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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A09977	Life eternall or, A treatise of the knowledge of the divine essence and attributes Delivered in XVIII. sermons. By the late faithfull and worthy minister of Iesus Christ, Iohn Preston, D. in Divinity, chaplaine in ordinary to his Majestie, master of Emmanuel Colledge in Cambridge, and sometimes preacher of Lincolns Inne.	Preston, John, 1587-1628.; Ball, Thomas, 1589 or 90-1659.; Goodwin, Thomas, 1600-1680.	1631 (1631)	STC 20231; ESTC S115069	220,964	434

have from Heathen men Quest. But this Question may now be made How should we know that these bookes which wee have as written by Moses that these are they that there is no alteration in them or supposititious prophecies put in Answ. You have the Iewes agreeing with the Christians who were enemies and the Iewes kept it exactly yet theirs agree with ours Object But how should we know that the Iewes are true Answ. They have testimony from the Samaritans and they were enemies to the Iewes and there being once a rent made were never reconciled againe yet in the Samaritan Bible there is no difference at all to any purpose Now adde to this the testimony of the Churches from Christs time downward still it hath continued so as in Eusebius and Baronius you shall see plentifull testimonies thereof The third Argument is from the Scriptures themselves if you consider but these three things 1 The majestie and plainnesse of the stile and the manner of the expressions a meere relation and no more In the beginning was the Word c. Where doth any booke expresse it selfe in a manner in the relation of any stories So as that it carries evidence from God so that Iunius reading the first Chapter of Iohn was stricken with an amazement by a kinde of divine and stupendious authoritie and so he was converted from Atheisme as himselfe said in his life 2 If you consider the purity of the doctrine If a man would deceive the world then the things that he teaches must needs be to please men but the Scripture is quite contrary it ties men to strict rules and therefore see how it is etertained and how hard it is for men to keepe it in the purity of the doctrine which is an argument it came from God If the Scriptures were delivered by men then either by good men or by bad if by holy men then they would speake the truth and not lye if by bad men then they would never have set downe such strict rules of doctrine that they must live by and which condemne themselves 3 Consider the an●●quitie of them they were before all other Heathen stories which will answer an objection namely why there is no more testimony from them of the Scriptures The answer is that when Scriptures ended their writings did but begin there being little use and trading of learning in those dayes but it seemes the Grecians were the first or rather the Chaldees but there were not so many bookes written then as afterward Now when all these things are considered we are brought to beleeve the Scriptures are the Word of God and you finde this in the Scriptures that there is a God that made Heaven and Earth then this begets faith and so By faith we beleeve as here saith the Apostle that there is one GOD. I confesse all this which hath beene said is not enough unlesse God infuseth an inward light by his Spirit to worke this faith but yet there is enough left in the Scriptures to give evidence of themselves THE FOVRTH SERMON HEBREWES 11.6 He that commeth to God must beleeve that God is c. THere is one reason more remains that is from the testimony of the Church doubtlesse it is an argument of great strength That so many generations since CHRISTS time and before have from hand to hand delivered it unto us and that so many holy men as the Martyrs were and as the Fathers were when they lived that these all gave testimony to this Scripture in all ages But yet we will adde something to it because the Papists have abused this and say they would have the truth of the Scriptures to depend upon the authority of the Church and not so much upon the testimony it hath received from all ages and generations they would have it to be such a testimony as the present Church gives of it because say they that can erre in nothing therefore not in this and therefore they say This is the Bible and the very Dictate of the Pope in cathedrâ with his Councell some say makes it so and you must receive it for Scripture upon this ground without any further inquiry But with us who doe not receive that conclusion that the Church cannot erre it is out of question that the Scripture doth not depend on the authoritie of the Church But yet we will give you this reason against it Aske that Church that Synod of men what is that which makes the Church to beleeve that the Scripture is the Word of God Surely they will give the same answer that we shall deliver vnto you that it could be nothing else but the Scripture it selfe which therefore must needs be of greater authoritie than the Church it selfe for the declaration of themselves and the Scriptures manifestation of this argument be of more force than the authority of the Church as the cause hath much more strength than the effect Againe the Church hath no authoritie to judge of the Scripture till it be knowne to be the Church which cannot be but by the Scripture Moreover the Scripture hath a testimony more ancient than the authoritie of the Church and therefore cannot receive its authoritie from