maxime that greater are the swarmes of writers then of flies in Summer And here I look it should be said that in those things wherein I thus judge others I condemn my self in doing the same things which I judge them for and so am rendred inexcusable for so great a folly And though it cannot be denyed but that I have been as great a Scribler as almost any other of my age and time yet thus much I must say in my own defence that except the first Essay and draught of my Geography digested for my private pleasure and Printed probably out of ambition and vain glory I never published any thing with or without my mane subscribed unto it but what was either by the strong hand of importunity extorted from me or else imposed by the appointment and command of the noblest power under which I lived Had I been troubled as some are with an itch of Printing or carryed on by a desire of being in action I could have offered to thy view some Pieces long before this time and those it may be not unworthy of thy consideration which hitherto I have kept by me and possibly shall do so still untill they may be found subsequent to the publick peace For that there is a time to keep silence as well as times for men to speak is as Canonical a line for a man to walke by in my poor opinion as to be instant in season and out of season is esteemed by others But the truth is I never voluntarily ingaged my self in any of those publick quarrels by which the unity and order of the Church of England hath been so miserably distracted in these latter times Nor have I ever loved to run before or against Authority but always took the just counsels and commands thereof for my ground and warrant which when I had received I could not think that there was any thing left on my part but obsequii gloria the honour of a cheerful and free obedience And in this part of my obedience it was my lot to be most commonly imployed in the Puritane controversies in managing whereof although I used all Equanimity and temper which reasonably could be expected the argument and persons against whom I writ being well considered yet I did thereby so exasperate that prevailing party that I became the greatest object of their spleen and fury Hardly a libell in those times which exercised the patience of the State for so long together in which my reputation was not blasted my good name traduced my Religion questioned and whether I would or not I must be a Papist or at the least an Under-factor for the Church of Rome But the best was I had the honour of good Company which made the burden pleasing to me not only the Bishops generally but some Particulars amongst them of most eminent note being traduced in the same Pasquils for carrying on a designe to bring in Popery the King himself given out witnesse the Popish royall Favorite amongst other Pamplets to be that way biassed And if they call the Master of the house by the name of Belzebub the servants must not look to finde better language And though I took all honest and ingenuous courses to wipe off this stain yet when the calumny once was up necesse est ut aliquid haereat it was impossible for me in a manner so to purge my self as not to suffer under the injustice of the imputation Concerning which I shall make bold to tell thee a remarkable passage which is briefly this It was about the time that my Lord of Canterbury had published his learned and laborious work against Fisher the Iesuite when I had preached some Sermons before the King upon the Parable of the Tares which Parable I had chosen for the constant argument of my Sermons intended for the Court of which some moderate and judicious men were pleased to say that in those Sermons I had pulled up Popery by the very roots and subverted the foundations of it to which it was replyed by some of those bitter spirits whether with more uncharitablenesse or imprudent zeal it is hard to say that the Arch-bishop might Print and Dr. Heylyn might Preach what they would against Popery but they should never believe them to be any thing the lâ—sse Papists for all that A censure of a very strange nature and so little savoring of Christianity that I believe it is not easie to be parrallel'd in the worst of times But from the envie hatred malice and uncharitablenesse of such kind of men no lesse then from plague pestilence and famine good Lord deliver us I could add much more not much short of this did I love to rub up these old sores as indeed I do not the clamour not being made lesse if it went not higher in the sitting of the late long Parliament though no complaint or information was made against me or if it were was thought considerable enough to be enquired into or took notice of Nor indeed had I said thus much but in compliance to the grave counsell of St. Hierome whose saying it was In suspicione hareseos se nolle quenquam fore patientem that for a man to keep silence when accused of Heresie was a selfe-conviction And yet I cannot choose but note the great and unprofitable paines which hath been taken by the Author of that Voluminous nothing entituled Canterburies Doom to finde me guilty of some points of supposed Popery only because in some particulars not determined by the Church of England I had adhered unto the words and tendries of the Antient Fathers or bound my self in matters publickly resolved on to vindicate this Church to her genuine tenents And to say truth the least endevour of this kinde was cause enough for any clamor or reproches which the tongues and pens of those bitter men could impose on them who did not stand as strongly in defence of Out-landish fancies as of the true and natural doctrines of the Church their mother Witnesse the fearfull outcry made against B. Bilson for preaching otherwise of Christs descending into hell and the great hubbub raised against Peter Baro for writing otherwise in the points of Predestination then had been taught by some of the Genevian Doctors though neither the one had Preached nor the other Printed but what was consonant to the Doctrine of approved Antiquity and to the true intent and meaning of the book of Articles here by Law established Private opinions especially if countenanced by some eminent name were looked on as the publick Resolutions of the Anglican Church and the poor Church condemned for teaching those opinions which by the artifice of some men had been fastened on her So that it was not without some ground that the Archbishop of Spalato being gone from hence did upbraid this Church in his Consilium redeundi for taking into her confession which he acknowledges of its self to be sound and profitable multa Calvini Lutheri
of Reliques single life of Priests and the like to these Assuredly they are all so far from having the general consent of all times that generally they have had the consent of none no not so much as in the Church of Rome it self till the candle of all good literature was put out by the night of ignorance But for the Creed of the Apostles trie it according to these rules by both or either and it will evidently appear not only that it hath been universally and continually received in the Church for theirs but that the most famous and renowned men of all times and ages have so received it from their Fathers and recommended it for such to the times ensuing no man gainsaying or opposing till these later times in which the blessed Word of God cannot scape unquestioned So that we have as much authority as the Tradition of the Church the consent of Fathers and the succession of all times can give us to prove this Creed to have been writ by the Apostles by them commended to the Churches of their several plantations and so transmitted to our selves without interruption And no authority but divine immediately declared from the God of heaven is to be ballanced with this proof or heard against it Thus having proved that the Creed was writ by the Apostles and proved it by as great authority as any can be given by the Church of CHRIST and the consent of the most renowned Writers of the Primitive times Let us next see what reputation and esteem it carryed in all parts of Christendome and draw from thence such further arguments as the nature of that search will beaâ— And first it is a manifest and undoubted truth that as this Creed was universally received over all the world ab ipsis Apostolorum temporibus from the very times of the Apostles as Vigilius hath it without the least contradiction or opposition so hath it passed from hand to hand for above these 1600 years without alteration or addition This we did touch upon before but now press it further and use it for another argument that none but the Apostles were or could be the Authors of it and that if it had otherwise been esteemed of in the former times it would have been obnoxious unto alterations yea and to contradiction also as others the most celebrated Creeds in the Christian world It was the saying of Pope Gregory the Great that he esteemed of the four first General Councels no otherwise then of the four Evangelists And who is there to whom the name of Athanasius and the Nicene Councel and the first general Councel holden in Constantinople is not most venerably precious And yet the Creed of Athanasius hath found such sory welcome in some parts of the world as to be called either in dislike or scorn the Creed of Sathanasius and he himself condemned of extreme arrogance if not somewhat worse for imposing it upon the consciences of all Christian men as necessary to their salvation Non potuit Satan altius evehere humanam formulam as the Remonstrants please to phrase it The Nicene Creed was of no long continuance in the Church of Christ before these words secundum Scripturas according to the Scriptures were added to the Article of the Resurrection And to the Constantinopolitan the Churches of the West have added Filioque in another Article and no mean one neither that namely of the proceeding of the holy Ghost without the leave and liking of the Eastern Prelates The reason of which boldness is because they are and were conceived to be humane formula's of Ecclesiastical constitution only no divine authority and therefore might be altered and explained and fitted to the best edification of the Church Whereas the Creed of the Apostles is come unto our hands without alteration in the same words and syllables as it came from them none ever daring in the space of so many years to alter any thing therein though many have applyed their studies to explain the same And this I make a second argument evincing the Authority and Antiquity of the sacred Symbolum that men of most renown and credit for the times they lived in did purposely apply their studies to expound this Creed with as much diligence and care as any part or most parts at least of the holy Scriptures Witness the fourth Catechism of St. Cyril Bishop of Hierusalem two of the Homilies of St. Chrysostom some of St. Augustines Sermons de Tempore his two whole Tracts de fide Symbolo de Symbolo ad Catechumenos all principally made for explanation of this Creed together with the Commentaries of Ruffinus Maximus Taurinensis Venantius Fortunatus B. of Poyctiers antient writers all and all composed upon no other text or argument but this Creed alone Not to say any thing at all of the learned works of many eminent men in the ages following and of the present times we live in though otherwise of different perswasions in Religion A thing which cannot be affirmed of the Nicene Creed or any other Creed whatever none of which have been commented or scholied on by any of the antient Doctors of the Catholick Church or of the disagreeing parties in the present times And to say truth there was good reason why this Creed should be thus explained why such great pains should be bestowed to expound the same it being a very antient custome in the Church of CHRIST not to admit any to the sacred Font but such as made a publick profession of their faith according to the words of this Creed and understandingly recited it in the Congregation Mos ibi servatur Antiquus apud eos qui gratiam baptismi suscepturi sunt publice i. e. fidelium populo audiente Symbolum reddere so saith Ruffinus for his time of the Church of Rome we may affirme the like for those of Antioch Hierusalem Africa upon the credit of St. Chrysostome Cyril Augustine in their works now mentioned Nor was it long before it was ordained in the Councell of Agde Ann. 506. that in regard of the great confluence of all persons to the Church to receive the Sacrament of Baptisme upon Easter day the Creed should be expounded every day in the way of Sermons to the people from the Sunday we call Palme Sunday to the Feast it self Symbolum ab omnibus Ecclesiis ante octo dies Dominicae resurrectionis publice in Ecclesia competentibus praedicari as the Synod hath it Nay they conceived the learning of this Creed by heart so necessary in the former times that it was first desired and afterwards enjoyned that all should learn it and retain it in their hearts and memories who either were desirous to be counted good Catholick Christians or to partake of any of the solemne offices in the Christian Church St. Augustine commended it unto his Auditors that for the better keeping it in memory they should repeat it to themselves Quando surgitis quando vos collocatis ad
he only made a shew of faith which he never had Why so Quia Lucas aperte testatur eum credidisse because S. Luke affirms that he did believe being convinced by the signs and miracles which S. Philip wrought as many others of Samaria at the same time were And yet no doubt but Simon Magus was a Reprobate a man rejected by the Lord in regard of his wickedness and that his heart was not right in the sight of God and afterwards an author of such mischief in the Church of God that Ignatius who lived neer those times very rightly cals him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first begotten of the Devil The like mâ—y be affirmed also of Alexander Hymeneus and Philetus who had been made partakers of the Faith of CHRIST and were zealous in it for the time but afterwards made shipwrack of it denying amongst other Articles of the Christian faith that of the resurrection of the dead and thereby overthrowing the faith of some Men questionless given over to a reprobate sense or else we may be well assured St. Paul had never given them over to the hands of Satan as it is plain he did But what need search be made into these particulars when Calvin himself affirms in general Reprobis fidem tribui eosdem interdum simili fere sensu atque Electos affici eosque merito dici Deum sibi propitium credere c. that Faith is given unto the Reprobate that sometimes they are touched with the like sense of Gods grace as the Elect ones are and may deservedly be said to believe that God is favourable and propitious to them God sometimes makes the Sun of Righteousness as well as the Sun of Heaven to shine on the evil and on the good Which notwithstanding Faith is called and that most properly Fides Electorum the Faith of Gods Elect in that and other places of the Book of God because the fruits thereof are in them more visible the confession of the same more fervent the seeds thereof more fastly rooted and the fruit more durable For which cause possibly the Apostle doth there join together the faith of Gods Elect and the knowledge of the truth which is after godliness Which is indeed the special difference which is between the faith of the Elect and the faith of the Reprobates For if the fruit be unto holiness no question but the end thereof will be life everlasting It is not then the weakness or the want of faith which doth alone exclude the Reprobate from the Kingdom of Heaven and make him finally uncapable of the grace and favour of the Lord in the day of judgement but the want of a good conscience in the sight of God And therefore if we mark it well St. Peter did not charge it upon Simon Magus that he wanted faith or that his faith was only a dissembled hypocritical faith upbraiding him as formerly Ananias in another case that he had not only lyed unto men but unto God but that he was in the gall of bitterness and in the bonds of iniquity not having his heart right in the sight of God Nor did St. Paul accuse the said three Apostates that they never had received the faith or that the faith which they received was not true and real but that first having put away a good conscience they afterwards made shipwrack of the faith also blaspheming God and scattering abroad their dangerous errours to the seducing of their brethren If Simon had repented of his wickedness as St. Peter advised it may be charitably supposed that the thoughts of his heart had been forgiven him And Hymeneus and Alexander if they had made good use of the Apostles censure when he delivered them unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh no question but their spirits might have been saved in the day of the Lord IESUS Which may suffice for answer to the first objection touching the faith of reprobates as they use to call them whose firm assent to supernatural truths revealed makes them not inheritable to the Kingdom of Heaven because they hold the truth revealed in unrighteousness and so become without excuse as St. Paul tels us in another case of the antient Gentiles The next Objection is that if this phrase in Deum credere import no more then this that there is a God and that all his words are Divine truths and all the world the workmanship of his hands alone the Devils do belieue as much as St. Iames assures us Thou believest saith he that there is one God thou dost well the Devils also believe and tremble Iam. 1.19 The answer unto this is easie St. Iames assures us of the Devils that they believe there is one God but doth withall assure us this that this belief of theirs confirms them in the certainty and foreknowledge of their everlasting damnation the apprehension of the which produceth nothing in them but fear and horrour The Devils do believe that there is a God and that this God is just in all his actions and righteous in all his ways unchangeable in his Decrees Yesterday and to day and the same for ever What other comfort can they reap from this faith of theirs but that being once condemned by God to eternal fire they are reserved in everlasting chains under darkness to the judgement of the great and terrible day For knowing that the judgements of the Lord are just and his doom unchangeable they must needs know withall the certainty of their own damnation or else they cannot properly be affirmed to believe this truth that there is a God And as they do believe that there is a God so they believe also that he is the Maker of heaven and earth For being at the first created by Almighty God with so great perspicacity and clearness of the understanding they could not choose but know the hand that made them and consequently believe that he made all those things which are ascribed to God in the holy Scripture Though by their fall they lost the favour of the Lord their first estate in which they were created by Almighty God the grace by which they stood and the glories which they did possess yet lost they not that quickness and agility of motion that perspicacity and clearness of the understanding wherewith they were endowed by God at their first Creation But what makes this unto their comfort when the same knowledge or belief call it which you will by which they are assured that God made the Heavens and the Earth and all the things therein contained will keep them always in remembrance of this most sad truth that he also made an Hell of fire where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth prepared for the Devill and his Angels To go a little farther yet the Devils did not only believe long since that CHRIST was come in the flesh but publickly proclaimed him in the open
is to be observed that Christ now seeing all was finished which God required at his hands to the satisfaction of his justice for the sins of man and having fulfilled all those things which were spoken of him by the Prophets did voluntarily of his own accord deliver up his soul into the hands of his Father He had before told us of himself that he was the good Shepheard which giveth his life for the sheep Ioh. 10.11 that no man had power to take it from him Si nemo utique nec mors and if none then not death as we read in Chrysostom but that he laid it down of himself vers 18. and that he gave his life as a ransome for many Matth. 20.28 And the event shewed that he was no braggard or had said more then he was able to perform For the Evangelists declare that he had sense and speech and voluntary motion to the last gasp of his breath all which do evidently fail in the sons of men before the soul parteth from the body Which breathing out of his soul so presently upon so strong a cry and so lowd a prayer seemed so miraculous to the Centurion who observed the same that without expecting any further Miracle he acknowledged presently that truly this was the Son of God And this St. Hierom noted rightly The Centurion hearing Christ say to his Father Into thy hands I commend my Spirit statim sponte dimisisse spiritum and presently of his own accord to give up the ghost moved with the greatness of the wonder said Truly this man was the Son of God The Fathers generally do affirm the same ascribing this last act of our Saviours Tragedy not to extremity of pain or loss of bloud to any outward violence or decay of spirits but as his own voluntary deed and that though God the Father had decreed he should die yet he did give him leave and power to lay down his life of his own accord that his obedience to the will and pleasure of his heavenly Father might appear more evidently and the oblation of himself be the more acceptable And to this purpose saith St. Ambrose Quasi arbiter exuendi suscipiendique corporis emisit spiritum non amisit i. e. he did not lose his soul though he breathed it forth as one that had it in his own power both to assume his body and to put it off Eusebius to the same purpose also When no man had power over Christs soul he himself of his own accord laid it down for man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so being free at his own disposing and not over-ruled by outward force he himself of himself made his departure from the body The judgement of the rest of the Fathers touching this particular he that list to see let him consult St. Augustine lib. 4 de Trinit c. 13. Victor Antiochen in Marc. c. 15. Leo de Passione Dom. serm 16. Fulgentius lib. 3. ad Thrasimundum Sedulius in Opere Paschali lib. 5. c. 17. Beda in Matth. c. 27. Bernard in Feria 4. Hebdom poenosae And for the Greeks Athanasius Orat. 4. contra Arianos Origen in Ioh. Hom. 19. Gregorie Nyssen in Orat. 1. de Christi Resurrectione Nazianzen in his Tragedy called Christus patiens Chrysostom in Matth. 27. Homil. 89. Theophylact on the 27. of Matth. and the 23. of Mark. and the 23. of Luke And for late Writers Erasmus on Luk. 23. and Mark 15. Musculus on the 27. of Matthew and Gualter Hom. 169. on Iohn all which attest most punctually to the truth of this that the death of Christ was not meerly natural proceeding either from any outward or inward causes but only from his own great power and his holy will And to what purpose note they this but first to shew the conquest which he had of death whom he thus swallowed up in victory as the Apostle doth express it and secondly to shew that whereas natural death was the wages of sin which could not be inflicted on him in whom no sin was he therefore did breath out his soul in another manner then is incident to the sons of men to make himself a free-will offering to the Lord his God and make himself a sacrifice for the sins of mankinde by yeelding willingly to that death which their sins deserved And to this death this voluntary but bodily death of the Lord CHRIST IESVS and to that alone the Scriptures do ascribe that great work of the worlds redemption For thus St. Paul unto the Romans When we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son Rom. 5.11 to the Hebrews thus For this cause he is the Mediator of the New Testament that by means of death for the redemption of the transgressions which were under the first Testament they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance Heb. 9.15 if by Christs death it must be by his bodily death by effusion of his bloud and by no other death or kinde of death of what sort soever And to this truth the Scriptures witness very frequently For thus St. Paul we have redemption through his bloud Ephes. 1.7 By his own bloud hath he entred into the holy place having obtained eternal redemption for us Heb. 9.12 St. Peter thus Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as with silver and gold but with the precious bloud of Christ as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot 1 Pet. 1.18 19. Finally thus the Elders say unto the Lamb in the Revelation Thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy bloud Apocal. 5 9. Which being so it is most certain that Christ abolished sin and Satan by suffering his body to be slain his bloud to be shed unto the death or the sins of the world and not by any other way or means co-ordinate with it as some lately fable Yet so it is that some men not content with that way of Redemption which is delivered in the Scriptures have fancyed to themselves another and more likely means for perfecting that great work of the death of Christ and teach us that the shedding of his bloud to the death of his body had not been sufficient for the remission of our sins if he had not also suffered the death of the soul and thereby wholly ransomed us from the wrath of God Calvin first led the dance in this affirming very desperately that I say no worse Nihil actum esse si corporea tantum morte defunctus fuisset that Christ had done nothing to the purpose if he had dyed no other then a bodâ—ly death He must then die the death of the soul seeing that his bodily death would not serve the turn and they who pretermit this part of our Redemption never known before and do insist so much externo carnis supplicio in the outward sacrifice of his flesh are insulsi nimis but silly fellows
