therefore as the Logicke in the distribution so the Arithmetick in the number proues Gods vncontroulable wisedome in the removall of the Sabboth from the last member to the first Divines call or rather miscall the Sabboth the eight day for eight is no part of seven onely in succession of time the next day after the seventh is the eight but this is not considerable in the precept which commands one of seven and not one of eight Thirdly the end of this separation is holinesse and rest that a part of our time should solemnly be imployed for the sanctification of the whole is as reasonable as the authour who doth all things in waight and measure Againe by holinesse wee are to enter into our perpetuall rest and therefore it is requisite that a part of time should be a Sabboth here because wee looke for an everlasting Sabboth hereafter and that all our time shall be turned into an holy rest from sinne and sorrow Heb. 4.11 As God the Father rested after his workes of creation and commanded the creature to imitate him therein so God the Sonne after his workes of Redemption finished in his humiliation rested in heaven And Dauid tells vs Psal 118.24 that even Christ being refused in his humiliation and made the head stone of the corner in his exaltation brought to passe a marvellous worke in our eyes and thereupon concludes This is the day which the Lord hath made wee will retoyce and be glad in it This day of Christs resurrection excells all other and so is iustly our Sabboth and kept by vs as a pledge of our resurrection and entrance into glory Fourthly the lawgiuer is fayd to speake all these words Exod. 20.1 Even these ten words Deut. 4.13 and therefore let them looke to it that dare make them nine Good Surgeans and Physitians loue their patients when they are cruell to their diseases I cannot but count it a damnable errour to detract one word from ten They were all giuen equally in fire and in fire shall equally be required They were all written in tables of stone because they were first written in the tables of our hearts which as then lost all like letters written in water and are now as hard to receiue againe as the very stones the ceremoniall Law was better remembred then the morall and of all the moralls this hath the memento men naturally being most opposite vnto it Oft times that which wee know not through our sloth the same by teares is made knowne vnto vs. And an afflicted mind certainly findeth out a fault committed and the guilt which she remembreth not in securitie shee clearely perceiueth being troubled He that findes and feeles his owne dulnesse on this day will judge the breach greater then of a ceremony Lastly holinesse is the substance of the precept and that is as morall in the solemne worship of God as the hauing of a God or worshipping of him with reverence But if pietie could not prevaile me thinkes policie should men needing no teachers to be negligent in their duties To conclude the point this first day of the weeke is according to creation for measure and manner And that is from evening to evening or from darkenesse to darkenesse Gen. 1.5 Q. What is here forbidden A. The imployment of the day to any other vse to the hinderance of any holy exercise Pietie is no Ceremony and in that we are as strictly bound to the observation of it as ever were the Iewes wherein wee doe not Iudaize but moralize in true holinesse Isa 58.13 Q. What is the law concerning the loue of our neighbours A. That wee doe to them as wee would they should doe to vs. Mark. 12.31 Math. 7.12 The loue of man begins at our selues and as we in loue are ready to doe all good to our selues and prevent all hurt so must wee from the same fountaine be in readinesse to helpe our neighbour how ill doth any man deserue to haue an Occan of mercy powred on him that will not let one drop of it fall vpon his brother c Q. Where is this commanded A. As the former in the first table so this in the second and our loue of man is the declaration of our loue of God 1 Ioh. 4.20 He that loueth not his brother whom he hath seene how can he loue God whom he never saw The Devill when he cannot bring a man who hath knowne God to confront and despise him directly he entreth him with this politicke traine first makes him bold to trample downe his image and then at length brings him to despise God Q. How doth the second table concerne our neighbour A. It consists either in the observation of due order or preservation of him and his Honour is the first fruit of loue and then preservation of the life and good things of him whom wee honour If wee must loue our neighbours as our selues then must wee keepe the same order with them that wee would haue kept with our selues It is bred in the nature of man either to wish there were no authoritie or none aboue himselfe Q. What is the law concerning due respect A. The fift or the first Commandement of the second Table Exod. 20.12 Hononr thy father and mother c. Where wee are commanded all due respect to our superiours inferiours equalls in what condition soever and forbidden all neglect of dutie in this kinde Lev. 19.3 Colos 3.20 Luk. 2.51 Ephes 6.5 1 Pet. 2.18 1 Tim. 6.1 Rom. 15.1 Q. What is the law of preservation A. It is eyther in the preservation of life or the good things thereof If wee giue to all due honour wee will haue respect to life aboue all other things neither will we be negligent of those things wherewith God himselfe hath honoured the liues of men Q. What is the law concerning life A. The sixt Commandement Exod. 20.13 Thou shalt not kill Where is commanded whatsoeuer may conduce to the preservation of life and forbidden whatsoever may preiudice the same vnlawfully Deut. 24.14 Ephes 4.32 1 Ioh. 3.5 And here appeares the vertue of fortitude Q. What are the good things of life A. They eyther concerne the body or the goods and good name of man or the whole man for the last Commandement teacheth vs to doe our duty in all most freely without either stop or stay here must be no if or and. If concupiscence make any resistence wee faile in the worke of our loue Q. What is the law concerning chastitie A. The seventh Commandement or the third of the second Table Exod. 20.14 Thou shick not commit adultery Where chastie in thought word and deed is commanded and all kind of vncleanenesse whatsoeuer forbidden Pro. 6.13 Ier. 5.8 Math. 7.27 1 Cor. 6.9 Gal. 5.19 2 Pet. 2.14 and here appearrs the vertue of Temperance Q. What is the law of riches A. The eight Commandement 20.15 Thou shalt not steale where all vprightnesse in dealing is commanded and all corrupt and false
