of God but those books which are received for and commonly called Canonicall contained in the Old and New Testaments commended unto us from the Prophets and Apostles times even untill now through the power providence and mercy of God which also are not of any private 2 Pet. 1. 20 21. interpretation For prophecie came not in old time by the will of man but holy men spake as they were moved by the holy Ghost and therefore are not to be wrested to please the strange humours and opinions or to make for the private ends of either Papists Hereticks or Schismaticks much lesse to be corrupted in the text by any but construed according to the true sense and meaning of the holy Ghost Perverters there were of the word of God in the Apostles dayes the Apostle Peter speaks of some who wrested the writings of his beloved brother 2 Pet. 3. 16. Paul and other Scriptures also unto their own destruction I could wish there were not some such in these our dayes but because there are some such I shall advertise you in the words of the same Apostle Beware seeing that yee know these things before lest Vers 17. ye also be led away with the errour of the wicked and fall from your own stedfastnesse Quest But some may say How then shall I know that Scripture which is commended unto us to be the very true word of God Answ The holy Scripture takes not its authority from the penmen who wrote the same for they for the most part were unlearned men as shepherds plow-men fisher-men and the like But the authority of the Scriptures ariseth First From the majesty of him who inspired the writers to pen things so sublime in such a familiar stile and simplicity of words and yet such is the majestie of the stile that it is unutterable being more powerfull in matter then in words which none could doe save only that God who is cloathed with Majesty Secondly The matter it selfe being of that efficacy that it divideth assunder the soule and the spirit Heb. 4. 12. and is a discerner of the thoughts and intentions as it strikes terrour into the hearts of the greatest adversaries that despight it so it works an aversion from evill and a conversion to good in them that love it yea the comfort that some have taken in it hath made them abandon all sublunary things and yeeld their lives as a prey into the hands of mercilesse men rather then disclaime it so that what by convincing and converting what by affrighting and delighting all have been forced to acknowledge it to be not the invention of mortall man but the true word of immortall God Thirdly The events of the prophecies as of the promised seed the calling of the Gentiles the deliverance of the Israelites from the Egyptian thraldome c. How doth Isaiah prophesie of Christ to come as if hee then were already in the flesh Unto us a childe is born c and the same Isa 9. 6. Prophet fore-telleth the freedome of the Jewes from captivity by Cyrus naming him whereas Isa 45. 1. Cyrus was born about 100. yeers after so another Prophet that cried against the altar at Bethel 1 King 13. 2. named Josiah and what hee should doe upon that altar whereas Josiah was born above 300 yeers after In the New Testament S. Paul telleth us of seducing spirits of doctrines of divels forbidding to 1 Tim. 4. 1 2. marry and commanding to abstain from meats which God hath created to be received with thanks-giving and this is fulfilled in that Antichristian Romish Church so Peter fore-telleth of scoffers walking 2 Pet. 3. 3. after their owne lusts and have not wee some who scoffe at Religion and hate the work of Reformation I wish we had not Thus the events of the Prophecies prove the truth of the word to be the word of Truth Fourthly The admirable consent of the pen-men all pointing at the same Messiah though living in severall ages Adde to this the consent of the Spirit mentioned by Paul and saith Peter in 1 Cor. 2. 12 13. the behalf of himself and the rest of the Apostles Wee have a more sure word of prophecie 2 Pet. 1. 19. Fifthly The wisdome of God in the penning of his Law No law of man could ever be so exactly devised but some offender might finde a shift to evade the penaltie of that law mans law therefore requires to be reviewed and amended but this law of God remaines as at first it was made and no delinquent can finde the least way to escape the judgement threatned and this also proves it to be the very word of the invisible God And if any desire to be satisfied yet farther concerning the Scriptures whether they are the very word of God let him doe this compare Scripture by Scripture and place by place let the letter and the sense goe together then let him yeeld himselfe obedient to the Spirit of truth and that Spirit of truth shall witnesse unto him the truth of the Spirit and let as many as be perfect be thus Phil. 3. 