a mutual emanency one in the other and an eternall emanency one from the other for they be each in each Aug. de Trin. Christ is in the Father and the Father in him and the holy Spirit in both so they be all in each For the Son is in the bosome of the Father and the Father in the Image of the Son the holy Spirit in the breath of each and they both in his operations 3. All in each for one is possessed of the other 4. All in all the whole essence being in every person And yet 5. But one in all because all three are but one God And take heed of thinking therefore 1. That there is no God 2. That there be no persons in the God but only relations Socin Patrisp offices or dispensations For so we may count the Father to suffer not the Son for our redemption 3. That they be only like one another in substance Arri. Eunom Tritheit but not of the same substance or of an unlike substance but of one and the same substance And take heed of thinking they be three gods for there is but one God in essence though three persons in subsistence one God in being though three persons in the manner of that being Nor may you like the Mahometans acknowledge one God without persons or like the Indians denie the Son of God Mahom. Indians because then they say God must have a wife These people only understand carnall generation not spirituall and in what they know naturally therein they abuse themselves Jude ver 10. and speak evill of what they know not For they perceive not how the soule begets children namely the thoughts and words without female conjunction This high knowledge of God should teach us to admire him whom we cannot comprehend and therefore to serve him in faith fear and reverence Psal 2.11 especially in his Temple and service Psal 138. and so say with Job O Lord what I know not do thou teach me so that in thy knowledge I may find felicity We must not think this knowledge to be superfluous since it is life eternall to have it John 17.3 Mat. 16.18 and that Christ so much approved St Peter for acknowledging it I know all men cannot apprehend this alike yet if we desire that Christ would shew us the Father John 14.8 and that we may have his Spirit he will not denie it to him that asketh him especially if we lament for the losse of the excellent knowledge no doubt he will reveal so much of it to us as shall acquire eternall life Mathe. What means hath God given us to know him by Phila. Two means his Works and his Words His Works Natura naturans naturata and the book of Nature naturated by the power of God His Word is the book of Nature naturating i. of God himselfe without which revelation man cannot apprehend God at all or very darkly The reason whereof is 1. Because Adam seeking curious knowledge beyond the light which God gave him in nature he lost that light of God which by nature he had and despoiled himselfe of that image and character of God which God had impressed upon him and so fell into false conceptions of God in his generations and by himselfe into a more obscure apprehension of him in his time 2. This dark knowledge of God in man ariseth from the depravation of his affections which desires to know God sensibly as men behold Princes which cannot be in this world 1 Cor. 15. no more then flesh and blood can inherit heaven till it be mortified by death and fermented in the grave and refined at the resurrection Moses desire was exuberant to see Gods glory in visible appearance For though God was pleased to be represented by Angels in shapes of men in the Old Testament yet he hath no shape For to what will ye liken me saith God 3. Men being not read in Scriptures are oftentimes driven by some accidents in the world and change of times and strange events above or beside reason to think that either there is no God or else that God is not just Psal 37.36 Psal 73.1 2 3. Wisd 1.1 2. 4. Because we find all things fall alike to all and a naturall succession of things to be as they were alwaies so they think we are all born at adventure and all things come by nature or fortune 5. It comes by the devils craft deluding men with vanity and making them not to think of God and so bold to perpetrate horrible sins through blindnesse and hardnesse of heart whereas if they did but consider Gods waies and footsteps in Scripture in making all things and in disposing them to their severall ends and orders the rare knowledge given to man above other creatures the peace of his mind when he doth well the terrors of his conscience in doing ill the impression and stamp of Elohim upon his Magistrates whom he calleth Gods the strange vengeance following wicked men to them whom temporall Judges either do not or cannot punish Besides prodigious signs in heaven of future calamities So to see monstrous births terrible earthquakes which though they have naturall and second causes yet why they are not alwaies or oftner or not at all or in this place more then that must needs be the rule of some superiour power But yet nothing of all these leads us to the knowledge of God like the Scripture Mathe. Why so Phila. Because the Scriptures are the word of the true God of whom nothing can testifie better then his own word and truth therefore Christ saith Search the Scriptures for they testifie of me Secondly because they clearly set forth God in his nature attributes and works Mathe. How prove you the Scripture to be the Word of the true God Phila. Because it alone doth treat primarily of that God who is Trinity in Unity three persons in one Godhead and of their relations one towards another and their operations in and towards man 2. Because it is the most ancient truth as the true God is the ancient of daies Now what is most ancient and first is true Moses writings are most ancient upon which the rest of the Bible is a comment and the New Testament is a perfect complement and is therefore called grace and truth which came by Jesus Christ John 1.17 because he brought to man by the Gospell the love and favour of God and brought the truth prophesied into fact and performance But this Moses is the ancientest writer Eupolem Masius whom some call Musaeus some Trismegistus as some have thought the Aegyptian Serapis to be a monument of Joseph Sure enough he was the oldest writer of divine Revelation if not of any other He lived in the time of Cecrops King of Athens Aug. The oldest writing the Greeks have is the wars of Troy which fell out in the time of Israels Judges which was three hundred
