the time of his Resurrection He alledgeth also the appearing of two Angells among all the people for testimony whereof Likelyhoods of truth Hee nameth the day and place when and where it happened He recounteth the very words that Jesus spake at his Ascention He telleth the manner how hee ascended and how a Cloud came down and received him out of their sight He declareth what the Multitude did whither they went and in what place they remained after their departure thence And finally hee setteth downe so many particulars as if it had beene the easiest matter in the world for his enemies to have refuted his narration if all had not been true Wherefore to conclude this Discourse of the Birth Life Death Resurrection and Ascention of Jesus seeing nothing hath happened in the same which was not foretold both to Jew Gentile nor any thing fore-shewed concerning the Messias which was not fulfilled most exactly in the person of Christ as have been proved by the foregoing testimonies we may most certainly assure our selves and confidently affirm against all the unbeleiving Jewes and wretched Atheists of the world that Jesus is the son of God the true and promised Messiah Moreover Touching the excellency of this Person I shall yet further prove first That for time he is God co-eternall with his Father and this both apparent scriptures That Christ is a true God is proved and unanswerable reasons drawne from thence do make plain For First First from the Scriptures The scriptures call him the true Jehovah as wee may see by the collation and comparing of these places viz. Exodus 3.2.13.4.14.24 20.2 And Acts 7.30.32 1 Cor. 10.4.9 c. And so the scriptures call him God as Gen. 32.28 Psal 45.7 Isa 7.14 Matth. 3.3 Heb. 1.8 1 Tim. 3.16 Joh. 1.1 Acts 20.78 And therefore saint John saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the word was God Also Thomas saith unto Christ My Lord and my God 1 Joh. 3.16 1 Joh. 5.20 And so we finde the same truth expressed in many other places of the Scripture Secondly by unanswerable reasons drawn from scripture Secondly Wee may shew the same by infallible and unanswerable reasons drawn from scripture As First From those incommunicable properties of the Deity which are properly ascribed unto him as 1. To be omnipotent Joh. 3.31 Heb. 1.3 Phil. 3.21 Apo. 1.18 Mat. 16.11 Mat. 28.20 Joh. 16.15 2. To remit sins Matth 9.6 Mar. 2.5.7.9 Luke 5.20 Joh. 20.23 3. To be in many places at the same instant Matth. 18.20 4. To have the same equall power with the Father Joh. 5.17 5. To raise himself from the grave Rom. 1.4 Joh. 10.18 6. To send forth and to give the Holy Ghost Zach. 12.10 Joh. 16.7 2. From those Epithites which are ascribed unto him and are only agreeable to the divine nature as Joh. 13.18 Joh. 1.9 Mat 9 4.5 Joh. 14 14. To be the Author of our Election To illuminate us To know the secrets of our hearts To hear the prayers of them that call upon him To judge the quick and the dead To give unto his servants everlasting life To be truly rich and so able to do Joh 5.22.24 2 Cor 8.9 Psal 50.12 and to bestow these great rewards upon his servants Joh. 16.15 Thirdly From those relations that he hath with God as to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 J h. 1.18 Heb. 1.3 the only begotten son of God the brightness of his glory and as the Poet saith If God had once no son then once must he Without the brightness of his glory be Also to be the arme of God Isa 53 1. Joh. 14.7.8 9. Phil. 2.6 which the Fathers do expound of Christ to be the Image of the Father 2 Cor. 4.4 Col. 1.5 and to be the very form of God which is most simple and essentiall not compounded or accidentall for that in God there is no composition no accidents Et nihil est in Deo quod non sit ipse Deus nor any other thing which is not God because the Divine Essence Identificat sibi omnia que sunt in Divinis doth identifie Gabriel â—iel super 1. sentent dist 1. q. 5. or deifie all things that are in the Deity 4. From the universall effects Gen. 1.1 Pal 45.6 Psal 102.25 Joh. 1 2.3 Col 16 17. Heb. 1 2 3. Joh. 5.17 and proper works of God for he that created preserveth and governeth all the things that are created is the true and everlasting God but Christ created all things doth still sustaine and govern all things and therefore hee must needs be the true and eternall God To be breif He is the Son of the Father the Wisdome and the Power of God A Proof of the co-eternity of the Son with his father and therefore either the Father was without a Son and then he could be no Father and God was without his Wisdome and without his strength or else hee was never without his Son but to say that God was without his wisdome or without his strength is most absurd Ergo non ex tempore genitus est qui cuncta tempora condidit therefore hee was not begotten in time which created all times Aug. Ep. 6.6 saith Saint Augustine That Christ is co-essential with God is proved Secondly it followeth that I should prove and shew how for Nature he is co-essentiall with his Father touching which point Athanasius saith Non res quaepiam extrinsecus ad inventa est filij substantia neque ex nihilo inducta est sed ex Patris essentia nata est The substance of the son is no outward thing either found or created but begotten of the very Essence of his Eather even as you see the brightness springing from the Light or the Vapour from the Water Neque enim splendor neque vapor est ipsa aqua aut ipse sol neque res aliena For neither the light is the Sun it self nor the vapour the water it selfe and yet they are none other things of another kind then be the Substances from whence they spring even so the Son issueth from the substance of his Father Et tamen Patris substantia non perpessa est partitionem And yet the substance of the Father admits no partion for as the Son remaineth still the same and is no way lessened or diminished Athanas in Ep. Cont Eusebium in respect of those beams that flow from him so the Father suffereth no mutation by having and begetting Suam ipsius imaginem filium this his Son and eternall image but remaining still the same he begetteth his Son of the same Essence and wee find not only all the Orthodox Fathers but also the scriptures are plain enough to confirm the same truth for our saviour saith Joh. 10.30 I and my Father are one and so saint John having spoken of the Father the Word and the spirit saith That these three are one 1
the writings of the Heathens and to transport them as Salomon did the wood of Lebanon for the building of Gods house and the gold of Ophir to make the Temple of Jerusalem the more glorious from the prâ—â—hâ—ne use of the first Authors unto the divine edifying of Gods Church Besides It is the cleerest evidence in the world that can be produced to convince any man when hee is made a party in the proofe a witnesse in his own case and a Judge against himselfe For what can any Gentile object for himselfe against us that hee doth not beleeve in Jesus Christ when he perceiveth our truth confirmed and himselfe convicted out of the learning of the Gentiles what can the Philosopher say when hee seeth himselfe confuted by Philosophy Job 15.5.6 or what testimony can a Jew require better then a proof produced out of his owne Cabballs and Talmud and therefore as Eliphaz saith of vain boasters that their own words condemne them so humane arts being divine gifts wee may lawfully use them to cut off Goliahs head with his owne sword or to beat down Hercules with his own club that is to confute the Gentiles out of the learning of the Gentiles and so we finde that not only in former times the Prophets Apostles and Fathers of the primitive Church have practised the same course but also in later times Aquinas Mornaeuâ— Doctor Fotherby late Bishop of Salisbury and diverse others have out of Trismegistus Homer Plato Aristotle Cicero and the rest of the Gentile Doctors confuted the superstitions of the Heathens and confirmed the truth of Christian Religion Secondly Against the wicked and cursed hereticks I have used the sacred scripture whose excellency above all humane learning I shal breifly set forth and conclude Such is the excellency of scripture-learning which containeth in it florem delibatum the flower