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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
authority_n	call_v	king_n	power_n	5,457	5	5.0386	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A75616	Armilla catechetica. A chain of principles; or, An orderly concatenation of theological aphorismes and exercitations; wherein, the chief heads of Christian religion are asserted and improved: by John Arrowsmith, D.D. late master both of St Johns and Trinity-Colledge successively, and Regius professor of Divinity in the University of Cambridge. Published since his death according to his own manuscript allowed by himself in his life time under his own hand.	Arrowsmith, John, 1602-1659.	1659 (1659)	Wing A3772; Thomason E1007_1; ESTC R207935	193,137	525

is no Lord of our spirits but God alone who onely is greater then our hearts as St John speaketh 1 John 3. 20. This made the good Emperour History of the Bohemian persecutions English in 8º chap. 39. § 2. Maximilian the second say That whosoever assumed to himself a power over the consciences of men set himself down in the throne of God His son Rodolphus who succeeded him in the Empire resolved to walk in his fathers steps yet was once unhappily wrought upon by the subtlety Ibid. chap. 40. § 1. of the Jesuites to give way to the passing of an Edict for shutting up the Protestants Churches during some time But that very day news was brought him that Alba Regia the chief city he had in Hungary was taken by the Turks Whereupon in great astonishment he is reported to have said I Expectabam tale quid postquam hodie Dei regimen quod est conscient arum usurpa●e coeperam Joh. Laet. compend hist pag. 666. expected that some such mischief as this should befall me seeing this day I began to usurp the government belonging to God which is of consciences § 4. II. In point of unaccountableness The greatest Princes upon earth do or should govern by laws to the making whereof others concur as well as they But our God is a law to himself He onely can write upon his imperial Edicts My reason for it is my will Yet because Stat pro ratione voluntas of the holiness of his nature his will is always most just so as he never enacted any thing but what is in it self equal and reasonable although perhaps to our shallow understandings it may appear otherwise as to our eyes turrets and steeples how upright soever if their height be exceeding great do often seem crooked and look as if they stood awry which should deter us from censuring any of his Decrees or Dispensations as some great but unhallowed wits are wont to do of whom Luther maketh this sober and sad complaint They require that God act jure humano according Luther de servo arbitrio cap. 173. to what the sons of men do commonly account right and just or otherwise that he would cease to be God Tell not them of the secrets of his Sovereign Majesty let him render a reason of his being God if he speak do or will any thing but what appeareth equal to men Proud flesh cannot vouchsafe the God of heaven so much honour as to beleeve any thing to be good or right which is spoken or acted above what the Codex of Justinian or the fifth book of Aristotles Ethicks defineth to be just I confess indeed that God often condescendeth in his holy word to give men a reason of some proceedings and to clear them up to our understandings but it is more then he needeth to do more then we ought to expect in all cases It will therefore be our wisdome to forbear playing the Criticks upon his decrees and administrations considering that he alone is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unaccountable not to be called in question for any of his doings and always remembring that of Paul Nay but O man who art thou that Rom. 9. 20 21. repliest against God Hath not the potter power over the clay Together with that of Job God is greater then man why dost Job 33. 12 13. thou strive against him for he giveth not account of any of his matters § 5. Thirdly In point of Almightiness In the Princes of this world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Authority and Power are often severed their authority may be great when their power to manage it is but small David was King yet could not act as he desired for the sons of Zerviah were too strong for him But in God they always go hand in hand for the accomplishing of what his wisdome hath designed Therefore I called it Omnipotent Sovereignty I know Job 42. 2. saith Job that thou canst do every thing and that no thought can be withholden from thee meaning that God cannot be hindered in the execution or bringing to pass of whatsoever he hath in the thoughts and purposes of his heart The Angel to Mary With God nothing Luke 1. 37. shall be impossible Paul to the Ephesians He is able to do exceeding abundantly Ephes 3. 20. above all that we ask or think Other Scriptures may seem opposite to these but are not God that cannot lie Tit. 1. 2. He cannot denie himself saith St Paul For 2 Tim. 2. 1● answer to these and the like instances we must distinguish of Impossibles They are of two sorts Impossibilia naturae Voetius Disp Theol. part 1. 