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
of I shall instance in two The pains of hell deserved by us and the pains of Christ endured for us Well may the consideration of Hell-torments due to us all as being by nature children of wrath conduce to the working of patience in us under these petty sufferings in comparison For what are these rods to those scorpions A feaver to those everlasting burnings The stone or gout to that fire and brimstone A sick-bed to Hell where the fit never goeth off the fire never goeth out the worm Mark 9. 44. never dyeth So also when upon our beds of sickness we think of that garden wherein Christ lay prostrate upon the ground in our fits of his Agony in our sweats of his water and bloud the consideration of his torments and of our interest in them may well mitigate the sense of our present sufferings if not wholly swallow them up as Aarons rod devoured those of the magicians Art thou afflicted with sore pain in this or that part He had hardly any member free Are thy spirits feeble and faint His very soul was exceedingly Matth. 26. 38. sorrowfull even unto death Dost thou cry My God my God why hast thou afflicted me Jesus cryed with a loud voice My God my God why hast thou Matth. 27. 46. forsaken me § 6. Yea but how manifest soever it be that when the flesh faileth the heart may be strengthened how the heart it self should fail and yet be strengthened is not so evident I am therefore to make it appear in the next place that these two clauses My heart faileth and God is the strength of my heart may both be verified at once without a paradox in different respects By reason of remainders of unbelief in the most regenerate on this side heaven when Satans temptations shall strike in with their corruptions holy men may be induced in a fit of dejection because the Lord hath cast them down to conceive and say he hath cast them off David once said I had fainted unless I had beleeved to Psal 27. 13. see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living Such fainting flows from not beleeving such unbelief is much fomented by not considering that as no outward blessing is good enough to be a signe of eternal Election seeing God often filleth their bellies with hid treasure who treasure up to themselves wrath against the day of wrath so no temporall affliction is bad enough to be an evidence of Reprobation seeing the dearest son of Gods love was a man of sorrows and acquainted Isa 53. 3. with grief Yet may the same heart at the same time be strengthened from another cause namely God who easily can and usually doth supply such effectual grace as is able to keep the head above water when the rest of the body is under it able to preserve the Spouse in a posture of leaning upon her Cant. 8. 5. beloved in a wilderness to make one with Abraham beleeve in hope against Rom. 4. 18. Job 13. 15. hope and say with Job Though he kill me yet will I trust in him Faith can support when Nature shrinks call God father when he frowns and make some discovery of a sun through the darkest cloud When it sees no light it may feel some influence when it cannot close with a promise it may lay hold upon an attribute and be ready to make this profession Though both my flesh and my heart fail yet divine compassions fail not Though I can hardly discern at present either sun or moon or stars yet will I cast anchor in the dark and ride it out till the day break Time was when Jonah said I am cast out of thy sight but Jonah 2. 4 7. added with the same breath yet will I look again toward thy holy temple and presently after when my soul fainted within me I remembred the Lord c. § 7. The connexion of these words in the psalm My heart faileth but God is Quaecunque me angustiae corporis aut animae urunt Tu meo anims es robur dum te aeternam mihi haereditatem fore spero Simmius in Psal 73. the strength of my heart and my portion for ever may seem to imply some such thing to wit that in times of languishment God affords a strengthening support in secret by encouraging a beleever to wait upon himself as his portion for ever notwithstanding all his sufferings for the present There can be no better or more sovereign cordiall then this if we consider the sutableness and sufficiency of God to this purpose In the choice of a portion as of a wife fitness is chiefly to be regarded she is a wife indeed who is a meet help that a portion indeed which is sutable to the soul of man God onely is so For the soul is a spirituall and immortall substance therefore to her worldly accommodations are unsutable because they are most of them corporeall All of them temporall But God who is a Spirit and who onely John 4. 24. hath immortality fits her exactly in both respects The uncreated Spirit becomes a portion for ever to this his everlasting 1 Tim. 6. 16. creature As for sufficiency the souls appetite is too vast for any creatures to fill up the measure of its capacity but when she hath once pitched upon God self-sufficient in his being all-sufficient in his communications she then hath enough and is ready to profess with David The Lord is the portion of Psal 16. 