made a law to haue them purified before he would haue them vsed Num. 31.22.23 c. Hence it is abominable of these things to make Idoll gods Ezek. 16.17 Ioel. 3.5 Q. What are the elementaries with life A. Whereby they were created of a body and soule for life is nothing but the act of the soule vpon the body and the soule saue onely the reasonable is compounded of the foure elements and is nothing but the Spirits of them or that which is most formall and actiue in them Hence fire and ayre are most predominant in these spirits for as by extraction we haue the spirits of things taken from the masse and body by resolution of the composition so in the composition those spirits were as the soule of that liuing thing Wine is pressed from the grape which is the fruit of a vegetable plant and because it carries away with it the more formall elements and leaues the grosser and more materiall behind wee say it is generous and full of Spirits yea and out of this againe by Art are taken the Spirits of wine which are very liuely and of a quickning nature In all plants Ayre is most formall and therefore the vegetatiue life consists most in moysture and the spirit of it but in the Sensatiue and Motiue life fire and the spirit thereof is most predominant These Spirits which are the soules of Plants and Beasts are but the band or tye of the reasonable soule and body hence death in man is nothing but the extinguishing or consuming of these Spirits for as this claspe vnlooseth or knot vntieth so body and soule separate asunder Agues they consume and backe these Spirits within our bodies and so consequently kill vs colds and watery distempers doe not so much wast as weary and tyre them and at last extinguish them as a brand in a puddle of water Gen. 1.20.21.24.28 c. we read of life and Gen. 7.22 wee heare how God extinguished the same againe Q. What are the kinds A. Either such as liue a single life or a compound life Some creatures haue their Spirits or Soules from some one element formally others from more As for example all Plants liue most by the Spirit and moysture of the ayre Starres of the fire men and beasts by both They grow by the one haue sense and motion by the other Q. What is this single life A. Whereby he made some creatures to line by the formall and act itâ—e Spirits of some one element Q. What are their kinds A. Plants and lights the one with a growing and springing life the other with a stirring or mouing life Gen. 1.11 with 14. The first being more imperfect as ayre is lesse formall then fire is first handled Q. What is the Creation of the Plants A. Whereby the earth brought them forth with aspringing life onely Gen. 1.11.12.13 They were compounded of the foure elements but the earth doth predominate or beare rule in the body as ayre doth in the Soule and euery thing is placed in that element which beares greatest sway in the body or materiall substance of it Q. How were they created A. According to their kinds yeelding seed both the lesser and greater the lesser as grasse herbes flowers shrubbes the greater fruitfull trees and the rest without fruit All which the earth brought forth by the commandement of God and as it is the mother and breeder of them so is it the Nurse and foster-mother of them ever after Gen. 1.14 The act of the soule in plants is vegitation and they haue as it were a mouth to draw nourishment and prepare it for the stomacke and a kind of liuer and heart for concoction Now this facultie to nourish hath foure companions to waite on it First Attraction the Spirits drawing a portion to euery part Secondly Retention whereby the part keepes and holds what it hath gotten Thirdly Concoction to digest and convert what it hath gotten into it selfe Fourthly Expulsion whereby it reiecteth and electeth whatsoeuer is superfluous Now the seed is an excrement of the last concoction and therefore is from the assimulation of the nourishment which makes it like euery part Hence from simular parts it begets simular parts and out of so little a part being full of Spirits are begotten all other creatures In seed and food consists all vegitable life and a hurt in either is dangerous and often deadly From nutrition proceed augmentation and generation the one for extension of the same thing the other for preservation of it in others Extention is by heat hence females are lesse then males because their heat is lesse though often they haue more moysture Generation is by seed which receiues from plants and all other things the soule and substance of euery part Hence is it able to giue the kind that yeelds it And therefore the Lord sayes euery Plant yeelding seed after his kind Gen. 1.12 Teaching vs thereby that the seed vertually and potentially answeres the creature in euery part and member of it Q. When were these made A. The same day wherein the waters and earth were created Gen. 1.13 And so by succession of an evening and morning was there a third day or 24. houres In creation of the elements God began in the top of the matter but in the elementaries he began in the bottome first creating the Mineralls and then the Plants For God is a God of order and so passeth on in his worke from imperfection to perfection I meane where there is a succession of parts otherwise God begins with the best first For the Lord did not in the vniverse as men doe in building rake first in the earth to lay the foundation and adde the roofe last but he first laid on the roofe and last of all came to the foundation First heaven then fire next ayre and last of all water and earth Yet being the God of Art followed an exact methode in all for being come to the earth hee first makes things spring then moue after spring moue and walke by sense Lastly as an Epitome of all the rest he comes to man which growes moues walkes and aboue all the rest liues by reason Q. What is the Creation of the lights A. Whereby he made them in the element of fire with a motiue life to runne round carrying the same side still forward that they may bring light vpon the earth and separate betweene day and night and be for fignes and seasons dayes and yeeres Gen. 1.14.15 Iob 38.31.32.33 Psal 8.2.4 Psal 19.2.3.4.5.6.7 and 136.7.8.9 Ier. 31.35 Amos. 5.8 c. False and fabulous Phylosophie makes this doctrine a wonder and they that bring Moses to Aristotle laugh at this lesson Starres to liue is against reason for they are not nourished neither doe they increase or generate c. I may reply againe vpon Divines from Moses by a probable argument they were created after liuing things therefore they haue life c. Aristotles obiection is easily answered
Life consisting in the moysture of ayre is to be nourished not in the spirit of fire Animall spirits if they were not generated of the vitall and daily restored by them they might liue by their fiery nature as well as starres Let this then be granted that all elementarie soules are either the formall spirits of the ayre or fire and then starres hauing the one and not the other may liue without nourishment The influences of the Starres are as vitall as the animall spirits in man and both comfort and beget life c. Againe their motion shewes they liue for nothing is moued from place to place without it If God and Moses may be heard Phylosophers shall easily haue their mouthes stopped Scripture euery where testifieth of the motion of the Starres Which must either be by counsell or nature or violence or fortune Not by counsell for their motion is regular and alwayes the same and this were sufficient to proue the cause next vnder God to be naturall But the opinion is they are moued by the externall force of Angels as a wheele by a dog or a Crane by walking men I reade indeed that the Angels are ministring spirits for the good of the elect but no where in Gods booke that they turne the wheeles of heaven And againe the light being common to good and bad the good Angels should minister daily as well for reprobates as Gods elect But to still all cackling in this cause let the Text cleare it selfe Gen. 1.14.15.16.17.18 That which God saw to be good answers Gods intention in his motion to his end Therefore the Starres had so much by their creation that they were able to devide