consists in the Fruition of God as he is Love although super-abundant yet are they not superfluous There is no wast there is nothing poured out from one which shall not be received in the same measure or manner by another But wherein do these Concomitant or Accidental Joyes consist Especially in these Two Particulars First In the Glorious Beautie of the Place which is called Sedes Beatorum the Seat or Mansion of the Blessed Secondly In the Society or companie of such as are so seated and made partakers of that Essential Blessedness which consists in the sight and vision of God as he is Happinesse it self For Visio amati est fruitio This is that which the Schools call The Fruition or enjoying of Gods presence Now that either the Place or the Societie of Saints and Angels can add or conferre any thing to our happiness this proceeds from Gods special presence in Both. 2. To begin with The Place or Seat of the Blessed How pleasant soever our Seat on earth may be yet this world it self is but Vallis lachrymarum A Valley of tears wherein some ruful spectacles are daily presented to our eyes wherein some woful news or unpleasant sounds possess our ears To hear and see what we now daily hear and see though we were Spectators only but no Actors would abate our Joy would be an Alloy to our present happiness Hence it is that St. John describing the Accidental Joys of the life to come saith Rev. 21. 1. I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away and there was no more Sea And again verse 4. God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes and there shall be no more death neither sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more pain for the former things are past away His meaning is not only That no man there shall have occasion to cry or that no sorrow or pain shall breed there But that there shall be no sorrow no cry there by way of Sympathie that is no ungrateful sound or spectacle shall approach their dwelling in the holy City which he describes at large in the same Chapter verse 11. unto the end The Compass and Form of it you have verse 16. It lyeth four square the length as large as the breath twelve thousand furlongs and the building of the wall of it was of Jasper and the City was pure gold like unto clear glasse Verse 18. c. Thus he describes The Beautiful Materials of the Place by the most glorious and most precious materials which this world affords And yet that is true of this Description which the Apostle saith of the Rites and Ceremonies of the Law The gates of pearl and the streets of gold transparent as glasse are no better then shadows of the good things to come which are treasured up in that heavenly Kingdom for all such as love Christ Jesus and the glory of his coming Now though it be true that in Gods house there be many Mansions Yet is not the Beautie or Glorie of them appropriated to one nor divisible amongst some few but alike Common to all One hath not the less comfort There because another hath more Those Two quarrelling Pronounes Meum and Tuum shall be excluded thence as common Barretters One cannot say to another This part of this glorious Kingdom is mine That is yours for every one that shall be accompted worthy to be an heir of that Kingdom shall be as Intire an Heir as if he were sole Heir So it is not amongst the Kings of the earth the greater Dominions one hath or the further he extends them the less he leaves unto his neighbors There is some small Resemblance of the Condition of the Blessed Ones in Heaven to be found in our Hearing sight and knowledge of things which we have here on earth A great multitude may hear a speech and every one hear all No man hath less comfort from the light or heat of the Sun by anothers injoying it unless he purposely stand between the Sun and him No man is prejudiced but rather furthered by another mans extraordinary knowledge specially of matters heavenly and not divisible into parts Howbeit here is a vast difference whilst we live on earth even when there is no matter of prejudice to any other but rather of benefit or advantage to many yet there is matter too much of envy for that breeds within mans self it comes not by infection from without But so it is not in the place of blisse in the heavenly City into which no unclean thing no unclean thought specially no envie no uncharitablenesse shall enter 3. As is the Place so is the Company or Societie Every one is Loving Every one is Lovely All be Sons of Peace their Love and Peace is mutual Ye are come unto Mount Sion and unto the City of the Living God the heaveniy Jerusalem and to an innumerable company of Angels To the general Assembly and Church of the First-born which are written in heaven and to God the Judge of all and to the spirits of just men made perfect and to Jesus the Mediator of the new Covenant and to the blood of sprinkling Heb. 12. 22. c. There is no Question at least there ought none to be but that the Essential Ioy or blessedness of the life to come shall not be Arithmetically Equall that is the measure of it shall not be one and the same in all for every man shall be rewarded according to his wayes The Eternal Life which is the Gift of God is the Award not of Commutative Justice nor of Distributive though if so it were it should be awarded according to Geometrical Proportion But it is an Act of mercy or bountie and being such there is no Question but he that loved God more in this world then others shall have a greater proportion in his love No Question but he which hath received a greater Talent and hath imployed it as well or better then he that hath received lesse shall have a greater reward And he which hath been more faithful in his Masters service or he in whom the Kingdom of Grace hath entred further in this life shall enter further into his Masters Ioy shall partake more fully of the Kingdom of Heaven And according to the lesser or greater measure of Essential happiness shall the measure of their expressions of joy or thanksgiving be And yet the Joy which amounts from their mutual expressions shall be equal and the same to all For though every one cannot so fully expresse his joy or thanksgiving as another doth yet he that comes short of others in this expression shall joy even in this that God is more or better glorified by another then by himself and such is the disposition of these heavenly inhabitants that so Gods name be truly glorified by all they respect not by whom it be comparatively most
