Satan and beguiled under faire pretences and Peace endevoured to take off the edge of Gods displeasure and reconcile the creature unto his Creatour When God had heard the contrary desires and pleas of those excellent Orators there was a councell called of the blessed Trinity in which it was finally resolved that the Word should be made flesh and take unto himself the nature of Man that he might partake of his infirmities be subject to the punishments which man had deserved and so become the propitiation for the sins of the world By this means the desires of all parties were fully satisfyed For man was punished according as Iustice urged the punishment threatned on mans disobedience inflicted as Truth required the offender pitied and relieved as Mercy intreated and God was
reconciled to man as Peace had desired And so that was fulfilled which the Psalmist speaks of Mercy and truth are met together righteousness or justice and peace have kissed each other Arminius followeth this conceit a little further and addes that when the different parties had pursued their interesses Wisdome was called on to advise what was best to be done to give satisfaction to them all whose advise was that the punishment due to the sin of man should be changed into an Expiatory sacrifice by the voluntary oblation of the which justice might be appeased and place made for mercy But then began a new debate where they should finde a Priest fit for such a sacrifice Angel it could not be because it was not reasonable that an Angel should suffer for the sin of Man And Man it could not be because being terrifyed with the guilt of his own transgressions he had not confidence enough to draw near to God nor had he any thing of his own which was held worthy to be offered to so high a Deity Wisdome was therefore called again by whom it was finally resolved that there must be some man begotten who being made in all things like unto his Brethren might be the more sensible of their infirmities but so that he should be free from sin and not obnoxious to the power and criminations of Satan Holy he was to be or rather holiness and therefore to be conceived only by the holy Ghost by whose great power the ordinary course of nature was to be supplyed and in this flesh the Word it self to be incarnate who offering up that flesh in sacrifice for the sins of the world might so performe the work of poor mans redemption But leaving these conceits though indeed very ingenious there is no question to be made but God had other means to save us then by the incarnating the word and humbling his only begotten Son unto the death even the death of the Crosse if he had so pleased But a better and more convenient way to demonstrate his love and mercy towards us to manifest his Power and wisdome and yet withall to shew his justice against sin and Satan the Scriptures have not laid before us The Fathers have resolved it thus Et â—ine hoc holocausto poterat Deus tantum condonasse peccatum sed facilitas veniae peccatis laxaret habenas effraenatis quae etiam Christi vix cohibent passiones God saith St. Cyprian was able to have pardoned this great sin without this sacrifice but the sacrifice of the pardon would have loosned the reines to unbridled sins which even the sufferings of Christ are scarce able to represse The like saith Nazianzen It was possible for God saith he to save man by his only will without taking of our flesh upon him as he did and doth work all things without help of a body Damascene to the same effect He was not otherwise unable that can do all things by his Almighty power and strength to take man from the tyrant that possessed him The like occurreth in St. Ambrose St. Augustine and Pope Gregory also In the darke ages of the Chrurch the same truth was held For thus St. Bernard in those times Was not the Creator able to restore his work without this difficulty Able he was but he chose rather to wrong himself then the most lewd and hateful vice of unthankfulnesse should finde any colourable place in man And it holds also since the times of the reformation Calvin affirmes it in plain terms Poterat nos Dominus verbo aut nutu redimere nisi aliter nostra causa visual esset the Lord saith he might have redeemed us with a word or beck but that for our sakes he thought good to do otherwise Zanchius comes very close to Calvin What saith he could not mankind be delivered by any other means then the death of Christ No doubt but that he might have done it solo nutu et jussu et voluntate divina by the only beck commandement and will of God Conforme to which expression of the antient and modern writers the Church of England hath declared in the book of Homilies that it was the surest pledge of Gods love to man to give us his own Son from Heaven For otherwise he might have given us if he would an Angel or some other Creature and yet in that his love had been far above our deserts They who conceive that God was not able otherwise to effect this work or had no other meanes to bring it to passe then that which he made choise of to effect the same do wilfully intrench upon his Omnipotence which is larger then either his will or his works For though his works be alwayes measured by his will yet must his Power be limited unto neither of them because God is able to do many things which he never did nor will do as hath been shewn before in the first Article And in his works to bind him unto any necessity to do as he did and not to leave him at his own liberty to do what he pleaseth and in a way which seemeth most agreeable to his heavenly wisdome were to revive the accursed errour of the Manichees Against whom St. Augustine thus resolveth it Nullam ergo necessitatem patitur Deus neque necessitate facit quae facit sed summa et ineffabili voluntate ao potestate God saith the Father is not bound by any necessity nor is he necessitated to do those things which he doth but doth them by his supreme and unspeakable power As then there was not any necessity on the part of God the Father Almighty to send his only begotten Son into the world to take our humane nature on him and suffer an accursed death for the sins of the world so neither was there any necessity on the part of the word by which he was enjoyned or compelled to take upon him the office of a Mediator and be incarnate in our flesh That it was agreeable to the work in hand that the word should be made flesh and in that flesh accomplish the whole mystery of our redemption there are many reasons to perswade For who was fitter to be cast out into the Sea to stay the tempest of Gods anger against sinful man then the Ionas for whose sake it rose Almighty God was first displeased for the wrong offered to the word in that man desired to be like unto God and to know all things in such sort as is proper to the only begotten Son of the Father The sin was caro verbum then vile flesh aspired to be made like unto the word therefore the remedy now must be verbum caro the word so farforth humbling it self as to be made flesh Verbum caro factum Who fitter to become the son of man then he that was by nature the Son of God Patrem habuit in coelis Matrem quaesivit in
on Penelope by Mercury And is it not recorded in their most authentick Histories that Romulus the first King and founder of Rome was begotten by Mars upon the body of Rhea a Vestal Virgin Romulus a Marte genttus Rhea Silvia as Florus summarily reports it Had not the Lusitanians a race of Horses which they believed to be engendred by the winde the fancy growing from the knowledge of their excellent swiftness At this Lactantius toucheth in his Book of Institutes and makes it a convincing Argument in this case against the Gentiles who might as easily believe the miracle of the incarnation as give faith to that Quod si animalia quaedam vento aura concipere solere omnibus notum est cur quisquam mirum putet cum Spiritu Dei cui est facile quicquid velit gravatam Virginem esse dicimus No question but the Spirit of God might be conceived as operative as the winde or ayr But leaving these Romances of the antient Heathens though arguments good enough ad homines and beyond that they are not meant let us next look a while on the blessed Virgin who questionless did somewhat to advance the work and left it not wholly to the managing of the holy Ghost But what she did was rather from the strength of faith then nature For had she not believed she had never conceived And thereupon it is resolved by St. Augustine rightly Feliciorem Mariam esse percipiendo fidem Christi quam concipiendo carnem Christi that she was happier by believing then she was by conceiving though in that too pronounced the most blessed amongst women Now in the strengthning of this faith many things concurred as the authority of the Messenger who coming from the God of truth could not tell a lye the general expectation which the Iews had about this time of the Messiahs near approach the argument used by the Angel touching Gods Omnipotence with whom nothing was said to be impossible and so not this the instance of a like miracle wrought upon Elizabeth the wife of Zachary almost as old but altogether in the same case with Sarah who had conceived a son in her old age beyond the ordinary course of nature And to say truth these arguments were but necessary to beget belief to so great a miracle to which no former age could afford a parallel though that of Sarah came most nigh it And if that Sarah thought it such a matter of impossibility then to conceive and bear a son when it only ceased to be with her after the manner of women as the Text tels us that she did how much more justly might the Virgin think it an impossible thing for her to be conceived with childe and bring forth a Son and yet continue still a Virgin But at the last the strength of faith overcame all difficulties and by the chearfulness of her obedience she made a way for this great blessing which was coming towards her Behold the handmaid of the Lord Be it to me according unto thy word Which whether they were words of wishing that so it might be as St. Ambrose Venerable Beda and Euthymius think or of consent that so it should be as Ireneus and Damascen are of opinion certain it is that on the speaking of those words she did conceive Coelestial seed and in due time brought forth her Saviour As is affirmed by Irenaeus l. 1. c. 33. Tertullian in his book De Carne Christi Athanasius in his Oration De Sancta Deipara and divers others A work as of great efficacy unto our Salvation so of especial esteem in the Christian Church the day whereof called usually the Feast of the Annuntiation hath anciently been observed as an holy Festival as appears by several Homilies made upon this subject by Gregory surnamed Thaumaturgus who lived in the year 230. and that of Athanasius in the time of Constantine A day of such high esteem amongst us in England that we begin our year from thence both in the vulgar estimate and all publick Instruments though in our Kalenders we begin with the first of Ianuary according to the custome of the antient Romans But here it may be asked why CHRIST should not be called the Son of the holy Ghost according to his humane nature considering that not St. Luke only ascribeth unto him the work of the Incarnation under the title of an overshadowing but that it is affirmed by St. Matthew in tearms more express that she the blessed Virgin Mother was found to be with child of the holy Ghost And he by whom a woman is conceived with childe is properly and naturally though not always legally for Pater est quem nuptiae demonstrant as the Lawyers tell us the right Father of it A consideration which prevailed so far with some of St. Hieromes time that they began to stumble upon this opinion but with no better reason in true Divinity then Christ may be affirmed to be the Father Almighty intended in the former Articles because creation is the work of the Father Almighty and it is written by St. Iohn that by him that is to say the Son all things were made For all things were so made by the Word as the Word was made flesh or incarnate by the holy Ghost God I mean God the first Person here as generally the Scripture doth where it speaks of God without limitation or restrictions acting by them those two great works which in the holy Text are to them ascribed yet by them not as Ministers subservient to him but co-working with him God saith St. Paul hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son whom he appointed heir of all things by whom also he made the Worlds God made the world though he made it by his Son to the end that all things being created by him might be also for him And so 't is also in the work of the incarnation God by his Spirit fructifying the Virgins womb and sanctifying the materials with which the Word which in the beginning was with God was to be invested to the intent that the Spirit might bear witness to us that he was the beloved Son of God in whom his Father was well pleased And yet there is another reason why he should rather be called the Son of God then of the holy Ghost because he had a pre-existence before he was incarnate in the Virgins womb as he was the Word the Word which in the beginning was not only with God but was also God by an unspeakable way of emanation from the Father only as the Word is first conceived in the minde of man before it be uttered by the voyce For as the Son is to the Father so is the Word to the Minde The Son proles parentis the Word proles mentis saith the learned Andrews God therefore being an eternal everlasting Minde did before all beginnings of time produce the Word
by which in the beginning of time all things were created By consequence when the Word was pleased to be incarnate or to be made flesh in St. Iohns own language the person thus made Christ of the Word and flesh though he was incorporated into this flesh by the powerful influence and operation of the holy Ghost was properly to be called the Son of God in whom and of whom only he before existed the holy Ghost not being the Author of any new Person but only betroathing to the Word the humane nature of CHRIST which had no actual existence before those Espousals I know I cannot speak too reverently of so great a mysterie or think too worthily of that wonderful and miraculous Act of the Incarnation or Conception of our blessed Saviour And yet I doubt that some by thinking that he was not formed and fashioned in his Mothers womb by those gradations to perfection which are necessary to all natural births but make his body to be perfected all at once in the very moment of his Conception and at that instant the reasonable soul to be actually infused into it do unawares deprive him of a great deal of honour which his humiliation to our nature did confer upon him Of this minde is Maldonate for one whose words take here together for our more assurance Alios paulatim sensimque in utero formari antequam Corpusculâ—m animetur Christi vero corpus eodem momento quo conceptum est formari animatum fuisse Which were it so our Saviour CHRIST had not in all things been made like unto us contrary to the express words of holy Scripture nor needed to have lien so long time in his Mothers womb his body being compleatly formed and animated in the first conception But I believe the Iesuite had a further aim in it then he pleased to discover And possibly it might be an ingenuous fear of arrogating or ascribing more to a common Priest then had been granted to be done by the holy Ghost For needs it must seem harsh to most Popish ears that the Body of CHRIST should be nine moneths in forming in his mothers womb though supernaturally conceived by the Divine power and influence of the holy Ghost and yet upon the Priests saying Hoc est Corpus meum the self same body and soul with his Divinity and all into the bargain should instantly be made of a piece of bread without expecting nine minutes for so great a miracle Most happy men who come so nere the power and Majesty of Almighty God and the prerogatives of CHRIST that as the one could have raised children out of stones to Abraham and the other command stones to be made bread so they can out of bread raise a Son to God and not a son to God only but even God the Son which is more then was I dare not say or could be done by the holy Ghost whose part in this great work we have spoke of hitherto ARTICVLI 4. Pars 2da 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Natus ex Virgine Maria. i. e. Born of the Virgin Mary CHAP. IV. Of the birth of CHRIST The feast of his Nativity Why born of a Virgin The Prophecie of Isaiah The Parentage and priviledge of the Blessed Virgin PRoceed we to the second branch of this present Article from the Conception to the Birth of our Lord and Saviour the most materiall part to us of the whole mysterie It had been little to our comfort though much unto the honour of our humane nature had the WORD been only made flesh and with that flesh ascended presently into heaven and had not dwelt amongst us and shewn forth his glory as the glory of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth It was not Gods being in the flesh but his being manifested in the flesh which St. Paul cals 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the great mysterie of Godlinesse For without that although he might have been seen of Angels yet had he not been preached unto the Gentiles nor been believed on in the world as the Saviour of it The end of his taking on himself our flesh was to save poor man For this is an acceptable saying as St. Paul hath told us that JESUS CHRIST came into the world to save sinners and come into the world he could not in the sense he speaks of but by being born I know some thinke that though ADAM had never sinned yet it had been necessary for the exaltation of humane nature that the WORD should have been made man and Bonaventure doth approve it as a Catholick opinion and consonant to natural reason But howsoever it may seem in his judgment to agree with reason assuredly it is more agreeable to the piety and analogie of faith that the Son of God had never appeared in our flesh but for the delivery of mankinde from sin and misery neither the Scripture nor the Fathers speaking of the incarnation but with reference to mans redemption To this effect St. Augustine speaketh most divinely Si homo non periisset filius hominis non venisset nulla causa fuit Christi veniendi nisi peccatores salvos facere Tolle morbos tolle vulnera et nulla est medicinae causa That is to say If man had not perished the son of man had not come for therefore came the son of man to save that which was lost there being no other cause of Christs coming but the salvation of sinners Take away diseases and wounds from man and what need is there of a Physitian So that resolving with the Scriptures and Fathers that there was no cause for the incarnation of the WORD but that he should be born for our redemption let us proceed therein with that fear and reverence which justly doth belong to so great a mysterie as the manifestation of God in the flesh is said to be by the Apostle A mysterie in which there is not any thing beneath a miracle Nor can it easily be resolved whether of the two be more full of wonder either that God the WORD should be born of Woman or born of such a woman as was a Virgin The first and greatest of the two that which indeed is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a miracle of miracles as man is somewhere called by Plato was that the word was made flesh and did receive that flesh from a mortall womb A wonder it seemed to Nicodemus that a man should be born when he was old or enter a second time into his mothers womb and be born again A greater wonder must it be for him to enter into the womb and thence to finde a passage into the world who was far older then all time and had his being when the world but began to be A greater wonder must it seem for him to take a being from a mortal creature by whom all creatures had their being and did himself create the same womb which bare him
in his Tribunal or Judgement Seat he caused the Souldiers of his Guard to fall upon them not with swords but staves who wounded many and killed some and for the rest falling on one another in an hasty flight as commonly men do in such affrightments they came unto a wretched and calamitous end Such another wicked and ungodly act was the slaughter of the Galileans who being more tender conscienced then the rest of the Iews would not as they did offer sacrifice for the health of the Romans and therefore came not to the Temple the place of sacrifice but held their Congregations and performed their sacrifices by themselves apart This coming unto Pilates ear and notice being given withal when they met together he caused his men of war to fall upon them and most cruelly put them to the sword And these were those poor Galileans which the Gospel speaks of whose bloud Pilate is there said to have intermingled with their Sacrifices This was not long before the time of our Saviours death that is to say about the third year of his Ministerie So that being in himself of a barbarous and cruel nature and fleshed in a continual course of shedding bloud he was the more like to serve the turn of those murderous Iews whom nothing else would satisfie but the death of the Saviour their crucifying of their long expected Messiah What became of him afterwards I shall let you know towards the conclusion of this Article when he had put an end by death to those many temptations and afflictions which our Saviour suffered during the time of his command This is enough by the way of Preamble to give the reader a short touch and character of him and so to let him see with what truth and plainness S. Austin tels us of the man that he was put into the Creed or Symbol not for the merit of his person propter signationem temporis non propter dignitatem personae as the Father hath it but for the pointing out of the time of our Saviours passion which he doth also touch at in his Encheiridion to Laurentius cap. 5. And so much briefly shall suffice for this present time touching the life and manners of this Pontius Pilate under whom CHRIST suffered let us next look upon Christs sufferings under Pontius Pilate Now for the sufferings of our Saviour they may be principally divided into internal and external the inward or internal being either temptations or afflictions the outward or external either shame or corporal punishments and these again may be considered either as being inflicted on him before his crucifying or in the act of crucifixion Of these the first were those temptations which were laid before him by the Devil immediately upon his Baptism at the performance of which ceremony he was acknowledged by Iohn Baptist to be the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world anointed for his following Ministery by the unction of the holy Spirit descending visibly upon him in the shape of a dove and publickly proclaimed by a voice from heaven to be the beloved Son of God in whom he was well pleased This is the first alarm which the Devil took and it concerned him to betake himself to his weapons presently The Devil was an expert warrier and was resolved not to be set upon in his own Dominions but to give the first blow as we use to say and take the enemie whom he feared at the best advantages which were presented and as unprovided as he could And therefore he drew after him into the Wilderness of Iudaea into which our Saviour had been led by the holy Ghost 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He was led into the Wilderness by the Spirit as St. Matthew hath it that is to say a Spiritu Sanctitatis as the Translatour of the Syriack 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the holy Spirit as we read in Chrysostom And so no question but it was For by what spirit else but the Spirit of God could he be led into the Wilderness to whom all other spirits in the world were subject as they themselves confess in sundry places of the Gospel especially considering that the word is a word of violence such as our Lord and Saviour was not subject to For though 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in St. Matthew be a word more gentle and may imply a peaceable and quiet leading yet in St. Mark we finde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he was driven into the Wilderness by the Spirit the holy Ghost or Spirit of God conducting him into the Desert half against his will that is to say with such reluctance in his will considering to what end he was carried thither which was ut tentaretur a Diabulo that he might be tempted of the Devil as many of Gods Saints have found within themselves distracted between hope and fear upon the undertaking of some dangerous enterprise Of which St. Chrysostom in his Homilies on St. Matthew gives us this good note that we are not rashly and unadvisedly to thrust our selves into temptations which is a thing so contrary to Christs example though we are bound by his example to resist temptations as often as the Devil doth suggest them to us In which it is a great part of our Christian duty to call upon the Lord our God that he would be pleased not to lead us into temptation or if he do that he would graciously deliver us from the evil of it and doing so to be assured that no temptation shall be laid upon us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but such as incident to man and may well be born that God will not suffer us to be tempted beyond our power but will make way for us to escape that being tryed in this fiery furnace of temptation we may receive that Crown of life which the Lord hath promised to all those which overcome it Now in this story of the temptations of our Saviour there are these three parts to be considered the place the preparation and the temptation it self The place or scene of this great action was the Wilderness of Iudaea as before we said not the inhabited parts thereof for there were many villages interspersed therein as commonly there are in al great Forrests but those which were the furthest and the most remote from humane society The spirit led him not saith Chrysostom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into the City or the Market place but into the Wilderness and more then so into the least frequented and most savage part of it where he conversed with none but Beasts as St. Mark informs us And this was done on great and weighty considerations First he was led into the Wilderness the better to comply with the type or figure of the Levitical Scape-goat of which it is thus said in Scripture that the Goat on which the lot fell to be the Scape-goat shall be presented alive before the Lord to
