and Martyrs approving and applauding as before I said that most righteous judgement which CHRIST shall then pronounce against all the wicked saying Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels This dreadful sentence thus pronounced and the condemned persons being delivered over by the Angels of God to the Devil and his according to the sentence of that righteous Iudge CHRIST shall arise from his Tribunal and together with his elect Angels and most blessed Saints shall in an orderly and triumphant manner ascend into the Heaven of Heavens where unto every one of his glorious Saints he shall bestow the immarcessible Crown of glory and make them Kings and Priests unto God the Father When all the Princes of the Earth have laid down their Scepters at the feet of CHRIST God shall be still a King of Kings a King indeed of none but Kings Rex Regum Dominus Dominantium always but most amply them For then shall CHRIST deliver up the Kingdom unto God the Father which how it must be understood we have shewn before And the Saints laying down their Crowns at the feet of Christ shall worship and fall down before him saying Blessing honour glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon the Throne and unto the Lamb for ever and ever For thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy bloud out of every kindred and tongue and people and Nation and hast made us Kings and Priests to God to reign with thee in thy Kingdome for evermore Thus have I made a brief but a plain discovery so far forth as the light of Scripture could direct me in it both of the manner of our Saviours coming unto Judgement and of the Method he shall use in the act of judging That which comes after Iudgement whether life or death whether it be the joys of Heaven or the pains of Hell will fall more properly under the consideration of the last Article of the Creed that of Life Everlasting and there we mean to handle all those particulars which I think pertinent thereunto In the mean time a due and serious consideration of this day of Iudgement will be exceeding necessary to all sorts of people and be the strongest bridle to restrain them from the acts of sin that ever was put into the mouths of ungodly men For what a bridle think we must it be unto them to keep them from unlawful lusts nay from sinful purposes when they consider with themselves that in that day the hearts of all men shall be opened their desires made known and that no secrets shall be hid but all laid open as it were to the publick view What a strong bridle must it be to curb them and to hold them in when they are in the full careere and race of wickedness when they consider with themselves that there will be no way nor means to escape this Judgement Though they procure the Rocks to fall upon them and the Hils to hide them yet will Gods Angels finde them out and gather them from every corner of the World be they where they will Though they have flattered their poor souls and said Tush God will not see it or have disguised themselves with fig-leaves out of a silly hope to conceal their nakedness or wiped their lips so cunningly with the harlot in the Book of Proverbs that no man can discern a stollen kiss upon them yet all this will not serve the turn God will for all this bring them unto judgement and apprehend them by his Angels when they go a gathering There shall not one of them escape the hands of these diligent Sergeants Ne unus quidem no not one And finally what a bridle must it be unto them to hold them from exorbitant wickedness as either the crucifying again of the Lord of glory the persecuting of the Saints their mischievous plots against the Church in her peace and Patrimony when they consider with themselves that he whom thus they crucifie is to be their Iudge and that those poor souls whom they now contemn shall give a vote or suffrage on their condemnation and that the poor afflicted Church which they made truly militant by their foul oppressions malgre their tyranny and confederacies shall become Triumphant And on the other side what a great comfort must it be to the righteous man to think that Christ who all this while hath been his Mediator with Almighty God shall one day come to be his Iudge What a great consolation must it be unto him in the time of trouble to think that all his groans are registred his tears kept in a bottle and his sighs recorded and that there is a Iudge above who will wipe all the tears from his eyes and give him mirth in stead of mourning What an incouragement must it be unto him in the way of godliness when he considereth with himself that there is laid up for him a Crown of glory which the Lord the righteous Judge will give him at that day and give it him in the fight both of men and Angels Finally what strength and animation must it put into them to make them stand couragiously in the cause of Christ and to contemn what ever misery can be laid upon them in the defence of Christs and the Churches cause when they consider with themselves that there is no man who hath lost Father or Mother or wife or children or lands and possessions for the sake of Christ but shall receive much more in this present world and in the world to come life everlasting For behold he cometh quickly as himself hath told us and his reward is with him to give to every man according as his work shall be Even so Lord Jesus So be it Amen THE SUM Of Christian Theologie Positive Philological and Polemical Contained in the APOSTLES CREED or Reducible to it THE THIRD PART By Peter Heylyn 1 Cor. 12.13 For by one Spirit are we all Baptized into one Body whether we be Iews or Gentiles whether we be bond or free and have been all made to drink into one Spirit LONDON Printed for Henry Seyle 1654. ARTICLE IX Of the Ninth ARTICLE OF THE CREED Ascribed to St. IAMES the Son of ALPHEVS 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Credo in Spiritum sanctum sanctam Ecclesiam Catholicam i. e. I beleeve in the Holy Ghost the holy Catholick Church CHAP. I. Touching the Holy Ghost his divine Nature Power and Office the Controversie of his Procession laid down Historically Of Receiving the Holy Ghost and of the severall ministrations in the Church appointed by him WE are now come unto the third and last part of this Discourse containing in the first place the Article of the Holy Ghost and of the holy Catholick Church gathered together and preserved by the power thereof And in the rest those several Gifts and special Benefits which Christ conferreth by the operation of
Spirit in which we shall discern both his power and office These gifts and graces of the Spirit the School-men commonly divide into Gratis data such as being freely given by God are to be spent as freely for the good of others of which kinde are the gift of tongues curing diseases and the like and gratum facientia such as do make him good and gracious on whom it pleaseth God to bestow the same as Faith Iustice Charity The first are in the Scripture called by the name of gifts Now there are diversity of gifts saith the Apostle but the same Spirit For to one is given by the Spirit the word of Wisdom to another the word of Knowledge by the same Spirit to another Faith by the same Spirit to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit to another the working of miracles to another prophecy to another discerning of spirits to another divers kindes of tongues to another the interpretation of tongues The later are called Fruits by the same Apostle The Fruits of the Spirit saith he are love joy peace long-suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness temperance The Gifts are known most commonly by the name of Gratis data the Fruits pertain to Gratum facientia The Gratum facientia belong to every man for himself the Gratis data for the benefit of the Church in common That which God giveth us for the benefit and use of others must be so spent that they may be the better for it because not given unto us for own sakes onely nor to gain others to our selves but all to him In which respect Gods Servants are to be like Torches which freely wast themselves to give light to others like Powder on the day of some Publick Festival which freely spends it self to rejoyce the multitude That which he gives us for our selves must be so