exalted him and given him a Name which is above every Name that at the Name of Jesus every knee should Bow c. And seeing every other Article in this Creed is conceived in literal distinct termes I see no reason why we should believe this Article of Christs sitting at the Right-Hand of God alone should be represented unto us in Termes Poetical or meerly Metaphorical Howbeit Christs sitting at the Right-Hand of God the Father according to the Literal meaning of these words doth by way of Real Embleme import that Christ's Humane nature is exalted far above Angels c. which are often said to Stand or Attend before or about the Throne of God but not to sit on His Throne or at his Right-Hand For unto which of them said He at any time Sit on my Right-Hand Heb. 1. ver 13. CHAP. II. Of the Real Dignitie contained in This Article viz. The Exaltation of Christ That Christ was exalted both as the Son of God and as the Son of David 1. THe Dignity of this Name and the Realitie of Dignity answering unto it is further set forth in the First Chapter to the Hebrews ver 3 4 5. He sate down or sitteth on the Right-Hand of the Majestie on High or in highest places and is made so much more excellent then the Angels by how much he hath obtained a more Excellent Name then they For unto which of the Angels said he at any time Thou art my Son this day begat I thee And again I will be his Father and he shall be my Son But if these two Scriptures were literally meant as most Divines grant the one of David the other of Solomon why may not the Title of Gods Sons agree as literally to Angels as to David or Salomon Though these two eminent Princes as Gods Vicegerents on Earth were Solo Deominores yet was David in the height of his Greatnesse too low and Solomon in the amplitude of his Royaltie too little to be in all points full peeres to the meanest Angel that attends Gods Throne And yet were not both of them too great to be but Mapps or Models of Evangelical Excellencies It was the height of both their Excellencies to be Shadows or Types of that Son of David concerning whom the Lord had sworn by His Holiness a most faithful Oath from which he would not shrink Psal 132. 11. and Psal 89. 3 4 35 36. that He should endure stable for ever and that his Throne should be as faithful a witnesse in Heaven as either Sun or Moon Selah All the Royaltie Power or prosperitie which David or Solomon enjoyed were but as pledges or earnests for the time present of that mightie power and excellencie wherewith the Son of David was after that in the fulnesse of Time he had humbled himself in the fulnesse of Glorie to be invested But as we say Homo pictus est Homo and no man saith Leo vivus est Homo A dead Corps or Picture of man doth better brook the name of a man then a live Lion or other creature indued with sense So David and Solomon in that they were Types of Christ might be more capable of being stiled Gods Sons or of being begotten to that earthly Empire which was the Map or shadow of his only begotten Sons eternal Inheritance then the Angels were The greatest Angels of God whose presence David did reverence as Gods Embassadours are servants to the Son of David For so the Apostle Heb. 1. 6. interprets that of Psalm 97. ver 7. Let all the Angels of God worship him No marvel then if David when he saw as much of his Glorie as he or some other Psalmist Psal 97. did instile him His Lord Psal 110. 1. That all the Glorie and Dignitie which the Apostle seeks to set forth by the testimonie of the Psalmist Psalm 45. 6 7. Psalm 102. 25 26. is comprehended in this Article of Christs Sitting at the Right-hand of God the Apostle supposeth Heb. 1. 13 14. For so he concludes by way of an Epiphonema the sum of all which he had said before unto which of the Angels said he at any time Sit thou at my right-hand untill I make thine enemies thy foot-stool Are they not all ministring spirits sent forth to minister for their sakes which shall be heires unto Salvation It is A Doctrine full of Comfort that the Blessed Angels the Powers and Principalities celestial one and other should be at the command of this our High-Priest who can compassionate our estate much better then any of them can As they had a Charge given concerning him in the dayes of his humiliation here on earth So he now being ascended up to his Father gives them the same Charge over us to preserve us in all our wayes It is on our part required that we make His wayes Our Wayes otherwise we have no just assurance of the Angels vigilancie over us But have they this Charge over all of us or onely over some few that are Predestinated unto Salvation The Apostle saith All of them are sent forth to minister to such as shall be heirs of Salvation and All of Us whom God hath called and made partakers of his Word and Sacraments are under the Promise and in the estate of the Sons of God And if we be sons then are we heirs yet Haeredes praesumpti non apparentes Heirs Presumed not Heirs Apparent unto Salvation To be Heirs Apparent is proper to the Predestinate only or to the Elect. But of the Doctrin and Use concerning Angelical Protection and ministrie for our good elsewhere It shall suffice to give you notice by the way that This last quoted place Heb. 1. 