any the Scripture being the first truth it cannot be proved by any other it is the confession of their owne Writers that Theologia non est argumentativa Theologie is not argumentative to prove its owne principles but only our deductions out of it As also they say we cannot prove the Scriptures probando sed solvendo by answering and resolving objections made against it In all other things you see it is so as the Standard that being the rule of all cannot be knowne but by it selfe the Sunne that shewes light to all things else cannot be knowne by any other light but its owne so the Scripture that is the ground of all other truths cannot be knowne but by the evidence of those truths that it carries in it selfe We have onely this word to be added more concerning the Scriptures You shall observe this difference betweene the Writings of the Scripture that were written by holy men inspired by the Holy Ghost and all mens Writings in the world In mens Writings you shall see that men are praised and extolled something spoken of their wisdome and of their courage and what acts they have done there is no story of any man but you shall finde something of his praise in it but you shall finde the quite contrary in the Booke of God there is nothing given to men but all to God himselfe as Moses David Paul and all the Worthies in the Scripture you shall finde nothing given to them But of David it is said that he walked wisely because the LORD was with him it was not his owne strength so when they had any victory it was not through their owne courage or stratagems that they used but the LORD did give their enemies into

GOD Psal. 115. It is true of all other gods they are dead vanities they are Idols and have no life in them only God is living he only hath life in himselfe and gives life to all other things in the world Therefore there is none other god besides him Now we come to particulars As Take all the religions that ever have beene in the world besides that which we professe take all the gods that have beene set up by others they are divided into two times either before or since Christ before and they are either those gods that were worshipped by the Grecians and the Romans the wisest of the Heathens or else those that were worshipped by the Barbarians Now they worshipped the Sunne and Moone and foure-footed beasts Rom. 1. If there be question of any it is of those among the Romans such as were Saturne and Iupiter and Inno c. which are now altogether exploded and there is enough said against them even by their owne Writers As 1 They were men and therefore not gods this was the argument that Tertullian and Iustin Martyr used to convince those amongst whom they lived that Iuno Iupiter Neptune c. were Saturnes off-spring and therefore they were men and if men then borne of men and their Genealogies are recorded by their owne Writers 2 And as they were men so they were the worst of men given to the grossest vices as adultery theft murther c. Object And if it be objected as it was to Lactantius that these are only fictions of Poets Answ. I answer that the Poets were their Prophets as the Apostle saith One of your Prophets saith so and they did but give light to the picture and all their owne Writers agree as Cicero and Varro that they were subject to those vices that wee named 3 They did dye and therefore were not gods and therefore they would in one place shew you a sepulchre and in another place a temple erected to the same god which is an extreme contradiction yet this was acknowledged even by them that worshipped them and as for Tully we cannot have more against him than he himselfe confesseth in his Tractate De naturâ deorum as one saith Re tollit deos sed oratione reliquit He tooke away their gods in deed though not in word and himselfe saith Vtinam tam facile veram religionem invenire possim quàm falsam convincere I would I could as well finde out the truth of true religion as the falsenesse of the other All which are disputed at large by Tertullian and Augustine De civitate Dei and Clemens Alexandrinus who lived in those dayes which we speak the more of because it was that which did spread it selfe even over the whole world for many ages together And as for the gods that are worshipped by the Chaldaeans and the Syrians as the Sunne and Moone they are not worth the naming There is another religion that is growen up since Christ the religion of Mahomet which hath spread over the most part of the world for if that computation be true that is lately given they have foureteene times as much as any other hath and they arose about six hundred yeares after Christ and therefore they have continued a long time I speake not this because I thinke that any here had need to be disswaded from it but to shew that there was never any veri-similitude of it but that God was alwayes God alone Therfore against it I will use foure arguments 1 Mahomet did fully acknowledge the truth of the Old Testament and of the New yet the things which he delivers are contrary to both which confirmes our religion and shewes the falsenesse of theirs for he did acknowledge that Moses received the Old Testament from God and so did the Prophets and he repeats most of the story he acknowledgeth the creation of Adam and the eating of the forbidden fruit and the whole story of Abraham and his calling and the offering of his sonne Isaac and also he acknowledgeth the whole History of Moses how God appeared to him and how he went into Aegypt and of the