hauing made mans peace through the bloud of his crosse hath reconciled all things both in heaven and earth unto God Col. 1.20 For certainely if the Angels be for man as it is said Heb. 1.14 then can they not possibly have the perfection of their blessednesse but by man Let us therefore with reverence and thankfulnesse come unto that great mysterie of our Religion That God was manifest in the flesh The incarnation of God is the dwelling of the Godhead in the manhood in one person wherein the being of the Godhead and manhood remaine together everlastingly without separation yet in cleere distinction of their severall beings and so without commixtion to cause a third being but that each continuing truly that which it is in it selfe the Godhead according to his eternall decree without any change of it selfe in time tooke to it selfe the manhood that by himselfe hee might reconcile all things to himselfe and bring them to that estate of happinesse and glorie to which they could never have come if God had not so manifested himselfe in the flesh The internall actions of the eternall Deity are all infinite eternall and necessary to be that which they are But whatsoever God doth worke without himselfe in the creature it is onely according to his owne holy pleasure and will But yet seeing his actions upon the creature are the expressions of those perfections which are in himselfe of goodnesse of wisdome of power of glorie c. and that to this end that the creature may bee blessed in him and by him according to that measure of happinesse which he of his goodnesse hath appointed thereto therefore those reasons which are drawne from the dignities of God are of no lesse force for the truth of God in the creature then they were for the manifestation of the truth in himselfe And therefore as by those dignities which by the authority of his word are due to him wee have approved that truth which the holy Scripture teacheth us to beleeve of him both concerning the unitie of his being and the Trinitie of the Persons so let us endeavour in the proofe of this great question And although the great masters in the schoole have given ouer these questions as utterly beyond all proofe or testimony of humane understanding See Thom. Aquin. praef in lib. 4. cont Gent. yet seeing this is that maine point in our most holy faith whereby it differs most from all infidelity and false worships seeing it is that one thing wherein the ground of all our future hope and comfort doth consist if ever the understanding of a Christian held it selfe bound to doe service unto his faith most of all it is bound to give attendance herein I may somtimes use the word of necessity in the conclusions following yet understand me not as if I laid any necessitie or constraint upon God to doe or to suffer but the necessitie that I meane is in the consequence of the reason when the conclusion doth follow necessarily upon the grounds that are laid downe before 1. For although happines be only in the enjoying of that which is good and the greater the good is the greater is the happines but if the good be not enjoyed and possessed it causes no happines at all yet an infinite good is no way to bee come unto or possessed by that which is finite except by the voluntarie motion and inclination of it selfe it doe apply and give it selfe unto that which is finite And because every good spreads it selfe acccording to the power of it selfe upon that which is capable of it the greatest goodnesse is ever with the greatest communication of it selfe therefore the infinite goodnes doth also extend it selfe according to the possibilitie of the creature to be possessed and enioyed thereby which cannot be till it have applied it selfe to something in the creature of which the rest of the creatures being partakers may also thereby be partakers of the infinite goodnesse Now if God who onely is infinite goodnesse had dwelt in the being of the Angels though that had beene made knowne to man yet because man doth not communicate with the Angels in nature or by any merit or service towards them he had had no benefit thereby whereas the Angels by the appointment of their ministerie to mankinde in their continuall presence and succour and that helpe which the soule hath by them in the delivery thereof out of this prison of the body and in the conducting of it unto the Divine presence have in iustice a reward for their service sake and a kinde of interest in all that good whereof man by their ministerie is made partaker 2. Moreover when man had sinned the law of justice required that the satisfaction should be made in that nature that had sinned so that if the Mediatour had taken on him the nature of Angels the satisfaction therein had not beene avayleable for the sinne of man 3. Thirdly the whole creature hath interest in man and man in the whole creature so that God by taking on him the nature of man hath blessed therby the whole creature as you may understand by the answer which is made Cha. 17. to the 5 Object § 4. But if he had the nature of Angels neither man nor the other elementall creatures had had hope of any restoring See Rom. 8.19 c. to 23. 4. Lastly if the deliverance of man had beene made in the nature of Angels the restoring had beene as unsufficient so also man had lost of his dignitie and honour thereby for man before his sinne was bound and subjected to God alone but then had hee beene subjected and bound to the nature of Angels And although man by his sinne nay even our Lord himselfe by his suffering for sinne was made somewhat lower then the Angels yet being raised from the dead the manly nature is exalted far above all principalitie and power and might and every name that is named in this world or in the world which is to come Ephes 1.20.21 Whence it will follow necessarily that God would dwell in the nature of man not in the Angels as you may understand by these Scriptures Heb. 2.14 Forasmuch as the children are partakers of flesh and blood he also himselfe likewise tooke part of the same ver 16. Hee tooke not on him the nature of Angels but hee tooke on him the seed of Abraham And for their attendance is it not said Heb. 1.14 Are they not all ministring Spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall bee heires of salvation Compare herewith Psal 34.7 and 91.11 and conclude with Saint Paul 1. Cor. 3.23 All things are yours and yee are Christs and Christ is Gods The questions before are neere to this as all the Articles of our faith are necessarie consequents one of another therefore let us briefely see by that which is already proved what we can gather to this conclusion 1. Either the whole race of mankinde must be
will follow easily enough if it be made manifest that the will and decree of God upon all man-kind is that there shall be a resurrection both of the just and unjust Act. 24.17 I will first bring the holy Oracles thereto then the reasons that accord with them and lastly answere such objections as Atheists are wont to bring to the contrary That which is in Gen. 3.15 The seed of the woman shall breake the head of the serpent in Iohn 3.8 is interpreted shall destroy the workes of the devill that is sinne and the punishment thereof death which cannot be except the dead be raised againe Iob 19.25 I know that my Redeemer liveth and that Hee shall stand at the later day upon the earth and though after my skinne wormes destroy this body yet in my flesh shall I see God whom I shall see for my selfe and mine eyes shall behold and not another though my reines be consumed within me Which text though it be as plaine and direct for the resurrection as any other in the Scripture yet Iohn Mercerus rejects that sence because the Hebrew Commentators doe not so expound it Esay 26.19 21. Thy dead men shall live together with My dead body shall they rise awake and sing ye that dwell in the dust for the earth shall cast out her dead For behold the Lord commeth out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity the earth also shall disclose her blood and shall no more hide her slaine Reade to this purpose Ezech. 37. all And if you say that the calling of the Israelites is there prophesied in that Metaphor yet remember that no Metaphor is taken from things that are not Dan. 12.2 Of them that sleepe in the dust many shall awake to everlasting life some to shame and everlasting contempt Hosea 13.14 I will ransome them from the power of the grave I will redeeme them from death ô death I will bee thy plagues ô grave I will be thy destruction repentance is hid from mine eyes Iohn 5.28 29. The houre is comming in which all that are in the graves shall heare His voyce and shall come forth they that have done good to the resurrection of life and they that have done ill to the resurrection of damnation 2 Cor. 5.10 Wee must all appeare before the judgement seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to that which He hath done whether it be good or ill So by these texts among many other it being manifest that God hath decreed a resurrection for the bodies of men both good and bad it being also manifest that nothing is impossible unto Him but that He doth whatsoever it pleaseth Him in the heaven and earth in the seas and all deepe places Psal 135.6 it must follow of necessity that there shall be a resurrection which that ye may the better apprehend we will adde some reasons that accord hereto 1. And first of all that argument which our Lord Iesus brings to this purpose Matth. 22.32 I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Iacob but God is not the God of the dead but of the living Therefore Abraham Isaac and Iacob though they be now dead yet must they rise againe for all men live to Him that is are in His power to be brought againe unto life when Hee will To know the strength of this argument you must looke to that which is Gen. 17. I will establish My Covenant with thee and with thy seed for an everlasting Covenant But no covenant can bee everlasting if either of the parties die Therefore Abraham and his seed that is the faithfull cannot perish but evermore live unto God as it is said in Luk. 20.38 For to this end Christ both died and revived and rose againe that Hee might bee Lord both of the dead and living the dead He saith that they may live againe For if our Lord Iesus died to purchase eternall life for us it is impossible that we should not live eternally 2. The arguments of Saint Paul in 1. Cor. 15. fall as thicke as haile and that first argument in the first place stands thus 1. It is a Gospel which he received and preached unto them according to the Scriptures And seeing the doctrine of God for His owne authoritie being the God of Trueth is to be received for our reverence only which we owe to him we ought to beleeve it Hitherunto tend those words v. 3. and 4. For I delivered unto you that which I received that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures and that He was buryed and that He rose againe the third day according to the Scriptures 2. And from this ground of faith he doth conclude vers 12. that there is a resurrection to wit for them that die in the faith of Christ For Christ died not for Himselfe but for our sinnes and rose againe for our justification Rom. 4.25 3. Since by man came death by man also came the resurrection of the dead vers 21 22. For the well-being of the body cannot bee but by the head 4. vers 25. Hee must reigne untill He have put all His enemies under His feete Psal 110.1 Therefore death also shall be subdued Ergo. The bodies of men kept under His power shall rise againe 5. If the bodies of men rise not againe these absurdities and inconueniences must follow That they that are dead in Christ are perished and while they lived here were of all men most miserable Our preaching and your faith is vaine We are false witnesses of God ye are yet in your sin They that are baptized over the dead are baptized in vaine we are needlesly in danger every houre for the preaching and beleefe of this doctrine My contention at Ephesus hereabout was to no purpose The Epicure that lives to eate and drinke is the only happy man But these things are impossible and amongst Christians accounted incredible Therefore there is a resurrection His doctrine in other Epistles is to the same purpose as Rom. 8.11 6. If the Spirit of Him that raised up Iesus from the dead dwell in you He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortall bodies by His spirit that dwelleth in you This argument from the communitie of the Spirit you may understand by Chap. 17. § 4. n. 2. Phil. 3.21 7. Hee shall change our vile bodie that it may be fashioned like to His glorious body according to the working whereby Hee is able even to subdue all things to Himselfe 8. The hope of the resurrection as it is a comfort against all the trouble and afflictions of this life so especially against sorrow for them that depart from hence as you read 1. Thes Chap. 4. vers 13 14. c. 9. 2. Cor. 5.10 All must appeare before the judgement seat of Christ therefore the dead shall rise againe 10. For none of us liveth
for because these termes are conuertible essentially they are so many severall demonstrations of the same thing as was shewed log chap. 18. n. 3. And so no lesse are all those arguments for proofe of this question which follow in cap. 13. against the Eternity of the World The inductive arguments of Cleanthes you shall finde in Tullie de Nat. Deorum lib. 2. and out of him in Philip Mornay Of the truenesse of Christian Religion cap. 1. and in Peter Moulin de Cognitione Dei and others a There was a time Time is commonly taken for a certain continuance measured by the motion of the heavens But here it signifies at large and improperlie as much as any lasting continuance or duration which may be thought distinguishable in Eternity b Contradictories Reason 2. The second part of Logonomia which I call Logicke written by mee among other reasons there mentioned was especially meant to be an helpe to them that needed helpe for the understanding of this booke And therefore for this and all such dark words you that need helpe must seeke it there and having read that booke diligently first and somewhat understood it you shall come better furnished to this booke or the like and let this note be sufficient for all such words of art as this c Therefore there is a God All these reasons conclude directly the being of that one onely true God whom we adore And as there was never any nation so barbarous which did not confesse some God one thing or other which their imaginations leade them unto So have few men been found so shamelesse as to deny it Yet if any such there be as Diagoras of Melos and Theodorus of Cyrene were said to be they shall be reckoned the principall hereticks against this conclusion Protagoras also shall goe in that number because he made it doubtfull whether there were Gods or no whom the Athenians did therefore banish and burnt his bookes The second sort is of Paynims and Idolaters who in stead of the true God worship false gods Idoles and devils Ephes 2.12 The third sort of Atheists are they who although they denie not God in their words and being overcome in their consciences cannot denie him yet in their actions and affections have no remembrance and regard of him These have the sentence of their judgement already pronounced upon them Psal 9.17 For whosoever prefers any thing before God and his feare either honour riches pleasure the favour of men or whatsoever else they set vp other gods and so forsake the true God and his Religion which had not power over their consciences to bind them to his feare For he that comes to God must beleeve that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that seeke him Heb. 11.6 A fourth errour is of them who make the idoles of the heathens to be the same with the true God knowne and worshipped among the Hebrewes blessed therein above all people because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was their God Psal 144.15 147.20 You shall have their opinion delivered by Hermesianax translated by Mr. G. Sandys lib. 2. of his Relation Pluto Persephone Ceres Venus Love Triton Nereus Thetis Neptune and Iove Pan Iuno Vulcan He with th'awfull rod PHaebe and Archer Phaebus all one God And so all the Panim Idolaters in spight of their noses shall be worshippers of the true God But how agrees this with the truth of the Scripture Deut. 32.16.17 where strange Gods are called devils Psal 106.36.37 They served idols and offered unto devils 1 Cor. 10.20 The Gentiles sacrifice to devils and not to God But hath not this opinion gotten strength of late when we are taught to beleeve by Sanf Park de descensu sect 6.7 c. that these Heathenish devils had their names also from the glorious names of the true God And for this purpose we must of Elohim have Helion But if I should not be accessary to this folly I would aske why not rather of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Elion especially seeing the interpretation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pag. 11. bind vs thereto from the signification of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies Strong and yet the fiction of the Sunnes horses proved out of Chrysost sect 7. would have fetcht it better and with lesse dishonour to God from Helias Will you have any more then of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shaddai take Dis So this rare Cabalist takes the Epithete of the blessed God Gen. 17.1 to the prince of their devils of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we read Jehova you shall have Iao Euios Phaebos Bacebos I and the Peruvian Hioh and of Adonai the lovely boy Adonis horresco referens And Anion the Brasilian devill and Kiwassa the idol of Virginia if they had thought on 't with as much likelihood But it is proved by the authority of the devill of Claros himselfe Cunctorum dicas supremum numeu Iao Hic tibi vere novo sit Iupiter Helius aestu Dis cum saevit hyems Autumno mollis Iao. And againe the Rhodian devill said asmuch Magnum Atten placate deum qui castus Adonis Euios est largiter opum pulcher Dionysus The devill is a Lyar from the beginning And I easily thinke that hee would and did helpe the Heathen to beleeve all Hesiods genealogy of the gods And that hee would as willingly suffer them to prophane the holy titles of the onely true God for their greater condemnation that would attribute them unto him But if the Heathens would falsely give these names to their * Deuils See Aug. de Civ D. lib. 9. cap. 23. Gods a Christian should avenge that unjust claime and not with such hard strayning thrust them upon them And how sticks this with their owne learning that Moses who was never called Iehova should bee Bacchus and the hill Sina the citty Nisa and Arabia the India to which Bacchus went Did any Geographer so describe the earth as to bring India into Arabia Father Ptolomie tels us that no part of India is neare to Sina by forty five degrees which of the Aequators longitude is two thousand seven hundred miles And the history of Alexander refutes this fancy Iust hist lib. 12. So Ioshua is sometimes Hercules sometime Apollo And Deos and Deus were used for any God indifferently but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 began to be restrained to the true God When where by whom in prose or in verse he lookt on 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and did but thinke so Is not this that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that shreeves himselfe to his wife Iuno for all his slipperie prancks with Danae Semele Latona and the rest Iliad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that threatens to clapperclaw her Iliad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that gaue her the strappado with two Anvils at her heeles Iliad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet see how we are bound to beleeve it Ante haec tempora repertum non putamus qui
himselfe but that other person of the humanity by whose death our reconcilation was wrought and so not by his owne bloud but by the bloud of another person should hee have entred into the holy place So God should not have sent his owne Sonne into the world that the world by him might be saved contrary to that which is Heb. 9.12 Ioh. 3.16.17 But he that is mighty to save even Iehovah our king hath saved us Esay 33.22 and that not with forraine bloud but by his owne offering of himselfe hath he purchased for us eternall redemption This then being the great mystery of our salvation that God was manifest in the flesh 1 Tim. 3.16 That God is one with us Matth. 1.23 That that holy thing which was borne of the virgin is the Sonne of God Luk. 1.35 it may appeare how detestable that heresie of Photinus and his predecessours was who made our Mediator the Sonne of man by nature and the Sonne of God by adoption only and how dangerous this consequence of Nestorius is who of that one Mediator betweene God and man 1 Tim. 2.5 would make two persons If you desire to know the growth of this heresie and the other positions of the Nestorians you may reade M. Breerewoods enquiries chap. 19. § 9. Arius and his followers held that Christ was truly man so that be might truly be called the Sonne of the virgin Mary borne in time as concerning his manly body and the Sonne of God as being the first begotten of every creature and so the most excellent creature created by the will of God the Father before all times and ages but not coeternall with him because there was a continuance when he was not and therefore was hee not say they 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or coessentiall with the Father because hee was created of that which was not from which Errour these Arians were also called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This poysonous fountaine overflowed afterward into divers streames For the halfe Arians of whom Acatius was chiefe held that Christ was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or of the like being withthe Father by nature but others said that this likenesse was not in nature but only in will and powerfull working Whereupon Asterius is by some affirmed to have said that Christ was the vertue only or a creature indued with the power of God other heretickes againe as Aetius and his scholler Eunomius said that Christ was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or of another manner of being unlike to the Father both in nature and will and hence arose the errour of the Dultians who thought him onely the servant of God in the worke of the creature and so of the Bonosians who held him to bee the Sonne of God onely by adoption And although this Hydra might seeme to have beene nipt in the head by the writings of Athanasius and other learned men of former times and especially by the first Councell of Nice Anno 327. and other that followed afterward yet never was there any heresie in the primitive Church that went on with that violence and strength or that caused more trouble and persecution as being confirmed by divers Councels and set forward by the authority of sundry Emperours And for the continuance thereof it hath been such as that unto this day not onely among the Turkes but ever in the Church of Christ if at least they may bee said to bee of his Church who falsly denie unto him the truth and excellencie of his being some have beene found from time to time even since the clearer light of the truth hath shined that have maintained this heresie of Arius in whole or in part as Socinus Gittichius David the Hollander Servetus Neuserus and with us Legat Mannering and others In Polonia also and Transylvania they swarme as you may reade in Wents à Bud. pag. 229 c. But say you is it possible that an heresie so foule as this is taken to bee should continue so long and be upheld by Councels and maintained by Emperours and justified by learned men except there were both reason and authority of Scripture for it For as no man is wilfully ill but by the errour of his judgement betweene good and bad so no man doth erre wilfully but onely by mistaking of falshood for the truth Answer Saint Paul saith that there must be heresies and this I suppose should come to passe because men would not be content to learne the doctrine of Christ and his truth according to the simplicity of the truth as he had taught it in the holy Scriptures whereunto if men would take heed and trie the truth as they ought the things of God by the word of God matiers of Religion by the rule of Religion that is the holy Scripture alone so many heresies had not sprung up For mans understanding so long as it doth follow the true guide thereof the revealed truth of God it cannot deceive nor be deceived But if it will presume to be guide and make the truth of the Scriptures to follow it it is impossible not to stray and so by the just judgement of God men also grow hard and obstinate in their owne errours not onely to resist the truth but also to persecute it as these Arians did very grievously at severall times But see their reasons and their authorities 1. The Godhead is in the Father wholly or else hee cannot bee perfect God and if the Deitie be wholly in the Father then can it not be in the Sonne nor in the holy Ghost Answer The word wholly is equivocall or of doubtfull meaning for wholly may signifie as much as with all the parts but this cannot belong to that which is infinite or wholly may signifie onely and so the proposition is false or it may meane asmuch as perfectly and so the proposition is true but the consequence is false for the Deitie is wholly and perfectly in all the persons alike 2. He onely is the true God that is prayed unto by the Mediator But God the Father onely is so prayed unto therefore God the Father onely is the true God I answer If we worship the Godhead in the nature or being of God we worship one onely being in the three Persons But if we worship the persons we worship them in the vnitie of the Godhead that is acknowledging every person to be God And this is that Father that one God whom we pray unto by that one Mediator of God and man the man Iesus Christ 1 Tim. 2.5 who having himselfe in his owne body borne our sinnes upon the tree 1 Pet. 2.24 is set at the right hand of God and makes intercession for us Rom. 8.34 and hath commanded all them to come unto him that travaile and are heavie laden that hee may refresh them Mat. 11.28 3. When the Sonne was begotten and the holy Ghost proceeded either hee was or he was not If he were before he was begotten then was he not
manner of being is when any thing is changed from any estate either proper thereto or else appropriate to an estate or condition that is or seemes to be lower or worse Thus our Lord was said to descend or come downe from heaven when He clouded His Deitie in our humanitie as I have shewed heretofore Thus also He and all man-kind may be said to descend to be abased or brought low when the soule is parted from the body For seeing both the parts are for the perfection of the whole the whole must needs be more excellent than either of the parts so that the whole being dissolved both the parts doe suffer hurt or losse thereby especially the soule which sees the losse and findes it selfe in a state of being beside the end of the creation of it selfe which was to give life unto the body and this is the cause why the soule would not bee unclothed but rather that this mortalitie might bee swallowed up of life And this is the lowest state of humiliation whereto the soule of our Lord could come naturally and by this state some will interpret the descent into hell as I shewed in the beginning Nu. 2. But if this humiliation must meane also the separation of the soule from the body while the body was laid in the dust it reaches no further than to his death For a man is not said to bee dead till his soule be departed from his body But if this state of humiliation be taken in that sence as some doe very fitly interpret it by that phrase used often in the Scripture of a mans being gathered unto his people or cōming unto that congregation of the saints which had died in the faith of Him that was to come then taking also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or hell according to the interpretation of the word Vnseen it will easily be admitted of all that when our Saviour was dead His body was buryed and his soule went unto the assembly of them that were unseene And because this is true safe and unquestionable it may on all parts be agreed unto as I said before and yet the word of descending or going downe reserved to the right meaning by the abatement or losse of that estate which the soule had with the body in the being of the whole and perfect man So also the question about the place of hell and Paradise which hath moved most doubt herein by this interpretation is avoyded But because all this will reach no further than to be perfectly dead and because the Latine interpretation Descendit ad inferos rendered by our Church Hee went downe into hell suffers us not to stay here and because the most voices amongst the Fathers have swayed the meaning to a locall descent and that as it seemes in the third sence spoken of before and most of all because the holy Scripture binds us thereto let us follow our best and surest guides and confesse with the Prophets and Apostles that the soule of our Lord after His death on the Crosse went downe into hell or the place of the dead and there continued three dayes and three nights in the heart of the earth as it was prophesied in the signe of Ionas the Prophet Matth. 12.40 And let us beleeve that the flesh of Christ did therefore rest in hope because His soule was not left in hell nor His body was suffered to see corruption Psal 16.9 10. Actes 2.31 Objection 1. Obiect 1 They object that the soule may signifie the whole man as in Gen. 46.27 All the soules of the house of Iacob were 70. But how doth that helpe to prove that this Article must bee interpreted onely of the torments of Christs soule while Hee was yet alive For it is manifest that Saint Peter bringing that text to prove His resurrection speakes not of Christs soule while it was yet in his body when He was not subject to a state of resurrection but of His soule after His death But if they will hope by that text of Gen. or the like to interpret it as Al. Hume loc cit Thou shalt not leave mee in the grave let them answere mee what they meane by this word Mee whether the body or the soule or both together If they say the soule it was not in the graue they will bee ashamed to say both together for so they should make Him not yet to be dead as the word Mee doth truely signifie the whole Person yet alive jf they say the body let them see what an unfit tautologie it will make with that which followeth Nor suffer thy Holy one that is the body of Thy Holy one to see corruption But in this place the soule and the body are made direct disparates so hell and the place of corruption so that we may argue the body was in the place of corruption Ergo not in hell the soule was in hell Ergo not in the grave or place of corruption Object 2. Obiect 2 The purpose of Saint Peter was to prove the resurrection of Christ and that belonged to the body which had died not to the soule which died not Answere If this be given what will you conclude thereon But I say the resurrection is of the whole man returned againe to life after the parting of the soule and the body So it is neither of the body onely nor of the soule onely but of the whole man which Saint Peter prooves heere to have beene done in Christ because His soule was not left in hell where it was but was againe joyned to the body to cause it to live that it might not see corruption And because all the glorious doings and sufferings of our Saviour were for our uttermost benefit and comfort therefore is this going downe of His into hell also to give us assurance of our full and perfect deliverance from all the powers of death and hell and restoring of all His beleevers unto an immortall life and glory And because the doctrine of our Church into which I was baptized bindes me to beleeve that our Lord Iesus after His death went downe into hell-locally and that by the authorities of the Scripture and because I have before shewed that the soule of Christ did not ascend to heaven before His resurrection and have denied also that I thinke with them that say that He went downe to suffer for our sinne And having as I thinke said enough to all contrary opinions the trueth by the Holy Scripture and the reasons grounded thereon must be made to appeare But first of all it is plaine that the meaning of our Church is such for in the 8. Article it is said that the Creed of Athanasius ought thorowly to bee received and beleeved and that because it may be prooved by most certaine warrants of Holy Scripture And in the 7. Article the Church of Ireland agreeth hereto in these words All and every the Articles conteined in the Nicene Creed the Creed of Athanasius and that which
Article then I have shewed yet doe not I therefore hold him of another Church or faith so long as he doth hold fast the foundation one God and one Mediator betweene God and man the man Iesus Christ For the Kingdome of God is not in the excellency of knowledge much lesse in wilfulnesse of opinion in matier of doubt but in joy and peace and comfort of the Holy-Ghost while a man doth those things which he knowes in himselfe he is bound to performe ARTICLE V. ⧠The third day Hee rose againe from the dead CHAP. XXIX THe sufferings of Christ were fulfilled as wee have seene now it followes that wee see the glories that should follow after of which the first is His triumph over death by His resurrection from the dead set against that in the Article before Hee was dead and buried And although by His death He is said to have triumphed over the principalities and powers of death and hell in His Crosse Col. 2.15 that is by the power and vertue of His merit as a champion by His valour and courage in the field overcame His enemie yet the actuall manifestation of His triumph was not solemnized till by His resurrection the power and glory of His victory did appeare But it may here be asked How Christ our Lord is said to have risen againe seeing Saint Paul saith Rom. 6.4 That Hee was raysed againe by the glory of the Father To which the answere is easily returned that Christ our Lord by His owne active power as He was God raised Himselfe from the dead and as man by a passive or received power was raised againe as He said of Himselfe Iohn 10.18 I have power to lay downe my life of my selfe and I have power to take it up againe This commandement have I received from my Father For for this end was it necessary that our Mediatour should be both God and man in one Person that that which was not fit nor possible for the God-head might bee endured in the humanity as those things which concerned His death and suffering and that which was impossible to His pure humanity might yet therein be perfected by His divinitie as Saint Paul saith Rom. 1.3.4 that He was made of the seed of David according to the flesh and declared to bee the Sonne of God by His resurrection from the dead But there is a great difference betweene the state or manner of His being before His death and after His resurrection For although the unitie of the humanitie with the God-head were alwayes before in and after His death the same yet was not that unitie alwayes manifested in the same glory and excellency For in the first state while He bare our infirmities His body was subiect to hunger cold wearinesse death and other accidents of a naturall body His soule also though according to the principall or first acts endued with the excellencie of reason and knowledge yet according to the second acts or practise not knowing the grave of Lazarus the day of Iudgement c. In the second state also His body was deprived of sence and life His soule of the proper habitation But in His resurrection His body was raysed immortall spirituall 1. Cor. 15.44.45 glorious and as in al the perfection of grace and compassion on us so with the fulnesse of Wisedome and Knowledge to see our miseries and to make intercesSion for us according to the will of God Rom. 8.26 27. Now concerning the trueth of this Article that our Lord Iesus rose againe from the dead though it be most powerfully witnessed by God Himselfe by Angels and men as you may read yet because the authoritie of the Scriptures wherin those things are recorded is set at nought by Iewes Turkes Infidels Hereticks and such God lesse people let not us endeavour to leade them like sheepe that follow their shepherd but drive them like asses with the cudgell of reason And as Saint Peter Actes 2.24 takes his first argument from the impossibility of not performing those things which are contained in the Scripture so our arguments shall be from the impossibilities in reason 1. It hath been prooved before that man was created innocent Chapter 15. That by his sinne he became subiect to death Chapter 16. That there is a restoring to a better estate Chapter 18. And that the restorer of mankind must be both God and man Chapter 20. and 21. Then that this restorer was Iesus our Lord the Sonne of the Virgin Mary Chapter 24. who by His sufferings and death made satisfaction for the sinnes of the world Whence I argue thus For the greatest good that can be done for mankind the greatest ill may not be rewarded for that were unjust with God The greatest good that could come to mankind was the ransoming of man from eternall death both of the body and soule The greatest ill and basenesse is to be left continually in the state of death wherein if Christ had still continued then had He suffered the greatest ill for the greatest good which could bee performed But this was impossible Therefore our Lord did rise againe from the dead 2. If Christ who sinned not should have borne the punishment of sinne that is to be subject to the power of death yea when the satisfaction was fully ended then should His obedience to God the Father have beene not onely without reward but also for the satisfaction of the justice God had He suffered from God I speake after the manner of men extreame injustice who had neither sinne of His owne for which He should suffer and had fully satisfied for their sinnes whose surety He was But this was utterly impossible For he that fulfilleth the Law shall live therein Levit. 18.5 ergo It was necessary that Christ having fulfilled the Law Iohn 19.30 Luk. 24.44 should rise againe 3. If Christ after His suffering and death had not risen againe then had He not prooved Himselfe to be the Saviour of the world seeing none would have beleeved Him to be able to give life unto others that was not able to quicken Himselfe So His suffering had beene in vaine and His satisfaction if not beleeved should have beene to no purpose So His greatest and best worke had effected no good to us but a perpetuall ill unto Himselfe But all these things were impossible Therefore Christ our Lord did rise againe 4. It is impossible but that where the greatest union is there should be the greatest love and consent The greatest union that may be is in our Mediator seeing the humane nature is sustained in the Person of the Deity But the soule of Christ being separate did naturally desire to bee united to the body for otherwayes should it not have desired the perfection of it selfe that is to give life and sence and to be one with that body which was peculiar to it selfe as the desire of all humane soules is and therefore depart so unwillingly from the body But if this were
