To beleeue that God is or that there is a God Credere Deo To giue credit to that which God saith Credere in Deum To beleeue in God And of all these significations wee haue variety of examples in the Scripture Giue me leaue I pray you for our better vnderstanding memory to draw them to 2 principall heades according to the diuers seat or place they haue in the soule of man To beleeue then is to holde something for truth or to trust to something The former is an action of the vnderstanding the later of the will In the one truth only is respected the other hath an eie to some good or benefit Beleeuing as it hath place in the vnderstanding signifies either an holding of some point as a truth by the originall light of nature in vs or an assenting to som such thing reuealed by some outward meanes taken vpoÌ„ the credit of the teacher Of the 1. kind is the persuasion that all men naturally haue that there is one God that hee is the Creator of heauen and earth that he is almighty wise iust good c. These things men are truly and properly said to beleeue because they are not taught them but bred in them they receiue them not of other but haue them of themselues they come not to the acknowledging of them by any discourse of reason but see them by a light that shines within theÌ„ But this sense of the word I confesse is hardly to bee found in the booke of God which refers vs for the naturall knowledge of God to the consideration of his workmanship in the creatures â—om 1. 20. The inuisible things of God saith the Apostle that is his eternall power Godhead are seene by the Creation of the world Yea so manifestly seen that as the same Apostle testifieth other where we may in a maner feele the Lorde by groping seeing in him we liue moue and haue our being Act. 17. 27 28. Iamblich de mysteriâ—s cap. 1 Yea the Philosophers themselues acknowledge that there is in man a certaine notion or persuasion of God which goeth before all discourse of reason we ordinarily say of the most barbarous and ignorant heathen who haue small vse of reason that they all belieue there is a God yea euen those people which neuer thought on the making of the world yet haue an opinion that there is a God to be worshipt and the grand Atheist Epicurus that would by no means confess that the world Veleius apud Cicero de â—at deor lib. 1. Lucret de nat rerum lib. 1. had any Creator of it doubted not to professe that hee beleeu'd there was a God because Nature hath ingraffed that perswasion in euery mans hart But it is all one to the point I haue in hand whether there bee any such opinion in vs or no as long as it is granted that we may and do attaine to this beleefe without any resting vpon other mens report credit it sufficeth to proue the first kind of beleeuing seated in the vnderstanding The 2. is an assenting to that which is affirmed meerely vpon the credit of him that speakes it For if hee bee able to make proofe of that he saith by any reason and doe so and thereby perswade vs of the truth of that he hath avouched he doth beget knowledge in vs rather then beleefe which is alwaies grounded vpon the authority and reputation of him for whose words-sake wee beleeue This vse of the worde is very common in the old and newe Testament where for the most part the other signification of trusting to is implyed VVill you see this in some sewe examples Abraham Gen. 15. 6 belieued God that is Abraham was perswaded that God would bee as good as his worde accordingly he trusted to him or belieued in him for the performance thereof That thus much is to bee conceiued by that beleefe of Abrahams is is euident by the Apostles disputation of it Who hauing alleag'd that testimony of Moses to proue iustification by faith or beleeuing in Christ in the applying of it expoundes beleeuing God by beleeuing in him To him that worketh Rom. 45. not but beleeueth in him that iustisieth the vngodly his faith is counted for righteousnes where he deliuers that in generall which before he had said in particular Abraham beleeued God and it was counted to him for righteousnesse Verse 3. There is the particular touching Abraham To which the generall concerning all other men to beiustified must needs agree if the Apostles reason be of any force Abraham beleeued God To him that beleeueth in him that iustifies the vngodly that is God It his belieuing was counted to him for righteousnes His faith his beleeuing is counted for righteousnes Do you not see that to beleeue God in this example includs belieuing in God that is trusting to God or resting vpon God for that which Isai 28. 16. God is to performe Therefore the Prophet I say directly protesteth that he which beleeueth shall not make haste So that no man is accounted to beleeue God but hee that relyeth vpon him for the fulfilling of that which hee hath spoken or at the least that beleeuing of God only is accepted of him which procures a trusting in him for that which we beleeue he hath truly affirmed The new Testament is plentiful in such examples I will giue you a tast of them and leaue the rest to your farder meditation and to some other occasion that shall offer it selfe Rom. 10. 10. â—ereafter in this Gospel With the heart saith S. Paul man beleeueth to righteousnesse VVhat beleeuing is this the Apostle himselfe teacheth vs in the next verse where he proues that he had said by the testimony of the Prophet whosoeuer beleeueth in him shall not be ashamed Verse 11. Ioh. 8. 30. Vers 31. The same is conâ—â—m'd by our Euangelist As he spâ—ke these things many beleeued in him Then said Iesus to thâ— Iewes which beleeued him Can any man doubt but the holy Verse 31. Ghost in the later verse meanes the same beleefe hee had mentioned in the former But what should I seeke any farder then this Chapter That which heere is called beleeuing afterward is exprest by beleeuing in Here he saith That al men through him might beleeue What saith Ioh. 1. 7. Verse 12. he in the 12 verse To them that beleeue in his name It may seeme perhaps that I haue stood ouer-long vpon this point but the necessity of the matter I doubt not wil excuseme in any reasonable mans iudgement especially if he consider that I haue almost dispatcht the whole question in that former discourse hauing shewd though but by the way diuerse examples of Beleeuing in or trusting to that I may be the shorter in that which remaines to be handled concerning beleefe as it is an action of the will resting or relying vpon somewhat for some benefit to bee receiued
because I spake of it somewhat largely vpon the first occasion that offered it selfe in this Gospel at the seauenth verse That all men through him might beleeue The breefe oâ— Verse 7. that which then was deliuered touching this point is this that To beleeue is an action either of the vnderstanding or of the will The former that is Beleeuing as it hath place in the vnderstanding is either an holding of some point as a truth ingraffed in vs by nature as wee beleeue there is a God or an assenting to some thing reuealed vpon the credit of him that reueales it as wee acknowledge the Scripture to be the worde of God and euery thing in it to be sure and certaine according as wee are perswaded by the holy Ghost to whome wee giue absolute credit vpon his owne worde The other Beleeuing which is seated in the will and ariseth from the former in the vnderstanding is a resting vpon or trusting to some person or thing for some benefit to be obtained thereby So the Reubenites Gadites and the halfe Tribe of Manasseh when the Hagarenes made warre 1. Chr. 5. 18. 19 20. vpon them trusted to God for succour and were holpen against them with a glorious victory But the children of Israell would not trust to him or rely on him for food in the wildernesse Therefore fire was kindled in Iacob as it is in the Psalme and also wrath came vpon Psa 78 21 22 Israell Because they beleeued not in God and trusted not in his helpe Of this nature and meaning is the worde Beleeuing when it concernes iustification or saluation This may easily appeare by those kinde of phrases that the holy Ghost often vseth in this matter To beleeue in or vpon God and Christ Hee that beleeues Ioh. 6. 47. in mee saith our Sauiour Christ hath euerlasting life Beleeue on the Lorde Iesus Christ saye Act. 16. 31. Paul and Silas to the laylour and thou shalt bee saued And whereas sometimes in this very point of beleeuing to euerlasting life the worde is not so significant I shewed that the sense and purpose of the Spirite of God notwithstanding is all one It will not be amisse perhaps to make it plaine by an example or two First what is simply to beleeue in Ioh. 1. 7. this case Iohn was sent to beare witnesse that all through him might beleeue What beleefe was it that Iohn taught The Apostle Paul tells vs that they should beleeue in him Act. 19. 4. which should come after him that is in Iesus Christ Do you not see that vnder the bare word beleeuing faith in Christ is implyed Sometimes there is a little addition as Abraham is said not only to haue beleeued but to haue Rom. 4. 3. 4. beleeued God How doth the Apostle expound this beleefe By beleeuing on or vpon God What is that else but Verse 5. resting vpon God So the same Chapter teacheth vs to vnderstand that manner of speech which beleeue on him that raised vp Iesus our Lord from the dead Verse 18. that is trust to him to be iustified and acquited of their sinnes Adde herevnto if you please that of the Apostle Peter out of the Prophet Isai Behold I put in Sion a cheefe corner-stone elect and pretious hee that 1. Pet. 2. 6 beleeueth theron shall not be ashamed How is this stone to be beleeued on but by a mans setling and reposing himselfe there vpon Therefore the Hebrew in the Prophet Isai 28. 26. is shall not make haste as if he should haue said shall cast himselfe vpon God to be succoured by him and wait with patience for the performance of his gratious promise The greeke expresseth the euent that shall insue vpon this beleeuing by a denyall of the contrary set out to our view by a tropicall speech of being a shamed For he that lookes for succour and by fayling of it is ouerthrowne vsually is ashamed both of his trust of his foile So shall not he be saith the Lord that resteth vpon Iesus Christ as vpon the rock of saluation This also the Chalde paraphrase expresseth shall not be moued Paraph. Chald. ad Isai 28. 16. Mat. 7. 25. being built as our Sauiour saith in the Gospell vpon a Rock against which the windes waues beat in vain making a great noise but doing no hurt at all because the house is grounded vpon a Rock But you will say There are diuers places of Scripture where that faith by which wee are iustified anâ— saued is confined to the vnderstanding and signifie no more but an assent to the truth of that which is deliuered by God to be beleeued Such is that touching Abrahams faith which was imputed to him for righteousnes First he is said not to haue bin weake in faith not to haue considered the deadnesse of his owne or his wife Sarahs Rom. 4. 3. 23. body not to haue doubted of the promise of God through vnbeleefe c. Then this faith or beleeuing is exprest to haue beene a full assurance that he which had promised was Verse 21. also able to do it What is there in all this great commendation of Abrahams faith but only an amplification of his beleeuing God that he had promised him no more then he was well able to performe So in the Epistle to Heb. 11. 3. the Hebrewes wee are said by faith to vnderstand that the world was ordained by the word of God and yet all men graunt as also the former Chapter euidently sheweth Chap. 10. 38. 39 that the Apostle speakes of such a faith as the iust liue by It is not my purpose to enter into a full disputation or discourse of faith which I reserue for my exposition of the Epistle to the Romans yet I may not leaue these doubts vnsatisfied nor the nature of faith vnknowne Therefore to these and such like places of Scripture and obiections from them I answere first in generall that beleeuing as it belongs to the vnderstanding is sometimes mentioned alone because it is the roote and fountaine from which the other doth spring and flow For it is vnpossible that any man should rely vpon God for the performance of that which he doth not beleeue he hath promised or doubts whether he be able to doe or no. Yea I say farder that such a beleefe in the minde is signified in all such places as is alwaies necessarily accompanied with trusting to God for that which wee beleeue hee can bring to passe If you demaund farder why I should not content my selfe with the former faith only seeing it is diuers times set alone in the point of Iustification I answere that therefore I take the other also to bee implyed in it because I find it very often exprest in the Scripture and a new kind of speech as it were purposely deuised by the holy Ghost to make vs the more easily and fully vnderstand what faith hee meanes
