proportioned in the outward Elements and inward Graces Q. How doe the outward Elements teach the outward man A. Either in themselues or their vses Q. How in themselues A. Both for substance and qualitie Q. How for substance A. As the bread is the staffe of life and as the wine glads the heart of man Q. How in their qualities A. As they are common and sensible sensible to the eye and cares feeling smelling tasting Q. How in their vse A. Either as they are handled by the minister or by the receiuers Q. How by the Minister A. First in setting them apart Secondly in blessing of them Thirdly in breaking of the bread powring forth of the wine Fourthly in deliuering them to the Communicants Q. How by the receiuers A. First by taking the bread and drinking the wine Secondly by digesting of them first in the stomacke then in the liuer lastly in euery part whereby they are made powerfull to humane duties Q. How doth all this teach the inward man in respect of grace A. In proportioning them to Christ both in himselfe and in his vse Q. How in himselfe A. Both in his nature and qualitie Q. How in his nature A. As his body is the bread of life whereof whosoeuer tasteth shall neuer hunger and his bloud is drinke indeede that for euer makes glad the heart and soule Q. How in the qualitie A. As his bodie and bloud were common with ours in all things sinne onely excepted and that he is made sensible both to the eare bored by the Spirit the eye anointed with eye-salue and to the feeling of the sanctified affection also to the smelling of ioy and tasting of the hungry soule Q. How in the vse A. Either as he is appointed of the Father or receiued of vs. Q. How of God A. First as he is called to this worke Secondly indued with grace Thirdly as his body is crucified for vs and his bloud powred out for the washing of our wounds Fourthly as he is deliuered and giuen to euery beleeuer Q. How receiued of vs A. First he is taken by the hand of faith and his bodie is fed on by meditation and his bloud spiritually drunken to wash our soules then he is digested first in the vnderstanding and then in the will and affections and lastly distributed to euery facultie both of body and soule by which wee are made able to euery good word and worke which is the happy life of euery Christian * ⎠* ERRATA Some faults escaped in Printing which I intreat thee courteous Reader to correct the materiall ones are these following PAge 2. line 33. weakened for wakened p. 6. l. 1. our for the pa. 7. l. 3. at for as p. 22. l. 8. our conuersion for our conuersation p. 43. l. 7. to it selfe for in themselues p. 64.7 most excellent for the most excellent p. 73. l. 36 deadly for dead p. 149. l. 32. as diaptron for as a diaptron p. 153. l. 34. flie for shie p. 189. l. 16. found for sound p. 200 l. 33. art for act p 223. l 3 take out othor p. 232. l. 3. require for acquire p. 256. l. 32. fit for vnfit p. 263. l. 2.9 embatement for embasement l. 34 rigorous for vigorous p. 262 13. receiued for reviewed p. 266. l. 12. authenticall Ierome for authenticall Ierome p. 268. l. 5. babes for bagges p. 292. l. 24. ouercome for ouercome it A MODELL OF DIVINITIE CATECHISTIcally Composed CHAPTER 1. Of Religion Question IS there any thing that is called Religion Answere Rom. 2.14 The Gentiles which haue not the Law doe by nature the things contained in the Law they hauing not the Law are a law vnto themselues which shew the effect of it written in their hearts their Conscience also bearing witnesse and their thoughts accusing one another or excusing Let Pilate heare of a God and he will feare Ioh. 19.18 Felix of judgement and hee will tremble Act. 24.26 So powerfull is conscience to put backe the swellings of the proudest Iorden Iosh 3.19 And dare boldly tell euery man as that stout and resolute Tragedian told proud Pompey the time shall come wherein thou shalt fetch many a deepe and deadly sigh and sorrow desperately because thou sorrowedst no sooner It is the demand of Nature it selfe What shall we doe to haue eternall life and because Natures meanes are not able to resist the force and feare of death no people so sauage which hath not thought vpon some supernaturall helpe though ignorance haue cast them vpon superstition c. Oh that the miserable estate of others which wander in darkenesse and wote not whither they goe could giue vs vnderstanding hearts worthily to esteeme the riches of the mercy of God toward vs before whose eyes the doores of the kingdome of heauen are set wide open Should we offer violence vnto it it offereth violence vnto vs and we gather strength to withstand it It is the fault of corrupt nature and not the least that as she hath dimme eyes so they are for the most part euen in the best things exceedingly misplaced She lookes still either forward to the obiect she desireth or downeward to the meanes she vseth neuer turning her eyes either backward to see what she is or hath beene or vpward to view the true cause of her good Alas What a little sparke and poore peece of Adams old ingenuitie is left aliue in vs like one of Iobs messengers to beare witnes of our great losse and what diuine light is extinguished in vs It can bring vs to the obiect of our confusion vnable to shew vs the least glimpse of the obiect of our consolation O foolish reason how sharpe art thou to see thy mischiefe and yet how blunt how blind art thou to foresee it O poore remnant of pictie onely so much goodnesse left as to make vs languish in our owne euill How are we weakened how are we weakened by these relicks of right reason not to see our misery that wee may implore Gods mercy but despairing in both as if wee were banished from our right wits cast our selues more violently into the iawes of the Prince of hell O curst accursed wits that for ease teach the poore sinner either to drinke downe his damnation with a greedie swallow or else through horror to chocke himselfe with his owne morsels Conscience is not alwaies lowd and clamorous neither are the deadliest enemies euer vp in armes against vs yet with still murmurings and secret twitches it bewryes his mis-likes and for want of true peace euermore workes priuie and hidden vnquietnes in the heart There is a lamentable and odious disease called Ileos or misercre mei Deus Nature in expelling superfluities contracts and gathers it selfe from aboue downeward but being often and againe hindred by inflamation opilation and exulceration the fibres doe from below gather themselues vpwardes against nature and by a peristaltick motion sends backe with violence the excrements by the mouth So
the body into his due course See how the first sinne put all out of ioynt and displaced the whole image of God First man neglected his ordinary calling when carelesly he suffered the Serpent to enter Secondly heabused his eare standing betwixt God and the Devill when he left God and listned vnto his enemy Ever since which time he hath beene dull of hearing Gods word They are not made more deafe of hearing that dwell by the fall of Nilus then Adam and all his posteritie of harkning what God sayes Thirdly his eye wandered when he saw that to be desired which was so plainely forbidden Fourthly his feeling was perverted touching where it was sure to be tainted Fiftly he tasted with delight that which he should haue spit out as bitter and poysonfull Sixtly his smelling which is set over the mouth to giue intelligence to it whether our meat be sweet or no was here trecherous to the palate in suffering it to swallow downe so stincking a morsell Thus the fiue senses were as Cinque-ports for temptations where sinne began first to trafficke and at length Satan became Lieutenant of them all and by them not long after gained custome-tribute of Soules From all these wheeles running wrong Satan creepes neerer the Soule and gots possession of all the interior senses While the Crocodile sleepes with open mouth the Indian Ratt shoots himselfe into his belly and gnawes his gutts in sunder so entred mischiefe at the open gates of this securitie A watchfull providence would haue prevented this eminent danger Now the fancy begins plausible inventions here is a tree for wisedome the cogitation takes it for a truth and the memory hath forgotten both the loue and law of God Vnderstanding thus blinded with sense never calls this sophistry to her tribunall but taking one argument for another teacheth the will to conclude amisse and so the Devill is imbraced for God and man being thus subverted sinned being condemned of himselfe Tit. 3.11 And by this disobedience are we all made sinners both actually and originally Rom. 5.19 Q. What is originall sinne A. An exorbitation or swarning of the whole man both inwardly in himselfe and outwardly in the government of the creatures Psal 51.5 Rom. 3.10 and 5.12.18.19 and 7.24 and 8.5 Eph. 4.17.18 1 Cor. 2.14 Col. 3.9 Tit. 1.15 Heb. 12.1 Gen. 6.5 and 8.21 Isa 57.20 First originall sinne is not the wheele or man himselfe but the exorbitation or swaruing of it Secondly it is come in the place of originall righteousnesse and so is a privation of that and an evill habite in the Soule Thirdly It is not a sleeping habite but an inward act ever stirring in man as doth the first act of the soule which is never quiet Fourthly in this inward motion it hath alwayes an inclination to evill Fiftly It most especially possesseth the will and therefore by the auncients is called concupiscence which is the wills motion where now all sinne beginnes and by a kinde of imperious command drawes all other wheeles about with it By this sinne the whole man is in evill and whole evill is in man as the Chaos had the seeds of all creatures onely wanted the spirits motion to bring forth so this wants nothing but Satans heat to hatch even Cockatrices and such like poysoned monsters Q. What note we from hence A. That mans wit and will are exorbitant and therefore he hath no freedome of will to any good that is that may be pleasing vnto God but wholly is carryed vnto evill Ioh. 8.34.35 Rom. 3.11 2 Pet. 3.5 Heb. 11.6 Gen. 6.5 Ier. 8.21 and 13.10.23 and 17.9 Psal 14.1.3 Math. 7.18 and 12.34 Iob. 3.3 and 6.44 and 12.39 Rom. 7.18 Without the principle of life it is impossible to liue therefore originall sinne being in the place of originall righteousnesse and now no new principle of faith as yet infused man is euery wayes dis-inabled to liue well liue he may and that freely but it must be in sinning The Chariot of the soule is cleane carried out of the way of holinesse and man runnes quite beside the line of the law It is left to God to worke both that which is first to will and that which is last to worke Phil. 2.13 To will and to runne is mine but without God I can doe neither well Without mee sayes Christ you can doe nothing no not thinke any thing sayth Paul Alas what can they doe that are not lame but dead in sinnes Eph. 2.1 The first bond is broken and therefore God and man are parted as really and truely in regard of spirituall life as when the naturall spirits are extinguisht body and soule flie asunder By the influence of Gods Spirit alone must a new life be created in vs that was not and not some former life excited yea further wee are not pre-disposed and prepared of our selues for the receiuing of it As there is no vacuitie in nature no more is there spiritually Euery vessell is full if not of liquor yet of ayre and so is the heart of man though by nature it is empty of grace yet it is full of hypocrisie and iniquitie neither can it be filled with grace except it be emptied of these evill qualities and as in a vessell so much water as goes in so much ayre goes out so in the narrow mouth'd vessell of the heart so much grace as comes in by drops so much sinne is expelled and the first expulsion is violent man not co-working at all for he is imformed as it were with sinne and is contrary to the worke of grace the very wisedome of his flesh is enmitie not secret but publicke in resistance neither doth nor can subiect it selfe Rom. 8.7 One hupotassetai ou dunatai two words that cut the very throat of our free-will It subiects not there is resistance and where there is resistance there is contrarietie and contraries suffer violence of one another And the corrupt will is turned againe to God by violence I say not the will for that is a subiect of both and passiue in conversion suffering grace by violence to cast out sinne As farre as it opposeth by corruption so farre is it constrained to yeeld by grace and in the first motion will not-subiect nay because of sinne cannot but the wheele once turned againe by grace is as ready to doe well as ever it was to doe evill Onely Lord I know that by reason of this opposition my soule will take a long time to emptie and fill and that the best vessell cannot be quite full while it is in the body because there will be still these remainders of corruption Though I must not be impatient of Gods delay yet will I never rest cōtent with any measure of grace in this world but will euery day endevour to haue one drop or another added to my small quantitie so shall my last day fill vp my vessell to the brim Q. What is actuall sinne A. The continuall iarring of man vpon outward
had happinesse if he had stood so is it made obnoxious to all his miseries he falling By a rule in nature he begets children and by a rule in divinitie he begets them sinfull and yet both naturall It was in mans nature to doe well for himselfe and others and so by consequent to doe evill and convey the same to all his heires for as naturall spirits runne along in the bloud and are apt for generation so originall righteousnesse as a more divine spirit runnes along with the whole frame to frame it in others now that being lost a worse spirit of evill hauing taken vp the roome of the first formes men according to a sinfull image Gen. 5.3 Adam is said to beget in his owne likenesse and image Rom. 5.12.14 Q. By what right is sinne propagated A. By all kinds of right first by the law of Nations for Adam was a Prince of all his posteritie who covenanted with God for vs and for himselfe for the performance of obedience and therefore he breaking wee brake He was also as our Legate did lie as our Lidger or deputie with God and therefore wee may be said to doe whatsoeuer he did He went as a common suretie for vs all and on him was all our credite reposed and he was betrusted of God with the estate of vs all It is therefore a nationall equitie that wee comming all into one bond and obligation should all fare alike Secondly we haue it by the law of inheritance he was our father and we were his sonnes hee the roote and we the branches and therefore were to participate with him in all his estate Doe we not see how children are left in good or bad case by their parents and of meere relation they become their lawful heires and successors Thirdly by the law of divine Iustice the perfection whereof cannot pardon the least sinne without satisfaction to euery farthing as also by the infinitenesse of it that extends it selfe to euery guiltie person and by reason of the violation of the law and dishonour of the law-giuer deales most strictly and precisely with euery sinner One man may kindle such a fire as all the world cannot quench One plague sore may infect a whole kingdome and here we see how the infection of Adams evill is growne much worse then a personall act Satans subtiltie hath ever bin to begin withan head of evill knowing that the multitude as we say of Bees will follow their master Corah kindled a fire of rebellion two hundreth and fiftie Captaines readily bring stickes to it all Israel are content to warme their hands by it onely here the Incendiaries perish God distinguishing betwixt the heads of a faction and the traine but in this all are alike though we were all a sleepe in Adams loynes because the law was equally giuen for all our benefits and our prosperitie stood in the first well husbanding of the happie estate God yeelded vs in Paradise If any obiect Ezek. 18.20 the sonne shall not die for the fathers sinne The answere is when he is not guiltie of it either by propagation or transgression he himselfe according to his birth liuing and dying in it Heb. 7.9.10 It is sayd Leui payed tythes in Abrahams loynes so we in Adam were bound by law to stand to his reconing Q. After what manner is sinne propagated A. Neither from the body to the soule as comming from our vncleane parents As if the soule being purely created should fall into the body as a man in pure white rayment doth fall into a puddle of dirt and mire for the body is not the first subiect of sinne but the soule and therefore cannot be the head and fountaine of propagation Neither is it from the soule to the body as begotten of our vncleane parents for then should it be as mortall as the body and spirits of it as also crosse God in his speciall relation of the father of spirits Heb. 12.9 He is a father of both Psal 139.14 Iob 10.10.11.12 But of the one by the parents of the other immediately by himself It therefore followes by iust consequent that it proceeds from the vnion of both into one man for though our parents as bruit beasts beget not soules yet they beget a more perfect creature in that they are the procreant causes of man vnited of his essentiall causes Gen. 4.1 I haue gotten a man from the Lord. Iehovah Adam and Eue were all about the composition of Cain his Soule was inspired pure and holy yet as soone as the vitall spirits laid hold of it It was in the compound a sonne of Adam The thing may well be explained by this similitude A skilfull Artificer makes a clocke of all his essentiall parts most accurately onely he leaues the putting of all parts together to his vnskilfull Apprentise who so iumbles together the severall ioynts that all fall a iarring and can keepe no time at all euery wheele running backward way so God most artificially still perfects both body and soule but our accursed parents put all out of frame and set euery part in a contrary course to Gods will Psal 51.5 Warmed in sinne is vnderstood of the preparation of the body as an instrument of evill which is not so actually till the soule come Q. What followes from hence A. A iust imputation of the first transgression as also of the fault guilt and punishment and that both in sinne and death Rom. 5.12 1 Cor. 15.21 Q. How is originall sinne propagated A. By our next parents and so ascending to Adam himselfe It is impossible to bring a cleane thing out of filthinesse Gen. 5.3 Iob 14.4 Q. How is actuall sinne conveyed A. In the masse and lumpe other wise in kind euery mans actuall sinne is his owne Ezek 18.20 Q. How death A. Seed and food are the principles of our life in procreation and preservation the first we haue from our parents which is deadly as poysoned with sinne the other comes from our selues being ignorant of what should bee good for our bodies but beside the first death there is a conveyance of the second we being borne the children of wrath for Gods displeasure was kindled as well against Adams posteritie as Adam himselfe Eph. 2.3 Q. How is Eue made partaker of Adams punishment A. Besides her proper punishments as an instrument of evill shee participates with Adam in all we haue said for God made them both equally for an happie estate onely the wife was to inioy it by meanes of her husband first as shee was taken out of him Secondly as they were to hold together for better and worse in regard of their marriage Thirdly as she was a companion with him in the same sinne they did both eate sinne and see it at the same time Genesis 3.6.7 Q. Was propagation then from them both A. Yes immediately from them both as their children were begotten by the mutuall knowledge of the one the other Gen. 4.1 and 5.3
