are all things and we in him and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things and we by him § 5. Secondly as Religion a term which both Austine and Lactantius derive à religando because by the true Religion improved mens souls are tied and fastened to the supreme Being it unites us to God and to Christ The graces of union are especially Faith and Love Christian Religion is made up of these two Kiss the Son saith David Psal 2. 12. which implyeth the affection of love Blessed are all they that put their trust in him which holds forth an expression of faith Hold fast the form of sound 2 Tim. 1. 13. words saith Paul which thou hast heard of me in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus Love is the fulfilling of the Law faith the fulfilling of the Gospel both the fulfilling of Christian Religion These two pipes being rightly laid from a Christians soul to the fountain of living waters fetch in from thence a dayly supply of such grace as will certainly end in a fulness of glory whereas worldlings all the pipes of whose spirits are laid to cisterns broken cisterns that can hold no water must needs continue empty still and for want of Christ who is not seen but by those two eyes nor embraced but by those two arms fall short of happiness how eminent soever they may be in the pursuit of by-ways Thus to discover and to unite are acts of prerogative not communicable to other professions For to maintain as some do that a man may be saved in an ordinary course I meddle not with extraordinary dispensations but leave the secrets of God to himself by any Religion whatsoever provided he live according to the principles of it is to turn the whole world into an Eden and to finde a Tree of life in every garden as well as in the paradise of God EXERCITATION 2. The insufficiency of other Religions for bringing men to the enjoyment of God inferred from their inability to discover his true worship John 4. 24. opened God to be worshiped in and through Christ a lesson not taught in Natures school Faults in Aristotles Ethicks § 1. IT hath appeared already in part by what hath been hitherto discoursed that as the other Patriarchs sheaves made obeisance to Josephs so other Religions must bow down to Christianity by name those three grand competitours Paganisme Judaisme and Mahometisme as also those other leading books by name the Talmud the Alcoran and the much applauded writings of heathen Philosophers must all do homage to the Bible Yet will it not I suppose be unworthy of my pains and the Readers patience further to clear the insufficiency of all exotick doctrines by an argument taken from divine worship to which I proceed by certain steps Exerc. 2. I. Religion is a thing which distinguisheth men from beasts more then reason it self doth For some brute beasts have appearances of reason none of Religion Man is a creature addicted to Religion may perhaps be found as true a definition as that which is commonly received Man is a living creature indued with reason II. Some kinde of Deity is acknowledged every where throughout the world and wherever a Deity is acknowledged some kinde of worship is observed Should a Synode of mere Philosophers be convented to consult about the matters of God I make no question but in the issue of their debates they would pronounce one Anathema against Atheisme and another against Irreligion Among the Romanes Parcus Deorum cultor infrequens Horat. lib. 1. Ode 34. to worship sparingly was accounted the next door to being an Atheist III. None but the true God can discover what the true worship of God is As that glorious eye of heaven is not to be seen but by its own proper Desine cur nemo videat sine Numine Numen Mirari Solem quis sine sole videt light A million of torches cannot shew us the Sun so it is not all the natural reason in the world that can either discover what God is or what worship he expects without divine and supernatural revelation from himself § 2. IV. Before the settling of Christianity and spreading the Gospel throughout the world many every where were unsatisfied concerning the worship they performed and inquisitive after some teacher who might help them therein by his advice This may be gathered not onely from that which was said by the woman of Samaria in that dispute of hers with our John 4. 25. Donec in terris apparuerit sacratior aliquis qui fontem veritatis aperiat c. Marsil Ficinus in vita Platonis Vid. Livium Galan praetar pag. 8. Saviour about worship I know that Messias cometh which is called Christ when he is come he will tell us all things But also by what Ficinus reporteth concerning Plato to wit that being asked by one of his scholars how far forth and how long his precepts were to be obeyed he returned this answer Untill there come a more holy one by whom the fountain of truth shall be opened and whom all may safely follow V. The precepts and practise of such as teach and profess other Religions are inconsistent with those Gospel-rules which Christ and his Apostles have given for the regulating of divine worship Two whereof I shall instance in The first is that which fell from our Saviours own mouth God is a Spirit John 4. 24. and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in truth Where Spirit in the latter clause seems to stand in opposition partly to the formality of the Jews who did so wholly addict themselves to outward observances in a spiritless way as to give our Saviour occasion of saying well hath Isaiah prophesied of you hypocrites as it is written This people honoureth me with their lips but their heart is far from me In vain do they worship Mark 7. 6 7. me teaching for doctrines the commandments of men Partly to the Idolatry of the Gentiles who in stead of tendring service sutable to a spiritual Being worshipped God in and by representations and images of this or that visible creature The word Truth in like manner may probably seem to be opposed partly to the typical worship of the Jews in which there were many resemblances and shadows of things to come as sacrifices incense and other rites the truth whereof was exhibited in Christ and in Gospel-service partly to the perfunctory worship of the Gentiles who for want of Scripture-light framed to themselves sorry forms of devotion which the wisest among them were altogether unsatisfied with yet as knowing no better and being loth to give offence observed them onely for fashions sake so worshipping in shew rather then in truth § 3. Doubtless what Seneca profest in his time was a principle which the most judicious Heathen walked by both in that and the ages foregoing He speaking of their religious observances plainly said A wise man
ARMILLA CATECHETICA A CHAIN of PRINCIPLES Or An orderly concatenation of Theological Aphorismes and Exercitations Wherein The Chief Heads of Christian Religion are asserted and improved By JOHN ARROWSMITH D. D. Late Master both of St Johns and Trinity-Colledge successively and Regius Professor of Divinity in the University of CAMBRIDGE Published since his Death according to his own Manuscript allowed by Himself in his life time under his own hand ECCLESIASTES 12. 9 10 11. Because the Preacher was wise He still taught the people Knowledge Yea He gave good heed and sought out and set in order many Proverbs The Preacher sought to finde out acceptable words and that which was written was upright even words of Truth The words of the Wise are as goads and as nayls fastened by the Masters of the Assemblies and given by one Pastor CAMBRIDGE Printed by John Field Printer to the University 1659. And are to be sold at the signe of the Seven Stars in Fleet-street near S. Dunstans Church LONDON To the Reader IT is the Profession of the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians in regard of Himself That as a wise Master-builder 1 Cor. 3. 10. he had laid the Foundation Whereby he would signifie and declare thus much unto them That the laying of the Foundation is the work of a Master-builder as also that some skill and wisdome is both required and shewn in the right laying of it This hath been Eminently the care of the Reverend and Learned Authour of these ensuing discourses who being sufficiently sensible of the defect as well as necessity of a settled and well-grounded knowledge in the Fundamentals of the Doctrine of Christ Heb. 6. 