all that required Baptism When first made part of the publick Liturgy and rehearsed by the people standing in what particulars discriminated from other Formula's The first objection that the Creed is no Canonical Scripture produced and answered An answer to the second objection about the variation of the words in which the Creed was represented Several significations of the Greek word Catholick and that it was a word in use in and before the time of the Apostles contrary to the third objection The last objection from the words of Ruffinus answered The scope and Project of this work The Authors appeal unto antiquity The testimony given unto antiquity by the Antient Writers and also by the Church of England Calvins Authority produced for the asserting of this Creed to the twelve Apostles closeth up the Preface PART I. CHAP. I. Of the name and definition of faith the meaning of the phrase in Deum credere The Exposition of it vindicated against all exceptions THe Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what it signifies and from whence it comes The proper Etymologie of the Latine fides Faith how defined and how it differeth from experience knowledge and opinion The grounds of faith less falliâ—le thâ—n that of any Art or Science Why faith is called by St. Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the substance of things not seen c. The usual distinction between credere Deum credere Deo and credere in Deum proposed and explicated according to the general tendries of the Schools neither the phrase in Deum or in Christum credere and the distinction thereon founded so generally true as it is pretended Credere with the proposition in not so peculiar unto God as by some conceived No difference in holy Scripture between Deo and in Deum credere nor in the meaning of the Creed Of the faith of Reprobates and why faith hath the name of fides electorum in the Book of God The faith of Devils what it is and why it rather makes them tremble then serves to nourish them in the hope of grace and pardon The Vulgar distinction of faith into Salvifical Historical Temporary and the faith of Miracles proposed examined and rejected CHAP. II. That there is a God and but one God only and that this one God is a pure and Immortal Spirit and the sole Governour of the world proved by the light of reason and the testimony of the antient Gentiles THe notion of a Deity ingraffed naturally in the soul of man Pretagoras Diagoras and Euhemerus why counted Atheists in old times Fortune and Fate why reckoned of as gods by some old Philosophers Natural proofs for this truth that there is but one God summed up together and produced by Minutius Felix and seconded by the testimonies of Mercurius Trismegistus the Sibyls and Apollo himself confirmed by the suffrages of Orpheus and the old Greek Poets The beeing of one God alone strongly maintained by Socrates affirmed by Plato and his followers countenanced by Aristotle and the Peripateticks verified also by the Academicks the most rigid Stoicks and by the general acknowledgment of all sorts of people The judgement of the learned Gentiles touching the Essence and Attributes of God conformable to that of the Orthodox Christians The Heresies of the Manichees and the Anthropomorphites confuted by the writings of the old Philosophers A parallel between the Tutelary gods of the old Idolaters and the Topical or local Saints of the Pontificians CHAP. III. Of the Essence and Attributes of God according to the holy Scripture the name of Father how applyed to God Of his Mercy Justice and Omnipotency THe diligence of Iustin Martyr when an Heathen in the search of God The name IEHOVAH when and for what occasion first given to God in holy Scripture The superstition of the later Iews in the use thereof The Hebrew Elohim sometimes communicated to the creature The several Etymologies of the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The names of El Elion and Adonai what they do import Of the Simplicity Eternity and Omnipresence of God Of his Knowledge Wisdome and Omnipotency The name of Father Almighty given to God by the learned Gentiles God in what sense the Father of our Lord IESVS CHRIST and of none but him The preheminence due in that respect to God the Father the name of Father how communicable to the whole Godhead God proved to be the Father of all mankinde in the right of Creation and of his faithful people by the laws of Adoption Many resemblances between adoptions among men and mans adoption to the sonship of Almighty God The love care and authority of our Heavenly Father compared with that of our earthly parents The care of God in educating all his children in the knowledge of his will how far extended unto the Infidels and Pagans and how far beneficial to them The title of Almighty given to God the Father what it importeth in it self and what in reference to the creature to his Church especially CHAP. IV. Of the Creation of the World and the parts thereof that it was made at first by Gods Almighty power and since continually preserved by his infinite Providence GEneral inducements moving God to create the world An answer to that idle question what God did before the creating of the world The error of Lactantius in it God differenced by this great work from the gods of the Gentiles and that in the opinion of the Gentiles themselves The work of the Creation ascribed to the whole Godhead jointly in the holy Scripture Of the first matter out of which and the time when it was created The opinion of the worlds eternity refelled by Cicero why supposed by Aristotle The worlds creation by the power of Almighty God proved by the testimonies of Trismegistus of Plato Aristotle and others of the learned Greeks As also by the suffrages of Varro Tully Seneca and others of the principal wits amongst the Latines Why God did pass no approbation on the works of the second day and doubled it upon the third Probable proofs that by the waters above the Firmament mentioned in the first of Genesis Moses intended not the clowds and rain but some great body of waters above the Spheres The praise and honour due to God for the worlds creation The general Providence of God in ordering the affairs thereof asserted both against the Stoicks and the Epicureans Gods goodness towards all mankinde especially to his chosen people And of his Iustice or veracity in performing the promises made unto them Gods justice in retaliating to the sons of men and meting to them with that measure which they mete to other Vngodly men how used as executioners of divine vengeance That neither the impunity nor prosperous successes of the wicked in this present world are inconsistent with the justice of Almighty God CHAP. V. Of the creation of Angels The Ministry and office of the good The fall and punishment of the evil Angels and
f. 387. for consorti r. consortio f. 401. f. in their baptism r. in their infancy before baptism f. 414. f. most high Ghost r. most high God f. 391. f. Syrius r. Syria f. 396. f. a siquidem r. siquidem f. 397. f. Arminians r. Armenians f. 398 f. convenientem r. convenientium f. 416. f dum quo r. cum quo f. suppetas r. suppetias f. 456. f. declanative r. declarative f. 453. f an evitable r. unevitable f. 471. f. inventute r. injuventute f. 495. f. which continual r. with continual THE SUMME OF Christian Theologie Positive Philological and Polemical CONTAINED IN THE Apostles CREED Or reducible to it IN THREE BOOKS By PETER HEYLYN 1 Joh. 5.7 There are three that bear record in Heaven the Father the Word and the holy Ghost and these three are one LONDON Printed by E. Cotes for Henry Seile over against St. Dunstans Church in Fleet-street 1654. A PREFACE To the following Work CONCERNING The ANTIQVITY AVTHORITY OF THE CREED CALLED THE Apostles CREED With Answer to the chief Objections which are made against it The Drift and Project of the WORK IT was a saying of St. Ambrose Unus unum fecit qui unitatis ejus haberet imaginem that God made only one in the first beginning after the likenesse or similitude of his own unity The creation of the World was the pattern of Man Man of the Church the Almighty of all Being one himself or rather being unity he bestowed upon the World not a being only but his blessing with it that being it should be but one One in the generall comprehension of parts and therefore by the Grecians called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Latines call it universum a name of multitude indeed but of a multitude united Universi qui in uno loco versi say the old Grammarians One also in opposition unto numbers and so maintained by Aristotle in his first De Coelo against the errors of Empedocles and Democritus two old Philosophers Now as he made the world but one after the similitude of himself so out of the world and according to that pattern created he man Made by the Lord according to his own image and made but one because the Lord was so that made him because the world was so out of which he was taken The severall parts and members in him do but commend the unity of the whole Compositum for though they are many members yet but one body saith St. Paul Which mutuall resemblance and agreement as it occasioned many of the old Philosophers to call man an Abridgement of the world so might it no lesse justly have occasioned others to style the world an inlargement of man Nay more then this seeing that only man was without an helper the Lord resolved to make one for him and to make her out of his own body only that so he might preserve still the former unity Nor stayed he here but he did give her unto man to be one flesh with him that to the unity of Original he might add the union of affections Magnum mysterium saith the Apostle but I Speak only as he did touching Christ and the Church For this Creation of the woman as St. Augustine tells us was a most perfect type of the birth and being of the Church of Christ Christum enim et Ecclesiam tali facto jam tunc prophetari oportebat The woman was created out of the side of man at such time as the Lord had caused a deep sleep to fall upon him the Church was also taken out of the wounded side of Christ being cast into a deeper sleep then that of Adam And as the woman was one body both in the composition of her parts and one with Adam both in the union of love and unity of being so is it also with the Church She is at perfect union with him in the union of her affections being marryed unto him for ever one with him in the unity of her original for we are members of his body and of his flesh and of his bone and lastly one in the consent and harmony of all her parts acknowledging one Lord one Faith one Baptisme For though the Church consisted in those early days both of Iews and Gentiles Greeks and Barbarians bond and free men not alone of different countries but of different natures yet being all incorporated into that society of men which we call the Church they make but one body only as St. Paul hath testifyed And whence proceeds that unity of this visible body but in that uniformity which all those severall persons have which belong unto it by reason of that one Lord whose servants they do all professe themselves to be that one Faith of which they do all make confession and that one Baptisme wherewith they are initiated into that society the outward and uniforme profession of these three things which appertain to the very essence of Christianity being necessarily required of each Christian man Christians they neither are nor can be who call not Christ their Lord and Master From hence it came that first in Antioch and afterwards throughout all the world all who were of the visible Church were called Christians Autor nominis ejus Christus saith Cornelius Tacitus But the bare calling of CHRIST IESVS our Lord and Master is not enough to prove us to be Christians unlesse that we do also embrace that Faith which he delivered to his Apostles and was by them delivered unto all the world And though we are not reckoned members of this visible Church till we receive admittance by the door of Baptisme yet is the door of Baptisme opened unto none untill they make profession of their faith in Christ. It is not honestie of life nor morall righteousnesse which gives denomination to a Christian although the want thereof doth exclude from heaven because they are not proper unto Christian men as they are Christians but do concern them as they are men The moral Law was given to mankinde in the state of nature and after promulgated to the Iews in more solemn manner Hence was it that so many of the antient Gentiles not to say any thing of the Iews before the coming of our Saviour were eminent in so many parts of moral vertue But for the acts of Faith whereby we do confesse that IESVS CHRIST is Lord of all things and willingly believe all those sacred truths which he came to publish to the world and by confession of the which we carry as it were a key to the door of Baptisme that is the proper badge and cognizance of a Christian man by which it is made known unto all the world both to what Lord he appertaineth and by what means he was admitted for a member of his house and family Which faith or rather the doctrines of which faith being first delivered by our Saviour with this comfort and reward annexed that whosoever believed in him should not perish but have life
of the Christian faith drawn up as briefly and as plainly but yet withall as fully as might stand with brevity a constant rule or standard Regula fidei as Tertullian cals it which both the people were to learn and the Priests or Ministers to teach And to this purpose it is said by Austin of the Creed or Symbolum that it was simplex breve plenum plain short and perfect simplicitas ut consulat rusticitati audientium brevitas memoriae plenitudo doctrinae that so the plainnesse of it might comply with the capacities of the hearers the shortnesse with their want of memory the perfection or the fulnesse of it with their edification Had any one of these been wanting had it been plain enough to be understood but too long and copious to be born in memory or short enough to be remembred but obscure and difficult above the reach of ordinary apprehensions or plain and short enough but imperfect maimed and wanting in some points of principal moment it had been no fit rule for the Church of CHRIST produced no benefit at all at least not worthy the divine Apostolical spirit for the use of Christians I know the age we live in hath produced some men and those of special eminence in the wayes of learning who seem to bid defiance unto all antiquity and will have neither Creeds nor Fathers no nor antient Councels to bear a stroke in any thing which concerns Religion It is not long since that the Apostles Creed hath been out of credit as neither theirs nor antiently received by the Christian Church in that forme we have it but none have taken more unhappy pains in this fruitlesse quarrel then one Downe of Devonshire Vossius hath lately writ a book De Tribus Symbolis wherein he hath not only derogated from this of the Apostles which others had quarrelled to his hand but very unfortunately endevours to prove that that ascribed to Athanasius and so long taken to be his by the chief lights for piety and learning in the Church of Christ was not writ by him Nor is he pleased with that form set forth and recommended to the Churches by the Councell of Nice for fear there should be any obligation laid upon mens consciences to believe otherwise then they list And whereas it was thought till these subtiller times that the most certain way to interpret Scripture was by the Catholick consent and commentaries of the antient Fathers so much renowned both in their own times and all ages since they are now made so inconsiderable such poor-spirited men that truth will shortly fare the worse because they delivered it Our Downe and after him one Dalie a French-man had not else beat their brains and consumed their time and stretched their wits unto the utmost to make them of no use or credit either in points of faith or controversie as they both have done The next thing that we have to do is to cry down the Canon of the Scripture also and as we have vilifyed the Creeds Councels and Fathers to make the fairer room for our own right reason which is both Fathers Creeds and Councels to our now great wits so to reject the Scriptures also as some do already to make the clearer way for new revelations which is the Paraclet or the holy Ghost of our present Montanists To meet with this strange pride and predominant humour I have most principally applyed my self at this time of leasure wherein God help it is not lawfull for me to attend that charge in which God had placed me to restore this antient and Apostolick Creed to its former credit and to expound the same as it stands in terminis according to the sense and meaning of those Orthodox and Catholick writers which have successively flowrished in the Christian world and were the greatest ornaments of the age they lived in For being free from prejudice and prepossessions which do too often blind the eyes of the wisest men and no way interessed in the quarrels which are now on foot to the great disturbance of the Church and peace of Christendome what men more fit then they to decide those Controversies which have been raised about the meaning of those Articles of the Christian faith which are comprised in it or deduced from it So doing I shall satisfie my self though I please not others and have good cause to thanke this retreat from businesse for giving me such opportunities to consult Antiquity and thereby to informe my own understanding For my part I have always been one of those qui docendo discunt who never more benefit my self then by teaching others And therefore though these Papers never see the light or perhaps they may not I shall not think I could have spent my time more profitably then in this employment So God speed me in it To goe back therefore where we left exceeding necessary it was as before was said for some short summarie or compendium of the Christian faith to be agreed on and drawn up for the use of Gods people and that for these 3. reasons chiefly First to consult the wants and weaknesses of poor ignorant persons such as were Novices in the faith and but Babes in CHRIST ut incipientibus et lactantibus quid credendum sit constitueretur as St. Augustine hath it Secondly that there might be some standing rule by which an Orthodox Teacher might be known from a wicked heretick a Christian from an unbeliever and to this end the Creed or Symbolum served exceeding fitly Of which St. Austin gives this note His qui contradicit aut a CRISTI fide alienus est aut est haereticus that whosoever contradicts it is either an Heretick or an Infidel Thirdly that people of all nations finding so punctual and exact an harmonie in points of doctrine to be delivered by the Apostles wheresoeoer they came might be the sooner won to embrace that faith in which they found so universal and divine a consonancie and be united with and amongst themselves in the bonds of peace which is not to be found but where there is the spirit of unity And who were able think you to prescribe a rule so universally to be received over all the world so suddenly to be obeyed by all Christian people but the Lords Apostles Who else but they were of authority to impose a form on the Church of CHRIST to be so uniformly held so consonantly taught in all tongues and languages as we finde this was by Irenaeus to be esteemed so unalterable and unmoveable as this was counted by Tertullian to be illustrated by the notes and Commentaries of the most glorious lights of the Christian firmament St. Cyril Chrysostom Austin and indeed who not â—and finally to continue for so long a time as for 1600. years together not only without such opposition as other Creeds have met with in particular Churches but without any sensible alteration in the words and syllables Assuredly such respects and honour had not
Faith related not to points of doctrine which could not but be every where at all times the same because all guided by the same infallible spirit but only to the form of words wherewith they were to clothe and express those doctrines which if not in all points the same might amongst many simple and illiterate people be taken for an argument of a different faith Whereas the consonancie which all Churches held with one another not only in the Unity which they maintained amongst themselves in point of judgement but also in that uniformity wherewith they did express that consent in judgement was a strong evidence no doubt to the weak and ignorant who are governed more by words then matters that the Faith wheresoever they travelled was in all parts the same because they found it every where expressed in the self same words So that for ought appeareth by these shifts and cavils the CREED may still retain the honour which of old was given it and be as it is commonly called The Apostles Creed The next thing that I have to do is to resolve upon the course and order which I mean to follow in the performance of the work I have undertaken And here I shall declare in the first place of all that as the main of my design is to illustrate and expound the Apostles Creed so I shall keep my self to that Creed alone and not step out into those intricate points of controversie which principally occasioned both the Athanasian and the Nicene Creeds For though I thank God I can say it with a very good conscience that I believe the doctrine of the holy Trinity according to the Catholick Tradition of the Church of CHRIST yet I confess with all such is the want and weakness of my understanding that I am utterly unable as indeed who is not to look into the depths of so great a mystery and cannot but cry out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Apostle did in another case Oh the unsearchableness the depth of this heavenly Oeconomie What then I am not able to inform my self in those things wherein I am not able to content and satisfie my own poor shallow understanding how can I hope so to express in words or writing as to give satisfaction and content to a minde more curious Id fides credat intelligentia non requirat was antiently the Fathers rule and shall now be mine In matters of so high a nature I believe more then I am able to comprehend the gift of faith supplying the defect of mine understanding and yet can comprehend more by the light of faith then I am able to express So that I shall not meddle in this following Tractate with the eternal generation of the Son of God or any of those difficult but divine sublimities which are contained in the Creed of the Nicene Councel nor with the manner of the holy Ghosts procession whether from the Father only or from the Father and the Son nor how God can be one in three and three in one Such lofty speculations and sublimities of so high a nature I leave to be discussed and agitated by men of larger comprehensions and more piercing judgements then I dare challenge to my self resting contented with those mediocrities which God who gives to every one his several Talent hath graciously vouchsafed to bestow upon me In other points I shall make use sometimes of such explications as the Athanasian or the Nicene Creeds do present unto me which I shall handle rather in a Scholastical and if occasion be presented in a Philological way also then a way meerly Catechetical or directly practical wherein I see so many have took pains already taking along the stating and debating of such points of Controversies as either naturally do arise from the words themselves or may be very easily deduced from thence on good and logical deductions And in such points of Controversie as shall here be handled as also in such Observations as shall be here amassed together I chiefly shall rely on the Antient Fathers whose reputation and authority is most precious with me but so that I shall now and then make bold as I see occasion to spoyl the Egyptians also of their choicest Iewels for the adorning of this body of Divinity which I had brought into the forge since my first retreat and is now ready for the Anvil St. Paul esteemed it no disparagement to his holy doctrine to strengthen it with reasons drawn from the best Philosophie to prove and press it home in a Logical way and to adorn it with the dictates of three old Greek Poets Menander Aratus and Epimenides whose testimonies he makes use of in three several places As long as Hagar doth submit herself to her mistress Sarah and not contend for the precedency with her so long she is and may be serviceable in the house of Abraham And humane literature especially in relation unto Paganish errours is of as necessary use as she in the Church of God if it conform unto the Scripture and be guided by it and do not bear it self too high on the conceit and reputation of its own great excellencies But for the main of this discourse I shall especially repose my determination on the authority and general consent of the Fathers as before I said not medling with the Protestant Writers of the forein Churches but when a doubt is to be cleared which concerns themselves nor often with the Writers of this Church of England but when I have occasion to enquire into such particulars as must be proved to be the true intent and doctrine of this CHVRCH by law established The holy Scriptures are the main foundation which I am to build on according to that sense and interpretation which have been given us of them by the holy Fathers and other Catholick Doctors of the Church of Christ who lived before the truth degenerated into Popish dotages and whose authorities and judgements I conceive most fit for the determining of such Controversies which are now on foot as being like to prove most indifferent Umpires because not any way ingaged in our present quarrels I know that Downe Dalie and others of great parts and wit have laboured to disclaim them as incompetent Judges not to be trusted in a business of such main concernment as the determination of the controversies in the Church of Christ out of an high conceit of their own great worth which is not willing to acknowledge a superiour eminence And I know well that many if not most of our Innovators whether it be in point of Discipline or Doctrine decline all trial by the Fathers Councels and other the records and monuments of the Catholick Church because directly contrary to their new devices But all this moves not me a jot nor makes me yeild the less authority to their words and writings The Church of England waves not their authority though some of her conceited children and others of her factious
only teach Posterity to give none to himself And having thus asserted the authority of the Creed which I have in hand declared the course and purposes of this following work and shewn you what grounds I am especially resolved to proceed upon I shall with the assistance of Gods gracious Spirit fall roundly to the work it self taking the Articles in order as they lie before me And yet before I shall descend unto particulars I think it not amiss to adde the testimony and consent of Calvin to that which is before delivered touching the Authors and authority of this common Creed according as I finde it in an old Translation of his Book of Institutes for I have not the Original now by me printed at London in the year 1561. And thus saith he Hitherto I have followed the order of the Apostles Creed because whereas it comprehendeth shortly in few words the chief Articles of our Redemption it may serve us for a Table wherein we do distinctly and severally see those things that are in Christ worthy to be taken heed unto I call it the Apostles Creed not over carefully regarding who were the Authors of the same It is verily by great consent of old Writers ascribed to the Apostles either because they thought it was by common travail written and set out by the Apostles or for that they judged that this Abridgement being faithfully gathered out of the doctrine delivered by the hands of the Apostles was worthy to be confirmed by such a Title And I take it to be out of doubt that from whence soever it proceeded at the first it hath even from the first beginning of the Church and from the very time of the Apostles been used as a publick Confession and received by the consent of all men And it is likely that it was not privately written by any one man for as much as it is evident that even from the farthest age it hath alwayes continued of sacred authority and credit among all the godly But that which is only to be cared for we have wholly out of controversie which is that the whole History of our Faith is briefly and well in distinct order rehearsed in it and that there is nothing contained therein which is not sealed with sound testimonies of the Scripture Which being understanded it is to no purpose either curiously to doubt or to strive with any man who were the Authors of it unless perhaps it be not enough for some man to be assured of the truth of the holy Ghost but if he do also understand either by whose mouth it was spoken or by whose hand it was written So he And this is very much for one who was no greater Champion of the antient Farmulas THEOLOGIA VETERVM OR THE SUMME OF Christian Theologie Positive Polemical and Philological CONTAINED IN THE Apostles CREED Or reducible to it According to the tendries of the Antients both GREEKS and LATINES THE FIRST BOOK By PETER HEYLYN Heb. 11.6 3. He that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him Through faith we understand that the Worlds were framed by the word of God so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear LONDON Printed by E. Cotes for Henry Seile 1654. ΣΥΜΒΟΛΟΠΤΩΠΑΠΟΣΤΟΛΩΠSymbolum Apostolicum secundum Graecos 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Symbolum Apostolicum secundum Latinos St. PETRUS 1. Credo in Deum Patrem omnipotentem St. JOHANNES 2. Creatorem coeli terroe St. JACOBUS 3. Credo in Iesum Christum filium ejus unicum dominum nostrum St. ANDREAS 4. Qui conceptus est de Spiritu sancto natus ex Virgine Maria St. PHILIPPUS 5. Passus est sub Pontio Pilato crucifixus mortuus sepultus St. THOMAS 6. Descendit ad inferos tertia die resurrexit a mortuis St. BARTHOLOMAEUS 7. Ascendit in coelos sedet ad dextram dei Patris omnipotentis St. MATTHAEUS 8. Inde venturus judicare vivos mortuos St. JACOBUS ALPHAEI 9. Credo in Spiritum sanctum sanctam Ecclesiam Catholicam St. SIMOE ZELOTES 10. Sanctorum communionem remissionem peccatorum St. JUDAS JACOBI FR. 11. Carnis Resurrectionem St. MATTHIAS 12. Et vitam aeternam Amen ARTICLE I. Of the First ARTICLE OF THE CREED Ascribed to St. PETER 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Credo in Deum Patrem omnipotentem i. e. I beleeve in God the Father almighty CHAP. I. Of the name and definition of Faith the meaning of the Phrase in Deum credere the Exposition of it vindicated against all exceptions HAving thus vindicated the Authority of the common Creed and intimated the design and project of this present work I now proceed unto the Explication of it and every branch and Article therein contained as they lie in order beginning first of all with that which testifieth our Faith and belief in him which is the first of all beginnings A Iove principium was the rule of old and a more excellent Rule then that who can teach us now But first as a Praecognitum unto all the rest I must insist upon the nature and interpretation of the first word of it which hath a special influence and operation over the whole body of the Formula and giveth denomination to it For from the Latine Credo comes the name of Creed from the first English word which is I believe we call the whole the Articles of our belief and so the verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 comes from the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which in the Ecclesiastical notion of it we interpret Faith So that in whatsoever language we behold the same the the word is verbum operativum as the Lawyers cal it a word which hath relation unto every Article to every branch and member of the whole Compositum as I believe in God the Father Almighty I believe in Iesus Christ his only Son I believe that Iesus was conceived of the holy Ghost I believe that he was born of the Virgin Mary I believe that he suffered under Pontus Pilate sic de caeteris And first for the quid nominis of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it signifieth to assent or to joyn credit or belief to such things as are laid before us As 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the old Poet Phocylides that is to say give no credit to the talk of the common people who are unconstant and uncertain in their words and actions Derived it is from the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we render faith and that from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the
