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
word but my reason cannot fathome Whilest others run themselves on ground and dispute it till their understandings be non-plust may I be enabled to beleeve what Scripture testifieth concerning an unbegotten Father an onely-begotten Son and an Holy Spirit proceeding from both Three yet but One and therein to acquiesce without enquiring as Mary did when the Angel foretold her miraculous conception How can this thing be To which question my return should be no other but that of Austine who notwithstanding his fifteen books concerning the Trinity modestly said Askest thouâ— me Nescio libenter nescire profiteor August serm de tempore 189. how there can be Three in One and One in Three I do not know and am freely willing to profess my ignorance herein Verily this light is dazling and our eyes are weak It is a case wherein the wisest clerks are punies and the ablest Oratours infants § 6. Yet is the mystery it self written in Scripture as it were with the Sun-beams I reject not as invalid but onely forbear as less evident the places commonly cited out of Moses and the Prophets choosing rather to insist upon New-testament discoveries when the vail which formerly hid the Holy of Holies from mens sight was rent in pieces and the secrets of heaven exposed to more open view then whilest the Church was in her minority At our Saviours baptisme there was a clearer manifestation of the Trinity then ever before as if God had reserved this discovery on purpose to add the greater honour to his onely Sons solemn inauguration into the office of Mediatour-ship which was then most visibly undertaken Who so casts his eye upon the third chapter of the Gospel according to Luke will quickly discern the Father in an audible voice heard but not seen This is my beloved Son in whom I am well Vers 21 22 23. Voce Pater Naâ—us flumine Flamen ave pleased The word made flesh now in the water receiving baptisme and after praying so both heard and seen The Spirit like a Dove descending and resting upon Christ seen but slot heard Insomuch as the Catholicks were wont in the times of Athanasius to send the misbeleeving Arians to Jordan there to learn the knowledge of a Trinity § 7. Behold after this a clear nomination of the three coessential Persons in that commission which Christ our Lord sealed to the Apostles before his ascension in the end of the Gospel according to Matthew when he sent them out to make disciples in all Nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Who can but see a Trinity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Basil epist 78. here How can any who by vertue of this institution hath been baptized refuse to beleeve it It becomes us saith Basil to be baptized as we have been taught to beleeve as we have been baptized to glorifie as we have beleeved the Father the Son and the holy Spirit This the great Apostate Julian was not a little sensible of wherefore considering that he could not fairly disclaim the Trinity till he had renounced his baptisme he took the bloud of beasts offered in sacrifice to the heathen Gods as Nazianzen tells Nazian Orar. 1. aduers Juliar circa medium us from the report of his own domestical servants and bathed himself therein all over so as much as in him lay washing off the baptisme he had formerly received Add hereunto that impregnable place which hath hitherto and will for ever hold out against all the mines and batteries of hereticks in the first epistle of John There are three that bear witness in heaven 1 Joh. 5. 7. the Father the Word and the holy Spirit and these three are One. Where a Trinity is proclaimed both in numero numerante there are three and in numero numerato telling us plainly who they are Father Word and holy Spirit And that the same Essence is common to them all For these three are One. § 8. Yet is there a late generation of men commonly known by the name of Socinians who although they maintain against Atheists the Personalitie and Eternitie of God the Father have confounded Christian Religion by denying the Eternitie of the Son whose Personalitie they acknowledge and the personalitie of the Spirit whose Eternitie they confess Methinks it fares with these three blessed Persons as with those three noted wells of which we reade in the twenty sixth of Genesis Two of them Isaacs servants were enforced to strive for with the herdmen of Gerar which made him call the one Esek that is contention the other Sitnah that is hatred A third they got quiet possession of and he called the name of it Rehoboth saying Now the Lord hath made room for us The Fathers Godhead is like the well Rehoboth which there was no strife about the Sons divinity like the well Esek we are forced to contend for that as also for the Deity of the Spirit which is as Sitnah to the Socinians they hate the Exerc. 4. thoughts of it much more the acknowledgement But can any man say by the Spirit of God that the Spirit is not God Is it not as clear by Scripture-light that Christ is God as by Natures light that God is Are they Christians and Spiritual who denie the divinity of Christ and the Spirit Let the judgement of charity enjoy its due latitude but for my part I would not for a thousand worlds have a Socinians account to give at the end of this EXERCITATION 4. Divine Attributes calling for transcendent respect They are set down in the Scripture so as to curb our curiositie to help our infirmity to prevent our misapprehensions and to raise our esteem of God Spiritual knowledge superadding to literal clearness of light sweeteness of taste sense of interest and sinceritie of obedience NExt to the Essence and Subsistence of God his Attributes are to be considered concerning which I premise this rule § 1. The degrees of our respect are to keep proportion with degrees of worth in persons and things ordinary worth requiring esteem eminent calling for reverence supereminent for admiration yea and adoration too if it be an uncreated object Hence the Psalmist upon contemplation of God crieth out as in an extasie O Lord our Lord how excellent Psal 8. 