14. doth evidently refute a Curious Distinction of Orders amongst the Angels as if some were Angeli astantes others ministrantes one Order of Angels that stand in the presence of God because the Angel Gabriel gives himself this Title Luke 1. 19. And another Order of ministring Angels whereas our Apostles speech is general that All the Angels and under this universalitie he comprehends even the most noble Order of heavenly creatures are ministring spirits sent forth for our good If they which are said in Scripture to stand before God be either Angels or created substances inferiour to the Son of God they are sometimes at least by courses ministrantes ministring spirits So that to stand before God or to minister for our good is no true note of any Distinction of Order betwixt Angels but only of the vicissititude of their service They which are to be sent forth stand in the presence of God to receive their instructions and at their return stand before God to deliver the effect or issue of their Embassage 2. But as diverse writers in the Romish Church not balancing other places of Scripture with this Place of our Apostle last cited have fram'd a needlesse Distinction of Orders amongst the Angels So some others opposite enough to them offend no lesse by
grow unto an holy Temple in the Lord. 9. Christ as you heard before is not the Corner-stone or Foundation only but the Temple of God A Greater and more spacious Temple then all the building which is erected upon him which groweth up in him We must be living stones we must be Pillars in the house of God we must be Temples of God that is an habitation of God through the Spirit but no Foundations no chief corner-stones these are Christs prerogatives Behold I have graven thee to wit the Spiritual Sion saith the Prophet Isa 49. 16. upon the palms of my hands thy walls are continually before me that is as a late Interpreter of the Romish Church saith I have pitched thy foundations in my hands by the wounds which I received in them By whose diduction or rent a place was opened for this future edifice to be erected in him And for this cause Christ who is the Rock was every way digged into in his side in his hands in his feet The mysterie whereof is that he might exhibit a firm foundation out of which the fabrick of the Church should grow That we then become living stones in this edifice it is from our immediate Union with this chief corner-stone being united to him he is fashioned in us and by him fashioned in us we become living stones growing stones we grow from living stones to living pillars from living pillars to living Temples or habitations for our God That the children of God are not onely living stones but from living stones grow into pillars our Saviour himselfe hath taught us by S. John Rev. 3. 12. Him that overcometh will I make A Pillar in the temple of my God and he shall go no more out and if wee be pillars in the temple of God we must be as immediately placed on the foundation or chief corner-stone as S. Peter or Christs other Apostles were We must be as intire Temples as they were And for this reason our Saviour adds upon every one whom he makes a pillar the name of God and the name of the City of God the new Jerusalem which cometh out of Heaven Know ye not saith S. Paul 1 Cor. 6. 19. That your bodie is the temple of the Holy Ghost As wee say the Kings presence makes the Court So it is Gods Holy Spirits extraordinary presence in man which makes him his Temple And the Reason why Christ is called The Temple of God is because the Godhead dwelleth in him bodily And for the like reason every one in whom Christ dwelleth by faith is in a participated sense called The Temple of God And as visible Cities consist of severall houses and as the beautie of every Citie consists in the Uniformitie of houses well built and joyned together so the heavenly Jerusalem consists of several Temples whose beautie or Uniformitie consists in this that Christ Jesus is the life and light of every severall Temple and that his spirit is uniformely diffused through all 10. Christ as you have read before Communicates his Titles unto his Saints but not the Reall Prerogative of his Titles He is The Rock so was Peter a rock so are wee rocks but not The rock on which the Church is built He is the Chiefe Corner-stone we are living stones he is the temple and the Priest of the most high God and he makes us both temples and Priests unto his God So saith S. Peter 1. Ep. cap. 2. vers 5. Yee all as lively stones are built up a spirituall house an holy Priest-hood to offer up Spirituall sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ The Modell of this spirituall Temple and Priest-hood that is of the new Jerusalem and the service of God performed in it was exhibited by Moses Exod. 24. 