15. minded and if in any thing yee be otherwise minded God shall reveal even this unto you But if any one will not be content to suck the wholesome milk from the breasts of the Scriptures let him continue still like the swine to feed upon the husks that he so much doth relish But as for you my brethren of whom I hope Hebr. 6. 9. better things and such as accompany salvation Receive I humbly beseech you with meeknesse sobrietie James 1. 21. and thankfulnesse this pure word of God which is the truth of God proceeding from the fountaine of Truth it selfe which is onely able to make you wise unto salvation and which will open the eyes of your understanding cleerly to see God and as for others no marvell if they never attaine unto the true and perfect knowledge of God who either know not the Scriptures at all or else knowing them search them not diligently nor reade them with a single eye Christ reproved the Sadduces concerning the resurrection You erre saith hee not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God He reproved also the Jews for their ignorance of knowing him when he proved by the testimony of his Father of John of his works and John 5. 17 32 36. of the Scriptures who hee was and therefore hee counselleth them to search the Scriptures for they Vers 39. testified of him Scrutamini Scripturas It was the honour of the Bereans in that they received the word Acts 17. 11. with all readinesse of minde and searched the Scriptures daily whether the things spoken by Paul were so or not and as it was their honour so it will be your blessednesse to be studious in the Scriptures which so evidently reveal God to you For meditation in the word of God is that key that openeth the door to
GODS PRESENCE MANS COMFORT OR GODS INVISIBILITIE Manifested unto MANS CAPACITIE The heads of which Tractate were delivered in a Sermon at the Abbey of Westminster and since enlarged for the benefit of the Church of God By the Lords unprofitable servant Ch. Anthony AUG lib. 6. de TRINITAT Qui Trinitatis Mysterium vel ex parte vel per speculum vel ex aenigmate videt gaudeat cognoscens Deum gratias agat Qui vero non videt tendat per pietatem ad videndum non per coecitatem ad calumniandum quoniam unus est Deus sed tamen Trinitas Imprimatur Ja. Cranford LONDON Printed by J. Y. for George Lathum at the Bishops-head in Pauls Church-yard 1646. TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFULL GILBERT MILLINGTON Esquire and all the rest of the Honourable Committee for the plundred Ministers As also TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFULL and his much honoured friend ROBERT JENNER Esquire one of the Members of the Honourable House of COMMONS Grace Mercy and Peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ THe glory of all Creatures originally made by God is Man the glory of Man consisteth in the powers of the soule in them hee excelleth all other Creatures and neerest resembleth his Creator When God would make Man having before-hand made all things for his Being and Dominion hee summoneth as it were a Councell of the Trinity Gen. 1. 26. Tilen Come let us make man after our likenesse Haec Dei imago in nulla re aspectabili praeterquam in homine conspicitur Man onely being endowed with a reasonable soule and adorned with the gifts of wisdome justice equity sanctity and verity But alas Man did not stand long in this happy condition but through the subtilty of Satans temptations soon fell for such is the malice of that destroyer that hee labours to hinder the increase of heavenly knowledge and that none may be the inheritors of that kingdome of which himselfe is dis-inherited and ever since the powers of the soule of man are depraved and weakened so that his Wisdome is become foolishnesse his Understanding darknesse and all is out of order And as mankind increased in the world so sin increased with mankind and the older the world growes the more sinfull it is Aetas parentum pejor avis tulit nos nequiores By this corruption of nature a spirituall darknesse hath seazed mans soul so that in heavenly matters hee is blinde and the image of God almost blotted out in him Yet hath not God suffered the whole light of nature to be quite extinct for what may be known of God is seen in the Creation sufficiently to evince Atheisticall opinions but more clearly in the Scriptures which as a light shine clearly out of darknesse though all cannot perceive it for all have not faith I mean a true saving faith and consequently all have not the true knowledge of God 1 Cor. 15. 