1 and 9. is thy Name in all the earth His Attributes are his Name their worth so superexcellent as far to transcend the utmost pitch of that observance which we poor we are able any way to render Seeing as the stars of heaven disappear and hide their heads upon the rising of the Sun that out-shineth them so creatures seem not to be excellent yea not to be when the being and excellency of their Maker displayeth it self according to that All nations before Isai 40. 17. him are as nothing and they are counted to him less then nothing and vanity The best of them have but some perfections
someway an actor about yet he is no author of them as also works of art for which God enables men but produceth them not The vanity which all such things are subject to is partly Negative a non-ability to serve man as they did before the fall after it the Lord said to Adam Cursed is the Gen. 3. 17. ground for thy sake in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life Partly Positive whence that of Solomon Behold all is vanity and vexation of spirit Eccles 1. 14. Yet if any shall hereupon conclude that it was so from the beginning Moses will expresly confute him by whom we are told that when God at the very end of his creation Saw every Gen. 1. 31. thing that he had made and behold it was very good which to me is a demonstration that the Angels were not then fallen Yea if any shall deny that the goodness of God is still visible in them let that saying of the Psalmist stop his mouth The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord. What he predicates Psal 35. 5. of the earth I am not afraid to extend to the sea and to all other parts of the Universe They are all at this day full of the goodness of the Lord the sea especially which we Islanders are especially bound to take notice of by way of rejoycing and to glorifie God for according to these direct places Glorifie ye the Lord even the name of the Isaiah 24. 15. Lord God of Israel in the isles of the sea And in the Psalms The Lord reigneth let the earth rejoyce let the multitude of the Psal 97. 1. isles be glad thereof Well may the earth rejoyce herein because if the Lord did not so reign as to set bounds to that whose natural place is above the earth as Psalm 104. informs us it would all quickly be overflown Well may the multitude of the isles be glad thereof for what are they in regard of the Ocean that surrounds them but as so many nutshels in a great vessel of water how suddainly drowned if God did not reign so as to restrain that element § 4. But I must not allow my self too much scope I shall therefore restrain my future discourse upon this head to the sole creation of man and shew how goodness appeared in it It is reported as the speech of Favorinus Nihil est in macrocosmo magnum praeter microcosmum That in the vast world of creatures there is nothing truly great except the little world of man Surely next to the knowledge of God there is nothing of more concernment to us and therefore let none wonder at me who cannot go over all for singling out his creation to be insisted upon concerning which I intend to shew out of certain texts in Genesis the consultation upon which the pattern after which and the parts of which he was made at first For the first It is the manner of Artificers to deliberate much and to put themselves to more then ordinarie pains about their Master-pieces Man was to be the Master-piece of this visible world and accordingly Moses speaking of God according to the manner of men brings him in consulting about so prime a piece God said Let us make man whereas most other Gen. 1. 26. things were made with a word speaking Let there be light and there was Gen. 1. 3 24. light Let the earth bring forth and it was so Here the Creatour calls as it were a solemn Councel of the sacred persons in Trinity when he is about to proceed to the making of man Which is to be taken notice of both because other Scriptures use the plural number where mans creation is spoken of as in Eccles 12. 1. Remember thy creatour according to the Original Creatours and Job 35. 10. Where is God my maker Hebrew Makers and because it should restrain us from deriding any mans deformity for fear of our reproching his Maker To which purpose that history is very remarkable An Emperour Fitz Herb. of policie and religion Part. 1. pag. 54. out of Guil. Malms l. 2. c. 10. of Germany came upon a Lords-day morning unattended to a poor countrey Church where pretending himself a souldier he was present at Mass which was said by the parish Priest a man so deformed that he was saith mine Authour Poenè portentum naturae almost a monster in nature And as the Emperour wondred with in himself that God whose beauty and Majesty is infinite would be served by so deformed a creature it came to pass that the Priest reading the hundred Psalm which was in the course of his Liturgy to be rehearsed upon that day pronounced the second verse thereof Know ye that the Lord he is God it is he that hath made us and not we our selves in such a different tone and voice from that which he before used that the Emperour apprehended it as a thing ordained by Almighty God to meet with and answer his present cogitation and began to entertain so reverent an opinion of the Priest that having informed himself after Mass of his great virtue he made him Arch-Bishop of Colen much against the good mans will who notwithstanding behaved himself in that great charge with singular commendation and left a most sweet savour behinde him § 5. For the second The pattern after which man was made is sometimes called Image alone So God Gen. 1. 