Interrogation Generationem eius quis enarrabit Who shall declare his generation Esay 53. Yet we haue met with some supercilious and daring wits which venture here to vntwist this mysterie of generation as if they would calculate an eternall birthright leaning vpon the authority of S. Hierom in his Commentaries vpon Eccl. 1. where he asseuers that in sacred Scriptures Quis oftentimes is not put for an impossibility but a difficulty And hee instances in this Quis of Esay Generationem eius quis enarrabit Lib 1. dist 19. But Lumbard doth both vindicate and interpret the Father thus Non dicit quod generatio filij aeterna He saies not that this eternall generation of the sonne of God can descend to any mortall capacity in an absolute and full knowledge but in some measure and degree for so the Apostle doth peece-out our perfection here We are happy in part and know onely in part not a haire not a feather as we should Dic mihi saith Augustine Orat. contra Arrianos altitudinem Coeli profundum Abyssi c. Shew me the height of Heauen and the depth of Hell number if thou canst the sands of the Sea the drops of raine or the haires of thine owne head Plane mee out by some perfect demonstration the truth of those things which grouell here below and I will beleeue thy knowledge may aspire to those which are aboue but thou hast no power of compassing the one nor possibility in the atchieuement of the other For when all thy faculties of vnderstanding will haue fluttered so high as the wings of nature can eleuate and mount them to yet thou wilt at last make vp the storie of Icarus and finde that these are but waxen plumes and will melt at the presence of those glorious beames and so thy fall will be as dishonourable as thy attempt was peremptory for if the great Doctour of the Gentiles rapt vp into the third Heauen said that hee heard words vnexpressable which no tongue dated to vtter how canst thou dissolue and vntie Paternae generationis Arcana as Ambrose stiles them those knots and Riddles of eternall generation which can neuer bore a humane intellect nor lie within the verge of mortall apprehension Mihi enim impossibile est generationis scire secretum saith the Father mens deficit vox silet non meae tantum sed Angelorum supra potestates sepra Cherubin supra Seraphin supra omnem sensum in his 1. de fide ad Gratian. c. 4. It is not then so much ambition in our desire as madnesse to attempt the knowledge of that where there is an impossibility of reuelation Those enterprizes are temerarious and ouer-head-strong which put on where there is not onely danger but a despaire of conquest How can reasonable man but lie buried vnder the weight of such a mysterie at which those grand pillars of the Church haue not onely shooke but shrunke How must wee be strucke dumbe when the tongues of Saints and Angels stutter How our mindes entranced when the glorious hoast of Heauen and all those feathered Hierarchies shal clap their â—ings All reasons tongue-tied all apprehension non plust all vnderstanding darkened so that I may now speake of this metaphoricall depth as Iob did of that other naturall Thou hast made a cloud the garment thereof and thicke darknesse a swadling band Mysteries carry with them such an awe and Maiestie as if they would be obeyed not disputed and assented to not controuerst In secrets without bottome such as carry the stampe of sacred except faith holds vs vp like children we swimme without bladders and must either dabble to the shore or sinke reason hath not an hand to lend vs. Faith and reason in respect of mysterie are as a wheele and a bucket at a deepe well faith hath both the power and safetie of descent and nimbly fathoms it whilst reason wheele's and rounds it and is strangely giddied in a distracted Gyre And indeed who durst laue such an Ocean Esay 44 7. but he that sayes to the deepes be drie Iob 38.8 or can shut vp the seas with doores that they breake not out and say hither shalt thou come no farther there shall thy proud waues stay What eye that lookes on the Sunne and dazels not Ecclus 10.19 but he that sees from euerlasting to euerlasting sends out lightning that they may come and goe and say here we are The star-gazer and bold figure flinger are at a stand here why lookest thou vp thou proud Astrologer you men of Galilee why gaze you into heauen Thus saith the Lord of hoasts he that form'd thee from the wombe Esay 44.24,25 I am the Lord that maketh all things that stretcheth out the heauens alone that frustrateth the tokens of lyars and maketh diuiners mad that turneth wisemen backwards and maketh their knowledge foolishnesse Thou O Lord shalt haue them in derision thou shalt laugh the heathen to scorne for the sinne of their mouth and the words of their lips they shall be taken in their pride as the dust O Lord shalt thou driue and scatter them and in thy wrath thou shalt consume them that they may know that it is God that ruleth in Iaacob and to the end of the world Arrius is now in his pompe and height of glory and flourisheth like a greene bay-tree anone looke after him and hee is no where to bee found Hee is vp yet but it is with the proud man in the Psalmes in slippery places and anone with him how suddenly destroyed perished and brought to a fearefull end The whole Easterne Church is now in a strange combustion and he must kindle it by and by those flames shall light him to his owne ruine Heresie may root and bud and branch and grow to a goodly height but the hand of vengeance houers ouer it and when it strikes it fels it at a blow and it comes downe like a pine from a steepe mountaine which in the fall shatters both the branch and bodie It is heere as with mists and fogges which we see first rise as in a thin smoake from a low Fen or Valley but gathering strength climbe the mountaine and at last so thicken in one body of vapours that they seeme to dare the Earth with a second night till the Sunne recouering height and power by the vertue and subtiltie of his beames doth dissipate and open them and they are seene no more Will you haue a president we find Arrius at first a meane Priest of Alexandria in Aegypt a man keene and subtill as well in wit as learning Specie forma magis quà m virtute religiosus sed gloria nouitatis improbè cupidus saith Ruffinus Lib. 1. In vertue not so much refined as in the deportment of the outward man which promised a set grauity though no truth of Religion in a thirst and pursuit of honour and noueltie strangely violent Dulcis erat