34. In this mist of ignorance Satan labours to captivate men and to this effect hee is become a lying spirit in the 1 King 22. 22. mouthes of Ahabs false prophets and the Apostle Paul telleth us that in the last dayes perillous times 2 Tim. 3. 1 c. shall come for men shall be lovers of their owne selves c. Having a form of godlinesse but denying Verse 5. the power thereof of whom he forewarneth us from such turn away The kingly Prophet David also telleth us of a foole that hath said in his Psal 14. 1. heart not with his tongue there is no God Surely they both foretold these dayes in which wee live irreligion and impietie towards God and unfaithfulnesse and uncharitableness towards men being grown to the heighth and Satan that grand malignant having instilled into the minds of some wilfull heady and unlearned leaders damnable heresies whereby the hearts of too too many ignorant people are poysoned with sowre leaven Heare Gods judgements against such Because my people have forgotten mee they have Jer. 18. 15 c. burnt incense to vanity and caused them to stumble in their wayes from the ancient paths to walk in paths and in a way * Note not cast up c. I will scatter them as with an East-winde before the enemie I will shew them the back and not the face in the day of their calamity The Apostle Peter speaks of some unlearned and unstable who in his 2 Pet. 3. 16. dayes wrested many things in the Epistles of Paul as also they did other Scriptures to their own destruction So that heresies began to spring even in the dayes of the Apostles and their immediate successors And although they seemed to be cut down and as it were buried in oblivion yet now are they raked up and Hydra-like sprouted innumero capite witnesse the many dangerous pamphlets of poysonous opinions lately spread abroad O! happy were it if they were so served as were those Magick-books at Ephesus Acts 19. 19. No marvell then if very few see God in the true glass of the Scriptures when the eye of their soule hath such scales to dim them Some are wilfully blind and will not see God like the Atheist some are blind yet know it not they say they see like the selfe-justifying Pharisees Joh. 9. 41. some see God only in images like the purblind Papist some see him only in the letter not in the sense like the ceremonious Jew or fantastick Anabaptist some again see him onely obliquely in his free grace declared in the Gospel and will not look upon him in his severe justice manifested in his Law which the Apostle saith is holy just and good yea spirituall Rom. 7. 12 14. like the licentious Antinomian Whereas all the properties and attributes of God are in himselfe essentially one and the same Trahit sua quemque voluptas every man will serve God after his own fantasie and imagine God to be what his dull capacitie conceives him to be But Christ hath told us that every plant that his heavenly Father hath not planted Matth. 15. 13. shall be rooted up Let then all such beware how they build for Other foundation can no man lay 1 Cor. 3. 10. ad 16. then that is laid that is Jesus Christ c. Upon which place Calvin saith excellently Some preach Calv. in loc sound and edifying doctrine others mingle idle disputes of their own brain more for ostentation then for edification of the hearer now although these are in as good account and oft-times more amongst men then are the soundest teachers yet the day of the Lord shall manifest their difference And when he shall visit them by his Spirit then shall it appear whether their garments be fine linnen clean and white which is the righteousness of the saints Rev. 19. 8. Deut. 22. 10 11. or linsey-woolsey which is abominable in Gods eyes then shall it appear whether they break up the Lords vineyard and plow his field with
4. 12. time yet is his invisibility manifested and understood in the things created for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which may be known of God is manifested in the Rom. 1. 