1. hath therefore with all diligence applied himself hereunto in this Treatise which he hath left to the world Neither was this more seasonable for the Time then it was proper and fitting for the place in which at first it received it's Beginning being in One of the Schools of the Prophets a Principal Seminary of Divines St Johns Colledge in Cambridge Where being at that time Master and having as yet no other publick imployment which might take him up he was willing to lay himself forth so much the rather in this way of his Ministery by Catechetical Lectures in that Chappel on the Evenings of the Lords day As Elisha when he came to Jericho 2 King 2. 21. casting salt into those springs of water for the preserving of all savouriness and fruitfulness in them Now these Sermons of his he had drawn up so far as to the preaching of them into a complete Body of Divinity in thirty distinct Aphorismes with their respective Exercitations being also the sum and extract of most of his former labours in the whole course of his ministery which He had intended if God had permitted to have fitted and prepared for the press But being prevented of this his purpose by a long and tedious sickness and much weakness growing upon him and at last by Death it self he finished onely these six which are now presented to view and authorized under his own hand for those which he allowed of as his Exclusively to any other besides and committed them to our care alone for the management of the publishing of them which accordingly we have endeavoured to do with all fidelity The Book is not unfitly styled and that by the Authour himself a Chain of Principles For such is the Nature of the Truths propounded in it as in order to other Points of Divinity which are founded upon them so likewise to the Life of a Christian which is much regulated by them in the right improvement of them Every Article of Christian Religion hath somewhat in it of Principle to a Gracious and Holy Conversation which it is carried and directed unto Hence 1 Tim. 3. 16. It is said Great is the mystery of Godliness God manifested in the flesh c. The Incarnation Passion Resurrection Ascension of Christ and the like they are all matters of Godliness because that they tend to Godliness in the Nature and Discovery of them as also promote Godliness in the true Compliance and closing with them It is called A Chain of Principles for sundry reasons likewise First From the Connexion which they have one with another For like as in a chain there are divers links joyned together and these in a mutual dependance concomitancy and subordination Even so is it likewise with the Doctrines and Principles of Christian Religion They are connexed and knit so together as that there cannot be a denial of one of them but more will consequently fall with it Look as in things necessary to be done there is a dependance and connexion of Commands so that he who breaketh one Law is interpreted to break all the rest to be guilty of an Vniversal transgression because he sins against that General Authority whereby all the rest were given so also in things necessary to be beleeved he that denieth One Article of faith which is offered to him by God to be received denieth the Faith 1 Tim. 5. 8. it self in the latitude of it as sinning against the General Veracity of him that propounds it and weakening all other Truths which are dependent upon it Though perhaps in so doing he may not always actually intend it Secondly A Chain also for that special Concord and Agreement which it breedeth and ought to breed in those that profess it notwithstanding all collateral and circumstantial differences whatsoever The Principles of Christianity as they are united within themselves so they do marvellously unite those who do really and cordially embrace them and make them to speak the 1 Cor. 1. 10. same thing that there be no divisions amongst them But to be perfectly joyned together in the same minde and in the same judgement as the Apostle expresseth it From thence it cometh to pass that there is so much disunion in Affection because there is so much distraction in opinion Whereas the Acts 4. 32. Primitive Beleevers whiles they were all of one Faith they were answerably all of one heart and of one soul and so preserving the unity Ephes 4. 3. of the spirit in the bond of peace Thirdly A Chain also for the worth and dignity of it Prov. 1. 9. They shall be an ornament of Grace unto thine head and Chains about thy neck Persons of Quality and Authority they are wont to wear their golden Chains wherewith they are set out and Gen. 41. 42. Dan. 5. 29. Ezek. 16. 11. adorned It is the expression of Christ to his Church Cant. 1. 10. Thy cheeks are comely with rows of jewels Thy neck with chains of Gold And again Canticles 4. 9. Thou hast ravished my heart my sister my spouse thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes with one Chain of thy neck This systeme and Body of Truth which is here in part commended unto us is the precious and glorious chain upon the
you of what is written in the hundred fourty and sixth Psalm Happy is he that Psal 146. 5. hath the God of Jacob for his help whose hope is in the Lord his God EXERCITATION 4. Exerc. 4. The first Inference grounded upon Isaiah 55. 1 2. by way of invitation backed with three encouragements to accept it viz. The fulness of that soul-satisfaction which God giveth the universality of its tender and the freeness of its communication The second by way of expostulation and that both with worldlings and saints A conclusion by way of soliloquy § 1. IN the synagogues of old upon the eighth day of the Feast of Tabernacles called by the Jews Hosanna Rabbah the great Hosanna and by the Evangelist The last day the great day of Jos 7. 37. vid. Ludov. de Dieu in loc the feast four portions of Scripture were wont to be read viz. The close of the fifth book of Moses called Deuteronomy the last words of the Prophet Malachy the beginning of Joshua and that passage concerning Solomons rising up from his knees after his prayer and blessing the people with a loud voice in the eighth chapter of the first book of Kings Then did Jesus who was the end of the Law and the Prophets the true Joshua and Solomon stand up saying If any man thirst let him John 7. 38. come unto me and drink He that beleeveth on me as the scripture hath said out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water But why did he then speak of waters Tremellius giveth this account of that out Annot. in loc of the Talmud The Jews saith he upon that day used with much solemnity and joy to fetch water from the river Siloah to the Temple where being delivered to the Priests it was by them poured upon the altar the people in the mean time singing out of Isaiah With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells Isa 12 3. of salvation Our Saviour therefore to take them off from this needless if not superstitious practise telleth them of other and better waters which they were to have of him according to what he had elsewhere said by the ministery of the same Prophet in these most emphatical words Ho every one Isa 55. 