And therefore the Holy-Ghost is God And His witnesse in our hearts that wee are the sonnes of God is an eternall trueth and such as hath neither falshood nor doubt nor double meaning § 2.1 But you will say Sect. 2 if the word Spirit belong essentially to all the Persons of the God-head and that they bee all holinesse it selfe as it is said Es 6.3 Holy Holy Holy is the Lord of Hostes how is it here appropriated to the third Person Is not the difference of Persons taken away hereby seeing every one is a Holy Spirit I answere That in this place as in many other texts of Holy Scripture the words Holy Spirit are taken relatively or Personally as they meane that third Person of the Holy Trinity with that relation of procession which He hath from the Father and the Son as it was shewed Chap. 11. Re. 8. 2. But it is said Iohn 7.39 That the Holy-Ghost was not yet which takes away His eternity and so His God-head Answere Tropes and figures are usuall in every language though not minded by the vulgar sort So here is a Metonymia or taking of the author for the gifts of divers tongues miracles prophecie and such like and these gifts were not yet given as it followes in the text because that Iesus was not yet glorified that it might appeare to all that these were His gifts who was before crucified Compare herewith Iohn 16.7 Ephe. 4.8 and 11.1 Cor. 12.8 c. 3. a If the procession of the Holy-Ghost bee perfect from the Father then doth Hee not proceed from the Sonne or if it be necessary that He proceede from the Sonne also then must there bee in Him something of composition of superaddition or the like whereby his being should not be most simple which were to denie Him to be God So also the procession from the first principle not being perfect would argue a defect therein Answere This is as if you should reason thus If the way betweene Thebes and Athens be the ready way from Thebes to Athens then can it not be the way from Athens to Thebes But I say that the procession emanation or out-flowing of the Holy-Ghost from the Father is most perfect infinite and eternall as from that being from which the procession is actively as the action of understanding is in and yet from the mind which doth understand as from the active principle But the procession or emanation of the Holy-Ghost from the Sonne is likewise infinite and eternall as from the passive principle as the understanding is from that object which is understood And so the procession of the Holy-Ghost is perfect infinite and eternall both from the Father and the Sonne And because all this is in the God-head onely for I speake not now of those graces and mercies which are from God upon the creature therefore it is necessary that the Holy-Ghost be God blessed above all infinitely and eternally one being with the Father and the Sonne You will heere aske me what the difference is betweene generation whereby the Sonne is from the Father and procession whereby the Holy-Ghost is from the Father and the Son If I confesse that I can neither speake nor conceive it you must hold me excused For in those things that are not lawfull nor possible for the creature to know it is not fit to enquire But you may remember that heretofore although we concluded according to the rule of trueth the Holy Scripture that all the Persons in the Holy Trinitie were in their absolute being one yet by the same rule and the enforcement of reason we were compelled to yeeld unto the Father as concerning His Personal being the precedence of originall as being that fountaine of life and glory from which the other Persons doe proceede And because our Lord Iesus is the expresse Image of the Father Heb. 1.3 whose procession or going forth is from eternity Mich. 5.2 and He by the stile of the Holy Scripture called the Sonne of God Psal 2.7 therefore doe wee attribute unto Him as concerning His Personall being the word of generation or being begotten yet in respect of His absolute essence wherein He is one with the Father He is also called the everlasting Father Esay 9.6 But because all things in the Godhead are in the infinitie of perfection and that the being of the Holy-Ghost is alike both from the Father and the Son and that no perfect being hath two Fathers therefore is His personall being said to be rather by procession then by generation § 3. And because this Article is the last in our Creed Sect. 3 whereby we confesse our faith in the holy Trinity it will not be unfit to take up in briefe that which we have spoken hereunto at large It is manifest unto all reason that nothing can be a cause and yet not be for that would bring a contradiction which the understanding of the foole of fooles I meane the Atheist could not endure that a thing that hath no manner of being should bee of such powerfull being as that it should cause either it selfe or another thing to be And because we see that divers things are which could not cause themselues to be when they were not it followes necessarily that there were causes of their being and that all their causes did worke as they were ordered and mooved by their first cause which seeing it is the cause of all beings must of it selfe not onely be but also have power both to be of it selfe and also to moove all other causes to worke to their determinate ends And this most excellent and first being the cause of all other is that which we call God in whom you see the first thing which we can understand is to be but that eternally because there is nothing before Him which might give Him His being and infinitely because there was nothing which could put any bounds to His being The next thing that we can understand of God is that He hath power both to be and to worke but no worke or action can be but in that which hath both actuall being and also power to worke And if from hence I should conclude a Trinity of Persons in the unity of that one powerfull and active being the whole creature would say Amen For as every effect is answerable to the cause and by that voyce which it hath shewes what the cause was so you shall finde that every created being hath in it matier or that which is proportionable thereto which is as the simple being thereof then forme whereby it hath power to worke and lastly working according to that property which ariseth from the matier and the forme For as Saint Paul saith of mankind so is it true in every thing That In Him or By Him we moove that is our action and Live that is the power from whence our action ariseth and Are that is the foundation of both the other But because this argument would be
seemes not new but falshood is as ancient as the devills apostacie and no antiquitie can make it trueth And if you looke to the authorities of Scripture brought before to this point in the Chap. § 1. and consider well the reasons in Chapter 11. you shall see how rotten this opinion is and how justly the clause And from the Sonne was added by the Latine Churches as they declare it in that Councell of Florence spoken of before So that falshood which some write to Paulus of Samosata that the Holy-Ghost is not any divine subsistence but onely the working and grace of God in the hearts of men and that which they write of Servetus that it is onely a certaine vigor or strength whereby every thing created is mooved naturally at the sight of the same authorities and reasons will vanish as mist before the wind Those childish fantasies of the Elleasites or Sampseans of which you read in Epiphanius Haer. 30. and Haer. 53. would trouble your hearing § 3. So the onely heresie which is yet remaining Sect. 3 is that which concernes the propriety or working of the Holy-Ghost Concorning whom some affirmed that He was not given sufficiently to the Apostles and that therefore further revelations were necessary to be made by them that had greater measure of that gift The Cataphryges or disciples of Montanus and the Manichees must needs be chiefe herein For if they had held that the gifts of the Holy-Ghost had beene given to the Apostles sufficiently their fancies of their new Comforters to teach them more then was needfull had never beene hatcht And among these Tertullian was most too blame who having once detested the Montanists di afterward both follow their errour and defend it But if that Holy Spirit should leade the Apostles into all trueth yea and shew them the things to come as the promise was Iohn 16.13 What further sufficiencie would these Hereticks require They might say the Disciples were ignorant of many things after the Holy-Ghost was come upon them for Peter accounted the Gentiles uncleane Act. 10. Answere But they were not ignorant of any thing that was needfull for the Church to know as S. Paul saith Actes 20.27 That he had declared unto them all the Counsell of God so according to the dispensation of the times which God had appointed the Gentiles were taken into the fellowship of the Faith For though they were commanded to preach repentance and forgivenesse of sinnes to all Nations yet the preaching must begin at Ierusalem Luk. 24.47 from Esa 2.3 Therefore they preached not to the Gentiles till the time was come and then Philip was sent to preach to the Eunuch Actes 8.26 and 29. and Peter to Cornelius Actes 10. and Barnabas and Paul euery where but with this condition first to offer the word of reconciliation to the Iewes and after to the Gentiles because the Children must first be fed See Marke 7.27 and Actes 13.46 So concerning the declaration of things to come Agabus foretold the famine Actes 11.28 that the Church in time might provide for due reliefe So the prophecyes of Saint Paul 2. Thes 2. and 1. Tim. Chap. 4. of Peter 2. Epistle Chap. 2. and 3. and Iohn Rev. all are no lesse lights for the knowledge of the true Doctrine and Church of Christ in these dayes than the prophecyes of old were for the knowledge of Christ when He should come and the benefits which the faithfull should receive by Him unto the Church which was before His manifestation in the flesh And if the Providence of God bee upon all His creatures His speciall mercy and compassion upon His chosen so that Hee never leaues them destitute of that which He knowes to be fit for them can any but Pepuzians and such franticks thinke that God will bee carelesse of His Church for whose sake He gave His onely Sonne to die Or can any man be such an Infidell as to thinke that the instruction of the Holy-Ghost who is God blessed above all is not sufficient to guide the Church according to the rule of trueth the Holy Scripture in the right way to everlasting life Therefore follow that rule and pray for that guide and let the follies of these Enthousiasts for ever vanish The second supply Of that inestimable gift of God the holy Scripture which Hee by His holy Spirit hath given to the Church CHAP. XXXIIII THough for Adams sinne God did hide His face from man except when either in justice Hee did punish his sinne or in mercy declare the meanes and give assurance how he should be freed therefrom as it appeares in Adam Cain Abraham Moses and the Prophets untill the time came that the promise of the redemption was fulfilled Yet by His holy Word hath He so fully provided for the direction and comfort of His Church and every one of His children therein that there is nothing in the whole course of mans life whether in things that are to be done or left undone or in things that are to be beleeved or not to be beleeved in whatsoever it is fit for us to expect any direction or comfort from God immediately wherein He hath not most particularly declared His holy will It was a wonderfull grace and favour beyond all other men unto Moses that whensoever he went into the Tabernacle he might talke with God face to face as a man converses with his friend Is not the same grace vouchsafed to us who not onely in the Churches but even in our private chambers or in the open fields may talke with God and receive His answere in His word And lest any man may pretend ignorance or want of skill how to present himselfe unto God all manner of formes of thankes of of praise of prayers are set out in the Scripture and all summ'd up in that forme which our Lord hath taught us And that we may come boldly unto the Throne of Grace and be assured to find helpe in the time of need we shall in His Word not onely receive His owne Answer but likewise see by examples how holy and devout men have sped in the like cases Thus we may speake to God and heare His speech to us in all places at all times either alone or with others the holy Angels joyning in our conversation and our selves never destitute of the fruit thereof And because the holy Scriptures are the foundation of all our faith therefore it must first appeare That these Scriptures are the very Word of God Himselfe § 1. Then how necessary it was and behovefull for the Church that God should vouchsafe thereto the know ledge of His Word § 2. Thirdly to shew what these Scriptures are § 3. Fourthly to justifie their perfection or sufficiencie § 4. Fiftly to shew that they are come unto us in the integrity as they were at first delivered to the Church § 5. Then to speake of their easinesse to be understood § 6. And lastly of their interpretation § 7. §
truenesse of his Religion because he finds no familiar reason to perswade but onely the racke of authorities to constraine him to acknowledge it may perhaps bee hereby satisfied and finde comfort and that they who are already strong may by this overplus triumph in the goodnesse of God who requires them to beleeve no more then they may by that understanding which hee hath given them bee perswaded of I have for their sakes who may reape benefit thereby neglected all froward Censurers not guilty unto my selfe of any offence which I can commit in making it publike Such as it is accept kinde Sir as a parcell of that assertion which may hereafter follow of every Article of our Christian faith if God shall vouchsafe me understanding leisure and maintenance thereto I therefore offer it unto you both because I know you are diligent in reading of bookes of good argument and because I have none other meanes whereby to shew my selfe thankefull for your manifold kindnesses and your love London this 20. of April 1601. Your loving and assured friend A. G. THE TREATISE THough many things discouraged mee to write unto you of this Argument in such sort as I intend considering that neither your daily reading of the Scripture neither the perswasion of learned Divines can moove you to accord unto the truth though by manifest testimony of Scripture they conuince your heresie and most of all that God hath left you to beleeve that lying spirit of Antichrist who denyeth that Iesus is that Christ Yet neverthelesse having some hope that God of His goodnesse will at last pull you as a brand out of the fire and quench you with the dew of His grace that you may grow in the knowledge of His Sonne I will as briefly as I can lay downe some few reasons of that faith which every one that will be saved must hold Whereby if I perswade you nothing yet shall I obtain thus much that you who neither beleeved His word nor yet opened your eyes to see the light of reasonable understanding shall at last confesse that His word and judgments are holy and true But before I come to the point let me first perswade you that although the knowledge of the holy Trinity be one of the most high mysteries which can be knowne or beleeved and that it is the only worke of the Holy-Ghost to worke this faith and knowledge in the heart of man yet neverthelesse God hath not left us destitute of meanes whereby to come to this faith and knowledge but hath also with His word given us a reasonable soule and understanding whereby to grow in the knowledge of Himselfe and His will For when Adam was created he had given unto him all perfect knowledge meete for him Now God who created the world for no other purpose then the manifestation of His owne glory might not leave that creature without understanding of the Godhead who being by nature and creation the most excellent in this visible world was made for that purpose especially above all other to set foorth His praise and to call on Him Now how could he doe this if he knew Him not But I thinke that seeing it is said that man was created in the jmage of God you will not deny that man before his fall had much more perfect understanding of the Godhead then it is possible for him to have till he come to know even as he is known but that by sin you may say this knowledge was lost not lost but corrupted only even as mans will For then it should follow that we were inferior to bruit beasts who have in them a sensible knowledge meete for that end whereto they were created Furthermore it is not possible that mans sinne should frustrate the end which God intended in His creation but it is manifest that man was created to know and honour the Creator Againe seeing in Christ all things consist he being ordained of the Father before all worlds in whom the world should be both created and restored It is plaine that this light of our understanding both proceedeth from Him and is restored in Him as it is said Iohn 1. He is that light that lightneth euery man that cometh into the world not onely His chosen with knowledge of His saving trueth but even generally every man with reasonable understanding whereby we may know whatsoever is to bee knowne of God and how even by the workes of God as it is plainely concluded Rom. 1 19 20. Therefore are they not to bee heard who hold any thing without the compasse of Faith which is without the compasse of Knowledge For Faith ought so to be grounded on Knowledge as Hope is grounded upon Faith So that as Faith Hebr. 11.1 is said to bee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an eviction or proofe of things hoped for though they be not seene so may I say that Knowledge is the proofe of things which are beleeved For Faith is nothing else but the Conclusion of a particular Syllogisme drawne from the Conclusion of an universall which the knowledge of God had concluded as it is manifest Iam. 2.19 and Hebr. 11.3 By conference of which two places it appeareth that this knowledge of which I speake this Historicall Faith as to beleeve that there is one God which made all things of nought is onely such a knowledge as the devils and wicked men have but to beleeve and have confidence in this God is that particular conclusion and that faith which causeth us to have hope in His promises Therefore said Christ Have Faith in God that is strive to know God that knowing you may have faith and beleeve in Him And wee see that in these things where a bare faith without knowledge might seeme to be most required because as a man would thinke there were no reason to be given of them namely concerning the maintenance of this life and the resurrection to the life to come both Christ and His Apostles use no other reasons but such as every reasonable man may easily bee perswaded by though authorities of Scripture were not wanting to both purposes as it is manifest Matth. 6. and 1. Cor. 15. Yea Paul at Athens or wheresoever hee perswaded the worship of the true God among the Gentiles hee perswaded not by authoritie of Scripture which amongst them had beene very weake but by such arguments as they knew to bee sufficient even in themselues If these things were not so how then could the Gentiles which knew not the Scriptures be without excuse for their ignorance of God Therefore I conclude that there is nothing which is beleeved but it may also be knowen Now knowledge we know is ingendered by such principles as have trueth in them the which is evident of it selfe So that by plaine and reasonable understanding a man may know whatsoever he beleeveth You will say To what purpose then serue the Scriptures I answere That God infinite in goodnesse hath together with this
sacrae et ratter is Psal 87.1 Foundations as that it only is able only worthy to binde the conscience of a reasonable man whereas all other religions or rather false worships although examined in themselves onely by their owne principles are found to be false and against common sense what triumph is this of a Christian over all Heathens and misbeleevers that will they nill they if they will bee men and stand to reason they must confesse that the Christian religion is onely true And seeing the world hath beene called to the marriage of the Kings Son Luc. 14.16 c. First by the voyce of nature declaring the wisdome and power of God in the creature and that they that were so called would not come because their mindes were set on earthly things Secondly by the Law but the Iew who sought righteousnesse by the Law would try what his five yoke of oxen that is his keeping of the Ceremoniall Law contained in the five bookes of Moses could doe and so would be excused Thirdly by the Gospell but the carnall Gospeller and false Christian could not come because he is marryed to pleasure and worldly lusts what remaines but that they who are yet strangers and walke in the broad wayes of sinne and the by-paths of their owne inventions should by reason that servant of God bee compelled to come in And seeing the time cannot bee farre off that all the nations of the earth are to bee called to the knowledge of Christ For great shall his name be from the rising of the Sunne to the going downe of the same Psal 103.3 What hinders that the truth of Christ bee taught according to common reason whereto every man doth listen For it cannot bee but that all Idolatry and false worship all heresies and dissentions about Religion must then cease when the truth is taught in the evidence of that Spirit whereby every man is guided For as God made man reasonable so doth hee command nothing to bee done which in true reason is not the best nor require any thing to bee beleeved which in true reason is not most true You will say is there no difference then betweene faith and reason yes very great For Reason is busied in the proofe of some generall conclusion which is to bee held for a truth and so received of every man but faith is the application of that conclusion to a mans owne selfe As if it be concluded that because Christ being so conceived and so borne had no sin and therefore he suffered not death for himselfe but to save them that should beleeve on him faith applies this generall conclusion thus but I doe beleeve and therefore I shall be saved Now this application is not made by reason but by the speciall instruction of the Spirit of God in the heart of the beleever although it were inferred upon such a conclusion as was proved by reason I have not endevoured herein to heap up arguments by numbers but by weight and therfore have Ilet passe all reasons from forrein autority and all that were but likely onely and of small importance neither have I brought any one but such as seemed to mee sufficient of it selfe to confirme the question The reasons here used are for the most part from the goodnesse power wisdome and other dignities of God because the questions are concerning the things of God and no arguments can be of greater force and more immediate then such as are drawne from the verie being or immediate properties of the things in question they are handled by necessities and impossibilities to shew that all things that are and are not stand for the truth of the promises of God to us that by all meanes wee might have strong hope and comfort in Christ And though I sometimes bring one argument for divers conclusions yet it is not therefore of lesse force no more than a good toole is of lesse worth because it serves for divers uses I have studied for plainenes as much as I may and therfore have I sometimes handled the same reason both affirmatively and negatively that he that cannot take it with one hand might hold it with the other for that purpose also are divers reasons brought though all satisfying as I thinke yet perhaps all of every one not equally understood but he that understands all may upon these grounds or the like bring many other to the same purpose and give glorie to that infinite mercy which hath so fortified this glorious truth which hee hath bound us to beleeve with such walles bulwarkes ravelings and counterscarpes of reason that all the power of hell all the batterye of Atheists Turkes Iewes and other adversaries shall never bee able to overcome it And because a little light is soone lost if dispersed as in the Starres called Nebulosae and those of endlesse number and distance in the milkie way I have proposed the reasons together in as short and few words as I can that the light of the reason may more easilie appeare For oftentimes while men desire to enlarge themselves the reason vanishes into words The autorities of the sacred Text I bring as need is that the Christian may see whence the Article of faith in question is taken and whereon it is grounded and that in the proofe thereof I bring no other doctrine than the holy Scripture doth reach Let no man carrie my words or meaning awry for although in this search of causes and reasons other conclusions offered themselves yet I held it not meet to propose any other things than the holy Church of old thought fit to be held as sufficient for the saving faith of Christians conteined in the Creed which is called the Apostles as being gathered from their writings and that according to that order as it is therein delivered yet with such prefaces and notes as the necessitie of the things did drive me unto leaving those other things to the higher speculation of them whom God shall vouchsafe to enlighten for their further progresse from faith to faith from knowledge to knowledge till all the holie Church come to bee partakers of those things new and old that are kept for her in store when she shall come unto the fulnesse of the measure of the age of Christ that is the perfect knowledge of all those things which our Lord in his time taught his Disciples who were not able then to beare them till they had received the light of the holy Spirit from above If any man learned bee pleased to read in this booke let him forgive me the harshnesse of my speech being to teach the unlearned in English a language not taught that nicetie of words whereby to expresse the difference of things which I easilie hope he will doe because hee knowes that the infinite differences of things do much exceed the sharpnesse of our understanding and yet the subtiltie of mans understanding doth goe farre beyond the rudenesse and scarcitie of all words
poysonous herbs that they may be avoyded so are these heresies here set out Moreover in this triumph of the truth of Christ a great part of the captive traine should have beene wanting if they had not been driven before the triumphant Coach Whereas now the Christian may have comfort to see how the truth hath been fought against but yet hath overcome hath beene besieged not taken battered not shaken so that hereafter he may contemne the force of any adversarie And for feare of danger I thinke there is none when both by Scripture and reason these heresies mentioned are so utterly overthrowne But if any contrary to both these will yet bee licking of that foule vomit Let him that is filthie bee filthie still and let him that is holy be holy still The heresies I mention under the most usuall and knowne name not reckoning up for ostentation all those that were followers of that opinion The word Heresie I use at large for any opinion which a man doth chuse to maintaine against the truth knowne or unknowne And herein I put not onely the perverse opinions of them that have beene called Christians but also those false positions of the Heathens who profest Philosophie of whose traditions and false principles we are admonished to beware Col. 2.8 And these things being thus remembred let us now with due reverence and regard first be assured That God is that we may know what that glorious truth is which is the ground and rule of all truth and the foundation of our most holy and Christian religion because that this foundation being once laid the spirituall building of our most glorious faith may on that firme Rocke be raised up in all the parts thereof perfect and entyre And as we know that the author of all truth hath no need of our Lye whereby to be justified so where the truth is manifest let us not shut our eyes against it because we know that it is the shine of his being upon our understanding and that for this end that our understanding and will being enlightned thereby we may find the way to everlasting happinesse ARTICLE I. J beleeve in God That GOD is CHAP. I. IN the Grammaticall interpretation of the words I follow onely that sence which the Church of England holds my purpose is not to dwell therein but onely to ascertaine these doubts whereabout question may arise Therefore let the Atheist heare and the foole that saith in his heart There is no God for certainely There is a God And although no word or speech can bee uttered of which it is confessed that it is true or false but that it doth from thence follow necessarily That God is yet I will take onely those neerest attributes which we know to belong essentially unto him and so affirme that by this name God is meant a being eternall and infinite in all perfection of goodnes wisdome power will truth virtue glory and all those excellencies which may be in so glorious and infinite a being And againe convertibly that this being most perfect in infinitie eternitie goodnesse wisdome glorie c. is God The first reason is from the eternity If there bee not a being which had no beginning then that which was first existent or begun must bee a beginning unto it selfe by causing it selfe to be when it was not But it is impossible that any thing should be a cause and not be for so should it both be and not bee Therefore there is an eternall being the beginning of all things himselfe without beginning And that eternall being is God 2. Seing there is being which could not possiblie raise it selfe out of not being it followes that being was before not being and therfore of necessitie must be eternall for otherwise there was a a time wherein it might be said that being is not being and so not being should have been eternall and b contradictories might have stood together that is not being in eternitie and yet eternitie is most of all being But these things are impossible therefore there is an eternall being and this eternall being we call God 3. Eternitie is For neither can Nature which in continuance tooke her beginning together with time nor yet can mans understanding put any point of beginning in continuance before which some other continuance may not be understood to be Therefore all Nature and Reason must needs yeeld that there is Eternitie Therefore there is an eternall being for if in eternitie you put privation or not being it would be impossible that any thing should be brought out thereby Therefore God is 4. Whatsoever enforces the privation or taking away of a being infinitely and eternally good brings in an infinite and eternall ill But to deny that God is enforces the privation or taking away of a being infinitely and eternally good Therefore to denie that God is brings in an infinite and eternall ill Heare Atheist and consider how thou doest put ill to have the prioritie before good both in being and in action For that which is first must needs be a cause to all things that follow so that the cause of all things being ill every effect necessarily answering the cause every thing should in the very being have beene ill whereas ill is onely morall in the wickednesse of the qualities or action not of the being Gen. 1.31 The greatest excellencie or perfection of every thing is in the likenesse thereof unto the first cause but every thing is more excellent in the being thereof than in the not being therefore in the being it is most like the first cause whereupon it followes that the first cause of all is most of all being therefore before not being and so eternall And that is God All truths inferior and created depend necessarily upon a superior and increated truth for nothing can be in the effect which is not first in the power of the cause Wherefore seeing no space can bee given so great but that it is possible for the understanding a created being truly to conceive a space yet more large nor any number so multiplied but that still a greater number than it may be given the understanding must needs yeeld that there is a being infinite in extension that fils all space and yet is infinitely greater than it and a wisdome or mind numbring which is also infinite which no number can-either exceed or equall but only that most simple unity of his owne most pure and absolute perfection c Therefore there is a God Notes IF any man desire to see other reasons to this purpose let him reade those arguments that are brought by Tho. Aquinas lib. 1. cap. 13. contra Gentiles Sum. Theol. part 1. cap. 2. out of Aristotle and out of Thom. in Savanarola in his booke called Triumphus Crucis cap. 6. The arguments also that are here brought in the chapters following to prove the Eternity Infinity Omnipotency c. of God doe prove that there is a God
so different kinds it must follow that there is not onely an infinite subordination of causes but also that there be infinite subordinations of causes of kinds infinitely different according to the different effects brought forth But this is impossible for the causes being ordained for the effect and the effect being the end of those causes that which is finite should be more noble and excellent than that which is infinite Thirdly if there be a subordination of causes infinitely of which one is moved orderly by another it must needs follow that there is no moving and consequently no causing at all for every cause being moued by that which is before or above it if there be no first cause given there can be no moving But it is apparent that in infinitie of causes there can be no first nor last and so there should be no moving nor no immediate cause of the effect Therefore there is one cause of all whith is infinite and eternall 3 If God be not eternall then either the world was a beginning unto it selfe or else it was eternally and so shall continue eternally But neither was the world a beginning unto it selfe as is proved Cap. 1 Re. 1. neither is the world eternall as shall be proved Cap. 13. Therefore God is eternall 4. And this truth of Gods everlasting being the holy Scripture teacheth every where as Gen. 21.33 And Abraham called on the name of the everlasting God Exod. 15.18 The Lord shall reigne for ever and ever Deut. 32.40 I live for ever Psal 90.2 Before the mountaines were brought forth or ever the earth and the world were made thou art God from everlasting to everlasting So Psal 41.13 106.48 and Rev. 11.17 We give thee thanks Lord God Almighty which art which wast and which art to come Psal 145.13 Thy kingdome is of all eternity and thy dominion in every generation Notes a HAth power to continue infinitely the Schoolemen say Thom. contra Gentes lib. 1. cap 16. and often elsewhere Quod potest esse potest etiam non esse which you may construe That which hath power to be hath also power not to be or that which may be may also not be which seemes directly to crosse this argument But you must understand the Doctor there to speake of a thing which is in the power of being whereto it hath not yet attayned as a kernell is in power to become a tree in which the power of being is passive importing a privation of the being to come But in this place power to be meanes an actuall power not privative but positive whereby the thing which hath the power shewes by the actions the power which it hath as of the understanding to applie it selfe to this or that The passive power can no way be in God The second is a power of absolute perfection without which he could not be God b Impossible necessarily See the rule of this consequence Logono Cap. 18. n. 7. Cap. 26. n. 1. c Infinite causes Re. 2. That which is infinite in power may worke in a time finite not that which is infinite in number onely which is here meant That God is Infinite CHAP. III. INfinitie cannot here be meant of multitude for the more that multitude is increased in any kind the more the dignities of one are abated Neither yet can this infinitie be of quantitie for infinity cannot be in quantity no more than eternity can be in time a Neither is God a body which onely is capable of quantity yet is not infinity of extension denyed in as much as he fils all places infinitely beyond all place as the Prophet Esay speaks Chap. 40.12 That he measures the waters in his fist and the heavens in his span Neither is God infinite privatively in regard of any defect or want of being because he hath the complement of all perfections in himselfe But he is infinite negatively because there is no limit or bound to be set to his being to his perfection or superabundance in goodnesse wisdome power truth and glorie The reasons are these 1. Whatsoever is supersupreme or highest in all degrees of perfection must needs be infinite because there is nothing above it which may limit or restraine it But such is the being of God above which it is confessed that nothing can be thought more excellent Therefore God is infinite 2. Being taken absolutely that is simply by it selfe without any limitation must needs be infinite because infinite things by infinite meanes may be partakers thereof But such is the being of God that is absolute and simple for neither is his being from another as the cause thereof seeing he is eternall neither yet in another as a forme in the matter for so something should be more excellent than he as every totall is more excellent than any part thereof or as the accident in the subject for so something should be before him and also be more worthy than he as every subject in regard of the accidents Neither yet is he for any other as the end thereof for as all things are from him and by him as the first cause so are they for him as for their first and chiefest end and secondly for themselves to finde themselves happy in him as farre as they are capable as the Apostle concludes Rom. 11.36 Of him through him and for him are all things to him be glory for ever Amen Therefore God is infinite 3. If the being of God be not actually infinite then should it be inferiour to the possibilities of the creature for mans understanding though actually finite yet admits the possibility of an infinite actuall being as was shewed in space and in numbers Chap. 1. Re. 6. But it is impossible that the being of God should be inferiour to those possibilities which the creature can reasonably give unto him for so the activitie of the understanding should be created in vaine if there were no being actually infinite to be apprehended thereby So also the effect that is the understanding should be extended beyond the being of the cause that is God if it could conceiue any excellency of being goodnesse wisdome c. greater than his Therefore it is necessarie that God be infinite You may see more Reasons Chap. 10. and there also the ground of this discourse 4. The authorities of Scripture are these Psal 143.3 Great is the Lord and most worthy to be praised and his greatnesse is incomprehensible Psal 93.3 The Lord is a great God a great king above all Gods Psal 104.1 O Lord my God thou art exceeding great thou art clothed with majestie and honour Note a God is not a body pref The proofe of this see in the ninth chapter That God is infinitely good CHAP. IIII. THings in their being are the object of our understanding that we may know the truth of their being and therein is the understanding perfected But things as farre as they are good are the object of our
that in which he was created Thus out of the eater comes meat and out of the strong comes sweethes Iud. 14.14 Thus the head of Leviathan is broken in pieces and given to be meat to us in the wildernesse of this world Psal 74.14 Therefore seeing it was the good will and pleasure of Almighty God to mankinde to make him partaker of these unspeakable mercies which his goodnesse hath wrought unto us out of the ill of our sin and because he that wills the end wills also those meanes that leade unto the end we may with reverence to his wisdome and truth affirme that although God by his revealed will forbad the tree of knowledge unto Adam and so made his eating sin yet in his secret counsell he did foresee that sin in Adam not as an enforcing or a working cause but leaving him to himselfe But here a doubt must be answered first if we be indeed redeemed from the thraldome of sin why doth God suffer sin still to remaine in us yea so far forth as that we cannot cease to sin yea so farre forth as that it makes our best actions even our prayers abhominable while our tongue utters one thing and our heart wanders after another Answer It was possible and easie to God so to have renewed the heart of man so as that he should not sin but yet God would let sin to dwell in us for divers advantages to us but especially for two first that at the fight of our sin we might cast down our selves before him and utterly renouncing our owne worthinesse we might seek that righteousnes which is of him and in him alone the second that by the perpetuall remembrance of our sin the punishment due unto us for the same we might be thankfull unto our most mercifull Redeemer by faith the anker of our souls holding out our hope that although we fal we shal not be cast away and hereupon depends our repentance our patience and our endeavour to the masterdome of our owne wickednes Thus as the wise Physician for long continuing and deepe rooted maladies gives strong purging medicines of Seamony or Colocynthis and after applies his cordialls so our most gracious Healer to let us know what we are of ourselves lest through pride the sinne of the rebellious Angels we should be lost for ever doth not only suffer us to taste the bitter fruits of our owne corruption but suffers sinne also as the flesh of the venomons tyre to be still in us that by it the vertues of the precious spices of his graces may be conveyed to our hearts to preserve us from eternall death that balefull infection of the devill unto everlasting life b Necessary truth in actuall being R. 3 Necessary truth is not here meant that truth which depends upon the necessary being of the thing in respect of the cause thereof but that necessity which bindes the understanding or words to be agreeable to the present being And thus this proposition Peter sits is as necessarily true while he doth sit as to say Peter is a man CHAP. VI. That God is Almightie MIght or power is of divers kindes as you may reade log appendix of Sect. 3. introduct I will not stand repeating nor in this question make any mention of that power which they call passive because it meanes a power onely to suffer in things that are weake and imperfect The might which I meane here is absolute perfect infinite which belongs to God and to him alone as it appeares by these reasons 1. What power soever it is which is equally powerfull over all being either in acte or in possibilitie of being must needs bee infinite or almightie but such is the power of God therefore God is Almightie It was manifest before Chap. 2. that God was everlasting and so not by any other but that all things either being or possible to be are from him above as it will further appeare Chap. 13. and upon this consequence it will further follow necessarily that God is Almighty a in respect of the creature 2. b If God bee not Almightie then either that which is or that which is not must bee able to resist him but neither that which is nor that which is not is able to withstand him therefore God is Almightie The proposition is plaine that hee may doe what he will doe who can finde no hinderance or let in his doing The assumption also is as true for the things that are are all from him as the fountaine of all being as it is confessed by the voice of heaven Reve. Cap. 4.11 Thou art worthie O Lord to receive glory and honour and power for thou hast created all things and for thy wills sake they are and have beene created And that the things that are not should be able to withstand him is utterly impossible for so not being should be more powerfull than being and being more powerfull must of necessitie be and so should both be and not be which is an absolute contradition and utterlie impossible Therefore the first that God is Almightie is true of necessitie 3. If God be not Almighty so that his power may be answerable to his other dignities in infinitie then either his power must bee accidentall to him or else his being must differ essentiallie from it selfe but both these things are impossible for in him is no accident nor shadow of change Ia. 1.17 as it shall appeare more at large Chap. 9. And for the second consequence it is as plaine for that which is infinite and that which is finite must needs differ essentially so that if his goodnesse his eternitie wisdome c. being essentially himselfe as is shewed Chap. 8. be infinite and his power likewise essentiall to him and yet finite then his being must needs differ essentially from his being Therefore it is necessarie that God be Almighty 4. Nothing can either be or worke but by that power which it hath both to be that which it is and to doe that which it doth so that if the power of God were not infinite or almightie neither could his being be everlasting by his eternitie neither could his inward action in himselfe be infinite and eternall neither could his goodnesse his greatnesse his truth glory c. be that which they are neither by his wisdome could he know himselfe infinite and eternall nor yet able to doe any thing answerable to his goodnesse truth and glory Reade Psal 111. Neither could he delight himselfe and be so happy infinitely in his owne goodnesse greatnesse and glory and so he should not be God But all these things are impossible therefore God is Almighty And this the holy Scripture every where proclaimeth first by the voice of God himselfe Gen. 17.1 35.11 I am God Almighty and Exod. 6.3 I appeared unto Abraham Isaac and Iacob by the name of the Almighty God Then by his Prophets Iob 27.3 This is the portion of Tyrants from the Almightie This
