mystery of the Trinity is necessary to be known and believed of all that shal be saved it was not so plainly revealed to the Jewes of old as it is to us in the new Testament a perfect and full knowledge of this mystery is not attainable in this life Although Trinity in its native signification signifie the number of any three things yet by Ecclesiasticall custome it is limited to signifie the three Persons in the Trinity This is not meant as if the Essence did consist of three Persons as so many parts and therefore there is a great difference between Trinity and Triplicity Trinity is when the same Essence hath divers waies of subsisting and Triplicity is when one thing is compounded of three as parts they are three not in respect of Essence or Divine attributes three Eternals but three in respect of personall properties as the Father is of none the Sonne of the Father and the holy Ghost of both three Persons but one God as to be to be true to be good are all one because Transcendents Opera Trinitatis ad extra sunt indivisa the outward workes which concerne the creature belong to one person as wel as the other as to create govern but opera ad intra sunt divisa the personall properties or internall workes are distinguished as the Father begets the Sonne is begotten of the Father and the holy Ghost proceeds from the Father and the Sonne There is in the Trinity alius alius another and another but not aliud aliud another thing and another thing as there is in Christ the Father is another person from the Sonne but yet there is the same nature and Essence of them all They differ not in their natures as three men or three Angels differ for they differ so as one may be without the other but now the Father is not without the Sonne nor the Sonne without the Father so that there is the same numericall Essence The Father in some sence is said to be the onely God John 17. 3. that is besides the Divine nature which is common to the three persons there is not another God to be found the word alone is opposed to all faigned Gods to every thing which is not of this Divine nature so when it is said None knoweth the Father but the Sonne and the Sonne but the Father that excludes not the Holy Ghost which searcheth the hidden things of God but all which are not of that Essence Though there be no inequality in the persons yet there is an order not of dignity but of beginning The Father in the Sonne by the holy Ghost made the world not as if there were so many partiall causes much lesse as if God the Father were the Principall and these Instrumentall but onely meere order Persona divina est essentiae divinae subsistentia incommunicablis Wendelinus The Essence considered with the manner of subsisting is called a Person A Person is such a subsistence in the Divine nature as is distinguished from every other thing by some speciall or personall property or else it is the God-head restrained with his personall property Or it is a different manner of subsisting in the Godhead as the nature of man doth diversly subsist in Peter JAmes John but these are not all one It differs from the essence as the manner of the thing from the thing it selfe and not as one thing from another one person is distinguisht from another by its personall property and by its manner of working The personall property of the Father is to beget that is not to multiply his substance by production but to communicate his substance to the same The Sonne is said to be begotten that is to have the whole substance from the Father by communication The Holy ghost is said to proceed or to be breathed forth to receive his substance by proceeding from the Father and the Sonne joyntly in regard of which he is called the Spirit of the Father and the Spirit of the Sonne both Gal. 4. 6. The Father onely begetteth the Sonne onely is begotten and the holy Ghost onely proceedeth both procession and generation are ineffable In the manner of working they differ for the Father worketh of himselfe by the Sonne and through the holy Ghost the Sonne worketh from the Father by the Holy Ghost the holy Ghost worketh from the Father and the Sonne by himselfe There is so one God as that there are three persons or divers manners of being in that one Godhead the Father Sonne and the holy Ghost 1 Whatsoever absolutely agrees to the Divine nature that doth agree likewise to every person of the Trinity 2 Every person hath not a part but the whole Deity in it selfe A person is one entire distinct subsistence having life understanding will and power by which he is in continuall operation These things are required to a person 1 That it be a substance for accidents are not persons they inhere in another thing a person must subsist 2 A lively and intelligent substance endued with reason and will an house is not a person nor a stone or beast 3 Determinate and singular for mankind is not a person but John and Peter 4 Incommunicable it can not be given to another hence the nature of man is not a person because it is communicable to every particular man but every particular man is a person because that nature which he hath in particular can not be communirated to another 5 Not sustained by another therefore the humane nature of Christ is not a person because it is sustained by his Deity 6 It must not be the part of another therefore the reasonable soule which is a part of man is not a person That there are three persons in the Deity viz. Father Sonne and holy Ghost is manifest by expresse testimonies of Scripture Genes 1. 1. Gods created and v. 26. Psalm 33. 6. there three are named the Word the Lord and the Spirit Esay 6.3 Holy Holy Holy But this truth is most clearly taught in the new Testament Matth. 3. 16. Luke 3. 22. The first person in the Trinity utters his voice from Heaven This is my beloved Sonne the Sonne is baptized in Jordan the holy Ghost descends in the shape of a Dove upon Christ. Pater auditur in voce Filius manifestatur in homine Spiritus Sanctus dignoscitur in columba Aug. tract 6. in Joh. Adde to this the History of Christs transfiguration described Matth. 17. 5. Marke 9. 7. Luke 9. 35. In which likewise the voice of the Father was heard from Heaven This is my beloved Sonne the Sonne is transfigured the Holy Ghost manifests himselfe in a bright cloud Matth. 28. 19. The Apostles are commanded to baptize in the Name of Father Sonne and holy Ghost Cameron thinks that is the most evident place to prove the Trinity But that is as â—pposite a place as any for this purpose 1 John 5.