56. mine inheritance and of my cup the lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places yea I have a goodly heritage Indeed what can one wish in an heritage that is not to be found in God Would we have large possessions He is immensity A sure estate He is immutability A long term of continuance He is Eternity it self I shall therefore shut up this with a serious congratulation to the Saints and an high applause of their blessedness Happy thrice happy you dearly beloved in the Lord Quid potest co esse selicius cujus efficitur suus conditor census haeredâ—tas ejus dignatur esse ipsa Divinitaâ— Prosper de vit contemplat lib. 2. cap. 16. because when those men of the world which have their portion in this life as David speaks part with theirs as they must all do at death if not before you are led to a fuller fruition of your portion Theirs at the best is but some good blessing of God that will in time be taken from them yours is the good God himself blessed and blessing you for ever He is so at present and he will be so to all eternity A portion of which you can never be plundered Impoverished you may be but not undone discouraged but not disinherited Your flesh perhaps yea and your hearts too may fail but God will be the strength of your hearts and your portion for ever I shall add no more but onely reminde
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
God either hath as manna is supposed to have had the relish of all meats or containeth all Sovereignty comprehendeth inferiour honours The best of their perfections are mixed with some defects but God is light 1 Joh. 1. 5. and in him is no darkness at all They may be perfect and good in their kinde He is perfection and goodness it self In them we may finde matter of wonderment but of astonishment in him witness that eminent place Nehem. 9. 5. Blessed be thy glorious Name which is exalted above all blessing and praise Nature though not altogether silent upon this argument to wit the divine Attributes yet enjoyeth but a dim light to discover them by whereas the Scripture representeth them most magnificently in sundry respects § 2. First so as to curb our curiositie For which end it expresseth divers of them negatively as when God is said to be infinite immortal invisible unsearchable whereby we are taught that it is easier for us to know what he is not then what he is which is known onely to himself The best terms as Scaliger hath it for men to manifest Scalig. de Subâ—iliâ— Exercit. 365. § 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nazi anz hymn ad Deum Meliùs seitur nesciâ—ndo Aug. lib. 2. de ordine their understanding of God by are those which manifest that they understand him not Thou O Lord saith Nazianzen hast produced all those things of which we speak but art unspeakable thy self All that can be known by us is from thee but thou thy self canst not be known Yea Austin was not afraid to affirm that Nescience is the better way of knowing God Secondly so as to help our infirmitie For whereas we are not able by any one act of our finite understandings to comprehend that infinite Essence which is it self one simple Act but comprehensive of all perfections Holy Scripture condescending to our weakness alloweth us to take up as it were in several parcels what we cannot compass at once and in contemplating the Attributes to conceive some under the notion of divine properties incommunicable to creatures such as are Immensity Independency Eternity Simplicity Self-sufficiency All-sufficiency Omnipotence Omniscience Omnipresence Others under that of divine faculties such are Understanding Will and Memory ascribed to God It gives us leave to look at some as divine affections such are his Love Hatred Anger Grief and Delight At others as divine virtues such are his Mercy Justice Patience Faithfulness Holiness Wisdome c. and at other some as divine excellencies resulting out of all the former such are Majesty Blessedness and Glory § 3. Thirdly so as to prevent our misapprehensions The Attributes of God however diversified in our conceptions as hath been said are identified with his Essence which is but One though to us they appear to be different each from other and all from it as the vast ocean though but one receiveth divers names from the severall shores it washeth upon so however Justice Mercy Power and the rest be severall names suited to different operations yet God is but one simple Act under those various denominations Lest we should therefore apprehend them to be such qualities as our virtues are really distinguishable yea and separable from our being as appeared when the first man fell from his holiness yet continued a man still Scripture doth sometimes predicate them of God in the abstract as when Christ is styled Wisdome when it is said God Proverb 8. 1 Joh. 1. 8. 1 Joh. 5. 6. is love and the Spirit is truth Men may be called loving wise and true God is love wisdome and truth it self The Apostle telleth us that if God swear he doth it by himself and no other yet we Heb. 6. 13. finde him in the Psalm swearing by his Psal 89. 35. holiness whence it followeth that his holiness is himself Christ is usually said to sit at the right hand of God but in one place it is exprest by sitting on the right-hand of power Therefore God Mark 14. 