ratifies the Wise mans observation in Rome-heathen and Lampridius in Rome-Christian Whether we begin our accompt from the Law of Nature amongst the Nations or from the promulgation of the Gospell Images were not from the beginning Wisedome 14. ver 12. But after the Church which during the time of her infancy had kept her virginitie vnspotted began in her full age to play the harlot in vowing in praying in erecting Altars and Temples to Saints the instinct of her impurity did lead her to vse Images as secular wantons doe lascivious pictures for provoking lust They were rather the fewell than the beginning or first kindling of Rome-Christians spirituall whoredome Her down-fall into these dregs of Idolatrie or soule acts of more than brutish bestialitie was the iust reward of her wantonnesse with the Saints after shee had beene betrothed to Christ That which shee falsely pretends for her excuse is vsually true of secular adulterers or adulteresses These for the most part delight in pictures for their prototypons sake with whose liue beautie they haue beene taken And yet many deprived of their Minions reall presence by death or other separation haue been so besotted with doting loue of their resemblances as to loath the company of their lawfull Consorts Howbeit no vnchast doting lover did ever tye his fancie with so many loueknotts vnto his Mistris picture as the Romanist doth his soule and spirit vnto the Images which he adores The maine bond is Religion it selfe the lesser cordes are kissing bowing kneeling imbracements and powring forth his very heart before them Besides all these he suffers this peculiar disadvantage in respect of secular doteards these cōmonly haue seene their feature whose true resemblances they ioy in the Romanist never had any acquaintance by sight or other sense with the persons of those Saints vnto whose Images he makes all this loue but frames these materiall and visible representations of them out of his owne braine or fancie These and the like circumstances were they duely examined by the rules of true Philosophie or knowne experiment how quickly the pursuite of ordinary meanes doth in most cases alienate our desires from the end vnto which we seeke to be directed by them it would appeare to be without the compasse of any morall possibilitie that the Images which these men make their visible spokesmen vnto the Saints should not play false with both parties and betroth the soules of doating suiters vnto themselues or rather vnto the devill whose stales indeede they are 2. But what if some honestly minded vnderstanding Papist should solemnely sweare vnto me that he loues S. Peter not his Image or S. Peter himselfe much better than the Image which he loues onely for his sake shall not his religious oath be taken before any mans coniecture concerning his owne affections Can any search his heart better than his owne spirit can I will in charitie beleeue that he speakes and sweares as he verily thinkes and is perswaded But if out of like Christian charitie though not towards me yet towards himselfe he will giue me leaue to vnsold some practique fallacies with which his sceptique Catechizers seldome meddle I shall giue him iust reason to mistrust his owne thoughts or perswasions as altogether groundlesse and vncapable of any solid truth Can the most devout Franciscan or Benedictine conceipt either the truth or fervency of his loue vnto S. Francis or S. Bennet more strongly than the latter Iewes did the integrity of their zeale to Moses For that Moses sake which they had made vnto themselues they would haue died with greater patience than a Fryer could suffer imprisonment for S. Francis But from the true Moses and his doctrine no Heathen vnder the Sunne were so farre alienated in affection as were his successors in place and kinsmen according to the flesh the sonnes of Aaron and Levi. To haue enstamped their soules and affections with his true and liuely Image whereto alone so great loue might be safely tendered the onely way had beene to haue layd his sacred rules vnto their hearts to haue worshipped God in spirit and in truth as he did Quite contrary they fastned their proud affections vnto that false picture or Image of Moses which had surprised their humorous fancies before they had seriously consulted their hearts or examined their imaginations by the rules of his doctrine 3. And whether wee speake of Adultery carnall or spirituall the first acts of both are alwayes committed within vs betweene the fancie or imagination and the corrupt humor which sets it a working every predominant humor or corruption of the heart delights to haue its picture drawne in the braine The fancie is as a shop of devises to adorne it and so adorned it growes mad with loue of its owne representation as Narcissus did with his shadowe Thus corruption of heart and humorous fancie pollute each other before they can be polluted by any externall consort whose vse is onely to accomplish the delight conceived or to