openeth the womb shall be called Holy unto the Lord Ergo To be the Lord's and to be Holy are Synonyma's Though therefore the Gentiles Court had no sanctity of legal distinction yet had it the sanctity of peculiarity to God-ward and therefore not to be used as a common place The Illation proceeds by way of Conversion My House shall be called the House of Prayer to all Nations or People Ergo The House of Prayer for all Nations is my Father's House And the Emphasis lies in the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which our Translators were not so well advised of when following Beza too close they render the words thus My House shall be called of all Nations the House of Prayer as if the Dative Case here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were not Acquisitive but as it is sometimes with passive verbs in stead of the Ablative of the Agent for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which sense is clean from the scope and purpose of the place whence it is taken as he that compares them will easily see and I shall make fully to appear in the next part of my Discourse which I tendred by the name of an Observation To wit That this fact of our Saviour more particularly concerns us of the Gentiles than we take notice of Namely we are taught thereby what reverent esteem we ought to have of our Gentile Oratories and Churches howsoever not endued with such legal sanctity in every respect as was the Temple of the Iews yet Houses of Prayer as well as theirs This Observation will be made good by a threefold Consideration First of the Story as I have related it secondly from the Text here alledged for warrant thereof and thirdly from the circumstance of Time For the Story I have shewed it was acted in the Gentiles Court and not in that of the Iews because it is not credible that was thus prophaned It cannot therefore be alledged that this was a place of legal sanctity for according to legal sanctity it was held by the Iews as common only it was the place for the Gentiles to worship the God of Israel in and seems to have been proper to the second Temple the Gentiles in the first worshipping without at the Temple-door in the holy Mountain only Secondly The place alledged to avow the Fact speaks expresly of Gentile-worshippers not in the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 only but in the whole body of the context Hear the Prophet speak Esay chap. 56. ver 6 7. and then judge The sons of the stranger that joyn themselves to the Lord to serve him and to love the Name of the Lord to be his servants every one that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it and taketh hold of my Covenant namely that I alone shall be his God Even them will I bring to my holy Mountain and make them joyful in my House of Prayer their burnt-offerings and sacrifices accepted upon mine Altar Then follow the words of my Text For my House shall be called that is shall be it is an Hebraism a House of Prayer for all People What is this but a Description of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Gentile-worshippers And this place alone makes good all that I have said before viz. That this vindication was of the Gentiles Court Otherwise the allegation of this Scripture had been impertinent for the Gentiles of whom the Prophet speaks worshipped in no place but this Hence also appears to what purpose our Evangelist expressed the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 namely as that which shewed wherein the force of the accommodation to this occasion lay which the rest of the Evangelists omitted as referring to the place of the Prophet whence it was taken those who heard it being not ignorant of whom the Prophet spake Thirdly the circumstance of Time argues the same thing if we consider that this was done but a few days before our Saviour suffered to wit when he came to his last Passeover How unseasonable had it been to vindicate the violation of Legal and typical sanctity which within so few days after he was utterly to abolish by his Cross unless he had meant thereby to leave his Church a lasting lesson what reverence and respect he would have accounted due to such places as this was which he vindicated DISCOURSE XII S. IOHN 4. 23. But the hour cometh and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and Truth For the Father seeketh such to worship him THEY are the words of our Blessed Saviour to the Woman of Samaria who perceiving him by his discourse to be a Prophet desired to be resolved by him of that great controverted point between the Iews and Samaritans Whether Mount Garizim by Sichem where the Samaritans sacrificed or Ierusalem were the true place of worship Our Saviour tells her that this Question was not now of much moment For that the hour or time was near at hand when they should neither worship the Father in Mount Garizim nor at Ierusalem But that there was a greater difference between the Iews and them than this of Place namely even about That which was worshipped For ye saith he worship that ye know not but we Iews worship that we know Then follow the words premised But the hour cometh and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and Truth It is an abused Text being commonly alledged to prove that God now in the Gospel either requires not or regards not External worship but that of the Spirit only and this to be a characteristical difference between the worship of the Old Testament and the New If at any time we talk of external decency in rites and bodily expressions as sit to be used in the service of God this is the usual Buckler to repel whatsoever may be said in that kind It is true indeed that the worship of the Gospel is much more spiritual than that of the Law But that the worship of the Gospel should be only spiritual and no external worship required therein as the Text according to some meus sense and allegation thereof would imply is repugnant not only to the practice and experience of the Christian Religion in all Ages but also to the express Ordinances of the Gospel it self For what are the Sacraments of the New Testament are they not Rites wherein and wherewith God is served and worshipped The consideration of the holy Eucharist alone will consute this Gloss For is not the commemoration of the Sacrifice of Christ's death upon the Cross unto his Father in the Symbols of Bread and Wine an external worship And yet with this Rite hath the Church in all Ages used to make her solemn address of Prayer and Supplication unto the Divine Majesty as the Iews in the Old Testament did by Sacrifice When I say in all Ages I include also that of the Apostles For so much S. Luke testifieth of that first Christian society
be little better than a more pompous solemn and plausible Impertinency and upon the whole matter their Enterprise no other than magno conaâ—u nugas agere with a great deal a-do to do nothing The glory of the First discovering these Synchronisms is peculiarly due to Mr. Mede and upon this score shall the present and succeeding Ages owe a great respect and veneration to his Memory For of these Synchronisms he might justly affirm what Aristotle doth of his Syllogisms the invention of which method of reasoning he challengeth to himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This was Mr. Mede's noble 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as well useful and serviceable as new and curious and it was an argument of his great judgment as to discern the proper Events and Times to which these Visions are to be applied so likewise to discover those Passages in the Apocalyps which though dispersed here and there are Synchronal and Homogeneal there being certain Characters and Intimations secretly couched in this Book of Mysteries whereby as also by considering the nature of the things themselves that are Contemporary the Synchronisms of the Visions may be found out I shall not need to shew how necessary it is for those that go down to this Prophetick Sea to stear by the guidance of these Synchronisms that lightsome Pharos and indeed the only Cynosura to direct those that are upon this great Deep the Author himself having fully and undeniably done this all along in his Clavis Apocalyptica and summarily in the two last pages thereof Nor will the excellency and advantages of this Discovery be doubted of by any that shall with patience and attention peruse what he hath written in a close and concise way agreeably to his Mathematical Genius of the Apocalyptick Synchronisms in that Clavis Thus much for the Third General Means of Knowledge I must be shorter in what follows IV. A Fourth means whereby he arrived at so great a measure of Knowledge was His Freedom from Partiality Prejudice and Prepossession Pride Passion and Self-love Self-seeking Flattery and covetous Ambition 1. How free he was from all Partiality there are many pregnant Proofs in his Writings It is a common yet a most true observation That with many men Maxima pars studiorum est studium partium but with him it was otherwise In some of his Epistles he complains that it was Partiality that undoes all and that Studium partium together with Prejudice is an invincible mischief while it leaves no place for admission of Truth that brings any disadvantage to the Side or party that being the Rule which they examine all by And therefore being sensible and aware of this evil he professeth in Ep. 96. that he endeavour'd as much as possibly he could to subdue himself to such a Free temper of Mind as not to desire to find for this side rather than that And his Endeavours herein being hearty and serious they were consequently through God's blessing successful insomuch that he judged himself highly obliged upon this account to return this grateful acknowledgment to Almighty God in Ep. 56. I thank God saith he I never made any thing hitherto the caster of my resolution but Reason and Evidence on what side soever the advantage or disadvantage fell The singular availableness of such free and unbiassed affections in the pursuit of Knowledge he hath excellently express'd in that clear profession of his in Ep. 96. If I have hit upon any Truth it is wholly to be attributed to my indifferency in such searches to embrace whatsoever I should find without any regard whether it were for the advantage of one side or other This and the forementioned passages are excellent words the genuine language of a Son of Wisdom the lively picture and true character of his and every generous Soul every way becoming a right Virtuoso and member of the Philalethean Academy From this Freespiritedness together with the ingenuous effects thereof were the Bera'ans styled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a more noble sort of Christians They that are short of this Excellency and Largeness of spirit seldom attain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to prove things that differ or to approve things that are excellent seldome rise to what is above mean and vulgar slight and superficial but are condemn'd to what is servile and Pedantick and judge themselves unworthy of the noblest Truths and withal are expos'd to the same Falshood and Mistakes that the Person or Party whom they have in admiration because of advantage or the Vulgus in any rank of men being of the same illiberal and contracted spirit with themselves are liable to For it is a Maxime equally true and generous Suum est cuique Ordini vulgus optima semper paucissimis placuere To which I may fitly adjoyn that pertinent Observation of Seneca Non tam bene cum rebus humanis agitur ut meliora pluribus placeant 2. Nor was he less free from all Prejudice and Prepossession with the attendants thereof Pride Passion and Self-love Men come to be prejudic'd against Truth either by their disgust and disaffection to the person that represents it an argument this is of their little Iudgement but great Passion but from this he was secured by his Charity enlarged to all men and by the cool and calm temper of his spirit he could patiently endure the contradiction of others and reply without passion witness his sober and pacate Answer to Lawenus his hot Strictures Or else they are prejudic'd by their scornful disesteem of others an effect this is of their high Self-conceit and surely Pride and from this he was secured by his great Humility and Modesty whereof there are many clear Proofs in his Writings Accordingly when he had to do with Mr. Hayns about some Tenets of his in reference to several passages in Daniel and the Apocalyps he plainly tells him I profess to you I contemn not your discourses but do diligently and apud conscientiam meam weigh your arguments howsoever it comes to pass I am not persuaded by them and farther so far he was from slighting what was done by those that were eager for the same Tenets that he assures him he had read the most that had or could be said for those Opinions either by the chief Patrons thereof or their followers and so had used all that Diligence that was due in the search of Truth And herein he was Exemplary to every ingenuous lover of Knowledge and contrary to the proud and passionate man that is conceited and resolved upon his Opinion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and is therefore impatient to hear or consider any thing that opposes it But Humility affords a very considerable advantage for the clearer discerning what is True and Right while it prepares men to receive any better information from others This effect it had in Mr. Mede and upon this score how heartily
thy self to Christ become a disciple and a member of his Kingdom S. Paul likewise taught the Gospel in like manner for himself tells us so Acts 20. 21. that he testified both to Iews and Gentiles Repentance toward God and Faith toward our Lord Iesus Christ. Repentance therefore and the Gospel cannot be separated If Repentance includes newness of life and good works the Gospel doth so For Christ is the way of Repentance without Repentance there is no use of Christ and without Christ Repentance is unavailable and nothing worth for without him we can neither be quit of the sins we forsake nor turn by a new life unto God with hope of being received He is the blessed Ferry-man and his Gospel is the Boat provided by the unspeakable mercy of God for the passage of this Sea As therefore in Repentance we forsake sin to serve God in newness of life so in the tenour of the Gospel Christ delivers us from sin that we might through Faith in him bring forth the fruits and works of a new life acceptable to our heavenly Father Hence it is that we shall be judged and receive our sentence at the last day according to our works Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world For I was hungry and ye gave me meat I was thirsty and ye gave me drink I was a stranger and ye took me in naked and ye clothed me I was sick and ye visited me I was in prison and ye came unto me Forasmuch as ye have done these things unto the least of my brethren ye have done them unto me Lord how do those look to be saved at that day who think good works not required to Salvation and accordingly do them not Can our Saviour pass this blessed sentence upon them No assuredly he will not But if the case be thus in the Gospel What is the reason will some men say that the Apostle tells us that we Christians are no longer under the Law nor justified by the works of the Law but under Grace and justified by Faith only I answer It is true that we are justified that is freed and acquitted from sin by Faith only But besides Iustification there is a Sanctification with the works of piety towards God and righteousness towards men as the Fruits yea as the End of our Iustification required to eternal life For therefore we are justified that we might do works acceptable to our heavenly Father through the imputation of the Righteousness of Christ which of our selves we could not and so obtain the reward he hath promised the doers of them As for the Law it is to be considered either as a Rule and so we are bound to conform and frame our actions to it for who dare deny but a Christian is bound to fear God and keep his Commandments or the Law may be considered as it is taken for the Covenant of works The Apostle when he disputes of this argument by the Law means the Covenant of works which he also calls The Law of works and by Faith and the Law of Faith he understands the Covenant of grace the condition whereof is Faith as will easily appear to him that shall diligently read the third and fourth chapters of the Epistle to the Galatians where he expresly changeth those terms of Law and Faith into the equivalent appellations of the Two Covenants Now as the Law is taken for the Covenant of works the Seal whereof was Circumcision 't is true we are not under it For the Covenant of works called by the Apostle the Law is that Covenant wherein Works are the condition on our part which if we perform in every point as the Law requires we are justified before God as keepers of his Covenant otherwise if we fail in the least thing we are condemned as guilty of the breach thereof Under this Covenant we are not for if we were and were to be judged according to it alas who could be saved For all saith the Apostle have sinned and come short of the glory of God There is none righteous no not one But the Covenant we are under is Believe and thou shalt be saved the Covenant of Grace the condition of which Covenant on our part is not the doing of works which may abide the Touch-stone of the Law but Faith in Iesus Christ which makes our works though of themselves insufficient and short of what the Law requires accepted of God and capable of reward This is that S. Iohn saith 1 Ep. 5. 3 4. That to love God is to keep his commandments and his commandments now under the Gospel are not grievous For whatsoever is born of God overcomes the world and this is the victory that overcometh the world even our Faith c. Whence our Saviour also saith that his yoke the yoke of the Gospel was easie and his burthen light The condition of the first Covenant was that which we could not do the condition of the second Covenant is that which enableth us to do and makes accepted what we can do and this is the Covenant of the Gospel a Covenant of savour and grace through Iesus Christ our Lord. And thus we have seen what the Apostle's meaning is when he saith we are not under the Law but under Grace Not as though a Christian were not bound to walk after God's commandments but that the exact fulfilling of them is not the condition whereby we are justified in the New Covenant but Faith in Iesus Christ in whom whosoever cometh unto the Father is accepted be his offering never so mean so it be tendered with sincerity and truth of heart Most unworthy therefore should we be of this so great and unspeakable favour of Almighty God our heavenly Father offered us in the Gospel if when he hath given us his only Son to make the yoak of our obedience easie and possible to be born we contemning this superabundant grace should refuse to wear and draw therein Far be it from the heart of a Christian to think it possible to have any benefit by Christ as long as he stands thus affected or ever to win the prize of eternal life without running the race appointed thereunto Shall we sin that grace may abound saith S. Paul God forbid THUS much of the Gospel Now of Faith whereby we are partakers of the grace therein being the condition of the New Covenant which God hath struck with men Faith is to believe the Gospel that is to attain Salvation through Christ. But there is a three-fold Faith wherewith men believe in Christ. 1. There is a false Faith 2. there is a true Faith but not a saving and 3. there is a saving Faith A false Faith is to believe to attain Salvation by Christ any other way than God hath ordained as namely to believe to attain Salvation through him without works of obedience to be accepted of
