Profit he having fairly performed his part but to his own Pleasure Which only pleasure and the dignity of it is of greater weight than all the good of all Creatures And therefore It is expedient that it should be fulfilled yea if it should require the Ruin of them all This Answer gives no countenance to absolute Reprobation or to that absolute Reprobate who teaches That God may dam a reasonable Creature to Hel-Fire absque Demeritis as St. Augustin's Language is The return is That the Christian Governour should conjoyn his Will in his Law-giving and in all his works with the revealed Will of God to the End his Law may be God's Law and immaculate absque Macula without spot Marinus Forsterus in Lexicis without as the Hebrew Word is Machalah weakness infirmity Mystical Divinity calls a Soul being in this happy state of Conjunction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vniform And Religious persons thus United are stiled by Dionysius S. Dionys Areop de Eccl. Hier. c. 8. Areopagita 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 persons closely compacted into one and like the Pearl which is united in it self and called Unio 1 Cor. 6. 17. He that is joyned unto the Lord is one Spirit one Spirit in himself and one with God The Vulgar Latin Qui adhaeret Domino Interp. Vulgat Codex Graecus he that cleaves The Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ‑ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he that is glued vehemently joyn'd again and firmly that he may not be now severed or pull'd from his Heavenly Compâ—â—t This Union is not altogether unlike the Hypostatical Union in Christ Of the which Franciscus Suarez saies to the Fran. Suarez in 3. part Disp 53. Sect. 2. pest Conclusionem 2. dam. very bottom of what men can say Illa Vnio licèt ex parte Humanitatis sit aliquid Creatum tamen ex parte Verbi ad quod terminatur quiddan increatum est scilicèt verbum per se Vnitum Humanitati That Vnion although on the part of Christ's Humanity it be created yet on the part of the Divine Word at the which it is terminated is a certain uncreated Thing even the Divine Word united by Himself to the Humanity Here is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 profundum fine fundo a Depth without a Bottome A Vnion created uncreated uniting God and Man in the person of Christ and yet on Goa's part though it be in the nature of a Union as it Unites ut atting at Extrema that it must touch the Things Vnible and United the Creature is vanished and the only Union is Verbum per se Vnitum the Word Vnited by Himself Well now may the Incarnaâ—ion of Christ be set next in place unto the Trinity in Vnity as an incomprehensible Mystery Brethren I cannot commend the Lay-Elder amongst you who 〈◊〉 Men of Repute speak denyed the Communion to a Maid let her Name be Susanna because she could not answer him to the Question Young Maid What is the Hypostatical Union Was not this Lay-Elder Inutile in Sambuceto Sarmentum O the monstrous Productions of Ignorance Away with him When the Master of a Family offended with a stink kicks a Dog in the Parlour the Servants kick him too through the Hall and out of the Kitchin untill he be quite kick'd out of Doors into the free and open Air which the Winde purifies The Master of the Christian Family is God I return And our Deiform Will and Union with God in Love and Law is a most gracious Union of God with Man wherein the Union on the Soul's part is Grace given by God and on God's part Deus per se unitus Homini God by Himself united to Man that we may be conformable to our Head Christ This Uniting Spirit of Grace is that Adopting Spirit we being adopted Children through the natural Heir in whom the Right stands even the Spirit in our Hearts Galat. 4. 6. Crying Abba Father Which is a Term of more familiar Compella 〈…〉 saith Ludovicus Cappellus Lud. Cappell in illum locum Syrus in Marc. 14. 36. Johan Drus Salmant in Marc. The Syriack in St. Mark draws it forth as a Term of Appropriation and winds it up to signify my Father Which in the Targ-Language it every where doth Johannes Drusius admits it as a Term of Dignity Salmanticensis of Honour Wherefore this Union even in the radical part of it sets us up familiar with God and appropriats him to us and entitles us Most zealous in maintaining his Honour Crown and Dignity The Duty therefore of a Governour looks three fair wayes by reason that the Object of his Duty is three-fold God his Neighbour Himself Tit. 2. 