ten Plagues that he sent upon the Aegyptians and the wonders that hee wrought going downe into Canaan and so of all the rest naming the booke of Psalmes and quoting things out of it and of Deuteronomy acknowledging many of the Prophets as Eliah Samuel Iob and Ionah and he confesseth that there were many more which he did not name and so hee acknowledgeth the New Testament likewise hee acknowledgeth that Christ was borne of a Virgin and that by the mightie power of God without man that he healed diseases and that he received the Gospell from God himselfe and that God gave power to him more than to all the Prophets that were before him and that hee was the word and power of God and that all that doe beleeve in him shall be be saved and they shall follow him in white garments and that hee which beleeves it not shall be damned and hee acknowledgeth the New Testament to beare witnesse to the Old and he acknowledgeth the resurrection the comming of Iohn Baptist and he speakes very honourably of Christ except only in two things 1 He tooke up the opinion of the Arrians to deny his Divinitie 2 And also he denied that he was crucified but that some body was crucified for him He brought in a new religion and yet he professeth that hee had no miracles or predictions of things to come Now when religion is not confirmed by miracles or predictions of things to come or holinesse of life it is a token that there is no truth in it We may perceive it by the writing of the Alcoran It is so barbarous that there is no sense in it and they say that he could neither write nor reade and so the writing shewes that it was by one that was an ignorant man that had no skill and those stories that are alleaged out of the Scripture have much falshood mixed with them which is a signe that he never read them himselfe but that he had them by relation but onely hee speaking to a very ignorant people they received it of him and having inlarged themselves by the sword and so they continue to this day The impuritie of his doctrine he cut off what was hard to be beleeved and whatsoever was difficult to practise and he propounded that to the people wherein there was no hardnesse no difficultie promising them a paradise wherein they should have all pleasures and should enjoy women and also they should have meat drinke apparell and fruits of all sorts as also they should have silken and purple carpets to lye upon c. and also he professeth that he had a licence given him from God to know what women he would and to put them away when he would which licence was given to him and to no other All which

matter that is of iron but they have divers fashions because they have severall ends which the maker propounds to himselfe So that if there be no ends of things there is no forme nor fashion of them because the ground of all their fashions is their severall ends So then wee will put them all together if there be no efficient no maker of them then there is no end and if there be no end then there is no forme nor fashion and if there be no forme then there is no matter and so consequently they have no cause and that which is without any cause must needs bee God which I am sure none dares to affirme and therefore they have not their being of themselves But besides that negative argument by bringing it to an impossibilitie that the creatures should be Gods wee will make it plaine by an affirmative argument that all the creatures have an end For looke upon all the creatures and we shall see that they have an end the end of the Sunne Moone and Starres is to serve the Earth and the end of the Earth is to bring forth Plants and the end of Plants is to feed the beasts and so if you looke to all particular things else you shall see that they have an end and if they have an end it is certaine there is one did ayme at it and did give those creatures those several fashions which those severall ends did require As for example What is the reason why a horse hath one fashion a dog another sheepe another and oxen another The reason is plaine a horse was made to runne and to carry men the oxen to plow a dog to hunt and so of the rest Now this cannot be without an author without a maker from whom they have their beginning So likewise this is plaine by the effects for this is a sure rule Whatsoever it is that hath no other end but it selfe that seekes to provide for its owne happinesse in looking no further than it selfe and this is only in God blessed for ever he hath no end but himselfe no cause above himselfe therefore he lookes only to himselfe and therein doth his happinesse consist Take any thing that will not goe out of its owne sphere but dwels within its owne compasse stands upon its owne bottome to seeke its happinesse that thing destroyes it selfe looke to any of the creatures and let them not stirre out of their owne shell they perish there So take a man that hath no further end than himselfe let him seeke himselfe make himselfe his end in all things he doth looke only to his owne profit and commodity such a man destroyes himselfe for he is made to serve God and men and therein doth his happinesse consist because that hee is made for such an end take those that have beene serviceable to God and men that have spent themselves in serving God with a perfect heart we see that such men are happie men and doe we not finde it by experience that those that have gone a contrary way have destroyed themselves And this is the third particular 4 If things had no