an vnruly fancy that leauing the road and vsuall wayes of truth they run into by-paths of errour and so at length loose both their iudgement and their faith Some haue beene so busie with starres that they haue forgotten him that giues them influence and like curious Lapidaries dally so long with sparkling obiects that they loose the light of that organ which giues life vnto their Art Learning indeed in many is a disease not a perfection a meere surfeit rather vomited than emptied nothing passeth but what is forced and as sometimes with a fit of weaknesse so of pitty A greedy knowledge feeds not our vnderstanding but oppresseth it and like a rauenous appetite chewes more to poison than to nourishment Were I to drinke freely of what is sacred I should desire that which flowes not that which is pumped for waters that are troubled yeeld mud and are oftentimes aswell the bane of the receiuer as the comfort A Pioner or bold myner which digs on too farre for his rich veine of Ore meets with a dampe which choakes him and we may finde some dispositions rather desperate than venturous knowne more by a heady resolution than a wise cautelousnesse whom we may resemble to that silly and storme-tost Seaman who diued so long for a piece of his shipwrackt treasure that either want of aire or ponderousnesse of water depriued him at once of life and fortune Arrius hath been so long conuersant in the schoole of Philosophy that he forgets hee is a Priest and now makes that the Mistresse of Diuinity which was before the handmaid S. Augustine therefore in his Oration ad Catechum expostulates with the hereticke and by way of Prosopopeta doth catechize him thus Credis in Deum patrem omnipotentem Dost thou beleeue in God the father Almighty in his sonne Iesus Christ our Lord I beleeue thou sayest here then thou art mine against the Pagan and the Mahometan Dost thou beleeue that the God and man Christ Iesus was conceiued of the holy Ghost and borne of the Virgin Mary I beleeue thou art yet with me against Photinus and the Iew. Dost thou beleeue the father to be one person and the sonne another yet father and sonne but one God and this also here thou art mine too against the Sabellian Age si mecum es in omnibus quare litigamus saith the Father if wee are one in all these why contend we Let there be no strife betweene thee and me for we are brethren But it will fall out here anon as betweene Lot and Abraham by reason of our substance we cannot dwell together wee must part anon Tell me then how is the sonne equall to the father in operation or beginning in power or eternity or both In operation and power the heretique allowes but not eternitie for how can that which was begotten be equall to that which was not begotten Yes eternitie and greatnesse and power in God sound one for he is not great in one thing and God in another but in this great that hee is God be cause his greatnesse is the same with his power and his essence with his greatnesse Seeing then the sonne is coequall in respect of power he must be coeternall too in respect of euerlastingnesse Here the Arrian is on fire and nothing can allay or quench these flames but that which giues them an vntimely foment Reason To proue a principle in nature is both troublesome and difficult but in religion without the assent of faith impossible In matters of reason it is first discourse then resolue but in these of religion first beleeue and the effect will follow whether for confession of the truth or conuiction of errour or both The greatest miracles our Sauiour did in way of cure or restauration was with a si credas and that to the liuing and the dead and betweene those the sicke To the Centurion for his seruant with a sicut credis As thou beleeuest so be it vnto thee Matth. 8.5 To the Ruler of the Synagogue for his daughter with a Crede too Feare not but beleeue Mar. 5.36 To all that are dumbe or blinde or lame in mysteries of Diuinity as to those dumbe or blinde or lame in bodie with a Vtrum creditis Doe you beleeue these things then your faith hath made you whole Matth. 9.28 but if wee meet with vnweildy dispositions such as are not onely vntractable but opposite to the waies of faith we shall rather drag than inuite them to beliefe howeuer the Father labours here by a powerfull perswasion and where hee failes in the strength of proofe he makes it out by way of allusion which he illustrates by a similitude of fire light which are distinct things one proceeds from another neither can the one be possibly without the other the father he resembles to the fire the sonne to the light and endeauours to deriue it though obliquely somewhat from sacred storie in Deut. 4.24 God is called a fire Thy God is a consuming fire in Psal 8. Christ the light Thy word is a light vnto my steps With this double stone he batters the