12. We should live soberly righteously and godly in this present World Which words St. Bernard having tried them in the fire sorts thus Sobriè nobis justè proximis S. Bern. in Serm. super Ecce nos reliqui mus omnia c. piè autem Deo Soberly to our Selves justly towards our Neighbours towards God godly This duty is general and every Man's Duty but lies more heavy upon the Governour because his Office is of greater import King David his Heart being well-steeped in this Doctrine pray'd for a three-fold Spirit Pal. 51. A right Spirit verse 10. to guide his walkings with his Neighbour in Righteousness or Justice God's holy Spirit verse 11. by the which he might be spiritually built into God's holy Temple And verse 12. God's free Spirit or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Septuagint his principal or leading Sept. Spirit for the principal fitting of Himself in Himself that he having a principal Spirit in a principal Place his Example consequently might be Principal yea Princely and alios quasi manu ducere lead others as by the Hand into all Godliness and Honesty It respondently Followes verse 13. in the Vulgar Latin Doce bo iniquos Vias tuas impii ad te convertentur In the English Then will I teach Edit Vulgat Transgressours thy wayes and Sinners shall be converted unto thee And Exemplo aliis praeire to go before others by a leading and good Example is to teach others in this good Sense And Qui Dux est aliis Actionum He that leads others by good Action is rightly Dux Viâ Dux Populi the Leader in the right Way the Captain of the People 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this present World or in this Now-World wherein we enjoy properly and together but one short Now of Time For Time as Boetius timely told it is Nunc fluens a flowing Now as Eternity is Nunc stans Boet. lib. 5. de Con solat Prosâ ult a Now at a full stand The first is Nunc Temporis the Now of Time The second Nunc Aeternitatis the Now of Aeternity The first is a Now because it is but no 〈…〉 The second is a Now because it is indivisible and all-together in all Eternity Governours have more command in the World and of the World
causâ nomino declared Christianity to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Imitation of God Which afterwards the Greek Church ty'd up as with a third of Gold into one Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The ground is Man was made by God after the Image and Likeness of God Gen. 1. 26. And therefore our work in our lapsed Condition is to perfect and imbellish this Image in us by conforming our selves through God's Grace every day more and more in likeness to him this likeness consisting truly in true Holiness as it is call'd Eph. 4. 24. or as it is in the Original hue and return'd by the Vulgar Latin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sanctitate Veritatis the Holiness Text. Gr. Edit Val. of Truth And a good Man is called by a new Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 holy from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 colo veneror I worship I honour Because true Holiness onely makes one after all the Transactions of Life truly worshipful and venerable Circumspicite dùm nè quis nostro Auceps Sermoni sit Enimverò sunt qui auribus Aucupium faciunt simplices atque incautos ex insidiis adoriuntur Look about you pray and tell me if any be here that come hither a Birding with their Ears and lie here ambushing to catch and ravish a Word or to antedate the Sense Dionysius Areopagita amongst other Excellencies in Christ holds up before us for our Imitation his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 S. Dyonis Areop Eccl. Hier. cap. 3. not his Impeccability but his Impeccancy To the which we must draw by spiritual Access as neer as human Weakness will be drawn after us being egregiously carefull to preserve in their perfect Being and Appearance all the Titles and Punctilios of God's Honour Perhaps your Thoughts now may turn upon me with a fierce Assault How comes it that your Life is not thus exact Strange Things fly abroad concerning you Beloved Know as God knows that these Strange Things are the Strange Apparitions Delusions Inventions of the Devil and of devilish Enemies More afterwards St. Gregory Nazianzen gives holy S. Greg. Naz. orat 4. in Paschate Counsil Simus ut Christus quoniam Christus quoque sicut nos Essiciamur Dii propter ipsum quoniam ipse quoque propter nos Homo factus est Let us be as Christ is because he was as we are Let us be made Gods for him because he was made Man for us And Nullus est Deificationis Terminus There is no stop or enclosure of Deification Boetius throws an Ey this way Vltra homines provehere Boet. lib. 4. de Consol pros 3. Sola Probitas potest True Holiness and true Honesty will promote a Man beyond a Man St. Dorotheus names the holy men of old thus S S. Antonium Pachomium S. Doroth. Serm. 1. Macarium caeterosque Deiferos Patres holy Antonius Pachomius Macarius and the rest of the Fathers that carried God in them Anastasius Synaita S. Anastas Synait lib. 7. Hexam that strict-liv'd Patriarch of Antioch entitles such persons quodammodò veluti Christos in Divinitate simul Humanitate after a sort christs as partaking both of the Divine and Humane Nature Acknowledge St. Peter's Phrase 2 Pet. 1. 