praeterpluperfect tense of the passive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth to be perswaded to be taught to be induced to give assent unto such propositions as are made unto us Thus is the word used by the great Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. For I am perswaded that neither life nor death c. shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Iesus our Lord. And again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Being confident of this very thing Persuasum habens hoc ipsum as Beza very properly doth translate the word That he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it till the day of Iesus Christ. So that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we render faith being hence derived may not unfitly be construed a perswasion or a firm assent persuasionem seu firmam assensionem as the learned Valla hath observed and then the verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being brought from thence will signifie in the true and proper notion of it I am perswaded verily of the truth of that which so many godly and religious men have related to me and give as full and firm an assent unto it as if I had been present when the deed was done Thus also for the Latine word Fides the Etymologie thereof is drawn from fio from the doing or performance of those things which are said or promised Fides enim dicitur saith Cicero eo quod fiat quod dictum est And therefore faith or fides call it which you will as it relates unto the promises of God is defined by Zanchius to be firma certa persuasio de promissionibus dei a strong and confident perswasion that God will graciously fulfil those promises which he hath pleased to make unto us And therefore I shall fix upon that definition of the thing it self which I finde amongst the Antient Schoolmen affirming it to be a firm assent to supernatural truths revealed Which definition lest it should fare the worse for the Authors sake is backed and seconded by so many learned men both of the Protestant and Reformed Churches as may well serve to set it free from all further cavils For thus Melanchthon for the Protestant or Lutheran Churches Fides est assensus omni verbo Dei nobis tradito Faith saith he is an assent to the veracity or â—ruth of the whole Word of God delivered to us And so saith Vrsin for the Doctors of the French or Calvinian party defining it almost in the self same words to be Vera persuasio qua assentimur omni verbo Dei nobis traditâ—o With these agree Chemnitius in Evan. Concil Trident. cap. de Iustificatione Pet. Martyr ad Rom. 3. v. 12. Polanus Partit Theolog. lib. 2. pag. 368. besides divers others Which being the true and proper definition of belief or faith according to the natural meaning of the word both in Greek and Latine I may conclude from hence without further trouble that to believe according as the word here stands in the front of the Creed is only to be verily perswaded of the truth of all those points and articles which are delivered in the same and to give a firm assent unto them agreeable unto the measure of our understanding Faith thus defined differeth not only from experience knowledge and opinion all which do come within the compass of Assents in general but from all other things whatsoever which come within the compass of our belief When we assent unto the truth of such things or matters as are discernible by sense we may call it perception or experience as when a man assents to this proposition that ice is cold or that fire is hot because he feels it to be so by his outward senses If our assent be weak unsetled or grounded only upon probabilities we then call it opinion in matters of which nature men are for the most part left at liberty their understandings being neither convinced by the power of a superior truth nor setled and confirmed by demonstrative proofs This though it be an assent is no firm assent and therefore nothing less then Faith If our assent be grounded on demonstrative proofs and built upon the knowledge of natural causes it is then tearmed Science or knowledge properly so called for Scire est per causas scire said the great Philosopher But he that gives assent unto any truth only because of the authority of the man that speaks it neither examining his proofs nor searching into the probabilty or possibility of the thing related that man in true propriety of speech is said to believe and to believe we know is the act of faith Thus it is said of the Samaritans that many of them believed on him for the saying of the woman which testified thus of him viz. He told me all that ever I did but more believed because of his own words when they had heard him speak and observed his doctrine And yet not every truth believed on the speakers credit is the proper object of belief or faith according as we use the word in the Schools of Christ but only supernatural truths such truths as our depraved nature could not reach unto without revelation from above by consequence not the authority of every speaker but only of such holy men of God who spake as they were moved by the holy Ghost is the foundation of this faith which we here define I give belief unto the Histories of Xenophon Thucydides Polybius and Corn. Tacitus because I hold a good opinion of the men that writ them And I believe that Edward the Black Prince wonne the battel of Crecie being then but 18 years of age and that King Henry the fifth subdued the greatest part of France within five or six years because I finde it so related without contradiction both by our English Chroniclers and the French Historians But I rely on no humane authority how great soever it be for a rule of Faith which as it hath truths only supernatural for the object of it so have those truths or the revelation rather of those truths no other Author then the Spirit of God So then faith is a firm assent which makes it differ from opinion which may be called an assent also but weak and wavering It is a firm assent to truths for to believe in lyes is not faith but folly A brand or character set on those by Almighty God who seeing they would not receive the love of the truth that they might be saved have been and are given over unto strong delusions and to believe in lyes that they should be damned 'T is an assent to truths revealed not grounded on demonstrative proofs or the disquisition of natural causes or the experiment of sense but only on the authority of him who reveals it to us which differenceth it most clearly both from experience and from knowledge which have surer grounds
Synagogue to be the holy Son of God IESVS the Son of God in another place What benefit do they expect from this Confession what recompence for that Belief so professed and published â— but an assurance that they have no part in David nor any inheritance at all in the Son of Iesse How so Because they knew full well no mere Creature better that CHRIST took not on him the nature of Angels but that he took on him the seed of Abraham And if he took not on him the nature of Angels as they knew he did not he could not be a Mediator between them and God and if no Mediator between them and God they have no interest in his merits nor can claim any profit by his death and passion but must continue in that state wherein God hath plunged them for their sins without hope of remedy The Devils then believe but withall they tremble and good reason for it that belief making them assured that their case is desperate and that there is no mercy for them in Gods heavenly Treasury Besides admit the Devil did believe all those sacred truths which are affirmed of CHRIST in the Book of God what will this avail them For must they not then believe this truth amongst the rest that without true repentance there can be no entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven and if they do believe that truth must they not conclude that there can be no place for them in the heavenly glories because the dore of repentance is shut against them and that the Baptism of Repentance is a way to Heaven whereof their nature is not capable Small comfort doubtless in this faith but of anguish plenty So far I had proceeded in this discourse when I incountred with a Treatise of Doctor Iacksons the late Dean of Peterburgh containing the Original of Vnbelief misbelief c. In which I finde so strong a confirmation of my opinion herein that I have thought it not unnecessary to lay down his words for the clear evidence thereof Thus then saith he To believe in God hath gone currant so long for so much as to put trust or confidence in him that now to make it go for less will perhaps be an usurpation of authority more then critical and much greater then befits us Notwithstanding if on Gods behalf we may plead what Lawyers do in cases of the Crown Nullum tempus occurrit Regi that the Antient of days may not be prejudiced by antiquity of custom or prescription especially whose Orignal is erroneous the case is clear That to believe in God in their intention who first composed this Creed is no more then to believe there is a God or to give credence to his Word For justifying this Assertion I must appeal from the English Dialect in which the manner of speech is proper and natural if it were consonant unto the meaning of the Original as also from the Latine in which the phrase being forain and uncouth is to be valued by the Greek whose stamp and character it heareth Now the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as also the Hebrew phrase whereunto by sacred Writers it was framed is no more then hath been said To believe there is a God Otherwise we must believe not only in God the Father in Christ the Son and in the holy Ghost but in the Catholick Church in the Communion of Saints in the forgiveness of sins and in the resurrection of the body and in life everlasting seeing the Greek particle usually expressed by the Latine In is annexed after the same manner to all these objects of our belief as is apparent in the Antient Greek Creeds And he that diligently readeth the Translation of the Septuagint shall finde the Greek phrase which is verbatim rendred by the Latine in Deum credere to believe in God promiseâ—ously used for the other credere Deo i. e. to believe God Or if besides the evident Records of the antient Copies personal witnesses be required amongst the Antients I know few amongst Modern Writers none more competent then those that are expresly for us as Beza Mercer Drusius unto whom we may adde Ribera Lorinus also Now as to use the benefit of a truth known and testified is always lawful so to us in this case it is most expedient almost necessary For either I did not rightly apprehend whilest I read it or at least now remember not how the Schoolman removes the stumbling block which he had placed in the very entry to this Creed If to believe in God be as much as to put trust or confidence in him by exacting a profession of this Creed at all mens mouths we shall inforce a great many to profess a ly For of such as not only out of ordinary charity but upon particular probabilities we may safely acquit from actual Atheism or contradicting infidelity a great number do not put their trust or confidence in God this being the mark at which the belief of Novices must aim not the first step they are to make in this progress And not long after he makes answer unto this Objection touching the belief of Devils or of wicked Angels of whom we cannot say say some that they do believe in God though they believe his being more firmly then we can do and know his Word as clearly For as he handsomely illustrates If the Kings Majesty should proclaim a general pardon to a number of known Rebels and vow execution of judgement without mercy upon some principal offenders which had maliciously and cunningly seduced their simplicity I suppose his will and pleasure equally manifested unto both and so believed would as much dishearten the one as incourage the other to relye upon his clemency Such notwithstanding altogether is the case between men and wicked angels The one believes CHRIST took the Womans seed and therefore cannot without such wilful mistrust of the promise of life as was in his first Parents to Gods threats of death despair of Redemption by the eternal Sacrifice The other as firmly believe or rather evidently know that CHRIST in no wise took the Angelical nature and without this ground the better they believe his Incarnation the less are their hopes of their own Redemption As for the third and last Objection touching the overthrow of the distinction of Faith into Historical Temporary saving or justifying faith and the faith of Miracles so generally received and countenanced in the Protestant Schools it works no effect at all in me who am resolved not to hazard the loss of a truth to save the credit of a distinction Nor are the membra dividentia as Logicians call them so well choyced and stated as either to require such care of their preservation or not to bring them into question For all faith is Historical there 's no doubt of that and the other members of the distinction either are coincident or but degrees only of the same one faith Vrsinus the
the same Spirit to another the gift of healing by the same Spirit to another power to do miracles to another prophecy to another the discerning of spirits to another diverse kindes of tongues c. Where plainly Faith the gift of healing Prophecying and the power of working Miracles are counted for distinct graces of the holy Ghost by consequence the power of working Miracles is no species of faith but rather something extraordinary super-added to it as before I said So that we need not stand so much upon this distinction as in regard thereof to recede from the Exposition before delivered wherein it was affirmed that in Deum credere to believe in God is only to believe that there is one Immortal and Eternal Spirit of great both Majesty and Power which we call GOD and that this God is the Father Almighty who as he made all things by his mighty power so he doth still preserve them by his divine Providence and preserve them by his infinite wisdome And this Interpretation of the phrase in Deum credere or in Christum credere doth hold best correspondence with the definition of faith before laid down For if Faith be no other then a firm assent to supernatural truths revealed then to include no more in these forms of speech then that there is a God an Almighty God the maker of all things and that his only Son IESVS CHRIST our Lord both did and suffered all these things which are affirmed of him in the holy Scriptures and briefly laid together in the present Creed must needs be most agreeable to the nature of faith Which being premised once for all we shall proceed unto the proof of the present Article in which we shall first make it clear and evident out of monuments and records of the learned Gentiles for in this point it were unnecessary to consult either the Scriptures or the Fathers that there is an infinite incomprehensible and eternal Spirit whom we call by the Name of GOD and secondly that this GOD is only one without any Rival or Competitor in the publick Government of the Universe And this shall be the argument of the following Chapter CHAP. II. That there is a God and but one God only and that this one God is a pure and immortal Spirit and the sole Governour of the World proved by the light of Reason and the testimonies of the Antient Gentiles THat GOD is or that there is a God is a truth so naturally graffed in the soul of man that neither the ignorance of letters nor the pride of wealth nor the continual fruition of sensual pleasures have been able to obliterate the Characters or impressions of it For Tully very well observeth Nullam gentem tam feram esse neminem omnium tam immanem cujus mentem non imbuerit deorum opinio That there was never Nation so barbarous nor man so brutish and inhumane but was seasoned with this opinion that there was a God And though saith he many misguided by ill customes or want of more civil education do conceive amiss of the Divinity yet they did all suppose a nature or power Divine to which they were not drawn by conference and discourse with others nor by tradition from their Ancestors or the laws of their Countrey but by a natural instinct imprinted in them quae gentium omnium consensio lex putanda est which general consent of all people concerning this matter is to be esteemed the Law of Nature And though the civil wisdome which appeareth in the laws of Lycurgius Numa and other antient Legislators amongst the Heathens may argue probably an opinion in them of framing many particular rites of Religion as politick Sophisms to retain that wilde people in awe for whose sake they devised then yet could not their inventions have wrought so succesfully upon mens affections unless they had been naturally inclined to the ingraffed notion of a GOD in general under pretence of whose Soveraign right those particulars had been commended to them or obtrudâ—d on them A more plentiful experiment of which evident truth hath been suggested to us in these later Ages wherein divers Countries peopled with Inhabitants of different manners and education have been discovered the very best whereof have been far more barbarous then the worst of those which were so counted in the days of Tully yea or of Numa or Lycurgus though long time before him And yet amongst these savage Indians who could hardly be discerned from brute beasts Nisi in hoc uno quod loquerentur as Lactantius once said in a case much like but only in that they had the use of speech were found to have acknowledged several Gods or superior powers to which they offered sacrifices and other rites of Religion in testimony of their gratitude for benefits received from them As if the signification of mans obligements to some invisible power for health food and other necessaries or for their preservation from dysasters and common dangers were as natural to him as fawnings or the like dumb signs in doggs other tame domestick creatures are to those who cherish them Concerning which as Cicero one of the wisest of the Gentiles gives an excellent rule so of that natural inclination did the Apostle of the Gentiles make an excellent use For there were many great and famous Philosophers which did not only ascribe the government of the World to the wisdom of the Gods but did acknowledge all necessary supplies of health and welfare to be procured from their providence Insomuch that corn and other increase of the Earth saith Cicero together with that variety of times and seasons with those alterations or changes of weather by which the fruits of the Earth doe spring up and ripen are by them made the effects of Divine goodness and of the love of GOD to mankinde And on this ground St. Paul proceeded in his Sermon to the people at Lystra whom he endevoured to bring unto the knowledge of the only true invisible GOD by giving them to understand that though in times past he had suffered all Nations to walk in their own ways yet did he not leave himself without witness in that he was beneficial or did good unto them and gave them rain from heaven and fruitful seasons filling their hearts with food and gladness From which one stream of Divine goodness experienced in giving rain to proceed no further did the old Grecians christen their great god Iupiter by the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Latines on the same reason did surname him Pluvius And to say truth the prudent Orator had very good ground both for his observation and the reason of it For of all the Nations known in the times he lived in there was none branded with the stain of Atheism but the poor Fenni a Sect or Tribe amongst the Germanes Of whom it is affirmed by Tacitus that they had neither houshold gods nor corn nor cattel nor any
For to say nothing how the Persians being weary of the government of many Rulers designed the Empire unto him whose Horse should first neigh on the morrow morning nor to revive the dead fable of the Theban brothers who hath not heard the story of the Roman twins contending for the command of a few Shepheards and a Realm of Cottages The more then Civil Wars betwixt Caesar Pompey for the Empire of Rome which though of very vast extent could not hold them both Look also how it is in the Oeconomie of Nature one King amongst the Bees one Supreme Captain over the flock and in the heards of Cattel one more principal Ruler And canst thou think the Government of that Heavenly Monarchy can be dismembred or divided It being so manifest and apparent that God who is the Father of all things hath neither beginning nor ending that to all creatures giveth a beeing to himself Eternity who was a world unto himself when no World was made and by his Word commandeth by his wisdom disposeth by his virtue protecteth what thing soever is to be found in the whole World This GOD we cannot see he is too bright for our eyes nor touch he is too pure for our unclean hands nor apprehend he is above the reach of our understanding being infinite incomprehensible and known how great he is to himself alone Shall I speak freely what I think He that conceiveth that he can comprehend the Majesty of God doth under value him and he who would not undervalue him must profess he cannot comprehend him Nor need we be inquisitive to know his name his name is GOD there being no use of proper names but where a multitude is to be distinguished by their particular appellations GOD therefore being but one hath no name but GOD. And to this truth I have the general consent of all men For when the common people lift their hands to Heaven they then make mention but of one God only using to say as their occasions do require that God is great and that God is true and if God permit Which whether it be the natural expression of the common people or the Confession of a Christian saying his Belief it is hard to guesse This is the sum of that which was alleadged by the Christian Advocates in defence of the Divine nature and power of God and that this God was one only Soveraign and commanding power who governed and disposed of all things both in Heaven and Earth In which there is not any thing affirmed of God which hath not been before delivered by the antient Gentiles whose judgments and opinions in this particular I shall next present And first begining with Mercurius surnamed Trismegistus Lactantius tels us of him that he wrote many books In quibus Majestatem summi singularis Dei asserit in which he doth assert the Majesty of that one and only Supreme God particularly that he is but one and being but one hath no other name then that of GOD 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God saith he is but one and being but one he wants no name but is simply nameless or Anonymus the very same with that of Minutius Felix nec nomen Dei quaeras nomen est Deus which is thus seconded by Lactantius who had seen his Dialogue Deo quia semper unus est proprium nomen est DEVS And there is very good reason for it too I mean why God should have no known name to call him by as had the Idols of the Heathens because there is no use of a proper name Nisi ubi discrimen exegerit multitudo but where distinction must be made between one and another which cannot be where there is but one and never shall be more then one of that rank and order But Mercurius goes further yet and doth not only testifie that God is one but that he is the Radix or root of all things without which nothing was made that he is infinitely good 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 even goodness it self and that the name of Good belongeth unto none but him and though he gives the name of GOD to the Heathen deities yet he confesseth in plain tearms that they are so entituled honoris causa and not naturae ratione Descend we next unto the Sibyls and we shall finde one of them saying thus of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that there is but one God and that he only is Almighty and unbegotten another of them saying thus in the Person of GOD 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. I am the one and only God and besides me there is none other Pass we on next unto the gods as the Gentiles called them and we shall hear Apollo being asked the question what was to be conceived of God to have returned an answer in one and twenty verses whereof these are three as they stand cited by Lactantius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. In English thus Begotten of himself without a Mother Not taught of any nameless 'cause no other Unmov'd with worldly things and one that dwelleth In brightest Heaven is God that all excelleth In the translation of which verses I have took liberty to render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in brightest Heaven because I think that either Apollo did allude to the Coelum Empyraeum used among Philosophers or that the old Philosophers took that tearm from him But whether it were so or no certain I am that Lactantius doth conclude from hence upon very good grounds that this answer of Apollo can by no means imaginable be applyed to Iupiter Qui matrem habuerit nomen who had both a Mother and a name as he there observeth and therefore must be meant of the living GOD. Whom when the Heathens call by the name of Iupiter Falluntur in nomine sed de una potestate consentiunt saith Minutius Felix though they are mistaken in the name of that Supreme God yet they agree with us in this that he is but one Proceed we forwards to the Poets and Orpheus the most antient of them and one who was Co-temporary with the GODS themselves as we read in Lactantius l. 1. cap. 6. not only doth affirm of him that he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the first begotten before whom none was which could not be affirmed of Iupiter the Son of Saturn but that he existed of himself only and gave beeing to all things besides 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it is cited amongst many of his verses to this purpose by Clemens of Alexandria an old Christian writer What other Poets say of God we shall see hereafter when we shall look upon him as the Maker of Heaven and Earth In the mean time conclude we this first rank of testimonies with that of Pythagoras who was both a Poet and Philosopher who telleth us of God as I finde him cited in the works of Clemens and