it will be farre more easie to fill the belly of faith then the eye of reason That faith may therefore be as the elbow for a heauy Soule to leane on wee will vnder prop it with both these pillars I know that as the Sea receiueth all streames and yet hath proper water in farre greater abundance so in God there is a confluence of the perfections of all creatures and yet his owne perfection doth infinitely exceed them Wee are to meddle with the first with the presence whereof all the powers of the minde shall be filled all the senses of the body shall be satiated in so much as they shall neither in desire seeke nor in hope aspire nor in imagination faine any greater pleasure Q. What is God A. God is a spirit hauing life in himselfe or of himselfe He is as wee haue heard both being and Act Ioh. 4.24 With 5.26 2. Cor. 3.17 now wee see both in our definition not that hee is compounded of them but expressed by them In euery creature there is a composition of matter and forme out of which it hath his essence and action so in God spirit is as the matter life as the forme I say expressing not compounding his nature And the reason is liuely for God must be the most excellent nature and the most eminent act Spirit is the purest nature and life the quickest act Obserue but in nature and you shall find that much matter and little forme make things grosse and corporall much forme and little matter fine and spirituall Earth is more grosse then water water then ayre ayre then fire bodies then soules men then Angels Angels then God There is no creature free from matter for then should it be as spirituall as God He onely is without matter and therefore most spirituall and consequently most actiue as if he were all forme Hence he is stiled the liuing God Ier. 10.10 1. Tim. 4.10 Deut. 32.40 Iudg. 8.19 Ruth 3.13 Ezek. 33.11 Dan. 4.37 by whose life wee are to sweare as hauing most intelligence of the truth and greatest power to punish the liar Being a spirit hee must needs be strong and subtile to enter where he will being life it selfe he must needs quicken and quiet all desires and appetites Act. 17.28 Ioh. 1.4 And 5.21.26 Alas then how miserable are all those that want this God or haue prouoked him by their sinnes As one that floateth halfe choaked and wearied in the middest of the Sea ceaseth not to wrestle with the waues to cast forth his hands euery way although he graspeth nothing but thinne and weake water which continually deceiueth his paines so they that both swim and sinke in this depth of death shall alwayes striue and struggle therewith although they neither finde nor hope for any helpe O deadly life O immortall death if the paine were no greater then the stinging of Ants or of Fleas eternitie were enough to make it intolerable Ioh. 5.21.24 2 Cor. 4.11 Gal. 2.19.20 Lord quicken me from this death and make me by faith to passe from it vnto life purposed and promised in thine owne beloued Happie are all they that beleeue and in beleeuing serue this spirit of life in spirit and truth Ioh. 4.24 Luk. 1.75 all the dayes of their life Q. What are the attributes that shew vs who he is A. His essentiall properties And here the field is large for the describing of God Simonides being asked of Hiero the King what God was demanded a dayes respite then two dayes afterwards three and being asked the reason answered that the longer he thought what God should bee the lesse he vnderstood of him And another heathen said It is hard to find a God Plato but to vnderstand him impossible No wonder these men had but the light of Nature yet thus farre they aymed right Quò enim prius eo notius naturâ and shot neere that God the most intelligible was least vnderstood of vs and that the infinite vnderstanding was not within the compasse and fadome of the finite but in helping that default by their owne imaginations went themselues exceeding wide and came not neere the marke which I ascribe not to any defect of eye sight in those sharpe sighted Eagles of Nature but onely to the want of fixed contemplations in the book of the world and more especially their vtter ignorance of the word of God Wee therefore that enioy the sacred Scriptures may see farre further into this mystery Remembring alwayes that Divinitie as the Mistresse taketh vpon her to direct her hand-mayd and that the Bible is the best man of counsell for the greatest Clarke in the world containing more then all the Divines of the Heathen ever saw the shadow of All which will best appeare by the opening of this rich Cabinet of Gods Attributes and viewing the severall Iewels in it by this torch-light or rather Sunne of the little world And it should be a shame for Christians if it were not better knowne of them then Lipsius his Bee-hiue or Machiavels Spider-web about which many wits like a Dor end their flights in a Dung-hill Rom. 3.4 Exod. 23.19 Psal 46.1 With 70.5 Exod. 34.6 And here I might enter an ample harvest of properties affirmatiue negatiue proper and figuratiue absolute and Relatiue But here such properties are to be handled as appeare by themselues as no wayes flowing from the essence of the creatures as all negatiue figuratiue and relatiue properties doe Onely one thing I cannot but mention in admiration of Gods goodnesse vnto vs which is that God is content to take properties most improper as a body in respect of all the members of it head face eyes eye-lids apple of the eye mouth eares necke hand arme right hand fingers feete heart bowels c. Dan. 7.9 Exod. 33.20.23 2. Chron. 16.9 Psal 11.4 Deut. 32.10 Iosh 9.14 Psal 31.2 2. Sam. 22.9 Ier. 18.17 Act. 4.28 Exod. 6.6 and 15.6 and 31.18 Psal 110.1 1. Sam. 2.35 Ier. 31.20 So likewise a soule coupled with the body and members Isa 1.14 so the senses that rise from the vnion both inward and outward as memory forgetfulnesse hearing seeing smelling c. Psal 136.23 Isa 49.14 Psal 14.2 and 5.1.2 Gen. 8.21 In briefe he assumeth the very affections and passions of the soule as ioy sorrow anger zeale Ielousie c. Iudg. 9.13 Gen. 6.6 Rom. 1.18 Nay yet hee goes lower and by the wings of birds hornes of beasts the Sunne the light their very shadow the fire rockes and stones he speakes vnto vs. Psal 91.4.2 Sam. 22.3 Psal 84.11.1 Ioh. 1.5 Psal 91.1 Deut. 4.24 Psal 71.3 yea and to goe to the lowest by the works of mans hands as shields and bucklers c. Psal 2.3 and 144.2 yet we are to vnderstand that all these are attributed vnto God improperly and by way of his gracious condiscending vnto and sympathizing with mans nature because being literally taken they are derogatory vnto his
doings Luk. 10.21 Christ Iesus reioyced in the good pleasure of his Father as the onely cause of revealing or hiding the mysteries of mans saluation Phil. 2.12.13 Worke out your owne saluation with feare and trembling now least wee should follow the Popish dreame of free-will that man could merit life and happinesse if God would but beare halfe the charges we are reduced to a more full cause It is God which worketh in you both to will and to doe we bring not so much as a will disposed for our owne good that is most slauish till grace free it and it is freed by the most free cause which is the good-pleasure of our God Q. What doe you obserue concerning Elohim or the persons A. Two things their cooperation and distinct manner of working the one is necessary in regard of this that they haue the same essence and therefore cannot but co-worke in euery thing the other is likewise as necessary because each person hath his distinct manner of subsisting All operation flowes from their essence cooperation from their vnitie in it and distinct manner from the distinct manner of their subsisting One essence one operation and three being one must needs worke inseparably and one being three must needs worke in a distinct manner Gen. 1.1 In the beginning Elohim made Gen. 2.26 Let vs make Mat. 12.31 Blasphemie is aggrevated in regard of the three persons and against the last it is made vnpardonable because a sinne against the Father is remitted by the action of the Sonne who redeemes from wrath and so is a sinne against the Sonne by the worke of the Spirit who applies the merites of Christ to euery guiltie soule but if the sin be against the holy Ghost all hope is cut off for there is no fourth person to helpe and the worke cannot goe backward for the Spirit workes neither by the Father nor the Sonne and so no meanes of remission is left for this sinne Q. What is the divine co-operation A. Whereby the three persons worke the same thing inseparably Ioh. 5.17.19.21 My father worketh hitherto and I worke whatsoeuer things he doth the same doe I he raiseth and quickneth the dead even so doe I quicken whom I will c. Ioh. 1.3 Nothing was made without the sonne And here wee are to vnderstand the same of the blessed Spirit Q. What is hence to be learned A. That all the persons worke of themselues 1. Ioh. 5.7 Three beare record and yet they are all one in essence in respect whereof they worke from themselues To be and to act is all one in God therefore as each person is God of himselfe so doth he worke of himselfe Q. What will further follow from this A. That there is no preheminence or dignitie in this their co-working For as they are equall in essence so are they equall in their actions Ioh. 14.1 Yee beleeue in God beleeue also in mee Ioh. 16.15 All things that the father hath are mine Ioh. 5.18 It was no sinne for Christ to make himselfe equall with his father in euery worke The same is as true of the Spirit Q. What is the distinct manner of working A. Whereby each person worketh according to the manner of his subsisting Hence it comes to passe that the second person being mentioned with the first it is said Not of him but by him were things made for as the sonne workes from the father so the father workes by the sonne Ioh. 1.3 Col. 1.16.17 Heb. 1.2 The like is to be vnderstood of the Spirit who being from both hath both to worke by him Ioh. 16.13 and doth nothing of himselfe I meane as a person Q. What is the Fathers manner of working A. To worke all things by the Sonne and the holy Ghost 1. Cor. 8.6 One God which is the Father of whom are all things and we in him and one Lord Iesus Christ by whom are all things and we by him So that the first person workes from himselfe not onely as God but as a person and continues his worke by his sonne Math. 10.20 Ioh. 15.26 1. Cor. 3.10 By the Spirit the Father revealeth teacheth and testifieth and the reason is because they are both from him who worketh of himselfe Q. What from hence A. That the originall and beginning of all things is from the Father For he that is first in subsisting must needs be first in working Hence some manifest notable ignorance in this point who place the worke of the Sonne and the holy Ghost before the action of the Father and that in the greatest and weightiest mystery of our salvation I meane our eternall predestination who placing redemption and application before election set the worke of the second third person before the first for according to their wandering Doctrine they teach that man is redeemed and by faith applied to Christ before he bee elected of God the Father This is cleane contrary to S. Paul Eph. 1.3 to 15. Where election being an originall worke is giuen to the Father who dispenseth the same by his sonne and applies it by his spirit So that the Father doth elect vs before the Sonne redeeme vs or the Spirit sanctifie vs. Read the Bible and you shall finde creation and election more frequently attributed to the first person then either the second or the third And our Creed teacheth vs to call the Father Creator c. Q. What is the Sonnes manner of working A. He worketh from the Father by the holy Ghost Ioh. 5.19 The sonne can doe nothing of himselfe saue that which hee seeth the Father doe c. Ioh. 16.15 The Spirit shall take of mine and shew it vnto you And the reason is the Sonne is from the Father but the holy Ghost is from them both Q. What learne wee hence A. That the dispensaetion of all things is giuen to the Sonne as there is an entrance into euery worke so must there bee a proceeding in it and the Father in all things proceeds by his Sonne as in the revelation declaration of his will Ioh. 1.18 and the execution of all things in himselfe which may prepare for the worke of the spirit in vs. Ioh. 16.17 For till the Father haue done the Sonne can doe nothing neither is it for the Spirit to worke vntill he take it from them both Q. What is the holy Ghosts manner of working A. To worke both from the Father and the Sonne Ioh. 16.13 The Spirit shall not speake or doe any thing of himselfe but whatsoeuer he shall heare from the Father and the Sonne as the two next verses make it plaine And the reason is that he subsisting from them both must needs worke accordingly Q. What followes from hence A. That the consummation of all things is giuen to the holy Ghost who ends the worke of the Father and the Sonne Gen. 1.3 Let there be is rather a word of consummation then commandement The whole worke is carried by word and deed God said the
Father had none to speake vnto but his Sonne let there be is that the word spoken might be done by the Spirit who finisheth what is spoken by both And here we see by what kind of motion the world was made by the least stirring for what is lesse then to effect all by a word And yet what greater then to effect by such a word and spirit Iob 26.13 The Spirit is said to garnish the worke of creation Ioh. 14.26 and 15.26 All that the word hath said or Father promised shall bee taught testified and remembred vnto vs by Gods spirit Rom. 8.10.11 13.14.15.16.26 c. A Spirit of life quickens those mortall bodies that are redeemed by Christ by whom they liue againe and are led in prayer as children of adoption c. 1. Cor. 12.11 All gifts and graces wee haue from the Spirit Rom. 8.9 1. Cor. 3.16 the Spirit is said to dwell for as the Father makes choice of his house and the sonne purchaseth it so the holy Ghost takes possession in casting out Satan and sinne and in keeping and holding the same in spite of all Satans assaults Act. 5.3 A lie against the truth is a speciall sinne against the holy Ghost whose proper worke is to testifie of the veritie he hath receiued from the Father and the Sonne And hence it comes to passe that sinning after the knowledge of the truth is most dangerous because it is opposite to the last act of God further then which he will not goe in the addition of any new supply of grace and goodnesse Q. What may wee learne for conclusion of all this A. That to him the worke is especially giuen in whom the manner of working doth most appeare as Creation to the Father Redemption to the Sonne and Sanctification to the holy Ghost This may a little be manifested vnto vs out of man who is said to doe all things by his wit will and power The first mouer of man to action is will then by wit and wisedome he proceeds and by his power concludes The will workes by wit and power wit workes from the will by power and the power workes from them both Will begins wit dispenseth and power doth finish the action Onely here is the difference that they are not alwayes able to worke inseparably for sometimes a man hath more wit then will Agrippa Act. 26.28 had more wit to be perswaded to be a Christian then will to imbrace so dangerous a profession Sometimes he hath more will then wit as Peter Mat. 16.22 Master spare thy selfe loue made him blind in seeing what was fit for Christ to doe Sometimes againe more will and wit then power as the Devill Mat. 4. in the temptation of our Sauiour he shewed all his wit and will to trap our Sauiour but he had not power thereunto somtimes also there appeares more power then eyther wit or will as in the Legion of vncleane Spirits Math. 8. who carried the whole Herd of Swine head long into the Sea By this wee may see the inseparable co-operation of the three persons as through a crevis or lettice a little glimmering light of their distinct manner of working The Father wills the thing to be done hence in Scripture will is oftner giuen to the Father then any other person Mat. 11.26 Ephes 1.11 Secondly the Sonne being the wisedome of the Father dispenseth what the Father hath willed And here wee vsually call the Sonne the wisedome of the Father and so indeed we finde him to be in our redemption 1. Cor. 1.30 Thirdly the holy Ghost as the power of both doth finish and consummate their works and so the Scripture stiles him the power of the Highest Luk. 1.35 For as the Father did will that his Sonne should take vpon him our flesh and as it was proper to the second person to assume so the finishing of this worke in the last act of it was due to the Spirit for as there is a naturall spirit to vnite the body and soule together so is there a divine spirit equall to the worke to vnite the divinitie and the humanitie of Christ together God wills that his sonne assume and his sonne will not assume but by the worke of the Spirit To conclude nothing is done no not in their most distinct manner of working but they will all haue an hand in it what more proper to the sonne of God then to take our flesh and become our wisedome righteousnesse sanctification and redemption And yet he can doe none of this but from the will of his Father and by the power of his Spirit CHAPTER XII Of the Creation of things immediately made perfect Question HItherto of Gods efficiencie in generall what are the kinds Answere A. Two Creation and providence In the one we see the orderly production of the creatures in the other Gods carefull administration and preservation of them See for this Psalme 104. Of creation to the tenth verse of government to the 27. verse of preservation to the end Nehe. 9.6 Thou hast made the heauen with all their host c. Thou presoruest them all and they worship thee in regard of their Government Q. What is Creation A. It is the first part of Gods externall efficiencie whereby he made the world of nothing originally good Gen. 1.1 In the beginning God made Heb. 11.3 of things which did not appeare Gen. 1.3 and they were very good Psal 33.6.7.8.9 and 146.6 Ier. 10.11.12 Act. 17.24 All which places testifie of a Creator and his power wisedome and discretion in framing them so excellently and that minimo motu by his word and breath Q. What is here generally to be obserued A. That because things here originally had their beginning therefore the Fathers manner of working doth here pruicipally appeare to whom the originall of all things is giuen 1. Cor. 8.6 All are said to be of the Father so are they of the Sonne as God but as a person he is not the originall for in the same place it is said by the sonne And so in the Creed we giue all personally to the Father vntill wee come to the worke of redemption and here we are to learne that the Apostasie of Adam was especially against the Father and therefore could not he by way of satisfaction be our Redeemer for the person properly offended cannot satisfie himselfe by himselfe but by some other that must come betwixt the Father and vs and thus agrees it with the iustice of God that we should be reconciled by a second person Q. Did God make the world all at one instant A. No but in the space of sixe times 24. houres that wee might more distinctly consider all his workes And Aquinas giues a good rule Successiverum non simul est esse perfectio God could haue created all at once but in his wisedome he tooke daies for it Some glimps of reason hereof we may aime at thus as some creatures were to begin with the first instant
made a law to haue them purified before he would haue them vsed Num. 31.22.23 c. Hence it is abominable of these things to make Idoll gods Ezek. 16.17 Ioel. 3.5 Q. What are the elementaries with life A. Whereby they were created of a body and soule for life is nothing but the act of the soule vpon the body and the soule saue onely the reasonable is compounded of the foure elements and is nothing but the Spirits of them or that which is most formall and actiue in them Hence fire and ayre are most predominant in these spirits for as by extraction we haue the spirits of things taken from the masse and body by resolution of the composition so in the composition those spirits were as the soule of that liuing thing Wine is pressed from the grape which is the fruit of a vegetable plant and because it carries away with it the more formall elements and leaues the grosser and more materiall behind wee say it is generous and full of Spirits yea and out of this againe by Art are taken the Spirits of wine which are very liuely and of a quickning nature In all plants Ayre is most formall and therefore the vegetatiue life consists most in moysture and the spirit of it but in the Sensatiue and Motiue life fire and the spirit thereof is most predominant These Spirits which are the soules of Plants and Beasts are but the band or tye of the reasonable soule and body hence death in man is nothing but the extinguishing or consuming of these Spirits for as this claspe vnlooseth or knot vntieth so body and soule separate asunder Agues they consume and backe these Spirits within our bodies and so consequently kill vs colds and watery distempers doe not so much wast as weary and tyre them and at last extinguish them as a brand in a puddle of water Gen. 1.20.21.24.28 c. we read of life and Gen. 7.22 wee heare how God extinguished the same againe Q. What are the kinds A. Either such as liue a single life or a compound life Some creatures haue their Spirits or Soules from some one element formally others from more As for example all Plants liue most by the Spirit and moysture of the ayre Starres of the fire men and beasts by both They grow by the one haue sense and motion by the other Q. What is this single life A. Whereby he made some creatures to line by the formall and act itâ—e Spirits of some one element Q. What are their kinds A. Plants and lights the one with a growing and springing life the other with a stirring or mouing life Gen. 1.11 with 14. The first being more imperfect as ayre is lesse formall then fire is first handled Q. What is the Creation of the Plants A. Whereby the earth brought them forth with aspringing life onely Gen. 1.11.12.13 They were compounded of the foure elements but the earth doth predominate or beare rule in the body as ayre doth in the Soule and euery thing is placed in that element which beares greatest sway in the body or materiall substance of it Q. How were they created A. According to their kinds yeelding seed both the lesser and greater the lesser as grasse herbes flowers shrubbes the greater fruitfull trees and the rest without fruit All which the earth brought forth by the commandement of God and as it is the mother and breeder of them so is it the Nurse and foster-mother of them ever after Gen. 1.14 The act of the soule in plants is vegitation and they haue as it were a mouth to draw nourishment and prepare it for the stomacke and a kind of liuer and heart for concoction Now this facultie to nourish hath foure companions to waite on it First Attraction the Spirits drawing a portion to euery part Secondly Retention whereby the part keepes and holds what it hath gotten Thirdly Concoction to digest and convert what it hath gotten into it selfe Fourthly Expulsion whereby it reiecteth and electeth whatsoeuer is superfluous Now the seed is an excrement of the last concoction and therefore is from the assimulation of the nourishment which makes it like euery part Hence from simular parts it begets simular parts and out of so little a part being full of Spirits are begotten all other creatures In seed and food consists all vegitable life and a hurt in either is dangerous and often deadly From nutrition proceed augmentation and generation the one for extension of the same thing the other for preservation of it in others Extention is by heat hence females are lesse then males because their heat is lesse though often they haue more moysture Generation is by seed which receiues from plants and all other things the soule and substance of euery part Hence is it able to giue the kind that yeelds it And therefore the Lord sayes euery Plant yeelding seed after his kind Gen. 1.12 Teaching vs thereby that the seed vertually and potentially answeres the creature in euery part and member of it Q. When were these made A. The same day wherein the waters and earth were created Gen. 1.13 And so by succession of an evening and morning was there a third day or 24. houres In creation of the elements God began in the top of the matter but in the elementaries he began in the bottome first creating the Mineralls and then the Plants For God is a God of order and so passeth on in his worke from imperfection to perfection I meane where there is a succession of parts otherwise God begins with the best first For the Lord did not in the vniverse as men doe in building rake first in the earth to lay the foundation and adde the roofe last but he first laid on the roofe and last of all came to the foundation First heaven then fire next ayre and last of all water and earth Yet being the God of Art followed an exact methode in all for being come to the earth hee first makes things spring then moue after spring moue and walke by sense Lastly as an Epitome of all the rest he comes to man which growes moues walkes and aboue all the rest liues by reason Q. What is the Creation of the lights A. Whereby he made them in the element of fire with a motiue life to runne round carrying the same side still forward that they may bring light vpon the earth and separate betweene day and night and be for fignes and seasons dayes and yeeres Gen. 1.14.15 Iob 38.31.32.33 Psal 8.2.4 Psal 19.2.3.4.5.6.7 and 136.7.8.9 Ier. 31.35 Amos. 5.8 c. False and fabulous Phylosophie makes this doctrine a wonder and they that bring Moses to Aristotle laugh at this lesson Starres to liue is against reason for they are not nourished neither doe they increase or generate c. I may reply againe vpon Divines from Moses by a probable argument they were created after liuing things therefore they haue life c. Aristotles obiection is easily answered