the godhead that there is but one God Secondly of the Trinity of the persons Where the first poynt must be to proue that there are three persons the second to shew how they are distinguisht one from an other And because there is in our Church seruice a treatise to this purpose knowne in part to all that are present commonly called the Creed of Athanasius who like a valiant champion maintein'd the godhead of Christ against the Assaults of Arius I will referre you from point to point to that discourse That there is but one God the same one God witnesseth himselfe in scripture o Exod. 20. 2. 3. I am the Lord thy God thou shalt haue none other Gods but me Which is not ambitiously spoken as if some one God would haue the honor froÌ„ all the rest but enioyned with authority by him who onely had right to claime such preheminence Els neither had he done done iustly that gaue this charge and how should he be conceiu'd to be God that is knowne to be vniust and the Iewes to whom he gaue it should haue hurt themselues as much by displeasing all the other Gods whom they refused to acknowledge as help themselues by pleasing that one whome they did acknowledge Vnlesle perhaps wee may ridiculously think that for quietnes sake the other Gods were content to put vp this iniury or that they were all agreed to part stakes as the heathen absurdly feyne of their three Gods Whereof Iupiter the eldest took heauen for his share Neptune the second got the gouernment of the Sea and Pluto the yongest rather then he would sit out quite was content to play small game as we say and to take Hell for his part rather then nothing These are liker fancies of men in a dreame then discourses of learned writers And yet neither could these three brothers well agree at all times and to say the truth Iupiter whom the other two aknowledged for their Soueraign was the onely God in the Iudgement of the heathen But whatsoeuer they imagined wee are sure our God doth so speake of himselfe p Deut. 32. 39. Behold now for I am he and there is no Gods with me That appeares by the effects I kill saith he giue life I wound and I make whole Are not these the works of god In whose haÌ„ds are death life but in Gods But hath this God only that power Are there not other that haue it aswell as he No sure as himselfe addeth There is none that can deliuer out of my hands Thus he speaketh of himselfe thus the prophet Moses q Exod. 33. 11. that talked with him face to face speaketh of him Vnto thee it was shew'd r Deut. 435. saith Moses to I srael that thou mightst knowe that the Lord hee is God and that there is none other but hee alone And afterward Vnderstand v. 39. therfore this day and consider in thy heart that the Lord he is God in heauen aboue and vpon the earth beneath there is none other I might recken vp many like testimonies But whom will not these content if enough will content him Will any foolish blasphemer now except against these proofes as if they were to be vnderstood of the general nature of God not of any one who onely is God how fond and absurd must such an exception needs bee seeing all men know by reason that generalls haue not any reall being diuers from the specials or species nor can be said to perform any particular action For example to make the matter as plaine as I can Man as it signifieth that nature which is common or generall to euery seuerall man is not any thing subsisting by itselfe but hath it whole being in the particulars of that kind Therefore also it cannot be said that the generall nature of man doth reason or speake but that this or that man doth so But God saith I kill giue life neither can the general nature which is leudly absurdly conceiv'd say truely of itselfe Behold I am hee and there are no gods with me neither were such a speech to any purpose or of any vse as if it were to bee thought that any man could imagin that there are more then one general nature of any one kinde There is then but one God only For if there were more God could not say there are no more euen as Adam after Caine and Abel were borne could not affirme That he alone was man and that there was none beside him The same trueth is confirmed in the new Testament by the Å¿ 1. Cor. 8 4. Apostle Paule We know saith he that an Idol is nothing in the world and that there is none other God but one As if he should haue said Howsoeuer there are diuers idols of this and that shape men idols and women Idols yet we know there are no such diuine powers in the world as these according to the fancy of men represent yea we are are sure there is but one God The heathen indeed haue many whom they call God and Lord but to vs that vnderstand the truth there is but one Ver. 6. God So doth the Scripture euerie where speake of God as of one t Rom. 1. 21. 23. When they knew God they glorified him not as God The glorie of the incorruptible God What shal I need to heape vp many testimonies in a case that is not doubtfull All the wise and learned both Christians Iewes Heathen agree with one consent that there cannot be any more then one God All this notwithstanding wee finde that in the Scripâ—ure there are more then one that are sayde to bee God First there is one called the Father whom al men acknowledge to be God u Rom. 1. 7. Grace be with you and peace from God our Father x 1 Cor. 8. 6. To vs there is but one God which is the Father y Eph. 1. 3. Blessed bee God euen the Father of our Lord Iesu Christ Secondly as I shewed before Iesus Christ or the Word is also vouched to bee God In the former verse The word was God * Rom. 9. 5. Christ is God ouer all belssed for euer Thirdly it is manifest in the same Scripture that the holy Ghost in like sort is God For although there be noâ— one place wherein hee is so tearmed by name yet the comparing of one text with another puts the matter out of question The Lord saith to the people of Israell that if a Num. 12 6. there be a Prophet amongst them he the Lord wil appear to him in a vision he will talke with him in a dreame It was the Lord therefore that spake in and by the Prophets This Lord saith b 1. Pet. 1. 11. Saint Peter was the spirit The spirit testified before of Christ c 2. Pet. 1. 21. Prophecie came not in olde time by the will of man but holy men of God spake as they
language may suite with their strange and new Religion English eares mislike the manner of their speech as Christian hearts doe the points of their doctrine Wee commonly translate the words for a witnes fitly in regard of the sense and easily for all mens 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In testimonium vnderstanding This same came for a witnes that is This man who I said was sent from God came to bee a witness The Euangelists manner of speech is not fully deliuered who according to the custome of the tongue hee writ in saith worde for word he came to testimonie namely to giue testimonie which the Latin also followes though that language doe scarce beare it so well as the Greeke doth To draw into English such kinde of phrases is not to inrich the tongue but to corrupt it Wee haue no way to expresse the Euangelists speech and meaning in English but to say To giue or beare testimonie or witness This was then the office of Iohn Baptist To be a witness Now the vse of witnesses is for the confirmation of some truth or for manifestation of it For where there is no doubt nor question howsoeuer perhaps in forme of Lawe there may bee witnesses required yet indeede there needes none Where there is neede of them there the matter is not plaine in it selfe or at the least not acknowledged to bee true So that the point for which Iohns testimonie is to bee had hath of its owne nature or by the ignorance or peruerseness of men somthing not cleere or not confest What if it haue Could not God haue made it manifest by some testimonie from himselfe without such an extraordinarie course ossending a witnes as it were downe from heauen Yes out of doubt He that made the vnderstanding of man can make man vnderstand what pleaseth him He that framed the heart can perswade and incline it to what himselfe list But all such courses of reuelation from God were as extraordinarie as such a kind of birth and message and both the one and the other little enough in this case as the euent shewed For although the Lord testified of his sonne by his owne voice from heauen and by Iohn vpon earth yet was he scarcely acknowledged by any man As for the work of Gods mighty power in the soules of them that come to beleefe in Christ it was not wanting to any of these Iewes who aduisedly religiously gaue credit to the testimonie of Iohn the Baptist or set themselues to consider of it as they ought to haue done which if they had done it was not possible but they should haue seene both the loue of God in sending them such worthy meanes of instruction and the truth of that which Iohn deliuered by commission from him Doost thou wonder at the blindnes and frowardnes of the Iewes whome the testimony of a man in their owne iudgement not to bee excepted against could not moue to beleeue View thy self in this glasse and consider whether more witnesses acknowledged by thee to be sent from God to speake according to the truth of God be not of as small credit with thee in many points wherein thy obedience is required But of this more anone when wee haue a little better examined of what kinde this testimony of Iohn was That he might beare witnesse of the light The words haue beene all expounded already in the matter there are these two thinges to bee considered what manner of testimony it was that Iohn gaue what it was that he testified A testimony as all men knowe is ordinarily giuen by word of mouth wherein some matter in question is either affirmed or denied and they that giue these testimonies are called witnesses Amongst Christians there is another kinde of witnesses tearmed Martyrs by the Greeke name which is common to all that testifie any thing especially in matters of Law and iudgement The same word is heere vsed to signifie the witnesse that Iohn bare Those whome wee call Martyrs are such as by their death beare witnesse to some truth of God reuealed in his word suffering themselues to bee tormented and murthered rather then they will denie or not confesse a knowne truth of God when they are lawfully demanded of it Such was Stephen and so is hee called by Paul When the bloud of thy Act 22. 20 Martyr Stephen was shed The same title is giuen Reuel 2. 13. to Antipas whome our Sauiour calles his Martyr when Antipas my faithfull Martyr was staine among you For this cause Christ himselfe is named a Martyr from Iesus Christ which is a faithfull Martyr or witnesse and the first begotten of the dead As for Iohn who knowes not that hee was put to death by Herod for dooing his dutie in witnessing a trueth of GOD Yet hee is not thought to bee any of the Martyrs that giue witnesse by their death because it is commonly helde that the dying for no trueth makes a Martyr vnlesse the trueth concerne somewhat belonging to the profession of the Gospell so that neither Isay nor any of the Prophets are properly to be tearmed Martyrs I will not striue about the point especially since I doe but touch this by the way onely for Iohn I thinke hee is not properly to bee reckoned in the number of the Martyrs not so much because the matter for which hee reprooued Herod did not appertaine in any particular sort to the Gospell as for that he was not executed professedly for that he had sayde and did constantly mainetaine but for satisfying of the Kings promise and Horodias malice but whether that bearing witnesse could make him a Martyr or no questionlesse it was not that which our Euangelist here speakes of for it was not any testimonie of the Light How then did Iohn beare witnesse By preaching of Christ and auowing that hee was the Messiah ordayned and sent for the saluation of them that would beleeue in him This may some man say was common to him with the Prophets at the least with many of them and with all the Apostles that succeeded him who also therefore are called in the scripture by the name of witnesses Let vs make that wee say apparant to all men First for them all in generall Zachary the Father of Iohn Baptist speaking of our Sauiour and redemption by him sayeth that God spake of him and his comming to that purpose By the mouth of his holy Prophets Luk. 1. 70. which were since the world beganne And the Apostle telles vs that God had promised the sending of his Sonne afore by his Prophets in the holy Scriptures Rom. 1. 2. In particular I will make choyse of two onely Isay and Daniell Of which the former is ordinarily called the Euangelicall Prophet as if he had written the Gospell in his Prophecie And that not without cause For hee hath spoken very plainely of the birth life and death of our Sauiour Concerning his birth hee noteth that which was most
to their opinion who vnderstand this place of Gaudentius in Euang. tract 12 our Lords being in the world all the time he liued here â—pon earth in the nature and shape of man The reasons whereby some men would prooue the contrarie are of no great force They say Saint Iohn would cleere our Sauiour from being thought to haue beene in fault that men did not beleeue and from being supposed to bee a creature But both these doubts were satisfied before more sufficiently and the later ariseth onely from that which is heere affirmed Hee was in the world as if the Euangelist had made himselfe more worke then needed It was sayde before that the light shineth in darkenesseâ— that it lighteth or inlightneth euerie man Yea the fault of not beleeuing was layde where it is The darkenesse comprehended it not How then could the light bee suspected Or how should hee bee taken to bee a creature but in regard of his manhood which is no error nor inconuenience Hee was auoucht before to be God and to haue made all things none excepted Now then seeing wee haue found that This being in the world is to bee vnderstood of our Sauiours conuersing with men here in the flesh it is no hard matter to know what is meant by the world from thence to gather the meaning of the Euangelist What is the world what else but the earth Therefore when the Euangelist saith He was in the world his meaning is that the Messiah of whom he hath spoken so much was conuersant here vpon earth amongst men This he deliuereth here in this general descriptioÌ„ before he come to the history it self which setteth out the course of his life and carriage at large It is needlesse to say any thing in proofe of this matter I shall haue necessarie occasion to handle it at the foureteenth verse the whole Gospel is of nothing else Yet I may not forget to note in a word how gratiously it pleased the Son of God to deale with the world He liued amongst men he kept company with men he came as himselfe speaketh eating and drinking He was Luk. 7. 34. familiar with men hee applyed himselfe to their customes and fashions in all thinges lawfull and as a worthy Scholler of so excellent a Maister sayth of himselfe Hee became all things to all men that hee might by 1. Cor. 9 19 all meanes saue some Iohn Baptist as it was fitte for him led an austere life withdrawing himselfe from the company of men abstayning from the lawfull vse of that varietie both in diet and apparayle which the Lord of his rich bountie hath afforded to men They that would in any thing vse his ministerie either for instruction or baptisme were fayne to come to him and attend vpon him Our Sauiour was ready ordinarily at euery mans call Who euer came with petition to him and went away vnsatisfied Sometimes hee deferred Ioh. 4. 49. the matter and would make as if hee hearde not yea sometimes hee seemed to aunswere somewhat roughly as to the woman of Canaan but it was Mat. 15. 21. not to deny their requests but to encrease their faith He meant not by such delayes to continue their paine or trouble but to double his mercy both vppon their bodies and vpon their soules Where hee sawe neede of helpe and want of meanes to begge it by reason of ignoraunce or some other infirmitie hee most kindly offred himselfe and his seruice Wilt thou be made whole sayth he to the man that had lyen 38 yeares Ioh. 5. 