himself two Gods both of equal power one good the other bad the one called Oromases and the other Arimanius the one the Author of good things and the other of evil Other impieties he maintained which made him execrable in the eyes both of God and man but I take notice of no other at this present time as being not within the compass of the work in hand And even in this we need not spend more time to confute his fellows then to send him and his to school to the old Philosophers most of the which acknowledged but one principium or common principle from whom all creatures in the world took their first beginning Or if they did allow of many principia as many times they did unto several things which seemed to be of contrary nature unto one another yet they referred all in the last resort to one only principle or principium in which all others met as their common center And this they called Principium omnia principia supereminens the Principle or principium which excelled all others and finally resolved ab hoc uno principio omnia principia that from this one principle or principium all the rest descended Had it been otherwise what a continual conflict had there been since the world began betwixt God and the Devil betwixt the good principle and the bad betwixt the giver of blessings and inflicter of punishments For being of contrary affections Fieri posse ut aliquid diversum velit it might well be or rather it could not otherwise be that they should differently declare themselves in some one particular which must needs draw them into such remediless quarrels as Homer fableth to have been amongst the Gods of Gentiles whiles some declared themselves for Troy and the rest against it Mulciber in Trojam pro Troja stabat Apollo said the Latine Poet. Which what a confusion and distraction it would bring on the course of Nature I leave to any man to judge which hath common sense But Manes as it seems beeing a neer neighbour to the Curdi who dwelt close by Persia had entertained also their Religion of whom it might be said and that not unfitly as Lactantius doth of some of the Greek Numens se alios deos colere ut prosint alios ne noceant that they did worship some Gods for fear and others for love some out of hope to receive benefits and blessings from them others lest else they should be troubled and afflicted by them But Manes was his name and madness was his nature so the name doth signifie And little less then mad are they who for fear they should be thought to savour of the Manicheans have run themselves upon the contrary extreme in making God not the prime Author only of the evil of punishment but also of the evil of sin Nor can it but seeme strange to a knowing man who looks with an indifferent eye upon the antient Gentiles and some present Christians that either those in times of such an Epidemical and general darkness should have so much of the Christian in them or that they which live under the light of Christs glorious Gospel should have so much in them of the Heathen The learned Gentiles though they did acknowledg but one Supreme power whom they called Deum naturalem or the God of Nature yet they allowed of many National and Topical Gods as before I told you out of Varro And finde we not that though the Pontificians publickly profess but one Soveraign God yet the poor Christians every where in the Church of Rome are taught to place their confidence in more local Saints then ever Heathen-Rome did muster of its Topical Gods Which whether it grew upon that Church by the inundation of barbarous Nations or that the late converted Paynims before their hearts were throughly cleansed from their former leaven did share the dignities and honours of the Heathen Gods amongst such Saints and Martyrs as they most affected I will not take upon me to determine here Certain I am that a in very little time Rome-Christian came to have more tutelarie Saints and Patrons and those of each Sex too as their fancies led them then ever Heathen Rome could shew Gods and Goddesses whose Offices they have so divided amongst the Saints that changing but the name and perhaps the dress the superstition is as gross now as amongst the Gentiles And this I speak I am sure on as good authority as any can be had in the Church of England even from the very words of the book of Homilies which doth state it thus What I pray you be such Saints with us to whom we attribute the defence of certain Countries spoyling GOD of his honour herein but the Dii Tutelares of the Gentile Idolaters such as were Belus to the Babylonians Osiris and Isis to the Egyptians Vulcan to the Lemnians What are the Saints to whom the safeguard of certain Cities is appointed but the Dii Praesides of the Gentiles such as were Apollo at Delphos Minerva at Athens Iuno at Carthage and the like What be such Saints to whom contrary to the use of the Primitive Church Temples and Churches be erected and Altars builded but the Dii Patroni such as were Iupiter in the CAPITOL and Diana in the Temple of Ephesus And where one Saint hath Images in divers places and same Saint must have divers names as had the Gods and Goddesses amongst the Gentiles So that when you hear of our Lady of Ipswich our Lady of Walsingham our Lady of Wilsdon and such others what can we think but that it is in imitation of the Heathen Idolaters who had their Venus Cypria their Venus Paphia and their Venus Gnida Dianae Agrotera Diana Coryphea and Diana Ephesia Nor have they only spoyled the true living God of his due honour in Temples Cities Countries and Lands by such inventions and devices as the Gentiles had done before them but the Sea and waters have as well special Saints with them as they had Gods with the Heathen in whose places are come St. Christopher St. Clement and our Lady specially to whom the Ship-men sing Ave Maris stella Neither hath the fire escaped their Idolatrous inventions for in stead of Vulcan and Vesta they have placed St. Agatha and make letters on her day to quench fire withall Every Profession and Artificer hath his special Saint as a peculiar God as for example Scholars have St. Nicolas Painters St. Luke neither lack Souldiers their Mars or Lovers their Venus among Christians Nay all diseases also have their special Saints as Gods to cure them the Pockes St. Roche the Falling-evill Cornelius the Tooth-ach St. Apollin c. Neither do beasts and cattel lack their Gods with us for St. Loy is the Horse-leech St. Anthony the Swine-heard sic de cateris Nor is this any studyed calumny but so clear a truth that it was never yet gainsaid by their greatest Advocates So much hath
Rome relapsed to her antient Gentilism revived again so many of her Gods and Goddesses that both the Iews and Infidels may have cause to question whether she doth believe in one God alone or that he only is the Father Almighty whom the Creed here mentioneth Of which and other of the Attributes of Almighty God I am next to speak Articuli 1. pars 2da 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Patrem Omnipotentem i. e. The Father Almighty CHAP. III. Of the Essence and Attributes of God according to the holy Scripture The name of Father how applyed unto God of his Mercy Justice and Omnipotency BY that which hath been said in the former Chapter out of the Monuments and Records of the antient Gentiles it is apparent that they knew that there is a GOD that he was one only and that this one God was an Eternal and Immortal Spirit existing of himself without any beginning invisible incomprehensible omnipotent without change or passion In which description we have all those Epithels summed up together out of the works and writings of those reverend Sages which Ruffinus a good Christian Writer of the Primitive times hath bestowed upon him in his Exposition of the Creed Deum cum audis substantiam intellige sine initio sine fine simplicem sine ulla admixtione invisibilem incorpoream ineffabilem inaestimabilem in quo nihil adjunctum nihil creatum And though it could not be expected that the Gentiles guided only by the light of Nature should have said so much yet for the better knowledge of the Essence Attributes and works of GOD we must not rest our selves contented with that measure of light which was discovered unto them but make a more exact search for it in the holy Scriptures Concerning which there is a memorable story of Iustin Martyr which he relateth in his Dialogue with Trypho the Iew. St. Paul hath noted of the Greeks that they seek after wisdome and never was the note more exactly true then in that particular For being inflamed with a desire of coming to a more perfect knowledge of the Nature of GOD then had been generally attained by the common people first he applyed himself unto the Stoicks who by the gravity and preciseness of their conversation did seem most likely to direct him But this knowledge was not with the Stoick 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor could he learn much there of the nature of God Next he betook himself to the Peripateticks men most renowned for their knowledge in the works of Nature and the subtilties of disputation But there he profited less then before with the Stoicks the Peripateticks being more irresolute and speaking less divinely of the things of GOD then any of the other Sects of Philosophie Then had he severally recourse unto the Pythagorean and the Platonist who were most eminent in those times for the contemplative parts of learning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in the search of immaterials But true Divinity was not to be found in all the writings either of the Pythagoreans or the Platonists although these last did seeme to come more neer the truth then either the Peripatetick or the Stoick At last he was encountred by a Reverend old man a Christian Father and was by him directed to the Book of God writ by the Prophets and Apostles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they which only knew the truth and which alone were able to unfold it rightly The counsel of which Reverend man he obeyed full gladly and profited so well in the Schools of CHRIST that he became a Martyr for the Faith and Gospel So we if we would come unto the perfect knowledge of GOD though we may sport our selves and refresh our thoughts in the pleasant walks and prospects of Philosophy must at the last apply our selves to the holy Scriptures where we shall be as far instructed in the things of GOD as he thinks fit to be communicated to the sons of men Now for our better method in the present search we will consider GOD in those names and Attributes by which he hath made known himself in his holy Covenants And first we meet with that of the Lord IEHOVAH which the Greeks usually called the Tetragrammaton or the name consisting of four letters for of no more it doth consist in the Hebrew language the Iews more properly nomen appropriatum gloriosum the most peculiar and most glorious name of the Lord our God appropriated unto him in so strict a manner that it was not lawful to communicate it unto any Creature By this name was he first pleased to make himself known unto Moses saying that he had appeared to Abraham Isaac and Jacob by the name of God Almighty but by this Name of Jehovah he had not made himself known unto them And in the Prophet Esay thus Ego sum Jehovah illud est nomen meum i. e. I am Jehovah that is my Name and my glory will I not give unto another Derived it is from Iah an old Hebrew root which signifieth ens existens Being or existing And hereupon was that when Moses in the third of Exod. v. 14. asked the name of GOD the Lord returned this answer to him I Am that I Am and thus shalt thou say unto the people I AM hath sent me unto you And hereupon it was that St. IOHN calleth him in the Book of the Revelation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is which was and which is to come Nor doth it signifie alone a self-existence by which he hath a Beeing in and of himself and doth communicate a beeing unto all the creatures but it is used in Scripture for a name of power by which he governeth all those creatures on which he hath been pleased to bestow a beeing And therefore if we mark it well though he appear unto us by the name of God in the first of Genesis when the Creation was an Embryo an imperfect work yet he is no where called by the name of the Lord Iehovah till the Creation was accomplished and his works made perfect The Fathers heereupon observe and the note is handsome that the name of GOD is absolute essential and coeternal with the Deitie but that of IEHOVAH or the Lord not used except in reference to the creature And it is noted by Tertullian in his Book against Hermogenes that in the first of Genesis it is often said Deus dixit Deus vidit Deus fecit God said and God saw and God created But that he was not called the Lord by the name of IEHOVAH till the second Chapter when he had finished all his works the Heaven and Earth and all things in the same contained and that there was some creature framed on which to exercise his Power and Supreme command Ex quo creata sunt in quae potestas ejus ageret ex eo factus est dictus DOMINVS for by the word Dominus do the Latines render
for God had sent him into Egypt before hand for their preservation So also in the case of our blessed Saviour of whom Ioseph was a Type or figure the Lord determined out of his counsel and fore-knowledge as St. Peter telleth us that he should be the Propitiation for the sins of the world and in due time he made the avarice of Iudas and the malice of the Scribes and Pharisees his means and instruments that by their wicked hands and obdurate hearts he might be crucified and slain So used he the ambition of the Kings of Babylon to punish and chastise his people of the house of Iudah and the desire of glory which he found in Titus for the subversion of that wicked and perverse generation who had not only made themselves drunk with the bloud of the Prophets but against all rules of Law and Iustice had filled themselves with the bloud of the Son of God Thus when he had a minde to assay Iobs patience he used the Chaldees and wilde Arabs who did trade in theevery to fall upon the heards of his Kine and Camels and was content the Devil should try some experiments on his body also to leave the fairer pattern of unconquered patience for the times to come And though in these and other occasions of this nature he make use of the wicked to effect his purposes yet he rewardeth them answerably to their deservings proportioning their Wages to their own intentions and not according unto that effect which he works out of them Recipient vero non pro eo quod Deus bene usus est eorum operibus malis sed quod ipsi male usi sunt Dei operibus bonis said Fulgentius truly And though some of them have the hap or the seeming happiness to go down into the grave in peace and carry the reputation with them of successeful wickedness yet God will finde them out at last and meet with these sowre grapes in his general Vintage and tread them in the Wine-press of his indignation And to say truth there are as great and weighty reasons why some mens punishments should follow after them as that the rest should have a triall and essay of their future miseries by those which they endure in this present life For as St. Augustine well observeth if all mens sins were punished in this present world Nihil ultimo judicio reservari putaretur it would occasion some to think that there were no necessity nor use of the general judgement and on the other side if none Nulla esse divina providentia crederetur others would be too apt to think that there were no Providence and say with him in Davids Psalms Tush God doth not see it God therefore doth so order the affairs of this present life as may be most subservient unto that to come not giving such success to the prayers of his servants as they think most conducible unto their estates but as he thinks most expedient for them in reference to a better life then what here they have And if he do not always give the victory to the justest cause but that the good man may complain as once Cato did Victrix causa placet superis sed victa Catoni that the worst cause sped best in the chance of war that also is a special testimony of his heavenly Providence For either they which seem to have the justest cause may manage it by wicked and ungodly instruments or else relye too much on the Arm of flesh or God may possibly foresee that they will use the Victory unto his dishonour or grow secure and negligent of all pious duties upon the strength of that success In all which cases if God give them over to the hands of their enemies they have no reason to complain of Almighty God as if he either were not just in his distributions or that his Providence were asleep or too highly busied to look upon such passages as are here beneath God doth that which is most agreeable to his heavenly justice in punishing the sins of those whom he loves most tenderly with some temporal punishments that they may scape the wrath of the day to come and lets the wicked man go on with success and glory until he hath made up the measure of his sins and wickednesses and so is fitted and prepared for the day of slaughter But of this Argument it is enough to have said a little the Providence of God in governing the affaires of the present world being a point so generally granted by the sober Heathens that Aristotle being asked what answer should be given to those who made question of it is said to have replyed The whip His meaning was that they who ware so irreligious as to make any doubt of Gods heavenly providence were rather to be answered with stripes then with demonstrations And with this resolution I conclude this Chapter and the point together CHAP. V. Of the Creation of Angels the ministry and office of the good the fall and punishment of the evill Angels And also of the Creation and fall of Man OF the Creation of the World we have spoken before and are now come to speak of the creation of Angels and Men as the more noble parts thereof These though included in those words of Heaven and Earth according as they stand in the Creed are more significantly expressed by the Nicene Fathers who to those words of Heaven and Earth have added as by way of Glosse or Commentary and of all things visible and invisible That under the notion of things visible they intended Man as well as any other visible work of the whole Creation is a thing past question And that by things invisible they did mean the Angels will prove to be as clear as that and testifyed by St. Paul expressely saying that By him all things were created whether in Heaven or Earth visible or invisible whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers all things were created by him and for him In which we have not only the Apostles testimony that by the things invisible are meant the Angels but an enumeration of the severall rankes and degrees of Angels which were created by the power of the Lord our God Of these degrees and ranks we shall speak anon having prepared our way unto that discourse by taking first a short survey of the angelical nature For the quid nominis to begin first with that it is meerly Greek and English word Angel and the Latine Angelus being the same in sound and sense with the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that derived from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nuntio which is to carry a message or to go of an errand Angelus then is no more then nuncius an Angel but a messenger in our English language And so it it expressed by Lactantius saying Habe◠enim Ministros quos vocamus nuncios This as it notifyeth their name and the reason of
of mankinde and a necessity was laid upon them to obey his pleasure Nec quicquam est in Angelis nisi parendi necessitas said Lactantius truly And so far we have all things clear from the holy Scriptures But if we will beleeve the learned as I think we may there is no signal punishment of ungodly people ascribed to God in the old Testament but what was executed by the ministry of these blessed spirits except some other means and ministers be expresly named That great and universal deluge in the time of Noah was questionless the work of Almighty God I even I do bring a flood of waters upon the Earth Gen. 6.17 But this was done by the ministery and service of the holy Angels Ministerio Angelorum saith Torniellus whom he employed in breaking up the fountaines of the great deep and opening the cataracts of Heaven for the destruction of that wicked unrepenting people Thus when it is affirmed in the 14. of Exodus that the Lord looked into the hoste of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and overthrew them in the midst of the Sea v. 24.27 Non intelligendum est de Deo sed de Angelo qui erat in nube we must not understand it of the Lord himself as Tostatus hath it but only of the Angel or ministring spirit of whose being in the cloud we had heard before And when we read that in the battail of the five Kings against the Israelites the Lord cast down great stones upon them from Heaven Iosh. 10. it is not to be thought saith he Quod Deus mitteret sed Angelus jubente Deo that this was done by Gods own hand but by the holy Angels at the Lords appointment The like may be affirmed of those other acts of power and punishment whereof we finde such frequent mention in the book of God which though they be ascribed to God as the principall Agent yet were they generally effected by his holy Angels as the means and instruments But the most proper office of the holy Angels is not for punishment but preservation not for correction of the wicked but for protection of the just and righteous person That 's the chief part of their imployment the office which they most delight in and God accordingly both hath and doeth employ them so from time to time For by the ministery of his Angels did he deliver Ismael from the extremity of thirst Daniel from the fury of hunger Lot from the fire and trembling Isaac from the sword our infant Saviour from one Herod his chief Apostle from another all of them from that common prison into the which they had been cast by the Priests and Pharisees But these were only personal and particular graces Look we on such as were more publick on such as did concern his whole people generally and we shall finde an Angel of he Lord incamping between the hoste of Egypt and the house of Israel to make good the passage at their backs till they were gotten on the other side of the Sea another Angel marching in the front of their Armies as soon as they had entred the land of Canaan and he the Captain of the Lords hostes Princeps exercituum Dei as the vulgar readeth it but whether Michael Gabriel or who else it was the Rabbins may dispute at leasure and to them I leave it Moreover that wall of waters which they had upon each side of them when they passed thorow the Sea as upon dry ground facta est a Deo per Angelos exequentes that was the work of Angels also directed and imployed by Almighty God as the learned Abulensis notets it Which also is affirmed by the Iewish Doctors of the dividing of the waters of Iordan to make the like safe passage for them into the promised land the land of Canaan The like saith Peter Martyr a learned Protestant touching the raysing of the Syrians from before Samaria when the Lord made them hear the noise of Cariots and the noise of horse-men that it was ministerio Angelorum effected by the ministery of the holy Angels whom God imployed in saving that distressed people from the hands of their enemies And by an Angel or at least an angelical vision 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by a dream or Oracle delivered to them in their sleep as Eusebius telleth us did he forwarne the Christians dwelling in the land of Palestine to remove thence to Pella a small town of Syria and so preserved them from the spoyle and fury of the Roman Armies This was Gods way of preservation in the times before us and it is his way of preservation in all ages since GOD is the same God now as then his holy Angels no lesse diligent in their attendance on us then they have been formerly Let us but make our selves by our faith and piety worthy to be accounted the Sons of God and the heires of salvation and doubt we not of the assistance of these ministring spirits in all essaies of personall or publick dangers T is true the apparitions of the Angels in these late times have been very rare not many instances to be found in our choycest Histories But then it is as true withall one of the most eternall truths of holy Scripture that the Angel of the Lord encampeth about all them that fear him and delivereth them Whether we see or see them not it comes all to one and so resolved by Clemens of Alexandria an old Christian writer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Lord saith he doth still preserve us by the ministery of his holy Angels though we behold them not in any visible shape as the antients did And to say truth this general protection of the Angels is a point so clear so undeniable in true Divinity that he must needs renounce the Scripture which makes question of it Some difference indeed hath been about Angel-gardians and the particular protection which we have from them to whom God hath committed the tuition of our severall persons And yet even this if we make Scripture to be judge according to the exposition of the antient Writers will prove a point as clear and as undeniable as that of the protection which we have in general For Origen who lived in the third century from our Saviours birth reckoneth it for a tenet of undoubted truth and generally imbraced in the Christian Church long before his time that all Gods children from their birth or at least their Baptisme had their angel-keepers Lactantius speaks more generally as of all mankind Ad tutelam generis humani misit Angelos though possibly he might mean no otherwise then did the other Catholick writers of the times he lived in and those who followed close in the age succeeding St. Basil in Psal. 33. and Psal. 58. St. Chrysost. on the 18. of Matthew The Authour of the Imperfect work Hom. 40. Theodoret in l. 5. divinorum Decretorum do