forehead both of the Sabellian and the Arrian first of the Sabellian for here are two in one fire and light yet two still not one why not so with Sonne and Father The Arrian next for here also is one borne of another yet the one not possibly to be borne without the other neither of them first and last fire and light coequall Father and Sonne so too The similitude iarres onely in this those are temporarie and these eternall pater ergo filius vnum sunt saith the Father Sunt dico quia pater filius vnum quia Deus dualitas in prole vnitas in deitate cum dico filius alter est cum dico Deus vnus est cont 5. host genera cap. 7. What more obuious and trodden to the thinnest knowledge than that there is here alius and alias but not aliud as in bels of equal magnitude and dimension pardon the lownesse of the similitude which though framed out of the same masse and Art where the substance and workmanship are one yet the sound is diuers for though of Sonne and Father the substance be one as God yet the appellation and sound is diuers as Sonne and Father The Heretique either impatient of this truth or ignorant once more makes reason his vmpire but how sinisterly how iniuriously that which should be the mistresse of our sence and the Sterne and arbitresse of all our actions must now be a promotresse and baud to error It is bold expostulation that runnes vs on these shelues of danger and hath been the often wracke of many a blooming and hopefull truth There are errours besides these desperate of will of vnderstanding which sometimes are rather voluntary than deliberatiue and ballaced more by the suggestions of a weake fancy than any strength of iudgement If our thoughts still lie at Hull in those shallowes of
appareret nobis quod lex Prophetae cum Euangelio congruentes sempiternum dei filium quem annunciauerant reuelarent But that it should appeare vnto vs that the Law and the Gospell going hand in hand with Euangelicall truth for vnder Christ and Moses and Elias Saint Augustine also shrines those three Aug. in orat ad Catech. cap. 6. should reveale vnto vs the euerlasting Sonne of God whom they had both foretold and showne And loe yet as if these were not Oracles loude enough for the promulgation of such a Maiestie the voice of the Almightie fils it vp with a Hic est meus Dilectissimus This is my beloued Sonne My Sonne of eternitie Ego ex vtero ante Luciferum genui te Psal 34. And a sonne of mine owne substance Ex ore Altissimi prodiui Wis 7. primogenitus before the day was I am he Esay 43.13 Vnigenitus A iust God and a Sauiour There is none beside me Esay 45.21 A Sonne begotten not created not of grace but nature before not in time Hereupon Christ taking his farewell of his Disciples Iohn 20. shewes them this Interuallum and distance of generation and adoption I goe to my Father and your Father and to my God and your not to our Father but to mine and yours This separation implies a diuersitie and shewes that God is his Father indeed but our Creator and therefore he addes My God and your God Mine by a priuiledge of nature yours of grace Mine out of the wombe as it were of euerlastingnesse yours out of the iawes of time Yet the Heretique would faine sell vs to vnbeleefe and errour by cheating Christ of an eternall birth-right tossing it on the tides of time and so make him a creature and no God Heere to dissent meerely were both perfunctory and dull such a falshood merits rather defiance than deniall Amb. vt supra Negamus potius horremus vacem Errours that are so insolent are to be explos't not disputed and spit at rather than contrould Confutation swayes not heere but violence and therefore the Apostle driues this blasphemy to the head Coloss 1.15 Where we finde Christ stiled primogenitus vniuersae Creaturae The first-borne of euery creature not the first created Vt genitus pro Natura primus pro perpetuitate credatur saith Ambrose borne presupposes diuine nature First perpetuitie and therefore when the pen of the Holy Ghost sets him out in his full glory he giues him this title Col. 1. haeredem omnium The heire of all things by whom God made the world To make the world and to be made in it how contradictory Amb. 1. de si ad Grat. cap. 2. Quis Authorem inter opera sua deputet vt videatur esse quod fecit saith the Father Was there euer malice so shod with ignorance which could not diuide the Artificer from his worke the Potter from his clay the Creator from the thing created heare him speak in whose mouth there was no guile Ego pater vnum sumus Ioh. 10. I and the Father are one Vnum to shew a consent both of power and eternitie Sumus a perfection of nature without confusion Againe Vnum sumus not vnus sum so Augustine descants Orat. ad Catech. cap. 5. Vnum to confute the Arrian Sumus the Sabellian the one disiointing and seuering the times of Sonne