1 2. that thirsteth come ye to the waters and he that hath no money Come ye buy and eat yea Come buy wine and milk without money and without price Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread and your labour for that which satisfieth not Words that besides an intimation of the forementioned truths concerning the creatures inability and the sufficiency of God in Christ to satisfie souls clearly hold forth a double improvement thereof one by way of invitation the other by way of expostulation § 2. The Invitation is set on with vehemence and importunity Ho come but as not content with that he doubleth it yea Come ye and tripleth it yea Come Not Come and look on or Come and cheapen but Come and buy buy and eat They may be rationally said to Come who frequent the Ordinances wherein Christ is usually to be found They to buy who part with somewhat are at some cost and pains in pursuit of him They to eat who feed on him by a lively faith Careless wretches will not so much as vouchsafe to Come by reason of their oxen or farms or some other impediment the Lord must have them excused Formal professours Come indeed but refuse to Buy will lay out no serious endeavours in searching the Scriptures and their own deceitfull hearts but are merely superficial in such undertakings Temporary beleevers whose hearts are really though not savingly wrought upon seem to have bought yet do not eat for want of that spirit of faith which ingrafts men into Christ and makes them as truly one with him as the body is with the meat it feeds upon Want we encouragements to accept of this invitation The place it self presents us with three § 3. One from the fulness of that satisfaction which is here tendered under the metaphors of water wine milk and bread the last whereof is implied partly in those terms of opposition For that which is not bread as if he had said ye might have had that of me which is bread indeed partly in the verb Eat which cannot so properly be applied to any commodity here mentioned water wine and milk being liquids as to bread Now there is somewhat in Christ to answer each of these His flesh is bread his bloud is wine his John 6. 51. Matth. 26. 28 29. John 7. 38 39. 1 Pet. 2. 2. Spirit is waters his doctrine is milk But because I conceive the Holy Ghost in this place doth not so much intend a parallel of these as a declaration of that sufficiency which is to be found in Christ and his benefits for saving to the utmost of all those that shall come unto God by him I shall onely pitch upon that consideration and by adding unto this a like place in the Revelation briefly demonstrate from them both how all-sufficient a Saviour he is This in Isaiah holds forth somewhat proper to every sort of true beleevers Milk for babes water for such Vinum Lac senum as are young and hot wine for the aged bread for all The other is that of Christ to the Angel of the Church of Laodicea I counsel thee to buy of me gold Rev. 3. 18. tried in the fire that thou maist be rich and white raiment that thou maist be clothed and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear and anoint thine eyes with eye-salve that thou maist see where he commends his gold for such as is tried in the fire his raiment for such as will take away shame and his eye-salve for a special vertue to make the blinde see Take them together and there is in them enough to supply our principal defects viz. unbelief in the heart for which there is here gold tried in the fire whereby we may probably understand the grace of faith concerning which we read in Peter That the tryal of your faith 1 Pet. 1. 7. being much more pretious then of gold that perisheth though it be tried with fire might be found unto praise And unholiness in the life for which there is the white raiment if by it we understand inherent righteousness according to that in the Apocalypse To her was granted that she Rev. 19. 8. should be arraied in fine linen clean and white for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints Lastly Ignorance in the minde for which there is his Eye-salve to remove it according to the Apostles prayer for his Ephesians that God would give them the spirit of wisdome Ephes 1. 17 18. and revelation the eyes of their understanding being enlightned c. § 4. A second encouragement is from the universality of this offer Ho every one that thirsteth come so
he is Si omnino ego Deum declararem vel ego Deus essem vel ille Deus non foret § 2. Were all such passages set aside as are not originally the Heathens own but borrowed from Jewish or Christian authours I should not be afraid to affirm that there is one very short expression in Scripture to wit this I am that I am which revealeth Exod. 3. 14. more of God then all the large volumes of Ethnick writers An expression so framed as to take in all differences of time according to the idiome of the Hebrew tongue wherein a verb of the future tense as Ehieh is may signifie time past and present as well as that which is to come Hence ariseth a great latitude of interpretation for according to different readings it implieth different things Reading it as we do I am that I am it importeth the supremacie of Gods being The creatures have more of non-entity then of being in them It is proper to him to say I am 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so the Septuagint Or the simplicity thereof whereas in creatures the Thing and its Being Ens and Essentia are distinguishable in him they are both one Or the ineffabilitie as if the Lord had said to Moses enquiring his name I am my self and there is nothing without my self that can fully express my Being Which put Scaliger upon inventing that admirable Scalig. de Subtilit Exercit. 365. § 2. epithet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Ipsissimus Ipse Or lastly the Eternitie thereof since there never was never will be a time wherein God might not or may not say of himself I am Whence it is that when Christ would manifest his goings out from everlasting as Micah phraseth Micah 5. 2. it he maketh use of this expression Before Abraham was I am not I Joh. 8. 58. was for that might have been said of Enoch Noah and others who lived before Abrahams time yet were not eternal but I am If it be rendered I am what I was as Piscator would have it then it speaketh his Immutability I am in executing what I was in promising Yesterday and to day and the same for ever If as others I will be what I will be then it denotes his Independency That essence which the creatures have dependeth upon the Creatours will None of them can say I will be not having of and in it self any power to make it self persevere in being as God hath It may perhaps intimate all these and Quae verbulo hoc continentur omnium hominum capacitatem transcendunt Andr. Rivet in Exod. 3. 14. much more then the tongues of Angels can utter Verily it is a speech containing more in it as a learned writer acknowledgeth then humane capacities can attain § 3. I shall therefore forbear to enlarge upon it Let me onely observe before I leave it the notorious impudence of apostate spirits Satan not contenting himself to have got the name of Jove in imitation of Jehovah the incommunicable name of God prevailed with his deluded followers to ascribe unto him that which the Lord of heaven and earth assumeth to himself in this mysterious place of Exodus saying I am that I am For over the gate of Apollo's temple in the city of Delphi so famed for oracles was engraven in capital letters this Greek vvord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies Thou art vvhereby those that came thither to vvorship or to consult Satans oracle vvere instructed to acknovvledge him the fountain of being and the onely true God as one Ammonius is brought in discoursing at large of this very thing in the last Treatise of Plutarchs morals vvhereunto I refer the reader § 4. As to the point of divine subsistence Jehova Elohim Father Son and Holy Ghost three persons but one Deus indivisè 〈◊〉 in Trinitate inconfusè trinus in unitate God or in Leo's expression One God without division in a Trinity of Persons and three Persons without confusion in an Unity of Essence it is a discovery altogether supernatural yea Nature is so far from finding it out that novv when Scripture hath revealed it she cannot by all the help of Art comprehend or set it forth as she doth other things Grammar it self wanting proper and full words whereby to express Logick strong demonstrations whereby to prove and Rhetorick apt similitudes whereby to clear so mysterious a truth The terms Essence Persons Trinity Generation Procession and such like which are commonly made use of for want of better have been and will be cavilled at as short of fully reaching the mystery in all its dimensions Of the similitudes usually brought for its illustration that which Hilary said is Omnis comparatio homini potiùs utilis habeatur quà m Do apta Hilar. lib. 1. de Trin. most true They may gratifie the understanding of