4. Partakers of the Divine Nature Expediam Verbo In a word It is the Holy Ghost Himself that dwels in the righteous Heart by an abode much remote from his common abiding with us per Essentiam Praesentiam Potentiam by his Essence Presence Power For besides that holy Scripture manifoldly stands up for it It is incongruent That the Devill should be more neer to his and more intimate by Possession than the most good God to his by Communication who hath more manifested himself to us in his Works of Mercy than of his Justice And Grace the Instrument of the Holy Ghost is more honourably born than other Things of our Acquaintance It is a deep bottom'd Question in Divinity Vtrùm Gratia producatur per Creationem Whether Grace be Created or not Created The Affirmative seems clear Ephes 2. 10. For we are his Workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good Works We are God's Workmanship more excellently in respect of the new and inward Man And Good works good in order to our Supernatural End cannot be wrought without Grace which Source or Fountain is only correspondent and answerable to the high-flowing of the Stream The Apostle clears and illuminates it farther 2 Cor. 5. 17. and Gal. 6. 15. In both which places he calls a regenerate Soul novam Creaturam a new Creature But this Opinion would plain and even the way to a dangerous Conclusion Creatura potest attingere physic è Creationem School-Divines well know and have well sounded the danger of it These Positions therefore asserted by the Apostle ye shall understand of Creation in genere moris in regard of our first Conversion and Justification For the first Grace being given without any precedent Works of Grace is made as it were of Nothing in genere moris it being impossible and unimaginable that Man should dispose himself for the reception of the first Grace because he that produceth the last Disposition is truely said also to produce the Form call'd by it and coming after it and therefore he that disposeth himself by his meer self to Grace produceth Grace in his own Heart of the which no pure Creature can be the cause This Opinion therefore I lay down and lay me down to rest in another The revelation of which if great Clerks will needs extort and wrest from me they shall receive it secundùm modum recipientium in their own Dialect Gratia non creatur sed educitur supernaturaliter ex potentia Subjecti in quo Spiritus sanctus inhabitat Sicut aliae Formae supernaturales Visio Dei Lumen gloriae hujusmodi I discover here that there is yet Terra incognita a Land unknown to you in Learning Religion Holiness Dear Christians attend to me Should I a reasonable Creature hear men that Profess and Preach God and his only Son Christ Iesus together with the holy Spirit the Sanctifier of Souls three Persons and one immortal invisible and only wise God telling me from a Pulpit in the Air to the which I must look up as if the Pulpit Men came even now from Heaven of Humility Continency Temperance Contentedness Guiding of my Tongue Charity Peace and other things of that Feather and bringing about at every half-turn our glorious Gad for so they call him Iesus Christ the Saints the humble Soul let a going with a notable Aspiration he was a pretious Man the Lard Iesus be with all your Spirits And should I find after a most accurate search eosdem numericè the very same Men down from the high-place to be in their Actions most high and haughty-minded and proud as Lucifer most lustful and effeminate most great and most greedy-Lovers and Worshipers of their Bellyes most uncontented and unsatisfyed in their desiring
nothing sought or affected in Prayer in Preaching in Pronunciation or in Matter nought of the dull and sensuall Beast in him He is altogether manly and his words and actions are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they move onwards in the same yoke Ye cannot exclame of him O sweet O pious O valiant voice or say reasonably to him as the Lacedemonian Plut. in Apophtbeg Lacon in Plutarch to the dead Nightingale having found little sap and substance for his nourishment in her musicall Body Vâ—x es praetere à nihil Thou art a voice and nothing but a voice He will deny himself to be the Christ even by his preaching the Christ and to be Elias or a Prophet And he will humbly define himself in his Office The voice of one crying in the wildernesse as the Baptist did Joh. 1. And therefore he shall be most highly approved by the divine Testimony of the Christ and be declared to come in the Spirit of Elias and to be more than a Prophet yea the choice Angel of the great God as it was declar'd of John O my dear Consorts of Nature Coelum coelorum the Heaven of Heavens or the highest Heaven which is Coelum Beatorum the Heaven of the Blessed wherein the blessed Saints and Angels dwell is not rapted or carried about as those Vnder-Spheres are Nor is a Man from Heaven being God's Angel or Messenger to Mankinde career'd about And the Messenger qui versatur in circulo that moves circularly though he comes from Heaven-ward comes onely from the Sphere of Mercury or of the Moon being himself like the nimble Spheres under our Heaven of the which great Aristotle asserts That if one of them should Arist lib. 2. de Coelo stand a while while a small Flye could be rais'd to settle upon it it would be whirling about in the very first onset of the silly poor Fly I hear it Thunder Psal 77. 