when there is no benefit by it but if it chance to be once beneficial to our selves then we love it Here is the trial of a Loyal heart to God to prefer vertue before vice then when in humane reason vertue shall be the loser vice the gainer This note discovered Iehu who destroyed the worship of Baal with a great shew of zeal but when it came to Ieroboam's Calves he dispensed with them lest it might prove dangerous to his Kingdom if the Israelites should go worship at Ierusalem 4. To conclude A Loyal heart is that which the Scripture calls in the old Testament A perfect heart 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Not perfect in respect of degrees for such a perfection is not attainable in this life but perfect in respect of parts Cor integrum a heart wherein no part is wholly wanting howsoever weak and a great deal short of due proportion 1 Kings 11. 4. when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other Gods and his heart was not perfect with his God as was the Heart of David his Father not because he served not the Lord at all but that he served him not only and intirely Ioshua 24. 14. Now therefore saith he fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and truth Heb. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in perfectness and truth and put away the Gods which your Fathers served which was as much as to say Serve the Lord wholly and quite renounce all service to others 2 Kings 20. 3. Hezekiah prayes in his sickness Lord I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart and have done that which is good in thy sight He saith not he had done perfect Actions or performed perfect service for who can do such but yet that he walked with a perfect heart that is with a loyal heart before God So 1 Kings 15. 14. it is said That though Asa failed in his Reformation and the high places were not removed nevertheless his heart was perfect that is loyal with the Lord all his dayes THUS much shall suffice to have spoken of the Act Keep and of the Heart the Object of our keeping which are the two first things I considered in this Admonition The Third remains which is the Manner or Means how our heart is to be kept viz. with all diligence or above all keeping saith the Text that is with the best the surest the chiefest kind of keeping which is not only now and then to look unto it but to set a continual guard about it Nature hath placed the Heart in the most fenced part of the body having the Breast as a natural Corslet to defend it If the Heart be in fear or danger all the bloud and spirits in the body will forsake the outward parts and run to preserve and succour it If Nature be so provident for that which is but the Fountain of a natural life what care should the spiritual man have to keep his heart and soul guarded and fortified against all annoiances spiritual The life we lose if this be wounded or poisoned is inestimable the other of Nature is of no great value Yea but perhaps a natural man's heart is liable to more natural dangers than the heart of a man that lives to God-ward is to spiritual annoiances I answer The contrary is true For the Heart we speak of whence the Issues of the life of grace proceed is like a City every moment liable both to inward commotion and outward assault Within the fountain of original Impurity is continually more or less bubbling with rebellion Without the World and the Devil continually either assault it or lye in Ambuscado to surprise it The world batters it with three great and dangerous Engines of Pleasures Riches and Honours wherewith she endeavoureth to lay it waste and rob it of all heavenly treasure The Devil watcheth every opportunity to hurl in his fiery darts to cast all into a combustion and thereby farther to invenome and enrage the already-too-much impoisoned vitiousness and impetuousness of our corrupt nature How needful a thing is it therefore to follow this precept of Solomon to keep our hearts with all diligence or above all keeping to keep them with a continual guard to keep a continual watch and ward left the enemies surprise them Watch and pray saith our Saviour Matt. 26. 41. that ye enter not into temptation Watch in all things saith S. Paul to Timothy 2 Tim. 4. 5. Be sober be vigilant saith S. Peter 1 Pet. 5. 8. because your adversary the devil as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour If the heart be to be kept with all diligence or above the keeping of any thing else then is this Watch we hear commanded and this Guard of Prayer and this is a strong Guard to be chiefly and above all applied unto it But for a more particular direction of this guarding of the Heart we must be careful to observe this order following 1. As those who keep a City attempted or besieged by an Enemy have special care of the Gates and Posterns whereat the Enemie may get in So must we in this Guard of the Heart watch especially over the Gates and Windows of the Soul the Senses and above all the Eye and the Ear whereat the Devil is wont to convey the most of those pollutions wherewith the Heart is wasted First concerning the Eye David's example may warn the holiest men to the world's end to keep a watchful jealousie over it What a number of Cut-throats did one idle glance upon Bathsheba let in who made that Royal Heart whose uprightness God so much approved to become a sty of uncleanness and robbed it of those heavenly ornaments wherewith it was so plentifully adorned For the Ear take heed of obscene and wanton talk which by those Doors or Windows entring like Balls of Wild-fire inflame the Heart with lust We must beware also of the slanderer's mouth and backbiters tongue whose lying reports and malicious tales if they get in would sow in thine heart the seeds of heart-burning spight and mental murther which in that sinful soil will fructifie very rankly And think them no small sins which make thee guilty of innocent bloud for thine heart and tongue may kill thy brother as well as thy hand 2. As those who keep and defend a City make much of such as are faithful trusty and serviceable and if any such come will entertain and welcom them with much kindness but a Traitor or one of the enemie's party they presently cut short as soon as they discover him So must we make exceedingly much of all good motions put into our hearts by God's Spirit howsoever occasioned whether by the Word of God mindfulness of death good Admonition some special cross or extraordinary mercy any way at any time These are our Hearts friends we must cherish encrease and improve them to the
unacquainted with the Schemes of Prophetick style for these alone are competent judges in these matters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let such as these judge between the Author's method and the Novel way of interpreting wherein the Learned Hugo Grotius is the Choragus and leads the Dance a Dance which has made those of the Court of Rome no little sport For me here to make a judgment upon these two so distant Methods of Interpretation if it were fit yet it is needless both of them being brought into view and impartially compared and the Author's Method undeniably evinced to be the better and fully vindicated from the little pretensions of the contrary party and all this perform'd by one not only of the same University but of the same Colledge too which renders the performance more decorous and graceful it being as well a becoming testimony of a fair and worthy respect to the Author's memory as a seasonable service to the Truth it self This is a little of the much that might be observ'd touching the Author 's Intellectual Accomplishments His Moral Endowments did testifie his great Piety as the other his great Parts and Learning By his Moral Endowments I mean his Humility and Charity his Moderation Peaceable-Spiritedness Long-suffering and Patience his Meekness towards those that oppos'd themselves his Benignity Largeness and Openness of Spirit his Zeal for God and things Holy Iust and Good his Freedom from Ambition Envy and Love of the World his Sympathies and Pious Solicitudes for the Breaches in Christendom and not to instance in all those Vertues that shined forth in him and render'd him an Exemplary and Usefull Christian I shall name only one more and it 's that which is the signal Character of the Best Souls such as approch nearest to an Heroick State of Goodness and the greatest resemblance of the Divinity his Communicativeness and readiness to do good and that particularly by a free imparting unto all ingenuous lovers of Knowledge of his best Treasures and his Unweariedness herein an argument that he sensibly knew that Noble pleasure which useth to accompany the exercise of such Beneficence And which is the Crown of all all these were actuated and inspirited by Faith the Root of every Grace that is truly Christian and accordingly the necessity of such a Living and Operative Faith the Author has with great seriousness treated in several of his Discourses And here indeed were a large and pleasant Field to traverse a rich argument to discourse upon But there being in the following History of the Author's Life a very particular account of these and other his Endowments which must needs make his Memory precious to all persons of Piety and Learning I would not by an unnecessary lengthening of this Preface detain the Reader too long from the satisfaction he may there receive Thus much in brief touching The Author 2. Concerning his Writings besides what has been intimated by the way in the foregoiâ—g Advertisements these things are fit to be observ'd 1. That there were Three Treatises of his published in his life-time The First was his Clavis Commentationes Apocalypticae the largest and withal the most elaborate of any of his Writings This was his First-born his might and the excellency of his strength as Iacob spake of his First-born It was extorted from him by the loving violence of some great Friends otherwise he would have deferr'd the publishing of it till he had perfected his Specimina upon the last Chapters of the Apocalyps into a just Commentary agreeably to that large method of Interpreting wherein he had proceeded to the end of Chap. 14. The other Two short Tracts viz. about the Name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 anciently given to the H. Table and about Churches in the Apostles times were not published neither without his modest reluctancy he was overruled herein by his Superiors whose Command for the former was accompanied with this high Elogium as some of the Author's friends have related it That this little Piece should silence all other Tracts about that argument there being enough therein said they to satisfie all reasonable men and there having been more than enough already published but to less purpose The English of the many Quotations in these Two Tracts not translated by the Author I have set not in the body of the line immediately after any of the Quotations but in another Column To have done so in the rest of his Works would have swell'd the whole into a greater bulk But I chose to do thus in these Two Tracts because they were published in his life-time and without any Translation immediately following the several Testimonies out of others And yet I am apt to think that if he had lived to prepare for the publick view some other Tracts or Discourses he would have render'd them into English and I the rather think so because he has done thus in some Discourses perfected by him though not published not long before his death These were his Discourse upon Eccles. 5. 1. intitled The Reverence of God's House and that upon S. Matth. 6. 9. about the Sanctification of God's Name These were revised by him and seem to have received his last care besides some other Tracts as his Paraphrase and Exposition of S. Peter's Prophecy and that Latin Tract De Numeris Danielis 2. That his other Discourses and Treatises whether formerly printed or now added were Opera Posthuma and yet too good to have been buried in obscurity and consequently lost to the World for according to that twice-mentioned sentence in Siracides ch 20. 41. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 although had they been revised by the Author in order to printing they would doubtless have received some polishing lustre and farther enrichments from his last hand How advantageous such a Revisal of them would have been may appear from those fore-mentioned Discourses of his the former draughts whereof as they were deliver'd in the Colledge-Chappel were upon his review and going over them again much enlarged and made more full This Advertisement was fit to be here mentioned and that in justice to the Author's memory And therefore it is a very reasonable request to entreat the Reader to peruse them with that Candour and Fairness which is deem'd by all ingenuous persons but a due respect to the Posthumous Works of Worthy men In the confidence of such a Favor Civility have the Posthuma of many Learned men been presented to the world particularly some Posthumous Pieces of the eminently learned Bishop Andrews by the then Bishops of London and Ely the Three last Books of the Iudicious Mr. Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity by the late Bishop of Worcester and to name but one more of the many that might be mentioned the Profound Dr. Iackson's Tenth and Eleventh Books of Commentaries upon the Creed by the unexpressible industry of the Reverend Mr. Oley Upon the like confidence of a fair respect to be afforded to the Posthuma
does he thank Lud. de Dieu for suggesting to him an easier explication of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apocal. 4. 6. and for acquainting him with his notion about 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cherub signifying an Oxe from the Chaldee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cherab which is Aravit whereby his observation upon the 4 Animalia in Apocal. 4. 7. was confirmed And with the like affection he acknowledges Mr. Haydock's ingenious conjecture about the form of the Seven-sealed Book Apocal. 5. as also his being better informed about the Number of the Beast 666 by Mr. Potter's Discourse concerning it with which Discovery he was so highly pleas'd that not without some 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he affirm'd it to be one of the happiest Tracts that had come into the world and such as could not be read without much admiration In short He did not take himself to be Infallible and therefore was not Unalterable where the change was for the better and the change is ever such where we part with a plausible Mistake or with a specious Probability for solid Truth and clear Demonstration but he was always ready to hear another's Reason and to yield himself a willing Captive to the Evidence of Truth For to be overcome by Truth and Reason makes the conquered a gainer and puts him into a better state than he was in before nor will he fail if he know his own happiness to make one in that joyous acclamation Great is Truth and mighty above all things She is the Strength Power and Majesty of all ages Blessed be the God of Truth Or else men come to be prejudic'd by an undue affection to their Idola specus as the L. Verulam calls them their peculiar Conceits some Notions and Speculations of their own by which they either are or would be known being fondly persuaded that things are so as they imagine them or vehemently desirous that they should be so and therefore it is no wonder if being thus prepossess'd they have lost their taste and wrong'd their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that they cannot readily discern between Good and Evil but as the Prophet Esay speaks put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter and are easily brought to fansie that to be True and Right which they passionately will to be such in order to some corrupt design and interest eagerly pursued by them or to the gratifying of those several Lusts wherewith they are led away as the Apostle speaks and are therefore unable to come to the knowledge of the Truth And if they that are thus affected do sometimes for a pretence consult the Holy Scriptures they come so fully possess'd that this or that Opinion and Practice of theirs is True and Right or so strongly resolved to find it so that even the Divine Oracles seem to them to return such an Answer as they promised themselves they should receive and most impetuously lusted after And so it fares with them herein as in another case it did with the Romans who having taken Veii a famous City in Hetruria went into Iuno's Temple and there with great ceremony and affectionateness asking Iuno Velletne cum illis Romam ire to some the Image seem'd annuere to others etiam id ipsum affirmare Upon which story in Livy there is this observation of Machiavel in his Discurs de Repub. Cum tanta veneratione interrogassent visum est ipsis tale responsum audivisse quale se audituros prius pollicebantur The application is obvious But against this other Instance of Pride expressing itself in an over-dear regard that such men have to their own Sentiments and oftentimes for some self-ends and undue advantage to themselves against this I say Mr. Mede was secured by that Universal Alexipharmacum his truly-Christian Humility as also by that Generosum honestum which dwelt and ruled in him the noble Integrity of his spirit that which the Scripture calls the Good and Honest Heart a Principle not less yea more necessary to the right discerning of Divine Truth than the Subtile Head And from this Principle he thus expresseth himself in some of his Diatribae That we should be more willing to take a Sense from Scripture than bring one to it Agreeable to which is that Maxime of his worthy to be written in letters of Gold it was mentioned once before but cannot be too often inculcated that Maxime which he said was deeply impress'd upon his own Soul That rashly to be the Author of a false Interpretation of Scripture is to take Gods name in vain in an high degree How then shall they escape and where shall they appear who being resolved to walk after their own lusts pervert and distort the Scriptures as of old the Prophets complain'd of some that did violence to the Law and wrest them to their own destruction which were designed by God to make men wise unto Salvation There are others that are prejudiced through a servile regard to those Idola fori as the forenamed Lord styles Popular Opinions and Vulgar Perswasions the Opinions of the Many or of such a Party among the Many whose Persons first and consequently their Perswasions they have in admiration for generally these two go together They that do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in S. Iude's language go on also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the respecting of Persons introducing also the respecting of Opinions And herein they shew themselves a kind of Servum pecus receiving for Doctrines the Traditions or Customary Notions of such men without any serious consideration which yet is no other than a blind implicit stupid and irrational respect to persons and Opinions as not being founded upon Knowledge and Iudgment But withall they do hereby oftentimes design to serve their own ends by this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all this being done as S. Iude observes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for advantage sake And against such Prejudices as these what could better secure the Author than his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to use S. Peter's expression his clear and sincere Mind his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his Largeness of Heart his Vast Understanding his Free and Ingenuous Spirit those Intellectual and Moral Endowments of his whereof I have already given a brief account in the Second Head of Advertisements 3. As free he was from all Self-seeking Flattery and covetous Ambition as from Partiality and Prejudice each of which has a very inauspicious influence upon any growth in Knowledge and Understanding Accordingly he does more than once observe in his Epistles That Mundus ama◠decipi magis quam doceri and that by constant observation he had found That no man loved any Speculations but such as he thought would advance his profitable Ends or advantage his Side and Faction But for his own part he thus opens his heart in one of his Epistles to a Friend and plainly professeth That he had not made the