thus speak for Lent Can. 69. Si quis Episcopus aut Presbyter i. e. If a Bishop Priest or Deacon or of any other holy Order kept not the holy fast of Lent let him be degraded unless it be in case of sickness Si laicus sit Communione privetur but if a Layman do not keep it let him be debarred from the Communion Ignatius one of the Apostles scholars and one who as it is believed saw Christ in the flesh in his Epistle to the Philippians doth advise them thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let none despise the Fast of Lent for it contains the imitation of our Lords example which is full enough Tertullian the most antient of the Latine Fathers whose works are extant in the world speaks of it by the name of jejunium Paschatos or the Easter fast because it doth immediately precede that solemn festival and reckoneth it amongst those publick orders which the Church was bound to keep from the first beginning though then he was an enemie to all publick orders and an open Montanist St. Ambrose a most godly Bishop accounts it as a special gift and blessing of Almighty God Hanc quadragesiman largitus est nobis Dominus c. that he appointed Lent unto prayer and fasting And Leo a right good and godly man too though a Pope of Rome affirmeth positively Magna divinae institutionis salubritate provisum esse c. that it was ordained by divine Institution for the clensing and purging of the soul from the filths of sin Not that they thought there did occur any Precept for it delivered in the Volume of the Book of God we must not so conceive or conclude their meaning but that both for the time of the year and the set number of days they had a special eye to this fast of Christs as to the most convenient direction which the Church could give them St. Hierome though he make it not a divine institution yet reckoneth it for an Apostolical Tradition which is as much as the two former do affirm rightly understood saying Nos unam Quadragesimam secundum traditionem Apostolorum c. that is to say We fast one Lent in the whole year at a fit and seasonable time according to the tradition of the holy Apostles Finally St. Augustine speaks thereof as a most wholesome and religious institution of great antiquity and use in the Church of Christ not only in his 74. Sermon de Diversis and the 64. of those de Tempore whereof some question hath been made amongst learned men but also in his Epistle unto Ianuarius of the authority whereof never doubt was raised And here I might proceed to St. Basil Chrysostom and other the renowned lights of the Eastern Churches but that sufficient to this purpose hath been said already especially for us and for our instruction who have been always counted for a Member of the Western Church Now as the institution of this Lent-fast is of great antiquity so was it first ordained and instituted upon such warrantable grounds as kept it free from all debate and disputation till these later times save that Aerius would needs broach this monstrous Paradox for which he stils stands branded as a wretched Heretick Non celebranda esse statuta jejunia sed cum quisque voluerit jejunandum that no set fasts were to be kept neither Lent nor others but that it should be left to mens Christian liberty For whereas it is very fit as a learned man of this Church very well observes that there be a solemn time at least once in the year wherein men may call themselves to an account for their negligences repent them of all their evil doings and with prayers fasting and mourning turn unto the Lord this time was thought to be the fittest both because that herein we remember the sufferings of Christ for our sins which is the strongest and most prevailing motive that may be to make us hate sin and with tears of repentant sorrow to bewail it as also for that after this meditation of the sufferings of Christ and conforming of our selves unto them his joyful Resurrection for our justification doth immediately present it self unto us in the days insuing in the solemnities whereof men were wont with great devotion to approach the Lords Table and they which were not yet baptized were by Baptism admitted into the Church Thus then it was not without great confideration that men made choyce of this time wherein to recount all their negligences sins and transgressions and to prepare themselves by this solemn act of fasting both for the better performance of their own duties in those following days of joyful solemnity as also to obtain at the hands of God the gracious acceptance of those whom they offered unto him to be entred into his holy Covenant it being the use and manner of the Primitive Church never to present any unto Baptism unless it were in case of danger and necessity but only in the Feasts of Easter and Whitsontide Which being the reasons moving them to institute a set and solemn time of fasting and to appoint it at this time of the year rather then another they had an eye as for the limitation of the number of days to our Saviours fast of forty days in the dedicating of the new Covenant not as precisely tyed to that time at all by the intent and purpose of the Lords example but rather that by keeping the same number of days we may the better keep in remembrance his fasting and humiliation for the sake of man and thereby learn the better to express our duty and affections to him Some other reasons are alleadged for this yearly fast of which some are Political for the increase of Cattel in the Common-wealth that being as we know full well the great time of breed some Physical for qualifying of the bloud by a slender diet of fish hearbs and roots the bloud beginning at that time of the year to increase and boyl and some Spiritual shewing the use and necessity of mortification at that time of the year in which the bloud beginning to be hot and stirring as before was said is most easily inflamed with the heats of lust And on these great and weighty reasons as the Church did institute and all the States of Christendome confirm the strict keeping of it so hath it hitherto been retained in this Church of England as far as the condition of the times would bear in which there is a solemn and set form of service for the first day of Lent which the Antients called by the name of Caput jejunii as also for every Sunday of it and for each several day of the last week of it the holy week as commonly our Fathers called it and abstinence from flesh injoyned from the first day thereof till the very last according to the usage of the purest times and all this countenanced and confirmed by
leading of the Spirit I have offered my self unto the same And thus Theophylact following the constant current of the former writers For this cause came I unto this hour that I might suffer death for all by which he very plainly tels us that though we be troubled and perplxed at it we must not flie death for the truth For I saith Christ am troubled as you see being a true and innocent man and cannot but permit mans nature to shew it self yet do I not say unto my Father that he should save me from this houre but that he glorifie his name Finally thus St. Chrysostom for the antient Fathers out of whose garden Theophylact collected his best flowers Therefore came I unto this houre i. e. as if the Lord had said in termes more particular and expresse though we be moved and troubled yet we flee not death for this I say not as my resolution Father deliver me from this houre but Father glorifie thy name So that these words of Christ being thus expounded according to the true intent and full meaning of them import not such a contrariety or contradiction as these dreamers fancie but only do import a consultation and deliberation held within himself though such indeed as might and did proceed from a troubled soul. And therefore Epiphanius notes exceeding well that our Redeemer spake these words in the way of preparation or dubitation as being scarce thorowly resolved what he had to do For howsoever the inclination of nature induced him to avoid death as much as might be in this debating with himself what was best to be done yet he did presently reject and repell those inclinations saying for this cause came I unto this hour and absolutely resigned them in the words next follwing Father glorifie thy name But it is time I leave these triflers and return back into the garden of Bethsemane where I left my Saviour sorrowing and lamenting under the most calamitous burden of our sins and miseries whom I finde first kneeling on his knees but after prostrate on the ground on his very face and calling earnestly and passionately on the Lord his God and saying Father if it be possible let this cup passe from me It seemes God looked upon him now or on the sins of man which were laid upon him with a wrathful countenance holding his lightnings in his hands and all the vials of his anger to be powred upon him He had not else broak out into these expressions which were indeed the true effects and signes of a soul astonished And yet not so astonished neither as some men would have him who make him pray in this confusion and astonishment against Gods known will which is an irreligious and most dangerous dotage For doth not CHRIST submit immediately to his fathers will doth he not say in termes expresse not my will but thy will be done And call you this a praying against Gods known will How much more orthodoxly is the point resolved by Chrysostom where we read as followeth If this were spoke saith he of Christs divinity then were it a contradiction indeed and many absurdities would thence follow but if it were spoken of the flesh then was there good reason for these words and nothing in them to be blamed And this the Father presseth in the following words For saith he that the flesh would not willingly die is not a thing to be condemned because proper to nature the properties whereof he shewed in himself yet without sin and that very abundantly thereby to stop the mouths of Hereticks When then he saith If it be possible let this cup passe from me and not as I will but as thou wilt he declareth nothing else but that he was invested with true real flesh which feared the inevitable stroke of death that shewing the infirmitie thereof he might confirme the truth of his humane nature yet sometimes covered those feares and other infirmities from being visibly discerned because he was not a bare man Here then we see an easie way to salve that contrariety to the known will of God imputed by these men to our Saviours prayer which yet the Schoolmen have expressed in a clearer and more significant manner There was say they a double apprehension of reason in Christ the one termed the superior which looketh into things with all incident circumstances the other the inferior which presenteth to the minde some circumstances but not all Then they declare that in Christ every faculty power and part was suffered notwithstanding the perfection found in some other to do that which properly pertained to it And thereupon infer that thence it is easie to discern how it came to passe that he should desire and pray for that which he knew would never be granted as namely that the Cup of death might passe from him For the sense say they of nature and inferior reason presented death and the ignominie of the Crosse unto him as they were evill in themselves without any consideration of the good to follow and so caused a desire to decline them which he expresseth in that prayer But superior reason considering them with all the circumstances and knowing Gods resolution to be such that the world by that means should be saved and by no other means whatsoever perswaded to a willing acceptance of them so that between these desires and resolutions there was a diversity but no contrariety a subordination but no repugnance There was no contrariety because they were not in respect of the same circumstances for death as death is to be avoided neither did the superior reason ever dislike this judgment of the inferior faculties but shewed further and higher considerations whereon it was to be accepted and embraced And there was no repugnance nor resistance because the one yeilded to the other For even as a man that is sick considering the potion of the Physitian to be unpleasant to his tast declines it whiles he stayes within the bounds and confines of that consideration but when he is shewed by the Physitian the happy operation of it and the good that is in it doth receive it willingly in that it is beneficial to him in the way of his health So CHRIST considering death as in it self it is evill and contrary to the nature of all mankinde shunned and declined it whilest he staid within the bounds of that consideration and yet did joyfully accept it as the only means of mans salvation embracing what he had refused and refusing what he had embraced Again There is a thing saith Hugo de Sancto Victore which is bonum in se good in it self and the good of every other thing there are somethings good in themselves and yet good but to certain purposes only and some there are which being evill in themselves are to some purposes good Of these the two first sorts are to be desired simply and absolutely for themselves the other in respect only
that is bitten when he looketh upon it he shall live What use makes CHRIST the Lord of this As Moses lifted up the Serpent in the Wilderness even so must the son of man be lifted up that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life Never was type more perfect and exact then that Man by his sins committed against God the Lord had provoked his anger and the Lord gave him over to the hands of the old Serpent the Devil who pierced them with his fiery darts consumed them with the heats of lust and drew them into everlasting danger both of soul and body No way to cure them of those wounds which the sting of sin and Satan had occasioned in them no way to quench those flames of natural concupiscence which were kindled in them and setting them at liberty from the powers of hell but by fastning Christ upon the Cross as was the Brazen Serpent on the top of the pole that whosoever looked on him with the eyes of faith might have the world crucified unto them and they themselves unto the world The Antients generally did thus interpret and apply our Redeemers words as being most agreeable to the scope of the place and to another of his Prophecies concerning himself saying that he should be delivered unto the Gentiles to be mocked scourged and crucified and thereby signifying what death he should die Ioh. 18.32 Calvin indeed of late days will not have it so affirming that this application of our Saviours words nec textui quadrat nec instituto is neither agreeable to the Text nor our Saviours purpose and that the plain and genuine meaning of the words is no more then this Quod Evangelii promulgatione erigendus sit Christus that the name of Christ should be advanced by the preaching or promulgating of the Gospel But whether this agree with our Saviours purpose in making a comparison of himself or rather of his lifting up as Moses lifted up the Brazen Serpent any which hath eyes to see and is not wilfully blinde with prejudice or prepossession may discern most easily Compare the fift and sixt verses of the 21. of Numbers with the 14. and 15. of the third of Iohn and tell me any man that hath not absolutely captivated his own judgement to another mans sense if ever Type and Antitype did agree more punctually The parallel goes further yet but beyond this purpose For as the Brazen Serpent of a remedy did become a disease and was made an Idol of an Hieroglyphick the Children of Israel in the times succeeding burning incense to it So was it also with the Cross or Crucifix in these later ages For who knoweth not how impiously it hath been abused to Idolatry in the Church of Rome how grossely it hath been adored by all sorts of people and with what impudence the greatest and most learned men have bestirred themselves in defence of that most palpable and gross Idolatry Bellarmine sparing not to say though he hope to save himself by a strange distinction of his own that the same honour which is due to Christ crucified is to be also given to the Cross or Crucifix But this is only by the way if it be not out of it I return again These passages premised we now proceed unto the story of our Saviours passion We left him last in Pilates Hall The Priests and people of the Iews cryed out to have him crucified according to the Roman fashion No death but that which was accounted the most shameful and most ignominious of all manner of deaths and was pronounced to be accursed He is accursed of God that hangeth on the tree by the Law of Moses would content their malice And Pilate gave sentence saith the Text that it should be as they required and delivered him to them to be crucified CHRIST had not else redeemed us from the curse of the Law for cursed is he that abideth not in all the words of this law to do them Deut. 27.26 had he not been made a curse for us that is to say had he not willingly submitted to that death of the Cross of which the Lord thus said by the mouth of Moses Cursed is every one that is hanged on a tree Deut. 21.23 the curse and rigour of the law being laid upon him Christ was no otherwise made a curse then so by enduring this most shameful death of the Cross this mortem autem Crucis for the sins of man God saith St. Ambrose made Christ a curse after the same manner as a sacrifice for sin in the law is called sin Bropterea pro maledictis oblatus factus est Maledictum and therefore being a Sacrifice for those who were accursed he became a curse CHRIST saith St. Chrysostom was not made subject to the curse of transgression which is the greatest curse a man can fall into and that which makes him most detested and hated of God but admitted in himself another curse that is the punishment of sin or the curse for sin and this saith he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 another curse but not the same CHRIST then was made a curse for us not that he was detested of God or deprived of blessedness which was the curse denounced by Moses against those who kept not the words of the law to do them but that he was adjudged to this shameful and inglorious death which God and man did hold accursed abolishing one curse and undergoing another Et vincens maledictum de maledicto as St. Augustine hath it But to go on our Saviour being condemned to this cursed death a death which none but Theeves and Murderers and false Bond-men were condemned by the laws of Rome they hale him to the same with as cursed a violence sparing no cruelty or disgrace as they led him to it which a barbarous people could inflict or an innocent suffer They made him carry that Cross at first on his own shoulders which after was to carry his whole body And when they eased him of that burden and laid it upon Simon the Cyrenians back it was not out of pity but upon design that coming more fresh and lively to the place of suffering he might the longer be a dying and they the longer glut their eyes with that pleasing spectacle It was the custom of the Iews as of other people to give wine to those who were condemned and led to their execution to comfort and revive their spirits the better to enable them for the stroke of death Even this humanity shall be corrupted to increase his miseries and adde unto the scorne which which were put upon him In stead of wine some of them gave him vinegar mixed with Gall to drink and thereby literally fulfilled in him that which was metaphorically said of himself by David in some time of his troubles when he was fed with the bread of sorrow and the waters of