Ghost is the maker preserver and governour of all things by his wisdome power justice providence Concerning man 1 That he was made by God of a visible body and an immortall and spirituall soule both so perfect and good in their kindsâ— that he was perfectly able to have attained eternall life for himselfe which was provided as a reward of his obedience 2 That being thus made he yeelded to the temptations of the Devill and did voluntarily sinne against God in eating of the Tree forbidden and so became a child of wrath and heire of cursing an enemy to God and slave to the devill utterly unable to escape eternall death which was provided as a recompence of his disobedience 3 That he doth propagate this his sinfulnesse and misery to all his posterity Concerning Christ. 1 That he is perfect God and perfect man the second Person in the Trinity who tooke the nature of man from the Virgin Mary and united it to himselfe in one personall subsistence by an incomprehensible union 2 That in mans nature he did die and suffer in his life and death sufficient to satisfie Gods justice which man had offended and to deserve for mankind remission of sinnes and life everlasting and that in the same nature he rose againe from the dead and shall also raise up all men to receive judgement from him at the last day according to their deeds 3 That he is the onely sufficient and perfect Redeemer and no other merit must be added unto this either in whole or part Lastly concerning the meanes of applying the Redeemer they are three 1 That all men shall not be saved by Christ but onely those that are brought to such a sight and feeling of their owne sinfulnesse and misery that with sorrow of heart they doe bewaile their sinnes and renouncing all merits of their owne or any creature cast themselves upon the mercy of God and the onely merits of Jesus Christ which to doe is to repent and believe and in this hope live holily all the remainder of their life 2 That no man is able thus to see his sinnes by his owne power renounce himselfe and rest upon Christ but God must worke it in whom he pleaseth by the cooperation of his Spirit regenerating and renewing them 3 That for the working of this faith and repentance and direction of them in a holy life he hath left in writing by the Prophets and Apostles infallibly guided to all truth by his Spirit all things necessary to be done or believed to salvation and hath continued these writings to his people in all ages Observe those places Acts 15. 11. 1 Tim. 1. 15. Let a man hold this that there was nothing but death in the world till Christ came and that he is come to save horrible sinners John 17. 3. Secondly there is a practicall place Titus 3. 8. Let us 1. See our selves dead without Christ and wholy trust in him 2. Let us be exemplary in our lives and conversations There are other Fundamentals which are onely comparatively necessary that is expected from one man which is not expected from another and more from those that live in the Church Have these six principles of the Apostle not onely in your heads but hearts 1. That a man is dead in himselfe 2. That his remedy lies out of himselfe 3. Know the doctrine of the Sacraments 4. The Word of God 5. Have some apprehension of the life to come 1. That there is a passage from death to life 2. That there is a fixed and irrevokable estate after this life Hold the doctrine of faith so that Christ may live in you and you be delivered up into that forme of doctrine lay hold on life eternall Secondly there are some particular principles There is a naturall light and supernaturall The light of nature teacheth some principles That you must doe as you would be done by that no man hates his owne flesh that one must provide for his family that there is a God and one God that he is to be honoured and reverenced above all 2. Supernaturall Let all our actions be done 1. in love 2. in humility 3. in faith 4. in God this the Gospell teacheth Shew your selves Christians in power go beyond the Heathen in practising the good rules of nature 1. Be carefull to make a wise choice of principles one false principle admitted will let in many errors and erroneous principles will lead men into erroneous practises 2. Labour to act your principles if you captivate the light God wil put it out 3. Be sure you worke according to your principles we pitty another in an errour when he follows his principles Here is an apology for those teachers which tread in Pauls steps are carefull to lay the foundation well It was the observation of our most judicious King JAMES That the cause why so many fell to Popery and other errours was their ungroundednesse in points of Catechisme How many wanton opinions are broached in these daies I wish I might not justly call them Fundamentall errours Some deny the Scriptures some the Divinity of Christ some the immortality of the soule Errours are either contra against the foundation which subvert the Foundation as that of the Papists who deny the al-sufficiency of Christs once suffering 2. Circa about the foundation which pervert the Foundation as the Lutherans opinion of the ubiquity of Christs body 3. Citra meerly without these divert the foundation as in the controversies of Church-government whether it be Sociall or Solitary this strikes not at the Foundation Laurentius saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 3. 11 12 13 14 15. speakes not of Hereticall Teachers and those which erre in fundamentals but of those which erre in lighter matters because he saith of both that they build upon one and the same Foundation Christ. We should contend for a known Fundamentall necessary truth Jude 3. the common faith not every opinion entertained on probable grounds It is a great question in Divinity An Magistratui Christiano liceat capitales poenas de haereticis sumere Whether Heretickes are to be punished by the Christian Magistrate with death The Papists say Haeretici qua Haeretici comburendi That Hereticks for Heresie sake though they doe not trouble the State ought to be put to death Luther doth not approve of the capitall punishment of Heretickes especially for the pernicious sequell of it among the Papists against the Protestants He thinkes it better that they be banished The present Lutherans hold the same almost concerning that question Meisner doth distinguish between haereticus simplex and haereticus seditiosus ac blasphemus these last he saith may be punished with capitall punishments The Socinians being themselves the worst of Hereticks would have no outward forcible restraining of any errour though never so grosse and pernicious For the Protestants heare what Zanchy saith Omnes fere ex nostratibus hujus sunt sentenâ—iae quod haâ—retici sint
It consists of 28 Chapters in which the person of Christ and his three Offices of Prophet Priest and King are described The best Expositors on it are Hilary Musculus Paraeus Calvin Marke He was the Disciple of Peter and wrote his Gospell from him in the fourth yeere of Claudius Caesar say some He wrote not in Latine as Bellarmine saith but in Greeke Concerning the Archetypall Language in which the Gospels of Marke and Luke were written see Mr Selden in Eutichii orig It consists of 16 Chapters in which Christs threefold Office is also explained The best Expositors on it are Calvin Beza Piscator Maldonate Jansenius Luke He was for Countrey of Antioch for profession a Physitian there is mention made of him Col. 4. 14. 2 Tim. 4. 11. Philem. 