6. bed-red To conclude such was the conuersation of our Sauiour vpon earth that nothing wanted to shewe who hee was nothing hindred men commonly from comming to him but that which in all reason should haue allured them so great maiestie with so great meekenesse such power to helpe with such readinesse to bee imployed O the blindnesse of men sayth one O the pride and frowardnesse sayth another They worthily perished that made themselues vnworthie of such vndeserued kindnesse What would they haue had more then was offered them yea they could neuer haue desired so much as was afforded them And could they bee so vnkinde shall I say or vnwise and wilfull as to make light account of stay your sentence a little we are not come to that point Take heede least by reprouing of other you condemne yourselues What want you except the bodily presence of Christ that they had No one man sauing those Disciples that continually followed him heard so many of his Sermons sawe so many of his miracles knew so much of his kindnesse as wee all doe or may doe That which they might heare in a long time by peecemeale wee may read in a few howers altogether before occasions of manifold busines distract the mind and confound the memory Wee see not the blind restored to sight the lame made to goe the dead raysed to life What could wee haue seene There was seldome aâ—y outwarde meanes vsed to these purposes by which â—he eyes of men might bee fed If they heard him speak to signifie that he would haue such or such a thing done and sawe the effect ensue accordingly it was all the aduantage they had of vs that now liue and euery day may heare and read the historie of these thinges recorded If hee were then amongst men in his person hee is now amongst them in his word I wil say nothing of the difference betwixt these two meanes of bringing men to beleefe Let the euent speake It is manifest by the historie of the acts that more were conuerted to the faith in one yeare after our Sauiours death by the ministery of the word in the mouthes of the Apostles then in all the three yeares and vpwarde of his preaching and working miracles The vse of this later was but to credit the persons that their doctrine might bee receiued Wee professe that wee are resolued of the trueth of all things deliuered in the Scriptures Then certainely our Lord is amongst vs in these dayes though not in the same maÌ„ner yet in as great measure for means of knowledge and beleeuing What intertainement had hee then by them hath he now by vs The former wee must learne of the Euangelist of the later wee shall heare more anone Concer-cerning the people that liued in our Sauiour Christs time and heard and sawe what he spake and did what would any reasonable man looke for but that they should acknowledge him and honour him as the Messiah by trusting in him So they should haue done And did they so Read the record The world knewe him not Is it possible there should bee such blindnesse where there was so good light Could the light bee vnseene that shone so brightly It is woorth the doing to consider this point a little better And first let vs examine the wordes what is meant by the world what by not knowing The world in the first part of this verse
in the matter of our iustification I deny not that the Hebrew addeth the preposition ◠often times which the 70 sometimes expresse sometimes ouerpasse but this I say that the phrase which the holy Ghost most commonly vseth in the new Testament to expresse Beleeuing in Christ is neither in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 greeke translation of the old nor for ought I could euer yet find in any greeke Author whatsoeuer except those that writ since and tooke it from the Scripture To beleeue in God or in Christ for the substance and sense is no more but to trust to God or Christ and this kinde of speech is vsuall in the greeke tongue and writers To helpe vs in the vnderstanding of this the 70. in their greek afford an other phrase maruelous significant To 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 beleeue vpon or on God This the holy Ghost might haue contented himselfe withall vsing it often as hee doth and by this the Hebrew Preposition is now and Act. 16. 13. Rom. 4. 5. 18. then exprest in the Greek But as if hee would haue vs out of al doubt touching a matter of so great importāce he becomes autor of a new phrase himselfe To beleeue in Christ Shall any man perswade me that hee meanes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no more by it but a bare assenting to the truth What needed this straunge manner of speech which doth rather darken then inlighten the vnderstanding for the right conceiuing of the holy Ghosts true meaning Abraham beleeued God Euery man knows what this means especially if it signifie no more hut giuing credit to the truth of that which is spoken But the Apostle expoūds it by Beleeuing in or on God Is not this to make the matter doubtfull by an exposition whereas of it selfe it was plaine and certaine enough It cannot bee therefore but that the holy Ghost by this new kind of speech notes somewhat more then simply to assent to the truth of God vpon the autority of the speaker In particular I say farder touching that of Abraham Rom. 4. 5. first that his beleeuing as we haue often heard is a beleeuing in God or resting vpon God 2 that beleeuing could not haue profited Abrahā if he had only acknowledgd the truth of that which God promised and not trusted to him for the performance thereof What can it auaile any man to Iustificatiō that he holds IESVS CHRIST to be the only Sauiour and faith in himt he only means of saluation if he doe not withall rely vpon him to bee saued by his mediation Thirdly it must bee considered that the Apostle applying that particular of Abraham to all beleeuers expoundeth that beleeuing by relying vpon God Which beleeue on him that raised vp Iesus our Lorde from the dead What is it think you to beleeue on Verse 24. him that raised Iesus To assent to the truth of Scripture that tells vs he was raised Then should the Apostle rather haue spokē thus which beleeue God who saith he hath raised him But it is required that wee beleeue on him and there is no speech nor thought of any thing affirmed by God which wee should beleeue Let vs vnderstand it thus which beleeue that God raised Iesus Certainely if this had beene the Apostles meaning hee would neuer haue spokē so doubtfully of so weighty a matter where he had a plaine and easy speech to expresse that which he intended to the vnderstanding of euery man whereas no man woulde euer conceiue what he meant by these wordes if they signified no more but giuing credit to the truth of our Sauiors resurrection As for the other place out of the Epistle to the Hebrewes what can possibly bee concluded out of it against Heb. 11. 7. that I haue deliuered touching the nature of that faith by which we are iustified What if by it we vnderstand that the world was ordained of GOD Is this all that is required to the iustifying of a man in respect of faith There is no such thing either exprest or implyed in the words Nay rather all the examples that follow are so many proofes that the faith whereof the holy Ghost there speakes can not bee seuered from be leeuing in God I will not stand vpon the particulars at this time the later part of the next Chapter before vpon occasion whereof the Apostle falles into this discourse of faith giues sentence for me The iust shall liue Chap. 10. 38. 37. by faith By what faith by that which only giues credit to the truth of God No but by such a faith as makes vs rest vpon God for the performance of his promise which presupposeth the truth thereof How chance thē that the Apostle in setting forth the nature of faith asscribes such effects therevnto as may bee without any resting vpon God Shall wee say that this faith spreds it selfe ouer the whole soule and is seated aswell in the vnderstanding as in the affection I see not how it can stand with reason to place any habit or quality in two diuers partes or faculties of the soule VVhat then Is not beleeuing of the truth required to iustification Yes surely There is no possibility of saluation without it For how shall any man trust in Christ to be iustified by him it hee doe not beleeue that hee is appointed by God to be a Sauiour of all them that trust vnto him But the question is first whether Beleefe bee nothing else but an assenting to the truth Secondly whether the true nature of that faith which is availeable to our iustification consist in resting vpon Christ to be iustified by him or no Assent is required as the roote and foundation but the very forme of iustifying faith is beleeuing in Christ as it shall appeare I hope when I haue iust occasion to define it and handle it at large In the meane while that no man may bee troubled about that place to the Hebrewes let vs remember that the Apostle being to sette forth iustifying faith and to perswade continuance in obedience therevnto enters into a commendation of fayth in generall for the amply fying of that particular But for the settling of our minds in the true knowledge of that beleefe which is required to our iustification nothing I take it can be of greater force then the consideration of the worde as it is vsed ordinarily in the olde Testament VVhen any blessing is to bee receined from God what beleefe is it that the Lorde expecteth of his people to the ende they may haue his protection and assistance A fewe examples will shew the nature of it Because thou hast rested on the king of Aram and hast not rested vpon the Lorde thy God therefore is the hoast of the king of Aram escaped out of thy 1. Chro. 5. 18. 19. 20. hands Thus did Hanani the Seer reprooue Asa king of Iuda shewing him that the reason why hee preuailed not against the Aramites
white which hee sees to be blacke red yellow greene or of some other colour then white In such cases there is no manner of command in the will ouer the vnderstanding Well may it preuaile so farre as to hinder the vnderstanding in examining of a truth or in the professing of that it conceiues yea it may carry a man with violence to make contrarie profession to that he is perswaded of and knows but it cannot possibly be of force to inioyne it to holde this or that for truth otherwise then naturall or supernaturall light discouers it to be It is the will then that receiues Christ or refuseth him beleeues or beleeues not taking faith for trusting in Christ as wee doe not as the Papists doe for beleeuing the truth of that which is deliuered concerning him in the Scripture Neither yet is it to bee helde for true that there is any such power or office of free will as the Papists dreame of to bee concluded out of this place For I may not runne into a large discourse of the Doctrine but must keepe my selfe within the compasse of this one Text. The free will which the Papists fight for as for their free hold is an absolute libertie in the will of Man to choose or refuse at his owne pleasure This they say wee haue and vse in the accepting or reiecting of grace which is offered vs by God but so that it is left to vs to receiue or refuse it This Doctrine say I can not bee warranted by this scripture Let any reasonable man iudge Some refuse CHRIST some receiue him what will you inferre herevpon That therefore it is left to euerie mans choyse whether hee will receiue him or refuse him Tell me what you thinke of the first grace by which a man is inhabled to take or leaue I will speake as plaine as by any meanes I can that euery man may vnderstand mee It is agreed vpon on both sides theirs and ours that naturally no man hath any power to receiue CHRIST or to will to receiue him Therefore this Abilitie of the vsing whereof wee dispute is vouchsaf't to euery one that hath it by God and proceedes of him Shall I reason now as as our Papists doe Some men haue this grace by which they are able to beleeue some men haue it not Therefore there is free will in men to haue it or want it Will this follow vpon that No more will it that there is free will because some beleeue and some doe not Indeede if there were nothing els to bee found from which this difference might bee fetcht but onely the will of man there were some good reason to conclude freedome of will from choise and refusall But the case standing as it doth that wee can assigne a better reason of this diuersitie euen the worke of Gods spirit by grace in the hearts of as many as beleeue the Papists conclusion is weake and lame Some receiue some refuse Therefore say they there is free will by the power whereof the one sort beleeue and the other for not vsing that power beleeue not Nay rather say wee Therefore the grace of GOD workes more effectually in the hearts of some then of other some Is there any Christian soule whom this conclusion of ours will not content better then that of theirs Surely he must needs loue his owne glorie better then Gods that had rather ascribe his faith to his owne free will then to the grace of God Haue I not yet spoken enough or not plaine enough Bee not wearied I beseech you though I dwell a little longer vpon the matter I hope I shall better expresse my minde and you better vnderstand me That abilitie to beleeue comes of God and not of our selues it is out of question betwixt vs. The doubt is touching the vse of this abilitie For example Let vs suppose that both the theeues that were crucified with our Sauiour Christ had this grace bestowed on them by God that they were able to beleeue He on the right hand vseth this grace and beleeueth the other doth not vse it and continueth in vnbeliefe The question is whence this difference ariseth From the power of free will say the Papists From the workes of Gods grace say wee Wee deny not say they that the grace of God workes more effectually in the one then in the other but wee affirme that the reason of this difference in working proceeds from the diuers vse of free will in each of them If hee on the left hand had bin willing to beleeue the spirit of God would haue begotten faith in his heart If he had on the right hand bin vnwilling the grace of God would haue brought forth no faith in him Yet they touch not the point I presse them for a farder answere Whence was it that the one was willing rather then the other Speake out that all men may heare you Was it from himselfe or from God From both They are halfe ashamed to bee knowne what they hould and therefore striue to shift of the matter in this sort But it will not serue the turne I looke for a plaine and direct answere When both the theeues were alike vnwilling and might both alike become willing whence arose the beginning of difference betwixt them You cannot say it came from God for in respect of him they were yet both alike What remaines then to be answered but that the one of himselfe did yeeld to the motion of Gods spirit the other might haue done but woulde not I confesse you say there wanted assistance from God to leade him forward to the obtaining of Faith but yet you still auouch that the Originall of the difference was from the free will of man that yeelded not from the free grace of God that inclined him to yeelding For that grace was common to him with the other in whome there was no willingness at all What was become of the zeale of the glorie of God when men first broch't these deuises Is it not enough for vs that wee are willing to bee saued but that wee must also take the cheefe glorie of it to our selues Are wee so puft vp with pride and selfe loue that wee had as lieue perish as bee beholden to GOD for our saluation Blame mee not if I charge the pride of mans Nature very deepely in this case It is a matter that concernes my Lord and maister on whose message I come very neere Hath hee of himselfe vouchsafed meanes by which wee may bee saued hath hee meerely of his owne good will imparted the knowledge thereof vnto vs hath hee without any desert or desire on our part prouided to aduance vs to the estate of Sonnes from the condition of Seruants and doe wee grudge to let him haue the honour of it A little is too much for God nothing is enough for our selues Wee are content with much adoe to let it bee thought and said that wee are not able without grace