improved that we may thereby become fruitful unto all good works vessels prepared and sanctified for the Masters use In the first of these we may behold the power of the Holy Ghost in the last his office His power in giving tongues to unlearned men knowledge to the ignorant wisdom to the simple the gift of prophecy even unto very Babes and Sucklings I mean to men not studied in the Liberal Sciences A power so great that no disease is incurable to it no spirit so subtile and disguised but is easie discerned by it no tongue so difficult and hard which it cannot interpret no miracle of such seeming impossibility but it can effect it In which regard the Holy Ghost is called in Scripture The power of God The power of the most High shall over-shadow thee Luke 1.35 And Christ our Lord having received the ointing of the holy Spirit is said to be anointed with the Holy Ghost and with power Acts 10.38 Nor want I Reasons to induce me unto this opinion that when Simon Magus had effected by his sorceries and lying wonders to be called the great power of God but that his purpose was to make men believe that he was the Holy Ghost or the Spirit of God which title afterwards he bestowed on his strumpet Helena and took that of CHRIST unto himself as the more famed and fitting for his devilish purposes Next for his Office that consisteth in regenerating the carnal and sanctifying the regenerate man First In regenerating of the carnal For except a man be born of Water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God saith our Blessed Saviour of Water as the outward Element but of the holy Spirit as the inward Efficient which moving on the Waters of Baptism as once upon the face of the great Abyss doth make them quickning and effectual unto newness of life Then for the Work of Sanctification that is wrought wholly by the Spirit who therefore hath the name of the Holy Ghost not onely because holy in himself formaliter but because holy effective making them holy who are chosen unto life eternal So say St. Peter the first and St. Paul the last of the Apostles St. Peter first Elect according to the fore-knowledge of God the Father through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience 1 Pet. 1.2 And so St. Paul But ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the Name of our Lord Iesus and by the Spirit of God 1 Cor. 6.11 That is to say Iustified in the Name of our Lord Iesus through Faith in him and sanctified by the Spirit of God through the effusion of his Graces in the Soul of Man The work of Sanctification is not wrought but by many acts as namely By shedding abroad in our hearts that most excellent gift of charity filling our souls with righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost by teaching us to adde To our faith vertue and to vertue knowledge and to knowledge temperance and to temperance patience and to patience godliness and to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness charity that we be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of Christ. Though Christ be the Head yet is the Holy Ghost the Heart of the Church from whence the vital spirits of grace and godliness are issued out unto the quickning of the Body mystical And as the vital spirits in the body natural are sensibly perceived by the motion of the heart the breathing of the mouth and by the beating of the pulse so by the same means may we easily discern the motions of the Spirit of Grace First It beginneth in the heart by putting into us new hearts more sanctified desires than we had before A new heart will I also give you and a new spirit will I put within you saith the Lord by the Prophet Ezekiel And to what end That ye may walk in my Statutes and keep my Iudgments This new heart is like the new wine which our Saviour speaks of not possible to be contained in old bottles but will break out first in new desires For Novum supervenisse spiritum nova demonstrant desideria as St. Bernard hath it Nor will it break out onely in desires or wishes but we shall finde it on our tongues for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh And if the heart be throughly sanctified we may be sure that no corrupt communication will come out of our mouths but onely such as is good to the use of edifying and may minister grace unto the hearers The same breath in the natural body is Organon vitae vocis as experience telleth us The Instrument of life and voice it is the same we live by and the same we speak by And so it is also in the Body mystical as well the vocal as the vital breath proceeding both alike from the Holy Ghost Nor stayes it onely on the tongue but as the beating of the pulse is best found at the hand so if we would desire to know how the
Viceroyes put upon him by the Papists and the Presbyterians THe title of King designed to Christ long before his birth given to him by the Souldiers and confirmed by Pilate The generall opinion of the Iews and of the Apostles and Disciples for a temporal Kingdome to be set up by their Messiah the like amongst the Gentiles also Christ called the head of the Church and upon what reasons The actuall possession of the Kingdome not conferred on Christ till his resurrection Severall texts of Scripture explained and applyed for the proof thereof Christ by his regall power defends his Church against all her enemies and what those enemies are against which he chiefly doth defend it Of the Legislative power of Christ of obedience to his lawes and the rewards and punishments appendent on them No Viceroy necessary on the earth to supply Christs absence The Monarchy of the Pope ill grounded under that pretence The many Viceroyes thrust upon the Church by the Presbyterians with the great prerogatives given unto them Bishops the Vicars of Christ in spirituall matters and Kings in the externall regiment of the holy Church That Kings are Deputies unto Christ not only unto God the Father proved both by Scriptures and by Fathers The Crosse why placed upon the top of the regall Crown How and in what respects Christs Kingdome is said to have an end Charity for what reasons greater then faith and hope The proper meaning of those words viz. Then shall he deliver up the Kingdome unto God the Father disputed canvassed and determined CHAP. XV. Touching the coming of our Saviour to judgement both of quick and dead the souls of just men not in the highest state of blisse till the day of judgement and of the time and place and other circumstances of that action THe severall degrees of CHRISTS exaltation A day of judgement granted by the sober Gentiles Considerations to induce a natural man to that perswasion and to inforce a Christian to it That Christ should execute his judgement kept as a mysterie from the Gentiles Reasons for which the act of judging both the quick and the dead should be conferred by God on his Son CHRIST IESVS That the souls of righteous men attain not to the highest degree of happinesse till the day of judgement proved by authority of Scriptures by the Greek Fathers and the Latine by Calvin and some leading men of the reformation The alteration of this Doctrine in the Church of Rome and the reason of it The torments of the wicked aggravated in the day of judgement The terrors of that day described with the manner of it The errour of Lactantius in the last particular How CHRIST is said to be ignorant of the time and hour of the day of judgement The grosse absurdity of Estius in his solution of the doubt and his aime therein The audaciousnesse of some late adventurers in pointing out the year and day of the finall judgement The valley of Iehosophat designed to the place of the generall judgement The Easterne part of heaven most honoured with our Saviours presence The use of praying towards the East of how great antiquity That by the signe of the Son of man Mat. 24.30 we are to understand the signe of the crosse proved by the Western Fathers and the Southerne Churches The sounding of the trumpet in the day of judgement whether Literally or Metaphorically to be understood The severall offices of the Angels in the day of judgement The Saints how said to judge the world The Method used by Christ in the act of judging The consideration of that day of what use and efficacy in the wayes of life LIBER III. CHAP. I. Touching