Augustine doth informe us saying Id enim sacrificium est quod successit omnibus sacrificiis quae immolabantur in umbra futuri that this one sacrifice succeedeth in the place of all those which were offered in relation unto Christ to come But before him St. Ireneus did more plainly affirme that same who living in the next age to the Apostles is able to instruct us better in the mysteries of the Christian faith then any other more remote and of lesse antiquity And he tels us this viz. that as God caused his Gospel to be preached over all the world in stead of the innumerable ordinances of the Law of Moses so he ordained that for those several sorts of sacrifices which are there prescribed simplex oblatio panis et vini sufficiat the offering of bread and wine only should be held sufficient More plainly yet as plainly as he could expresse himself by words and writing he doth thus deliver it Sed suis Discipulis dans consilium c. Christ saith he giving his Disciples charge to offer the first fruits of every creature to the Lord their God not that God standeth in need of their oblations but that they might not be esteemed to be either unfruitfull or ungratefull tooke ordinary bread eum qui ex natura panis est and having given thanks said This is my body and taking the cup into his hands such as we use to drink of the fruit of the vine acknowledged it to be his bloud What then for this we know already It followeth Et novi testamenti novam docuit oblationem quam Ecclesia ab Apostolis accipiens in universo mundo offert Deo By doing which saith that old Father he taught us the new sacrifice of oblation of the new Testament which the Church receiving from the Apostles doth offer unto God over all the world So that the holy Eucharist was ordained by Christ not only as a Sacrament but a sacrifice also and so esteemed and called by the most antient writers though many times by reason of several relations it hath either severall names or severall adjuncts that is to say a sacrifice a commemorative sacrifice an eucharisticall sacrifice a spiritual sacrifice the Supper of the Lord a Sacrament A sacrifice it is and so called commonly in reference unto the oblation or offering of the bread and wine made unto God in testimony and due acknowledgment that all which we possesse is received from him and that we tender these his creatures to him as no longer ours but to be his and to be spent in such employments and for such holy uses as he shall please to put it to In this respect it is entituled Oblatio panis et vini the offering or oblation of bread and wine as before we saw from Irenaeus the sacrifice offered by us Gentiles hostia quae ipsi a nobis Gentibus offertur of the bread and wine presented in the holy Eucharist as in Iustin Martyr Sacrificium panis vini the sacrifice in plain terms of bread and wine as Fulgentius hath it For clearing of which point we may please to know that antiently it was the custome of the Primitive Christians to bring their bread and wine to the Church of God and offer them to the Lord by the hands of the Priest or Minister part of the which was consecrated for the use of the Sacrament the rest being usually given to the poor and needy as having a letter of attorney from the Lord of heaven to receive our bounties For thus we read in Iustin Martyr who lived the next dore also to the Apostles Prayers being done saith he we salute one another with an holy kisse Then do we offer to the Bishop for such is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whom he speaks of there bread and wine mixt with water as the use then was which he receiving offered to God the sacrifice of praise and glory c. And thus St. Cyprian speaking of a rich but covetous Widow who came not with her offering to the Church as her poor neigbours did charged her that she came into Gods house without her sacrifice and eat of that which had been offered or sacrificed unto God by far poorer folke Locuples et dives Dominicum celebrare te dicis but there dominicum signifyeth the Lords day plainly qui corbonam omnino non respicis qui in dominicum there it is the Church sine sacrificio venis qui partem de sacrificio quod pauper obtulit sumis are his words at large Where sacrificium in both places signifyeth the bread and wine which they used to offer to the Lord to be consecrated and employed in celebrating the memorial of our Saviours passion It is called next a commemorative sacrifice a Sacrifice commemorative and representative by Dr. Morton Ld. B. of Durham in his book of the Sacrament in regard that it was instituted by our Saviour Christ for a perpetual memory of that one perfect and al-sufficient sacrifice which he offered of himself upon the Crosse. And to this end it was that Chrysostome having called the Sacrament of the Lords supper by the name of a Sacrifice addes presently not by way of correction or retractation as I know some think but by way of explanation only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it was the remembrance rather of a sacrifiâ—e or a commemorative sacrifice as some others call it Which word commemorative as I take it detracts not from the nature of a sacrifice as if it were the lesse a sacrifice because commemorative but only signifyeth the end to which it is specially directed For as the sacrifices of the old law were true and proper sacrifices in respect of the beasts or â—owles or other things which were offered although prefigurative of that sacrifice made upon the Crosse which was then to come so are the sacrifices of the Gospel true and real sacrifices in reference to the oblation made of bread and wine for the service of God although commemorative of the same great sacrifice now already past It was called thirdly a spiritual and Eucharistical sacrifice by reason that Gods servants therein make profession of their due acknowledgements for all the blessings which he hath vouchsafed to bestow on their souls and bodies especially for the redemption of themselves and of all mankinde by the death of Christ and therewith offering up themselves their souls and bodies as a pleasing and most acceptable sacrifice to the Lord their God For thus we finde in Iustin Martyr that the Bishop or President of the Congregation having received the bread and wine from the hands of the faithful offered by them the sacrifice of praise and thanks to God the Father of all things in the name of the Son and the holy Ghost for all those blessings which he hath graciously from time to time bestowed upon them And thus Irenaeus Oportet nos
Sacraments of Baptism and the Lords Supper commanded and ordained by him De latere pendentis in Cruce Lancen percusso Sacramenta Ecclesiae profluxerunt as his words are briefly and hereunto the Fathers and most writers since have inclined generally This was the last remakable thing remembred in our Saviours passion the draining of his bloud to the last drop as it were which though it could not yet add to his former sufferings being dead before yet served it as a confirmation of his death in the eyes of those who otherwise might have called the realty thereof in question and was a certain note to discern him by after he was risen again from death to life as in the story of St. Thomas No further difficulty that I know of doth occur in this the pleading of this Text by the Canonists of the Church of Rome in maintenance of their mingling water with the wine in the blessed Sacrament being so silly a device that it deserves not to be honoured with a confutation But in the other passage which the Gospel mentioneth touching the not breaking of his bones perhaps a question may be made by some captious men how it can possibly agree with another text of holy Scripture where it is said This is my body which is broken for you and to what use the breaking of the bread doth serve in the holy Eucharist it not to signifie the breaking of our Saviours body But the answer unto this is easie For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the word used by St. Paul in the Original doth not only signifie to break in peeces though Rob. Stephanus in his Thesaurus expound the verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by no other word then the Latine Frango Sometimes it signifieth to strain as in that of Aristotle going up an hill 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the knees are bent or strained backwards and in that also of Hippocrates where he observeth that sometimes in holding the hand forth out-right 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the bowing of the joynt or elbow is strained Sometimes it signifieth to cut Hesychius an old Grammarian expounding 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is cut and Theophrastus calling the cuttings of vines 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with whom Suidas Phavorinus and the Scholiast on Aristophanes do agree also And in this sense the bread is broken in the Sacrament although cut with knives there being mention of a sacred knife in St. Chrysostoms Liturgie which was employed unto no other use then that of the holy Sacrament And last of all it signifieth sometimes the tearing or bruising of the fleshy parts when the bones are neither broken nor so much as touched which is most clearly witnessed by Hippocrates the Father of all learned Physick giving this for a Rule of Art that the breaking of any of the bones is less dangerous then where the bones are not broken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but the veins and sinews adjoining are on every side bruised So that although the bones of our Saviour were not broken that he might in all things be agreeable to the Paschal lamb yet were his joints strained to the utmost when he was stretched upon the Cross his flesh most cruelly cut and torn with scourges his veins and sinews miserably bruised and broken with those outward torments All which as they are signified by this one word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we render broken so doth it very well agree with that meaning of the word broken in our Engish Idiom As when we say a man hath got a broken skin or broken head when the flesh is only bruised and the skin but rased And hereto Beza doth agree in his Annotations on that Text By the word broken in St. Paul is designed saith he the very manner of Christs death his body being torn bruised and even broken with most cruel torments though his legs were not broken as the theeves were so that the word hath a marvellous express signification making the figure to agree so fully with the thing it self the breaking of the bread representing to us the very death and passion of our Saviour Christ. Now go we on Pilates leave being thus obtained and the certainty of Christs death assured by this second murder they hasten all they could unto his funeral to which was used small preparation but less pomp by far It was the day of preparation to the following festival as two of the Evangelists do affirm expressely the Friday or good Friday as we call it now in which it was not lawful for the Iews to do any work A garden there was hard at hand and in the garden a new sepulchre in which never man was laid before a Virgin-sepulchre for the son of a Virgin-mother a Garden to receive that great pledge of death which first found entrance by a Garden So that the labour was not much to take down his body and carry it to the next spot of ground and there intomb it No further cost bestowed upon his funerals who spared not his most pretious bloud to procure our happiness but a mixture made of Myrrhe and Aloes and had not Nicodemus been more valiant now then when he used to come unto his Saviour as it were by stealth he had wanted that And this was done after the custom of the Iews whose manner it was to bestow that charge upon their dead in sign of their belief of the Resurrection unto life eternal not out of any thought they had of his so speedy a Resurrection at the three days end though he had often told them that he would so do So far were they from looking to behold him again on the first day of the week then following that they did all they could to lay him up fast enough till the day of judgement and to that end not only wrapped him up in sear-cloaths for such the linnen clothes were which they wrapped him in Ioh. 19.40 but rolled a great stone to the dore of the sepulchre to make sure work with him God certainly had so disposed it in his infinite wisdome to make the miracle of his Resurrection the more considerable and convincing both with Iews and Gentiles This is the sum of those particulars that concern Christs burial Which though it seem of no more moment then as a confirmation of an unfaigned death and a preparative to his Resurrection and consequently may be thought unnecessary to be here added in the Creed yet upon further search into it we shall finde it otherwise Our Saviour had not overcome death if he had not dyed nor got the victory of the grave had he not been buryed His being restored unto life within three days of his death was a very great and signal miracle but not so great as that which had been acted before on Lazarus who had lain four days in the earth and began to putrefie His lying in the grave was the way
said he addes this of the Saints 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that thus in fine they saw Hell spoyled Epiphanius in this order marshalleth the acts of Christ He was crucified buried 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he descended to places under the earth he took captivity captive and rose again the third day By which we see that the taking of captivity captive was one of the effects of his descent into Hell and that both his descent and victory over Hell and Satan are placed between his burial and Resurrection In the Homiliâ—s which Leo the Emperour made for the exercise of his style and the Confession of his Faith wherein no doubt he had the judgement and advice of the ablest men that were about him he doth thus deliver it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Christ is risen saith he bringing Hades or the Devil prisoner with him and proclaiming liberty to the Captives He that held others bound is now bound himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christ is now come from Hell or Hades with his ensign of triumph as appeareth by the sowre and heavy looks of those which were overthrown that is to say of Hades meaning there as first the old Satan himself together with Death also and the hateful Devils Dorotheus in his Book de Paschate very plainly thus What means this that he led captivity captive It means saith he that by Adams transgression the Enemy had made us all captives and had us in subjection and that Christ took us again out of the Enemies hand and conquered him who made us captive And then concludes Erepti igitur sumus ab Inferis ob Christi humanitatem that we were then delivered from the power of Hell by the manhood or humanity of Christ our Saviour St. Cyprian though more antient and not so clear as he in this particular doth yet touch it thus Descendens ad inferos captivam ab antiquo duxit captivitatem that Christ descended into Hell brought back those captives which had before been captivated And in another place which we saw before When in the presence of Christ Hell was broken open and thereby captivity made captive his conquering soul being first presented to his Father returned unto his body without delay But to look back again to the old Greek Fathers who are far more positive and express in this then the Latines are we are thus told by Athanasius in another place that the Lord rose the third day from the dead 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 having spoyled hell trodden the enemy under foot dissolved death broken the chains of sin with which we were tyed and freed us which were bound from the chains thereof St. Cyril of Alexandria thus Our Lord saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. having spoyled death and loosed the number of souls which were detained in the dens of the earth rose again the third day from the dead Which words of Cyril are repeated and approved in the Councel of Ephesus and afterwards confirmed in the fifth General Councel holden at Constantinople St. Hierom finally on the parable of the strong man which was bound and spoiled Mat. 12. gives this observation which I had almost pretermitted viz. that this strong man was tyed and bound in Hell and trodden under the Lords feet and the Tyrants house being spoyled captivity also was led captive In which quotations from the Fathers we must take this with us that when they speaking of spoyling Hell and vanquishing the powers thereof they do allude as evidently to the spoyling of principalities and powers mentioned in that to the Colossians as they insist upon the taking of captivity captive expressed in that to the Ephesians In a word take the sum of all which by the Antients is delivered upon those two Texts in these words of Zanchius a very learned Writer of the Reformed Churches The Fathers saith he for the most part are of this opinion that Christ in his soul came to the place of the damned to signifie not in words but with his presence that the justice of God was satisfied by his death and bloudshed and that Satan had no longer power over his Elect whom he held captive c. As also that he might carry all the Devils with him in a triumph as it is Coloss. 2. He spoyled powers and principalities and made an open shew of them leading them as captives in a triumph by the vertue of his Cross by which he had purged away sins and appeased the justice of God So Zanchius But the most clear and pregnant place of holy Scripture for proof of Christâ— descent into Hell is that of the 2. of the Acts where the Apostle citing those words of David Thou wilt not leave my soul in Hell nor suffer thine holy One to see corruption applyeth it thus unto our Saviour that David seeing this before spake of the Resurrection of Christ that his soul was not left in Hell neither did his flesh see corruption In which particular words those before recited it is clear and manifest that the soul and body of Christ were by God appointed to be superiour to all contrary powers that is the soul to Hell and the flesh to the grave and that from both Christ was to rise an absolute conquerour that he might sit on his heavenly Throne as Lord over all not by promise only as before but in fact and proof But for the whole Sermon of St. Peter made on this occasion it may be summed up briefly to this effect that is to say that the Prophesie of David neither was nor could be fulfilled in any no not in David himself but only in the promised Messiah for that his soul should not be left in Hell or Hades nor his flesh see corruption but was fulfilled in that Christ whom ye cruelly crucified He it is that is risen Lord of all in his own person the sorrows of death being loosed before him he is ascended up to Heaven as David likewise foretold of him and there sitteth on the right hand of God untill all that be his enemies in the rest of his Members be made his foot-stool and thence hath he shed forth this which you now see and hear even the promise of the holy Ghost received of the Father for all his And therefore know ye for a surety that God hath made him both Lord and Christ i. e. Lord over all in Heaven Earth Hell and Christ even the Anointed Saviour of all his Elect. And to this purpose saith St. Augustine Quamobrem teneamus firmissime c. Wherefore let us most firmly hold that which is comprehended in our Faith or the heads thereof confirmed by most sound authority namely that Christ dyed according to the Scriptures and was buried and according to the Scriptures also rose again the third day with the rest of those things which are most clearly testified of him in the written Word
In quibus etiam hoc est quod apud Inferos fuit c. Amongst which this is one point also that he was in Hell and loosed the sorrows of the same of which it was impossible that he should be holden In which last words the Father plainly doth relate to the 24. verse being the beginning almost of St. Peters Sermon Where though the Copies of the Testaments which are extant now read not as Augustine doth Solutis doloribus inferni having loosed the pains of Hell but the pains of death yet many of the antient Copies were as St. Augustine readeth it For Athanasius sometimes useth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he loosed the pains of Hell and sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sorrows of death Epiphanius in two places reads it thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it was impossible for Christ to be holden or detained in Hell And the same Copies as it seemes were followed also by Irenaeus l. 3. c. 12. by Cyprian in his tract de Passione Christi by Fulgentius l 3. ad Thrasimundum and by Bede also in his Retractations on the Acts. Which strong agreement of the Antients with the sight perhaps of some of the antient Copies did prevail so far on Robert Stephans the famous Printer of Paris that in the New Testament in Greek of the larger volume of the year 1550. he caused this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be put in the margin as a different reading remaining still in divers copies But this is only by the way not out of it as that which did afford another argument unto the Antients for proof of Christs descent into hell and his short stay in it by the pains or sorrows whereof it was impossible that he should be holden Nor did it only serve as a good argument for them in their several times and is to be of no use since the Text went otherwise I believe not so For since both readings have been found in the antient Writers and neither can be rejected as false the word death must be so expounded where it is retained as that it may not contradict that of Hell or Hades For being that death hath a double power place and subject upon the body here on earth and on the soul in Hell hereafter the Text may not unfitly be understood of the later death the pains and sorrows whereof were loosed by Christ because it was impossible they should fasten on him But to return unto the not leaving of Christs soul in Hell the tricks and shifts for the eluding of which Text we shall see hereafter it could not be intended of the grave only as some men would have it or to relate only to the Resurrection as they give it out For to rise simply from the grave was not sufficient to shew the soveraignty of Christ as the Lord of all Heaven Earth and Hell being made subject to his Throne nor to express and signifie the eternity of it which was to last till all his Enemies were made his footstool Some had been raised from death to life by the two famous Prophets in the Old Testament some by our Saviour in the New none of which could lay claim under that pretence to the Throne of David or to be Lord of all things as our Saviour was Besides this passage being recorded by St. Luke who in his Gospel useth the same word Hades for the place of torments as before was shewn it is not probable that he should use it here in another sense or if he did that none of all the Latine Fathers and Interpreters should ever observe it who render it by Infernus Hell as often as they have occasion to speak thereof I close this point with that of Augustine who speaking of this Prophesie of David concerning Christ he saith it is not to be contradicted nor otherwise to be expounded then it is there interpreted by St. Peter himself and then addes this for a conclusion of the whole Who but an Infidel will deny Christs descent into Hell So far the light of holy Scripture interpreted according to the general consent and Exposition of the Antient Fathers hath directed us in this enquiry and we have found such good assurance in the cause that the addition of more evidence would but seem unnecessary yet that the Catholick Tradition of the Church of Christ may be found to incline the same way also we will draw down the line thereof from the very times of the Apostles to those days of darkness in which all good learning was devoured and swallowed up in the night of ignorance For first Thaddaeus whom St. Thomas sent to preach the Gospel to Abgarus the King or Prince of Edessa taught him and his amongst other Catechetical points contained in the Apostles Creed that they must believe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. that is to say that Christ descended into Hell and broke the wall which had been never broke before since the world began and rose again and raised the dead some of the which had slept from the first creation I know this story of Thaddaeus hath been called in question in these later dayes nor have I time and leisure to assert it now All I shall say is that Eusebius who relates it refers himself unto the monuments and Records of the City of Edessa out of which he had it and 't is well known Eusebius never was reputed either to be a fabulous or too credulous Author Next to Thaddaeus comes Ignatius the Apostles scholar who speaks of Christs descent into Hades in the same tearms as before adding withall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he went down alone to Hades but ascended with a great multitude unto his Father And this he saith after he had made mention of his death and burial in a former passage of the same Epistle St. Irenaeus he comes next and he tels us this that David prophecyed thus of CHRIST thou shalt not leave my soul in the neathermost Hell After him Origen Christ saith he having bound the strong man and conquered him by his Cross went even unto his house to the house of death and unto Hell and thence took his goods that is the souls which he possessed Then cometh Eusebius next in order To him only saith he speaking of Christ were the gates of death opened and him only the keepers of Hell-gates seeing shrunk for fear and the chief Ruler of death the Devil knowing him alone to be his Lord rose out of his Throne and spake unto him fearfully with supplications and intreaty Next him another Eusebius surnamed Emisenus The Lord saith he descending darkness trembled at the sudden coming of an unknown light and the deepness of the dark mists of Hell saw the bright star of Heaven Deposito corpore imas atque abditas Tartari sedes filius hominis penetravit and the Son of man laying by his body penetrated to the lowest and