Impure Souls are not admitted to any inward converse with God most Pure and Holy That Wickedness is destructive of Principles is also Aristotle's observation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Immorality or a Vicious life unfits men for the noblest Speculations so that they can neither know Divine nor Moral Truths 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they ought to know and as they might have known had they had a true resentment of Morality and an inward esteem of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the things that are just pure and lovely and of good report And though such men may sometimes hit upon some Philosophical Notions yet even in the discovering the Mysteries of Nature they had done far better and had excell'd themselves had they been more purged from brutish Sensuality and all filthiness of flesh and spirit I will only add this That for a most clear and undeniable proof of this Assertion That Morality and a Good life affords the greatest advantages to a more excellent knowledge of not only Divine but Philosophical Truths we have in this Age the unparallel'd Works of some eminently-learned and nobly-accomplish'd Writers who really are Virtuosi according to the ancient Latine importance of the word and not merely in the Italian sense which applies only to the Wits and such as are any way Ingenious be they or be they not morally Vertuous But that which I chiefly intended under this last Particular was to acquaint the Reader how deeply sensible Mr. Mede was of the indispensable necessity of a Purified Mind and Holy Life in order to the fuller and clearer discerning of Divine Mysteries This was his firm belief and it obliged him to endeavours worthy of it To which purpose I shall here produce a very observable passage out of a Letter of his to an ancient Friend in Lincolnshire who having received and with great satisfaction read some Papers from Mr. Mede containing his first Essays upon part of the Apocalyps and thereupon writing to him with all serious importunity That he would earnestly pray for and endeavour after a great measure of Holiness to the mortification of Sin more and more that thereby he might be prepared to receive a greater measure of Divine Illumination and be as a Vessel of honour chosen by God to bear and convey his Truth to others with much more of the like import concluding with this request You see how bold I am with you but let love bury that Exorbitancy c. To this his Christian advice Mr. Mede return'd this excellent Answer Sir I thank you heartily for your good Admonitions and am so far from interpreting your Love Exorbitancy that I confess my self to have much need of this and more and therefore desire you to second this your Love with Prayer to God for me that he would vouchsafe me that his Sanctifying Spirit and that measure of Grace which may make me capable of such things as he shall be pleased to reveal and hath in some sort praised be his Name already revealed unto me in the contemplation whereof I find more true Contentment than the greatest Dignities which Ambition so hunteth after could ever have afforded me I have considered what S. Paul saith The Natural and Carnal man is altogether uncapable of the things of God's Spirit neither can he know them c. and what our Saviour saith If any man will do his Father's will he shall then know of the doctrine whether it be of God and I give thanks to Almighty God who hath made the Light of these his wonderful Mysteries to kindle that Warmth in my Heart which I felt not till I began to see them and which have made me that which they found me not This passage out of Mr. Mede's original Letter I thought very worthy to be made publick and inserted here upon so fit an occasion both for that excel-cellent and genuine relish of an humble and serious Piety in every line thereof as also because it is an illustrious Attestation to the forementioned Truth That an Holy Heart and Life is a necessary Qualification to the right discerning of Divine Mysteries agreeable whereunto is that in the Greek Version of Prov. 1. 7. which yet is rather a Paraphrase than a bare Translation there being more in the Greek than in the Original Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 AND now I have passed over the Three long Stages of this Preface In the last Head of Advertisements I have acquainted the Reader by what Methods and Helps the Author arrived at so great a measure of skill in the Scripture particularly in the more abstruse and mysterious parts thereof And thus may others also attain to a considerable Knowledge and purchase this goodly Pearl this Treasure hid in the field of Prophetical Scriptures if they are willing to be at the same cost and bid to the worth of it and not ignorantly nor sordidly undervalue it For Wisdom and particularly this kind of Wisdom and Knowledge is not to be had at a cheaper rate it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Pearl of great price and worthy of all that we have to bestow to purchase it They that look as little into the Apocalyps as some do into the Apocrypha and mind the Book of Daniel no more than they do the Apocryphal Story of Bell and the Dragon and therefore exercise not their good parts nor bestow that serious diligence about the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Scripture as they use to do about other kind of difficulties whether in Philosophy or other parts of Learning it 's no wonder they complain the Iewel is too dear when they have no mind to give the full price for it and that all Labour after such knowledge is either excessively hard or useless whenas yet through their delicateness and love of their own ease or for some other reason they never made any due trial But in other things Difficulty is no argument it rather whets and animates men of brave spirits and that all Excellent things are hard is so confess'd a Truth that it has pass'd into a vulgar Proverb The first and least therefore that is to be done by such as are of another spirit and are minded to search these as well as the other Scriptures is by a frequent attentive reading of the Prophetical Visions to fix the main passages thereof in their minds otherwise both the style and matter the great things of the Prophets as Hosea speaks of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the great things of the Law will be always counted as a strange thing This being done they must if they would succeed in their search apply themselves to those Five Means and Instruments of Knowledge as Mr. Mede did and prosper'd and by his Writings hath lessen'd the difficulty of these Studies and made the way plainer for others than he found it for himself And as the study of the Prophetick Scriptures would by an heedful attending to those
Five Directions and Helps prove a succesful labour and therefore far from being excessively hard or incumbred with invincible difficulties so would it likewise be far from vain and useless for these Scriptures as well as the other being written for our learning and use as I have briefly and I think clearly proved in this Preface under the Second Head of Advertisements there would accrue to us this peculiar Advantage besides many others That by a right understanding of the genuine meaning of these Prophetick Visions we should be the better enabled to vindicate the Prophecies from those corrupt Glosses which unlearned and unstable Souls ill-willers also to the stability and peace of Christian States and Kingdoms would force upon them perverting these Scriptures for their own Self-ends to the favouring of their unquiet humors and unpeaceable practices which being rightly understood are the grand Interest and Concernment of Christendome and certainly make for the Support and Encouragement of the Reformed part thereof of which through God's mercy we are Members In the Second sort of Advertisements I have observed some few things of the Author and his Writings and shall not need here to superadd any thing to court the Reader to a due esteem of them His own works will praise him I say not in the Gates as the phrase is Prov. 31. ult but in the private Closets and quiet Retirements of the studious enquirers after Truth if read there with serious attention which is most necessary in the perusing of his Labours upon the Prophetical Scriptures and with a mind as free from prejudice as from distractions It is not to be doubted but that some parts of these Writings may generally please and as the Author of the Book of Wisdom observes of Manna agree to every tast nor is it unlikely but that some other parts though highly pleasing to some may be less grateful to others of a different perswasion as Manna itself was lothsome to some murmuring Israelites But for the better disposing of them to what is fair and ingenuous this may be fit to be added That the Author in his life-time did not affect any dominion over the faith of others as if he were Infallible nor was he ambitious after his death to be Idoliz'd but this was clearly his disposition as he expresseth himself in a Letter to Dr. T. not to be affected how much or how little others differ'd from him and this disposition he said did so much the more increase in him as he took the liberty to examine either his own or other mens perswasions so desirous he was that the Apostle's Rule should in this case prevail Try all things hold fast that which is good And therefore such men would shew themselves very ill-natur'd and ill-bred as well as indiscreet and unmindful of the Fallibility of Humane nature as also unacquainted with ingenuous Learning of which the old Verse is most true Emollit mores nec sinit esse feros if they should unwisely disvalue and peevishly reject the whole for some passages not agreeing to their particular Sentiments or prove so rigid and tenacious as not to afford that Candor and Charity which is but a just respect as well easie as fit to be paid to the Labours of Worthy men highly meriting de Republica literaria And their Rudeness and Incivility would be the greater because Mr. Mede doth propound his sense not with any either magisterial or provoking language but with such modesty calmness and sobriety as may deserve rather a fair reception than any churlish and unkind usage in the world In the First Head of Advertisements I have given the Reader for his fuller satisfaction some account of those long and toilsome labours which I could not think too hard and grievous to undergo both for the honour of the Author's memory and the Reader 's greater benefit chusing though at an humble distance to follow that great Labourer in God's Vineyard Blessed S. Paul who was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rather than to do this work of the Lord negligently May the Reader with ease and delight with profit and advantage peruse these Writings thus prepared for him with a diligence and industry not very ordinary nor over-easie and therefore not over-hasty and yet not more leisurely or slow than the labour and weightiness of the undertaking together with the urgency of other intercurrent cares did exact HE who is the Father of mercies and the God of all grace that giveth power to the faint and reneweth their strength who wait upon him who worketh both to will and to do and to continue patiently in so doing unto the end to his Name alone not unto me not unto me be the Glory and Praise for his Mercy and for his Power sake The same Father of lights who commanded the light to shine out of darkness shine into our Hearts unveil our Eyes that we may behold wondrous things out of his Law purifie our Souls from Prejudice and Passion from every false Principle and corrupt Affection that we may receive the love of the Truth and know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of God that being filled with all wisdom and spiritual understanding we may walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing To whom be Blessing and Glory and Wisdom and Thanksgiving and Honour and Power for ever and ever Amen I. W. The Additional Pieces First published by the Reverend and Learned Dr. WORTHINGTON IN Book I. Discourse 49 50 51 53. In Book II. His Concio ad Clerum pag. 398. In Book III. Among his Remains upon the Apocalyps Chap. 4. pag. 589. Chap. 8. pag. 594. In Book IV. Epist. 34 41 51 56 66 67 68 69 71 73 75 85. many of them in answer to some Letters of enquiry from Learned men which for the fuller understanding of the Author's Answers are also published as that large Letter from Lud. de Dieu viz. Epist. 48. and those from others Epist. 55 57 59 62 65 70 72. together with a large Extract of Mr. Potter's Letter about the Number 666. In Book V. Those Tracts that make Chap. 4. Chap. 7. Chap. 10. Chap. 12. In all XXXII Discourses Tracts Epistles enlarged out of the Author's Manuscripts with several Additions IN Book I. Discourse 11 31 32 33. In Book II. The Christian Sacrifice and Disc. upon Ezra 6. 10. pag. 379. In Book III. In Comment Apocalypt are several marginal Notes added by the Author since the first Edition In the Remains upon the Apocal. Chap. 3. Chap. 6. Chap. 9. Paraphrase on S. Peter 2 Ep. Chap. 3. In Book IV. Epist. 43 54 58. whereof almost all in the first and last pages is added Epist. 61. besides several other Epistles with large additions In Book V. Chap. II. Besides the smaller additions of some Words or a few lines in several other parts of these Volumes too many to be here particularly mentioned The Discourses Tracts or Epistles whereof there
Lud. de Dieu a singular Ornament of the University at Leiden famous at home and abroad for his skill in the Oriental Tongues whose Letters to and of Mr. Mede were full of honour and respect and as a testimony of his great respect he presented Mr. Mede betimes with his Comment upon the Acts of the Apostles Dr. Walaeus Divinity-Professor there who being one of the Principal persons concern'd in the last Belgick Translation of the Bible and his care together with some associates being peculiarly imploy'd about translating and illustrating with marginal notes the New Testament no part of which bred him more labour than the Apocalyps did hugely applaud himself in the happiness he had to be acquainted with Mr. Mede's unparrallel'd Commentary upon that mysterious Book The great acceptance and kind entertainment which his Writings found abroad among learned persons might be confirm'd also from not only M. Hartlib â—s but Sr. William Boswell's Letters who professed It was better than Musick to him to hear the innumerable commendations of so near a Friend But because we would not exspatiate in this perhaps invidious argument we shall crave leave only to superadde this That though some at home less affectionate to studies of this nature for Reasons best known to themselves were induc'd to speak somewhat diminishingly and below the worth of his Clavis and Commentary upon the Apocalyps a Prophet and a Prophet's Interpreter wanting sometimes their due honour in their own Country yet Scholars of good note in their Travels beyond the Sea have heard his Name most honourably mention'd for those Works And though he was Anonymus in what he had done upon the Apocalyps yet when Foreiners travelling into England came to visit the University of Cambridge they would carefully seek him out and endeavoured to gain his acquaintance as much as any others then more eminent in place 19. And though possibly it cannot be said that he attain'd to an infallible Solution of every Point in those Prophetick Mysteries they being a Depth which perhaps no Humane understanding can reach till assisted by a more full and clear view of Events yet judicious men who are but in the least candid cannot but say that he proceeded upon grounds never traced by any and infinitely more probable than any lay'd down by those who before him undertook that task and such as though they should not every-where exempt from all possibility of erring in the application do yet afford an incomparable help to the understanding of many things otherwise scarce discernible and in the mean time do strongly convince the over-daring vanity of very many confident but unskilful Expositors So that upon the whole matter we doubt not to affirm and for the truth of it we appeal to judicious and unprejudiced Readers That if Mr. Mede's Method of interpreting the Apocalyps be freely and carefully compared with the elder we may add also the newer methods of any Annotationists whatsoever it will certainly be acknowledged to be the most natural and unstrained most agreeable to the style of the Prophets as likewise to History and Events and in short that his Clavis Apocalyptica