and very Quintessence of soule-saving wisdome that wee may say of it as the Philosopher sometimes spake concerning the knowledge of the soule of man Aristotle de aâ— l. 1. praf antiq lect praestatpauculo ex meliore scientia degustasse quam de ignobiliore multa A small and dim knowledge of it is to be valued far above a greater measure of cleerer insight in any other science For the inspired scriptures is the infallible rule of Faith the unmoveable ground of Hope the perfect guide of Life the soules store-house of Provision the spirituall Magazeen of Munition the sacred fewell of Devotion the divine subject of Contemplation and the everlasting spring of celestiall consolation It is as saint Gregory saith like the deepest Ocean wherein the greatest Elephant may finde sea room enough to swim and yet never sound the depth thereof and like the shallowest foord wherein the silliest Lamb may easily wade without any danger of drowning And as Fulgentius saith Fulgent Ser. de confess Habet quod robustuâ— comedat quod parvulus sugat Basil in Psalmum primum it hath strong meat for the best stomacks and sweet Milke for the tenderest babes It is a pavoury of wholesome food against feigned Traditions a Phisitians shop against poysoned heresies a pandect of profitable Lawes against rebellious spirits a treasury of most costly Jewells agaist beggerly rudiments and it is wisdome without folly to direct us riches without poverty to honour us and strength without weaknesse to maintain us For that it will instruct us in life comfort us in death and glorifie us in heaven The canonicall bookes of the Old and New Testament are exact Maps of the heavenly Canaan drawne by the Pencill of Holy Ghost the authenticall records of the Church the deeds of Almighty God and Evidences of mans salvation Yea The arguments to prove the divinity of scriptures are the venerable antiquity matchless majesty lively efficacy beautifull harmony incomparable purity invincible perennity and continuance of them mauger the injury and iniquity of times and Tyrants who have sought to suppresse them Besides the confirmation by miracles confession of Martyrs destruction of oppugners fulfilling of prophesies consent of Churches yea assent of adversaries As first of hereticks who in oppugning of scriptures do yet alledge scripture to their owne utter destruction 2 Pet. 3.16 Secondly of Jewes Gods Library Keepers as Saint Augustine calls them who studiously read and curiously kept the Bookes of the old Testament by a singular providence of God for our benefit and behoof Thirdly many heathens being convinced in their consciences have sealed to the truth of the scripture by their testimonies and confessed them to be divine for Porphyry testifieth that Moses hath written the history of the Law truly and Numenius the Pythagorist recites Moses's history almost word forword testifying that he was a great Divine But we have better testimonies even the holy scriptures themselves which do not only establish our faith 1 Pet. 3.15 Isa 1.18 Eze. 18.25.29 but also instruct our Reason furnishing us with arguments rationally to prove their truth to be sacred and their authority divine Yea further The scripture is proved to be the word of God by the Majesty of it which besides the stately plainesse of the stile far surpasseth the creatures capacity the fathom of flesh and reach of reason There is no jot or tittle of of it that savours of earthlinesse Every word of Gods mouth is pure precious and profitable not a syllable superfluous The very majesty of the sentence is such as cannot be conceived and yet it s alwaies more powerfull in matter then in words Humane writings may shew some faults to be avoided but give no power to amend them What words of Philosophers could ever make of a Leopard a Lambe of a Viper a Child of a Lecher a chast man of a Nabal a Nadib or of a covetous carle a liberall person Philosophy may civilize not sanctifie hide some sins not heal them cover not cure them But the efficacy and virtue of the scripture is such that it produceth the love of God and our enemies it purifieth the heart pacifieth the conscience rectifieth the whole both constitution and conversation of man yea it taketh him off from the delights of the world and the flesh maketh him glory in afflictions sing in the flames and triumph over death All these and more do necessarily conclude the divine verity and authority of the sacred scriptures Moreover if we will open our eyes to see and bring our Judgement to discern we may soon perceive that besides the truth of scripture which will admit no comparison with any writings there is more learning in Moses then in all the learned men of the Gentiles more Rhetorick in Esayas Prophesies then in all Tullies Orations more Logick in Saint Paules Epistles then in all Aristotles Analiticks there is sweeter musick in King David then in all the Lyrick Poets of the heathen there is better Philosophy in Job then in all the Philosophers of Greece there is truer Morality in Salomon then can be
Η ΠΡΟΒΟΛΗ ΤΗΣ ΑΛΗΘΕΙΑΣ OR The BUL-WARKE of TRUTH BEING A Treatise of God of Jesus Christ of The Holy Ghost and of the Trinity in Unity against Atheists and Hereticks By ROBERT BAYFEILD 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Serapis ad Thulem Magna est veritas praevalebit Tertull. Veritas laborare potest vinci non potest Hier. Dialog adversus Pelag. For we can do nothing against the Truth but for the Truth 2 Cor. 13.8 Him that is an Heretick after the 〈…〉 sâ—â—oâ—d admonition reject Tit. 3.10 LONDON Printed by T.R. for Edw. Dod. at the sign of the Gun in Ivy-Lane 1657. Vera Effigies Roberti Bayfeild Aetat Suae 27. A PREPARATORY Advertisement to the READER Dear Christian Reader AFter I had finished and put forth my Enchiridion medicum containing the causes signes cures of all those diseases which do cheifly affect the body of man my thoughts ran upon some second worke whereby I might benefit my Country but whilst I was thinking upon what subject to pitch I hapned into the company of certain Atheists and Hereticks who by their blasphemous discourse quite altered the streame of my intentions and instead of another phisicall peece put me upon these sublime pâ—iâ—â—â—f divinity Indeed it is a truth not more deplorable then manifest that this our Island which may justly contend with most parts of the Earth for the priority of Conversion to Christianisme and might not many yeares since have challenged the Garland from the whole for the orthodox zealous and sincere profession thereof hath of late produced and doth at this unhappy day foster more swarmes of Hereticall and Atheisticall monsters then any age then any Nation hath been infested withall such at least whose licentious practices and insolent discourses in publick do equally declare their wilde Ambition to be so accounted as if the onely way to acquire the Reputation of being Transcendent Wits were to seem able with bold and specious arguments to impugne the greatest and most sacred verities Yea these proud Wits and curious heads are so extreamly in love with their own shadowes and do so highly admire their owne conceits that they despise all the understanding and learning of other men and as Saint Bernard saith do thinke Nusquam lucere solem nisi in cella sua That all knowledge must live and dye with them For the Devill saith in every heresie in every errour Ego sum Christus apud me est veritas I am Christ and the truth is only here with me as Athanasius sheweth against the Arrians Athanas orat 1 contra Arrianos Alexander Episcopas Alexander in Ep. ad Alexand. Constantinop And Alexander Bishop of Alexandria writing to the Bishop of Constantionople of the transcendent pride and disdain of the Arrians saith Neminem volunt ex antiquis patribus sibi comparari ne unum quidem collegarum nostrorum vel ad mediocrem sapientiam pervenisse censent sed solos se sapientes sibi solis patefacta esse mysteria arbitrantur veritatis That they thinke none of the ancient fathers to be comparable to themselves that none of them which are contrary to their tenents have attained to any measure of wisdome and that they alone are wise and have the mysteries of truth revealed unto them And therefore