other beleeuers that a title common to euery Christian should be made proper to som few though principall members of the Church You will obiect it may be that these writers stile themselues Apostles as if they desired to haue their dignity and office knowen to all men True it is that they do so indeed in their Epist But neither did that name belong to al the faithfull or to any but some certaine men and it was necessary for the authorizing of their writings How then Doe I condemne the title or the first Authours or the continuers vsers of it Nothing lesse For I gladly acknowledge both that the Apostles and Euangelists had especiall interest in that name and that there could be no danger of scandall seeing it was not taken by themselues but giuen to them as an honour by the consent as it were and with the liking of all true Christians whose purpose it was not to make them Mediatours of intercession betwixt God and men vpon earth but to shew the reuerend opinion they had conceiv'd and did hold of such worthy and holy men And to say the truth what doth the word signifie but d 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Holy How often is it giuen in the Scriptures to all that are members of the true Church in their seueral Congregations It shall suffice therfore to shut vp all in one word that wee meane not by this title Saint to note any office of mediation but onely to testifie our respect reuerence of those whom it pleased our blessed Sauiour to choose and employ in so excellent and glorious a seruice In this sense I desire to be vnderstood whensoeuer I vse that title and to be excused in your charitable construction if according to that liberty which auncient and later Diuines haue lawfully vsed I sometimes omit it in naming this Euangelist or any other of his fellow Apostles or Euangelists I may not forget to adioyne to that which hath been spoken a fewe things more which the Scripture hath recorded of him namely that hee was e Matth. 4. 21 the sonne of Zebede and brother of Iames called with him to be a Disciple of our Sauiour afterward f Luke 6. 14 specially chosen with the same his brother to be one of the twelue Apostles All these things are so plainely deliuered in the Scripure that it is enough to name the places without any more adoe But of his mother it is needful to speak more particularly because it is not so cleer who she was though it be as certaine we are then to vnderstand that his mothers name was Salome which is thus to be proued g Matth. 27. 56 Saint Mathew reporting the history of the women that stood afar off looking vpon our Sauior when he was crucified writeth thus of them Among whom was Mary Magdalen and Mary the Mother of Iames and Ioses and the Mother of Zebedeus children Now Zebedeus children were Iames the elder as he was called for difference sake and Iohn But how shall we knowe that this womans name was Salome h Marke 15. 40 Saint Marke tells vs so in these words There were also women which beheld afarre off among whom was Mary Magdalen the Mother of Iames the Iesse and of Ioses and Salome Who seeth not that she whom the former Euangelist called the Mother of Zebedeus children the later nameth Salome So that our Euangelist was the son of Zebedeus and Salome vpon him as vpon the rest i Acts 2. 3. the holy Ghost descended like fiery clouen tongues induing them with the admirable gift of vnderstanding and speaking all strange languages Neither was he only thus qualified with the rest but as it should seeme of greater account in the Church then most of the rest Therefore k Gal. 2. 9 the Apostle Paul reckons him with Iames and Peter as one of the Pillars of the Christian Church Yea our Sauiour himselfe in his life time was wont to admit him as it were into his priuate counsell l Marke 5. 37 when he went to raise vp Iairus daughter from death was not Iohn one of the three whome he made choise of to take with him m Matth. 17. 1 was not he one of the 3. witnesses of his glorious transfiguration in the mount To conclude in n Mark 14. 33 that his greeuous agony in the garden our Euangelist was one with whom our Sauiour would bee accompanied And for the person of Iohn this may suffise vnless perhaps some man look that I should adde hereunto as a farder proof of our Sauiours loue to him the mention of those wonderfull reuelations wherin the estate of Christs Church vpon earth to the very end of the world is liuely and certainely discyphered As for other things which are recorded touching him in the Ecclesiasticall histories I will craue leaue to omit them because they little or nothing concerne the matter we haue in hand I know there are but fewe present that are able to search the authors as o Acts 17. 11. the men of Beroea did the Scriptures to see whether those things be so or no. I come now from the person to the writing where first for the occasion time of penning this Gospel I wil onely say thus much p Euseb hist eccles lib. 3. cap. 21 that it is commonly thought to haue beene written after the returne of the Euangelist out of banishmēt from Pathmos both to supply that which was wanting in the other three concerning our Sauiours dooings and sayings before Iohn Baptist was imprisoned and also to satisfie the request of the Christians in Asia especially the Ephesians that it might be a counterpoison against those heresies which Cerinthus and Ebion had hatched and whereby the Godhead of our Lord and Sauiour was called in question Wherein if any man shall persume to thinke that our Euangelist hath not taken such a course as was fit for the refuting and suppressing of those heresies let him learne first that the holy Spirit of whose enditing this Gospell was is not to bee taught by the blind conceits of proude ignorant men Then let him farder vnderstand that it was not the Euangelists purpose nor indeed a matter beseeming the authority of him whom the Lord vsed for his Secretary to dispute by writing with prophane and blasphemous Apostates but to instruct the Church of Christ in the truth formerly deliuered And this he hath performed with such maiestie and authoritie that we may see in him the grace answerable to that name q Marke 3. 17 which his Lord and Master gaue him euen power to thunder For who is not astonied with admiration of those wonderfull mysteries concerning our Sauior Christs eternal diuinitie which this sonne of thunder as it were ratleth out Therefore did r August Prolog in Ioa. Theodor prodromus in distich the antient writers cōpare him to an Eagle as one that mounted vp aboue the pitch of
propounded in the first verse and repeated in the second In the former he is set out to vs by that which concerneth the nature of his Godhead and his person in the Godhead For his nature he is first said to haue beene eternall In the beginning Secondly to be God And the word was God Touching his person he is cald the Word or Sonne In the beginning was the Word Secondly his distinction from God the Father and yet his equalitie with God the father is signified when it is said that Hee was with God In the second 3. of the fiue points are repeated iointly in one sentence That the word was eternall equall to God and distinct from God O glorious and admirable mysteries Where are they now that lewdly and prophanely scoffe at Christian Religion because forsooth it teacheth nothing but that which is common and ordinarie Common and ordinarie So strange and extraordinarie are the secrets of the Gospell that no man of himselfe is able to deuise them by his wit or to beleeue them with his heart Take the deepest points of naturall Philosophie so they bee indeed true and a man of good capacitie will quickly and easily be brought to giue assent to the truth thereof because hee hath in him the light of naturall reason whereby they may certainely be discerned But the secrets of Christian religion are such and so farre aboue the reach of humane reason that although you make a man vnderstand them neuer so perfectly yet you cannot possibly make him acknowledge them for truth Truth in philosophie is such as that reason if a man suffer himselfe to be directed by it will enforce him to beleeue it Trueth in diuinitie is such as that the more we hearken to our naturall reason the lesse we are perswaded of the mysteries of religion It is for him and for him onely to incline the heart to the beliefe of those secrets who first reuealed them to be beleeued But what doe I While I labour to set out the excellencie of the Gospell by shewing that it conteineth many strange and hidden mysteries it may bee feared that I driue men away from the hearing and reading of it by the darkeness and profoundnesse of these secrets But be not discouraged brethren I beseech you If they were more obscure and deepe then they are yet who could despaire of sounding the depth therof as long as he may haue so skilfull and able a Pilot What though they be mysteries x 1. Cor. 2. 10 Yet hath God reuealed them to vs by his spirit euen by that spirit which searcheth all things yea the deepe things of God Could not hee y Iohn 11. 37 say the faithlesse Iewes that opened the eies of the blind haue caused that Lazarus should not haue died And cannot hee may wee confidently say that * Psal 8. 2 Out of the mouthes of Babes and sucklings hath ordeined strength because of his enemies that he might still the enemie and the auenger subdue the Rebellion of our corrupt reason bring it into obedience to beleeue his holy trueth Wherefore hath hee reuealed it but that it might bee knowen and acknowledged For your farder incouragement let our Euangelist S. Iohn be taken as an example Art thou young a Hieronym Catalog script in Ioann ad Dan. cap. 9 contr Ioui lib. 1. So was our Euangelist when it pleased our Sauiour to call him to the profession of the Gospell Witnesse the continuance of his life sixty eight yeeres after his Lord and Masters passion But thou hast not beene brought vp to learning What teaching and education had hee thinkest thou who b Mark 1. 19 was trained vp vnder his father a poore fisherman to get his liuing in the sweate of his browes by fishing What time could he haue to goe schoole whose maintenaunce depended on his labour and to whom all the paines he could possibly take would hardly afford some small means of a poore liuing You will say This fauour was extraordinarie Yet so that it was common to him with c Matth. 4. 18 his brother Iames and d Iohn 1. 44 with two other brethren his Countrimen Andrew and Peter But what speake I of two or foure Many and many thousands continually from time to time for almost these one thousand and sixe hundreth yeers haue beene brought to the knowledge and beliefe of these mysteries Is the Lords hand now shortened Doth he not still in mercy vouchsafe vs the meanes of knowledge and beleeuing What doe wee then with these doubtfull thoughts and vnthankefull hearts Away with them Away with them let vs desire and and endeuour to learne and e Ioh. 6. 45. wee shall bee all taught of God Yea with such a teaching as shall enlighten our vnderstanding incline our hearts confirme our memory reforme our affections and continually assure vs both of the truth that we beleeue and of the constant loue of God to vs in our perseuerance in beleeuing With this desire and confidence let vs in the feare of God addresse our selues to the hearing vnderstanding and beleeuing of these glorious mysteries The first whereof for I will handle them as they lie in the Text is this that The VVord was in the beginning Wherein for your better vnderstanding and memory f The course that is held in these Sermons I will first giue the sense of the Text 1. by expounding the words and 2. deliuering the meaning of the Euangelist 2. then I will handle the doctrine by 1. proouing the truth of it and 2. adding exhortation accordingly where it shall be needfull And this course if it please God I will follow in all the rest of the Gospell In seeking out the sense of this Scripture wee must enquire 1. who is meant by the VVord then wee must consider 2. what the Euangeliâ—â—â—aith of him In the former we must see how this tearm the VVord belongeth to him of whom it is spoken Secondly why that name is giuen him in this place In the later part these 2. points are to bee deliuered why it is said The VVord was rather then Hath beene 2. What is meant by those wordes In the beginning g The exposition of the words Who is meant by the Word The first point who is meant by the VVord is easie and manifest namely he of whom the whole Gospell is written Iesus Christ h Epiphan haercs 51. August de haeres cap. 8. 10 Theodor. haeret fabul lib. 2. the Sonne of God the promised Messiah Him the Heretickes Cerinthus and Ebion denied to bee God blasphemously auouching that he tooke his first beginning of his Mother the Virgin Mary Against their false and poysonous doctrine the holy Euangelist teacheth the Church that The word was in the beginning But let the Text it selfe speake Is i Ioh. 1. 1. not he called the Word of whom k Verse 7. Verse 4. Verse 7. Iohn came to beare witnesse At the 4.