if compared with other Keys seems most worthy to be deem'd Clavis non errans 20. Nor is this high but most deserved character of his Labours upon the Apocalyps to be disparaged by one or two Exceptions which the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 marvellously please themselves in nay one of them they make the petty matter of a poor rejoycing within themselves It is their First Exception grounded upon his Conjecture about the King of Sweden in his Exposition of the Fourth Vial. But there needed not so much noise nor such a-doe to be made about this For be it granted that the King of Sweden is certainly meant there although the Author doth not expresly name him yet consider First He doth not positively and confidently affirm him to be the person whom God designed to perform the business of this Vial but intimates only his hope and wishes in behalf of the afflicted Protestants in Germany that it might be so nay instead of a confident saying it would be so he chose rather to express himself Question-wise which is the more modest and allowable way Annon hic est saith he quem Dominus exercituum ad hujusce Phialae opus exsequendum destinavit Which Ingenuity of his might have disposed the less-kind Reader to some degree of Candour rather than to the indecencies of an hasty and over-severe Censure Secondly And the rather may he seem to merit the most candid and favourable usage because in his Epistle to the Reader before his Commentary he makes it his particular request That the Reader would not over-rigidly censure every passage in his Book but he pleas'd to read him with that civility and candour and those fair allowances not unusually afforded to the Writings of well-meaning men such as are free from arrogancy and imposing upon others and are most ready to express the same Charity and Fairness to other Writers The request is every way Iust and Necessary considering that there are more Depths and Obscurities in the Prophetical Writings than in any other parts of H. Scripture and withal that the best of men are not priviledged from all possibility of erring no not in plainer and less abstruse matters than the Apocalyptick Visions those especially about things future and unfulfill'd And farther how Necessary the request is as well as Iust the Author himself hath prudently observ'd in the fore-mentioned Epistle where speaking of the Interpretation of Prophecies c. he laies it down as a most certain and approved Truth Nist in hisce talibus liberiùs paulò sentiendi imò errandi venia concedatur ad profunda illa latentia Veritatis adyta viam nunquam patefactum iri Thirdly Were this mistake as great a matter as some would make it which yet was in truth a smaller 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and more venial because not express'd positively and confidently but only in the form of a Question yet is there not any just ground from this single instance to disvalue and reject the Author and his Commentary upon the Apocalyps For this Conjecture or rather Quaere of his was no principal or necessary part of the Structure and therefore by its failing as to the Event doth not so much as endanger much less demolish the whole Fabrick His Scheme of Synchronisms upon which is grounded his method of interpreting the Apocalyptick Visions stands firm and entire and is unconcern'd herein Nor is there any other part of his Commentary endamaged hereby the truth and solidity thereof not depending upon this Event Besides let it be consider'd that it would be the extremest Severity the highest Rigour imaginable to condemn the useful labours of Worthy men for some one misapprehension in a particular of little or no importance to the whole And what one Author ancient or modern though never so highly meriting what Book
of Controversie mens passions are vehemently engaged and the Disputants generally argue according to their Interests and therefore when he saw men impetuous in the assertion of their Opinions and peremptory in the rejection of other mens Iudgments he commonly answer'd such only with silence not caring to entertain discourse with them who in stead of a sober and modest Enquiry into Truth were addicted to a disingenuous humour of Disputacity that was his term which in his sense signified To be always resolved for the last word which is the troublesome temper and practice of self-conceited and pertinacious wranglers for after he discover'd any to be such he would give them full leave to have the last word and all because he would speak no more what-ever he thought Nor was he less unwilling to allow them also the last word in writing Witness those Paper-collations between him and Mr. T. H. a great follower of that man of more Reading than Consideration Mr. Hugh Broughton Indeed T. H. had a great opinion of his own performances in this kind and of the much good might be done by such Conferences and accordingly did ply Mr. Mede with one Paper after another who yet was wholly of another mind and plainly told him Of these reciprocations of discourse in writing wherein you place so much benefit for the discovery of Truth I have often heard and seen Truth lost thereby but seldom or never found And for this reason as also because Conferences by writing were tedious and less safe and would take away a great deal of his time he was averse from all such Pen-work as he call'd it desiring him not to make any Reply for he was resolved to answer no more whatsoever he should send and he was as good as his word for though Mr. H. could not hold but would needs send him another large Paper of the same complexion with the former yet could not this provoke him to recede from his fix'd and well-grounded resolution against all multiplying of unnecessary and fruitless Replies So true was he to that expression of his I can with much more patience endure to be contradicted than be drawn to make Reply having little or no edge to contend with one I think setled and persuaded unless it were in something that nearly concern'd his Salvation and withal he added You know as much of my Opinion and my Grounds for the same as I would desire of any mans and I think I perfectly understand yours Why should then either of us spend our time any farther to no purpose 32. But not to dwell only in Generals His Prudent moderation particularly discover'd itself in an Instance of no small weight and importance In short thus When that unhappy difference about the point of Praedestination and its Appendants instead of a more free sedate and Christian-like method of debating it was blown to so high a flame in the Low-Countreys and began to kindle strifes here at home he would often say he wondred that men would with so great animosity contend about those obscure Speculations and condemn one another with such severity considering that as the Wise man saith to whose words he would often allude We hardly guess aright at things that are upon Earth and with labour do we find the things that are before us But the things that are in Heaven who hath searched out But if at any time as it was said of S. Paul at Athens 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his spirit was stirred within him it was when he observ'd some to contend with an unmeasureable confidence and bitter zeal for that black Doctrine of Absolute Reprobation upon which occasion he could not forbear to tell some of his Friends That it was an Opinion he could never digest being herein much of Dr. Iackson's mind That generally the Propugners of such Tenets were men resolved in their Affections of Love and Hatred both of which they exercis'd constantly and violently and according to their own Tempers made a judgment of God and his Decrees To the like purpose he express'd himself about two years before his death in a Letter to an ancient Friend of his formerly of the same Colledge It seems harsh that of those whom God hath elected ad media Salutis and calls by the preaching of his Gospel any should be absolutely and peremptorily ordain'd to damnation And afterwards by way of Reply to the objected authority of S. Austin as to some part of the Predestinarian Controversie he added If those were Hereticks which followed not S. Austin the most part of the Fathers before him were in Heresie and a part of the Church after him Zelots are wont to be over-liberal in such charges Thus would he sometimes in private reveal his judgment but in his publick performances he was reserved and did purposely abstaìn from medling with these matters And accordingly we have received this from some old acquaintance with him That in those days when the Controversies between the Remonstrants and Contra-Remonstrants made so great a noise in the world he was wont to bring his Common-places to an ancient Friend and Colleague to be perused by him with a desire that he would expunge whatsoever did but seem to countenance the Positions of either party To which may be added this other Instance of his own relating in a Letter to another Friend about four years before his death viz. That there being great combustions and divisions among the Heads of the University in preparation to the Commencement each party being desirous to get the advantage in the Election of the Answerers and so to fit the Questions to their mind and the more Calvinian party having prevail'd upon this occasion I went not saith he to this week as commonly I use to do for fear of being taken to be of a side These things we have noted particularly to shew with how much Sweetness as well as Prudence the great Learning of this Good man was admirably temper'd 33. But besides his Prudent Moderation there was also to be observed in him that which by the Epigrammatist is made one main Ingredient of an Happy life Prudens Simplicitas a mixture of what our Saviour Christ commends as imitable in the wise Serpent and in the harmless Dove He was not so Imprudent as always to utter all his mind that 's the property of a Fool Prov. 29. or before any company to reveal what new Notion or unvulgar Truth he had discover'd But he was always so generously Honest so Apert and Single-hearted as not to speak wickedly for God or talk deceitfully for him nor would he apply himself to any unwarrantable policies for the promoting or commending of Truth to others Such little crafts and undue practices were below the Nobleness and Integrity of his spirit To this purpose we may fitly take occasion here to remember a serious and excellent passage of his I cannot believe that Truth can be prejudiced by the discovery of Truth
but I fear that the maintenance thereof by Fallacy or Falshood may not end with a blessing Thus did he upon occasion express himself with a just reflexion upon some who pretending to Policy did prudently as they thought advise That for the better securing and advancing some Doctrines men should be born in hand that they were Fundamental and accordingly were to receive them as such But our Author who was a great lover of Truth endeavouring to judge and speak of every thing according to the truth of the thing and who always valued the Iacob-like Plainness and Simplicity of spirit a free Openness and Singleness of heart in any faithful Christian as an high Perfection look'd upon all such Practices with the greatest disgust and abhorrence and so will every one who is an Israelite indeed in whom there is no guile And yet though it be a most unworthy it has been nevertheless a too common and usual artifice among some of the divided Churches in Christendom to heighten Speculative Doctrines and such as are less weighty and sometimes doubtful and uncertain into Fundamental Articles especially when it is for the advantage of the party that they should be deem'd such But it had been infinitely better if the Moderation of the Church of England as to Articles of Religion had been imitated in other Churches for want whereof elsewhere Ex Religione Arsfacta est cui deinde consequens fuerit ut ad exemplum eorum qui turrim Babylonicam aedificabant affectatio temeraria rerum sublimium dissonas locutiones discordiam pareret as Grotius complains upon a like occasion in his De Veritate Relig Christ. l. 6. We might also briefly observe another Instance of his Prudence and that was as to the choice of the fittest and most seasonable Time for communicating Truth to others And indeed this was a point of Prudence which he would advise should be most carefully consider'd as being in his esteem half the work otherwise some Useful Notions might because they were Uncommon be rashly condemned before they were well considered and understood and there are none more ready to condemn than the half-learned and half-witted which are not the less numerous nor the less confident sort of men who stear not as he observed by Reason but by another Compass viz. Faction or Interest or Affection c. So true is that of the Comoedian Homine imperito nunquam quidquam injustius Qui nisi quod ipse facit nihil rectumputat Whereasmen of the greatest Reason deepest Iudgment and noblest Accomplishments are also men of the greatest Civility Candour and Ingenuity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 34. And now having advanced thus far in the Description of his Vertues we may not silently or slightly pass over his Charity a Grace that was very eminent and conspicuous in him and so it ought to be in every Christian it being the peculiar Badge and Livery of Christ's Disciples as well as their indispensable Duty and necessary Qualification for their doing good here and their receiving a Reward hereafter And therefore to allude to that in 1 Cor. 13. although our Author had great skill in Tongues and had the gift of Prophecy and understood Mysteries and was also able to remove Mountains of Difficulties so as to make all become plain and smooth particularly as to the understanding of hard passages in the more Mysterious and Prophetical Books of H. Scripture yet notwithstanding all these Accomplishments had he not had Charity he had been nothing better nay he had been just nothing according to those two observable expressions in that fore-named Chapter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 His Knowledge if alone might have been apt to puff him up but his Charity which accompanied it both disposed and enabled him to edifie and build up others in the most holy Faith in sound Wisdom and Understanding His Charity was of the right kind and could have approved itself such to those that were capable to judge thereof by all those Fifteen Properties mentioned in that Chapter as the sure Marks and proper Characters of the genuine Christian Charity But to insist upon so many particulars would be an unreasonable Excursion and an unmerciful usurping upon the Reader 's Patience And besides it is not very needful some of those Properties having been more or less spoken to already in some foregoing Sections To pretermit therefore his most endearing Sweetness and obliging Affability in converse with others his absolute Inoffensiveness either in words or behaviour towards all men his rare Communicativeness and singular Alacrity in imparting what he knew to those who were of a soberly-inquisitive Genius all which were the fair Fruits and excellent Effects of the true Christian Love we shall select only Two more General Instances whrein he express'd his Charity towards men for of that we are speaking and they were 1. His careful concealing or lessening of others Failings and Imperfections So far was he from making the worst of every thing as some do who without making any favourable allowances are extream in marking what is amiss And 2. His free relieving of the Necessitous So far was he from hiding his face and shutting up his bowels from the poor and needy in the day of their distress He was so perfect in the first instance that he would 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 speak evil of no man much less would he watch for their halting as one that rejoyced in iniquity Nay at such a distance he was from that evil but epidemical humour that he chose rather to speak well of those in whom he had only Hope for a ground of commendation Nor did he only conceal and cover the faults of others even of his Enemies as far as the circumstances would bear and in case it were not a greater Charity sometimes to disclose them but he would also avoid the company of such as he had observed to please themselves or thought to tickle ill-minded persons in passing unworthy censures upon other men And thus sometimes by silence sometimes by rebuke and when it was convenient by withdrawing from the place and company he declared he would have no share in the sin of those who endeavoured to shew their uncharitable wit in either disparaging the parts or vilifying the performances of others As for himself when his own name was concern'd he was signally Patient even another Moses for Meekness vir mitissimus he knew how to bear personal disrespects with an untroubled spirit nobly and meekly and thus according to that of Siracides he glorified his Soul in Meekness An instance whereof appears in his civil Reply to the Strictures of Dan. Lawenus which were not without some angry and unhandsome reflexions upon our Author The man had a long time been poring upon the Apocalyps and seem'd to envy him the praise due to him for his Apocalyptick Labours fearing belike that thereby Mr. Mede would increase and his