and Father the other confounding their persons Vnum than to shew their essence one Sumus the persons diuers I could wish that we were now at truce but with these there is neither peace nor safety but in victory wee are still in the Front and violence of our Aduersary who puts on here as Philip did to Christ with a Domine ostende nobis Lord shew vs the Father and it sufficeth vs but obserue how the Lord replies and in his reply controules and in his controulement cure's Haue I been so long time with thee and hast thou not knowne me Philip I came to reconcile thee to the Father and wilt thou separate me Why seekest thou another he that hath seene me hath seene my Father also Audi Arriane quid Dominus saith Augustine si errasti cum Apostolo redi cum Apostolo Hearke Arrius how the Lord rebukes him and if thou hast digrest with an Apostle returne with an Apostle so his checke shall be thy conuersion But whilst we thus shoulder with the Arrian the Sabellian lies in ambush who now comes on like lightning and thunder but goes off like smoake for looking backe to those words of our Sauiour he runnes on boldly to his owne paradox and by this harmony of Sonne and Father would perswade vs to a confusion of their persons but the Text beares it not and one little particle shall redeeme it from such a preposterous interpretation for it runnes not with a Qui me videt videt patrem He that sees me sees my father as if I were both father and sonne but with a Qui me videt videt patrem He that sees me sees my father also Vbi interpositio vnius sillabae patrem descernit filium teque demonstrat neque patrem habere neque filium August in his contra 5. host genera cap. 6. It is a rare opinion that hath not something to hearten it either in truth or probability otherwise it were no lesse erroneous than desperate But here there can be no colour or pretence for either where both Diuinity and Arts breathe their defiance that two natures should dissolue into one person religion contradicts two persons into one nature reason but two persons into one person both reason religion Dixit Dominus Domino meo saith the Psalmist The Lord said vnto my Lord sit at my right hand Harke Sabellius here is a Lord and a Lord two then not one where is now thy confusion of persons Ego Deus solus non alius extra me Deut. 32.12 I am God and there is none beside me Arrius where is thy God of eternity and thy God of power thy God of time and operation and thy God from the beginning Audi Israel Dominus noster Deus vnus The Lord our God is God onely no riuall no sharer in his omnipotency for if temporary how a God if a God how not eternall if eternall how not one Thou allowest him the power of God but not the eternity the operation not the time what prodigy of errour what dearth of reason what warre of contradiction what is this but to be God and no God temporary and yet euerlasting Opinion once seeded in errour shoots-out into heresie and after some growth of time blasphemy Who besides an Arrian could haue thus molded two Gods out of one except a Tritheite or a Maniche Who scarce so grossely neither denie them not an equality of time but condition coeternall but this good and that euill Thus men ouer-borne with the strength of a selfe-conceit are so precipitated and drawne on with the swindge of
nature where we coast daily about sence and reason how can we but dash against vntimely errours but if we keepe aloofe in principles of Religion where those winds of doubt and distrust swell and bluster not faith will be at last our wafter vnto truth Let 's not then any longer root our meditations in vallies vnder vs but looke vp to those hills from whence our saluation commeth Let 's conuerse a little with Prophets and Euangelists and those other Registers and Secretaries of the Almightie In te est Deus non est Deus praeter te Esay 45.5 Infidell either deny a diuinity of Father or Sonne or confesse an vnitie of both for one thou must doe of the Sonne thou canst not for there is a God in him the Father Pater qui in me manet ipse loquitur the Father that is in me he speaketh and the works which I doe be doth Ioh. 10. of the Father thou dar'st not there is a God in him the Sonne I am in the Father and the Father in me Ioh. 14. Here then is both a proprietie of nature and vnitie of consent God in God yet not two but one fulnesse of diuinitie in the Father fulnesse in the Son yet the Godhead not diuers but the same so that now there is no lesse a singlenesse of name than operation And therefore those words of the Apostle though in the first encounter and suruay they offer a shew of contradiction yet searched to the quicke and kernell are not without a mysterious weight Rom. 8.32 It is said of the Father Filio proprio non pepercit sed pro nobis tradidit He spared not his owne Sonne but gaue him for