giue light rule dayes and nights the which they were vnable to doe without motion God therefore gaue them a power to moue that they might obtaine these ends which if they should assume from any other then God would argue the imperfection of his owne worke It may well be thought they receiue this life in their centers as other things doe in the circumference For being round heat and spirit will most vnite themselues within as in a silver spoone turne the hollow side to the fire and it will be very hot But in plaine bodies heat is receiued in a cleane contrary fashion as in Andyrons where they be round are very cold but where they be plaine they be very hot and will burne soone Starres therefore are round like globes that heat may the better center in them and make them the more actiue and liuely in their motion Why they should neither ascend nor descend is their equall temper with the place where they stay Why they moue round is the actiue spirit and soule that will not suffer them to rest It is said of the Sunne Psal 19.4.5.6 that God hath set him a tabernacle or proper place out of which he cannot goe and yet he comes out of the chambers thereof and in the strength of his motiue spirit reioyceth to runne his race not tumble it as some dreame for running a brest in the fire hee pusheth and shoueth it from him that nothing can be hid from his heat light His circuit is from one end of heaven to another and by his quicke dispatch euery day either drawes a little nearer or goes a little farther off not that at any time he comes nearer the earth but by fleeting a little his chambers he comes sometime in the yeere to dwell more directly over our heads then other He devids night and day euery 24. houres with vs and by running from one point to another the whole yeere And it is as naturall to the Sunne to runne a circuit euery day as another in a whole yeere not that he is pulled contrary wayes by two diverse orbes but that which he doth euery day in part that hee doth wholly and completely in a yeare Now the part and the whole may agree in the same motion and euery dayes race is but a part of the whole yeeres course which the Sunne may as truely keepe in the whole as in the parts and that without all contrary motions But seeing euery man will fancie his owne fiction I leaue this without all further prosecution Q. How many sort of Starres haue we A. Two The greater and the lesser not for quantitie of bodie but qualitie of light for the originall word Meoroth is Makers of light Luminaries shiners And so the Sunne and Moone are greatest as giuing to the earth the greatest quantitie of light How great the Starres are is a coniecture and guesse at the iust proportion of any one yet they are very bigge and it is evident that the Sunne is bigger then the earth by the Eclipses and because it enlightneth more then halfe the earth at once Gen. 1.16 Q. What are the greater A. The Sunne and the Moone These two cast downe the greatest light vpon the face of the earth Genesis 1.16 Psal 104.19 Q. What is the Creation of the Sunne A. Whereby he made it to rule the day c. And it is called the greater light because it darkens all Starres by his shining yea and casts light in the face of them all hence the Moone which hath such a changeable light receiues her splendor from the Sunne according to that face which is opposite to the body of the Sunne for the one halfe of it is ever illuminated and illustrated by the same and in receiuing and casting downe that light seemes to haue spots in her face Gen. 1.16 Psal 19.5.6 Q What is the creation of the Moone A. Whereby it was made to rule the night Gen. 1.16 Yet shee hath the assistence of the Starres for her selfe is often absent in the night Q. What are the lesser lights A. The Starres Gen. 1.16 These carry downe a lesser quantitie of light yet if it were not for them our nights would be palpable darkenesse which is the greatest enemy to the eye for it is a comfortable thing to see the light Eccl. 11.7 Q. When were all these made A. In the fourth day euening and morning succeeding as before in the compasse of 24. houres Gen. 1.19 Q. What is the creation of things with a compound life A. Whereby they were made not onely with a growing and mouing life but also with sense externall and internall the one serving as glasse windowes for the other The first sense which is most necessary is our feeling and is dispersed through the whole body excepting the bones and sinewes Bones are the sustentacles of our bodies and therefore would be painfull to vs if they were tender of feeling The sinewes they are the organs and instruments and carry in them the sensitiue spirits and man is most ticklish where his skin is thinnest With the tips of the fingers Physitians feele their patients as being most sensible of the pulses motion The tangible obiects are heat cold drought and moysture principally secondarily the qualities that hence arise Tast is next
the third day then by his ascending into heauen and sitting at the right hand of God his coming to Judge quicke dead holy Ghost of the Church which is holy Catholicke whose benefits are in this life Communion of Saints foriuenesse of sinnes in the life to come Resurrection of the body Life euerlasting The workes of faith The Law the rule of holinesse which is the worship of God Table 1. who is to be worshipped alone Commandment 1. with his owne worship 2. which must be handled with all reuerence 3. leanred with all diligence 4. Iustice which is our dutie to man Table 2. In speciall our Parents Commandement 5. general when we must preserue life Commandment 6. then his chastitie 7. and goods 8. good name 9. with the whole man 10. and prayer where there is a reuerend place whose parts are eyther petition where we craue graces Spiritiall The Hallowing of his name 1. or the enlargemēt of his kīgdome 2. doing of his will as in heauen so in earth 3. Temporall the giuing of vs our daily bread this day 4. deprecation Forgiuenesse of sinnes as we orgiue others 5. Not to be deliuered into temptation but deliuered from euill 6 thankesgiuving wherein we acknowledge that to God belongeth for ever The gouernment of all things for thine is the kingdome as also power glory the shutting vp thereof Amen Sacraments Baptisme The Lords Supper ⧠The Catechisme defined and distributed CHAPTER I. Of Faith in God Question WHat inducements to Religion are prefixed before your Catechisme Answere Foure first the giuing vp of my name to God in Baptisme and that in the dreadfull name of Father Sonne and holy Ghost Secondly that being not able to giue it vp my selfe it was done by others according to the auncient custome of the Church ever conioyning Baptisme and confession together Math. 3.6 Aug. epist 24. Papists would haue it to contract spirituall kindred but surely it maketh honest loue amongst neighbours Thirdly they that gaue it vp for me did promise in my name that I should liue according to Religion Fourthly I beleeue in conscience that I am bound to performe what they haue promised Thus because I am Gods and bound to him by sureties vowes promises and Conscience it selfe It is my dutie being now come to yeares of discretion to learne to beleeue in him and obey him Q. What then is Religion A. It is the acknowledgement of the truth which is after godlinesse Tit. 1.1 Q. What are the parts A. Faith and workes the summe of the one