most secret seats of Tartarus or the dungeons of Hell Then comes the Renowned Athanasius There are saith he no other places but the grave and Hell out of which man was perfectly freed by Christ. And this appeareth not only in us but in the death of Christ also the body going to the grave 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. and the soul descending unto Hell being places severed with a very great distance the grave receiving his body for there it was present and Hell or Hades his soul. Else how did Christ present his own soul to the souls in bands 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he might break in sunder the bands or chains of the souls detained in Hell St. Basil next When David said God will deliver my soul from the power of Hell he doth plainly prophesie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the descent of the Lord to Hell or Hades to redeem the Prophets souls with others that they should not be detained there So Nazianzen Christ dyed but he restored to life and by his death abolished death he was buryed but he rose again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He descended into Hell but he brought back souls and ascended into Heaven Macarius to the same purpose also When thou hearest that Christ delivered souls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out of hell and darkness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that the Lord descended to Hell and performed an admirable work think that these things are not far from thine own soul. St. Chrysostom then being one of the Presbyters of the Church of Antioch composed two Homilies upon the Creed in one of which after he had spoken of the death and burial of our Saviour he addes this descendit ad infernum that he descended unto Hell that this also might not want a wonder Epiphanius though in other points his Enemie doth agree with him in this particular touching the descent of Christ into Hell though he differ both from him and others in making the Deity of Christ to be united with his soul in the performance of that action to the end that Hades so he calls the Devil the chief Ruler thereof thinking to lay hands on a man and not knowing that his Deity was united to his sacred soul Hades himself might be surprized and death dissolved and that fulfilled which was spoken Thou shalt not leave my soul in hell To this agrees St. Cyril of Alexandria thus The soul which was coupled and united to the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 descended into hell or Hades and using the power and the force of the Godhead shewed it self to the spirits there For we must not say that the Godhead of the only begotten which is a nature uncapable of death and no way conquerable by it was brought back from the dark caverns of the earth To the same also saith Iohn Damascene 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. i. e. The deified soul of Christ descended to Hades that as to those upon the earth the Sun of righteousness was risen so to those who sate under the earth and in shades and darkness light might also shine Next look we on the Fathers of the Western Church and we shall finde as general consent amongst them for proof of Christs descent into hell as before we had amongst the Fathers of the Eastern And first beginning with Tertullian the most antient of the Latine Writers he doth not onely tell us in plain tearms Christum inferos adiisse that Christ went into hell but addes this reason of it also ne nos adiremus that we might not go thither St. Cyprians judgment in the point we have seen before where he declareth that Hell had been broken open in the presence of Christ when he led captivity captive c. Spolians inferos captivos praemittens ad superos first spoyling hell and then sending the captives before towards Heaven Arnobius thus Postea vidit inferos c. in Abyssi profunda descendens After his Passion he visited hell and not only became far off from heaven but even from the earth it self descending into the depth of the bottomeless pit Lactantius if the verse be his shewing how the darkness of hell vanished at the brightness of Christ then addes Hinc tumulum repetens post Tartara carne resumpta c. that after his being in hell he returned to his grave and resuming his body went to heaven like a noble Conquerer St. Hilarie of Poictiers next The powers of heaven saith he do incessantly glorifie the Name of God for conquering death and breaking the gates of hell for in hell he conquered death Christ saith St. Hierom destroyed and brake open the inclosed places of hell and put the Devil which had power over death out of his Kingdom and Dominion And in another place more plainly Hell saith he is the place of punishments and torments ad quem descendit Dominus ut vinctos de carcere dimitteret to which the Lord descneded to release those from prison who were therein bound St. Ambrose to the same effect Expers peccati Christus cum ad Tartari ima descenderet c. Christ saith he being void of sin when he descended to the lowest pit of hell destroying the Dominion of death recalled out of the Devils jaws to eternal life the souls of those who there lay bounden for their sins St. Austin living in those times though he assert as much as any the descent into hell yet gives a more unquestionable reason for it Quaeri solet si non nisi poenalia intelligantur inferna c. It is demanded if Infernus Hell be taken for no other then the place of punishment how we may safely believe that the Soul of our Lord Christ descended thither But it is answered ideo descendisse ut quibus oportuit subveniret that he descended into hell to succour those that were to be succoured And in another place more clearly as unto the reason There is saith he a lower hell whither the deceased use to go from whence God would deliver our souls by sending his Son thither Ideo enim ille usque ad infernum pervenit ne nos in inferno maneremus for therfore went Christ even unto hell that we should not remain in hell Vigilius shewing how our Saviour could be both in Hell and in the grave doth resolve it thus Dicimus ergo Dominum jacuisse in sepulchro sed in solo corpore descendisse ad infernum sed in sola anima viz. that the Lord lay in the grave as to his body alone but descended down to Hell in his soul only Ruffinus commenting on this Article of the Creed gives it briefly thus Quod in Infernum descendit audenter pronunciatur in Psalmis that Christs descent into hell is evidently foretold in the Psalmes and then eo usque ille miserando descendit usque quo tu
of the Article but shall take it in the literal and Grammatical sense With which expression I conclude this long dissertation ARTICVLI 6. Pars 2da 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Tertia die resurrexit a mortuis i. e. The third day he rose again from the dead CHAP. X. Of the Resurrection of our Lord and Saviour with a consideration of the circumstances and other points incident to that Article IT was the observation of the Antient Father that the incredulity of St. Thomas did much conduce unto the confirmation of the Christian faith in this great Article of the Resurrection Quam felix incredulitas quae omnium seculorum fidei militavit as St. Augustine hath it The rest of the Apostles who had seen the Lord had made this their Colleague acquainted with so great a miracle too great indeed for one of so weak faith to assent unto And therefore he requires a more â—ull and perfect demonstration of it then any of his fellows had before exacted Vnless saith he I put my finger into the print of his wounds and thrust my hands into his side I will not believe See here the stubbornness of incredulity The same man who had seen Christ raise up Lazarus after three days resting in the grave will not believe he had ability to work the like miracle upon himself Our gracious Saviour thereupon permits his body to be handled by this unbeliever And Thomas sensibly convicted of his infidelity breaks out into this divine ejaculation MY GOD AND MY LORD Prae caeteris dubitavit prae caeteris confessus est said the Father rightly Here was a miraculous generation of belief indeed Faith came not here by hearing but by believing only And by this way of generation of belief in him the Christian Church became the more confirmed and setled in this present Article this trial and experiment of St. Thomas having clearly manifested that Christ assumed not a body in appearance only neither one of a spiritual essence or a new created one but that he rose again in the same numerical body in which he suffered on the Cross and paid the price of our Redemption So that of all that glorious company there was none more fit to testifie the truth of this point then he and to deliver it to the world for his part of this Common Symbol as it was antiently conceived he did And unto this St. Gregory may possibly relate where he tels us saying Dum in Magistro suo palpat vulnera carnis in nobis sanat vulnera incredulitatis whilest Thomas feels the wounds in his masters body he healed the wounds of incredulity in his followers souls And certainly some such experiment as this was exceeding necessary to satisfie the wavering and doubtful soul in so high an Article which by reason of the seeming impossibility and unexampled strangenesse of the matter hath been more called in question and opposed both by Iew and Gentile then any other of the Creed It was indeed a work both of weight and wonder not to be wrought by any which was simply man To man meer natural man it was no lesse impossible to give a resurrection to the dead then to grant a dispensation or indulgence not to die at all How could it be expected that one meerly moral should be of strength sufficient to destroy death and to bury the grave to raise himself first from the jawes of death and receptacles of the grave and by the power thereof to restore poor man to his lost hopes of immortality Most justly may it be presumed that had so great a work been possible to mortal man man being proud enough to attempt great matters would first have took the benefit of his own abilities and so more easily have possessed the incredulous world with the truth and reall being of a resurrection by the powerfull Rhetorick of example In cases where the issue may be doubtfull and the triall dangerous we commonly make tryall and experiment as ignorant Empericks do their potions upon other men But where the issue or event is known and certain likely to yeeld honour to our selves in the undertaking we use not willingly to let others rob us of the glory of it or be beholding unto others for that which we conceive we can do our selves He then which was to be the first-fruits of the resurrection must have something in him more then ordinary something to raise a doubt in his greatest adversaries as in Iosephus a Iew but a very modest one whether it were lawfull or not to call him man to reckon him amongst the natural sons of Adam Tantae ejus res gestae quantas audere vix hominis perficere nullius nisi Dei was spoken in the way of flattery by the Court Historian but may be truly verifyed of the acts of Christ. Those Miracles of his upon true record as they could hardly be attempted by a mortal man so could they be performed by none but a powerfull God For who but he who both in name and power was the God of nature had power not only to suspend some acts of nature but absolutely to over-rule the whole course thereof Of which great works above the ordinary reach of man and nature if we accompt the resurrection as the principall we shall rightly state it It is within the power of Art and the rules of Physick to repaire the ruines of decayed nature and perhaps prolong the number of a few miserable days He only could restore life to the dead who first gave it to the living He only can restore our bodies to our souls in the last day who did at first infuse our souls into our bodies Which miracle before it could be wrought on us he must first work it on himself and thereby raise an hope and be belief in us to expect our own The head being raised gives good assurance to the body that though it do not rise at the same time with it it shall in due time be raised by it What other uses may be made of Christs resurrection we shall see anon This is enough to shew the reasons or necessity thereof by way of preamble to let us see that all the hopes we have of our own resurrection depends upon the certainty and truth of this Which though it be a principle of the Christian faith by consequence of common course to be confessed and not disputed Oportet enim discentem credere as the old rule is yet sithence that the truth thereof hath been much suspected by the Iews and the possibility debated by the Gentiles it will be necessary for the setling of a right beliefe to satisfie the one and refell the other Which done it will be easily seen that there is reason and authority enough to confirm this truth were it not left us for a principle And first beginning with the Iews who first and most maliciously opposed this part of holy Gospel we purpose
to proceed with them by the authority of Scripture and of reason both To the old Testament and our proofs from thence we shal challenge an obedience from them because by them confessed for Scripture and reverenced as the Oracles of Almighty God And for the new the writings of the holy Evangelists we shall expect submission to the truths thereof so far forth as it shall appear to be built on reason and unavoydable Demonstration Now the old Testament consisteth in that part thereof which doth reflect upon the birth and actions of our blessed Saviour either of types and figures or else of Prophecies and examples and the first type which looks this way is that of Isaac the only son the only beloved son of a tender father a type both of his death and his resurrection In which observe how well the type and truth do agree together The Altar was prepared the fire kindled Isaac fast bound and ready to receive the blow the knife was in his Fathers hand and his arme stretched out to act the bloudy part of a Sacrificer And yet even in the very act and so near the danger God by his holy Angel and a voice from heaven delivered the poor innocent from the jawes of death and restored him back unto his father when all hopes had failed him How evidently doth this fact of Abrahams stretching out his hand to strike the blow and being withholden by the Angel from the blow it self fore-shadow those sacred fundamentall truths which we are bound to believe concerning the true bodily death and glorious resurrection of our Lord and Saviour The Iews themselves in memorie of this deliverance did celebrate the first of Tisri which is our September usually called the Feast of Trumpets with the sound of Rams hornes or Corners and counted it for one of the occasions of that great solemnity which shews that there was somewhat in it more then ordinary somewhat which did concern their nation in a speciall manner Needs therefore must the Iews of our Saviours time be blinde with malice at the least with prejudice that look upon this story of Isaac the child of promise only as the relation of a matter past not as a type and shadow of the things to come this only son of Abraham this child of promise the only hope or pledge of that promised seed which was expected from the beginning being to come thus near to death and yet to be delivered from the power thereof that so the faith of Abraham touching the death and resurrection of his son the heir of promise might be tryed and verifyed or rather that by experiment our Saviours death and resurrection might be truly represented and foreshadowed in Isaacs danger and delivery And this is that to which St. Paul alludeth saying By faith Abraham when he was tryed offered up Isaac and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son of whom it was said that in Isaac shall thy seed be called accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the dead from whence also he received him in a figure i. e. a figure of the resurrection of Christ the promised seed represented by it though Abraham probably looked no further then the present mercy Isaac then was the true representation and foreshadowing of our Saviours death and resurrection And so the wonderfull increase of Isaacs seed in whom all the nations of the world were to be blessed was as full an embleme of our Saviours seed and generation which cannot be numbred he having begotten unto God since his resurrection more sons and daughters throughout all nations then all the children of Abraham or Isaac according to the flesh though like unto the sands of the Sea for multitude But the circumstances of our Saviours selling and betraying his cruell persecution both by Priests and people the whole story of his humiliation unto death and exaltation after his resurrection are more perfectly foreshadowed by the cruel persecutions of Ioseph procured by his brethren by his calamity and advancement in Egypt The story is so well known it needs no repeating And the afflictions laid on both by the sonnes of Iacob in a manner parallel themselves Both of them were the first-born of their several Mothers both of them the best beloved sons of their Fathers and for this cause both of them envied and maligned by their wicked and ill natured brethren by whom they were both severally betrayed and sold for a contemptible piece of money So far the parallel holds exactly goe we further yet The pit whereinto Iosephs brethren cast him as also the pit or dungeon unto which he was doomed by a corrupt and partial Iudge on the complaint of an imperious whorish woman without proof or witnesse what was it but the picture of our Saviours grave to which he was condemned in the sentence of death by as corrupt a Judge as Potiphar on the bare accusation and complaint of an Adulterous generation as the Scripture cals them without proof or evidence And the deliverance of Ioseph from both pit and dungeon his exaltation by Pharaoh over all the land of Egypt and his beneficence to his Brethren whom he not only pardoned but preservation from famine what were they but the shadowes and resemblances of Christs resurrection his sitting at the right hand of God the Father by whom all power was given him both in heaven and earth and finally his mercie to the sons of men whose sins he doth not only pardon but preserve them also from the famine of the word of God The Kings ring put on Iosephs hand the gold chain put about his neck and the vesture of fine linnen or silke wherewith he was arraied by the Kings command what were they as the Antients have observed before but the resemblances of those glorious endowments with which the body or Humanity of Christ our Saviour hath been invested or apparelled since his resurrection More then this yet The name of Zaphnath Paaneah given to Ioseph by the Kings appointment and the Proclamation made by Pharaoh that every knee should bow before him what is it but a modell or a type of that honour which God the King of Kings hath ordered to be given to Christ to whom he hath given a name above every name that at the name of JESUS every knee should bowe of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth Where by the way and that addeth something farther to the parallel also the name of Zaphnath Paaneah as the Hebrew reads it but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psonthem Phanech as the Septuagint is naturally as the learned Mr. Gregory very well observeth a Coptick or Egyptian word and signifyeth an Interpreter of hidden things or a revealer of secrets And so not only the Babylonish Targum and others of the Rabbins do expound the word but we finde the same exposition in Theodoret also 〈◊〉