19. creatures namely his eternall power and Godhead As the exquisite skill of a workman is discerned by his work so is the wisdome and power of God perspicuously manifested ex operibus by his works Whether you consider the nature of the heavens or the influence of the starres or the motion of the planets or the various and terrible meteors or the creatures in the aire earth or seas how strange they are for forme how innumerable for multitude or if you consider him in one of his most excellent and admirable miracles namely the variety of the visages of so many millions of men not one exactly and in all parts like unto another which Plinie notes In facie vultuque nostro Lib. 10. Hist. Nat. nullas duas in tot millibus hominum indiscretas effigies existere quod ars nulla in paucis numero praestet affectando all which are a large Commentary of the divine Essence and Wisdome of Almighty God And again that all things should be made of nothing solo nutu verbo absque labore onely by his command and word not by any labour this shews his eternall Omnipotency Ens ex ente producere est potentiae creatae ens verò ex non ente vel ex ente indisposito est potentiae increatae which I will English thus To erect a curious fabrick having convenient materials is the skill of every common artist but to erect a curious fabrick out of base materials requires more then ordinary skill But now to erect so curious a fabrick as is the whole Universe and that out of nothing onely By speaking the word this needs must be the finger Exod. 8. 19. of God Thus Beloved have you heard how that God hath left his footsteps imprinted in his works so that man cannot be altogether without the knowledge of God In omni re aspectabili quaedam extant Vel palpando inveniri potest Deus Tilen Dei vestigia in every thing visible some print of Gods footsteps is impressible by which man may if hee will track and finde out his Creator or else be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Judge to pronounce sentence of condemnation for his wilfull ignorance against himselfe for God by his works hath left man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without all excuse In a word God by his works exhibits himselfe to a man to see if man will by them seek and search after him The works of the Lord are great saith the Psalmist sought Psal 111. 2. out of all that have pleasure therein So then delight may be taken by viewing God in the creatures Yet more apparently doth God manifest himselfe By the booke of the Scriptures to man in the book of the Scriptures Although then man may sufficiently reade the Wisdome Justice Power Goodnesse and Providence of God in the book of the Creatures yet because for the most part hee beholdeth the creatures but slightly and with a glancing eye for hee seldome looks farther into them then they stand him in stead very seldome hee either sees or observes God in them and if hee is purblind in things naturall and such as are obvious to his sight no marvell if thick scales cloud his eyes concerning things supernaturall and spirituall God therefore who is abundant in goodnesse exhibits himselfe to man by a farre clearer light namely by his word and Sacraments by which as through a prospective man may discern him and yet every man hath not this glorious priviledge for Hee hath not dealt so with every nation the Psal 147. 20. heathen have no knowledge of his law it is onely his Spouse that can discerne him in them The naturall 1 Cor. 2. 14 15. man perceiveth not the things of the Spirit This peculiar blessing wee shall apply unto our selves by Gods gracious assistance God in his great mercy hath affoorded this favour to us more then to many other people in the world which argues his wonderfull love that he beareth unto us Blessed be his name hee hath taken away the scales from our eyes as hee did from Sauls at his conversion by giving unto us his Acts 9. 18. word and sacraments by which wee may see him cleerly if we will O pray we then that he would be pleased to annoint our eyes with heavenly eye-salve Rev. 3. 18. and that hee would give us the eye of true faith that so wee may see him in them for else as the light of the Sun is not discerned by a blinde man although the Sun shine never so brightly even so this supernaturall light in the Scriptures is not seen by any who have not the eye of their souls opened by faith Some have been so Atheisticall as to doubt whether there were a God or not and consequently to deny his word but when what through the terrors and affrightments of their own consciences together with the observation of the order and governance of all things they could not deny a supreme power the Divell sought to delude them by faining that this God was of some corporeall substance and that hee spake unto them by his lying Oracles by this policie the Divell deluded many and hindred them the knowledge of the true God Others again grant that there is a God and yeeld that hee hath a written word yet blush not blasphemously to say Meliùs consultum fuisse Ecclesiae Observat Tilen de orig sac Scrip. Thes 35. si nulla unquam extitisset Scriptura that it had been happier for the Church if there never had been any Scripture therefore blasphemously stiling it Theologiam atramentariam Thus impudently controlling the wisdome of God who was pleased thereby to make himselfe knowne unto his Spouse the Church Another sort there are who equall their unwritten verities in authoritie unto the sacred Scriptures and most grossely abuse both the letter and the sense of the Scriptures thus making the invention of man of like authority with the word of God which was given by the inspiration of the 2 Tim. 3. 