18. The Voice of thy Thunder in the Heaven or in the Sphere the Originall word with like affection importing a Text. Hebr Sphere a Wheel and every thing the motion of which is circular Which moved the Vulgar Latin to run parallel with our Codex vulgatus Sense Vox Tonitrui tui in Rotâ The voice of thy Thunder thy Anger thy Judgement is heard in the motion of the Wheel And the same Propher reaches even to this Age and to this Nation with a propheticall Eye and Prayer Psal 83. 13. O my God make them like a Wheel that being drawn a little turns upwards downwards towards Heaven and towards Hell forwards and backwards turning a new way and to the way from which it lately turn'd wheeling about and about and about again this way that way the other way any way every way all wayes The second of the Three things stands forth And it pleads for the maintenance of certain unoffensive Rights concerning the materials and composure of this Discourse I have receiv'd it flowing from the Pen-Distillations of the mighty Controvertist whose very Name gives us an Alarum and sounds Bellum Arma War and Armes that we may wisely return and run back with our Pitchers to the Greek and Hebrew Fountains driven Robert Bellarm. lib. 2. de Verbo Dei cap. 11. Tom. 1. within the lists and restraint of four Cases or Exigencies Whereof the third is Quandò verbum aut Sententia in Latino est anceps when a word or sentence in the Vulgar Bible is doubtfull and stands upright in aequilibrio looking at once two wayes or many but inclining or propending no way And the fourth ad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 proprietatem vocabulorum intelligendam for our clear understanding of the secret energy or efficacy and smoothdeep current of words running majestically and with grave silence in their own Channel As when the word or phrase in the Fountain is beautifully bigg with an Emphasis or tacit signification The wise Alchymist in the whole progress of his Art extracts Things purer and purer from grosser Things And a Text sometimes is like a double Picture wherein they wipe off with a wet cloath the water-colours that the during oyly Picture in recessu in it's withdrawing place and retiring-Chamber may now be unveil'd and come in view which oft times is contrary to the Picture carrying the first face Brethren There was a a kind of mortall punishment amongst the old Jews badg'd with the title of Combustio Animae the Burning of the Soul My Author is R. Levi Ben Gerson R. Levi Ben Gerson in Levil 10. wherein they poured scalding Lead into the mouth of the condemned person by the which his inwards were consumed the shape and outward bark of his body remaining still with due proportion So there be Translatours of the lower Classis O dismall and odious name that with a leaden sense yet full of Malignant heat and base passion scalld away the Spirit Soul and Life of the Text leaving nought often times but a shell Superfice and outward letter Moreover I disclame and abandon as I do the Angel of the Bottomeless pit Abaddon King of the strange Locusts Apoc. 9. 11. who in the Greek tongue hath his name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is exterminans exterminating as the vulgar Latin as Erasmus perdens Lectio vulgata Erasm Roterodam in Apoc. 9. Text. Heb. destroying according to the letter in the Hebrew Perdition destruction here being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Effecti a Figurative speech in the which Effectus loco Causae ponitur the Effect is honorably substituted for the Cause after the leading of the Hebrew Dialect Destruction in the abstract for a superlative Destroyer As I abandon this Abaddon this Devill-angel I renounce all those who in their Use Abuse is the Word of holy Scripture God's pure word as if it were homogeneal with Anaxagoras his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ‑ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon Aristotle's Record draw Aristot de Generaâ— Animal lib. 4 cap. 3. quidlibet ex quolibet every thing out of any thing and make divine Scripture in omnia sequacem readily following them in their proof of all things and God the holy Author of Scripture like a Cunning Man that is versatili ad omnia pariâ—èr Ingenio of a wit or nature applying and turning it self to every thing alike and thus destroy the firmness of Scripture and exterminate God out of his own Word These are unnaturall Children who for want of Superiour moderation pull too strongly and seeking Milk suck Blood from the soft and tender Breasts of sacred Scripture It is Aristotle-proof That Faculties Arist lib. 1. Eâ—hicor cap. 1. powers sciences c. are supreme or subordinate as their Ends are subordinate or supreme Therefore those Sciences those powers those faculties which are immediately helpfull to the consecution of our last End are the supreme and superiour of all other and the other are Servants and waiting-maids in respect of them How dare those Brethren of