being in this representation of God doth naturally will or desire the being of it selfe in all the perfections thereof So a God wils his owne being because his being is infinitely good powerfull glorious c. And if hee did not will his owne being He should be against his will and in that case be most miserable as being the chiefest of beings And seeing He is the greatest good that can be if his will should not Will such a being then were it defective and ill if any way opposite to the chiefest good But all these things are utterly impossible Therefore his Will is infinite And as these reasons confirme the infinity of His Will in his owne being So the Holy Scripture witnesses the ab solute freedome of his will in the creature as Psal 115.3 Hee doth whatsoever Hee will Iob. 23.13 He is one and who can turne him whatsoever His minde desires He doth 2. And concerning his Truth it is also manifest Truth is either reall that is in the being of the thing which elsewhere log sect 3.9 I call metaphy sicall or intellectuall that is where the understanding apprehends the thing according to the truth of the being and if it conceive it otherwise than it is then deceit or falshood is in the understanding onely or in the words the expression of the understanding but not in the thing as Agrippa makes it Comment in Artem brevem Lulli The reall truth is that whereby the thing is truly that which it is in what sort of being soever it is So that if the being of God bee infinite as was proved cap. 3. then it is necessary that his truth also bee infinite And this is that which God said of himselfe Exod. 3.14 I am that I am speaking of the truth of his infinite being Or you may take it thus Seeing every thing is that which it is by the truth of the being if the truth of God were not infinite then could neither His being nor His goodnesse nor any of those dignities which wee have before proved to bee infinite be such as they are proved to be and so all the impossibilities should of necessity follow But these things cannot be so Therefore it is most necessary that his truth be infinite Secondly seeing the truth of all understanding and of all speech is founded in the truth of the being of things If the truth of God were not infinite and answerable to his being but that his being were infinite and his truth finite the understanding could not be assured what to conceive truly of God neither could we know what we might truly affirme or deny concerning him and so our faith and hope in him should never bee setled neither could we bee assured of any truth either in Religion or any thing else For if certaine truth be not in Him much lesse in the things that are by Him so that all truth should stand onely in opinion and according to that idle fancie of the Scepticks But this as it is against all reverence we owe to God so is it against all reason and sense and those certaine truths that have hitherto beene proved Therefore the Prophet Psal 31.6 calles him the God of Truth in as much as all truth which can be in any understanding or uttered by any speech must be grounded in the being of things and all being is onely in Him and from Him And therefore he saith Psal 119.160 Truth is the beginning of his word So Psal 100.5 His mercy is everlasting and his Truth from generation to generation And Psal 107.2 The truth of the Lord endureth for ever 3. Happinesse is imputed to every prosperous successe in any mans undertaking and that not onely in the last end of his Aymes but likewise in all his meanes thereunto Blessednesse is only in the last end which a man proposeth as the Covetous blesseth himselfe in the multitude of his riches the proud in his honour and every Malitious man when hee can make his mischievous imagination to prosper But the Glory whereof I speake holds all that holy blessednes or delight which is in God by the superexcellencie of his owne being which if it bee not infinite then must it be either because there is a greaternesse in his being and a lessenes of His enioying of himselfe which cannot stand with the action of His Infinitie shewed chap. 10. or because he knows not his owne worthines which stands not within his wisdome or for some defect or other which cannot stand with the possibility of his perfection who hath in Himselfe all things that hee can desire Therefore his glory is infinite Moreover if no perfection can come to Him from without it must follow necessarily that he hath all possible perfections in Himselfe But it is plaine that no perfection can come to him from without who gave to all things their being and welfare Therefore his blessednesse or Glory is infinite As it is said Psal 104.1 O Lord my God thou art exceeding glorious thou art clothed with glory and honour And Apoc. 4.10 Thou art worthy O Lord to receive glory and honour and power And Reu. 5.13 I heard all the Creatures saying Praise and honour and glory and power be to him that sitteth upon the throne And Reu. 7.12 Praise and glory and wisdome and thanks and honour and power and might be unto our God forevermore Amen 4. And because God is one infinite being as shall by and by be more fully proved therefore the proposition of the first Syllogisme N. 1. may serve either for any one of all the dignities of God before spoken or for any other attribute properly given unto God as you shall find them in the holy Scripture as 1. Holinesse 2. Righteousnesse or Iustice 3. Mercy 4. Grace 5. Life 6. Light 7. Love or the like And because unto the proposition you may take which of these you will and I hasten forward therefore I will only bring some few authorities of the holy Scripture for every one of these And first Holinesse 1. Levit. 11.44 1 Pet. 1.15 Be ye holy for I am holy Psal 99.9 Exalt the Lord our God for the Lord our God is Holy And for this hee is called The Holy one of Israel Psal 71.22 74.41 2. Righteousnesse Psal 71.15 My mouth shall daily rehearse thy righteousnesse for I know no end thereof 3. Mercy Psal 103.17 His mercy is from eternity to eternity on them that feare him and his Righteousnesse on childrens children Exod. 20. Shewing mercy to thousands 2 Cor. 1.3 He is the Father of mercies This Mercy is the ground of many psalmes and in especiall of the 136. 4. Grace Gen. 6.8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. And Saint Paul in every Epistle wisheth Grace from God to the Churches so Saint Iohn Reu. 1.4 5. 6. Life and Light Psal 36.9 For with thee is the well of life and in thy Light wesh all see light 7. Love 1 Ioh 4.6
the beginning of cap. 1. therefore it cannot belong to more than one 5. If there be two Gods or more it is necessarie that they bee distinguished by something added either to one or to both which addition if it be an accident whether it be of inherence or circumstance will not make such difference but that in essence they may be one and if no accident can be in God as shall by and by appeare then this kinde of difference will bee none but if the addition make an essentiall difference then the being must be compounded but such a being cannot be God which must be independent and uncompounded 6. Besides seeing they must be in the highest degree of being and that He unto whom wee confesse is proved to be infinitely and essentially good wise powerfull true glorious eternall c. it must needs bee that whatsoever differs therefrom in the excesse of being must be infinitely ill foolish weake false contemptible of no continuance and so none at al see hereto Plotini Ennead lib. 7. cap. 23. The truth of this the Holy Scripture confirmes Deut. 4.35 39. The Lord is God and there is none but he alone Deut. 6.4 and Mar. 12.29 Heare O Israel The Lord our God is one Lord. Mal. 2.10 Haue we not all one Father hath not one God made us Mar. 12.32 There is one God and there is none but He. 1 Cor. 8.4 There is none other God but one Eph. 4.6 There is one God and Father of all which is aboue all and through all and in you all Notes a TO be more excellent or perfect than Hee Corol. 1. Re. 3. Tho. Aquinas lib. 1. Cap. 28. cont Gent. to this conclusion brins another reason which is this In every kinde or order of beings there is something most perfect whereby every thing in that kinde is to be measured because that the greater or lesse perfection of every thing is tryed by how much it is nearer to to that most perfect being or further off therefore in the order of being also there must be one thing most perfect which is God who if hee were not most perfect could not be the common measure of all things For respect to the person I would faine have let this reason stand but that it stands not with reason nor the truth for it puts the Creator and the creature in one ranke or order of being and the difference onely in degrees of perfection and imperfection which can no way bee admitted for the being of God is absolute and of it selfe the being of the creature is onely of Him His infinite their 's finite and how can that which is infinite be a measure to that which is finite what proportion is there betweene them doth not the Creator which is infinite differ as much from that which is in the highest perfection of being created and finite as from that which is in the lowest doth not he as much exceed an Angell or a man as the least mote of dust on the earth how then is that true which the Prophet hath Esay 40.15.17 All nations are unto him as nothing yea lesse than nothing and vanitie as the dust in the balance which no man puffs away because it hath no weight And that he should thinke this reason good or the comparison tollerable is so much the more to bee marvelled at because that in the same booke Chap. 32. he proves that nothing can bee affirmeable of God and the creature univocably but onely analogically Chap. 34. And againe in his questions on the first booke of the Senten dist 8. q. 6.7 Though all created beings be brought into the orders and distributions of being which wee call predicaments either directly or collaterally yet hee proves that God can no way bee brought into any predicament and that because his being conteines the excellencies of all beins as the cause and susteiner of all And if he cannot come into the predicament of substance either as the most generall substance affirmeable of all o as any thing conteined thereunder because his being is simple and without addition or difference much lesse can be be brought into any other predicament And if wisdome be in God as his very being and substance but in an Angell as a qualitie onely What affinitie or neerenesse can there be betweene a qualitie in one and the substance of another therefore the comparison of perfection and imperfection is in the creatures onely and not with the Creator for as the distance is endlesse from not being to being and therefore the least atome could not bee brought out from not being into being but by an infinite power so againe from a finite being how excellent soever in respect of other finites the distance is as great to a being that is infinite For as in a number actually infinite if any such could be five could not be conteined oftner than ten nor one than five so the greatest perfection of a finite being is as neere unto nothing and as much exceeded by an infinite Being as that which is accounted the meanest of Beings b § 1. Therefore God is one alone Corol. 2. Re. 3. If the Fathers and Historians of the Church till toward foure hundred yeeres after Christ recorded the Heresies of those times as of the divers sects of Christians I thinke they were too light of beleese to settle their thoughts in things so foule and filthie So against Nature if not impossible But if not beleeving them they thought themselves forced to proclaime them Hereticks that were said to doe such deeds Because the shatnelesse lying Ethnicks put such things upon the Christians by the malice of the Devill invented onely to disgrace the glorious faith it was a worse deede to brand the Christian name with such villanie onely because the enemies of the faith were past all shame to lay such things to their charge For in all heathenisme you shall not read of any deeds so roule of any opinions so farre from reason but if they whom they call hereticks were only the censurers of all opinions in those times themselves being Libertines of Atheists and so among other their opinions broached what liked them best concerning Christianity I see no reason why they should be called Hereticks more than Celsus Porphyrie Lucian and such professed adversaries or any of the Philosophers that were before for if hee onely can bee an Hereticke who being baptised doth stubbornely maintaine a false opinion contrarie to some article of our faith How can the Manichees be counted Hereticks who were neither baptised nor acknowledged one God nor beleeved his Scriptures but as another prophane writing so farre as they liked it who worship't the Sanne the Moon and all their Idoles and although they celebrated their assemblies in comming together as the Christians yet can you account those mysteries of Beelzebub to be Christian which were performed with such accursed uncleannesse as I must forbeare to write which I could hardly have
beene brought to beleeve if S. Augustine himselfe who had been among them and proves it by witnesses had not recorded it de Haeres Cap. 46. The filthines of the Gnosticks was yet more abhominable if it be possible to be true which they write will you account them Christians The Philosopher Plotinus no Christian Ennead 2. lib 9. intituled against the Gnosticks shewes the falshood of their opinions concerning the creating of the world and proves that in the government thereof their opinion was more wicked than that of Epicurus and though Simon the Sorcerer was baptised Acts. 8. yet when his gall of bitternesse had made him a professed enemie and father of all those heresies that followed will you count him a Christian Therefore you may with the Apostle say of these of Cerinthus of Carpocrates and of many of the rest They went out from us but they were not of us But because I am busied in things of more importance than this and yet the honour of the Christian name is no small matier I will most brieflie recount the contrarie opinions whether they be of the elder Philosophers or the later Hereticks as they have beene gathered by the most ancient among the Fathers Irenaus Epiphanius S. Augustine and others I say most briefly and onely for a taste that you may love the truth the better and adore that mercy which hath manifested it unto us And therefore I will not tell you of Varros thousands of gods nor trouble you needleslie with remembrance of those gods of the Heathen which you may reade in the holy Scripture and know better by Master Seldens just Commentarie de Djs Syris if you understand Latin § 2. Above fortle disagreeing opinions among the Philosophers concerning the gods are reckoned up by Cic. de natura Deorum lib. 1. of which some directly gainsay this conclusion of the Vnitie of the Godhead for although Antisthenes confessed there was but one God the God of all nature yet he added that there were divers Gods for divers peoples and countries Xenocrates said there were eight gods in the seven planets and one that ruled over all the Starres Anaximander held many gods and so many gods so many worlds but said that these gods were brought forth in time and after many ages dyed againe Alomeon seemed to acknowledge three gods inasmuch as he gives divinitie to the Sunne to the Moone and to the soule of man Xenophanes would have all that is infinite to be god whether in being or in working as he held the understanding Democritus would have all the Ideas or representations of things being and that understanding whence they proceed and mans understanding also to be gods The inconstancle of the Philosophers in their owne opinions brought us in yet more gods Cleanthes one while said the world was god sometime the soule whereby it was quickned and governed then againe the pure and uppermost ayre that compasseth the whole Globe of heaven and earth sometime the Starres other while reason as so the rest as you may heare hereafter And if the Philosophers the guides were blind it is no marvell though the blockish rout ran into all Idolatrie as they are described Wisd Chap. 14. But to suppose it reasonable to give honour to the memorie of the dead who where founders of cities or procurers of some great and publike good because they though dead were thought to favour and maintaine their owne endeavours or to be so unreasonable as to thinke with the Aegyptians that there was something divine in all those things by which they received any kinde of good and so to worship men horses birds serpents wolves dogs and cats See Iuvenall Sat. 15. Cic. de natura Deorum lib. 3. yet what could so mad the old Romanes not onely to allow all the hee gods and the shee gods of others but to consecrate imaginations as Victory Concord Peace yea and among these their owne plagues and punishments as the Ague Mildew and blasting ill fortune c Cic. loc cit § 3. But there was no opinion among all these more foolish than that which went out in the name of the Hereticks Cerdon first of all August cont advers leg Proph. l. 2. c. 12. said there were two gods one good whom they called Oeomazes and another stark naught whom they named Areimanius This opinion his scholer Marcion upheld but added * Tertullian who disputes against him in sive books hath it not nor Irenaeus and Augustine brings it doubtfully out of Epiphanius a third whom he called the Iust After that the Gnosticks reeal'd the opinion of the two gods with many additions The Manichees also followed this madnesse and added their fiction that the good God set upon the wicked god to have supprest him but in that conflict the powers of darkenesse tooke many parts of the good god prisoners and tyed them unto earthly matiers for the ransoming of which this good but verie weake god takes great thought but as these parts of his come to be eaten in the matiers wherein they are tyed by their Catharists or Puritanes they are parted from the impure matiers and so restored to the God againe Are these Hereticks are these Christians found you any thing like to this among the pure naturallists of the heathen Phil. Mornay de verit Christ Relig. Cap. 2. drawes this opinion of two gods by the autoritie of Plutarch de Iside Osiride First from Zoroaster and so among the Persians thence to the Manichees It is true that Manes their father was a Persian but it is manifest that Plutarch was most grosly deceived first in the circumstance of the time wherein hee mistakes about some foure thousand two hundred yeeres a great fault in an Historian for if Zoroaster lived in the reigne of Ninus as the best Records doe make him See Fra. Patr. in Zor about three hundred yeeres after the floud it will not be above eight hundred ninetie or nine hundred yeeres before the destruction of Troy which is put about the yeare of the world two thousand eight hundred fortie so that Plutarch who makes him to have lived five thousand yeares before the destruction of Troy makes him above two thousand yeeres elder than Adam Then in the substance of the matier the mistaking is nothing lesse for by the diligence of worthy men divers of those magicall oracles of Zoroaster who was the Sonne of Oromazes Plato Alcib 1. are come to light and printed at Paris in the yeare one thousand sixe hundred and seven and before that many more of them gathered out of the old autors by Fra. Patricius and printed at Venice 1593. and since that elsewhere By which it is apparent that Zoroaster held the mysterie of the Trinitie in Unitie of the Deitie and one Godabove all the Creator of all things who according to his owne goodnesse made every thing perfect and good as his words witnesse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For from the Fathers workmanship
in denying of himselfe in all his ungodlie and sinnefull lusts that he may become a holy and a meet Temple for God to dwell in And so hee may assure himselfe that God will give him experience of himselfe as hee hath promised Ioh. 14.23 That hee will come and make his abode with him This is that wise merchant who for this pretious pearle sels all that hee hath to buy it This is hee that eates of the hidden Manna Ioh. 6.50.51 Rev. 2.17 that receives that white stone and a new name written which none knowes saving hee that receiveth it This is hee that in the face of Iesus Christ as in a mirrour beholds the glory of the Lord so that hee is changed into the same Image from Glory to Glory as by the spirit of the Lord. Notes a GOd is not matier Anaximenes said the aire was God that he was therfore unmeasureable but had a beginning was always in motion Diagoras of Apollonia for he of Melos was the Atheist consented unto him as concerning the matier The opinion of Cleanthes I told you before which one while held God to bee matier in this sensible world in the uppermost ayre and in the Statres Parmenides imagined a mighty wide circle which encompast the world like a Crowne or garland therefore called by him Stephane to be God Xenophon and with him Plato where hee speakes in iest saith the word was God which we call Mammon and yeelds there were more such but where he speakes in earnest as in his Epistles hee speakes of one God the Author of all things as we doe Aristotle could not tell how to gaine-say his master with his owne credit and so followed his judgement Heraclides of Pontus somewhiles said the Starres were Gods then heaven and earth So Theophrastus and sometime Zeno was for the Starres Chrisippus that was accounted most subtile amongst the schollers of Zeno was most wavering in his opinions sometime he thought the world was God sometime the uttermost or burning aire then water now earth after this ayre below and by and by the Sunne and the Moone and the Starres at last all together was but one God yet men canonized for their vertues must needs bee Gods apart and then much more the vertues for which they were immortall And thus they that would seeme wise while they cared to know more than the truth of God became idle in their imaginations and there foolish heart was full of darkenesse The parts which were before separate 2.1 b All parts are understood apart as things differing And therefore although divers formes are brought out of the power of the matier or propagate with the matier yet that affords no objection to weaken this argument But is destinate unto another totall 2.2 c If you looke on the question you shall finde it onely to be about such formes as these For it is not said that God is utterly no forme For forme is the most simple or pure being which wee can conceive but he is none of those formes which are allyed to matier The Angels are accounted formes but separate But I runne not with that opinion The Ideas are conceived to bee formes altogether separate not destinate unto matier much lesse is that most simple forme of formes the originall of all formes God is not the forme of any other Being 2.2 d The opinion of Democritus is contrary to this conclusion in that he makes mans soule to be God Straton thought that God was only a certaine divine power in Nature so said Chrisippus otherwhile and so Cleanthes where hee affirmed that God was the life of the world His opinion that reason was God was an errour against this conclusion also if by reason hee meant that reasonable soule the former of mans body Heraclides supposed God to change his shape at his pleasure Zeno said that reason in every thing was God or that he was that living law that gave life to everything Wavering Chrisippus sometime held the life of the world to be God somewhile he cal'd him destinie Therefore God is no compound 3.1 e Among the matiers reckoned up before note a. some you see are compounded and they belong properly to this place as earth water and our ayre below of which none are simple elements but mixt one with another for generation sake and fitted to the inhabitants that dwell therein of which none could live in elements that are pure being themselves compounded Therefore God is not a body 4.1 f The schoole of Epicurus taught that God was in shape like a man and that he was also bodily For they thought that if hee were without a body as Plato taught he could neither have sence nor wisdome and so could no way be partaker of any pleasure or happines But concerning the pleasure which God enjoyes Plato teaches Epist ad Dionys that it is not in outward or bodily things which hinder the happinesse of the minde The weaknes of Epicurus argument is shewed by Cotta a follower of Plato Cic. de Nat. D. l. 1 the opinion it selfe confuted by the arguments here brought especially against the Audean hereticks that were called Anthropomorphites whoupheld the opinion of the Epicurean Philosophers because the holy Scripture teaching men by their senses speakes of Gods powerfull right hand and treading down his enemies that hee was sorry in heart and specially where it is said Gen. 1. Let us make man in our owne likenesse They here understood the likenesse of the body not of the minde in holinesse and knowledge which we have lost must endeavour our selves to recover as we are exhorted Eph. 4.24 Put on the new man which is created according to God in righteousnesse and holinesse of the truth and againe Put on the new man which is renued in you unto knowledge according to the Image of Him that created him Therefore in God is no accident 5.1 Zeno g sometime affirmed that the yeare and the seasons thereof the spring the harvest the moneths also were God Chrisippus said the truth of things was God And if you account truth an accident you may referre his opinion hither You have now heard the difference of opinions among the Philosophers But how much wiser was Simonides that learned Poet who being demanded by Hiero king of Siracuse what God was He desired a day to thinke of his answer being the next day asked againe he desired two dayes And thus being often asked still doubled his time Being demaunded the reason he answered that the longer he thought thereon the more hard and darke the thing seemed unto him What thanks therefore can we give unto God who by his holy word hath so fully revealed himselfe unto us that the holy Angels themselues with wonder desire to pry into those mysteries which hee hath made manifest unto his Church by Christ 1 Pet. 1.12 1. Therefore his being is most simple 6.1 Against this conclusion a doubt or two may be raised 1. being without addition is
and ill should be convertible in him but these things are impossible Therefore God doth either worke infinitely or else he cannot worke at all but so should he not be worthy to be God so should not his power be infinite and if his power be infinite and yet he cannot worke at all then should his power bee altogether in vaine But all these things are impossible therefore God doth worke and that infinitely 3. The wisdome of God is infinite as was proved and by the infinitie of his wisdome hee doth understand the infinitie of his owne being but that cannot be but by an infinite action of understanding therefore the working of Gods wisdome is infinite And as these reasons against Epicurus that God doth worke and that infinitely so also these that follow prove the question fullie for if the being of God be one and that most simple and that nothing can be in him but essentially as was proved Chap. 9. § 5. 6. if hee worke as is shewed then his working or action must be his very being which because it is proved to be infinite it must follow that his action is also infinite 4. The working of infinite goodnesse wisdome power life truth c. in eternitie is the most destreable thing that may be and wherein the greatest glorie can consist which action of God if by his will He would not then must be will a ceasing of the action of goodnesse wisdome power c. and that in eternitie So shoudl these dignities be infinite invaine so his will were not answerable to the rest of his dignities so should hee not will the infinitie of his owne glorie nor being But all these things are impossible therefore the working of his dignities are answerable to their being and therefore infinite 5. The power of God is infinite as was proved by which infinitie of power all the other dignities of God may both be and worke infinitely And if the goodnesse and other dignities of God did not worke infinitely when by his power they might there should be an inequalitie or want in his goodnesse which should not be answerable to his power and the deprivation of the working of an infinite goodnesse would enforce an infinite ill so God should cease to be infinitely good But all these things are impossible Therefore the action of Gods goodnesse is of necessitie infinite 6. The power of God is such as that hee is thereby enabled to worke and if by his infinity he were not able to worke infinitelie then his infinitie should be of lesse force to withstand littlenesse and not being than his power is to withstand weakenesse so defect and want should be in his infinitie which of all his other dignities is set most against it and so his power should be infinite onelie in the possibilitie of working but finite in the action But these things are impossible therefore the power of God is as infinite in the working as it is in the being 7. If the working of God were not infinite he could not know it to be infinite but finite onely and in defect but a God cannot know any defect in himselfe in whom no defect is possible to be Therefore his working is infinite 8. If infinite working and being be not all one in God then there must of necessitie be in him either a multiplicitie of being or of accidents or of being and accidents But all these things have been shewed to be impossible chap 8. 9. therefore infinite being and working are in God all one So then his working is infinite 9. An infinite glory cannot be without the conditions of infinitie and eternitie nor yet without the being of goodnesse but neither can it be said to have the being of goodnesse if it spread not it selfe in the action of goodnesse neither yet of infinite and eternall goodnesse if it worke not infinitely and eternally but the glory of God is infinite with all the conditions of infinitie eternitie and goodnesse Therefore it workes infinitely and eternally according to the being of infinite and eternall goodnesse 10 The truth of God was proved to be infinite and one but if in the divine dignities there be a greatnesse in being and a lesnesse in working the truth in God must likewise be divers and not one so neither simple nor infinite But this is impossible therefore the working of his dignities is infinite as his being 11. The infinitie of God is such that b no abatement want or lesnesse may be understood or found therein but littlenesse or abatement might bee found therein if it were not as great in the action thereof as in the being for every abatement or want whether it bee of the being or of the working in goodnesse power wisdome c. is not onely a lessening but even an utter taking away of the infinitie thereof So that to denie the infinite working of God is to denie his infinitie and so his being 12. If all the dignities of God be infinite both in being and working it will follow that their equalitie and concord one with another is also infinite so that they be essentially one God and the same convertibly one with another the respects onely different as hath beene shewed Chap. 9. note h ob 1. But if these dignities bee not infinite in working as they are in being the disagreement will bee infinite because betweene no working or a finite working and a being every way infinite there is an infinite distance and to put this distance in God whose being is most simple and one would be utterlie impossible therefore God is altogether infinite in being and working If further proofe seeme yet needfull you may take hereto an inducement or two 13. The understanding of man is the image of God in him and as the understanding will not rest so is it much more meet to thinke of an endlesse wisdome Nay the very fantasie or thought though bodily though tyed to the five outward wits alone yet will it not rest and when it cannot worke upon the reason as in sleepe because reason will see that the fantasie was not deceiued in the outward sences then will it presse upon the remembrance as it appeares in dreames 14. If Hee which is cause of all working should cease to worke then all things at once should cease also both to worke and to be because c the first mover ceasing to move all the ensuing motion must be at a stand And if his power and the working thereof upon the creature did cease as the creature by his power was raised from nothing so would it returne to nothing if by the same it were not continually upheld Therfore God doth worke continually and as the worker is infinite d so is his working infinitely Notes a GOd cannot know any defect in himselfe R. 6. See the reason of this speech Chap. 6. note b n. 2. 3. b No abatement may bee understood therein R. 10. You have need to know that
this reason and the like which wee make from our owne understanding hath a most sure foundation and ground in the truth of God for therefore is the light of reason and understanding in man as a glasse or image of the divine wisdome created by him in us Iohn 1.4 Ephes 4.24 that we thereby might be led unto the knowledge of Him and so unto that happinesse for which wee are created therefore the understanding doth evermore apply it selfe unto the truth and makes the will to joy therein and to hate that which is false and impossible For reason in man being the image of Christ the second Adam is set in the Paradise of God freelie to eate of every tree therein that is to consider the whole creature which yeelds unto reason infinite truths as fruit whereon to feed to the praise of him that hath created it but if shee that is given to him for his help that is the imagination his Hevah the mother of all living for by the imagination alone the formes of all things live and are lively presented to reason if shee I say deale treacherously with him and without him entertaine speech with the craftie Serpent then is he by her easily perswaded to taste of the forbidden fruit to follow her foolish and wicked suggestions and to let into his understanding falshood and errours which cannot stand with the light of the truth but are onely according to the traditions of Arts falslie so called and the authorities of men misled by opinions Concerning authorities See Postell de Nat. Med. pag. 16.17 and log Cap. 23. n. 8. and note a c The first Mover ceasing to move R. 14. Though this reason shew the truth of the conclusion a posteriori yet is not this argument proper to this place because the question here is onely about the inward actions of God in himselfe not that which is outward upon the creature of which you shall hereafter understand more at large in the 13. Chapter d So is his working infinitely ib. Seeing it is firmely agreed unto both by Divines and Philosophers that God is altogether unmoveable not onely by those kindes of motion properly so called See Log. introduct sect 4. Append. n. 1. but also improper and metaphoricall as change of the will anger desire or other passions it may seeme that this conclusion of Gods infinite action or working is enforced utterly against the truth because it seemes that no working can be without motion I answer that motion and operation or working are very different these are like to motions but neither are motions nor yet with motions for to feele to see to understand to will or any other action immanent or dwelling in the worker are actions operations or workings of the sences the understanding and will but yet no motions but most improperly and onely in likenesse for all working action or operation is of a thing that is in perfection but motion properly so called is alwayes with imperfection and leaves the thing wherein the motion is in possibilitie onely to a further perfection And yet the very moving from place to place may be an example of this working which I have proved in God to be infinite For if you set a ruler upon a pin and turne it with violence upon that centre you shall perceive no part of the surface ouer which it is turned which you shall not see covered every where with the ruler and the swifter it is carried about the better and more closely doth it cover it so that if you suppose that motion to be infinite in swiftnesse with continuance for a certaine time then every part of the ruler in the continuall succession of that time must of necessity be every where upon the under surface according to the length of that time which the ruler doth make from the navell point to the hemme or circumference So that you cannot more rightly call it motion than rest when every part of the ruler is continually upon every part of the surface under it And even so this working which I have proved to be in the Godhead because it is infinite may most truly according to this example be called rest because his owne action in himselfe is that wherein above all other he can take most glorie and delight as being in the perfection of goodnesse power wisdome truth and glorie c. And thus according to the measure of our weake understanding having considered what God is in his being it followes that we enquire also what Hee is according to the manner of his being The Father Almightie CHAP. XI That there is a Trinitie of Persons in the Vnitie of the Deitie Section 1. THat the wisdome of God manifested in this lower creature and all the possibilities that are therein shall at last bee made knowne to man for whose sake and use they were created I have elsewhere sufficiently proved But as yet how farre wee are from thence every man doth sufficiently know For is there any Dyer so overweening in his craft of dying as that he dare take upon him to know all the possibilities that are in the mixing and setting of colours nay in the service of that great god of our pampered gurmandizers I meane the belly is there any Cooke that will take upon him to bee able to make all those very things which are day lie sought out to please the taste if then in those things wherein our sences are most delighted wherein we studie with greedines how to please our selves we must confesse our dulnesse how much more heavie must we needs be in that whereof neither our sences nor our reason nor the highest and best part of our understanding all Nature helping us herein can give us any knowledge Who knowes the thoughts of a man but the spirit of a man that is within him how much more then is it impossible to know the mysteries of God but by that relation which hee hath made unto us of himselfe Therefore the knowledge of that mysterie of the holy Trinitie in the Unitie of the Godhead is that superexcellencie of knowledge which we have by the holy Scripture onely which truth we are so much the more carefull to know and constantlie to uphold first because it concernes that most excellent and high being even of God himselfe secondly because the revelation thereof is from God alone manifested by his word thirdly because it is the foundation of our faith and hope for if Christ our Saviour be not very God and very man the being of our Mediatour and the alsufficiencie of his merit is utterly vanished fourthlie it is one of the maine and principall differences between our most high Religion taught us by God himselfe and the false worship of Idolaters of the Iewes Turkes Arians and other hereticks which from time to time have turned the truth of God into a lye Fifthlie we follow herein the holy Martyrs and the Fathers in the primitive Church and those Councells