16. holy Ghost God hath blessed be his name miraculously preserved the Scriptures in their genuine puritie maugre the furie of King Jehojachim who burnt the roll that Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jer. 36. 23. the Prophet Jeremiah or maugre the madnesse of 1 Mac. 1. 56 57. Antiochus and other tyrants who sought utterly to Pro libito mutare vel addere demere quicquam Crashaw on Romes forgeries abolish the books of God extant in their dayes or maugre the sacrilegious policy of the Papists who have corrupted it in the text So that if any shall now ask What is meant by the Scriptures I answer Not mens traditions nor the unwritten verities of the superstitious Papists which they equalize with the pure word
most delightsome garden to solace a mans soule in it is the Exchequer of the King of kings in which hee keepeth the audit of all his accounts it is the high Court of the great God and the habitation of the holy Ghost and think not to beguile conscience or to delude Gods all-seeing eye for the one will be an upright witnesse the other a severe Judge I conclude this point with that observation of Tilenus In calamitates magnas incident qui vel subdoli ingenii strophis Magistratûs cognitionem eluserant vel virium fiduciâ perruptis legum clathris Judicum subsellia contempserant ad ineluctabile enim tribunal summi Judicis pertrahentur qui nec fraude eludetur nec vi superari poterit Thus have I at large declared how God is pleased to manifest himselfe to the consciences of men both by the ministery of the word and also by the checks of the same In a word take as a Corrolary the summe of all God is pleased to exhibite himselfe to all our senses Thus wee see him in the admirable fabrick of the world and varietie of creatures Thus wee hear him in his word preached Thus wee taste him in the fruits of the earth carnally but spiritually in the blessed Sacrament Thus wee smell him in the fragrancy of his graces And thus wee feel him in the checks of our consciences our outward senses being the grates or windowes of our soules nothing being conveyed into the one but by the other Wee understand nothing we know nothing but either the ear or the eye or some other sense must first present it to the soule As then many windowes yeeld more light into a roome so the more senses there are that present a matter to the soule the more cleerly doth the soul understand it and conceive it These Beloved are the windowes grates and lattesses thorow which Christ looketh upon his Spouse the Church Yet as followeth in my third Generall It is but hieroglyphically enigmatically obscurely The Egyptians used to expresse themselves by mysticall cyphers and when Almighty God appeared to Moses it was either in fire or else in a Exod. 3. 6. cloud in both which to the eye of Moses it was Cap. 40. 34. obscurely So when the Lord appeared to Elijah it was by a voice which is audible not visible 1 King 19. When Christ was transfigured upon the Mount it Mark 9. 3. was in such a brightnesse that the Apostles could not endure to behold the glory of his Majestie So that although God is every-where about us yet such is our dimnesse wee cannot perceive him like the servant of Elisha wee are blinde and see 2 Kin. 6. 16 17. not God neer us unlesse God in mercy open our eyes as hee did his The book of the Creatures the book of the Scriptures and the book of Conscience may serve us in some stead yet are but as dark shadowes glimeringly setting forth him who is light invisible They may serve as a candle in the night but as when the light of the Sun appeareth the light of the candle is darkened so when our vaile of mortality is put away wee shall see God more perfectly In the Scriptures we read of a four-fold light First Light is taken properly as of the Sun Moon and Starres which give light to all creatures Gen. 1. 14 c. upon the earth to this end they were created Secondly Light is taken figuratively sometimes for God himselfe God is light sometimes 1 John 1. 5. for Gods countenance so David prayeth God to lift up the light of his countenance upon him sometimes Psal 4. 6. it is taken for Christ for his Apostles for true Luk. 2. 32. Matth. 5. 14. beleevers or it may be taken for the light of Gods Spirit with which some were endued in the dayes Ephes 5. 