beginning if the world was from eternitie what is the reason there are no monuments of more ancient times than there are For if wee consider what eternity is and what the vastnesse of it is that when you have thought of millions of millions of yeares yet still there is more beyond if the world hath been of so long continuance what is the reason that things are but as it were newly ripened what is the reason that things are of no greater antiquity than they are Take all the Writers that ever wrote besides the Scripture and they all exceed not above foure thousand yeares for they almost all agree in this that the first man that had ever any history written of him was Ninus who lived about Abrahams time or a little before Trogus Pompeius and Diodorus Siculus agree in this Plutarch saith that Theseus was the first before him there was no history of truth nothing credible and this is his expression Take the Histories of times before Theseus and you shall finde them to be but like skirts in the maps wherein you shall finde nothing but vast Seas Varro one of the most learned of their Writers professeth that before the kingdome of the Sicyonians which begun after Ninus time that before that time nothing was certaine and the beginning of that was doubtfull and uncertain And their usuall division of all history into fabulous and certaine by Historians is well knowne to those that are conversant in them and yet the Historians that are of any truth began long after the Captivitie in Babylon for Herodotus that lived after Esthers time is counted the first that ever wrote in Prose and he was above eight hundred yeares after Moses time For conclusion of this we will only say that which one of the ancientest of the Roman Poets drawing this conclusion from the argument we have in hand saith If things were from eternitie and had not a beginning Cur supra bellum Thebanum funera Trojae Non alias alii quoque res cecinere Poetae If things were from eternitie what is the reason that before the Theban and Trojan warre all the ancient Poets and ancient Writers did not make mention of any thing Doe you thinke if things had beene from eternitie there would be no monuments of them if you consider the vastnesse of eternitie what it is So likewise for the beginning of Arts and Sciences what is the reason that the originall of them is knowne why were they no sooner found out why are they not sooner perfected Printing you know is a late invention and so is the invention of Letters take all Sciences the ancientest as Astrologie and Philosophy as well as the Mathematickes why are their authors yet known we see them in the blade and not in the fruit So for the Genealogies of men for that I touch because it is an argument insinuated by Paul when hee disputed with the Heathens Acts 17.26 That God hath made of one bloud all mankinde you see evidently how one man begets another and he another c. and so goe and take all the Genealogies in the Scripture and in all other historiographers we shall see that they all come to one well-head Now I aske if the world was from eternitie what is the reason that there is but one fountaine one bloud whereof we are all made Why should they not be made all together Why was not the earth peopled together and in every Land a multitude of inhabitants together if they had beene from eternitie and had no beginning The second principall Head by which wee will make this good to you that there is a God that made Heaven and Earth is the testimony of God himselfe There is a double testimony one is the written testimony which we have in the Scripture the other is

their hands And Paul that was the meanes of converting so many thousands he ascribes nothing to himselfe but it was the grace of GOD that was with him So Samson was strong but yet he had his strength from God and therefore this is an argument that the Scriptures were written by holy men inspired by the Holy Ghost Seeing we have such just ground to beleeve that there is a GOD that made Heaven and Earth and that this word which testifies of him is indeed the word of GOD. This use we are to make of it that it might not be in vaine to us it should teach us to confirme this first principle and make it sure seeing all the rest are built upon it therefore we have reason to weigh it that we may give full consent to it and not a weake one Object But you will say this is a principle that needs not to be thus urged or made question of therefore what need so many reasons to prove it Answ. Even the strongest amongst us have still need to increase our faith in this point and therefore we have cause to attend to it and that for these two reasons Because these principles though they be so common yet there is a great difference in the beleefe of the Saints and that with which common men beleeve them the difference is in these foure things both of them doe beleeve and they speak as they thinke yet you shall find this difference A regenerate man hath a further and a deeper insight into these truths he gives a more through and a stronger assent to them but another man gives a more slight and overly assent that faith with which they beleeve them is a faith that wants depth of earth therefore if any strong temptation comes upon them as feare of being put to death c. they are soone shaken off and doe often fall away when they are put to it they shrink away in time of persecution for their faith wants depth of earth that is the assent they give to the Scripture is but an