the true God is spoken of I will goe no furder to confute this error then this present Chap. Was it not the true God that sent Iohn Baptist before the Messiah Is not he called the Lord of hosts by q Maâ—ach 3. 1 the Prophet Malachy Behold I will send my messenger Who wil send In the latter end of the ver Behold he shall come sayth the Lord of hosts And yet of him r Ioh. 1. 6 saith our Euangelist There was a man sent s 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from God vvhere there is no article Shall we belieue the Prophet of the Lord or this false Prophet Arius The one saith the Lord of hosts sent Iohn the Bap. the other tels vs Hee that sent him was not the true God because the article is not set before God This one place were sufficient to confound that vaine and false exception especially beeing in the same Euangelist and within so few lines after the former But I will briefly note some other to make it more cleere if it may be It cannot bee doubted but that God whom no man hath seene at anie time is the true God t Exo. 34. 20. 23 Thou canst not see my face saith the true God to Moses thou shalt see my back parts but my face shall not be seene Doth not S. Iohn speake of the same true God when he sayth u Ioh. 1. 18 No man hath seen God at any time Is not x 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Word in this place also without an article So is it there To them he gaue prerogatiue to be the sons of y 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God The like examples are euery where to bee found in this and the other Euangelists in the writings of the Apostles And surely if the addition of the article be sufficient to proue that the true God is signified wheresoeuer that is set before the Arians are manifestly conuinced by that place of * Rom. 9. 5 Chrysost in Ioa. hom 3. Theophil aâ— hunc locum Saint Paul who is God aboue all which is spoken of our Sauiour Christ and yet hath the article though not immediately before it If you enquire more particularly why the article is put in before God in the former clause and left out in the later First I say the Euangelist might vse his liberty as all that write in Greeke doe to take it or leaue it at his good pleasure where the matter did not require the presence of it Secondly it was fit rather to put the word without it then with it because as I signified before God in the former place noteth the person of the Father who is the first of the three in order but in the later the nature of God which is common to all three persons If he should haue left it or vsed it in both the sense would haue bene more darke and the distinction of the persons not so easily obserued Thirdly it could not haue bene so plaine or certaine that the word was to be taken â—or the former part of the speech but it would haue beene much doubted whether the Euangelist meant to tell vs that God was the word as the words lie or that the word was God as some haue vnderstood him Therefore there is neuer a word nor letter in this first verse wherby our Christian faith touching our Sauiours God head can be weakned Nor any thing saith Arius whereby it may be strengthened No Doth not the holy Ghost auouch that â—e is eternall hauing his perfect being already when all things created began first to be Is it not affirmed that He was with God when nothing had any being but God your vaine and friuolous exceprions haue bin prooued void Let all this passe Can any thing be plainer then this direct affirmation that the word was God The word saith Arius was God but no otherwise then some men are called by that name The true God a Exod. 7. 1 sayd to Moâ—es I haue made thee a God to Pharaoh yea to all them to whom the word of God came he saith as much b Psal 82. 6. I haue said yee are Gods A poore shift The very sight of the place affords a sufficient answere c Hilar. de Trinit lib. 7. Moses is made Pharaohs God and those Rulers were said to be Gods Doth the holy Ghost say either of Moses or any other that they were God simplie as our Euangelist doth of the VVord If the VVord had bene made God or if the Lord had onely affirmed of him that he had called him God there might haue bene som occasion of doubting because there are some such like speeches of other men in the Scripture But what wilfull wrangling is it to call so plain a matter into question vpon so vnlike a maner of speech Moses was God to Pharaoh not simply God They were vouchsaf't the name of gods They were not simply gods There was no daunger in either of both those speeches Hee that reades I haue made thee God can readily conceiue that this made God is not the true God And as easie is it for any man to assure himselfe that those rulers are not God indeed aswel because they were many but God is one is also for that they are presently threatned d Psal 82 7 that they shall dye like men But simply to name him God whose eternity was before auouched whose preseÌ„ce with God before the world was affirm'd and to whom afterward the creation of all things is ascribed had been the realy waie to fill the hearts of men with idolary if Iesus had not been indeed very God by nature Therefore it is not possible to perswade any Christian man whose eyes are not blinded with the mist of preiudice and error that the holy Ghost would open such a gate to impiety calling him God without addition limitation or exposition who had affirmed asmuch of himselfe and of whome the whole Christian world was so perswaded when this Gospell was to be written Nay rather he would by all meanes haue refrayned to giue the â—east suspicion of such a conceit by which men might haue beene drawen into so horrible and dangerous an â—eresie But no truth of reason no authority of Scripture could reforme the error or stop the mouth of that wretched hereticke till the Lord Iesus himselfe our God vtterly destroyed him by a most fearefull iudgement For e Ruffin hist eccl lib. 1 cap. 3 at the verie time when hee was ready to goe to the Chruch to maintaine his blasphemous heresie being forced by necessity of nature to goe aside into a coÌ„mon place appointed for that purpose as it might be Queen hithe here in London he voyded with reuerence bee it spoken his very entrails and so ended at once both his life and his blasphemie Doe wee tremble at the horror of this iudgement Oh then let vs take heede my brethren how wee like of his doctrine
seueral man Paul Peter Iames and Iohn are foure men aswell as foure persons But the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost are onely three persons and not three Gods For the establishing of your faith in this point I pray you remember that I haue made it euident to you out of the scripture both that euerie one of these is a seuerall person and also that they are all three but one God That euery one of them is God it hath been manifestly proued and no lesse that there is but one God Whereupon it must necessarily follow that they are all three not three Gods but one God And this is that which you haue set downe in the Creede named before l Athâ—nas Creed ver 3. That we worshippe one God in Trinitie and Trinitie in Vnitie that is one God and yet three persons Three persons and yet one God If any man for the satisfying of his minde desire farther to vnderstand the reason of this difference betwixt the Creator and the Creatures why euerie seuerall person amongst men should be also a seuerall man and not all one man and yet the three persons but one God he must knowe that this proceedes from the diuersitie of nature in God and man The nature of man being finit may be multiplyed into many seuerall men of the same kindes But the nature of God being infinit cannot possibly admitte any multiplication because there cannot be many infinits or infinit substances as there may be and are verie many finit substances seuerall and differing each from other He that can with iudgement and learning examine those points that concerne the nature of God may conceiue the truth of that I say they that cannot haue sufficient ground for their beliefe in the word of that God who neither can be deceiv'd in discerning his owne nature because he is infinitly wise nor will deceiue any man in speaking of it because hee is infinite in truth and goodnes â—et vs goe forwarde therefore to learne of him the doctrine of the Trinitie The word Trinitie as I sayd ere while of Person is in no place of Scripture but the thing being there we are not to refuse or mislike the word especially since it is of good vse and hath beene of so long continuance in the Chruch It is enough if wee vnderstand that whensoeuer the Trinitie is named all three persons are signified as for example when wee say the Trinitie is holy blessed and glorious wee meane that the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost are holy blessed and glorious When wee say the Trinitie of persons it is our purpose to shew the nuÌ„ber of the persons that they are three These two points touching the vnitie of the god head and Trinitie of the persons are set out at large in l â—â—th mas Creed ver 3. 4. 5 c. Ver. 4. the forenamed Creed from the beginning of the third verse to the ende of the twentie one verse The summe of all is this that wee must neither confound the persons nor diuide the substance To confound in that place signifies to mingle together and so to make one of many and that is the verie naturall meaning of the Latine word So that when wee are forbidden to confound the persons wee are taught that wee may not so hold the vnitie of the Godhead that we denie the Trinitie of the persons and in stead of three make but one whereas Ver. 5. according to the next verse There is one person of the Father another of the Sonne and another of the holy Ghost and not one of all three Neither yet may wee diuide the substance as if the diuine nature were multiplied according to the number Ver. 6. 7. of the persons For as it followeth immediately the Godhead of the Father of the Sonne and of the holy Ghost is all one the glorie equall the maiestie coaeternall Therefore all the attributes properties and titles which appertaine to God belong equally and in the same respects to all onely they are distinguished by that which is proper to each person The particulars whereby Ve. 8 9. 10 c. this matter is declared in the same Creede are these To be vncreated Incomprehensible Eternall Almightie to be God and Lord. All these and all the rest of this kind which are many are common to all three persons because the nature of all three is one and the same wherefore although wee must acknowledge euerie person by himselfe Ver 19. to bee God and Lord yet wee may not say there are three Gods or three Lords Ver. 20. I haue shewed you that there is but one God which is three persons euerie one of them being alike and equall in all things that belong to the nature of the godhead It remaines that I should speake of the distinction of the three persons onely so farre as to make vs vnderstand wherein that distinction consists For the better conceiuing whereof wee may say in one word that the manner of being which each person hath proper to himselfe is that by which they are distinguished in all other things there is no reall distinction of any one of them from another The very names themselues which are giuen to them seuerally in Scripture point to the distinction that is amongst them The Father as euery man knowes in that hee is a Father or as hee is a Father is conceiv'd to bee of himselfe and to giue being to his Sonne Consider Adam the first man without looking backe to his creation by which he had his being from God but looke onely forward as hee was his Son Abels Father Do you not plainely perceiue that Adam thus considered is author oâ— Abels being Apply this to God the Father Being God hee canne in that regard haue no authour nor beginning of being Consider him as the Father Hee Ver. 21 is of himselfe not made not created not begotten not proceeding It is not possible truly to imagine any thing of his Being but that Hee is May wee reasonably affirme the like of the Sonne Surely as hee is God there can nothing be sayd or conceiv'd of the Father but may truely and must necessarily bee spoken and thought of the Sonne and of the holy Ghost seuerally aswel as of the Father wherin then lies the distinction Euery man can readily answer In his manner of being or in his being the Sonne Take the former example Adam and Abel are both men in respect of their humane nature there is no difference betwixt them What then Is there none at all therefore yes sure Adam hath not his being of any other as hee is a Father Abell hath his as hee is a Sonne of his Father Adam Let it not trouble you that I mention a difference betwixt Adam and Abell and acknowledge no difference but onely a distinction betwixt God the Father and the Sonne the reason is because Adam and Abell are as two persons so two men God
about a matter of so small importance only I see no necessity of any such curiosity in translating For seeing it is very apparant that the Evangelist intendeth to describe our Sauiour Christ of whome the whole Gospell doth intreate and that al the other verses and clauses of verses are applyed therevnto he must needs be lesse then a reasonable man that would pluck this verse out of the midst of the rest and conceiue that by it which neuer came into the thought of him that pend it But for the translation reade it as you please so you vnderstand the meaning of the Euangelist aright that the Word or Sonne of God our Sauiour Christ made all things This being vnderstood wee are first to enquire what this speech importeth By him then what is said of him namely what this making was and what was made By him or By it By the VVord or by the Sonne why dâ—th the Euangelist make choise of this kind of speech and not rather say plainely as he might He made all things It is and hath bin alwaies commonly held that this maner of speaking doth better set out the worke of the Creation and confirme that former point of doctrine whereby our Sauiour was affirmed to bee the sonne of God If it had bin said that The VVord created all things it might haue bin imagined that the Father had had no hand therein whereas now it is implyed that the Father made all things by the Sonne But surely sauing their better iudgemeÌ„t that thus reasoÌ„ there is no more feare least the father shoulde bee thought not to haue created the world because the sonne did then least the holy Ghost should by the same speech be imagined to haue had nothing to do therein it is as much against the truth of religion to deny or doubt of the Godhead of the holy Ghost as of the fathers being God Yea the daunger was greater concerning the holy Ghost because not only the Scripture doth more often ascribe that worke of creation to the Father then to the holy Ghost but also the generall opinion of al men makes the father a Creator whereas the diuine nature of the holy Ghost is not so commonly knowne or beleeued Neither will this kind of speech which our Euangelist here vseth though you take it neuer so largely preuent or remedy that doubt touching the worke of the holy Ghost in the Creation but that for ought that can possibly be implied in this phrase By him the spirit may be thought to be no creator But that I may omit nothing which may be gathered for our instruction out of any reasonable obseruation let vs a little consider how this manner of speaking may confirme our faith concerning our Sauiour Christs being of his father When we say By him we ofteÌ„ times imply that there was some other beside him of whom we so speak For example if I say By Ioab the Ammonits were subdued I may signifie thereby that Dauid did sub due them by Ioab So By the VVord all things were made I may hereby giue notice that the father made al things by the Word Yet to say the truth neither doth this maner oâ— speech vsually imply any such matter nor the other exclude any that are or may be held to haue bin doers therein And therfore we are faine to adde only or alone when we would haue it conceiu'd that some one was the dooer of this or that But let vs grant that By him signifieth also the working of the Father that wee maye come to the cheefe thing intended by that obseruation What if all thinges be made by the Sonne We must learne thereby that the Sonne hath all that he hath from the Father and not of himselfe The father is said to haue made all things because he is of himselfe All things are said to be made by the sonne for that he is of another I propound these things to your consideration not so much with any opinion that the Euangelist had any such meaning as for the satisfaction of some who think it not lawfull to leaue any thing vntaught which hath beene formerly observ'd and deliuered for truth And I doe it the oftener now in this beginning that I may rather bee excused hereafter for leauing that out of my exposition which hath no certaine euidence of truth nor great likelihood of reason Wherefore I will for the most part content my selfe with the alleaging and refuting of such interpretations onely as the heretikes Papists and other haue made for the avowing of some of their errors For the present to cleare that which I haue begunne to speake of the doctrine of our Sauiours receiuing his being from his Father yea the very power of creating if you consider him as a Sonne is true and souÌ„d For being so coÌ„sidred he is wholly of the Father and hath nothing of himselfe that wee may not continue a needlesse fruitlesse controuersie begune slaunderously by some Papists and ignorantly as I shewed in my last exerciâ—e concerning the Godhead of the Sonne But this Doctrine cannot necessarily be gathered from this kind of phrase But if our Euangelist had intended any such thing hee would haue said that the Father made all things by the Sonne as u Heb. 1. 