confirme this internall combination betweene the heart and the braine and this service every visible or sensible object well suited to delightfull fancies succesfully performes As imagine the Iewes might haue had some gaudie picture of Moses in the Temple wherevnto they might haue made daily profession of their loue by kissing kneeling and other like tokens which the Romanists vse vnto the reliques and Images of every supposed Saint how would this practise haue fortified their foolish imaginations every kisse bestowed vpon his picture would haue beene as a wedding ring or visible sacrament for confirming the internall league betweene their corrupt affections humorous fancies But Image-worship was a brood of impietie so base and vgly that the devill durst not so much as mention the match betweene it and the latter Synagogue though he haue espoused the moderne Romish Church vnto it Howbeit so inevitable are his entisements vnlesse we abandon all familiaritie with his visible baites when we come to doe our homage to God he hath stollen away the Iewes hearts from God and his servant Moses by drawing them to such dalliance with the booke of the Law as the Papists vse with the pictures of Saints Kissing and solemne adoration of Moses his writings vpon no other occasion than for testification of their allegiance to God by reverencing them are held no acts of wantonnesse no whorish tricks by the faithlesse Synagogue And to speake the truth her protestations of chast and loyall loue to God and his servant Moses will sway more with every indifferent arbitrator than any oath or other assurance which the Romish church can make of her fidelitie to Christ or sincere respect to those Saints whose liuelesse Images shee adores with no lesse devotion than the Iew doth the dead letter of the Law For though no protestation may be taken against a fact yet the fact is more apparantly idolatrous in the Romanist in as much as bowing down to carved Images kissing or worshipping
alwayes effected by some concourse of the phantasie in which it is first begun as bodily paine or maladie oftimes manifestes it selfe not in the part which is principally affected but in some other which hath some neere bond of nature or peculiar sympathie with it And the former fault to speake the truth is not in sense or phantasie but in the reasonable soule which suffers her selfe to be misled by these her servants whose right nurture or making for hunting out latent truthes is in her power But as the French by often vsing the Switzers service vpon some especiall occasions were sometime said to haue brought themselues to such a passe that they could not manage any warre without them so the reasonable soule being vpon necessity beholding to externall senses for perceiving obiects sensible by too much relying vpon their informations difenables her selfe for more noble imployments The strict vxorius confederacy which is too oft enters with these two grosse senses touch and taste and her too much familiaritie with their adherents vtterly dissolues her natiue correspondency or acquaintance with intellectuall or more noble essences which are of the same descent and progenie with her Thus abused or misinformed as great men are vsually by their servants she neither can desire conceiue nor entertaine truth spirituall but after a fashion meerely carnall The originall or manner of these preiudices wherewith this image of God is by the suggestions of sense surprised are but such as cōmon experience witnesseth to be most rife in every particular sense the right frame or constitution of whose organs alwayes suppose a vacuitie of those reall qualities whereof they are sole competent and should be indifferent judges For if any one of these qualities haue once gotten possession and planted it selfe in the organ it excludes all the rest or makes what composition it listes often charging the externall sense with that whereof it selfe is sole cause As if any grosse or malignant humor haue incorporated it selfe into the tongue or palate it either quite takes away all taste of meates or drinkes or makes such as are indeede sweete and pleasant seeme iust such as it selfe is Or if any tincture of brighter colours whereon we haue long gazed sticke in our eyes it either dazells our sight or makes vs thinke other obiects to be of the same hew with that whence it was taken In like manner doth the contagion of every sense or studies vnto whose pleasures we are partially or too much addicted dissolue that aequilibrium or vertuall proportion which our soules haue with all things and whereby they are qualified for vnderstanding their natures essences or properties Bewitching delight in Mathematicall speculations though of all sensibles these be most abstract and immateriall hath beene as a false glasse to pervert the sight of some in matters philosophicall and cause them transforme materiall naturall bodies into imaginary or motionlesse figures From this roote spring all transformations