〈◊〉 109. and Impossibilia naturâ First there are divers things impossible indeed to nature such as in the ordinary course of secondary causes cannot be done which yet to God are most feaseable for example working of miracles giving sight to such as were born blinde raising up children to Abraham out of the very stones in the street Secondly Some other things are impossible not to nature onely but in nature and that either in reference to the nature of God when they are such as argue imperfection in the doer as to sin and to die or in respect to the nature of the things themselves when they are such as implie contradiction as for a creature to be made independent The former Si ista passet Deus non esset omnipotens Magna in Deo potentia est non posse mentiri August lib. 1. de Symbol cap. 1. of these God himself cannot do not through want but through height and abundance of power He cannot sin lie or deny himself and that because he is Omnipotent it is for impotent creatures to be liable unto such kinde of imperfections as these are Neither can he do the latter yet is it not through any defect of power in God that such things cannot be done but through want of capacity in the things which are simply impossible So then when we ascribe Almightiness to God the meaning is that whereever divine Understanding can be a principle of direction and divine will a principle of injunction there divine power can shew it self an able principle of execution Or in plainer terms That God can do whatsoever he will and the onely reason why things that do either argue imperfection or imply contradiction fall not within the compass of his power is because they are such as for want of goodness or entity cannot become objects of his will § 6. Now if the perfection of God be so very high in regard of his Omnipotent sovereignty think of thine own lowness O man or rather O worm and no man and be confounded within thy self upon comparing thy servile condition by nature with his Sovereignty thy imbecility with his Omnipotence Adam indeed so long as he stood was an universal Monarch having dominion both over himself and

neck of the true Spouse of Christ which makes her to look pleasingly and amiably in the eyes of her Beloved and distinguishes her from all false and counterfeit lovers To all this we may finally add what it is in the very work it self and the contrivances of it wherein not to anticipate the thoughts of others that shall peruse it soundness of judgement with elegancy of expression Sublimity of Notion with sobriety of spirit Variety of reading with accurateness of composure Sweetness of wit with savouriness of heart do seem to be linked together in so rare and happy a conjunction as which makes this Chain of Principles to be a chain of Pearls The Lord by his holy spirit set home the Truths in it upon the hearts of all those who shall be made partakers of it To him be Glory in the Church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages world without end Amen Cambridge Novemb. 2. 1659. THOMAS HORTON WILLIAM DILLINGHAM A Collection of the several Aphorismes and Exercitations contained in the ensuing TREATISE APHORISME I. Pag. 1. MAns blessedness consisteth not in a confluence of wordly accommodations which are all vanity of vanities but in the fruition of God in Christ who onely is the strength of our hearts and our portion for ever EXERCITATION 1. Pag. 2. Psal 144. end opened Blessedness what Solomons scope in Ecclesiastes Why he stiles himself Coheleth His testimony concerning the creatures Their threefold transcendent vanity Intellectual accomplishments brought under the same censure by reason of the folly enmity anxiety and insufficiencie that attend them An apostrophie to the world EXERCITATION 2. Pag. 20. A gloss upon Psalm 36. 8. God in Christ a soul-satisfying object The circular motion of humane souls and their onely rest A threefold fulness of God and Christ opposite to the threefold vanity of the creatures EXERCITATION 3. Pag. 29. Two conclusions from Psalm 73. 25 26. The Psalmists case stated The frequent complication of corporal and spiritual troubles How God strengtheneth his peoples hearts against their bodily distempers how under discouragements of spirit The secret supports of saving grace What kinde of portion God is to the Saints A congratulation of their happiness herein EXERCITATION 4. Pag. 43. The first inference grounded upon Isaiah 55. 1 2. by way of invitation backed with three encouragements to accept it viz. The fulness of that soul-satisfaction which God giveth the universality of its tender and the freeness of its communication The second by way of expostulation and that both with worldlings and Saints A conclusion by way of soliloquy APHORISME II. Pag. 61. We are conducted to the fruition of God in Christ by Christian Religion contained in the divine oracles of holy Scripture EXERCITATION 1. Pag. 61. The safe conduct of Saints signified by the pillar in Exodus performed by the counsel of God himself the abridgement whereof we have in the doctrine of Christian Religion How that tends to blessedness EXERCITATION 2. Pag. 72. The insufficiencie of other Religions for bringing men to the enjoyment of God inferred from their inability to discover his true worship John 4. 