the holy Ghost his divine nature power and office The controversie of his Procession laid down historically Of receiving the holy Ghost and of the severall Ministrations in the Church appointed by him SEverall significations of these words the holy Ghost in the new Testament The meaning of the Article according to the Doctrine of the Church of England The derivation of the name and the meaning of it in Greek Latine and English The generall extent of the word Spirit more appositely fitted to the holy Ghost The divinity of the holy Ghost clearly asserted from the constant current of the book of God The grosse absurdity of Harding in making the divinity of the holy Ghost to depend meerly upon tradition and humane authority The many differences among the writers of all ages and between St. Augustine with himself touching the sin or blasphemy against the holy Ghost The stating of the controversie by the learned Knight Sir R. F. That the differences between the Greek and Latine Churches concerning the procession of the holy Ghost are rather verball then material and so affirmed to be by most moderate men amongst the Papists The judgement of antiquity in the present controversie The clause a Filioque first added to the antient Creeds by some Spanish Prelates and after countenanced and confirby the Popes of Rome The great uncharitablenesse of the Romanists against the Grecians for not admitting of that clause The graces of the holy Ghost distributed into Gratis data and Gratum facientia with the use of either Why Simon Magus did assert the title of the great power of God Sanctification the peculiar work of the holy Ghost and where most descernible Christ the chief Pastor of the Church discharged not the Prophetical office untill he had received the unction of the holy Spirit The Ministration of holy things conferred by Christ on his Apostles actuated and inlarged by the holy Ghost The feast of Pentecost an holy Anniversary in the Church and of what antiquity The name and function of a Bishop in St. Pauls distribution of Ecclesiasticall offices included under that of Pastor None to officiate in the Church but those that have both mission and commission too The meaning and effect of those solemne words viz. receive the holy Ghost used in Ordination The use thereof asserted against factious Novelty The holy Ghost the primary Author of the whole Canon of the Scripture The Canon of the Evangelical and Prophetical writings closed and concluded by St. Iohn The dignity and sufficiency of the written word asserted both against some Prelates in the Church of Rome and our great Innovators in the Church of England CHAP. II. Of the name and definition of the Church Of the title of Catholick The Church in what respects called holy Touching the head and members of it The government thereof Aristocraticall THe name Church no where to be found in the old Testament The derivation of the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and what it signifyeth in old Authors The Christian Church called not improperly by the name of a Congregation The officiation of that word in our old Translators and the unsound construction of it by the Church of Rome Whence the word CHVRCH in English hath its derivation The word promiscuously used in the elder times
of Nature Speusippus that God was that natural and animal power by which all things are governed Democritus though the first inventor of that absurd opinion that the World was made of several Atoms joyned by chance together yet for the most part he puts Nature in the place of GOD as also did Straton and the Epicureans And Aristotle though inconstant and of many mindes yet other whiles he makes him be that Soul or understanding which presides over the World Heraclides Ponticus will have him also to be a Divine soul or understanding and thereunto inclined Theophrastus Cleanthes Zeno and Chrysippus save that they sometimes call him by the name of Fate Xenophon the Disciple of Socrates was of opinion that the form of the true GOD could not be seen by any man and therefore was not to be sought or inquired into Aristo Chius that he was not to be comprehended both of them guessing at the Majesty of Almighty God by a despair of understanding what indeed he was And Plato finally not only doth affirm of God that he is the Parent of the World the Maker of all Celestial and Terrestrial creatures but by reason of his eminent and incredible power it was a difficult thing to finde what he was and having found it an impossible matter to express it rightly And of all these Minutius noteth that they are Eadem fere quae nostra the same almost with that which was affirmed of GOD in the schools of CHRIST Insomuch saith he that one might very justly think that the modern Christians were Philosophers or that the old Philosophers had indeed been Christians Lactantius also doth affirm that they did vail the same truth under divers notions and that whether they called him Nature Reason Vnderstanding Fatal necessity the Divine Law or in what phrase soever they did use to speak him idem est quod anobis Deus dicitur it was the same with that which we the followers of CHRIST call GOD. His nature being thus declared as far as could be seen by the Eye of Reason proceed we next unto those Epithets or Adjuncts whereby that nature is set forth in the best of their Writers Philolaus a scholar of Pythagoras hath told us of him that he is singularis immobilis sui similis that there is but one God the chief Lord of all and that he is immovable always like himself the Divine Plato that God is good and the Idea of all goodness the Author of whatsoever is good or beautiful and the fountain of truth that he is also living and everlasting 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as I have somewhere found him cited Aristotle sometimes also doth come home to this in whom the attributes of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 immortal and eternal do eft-soones occur By Orpheus it is said that he is invisible that he hath his dwelling in the heavens that he sits there in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a Golden Throne and from thence doth dart his thunders upon wicked men Phocylides hath given us as much of him as one verse can hold 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is one God saith he most wise most powerful and most happy One of the Sibyls heaps upon him the most glorious attributes of being of great Majesty begotten by none invisible yet beholding all things and Apollo one of the Heathen Gods comes not short of her saying of God that he was begotten of himself and taught of none immoveable and of a name not to be expressed These two last passages we before cited out of Lactantius but then it was to prove that there was a GOD. And to these adde that verse of the same Apollo which is elsewhere cited by Lactantius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in which he calleth him the immortal and eternal GOD the unspeakable Father Lay all which hath been said together and we may gather out of all this description of him for to define him rightly is a thing impossible that GOD is an immortal and eternal Spirit existing of himself without any beginning invisible incomprehensible omnipotent without change or passion by whose Almighty power all things were created and by whose divine goodness they are still preserved What more then this is said by the Church of England the purest and most Orthodox of the daughters of Sion which in her book of Articles thus declares her self that is to say There is but one living and true God everlasting without body parts or passions of infinite power wisdom and goodness the Maker and preserver of all things both visible and invisible What more hath been delivered by the Antient Fathers who had the light of Scripture to direct them in it then that which hath been said by these learned Gentiles upon no other ground then the light of Reason Which manifestly proveth that both the Beeing and the Nature of God were points so naturally graffed in the souls of men that neither the ignorance of letters nor the pride of wealth nor the continual fruition of sensual pleasures have hitherto been able to efface the Characters and impressions of it as before I said