Life consisting in the moysture of ayre is to be nourished not in the spirit of fire Animall spirits if they were not generated of the vitall and daily restored by them they might liue by their fiery nature as well as starres Let this then be granted that all elementarie soules are either the formall spirits of the ayre or fire and then starres hauing the one and not the other may liue without nourishment The influences of the Starres are as vitall as the animall spirits in man and both comfort and beget life c. Againe their motion shewes they liue for nothing is moued from place to place without it If God and Moses may be heard Phylosophers shall easily haue their mouthes stopped Scripture euery where testifieth of the motion of the Starres Which must either be by counsell or nature or violence or fortune Not by counsell for their motion is regular and alwayes the same and this were sufficient to proue the cause next vnder God to be naturall But the opinion is they are moued by the externall force of Angels as a wheele by a dog or a Crane by walking men I reade indeed that the Angels are ministring spirits for the good of the elect but no where in Gods booke that they turne the wheeles of heaven And againe the light being common to good and bad the good Angels should minister daily as well for reprobates as Gods elect But to still all cackling in this cause let the Text cleare it selfe Gen. 1.14.15.16.17.18 That which God saw to be good answers Gods intention in his motion to his end Therefore the Starres had so much by their creation that they were able to devide giue light rule dayes and nights the which they were vnable to doe without motion God therefore gaue them a power to moue that they might obtaine these ends which if they should assume from any other then God would argue the imperfection of his owne worke It may well be thought they receiue this life in their centers as other things doe in the circumference For being round heat and spirit will most vnite themselues within as in a silver spoone turne the hollow side to the fire and it will be very hot But in plaine bodies heat is receiued in a cleane contrary fashion as in Andyrons where they be round are very cold but where they be plaine they be very hot and will burne soone Starres therefore are round like globes that heat may the better center in them and make them the more actiue and liuely in their motion Why they should neither ascend nor descend is their equall temper with the place where they stay Why they moue round is the actiue spirit and soule that will not suffer them to rest It is said of the Sunne Psal 19.4.5.6 that God hath set him a tabernacle or proper place out of which he cannot goe and yet he comes out of the chambers thereof and in the strength of his motiue spirit reioyceth to runne his race not tumble it as some dreame for running a brest in the fire hee pusheth and shoueth it from him that nothing can be hid from his heat light His circuit is from one end of heaven to another and by his quicke dispatch euery day either drawes a little nearer or goes a little farther off not that at any time he comes nearer the earth but by fleeting a little his chambers he comes sometime in the yeere to dwell more directly over our heads then other He devids night and day euery 24. houres with vs and by running from one point to another the whole yeere And it is as naturall to the Sunne to runne a circuit euery day as another in a whole yeere not that he is pulled contrary wayes by two diverse orbes but that which he doth euery day in part that hee doth wholly and completely in a yeare Now the part and the whole may agree in the same motion and euery dayes race is but a part of the whole yeeres course which the Sunne may as truely keepe in the whole as in the parts and that without all contrary motions But seeing euery man will fancie his owne fiction I leaue this without all further prosecution Q. How many sort of Starres haue we A. Two The greater and the lesser not for quantitie of bodie but qualitie of light for the originall word Meoroth is Makers of light Luminaries shiners And so the Sunne and Moone are greatest as giuing to the earth the greatest quantitie of light How great the Starres are is a coniecture and guesse at the iust proportion of any one yet they are very bigge and it is evident that the Sunne is bigger then the earth by the Eclipses and because it enlightneth more then halfe the earth at once Gen. 1.16 Q. What are the greater A. The Sunne and the Moone These two cast downe the greatest light vpon the face of the earth Genesis 1.16 Psal 104.19 Q. What is the Creation of the Sunne A. Whereby he made it to rule the day c. And it is called the greater light because it darkens all Starres by his shining yea and casts light in the face of them all hence the Moone which hath such a changeable light receiues her splendor from the Sunne according to that face which is opposite to the body of the Sunne for the one halfe of it is ever illuminated and illustrated by the same and in receiuing and casting downe that light seemes to haue spots in her face Gen. 1.16 Psal 19.5.6 Q What is the creation of the Moone A. Whereby it was made to rule the night Gen. 1.16 Yet shee hath the assistence of the Starres for her selfe is often absent in the night Q. What are the lesser lights A. The Starres Gen. 1.16 These carry downe a lesser quantitie of light yet if it were not for them our nights would be palpable darkenesse which is the greatest enemy to the eye for it is a comfortable thing to see the light Eccl. 11.7 Q. When were all these made A. In the fourth day euening and morning succeeding as before in the compasse of 24. houres Gen. 1.19 Q. What is the creation of things with a compound life A. Whereby they were made not onely with a growing and mouing life but also with sense externall and internall the one serving as glasse windowes for the other The first sense which is most necessary is our feeling and is dispersed through the whole body excepting the bones and sinewes Bones are the sustentacles of our bodies and therefore would be painfull to vs if they were tender of feeling The sinewes they are the organs and instruments and carry in them the sensitiue spirits and man is most ticklish where his skin is thinnest With the tips of the fingers Physitians feele their patients as being most sensible of the pulses motion The tangible obiects are heat cold drought and moysture principally secondarily the qualities that hence arise Tast is next
their instruments There are the liuing glasses placed in the midst of his visage which bring obiects a farre off to the minde and because they are too tender opticke peeces slie of the most soft and lawny touches they are mightily defended and fenced with hollow bones and with prominent browes and lips And least they should be too much bent on what they ought not they haue peculiar nerues to pull them vpward to God as also to the seat of their rest What a tongue hath God giuen him the instrument not of taste onely but of speech also How sweet and excellent voyces are formed by that loose filme of flesh What an incredible strength is giuen to the weake bones of the iawes What a wonder of so few letters to make infinite words and giue them severall sounds with a distinct articulation and ready signification to the hearers The causes whereof in nature are these The lungs or lights breath to coole the heart and like a paire of bellows thrust out that ayre which they haue receiued and it goes and comes by the wind-pipe which is made rough as it were with ringes to stay the breath it goe not out altogether at the top thereof is a peece of flesh to cover the mouth of it Now in the pipe this noyse comes vp and lies in the almands and makes a resound and is turned vpon the tongue which strikes it against the pallet and teeth and makes an articulate sound cutting in peeces the whole sound either into a letter or clapping diverse together makes syllables and so words and then sentences This articulation is naturall but the appellation of things by names is artificiall and belonging to the Art of Grammar In Babels bablers to stop their proud attempt God meddles neither with hands nor feete but their tongues not pulling them out or loosing their strings or making them speechlesse but by teaching them to say too much A sound of letters befooles the workmen and spoiles the worke I beleeue this confusion was made in turning of letters when they intended to put such letters together God taught them to dispose them contrary as ab ba c. And now poore creatures how long doe wee stay vpon the shell of tongues before wee come to chew the sweet kernell of knowledge Division of tongues hinders any worke and is often a cause why our Sion riseth no faster and though it over-threw old Babel yet doth it build the new Onely I except the clouen and fiery tongues of the Apostles Act. 2.3 The Spirit teaching the Art of Grammar without meanes c. Againe that goodly proportion God set in the face how is it altered with passion as with ioy and sorrow Laughter ariseth from the extension of the heart which sends spirits apace from it selfe and because they are hot fly vpwards and so come to the face that is very full of muscles cold by nature and so contracted yet by the heat comming thither are extended which is the laughter in the face Onely this must further be added that the heat of the head and braine doth sympathize with other parts of the body And therefore the apprehension of a ridiculous obiect sends downe to the heart from the head then back againe to the face Teares arise cleane contrary for the head being stricken with the apprehension of some sorrowfull obiect the heart is smitten too and contracts it selfe and so sends vp those chrystaline humors that are to coole it and are squesed out by contraction of parts and so runne out at the eyes The head stands vpon a comely and tower-like necke most sinewie because smallest I might carry you downe to his feete but my purpose is not to play the Anatomist any further then to giue a little taste of a wonderfull worke All the inward vessels for all offices of life nourishment egestion generation c. no veine sinew artery c. are idle Yet this body compared to the soule what is it but as a clay-wall that encompasseth a treasure as the wooden box of a Ieweller or as a course case to a rich instrument or as a maske to a beautifull face let vs therefore come to his Soule Q. How was the soule created A. Immediately of nothing hence it dies not Man was made last because he was worthiest And the soule was last inspired because more noble then all the rest And the inspiration of it is by creating to infuse and by infusing to create Gen. 2.7 Zech. 12.1 The breath of life was formed within and not without man And though it be little yet is it of great value A little peece of gold containes many peeces of silver one Diamond is of more worth then many Quarries of Stone and one Load-stone hath more vertue then mountaines of earth Q. How then was the soule indued A. With most excellent faculties which either worke vpon the body by Spirits or themselues by reason As the soule works vpon the body by elementary spirits it is possible for man to die but as these by the blessing of God are cherished by wholesome food man againe might not die These spirits are either naturall as hauing ayre predominant in them and they serue for generation and augmentation and nutrition or animall hauing fire predominant in them and they serue for sense or motion now the motiue faculties are either for locall motion whereby the bodie is carried vp and downe or epithumeticall and internall motion whereby the soule is moued with desires or affections especially loue and hatred which are the primatiues of all others whether they be in the concupiscible or irascible facultie as ioy and sorrow in respect of present obiects hope and feare in regard of absent c. Beside these separable faculties and not practised without the bodie the soule hath more eminent and excellent powers and abilities which it is able to vse being separated from the body and they are reasonable whereby he might be the free beginner of his owne action that is a cause by counsell Gen. 2.10 and these faculties are vnderstanding and will And thus you see how God hath giuen vs a Soule to informe our bodies senses to informe our soule faculties to furnish that soule vnderstanding the great surveyer of the secrets of nature and grace by this man seeth what God hath done by this he can admire his works and adore him in what he seeth Here is fancie and invention the master of great workes Memory the great keeper or master of the Rolles of the Soule a power that can make amends for the speed of time and make him leaue his Monuments and Chronicles behind him There is will the Lord-paramount keeping state in the Soule commander of all actions and the elector of all our resolutions Iudgement sits by as the great counsellour of the will affections follow as good servants of both And for the good thereof hath God giuen a body fit to execute his charge so wonderfully disposed as
be crept into clouts which are the ensignes of shame Our finenesse is our filthinesse and our neatnesse our nastinesse if we grow proud of what should humble vs. Againe such a maiesty was in man that the very bruit beasts should haue reverēced it which now being covered they contemne and dispise Onely some reliques of it remaine to testifie what was once in man the very Lyons will winke to looke man in the face and the Crocodile with a kind of remorse will wash the face of man with his teares whom he hath apprehended And now we cover not our faces and hands because they are as yet the greatest seats of mans maiestie Furthermore for comelinesse what deformities are in the fairest Absolons ill qualities shewed his temper was not absolute In beautiful faces all hold not proportion and it were no sinfull mixture if there were an absolute symetrie of all parts And for sanitie it is well seene by the infinite diseases of the body what a dyscrasie is in the whole A horse hath not so many infirmities as a man Aristotle thought it came from the worke of nature being more curious in man then any other creature Hence an error more dangerous and by consent of parts inlarged but Aristotle was a pegge too low seeing the whole distemper came from sinne c. Q. What else A. Subiection to the miseries which come by the losse of externall good things as first of such things wherewith the life of man was honoured as the losse of friendship honour rule over the creatures eiection or casting out of paradise with an interdiction or forbidding of vs to enter by the Cherubius Secondly of things necessary for the maintenance of this life as of food which though he laboured vntill he sweat againe yet should the earth bring forth briers thorns thistles Also of raiment and clothing without which he should suffer extreame cold nakednes And lastly in all his possessions and goods continuall calamitie and losse Gen. 3.17.18.19.23.24 Deut. 28.29.30 c. Sorrow for losse of friends disgrace in the creatures turning out of Paradise like some base borne brood vnworthy of such a princely palace if he might haue left it like a tenant or sold it like an owner it had bin some credit vnto him but to be cast out for a wrangler haue the good Angels turne against him which were created as his guard must needs much perplex his mind could be no les then foerūners of his end Add to this his food with famine faintnes his corne with cockle his sweat to drinesse of body drines of graine the very earth being now become a mother of weedes and step mother of wheate his cloathing eyther clogging nature in keeping it too hot or over-little leauing it to the annoyance of the ayre and to starue as well with cleanlinesse of apparell as cleanenesse of teeth and lastly euery calling subiect to calamitie and goods least good when most need and we cannot but conclude that all these together were great hastners of his death but aboue all seeing now in stead of a blessing Gods curse was carried withall and could be no lesse then a devouring canker or wartwort in all his actions and possessions Sinne lockes vp a theefe in our counting-house which will carry away all and if we looke not vnto it the sooner our soules with it Q. What is the perfection and end thereof A. The going out of the Spirits whereby the Soule departeth from the body and the body afterwards is returned and resolved into the earth and other elements whence it was taken Gen. 3.19 Eccl. 12.7 Obserue that neither soule nor body die but onely the Spirits that hold them together they fall asunder by the extinction consumption or congelation of the Spirits that runne along in the bloud c. Here then is nothing but improvidence that addes terror vnto this death Let vs but thinke of it and wee shall not feare it Doe wee not see that even Beares and Tigres seeme not terrible to those that liue with them how may wee see their keepers sport with them when the beholders dare scarce trust their chaine Let vs then be acquainted with this death and we shall be the better able to looke vpon his grimme countenance I am ashamed of this weake resolution that we should extoll death in his absence and be so fearefull in his presence Often in our speculations haue wee freely discoursed of such a friend and now that hee is come to our beds side and hath drawne the Curtaines and takes vs by the hand and offers vs his service wee shrinke inward and by the palenesse of our faces and wildnesse of our eyes wee bewray an amazement at the presence of such a guest Doe we not see that there is no helpe to heale vs but by pulling all asunder Lord teach me while I liue to die vnto sinne and liue vnto righteousnesse that so when I shall die vnto nature I may liue vnto glory Our sinne hath made it bitter and thy mercy hath made it better then life Good Physitians when they apply their Leeches scoure them with salt and nettles and when their corrupt bloud is voyded imploy them to the health of their Patients This Esau in stead of frownes shall meet vs with kisses and although wee receiue a blow from his rough hand yet the very stripe and stroke shall be healing I will therefore never grieue to tread in the steps of my Sauiour to glory I know my last enemy by his goodnesse shall be my first friend in my passage to another world Q. What is the second death A. The subiection of man to the miseries of the world to come Rom. 2.5 An heaping of wrath against the day of wrath The little sparke of immortality and beame of Gods eternity through sinne of an inualuable blessing becomes an intollerable curse subiecting of vs to the miseries of another life Oh that we could feele this as well as the other and vpon the first groanes seeke for ease What mad man will purchase this crackling of thornes such is the worldlings ioy with eternall shrieking and torment But it is no marvaile seeing onely wise men seeke for remedies before their disease sensible patients when they begin to complaine as for fooles they will doe it too late Oh that wee could weepe on earth that wee might laugh in heauen Who would not be content to deferre his ioy a little that it may be perpetuall and infinite Better that wee should weepe with men and laugh with Angels then fleering with worldlings and iolly ones to gnash and howle with Devils Q. What are the beginnings thereof A. In this life as forerunners emptinesse of good things and fulnesse of evill as ignorance of minde terror of conscience and hence a flying from God and hiding of our selues rebellion of will inordinate affections finding the reines loose in their neckes and like wild horses carrying vs over hilles