overly and superficiall assent it doth not take deep root in their soule and therefore it withers in time of temptation they doe not so ponder them as others doe and therefore they are not so grounded in these first principles as others are though they have some hold 〈◊〉 yet not so great a hold as the godly have So as they are not so firmely established so grounded in the present truth they are not so rooted as the Saints are That which breeds this assent in them is but a common gift of the Holy Ghost but that with which the Saints beleeve them is a speciall grace infused wrought by the Holy Ghost now that which hath a weaker cause must needs have a weaker effect that which is wrought by a common cannot be so strong an assent as that which is wrought by an infused habit of the Holy Ghost therefore the faith of the Saints is stronger than the faith of the wicked The Saints the regenerate men build their hope comfort and happinesse upon the truth of these principles as that there is a GOD that rules Heaven and Earth and that the Scriptures are his Word and whatsoever is in them is truth they build all upon these therfore if any doubts arise they can never be at rest till faith hath resolved them and wrought them out with another man it is not so he takes these things upon trust and beleeves them as others do but he doth not much trouble himselfe about them and therfore if any doubts come against them he suffers them to lye there and goes on in a carelesse manner But with the Saints it is not so they building their hope upon them doe therefore resolve to suffer any thing for God they will be content to lose all for Him if occasion requires and therefore they are upon sure ground but the other they doe but receive upon trust and therefore they doe not cleave to him in that manner that the Saints doe Regenerate men have a lively and experimentall knowledge that there is a GOD and that the Scriptures are his Word from the communion that they have had with this God and from the experience they have had of the truths delivered in the Scripture They know very well and that experimentally what difference there was betweene what they were once and what they are now what it is to envie the Saints and what it is to have an affection of love to them they know the time when they slighted sinne when they made no reckoning of it they know againe the bitternesse and sorrow of sin when the commandement came and shewed it unto them in its colours they know a time when they judged perversely of the wayes of God when they had a bad opinion of them and how now they are changed besides they know how that once they did admire and magnifie worldly excellencie and preferment but since they were inlightned their opinion is otherwise I say they know all this experimentally Take the whole worke of regeneration they know it in themselves and so for God himselfe as hee is described in the Scriptures such have they found him to themselves Now where a man doth know things thus experimentally it is another kinde of knowledge than that which is by heare-say so that though there is a beleefe in them both yet there is a great difference betweene them We must labour to confirme our faith in these principles because they are of exceeding great moment and consequence in the lives of men though they seeme to be remote yet they are of more moment than any other as of a house you see a faire top but yet the foundation is of more moment and that cannot be seene the streames are seene but the Well-head cannot so all the actions of the lives of men are built upon these principles and as they are more strongly or weakly beleeved so have they more or lesse influence into the hearts and lives of men As take a man that beleeves fully that there is a GOD and that the Scriptures are his Word this breeds an unresistable resolution to serve and please him notwithstanding all oppositions he meets with Take the greatest things that use to daunt men as take a man that is to die if he considers that there is a God with whom he is to live for ever what is death then no more than the stones flying about Stevens eares when he beheld the heavens opened so when men speake against him and slander him when they scoffe and revile him and trample upon him yet if God be with him he can boldly say I care not for mans day nor for the speaking against of sinners he is not moved a whit with them they passe away as a vapour that moves him not so when hee sees the current of the times to runne against him yet when he

then God is pleased to communicate the same to it Therefore to goe to him to whom unchangeablenesse belongs for as mutable as they be yet if he will make thy freinds to be stable or thy wealth it shall be so Therefore the only way is to goe to him to make those things firme which otherwise are unconstant The love of a freind is unconstant for hee may dye the breath is in his nostrils and if he doe live yet his thoughts may perish and his affections alter So that they shall faile thee as a land floud doth in summer as Iob saith It dries up in summer time and yet that is the time of thirst and so will they faile thee in time of neede and the like may be said of all things else so that he whose comfort doth depend upon them hath but a dependent felicity which is like the motion of mills and ships which cease when the water or wind failes them But yet as mutable as they are God can put a constancy unto them Apply this therefore to thy selfe Thou livest now and