man but none of them exactly suit with the nature of God For example Not that of a root a trunk and a branch the trunk proceeding from the root the branch from both yet but one tree because a root may for some time be without a trunk and a trunk without a branch but God the Father never was without his Son nor the Father and Son without their coeternal Spirit Neither that of a chrystall Ball held in a river on a Sunshine-day in which case there would be a Sun in the Firmament begetting another Sun upon the chrystall Ball and a third Sun proceeding from both the former appearing in the surface of the water yet but one Sun in all for in this comparison two of the Suns are but imaginary none reall save that in heaven whereas the Father Word and Spirit are distinct Persons indeed but each of them truly and really God § 5. Well therefore may Rhetoricians say It is not in us and in our similitudes fully to clear this high point Logitians also It is not in us and in our demonstrations fully to prove it For however reason be able from the creatures to demonstrate a Godhead as hath been said yet it cannot from thence a Trinity no more then he that looks upon a curious picture can tell whether it was drawn by an English-man or an Italian onely that the piece had an artificer and such an one as was a prime master in that faculty because the limbner drew it as he was an artist not as one of this or that nation So the world is a production of that Essence which is common to all three not any personal emanation from this or that subsistent which is the reason why a Deity may be inferred from thence but not any distinction of Persons much less the determinate number of a Trinity The doctrine whereof is like a Temple filled with smoke such smoke as not onely hinders the view of the quickest eye but hurts the sight of such as dare with undue curiosity pry into it A mystery which my faith embraceth as revealed in the
expressions in Solomons song Because of the savour of thy Cantle 1. 3. Nescit divina qui non optat qui non amal Jo. Euseb Nicomb Theopolit pag. 91. good ointments thy name is as an ointment poured forth therefore do the Virgins love thee He doth not know the things of God saith a late writer well who doth not desire and love them § 6. Thirdly Sense of interest Of the Zidonians God said They shall know that I am the Lord But of his own people Ezek. 28. 22. compared with verse 26. Ephes 1. 13. Israel They shall know that I am the Lord their God Paul of the beleeving Ephesians concerning Christ In whom ye trusted after that ye had heard the word of truth the Gospel of your salvation Others may consider the Gospel as a word of truth and a doctrine holding forth salvation but such as are savingly enlightened and sanctified by the Spirit view the salvation it holdeth forth as theirs and are ready to say of every truth therein contained This is good and good for me Happy man whosoever thou art that canst look by an eye of faith at the Gospel as the Charter of thy liberties at the condemning Law as cancelled by thy Surety at the Earth as the footstool of thy Fathers throne at Heaven as the portall of thy Fathers house at all the creatures in Heaven and Earth as an heir is wont to look at his fathers servants which are therefore his so far as he shall have need of them according to that All 1 Cor. 3. 22 23. are yours and ye are Christs and Christ is Gods Fourthly Sincerity of obedience No doubt but Elies two sons being Priests had a literal knowledge of God yet being profane they are said expresly not to have known him They 1 Sam. 2. 12. were sons of Belial they knew not the Lord. When Lucius a bloudy persecuter offered to confess his Faith in hope thereby to beget in the auditours a good opinion of his orthodoxy Moses the religious Monk refused to hear him saying The eye might sometimes judge Ruffin histor Eccles lib. 2. cap. 6. of ones faith as well as the ear and that whosoever lived as Lucius did could not beleeve as a Christian ought Fully consonant hereunto is that of James I will James 2. 18. shew thee my faith by my works That of John He that saith I know God and keepeth 1 John 2. 4. not his commandments is a lyar and the truth is not in him And that of Job Behold the fear of the Lord that is wisdome Job 22. last and to depart from evil is understanding APHORISME IV. Goodness and Greatness are Attributes so comprehensive as to include a multitude of divine perfections EXERCITATION 1. Exerc. 1. God described from goodness and greatness both without and within the Church A lively pourtraiture of his goodness in the several branches thereof Exod. 34. 6 7. Bowels of mercy implying inwardness and tenderness Our bowels of love to God of compassion to brethren Mercy not to be refused by unbelief nor abused by presumption § 1. THe most learned among the Heathen made account they had sufficiently characterized their Jupiter when 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Optimus Maximus they styled him Good and Great yea the Best and Greatest of Beings Neither can it be denied that these two attributes if we take them in their latitude Aph. 4. comprehend very many of those perfections which commonly go under other names And this perhaps may be the reason why David in Psalm one hundred fourty fifth which the Rabbins are said to have esteemed so Coppen in argumento Psal 145. highly of as to determine but with more superstition then truth that whosoever repeated in thrice every day might be sure of eternal life having set himself to extoll God and to bless his name as appeareth by the first and second verses insisteth chiefly on these two Great is the Lord and greatly to be Psal 145. v. 3. praised and his greatness is unsearchable Shortly after They shall abundantly utter Vers 7. 8 9. the memory of thy great goodness The Lord is gracious and full of compassion slow to anger and of great mercy The Lord is good to all and his tender mercies are over all his works I shall accordingly treat of both and first of his Goodness § 2. Moses was skill'd in all the Acts 7. 22. learning of the Egyptians yet as not content herewith he becometh an humble suiter to God for some further and better knowledge I beseech thee saith he Exod. 33. 18. shew me thy glory Other notions may fill the head of a moral man nothing short of the knowledge of God can satisfie the heart of a Saint Wherefore in answer to this request the Lord maketh him a promise saying I will make Verse 19. all my goodness pass before thee The thing desired was a sight of his glory the thing promised a view of his Goodness Which intimateth that however in themselves all the Attributes of God be glorious yet he glorieth most in the manifestation of his goodness neither doth any bring him in so much glory from the creatures who are wont to magnifie this most I will mention the Isai 63. 7. loving kindnesses of the Lord and the praises of the Lord according to all that the Lord hath bestowed on us and the great goodness towards the house of Israel which he hath bestowed on them according to his mercies and according to the multitude of his loving kindnesses So the Church in Isaiah Now the forementioned promise made to Moses in Exodus the three and thirtieth was made good in chapter the thirty fourth where the Lord is said to have passed by him and proclaimed The Lord the Lord God mercifull Exod 34 6. 7. Totum hunc locu◠ad bonitatem Dei pertinere asserit Ludovic de Dieu Auimadvers in loc and gracious long-suffering and abundant in bounty and truth keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin and that will by no means clear the guilty visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and upon the childrens children unto the third and to the fourth generation All which clauses even the latter expounded by most of Gods Justice may be so interpreted as to relate to his Goodness rather It is twofold one Essential that wherewith God is good in himself the other Relative that whereby he doth good to his creatures The former is here set forth by the term Jehovah which is doubled and doth most fully serve to express it as coming from a root that signifieth Being For Goodness and Entity are convertible and Diabolus in quantum est bonus est August p. de Natur. 〈◊〉 c. 5. every thing so far forth as it partaketh of Being partaketh also of Bonity wherefore God in whom all degrees of Entity meet is undoubtedly most good The latter in