he detects the impertinency of that trivial shift of the Romanists in distinguishing between Idolum and Imago with much more of the like import in that Treatise of his which the Learned Is. Casanbon worthily styles Exactissimae fidei diligentiae Scriptum To conclude It may not be amiss here to add a short story not impertinent to the argument in hand Mr. Mede having lately preached a Sermon at S. Marie's in Cambridge upon Eccles. 5. 1 about the Reverence of Gods House a young Master of Arts took the freedom sometime after to tell him as who might not be free with him a person of such exemplary Humility and Condescensions That from some passages in that Discourse the world concluded that he had changed his Opinion and that he did not now think as formerly that the Pope was the Hoghen Moghen that was his drolling expression No replied Mr. Mede But I do and shall think so as long as I live for all this 42. And here we have a fair occasion to represent another of those worthy Qualities that adorn'd his Character His well-grounded Constancy and Vnchangeableness of Iudgment We say Well-grounded otherwise for a man to persist resolvedly in an Opinion because it has been his Opinion is neither Vertue nor matter of Praise but rather a piece of troublesome Stiffness and Pertinacity usually accompanied with fond Self-conceitedness and a design to secure his fame and some emolument he receives from his easie admirers From which humour none was more free than our Author who would profess That so far as he could judge of himself by experience he was as willing to embrace Truth when he saw evidence for it as any man living as well considering that it is the part of a true Christian as Aristotle observes it to be of a true Philosopher 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the interest and advancement of Truth to forgoe and quit his own private conceits and speculations how dear soever they were formerly unto him and on the contrary an argument of a low and servile spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be either fondly addicted or enslaved to any Hypothesis and Opinion either of his own or others Our Author was not indeed light of belief nor would be easily take up an Hypothesis But when any new Notion was presented to him by others or offered itself to his thoughtful mind he would first make a stand and pause well upon it strictly examining the Grounds thereof and if upon a serious and due weighing of all that was fit to be taken into consideration he found it to be a solid Truth he was not apt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be shaken from his judgment a right 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Aristotle both in his Ethicks and Rhetorick styles a Vertuous man or in the Apostles language 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 stedfast unmovable and established in the present Truth Yea he was ever so impartial and constant a Lover of Truth that nothing but the Holy Scripture and sound Reason could prevail upon him 'T is true To conceal his judgment not to divulge every thing that was Truth to him he was not hard to be perswaded The remembrance of the Apostles Rule Rom. 14. Hast thou faith have it to thy self as also his own Charity Prudence and Peaceableness of spirit did dispose him to it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and wheâ—e it was convenient But neither Friends nor Interests nor any worldly Allurements whatsoever were of force to corrupt his affections or pervert his judgment much less could they prevail with him unworthily to deny any Truth how unplausible soever it was to some men and therfore disadvantageous to himself For a proof of his constant and unremovable affection to Truth as also of his patient enduring the contradiction of others against himself take this Instance viz. That in the revolution of about twenty years by-past the saying was his own he had by the self-same persons been look'd upon and accordingly reported of as Popish Protestant and Puritane and yet he would protest it as in the presence of God that to his knowledge he had not in the least receded from his very first perswasions So that all the while he was the same without wavering although varied to their appearance because they sailing with the tide and wind varied towards him Thus they in the Vessel under sail being always in motion think the Land moves so it seems to their erring sense which yet is never the less fixed and unmoved for their thinking amiss But our Author as he consider'd that Precept in Siracides chap. 5. 10 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Be thou stedfast in thy understanding so he knew likewise that the ready way to attain to this establishment was this according to the counsel in the foregoing verse not to winnow or sail with every wind But we must not indulge our selves the liberty of enlarging upon every thing in our Author which render'd him justly exemplary worthy of praise and imitation Return we therefore from this Digression to what has a near affinity to our former argument In speaking to which and the remaining particulars we must study to be short and take the nearest way to our journeys end left we over-drive the more infirm and therefore the more querulous sort of Readers and wear out their patience otherwise to those that are of sounder and stronger judgments and consequently capable to value and honour and love the Author we doubt not but a larger Narrative than this would seem not tediously long but too short rather as indeed the most enlarged History of his Life his Piety and Learning is in itself and upon a true account a short History too short if we consider the great Worth and manifold Perfections of the Person of whom though we should speak much we shall yet certainly come short if we may here use in an inferior sense what is said of God by the Son of Sirach chap. 43. To proceed then 43. As he abhorr'd Idolatry and Superstition so he likewise abhorr'd Sacriledge and all Profanation of Holy things As for Sacriledge his judgment is well known to those who have read his Works with attention amongst which to omit several passages in his other Discourses there is one Diatriba wholly spent upon the Story of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5. wherein the nature and proper notion of the Sin there mentioned is clearly explained as also the hainousness and danger of Sacriledge is fully proved from several Examples of special remark in H. Scripture all eminently verifying that of Solomon It is a snare to the man who devoureth that which is holy With the consideration whereof our Author being deeply affected as also of the great disservice done hereby to any Intendment of Pious Charity and the no less dishonour done to Religion when what is devoted to Pious purposes is less secure from the
After a pardon obtained for my freedom I thus declared That I thought in one case he would be persuaded to accept of a Bishoprick for all this Why think you so rejoyned he suddenly and with some warmth Presuming upon the license granted me I shall tell you replied I and more than that I believe you will acknowledge as much your self At this he began to bungle at being angry for indeed that Passion was so great a stranger to him and so little in favour with him that unless it came in the company of or rather attending upon true Zeal to God-ward he would not endure its presence In short I remembred to him how often I heard him wonder why none of our Christian Kings had ever erected a Bishoprick in S. Alban's that Martyr being of such Fame and Antiquity and the Place so many ways convenient c. And then I propounded this case That if our then present Sovereign who afterwards in spight of Hypocrisie and Treason became indeed so Glorious a King that of all Kings He was the First Martyr should resolve upon an Erection of a Bishoprick at S. Alban's upon this one only condition That Mr. Mede will be persuaded to be the First Bishop there otherwise there shall be no Bishoprick at all I ask whether in this case Mr. Mede would not be willing to accept of a Bishoprick Hereat he laughed heartily and said at first Now thou puttest me to it indeed But by and by recollecting himself he concluded gravely to this purpose As there is no great fear of such a Temptation rebus sic stantibus so I dare reassume my former Protestation A Donative sine cura with my Fellowship will confine the utmost of my Ambition in this life 5. Of his Zeal against Sacrilege WHich had been heightned to a superlative degree yet in him of most men living would have been least to be wondered at and most to be justified because few men of his or any Age could pretend to that absolute soveraignty over themselves in point of Interest or ambitious Designs which he had and because none was more punctual in paying his Homage and Rental to Almighty God than he was But yet that his Zeal was according to knowledge and guided with great Iudgment and Discretion will manifestly appear unto all men who will but cast their eyes upon some of the Principles and Grounds he went upon E. g. 1. That according to the common Law of Nature the great Land-lord of the whole World ought to receive Homages from his Tenants and Dependents This God claimed in Paradise itself when Man was in the Zenith of his Perfection For would he say the Prohibited Tree there was a Sacred and a Sacramental Tree Wherefore he was positive and dogmatical in determining that the Formalis ratio and specifical Nature of Original Sin was Sacrilege Whereunto by the way he annexed this grave and serious Meditation Adam was turned out of his Paradise for Sacrilege and do we not frequently see many men turned out of their Paradises likewise their fair Estates for the very same sin This again hath been imprinted in the breasts of all Mankind who naturally and universally have ever abhorred Sacrilege Why then should Christians said he presume more upon their God in this case than others why more than the Pagans or Iews Here he quoted that of Malachi 3. ver 8. Will a man rob God Durst ever any man entertain such a thought And that of 1 Cor. 9. ver 13 14. See how dextrously he hath handled that Scripture in a set and just Diatribe As also that Rev. 5. ver 12. in that New song Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive Power and Riches Strength c. Lo here said he is mention of Riches due to the Lamb that was slain But what need hath He of our Riches True no more than a great rich Land-lord hath need of a Pepper-corn But yet as it is an Homage it is expected from the Tenant and may not be neglected by him without the Forfeiture of the whole And then for those who confidently deny Tithes to be due under the Gospel they do not consider how in so saying they must deny also Christ to be a Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek For as Tithes were paid to Melchizedek long before Aaron so are they due to Him who is a Priest after that Order now after Aaron 2. And this minds me of another of his Grounds viz. God's so favourably dealing with Men in requiring but the Tenth which is in truth said he the least part of our Goods according to the first division For as Ten is the Periodical number of things of a fixt and substantial nature so when we proceed beyond Ten we begin to make a new division as Eleven is Ten and one Twelve Ten and two c. Thus likewise God contents himself with the least part of our Time when he demands but the Seventh as the number Seven is the Periodical number of Time c. 3. A third Ground was That the chiefest things now dedicated to God are for the most part laden with a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Here he related at large with what Solemnity many of those Ancient Deeds and Writings specifying Goods and Lands devoted to the Service of God were wont to be offered at the Altar and what Vollies of all the hideous Curses imaginable touching either Body or Soul or Estate or Posterity were enumerated in those Writings and denounced against any who would offer to alienate them Upon this occasion he was wont to discourse very gravely How that at the first Reformation in England if the violent heat of seeming Zeal but indeed of Interest would have admitted so much of Consideration those Church-Lands of Abbies c. mought have been most happily disposed of in some such manner If one Part had been allotted to the Advancement of Learning and to the Augmentation of smaller Salaries for Cures and to the Reparation and beautifying of Churches Colledges c. If another Part had been for Provision of Clergy-Mens Widows and Orphans which God took special care of in the time of the Legal Priesthood the Sons being to inherit their Fathers places and the Daughters to be matched as well as their Mothers before them and which is not neglected by any of the Reformed Churches abroad If a third Part had been reserved for Bellum Sacrum in the defence of Church and Kingdom By this means pursued he our Kings would not have needed such Subsidies c. from their Subjects and the Church had kept her Patrimonie and very many great Families who too greedily possess'd themselves of Church-lands had not been totally ruined and extinct 4. And this leads me to a Fourth Ground which was the Series of Punishments which have constantly pursued this Sin It is to be observed said he that God did always set a special Mark of his Displeasure upon every
manage of so holy and glorious a work seeing the experience of all ages sufficiently witnesseth how prone the nature of man is in flying one extreme to run too far towards the other Why then should we think it unlikely or rather not think it very likely that we also may have miscarried in the same manner unless we will arrogate unto our selves that priviledge of infallibility and freedom from error which we condemn as intolerable presumption in our Adversaries Besides it is to be taken notice of because of the prejudicate misprision of many to the contrary That the measure of Truth and Falshood Best and Worst is not the greater or lesser distance from Popery forasmuch as Popery also containeth much of Christianity nor that which is most destructive of the Man of Sin always most warrantable and safe to be embraced If it were there be some in the world whose religion we would be loth to admit of that would be found more orthodox and better reformed Christians than any of us all Nay give me leave without offence for the better awakening of some out of their deafness to whatsoever else may be said to this purpose to propound such a Demand as this Who knoweth whether this transgression I speak of be not a main and principal ingredient of that guilt which the Divine Majesty admonisheth us to take notice of in this his so long and so severe visitation of our neighbours and brethren whether he doth not visibly or if some passages be considered almost vocally upbraid them Thou that hatest Idols dost thou commit Sacriledge I know right well that rashly to assign the particular causes of God's judgments without rule or precedent of Scripture is a sin of presumption and a bold intrusion into God's secrets and therefore I affirm not but demand only whether there be not here some cause which may minister such a suspicion But whatsoever it be the compassion of their woful affliction calls upon me rather to pray for them than to follow this harsh and unpleasant passage any further Only thus much If that which the Apostle saith in particular of the things which befel the Israelites God's first people in the Wilderness These things happened unto them for ensamples and they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come if this be to be extended also unto those punishments and their analogy which besel them afterwards then may perhaps two things further not unseasonably be enquired into First For what other sins it is remembred in Scripture that God gave his people during that his first Covenant especially after they came to dwell in their own Land under the sword of an external enemy or his worship thereby at any time to be troden under foot besides these two Idolatry and Prophanation of that which was holy or Sacriledge Examples of the first who knows not Of the second see the Story of Achan Iosh. 7. of Eli'sons 1 Sam. 2. the punishment of the Sacriledge of the seventh or Sabbatical year 2 Chron. 36. and the parallel places for by the Law every seventh year not only the whole Land but all servants and debts were holy unto the Lord and therefore to be released Lev. 25. 2 4. Deut. 15. Exod. 21. Secondly What was that Transgression after the return from Babylon mentioned in that Prophesie of Antiochus Epiphanes Dan. 8. 12. for which it is there foretold that An host should be given him against the daily Sacrifice and that it should cast down the truth unto the ground and practise and prosper Perhaps the Story in the 2 3 and 4. Chap. of the second Book of Maccabees will tell us To that which is commonly alledged That such distinction and reverent regard of things Sacred as we contend for opens a way for Idolatry I answer No otherwise than the eschewing of Idolatry may also through the preverseness of men be made a bridge to prophaneness that is by accident not from its own towardness but our distemper Otherwise this Discrimination or Distinction if we would understand or heed the ground thereof prompts the clean contrary For we should reason thus If the things which are God's eo nomine in that name and because they are His are therefore to be held segregate in their use then surely God himself who is the Fountain of Holiness ought to have a prerogative of segregation in the most eminent and absolute manner namely such an one as that the worship due unto him must not be communicated with any thing else besides him And indeed unless both be done God's Name is neither fully nor rightly sanctified AND here I should now make an end but that there is one thing yet behind of principal consequence which I have deferred hitherto because I could not elsewhere bring it in conveniently without somewhat disturbing the coherence of my Discourse There is an eminent species or kind of Sanctification which I may seem all this while to have neglected forasmuch as it seemeth not to be comprehended under this notion of discretion and separation wherein I place the nature of Holiness and that is Sanctification or Holiness of life To which I answer That all notions of Sanctity and Sanctification in Scripture are derived from discretion and separation and that this now mentioned is likewise derived thence For it is to be reduced to the Sanctification of Persons Sacred and set apart unto God By which though in the strict and proper sense are intended only Priests and such as minister about Holy things yet in a larger sense and as it were by way of resemblance the whole body of the People of God are a Royal Priesthood and Holy Nation which the Almighty hath selected unto himself out of the rest of the world and set apart to serve him in a peculiar and different manner from the rest of men For you have heard it is a requisite of that which is Holy to be used in a peculiar and singular manner and not as things common Hence it is that the observation of that peculiar and different form of life which God hath commanded those whom he hath called and set apart from the world unto himself in Scripture carries the name of Holiness or Sanctity especially in the New Testament that is of such as becometh those that are Holy according to that Be ye Holy as I am Holy And here I might have a large field of discourse to shew how the Name of God is sanctified by the lives of his Children when they conform not themselves to the fashions of the world but as the Apostle speaks are crucified theretoâ— and keep themselves unspotted from the pollutions and vanities thereof But this I leave to be supplied by your meditations according to the general intimation given thereof DISCOURSE III. Acts 17. 4. There associated themselves to Paul and Silas of the worshipping Greeks a great multitude PAVL and Silas preaching in the Iewish Synagogue