Arist lib. 6. Eâ—hicor cap. 4. Maxim amongst our Christian Philosophers waiting dutifully upon Divinity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All Edification in Doctrine growes up from known or accepted Principles from Principles clear to the eye of right Reason or of true Faith The Text here is it self a principle and set forth standing with a broad bottom in the full view both of Reason and Faith The Reasonable Man à Naturâ nondum ablactatus not yet weaned froÌ„ the Breast of naturated Nature still the Milk pearls on his lips hath willingly transcribed it out of Nature's Originall extant in his Heart being dead to God as a lively Principle of Nature and acts from it but hath not assentingly took it upon the best account If one write a Will or Testament and hold the Pen with a dead mans Hand that Will will not hold in Law It was not his Will because it was not writ by him with virtue derived from any Principle of Life in him Neither will our Naturall Man's Will hold for a VVill in God's Law being his revealed will Some Works and Acts of the Noctuambulones or those that walk and talk in their sleep by Night though the same works in the triall of Sense with the works of the same persons when they wake and walk are not by Reason admitted or enrolled as such Behold the Ground Fix your Foot here as upon a fixed and immoveable Truth Only the acts and performances issuing from a divine Principle in us above Nature can suit with the divine Will supernaturally discovered But the Beleever hath religiously copied it into his Heart out of God's revealed will and out of God in the best and highest Construction of him as he is in the supernaturall Order the Author of it not as the Author of Nature and therefore though the same Truth eadem in Terminis the same in Terms be still imbraced by both yet now it is a Truth of the supernaturall Order and immediately apprehended by an active and fundamentall vertue from God in us and one so perfect uâ— nihil suprà that nothing in this our State reaches above or before it and which is Ground-firm and only able to meet and close in fit equipage with the supernaturality of Revelation And as the Prince of the Thomists divinely D. Tho secunda secundae quaest 6. art 1. in corp speaks Quia Homo assentiendo eis quae sunt Fidei elevatur supra naturam suam oportet quòd hoc insit ei ex Supernaturali Principiâ— interiùs movente quod est Deus Because Man by assenting to matters of Faith is elevated above his Nature this must come from a supernaturall Principle moving inwardly which is God The supernaiuraâ— Principle is the main Thing the principall Thing Examine your Principles I could render the Text like the Herb call'd the Tartar Lamb that with secret pullings attracts the juyce and virtue of and seems like a grown Lamb to put a mouth to and openly feed upon the Plants and Herbs on every side of it For though it be a Principle it is a Principle in the midst of others and lies couchant as it were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a rich pictured Pavement I might divide the Text too But we never wisely divide in this Manner save claritatis ergô for perspicuity and to clear up our Knowledge of Kindes and Particulars Nec ad aliorum Exempla me componam And Principia sunt per se nota Principles are known of themselves They are also compacted short and spritely And I will not be so like Vesalius the Anatomist who commonly did improve his Art by cutting up Men alive I shall therefore Things fairly flowing and growing of themselves Rebus probè fluentib us gently binde up the whole Doctrine into this fair sheaf The Will and Law of God and the Wills of Men in God's place which correspond with the Divine will and are therefore Law are perfect and without blemish The Law of God is most unblemished and perfect considered in it's Originall As the Divine Idea is Quaedam Ratio in Mente Divinà a certaine Exemplary Cause of Things in the Understanding of God So there is Ratio quaedam in Divinâ Voluntate a certain Rule or Measure of Things in the Divine Will which is Lex aeterna the eternall Law The first naturall Copy of it is enstamped in Angelicâ Naturâ in the Angelicall Nature The Second in Rectâ Raâ—ione in the Right Reason of Man And God's revealed Will in his outward Command or Word is an After-Copy à Sensu initâ—um habens entring upon us by the Sense as doth all our other knowledge of outward Things The Apostle album apponit calculum assents Rom. 10. 17. Fides ex auditu Faith is occasioned by hearing Saint Austin disputing against that numble and whorish-tongu'd Faustus the Manichean defineth S. Aug. lib. 22. cap. 27. contra Faustum Sin Peccatum in Commnni Dictum vel Factum vel Concupitum contra Legem aeternam Dei A Thing said or done or thought against the eternall Law of God This everlasting Rule in God because in God is essentially God and infinite as God is infinite and everlasting And quatenus est Ratio Fundamental is Agendorum as it is the Fundamentall Rule of Things to be done in Time is the very Will of God in God He that will give God a Name bearing a speciall engagement to this Law of Essence must give him his essentiall Name Jehovah of the which Himself proclames Exod. 3. 