which have from time to time maintained this truth against all heresies And although it cannot bee denied but that even among the Heathens some of their wisest both Poets and Philosophers knew this mysterie by heare-say as they had received it from the Hebrewes as you may reade in Thom. Aquin. in lib. 1. dist 3. q. 2. and more at large in Struchus de peren Philos lib. 1. 2. and from them in Philip Mornay of the truenesse of Christian Religion Chap. 6. yet among the Hebrewes themselves except the Prophets and schooles of the Prophets this secret was not knowne or taught and that as it may seem lest the misunderstanding multitude might fall into the Idolatrie of many Gods therefore is this thing so taught in the holy text of the Old Testament that the wise onely might understand it for although the Prophets knew well enough that in the dayes of the king Messiah this mysterie should be knowne even to the Gentiles for of him it is written in the 40. Psalme vers 9.10 I will not refraine my lips O Lord thou knowest but I have declared thy truth and thy salvation I have not concealed thy mercy and thy truth from the great Congregation Yet because they knew they ministred those things of which they spake not to themselves nor to the people of their owne times but for us unto whom the treasuries of the riches of God in Christ were more fullie to bee opened therefore they taught according to the dispensation of the Holy Ghost who hath so from time to time opened the fountaines of knowledge unto his Church and hereafter will as the holy Church shall be able to receive it This glorious truth then being plainely discovered to us in the New Testament let us see with what diligence and faithfulnesse reason that servant of God doth wait on the authoritie of his Lord and how thereby a wee are summoned to hearken unto this truth for although reason could never have found it out yet being taught what the truth of God is herein it joyes to see the necessitie of that truth which it is bound to beleeve But because I have written somewhat to this Argument already which that you misse not I have caused to bee printed at the end of this booke I may be somewhat more briefe herein Onely the reasons I take up here together and adde such other supplies as seeme to be wanting in that treatise § 2. The word Father is taken either personally as it signifies the first Person of the blessed Trinitie with the relation to the Eternall Sonne or else it is spoken essentially of all the three Persons in the Godhead with respect of the creature which is created susteined and governed thereby Of this through his helpe we shall speake hereafter Chap. 13. but first of the first person of the holie Trinitie The Greeke Churches by the authoritie of the Apostle Heb. 1.3 for the severall distinctions of the Persons in the Godhead hold the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hypostasis which wee from the Latin call a Subsistence or severall substantiall being by it selfe But the Latin Church turned it Persona from an old word Persola because it meanes one onely being intire of it selfe for Solus is of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is whole in it selfe and entire with all the parts but yet is Persona a title of honour given unto men alone for they define it to be Rationalis naturae individua substantia that is an individeable substance of a reasonable nature and from thence it is translated to God and Angels A Person then of the holy Trinitie is an incommunicable subsistence in the Divine nature These words have their ground in the holy Scripture to which in this great Article of our faith wee must ever have recourse by reason of the many and strong heresies that have beene thereabout Trinitie Triunitie or a threefold being in one hath ground in that Text which is in Matthew 28.19 Goe teach all Nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Sonne and of the Holy Ghost But certaine it is that in our Baptisme wee bind our faith and allegiance unto God alone So 1. Iohn 5.7 There are three that beare witnesse in heaven the Father the Word and the Spirit and these three are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one thing or one being By subsistence understand a substantiall or essentiall being not comming to or being in the Deitie by chance It answers to the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is different from substance nature being or the like termes that signifie any common or universall being for an Hypostasis meanes a peculiar being wherein the common nature is wholly and entyre as I said before and will say untill you understand mee For example the whole nature or being of man is understood in that word Man and so the Angelicall nature in that word Angell but Peter or Gabriel meane that particular person in which the common being is whole and entyre I meane so as that there is nothing essentiall in the being a man or Angell whereof Peter and Gabriel are not partakers essentially so wee understand the difference The being or essence of the Godhead is one individuall most simplie absolutelie and substantiallie one which infinite and undivideable being of the Godhead is yet neverthelesse in everie Person entyre and wholly so that nothing of the essentiall being of the Godhead is in one which is not in the other And therefore Iustin the Martyr and from him Damascen Dialect Cap. 66. and after them our sound Doctors of all sides agree that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or a subsistence is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that manner of being proprietie or reall relation which belongs to every one Person in the Holy Trinitie You may here not unfitly note the difference of these words Being Substance and Subsistence Being is that which is common to all things that are The word Substance properlie doth not so much import the verie inward being as that respect which it hath to the accidents that are therein Subsistence signifies that speciall manner of being which belongs to substances that are actually being If you will enquire further you may see what Thom. Aquin. hath writ hereto in Sent. lib. 1. Dist 23. qu. 4. or if you will the Introduct to log Sect. 4. Incommunicable that is peculiar proper or belonging to one alone so that one cannot be another The divine Nature is used 2. Pet. 1.4 and here meanes that being or substance wherein all the three Persons are essentially one and the same One God One I say not compounded or made of the three Persons but One most simple and perfect being in all the three Persons of the Godhead Now the name of a Father is most poperly given unto God the first Person of the Trinitie for of him is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all fatherhood of the families both in heaven and earth Ephes 3.15 because
how can unity bee Being or Being bee one but by that power which is in both And this Trinity is the excellency of all understanding unity power Being the one bringing forth the other brought forth and power proceeding from unity ioyned with being And this is the first Trinitie that can bee understood or conceived to bee unity being and the power of them both by which divinity is the Father of being being is of unity The Father is the father of wisdome and wisdome the Son of the Father and between these a most high power hidden in the one of producing in the other of being produced as Plato hath shewed it wonderfully Thus Proclus The argument of Pythagoras is not of lesse weight That which is unchangeable must needs be eternal and alwayes one And as al change in every body is by reason of inequality of the parts so that which is absolutely and ever one must be ever in equality so verity and equalitie must be eternall and multiplicity and inequality must necessarily bee after unity and equalitie And as unity is the cause of connexion or being one so inequality is of division And the effect of the first cause must have priority before the effects of the second cause Therefore connexion also must be before division and change and if before change then also eternall And because there can bee but one eternall therefore unity equality and connexion must bee one thing And this is that threefold unity which Pythagoras taught was to bee adored Pet. Blondus de Trenario pag. 106.107 And Cusa de Docta ignorantia lib. 1. cap. 7. Neither is that reason which Cusa Exereroit lib. 7. pag. 134. brings from Aristotle to bee slighted especially by Thomas that great Aristotelian Aristotle saith that the first cause of all must needs be both efficient formall and the end And three firsts there cannot be because before all plurality there must needs be unity Therefore it being one first it must bee a threefold cause efficient formall and finall The efficient cause is neither Formall nor Finall and the formall is neither finall nor efficient Therefore they are three distinct causes considered in their severall subsistences but considered in their firstnesse they are in being one alone many such reasons and authorities to this purpose you may reade in Struchus Deperenni Phi. lib. 1. 2. But how much yet more fitly and more fully hath the illuminated Raimund shewed both this point and all those other which Tho. Aqu. hath given over as past all proofe For Raimund taking all those conditions of the divine being which the holy Scripture gives to God and without which that being could not be perfect and supposing and proving them to be infinite with all the conditions of infinity both in being and working hath taught the way to shew the Trinity of Persons in unity of being by every one of those conditions see Art mag Part. 9. And though his words seeme borrel and rude as bonificans bonificabile Bonificare in una bonitatis essentia Possificans possificabile and possificare in the being of power yet they are full of excellent meaning The learned and witty Cusa de visione Dei cap. 17. gives instance in the unity which is either unity uniting unity united or the union or knot of them both yet all these in the most simple being of unity And againe in love which is either in the Person loving or in the Person loved or in the knot of the Love betweene them all according in the nature of Love and without any of these Love cannot be perfect and compleate yet may every one of these be understood apart inasmuch as a man may love and not be loved loved and not love againe But where that which is Lovely is also loving there the bond of love is firmely tyed and love in every part entire yet is this love but in shadowes among us but perfect in the endlesse and perfect being of love 1 Ioh. 4.8.16 And thus in other conditions of the divine nature have other learned and devout men endevoured to shew their understanding and firme consent unto this high article of the christian Faith one in the power of God another in his wisdome c. according to the proofes you read before And therefore not to goe about to overthrow the reasons brought by Thomas because the authority of so great a Doctor may cut deeper than his reasons and so cut off if not the strength of the reasons in the articles following yet that comfort which the faithfull soule might have thereby I say that all the reasons which are brought to this article and so for the most part in all the rest are onely of two kindes First and chiefely from the impossibilities which would follow upon the contradiction of the thing in question which kinde of discourse I have taught as I can log cap. 8. n. 7. and chap. 26. more at large Secondly by that kinde of demonstration which I call by conversion of termes as I shewed log cap. 18. n. 3. in the syllogisticall handling of such arguments as in effect are all one with them which log cap. 13. n. 5. I shewed to bee by rule in the second kinde of equivalence Now both these kindes of argument prove the question onely that it is that is to say shew onely that the proposition is true and neither prove nor enquire how or for what superiour cause which in this and in many of the other questions here handled cannot be given And there is no proposition how true how universall or manifest soever but it may be proved by these meanes both in the affirmative For in things of the same nature and being whatsoever agrees to one must needs agree to the other and in the negative the ground of impossibilities and all negative discourse whatsoever is denied to the predicate must also bee denyed to the subject Now I thinke it is no more derogation from the truth to bee thus confirmed than it is simplie to bee affirmed as it is in the article of the Creed As if I say there is an eternall being the cause of all Beings there is an infinite wisdome the disposer of all an infinite power that governes all and thereupon conclude that there is a God What dishonour is here offered to God or his truth are not all these termes an eternall Being the cause of all beings An infinite Wisdome c. convertible one with another and all of them meaning one being which wee call God have they not all authority in the Holy Scripture And shall not that which is truely affirmed of one bee as truely affirmed of the other And so on the otherside by impossibilities If there bee not an eternall being the beginner and cause of all other beings then that which is begun must bee a beginning to it selfe But this is impossible for so it should bee a cause and yet not bee Therefore there is a God
of the thing it will be necessarie to declare what manner of distinction or difference that is which is to bee put between the Persons of the Godhead for if they be trulie and really distinguished it may seeme that their essence or being cannot bee one and this was the errour of the Tritheites But if they bee not really distinguished then there must bee but one Person in the Godhead called by divers names as Sabellius said or distinguished by our conceits alone according to the opinion of Porretanus The difference of things is either in their absolute and essentiall being and that either generall speciall or individuall as in things living or lifelesse men and beasts Peter and Iohn or else it is according to their proprieties difference of respects or manner of being as in Isaac his manly subsistence of his owne soule and body is his absolute individuall essence yet in respect of the proprieties of his being his sonneship toward Abraham his fatherhood toward Iacob his lordship toward Rebecca his mastership towards Eleazar c. are severall things and really distinguished by that reality or being which is relative or with peculiar resects to another The third manner of difference is by circumstantiall accidents onely as one part of the white wall may seeme more shining and white than another because more light doth fall upon it The fourth sort of differences are onely such as wee in our understanding are compelled to make The Persons of the Godhead are not distinguished one from another in their essence or absolute being as the Tritheits affirm'd for this is onely one in all substantially but yet in the manner of this being they are distinct truly and really contrarie to that of Sabellius and Porretanus For whether you respect that relation which is among the Persons one to another the being of the Father as a Father is with those properties or respects which make a reall being of a Father distinct from the Sonne and so from that eternall action of his generation whereby the Sonne is produced or brought forth or whether you respect the Godhead absolutely yet seeing in that pure and simple being nothing can bee but essentiallie it cannot bee more essentiall thereunto to bee one in the unitie of being than it is to bee a Trinitie in the difference of proprieties that is that God bee what hee is in his essence or absolute being and as hee is in his manner of being And as in the absolute being of the Godhead wee say according to the necessitie of the truth that there is wisdome truth goodnesse c. not as different essences but as so many perfections conditions or dignities of that one infinite being so likewise in the manner of his being wee are compelled both by the sacred authoritie of the holy text and the enforcement of reason as hath beene shewed to confesse a Trinitie of Persons of which everie one is trulie and reallie distinguish't from another so that there cannot possiblie bee a communitie or enterchange of their personall being And this is that reall distinction that I meane to wit that cleere differences of the properties in the severall Persons whereby they are not different essences nor different Gods yet different beings or different things that is divers termes of relation with the subsistences meant thereby and in some sort opposed See log Cap. 9. n. 14. For as in the uttermost simplicitie of their Divine being which is onely one one not accidentally or numerally not of quantitie but substantially one it is not possible to suppose any difference of being either reall or intellectuall so in the manner and relative properties of that being those differences must needs be found whereby those termes of relation which wee call Persons are so truly and reallie distinguished as that they cannot possiblie bee taken to bee one either in their subsistences or in our understanding So then the Persons of the deitie differ from the essence of the Deitie not really as one being differs from another being which the Tetratheites affirmed but as the order or manner of being differs from that manner of being wherein it hath the foundation But the Persons differ one from another as the relative properties of a being may differ among themselves that is not in their essence the foundation of the properties for so they are but one God but yet truly and really according to those differences whereby the properties or relations are distinguished yet shall not these differences bring in any new or different essence into the simplicitie of the Divine being because they are onely relative and such as follow the manner of being But because it is essentiall unto the Divine being to have in it selfe all the perfection of being therefore hath God not onelie a most pure simple and absolute being whereby he is that which he is but also the properties of an absolute and simple being whereby he workes that which he workes infinitely and eternally Therefore that feare of the Iewes that the Christian Religion by the Trinitie of Persons brings in a pluralitie of Gods is onely from their owne errour not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God nor his eternall working But you aske what this manner of being or properties are which adde nothing to the simplicitie of the Divine being and yet are therein essentially Have I tolde you all this while and understand you not The properties of the Divine being are of two sorts the first absolute the other relative Whatsoever you adde to the simplicitie of being must needs be a condition or propertie thereof As if you say of the being of God that it is most simple or pure that is One Infinite Eternall Almightie Glorious Ever-working c. here puritie unitie infinitie c. are the properties or conditions of that being which wee call God which although they seeme into us differing in their severall respects yet they adde no other being beside that one most absolute being of God but onelie expresse to us the properties conditions or dignities thereof without which that being could not bee perfect The relative properties are such as proceed from the eternitie of his activitie life or working for the uttermost perfection of every thing is manifested by the actions thereof And because in him being and working are essentially one therefore whatsoever doth necessarily follow either his being or his working must also be in him essentially and therfore are these relations which we call persons in the Godhead essentially whose differences notwithstanding depend immediately upon the working of the Divine Being S. Augustine takes up this difference of properties gravely and wittily thus The being of God is said to be simple and so is because he is that which he hath except that relation which every Person hath to another For the Father hath the Son yet is not the Son and the Son hath his Father yet is not that Father but yet every Person in respect of himselfe
at all any thing of very being as Keckerman supposes but onely a manner of being which for ought that I can conceive being nothing of being must bee but a meere conceit of ours the opinion of Sabellius must stand for truth and so on the other side if these relations be the very beings or things subsisting nay if the Divine being be the very relation of the Fatherhood and Sonneship as Thomas affirmes both contra Gent. lib. 4. c. 14. then if the Fatherhood differ from the Sonneship and that reallie as being in Divine essence the difference must be most reall and so the Sonneship from the Fatherhood and both of them from the procession of the Holy Ghost it seemes that the Divine being must differ really from it selfe and so there can bee but one being of all the Persons as Arrius affirmed By relation you may understand either that logicall notion which is between the termes relative correlative and so the sayings of Kecker are justifiable or else you may meane thereby the things spoken of with that mutuall respect which they have each to other and so you must understand the doctrine of S. Thomas For your further satisfaction remembes what I told you Introduct in log Sect. 4. n. 11. That those relations which I can necessary commonly called secundum esse are such words as signifie first that mutuall respect which they have to their correlatives and then those beings whereon they depend fundamentally As the name Father first hath reference to a childe next it imports the subsistence or person as of Abraham or Iesse so double first understands single lesse greater next quantities Therefore though I thinke it not fitly said that the fatherhood is the divine essence or that the essence is in the Fatherhood as Thomas speakes for essence imports the simple and absolute being and fatherhood that reference which is to another yet these relations shall not bee so meerely the manner of being but that they may make a reall difference from their correlatives not onely in regard of that substratum or thing meant in their second signification which is really differing from the thing opposed as a Father from a Sonne Iesse from David but also in respect of that being whereon these relations are founded immediately as in Abrabam that lively or naturall strength whereby he is enabled to beget his like in Isaack that lively humanity which was begotten As unity the transcendent is convertible with being both which in quantities are the ground of evennesse or equality in qualities of likenesse And therefore Keckerman to shun a pluralitie of being doth unnecessarily avoyd that reall difference which it is necessary to put in the Persons of the Trinity wherein there are more or divers subsistent beings if you respect the Persons or relations but one thing alone if you regard the essence For the realty in the difference of the relations can no way enforce a plurality in their absolute beings but onely an incommunicable propriety in the things that are different For although in natures created some attributes be essentiall which are in the thing most perfectly Some accidentall as learning Iustice and such other which are not perfect in us some againe are but onely relative which of all other most imperfectly belong unto us as not necessary to our being but sometime depend on things without as a mastership on his servants a fatherhood on his children and even those relations which are nearest doe presuppose not only the being of the subject but also such accidents in the subject from whence the Relation doth arise as the right hand and left hand from the position of the members yet in the superexcellencie of the divine being whereto no perfection can bee wanting which is possible to be either in the being or manner of being in the working or manner of working it is necessary that all things be supereminently according to the most perfect manner of being that is essentially And therefore these relations which are in the Godhead are not so called properly as being utterly in the simplicity of that being which is utterly in dependent yet because hee hath reveiled himselfe unto us by the name of the Father the Word and the Spirit one being in the consideration of which wee come nearest to that relation which is properly so called in the creature we are compeld for helpe of our owne understanding which wee finde so dazeled at that infinite light to hide our Eyes and by little and little as by degrees to take a glympse thereof and so to speake according to that light which we discerne And as in the degrees of light first we see the dawning then the shine or cleare light after the Beames and lastly the body of the Sunne So contrariwise in the knowledge of God from that fountaine of Light His being which is reflected in all the creatures wee view the beames or immediate perfections thereof His goodnesse eternity wisdome and glory and these shew themselves first in their inward working and afterward at an infinite distance in the creature outwardly In their in ward working because they are infinite we must acknowledge an infinite agent an infinite object an infinite action or the termes or limits of all action from whence wherto the middle terme between these two which we call Persons And so though our guide his word bee that Light which shines in the darkenesse yet we must confesse that he dwels in the Light whereto none can approach which to us is all one with that darkenesse which he hath made his pavillion And as in the Being which wee conceive absolute wee put different perfections of wisdome of power of goodnesse c. which neverthelesse wee must confesse to bee one perfection though they bee truly distinguished betweene themselves So in the different relations which wee call Persons though wee know and confesse them to bee really different yet must wee acknowledge the subsistences one in their absolute being And although the understanding in the confideration of created beings wonders how all these things can bee in that uttermost simplicity and unity of Being and that after one most imple manner of Being essentially yet when it remembers that that being is therefore most perfect because it is most simple and that no degree of perfection can bee wanting to that which is most perfect it dispoiles it selfe of all those rules which it doth verifie in created things and because it is not able by one simple apprehension in it selfe either to conceive much lesse to expresse that perfection which is in the simplicity of the divine being it is content with those expressions which it is able to make thereof so that the truth and majestie of the thing bee not hurt thereby Therefore whether s. Thomas deliver it thus or Zanchius thus So long as we know they meane no other thing than that which the holy Scripture hath taught us wee ought not to receive with the
is their reall distinction and that relation whereby they are distinguished is nothing different from any of these nor yet the propriety of their personall being is any other thing than that relation Therefore though the persons are not distinguished by or in that absolute being wherein they are all one yet is it most falsely brought in thereby that any thing shall bee in them beside their essence whereby they are distinguished For the distinction or difference of the persons arises from the action onely or working of the Absolute Being which yet is essentially in the absolute Being and differs not therefrom no more than heat in the fyer doth differ essentially from the fyer or reason feeling and growth in a man doth differ essentially from the soule of man 8. Every relative depends necessarily upon the correlative But nothing which is depending upon another can be truely God Therefore either the Persons differ not by relations only or none of the persons can be God or else there is no relation and so no distinction of the persons at all Answer It is a fallacious and froward kinde of arguing to presse the propriety of speech or use of words to darken the truth of things see log cap. 21. n. 5. It hath beene said 1. that the being of God is supereminently above all being above all created understanding to conceive 2. That relation in created things doth not onely presuppose a subject but also some quantity quality action or other affection in the subject whereon that relation doth depend 3. That those relations in the persons of the deity are nothing else but the very personall proprieties and that the word Relation as many other beside is taken into use in this argument onely to helpe the expressing of our understanding though indeed properly it bee not in the divine being yet can we not conceive but that there is an order in the procession of the persons as I have said elsewhere yet not such as shall bring in any dependence no not in the personall proprieties because the action or eternall working whence the personall differences doe proceed is essentially in the Godhead or if dependence must needes bee yeelded unto yet seeing it can bee nothing but onely the order of procession in the persons of the Godhead it brings in no such inconvenience as that thereupon it should follow that either the Sonne or the Holy Ghost were not God So the foundation of the doubt being but a hil of sand the whole building proves but a trifle And these are the principall reasons brought for the Sabellian heresie The authorities of the Holy Scripture which they falsely alleage hereto are such as prove the absolute unitie of the divine Being as you have heard before in the end of the eighth Chapter which Texts as they doe most strongly confirme the eternall truth of the absolute being of one God so doe they nothing gain say the Trinitie of the Persons which other Texts of the Scripture reach as you have partly heard and shall heare further hereafter when wee come to speake in particular of the Persons of the Sonne and of the Holy Ghost So it remaines now only to answer that which is brought for the opinion of the Tritheites which poore fancie though it may vanish at the fight of the Reasons which have beene brought for the simple and one Being of God in the eight Chapter yet because it would justifie it selfe by this doctrine of the Trinitie you shall see what the strength of their Reason is 9 That which is begotten and that which is not begotten must needs be very different The persons of the Trinity are begotten as the Sonne and not begotten as the Father and the Holy Ghost Therefore if every person be God they are different Gods Answer The things which in no respect are different must be the same and there can bee no difference put betweene things which brings not in a deniall on the one side and an affirmation on the other And this opposition is betweene all things howsoever differing So betweene the Persons of the Deity there must be a relative opposition As the Father ergo not the Sonne the Sonne ergo not the Father c. because there is a relative distinction but this doth nothing at all enforce a plurality of Gods or a difference of absolute Beings but of the Persons onely And if you desire to see other arguments like these reade Thomas Aquinas cont Gent. lib. 4. Cap. 10. and their Answers cap. 14. see also the note a on the 24. chap. following sect 9. and note a on the 33. chap. But the answers to all objections will bee easie if you remember what hath beene said and suffer not yourselfe to be carryed away with shew of reasons taken from naturall things which though they bee most true in the creature which had a beginning yet can they no way bound or binde the infinite and eternall truth of Him that is Lord and Creator of nature as I have remembred you elsewhere Remember also to consider in Christ his essence which in all the Persons is coeternall and one and His Person begotten eternally of the Father And in this Person distinguish His natures divine and humane from his offices wherein remember 1. that His sending and obedience abate nothing from His equalitie with the Father concerning the unity of their essence 2. that these names which import His office are spoken of Him in respect of both His natures CHAP. XII That in the Glorious Deity there be Three Persons and no moe YOu misse here a great deale of learning and wit which other men have shewed in the mystery of unity and the number of the Three But because the reasons that might bee made from thence would bee but onely inductive and I desire to stand with you on the lower and plaine ground let us leave those high Speculations to them that please to read them among the Cabalists in Brixianus his comment Symbol and elsewhere and see what other reasons can be brought for the question in hand 1. Nothing can possibly be in the Deity but according to the uttermost perfection of Being that is essentially and necessarily Therefore if it bee not necessary to put moe Persons than Three in the Godhead then is it not possible But it is not necessary to put moe persons in the divine Being either Father Son or holy Ghost For so the Fatherhood Sonship and procession of the Holy Ghost should not bee perfect in these And if in these Persons there should not bee perfect Production then it might follow that there were a disability in the producer and so the first principle of all should bee imperfect unable and weake So nothing besides it nothing after it could bee perfect But all these things are impossible Or if the other Person or Persons to be put in the Godhead should be neither Fathers because they did not produce nor Sons because they were not
that word was made flesh that is tooke on him the whole nature of man body and soule and dwelt among us and we saw on the holy mount Mat. 17.2 c. 2 Pet. 1.18 the glory thereof that is of that flesh or man as the glory of the only begotten Sonne of the Father And againe Col. 1.16 By him that is the Sonne were all things created which are in heaven and which are in earth things visible and invisible all things were created by him and for him and in him all things consist 1 Cor. 8.6 There is one God the Father of whom were all things and we by him Eph. 3.9 God hath created all things by Iesus Christ And Heb. 1. v. 1.2 God hath spoken unto us in these last dayes by his Sonne whom He hath made heire of all things by whom also he made the worlds By all which texts it is cleere which S. Paul hath Rom. 11.36 of him through him and for Him are all things That is that God the deliverer which should come out of Sion vers 26. And thus have these Apostles explained that which is written Gen. 1.1 In the beginning Elohim created heaven and earth which word in the whole body of the old Testament as wisemen have observed is almost never spoken but of the Person of the Mediator onely I suppose then that it is plaine enough which is spoken by our Lord Iohn 5. v. 19. The Sonne can doe nothing of Himselfe save what he seeth the Father doe for whatsoever things He doth the same things doth the Sonne in like manner That is whatsoever the eternall Godhead ordeined in his everlasting Counsell and decree to bee done that same doth the Sonne execute and performe in the creature answerably and brings forth every thing in time according to the possibilities and opportunities of the creature For as the wiseman saith Ecclus. 18.1 He that liveth for ever made all things together or at once So the Psalmist as also the other Scriptures tels us by whom and in whom Psal 104.24 In wisdome hast thou made them all that is in our Creator and Saviour So then it being cleered by the text of the holy Scripture that the creation of the world was of God the Father in Christ by Christ and for Christ it will easily follow how necessary it was that He our creator by His eternall Spirit should offer himselfe to God for the sin of his creature as it will further appeare when I come to that article Notes a EVery tenne thousand yeares You may reade the position in Aug. de Haer. cap. 43. and the refutation thereof in his 20.21.22 bookes de civit Dei But the Cabalists for the renewing of this lower world put seven thousand yeares and no more for the restoring of the whole creature both heavenly and earthly they put fifty thousand yeares You may read the opinion and partly see their reasons in Leo Hebr. de Amore. pag. 500. c. b The world is not eternall The most famoused opinions that have beene concerning the worlds eternity are these One that which the Christian faith doth hold according to the truth of the holy oracles of God and the voice of Reason as you have heard and to this truth the Stoicks are said to haue consented The second opinion is that of Plato and his followers who held that the world had a beginning in time but of an eternall matier and that the continuance thereof should bee eternall For seeing generation and corruption is onely by the change of formes the matier still remaining one therefore they thought that as that forme which is purely without matier was incorruptible and eternall So likewise must matier bee which of it owne nature is utterly without forme And because matier is greedy of all formes how differing or contrary soever Therefore it is ever subject to change Neither is the heaven it selfe utterly freed from all power of Change because of that matier whereof it is in which the power of Change is ever hidde Therefore the world is not eternall in respect of any power in it selfe either to the production of formes or the continuance of it selfe under the same formes but first in respect of the vnformed matier and most of all in respect of that Spirit or life whereby it is guided and ordered as by the internall causes and in respect of the divine will and goodnesse as the outward principle and the end which will as it cannot repent to have done good in giving being unto the world and the things therein contained so can it not will contrary to it selfe and cease to doe good in the continuance of the creature in that being which it hath You may reade more to his purpose in Plot. Ennead 2. lib. 1. and his commentator Marsilius Ficinus The third opinion is that of Aristotle that the world was eternall and from God as an eternall effect of an eternall cause For because it seemed to him impossible and if you looke no higher than nature alone it is indeed impossible that any thing being can come out of nothing therefore matier must needs be eternall and therewith generation and corruption without which nothing is brought forth And because these two could not be thought to be without the moving of the heavens as the cause thereof therefore both the heavenly bodies and motion especially circular must be also eternall and herewith time which is measured by the motion of the heavens But what this eternall matier should bee the Philosophers went into divers opinions Heraclitus thought it to be fire Archelaus ayre Empedocles all the elements and among the rest one one thing and another another as you may reade in Aristotle where hee refutes them in Tull. Acad. q. lib. 4. and especially in Plutarch de placitis Philosophorum and from him in many other Aristotle himselfe from Hesiod and they that had beene before him cals it Chaos 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In theogonia First was the Chaos then the earth which word if they borrowed not of Moses his Tohu which signifies empty of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that sometimes meanes to bring to nought nor of that which seemes to come from thence Chohus whereby as Festus saith the old Latines called the world yet of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they meant by it confusion and no way of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies a countrie or an appointed place Sometime this matier is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mud For so the conclusion of earth and water is best understood and fittest for generation of earthly things as Ovid delivers the opinon and cleeres it by comparison of the overflowing Nilus Metam lib. 1. All other Creatures tooke their different birth And figures from the voluntary Earth When her cold moisture with the Sunne did sweat And Slimy Marishes grew big with heat So when seven-mouthed Nyle forsakes the plaine Anantient channel doth his streames containe And late
than ill seeing ill neither is but in that which is good nor workes but in the power thereof Therfore if man by one ill deed were able to destroy himselfe much more by many good deeds shall he be able to make satisfaction Answer Ill is in every want or failing of that which is good but Good holds all perfections whether in being or in working Therefore man might easily corrupt himselfe but being corrupted hee cannot possibly repaire himselfe nor yet doe any thing that is good or acceptable Math. 7.18 12.33 3. But the satisfaction being now made are wee not restored unto as good an estate by the suffering of Christ as that which Adam lost so that if Adam for his obedience sake might have lived a naturall life eternally wee also for our workes sake may bee accounted worthy of everlasting blisse For if wee be restored by Christ and for his sake accepted our workes likewise are for his sake both accepted and rewarded according to their merit Answer I say that our estate is farre better than Adams in this that his hope of everlasting life being set in his owne obedience did instantly faile but ours standing in the obedience of Christ who is made to us righteousnesse sanctification redemption and life can never faile For therefore because that pretious treasure of eternall life was so carelesly kept by Adam God who loved the salvation of mankinde better then man himselfe would in no wise commit the keeping of that jewell to man any more Therefore though sinne have no power to condemne them that are in Christ yet is it still suffered to dwell in us that wee should not trust in our selves but in the living God For as the Father saith Multum nobis in hac carne tribueremus nisi usque ad ejus depositionem sub veniâ viveremus Aug. de Civ lib. 10. cap. 22. And although Adam by the grace and favour of his Creator might have continued in the estate in which hee was created if hee had stood in his innocency yet could hee not even then have beene said to merit everlasting life For merit or hire comes ever for that which is above duty which cannot bee in the creature towards the Creator As to a hired servant the wages merit or hire comes for his worke because it was in his power whether hee would labour for that master or no being not bound unto him but for his hire but in a bondman the possession of his Lord all his service and labour is his Lords to require and imploy it as it pleaseth him Luke 17.8.9 and this is the condition of the whole creature to the Lord and Creator of all And if Adam in his innocency could not merit much lesse can sinnefull man merit any thing but affliction and death by his sinne and service to the devill to whom hee is no way bound but by his sinne And this difference the Apostle maketh Rom. 6.23 the wages of sinne is death but the free gift of God is eternall life 4. But are wee not commanded to worke out our saluation with feare and trembling Phil. 2.12 and is not the sentence of everlasting life pronounced for the workes of charity which were foreseene in us and for which the kingdome of heaven was prepared for us from the beginning of the world Math. 25. vers 34.35.36 Answer What merit can any man claime for that which another hath principally wrought in him And if God worketh in us to will and to doe Phil. 2.13 what is our worke but that wee should with joy runne after Him that drawes vs Cant. 1.4 Therefore although good workes are ordained of God that wee should walke in them and that wee are created thereunto Eph. 2.10 and that God who chose us in Christ to bee heires of glory ordained all the meanes thereto and workes in us to bee ready to every good worke and thereby makes our calling and election sure unto us yet is not that worke solely and intirely ours but chiefely of the grace and spirit of Christ that dwels in us and crownes His owne good workes in us with everlasting life 1 Cor. 15.10 So then our workes must vanish that every mouth may bee stopped and the whole world may bee guilty before God Rom. 3.19 So that every man notwithstanding his owne workes even the chiefest among the Saints may with Iob abhorre himselfe and repent in sackcloth and and ashes Iob. 42.6 5. The naturall desires common to all men cannot bee in vaine because they come not unto them out of any particular choyse or present necessity but by influence or direction of that common nature which is in all men which though it cannot effect it yet hath it shewed what is to bee wrought for the uttermost good of every particular by the Lord of Nature But every man by the inclination of his owne will doth desire the uttermost perfection and happpinesse of his owne being which hee acknowledges to bee in being united to that which is the greatest good and the enjoying thereof in eternall life Therefore every man by the guidance of nature it selfe doth returne unto God as the Author and Finisher of his happinesse Answer No agent can worke of it selfe above the proper strength and power of it selfe And eternall life is a thing beyond the limits of naturall knowledge and desire which mindes onely the well-being and continuance of the whole man according to the present estate of this naturall life alone But because Hee that wils not the death of a sinner Ezech. 33.11 would have all men to come to the knowledge of the truth 1 Tim. 2.4 therefore are all men so farre instructed or at least if they doe not willfully winke may bee so farre instructed either by the voyce of the creature or by certaine inbred notions or by tradition or by an influence of grace denyed to none that they may know the eternall power and Godhead Rom. 1.20 and the immortality of the soule in a better estate then this life can afford as hath beene said before in Pref. And this is that universall grace which wee may yeeld to bee vouchsafed to all not onely without the visible Church but much more within the Church where by the cleare light of the Holy Scripture all may and ought to know particularly whatsoever is meet for their soules health And this universall grace I say further wee ought to yeeld unto because without it neither the pagans and infidels nor yet the false Christians can bee without excuse But that every one that knowes doth of himselfe according to this knowledge frame his will constantly and effectually to desire whatsoever belongs to eternall life Pelagius will never bee able to demonstrate For he that wils any thing constantly and effectually wils also those meanes constantly and effectually without which that thing cannot bee come unto And because without holinesse no man can see the Lord Heb. 12.14 in whose presence onely is the fullnesse