election Psal 42.11 and for assurance leave it to God to give it thee as a comfort and crown of all thy labors as he did to Henoch before he was translated Heb. 11.5 So when thou hast endured the staggerings of David the sufferings of Job and the buffetings of Paul then God will tell thee his grace is sufficient for thee Let others boast they have it do thou use all diligence for it and let patience have its perfect work James that when you have done all you may find it at last 3. Do not dispute with God why he would not elect these but those but rest in St Pauls rule Prosp de vocal Rom. 9. that God was willing this way to reveal his goodnesse and justice If God hath ordained any to life it was graciously if any to punishment it was judicially and what you cannot comprehend do not reprehend lest God reprove thee as Job 38.2 But know God is just in all his waies and holy in all his workes 4. Labour to answer the temptations that arise from predestination and reprobation 1. From predestination as thus I am elected then I may live dissolutely and despise ordinances as being above them Not so for God did insure Ezekiah fifteen years of life will he therefore not eat or be carelesse of himselfe God forbid So neither must we for then election is not a decree absolute but dissolute 2. From the conceit of thy reprobation thou shalt be abetted in that conceit thus It is true thou art called but many are called which were never chosen thou canst not prove thy selfe to be one of the few yes if I come in at the call for I dare not think that God will deceive me by inviting me to bread and giving me a stone or giving me a stomack and means to starve me Beside I am bound upon my allegiance to God to beleeve that if he hath called me then he hath elected me till for my offending him or to try me he withdrawes the comfort thereof from me by making me to suspect my selfe by examining me how I came in not having on a wedding garment 2. Another temptation may arise in thy heart saying God by his revealed will would have all men to be saved but by his concealed will many are reprobated Now consider therefore God hath not two wils but in his word he expresseth his well wishing to all that they may be saved but foreseeing they will not all be saved he positively determines that all shall not be damned and therefore resolveth to give the Antidote of his saving grace to some without preventing any of sufficient means to be saved though he give them not the same efficacy to the means to draw them to faith and repentance as he doth to the elect 3. Another temptation to know thee desperate is this That though God offers the means of faith and repentance yet he intendeth that the major part of men shall not beleeve nor repent In this case bid Satan avoid for I have not to do with Gods secrets I am content to believe that he would have me do what he bids me do and therefore come of it what will I will trust God and exercise my selfe to keep a conscience void of offence toward God and man and so in well doing I will commit my selfe to him as to a faithfull Creator and hope to find my name at last in this book of Gods secret internall operation through Jesus Christ whom he hoth sent Mathe. What are those works of God called externall wherein the whole Trinity have also an equall hand Phila. These are the executions of his internall purposes or operations in his secret decrees For as God purposed before time so in his beginning to measure time he produced a world of visible and invisible creatures Polanus lib. 1. c. 37. all which were made for the Scriptures sake though written afterward that the will of God expressed in Scriptures might have an evident declaration by the works made before they were written Mat. 5. and before one jot of this word fail heaven and earth must vanish Now with the work of creation began time which God pleased to make the measure of his works and the beginning of his own revelation Psal 90 2. Aegyptians monas solitaria who was God from everlasting yet but like a solitary unite or a point which by creation was deduced into lines or like the top of a Pyramid which from one small point spreads in the basis to a great circumference Or as indeed the Jewish Cabalists say God was at first before creation a dark letter that could not be spelled nor read but by himselfe and so was a God that lay hid as in secret Isa 45.15 as saith the Prophet but by creation and the work of redemption became lucid and apparent by communicating himselfe in his wisdome and works And this time began 5605. years agoe reckoning backward from the present year 1656. by common account of Astronomers who differ somewhat among themselves The Scripture account is best which reckons the worlds age to be about 5721. But no Astronomers do so differ as to give occasion to men to think the world to be eternall or without beginning or that it was before Moses account as the Zabii who pretend that one Janbosher was Adams Tutor and our Praeadamites who dream of a world before the world and so would make us think to no end that the world will have no end as well as no beginning Mathe. Where were all these things before the Creation Phila. They were in God as notions in our mind by representation or as flowers in their roots in the winter invisibly or as Idea's in our minds before they be brought into act Mathe. But now God being an internall mind and pure act why not the world eternally produced God being neither sedent nor cessant Phila. Because if the world were coeternall with God it must be a Deity and then the visible creature might be worshipped as well as the invisible God nor then can the world have any end but must be a perpetuall motion of generation and corruption which were easie to beleeve if we had not an infallible revelation to the contrary for great learned men have thought so Osellus Lucianus Aristotle But the holy Scriptures tell us that the world was made Gen. 1. and that Wisedome was before the earth or heavens Prov. 8.23 And as they were made so they shall perish Psal 102.26 As it did in 1656. by a Dropsie so at last by a burning Feaver when Gods determined week is finished in whose account a thousand years is but as one day 2 Pet. 3.7 to the 12. when the elements shall melt with fervent heat Beside we never did find any authentick writer mention a world before Moses account Therefore let us not be wise above what is written but rest in Scripture which saith God in
before and after the flood But as the flood obliterated the memory of some so the confounding of languages left few worthy memory but some of the generation of Shem the son of Noah who preserved the first Language and Religion i. the Hebrew tongue and sacrifice as is supposed These Patriarchs that descended of Shem Gen. 8. the last of whom was Abraham after the confusion of languages and dispersion of the people collected in Shinar to build the Tower of Babel they travelled save so many of them as were at Shinar which Nimrod made his own seat to Vr of the Chaldees From whence God called Abram Gen. 12.1 to travell to Canaan who by faith obeyed God Heb. 11.8 not knowing whither he went He sojourned a while at Haran and then came to Canaan Gen. 12.5 after his father Terahs death With this Patriarch God afterward renewed the first promise of the blessed seed that was made to Adam for in Gen. 12.2 3. he tels him that he shall be a blessing and that to all the families of the earth To confirm this promise he first promiseth him a son Gen. 15.4 and then makes a covenant of Religion with him and seals it with circumcision Gen. 17.10 After this he more plainly discovers the promised seed to him First in the sacrifice of Isaac commanded and prevented by accepting a Raâ—â—â— in his stead Next by shewing a Type of Christs persecuted Church in Ismael mocking Isaac and then by banishing the bondmaid and her son who must not part the inheritance with the son of freedome Then again by shewing him in a vision the captivity of his seed in Aegypt a type of the Churches thraldom to the world for which God will judge the world Gen. 15.14 To this Patriarchs son Isaac God continueth the covenant and so to Jacob his son of whom came the twelve fathers of the Jewish nation who together with their families going to Aegypt in the