art in health and wealth in such and such a place and such circumstances as may continue it the onely way to establish thee in all this is to goe to God and to beseech him to put a stabilitie into thy condition For the creature as it is made of nothing and is built upon a foundation of nothing So it is apt to returne to nothing And remember this that the more retired and weaned and fearefull thy affections are about any thing so that thou canst say in good earnest If God will I shall injoy them to day and next day but his will I know not I know not how long I shall injoy them if thou canst say thus thou shalt hold them the longer and the faster for that is a signe that thou dependest upon God and not not on the creature that thou trustest him and art not fastened to it Vse 5 If this be so then unchangeablenesse is an excellency in him for all his Attributes are exceeding excellent Then if thou wouldest judge of any thing in the world thou must take this as a measure by which thou maist prize and esteeme it looke how changeable it is so much the worse it is if it be good the more immutable the better it is for all changeablenesse commeth from weakenesse Therefore learne to value it so and you shall finde this of much use As we may see in the heavens it is said that they are vaine because they waxe olde as doth a garment but thou art the same Psal. 102.26 27. Go through every thing glorious in the world glorious Churches they are subject to change as Ierusalem the glory of all the earth it is ruinated and brought nothing Take men that are most eminent yet because they are subject to change by death or by passions there is an unevennesse in them though they live here like Gods in their glory Therefore magnifie no man but labour to be perswaded of thy selfe as a man I need not speake to you of riches they take to themselves wings and fly away nor of credit and honour they are in the power of them that give them whatsoever is changeable according to the mutability of it so value it But I presse the contrary Looke upon the things that are not changeable and labour to prize them Thou shalt find saving grace to be unchangeable though it may be impared in degree and may recoyle to the root and may not bud forth as at other times yet it is unchangeable it shall never be taken away So spir●●uall life is unchangeable when that begins then the other shakes off even as old nailes doe when new grow under them therefore this should teach us to value it much So the word of GOD is an unchangeable thing Isay 40.8 The grasse withereth the flower fadeth but the word of the Lord shall stand for ever So Matth. 5. Heaven and earth shall passe away but my word shall not passe Now what use should we make of this Then study the word more than any thing in the world besides There is much learning in the world and there are many creatures now all other knowledge is of the creature and that vanisheth away with them but the word of God shall not passe the word indures for ever Therefore looke what truthes thou canst get out of the word which may build up the inward man looke what profit thou canst get from it that shall remaine for ever therefore thou shouldest prize it much get it plenteously in thy heart in the wisedome and power of it We have many imployments in this life but that which is bestowed upon unchangeable things which shall shall never alter that is the best time spent Lastly all the good workes thou doest and all the evill workes of unregenerate men unrepented of shall remaine for ever Looke what good workes thou doest in the world they shall remaine with thee for ever they shall be had in continuall remembrance Therefore thou shouldest labour to be abundant in good workes that is to be sure to serve GOD whatsoever thou doest If thou be servant or a labouring man when thou doest thy workes out of obedience to him even those workes shall remaine So looke in any thing that thou hast done for Christ all these things shall remaine for ever what faithfull prayers soever thou hast made or whatsoever thou hast suffered for Christ what paines thou hast taken in preaching or in repenting or in advancing the cause of CHRIST these shall be had in everlasting remembrance So looke what sinnes unrepented of thou hast committed The sinnes of unregenerate men shall also remaine All the praise that comes from any action and the pleasure of it that passeth away and comes to nothing but looke what sinfulnesse there is in any worke that remaines and if thou repent not of it that sinne shall be reckoned upon thy score and what uprightnesse soever there is in any worke that shall remaine Therefore learne from hence to prize and value onely those good things that are immutable and proportionably to feare and shunne the evill FINIS THE FIFTEENTH SERMON EXOD. 3.13 14. And Moses said unto God Behold when I come unto the children of Israel and shall say unto them the God of your fathers hath sent mee unto you and shall say unto me what is his name what shall I say unto them And God said unto Moses I AM THAT I AM c. AS wee are to judge of other things by the mutability of them so learne to judge of thy selfe of thine owne spirit by that constancy that thou findest in well-doing or that mutability and unconstancy that thou art subject to If a man would make a censure of himselfe let him consider that the nearer hee comes to unchangeablenesse in well-doing the better he is and the stronger he is againe the more mutable the weaker Thou art to