4 5. at the making of the first covenant Moses wrote all the words of the Lord and rose up earely in the morning and builded an altar under the Hill and twelve pillars according to the 12. tribes of Israel And he sent yong-men of the Children of Israel which offered burnt offrings and sacrificed peace offerings of Oxen unto the Lord. Immediately after this Moses and Aaron Nadab and Abihu saw the God of Israel and there was under his feete as it were a paved work of a saphire stone and as it were the bodie of Heaven in his clearnesse ver 9. The yong men which he sent to offer sacrifices as the best interpreters observe were the first-born of their families For till that time and at that time which was before the consecration of Aaron and his sonnes it was Lawfull for the First born male of every family to execute the office of the Priest This was his dutie So that every family was as a little parish-Church and had his Priest to performe this service of God Now though all that are built upon the Foundation of the Prophets and Apostles are not admitted to be Architects or master-builders though all be not publick teachers or pastors yet all that are or hope to be parts of this building have the same Prerogative which the First-born males of Israel had before Aaron was consecrated All must be Priests to offer up Spiritual Sacrifices unto God But seeing wee must grow unto an holy temple and growth as was said before supposeth nutrition let us now see what is the nourishment by which we must grow from living stones to be living pillars from pillars to be living Temples yea Kings and Priests unto our God 11. The nature and qualitie of the Nutriment by which wee must grow cannot in fewer words be more pithily exprest than it is by S. Peter 1 Pet. 2. cap. vers 2. It is the sincere milk of the word But how good soever the nutriment be it doth not kindly nourish unlesse wee have an appetite to it Therefore the same Apostle addes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 desire or long after the sincere milk of the word We must then desire to have the word dwell in us plentifully and wee must desire to have it sincere that is pure and unmingled Now this milk may become unsincere or mingled sometimes by the default of the Pastor or teacher sometimes by the default of the hearers The dutie which concernes us teachers is that wee do not mingle the word with the Traditions of men how ancient soever they be This is the fault of the Romish Church which the Church our mother hath sufficiently prevented by publick edicts or decrees But many otherwise averse enough from Traditions of the Romish or other ancient Church ofttimes corrupt it with their own Conceits or Phansies which will easily mingle themselves with the word unlesse we speak out of premeditation and have both art and leasure to revise and examine aswell our own meditations as the meditations or expositions of others whose help wee use Since the ordinary Gifts of the Spirit did cease there is no facultie under the sun which more requires the help of art and study than the
help of this Rule For Instance to lay this Rule unto St. John Baptists speech Matth. 3. 10 11 12. Now also the ax is laid unto the root of the tree Therefore every tree which bringeth forth not good fruit shall be hewn down and cast into the fire I indeed Baptize you with water unto repentance but he that cometh after me is mightier then I whose shoes I am not worthy to bear he shall Baptize you with the holy Ghost and with fire Whose fan is in his hand and he will throughly purge his floor and gather his wheat into the Garner But will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire This Prediction cannot be exactly fulfilled until the Final Sentence be given and put in execution And yet within 43 years after his Baptism by John there was a manifest and lively representation exhibited to the World of his second coming unto Judgement and this representation was exhibited upon the Nation of the Jews The full accomplishment whereof shall at his second coming and not before be universally and exactly accomplished in all Nations and Languages and People Wherein then doth this representation of Final Judgement which at his first coming was exhibited in the Jewish Nation punctually consist In this especially There was such a notorious and manifest Crisis or distinction between the Elect and Reprobate of the Jewish Nation or seed of Abraham at his first coming as in no Nation or People had been experienced before nor shall be experienced in any before the day of Final Judgement in which this distinction of Elect and Reprobates shall not be onely universally manifested but solemnly declared in respect of all mankinde Every Son of Adam shall in that day be irrevocably marshalled or ranked either amongst the absolute Reprobates or absolute Elect In the one or other rank of which estates neither all nor most of every Nation or Church are at all points of time in the Interim to be accounted no not in respect of Gods Eternal Decree Nor may the Verdicts or Aphorisms whether of our Saviour himself or of his Apostles after his death concerning Election or Reprobation be extended to other times or Nations in the same measure or Tenor wherein they were verified and experienced in the Nation of the Jews at or upon our Saviors first coming Thus far to extend them in respect of all Times or Nations were to transgress the Analogie of Faith or received Rules of Interpreting Scriptures and to dissolve the sweet and pleasant Harmony between the Law and the Gospel or between the Evangelists and the Prophets And thus far of the second Point in handling whereof divers passages have intruded themselves which are not impertinent to the third Point CHAP. XII Of the manner of Christs coming to Judgement which was the third General proposed in the ninth Chapter 1. IT is said in the former Prophecie of Daniel chap. 7. ver 13. that One like the Son of Man came in the clouds of Heaven unto the Ancient of days The literal fulfilling of this Prophetical vision is recorded Acts 1. 