24. He was companion to Paul the Apostle in his travels and in prison He onely makes a Preface before his Gospell that he may briefly shew the cause which induced him to write The best Expositors on it are Calvin Beza Piscator Maldonate Jansenius John In Hebrew signifieth the grace of God he soareth higher then the other Evangelists to our Saviours Divinity therefore as Nazianzen among the Fathers he is called the Divine by an Excellency because he hath so graphically gravely described the divinity of the Sonne and hath written also of things most divine and Theologicall He hath the Eagle for his Ensigne assigned him by the Ancients He was called Presbyter by reason of his age being the longest liver of all the Apostles He wrote the last of all when he returned from the Isle Patmos therefore there is something more in every Chapter of John then any other of the Evangelists He alone describeth the admirable Sermon which our Saviour made at his last Supper and his Prayer It consists of 21 Chapters in which the person of Christ consisting of the Divine and humane nature is described In his Gospell is described first Christs person in the first Chapter 2. His Office in the second Chapter to the twelfth 3. His death from the twelfth to the end The best Expositors on him are Calvin Beza Piscator Rollock Tarnovius Musculus Acts Luke in the proem of it makes mention of the Gospell written by him that he might professe himselfe to be the Author of both It consists of 28 Chapters Luke calleth his History the Acts of the Apostles though it be specially of their sufferings because even their passions were actions they enlarged the Kingdome of Christ by their sufferings The best Expositors on it are Brentius de Deiu Calvin The 13 Epistles of Paul one to the Romans two to the Corinthians one to the Galathians one to the Ephesians one to the Philippians one to the Colossians two to the Thessalonians two to Timothy one to Titus and one to Philemon the Primitive Church unanimously received into the Canon and never doubted being of their Apostolicall They have their name Epistles à fornia Epistolari qua conscriptae sunt A Lapide Estius Grotius and Vorstius have done well on all the Epistles Imprimis Estius ex Pontificiis saith Vâ—etius The Epistles are for the most part written in this order they have 1. An Inscription wherein is the name of the writer and of them to whom he writes and his wish 2. The matters of the Epistle which are sometimes meerly religious concerning certaine Articles of faith or piety of life or about the use of things indifferent or else familiar things witnessing their mutuall good will 3. The conclusion in which are exhortations salutations wishes or other familiar matters There are 21 Epistles 14 written by Paul and seven more written by Peter John JAmes and Jude Concerning the time and place in which the severall Epistles were written it is not easie to determine I will premise something about the order of the Epistles before I speake of them particularly Some of Pauls Epistles were written before his imprisonment some in his bonds both former and latter Before his imprisonment the first of all that was written were both the Epistles to Thessalonians they were written from Corinth the 8th or 9th yeere of Claudius Titus was written by Paul in those two yeeres that he staied at Ephesus Galatians At the end of the two yeeres that Paul was at Ephesus the Epistle to the Galathians seemes to be written 1 Cor. 16. 2. by which words the Apostle seems to intimate that this Epistle to the Galathians was written before that to the Corinthians Corinthians Paul living two yeeres at Ephesus in the 11th and 12th yeere of Claudius the Corinthians wrote to him 1 Cor 7. 1 and that by Stephanus and Fortunatus which they sent to him Ch. 16 17. by whom Paul seemeth to have written backe the first Epistle to the Corinthians for in that he exceedingly commends them of Corinth It was not written from Philippi as the Greeke superscription hath it but from Ephesus as the Arabicke interpreter hath it as is manifest Chap. 16. v. 8. The second Epiâ—â—ile to the Corinthians and the first of Timâ—thy strive for priority sub judice lis est Both of them were written a little after Paul departed from Ephesus and while he travelled to Macedonia but it is not manifest which was the first First Epistle to Timothy Some thinke that this Epistle was written by Paul in his bonds but not rightly for he makes no mention of his bonds in it It is probable that it was written from Athens as it is in the Arabicke subscription when he came from Macedonia to Greece and so it was written after the first Epistle to the Corinthians Romans The Epistle to the Romans was written at Corinth when Paul having spent three moneths in Greece sailed to Jerusalem that there he might gather the collections of the Churches of Achaia Asia and Macedonia This is manifest from Rom. 15. 2 4. These are the Epistles which seem to be written by Paul out of imprisonment the other were written in his bonds Pauls bonds were twofold former and latter One onely viz. the latter to Timothy seems to be written in the latter bonds of Paul a little before his Martyrdome the others were written in his former bonds Epistle to the Philippians This seems to be the first of them all which Paul wrote in his bonds When Paul was captive at Rome the Philippians being carefull for him sent Epaphroditus thither who visited Paul in his bonds and ministred to him necessary helpes for the preserving of his life as appeares by the 2d chapter and 25 verse of that Epistle and the 4th chapter 10. and 18. verses Paul sent him backe againe to the Philippians and commends him to them Chap. 11. 28. That the Epistle was written in his bonds is manifest from the first Chap. v. 7 13 14. and from Rome not Jerusalem Chap. 4. vers 22. The Epistles to the Colossians Ephesians Philippians and
thing but all things are in him God is a Spirit a being voyd of all dimensions circumscriptions and divisiblenesse of parts Other Spirits are compounded of substance and accidents at least and exist in a place by limitation of Essence by which they are here and not there but God is an Essence altogether simple and immateriall utterly free from all manner of composition any way in whom are no qualities nor any limitation of essence Hee is a Spirituall Simple and Immateriall essence His essence is substantiall an essence which hath a being in it selfe not in another simply and wholly immateriall Hee is one most pure and meere Act but incomprehensible goes quite beyond our knowledge so that wee cannot comprehend his essence nor know it as it is He only perfectly knowes himselfe but he may be known in some sort 1. By his Names 2. By his Attributes The word God is attributed First properly to him who is essentially God Esay 42. 8. 1 Cor. 8. 6. and either personally commonly without a determination of a certaine Person John 4. 24. Or singularly to some one person by a Synecdoche John 3. 16. Acts 20. 28. 1 Tim. 3. 16. Secondly improperly to those which by nature are not God 1 Cor. 8. 5. Gal. 4. 8. and that name is given to these either from Gods ordination for the dignity and excellency of their office as to Angels Psal. 8. 6. to Magistrates Psal. 82. 6. to Moses Ex. 4. 16. or from their owne unjust usurpation as to the Devill who is called the God of the World 2 Cor. 4. 9. or from the erroneous perswasion of men as to Idoles 1 Cor. 8. 4 5. For the ten Hebrew names of God having handled them in another place I shall say but little of them here The name Jehovah Jah Ehejeb signifie Gods Perfect Absolute and simple being of and by himselfe 2. Such a being as giveth being to other things and upon whom they depend 3. Such a God as is true and constant in his promises ready to make good whatsoever he hath spoken His names El Elohim Schaddai Adonai signifie a God all-sufficient in himselfe strong and powerfull able to blesse protect and punish The Jewes in Pronouncing or writing the Names of God were reverent even to superstition D. Fulk against Martin In the new Testament Gods most frequent Names are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God and Lord. He is also called the Father of lights JAmes 1. 17. The essentiall names of God are 1. Proper which agree to no Creature not Analogically 2. Common which are applied to others but agree to God principally by way of excellency as God King and good The Name of God is used five wayes in Scripture First essentially for God himselfe Esay 30. 27. Secondly for the power and efficacy which comes from God Ps. 118. 10 11 12. Thirdly for the command and authority of God 1 Sam. 17. 45. Fourthly passively for those actions whereby he is acknowledged by us Mat. 18. 