And if a GOD and but one only he must be such as is described or no GOD at all But of the Attributes and Acts of Almighty God we shall speak more at large in the two next chapters In the mean time by this Theologie of the learned and more sober Gentiles we may see sufficiently that many of those who are counted Christians do fall most infinitely short of them in the things of GOD. Of this kinde were the Anthropomorphitae a sort of Hereticks proceeding from one Andaeus by birth a Syrian but living for the most part in Egypt who miserably mistaking many Texts of holy Scripture conceived and taught Deum humana esse forma eundemq corporalia membra habere that God was made of humane shape and had the same members as men have Which though it was so gross a folly as would have been hissed out of all the schools of Philosophie yet found it such a plausible welcome with the Monkes of Egypt that Theophilus the learned Patriarch of Alexandria was in danger to be torn in pieces because he had opposed them in their peevish courses And of this sort also were the Manichees who for fear they should make God the Author of any thing which was not pleasing to them as darkness winter and whatsoever else did seem evil to them would needs obtrude upon the world two contrary principles or two Supreme Powers from one of which all that was good from the other all that was evil or so seemed to them did proceed originally The first Author of this Heresie amongst the Christians was one Manes who lived about the times of Aurelianus Anno 213. by birth a Persian to whom this errour was first propagated out of the Schools of Zoroaster that great Eastern Rabbin who seeing but with half an eye into sacred matter had fancied to
it so doth it signifie their office for Angelus nomen est officii non naturae as the Fathers tell us which is to be the messengers from God to Man as oft as there is any important businesse which requires it of them to be the Nuncios as it were from Gods supreme holiness to manage his affaires with the sons of men And unto this the Apostle also doth agree telling us that they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or ministring Spirits sent forth to minister unto them that shall be heires of Salvation Spirits they are according to the nature in which they were made and Ministring Spirits or Ministers as he calleth them out of David v. 7. with reference to the office unto which designed We have their nature in the word Spirits which sheweth them to be pure incorporeal substances not made of any corrupt matter as the bodies of men and so not having any internall principle of being they can have none neither of dissolution and yet as Creatures made by the hand of God they are reducible to nothing by the hand that made them although they have not in themselves any passive principle to make them naturally moral It is the priviledge or prerogative of Almighty God to be purely Simple without composition parts or passion The Angels though they come most near him yet fall short of this Who though they are not made of a matter and forme and so not naturally subject to the law of corruption yet are they made up or compounded of Act and Power or Actus aud Potentia in the School-mens language an Act by which they are a Power into which they may be reduced And being so made up of an Act of being and a Power of not being though probably that Power shall never be reduced into Act they fall exceeding short of the nature of GOD whose name is I AM and is so that it is impossible that he should not be or be any other then he is God being as uncapable of change as of composition Nay so great is the difference betwixt their nature and the nature of God so infinitely do they fall short of his incomprehensible and unspeakable Purity that though in comparison of Men as well as in themselves they are truly Spirits yet in comparison of GOD we may call them bodies But whatsoever their condition and ingredients be they owe not only unto God their continuall being by whom they are so made as to be free from corruption but unto him they are indebted for their first original without which they had not been at all St. Paul we see doth reckon them amongst things created and so doth David too in the Book of Psalmes Where calling upon all the Creatures to set forth Gods praises he first brings in the Angels to performe that office and then descends unto the Heavens and the other Creatures O praise the Lord of Heaven saith he praise him in the height Praise him all ye Angels of his praise him all his Hostes Praise him Sun and Moon c. Then addes of these and all the rest of the hosts of heaven He spake the word and they were made he commanded and they were created This with that passage of St. Paul before mentioned make it plain enough that the Angels were created by Almighty God And to this truth all sorts of writers whatsoever which do allow the being of Angels do attest unanimously Apollo in the Oracles ascribed unto him having laid down the incommunicable Attributes of God concludes it thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that such is God of whom the Angels are but the smallest portion Where though Apollo or the Devil in Apollo's statua would fain be thought to be an Angel and as an Angel would be thought to have somewhat in him which might entitle him to be a Godhead yet he confesseth plainly that he owed his being to the power of God and was to be obedient unto his commands Hosthanes one of the chief of the Eastern Magi not only did allow of Angels as the Ministers aud messengers of the only God but made them so subservient to his will and power ut vultu Domini territi contremiscant that they could not look upon him without fear and trembling A Creature therefore doubtlesse not of self-existence and a Creature of Gods making too or else what need they tremble when they look upon him Of Plato it is said by Tertullian briefly Angelos Plato non negavit but by Minutius more expressely that he did not only believe that there were Angels but came so near the knowledge of their constitution as to affirme that they were inter mortalem et immortalem mediam substantiam a substance of a middle nature betwixt immortall and mortall that is to say not so eternally immortall as Almighty God nor yet so subject to mortality as the children of men And herein Aristotle comes up close to his Master Plato affirming more like a Divine then a Philosopher that to the perfection of the World there were required three sorts of substances the first wholly invisible which must be the Angels the second wholly visible as the Heaven and Earth and the third partly visible and invisible partly or made up of both And this saith he is none but man compounded of a visible body and an invisible soul. The Angels then though reckoned amongst things invisible yet being reckoned amongst such things as necessarily concurred to the Worlds perfection must have the same Creator which first made the World and made it in that full perfection which it still enjoyeth and such as hath before been proved could be none but GOD. The matter in dispute amongst learned men is not about the Power by which but the time when they were created In which as in a matter undetermined by the word of God every man takes the liberty of his own opinion and for me they may Some think that their Creation is included in the first words of Genesis where God is said to have created the Heaven and the Earth others when God said Fiat lux Let there be light and that from thence they have the title of the Angels of light Some will not have them made till the fourth day when the Sun and Moon and others of the Stars were made whose Orbes they say are whirled about by these Intelligences Cum ab omnibus receptum sit ab illis Coelos torqueri saith Peter Martyr But that they were created in one of the six dayes is the received opinion of all late Divines whether they be of the Pontifician or the Protestant party If so I would fain know the reason why Moses writing purposely of the Worlds Creation should pretermit the Master-peece of that wondrous work and not as well take notice of the Creation of the Angels as of the making of the Heavens and the Sun and Moon or of the Earth and other sublunary Creatures I know the common