is contained in the Creed of the other in the ten Commandements Lords Prayer and the Sacraments Tit. 3.8 Q. What is Faith A. A confidence in God grounded vpon knowledge Ioh. 16.30 We know and by this beleeue Q. How is faith grounded vpon knowledge A. In regard of God and his Church the maker of the Covenant and the people with whom it is made Ier. 31.33 Q. How in respect of God A. As we beleeue in one God and three persons for our happinesse Ioh. 14.1 Q. How in one God A. In respect of nature essence and being Deut. 4.35 Q. How in three persons A. Three in regard of divine relation or reall respects in that one most pure essence Math. 28.19 Q. What is the essence A. That whereby God is of himselfe the most absolute and first being Isa 41.4 Q. What is a person A. That one pure God with the relation of a Father Sonne and holy Ghost 1 Ioh. 5.7 Q. Doth the relation adde any thing to the essence A. Nothing but respect or relation as Abraham the Father of the faithful hath the same nature as he is a Father and as he is a man Q. What is the Relation A. It is either to send or be sent and both these are done either by nature or counsell Ioh. 15.26 the spirit proceedeth from the Father and Sonne by nature and is sent to vs by counsell Q. Is there no other Relation A. Yes either to beget or be begotten and the Father begets his onely Sonne by nature and the rest of his children by Counsell Heb. 1.3 Iam. 1.18 A man hauing the relation of a Father is said to beget Children by nature or counsell as adopted children are freely begotten not of the bodie but the will Iam. 1.18 Of his owne will beget he vs not so his onely Sonne who is as naturall to his Father as burning to the fire and as Isaac to Abraham Q. What then is the first person A. God the Father who by nature begets his Sonne and by his counsell creats the world Heb. 1.2.5 Q. What is the propertie of the Father A. To beget and not to be begotten Ioh. 3.16 Q. What is his manner of subsisting A. To be the first person for the begetter is before the begotten and yet being Relatiues they are together in nature for no man is a Father before he haue a sonne though in order the Father be first Q. What is the Fathers worke A. Creation for I beleeue in him as maker of heauen and earth and the reason is because he is the first person to whom the first worke belongs Q. What is Creation A. A worke of the Father who of himselfe by his sonne and spirit makes the world of nothing exceeding Good Gen. 1.31 Heb. 1.3 Q. What is giuen to the Father in respect of Creation A. Almightie power for the Father in himselfe is pure act which act is power as it may be felt of his creatures which are in power to be Q. What is omnipotencie A. It is that whereby the Father is able to doe all that he doth and more then he doth if it contradict not his owne nature or the nature of things Q. How is Creation divided A. Into heauen and earth Gen. 1.1 Q. What meane you by heauen A. The third heauen with the Angels both which were made perfect in the very first beginning of time Gen. 1.1 Q. What meane you by earth A. All that matter which was closed and compassed about with the third heauen and was made at the same instant with it to prohibite keepe out vacuitie or emptinesse and fill vp the whole compasse of it otherwise the parts of themselues would haue fallen together to haue kept out that enemy of nature Gen. 1.1 Q. Are we to vnderstand no more by earth then that first matter A. Yes wee are to vnderstand the forming of it into the foure elements fire ayre water and earth as likewise the filling of it and them with inhabitants both aboue and below as also the providence of the Father in preseruing and governing of them all to their ends and vses for the Father carries the worke according to his proper manner of working vntill we come to Redemption and there the Sonne takes it vpon him in a peculiar manner Q. What is the second person A. The Sonne who is begotten of the Father by nature and by counsell redeemes mankind Q. What is the Relatiue
to the fruits qualitie to the seeds temper to the seasons God therefore that can doe all is the best husbandman Man therefore that hath expired his first life must haue God to inspire him againe or else hee cannot liue And this will appeare in the very name wee giue our rule Religion is to tie againe Our loue to God like the new cords of Sampson was quickly snapt asunder God therfore that he might bind vs to himselfe by a stronger cord hath chosen the grace of faith to revnite vs againe to himselfe And so Religion hath his notation from the first part of our rule which is faith in God Or else may it take his denomination from the second part which is obedience towards God The law that was to be read by creation was obliterated and in a manner scraped our by corruption but now againe by religion is written in our hearts Ier. 31.33 and so is to be read againe Life consists in vnion and action now by faith wee haue the one and by the law we performe the other The rule of life is called Diuinitie in regard of God the end of it Theologie in regard of the subiect matter 1. Pet. 4.11 logia Theou words of God but of all names this comes neerest the forme of our Art which signifies either our tying againe to God or reading againe the things of God This bond is the surest Isa 54.10 Ier. 32.40 And this booke is the plainest Deut. 30.14 Rom. 10.8 For as faith binds vs to God so it giues and gaines such power from him as wee may walke acceptably before him Luke 1.74 And here we see how pittifull and plentiful a God we haue in raising of vs from corruption to greater perfection then ever we enioyed by creation This second bond is invincible for so it becomes the Almightie to proceed in his workes He that hath shewed man what he can doe for himselfe shall now see what God can doe for him And God were not faithfull if there were either finall or fatall Apostasie from a iustifying faith It is folly to imagine that God should goe from one imperfection to another Loue was for try-all faith is for trust God hath tried the weaknesse and wickednesse of our loue It is now for vs to trust him vpon the faith of our saluation Water cannot suddenly be cleared but with leisure and by degrees and some time must necessarily be required to beare and beate backe those abuses wherunto we haue a long time beene envred Time and industry will eate euen thorow Marbles Giue God credence and he will in his due time giue thee riddance of all the rubbish of thy sinnes But to this our owne safety our owne sedulitie is required for as it is in vaine Psal 127.1 for men to watch except God keepe the citie so will it be in vaine for God to keepe except wee watch The husbandman must not burne his Plough or the Marchant neglect his Trade because God hath said I will not forsake thee Father keepe them in thy name Ioh. 17.11 doth not intimate that wee should be carelesse to keepe our selues Indeed till the Lord inspire wee but lamely and blindly re-aspire to any good We liue groaping as the Sodomites after lifes doore and hauing wearied our selues goe away wanting the thing we both wished and waited for Take away the Sunne from the world and the soule from the body and earth becomes earth as it was at the first Gen. 1.2 So sever God from the soule and what is man but a dead carrion All the elements and elementaries lighten and darken coole and warme die