or bad The ill successe that followed the young Prodigals journey was no part of his fathers purpose of his will and absolute decree much lesse no nor so much as to be ascribed unto his permission which was but causa sine qua non as the Schooles call it if it were so much Only it gave the Father such an opportunity as Adams fall did GOD in the present case of entertaining him with joy at his coming home and killing the faâ—ted Calfe for his better welcome T is true that God to whose eternal eye all things are present and fore-seen as if done already did perfectly fore-know to what unhappy end this poor man would come how far he would abuse that natural liberty wherewith he had endowed him at his first Creation Praescivit peccaturum sed non praedestinavit ad peccatum said Fulgentius truly And upon this fore-knowledge what would follow on it he did withall provide such a soveraign remedy as should restore collapsed man to his primitive hopes of living in Gods fear departing hence in his favour and coming through faith in Christ unto life eternall if he were not wanting to himself in the Application For this is a faithfull saying and worthy of all acceptation that CHRIST IESVS came into the World to save sinners of whom every man may say as St. Paul once did that he is the chief And it is as worthy of acceptance which came though from the same Spirit from a worthier person that God so loved the World the whole world of mankinde that He sent his only begouten Son into the World to the intent that whosoever did believe in him should live though he dyed and whosoever liveth and believeth in him should not die for ever but have as in another place everlasting life But what it is to believe in him and what a Christian man is bound to believe of him as it is all the subject of the six next Articles so must it be the argument of another book this touching our belief in God the Father Almighty Maker of Heaven and Earth and all things therein with most of the material points which depend upon it beginning now to draw to a final period Chap. VI. What Faith it was which was required for Justification before and under the Law Of the knowledge which the Patriarchs and Prophets had touching Christ to come Touching the Sacrifices of the Jews the Salvation of the Gentiles and the Justifying power of Faith ANd yet before we pass to the following Articles there are some points to be disputed in reference to the several estates of the Church of God as it stood heretofore under the Law and since under the Gospel the influence which Faith had in their justification and the condition of those people which were Aliens to the law of Moses before Christs coming in the flesh For being that the Patriarchs before the time of Moses and those holy men of God that lived after him till the coming of Christ had not so clear and explicite a knowledge of the particulars of the Creed which concern our Saviour or the condition of the holy Catholick Church and the Members of it as hath been since revealed in the writings of the Evangelists and Apostles it cannot be supposed that they should have universally the same object of faith which we Christians have or were bound to believe all those things distinctly touching Christ our Saviour and the benefits by him redounding to the sons of men which all Christians must believe if they will be saved And then considering that there is almost nothing contained in Scripture touching God the Father his Divine Power and Attributes the making and government of the World and all things therein which was to be believed by those of the line of Abraham but what hath been avowed and testified by the learned Gentiles it will not be unworthy of our disquisition to see wherein the differences and advantages lay which the Patriarchs and those of Iudah had above the Nations or whether the same light of truth did not shine on both through divers Mediums for the better fitting and preparing of both people to receive the Gospel In sifting and discussing of which principal points we shall consider what it is in faith it self which is said to justifie of what effect the Sacrifices both before and under the Law were to the satisfying of Gods wrath and expiating of the sins of the people by whom they were offered to the Lord and the relation which they had to the death of Christ the Lamb of God which takes away the sins of the world and finally what is to be conceived of those eminent men amongst the Gentiles who not extinguishing that light of nature which was planted in them but regulating all their actions by the beams thereof came to be very eminent in all kindes of learning and in the exercise of Iustice Temperance Mercy Fortitude and other Acts of Moral vertue Some other things will fall in incidently on the by which need not be presented in this general view And the mature consideration of all these particulars I have reserved unto this place that being situate in the midst between the Faith we have in God the Father Almighty and the belief required of us in his Son Christ Iesus it may either serve for an Appendix to the former part or a Preamble to the second or be in stead of a bond or ligament for knitting all the joints of this body together in the stronger coherence of discourse And first Faith being as appeareth by the definition before delivered a firm assent to supernatural truths revealed we cannot but conceive in reason that the Object of it is to be commensurable to the proportion and degree of the Revelation For as our Saviour said in another case that to whom much is given of him the more shall be required so may we also say in this that to whom more divine supernatural truths have been revealed of him there is a greater measure of belief expected Till the unhappy fall of Adam there was no faith required but in God alone For without faith it is impossible to please God saith the Apostle which Adam by the Law of his Creation was obliged to endeavour Nor could he come before the Lord or seek for the continuance of his grace and favours had he not first been fitted and prepared by faith For he that cometh unto God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him as in the same text saith the same Apostle Which words we may not understand of Faith in Christ at least not primarily with respect to Adam of whom such faith was not required in the state of Innocency for where there was no sin there was no need of a Saviour but only of a faith in Almighty God the stedfast confession and acknowledgement of whose beeing and bounty was to speak
by him suffered the generality of them at the least to walke in their own wayes and fulfill those lusts to which they naturally were addicted And some there were who by conforming of their lives to the Law of nature and cherishing those good motions which they felt within them attained unto so clear a knowledge of the nature of God and such an eminent height in all moral vertue that greater was not be found amongst those of Israel For what could any Iew say more of the nature of God his divine Attributes his Power and Providence the making of all things out of nothing by Gods mighty hand and the sustaining of the same by his infinite wisdome then we have formerly declared to have been believed by the most knowing men amongst the Heathens whom they called Philosophers Insomuch as we may justly think as Octavius did Aut nunc Christianos Philosophos esse aut Philosophos jam tunc fuisse Christianos that in this point Philosopher and Christian had been termes convertible Nor did they rest themselves contented with that general knowledge of his eternal Power and Godhead which they had studied and found out in the book of nature but they knew also very well that God was to be worshipped by them in their best devotions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the first place to worship God is one of the first counsels in the Grecian Oratour And it was Catos first rule which we learnt at School that God being as he is a Spirit is to be worshipped by us with spiritual purity Si Deus est animus nobis ut carmina dicunt Hic tibi praecipue sit pura mente eolendus Which may be Englished in these words If God as Poets say a Spirit be Then with pure minde let him be serv'd by thee Which principle of natural piety being planted in them there is no point of reverence whatsoever it be either required of or practised by the people of God in his outward worship which was not punctually performed by the antient Gentiles Of Solomon it is said in the book of Kings that when he had made an end of praying all his prayers and supplication to the Lord he rose from before the Altar of the Lorld from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread up unto the heavens Where we finde kâ—eeling on the knees and lifting up of the hands to be the usuall as indeed the fittest posture in the act of prayer Finde we not that the Gentiles did observe the same and went as far as Solomon if not beyond him First for the lifting up of hands we finde in Homer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Virgil Duplices tendens ad sydera palmas in Ovid Vtraque Coelo brachia porrexit and finally Tendere palmas ad delubra deum in an old Latine Poet cited by Lactantius And as for kneeling on their knees they so little scrupled it that they conceived themselves not to do enough in the adoring of their Gods unlesse they flung themselves prostrate on the ground before them Of which Ovid thus speaking of Deucalion and Pyrrha Vt Templi tetigere gradus procumbit uterque Pronus humi gelidoque pavens dedit oscula saxo Which is thus Englished by G. Sandys Then humbly on their faces prostrate laid And kissing the cold stones with fear thus prai'd The like may be affirmed of lifting up the eye to the throne of grace when we petition God for his mercies towards us Which as it is exemplifyed in that of David Early in the morning will I direct my prayer to thee and will look up so do we finde it parralleled in that of Virgil Illi ad surgentis conversi limina solis which if it rather seem to speak of turning to the East in the act of prayer then of lifting up the eyes to heaven let us take that of Ovid which is plain enough where speaking of poor Io and her prayers to Iupiter he saith that she looked up to Heaven tendens ad sydera vultus when she made her prayers And lest it should be thought as perhaps some will be apt to think that they stood more upon the outward reverence of the body then the inward purity of the soul in the act of worship remember Catos pura mente which before we had And add to that the memorable saying of the wiseman Socrates that God regardeth not so much the perfumes which were used in sacrifices as the souls and virtues of mortal men or that of Persius one of the Latine Poets who doth require that in all their addresses to the Gods they should be sure to take along with them Compositum jus fasque animi sanctosque recessus Mentis i. e. a soul replenished with righteousness and religious thoughts Upon which words Lactantius who doth cite them giveth this glosse or descant Sentiebat non carne opus esse ad placandam coelestem Majestatem sed mente sancta that he conceived the sanctity of the minde to be more necessary for the appeasing of the Gods then any service of the body But being that these applications and addresses howsoever qualifyed were made to those that were no Gods they cannot scape the censure which St. Paul gives of them that knowing God they worshipped him not as God but became vain in their imaginations changing the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man and to birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things The like may also be affirmed of those frequent sacrifices wherewith they sought to expiate their offences and appease the anger of their Gods The rites and reason of the which they received from Noah and not from any diabolicall suggestion as some men conceive as Noah had them by tradition from the elder Patriarchs For being well enough perswaded that the Gods were much offended at the sins of men and finding many terrible effects of divine vengeance to pursue them they could not better study their own indemnity then to have recourse unto those sacrifices which had been found effectual in the former times for the appeasing of Gods anger and expiating those offences which they had committed Examples of this kinde in all antient Authors Greek and Latine are obvious to the eye of every reader T is true the Devil did maliciously pervert this Institution and caused it in tract of time to be so altered in the object that in stead of being offered to the God of Heaven they sacrificed to Idols made of silver and gold even the work of mens hands worshipping and serving the creature more then the Creatour as St. Paul saith of them whereby the truth of God was changed into a lie and that which first was instituted for a Propitiation became to them a manifest occasion of falling into greater and more hainous sin And it is also true that the Devil not content with this first imposture in drawing to himself
look to finde it in any writings or records of the antient Gentiles So that we may affirme of the knowledge of CHRIST as Lactantiuss did in generall of the ttue Religion Nondum fas esse alienigenis hominibus Religionem Dei veri justitiamque cognoscere the time was not yet come in which the Gentiles should be made acquainted with those heavenly mysteries which did concern the Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour T is true the Sibylline Oracles cited by Lactantius and others of great eminence in the Primitive times speak very clearly in some things concerning the life and death of CHRIST in so much that they seem rather written in the way of History then in that of Prophesie And though the learned Casaubon and others of our great Philologers conceive them to be pious fraudes composed of purpose by some Christians of the elder ages and added as a supplement to the true Originals the better to win credit to the faith of CHRIST yet dare I not so far disparage those good Catholick writers as to believe they would support so strong an edifice with so weak a prop or borrow help from falshood to evict the truth Or if they durst have been so venturous how easie had it been for their learned Adversaries Porphyrie Iulian and the rest of more eminent note to have detected the Imposture and silenced the Christian Advocates with reproach enough Letting this therefore go for granted as I think I may that the Sibylline Oracles are truly cited by the Fathers and that they do contain most things which hapned to our Saviour in his life and death yet could this give but little light to the Heathen people touching CHRIST to come because they were not suffered to be extant publickly and consequently came not to the knowledge of the learned Gentiles till by the care and diligence of the Christian Writers they were after published For so exceeding coy were the antient Romans of suffering the Sibyls or their works to go abroad having got into their hands the best copies of them that those times afforded that they commanded them to be kept closely in the Capitol under the care and charge of particular Officers whom from the number of fifteen for so many they were they called Quindecemviri and to whom only it was lawful to consult their papers Nec eos ab ullo nisi a Quindecemviris fâ—s est inspici as Lactantius notes it very truly And it is also very true that many of the antient and most learned Grecians had a confused notice of a second Deity whom they called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Word making him aiding and subservient to Almighty God in the Creation of the world and therefore giving him the attribute of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the worlds Creator The several testimonies to this purpose he that lists to see may finde them mustered up together in that laborious work of the Lord du Plessis entituled De veritate Religionis Christianae cap. 6. So frequently occurs this notion in the old Philosophers especially in those of the School of Plato that Porphyrie an Apostate Christian and a Platonick in the course of his sect and studies blasphemously averred that St. Iohn had stollen the first words of his Gospel viz. In the beginning was the Word c. from his Master Plato And though the affirmation of that vile Apostata intended only the disgrace of the holy Evangelist and of the Gospel by him written for the use of the Church yet had it been a truth as indeed it was not it could have been no greater a disparagement to St. Iohn to borrow an expression from a Greek Philosopher then to St. Paul to use the very words of three Grecian Poets But the truth is that both St. Iohn and the Platonicks together with the rest of those old Heroes borrowed the notion from the Doctors of the Iewish Nation as Maldonate hath proved at large in his Comment on that Text of the blessed Evangelist who withal gives it for the reason why S. Iohn made choyce rather of this notion then of any other in the front or entrance of his Gospel because it was so known and acceptable both to Iew and Gentile Philosophos non dubium est ab antiquis Hebraeis hausisse sententiam vocabulum accepisse Proinde voluit Johannes accommodate ad usum loqui saith the learned Iesuite But then withall we must observe that though we finde such frequent mention of the Word or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the writings of the antient Gentiles yet finde we almost nothing of him but the name or notion nothing that doth relate to the salvation of man the taking of our nature upon him or being made a propitiation for the sins of mankinde That as before I noted was a secret mysterie not to be manifested to the sons of the Gentiles till CHRIST himself was come to make one of both and call them to the knowledge of his grace and faith in him Being so called they were no longer to be differenced by the name of Gentiles but fellow-heirs and of the same body whereof CHRIST is Head and as the members of that body to joyn in the Confession of the self same faith not only as to God the Father in the acknowledgement of which Article all the Nations meet but as unto his only Son IESVS CHRIST our Lord from whence the faith hath properly the name of Christian. Now that which we believe touching CHRIST our Saviour and is to be the argument of this present Book is thus delivered by the pen of our Reverend Iewell in the name and for the use and edification of the Church of England Credimus Jesum Christum filium unicum aeterni patris c. i. e. We believe that IESVS CHRIST the only Son of the eternal Father as it had been determined before all beginnings when the fulness of time was come did take of that blessed and pure Virgin both flesh and all the nature of man that he might declare unto the world the secret and hidden will of his Father and that he might fulfil in his humane body the Mysterie of our Redemption and might fasten our sins unto the Cross and blot out that hand-writing which was against us We believe that for our sakes he dyed and was buryed descended into Hell and the third day by the power of his God-head rose again to life and that the fortieth day after his Resurrection whiâ—est his Disciples looked on he ascended into Heaven to fulfil all things and did place in Majesty and glory the self same body wherewith he was born in which he lived upon the earth in which he was scornfully derided and suffered most painful torments and a cruel death and finally in which he rose again from the dead and ascended to the right hand of the Father above all principalities and powers and might and dominion that there he
least some secret influence in the work if not a publick and Oracular admonition And that it was not done but upon serious consultation had amongst themselves and a devout invocation of the name of God the greatness of the business the piety of the first Professors and other good authorities do most strongly assure For if upon the naming of Iohn the Baptist there was not only a consultation held by the friends and mother but the dumb father called to advise about it and if we use not to admit the poorest childe of the parish into the Congregation of Christs Church by the dore of Baptism but by joint invocation of the Name of God for his blessings in it with how much more regard of ceremony and solemnity may we conceive that the whole body of Christs people were baptized into the name of Christians But besides this we have an evidence or record sufficient to confirm the truth of our affirmation For Suidas and before him Iohannes Antiochenus an old Cosmographer first tels us that in the reign of Claudius Caesar ten years after the Ascension of our Lord into Heaven Euodius received Episcopal consecration and was made Patriarch of Antioch the great in Syria succeeding immediately to St. Peter the Apostle And then he addes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. i. e. And at this time the Disciples were first called Christians Euodius calling them to a solemn conference and putting this new name upon them For before they were called Nazarites and Galileans Some of the Heathens not knowing the Etymon of the name called them Chrestiant and our most blessed Saviour by the name of Chrestos For thus Tertullian of the Christians perperam a vobis Christianus appellatur and thus Lactantius for our Saviour qui eum immutata litera 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 solent dicere But this was only on mistake not on studyed malice Et propter ignorantium errorem as Lactantius hath it the very name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Chrestianus intimating nothing else but meekness and sweetness as Tertullian very well observeth And though Suetonius following the errours of the times calleth our Saviour CHRIST by the name of Chrestos yet Tacitus who lived in the same age with him hits right as well on Christus as on Christianus Quos vulgo Chrestianos appellabat And then he addeth Auctor nominis ejus Christus qui Tiberio imperitante per Procuratorem Pontium Pilatum supplicio affectus erat Having thus rectified the name and asserted it to its true Original we may do well to have a care that we disgrace not the dignity of so high a calling by the unworthiness and uncleanness of our lives and actions In nobis patitur Christus opprobrium in nobis patitur lex Christiana maledictum that Christ and Christianity were ill spoken of by reason of the wicked lives of Christian people was the complaint of Salvians time God grant it be not so in ours And God grant too that as we take our name from CHRIST so the like minde may be in us as was also in him that is to say that we be as willing to lay down our lives for the brethren especially in giving testimony to his Faith and Gospel as he was willing to lay down his life for us and that as his Fathers love to him brought forth in him the like affections towards us and to his Commandements so his affection unto us may work in us the like love towards our brethren and to all his precepts For hereby shall men know we are his Disciples if we abide in his love and keep his Commandements as he hath kept his Fathers Commandements and abide in his love But see how I am carried to these practical matters if not against my will yet besides my purpose I proceed now to that which followeth ARTICVLI 3. Pars 2da 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Filium ejus unicum Dominum nostrum i. e. His only Son our Lord. CHAP. II. That JESUS CHRIST is the Son of God why called his only or his only begotten Son Proofs for the God-head of our Saviour Of the title of Lord. THat which next followeth is the first of those two Relations in which we do behold our Saviour in this present Article his only Son i. e. the only Son of God the Father Almighty whom we found spoken of before That God had other sons in another sense there is no question to be made All mankinde in some sense may be called his sons The workmanship of his creation Have we not all one Father hath not one God created us saith the Prophet Malachi in the Old Testament Our Father which art in Heaven saith Christ our Saviour for the New The Saints and holy men of God are called his sons also in the more peculiar title of adoption For who else were the sons of God in the 6. of Genesis who are said to take them wives of the daughters of men but the posterity of Seth the righteous seed by and amongst whom hitherto the true worship of the Lord had been preserved More clearly the Evangelist in the holy Gospel To as many as received him gave he power to become the sons of God even to them which believed in his Name Most plainly the Apostle saying As many as are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God having received the Spirit of Adoption whereby they cry to him Abba Father And in this sense must we understand those passages of holy Scripture where such as are regenerate and made the children of God by adoption of grace are said to be born of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Iohns phrase is both in his Gospel and Epistle Not that they have the Lord God for their natural Father for so he is the Father only of our Lord Iesus Christ but because being begotten by immortal seed the seed of his most holy Word they are regenerate and born again unto life eternal This is the seed of God spoken of by St. Iohn which remaineth in us by which we are begotten to an inheritance immortal undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved for us in the Heavens as St. Peter tels us In neither of these two respects can we consider Christ as the Son of God For if he were the Son of God in no other respect then either in regard of Creation or Adoption only he could not possibly be called Gods only Son or his only begotten Son but at the best multis e millibus unus one of the many thousands of the sons of God There is a more particular title by which some more selected vessels both of grace and glory have gained the honourable appellation of the sons of God that is to say by being admitted to a clearer participation and fruition of eternal blisse or made more intimately acquainted with his secret will In the
on Penelope by Mercury And is it not recorded in their most authentick Histories that Romulus the first King and founder of Rome was begotten by Mars upon the body of Rhea a Vestal Virgin Romulus a Marte genttus Rhea Silvia as Florus summarily reports it Had not the Lusitanians a race of Horses which they believed to be engendred by the winde the fancy growing from the knowledge of their excellent swiftness At this Lactantius toucheth in his Book of Institutes and makes it a convincing Argument in this case against the Gentiles who might as easily believe the miracle of the incarnation as give faith to that Quod si animalia quaedam vento aura concipere solere omnibus notum est cur quisquam mirum putet cum Spiritu Dei cui est facile quicquid velit gravatam Virginem esse dicimus No question but the Spirit of God might be conceived as operative as the winde or ayr But leaving these Romances of the antient Heathens though arguments good enough ad homines and beyond that they are not meant let us next look a while on the blessed Virgin who questionless did somewhat to advance the work and left it not wholly to the managing of the holy Ghost But what she did was rather from the strength of faith then nature For had she not believed she had never conceived And thereupon it is resolved by St. Augustine rightly Feliciorem Mariam esse percipiendo fidem Christi quam concipiendo carnem Christi that she was happier by believing then she was by conceiving though in that too pronounced the most blessed amongst women Now in the strengthning of this faith many things concurred as the authority of the Messenger who coming from the God of truth could not tell a lye the general expectation which the Iews had about this time of the Messiahs near approach the argument used by the Angel touching Gods Omnipotence with whom nothing was said to be impossible and so not this the instance of a like miracle wrought upon Elizabeth the wife of Zachary almost as old but altogether in the same case with Sarah who had conceived a son in her old age beyond the ordinary course of nature And to say truth these arguments were but necessary to beget belief to so great a miracle to which no former age could afford a parallel though that of Sarah came most nigh it And if that Sarah thought it such a matter of impossibility then to conceive and bear a son when it only ceased to be with her after the manner of women as the Text tels us that she did how much more justly might the Virgin think it an impossible thing for her to be conceived with childe and bring forth a Son and yet continue still a Virgin But at the last the strength of faith overcame all difficulties and by the chearfulness of her obedience she made a way for this great blessing which was coming towards her Behold the handmaid of the Lord Be it to me according unto thy word Which whether they were words of wishing that so it might be as St. Ambrose Venerable Beda and Euthymius think or of consent that so it should be as Ireneus and Damascen are of opinion certain it is that on the speaking of those words she did conceive Coelestial seed and in due time brought forth her Saviour As is affirmed by Irenaeus l. 1. c. 33. Tertullian in his book De Carne Christi Athanasius in his Oration De Sancta Deipara and divers others A work as of great efficacy unto our Salvation so of especial esteem in the Christian Church the day whereof called usually the Feast of the Annuntiation hath anciently been observed as an holy Festival as appears by several Homilies made upon this subject by Gregory surnamed Thaumaturgus who lived in the year 230. and that of Athanasius in the time of Constantine A day of such high esteem amongst us in England that we begin our year from thence both in the vulgar estimate and all publick Instruments though in our Kalenders we begin with the first of Ianuary according to the custome of the antient Romans But here it may be asked why CHRIST should not be called the Son of the holy Ghost according to his humane nature considering that not St. Luke only ascribeth unto him the work of the Incarnation under the title of an overshadowing but that it is affirmed by St. Matthew in tearms more express that she the blessed Virgin Mother was found to be with child of the holy Ghost And he by whom a woman is conceived with childe is properly and naturally though not always legally for Pater est quem nuptiae demonstrant as the Lawyers tell us the right Father of it A consideration which prevailed so far with some of St. Hieromes time that they began to stumble upon this opinion but with no better reason in true Divinity then Christ may be affirmed to be the Father Almighty intended in the former Articles because creation is the work of the Father Almighty and it is written by St. Iohn that by him that is to say the Son all things were made For all things were so made by the Word as the Word was made flesh or incarnate by the holy Ghost God I mean God the first Person here as generally the Scripture doth where it speaks of God without limitation or restrictions acting by them those two great works which in the holy Text are to them ascribed yet by them not as Ministers subservient to him but co-working with him God saith St. Paul hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son whom he appointed heir of all things by whom also he made the Worlds God made the world though he made it by his Son to the end that all things being created by him might be also for him And so 't is also in the work of the incarnation God by his Spirit fructifying the Virgins womb and sanctifying the materials with which the Word which in the beginning was with God was to be invested to the intent that the Spirit might bear witness to us that he was the beloved Son of God in whom his Father was well pleased And yet there is another reason why he should rather be called the Son of God then of the holy Ghost because he had a pre-existence before he was incarnate in the Virgins womb as he was the Word the Word which in the beginning was not only with God but was also God by an unspeakable way of emanation from the Father only as the Word is first conceived in the minde of man before it be uttered by the voyce For as the Son is to the Father so is the Word to the Minde The Son proles parentis the Word proles mentis saith the learned Andrews God therefore being an eternal everlasting Minde did before all beginnings of time produce the Word