9. And when he to wit Christ the Son of Man had spoken these things whilest they beheld He was taken up and a cloud received him out of their sight But whither he was carried in the Cloud which received him they could not distinctly see Their bodily eyes could not see so much by day as had been revealed to Daniel in vision by night But admit that this cloud did carry him into the presence of the Ancient of days or of God his Father What is this manner of his going into Heaven unto the manner of his coming to Judge the Earth which is The Point in hand Certainly much for so the Angels ver 11. admonished his Disciples which stedfastly beheld the Manner of his Ascension Ye men of Galilee why stand ye gazing up into Heaven This same Jesus which is taken from you into Heaven shall so come in like manner as you have seen him go into Heaven But shall the manner of his coming to Judge the World be in every point like unto the manner of his ascending into Heaven No! then it should not be so terrible as we believe it shall be The chief parts then of this similitude are these Two The First As he did locally and visibly go into Heaven so he shall locally and visibly come to judge the earth The second As he was received into Heaven in a cloud so he shall come to Judge the World as he himself foretold the High Priest and his Complices Matthew 26. 64. in the clouds of heaven The literal meaning of both places and the intent and purpose as well of the Angels as of our Saviour in this prediction infers That this Son of man whom they now beheld with bodily eyes was that very God whose glorious kingdom and reign the Psalmist describes Psal 104. 3. Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters who maketh the clouds his chariots who walketh upon the wings of the wind Who maketh his Angels Spirits or the Spirits his Angels his Ministers a flame of fire So they will appear when they attend him Coming to Judgment which will be in flaming Fire In all the manifestations of Christ to be the Son of God The Cloud is still a Witness First In his Transfiguration upon the Mount A Cloud did overshadow him and out of the Cloud this testimony was given him by God the Father Matth. 17. 5. this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased hear him 2. Whilest he ascends to God his Father Acts 1. 9. A Cloud receives him And 3. When he shall come from heaven or from his Fathers presence to judge the earth he shall have a Cloud for his Canopy For more particular Description of the Manner of his Coming the next Point is From what place he shall come Now it is expresly said in our Creed That Christ Jesus our Lord who was conceived by the holy Ghost born of the Virgin Mary suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified dead and buried descended into hell who the third day rose again from the dead ascended into heaven and there sitteth at the right hand of God shall thence come to Judge the quick and the dead But this word Thence is of ambiguous Reference It may be referred in general either to the Heavens into which he ascended or unto the Right hand of God or unto both Certain it is that he shall come from Heaven as visibly and locally as he ascended thither Yet whether he shall come from the Right hand of God is questionable but not by us determinable unless it be determined already in the first Chapter of this Book what is literally meant by The Right hand of God either in the Creed or in those places of the New Testament out of which This Article is taken If Christs Body as Lutherans did contend chapt 3. § 6. be every where or if
very Bodie and Blood to be locally present in every place where and at all times when that blessed Sacrament shall be celebrated This we deny And the former Principle or Antecedent That God is able to create the self same body as often as it pleases him will never infer their intended Conclusion Not to question what God can do we further add For Christs body or whole Christ God and man to be bodily present by this means in many places at once or in all places at all times wherein that blessed Sacrament shall be celebrated is one of those things which according to their rules as well as ours cannot be done as implying an evident Contradiction in nature It may not be believed nor imagined because God did never bind any man to believe such an impossibilitie or Contradiction as is involved in this doctrine It is altogether without the compass of the most miraculous work which God hath at any time wrought or ever promised to work All the former Instances or Cases possible concerning Gods Power to make one and the same man again after he had been annihilated are most unlike to their intended Conclusion All the former Instances or suppositions are free from all color or suspition of Contradiction in nature This supposed Creation of Christs Body often since his death implies as many and as manifest Contradictions as there have been Masses in the Romish Church Not only these Assertions but the dissimilitude also of the Case in question to the former Cases will be immediately made clear from the very Definition of Creation To create a body is to make it of nothing and to make the self same Body which formerly had been but is resolved into Nothing out of Nothing again is but a second exercise of his Creative Power and whatsoever God before hath done he is able to do the same again But the Body of Christ they acknowledge to be immortal and absolutely exempted not only from Annihilation or resolution into Nothing but from all danger of Corruption or diminution Again whatsoever is Created whether at the first second or third time hath no Actual being until it begin to be by Creation Now to make that very thing begin to be or to begin to be out of nothing which already actually is is something is immortal and more glorious then any other creature implies a manifest Contradiction But Christs Body they grant to be immortal since his Resurrection more unalterable then the heaven of heavens so immortal that it can never cease to be what it is therefore it is