and reviue as the Sunne presents or absents it selfe from them so wee liue or die feele or faint as the Sunne of righteousnesse parts or revnites himselfe vnto vs. Whereby we are taught that primarily and principally we liue by God as the soule of our soules and secondarily by faith as the Spirits The bond of soule and body here is that heat or heauenly breath that knitts God and man together in an indivisible and insoluble knott If the Lyons Dan. 6.16 ravenous beasts by nature and made keene with hunger adore the flesh of a faithfull man shall any worldly thing change his heart alter his affection or Gods to him Rom. 8. the earth shall sooner shake the pillars of the world tremble the countenance of heauen apale the Sunne loose his light the Moone her beautie the Starres their glory c. then a man knit to God by Religion be once seperated from him againe The fire hath proclaimed it selfe vnable so much as to singe an haire of the head of the godly Dan. 3.27 Thus then you see how Religion may put vs in minde of the wonderfull mercy of God Now heare how it remembers vs of our wofull misery we are found of God as rotten roots without any life or vertue as barren ground bringing forth no fruit but sinne shame and damnation As a dead body or decaying bough cut off from the tree perishing and withering to nothing yea wee are so much more miserable by how much wee were once more excellent and eminent The more vnnaturall any qualitie is the more extreame will it be a cold win de from the South is intollerable and the purest wine becomes the sharpest vineger The few sparkes of good that lie couered vnder heapes of cold ashes are no wayes able t kindle the fire of a godly life no not so much as to giue a glimmering light to lead to heauen The wisest Philosophers never so much as ghessed at this Art the doctrine of it never came within the fadome of their reason If they few any thing it was a farre off even as heauen it selfe vpon which they looked with desire and admiration knowing not the right way thither Natures skill is something in the end nothing in the meanes It hath taught without controlement that there is a blessednesse for man to seeke after but what or where was remoued from their Academie assuring vs that not Athens but Ierusalem must reach vs this lesson The wisest Ethnick doth but as S. Peter speaketh Mnoopazein see glimmeringly and vncertainly in this Theame 2. Pet. 1.9 And like Zebul in holy Story either take men for mountaines or mountaines for men Iudg. 9.36 and for inconstancy like Absolon and the Elders of Israel come off and on in their opinions and alwayes beleeues the worst Sometimes the counsell of Achitophell is approued and then presently the aduice of Hushai the Archite is a great deale better 2. Sam. 17.4.14 The Barbarians almost with one breath curse and blesse the Apostle Act. 28.6 Shall we therefore praise nature or trust it in this No wee prayse it not With what presumption hath it vndertaken to write bookes of the soules tranquilitie but that must needs be performed with much imperfection which is practised without a rule Sundry capricious fancies and fables are handsomly framed glued together by morall Philosophie
Lastly hauing neither matter nor forme he wants all terms and limitations of essence and therefore as most simple so most infinite in being For end God is endlesse being neither for any other or hauing any other better then himselfe and therefore the chiefe good and by communication our good and so to be desired aboue all Math. 19.17 Psal 63.7.11 and 73.25 and 18.1.2 How easie is it now for Christians to insult over worldlings that thinke themselues worthy of enuie and to turne off their darling with a scornefull repulse What if it make vs the Devils proffer All these will I giue you Can wee not returne S. Peters answere Thy siluer and gold perish with thee He alone that is caussesse shall cause mee the happinesse I expect looke and long for Q. What followes from hence that God is without accidents A. That he is both Aposes without quantitie and Apoios without qualitie In regard of the first hee is neither augmented nor diminished of the second neither altered nor changed Euen to your old age I am he and euen to heare haires will I carry you Isa 46.4 I am the Lord I change not therefore yee sonnes of Iacob are not consumed Mal. 3.6 By this I see that all things here below are as farre from sinceritie as continuance if they were sweete as the ioyes aboue yet how should their ficklenesse coole our delights and make vs esteeme these drams of honey lost in pounds of gall and guile We laugh at their choice that are in loue with the deformed and what a face is this we now dove vpon See if our sinnes cares and crosses haue not like a filthy morphew over-spread it and made it loathsome in comparison of the beautie of the Creator to all iudicious eyes I marvaile then that we should thus loue what woe cannot hold and for a shadow of a smoake and a dreame of a shadow leaue him whose light is neither variable nor shadowed with turning Iam. 1.17 Here then if wee will be wise Marchants thristie and happie vsurers let vs part with that which wee can nor keepe that we may gaine him whom wee cannot loose These cottages of ours haue beene ruinous a long time and the worse for their accidents and yet like fooles wee haue not thought of their fall Lord giue mee grace to leane vpon thee then shall my fall be easie and my rest endlesse Oh thou which art out of the power of others over power mee to the obedience of thy selfe Q. What will follow from Gods essence in the last place A. That God is one most pure and meere act that is his being and action are all one thing For as his essence is absolute so is his working There is never a creature but hee worketh by qualities and so his act is first in the power of them The fire warmes not without heat neither doth man vnderstand without reason a Bird might as easily flee without wings and fire ascend without lightnesse as the creature produce his actions without facultie and power thereunto And hereupon it followeth that passion and resistence are incident to all his workes The very Deuils suffer and are resisted of God and how soever their motion is too swift to be stricken or slayed by corporall instruments yet God is quicke enough for them to make them both feele and feare the dint of his sword God therefore being so absolute an act must needs haue his being and doing all one Iob. 5.17 My father worketh hitherto and I worke which shewes that Gods act is eternall and so creation as an act is from God hath no beginning as a passion in the creature is measured by time In regard of the first wee call him a pure and meere act In regard of the second omnipotent being able to make nothing as well as some thing feele his worke which before could not be perceiued And therefore omnipotencie or Almightie power is not giuen to God in regard of himselfe but his creatures which may feele that hand which before was vnfelt Againe Gods being and act being all one thing hee must needs doe all things by his essence which is purely one Hence God is the Archetype or first draught of euery eminent act In which respect it must needs be of soueraigne vse for the discouering and reforming of whatsoeuer error time hath soyled his actions withall How are defaced copies and dissigured pictures better amended then by reducing