famine were enthralled after the death of Joseph whom they had sold thither who proved an happy steward for them as well as the Aegyptians his benefit being forgotten by the following Kings of Aegypt they envied Israel and kept them in subjection and slavery which was a type of Christs Churches future troubles as Moses their deliverer foresaw Heb. 11.26 which made him endure affliction with them rather then enjoy the pleasures of Pharaohs Court By this Moses God renewed the covenant with those people of Israel after he had brought them out of Aegypt Exod. 19.5 adding thereto the ten Commandements and other Lawes and Ordinances for the forms of their Religion Heb. 9.1 All which did but set forth Christ to come in his holinesse righteousnesse and sufferings together with that equity and piety which his Church should practise under the Gospel Now the same covenant that God made with them at first was continued to them till Christ abolished the outward letter of it by his comming and set up the spirituall substance of it in the hearts of men This was prophecied before Christ came Ezek. 11.19 and that the Gentiles should be his people which before knew him not Hos 2. Rom. 9. This is the old and new Commandement 1 John 2.7 8. and must find obedience and operation on the hearts of severall men to the worlds end as it hath from the beginning 2. Gal. 4. The Types were shadowes of Christ and they were Chronologicall Personall or Sacramentall and when those shadowes were past our beloved came as the Church desired him Cant. 2.17 and the day-spring from an high did visit us Luke 1.78 as said old Zacharias The first Chronologicall shadowe was the number 6. and 7. For the six daies had a relation to six ages Chronology shadowes Rev. 10.7 Isid l. 3. c. 4. Beda and Rabanus in Gen. 1.2 Isid Etym. lib. 5. cap. 59. in which the mystery of God shall be finished and as Christ was Alpha the beginning of the creation of God in the first day and age so will be the Omega in the latter end of the sixt age which began with his Gospell and shall end with his glorious appearing to judgement The seventh day signified an eternall rest to which our Joshua Jesus should bring us Heb. 4.8 9 10. when all Sabbaths of daies months and years shall be passed being but shadowes of things to come the body whereof was Christ Col. 2.16 17. Which body as at his first comming put an end to all Jewish rites of the Law so at his second comming he shall put an end in the seventh age to all Christian service and nothing shall remain of all but love to God and Christ and we shall be like Angels neither give nor take in marriage Clem. Alex. in strom 6. therefore this seventh age is said to be without mother or issue 2. The Personall shadowes was first Adam 2 Personall shadowes and therefore Christ is called of Paul the second Adam 1 Cor. 15.45 and they were like in many things As 1. In being Gods image Gen. 1.27 in the image of God created he him And Heb. 1.2 3. Christ was the ingraven image of his fathers person 2. Woman was taken out of his side while he slept so the Church fram'd out of Christs death 3. He was in Paradise and Christ in glory in the heavens and the dresser of his Church 4. He was Lord of all the creatures so God put all things into subjection to Christ Eph. 1.22 that he might recover the dominion that Adam lost Thus naturally he signified Christ directly 1. Ex Congruo 2. Ex Congruo Adam Leo. in ser 18. de Pass 3 Ex Renato 2. He was like Christ oppositively for Adam was but a living soul Christ a quickning spirit In Adam all die in Christ all shall be made alive Both were of one flesh but not of one fact Adam was a sinner Christ only a surety 3. Adam shadowed Christ in renovation in supernaturall holinesse derived from heaven so that as in his created nature he shadowed him forth as God so in the state of renovation or reuniting to God he shadowed forth him that was God and man united by whom the image lost is recovered with great advantage Therefore Paul exhorts to put on the new man in righteousnesse and holinesse Eph. 4.24 that being we have lost the shadow of glory in nature we may recover that by grace which is far more substantiall Origen invisible incorporcall incorruptible and immortall Mathe. What profit is there in this knowledge of shadowes Phila. Very much for as the shadow of the diall directs to a substantiall knowledge namely as to know the degrees of the Sun in heaven so doth this shew us certain degrees of the Sun of righteousnesse in the Church Mathe. Then pray go on and shew me the rest of them Phila. As the first personall shadow of Christ was Adam so the second was Abel who was the third from Adam Abel
be enough because God accepts their will for the deed 2. This manna may signifie our temporall estates and the omer the measure of getting and so St Paul applyeth it 2 Cor. 8.14 15. namely that there should be such an equality that the abundance of some Pro. 22.2 the want of others might be supplied and yet not levelling every mans estate in the quantity but by communicating to others the portions of charity Thus they did in the primitive times till those frivolous words of Mine and Thine came in Chrys in Hom. oportet sis reses esse which hath vexed the world with so much wranglings whereas before men lived like Angels now like devils Again whereas in the sixth day they were to gather double so much it figured that in the sixt age of the world which now is the gifts of God should be doubled and also that in our latter age we should labour the more for Gods grace because our sabbath of rest draweth neerer to us And farther in that God made that to stink which was gathered over and above either out of distrust that they should not find it the next day or out of sloath to save their labour in going out We 1. Ought not to distrust the sufficiency of Christ who is the same yesterday and to day and for ever Heb. 13.8 yet neverthelesse we must seek him daily 1 Tim. though without distrust 2. It teacheth us moderation in seeking after the world Mat. 6.34 care not for the morrow Jam. i. by unnecessary carking and afflicting the soul for what is too much doth but stink canker and corrupt and causeth God to smite them sudden as Nabal and the rich fool in the Gospel Mathe. I pray shew me the next Phila. It was the Rock water Rocke set down Exod. 17. which flowed forth when Moses struck it with his rod at Gods command Exod. 17. and Numb 20. The first rock was to be smitten the latter only to be spoken unto and not to be smitten to shew that God could work as much by a word as by a stroke of his rod which it may be was some cause of Moses and Aarons staggering because the rod was not commanded to be used now Aug. q. 19. Rabanus Rupertus by which he used to work wonders afore time or possibly that God would be so kind to them upon this second murmuring for water as he was before at Rephidim Exod. 17. That these Rocks signified Christ is plain from 1 Cor. 10.4 saying they drank of that spirituall which was Christ yet no more Christ then the element of bread and wine is the body and blood of Christ save only to faith Aug. in Joh. tract 45. fide manente signa sunt mutata whereby the rock was Christ to them as the Sacrament is Christ to us Which Christ is well called a Rock because upon him the Church and every faithfull one is built so strong against all storms and tempests