of blessing and joy for evermore Psal 16.11 in the narrow path of which holinesse because the godlesse Pagan and loose living Christian cannot nor will not walke therefore they cannot bee said effectually either to will or to desire everlasting life But this is that speciall grace reserved for the vessels of mercy by which they are not inforced against their will but of naturall men naturally unwilling are made willing to follow Him that drawes them with the cordes of love to love that which is pleasing in his sight and so to will and desire constantly and effectually to follow that which is for their soules health So this desire being wrought in them by Him that is able to fulfill the desire of them that feare Him is a pledge unto them that their hope shall never bee ashamed And thus the weakenesle of the assumption and falshood of the conclusion doe plainely appeare 6. But hee is accounted a cruell creditor that will exact more then his debtor can pay and hee a cruell Lord that requires of his servant that which hee cannot performe Therefore the most mercifull God requires of man no other satisfaction then that which man is able to performe Answer It is just that God should require of man that he enabled him to performe For otherwise His justice should bee deficient or wanting towards Himselfe and his glory likewise unduely esteemed And the cruelty of a Creditor is to require more than a man is able to performe by himselfe or by his suretie Therefore our most mercifull Lord foreseeing the malice of the Devill and the sinne of man thereby to the glory of His infinite grace provided us a Saviour before we had sinned For whose abundant satisfactions sake wee have a doore of entrance as wide as the Valley of Achor set open unto us that by His merit alone wee may come boldly unto the throne of grace there to find helpe in the time of need Of which Mediator we are now to speake in the Articles following ARTICLE II. ⧠And in Iesus Christ His onely Sonne WEE have seene the wretched estate of man to which he is subjected by reason of his sinne whereby he is unavoydably lyable unto the wrath of God which he is utterly unable to indure and from which to escape there is no meanes in his owne power Now consider with thy selfe most wretched caitif that art afraid to die because thou hast no hope but in this life what it were for thee to stand iustly condemned to die and every minute to expect the execution of thy doome if any one could be content to die for thee that thou mightest inioy the usury of this aire but for the time of thy naturall life from which thou knowest thou must part at last But being subject to an infinite wrath to an endlesse punishment the endurance of which but for one houre hath more miserie then the suffering of a thousand untimely deathes what love canst thou owe to him what thankes canst thou give unto him that would free thee from the punishment and instead of that restore thee to an estate of life and ioy eternall And seeing it hath appeared that this cannot bee done by any one that is onely man wee are now in this second place to see what are the conditions of our Mediator who by Himselfe is able to make satisfaction for our sinne For seeing the just sentence on man was that for his owne sinne hee should die the death which because it was the word of an infinite speaker of an infinite truth it must of necessity bee meant according to the uttermost extension of the truth and so meane all death of body and soule temporall and eternall And because the Mediator for man could not endure a temporall or bodily death except hee were man therefore it shall first appeare That the Mediator for the sinne of man must bee man And because eternall death is such a thing as no man onely man can offer himselfe unto with hope or possibilitie by himselfe to overcome therefore it shall appeare in the second place That our most glorious Mediator must bee God who being of infinite life wisdome and power knew how to conquer eternall death that having in the infinite worthinesse of his owne person satisfied the infinite justice for the sinne of man Hee might give eternall life to all them that by true faith should lay hold on His merits and in thankefulnesse for that unspeakeable mercy live in obedience to his commandements And that it may appeare what the superexcellency of the knowledge of our most holy faith in the religion of Christ is and that for the worthinesse and glory thereof it farre surpasseth all knowledge of all things which men or angels can come unto it shall be made plaine in the third place how necessary and agreeing to the wisdome goodnesse and glory of God it was That God should be incarnate Great is the mystery of godlinesse into which the angels desire to looke And because our most glorious Light and guide hath in his Holy word made these things so manifest unto us let us with chearefulnesse and joy in the ready service of our best understanding follow him who in our flesh hath reconciled all things to himselfe and in our flesh hath led captivity captive and triumphed over principalities and all powers of the enemy that we being delivered might serve himin holinesse and righteousnesse all the daies of our life and be accepted of Him in life everlasting CHAP. XX. That the Mediatour for the sinne of Man must bee Man 1. FIat justitia totus mundus ruat But when man sinned it could not stand with the justice of God to punish any for that sinne but man alone And whatsoever is against the justice of God is also against his wisdome his godnesse and power for wee have alreadie proved that all these dignities are in him one most simple and absolute being Chap. 8. And whatsoever is against the power of God is utterly impossible to be therefore it must necessarily follow either that there is no reconciliation of man unto God contrarie to that which hath beene proved in the 18. Chap. or else that this reconciliation must be made by a Mediatour that is man Therefore the Father said fitly hereto Propterea nobis per Mediatorem praestita est gratia ut polluti carne peccati carnis peccati similitudine mundaremur August de Civitate Dei lib. 10. Cap. 22. 2. God might seeme towards man an accepter of persons and towards the Angels that sinned severe and mercilesse if hee should condemne them to the paynes of eternall fire and yet accept man to mercy when no satisfaction had beene made for mans sinne in the nature that had sinned But both these things are utterly impossible and against the justice of God therefore the punishment of the sinne of man must be borne in the nature of man 3. The iust Law and sentence of the most
onely medicine must be this that God would bee man therefore the mediatour would be both God and man 6. To require satisfaction for the sin of man from God was to require that which was not due and that is against justice To require the satisfaction of man was more then hee could performe and that is against mercie therefore that the worke both of justice and mercie might bee perfect it was necessarie that the Mediatour for the sinne of man should in one person bee both God and man for as gold is molten in the fire because it hath parts that may bee made running yet by reason of the puritie and perfection of those parts it cannot be consumed by the most violent flames so our Lord because hee was truly man did feele and endure the pangs of most bitter death and was compassed about with the sorrowes of hell Psal 18.6 yet for the innocencie of his manhood and the glorie of his deitie he could not be overcome thereby 7. It is impossible that a pure creature should have such sufficiencie of merit that in Gods justice the sanctification of mankinde should be due to those merits because all holinesse that can come to any creature whether of vertue or of workes must come thereto from God so no praise or merit can in justice bee due to any man for that which God hath wrought by him therefore the Mediatour of mankinde must be God 8. Every particular man being onely man is of much lesse worth than the whole race of mankinde and so insufficient in justice to make a sufficient satisfaction for the sins of all men therefore that all mankinde might be freed from their sins both originall and actuall it was necessary that the Mediator who should make satisfaction for their sinnes should be both man from whom the satisfaction was due and yet of more worthinesse then all mankinde that his merit might make the ransome sufficient for the sinnes of all men But nothing is of more worth then all mankinde but God alone therefore the Mediatour for mans sinne must bee God For although the Angels bee more excellent then man according to the condition of their present being yet not in respect of the end of their creation First in that they are ministring spirits for mans sake Heb. 1.14 Secondly in regard of their common end in that both the one and the other are to bee blessed in God alone Thirdlie And if any one man cannot bee accounted more worthie then any of the whole kinds of beings that were created as our Lord said Yee are more worth then may sparrowes Luke 12.7 He said not all for no species in the creature may be missing and yet the health of one man was priz'd above the life of 2000 swine Mar. 5.2.13 How can any thing beside the Creator himselfe bee more worthie then all mankinde 9. The greatest benefit which God could bestow upon man must of necessitie be by the greatest gift which hee could give vnto him The greatest benefit was in this to save and redeeme him when hee was utterly lost The greatest gift which he could give to man was himselfe therefore it was necessarie that God should become one with man that in man he might save man that was lost 10. This is that riddle which the Psalmist takes upon him to open psal 49. where after hee hath shewed that no man either by his wealth or honor can make any ransome for another hee concludes that it is God which redeemes the soule from the power of hell Therefore the Prophet saith Esay 9.6 To us a childe is borne Ergo he is man To us a Son is given not borne but given ergo he is God even the mightie God as S. Paul saith 2. Cor. 5.19 That God was in Christ reconciling the world to himselfe To this purpose you shall have many texts of Scripture hereafter Chap. 23. n. 5. CHAP. XXII That God would bee incarnate VPon that text which is in Psal 91. v. 11. He shall give his Angels charge over thee to keepe thee in all thy wayes some have thought that the sinnes of the rebellious Angels was that when God had created man and arretted the charge of him and his posteritie to the Angels they supposing the state of their creation to be farre more excellent and honourable then the state of man as doubtlesse it was if the hopes reserved and purchased for us had not beene farre beyond those whereto we seemed to be created refused to performe that service to so meane a creature for which disobedience being cast off they have ever since persecuted the woman and her seed And this opinion seemes to have had the originall out of the Alkoran See Wem a Budowes de fab Alk. pag. 157. Some other thinke they were not rejected for any one offence but for three offences and for foure that is for continuall rebellion they were not spared and so for many ages before mans creation they were adjudged to the paines of eternall fire though the execution of their sentence be prorogued untill the number of the sonnes of pride be utterlie fulfilled Of this you may see Postell de Nat. Med. ult It is not fit to determine what is the certaine truth in those things which the holy Scripture hath not declared but because the soule of man is his image who inspired it and that he our Creator the wisdome of the Father knowes all things exfundamento as he hath seene with the father therefore this image of his will also bee enquiring that although it cannot know what the originall of things is according to all their orders of causes yet by the effects will it be prying into the causes of them And if it doe this with reverence and modesty it oftentimes findes strange helpes beyond that it hoped for and if herein it bee lawfull for others also to propose opinions it may seeme not altogether improbable that the sin of the devill was this That finding himselfe in the first order of the creature he thought that God who out of his infinite goodnes purposed to bring all the understanding creature to the uttermost happinesse which it could be capable of which could not bee but in the uniting of the creature unto God for God in his absolute and infinite being could not be come unto nor apprehended much lesse be enjoyed by a finite creature except hee would be pleased to dwell in a creature that was finite and therefore I say hee thought that God should rather dwell in the being of the Angels and in their nature gather all things unto himself then dwelling in the tabernacle of the manly being in which hope seeing himselfe frustrate he became an unreconcileable enemy to mankinde whereas the holy Angels esteeming duely of the benefit and being well content with that meanes whereby God would bee seene of them 1. Tim. 3.16 expect with patience and desire the fulfilling of the number of the elect And thus our Lord
1602. by the name of Hebraeomastix The authorities of the Talmud and other Rabins cited by them I have of purpose omitted and with many additions and proofes of the holy Scripture onely have contented my selfe with this plainnesse and brevity which you see But if any man desire to see those Iewish authorities hemay finde them there in Ficinus also de Christ Rel. cap. 27. c. in Postel de orbis concord lib. 1. cap. 3. and in many others Yet those testimonies fitted Lactautius well against the Gentiles which you may read if you will Instit lib. 4. ca. 6. The authorities of the * Sibyls also and such pompous learning I have neglected of purpose because the simplicity of the doctrine of Christ and the certaine truth of this article can no where bee had so plainely truely and powerfully as in the holy Scripture it selfe And therefore having furnisht you with reason against the Atheist and Infidel I leave it to your owne diligence to compare these Scriptures together as they are cited they in the old testament shewing what was to befulfilled in Christ the other shewing the accomplishment of the same * The Iewes acknowledge the authoritie of the old testament See the difference of their sects in the 13 chapter of M. Breerwoods Enquiries and although they doe not beleeve the new yet none of their most shamelesse Rabbies durst ever goe about to refute it or shew the least untruth to bee therein And although it were written in those times and amongst those people which did most violently fight against the truth thereof yet was it so strongly confirmed by miracles by the innocency of the witnesses by the power of the holy Ghost by the constant sufferings of the professors thereof and by the selfe conscience of the persecutors that all the power of the adversary could not discredit it And although the Atheists ever have questioned the authority and certainty of the holy Scriptures as you may reade in the great controversies thereabouts on both sides yet the word of the Lord and the truth thereof indures for ever 1 Pet. 1.25 The answers to their chiefe objections against the old Testament you shall finde most briefe and plaine in Hen. Ainsw additions to the annotations on the law and the defence of the new in Mars Fic de Christ Rel. cap. penult And for your ease you shall finde the most necessary questions hereabout handled in chap. 34. following b Gen. 49.10 The Scepter shall not depart from Iuda nor a Lawgiver from betweene his feet untill Shiloh come and unto Him shall the gathering of the people bee It is strange to see what wretched shifts the wicked Iewes have to wrest the true meaning of this place rather than they will acknowledge the truth that they might be saved Some will have this Shiloh to be Saul others Ieroboam some Nebnchadnezer as you may reade in Pet. Galat. lib. 3 cap. 4. But being convinced by other prophecies and the authoritie of their owne doctors they confesse that this Shiloh must be the Christ and that hee is already come but that hee shall not bee manifested till the time come that they shall be restored to their owne land againe which though it bee true in a sort as I shewed Reason 5. yet to us it is sufficient to marke the circumstances of the text and thereby to remove all scruple and doubt First the word Shiloh is interpreted Her Sonne because hee was to be the Sonne of a virgin without the company of any man Then the other circumstance to whom the gathering or obedience of the people both Iewes and Gentiles should be cannot agree to any of the aforesaid persons For before the daies of Saul Iudah had no governement more than any other tribe and having never had any preeminence it could not be said to Ioose it by Sauls being preferred to the kingdome And although Ieroboam tooke tenne tribes from the house of David yet the kingdome of Iuda did still continue a Kingdome And although Nebuchadnezer ruled over many people yet he subdued them by force they gathered not unto him as the word here signifieth a willing obedience and is therefore by Ierom translated expectation or waiting for So that none of these could bee that Shiloh Therefore their wisest doctors and both their paraphrasts translate it untill Messiah or Christ come the text is so plaine But yet it may bee here questioned how this Scepter or dominion continued in Iuda in the time of the captivity in Babylon and likewise in the time of the Machabees who were Priests of Levi and yet ruled as Kings somewhat more than 160. yeares before Christ came For certaine it is that after Ianna Hircanus the grandfather of Levi who was the great grandfather of the blessed Virgin Luk. 3.24 none of the Stocke of David bare any rule as Prince but the tribe of Levi swayed all untill the time of Herod the great To this it is answered that by the marriages of the Priests with the tribe of Iuda and the family of David as it is manifest in Iehoiada 2 King 11. and others the rule might be said to remaine in Iuda But descents in Israel were accounted by the male-side onely who is therefore called Zacar of a word that signifies to record And therefore in our Lords descent though Tamar Rahab and Ruth are remembred for our comfort of the Gentiles and to shew the constancy of Gods promise His whole genealogie by his mother is reckoned up by S Luke in the seventy seventh generation yet is the account by Ioseph his supposed Father called the Sonne of Heli though hee were onely his Sonne in Law And therefore the Rabbins affirme that in the time of the captivity the great councell of the seventy elders instituted by God numb 11.25 did ever continue And certaine it is that the prince of the house of Iuda Zorobabel of the line of David was he under whom they did returne from captivity But yet that either the one or the other had any authority or rule over their fellow captives in a forraine countrie stauds not with any practice or policie now in use no nor after their returne from thence as it appeares Neh. 9.37 And although Daniel were a chiefe Prince in the Court yet he procured the businesse of the king onely as Lord Treasurer Dan. cap. 6.2 or Chancellour Dan. cap. 2.48.49 as Nehemiah and Mordecai by extraordinary fauour only procured the wealth of their people without any authority over them but by speciall commission But you will say that the right of government remained still to the tribe yea but Iacob speakes of an actuall Shebet that should still remaine Therefore others answer that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Shebeer signifies either a staffe a truncheon or Scepter the ensigne of authority as used by leaders and commanders in warre who are therefore called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so by a metonymia it may signifie
authority or else it signifies a tribe and in this sence the tribe or distinction of a tribe never departed from Inda till our Lord came whereas the ten tribes carried away by Salmanasar in the dayes of Hezekiah were ever after utterly left out of all remembrance in the holy records see further in the 27. chap. R. 2. But concerning the cunning Scribe or lawyer for so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies brought up betweene his feet as Paul at the feet of Gamaliel it is most certaine that such a Prince never failed from Iuda till the time of Herod the great who not being able to win the Iewes either by his most sumptuous building of the Temple or by his Largis in their famine or by all the favours that he could doe them to acknowledge his right to the kingdome by the gift of the Romans because they daily expected him that was to come of David murdered their Sanbedrim and all the males that hee could finde of the house of David so that he spared not his owne Sonne that was descended thence by his mother burnt also the bookes of the genealogy of their Kings and afflicted them with other calamities till they after thirty yeeres reigne of his were compelled to acknowledge him their lawfull king and then according to the promise was our Lord incarnate that true Shiloh her only Sonne But you say Shiloh may be interpreted his Son I answer The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Shiloh by the consonants or substantiall letters signifies her Sonne but by the vowell or spirit above it may signifie his Sonne but because the vaâ—â— is wanting it shall signifie his sonne that is invisible and therefore our Saviour is both God and man So there is no letter present no letter wanting in the holy word without a deepe mystery higher than heaven c Dan. 9. v. 24. Seventy weekes are determined upon thy people vpon thy holy Citty to restraine transgression to seale up sinne to make reconciliation for iniquity and to bring in everlasting righteousnesse to seale the vision and Prophesie and to annoint the Holie of holies c. to the end of the chapter The more evident and plaine any text of Scripture is for the clearing of the truth of Christ the more hath the devil laboured to darken it and to pervert the truth thereof And though by other texts of Scripture it be plaine enough to us that this Iesus is the Christ yet seeing no Scripture is so direct and punctuall as this for the certaine designement of the time the devill hath the more earnestly laboured to bewitch mens understanding so that they have taken more paines to make the time uncertaine nay some make it nothing at all belonging to Christ our Lord. The errours of the Iewes you may read in Pet. Galatinus lib. 4. cap. 14. to the 19. the contradictions of the Christians against the truth and against one another you may finde in D. Willet his most diligent com on Dan. Among the Iewes one Porphyry because he saw the text was so plaine for the truth of Christ suffering at the time appointed by this prophecie said that there was no reckoning to be made of this text of Daniel because he was no propher contrary to the consent of all other Iewes and the manifest authority of the Scriptures as you may reade Eze. 14.14.20 28.3 Math. 24.15 wher his innocency wisdome gift of prophecie are testified others among them doe wrest the time concerning the end thereof For the true Messiah not comming as they lookt for Him in pompe and worldly glory they stil looking for him that should come according to their fancy have made these weeks to mean some 700 yeers some 7. Iubilees others 7. tens And because many in Scripture are stiled by the title of Messiah as you may reade Psal 105.19 Esay 41.1 and elsewhere therefore some of them will have Cyrus to be meant hereby some Zorobabel others Iehoshua some Nehemiah but because neither the time nor circumstances accord others will needs refer it to Agrippa who was King when the Citty and Temple were destroyed by Titus And I would the faithlesse Iewes had wandred thus alone and that no Christian by his lifelesse interpretation had sided with them But the circumstances of the text doe easily overthrow them For this Messiah must bee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Messiah Naghid the Prince or chiefe Messiah or of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Messiah that was to be manifested that Messiah that was to be annointed with the oyle of gladnesse above all his partners Psal 45.7 because He received not the Spirit by measure Ioh. 3.34 Moreover who is he that can be that Holy of Holies but onely Christ our Lord both God and man who is hee that can restraine men from transgression that can seale up sin that can cover iniquity that can bring in eternall righteousnesses but Christ our Lord in whom all the nations of the earth should be blessed Therefore the text by these circumstances is tyed onely to the promised seed Gen. 3.15 which should utterly destroy the workes of the devil But the errors and disagreements of the Christians have beene a great cause to withhold the Iewes from the acknowledgment of the truth For they have been more different in their opinions hereabout than the Iewes who held constantly that the beginning of the time was according to the word of the Angel in the first yeere of Cyrus when they had liberty to returne and to build the Citty and Temple But the Christians make questions whether from the going forth of the word from God to the Angel or from the Angel to Daniel or from the king who gave the commission to the Iewes Gordonii Chronol cap. 15. pag. 237. And here againe out of Ezra because it is said chap. 6.14 that the house was sininished by the commandement of Cyrus and Darius and Arteshaste king of Persia question arises whether these seventy weekes begin in the first yeere of Cyrus or of Darius Hystaspis or of Artaxerxes Longhand and whether in his seventh or in his twentieth yeere And here while every man is rich in his owne opinion and prizes at an high rate his owne reading and praises his Authors and despises as deceived or counterfeit such as make against him men have so puzled themselves by prophane stories and the reckoning by the olympiads that they cannot finde as not where to begin so not where to end the account whether at Pompeies taking of Ierusalem or at the birth of our Lord or at his death or with the destruction of Ierusalem or in the daies of Adrian when the Iewes were banished out of Palestina And whether these sevens of yeares for on that the Christians agree be moone-yeeres or Sun-yeeres for such fine subtilties they are driven unto who apply their wits and studies to make good their profane authorities How much more necessary were it to hold constantly the limits
begotten if he were not then there was a continuance when he was not and therefore of necessitie he must be created Answer Eternitie hath no respect of time of before or after because it is one continuall perpetuity and whatsoever ever being or action is once therein it is eternall Therefore that difference of was and was not hath no place in eternity seeing the generation is eternall ever one and the same as you may see further in the treatise at the end of the booke 4. Whatsoever is begotten receives the nature which it hath from that which doth beget as a man from man fire from fire and in all other univocall generations in which though the natures be of one kinde yet must they needs be different in number as in Isaak and Iacob But this cannot be in the divine generation for so there should bee moe Gods than one or if the nature of the Sonne bee in number the same with that of the Father then doth the Sonne receive that nature either in part which is impossible because a most simple and pure being cannot be divided into parts or entyer and whole and so the Father should cease to be Neither is the generation as of a river out of a fountaine because the Divine nature is neither divisible nor possible to be encreased Therefore Iesus is not the Sonne of God by generation but by creation onely Answ The being of God is not materiall which only is subject to division into parts and that totality which is made of parts but his being is intellectuall and because it is infinite and apprehended by an infinite understanding it is necessarie that the divine being or understanding be wholly in the word or being understood I meane with that totality of perfection which is in the unitie of being spoken of in the first objection 5. Either the Father begat the Sonne with his will or against his will not against his will for so it had beene impossible that ever hee should have beene begotten if with his will then his will must be before and so the Son cannot be eternall Epiphanius rejects this reason because all the kindes of begetting are not reckoned up for in God saith hee is no deliberation for the inclining of his will therefore the Deitie is that nature according to which the Father did beget the Sonne neither ever ceases to beget him eternally But this is to beget the Sonne with his will seeing the will of God is his being according to which he workes eternally as you may further understand Chap. 11. note d Many such arguments as these are and many bee brought to this purpose of Arius all which as these that you have seene must take their grounds from inferiour truths in the creature which are utterly unfit for that generation which is eternall and Divine for to whom shall wee liken the highest or who shall declare his generation and therefore Athanasius Epist contra Arianos cujus initium 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said rightly that the Divine generation was not to bee measured by the generation of man as those Arians used to deceive women and children And therefore the Scripture in expressing of the Divine generation calls the Sonne the Wisdome of the Father Prov. 8. The Word Iohn 1. The brightnesse of his glory and the expresse image of his Person Heb. 1. That the minde herein may bee utterly withdrawne from sensible and naturall things The Fathers also in the Nicen Councell to that question of Phaedo the patron of Arius how the Sonne was begotten of the Father answered that this question is not to be asked for seeing the creatures were not ever they could not make answer concerning his originall that was eternall And therefore as none knowes the Father but the Sonne so none knowes the Sonne but the Father And as I shewed you Log. Cap. 15. n. 6. and note thereunto That the certaine knowledge of every thing must be had from the rules that are proper and peculiar thereto so remember here that sith the creature can have no knowledge of the Creator but by that revelation which he maketh of himselfe you may ever repaire to his owne holy word to be instructed in his holy trueth 6. But from hence also Arius armed his heresie for because Wisdome saith of her selfe Pro. 8.22 The Lord possessed me the beginning of his wayes where the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being translated in the Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hee created me Arius from thence caused much perplexity unto the Fathers in this businesse and although Athanasins in his oration 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 proves by divers arguments that the Sonne as concerning his Godhead cannot be created yet when he comes to give answer to this text hee interprets it thus The Father hath appointed mee a body and creating me among men hath ordeined me the Saviour of mankinde which though it be true yet is it not a fit interpretation for that text if yee consider the circumstances before and after The Fathers also of the Nicene councell being urged with this text answered from that addition the beginning of his wayes that the world was created for man so that man the reasonable or discursive wisdome of God as concerning the intent and purpose of God was first created although last in the order of actuall being Epiphan haeres 69. in answer hereto holds the distinction of wisdome created and increated but seeing no place of the Scripture expounds this place of Christ therefore saith he it is not necessary to interpret it of the Sonne of God but if you take the other circumstances it can belong to no other Then if it must needs be referred to Christ yet shall it be verified of his humane not of his divine nature At last he gives the true meaning of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 kanah he possessed or of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 kanan he hatcht as a Chickin and reasons that as every chicken is of the same nature with the dam so the word also must have the same being with the Father and therefore bee begotten before all time eternally you shall finde the true reason of the difference of the translation in the tenth section following In the meane while it is not unreasonable to thinke that this Errour came by some interpreter that was an enemy to the Christian faith And yet among them Aquila translates it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he possessed me as other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the same theme which might easily be written 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he created Let the students of the holy mysteries give all diligence to read the holy Scriptures in their proper language For there this treason of Arius and all other hereticks is easily discovered 7. Hee that denyes himselfe to be good cannot be God But Christ saith of himselfe Math. 19.27 why callest thou me good there is none good but one even God Answ Good is either absolute and perfect
a full answer to the argument of Postellus so had you need to remember it because it may helpe to the understanding of some places of Scripture which may seeme to make for this conclusion 6. But if such a created Mediatour be as had power to execute the eternall decree and to create therest of the creature the Angels and man and all this visible world from him it may stand well with the justice and honour of God and the love of that Mediatour toward man to offer himselfe for man when hee had sinned whereas otherwise if no such created Mediatour bee then God the party offended must first seeke the attonement and seeing man was not able must likewise make satisfaction to himselfe for the sinne of another against himselfe But this stands neither with the honour of God nor the rule of Iustice Answ Intire affection hates all nicity And so God loved the world that he gave his onely begotten Son that the world through him might be saved And if the onely begotten Sonne be onely that second person of the Trinity what Son is that created Mediatour And so farre is it from dishonour to God to seeke and save that which was lost as that without his mercy and pitie on man in his misery the worke of God in the creature had beene in vaine But concerning that satisfaction which was made for sinne although it had appeared that it was utterly impossible to bee made by one that was onely man Chap. 19. yet was the satisfaction made onely in the manhood of our Saviour dignified and sustained by his divinity unto the endurance of all that punishment which was due to our sinne as it is manifest by the Prophet Esay chap. 53. Col. 1.22 1 Pet. 2.24 and yet for all that is our Saviour the Lambe slaine from the beginning of the world Re. 13.8 yet is the blood of his sacrifice upon the Crosse called the blood of the everlasting Testament Heb. 13.20 because that by the eternall spirit he offered himselfe for us unto God Heb. 9.14 That he in his manhood might present his Church unto himselfe God blessed for ever holy and without blemish Eph. 5.27 So that the redemption of man is the worke of the whole Trinitie the Sonne by the holy Spirit offering himselfe unto the Father accepting this obedience a ransome for the world And because the Sonne offered himselfe by the eternall Spirit therefore is not our Saviour a created Mediatour as Postellus supposed for no creature can be eternall And malgre all the power of hell it was an eternall Gospell Revel 14.6 Written in the Volume of the Booke of the eternall Decree Psal 40.7 Heb. 10.7 to the everlasting comfort of the faithfull That the sacrifice for sinne was appointed before there was a sinner 7. Now before I come to those Texts of Scripture which Postel urges directly hereto it will not bee unfit to let you see how he favours his owne opinion by those Scriptures which he interprets unfaithfully as where it is said Deut. 32.39 There is no God with me as Esay interprets it I am God and there is none else he makes the sense pag. 104. he is the created wisdome before which there was no other God created for he is worthily called God saith he for his union with the Deitie And againe pag. 115. for that which is Prov. 8.23 I was set up from everlasting he will have it that this divine wisdome was created not from everlasting for then it could not be a creature but before any ages were numbred by men So to that of Saint Iohn Cap. 1. The Word was with God he addes as it followes in the Abisine Creed and with the Holy Ghost and with himself argues that whosoever is with another must be different therfrom for the most part inferiour indignity I have answered concerning the authority of that Church the collection of inferiority in dignity followes not neither doth this text prove the unity of any such creature with the Creator as hee inferres but rather the difference of persons in the unity of the Godhead for so it followes in the Text And that Word was God I say nothing of other Texts which by allegoricall and forraine interpretations he would bring to his purpose such as that pag. 93. where by the firmament Gen. 1.6 he will understand this Mediator who parted the hidden waters of the Deitie from the manifest waters of the creature whereby it would follow that the Chaos or waters the light and darknesse were created before this Mediator see Gen. 1.13 His argument from that Spirit which moved upon the waters Gen. 1. brought pag. 29. is answered before Reason 3. I impute it no fault to him that he pag. 62. confounds those Texts of Iohn 12.28 and chap. 17.5 Charity sees no mistakings where they make not against the truth But his collection is ill from that text Glorifie me with that glory which I had with thee before the world was to conclude either that the creatures were distinct in him whom he cals God man meaning the created Mediatour or for any other to suppose that the glory of God the Sonne was any whit lessened by the taking of our flesh onely it was shadowed for a time under the Cloud of his humanity except that at some times a glimpse therof appeared in his glorious miracles For first if that eminent being of the creatures in the distinction of their severall beings were not in God the Sonne that second Person of the Trinity but in this created Mediator it would follow that the wisdome of God were not infinite nor yet essentiall unto him when the knowledge of the creature in that manner of being must come unto him by a creature contrary to that which hath been proved Chap. 5. 8. And therefore to avoid this inconvenience hee is compelled to say pag. 74. that that second being of all things taking the equivalent being which they have in the Father for the first is not onely in the eternall wisedome but also in the wisdome created Whence it followes that the Creature by the same manner of being shall bee both in the Creator and in the created Mediator But the reason for otherwise the Angels could no see God The position is false the reason insufficient and answered before then to thinke that the Sonne had lost or abated any thing of his infinite glory because he prayes that he may be glorified as before the world was stands neither with the truth For so neither had the glory beene infinite if once ended nor he coessentiall with the Father neither yet accords it with the circumstance of the Text. Therefore understand it according to the truth That Christ the Sonne of God in his manly being having glorified the Father on earth and finished that worke which he had given him to doe Verse 4. prayeth vers 5. that the infinite glory which was darkned under the forme of a servant Phil. 2.27 might