by unfaigned repentance Those of the first sort according to the rules of Divine justice must be eternal in regard of duration and by consequence accompanyed with desperation which is always found where there is an impossibility of ever coming to enjoy a better estate whereas it is not any way necessary nor doth the justice of God require it that the punishments of sin which is repented of ceasing and forsaken should be either everlasting or joyned with despair For as in every act of sin on the aversion from God who is objectively infinite and incommutably good there followeth poena damni or the loss of God which is an infinite loss and as to the inordinate conversion of the sinner to things transitory which must needs be finite there answereth poena sensus which though violent and bitter for a time is yet finite also so to the eternity of sin remaining everlastingly in sâ—ain or guilt answereth the eternity of punishment which followeth on it so to sins intermitted ceasing and repented of a suffering also for a time proportioned to it So that though every sinner sinneth in suo aeterno as St. Gregory speaketh in that he would sin ever might he live for ever and thereby casts himself into an impossibility of giving off in himself and consequently into an eternity of punishment which is due to him for the same yet if he make such use of the grace of God as to cease from sin and turn from his iniquities to the living Lord Gods justice may require extremity of punishment proportionable to the sin committed but the eternity of punishment it requireth not And therefore seeing our Saviour suffered for such sins and for such alone as might be broken off by grace and the benefit of true repentance it was no way necessary to the satisfaction of the Divine justice of God that he should endure eternal punishment Which being summed together make a perfect answer to the question formerly proposed that is to say Whether Christ ought to suffer all those punishments for the redemption of man which man himself must needs have suffered had not Christ come to redeem him The summe of which is briefly this that Christ suffered the whole general punishment of sin that onely excepted which is sin or consequent on the inherence and eternity of it as remorse of conscience and despair and that although he did not suffer the pains of Hell or any punishment of the damned either in specie or in loco yet did he undergo some punishments conformable and answerable to them in extremity as the apprehension of the wrath and anger of the Lord avenging himself upon the sinner but neither infinite nor eternal as the rejection of a sinner from the sight of God Against this truth thus stated and determined by us there remain only two objections the one relating generally to the doctrine of Christs descent into hell the other to it as it stands established in the Church of England And first as to the Doctrine generally it is thus objected that if there were no more in the sufferings of Christ then the submitting of himself to a bodily death and to the anger of the Lord for so short a season it could not possibly occasion such a consternation such a fear and horrour as he expressed both in the Garden and upon the Cross or if he did how infinitely short must he fall of that magnanimity which is found in ordinary Theeves and Robbers which is Calvins argument or of the gallantry of the Primitive Martyrs as other more modestly infer who most couragiously both did and do go forth continually to meet their deaths and satisfie the fury even of partial Judges For answer unto which though it may be said that those particulars of whom they speak endure a stronger conflict with the powers of death then we are conscious of which look on at random and are not sensible at all of the pains they feel or the extremities in the last act of their Tragedy yet we shall give a more particular and punctual answer And first we say for Malefactors that God doth many times give them over to a reprobate sense so that they carelessely seeme to contemn Gods judgements in this present world and so prepare themselves more fully for the judgments of the world to come As for the Martyrs they know well that the wrath of God towards them is appeased by Christ that they shall feel no more but the hands of men and that as the cruelty of men increaseth towards them so God doth give them strength and comfort to undergo what ever shall be laid upon them whereas CHRIST was to satisfie Gods wrath for the sins of mankinde to undergo the punishment which was due unto them according to the Rules and limitations before laid down and not alone to fall into the hands of men but to endure a bitter conflict with the powers of hell which did on every side assault him which never any Martyr was markt out to do Next in relation to this doctrine as now it stands established in the Church of England it is objected that howsoever the Articles of Religion in King Edwards days might seem to intimate a local descent into hell according to the sense of the Antient Fathers yet no such thing could be inferred from the present Article established in the form and manner declared before Their reason is because that allegation of St. Peters words touching Christs preaching to the spirits in prison which was contained in the Book of King Edwards time to shew what manner of descent it was they meant is totally left out in the present Article established in the reign of Queen Elizabeth This they conceive to be an evident declaration that the Church doth not now understand that Article as at first it did and therefore since it doth not mean such a local descent as hath been hitherto maintained in this discourse it may be construed in that sense which they put upon it To which we need but answer this that the words alleadged from St. Peter in the former Article were omitted by the Synod in the late Queenes times not because they did not so understand the Article as both their Predecessors and the Fathers did but either because Christs preaching to the spirits in prison seemed to be set down for the sole reason of his descent into hell or that they thought not fit to impose that for the meaning of St. Peters words to be beleived of necessity by all good people in the Church of England As for the putting their own sense upon it as indeed they do I will but adde this declaration or Injunction of his Sacred Majesty that is to say that no man shall hereafter either print or preach to draw the Articles aside any way but shall submit unto it in the plain and full meaning thereof and shall not put his own sense or comment to be the meaning
as in the West did gainsay the same had their several Errors which never could finde entertainment in the Church of Rome Insomuch as one might safely say of Theological truths as was once said of Philosophical viz. Though they may not possibly be found all at once together in a National or Particular Church yet they are all preserved in the Vniversal And it is the Vniversal Church or the Church Essential not any Topical Church whatever which is free from Error This being granted as I think it is proved sufficiently that the Church Essential cannot fall into any Error which is destructive of divine and salvifical truth We will next see whether and if at all how far this privilege may be extended to the Representative For being it is impossible for the whole Church the diffusive Body to meet together in one place for the composing of such Differences and suppressing such Heresies as may occasionally arise in some part thereof it hath been found expedient in all former ages to delegate some choice men out of the particulars which being met should represent the whole Body Collective and in the name of those that sent them agree amongst themselves what was fit to be done These Meetings were called General Councils Concilia à conciliando from reconciling and attoning such material differences as did disturb the publick peace and general in relation unto National and Provincial Councils assembled on occasions of more private nature From the Apostles times did this use continue Who on the dissention raised by some which came down from Iudea and mingled Circumcision and the Law of Moses with the Gospel of Christ did meet together to consider and