vs all to death yet Ephes 5. It is said of the Sonne Tradidit semetcipsum pro nobis He gaue himselfe for vs Heere is a double Tradidit an a pronobis and a sepronobis if he was giuen of the Father and yet gaue himselfe how can it follow but that there must be both a simpathy of nature and operation And indeed it were a meere sacriledge and robbery of their honour to depriue them of this so sacred a correspondence We allow to all beleeuers but one soule and one heart Acts 4 to all those that cleaue to God one spirit 1 Cor. 16. to husband and wife one flesh to all men in respect of nature but one substance If in sublunary matters where there is no alliance or reference with those more sacred Scriptures approue many to be one shall we riffle the Father and the Sonne of the like Iurisdiction and deny them to be eternally one where there is no iarre of will or substance Heare how the Apostle doth chalke out a way to our beleefe by the rules of diuine truth 1 Cor. 8.6 There is one God which is the Father of whom are all things and we of him and one Lord Iesus Christ by whom are all things and wee by him Here is Deus and Dominus a God and a Lord and yet no pluralitie of Godhead and an ex quo and a per quem of whom and by whom yet a vnitie of power for as in that he sayes one Lord Iesus Christ he denied not the Father to be Lord so by saying one God the Father he denied not the Sonne to be God In te igitur est Deus per vnitatem naturae non est Deus praeter te propter proprietatem substantiae Ambros lib. 1. de fide ad Gratian 2. cap. With what sacred inscriptions do we find him blazoned the ingrauen forme of his Father the image of his goodnesse the brightnesse of his glory and with these three of an Apostle Esay 9.6 a Prophet rankes other three not subordinate in maiestie or truth as if the same inspiration had dictated both matter and forme Counsellor the Almighty God the euerlasting Father the euerlasting Father in a double sence either as he is author of it as Iuball was said to be the Father of Musicke when he was but the Author or inuentor or in respect of his affection because hee loues with an euerlasting loue yet some leaning on the word of the Greeke Interpreter 〈◊〉 which the vulgar renders Pater futuri seculi would restraine it onely to the life to come but Caluine extends it to a perpetuity of time and continued Series of all ages In cap. 9. Esay And the Chaldee translation which with the Hebrew is most authentique seemes not onely to assent to it but applaud it too Nomen eius ab ante mirabilis consilio Deus fortis permanens in saecula saculorum Howeuer the Septuagint terrified with the maiestie of so great a name giue it vs by Magni confilij Angelus which words though they haue no footing in the originall yet both Augustire and Tertullian approue the sence taking Angelus for Nancius so that Christ tooke not vpon him the nature of an Angell as some would iniuriously foize upon Origens opinion but the office by which as a Legate or mediator rather he appeared to those Patriarches of old Abraham and the rest Gen. 18.3 I haue once more brought Christ as farre as Iacob and Abraham but the Text tells me a little farther and so doth my aduersary too till I haue verified in Christ the strength of that voice I am the God of Abraham and the God of Iacob We may not leaue him here with the bare title of an Angell we must goe higher to that of the Sonne of God where we shall meet our implacable Arrian in his violent opposition If there be a Sonne hee must be borne if borne there was a time when there was no Sonne for to be borne presupposes a beginning and that time Saint Augustine diuided as it seemes betweene pity and indignation answeres Qui hoc dicit non intelligit etiam natum esse deo sempiternum esse To be borne with God is to be eternall with God and he opens himselfe by his old similitude Sicut splendor qui gignitur ab igni as light which is begotten of fire and diffused is coequall with the fire and would be coeternall too if fire were eternall so the Sonne with the Father this being before all time the other must kisse in the same euerlastingnesse The Father thinking his reason built too slenderly doth buttresse as it were and backe it with the authoritie of an Apostle 1 Cor. â—… such an Apostle as was sometimes a persecutor and therefore his authoritie most potent against a persecutor where he stiles Christ the power and wisedome of God If the Sonne of God be the power and wisdome of God and that God was neuer without power and wisedome how can we scant the Sonne of a coeternitie with the Father For either we must grant that there was alwayes a Sonne or that God had sometimes no wisedome and impudence or madnesse were neuer at such a growth of blasphemie as to belch the latter If the reuerend allegation of a learned Prelate or those