resurrection of our Lord and Saviour there came a signall benefit unto all the world which else had been fast bound for ever in the bonds of death without any hope of rising to a better life For being risen in our nature then our nature is riâ—en and if our nature be then our persons may be especially considering that he and we are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as St. Paul hath told us so graffed into one another that he is part of us and we part of him And therefore very well said Bernard Resurrexit solus sed non totus Though he be only risen by his own proper power yet as yet he is not risen wholly nor will be untill we be raised together with him He is but risen in part by this resurrection and that he may rise all of him he must raise t is also In this respect our Saviour is entituled Primogenitus omnis Creaturae the first born or first begotten of every creature viz. first in the order of time he being the first that was ever raised from death unto life immortall and first also in the order of causality all others which have been or shall be raised or begotten to immortall life being so raised and begotten by vertue of his resurrection And in the same respect he is called Primitiae dormientium or the first fruits of them that sleep because his rising is not only the pledge and earnest of our rising also but that we shall be raised to the same state of happinesse and eternall glory which he hath attained since his rising The offering of the first fruits drew a blessing upon all the rest For if the first fruits be holy the lumpe saith the Apostle is also holy If then the first fruits of the dead be offered to Almighty God in Christ our Saviour no question but the after-fruits or the whole increase will be very acceptable and laid up in the barn of that heavenly husbandman according to the scope of our Saviours Parable And yet perhaps St. Paul might have a further aime in calling our Saviour the first-fruits of them that sleep then hath yet been spoke of it hapning so by the sweet disposition of Gods special providence that the day of his glorious resurrection did fall that year upon the second day of the feast of unleavened bread or the morrow after the Sabbath of that great solemnity upon which day the first-fruits were to be offered unto God by his own appointment Of which see Levit. 23.10 11. Here then we have the principall effect and fruit of Christs resurrection the resurrection of our own bodies from the power of death the resurrection both of soul and body to eternall life And yet there are some other intermediate benefits which redound to us some other motives and inducements which relate to him For his part first had he not risen from the dead he had still lain under the guilt of that imposture wherewith the Priests and Elders charged him when he was interred And who would then have preached his Gospel or embraced his doctrine or yeelded belief to any thing he had said before For if Christ be not risen from the dead again as St. Paul reasoneth very strongly then were our faith in vain and their preaching vain Had he not risen from the dead and manifested it by such signes and wonders he never had attained to the reputation of being generally accounted and believed in for the Son of God or such a God at best who doth die like men and fall like others of the Princes some earthly Magistrate at the most and no great one neither Nor was it necessary to his glory only but to our justification For how could we assure our selves of salvation by him or of redemption in his bloud had he been swallowed up in death and not appeared alive again for our consolation Manens in morte peccata non expiasset mortem non vicisset as the Father hath it and then how could we hope to be saved by him qui se ipsum servare non potuit who was not of ability to save himself How could we Christians of all men most miserable be possibly assured of this saving truth that Christ was delivered for our sins if he had not risen again for our justification that is to say if by his rising from the dead he had not setled and confirmed us in that assurance The reason is because the resurrection of our Lord and Saviour was as it were his actual absolution from those sins of ours for the which he dyed and his deliverance from that death which as the wages of sin we had all deserved Calvin hath very Orthodoxly resolved it so Resuscitatio Christi a mortuis ejus est actualis absolutio a peccatis nostris pro quibus mortuus est as he there determineth And he determineth it according unto that of the great Apostle saying if Christ be not risen your faith is vain yee are yet in your sins that is to say still under the command and the guilt of sin from which you have no other assurance to be absolved and quitted in the day of judgment then only by the vertue of his resurrection How wretched then is the condition of the Iews and those other Hereticks who either utterly denie the resurrection as did Simon Magus and the Maniches or post it off as not yet past till some further time which was one of the heresies of Cerinthus or make it but an allegory no true reall action as do the Family of love Assuredly the least we can affirme of them and the like vile miscreans is that they have no inheritance in the house of Iesse nor any portion at all in the son of David that they who wilfully deny his resurrection shall never finde other resurrection but to shame and torment But on the contrary the Orthodox Professors in the Chrrstian Church not only have believed this Article and stood up in defence thereof to the last drop of their bloud as often as the Princes of the earth have conspired together against the Lord and his anointed but for the better imprinting of it in the souls of simple and unlearned people and for perpetuall commemoration of so great a mercy did institute the feast of Easter A festival of all others the most antient in the Christian Church ordained and celebrated in the purest ages of the same while some of the Apostles were yet living A feast received with so unanimous affection throughout the world that though some difference happened about the time when it should be celebrated yet there was never any question made of the feast it self All of them kept an Easter though not all at a time some of the Eastern Churches in compliance with the Iews amongst whom they lived keeping it on the 14. day of the Moon as the Iews did the Passeover â—ll other
Heaven or taken up on high as our English reads it it was Gods act there And so it was indeed it was Gods and his the Persons having such an interest in one another that what was done by the one is ascribed to the other without wrong or prejudice to either as it is also in the case of the Resurrection in which although we find it to be his own act his Resurrexit only in the holy Gospels yet is it quem Deus suscitavit a mortuis him hath God raised from the dead in St. Peters Sermon Or else it may be answered thus that though our Saviour did ascend by his own power and vertue yet he may properly be said to be assumptus taken or carried up into Heaven in three regards that is to say either as taken up on the wings of Angels whereof we shall say more anon as Lazarus was carryed into Abrahams bosom or because he seemed to be wrapt up in a cloud and so taken up out of their sight or finally that the man CHRIST IESVS was taken up into Heaven by the power and vertue of the Godhead in separably united to him Either of these constructions will atone the difference and reconcile the Creed with the words of the Text though we may further add and ex abundanti that St. Luke doth not only say ferebatur in Coelum or he was carryed up into Heaven as if he were passive in it only but that Recessit ab iis first he left them of his own accord gave the first rise to his Ascension and after ferebatur for so it followeth suffered himself to be assumpted taken or carryed up into Heaven either by the Cloud or by the Angels or how else he pleased Lastly it is to be observed that he ascended into Heaven videntibus illis saith the Text whilest his Apostles looked on to signifie that he did ascend by little and little that he might feed their eyes and refresh their souls and by his leisurely ascent make them more able to attest it as occasion served For had he been caught up into Heaven as Elias was who had but one witness to affirm it or rapt up into Heaven as St. Paul was afterwards without any witness but himself and scarce that neither for whether it were in the body or out of the body he could hardly tell the truth thereof had wanted much of that estimation which the mouths of so many witnesses as beheld the mirâ—â—le were able to afford unto it And yet it was strange that many witnesses should need to confirm that truth which had so clearly been fore-signified both by Types and Prophecies that none who did believe the Scriptures could make question of it For if we look upon the Substance or the quod â—it of it or on the circumstances of the time the place the cloud the pomp and manner of the same or finally on the consequent or effect thereof as to Christ himself we finde all signified before-hand in the Book of God and that so fully and expressely as must needs convince the Iews of the greatest obstinacy that ever had been entertained in the hearts of men first in the way of Type or Figure we have that of Enoch before the Law and that of Elias under the Law Of Enoch it is said in the holy Scripture that he walked with God that is to say as the text doth expound it self in the case of Noah he was a just man and perfect in his generation for the times he lived in So righteous was he as it seems in the sight of God that we finde no mention of his death Only the Scriptures say that he was not found because God took him i. e. because God took him to himself translating him both body and soul to his heavenly Kingdome And so St. Paul expounds it saying By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death neither was he found because God had taken him And of Elijah it is said that being talking with Elisha one of his Disciples there appeared a Charet of fire and horses of fire and parted them asunder and that Elijah went up in a whirlwinde into Heaven Here then we have two Types or figures of the Lords Ascension the one delivered in the person of a righteous man who was unblameable in his conversation walking in the commandements of God without reproof the other of a Prophet mighty both in WORD AND WORK who did not only reprove sin and foretel of things which were to come but did confirm his Doctrine with signs and miracles And being that the Iews cannot but confess as Iosephus did that Christ was not only a wise man a Teacher of the people in the ways of truth one that wrought miracles and had gained many both of the Iews and Gentiles to adhere unto him being they cannot but acknowledge of our Saviour Christ as the good Theif did ille autem nil mali fecit that he had done nothing amiss or as Pilate that there was no fault to be found in him they have no reason but to think that Enoch and Elijah were the Types of the Lords Ascension aswell as of his life and doctrine But here perhaps it will be objected that either Enoch and Elijah were not taken up into Heaven and so no Types and figures of the Lords Ascension or if they were then was not Christ the first which opened the gates of Heaven and ascended thither in his body to make a way for others in due time to follow as all Antiquity in a manner do affirm he was grounding their judgement on the evident and plain texts of Scripture For doth not the Apostle expressely say that the way into the Holiest of all was not yet manifest while the first Tabernacle was yet standing Heb. 9.8 And doth not Christ our Saviour as expressely say that no man had ascended into Heaven but he that came down from Heaven even the Son of man Ioh. 3.13 How then were Enoch and Elijah Types of Christs Ascension if they were not taken up into Heaven or how was Christ the first if they there before him Our Saviour Christ himself makes answer unto this objection where he saith that in his Fathers house there were many mansions that is to say several degrees of happiness and estates in glory though all most glorious in themselves To some of which degrees of happiness and estates in glory unto some one or other of those heavenly Mansions both Enoch and Elijah were by God translated there 's no doubt of that the Scripture is expressely for it But that they were in Coelosummo in the highest Heaven that unto which the Lord ascended and where he now sitteth at the right hand of God the Father that as the Scriptures doe not say so there is no necessity why we should believe it Our Saviour was the first who ascended thither that place of supreme glory
being typified in the Sanctum Sanctorum and by that entituled as before we saw unto which none might enter but the High Priest only From Types proceed we next unto the way of Prophecy and there we finde assured proof not only for the Substance of the Lords Ascension but for every Circumstance First for the substance thus saith the Prophet David Psal. 24. Lift up your heads O you gates and be you lift up you Everlasting doores and the King of Glory shall come in Who is the King of Glory the Lord strong and mighty the Lord mighty in battel Which Psalm as it was framed by that sweet singer of Israel on the reduction of the Ark to the City of David and literally meant of the Gates of the Tabernacle through which the Ark the glory of the Lord of Hosts was to have its entrance so was it mystically and Prophetically spoken of our Saviour Christ who in a mighty battel had subdued all the powers of hell and afterwards by his Ascension did set open the Gates of Heaven as all the Fathers generally down from Iustin Martyr do expound the place The Gates were lift up in the Psalm for the King of glory and opened in the Gospel for the Lord of glory as the Apostle with some reference to the Psalmist cals him Where by the way I think we need not go much further to resolve a doubt which hath been made by some in the Church of Rome that is to say whether the Heavens did open to make way to our Saviours passage an vero sine diversione eos penetravit or that he pierced or passed through the Coelestial bodies as they conceive he came unto his Disciples when the dores were shut The reason of this querie we know wel enough It is to help them at a pinch when they are put to it in maintenance of that monstrous Paradox of Transubstantiation which utterly destroys the being of Christs natural body But unto this the lifting up of the Gates gives a ready answer and such an answer as hath countenance from the Gospel also For if the Heavens were opened to make way for the Spirit of God to descend upon him at his Baptism as we know it was with how much greater reason must they then be opened when he ascended into Heaven not in Spirit only but also in his body in his humane nature Next for the circumstances which occur in the Lords Ascension we have the time thereof the fortieth day precisely from his Resurrection prefigured in the forty days of respit which God gave to Nineveh before he purposed to destroy it The correspondence or resemblance doth stand thus between them that as God gave the Ninivites forty days of Repentance after the miraculous deliverance of Ionah from the belly of the Whale had in all probability been made known unto them to confirm his Preaching so he gave forty days to the Iews also after Christs Resurrection to see if they would turn from their sins or not before he did withdraw the presence of their Saviour from them and lay them open to that desolation which he had denounced against them for their wickedness And this I am the more confirmed in by another passage of this kinde in the Book of Ezekiel where it is said Thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days I have appointed thee each day for an year Which Prophesie what ever it might aim at at that present time in which it was declared by the mouth of the Prophet was questionless most punctually fulfilled in those forty days which Christ continued on the earth untill his Ascension For having born those forty days the iniquities of the house of Iudah and kept off by his presence all those plagues and punishments which were due unto them for the same he left them unto that destruction which at the end of forty years reckoning each day for an year as the Prophet bids us befell both their Temple and their Nation For the place next we finde it on record in the Prophet Zachary in these words His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives which is before Hierusalem on the East and the Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof Which part of the Prophesie concerning the feet of God which were to stand on the Mount of Olives was never before so literally verified as in the day of oâ—r Saviours Ascension his sacred feet making such an impression on the ground where he took his rise if I may so say as seemed to cleave the ground in twain and there continued for the space of four hundred years if the Tradition of the Antients be of any credit Certain I am that so it is affirmed by Paulinus no fabulous Writer but of a very great esteem for piety in the best times of the Church and he tels it thus Mirum vero inter haec quod in Basilica Ascensionis locus ille tantum de quo in nube susceptus ascendit ita sacratus divinis vestigiis dicitur ut nunquam tegi marmore aut paviri receperit semper excussis se respuente quae manus adornandi studio tentavit apponere Itaque in toto Basilicae spacio solus in sui caespitis specie virens permanet impressam divinorum pedum venerationem calcati Deo pulveris perspicua simul irrigua venerantibus conservat I have put down the words at large on the Authors credit and so commit them to the censure of the learned Reader Then for the cloud in which our Saviour made his Ascent to Heaven we have it thus fore-signified by the Prophet Daniel Behold saith he one like unto the Son of man came in the Clouds of Heaven and approached unto the antient of days and they brought him before him And he gave him Dominion and honour and a Kingdome that all people Nations and languages should serve him his Dominion is an everlasting Dominion which shall never be taken away and his Kingdome shall never be destroyed Where by the way we have a full description of that power and honour which God conferred upon our Saviour and by St. Mark is intimated in that form of speech and sate down on the right hand of God But this I touch but on the by referring the full disquisition of it to the next branch of this Article to which it properly belongeth In the mean time let us behold the pomp and ceremonie of the Lords Ascension which David hath described in the words before that is to say When he ascended up on high he led captivity captive and received gifts for men He gave gifts to men saith the great Apostle which how they do agree was before delivered In which it seemes to me that the sacred Pen-men have made the course and order of the Lords Ascension like to the pomp and glory of the antient Triumphs It was we know the custome of the
other on his left when he came to his Kingdome Sedere ad dextram alicujus est proximam ab eo dignitatem sedere autem ad sinistram secundum dignitatis locum obtinere as Estius states it very rightly So that by sitting at the right hand in the holy Scriptures we are to understand the next place of power and dignity to him upon whose right hand they are said to sit and intimates the same or the like authority as Pharaoh gave to Ioseph in the Book of Genesis when he made him ride in the second Chariot that he had constituted him the Ruler of al the land of Egypt But then this sitting at the right hand is to be understood as before I said of sitting at the right hand of great Princes only for it is otherwise with men of inferiour quality and that according to the custome of several Countries For antiently amongst the Romans when two only meâ— or sate together the more unworthy person sate or stood on the right hand of the other as Antonius Nebrissensis very well observeth The reason as I take it was because that in the rites of Augurie the flying or appearing of the birds of divination on the left hand did signifie good luck and prosperous success in their intendments Hence that of Tully A sinistra cornice ratum firmum Augurium fieri and that of the twelve Tables to the same effect Ave sinistra populi Magister estâ— And 't is the custome at this day in some parts of Italy for the more worthy person to go on the left hand of the other because thereby he is made master of the other mans sword But if there were more then two in company the best man always used to place himself in the midst that he might seeme to be protected on all sides from the hands of his enemies And this Minutius witnesseth in his elegant Dialogue where seating himself in the midst betwixt Octavius and Cecilius he said he did it to this end as the use then was ut me ex tribus medium ambitione lateris protegerent So Salust telleth us of Hiempsal that he placed himself on the right hand of Adherbal Ne medius ex tribus quod apud Numidas honori ducitur Jugurtha foret because he would not leave Jugurth in the middle place which in that Country was esteemed for the highest honour But leaving other Countries and inferior persons to their own customes and conditions certain it is that it was otherwise with great Princes and amongst the Iews in whose esteem the right hand was the better and more worthy place the sitting at the right hand of a Prince or Potentate accounted for the greatest favour How much an higher honour and a greater favour must it then be thought to sit on the right hand of God the Father Almighty the King of Kings and Lord of Lords from whom all Princes of the earth had received their Scepters Which honour that we may the better estimate and put no less a value then it ought to have we will consider in the next place what is meant by the Right hand of God and then proceed unto the honour done to our Lord and Saviour in his advancement to a place so great and glorious And first I take it for a thing granted by all Orthodox Christians that the word is not to be taken literally that God hath any hands either right or left That were to fall into the Heresie of the Anthropomorphites who because they found it written in the book of Genesis that God made man after his own Image would needs make God to be after the image of man and gave him hands and mouth and eyes and all other members But therein of the two the Heathen was the better Christian who told us ad divinam imaginem propius accedere humanam virtutem quam figuram that men resembled the Divine Image of God more then in their vertues then their making more in the endowments of the minde then in the structure of their bodies So that as often as we meet with such expressions in the Book of God we must conceive that God doth frame his speech unto our capacities and speaketh unto us after the manner of men that so we may the easier apprehend his meaning Which being premised once for all the right hand of God will be found to signifie either his power and dignity or his love and goodness That the right hand is the hand of strength will I think be granted And that it is the hand of love besides the ordinary form of salutation by taking and giving the right hand with those whom we affect most cordially is evident in holy Scripture For in the Old Testament the Patriarch Iacob called that son whom he loved most tenderly by the name of Benjamin that is the son of his right hand And the same Iacob when he intended to bestow the more excellent blessing on Ephraim Ioseph youngest son he laid his right hand upon his head and his left hand on the head of Manasseh which was the elder And this he did wittingly saith the Text to signifie that though Manasseh should become a great people yet that his younger brother should be greater then he Thus also in the New Testament we meet with dextra societatis the right hand of fellowship which the three chief Apostles gave to Paul and Barnabas Which whether it was to testifie by that outward sign the mutual correspondency and good consent which was between them or to establish the agreement then at that time made that Paul and Barnabas should preach the Gospel to the Heathen and the others unto those of the Circumcision is not much material though possibly it might be in both respects for the right hand was antiently aswell the pledge of truth and fidelity as of love and friendship the joyning of the right hands in the making of Leagues Iungamus foedera dextra as one Poet data dextera quondam as another hath it being of ordinary use amongst most Nations To bring this home unto our purpose the right hand being of it self and of common usage the hand of power and love the hand of friendship and fidelity it followeth that by the right hand of Almighty God we must mean some or all of these either his mighty power or his eminent goodness or his fidelity in performing of his word and promises That the right hand of God is used to denote his power is evident by many several passages in the Royal Psalmist The right hand of the Loud saith he hath the preheminence the right hand of the Lord bringeth mighty things to pass And in another of the Psalms With his own right hand and with his holy arm hath he gotten to himself the victory Assuredly those victories and great acts he speaks of were all of them acheived by the power of God the right hand of the