determine of it And having resolved upon the point they sent their Decretory Epistle unto all the Churches requiring their obedience and conformity to that resolution which on debate amongst themselves and by the guidance and assistance of the Holy Ghost had been made therein This as it was the first General Council of the Church of Christ so was it the model also of all those that followed and of this Council it is certain that it could not erre Partly because composed for the most part of the Lords Apostles but principally because guided and directed by the Spirit of Truth who had the supream managing of the Action But this we cannot say of those General Councils which after were assembled on the like occasions For though the Church essential might delegate her power unto those Commissioners whom she imployed at such Assemblies yet could she not also import her Privilege And for the Members who convened they neither were endued with a like measure of the Spirit as the Apostles were possessed of nor sure infallibly of such assistance from the Holy Ghost as he vouchsafed to them in that great affair and therefore could not warrantably presume of the like freedom from error which that first General Council might lay claim unto Augustine hath resolved it so against Cresconius Non debet se Ecclesia Christo praeponere cum ille semper veraciter judicet Ecclesiastici autem judices plerumque falluntur The Church saith he ought not to prefer her self before Christ i. e. Before Christ speaking in his Gospel considering that he always judgeth according to truth but Ecclesiastical Iudges being men are oft-times deceived And so it is resolved by the Church of England who hath declared That for as much as General Councils be Assemblies of men whereof all be not governed by the Spirit and Word of God they may erre and sometimes have erred in things appertaining unto God A possibility then there is in the judgment of the Church of England That General Councils may erre in the things of God whether in points of Faith or not there is nothing said For being the Conveners are no more than men men subject as all others are to Humane affections and byassed many times by their private interesses it cannot be but such a possibility may be well supposed And a declaration there is also that some General Councils have actually erred as did the second Nicene in the matter of Images for which it stands censured by the Bishops of France and Germany in the Synod held at Franckford under Charls the Great Which notwithstanding such and so sacred is the name of a General Council if truly such that is to say if it be lawfully called and rightly constituted That the determinations of it are not rashly to be set at nought or wilfully opposed or scornfully slighted it being the Supream Tribunal of Christ on Earth For since the Lord was pleased so graciously to promise That when two or three were gathered together in his name he would be in the midst of them It may be piously inferred in Pope Celestines words Cum nec tam brevi numero Spiritus defit quanto magis eum interesse credamus turbae convenientem in unum sanctorum If the Spirit saith he be not wanting to so small a number how much rather ought we to believe that he vouchsafes to be present with a great multitude of good and godly men convened together He that heareth you heareth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me said Christ himself also unto his Apostles and in them unto their Successors in his holy Ministery May it not piously be inferred from those words of Christ as did some of the Antients in an African Synod to be a very gross absurdity for a man to think That God would give an understanding and discerning Spirit to particular men Et sacerdotibus in Concilium congregatis denegare and not afford it to be a company of godly Bishops met together in counsel And reason good For as many eyes see more than one and the united judgments of learned men assembled together carry more authority in Natural or Political things than of some single persons onely so questionless the joynt prayers of many devout and godly men prevail more with God for the assistance of his Spirit in their consultations than any private man can chalenge or presume upon when points of Faith and matters appertaining to the service of God are to be debated Upon these grounds from the Apostles times to these the Church hath exercised a power in her Representatives of setling such affairs as concerned the publick whether it were that some new controversie did arise in the points of Faith or an emergent Heresie was to be suppressed or that some Text of holy-Scripture which Hereticks had wrested to their private ends was to be expounded or finally that the worshipping of God the Lord in the beauty of holiness did require it of them Nor was it onely exercised by the Church de facto but de jure too And so it is resolved by the Church of England in her Twentieth Article the first and last expresly the second upon strong and necessary consequence The Church hath power to decree Rites or
The Moderns set as high an estimate upon it if they go not higher For Calvin placeth in repentance and forgiveness of sins the sum and substance of the Gospel Non abs re summa Evangelii statuitur in poenitentia remissione peccatorum And Beza maketh it a necessary preparation ad perendum recipienduns Christi beneficium for seeking and obtaining of those benefits which we have by Christ The like doth Zanchius in his Book De Relig. Cap. 18. Thes. 1. And it is generally agreed on also That confession of our sins must be made to God to whom alone belongs the proper and original power of forgiving sins and who alone is able to renew those heavenly characters of divine graces in our souls which had been formerly defaced by the continual batteries and assaults of sin If we confess our sins saith the Apostle he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness But if we say we have not sinned we both deceive our selves and make God a lyer Upon which words there cannot be a better gloss than that of Ambrose Considering saith he that there is no man free from the guilt of sin Negate hoc sacrilegum it was an high degree of sacrilege to affirm the contrary that being one of the Prerogatives of Almighty God and far above the common law of nature But on the other side Remedium confiteri It is â—aith he a present remedy to confess the same all manner of diseases being then most dangerous when they are hid from the Physician And it is generally agreed on by all parties too according to the holy Scripture that none but God hath proper and original power of forgiving sins for who can so forgive sins but God alone said the Pharisees rightly Luke 5.21 and that it appertains unto him alone to create in us a clean heart and renew a right spirit within us Psal. 5â— 10 Nor do I finde it much disputed amongst moderate men but that satisfaction unto men for the wrong sustained and to the Church for publick scandals hath always been accounted a concomitant of sincere repentance The old rule holds unquestionably true in the present times and non dimittitur peccatum nisi restituatur ablatum that sin is never fully pardoned till the party wronged have satisfaction either in fact or in the reality of our intentions is a good peece of Proâ—estant doctrine for ought I can tell And as for satisfaction to the Church in the case of scandal St. Augustine doth require it in his Encheiridion Vt fuit etiam satis ecclesiae in qua remittuntur peccata That the Church have also satisfaction in which sins are pardoned He must be very ignorant in all Antient writers who makes doubt of this and not much conversant in the writings of the late Divines who knows not how this satisfaction is insisted on by the strictest of our Reformators Nay I will go a little further and say according to the Scriptures and the Primitive Fathers That satisfaction also must be given to God Not satisfaction of condignity as the Schoolmen call it which is a just and equal compensation for the sin committed for so Christ onely satisfied for the sins of men but satisfaction of congruity and impetration by which God is incited on the part of man by his contrition and humiliation and other penitential actions to free him from the punishment which he hath deserved The Sacrifice of God is a broken spirit an humble and a contrite heart he will not despise With which and such like sacrifices is the Lord well pleased better than with a Bullock which hath horns and hoofs And in this sense not in relation unto temporal punishments remaining after the remission of the guilt it self as the Papists use it we are to understand the word in the Antient Fathers as Per delictorum poenitentiam Deo satisfacere in Tertullian Lib. de poenit Cap. 5. Precibus operibus suis Deo patri misericordi satisfacere in St. Cyprian Epist. 