of temptation Mat. 7.24 as Peter was shaken but fell not finally Mat. 16.18 Ber. in ser 61. because he trusted to a better rock then himselfe who is now in heaven in whom only is stedfastnesse So the smiting of it Orig. in Exod. Raban signified Christ smitten by that woodden rod of the Crosse out of whom flowed the fountains of the Tew Testament even those holy mysteries by which we have the grace of washing in the font of regeneration from sin and uncleannesse Zach. 13.1 and the gift of the Holy Chost conferred upon us John 6.35 which in us will quench all evill thirst and flowe up to a well of everlasting life Mathe. I pray declare the next shadow Phila. The next was the Brazen Serpent Brazen Serpent commanded to be set up for the peoples cure when they were bitten by the fiery serpents Numb 21. That this signified Christ see John 3.14 where our Saviour likens his own lifting up upon the Crosse to Moses lifting up the brazen serpent in the wildernesse The occasion of these serpents was Israels murmuring for ordinary bread and speaking slightly of manna calling it light bread This St Paul cals a tempting of Christ signified by manna 1 Cor. 10. and represented by Moses and Aaron the chiefe magistrates civill and ecclesiastick against whom they banded themselves Actuarius de medic compos in cap. de rabiosa cane The serpents signifie Satan whose sting is sin who like the asps seems to give a small wound which breeds a kind of pleasure but kils certainly though fools make it but a sport to do wickedly The cure was a brazen serpent on a pole in the camp upon which whosoever looked when he was stung by the Sharaph or fiery serpent Beda in Num. 21. was presently cured Which did mystically teach them to fasten the eie of faith upon Christ in whom whosoever beleeveth shall not perish but have everlasting life John 3.14 15. And thus as the sin committed by a tree was cured by the Lord of life that hung on a tree so the serpents sting is overcome by one that had no sting no venome gall nor guile Mathe. Are there no shadowes and types of Christ his Church under the New Testament as well as of himselfe Phila. Yes for the type of both was Noah and his Ark Moses and his Tabernacle Solomon and his Temple Mathe. I pray declare how Phila. First we find Noah's name to signifie a Comforter so was Christ to be Isa 61. Secondly a Comforter to them that mourn his office was to preach righteousnesse 2 Pet. 2.5 that is of the righteousnesse of Gods judgement in drowning the world for sin and the righteous grace of God in saving some Again Anselm in Rom. 14. the righteousnesse of man in a civill sense and morall behaviour which cannot save him from Gods wrath and the righteousnesse of man by faith which layeth hold of the ark of Gods salvation And as he was a preacher so he was a builder i. of an ark by both which he endeavoured to edifie the old world and make it Gods Church but they would not and so he built an ark as a type of it only wherein he saved himselfe and his houshold only because the spirit of Christ speaking in him was rejected by the world The ark signified the Church of the faithfull 1 Pet. who are like the wood thereof of a mounting nature above all the waters of the worlds temptations So in regard of their juncture it signified that unity by which the Church is combined the length breadth and height the dimensions of Christs love to the Church Eph. 3.14 The door but one signifieth that one entrance into the Church by Baptisme as 1 Pet. The window signifieth the light which God gives to his Church whereby to see and contemplate his judgements upon the wicked that die not in the unity of the Church The three rooms the sacred Trinity in whom all things live
next association was in the Temple at praier time and at breaking of bread in their houses Acts 2.46 that is in their private oratories or upper rooms set apart for holy occasions of which there was no use when Churches were built except for devotion of the private family Another meeting you find Acts 4.23 where God shook the place where they were assembled and they were all filled with the holy Ghost Another meeting you find Acts 6.2 about choosing the seven Deacons of whom Stephen was one who was the first Martyr that suffered death for Christ Acts 7.58 Then began persecution to wax hot by reason of Sauls being too zealous for the Law of Moses Acts 8.4 and so the Church was scattered but he was converted Acts 9. Then had the Church rest and multiplied exceedingly ver 31. and spread very farre and at Antioch they were first called Christians Acts 11.26 Then Herod Agrippa to curry favor with the Jewes Acts 12.2 killed James and imprisoned Peter but God smote him in the midst of his vain glory Acts 12.23 The next speciall meeting of the Apostles was Acts 15.16 the first Councill that ever was who determined the great Question of circumcision negatively that it should not be imposed on the Gentiles Other meetings there were in divers places according as the Church increased and was transplanted in divers regions as Acts 20.7 at Troas Mathe. But had they any publick meeting places called Churches in those times Phila. The first they had were those oratories which the Jewes had on tops of their houses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 called the upper rooms which though the Romans called caenaculum or a banquetting room because it was like their feasting rooms on the tops of their houses yet neither the Jewes nor Christians used it but in religious devotions And therefore where Christ eat the Passeover and celebrated his last supper was held a place sacred though appertaining to some private house of some of the disciples In this place some say that Christ appeared to his disciples on the day of his Resurrection Nicepho Bed de locis Sanct. to 3. c. 3. and on the eighth day after to Thomas with the rest and that here James was made Bishop of Jerusalem by the Apostles and the seven Deacons elected and the first Councill held Cyr. Hieros cat 16. Acts 15. And Saint Cyril cals it the upper Church of the Apostles where the Holy Ghost descended also upon them Acts 2. And it may possibly be the place prophecied of as being neer to mount Sion Psalm 50.2 out of Sion God appeared in perfect beauty in which Psalm the spirit also seems to refuse carnall facrifices which was Gospel-like doctrine Also it is prophecied that out of Sion shall go forth the Law and the word of God out of Jerusalem to which many people shall flock and so they did Acts 2. And thus his foundations were laid in the holy mountains and he hath shewed that he loved the gates of Sion more then all the dwellings of Jacob Vide Hier in Epitap Paulae epi. 27. because he i. Christ was there produced by the Gospels promulgation which never came from the Temple though divulged from a place neer to Sion which place was enclosed afterward if we may beleeve antiquity with a faire Church called the Church of Sion In process of time as the Church Christian increased no doubt they built places of recess for the worship of God as well as the Jewes had Synagogues whose religion was estranged as much from the religion of the Roman Empire as the Christians was and in these places they did ordinarily assemble to perform divine duties unlesse they were hindred by necessity Mathe. I pray give me some instances of these Phila. We read that as at first they had their upper rooms for oratories so afterward they had places of worship built in fields Euseb eccles hist lib. 2. c. 