hope of better in reversion and shall we sticke at any worldly pelfe for the gaining of heaven Fie on such children as with Esau would sell this birth-right for a messe of this worlds pottage Lord make mee one of thy heires and I will be content to waite thy leisure for my pleasure in inioying Q. Hitherto of our being in Christ what is our coalition or growing vp with him A. It is our daily putting off of the old man with his corruptions and the putting on of the new man with his daily renewing in righteousnesse and true holinesse Ephes 4.22.23.24 2 Cor. 5.17 Gal. 2.20 and 5.24 They that are in Christ cannot but be new creatures and such as are daily crucifiers of sinne Q. What are the parts or rather degrees of this our coalition A. Regeneration and glorification Being adopted of the Father it is fit wee should come forth as his children therefore it pleaseth the Father of his owne will to beget vs with the word of truth Iam. 1.18 1 Pet. 1.23 First there is a divine conception of the adopted Sonnes of God and secondly a bringing forth of that worke Christ was conceiued in the wombe of the Virgin by the worke of the Spirit so must his brethren be conceiued in the wombe of the Church by the same Spirit Psal 110.3 Christ told Nicodemus that he was to be re-borne or else hee should never see glory Ioh. 3.3 Regeneration is as the conception Glorification as the nativitie or happy birth day The passion dayes of the Martyrs were called of old Natalitiasalutis the birth dayes of their salvation and that as well for festivitie as the nativitie it selfe Thus from an obscure conception we come to a glorious birth 1 Ioh. 3.2 Q. What is Regeneration A. It is as it were a new conception of vs in the wombe of the Church by the spirit of God and that of the incorruptible seed of the Word whereby our corrupt nature is begotten againe or restored to the image of God 1 Pet. 1.3 2 Pet. 1.4 Tit. 3.5 Gal. 4.6 2 Cor. 3.17 Colos 5.9.10 Eph. 4.23 Which is of the whole man and in this life is perfect in the parts though imperfect in the degrees as a child is a perfect man before he come to his full age And this may be called our sanctification whereby of vnholy wee are renewed by the holy Spirit to the image of our heauenly Father And here we are to consider two degrees of our sanctification the first is the inchoation or beginning of it the second is the processe or passing forward to greater perfection hence Rom. 8.30 our glorification followes our iustification sanctification being no other thing then a degree thereof still proceeding profiting and perfiting in true holinesse which is the greatest reward of godlinesse for as to doe ill and continue therein is the greatest misery so to doe well and persevere therein is the greatest felicitie Glory is the reward of vertue and God cannot crowne his servants better then with an increase of grace Now this progresse is orderly and begins in the Soule even in the very marrow and spirit thereof and so proceeds to the outward man and the actions thereof Ier. 4.14 Eph. 4.23.25.26.27.28 First conversion then conversation And here alas how many set the Cart before the Horse and beginne to change their liues before their lusts their hands before their hearts to purge the channell when the fountaine is corrupt and apply remedies to the head when the paine is caused from the impuritie of the stomacke What is this but to loppe off the boughes and never lay the Axe to the roote of the tree to prune the Vine that it may sprout the more Miserable experience shewes how such disordered beginnings come to miserable endings Many seeme to abstaine from sinnes which they never abhorre and leaue some evils which they loath not and so like swine wallow in them againe or like dogs follow their former vomit she wing plainly they did never inwardly distast those sinnes which for a time outwardly they neglected Againe as wee are to obserue order so wee are to labour for a thorow change 1 Thess 5.23 Holinesse as a dram of Muske perfumes the whole boxe of oyntment or is placed in the Soule as the heart in the body for the conveying of life to all the parts Some turne from one sinne to another others like Aethiopians are white onely in the teeth that is in verball profession else-where cole blacke in conversation they speake well and that 's all Others thinke it is well if they turne their mindes from error though they never change their wills from evill as a reformed Papist but an vnreformed Protestant as wanton in truth as ever he was wilde in error others againe thinke they haue done God good service if they giue halfe the turne as prostrating their bodies to Idoles when God shall haue their hearts or on the contrary when God hath their bodies they suffer the Devill to haue their Soules When mens bodies are in Sacello their hearts as Augustine complaineth are at home in saccellis suis Many by their looke and language out-face the congregation whiles their hearts are running and roving after covetousnesse If wee will beleeue eyther Phylosophy or experience wee shall finde our hearts where they loue not where they liue Lastly others resolue to giue all to God yet haue a leering eye and a squint respect vnto some of their sinnes with Lots wife casting a longing looke after their old Sodome Know the rule of the Schoole to be most certaine that as vertues so vices are coupled together and though in conversion to temporall good they looke diverse wayes yet in regard of aversion from eternall good they beare all one face Yet this must be added for the comfort of the weake that vnperfect sanctification if it be vnpartiall is accepted of God Onely let vs as the aire from darke to light in the dawning of the day proceed by degrees to our noone in grace or as the water from cold to luke-warme and then to heat so let vs haue our soules benummed with sinne warmed with grace and then further heated with true zeale and ferveneie Q. What are the affections or properties of Regeneration A. They are either from the death of Christ our mortification of sinne or his resurrection our vivification in righteousnesse and from hence our spirituall warre betweene corruption dying in vs and righteousnesse rising and growing in vs. Mortification is a daily dying to sinne by applying Christs death to our selues 2 King 13.21 The dead body no sooner touched the bones of Elisha but it was revived againe so wee no sooner touch Christ but he crucifies sinne in vs and reviues vs in the spirit Rom. 6.2.11 and. 7.4 Colos 3.3 Rom. 6.6 Vivification is a dally rising to newnesse of life by the vertue of Christs resurrection Ioh. 5.11 Eph. 2.4.5 The spirituall battell is waged betweene the part corrupted and
that the parts doe euer or at least should follow the nature and processe of the whole Our common Mother in and by whom we are all borne 〈◊〉 brought 〈◊〉 Christians challengeth our first seruice And because some of you as well as my selfe haue enioyed so excellent a Nurse and Foster mother cherishing and feeding vs with the purest and most pleasant liquor til we came to some full and perfect age wee should doe amisse if wee should forget her in the chiefest and noblest of our thoughts To you therefore I come as being sent from the brests of my Mother to giue you a taste of her milke Onely remember who it is that must giue the increase both to her in labouring and you in profiting Rebecca may Cooke the Venison but Isaack must giue the blessing We can but speake to the eare God must speake to the Conscience I wish we could condescend to the infancie of our Nurcelings and become all vnto all rather studying to make our people Schollers then to shew our selues Schollers vnto them When the Iewes heard Paul Act. 22.2 to speake in their mother tongue they both kept the more silence and gaue the better audidence Accept therefore the following Treatise as a due acknowledgement of my loue and thankefulnesse wishing not onely with Philosophers prosperitie Physitians health the common people ioy Romanes safetie S. Paul welfare but also with our blessed Sauiour Mar. 9.50 Peace powdred with pietie otherwise these congratulations of our ioy shall but aequalize a drunken Nabals Sheepe sheering or the fatting of some Epicurean hogges or the celebration of the festivall revels of the dissolute crue whose dyet and dainties are the Devils food Cleanse therefore the Augean stables of our drunken Tavernes and Tipling houses with all the blind vaults of professed filthinesse The Citie of Alexandria in Egypt nourished the great Bird Ibis to devoure the garbage and offall of it and to cleanse the streetes but he left of his owne filth and beastlinesse more noysome behinde him They are the Devils deputies not Gods who being set in their places like the Kites feed themselues with the offalls of the people I meane bribes to pervert the course of Iustice They who in reformation seeme to amend the exorbitances of their places and doe it not heartily imitate the Physitian who in an Hecticall body laboureth to kill the itch c. Rouze vp your spirits awaken your Christian courage and set your selues heartily against the crying sinnes of these times But I must take heed least I runne into the inconvenience obiected by that Spartane to the Athenians That wise men did consult and the ignorant giue sentence We may easily iudge our superiours consulting of remedies to be guilty of the increasing of the maladies and mischiefes of the State Drunkennesse and the nurseries of it vsurping Sobrieties kingdome as Adoniah did Salomons haue gotten so strong an head that they can hardly be resisted Onely let the Magistrate take to himselfe a firme forehead couragious heart busie hands and not partiall execute lawes with strictnesse and resolution and God shall blesse the same with happie successe If otherwise God will suffer wickednesse to punish it selfe and that no power can turne the streame because God will haue it carry the offenders headlong to their perpetuall ruine and his owne revenge yet must the good Magistrate even swimme against the tyde knowing that without conquest it is glorious to haue resisted in this alone he were an enemie if he should doe nothing because he sees so little good come of all his traveile Let but worthy Magistrates the endeuour be yours and you may with comfort leaue the successe to God and so I cease neuer ceasing to pray for you Yours in all Christian dutie and seruice IOHN YATES ⧠An advertisement to the READER THe truth and triall of this treatise carefull Reader may I hope the better be accepted without distrust or distaste because it hath passed thorow the fire fanne and furnace of two iudicious and learned Divines whom for honours sake I am bound to mention vnto thee The one is the Reverend and worshipfull Mr Tho Goad Dr of Divinitie by whose labour this worke is carefully corrected and iudiciously supplied where it might offend through want or weaknesse in any part or power of it his starres or his spits that I may vse Origens notes haue beene welcome to this my Tractate I expected his vnpartiall sentence and he hath done iustly to shut his friend out of doores while this worke was discussed Know therefore with me good Reader by whom thou hast profited and be thankfull The other is Mr Alexander Richardson now deceased to whom I haue done the office of a Christian brother in raysing vp seed to the dead to continue his name that his memory and worth might not be put out of Israel This skilfull Artist hath cast and coyned the heads and I would to God he had handled them before his death Some few specialties are vpon necessary cause altered but they are of so small moment that they make no great breach in the body neither in thy knowledge in viewing of the order and methode of Religion I know if the discourse as well as the heads had proceeded from the same hand they would haue beene more accurate and perfect A shaft shot by the hand of a Gyant and a childe differ much yet will I not in a fond admiration and apish imitation of any person make all his deeds and doctrines like the reflection of a looking glasse to frame all thoughts and things by his shadow This were but to catch Doterels and shew feats of actiuitie to deceiue the simple Againe if some little thing be censured in the first inventor I hope they that loue him will not thinke as good friends as they deale with him like Gnatts which after they haue made a sweete kinde of Musicke euermore sting before they depart I feare not thy profit in it if thou will submit both it and thy selfe to the true touch-stone I meane the sacred Scriptures otherwise with Perillus thou mayest perish in thy owne inventions and thine owne cunning at the last will fayle thee and leaue thee as Absolons Mule left his rebellious Master betweene heauen and earth Consider therefore what is said and the Lord giue thee vnderstanding in all things that thou mayest be no lesse wise then good Amen ¶ The Table of Religion containing the Creed the ten Commandements the Lords Prayer and the Sacraments Religion whose parts are Faith it selfe In God Which is euery mans owne I beleeve who is one in essence In three persons Father Almightie Maker of heauen earth Sonne who is by name Iesus Christ. that onely begotten our Lord. who humbled himselfe in Life by being both Conceived by the holy Ghost Borne of the Virgin Mary and by Suffering vnder Pontius Pilate being Crucified Death Dying and being buried descended into hell Exalted First by rising againe from the dead
to the fruits qualitie to the seeds temper to the seasons God therefore that can doe all is the best husbandman Man therefore that hath expired his first life must haue God to inspire him againe or else hee cannot liue And this will appeare in the very name wee giue our rule Religion is to tie againe Our loue to God like the new cords of Sampson was quickly snapt asunder God therfore that he might bind vs to himselfe by a stronger cord hath chosen the grace of faith to revnite vs againe to himselfe And so Religion hath his notation from the first part of our rule which is faith in God Or else may it take his denomination from the second part which is obedience towards God The law that was to be read by creation was obliterated and in a manner scraped our by corruption but now againe by religion is written in our hearts Ier. 31.33 and so is to be read againe Life consists in vnion and action now by faith wee haue the one and by the law we performe the other The rule of life is called Diuinitie in regard of God the end of it Theologie in regard of the subiect matter 1. Pet. 4.11 logia Theou words of God but of all names this comes neerest the forme of our Art which signifies either our tying againe to God or reading againe the things of God This bond is the surest Isa 54.10 Ier. 32.40 And this booke is the plainest Deut. 30.14 Rom. 10.8 For as faith binds vs to God so it giues and gaines such power from him as wee may walke acceptably before him Luke 1.74 And here we see how pittifull and plentiful a God we haue in raising of vs from corruption to greater perfection then ever we enioyed by creation This second bond is invincible for so it becomes the Almightie to proceed in his workes He that hath shewed man what he can doe for himselfe shall now see what God can doe for him And God were not faithfull if there were either finall or fatall Apostasie from a iustifying faith It is folly to imagine that God should goe from one imperfection to another Loue was for try-all faith is for trust God hath tried the weaknesse and wickednesse of our loue It is now for vs to trust him vpon the faith of our saluation Water cannot suddenly be cleared but with leisure and by degrees and some time must necessarily be required to beare and beate backe those abuses wherunto we haue a long time beene envred Time and industry will eate euen thorow Marbles Giue God credence and he will in his due time giue thee riddance of all the rubbish of thy sinnes But to this our owne safety our owne sedulitie is required for as it is in vaine Psal 127.1 for men to watch except God keepe the citie so will it be in vaine for God to keepe except wee watch The husbandman must not burne his Plough or the Marchant neglect his Trade because God hath said I will not forsake thee Father keepe them in thy name Ioh. 17.11 doth not intimate that wee should be carelesse to keepe our selues Indeed till the Lord inspire wee but lamely and blindly re-aspire to any good We liue groaping as the Sodomites after lifes doore and hauing wearied our selues goe away wanting the thing we both wished and waited for Take away the Sunne from the world and the soule from the body and earth becomes earth as it was at the first Gen. 1.2 So sever God from the soule and what is man but a dead carrion All the elements and elementaries lighten and darken coole and warme die and reviue as the Sunne presents or absents it selfe from them so wee liue or die feele or faint as the Sunne of righteousnesse parts or revnites himselfe vnto vs. Whereby we are taught that primarily and principally we liue by God as the soule of our soules and secondarily by faith as the Spirits The bond of soule and body here is that heat or heauenly breath that knitts God and man together in an indivisible and insoluble knott If the Lyons Dan. 6.16 ravenous beasts by nature and made keene with hunger adore the flesh of a faithfull man shall any worldly thing change his heart alter his affection or Gods to him Rom. 8. the earth shall sooner shake the pillars of the world tremble the countenance of heauen apale the Sunne loose his light the Moone her beautie the Starres their glory c. then a man knit to God by Religion be once seperated from him againe The fire hath proclaimed it selfe vnable so much as to singe an haire of the head of the godly Dan. 3.27 Thus then you see how Religion may put vs in minde of the wonderfull mercy of God Now heare how it remembers vs of our wofull misery we are found of God as rotten roots without any life or vertue as barren ground bringing forth no fruit but sinne shame and damnation As a dead body or decaying bough cut off from the tree perishing and withering to nothing yea wee are so much more miserable by how much wee were once more excellent and eminent The more vnnaturall any qualitie is the more extreame will it be a cold win de from the South is intollerable and the purest wine becomes the sharpest vineger The few sparkes of good that lie couered vnder heapes of cold ashes are no wayes able t kindle the fire of a godly life no not so much as to giue a glimmering light to lead to heauen The wisest Philosophers never so much as ghessed at this Art the doctrine of it never came within the fadome of their reason If they few any thing it was a farre off even as heauen it selfe vpon which they looked with desire and admiration knowing not the right way thither Natures skill is something in the end nothing in the meanes It hath taught without controlement that there is a blessednesse for man to seeke after but what or where was remoued from their Academie assuring vs that not Athens but Ierusalem must reach vs this lesson The wisest Ethnick doth but as S. Peter speaketh Mnoopazein see glimmeringly and vncertainly in this Theame 2. Pet. 1.9 And like Zebul in holy Story either take men for mountaines or mountaines for men Iudg. 9.36 and for inconstancy like Absolon and the Elders of Israel come off and on in their opinions and alwayes beleeues the worst Sometimes the counsell of Achitophell is approued and then presently the aduice of Hushai the Archite is a great deale better 2. Sam. 17.4.14 The Barbarians almost with one breath curse and blesse the Apostle Act. 28.6 Shall we therefore praise nature or trust it in this No wee prayse it not With what presumption hath it vndertaken to write bookes of the soules tranquilitie but that must needs be performed with much imperfection which is practised without a rule Sundry capricious fancies and fables are handsomly framed glued together by morall Philosophie
haue good hearts which vndoubtedly are the worst for these two parts will euer goe together Divine Philosophie will teach vs to referre all our speculations to action yea our very affections Feare in Scripture is ever accompanied with seruice seeing God hath so wedded them together let no man presume vpon any condition to devorce them as Papists doe with a dead faith but their dispensation therein is the dissipation of the truth which will haue seruice and obedience the true probats of faith and feare And as Dalilah said to Sampson How canst thou say thou louest mee when thy heart is not with mee So how can they professe they loue God whose hearts obey him not In the new Testament Religion is distributed into faith and lone 2. Tim. 1.13 Keepe the paterne of wholesome words which thou hast receiued of me in faith and loue Loue springs from faith 1. Tim. 1.5 And faith workes by loue Gal. 5.6 and loue fulfils the law Rom. 13.10 not by action but intention for it is the end of the law 1. Tim. 1.5 God accepting sincere loue for perfect dutie By faith wee are spiritually glued and cimented to God that we may bee one spirituall body with him in which sense it is said He that is glued to the Lord is one spirit 1. Cor. 6.17 Cords will bind so will the cords of loue Hos 11.4 Zach. 11.7 But cords may be vnknitt Nailes will fasten and wee haue the words of the wise as nailes fastned by the masters of the assemblies Eccl. 12.11 but yet nailes may slip or leaue a chinke onely the glew of faith ioynes all close together or rather both these parts will cause vs with full purpose of heart to cleaue vnto the Lord Act. 11.23 The heat of faith and loue will digest this whole Art that it may be distributed into the veines of euery good word and worke These two will make vp a perfect paire of compasses that can truely take the latitude of this Art And first must wee haue faith as the one foote pitcht vpon the Center which is God whiles obedience as the other walkes about in a perfect circle of all good duties The fire of faith and light of life will evince against the gates of hell the vndoubted truth of Religion So that by these sweete and cordiall flames may the soule of euery Christian warme it selfe against all those cold despaires whereunto Satan tempteth Q. What is Faith A. The first part of Religion whereby from knowledge I beleeue in God the first act of faith is passiue in receiuing what God giueth And so layes hold of happinesse workes it not Faith makes iust as the hand makes rich that is filled with the wealth of another or as the Iewellers boxe base in it selfe is made precious for the pearles it containeth Here may wee iustly say it is a poorer and meaner act to beleeue then loue nay rather passion then action for we are first apprehended of God before we apprehend him againe Phil 3.12 This grace is most freely graced that it might the more frankely reflect all vpon God a gaine And because it is the roote of all the rest will teach humilitie exclude boasting like the ful eare of corn that hanges downe the head towards the originall or if any be so graciously exalted and freely favoured aboue his fellowes that his stalke is so stiffe that it beares him vp aboue the rest of his ridge then faith will make him looke vp to heauen aboue not in the thoughts of pride but in the humble vowes of thankefulnesse and say with Mary the Lord hath regarded the low estate of his servant Thus will faith rightly vnderstood teach vs to knead nature in the durt and dust and spoyle our free will of all her proud ragges loading her with reproches and giue all glory to him that sayes he will not giue it vnto another Papists being of late more ashamed then before doe confesse all is giuen but say they is it not all one to pay a summe and haue so much giuen mee as may pay it No doubt Faith receiues a full discharge makes it not We rather by Faith receiue an acquitance sealed in the blood of Christ then the blood of Christ to make our owne workes meritorious which we may offer to God in payment for our selues Eternall life Rom. 6.23 is both merit and mercie we take it as a gift Christ earnes it as wages Ephe. 2.8 Saluation through faith yet not of our selues Here lies the errour of the Papists euen in faith it selfe and euery other good grace of the spirit that our free will hath his intervention and operation betwixt Gods giuing and our taking so that if God will but beare halfe the charges by his co-operation man shall vnder-take to merit his owne glory and fulfill the royall law so abundantly that he shall haue something over and aboue to be very beneficiall and helpefull to his needie neighbours But the way of the law is longer then our pursey hearts and short legges can reach to the end and perfection of it As Constantine sayd to Acesius the Novatian Set vp ladders and climbe to heauen so I to Papists scale heauen by your workes as for vs we haue found another way and that is to ascend vpon Iacobs ladder Wee leaue tuggling and strugling that way to preuaile and fall with Iacob to wrestle with Christ for a blessing And though we goe lymping by our sinnes yet by our conquering Faith wee shall be Princes with God By this therefore the vaunt of Papists must needs avaunt yet further faith in another act will cut the very winde-pipe of our free-will and merit It is wittily sayd of one that faith in regard of his passiue act is rather a beggarly receiver then a deserving worker all our conversion is passiue but see faith in our actiue conversion and you shall see workes a forme too low to come in any such request as to iustifie For what is faith but as the hand of the soule and what is the dutie of the hand but eyther to hold or to worke This hand then holds in the first part of Divinitie and workes in the second Now without all question Iustification is to be taught in our first part and therefore goes before obedience and faith which is as an instrument or hand for to hold Christ to iustification is mightie and operatiue both for sanctification and new obedience Workes therefore are the effects of sanctification and sanctification is the effect of iustification hence is it impossible to be iustified by workes as causes as effects and fruits they may shew it If then the secret apprehension of the closed hand of faith hide what it holdeth see the hand of faith open to iustifie the cause by the evidence of the effects in this sense workes may iustifie and perfect faith as the second part of any Art doth the first Iam. 2.22.24 Papists against the whole order of