fulfilled or accomplished But it seems to me that the Fulness of the Gentiles and the Fulfilling or Accomplishment of their times should not be the same howsoever they may be coincident It should rather seem that our Saviour hath reference as to a thing known unto the Prophecy of Daniel where the Times of the Gentiles or the times wherein the Gentiles should have dominion with the misery and subjection of the Iewish Nation are set forth in the Vision of a fourfold Image and four Beasts which are the four Monarchies the Babylonian Persian Greek and Roman The first began with the first captivity of the Iewish Nation and through the times of all the rest they should be in subjection or in a worser estate under them But when their times should be accomplished then saith Daniel The Saints of the most High God shall take the kingdom and possess the kingdom for ever and ever that is there shall be no more kingdoms after it but it shall continue as long as the world shall endure Three of these Monarchies were past when our Saviour spake and the fourth was well entred If then by Saints there are meant the Iews which we know are called the holy People in that sense their country is still called the holy Land and their city in the Scripture the holy City viz. relatively then is it plain enough what Daniel's and our Saviour's words import namely a glorious revocation and kingdom of the Iews when the time of the fourth Monarchy which then remained should be expired and accomplished But if here by the Saints of the most High are in general meant the Church yet by coincidence of time the same will fall out on the Iews behalf because S. Paul saith that at the time when the Fulness of the Gentiles shall come in the Iew shall be again restored For a conclusion The last limb of the fourth Monarchy is in Daniel The Horn with eyes which spake proud things against the most High which should continue a time times and half a time that is a year years and half a year In the Revelation it is The Beast with so many heads and horns full of names of blasphemy which was to continue forty two months the same period with the former which was expressed by times or years and the same time with a thousand two hundred and sixty days of the Churche's remaining in the wilderness When these Times whatsoever they be shall be ended then is the period of the Times of the Gentiles and of the Iews misery whereto our Saviour seems to refer in the Gospel then by S. Paul shall the Fulness of the Gentiles enter in then saith S. Iohn shall the kingdoms of the earth be the Lord's and his Christ's then saith Daniel in the former place Chap. 7. 27. shall the kingdom and dominion and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven be given to the people of the Saints of the most High whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and all dominions shall serve and obey him The Use we are to make upon this long Discourse is Hope and comfortable Expectation Experience saith S. Paul Rom. 5. 4. worketh hope Let therefore our experience of God's Power and Truth in that which is past be as a pledge and pawn unto us of the future We have seen a great part of this Doom of false Gods fulfilled already what though we see not the means of the full accomplishment If thou shalt say in thy heart saith Moses Deut. 7. 17 18. These nations are more than I how can I dispossess them Thou shalt not be afraid of them but shalt remember what the Lord thy God did unto Pharaoh and unto all Egypt So if any of us shall say How can this be let us remember what the Lord hath done already in subduing so great a part of the world unto himself which once sate in darkness and in the shadow of death DISCOURSE XXXVII PROVERBS 4. 23. Keep thy heart with all diligence Heb. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 above all keeping For out of it are the issues of life EVERY way of man saith the same mouth which uttered this is right in his own eyes but the Lord pondereth the hearts Prov. 21. 2. And chap. 16. 2. All the ways of man are clean in his own eyes but the Lord weigheth the spirits Which words have this Discretive sense that Although the eyes of men judge of the rightness of the ways of men by that which appeareth to the eye yet God he is not as man nor judgeth like him but he pondereth the heart and spirit Therefore in Scripture he is styled A God that searcheth the heart and reins Ier. 17. 10. I the Lord search the heart I trie the reins even to give every man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings Which words our Saviour useth Rev. 2. 23. in his Epistle to Thyatira I am he which searcheth the reins and the hearts and I will give unto every one of you according to your works that is Men esteem of works as they see but I judge and reward them as I see Men punish and reward according to the outside only which comes under the view and stands in awe of men but God judges and rewards according to the Heart or inward man which he only sees and which therefore stands in awe and fear of none but him For as for the outward act it may as well be done for the praise and awe of men as for love and fear of God and therefore by it cannot be discerned whether our obedience be to God or man But the Heart is that divine Touch-stone as that which hath none to fear none to please none to approve it self unto but him who alone sees it and is only able to try and examine it If therefore any Precept any Admonition in the whole Book of God deserve the best of our attention to hear and greatest care to put in practice this of my Text is worthy to be accounted of that number Keep thy heart above all keeping For out of it are the issues of life The words divide themselves into two parts An Admonition and A Motive The Admonition Keep thy heart above all keeping The Motive For out of it are the issues of life that is Even as in the life of nature the Heart is the fountain of living and the well-spring of all operations of life so in the life of grace we live to God through it In the Admonition consider 1. The Act Keep 2. The Object what we are to keep our Heart 3. The Manner and Means how it must be kept with all diligence or above all keeping Of the Act Keep I shall not need say much it is an easie word and we shall not forget it in that which follows but ever and anon have occasion to repeat it Only here observe in general That our Hearts are untrusty
may well resemble another And therefore he appears it seems in the shape of Man's imperfection either for age or deformity as like an old man for so the Witches say and perhaps it is not altogether false which is vulgarly affirmed That the Devil appearing in Humane shape hath always a deformity of some uncouth member or other as though he could not yet take upon him Humane shape entirely for that Man himself is not entirely and utterly fallen as he is By this time you see the difficulty of the Question is eased Now it appears why Eve wondered not to see a Spirit speak unto her in the shape of a Serpent because she knew the Law of Spirits apparitions better than we do Again when she saw the Spirit who talked with her to have taken upon him the shape though of a Beast yet of the most sagacious Beast of the field she concluded according to our forelaid suppositions That though he were one of the abased spirits yet the shape he had taken resembling his nature he must needs be a most crafty and sagacious one and so might pry farther into God's meaning than she was aware of And thus you may see at last how the opinion of the Serpent's subtilty occasioned Eve's fall as also why the Devil of all other Beasts of the field took the shape of a Serpent namely to gain this opinion of sagacity with the Woman as one who knew the Principles aforesaid Here I observe That overmuch dotage upon a conceived excellency whether of Wisdom or whatsoever else without a special eye to God's commandment hath ever been the Occasion of greatest Errors in the world and the Devil under this mask useth to blear our eyes and with this bait to inveigle our hearts that he may securely bring us to his lure It was the mask of the Serpent's wisdom and sagacity above the rest of the Beasts of the field whereby he brought to pass our first Parents ruin The admired wisdom of the long-living Fathers of the elder world having been for so many ages as Oracles their off-spring grown even to a People and Nation while they yet lived was the ground of the ancient Idolatry of mankind whilest they supposed that those to whom for wisdom they had recourse being living could not but help them when they were dâ—ad This we may learn out of Hesiâ—d The men saith he of the golden age being once dead became 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they became Godlings and Patrons of mortal men and Overseers of their good and evil works So the opinion of the blessed Martyrs superlative glory in Heaven was made the occasion of the new-found Idolatry of the Christian Churches wherewith they are for the greater part yet overwhelmed And the esteem which Peter had above the rest of the Apostles in regard of chief-dome even in the Apostles times was abused by the old Deceiver to instal the man of sin This made S. Paul to say The mystery of iniquity was even then working and therefore he laboured as far as he could to prevent it by as much depressing Peter as others exalted him Nay he puts the Churches in mind of this story of the Serpent's beguiling Eve that her mis-hap might be a warning to them 2 Cor. 11. 2 3. I am jealous over you saith he with a godly jealousie for I have esponsed you to one husband that I might present you as a chaste Virgin to Christ. But I fear lest by any means as the Serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. And to come a little nearer home Have not our Adversaries when they would get Disciples learned this of the Devil to possess them first with an opinion of superlative Learning in their Doctors surpassing any of ours I will say no more in this point but that we ought so to prize and admire the gifts and abilities of Learning which God hath bestowed upon men that the Pole-star of his Sacred Word may ever be in our eye THE next thing to be spoken of is The Action Guile And first I shall shew what it is To beguile is through a false faith and persuasion wrought by some argument of seeming good to bereave a man of some good he had or hoped for or to bring upon him some evil he expected not Practice hath made it so well known that I should not need to have given any definition or description thereof but only for a more distinct consideration Whereas therefore I said that Guile wrought by forelaying a false persuasion or belief I would intimate that it was nothing else but a Practical Sophism the Premisses whereof are counterfeit motives the Conclusion an erroneous execution Now as all Practice or Action consists in these two The choice of our End and The execution of Means to attain thereunto So is this Practical Sophism we call Guile found in them both either when an evil End is presented unto us in the counterfeit of a good and so we are made to embrace Nubem pro Iunone and find our selves deceiv'd in the event whatsoever the Means were we have used or else we apply such Means as are either unlawful or unsufficient to attain our End as being so mask'd that they appear unto us far otherwise than they are With both these sorts or parts of Guile the Devil wrought our first Parents ruin First by making it seem a thing desirable and by all means to be laboured for To be like unto God which was an ambition of that whereof man was not only not capable but such as little beseemed him to aspire unto upon whom God had bestowed so great a measure of glorious perfections as he seem'd a God amongst the rest of the creatures What unthankfulness was this that he upon whom God bestowed so much as he was the glory of his workmanship should yet think that God should envy him any degree of excellency fit for him For this was the mask wherewith the Devil covered both the unfitness and impossibility of the End he insinuated but he beguiled them Secondly He put the same trick upon them in the choice of the Means to be used which was to transgress the severe commandment of Almighty God Had the Aim been allowable yet could not the Means have been taken for good but only of such as were beguiled in that the Devil made the Woman believe with his questioning the truth of God's commandment that the danger was not great nor so certain as it seemed or that evil which might be in the action would be countervailed with the excellency to be attained thereby the gloriousness of which End the Devil so strongly sounded that it drowned in her imagination the least conceit of evil in the Means And as a man which always looks upward sees not the danger in the patâ— and way he walks in until he tumbles into
and see how they are expressed and that is in three things 1. To go upon the breast or to have the posture of the Body groveling on the earth whereby as I shall shew presently is implied the abasement of the creature 2. To have for meat the dust of the earth wherein is shewn its unprovision of food for the maintenance of its life being of all Beasts of the field to have the basest and coursest fare 3. To be in continual mortal and irreconcilable enmity with man both his Lord and the Lord of the rest of the creatures from whom it should be in continual danger and fear of its life and once espied be sure to have its brains dash'd out by him And which makes the misery so much the greater to be no way able to be revenged of his enemy other than to come unawares behind him and then also not able to reach above his heel as being most unequally matched he walking â—â—oâ—t with his head and whole body advanced while the miserable Serpent shall lie groveling on the ground ready to be troden apieces under his feet Of these three Particulars let us speak severally and first of the first Vpon thy breast shalt thou go In the Hebrew it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which some turn Vpon thy belly which interpretation hath been one great cause of the difficulty to understand the meaning of this Malediction For if the shape of the Serpent were after the fashion it is now it is not possible to imagine how it could ever have gone otherwise than upon the belly for to think that ever it went an-end were a conceit more worthy to be derided than to be believed By which means there appeared no other way to evade this difficulty but to affirm that the Serpent indeed went upon his belly from the beginning but either that it was not so toilsom to him or not for a curse unto him till now which for my part it being so far from the letter of the Text I could never yet believe I had much rather in this follow the Vulgar or Ierome's Translation which reads super pectus tuum gradiêris upon thy breast shalt thou go for upon thy belly I believe the Serpent went from the first Creation but not upon the breast until this present malediction The breast of the Serpent I call the upper part of the Serpent's body from the navel up to the head The belly the other part or the other half downward with which though at the first he walked prone to and upon the earth yet was the other part his breast and head reared up and advanced until for having been abused to the ruin of mankind he was now with his whole body to creep groveling upon the earth And perhaps thus much the Septuagint meant to insinuate by their Translation which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon thy breast and thy belly where it may seem that they rendred two words for one in the Text for illustration and for intimation of this That whereas the Serpent before went only upon his belly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 now he should from henceforth walk 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon his breast and belly too As for the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here used there is no necessity at all to translate it the belly but rather some probability of the contrary in the Etymology of the word For though in the Hebrew the Theme be not used yet in the Chaldee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â— which signifies incurvatus â—uit to bow downward seems to mean the inclination of the head and breast or upper part of the body to the earth as may be gathered from that of Elijah 1 Kings 18. 42. where it is said that Elijah went up to the top of Carmel pronum se abjecit in terram and cast himself down upon the earth and put his face between his knees for here the Targum useth this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â— the Radix of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Again Mark 1. 7. in those words of Iohn Baptist There is one cometh after me the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose here for the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â— stoop down the Syriack hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â— of as near a kin to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as is the Syriack to the Chaldee The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it self is of rare use in the Bible besides in this place and therefore we can receive no great help from the comparing of places It is read again Levit. 11. 42. and that in a singular mark as the Masorites have observed for the Vau cholem in the last syllable is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a great Vau and exactly the middlemost letter of all the Law of Moses if their Arithmetick failed them not But no particularity of signification can from that place be gathered the speech being of creeping things which go as well upon the breast as the belly and the belly as the breast Since therefore the word here used neither hindreth our opinion nor much furthereth it we will come to such other grounds as may prove our assertion for the Serpent's going with breast advanced afore the Fall of man and not groveling till his Malediction And first let it be considered there is no impossibility of it in regard of the frame of the Serpent which appears both by their advancing themselves when they assault a man which the Painters express in their Pictures and also when they swim through the water which is with their head and some part of their breast raised above water even as a Swan holdeth up her neck as I have heard affirmed by such as have been eye-witnesses and lastly Plinie and Solinus report of the Basilisk that the Basilisk walks so still as I shewed a little before And it may be as when the Giant-like stature of mankind was diminished after the Floud in a manner throughout the world and for many ages yet was there by God's disposition still a race of Giants left even till the time of David for a monument and witness of the truth of a far bigger stature in former times which else could not so easily have been believed or imagined Such were the Zanzummims in Abraham's time the sons of Anak in Moses's and Goliah in the time of David and it may be there are yet some in some part of the world to be sound as I say these seem to have been preserved by God as a memorial unto men that they were not now as at the first So it may be it was the will of God and is amongst so many kinds of Serpents to preserve this one that it should not as the rest go groveling upon the earth but might be as a monument of the truth of the malediction of the rest to all posterity Thus much of the possibility which would be far greater if we should with S.