a new life in another must also die I know that some both of the Fathers and Schoole-men are cited of a contrary opinion but our learned King Damenob lib. 3. cap. 3. vpon reasons in nature unanswereable hath shewed the impossibilitie of this generation to which I will adde one reason out of the Holy Scripture Wee are commanded by God Exod. 20. Ephe. 6. to honour our Fathers and Mothers Now if Merlin for instance or the Nation of the Hungars were begotten by devills then by that commandement were they also charged to honour the devill which as no man under paine of Hell-fire may doe so were it a damnable sinne for any man to thinke that God hath commanded it And yet this fancy would take strength from Genes 6.2 4. where the sonnes of God which Irenaeus lib. 4. cap. 70. will have to bee Angels accompanied with women and so by that transgression of kynds Gyants were bred See hereto Tertull de virg velandis But those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nephelim Gyants or man-quellers who prized themselves by their violence and cruelty were not so called in respect of their stature for they are after called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gibborim men of courage or strength as every valiant or strong man is titled But the sonnes of God or as our Lord calls them The sonnes of the kingdome that is which held the hope of Christ to come yet not living according to that hope but following their owne lust and joyning in marriage with Infidells and Atheists neglecting the bringing up of their children in obedience and vertue it must needs bee that they must become gracelesse and fierce and so for their crueltie brought the flood vpon themselves And this is that wretched and wicked state whereto the world especially this little world of ours is againe returned and cries to heaven for that second baptisme of the fire c Necessary that the conception should be by the Holy-Ghost You see by these two reasons one taken from the humanity of Christ the other from His Divinitie that it was necessary that our Mediator in both respects should bee conceived of the Holy-Ghost They that have little time to thinke on naturall Philosophies need some helpe to vnderstand the difference of generation and conception And let us not bee afraid to speake of the workes of God to His honour according to trueth and modestie Generation or begetting is actively in the Parents for the female is also an agent in respect of the feminine seed which shee affords generation passively is in that which is begotten Conception is an action or passion concurrent or necessary to generation For although the seed on both sides bee afforded yet if it bee weake and vnfit for generation as in lustfull persons or if it bee not retained and duely nourished in the wombe there can bee no conception Therefore in this wonderfull generation of our Saviour whereby he was made a naturall man by naturall causes as farre as they were incorrupted there was also a conception necessary The conception actively was in the Holy-Ghost who prepared and fitted first the minde of the Virgin for if her actions or sufferings herein had not beene voluntary they had no way beene availeable unto her selfe for eternall life then her body with all the powers and parts thereof that shee might conceive that is both afford retaine and nourish that blessed tabernacle of Him that would dwell in us The conception passively was either dispositive whereby the body of the Virgin was so fitted to conceive or finall whereby that which was conceived was perfected in every degree according to all the naturall causes necessary thereto And because the Goly-Ghost was the chiefe agent or worker in all this therefore is the conception properly attributed unto Him d The conception was not by man That poore and base conceit of Ebion Cerinthus and their followers unworthy of that soule which should presume to thinke on God or His glorious workes you reade before Chap. 24. § 4 5 6 7. where it is sufficiently refuted and their reasons answered and before that you might see it strangled by all the reasons of the 22. Chapter CHAP. XXVI Borne of the Virgin Mary SO the Infinite Wisedome and Love of God delighted in man that there is no kind of perfection possible to the creature which hee hath not either manifested or promised unto him To frame and fashion the body of Adam out of the earth with His owne hands to breath into him an immortall soule was a wonderfull work and one alone Out of that virgin man to take a rib and thereof to make a woman was a worke no lesse wonderfull and one alone The ordinary propagation of man-kind is the third way for increase because Hee that was the Lord of all kindes here below should not be inferiour unto them in the possibility of bringing foorth his like But that fourth and last way of mans generation was that which out of the side of the virgin woman brought out that man which should restore and give perfection to all the rest More excellent than the third which from corrupted and sinfull parents multiplies more corrupted and sinfull children more powerfull then the second which out of the more perfect sex brought out that which was lesse perfect more glorious and availeable to us then the first which raised Adam out of dust For by this God himselfe to become one of us tooke that which was ours that he might give unto us that which was His. And for the cleere proofe of this Article a That our Lord Christ was borne of a Virgin 1. Let this be one ground which the holy Virgin her selfe did stand upon Luke 1.34 That without the society of man it is a thing in nature utterly impossible that any generation of mankind can be Secondly That which is impossible to nature because the power whereby nature doth worke is a limited power and in the perfect kinds of things according to one rule is yet possible to God Luke 1.37 Thirdly That the workes of God Himselfe the author of Nature are more noble excellent and perfect then those of nature Whereupon it will follow reasonably that sith our Saviour could be borne of a virgin if He would it was covenient so to be but He could as it appeares by that which is said and also would for so He declared it by His Prophet Esay 7.14 Behold a Virgin shall conceive and beare a Sonne Therefore our Lord was borne of a virgin 2. All the fulnes of perfection ought to be in Him who was to restore man to that perfection which he had lost Therefore as Christ our Saviour had a Father in heaven without a mother being begotten of the substance of His father by an unconceiveable and most glorious generation So ought He in earth without a father to have a mother without any taint or spot a Virgin 3. And seeing the Incarnation or Conception and Birth of the GOD
according to the question of Pilate Art thou the King of the Iewes For for this cause was he borne that He might beare witnesse to the trueth He therefore being both lawfull and naturall King of the Iewes according to His descent from David and that by an unquestionable right of descent as the succession of that Kingdome had stood from David to Iehojakim above 400. yeeres and after the captivity from Zorobabel to Ianna Hircanus almost 300. yeeres and that by the covenant of God Himselfe to David which was to be established in Christ for ever it must follow of necessity that Ioseph had no children by Mary his wife as Helvidius barked For so the right of that title to the Kingdome of David should have been to that heire who had the right by naturall descent from both parents rather then to him which had right onely by His mother and adopted father Neither had this which I plead been good onely for Iosephs sonnes but also for his daughters if he had had any by Mary his wife as it appeares in the case of the daughters of Zelophehad Numb 26.7 8. Wherefore seeing it cannot be supposed but that the holy Virgin blessed above other women and freely beloved should not have bin denied the blessing of children if she had desired any after her Son IESVS it will follow of necessity that for the eternity of Davids kingdome to which our Lord had the only right not by intrusion or dissannulling of a better title I meane in civill right He was that stone cut out without hands that shall fill the whole earth and that the blessed body of his mother according to that vision of Ezechiel 44. was that East-gate or ordinary way of entrance into mankind in which the Prince did sit to grow before the Lord as he that eares bread even untill the time of His birth when He should goe out thence perfect man And because the Lord God of Israel had entred in by that gate Therefore shoulod it be shut that no man might enter in by it but that the holy Virgin should continue a virgin as in the conception and birth so for ever after a virgin For neither had the outward Sanctuary of the Tabernacle nor of the Temples afterward any such secluded gate but that both Priests and People did go in and out thereat to doe their dayly service So then that mysticall Temple of Ezechiel must needs intend the Temple of the Virgins body by which God Himselfe entred into our Tabernacle and came forth God-Man blessed for ever Amen ARTICLE IIII. ⧠1. Suffered under Pontius Pilate was 2. Crucified 3. Dead and 4. Buried CHAP. XXVII WHat the infinity of that glory was of which the Sonne of God did empty Himselfe when He clouded it under the forme of a servant all the Angels in heaven cannot comprehend Yet such was the infinite love of God to man as that for our sakes a Hee was pleased to be borne man that b by His partaking of our sufferings He might become a faithfull high Priest for us unto God that we might be made partakers of His glory For a friend loveth at all times and a Brother is borne for adversity Prouerbes 17.17 His friends we are if we doe whatsoever Hee hath commanded us Iohn 15.14 neither is He ashamed to call us brethren when Hee saith Psal 22.22 I will declare thy Name to my Brethren In the midst of the Church will I praise thee Hebr. 2.12 Now what these sufferings were it is in part manifest by the Prophets and by the Evangelists Such was His poverty as that He was borne in a stable among the beasts A manger was His Cradle In His infancy He was persecuted by that cruell King that sought His life and compelled Him to seeke His safety by banishment in a forreigne land The poore Trade of a Carpenter was His meanes of maintenance that had made all the world Subject He was to our infirmities of Hunger Thirst Heat and Cold Wearinesse and Griefe both of mind and Body neither had Hee lesse afflictions though He were free from sicknesse But when the time came that He should shew Himselfe to bee that Redeemer that was to come then was He most busily tempted by the devill rail'd on and reviled by His ministers that praised themselves therefore Say we not well that thou art a Samaritane and hast a devill then was he loaden with injury and scorne His life was sought by treason and at last betrayed by His owne Schollar But how great was the anguish of His mind how great was His affrighting at the sight of that death whereby He must fight against the fierce wrath of God inflamed against Him that had set Himselfe the surety to pay for the sinnes of the whole world Arise ô Sword against my Shepherd against the man that is my fellow friend saith the Lord of hostes I will smites the Shepherd and the sheepe shall be scattered Zach. 13.7 What was that anguish of His mind that forc't Him thrice to pray with strong crying and teares and to sweate like drops of blood running downe to the earth That that bitter Cup might passe away verely the sorrowes of hell compassed Him about and the snares of death were before Him Psal 18.5 Yea so were the sorrows of His heart enlarged as a man that sought for comfort and could finde none He prayes and comes to His Disciples to seeke some ease by their mutuall speech but they are fast asleepe and there finds He none Thus while the God-head doth rest toward Him Psal 22.1 And according to the law of Iustice leaves him in His pure humanity to beare the burden of our sinne alone while all the waves and stormes of Gods wrath passe over Him while the dogs of hell with their severall temptations compasse him about while the horrible curse of the Law euer sounds in His eare Cursed is every one that confirmeth not all the words of this Law to doe them Deut. 27.26 which curse Hee that had become our surety Psal 40.7 Hebr. 7.22 must beare for every one What marvell was it if He prayed that His soule thus left alone might be delivered from the power of the dogge that He might be saved from the Lions mouth being thus beset with the hornes of the Vnicornes Read Psal 22. and 69. But yet remembring that for our cause He came into this houre that Hee might fulfill the will of His Father Hebr. 10.5 and that by that one offering of Himselfe He should bring many sonnes unto Glory therefore as the valiant Captaine of their salvation did Hee willingly and couragiously offer Himselfe to the hands of them that sought His life having first commanded a safe conduct for His Disciples Iohn 18. from 3. to 10. Then what scorne and reproaches and speaking against of sinners He endured before the high Priests the holy Prophets and Evangelists have recorded I gave my Backe to the smiters and my Cheeke to them
Wisedome Righteousnesse Sanctification and Redemption 1. Cor. 1.30 4. And as the ransome of our sinne must of necessitie be of an infinite value that it might be a full satisfaction to an infinite Iustice and therefore fit that our Redeemer should beeboth God and man So was it necessary that Hee should become ours that wee might have that which we might give unto God for a full satisfaction And that our obligation to God might bee infinite not onely for our creation or being from nothing but much more for our well-being and restoring from worse than nothing Therefore that wee might have an infinite ransome to give unto him did Hee first give unto us His only Sonne Iohn 3.16 And yet that our claime and right might bee in Him not onely by the voluntary gift of His Father which in Him that had power to give made our right and possession sure enough but also by our owne purchase that wee might have all manner of right in Him and assurance of Him therefore at His owne rice of five Shekels of silver Sixeteene shillings Eight pence Hen. Amsw on Gene. 20.16 other 25. Shillings Ed Brerew in our money did wee also redeeme or buy him of God See Exod. 13.13 Numb 18.15.16 O most rich and precious purchase At so easie a rate to buy that which was more worth than all the worlds And that the benefit of this bargaine might not redound to the Iewes alone therefore came the wise Gentiles from the East to relieve the penury of the poore Carpenter not onely for the payment of this purchase but also for saving of that which was bought by His slight into Egypt Matth. 2. Chapter And thus are wee become a Royall Priest-hood while wee offer unto God that infinite sacrifice beseeching His mercy for the merit of His Sonne Thus then the infinite Iustice being fully satisfied in our nature by that which Christ hath suffered for us our sinnes are not onely freely forgiven us in the beloved but wee are also brought into the perfect favour and Love of God and the assurance of those benefits which depend thereon Which love how great it is Our Lord hath sufficiently declared Iohn 17.23 where Hee saith that the Father hath loved us as He hath loved Him c With cramps of Iron sodered How Ioseph buried the body of IESVS rolling a great stone Matth. 27.60 a very great stone Mark 16.4 to the doore of the sepulchre the Gospels shew And although the stone were so great that women moe then foure Luke 24.10 durst not undertake to roll it away yet the chiefe Priests and Pharisees held not that surety enough and therefore by the leave of Pilate made the grave fast and sealed it and set their watch to keepe it The words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to seale and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to make fast or sure as the word is used Act. 16.24 He made their feet fast in the stocks cannot import such sealing as is on a bagge of money or with a piece of paper which makes nothing fast but is only a signe of honest dealing For if the Disciples had purposed to steale the body of their master no such sealing could or should have hindered them And therefore that making fast and sealing here spoken of was such as I have said and that for the ends expressed CHAP. XXVIII ⧠Hee descended into Hell § 1. Sect. 1 I Have said before That every difference in opinion though in an Article of Faith is not immediately an heresie And therefore though divers expositions have beene made of this Article yet so long as the substance of it is granted and no obstinate nor malicious or condemning of others is there is no heresie or schisme towards especially seeing that divers expositions may sometimes stand with the trueth of the Scripture the authority of Fathers and the cleare meaning of this Article The different interpretations doe arise especially from the meaning of the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sheol and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hades Sheol of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Shaal which signifies to crave or aske because Hell is never full Proverb 30. Hades hath the derivation of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not to see because of the darkenesse which is supposed to be there or not to be seene because the state of death is not knowne to the living or else as others will have it of the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Adamah earth by the authority of Sibyl lib. 1. paulo post initium 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aden they call because the first Adam When hee was dead and buried thither cam Therefore all men that on this earth are borne Into th' house of Ades are said to turne This interpretation may seeme to have ground on that of Gene. 3.19 Dust thou art and unto dust thou shalt returne And therefore 1. The word signifies sometimes as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Kever the grave wherein they Kuver the corps of the dead as in 1. Kings 2.6 Let not His hoary head goe downe to the grave Hebrew Sheol Greeke Hades in peace 2. Sometime they signifie the power of death the place or state of the dead either wretched or happy appointed for all men as it is said Psalm 89.48 What man is he that shall deliver his soule from the hand of Sheol Hebr 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Greeke To this place Iacob Genes 37.35 to this Sheol Iob. 14.13 desired to come as to the rest from all their labours as to that place whereto all must returne as the verses cited affirme 3. They signifie the place of torment as Psalm 9.17 The wicked shall bee turned to Sheol Hebr Greeke to Hades In this sence also the words Tophet Esay 30.33 Gehenna Mark 9.43 and Tartarus 2 Pet. 2.4 are used Hades also in Matth. 16.18 by a Metonymia signifies the devills as The gates of hell shall not prevaile against it that is All the devills which goe in and out at the gates of hell shall not prevaile against that Rocke Christ whom thou hast confessed But in Luke 16.23 it is taken properly for the place as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and being in hell lifting up his eyes c. as contrarywise with other Authors it sometime signifies the place of blessednesse as Plato uses it in Phaed. concerning Socrates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If ever any man came to happinesse but in this sence it belongs to Numb 2. 4. They signifie such sorrowes or paines as may bee supposed are suffered in hell as in 1 Samuel 2.6 The Lord casteth downe to hell and bringeth up againe and in Psalm 18.5 The sorrowes of hell compassed me So Psalm 86.13 Thou hast deliuered my soule out of the lowest hell In all which places
which is said is agreeable to the trueth of the Scripture and the analogie of Faith onely they cannot yeeld that it is the true and native meaning of this Article And betweene these two parties all those texts of Scripture which are brought for the locall descent of Christ are hammered so thinne that may seeme plyable every way But let the strength of the Holy Text for ever stand sure and let us see the reasons a little on all sides with their answeres and exceptions And first of them that interpret this Article by the sufferings of Christs soule Object 1. Sect. 3 As the sufferings of Christ even from the first minute of His Incarnation were meritorious for us yet our ransome from the torments of hell was wrought especially by the suffering of His humane soule which torments of His soule Hee endured not onely by the torture or fellow-feeling of His naturall body nor by compassion onely on the sins and sorrowes of His body mysticall but also He might be said even to feele the sorrowes of eternall death when He saw Himselfe to be now set to suffer the wrath of God due to the sinnes of the whole world And if this bee not the proper and native sence of this Article how are wee taught by our Creed to beleeve more concerning Christ than wee confesse to be true of the theeves of whom wee may say they suffered under Pontius Pilate that they were crucified dead and buryed Al. Hume Rejoynd to Doctor Hil. I answere First the holy Scripture is profitable for doctrine for instruction for reproofe c. But the object of our faith is onely the Holy Trinity in Vnity and the satisfaction of Christ for our Redemption and the benefits which wee receive thereby And therefore although I beleeve and know by the Scriptures that Samson was the Sonne of Manoa yet I neither beleeve in Samson nor Manoa And though I know by the Scriptures that the penitent thiefe suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucifyed and dyed yet I beleeve not in him But concerning Christ as I beleeve that all His merits redound to us so I beleeve that all His sufferings were according to the Scripture a satisfaction to the justice of God for the sinnes of the world which they could not be but by the suffering both of His soule and body as it is said Esay 53. Hee shall see the travaile of His soule and bee satisfied If then wee know that whatsoever befell unto our Lord was that the Scripture might be fulfilled Matth. 26.54.56 and if wee beleeve and confesse in our Creed that He suffered according to the Scriptures and dyed and rose againe according to the Scriptures and that the Scriptures doe plainely testifie that by His sufferings and death the wrath of God against mans sinne is fully satisfied which as I said could not be but by His sufferings in His soule as well as in His body After these sufferings under Pontius Pilate what needes a second remembrance of His suffrings in soule under a title of a descent into hell Therefore when as I am bound to beleeve and confesse that the sufferings of Christ under Pontius Pilate were according to the Scriptures that is in soule and body I am bound to deny that the suffering of Christ in His soule is the native meaning of this Article He descended into hell 2. Beside the doctrine of Faith being a catechisme doctrine Heb. 6.1 and the sum thereof being for the use of children and novices it is not likely that the Church would have so generally received a creed wherin the thing to be beleeved should be laid down inwords that were tropicall and obscure when plaine and proper termes were necessary and at hand But hell cannot signifie the torments of hell but by a metonymia of the place for the adjunct of the place neither yet could it properly be said That our Saviour went down into bell when He was lifted up upon the Crosse where the especiall endurance and expression of His hellish torments were both in soule and body 2. Neither can it truely be said He descended into hell that is He suffered in soule the torments of hell but by a Synecdoche of the whole man for one part Neither were these torments of His soule more properly or truely called torments of hel then those torments of His body which we confesse He suffered under Pontius Pilate 3. Moreover after He was dead and buried it comes in unduly againe to make mention of His sufferings in soule a great part of which were endured in the garden before He came to the hands either of Pilate or of the Priests 4. And yet beyond all these reasons there is another argument that the Church did not interpret this Article by the sufferings of Christs Soule because as Gerrardus Vossius puts it De statu animae separatae Qu 1. It was the received opinion of the ancient Fathers even to this our time That the soules of the faithfull before Christ entred not into Paradise till Christ by His death had set it open and entred thereinto according to His promise to the thiefe on the Crosse And if all the soules of the faithfull were in hell taken in the second sence before mentioned though in a place of rest as Theophilus speakes and that by the comming of Christ thither they were brought to Paradise or a place of further joy then certainely this Article must in their iudgement be interpreted by the descent of Christ into hell after his death rather then by the sorrowes of His soule before it And to this purpose the learned Vossius brings some 20. Fathers from Tacianus the schollar of Iustin Martyr about the yeere of Christ 180. before whom He might have put His master Iustin as it is plaine in his Triphon Among those Fathers are Irenaeus Tertullian Origen Eusebius Athanasius Ambrose Ierom Epiphanius Chrysostom Augustin Cyril and beside them whom he reckons up he ads innumerable others and with them the sentence of the Councill of Toledo in the yeere 633. He descended into Hell that He might free them which were there detained Aug. Ep 99. writes thus If the reason be asked why our Saviour would come into hell where those sorrowes are of which He could not be held it was Because He was free among the dead Psal 88.5 Moreover concerning the first Father of mankind almost the whole Church agrees that He freed him there which may not be thought that the Church beleeved without cause although the expresse authority of the Canonicall Scripture be not alleadged He saith almost the whole Church because the heretickes called Tacians denyed that Adam was saved De Haeres Cap. 25. Vossius beside all these brings the consent of the Africane and of the Easterne Churches both of the Greekes and of the Nestorians with divers later writers as Zuinglius P. Martyr and others Obiect 1. Sect. 4 But the Fathers agreed not all in one judgement Answer True Neither
before wee can come unto it must first appeare what Abrahams bosome what Paradise is and where it was Then why the word of descending into hell is heere used with the solution of such doubts as fall in the way The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a bosome sometime signifies a baye of the sea wherein harbour and safety is from waves and tempests and thus the word is used Act. 27.39 Thus Lazarus Luke 16. might be said to be in Abrahams bosome that is to have arived and cast anker in that safe and quiet haven of happinesse where Abraham the father of all the faithfull because he against hope beleeved in hope Rom. 4.18 was now in blisse or else it may signifie a bosome properly as it is used in Luke 6.38 and thus also Lazarus might bee said to bee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in cheare and joy in Abrahams bosome as Saint Iohn Ioh. 13.23 lay leaning in the bosome of Iesus his uncle at supper as the manner of that countrey was sometime to eate their meate lying on the ground The word Paradise whether it be native greeke of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because it is supposed to be plentifully watered or a Persian word as good Authors affirme and that of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pardes used in Eccles 2.5 and Cant. 4.13 signifies a place of pleasure inclosed or a parke and so it is used in Xenophon Cyrop lib. 1. or a garden as the Greekes translated the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gan in Genes Chap. 2. and 3. or an orchard as in the texts of Solomon before And hither was our Lord first said to have come after His death because as Adam by his sin had lost his happy estate in the earthly paradise So Christ by His death did recover the hope of our returne into the heavenly For the gift is not as the offence Rom. 5.15 By these two words the blessed estate of the faithfull is signified though with some difference not of place but degree of happinesse as I shewed For although the children of the kingdome were all and at all times heires of the fame hopes yet they that were in Abrahams bosome before Christ had not that fulnesse of joy which they had after their redemption was fully wrought and He not now in Abrahams bosome with them but Abraham and all his faithfull children with him in Paradise To the same sence concerning the state of happinesse is the Kingdome of Heaven used Luke 13.28 29. though that word expresse also the joyes after the resurrection And because it was ever thought even among naturall men as the Heathen Philosophers that the soule was immortall and that after death it was better to them that had lived well then to the wicked therefore were they perswaded that their soules went to a place of rest and happinesse which they called as they pleased 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the house of Pluto by the common name and that of pleasure the Elysian fields of torment a place inclosed by Acheron a river without joy And sith the body went downe to the earth from whence it was and that they perswaded themselves that every creature might be abundantly happy in that region whereof it was an inhabitant as being the onely region that was fit for it therefore they thought that the place of the soules rest was not farre from the body and so went downe into the earth And because the ancient Church could not teach the heathen conuerted to God but by such words and language as they understood and differed not much in meaning from that which they themselues beleeued therefore were they content to use this manner of speech of descending to Hades the house of Pluto or hell which the vulgar had been taught by their guides the Philosophers and Poets In stead of all the rest see Plato in Phaedone and Virgil. Aeneidos lib. 6. yet they meant by this descent of Christ into hell no other thing but that His soule being separate from His body went into that place where the faithfull soules were then at rest and in assured hope of further joy But because our Church uses not the terme descending but teaches her owne children in their owne tongue to confesse that Christ went downe to hell Artic. 2. Let us not forsake the law of our mother Prouerb 6.20 but rather endeavour to know what this going downe to hell may meane And certainely it must needes bee thought a thing either of great obscurity or of little necessity wherein our Church as most other hath not held it fit to make any further declaration Therefore though I take liberty to enquire what the possible or most likely meaning of the words may be yet I presume not to affirme any thing but with submission to the Churches judgement when God shall vouchsafe further light thereto to determine according to the Scripture what is the certaine trueth in this or any other question of the like doubtfulnesse 1. To descend to goe or come downe is used diversly But that I may descend to every understanding I will make it of two kinds one of place and that is of three kinds The other of state or condition 1. Of place higher and lower as it is said Luke 9.37 They came downe from the hill and Act. 11.27 There came Prophets downe from Ierusalem to Antioch or from a place of more fame to a meaner as Act. 13.4 From Antioch 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they came downe to Seleucia Now if the earth and water made one flat surface which stretched from one side of heaven to the other as the old fancy was then could this descent of Christ meane no other going downe but under that surface And although some of the Fathers were no better Cosmographers then to thinke thus yet for the most part they were better thewed But because our faith suffers not to put any untrueth in nature therefore this going down must be refused 2. But if this globe of the earth bee hollow then this going downe may be meant as most of the Fathers tooke it into that hollownesse of the earth 1. And that the earth is hollow both reason and authority shew it Authority you have 4. Esdr 4.7 where to the question that might be made How many springs are in the beginning of the deepe the answere by the Angel is supposed to be I have not as yet gone downe into hell whereby you see that hell or the place of the dead was below this earth on which we tread and that they that died from hence did all goe thither This was the opinion of the ancients both Heathen and Christians which held the locall descent of Christ and knew the System of the world 2. Had they not reason For neither God nor Nature His seruant doe ought in vaine which yet must needs be heere if from the upper face of the earth to the centre a distance of some 3500. miles on
the just indignation of God against sinne and to manifest the trueth of that word Cursed is the earth for thy sake Yet to the soule being separate and so without the helpe of the sences and imagination by the light which God hath given to it able by it selfe to see what the possibilities of the whole creature are every place is a Paradse while it considers the infinite goodnesse and power of God in the creature as well in that which is deprived of the effects thereof as in that wherein His goodnesse is still effectuall For as there be three estates of mans being This of the Warriour in this life That after death of the Conquerour And the third after the resurrection of the Triumpher So likewise are there three meanes and degrees of His knowledge One in this life wherein wee know nothing but by our sences from whence the imagination or fantasie that Hevah the mother of all living carries unto reason her Adam all the species or formes of things which shee gathers from the sences For nothing lives in the understanding but by the power of the fantasie which because it is false fickle and will of it selfe without reason be working upon every object as the appetite is mooved thereby therefore the reason following the fantasie is deceived and not constant and so it comes to passe that wee know few things according to the trueth which is in them But in that second estate of man when the body returnes to the earth and his sences and consequently his fantasie doth utterly perish Psalm 146.4 Then the soule looking on the creature with its owne eyes sees the wonderfull blessing and goodnesse whereof man had beene made partaker in the right use of the creature if he had not lost the knowledge thereof by his sinne and returnes to the Author thereof that praise that is due to Him therefore and acknowledges that state wherein hee lives out of the proper habitation to bee the reward of sinne yet because it doth evermore enjoy the comforts of God in a certaine knowledge and some present feeling of those joyes whereof it shall be fully partaker hereafter in the perfection of the whole man and sees that this separation is but a preparation for a further perfection in that immortall being which is to come it hath thereby as it were a seisure and delivery of those heavenly joyes which it had here onely in assurance of hope though till the third state it hath not the full possession And although the soule of the wicked man views indeed the creature and knowes now the losse of that blessing which it might have had in the right use thereof yet because it hath no hope in the life to come all that knowledge which it hath is but to see further the wretchednesse of it selfe and for a foretaste of that bitter cup of wrath which it must drinke even to the dregs And this foretaste is able to make all the creature hell unto the miserable soule as the joyes and assurance of heaven make all places Paradise to the faithfull For the devill was not therefore happy because hee was in heaven Iob 1.6 and 1 Kings 22.22 nor therefore miserable because hee was thrust out Reuel 12.9 for not the place but the holy Spirit of comfort onely which never leaves the faithfull soule Iohn 14.16 gives heauenly happinesse as that soule which is destitute thereof hath hell in it selfe and must needs be in hell wheresoever it is Now as it is most certaine that there is such a meane state betweene this of mortality and that of glory so is it most reasonable to thinke that this is the imployment of the soule at least for a time before it bee raised up with the body in glory For seeing man was therefore set in the creature and therefore indued with a reasonable soule that he might in the creature behold the Wisedome and goodnesse of God and to His praise bee happy in the right use thereof It was necessary that He should know the creature and the possibilities thereof which knowledge having by his sinne debarred himselfe of he could not use the creature aright and so became mortall Yet seeing it is impossible that the sinne of man should frustrate theend of God but that He should be glorified by man whom He hath purposed so exceedingly to glorifie therefore in that second estate wherein the soule is better fitted to know as the Angels by intuition or view of the creature onely shall that be effected Moreover seeing our Lord ascended not to heaven before His soule was joyned againe to the body and that it may not reasonably bee thought that the seruant in his greatest basenesse and lowest estate should have preeminence before his Lord nor yet that the soule that most active part of man should be idle what can the soule and understanding bee busied about but onely in the enquirie of that trueth and wisedome which God hath manifested in the creature But whether this inquest shall be immediately after the soules departure from the body or at the time of restitution of which Saint Peter speakes Act. 3.20 I cannot define But although for the trueth and quietnesse sake with them that would instantly be in heaven I denied not an immediate passage into heaven for the faithfull since Christ yet seeing most of the sonnes of Adam must come into this middle state I see not why any man should withdraw himselfe from that taske whereby he ought to give honour unto his Creator Objection 1. Obiect 1 But by this you put a possibilitie of those illusisions of the devill appearing as the ghosts of the dead and justifie that poeticall fiction of Hesiod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lib. 1. that they of the golden-age became all Angels and in ayrie bodies lived every where on the earth seeing all the good and ill deedes of men I answere All things are not therefore false because A Poet affirms them but that which he speakes out of the light of nature is certainely true and this what waight soever it hath swayes on my side But for the upholding of those old-wives fables of the walking of the spirits of the dead there is no feare For being dead they must keep the law of the dead and not live to us that are dead to them for when they are gone from hence they are no more seene Psal 39.13 Thus much it was necessary to speake concerning the meanes of the soules knowledge while it is in the state of separation from the body The third manner and degree of the soules knowledge by comprehension in the morning vision is when the whole man glorified shall see the true being of all things in Him that is the cause of all For then shall it know as it is knowne as you may see 1. Cor. 13.12 But this kind of knowledge belongs nothing to the question that is in hand 4. The other kind of descent which is in state or