24. opened God to be worshipped in and through Christ a lesson not taught in natures school Faults in Aristotles Ethicks EXERCITATION 3. Pag. 84. Oracles of God vocal or written Books of Scripture so called in five respects viz. In regard of their declaring and foretelling their being consulted prized and preserved EXERCITATION 4. Pag. 95. How Scripture-Oracles far excel those of the heathen in point of perspicuity of piety of veracity of duration and of Authority The divine authority of Scripture asserted by arguments An inference from the whole Aphorisme APHORISME III. Pag. 111. Scripture-Oracles supposing it sufficiently clear by the light of Nature that there is a God make a further discovery of what he is in his Essence Subsistence and Attributes EXERCITATION 1. Pag. 111. 1 Corinth 15. 34. expounded Opinionists compared to sleepers and drunkards Three observations from the end of the verse What knowledge of God is unattainable in this life What may be had The knowledge we have concerning God distinguished into Natural Literal and Spiritual EXERCITATION 2. Pag. 120. That there is a God the prime dictate of natural light deducible from mans looking backward to the creation forward to the rewards and punishments dispensed after death upward to the Angels above us downwards to inferiour beings within our selves to the composition of our bodies and dictates of our consciences about us to the various occurrences in the world EXERCITATION 3. Pag. 129. Reasons three ways of discovering God fall short of manifesting what he is The expression in Exod. 3. 14. most comprehensive A brief exposition thereof Satans impudence Nature and art both unable to discover the Trinity What Scripture revealeth about it Basils memento Julians impiety Socinians branded The three Persons compared to those three wells in Genes 26. EXERCITATION 4. Pag. 143. Divine Attributes calling for transcendent respect They are set down in the Scripture so as to curb our curiosity to help our infirmity to prevent our misapprehensions and to raise our esteem of God Spiritual knowledge superadding to literal clearness of light sweetness of taste sense of interest and sincerity of obedience APHORISME IV. Pag. 155. Goodness and Greatness are Attributes so comprehensive as to include a multitude of divine perfections EXERCITATION 1. Pag. 155. God described from goodness and greatness both without and within the Church A lively pourtraiture of his goodness in the several branches thereof Exod. 34. 6 7. Bowels of mercy implying inwardness and tenderness Our bowels of love to God of compassion to brethren Mercy not to be refused by unbelief nor abused by presumption EXERCITATION 2. Pag. 169. Grace what From it spring Election Redemption Vocation Sanctification Salvation A Caveat not to receive it in vain It purgeth and cheereth Glosses upon Tit. 2. 11 12. and 2 Thess 2. 26 27. The exaltation of free grace exhorted to Long-suffering not exercised towards evil Angels but towards men of all sorts It leadeth to repentance is valued by God and must not be sleighted by us A dreadfull example of goodness despised EXERCITATION 3. Pag. 181. The bounty of God declared by his benefits viz. giving his Son to free us from hell his Spirit to fit us for heaven his Angels to guard us on earth large provisions in the way and full satisfaction at our journeys end John 3. 16. James 1. 5. and Psal 24. 1. Glossed Isai 25. 6. Alluded to Inferences from divine Bounty beneficence to Saints not dealing niggardly with God exemplified in David Paul and Luther Truth in God is without all mixture of the contrary It appears in his making good of promises and threatnings teaching us what to perform and what to expect EXERCITATION 4. Pag. 201. Keeping mercy for thousands explained Men exhorted to trust God with their posterity Luthers last Will and Testament Iniquity transgression and sin what Six Scripture

deceived Rev. 20. 10. them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever § 3. Thirdly Deep things of God of the divine Essence and Will concerning which the Apostle saith The 1 Cor. 2. 10. Spirit searcheth all things yea the deep things of God Things which the clearest understandings of men and Angels entertain with amazement we cannot but bewray our balbutiencie when we treat of One in Three and Three in one such a mysterious gulf is the Trinitie so when we discourse either of the Personal Union or the Theandrical acts of Christ And no wonder seeing we meet with such secrets and depths even in Gods revealed Will The greatest divines have acknowledged many 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Things hard to be understood yea diverse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 knots that cannot be untied till there either come further light into this world or we be translated into a better Such as every modest christian will be readie to say of as the learned Cajetan did concerning the reason of that difference which in the Hebrew Text is observable betwixt the title of Psalm 121. and those other Psalms of Degrees Reservo Spiritui Sancto I reserve the solution of this and that doubt to the holy Spirit For to him and the other Divine Persons such things are no riddles though to us they be dark and Enigmatical yea perhaps unsearchable Although we ever and anon meet with cause of crying out as Saint Paul once did How unsearchable Rom. 11. 