of the divine nature or attributes whether in the Heathen the Romanists or true professors Of the particular branches with the two remedies to prevent their growth Purification of the heart and Sublimation of our spirit somewhat shall be said by Gods assistance in some Treatises following Thus much onely was here to be praemised That our ingraffed notions of Gods goodnesse or inclinations either naturally are or by evill custome become indefinite and indistinct more flexible to goodnesse sensible than to intellectuall to carnall than to spirituall alwayes apt to settle or continue their course where they finde first issue or vent and to be most addicted to their olde acquaintance CHAPTER XV. In what sense it is commonly sayd that Sense is of particulars and the vnderstanding of vniversalls Of the manner how sense misinformes the vnderstanding with some generall advertisements how to prevent its misinformations 1. THat pit wherein Democritus imagined Truth to be buried was questionlesse the heart of man Not much vnlike vnto his riddle was the saying of the wise King Counsell in the heart of man is like deepe water but a man of vnderstanding will draw it out Prov. 20. vers 5. But he must be a man of vnderstanding indeed that can draw any consultations God-ward out of his owne heart The reliques of Gods image in vs are so buryed in sense that no intellectuall conceit of his goodnesse can be fashioned without his especiall providence the best that can be fashioned by his providence must be revived by his spirit 2. Sense saith the Philosopher is of Particulars and every Particular in his language though presented to sense but as one includes an heape or cluster of ingredients or circumstances every one in nature much different from other We see the quantitie the colour shape and proportion of Socrates with other adherents not meere Socrates or the Individuall humane essence Sense then is of concretes or congests not of abstracts or essences whether apprehended as vniversall indefinite or singularized Those things we are properly said to vnderstand whose natures or entities are represented vnto vs as pure and immixt and as it were dissolued from the bundle wherein they were apprehended onely in grosse by sense Whatsoever we discerne can be truely avouched or denied of any thing thus considered apart and limited by its owne proper bounds must needs be avouched or denied of every like nature so considered And seeing things are thus considered by the vnderstanding onely to whom this power of ventilating and sifting Phantasmes or of dissolving or severing those combinations which delude sense properly belongs Intellection or vnderstanding is said to be of Vniversalls not of Particulars Every nature thus abstracted or conceived onely by it selfe without any forraigne adherents or admixture serues as a common measure for comprehending all of the same kinde and is apt to found an vniversall Rule or definition The falshood or imperfection of all Rules suppose some precedent defect in the abstracting or dissolving the parts or ingredients of sensitiue representations Many things we cannot rightly or perfectly conceiue but by composition of phantasmes which can never be rightly compounded vnlesse they be first rightly dissevered or abstracted Sometimes we may attribute that to one nature or ingredient which is proper to some other linked with it in the same subiect but not discerned and then the observation is false or true onely ex Accidente vt Musicus aedificat as if a man should thinke a Metrapolitane should doe that as privie Counsellor which belongs vnto his spirituall place because the actions of both kindes proceede from one and the same partie who notwithstanding is indued with a twofold authoritie Sometimes againe we may attribute that to one circumstance or ingredient which ioyntly issues from two or more And in this case the Rule failes when the Conjunction is dissolved As if we should thinke the Moone should alwayes be Eclips't when it is in the full or when after exact calculation it is found to
A TREATISE CONTAINING THE ORIGINALL of Vnbeliefe Misbeliefe or Misperswasions concerning the Veritie Vnitie and Attributes of the Deitie with Directions for rectifying our beliefe or knowledge in the fore-mentioned points By THOMAS IACKSON Dr. in Divinitie Vicar of Saint Nicholas Church in the famous Towne of New-castle vpon Tine and late Fellow of Corpus Christi Colledge in OXFORD IOHN 17.3 This is life eternall to know thee the onely true God and Iesus Christ whom thou hast sent LONDON Printed by I. D. for Iohn Clarke and are to be sold at his Shop vnder St Peters Church in Cornehill 1625. TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE S ir HENRY DANVERS Knight Baron of Dantesey his Honourable and singular good Lord. RIGHT HONOVRABLE AS in drawing these and former lines I haue had no other aspect or aime saue onely to discover the by-paths which lead vnto error and to presse forwards by a cleare way towards