2. the Apostle speaketh By whome also he made the world and not thus vncertainely and to such a purpose obscurely By him all things were made Especially since the same speech may truely be vttered euen of God the Father or of the Diuine nature in which all three Persons are comprehended I doe therefore rather perswade my selfe that the Euangelist vsed his libertie and whereas hee might say either He made all things or By him all things were made he did make choise of the later both for variety and for elegancy of speech He had spoken of the Word altogether as yet after one maner of phrase The Word was that he now varies saying not He made but By him were made and this suiteth with the next verse very fitly By him were all things made In him was life There is no question but that this making which the Euangelist here noteth was the creating of the world whereof Moses speaketh And how soeuer it is a common opinion that creating signifieth making without any matter whereof the things to bee created should be made whereas making presupposeth matter ready to be framed and formed yet indeed there caÌ„ hardly be any such distinction wrung out of the words themselues For neither hath the Hebrew that Moses vseth to set out the creation any such nature nor the Greeke by which it is translated For the former it appeareth manifestly by the ordinary vse of it in the Scripture and namely by Moses himselfe who applies the word making to that which in in the next verse he cals creating lâ—t vs make man Thus God created the man in his image The words are diuers and yet spokeÌ„ of the same thing or
the lesse because they are generally so well knowne to all men and describ'd somewhat largely in the hystorie of the creation Yet thus much I may and must say that if wee did more aduisedly consider either the whole frame of the world how each part serueth and beautifieth other or the particular creatures euerie one by themselues wee should discerne the power and wisedome of the Creator in a farre more excellent sort then euer yet wee sawe it But I will not enter into so large a fielde least the varietie of most admirable workemanshippe make mee forget my selfe and stay mee too long in the course of my present iorney to the ende of this whole verse Onely I will commend to your priuate meditation for this purpose the later ende of the booke of Iob from the beginning of Chapter 38. to the ende of 41. Where the Lord himselfe from heauen thunders out a wonderfull description of his diuine power and wisedome in the varietie of his workes and the incredible strength of some speciall creatures to the vtter confusion of m August de â—aeros cap. 46. the wicked Maniches who blasphemously gaue the glorie of these wonders to an Idoll of their owne senselesse deuising and setting vp But they that haue either the light of true reason or the direction of the holy spirit cleerly see and willingly acknowledge that the least and meanest creature in the world could neuer haue beene but by the infinit power of God and being is a sufficient proofe of that power by which it is This I speake the rather because n Aâ—crroes aly some learned fooles being inforced by the light of nature to discern the Creator in the creatures and yet being not willing to assent to the truth of Religion in the Scripture haue presumed to denie both the creation and prouidence of God in the smaller and inferiour creatures and in ordinary matters of no great moment Why so Because forsooth they were too base for God to make or meddle with O the nicenesse of vaine men As if the Sun that shineth out of the heauens were defiled or abased by casting of his beames vpon any place though neuer so homely or vncleanely But of the prouidence of God vpon some fitter occasion hereafter For the creation of such small and meane creatures wee haue authoritie of Scripture to assure vs they are GODS workemanshippe and strength of reason to proue that they are worthie to bee acknowledged for his And for Scripture what better warrant can wee desire then the testimony of the holy Ghost by o Gen. 1. 20. Moses in the report he makes of the first creation God said Ver. 24. Lette the waters bring foorth in aboundance euery creeping thing that hath life And of the earth afterward God said Let the earth bring foorth the liuing thing according to his kind cattell and that which creepeth There is not any creature in the Sea or on the Land of lesse woorth then that which creepeth Is it not a part of the Serpents punishment to go on his belly p Gen. 3. 14. Because thou hast done this thou art accursed aboue all cattell and aboue euery beast of the field vpon thy belly shalt thou goe and dust shalt thou eate all the daies of thy life Is there any baserfood then the dust of the earth And yet that is the ordinary meate of such thinges as craul vppon the land As for those that creepe in the water mudde and slyme is their ordinary sustenance Yet are both the one and the other created by the Lorde Therefore also haue they their part in praising and magnifying their heauenly creator q Psal 148. 10. Beasts and all Cattell creeping things and feathered foules Yea they are not only the creatures of God but howsoeuer for a time they were ceremonially vncleane by nature cleane good So did the Lord himselfe teach and informe r Act. 10. 10. Peter by a voice from heauen The holy Apostle was hungry and while meate was dressing for him fell into a trance wherein he saw a vessell come downe from heanen in which were amongst verse 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. other creatures creeping things Then there came a voice to him willing him to kill and eate Is not this a sufficient proofe of their creation and cleanness They came now downe from heauen and Peter was will'd to eate of them But Peter remembring that they were forbidden to bee eaten as vncleane began to excuse himselfe The Lord to cut of all obiections answers him againe The thing that God hath purified pollute thou not This was so done thrice saith the Text. Why so often but that all doubt of their vncleannesse might be cleane taken away Well say you let them be cleane forvse especially in acase of necessity yet they are not worthy to be held for the creatures of God Not worthy and yet haue being mouing and life Any one of these were sufficient to make them shew some part of his greatnesse from whom they are Take the least of the 3. Is there not an infinit difference betwixt not being and being Or can any power lesse then infinit giue being where there is none Do not all things as it were speake sound out the excellency of being when they feare and striue against nothing more then least they should not bee What hath made some profane wretches that had no hope of life after their death in this world to wish that they might liue though it were but in the forme nature of Todes or Spiders It is an old and true obseruation euen of the heathen that euery thing is naturally desirous to continew its being by all meanes possible But these fond wise men shall be condemned by some like themselues Let vs heare Pharaohs in chaunters giue in their verdict When they all crauled with lice saw that God who had suffered the Diuel for a time to deceiue them with vaine shewes would no longer endure his and their damnable presumption they cried out to Pharaoh Å¿ 〈◊〉 3. 19. This is the singer of God Surely if making lice of dust be not dishonourable to God but the wretched sorcerers are inforced to acknowledge his power in them what madnes is it to deny him the creation of the smallest and meanest things Yet I would not be so vnderstood as if I thought that euery kinde of such creatures was made at the first creation within the compass of those six daies It is enough for vs to beleeue and acknowledge that all things had their being from God both for their nature and their properties and that no kind of creature hath bin is or shal be at any time bred but according to the appointment of the Lord and by the meanes which he from the beginning ordained fitted to that purpose Thence it is that diuerse liuing creatures are daily bred of dust mudd slyme and such like Not as if these
that leadeth vnto life It is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed then hauing two hands or two feete to be cast into euerlasting fire This is that life of glorie which is verie often called euerlasting life and whereof our Euangelist speaketh continually almost in euerie Chapter of this Gospell diuers times especially in the thirde the fift and the sixt The life of grace is more often in the Epistles k Rom. 6. 4. 8. 2. That wee might walke in newnesse of life The spirit of life which is in Christ Iesus l 2. Cor. 4. 10. That the life of Iesus might also bee made manifest in our bodies m Eph. 4 18. Strangers from the life of God I haue beene somewhat the larger in this matter because it helpeth much to the vnderstanding of many texts of Scripture to knowe the different sense of the word in question For the place in hand it is commonly thought to be meant of that natural life which all liuing creatures receiue from their creator as if the Euangelist should haue sayd that not onely all things were made by him as the author of their being but also that they had their life too from him But this sauing their better iudgemeÌ„t that so expound the text seemes to me somewhat vnlikely For why should the Euangelist repeate that in this verse which hee had deliuered so fully immediately before All things were made by him Was there any feare that some exception would bee taken to these wordes could any man imagine that this making of all things implyed no more but the outwarde fashioning and framing of them and not also the inwarde forme and wholenature If wee will giue the wordes leaue to reach as farre as by their nature they doe All things must needes import the same thinges in their best estate with all their naturall qualities properties and whatsoeuer else belongs to their being that which they are For example let vs speake a word or two of some particulars By him were all trees made What would a reasonable man vnderstand by this speech That the body of the trees onely or the roots boughes and branches and leaues and not the life of the Trees was made by him Surely to speake according to truth all these without the life and forme doe no more make a Tree then a body without a soule doth a Man I might say the like of men By him were all men made If the Lord God had onely framed Adam of the dust of the ground and not breathed into his face the breath of life might hee haue beene sayd to haue created a man No surely vnlesse a carcase bee a man after the soule is departed out of it But let vs thinke the Euangelist might haue such a meaning would he trow yee haue spoken as hee doth if he had meant as you say In him was life that is say you Hee also gaue life to all things that hee had made Who can so much deceiue himselfe as to conceiue that Saint Iohn would deliuer his minde so darkely and doubtfully Beside was not this you speake of a creature If so it was before compris'd vnder those generall tearmes All things and needed no repetition Neither will this interpretation of the word agree fitly with that which followeth Is it not euident that the life and the light are of the same kinde both naturall or both supernaturall But the light as it shall appeare anone is that of grace to faith not of nature to knowledge For the light of nature did comprehend the Creator so far as to acknowledge it selfe to proceede from him and to depend vpon him Therefore n Rom. 1. 20. the Apostle Saint Paul doth not accuse the heathen of ignorance for not knowing God to be their maker but for not honouring him according to the knowledge they had of him The inuisible things of God saith hee that is his eternall power and Godhead are seenâ— by the creation of the world being considered in his workes that they might bee without excuse Because when they knew Ver. 21. God they glorified him not as God So then the Heathen for all the darkenesse of nature did comprehend the life that was the naturall light of their soules If you answere that they did not perfitly vnderstand all things that concerne him as the Creator you say true but not much to purpose For who is there that euer did oâ— can especially while hee liues in this world compassed about with this house of clay so fully conceiue those points as they are to bee and shall be after this life vnderstood But some man will say perhaps that although the giuing of life to all things was signified in the making of them yet the preseruing and maintaining of it was not Nor of their being which can no more bee continued without the power of God support them in it then their life can Therefore the Apostle describing our Sauiour Christs Godhead sets it out by this verie worke thereof when he sayth of him that o Heb. 1. 3. He beares vp all things by his mightie word and p Act. 17. 28. in another place where hee tels the heathen that they liu'd and mou'd in God hee addeâ— also that in him they had their being If then there were no necessitie to expresse the sustaining of all things in their being no more was there to note particularly the continuing of them in life Yea perhaps it might be dangerous to mention the later and conceale the former least some men should gather that all thinges stand in neede of God to preserue their life but not to continue their being Giue mee leaue to apply one of my former exceptions to the cleering of this matter also How strangely doth the Euangelist speake if his meaning be as you make it In him was life That is Hee preserues all thinges in life Could this point bee more obscurely deliuered What reason can you giue mee why the holy Ghost should say was when he intended to signifie the continuall preseruing of life why did hee not rather say In him is life Or in him the life of all thinges is continually preserv'd But if by life you will haue the preseruing of things in their being signified I desire to see some warrant of Scripture or ground of reason for the vsing of that word in that sense Surely there can bee no such found in any place of all the Scripture either or the word life or for the phrase In him was life What remaines then but q Clem. Alex andr pae lagog lib. 1. cap. 6. A thanaâ— lib. 3. â—â— homâ— Ambâ—o lib. 3 de fide cap 3. to expound the word of that supernaturall life by which wee liue through faith in Christ This is the life of which our Euangelist so often speakes in this Gospell comming to vs by and in Christ Let vs heare our Sauiour himselfe speake t Ioh. 5. 24.