power to do Non tam stultus sum ut diversitate explanationum tuarum me laedi putem quia nec tu laederis si nos contraria senserimus This was St. Hieromes resolution to St. Augustine in a point between them equally full of piety and Christian courage And of this temper was also Pope Sixtus the fift as stout and resolute a Prelate as ever wore the Triple Diadem and one who lived in the worst Ages of the Church of Rome when most ingaged in self-interresses and maintaining factions Of whom it is notwithstanding said by Cicarella non multum pugnare ut sua vinceret sententia sed potius ab aliis si ita res ferret facile passus est se vinci And to this blessed temper if we could attain diversity of opinions and interpretations so they hold the analogy of the faith may adde as much to the external beauty of the Church of Christ as it did ornament and lustre to the Spouse of Christ that her cloathing though of pure gold was wrought about with divers colours or wrought with curious needle-work as it after followeth But it is time that I look back upon our Saviour sitting at the right hand of God in whatsoever sense we conceive the words and sitting there to execute the Sacerdotal or Priestly function and so much of the Regal also as is to be discharged and exercised by him before his coming unto judgement Of which two functions by Gods grace I am next to speak The Attribute or Adjunct of the Father Almighty which we finde added to this branch of the Article hath been already handled in its proper place and therefore nothing need to be said here of it CHAP. XIII Of the Priesthood of our Lord and Saviour which he executeth sitting at the right hand of God wherein it was fore-signifyed by that of Melchisedech in what particulars it consisteth and of Melchisedech himself WE told you in the beginning of our former Chapter that they which do consider Christ in his several offices and did reduce each several office to some branch or other of the Creed did generally refer his office of high Priest unto this branch of sitting at the right hand of God the Father Almighty For being advanced to such a place of nearnesse to the throne of God he hath no doubt the better opportunities as a man may say of interceding with God in behalf of his people and offering up the peoples prayers to the throne of grace which are the two main parts of the Priestly function And yet this sitting at the right hand of God is not precisely proper and peculiar to him as he is our Priest but that he claimes the place also as he is our King and there doth execute so much of the Regall office as doth consist in governing his holy Church untill the coming unto judgment Certain I am that David findes him sitting on the right hand of God in both capacities as well King as Priest and so doth represent him to us The Lord saith he said unto my Lord sit thou at my right hand till I make thy enemies thy footstoole That David by those words My Lord meaneth Christ our Saviour is a thing past question We have the truth it self to bear witnesse to it the Lord himself applying it unto himself in his holy Gospels And that he meaneth it of Christ both King and Priest is no lesse evident from the rest of the Prophets words which do immediately follow on it For in the very next words he proceedeth thus The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion Rule thou in the middest of thine enemies Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power In which assuredly he looks upon him in his regal function And no lesse plainly it doth follow for the Priesthood also The Lord hath sworn saith he and shall not repent thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedech Touching the Regal office though here also executed we shall more fully and more fitly speak in the following Article that of his coming to judge the quick and dead the power of judicature being the richest flower of the regal diademe The Priesthod we shall treat of now T is the place most proper Christs Priesthood and his sitting at the right hand of God being often joyned together in the holy Scripture Nay therefore doth he sit at the right hand of God that so he might with more advantage execute the Priestly office Every Priest saith the Apostle standeth dayly ministring and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices which can never take away sinnes But this man that is Christ our Saviour the high Priest of the new Testament after he had offered one sacrifice for our sins is set down for ever at the right hand of God From hence forth tarrying till his enemies be made his footstool And in another place to the same purpose thus We have such an high Priest that sitteth on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens A Minister of holy things and of the true Tabernacle c. Being therefore in this place to speak of the Priesthood of CHRIST we will consider it in all those particulars which may make the calling warrantable to himself and comfortable unto us To make it warrantable in respect of himself we must behold him in his calling in his consecration and finally in the order it self which was that of Melchisedech to which he was so called and consecrated To make it comfortable in regard of us we will behold him in the excercise of those three great duties wherein the Priesthood did consist viz. the offering of sacrifice for the sins of the people the offering of prayers in behalf of the people and lastly in the act of benediction or of blessing the people To these heads all may be reduced which concernes this argument and of all these according to the method now delivered which I think most natural a little shall be said to instruct the reader First for his calling to the Priesthood it was very necessary as well to satisfie himself as prevent objections For Christ our Saviour being of the line of Iudah he could not ordinarily and of common right intermedle with the Priestly function which was entailed by God to the house of Aaron and therefore he required a special and extraordinary warrant such as God gave Aaron and the sons of Aaron to authorize him thereunto No person whatsoever he was was to take this honour to himself but he that was called of God as Aaron was as St. Paul averreth Now such a calling to the Priesthood as that of Aaron our blessed Saviour had and a better too for he was called to be an high Priest after the order of Melchisedech Where this word called imports more then a name or title as if he were called Priest but indeed was none but a solemne calling
rule his Church in things which concern salvation by men in sacred Orders is confessed on both sides and that he doth preserve the same in external Order at peace and decency and in the beauty of holiness by the power of Christian Princes is affirmed in Scriptures Why else are Kings entituled the Nursing Fathers and Queens the nursing mothers of the Church of Christ but for the protection which they give their superintendency over it in their several Kingdoms Kings are Christs Vice-roys on the earth in their own Dominions over all persons in all causes aswell Ecclesiastical as Civil the Supreme Governours And so are Bishops in the first sense in their several Dioceses and under them those Presbyters which have cure of souls Which lest we may be thought to say without good authority we call the Popes themselves to witness against those of Rome and to the others will say more in the following Paragraph For Pope Eusebius in his third Epistle decâ—etory which whatsoever credit it be of amongst learned men must be good ad homines saith plainly that our Saviour is the Churches head and that his Vicars are the Bishops to whom the Government and Ministerie of the Church is trusted Caput Ecclesâ—ae Christus est Vicarii autem Christi sacerdotes sunt And Sacerdotes in those times did signifie the Bishops no inferior Order For further proof whereof if more proof be needful consult St. Ambrose on 1 Cor. cap. 11. St. Austin in his questions on the Old and New Testament qu. 127. The Author of the Imperfect work ascribed to St. Chrysostom Hom. 17. the Fathers of the Councel of Compeigne and divers others all of which call the Bishop in most positive tearms Vicarium Christi the Vicar of Christ. And for the King so said Pope Eleutherius in a letter of his to Lucius a King of Britain no great Prince assuredly but the first Christian Prince that ever was in the world Vicarius Dei vos estis in regno vestro you are Gods Vice-roy or Lieutenant in your own Dominions Which title Edgar as I take it a West-Saxon King did challenge as his own of right in a speech made unto his Clergy in their Convocation or some such like Synodical meeting The like occurs of William the Conquerer who in a Parliament of his is called Vicarius summi Regis as is said by Bishop Iewel in the Defence of the Apology part 5. cap 6. sect 3. And this perhaps the sticklers for Presbyterie will not stick to grant who will allow Kings to be Gods Vice gerents so they be not Christs and if not Christs then not to intermeddle in such things as concern the Church but to betake themselves meerly unto secular matters Beza hath so resolved it against Erastus Our Saviour Christ saith he hath told us that his Kingdome is not of this world adeo ut 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 administrationi nunquam se immiscuerit and therefore would not be a Judge in a Temporal difference and thereupon it is inferred that Secular Princes must not meddle in such things as concern Christs Kingdome But none have spoke more plainly in it then our Scottish Presbyters from Father Henderson down to Cant and Rutherford who build their Presbyterian Platform upon this foundation that Kings receive not their authority from IESVS CHRIST but from God the Father Which being so pernicious a Maxime to the right of Kings and so derogatory to the honour of our Lord and Saviour I shall in brief summe up some passages in holy-Scripture and other good authorities from the antient Fathers as may aboundantly convince them of most gross absurdity in offering such strange fire in the Church of God For first our Saviour who best knew his own Prerogative hath told us that All power is given to him both in Heaven and Earth If all then doubtless that of ordaining Kings which are the greatest powers on earth If all then must it be by him as indeed it is or Solomon mistook the matter By whom Kings reign and Princes decree justice In reference to this power no question but St. Paul calleth him Rex Regum or the King of Kings He is saith the Apostle the only Potentate the King of Kings and Lord of Lords By the same title he is called in the Revelation chap. 17. vers 14. And this not only in the way of excellencie because a greater King and a more puissant Lord then any here upon the earth but also in the way of derivation because from him all Kings and Princes whatsoever do derive their power Just so and in the self same sense some of the mighty Monarchs amongst the Gentiles having inferiour Princes under their command and such as do derive all authority from them do call themselves the Kings of Kings Rex Regum Arsaces the old style of the Parthian Emperours This further proved and very significantly inferred from another place of the Revelation where it is said of Christ the Lamb that he hath on his vesture and on his Thigh a name written viz. Kings of Kings and Lord of Lords In which last place there are two things to be observed which concern this point the one that this name of King of Kings and Lord of Lords is fixed and setled in Christs Person as the Son of man the other that all Kings are De femore Christi certainly of his appointment and Ordination as if they were descended from his very loyns Nor want we of the Fathers which affirm the same St. Athanasius paraphrasing on this Text of Scripture And he shall reign in the house of Jacob for ever c. saith plainly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say Christ having received the Throne of David hath transferred the same and given it to the holy Kings of Christians And so Liberius one of the Popes of Rome writing unto the Emperour Constantius a Prince extremely wedded indeed to the Arian faction admonisheth him not to fight against Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 s who had advanced him to the Empire nor to be so unthankeful to him as to countenance any impious opinion that was held against him Adde to these two though these the great Patriarchs of the Roman and Egyptian Churches the suffrage of the Fathers assembled at the Councel holden in Ariminum who writing to the same Constantius and speaking of our Lord and Saviour addes these following words viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say By whom thou reignest and hast Dominion over all the world And this no question is the reason why all Christian Princes do place the Cross upon the top of their Royal Crowns For though they use it as a badge of their Christianity and to acknowledge that they are not ashamed of the Cross of Christ yet by allotting to it the superior place they publish and confess this also that they do hold their Crowns by and under him Let us
this blessed Spirit on the particular Members of his Congregation that is to say the joyning of the Saints together in an holy Communion the free remission of our sins in this present life resurrection of the body after death and the uniting again of Soul and Body unto life eternal This is the sum and method of the following Articles and these we shall pursue in their order beginning first with that of the Holy Ghost Whose gracious assistance I implore to guide me in the waies of Truth that so the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart may be alwayes acceptable in the sight of God the Lord my strength and my Redeemer But because the word or notion of the Holy Ghost is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a word of various signification in the Book of God we will first look upon it in those significations and then conclude on that which is chiefly pertinent to the intent and purpose of the present Article For certainly the Orators Rule is both good and useful viz. Prius dividenda antequam definienda sit oratio That we must first distinguish of the Termes in all Propositions before we come unto a positive definition of them According to which Rule if we search the Scripture we shall there find that the Holy Ghost is first taken personaliter or essentialiter for the third person in the Oeconomie of the glorious Trinity We find him in this sense in the incarnation of our Lord and Saviour as the principal Agent in that Work The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee Luk. 1.35 And in his Baptism descending on him like a Dove to fit him and prepare him for the Prophetical Office he was then to exercise And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a Dove upon him Luk. 3.22 From which descent St. Peter telleth us that he was anointed with the Holy Ghost and with power and that from thenceforth he went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed with the Devil In the next place the Holy Ghost is used in Scripture to signifie the Gifts and Graces of the holy Spirit as in Act. 2. where it is said of the Apostles that they were all filled with the holy Ghost ver 4. not with his essence or his person but with the impressions of the Spirit the Gifts and Graces of the Holy Ghost such as the Gift of Tongues mentioned in the following words The Gift of the Holy Ghost as it is called expresly Ver. 38. Thus read we also that the holy Ghost was given by the hands of Peter Act. 8.17 18. And by the hands of Paul Act. 19.6 In which we read that when Paul had laid his hands upon them the Holy Ghost came on them and they spoke with tongues and Prophesied which last words are a commentary upon those before and shew that by the holy Ghost which did come upon them is meant the Gift of Tongues and the power of Prophecying both which the holy Ghost then conferred upon them And lastly it is taken not onely for the ability of doing Miracles as speaking with strange Tongues Prophecying curing of Diseases and the like to these but for the Authority and Power which in the Church is given to some certain men to be Ministers of holy things to the rest of the people As when Christ breathed on his Apostles and said unto them Receive the holy Ghost that is to say Receive ye an holy and spiritual power over the soules of men a part whereof consisteth in the remitting and retaining of sins mentioned in the words next following and serving as a Comment to explaine the former In which respect the Holy Ghost said unto certain of the Elders in the Church of Antioch Segregate mihi Barnabam Saulum Separate unto me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them Act. 13.2 It is the Holy Ghost which cals it is his work to which they were called and therefore separate mihi separate to me may not unfitly be expounded to my Work and Ministery and consequently to the authority and power which belongs unto it Which being premised the meaning of the Article will in briefe be this That we beleeve not onely that there is such a person as the Holy Ghost in the Oeconomy of the blessed Trinity though that be principally intended but that he doth so distribute and dispose of his Gifts and Graces as most conduceth to the edification of the Church of Christ. But this I cannot couch in a clearer way as to the sense and doctrine of the Church of England than in the words of Bishop Iewel who doth thus expresse it Credimus spiritum sanctum qui est tertia persona in sacra Triadi illum verum esse Deum c. i. e. we beleeve that the Holy Ghost who is the Third Person in the holy Trinity is very God not made nor created nor begotten but proceeding both from the Father and the Son by an unspeakable means and unknowne to man and that it is his property to mollifie and soften mans heart when he is once received thereinto either by the wholesome Preaching of the Gospel or by any other way that he doth give men light and guide them to the knowledge of God to the wayes of truth to newnesse of life and to everlasting hope of salvation This being the sum of that which is to be beleeved of the Holy Ghost both for his Person and his Office we will first look upon his Person on his Property or Office afterwards And yet before we come unto his Person I mean his Nature and his Essence We will first look a little on the quid Nominis the name by which he is expressed in the Book of God In the Original he is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with a double Article as Luk. 3.22 in Latine Spiritus sanctus or the Holy Spirit but generally in our English Idiom the Holy Ghost The Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 comes from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth to breath and is the same with the Latine Spiro from whence comes Spiritus or the Spirit a name not given as I suppose because he doth proceed from the Father or the Son or both in the way of breathing though Christ be said to breath upon his Apostles when he said receive the Holy Ghost but because the breath being in it selfe an incorporeal substance and that which is the great preservative of all living creatures it got the name first of Spiritus vitae we read it in our English the breath of life Gen. 11.7 and afterwards came to be the name of all unbodyed incorporeal essences For thus is God said to be a Spirit God is a Spirit Ioh. 4.24 The Angels are called Ministring Spirits Heb. 1.14 the Soule of man is called his Spirit let us cleanse our selves saith the Apostle from all filthiness both of flesh and Spirit that is of the body and
as in the West did gainsay the same had their several Errors which never could finde entertainment in the Church of Rome Insomuch as one might safely say of Theological truths as was once said of Philosophical viz. Though they may not possibly be found all at once together in a National or Particular Church yet they are all preserved in the Vniversal And it is the Vniversal Church or the Church Essential not any Topical Church whatever which is free from Error This being granted as I think it is proved sufficiently that the Church Essential cannot fall into any Error which is destructive of divine and salvifical truth We will next see whether and if at all how far this privilege may be extended to the Representative For being it is impossible for the whole Church the diffusive Body to meet together in one place for the composing of such Differences and suppressing such Heresies as may occasionally arise in some part thereof it hath been found expedient in all former ages to delegate some choice men out of the particulars which being met should represent the whole Body Collective and in the name of those that sent them agree amongst themselves what was fit to be done These Meetings were called General Councils Concilia à conciliando from reconciling and attoning such material differences as did disturb the publick peace and general in relation unto National and Provincial Councils assembled on occasions of more private nature From the Apostles times did this use continue Who on the dissention raised by some which came down from Iudea and mingled Circumcision and the Law of Moses with the Gospel of Christ did meet together to consider and determine of it And having resolved upon the point they sent their Decretory Epistle unto all the Churches requiring their obedience and conformity to that resolution which on debate amongst themselves and by the guidance and assistance of the Holy Ghost had been made therein This as it was the first General Council of the Church of Christ so was it the model also of all those that followed and of this Council it is certain that it could not erre Partly because composed for the most part of the Lords Apostles but principally because guided and directed by the Spirit of Truth who had the supream managing of the Action But this we cannot say of those General Councils which after were assembled on the like occasions For though the Church essential might delegate her power unto those Commissioners whom she imployed at such Assemblies yet could she not also import her Privilege And for the Members who convened they neither were endued with a like measure of the Spirit as the Apostles were possessed of nor sure infallibly of such assistance from the Holy Ghost as he vouchsafed to them in that great affair and therefore could not warrantably presume of the like freedom from error which that first General Council might lay claim unto Augustine hath resolved it so against Cresconius Non debet se Ecclesia Christo praeponere cum ille semper veraciter judicet Ecclesiastici autem judices plerumque falluntur The Church saith he ought not to prefer her self before Christ i. e. Before Christ speaking in his Gospel considering that he always judgeth according to truth but Ecclesiastical Iudges being men are oft-times deceived And so it is resolved by the Church of England who hath declared That for as much as General Councils be Assemblies of men whereof all be not governed by the Spirit and Word of God they may erre and sometimes have erred in things appertaining unto God A possibility then there is in the judgment of the Church of England That General Councils may erre in the things of God whether in points of Faith or not there is nothing said For being the Conveners are no more than men men subject as all others are to Humane affections and byassed many times by their private interesses it cannot be but such a possibility may be well supposed And a declaration there is also that some General Councils have actually erred as did the second Nicene in the matter of Images for which it stands censured by the Bishops of France and Germany in the Synod held at Franckford under Charls the Great Which notwithstanding such and so sacred is the name of a General Council if truly such that is to say if it be lawfully called and rightly constituted That the determinations of it are not rashly to be set at nought or wilfully opposed or scornfully slighted it being the Supream Tribunal of Christ on Earth For since the Lord was pleased so graciously to promise That when two or three were gathered together in his name he would be in the midst of them It may be piously inferred in Pope Celestines words Cum nec tam brevi numero Spiritus defit quanto magis eum interesse credamus turbae convenientem in unum sanctorum If the Spirit saith he be not wanting to so small a number how much rather ought we to believe that he vouchsafes to be present with a great multitude of good and godly men convened together He that heareth you heareth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me said Christ himself also unto his Apostles and in them unto their Successors in his holy Ministery May it not piously be inferred from those words of Christ as did some of the Antients in an African Synod to be a very gross absurdity for a man to think That God would give an understanding and discerning Spirit to particular men Et sacerdotibus in Concilium congregatis denegare and not afford it to be a company of godly Bishops met together in counsel And reason good For as many eyes see more than one and the united judgments of learned men assembled together carry more authority in Natural or Political things than of some single persons onely so questionless the joynt prayers of many devout and godly men prevail more with God for the assistance of his Spirit in their consultations than any private man can chalenge or presume upon when points of Faith and matters appertaining to the service of God are to be debated Upon these grounds from the Apostles times to these the Church hath exercised a power in her Representatives of setling such affairs as concerned the publick whether it were that some new controversie did arise in the points of Faith or an emergent Heresie was to be suppressed or that some Text of holy-Scripture which Hereticks had wrested to their private ends was to be expounded or finally that the worshipping of God the Lord in the beauty of holiness did require it of them Nor was it onely exercised by the Church de facto but de jure too And so it is resolved by the Church of England in her Twentieth Article the first and last expresly the second upon strong and necessary consequence The Church hath power to decree Rites or