by which in the beginning of time all things were created By consequence when the Word was pleased to be incarnate or to be made flesh in St. Iohns own language the person thus made Christ of the Word and flesh though he was incorporated into this flesh by the powerful influence and operation of the holy Ghost was properly to be called the Son of God in whom and of whom only he before existed the holy Ghost not being the Author of any new Person but only betroathing to the Word the humane nature of CHRIST which had no actual existence before those Espousals I know I cannot speak too reverently of so great a mysterie or think too worthily of that wonderful and miraculous Act of the Incarnation or Conception of our blessed Saviour And yet I doubt that some by thinking that he was not formed and fashioned in his Mothers womb by those gradations to perfection which are necessary to all natural births but make his body to be perfected all at once in the very moment of his Conception and at that instant the reasonable soul to be actually infused into it do unawares deprive him of a great deal of honour which his humiliation to our nature did confer upon him Of this minde is Maldonate for one whose words take here together for our more assurance Alios paulatim sensimque in utero formari antequam Corpusculâ—m animetur Christi vero corpus eodem momento quo conceptum est formari animatum fuisse Which were it so our Saviour CHRIST had not in all things been made like unto us contrary to the express words of holy Scripture nor needed to have lien so long time in his Mothers womb his body being compleatly formed and animated in the first conception But I believe the Iesuite had a further aim in it then he pleased to discover And possibly it might be an ingenuous fear of arrogating or ascribing more to a common Priest then had been granted to be done by the holy Ghost For needs it must seem harsh to most Popish ears that the Body of CHRIST should be nine moneths in forming in his mothers womb though supernaturally conceived by the Divine power and influence of the holy Ghost and yet upon the Priests saying Hoc est Corpus meum the self same body and soul with his Divinity and all into the bargain should instantly be made of a piece of bread without expecting nine minutes for so great a miracle Most happy men who come so nere the power and Majesty of Almighty God and the prerogatives of CHRIST that as the one could have raised children out of stones to Abraham and the other command stones to be made bread so they can out of bread raise a Son to God and not a son to God only but even God the Son which is more then was I dare not say or could be done by the holy Ghost whose part in this great work we have spoke of hitherto ARTICVLI 4. Pars 2da 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Natus ex Virgine Maria. i. e. Born of the Virgin Mary CHAP. IV. Of the birth of CHRIST The feast of his Nativity Why born of a Virgin The Prophecie of Isaiah The Parentage and priviledge of the Blessed Virgin PRoceed we to the second branch of this present Article from the Conception to the Birth of our Lord and Saviour the most materiall part to us of the whole mysterie It had been little to our comfort though much unto the honour of our humane nature had the WORD been only made flesh and with that flesh ascended presently into heaven and had not dwelt amongst us and shewn forth his glory as the glory of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth It was not Gods being in the flesh but his being manifested in the flesh which St. Paul cals 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the great mysterie of Godlinesse For without that although he might have been seen of Angels yet had he not been preached unto the Gentiles nor been believed on in the world as the Saviour of it The end of his taking on himself our flesh was to save poor man For this is an acceptable saying as St. Paul hath told us that JESUS CHRIST came into the world to save sinners and come into the world he could not in the sense he speaks of but by being born I know some thinke that though ADAM had never sinned yet it had been necessary for the exaltation of humane nature that the WORD should have been made man and Bonaventure doth approve it as a Catholick opinion and consonant to natural reason But howsoever it may seem in his judgment to agree with reason assuredly it is more agreeable to the piety and analogie of faith that the Son of God had never appeared in our flesh but for the delivery of mankinde from sin and misery neither the Scripture nor the Fathers speaking of the incarnation but with reference to mans redemption To this effect St. Augustine speaketh most divinely Si homo non periisset filius hominis non venisset nulla causa fuit Christi veniendi nisi peccatores salvos facere Tolle morbos tolle vulnera et nulla est medicinae causa That is to say If man had not perished the son of man had not come for therefore came the son of man to save that which was lost there being no other cause of Christs coming but the salvation of sinners Take away diseases and wounds from man and what need is there of a Physitian So that resolving with the Scriptures and Fathers that there was no cause for the incarnation of the WORD but that he should be born for our redemption let us proceed therein with that fear and reverence which justly doth belong to so great a mysterie as the manifestation of God in the flesh is said to be by the Apostle A mysterie in which there is not any thing beneath a miracle Nor can it easily be resolved whether of the two be more full of wonder either that God the WORD should be born of Woman or born of such a woman as was a Virgin The first and greatest of the two that which indeed is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a miracle of miracles as man is somewhere called by Plato was that the word was made flesh and did receive that flesh from a mortall womb A wonder it seemed to Nicodemus that a man should be born when he was old or enter a second time into his mothers womb and be born again A greater wonder must it be for him to enter into the womb and thence to finde a passage into the world who was far older then all time and had his being when the world but began to be A greater wonder must it seem for him to take a being from a mortal creature by whom all creatures had their being and did himself create the same womb which bare him
wings that thou take no harm This was the Devils last attempt and he failed in this too our Saviour keeping still to his old ward and beating off all his blows with a Scriptum est to teach us that the Word of God is the best assurance we can have to rest our selves upon in the day of Temptation and that there is no readier way to quench the fiery darts of Satan then to be always furnished with the waters of life This done the Devil finding him impregnable and that he did but lose his labour in those vain assaults gives him over presently He left him to himself as St. Matthews tels us and thereby made that good in fact which is recorded of him by St. Iames the Apostle Resist the Devil and he will flie from you And yet he left him so as to come again He departed from him for a season as St. Luke informs us and he that goes away for a season only hath animum revertendi a purpose of returning when he sees occasion and when he meets with those occasions we shall finde him at it In the mean time there are some doubts to be resolved touching these temptations which we will first remove and then pass forwards For first a question may be made how the Devil could so suddenly take our Saviour up and set him on a pinnacle of the holy Temple being a place so remote from the heart of the Wilderness But the answer to this doubt is easie would there were no worse Read we not how a good Angel laid hold on Habacuc and took him by the hair of the head and carryed him with his dinner in a moment of time from the land of Iewrie unto Babylon And then why may we not conceive but that the Devil though an evil Angel yet an Angel might take up Christ into the ayr and carry him to the top of the Temple and arrest him there especially our Saviour making no resistance but rather giving way unto it and perhaps facilitating the attempt For that the Devil could do nothing against him without much less against his will is a truth past questioning But then there is a greater difficulty occurring in the story of the second temptation where it is said which seems impossible to be comprehended that having taken Christ unto the top of the mountain he shewed him all the Kingdomes of the world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith St. Luke in a moment of time For resolution of which doubt we must first premise that those words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we render in the English in a moment of time are a Proverbial kinde of speech as Erasmus noteth by which the Grecians use to signifie a short space of time as where Plutarch saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our whole life is but a short time and yet far longer then a moment Agreeably whereto the Translator of the Syriack doth thus read the words which Translation is of great and approved Antiquity He i. e. Satan shewed him all the Kingdomes in a very small time And this premised the doubt may easily be resolved by those two answers or by which of them the Reader pleaseth Some think that Satan gave him not a particular inspection of every place but a general direction to the coasts and parts of the earth where those Kingdomes lay the rest being supplyed by speech and not by sight and of this minde is he that made the Expositions on St. Matthew ascribed to S Chrysostom Satan saith he did not so shew those Kingdoms unto Christ that he saw the very Kingdomes themselves or the Cities people gold and silver in them but the parts of the earth in which every Kingdome and the chief City of it stood And then it followeth to the same purpose and effect which before we spake of For Satan might most directly point with his finger unto every place and then relate in words express the state and glories of each several Kingdome With whom agreeth Euthymius Zigabenus amongst the Antients and Musculus a man of no mean learning amongst later Writers Others conceive that as the Devil can transform himself into an Angel of light so he is able also to make spectres or false shews of any thing when he is suffered so to doe by Almighty God to deceive mens eyes as the Magicians of Egypt turned their rods into Serpents and changed the rivers into bloud and brought frogs upon the land of Egypt Experience of all Ages doth confirm this truth And therefore it may be believed to be no hard thing for him to frame the appearances of Kingdomes and Cities and shew the similitudes of them from every part of the earth And to this Calvin doth incline though very modestly he leaveth every man to his own opinion A most learned Prelate of our own likes a third way better and thinks that Satan might shew and Christ might see all those places themselves with all the pomps and glories of them for that Satan being an Angel had another manner of sight even in the body which he assumed then we mortals have and Christ when it pleased him could see both what and whither he would notwithstanding all impediments which were interjected as appeareth by his own words unto Nathaniel for which Nathaniel did acknowledge him for the Son of God Before Philip called thee when thou wert under the fig-tree I saw thee In such variety of Answers each of them being satisfactory to the doubt proposed and all agreeable to the analogie or rule of faith I leave the Reader to his own choyce and to rely on that which he thinks most probable And now to draw unto an end of that part of our Saviours sufferings which consisted in diversity of strong temptations although the Devil left him for a season as before was said yet he resolved within himself not to give him over but to make use of other means and try other ways for the effecting of his enterprise And to this end he seeks to tempt him to ambition by offering him the crown of his own Country in the way of a popular election working upon the common people to come and take him by force and to make him King He tempts him also to vain glory by the shouts and acclamations of the Vulgar Nec vox hominem sâ—nat Never man spake as this man speaketh He tempts him also to self-love to have a greater care of his own preservation then of doing the will of him that sent him and therein he makes use of Peter one of Christs domâ—stickâ— his principal Secretary as it were one of counsel with him And Peter in pursuance of the dangerous drift took him aside advised him to have more care of himself then so Let this be far from thee O Lord and was rejected for it in the self same termes Get behinde me Satan wherewith the very Devill was repulsed
general rule but hath some exceptions so this hath one exception and but only one there being one only place in the new Testament where Hades is translated otherwise in the vulgar Latine that namely 1 Cor. 15.55 where it is rendred mors or death Of which no reason can be given unlesse perhaps he fell upon some such Greek copies as Eusebius did wherein the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was twice repeated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. O death where is thy sting O death where is thy victory To which I do incline the rather because the reading of the Latine is exceeding antient ubi est mors aculeus tuus ubi est mors contentio tua where we finde also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. strife for victory occurring in Tertullian Cyprian and others of the antient writers So that the word Hades being used throughout the whole new Testament to signifie the place of torments and inferi or infernus by the old Latine translatour to expresse that word it must needs be that inferi and infernus throughout the Testament and with most Ecclesiastical Authors since the translating of it must signifie the self-same place which we English usually call the name of Hell These things premised we shall the better be inabled to discern what the meaning is of Christs descent into hell whether the words import any local descent or only something analogical and proportionable to it That the Apostles and Evangelists did first commit the sacred monuments of the faith which they left behind them to the Greek tongue as being then of an extent more universall then that of the Romans and the Iews is a thing past question unlesse perhaps St. Matthews Gospel was first written in the Hebrew language as St. Ierome and some other learned men have been of opinion And therefore it is more then probable that they delivered this brief Abstract of the Christian faith which we call the Creed in the same tongue also in which they did communicate those Oracles of eternal life Which granted as I think no question will be made thereof what else can follow thereupon but that the word Hades in the Creed must be taken in the self-same sense in which we finde it generally used not one place excepted in the whole new Testament those very men whose writings make up a great part of the said new Testament contributing their severall Articles to make up the Creed And then what else can be supposed to be the meaning of Christs descent into hell but that he locally went down which is the ordinary meaning of the word descend and went down to the place of torments which in the common course of speech is generally designed by the name of hell Or if the Creed were first compiled and published in the Latine tongue the same conclusion must needs follow from the former premisses the Latine inferi or infernus as before was proved signifying the very same with the Greek word Hades and that imparting nothing else according to the Ecclesiastical notion but the English Hell Besides the Apostles purposely intended this and whosoever else we shall please to think were the Authors of it did intend the same to lay down plainly and methodically according to the understanding of the vulgar sort that which they thought most fitting to comprise in this short Compendium Nor can it enter into the belief of any man endued with ordinary sense and reason that the Apostles having before made use of those vulgar phrases was crucifyed dead and buried in the literal sense which every Artizan and Ploughman nay even women and children could not but understand at the first hearing should then come in with a descent into hell not to be understood in a literal sense as the words usually import in common speech but in a meaning too abstruse and difficult for all vulgar wits beyond the reach of ordinary apprehensions Assuredly it was never the Apostles meaning that they for whose use principally they compiled the Creed and in whose language it was written which soever it was should not be able to conceive the true sense of their words without the help of a Lexicon or having diligent recourse unto the Criticks and Philosophers of their severall Languages But because Arguments of this nature may perhaps be said not to be demonstrative and that men will not readily let goe their hold-fast upon probabilities we will proceed another way and setch the truth of this assertion that Christ descended into hell in a literal sense from the authority and text of holy Scripture Most sure it is that there is nothing comprehended in the Creed but what is to be found in the book of God either in termes expresse as the greatest part of them are or else by necessary and undeniable consequence And both these wayes we doubt not but we shall be able to assert this Article First in the way of necessary undeniable consequence it may be pleaded from that place of St. Paul to the Romans where it is said The righteousnesse which is of faith speaketh on this wise Say not in thine heart Who shall ascend up into heaven that is to bring Christ down from above Or who shall descend into the deep that is to bring up Christ again from the dead For the expounding of which words we first take notice that the two interrogatives are equivalent to these general negatives none can ascend up into heaven none can descend into the deep And then the meaning will be this that if none can ascend to heaven nor descend down into the deep then not Christ himself which to affirme were plainly and directly contrary unto the righteousnesse of faith So that it is a main ground of the Christian faith that Christ descended into the deep and into such a deep as hath some proportion to his ascension into heaven which possibly can be no other then the deeps of hell And hereunto agree Interpreters both old and new For thus Theophylact Stagger not saith St. Paul nor cast this doubtingly in thy mind how Christ descended from heaven or how after death he arose from the deep again id est ex abditissimo profundissimo loco that is to say from the deepest and most hidden place And why was hell called Hades amongst the Greeks but quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dark hidden and unseen as before was said More plainly Mart. Bucer for the late writers thus The Apostle acknowledgeth this question to be a denial of Christ and that he draweth Christ down from heaven who admitteth this doubt It is evident that the deep is taken pro infernis Hell and in this sense the Apostle seemeth to use this word the deep for he addeth that is to bring back Christ from the dead to wit to account his descent to hell to be void and his victory over death and hell Gehenna of none effect So then
antient Romans when any of their Generals did return victorious against a powerful and considerable enemy to honour him with a Triumphant reception into the City of Rome The pomp and manner of which was that the General apparelled in a garment of state called Trabea or Vestis Triumphalis and having on his head a garland of lawrel and sometimes a Crown of gold which the Senate had bestowed upon him was carried in a rich and open Chariot the Senators and others of the principal Citizens going forth to meet him and conduct him in the spoyls and treasures gotten in the war passing on before the souldiers with their Coronets their bracelets and other militarie rewards following next the General and in the Rere of all those miserable men whether Kings or others whom the unlucky chance of war had now made Captives Examples of this kinde in the Roman stories are obvious to the eye of every Reader And such as this if I may safely venture upon such comparisons is the Ascension of the Lord described to be by the Royal Psalmist He made a chariot of the clouds and so ascended up on the wings of the winde apparelled in the Robe of his own righteousness more glorious then a Rayment of needlework wrought about with divers colours and having on his head that Crown of eternal Majesty which the Lord God his Heavenly Father had conferred upon him in testimony of that Soveraign power over Heaven and Earth which he since hath exercised But of this we shall speak more anone To make his entrance into Heaven the more magnificent the Blessed Angels those great Citizens of the new Hierusalem did attend upon him conducting him into the place of endless glories as erst they had done Lazarus into Abrahams bosome St. Austin so affirmed it saying Sublatus est Christus in manibus Angelorum c. The Lord was carryed up by the hands of Angels when he ascended into Heaven not that he would have fallen had not they supported but that they might serve him in that work so saith St. Athanasius for the Greek Church also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. that being carryed up by Angels he ascended thither as man and took our flesh upon him into Heaven St. Cyprian saith that though he did not need the Angels to support or carry him yet that they did attend him in that glorious triumph and praecedentes subsequentes applaudebant victori And thereto Nazianzen agrees also if Christ ascend saith he to Heaven ascend thou with him and joyn thy self unto the Angels which did accompany him or receive him Take which of these you will and we finde the Angles to have no small part in our Saviours Triumph And certainly it stood with reason that they who had ministred unto him in the whole course of life when he did seem to be in disgrace and poverty should have the honour to attend him in the time of his glories and if we do observe it well we shall finde no special passage of our Saviours life in which the blessed Angels did not do him service An Angel served to usher in his incarnation to proclaim his birth unto the Shepheards to join in consort with the rest of the Quire of Heaven and sing the Anthem of Gloria in excelsis Deo No sooner was he born but all the Angels of the Lord did adore and worship him saith St. Paul to the Hebrews when he had overcome the Devil in the Wilderness the Angels came and ministred unto him as St. Matthew hath it and being at his last conflict with him in the garden of Gethsamene an Angel of the Lord did come down to comfort him To testifie unto the truth of his resurrection we have two Angels cloathed in white proclaiming this glad news that the Lord was risen and here we have two men in white which were Angels doubtlesse assuring the Apostles of their Lords ascension Not that there were no more then two because no more spoke of but that two only staid behinde to testifie unto the truth of so great a miracle Who as they also certifyed them in the way of prediction that in the same manner as he went from thence into heaven he should return again in the day of judgment so in that day they shall not only wait upon him but have their speciall place and ministry as we shall see hereafter in the following Article But in our Saviours train there were more then Angels To make this triumph answerable to the former Platforme there must be Souldiers also to attend his Chariot which must receive their severall rewards and crowns for their well deservings and captives there must be to be led in triumph and to be made a spectacle unto men and Angels And so there was Ignatius telleth us in plain termes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he went down to hell alone but he ascended to his father with a great train after him And before him Thaddeus whom St. Thomas the Apostle sent to the Prince of Edessa used the self same words More company there was then than the holy Angels of more sorts at least for those of whom Thaddeus and Ignatius spake were such as did ascend from the parts below but who these were hath been a matter much disputed in these latter times Shall we affirme as generally the Papists do that they were the souls of the Fathers who died under the Law whom our redeemer brought from Limbo when he went down into hell I thinke we need not be reduced into that straight neither And as for my opinion in that point it hath been shewn already in another place All I shall add now in brief is this that they which did ascend in our Saviours train and made up a great part of his glorious triumph were either his Souldiers or his Captives His Souldiers I call those of the Saints departed whose graves were opened at the time of his resurrection who being united to their bodies rose and came out of the their graves and went into the holy City and appeared unto many It was not probable that they were raised from the dead to die again much lesse to be left wandering up and down the earth as if they had no certain ubi to repair unto Nor could they ascend into the heavens before our Saviour who as in all things so in that also was to have the preeminence They must then ascend with him as a part of his train and go in with the Bridegroome as the wise Virgins did when the doors were open For my part I can see no reason why being made partakers of his resurrection they should be rejected or cast off at his ascension That they were Saints whose bodies had been raised by so great a miracle is affirmed expressely in the text and therfore were in some possession of the heavenly glories And that their bodies had been putrefyed