labour will serue because there would haue beene no doubt of the meaning but for the needlesse curiositie of some that make themselues worke where they finde none What reasonable man would make any question but that the Euangelist in both clauses speakes of the same life In him was life What followes And that life was the light of men What life thinke you Any other then that he named presently yea immediatly before I say these meÌ„ else why hath hee added the article in this later part which he had omitted in the former what needs all this adoe about the Article How vaine and false the obseruation is that hath no better ground then the presence or absence of the article I shewed in expounding the first verse against the Arians Here is lesse colour for the profe of any difference First the course of writing which the Euangelist hath hitherto kept in the beginning of this Gospell makes it euident and certaine that the same life is meant in both places In the beginning was the word and the word was with God It is ridiculous to imagine that the word which was in the beginning should be any other word then that which was with God By him were all things made without him was nothing made that was made Without whom was nothing made without him by whom all things were made So in this verse the repeating of the same word teacheth vs that the same life and no other is signified Secondly there may sufficient reason be giuen why it was requisite if not necessary to adde the article in the later part Let vs make the Euangelist speake without it In him was life What then And life was the light of men Who can reasonably conceiue what life he meanes In the first verse I shew'd that there was good reason to place the Article before word that it might the easilier appeare whether the Euangelist intended to say The word was God or God was the Word The case is much a like Take away the Article and wee may well thinke that Saint Iohn tels vâ— that the light was life rather then that the life was the light of men Hee could not then speake otherwise if hee would speake plaine In him was life and that life was the light of men As for his omitting it in the first place it is vsuall with all our authors both diuine and humane to put it in or leaue it out at their pleasure The same life then which was in the Word was also the light of men But what light was that For the word may bee taken in diuers senses The most proper and ordinarie vse of light is to signifie that visible creature made by God * Gen. 1. 3. the first day of the creation by which all things afterward to bee created might be seene and they that had eyes might see But of this light there is no occasion to speake in this place neither was it in the Messiah and it is common to all creatures that can see as well as to men From this proper signification the word is applyed by a certaine resemblance to note out the instructing and teaching of the minde which is as iâ— were inlightned with knowledge whereby the vnderstanding is fitted to iudge of truth as the bodily eye discerneth colours This our Sauiour himselfe decleares both for the proper and figuratiue vse of the word I thinke it is not amisse to recite the place at large The light of the bodie a Luk. 11. 34. sayeth hee is the eye Not as the fountaine or spring of light but as the pipe which receiues and conueyes it to the vse of the body Therefore when thine eye is single then is they whole bodie light As the water that is taken out of the Well where it ariseth pure and cleane is so brought to the Cisterne if the pipe bee sweete and without filth so if the eye bee not dimd nor tainted with any euill humor the whole body receiues the light as it is bright and cleare But if thine eye bee euill sayth the text then the body is darke A Ver. 34. bad sight changeth light into darkenesse or at the least discernes not the brightnesse of it Take heede therefore sayth Christ that the light which is in thee bee not darkened What is the light that is in a man but the vnderstanding Therefore also it is often called by the name of eyes b Pal. 19. 8. The Commandement of the Lord is pure and giueth light vnto the eyes The Sunne inlightens the eyes of the body but the knowledge of the wil of God is that which maketh the vnderstaÌ„ding see Open mineeies saith the c Psal 1 19. 18. Prophet that I may see the wonders of thy law That the eyes of your vnderstanding may be lightned d â—â— ph 1. 18. sayth the Apostle that yee may knowe what is the hope of his calling This is that the Iewes commonly bragd of though falsely e Rom. 2. 19. That they were guides of the blinde alight to them which are in darkenes namely in the darknesse of ignoâ—ance not vndestanding the true way of righteousnes Now this light by which the vnderstanding is inabled to knowe and iudge is of two kindes naturall or supernatural which we also call spirituall The naturall light is that which we haue from God by nature either bred in vs with reason or gotten by reading hearing obseruation studying and such other meanes Of this speakes f Eceles 1. 13. the wise King I gaue heart sayth hee to search and finde out wisedome by all things that are done vnder the heauen This is that wisedome of the Aegyptians g Act. 7. 22. wherein Moses was learned The supernatural light is that knowledge of matters concerning euerlasting life which wee receiue froÌ„ God in the scriptures or by the ministery of men according to the trueth therein reuealed We speak e the wisedome of God in a mysterie sayth h 1. Cor. 2. 7. the Apostle euen the hidden wisedome which God had determined before the world to our glory These are the treasures of wisdome and knowledge al which i Col. 2. 3. the Apostle saith are hidin Christ who hath sent his Apostles and Ministers To make cleere vnto all men as k Eph. 39. Saint Paul sayth what the fellowship of the mysterie is which from the beginning of the world hath beene hid in God who hath created all thinges by Iesus Christ to the intent that now vnto principalities and powers in heauenly places might be knowne by the Church the manifold wisdom of God These are the two kindes of light whereby the vnderstanding of man is inlightned and instructed The questioÌ„ is whether of these two the holy Ghost meaneth in this place A question easie to bee aunswered will some man say For seeing it was proued that by life in the former part of the verse not the naturall but the supernaturall life was
wouldst fainest please Art thou not afraid least while thou dost thy whole in deauour to serue one all the rest thinke themselues neglected Or canst thou haue so base an estimation of their excellency or so proude a conceit of thine owne worth as to imagine that thou canst doe them all seruice to their likeing Art thou so farre in loue with thy owne selfe that thou neuer perceiu'st wherein thou offend'st any of them Let me come neerer to thee Doth not thy hart tell thee that the greatest motiue thou hast to vertue is the praise and applause of men Thou hast it and in it thou hast thy full reward It is pitty I confesse to leaue a man in this desperate estate if he wil be content to receiue better instruction But it fareth with the wise men of this worlde in this matter as it doth with some melancholie person whoÌ„ if a Physician offer to cure hee wil not bee perswaded that he standes in neede of helpe but if you bee earnest with him in the businesse he will take on against you as against a foole or one that meant to murder him VVee preach Christ crucified saith the Apostle to the Iewes a 1 Cor. 1. 23. stumbling block to the Grecians foolishnesse To the ignorant you wil say and vnlearned not of iudgement and knowledge What say you to the Epicures and Stoiks were they void of learning and vnderstanding I doubt me you wil finde but a very fewe men worthy to bee counted learned if you condemne them of ignorance How did they entertaine the doctrine of the Gospell brought vnto them by the learned and eloquent Apostle Saint Paul They disputed against him they called him Act. 17. 28. babbler they tooke him for a setter out of strange Gods Yea the greatest fauour he could find amongst the Athenians in a learned Vniuersity was this that some mocked others said Wee will heare thee againe of this thing Some in Verse 32. deede claue vnto him whereof one was a Iudge in the Citty but neither was his learning the reason of his Verse 34. yeelding and what is one amongst so many thousands The naturall man saith S. Paul perceiueth not the things of the spirit of God for they are foolishnesse vnto him neither 1. Cor. 2. 14. can he knowe them because they are spiritually discerned And is he not then blind and ignorant if he neither do nor can perceiue the secrets of God touching his owne saluation Me thinks I discerne a certaine cheerefulnes in your countenances arising as I verely perswade my selfe from the sense of the knowledge you haue in this greate mystery of your redemption It will saue mee some labour that the rest of this short time remaining may be bestowed vpon the later part of this verse Only giue me leaue in two words both to abate the pride of our nature by shewing our ignorance and to increase the joy of the spirit by looking on the light that shines about vs and in vs. There is no one sin to which we are naturally more subiect then pride no pride that doth sooner or more puffe vs vp then the opinion of knowledge For since the vnderstanding is the most principall part of the soule how can it bee but a man must principally delight in that which is the cheefest perfection therof What should then in reason bee of greater force to make vs strike the saile of pride then the consideration of our ignorance Euery one of vs is ready to say to himselfe Haue not I sharpnesse of witte soundnesse of iudgement a quick conceit to apprehend what I heare a deepe reach to compasse what I disire I say nothing of extraordinary learning because it concernes not euery man And is this that which makes thee proud Let me question with thee a little Art thou indeed so sharpe so sound so quicke so deepe Make proofe of these excellent parts in a matter that concerns thee neerely and imports thee much Canst thou by the sharpnesse of thy wit cleere thy selfe against the accusation of thy conscience Canst thou by the soundnesse of thy iudgement determine wherein true selicity consists Canst thou by the quicknes of thy conceit venderstand readily the whole doctrine of saluation Canst thou by the depth of thy reach procure a place for thy selfe in heauen What none of al these Cal thy wits together beate thy braines about the matter Let thy conceit work vpon whatsoeuer nature or humane learning can teach thee deâ—ise plot contriue Comes all to nothing O the ignorance and blindnesse of men Let vs bee as wise and skilfull in worldly matters as we conceiue ourselues to be in true wisedom and knowledge we are fooles and blind Darknesse palpable darknes nothing but darknesse I make challenge here to all the learned of the world that euer were are or shall bee to shew their skil and learning either in deuising a means to bring a distressed soule to quietnesse and comfort or in disprouing the meanes discouered by the Gospel or in prouing the truth of it as it is reuealed If they can doe none of all these let them confesse as they must needes that they are indeed blind and ignorant This being confest as it cannot be denied let vs see now what meanes they are are able to procure of inlightning and instruction Nature affords them none for if it did some man or other in all this time would haue hit vpon it Will learning helpe them It is not possible it should For what is learning but the perfection of nature If the foundation bee weake the building must needes bee ruinous The light of nature may shew thee many defects and faults many vices and vnruly affections the knowledge of Philosophy may confirme this Iudgement of nature and adde much to the heape that thou maist be ouerwhelmed with the consideration of thy wickednesse and wretchednesse But neither can both these by any study and meditation fully informe thee of thy miserable and damnable estate and when they haue done all they possibly can they wil either leaue thee desperate to consume thy selfe with sorrow or bring thee into a fooles paradise and lead thee gaily to destruction as an Oxe with guilded hornes sweet Garlands to be slaughtered in sacrifice How then shal we get out of this darknesse Who wil shew vs the way to knowledge O that there were this hart in vs indeed O that wee were as truly desirous to find the right way as we are asham'd to be thought ignorant of it How easie were it for vs to be saued The light shines in darknesse That thou seekest for if thou seeke it in truth as thou dost in shew is neere thee is about thee is vpon thee I had almost said is in thee If thou wilt readâ— the Scriptures it wil thrust in by thine eies If thou wilt heare the Scriptures it will winde it selfe in through thine eares The light that shines in darknes wil
for your better satisfaction the prophecies of him and the performance of them witnessed in the scripture A voice cryeth in the wildernes saith the Prophet Esay Prepare yee the way of the Lord make Isai 40. 3. straight his pathes Malachy speakes somwhat more Mal. 3. 1. plaine Behold I will send my messenger and he shall prepare the way before mee What voice what messenger was this Let S. Mathew shew vs This is hee viz. Iohn Mat. 3. 3. Baptist of whom it is spoken by the Prophet Isaias saying The voice of him that cryeth in the wildernes c. The like hath S. Marke who begins his Gospell with the testimonie Mark 1. 2. of Malachy the last of the Prophets and applies it to Iohn Behold I send my messenger c. S. Luke also Luke 3. 4. beares witnes to the same truth that the ioint consent of al the 4. may be seene our Euangelist S. Iohn reporteth the same thing from the mouth of Iohn Baptist himselfe who being asked by the Priests Leuites sent from the Iewes what he said of himselfe answered I am Ioh. 1. 23. the voice of him that cryeth in the wildernes Make straight the way of the Lord. If there bee any man whome this colud of witnesses cannot perswade though hee deserue not any farder instruction yet let him hearken to our Sauiour affirming that this Iohn was that Elias of whom Malachy prophesied saying Behold Mal. 4. 5. I will send you Elias the Prophet before the comming of the great and fearefull day of the Lord. If ye will receiue Mat. 11. 14. it saith Christ This is Elias which was to come So had the Angell Gabriell prophecied of him before to his father Zacharie Hee shall goe before him Christ in the spirit and power of Elias There can possibly bee no doubt then but that hee which was in such extraordinarie sort sent from GOD both could and would testifie according to the truth hee had receiued by reuelation from him who imploied him in so worthy a seruice Is it not strange then yea almost more then incredible that the Iewes for whose sake principally if not only a messenger of such credit and authoritie was sent should so distast the chiefe point and the very substance of his Message I intend not to make any long discourse of the matter because I shall haue more iust occasion thereof at the 11. verse Yet I can not paste it ouer wholly in silence At his circumcision all that heard Luke 1. 60. Ver. 63. Ver. 64. what had happened that his mother against the liking of her kinred and freinds would needs haue him named Iohn that his father tooke writing tables and set downe the same name that therevpon he was restored to the vse of his speech hauing bin dumbe at the least 9. or 10. monethes all I say that heard these things were striken with feare and wonder saving one to another What manner of Child shall this be Now the time was come that they might cast off that feare and satisfie themselues concerning that their wondring He was growne to mans estate hee betooke himselfe to the worke of his calling hee perswaded and exhorted all men to repent he shewed them the Messiah he spake plainely of him as no prophet euer could that no man could doubt whom he meant Behold the Lambe of God Ioh. 1. 