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where they heard the Scriptures interpreted and had severall classes for men and women and sung Psalms and had distinctions of Bishops and Deacons We see also in Pauls Epistles that he salutes some with their houshold only as Aristobulus and Narcissus Assyncritus Rom. 16. Oecume in in Rom. 16. and Col. 4. and Phlegon But others he saluteth with the Church at their house i. all those that there commonly assembled So he salutes Nymphas Col. 4.15 and Philemon and Aquila and Priscilla Rom. 16. which sheweth their houses or part of them dedicated to pious uses in common So Theophilus to whom St Luke dedicates his Gospel Hiero. in ep 2. ad Galat. Clem. in Recog lib. 10. and Acts of the Apostles did dedicate his house at Antioch to this purpose this was about thirty eight years after Christ And Eusebius reports that St Mark had divers Churches in Alexandria in his history lib. 2. cap. 16. So St Paul at Corinth as we may collect from 1 Cor. 11.22 saying have ye not houses to eat and drink in or do you despise the Church of God So Joseph of Arimathea and his Colony of Christians built the Church of Glassenbury in England Hist Angli which being burnt was built again by King Henry the second his Letters Patents So Crescens caused a Church to be built at Vienna So in 79. Eus l. 3. c. 4. there was a great Church built at Ephesus by St John saith Eusebius lib. 3. cap. 20. And many were built also in Rome by the Apostles means Euseb l. 2. c. 25 And surely the reason of this dedicating places to holy worship was because Christians being taught by Scriptures that the majesty of God is most sacred and incommunicable so those things by which they worshipped should not be made common And indeed therefore Christians were well admonished by an ancient holy Writer Clem. in epist ad Corinth that we ought to do all things as God had expressed them to be done in regard both of times when and persons whereby and places wherein that so we may be accepted of him all these we find in the first hundred years after Christ Mathe. I pray go on and give me a further light Phila. We find Ignatius reproving Trajan in a Church lib. 3. cap. 19. as Nicephorus reports And 117. the Emperor Adrian commands Christian Churches to be built Dion in Adri. and forbade to place the Images of the Romane Gods therein And Ignatius writing to the Magnesians Vid. Epist ad ad Philad chargeth them to meet in one place to use one common praier with one heart as coming to one Temple of God one Altar and one Christ So we find Polycarpus receiving the Communion in a Church at Rome in the year 169. And Theophylus Antiochenus Eus l. 5. c. 25. in his Epistle to Autolycum saith that as the sea hath Ilands that are fruitfull so the world hath Synagogues called
the gift of praier before and after Sermon if men could use their libertie not as occasion to fleshly phantasies Mathe. I pray what be your Levellers Phila. They seem to me to be like those Hereticks of old In the third century of years after Christ called Apostolici in that affected wilfull povertie These seem to do so too by their digging in commons and receiving mens charitie But their new name intimates as if they would levell mens estates to make an equality because people did in the Apostles daies for the better propagation of the Gospell and sustentation of the Gospell-professors bring their wealth and made distribution to every ones need They seem now poor enough but what they may do when they are a fit number I know not but I am sure the way they take is not warrantable nor savours of any true knowledge of Gods providence or of mans prudence Mathe. Have all these wicked Hereticks escaped without any signe of Gods displeasure shewed upon them Phila. No for as he hath suffered many of them to fall into foule sins so upon them have fallen fearfull punishments As for foule sins many of them are caught in the birdlime of lust Simon Magus had one Helena Apelles Philumena Montanus had Maximilla Donatus had Lucilia Elpidius had Agape Priscilianus had Galla the Nicolaitans had wives in common The Popes have been as bad Sergius had Marozia Gregory the seventh had Matildis Alexander the sixt had Lucretia Leo the tenth had Magdalena Paul the third had Constantia and Pope Joan it seems had a Paramour The Anabaptists most unclean because they maintain unlawfull divorces and Polygamie and adulterie under a colour of spirituall marriage by which they are become all one body But I will say no more there is enough discovery made of them in divers books But Gods judgements have followed Hereticks Simon Magus would needs flie and was killed by a fall Hayn compend Eccles hist l. 1. Cerinthus with the fall of an house at a bath Elymas the Sorcerer was strook blind Priscilla and Maximilla hanged themselves Manes was flead alive Arrius voided his guts at a privie Nestorius his tongue rotted off And our late Sectaries have not all escaped for as these beyond the seas came to lamentable ends by wars and other executions of justice Sleid. comment lib. 10. as you may read in Sleidan's Comment in Pontanus and others so even these among us have been marked out by Gods judgements Puntan Cat. Heret Gastius de Anab. exorb Hâ—res Chron. p. 456. 379. 679. 765. 766. For as Servetus was condemned at Geneva and Phiser suffered at Muthus Munerus rackt and headed by the Duke of Saxony John of Leiden and Chipperdolling executed and their bodies hung up in iron cages so you may read in our Chronicles of some burned others hanged of the Brownists for seditious books as Barrow Greenwood Studley and Billet and Penry the author of Mart. Marp Bul. adv Anab. Disco of Brow Brow Donat. proph schisme You may read more of them then I am willing to write in many good authors cited in the margent Some women Antinomians have brought forth fearfull monsters even thirty at one birth and another woman of one female with horns and clawes See Mr Wels his book of Antinomians And for the Antisabbatarians one makes mention of some that laboring on the Lords day have had their corn and houses burnt and of one great man that used to hunt upon that day had his Lady delivered of a child that had an head like an hound which might teach people to take heed that their rest upon the Lords day be not vain and fruitlesse but sequestring themselves from worldly businesse they do on that day give themselves to holy exercises Mathe. But I find some have troubled the Church about ceremonies and forms of government as much as these by their erroneous opinions as those which some call Prelaticall and others called Presbyterians Phil. I cannot deny but that the Prelaticall or Canonicall Ministers have been of late about 1635. more strict than formerly about Church-order and Ceremonies And the Presbyterian hath been more extream then needed against the Prelatical ministrie and Episcopall government since both of them agree in divine truths God hath given them both a right to his house but they quarrell who should have the upper or who the lower rooms and both contend which of them should keep the keies The Lord make them of one heart that the people may be freed of those distractions in which they are bred by their disagreements