19. that is nothing but worshiping and calling upon the Father Sonne and Holy Ghost for assistance Lastly for that Word whereby he is distinguished from creatures and by which we are to have our thoughts directed about him 2. God may be known by his Attributes and essentiall properties of which some shew what he is in himselfe 2. What he is to us They are called Attributes because they are rather said to be attributed to God that we might by them better conceive what he is then to be in him They are that one most pure God diversly apprehended and the same with the Divine essence but for the weaknesse of our capacity they are diversly distinguished They are called properties because they are peculiar to his Majesty and are so in him as they are not in any Creature Some doe distinguish of Gods Attributes and Properties Attributes are those which belong to the Essence and Properties to the Persons themselves A property in God is an essentiall Attribute in him whereby his nature is knowne in it selfe and is distinguished from all other things Some Rules are to bee observed in attributing these to God First they are all essentiall to God for in him is no accident at all whatsoever is in God the same is God All these are also one in him his Mercy is his Justice and his Justice is his Mercy and each are his essence onely they differ in our apprehension Secondly they are all absolute properties in God and so distinguished from those respective properties whereby every person in the Trinity hath his own subsistence Thirdly they are all equall to all the three Persons and alike affirmed of all The Father Eternall most Holy Almighty mercifull so is the Sonne and Holy Ghost Fourthly these Attributes are altogether in God alone and that in the highest degree and measure yea above all degree and measure they are eternall and infinite in him Hee alone is good Mat. 19. 17. and only wise Rom. 16. 27. And Kings of Kings 1 Tim. 6. 15. They are affirmed of him both in the concrete and abstract Hee is not onely wise and good but wisdome and goodnesse it selfe Life and Justice it selfe Fifthly they are all actually and operatively in God He doth and will his holinesse makes us holy 6. All these are in God objectively and finally our holinesse lookes upon his holinesse as the face in the looking-glasse on the man whose representation it is and our holinesse ends in his 7. The attributes of God are everlasting constant and unchangeable for ever in him at one time as well as another This may minister comfort to Gods people Gods attributes are not mutable accidents but his very essence his love and mercy are like himselfe infinite immutable and eternall 2. We should imitate God and strive to be immutably good and holy as he is Levit. 11. 44. Matth. 5. 48. These attributes are diversly divided 1. They are Affirmative and Negative as Good Just Invisible Immortall Incorporeall Proper and Figurative as God is good wise members and humane affections are also attributed to him Absolute and Relative without any relation to the creatures as when God is said to be Immense Eternall he is likewise said to be a Creator King Judge Some describe God as he is in himselfe he is an essence Spirituall Invisible most Simple Infinite Immutable and Immortall Some as he is to us he is omnipotent most good just wise and true Some declare Gods own sufficiency so he is said to be Almighty infinite perfect unchangeable eternall others his efficiency as the working of his power justice and goodnesse over the creatures so he is said to be patient just mercifull Some are incommunicable and agree to God alone as when he is said to be eternall infinite Others are communicable in a sort with the creatures as when he is said to be wise
excellent is he that hath made and governes all Why do I not esteem him more and more The more we can lift up our hearts to exalt God the more we shall grow in all holinesse and righteousnesse 3. His friends and servants shall also be exalted at last though for a time despised and set light by We should often and seriously consider of this great perfection of Gods nature authority and works The very Saints and Angels have a Negative imperfection though not a privative they are not deprived of that which should be in them but there are many perfections which they have not God is simply and universally Perfect and he onely hath all kind of perfection according to his essence God is a Necessary Essence Contingency is found in the essence of every creature it might not have been as well as have been it may not be as well as be there was a possibility of its not being as there is a possibility of its not being yea there was an equall or greater possibility of its not being then its being God is a necessary essence it is absolutely necessary that he should be and he cannot but be and be as he is and his actions upon himself are altogether and simply necessary they must be as they be and cannot but be so God is Independent Esay 44. 6. Rev. 1. 8. and 21. 6. and 22. 13. Rom. 11. 35. 36. Every Creature as a Creature is Dependent and hangs upon some other thing then it self and owes its being and continuance to another Nehem. 9. 6. It hath causes of its being from which of which by which and for which it is and further then these causes did and do contribute to its being it cannot be The Angels have an efficient cause and end and they do as much stand indebted to God for their being and continuance as the poorest worm and would no more have been without God nor continue to be then the silliest gnat but God is altogether independent of himself by himself for himself he hath no causes but is to himself instead of all causes He is what he is without any help from any other thing as himself shewes in his name I am that I am There are many things which have a beginning from some other thing there must be something therefore that is of it self or else we should wander infinitely a selfe-essence and subsistence Gods being is neither ab alio ex alio per aliud nor propter aliud We should acknowledge God to be a necessary and Independent essence 3. God is wholly one Deut. 6. 4. Gal. 3. 20. 1 Tim. 2. 5. Hos. 13. 4. Mal. 2. 10. All creatures are subject to multiplication there may be many of them and are many many Angels men starres and so in the rest Not one of them is singular and onely one so but one might conceive that there should be more for he that made one of them can make another and another and as many as he pleaseth but God is simply one singular and sole essence there neither is nor can be more then one God because he is ths first and best essence and there can be but one first and one best He is Infinite and there cannot be but one Infinite because either one of them should include the other and so the included must needs be finite or not extend to the other and so it self not be Infinite There was a first man and a first in every kind of creature but not any absolute first save God one Eternall and one Incomprehensible saith Athanasius in his Creed There can be but one chiefe Good which we desire for it self and all other things for it say the Morall Philosophers and this must needs be God for no Infinite good can be conceived but He. Some places of Scripture simply deny other Gods and others exclude all but this one God Though there be Gods many and Lords many that is that are so called and reputed by men who deceive themselves in their own imaginations yet to us in the Church there is but one God Zach. 14. 9. after Christ shall come the Gentiles with the Jewes shall all worship one and the same true God That which is perfect in the highest degree can be but one because that one must contain all perfections that which is omnipotent can be but one if one can do all things what need is there of many Gods If there were more Gods then one we might and ought to do service to more then one to acknowledge them praise and love them and be at least in mind ready to obey them if they should command us any thing and we might lawfully seek to them for what we need and give thanks to them for what we received But the Lord professeth himself to be a jealous God and cannot endure any Copartner in worship The Romans refused Christ because they would have had their Gods with him and he would be worshipped alone without them He is one God Not numerically as one is a beginning of number for that is a quantity but transcendently as Ens and unum are counted onely one solely and alone God there cannot be two Infinites in essence for then one should not have all the other hath in it God is Infinite for of his Greatnesse there is no end Secondly others would be imperfect or superfluous he being Infinite and Perfect Thirdly From his absolute Lordship and dominion over all he is King of Kings and Lord of Lords My God said Luther to the Pope will make your God know that you are too weak for him if there were two Gods there would be a strife between them as between Caesar and Pompey who should be the Greater and chiefest of all God may be said in a speciall manner to be one two severall wayes 1. For the purity and simplicity of his substance which is not compounded with any thing else For that is most truly and properly one which is nothing but it self and hath no other thing mixed with it God is so pure and simple an essence that he is not compounded so much as of parts 2. From his singularity because there are no more Gods but one God is not onely one but he is also the onely one He is such a one as hath no Copartners in worship Both which Titles are expresly ascribed unto God in the Scriptures Both that he is one and that he is the onely one God is not only unus but also unicus or to use Saint Bernards word unissimus If that word may be used he is of all things the onest Socrates and Plato in their definition of God ascribe to him unity with particular respect unto his singularity Pythogoras his advice to his Schollers was to search the unity There is a threefold unity first of persons in one nature so there is