29. What could they desire more If the autoritie of the speaker might preuaile with them All men held Iohn Mat. 21. 26. for a Prophet If the warrant of his Doctrine were lookt for the people were generally of opinion that hee had it from heauen So that the Pharises Scribes durst not say the contrary for feare of the multitude What then Did hee speake obscurely and darkely after the manner of prophecies Hee pointed to the person with his finger This is hee of whome I said After mee commeth a man which is preferred before Ioh 1 30. me Hee declared his office in plaine words Behold the Lambe of God that taketh away the sinnes of Ver. 29. the world I may well take vp the complaint of the Prophet I say against this people in the like case What Isai 5. 4. could the Lord haue done more for them then he did Iohn Baptist came neither eating nor drinking but leading so austere a life that the very Heathen were moued with reuerence toward him Herod feared Iohn knowing Mark 6. 20. that hee was a iust man and an holy and reuerenced him and when he heard him did many things and heard him gladly But it was a small matter for the Iewes to make little accompt of Herods iudgement concerning the Baptist it was much they should not beleeue a man whom they thought to be sent from God Especially considering the end of his sending which Verse 7. wee haue set downe in these two next verses The same came for a witnes to beare witnesse of the light c. In the former whereof wee are first to speake of his office both in the generall that he came for a witnes and in the particular that hee was to beare witness of the light Secondly we must consider the amplification of this his office by the end That all men through him might beleeue and in the next verse by a deniall of the contrarie thereto he was not the light and a repetition of the office but was sent to beare witnes of the light In the first part there is no neede of any long exposition of the words they are so plaine onely somwhat must be said of the last of them a witnes The Greeke worde doth not signifie a partie that is to bee witnes but rather the testimonie it selfe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which hee must giue Therefore our Rhemists take aduantage to make the text as hard and vnpleasant as they can Hee came for testimonie say they For testimonie What English should a man pick out of such a strange kinde of speech Surely if any thing can reasonably bee made of it wee must vnderstand Testimonie for testimoniall as if the Euangelist had meant to tell vs that Iohns comming was for testimoniall But hee had no such thought For hee came not to haue any testimony of this or that from other men but to giue testimonie himselfe to other So that neither the worde testimonie may bee put for testimoniall nor if it might could it serue to expresse Saint Iohns meaning Which is nothing else but that the Baptist came to beare or giue witnes The phrase is somewhat diuers in the two clauses but the sense is absolutely one and the same May wee then so expound our Popish translation of the Rhemists This man say they came for testimonie that is to giue testimony Indeede that is the thing that our Euangelist would haue vs know but the English will not beare it For testimonie For to giue testimonie But such strange and new
of it in this place First wee see that in the next verse before it is of necessarie vse Hee was not the light Take away the Article and reade it thus Hee was not light or a light This were to Ioh. 5. 35. affirme a direct vntruth contrarie to the Scriptures For Iohn as our Sauiour himselfe hath testified of him was a burning and a shining candle Therefore must wee so conceiue the Euangelist that hee denies him to haue bin The light not a light or light Secondly the doubling of the Article and applying it both to the Substantiue light and the Adiectiue true whereas vsually it belongs onely to the former in the nature of the tongue and practise of the Scripture notes vnto vs some thing more then ordinarie of that kinde Mat. 3. 17. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereof there is speech This is that my Sonne that belouedone If the Article had bin left out in the later word any sonne might haue bin signified by that voice from heauen for ought the words necessarily imported But the repeating of it ties it as it were to the Person of our Sauiour Christ who was the onely naturall sonne of God his father And this is so much the more to bee considered because it is very rare in the Scripture to find examples of it Well then How shall wee translate it That was the light the true light These words expresse the Euangelists sense to the full yet leaue the Greek text vnblemished by putting the first and last words in a different letter from the rest as it is well obserued in our common translation that euery man may know what is in the Originall and what is added to set forth the holy Ghosts meaning according to the propertie of the seuerall tongues into which the Hebrew and Greeke are turned for the peoples vnderstanding But of the translation in this former part of the verse enough that which I haue to say concerning the later part I thinke best to reserue till I haue spoken of the distribution of the whole and come to the seuerall handling of that clause by it selfe In seeking out the distribution I doe not inquire into how many parcels or members the matter of it is to bee diuided which is commonly signified by that tearme distribution but I am to search first whether the whole verse be one proposition or sentence or els two In the first verse to make that I say plaine we had three seuerall propositions 1 The Worde was in the beginning 2. the Worde was with GOD 3. the Worde was GOD The second verse contained but one The same Worde was in the beginning with GOD. For although there bee at the least two diuers points in that sentence The Worde was in the beginning and the Worde was GOD yet they are comprised in one proposition So are they also in this verse which I now expound That was the true light the light inlighteneth euery man that cōmeth into the world Yet perhaps these two make but one proposition in the Euangelists writing If any man bee desirous to know why I cast this doubt here rather then in any of the former verses all which in a manner haue more sentences then one hee is to vnderstand that none of them afforded the like cause of doubting euery one hauing the seuerall propositions so distinct that they could not well bee tied altogether in one But heere the case is otherwise as you shall presently see For those wordes in the later part which haue a full sense in themselues may notwithstanding reasonably seeme to belong to the former part and to make vp the Antecedent or Subiect of the sentence Beare with mee I pray you a little in these tearmes I avoide them all I can and now I am forced to vse them I will doe my best to make you vnderstand them Euery sentence or proposition hath something as the ground and matter some other thing as an appurtenance to that which is eyther affirmed or denied of it As in the first verse The Words is the cheefe matter that which is auoucht of the worde is that hee was GOD. The worde therefore in that sentence is the Antecedent or Subiect GOD is the Consequent Attribute or Predicate Let me not trouble you too much with these words of Art but rather apply them as shortly as I can to the matter I haue in hand How this verse may well consist of two diuers sentences and what they are I signified before Let mee shew now in what sort they may bee shut vp both in one which may thus be done That light which inlighteneth euery man that commeth into the world was the light the true light The Antecedent or Subiect is The light which inlighteneth euery man c. Of this light it is affirmed that it was the true light Both the words will beare this disposing of the verse and the sense will bee good and fit yea I may say more The speech of the Euangelist may seeme more perfect in it selfe and to haue lesse neede of any supply if wee so vnderstand it For both the Greeke and the English may conueniently and easily bee conceiued if wee so reade and expound the verse without the expresse adding of any oher worde but That in the English The Greeke needes absolutely none at all Yet I rather choose to diuide the verse into two distinct propositions partly for the consent of all interpreters of it which I haue reade but especially because beeing so diuided it seemes to depend better vpon that which went before That light of which Iohn came to beare witnesse was the true light Which light also inlighteneth euery man that commeth into the world If any man list to take it the other way he may shew the agreement of it with the former in this sort Iohn was not the light That light which inlighteneth euery man c. was the true light Now this light is CHRIST as the Euangelist had said verse 4. That was the light of men But the other interpretation ioines somewhat more close to the later part of the verse going immediately before But was sent to beare witnes of the light That light was the true light c. The verse then hath two seuerall propositions or sentences to bee handled seuerally each by it selfe That was the light the true light First of the words what is meant by True What the Article being doubled imports Then of the Euangelists meaning and the Doctrine of the place Truth in the Scripture is commonly taken as the nature of the worde requires for that which is contrary to falshood Cast off lying saith the Apostle and let euery one Ephe. 4. 25. speake truth to his neighbour Sometimes it is put for that which is opposite to the shadowes of the Lawe The Ioh 1 17. lawe was giuen by Moses but grace and truth came by IESVS CHRIST And this sense hath also warrant from the vse of
or no. Let mee reason against thee as thy selfe didst ere while God will not haue all men to bee Schollers Therefore will I neuer bestow any paines in study I may say the like of Marchants Marriners Mercers Grocers and of euery trade So that by this gay reason no man shoulde euer betake himselfe to any course of life but wander idly vppe and downe or rather lye still and sterue And yet such are the goodly argumentes by which prophane men blaspheame the vnsearchable counsails of God and procure iust damnation to their own soules That which they may cleerely see they will not looke vpon That which they cannot possibly discerne they wil be alwaies gasing on They are curious to search out what God hath determined of them in himselfe Careless to vnderstand what he hath appointed for theÌ„ in his word It is set downe in plaine words and often that God will haue all men to bee saued and to come to the â— Tim. 2. 3. Tit. 2. 11. knowledge of his truth that the grace of God which bringeth saluation to all men hath appeared The Scripture is full of such speeches All these are past ouer as many anâ— as plaine as they are and wretched men to cloake their owne wickednesse wil heare and thinke of nothinge but Gods secret predestination I haue been too long in this point already let me conclude in one worde where the light shines if any maÌ„ be not inlightned it is because he cares not for the light not that the light hides it selfe from him Then maist thou conceiue good hope that sighest gronest vnder the burden of thine ignorance seeking by al meanes to come to knowledge VVill hee thinkst thou that offereth his light where it is refus'd despised withdraw it where it is desired and sought for He came as himselfe professeth to seeke and to saue Mat 18. 11. 12. 28. that which was lost And wil he cast away those that seek to him Com to me al ye that labour are heauy laden Doth he cal them to him that he may beat them away when come No no the promise followes And I will refresh you Him that comes to mee I cast not away saith hee in another Iâ—h 6. 37. place But I cannot come to him saist thou for want of knowledge Nay say I thou wouldst not come to him but that thou hast knowledge knoweledge that thou art a sinner knowledge that hee is a Sauiour Art thou not inlightned The darknesse doth not comprehend him No man acknowledgeth him truly to be the Lorde of life but hee that hath learned of God that hee is so It fares with thee as it did with Peter when the Angell brought him out of prison Hee rose and followed the Angell and knewe not that it was true Act. 12. 9. which was done by the Angell but thought it had beene a vision And it is said of the Iewes in the Psalme that they Psal 126. 1. were like men that dreamt when the Lord brought againe the captiuity of Sion Thy case is much like these mens Thou hast receiued light and knowst it not But admit thou wert not inlightned Surely thou maist bee if thou wilt The light thou seest shines all about thee wherefor but to bee seene and receiued why not by thâ—â— aswell as by an other It lights it inlightneth euery man Plucke vppe thy hearte wipe the teares from thine eies that dymme thy sight Doe not thinke thou hast no light because a farre of thou seest a greater then thine is If an other man haue a Torch or a Cresset to light him and thou but a candle to shewe thee the way yet thou art not without light Perhaps he hath farder to goe perhaps his way is more daungerous It may bee if thy light were greater thy care and heedfulnesse would be lesse God hath proportioned out thy light according to thy need thou hast light though not so much as thou wouldst haue If thou haue none thou shalt haue He inlighttens Act. 12. 9. Psal 126. 1 euery man that commeth into the world Such is the effect of the light in its owne nature such would it be in the hearts of men if it were receiued as it desires and ought to bee The Evangelist told vs before that the light shineth in darknesse but without any good intertainement The darknesse comprehended it not Those two points he amply fieth farder in these verses first the offer which the light makes of it selfe Hee was in the world He came to his owne Then the refusall of that offer the world knewe him not His owne receiued him not I will handle the verses as they ly and speak seuerally of His being in the world and not being knowne of his comming to his owne and not being receiued by them So that each verse hath two partes our Sauiour Christs kindnesse in offering and mens vnkindnesse in refusing In the former verse the offer is in these wordes Hee was in the world the refusall in the rest For the vnderstanding of the offer we must consider these 2 things what is meant by the world what by being in the world is signified The knowledge of these two points will discouer the Euangelists meaning First therefore of the world which hath diuers significations in the Scripture as this oneverse may teach vs where it is taken in two different senses at the least if not in 3. That I may speake of it as orderly and as plainly as I can wee are to vnderstand that The world generally signifies the whole creature or whatsoeuer was created The inuisible things of God saith the Apostle are seene by the creation of the world This is that Rom. 1. 20. world which in this verse is said to haue beene made by Christ The same a little before was called All things By him were all things made Only it may Verse 3. well be thought that in the former place the Angells are not signified because Saint Paul speakes of the knowledge of God by the light of nature which perhaps will not serue to shew vs the Angels In this sense also it is to be vnderstood wheresoeuer there is speech of the beginning or foundation of the world As hee hath chosen vs in him before the foundation of the world Eph. 1. 4. that is before any thing was created All other significations of the worde flowe from this one which is the first and principall varyed as necessity required or delight perswaded The next most generall obseruation is this that the worde is put for some part or member of the whole Sometimes for the whole frame compasse of heauen and earth wherein the rest of the creatures are contained So speakes the Apostle God Act. 17. 24. that made the worlde and all things that are therein If euery thing that Iesus did should bee written I suppose saith Saint Iohn the world would not containe the books Ioh. 21. 25.