the truth so in publishing of them I haue taught them to look backwards not forwards as being more desirous to testifie my thankful respect either to the knowne Honourable Patrons of good Acts or furtherers of my private studies than to feede ambitious fancies with the humours of the time by obtruding my selfe vpon the dispensers of great dignities or preferments My resolution being thus set I saue a labour in dedicating these papers to your Lordship whose Honourable favours and munificence towards that famous Vniversitie whereof I haue long continued an vnworthy member but to which I shall ever continue the loue and obedience of a faithfull Sonne doe challenge a better testimony of my observance than I can now expresse or hope hereafter to present your Lordship withall But God be thanked our famous Mother hath many sonnes a great deale more able than my selfe to vndergoe this service Leaving it therefore vnto them I shall giue my selfe abundant satisfaction and contentment for my labours past and take incouragement to continue the like if it shall please your Lordship to accept these present as an vndoubted pledge of that thankfull respect and observance which I owe vnto your Lordship for your favours and bountie towards my selfe in particular the memory of which hath beene more gratefull vnto me in that I was made to feele them before I was so much as known by sight vnto your Honour Thus with my best prayers for continuance of your Lordships increase of honour and true happinesse I humbly take my leaue and rest From Penly in Hartfordshire March 2. 1624. Your Lordships in all dutie and observance THOMAS IACKSON ¶ The Contents of the severall Chapters handled in this Treatise SECTION I. Of the ingraffed Notion of a Deitie and the originalls of Atheisme Chapter 1. To beleeue in God is originally no more than to beleeue there is a God who is in all things to be beleeued Of this beliefe trust or confidence in God is the necessary consequent in Collapsed men Despaire the necessary consequent of the same or like beliefe in Collapsed Angels Folio 2 Chapter 2. Disputation is not the readiest way to cure or reclaime an Atheist Folio 8 Chapter 3. The Notion of the Deitie or divine power is most naturall vnto all men How this Notion being most naturall vnto all is eclipsed and defaced in many Folio 10 Chapter 4. Atheisme Idolatrie Heresie Hypocrisie c. haue one common roote What estate or condition of life is freest from or most obnoxious vnto Atheisme or temptations thereto tending Of Atheisme in passion onely not habituated Folio 17 Chapter 5. Of habituated or setled Atheisme Why this disease was not so Epidemicall in ancient as in latter times Of the disposition or temper from which irreligion or incogitancy of divine powers which is the first and lowest branch of Atheisme vsually springs Folio 31 Chapter 6. Of Disputatiue Atheisme deniall of the God-head or divine providence with the severall curiosities which occasion it Folio 42 Chapter 7. Of malignant Atheisme Of the originall of enmitie vnto Godlinesse That the excesse of this sinne doth beare witnesse to the truth which it oppugnes Folio 56 Chapter 8. Meanes for preventing infection of Atheisme or irreligion In what temper or constitution of minde the ingraffed notion of God and goodnesse doth best prosper That affliction giues vnderstanding in matters sacred with the reason why it doth so Folio 67 Chapter 9. In what respects supernaturall grace or faith infused is necessary to the right beliefe of these truths which may in part be certainely knowne by diligent search of naturall reason Folio 80 SECTION II. Containing the originall manner of right apprehensions and errours in matters naturall or morall Chapter 10. The severall opinions of Philosophers concerning the manner how Intellection is wrought or produced what is to be thought of intelligible formes Folio 86 Chapter 11. How farre Platoes opinion may be admitted that all knowledge is but a kinde of reminiscence or calling that to minde which was in some sort knowne before Folio 89 Chapter 12. After what manner the Ideall or ingraffed Notions are in the soule Folio 92 Chapter 13. Of the office or service which the Phantasie performes vnto the actiue vnderstanding or contemplatiue facultie for the right apprehension or discernement of truths specially vnsensible Folio 98 Chapter 14. What qualifications are required in the Phantasie or passiue vnderstanding for performing its dutie to the actiue vnderstanding specially for the right representation of matters morall or spirituall Folio 107 Chapter 15. In what sense it is commonly sayd that Sense is of particulars and the vnderstanding of vniversalls Of the manner how sense misinformes the vnderstanding with some generall advertisements how to prevent its misinformations Folio 113 SECTION III. Of the Originall of Heathenish Idolatrie and multiplicitie of Gods Chapter 16. The generall fallacie by which Sathan seduced the world to acknowledge false Gods