8. of the Apostles for the discerning of those who spake by the Spirit of God from those who spake by a false spirit therefore it was called the gift of 1 Cor. 12. 10. discerning of spirits Thirdly Light is taken for the light of the Scriptures leading us to God Thy word is a lanthorne Psal 119. 105. to my feet and a light unto my pathes for naturally our understandings are darke onely God in mercy revealeth himself unto us by the light of the Scriptures Hence is it that wee are advised both by that Evangelicall Prophet Isaiah as also that beloved Apostle John to walke in the light of the Isa 2. 5. 1 John 1. 7. Lord. Fourthly Light is taken for comfort after the troublesome stormes of affliction so the Prophet Micah Rejoyce not against mee O mine enemy When Micah 7. 8. I fall I shall rise when I sit in darknesse the Lord shall be a light unto me When Hamans plot was defeated The Jewes had light and gladnesse joy and honour Esth 8. 16. and saith David Light is sowne for the righteous Psal 97. 11. and joyfull gladnesse to them that are true of heart Hence is it that the Prophet Isaich comforteth the Church in the uberity of her children by the promulgation of the Gospel Arise be enlightned Isa 60. 1. for thy light cometh and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee The first of these lights makes not for our purpose the three later may help us very much If therefore the Spirit of God shineth upon our souls it will clear our understandings to discerne God in the light of the Scriptures and if wee can see God in the light of the Scriptures wee shall be sure to attain to the light of saving comfort because the latter dependeth on the former Thus the Eunuch although his devotion led him to Act. 8. 30 c. read the Scriptures yet did hee not understand all that hee did read till the Spirit sent Philip to expound it unto him then went hee away rejoycing Nor was it saith Calvin unprofitable for him to Calvin exercise his minde in places of Scripture more obscure because by searching and studying therein the sense of them through the assistance of Gods Spirit is to be attained unto And by the way Note the blinde condition of the Romish Note Laitie who satisfie themselves with imbracing any doctrines of their Church without searching the grounds thereof from the Scriptures taking all upon the trust of others and being content to goe without examining them by that touchstone But to proceed Our knowledge of God in this life is in part that is is imperfect as the beholding of a man suddenly passing by whose back-parts onely wee can look upon our more fuller knowing God is reserved untill that time in which we shall be made like unto him When wee all with open 2 Cor. 3. 18. face beholding as in a glasse the glory of the Lord shall be transformed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
The brightnesse of this knowledge breaks forth in this life when of sinners wee are made righteous by justification but attains not to its perfect heighth till wee are transformed into that image Thus wee passe from the glory of creation to the glory of justification and from the glory of being the sons of God to the glory of being like unto God Alluding hereunto is that of S. John Beloved wee are 1 John 3. 2. now the sons of God yet it doth not appeare what wee shall be but wee know that when hee shall appear wee shall be like him for wee shall see him as hee is In this life wee cannot in the life to come wee shall receive the endowments of perfect beatitude both in soule and body Here wee may onely conceive him with the eyes of our mindes but then we shall perceive him with the eyes of our bodies Even with these same eyes saith Job onely wee must Job 19. 26 27. grant that corruption must first put on incorruption for Flesh and bloud cannot inherit the kingdome 1 Cor. 15. 50. of God Our bodies shall not then be earthy animated onely by a soule and separable from them as now they are but spirituall all danger and cause of separation being done away by the Spirit of Christ quickning us Nor yet may wee with Origen suppose that our bodies shall be aeriall and not consist of flesh and bones this repugneth Jobs confession and our Saviours body after his resurrection was not a spirit for that hath not flesh and bones as his bodie had which is Luk. 24. 39. an assurance that our very bodies shall rise again though not fraile as now they are but as Augustine Aug. epist 145. ad Consent sheweth they shall be spirituall not that the flesh shall be abolished but spirituall because fully guided by the spirit and vivified to a life being without all sustenance never to have end And reason there is why this our corruption should put on incorruption for how else can wee enjoy the incorruptible crowne of glory 1 Pet. 5. 