impossible that it should begin to be by a new creation or be created again For that which is created or may be created again must first be resolved into nothing or cease to be before it can be created again seeing creation is the making of that which is not out of Nothing or be made again by means miraculous If then Christs Body be locally present in the Sacrament it must either be created again and this supposeth either annihilation or dissolution of it or else it must be brought out of the heavens into the Priests hands or else the presence of it in many places must be created but Local Presence is altogether uncapable of Creation for it is a Meer Relation which can neither be created nor made but resulteth from or followeth upon the motion of things created from one place to another or from their creation or beginning to be in that place wherein they are said to be created 12. So it fares with our Adversaries in this Argument as it doth with Boot-halers or night-riders which have caught an unlawful prey being hotly pursued by the right owners Now their manner is to divide the spoil and their company that they may carry one part one way and another part another way that so whilst one is pursued others may escape without pursuit or rescue of the prey Through the ignorance or carelesness of Gods people which should have kept a better watch over their own souls the Romish Priests had made a gainful prey by transporting the native sense of our Saviours Words in the institution of the Sacrament to justifie the doctrine of Transubstantiation And since they have been pursued by reformed Writers as Cozeners and Cheaters of Gods people some of them run one way some another Some of them seek to maintain Christs local presence or Transubstantiation by the former doctrine of Gods Almighty Power which is able to create one and the same body often Others seek to maintain the same doctrine and carry away the prey by the manner of Angelical motion from one place to another in an instant or moment of time And if they could draw such as pursue them into these straits and subtilities they hope to make their part good against such as are not much conversant in the School-mens nice disputes concerning the nature or motions of Angels or know not the difference between the nature and motions of Spirits and Spiritual Bodies Others seek to maintain the same doctrine by the infinitie of divisible quantities as if it were possible for a flies wing to overspread the whole earth as a hen doth her chickens And that Christs Body may by this kind of Infinitie be in many places at once in as many as God shall appoint hoping by this means to cast a mist before the eyes of such Readers as know not the difference betwixt a real material or substantial and a mathematical or imaginary quantitie But all these fictions or suppositions they cast forth only to offer play unto their adversaries or to gain some time for invention of new shifts None of them dare pitch upon any or all of these wayes or imaginations or put the Case upon this issue Whether any of them be in nature possible or agreeable to the Analogie of Faith The only point wherein they agree is the submission of their judgments or imaginations to the authoritie of the Church which is no better agreement then if amongst a multitude of unlearned men one of them should maintain that snow is white another black another pawn his estate that it is blew and a fourth that it is green and yet in the end refer themselves to be tried by some Philosopher which had written of the nature of Snow in a language that none of them understands whose books they know not where to find For what the Church is that cannot err or of whom it consists the French and Italian Catholicks do not agree Or if we take the Church for the Trent Council confirmed by the Pope the Jesuites themselves cannot agree about the meaning of it in this point Divers of them do in Effect deny any Transubstantiation in this Sacrament albeit that Council under pain of curse enjoyneth all Christians to believe That there is a true Conversion of the bread into the substance of Christs Body and of the wine into the substance of his Blood and
never dieth which is the chief part of the second Death as heaviness of spirit or grudgings are of Fevers or other diseases which without preventing Physick or diet do alwayes follow them 4. But this Prognostick of the second death or this fear of hell pains which the Sting of Conscience alwayes exhibits must be warily taken and weighed with Judgment The right observance of them as every other good quality or habit is beset with Two contrary extremes The one in defect The other in excess The defect is Carelesnesse The excesse Despere or too much dejection of mind The intimations or Prognosticks which the Sting of Conscience exhibits of death spiritual are often mistaken for the effects of bodily melancholy and the best medicine for melancholy is pleasant society or mirth Out of this mistaking most men prevent that Compassion which is due to their own souls after such a manner as Jewish parents did prevent their natural pity towards their children when they sacrificed them unto Molech by filling their ears with the loud sound of wind Instruments lest the shrikes of the Infants whom they inclosed in an Image of hot glowing brass by entring in at their ears might move their Jewish hearts to pity And most men lest they should be stung with grief of spirit or conscience seek to stifle their first murmurings and repinings either with unhallowed or unseasonable mirth Others by seeking to avoid this common extreme often fall into the contrary which is of the Two the worse to wit dispere or too much dejection of spirit That which