this despising of other mens knowledge added to that high conceite which they have of their own is the cause they persist in those errours which their pride and ignorance have most impiously hatcht to the spoiling and destroying of themselves and others Alas it is sad lamentable to consider how multitudes of people are led away into dangerous fearfull errors by these cursed and hereticall monsters who come unto them in sheeps cloathing that is a religious habit like zealous and holy Christians For they have many times more works of piety charity then many of the most orthodoxall professors of the Faith their Almes-deeds are many their Prayers frequent and the strictnesse of their life might seeme to proceed from Angelicall hearts but in all this they cannot be sayd to be vertuous because these deeds that are vertues in themselves are directed by them to wrong ends and are effectuall to bring others into their errours And therefore these holy Hereticks are most profitable instruments for the Devills advantage and most excellent Factors to enlarge his Kingdome For had they been more wicked they had done lesse evill when men would have more suspected them lesse followed them and lesse beleived them then they do A most lamentable thing to make vertues the steps and staires for themselves and others to descend down to hell Mat. 4.6 Againe as the Devill cited scripture to our Saviour Christ to pervert the Truth of the scripture so do these men use Adaptare ca quae bene dicta sunt ijs quae male adinventa sunt ab ipsis To apply those things which are well spoken in scriptures to those things which themselves have mis-invented saith Ireneus Iren. cib 1. c. 1. for so Valentinus misapplyed scriptures to cofirme his errour of the thirty couple of Gods so Manichaeus alledged scriptures to defend his Duo principia two fold God or rather two Gods good and bad so Arrius Appollinaris and Eutiches and all the brood of hereticks were not ignorant in the bookes of scripture and so all hereticks at this day do with the Hiaena's voice bring nothing else but scriptures to kill soules with scripture misapplyed and therefore least with those fishes that are sportingly carried with the pleasant streames of Jordan untill they do fall into the dead sea where they doe suddenly perish so wee be led with their mis-interpreted scriptures untill wee do unexpectedly fall into destruction we should beware of them and take heed we be not seduced by thâ—â—â—ea we should mark them and avoid them Rom. 16.17 Iren. l. 2 c. 19. Epiph in contra Marcosias her 34. and shnn them as men wont to run away from venemous and ravenous beasts for Epiphanius tells us they are like unto the serpent called Dypsas that poysoneth all the pooles wherein hee drinketh so that all the beasts which drink of those pooles are suddenly poysoned and killed Tertull. de praescrip c. 42. Because as Tertullian saith This hath ever been the desire and study of hereticks Non Ethnicos convertere sed Christianos evertere not to convert infidells but to pervert and throw downe Christians from the faith and therefore Saint John seeing the heretick Cerinthus in a bath wherein the Apostle bathed himselfe ran away from him as it had been from a Lion Iren. l. 3. c. 3. And Ireneus saith that Tantum Apostoli eorum discipuli habuerunt timorem ut neque verbo tenus communicarent alicui eorum qui adulteraverant veritatem the Apostles and their Disciples did so warily shun all hereticks that they would have no communication with any of them that had depraved the truth of Christ And no
found in all humane Ethiques and there are more heroick vertues and martiall prowesse in Joshuah Judges and the Câ—â—â—nicles then can be fetcht out of all the Greeke and Romane stories and you shall finde more patheticall expressions of sorrow and greife in a little more then one leafe of Jeremiahs Lamentation then you can finde in the mournfull Elegies of the Poets you shall read such ravishing Encomium's of true love in eight little Chapters of the Song of Songs as the like are not to be found in all the Epithalamium's of the world and you shall see more elegancy of expressions more excellency of demonstrations and more admirable allusions in our Saviours Doctrine then can be collected out of all the millions of volumes that are extant And therefore by Gods word Hushai was made a wise Counsellour Solomon a wise King Joshuah a wise Captaine and Timothy a wise divine Gideon overcame the Midianites David the Philistines Jehoshaphat the Amonites the Isralites the Canaanites and all godly men the Flesh the Devill and the worlds vanities By it Kings raigne Princes decree Justice all things are governed the Foundations of the Earth were layd the Heavens established Treasures and substances are inherited Also by it Man is blessed his Faith is encreased his soule is converted his Vnderderstanding enlightned his heart cheered and changed his corruptions mortified his thoughts purged his affections sanctified his memory with good lessons stored his will to Gods will conformed his speech with grace is seasoned his dayes are prolonged his yeares augmented his sleepe is secured his walkings guided and all his actions to Gods glory wholy directed Yea further By Gods word The ignorant men are instructed disordered men reformed the afflicted in heavinsse comforted the dull in memory quickned the cold in zeal inflamed and the distressed in want releived by it the Righteousnesse of God is revealed the Church is sanctified truth is preached errour convinced vice corrected good life directed death avoided and life eternall through Christ obtained In keeping then of Gods word there is great reward therefore it will be worth our paines to sequester our spare time from the nâ—cessary duties of our calling to the reading hearing and meditating upon the word which through the spirit of grace and devout prayers will enlighten our understanding with the knowledge of God enflame our affections with the love of God and establish our hearts with the promises of God yea it will moderate our joyes with the fear of God mitigate our afflictions with the comforts of God and regulate all our thoughts words and deeds with the precepts of God Theodosius the Emperour and Alfred King of England are renowned in hystory for their assiduity in reading of the scriptures and concerning Alphonsus King Arragon it is recorded that he did fourteen times read over the Old and New Testament with Commentaries upon the same It is an excercise well beseeming the highest as well as the lowest to be wel versed in the book of the high God which alone is able to make a man wise unto salvation Let us not therefore dive continually in humane arts and secular sciences full of dregs and drosse but let us rather digg into the mines of gold of Ophyr where every line is a veine of precius truth and every page a leafe of Gold Indeed in other books some truth is taught some good commended and some kind or part of happiness promised but in the inspired Oracles of God all truth is taught all goodnesse commanded and all happiness promised nay we may invert the words with Hugo de sancto victore and say Quicquid ibi docetur est veritas quicquid precipitur bonitas quicquid promittitur faelicitas All that is there taught is truth all that is there commanded is goodnesse and all that is there promised is happinesse Amongst the Ancients Chrysostome likens the holy scripture to a Treasury to a Fountain to an Apothecaries shop Jerom to a Table richly furnished with variety of delicates Ephrem to an armory Basil to a looking-glass Chrysost to a pleasant garden and Cassian to a fruitfull feild But to what purpose serveth a Treasury if wee make no use of it or a Fountaine if we draw no water thence or an Apothecaries shop if we fetch no Medicine thence or a Table furnished with varieties if wee tast not of them or an Armory if we take no weapons thence or a looking-glasse if wee behold not our faces therein or a pleasant Garden if we gather no flowers or herbs thenein or a fruitfull feild if we reap no fruit therein Surely to no purpose at all That wee may then make use of this Treasury draw water from this living fountaine take medicinall confections from