Folio 125 Chapter 17. The more speciall Fallacies by which Sathan seduced the Heathen to multiplie their gods in excessiue manner Folio 135 Chapter 18. The originall of Superstition properly so called and the preservatiues prescribed by God himselfe against this branch of Idolatrie Folio 151 Chapter 19. Of divers errours in Philosophie which in practice proved seminaries of idolatrie and sorcerie Folio 167 Chapter 20. Of the speciall nutriment which the Poetrie of ancient times did afford to the forementioned seedes of Idolatrie with some other particular allurements to delightfull superstition That the same nutriment which feedes superstition being rightly prepared may nourish devotion Folio 185 Chapter 21. Of Idolatrie occasioned from inordinate affection towards Friends deceased or ceremonious solemnities at Funeralls Folio 203 SECTION IIII. Of the Identitie or aequivalencie of Superstition in Rome-Heathen and Rome-Christian Chapter 22. That Rome-Christian in latter yeares sought rather to allay than to abrogate the Idolatry of Rome-heathen that this allay was the most commodious policie which Sathan could devise for venting his detected poysons vtterly condemned by primitiue professors of Christianitie
greatest Angell and the least amongst the sonnes of men are fellow-servants Doe wee speake this as men vnwilling to bow their knees vnto their betters without hope of gaine or loath to spend their breath without a fee or doth not the Scripture say the same Doe not such of our Lord and Masters servants as are cloathed with glory and immortalitie and daily behold his presence in perfect ioy inhibite the first proffers of such obeysance to them present as the Romish liturgie solemnly consecrates to the shrines and statues of others much meaner in their absence How beautifull were the feete of that heavenly Embassador how glorious and ioyfull were the tydings he then brought vnto the Inhabitants of the earth Blessed are they which are called vnto the marriage supper of the Lambe these are the true sayings of God Such was the state of the messenger and such his message as did well deserue to haue an Apostle for his Scribe for He bid him write And yet when this his Secretary fell at his feete vers 10. to worship he said vnto him See thou doe it not I am thy fellow-servant and of thy brethren that haue the testimony of Iesus worship God Did S. Iohn want wit to reply So I will cultu latriae but Thee my Lord his Embassador also cultu duliae This is a distinction of such subtiltie that it surpasseth all skill or spirit of prophecies Otherwise S. Iohn might haue knowne the vse of it when he had better opportunitie to vse it than any had since Yet if he had beene so disposed the Angell prevented him I am thy fellow servant and it is the dutie of servants not to seeke honour one of another but to be yoke-fellowes in their Masters service conforts in setting forth his honour Bellarmine was conscious that his first answere to this place though borrowed from Antiquitie was erroneous or impertinent Corrigendus fuit adorator non propter errorem adorationis sed propter errorem personae Saint Iohn was not to be reformed for offring to worship Him whom be tooke to be Christ but in that he mistooke the Angell for Christ Saint Austines words vpon which Bellarmine was too wise to rely too much are these Talis apparuerat Angelus ut pro Deo posset adorari et ideo fuerat corrigendus adorator The Angel did so appeare as he might seeme to be God or to be worshipped as God and therefore the worshipper was to be rectified 3. But let vs try whether his second cogitations be any sounder Saint Iohn did well in preffering to worship the Angell as Abraham Lot and other of his godly auncestors had done but the Angel did prohibite him in reverence to Christs humanitie For since the Angels themselues haue done homage to Christs humanitie they will not receiue that homage from men which before Christs incarnation they did Let him pretend what authoritie he list for the truth of this reply it is impertinent to the point in question and we may driue him to another shift by pressing this evasion For if the Angels since Christs incarnation haue released men of their wonted homage or rather wholly resigned it into Christs hand abandoning the least acknowledgment of religious worship when they come as Gods Embassadors in person wee demaund whether the Romish Church did well or ill in commaunding her sonnes and daughters to worship them still in this latter age wherein wee expect Christs comming in glory to Iudgement The forme of Bellarmines second answere is very strange and such as he derides Brentius for vsing in a matter farre more capable of it Wee rightly worship Angels and the Angels rightly refuse to be worshipped by vs. For after the Angell had given out his prohibition Vide ne feceris cap. 19. ver 10. See thou doe it not the Apostle offers to doe the like againe cap. 22. ver 9. as well knowing that he did well in worshipping and the Angell