the naturall desire of the soule no way sinfull the Deity infinite in power and in regard of the unity consenting thereto it must follow of necessity that our Lord was raised againe from the dead 5. Contrary causes must have contrary effects The devill by the sinne which he wrought in Adam had caused death to prevaile over life in all mankind Therefore Christ who came to destroy the workes of the deuill must cause life to prevaile over death But this could not be done in the members before it was perfected in the head Therefore Christ being dead must of necessity bee the first fruits of them that are raised from the dead And if it were necessary that Christ should first rise Ergo it was impossible that He should not rise See Log chap. 26.11.1 6. If Christ our Lord had not beene raised from death a then had it beene impossible that any of His beleevers should bee raised againe by the power and merit of His resurrection 1. And so the naturall desire of the soule to dwell with the body should be created in vaine 2. So the debt being paid the prisoner should ever be detained 3. So the afflictions of the Saints which they have suffered in body should be in vaine as cold hunger nakednesse reproach and shame imprisonment stripes yea and death it selfe willingly sustained for the love of God should be without reward But it were against the justice of God to cause the body and soule to suffer together and not to glorifie them both together 4. So also the death of Christ should not be meritorious and effectuall for the procuring of all that good which might and ought to come thereby both to Himselfe and all His beleevers For although the soules of the faithfull for the merit and full satisfactions sake of His death being separate might enjoy an eternall though not a full happinesse without the body yet the body should be left eternally to the power of death and so the workes of the devill should not be destroyed by Christ 5. So also the body should be created in vaine if to sorrow onely without the hope of happinesse 6. So God should lose His right in His creature if Hee were not Lord both of the living and of the dead both of the soule and of the body 7. So the one sinne and disobedience of Adam should be more powerfull to condemne mankind then the everlasting and most perfect obedience of the Sonne of God should be to save it But all these things are impossible And therefore Saint Paul saith Rom. 4.25 That Christ was delivered to death for our sinne and raised againe for our Iustification For if Christ be not raised againe then are we yet in our sinnes 1. Cor. 15.17 not that any addition was made by His resurrection to that satisfaction which He made by His death but because the resurrection of Christ is a sure and manifest proofe of His conquest over sinne death hell and all the power of the devill and that His suffering and death was a full and sufficient sacrifice whereby the wrath of God against sinne was fully satisfied so that we are now justified in His sight whereas if in the conflict of our Redeemer with death and hell He had been overcome then could we have had no faith nor hope that our sinne by His death had beene done away But now knowing that He hath overcome death and is returned to life againe in all the troubles and sorrowes of this life and in the agonies of death wee may be secure as the feet or toes that are lowest under the water may hope at last to come to land because they know that their head being above the water the body cannot be drowned 7. Now concerning that impossibility of Saint Peter it stands thus It is impossible that the Scripture being the declaration of Gods trueth made by Himselfe 2. Pet. 1.21 2. Tim. 3.16 should faile But it hath beene declared by the Scripture that Christ should be raised againe from the dead Therefore it was impossible that He should still be held under the power of death The text cited by Saint Peter is found Psal 16.10 to which you may adde the types of the old Testament whereby the death and resurrection of our Lord was signified as that of Noah Gen. 9. ver 20. c. When our Saviour being as it were drunken with the love of His Church and desire of mans salvation tooke our state upon Him and for us became subject to the death of the Crosse when being seene by the Iewes those Chumits in the nakednesse or infirmity of our estate He was set at nought by them that thought that their Messiah could not die Iohn 14.34 But when Noah our Rest and Comforter awaked out of His grave He brought on them that destruction which was foretold as the punishment of their hardnesse of heart and unbeliefe See Psalm 41.10 Dan. 9.26 So the Ram taken by his hornes in the bush Gen. 22. was the type of His death and Isaac taken alive from the Altar the figure of His resurrection Ioseph also taken out of the dungeon to be ruler over all the land of Egypt To the same purpose was the law of the two goates Levit. 6. the one slaine for a sinne offering the other sent alive into a land of separation to make an atonement for all iniquity transgressions and sinne of the people So by the two Sparrowes Levit. 14. He that was like to the solitary sparrow on the house top Psalm 102.7 shed His blood for the cleansing of our leprosie yet by the other that was sent alive into the open ayre His resurrection was figured Sampson the Nazarite asleepe in Gaza signified our Lord in the sleepe of death for the love of His Church yet waking and having opened the gates of death He carryed them away and ascended in triumph to the top of the mount Iudg. 16.3 And because the strong gates of death are carryed away we are assured that all they that sleepe in the dust of death shall rise to give an account of their workes Beside these types you have also the prophecies of the old Testament as Psalm 68.20 That to Him belonged the issues of death both to passE out of death Himselfe and also to bring out His from thence Esay also Chap. 53. after He had declared His sufferings and death proves His resurrection by His dividing the spoile with the strong Our Lord also foretold His resurrection Himselfe in Mat. 12.49 and Luk. 18.33 and the b infidelity of Thomas made it certaine unto all Vpon all which texts we may firmely conclude with Saint Peter that it was impossible that our Lord should be held in the bands of death 8. And why the third day was appointed for His resurrection a reason or two are rendered Hee rose not before that none might doubt but that He was certainely dead See the 27. chap. for His death and buriall Neither was it
Theol loc 48. quesi 60. c. But in summe against these or any other heresies which may rise against the trueth of this Article take the authorities of the holy Scripture Psalm 24.7 c. Psal 47.5 and 68.18 The place and circumstances of His ascension are remembred Mark 16.18 Luke 24.50 Act. 1.9 Reade hereto Ephes 4.8 1 Tim. 3.16 Hebr. 4.14 and 9.24 And that the naturall property of Christs humane body being now glorified is not destroyed so that is may be every where as the God-head is take these authorities of the holy Seripture First it is said of Him after His resurrection Matth. Mark Luk. He is risen He is not here And Act. 1.10 While they looked up stedfastly as Hewent which must not be by disappearing but by leaving of one place and passage to another and againe vers 11. This IESVS which is taken from you into Heaven therefore not bodily with them still as He saith Iohn 16.7 It is expedient for you that I goe away for if I goe not away that Comforter will not come but if I depart I will send Him to you And therefore it is said Act. 3.21 That the Heavens must containe Him untill the time that all things bee restored And this is spoken of His body neither can it be true of His Deity and if His body be contained in heaven how can it become a piece of bread or in a piece of bread on earth You will say if Christ were last of all seene of Saint Paul 1. Cor. 15.8 how was Hee still contained in the heauens for His conversion was after the ascension I Answere Even as Saint Paul saw in a vision a man named Ananias comming unto Him whom otherwise he saw not till afterward Act. 9.12 and yet the sight by vision from God is a most certaine and true sight Or if it were so that He were indeed in His body taken up into the third heaven as he makes it questionable 2. Cor. 12.2 so might he see as he professeth of himselfe in your understanding CHAP. XXXI ⧠And sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty THe great antiquitie of this Creed appearing to be even from the time of the Apostles brought some writers into an opinion that the twelue Apostle before their departure from Ierusalem to preach unto the Gentiles gave out this forme of confession of the faith to bee acknowledged of every Convert before they might bee baptized and appointed that all interpretation of Scripture should be made according to the rule of it as they will understand that text in Rom. 12.16 And some will yet bee more particular herein that every Apostle brought in that Article which he thought fit to be beleeved Yea and for a need they will tell you which Article every Apostle made and so have of necessitie limitted the Articles to the number of twelve But the Scripture admits no other rule of Interpretation than it selfe And so I confesse that the Creed may be a rule in as much as it hath the foundation in the Holy Scripture As Saint Augustine saith lib. 3. de Symb. ad Catech. Chapter 1. Deus in ecclesia regulam c. God would have one perpetuall rule to be in the Church which should be simple briefe and such as every one might easily understand according to which the godly mighty examine all doctrine and interpretation of the Scripture to receive that which is agreeable thereunto and to refuse that which is contrary And although for your satisfaction therein I have followed the fashion for the number of Articles as you may see yet it cannot be denied but that if you take every several conclusion for an Article there are in all 17. or 18 at least fifteene severall Articles of which this of our Lords sitting at the right hand of God will be one although in that number of 12. it goe as a part of the Article before Hee ascended into heaven But this is not a thing of any great importance And therefore let us rather looke to the certainty thereof for that is necessary for us to know and beleeve But it may be demanded why in the Creed such a Metaphor should be used as might endanger younglings and novices to thinke with the Anthropomorphites that the invisible God is like to man with hands and bodily parts To which wee may answere that the Christians I speake not of wilfull hereticks were not so ill instructed but that they knew right well how to discerne betweene Christ and a Vine Iohn 15. betweene a figurative and a proper speech And therefore the Fathers in the Church the Author or Authors of this Creed having a jealous care of the trueth of God doubted not to propose it in the words of God Himselfe Therefore seeing this part of Christs glory is so prophesied to bee fulfilled Psal 110. cited Heb. 1.13 The Lord said unto my Lord sit at my right hand untill I make thine enemies thy foot-stoole it is so to be retained in the Article of our Creed And although it bee a borrowed speech yet seeing it is so taken into use by our Lord Himselfe and by the Pen-men of the New-Testament it is by all meanes most fit so to hold it For so our Lord speakes Matth. 26.64 and Luke 22.69 Hereafter shall you see the Sonne of man sit on the right hand of the Power of God So Col. 3.1 Christ sitteth above at the right hand of God So Hebr. 1.3 and 10.12 and 12.2 with many other Scriptures to the like purpose The word To sit signifies either to tarry or continue as in Luk. 22.49 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sit that is abide or stay in the Citie of Ierusalem or else it signifies to raigne as in Esay 16.5 The Throne shall be established and Hee shall sit upon it in trueth So the right hand of God signifies either power as Act. 2.33 Hee being by the right hand that is the power of God exalted or else it signifies happinesse and joy eternall as it is said Psal 16. and 11. verse At thy right hand are pleasures for evermore And although some Interpreters make the meaning of this Article that Christ as God hath equall glory and power with the Father yet all these Articles from the second to the eight shew what wee are to beleeve of our Mediatour concerning His man-hood And as our Saviour in the state of His humiliation was for the greater scorne and contempt crucified betweene the two malefactors one on the right hand the other on the left So in this glory of His opposed thereto He is set on the right hand of the Majestie on high the principalities and powers being subjected unto Him 1. Pet. 3.22 So then the meaning of this Article is not onely that Christ in our nature confide caro sits at the right hand of God in heaven but also as Hee speaketh Matth. 28.18 that All power is given unto Him both in Heauen and in earth Vnto
Therefore He is a creature Answere 1. He is no where in the Scripture called a creature or mentioned among the creatures in Psal 148. or else-where Therefore He is God Answer 2. The proposition is false as it appeared by the texts cited out of Actes 5.3 4. and Matth. 28.19 where He is equalled with the Father and the Sonne and 2. Cor. 13.14 And Iohn 5.7 Moreover no sinne doth make a man lyable to an infinite punishment but that which is against an infinite being But the sinne against the Holy-Ghost shall not bee pardoned neither in this world nor yet in that which is to come Matth. 12.32 Therefore the Holy-Ghost is God Take hereto Actes 28. verso 25. and 27. with Rom. 11.8 and 1. Cor. 3.16 And as these texts of Scripture are sufficient to shew the falshood of this last objection So doe they manifest the vanitie of all the rest and confirme abundantly the trueth of this Article that the Holy-Ghost is God To bring the consent of Fathers and Councelis to these Scriptures were as to encrease the light of the Sun by a burning candle yet because it was so plainely declared in the first generall Councell held at Nice by 318. Fathers in the yeere of Christ 325. you may remember it if you will In that Councell this Article was thus declared in that forme of confession which was framed by Hosius Bishop of Corduba As the Father and the Sonne so also the Holy-Ghost subsisteth with them of the same being of the same power of which they are And a little after Wee ought to confesse one God-head one being of the Father of the Sonne and of the Holy-Ghost not teaching any confusion or division of the Persons of the unspeakeable and blessed Trinitie But according to the integritie of that faith and doctrine which was heretofore delivered by the Lord Himselfe to His Apostles and hath beene sincerely taught to us by our holy Fathers who kept it pure and intire as they received it from the Apostles wee beleeve and confesse the undivideable Trinitie which cannot sufficiently either be conceived in the understanding or expressed in wordes that is the Father eternally and truely subsisting a true Father of a true Sonne and the Sonne eternally and truely subsisting a true Sonne of a true Father and the Holy-Ghost verily and eternally subsisting with them And wee are ever ready by the power of the Holy-Ghost to proove that this is the trueth by the manifold testimony of the holy Scripture Histor Gelasij Cyzie Act. Conc. Nic. lib. 2. cap. 12. This faith was approved of all but because the present businesse with Arius was especially about the Sonne For he held that the Son was not of the subsistence of the Father nor yet very God That they might meet fully with that errour they agreed to that forme wherein it is confessed that the Sonne is light of light very God of very God begotten not made being of one substance with the Father c. Thus having ended the controversie about the God-head of the Sonne they come to the question of the Holy-Ghost against whom Phaedon a Philosopher and patron of Arius his cause objected thus It is no where written in the Scripture that the Holy-Ghost is a Creater and therefore Hee is not God To which the Councell opposed that which is in Iob 33.4 The Spirit of God hath made mee and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life And that in Psal 33.6 By the word of the Lord were the heavens made and all the hosts of them by the Spirit of His mouth To which they added that of Saint Paul 1. Cor. 12. verse 4 5 6. where the Holy-Ghost is called both Lord and God And so concluded that all the three Persons that is the Father the Sonne and the Holy-Ghost were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 consubstantiall or of the same substance Lib. Cit. Cap. 25. Likewise when this heresie of Arius concerning the Holy-Ghost was againe revived by Macedonius the second generall Councell held at Constantinople in the yeere 381. condemned the heresies of all Arians Apollinarists and Macedenians confirmed the faith professed in the Nicene Creed and for further explanation of the trueth in this point to that clause Wee believe in the Holy-Ghost they added the Lord and giver of life who proceedeth from the Father who with the Father and the Sonne together is worshipped and glorified c. And this is sufficient for the declaration of the trueth in this point by the authority of generall Councells All the orthodox Fathers consent hereunto Among whom if you desire to bee further acquainted with the arguments and objections on both sides you may reade the writings of that most noble Champion of the trueth of the holy Trinitie Athanasius and in speciall that sermon of the humane nature taken by the Word the oration against the ging of Sabellius and the first and second Epistle to Serapion and his first dialogue against Macedonius with him Macedonianus See also Greg. Nyss vol. 2. pag. 439. edit Paris 1615. you may also if you will take these objections and their answeres brought by Epiphanius to this question Haer. 74. and with them those in Thomas Aquinas Contra gentes Liber 4. Cap. 16. and their answeres Cap. 23. Another errour against the being of the Holy-Ghost is that which they call of the later Greekes and yet is not onely of the Grecians themselves but of all those Nations and Peoples that are of the jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Constantinople which if you leave out the Countreys of the poore Painims in the East and West Indies is far greater than the pretended universality of the Bishop of Rome both in Europe and in Asia See Brerew Enq. Chap. 15. and besides them the Melchites or Christians of Syria the Armenians and Maronites hold the same heresie All these though they confesse that the Holy-Ghost is God the third Person in the Trinitie yet they say that He proceedeth onely from the Father not from the Sonne But although they account this but a later errour among the Greekes perhaps because the stirres thereabout after the Councell of Florence in the yeere 1439. grew more hot than they had beene before and that because the Greekes then present in that Councell in hope to draw them of the West into their helpe against the Turks did seemingly yeeld to that trueth which these Churches in the West doe holde in that point yet it appeares that in the time of Damascen about the yeere 750. it was their received opinion For thus he writes Orthod fidet lib. 1. Cap. 13. He is the Spirit of the Sonne not proceeding from Him but from the Father by Him For the Father onely is the cause Nay if you looke yet higher in that explanation which the Councell of Constantinople spoken of even now made of that Article of the Holy-Ghost in the Nicene Creed that clause and from the Sonne is left out so that this errour
1. Sect. 1 Concerning the first it is an irrefragable argument that the Scriptures were given of God because the Prophecies in them which were before-hand concerning things to come were such perfect declarations of them as that they may rather seeme to be Histories then Prophecies Take for instance that promise to Abraham that his seed should possesse Canaan after 430. yeeres and accordingly in the selfe same day Exod. 12.40 41. were they brought out of Egypt Or the promise of Iudahs Kingdome foretold by Iacob Gen. 49.8 9 10. Of Iosia and Cyrus prophecied by name the one above 300. yeeres the other above 100. yeeres before he was borne Of the captivity of that nation and destruction of Ierusalem foretold by Daniel For seeing God alone is infinite in His wisedome and that all His workes are foreknowne to Him alone therefore can He alone declare from the beginning what shall come to passe at the last as He saith of Himselfe Isa 42.9 whereas the Angels being finite both in their wisedome and knowledge know nothing of things to come but either by speciall revelation as Gabriel foretold the birth of Iohn Baptist or by the Prophecies of the Scripture or by observation of naturall causes in their long and subtile experiences And therefore it came to passe that all the devils that mocked the heathen by their Oracles were so uncertaine in their answeres except they were informed by some of the meanes spoken of As the devil gave a certaine answere to Alexander concerning his expedition against Darius because he knew what the Decree of God was by the Prophecie of Daniel Chap. 8. 2. Another Argument that the Scriptures were given by the Holy-Ghost is that admirable consent of all the Doctrines contained therein which are delivered with that certaintie of Truth and Knowledge with that authority and power over the soule of the faithfull Reader and that in so simple and plaine a manner of writing as no other whereas in mens writings the unsetlednesse of their judgement their ignorance and doubtfull suppositions especially when they speake of their owne as seldome they doe justifies the holy Text Rome 1.22 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 professing to teach they shew their folly 3. Moreover the Argument or things contained in the holy Scriptures doth manifest the Author thereof the Writers for the most part shewing their Commission Thus saith the Lord and Paul an Apostle not by man but by Iesus Christ and God the Father Then the purport or intent of the Commission We are Ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christs stead to be reconciled unto God And this under such conditions as none but God alone is able to performe of acceptance eternall life or refusall eternall fire 4. The glorious and mighty workes which Almighty God gave especially to the first Writers of the Law and of the Gospel to doe and those miracles whereby He continually justified the trueth thereof the wonderous preservation and deliverances of the professors as of Daniel c. And the balefull confusion of the adversaries of the Trueth contained in the Scriptures in all ages approve that God alone is the Author thereof 5. The hatred of the devil and his continuall endeavours either utterly to deface the Bookes of the holy Scripture or upon pretext of obscurity and danger of Heresie not to reade them And againe the providence of God in preserving those Bookes and the love and delight which He hath begotten in the hearts of His Saints to reade and understand them are no lesse proofe that these holy Scriptures are the Word of God and the Testimony of His eternall Truth 6. The extraordinary calling of many of the Pen-men of the holy Bookes and the enabling of them being simple and unlettered men to write and to preach those high Mysteries which none of the Princes of this world did understand as of Amos among the Herdmen of Peter Iames and Iohn and the other of the twelve Apostles shew that the Author of that Truth and their Bookes was God alone 7. The great 1. Antiquity of the Bookes of the Law preserved so long uncorrupted for in comparison of Moses almost all the writings of the heathen all their religions and many of their Gods are but upstarts and things of yesterday 2. The great simplieity and sincerity of the Writers who sought not their own praise nor concealed their owne faults and imperfections 3. The consent of the Church which receiued the Scriptures as the word of God 4. The consent of forraine Histories writing of the same things with such uncertaintie and untruth as time and heare-say use to bring into History as of Berosus Herodotus Strabo Trogus and others are a manifest proofe that the true records of the same things are the writings which God Himselfe did dictate to Moses and the Prophets which followed after him For none but God did truely know the creation of the world and none among men did certainely record the universall flood the Tower of Babel the actes of Abraham Iacob Ioseph Moses Ioshua and others So that if the devill might vaunt as he did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I did indite and Homer did write In the perfection of truth might the Holy Spirit of God say as it is recorded 2. Tim. 3.16 All Scripture is given by the inspiration of God And 1. Pet. 1.21 Prophecie came not in old time by the will of man but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy-Ghost 6. And if wee beleeve that the writings of Historians and Poets and other profane Authors are indeed theirs under whose names they goe shall wee not much rather beleeve that they are the writings of God Himselfe that goe under His Name especially seeing wee know that Hee is a jealous God and neither would suffer His authority to bee abused to falshood neither would Hee give His Church to bee ever seduced by lyars and false prophets § 2. Sect. 2 And these holy Oracles God of His Goodnesse and Mercy would have to bee written from whence by their excellencie above all other they are called Scriptures or Writings 1. First that wee through patience and comfort of these Scriptures might have firme and sure hope in God and His promises Rom. 15.4 2. Secondly that nothing through mans infirmity might be forgotten of all that which ought to be in continuall remembrance 3. Lest by the wickednesse of men and the subtilty of the devil inciting them thereto the holy Doctrine of God might be corrupted from the native and true meaning and so new Doctrines and new Religions brought in in stead of that Service which we owe onely to God and that according to His owne revealed Will and Word 4. No man knoweth the thoughts of a man but onely that spirit of a man which is within him much lesse can any know the things of God but onely the holy Spirit of God The things of God of which I
speake are either such as concerne Himselfe or us Himselfe as that in His being He is a Spirit Eternall infinite in Wisedome c. In essence one in Persons three in His dispensation towards us that in the fulnesse of time the Eternall Sonne should dwell in the Tabernacle of our flesh that in our nature and for us he might make satisfaction for our sinne that we might be restored againe to the favour of God which wee had lost by our transgression and so have hope of the full enjoying of those benefits which come unto us thereby as the resurrection of our bodies and eternall life both in body and soule And because it was impossible for us to understand those things except God Himselfe had revealed them unto us therfore it was necessary that He should vouchsafe the certaine and immutable knowledge of them by His Holy Word 5. No Kingdome can bee ordered according to Iustice wherein the Lawes are not manifest and to bee knowne of every subject that will know them But Christ is that King that is to raigne in iustice Esay 32.1 Therefore it was necessary that the lawes and ordinances of His Kingdome which peculiarly is His Church should be so published that every one both small and great might take knowledge of them 6. No punishment is due but for some offence and where no law is there is no transgression Rom. 4.15 So no reward is due but either in justice for some merit above dutie as the merit of Christ on our behalfe or else in mercie by promise for the carefull performance of that which is due But neither duty nor punishment nor merit nor mercie can either appeare or be such where no law is Therefore it was necessary that God by His Word should both shew what duty He did require of us and what punishment was due to the breakers of His law and what reward was due to the observers as the law declares And moreover because no man in this state of corruption by originall sinne is able to performe the law of God as he ought in perfect righteousnesse Therefore it was also necessary in this impossibilitie on our parts to make it knowne how wee might bee delivered from the punishment by the mediation of another as the Gospel shewes 7. And because so great a benefit as the deliverance of mankind from the thraldome of the devill was never to bee forgotten therefore it was necessary not onely that the Church should bee prepared unto the expectation thereof and dayly put in mind by such lively signes as the sacrifices were the true meaning of which they were taught by the Prophets but also when the time came that the promises should bee fulfilled that the Church should be throughly informed and confirmed in the trueth thereof by the powerfull doctrine and glorious miracles which were done both by the authour and finisher of our faith and by those who were eye-witresses of all things which they testified to the world Therefore it was necessary that both before the comming of Christ the Church should be catechised unto Christ by the doctrine of the Law and the Prophets and after His comming bee fully instructed by the Apostles and Evangelists the Holy-Ghost evermore working in the hearts of the elect that the things which were taught should be beleeved § 3. Hath it indeede beene the practise of the devill by his principall agents the persecuters of the Church to deface the Holy Scripture and to put out their remembrance among men Histories affirme it Neither can the Father of lies hate any thing so much as the trueth nor the enemie of man-kind endeavour any thing so earnestly as to defact that by the knowledge whereof man may find the way to eternall life yet great was the trueth and prevailed Then by hereticks he would corrupt it but yet the trueth prevailed Then hee would keepe it from us in an unknowne tongue but yet the trueth appeared and every man may reade in his owne tongue the wonderfull workes of God English and Germanes and French and the rest yet the devill had one tricke more in his budget that seeing hee could neither deface nor corrupt nor conceale the bookes of Holy Scripture in a forraine tongue whose vulgar use is vanish't among men he would shuffle in other bookes among them that so we might not discerne the true Mother from the false And if any question grew about the Child traditions which wee must receive with equall affection of piety must decide it Strange Divinitie Did the Church deale thus of ancient time For you onely are wise you onely will be the people Shew the custome of the Church you claime to Fathers shew it from them Saint Athanasius in Synops. divides the bookes of the Old-Testament as wee into Canonicall and not Canonicall The Canonicall he accounts all as wee save Esther the not Canonicall he accounts the booke of Wisdome Esther Iudith and Tobit The books of the New-Testament all Canonicall hee numbers as wee the foure Gospels the Actes the seven Catholike Epistles fourteene of Saint Paul among which following Saint Peter Second Epistle 3.15 he puts that to the Hebrewes and the Revelation Epiphanius also Lib. de Mens pond accounts the Canonicall bookes as Athanasius but puts Esther among them he accounts Wisedome and Ecclesiasticus to be apocryphal Ierom. in Prol. Gal. accounts the Canonicall bookes of the Old-Testament as Epiphanius and as the manner of the Hebrewes was of old they count the books according to the number of the Hebrew letters 22. as the knops nuts or almonds on the golden candlestick were 22. for the Lamentations was one book with the prophesie of Ieremiah and the 12. small prophets made but one Booke and as five of their bookes were double that is Iude and Ruth 2. of Samuel 2. of Kings and 2. of Chron. Ezra and Nehem. in one booke so are 5. of their letters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which in the end of words are thus written 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But in Summe they speake of their bookes altogether the Law and the Prophets as Luk. 16.29 and 31. and 24.27 Aces 24.14 and 26.22 and 28.23 And yet some-what more particularly the Law the Prophets and the Psalmes and this division of the bookes of the Holy Scripture our Lord also allowes Luke 24.44 But in this last division the bookes are numbred 24. first of Moses 2. Foure of the former Prophets as they call them Ioshua Iudges Samuel and Kings 3. Foure also of the later Prophets Esay Ieremie Ezechiel and the Booke of the 12. small Prophets 4. The Kethubim or holy writing contained 11. bookes the 5. Poeticall that is the Psalmes Proverbs Ecclesiastes Iob and the Canticles three which they called Megilloth volumes or rolles Ruth Lamentations and Esther among which the booke of Canticles is sometimes accounted and 2. halfe Chaldee which were last written Daniel Ezra with Nehemiah and the Chronicles And these holy writings they divided
from the other prophecies because they were not given either by dreame or by vision or by hearing a voice or in any extasie but were inspired by the Holy-Ghost immediately And according to this order of the bookes of the Holy Scripture divers Hebrew Bibles have bin lately printed as one by Plantin in Oct. another by Hutterus in Folio and others Now concerning the bookes of the New-Testament Saint Ierom ad Paulin. reckons them as wee And are not these Aramites strucke with blindnesse that print the Bible the decree of Trent and those prologues of Ierom before it that it may appeare how they set the Fathers at naught But for the full decision of this question let us looke unto the undoubted truth of the Scripture by the Scripture it selfe let us learne what is Scripture or the word of God 1. Therfore concerning the books of the New-Testament M. Luther accounted the Epistle of S. Iames to bee aridam stramineam dry as a Kix and his followers give their reasons against it 1. the seeming opposition which is betweene him and S. Paul in the question of justification by faith and by works 2. because hee teacheth not but supposeth onely that which is the sum of the Gospel that is the redemption of the world by the death of Christ as some men speake for Athanasius concerning the booke of Esther that none of the names of God are mentioned therein to which others answere that the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mimmakom acher in Chap. 4. v. 14. is for sense in that place equivalent to any of the names of God which the prophet did there forbeare to remember because hee would not that any of the names of God should bee prophaned among the heathen with whom he lived So also Luther held the Revelation to be the writing of some well-meaning honest man but not Canonical Wherein I thinke the wonderfull wisdome and mercy of God appeared to hide the meaning of that booke from him lest he should be destroyed with pride when he should see himselfe and his ministery so alluded to therein But let Luther and his followers in this question thinke by themselues betweene us and the Church of Rome there is no difference both parties holding all the bookes of the New-Testament to be canonical The onely doubt is about the books which we call Apocryphal of unknowne and obscure Authors or strange doctrines delivered therein In which question the Canon or rule of the New-Testament is for us For concerning all the books of the Old-Testament the reason stands thus 1. All the oracles of God or Canonicall Scripture was received in the Church of the Iewes But none of the Apocryphall bookes were received in the Church of the Iewes Therefore none of the Apocryphall bookes are the Oracles of God The proposition is Saint Pauls and he accounts it as well hee may the first and chiefe preeminence of the Iew that unto them the Oracles of God were committed Rom. 3.2 The assumption is manifest for the Apocryphall bookes were extant onely in Greeke which language the Iewes never used in their holy seruices And although the booke of Ecclesiasticus were begun by the grand father in Hebrew yet was it augmented and finished in Greeke by the grand-child And although the first booke of the Maccabees were extant in Hebrew yet was it not therefore Canonicall no more than the second that was written in Greeke So the conclusion stands sure And if neither the Church before Christ received those Apocryphall bookes nor the ancient church since His suffering accounted them Canonicall for the Authour of the Sophisticate Cannons of the Apostles wee receive not upon what ground then should the Fathers of Trent presume to doe that which neither the Primitive Church or Fathers attempted before 2. Such another argument you have from Luke 24.27 where it is said that Christ beginning at Moses and all the Prophets expounded unto them all the Scriptures the things that were written concerning Himselfe So all the Scriptures are understood by the Law and the Prophets as I shewed before and yet for further explication it is added in verse 44. the Law the Prophets and the Psalmes For of all the Cethubim the booke of Psalmes was first and by a Synecdoche is put for all the rest Now to which of all these will you bring the Apocryphall bookes By the Law you understand the five Bookes of Moses which the Samaritanes and all the sects of the Iewish Religion except the hereticks called Nasacheans did receive The sects of the Sadduces and Samaritanes rejected the rest but the Church of the Iewes held all the Prophets both former and later with all the Kebuthim to bee holy Scripture but the Apocrypha are reckoned with none of these 3. A third argument from the holy Scripture against these apocryphals is from Revel 19.10 The testimony of Iesus is the Spirit of prophecie But in these apocryphals which the Iewes received not there is no prophecy no evident testimony of Iesus that was to come Therefore they are no witnesses of Him no word of His. And although in the fourth booke of that supposed Esdras there be mention of Iesus Christ Chap. 7.27 28. yet the false narration of things never done and other fictions See Master Brerew Enq. Chap. 13. have discredited those bookes so farre that the Papists themselves doe not mention them in their new Canon and vouchsafe them a place in the end of their Bibles onely lest they should be lost Object But the Fathers themselves call these bookes Canonicall Answer And our Church yeelds they are so in the meaning of the Fathers that is serving for rules of good life and vertue but not of faith as the holy Scriptures and that is the question betweene us and Trent § 4. Sect. 4 That the holy Scripture is abundantly sufficient to teach all things that belong to faith and godlinesse is manifest by the reasons brought for the proofe of the second question That it was necessary for us that God by His written Word should vouchsafe unto us the knowledge of His will 1. For how could either our hope and comfort in God be firme and sure if they were not grounded upon His holy promises that never faile 2. And if no man know the things of God but onely the Spirit of God how could we beleeve that which is to be beleeved of Him or hoped for our selues as the Trinity of Persons the Incarnation of the Son the resurrection of the body c. but by the instruction of His holy Word 3. How could we have the true knowledge of sinne and the punishment thereof but by His Law whereby He hath taught us what duty we owe to Him to our neighbour and to our selues And if the holy Scripture doth thorowly instruct us in all things that we ought to doe or to beleeve is not the sufficiency and perfection thereof able to teach us how to be perfect in every good
worke See 2. Tim. 3.16 17. 2. And if it might with due reverence unto God be supposed that the holy Scriptures have not sufficiently instructed us in every thing Yet who is he or what is that Church that may presume to adde to His word Proverb 30.6 Lest if they teach things that are not to be beleeved or command that which is not to be done our faith be found to be foolishnesse and our obedience become if not sinne yet without reward as the Prophet saith Esay 1.12 Who hath required this at your hand 3. As the man is so is his strength Iud 8.21 as his wisedome is such are his words And seeing it is evident by the Scripture which is given that it was the good will and pleasure of Almighty God to give instructions unto His Church and that it hath already been prooved that the Wisedome Chapter 5. and the Trueth of God as all His others dignities are infinite Chapter 7. if the instructions and directions of the Scriptures were not in every respect perfect and sufficient for the Church to that end for which they were written then the Wisedome of Goodnes of God should be defective in that which was necessary for His Church to know But that is impossible Therefore the Holy Scripture is sufficient 4. If God have not sufficiently and perfectly instructed us by His word what we ought to doe and to beleeve then can He not in Iustice punish those defects which shall be found in our Faith or obedience especially seeing we are not bound by any precept in His revealed will to hearken to any traditions with that reverence as to His word but rather are every where commanded to hearken to His word and that without any adding thereto or taking away therefrom Deut. 4.1 2. and 5.32 Esay 8.20 sends us to the Law and to the Testimony and if any one shall speake not according to this Word it is because there is no light in them So our Lord sends us to the Scriptures Iohn 5.39 Therefore the holy Scriptures are perfect and sufficient to teach all things that belong by way of divine revelation to faith and godlinesse All the Fathers runne this way and the most learned among the Schoolemen and later Papists as you may see them cited by Master G. Langford Enquiry after verity § 2. Of Traditions Object 1 Against this doctrine of the sufficiency and perfection of the Scriptures Obiect 1 doubts are raised two wayes First from the necessity of Traditions Secondly for that it is supposed that some bookes of the holy Writ are lost For the first it is manifest even by the reasons that are brought for the sufficiency of the Scripture For if it were alwayes necessary that the service of God in His Church should be according to His owne commandement and direction it must follow necessarily either that the Scriptures should have beene given even from the beginning of the world for the Church of the redeemed began in Adam or else that the seruice of the Church was onely according to tradition The first is apparently false For Moses was the first inditer of any Scripture and that after the deliverance out of Egypt which was after the Creation of the world 2513 yeeres Therefore the second followes of necessity that Traditions were necessary Answer This is a wilfull mistaking of the question which being about the sufficiency of the Scriptures must needs be limited to the times since the Scripture was given But Moses was not the first inditer of the holy Scripture but God Himselfe who had first written His Law in mans heart did secondly write it in two Tables of stone with His owne hand in mount Sinai And thirdly againe when the Tables of the Covenant were broken this was the first of all that which we call holy Scripture After which time God taught Moses the Originall of the world the sinne and redemption of mankind the order of times and whatsoever was necessary for that people to know and to doe And although it bee most true that the faith and seruices of the Church before the law was onely according to tradition yet because those traditions were not kept as God had taught them God brought upon the world of the ungodly the Flood Yet even within foure hundred yeeres after the Flood by the craft of the devill and his new revelations the best among men became Idolaters as it is manifest in Iosh 24.2 And therefore God gave Ordinances and Lawes by Moses in writing to the obseruation of which the whole Church of Israel was bound without any addition thereto or taking away therefrom Deut. 12.32 Object 2. But traditions may be necessary for the Church Object 2 as well since the Scriptures were written as before as Saint Paul 2. Thess 2.15 exhorts them to hold the Traditions which they had been taught whether by word or by Epistle So the Councill at Trent Sess 4. Can. 1. commands them to be received as the holy Canonicall Scripture Answer The word Tradition there is doubtfull For either it may signifie at large any thing that is delivered either by word or by writing and that may be any fundamentall trueth according to the holy Scripture as Saint Paul meanes in that place as Saint Athanasius Epist ad Adelphium de Incarn Contr. Samos calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Apostolicall Tradition and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the faith delivered by tradition that God was manifest in the flesh or else it may signifie any canon or rule for the ordering of things indifferent in Ecclesiasticall policy wherein all things ought to be done in order And in these two sences traditions are to be held the first in obedience to God and His trueth as we receive the Apostles Creed and as you read in the Note on Chap. 33. § 2. N. 4. how Hosius speakes of the coessentiall Persons of the Trinity as a tradition from Christ to His Apostles and from them to us the second for peace and avoiding of divisions in the Church as to kneele at the holy Communion rather then to fit or to stand though none of all these gestures be essentiall to the Sacrament In the third place Traditions may signifie any rule thrust upon the Church as necessary to be beleeved or obserued quite besides or contrary to the word of God for conscience sake toward God that Priests and Nunnes may not marry which things though they be brought in as Apostolicall or Ecclesiasticall Traditions yet by the rule of Saint Paul 1. Tim. 4.1 2 3. they seeme rather to leane to the doctrines of devills beleeved by such as speake lyes in hypocrifie and have their consciences seared No part of Holy Scripture lost Object 3. ANd if Traditions might therefore seeme to be necessary Object 3 because it is yeelded by some of the Fathers that some of the Canonicall Scriptures are lost by whose reasons or authority some of the later writers have strayed after them yet