4. By consequence therefore it must follow that whilest wee are clothed with corruptible clay Ex parte tantùm cognoscimus modicum ex multo Wee know but in part and alas lesse then wee ought wee are not able to discern the pure and perfect vision of the Deity Whilest we live in these earthy tabernacles our primest knowledge of God in respect of his incomprehensible Essence is like the knowledge of a childe to a man of riper yeeres weak and tender for children have not sapientiam ad sensum knowledge according to discretion The perfectest light that wee have of God in this life may well be compared to a kingdom descryed by a small land-skip here a citie there a castle here a village there a mountain here a forrest there a river here beasts there men all which are done with very little touches to represent greater bodies Even so our best knowledge of God is clouded and imperfect and our brightest speculation admits of much weaknesse and imperfection of many fogs and mists yea our knowledge in Theologie and Divine mysteries is obscure and in part quia fide nititur because it is built upon faith now that which reason cannot apprehend faith doth beleeve ideoque ex parte tantùm est scientia our knowledge therefore must needs be in part faith being the evidence of things not seen Wee see saith the Apostle sed per speculum as through a 1 Cor. 13. 12. glasse darkly our knowledge at the best being like dim-sighted eyes which see somewhat indeed of God through the glasse of the creatures and Scriptures or at the most by similitudes and figures by which God exhibiteth himselfe to such as are most in favour with him as to the Apostle Paul 2 Cor. 12. 2. when hee was taken up into the third heaven and to S. John in Patmos in the Spirit Object But some may object and say If wee see God thorow a glasse then wee see him cleerly Speculum enim non rei imaginem sed rem ipsam oculis exhibet A glasse doth not set forth to us the image of the thing but the thing it selfe Sol. True a glasse doth demonstrate the thing it selfe to the eye yet so that still it is per radium non directum sed reflexum by a ray or beam not direct but reflexed and therefore not properly clearly and distinctly but at a distance obscurely and confusedly and such is our knowledge of God and divine mysteries in this mortall life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as through a glasse darkly per speculare as through spectacles which you know make things legible and visible which before were not and that per medium obscurum similitudinem umbrosam or as the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a riddle or as in my Text per cancellos per transennam as thorow grates or lattesses which is a Metaphoricall speech borrowed from merchants or trades-men qui per cancellos vimineos expandunt mercaturas who thorow grates or lattesses expose their wares for sale and to be viewed by such as passe along non propè sed procul non distinctè sed confuso modo not nigh at hand but at a distance not distinctly but confusedly And thus Almighty God manifesteth himselfe to us in this life not really and fully apparent but as from behind a wall as thorow grates or lattesses And yet not altogether so obscurely as that no knowledge can be had of him but that a true Christian by the eye of unblemished faith may be assured that there he stands for saith his Spouse Behold hee standeth behind our wall which is the fourth Generall of the Text. Behold hee standeth behinde our wall hee looketh forth c. By the way I pray observe that this word behold is not to be understood in this place as a note of attention but of demonstration quasi Ecclesia digito monstravit quem corde dilexit as if his Spouse pointed him out with her finger whom she loved in her heart Behold he standeth c. Quest But how is his Spouse assured of his voice and presence Resol Per visibilia invisibilem by things visible and audible shee is ascertained that it is onely hee for shee is assured that it is his voice that Cant. 5. 2. knocketh and calleth to her to open unto him she is assured that shee seeth him in the variety and beauty of the creatures shee is assured that shee heareth him in the book of the Scriptures shee is assured that shee feeleth him in the checks of her conscience shee is assured that shee smelleth him Cant. 5. 13. in the fragrancy of his graces and shee is assured that shee tasteth him in the sweetnesse of his word which the Apostle Peter calleth sincere milk and 1 Pet. 2. 2 3. Heb. 6. 4. the Apostle Paul the good word of God These are the windows thorow