them to their originall If the pipe fayle goe wee not to the head O that his acts were set as a frontlet betweene the eyes as a seale vpon the hearts of all his followers Ought not all our actions to be as branches of this root Surely this is the cleare head-spring of all other ensuing brookes and as little streames empty themselues into great rivers and they againe into the Sea so must all runne to this maine Venerable it is for the very antiquitie of it Considering therefore what price men doe set vpon old copies coynes and statues Ignat ad Marian Cassob and that none will passe by a chrystall fountaine bearing some auncient name or date but will taste thereof though no thirst provokes him I could not well passe over this leafe without some lesson for mine owne learning If any haue passed a longer way with more happy fruit of observation I desire hee would not spare in some part to report the excellency of this travell But to keepe me within the sphere of my profession He that is so pure an act must needs bee without all passion and resistence A pure act cannot suffer Iob 9.4 Rom. 9.19 because it wants that power which should submit it to another neither can it be resisted for that which is over-powered suffers in resisting which to a meere act is impossible And whereas God sayes Amos. 2.13 I am pressed vnder you as a Cart is pressed that s full of sbeaues His meaning is that their sinne was so intollerable and waightie that it was time to ease himselfe of it by due punishment Amos. 2.14.15.16 not suffering the swift to escape by flight or the strong by force as the next verses shew O then the misery of all those that will needs be rich with iniury and grow great by being conscious of secret evils Wealth and honour without God when they are at the best are scarce our friends but at the worst our tormentors Alas alas how ill agrees a gay coat and a festred heart What availes an high title with an hell in the soule These are they that must suffer Sinne owes them a spite and will pay them home when they least thinke of it yea when they are least able to beare it I will therefore preferre all the afflictions of Gods Isreal Heb. 11.25 before these pleasures of AEgypt and choose rather to eat the lambe Christ with these sowre herbes then all these flesh-pots of sinne Let me be miserable so I be not guilty
preexistent matter or forgoing principles They are not immediately composed but first they haue a matter and then a forme and then their owne being or existing And as time dis-ioynes these things so they are subiect to change with time Gen. 1.2 Out of the voyde and vnformed earth came all inconstant and mutable creatures 2. Pet. 3.5 The earth that now is is sayd to stand out of that Chaos which Gen. 1.2 is called earth water c. This by conversion is as well the ground of confusion as of composition Out of a confusion are they compounded and may by conversion be confounded againe into it Q. What followeth hereupon A. That they are by nature returnable into their former principles and so of a corruptible nature 2 Pet. 3.6 The world that then was perished being over-flowed with the waters that is all that breathed Gen. 7.22 Euery thing vnder the Sunne passeth away Eccl. 1.4 And at the last day the elements with all their inhabitants shall be destroyed 2. Pet. 3.10 As it were a resolution being made into the first Chaos againe as may seeme what a hell were it for a man to be an inhabitant of that first earth The holy Ghost testifieth 2. Pet. 3.7 that the heavens and the earth which are now are kept in store and reserved for fire and perdition of vngodly men at the last day Good reason they should be punished where they sinned and with those creatures they haue abused A fearefull hell to haue all turned into the first Chaos with an addition of the fire of Gods vengeance As if that first matter were then to be formed and filled with nothing but the extremities of Gods curses At the first it was formed and adorned as a Palace and Paradise for man then shall it be left as a dungeon and noysome prison for the torture and torment of all wretched and wicked persons Onely the third heauen with the inhabitants thereof shall then be in blisse and blessed felicitie Q. How manifold is this creation A. It is eyther of the elements or the elementaries Gen. 2.1 Heauen and earth were finished with the host of them All that are placed aboue in the fire and the ayre or below in the waters and the earth are elementaries being composed out of those foure elements and are as the host of this inferiour world Q. What is the creation of the elements A. Whereby he made them of a precedent matter with their formes immediately of nothing That is the matter or earth without forme receiued into euery part and portion of it a simple formation without all mixture yet so that it was formed into foure bodies essentially distinguished which are most simple as hauing nothing in them but one common matter with foure distinct formes immediately created of nothing hence they are in themselues the greatest opposits as fire to water and ayre to earth The maine opposites are fire and water which stickle and striue together and are moderated and compounded by the two other When water would quench the fire earth steps in and helpes to abate his moysture And when fire would dry vp his moysture ayre secondeth the water and prepares a radicall moysture to feed the fire a little longer When the coldnesse of water takes off the edge of heat then ayre with his mild heat helpeth his fellow And when fire over-masters the coldnesse of water then earth checks him and abates his fury whence ariseth all elementaries receiuing the common matter and formes of the elements much abated and moderated after their striuing and strugling together and therefore are not so vehemently opposite and contrary in themselues Gen. 1.3 Let there bee light which was the first simple forme that was put into the common matter ver 6. Let there be an expanse or spreading which was next added to light as his fittest neighbour ver 9. Let there be gatherings or waters which contained the third simple forme came as next fellow to the ayre for so God had appointed that by placing it betweene two great adversaries it might be a friend to both ver 9. Let the dry appeare which comes lowest in ranke and gaue the matter the fourth simple forme Thus heat and cold moysture and drinesse did runne through the first common matter which intertaines them all and giues them leaue to diffuse themselues one into another for further mixture and composition Q. But may these things be handled in Divinitie A. Yes because wee so farre speake of them as they concerne creation which is proper to this Art And our rule is this that where Creation endeth nature beginneth and generation succeeds it as in imitation of Gods first composition God by his omnipotent hand giues to euery thing his being and then sets it a worke by his owne nature and vertue Aristotle knew a first matter but he confesseth he had it from Plato and he from the Aegyptians and they from Moses Yet he erred in many things for want of Divinitie beginning onely with nature where creation had ended his worke First he was ignorant that the first matter was of nothing Secondly that it stood certaine houres without a forme Thirdly that all the formes it receiued were immediately of nothing Fourthly