this Apothecaries shop tast and eat of this well furnished Table weapon our selves from this armory behold our faces in this glasse gather fragrant flowers in this Garden and fruit from this fertile feild Let us be diligent in perusing the sacred writings of the Prophets and Apostles let us write them in the table of our hearts yea let us teach them diligently unto our children talk of them when we sit in our house Deut. 6.6.7 and when we walke by the way when we lye down and when wee rise up so shall we shine every day more and more gloriously in all sanctity and at last be able to look death in the face without dread the Grave without fear the Lord Jesus with comfort and Jehovah blessed for ever with everlasting Joy Thus Gentle Reader I thought good to tennder thee a preparatory Advertisment of some things whose precognition is necessary before thou entrest this Bulwark of truth which I know wil pass under the censure judgment of divers sorts of men some are ignorant cannot judge Et ideo grave judicium est ignorantis and the ignoranter man the severer Judge others are too rash and are ready to censure it before they read it others are malicious maligning and depraving other mens labours and I know there be many Momus like Aug. contra Faust l. 22. c. 43. Qui vel non intelligendo reprehendunt vel reprehendendo non intelligunt that do shew their folly in reproving others when out of envy or ignorance they blame that good of others which they have not or know not themselves and for these there is none other helpe but to be carelesse of their censures and to pray against their wickednesse Yea Let them go on say what they will Ego sic vivam ut illis fides non habeatur I hope God will give him grace to fear him and not them And I hope the Godly Reader of this little Tract of mine will finde some profit by it for the most necessary sublimest points of divinity are here breifly and yet fully handled and I rejoyce in this that I deliver what I learned and not what I invented as Lyrinensis speaketh Let no man how challenge me for
mid-day there should be darkness for three houres over all the World Which thing to have beene fulfilled at the death of Jesus not only Saint Matthew doth assure us in his Gospell Matth. 27. but also Eusebius affirmeth that hee had read the same word for word recorded in diverse Heathen Writers Phlegonius a Greek Historian Phlegonius a Grecian borne in Asia recorded by Suidas of whom Suidas maketh mention reporteth for a wonderfull thing That in the fourth year of the two hundred and tenth Olimpiad which by just account was in the eighteenth year of the Raign of Tiberius and at which time our Saviour suffered there was an Ecclipse of the Sunne the very greatest that ever had beene seen or ever found to be written of and that it continued from the sixth houre untill the ninth houre And that during this Ecclipse the trembling of the Earth was so great in Asia and in Bythinia that infinite strong built houses fell to the ground It appearteh moreover that besides this Phlegonius Plin. in lib. 2. Pliny also felt and wrote of the selfe same matter for he saith In the time of the Emperour Tiberius the quaking of the earth was much greater then ever before had been Twelve Cities ruined by the Earth-quake at Christs passion By means whereof saith another twelve Cities were ruined and overthrown in Asia with infinite other goodly buildings and houses so that the Historiographers amongst the Gentiles albeit they knew not the cause did not forbear to write of the miracles of Christ Orig. cont Cels lib. 6. Furthermore Aesculus an old Astronomer doth prove by the scituation and constitution of the Sun and Moon at his Passion that no Ecclipse could then be naturally and therefore it was very miraculous contrary to the Order of Nature Dionysius was 25 years old at the death of our Saviour and lived a long time after with the Apostles as himself records in the 11. Epistle Apollophanes and only done by the omnipotency of God who deprived the sun of his light for all that space of time Dionysius Areopagita being on that day in Athens and beholding the Sun to be so strangely obscured knowing also as a man learned and skillfull in Arstology and the Celestiall courses that this Ecclipse was contrary unto the rule of Nature he cryed with a loud voice saying Aut Deus Naturae patitur aut mundi Machina dissolvetur either the God of Nature doth now suffer or the Frame of the whole world shall be dissolved And to another hee spake of that Ecclipse in these words Ignotus in carne patitur Deus Michael Syngellus in Encomio S. Dionysij cujus gratia rerum universitas densa hac caligine obscurata est atque concussa God unknown in the flesh did suffer for whose sake the universe was struck and covered with thick darknesse S. Dionys in Epis ad Polyc. And this Dionysius in an Epistle written to Polycarpus being asked what this great Ecclipse might portend said That it shewed a change and a great alteration and that hee did seriously observe the day and houre The other Miracle Joseph in l. 2. de antiq of the Vayle of the Temple which rent in sunder Josephus also giveth faithfull testimony thereof Finally I will conclude this discourse with the authority of learned Philo who doth plainly confesse the Deity of Jesus Christ and the necessity of his suffering This man that was the learnedst among the Jewes made a speciall booke of the banishment of his country-men where hee hath this discourse ensuing Philo lib. de exulibus What time may be appointed saith he for return home of us banished Jewes it is hard to determine For by tradition we have that we must expect the death of an high Preist But I am of opinion that this high Priest shall be the very word of God which shall be void of all sinne both voluntary and involuntary Whose Father shall be God and this word shal be the Fathers wisdome by which all things in this world were created His head shall be anointed with Oyl and his Kingdome shall flourish and shine for ever This wrote Philo Judaeus at that time when hee little imagined the same high Priest whom he so much expected and the same word of God whose Kingdome he describeth was now already come into the world Fourthly As Jesus Christ did declare himselfe truly to be the Son of man by yeilding unto Death so hee did declare himselfe mightily to be the Son of God by his Resurrection from the dead And this Resurrection of him was exactly foretold not only to the Jewes but also to the Gentiles for these are the words of Sibylla Hee shall end the necessity of death by three dayes sleep Lactan. lib. 4. inst Div. c. 19. and then returning from death to light again he shall be the first that shall shew the beginning of Resurrection to his chosen for that by conquering death he shall bring us life What thing can be more plainely described then this but now to prove the truth and certainty of his Resurrection Our first and most evident testimony shall be derived from our greatest enemies among which number is Josephus that learned Jew Joseph in lib. 2 de Antiq. whose words are these Although hee was accused by the principall men of our faith and crucified yet he was not abandoned of them which had formerly followed him but three days after his death he appeared alive again unto them according as the Prophets inspired of God had foretold and prophesied of him Which express plain resolute words we may in reason take not as the confession only of Josephus but as the common judgment opinion sentence of all the discreet and sober men of that time laid down and recorded by this Historiographer In whose dayes there were yet many Christians alive that had seene and spoken with Jesus after his Resurrection and infinite Jewes that had heard the same protested by their Fathers Bretheren Kinsfolks and freinds who had been themselves eye witnesses thereof Ignatius was twelve years old when our Saviour suffered and for certainty that he did see Christ after his Resurrection take his owne words Ego verò In Ep. ad Smyr ad Polycarp post Resurrectionem in carne eum vidi credo quia sit And truly I did see him after his Resurrection in the flesh and I do beleeve that it is he yea he sets down the time and persons when and before whom it was Et quando venit ad Petrum ad eos qui cum Petro erant And when he came to Peter to those that then were with him he sayd Touch and see for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as you see me have and they touched him and beleived so that his own words are sufficient proofs but yet it is the consent of all the Church-Historians as Eusebius Saint Jerom