as well in refusing to be worshipped Nor may wee suspect that Saint Iohn was either indocile or forgetfull Much lesse may we suspect that God Almightie would haue his children of the Church militant and triumphant to complement it all the yeare long in such manner as strangers will for a turne or two at their first meeting the one in good manners offring and the other better refusing the chiefe place or precedence least of all may we thinke that one of Gods glorious Embassadors could out of maydenly modestie be driven to maintaine false doctrine To haue avoided the first proffer of worship so peremptorily forbidden See thou doe it not had beene enough to disprooue the solemne practise of it in whomsoever But not herewith content he giues a generall reason of his prohibition See thou doe it not for I am thy fellow-servant worship God May wee not supply his meaning by Analogie of our Saviours Comment vpon the Text of the Law Worship him alone whom the Angels can never worship too much nor any man on earth enough 4. It is a warrant to our Churches fully sufficient not to doe homage vnto Angels absent because in presence they refuse and forbid it By what warrant the Romish Church can obtrude it vpon them against their wills let her sonnes looke to it Wee haue cause to suspect and they to feare that the Devill and his swift messengers haue played Gehazies with their Naamans runne to their Rulers in these heavenly Prophets names to demaund such gratifications vpon false pretences in their absence as they resolutely refused when in all reason they best deserved them if at any time they might haue taken them The Disciple is not aboue his Maister much lesse is the pupils practise to be imitated before the Tutors doctrine S. Iohn in this Dialogue was the pupill doe they then grace him by taking his proffer to worship this Angel for their warrant or rather wrong the Angel in not admitting his two-fold inhibition at both times obeyed by this his schollar for a sufficient caveat to deterre them from making the worshipping of Saints and Angels a speciall part of their solemne service But this is the curse which by Gods just judgement is fallen vpon them for detayning the truth in vnrighteousnesse That as the Horse-leach sucketh onely the melancholy humor out of mens bloud so these Locusts having relinquished the pure fountaine of truth must long after the dregs of Antiquitie in their doctrine and in their practise feede principally vpon such infirmities of the flesh as sometimes mingle them selues with the spirituall behaviour of Gods Saints For even the soules of Gods dearest Saints haue their habitation during this life with flesh and bloud And albeit we sinfull men may not passe our censures vpon S. Iohn nor measure his carriage in the Angels presence by any the least oversight in our selues who are never raught beyond our selues in such admiration of spirit as he then was yet the holy Angel with whose glorious appearance
stupiditie tremble at their sencelesse petulancy in this argument As the learned Papist hath no parallell the Iew excepted in this kinde so in the maine points of their Religion as in the doctrines concerning the authoritie of the Church and the sacrifice of the Masse they doe not goe so much beyond others as besides themselues The waight or consequence of the matters conteined in the mentioned controversies breeds an extreme desire to haue their profitable tenents countenanced by sacred authoritie and extremitie of desire an vnsatiable thirst or greedinesse of lucking wringing those Texts of Scripture which in colour of words or literall shew doe seeme at first sight to make somewhat for them but in truth and substance manifest the poyson of their doctrine and argue their eager appetite in maintaining it to be a spice or symptome of spirituall madnesse To proue the sacrifice of the Masse some not content to vrge that of the Prophet And they shall offer a pure oblation to me in all places or Melchisedeckes offering consecrated bread and wine which being once granted would everlastingly over-throw it would perswade vs the latine Missa was coyned in the Hebrew mint from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Masas which in the first signification imports as much as to blow whence the Verball 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Missah in a secondary sence signifieth tribute or Pole-money The implication is the very name of the Masse imports that this oblation or sacrifice is Gods tribute to be paid vnto him as duely as Peter-pence is to the Pope Their owne acknowledgement of this doting fancy in some of their writers leaues a suspition whether it were a true relation rather then a meere iest put vpon that ignorant Priest who being put to finde the word Masse in the Scriptures after a long and wearisome search when he was ready to giue over or fall asleepe lighting vpon those words in the first of Iohn Invenimus Messiam cryed out Wee haue found the Masse we haue found the