that all this was done in time and that there was nothing in the world eternall but the maker of it Gen. 1.1.2 The earth was a subiect of contrary formes and therefore preexistent Q. What is that first matter of all inconstant things A. It was a thing which God made of nothing in the beginning of the first day without forme and voyd and so by his spirit miraculously sustained it for a certaine space Gen. 1.1.2 Q. What followes from hence A. That of it selfe it is permanent for being immediately of nothing it hath no power to worke vpon it but the same that made it therefore God alone can turne it into nothing from whence he brought it and this is the reason why the first matter and foure first formes are not resolved though all things may be resolved into them For in generation and corruption as they begin here to take new formes so here they leaue them againe And death though a privation of life yet it hath no power to annihilate his contrary and therefore as nature begins where creation ends so creation at the last day will begin againe where nature hath ended I meane in our resurrection euery man receiuing againe those very peeces of the elements whereof he was made Iob. 19.27 2. Cor. 15.35.36.37.38 c. the very seed that is sowne dieth and riseth againe out of those very elements into which nature resolueth it springeth it againe Q. When was it made A. In the first beginning of time or the evening of the first day hence it is co-etaneall and of the same time and age with the third heaven and the Angels Gen. 1.1 And the reason was to hinder a vacuitie in the large space and compasse of that highest heaven
things are composed betwixt a beginning and an ending and God is both Rev. 1.8 As they are of him so likewise without him would they returne againe to nothing he therefore preserues them and because they are for him he guides and governes them all to the ends he hath appointed them And yet this is done by severall rules he giues them all A man makes a Pen and then writes with it it may well be said that the Pen writes and the maker writes so God made all and framed them by his wisedome and the very Art of God still remaining in his creatures teacheth them all obedience to the hand that goes with them Q. What are the kinds A. Two common and speciall the one is as the Common-law in a kingdome the other as the municipall or priviledged lawes of Corporations The one is the law of Nature whereby all creatures are governed the other of Divinitie whereby men and Angels are ordered to an eternall estate Psal 8.1.3.4.5.6 c. Excellent in all but passing excellencie in men and Angels Psal 19.1.2.3 c. The line and language of the heauens teacheth Gods government but vers 7. the law of life exceeds all other perfection Psal 139.14 Marveilous are Gods workes but aboue all fearefull and wonderfull is man both in his making and moderating Q. What is the common government A. Whereby he governeth all things by a common course or vniversall law Psal 10.1.19 The Sunne knoweth his going downe And here come in those excellent instincts of nature wherein creatures shew the reason of their government to be more in God then themselues The Ant or Pismire prepares her meat in the Summer Prov. 30.25 And yet shee knowes nothing but the present furthermore she bites the little grains she gathereth at both ends least it should grow in her store-house What reason in the world of this and many more in the brute creatures can be given but that the great law-giuer is the agent of these things c. Q. What it Gods speciall government A. Whereby he governeth some speciall creatures vnto an eternall estate as Angels and men Prov. 16.4 Almightie God hath two sorts of vertues to manifest in his creation and providence First intellectuall Secondly morall No creatures but men and Angels are capable of the latter The manifold works of God shew his excellent wisedome or the vertues of vnderstanding Psal 104.24 Onely men Angels can shew forth his Iustice Mercy the vertues of his will For this end he created them and by a speciall law governes them thereunto and that which is done by law will iustifie it selfe against all exceptions Prov. 15.3 Q. How manifold was that eternall estate A. Two-fold either of happinesse or misery Rom. 9.18 He hath mercy on whom he will and whom he will he hardneth Be assured the Lord will be as vnblameable in the one as in the other Q. Whence doth this felicitie or infelicitie acrew to the reasonable creatures A. By the good pleasure or displeasure of Almightie God It was possible for men and Angels to please God and be happy and also possible to displease him and be miserable And both these were to be acted by the law for it is the law that makes vs blessed or cursed and man might so handle the matter that he might act whether part he pleased and yet his destruction come from himselfe though in life the law should haue beene a principall agent A chest is made for linnen or other clothes and it is combustible but the burning of it comes not from the Carpenters Art c. So man is mutable and subiect to fall yet his falling no wayes ariseth from his Creator Gen. 2.17 and 3.7 Q. What is here to be considered A. Mans fearefull apostasie and happie Anastasie his fall and returne to God Providence first governes man in his aversion from God and this is of all secondly in his conversion againe and this is of some Gal. 3.22 The Scripture concludes all vnder sinne that the promise of Christ might be to beleeuers Rom. 11.32 Luk. 1.78.79 CHAPTER XVII Of Mans Apostasie Question VVHat is the Apostasie Answere That fall of the Creature from the government of God or his obedience therevnto in so much that as now he standeth he cannot please God but displease him continually Gen. 3.6 and 6.5 Isa 59.2 Gal. 3.10 Marke where man fell not in his conservation for his being and action are continued but government his action swarving from the line of Gods law and it was nothing but as it were the turning of the wheele the contrary way so that now the whole man is exorbitant in his courses and altogether opposite to his government like Iobs wild Asse in the desert or as Amos his Horse that will runne vpon the rockes Amos 6.12 Q. Of whom was this Apostasie A. Of some Angels and of all men in the first man Iud ver 6. Gen. 3.6 Rom. 3.10 Ioh. 8.44 angels and men were governed in their first fall God sending the one to try the other Man was to try the Angels whether they would at Gods command minister for his good and they againe man whether he would listen more to Gods law or their rebellion Q. What are the things to be observed in this Apostasie A. The transgression and the propagation of it Rom. 5.12 By one man sinne entred into the world Here is the head or spring one man the streame or flood sinne the channell entred the sea or Ocean into which it fell the world Rom. 5.18.19 Q. What is the transgression A. The eating of the forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evill Gen. 2.17 which was a great offence both in regard of God his law and Sacrament He was bound to loue God aboue all who gaue him the vse of all trees onely he forbids him this even as he loued him not to eate thereof Againe the rule of good and evill was the whole law of mans life And therefore here was not a partiall but an vniversall breach of all the branches of obedience And lastly he in contempt of God and his goodnesse plucked off the seale of the covenant for God placed that tree with the other in the very midst of the Garden as a visible signe and Sacrament of his obedience Man was changeably good and therefore as he was to haue a Sacrament to seale his constant estate in goodnesse if he persisted and continued in the loue of God which was the tree of life so on the contrary if he should leaue off to serue God then should he haue sealed vnto him the assurance of his change from good to evill and this was by the tree of the knowledge of good and evill Thus it pleased God to deale with man either in regard of obedience or disobedience Blessed be God wee haue a better tree of life to seale our perfect obedience in another and two Sacraments to put vs out of all danger of death