Ruffin cap. 6. and Ruffinus testifie Moreover Dionysius the Areopagite Saint Bernard and others report a famous saying of Saint Ignatius which he uttered with sighes and is extant in his Epistle to the Romans and it is this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Amor meus crucifixus est that is My Love is crucified Indeed this holy and pious Bishop Mirandula de motre Christi l. 1. c. 10. did so continually meditate upon those great things which Christ had done and suffered for him that he was thereby brought so intirely to love him as when he was demanded why hee would not forsake and forget Christ rather then suffer himself to be torne and devoured of wilde and savage Beasts He answered The story of Ignatius at his Death that hee could not forget him because the sufferings of Christ were not only words transient in his mouth or removeable objects before his eyes but they were indeleble characters so engraven in his heart that all the Torments of the Earth could never rase them out And therefore being commanded by that bloudy Tyrant Trajane to be ript and unbowelled they found Jesus Christ written upon his Heart in Characters of Gold He is stiled Divinus Ignatius Biblioth Patrum Tom. 1. pag. 76. Inclytissimus ferventissimus Martyr Divine Ignatius a most famous and fervent Martyr Nay Nicephorus goes beyond that title and calls him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one that saw God and one that was carried of God for when hee was a child Niceph. Hist li. 2. cap. 35. Nicephorus reports that our Saviour would take him up in his arms and shew him to his Disciples And it may be that this was one of those little children that were brought to Christ to touch them or that little child whom Jesus took and set in the midst of them to learn them humility Aug. de vera religione Indeed as Saint Augustine saith Tota vita Christi in terris per hominem quem gessit disciplina morum fuit The whole life of Christ which he spent here on earth was and is a pattern for all Christians Christ despised all worldly vanities Nam omnia bona mundi contempsit for he despised all the pompe and vanity of this world to teach us In his mundanis faelicitatem uon reponere that we should not greedily seek nor childishly place our delight in these vain and worldly toyes hee suffered all the sorrowes of this world Christ suffered all miseries hunger thirst cold nakedness lyings slanders spittings mockings whippings death it selfe to teach us ut nec in illis quaereretur faelicitas ita nec in istis infaelicitas timeretur that as we should place no felitity in the vanities of this life so we should not fear all the miseries of this world Judg. 6.12.14 but to say with Deborah March valiantly O my Soul with the Angell unto Gideon Go on thou mighty man of War and passe through all the ranks of miseries To be breife if we do but seriously look into the life of Jesus Christ we shall easily find that as St. Bernard saith True Wisdome is found in his doctrin Bernard Ser. 2. super Cantic Prudâ—ntia vera in ejus doctrina justitia in ejus misericordia temperantiae in vita fortitudo in ejusdem passione reperiuntur Righteousness in his mercy Mercy in his Justice temperance in his life truth in his words fortitude in his sufferings all vertues in all his actions all the Ethicks of Aristotle all the morality of Seneca and all the wisdome of Greece can no ways describe vertue so perfectly as we see it expresly pourtraied in the lively example of our Saviours life yea such was the piety of Jesus Christ that even his greatest enemies were forced to acknowledge confess it Suidas upon the word Iesus for the talk of one Theodosius a Jew with a christian merchant man named Philip in the time of the Emperour Justinian is here worthy to be noted In the Temple of Hierusalem sayd the Jew there were two and twenty ordinary Preists and as soone as any of them dyed the residue chose another in his place Christs Piety is acknowledged and confessed by a Jew Now it hapned that Jesus for his singular Piety and Doctrine was chosen by them And to the intent they might know the name of his Father and Mother and inregister it according to their custome they sent for them and Mary came thither alone Joseph dyed before the Virgin Mary because Joseph was then dead She being asked the name of the Father of Jesus answered upon her Oath that she had conceived him by the holy Ghost and reported to them the words of the Angell Moreover shee told them the names of the women that came to her labour unlooked for upon due inquisition whereof when all things were found to fall out true they registred his Name in the Register of the Preists in these words Jesus the Son of the living God and of the Virgin Mary A proof of Christs Divinity And this Register sayd Theodosius was saved at the sacking of Hierusalem and afterward kept in the City of Tyberias where it is preserved in secret and I have seen it as one of the cheif among the Jews and as one from whom in respect of my degree nothing was restrained And I beleeve thereby that it is not ignorance that holdeth me in the Jewish Religion Why Theodosius the Jew would not imbrace Chrâ—st but the honour which I have among my countrymen the like whereof I could not have elsewhere Thus we see that the Jews themselves were forced to acknowledge and declare the Piety and Deity of Jesus Christ And as for the family from whence he descended it remaineth registred in the Jews Thalmud that Jesus of Nazereth Crucified Thal. Tact. San. ca. Nigmar had was of the Blood Royall from Zorobabell of the house of David Thus much by way of digression But now to return to the foregoing Subject of our discourse namely the Resurrection of Jesus Christ although the Testimony of Josephus and Saint Ignatius might suffice to prove the truth and certainty hereof against all the Atheists of the World yet hereunto I will add some other testimonies and circumstantiall proofes that do infallibly prove the Resurrection of Christ and so consequently that Jesus is the Son of God the true and promised Messias 1. atth 28.1 The Angells testifie the resurrection of Christ Luke 24.4 First the Angell said unto the women why seeke yee the living among the dead hee is not here but he is risen Et si non credideritis Oraculo credite oculo and if you will not beleive us beleeve your own eyes for you may see the place where he lay 2. That Christ appeared twelve severall times after his resurrection 2. Truth it self confirms this truth unto us by those manyfold apparitions that he made after his resurrection
to the perfection of humane Nature or of the naturall properties of the same And therefore seeing hee was made of a woman as all other men be differing only in the manner of his conception or in the Agent and worker of his Substance it is most apparent that he assumed all our humane nature What Christ assumed because the whole nature of man that is both body and Soule was to be redeemed for that both body and Soule were captivated unto satan but the son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost Mat. 18.11 therefore he must consist both of body and soule for seeing the Divine pity was content to deliver all it behoved the Divine Majesty to assume all Fulgent l. 1. de mysterio redemp ad Trasim That Christ had a true humane body Gen 3.15.22.18 Luke 24.39 saith Fulgentius and more particularly that hee had a true and perfect humane body it may be easily proved for when the Apostles thought that they had seen a Phantasme or a spirit hee sayd unto them handle mee and see because a spirit hath not flesh and bones as you see me have Besides it may be proved by the uniform consent of all Orthodox antiquity as the great Councill of Chalcedon that had in it 630 Bishops the Councill of Lateran the Councill of Toledo Fulgentius in his second booke Basil in