10. Per poenitentiae dolorem humilitatis gemitum cordis contriti sacrificium co-operantibus eleemosynis in St. Ambrose But the main matter in dispute for we will not trouble our selves further about this particular is Touching the confession of our sins to men and the authority of Sacerdotal Absolution In the first of which we differ from the Church of Rome and in the other from the Grandees of the Puritan faction First For confession to be made to the Priest or Minister it is agreeable both to the doctrine and intent of the Church of England though not so much in practise as it ought to be For in an Exhortation before the Sacrament of the Lords Supper the Priest as Minister is required to say unto the People That if there be any of them which otherwise cannot quiet his own conscience by the means aforesaid but requireth further comfort or counsel then let him come to me the Parish Minister or some other discreet and learned Minister of Gods Word and open his grief that he may receive such ghostly counsel advice and comfort as his conscience may be relieved and that by the ministery of Gods Word he may receive comfort and the benefit of absolution to the quieting of his conscience and the avoiding of all scruple and doubtfulness So also in the form of Visitation of the sick the infirm person is required to make a special confession to the Minister if he feel his conscience troubled with any weighty matter after which confession the Priest shall absolve him in this sort But because men might be unwilling to make such confession for fear their secret sins should be brought to light both to their danger and disgrace in case some obligation lay not on the Priest or Minister for his concealing of the same the Church hath taken order for their security For in her Ecclesiastical Constitutions she hath thus ordained That if any man confess his secret and hidden sins to the Minister for the unburthening of his conscience and to receive spiritual consolation and ease of minde from him the said Minister shall not at any time reveal and make known to any person whatsoever any crime or offence so committed to his trust and secresie except they be such crimes as by the Laws of this Land his own life may be called into question for concealing the same under pain of irregularity And poena irregularitatis as the Canonists tell us not onely doth deprive a man of all his spiritual promotions for the present time but makes him utterly uncapable of any for the time to come and therefore is the greatest penalty except degradation from his Priesthood which possibly a Clergy-man can be subject to And finally because good Laws are nothing worth unless some care be taken for their execution it was made one of the enquiries in the Book of Articles
And finally it is a firm assent to truth supernatural and supernaturally revealed which makes it differ from that credit or belief call it which you will which commonly we ascribe and give to humane authorities which being but humane must needs be fallible and therefore no fit ground for our faith to rest on according to the notion of that word in the Church of Christ. For though both knowledge and experience rest on surer grounds as to the satisfaction of the understanding to which a demonstration is of more authority then an ipse dixit that being a convincing argument which commands assent this but artificiosum argumentum as Logicians call it yet are the grounds of faith less fallible then those of any other Art or Science whatsoever it be because they are communicated to us by the Spirit of God qui nec fallere nec falli potest who being infallible in himself will most infallibly lead unto all those truths the knowledge of the which is either necessary or expedient for us 'T is true St. Paul lays down another definition or description rather of belief or faith which he defines to be Substantiam rerum sperandarum argument non apparentium that is to say The substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen Which definition or description we will first explain and then declare to what acception of the word Faith it relates especially Now the first thing to be considered in this definition is the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Vulgar Latine rendreth by Substantia Beza more like a Paraphrast Illud quod facit ut extent quae sperantur Which being so obscure as to need a Commentary he helps our understanding with a marginal note and cals it suâ—siâ—tentiam rerum quae sperantur which is the true meaning of the word in its natural sense For faith is therefore called the subsistence or the existence as the word is sometimes translated of things hoped for because it makes those things which are yet in hope and are no otherwise ours then in expectation subsistere in corde nostro quasi ante oculos corporis to subsist or exist no lâ—ss really in our hearts or souls then if we saw them present with our bodily eyes And this he doth illustrate by the Resurrection which is not past already as some Hereticks taught nor come as yet as to the accomplishment and performance of it and yet faith makes it to subsist or exist in the minde of a Christian ac si prae oculis eam habeamus as if we were already possessed thereof The word hath other senses in the holy Scripture as in the third chapter of this Epistle to the Hebrews where we finde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 initium substantiae as the Vulgar reads it principium illud quo sustentamur as more truly Beza The beginning of our confidence say our last Translators where that which in the Greek is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is Englished confidence according as we finde it also Psal. 39. where that which by the Septuâ—gint is translated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is in our English rendred hope Surely my hope is even in thee vers 7. Budaeus that most learned Critick in the Greek tongue will have it signifie courage or praesentiam animi deriving it from the verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies to sustain or endure a shock in which regard that Souâ—dier is called miles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who stands his ground and will not turn his back unto his adversary And in this sense we finde it also in St. Pauls Epistle unto those of Corinth twice meeting with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an unmoved constancy in boasting or praefidentem gloriationem as Beza renders it that is to say a glorying that will not shrink or be put out of countenance Which also very well agrees with the nature of faith and serves most fitly to express the full vigour of it by which a man is made assured and confident in all times of danger and scorns to give ground or to turn his back though Principalities and powers and all the rulers of the darkness of this present world were armed against him The second thing to be observed in this definition or description rather which the Apostle hath laid down in the place aforesaid is the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the evidence of things not seen as the English reads Beza translates it quod demonstrat the Vulgar Latine Argumentum and both these say the same though in divers words Arguere dicebant antiqui ostendere a quo venit argumentum quasi ostensio The old Grammarians saith Haimo used the word Argue in that sense which we use the word to declare and shew And Argumentum proprie ratio est qua quis rei dubiae facit fidem an argument saith he is the proof or evidence whereby a doubtful matter is confirmed and ratified And then the meaning of St. Paul will be briefly this Fides est ea credere quae non videntur faith