them in these a little before he was to be executed afforded a few whorish tears asking whether he might be saved by Christ or no When one told him that if he truly repented he should surely not perish he brake out into this speech Nay if your Christ be so easie to be intreated indeed as you say then I defie him and care not for him Horrible blasphemy desperate wickedness for a man to draw himself back from repentance by that very cord of love whereby he should have been drawn to it The next degree of impiety is when men are therefore bold to continue long in sinning because he with whom they have to do is a long-suffering God A vice which the Preacher of old took notice of Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil But let such fear and tremble at what followeth Though a sinner doth evil Eccles 8 11 12 13. an hundred times and his days be prolonged yet surely I know it shall not be well with the wicked The Lord valueth every moment of his forbearance as in the parable Behold these three years I come seeking Luke 13. 7. fruit on this fig-tree and finde none Christ sets an high price upon every exercise of his patience as in the Canticles Open to me for my head is filled with Cantic 5. 2. dew and my locks with the drops of the night Take we heed of sleighting that which God and Christ value Know and consider that patience may be tired that however the Lord be long-suffering yet he will not suffer for ever but be weary of repenting in case men will not be weary of sinning Hear what was once said by himself to Jerusalem Thou hast forsaken me saith the Lord thou Jerem. 15. 6. art gone backward therefore will I stretch out my hand against thee and destroy thee I am weary with repenting EXERCITATION 3. Exerc. 3. The bounty of God declared by his benefits viz. giving his Son to free us from hell his Spirit to fit us for heaven his Angels to guard us on earth large provisions in the way and full satisfaction at our journeys end Joh. 3. 16. James 1. 5. and Psal 24. 1. Glossed Isai 25. 6. Alluded to Inferences from divine Bounty beneficence to Saints not dealing niggardly with God exemplified in David Paul and Luther Truth in God is without all mixture of the contrary It appears in his making good of promises and threatnings teaching us what to perform and what to expect § 1. OUr Bibles in the next clause making use of the generical term have it Abundant in goodness I will make bold to vary a little from the common translation and to reade it Abundant in bounty because the word as Zanchy and others have observed most properly signifieth that kinde of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 propriè significat benignitatem seu liberalem beneficentiam Zanch. de Natur Dei l. 1. câ— 18. Vide Fulleri miscellan lib. 1. c. 8. goodness which we call Bounty or Benignity and which maketh a fourth branch This God is abundant in witness the greatest of his gifts by which we are wont to measure the bounty of benefactours I shall instance in some of the chief He bestoweth upon us First His son to free us from hell God Joh. 3. 16. so loved the world that he gave his onely begotten Son He did not grant him upon Non concessit sed purissime dedit Stella the request and earnest suit of lapsed creatures but freely gave him unasked not a servant but a Son not an adopted son such as we are but a begotten begotten not as Saints are of his Jam. 1. 18. will by the word of truth but of his Nature he himself being the Word and the Truth not one of many but an onely Son thus begotten and this not for the procuring of some petty deliverance but that whosoever beleeveth in him should not perish but have everlasting life Well might this gift of royal bounty be ushered in with a God so loved the world Majesty and love have been thought Non bene conveniunt nec in una sede morantur Majâ—stas amoâ— hardly compatible Yet behold the majesty of God bearing love and that to the world the undeserving yea ill-deserving world of mankinde Herein is love saith St John elsewhere let me say herein is bounty not that we loved 1 Joh. 4. 10. God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins Loved and So loved that particle is most emphatical and noteth the transcendency of a thing either good or evil Paul speaking of the incestuous Corinthian decyphers him thus Him that hath so 1 Cor. 5. 3. done this deed so impudently so abominably so unchristianly The officers being astonied at our Saviours doctrine cried out Never man spake so as Joh. 7. 46. this man so excellently so powerfully so incomparably Here God so loved the world that is so freely so infinitely so unspeakably The Apostle himself who had been rapt up to the third heaven and there heard things not to be uttered wanteth words when he cometh to utter this and useth an accumulation of many because no one could serve his turn to express it sufficiently Not content to have styled it love mercie grace as not having yet said enough he calleth it great love glorious grace rich mercy yea exceeding riches Ephes 2. 4 5 7. of his glorious and mercifull grace in his second chapter to the Ephesians § 2. Secondly His Spirit to fit us for heaven Our heavenly Father is he that giveth the holy Spirit to them that ask Luke 11. 13. him The Spirit thus given worketh in us regeneration we are therefore said to be born of the Spirit and that real holiness Joh. 3. 5. 6. concerning which the Apostle saith without it no man shall see the Lord Hebr. 12. 14. So preparing us for that place which our Lord Jesus is gone before to prepare Joh. 14. 2 3. for us A daily conversation in heaven is the surest forerunner of a constant abode there The Spirit by enabling us hereunto first bringeth heaven into the soul then conducteth the soul to it Whence it is that Nehemiah recording the acts of Gods bounty to Israel reckoneth this as one of the principal Thou gavest also thy good Spirit to instruct Nehem. 9. 20. them Thirdly His Angels to guard us on earth After David had said The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that Psal 34. 7 8. fear him and delivereth them he addeth immediately O taste and see that the Lord is good herein good in bestowing such a guard upon us It was an act of royal benignity towards Mordechai in king Ahashuerus to make Haman the favourite his attendant as he rode through the streets Lo here a
Araunah the Jebusite not to offer unto the Lord of that which cost him nothing 2 Sam. 24. 24. The second was willing to 2 Cor. 12. 15. spend and to be spent in the work of his ministery and not to be bound onely Acts 21. 13. but to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus who had there suffered not bonds onely but death for him The third during his retirement in the castle at Coburga for the Nullus abit dies quin ad minimum tres horas casque studiis aptissimas in orationem parat Melch. Adam in vita Lutheris pag. 138 142. safety of his person having then more time to spare for devotion then his many publick employments had been wont to afford him was no niggard of it But as one Vitus Theodorus who then lived with him informed Melanchthon spent no less in prayer to God then at least three houres every day and those such houres as were fittest for study And yet O the business of some mens spirits whose services cost them very little or no intention whilest in stead of using the world as if they used it not they use good duties as if they did not use them pray as if they prayed not hear as if they heard not keep the Sabbath as if they kept it not and repent as they did no such thing Who although they profess beleeving in Christ and know that God spared not Rom. 8. 32. his own Son but delivered him up for us all yet deal so sparingly with the Lord as to grudge him I say not every drop of bloud but of sweat yea almost every minute of time that they spend in his immediate service Let such men know that to be over-thirfty in our expenses upon God is the worst piece of husbandry in the world I shall dismiss them with that of Moses to those unthankfull men of Israel Do ye thus requite Deut. 32. 