l. de hum Christi gener Aug. de Trin. l. 13 c. 18. Beda in 11 Luc. l 4. c. 48. De persona Christi Saint Basil Saint Augustine Tertullian in his booke De carne Christi venerable Bede and diverse others whose pithy sayings and unanswerable arguments to prove this point I could here alledge But above all the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gal. 4.4 used by Saint Paul and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used by the Evangelist which signifie to take our nature upon him and to be made flesh if they be well and truly understood do make it most apparently plaine that the Sonne of God took unto himselfe personally the true nature of man and the very substance of his Mother Luke 1.31.42 Heb. 2.14 for the Apostle doth not say factus de muliere sed factus ex muliere made in a woman but made of a woman Gorrham super Galat. as Nicolaus de Gorrham well observeth and therefore though Christ had his Principium formale his formall beginning from the Holy Ghost yet it is most certain that hee had his Principium materiale his whole matter and substance from the body of his mother And as hee had a true humane body so hee had a perfect reasonable Soule That Christ had a true reasonable soule Mat. 26 38. Luke 23.46 for the testimonies of the Scriptures are most plain herein As my Soul is heavy unto death and again Father into thy hands I commend my spirit Also the whole School of Divinity did ever teach the same truth for Nazianzen saith Quod non assumpsit non salvabit either hee had a soule or he will not save a soule and Saint Augustine saith Totum suscepit ut totum liberaret verbum Aug. de tempore Ser. 145. Christ took all upon him that is both body and soule that he might save them both And so you see that Christ had not Ideam humanae naturae An imaginary patterne of humane nature as some in these our dayes would have it but the whole nature of man In uno individuo consisting both of body and soule That Christ was subject to all our humane frailties which are without sin Moreover As Christ had all the parts of a true and perfect man so he had all the propertyes that do concern mans nature or do belong either to the soule or to the body of man as length breadth thicknesse understanding will affection c. And all other infirmities that wee have sin only excepted Why he undertook our infirmities Ambros in Luc l. 10. c. 22. And it was requisite saith Saint Ambrose Vt infirmitates nostras susciperet That he should take upon him our infirmities First To demonstrate the truth of his assumed humanity Secondly To strengthen and under-prop the weaknesse of our declining Faith and yet here wee must distinguish and understand that those infirmities which are not sinfull are either Personall or naturall Those that are Personall we say not That Christ took no personal infirmities upon him that he took for though many of us be affected with maladies infeebled with infirmities and disfigured with deformities yet the body of Christ being framed by the Holy Ghost of the purest Virgin blood was proportioned in most equall Symmetry and correspondency of parts and therefore he was speciosus forma prae filijs hominum fairer then the sons of men wholy pure more pure then the body of Absolon 2 Sam. 14.25 in whom there was no blemish so Cassiodorus saith Forma ejus lactei coloris de core illuxit Cassidor in Psa◠45. insigni statura prae-eminuit his body of the best composed stature did excell all other men Christ of a ravishing beauty and so Saint Hierom saith that his countenance carryed hidden and vayled in it a star like shining brightnesse which being but a little revealed it so ravished his Disciples hearts that at the first sight thereof Mat. 19.27 Joh. 18.6 they left all and followed him and it so astonished his enemies that they stumbled and fell to the ground But now those that are naturall or common infirmities That Christ took upon him all naturall common infirmities Heb. 2.17.4.15 Damasc de fide Orthodoxa l. 3. c. 20. Discipulus in ser de temp we affirm that he had them in all things like unto us for we confesse saith Damascen that Christ took all the naturall passions of man which are without sinne and Discipulus saith that every man was subject unto twelve naturall defects and infirmities wherof saith he our Saviour Christ hath undergon ten of them and hath suffered the same Luke 22 43. even as we do First Cold Secondly Heat Two infirmities incident to every man and denyed by no man to be in Christ Mat. 21.18 Thirdly Hunger as when he came to the fig-tree and would have eaten Joh. 4.7 c. 19. 28 Fourthly Thirst As when he asked Drink of the woman of Samaria Fifthly wearinesse Joh. 4.6 As when hee sate by the well side to rest him Sixthly Weaknesse and paine Mat. 27.32 Joh. 19.17 as when he was not able to bear his cross any further Seventhly Heavinesse and sorrow Mat. 26 38. Luke 16 41. as when his soule was heavy unto death Eighthly Shamefastnesse Mar. 6.6 and admiration as when hee marvelled at the infidelity of the Jewes Ninthly Feare Heb. 5.7 as when his Father heard him in that which hee feared Tenthly Anger Mat. 21.12 as when he drove the Buyers and sellers out of the Temple These are the ten
this must passe our best capacities and therefore si hoc comprehendere non possumus quod videmus quomodo deum comprehendere valemus quem non videmus if wee cannot apprehend that which we do see how how can wee comprehend him whom we cannot see What the knowledge of God from a naturall light Rom. 1.19.30 As for the Knowledge of God which is from the light of nature that doth take its rise from sence and can ascend no higher then it is supported nor go any further then it is led by sensible objects which give us no clearer knowledge of God then the effects do of their cause namely that he is and that Hee is not such as they are but far excelling them in Essence and in Attributes as not being compounded not depending not finite not mutable and the like but now the knowledge of God which is from a supernaturall light What from a supernaturall light Joh 1.18 Exod. 33. â—3 that is meerly by divine Revelation as that God is the Father of Christ and the Holy Ghost the ineffable bond of both Yea such is our Knowledge of God through the apprehension of faith in the glorious mystery of the Blessed Trinity whereby wee beleeve the same God which is One in nature or being Deut 6.4 Isa 45.5 1 Cor. 8.4 6 Gen. 11.7 Isa 63.7 9.10 1 Joh. 5.8 Gen. 1.26 3.22 is also Three in persons or manner of subsisting Father Son and Holy Ghost for so the scriptures plainly teach us as Let us make man in our image and behold the man is become like one of us saith the Lord himself to shew that in this unity of Essence there is a plurality of Persons Mat. 3.16 28.19 Gen. 19.24 and againe The Lord raigned upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah from the Lord out of Heaven that is the Son rained from the Father as Justin Martyr Tertullian Epiphanus Cyprian Ironaeus Eusebius Cyrill and many others do so expouud that place And so the three men that appeared unto Abraham Gen. 18.1 2 3. and that heavenly Harmony of Cherubims saying Holy Holy Holy Isa 6.3 Lord God of sabboth do sufficiently declare the Trinity of Persons in the unity of Gods Essence Now a Person is a distinct subsisting of the whole God-head What a person is Joh. 1.1 5.31 Chap. 14.5.16 and an individuall understanding and incommunicable subsistence living of it selfe and not sustained by another So that the three persons in the Trinity are not three severall substances but three distinct subsistences Col. 2.9 or three diverse manner of being of one and the same substance and divine Essence And here wee must consider that the Essence doth not beget an Essence Psal 2.7 Heb. 1.5 Joh. 15.26 but the Person of the Father begetteth the Person of the Son and the Person of the Holy Ghost proceedeth from the Father and the Son by an Eternall and incomprehensible spiration Athanas 2. Dialog de Trinit as if it be lawfull to compare great things with small in the reasonable faculty of mans soule when the understanding considereth it self it begetteth an image of it selfe Thom p. 1. q. 27 ar 1. and 3. Mornaeus de verit Châ—ist Relig. c 5. Keckerm