entituled actual The nature of which Birth-sin or Original sin is by the Church of England in her publick Articles defined to be the fault and corruption of the nature of every man that naturally is ingendred of the Of-spring of Adam whereby man is very far gon from Original righteousness and inclined to evill In which description we may find the whole nature of it as first that it is a corruption of our nature and of the nature of every man descended from the Loyns of Adam Secondly That it is a departure from and even a loss or forfieture of that stock of Original Iustice wherewith the Lord enriched our first Father Adam and our selves in him And thirdly That it is an inclination unto evil to the works of wickedness by means whereof as afterwards the Article explains it self the flesh lusteth against the Spirit and both together do incur the indignation of God So that if we speak of Original sin formally it is the privation of those excellent gifts of divine Grace inabling us to know love serve honor and trust in God and to do the things that God delights in which Adam once had but did shortly lose If materially it is that habitual inclination which is found in men most averse from God carrying them to the inordinate love and desire of finite things of the creature more than the Creator which is so properly a sin that it makes guilty of condemnation the person whosoever it be in whom it is found And this habitual inclination to the inordinate love of the creature is named Concupiscence which being two-fold as Alensis notes it out of Hugo that is to say Concupiscentia spiritus a concupiscience of the spirit or superior and concupiscentia carnis a concupiscence of the flesh or inferior faculties the first of these is onely sin but the latter is both sin and punishment For what can be more consonant to the Rules of Iustice than that the Will refusing to be ordered by God and desiring what he would not have it should finde the inferior faculties rebellious against it self and inclinable to desire those things in a violent way which the Will would have to be declined Now that all of us from the womb are tainted with this original corruption and depravation of nature is manifest unto us by the Scriptures and by some Arguments derived from the practise of the Catholick Church countenanced and confirmed by the antient Doctors In Scripture first we find how passionately David makes complaint that he was shapen in wickedness and conceived in sin Where we may note in the Greek and Vulgar Latine it is in sins and wickednesses in the plural number 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Greek in peccatis in iniquitatibus as the Latine hath it And that to shew us as Becanus hath right well observed Quod unum illud peccatum quasi fons sit aliorum that this one sin is as it were the Spring and Fountain from whence all others are derived Next St. Paul tels us in plain words that by the offence of one of this one man Adam Iudgement came upon all men to condemnation and Judgement could not come upon all or any were it not in regard of sin Not that all men in whom Original sin is found without the addition of Actual and Personal guiltiness are actually made subject unto condemnation and can expect no mercy at the hands of God but that they are all guilty of it should God deal extreamly and take the forfeiture of the Bond which we all entred into in our Father Adam Thus finde we in the same Apostle that we are by nature the children of wrath polluted and unclean from the very womb our very nature being so inclinable to the works of wickedness that it disposeth us to evil from the first conception and makes us subject to the wrath and displeasure of God Last of all we are told by the same Apostle for we will clog this point with no further evidence That the wages of sin is death that sin entred into the world and death by sin and that death passed upon all men for that all have sinned And thereupon we may conclude That wheresoever we behold a spectacle of death there was a receptacle of some sin Now we all know that death doth spare no more the Infant than the Elder man and that sometimes our children are deprived of life assoon almost as they enjoy it sometimes born dead and sometimes dead assoon as born Prima quae vitam dedit hora carpsit in the Poets language A wages no way due to Infants for their actual sins for actually as yet they have not offended and therefore there must needs be in them some original guilt some Birth-sin as the Article calls it which brings so quick a death upon them And this is further verified from the constant and continual practise of the Church of Christ which hath provided That the Sacrament of Baptism be conferred on Infants before they come unto the use of Speech or Reason yea and at some times and on some occasions as namely in cases of extremity and the danger of death to Christen them assoon as born For by so doing she did charitably and not unwarrantably conceive that they are received into the number of Gods children and in a state of good assurance which could not be so hopefully determined of them should they depart without the same And with this that of Origen doth agree exactly Si nihil esset in parvulis quod ad remissionem deberet indulgentiam pertinere gratia Baptismi superflua videretur Were there not something in an Infant which required forgiveness the Sacrament of Baptism were superfluously administred to him Upon which grounds the Church of England hath maintained the necessity of Baptism against the Sectaries of this age allowing it to be administred in private houses as oft as any danger or necessity doth require it of her A second thing we finde in the Churches practise and in the practise of particular persons of most note and evidence which serves exceeding fitly to confirm this point and that is That neither the Church in general doth celebrate the birth-day of the Saints departed but the day onely of their deaths nor any of the Saints themselves did solemnize the day of their own Nativity with Feasts and Triumphs First for the practise of the Church we may take this general rule once for all Non nativitatem sed mortem sanctorum ecclesia pretiosam judicat beatam That the Church reckoneth not the day of their birth but the death-day if I may so call it of the Saints to be blest and precious According unto that of the Royal Psalmist Right precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints Upon which grounds the word Natalis hath been used in the Martyrologies and other publick
we must despair of no body no not of the wickedest as long as he lives and that we may safely pray for him of whom we do not despair So that for ought we see by these Texts of Scripture there is no sin which properly may be said to be irremissible And therefore I resolve with Maldnonate though he were a Iesuite Tenendam esse regulam fidei quae nullum peccatum esse docet quod à Deo remitti non possit That it is to be imbraced as a rule of Faith that there is no sin so great whatsoever it be which God cannot pardon for which if heartily bewailed and repented of there is no mercy and forgiveness to be found from God I shut up all with that of the Christian Poet Spem capio sore quicquid ago veniabile apud te Quamlibet indignum venia faciamve loquarve In English thus My words O Christ and deeds I hope with thee Though they deserve no pardon venial be CHAP. VI. Of the Remission of sins by the Blood of Christ and of the Abolition of the body of sin by Baptism and Repentance Of confession made unto the Priest and the Authority Sacerdotal THus have we in the former Chapter discoursed at large of the Introduction and Propagation of Sin and of the several species or kindes thereof and also proved by way of ground-work and foundation that albeit sin in its own nature be so odious in the sight of God as to draw upon the sinner everlasting damnation yet that there is no sin so mortal so deserving death which is not capable of pardon or forgiveness by the mercy of God We next descend unto those means whereby the pardon and remission of our sins is conveyed unto us the means by which so great a benefit is estated on us The principal agent in this work is Almighty God of whom the Scripture saith expresly That it is one God which shall justifie the circumcision by Faith and the uncircumcision through Faith that it is God which justifieth the Elect and that the Scriptures did foresee That God would justifie the Heathen In all which Texts to justifie the Elect the Iews the Gentiles doth import no more than freely to forgive them all the sins which they had committed against the Law and to acquit them absolutely from all blame and punishment due by the Law to such offences Which appears plainly by that passage of the same Apostle where speaking of Almighty God as of him that justifieth the ungodly Rom. 4.5 he sheweth immediately by way of gloss or exposition in what that justifying doth consist saying out of David Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin And this God doth not out of any superadded or acquired principle which is not naturally in him but out of that authority and supream power which is natural and essential to him In which respect no Creature can be said to forgive sins no not our Saviour Christ himself in his meer humane nature but must refer that work unto God alone For who can so forgive sins but God onely said the Pharisees truly And as God is the onely natural and efficient cause of this justification the principal Agent in this great work of the remission of sins so is the onely moral and internal impulsive cause which inclines him to it to be found onely in himself that is to say his infinite mercy love and graciousness toward his poor creature Man whom he looks on as the miserable object of grace and pitty languishing under the guilt and condemnation of sin Upon which Motives and no other he gave his onely begotten Son to die for our sins to be a ransom and propitiation for the sins of the world That whosoever believeth in him should not perish but through forgiveness in his Blood have life everlasting But for the external impulsive efficient cause of this act of Gods the meritorious cause thereof that indeed is no other than our Lord JESUS CHRIST the death and sufferings of our most blessed Lord and Saviour For God beholding Christ as such and so great a sufferer for the sins of men is thereby moved and induced to deliver those that believe in him both from the burden of their sins and that condemnation which legally and justly is due unto them This testified most clearly by that holy Scripture Be ye kinde saith the Apostle unto one another forgiving one another even as God for Christs sake hath forgiven you Where plainly the impulsive cause inclining God to pardon us our sins and trespasses is the respect he hath unto the sufferings of our Saviour Christ. Thus the Apostle tells us in another place That we are freely justified by the grace of God through the Redemption which is in CHRIST IESUS Justified freely by Gods grace as by the internal impulsive cause of our Iustification by which he is first moved to forgive us our sins through the Redemption procured for us by the death and sufferings of CHRIST IESUS as the external moving or impulsive cause of so great a mercy In this respect the pardon and forgiveness of the sins of men is frequently ascribed in Scripture to the Blood of Christ as in the Institution of the Sacrament by the Lord himself This is my Blood of the New Testament which is shed for you and for many for the remission of sins Thus the Apostle to the Romans Whom JESUS CHRIST did God set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his Blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God And thus to the Ephesians also In whom we have redemption through his Blood the remission of sins according to the riches of his grace To this effect St. Peter also For ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as with silver and gold but with the precious Blood of Christ as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot And so St. Iohn The Blood of Iesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin and he hath washed us from our sins in his own Blood in another place Infinite other places might be here produced in which the forgiveness of our sins is positively and expresly ascribed to the Blood of Christ or to his death and sufferings for us which comes all to one But these will serve sufficiently to confirm this truth that the main end for which Christ suffered such a shameful ignominious death accompanied with so many scorns and torments was thereby to attone or reconcile us to his Heavenly Father to make us capable of the remission of our sins through the mercy of God and to assure us by that means of the favor of God and our adoption to the glories of eternal life By that one offering of himself hath he for ever perfected
The Moderns set as high an estimate upon it if they go not higher For Calvin placeth in repentance and forgiveness of sins the sum and substance of the Gospel Non abs re summa Evangelii statuitur in poenitentia remissione peccatorum And Beza maketh it a necessary preparation ad perendum recipienduns Christi beneficium for seeking and obtaining of those benefits which we have by Christ The like doth Zanchius in his Book De Relig. Cap. 18. Thes. 1. And it is generally agreed on also That confession of our sins must be made to God to whom alone belongs the proper and original power of forgiving sins and who alone is able to renew those heavenly characters of divine graces in our souls which had been formerly defaced by the continual batteries and assaults of sin If we confess our sins saith the Apostle he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness But if we say we have not sinned we both deceive our selves and make God a lyer Upon which words there cannot be a better gloss than that of Ambrose Considering saith he that there is no man free from the guilt of sin Negate hoc sacrilegum it was an high degree of sacrilege to affirm the contrary that being one of the Prerogatives of Almighty God and far above the common law of nature But on the other side Remedium confiteri It is â—aith he a present remedy to confess the same all manner of diseases being then most dangerous when they are hid from the Physician And it is generally agreed on by all parties too according to the holy Scripture that none but God hath proper and original power of forgiving sins for who can so forgive sins but God alone said the Pharisees rightly Luke 5.21 and that it appertains unto him alone to create in us a clean heart and renew a right spirit within us Psal. 5â— 10 Nor do I finde it much disputed amongst moderate men but that satisfaction unto men for the wrong sustained and to the Church for publick scandals hath always been accounted a concomitant of sincere repentance The old rule holds unquestionably true in the present times and non dimittitur peccatum nisi restituatur ablatum that sin is never fully pardoned till the party wronged have satisfaction either in fact or in the reality of our intentions is a good peece of Proâ—estant doctrine for ought I can tell And as for satisfaction to the Church in the case of scandal St. Augustine doth require it in his Encheiridion Vt fuit etiam satis ecclesiae in qua remittuntur peccata That the Church have also satisfaction in which sins are pardoned He must be very ignorant in all Antient writers who makes doubt of this and not much conversant in the writings of the late Divines who knows not how this satisfaction is insisted on by the strictest of our Reformators Nay I will go a little further and say according to the Scriptures and the Primitive Fathers That satisfaction also must be given to God Not satisfaction of condignity as the Schoolmen call it which is a just and equal compensation for the sin committed for so Christ onely satisfied for the sins of men but satisfaction of congruity and impetration by which God is incited on the part of man by his contrition and humiliation and other penitential actions to free him from the punishment which he hath deserved The Sacrifice of God is a broken spirit an humble and a contrite heart he will not despise With which and such like sacrifices is the Lord well pleased better than with a Bullock which hath horns and hoofs And in this sense not in relation unto temporal punishments remaining after the remission of the guilt it self as the Papists use it we are to understand the word in the Antient Fathers as Per delictorum poenitentiam Deo satisfacere in Tertullian Lib. de poenit Cap. 5. Precibus operibus suis Deo patri misericordi satisfacere in St. Cyprian Epist. 10. Per poenitentiae dolorem humilitatis gemitum cordis contriti sacrificium co-operantibus eleemosynis in St. Ambrose But the main matter in dispute for we will not trouble our selves further about this particular is Touching the confession of our sins to men and the authority of Sacerdotal Absolution In the first of which we differ from the Church of Rome and in the other from the Grandees of the Puritan faction First For confession to be made to the Priest or Minister it is agreeable both to the doctrine and intent of the Church of England though not so much in practise as it ought to be For in an Exhortation before the Sacrament of the Lords Supper the Priest as Minister is required to say unto the People That if there be any of them which otherwise cannot quiet his own conscience by the means aforesaid but requireth further comfort or counsel then let him come to me the Parish Minister or some other discreet and learned Minister of Gods Word and open his grief that he may receive such ghostly counsel advice and comfort as his conscience may be relieved and that by the ministery of Gods Word he may receive comfort and the benefit of absolution to the quieting of his conscience and the avoiding of all scruple and doubtfulness So also in the form of Visitation of the sick the infirm person is required to make a special confession to the Minister if he feel his conscience troubled with any weighty matter after which confession the Priest shall absolve him in this sort But because men might be unwilling to make such confession for fear their secret sins should be brought to light both to their danger and disgrace in case some obligation lay not on the Priest or Minister for his concealing of the same the Church hath taken order for their security For in her Ecclesiastical Constitutions she hath thus ordained That if any man confess his secret and hidden sins to the Minister for the unburthening of his conscience and to receive spiritual consolation and ease of minde from him the said Minister shall not at any time reveal and make known to any person whatsoever any crime or offence so committed to his trust and secresie except they be such crimes as by the Laws of this Land his own life may be called into question for concealing the same under pain of irregularity And poena irregularitatis as the Canonists tell us not onely doth deprive a man of all his spiritual promotions for the present time but makes him utterly uncapable of any for the time to come and therefore is the greatest penalty except degradation from his Priesthood which possibly a Clergy-man can be subject to And finally because good Laws are nothing worth unless some care be taken for their execution it was made one of the enquiries in the Book of Articles