27. created man in his own image in the image of God created he him sometimes likeness Gen. 5. 1. Gen. 1. 26. Mos est Hebraeis duo substantiva ita conjungere ut diuersae res esse videantur cùm tamen alterum adjectivi epitheti significationem habeat Andr. River in Gen. Exercit 4. alone In the day that God created man in the likeness of God made he him Sometimes both Let us make man in our image after our likeness which makes a wise interpreter think that when they are joyned it is by Hendiadys and that the Holy Ghost meaneth an Image most like his own ad imaginem similitudinem suam that is ad quà m simillimam sui imaginem It is exceeding much for mans honour that he is an Epitomie of the world an abridgement of other creatures partaking with the stones in being with the stars in motion with the plants in growing with beasts in sense and with Angels in science But his being made after Gods Image is far more As great men are wont they often erect a stately building then cause their own picture to be hung up in it that spectatours may know who was the chief Founder of it so when God had created the Fabrick of this world the last thing he did was the setting up his own Picture in it creating man after his own image Now there is a threefold sense of this phrase for the image of God is taken first in a large sense and so it is appliable
faithfull and true witness when speaking of those whom the Father had given him he uttered that remarkable assertion This John 17. 3. is life eternall that they may know thee and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent Also when he made his followers that promise of rest Come unto me all ye that labour Matth. 11. 28 29. and are heavy laden and I will give you rest Take my yoke upon you c. and ye shall finde rest to your souls God would not rest from his works of creation till man was framed Man cannot rest from his longing desires of indigence till God be enjoyed Now since the fall God is not to be enjoyed but in and through a Mediatour Therefore when any man closeth with Christ and not till then he may say with the Psalmist Return unto thy rest O my soul for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee That which the King of Saints testified will be most readily attested by all his loyall subjects Enquire of such as are yet militant upon earth wherein their happiness consists the answer will be in their having fellowship with 1 John 1. 3. the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ Let those who are triumphant be asked what it is that renders their heaven so glorious their glory so incomprehensible ye shall have no other account but this it is because they have now attained a complete fruition of that alsufficient alsatisfying ever-blessed and ever-blessing object God in Christ § 4. Nor can it easily be denied by such as consider that in this object there is found a threefold fulness opposite to the threefold vanity in the creatures which I discoursed of before First a fulness of utility opposite to their unprofitableness Infinite goodness extends it self to all cases and exigents without being limited to particulars as created bonity is Hence in the Scripture God and Christ are compared to things most extensive in their use and of most universall concernment Philosophers look at the Sun as an universal cause Christ is called the Sun of Malac. 4. 2. righteousness by the Prophet and The Psal 84. 11. Lord God saith the Psalmist is a Sun and shield In a Tree the root beareth the branches and the branches fruit Christ is both root and branch A root in Isaiah In that day shall there be a root of Jesse which shall stand for an ensign of Isa 11. 10. the people to it shall the Gentiles seek and his rest shall be glorious A branch in Zechariah Behold I will bring forth my servant the Branch In a building the Zech. 3. 8. foundation and corner-stone are most considerable in point of use Christ is both Thus saith the Lord God behold I Isa 28. 16. lay in Sion for a foundation a stone a tried stone a pretious corner-stone a sure foundation In military affairs what more usefull for offence then the sword for defence then the shield The Lord is both Happy art thou O Israel who is like Deut. 33. 29. unto thee O people saved by the Lord the shield of thy help and who is the sword of thine excellency In civill commerce money is of most generall use for the acquiring of what men need of which Solomon therefore saith It answereth all Eccles. 10. 19. Quicquid nummis prasentibus opta veniet clausum possidet arca Jovem Petron. Arbit things whence it is that worldlings look at a full chest as having a kinde of Deity in it able to grant them whatsoever their hearts desire of God in Christ it is most true He onely can answer all the desires all the necessities of his people and is accordingly said to be their silver and gold as Junius renders the place in Job To him a soul may not onely say as Thomas did My Job 22. 