62. is Power as well as Love There is the same reason of all his attributes § 4. Fourthly So as to raise our esteem of God Some there be which are frequently called Communicable Attributes because in them the creatures share as being immortality goodness and wisdome Lest we should in this respect have lower thoughts of God then becomes us Scripture is wont to ascribe them to him in such a way of supereminence as however they be participated by Angels and men yet he onely is said to have them Witness these texts There is none Isa 49. 6. besides me Who onely hath immortality 1 Tim. 6 16. and Chap. 1. 17. Matth. 19. 17. God onely wife And There is none good but God Because in him they are all infinite all eternal all unmixed and without the least allay of imperfection An apostrophe borrowed from a devout though popish writer shall shut up this O abyss of divine perfections How admirable art thou O Lord who possessest in one onely perfection the excellecy of Fr. Sales Love of God lib. 2. cap. 1. § 3. pag. 74. all perfections in so excellent sort that none is able to comprehend it but thy self § 5. There is yet behinde a third kinde of knowledge far exceeding both the former A knowledge of God not proceeding from the light of Nature alone as the first doth nor of Scripture alone as the second but from effectual irradiations of the Spirit of Ephes 1. 17. wisdome and revelation accompanied with purging and cheering influences from the same spirit Look as the Literal maketh an addition of further discoveries to the Natural which hath been sufficiently proved So this Spiritual knowledge of God superadds even to the Literal sundry particulars not unworthy of our serious consideration viz. First Clearness of light Since the Canon of Scripture was perfected the things which the Holy Ghost discovereth are no other for substance but those very things which are contained in the written word onely he affords regenerate persons clearer light to discern them by then any they had before their conversion Take a man that is now become a learned Critick turn him to the same Authour which he perused when he was a young student he will finde the self-same matter but see a great deal further into it because he hath now got further light So is it here Secondly Sweetness of taste I sate Cantic 2. 3. down under his shadow with great delight and his fruit was sweet to my taste So the Spouse O taste and see that the Lord is Esal 39. 8. good So the Psalmist Upon which place the School-men have founded their distinction of knowledge of sight and a knowledge of taste Spiritual science Scientia visûs gustâ—â— is steeped in affection taking delight in the things known and not barely apprehending but relishing and savouring what it apprehendeth with abundance of love and complacency Whence those
is no Lord of our spirits but God alone who onely is greater then our hearts as St John speaketh 1 John 3. 20. This made the good Emperour History of the Bohemian persecutions English in 8º chap. 39. § 2. Maximilian the second say That whosoever assumed to himself a power over the consciences of men set himself down in the throne of God His son Rodolphus who succeeded him in the Empire resolved to walk in his fathers steps yet was once unhappily wrought upon by the subtlety Ibid. chap. 40. § 1. of the Jesuites to give way to the passing of an Edict for shutting up the Protestants Churches during some time But that very day news was brought him that Alba Regia the chief city he had in Hungary was taken by the Turks Whereupon in great astonishment he is reported to have said I Expectabam tale quid postquam hodie Dei regimen quod est conscient arum usurpaâ—e coeperam Joh. Laet. compend hist pag. 666. expected that some such mischief as this should befall me seeing this day I began to usurp the government belonging to God which is of consciences § 4. II. In point of unaccountableness The greatest Princes upon earth do or should govern by laws to the making whereof others concur as well as they But our God is a law to himself He onely can write upon his imperial Edicts My reason for it is my will Yet because Stat pro ratione voluntas of the holiness of his nature his will is always most just so as he never enacted any thing but what is in it self equal and reasonable although perhaps to our shallow understandings it may appear otherwise as to our eyes turrets and steeples how upright soever if their height be exceeding great do often seem crooked and look as if they stood awry which should deter us from censuring any of his Decrees or Dispensations as some great but unhallowed wits are wont to do of whom Luther maketh this sober and sad complaint They require that God act jure humano according Luther de servo arbitrio cap. 173. to what the sons of men do commonly account right and just or otherwise that he would cease to be God Tell not them of the secrets of his Sovereign Majesty let him render a reason of his being God if he speak do or will any thing but what appeareth equal to men Proud flesh cannot vouchsafe the God of heaven so much honour as to beleeve any thing to be good or right which is spoken or acted above what the Codex of Justinian or the fifth book of Aristotles Ethicks defineth to be just I confess indeed that God often condescendeth in his holy word to give men a reason of some proceedings and to clear them up to our understandings but it is more then he needeth to do more then we ought to expect in all cases It will therefore be our wisdome to forbear playing the Criticks upon his decrees and administrations considering that he alone is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unaccountable not to be called in question for any of his doings and always remembring that of Paul Nay but O man who art thou that Rom. 9. 