he is deceased Having thus took some pains concerning the time and place of this great action let us next proceed unto the manner from thence unto the method of it and so make an end And in the manner of his coming there are specially thâ—se three things to he considered viz. the sign of the Son of man the sound of the Trumpet and the Ministry of the blessed Angels in all of which we shall finde something worth our Observation Touching the sign of the Son of man which our Saviour speaks of as of a certain note and token of his coming to judgement it stands thus in Scripture Then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in Heaven and then shall all the tribes of the Earth mourn and they shall see the Son of man coming in the Clowds of Heaven with power and great glory Mat. 24.30 This sign then whatsoever it is is the prodromos or fore-runner of Christs coming to judgement of his second coming as was the Star which shined in the East of his birth or first coming into the world And this to make the Parallel more full and pertinent shall appear visibly in the East also if the Authors whom I have consulted do not much mistake it If you would know what sign this is I answer that it is the sign of the Cross a sign like that which Christ vouchsafed to shew from Heaven to the famous Constantine Of whom Eusebius hath reported from his own mouth too that being imbarked in a war against Maxentius and much perplexed in minde about that affair there shewed it self unto him in an afternoon the form of a Cross figured in the Ayr and therein these words written 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say in this sign thou shalt overcome He addes that after that Christ appeared to him in his sleep holding forth the very like sign unto him bidding him cause the like to be framed or fashioned in the Standard-Royal and it should give him victory over all his enemies Which apparition of the Cross or sign of the Son of man in the time of Constantine was a fore-runner as it were of that petit Sessions which Christ at that time held against the cruel Persecutors of his Church and people Diocletian Maximinus Maximianus Licinius and the aforesaid Maxentius all which in very little time were brought to most shameful ends And that the sign of the Son of man which our Saviour speaks of as the fore-runner of the great and general Sessions shall be no other then the sign of the Cross shining in the Ayr hath the approved authority of the Antient Fathers and the consent and testimony of the Western Church and of the Aethiopick also For if you ask St. Hierom what this sign shall be his answer is Signum hic Crucis intelligimus that it was to be understood of the sign of the Cross. St. Augustine also saith the same Quid est signum Christi nisi crux Christi what is the sign of Christ or the Son of man but the sign of the Cross Prudentius a Christian Poet of the Primitive times in an Hymne of his saith of this sign Iudaea tunc signum crucis experta that then the Iews shall have experience of the sign of the Cross. Our venerable Bede is of the same minde in this with the other Fathers Nor is it marvail that he was for it was grown by this time the received opinion of the Western Church as appears plainly by that Anthem in her publick Rituals viz. Hoc signum Crucis erit in Coelo c. This sign of the Cross shall be seen in Heaven at Christs coming to judgment So also for the Eastern Churches that it shall be the sign of the Cross S. Chrysostom affirms expressely saying withall that the light or lustre of it shall be so glorious that it shall darken and obscure the Sun Moon and Stars Euthymius and Theophylact say as much for the Greek Churches and so doth Ephrem Syrus for the Syrian also The Aethiopian Church is so peremptory in it that it it is put into the Articles of their Creed as their Zaba cited by Mr. Gregory doth affirm for certain And finally that it shall appear in the East is with no less certainty affirmed by Hippolytus Martyr a Bishop of the Primitive Ages whose words are these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i e. For a sign of the Cross shall rise up in the East and shine from East to West more gloriously then the Sun it self to give notice to the world that the Iudge is coming And to say truth there may be very good reason for this old Tradition of the Cross. For what can be more honourable to our Lord and Saviour or more full of terrour to his enemies then that the Cross of Christ which they counted foolishness and more then so esteemed the greatest obloquie and reproach of the Christian faith should at that day be made the Herald to proclaim his coming and call all Nations of the world to appear before him No wonder if the Tribes of the Earth did mourn when that so hated sign did appear in Heaven to call them to receive the sentence of their condemnation For the Trump next we finde it mentioned in all places almost in which we meet with any thing of the day of Iudgment Our Saviour telleth us of the coming of the Son of man that he shall send his Angels with a great sound of a Trumpet Matth. 24.31 St. Paul the like In a moment in the twinckling of an eye at the last trump for the Trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed 1 Cor. 15.52 And in another place more fully The Lord himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout with the voyce of the Arch-Angel and with the trump of Christ and the dead in Christ shall rise first 1 Thes. 4.16 Now that which Christ and his Apostle say of the time to come the same St. Iohn saith of it as of a thing done before his face speaking expressâ—ly of this trumpet both in the first chapter of his Revelation vers 10. and in the 4. chapter vers 1. So far it is agreed on without doubt or scruple But then the difference will be thus whether the speech be proper or only figurative whether it were a real Trumpet or but Metaphorical If figurative then the phrase doth signifie no more then this that Christ shall finde a means to call all the Nations of the world to appear before him as if it were with the sound of a trumpet the trumpet being used amongst the Iews by Gods own appointment for calling the Assembly and removing the camp of Israel If but a Metaphorical Trumpet then it may signifie no more then a mighty noise wherewith the dead shall be awakened from the sleep of the Grave such as that voyce spoken by
of sin as a general circumstance which may accompany any sin And many of those who have renounced the Faith of Christ under persecution or called his divinity in question did afterwards recant their Errors and became good Christians Final Apostasie indeed and a malicious resisting of the known Truth till the very last are most grievous sins and shall no question be rewarded with eternal punishment as every other sin shall be which is not expiated with Repentance but can with no more right or reason be called the sin or blasphemy against the Holy Ghost than unrepented Murder unrepented Adultery unrepented Heresie or any other of that nature Therefore to set this business right it is judiciously observed by my Learned Friend Sir R. F. in his Tractate Of the Blasphemy of the Holy Ghost First That this sin so much disputed and debated in neither of the three Evangelists which record this passage is called The sin against the Holy Ghost but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost Secondly That blaspheming according to the true Etymon of the Word is a blasting of the fame of another man a malicious detracting from him or speaking against him as both St. Matthew and St. Luke do expound the word Matth. 12.32 and Luke 12.10 Thirdly That these words were spoken by our Saviour Christ against the Scribes and Pharisees who traduced his Miracles affirming That that wondrous work of casting out Devils which he had wrought by the power of the Spirit of God as he himself affirmeth Matth. 12.28 was done by the power and help of Beelzebub the Prince of Devils Vers. 24. And Fourthly That the Scribes and Pharisees being the eye-witnesses of such miracles as might make them know that Christ was a Teacher come from God did notwithstanding lay that reproach upon them to the end That the people being beaten off from giving credit to his miracles should give no faith unto his Doctrine Upon which grounds he builds this definition of it viz. The blasphemy against the Holy Ghost was an evil-speaking or slandering of the miracles of our Saviour Christ by those who though they were convinced by the miracles to believe that such works could not be done but by the power of God did yet maliciously say That they were wrought by the power of the Devil And hereupon he doth infer these two following Corollaries First That we have no safe rule to conclude that any but the Scribes and Pharisees and their confederates committed in those times this blasphemy against the Holy Ghost so condemned by Christ And Secondly That it is a matter of probability that the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost is not a sin committable by any Christian who lived not in the time of our Lord and Saviour And to say truth If such a sin were practicable by us Christians since it must needs be a very great marvel if not somewhat more that the Apostles who were very precise and punctual in dehorting from all manner of sin should never in any of their Epistles take notice of this or give us any Caveat to beware thereof and in particular that St. Paul making a specification of the fruits of the Spirit and such a general muster of the works of the flesh as are repugnant thereunto should not so much as give a glance which doth look this way To countenance the opinion of this Learned Gentleman I shall adde here the judgement of two learned Iesuites Maldonates first Who makes this sin to be the sin of the Scribes and Pharisees who seeing our Saviour cast out Devils Manifesta Spiritus Sancti opera daemoni tribuebant ascribed the visible works of the Holy Ghost to the power of the Devil Of Estius next who distinguishing betwixt the sin against the Holy Ghost and the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost referreth to the first all sins of determined malice to the second onely such malicious and slanderous reproaches against the mighty works of God Quale erat illud Scribarum divina miracula malitiosè calumniantium As was that of the Scribes maliciously slandering our Saviours miracles And if it be a sin or blasphemy call it which you will not acted but by them and on that occasion it is not practicable now But leaving this to the determination of the Church of England lawfully and Canonically represented in an holy Synod to which that Learned Gentleman doth submit his judgement proceed we on in our discourse of the Holy Ghost concerning whose Divinity or Godhead there is not so much difference in the Christian World as in the manner of his Procession or Emission And here indeed the World hath been long divided the Greek Church keeping themselves to express words of Scripture making him to proceed from the Father onely the Latines on the Authority of some later Councils and Logical inferences from the Scripture making him to proceed both from Father and the Son And though these last may seem to have the worst end of the Cause in as much as Logical inferences to men of ordinary capacities are not so evident as plain Text of Scripture yet do they Anathematize and curse the other as most desperate Hereticks if not Apostates from the Faith Nor will they admit of any medium towards reconcilement although the controversie by moderate and sober men is brought to a very narrow issue and seemeth to consist rather in their Forms of Speech than any material Terms of Difference For Damascen the great Schoolman of the Eastern Church though he deny that the Holy Ghost proceedeth from the Son yet he granteth him to be Spiritum filii per filium to proceed from the Father by the Son and to be the Spirit of the Son And Bessarion and Gennadius two of the Grecian Divines who appeared in the name of that Church in the Council of Florence and were like to understand the meaning of Damascen better than any of the Latines affirmed as Bellarmine tells us of them That he denied not the procession of the Holy Ghost from the Son as to the truth of his proceeding Sed existimasse tutius dici per filium quam ex filio quoad modum loquendi but thought onely that it was the safer expression to say That he proceeded by the Son than from the Son And Clictoveus in his Comment on that Book of Damascen l. 1. c. 12. is of opinion That the difference between the East and Western-Churches as to this particular is In voce potius modo explicandi quam in ipsa re More in the terms and manner of expression than the thing it self The Master of the Sentences doth affirm as much saying That the Greeks do differ from the Latines Verbo non sensu not in the meaning of the Point but the forms of Speech And more than so The Greeks saith he confess the Holy Ghost to be the Spirit of the Son with the Apostle Gal. 4. And the Spirit of Truth with the Evangelist Joh.
16. And since it is not another thing to say The Holy Ghost is the Spirit of the Father and the Son than that he is or proceeds from the Father and the Son in this they seem to agree with us in eandem fidei sententiam on the same doctrine of Faith though they differ in words Thus also Rob. Grosthead the learned and renowned Bishop of Lincoln as he is cited by Scotus a famous Schoolman delivereth his opinion touching this great Controversie The Grecians saith he are of opinion that the Holy Ghost is the Spirit of the Son but that he proceedeth not from the Son but from the Father onely yet by the Son which opinion seemeth to be contrary to ours But happily if two wise and understanding men the one of the Greek Church and the other of the Latine both lovers of the truth and not of their own expressions did meet to consider of this seeming contrariety it would in the end appear Ipsam contrarietatem non esse veraciter realem sicut est vocalis That the difference is not real but verbal onely Azorius the great Casuist goeth further yet and upon due examination of the state of the Question not onely freeth the Greeks from Heresie but from Schism also By consequence the Church of Rome hath run into the greater and more grievous error in condemning every Maundy Thursday in their Bulla Coenae the whole Eastern Churches which for ought any of her own more sober children are able to discern on deliberation are fully as Orthodox as her self in the truth of Doctrine and more agreeable to antiquity in their forms of Speech For if we please to look into the Antient Writers we shall finde Tertullian saying very positively Spiritum non aliunde quam à Patre per filium which is the very same with that of Damascen before delivered And Ierom though a stout maintainer of the Procession of the Holy Ghost from the Son also yet doth he sometimes fall upon this expression Spiritus à Patre egreditur propter naturae societatem à filio mittitur That he proceedeth from the Father and is sent by the Son which none of the Greek Church will deny But if we look upon the Fathers of the Eastern Churches we shall finde not onely private men as Basil Nazianzen Nyssen Cyril not to descend so low as Damascen to make no mention of the proceeding of the Holy Ghost from the Son at all but a whole Synod of 180 Prelates gathered together in the second General Council at Constantinople to be silent in it though purposely assembled to suppress the Heresie of Macedonius who had denied the Divinity of the Holy Ghost For in the Constantinopolitan Creed according as it stands in all old Records the Fathers having ratified the Nicene Creed added these words for the declaring of their Faith in the Holy Ghost viz. I believe in the Holy Ghost the Lord and giver of Life who proceedeth from the Father who together with the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified who spake by the Prophets No word in this of his proceeding from the Son And though this Creed was afterwards continued in the Council of Ephesus yet so far was that Council from altering any thing which had been formerly delivered as to this paâ—ticular that it imposed a curse on those who should adde unto it And so it stood a long time in the Christian Church possessing that part in the Publick Liturgies which it still retaineth But in some tract of time some Spanish Bishops in the eighth Council of Toledo added the clause à filioque and made it to run thus in their publick Formulas who proceedeth from the Father and the Son The French not long after followed their example but still the Church of Rome adhered to the old expression Whereupon Charls the Great commanded a Council of his Prelates to be held at Aken Aquisgranum it is called in Latine to consider somewhat better of this addition and caused some of them to be sent to Pope Leo the third to have his opinion in the matter who was so far from giving any allowance unto the addition that he perswaded them to leave it out by little and little And nor content to give this Counsel unto them for fear lest the addition might creep in at Rome he caused the Constantinopolitan Creed to be fairly written out on a Table of Silver and placed it behinde the Altar of St. Peter to the end it might remain unto posterity as a lasting Monument of the true Faith which he professed The like distast did Iohn the eighth declare against this addition in a Letter by him written unto Photius Patriark of Constantinople in which he gives him to understand not onely that they had no such addition in the Church of Rome but that he did condemn them who were Authors of it adding withal That as he was careful for his part to cause all the Bishops of the West to be so perswaded of it as he was himself so that he did not think it reasonable that any should be violently constrained to leave out the addition But after in the yeer 883 Pope Nicholas the first caused this clause à filioque to be added also to the Creed in all the Churches under the Command and Jurisdiction of the Popes of Rome and from thence-forwards did they brand the Greek Churches with the brand of Heresie for not admitting that clause to the Antient Creeds which they themselves had added of their own Authority without the consent of the Eastern Churches or so much as the pretence of a General Council But as my Lord of Canterbury hath right well observed in his learned Answer unto Fisher It is an hard thing to adde and anathematize too And yet to that height of uncharitableness did they come at last that whereas it was the miserable fortune of Constantinople to be taken by the Turks upon Whitsunday being the Festival of the coming of the Holy Ghost this was given out to be a just judgment on them from the Almighty for thinking so erroneously of his Blessed Spirit as if it might not be concluded in as good form of Logick That sure the Knights of Rhodes had in their lives and actions denied Christ who bought them because that Town and all the Iland was taken by the Turks upon Christmas-day or that the People of Chios had denied and abnegated the Resurrection of our Saviour who redeemed them because that Town and therewith all the Iland also was taken by the said Turks upon Easter-day I have now done with so much of the present Article as relates unto the Person of the Holy Ghost which is the first signification of the term or notion as it is taken personaliter and essentialiter We must next look upon the word as it is used to signifie in the Book of God the gifts and graces of the
Pastors and Teachers That is to say either he gave unto some men such a measure of Gifts as might fit them to the severall Callings which are there enumerated or else he gave the men so gifted to the use of the Church and dedicated them Gifts and all to the publick service Either or both of these was done and done unto the end which is after specified viz. for the perfecting of the Saints for the worke of the Ministery for the edifying of the body of Christ. These were the Gifts which Christ conferred upon his Church by the Holy Ghost First by his first descent or coming on the feast of Pentecost when he gave Apostles Prophets and Evangelists and ever since by furnishing the Church with Pastors and Teachers for the work of the Ministry and fitting them with those Gifts and Graces of the Holy Spirit which are expedient for their calling And though St. Paul in this recital doth not speak of Bishops yet questionlesse he doth include them in the name of Pastors For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is used in the original doth signifie a Ruler as well as Pastor And Christ is called Episcopus Pastor animarum the Bishop and Shepheard of our soules as our English reads it to shew that the Episcopal and Pastoral Office is indeed the same And this I could make good out of the constant tendry of the Ancient Fathers had I not handled it already in another place Nor shall I adde more here out of that Discourse but that it is affirmed positively by our learned Andrewes Apud vâ—teres Pastorum nomen vix inveniri nisi cum de Episcopis loquntur i. e. that the name of Pastors is scarce read amongst the Ancients but when they have occasion to speak of Bishops And Binius in his notes upon the Councils excepts against a fragment of the Synod of Rhemes for laying claime to more antiquity than belongs unto it and that he doth upon this reason eo quod titulum Pastoris tribuat Paracho because the Parish Priest there is called Pastor contrary to the usage of those elder times But to put the matter out of doubt though S. Paul doth not speak of Bishops by name in that place of the Ephesians before alleged yet when he called the Rulers of the Church to appear at Ephesus before him he doth not only give them the name of Bishops but saith that they were made Bishops by the Holy Ghost In quo vos spiritus sanctus posuit Episcopos as all Translations read it but our English onely Christ did not so desert his Church as to leave it without Order and the power of Government nor hath so laid aside his Prophetical Office but that as well since his Ascension as while he sojourned here on the Earth amongst us he is still the chief Pastor and Bishop of our Souls as St. Peter calls him Onely it pleased him to commit a great part of this care to the managing of the blessed Spirit whom he promised to send to his Apostles after his departure to the end that he might guide them into all truth and abide with them always to the end In which respect Tertullian calleth the Holy Ghost Vicarium Christi the Vicar or Deputy of Christ his Usher as it were in the great School of the Church and doth assign this Office to him Dirigere ordinare ad perfectam producere disciplinam that he direct dispose and perfect us at the last in all Christian pietie Not that the Holy Ghost doth of himself immediately discharge this duty but by the Ministry of such men as are called unto it Whom he co-operates withal when they Preach the Gospel by working on the heart on the inward man as they upon the understanding by the outward senses Without the inward operation of the Holy Spirit the Preaching of the Word would be counted foolishness and all the eloquent perswasions unto Faith and Piety which could be uttered by the tongues of Men or Angels would seem but as tinckling brass and a sounding cymbal Without an outward calling to attend this Ministry Vzzah will press too near the Ark Uzziah take upon him to burn incense on the Altars of God and both not draw destruction on their own heads onely but prove a stumbling block and scandal to the rest of the people Not every one which prophecieth in the Name of Christ or doth pretend in his name to have cast out devils or done any other wonderful works shall be acknowledged by him in that terrible day but he that doth it in that Order and by those warrantable ways which he hath appointed Christ must first send them ere they go upon such an errand and send them so as he did his Apostles to Preach the Gospel first giving them a power to minister the things of God and then commanding them to go into all the world to teach all nations It had not been sufficient for them to pretend a mission unless they could have shewn their commission also and that they had not till he pleased to breathe upon them and said Receive the Holy Ghost with the words that follow And so it hath been with the Church in all Ages since We must receive the Holy Ghost and be endued with power from above before we enter on the Ministry in the Church of Christ and not perswade our selves to pretend unto some special gifts and illuminâ—tions unless we have the Holy Ghost in the sense here spoken of unless the power which we pretend to be conferred upon us by those hands which have power to give it Those words Receive the Holy Ghost import not the receiving of saving grace or of inward sanctimony nor the conferring of such special gifts of the holy Spirit as after were given to the Apostles for the use of the Church but the receiving of a power to execute a Ministry in the Church of Christ a special and spiritual power in the things of God and in the dispensation of his heavenly Mysteries And as they were then used by Christ at the authorizing of his Apostles to Preach the Gospel so are they still the verba solemnia the solemn and set form of words used at the Ordination of all Priests or Presbyters used antiently in that sacred Ceremony without any exception and still retained with us in the Church of England for I look not on the new Model of Ordination as a thing in which the Anglican Church is at all concerned as the very operative words by which and by no others of what kinde so ever the order of Priesthood is conferred And had not those of Rome retained them in their Ordinations their giving power to offer sacrifice for the quick and the dead Accipe potestatem sacrificandi pro vivis mortuis which new patch they have added to the antient Formulas had never made them Priests of the New Testament
it a greater condemnation to our selves than men were aware of So could I wish the like Caution in all others also lest unawares they utterly exclude themselves out of Christianity For as Pope Gregory the first said unto some of the Bishops of his time concerning the Patriarch of Constantinople who had then took unto himself the title of Oecumenical or Vniversal Bishop viz. Si ille universalis or which is the same Catholicus est restat ut vos non sitis Episcopi so may we also say in the present case if we once grant them to be Catholickâ— we thereby do conclude our selves to be no Christians or at best but Hereticks Christian perhaps they have no fancy to be called the name of Christian in most parts of Italy being grown so despicable that Fool and Christian in a manner are become Synonyma Italico Idiomate per Christianum hominem stupidum stolidum solent intelligere as Hospinian tells us from the mouth of one Christian Franken who had lived amongst them Since then they have no minde to be called Christians nor reason to be called Catholicks let us call them as they are by the name of Papists considering their dependance on the Popes decision for all points of Faith And possibly we may gratifie them as much in this as if we did permit them the name of Catholicks For Bellarmine seems very much delighted with the Appellation flattering himself that he can bring in Christ our most blessed Saviour within the Catalogue of Popes and that he hath found a Prophecy in St. Chrysostom to this effect Quandoque nos Papistas vocandos esse That Papist in the times then following should be the stile and title of a true Professor Great pity it is but he and his should have the honor of their own discovery and Papists let them be since the same so pleaseth Now as the Papists make ill use of the name of Catholick so do their opposite faction in the Church of Christ conclude as falsly and erroneously from the title of Holy The Church is called Holy and is called so justly because it trains men up in the ways of godliness because it is so in its most eminent and more noble parts whom God hath sanctified by the Graces of his holy Spirit and finally because redeemed by the blood of Christ to the intent that all the faithful Members of it being by him delivered from the hands of their enemies might serve him without fear in righteousness and holiness all the days of their lives Not holy in the sense of Corah and his factious complices who made all the Congregation holy and all holy alike nor holy in the sense of some Antient and Modern Sectary who fancy to themselves a Church without spot or wrinkle a Church wherein there are no vessels of wrath but election onely and where they finde not such a Church they desert it instantly for fear they should partake of the sins and wickednesses which they observe to be in some Members of it Our Saviour Christ who better knew the temper of his Church than so compares the same in holy Scripture to a threshing floor in which there is both Wheat and chaff and to a fold wherein there are both Sheep and Goats and to a casting net which being thrown into the Sea drew up all kinde of Fishes both good and bad and to an house in which there are not onely vessels of honor as Gold and Silver but also of dishonor and for unclean uses and to a field in which besides the good Seed which the Lord had sown Infelix lolium steriles dominantur avenae the enemy had sowed his Tares In all and every one of which heavenly Parables our Saviour represented unto his Disciples and in them to us the true condition of his Church to the end of the world in which the wicked person and the righteous man are so intermingled that there is no perfection to be looked for here In which erroneous doctrines are so mixt with truth that it can never be so perfectly reserved and purified but errors and corruptions will break out upon it Perplexae sunt istae duae civitates in hoc seculo invicemque permistae saith the great St. Augustine The City of the Lord and the City of Satan are so intermingled in this world that there is little hope to see them separated till the day of judgement Though the foundation of the Church be of precious stones yet there is wood and hay and stubble in her superstructures and those so interwoven and built up together that nothing but a fatal fire is of power to part them I mean the fire of conflagration not of Popish Purgatory Were it not thus we need not pray to God for the good estate of the Church Militant here on Earth but glory as in the Triumphant as they do in Heaven And yet the Church is counted Holy and called Catholick still this intermixture notwithstanding Catholick in regard of time place and persons in and by which the Gospel of our Saviour Christ is professed and propagated Holy secundùm nobiliores ejus partes in reference to the Saints departed and those who are most eminent for grace and piety And it is called Ecclesia una one holy Catholick and Apostolick Church though part thereof be Militant here upon the Earth and part Triumphant in the Heavens The same one Church in this World and in that â—o come The difference is that here it is imperfect mixt of good and bad there perfect and consisting of the righteous onely Accordingly it is determined by St. Augustine Eandem ipsam unam Sanctam Ecclesiam nunc habere malos mixtos tunc non habituram For then and not till then as Ierom Augustine and others do expound the place shall Christ present her to himself a most glorious Church without spot or wrinkle and marry her to himself for ever Till that day come it is not to be hoped or looked for but that many Hypocrites False Teachers and Licentious livers will shroud themselves under the shelter of the Church and pass for Members of it in the eye of men though not accounted such in the sight of God The eye of man can possibly discern no further than the outward shew and mark who joyn themselves to the Congregation to hear the Word of God and receive his Sacraments Dominus novit qui sunt sui The Lord knows onely who are his and who are those occulti intus whose hearts stand fast in his Commandments and carefully possess their Souls in Truth and Godliness And yet some men there are as there have been formerly who fancy to themselves a Church in this present world without spot or wrinkle and dream of such a Field as contains no Tares of such an House as hath no Vessels but of honor sanctified and prepared for the Masters use The Cathari in