himselfe from the slaine of it Q. What is Gods holinesse A. Whereby being pure from sinne in himselfe he cannot away with it in his creatures Psal 5.4 Isa 6.3 Q. What is his Iustice A. Whereby being most iust in himselfe he cannot but execute iustice as in well doing to them that doe well so in afflicting punishment on them that doe evill As prayse and price to the one so all woe and want to the other Rom. 2.6.7.8.9.10 Exod 20.5.6 The iustice of God as it seemes to burne more remissely against sinne is called anger as more sharply wrath furthermore as it sentenceth iudgement and as it executeth the same revenge This holinesse and justice were in God from all eternitie yet till now no matter of manifesting them They inquire after iniquitie and take hold of sinne and burne against it yet with wonderfull moderation first God seemes but to be angry and as it were chids with the sinner then he growes into iust rage and strikes the sinner Rev. 3.19 After rebuke followes correction and whom words will not reclaime wounds must weary and if gentler chastisements will not worke then by severitie and extremitie he breakes in peeces the sinner He can chastise them with Scorpions that will not be moued with whips 1. Kin. 12.11 Q. What is his mercie A. Whereby he vseth compassion also towards his creatures offending Gen. 6.3 and 8.21 Psal 78.38.39 Mercie is more common then grace for he pitties all though he but receiue some againe into favour He feeds the filthy as well as the faithfull with his hid treasures and makes his sunne to shine and his raine to fall vpon the iust and vniust He vouchsafeth them ill deserving common mercies that they might seeke to him for more speciall graces Thus mercie is offered before the sentence be executed then iustice which was all this time burning flames out vpon sinners that would not come at his call Q. How manifold is this mercie A. His clemencie and bountie God is both gentle and kind to all sinners mild in mercie and bountifull in his benefits Rom. 2.9.2 Chron. 36.15 Isa 55.7.8.9 Q. What is his gentlenesse or clemencie A. Whereby in iustice he remembreth mercie kindly inviting sinners to repentance Ezek. 18.23 and 33.11 Psal 103.8.9 The Lord will heare the cry of the poore because he is gracious or kind Exod. 22.27 Q. Wherein doth it appeare A. In his patience and long sufferance He beares the reproches of sinners and a while stayes and waites for their repentance Erech appajim in Hebrew is one that hath a long nose and it is frequently giuen to God for his patience and longanimitie The nose is the seat of anger and a long one is not easily contracted God is slow in frowning vpon sinners and he is hardly provoked Num. 14.18 Psal 86.13 and 103.8 and 145.8 â—oel 2.13 Nah. 1.3 Ion. 4.2 Rom. 2.4 and 3.25 and 9.22 1 Pet. 3.20 2 Pet. 3.15 These places say not that God is without anger or wrath but that he is not easily quickly or rashly mooued thereunto Q. What is his patience A. Whereby he beares the reproches of sinners and deferres their punishments he doth not presently step forth as a mightie enemy to be revenged of such as provoke him Psal 50.21 God is silent when he is patient Act. 17.30 and dissembles the time when hee forgets not the sinne Rom. 3.25 A forbearance till the appearance of iustice Rom. 9.22 Lenitie to prevent all extremitie of iust anger Q. What is his long sufferance A. Whereby in bearing he expecteth a long time for repentance Isa 55.7 65.2 Law 3.22 Eccl. 8.11 Ioel 2.12.13 1 Pet. 3.9.15 God doth waite and put out the hand for to receiue sinners yet let vs beware for he that doth alwayes giue pardon to repenters will not ever giue repentance to the sinner at what time soeuer a sinner repents he shall find mercy but if once the long sufferance of God be over wee cry too late Ere vengeance begin repentance is seasonable but if judgement be once gone out there is no hope of pardon While the Gospell sollicites vs the doores of the Arke are open if wee neglect the time of grace in vaine shall we seeke it with teares God holds it no mercy to pittie the obstinate He gaue an hundreth and twentie yeares respite of repenting before the deluge and if the old world had not beene wilfull it should never haue beene so wasted with waues and waters How loath is he to strike that threats so long Surely he that giues so long warnings desires to be prevented Swine fore-seeing a storme runne home crying for shelter Lyons Tygres and Beares by an instinct from God came to seeke the Arke onely men refuse to be saued thus reason once debauched is worse then brutishnesse 1 Pet. 3.20 Q. What is Gods bountifulnesse A. Whereby he being rich in mercie powreth forth his good gifts vpon his sinfull creatures notwithstanding they offend him Math. 5.45 Adam after he was fallen had diverse houres to bethinke himselfe of his misery for God came late vnto him Gen. 3.8 God gaue him life and time to repent yet he sought not for grace till God came to call vpon him It may probably be coniectured that Eue was created in the after-noone of the sixt day all the fore-noone being employed in the creation of the beasts and man himselfe the placing of him in Paradise the bringing of the creatures vnto him as their Lord the appellation of them and the not finding of a companion for Adam amongst them all Adam therefore hauing beene thus busied as was Abraham Gen. 15.10.11.12 even at the height of the Sunne as he at the fall fell into a dead and deepe sleepe and after his awaking had the woman brought vnto him and shee was giuen vnto him for his wife And it was the coole of the day when God came againe to them both which the Hebrewes interpret of the even-tide and the Greeke version followes it and S. Ambrose giues the reason for that man came late to his repentance God as before so now trying him whether he would come to a sight of his sinne which he should before haue prevented It is also probable that when God had ended his workes and left man some preparation for the Sabboth he sent his Angels to be their companions and to trie them both together in the sanctification of his name for all his workes and benefits now bestowed vpon them They being met together are so farre from hollowing the name of God that presently they fall to the prophanation of it and before the day of confirmation was come had lost all yea and were so destitute of all vnderstanding as they had not so much grace left them as to call to God for mercie O the bountie of our Creator that would come himselfe after he had waited a time and call them all to an account and enter with man into a further covenant of grace and