25. Erit Omnipotens lectissimum aurum tuum argentum viréâ—que tibi Lord and my God but as another Deus meus omnia My God and my all § 5. Secondly a fulness of truth and faithfulness opposite to their deceit The creatures do not cannot perform whatsoever they promise but are like deceitfull brooks frustrating the thirsty travellers expectation We reade of Semiramis that she caused this Motto to be engraven upon her tomb If any King stand in need of money let him break open this monument Darius having perused the inscription ransacks the sepulchre finds nothing within but another writing to this effect Hadst thou not been unsatiably covetous thou wouldest never have invaded a monument of the dead Such are all the things of this world They delude us with many a promising Motto as if they would give us hearts ease but when we come to look within instead of contentment afford us nothing but conviction of our folly in expecting satisfaction from them With God it is otherwise He is faithfull that promised saith the Apostle Heb. 10. 23. And again Faithfull is he that 1 Thess 5. 24. calleth you who also will do it I am the way saith Christ of himself the truth John 14. 6. and the life In him beleevers finde not less but more then ever they looked for and when they come to enjoy him completely are enforced to cry out as the Queen of Sheba did The half was 1 Kings 10. 7. not told me § 6. Thirdly a fulness of unchangeableness opposite to their inconstancy This God challengeth to himself I am Malac. 3. 6. the Lord I change not And Jesus Christ is said to be the same yesterday and to day Heb. 13. 8. and for ever Another Apostle speaking of the father of lights from whom descends James 1. 17. every good and perfect gift therein alluding as Heinsius conceives to the Heinsius in locum High Preist his Urim and Thummim that is lights and perfections to Urim in these words father of lights to Thummim in these Perfect gift tells us that with him is no variableness neither Exerc. 3. shadow of turning The metaphor is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pareus in loc thought by some to be borrowed from the art of painting wherein pictures are first rudely shadowed then drawn to the life In the creatures we finde a full draught and lively pourtraiture of mutability but not so much as the rudiments of a draught as the least line or shadow of it in God and Christ EXERCITATION 3. Two conclusions from Psalm 73. 25 26. The Psalmists case stated The frequent complication of corporal and spiritual troubles How God strengtheneth his peoples hearts against their bodily distempers how under discouragements of spirit The secret supports of saving grace What kinde of portion God is to the Saints A congratulation of their happiness herein § 1. FRom that patheticall passage in one of the Psalms Whom have Psalm 73. 25 26. I in heaven but thee and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee My flesh and my heart faileth but God is
Quae omnia saptens servabit tanquam legibus jussa non tanquam Diis grata Sic adorabimus ut meminerimus cultum magis ad morem quà m ad rem pertinere c. August De Civit. Dei lib. 6. cap. 10. will keep them all as things commanded by our laws not as things acceptable to the Gods for custome rather then conscience sake Thereby shewing as Austine observeth that he himself misliked what he practised and did not approve his own adoration What else was this but mock-worship And although it must be granted that some of them were more serious in that way of superstition which the Gentiles Theology prescribed yet was not their worship in Truth for being destitute of Christ who is the way the truth and the life they John 14. 6. Psal 51. 6. wanted that Truth in the inward parts required by God in all holy services The Pelagians indeed were of opinion that those vertues which appeared in heathen Philosophers and others of eminent note for morality though they had not received the knowledge of Christ were true graces But if Austin may be credited this above all their Hoc est unde vos maximè Christiana detestatur Ecclesia Contr. Julian pelag lib. 4. cap. 3. corrupt tenents was that for which the Christian Church did most abominate them their doctrine Yea Paul whom we are bound to beleeve in the fourth Chapter of his epistle to the Ephesians is thought to have concluded the contrary we finde there the life of the Gentiles Ephes 4. vers 17. 18. 21. 24. clearly opposed to the life of God which they saith he were alienated from as also to the truth as it is in Jesus and to that true holiness or holiness of truth wherewith every spiritual worshipper is endued And so far is the Apostle in that place from excepting their philosophers that as Grotius thinks he aims especially at them because his phrase in the seventeenth verse That ye Vide Grotium in Ephes 4. 17. in Rom. 1. vers 21 22. walk not as other Gentiles walk in the vanity of their minde is fully parallel with that in his epistle to the Romanes They became vain in their imaginations which is certainly meant of their philosophers for it follows professing themselves to be wise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the name whereby that sort of men were commonly known witness the seven wise men of Greece before Pythagoras invented that other of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lovers of wisdome as more modest § 4. The second grand direction about the manner of worship is that it be performed in the name and through the mediation of Jesus Christ who saith of himself I am the way No man Joh. 14. 