6. the Lord O foolish people and unwise § 6. A fifth branch is faithfulness One letter of this glorious name is Abundant in truth that is in faithfulness Multus fide so Junius renders it These two are frequently joyned in Scripture as exegeticall of each other So when Christ is styled the Amen the Apoc. 3. 14. faithfull and true witness and the counsels of God said to be faithfulness and Isa 25. 1. truth God abounds in it so as to have no mixture of the contrary although the best of men have some Whence that of Paul Let God be true that is Rom. 3. 4. owned and acknowledged for such but every man a lyar A lightsome body may have somewhat of darkness in it for example a precious stone some speck or cloud but light it self admits of none God is light and in him there is 1 John 1. 5. no darkness at all So God is truth and in him there is no falshood at all God that cannot lie saith the Apostle Satan is so the father of lies as that he doth Tit. 1. 2. Deus est veritas siac fallacia bonitas sine malitia selicitas sine miseria Fulgent lib. 1. ad monim 2 Tim. 2. 13. Diabolus semper fallax est sed non semper mendax notwithstanding at times speak some truth to the end he may deceive the better God so the father of truth as that he can never lie no more then he can deny himself which is utterly impossible If we beleeve not yet he abideth faithfull he cannot deny himself Now his truth appeareth especially in two things First The fulfilling of all his promises which shall as surely receive their accomplishment in due season as that of Christs Incarnation did when the fulness Galat. 4. 4. of time was come and that of bringing the people of Israel out of Egypt at the Exod. 12. 41. end of four hundred and thirty years which was most exactly performed the self-same day in which that number of years was expired The Greek word for truth as some think according to its Etymology implies not forgeting 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ab 〈◊〉 particula negetiva 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 oblivio what one hath promised God remembereth whatever he hath at any time said and that so effectually as to make every one of his promises good although perhaps long after the making of them yea and after many appearances to the contrary See it in Abraham He receiveth a command to Gen. 12. 7 10. go out to a land which the Lord should shew him and a promise that it should be given to him and his He goeth but meeteth with a great famine at his first coming thither which forced him to flee into Egypt for bread because he was like to starve there Yet afterwards it proved a land flowing with milk and honey to his posterity Another grand promise made to Abraham Gen. 15. 5. was that his seed should be as the stars of heaven for multitude yet Isaac the son of promise was not born till a good while after and being grown was like to have been offered up for a sacrifice at Gods command But the Lord spared Gen. 25. 20. compared with 26. him and a wife is at length procured for him yet for twenty years together after his marriage he hath no issue by her All this while how small appearance is there of a numerous seed Neither did the posterity of Isaac begin to multiplie of a long time after this for all the souls of the house of Jacob Gen. 46. 27. which came into Egypt were no more but threescore and ten In Egypt a course was taken by Pharaohs tyranny to keep them from increasing But behold the faithfulness and truth of God who being mindfull of his promise caused such fruitfulness amongst them notwithstanding all obstacles that there were numbred in the second year after their coming out of Egypt more then Numb 1. 1. compared with chap. 2. 32. 33. six hundred thousand fighting men besides women and children and the whole tribe of Levi. § 7. Secondly The accomplishing of all his threatnings as it is written I the Ezek. 24. 14. Lord have spoken it it shall come to pass and I will do it I will not go back neither will I spare neither will I repent Accordingly when the seven Angels appeared with the seven last plagues they that stood on the sea of glass said in their song Great and marvellous are thy works Lord God Almighty Just and True are thy Rev. 15. 1 2 3. ways thou King of Saints And when the third of them poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of water an Angel out of the altar said Even Rev. 16. 4 7. so Lord God Almighty True and righteous are thy judgements If it be objected that destruction was threatned to Nineve at the end of fourty days but not then executed the answer is at hand Their repentance prevented their ruine
Molanus Theol. practicae compend p. 211. of old in Austins time were wont to beat upon their breasts in a deep sense of their sins at the Nobis in the beginning of the forementioned Petition Forgive Us well may the most of men now adays beat their breasts for grief and hang down their heads for shame at the Nos in the latter clause As we forgive For how few are there that do it aright Seeing that § 8. Secondly we should forgive others as God for Christs sake hath forgiven us to wit First Heartily without dissembling Christ denounceth a terrible threatning against such as do not from their Matth. 18. 35. hearts forgive every one his brother It is not a making a fair shew in outward carriages not binding up as it were the broken bones of peace with good looks and sweet words that God accepteth if the heart be full of wormwood and gall Joab kissed and stabbed Judas kissed and betrayed Hail Master said the one to Christ Art thou well my brother said the other to Amasa How hatefull is such dissimulation to God and man Forgiveness is a fruit of love My little children saith St John let us not love so say I let us not forgive 1 Joh. 3. 18. in word and tongue but in deed and in truth Secondly Speedily without delay Be Nehem. 9. 17. Bis dat qui cito like God ready to pardon As in bestowing he doubleth his benefit that giveth betimes so in pardoning he forgiveth twice that forgiveth with speed his forgiveness receiveth a double welcome and shall have a double reward It is not for Christians to harbour animosities in the course of their lives and think to salve it by saying we forgive all the world when they lie upon their death beds For that may be applied to pardoning which Divines usually say of repenting True forgiveness is never too late but late forgiveness is seldome true Wherefore let not the sun go down upon Ephes 4. 26. your wrath as Paul adviseth his Ephesians If that which was but a mote at Ira festuca est odium trab◠August first be watered and cherished with the fresh suspicions of some few days it will turn to a beam and go near to put out the eye of love Thirdly Frequently without stint or limitation God multiplieth pardon so Isai 55. 7. should we When ye stand praying forgive Mark 11. 25. saith Christ and Paul bids us Pray 1 Thess 5. 17. continually We should therefore be inclined to forgive continually and to make actual performance whensoever there is an opportunity Peter thought he had offered fair when he asked How oft shall my brother sin against me and Matth. 18. 21 22. I forgive him adding till seven times as making account that surely that was often enough But our Saviour maketh nothing of that number would by no means have him stay there Jesus saith unto him I say not unto thee till seven times but untill seventy times seven putting a certain definite number for an indefinite and thereby intending to teach that his followers should forgive Toties quoties so oft as they shall be trespassed against § 9. Fourthly Throughly as without excepting so without remembring any offence God excepteth not any of our sins when he affordeth us pardoning grace 1 Jo◠1. 9. But if we confess he is faithfull just to forgive us our sins to cleanse us from all unrighteousness Should he reserve but one unforgiven that one would sink our souls to hell It is our duty to imitate him herein Forgive saith Christ if ye have ought against any Whoever the person Mark 11. 