all the punishments of hell were no greater then the stinging of Gnatts perpetuity is enough to make them intolerable Oh how grievous shall it bee to the damned to thinke that after millions of ages the shall bee so farre eyther from end or from ease as they were the first day of their beginning In life there is some ease and in death an end but here the wicked shall neither haue end nor ease So long as God shall liue so long shall the damned die and when he shall cease to be happy then shall they also cease to bee miserable Q. What followes from hence A. That God is without all limites of time past present Rev. 1.8 2. Pot. 3.8 or to come And yet he is at all times but without respect of time And therefore cannot be subiect to any mutation or alteration of time as to be young or old but is an everlasting and immortall God before and after all times and in all times for ever and ever Iob 36.26 Psal 92.7.8 and 102.26.27 Isa 41.4 and 43.10.11 Ier. 10.10.1 Tim. 1.17 Some things haue no beginning and yet an end as Gods decrees Some-things a beginning and no ending as Angels some things both beginning and ending as all sublunary creatures God alone hath neither beginning nor ending All creatures haue a lasting Angels an out-lasting God an ever-lasting O that true loue like a strong streame which the further it is from this head of eternitie would runne vnto it with greater violence Alas that ever so many cold windes of temptation should blow betwixt God and our hearts to make our affections cooler vnto him What dull mettall is this wee are made of Wee haue the fountaine of felicitie and eternitie and yet complaine of want and wearinesse Doe wee freeze in the fire and starue at a feast Haue wee God to enioy and yet pine and hang downe the head Let me die if ever I envie their happines that ioy in red and whie Crosses a vaine title daintie dishes Gold is that which the basest elements yeelds the most savage Indians get servile Apprentises worke Midianitish Camels carry miserable worldlings admire covetous Iewes swallow vnthriftie Ruffians spend Let me haue my God and let me never want him till I envie them So shall my ioyes be lasting when this transitory trash shall leaue them Goe then thou miscreant that can take more pleasure in a kite a dogge a boune and base companion then in the liuing God An Hauke becomes thy fist better then a Bible and euery dung hill trifle then this during Deitie O the vnsavory foode of fooles to the taste of any wise man I can but wonder how any should be so idle hauing so fayre meanes to purchase better things but I must conclude them amongst Salomons fooles who hauing a price in their hands haue no hearts to get wisedome CHAPTER VII Of the diuine Qualities Question VVHat Attributes shew vs what manner of God he is Answere A. His most divine and excellent qualities whereby hee acteth or worketh Properly God hath none yet because we cannot see his working by his essence he giues qualities to himselfe by which wee may vnderstand his marveilous workes Psal 86.8 Among the gods there is none like thee O God and there is none that can doe like thy workes Psal 71.19 Thou hast done great things O God who is like thee Exod 34.6 O what an heauen may a Christian here seele in himselfe when after many traverses of holy meditations he may finde in his heart a feeling possession of his God When he may walke and converse with him and that not without an opennesse of heart and familiaritie so that when his soule hath caught fast and sensible holde of him in his gracious qualities he may either pull him downe to himselfe or rather lift vp himselfe to him and can and dare secretly avouch I know whom I haue beleeued O then how should we detest our blockishnesse and dulnesse which would suffer a leaden and earthy spirit to thrust it selfe betwixt vs and our actiue God and by his darke and indigested parts eclipse that light which shineth to our soules Let me deare God with feare to offend and faith to obtaine alwayes be humble before thee and never bee high minded but onely in minding these things aboue Q. What obserue you from hence A. That all the former properties of greatnesse may be attributed to these as his eternitie and infinitenesse may bee giuen to all or any of his qualities but not the contrary so properly as Gods eternall wisedome infinite iustice c. and not his wise eternitie or iust infinitenesse Psal 145.7.8 Great goodnesse great mercy and not good greatnesse or mercifull greatnesse For quantitie is the measure of the qualitie that acteth and hereby we see an Ocean of mercy and goodnesse in God Here then may we keepe what we haue and get what we want a good soule will not more loath all other covetousnesse then affect this Here alone must we never professe to haue enough and our care must be if we may increase eyther by labouring or begging or vsury to leaue no meanes vnattempted Let others please themselues in the large extent of their rich mannors or in the homage of those whom baschesse of minde hath made slaues to their greatnes or in the price and fashions of their full wardrope or in the wanton varieties of their delicate Gardens or in their full coffers of red and white earth or if yet there be any other earthly thing more alluring more precious let them enioy it possesse it and let it possesse them let mee onely haue this God and let me never want him till I envie them An idiot or a childe lookes on the fairest Gally-pot in the Apothecaries shop which shall be sure to haue his first hand though never so full of poyfonous drugs where the iudicious choose rather the wholsomest led not onely by sense but skill so silly sotts and sottish worldlings are more tempted with wealth and honour which when they come vpon best termes are but vaine then with the beames of that infinite beauty which deserues the best yea all and a thousand times more then all O that any thing in the world should be respected before him equalled with him or loued out of him of whom for whom and through whom are all things It grieues mee to thinke that so substantiall and super excellent a good should haue such hollow services fie on all Rimmonites that plead an vpright soule in a prostrate body or that pretend a Nathaniel in the skin of a Nicodemus Dare wee not speake out and without all secret halting or halving say God is God and wee will follow him for his excellency O that ever Christian ground should beare any maples hollow and fruitlesse or that we should lie so neere the bankes of the dead sea hauing faire apples which vnder a red side containe nothing but dust For his sake
both of them before the holy Ghost Order requires that the begetter subsist before the begotten and the Spirants before the Spirit Ioh. 15.26 I will send from the father the Comferter even the spirit of truth As there is an order in subsisting so in working And here the well of life lies open before the godly though their eyes often like Agars are not open to see it whiles miserable worldlings haue neither water nor eyes And because to Christians there can be no comfort in their secret felicities seeing to be happy and not to know it is little aboue miferable let me here fell them some of that spirituall eye-salue which the Spirit commends to the Laodiceans that they may clearely see how well they are in the true apprehension of this order I know it to be vsuall with all men liuing that they doe not much more want that which they haue not then that which they doe not know they haue Assuredly there is nothing but a few scales of ignorance and infidelitie betwixt vs and our happinesse It lies in a narrow compasse but soundly trussed together for it is from the Father in the Sonne by the Spirit to Faith 2. Cor. 13.14 Loue from the Father as the beginner of our happinesse Grace from the Sonne as the dispenser of it And a blessed happy communion from the holy Ghost as the accomplisher or finisher of it Loue Grace and Communion are enough to passe the beleeuer from death to life The father cannot manifest his loue without the grace of his sonne neither can the spirit therein communicate with vs but as he is sent from both after both to manifest the loue of the one in beginning and the grace of the other in dispensing all things needfull for our saluation Thinke not much that this glasse of the word espies that in vs and for vs what our selues see not too much neerenesse oft-times hindereth sight and if for the spots of our owne faces wee trust others eyes and glasses why not this truth for our perfections wee are in heauen and know it not What greater happines then this to be made partakers of the purest Loue richest Grace and choicest Communion Eph. 1.13.15 Our election is begunne by the will counsell and decree of the Father dispensed by the complete and full redemption of the Sonne finished by the powerfull and effectuall application of the Spirit It is not without due consideration why in the beginning of the Apostolicall Epistles Grace and peace are wished from the Father and the Sonne without mention of the Spirit I may and will reine the question shorter then they doe that confound the persons in their workes The Spirit is sent from the Father and the Sonne to witnesse that grace and peace that wee haue from and with them both He that is from them both by inspiration is to them both with vs as lidger in execution When good things are wished from some persons it is requisite that there be some to carry newes of their will and pleasure therein The Church of God hath the glorious Gospell of life and saluation and therein is contained all grace and peace with God but how shall euery soule be certified that he is interessed in those good things except the Father and the Sonne send the Spirit as a witnesse and seale thereof vnto him in particular Therefore Paul in all his Epistles wishing grace and peace from Father and Sonne not mentioning the Spirit obserues the true order of personall subsisting and personall working And therefore peace purchased by grace whereby the Father is reconciled in his Sonne is wished to the Churches the fruition whereof followeth by the worke of the blessed Spirit in all that are ordained to be partakers thereof Q. What kind of properties are these A. Individuall and incommunicable and being giuen to the Father Sonne and holy Ghost make three distinct persons and therefore the Church of God hath done well so to name them though the word be not in all the Scripture for it is a Latine word and therefore cannot be found in the Originalls which are Greeke and Hebrew Thus far haue we freely dipped in this streame and not bin drowned pulled many fragrant roses and not pricked our fingers there is one thing more that may sting vs if godly discretion serue not to sever the good from the ill yet the former lessons well remembred are sufficient to them that are capable of observation and not carelesse of reposition to keepe them from danger but seeing remarkable consideration put into vs by others are as some loofe pearles which for want of filing vpon a string shake out of our pockets it shall be necessary both for the getting and keeping of the treasure of our vnderstanding to expresse it Q. Are then these properties qualities in the divine essence A. They are relatiue affections no inherent qualities for they doe no wayes change or alter the essence but leaue it still simply one I know naturall reason would here send forth distemper into our whole judgement The streame must needs runne like the fountaine and speeds well if at last by many changes of soile it can leaue an ill qualitie behind it so our judgement shall be well purged if by all these passages we can so farre master reason that the fardle of foolish fancies may here be vnloden and God may purely be apprehended as he is in himselfe But what can be expected from this age fitter to looke after Butter-flies or Birds nests or perhaps some gay coat of a Courtier then this sound and solide knowledge of Iehovah-Elohim Or if any trauell this way it is indeed like our yong travellers whose wealth is found to be in their tongues wherein they exceed and excell their parents parrats at home both for that they can speake more and know that they speake so our Aethiopian Christians white onely in the teeth euery where else cole blacke can speake well of God and godlinesse and that is all But God is not so learned for as among the three parts of the body there is one called Impetuous or impulsiue as the spirits which sets all on worke or as Physitians call the Arteries in the body Venas audaces or micantes from their continuall beating and working which running along with the other veines beate knock at euery gate and entrance for the members to take in provision saying as it were to euery part and portion here is meate and nourishment for you so true religion hauing put into vs the royall and celestiall Spirit of Faith calls vpon all powers and parts not to know and speake good things but to liue and practise them Papists teach that a man may and must both make and eate his God to his break-fast this hard meate wee leaue for their stronger mawes yet even here may wee begin with the spoone and offer nothing to our weaker stomackes but discourse of easie digestion Know God and liue by
to make way for the Sea seemes to lie vpon the very waters and to be vpholden by them and so appeared by Gods commandement from vnder them and now to stand in them Q. How called God the waters beneath A. Iammim Seas Gen. 1.10 because there was the collection of many waters all rivers running into it Eccl. 1.7 We see many great rivers which at the first rising out of some hills-side might be covered with a Bushell which after many miles fill a very broad channell and drawing neere to the Sea doe even make a little Sea in their owne bankes Iam signifies the west because the Seas flow from that way c. CHAPTER XIIII Of the Elementaries Question VVE haue heard of the elements what are the elementaries Answere Whereby God made them of these foure elements by a mixture Gen. 1.11 Let the earth bring forth c. This was impossible without heat and moysture therefore other elements were in the composition as may appeare by the resolution of plants out of which water and spirit is to be distilled c. The mystery of this mixture may thus bee conceiued First water being of a running nature is stayed by earths drinesse Secondly earth being dry in the highest degree would destroy waters moysture being not answerable to his quality in the same degree therefore ayre comes in and takes part with water to moderate his excessiue drinesse Thirdly the coldnesse of water and earth together would easily extinguish the heat of the ayre except fire the greatest champion should step in and helpe the ayre against them both And those all foure being closed together fight it out vntill the quarrell be taken vp by euery one yeelding a little to another and remitting their forces vntill they all meete louingly together in the same elementary composition which is as a compound of them all But you will say this is rather Generation then Creation and therefore a foule confusion to bring it amongst divine precepts I answere The action of euery creature is but an imitable genesis or correspondent work-manship to Gods and therefore in euery thing the first course is extraordinary God shewing the creature his way of imitation Therefore all the elementaries were made of God though hee gaue commandement to the elements to bring them forth Q. How devide you these clementaries A. They are either animate or inanimate things with life or without life God shewing himselfe by his worke to be both life and being Now because God proceeds to perfection let vs first see the more imperfect elementaries Q. What are the inanimate elementaries A. Whereby they were made out of the elements without parts that is a body and a soule I confesse some dispute is about Mineralls which containe in them excellent spirits and are found very vivificall in cordialls but yet this is no proper life neither will it follow that they haue a vegetatiue life because they seeme to grow for that is onely by addition of matter and not a liuely extension of the same matter by a springing life increasing to his full perfection c. Q. How are they devided A. They are either Meteors or Mineralls for so it comes to passe that these things which haue onely a body and no soule are either of elements well ioyned together or else of such as hang very loosely together and are casily shaken asunder these things are passed over in silence by Moses and might well be left out of this Art saue onely that God doth wonderfully set forth his glory even by the weakest workes and those that are worst tyed together in their composition We will therefore stay a little in the handling of them for their knowledge shall be both pleasant and profitable Q. What are the Meteors A. All luch things as are mixed of the foure elements imperfectly Gen. 1.6 Of this kinde are the waters aboue Gen. 2.5 the raine that descends from them Psal 148. Clouds fire haile snow winde and vapours are called vpon to prayse the Lord because he created them What marvells doe we meete withall in this head of creatures the clouds the bottles of raine vessels as thin as the liquor which is contained in them there they hang and moue though weightie with their burden These the Lord maketh one while as some ayery Seas to hold water another while as some ayery Furnaces whence he scattereth his sudden fires vnto all the parts of the earth astonishing the world with the fearefull noyies of the thunders eruption out of the midst of the waters aboue he fetcheth fire and hard stones Another while hee makes the clouds as steele-glasses wherein the Sunne lookes and shewes his face in the varietie of colours which he hath not there are the streames of light blazing and falling Starres fires darted vp and downe in many formes hollow openings and as it were gulfes in the skie bright circles about the Moone and other Planets Snowes Haile c. Here might I discourse of a world of wonders to the astonishment of the readers but I must remember my Art which is to speake of Creation and not the generation of things for as the one belongs to Divinitie so the other to naturall Phylosophy And I take it that Meteors were rather generated of the foure elements then created though in all wee are to admire Gods hand though we cannot search out his action But if God lend life as I desire first to acquaint men more fully with the knowledge of Iehovah-Elohim so after with their workes And Creation according to Moses description will yeeld the exactest and divinest Phylosophie Q. What is the perfect mixture A. Whereby the bodies of things are more closely vnited and produced according to the predominant element not hanging by violence out of their proper elements but duely placed of God in their proper places whereby the first matter is filled and adorned God himselfe supplying that voyd and vnformed masse with foure formes and infinite varieties of creatures out of their composition and mixture They which lie the lowest and doe adorne the bowels of the earth wee call Mineralls and they are either Metalls or Stones the one hath water predominant in it the other earth and they are both precious and base purer or impurer And it is to be wondered at that man treading vpon these Mineralls should not learne to contemne them They lie furthest from heaven and the best of them are in India furthest from the Church It is as we haue said that which Midianitish Camels carry that Indian slaues get that servile Apprentises worke that greedy Iewes swallow worldlings admire and Ruffians spend and yet we cannot esteem of it as the meanest of Gods creatures far inferior to a spire of grasse Adam had them in the first Paradise Gen. 2.11.12 In the second we shall not need them Iob 28.1.2.3.5.6 c. There may you see how God hath placed them and how we come by them And so subiect to sinne as God