one God Deut. 6. 4. The second of natures in one person so there is one Christ. 1 Cor. 8. 6. Thirdly of sundry natures and persons in one quality so there is one Church Cant. 6. 8. The Socinians reject these three unions because they so farre transcend reason and they receive not those things which their reason cannot comprehend The more we content our selves with God onely the happier we are he is the onely Infinite riches wisdom goodnesse how happy are they that have him in quo omnia spend all thy paines in getting him 2. If he be your enemy there is none else to rescue you he is God and there is none else he will destroy and none shall be able to deliver out of his hands 3. It shewes the wickednesse of those which set up other Gods besides the true God The Epicure makes his belly and the covetous man Gold his God themselves of Stocks and Stones this is a great dishonour to him the Papists worship the Crosse invocate Saints and Angels make a God of the Pope The Heathens were guilty of Polytheisme they worshipped many Gods they had their Dij majorum and minorum gentium Hesiod reckons up thirty thousand Gods the Manichees said there were two Gods the Thritheites that there were three This is the very first of all Gods Commandements thou shalt have no other Gods before me If there were more for us not to acknowledge adore and honour them were a wrong and act of in justice against them so the first and foundation of all the rest of the Commandements should be a most Injurious and unlawfull Command and therefore we must either conceive of him which gave that Commandement as a most envious vaineglorious arrogant and self-seeking God that could not endure that other Gods perhaps his equals should enjoy their due glory and homage which were most absurd and blasphemous or else we must needs confesse that which is the truth that he forbade us to make any other because there is no other and he would not have us misplace our devotion and service by tendring it to that which is not God If there be many Gods then either they must all be Subordinate one being Superiour or else Coordinate each being equall to other If one be inferiour to another that which is at the Command of another or exceeded by another is not god if coordinate and equall then one of them may crosse another or many may hinder one and what can be hindred in its working is not God If there be more Gods they cannot be eternall for an eternall being admits not of multiplicity for that is eternall which is simply first and that which is simply first hath nothing of as long as continuance as it self God united heaven and earth and made them one world the Sea and the Land and made them one Globe soule and body and made them one man Jewes and Gentiles and made them one Church Adam and Eve and made them one flesh nay God and man and made them one Christ. CHAP. VII THe next Attribute in God is his understanding which is the Divine essence understanding and knowing all things alwayes and by one act It is called also Science knowledge and omniscience God knowes all things because first he knew himself directly in himself by himself and primarily as a most perfect object which knowledge in God is of absolute necessity for he could not exist without the knowledge of himselfe and infinite apprehending an Infinite object 147. Psal. 5. Secondly because he knows the creatures all and singular viz. all things which have been are or shall be might have been and may be not onely the substances but all the accidents of creatures not onely things necessary but also contingent all good things by himselfe and all evils by the opposite good and that infallibly without errour For the manner of divine knowledge God knowes all things by his essence not by species abstracted from the things for so things should be before the divine knowledge on which yet they depend God doth not understand by discoursing from a known thing to that which is unknown in a doubtfull and successive reasoning but by looking on them and by one most simple Individuall and eternall act Comprehending all things He apprehends by one act of his understanding and by himself simple things without species compound without composition and division syllogismes and consequences without discourse lastly he most perfectly understands all the multitude of things without distraction and distance both locall and temporall without distinction of former and later past or future according to the beginning progresse and end possessing all things together and alwayes present which with us are revolved in time Dan. 2. 21. 22. 1 Cor. 3. 19 20. 44. Isay 7. Rom. 11. 33. Heb. 4. 13. Psal. 94. 9. 10. 11. The Scripture proves Gods omniscience 1. Affirmatively or positively Job 28. 24. 1 Sam. 2. 3. he is called by Hanna in her Song a God of knowledge 1 Sam. 16. 7. 1 King 8. 39. Psal. 94. 11. He knows from eternity by one simple act before all time before there was a world secondly certainly he cannot be deceived 2. Negatively Job 42. 2. Psal. 139. 45. Heb. 4. 13. 3. Metaphorically and Figuratively for when eyes and eares be given to God his omniscience is signified 2 Chron. 16. 9. Psal. 11. 7. when he is called light 1 John 1. 5. 2. It is proved by reason 1. By way of negation ignorance is a defect and imperfection but God is most Perfect therefore all Ignorance is to be removed from him 2. By way of causality God governs all things in the whole universe and directs to convenient ends even those things which are destitute of all knowledge and reason Therefore he foreknows and sees all things all creatures are Gods works and an artificer knows his work the Prophet knew what was in Gebezis heart God revealing it to him God made the heart shall not he know it 3. By way of eminency God hath made creatures intelligent and full of knowledge viz. Angels and men therefore he knows and understands in a farre more perfect and eminent manner Psal. 94. 10. He knows 1. The substantiall natures of all other things as of Angels Men Beasts Plants Gen. 1. He saw all things which he had made Matth. 6. He is said to take care of Sparrows which could not be without knowledge 2. Their accidentals as actions and passions with the circumstances of them Hence he is said to know the hearts and try the reines of men and there is nothing hid from him Matth. 6. The Father which seeth in secret 3. He knows things which are to come not as if they were to come for to him all things are present God makes this an argument of his Divinity when he bids them see if their Gentile Gods can tell