33. are his judgements and his waies past finding out Let us alwaies remember and believe that of St. James known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the Act. 15. 18. world § 4. Well may the prudent consideration of what hath been said concerning the depth of Divine Omniscience put the wisest of men in minde of their Nescience keep them from leaning to their own understandings and give them just occasion to think of an answer to Zophars question What canst thou know If the secrets of nature do so puzzle thee what canst thou know concerning those much greater secrets of grace and glory of which Luther Quid si philosophia haec non capit fides tamen capit major est verbi Dei authoritas quam nostri ingenii capacitas major Sp. Sanctus quàm Aristoteles Luther de captivit Babylonic● Psal 147. 5. very excellently Philosophy receives them not faith doth The authority of Scripture is greater by far then the capacity of our wit and the Holy Ghost then Aristotle Well may the depth of Divine understanding which the Psalmist saith is infinite Great is the Lord and of great power his understanding is infinite cause us to reflect upon the shallowness the finiteness yea the folly of our own For if the foolishness of God be wiser then men as the Apostle telleth us it is 1 Cor. 1. 25. what is his wisdome Add if the wisdome of this world be foolishness with God 1 Cor. 3. 19. what is its folly No wonder if one learned man wrote a book of the vanity Cornel. Agrip. of Sciences others of the Nullity Anton. Verderius Franc. Zanch. M. D. Hoc unum scio quod nihil scio Socrates Quo magis studiis incumbimus eò magis nos videre quàm nihil scimus Ap. Jo. Bevoricium Epist quaest p. 86. Quod nihil scitur If the wise heathen profest the onely thing he knew was this that he knew not any thing at all If Frier Paul of Venice the judicious author of that excellent history of the Councel of Trent was wont to say The more we studie the more we see how little or nothing we understand yea if more knowing men then any of these abounded in acknowledgements of their own ignorance Asaph So foolish was I and ignorant Psal 73. 22 Prov. 30. 23. I was as a beast before thee Agur Surely I am more brutish then any man and have not the understanding of a man I neither learned wisdome nor have the knowledge of the holy So true is that of our great Apostle If any man think that he knows any thing he 1 Cor. 8. 2. knows nothing yet as he ought to know § 5. Next followeth the third dimension which is Longitude in this expression The measure thereof is longer then the earth For the better stating whereof let it be considered that whereas the word here translated Measure relateth not to extension onely but also to duration and the earth hath a double longitude one of space the other of continuance which the Scripture taketh special notice of in other texts as in that of Ecclesiastes One generation Eccles 1. 4. passeth away and another generation cometh but the earth abideth for ever I conceive the latter may here be alluded to viz. the earths long continuance as in some low proportion fit to resemble that everlasting duration of God which cannot be adequately represented by any creature Sure I am by the Ancient of days in Daniel the eternal Dan. 7. 9 13. Jehovah is described by length of Prov. 3. 16. days in wisdomes right hand of which in the Proverbs many Interpreters understand the blessings of Eternity And this very place of Job is expounded by Gregory in this sense His words are Terrâ longior quia creaturae modum perennitate Greg. Moral lib. 10. cap. 7. suae Aeternitatis excedit All creatures had an original all but some few shall have a dissolution Of the Creatour and of him onely is that of the Psalmist verified From everlasting Psal 90. 2. to everlasting thou art God He gave beginning Principium sine p●incipio finis sine sine to all things but was himself without a beginning is the end for which all things were made but himself without end The best of men alas are but of yesterday and know not where they shall be to morrow according to that of Bildad We are but Job 8. 9. of yesterday and know nothing because our days upon earth are a shadow His being God from everlasting to everlasting should encourage us to walk in the way everlasting having this everlasting consolation Psal 139. last 2 Thess 2. 16. and good hope through grace that he will save us with an everlasting salvation because he wanteth neither power to Isa 45. 17. effect it for his strength is everlasting Isa 26. 4. nor will for his mercy is so too as David testifieth The mercy of the Lord is Psal 103. 17. from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him § 6. The more to blame were some overweening sons of Adam for daring to assume unto themselves and ascribe to other persons and things this incommunicable perfection of God Of old the heathenish people of Rome were wont to style their Emperours yea and their city Eternal Concerning