the Heathen observed of grief in General is most true of this Particular the grief of a Wounded Spirit Dolori si fraena remitt as nulla materia non est maxima If we let loose the reins to grief or sorrow the least matter or occasion of either will be more weighty then we can well bear Mans unbridled fancie is as a multiplying Glasse which represents every thing as well matter of sorrow as of pleasure in a far greater quantity then it really hath And unless our Cogitations or sad remembrances of sins past be moderated with Judgment and discretion they will appear to our fancies like Cains transgression greater then can be forgiven or then we can hope that the God of mercy will forgive For holding the right mean betwixt these Extrems Carelesnesse and despere there is no means so effectual as to be rightly instructed in the hope of everlasting Life and Fear of everlasting death Immature or unripe hopes of the One ingendereth carelesnesse or presumption so doth erroneous fear of the other bring forth despere He that is perswaded that every one always is in the Estate of the Elect or of the Reprobate cannot avoid the one or other extreme And the only remedy to prevent despere or being swallowed up with grief either in the consciousnes of grosser sins lately committed or whiles we reflect upon sins past is to purge our selves of that Erroneous Opinion concerning Absolute Reprobation or irreversible ordination to death before we were born or from the time of our second birth by baptisme 5 To purge our brain or fancie of this opinion let us take the form and Tenor of the Final sentence into consideration which we may do without digression or diversion Both branches of this sentence we have Mat. 25. The first branch ver 34. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world he doth not say before all worlds though this in a good sense is true most true if we speak of Gods designe or Act for all his Acts or designes are as he is Eternal without beginning so are not the things designed or enacted by him they take their beginning in time or with time The Kingdom prepared for Gods people was prepared when the world was made not before so good and gracious was our God that he did not make man or Angel untill he had prepared a place convenient for them take them as they were his creatures or workmanship and they were all ordained to a life of bliss Paradise was made for man and it may be after man was made but the Heaven of Heavens was prepared for man before he was made and made for the Angels if not before they were made yet when they were made But the Sentence of death ver 41. runs in another Tenor Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire he doth not say prepared for you from the foundation of the world but prepared for the Divel and his angels Those immortal spirits which now are divels were sometime Angels God made them so They made themselves divels Now hell fire was not prepared for them whilst they were Angels not from the foundation of the world but from the time wherein of Angels they became Divels Nor are men at all ordained to it untill of men they become Satans angels And as Satan and his angels the spirits which fell with him continue the self same individual substances which they were when God first created them yet are no way the same but quite contrary for qualitie and disposition so the place whereto they are confined may be for substance space and dimension the same it was at the first creation but not the same for quality it became a prison or place of torment when Satan and other spirits which fell with him of Angels made themselves Divels Satan as some think brought that fire wherein he and his Angels shall be tormented into the bowels of the earth when he fell like lightning from heaven However if the Angels had not sinned there had been no hell no tormenting fire and unless men become the Divels Angels they shall not be cast into hell fire God doth not ordain men to be Satans angels but men continuing his sons or servants God ordaines them to take their portion with him So that if we remove the opinion of Absolute-Reprobation or of irreversible ordination of mens persons unto death before they were baptized or born or if men would be confirmed in faith that no such Sentence or Decree is gone out against them whilst they have either will desire or opportunitie to call upon God through Jesus Christ for remission of sins whether by confession of them or by absolution from them upon such confession or by receiving the Sacrament of Christs body and blood no danger can accrue from the frequent meditation of everlasting death or from such representations of the horrours of it as the often reflecting upon our sins past and the working of the Sting of Conscience upon such reflections will present unto us 6. Another excellent Use and that a Positive One there is of these meditations For no man ordinarily can have a true Tast or rellish of Eternal Life but he which hath had some Tast or grudging of everlasting