15. This is my Name Legnolam for ever Which Text the later lewes as Petrus Galatinus informs Petrus Galatin lib. 2. de Arcanis Fidei cap. 10. S. Hterom Epist ad Marcell against them have greatly distempered by a little motion or mutation reading it Legnalam to be concealed This Name of God is God's proper Name and incommunicable to a Creature as his Essence is and his Originall Will that is both a Will and a Law Saint Hierom calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 St. John Damascen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 S. Jo. Damasc lib. 1 Ortâ—oâ— Fidei cap. 12. Theodor. in Exod. 3. Theodoret 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which Epithites conspire in this That the Name could not be spoken or uttered Because the Letters which ty'd up into a sweet Posy composed originally this Name being Insonae soundlesse enigmatically taught God's Essence imported by this Name to be unspeakeable It runs through all the Differences of Time and is aptly Englished Who was who is who will be shewing it includes the Law that is essentiall and essentially eternall It is much applyed to God in his mercifull Acts as Elohim in his Acts of judgement thereby divulging That it is in compleat Sense as agreeable to God's Will to be merciful as to be yea that he delights as much in his Will of Mercy as in his Being And his giving a Law was a singular act of Mercy as generally it is an act
nostrum sempèr siccoculum fuit It belongs to our intemperate and luke-warm Kinde to be so in heavenly Matters In temporall Affliction we can yell it Who notwithstanding may drop a little by a thaw of tender-heartednesse or have a Preacher that may perform in earnest what our Classicall Brother so jestingly and so commonly vaunted I 'le make the People weep to Day The Law of God is likewise perfect as his Originall Will is copied out into his Word Which VVord in it's full Amplitude fully complies with the End of it's coming from God as his VVord and is abundantly sufficient in it's kind to Salvation It canonizeth no Falshood prescribes no frivolous or evill Thing And herein differs our Christian Scripture from the Turkish Alcoran The Holy Ghost from profane Mahumet's Pigeon His Alcoran being a pure Drollery elemented and engendred in the Conjunction of three Apostaticall Brains In the perusing of which Averroes Sir-named the Commentator Avicenna Alsarabius Vide Avicen lib. 6. Met. cap. 7. Albumazar Haly and other Mahumetan Philosophers Physitians Astrologers were so troubled and confounded that they quickly deserted the Alcoran as repugnant even in Matters bounded with the Precincts of Nature to the Principles of Nature and Reason And because it did gloriosè mentiriâ—â—ly gloriously to prevent their fall into the Desolation of Heart catched upon Aristotle for their better Information in the learning of Truths naturall and supernaturall The Compilers of the Alcoran had not learn'd the Text Psal 25. 3. in it's Hebrew simplicity Let them be ashamed who transgress without cause Where the Septuaginâ— adopt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let them be confounded with shame that act unprofitably without Law in the which acting more is alwayes lost than â—ound The Vulgar Latin Edit Valg is the Septuagint vulgarly turn'd Latin The fifth Edition is Greek-Hebrew in the word Greek Hebrew in the sense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let them be ashamed Sept. Editio V. that apostatize In truth Holy Scripture proposeth different Laws serving them forth in different Times or in the same Time subordinating one to the other But the finall aim and ultimate VVork was one and the same It was a Rule and Pillar-Truth under the Old Law That when a Precept of the Moral Law so fell in company with a Ceremonial or Judicial Precept ut in angustum cogerentur that both could not hand it together the Moral Precept should still challenge the place and be reverenced with Obedience And whereas the Law of Moses was partly judicial partly ceremonial and moral or natural partly our Evangelical Law turn'd off and abrogated the two former succeeding to them but spared and setled the last as the written Foundation of all sound Law because it is the neerest to that unwritten Law of Nature which is the first Extract in us out of God's Originall Weeker de Secretis lib. 3. cap. 2. VVeckerus will teach you the Art of making a Candle the Flame whereof cannot be extinguished or one that as ardently burneth and flameth under Water as above it Such yea such a Candle is our Law Psal 11. 