25. and whatever the thing be you must forgive One of the Evangelists setteth down the petition thus in our Saviours form of prayer Forgive us our Luke 11. 4. sins for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us It must then be performed without excepting any either person or essence As also without remembring any God doth so forgive our sins as not to keep a register of them I even I am he saith the Lord that blotteth Isai 43. 25. out thy transgressions for mine own sake and will not remember thy sins Yet with us what more frequent then saying I forgive such a man such a wrong but shall never forget it or him A distinction that came not out of Christs school but Satans mint Paul was of a different spirit witness that remarkable passage of his to the Galatians Brethren I beseech you be as I am for I am Galat. 4. 12. Vide Bezam Grotium in loc as ye are ye have not injured me at all Where he seemeth to desire that every member of the Church in Galatia would be to him as an Alter ego another self seeing he was affected as another self to each of them But had they not injured him yes very much in preferring the false Apostles before him questioning his doctrine yea becoming his enemies and that for telling them the truth yet behold him professing here Ye have not injured me at all because these wrongs were as no wrongs in his estimation it was not his purpose to impute them he speaks as one that had really forgotten them by reason of his resolution to forgive them There is I confess a kinde of remembrance not inconsistent with true forgiveness when prudent men remember offences and offenders in cautelam so as to beware for the future of exposing themselves to the like injuries But Christians ought not to remember in vindictam so as to revenge themselves upon the delinquents for wrongs done in time past I say to revenge for otherwise a Christian may Exerc. 5. seek to right himself in a legal way yea and to bring offenders to condign punishment still retaining a charitable minde towards them even as God though he have forgiven justified persons may notwithstanding and often doth chastise them with his fatherly corrections EXERCITATION 5. The latter clauses of Exod. 34. 7. so translated and expounded as to contain an eighth branch of divine goodness viz. Clemency in correcting Equity in visiting iniquities of the fathers upon the children Clemency in stopping at the third and fourth generation A lesson for Magistrates A speech of our Q. Elisabeth Gods proclamation in Exod. 34. Improved by Moses in Numb 14. § 1. THe following clauses have somewhat more of difficulty in them then any of the former as being variously rendered and expounded by Interpreters The most reade as we do That will by no means clear the guilty visiting c. But amongst these that do agree in the translation there is some difference about the meaning of the words The major part of that combination apply them wholly to the Justice of God in taking vengeance upon obstinate sinners Some few whereof Mr Ainsworth is one respecting the scope of the whole context which is to set forth the Goodness of God consider this
Glosses and strained Paraphrases have endeavoured to carry the sense quite another way against the poyson of whose endeavours our people may perhaps stand in need of an Antidote It shall be my care by Divine assistance which is alwaies needfull especially in the debating of such mysteries to present them with one and in as calm a way as may be without provoking however without reproching such as are contrary minded to demonstrate these two Conclusions viz. That Paul in the ninth to the Romans doth upon occasion propound and prosecute the doctrine of Predestination And that he plainly derives the Decree of Preterition from the Sovereign greatness of God But before we enter upon so great a depth which I do with fear and trembling let it be observed that our Apostle from the end of the eight to the beginning of his twelfth chapter continues a profound complicate discourse wholly about the main concernments of his countreymen the Jews and that the best help we have for enlightening certain clauses in the ninth ought to be feâ—ched from passages in the tenth and eleventh Chapters the neglect whereof I verily think hath occasioned the miscarriages of so many in their interpretations of that Scripture I shall hope to improve the Observation to good purpose § 2. Concerning the former of our Conclusions there will be no need of going far to seek the occasion of Pauls falling upon this Doctrine He had carefully and continually preached faith in Christ as the onely way of salvation in opposition to all others This however embraced by divers Gentiles could by no means finde entertainment with the Jews Be pleased to compare Chapter 9. 31 32 33. Israel which followed after the Law of righteousness hath not obtained to the Law of righteousness Wherefore because they sought it not by faith but as it were by the works of the law for they stumbled at that stumbling stone As it is written Behold I lay in Sâ—on a stumbling-stone and rock of offence and whosoever believes on him shall not be ashamed with Chapter tenth verse 2 3 4. I bear them record that they have a zeal of God but not according to knowledge For they being ignorant of Gods righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness have not submited themselves to the righteousness of God For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth This their stumbling at Christ as they generally did caused a great stumble in the thoughts of considering men who could not but stand amazed to see that whereas God had set up but one onely way to be laid hold upon for the attainment of blessedness his own onely people in the eye of the world should almost universally decline that and venture their souls upon another Yet this they did even they who are here so magnificently described Chapter 9. verse 4 5. Who were Israelites to whom pertained the Adoption and the glorie and the covenants and the giving of the law and the service of God and the promises Whose were the fathers and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came who is over all God blessed for evermore Amen Hereupon some were apt to crie out All is undone The word of God it self hath taken no effect The Promise to Abraham is fallen to the ground All Sermons and other Ordinances have been but a sso much rain upon rocks that glides off and leaves no impression Our Apostle to recover them out of these dumps leads them by degrees into the knowledge of Divine Predestination as the root of all this giving them first to understand that all who bore the name of Israelites and enjoyed the Ordinances were not indeed such children of God as belonged to the Election of grace and therefore did not close with Christ in the use of them as some few did upon whom the word of grace weas effectual and in whom as few as they were Gods promise to Abraham was preserved As for those unto whom his Gospel was hid they were as he elsewhere tels the Corinthians a sort of lost men and women 2 Cor. 4. 〈◊〉 For this see Chapter 9. verse 6 7 8. Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect For they are not all Israel which are of Israel Neither because they are the seed of Abraham are they all children But in Isaac shall thy seed be called That is They which are the children of the flesh these are not the children of God but the children of the promise are counted for the seed Where the Elect people of God who onely are accounted the spirituall seed and who onely in the conclusion will concur to constitute Christ Mystical are styled children of the Promise perhaps in reference to that grace and Promise of eternal life given to them in Christ Jesus before the world began to which I have spoken before in this Aphorisme Exercitation the first Paragraph the third however in allusion to the birth of Isaac who was produced above the power of nature by vertue of a promise declaring Gods will and pleasure to have it so for the Elect in the respective hours of their conversion are all of them born again John 1. 