ought to blesse God that is to observe and know his blessednes and for to doe two things to him 1 To applaude it 2 To expresse and acknowledge it In Scripture-phrase to blesse signifieth two things 1 To praise a person for those things which are praise-worthy in him as Gods name is said to be above all blessing and praise Blesse the Lord O my soule and all that is within me blesse his holy Name 2 To wish well to it that my soule may blesse thee before it die pronounce and wish thee blessed We cannot pronounce any blessing upon God nor bestow any benefit upon him He is too excellent to receive any thing by way of promise or performance from us but we must performe these two things viz. wish well to him speake well of him Wish well to him that is acknowledge his exceeding happinesse and will that he may be ever what he is as we know he ever wil be For to wish a thing continue being that is is possible and to wil Gods eternall blessed and glorious being that is one of the most excellent acts of the creature and in doing so we blesse God so much as a creature can blesse him Perfect happinesse is not to be had here but so much happines as can be had here is to be had in him he can give himselfe to those which seeke him in some degrees and then are they in some degrees happy he can give himselfe to them in the highest degree and then they are in the highest degree happy according as he doth communicate himselfe to us more or lesse so are we more or lesse happy 1 We have little mind to wish well to God or rejoyce in his welfare or to acknowledge and speake of it 2 We should stir up our selves to blesse God and say how blessed art thou and blessed by thy Name We should set our minds and our tongues aworke to set forth to our selves and others his exceeding great excellencies When we see and know excellent abilities in any man we cannot but be oft talking with our selves and others of his great worth so we seeing and knowing the infinitenesse of God must be often telling our selves and others what we do know by him thereby to stirre up our selves and others more and more to know him and we must declare before the Lord his goodnesse and his loving kindnesse to the sonnes of men 3 We must learne to seeke happinesse where it is even in God and in his favourable vouchsafing to be ours and to give himselfe to us It is not possible for the creature to be happy and enjoy it selfe unlesse it enjoy the best and greatest good whereof it is capable and which will fully satisfie all the longings and inclinations of it We should 1. see our misery that being alienated from God must needs be miserable till this estrangement be removed 2 Set our selves to get true blessednesse by regaining this union and communion with God the fountaine of all blisse and hate sinne which onely separates between God and us and hinders us from enjoying the Blessed God 3 We should place all our happinesse in him and in him alone for he is not onely the chiefe but the sole happinesse we should use the world but enjoy him Psalm 16. 11. we should use the meanes which may bring blessednesse Psalm 1. 1. Matth. 5. 3 to 12. if we live holily we may looke for happinesse All the promises in the Scripture belong to godly men they shall be blessed here and hereafter who serve God in sincerity We must expect and looke for happinesse onely in our union with and fruition of him Austin alledgeth out of Varro 288 severall opinions of Philosophers concerning felicity Blessednesse is the enjoying of the Soveraigne Good now what that is we must judge by these two Characters it must be 1. Optimum the best otherwise it wil not sistere appetitum give us content we wil be ever longing 2. Maximum the most compleat otherwise it wil not implere appetitum we shall not be satisfied therewith God is Optimus Maximus Happinesse it the summe of all our desires and the ayme of all our endeavours Perfect Blessednesse consisteth in the immediate fruition of the chiefe perfect and al-sufficient good even God himselfe The good to be deâ—ired simply for it selfe is God onely who being the first cause of all things the first essentiall eternall infinite unchangeable and onely good must needs be the chiefe good and therefore the last end intended by man given by God who being not onely desired but enjoyed of necessity must fully satisfie the soule that it can goe no further not onely because the subject is infinite and so the mind can desire to know no more but also because fulnesse of all good that can be wished is to be found in God Therefore our happinesse is compleat and perfect when we enjoy God as an object wherein the powers of the soule are satisfied with everlasting delight This may suffice to have spoken concerning Gods Essence and Attributes by which it appeares that God is farre different both from all faigned Gods and from all creatures The consideration of the Divine persons followeth for in one most simple nature of God there are distinct persons CHAP. XVI Of the Trinity or distinction of Persons in the Divine Essence WE cannot by the light of nature know the mystery of the Trinity nor the incarnation of Jesus Christ. But when by faith we receive this doctrine we may illustrate it by reason The similies which the Schoolmen and other Divines bring drawn from the creature are unequall and unsatisfactory since there can be no proportion between things Finite and Infinite Two resemblances are much used in Scripture the Light and the word The Light which was three daies before the Sunne Gen. 1. and then condensed into that glorious body and ever since diffused throughout the world is all one and the same light So the Father of lights which inhabiteth light which none can approach Jam. 1. 17. and the Sunne of righteousnesse Mal. 4. 2. in whom all the fulnesse of the Godhead dwelleth bodily and the holy Ghost the Spirit of illumination are all one and the same God Again it is the same thing that the mind thinketh and the word signifieth and the voyce uttereth so is the Father as the mind conceiving the Sonne as the word conceived or begotten the holy Ghost as the voice or speech uttered and imparted to all hearers and all one and the same God A studious Father meditating on the mysterie of the Trinity there appeared unto him a child with a shell lading the Sea into a little hole he demanding what the child did I intend said the child to empty the Ocean into this pit It is impossible said the Father as possible said the child as for thee to comprehend this profound mystery in thy shallow capacity The
made and adorned so it is probable that the Angels were made together in a great multitude After the Heavens their habitation was finished Chemnit in loc commun Gen. 2. 1. The Heavens and all the host of them It is plain from Job 38. 7. that they were made before the Earth When God laid the foundations of the earth and laid the Corner-stone thereof then the Sons of God that is the Angels Job 1. 7. Snouted for joy An Element is that whereof any thing is compounded and it selfe uncompounâ—ed Each element is superiour to other not more in place then dignitie The dry land is called earth which is a firme cold dry Element round and heavie hanging unmoveably in the midst of the world fit for habitation The Psalmist describes the creation of the earth Psal. 104. vers 5 Who hath laid the foundation of the earth or founded the earth upon his Basis that it should not be removed for ever The earth is the heaviest and lowest element It is so made that it doth stand firme in its place so that neither the whole earth is moved out of its place nor yet the great parts of it This is an exceeding wonderfull worke of God to settle the earth so upon certaine foundations that it is not shaken out of its place Take a little piece of earth not bigger then ones fist nay then ones eye or the apple of it hold it up in the aire let it fall it will never cease moving till come to lye upon some solid bodie that it may hold it up stay the motioÌ„ of it Now how is it that this whole lump of earth the whole body I say of the earth hangeth fast in the wide and open aire and doth not sway and move now hither and now thither what is it that holdeth it up so stedfast in the very midst of the aire It is Gods worke who hath founded it on his Basis that it cannot be moved This worke is often mentioned in the Scripture Joh 26. 7. There is nothing which might hold it up yet behold it hangeth still and quiet as if it had some pillar or base upon which to rest it selfe The Lord doth in larger words commend it to the consideration of Job when himselfe comes to speake with him Job 38. 4. 6. God there compareth himselfe to a builder that layes the foundation and then sets up the building by line and measure and convinceth Job of his weaknes that knoweth not how this earth should be set up or founded whereas the Lord himself effected this building long before Job was David telleth of it Psal. 24. 2. as a ground of Gods right unto it and to all things that are in it for saith he He hath founded it upon the seas and established it upon the flouds And Solomon mentions it Prov. 8. 29. and 30. 4. Eccl. 1. 