6. comes to the Father but by me And of whom Paul saith Whatsoever ye do in Coloss 3. 17. word or deed do all in the name of the Lord Jesus whereupon Luther was bold to Quicquid oratur docetur vivitur extra Christum est idololatria coram Deo peccatum Luther tom 3. edit Jenens p. 300. assert That all the prayings teachings and actings of men are out of Christ idolatry and sin in the sight of God Now although the first direction were not altogether unknown to some of the Gentiles as may be gathered from sundry passages in their writings cited by Grotius in his notes upon John the fourth at the four and twentieth verse and by Doctour Meric Casaubon in his second book De cultu the third chapter yet of this second they had no knowledge at all for it is not a lesson to be learned in Natures school The heavens indeed and so the earth with all the creatures in them both declare the glory of God in himself but the glory of God in the face of Christ as mediatour is not declared by any of them Insomuch as Paul tells the Ephesians that while they Ephes 2. 11 12. were Gentiles they were at that time without Christ although Ephesus then was full of Philosophers and eminent scholars witness the proverb of Ephesian letters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. 19. 19. and that story in the Acts which mentions the burning of books there to the value of fifty thousand pieces of silver by such as were taken off from the study of curious arts upon their conversion to the faith As for Jews and Mahometans the former we know have espoused long since another Messias and the latter set up that impostour Mahomet for their mediatour § 5. Now the argument built upon the foundation of these premised considerations stands thus No religion or doctrine can bring us to the fruition of God but such as instructs us how to worship him aright No religion or doctrine but Christianity teacheth the right worship of God Therefore none but it can bring us to enjoy him The proposition is bottomed upon that necessary connexion which is between the fruition of God and his adoration he being wont to communicate himself in or after acts of worship according to these and the like places He that hath Joh. 14. 21. my commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and will manifest my self to him Behold I stand at Rev. 3. 20. the door and knock if any man hear my voice and open the door I will come in to him and will sup with him and he with me The Assumption hath been already cleared But if further proof be needfull I shall add one argument more So far is the light of nature from making a full discovery of what belongs to divine worship that the wisest Philosophers in their morall tractates have not onely been silent as to faith in Christ and repentance from dead works and such other eminent duties of religion but commended to their readers some habits and actions for vertues and duties which in Scripture are represented as vices and sins For example Aristotle one of Natures high priests in his Ethicks one of the choicest pieces of morality extant maketh a vertue of Eutrapelia which Paul under that very term prohibits as a thing inconvenient for Christians Neither filthiness nor Ephes 5. 4. foolish talking nor Eutrapelia Jesting which are not convenient So also Nemesis that is grief and indignation at the prosperity of unworthy men is by him reckoned among such affections as are near of kin to vertues but condemned at large by David in Psalm the thirty seven and by Solomon in the Proverbs saying Fret not thy self because of evil Prov. 24. 19. men neither be thou envious at the wicked Another of his vertues is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Magnanimity which he describeth to be the judging of a mans self worthy of great things when he is so Whereas our Saviour directeth us even when we have Luke 17. 10. done all things that are commanded us yet to say we are unprofitable
servants He would have such a person a despiser 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and contemner of others which is plainly Pharisaical thinks all that savoureth of humility unworthy of his magnanimous man whereas Solomon telleth us It is better to be of an humble Prov. 16. 19. spirit with the lowly then to divide the spoil with the proud Yea he alloweth him in case of contumely to speak evil of his adversaries whereas our Saviours rule is Bless them that curse you pray for them Matth. 5. 44. that despitefully use you EXERCITATION 3. Oracles of God vocal or written Books of Scripture so called in five respects viz In regard of their declaring and foretelling their being consulted prized and preserved § 1. IN the epistle to the Hebrews these two phrases The first principles Hebr. 5. 12. and 6. 1. of the oracles of God And the principles of the doctrine of Christ import one and the same thing implying also that Scripture Records are the onely Store-house and Conservatory of Christian Religion I shall therefore from hence take occasion to shew That books of Scripture are oracles of God why they are so called and wherein they excell other oracles For the first There were two sorts of Oracles belonging to God vocal and written The vocal were those answers he gave from between the Cherubims on the top of 1 Kings 6. often and Chapt. 