which is a kind of feeling for both must haue their obiects present Now it is made by the passing down of the sensitiue spirit from the brain to the tongue c. Sight is made by conveiance of sensitiue spirits to the eyes where they are met with the light without that first comes to the watery humor which is as lead to a looking glasse that stayes the light then it comes to the glassie humor and there is gathered together then it comes to the crystaline or clearest humor and is carried vp vnto the braine by the sensitiue spirit that meetes it Hence Hippocrates saies that these sensitiue Spirits are a drie brightnesse and that is because fire is here predominant as wee may see by a blow vpon the eye the Spirits redoubled are made visible as fire Those that haue the brightest eyes as Catts c. see better in darkenesse then other creatures and worse in the light because the greater light darkens the lesser Hearing is a fourth sense and meets with the noyse in the eares there it centers for noyse is made by a circle in the ayre not much vnlike vnto that which wee see in the water when wee cast a stone into it Hence it comes to passe as many as stand within the circle or circumference of the sound made in the ayre heare it and the reason is because any point or center within the circle of the sound is potentially in euery part of it one point is enough to bring it to our eares yet we cannot see so for when we but looke at a thing that is round wee cannot see it all at once But I must not play the Phylosopher too much it is my desire that God for his workes may haue the due glory Smelling is the last sense and serues wonderfully to refresh the braine The inward senses that looke through these outward are fancie cogitation and memory and they are a little resemblance of reason which comes in the last place For fancie hath in it a kind of invention cogitation of iudgement and memory of methode And this is the sensatiue life wherein God shewes his owne act more eminently Q. How many sorts of creatures liue by sense A. Two either such as liue by it onely or haue beside all these a reasonable life This onely passeth Elements both formall and materiall yet the finest Spirits serue to knit it with the rest and so wee handle that life amongst Elementaries otherwise it is angelicall and purely of nothing by the power of the Creator Q. How many kinds haue we of the first life A. Either fishes and foules or beasts All which were made according to their kinds and were mightily to increase through Gods blessing and to fill their places with daily of-spring Q. What is the creation of the fishes A. Whereby the Lord caused the waters to bring them forth in abundance wherein also they increase and multiplie and replenish the waters Gen. 1.20.21.22 Iob 40.20 41.1 Q. What is the creation of the fowles A. Whereby he made them to flie in the ayre and to multiplie vpon the earth Gen. 1.20 Q. When were the fish and fowle made A. In the sift day or 24. houres Gen 1.23 These were more imperfect then the beasts of the field and therefore conclude a dayes worke by themselues God willing vs to take notice how exact he was in ascending vp to mans perfection Q. What is the creation of the beasts A. Whereby he caused the earth to bring them forth after their kinds and they are either walkers or creepers walkers cattell and beasts that is wild and tame creatures Gen. 1.24.25 Thus God formed and filled that first matter and prepared it as an habitation for man who though hee came naked out of the wombe of the earth was even then so rich that all things were his heaven was his roofe earth his floare the Sea his pond the Sunne Moone his torches all creatures his vassalls They that looke into some great Pond may see the bankes full though they see not the severall springs whence the water riseth so wee may eye the world but can never come to see the excellencie of it much more of the maker himselfe Kings erect not cottages but set forth their magnificence in sumptuous buildings so God hath made a world to shew his admirable glory And if the lowest pauement of that third heaven be so glorious what shall wee finde within Who would thinke that all these should be made for one and that one well-neere the least of all Sure I am the last with him therefore let vs conclude this worke of Creation CHAPTER XV. Of Mans Creation Question VVHat is the creation of things with a reasonable life Answere Whereby he made them of a body and soule immortall Gen. 1.26 Other creatures were made by a simple command Man not without a divine consultation Others at once Man he did first forme then inspire others in severall shapes like to none but themselues Man after his owne image others with qualities fit for seruice Man for dominion His bodie and soule are both immortall for death is an enemie 1. Cor. 15.26 And therefore no consequent of nature but a companion of sinne yet this is true that euery elementary is corruptible and resoluble and so is the body of man being taken out of the dust but as it was made a companion of an immortall soule immediately made of nothing so is it fit that it should be aboue its own nature elevated to be one though not per vim contactus yet per vnionem personae immortall and eternall Almighty God after he had drawne the large and reall map of the world abridged it into this little table of Man as Dioptron Microcosmicum which alone consists of heaven and earth soule and body In his soule is the nature of Angels though not so extensiue and actiue as wee may see in a little and great man c. In his bodie are the foure elements the Meteors and Mineralls as may appeare both by vapours and fumes and spirits He liues the life of a Plant he hath the senses of beasts and aboue all the addition of reason His body is more exquisitely made then any other as may appeare by the nakednesse of it For others that are clothed with feathers and haires c. shew that they are fuller of excrements The Lord brought him vpon the stage fully prepared that he might be both an actor and a spectator He had a body with hands for action and an head for contemplation Q. How did God create him A. In his owne likenesse and image Gen. 1.26 Colos 3.10 And it is so called because man was furnished in euery point to resemble the wisedome holinesse and righteousnesse of God not onely in this frame and perfection of body and soule but also by his actions and government of the creatures and this was naturall vnto man The Papists thinke that this image was supernaturall
but vntruely seeing it was of his created perfection hauing the greatest excellencies of all things here below For an image is a speciall kinde of similitude and so man after a more speciall sort then all other creatures resembles the maiestie of his Creator even as it were a stature or image of him yet must we take heed of the error of the Authropomorphoi and Papists who metamorphize God into the shape of a Man old and auncient For the likenesse stands not in hauing a body and soule but in the hability of both to worke answerably to the righteousnesse and holinesse of God And image beside similitude which is the generall containes two things more expression and representation First it must either be expressed by another thing or else exemplarily formed to such a patterne and pattent and as it were the very copie and countenance of it Hence one egge though it be the similitude of another yet is it not the image and so one man is like another in shape but not his image yet is the sonne the image of his father and my face in a glasse the image of my naturall face so is the stamp in brasse waxe c. the image of the seale and the picture of Caesar the image of Caesar Secondly It must represent specifically either the substance or accidents of the thing whereof it is an image Hence the sonne is the image of his father essentially and a picture mans image accidentally and by this it appeares that an egge is not the image of an Hen though it be expressed by her or a worme of a man though it be engendered in or out of his body The image of God by naturall expression and representation is the onely sonne of God Heb. 1.3 He alone is of the father by nature and essentially as it were his very forme and figure c. But man is an image by counsell Iam. 1.18 And more specially from God then other creatures Gen. 1.26 Let vs make It was enough for other creatures to be but man is not without speciall counsell and in speciall manner is made a fit subiect for the three persons to declare their workes in him No doubt the Father Sonne and holy Ghost did even now consult according to their eternall act to produce man as he might bee fittest to declare severally the righteousnesse and holinesse of each person Ephes 4.24 Col. 3.10 The new man is Christs the putting on of him is the Spirits and the creation of him the Fathers Surely he that did loue his owne image without an obiect did also loue it when he had created it and was so carefull of it that when man had destroyed it he would haue it repaired againe by his Sonne and his elect invested into it by his spirit He that can loue without an obiect can hate without an obiect and yet hate nothing but the opposite of his owne image His loue begins at himselfe as an affection of vnion and so doth his hatred as an affection of separation And God doth never separate where he once loues Hee condemnes euery sinner but the hatred of condemnation is not alwayes the hatred of separation It pleaseth God to loue himselfe and his owne image and to loue it constantly in his owne Sonne and who shall complaine that he is separated from this loue Sinne makes a separation in all in regard of condemnation Farre be it from the iust Iudge to favour either sinne or sinner yet notwithstanding the vnion of loue remaines still for either he loues his owne image in the elect or the elect in the image of his sonne Q. Wherein consists this image A. Either in conformation or domination first he is to expresse Gods image in his conformitie with the holinesse and righteousnesse of his Creator Secondly in his dominion and rule over the creatures As God is holy in his nature righteous in his actions and Lord in his commands so man was made most pure and holy filled with originall righteousnesse for all righteous actions and made a pettie Lord or Lord deputy over all the creatures Ephes 4.24 Gen. 1.26 Q. Wherein consists his conformitie with God A. Both in his body and soule for that which executes is to be holy as well as that which acts 1. Thes 5.23 Rom. 6.12.13 and 12.1 These places shew plainely that the body and members being instruments of the soule are to be so tuned and touched that there may be an excellent harmony betwixt the will of God and the whole man For wee are made of God both in body and soule to glorifie God in vsing all faculties and members parts and powers as instruments of righteousnesse and true holinesse 1. Corinthians 6.20 Q. Whereof and how was the body made A. Of the finer dust of the earth with the rest of the elements hence it was possible for man to die yet that it might enioy health and never sicken the Lord made it of a most excellent temper and by the vse of wholesome food and his blessing therein to continue and hold out and thereupon it was possible for man not to die Besides the Lord furnished it with most excellent instruments absolutely composed both for beautie and dutie in all the workes of holinesse and righteousnesse Gen. 2.7.25 Psal 8.5 139.14 Rom. 6.13 The matter of mans body though basest as earth yet finest and purest as the dust For as Moates in the Sunne are nearest pure ayre so is dust neerest their nature being as it were the sifting of the earth and being layed by water was red earth Mans body then had the purest portion of earth For the forme it was erect and straight and this was done because he was to speake to others as likewise to God and therefore was not to looke vpon the ground as if that should haue beene his obiect c. The body all over is vncovered that it might be a fitter habitation for the reasonable soule which is much hindered by abundance of excrements In euery part beautie strength convenience meete together His head is round and fuller of braines then any other creature that it might be the throne and seat of reason and because his attendants are there I meane the senses it can turne any wayes for reason to over-looke them Within the braine are many cells or cellars for the Spirits to goe in and as messengers to be dispatched vp and downe for reasons vse which are not in other creatures As he hath a head for contemplation so hands for execution differing from beasts Againe all the internall parts are of more excellent matter and forme then those in beasts Hence mans braine makes finer spirits then theirs his liner and heart finer bloud and better concocted and all for the exercise of the reasonable soule His head is neerest heaven for place figure and ghests there dwell the maiesticall powers of reason which make him a man and not a beast The senses here take their originall most
mercie c. Q. Vpon whom was the punishment inflicted A. Vpon the Devils the authors with their instruments and Adam Gen. 3.14.15.16.17 The examination begins where the sinne ended the punishment is first inflicted where it began God did analyse and anatomise the sinne backward wayes anst so finds out the principall agent and beginnes with him God could first haue begun with Satan but he shewes vs the way of the invention of euery crime and craft yea and of euery worke done and that is to ascend vpward from the lowest and last agent or his act By man he found out the woman and by the woman the Serpent and there he begins to curse and punish And vnder the Serpent are the Devils punished The Serpent was cursed aboue all Cattell and the Devill aboue all creatures God put enmitie betweene the Serpent and the Woman and it is the greatest for as a woman is more afraid of a Serpent then a man so is a Serpent more afraid of a woman then a man Physosophers say from the breath or sent of a woman which is poysonous to a Serpent but Divines say it ariseth from this auncient enmitie which is greater then with any other creature So the Devils which were so familiar with a woman at the first shall by a woman receiue the greatest overthrow And we see the woman is more afraid of a Devill then a man and the Devill is more afraid of a devout and godly woman then a man who recompence their sin with louing most and over-goe men in holy affections And here I cannot but wonder that women being nought are most familiar with the Devill as we see by Witches yea and often vnder the shape of a Serpent or Worme but this stayes me that though the Antipathie be great yet in sinnes they come nearest together as in obstinacie and wilfull pertinacy of opinion Q. What is the punishment inflicted vpon the Devils A. We are to learne it from their Instrument Moses elegantly contriuing them vnder one head First then we haue the contusion or crushing of their heads that is the frustration of all their counsels and devices they being able no more to plot any thing against God or his Church Hitherto they prevailed in ruinating man-kind but they shall from hence-forth want braines to bring to passe such another worke against any of Gods darlings The beating out of their braines and bruising in peeces of all their policies shall be by the seed of a woman that is by Christ and that by the heele to wit the humiliation of him in our flesh and vpon the crosse In which he shall so eagerly pursue the Devils and strike so mightily at their heads that in breaking of them he shall bruise himselfe He shall tread so hard vpon the enemy as if his very heele should ake with it Shuph the originall word as it were by an onomatopaeia or fained found signifies the shuffling of feete together and it is giuen both to Christ and the Devill who should as it were wrestle together and that Christ should over-throw his enemy and crush him in peeces especially his head the seat of wit and will which by a Metonymie of the cause for the effect signifies Satans devices c. and his heele a metaphor from the lowest part in man to signifie the debasement and humiliation of Christ wherein he should suffer the Devill being a principall agent of all his sorrowes but Satan should rue his intermedling when he should feele the knocke giuen by Christ yea and grieue that he had ever so much to doe with a woman whose enmitie he should now find as bitter as ever he felt sweetnes in her friendship Eue thought shee was the woman when shee brought forth Cain as if she had now possessed a man of Iehovah to doe all this but by the name of her next son Abel she saw the vanitie of her owne opinion yet Adam after he had receiued the promise rightly called her Eue not onely because wee should be the mother of all the liuing but that in her might remaine a memoriall that a woman should come to be an instrument of life c. Gen. 3.14.15 Furthermore here is all our comfort that Satan is stinted to the heele of the true Christian seed and therefore shall never breake their heads by Apostasie though he may bruise their heeles by manifold slips and slidings Ioh. 16.33 Rom. 16.20 Other punishments as consequents of this are to be gathered though no more bee expressed Obserue then in the second place the obduration and hardning of them in their sinnes that they cannot repent and finde mercie And the reason is because they were beginners of this sinne neither compelled nor seduced for first their vnderstandings were cleare they knew the truth that distinctly secondly their wills were good by creation and they had power to haue obeyed GODS command but against all this goodnesse of God they oppose themselues and devise which way they may crosse God and so sinne against the holy Ghost The Pharisees knew Christ to be of God and were convinced in conscience of the truth he taught yet sought they by all meanes to disgrace him and so sinned like the Devils Conscience in both may some-times checke them yet as an vnruly dogge that seeth the cudgell and would be gone flyes in the face of his master if he see no wayes to escape so they may tremble Iam. 2.19 and yet triumph in their wickednesse for they cannot repent they rather laugh at their sinne and dance in their wicked courses then are any wayes moued to cry for mercy and so ipsofacto are depriued of all hope of happinesse Againe they are not able to satisfie neither can Christ doe it for them for they are not multiplied by generation and so Christ cannot take vpon him their nature As for the good Angels Christ hath merited for them collaterally that is they in him by their owne free will haue chosen the good part that shall never bee taken from them Thirdly they are banished from heaven into the elements and reserved or confined in them vnto the day of judgement and hell fire 2 Pet. 2.4 Iud ver 5. Wee may see the fiery Devils in Iob at Gods permission abusing that element Iob 1.16 Also an ayery spirit in raising the windes Iob 1.19 Earthy Devils possessing men Math. 8.28 Watery Devils carrying vncleane Swine with them into the Sea ver 32. And as good Angels carry the soules of holy men into heaven so doe Devils carry the soules of vncleane and vngodly wretches into hell which must be into some of those places that they possesse now they are called the Princes of the ayre because by the fire and ayre they doe the greatest mischiefe and there may they torment the soules of men Euery sinfull creature is stubble and so is not able to stand in the presence of God which is a consuming fire It is for Christ and Christians that Devils
there is but a reversion of the divine nature so this is an exaltation of the humane to possesse that glory and excellency which before it had not Psal 2.6 and 110.1 Dan. 7.13.14 Act. 5.30.31 Heb. 2.9 and 8.1.2 and 9.24 Thus might Steuen see Christ in a most glorious manner aboue all other in heaven Act. 7.55.56 Q. What benefit redoundeth thereby to vs A. Vnspeakeable for while our head is so highly magnified and made Lord of all wee know that he will rule all for the best and that no good thing shall be wanting to them that are his yea that our sinnes which wee cannot but commit whiles the old man dwelleth in vs shall not preiudice our happinesse seeing he sitteth at the right hand of our Father to be our intercessour and governour Q. What is the fourth and last degree A. His glorious returne from heaven to iudgement both of the quicke and dead which is his second comming into the world with great glory and maiestie to the confusion of them that would not haue him rule over them and the vnspeakeable good of his owne for it is he that iudgeth and who shall condemne them and hereupon is the full worke of Redemption giuen to the Sonne Math. 24.30 Ioh. 14.3 Act. 1.11 1 Thess 4.16 and 2. Epist chap. 1. ver 7.8 Iud. ver 14.15 Phil. 3.20 CHAPTER XXV Of the Spirits application to the Church Question HItherto of Redemption what is the application thereof Answere The making of that ours which the Lord of life hath done for vs. The purchase of our peace was paid at once yet must it be severally reckoned to euery soule whom it shall benefit If we haue not an hand to take what Christs hand doth either hold or offer what is sufficient in him cannot bee effectuall to vs. Wee haue no peace without reconciliation no reconciliation without remission no remission without satisfaction no satisfaction without infinite merite no infinite merit without Christ no Christ without faith By this wee are interessed in all that either God the Father hath promised or Christ his sonne hath performed Conscience must play the honest servant and take his masters part not daring to be so kinde to the sinner as to be vnfaithfull to his maker It must not looke straight vpon him till he by the eye of faith be able to looke straight vpon God Hence it will suffer no man to bee friends with himselfe till hee be a friend with God now by faith in Christ Iesus of enemies wee become friends yea sonnes and as sonnes may expect and challenge not onely in this life carefull provision and safe protection but in the life to come salvation and fruition of an everlasting patrimony Mark 16.16 Luk. 24.45.46 Ioh. 3.3.14.15.16.18.19 Ephes 3.17 Q. To which of the three persons is this worke most properly ascribed A. To the holy Ghost the Father most properly carries the worke to Redemption and then the Sonne goes on with it so begun to Application and then the Spirit finisheth the worke so dispenced by the second person Ioh. 14.17.18.26 and 15.26.27 and 16.7.8.9.10.11 Christ left not his Church comfortlesse but even increased her ioyes by the presence of his Spirit When he let fall the showers of spirituall operation after his departure vpon the Iewes Act. 2.41 there were at one Sermon three thousand soules added to the Church a great increase none such in Christs time Why Was Peter the better Preacher Nay never man spake as he spake for God gaue him the Spirit not by measure Ioh. 3.34 and 7.46 But now the spirit was giuen plentifully to the hearers which before was either restrained or sparingly imparted Eph. 1.13 The word faith and the Spirit worke all together for the applying of Christ vnto salvation Q. To whom is Christ applied A. To the Church which is the proper subiect of Redemption They that make Christ an vniversall Mediator and the Spirit a generall agent in applying to all and yet the Father but a speciall elector of some shew themselues ignorant of the manner of the co-operation of the sacred Trinitie For as the Father beginnes by election so the Sonne goes on by Redemption and the Spirit finisheth the worke by application so that application is as speciall as election Ioh. 17.9.10.11 As the Father redeemes his owne by Christ so he keepes them by the Spirit Eph. 5.25 He gaue himselfe onely for his Church vers 26.27 and the same he doth present holy to his Father by the worke of his Spirit Q. What is the Church ⧠A briefe Map of Gods Election Election From the Father The inchoation and beginning whereof is Who for the first manner of working hath by the counsell of his will decreed by his omnipoteâ—â—ie and efficieâ—â—ie originally to effect all In the saluation of all the Elect. The dispensation or progresse In the Sonne Who for the second manner of working haâ—â— by the price of redemption obtained and still by â—is intercession doth obtaine to repaire all The consummation or ending By the holy Ghost Who for the third manner of working hath doth apply by testimony seale and gouernment the â—â—â—athers electioÌ„ â—â—s redemptioÌ„ to finish all And for conclusion all 3 apply the same to faith Which receiues all as most freely graced of God And by which we are both ingrafted into Christ and made to grow vp with him vntill we haue our perfect fruition Q. What are the kinds as they concerne man A. Election which is Gods gracious decree in Christ Ephes 1.4 to set free some men from the misery of the generall lapse and to bring them infallibly to salvation for the setting forth of his abundant mercy Rom. 9.11.16.23 And Reprobation which is his preterition or passing by some men and leauing them in the generall corruption of the fall without effectuall meanes of recovery and salvation for the manifestation of his vncontroulable justice Rom. 9.18.21.22 Question VVHat meane you by this delineation and description of Election Answere That wee should not fixe our eyes vpon the odious and offensiue name of Reprobation but delight our selues the more with the sweet and comfortable inspection of our Election wherein were shall finde the sacred Trinitie to haue beene more deepely then in the other and not to be so much pleased in plaguing men for finne as to saue them out of it Reprobation being an internall effect and ever sleeping in the bosome of him that never sleepeth I meane an imminent no transient effect must needs be from God and in God yet the execution of it is no wayes so large in God as that decree of life and salvation Shewing plainely that God is farre more affected with the life and happinesse of his creatures then their death and misery Election is from the Father in the Sonne by the Spirit to faith which workes not any life in vs or for vs but onely receiues it at the bountifull hands of Almightie God Oh let vs not so