13. not of bloud nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God Who of his James 1. 18. own will begetteth them with the word of truth that they should be a kinde of first-fruits of his creatures § 3. Having thus given a more obscure intimation of some few elect ones complying with the Gospel although most part of the Jews were recusants as to that interest he goeth on to profess it more openly in the beginning of the eleventh chapter God hath not cast away his people which â—e foreknew verse the second the infallible meaning whereof may be gathered from that in Peter Elect according to the 1 Pet. 1. 2. foreknowledge of God the Father And more plainly yet in verse the seventh and eighth of the same chapter The Election hath obtained and the rest were blinded According as it is written God hath given them the spirit of slumber eyes that they should not see and ears that they should not hear unto this day But to return to our ninth chapter Who can advisedly reade that passage in his discourse about Jacob and Esau That the purpose of God according to Election might stand and consult the circumstances of of it viz. the childrens not yet being born nor having done good or evil as also a choice no way founded upon him that willeth or upon him that runneth but upon God alone who sheweth mercy and not reflect upon that election by me described in the first Exercitation under this Aphorisme § 2. Add hereunto those Apostolical distributions of men into those on whom the Lord will have mercy and those whom he will harden in verse the eighteenth that is in other terms Elect and Reprobate Also into vessels of mercy and vessels of
Plinies unbelief The Psalmists stumble at the prosperity of the wicked His recovery by considering it was not full was not to be final The superintendency of Providence over military and civil affairs in particular The Churches afflictions Promises cautioned Duty of casting care upon God He no authour of sin The attestation of this State and of this writer § 1. TWo things are still remaining viz. Objections against and Corollaries from the formentioned propositions to which in their order Objection against the first Some think Ex hoc Deus beatus est quia nihil curat neque habet ipse negotium neque alteri exhibel Lactant. de ira Dei cap. 4. Credat Judaeus Apello Non ego namque Deos didici securum agere aevum Hor. the extending of divine Providence to all created beings how mean soever unsutable to the perfection of God whom they say it doth not become to stoop so low Epicurus is cited by Lactantius as speaking to this purpose and after him Horace Answ They speak like heathens not knowing the Scripture nor the power of God The Psalmist otherwise Who is like unto the Lord our God Psal 113. v. 5 6 7 8. who dwelleth on high Who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven and in earth He raiseth up the poor out of the dust and lifteth the needy out of the dunghil He maketh the barren woman to keep house to be a joyfull mother of children Of his care and providence it is beleeved Providentia Dei nec fallitar nec fatigatur Eam nec magna onerant nec parva effugiunt Molin Enod quaest p. 23. and asserted by divines that it is neither deceived nor tired that as the greatest things do not overburden it so least things do not escape it That of our Saviour to his Disciples is a most express assertion Are not five Luke 12. 6 7. sparrows sold for two farthings and not one of them is forgotten before God But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered Wherefore by way of Corollary from hence let God himself alone be acknowledged the Preserver and Governour of all things Let no man think by his strength of parts or extremity of pains to take the work out of his hands Melancthon was beyond Monendus est per vos Philippus ut desinat esse Rector mundi Wolf memorabil measure solicitous about Church-affairs in that age wherein he lived insomuch as Luther once wrote to his neighbour-ministers that they should do well to give him a serious admonition not to attempt the government of this world any longer That of Maximilian the Emperour in the time of Pope Julius the second was an honest acknowledgement Deus aeterne nisi vigilares Historia Pontificum Romanorum contract per Jacobum Revium pag. 259. quà m male esset mundo quem regimus nos Ego miser venator ebriosus ille acâ—sceleratus Julius O eternal Lord God if thou thy self shouldst not be watchfull how ill it would be with this world which is now governed by me a miserable hunter and by this drunken and wicked Pope Julius § 2. Against the second proposition it hath been objected that there is no such thing as the providence of God superintending humane affairs especially considering the great prosperity which is enjoyed by wicked men Pliny the great Naturalist speaketh of Irridendum est si quis putet illud quicquid est summum agere curam rerum humanâ—rum Natur. hist l. 6. c. 7. Psalm 73. v. 2 3. it as a thing to be entertained with laughter rather then belief And the Psalmists words are these As for me my feet were almost gone my steps had well nigh slipt For I was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked Behold V. 12 13. these are the ungodly who prosper in the world they increase in riches Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain and washed my hands in innocency Answ That which then satisfied him should now suffice to answer us He went into the sanctuary of God then understood V. 17 18. he their end Surely thou didst set them in slippery places thou castedst them down into destruction Their prosperity was not full was not to be final I. Was not full The places wherein they stood were slippery their felicity varnished over but rotten within That in S. John and onely that is perfect prosperity when the inward and outward man thrive together I wish 3 John 2. above all things saith he to Gaius that thou maist prosper and be in health even as thy soul prospereth With them it is quite otherwise They have it may be fat bodies but lean souls full purses but empty heads and hearts blest in their estates but cursed in their spirits Have Lament 3. 65. houses and lands worth many thousands but hearts little worth according to that The tongue of the just is as Prov. 10. 20. Nulla verior miseria quam falsa laetitia Nihil infelicius felicitate peccantium choice silver the heart of the wicked is little worth Call you this prosperity It is in truth nothing less It is unhappiness rather and there are those who have not stuck to name it so II. Was not to be final Thou castedst them down into destruction The world came in fast upon them one way and the wrath of God came as fast another This fair day of theirs is but a weather-breeder as a calm before an earth-quake To Deut. 32. 35. me belongeth vengeance and recompence saith the Lord their foot shall slide in due time for the day of their calamity is at hand and the things that shall come upon them make haste David expresseth it most emphatically I have seen the wicked in great Psalm 37. 35 36. power and spreading himself like a green bay-tree A tree that retaineth its viridity and freshness even in winter when fruit-bearing trees have cast their leaves yet he passed away and lo he was not yea I sought him but he could not be found Let such an one be sought in his counting-house which was wont to be the temple wherein he worshipped his God Mammon he is not there At Court where he was so magnified and almost adored he is not to be found in the lodgings there He that would finde him must seek him in hell For there he is This is the end of such worldly prosperity as cometh from God and yet defieth him § 3. The Corollary from hence is let the superintendency of divine providence over all humane affairs in particular over Military and Civil be humbly acknowledged I. Over military Those French-men were undoubtedly to blame who in their flattering applauses of Richelieu did ascribe Howels lustra Ludov. p. 166. the reduction of Rochel solely to him insomuch as one of their Chroniclers writeth That in the taking of that town neither the king nor God Almighty had a share in