Sâ—stâ—m Theol. l 2. c. 2. it being in that reflected action the proper object of it selfe from the desire or appetite of which image so produced there ariseth a mutuall love and delight betwixt the understanding and his image so in the eternall essence of the God-head the Father looking upon himselfe begetteth the image of himselfe which is his son and from the mutuall love and delight of both these persons one to another the holy Ghost proceedeth as the common beam of these two incomprehensible lights And as in one sun there are the body of the sun the sun beames and the heat the beames are begotten of the sun and the heate doth proceed from both Aug. de Trinit but the sun it selfe proceeds from none Even so in the one Essence of God there are the Father the Son and the holy Ghost the son is begotten of the Father the Holy Ghost proceeds from both but the Father is of himselfe alone and as the son doth alwaies beget his beams and both sun and beames do send forth the heat so the Father from all eternity ever did now doth and ever will beget his son and both Father and Son do spire and breathe forth the Holy Ghost and therefore Origen saith excellent well Origen hom 6. in Jerem. Salvator noster splendor est gloriae splendor autem non semel nascitur deinceps desinit nasci c. Our blessed Saviour is the brightnesse of Gods glory but the brightnesse of Glory Sed quotiescunque ortum fuerit lumen ex quo splendor oritur toties oritur splendor gloriae The Father doth ever beget the son is not once begotten and then afterwards ceasing to be begotten but as often as the light riseth from whence the brightnesse springeth so often doth the brightnesse of glory arise And our Saviour saith hee is the wisdome of God but the wisdome of God is the brightnesse of that eternall light Et ideo salvator semper nascitur and therefore as the scripture saith Ante colles generat me Before the mountains were layd he begetteth me and not as some do erroniously read it Generavit me He hath begotten me so the truth is that the son of God is ever begotten Aug. de verbis Domini and the Holy Ghost ever proceeding Also as the Fountain begets a brook and both the Fountaine and brooke do make the poole and yet all three is the same water so the Father is the Fountaine which begets the Sonne and from the Father and the Son proceeds the holy Ghost and yet is the Deity of all three the same That there are certain similitudes of the Trinity to be seen in the creatures In like manner the fire hath Motion Light and Heate and yet but one fire and in all other creatures wee may behold certaine glimps and similitudes that do after a sort adumbrate Why Power is ascribed to the Father wisdome to the Son and goodnesse to the Holy Ghost seeing all and each of the three persons have the same power wisdome and goodnesse and shadow out this ineffable and expressible mystery for by their greatnesse wee may consider the Power of the Father by their beauty we may see the wisdome of the Son and by their utility we may note the goodnesse of the holy Ghost Now amongst the creatures it is wont to be observed as Saint Augustine saith that in a Father is found a defect of Power by reason of his Antiquity in a Son is seen ignorance by reason of his youth and in experience of things and in the name of a spirit there seemeth to be a kind of fearfull vehemency as Quiescite ab homine cujus spiritus in
of Alexandria and Cyrillus That God is but one not as some think without government of the world but all in all Hee is the orderer of all ages the light of all powers the originall of all things the Cresset of Heaven the Father Mind quickner and mover of all Yea and he calleth him the infinite power from whence all other powers do flow which cannot be verified but of him alone Thirdly Philo the Jew and Jambilicus of the sect of Pythagoras Philolaus a Disciple of Pythagoras saith That there is but one only God the Prince and guider of all things who is alwaies singular unmoveable like himselfe and unlike all other things Also Architas saith That he esteemeth no man wise but him which reduceth all things unto one selfe same originall that is to wit unto God who is the beginning end Hierocles against the Atheists and middle of all things And Hierocles one of the same sect saith That the same is hee whom they call by the name of Zena and Dia the Father and maker of all things because all things have heir life and being of him Aristot 14. Metaph cap. 4. and 1. Phis cap. 10 lib. 13. To be short Pherecydes the syrian the Master of Pythrgoras Empedocles his successor Parmenides and Melissus they all taught the same truth and so did Xenophanes the Colophonian as wee be credibly informed by the verses of Parmenides rehearsed by Simplicius Simplic l. 1. Phis in the which verses he calleth him the unbegotten the whole the only one not which hath been or shall be but which everlastingly is altogether and all of himself Du. Plessis Besides Of the like opinion were Thales Anaxagoras Timeus of Locres Acmon Euclide Archaevetus and others of the ancientest Philosophers Socrates the scholmaster of Plato hath confessed only one God Academicks and as Apuleius reports was condemned to drinke poyson for teaching that the Gods which were worshipped in his time were but vanity Hee calleth God The Father of the whole world who only is or hath being and who made the heaven the earth the sun the moon the times and seasons and all other things both heavenly and earthly high and low and whatsoever else is Plato in his 13. Epist to King Denis Damascius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Plato the Disciple of Socrates taught the same truth And Damascius the Platonist saith The one bringeth forth all things The one ought to be honoured by silence The one like the sun is seen dimly afar off and the neerer the more dimly Jambilicus in his book of the Sect of Pythagoras Also Jambilicus sirnamed the Divine acknowledged every where a divine cause which is the beginning end and middle of all things That there is one God Master of all at whose hand welfare is to be sought That the end of all Contemplation is to aime at one and to withdraw from multitude unto unity And that the same One or Unity is God the ground of all truth happinesse and substance yea and of all other grounds themselves Proclus in Platoes divinity Proclus after the manner of the Platonists which was for the most part wont to be very superstitious turneth himself oft times aside to many Gods but yet his resolution is this in expresse words Who is he saith hee that is King of all the only God separated from all and the producer of all things out of himself which turneth all ends unto himselfe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and is the end of ends the first cause of operations 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the author of all that ever is good and beautifull the englightner of all things with his light if thou beleeve Plato he can neither be uttered nor understood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And anon after Then is it this first simplicity which is the King the soveraignty and superexcellency of all things incomprehensible not to be matched with any other thing uniforme going beyond all causes the creator of the substance of the Gods which hath some forme of goodnesse All things go after him and stick unto him for he produceth perfecteth all things that are subject to understanding like as the sun doth to all things that are subject to sence To be short it is the unutterable cause which Plato teacheth us under two names in his commonweale calling it the very goodnesse it selfe and the fountaine of truth which uniteth the understanding to things that are understood And in his Parmenides 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The One or Unity whereupon all the divine unities are grounded and which is the Originall of all that is and of all that as yet is not Proclus in his Book of the soule and the spirit chp. 32. 42. 