And this God hath done many wayes generally either externally or internally Externally by voyce without vision Act. 9.4 or by both together Christ for a time assuming the shape of men and Angels Gen. 18.9.13.17.33 and 19.2 Internally either awaking by inspiration or sleeping by inward dreames and visions Gen. 15.12.13 c. Math. 2.12.13 Act. 2.4.17 Sleepe reacheth not to the reasonable Soule and God may conferre with man when both his internall and externall senses are locked vp He is able to informe the Soule immediately without all vse of the body and by a divine vision let man see his will though his reason was never informed thereof by his eare or any outward word So God can informe the inward senses without the outward and by a dreame let a man see that which was never within the supposition of any sense So God can shew vnto the outward senses obiects without naturall light or colour Rev. 1.10.12 He saw and heard in an extasie His eye and his eare were spiritually taken vp with revelations not as the Prophets of the wicked Spirit when they are said to be Deo pleni full of God behauing themselues like mad-men but quiet and calme vnderstanding well what they did God first certifying their vnderstandings after their wills and so inclining them to speake and liue accordingly the other knew not what they said as being possessed by the Spirit of darkenesse And this extraordinary revelation shews the immortalitie of the soule being able to conferre with God even without the body 2 Cor. 12.2 Wee receiue all our knowledge by our outward senses Rom. 10.17 which conuey things to the inward and they informe our reason but God can invert the order and beginne first with our reason and by that informe our inward senses in dreames and then by them our outward c. Q. What are the ordinary Governours A. Such as are called by the Church where there is try all of their gifts election of their persons and consecration of them in office The two first were supplied by the third in all those whom the Apostles ordained for they by imposition of hands gaue gifts and therefore such were not tryed by the learned seeing they had no gifts for such callings before hands were imposed by the Apostles Hence it followes that the new Testament speaking of no other consecration of Ministers but by the Apostles speakes nothing of examinations or elections Men then had not ordinary gifts for they receiued them together with other ornaments by the hands of the Apostles that place Act. 14.22 is abused even against Grammaticall construction by those that would draw it to election before ordination and that by the suffragies of the people for the Nominatiue case to the Verbe must needs be Paul and Barnabas they therefore and not the people were agents in that businesse and made Ministers of such as they found fit for gifts whom God with an ordinary calling extraordinarily gifted Wee reade Act. 19.6.7 of 12. made Ministers which before had not heard whether there was an holy Ghost yea or no whose power immediately they felt after Paul had imposed his hands So that wee may safely conclude that ordination is more essentiall to ministry then popular election and yet in after-times the people were not reiected for the liking or disliking of their Pastours vntill they became factious and patrons of schismes or at least-wise abetters of the worse and so made themselues vnworthy of their voyces I would faine know of any strict defender of the peoples choice whether it were better in point of schisme or heresie to leaue them to their owne libertie or to haue them restrained If they be left in such eases to themselues then shall the Church of God be destroyed As for example in the times of Arianisme whiles the people had libertie they would choose no Pastours but Arians It shall ever be observed that in siding and factious divisions the worst are for the most part strongest c. So that election is to be moderated by the discretion of the civill Magistrate or faithfull Pastours But ordination and consecration hath still gone in his course and Ministers are to make Ministers and not the people Gal. 1.1 Some are called immediately of God and by God as Apostles some of God by man as Timothie Titus c. Some of men and by men as the Prophets of Brownists and therefore none of Gods This is the Tenent of truth that the first course of Ministry hath ever bin extraordinary the second hath ever gone on in an order as from one government to another and never hath Ministry begun at the people We deny not that we are Ministers by Rome but we affirme wee are not the Ministers of Rome Wee are of God by them and they may as truely be instruments of our Ministery as of our Baptisme For as Ezek. 16.20 the Iewes did beget children vnto God but consecrate them to Molech so Papists may beget both a people and Pastor for God but till they separate they are both consecrated vnto Antichrist And here let all take notice how Separatists gnaw vpon this bone and sucke in nothing but the bloud of their owne iawes Q. What were the Governed A. All those in the Congregations which were subiected to their lawfull Pasters Act. 20.28 1 Thess 5.12 Heb. 13.7.17 It is for Korah and his confederates to rise vp against Moses and Aaron because they are lift vp aboue the Congregation Num. 16.3 Q. Of how many ought a Congregation to consist A. Of so many as may conveniently meete together in one place for the publicke exercises of Religion The severall portions are left to the discretion of our Governors and so far forth a Parish is humane yet the Congregation it selfe is Gods ordinance who would haue it gouerned according to his owne lawes 1 Cor. 5.4 The flocke is Christs the fold is lesser or greater as the Governours judge it fit and convenient Q. What if some members of more Congregations meete together to consult of some matters A. Then it is called a Councell for single Congregations are the weakest parts of the Church and therefore haue need of neighbour helpe Act. 15. The Separation teach that euery Congregation is absolute in it selfe and that assembling of Councels is voluntary c. which if it be true then the guiltie or infected Congregation cannot be cited to appeare Iudicium redditur in invitum for pars rea is in law pars fugiens the party presumed to come thither against his will c. If then councels be lawfull there must needs be a subordination of Churches In the time of Constantine Pastours were called a great way from their charge many dyed in their travell and many in their absence found much hurt done at their returne to their flocke whereupon order was taken for a more convenient calling of councels They had foure Patriarkes then vnder euery Patriarke diverse Provinces which had an Archbishop
with the twelue lesser and Daniel The Apocrypha is shut out of the distribution both by the Iewes and our Saviour and therefore is not of equall authoritie with the bookes we haue mentioned God made the Iewes faithfull registers of the old Testament and they were so curious least a letter should be lost that they kept them by count and therefore would never haue beene so negligent in the Apocrypha writing if ever they had beene committed of God vnto them by their extraordinary governours As in notorious Burglaries a hat gloue or fword is often left behind for discovery so in these though more honest some errors haue escaped to discover the Authors Q. Who were their ordinary Governours A. The supreame was the high Priest the inferior were the Priests Levites and Rulers of their Synogogues Lev. 8. Num. 3. Act. 13.15 Order hath ever beene for the custodie of divine things and confusion for their ruine Q. What is the Church among all people A. The Catholicke Church gathered out of all people where we haue the Messias exhibited in the flesh in whom the law and the Prophets are yea and Amen Moses branded some creatures with vncleannesse he that hath redeemed his children from morall impuritie redeemes his creatures from legall what should S. Peters great sheet let downe by foure corners teach vs but that all creatures through the foure corners of the world are cleane and holy And that God is no respecter of persons but in euery nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousnesse is accepted with him Act. 10.34.35 Gal. 4.27 Q. How are the Congregations thereof called A. They are called Churches the name of the whole being put for the part and Christ doth it to distinguish his Churches of the Gospell from the prophane and wicked Synagogues of the Iewes Math. 18.17 He sayes not tell it the Synagogue but the Church c. They therefore levell amisse that lay the line of their government by this deceitfull square Q. Who were the extraordinary Governours of this Church A. Iohn Baptist the forerunner of Christ Christ himselfe his Apostles seventie Disciples Evangelists and Prophets whereof some did write the bookes of the new Testament in the Greeke tongue which are either Historicall as the Gospells of Mathew Marke Luke and Iohn or diverse excellent Epistles as of Paul to the Romanes Corinthians 2. Galathians Ephesians Philippians Colossians Thessalonians 2. Timothy 2. Titus Philomon Hebrewes Epistle of Iames of Peter 2. Iohn 3. Iude or lastly the Propheticall booke of the Revelation Q. Who were the ordinary Governours A. The Doctors and Pastours Eph. 4.11 which may be distributed into Bishops Elders and Deacons As for the first if time and place be accidents of a calling and the very essence lie in relation betwixt the caller and the called Timothy and Titus were ordinary teachers for to an extraordinary Governour an extraordinary caller is required It cannot be denied but that both Timothy and Titus did a long time wait vpon the Apostles and were sent from place to place though setled at the last If going from place to place make an Euangelist then they were both of them Evangelists but I beleeue all the Pastours and Doctours of the Church were at the Apostles command and sent too and fro as there was need 2 Tim. 3.10.12.20 c. wee heare of Crescens Titus Tychicus Trophimus c. sent diverse wayes by the Apostle Paul c. And therefore it is not enough from the place to say such a one was an Evangelist except it be further prooued that he had an extraordinary calling That Timothy is bidden to doe the worke of an Euangelist it is a dubious terme for an Evangelist is either put for a writer of the Gospels and so some Apostles are Evangelists or for an officer and so such as were extraordinarily called to plant Churches Act. 8. but had no power to ordaine them Pastours are called Evangelists Act. 21.8 And of this sort might be many of the seventie Disciples or lastly for Preachers for the Gospell with which the name is coniugated is the obiect of all three The first write it for the edification of the Church the second preach it and worke miracles to confirme it for the plantation of the Church and the third preach it too for the further watering of that seed which others haue sowne before them and in this sense is Timothy bidden to doe the worke of an Evangelist as the next words expound it make thy ministery fully knowne And it is out of doubt that Timothy was called of God by man which to me is an ordinary calling And that Timothy and Titus as Bishops properly so called had a superintendencie and coerciue power of jurisdiction over Elders Ministers or Preachers it is evident to me out of these places 1 Tim. 1.3.5.19 2 Tim. 2.14 Tit. 1.5.11.13 The Elders are from the originall called Presbyteri which turned into English is called Priests the most current and passable title had not Masse-mongers made it infamous in the eares of such people as are not acute enough to devide betweene a fit title and a corrupting abuse Thus much for the name As for the office of Elders taken for Ecclesiasticall Governours I find none described but by seeding of the flocke which makes mee conclude they were all Pastours As for that place 1 Tim. 5.17 all the question is about the comparison whether gifts or offices be compared together The originall hath it thus Elders ruling well are worthy of double honour especially labouring in the word and doctrine now it is a rule in the Greeke tongue that participles are to be turned into reasons of the things they explaine as ruling because they rule and labouring because they labour c. The sense then may be thus rendred without all rending of the comparison Elders are to be reompenced with honour and maintenance first because they rule secondly because they preach First they goe before their flocke in holy practise of discipline vpon themselues and others secondly they continually presse them by precepts in painfull preaching Now that the people may especially see wherein they are to be honoured it is in this that they are labourious dispensers and disposers of heauenly doctrine Therefore with the Scriptures I say that the ordinary teachers and Governours of the Christian Churches were Pastours and Doctors and that copulatiuely and not segregatiuely as in Apostles Prophets and Evangelists Q. What is the Church triumphant A. The number of all those that are applied vnto Christ by sight After faith and sight followes freedome and fruition This Church consists of holy Spirits both Angels and men the soules of the Saints departed are receiued vp into glory and after the resurrection the militant Church both in body and soule shall be of the Triumphant in the full fruition of all blisse and happinesse Gal. 4.26 Heb. 12.22.23.24 Iob. 14.2.3 Heb. 11.10.16.26 c. As those therefore that haue tasted of some
the part renewed where there is part taking for corruption the Devill and the world are vp in armes for newnesse of life the Father Sonne and the Spirit Eph. 6.12 1 Ioh. 4.4 Q. What are the parts of Regeneration A. They are according to the constitution of the subiect and that is of a Soule and a body The renovation of the soule is either intellectuall or morall Intellectuall is the clearing of our vnderstanding with spirituall knowledge and godly wisedome to vse it Reason without grace in the very excellency of it is but the Devils anvile whereon he forgeth and hammereth mischiefe What is carnall wisedome but serpentine subtiltie What is skill in lawes but colouring and covering bad causes and persons and making truth a nose of waxe to bad ends Marke and you shall ever finde the ring leaders of all lewdnesse and lasciviousnesse to be men of good wits but alas what 's all this without a fanctified minde What are sacred oathes and holy obligations to prophane persons but as Sampsons cords which they snap in sunder as fast as they are giuen them So well vnderstand they themselues that they doe and vndoe and discerne God in his word as they doe Christ in his Sacraments which they regardlessely take and as rashly breake There is no band that they cannot make like a Monkies coller out of which they will slip their neckes at pleasure But reason truely renewed will be constant in Religion Luk. 1.79 A Candle set vp in the minde to discover darkenesse and guide our feete in well doing And this is true illumination Psal 16.11 Rom. 7.23 and 12.2 2 Cor. 1.21 Colos 3.10 Rev. 3.18 Morall sanctification is of the will and all the affections of the will hence freedome to goodnesse of the affections hence repentance which is the change of them all hence our loue of God and goodnesse and hereupon in the absence of good hope and desire of it and in the presence ioy and gladnesse Also our hatred of evill if it be absent feare and flight if present griefe and sorrow By meanes whereof Repentance is an aversion from evill because hatred is an affection of separation and a conversion to good because loue is an affection of vnion And by meanes of the two cardinall and primitiue affections all the derivatiue and subordinate are set on worke Our desires are made fervent which before were saint in following after God but now are made impatient of delay Prov. 13.12 Hell mouth may be full of good wishes Num. 23.10 And they that are troubled with their farmes and fat oxen c. count it a blessed thing to eate bread in Gods kingdome Luk. 14.15.16.17 But these for want of penitent desire may be said to want will It may be sayd of them they would be good but they haue no will to it there is none so prodigall or slothfull but would be rich yet wee say not such will be rich set it downe and determine it vltimata voluntate There are none so wicked but at sometimes haue a faint desire to be good and leaue sinne but these cold dispositions breed and beget imperfect essayes and proffers and by their negligent propensities and inconstant bubles shew they spring from corrupt flesh which can be prodigall in momentanie purposes and promiles But sanctified desire is eager and earnest and with Dauid will vow and sweare to obey yea and be more vile in spite of mocking Michots Never was Ahab more sicke for a Vineyard Ruhel more ready to die for children Sisera for thirst then the Saint of God is after holinesse Psal 42.1.2 and 81.10 and 119.20 and 143.7 Gant 2.5 A gaine this will make our desire of good laborious and will not suffer vs to be lazie Christ Math. 5.4 compares it to hunger which will breake through the stone wall and it will make them hold out and be constant without ficklenesse Psal 119.20 As for ioy in the fruition of good oh what an heauen brings it into the soule This will make vs for sinceritie to delight in the law with the inner man Rom. 7.22 It will bring vs to a full ioy Ioh. 15.24 Isa 9.3 Psal 4.8 Yea and will so strengthen vs in the good we haue that we shall as well in passiue as actiue obedience indure c. As for feare of evill it will set it the right way making vs to dread more the doing of it then suffering in it and for sorrow it will make vs see our sinnes thoroughly and bewaile them as heartily and as wee see in nature that there is the same instrument of seeing and weeping to shew vs that weeping depends vpon seeing so repentance no sooner takes notice of sinne but a godly heart begins to bleed for it and so he that intellectually sees well morally weepes well And by all this we see how the mind will and affections are sanctified and the excellent worke of repentance in regard of all our affections Isa 55.7 Act. 11.18 Rom. 6.4.5.6 Ephes 4.22.23.24 2 Tim. 2.25 Phil. 2.13 Ier. 4.4 Q. What is the renewing of the body A. When the members of the body which before were servants to sinne are now become the servants of righteousnes euery part executing his function in an holy manner Rom. 12.1 Rom. 6.13.19 Col. 3.5 Q. What is our glorification A. The perfection of our sanctification whereby wee are made compleat in holinesse and righteousnesse Famous acts shall haue glorious rewards Glory is the praise and price of vertue for as shame and repentance are bridles and curbes to sinne so praise fame glory and honor are the spurres and speeders of vertue Praise followes the beginning of a good action fame runs with it as it spreads further abroad and glory is for the perfection of it when euery mouth rings of it and euery heart honours it I cannot but thinke that the wicked one day shall honour the godly and speake of their glory to their owne shame and howsoever they speake all manner of ill of them in this world yet often doe their hearts checke them with their innocency and to see their honour maugre the malice of all gaine-sayers A field of sinceritie charged with the deeds of pietie cannot but be accomplisht with the crests of glory all the fame which men haue sought by buildings by acts of Chivalry and by such other courses which the light of nature offereth and effecteth for the enobling of it selfe time devoureth it and within an age or two it is cleane put out but that glory which springeth from the rootes of godlinesse no tract of time can make to wither no blast of venemous tongues can overcome It shall breake out as the Sunne in spite of all darkning clouds it is watered with the dew of heauen and it shall grow and increase in spite of the Devill himselfe Envie will be the companion of vertue as well as honour and by meanes thereof shall the godly be reviled of the wicked Luk. 6.22 2 Cor.