4. This is a great work because it is both necessary and unsearcheable It is necessary for it is the cause of the order of things in all the world and of their not being jumbled and confounded together If the lowest part of any building be not firme all that is built upon it will totter and tumble and come downe quickly so if the earth this lowest part of the world should shake or reele and be apt to move hither and thither the things that be upon it by nature or that are built upon it by the workmanship of man could not possibly subsist or endure Rivers and Channels would be daily altered dry ground would ever and anon become Sea and Sea dry ground trees would often totter and fall or else be changed from place to place building and houses would still bee falling and tumbling down off the earth did it not keepe its own room nay heaven earth would come together utter confusion would overturne the face of the earth and men beasts and all things below would come to nothing So needfull it was for this great Architect to set the Corner-stone of the earth fast firm and immoveable But the cause of it is unsearcheable who can find out to the full the reason of this so necessary a work Every heavy thing we see must have something to keepe it up something on which to rest it selfe that it may goe no further but abide where it is but what doth this earth rest on How is it held so even in the very midst and sweyed neither one way nor another who can tell me a full just satisfactory reason in nature We must not thinke that God doth hold it up by an immediate violent supernaturall or miraculous working but in a naturall way by ordering the principles of nature so that they shall necessarily concurre to effect this setlednesse Philosophers give this reason of it they say the simple bodies were made some of a light subtill thin and spirituall nature and their propertie is to ascend to goe upward still so as the light still flies higher and some of a more grosse thicke and heavie nature and the property of these is to move downward and still the heavier to make it selfe a way through the lighter and to presse toward the Center that is the middle point of the whole round of the world for it must bee confessed that the world is round Wherefore seeing every part and portion of the earth presseth toward the very middle point of all it cannot be but that all must stand fast in the midst seeing each part thronging the other and leaning upon the other toward the very middle all will bee quiet if the parts be even poised But now how heavie things should be made so to move toward the Center and how each part should so evenly move and a number of other questions more let them answer that are able especially seeing the earth doth not carry in it selfe to sense a perfect even and smooth roundnesse it is hard then to answer to the question which God propounded to Job upon what bee the sockets of it fastned It is a worke of God exceeding our capacitie and must therefore quicken and call up our admiration We should blame our selves for so seldom putting our selves in mind of this great work to stir up our selves to magnifie the Author of it and make it an argument of our blessing his name for which David speaketh of it Psal. 104. or of humbling our selves before him in acknowledgment of his power and wisdome and of our weaknesse and follie to which end it is mentioned in other places or indeed to any good purpose of informing our selves the better either of his nature or our dutie Oh how brutish and blockish are we So strange so mightie a worke is done and continued in our sight here it was done before I was here and here it will remaine and bee continually done after I am gone hence I enjoy the benefit of it as well as any other and with all others and yet
Good and Omniscient as hee wherefore they must bee made by some Maker because they cannot bee Eternall and if made then either by themselves or some other thing besides themselves not by themselves because that implies and absolute contradiction if by some other thing then by a better or worse thing not by a more meane for the lesse perfect cannot give being to a more perfect thing for then it should communicate more to the effect then it hath in it selfe any way which is impossible that any efficient cause should doe not by any better thing then themselves for excepting the Divine Majestie which is the first and best there is no better thing then the Angels save the humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ which could not bee the Maker of them because they were created some thousands of yeares before the humanity was formed in the Virgins womb or united to the second person in Trinity Wee are not able to conceive of their Essence they are simple incorporeall Spirituall substances therefore incorruptible An Angell is a Spirituall Created compleat substance indued with an understanding and will and excellent power of working An Angel is a substance 1. Spirituall that is void of all corporeall and sensible matter whence in Scripture Angels are called Spirits Psal. 104. 4. Heb. 1. 14. Therefore the bodies in which either good or evill Angels appeared were not naturall to them but only assumed for a time and laid by when they pleased as a man doth his garments not substentiall but aeriall bodies they were not Essentially or personally but only locally united to them so that the body was moved but not quickned by them 2. Created by which name hee is distinguished from the Creator 3. Compleate by which an Angel is distinguished from the reasonable soule of man which also is a spirituall substance but incompleate because it is the essentiall part of man 4. Indued with 1. an understanding by which an Angel knoweth God and his works 2. a will by which he desires or refuseth the things understood 3. An excellent power of working by which hee effects what the will commands this is great in them Psalm 103. 20. See 2 Kings 19. 35. The Angels are most excellent creatures when the highest praise is given of any thing it is taken from the excellencie of Angels Psal. 78. 25. 1 Cor. 13. 1. They are called holy Angels Luke 9. 26. Marke 8. 36. therefore they are cloathed with linnen Dan. 11. 4. to signifie their purity and are called Angels of light 2 Cor. 12. 14. to note the purity wherein they were created All the Individuall Angels were made at once and as God made Adam perfect at the first so they were made of a perfect constitution They have all our faculties save such as be badges of our weakenesse they have no body therefore not the faculties of generation nutâ—ition augmentation They have reason conscience will can understand as much as we doe and better too they have a will whereby they can refuse evill and chuse good a conscience reasonable affections though not such as depend upon the bodie They are endowed with excellent abilities know more of God themselves us and other things then we doe love God themselves and men are obedient to God The good Angels obey God 1. Universally in all things Psalme 103. 20. 2. Freely and readily make hast to doe what hee would have done therefore they are said to have Harps Revel 15. 2. as a signe of their chearfull mind 3. With all their might they serve God with diligence sedulity therefore they are said to have wings to flie 4. Constantly Rev. 7. 15. and 14. 4. They have incredible strength and therefore by an excellencie they are called strong in strength Psal. 103. 20. Angels of the power of the Lord Jesus 2 Thess. 1. 7. Powers Rom. 1. 38. One Angel is able to destroy all the men beasts birds and fishes and all the creatures in the world and to overturne the whole course of nature if God should permit it to drowne the earth againe and make the waters overflow it to pull the Sunne Moone and Starres out of their places and make all a Chaos therefore we reade of wonderfull things done by them they stopt the mouths of Lions that they could not touch Daniel they quencht the violence of the fire that it could not touch so much as a haire of the three Childrens heads nor a threed of their garments they made Peters chaines in an instant fall from his hands and feet they can move and stir the earth say the Schoolemen as appears Matth. 28. 