Masse to the confusion of the Heretiques 2. I know not whether the Prophets interpretations of dreames and visions were of greater force to perswade the Heathen that the spirit of the immortall Gods did dwell in them than such dreaming interpretations as latter Iewes doe make of Prophecies or other divine Oracles are or might be of for confirming Christians beliefe that the Lord hath sent a spirit of slumber vpon them so like they are in their comments or meditations vpon Scriptures concerning Christ vnto such as dreame The same phantasmes which by floting in our braines breed dreames by night present themselues to our waking thoughts by day but want opportunitie to deceiue so long as our eyes and eares are open to receiue forraigne information But whiles the externall senses which serue as witnesses and that principall internall sense which sittes as chiefe Magistrate in the inferior part of the soule are surprized by sleepe the vainest fancies the braine can represent passe for currant without examination or checke The phantasie or common sense is as credulous of their suggestions or obtrusions as illiterate ignorant or vnexperienced people are of counterfeit commissions or pretended warrants As at this instant though I think of my good friends in London yet the sight of Oxford and other vndoubted pledges of my presence in this place wherein I am will not suffer my soule to be miscarried with false imaginations of being elswhere whereas whiles the gates of these outward senses are shut and the passages from the principall sense internall or examinatiue facultie stopped the modell of that famous Cittie rouling in my fantasie would forthwith breede an imagination that I were in it in their presence whose image or representation onely is present with me Vpon appearances altogether as light and frivolous are the Iewes transported from Christ now fully manifested and presented to them to imbrace such shadowes or prefigurations of him as had fallen out in the dayes of their Patriarkes or ancient Kings No man that reades their writings but will perceiue many phantasmes or modelles of Evangelicall truth swimming in their heads but the vaile being laid before their hearts disenables their iudgements for distinguishing figures from substances or apparitions from realities 3. The reliques of orthodoxall truths which vnto this day worke in this heartlesse peoples braines would be sufficient to forme Christ crucified in the hearts of Heathens not given vp to a reprobate sense For example that practicall pre-notion Gebher hath sinned Gebher must be punished wheron they ground their ceremonies in the feast of atonement being construed according to its literall and naturall sense is in effect the same with that divine Oracle As by man came death so by man came the resurrection of the dead or with that fundamentall Article of our beliefe that man was to satisfie for the sinnes of men But the passages of these latter Iewes internall senses being lockt vp in a deeper slumber in the day of their solemne feasts then our externall senses are in the dead of the night the cleare representatiō of the former Christian truth makes no impression in their heart but vanisheth into a heathenish dreame Like so many men that vse to walke and raue in their sleepe they vnwittingly act our Saviours sufferings after the manner of an Interlude putting Gebher which in their Rabbinicall language signifieth a Cock for meere affinitie of name for Gebher in Hebrew signifieth a man vnto all the tortures they can devise adding withall that every Gebher every man amongst them deserues to be so dealt withall as they deale with this poore creature Nor is any creature of this kind so fit for this purpose in their fantasie as a white one Their severall phantasmes or pre-notions concerning this mystery rightly put together and examined by vigilant thoughts signifie thus much that the matter of the sacrifice by which the atonement for mans sin was to be wrought was to be a Gebher a man without blemish or spot of sinne 4. If any prophecie include the least historicall reference or allusion to Abraham to Moses David or Solomon as the first draught almost of every Prophecie is some former History this is a motiue sufficient to these blinde guides to interpret the place as wholly meant of these types alone Christ who is the body therein presented God blessed forever which vpholdeth all things by the power of his word the very Center though they perceiue it not whereon their soules doe rest hath no more place in our thoughts than the bed wherein we lye hath in our night imaginations of walking or talking with our friends either deceased or farre absent Every metaphor or resemblance borrowed from things visible as mouldes for fashioning our conceits of matters spirituall or invisible to be accomplished in the life to come make these miserable wretches quite forget the estate as well wherein they are as whence they are fallen and cast them into pleasant dreames of