setle our soules in the cogitation of these last things Remember that the best suite of apparell is laid vp in the wardrobe or heauen here we must be either in blacke mourning or in red persecuted It matters not what ragges or colours we weare with men so wee may hereafter walke with our Sauiour in white and raigne with him in glory In the meane time let vs often exercise to acquaint our nature draw it into some familiariue with the ioyes of heauen And as one that maketh a fire of greene wood not be tyred with blowing vntill our devotion be set on flame for the habite of vertues doth grow and increase with the exercise of their acts Doe wee not see that our glorification is nothing else but our multiplied sanctification And those that endevour God will helpe and by our persistance and his assistance wee shall haue continuance and pleasure in happy courses for as one that is either weary or weake recovereth strength by taking his food although he eateth many times without either appetite or taste so holy exercises which giue both fewell and flame vnto devotion doe increase in vs some spirituall strength even when to vs they yeeld little spirituall solace Let vs grow in sanctification and wee shall be graced with glory and glorified with grace and comforted in both * ⎠* ¶ The second Booke CHAPTER I. Of the Law Question HItherto of faith in God What is our obedience towards God Answere The dutie to be performed to God by vs the power of the holy spirit working in vs by our faith Luk. 1.74 Rom. 6.8 12.1 1 Cor. 6.20 Tit. 2.11.12.14 1 Pet. 1.17.18.19 Psal 56.13 Eph. 2.10 1 Thess 1.8 Faith and the inward dispositions of the soule are as the kernell outward acts are as the shell he therefore is but a deafe nut that hath outward seruice without inward faith And yet this divine Phylosophy teacheth vs not onely to referre our speculations but our affections and all the dispositions of our soules to action Tit. 3.8 So that as our seruice must be grounded vpon our faith so must our faith be reduced to seruice There is no faith but it workes It is neither idle nor vnable to set the whole man a doing well In Rethoricke wee say there may be Elocution without pronunciation but in Diuinitie wee cannot haue the first part of the Art without the second This Solifidian like Aesops Henne too fat to lay may sit at Rome as iustified but is pittied by Dauid Psal 119. Rome saith there may betrue faith without workes as if a man should haue faith and not liue by it or liue and not performe the act of life Papists erre grossely in both parts of divinitie for they teach faith in the Church and creatures and so make not God the end of it If the Church or Saints may terminate faith it will rest there and goe no further for the goale Againe as in faith they shoot not at God no more doe they in workes for they looke to gaine and merite heauen by them Also hypocrites and civill men know neither the ingenuitie of faith nor liberalitie of workes for they walke before men and not before God but they are here soundly lessoned that would so dissemble with God as if seruice consisted onely in wearing of liueries in taking of wages in making of curtesies and kissing of hands I meane they put on the cognizance of Christianity in Baptisme know how to liue vpon the trencher of Gods providence in their maintenance and to giue him the complements of a fashionable profession c. I know there is nothing more easie or more common then this such servants are as vsefull for God as drunken seruing men for honest masters which are not to be found when there is most vse for them Ransacke then thy heart O sinner and finde sound affection to God firme resolution to goodnesse true hatred of sinne ransacke thy life and finde the truth of workes the life of obedience or els Scribes and Pharisees shall goe before thee into heauen Doe not thinke that because thou hast gotten Gods liuery on thy backe and his name in thy mouth that thou shalt be able to out-face all reproofes God will smite thee God will smite O thou whited wall But if the civilly righteous shall not be saued where shall the notorious sinner appeare A Christian and yet a forme below a Iew For shame what are wee and where is our emulation Heauen is our goale wee all say wee runne loe the very Seribes and Pharisees are gotten before many of vs and what safetie can it be for vs to come short of those that by the verdict of our Sauiour come short of heauen Math. 3.20 Be zealous and never be at rest till thou get a step further then the most honest civill man and that is both in faith and workes to gaine sinceritie which is the girdle of truth Eph. 6.14 Thinke thy selfe but a loose man as long as thou wantest it thy graces never so excellent will be shaken off with a storme as loose garments with the wind And here the Proverbe is most true vngirt vnblest c. Obedience if wee respect Gods iustice ought to be perfect yet it is so farre perfect in vs as it is wrought in vs by the spirit and faith wherein properly there is no imperfection for it is the opposition of corruption that makes faith little A small fire warmes but a little and the reason is not in the heat but the coldnesse of the weather therefore as farre as wee beleeue wee obey God perfectly and our faith is sayd to be in part because the greater part is corrupt onely this is the comfort that the new man shall gaine ground of the old for though the old man by his long experience often deceiue the yong man yet the flourishing age of the one shall grow riper in yeeres and experience when the old man in the end shall fall to plaine dotage The spirit faith and man are all agents in well doing and man deserues the least prayse for he is beholding to the Spirit and faith if he receiue any reward of his workes I wonder at Papists that they should make those workes most meritorious which are most remote from the fountaine of well-doing The hand in Almes or feete in Pilgrimages or both in Christian warre deserue least if the reward be according to the doer for then the spirit and faith will carry all away and teach the whole man to be thankfull for mercies and not to stand pleading for merites Q. Wherein stands our obedience A. Either in observation of the law invocation of God or celebration of Sacraments Faith makes vs euery way dutifull to our Maker It moues vs to seeke him in all his ordinances and most willingly submit vnto his lawes devoutly to sue vnto him in our prayers and holily to receiue the pledge of his loue Math. 28.19.20 They that for want
This is eternall life to know the father reconciled in his sonne Retire thy selfe daily into some secret place of meditation and prayer such as Cornelius his leaddes Dauids closet c. and thou shalt finde with Iacob the sweete vision of Angels climbing vp and downe this sacred ladder which stands betwixt heauen and earth at the top of it is the father the whole length of it is in the sonne and the spirit doth firmely fasten vs thereunto that so we may be transported vnto blisse Q. What is here to be obserued A. The names in Scripture that expresse this mystery as Elohim and Adonai Gen. 1.1 Mal. 1.6 Both which words being plurall are ioyned with words of the singular number to shew the vnitie of the persons both in essence and action It is not for euery proflygate professor that liues as he list to be dealing with this divinitie These pearles are not for swine who will laugh at such congruitie as makes one of three and three of one but hee that findes and feeles the conioyned working of the Trinitie will adore it in vnitie ascribing to father sonne and holy Ghost equall authoritie and power in all their workes This as well as the whole rule of well-liuing belongs to the sealed fountaine the spouse of Christ A doctrine not fit to be preached in Gath Askelon to vncircumcised and prophane hearts that will turne euery good thing to their owne destruction The Lord that hath the teaching of all hearts make vs ready for this transcendent learning Q. What secondly is to be obserued A. That the subsistences or persons being the same essence are God and one God Ioh. 1.1 1. Ioh. 5.7 Cut but the hayre from the eye brow saith Augustine and how disfigured will the face looke there is but a small thing taken from the body but a greater matter from the beautie so in these honourable wayes of wisedome wee may not derogate the least iot of Deitie or dignitie from any person Q. What in the third place A. That whatsoeuer Attribute is giuen to the essence may so farre forth be giuen to the subsistences as euery person is infinite eternall incomprehensible c. Exod. 23.20 with 1. Cor. 10.9 Christ hath the same name and authoritie with his Father Ioh. 1.1.2 and 14.1 and 21.17 Phil. 2.6 Heb. 1.3.1 Ioh. 5.20 Rev. 1.11 In all these places the essentiall Attributes of the divine nature are giuen to Christ So likewise to the Spirit Psal 139. Act. 5.3.4 1. Cor. 3.16 Iob 33.4 2 Cor. 13.13 Mat. 18.19 O that we had but in vs the internall principles of faith to rest vpon these three worthies infinitely great and gracious This I am sure as a spring or oyle to the wheeles of our Soules would make them goe smoothly and currantly Make all other yokes light and easie Vndoubtedly the Pipe of Faith would here draw in so much sweete ayre from the precious promises of life that thereby wee should be able to renue our strength and with chearefull spirits lift vp the wing as the Eagle runne and not be weary walke and not faint What shall idle Guls with a Pipe of Tobacco or Cup of Sacke silly smoakie helpes giue life againe to their dull and deadly Spirits And shall not the Saints and servants of three so infinite exhilerate and cheare their hearts with the feeling of their new life so mercifully begun by the father powerfully dispenced by the sonne and perfectly finished by the spirit Where were all this grace if it were not stronger then any Ellebore to evacuate the minde of all feares and griefes It is for nature to be subiect to extremities that is eyther too dull in want or wanton in fruition but grace like a good temper is not sensible of alteration O then that euery easie occasion of pleasure profit or preferment should interrupt vs in these religious intentions and draw vs to gaze like children which if a bird doe but flie in their way cast their eye from their Booke Nay what a shame is it to thinke how hardly we are drawne to learne or listen to this lesson As a beare to the stake as a slaue to the mill or a dullard to the Schoole are wee brought to these studies Q. What in the fourth place A. That all the three persons are God of themselues for an absolute first cannot no not in order be the second or third of any other but a first in all The Sonne because he hath his person from the Father is a second person but not a second God Deut. 6.4 1. Tim. 2.5 1 Ioh. 5.7 All those places that proue God to be one exclude all derivation of essence for one cannot bee multiplied without number Heb. 1.3 The sonne is the image of the person not the essence it were an absurditie to say Christ is the image of himselfe but apt and proper the expresse image of his Father For tho he be no other thing from his Father yet another person Hence wee learne how to expound that speech very God of very God that is the subsistence of the sonne is verily and truly from the subsistence of the father The person begetts not the essence for to beget and be begotten are relatiues yet the essence is absolute But Ioh 5.26 It is giuen to Christ to haue life in himselfe If life then essence c. I answere Christ speakes of life in the text by way of dispensation as he was the Messias and so it is explained ver 27. He hath giuen him authoritie to execute Iudgement because he is the sonne of man The very text makes this common to both persons to haue life in themselues which is the property of the God-head and yet Christ hauing life in himselfe as God hath the same giuen him as Mediator and sonne of man but you will say so he had power to giue himselfe life and therefore the fathers giuing respects his person as well as his office I answere it is true for as the sonne of man receiues subsistence from the sonne of God so the sonne of God receiues subsistence from his father Now working is according to subsisting therefore the life of grace spoken of verse 25. is wrought by the humane nature of Christ as it is sustained by his person and his person being from the father worketh the same life from him so then it is giuen to the sonne in regard of his manner of subsisting to bee the dispenser and disposer of the life of grace whereof the father is the beginner c. But as God he quickeneth whom he will v. 21. and that as he hath life in himselfe Life will and vnderstanding are Attributes of the essence and so simply one in them all Here may the sicke finde a Physitian the broken a balme of Gilead the fearefull a shelter the flyer a refuge and the breath-lesse spirit a blessed rest The sonne of God hath wedded to himselfe our humanitie without all possibilitie of devorce the
body hangs on the Crosse the soule is yeelded the God-head is eviternally vnited to them both And if Christ be God and by his subsisting working come so neare vs what should dissolue the eternall bonds of our heauenly coniunction with him or the daily influences of grace from him Here are the apples and flagons of holy consolation and it is good for the Spouse to be walking into the Gardens and eating of these fruits Wee cannot hope to be so neare to our God as Christ was vnited personally yet need wee not feare that God should seeme more absent from vs then hee did from his owne sonne Hee was still one with both body and soule when they were devided from themselues when he was absent to sense he was present to faith when absent in vision yet in vnion one and the same so will hee bee to our soules when they are at worst He is ours and we are his if our hold seeme loosened his is not when temptations will not let vs see him he sees vs and possesseth vs onely beleeue him against sense aboue hope and though he kill vs yet let vs trust in him Shiloach refresheth Ierusalem Iordan Naaman better then Abanah and Pharphar Cherith dried vp while Eliah dranke of it Iacobs well was stopped vp but this well of liuing water no drought can diminish nor Philistimes stop vp Q. What followes yet in the fift place A. That the three persons are coessentiall as hauing the same essence together and that not devided or by parts but as if I may so speake with reverence three partners in a Ship haue not each a peece of it but wholly and together Father and sonne are often two distinct men haue a common humanitie devided by parts betweene them but here the persons distinguished by relation are vndevided in essence And the reason is because the father cannot beget one lesse then himselfe and therefore he being infinite his sonne must likewise be infinite And that which is infinite admits of no division or distribution Now the three persons being co essentiall are likewise co-equall and co-eternall Ioh. 5.18 Phil. 2.6 1. Ioh. 5.7 He that walketh in the Sunne for pleasure may bee tainted with the heate thereof before he retire so they that are drawne by delight into these cogitations may thereby take the touch of a more deepe impression Papists as I haue read hauing little knowledge of our Ladies countenance fauour haue assembled the fairest Curtezans to draw the most modest beautie of a Virgin out of the flagrancie of Harlots so many whose skill is very slender in this mystery out of their owne devotion haue broached many strange conceits of the Trinitie and left them as Oracles for their followers But wee study to expresse these things as neere as wee can with truth of matter and sobriety of speech for truth findeth more easie entrance when it commeth armed with his owne force and adorned with the furniture of words that may best beseeme it Q. What obserue you in the last place from the definition A. That they are one in another and with another mutually delighting and glorifying each other Pro. 8.22.30 Ioh. 1.1.2 and 5.20 and 10.38 and 13.31.32 and 14.10 and 17.5 The Sonne is a delight to the Father in the worke of our Redemption Math. 12.18 and the Spirit a ioy to them both in the worke of our sanctification Pro. 8.30.31 If the sonne had not beene the fathers dayly delight he had never reioyced in the habitable part of the earth nor had his delights with the sonnes of men Behold oh man that standest in the wayes inquiring for life here it is labour thou to delight in them that are delighted in thee and reioyce together to worke out thy saluation Alas how should it pitty our hearts to see many silly Soules runne vp and downe in the common labyrinth of error groaping for the strait and narrow gate of life like the blind Sodomites after Lots doore each man telling his dreame to his neighbour of an imagined happinesse And though they draw and drinke in iniquitie yet will they still dreame of drawing in the easie yoake of a Sauiour when God wotes they were never driuen vnto it Is this the pastime of the blessed Trinitie to sport themselues together in doing vs good and shall wee be intreated like madde men to be good vnto our selues O how many that never tasted of these delights yet thinke themselues in skie and highest sphere of happinesse Alas how many walking Ghosts in the shapes of liuing men applaud themselues like swine in earthly pleasures O the watery pleasures of Epicurean hoggs that satiate themselues with the huskes of vanity and cry out in their madnesse that they haue liued the onely ioviall and iocand life These like Moles in the earth are ever casting vp as restlesse in themselues Surely he goes lightly that wants these loads as loath to lagge in the foulest weather The Bustard by reason of his great body and bulke of bones when he is pursued can hardly get vpon his wings whereas the little Larke mounts presently aloft with ease Oh how should our right conceit of this delight of the Trinitie carry our soules vpon the wing and make them ascend Alas ambitious mindes of ayery honour are but ambitious of their owne destruction who climbing the slippery hill of high preferment measure more then their length in their dangerous downe-falls whereas he that stands on oven-ground is as soone vp as downe O then that the Christian soule would say to it selfe in a word or two how liuest thou know and consider from whom thou drawest thy breath and remember that one day led with the blessed Trinitie is better then an immortalitie of the worlds windie vanities CHAPTER IX Of their Relation Question VVHat meane you by the relatiue properties Answere Two things First that howbeit the Subsistences are the same essence yet not as essence but as it is with the relatiue properties A Scholler or a teacher is a man but not a Scholler or a teacher as a man for as he instructeth he is a teacher and as he learneth a Scholler Which are relatiue properties This mystery cloudeth the clearest of our thoughts yet from so many rayes wee must study to light some little torch to quicken our owne feeble sights It shall be well if we tame our vnbridled vnderstandings and learne with Nazianzene Orat. 40. in S. Baptism I know not how sayth he to thinke of one but that vpon the very instant I shall see my selfe environed with the brightnesse of three neither can I discerne these three except at the very moment I returne vnto one Q. But make you any distinction betweene them and the Essence A. Yes As betweene a man and a Scholler who though he be a man yet not as a Scholler for then should euery man be a Scholler because he is a man But indeed he is a Scholler because he learneth