It were happy if all would take the counsell of Irenaeus to Victor Bishop of Rome who did rashly excommunicate the Eastern Churches for dissenting from his judgement in fasting and celebrating of Easter For he told him they did all agree in one faith and therefore it was more fit for him to study peace unitie and love This controversie was afterward setled by the generall Councill of Nice that Easter being universally kept should also be uniformly kept by all Churches not on the fourteenth of Nisan but on the Lords day So it had been more happy for the Church if these men had suppressed passion and put on patience till the State had called a nationall Councill to have determined those controversies lately risen Mathe. I pray what was the main quarrell about Phila. About superintendency Liturgie and ceremonie By superintendency I mean Episcopacy which word in English signifies the office of Bishops which word Bishop was made so odious by the envious learned to the ignorant Lay-people about 1641. that a Bishop was thought as bad as the Pope either for Idolatry or superstition and so were decried under the colour of a Reformation by the peoples exclamations and their government deposed before any other was setled which hath bred divisions and libertinisme ever since And I conceive if envy had not overswaied equitie faults might have been corrected and yet the dignitie of the office have been preserved which hath been venerable in all antiquitie Mathe. But we find them of no more authority nor antiquity then Presbyters Phila. I suppose you mean not Lay Elders for they were not used till of late years not so much as in Ecclesiasticall censures much lesse in ordination which Calvin himselfe never allowed And if you mean Priestly Elders it will not be found that ordination was committed to them alone without a Bishop for that place 1 Tim. 4.14 which saith that Timothy had the hands of the Presbyterie laied upon him Sedulius Hieron surely that was not ordination * Primasius ad 1 Tim. cap. 4. Oecumen in cap. 9. in 1 Tim. cap. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of him to be a Presbyter but of the Prelacie to make him a Bishop or else the laying on of St Paul hands was but imposition not ordination for he was not surely ordained twice 2 Tim. 1.6 or else both was but imposition of hands
since they are not of perpetuity Chem. Exam. part 1. p. 25. but have been alwaies changeable as we know at first in the Primitive time the people stood up at praier every Lords day from Easter to Whitsontide to argue their belief of Christs resurrection which is not now enjoin'd or used So the French prophecie or preach with their heads covered to shew their dominion of teaching their people are uncovered to shew their subjection to his doctrin which is contrary to the Apostles order to the Corinthians All ceremonies are not so fit for all times the Church hath liberty to settle or abrogate them as shee seeth cause which liberty no wise man ever denied the Church but holdeth significant ceremonies to be profitable for the people Calv. opusc p. 344. Calv. instit lib. 4. cap. 10. Chem. Exam. part 4. tract de Imag. p. 13. Zeppe Leg. Mos l. 4. c. p. 312 Juni cont lib. 4. p. 283. Chem. Exam. part 2. p. 32. so that such a mean be kept that Christ be illustrated not obscured I beleeve upon this ground it is that Luther Chemnitius and Calvin allow of pictures in the Church done by way of historicall narration both for ornament and remembrance without any superstition So Holydaies are and may be celebrated in remembrance of some speciall benefit received from God about that time or by some eminent person that he hath emploied for the Churches good And indeed none of these things were thought superstitious till opinion of merit and of efficacious operation was annexed to them But to conclude if ceremonies of humane institution being significant to some duty which Gods worship requireth be unlawfull I see not but men may refuse to take a lawfull oath because ones laying their hand on the book and kissing it Deut. 6.13 signifieth a worshipping God the author of that book in taking the oath and that one doth aver the truth of his conscience towards man as well as his faith towards God in so doing Nor can a man keep the Lords day religiously if it be not a mystical and significant sign to him of the resurrection of Christ past Heb. 4.9 and of our spiritual rest from sin of that eternal rest which is promised to the people of God Nor do I see how people can have any religious respect to Churches if they take them not as signs or shadowes of the celestiall Temple Zanch. de Redemp l. 1. tract de tempt col 703. where the spirits of the faithfull are collected together praising the Lord. Nor can we keep any festivall without casting an eie upon what it relates to in his signification And truly if ceremonies had no signification they were the more fit to be cast out of the Church as unprofitable and as such as the Papists use that want sign and sense Mathe. But having been superstitiously abused they ought rather to be abolished then used in the Church services Phila. Yet in Josh 6.19 the spoile of Jericho is commanded by Joshua to be brought into Gods treasury And Gideon was commanded to take the wood of the idolatrous grove and offer sacrifice Judg. 6.26 We find also that those things which the Jewes abused was continued by godly men Bishops of Jerusalem in the Primitive times as Circumcision though not as a Sacrament but as a sign to shew they came of the line of Abraham So the Feast of Easter was kept by many reverend and worthy Bishops and Martyrs before the Councill of Nice on the same manner and day as did the Jewes but not with the same end as the Jewes did So the Councill of Nice did not abolish the feast of Easter but changed it into the Lords day So the Papists have abused the Lords Supper by erroneous opinions and idolatrous adorations of it which sheweth many good things may be abused and yet are not therefore to be disused this were to deny the use of the Sun because Absalom lay with his fathers concubins in the open light Surely a ceremony washed from superstitious dirt may be used in the Church by mutation or correction Clem. Exam. p. 34. c. 1. Zanc. de Red. in 4. precept p. 678. without utter abscission for they being thus purged are sanctified to holy use And so the Church of England only retained three the Surplice to warn the Minister of purity the Crosse to warn Christians of constancy and kneeling to admonish communicants of humility We know the Papists have abused these and others to superstition but abuse makes nothing evill which is not evill in it selfe And therefore the best reformed Divines have concluded even as ancient fathers have done before them who did not demolish all that was dedicated to idolatrie Calv. opuscul tracb de vitand superst p. 78. but converted them to better use So neither doth Mr Calvin approve of that morosity in men who because some ceremonies of the Papists may not be observed therefore none may yea some non Conformists have written that though the Papists have dedicated Churches to idolatry yet there being a good use for them among us they may be retained as also Popish vestments may be altered and make ornaments for the Church And surely they say well in that and it were good if the rest would not wrest away the