53. In his book of the soule and of the spirit he teacheth us a way to attain from many multitudes to this super substantiall unity which hee calleth the nature grounded in eternity the life that liveth and quickneth the waking understanding the welspring of all welfare the ifinite both in continuance and power c. Also Simplicius saith Simplicius upon the Edictetus if Arrian Whatsoever is beautifull cometh of the first and cheifest beauty All truth cometh of Gods truth and all beginnings must needs be reduced to one beginning which must not be a particular beginning as the rest are but a beginning surpassing all other beginnings and mounting far above them and gathering them all into himselfe yea and giving the dignity of beginning to all beginnings accordingly as is convenient for every of their natures Also the good saith he is the wel-spring and originall of all things it produceth all things of it selfe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both the first the middlemost and the last The One goodnesse bringeth forth many goodnesses The One Unity many Unities The one beginning many beginnings Now as for the Unity Beginning Good and God they be all but one thing For God is the first cause of all and all particular Beginnings or Grounds are fast setled and grounded in him He is the cause of causes the God of Gods Popphyrius in his 2. booke of Abstinence and in his booke of occasions chap. â—1 and the goodnesse of goodnesses Also Porphyrius acknowledged the one God who alone is every where and yet in no one place by whom all things are both which are and which are not This God doth hee call the Father which reigneth in all And hee teacheth us to sacrifice our soules unto him in silence and with chast thoughts Plotin in his firâ—t Eâ—nead lib. 8 c. 2. En 6. lib. 4. cap. 1 2 3 4 in the whole 6. booke and in the 3. Enn. l. 8. And Plotinus saith That there is one Beginner of all things That this Beginner dwelleth in himselfe is sufficient of himselfe and of himselfe bringeth forth all manner of Essences That by his unity he produceth multitude which could be no multitude unlesse
of Orphaeus who is called the Author of the plurality of the Gods Also Phocilides Phocilides followeth him in these words There is but only one God mighty wise and happy And again Honour the only God And so Theognis Homer Hesiodus Sophocles Euripides Aratus and many others have delivered the same truth And as touching the Latins Ovid Ovid. in his Metamorphosis attributeth the Creation of the world and of all things therein unto the only one God Virgil in his fourth booke of Husbandry and in other places And Virgil doth ordinarily call him the King of Gods and men and he describeth him shedding forth his power to the uttermost Coasts of Heaven and earth and with his virtue quickning the world and all that is therein Thus we see that the Gentiles did conceive a certain kinde of knowledge and understanding though undigested imperfect overshadowed as it were with humane reasonings concerning God and that although through custome they did celebrate the plurality of Gods yet notwithstanding they did acknowledge but one only true God by Nature This Truth of the unity of the God-head The unity of the God-head proved from Scripture may be yet further proved and confirmed by expresse testimonies of sacred Scripture as heare O Israel the Lord thy God is one God Deut. 6.4.32.39 Isa 44.6 7 8. and therefore know you that I am God alone and besides me there is none other saith the Lord himselfe to shew the truth and certainty of the unity of his Essence also Saint Paul saith 1 Cor. 8.4 6. We know that there is none other God but one and so wee finde the same truth expressed in many other places of the Scripture as Deut. 4 35 1 Sam 2 2 Psal 18.31 Isa 37 16 45 5 21 46 9 Hos 13 4 Mal 2 10 Mark 12 29 32 Rom 3 30 Gal 3 20 Ephes 4 5 1 Tim 2 5 Jam. 2 19. Reason sheweth that there can be but one God c Besides reason it selfe sheweth that there can be but one God for if there were more Gods then one then they must be either all without beginning or one must proceed from other either by creation or generation That they should be all without beginning is impossible for then it must needes follow that there should be multa principia prima dispâ—rata in una voluntate non convenientia many first causes and unequall beginnings that could never agree and be of the same minde and will and therefore to say they should be all without beginning is most absurd An unaswerable argument that there is but one God If one be from the other by Creation then is the second a creature and therefore but one God uncreated if one be from the other by generation then the first gave the second either a part or his whole substance if a part then is God partible and may be divided which cannot be said of such a spirituall indivisible substance if the first gave the rest his whole essence then have all the same deity and so all must be the same God-head Secondly There can be but one infinite God is infinite and therefore but one because that which is infinite comprehendeth all things within the circle of it self Thirdly Deut. 6.4.5 Mark 12.29.30 we are charged to give unto God all our heart all our strength and all our soul if one must have all there is none left for any other Fourthly there is but one first cause of all things God is that first cause therefore he is but one Fiftly But one first cause Acts 17 28. Exod 3.14 God is summum ens the first and cheifest being as himself professeth I am that I am we have learned that of the Prince of Philosophers that there can be but one cheifest Being But one cheifest being Quia ens unum convertuntur because that being and one are all one Lastly It is impossible there should be many Gods for seeing it is absolutely necessary that hee who is God Why there can be but one God have all perfection of being in himself to make many Gods were to make them all imperfect and so they can be no Gods To allow of Polutheism then is to admit of Atheisme he cannot worship any God who acknowledgeth many Gods seeing there can be but One most perfect But one most perfect Tertul. l. contra Hermog c. 17. as but one first mover one first efficient and therefore this one God is so absolutely One that he is One alone besides whom there can be none other for we deny all number in the Deity Or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Only one unlesse you mean in the personall proprieties And therefore Gregory Nyssen saith well Quod in multitudinem extendere numerum Deitatum eorum duntaxat est qui laborant multitudinis deorum errore Nâ—ssen ad Eustach l. de Trin. Basil ep 141. ad Caesarium That to extend the number of the Deities into a multitude belongs only unto them which do erroneously maintain a multitude of Gods for the Catholick Faith is this That we should worship the Trinity in Vnity and the Vnity in Trinity that is The Trinity of Persons and the unity of Essence because all number is to be rejected from the Essence of God saith Saint Basil for the divine Essence is so simple and so numerically one that no diversity can be given The father the Son and the holy Ghost are one by nature whereby the very Persons do differ in regard of the Essence so that whatsoever the Father essentially is the Son is the same and the Holy spirit is the same How the persons are distinguished But now here wee must observe that although the God-head cannot be divided in its Essence yet the persons may be distinguished by their properties Quia hoc est proprium Patris quod solus est Pater quod ab alio non est nisi a se hoc est proprium Filij quod a Patre genitus est solus a solo hoc est proprium spiritus sancti quod nec genitus nec ingenitus est sed a patre filio aequaliter procedens for this is the property of the Father That he alone is the Father and that hee is not from any other but only of himself and this is the property of the Son that he alone is begotten of the Father alone co-equall unto him and co-essentiall and this is the property of the Holy Ghost to be not made not begotten but from the Father and the Son equally proceeding And therefore wee say that these incommunicable and proper operations of the persons do so make the true and reall distinction of the Persons that the Father cannot be the Son nor the Holy Ghost that the Son cannot be the Father nor the Holy Ghost That the distinction of the persons hindreth not the unity of