Countrey A Proclamation following in the Rear from the Civil Magistrate That no man should presume to afford them any help or maintenance during that miserable exile Whether this were not too severe I regard not here This is enough to shew that National or Provincial Councils do still claim a power in handling and determining controversies touching points of Faith and that they challenge an obedience to their Resolutions of all which live within the bounds of their jurisdiction without which all Synodical meetings were but vain and fruitless Nor hath the Church onely an especial power in determining of controversies raised within her according to the Word of God but so to explicate and interpret the Word of God that no controversie may arise about it for the time to come Four Offices there are which the Church performs in reference to the holy Scriptures The first Tabellionis of a Messenger or Letter-Carrier to convey it to us Quid enim est Scriptura tota nisi Epistola omnipotentis Dei ad Creaturam suam saith St. Gregory What else is the whole Scripture but a Letter or Epistle from Almighty God unto his Creature and by whose hands doth he convey this Letter to us but by the Ministery of his Church The next is Vindicis of a Champion to defend it in all times of danger from the attempts and machinations of malicious Hereticks and such corruptions of the Text as possibly enough might have crept into it in long tract of time The Iews since our Redeemers time had falsified some places of the Old Testament and expunged others which spake expresly of Christs coming Delentes namque literas inficiati sunt Scripturam as we finde in Chrysostom The like saith Athanasius of their falsifications Tam manifestis Scripturis de Christo Prophetiis excaecavit Satanas Judaeorum oculos c. Ut talia testimonia falsa Scriptione falsarent The Arians stand convicted of the like attempt who had expunged ou◠of all their Bibles these words of St. Iohn Deus est Spiritus Iohn 14.24 because they seemed to prove the Deity of the Holy Ghost and that not out of their own Bibles onely but out of the Publick Bibles also of the Church of Millain Et fortasse hoc etiam in oriente fecistis and probable enough it was that they had done the same in the Eastern Churches saith St. Ambrose of them But such a vigilant and careful eye did the Church keep over them that their corruptions were discovered and the Text restored again to its first integrity The like may also be affirmed of such corruptions as casually had crept into the Text of holy Scripture by the negligence of the Transcribers and mistakes of Printers Which the Church no sooner did observe as observe them she did but they were rectified by comparing them with such other Copies as still continued uncorrupted Of which St. Augustine telleth us thus Corrumpi non possunt c The Scriptures saith he cannot be corrupted because they are in the hands of so many persons And if any one hath dared to attempt the same Vetustiorum codicum collatione confutabatur he was confuted by comparing them with the elder Copies The third Office is Praeconis of a Publisher or Proclaimer of the Will of God revealed in Scripture by calling on the people diligently to peruse the same and carefully to believe and practise what is therein written And this is that whereof St. Augustine speaks in another place saying Non crederem Evangelio nisi me Ecclesiae Catholicae moveret autoritas i. e. That he being then a Novice in the Schools of Christ had not given credit to the Gospel unless the authority of the Catholick Church had moved him to it The fourth and last Office is Interpretis of an Interpreter or Expounder of the Word of God which in many places are so hard to be understood that Ignorant and unstable men may and do often wrest them to their own destruction who therefore are to have recourse to the Priests of God whose lips preserve knowledge and from whose mouth the people are to take the explication of the Law of God But being it hapneth many times that the Priests and Ministers themselves do not agree upon the sense of holy Scripture and that no small disturbance hath been raised in the Church of Christ by reason of such different Interpretations as are made thereof every one making it to speak in favor of his own opinion the Body of the Church assembled in her Representatives hath the full power of making such Interpretation of the places controverted as may conclude all parties in her Exposition Both Protestants and Papists do agree in this not all but some of each side and no mean ones neither Sacrae Scripturae sensus nativus indubitatus ab Ecclesia Catholica est petendus so said Petrus à Soto for the Papist The proper and undoubted sense of the holy Scripture is to be sought saith he from the Catholick Church which is indeed the general opinion of the Roman Schools And to the same effect saith Luther for the Protestant Doctors De nullo privat◠homine nos certos esse habeant necne revelationem Patris Ecclesiam unam esse de qua non liceat dubitare We cannot be assured said he of private persons whether or not they have a revelation from the Father of Truth it is the Church alone whereof we need make no question Which words considering the temper of the man and how much he ascribed to his own spirit in expounding Scripture may serve instead of many testimonies from the Protestant Writers who look with reverence on him as the first Reformer This also was the judgment of the Antient Fathers St. Augustine thus We do uphold the truth of Scripture when we do that which the Vniversal Church commandeth recommended by the authority of holy Scripture And for as much as the Scriptures cannot deceive us a man that would not willingly erre in a point of such obscurity as that then in question ought to enquire the Churches judgment With him agrees St. Ambrose also who much commends the Emperor Gratian for referring the interpretation of a doubtful Text unto the judgment of his Bishops convened in Council Ecce quid statuit Imperator Noluit injuriam facere sacerdotibus ipsos interpretes constituit Episcopos Behold saith he what the good Christian Emperor did ordain therein Because he would not derogate from the power of the Bishops he made them the Interpreters Thus Innocent one of the Popes doth affirm in Gratian Facilius inveniri quod à pluribus senioribus quaeritur i. e. The meaning of the Scripture is soonest found when it is sought of many Presbyters or Elders convened together And reason good For seeing that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation because it came originally from such holy Men who spake as
they were moved by the Holy Ghost It is not subject to the humor of a private spirit but to be weighed and pondered by that publick Spirit which God hath given unto his Church which he hath promised to conduct in the ways of truth and to be with her always to the end of the world Not that we do exclude any private man from handling of the holy Scripture if he come sanctified and prepared for so great a work if he be lawfully ordained or called unto it and use such helps as are expedient and necessary to inform his judgment nor that we give the Church such a supream power as to change the sense and meaning of the holy Scriptures according as her self may vary from one opinion to another in the course of times This is indeed the monstrous Paradox of Cusanus who telleth us That the Scripture is fitted to the time and variously to be understood so that at one time it is expounded according to the present fancy of the Church and when that fancy is changed that then the sense of Scripture may be also changed and that when the Church doth change her judgment God doth change his also And this I call a monstrous Paradox as indeed it is in that it doth not onely assubject the truth of Scripture but even the God of truth himself to the Churches pleasure How much more piously hath the Church of England determined in it who though it do assert its own power in Expounding Scripture yet doth it with this wise and Religious Caution That the Church may not so expound one place of Scripture that it be repugnant to another Within which bounds if she contain herself and restrain her power no doubt but she may use it to the honor of God the setling of a Publick Peace in all matters controverted and the content and satisfaction of all sober Christians The last part of the Churches power consists in the decreeing of Rites and Ceremonies for the more orderly officiating of Gods Publick service and the procuring of a greater measure of reverence to his holy Sacraments Of this she hath declared more fully in another place First In relation to it self to the Churches power viz. Every particular or National Church hath authority to ordain change and abolish Ceremonies or Rites of the Church ordained onely by mans authority so that all things be done to edifying Next in relation to the people and their conformity That whosoever through his private judgment willingly and purposely doth openly break the Traditions and Ceremonies of the Church which be not repugnant to the Word of God and be ordained and approved by common authority ought to be openly reproved that others may fear to do the like as he that offendeth against the common order of the Church and woundeth the Consciences of the weaker Brethren Which Propositions are so evidently and demonstratively true according to the constant practise of approved Antiquity that he must wilfully oppose the whole Catholick Church and all the famous National Churches in the Primitive times who doth not chearfully and readily assent unto them For who can shew me any Council in the former Ages wherein some Orders were not made for regulating both the Priest and People in the worship of God wherein the Church did not require obedience to her Constitutions and on defect thereof proceeded not to some publick censure of the party He must be utterly ignorant of all Antiquity and the affairs of holy Church that makes doubt of this Nay of so high esteem were the Churches Ordinances in matters of exterior order in the service of God that they were deemed as binding as the word it self And so St. Augustine hath resolved it Iâ— iis rebus de quibus nihil statuit Scriptura mos populi Dei instituta majorum pro lege Dei tenenda sunt as he in his Epistle to Casulanus The customs of the Church and the institutes of our fore-fathers in things of which the Scriptures have determined nothing are to be reckoned and esteemed of as the Word of God Our Saviour by his own observing of the feast of Dedication being of Ecclesiastical institution and no more than so shewed plainly what esteem he had of the Churches Ordinances and how they were to be esteemed of by the sons of men And when St. Paul left this rule behinde him That all things be done decently and in order think we he did not give the Church authority to proceed accordingly and out of this one general Canon to make many particulars Certain I am that Calvin hath resolved it so and he no extraordinary friend to the Churches power Non potest haberi quod Paulus hic exigit nisi additis constitutionibus tanquam vinculis quibusdam ordo ipse decorum servetur That which St. Paul requires saith he is not to be done without prescribing Rules and Canons by which as by some certain Bonds both order and decorum may be kept together Paraeus yet more plainly and unto the purpose Facit Ecclesiae potestatem de ordine decoro Ecclesiastico liberè disponendi leges ferendi By this saith he doth the Apostle give authority to the Church of Corinth and in that to other Churches also of making Laws for the establishing of decency and order in the Church of Christ. And Musculus though he follow the citing of this Text by Eckius in justification of those unwarrantable Rites and Ceremonies Quibus Religionis nostrae puritas polluta esset with which the purity of Religion had been so defiled yet he allows it as a rule for the Church to go by Vt quae lâ—gitimè necessario gerenda sunt in Ecclesia That all those things which lawfully and necessarily may be done in the Church should be performed with decency and convenient order So that we see the Church hath power to decree Rites and Ceremonies in things that appertain to order decency and uniformity in Gods publick service and which is more a power of making Laws and Canons to inforce conformity to the same and that too which is most of all in the opinion of those men which were no great admirers of the Churches customs and looked not so much on the Primitive as the present times Nor is this onely the opinion of particular men but the declared judgment of the eldest Churches of the Reformation The Augustane Confession published in the name of all the Protestants and onely countenanced and allowed of by Imperial Edict not onely doth ordain those antient usages to be still retained in their Churches which conduce to decency and order in the service of God and may be kept in force without manifest sin But it resolves Peccare eos qui eum scandalo illos violant c. That they are guilty of sin who infringe the same and thereby rashly violate the peace of the Church And amongst those
Of the Eleventh Article OF THE CREED Ascribed to St. IVDE the Brother of IAMES 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Carnis Resurrectionem i. e. The Resurrection of the Body CHAP. VII Of the Resurrection of the Body and the Proofs thereof The Objections against it answered Touching the circumstances and manner of it The History and grounds of the Millenarians WE are now come unto that Article of the Christian Faith which hath received most opposition both at home and abroad Abroad amongst the Gentiles of the Primitive times who used all their wit and learning to cry down this Doctrine at home within the pale of the Church it self by some who had the name of Christians but did adulterate the prime Articles of Christian belief by their wicked Heresies First for the Gentiles it was a thing much quarrelled and opposed amongst them that Christ himself should be affirmed to have risen again insomuch that St. Paul was counted mad by Festus and but a babler at the best by the great wits of Athens for venturing to Preach before them of IESUS and the Resurrection i.e. of Iesus and his resurrection for of that onely he did speak when they so judged of him but of this quarrel they grew soon weary and so gave it off For being it was a matter of fact confirmed at the first by so many witnesses who had seen him and converted with him after his raising from the dead and thereupon received in the Church with such unanimity that the faithful rather chose to lay down their lives than to alter their Beleef in that particular the world became the sooner satisfied in the truth thereof But for the Resurrection of the dead which was grounded on it and that his Resurrection was of so great efficacy as that by vertue of it all the dead should rise which had deceased from the beginning of the world to the end thereof that they accounted such a monstrous and ridiculous paradox as could not find admittance amongst men of reason For this it was which was so scoffed at by Cecilius in that witty Dialogue Reâ—ase ferunt post mortem post favillas they give it out saith he that they shall live again after death and that they shall resume those very bodies which now they have though burnt to ashes or devoured by wilde beasts or howsoever putrified and brought to nothing Putes eos jam revixisse And this saith he they speak with so great a confidence as if they were already raised from the dust of the grave and spake as of a matter past not of things to come And it did stomack them the worse in that the Christians did not onely promise a Resurrection and new life to the bodies of men which all Philosophers and men of ordinary sense knew to be subject to corruption but threaten and foretel of the destruction of the Heavenly Bodies the Sun the Moon and all the glorious Lights in the starry Firmament which most Philosophers did hold to be incorruptible as the same Cecilius doth object in the aforesaid Dialogue That Christ was raised from the dead besides the many witnesses which gave credit to it the Gentiles could not well deny especially as to the possibility of such a thing without calling some of their own gods in question For not onely the deity of Romulus did depend on the bare testimony of one Proculus who made Oath in the Senate that he had seen him ascend up into heaven augustiore forma quam fuisset in a more glorious shape than before he had but that of Drusilla and Augustus and Tiberius Caesar which were all Roman gods of the last Edition must fall unto the ground also for lack of evidence if either it were impossible for a dead man to be raised to life again or taken up into the Heavens as our Saviour was But that from this particular instance supposing it for true as it might be possibly they should infer a general Doctrine that all the dead should rise again at the Day of Judgement this would not sink into their heads unless it might be made apparent as they thought it could not that any of that sect had been raised again to confirm all the rest in that opinion Without some such Protesilaus no credit to be given to the resurrection preach it they that would It seems the Gentiles in this point were like the rich man mentioned in our Saviours Parable Except one rise up from the dead they will not beleeve It was not Moses and the Prophets nor Christ and his Apostles that could do the deed Leaving these therefore for a while and keeping those who did assume the name of Christians and yet denied this Article of the Christian Faith unto the close of this discourse Let us for our parts rest our selves on the Word of God and see what Moses and the Prophets what CHRIST and his Apostles have delivered to us in affirmation of this Doctrine For Moses first it is the general opinion of most learned men that he was the Author of the Book of Iob and that he wrote it purposely for a Cordial to the house of Israel whom he found very apt to despair of Gods mercies towards them and easily out of comfort in all times of trouble Which granted we shall have from Moses a most ample testimony where he reports these words of that Myrror of patience I know that my Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth And though after my skin worms destroy this body yet in my flesh shall I see God Whom I shall see for my self and mine eyes shall behold and not another though my reins be consumed within me St. Hierom notes upon these words that no man since Christs time did ever speak so clearly of Christs resurrection and his own as Iob doth here before Christs coming Nullum tam apertè post Christum quam ipse hic ante Christum de Christi resurrectione loquitur sua as the Father hath it And on the same a Reverend Father of our own makes this glosse or descant It is affirmed saith he by Iob that his Redeemer liveth and shall rise again which is as much as to say He is the resurrection and the life St. Iohn could say no more It is his hope He is by it regenerate to a lively hope St. Peter could say no more than that He enters into such particulars this flesh and these eyes which is as much as was or could be said by St. Paul himself There is not in all the Old there is not in all the New Testament a more pregnant and direct proof for the resurrection St. Hierom as we saw before was of this opinion St. Gregory comes not much behind who on these words of Iob gives us this short Paraphrase Victurum me certa fide credo libera voce profiteor quia Redemptor mens
Translation it is called a washing yet in the Greek and Latine both it is a baptization Next to these positive and practical Proofs we will add some natural and experimental Evidences which conclude the same and are more within the compass of the observation of the meanest capacities We see the Sun withdraweth from us every evening the comfort both of light and heat and yet we doubt not of his rising on the morrow morning We go to bed as to our grave yeelding our selves to sleep-which is the image of death with prayers and supplications to Almighty God in hope to be restored unto sense and action on the day insuing We note it in the common course of the works of Nature that Herbs and Plants and all the Flowers of the field do in the time of Winter seem to lose that life which made them flourish with more lustre than the Court of Solomon but we observe withall as a thing of course that the next Spring returns them to their perfect beauties Expectandum nobis etiam corporis ver est we have a Spring to come said the Christian Advocate The Husbandman commits his seed unto the ground in expectation of a plentiful and joyful Harvest his hope deceiveth him not at last though that which he buried in the womb of the Earth must die before it quicken unto life again This is another of St. Pauls Arguments to our present purpose Thou fool saith he that which thou sowest is not quicked except it die upon which words of the Apostle take this gloss or descant out of an old Greek M. S. in Bodleys Liberarie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The Earth laboureth not after the ordinarie manner of a woman in travel Her Infant Corn is not quickned except it die Should it live still it could not be formed in that womb The earth receiveth the bare corn onely and by corrupting it restoreth it in a better fashion than she took it in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And can we have saith he a more forcible impression or representation of our own restitution than by this example Observing these things as we do in the works of Nature how can we think so poorly of the Lord our God as if it were not in his power with the like facility to re-give to us our former beauties as either to the Plants or Planets Should we make search into the secret and more wonderful works of prudent nature we may be told by Plinie That dead Bees are restored both to life and motion onely by sprinkling them with Nepenthe young Pellicans by the blood of the old ones and Eels with vinegar and blood The raising of the new Phenix out of the ashes of the old one hath been a thing so generally received over all the world that for my part I dare not question it though I know some do And of the Swallows it is said that at the beginning of Winter they use to fall down together in heaps into the dust or water and there sleep in their Chaos till hearing the voyce of returning Nature at the Spring they awaken out of this dead sleep and live amongst the fowls of the Air again And more than so it is affirmed by George Maior a German writer that he found a company of Swallows lying dead under an old Table in the Church of Witteberge which by an artificial heat he restored to life the ordinary time of nature being then not come in which they should revive of course This makes it plain that nature is no Enemy to a Resurrection by consequent our Faith in this agreeable to the course of Nature and not to be denyed by a natural man though no one Point or Article of the Christian Faith hath been more eagerly opposed by the ancient Gentiles nor more pertinaciously decried by Heretical Christians And howsoever men of inferior parts might make scruple of it yet can I not but wonder at those great Philosophers that they should plead so earnestly against a Tenet so consonant to the waies and works of Nature and otherwise not much a stranger to their own opinions Themselves both Platonists and Pythagoreans acknowledge an eternal being of the soul and though the man did dye and his corps was buried yet the Soul lived again in another Body And so the antient Druides were perswaded also Regit idem spiritus artus Orbe aâ—io as the Poet hath informed us of them The truth of this opinion I dispute not here I know it to be vain and foolish Onely I shall conclude from their own Position and think the Argument will be good ad homines That the same Soul may be as easily beleeved to live again in its own body as in the body of another made of purpose for it And this Tertullian doth retort against those Philosophers who did admit of this Pythagorean 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this transmigration of the soul from body to body and yet deny the Resurrection of that body to which the Soul more naturally ought to be united Si quaecunque ratio praeest animarum humanarum reciprocandarum in corpora cur non in eandem substantiam redeant cum hoc sit restitui id esse quod fuerat as his words there are That which most stumbled both these Philosophical and our Christian Hereticks was That the faithful of the Primitive times did not onely stand for the Assumption of a new Body which perhaps the others would have granted with no great difficulty but the Resurrection of the old The restitution of a body which had either been consumed to ashes eaten by Worms devoured by Fishes and wilde Beasts and finally incorporated into the substance of those Beasts and Fishes which had so devoured it Which being thought impossible by some old Philosophers and not well understood by some poor weak Christians occasioned it on both sides to be called in question and by some Christian Hereticks to be more decried than ever it had been by the Gentiles formerly The Marcionites of old denied it so did Marcus too and so did Basilides Cerdo and the rest of that wicked brood The Anabaptists and Socinians of these times do deny it also although not on the same grounds as the former Hereticks by those it was denied because thought impossible in which they and the Gentiles did agree together by these because they do not think it consonant to the Word of God That flesh and blood should inherit the Kingdom of Heaven as if there were no difference between the substance of flesh and the infirmities and frailties which attend upon it between a natural body and a body glorified Of which more anon In the mean time to satisfie the doubts of those of what sort soever which charge this Article of our Faith with impossibilities we may demand of them these particulars besides what hath been said to the point already viz. Whether it be not equally as possible to Almighty