liberty of the Church in such things which may make a lawfull use of indifferent ceremonies for conveniency without offence to God Mathe. But yet they are offensive to many good men and therefore to be left off Phila. First we must consider whether they be offensive in themselves or made offensive by the intention of the Church Theo. l. 3. c. 16. as Julian the Apostate set up his image in the Market place among the images of the heathen gods that he that gave eivill respect to his image might be thought also to do honour to them or if they did no respect then they might seem to despise both the gods and the Emperour So he set an Altar neer his throne with a fire upon it and incense upon a table Sozo l. 3. c. 17. and all Officers of his army that came to receive his largesse of gold did first cast some incense into the fire by which many were scandalized or caused to stumble So he caused all the fountains in the region of Antioch to be dedicated to the heathen goddesses and all the meat in the Market to be sprinkled with heathenish holy water yet the Christians were so wise as not to avoid their drink and meat knowing that to the clean all things are clean Tit. 1.15 and also bought what was sold and made no scruple as 1 Cor. 10.25 Then next we must consider whether the offence arises not from our own ignorance and weaknesse and so we be not straitned by the Church but in our own bowels and so like little children that complain their cloaths are to little when their bellies are too full The offence
till Herod by the Roman power deprived them of all soveraignty In whose time Christ was born 536 years after the captivity of Babylon who like Daniels stone put all the former monarchies down by setting up a new spirituall kingdome in mens hearts to which even Kings themselves should be subject Now when he came he found the Church of the Jewes in much confusion by Sects and schismes of Pharisees and Sadduces Herodians and few that would entertain his doctrine yet some there was that were his disciples and followers whom having converted by preaching and confirmed by miracles and given his Sacraments as seals of his New Testament he suffered death by the Jewes envy and the unjust judgement of Pilate for mans redemption as hath been declared and rose the third day after for our justification and about 40 daies after having instructed and confirmed them in the rule of his spirit all kingdome in the Church he ascended into heaven and sent the Holy Ghost down upon them who were with the rest of his disciples his visible Church which they mightily increased by their travels among the Gentiles after the Jewes had persecuted and despised the Gospel Mathe. Where was now the visible Church Phila. It was translated to the Gentiles who were before without Christ being aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel Eph. 2.12 strangers from the covenant of promise and had no hope but were without God in the world destitute of all good and possessed with all evill though convinced of a godhead by nature Rom. 1.19 but rightly knew him not some said that he was One of himselfe another that the world was his son so that when they came to worship God Orph. in 1 Sect. de Deo Tresmig in Pimaud c. 9. they did it by idols as I have told you seeking God downward in the creature by which they should have been led upward to God yet God of his infinite mercy takes this wild Olive and plants it upon the stock of the Jew Jesus the root and off-spring of David that they might be the children of Abraham by living in the faith of Abraham which is rightly to be a true visible Christian whether Jew or Gentile Mathe. Wherein consisted Abrahams faith Phila. In beleeving that God would raise up one out of his seed in whom mankind should be blessed even Jesus Christ whose sufferings were signified by sacrifice without which analogicall relation they â—ould never have savoured sweetly with God And as beleeved on Christ to come so Christians beleeve on the same Christ passed And this beliefe is the essentiall being of a true Christian that is a trusting upon Christ by faith for perfect redemption And this is that makes the difference between the visible and invisible Christian for the visible or externall Christian is one that partaketh of the visible priviledges of the Church as Word and Sacraments but not of the invisible graces thereof they hear and understand not they receive but perceive not they read but beleeve not they beleeve literally not spiritually they conceive but do not produce Christ but abortively But the other Christian is not only visible by profession and participation of the common rites of the Church but is also a partaker of the invisible graces offered and conveied under those outward mysteries of the Church by the grace of faith which only justifieth him to Godward Jam. and produceth good works whereby he is justified in his faith with man and approved a true visible Christian But God requires only faith to justifie before him Orig. in Rom. 3. cap. for the Lord required not of the penitent theefe what before he had wrought nor did expect what work he should fulfill after he beleeved but being justified by the confession of his faith in Christ our Saviour joined him as a companion with himselfe being now ready to enter into Paradise And that this is the essentiall being of a true Christian these Authors following will manifest namely that such invisible Christians are justified before God by faith Rom. 3. without the deeds of the Law so saith Ignat. in Epi. ad Ephes Justin in dial cum Tryphon Clem. Alex. in strom 7. Aug. ad Bonif. l. 3. c. 5. Chrysost in Genes hom 26. Ambr. in Rom. 3. Basil mag de humilitate Victor Antiochenus in Marc. 5. Raban in Ecclum c. â— Remigius in Psal 29. Idiota c. 6. de conflictione carnis animae Giselbert in alterc c. 8. Theoph. in Rom. 10. Bern. serm 3. de adventu dom Rupertus in lib. 7. in Joh. c. 7. Foleng in Psal 2. Fulgent ad Monim l. 1. Honorius in spec Ecclus de nat dom Ferus in 1 p. pass dom Aquin. in Lect. 4. super Gal. 3. sic in Rom. 3. All these hold with St Paul Rom. 3. and c. 10. with the heart man beleeveth unto righteousnesse and with the mouth confession is made to salvation Therefore the Primitive Church baptized after such confession was made as Abraham was circumcised after he beleeved Rom. 4.11 yet Isaac was circumcised and all the children of Israel at eight daies old except when they travelled through the wildernesse into the faith of Abraham So the children of Christians were baptized into the faith of their converted parents Cypr. â—p 59. See the bapt of the Church of Geneva printed 1641. they beleeving in their parents in whom as infants they had only sinned and for whom their parents beleeved as well as for themselves And though this practice be not set down in the Scripture by verball command yet considering that Christ gave some commandements by voice to his disciples touching things pertaining to the kingdome of God Act. 1.2 3. And this practice being of so great antiquity in that kingdome of God i. that is the Church we need not make doubt of it except we will be contentious against the Churches custome See Hookers Eccles Politic. lib. 1. sect 14. Dr Field on the Church l. 4.30 1 Cor. 11.16 which ought to over-rule mens fancies and stand as a law to quiet conscience because the Church is directed by the same spirit that gave the Scriptures 1 of Thes 4.8 and therefore Paul exhorts them to keep the traditions they had been taught either by word or by Epistle And that baptizing of infants was an Apostolicall tradition may be gathered both from Councils and Fathers as I have in part declared and of which you may read farther in Aug. l. 10. de gen ad lit c. 23. So Orig. Com. in 6. Rom. Cypr. Epi. ad Fidum Concil Cartha and Concil Melivitan doth curse those that deny baptisme to children See also Irenaeus in his 2. lib. cant Heres c. 39. And if it were so anciently practised and no direct time set down when it began we may well conceive that it was delivered to the Church by by the Apostles and not taken from the Pope who did not apeare many hundred years after baptisme of children was