20 21. repliest against God Hath not the potter power over the clay Together with that of Job God is greater then man why dost Job 33. 12 13. thou strive against him for he giveth not account of any of his matters § 5. Thirdly In point of Almightiness In the Princes of this world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Authority and Power are often severed their authority may be great when their power to manage it is but small David was King yet could not act as he desired for the sons of Zerviah were too strong for him But in God they always go hand in hand for the accomplishing of what his wisdome hath designed Therefore I called it Omnipotent Sovereignty I know Job 42. 2. saith Job that thou canst do every thing and that no thought can be withholden from thee meaning that God cannot be hindered in the execution or bringing to pass of whatsoever he hath in the thoughts and purposes of his heart The Angel to Mary With God nothing Luke 1. 37. shall be impossible Paul to the Ephesians He is able to do exceeding abundantly Ephes 3. 20. above all that we ask or think Other Scriptures may seem opposite to these but are not God that cannot lie Tit. 1. 2. He cannot denie himself saith St Paul For 2 Tim. 2. 1â— answer to these and the like instances we must distinguish of Impossibles They are of two sorts Impossibilia naturae Voetius Disp Theol. part 1. 〈◊〉 109. and Impossibilia naturâ First there are divers things impossible indeed to nature such as in the ordinary course of secondary causes cannot be done which yet to God are most feaseable for example working of miracles giving sight to such as were born blinde raising up children to Abraham out of the very stones in the street Secondly Some other things are impossible not to nature onely but in nature and that either in reference to the nature of God when they are such as argue imperfection in the doer as to sin and to die or in respect to the nature of the things themselves when they are such as implie contradiction as for a creature to be made independent The former Si ista passet Deus non esset omnipotens Magna in Deo potentia est non posse mentiri August lib. 1. de Symbol cap. 1. of these God himself cannot do not through want but through height and abundance of power He cannot sin lie or deny himself and that because he is Omnipotent it is for impotent creatures to be liable unto such kinde of imperfections as these are Neither can he do the latter yet is it not through any defect of power in God that such things cannot be done but through want of capacity in the things which are simply impossible So then when we ascribe Almightiness to God the meaning is that whereever divine Understanding can be a principle of direction and divine will a principle of injunction there divine power can shew it self an able principle of execution Or in plainer terms That God can do whatsoever he will and the onely reason why things that do either argue imperfection or imply contradiction fall not within the compass of his power is because they are such as for want of goodness or entity cannot become objects of his will § 6. Now if the perfection of God be so very high in regard of his Omnipotent sovereignty think of thine own lowness O man or rather O worm and no man and be confounded within thy self upon comparing thy servile condition by nature with his Sovereignty thy imbecility with his Omnipotence Adam indeed so long as he stood was an universal Monarch having dominion both over himself and
elsewhere We are bound to give thanks alwaies to God for you brethren beloved of the Lord because God 2 Thes 2. 13. hath from the beginning chosen you to Salvation through Sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth Here we finde not onely Sanctification in general but faith which is the flower of holiness derived from Election The same Apostle stiles it The faith of Gods elect Tit. 1. 1. And St. Luke in the Acts speaking of the success which St. Pauls preaching had among the Gentiles saith expresly As many as were ordained to eternall life beleeved Acts 13. 48. A Text which the soundest divines look at as a most pregnant place to prove a causal influence of Divine Predestination upon the work of saving faith Others I know there are and they not a few nor inconsiderable who have strongly endeavoured to turn the edge and strength of this place another way by rendering the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not as we do Ordained but Disposed or well-affected to eternal life Unto whose corrupt Gloss I oppose the following considerations First If it were to be so read then all that heard the Apostles Sermon there recorded even all and every one without exception should have beleeved seeing there is not a man in the world and therefore none in that congregation who was not disposed and well-affected to the reward of eternal life the will of man being necessarily carried to the desire of blessedness