8. 6. the Mercy-seat which covered the Ark by reason whereof the Holy of Holies where that Ark stood was styled the Oracle The written are the two tables Exerc. 3. of the Law called by Stephen the lively Acts 7. 37. oracles and the Canonical books of Scripture as well those of the old Testament of which Paul speaketh when he declareth it as the great priviledge of the Jews that to them were committed the Rom. 3. 2. oracles of God as those of the New to which Peter is like to have had a peculiar respect in that saying of his If 1 Pet. 4. 11. any man speak let him speak as the oracles of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Especially if his meaning be to admonish such as speak in congregations publick teachers or as another Apostle styleth them Ministers 2 Cor. 3. 6. of the new Testament that they be carefull to deliver Scripture-truths in Scripture-words New-Testamentmatter in New-Testament-language taking the particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in that text for a note not of similitude but of identity as when it is said We beheld his John 1. 14. glory the glory as of the onely begotten of the Father it is not meant of a glory like his but the very same So let him speak as the Oracles of God that is the self-same things which Vid. Gerhard Coment in 1 Pet. 4. pag. 631 634. God hath spoken in his word § 2. The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereby heathen writers had been wont to express their oracles chiefly such are were uttered in prose while such as were delivered in verse went under the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was enfranchised by the holy Ghost and applied to the books of Scripture to intimate as I conceive that these books were to be of like use to Christians as those oracles had been to Infidels whereof take a five-fold account I. Those declared to heathen men the will of their Idols whence also they had their names of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and oracula from orare quod inerat illis Deorum oratio as Tully giveth the etymologie because they contained what the Gods spake and delivered to be their minde The Scriptures in like manner contain the minde of Jehovah Somewhat of his nature we may learn from the creatures but should have known little or nothing of his will had not canonical Scripture revealed it We use to call a mans Testament his last will because in it he makes a final declaration of what he would have his executours do He that would exactly know the will of God must look into his two Testaments there he shall finde it fully expressed and no where else § 3. II. Those foretold future events which made them to be so much frequented by such as thirsted after knowledge of things to come These reade every one his destiny and acquaint him aforehand with what he may or may not infallibly expect according to his present and future qualifications Not to mention prophesies in the New testament whereof the principal magazine is the Apocalypse the old contains very many predictions beyond the activity of humane foresight For although such effects as depend upon natural causes which are uniform in their workings may be foretold by a skilfull naturalist and a wise Statesman observing the present constitution of a government may prognosticate what events are like to ensue upon those counsels and courses which he sees taken yet the quickest eye upon earth cannot foresee such future contingents as have their dependance upon the mere free-will of persons yet unborn and whereunto when they are born not common principles but heroick impulses must incline them Whereas in the Scriptures we meet with the names of Josiah and Cyrus and with their performances long before they had a being We finde old Jacob foretelling the respective fates of all his children and of their posterity Isaiah speaking of Jesus Christ as if he had written an history rather then a prophesie And Daniel who lived under the fitst describing the severall revolutions under all the other Monarchies as if he had seen them with his eyes § 4. III. Those gave advice in doubtfull cases and were in all undertakings of moment consulted with by devout Heathens who as Strabo testifies Lib. 16. in descript Judaeae in their chief affairs of state relied more upon the answers of their oracles then upon humane pollicies These were Davids delight and his counsellours Psal 119. 24. as we use to advise with those friends whom we take most pleasure in He had many wise men about him but in all their meetings for advice the word of God was still of the Quorum and nothing to be concluded of in the result without its consent Scripture must not onely be heard in all our debates but when any thing comes to be voted always have a negative voice Concerning Achitophels advice it was said what he counselled in those days was as if a man had enquired at the Oracle of God 2 Sam. 16. last which words being as it is well said by Peter Martyr Comparatio non aequiparatio a comparison onely not a parallel sufficiently intimate that all the Oracles of God are to be consulted and also that their counsel is to be rested in I shall therefore be bold to say to him that reads whoever he be as Jehoshaphat once did to Ahab Enquire I pray thee 2 Chron. 18. 4. of the word of the Lord to day As Paul to his Colossians Let the
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