this will nothing at all support those unwritten verities For it is utterly denyed and that according to reason and the word of God that any part of the holy Scripture is perished 1. For can we thinke that it stood with the goodnesse of God to give His Word to His Church for comfort and instruction and stood it not with His providence to preserue that Word that it should not perish but accomplish that thing for which it was sent Esay 55.11 But divers objections are brought hereto as you may see in the author G. Langf forenamed in the 4. § 1. The booke of the warres of IEHOVAH is mentioned Numb 21.14 but not extant Therefore some part of the holy Scripture is perished Answer It ought first to be manifest what this booke was but in briefe the bookes of the Chronicles of the Kings of Iudah and of the Kings of Israel are often mentioned in the bookes of Kings and Chronicles yet were not those bookes therefore holy Scripture written by the Prophets but rather by the Recorders or Secretaries of state appointed for that purpose as the histories of other kingdomes are or ought to be written and of this ranke may that booke mentioned by Moses seeme to be For it is not necessary that all writings mentioned in the holy Scripture should be holy Scripture For the Poets whose writings Saint Paul mentions were but Heathens and Iannes and Iambres as profane writers call him Mambres are no where mentioned in holy Scripture but onely 2 Tim. 3.8 2. A second doubt is from that which is in Ioshua 10.13 and 2 Sam. 1.18 where mention is made of the booke of Iasher whereto though some according to the interpretation of the word just or upright will have the sence of that text of Ioshua Is it not recorded by him whose writings are upright and true as it is said Iohn 21.24 This is the Disciple that testifieth these things and we know that his testimony is true yet because the booke is mentioned in times above 390. yeeres distant it seemes to me rather to be some Liger or booke of record wherein such memorable things were written by the appointment of their Synedrion as might serue for remembrance to future ages for that Synedrion or great Councill of 70. Elders instituted by God under Moses Numb 11. never failed so long as their state lasted 3. The writings of the Prophets themselues as of Nathan and Gad mentioned in 1 Chron. 29.29 of Ahia and Iddo 2 Chron. 9.29 of Iehu 2 Chron. 20.34 are utterly lost Answer Not so For as it is manifest that all the things written in the 2 of Sam. were done after his death so likewise may we very well thinke that both the bookes of Iudges and Ruth 2 of Samuel and the two bookes of Kings for some give the Chronicles wholly to Ezra were written by divers Prophets whom God raised up in all the ages of that Church to bee inditers of His Word and were as Saint Luke saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 eye-witnesses of the things which they recorded and these Prophets here mentioned with others were the Authors of those bookes 4. But some texts are cited in the new Testament which are 1. not found in the old as that in Matth. 2.23 Hee shall be a Nazarite or else are 2. not found in the Author cited by which we may thinke that some booke of his is lost as that which S. Matthew cites out of Ieremy Chap. 2.17 is not found in all that booke 3. Moreover S. Paul remembers the word of our Lord Actes 20.35 which is no where extant beside 5. And the Epistle to the Laodiceans mentioned Coloss 4.16 is utterly lost For that schedule which is found here and there is rejected by every one as unworthily to be remembred by the Apostle 5. Iude likewise cites the prophecie of Henoch which is not found except in the Talmud Answere 1. Some referre that of Matth. 2.23 to Esay 11.1 The Branch that should grow out of the roote of Iesse But it is more fully verefyed in that which is written Iud. 13.5 Where Sampson the Figure that should begin to save Israel is a Nazarite unto God and Hee much more which is separate from sinners and should perfect the deliverance of all the Israel of God and the text cited by the Evangelist may not onely intend both these but whatsoever else either the Law or the Prophets understand by the figurative snow-white puritie of the Nazarites Lam. 4.7 and is therefore cited in the name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of all the Prophets 2. The other citation in Saint Matthew where one Prophet is named by another doth not prove that any booke of Ieremiah is lost neither was it of any ignorance or forgetfulnesse in the Evangelist or yet mistaking of them that have copied out that booke but because that the seed of the Woman so long expected was now to come into the world it may be that Zachariah by interpretation Remember the Lord is now Ieremiah exalt the Lord who never ought to hee remembred without his praise especially in the performance of that inestimable benefit for man-kind 3. Concerning that which is cited by Saint Paul Actes 2.25 If he had that which he cites by the suggestion of the Holy-Ghost as wee may well thinke or that the saying of Christ was in fresh remembrance with them that heard it it is not therefore to bee concluded that S. Paul cites it out of any booke now lost seeing he might receive it from those Disciples which had heard it 4. And as to that Epistle to the Laodiceans it is but a common errour that S. Paul makes mention of any such but hee perswades the Colossians for the better understanding of some passages in the Epistle written to them to read the Epistle sent from Laodicea to him and that they of Laodicea should read that which he sent to the Colossians as containing doctrine and instruction fit for both the Churches to know and doe 5. And if Saint Iude were taught of God that Henoch had so prophecied though the prophecie were never written or if he cited it from any booke which went under the name of Henoch if nothing in the booke were Henoch's beside this prophecie Saint Iudes citing doth not make the booke Canonicall Scripture no more than S. Pauls citing the heathen Poets or if S. Iude had it onely by tradition that Henoch had so prophecied how doth it make for the question For it is not said that all things are false which are delivered by tradition but that in the matiers of the faith and doctrine of the Church those traditions have no force or credit which are contrary to the truth of God revealed in His Word 5. But it is yeelded that though some part of Scripture be lost yet that which remains is sufficient and containes all things necessary Answere Our Lord saith Luk. 10.42 That one thing is necessary which in Iohn 17.3 he
confesseth to bee this To know the Father the onely true God and Iesus Christ whom he hath sent and according to the necessitie of this one thing the 3. Chapter of Gen. with the 53. of Esay and any one of the Gospels might seeme sufficient And in this sufficiencie onely wee dwell hither-unto But because S. Peter saith 1. Epistle 1.11 that the inquest of the Prophets was not onely concerning the saluation of the soule but likewise what times and what manner of times they should be wherein the sufferings of Christ should bee fulfilled and the glories which should follow thereupon and because both the sufferings of Christ and his glories are to be accomplished not onely in Himselfe but also in His Church as they were prefigured in all the types that were of Him in the Church under the Law and that God the Lord doth nothing but He revealeth His secret unto His seruants the Prophets Amos 3.7 when wee shall grow past milke and be able to digest stronger meat when wee shall understand how the Law and the Prophets are to be fulfilled to every jod and title contained in them Matth. 5.17.18 when wee shall be able to apply every text to the proper time and meaning according to the perfection of the uttermost understanding thereof then shall we see that the Law of the Lord is a perfect Law and His Statutes and judgements are sweeter then honey and the honey combe then shall the Church see and know that nothing in the whole body of the Holy Scripture is either superfluous or that any word letter or prick therein might bee missing § 5. Sect. 5 That the Scriptures are come unto us as they were at first delivered to the Church by the Prophets and Apostles that were the Pen-men thereof it may be manifest by those reasons which are brought for proofe of the former question 1. For if God who is praysed for His trueth in that Hee hath magnified His Word above all His Name Psal 138.2 hath not preserved His Scripture intyer from the corruption of man from the alteration addition or taking away that they might make what comfort or certaine instruction can wee have thereby What assurance of hope by those promises of which wee are not sure whether they be the promises of God or the imaginations of men Thus the end for which God of His goodns gave those Scriptures should be frustrate and man in that incertainty nothing furthered toward eternall life Thus the Church should fayle in the duty and faithfull performance of that trust which she owes unto God in preserving that treasure which was committed to her charge and safe keeping But these things are not to be granted And therefore the Scriptures are come unto us in that integrity or purity in which they were at first delivered to the Church they of the old Testament in the Hebrew tongue they of the new in Greeke 2. The constant consent of all the doctrines and promises contained in the Scriptures the efficacie and power of that Spirit which is manifest in the deliverie thereof are evident proofes that the Scripture is still in that purity in which God gave it unto the Church And although God in those Scriptures have vouchsafed to apply Himselfe to our understanding and as a nurse to lisp with her infant yet so much is the foolishnesse of God wiser than man and the weaknesse of God stronger than men 1. Cor. 1.25 as that it is still manifest in the whole body of the holy writ that nothing of humane drosse is mixt there-with but that His Word is still as before pure as silver that hath beene tryed seven times in the fire 3. This fire is that dampish smother-fire of heresies which the devill did kindle among his brands among whom though some rejected the authority of sundry bookes of Holy Scripture as Marcion and others some corrupted the sence thereof by Allegories and forraine interpretations as the Origenists See Augustin de Gen. ad literam others by wresting it from the native sence to the supportance of their owne heresies yet the Church which continued faithfull in the doctrine of God constantly with-stood all these attempts and ever maintained the sincerity as of the doctrine so of the Holy Scripture on which it was founded And because the Scripture is either of the old or of the new Testament it is fit to speake to each of them in particular 4. And first concerning the old Testament it is manifest that the Church of Israel whose hope was set on that Messiah that was to come had no cause to corrupt the text of the holy writ but according to the promises which they had in the Law and in the Prophets the expositors thereof so to hope that He should be such a deliverer and Saviour as was promised by which hope they were bound to preserue the Scripture in all integrity that they might see the full accomplishment thereof when He was come 5. Beside the Priests whose lips should preserue knowledge and at whose mouth they should seeke the Law Mal. 2.7 there was from Samuel unto the dayes of Ezra a perpetuall succession of Prophets who could not in any wayes have endured so great a corruption uncontrouled as that the Word of the Lord should be changed or depraved And although the Scriptures before the time of Ezra had beene corrupted yet he being a Prophet a Priest and a perfect scribe of the Law of the Lord and of the Statutes of Israel that had prepared his heart to teach the Law of God and His statutes and judgements Ezra 7. who changed the forme of their Chaldean or Samaritane letters for those which are now in use hee I say would have taken away all such corruptions or changes as had come to the Holy Scripture if it might bee imagined that any could come in the time of the Prophets that were before as far as the diversitie of Copies gave them light Of the Israelites care in writing the Scriptures and of the Masôreth 6. MOreover that exceeding care and diligence which the Scribes were to use in writing is sufficient proofe that the bookes of the old Testament are come to us in that purity in which the Church received them which care how great it ought to bee you may see by that which their Doctors have recorded Henry Ainsworth Aduertisement n. 3. cites out of Rambam Sopher Torah Chap. 7. and 10. thus much If the booke of the Law doe want but one letter or have one letter too much if one letter touch another if the forme of any letter be corrupted if the word which is full be written defective or that full which is defective if the word of the margent be written in the line or that of the line in the margent the Booke is not allowable to bee read in the Synagogue neither hath it the holinesse of the Booke of the Law at all but is a booke on which Children may learne To this
since the Apostles we find the effect of our Mediators prayer that their writings have beene that Word by which the faithfull have beleeved on Him and so hath done and still doth that worke for which it was sent thereby are we sure that it is their word their owne word as they delivered it not corrupted or sophisticate by any device of man for any purpose or intent as that false prophet doth pretend And that you may see how great the trueth is and how it prevailes take out of Ficinus in the said 36. cap. what this Mahumed confesseth of himselfe whereby you may see how betweene his arrogance and his ignorance the trueth doth shew it selfe He confesseth that he neither had done any miracle nor none could doe That he was pure man and no more That he could give no pardon for sinne That he would not be call'd upon or worshipped And although in his madnesse he pretended himselfe to be a messenger sent from God and inspir'd by Him and that he was the Holy-Ghost yet when his raving fit was off hee confest that hee was ignorant of many things and that there were somethings in his bookes of the trueth of which there might be doubt and whosoever shall worship one God and live honestly whether he be Iew Christian or Sarazen shall have mercy from God What is then the preferment of his Alchoran before the holy Scriptures or why shall wee forsake our most holy guide whom he confesseth to be the breath and word of God and to have the next place unto God in heaven that we may become circumcised and abstaine from Swines-flesh and wine and enjoy fleshly pleasure with many wives if nothing of all this give us any furtherance to eternall life 10. To end this question I will bring this only argument which for substance is indifferent to both the Testaments the circumstances only differing If the writings of the holy Scriptures be corrupted either those corruptions must come in by little and little into the copies of the Scripture while they were dispersed by writing or else all at once If they came in by little and little then the books that had beene written without those faults might bee patternes to correct the fualty by and so the text might bee still preserved pure as wee find it was done when Printing flourished under the managing of learned men in those copies of the Greeke Testament printed at Compludo and at Paris To suppose they came in all at once is against all reason and possibilitie of experience I have shewed that till the time of Christ and his Apostles the Old-Testament was pure and can it be supposed that all the Churches of the Iewes in Pontus Galatia Cappadocia Asia and Bithinia 1. Pet. 1. nay all the twelue tribes in the Cities of the Medes in places so distant should conspire to such an act for which they were perswaded they should goe downe irrecoverably to hell Can the imputation of a base Iewe or two in a thing of so great importance to the disgrace of their owne Nation without any proofe of the thing naming of the place time or Persons against all possibilitie of trueth sticke so fast as that no nitre can be able to wash it off To say that the Christians of the Gentiles ever endeavoured to corrupt the Hebrew text hath yet more impossibilities For during the time of the gift of tongues no such crime might touch them and after that none among them no not the Fathers themselues except perhaps Origen or Hierom had so much skill in Hebrew as to be able to corrupt it Beside the whole nation of the Iewes would have opposed it and as they detest our religion and faith so had they had just cause to brand us with infamy for that endeavour and to proclaime our folly which should corrupt that in the sincerity of which alone is the assurance of our hope So the Hebrew text remaines intier And concerning the New-Testament written in Greeke it was so suddainely dispersed among the converts of the Gentiles and that while some of the Apostles were yet liuing that there could be no possibilitie of any corruption to come unto the text by any common consent And because that our Lord was to be made a light unto the Gentiles and a salvation unto the ends of the earth Actes 13.47 Therefore were the bookes of the New-Testament also Translated into many languages even in the birth and infancie of the Church of the Gentiles as you may read in Aug. de Doctr. Chr. lib. 2. Cap. 5. in Chrys hom 1. in Iohn who also translated the Scriptures for the Armenians as Hierom for the Dalmatians his countrey-men I said many languages because they name the Indian Ethiopian Persian Syrian Egyptian Sarmatian Scythian but Theodoret De Graec. affect cur lib. 5. saith into all languages which were in use And if it might be put that the Greeke copies were corrupted yet these Translations being our of them while they were intire would detect the corruption But all these Translations among the Christians though differing in some points one from another as the Nestorians Euticheans c. doe still agree in the substance of the meaning and shew the purity of that fountaine from whence they flowed And there is none of these translations or Fathers here named but were before Mahumed of a Christian became a renegado at least 200. yeeres All which things being put together it will be manifest that neither the falshood of the Iewes nor the forgery of Mahumed have any shew of trueth but that the Holy Scriptures both of the old and new Testament are still in their purity as the Church received them Of the Scriptures easinesse to bee understood § 6. THat comparison of the Prophet Psalme 36. that the judgements of God are like a great deepe was by a Father fitly and wittily applyed to the Scripture to bee as a sea in which the Elephant may swim but yet with Shallowes in which the Lambe may wade And although David prayed that God would teach him the wonderfull things of His Law yet hee honours it for this that it is perfect that it hath power to convert the soule that it is sure that it makes the simple wise Psal 19.7 And therefore are they not the messengers of Christ but rather the ministers of Satan who under any pretext of falling into heresie of hardnesse to be understood or the like with-hold the laytie from the reading of the Scriptures It is not denied but that many things therein are hard to be understood yet that one thing which is needfull Luk. 10.42 That mystery of the knowledge of Christ which was kept secret since the world began is now made manifest by the Scriptures of the Prophets to all Nations for the obedience of faith Rom. 16.25.26 1. For seeing the instruction of God must be of all such things as are above our knowledge and yet of such things as are most
necessary for us to know if nothing be more necessary for us to know than the meanes of our delivery from sinne and death by the merit of Christ it is necessary that one needfull thing be made manifest unto us by the Scriptures of God that every one may know and come freely to the fountaine of living Waters But what helps a fountaine that is sealed up Therfore it is necessary that our redemption by Christ be cleerely plainely and for every mans understanding taught in the holy Scriptures 2. Most of the arguments of § 2. are easily brought to prove that the Scriptures are easie to bee understood 1. For what comfort or hope could wee have by them if wee understood them not 2. How is our memory helpt by that we know not 3. How are wee confirmed in our most holy faith and religion by that wee understand not 4. How should wee understand those high mysteries so farre beyond our apprehension as the Trinitie of Persons in Vnitie of the Deitie c. but that the Holy Scriptures have made them easie unto us 5. How should wee know the danger and punishment of our sinne or the reward of our obedience if the Scripture did not fullie instruct us therein 6. You may also bring hither the reasons in § 4. I need not repeat them nor teach a child how from the sufficiencie of the Scripture he may proove their easinesse to be understood See there Object 1. But doth not Saint Peter 2. Epistle 3.16 say that in Saint Pauls Epistles Object 1 as in the other Scriptures there are some things hard to bee understood Answere Though some things be hard yet the fundamentall points of our Religion as the articles of our faith and the rules of a Christian life are plaine and easie to bee understood therein and these are the things by the knowledge and performance of which wee may hope to have everlasting life Object 2. But it is not the word of the Scripture that the unlearned and unstable Obiect 2 wrest the things which they understand not to their owne destruction Nay did not the Hereticks though many of them learned peruert the Scripture to the supportance of their damnable Heresies And were it not better that they had never read the Scriptures than that they should read them with so great danger both to themselues and to others as it hath appeared by the heresies that have beene sowne in the Church Answere If I seeme to give you a sullen answere yet reprove it not if it stand with the trueth It is said 1. Pet. 2.9 That Christ is a stone of stumbling and a rocke of offence to the disobedient but to them that obey the trueth elect and precious But should Christ therefore not have come to redeeme His Elect because some shewed themselves unworthy of eternall life Therefore if the Gospel be uneasie or hid it is hid to them that are without whose eyes the God of this world hath blinded that they should not perceive the trueth Therefore as Christ redeemed the elect prayes for the elect not for the world but for them whom God had given him out of the world Iohn 17.9 So the benefits which are peculiar to the Church of which the true understanding of the Scripture is one belongs to them who with an honest and pure heart receive the word and bring forth fruit with patience But it is true that even to those many things are yet unknowne and some things doubtfull and this by the dispensation of God 1. To avoid wearinesse in the reader 2. To stirre up our diligence and further inquest 3. That wee may aske wisedome of God and not trust to our owne understanding 4. That in the high and great mysteries of God wee should hold our selues contented with that knowledge of them which God hath vouchsafed to give us in His word and such conclusions as doe necessarily follow thereupon But if the Scriptures be able indeed to give wisedome to the simple to make Children wise to saluation through faith in Christ if they give instruction in righteousnesse and make the man of God perfect and throughly furnished to every good worke 2. Tim. 3.16.17 then doubtlesse are they for every mans reading for the perfect and him that is throughly furnished for children and for the simple for all ages of men and women Ho every one that thirsteth come to the waters Come buy Wine and Milke without money or price Es 55. verse 1. Of the Scriptures Jnterpretation § 7. ANd if the Scripture be for every ones reading then certainely for euery ones interpretation privately to his owne understanding according to the measure of his capacity For the interpretation of any word or writing is nothing else but the declaration of the native and true meaning thereof whether it be literall and that either simple or figurative or mysticall and that either allegoricall morall or anagogicall But that ought not to bee taken for the true meaning of the Scripture which every one according to his private fantasie is able to wring out but that onely is the true and lawfull interpretation thereof which doth offer it selfe according to the meaning of the words with due consideration of the argument or purpose of the text which is gathered by that which goes before and that which followes after And this interpretation is especially to be hoped from them who having knowledge of the Hebrew and Greeke wherein the Scriptures were originally written have made it all their studie and delight truely to understand them for their owne soules health and the instruction of others But that wee bee not overswayed by any opinion which wee may have of their learning or mightinesse in the Scriptures let nothing be taken for a true interpretation of the Scripture which is dishonourable to God contrary to any Article of the faith or any of the ten Commandements or the petitions of the Lord prayer or any received doctrine which is plainely taught by other places of Scripture Secondly nothing which is contrary to common reason and understanding or repugnant to civill custome and good manners 3. No man knoweth the things of God but onely the Spirit of God therefore in the interpretation of doubtfull places of Scripture the Spirit of God whereby it was written must give also the true understanding or interpretation thereof and this Spirit and the meaning thereof is most easily found in the holy Scripture Therefore the surest and best interpretation of Scripture is by Scripture it selfe 4. The Scribes and Pharises were to be heard sitting in the Chaire of Moses that is teaching the Law according to the true meaning of Moses Therefore the interpreters of the New-Testament also are to be heard speaking the voice of Christ. But His sheepe will not heare a stranger for they know not the voice of strangers Iohn 10. Therefore the interpretation of the Scripture is chiefely by the Scriptures And by the Scriptures onely every question of faith
concludes Rom. 8.18 That the afflictions which are of this present life are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall bee revealed For those things which God hath prepared for them that love Him are such as neither eye hath seene nor eare hath heard neither have they entred into the heart of man to conceive 1 Cor. 2.9 And concerning the assurance of this joy let the same mind be in us which was in Saint Paul Rom. 8.38 39. I am perswaded that neither death nor life nor Angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Iesus our Lord. For it is just with God to give unto His Sonne having fully satisfied His justice for the sinne of man to give to His Sonne I say according to the merit of His desert that glory and honour and immortall joy which is due to Him therefore which joy for the infinite merit of His Person being both God and man must likewise be infinite And because Himselfe is God blessed for evermore and hath eternall glory and happinesse and a Name which is above every name that is named in this world or in the world to come therefore hath Hee not any need of this purchased glory which is due for His sufferings but that glory is reserved for them that are called of His grace to be partakers thereof And because a finite creature cannot be capable of infinite glory at once intensivè that is according to the infinite measure thereof therefore is it bestowed extensivè that is in the externity or continuance thereof wherein man is carryed from glory to glory by the Spirit of the Lord 2 Cor. 3.18 Neither is it for any man to thinke that this glory which Christ hath purchased by His obedience should be setled on that humane nature which He assumed in the Incarnation For that hereditary or native glory which He had as being one with the Father was abundantly sufficient to glorifie that tabernacle wheresoever He was pleased to dwell as He saith Ioh. 17.5 And now ô Father glorifie thou Me with thine owne selfe with that glory which I had with thee before this world was So it appearing both by reason and authority of the holy Scripture that this happinesse which we doe beleeve in eternall life is to be eternall as the life is that first doubt which was first * In the entrance before Chapter 1. proposed in the entrance is fully satisfied The other two questions concerning the soule you shall heare by and by § 2. The heresies that have been concerning this Article though they be divers yet two especially are needfull to be examined One of the Chiliasts which thought that after the resurrection the kingdome of Christ was to flourish 1000. yeeres in this world taking that Scripture which is in Revel 20. for proofe thereof The other is that which they lay to St. Origen That all the reasonable creature even the most wicked among men yea the very devills themselves after their sins by long torments have been purged out shall be restored to joy and happines in the kingdome of heaven and againe after a long time shall fall to their former sins againe and so returne to their ancient punishment and this say they shall be the revolution of all the reasonable creature both good and bad for ever 1. But this is contrary to the trueth of the holy Scripture For no creature either man or Angel can approach to God or come to heavenly happines but onely such as God doth love and whom He loves He loves unto the end Iohn 13.1 because in Him is neither variablenesse nor shadow of change Iam. 1.17 2. Moreover as none can be partaker of heavenly joyes but such as are interested therein by Christ seeing no man commeth to the Father but by Him Ioh. 14.6 if there should be any falling from joy it would seeme to argue an insufficiency of the merit of Christ which cannot stand with the infinity thereof 3. Besides if God willed this eternall revolution of the creature from extreame joy to paine and from paine to joy then were we not taken into the state of sonnes and heirs of glory yea coheirs with Iesus Christ. Ro. 8.17 but to the state of bondmen which should have so much happines as we were able to purchase by our indurance of afflictions and torments 4. So the justice of God should not be infinite if it might be satisfied by a finite creature 5. And if any satisfaction to God could have bin made beside that which was by the death of Christ then that of Christ had beene needlesse and in vaine But all these thins are impossibilities Therefore there is no such revolution from one state to another as this opinion fained to Origen after his death when hee could not answer for himselfe would bring in But though Origen were a Saint yet was he a man and so might have his errours CHAP. XL. Amen ⧠The third supply Concerning the questions incident 1. Whether the soule of man be immortall § 1. 2. Whether there be one common soule of all men § 2. 3. That the holy Religion of the Christians is onely true and none other beside it § 3. 4. How faith is said to justifie § 4. Whether the soule of man be immortall § 1. IT is not the doubt that any Christian can make whether the soule of man be immortall or no. For when God hath come downe from heaven and hath taken upon Himselfe the being of man when He hath beene borne and died to make satisfaction for the sinne of man can any one that beleeves this make a doubt whether hee have an immortall soule or whether immortall life doe belong to him both in soule and body Therefore is not this question proposed for the Christians sake but by way of defiance against the Atheist and such godlesse people as say in their hearts There is no God no soule no life to come And although by all the arguments of the two last Chapters and many before the question may receive an easie solution yet to give full satisfaction is this which followes in particular But to brand both the questions and the movers thereof with their due infamy it must ever be remembred that the errour of the mortality of the soule doth take away the foundation of all religion and common honesty For how can he make due reckoning of honesty that cares onely for himselfe to shift and sharke for a present maintenance in worldly plenty and supposed joy and thinkes that all is ended with him in this life Or what reverence can he have of God or His seruice who is not perswaded that there is a God or if that must needs be put yet is he perswaded that with this life ended his foule also comes to nothing And if there be no reward
of any virtue or of any religion is it not better to follow the pleasures of sinne with greedinesse 1. But Atheist I answere That if God should so neglect them that honour Him as that He would not reward them neither in this life nor yet in that which is to come then were He unjust if He knew not their devotion then were He not wise But these things are impossible for thee to suppose that God should be either unjust or unwise For perfect justice such as the infinite justice of God is doth ever bring foorth a judgement in which it must appeare that in Him that is infinitely just there was neither ignorance of the service done unto him nor any disability to reward it which because it appeares not in this life certainely it must be manifested hereafter Therefore the soule is immortall 2. Seeing all the world cannot affoord that which may give a full content unto the soule that judges rightly of every thing Seeing we are taught 1 Iohn 2.15 not to love this world neither the things of this world it is manifest that the true happinesse of the soule ought not to be sought here among those things that are inferiour and below the dignity and state of the soule which can be blessed onely in the sight of God as our Lord hath taught us Mat. 5.8 Therefore the elect of God which according to His counsell and command seeke true happinesse in another life shall in another life be sure to find it 1 Iohn 2.17 3. The working of the soule cannot be hindered by the body not onely the spirituall actions of the understanding and motion of the will but even the actions of the soule upon the body as I have somewhere given instance in the beating of the pulse and whatsoever hath motion of it owne nature cannot be hindred to attaine that end whereto nature drives it and the thing it selfe desires to come as the continuance and perfection of it selfe because nature doth not worke in vaine and the soule doth naturally desire true happinesse that is spirituall eternall and beseeming the nature of it selfe Therefore the soule is immortall 4. No substance which is intellectuall is corruptible For corruption in substances comes onely by the separation of the matier and essentiall forme And because beings intellectuall that is such as have power of an active understanding doe not consist of matier but are of themselues pure formes therefore they are not subject to corruption and death properly so called And although the soule beside the power of understanding have also the power of growth and sences as the naturall faculties thereof by which it doth enlive mans body to move to digest to see heare feele c. and that when it goes away from the body these faculties of the soule forsake the body yet they die not in the soule but shall enlive the body in the resurrection as they did before so that the soule is no way mortall 5. Common consent of all Nations both Christians and Barbarians hold and ever have held the immortality of the soule and the soule it selfe beares witnes thereunto which at the sight of grievous sinnes committed findes such terrours and affrightings in it selfe as are sometimes more fearefull than death But if the soules of men did not live after the body what cause had guilty minded men either to feare death or any torments that could follow after it 6. The excellent endowments of the soule the engines and curious artes that are invented the search of the heavens motions and the inuention of trueth in things removed from our sences yea even concerning the truth of God are arguments sufficient of the soules immortality 7. And beside these reasons the infallible authority of the Holy Scriptures ought towring this confession even from the very Atheist For the soule being breathed into man by an immortall principle by the breath of God Himselfe may not bee supposed to bee corruptible for so how could a thing mortall or corruptible be the image of the immortall God Gen. 1.26 27. yet say I not as the Gnosticks or Priscillianists that the soule is of the same being or substance with God but that being so created by Him and His image it cannot be mortall Mat. 10.28 Feare not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soule but rather feare Him which is able to destroy both soule and body in hell The parable of the rich glutton and Lazarus in Luk. 16. shew the immortality and state of the soule both of the good and bad Read also 1. Pet. 3.18 19.20 Phil. 1.23 Revel 6.9 That there is not one common Soule of all men §. 2. 1. BY some of the reasons before and by all the authorities brought out of the holy Writ it is manifest that this fantasie of one common soule in all Men was but a dreame of Averroes For if the humane soule be the proper forme of the body and the specifick difference of every subject be by the forme thereof If there be one common soule of all men then the essential difference of men is taken away so that they bee not now this man and that man but all men must be one man as concerning their internall forms the difference of men must be in their heccieties or numerall diversitie of their bodies onely 2. But so the understanding and knowledge of all men should bee one and the same and one man should not bee wise and another foolish but all men wise or foolish alike if there were onely one soule or understanding of all men 3. So also the vice of one man should multiplie it selfe over all men 4. And all men should have equall joy in the end or happines of any one man But these things are not so And as these inconveniences proove the differences of soules while they are in the bodies of men So likewise doe they withstand that confusion which would bee of the soules of men being departed out of their bodies which are not supposed to fall into the Chaos of life and there to be confused as a drop of water falling into a River For the soules being separate from the bodies have their severall degrees of perfections whereby they are distinguished as 2. from 3. so as they cannot be the same as 2. cannot bee 3. 5. Moreover both that unitie and this confusion of soules would utterly take away all justice in reward and punishment of their deeds which they have done well or ill in this life 6. The uttermost happinesse of man is the adequation of all his faculties in that which is the perfection of goodnesse that is that he love that which hee understands and that he have power to performe it for otherwise his understanding would bee the originall of paine and sorrow unto him if he should know that which were good to be done and should not have power to effect it But if there were a confusion of all soules or