which none are so bruitish as not to affect for that unto which these are said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not conversion but life eternal Secondly Disposedness in their sense doth not alwaies precede faith nor faith alwaies follow it When Saul was in the full career of his persecuting madness against the Saints what disposedness was there in him unto conversion unless fury be a disposition to faith yet then did he first believe In that young man who came to our Saviour of whom it is testified That he was not far from the kingdome of God which of their dispositions was wanting yet he went away sorrowfull and believed not Thirdly Faith it self is the first saving disposition that any man hath because it first laies hold upon Christ and of life by him in so much as none is formally disposed to eternal life till he have believed Fourthly St. Luke doth no where use 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 either in his Gospel or in the Acts for disposedness but for ordination and constitution divers times therefore our reading here As many as were ordained to eternal life is to be retained § 8. But learned Grotius will by no means allow of this interpretation They saith he who apply this Text to Predestination Nihil vident see nothing at all Yet by his favour a man that saw as far into the Mysteries of Divinity as also into the idioms of the Greek tongue as Grotius himself be it spoken without disparagement to his great learning Chrysostom I mean applys it so in his Commentary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys Hom. 30. in Act. Apost upon the place And his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is expounded Erasmus translates Praefiniti à Deo Predestinated of God Three things are alleadged by Grotius for overthrowing of this sense but all in vain His first plea is that 't is not usual for all of a city a congregation that are predestinated to believe at one and the same time therefore that which we assert is not like to be the meaning here For answer I acknowledge it is not usual no more is it to have three thousand inhabitants of one city brought in to God on one day But what if God willing to glorifie his Gospel and the power of converting Grace as he called three thousand Jews in one day by Peters Ministry Acts the second so here by St. Pauls at his first solemn undertaking to preach unto the Gentiles Acts the 13. were pleased to work upon as many in that congregation as did belong to the election of grace shall any man dare to prescribe and plead custome to the contrary His second Argument runs thus All that truely believe are not Predestinated unto life Therefore that for which we contend is not to be thought a proper sense Answer This reason is founded upon a grand mistake viz. That faith is common to all whether elect or non-elect although Paul stile it the Faith of Gods elect as before and Christ tels the Jews Ye believe not because ye are not of my sheep John 10. 26. He argues in the third place from St. Lukes unacquaintedness with the secrets of God It was not in his power to tell who of that company were elected who not therefore by his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he must not be conceived to have understood such as were in that sense ordained to eternal life I answer Although the pen-man did not the inditer viz. the Holy Ghost did exactly know whose names were written in the book of life and whose were not Now he it was that in the history of the Acts suggested and dedicated to his secretary both matter and words § 9. The second product of election is happiness hereafter Accordingly the objects of this Decree are those whom God hath not appointed unto wrath but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus 1 Thes 5. 9. Christ Salvation is that which they are said to be chosen to and that wherein their names are written called The 2 Thes 2. 13. book of life For as in military affairs Phil. 4. 3. Commanders have their Muster-rolls wherein are contained the names of all the souldiers whom they have listed whence the phrase of Conscribere milites and in Common-wealths there are Registries kept wherein are recorded the names of such as are chosen to offices of trust and other preferments whence the title of Patres conscripti ascribed to the Senators of Rome So the Scripture condescending to our capacities and speaking of God after the manner of men attributeth to him a book of life wherein it supposeth a legible writing and Registring the names of all those persons whom he hath irreversibly predestinated to life everlasting I say irreversibly for if that of Stoicks be true In sapientum decretis nulla est litura In the decrees of wise men there will be no blotting and blurring how much more may it be asserted concerning those eternal Decrees of the onely wise God If it became Pilate to say What I have written I have written it would certainly mis-become the great John 19. 22. God to blot so much as one name out of the Lambs book of life written by himself before the world was We may take it for granted that this book will not admit of any Deleatur or of any See my Tactica Sacra lib. 3. cap. 2. §. 9 10 11. sequent Expurgatorie Index whatever
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