judicii pronouncing them with his own mouth to be forgiven in Heaven According to the promise made unto St. Peter or the Church in him when he delivered him the Keys that whatsoever he did loose on Earth should be loosed in Heaven And so we are to understand St. Chrysostomes words Iudex sedet in terris dominus sequitur servum The Judge remains upon the Earth the Lord followeth the servant His meaning is That what the servant doth here upon the Earth according to his Masters will the same the Lord himself will confirm and ratifie To which effect it is affirmed by others of the Antient Writers but in clearer words That the judgment of man goeth before the judgment of God The Priest is then a Iudge to pronounce the sentence and not a Cryer onely as some say to proclaim what the Judge pronounceth and as a Judge doth actually absolve or condemn the sinner by the same power of pardoning or retaining sins which he had from Christ or which Christ executes by him as his lawful deputy For as Kings are said to minister Justice to their Subjects though they do it not in their own persons but by a power devolved on subordinate Officers and as Christ himself may properly be said to have fed the multitudes though he gave the loaves onely unto his Disciples and his Disciples to the multitudes So he may also be affirmed to absolve the penitent although he do it by the mouth of the Priests or Ministers it being his act 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and theirs but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 originally his and ministerially theirs the same power in both And this may further be made good by that form of Speech used by our Saviour in the delegation of this power unto his Apostles and by them to his Ministers in all ages since being the very same with that which he himself hath given us in the Pater noster In his Commission it is thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whose sins soever ye remit Iohn 20.23 And in the Lords Prayer it is thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and forgive us our sins Luke 11.4 The same word used in the original for the one and the other And if it be a Solecism to say as no doubt it is That we desire no more of God in that clause of the Prayer than that he would signifie or declare that our sins are pardoned The Solecism must be as great for ought I can see to say That they are onely signified or declared to be pardoned by the mouth of the Minister Now that this is the meaning and intent of the Church of England some of our Romish adversaries do not stick to grant though others to calumniate this most Orthodox Church have given out the contrary For one of their great Controversors hath declared in print that it is the doctrine of some of the Protestants That Priests have power not onely to pronounce the remission of sins but to give it also And that this seemeth to be the doctrine of the Communion Book in the Visitation of the sick where the Priest saith And by his authority committed unto me I absolve thee from all thy sins c. And therefore when a foul-mouthed Iesuite had been pleased to charge us with denying power unto the Priests of forgiving sins Bishop Usher telleth him to his face That he doth us wrong and proves it by the very formal words in our Ordination Whose sins soever ye remit they are remitted and whose sins soever ye retain they are retained But no man can say more to this than hath been said already by Bishop Morton now Lord Bishop of Durham The power of absolution saith that learned Prelate whether it be general or particular whether in publick or in private is professed in our Church where both in our Publick Service is proclamed Pardon and Absolution upon all Penitents and a particular applying of particular Absolution unto Penitents by the Office of the Ministery And greater power than this hath no man received from God And this hath also been acknowledged by the Leaders of the Puritan faction who in their Petition to King Iames at his first coming to this Crown excepted against the very name of Absolution as being a Forinsecal and Iuridical word importing more surely than a Declaration which they desired to have corrected And thereupon it was propounded in the Conference at Hampton Court That to the word Absolution in the Rubrick following the general Confession these words Remission of sins might be added for Explanations sake And though Dr. Raynolds one of the Four Proctors for the said Petitioners in the foresaid Conference may be conceived to have been of the same opinion with these of the agrieved sort whom he did appear for yet he was so well satisfied in the power and nature of Sacerdotal Absolution that he did earnestly desire it at the time of his death humbly received it at the hands of Dr. Holland the Kings Professor in Divinity in the Vniversity of Oxon for the time then being and when he was not able to express his joy and thankfulness in the way of speech did most affectionately kiss the hand that gave it But what need more be said for manifesting this judicial power in the remitting of sins than what is exercised and determined by the Church in the other branch of this Authority in retaining sins By which impenitent sinners are solemnly and judicially cut off from the sacred Body of the Church and utterly excluded from the company and Communion of the rest of the faithful Of which the Church hath thus resolved in her publick Articles viz. That person which by open denunciation of the Church is rightly cut off from the unity of the Church and Excommunicate ought to be taken of the whole multitude of the faithful as an Heathen and Publican until be be openly reconciled by penance and received into the Church by a Iudge that hath authority thereunto Where clearly we have found a Iudicial power and a Iudge to exercise the same and that not onely in the point of retaining sins in case of excommunication but also in reconciling of the penitent in remitting sins in the way of ordinary absolution Which whether it be given in Foro poenitentiae or in Foro Conscientiae either in private on the confession of the party or publickly for satisfaction of the Congregation doth make no difference in this point which onely doth consist in the proof of this That the Priests or Ministers of the Gospel lawfully ordained have under Christ a power of forgiving sins Which comfortable doctrine of the remission of sins by Gods great mercy at all times and the Churches Ministery at some times as occasion is is the whole subject of this branch of the present Article Proceed we next to those great benefits which we reap thereby The Resurrection of the Body and the Life Everlasting ARTICLE XI
and beams of our Heavenly Father who hath bestowed our souls upon us indued with such a perfect measure of understanding and who not onely doth direct our mindes in the ways of godliness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but in due time also will save our Bodies The Divine Plato and his followers borrowed a great deal of their light from this Zoroaster and the like Dictates of the rest of the Chaldean Sages which grounded him in his opinion of the Souls immortality and the account it was to give to the dreadful Iudge in the world to come whereof he speaketh in his second Epistle and eleventh Book De Legibus Pythagoras though sometimes he held the transmigration of the soul into other Bodies yet in his better thoughts he disposed it otherwise and placed the souls of vertuous men in the Heavens above where they should be immortal and like the gods saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is to say Leaving the Body they to Heaven shall flie Where they shall be immortal never die And to this purpose also that of Epicharmus may be here alleged assuring us That if we live a life conform to the rules of vertue death shall not be able to do us hurt because our souls shall live in a blessed life in the highest Heavens Upon these grounds but specially upon the reading of some Books of Plato Cleombrotus is said to have been so ravished with the contemplation of the glories of that other life that for the more speedy attaining of them he cast himself down from the top of a Mountain with greater zeal by far than wisdom And therefore much more commendable was the death and dying speech of one Chalcedius another of those old Platonicks Revertar in patriam ubi meliores Progenitores Parentes I am saith he returning into my own Country where I shall finde the bettet sort of my Progenitors and deceased Parents Nor was this such a point of divine knowledge as was attainable onely by the wise men of Greece the sober men amongst the Romans had attained it also For Cicero affirms expresly Certum esse ac definitum in coelo locum ubi beati aevo sempiterno fruantur That there is a certain and determinate place in Heaven where the blessed souls of those who deserve well of the publick shall injoy everlasting rest and happiness And Seneca speaks thus of death intermittit vitam non eripit that it onely interrupteth the course of life but destroyeth it not because there will come a day at last qui nos iterum in lucem reponat which will restore us again to the light of Heaven Finally Not to add more testimonies in so clear a case Homer makes Hercules a companion of the gods above with whom he lives in endless solace 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And Ennius saith the like of Romulus Romulus in Coelo longum cum diis agit aevum If we would know what their opinion was of the place it self in which eternal life was to be enjoyed we have a glimpse or shadow of it in the fiction of the Elysian fields so memorized and chanted by the antient Poets Locos laetos amoena vireta Fortunatorum nemorum sedesque beatas A place conceived to be replenished with all variety of pleasures and divine contentments which possibly the soul of man could aspire unto the ground continually covered with the choycest Tapistry of Nature the Trees perpetually furnished with the richest fruits excellent both for taste and colour the Rivers running Nectar and most heavenly Wines fit for the Palat of the gods And which did add to all these beauties 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sweets thereof not blasted by untimely dewes or interrupted by the inclemency of a bitter winter A place by them designed for the soules of those who had been careful of Religion or lost their lives in the defence and preservation of their natural Country or otherwise deserved nobly of the publick Nay even the rude Americans and savage Indians whom we may justly call jumenta rationalia a kind of reasonable beasts retain amongst them a Tradition thar beyond some certain hils but they know not where there is a glorious place reserved for the soules of those who had lived vertuously and justly in this present life or sacrificed their lives to defend their Country or were the Authors of any notable and signal benefit which tended to the good of mankind If then not onely the Philosophers and learned Gentiles but even the Barbarians and rude Americans have spooken so divinely of the place and state of good men departed there is no question to be made but that the Patriarchs Prophets and other holy men of God were very well assured of the truth hereof although they lived before or under the Law as well assured as we that have the happiness to live under the Gospel For St. Paul telleth us of the Fathers which were under the cloud that they all passed thorow the red Sea and did all eat the same spiritual meat and did all drink the same spiritual drink for they drank of that spiritual Rock which followed them and that Rock was Christ Not that they had the same Sacraments in specie which we Cristians have but others which conduced to the same effect and did produce the same fruits both of Faith and Piety The Mysteries of salvation the hopes and promises of eternal life are frequently expressed in the Old Testament quamvis obscuriores longè though more obscure by far than in the forms of speech in which they are presented to us in the New Testament as Peter Martyr well observes And he notes too that many were the temporal promises or the promises concerning temporal blessings but so as to conduct and train them up in the hopes of happines eternal The temporal blessings which they had were but the types and figures of those endless comforts which were reserved for them in the Heavens above the land of Promise but a shadow of that promised land of which they were to be heirs in the Kingdom of God Hierusalem but a Map of that glorious City whose Author and founder is the Lord. Enoch had neither been translated before the Law nor Elias under it had not both of them stedfastly beleeved this truth that they should see the goodness of the Lord in the Land of the living And yet some men there were and I doubt still are who teach that the holy men of God which lived before Christ our Saviours time did fix their hopes only upon temporal blessings and not at all upon spiritual or if upon spiritual as the peace of conscience yet not upon eternal happiness which is the crown and glory of that peace The Anabaptists and the Familists were of this opinion against whom the Church of England hath declared her self in the Seventh Article of her Confession saying That they are not to be
heard which feign that the old Fathers did onely look for transitory promises Of this opinion also was that wretched Servetus who thought no otherwise of the people of the house of Israel quam de aliquo porcorum grege than other men would do of an herd of Swine whom he conceived the Lord did fatten in the Land of Canaan Citra ullam spem coelestis immortalitatis Without breeding them in any hopes of the life eternal And against him doth Calvin who hath given us this knowledge of him intend his whole tenth Chapter of his second Book of Institutions Nor do I find but that our Masters in the Church of Rome like it well enough though they keep more aloof in the tendrie of it For neither doth Prateolus nor Alphonsus à Castro nor any other of their Writers for ought I can finde in reckoning up the errors of the Anabaptists or of Servetus and his followers account this for one nor do they give such efficacy to the Iewish Sacraments as to confer Grace or spiritual gifts on them that were partakers of them And Harding telleth us in plain terms That the body is not raised to eternal life but by the real and substantial eating of the flesh of Christ Which were it so as Bishop Iewel well observeth what life could Abraham Isaac and Iacob and other holy Patriarchs and Prophets have which were before the coming of Christ and therefore could not really and substantially eat his flesh Must we not needs conclude by this strange Divinity that they have no life but are dead for ever without any hope of resurrection unto Life everlasting But what need such deductions though most clear and evident when one of their infallible and Authentick Records speaks it out so plainly that every ordinary understanding cannot but perceive it I mean the Roman Catechism published by the order and authority of the Council of Trent The Authors whereof abusing the authority of St. Augustine in his Comment on the 77th Psalm will have the Iewish Church to be called the Synagogue Quia pecudum more quibus magis congregari convenit terrena tantum caduca bona spectarent i. e. Because like brute beasts who properly are said to be congregated or gathered together for so the word Synagogue doth import they sought after nothing but transitory and temporal things Than which no Anabaptist in the world could have spoke more plainly A Tenet very contrary to plain Texts of Scripture which speak no otherwise of the Patriarchs Prophets and other holy men of God which lived before and under the Law than of those to whom pertained the adoption of Sons and the glory and the service of God and the same Promises which are made to us who live under the Gospel For doth not God say to our Father Abraham that he was both his shield and his great reward his shield or his Protector as the Vulgar reads it to save him from all danger in this present world and his exceeding great reward in the world to come And doth not Iob whose history was writ by the hand of Moses as it is generally conceived by men of learning profess a more than ordinary confidence in the Resurrection and of his seeing God with those very eyes which were to be consumed with worms Doth not the Royall Psalmist tell us of himself that he did verily beleeve to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living And doth not the Prophet tell us of the blessed Land where men live for ever that the eye hath not seen nor the ear heard neither can the heart of man conceive those things which God hath prepared for them that love him Sufficient evidence to prove that as well in the Old Testament as in the New Everlasting Life is offered to mankinde by God according to the Doctrine of this Church of England It is true the Promises of Everlasting Life to us which live under the Gospel are delivered in more clear expressions than those which were delivered to our Fathers which lived under the Law for which we have the greater cause to give thanks to God who speaks so plainly to us without Tropes and Figures without Types and Ceremonies the shadows of those things which we have in substance For what can be more plain than that of our Lord and Saviour saying That the righteous shall go into life everlasting Matth. 25.46 That they which do forsake all for his sake shall in the world to come have eternal life Mark 10.30 That whosoever believeth in the onely begotten Son of God shall not perish but have life everlasting John 3.6 That he which hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal Chap. 12.25 Or what can be more plain than those words of St. Paul in the first to Timothy advising us That we lay up in store for our selves a good foundation against the time to come that we may lay hold on eternal life Chap. 6.19 Or those to Titus That being justified by his grace we shall be made heirs according to the hopes of life eternal Chap. 3.7 Or that in the second to the Corinthians We know that if our earthly tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the Heavens Chap. 5.1 Finally What can be more plain than that of St. Peter assuring us That by the Resurrection of Christ from the dead we are begotten again to an inheritance immortal undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved for us in the Heavens 1 Pet. 5.3 4. Or that in the same Epistle where he telleth his Presbyters That if they feed the flock of Christ committed to them when the chief Shepherd shall appear they shall receive immarcessibilem coronam gloriae an immarcessible Crown of glory or a Crown of glory which withereth not as our English reads it Chap. 5.4 How much more might be added from the Revelations and other passages of the New Testament where the same thing is either figuratively expressed or easily inferred by logical and necessary consequences but that I was to shew that eternal life was promised unto those who lived under the Law although not every where nor altogether in such clear expressions as it is held forth unto us who live under the Gospel As clear are those expressions also which do set forth the nature and condition of this life to come as those which do deliver the eternity and duration of it For in some places it is called the joy of the Lord Enter into thy masters joy Matth. 25.5 Where there is fulness of joy and at his right hand there is pleasure for evermore as the Psalmist hath it Et nunquam turbata quies gaudia firma in the Poets language Sometimes it is called a Kingdom and a Crown of glory A Kingdom by our Saviour in St. Matthews Gospel Chap. 25.5 A Crown of glory by St. Paul
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
whole Text is expounded of Christs descent into Hell as hath been proved at large in the foresaid Article This finally is the very place to which the Devils who exclaimed against Christ our Saviour for coming to torment them before their time desired him that they might not go And they besought him saith St. Luke ne imperaret illis ut in Abyssum irent i. e. That he would not command them to go into the deep or rather into the Abysse or the bottomless pit as the word is rendred thrice in the Revelation Abyssus therefore must be Hell or the house of torments prepared for the Devil and his Angels against the judgment of that great and terrible day which they were so afraid to enter that they besought the Lord not to send them thither The third word used for Hell in the holy Scripture is Tartarus used onely by St. Peter and that but once God spared not saith he the Angels that sinned but having bound them with chains of darkness detrusos in Tartaro tradidit cruciandos cast them down into Hell to be kept there to the day of judgment Where Tartarus though Englished Hell is not that very place of torment to which they shall be doomed in the judgment day but the out-skirts or suburbs of it the prison in the which they lie bound in the chains of darkness But whether it be Hell it self or the dungeon to it the antient Gentiles who best knew the true meaning of it have made it a dark place in the deeps of the Earth and therefore called by Ovid Tenebrosa Tartara Thus Hesiod also telleth us of it that the dungeon of Tartarus is as much under the Earth as Heaven is above it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as his words there are And so did Virgil understand it when he told us this Tartarus ipse bis patet in praeceps tantum That Tartarus is twice as deep as the Heaven is high And in a prophecy of one of the Sibyls which I finde often cited by the antient Fathers it is described to be a place in the lower parts of the Earth For speaking of the day of judgment it is there affirmed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That then the gaping Earth shall discover the Tartarean dungeon That they did also use the word for the place of torments is evident by that of Anacreon an old drunken Poet who giveth this reason why he was so loath to die and forsake this world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Because he feared to go to Tartarus And so St. Augustine understood it when he said of Christ That he descended unto Tartarus but felt there no torments The fourth and last word was Gehenna or Ge-Hinnom a word not known amongst the Gentiles and onely used by Christ when he spake to the Iews whose it was originally and by St. Iames in his Epistle to that scattered Nation who very well understood the true meaning of it For Ge-Hinnom or the Valley of Hinnom was a Dell or Valley near Ierusalem in which there was a fire continually burning partly to consume the dead Carkasses and filth of the City and partly for the sacrificing of those wretched Children which were offered to the Idol Moloch Which making it a place both of stink and terror it came to be a type of Hell-fire it self and for the fire of Hell or for Hell it self was used by Christ and his Apostle as before was said the Hebrew word being mollified and made Gehenna Hell is called many times Gehinnon saith Peter Martyr because a Vale being a low and deep place doth resemble Hell Quod infra terram esse creditur which generally is believed to be under the Earth A place of fiery torments saith Martin Bucer and therefore called Gehenna ignis or the Hell of fire in St. Matthews Gospel These are the several words used by the sacred Pen-men of the New Testament when they speak of Hell And all being laid together will amount to this That it is a dark and dismal place in the deeps of the Earth prepared by God originally for the devil and his angels and secondarily for impenitent sinners where they shall fry for ever in unquenchable flames and see no other light but the fire that burns them And this being properly the punishment reserved in Hell for those who are condemned to that bottomless pit I shall insist the more upon it Not looking here upon the separation of the wicked from the love of God or the despair which they grone under or the guilt of conscience which either are but poena damni the loss of that which Gods beloved do enjoy in the Heavenly glories or are in part inflicted on the wicked man in this present life For unto this relates those Parables in St. Matthews Gospel where it is said by Christ That the Angels shall gather out of his Kingdom all things that offend and them that do iniquity and shall cast them in caminum ignis into the furnace of fire And in the Parable of the Net we have it in the same words in caminum ignis Thus the rich glutton in St. Luke is said to be tormented in those fiery flames And in the twentieth of the Revelation it is called expresly Stagnum ignis sulphuris A lake of fire and brimstone as was said before A truth communicated to and by the Prophets of the former times who give us this description of Tophet or the Valley of Hinnom That the pile thereof is fire and much wood that the breath of the Lord is like a stream of brimstone to kindle it and that the stream thereof shall be turned into pitch and the dust into brimstone And Malachi speaking of the day of judgment telleth us That it shall burn like an Oven and that all which do wickedly shall be as the stubble Quos inflammabit dies veniens whom that day when it cometh shall burn up A truth so known among the Gentiles whether by tradition of their Ancestors or conversation with the Iews we dispute not here that by the verses of the Poets and the works of their most grave Philosophers as Minutius telleth us Illius ignei fluminis admonenâ—ur homines Men were admonished to beware of that burning lake To which it were impertinent to adde the testimonies of the Antient Fathers by one of which it is called Divinus ignis Poenale incendium by a second Ardor poenarum by a third Aeternus ignis by a fourth sic de coeteris And though a Question hath been made as all things have been questioned in these captious times whether this fire be true and real or onely metaphorically called so in the Book of God yet by all sound Interpreters it is thus agreed on as hath been very well observed by a learned Iesuite Metaphoram esse non posse quae sit tam perpetua That such a constancy of expression