Grounds and use them as a Land-compass in the discovery I now intend But before I begin I will add Five more of less weight than the former yet such as I hope will afford the like use that Cyphers have among Numbers I mean being joyned with the former will help us to a greater certainty The First then of these weaker Helps is from the use of the Prophets in naming two or more of these Nations together which is a likely argument that they were seated both together and were neighbouring one to the other As we see of Meshech and Tubal which commonly go together clean through the Prophets And this Help Iunius seems to have used The Second Help is the fulfilling of Prophecies by Nations foretold under the Names of their Founders the Sons of Iaphet And Thirdly Because it is likely that in this Division there was a regard had by the wise Fathers for their future Colonies we are to think that they ordered their partition so that when they were to vent their Numbers and send forth new Colonies they should not be forced to encroach on one anothers inheritance or one to pass through the lot of another but that they had either the Sea or empty land every one upon some of his borders And this he that will mark shall see observed in the Original dwellings of the Sons of Sem which are better known and more agreed upon than those of Iaphet The Fourth Help shall be the Testimony of the Ancients especially of the Iews themselves The Fifth and last are the Remainders of ancient Names which is the ordinary Help that every one follows And thus we have encreased our Criteria to the number of Ten. Now that which shall be found agreeable to all or the greater part of these if it will not be approved for Truth I am sure there is no other means left to warrant a more likely conjecture or a greater certainty Let us come then to the Practice of our Rules and First let us seek them in the Isles of the Gentiles that is as I proved heretofore in Countries divided by Sea from Palaestine and Egypt especially from Egypt because when Moses wrote this Book he was not yet come into Palaestine and therefore used only such Names as the Iews were acquainted with in the land of Goshen The Isles then of the Gentiles are all regions from the mountain Amanus and the Hircane Sea Westward Secondly We must lay out some reasonable portion of the Earth to seek them in and that we will define after this manner 1. Our Eastern border shall be the land of Aram that is Syria and Armenia the great which was so called of Aram the Son of Sem or to speak more plainly our Eastern border shall be from the mountain Amanus by the springs of Euphrates up to the West part of the Hircane Sea 2. Our Southern border is without all doubt the Mediterranean Sea 3. The Western border compasseth by the Ionian Sea and back of Macedonia up into the confines of Illyricum 4. The North border is the river Danubius the North part of Pontus Euxinus to the Caspian Sea Our Eastern border is confirmed by Moses in this Chapter where he saith That the posterity of Sem dwelled from Mesha Eastward This Mesha is the mountain Masius which is part of the mountain Amanus and this was the Western limit of Sem's posterity and therefore must needs be the East border of Iaphet Again in the 2 of Iudith 25. we read that Olofernes took the borders of the upper Cilicia and came even to the borders of Iaphet which are toward the South over against Arabia that is he came to the South-East borders of Iaphet in the lower Cilicia where is this mountain Amanus we speak of Thirdly Iosephus and the rest of the Ancients do all affirm thus much And lastly if we should go any further toward the East it could no longer be called the Isles of the Gentiles in regard either of Egypt or Palaestine Our Southern border needs no proof at all Our Western border stands upon two Reasons 1. It is not like that they went beyond them because there is a great Sea between them and the next land Now 2. that they went so far we prove from the Seat of Tiras whom all agree to be the Father of the Thracians which are in the North-west part of this our plot and so point out both how far they went toward the West and up into the North. The rest of our Northern border as also our whole plot may be confirmed by comparison with the Original portion of the Sons of Sem to which it hath almost a just and equal scantling For the farthest of the Semites toward the East is Elam the father of the Persians now Persia lies as far from Amanus and Masius into the East as Macedonia and the Confines of Illyricum lie into the West The breadth between North and South is from the Caspian Sea unto Phoenicia or to the Persian gulf which is also proportionable to ours So that within this compass we hope to find the ancient and first Seats of all the Sons of Iaphet who are seven in number named in the second Verse of this Chapter Gomer Magog Madai Iavan Tubal Meshech and Tiras And to these we must divide our plot into seven portions as equal as we can guess for it is not like there was any great difference of quantity And here we must observe our Third Rule To place those whose Sons are named by Moses in places accessible and neighbouring to the Iews Now Moses names the Sons only of two of these seven viz. of Gomer and Iavan The Sons of Gomer are Askenaz Riphath and Togarmah And the Sons of Iavan are four Elishah Tarshish Cittim and Dodanim The places accessible and fit for the Iews commerce are those that lie upon the Mediterranean and the AEgean Seas of the coasts of Asia Now in which of these we should seek for the Seats of the Sons of IAVAN is a matter of no great difficulty because there is nothing more certain than that Iavan was the Father of the Grecians whose Countries lie along upon the Mediterranean Sea And because we must there seek the whole Nation where we find any of the Families and we know that the house of Tarshish dwelt in Cilicia we may be assured that all the Countries lying upon the Sea belong unto the lot of Iaphet even from the Issicus sinus unto the end of Epirus which was part of our Western border This portion then we must divide into four parts much of a scantling for the four Sons of Iavan The First part contains all Cilicia and this was the dwelling of Tarshish witness the City Tarsus where S. Paul was born which in Hebrew is called Tarshish and it is that which Ionas was bound for when he fled from the face of the Lord witness likewise the often naming of Tarshish in all Prophecies
Octob. 8. 1629. from Christ's Hospital London THE ground of the expectation of the coming of Christ and his Kingdom was say you the near expiration of Daniel's Seventy weeks The expectation of Simeon Anna and others of the Magi and them of the East was seventy years before the end of Daniel's Seventy weeks according to your opinion For you hold that the Seventy weeks end at Ierusalem's overthrow which was after Christ's Birth seventy years Therefore it could not be any mark for the looking for of Christ. 2. At the end of the Seventy weeks according to your judgment the City and Sanctuary was to be destroyed sacrifice ended and desolation brought on the Iews Therefore the Seventy weeks according to your Tenet is a mark of other matters not of Christ's or the Saints Kingdom but rather of Vespasian's as Iosephus saith which ensued just upon the end of the Seventy weeks But in truth Daniel's Seventy weeks end at Christ's death and seeing Christ was expected to be King of the Iews all that truly kept account of the Seventy weeks might rightly conceive that Christ about thirty years before the expiration of the Seventy weeks should be born and so about thirty years old which are years fit for publick charge should enter upon that Kingdom Of this reason I forbore to write formerly because I saw that we should differ about the beginning and end of Daniel's Seventy weeks which would bring on a new controversie between us That Christ's Kingdom was as you affirm to be revealed in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Fourth Kingdom I see no Text that proves it nor that Christ's Kingdom should be consummated at the end of the Roman Kingdom At the end of the Fourth Kingdom in Daniel it was to begin Chap. 7. And that it was perfected in Christ Iesus is evident for he overcame the Devil Death Hell and all and teaches that all power is given him in heaven and earth that all things bow to him and that he led captivity captive Further I have good ground for to say that the extirpation of the Fourth Kingdom was one sâ—re mark of Christ's coming and his Kingdom for that only is the mark of the same Chap. 2. and 7. where that Kingdom is mentioned You will not admit the Greeks any Rule after Antiochus Epiph. death because the Holy Ghost ends their Kingdom in him I say the Holy Ghost ends the domineering violence and persecution of the Saints in him but there were to be clayie feet after him Stories shew that many Kings of the Greeks ruled after him and in the end Cleopatra a woman as Iosephus saith of chief Nobility in those times even Caesar at first umpired between her and her brother in matters of difference between them She had the revenue of Iericho and Arabia and other parts she killed all her kindred that might stand in her wayâ— and desired Antonie to do the like by them of chief bleâ—d in Syria that she in right of the Greeks might have all She with the rest after Epiphanes were sufficient to express the clayie legs And that Rule is sufficient and all that I stand for Besides the Stone as cut out not as growing to a Mountain is to fall on the toes So that if by the legs the Romans be understood Christ was not to come in their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but at their fall Evident it is that Christ's Kingdom took place as frequent mention of it in the New Testament shews at his first coming and so began at the beginning of the Roman persecutions not at the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of them they were abundant and manifold afterward The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of their Empire hath nothing to do here You hold still that the Roman Kingdom was revealed to Daniel but not according to the distinct Fates and Times as to Iohn I shewed that the Fourth Kingdom in Daniel was revealed to him most distinctly for the original proceeding strength acts persecution sufferings fall All the 〈◊〉 are revealed to Iohn about the Roman Kingdom Now if they should both speak of the Roman Kingdom but in these points 〈…〉 it be true in Iohn that this Book was opened by none as you limit it according 〈…〉 distinct Fates before by Christ Therefore the limitation propounded by you cannot hold I say not that the Iews after the Apostles times brought in or invented the opinion That the Romans were Daniel's Fourth Kingdom but that they endeavoured to perswade it whoever were the brochers of it Ionathan Ben Uziel or any other surely some of their stamp And the rather they then did and now do perswade to it because some Christians by assenting to them give them advantage therein If Porphyrie an enemy to Christians overcome by the evidence of truth confessed it that is a greater confirmation of the truth The Devil confessed Christ to be the Son of the living God though the Devil be a liar commonly yet now he spake that which was most true Besides in S. Ierome it appears that Porphyrie was not alone in that opinion but that divers others held the same And in the eleventh chapter S. Ierome goes along with Porphyrie in most things but addeth this That Antichrist and his doings were there typed And in points in which S. Ierome crosseth Porphyrie his arguments are sometimes but his own bare assertion sometimes weak If you please to set the best edge on them that may be we will try them And Porphyrie had Suctorius his Author To the writing in a different hand You hold Christ's Kingdom to be double First Regnum Lapidis while the times of the Four Kingdoms lasted I say it cannot be in the time of the three former Kingdoms for it was preached by Christ and the Apostles to be at hand in the time of the Romans Antiochus Epiphanes his time whom you make the last of the Greeks being past well-near or full hundreds of years before Besides I object That if Christ's Kingdom be set up in the Fourth Kingdom 's time it must be set up in the three formers time also For it confounded the gold silver brass iron as well as fell on the clayie legs Again if you make the Sâ—one to continue a Stone from Christ's time till ours and some years after God knows how long to smite the feet of the Image you will make the legs and feet of the Image above 1600 years long three times and more as long as all the body The Second Kingdom of Christ you hold to be Regnum montis that shall fill the whole earth to arise when the Image shall be utterly destroyed 1. I say This division of Christ's Kingdom is no where in Scripture plainly expressed though this Kingdom be most frequently handled If such a thing had been it would in one place or other in the various handling of it have been plainly taught 2. The Stone spreads it self over the whole earth presently
and the Latin call it Imperium orbis terrarum 13. Daniel himself interpreteth the Stone to be a Kingdom which the God of heaven should set up in the days of those Kingdoms and therefore it cannot be the Kingdom of Christ as God coeternal with his Father but the Kingdom of Christ as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which began not before he was incarnate In the days of these Kingdoms saith he that is whilst some of them were yet in being the God of heaven shall set up a Kingdom which should never be destroyed nor left as the former should to another people but should break in pieces and consume all those Kingdoms and it self should sâ—and for ever Forasmuch saith he as thou sawest a Stone was cut out of a mountain without hands and that it brake in pieces the iron the brass the clay the silver and the gold Here make the full point for these words belong not to that which follows as our mis-distinction in the verses seems to refer them but to that which went before of their interpretation See the same reference of Forasmuch in the 40 and 41 verses 14. I will not now dispute of the Prepositionâ—â— though I had enough to say against you but I say that the words In the daies of those Kings are much more likely to be construed by Ellipsis particulae partitivae usual in the Hebrew and Chaldee quâ—si In the daies of some one of those Kings viz. the last of them So Iephtah is said to have been buried in the cities of Gilead that is in some one of them c. There be some other passages not so principal though I dissent from you in them which I omit as I desire to do this whole Disputation That I had reserved to have answered in your former Reply was to that of the Ruffling Horn which by the express words of the Angel was to last until the time came the Saints should possess the Kingdom that is until the Son of man came in the clouds of heaven to take a Kingdom for this is the Angel's exposition of that part of the Vision and therefore it could not be Antiochus Epiphanes Your Answer to this seemed very unsufficient I desire you to weigh it better and I make an end Yours I. M. October 13. EPISTLE IX Mr. Hayn's Fourth Letter to Mr. Mede about several passages in Daniel and the Revelation 1. SCaliger's or Iunius his Opinion prevail not so much as should their Reasons God had told the Iews plainly the year and by types the time of the year when Messias should work their redemption So that it was not enough to know in what age it should be 2. The coming of the Son of man is to his Kingdom on earth on which the Scripture runs abundantly Dan. 2. 7. Apoc. 1. 7. Luke 17. 20. and was to be before that generation passed Matth. 24. 34. And within that space of time he came on Ierusalem as the Floud on the old world There shall be a Second coming of Christ namely to Iudgment And then he shall give up his Kingdom here to the Father Yet shall this Kingdom here and that in Heaven be one and the same consist of the same men or subjects and have the same bent to the honour of God 3. The Greeks Rule after Antiochus Epiphanes was sufficient to express the clayie legs that is enough for me and the clayie legs are part of the Fourth Monarchy The Romans more the Iews friends full many scores of years after Epiphanes his time Their war against God's people is that for which God paints them out as Beasts And though the Romans conquered Macedon long before Christ's coming yet both Iulius Caesar and Antonie let Cleopatra hold her due of what Rule she had and were but sticklers not opposites at first 4. If Christ's Kingdom took place at his first coming the same is one and but one and that everlasting 5. The seven Trumpets seven Vials two Witnesses c. shew a new matter not particulars of the Fourth Kingdom particularized before in Daniel 6. The late Iews God enlighten them shift abundantly and the ancient both before and after their desertion did but groap in darkness 7. Yet both the late and old Iews and Porphyrie too saw some truth who can deny it 8. The Text saith In the days of those Kingdoms say you as if it were in all of them and the Stone confounds all Why should we allow 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 typi 9. You deny the duration of the Fourth Kingdom to hold proportion with the parts of the Image I affirm it my reason is If the Three former do then the Fourth also 10. I know there is a Second coming of Christ that at the day of Iudgment But the Kingdom once begun is one for it is everlasting If there were two Kingdoms the one must end the other begin Though there be degrees in the progress of Christ's Kingdom in regard of the world's indisposition to submit to it yet de jure all is Christ's at his Ascension 11. The Mystery which now you speak of I acknowledge and bless God for it namely of the calling of the Gentiles The Iews Rejection also is plain in the time of the Gospel yet was a remnant of their Nation saved And what more were the elect out of other Nations â— few to the many 12. Though de facto the Gospel was not preached to all the world then yet see mentem Legislatoris the mind of the Law-giver Go preach to all Nations 13. Christ is the Stone what is said of him in many things is and may be said of them of his Kingdom He bruises with a rod of von Ps. 2. so do his servants Rev. 2. 27. He the Stone and his kingdom and people here do the same thing 14. For â— the Proposition the authority I brought was sound and good That about Iephtah is though I use not to be sudden in this kind ill translated I wish time would have given me leave to have conferred with Books and men about it I pray you think of it Were it not better Gideon was buried by the cities of Gilead namely the men of them all much honouring him joyned in solemnizing his burial 15. Not the ruffling Horn as you call it but the body of the Beast Dan. 7. 11. continued till the Son of man came Now the Body of the Beast hornless may express the same or be correspondent to the clayie legs and thus the answer is home in this particular also Much more I could have said but must here make an end and leave you to God whom I pray to keep us in his truth Octob. 16. 1629. EPISTLE XII Mr. Mede's Answer to Mr. Hayn's Fourth Letter about several passages in Daniel and the Revelation NOW I have obtained a Release that you might not think I shook off this Collation out of Pride or Contempt but to avoid too great a diversion from other