105. Thy word is a Lamp unto my feet The Textuarie VVord holds a Candle The Law of Christ is an everlasting Lamp or Candle Press on As Christ who is Verbum Genitum the Begotten VVord and Verbum Deus the VVord which is God and the Founder of the Church hath a visible and humane Nature So hath he a divine Nature which is invisible and his best and richest Nature is not beheld with mortall Eyes And Verbum scriptum the Written Word which is Verbum Dei the Word of God by which the Church as by a Written Law is aptly and 〈◊〉 oportionably regulated as it hath a literal external and historical Sense So doth it rejoyce in a Sense that is spirituall internal and mystical and the best and true sense is not alwayes obvious to our Vnderstanding Yea t is a lasting Axiome and stands like an Olâ— Monument in Divinity When God is most observed and served by obedience to the spiritual or mystical Sense that Sense though mystical is most intended by the Holy Ghost The End of God speaking to us being to teach us to know and serve him through some Degrees of Perfection answerable to our Modell By the which it appears velut Solis radiis depiâ—tum as if it were painted with the Sun-Beames That the Perfection of Scripture in a main part with regard to the Interpretation of the Sense lies inwardly like the Soul of a Man or the Virtue of a Seed Herb Plant Minerall or Iewel And therefore as a rare sort of Musicall Instruments require only to their Musick that they be touched with the Sun-Beams So these inward strings though perfect yet never give a right sound except they be gently touched by an Vnderstanding purg'd of Opacities and enlightened with the Sun of Righteousnesse Yet this doth not any way derogate from the due Perfection of Scripture in it self God's Providence towards us preparing offering and affording Helps general special and particular And as Aquinas clears it Iudicium de re non sumitur secundùm D. Tho. part 1. quaest 16. art 1. in Corp. id quod inest ei per accidens sed secundùm id quod inest ei per se Wee judge not of a thing according to that which is accidental and adventitious to it but according to that which is in it by or from it self The same Truth stands like a grown Oke and is altis defixa Radicibus deeply rooted respectively to the Interpretation of the Words I most humbly crave here a Christian that is a milde tender and pious Examination in your most retired thoughts of a Scruple quem injecit mihi inter studendum profunda Cogitatio Others have assumed the freedome to disquiet and invade the Press in plain English with some vain shadows of this austere Difficulty sent abroad like walking Apparitâ—ons and have thereby disorderly perplexed the Stated Hearts of ignorant people that have learn'd only to read English I speak to Scholars as in the Schools and in the language of the School Of Scholars therefore who try all Things I reverently demand a Reason of their Faith as it is their Faith If I could have reasonably and quietly rested in private Answers I would not have adventur'd upon a publick Proposall I desire not the unhinging of any Mans Faith that moves upon a right Pole I rather wish we were all attemper'd to the Spirit of Orderly motion Our Lord God knowes I never knew this Demand or Difficulty by the name of an Engine Apage hinâ— Ardelio In sound earnest O ye learned heads I have heard your Adversaries speak And in mandatis habeo I have it written in my Duty that I must be true to you I affirm nothing positively but put only Wind and Tyde and Sailes to the Quaere that we may leave nothing
day being far spent and the darkness of the night approuching Me thinks now that I preach to my self For God oftentimes speaks to us from our own Mouths Brethren I greatly desire to dye the death of the Saints pretious in the sight of God That I may to use the word of Theodor. Bals in Canones Trullanos Can. 52. Theodorus Balsamon in his sense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sacrifice everlasting Praises to God and celebrate a continual Feast with him in his glory and being loosed from this earthly Tabernacle be rapted away Sept. in Levit. 23. 36. alihi semâ—èr cùm idem subsit in Orig. to the blessed Thing anagogically signified by that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Septuagint to bear a part with the Saints in that heavenly Song in the End I have professed for you these many years And That a Man may be joyn'd in Communion or Vnion with the Church of Rome and yet preach here as a Minister is a most false Alarum and the mad bellowing of enthusiastical and fanatical persons and answerable to Presbyterian Ignorance I will here unrip my Soul unto you He that will joyn with Rome must unroost here No Law forbids a Man to groan when his pain comes O that there had been alwaies in me Virtus altis defixa radicibus Vertue Deeply-Rooted I did once expect to have found in England one bearing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a superhumeral made of Sheeps-Wooll and signifying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Isidore Pelusiot the skin of the Sheep which Christ Isid Pelus l. 1. ep 136. sought found and carried home upon his shoulders and which was alwayes put