2. The Angels shooke the foundation of the Prison where Paul and Silas lay and caused the doores to flie open and every mans bands to fal from him They destroyed the first borne of Aegypt Sodome and Gomorrah One Angel slew in one night in the host of Senacherib and hundred fourscore and 5000. men Reas. Their nature in respect of bodily things is wholy active not passive they are of a spirituall nature what great things can a whirl-wind or flash of lightning doe They are swift and of great agility they have no bodies therefore fill not up any place neither is there any resistance to them they move with a most quick motion they can be where they will they move like the winde irresistibly aud easily without molestation and in an unperceivable time they move more swiftly then the Sun can dispatch that space in as few minuts which the Sun doth in 24. hours They have admirable wisedome 1 Sam. 18. 14. and 14. 20. the knowledge of the good Angels is increased since their Creation for besides their natural knowledg they know many things by revelation Dan. 9. 22 23. Matth. 1. 20. Luke 1. 30. either immediately from God or from his Word Ephes. 3. 9 10. 1 Pet. 1. 12. Luke 15. 18. by experience and conjecture How an Angel doth understand is much disputed their understanding is not infinite they know not all things Mar. 13. of that day the Angells know not againe they cannot know future contingent things any farther then God reveales these things to them neither can they know the secrets of mans heart 1 Kings 8. 39. Psal. 7. 10. for that is proper to the Lord alone They are said indeed to rejoyce at the conversion of a sinner but that is no further then their inward conversion puts it selfe forth into outward actions They do not know the number of the Elect nor the nature of spirituall desertions the manner of mortifying sin unlesse by the Church and Ministry of the word So againe for the manner of their knowledge that of the Schooles about their morning and evening knowledge is vaine but it is plain they know discursivè as well as intuitivè though some say they are creaturae intelligentes but not ratiocinantes There are three degrees of their knowledg say the Schoolmen
signe that there is no difference betweene them but that the second is added to insinuate the perfection of the image There is a four-fold image or likenesse 1. Where there is a likenesse with an absolute agreement in the same nature and so the Son of God is called the expresse image of the Father 2. By participation of some universall common nature so a man and beast are like in the common nature of animality 3. By proportion onely as when we say the Governor of a Common-wealth and the Pilot of a ship are like 4. By agreement of order when one thing is a patterne or exemplar and the other thing is made after it now when man is said to be like God it is meant in those two last waies Christ was the essential image of God Mans was imago repraesentantis aliter imago imperatoris in nummo aliter in filio Augustine The Image of God in which man was cteated is the conformity of man unto God 1. In his soule 2. In his body for his soule 3. In the whole person for the union of both The soule of a man is conformable to God in respect of its nature faculties and habits 1. In respect of its nature essence or being as it is a spirituall and immortall substance The Scripture witnesseth 1. that the soule of man is a spirit Matth. 27. 20. Acts 7. 59 2. That it is immortall 1. Because it cannot bee destroyed by any second cause Matth. 10. 28. 2. Being served from the bodie it subsists by it selfe and goes to God Eccles. 12. 7. Luke 16. 22. 3. Because it is a simple and immateriall substance not depending on matter the minde workes the better the more it is abstracted from the body when it is asleep or dying 4. Because it transcends all terrene and mortall things and with a wonderful quicknesse searcheth after heavenly divine and eternall things There is an invincible argument for the thing secretly imprinted in the instinct and conscience of the soule it selfe Because it is every good mans hope that it shall be so and wicked mans feare 5. The foode of the soule is immortall 1 Pet. 1. 23. the evident promises of eternall life prove the soule to be immortall He that beleeveth in me hath eternall life and to day thou shalt bee with mee in Paradise Nothing can satisfie the soule but God 6. Man is capable of vertue and vice of immortall desires and affections 7. The soules of Adam and Eve were not made of any matter but came by immediate creation in whom God gave a specimen what he would perpetually doe with other men That is but a Cavill that Solomon Eccles. 12. 7. speakes only of our first Parents Children are called the fruit of their Parents body to note that that they are only fathers of their flesh they have another namely God which is Father of their Spirits Saint Paul teacheth it Heb. 12. 9. and the use of it And this checks their opinion who will have soules propagated no lesse then bodies Many collect the immortality of the soule and salvation of Jobs children because they were not doubled as the rest of his estate was 2. The soule of man is conformable to God in respect of its faculties in its understanding will and memory is like the Trinity 3. In the qualities graces and admirable endowments of it In the understanding there was 1. An exact knowledg of God and all Divine things Coloss. 3. 10. knowledg is a principall part of Gods image by reason hee was enabled to conceive of things spirituall and universall 2. A perfect knowledge of all inferiour things Adam knew Eve and imposed names on the creatures sutable to their natures He had most exquisite prudence in the practicall part of his understanding in all doubtfull cases Hee knew what was to be done 2. In the will there was holinesse Ephes. 4. 24. 3. His affections were under the power of grace From this image did necessarily follow peace with God fellowship and union He knew God to be his Creator and to love him in all good things he enjoyed God and tasted his sweetness Mans body also after a sort is an image of Divine perfection Observe 1. The Majesticall forme of it of which the Heathens tooke notice but the structure of the bodie a man should be taught to contemn the earth which his feete tread upon and to set his heart upon heaven whether his eyes naturally tend 2. Gods artifice in it Psal. 139. 15. Thou hast curiously wrougâ—â— me and I was wonderfully made Materiam superabat opus Of the basest matter dust God made the noblest creature 3. The serviceablenesse of every part for its end and use 4. There is matter of humiliation because it was made of the dust Gen. 3 19. Job 14. 18 10. and 5 15. The Greek name makes man proud cals him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bids him aspire looke up but the Hebrew and Latine humble him bids him stoop looke downe Adams bodie was mortall conditionally if he had not eaten of the tree there could be noe outward cause of his death for Gods protection kept that off nor noe in ward cause because originall righteousnesse was in his soule and for old age and weaknesse the tree of life would have preserved him from that 3. The whole person consisting both of soule and bodie was conformable to God in respect of his felicitie and dominion over the creatures Gen. 1. 26 28. The image of God doth not principally consist in this but secondarily therefore though the man and woman were created perfectly after Gods image in other respects yet in this respect the woman had not the image of God as the Apostle sheweth The power which Adam had over the creatures was not absolute and direct that God reserved to himselfe but it was for Adams use then the stoutest and fiercest beasts would be ruled by Adam this dominion since the fal is lost for a great part of our rebellion against God the creatures rebellion should mind us of ours we may see somtimes a little child driving before him 100. oxen or kine this or that way as he pleaseth for the infusing of the soul the time when it was infused it is most probable that the body was first made as the organe or instrument and then the soule put into it as God did make heaven and earth before man was made God did not create all the soules of men at once but he creates them daily as they are infused into the bodie There are these two Questions to be resolved 1. Whether immortalitie was naturall to Adam 2. Whether originall righteousnesse was naturall to Adam For the first A thing is immortall foure wayes 1. Absolutly soe that their is no inward or outward cause of mortalitie 1. Tim. 6. soe God onely 2. when it is not soe by nature but immortalitie is a perfection voluntarily put into the