makes us to believe such things as we never saw and are not subject to our senses the minde being so convicted with the evidence of divine authority as to submit it self or to give assent to every thing which is delivered in the holy Scriptures even touching the invisible things of Almighty God as the Apostle cals them in the first to the Romans But then we must observe withall that this is not a proper definition of faith it self according to the rules of Art the true character and nature of a definition but rather a description of the fruits and effects of faith in that it represents those things which are yet in hope as if they were possessed already and doth so clearly look into things invisible as if they were before our eyes And this saith Beza on the place Excellens fidei descriptio ab effectu est quod res adbuc in spepositas repraesentet invisibilia veluti oculis subjiciat So then we may define Belief or Faith as before we did St. Pauls description notwithstanding to be a firm assent to supernatural truths revealed which doth most fully manifest the true nature of faith and no way crosseth that which St. Paul delivereth For that faith represents the things hoped for and is the evidence or proof of things not seen is an effect or consequent of that firm assent to supernatural truths revealed which worketh both that evidence and existence in us It follows thereupon as we before said that to believe according as the word here stands in the front of the Creed is only to be verily perswaded of the truth of those points and Articles as are delivered in the same and to give a firm assent unto them according to the measure of our understanding This being thus stated and determined we now proceed unto the explication of the
first Article I believe in God the Father Almighty that is to say I believe that there is one Immoratal and Eternal Spirit of great both Majesty and Power which we call God and that this God is the Father Almighty the Father both of Iesus Christ and of all mankinde who as a Father hath not only brought us into the world but hath provided us of all things necessary both for body and soul protecting us by his mighty power and governing us and our affairs by his infinite wisdom This is the sum of that which is to be conceived of this present Article of our belief in God the Father Almighty I know the Schoolmen do distinguish very frequently between Credere Deum Credere Deo Credere in Deum the first whereof they make to be a general belief of the beeing of God that is to say that God is that there is a God the second an affiance or relying on the veracity or truth of that which he hath pleased to impart to us in the holy Scriptures the last which is the phrase here used a confidence which we have in his grace and goodness a casting of our selves entirely into his mercy and protection For thus the Master of the Sentences lib. 3. distinct 23. cap. illud est Thomas Aquinas 2.2 qu. 2. Ant. 2. ad 1. 4. the Author of the Ordinary Gloss. Rom. 4.5 Durandus in Rationale divin cap. de Symbol and indeed who not And I know also that this nicety is generally fathered on Augustine who indeed makes a signal difference between credere Deo credere in Deum Credere in Deumutique plus est quam credere Deo to believe in God is more saith he then to believe that which the Lord hath spoken Of which he gives this instance in another place Nam daemones credebant ei at non credebant in eum for the Devils do believe what God saith unto them who cannot for all that be said to believe in God And finally he concludeth or the Schoolmen from him that when we say I believe in God we do not only say I believe God is or I give credit to his words but me ipsum amare credendo in eum ire membris ejus incorporari by believing to love him by believing as it were to grow into him and be incorporate with his members The Protestant Doctors many of them go the same way also making the Credo of this place to be the same with Fiduciam in Deo colloco the placing of our whole trust and confidence in God Almighty which are Zuinglius words with whom agree as to the meaning of the phrase P. Ramus de Relig. l. 1. c. 2. Zanch. de tribus Elohim part 1. lib. 4. cap. 7. lib. 5. c. 2. Amesius in Medull Theol. lib. 1. cap. 3. num 15. besides diverse others whose names it were impertinent to remember here By these in Deum credere to believe in God is made the highest and most excellent act or degree of faith the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or full assurance of the understanding which St. Paul speaks of Coloss. 2.2 higher then which a Christian cannot go in this present life Tertia fidei pars vel gradus as we read in Musculus non modo de Deo Deo sed in Deum credere And this he doth define to be Spem omnen in Deum dirigere firmaque fiducia ab illius bonitate pendere making it so peculiar unto God alone ut nec Moysi nec Prophetis nec Apostolis imo ne Angelis quidem debeat accommodari that it is neither to be used when we speak of Moses or of the Prophets or Apostles no nor of any of the Angels Finally for the phrase it self 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Apostles have made use of in this place of the Creed and in other parts of Divine Writ they make it an expression or form of speech so proper to the holy Ghost that neither the Septuagint in their Translation nor any learned Author amongst the Graecians ever used the same Which notwithstanding I am yet unsatisfied in the solidity and truth of the said distinction and also of the explication of the phrase here used And therefore with the leave of the learned Reader and with all due respect to those Reverend men who have transmitted them unto us I shall endevour to evince these two conclusions first that the phrase in Deum or in Christum â—redere the explication of the phrase in Deum credere and the distinction thereon founded is not so generally and universally true as it is pretended And 2. that howsoever it may be admitted in some texts of Scripture in which that phrase is used by the holy Ghost it can by no means be admitted in this place of the Creed First for the phrase in Deum or in Christum credere they make it signifie as before I said that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or full assurance which a Christian hath of the love of God the confidence which we have in his love and goodness the casting of our selves entirely into his goodness and protection which I conceive is more then the phrase importeth or was intended by it in the holy Ghost The only place in which we finde this form of speech in St. Matthews Gospel is in the 18. chap. vers 6. where it is said Whosoever offendeth any of these little ones 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 qui credunt in me which believe in me it were better that a mil-stone were hung about his neck c. In which place by those little ones or pusilli which our Saviour speaks of he neither meaneth little children nor men small in stature they must needs wrest the words too far who do so expound them but men weak in faith such as he elsewhere calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 men of little faith And certainly a weak faith or a little faith cannot consist with that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that full assurance and perswasion which is by them intended in the phrase in question Or if they mean it literally of little children because they finde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 parvulum a little childe to be a great part of the argument of that discourse either they must mean somewhat else by in Christum credere then their explication of the phrase admits of or else confess that little children are endued with that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that confidence in the love and goodness of Almighty God in Iesus Christ which is the highest pitch and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the strongest faith which I think no wife man will affirm Thus is it said of the Disciples in the second chapter of St. Iohn that when they had seen the miracle which Iesus did in Cana of Galilee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 crediderunt in eum they believed on him ver 11. Assuredly the faith of the Disciples at this time