on in the pronouncing of these Words according to Simeon Thessalonicensis Sublatâ Sim. Thessal in Bibliotheca Patrum in humeros Christe Naturâ quae erraverat assumptus Deo Patri illam obtulisti O Christ thou taking upon thee the Nature of Man which had erred and having ascended did'st prefer it to God thy father But Verily verily I neither found here the Patriarch that sent it nor the Bishop that wore it I found indeed the most professing and most shewing People of all others but amongst all others the most prodigiously ignorant of Right and Equality concerning Practicable Matters as is evidenced by the dayly practices of the People their Desires and Works having no Bounds or their Words Limits but the Limits and Bounds which the Law of the Land hath forced upon them over which notwithstanding they leap like the Wild-Beasts of the Forrest I hoped to have entred upon post Magellanicos Tumultus Aequor pacificum after forraign Tumults a peaceable Sea at Home But by reason of some Kirk-Sea-Monsters who disguising their Ends and bringing Non-Causam pro Causa a Supposititious Cause for the Cause it self and bleeding inwardly with grief that their Congregations grew thin low and lean persecuted me I have lived here as in the Suburbs of Hell and as amongst Conjurers wearing Devils upon their fingers in Rings In every touch I felt their Devill stir and work And because he wrought not by himself but by them I could not command him to desist The Devill in a round Ring was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Familiar giving Counsel They wear the Devil in a Ring that by devilish suggestions bring trouble and Hel-fire to every Thing they morally touch Their moral touches as their Tongues are set on fire of Hell Iames 3. 6. Fire fire the worst of all fires the fire of Hell fire fire Hell fire I have dealt in this Nation with rich-furred Beasts their Cases were far better than their Bodies lurking under the Cinamon Tree the Bark whereof is dearer than the whole Bulk In fine I have seen the very Sâ—orm and Loss which the Triremis or Gally-Tavern Athenaeus lib. 2. Cael. Rhodigin l. 17. cap. 2. in the Sicilian Agrigentum did undergo And in the last Act was horribly struck from above me with a Perhaps you have a Pension from the Pope tanquâ—mè Machina as out of the highest Seat over the Stage from the which some feigned God appear'd and spake Oracles To Walk before God with a perhaps is to walk contrary unto God Levit. 26. 21. And if ye walk contrary Vatabl. unto me Vatablus his Reading is Si ambulaveritis mecum cum Casu If ye shall walk with me by chance or at all adventures I ye build the vast and high Towers of your Scotch-Babylon upon the nodding and shaking foundation of a Perhaps For the Hebrew word Keri Occursus signifieth according to the Hebrew Bias as well Chance as Contrary And he that comes contrary to me occurrit mihi meets me running and all Chances eunt obviam eis meet those and are upon a sudden occurrent to them in respect of whom they are such Did this Child of Chance this honest-Perhaps ever understand how a Science is rais'd out of it's Principles or that Scientia procedit ex evidentibus All knowledge proceedeth from Things evident and clear by the Light of Nature or of Reason Hic de Grege illo est This is one of the old Herd And for a Pragmaticall envious eager Man-Friggoâ— stirring up every where before Women 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Word fighting and larding his Discourses with greasy Language and the same a Preacher of Novelties the Apostle describes him in his walking Coloss 2. 18. Intruding into those Things which he hath not seen The Vulgar Latin devotes ambulans Edit Vulg. Text Graec. walking The Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it is interpreted by St. Hierom is gestu corporis praeferre S. Hier. in Colloss 2. Mentis Superbiam in the garb of the Body to shew the pride of the Mind Vatablus consents Fastuosus incedens Vatabl. saith he is proud and pompous in his going and sayes in his puft thoughts with him in the Poet Seneca Aequalis Sen. in Thyeste Astris gradior I walk equall with the Stars And therefore the Apostle presses on Vainly puft up by his fleshly mind He walks in the stately Galleries of his own Fancy and his Body walks as his Soul walks in it An Act of rash and false Iudgement notabile Damnum inferens at first may carry a face of Iustice but is like a beautifull Apparition beckning to us to come and we following it into a dark place suddenly turning into a must horrid shape and strangling us For Difficile est in lubrico diu stare It is a hard Matter to stand long safe in the dark on a slippery place I could send this walking Personage a talking Page to Minister unto him But God hath uncased him The World knows it Rumor jam raucus factus est Let me pitie the People that were like the poor Lacedemonian Plut. in Lacon youth who having craftily stole a Fox ran his way craftily craftily thinking he had a rich Prize And who craftily kept the Fox so long