no dependence of man upon the Divine Power did often shew commendable effects of this Law written in their hearts in sundry duties of Good neighborhood as we speak and civil kindnesses As for any Affinity or Bonds of society between man and man at least between men of divers Countries more then is between beasts of the same kind most of them acknowledged none nor did they acknowledge as much affinity betwixt Creatures of any kind as we do that acknowledge all things to have one Creator Herein then is Our Equalitie and Affinity greater that we all acknowledge one God for our Father who is in a more peculiar sort the Creator of every man then of any other corruptible Creature Again All we Christians acknowledge One Christ for our Head of whose Body we are Members hence ariseth another Peculiar Equalitie from the equal price of our Redemption which was all one for the Rich and Poor for the Little and Mighty Ones of the Earth This God pre-figured in the Law Exod. 30. verse 11 12 15. Afterwards the Lord spake unto Moses When thou takest the sum of the Children of Israel after their number then they shall give every man a Redemption of his life unto the Lord when thou tellest them that there be no plague among them when thou countest them The Rich shall not passe and the poor shall not diminish from half a shekel when ye shall give an Offering unto the Lord for the Redemption of your Lives From this strict Dependencie of all men upon one and the same Creator and this Equality and Brother-hood which we have in one Father doth our Saviour Christ Luke 6 v. 36. draw that precept Of loving our Enemies which he makes as it were an Essential property of all such as truly acknowledge One God Not that all men were not bound thereto and might have known so much by nature but that it was a greater shame and more praeposterous sin in such as did acknowledge One God not to perform that Duty The Consciences of the Gentiles as St. Paul saith might secretly accuse them But the Others words and speeches did bear open Testimony against them if they neglected so to do so saith our Saviour Christ immediately upon the words of the Text For if you love them which love you what thank shall you have for even the sinners love those that love them And if you do good for them which do good for you what thank shall ye have for even the sinners do the same And if you lend to them of whom you hope to receive what thank shall ye have for even the sinners lend to sinners to receive the like Wherefore love ye your enemies and do good and lend looking for nothing again and your reward shall be great and ye shall be the children of the most High for he is kind to the unkind and to the evil 15. This further confirms what out of the principles of Nature was formerly gathered to wit that where it is said Whatsoever you would that men should do unto you do ye so unto them The meaning is not What ye would have this or that man do unto you do ye so unto the same man but rather thus Whatsoever ye would that any man should do unto you do ye the like in like case to every man in that he is man in that he is your fellow Creature in that he is the Son of your heavenly Father be he otherwise friend or foe Yet further we may nay we must inlarge this Precept if we will have the full meaning of it Thus. Whatsoever ye would should be done unto you whether by Man by Angel or any other of Gods ministring Spirits or procurer of mankinds good or by God himself That do to every man because every man that God to his Father who as He hath a care and providence over all so is it his will that every Creature under him all men especially that call him Father should be his Ministers in procuring and furthering any others good of whom this our heavenly Father vouchsafes to take care and charge A lively Emblem of this Duty we have in the Ravens feeding of Eliah being destitute of all ordinary means of Food If we consider the nature of this Bird none more Ravenous none more Greedy of the Prey then it yet because the Lord feeds the young Ravens when they call upon him being otherwise destitute of ordinary relief from their Dams or old Ones as both Aristotle and Plinie observe and the Psalmist alludes to it in that speech Therefore the Lord commanded them to afford the like help to Elias being forsaken or rather persecuted by the King and his Officers who should have yielded him house and harbour and from their example we should learn the practise to do for others as either the Lord hath done or we expect he should do for us Thus much I say is fully and directly included in our Saviours Deductions and Conclusions drawn from this Principal Rule albeit so much be not fully exprest in his words especially if we observe the Greek phrase only But the language whose manner of Dialect the Evangelists retain though writing in the Greek Tongue will very well bear and our Saviours words Luke 6. 36. verse enforce as much Be ye therefore merciful as your H. Father is merciful and in the 6. of Matth. v. 14. He tels us that if we look for mercie at Gods hand we must shew mercie unto men not to our friends or brethren by kindred or Nation but unto men The place is so much the more worth our observation because he adds no Exposition or Comment to any one Petition in all the Lords Prayer save only that He gives this Note upon that And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us his Note is this If ye forgive men their Trespasses your Heavenly Father will also forgive you But if you do not forgive men their Trespasses no more will your Heavenly Father forgive you your Trespasses Wherefore as we desire God to forgive us our Trespasses though we have been his Enemies so must we be ready to forgive our Enemies and as we desire all good of him so must we be ready not only to forgive but even to do any good to our enemies If he be our enemie deservedly we should therefore do him good that we might make amends for the occasion offered if our Enemy he be without any just occasion given by us we should consider that this voluntary Enmity in him is the work of Satan but he Himself as man is our fellow Creature the workmanship of Gods own hand God made him man but the Divel made him an Enemy And we should seek by all meanes possible to dissolve the works of Satan and to repair the handy work of God that is we should love his person and seek to reform his vice we should overcome his evil with our good-will to him if