them learned by the gifts of the Holy Ghost which he hath not done these So he imploied Paul the learned and Luke the Physitian So the Lord allowed schools for the Prophets as we do Academies to be as medicines for the rude manners of the people If these men had more learning they would see they wanted more but having none they find none they want But however let them prove they have the spirit without learning the able minister shall prove he hath the spirit by learning as one may shew his faith by his works more evidently then another can shew faith without them Mathe. But why do you advise me to the publike meeting places as Churches rather than to chambers and conventicles surely one is as holy as the other is it not Phila. Yes in respect of any inherent holinesse in them for neither hath any but the Church hath the holinesse of dedication and separation from all other use as the Jewes Temple had till the abomination that maketh desolate was set there i. the Roman souldier And therefore God looketh it should be used with discrimination for holinesse becommeth his house for ever and sure a decent handsomnesse and behaviour doth not mis-become it But I do advise you to Churches the rather then chambers because Christ hath forewarned you of seeking him in the private chambers Mat. 24.26 Mathe. But I see as much disorder in Gods service there as in the chambers both in service and at the Communion by divers gestures Phila. The more pitty for they that pretend to sanctifie Gods name ought to make an holy discrination between those things that are called by his name and other things that are not As Gods word and Gods house and the Lords table I confesse in some things people may be borne withall as not kneeling at praiers when the Church and seats are so full that they cannot do it So at the Communion every Church have thought fit to have one gesture by themselves because people come to the Communion with one faith to feed upon one Christ and in one love and charity So some Churches beyond the seas stand some walk some sit the English Church was wont to kneele Now since our discipline is dissolved all these forrein gestures are crept into our Church and being there is no power to reduce them to their pristine gestures ministers can do no more then to instruct them to be well satisfied in their own minds and to have a charitable opinion of them For it may be they that receive it standing look on it in relation to the Passeover a type thereof which was eaten standing They that take it walking conceive it as a viaticum or a refreshment in their journie towards the land of eternall rest They that take it sitting look upon it as a spirituall banquet set before them to feed upon by faith They that kneel conceive it as a pardon sealed and delivered to them of God and so think good to take it kneeling By this charitable construction one Church or Christian shall not condemn another for a thing indifferent Mathe. But the Sabbath is not a thing indifferent yet some allow none or at least not the Lords day but Saturday the Jewes Sabbath Phila. They that will allow none deny the fourth Commandement which requires a morall Sabbath They that will not have the Lords day understand not the sense of that Commandement which bindeth not all men to the seventh which the Jewes kept but to a seventh For the Jewes themselves seem to me to have the seventh day from the creation altered as well as the beginning of the year at the Passeover of which Moses gives a reason Deut. 5.15 in repetition of the Commandement saying because God delivered thee out of Egypt therefore he commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day Nor do we find a Sabbath day kept till the reigning of Manna but that they marched one day as well as another yet if the day from the creation was altered by a new designation of a day yet the law was not broken which only intended a seventh day rest from six daies labor whensoever God should prescribe or fix the day to begin Neither is the law broken by Christians because the day is altered for the intent of the law is kept which bindeth to keep holy one in seven only the day is altered upon good ground for as the Jewes kept their day in remembrance of Gods delivering them from Pharaoh so the Christians keep one in seven i. the first day of the week in remembrance of Christs deliverance of them by his resurrection from satan sin and death and so hath performed indeed to us what was but typed forth to the Jewes by whose Holy daies and Sabbaths we are not now to be judged Col. 11.16 17. Mathe. But what need we keep a day in remembrance of Christs resurrection if we shall have no benefit by it if some say true that there is neither heaven nor hell Phila. These men shall find their error to their griefe at the resurrection which shall be procured by Christs resurrection who is the first fruits of them that sleep 1 Cor. 15. Concerning hell I have already shewed you That there must be a resurrection there needs no proofe since the wicked must be punished and the just rewarded which commonly falleth out contrary in this world and that many things may be revealed which yet lie hid as well sacred mysteries as mysteries of iniquity Rom. 2.16 And for heaven no doubt it is the place of felicity where Gods elect shall enjoy eternall life whither Christ is gone before to prepare a place for them the happinesse of which place is called by St Paul our house from heaven and the excellency of the inheritance is set down by the name of crowns and kingcomes and an eternall weight of glory of which unbeleevers must look for no part but such as have fought a good fight against corruptions and kept the faith in a pure conscience which God of his mercy give you and I grace to do through Jesus Christ our Lord to whom I commend you and so take leave for this time because important occasion cals me away Mathe. Gods peace be with you Phila. And Gods grace be with you Amen FINIS The Table of the Contents OF mans happiness p. 1 Of mans propagation p. 3 Of Christs humanity p. 9 Of principles leading to felicity p. 12 How man came to wander from it p. 13 That there is a God proved by reason p. 15 How men came to worship false deities p. 16 When came in false gods p. 17 Of Atheisme p. 19 No true God but one p. 20 Christians worship that God ibid. Persons in the Godhead three and no more p. 21 The means to know God p. 25 The Scriptures are Gods Word p. 26 Canonicall books p. 29 The Jewes have not corrupted the Text of the Old Testament p. 30 No contradiction in the Scriptures p.