testimony to God's truth not contemporating but succeeding one another for many generations against all which the Beast warred and prevailed against some in one age some in another Every ones Testimony seems to be finished in his death And as long as Antichrist reigneth God hath his Witnesses in some place or other prophesying in sackcloth But this I submit to your better judgment I shall heartily desire God to bless your labours and at this time desiring to be commended unto your love I rest Newbury Nov. 2. 1629. Yours in all truth of hearty affection William Twisse I would intreat you to take into your consideration one thing more S. Paul writes Rom. 11. that the conversion of the Iews shall be by way of provocation from the Gentiles Whether this provocation doth not imply some great Prosperity wherewith God shall bless his Christian Church and what in this kind comparable to the ruine of Antichrist and the consequents thereof EPISTLE XIV Mr. Mede's Answer to Dr. Twisse's First Letter concerning the 1000. years Regnum Christi as also of the Clades Testium and of the Iews Conversion Worthy Sir THat any man so learned and judicious as I have heard your self to be should conceive any Meditations of mine worthy not only of approbation but of so much affection I must ascribe it if they be but in any degree such as you make them to God's goodness towards me who hath in any sort enabled me to endeavour ought whereby I might not live in the world altogether unprofitably I know and am conscious of mine own weakness and insufficiency in many points of knowledge which others have yet if this one thing be my Talent though but a single one I have sufficient wherefore continually to thank the Almighty and to beseech him that my husbanding thereof may be by his gracious instinct such as may be some occasion of further light to others in some manner of recompence of what I have and still daily do receive from others But whatsoever my Speculations be this I am sure of that I am not a little obliged to your self for your so kind and affectionate entertainment of them as rests not in them only but extends even to the person of the Author otherwise utterly unknown unto you Wherefore for my part if I should not reciprocally answer you I should shew my self of too unworthy a disposition As for my Interpretation of the Seals and Trumpets where I leave others and take a way of mine own I do it to maintain an Uniformity of notion in the Prophetical Schemes and Allegories throughout the Scripture which I am perswaded were once no less familiar and usual to the Nations of the Orient than our poetical Schemes and Pictures are to us And the only way for us to learn the meaning of them is by finding out that Uniformity I speak of by comparing the several applications of them together and such other helps as remain unto us But whether some of the Interpretations usually given of the Seals and Trumpets will abide this Touch-stone your self I know can judge Such voluntary Interpretations may delight the Fancy and commend the Wit of their Author but they will not satisfie him that cannot think any mans Wit a footing firm enough to rest his Faith upon FOR the Thousand years Regnum Christi it was time for it to be silent under Regnum Antichristi and the Reign of the Martyrs in the first Resurrection to be cried down when Antichrist was blasphemously to advance them before-hand to a Reign derogatory to the glory of Christ their Lord to be as compeers with him in the office of his Mediation and pattakers of the honour and worship which was due to him alone I speak not here altogether at random For after the opinion of the Chiliasts was cried down when the sentence of Damasus had once given it the deadly blow they fell to expound this Reign of the Martyrs in the twentieth of the Apocalyps of the Idolatrous reign of them which themselves had then devised by occasion of those signs and wonders said then to be wrought by the power of the Martyrs upon such as touched their Reliques and approached their Sepulchres Two of the ancientest Commentators extant after the Chiliasts opinion became silent are Andreas Caesariensis and Aretas in whom you shall find what I say even totidem verbis The words of Andreas are these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Quin reliquis quoque sanctis Martyribus qui pro Christo mortem perpessi sunt neque mysticae Bestiae qui Diabolus est characterem hoc est imaginem Apostasiae ipsius susceperunt judicandipotestas data est per quâ—m Daemones ut ob oculos videmus judicare non desinunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 usque ad praesent is seculi consummationem cum Christo glorificati à piis rursum Regibus fidelibusque Principibus adoraâ—i 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 divinâ denique virtute contra omnem corporum morbum frandemque vim Daemonum conspicuè donatiâ— Aretas almost in the same words Ex quo igitur inquit neque capti sunt hi scil decollati isti neque per impudentiam neque per opera mala insigniti meritò cum Christo vixerunt regnârunt idque usque ad consummatiâ—nem Quemadmodum videmus cliam sub fidelibus Regibus atque Principibus dum adorantur contra omnem etiam corporis infirmitatem ac Daemonum energiam ostendunt datam sibi à Deo gratiam Nam quia inquit non adorârunt Bestiam neque imaginem ejus idcirco etiam vixerunt id est vivorum opera praestiterunt miraculorum videlicet patrationem Yet even S. Augustine and Primasius applied this Prophecy of the Martyrs though not to the adoration of them yet to that preeminence of honour then given them in the Assemblies of Christians and their power of working miracles after death Vid. de Civil Dei lib. 20. cap. 9. cum cap. 9. lib. 22. And if with Mr. Brightman and others we begin the Thousand years from Constantine there is no place of Scripture for a Papist to urge for Saint-worship like unto this because the time will fit so just For it began much about that time though the Papist had rather have it thought to be ab initio which Andreas notwithstanding expresly denies Etenim saith he quae nunc per experientiam rcrúmque eventum videntur Sanctorum miracula meritorúmque praemia quando Evangelistae Ioanni haec patefiebant adhuc fatura erant I shall be glad to see your Quaere's and Answers to them But before I received yours I had written to Doctor Meddus that my thoughts would be diverâ—ed and my time taken up about some other business between this and Christmas whereupon he transcribed them not My brains are so narrow that I can tend and minde but one thing at once whatsoever it be and therefore I must desire my friends to bear with that imperfection as also with my slowness
put in mind thereof by those monuments set before him wherein we testified our own mindfulness thereof to his sacred Majesty that so he would for his sake according to the Tenour of the New Covenant in his Bloud be favourable and propitious to us miserable sinners In which words upon better and more serious consideration I observe you acknowledge 1. A Commemorative Sacrifice of Christians continually performed in ancient times 2. This hath been miserably corrupted by the Papists and transformed by the Papists into that Service which is called their Mass in distinction from their Mattins 3. That Protestants have justly abolished this prodigious and blasphemous Sacrifice of theirs 4. But they have not done well in that they have not reduced that ancient Commemorative Sacrifice of Christians save implicitly and obscurely Now in two things I am to seek for the understanding of your meaning 1. How we have reduced it in that implicite and obscure manner you speak of 2. How you would have it reduced in conformity to the Ancients and wherein this Conformity doth consist I remember what you alledged out of Clemens of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which were to be performed in times prescribed by Analogie to the courses of Devotion commanded in the Old Testament Now this I guess you deliver not so much in respect unto the Sabbath-Service as unto the daily Sacrifice of a Lamb every morning I imagine you would have the celebration of that Service which we call the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper to be daily but I presume not in a private manner but in the way of a Communion but unless it be twice a-day it is not congruous to the daily Sacrifice which was of a Lamb every evening as of a Lamb every morning And then again I find amongst the Ancients no small difference For a time it was celebrated in the evening only at least in some places and that with some difference for some celebrated it after they had eaten some fasted all the day before that they might come jâ—juni thereunto Now I would hear your judgement both of the practice of the Ancients in this particular wherewith I am not so well acquainted Our Saviour saith Do this in remembrance of me this prescribes nothing concerning the frequency of it S. Paul adds This do as oft as ye drink it in remembrance of me Where also we find no certain time prescribed Act. 2. 42. We read that they continued in the Apostles doctrine and fellowship and breaking of bread and prayers here likewise is no signification that this breaking of bread which I understand of the celebration of that Sacrament was performed daily And whereas vers 46. it is said that they continued daily with one accord in the Temple and breaking bread at home did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart I have conceived it to be spoken of refreshing natural not Sacramental and Spiritual And Act. 20. 7. their meetings for breaking of bread seem to have been restrained to the First day of the week that being the day of their assembling themselves as it seems by 1 Cor. 16. 2. And Iustin Martyr makes relation of their Christian meetings when the Sunday comes 2. I would gladly know how far you think fit that custom of the Ancients you speak of whatsoever it be should be reduced and that clearly not implicitly and obscurely For I assure you I am much to seek in the meaning of this yet I have read in some sort Mornay upon the Mass and Bishop Morton too and somewhat in Baronius concerning this And I am in doubt whether the Papists themselves were it not for their Doctrine of Transubstantiation would not be as much to seek herein as we are That which you touch concerning the German War and the Causes of it and the Sin-mark I willingly profess doth make me melancholick for I cannot but sympathize with them Yet although as I understood when I was in the Palatinate none was more free from such Sacrilegious courses than the Palatine not only Bishopricks but even Monasteries continuing there of his Ancestors foundation yet have they suffered as much as any both first and last if not much more In the close of that large Letter of yours you signifie that you reserve one thing lest it might undergoe censure which otherwise you would communicate Good Sir you have no cause to distrust my censure I hear by Mr. B. it is concerning Cornelius whom you take to have been no Proselyte in any degree the contrary whereunto supposed in our Divinity-Schools was one of the first things I was acquainted with upon my coming to Oxford and since I find confessed by Schindler on the root 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the interpretation of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Yet I pray let me see your Discourse thereon and let me know how you salve it for I am confident you are no Arminian The Text acknowledgeth him to be not only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and one of good report amongst all the Iews and Act. 11. they that opposed Peter's going to him and his are said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I heartily desire to know the most and worst that can be said against any Tenet of mine I shall be no loser by Truth Veritas magna est praevalebit against all opposition For that is from God Error and Falshood is from the Creature You may see by this I make you a great if not the greatest part of my study especially considering my infirmity at this time which requires I should rather be lying upon my Bed than either going or sitting up Your Answer to these particulars Zachary in two places the Prophecy of the fourth Chapter and that other of the 9 10 11. The sight of Cornelius and your explicating the Practice of the ancient Churches in their continual celebrating of that Commemorative Sacrifice in distinction from that which we do implicitly and obscurely will be a great refreshing to my spirit and consequently may prove some ease to my bodily infirmity also And I hope I shall trouble you no more unless it be to excite you to go on upon the Revelation The Lord give a blessing to all your studies and in good time perfect them to the consolation of his Church in these sorrowful days of Christendom Newbury 3. Aug. 1635. Your loving friend in the surest bond W. Twisse Post-script It is time to return that of yours ad Ludov. de Dieu which herewith I do Mr. B. knows him well and he desires to be heartily remembred unto you with many thanks for your kind and free entertainment of him EPISTLE LXI Mr. Mede's Answer about the seven Lamps in the Temple signifying the seven Archangels as also about the Pluscula in Zach. 9. 10 11. with an intimation of his purpose to perfect his Discourse on Dan. 12. 11 12. THE seven-lamped Candlestick in the Temple before the Veil signified the
But enough of this You long you say to hear my Answer to the particulars of your Letter Which do you mean I suppose chiefly that of Fundamental Articles But if such great Prelates and learned Doctors as you mention detrect the defining of the Ratio of a Fundamental Article or designing the Number of them as a matter not only difficult but inconvenient and dangerous Quid ego miser homuncio facerem I confess I am in part guilty of advising Mr. Dury to urge men to think of such a Definition as a ground to examine the points of difference by of what nature they are But I intimated withal how likely they would be to detrect it and wherefore namely lest by that means they might either declare some darling Opinion of their own not to be Fundamental and thereby prejudice their own cause or else exclude out of that number some Articles formerly determined by the Church and so incur a suspicion or be liable to be upbraided with favouring some condemned Heresie But what if to avoid the aforesaid Inconveniences we should go this way to work Make two sorts of Fundamental Articles Fundamentals of Salvation and Fundamentals of Ecclesiastical Communion one of such as are necessarii cognitu creditu ad Salutem simply and absolutely and therefore no Christian soul that shall be saved uncapable to understand them another of such as are necessarii creditu ad Communionem Ecclesiasticam in regard of the predecision of the Church The first not to be of such Truths as are merely Speculative and contained only in the Understanding but of such only as have a necessary influence upon Practice and not all those neither but such as have necessary influence upon the Act and Function of Christian life or whereon the Acts without which a Christian lives not necessarily depend Such namely as without the knowledge and belief whereof we can neither invocate the Father aright nor have that Faith and reliance upon him and his Son our Mediator Iesus Christ which is requisite to Remission of sins and the hope of the Life to come How far this Ratio of a Fundamental Article will stretch I know not but believe it will fetch in most of the Articles of the Apostles Creed And by it also those two main Errors of the Socinians the one denying the Divine Nature the other the Satisfaction of Christ may be discerned to be Fundamental For without the belief of the first the Divine Majesty cannot be rightly that is incommunicably worshipped so as to have no other Gods besides him For he that believes not Christ to be Consubstantial with the Father and yet honours him with the same worship worships not the Father incommunicably which is the Formalis ratio of the worship of the true God from whom we look for eternal Life And without the belief of the Second the Satisfaction of Christ there can be I suppose no saving Faith or reliance upon Christ for Forgiveness of sin After this manner may other Articles be examined Thus much of the first sort of Fundamental Truths measured by the necessitude they have with those Acts which are required to Salvation Concerning the second sort of Fundamentals viz. necessary ad Communionem Ecclesiasticam It is not fit that the Church should admit any to her Communion which shall professedly deny or refuse their assent to such Catholick Truths as she hath anciently declared by universal Authority for the Symbol and Badge of such as should have Communion with her And this sort of Articles without doubt fetches a greater compass and comprehends more than the other as being ordinate and measured by another End to wit of Discipline and so contains not only such Truths the knowledge whereof and assent whereto is necessary unto the being of Christian life but also to the well-being thereof and therefore not needful to be understood of every one distinctly and explicitely as the former but implicitely only and as far as they shall be capable or have means to come to the knowledge thereof This is the Sum of my thoughts concerning Fundamentals If I have not expressed my self so dilucidly as I should I pray help it with some intention of your conceit in the reading For the Book you speak of I like it not I knew by hear-say much of the Author and his condition some years before the High-Commissiâ—n took notice of him and wondred he escaped so long For in every company he came he took an intolerable liberty of Invectives and Contumelies against the Ecclesiastical State when no occasion was offered him Such Books as these never did good in our Church and have been as disadvantageous to their Party who vent them as they have been prejudicial to the common Cause I durst almost affirm that the alienation which appears in our Church of late from the rest of the Reformed hath grown for a great part from such intemperancy and indiscretion as this is and will be still increased more and more if those who seem to be the chief favourers of them go on in this manner He hath too ready a Faculty in expressing himself with his pen unless he would employ it better For who can excuse him from a malignant disposition towards his own Mother thus to publish her faults in Latin of purpose to discover her shame to strangers and to call her Sisters to see it as Cham did his Brothers Think what kind of crime it is for a man that is Civis and a Member to traduce the Rulers of his people among foreiners and what little good affection they are like to expect from ours who are made partisans in such a kind Thus with my best affection I rest and am Your assured Friend Ioseph Mede Christ's Coll. Febr. 6. EPISTLE LXXXIV Mr. Mede's Letter to Mr. Hartlib expressing his Opinion touching Mr. Streso's Book and his distinguishing of Three sorts of Fundamentals Mr. Hartlib I Read over your Streso with some attention and find many learned and considerable passages and discourses therein But for my Animadversions which you look for it were against my Genius for I am one that had rather give my opinion by much though the world hath taught me even there to be somewhat nice than censure another man's But in general I conceive his way to be somewhat ambiguous and intricate more than needs He distinguisheth Three sorts of Fundamentals One he calls Fundamentum ipsum The other two he measures by their relation to it either à parte antè and such he terms Sub-fundamentales or à parte Pòst which may be called Super-fundamentales The one of such Truths quae substernuntur Fundamento the other such as follow by immediate consequence from the same This I take to be the Sum of his opinion Now for that which is his Fundamentum ipsum or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I make no doubt but the acknowledgment of the truth thereof is Fundamental ad Salutem So I believe also are his